text:
Independent Payment Advisory Board Will Help Reduce Health Costs
Repealing IPAB Would be Unwise
The health reform legislation enacted in 2010 (the Affordable Care Act, or ACA) establishes the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB — a presidentially appointed commission that will help slow the growth of Medicare costs if those costs are projected to exceed a specified target level.[1] Other cost-control measures included in the ACA will likely produce most or all of the savings needed to meet the spending target, but IPAB serves as an important backstop to contain costs if these measures prove inadequate.
Contrary to critics' claims, IPAB will not usurp the role of Congress in setting Medicare policy, nor will it limit Medicare beneficiaries' access to care. Efforts to repeal IPAB are misguided. If successful, such efforts could lead to more draconian steps, such as replacing guaranteed Medicare benefits with a premium support system, or voucher, whose value would fall farther behind the cost of health care each year.
How IPAB Will Operate
The Independent Payment Advisory Board is an expert body charged with developing and submitting proposals to slow the growth of Medicare and private health care spending and improve the quality of care. The President nominates the board's 15 members, who require Senate confirmation, for staggered six-year terms. The board must include physicians and other health professionals, experts in health finance, health services researchers, employers, and representatives of consumers and the elderly. To prevent control by special interests, health care providers may not constitute a majority of the board's membership.
If the projected growth in Medicare costs per beneficiary for 2015 and thereafter exceeds a specified target level (computed as a five-year moving average), the board must produce a proposal to reduce or eliminate the difference. If the board fails to submit the required proposal, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) must submit one instead. For 2015 through 2019, the target growth rate is the average of overall inflation and medical inflation. For 2020 and thereafter, the target is the rate of increase in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita plus one percentage point. The required reductions, however, may not exceed 0.5 percent of Medicare spending in 2015, 1.0 percent in 2016, 1.25 percent in 2017, and 1.5 percent in 2018 and thereafter.[2] Thus, the target growth rate does not necessarily represent a binding cap on Medicare spending.
The board's proposal (or that of the Secretary) may not include any recommendation to ration health care, increase Medicare premiums or cost-sharing, cut Medicare benefits, or restrict eligibility. It must focus exclusively on proposals for achieving savings in the payment and delivery of health care services — not shifting costs to beneficiaries.
The board's recommendations will go into effect automatically unless Congress passes, and the President signs, legislation to modify or overturn them. Congress may consider, on a fast-track basis, an alternative proposal that achieves the same amount of savings; if the alternative proposal achieves a smaller amount of savings, approval requires a three-fifths vote of the Senate. If the board recommends changes that the President supports, the President can veto legislation to block them, and as is always the case, a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate would be required to override a veto.
Starting in 2015, the board is also required to make advisory recommendations at least every other year for slowing the growth of non-federal health care spending while preserving or enhancing the quality of care. These recommendations do not go into effect automatically and can be implemented only through discretionary actions by the federal government, state or local governments, or private-sector entities.
IPAB Will Backstop Other Cost-Control Measures
The Independent Payment Advisory Board provides an important backstop to the other cost-containment measures in the Affordable Care Act. The ACA puts in place several complementary approaches to slow the growth of Medicare costs.
First, the ACA trims payments to health care providers under Medicare's current payment mechanisms. Medicare payment rates for covered services are updated annually based on increases in the prices of the goods and services purchased by providers. The ACA reduces the annual payment updates to account for improvements in economy-wide productivity in those cases where the updates did not already incorporate such adjustments. The productivity adjustments will have a big effect over the long run, reducing the growth of payments to providers by about one percentage point per year.[3] The ACA also makes further reductions in the payment updates for hospitals through 2019 (in addition to the productivity adjustments), reduces overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans (the private insurance plans that participate in Medicare), and revises payments for home health care.
Second, the ACA begins to restructure the health care payment and delivery system to stop paying providers for more visits or procedures and begin rewarding effective, high-value health care. Among other steps, it reduces Medicare payments to hospitals with high readmission rates, creates new payment models to reward accountable care organizations (physician-led organizations that take responsibility for the cost and quality of care), and initiates pilot programs for bundling Medicare payments to hospitals and other medical facilities for services they provide during a single episode of care. The ACA also establishes a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to identify and foster new ways to increase the value of care and better coordinate care for low-income Medicare beneficiaries who also are enrolled in Medicaid, and gives the HHS Secretary authority to implement approaches that prove successful in reducing costs and maintaining health-care quality without new legislation. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has not estimated savings from these provisions in the next ten years because their effects are not yet proven, but they hold promise to slow the growth of Medicare spending over the long run.
The third element of cost-control is the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which serves as a backstop or fail-safe mechanism. Only if the first two approaches do not hold the growth of Medicare spending to the targets will the IPAB process be triggered.
Payment Changes Will Produce Most of the Needed Savings
Both CBO and the Administration project that the ACA's explicit reductions in Medicare payment rates will produce most or all of the savings needed to meet the law's spending targets and that IPAB recommendations will not be needed in the next few years.
According to the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicare spending per beneficiary is projected to grow by about 3 percent a year over the next ten years, well below its average of 7 percent a year during the previous decade and also below the projected rate of growth of private health care costs.[4] Both the 2011 Medicare trustees' report and the President's fiscal year 2013 budget project that IPAB will be called upon to reduce Medicare spending for 2018 and 2019 — but not in any other year.
CBO reaches much the same conclusion. It projects that Medicare expenditures per beneficiary will grow by an average of just under 3 percent per year from 2015 through 2022 and that IPAB will not be needed to achieve additional Medicare savings to hit the Medicare spending target in any of those years. Recognizing that any projections are uncertain, however, CBO acknowledges that there is some chance the IPAB mechanism will be triggered and therefore attaches a cost to repealing IPAB — about $3 billion over the next ten years.[5]
Some observers have expressed concern that IPAB is prohibited from proposing cuts in hospital payments through 2019. Congress included this limitation in the ACA because hospitals agreed, as part of the ACA, to other reductions in their payment rates to help pay for health reform and to strengthen Medicare's finances. The measure restricting IPAB from proposing reductions in hospital payments through 2019 will have little practical significance anyway if IPAB is not required to recommend significant savings during these years.
The chief actuary of CMS and other analysts have raised questions about whether the health-care sector can consistently achieve the same improvements in productivity as the rest of the economy, and therefore whether the productivity-based adjustments to Medicare's payment rates can be sustained indefinitely. The actuary's office has therefore prepared an illustrative alternative projection in which the productivity adjustments are gradually phased down after 2020.[6] If the productivity adjustments in the Affordable Care Act were only partially implemented, as the actuary speculates, then IPAB would have an important role to play as a backstop method of cost containment. (Here, too, IPAB recommendations likely would not be needed before 2018.)
IPAB Will Not Usurp the Role of Congress
One criticism of IPAB is that it will usurp the role of Congress and place too much power in the hands of unelected government officials.[7] This charge, however, is highly exaggerated.
To some extent, limiting congressional micromanagement of Medicare payment policy is desirable. Many times in the past, efforts to reform Medicare payments have been slowed or stopped by health-care interests that have successfully lobbied Congress to protect their income stream at Medicare's expense. Examples include attempts to institute such basic, common-sense reforms as use of competitive bidding for durable medical equipment and measures to reduce overpayments to private insurance plans, secure better prices for prescription drugs, and place limits on physician-owned hospitals (which typically focus on highly profitable services and healthier patients).[8] IPAB can give Congress political cover for making necessary but controversial decisions such as these that are opposed by special interests that can finance high-powered lobbying campaigns and make substantial campaign contributions.
Moreover, if Congress wishes to, it can structure the Medicare program so that it meets the spending targets without having to call upon IPAB. According to current projections, actions that Congress has already taken in enacting the ACA will do precisely that for much of the coming decade. But even if the IPAB process is triggered, Congress can always substitute its own proposals for those that IPAB recommends. Furthermore, as previously noted, the law places tight restrictions on what IPAB may propose; the board may not make recommendations to ration health care, cut benefits, increase premiums and cost sharing, or restrict eligibility for the program.
"Giving a body of experts the capacity to propose ways to slow spending growth will not diminish the power of elected officials," a group of over 100 health policy experts has written, "because Congress may approve, disapprove, or replace the IPAB's proposals with alternatives that achieve the same objectives."[9] As Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has put it, "Congress has the final say over Medicare policy. And Congress has the final say over all IPAB recommendations."[10] Or as Rep. George Miller (D-CA) has observed, "Congress retains its role in health care — but in an improved, more efficient fashion."[11]
Alternatives to IPAB Would Be Far Worse
The other major criticism of IPAB is that it will limit beneficiaries' access to care. This accusation is the opposite of the truth. In fact, if IPAB is repealed, the alternatives are likely to be much worse for Medicare beneficiaries.
