text:
Reach Out!
The Gnome Outreach Program for Women has seen success that other programs set up to encourage women in FOSS have not. We look at some of the reasons why.
The Gnome Outreach Program for Women has seen success that other programs set up to encourage women in FOSS have not. We look at some of the reasons why.
Efforts to encourage the participation of women in free and open source software (FOSS) have come and gone for over a decade, most with limited success. However, few can match the success of GNOME Outreach Program for Women the [1]. In fact, the program has been so successful that it is now expanding rapidly into other projects. The secret of the success? Simply that there is none. According to program organizer Marina Zhurakhinskaya, all that is needed to encourage women to apply is "inviting women specifically to participate." Everything else is a matter of maximizing interns' chances for success, exactly as any efficient mentoring program tries to do. The first incarnation of the program began in 2006, after Hanna Wallach and Chris Ball observed that none of the Google Summer of Code applications to work with Gnome were from women. With Google's help, Wallach and Ball started six internships for women, receiving more than 100 applications. However, the program was not revived until December 2010. The relaunched program proved an immediate and consistent success. "We couldn't keep it to ourselves," says Karen Sandler, the executive director of the Gnome Foundation. After a pilot program with the Twisted Software Foundation [2], over the past year, the Outreach Program for Women has expanded to include 18 other participating organizations [3], ranging from KDE and Mozilla to Wikimedia and Tor.
Ever since its revival in 2010, the Outreach Program has distinguished itself by its efforts to maximize interns' chances for success. Unlike other FOSS mentoring programs, the program welcomes not only developers, but also documenters, localizers, artists, marketers, and other potential contributors [1]. Similarly, the revived project has made strong efforts to expand its pool of applicants. Unlike applicants to the Summer of Code, candidates for the Outreach Program do not need to be registered students. Additionally, one of the two annual rounds of internships begins in December, making it possible for those in the southern hemisphere to treat participation as a summer project. Even more importantly, applicants must make a contribution to a project before the program even starts. This requirement not only proves applicants' competence, but also introduces interns to their mentors, who can help them decide upon manageable projects, and teaches the mechanics of contributing to their chosen projects. "Our strongest applicants contribute a lot more than a single small contribution during the application process, and have started developing relationships in the community before they are doing so in an official capacity," Zhurakhinskaya says. "Depending on the nature of the internship, there are some introductory sessions and materials that we recommend." From the perspective of interns, this preparation can mean the difference between fitting in and completing their projects and dropping out. Meg Ford, who's done three internships with the Outreach Program explains:
Because there are very few women in FOSS communities, at first it can be particularly difficult to feel you are among peers. This creates a very high barrier of entry for women, because a lot of the information needed for developing FOSS software is not written down. It is communicated by the developers, either on mailing lists or on IRC. The feeling of being out of place or appearing stupid can make asking questions and asking for help more difficult. I think this is true for all new developers, but there is a fairly common perception in society that women are not capable of understanding math and science. Because of this, women can be particularly self-conscious about asking for help.
Mentors and participating organizations are similarly prepped with reading materials, so they know what to expect. "Gnome coordinates the program and handles almost all of the administrative work," Sandler explains. "Each free software organization identifies tis own mentors and possible projects for candidates to work on, and organizations must have a source of funding for at least one participant in order to join." Additional funding is also available through sponsorships and donations, which are distributed among the strongest applicants in the program. This sudden growth is welcome, but it also left Gnome scrambling to scale its efforts. Since the program was extended outside Gnome, the program has added additional IRC orientations, and more formal paperwork for participants. Moreover, Sandler says, "We have noticed that participants are more likely to become ongoing contributors if they meet face to face with other people in the community. Also, it's the best way to share the values of a community. So we've added $500 for each intern to the program to subsidize travel to relevant conferences. Some of the organizations will handle the administration of this themselves, and others will have Gnome do it for them." The sudden expansion has had its share of growing pains. Although the Gnome Foundation pays for some administration costs, and Zhurakhinskaya's employer Red Hat gives her some release time, the need for more organization is becoming obvious. Sandler notes that "we probably need to provide for improving funds for the overall infrastructure. The most immediate improvement we are focusing on is our website." Another growing need is an application system, "because handling applications for 18 organizations rather than one over a mailing list has become a challenge." Yet, on the whole, "so far, the expansion has been surprisingly smooth," according to Sandler.
The main reason for the program's expansion is that, within Gnome, it has already demonstrated a high retention rate for interns after they have completed their project. Zhurakhinskaya notes that, of the 41 interns to date, "about half of the interns who participated in the program continue to be active members of the Gnome community," with at least five going on to become mentors themselves. Their contributions have included work on GStreamer, OpenStack, Empathy, Cheese, and Gnome Shell, as well as accessibility and usability testing [4]. In some cases, their work has been among the first done in their chosen field for Gnome. One Gnome intern, Ekaterina Gerasimova, has even gone on to be elected a Gnome Foundation director. Several others are scheduled to speak this year at GUADEC, Gnome's annual conference. Some Gnome interns have gone on to find employment in FOSS. Others have made other contributions to FOSS in general, including organizing local meetups and an Indian group for women in Free Software. Project alumni tend to be enthusiastic about their experiences. For instance, Meg Ford explains that, as she grew up, "It never once occurred to me that I could pursue a career in STEM, because it was never presented to me as an option." Even when she decided to start a computer science degree, she planned "to pursue a career writing options trading software" – plans that her discovery of free software during her internship made her quickly discard in favor of FOSS' idealism and the independence it offered. "I think it is safe to say that the program really changed the course of my career," she says. The continued involvement of mentors is harder to track because their participation depends on a suitable project being available in each round. Also, some may become mentors for another program such as Google Summer of Code instead. However, according to Zhurakhinskaya, 34 mentors have participated in the Outreach Program, 11 of them more than once. No figures are available yet for the expanded program or for other mentoring programs. However, the enthusiasm with which the Outreach Program for Women has grown suggests that the results within Gnome are significantly beyond those generally found in FOSS. By any standards 20 additional contributors over three years is significant growth – and Zhurakhinskaya adds that other Gnome interns continued to contribute for some months after they finished their participation.
Pages: 3
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text:
Dress up Felicity Huffman
Since Flash is no longer supported after the end of 2020, you need to use the downloadable launcher to continue playing Stardoll.
Preuzmi aplikaciju!
Ime: Felicity Kendall Huffman
Profession: actress
Rođendan: december 9, 1962
Has one older brother, Moore. She is the youngest of seven daughters. Her first child, Sofia Grace, was born August 1, 2000. Daughter Georgia Grace born 14 March 2002 in Los Angeles. She has a BFA in Drama from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Graduated high school in 1981 from the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan, where she majored in theater. One of her idols is Tina Turner.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Securities - POSTED: 2012/11/17 16:52
A Chicago area lawyer whose first conviction was overturned on appeal was convicted again Friday in a $2.4 billion fraud that led to the collapse of what was once the nation's largest independent commodities firm.
Joseph P. Collins was convicted of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and other offenses including securities fraud and wire fraud in U.S. District Court in Manhattan after a monthlong trial in the Refco Inc. case. He was acquitted of two counts of wire fraud and one count of bank fraud.
His sentencing was set for March 20.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Collins, 62, used his law license to orchestrate a massive accounting fraud that left Rafco in tatters. He said Collins "gave the legal profession a black eye" by actively participating in the crimes of his client by lying and by falsifying or concealing documents.
Collins, of Winnetka, Ill., was convicted once before and sentenced to seven years in prison. The conviction was overturned when a federal appeals court found errors in the trial.
Refco filed for bankruptcy in 2005. Its former CEO pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Others convicted in the case included one of Refco's former owners, a former chief financial officer and a former executive vice president.


text:
Dear EarthTalk: What is "cogeneration" as a means of providing heat and power?
-- Jerry Schleup, Andover, MA
Cogeneration—also known as combined heat and power, distributed generation, or recycled energy—is the simultaneous production of two or more forms of energy from a single fuel source. Cogeneration power plants often operate at 50 to 70 percent higher efficiency rates than single-generation facilities.
In practical terms, what cogeneration usually entails is the use of what would otherwise be wasted heat (such as a manufacturing plant's exhaust) to produce additional energy benefit, such as to provide heat or electricity for the building in which it is operating. Cogeneration is great for the bottom line and also for the environment, as recycling the waste heat saves other pollutant-spewing fossil fuels from being burned.
Most of the thousands of cogeneration plants operating across the United States and Canada are small facilities operated by non-utility companies and by institutions like universities and the military. For small cogeneration plants—those that generate anywhere from one to 20 megawatts of power—biomass or even methane from garbage dumps can be used as a front-end fuel source, but natural gas is far more common as the primary input.
For instance, Sunnyvale, California-based Network Appliance Inc., a computer networking company, relies on a one megawatt natural gas-powered cogeneration system to power the building's extensive air conditioning needs, and for back-up power for use during peak demand times. The company estimates it saves around $300,000 a year in energy costs thanks to the cogeneration system.
In another example, Illinois-based Epcor USA Ventures operates three mid-sized (25 megawatts and up) cogeneration power plants in San Diego to power U.S. Marine Corps and Navy bases there. All three plants work in the same way: Natural gas turbines drive electrical generators that in turn exhaust hot gases. These are then captured to drive a steam generator hooked into the bases centralized heating and cooling systems. Since the systems generate power to spare, Epcor is talking with area companies about kicking in for a share of the steam to keep their energy bills and carbon footprints in check.
Cogeneration is not limited to stationary power plants. Honda is exploring the use of a specialized automotive cogeneration generator designed to improve the overall efficiency of hybrid vehicles by recapturing waste exhaust heat from the internal combustion engine and converting it to electricity to recharge the battery pack. The idea is still in the research and development phase, it could make its way into new cars within a few years, further improving on the already impressive efficiency of hybrid cars.
CONTACTS: Network Appliance Inc., www.netapp.com; Epcor USA Ventures, www.primaryenergy.com; Honda Motor Company, http://world.honda.com.
GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.