IPAB has an important role to play in the effort to improve the efficiency of the health care payment and delivery system. Drawing on the studies, demonstrations, and pilot projects initiated by the ACA, the board will be in a position to develop thoughtful, cost-effective ways of slowing the growth of Medicare and other health spending instead of imposing across-the-board, poorly targeted cuts in payments to providers or increases in beneficiaries' premiums or cost sharing.
For example, the law authorizes IPAB to recommend changes in relative payment amounts for different forms of care. IPAB could propose higher payments for treatments and prevention activities that are found to be more cost-effective. Such changes would not restrict the choices of either physicians or beneficiaries, but they could prompt both providers and patients to pay more careful attention to the latest research findings.[12] IPAB could also recommend payment methods that would reward providers for quality and efficiency and offer incentives for consumers to choose more efficient providers or procedures.[13]
IPAB is an important piece of the ACA's strategy to slow the growth of health care costs through delivery system reforms, such as accountable care organizations, bundled payments, and comparative effectiveness research. If the law's cost-growth target is missed, IPAB is charged with developing proposals to produce the requisite savings while shielding Medicare beneficiaries from increases in premiums or cost sharing or reductions in benefits. If IPAB is repealed, however, Congress is more likely to consider blunt proposals that would significantly shift costs to beneficiaries, such as sharply increasing Medicare premiums, deductibles, and co-insurance and raising the Medicare eligibility age.[14]
Most important, repealing IPAB would fuel pressure to replace the current Medicare guarantee with a system of vouchers or premium support, under which beneficiaries would bear the brunt of efforts to control costs. Premium support would replace Medicare's guarantee of health coverage with a fixed payment, or voucher, that beneficiaries would use to help them purchase either private health insurance or traditional Medicare.[15] It would achieve budgetary savings by limiting the growth of the voucher to less than the rate of growth of health care costs. As a result, Medicare beneficiaries would have to pay more in premiums or receive less in benefits with each passing year — precisely the outcome that IPAB is directed to avoid.
As well as shifting costs to beneficiaries, premium support would deny Medicare much of its ability to serve as a leader in controlling health-care costs by depriving it of the considerable market power it enjoys based on its large enrollment. Thanks to Medicare's role as the largest purchaser of health care, adoption by Medicare of IPAB recommendations is likely to lead in many cases to their adoption by private insurers as well, which have proven much less effective in driving cost control on their own, and who have often looked to Medicare to institute cost-containment measures first and then followed suit. In contrast, even if traditional Medicare were retained as an option, premium support would substantially reduce enrollment in traditional Medicare, dilute its buying power, and likely result in increases rather than decreases in overall health care costs.
Possible Improvements in IPAB
Critics of IPAB have also raised other objections to the board — some simply false, others inconsistent with each other. For example, opponents have erroneously claimed that IPAB members could accept gifts of money or property from lobbyists.[16] In fact, the law makes clear that IPAB members are subject to the same ethical standards as officers of the executive branch — including a prohibition on receipt of gifts.[17] Some critics have described the salaries of IPAB's members as "generous," while others have argued that the board won't pay enough to attract a sufficient number of well qualified members. (IPAB membership will be a full-time position, and members will be compensated at the rate for level III of the Executive Schedule, currently $165,300 a year.)
None of this is to suggest that IPAB leaves no room for improvement. In particular, changes could be made that would allow IPAB to focus less on short-term savings and more on proposals to slow the growth of costs in the long run. In addition, since health care cost growth fundamentally is a system-wide problem rather than a Medicare-specific problem, Congress could allow IPAB to make binding recommendations to reform payments and slow cost growth in the private sector as well as in Medicare. While Medicare has frequently been the key leader in developing innovative ways to reduce costs, such as developing the prospective payment system for hospital care that was later adopted by private insurers, IPAB could be improved to help accelerate that trend. In these ways, IPAB could play an expanded role in promoting payment and delivery reform throughout the health care system.[18]
End Notes
[1]Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111-148, section 3403, as amended by section 10320.
[2] For details of how the process will work, see Jack Ebeler, The Independent Payment Advisory Board: A New Approach to Controlling Medicare Spending, Kaiser Family Foundation, April 2011, http://www.kff.org/medicare/upload/8150.pdf.
[3] Office of the Actuary, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Projected Medicare Expenditures under an Illustrative Scenario with Alternative Payment Updates to Medicare Providers, May 13, 2011, https://www.cms.gov/ReportsTrustFunds/Downloads/2011TRAlternativeScenario.pdf.
[4] Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, National Health Expenditure Projections 2010-2020: Forecast Summary and Selected Tables, July 2011, table 17, https://www.cms.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/proj2010.pdf.
[5] Congressional Budget Office, Cost Estimate, H.R. 452, Medicare Decisions Accountability Act of 2011, March 7, 2012, http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/hr452_2012.pdf.
[6] Office of the Actuary, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Projected Medicare Expenditures under an Illustrative Scenario with Alternative Payment Updates to Medicare Providers.
[7] Jennifer Haberkorn, "Health Policy Brief: The Independent Payment Advisory Board," Health Affairs, December 15, 2011, http://healthaffairs.org/healthpolicybriefs/brief_pdfs/healthpolicybrief_59.pdf.
[8] Topher Spiro, The Independent Payment Advisory Board: Protecting Medicare Beneficiaries and Taxpayers from Special Interests, Center for American Progress, March 5, 2012, http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/03/pdf/spiro_ipab.pdf.
[9] Henry Aaron and others, Letter to the Honorable John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Mitch McConnell, May 20, 2011, http://nchc.org/sites/default/files/resources/Document.pdf.
[10] Henry A. Waxman, Opening Statement, House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Health, July 13, 2011.
[11] George Miller, Testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Health Subcommittee, Hearing on the Independent Payment Advisory Board, July 13, 2011.
[12] Henry Aaron, "IPAB Repeal Not Warranted," Politico, July 14, 2011.
[13] Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, "The Independent Payment Advisory Board," New England Journal of Medicine, May 26, 2010.
[14] See, for example, Paul N. Van de Water, Raising Medicare's Eligibility Age Would Increase Overall Health Spending and Shift Costs to Seniors, States and Employers, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, August 23, 2011, and Juliette Cubanski et al., Restructuring Medicare's Benefit Design: Implications for Beneficiaries and Spending,Kaiser Family Foundation, November 2011.
[15] Paul N. Van de Water, Converting Medicare to Premium Support Would Likely Lead to Two-Tier Health Care System, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, September 26, 2011.
[16] U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means, Troubling Things You May Not Know About IPAB, March 5, 2012.
[17] Section 1899A(g)(1)(C) of the Social Security Act, as added by section 3403 of the ACA.
[18] Judith Feder, Testimony Before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Health Subcommittee, July 13, 2011.


text: Oracle plans to release a large number of security patches for its various software products next week, including six bug-fixes for its flagship database software.All told, there will be 73 security vulnerabilities fixed across Oracle's various product lines. Oracle releases patches for all of its software - except the Java virtual machine -- quarterly, in a set of patches it calls the Critical Patch Update (CPU).Next week's CPU is due on Tuesday. There are nine fixes set for Oracle Fusion middleware, 14 for the PeopleSoft Suite and eight for the JD Edwards Suite. Two of the database flaws are considered critical, meaning they "may be exploited over a network without the need for a username and password," Oracle said in a statement posted to its website Thursday.The updates are set to come one week after Microsoft issued one of the largest collections of security patches it has ever issued. They also come on the tail of Apple Mac OS X, Safari and iOS updates, released Thursday.Oracle will patch many of its Sun products, including Solaris and some of the Java server software. However, the widely used Java SE and Java for Business client software are not scheduled to be updated in next week's release.Oracle seems to be trying to put client-side Java on its quarterly Critical Patch Update schedule, but it's not quite there yet. While the company's Oct. 18 CPU will include the Java platform, the next scheduled Java fix is set for June 7. That's out of synch with the next CPU for the rest of Oracle's products, which is due July 19.Robert McMillan covers computer security and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Robert on Twitter at @bobmcmillan. Robert's e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Path Of Ages || Petra Jordan
During Petra by Night, The Treasury is bathed in brilliant glowing candlelight.
Time Stands Still || Petra Jordan
As the stars dance above the treasury in the ancient site of Petra Jordan.
Test Of Time || Petra Jordan
The stars dance with the candlelight at night in the ancient archaeological site of Petra Jordan.
Monuments of Eternity || Petra Jordan
The timeless archaeology site of Petra Jordan, as a fiery sun sets over the ancient stone remains of the monastery.


text: Donation Requests In order to be considered and help us expedite the donation procedure, please complete this form in its entirety (all fields are required). Requests should be made at least two weeks prior to the event date. Organization Information Name of Organization * Organization City * Organization State * Contact Person (First Name) * Contact Person (Last Name) * Phone Number * Contact Email * Are you a Charitable Organization? * YesNo Event Information Date of Event ( 00/00/0000) * Name of Event * What type of event will you be hosting? (Silent or live auction, raffle, etc.) * What kind of attendance do you anticipate for your event? * Who will these proceeds benefit? * Additional Comments (optional) Please include a wish list of your top 3 requests for donation. (Cash, trade, product, other) * 1. 2. 3. www.romantichoneymoonisland.com Would you like to receive special offers? Join the Club! * indicates required field


text:
The Secret Beyond Matter
The Dark Spell of Darwinism
Why Do Darwinists Cast Their Spells?
Throughout history, men and women have sought answers to basic, essential questions: How did everything —living and non-living— in this universe come to exist? Who are we, and where did we come from? They have made philosophical inquiries into these subjects and come up with various notions. However, there is one clear answer to these questions that requires no long investigation. A person who looks without prejudice at everything in the universe, both animate and inanimate —beginning with his own body— can realize that all things have been created by a single Creator Who has superior power, wisdom and knowledge. Such a person will understand that from the harmony between his own body and the Earth he lives on; to the balance among the stars, galaxies and other celestial bodies; from the abundance of the water he needs to survive to the colorful world around him and all the beautiful living things in it —all this clearly reveals the existence of a merciful and protective Creator.
That supreme Creator is Almighty Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds. He has revealed the Fact of Creation in such a way that human beings can discover it using their faculty of reason, and He has announced it to all people through the mediation of messengers whom He has chosen from among them. Throughout history, however, there have been many who rejected these facts. Despite all the proofs for the existence of Allah that have been set before them, and even though Allah has shown them obvious miracles, still they persist in rejecting His existence. In the Qur'an, His final revelation, Allah tells us of such people:
They have sworn by Allah with their most earnest oaths that if a Sign comes to them they will believe in it. Say: "The Signs are in Allah's control alone." What will make you realize that even if a Sign did come, they would still not believe? We will overturn their hearts and sight, just as when they did not believe in it at first, and We will abandon them to wander blindly in their excessive insolence. Even if We sent down angels to them, and the dead spoke to them, and We gathered together everything in front of them right before their eyes, they would still not believe unless Allah willed. The truth is that most of them are ignorant. (Surat Al-An'am:109-111)
Still another group of people claims to believe that Allah exists but—as can be seen from their behavior—they do not acknowledge His power and eternal might. They know that He has created everything that exists, yet still they ignore His messengers and reject the truth these messengers proclaim. In the Qur'an, Allah reveals to us the spiritual condition of such people:
It is He Who has created hearing, sight and hearts for you. What little thanks you show! It is He Who dispersed you about the Earth and you will be gathered to Him. It is He Who gives life and causes to die and His is the alternation of the night and day. So will you not use your intellect? However, they say the same as previous peoples said. They say, "When we are dead and turned to dust and bones, shall we then be raised again? "We and our forefathers were promised this before. This is nothing but the myths of previous peoples!" Say: "To whom does the Earth belong, and everyone in it, if you have any knowledge?" They will say: "To Allah." Say: "So will you not pay heed?" Say: "Who is the Lord of the Seven Heavens and the Lord of the Mighty Throne?" They will say: "Allah." Say: "So will you not guard against evil?" Say: "In whose hand is the dominion over everything, He Who gives protection and from Whom no protection can be given, if you have any knowledge?" They will say: "Alah's." Say: "So how have you been bewitched?" The fact is that We have given them the truth and they are liars. (Surat Al-Muminun:78-90)
From these verses, we can see that even though these people know that Allah is the Creator of all things and the Judge of heaven and Earth, still they reject religious morals. They also reject the revelations made by Allah's messengers concerning the resurrection and the afterlife and even regard these truths as simply myths from the past.
How can these people be so resolute in denying the existence of Allah, even though they have seen and acknowledged the proofs for it?
Why do some people employ such false suggestions and sorcery to deceive both themselves and others?
Anyone who believes in Allah's existence and eternal power and who doesn't pretend he cannot understand this truth also realizes that in addition, he is responsible to Allah. Allah has created him, like every other human being, from nothing and has put a multitude of things in the universe at his service. Anyone who understands that his birth, life and death all lie within the power of Allah's will, must use his whole life to please the Creator Who created him from nothing and endowed him with so many ble
Those who, in their arrogance, do not believe, also refuse to submit to Allah or gain His favor. They turn a deaf ear to His commands and prohibitions. They have made it a principle to stay unfettered and not to grant obedience to any authority: This is what leads them into disbelief. Alah shows us this human characteristic in verse 36 of Surat al-Qiyama:
"Does man reckon he will be left to go on unchecked?"
And in another verse, He reveals that human beings in their arrogance reject these truths, even though they understand them.
And they repudiated them [Allah's signs] wrongly and haughtily, in spite of their own certainty about them. See the final fate of the corrupters. (Surat an-Naml:14)
Those who Do Not Believe Seek Proofs to Support their Disbelief
Ever since human beings first appeared on this Earth, large numbers of them have rejected the existence of Allah for the reasons enumerated above. Therefore, they have always looked for proofs that might validate their denial, but have never succeeded—because of the very clear proofs for His existence.
Charles Darwin, founder of the theory of evolution, which modern scientific discoveries have invalidated.
In the nineteenth century, a man appeared on the scene who had rejected religious morals and refused to see himself as responsible to his Creator. His claims had a spellbinding effect on other unbelievers. This was an amateur biologist by the name of Charles Darwin. Working under the primitive scientific limitations of the nineteenth century, he proposed some untenable ideas on the origins of life that rejected the fact of Creation and assembled these ideas in a book he entitled The Origin of Species. Thus the theory of evolution was born.
Actually, the roots of Darwin's theory can be traced back to ancient times. Originally, the idea was proposed by several atheist and polytheist philosophers of ancient Greece. But thanks to scientists who believed in a Creator Who created the whole universe, the ideas of these ancient philosophers had no lasting effect. But with the advance of the nineteenth century's materialist thinking, which rejected the existence of Allah and claimed that only matter was absolute, evolutionist ideas were revived once again.
Darwin based his theory on a few groundless suppositions. Those who rejected Allah used it as a means to bolster their own superstitious ideas and to establish them on a supposedly scientific foundation. What, then, did this theory claim that was so attractive to those who denied the existence of Allah?
Briefly, the theory of evolution claims that lifeless pieces of matter came together by chance, organizing themselves to produce living organisms. That as a result of chance occurrences, these organisms changed in response to natural conditions and diverged from one another in structure and appearance. According to this claim, living things were not created.
Why, then, do so many approve of Darwin's theory of evolution? Because they believe that the formation of life can be explained without reference to a Creator. If you examine the theory of evolution with scientific objectivity only, without regard for its ideological purpose, you can see that it's contrary to science and logic. Moreover, the totality of available data on the origins of living things points to this theory being invalid. Indeed, we have reached the point where modern science has demonstrated the extremely complex structure of every living creature, in all its magnificence. Facts authenticated by present-day's scientific research show the impossibility of living things arising by chance. They could have come to exist only as the result of a Superior Power; Whose flawless creation is present and evident in every creature.
Every day, some new discovery comes to light to prove the invalidity of the theory of evolution. Yet still its supporters will not give up their allegiance and show an even more fanatical attachment to their belief. Their motive, as we said before, is evident:Atheists and materialists need a so-called scientific support for denying the existence of Allah. For this reason, Darwinists are determined to hold on very tightly to their theory, at any cost and regardless of science. And they are determined not to go back on that promise.
D. M. S. Watson, the well-known English zoologist, explains why his fellow evolutionists still defend their theory so adamantly, even though there isn't the slightest proof for the theories they espouse:
On the same topic, the evolutionist anthropologist, Dr. Michael Walker of Sydney University, writes:
By their own admission, evolutionists are so attached to Darwin's theory of evolution for the single reason that it rejects the existence of Allah. But in order for them to accept the theory of evolution even though it goes against all scientific proof, evolutionists must do a lot of hard work. Increasingly, scientific developments invalidate the theory of evolution, and when the matter is viewed with reason and awareness evolution can be revealed as a lot of nonsense.
It is at this point that the spell of Darwinism comes into play. Darwinists have to make a discredited theory appear true. To do so, they use all their skills, trying everything to prevent people from falling away from Darwinism. They try to get them to believe the unbelievable, to think the unthinkable and to state the unspeakable. And those who fall under the influence of this spell gradually come to the point where they are unable to perceive and consider the clearly evident facts.