text:
Obama To Push State Of The Union Messages In Chicago
The president will leave the sequester debate behind this afternoon when he travels to Chicago. He's expected to talk about the gun violence that plagues his home town.
Fifteen-year-old Hadiya Pendleton became a symbol of the problem after she was murdered last month in a park about a mile from the president's Chicago home. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports on what activists expect from President Obama.
CHERYL CORLEY, BYLINE: Shortly after Hadiya Pendleton's death, the University of Chicago's Black Youth Project started a petition drive on the White House website, urging President Obama to come home to talk about gun violence. Nearly 50,000 signed the petition. Dallas Donnell is one of the group's coordinators.
DALLAS DONNELL: We felt like there was a need for a national kind of response to this crisis, not just for Hadiya but for all black youth impacted by this crisis. And when we say that, we don't just meant the victim of violence but the kid pulling the trigger.
CORLEY: And Donnell said there's no better person than the president to draw attention to an epidemic.
DONNELL: He went to Newtown after that terrible tragedy. He went to Aurora after that horrible tragedy. And we felt like it was the right thing for him to come to Chicago, to his hometown, where young people are dying mere blocks from where he literally has a home and has lived for many years.
CORLEY: Later this afternoon, the president will talk to about 700 students, community leaders and parents at Hyde Park Academy on Chicago's South Side. He'll also meet privately with a group of young men in a mentoring program called BAM, or Becoming a Man. Those signing the petition asked the president to talk specifically about the root causes of gun violence in black and Latino communities. Black Youth Project founder Professor Cathy Cohen says that includes a lack of quality education, mental health services and employment opportunities in neighborhoods where gun violence is rampant.
CATHY COHEN: He has to come tell people that there are immediate things that we can do. We can really work to get illegal guns off the street. We can put in place mentoring programs. We can try to support counselors. But that if we really going to deal gun violence and transform the lives of young people and their communities, it means long-term investment.
CORLEY: There were 506 murders in Chicago last year - most of them gun-related. And January continued to be a bloody month - 42 murders in all, the most for a January in a decade. University of Chicago's crime lab director, Jen Ludwig, likes to quote the mayor of Kansas City, who calls the daily gun violence that occurs in cities slow-motion mass murder. Ludwig was encouraged, though, when the president announced the federal government would resume long-stalled gun violence research.
JENS LUDWIG: Making sure that there is some sort of space for gun violence research to be added to the federal government's research agenda, I think, would be hugely helpful.
CORLEY: Among other things, Ludwig says it will help politicians prioritize which gun regulations to fight for.
CORLEY: In Chicago's Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the city's South Side, a group of kindergartners - the girls in plaid skirts, the boys in blue pants - walk past the rectory at St. Sabina Church. In the window are signs that read: Turn in guns, no questions asked. Father Michael Pfleger is the priest here.
FATHER MICHAEL PFLEGER: Well, there had been a tremendous amount of shootings and killing going on. Last summer, at the end of the school year, I told my church we're going to go out every Friday night.
CORLEY: Pfleger says there have been no shootings since last September, after the church helped negotiate a truce among four gangs and set up a weekly basketball game. Pfleger is a social activist who lost a foster son to gun violence. He spoke at Hadiya Pendleton's funeral, and says whatever the president's plan, there needs to be a sense of urgency.
PFLEGER: Because we don't have time for children to keep dying.
CORLEY: Activists here hope the president's visit will help motivate people on this issue. But regardless, they pledge there will be a push to change the gun culture in neighborhoods where so many lives have been lost. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago.
Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.


text:
Ok, I usually don't write about video other than commenting on YouTube because (a) I'm inherently biased and (b) I don't want my opinions to be taken as representing the view of my company. But…. since there's so much heat around the question of "Instagram for video" right now, here's a quick thought on why photos and videos are very different.
Think about the photos you look at in either your social feeds or specific photos sites: 99% of them interest you because the subject(s) and/or camera holder is someone you know (or you yourself). Because pictures are static, you can also grok and scan them very quickly, meaning the "cost" of a bad picture is low, hence you are interested in pictures from a wider variety of friends. The other 1% of pictures are not interesting to you because of the subject matter (flowers! eagles! antique doorknobs!). Various products are changing this split but I really don't think it gets past 90/10. [Of course there are photo buffs who just love to spend hours on Flickr browsing hashtags but that's not what's driving Socialcam and Viddy installs. And I'm not talking about photos which are incidentally included in news stories – eg the Tebow picture you see when you go to espn.com]
Now, about videos. It's the other way around. In 99% of the videos you watch you don't know anyone in the frame. You watch because the subject is interesting (and if it isn't, you bail pretty quickly). Why? Because there's a much higher cost to watching a video. Of course hours of video are consumed every day, so I'm not saying people won't watch videos, I'm saying the "social" in video is more about the subject and then sharing or discussing it with friends. Think of it this way, the average video has ~24 frames per second, each of those is a "picture" – i don't mind seeing a single picture of my friend and his baby in my Facebook stream, but I wouldn't want several thousand in a sequential slideshow. That's what a video is. Again, various technology and products are moving this from 1/99 –> 10/90 but I don't believe this fundamentally means I want to see more personal video from a broader range of friends.
Note: at mobile scale, 10% of the "video" market is still HUGE so I'm not saying that any of these apps are necessarily flashes in the pan. I don't know how to explain their recent spike, although I believe it has much more to do with Facebook distribution/feed changes than an inherently viral nature of personal mobile video creation or in-product network effects.
Off the cuff thoughts – where am I wrong?


text:
The finale of the largest international offshore fishing series in the world will take place at Marina Pez Vela, Quepos, Costa Rica from April 14-19 in 2013. In its 13 year history the Offshore World Championship has attracted thousands of anglers competing in over 130 qualifying tournaments around the globe.
Marina Pez Vela is proud to be associated with an event that is known internationally as the "Olympics of Fishing" where those winning teams are invited to compete. The staff at Marina Pez Vela is extremely pleased to work with Bonnier Corporation Marine Group and its team to make this tournament an exciting and successful championship event.
Under the direction of Dan Jacobs and assistant Lynda Wilson, Bonnier Corporation Marine Group has been responsible for the success of the Championship since 2009. Bonnier Corporation is the publisher of fishing enthusiasts' magazines including Marlin, Sport Fishing, Salt Water Sportsman and Fly Fishing in Salt Waters with combined circulations of hundreds of thousands of discerning readers.
"This central pacific coast town of Costa Rica has been chosen from among the world's top offerings for having all the necessary elements of incredible offshore fishing, calm waters, quality resorts, charter operators and a new world class marina destination," says Dan Jacobs, Tournament Director and Marine Group publisher. "Quepos was one of the first locations to put Costa Rica on the international fishing map."
Quepos is also home to the world renowned Manuel Antonio National Park, mentioned by Forbes as one of the twelve most beautiful and photogenic national parks in the world. Quepos has over 90 boutique hotels with 2.500-plus rooms, restaurants and an array of adventure amenities in the mountains, forests, rivers and beaches. Marina Pez Vela is very excited to partner with Bonnier and the Costa Rican Tourism Board ICT to bring the Offshore World Championship to Quepos, Costa Rica. Check for details at the official website.


text:
A scarp, or cliff, more than 300 kilometers (185 miles) long extends diagonally from upper left to lower right in this Mariner 10 picture (FDS 166842) of Mercury taken on September 21. Numerous similar structures have been discovered by Mariner 10 during the television sequences on the spacecraft's second flyby of the planet. These structures are believed to be formed by the compressive forces due to crustal shortening. The picture was taken from 64,500 kilometers (40,000 miles).
The Mariner 10 mission, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, explored Venus in February 1974 on the way to three encounters with Mercury-in March and September 1974 and in March 1975. The spacecraft took more than 7,000 photos of Mercury, Venus, the Earth and the Moon.