Throughout history, actually, there have been several examples of just this kind of enchantment. In the past—albeit under very different circumstances—godless people have tried to ignore or not to understand the evidence for Creation shown to them by messengers and sincere believers. In the Qur'an, Allah explains the similarity between these people and people of today:
We sent Messengers before you among the disparate groups of previous peoples. No Messenger came to them without their mocking him. In that way We insert it into the evildoers' hearts. They do not believe in it, even though the example of the previous peoples has gone before. Even if We opened up to them a door into heaven, and they spent the day ascending through it, they would only say, "Our eyesight is befuddled! Or rather we have been put under a spell!" (Surat al-Hijr:10-15)
Those who espouse Darwinism today come at the head of these spell-bound individuals. They counter the evidence of Creation with the myth of evolution, and try to tell the whole world that the theory is valid. And the masses are truly so spell-bound by their intimations and false information that no longer can they perceive the truth. Under these circumstances, those conscientious individuals who recognize the fact of Creation have a duty to work towards lifting this spell so that more people can see the truth. The true path is doubtless the way of Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the Earth:
Allah is my Lord and your Lord so worship Him. That is a straight path. (Surah Al'Imran:51)
1. D.M.S. Watson, "Adaptation," Nature, Vol. 123, 1929, p. 233.
2. Michael Walker, Quadrant, October 1982, p. 44.


text: The Department of Justice is giving a qualified endorsement of an update to a 1986 privacy law that leading cloud-service providers, public-interest groups and others argue is woefully out of step with the current methods of sending and storing communications.In testimony before a House subcommittee on Tuesday, Elana Tyrangiel, acting assistant attorney general at the DoJ's Office of Legal Policy, affirmed the Obama administration's support for an overhaul of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to provide stronger privacy protections for Webmail, documents stored online and other cloud services. Google, Microsoft and Facebook Join Reform AdvocatesAdvocates of ECPA reform, including tech heavyweights like Google, Microsoft and Facebook, point to incongruities in the law concerning the ways that law enforcement authorities can access personal communications.As the law currently stands, authorities can obtain emails and other communications that have been stored with a third-party provider for more than six months on the strength of a subpoena, rather than a warrant issued by a judge.In spite of periodic updates to ECPA, Tyrangiel says, "many have noted, and we agree, that some of the lines drawn by the statute have failed to keep up with the development of technology and the ways in which we use electronic and stored communications.""We agree, for example, that there is no principled basis to treat email less than 180 days old differently than email more than 180 days old. Similarly, it makes sense that the statute not accord lesser protection to open emails than it gives to emails that are unopened," she adds. \n"Acknowledging these things is an important first step," Tyrangiel says . "The harder question is how to update the statute in light of new and changing technologies while maintaining protections for privacy and adequately providing for public safety and other law enforcement imperatives." Senate Looks to Revise ECPAThere is also movement in the Senate to overhaul ECPA. The same day that the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on crime held its hearing, Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced a bill to revise the statute, dispensing with the "180-day rule," among other reforms.When ECPA was enacted, "no one could have imagined just how the Internet and mobile technologies would transform how we communicate and exchange information today," Leahy says in a statement. "Privacy laws written in an analog era are no longer suited for privacy threats we face in a digital world."Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of House members introduced their own ECPA-reform bill in a bid to strengthen the protections for cloud and location-based services.The path to revising ECPA has been slowed by the protests of law enforcement agencies, which have warned that reforms undertaken in the name of protecting privacy could impede criminal investigations.Richard Littlehale, a special agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, told lawmakers that irrespective of the level of proof required to obtain access to emails and other communications, law enforcement authorities face other, more significant "logistical hurdles," chiefly the failure of service providers to turn over records in a timely fashion."The reality is that legal barriers are not the only ones that keep communications out of our hands," Littlehale says."As Congress considers simplifying the legal requirements for obtaining communications records, and whether or not to change the standards law enforcement must meet to obtain those records, these other barriers to access must have a place in the discussion," he notes in his written testimony: "I urge Congress to ensure that regardless of the level of process it ultimately decides is appropriate, steps are taken to guarantee that law enforcement will be able to access the required communications transactional records reliably and quickly once that process is obtained."In counterpoint at Tuesday's hearing was Google's Richard Salgado, the search giant's director of law enforcement and information security, who was especially critical of what he described as an arbitrary distinction between communications older than six months and those that are newer."ECPA was passed in 1986, when electronic communications services were in their infancy. With the dramatic changes that we've seen since then, the statute no longer provides the privacy protection that users of these services reasonably expect," Salgado says. "If one could discern a policy rationale for this 180-day rule in 1986, it's not evident any longer and contravenes users' reasonable expectation of privacy."TechAmerica, a leading industry trade group, commended both the leaders of the House subcommittee and Sens. Leahy and Lee for unveiling their bill on Tuesday, what the group dubbed "ECPA Reform Day on Capitol Hill."Revamping that statute is a top legislative priority for TechAmerica, according to Kevin Richards, the group's senior vice president of federal government affairs, who says Leahy's bill "presents a big step toward making sure that the information Americans store in the cloud receives the same level of protection as the information stored in the physical world."ECPA a Tricky Political IssueBut given the opposing views that law enforcement authorities and cloud providers take as a starting point in the debate, ECPA reform -- hardly a new issue -- has proven difficult as a political proposition."To amend ECPA we're going to need to have a balancing act, which means that neither law enforcement or the service community are going to get everything they want," says subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.). "[T]rying to do a balancing act to come up with something that protects the privacy of Americans as well as allows law enforcement to do their job, particularly against people who use the Internet for criminal purposes, is going to be kind of a tough nut to crack."Kenneth Corbin is a Washington, D.C.-based writer who covers government and regulatory issues for CIO.com. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, Facebook, Google + and LinkedIn.


text:
Costa Rica: Pacific Coast
99 Coastal Destinations Rated: In the Balance
Score: 55
The northern, drier section of Costa Rica's west coast serves as the hub of the country's booming hospitality industry. Sustainability advocates used to regard this region as an epicenter of responsible tourism. In recent years, "huge resorts," and "identikit high-rise condo communities" have taken over. In the less developed south the picture is better. "Long stretches of still-unspoiled sandy beaches abut forested hills and valleys."
Here is a representative sampling of additional anonymous comments from the panelists. They are not necessarily the views of the National Geographic Society:
"The Pacific coast in Costa Rica is in danger of losing everything that made it popular in the first place, in the north at least. There are too many large hotels, and the national parks, particularly Manuel Antonio, seem poorly managed."
"The Osa Peninsula is one of the best places in the world to see sustainable tourism working effectively. Unfortunately, the Guanacaste section of that same coast, as well as some sub-destinations between Osa and Guanacaste, violates most of what Costa Rica's pioneering sustainable tourism entrepreneurs worked to create. Developers now rule the roost."
"Too much development for my taste. Lots of condos and commercialism. The turtle nesting grounds are in trouble."
- Nat Geo Expeditions
"Large-scale resorts and associated residential development are ruining what was once the world's showcase for ecotourism."


text:
Equinox/p2/Update UI Users Guide
About the Equinox p2 Update UI
If we're doing our job right, we won't need a user's guide for end-users to figure out the update UI! Nevertheless, this page provides pointers to documentation for the Eclipse update manager.
Eclipse Help
In a running Eclipse instance, you can access help by clicking the Help menu and selecting Help Contents. In the Contents pane, navigate to Workbench User Guide -> Tasks -> Updating and installing software. Alternatively, the help is available online. The Eclipse 3.4 series (aka Ganymede) help is also available online here.
For more information
If you encounter bugs, or would like to enter enhancement requests for this work, please use the Equinox Incubator category in Bugzilla. You can add the prefix "[prov]" to the subject line of the bug report to help us with bug triage.


text:
This is a bench power supply with adjustable voltage and current limiting. [Sylvain's] creation can regulate 0-25 volts while sourcing 0-5 amps. Current limiting is a nice feature as it will allow you to test your prototypes to ensure the power regulator you choose will not be over or underpowered.
This supply is really a two-in-one. The case has two separate circuits so that you can have different power rails going at the same time. There is a microcontroller involved, but the ATmega32 doesn't do anything more than measure the voltage and amperage and drive the graphic LCD screen. Two potentiometers are responsible for setting the voltage and limiting the current.
[Thanks Sargonout]


text:
|Oracle® XML DB Developer's Guide
11g Release 1 (11.1)
Part Number B28369-01
|View PDF
This chapter describes repository events and how to use them. It contains these topics:
You can use Oracle XML DB Repository to store and access data of any kind in the form of repository resources: files and folders. Repository resource operations include creating, deleting, locking, unlocking, rendering, linking, unlinking, placing under version control, checking in, checking out, unchecking out, opening, and updating. You can access data in the repository from any application. Sometimes your application needs to perform certain actions whenever a particular repository operation occurs. For example, you might want to perform some move-to-wastebasket or other backup action whenever a resource is deleted.
The following are examples of cases where repository events can be used:
Wastebasket – You can use an
UnLink pre-event handler to effectively move a resource to a wastebasket instead of deleting it; that is, create a link in a wastebasket folder before removing the original link. The link in the wastebasket ensures that the resource will not be removed. When you subsequently undelete a resource from the waste basket, the original link can be created again and the wastebasket link removed. The wastebasket link name can be different from the name of the link being removed because a resource at a certain path could be unlinked more than once from that path. The wastebasket would then have multiple links corresponding to that path, with different link properties and possibly pointing to different resources.
Categorization – An application might categorize the resources it manages based on MIME type or other properties. It might keep track of GIF, text, and XML files by maintaining links to them from repository folders
/my-app/txt, and
/my-app/xml. Three post-event handlers could be used here:
UnlinkIn, and
Update. The
LinkIn post-event handler would examine the resource and create a link in the appropriate category folder, if not already present. The
UnlinkIn post-event handler would remove the link from the category folder. The
Update post-event handler would effectively move the resource from one category folder to another if its category changes.
Repository events are reminiscent of database triggers, but they offer additional functionality. You cannot use a database trigger to let your application react to repository operations. A given repository operation can consist of multiple database operations on multiple underlying, internal tables. Because these underlying tables are internal to Oracle XML DB, you cannot easily map them to specific repository operations. For example, internal table
XDB$H_INDEX might be updated by either a database update operation, if an ACL is changed, or a link operation. Even in cases where you might be able to accomplish the same thing using database triggers, you would not want to do that: A repository event is a higher-level abstraction than would be a set of database triggers on the underlying tables.
When a repository event occurs, information associated with the operation, such as the resource path used, can be passed to the corresponding event handler. Such information is not readily available using database triggers.
Repository events and database triggers can both be applied to XML data. You can use triggers on
XMLType tables, for instance. However, if an
XMLType table is also a repository table (hierarchy-enabled), then you should not duplicate in an event handler any trigger code that applies to the table; otherwise, that code will be executed twice.
Each repository operation is associated with one or more repository events. Your application can configure listeners for the events associated with resources it is concerned with. A repository event listener is a Java class or a PL/SQL package or object type. It comprises a set of PL/SQL procedures or Java methods, each of which is called an event handler. Each event handler processes a single event. A repository event listener can be configured for a particular resource or for the entire repository. A listener can be further restricted to apply only when a given node-existence precondition is met.
You associate a repository event listener with a resource by mapping a resource configuration file to the resource. You use PL/SQL package
DBMS_RESCONFIG to manipulate resource configuration files, including associating them with the resources they configure. In particular, PL/SQL function
DBMS_RESCONFIG.getListeners lists all event listeners for a given resource.
A given resource can be configured by multiple resource configuration files. These are stored in a resource configuration list, and they are processed in list order. The repository as a whole can also be configured by multiple resource configuration files; that is, the repository itself has a resource configuration list. Event handling that is configured for the repository as a whole takes effect before any resource-specific event handling; that is, all applicable repository-wide events are processed before any resource-specific events.
A given resource configuration file can define multiple event listeners for the resources it configures, and each event listener can define multiple event handlers.
See Also:
"Resource Configuration Files Configure a Resource" for general information about resource configuration and resource configuration lists
A rendering operation is associated with a single repository event. Except for rendering, all repository operations are associated with one or more pairs of events. For example, a resource creation is associated with three pairs of events, with the events occurring in this order:
Pre-creation event
Post-creation event
Pre-link-in event
Pre-link-to event
Post-link-to event
Post-link-in event
Table 30-1 lists the events associated with each repository operation; their order is indicated in the handler columns.
Table 30-1 Predefined Repository Events
|Repository Event Type
|Pre Handler Execution
|Post Handler Execution
Occurs when resource contents are accessed using any of the following:
Does not occur when resource contents are accessed using any of the following:
Only one handler for a
Occurs when a resource is created. The pre and post handlers executed are those defined on the folder of the new resource.
After pre-parsing, after validating the parent resource ACL and locks, and before assigning default values to undefined properties.
After inserting the resource into the system resource table.
Occurs when the resource and its contents are removed from disk, that is, when the resource
After validating the resource ACL and locks and before removing the resource from disk.
After removing the resource and its contents from disk and after touching the parent folder to update its last modifier and modification time.
Occurs when a resource is updated on disk using any method.
After validating the resource ACL and locks and before updating the last modifier and modification time.
After writing the resource to disk.
Occurs during a lock-resource operation.
After validating the resource ACL and locks and before creating the new lock on the resource.
After creating the new lock.
Occurs during an unlock-resource operation.
After validating the resource ACL and delete token.
After removing the lock.
Occurs before a
After validating the resource ACL and locks and before creating the link.
After executing
Occurs after a
After executing
After creating the link and after updating the last modifier and modification time of the parent folder.
Occurs before an
After validating the resource ACL and locks and before removing the link.
After executing the
Occurs after an
After executing the
After removing the link.
Occurs during check-in of a resource.
After validating the resource ACL and locks and after verifying that the resource is version-controlled and has been checked out.
After checking in the resource.
Occurs during check-out of a resource.
After validating the resource ACL and locks and after verifying that the resource is version-controlled and is not already checked out.
After checking out the resource.
Occurs during uncheck-out of a resource.
Before removing the record that the resource is checked out.
After unchecking out the resource.
Occurs when a version history is created for a resource.
Note: You can call
Before creating the version history for the resource.
After creating the first version of the resource.
For simplicity, the presentation in this chapter generally treats both members of a repository event pair together, referring, for example, to the
LinkIn event type as shorthand for the pre-link-in and post-link-in event types. For the same reason, the event-type names used here are derived from the Java
XDBRepositoryEventListener interface by dropping the prefixes
handlePre and
See Also:Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for the PL/SQL repository event types
The same repository event can occur with different Oracle XML DB Repository operations, and a given repository operation can produce more than one repository event. Table 30-2 lists the events that are associated with each repository operation. See Table 30-1 for the event order when multiple repository events occur for the same operations.
Table 30-2 Oracle XML DB Repository Operations and Events
|Repository Events Occurring
Get binary representation of resource contents by path name
Get XML representation of resource contents by path name
Create or update a resource
If the resource already exists:
If resource doe not yet exist (HTTP and FTP only):
Create a folder
Create a link to an existing resource
Unlink a file resource or an empty folder resource (decrement
Forcibly delete a folder and its contents
Recursively produce events for unlinking a resource. Folder child resources are deleted recursively, then the folder is deleted.
Forcibly remove all links to a resource
Produce unlinking events for each link removed.
Update the contents, properties, or ACL of a resource by path name
Put a depth-zero WebDAV lock on a resource
Remove a depth-zero WebDAV lock from a resource
Rename (move) a resource
Copy a resource
Check out a resource
Check in a resource
Place a resource under version control
Uncheck out a resource
All operations listed in Table 30-2 are atomic, except for these:
Forced deletion of a folder and its contents
Update of resource properties by path name using HTTP (only)
Copy of a folder using HTTP (only)
See Also:Table 21-3, "Accessing Oracle XML DB Repository: API Options" for information on accessing resources using APIs and protocols
This section mentions some things to keep in mind when you define handlers for Oracle XML DB Repository events.
A repository event handler is passed an
XDBRepositoryEvent object, which exists only during the current SQL statement or protocol operation. You can use PL/SQL procedures and Java methods on this object to obtain information about the resource, the event, and the associated event handlers.
When an event handler performs operations that cause other repository events to occur, those cascading events occur immediately; they are not queued to occur after the handlers for the current event are finished. This means that each event fires in the context of its corresponding operation.
Repository event handlers are called synchronously; they are executed in the process, session, and transaction context of the corresponding operation. However, handlers can use Oracle Streams Advanced Queueing (AQ) to queue repository events that are then handled asynchronously by some other process.
Because a repository event handler is executed in the transaction context of its corresponding operation, any locks acquired by that operation, or by other operations run previously in the transaction, are still active. This means that an event handler must not start a separate session or transaction that tries to acquire such a lock; otherwise, the handler will hang.
Repository event handlers are called in the order that they appear in a resource configuration file. If preconditions are defined for a resource configuration, then only those handlers are called for which the precondition is satisfied.