text:
Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Robert Hunter
The eleventh part of Robert Hunter's Amagamalin Street.
Face me!
Don't make a sound
You got nothing to be scared of
I won't knock you around
I know you been making love
I think it's insane
How can you let him drag you down
then run to him again?
Face me!
Face me!
I'm not asking you to leave him for me
Lord knows I'm shot anyway
Still out fighting the long, long war
Ain't much else to say
I won't cross the street for your chances
ressurecting that bum
Damn these twisted romances
He'll beat you like a drum
Face me!
Face me!
I won't be the one that does it
But I won't cry when he falls
His life don't mean nothing to me
Just drag you down is all
Face me!
Face me!
I just want you to face me
Why should you pretend it didn't go down?
I'm not your other man, remember
I won't knock you around
Yeah, of course I'm bitter as hell
Got every right to be
I pray to God you find someone else
even if it isn't me
Face me!
Face me!
Got one more thing to say
Honey, you can go or you can stay
Either way be straight with me
You know there's no other way
I'm sick of the whole damned show
Get out if you've got a mind
I don't pretend to know what it means
but I'm not deaf, dumb and blind
Face me!
Face me!
|Robert Hunter Recordings
|Recorded By
|Amagamalin Street
|Robert Hunter (note 1)
"Alerted by her bruises, Murphy realizes that Maggie has been secretly seeing Chet again. He angrily demands that she face him with the truth - and that she look at the truth herself. He admits that she could do better than a war casualty like himself - that his only concern at this point is that she not allow herself to be dragged to destruction by her morbid fascination for Chet."


text: In 2001 several college students were brutally murdered inside of a newly refurbished Town Creek Apartments. To this day there are still no definite answers. Jennifer Campbell, a graduate student with aspirations of a journalistic career, who is eager to prove herself. She amasses lots of evidence that convinces her even more of the dark history surrounding the town. When she forces her way into the building, it doesn't take long before she is given a crash history lesson on why it is better to keep some secrets hidden and some names forgotten about.


text:
Enjoy efficient home heating and hot water simultaneously with one complete, energy-saving system. The Rinnai Hydronic Air Handler System makes the traditional furnace a thing of the past.
Connects to the RUR-Series, RU-Series, RL-Series and V-Series tankless models as well as the I-Series combination boilers.
The hydronic air handler system connects seamlessly to select tankless water heaters and condensing boilers to deliver efficient, simultaneous home heating and hot water in one complete system.


text:
SEC Charges China-Based Executives With Fraud and Insider Trading
Washington D.C., Sept. 26, 2013 —
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the former CEO of an education services provider based in China with stealing tens of millions of dollars from investors in a U.S. public offering, and charged another executive with illegally dumping his stock in the company after he helped steal valuable company assets.
The SEC alleges that ChinaCast Education Corporation's former CEO and chairman of the board Chan Tze Ngon illicitly transferred $41 million out of the $43.8 million raised from investors to a purported subsidiary in which he secretly held a controlling 50 percent ownership stake. From there, Chan transferred investor funds to another entity outside ChinaCast's control. Chan also secretly pledged $30.4 million of ChinaCast's cash deposits to secure the debts of entities unrelated to ChinaCast. None of the transactions were disclosed in the periodic and other reports signed by Chan and filed with the SEC.
The SEC further alleges that Jiang Xiangyuan, ChinaCast's former president for operations in China, avoided more than $200,000 in losses by illegally selling approximately 50,000 ChinaCast shares after participating in the ownership transfer of one of company's revenue-generating colleges before it was publicly disclosed by a new management team. ChinaCast had a market capitalization of more than $200 million before these alleged frauds came to light. After Chan and Jiang were terminated and their misconduct was publicly disclosed by new management, ChinaCast's market capitalization dropped to less than $5 million.
"The massive fraud perpetrated by Chan destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars in market value, and Jiang's brazen insider trading allowed him to profit by dumping his own shares on the market before the fraud was exposed," said Andrew M. Calamari, Director of the SEC's New York Regional Office.
According to the SEC's complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, ChinaCast entered the U.S. capital markets through a reverse merger in December 2006, and its common stock was listed on the NASDAQ from Oct. 29, 2007 to June 25, 2012. ChinaCast conducted multiple public stock offerings in the U.S., with the second one occurring in December 2009 when ChinaCast represented that the proceeds would be used for "working capital, future acquisitions, and general corporate purposes." Chan instead directed and engaged in the transactions that moved investor funds outside ChinaCast's corporate structure for his personal benefit. He did so without seeking or obtaining the approval of ChinaCast's board of directors, and the transactions were not publicly disclosed until ChinaCast's new management prompted the company to file a Form 8-K on Dec. 21, 2012, disclosing Chan's misconduct.
The SEC alleges that ChinaCast falsely stated in multiple SEC filings signed by Chan that the company indirectly owned 98.5 percent of ChinaCast Technology (HK) Limited – the purported subsidiary to which Chan first transferred investor funds. However, ChinaCast actually held only an indirect 49.2 percent interest while Chan personally owned 50 percent. Chan also signed a number of periodic reports falsely stating that offering proceeds were under ChinaCast's control and falsely including those funds in amounts that ChinaCast reported as cash and cash equivalents. Chan also defrauded shareholders and prospective investors by secretly pledging ChinaCast's existing term cash deposits as collateral to secure debts incurred by various third parties that had nothing to do with ChinaCast's business. Chan signed periodic reports falsely stating that ChinaCast's cash and cash equivalents were completely unencumbered.
"Chan orchestrated the systematic looting of ChinaCast and hid his misconduct by repeatedly lying to investors about the company's assets until he lost control of the board and was terminated," said Sanjay Wadhwa, Senior Associate Director for Enforcement in the SEC's New York office. "Officers and directors who misuse their access to the U.S. capital markets will be held accountable for their insidious behavior."
According to the SEC's complaint, Jiang was a member of the senior management group headed by Chan. Jiang engaged in illegal trading based on inside information by selling his shares on March 28, 2012, at $4.59 per share. After Chan's management group lost control of the board, they transferred ownership of ChinaCast's three profitable brick-and-mortar colleges away from ChinaCast to Jiang and the dean of one of the colleges. They were later sold to others. At least one of the colleges was transferred to Jiang and the dean three weeks before Jiang's March 28 stock sale. Jiang was terminated on March 29, and NASDAQ suspended trading in ChinaCast on April 2 due to its failure to file an annual report for 2011. ChinaCast was later delisted. When over-the-counter trading resumed on June 25 after multiple disclosures made by new management about former management's misconduct, the stock opened at 55 cents per share and closed at 82 cents. ChinaCast's stock is currently trading at 10 cents per share.
Chan is charged with violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 as well as violations of various corporate reporting, recordkeeping, and internal controls provisions. Jiang is charged with illegal insider trading in violations of the same antifraud provisions. The SEC seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, financial penalties, permanent injunctions, and officer-and-director bars.
The SEC's investigation, which is continuing, has been conducted by Dominick Barbieri and George Stepaniuk in the SEC's New York office. The SEC's litigation will be led by Nancy Brown. Assisting in the investigation was the SEC's Cross Border Working Group, which has representatives from each of the agency's major divisions and offices and focuses on U.S. companies with substantial foreign operations.


text:
Main Page
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MoDOT has made great strides to build a good transportation system and increase taxpayers' trust in its ability to deliver what was promised. Innovative concepts, such as Practical Design and design-build, were used to deliver those commitments and have made MoDOT a leader in the transportation industry.
These forward-thinking, innovative concepts are reflected in the ENGINEERING POLICY GUIDE (EPG). This document provides a single reference for all engineering and engineering-related guidance by combining the former Right of Way, Design, Bridge, Construction, Traffic and Maintenance manuals.
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EPG 238.2.17 Professional Land Surveyor Review
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EPG 751.50 Standard Detailing Notes
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EPG 751.10.3 Bridge Deck Drainage - Slab Drains
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Design Agreements and Contracts
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Three new Federal Aid Projects Posters
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EPG 184.108.40.206 Electronic Design Data for MoDOT Construction
5/2/18: Guidance about the initial request for the Construction files has been clarified.
Outdoor Advertising
4/30/18: Guidance in EPG 22.214.171.124 Vegetation Site Inspection, EPG 188.8.131.52 Cutting of Vegetation, EPG 22.214.171.124 Trimming of Trees and EPG 22.214.171.124 Releasing a Vegetation Permit have been impacted by Administrative Rule revisions.
EPG 102.2.7 Performance Discussion
4/27/18: Guidance for when certified mail is necessary for the Contractor Performance Rating has been updated.
EPG 751.50 Standard Detailing Notes
4/25/18: A new standard detailing note about deviations in galvanized pile penetration is now available.
EPG 903.4.6 Span, Cantilever and Butterfly Box Trusses
4/16/18: Guidance about drilled shaft footings has been clarified. MoDOT may be the designer of the footing and if not, others will have to submit signed and sealed drawings.
EPG 751.50 Standard Detailing Notes
4/13/18: In EPG 751.50 D. Temporary Bridge, revisions include a new clarifying note D1.5 and replacing an archaic option in D1.21 with the current option. In EPG 751.50 H9. Thrie Beam and Other Rail Types, revisions include the new H9.29 for two thrie beam standard drawings.
EPG 718.104.22.168 Wing Walls on Rock
4/11/18: New guidance for culvert wing walls on rock is now available.
Inclusion of DOL Wage Rates In Contracts
4/10/2018: In EPG 110.1 Wage Rates, guidance about including the correct wage rate order from the Dept. of Labor on MoDOT projects was updated.
Special Watersheds where MoDOT has been assigned a Wasteload Allocation
4/9/18: Guidance to go with the MDNR permit agreement has been added.
Project Bulletin Board Inspection Rate
4/5/18: The bulletin board inspection rate was revised from every two months to every three months.
EPG 749.5.3 Time of Concentration
4/5/18: Time of Concentration guidance was revised by providing an optional combination of Kirby-Hathaway and Kirpich equations and adding the optional low slope factor presented in new research.


text:
We know it's somewhat of a popular parlor game to rank the attractiveness of female sideline reporters, and it makes a modicum of sense, considering the job of sideline reporter isn't inherently, you know, demanding.
But we still have sympathy for the Erin Andrews of the world, if just because no matter what they do, no matter where they are, no matter how much work they might put in ... to their male colleagues, they're pretty much still just a skirt.
Witness this report from last night's Little League World Series game broadcasted by Andrews and Eric Karros.
Erin Andrews was doing a bit piece about an injured player who was hurt playing ping pong. She throws it back to Brent Musberger and Eric Karros, and Musberger talks about Kirk Gibson and how memorable that was. Karros replies, "Yeah, I think all of these boys will have something to remember with Erin Andrews." Musburger responds, "yeah," and is followed by 15-20 seconds of silence. It seems Karros is trying a little to hard to replace a former Mariners legend.
That's, of course, entirely inappropriate for a live television broadcast. And yet we do kind of think those 12-year-olds are indeed going to remember Andrews forever.


text:
Ciadella Classic Chevy Interiors - Super Chevy Shop Tour
From Classic Reproduction to Custom Interiors, This Shop Can Do It
Related Video
Out in the Phoenix, Arizona, suburb of Tempe, where the air is dry and the Chevys are hot, Ciadella's Classic Chevy Interiors is in business to ensure that all of us Bow-Tie freaks can have the exact style of upholstery we need for whatever look we want in our car or pickup. Walking around this shop, one of the first things we noticed is that everybody involved in production seems to know exactly what any given year upholstery is supposed to look like, what the correct colors are, and how to make it look just as the factory did 40 or 50 years ago. These experts can even spot a roll of material that is not in the correct storage bin, well labeled as the bins are. There just is no room for error when filling a customer's needs.
We were at the shop for a couple of days renovating the SUPER CHEVY dualie, and it is obvious that Ciadella's people not only know how to make the components for the interior, but they're accomplished installers, as well. Not that there is much installation work done, but it's nice for the customer to know when he or she is installing door panels or seat covers, that it was made by someone who has actually done the whole job. Maybe that's why things fit as well as they do.
As important as quality reproduction work is, many people want to personalize their Chevys. Ciadella's has a large number of custom designs that they can put together for many styles and years of cars and trucks, or customers can create their own look and have the shop make it. We were surprised to find that many orders are mix and match, such as an Impala with SS upholstery, or '62 fabric for a '61 car, just because the customer likes that look more than stock. If you can think of it, Ciadella's can probably do it.


text: Wow, just when you thought we were done with our collaboration shenanigans for a while...we bring you the first ever Synchronized Beer Tapping event (at least we think it's the first--please don't check that with the Guinness book or anything)! Here's our grand plan: at precisely 4pm San Diego time and 7pm Boston time, we will be simultaneously tapping our very first kegs of BrewDog/Cambridge/Stone Juxtaposition Black Pilsner both here at Stone and at Cambridge Brewing Co. (CBC). What's so special about this, you ask? Several things. For one (and it's a really big ONE), kegs of this beer are an endangered species, and you may never see it on tap again--although occasional bottle sightings continue to be reported. Reason number two: Will Meyers, head brewer at CBC, tells us they pretty much never have guest beers on tap at their brewpub, so this is quite a rare occurrence. Reason number three: it's a damn good beer. Duh. Joining Will at the New England portion of this historic event will be our own East Coast Regional Brewery Representative and general Cool Dude and Nice Guy, Michael Saklad. If you live in the area and haven't had the chance to meet him, you might want to seriously consider introducing yourself. When is it NOT a good idea to make friends with someone who peddles beer for a living? And to make Saturday even more memorable, Will tells us that alongside this beautiful black collaboration brew, CBC will also be proudly serving up some really stellar beers from the other two members of this team brewing effort. Here's what lucky Bostonians have to look forward to: 2007 Stone Imperial Russian Stout, wine barrel-aged 2008 Stone Old Guardian Barleywine, BrewDog Dogma, and whiskey cask-conditioned BrewDog Paradox. As Will says, "Obviously, we're super excited!" So are we, Will, so are we. And just in case you somehow have not managed to appreciate the gravity of the situation, just in case you're thinking, "Meh, I'll try some next time," ponder this: only 12 kegs of this black sheep of a beer were ever produced. TWELVE. As Ben Lee, our Production Coordinator, pointed out to me, that is the smallest number of kegs we've made of any of our beers in the history of us making beer. So this means that after we've finished the two we're tapping on Saturday, the two that will be pouring at CBC, the one we're sending to BrewDog, and one that some lucky Bastards down in San Diego already got their hands on, there will only be six kegs left in existence. Six. And no, you can't have them. -Kathryn Bouscaren


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Firefighters battled snowy weather while fighting a blaze in Oakfield Township Wednesday, January 23.
The fire was reported about 3:45 a.m. at 10830 Podunk Avenue NE, north of 13 Mile Road. Oakfield, Courtland, and Spencer fire departments all responded to the scene.
A woman told a local news station that her mother was reportedly using a space heater to unfreeze her pipes, and it caught on fire. She was not injured.
The home went up quickly, and was a total loss.


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Edna St. Vincent Millay
American poet
Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright and the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She was also known for her unconventional, bohemian lifestyle and her many love affairs. She used the pseudonym Nancy Boyd for her prose work.
Quotes Edit
- But, sure, the sky is big, I said;
Miles and miles above my head;
So here upon my back I'll lie
And look my fill into the sky.
And so I looked, and, after all,
The sky was not so very tall.
The sky, I said, must somewhere stop,
And — sure enough! — I see the top!
The sky, I thought, is not so grand;
I 'most could touch it with my hand!
And reaching up my hand to try,
I screamed to feel it touch the sky.
- "Renascence" (1912), st. 3 Renascence and Other Poems (1917)
- The world stands out on either side
No wider than the heart is wide;
Above the world is stretched the sky, —
No higher than the soul is high.
The heart can push the sea and land
Farther away on either hand;
The soul can split the sky in two,
And let the face of God shine through.
But East and West will pinch the heart
That can not keep them pushed apart;
And he whose soul is flat — the sky
Will cave in on him by and by.
- "Renascence" (1912), st. 20, Renascence and Other Poems (1917)
- It's little I know what's in my heart,
What's in my mind it's little I know,
But there's that in me must up and start,
And it's little I care where my feet go.
- "Departure" (1918) from The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems (1923)
- My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But, ah, my foes, and, oh, my friends —
It gives a lovely light.
- "First Fig" from A Few Figs from Thistles (1920)
- Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand;
Come and see my shining palace built upon the sand!
- "Second Fig" from A Few Figs from Thistles (1920)
- Many a bard's untimely death
Lends unto his verses breath;
Here's a song was never sung:
Growing old is dying young.
- "To a Poet Who Died Young" in Second April (1921), p. 52
- "One thing there's no getting by—
I've been a wicked girl." said I;
"But if I can't be sorry, why,
I might as well be glad!"
- From "The Penitent", A Few Figs from Thistles (1922)
- But you are mobile as the veering air,
And all your charms more changeful than the tide,
Wherefore to be inconstant is no care:
I have but to continue at your side.
So wanton, light and false, my love, are you,
I am most faithless when I most am true.
- From Sonnet III: "Oh, Think not I am faithful to a vow!", A Few Figs from Thistles (1922)
- After all, my earstwhile dear,
My no longer cherished,
Need we say it was not love,
Now that love is perished?
- "Passer Mortuus Est", st. 3, Second April, 1921
- My heart is warm with friends I make,
And better friends I'll not be knowing,
Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take,
No matter where it's going.
- "Travel", st. 3, Second April, 1921
- Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare.
Let all who prate of Beauty hold their peace,
And lay them prone upon the earth and cease
To ponder on themselves, the while they stare
At nothing, intricately drawn nowhere.
- Sonnet XXII from The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems (1923)
- Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.
- Sonnet XLIII: "What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why" (1923), Collected Poems", 1931
- Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
- Sonnet XXX from Fatal Interview (1931)
- Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is.
- "Childhood Is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies," lines 1-4, from Wine from These Grapes (1934)
- … one damn thing after another … one damn thing over and over.
- From an October 1930 letter to Arthur Davison Ficke, as variously described by her biographers, e.g.:
- [L]ife was not so much "one damn thing after another" as "one damn thing over and over"
- As paraphrased ("she had sent [...] a half-comic note, complaining that...") with quoted phrases in Jean Gould, The Poet and Her Book: A Biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay (1969), p. 198
- [L]ife isn't one thing after another, it's the same thing over and over
- As paraphrased ("she writes that...") and apparently Bowlderized in Miriam Gurko, Restless spirit: the life of Edna St. Vincent Millay (1962), p. 197
- [I]t was not true that life is one damn thing after another — it was one damn thing over and over
- As paraphrased ("Edna had written [...] that...") in Joan Dash, A Life of One's Own: Three Gifted Women and the Men they Married (1973), p. 189
- [L]ife was not so much "one damn thing after another" as "one damn thing over and over"
- The paraphrase by Dash appears to be the origin of later popularly attributed variants, e.g.:
- It is not true that life is one damn thing after another. It's the same damn thing over and over.
- As attributed without citation in Psychoanalysis Today: A Case Book (1991) by Elizabeth Thorne and Shirley Herscovitch Schaye, p. 93
- It is not true that life is one damn thing after another. It's the same dang thing over and over again.
- As attributed without citation in The Last Word: A Treasury of Women's Quotes (1992) by Carolyn Warner
- It is not true that life is one damn thing after another. It's the same damn thing over and over.
- From an October 1930 letter to Arthur Davison Ficke, as variously described by her biographers, e.g.:
- The only people I really hate are servants. They are not really human beings at all. As attributed without citation in At Home by Bill Bryson, Chapter V, "The Scullery and the Larder" p. 111
Quotes about Edna St. Vincent Millay Edit
- When people talk about American literature, they really mean Hemingway, Faulkner and Poe and when they do include women it's Emily Dickinson and Edna St. Vincent Millay. To decide to take that on and say, 'I will speak and will be heard'-that takes a lot of guts.
- 1988 interview in Conversations with Maya Angelou (1989)
- When I was in high school, I had never read Black poetry. The one poet of color whom I had read, and loved, was Pablo Neruda. I have to say that Neruda and Millay were the two poets I loved. All the others didn't make much sense. Except Eliot. He really got to me.
- 1984 interview in Conversations with Audre Lorde (2004)
- Wylie and Millay were standard in high school-women whom I really loved. Eliot. That man used to put me on fire with his words.
- 1978 interview in Conversations with Audre Lorde (2004)
- T. S. Eliot, Millay, Helene Margaret, I read and connected with because they made me feel what they were feeling, or wanted to feel.
- 1978 interview in Conversations with Audre Lorde (2004)