Although handlers are called in the order they are defined in a configuration file, avoid letting your code depend upon this. If the user who is current when a handler is invoked has privilege
write-config, then the handler invocation order could be changed inside an executing handler.
The entire list of handlers applicable to a given repository event occurrence is determined before any of the handlers is invoked. This means, in particular, that the precondition for each handler is evaluated before any handlers are invoked.
Oracle recommends that you develop only safe repository event handlers, that is, handlers that write only resource properties that are in namespaces owned by your application, never in the
xdb namespace.
The following considerations apply to error handling for repository events:
A pre-operation event handler is never invoked if access checks for the operation fail.
All handlers for a given event are checked before any of them are called. If any of them is not usable (for example, no longer exists), then none of them are called.
If an error is raised during event handling, then other, subsequent event handlers are not invoked for the same SQL statement or protocol operation. The current statement or operation is canceled and all of its changes are rolled back.
The following considerations apply to resource security for repository events:
An event handler can have invoker rights or definer rights. You specify the execution rights of a PL/SQL package when you create the package. You specify the execution rights of Java classes when you load them into the database using the
loadjava utility. If you specify invoker rights, but a given handler is not configured for invoker rights, then an insufficient-privilege error is raised.
Within an event handler, the current user privileges, whether obtained by invoker or definer rights, are determined in detail for a given resource by its ACL. These privileges determine what the handler can do with the resource. For example, if the current user has privileges
read-properties and
read-contents for a particular resource, then an event handler can read that resource.
The following considerations apply to repository events for linking and unlinking:
After creating a link to a resource, if you want any resource configuration files of the parent folder to also apply to the linked resource, then use procedure
DBMS_RESCONFIG.appendResConfig to add the configuration files to the linked resource. You can invoke this procedure from a
Post-LinkTo event handler for the linked resource.
After unlinking a resource, if you want to remove any such resource configuration files added when linking, then use procedure
DBMS_RESCONFIG.deleteResConfig to remove them from the unlinked resource. You can invoke this procedure from a
Post-UnlinkFrom event handler for the unlinked resource.
See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for information about PL/SQL functions and procedures for manipulating repository events
Oracle Database XML Java API Reference, classes
XDBRepositoryEvent and
XDBEvent for information about Java methods for manipulating repository events
"Configuring Repository Events" for information about defining repository event handlers with invoker rights
You configure event treatment for Oracle XML DB Repository resources as you would configure any other treatment of repository resources — see "Configuring a Resource".
Be default, repository events are enabled, but you can disable them by setting parameter
XML_DB_EVENTS to
DISABLE. To disable repository events at the session level, use the following SQL*Plus command. You must have role
XDBADMIN to do this.
To disable repository events at the system level, use the following SQL*Plus command, and then restart your database; repository events will be disabled for subsequent sessions. You must have privilege
ALTER SYSTEM to do this.
To enable repository events again, set the value of
XML_DB_EVENTS to
The rest of this section describes the resource configuration file that you use as a resource to configure event processing for other resources.
A resource configuration file is an XML file that conforms to the XML schema
XDBResConfig.xsd, which is accessible in Oracle XML DB Repository at path
/sys/schemas/PUBLIC/xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/XDBResConfig.xsd. You use element
event-listeners, child of element
ResConfig, to configure repository event handling.
See Also:Chapter 22, "Configuring Oracle XML DB Repository" for general information about configuring repository resources
Each resource configuration file can have one
event-listeners element, as a child of element
ResConfig. This configures all event handling for the target resource. If the resource configuration file applies to the entire repository, not to a particular resource, then it defines event handling for all resources in the repository.
event-listeners has the following optional attributes:
set-invoker – Set this to
true to if the resource configuration defines one or more repository event handlers to have invoker rights. The default value is
false, meaning that definer rights are used.
To define an invoker-rights repository event handler, you must have database role
XDB_SET_INVOKER. This role is granted to
DBA, but not to
XDBADMIN. Role
XDB_SET_INVOKER is checked only when a resource configuration file is created or updated. Only attribute
set-invoker, not role
XDB_SET_INVOKER, is checked at runtime to ensure sufficient privilege.
See Also:"Repository Event Handler Considerations" for information about insufficient-privilege errors
default-schema – The default schema value, used for listeners for which no
schema element is defined.
default-language –The default language value, used for listeners for which no
language element is defined.
event-listeners has a sequence of
listener elements as children. These configure individual repository event listeners. The listeners are processed at runtime in the order of the
listener elements.
listener element has the following child elements. All of these are optional except
source, and they can appear in any order (their order is irrelevant).
description – Description of the listener.
schema – Database schema for the Java or PL/SQL implementation of the repository event handlers. If neither this nor
default-schema is defined, then an error is raised.
source (required) – Name of the Java class, PL/SQL package, or object type that provides the handler methods. Java class names must be qualified with a package name. Use an empty
source element to indicate that the repository event handlers are standalone PL/SQL stored procedures.
language – Implementation language of the listener class (Java) or package (PL/SQL). If neither this nor
default-language is defined, then an error is raised.
pre-condition – Precondition to be met for any repository event handlers in this listener to be executed. This is identical to the
pre-condition child of general resource configuration element
configuration – see "Configuration Element defaultChildConfig".
events – Sequence of unique repository event type names:
Pre-Create, and so on. Only handlers for repository events of these types are enabled for the listener. See "Possible Repository Events" for the list of possible repository event types. If element
events is not present, then handlers of repository events of all types are enabled for the listener, which can be wasteful. Provide element
events to eliminate handler invocations for insignificant repository events.
Example 30-1 shows the content of a resource configuration file that defines two listeners. Each listener defines handlers for repository events of types
Post-UnlinkIn, and
Post-Update. It defines preconditions, the default language (Java) and default database schema.
Example 30-1 Resource Configuration File for Java Event Listeners With Preconditions
<ResConfig xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/XDBResConfig.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/XDBResConfig.xsd http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/XDBResConfig.xsd"> <event-listeners default-language="Java" default-schema="IFS"> <listener> <description>Category application</description> <schema>CM</schema> <source>oracle.cm.category</source> <events> <Post-LinkIn/> <Post-UnlinkIn/> <Post-Update/> </events> <pre-condition> <existsNode> <XPath>/Resource[ContentType="image/gif"]</XPath> </existsNode> </pre-condition> </listener> <listener> <description>Check quota</description> <source>oracle.ifs.quota</source> <events> <Post-LinkIn/> <Post-UnlinkIn/> <Post-Update/> </events> <pre-condition> <existsNode> <XPath>r:/Resource/[ns:type="ifs-file"]</XPath> <namespace>xmlns:r="http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/XDBResource.xsd" xmlns:ns="http://foo.xsd" </namespace> </existsNode> </pre-condition> </listener> </event-listeners> <defaultChildConfig> <configuration> <path>/sys/xdb/resconfig/user_rc.xml</path> </configuration> </defaultChildConfig> <applicationData> <foo:data xmlns:foo="http://foo.xsd"> <foo:item1>1234</foo:item1> </foo:data> </applicationData> </ResConfig>
The implementation of the handlers of the first listener is in Java class
oracle.cm.quota defined in database schema
CM. These handlers are invoked only for events on resources of
The implementation of the handlers of the second listener is in Java class
oracle.ifs.quota defined in database schema
IFS (the default schema for this resource configuration file). These handlers are invoked only for events on resources of type
ifs-file in namespace
See Also:"Configuration Element defaultChildConfig" for a description of elements
defaultChildConfig and
As a simple end-to-end illustration, suppose that an application needs to categorize the resources in folder
/public/res-app according to their MIME types. It creates links to resources in folders
/public/app/IMG, and
/public/app/FOLDER, depending on whether the resource MIME type is
image/gif, or
application/octet-stream, respectively. This is illustrated in Example 30-2, Example 30-3, and Example 30-5.
Example 30-2 shows the PL/SQL code to create the configuration file for this categorization illustration. It defines a single listener that handles events of types
Pre-UnlinkIn and
Post-LinkIn. It explicitly defines the language (PL/SQL) and database schema. No preconditions are defined.