text:
Huntsman: Dems will turn lazy
Former GOP presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman had tough words for the other political party in an interview posted Sunday.
"The one thing that will be as sure as the sunrise tomorrow is, Democrats will become lazy, will take their eyes off the ball," he told the Daily Telegraph, a British publication. "We'll see more crony capitalism in Washington because the state will grow, and as the state grows, so do all the ancillary and subsidiary functions of lobbyists, K Street advisers, stuff Americans hate."
Huntsman, the moderate former governor of Utah, also called for a rebranding of the GOP, according to audio posted by the newspaper.
"It's really tough to define Republicanism today because we don't have a leader, and we don't have a platform," he said. "We have a platform that came out of the last convention, but that isn't the platform that's going to take us to victory going forward, in the sense that we need to be a party that speaks to shoring up our fundamentals around economic competitiveness, and freedom and liberty for everybody.
"We can't be known as a party that is fear-based, that doesn't believe in math," he added. "In the sense that, to win, you gotta be the party of addition, not subtraction and division."
On the subject of the potential for another presidential run, Huntsman deflected.
"We're not spending full-time look at some opening that we can fit in," he said, also noting that he has a conservative record. "That kind of plays out organically, and if it does, people feel that you're possibly competitive in a new, sort of freshened-up Republican Party, then maybe it's worth thinking about, but as of now we've got other things going on.'


text:
Bringing Vendor Risk Management to the MidmarketRiskRecon CEO Kelly White Weighs In on New Initiative
With today's enterprises being digital ecosystems made up of many layers of vendors, a vulnerability in one becomes potentially a vulnerability in all. A new initiative by the Cyber Readiness Institute aims to address this by promoting to smaller enterprises the cybersecurity best practices used by Fortune 500 companies.
Microsoft, Mastercard, Exxon Mobil and A.P. Moller-Maersk are working with the not-for-profit CRI to help the companies they work with better secure their systems. This includes disseminating guidance recommending the use of passwords that take the form of phrases, administering security updates and providing advice on how to create a policy to ensure that outside USB devices have been approved by the IT team.
As a former CISO with significant insight into third-party risk, Kelly White, founder and CEO of RiskRecon, offers commentary on the initiative in an interview with Information Security Media Group.
"It's not uncommon for companies to have 100 or even 1,000 vendors that they are interconnected with digitally," White says. "That third-party cyber risk is significant to organizations because a breach in one of the third parties can represent a breach in your own enterprise."
White considers the core focus areas of the initiative as practical steps for ensuring that cybersecurity fundamentals for third parties are executed. "We have good cybersecurity standards, but they're standards, not practices and there's a big gap between translating a standard into practices that you implement and operate in your firm," Kelly says. "This is the gap that this initiative intends to plug."
In this interview (see audio link below photo), White also discusses:
- Whether the initiative sufficiently targets cyber risk today;
- How third-party risk will be addressed;
- Threat vectors that all companies should be focusing on.
White is the CEO and co-founder of RiskRecon. He previously held various enterprise security roles, including CISO and director of information security for financial services companies.


text:
Washington State Learning Standards
Common Core State Standards
Standards aren't new, especially in Federal Way Public Schools.
The State of Washington adopted new standards for math and English language arts (reading, writing, speaking and listening). The standards are shared by 46 states and are often referred to as Common Core State Standards or CCSS. Washington state also has its own standards for other subjects such as science and social studies.
Like the standards the district implemented as part of standards-based education, the new standards are a set of learning expectations that progress logically from kindergarten through 12th grade. They create clear expectations for what students should know and be able to do in key areas: reading, writing, speaking and listening, language and mathematics.
Standards are the goals and expectations for students' learning at each grade level. Meeting the standard in one grade or course level prepares the student for what they will learn in the next grade or course, such as Algebra I to Algebra II.
A couple of other things to know:
- Teachers in our district began using the new English language arts and math standards during the 2013-2014 school year.
- The standards are the same for K-12 students at each grade level in all the participating states. This helps students who relocate frequently, including children of military families, keep up with their counterparts.
Smarter Balanced Assessments were given for the first time as the official state assessment in the Spring of 2015. Read more about these assessments here.
The new standards set a higher bar
These standards are challenging but achievable. They will help our students remain competitive with those from other countries.
The English language arts standards require students to spend more time analyzing nonfiction, but understanding short stories, novels and drama is still important. They also expect students to make clear, well-supported arguments. In math, students spend more time understanding how numbers represent quantities (known as "number sense"). They also will develop and defend multiple solutions to problems that reflect real life.
Teachers Still Decide How and What to Teach
The standards are not a curriculum and they don't tell teachers how to teach, or even what to teach. Teachers create lesson plans and decide how they teach what students need to know. Teachers across the nation helped draft the standards, and Federal Way teachers have received on-going training and resources to make instructional shifts needed to align to the new expectations for our students
And real-life skills mean more options.
Learning problem-solving and critical thinking skills that apply to real life, instead of random facts, helps make students more employable whether they choose to go to college or not.
How can parents and guardians help?
- If you haven't already, become familiar with Federal Way's standards-based education system.
- Get familiar with what your student will need to do to be successful at each grade level using the Parents Guide to Success
- Find the priority standards being focused on at each grade level on the FWPS Priority Standards Website.
- The new standards make several important changes to current standards. These changes are called shifts. This chart shows what these shifts change, what you might see in your child's backpack and what you can do to help your child. If your child's assignments do not reflect the shifts, then talk to your child's teacher.
- Make use of on-line practice resources to help your child master the skills encompassed by Common Core.
- Finally, help your child or children understand why they need to do their homework. Not only will they do better in school now, but they will also establish study habits necessary to succeed throughout their school years and into college or other post-secondary education.
More Information and Resources
OSPI's Your Child's Progress (translated in 9 languages)
The Council of the Great City Schools Parent Roadmaps
Review Federal Way Public Schools' Priority Standards
Your Student and Smarter Balanced Testing


text:
New Features in in ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) Server
Sponsored Link
Ubuntu 12.04 ships the latest OpenStack release, codenamed Essex, and a new feature called MAAS. In addition the CharmStore was made available making deployment of centralised charm with Juju easier. A new technology which is available for testing (via a PPA) is AWSOME.
These technologies further position Ubuntu Server as the best OS for scale-out computing. Quality also had a strong focus with continuous integration, deployment and testing of upstream OpenStack commits and automated testing of all Amazon ec2 AMI's from Lucid to Precise.
OpenStack projects have been updated to the Essex final release.
/bin/false is now the default for the nova user (upgrade transition handled).
New binary package, nova-cert is now needed to decrypt images which removes M2Crypto as a requirement.
Quantum has been divided into quantum and quantum client packages.
Glance has new configuration file structure.
nova uses nova-rootwrap by default, which provides a more fine grained security layer.
openstackx has been removed from horizon.
ajaxconsole has been dropped, in favour of a VNC based solution.
ec2 admin api removed.
Quantum, Melange, and Nova network models have been merged.
Many OSAPI extenstions have been added.
euca-upload-bundle now works with keystone.
OpenStack components are deployable via Juju Charms.
Keystone has been updated to Keystone-light (redux branch). Keystone-light is a new, from scratch rewrite this cycle, replacing the existing upstream source from Oneiric / 11.10.
Glance now requires a manual database migration after upgrade.
The default install of Openstack should be used on a protected network, as many components use http (non-SSL) as a transport, and therefore subject to security concerns. This can be mitigated by post install customisations.
Metal as a Service brings the language of the cloud to physical servers. It makes it easy to set up the hardware on which to deploy any service that needs to scale up and down dynamically.
AWSOME ("Any Web Service over Me") provides IAAS API's for OpenStack which are also implemented by Amazon EC2, making it easy to deploy and manage cloud services across both Amazon and OpenStack clouds.
Juju CharmStore now available allowing for deployment of all available charmed services without needing charms local to the environment.
Subordinate Services added allowing for units of different services to be deployed into the same container and to have knowledge of each other.
Machine Constraints added offering users the ability to pick the hardware to which their services will be deployed.
Apache Tomcat 7.0.26 is avaliable in Universe alongside version 6.0.35 which continues to be the supported version for Ubuntu 12.04.
Please note that Tomcat 7 will replace Tomcat 6 as the supported version of Apache Tomcat in Ubuntu 12.10.
Apache ActiveMQ 5.5.0 is avaliable in Universe.
Jenkins 1.424.6 LTS is avaliable in Universe.
OpenJDK 7 (closely aligned to Oracle Java 7) is avaliable in Universe.
Please note that OpenJDK 7 will become the default Java implementation in Ubuntu 12.10.
Groovy 1.8.6 is avaliable in Universe.
Scala 2.9.1 is avaliable in Universe.
Clojure 1.1.0 is avaliable in Universe.
Xen is now included and officially supported:
Provides the facility to run Ubuntu as a Xen virtualisation host (dom0)
Libvirt integration/Xen domains manageable through libvirt or any frontend that uses libvirt.
Guest installations in HVM mode will use optimized paravirt drivers out of the box.
LXC improvements include:
The ability for stock 12.04 images to boot in a container
Apparmor protection to increase security
Support for lvm- and btrfs-backed containers
New ubuntu-cloud template for simple creation of containers based on published Ubuntu Cloud images.
KVM (version 1.0) and Libvirt improvements include:
QED (Qemu enhanced disk format) support
AHCI protocol support
Nested guest support for Intel processors (in addition to AMD support)
Public API to invoke suspend/resume on the host from libvirt
STP and VLAN filtering from libvirt
Bandwidth QoS control in libvirt
CPU bandwidth limits support
File System
CEPH client libraries, librbd and librados, have been added to main supporting use with KVM.
CIFS now has file system cache support to improve performance.
Software RAID now supports bad block management (MD).
ARM Support
OpenMPI 1.5 for ARM available in Universe. (889644)
openmpi 1.5 provides improved ARM support. As this is an upstream beta we have not transitioned openmpi in the archive, but instead added a separate openmpi1.5 package for those who wish to use it.
Query2, a new meta-data service for describing the Ubuntu Cloud Images and their availability, has been introduced. This new meta-data service provides a verbose, machine-readable JSON formatted file that exhaustively describes the currently available Ubuntu Cloud Images hosted on cloud-images.ubuntu.com and official Ubuntu images in public clouds (currently limited to Amazon ec2).
New Zentyal packages available in Universe.
These packages are a rename of the existing ebox packages along with a new upstream release fixing known issues in the current ebox packages in Ubuntu 11.10.
Resara, an open source Linux Domain controller and file server based on Samba4, has been added to Universe.
acpid introduced to both Server and Cloud images by default.
Chef 0.8.16 (948437) and corresponding Ohai packages (948438) removed from precise at the request of OpsCode.
Eucalyptus 2.0.1 (953405) removed from precise at the request of Eucalyptus.
Common Infrastructure
Up until Ubuntu 11.10, administrator access using the sudo tool was granted via the "admin" Unix group. In Ubuntu 12.04, administrator access will be granted via the "sudo" group. This makes Ubuntu more consistent with the upstream implementation and Debian. For compatibility purposes, the "admin" group will continue to provide sudo/administrator access in 12.04.
Hibernate (suspend to disk) has been disabled by default, as it was found to be unreliable, very slow and confusing to have two suspend modes. See bug 812394 for details. If you want to re-enable it, please follow this recipe.
pm-utils now has two new scripts to power down USB and various PCI devices in battery mode. A number of desktop packages were fixed to wake up less often. Both of these reduce power consumption and thus improve battery lifetime.
resolvconf is now used to manage /etc/resolv.conf on all Ubuntu systems. You can learn more here
Backports are now more easily accessible --- to enable users to more easily receive new versions of software, the Ubuntu Backports repository is now enabled by default. Packages from backports will not be installed by default — they must explicitly be selected in package management software. However, once installed, packages from backports will automatically be upgraded to newer versions.
DVD Images --- the DVD images have been cleaned up significantly reducing their size to around 1.5GB to ease consumption. The remaining software remains available via download.
Linux v3.2.14 Kernel
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS ships with an updated kernel moving from the mainline v3.0 series to the mainline v3.2 series. At release we are shipping with the Ubuntu 3.2.0-23.36 kernel which is based on the v3.2.14 upstream stable Linux kernel. The mainline v3.0 to v3.2 stable series update brings a number of new features. Some highlights include:
ext4 gains support for larger base block sizes
btrfs has more work addressing data integrity issues
device mapper gains thin provisioning and recursive snapshots
more work to improve performance under high writeback load
networking improvements for congested networks
ext3 moves to using filesystem barriers
memory allocator improvements
VFS scalability improvements
a new iSCSI implementation
software wait gains bad block management
Key changes in the Ubuntu kernel since the 3.0.0-12.20 Ubuntu kernel as shipped in the 11.10 Ubuntu release include:
Rebase to upstream stable Linux kernel v3.2.14.
The amd64 -generic and -server kernel flavors have been merged into a single -generic kernel flavor for Ubuntu 12.04. Given the few differences that existed between the two flavors, it only made sense to merge the two and reduce the overall maintenance burden over the life of this LTS release.
Support for a new armhf kernel flavor has been introduced.
The non-smp PowerPC kernel flavor has been removed. All hardware currently supported by the non-smp PowerPC kernel flavor should also be supported by the smp PowerPC kernel flavor.
RC6 is enabled by default for Sandy Bridge systems. RC6 is a technology which allows the GPU to go into a very low power consumption state when the GPU is idle (down to 0W). It results in considerable power savings when this stage is activated. When comparing under idle loads with machine state where RC6 is disabled, improved power usage of around 40-60% has been witnessed.
An improved set of jack detection patches has been backported from the upstream v3.3 Linux kernel.
An updated AppArmor patch set has been included to better align with what is landing upstream.
Applied and enabled the seccomp filters feature which uses the packet filtering machinery (BPF) to restrict access to system calls.
A set of kexec fixes for arm from v3.3-rc1 has also been backported.
We've also conducted an extensive review of Ubuntu kernel configs and made numerous config changes as a result.
Upstart 1.5
Upstart has been updated to version 1.5. More details are available in the Upstart Technical Overview.
GNU Toolchain
Ubuntu 12.04 is distributed with a default toolchain that includes: GCC 4.6.3 (and changes from Linaro GCC 4.6-2012.02), binutils 2.22, eglibc 2.15, and Linaro gdb 7.4-2012.04.
Compared to the 11.10 release the toolchain did see only incremental changes and bug fixes; comparing to the 10.04 LTS release, GCC updates include
Updated frontends for better standards support (Ada 2012, Objective-C 2.0, improved experimental support for the upcoming C++0x ISO C++ standard, Fortran 2003 and 2008 improvements, new Go frontend)
Improved optimizations, including better inter-procedural optimizations, and link time optimization (LTO).
Further information can be found upstream (GCC-4.6, GCC-4.5, binutils, gas, ld, gdb).
Python Toolchain
Ubuntu 12.04 includes Python 2.7.3 and Python 3.2.3 Python 2.6 is no longer available for install.
There is expanded support for Python 3 in this release, with Python 3 ports of python-dbus, python-feedparser, germinate, lazr.ui, wadllib, python-defer, python-keyring, and python-qt4 now included, among others.
Java Toolchain
The default run time for Java is OpenJDK 6b24 (IcedTea 1.11.1). OpenJDK 7u3 (IcedTea 2.1) is available in the archive as well.


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Debian Security Advisory
DSA-1119-1 hiki -- design flaw
- Date Reported:
- 22 Jul 2006
- Affected Packages:
- hiki
- Vulnerable:
- Yes
- Security database references:
- In the Debian bugtracking system: Bug 378059.
In the Bugtraq database (at SecurityFocus): BugTraq ID 18785.
In Mitre's CVE dictionary: CVE-2006-3379.
- More information:
Akira Tanaka discovered a vulnerability in Hiki Wiki, a Wiki engine written in Ruby that allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via high CPU consumption using by performing a diff between large and specially crafted Wiki pages.
For the stable distribution (sarge) this problem has been fixed in version 0.6.5-2.
For the unstable distribution (sid) this problem has been fixed in version 0.8.6-1.
We recommend that you upgrade your hiki package.
- Fixed in:
Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 (sarge)
- Source:
- http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/h/hiki/hiki_0.6.5-2.dsc
- http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/h/hiki/hiki_0.6.5-2.diff.gz
- http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/h/hiki/hiki_0.6.5.orig.tar.gz
- http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/h/hiki/hiki_0.6.5-2.diff.gz
- Architecture-independent component:
- http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/h/hiki/hiki_0.6.5-2_all.deb
MD5 checksums of the listed files are available in the original advisory.