Example 30-2 Resource Configuration File for PL/SQL Event Listeners With No Preconditions
DECLARE b BOOLEAN := FALSE; BEGIN b := DBMS_XDB.createFolder('/public/resconfig'); b := DBMS_XDB.createResource( '/public/resconfig/appcatg-rc1.xml', '<ResConfig xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/XDBResConfig.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/XDBResConfig.xsd http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/XDBResConfig.xsd"> <event-listeners> <listener> <description>Category application</description> <schema>APPCATGUSER1</schema> <source>APPCATG_EVT_PKG1</source> <language>PL/SQL</language> <events> <Pre-UnlinkIn/> <Post-LinkIn/> </events> </listener> </event-listeners> <defaultChildConfig> <configuration> <path>/public/resconfig/appcatg-rc1.xml</path> </configuration> </defaultChildConfig> </ResConfig>'); END; / BEGIN DBMS_RESCONFIG.appendResConfig('/public/res-app', '/public/resconfig/appcatg-rc1.xml', DBMS_RESCONFIG.APPEND_RECURSIVE); END; /
Example 30-3 shows the PL/SQL code that implements the event handlers that are configured in Example 30-2. The
Post-LinkIn event handler creates a link to the
eventObject resource in one of the folders
/public/app/IMG, and
/public/app/FOLDER, depending on the resource MIME type. The
Pre-UnlinkIn event handler deletes the links that are created by the
Post-LinkIn event handler.
Example 30-3 PL/SQL Code Implementing Event Listeners
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE appcatg_evt_pkg1 AS PROCEDURE handlePreUnlinkIn (eventObject DBMS_XEVENT.XDBRepositoryEvent); PROCEDURE handlePostLinkIn (eventObject DBMS_XEVENT.XDBRepositoryEvent); END; / CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY appcatg_evt_pkg1 AS PROCEDURE handlePreUnlinkIn (eventObject DBMS_XEVENT.XDBRepositoryEvent) AS XDBResourceObj DBMS_XDBRESOURCE.XDBResource; ResDisplayName VARCHAR2(100); ResPath VARCHAR2(1000); ResOwner VARCHAR2(1000); ResDeletedBy VARCHAR2(1000); XDBPathobj DBMS_XEVENT.XDBPath; XDBEventobj DBMS_XEVENT.XDBEvent; SeqChar VARCHAR2(1000); LinkName VARCHAR2(10000); ResType VARCHAR2(100); LinkFolder VARCHAR2(100); BEGIN XDBResourceObj := DBMS_XEVENT.getResource(eventObject); ResDisplayName := DBMS_XDBRESOURCE.getDisplayName(XDBResourceObj); ResOwner := DBMS_XDBRESOURCE.getOwner(XDBResourceObj); XDBPathobj := DBMS_XEVENT.getPath(eventObject); ResPath := DBMS_XEVENT.getName(XDBPathObj); XDBEventobj := DBMS_XEVENT.getXDBEvent(eventObject); ResDeletedBy := DBMS_XEVENT.getCurrentUser(XDBEventobj); BEGIN SELECT XMLCast( XMLQuery( 'declare namespace ns = "http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/XDBResource.xsd"; /ns:Resource/ns:ContentType' PASSING r.RES RETURNING CONTENT) AS VARCHAR2(100)) INTO ResType FROM PATH_VIEW r WHERE r.PATH=ResPath; EXCEPTION WHEN OTHERS THEN NULL; END; IF ResType = 'text/xml' THEN LinkFolder := '/public/app/XML-TXT/'; END IF; IF ResType = 'image/gif' THEN LinkFolder := '/public/app/IMG/'; END IF; IF ResType = 'application/octet-stream' THEN LinkFolder := '/public/app/FOLDER/'; END IF; DBMS_XDB.deleteResource(LinkFolder || ResDisplayName); END; PROCEDURE handlePostLinkIn (eventObject DBMS_XEVENT.XDBRepositoryEvent) AS XDBResourceObj DBMS_XDBRESOURCE.XDBResource; ResDisplayName VARCHAR2(100); ResPath VARCHAR2(1000); ResOwner VARCHAR2(1000); ResDeletedBy VARCHAR2(1000); XDBPathobj DBMS_XEVENT.XDBPath; XDBEventobj DBMS_XEVENT.XDBEvent; SeqChar VARCHAR2(1000); LinkName VARCHAR2(10000); ResType VARCHAR2(100); LinkFolder VARCHAR2(100); BEGIN XDBResourceObj := DBMS_XEVENT.getResource(eventObject); ResDisplayName := DBMS_XDBRESOURCE.getDisplayName(XDBResourceObj); ResOwner := DBMS_XDBRESOURCE.getOwner(XDBResourceObj); XDBPathobj := DBMS_XEVENT.getPath(eventObject); ResPath := DBMS_XEVENT.getName(XDBPathObj); XDBEventobj := DBMS_XEVENT.getXDBEvent(eventObject); ResDeletedBy := DBMS_XEVENT.getCurrentUser(XDBEventobj); SELECT XMLCast( XMLQuery( 'declare namespace ns = "http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb/XDBResource.xsd"; /ns:Resource/ns:ContentType' PASSING r.RES RETURNING CONTENT) AS VARCHAR2(100)) INTO ResType FROM PATH_VIEW r WHERE r.PATH=ResPath; IF ResType = 'text/xml' THEN LinkFolder := '/public/app/XML-TXT'; END IF; IF ResType = 'image/gif' THEN LinkFolder := '/public/app/IMG'; END IF; IF ResType = 'application/octet-stream' THEN LinkFolder := '/public/app/FOLDER'; END IF; DBMS_XDB.link(ResPath, LinkFolder, ResDisplayName); END; END; /
See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for information about PL/SQL package
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for information about PL/SQL package
A Java example would be configured the same as in Example 30-2, with the exception of these two lines, which would replace the elements with the same names in Example 30-2:
<source>category</source> <language>Java</language>
Example 30-4 shows the Java code that implements the event handlers. The logic is identical to that in Example 30-3.
Example 30-4 Java Code Implementing Event Listeners
import oracle.xdb.event.*; import oracle.xdb.spi.*; import java.sql.*; import java.io.*; import java.net.*; import oracle.jdbc.*; import oracle.sql.*; import oracle.xdb.XMLType; import oracle.xdb.dom.*; public class category extends oracle.xdb.event.XDBBasicEventListener { public Connection connectToDB() throws java.sql.SQLException { try { String strUrl="jdbc:oracle:kprb:"; String strUname="appcatguser1"; String strPwd="appcatguser1 "; Connection conn=null; OraclePreparedStatement stmt=null; DriverManager.registerDriver(new oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver()); conn = DriverManager.getConnection(strUrl, strUname, strPwd); return conn; } catch(Exception e1) { System.out.println("Exception in connectToDB java function"); System.out.println("e1:" + e1.toString()); return null; } } public void handlePostLinkIn (XDBRepositoryEvent eventObject) { XDBPath objXDBPath = null; String strPathName=""; objXDBPath = eventObject.getPath(); strPathName = objXDBPath.getName(); XDBResource objXDBResource1; objXDBResource1 = eventObject.getResource(); String textResDisplayName = objXDBResource1.getDisplayName(); String resType = objXDBResource1.getContentType(); String linkFolder=""; System.out.println("resType" + resType+"sumit"); System.out.println("strPathName:" + strPathName); System.out.println("textResDisplayName:" + textResDisplayName); if (resType.equals("text/xml")) linkFolder = "/public/app/XML-TXT/"; else if (resType.equals("image/gif")) linkFolder = "/public/app/IMG/"; else if (resType.equals("application/octet-stream")) linkFolder = "/public/app/FOLDER/"; System.out.println("linkFolder:" + linkFolder); try { Connection con1 = connectToDB(); OraclePreparedStatement stmt=null; stmt = (OraclePreparedStatement)con1.prepareStatement( "CALL DBMS_XDB.link(?,?,?)"); stmt.setString(1,strPathName); stmt.setString(2,linkFolder); stmt.setString(3,textResDisplayName); stmt.execute(); stmt.close(); con1.close(); } catch(java.sql.SQLException ej1) { System.out.println("ej1:" + ej1.toString()); } /* Make sure the link is not in the category folders. Then check the target resource's mime type and create a link in the appropriate category folder. */ } public void handlePreUnlinkIn (XDBRepositoryEvent eventObject) { XDBPath objXDBPath = null; String strPathName=""; objXDBPath = eventObject.getPath(); strPathName = objXDBPath.getName(); XDBResource objXDBResource1; objXDBResource1 = eventObject.getResource(); String textResDisplayName = objXDBResource1.getDisplayName(); String resType = objXDBResource1.getContentType(); String linkFolder=""; if (resType.equals("text/xml")) linkFolder = "/public/app/XML-TXT/"; else if (resType.equals("image/gif")) linkFolder = "/public/app/IMG/"; else if (resType.equals("application/octet-stream")) linkFolder = "/public/app/FOLDER/"; try { Connection con1 = connectToDB(); OraclePreparedStatement stmt=null; stmt = (OraclePreparedStatement)con1.prepareStatement( "CALL DBMS_XDB.deleteResource(?)"); stmt.setString(1,linkFolder+textResDisplayName); stmt.execute(); stmt.close(); con1.close(); } catch(java.sql.SQLException ej1) { System.out.println("ej1:" + ej1.toString()); } } }
Example 30-5 demonstrates the invocation of the event handlers that are implemented in Example 30-3 or Example 30-4.