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Mini puppet theatre "Castle"$156.00
Home :: Puppets Theatre ::
Our mini wooden puppet theater "Castle" and 12 marionettes by wood is the right toy to spend wonderful moments in playing puppet games, puppet theatre show. Most player in the puppet theatre show are children, but if the children start puppet show plays themselves, the game gets a new life because they live with the puppets. This promotes their imagination and creativity, expressive skills, but also the development of their fine motoring. The theater set includes a puppets theater with four interchangeable scenes and 12 marionettes.
The puppets for kids are hand-painted and made entirely from wood, very strong and resistant to damage. The puppets theatre includes 12 wooden puppets and a number of sets. The theater is complete and ready for performance.
Czech marionettes puppets are set: King, Princess, Prince, Devil, Wizard, Joker, Honza / peasant, peasant woman, Hansel, Gretel, Water man, Dragon.
Scenes, kids puppet stage: fairytale forest, picturesque village, room, Knight's Hall.
The theater measures is 16"x10"x12" (40 x 25 x 31 cm).
Size of marionette is 4"-5" .
An original puppet theater for kids, handmade by a Czech artist. The theatre is used for playing in
a home theater, puppet show for children or as a educational toy for a child.


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Acting on a tip from a 16-year-old church member, Texas Child Protective Services arranged a raid on Friday at the compound of the polygamist sect The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 200 miles outside San Antonio. According to the AP, the teen caller said she was married and had a baby at age 15 with registered sex offender Dale Barlow, 50 — a clear violation of Texas law, as girls under 16 are not allowed to be wed, even with parental approval. The most recent reports state that Texas State troopers removed 219 people out of the compound —a former exotic game ranch, now called Yearning For Zion (YFZ) by the controversial church — but they've been as yet unable to locate the caller who notified child protective services in the first place.
CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner tells the AP: "We're always concerned anytime we have a victim and we can't find that victim. I am confident this girl does indeed exist." Dale Barlow, who was convicted last year of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor, is reportedly in Arizona at the Fundamentalist Church's other compound near the Utah border, and claims that he doesn't know the girl accusing him. According to his probation officer Bill Loader, Barlow has given a DNA sample and is cooperating with investigators.
This isn't the first time the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, a splinter Mormon faction that allows polygamy, has made news. Its controversial leader Warren Jeffs is currently in a Utah jail for arranging a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin, and the church has a reputation for exiling young men so that there can be a gender imbalance that allows for polygamy to be the norm.
The town nearest to the YFZ Ranch, a tiny burg named Eldorado, has been housing the displaced women and children for the past few days, not without suspicion and a little fear — perhaps they envision another Waco. According to the Dallas Morning News, locals think that law enforcement has been waiting since Jeffs' arrest to raid the compound. Randy Mankin, the editor of the Eldorado Success newspaper, told the Morning News, Child Protective Services "got the tip they've been waiting for, and I think they had the plan in place for how they were going to deal with it." The 200 or so women and children remain at a historic fort in nearby San Angelo for now, as officials are still trying to find the 16-year-old victim.
Troopers Probe Texas Polygamist Compound [AP]
137 Children Removed From Polygamist Ranch [CNN]
Man Accused Of Impregnating Teenager In Connection With Texas Polygamy Raid Says He Doesn't Know His Accuser [Salt Lake Tribune]
State Still Searching For Children At Polygamist Sect's Ranch [Dallas Morning News]


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Hold on to your iPads — Apple has announced that its CEO and co-founder, Steve Jobs, is resigning due to health reasons. What this means for the future of the world's most valuable company is unclear.
Check out what cartoonists think of this huge announcement, as well as their jabs at Jobs over the years, with our new Steve Jobs Resigns cartoon slideshow.


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Super Street Fighter IV features the full roster of 25 characters from Street Fighter IV such as Ryu, Ken, Crimson Viper, Abel, El Fuerte, and Rufus, while adding about eight characters new to the world of Street Fighter IV. The impressive new roster includes classic combatants from previous Street Fighter games like T. Hawk as well as all-new characters such as the mysterious and deadly female fighter, Juri.Super Street Fighter IV adds new Ultra Combos and advancements to the state of the art online matchmaking and online gameplay introduced in Street Fighter IV with numerous additional features. Super Street Fighter IV takes many of the groundbreaking features introduced in Street Fighter IV and refines everything to deliver the ultimate vision of Street Fighter.
|Brand Name
|GameStop Exclusive
|Street Fighter
|Publisher Name
|Developer Name


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Chocolate cake + Lindt Chocolate + Balloons Birthday Gift Combo To Dubai Sharjah Abu Dhabi UAE
- Call / Whatsapp 0333-2225425 for details
- Free Gift Card and message on cake
- Order 2-3 working days before delivery date
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- Payment through Bank transfer / ATM Transfer / EasyPaisa / Office Payment in Karachi
- Rs.600 for Friday Delivery
- Rs.600 for same delivery for orders before 1pm
- Rs.1300 extra for midnight delivery between 11.30pm to 1am
- Rs.250 for payment collection in Karachi
Related products
We are a courier company in Karachi and Online Gift Store in Pakistan to send Birthday Cakes, Flowers, Chocolates, Perfumes from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi to USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Dubai, UAE, Germany, Saudi Arabia.
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Office : Nursery Market, Karachi Pakistan


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Then quietly in procession came men and children holding lit candles and walking in a single file. As they walked in, the solemn song, Only Time, by the Irish singer Enya Paticia Brennan, enveloped the air.
As they made their way towards the podium with a wreath, pictures came on in a slideshow on the screen. They were black and white footages that showed men, women and children in different stages of pain, hunger, hurt, death and hope.
There were pictures children malnourished and in pains; there were those of mothers carrying their sick and dying babies with hope and fear in their eyes looking pleadingly at the world through the lens of the camera asking for help.
There was a picture of a man; may have been a father, brother, relation or a neighbour, carrying the burnt out corpse of a young child killed apparently in an air raid going by the plume of smoke on the picture background.
There were also pictures of gallant Biafran soldiers at different stages during the civil war in Nigeria from 1968 to 1970.
As members of the Igbo Canadian Community Association (ICCA/UMUNNA), led by their former president, Chief Chris Nsoedo, stood still, the real essence of the annual Biafra Memorial Day became clearer in the dark ballroom as the slides of pictures showed on the screen.
"Today, we gather at this Biafra Memorial Event to lay a wreath to honour the brave men and women who died while serving under the Biafra war. They Died That We May Live; In Remembrance of our Heroes past I dedicate this honour to those who rose from the ashes of genocide to build a nation n of hope. Please join me in a moment of silence in tribute to their bravery," Nsoedo said when the lights came on.
And there was silence.
In that moment of silence people had reflections of what the Igbo people from the South East region of the present day Nigeria went through.
It was a period of death and survival; fire and bullets; hunger and famine and a total annihilation led by the Federal government of Nigeria. Men, women and children lost their lives.
Over three million were killed while the world looked away. It was genocide; it was a calculated attempt at wiping a people who had the situation brought upon them.
"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old and age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. May we never ever have to face such tragedy again and May their souls through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen."
It was the 16th edition of the Biafra Memorial Day organized by the ICCA/UMUNNA, an annual remembrance done to pay honour and remember those three million people that lost their lives.
In his opening remark, the President of ICCA/UMUNNA, Chief Ugochukwu Okoro explained the reason behind the annual event was to continue telling the story of the inhuman treatment at their period and also to celebrate the survival of Ndigbi from that carnage.
"This memorial event is aimed at telling our story, owing that the Nigerian government appear to ignore the circumstances that took lives to the tune of that number. That part of history is facing so much suppression by the actors; unfortunately, the world also seems not concerned as well. Genocide is a crime against humanity," he started, "The world has recognized and criticizes what happened to the Jews from the Holocaust and Rwandan genocides etc. We hope that someday the Genocide against the Biafrans will be given the recognition it deserves.
I believe that will bring healing to the pain the people faced and probably remove the injustices they still face in the country. Permit me to say that Genocide has continued to happen in Nigeria even after the war. The Army has at any slightest provocation massacred citizens without remorse."
Okoro went further to state that no family in Igboland was not affected and lost someone during the war that happened 52 years ago.
"There is hardly any family from the Eastern part of the country that was not impacted by that genocide. Most parents watched their children die out of starvation due to food Aid blockade. My uncle narrated his experience after the war, how heartbroken it was to behold the tears of parents who came to welcome the soldiers, only to discover their own children didn't make it,"he said and thanked friends of Ndigbo that always came for the remembrance.
"To our friends from different nationalities, your presence here, means support and helps in the healing, knowing you share in our pain. Ladies and Gentlemen, we celebrate and honour the lives of our loved ones lost in the genocide of 1967 and thereafter and affirm the bond of community, memory, and hope that sustains us in sorrow. We are all encouraged by the way the Biafrans came together to rebuild themselves. The Biafrans are a force to reckon with in any profession. The wave of academic excellence of our Children currently blowing around the world is an example of how endowed we are."
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ICCA/UMUNNA, Chief Pastor Ben Allison while delivering a paper entitled, "They Died that we May live: In remembrance of our Heroes Past, gave an insightful details of what culminated to the war and the misunderstandings that have put a label on the action that initiated the war as being Igbo inspired.
"There is poignant similarity between the horrific deaths of 3 million people in Eastern Nigeria and the 800, 000 slaughter and killings of Tutsis in Rwanda. The genocide in Rwanda was sparked by the death of the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, when his plane was shot down above Kigali airport on 6 April 1994 by alleged Tutsi conspirators. The majority Hutu tribe retaliated by organizing a well-planned and coordinated systematic killings of Tutsis of all ages regardless of their innocence," Allison explained.
"In Nigeria, a group of army officers, mostly of Igbo origin and a Yoruba officer led a coup that toppled the civilian government and killed some of the leaders of that government. No Igboleader in that civilian government was killed. The predictable result was that non-Igbo army officers, particularly from Northern Nigeria, outraged by the killing of their leaders responded first, by exterminating a large body of Igbo officers in a counter coup. More than 30, 000 civilian Igbo population in Northern Nigeria were massacred."
Allison, who also doubles as the Board Chairman of the Nigeria Canadian Association (NCA), narrated several attempts made by the people of the then Eastern region to reconcile and avoid the looming war.
"The people of Eastern Nigeria remonstrated deeply and there were employment of bellicose political languages by both the leadership of Eastern Nigeria and the military government in Lagos. Several meetings to defuse and resolve the differences were unsuccessful. Threatened by military action by the government in Lagos, Eastern Nigeria declared itself a separate republic of Biafra leading to initial skirmishes and full-blown civil war."
This, he said led to a total blockage of Biafra which eventually led to the death of millions of women and children.
Allison revealed the post-war strategy initiated by the Federal Government of Nigeria to keep the atrocities committed during the period of the war from history books.
"In Nigeria, the military class that won the war banned and suppressed information and open discussion about that war with the exception of the parts that glorified them. They even banned any formal teaching of the history of the Nigerian civil war in institutions of higher learning and discouraged meaningful discussions regarding it and the deaths of millions of people in Biafra."
He called for an open conversation of what happened during the war to be had in Nigeria with the government involvement as one step towards healing the pain, anguish and sorrow still on the minds of generations of Ndigbo.
"One major way to stop the mindless killings taking place all over our dear country Nigeria today is to engage in honest and serious conversations regarding all the sad, painful, and shameful areas of our collective past and present. There is an urgent and immediate need for such conversations. But it must be a conversation guided by honesty, truth, justice, fairness, mutual respect for one another, equity, love and compassion. Finally, just like Agwu Okpanku, we hold these annual Biafra Memorial Events in order to give voice to the deaths of millions of our brethren that died in Biafra."
In her speech, the President of the Nigeria Canadian Association (NCA) Mrs. Kemi Amusan called for a greater collaboration among Nigerians irrespective of ethnicity as a way forward in building trust again among Nigerians.
"I am happy that today in Canada we are leading by example and at the NCA we live as one family from one country. I believe that is what is needed in Nigeria to strengthen the unity we have as a country and people."
Brampton City Councillor, Charmaine Williams, who represented the Mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown, called on the Nigeria community to increase their participation in governance in Ontario and Canada.
"Even as we remember those that died, there is need for the Nigeria community to participate in issues that concerns governance. You have the opportunity to educate and get involved in your community and go for elective offices. That is one way of building a greater nation and encouraging great patriotism."
There was a presentation of the annual scholarship to students who gained admission to higher learning and the 2019 recipient, Mr. Nkemdilim Onyemah was handed a cheque for $1000. The presentation was made by the former recipients of the award, Miss Chika Oruiwa. Nkemdilim, who got admitted into the University of Waterloo, was very appreciative of the honour bestowed on him and promised to make the Igbo community proud.
Highlight of the occasion was the bestowing of a Chieftaincy title of Onye Udo Ndigbo Toronto, Canada to the ICCA Board chairman, Chief Pastor Ben Allison and his wife. The honour which was done through an order from the ancient Igbo Kingdom of Nri, saw the recipient dressed in traditional chieftaincy title with his traditional fan bearing his title.
The ICCA women dance added colour to the event and thrilled the audience.


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Here's an item from this week's PressPac that we thought you'd enjoy. The PressPac features summaries of articles appearing in our peer-reviewed journals and Chemical & Engineering News. To get the entire PressPac in your inbox, email us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
For some people, nothing can top a morsel of luxuriously rich, premium chocolate. But until now, other than depending on their taste buds, chocolate connoisseurs had no way of knowing whether they were getting what they paid for. In ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, scientists are reporting, for the first time, a method to authenticate the varietal purity and origin of cacao beans, the source of chocolate's main ingredient, cocoa.
Dapeng Zhang and colleagues note that lower-quality cacao beans often get mixed in with premium varieties on their way to becoming chocolate bars, truffles, sauces and liqueurs. But the stakes for policing the chocolate industry are high. It's a multi-billion dollar global enterprise, and in some places, it's as much art as business. There's also a conservation angle to knowing whether products are truly what confectioners claim them to be. The ability to authenticate premium and rare varieties would encourage growers to maintain cacao biodiversity rather than depend on the most abundant and easiest to grow trees. Researchers have found ways to verify through genetic testing the authenticity of many other crops, including cereals, fruits, olives, tea and coffee, but those methods aren't suitable for cacao beans. Zhang's team wanted to address this challenge.
Applying the most recent developments in cacao genomics, they were able to identify a small set of DNA markers called SNPs (pronounced "snips") that make up unique fingerprints of different cacao species. The technique works on single cacao beans and can be scaled up to handle large samples quickly. "To our knowledge, this is the first authentication study in cacao using molecular markers," the researchers state.
The authors acknowledge funding from the Agricultural Research Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a financial gift from the Lindt and Sprüngli chocolate company through the World Cocoa Foundation.
"Accurate Determination of Genetic Identity for a Single Cacao Bean, Using Molecular Markers with a Nanofluidic System, Ensures Cocoa Authentication"
Click here for the abstract.
*Journalists can request a PDF of the journal article by emailing firstname.lastname@example.com.
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Maritime industries include both shipbuilding and recreational craft. These two sectors benefit from EU support for trade, the environment, and the application of standards on building provisions and administrative procedures.
Shipbuilding sector
The shipbuilding sector includes larger vessels such as commercial or military vessels. It also includes products and services or the building, conversion, and maintenance of these ships (both seagoing and inland).
The European shipbuilding industry is a dynamic and competitive sector, both in the EU and worldwide. It is important from an economic and social perspective. Shipbuilding offers a wide range of technologies and employs a significant number of workers. It generates income in foreign currency as the global shipbuilding market is dollar-based. It also affects other areas such as transport, security, research, and the environment.
The EU promotes the industry's development and addresses competitiveness issues. The sector is constantly monitored by the European Commission (see in particular LeaderSHIP 2020 (1 MB)). Action is taken in cooperation with stakeholders to further enhance competitiveness and promote the sector's development.
- More on the shipbuilding sector
Recreational craft sector
The recreational craft sector refers to boats with a hull length of 2.5m to 24m intended for leisure or sport. It includes the internal market legislation that these products must comply with, so they can be sold freely on the EU market.
The sector is regulated at EU level for safety and environmental standards, as well as design and production requirements, and administrative procedures. The aim is to ensure the sustainable development of the sector from an economic, social, and environmental perspective.
- More on the recreational craft sector


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Scientists Discover New State of Matter, Could Be Used To Upgrade Microchips
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5067499/scientists-discover-new-state-of-matter-could-be-used-to-upgrade-microchips
McGill University researchers have discovered a new state of matter to go along with good ol' solid, liquid, gas, plasma and a handful of quantum states—it's called a quasi-three-dimensional electron crystal. While the name sounds like something that would sap Superman's powers, this new state of matter could be used to fabricate modern transistors and continue Moore's Law... possibly indefinitely.
The quasi-three-dimensional electron crystals were discovered in a device scientists cooled at ultra-low temperatures – roughly 100 times colder than intergalactic space. They then exposed it to the most powerful magnetic fields possible on Earth, which made it "pop" from a 2D electron system to a semi-3D one. It could also help improve transistors, allowing for greater density on a single microchip. Looks like Gordon Moore can rest assure that his law won't be broken for another long while. [Science Blog]
(Note: That's not a picture of the new state of matter, by the way.)


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This post may contain affiliate links. We may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase.
Read Disclosure
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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Firefighters at Walt Disney World were warned to stop feeding alligators at one of the resort's fire stations two months before an alligator killed a toddler.
According to emails obtained by Orlando Sentinel, Reedy Creek Emergency Services admonished firefighters for feeding at least one of two alligators at a station less than a half-mile from Seven Seas Lagoon where 2-year-old son Lane Graves was killed after being pulled into the water by a gator.
Feeding alligators is illegal.
The email said employees were afraid after one gator was spotted near the parking lot and asked officials to remove it.
Reedy Creek District Administrator John Classe said Disney's animal-control department was contacted but he did not know whether either alligator was ever removed.
A Disney spokeswoman said Wednesday it was unclear whether the gator had been removed.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.