Example 30-5 Invoking Event Handlers
DECLARE ret BOOLEAN; BEGIN ret := DBMS_XDB.createResource('/public/res-app/res1.xml', '<name>TestForEventType-1</name>'); END; / DECLARE b BOOLEAN := FALSE; dummy_data CLOB := 'AAA'; BEGIN b := DBMS_XDB.createResource('/public/res-app/res2.gif', dummy_data); END; / DECLARE b BOOLEAN := FALSE; dummy_data CLOB := 'AAA'; BEGIN b := DBMS_XDB.createFolder('/public/res-app/res-appfolder1'); END; SELECT PATH FROM PATH_VIEW WHERE PATH LIKE '/public/app/%' ORDER BY PATH; PATH --------------------------------- /public/app/FOLDER /public/app/FOLDER/res-appfolder1 /public/app/IMG /public/app/IMG/res2.gif /public/app/XML-TXT /public/app/XML-TXT/res1.xml 6 rows selected. -- Delete the /res-app resources. The /app resources are deleted also. EXEC DBMS_XDB.deleteResource('/public/res-app/res2.gif'); EXEC DBMS_XDB.deleteResource('/public/res-app/res1.xml'); EXEC DBMS_XDB.deleteResource('/public/res-app/res-appfolder1'); SELECT PATH FROM PATH_VIEW WHERE PATH LIKE '/public/app/%' ORDER BY PATH; PATH ------------------- /public/app/FOLDER /public/app/IMG /public/app/XML-TXT 3 rows selected.


text:
DetailsTake a journey through the magical and wonderful world of Geisha. Help Ichisumi in this incredible adventure to reopen the temples of Geisha and restore a world of beauty and passion. Dive into this engaging Match 3 game with beautiful scenery and relaxing music. Overcome obstacles, collect puzzle pieces, and be prepared to solve challenging puzzles in Dreams of a Geisha!
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Genre:Family, Puzzle
Release:May 02, 2012
Updated:Nov 30, -0001
TouchArcade Rating:Unrated
User Rating:Unrated
Your Rating:unrated
Compatibility:HD Universal


text:
We must love them both, those with whom we agree, and those with whom we disagree. For both have labored in the search of truth, and both have helped in the finding of it.
~ Saint Thomas Aquinas
My first interaction with United Methodist Bishop Coyner of Indiana was General Conference 2012, a few days before he would preside over the session of GC that dealt with homosexuality. I had to leave early and was not present during the discussion and ensuing protest. Bishop Coyner presided over that debate, and then when the protest ensued, he infamously closed the conference floor to visitors (who outnumbered the delegates 2:1). This was voided by the following presiding Bishop Scott Jones (Great Plains), but it struck with me: how could a Bishop throw out all of the visitors because of the actions of a few?
Yesterday, Bishop Coyner again blamed the multitudes for the words of a few (or, as Spock would say, the one). This is the second time in a month that a
Southern non-Western Bishop has criticized the Western Jurisdiction, by the way. In his regular email to his constituency, Bishop Coyner makes several claims about the Western Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church that many others have already responded to:
- The Western Jurisdiction is engaged in Neo-Colonialism, citing the words of Bishop Carcano. For a response, read Bishop Carcano's comments here and Anthony Fatta's response here.
- The Western Jurisdiction is a shallow reflection of Dr. King's "very poor substitute for the honorable practice of civil disobedience as expressed most clearly by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." For a response, read Andy Oliver's post here and Bishop Hoshibata's comments here.
- Finally, the Western Jurisdiction would have done better to invest in prayer and discernment and study. It's this last point that I would like to respond to.
The presumption by Bishop Coyner is that the Western Jurisdiction is without "a time of prayerful discernment, study, and holy-conferencing on this issue." Indeed, their actions clearly did not come "in an atmosphere of prayer, theological reflection, humility, listening to God and listening to one another."
This reflects a common presumption: the Traditionalists take the bible more seriously than Progressives. That the reason the Western Jurisdiction has fallen off the ecclesial cliff is that they do not do the theological reflection necessary to stay on the rigid path.
However, that is not the case. Rev. Dr. Tiffany Steinwert, in her Boston University dissertation, analyzed ALL the recorded floor speeches that dealt with homosexuality from 1968-2008 and categorized them as appeals to one or more aspects of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. If Bishop Coyner was asked, clearly he would think that those "more conservative" would appeal to the Bible more than those "more liberal." However, that is not exactly the case. Here's the graphic from her dissertation:
As you can see, Liberals and Conservatives used Scripture almost equally as a "point" in their sermons (Steinwert's term for floor speeches). The bigger discrepancies come from Conservatives referencing "Tradition" more and Liberals using "reason" and "Experience" more.
So, those with understanding will see that the Bible grants inspiration to both sides of this ecclesial divide. Bishop Coyner, in his remarks, clearly believes that if those pesky Progressives read their bible more, they wouldn't be on this path. But that is not the case–not today, and not when the good Bishop was in seminary.
Bishop Coyner, the good people in the Western Jurisdiction did not just wake up one day and throw a temper tantrum. Their stance on Biblical Obedience was reached as a collective whole by vote after individual reflection and journey…many of them decades in the making. To dismiss them as without reflection or dedication to biblical understanding is to fall far short of their mark.
Instead, through Reason and Experience (informed by the Bible) the Western Jurisdiction has determined that there is a way forward and they are offering Biblical Obedience as that path. Their way is essentially "Change the prohibition or ignore it. It is wrong."
We need a left and a right wing to fly. That is true. But we also need understanding as to how the two wings work together and coordinate to help the bird soar. The Western Jurisdiction is claiming that perhaps the two wings do not have to have the exact same polity to be in the same mission and the same church together. That uniform expression of mission is a hindrance to unity in mission, and the Western Jurisdiction is tired of being out-of-touch with the creeping secular culture that will have a strangehold on the Bible Belt in a decade or so…and it can't wait. Diversity in mission is already unofficially the case as our United Methodist Church has strong regional differences (and I've served in three jurisdictions now…it's true) and varying degrees of theological concern…this Biblical Obedience movement just makes plain what is already in practice.
This is an offered way forward (contrary to Bishop Coyner's claims), and it will be the path for the next three years until General Conference 2016 (which will be hosted JUST down the road from my church in Portland, Oregon) or until the Judicial Council strikes it down. Either way, it is a way forward, it is offered after intense theological and biblical reflection, and it is offered in the United Methodist Spirit. Time will tell whether it was the best way forward or not.


text:
Here's what this past week looked like:
It wasn't the most exciting week and was a bit depressing, since we got two big storms again, one on Monday and another on Thursday.
On Monday, I left work around noon because the snow was coming down heavily and I had enough work to do from home anyway. I enjoyed having the Olympics on in the background and being able to brew some coffee in the early afternoon.
I had to shovel everything by myself, so I could get my car out of the driveway and we could drive to a car appointment for Craig. It was quite the workout, but I am really glad we have this huge shovel.
I tried to catch up on some of my coursera coursework. This week's topic was plant-based diets, which this vegetarian totally geeked out about! I still some video lectures to get through, but I love what I learned so far.
Shiva also enjoyed "class" with me. :)
Two weeks from now, I have my biggest program at work for the year and it's been quite stressful dealing with all of the last minute details to organize it. My office at work has been a mess, but I managed to get it clean and papers filed away before leaving for the weekend.
I ate somewhat healthy this week. I refused free cookies at work and tried to avoid sugar as much as possible.
I enjoyed a big salad from the work salad bar while catching up with a former colleague and giving her some health advice.
After an allergy clinical trial appointment, I headed to Sendik's to stock up on produce and purchased some veggie rolls for dinner. I had been craving sushi for weeks, so this really satisfied my craving.
I'm back to eating muesli for breakfast, which I prep overnight like people make overnight oats. I just soak no sugar added Alpen Muesli in almond milk and lemon juice overnight and then add greek yogurt, fresh fruit, honey and chia seeds in the morning.
That was my week!


text:
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text:
ok... trying to translate a new novel. This is a HUGE project considering it's close to 300 chapters. So I invite anyone else who is interested to do it together. No promises how fast or how far I can take this, so here goes....
************************************************** ****
Chapter 1 - Time Machine
The shrill screeching caused by braking resulted in the friction between the tyres and the road sounded right in front of the citys most popular Black Leopard Bar. The jeep that belonged to Team 7 of the armys special unit, regarded as the best of the best, suddenly stopped.
Amid the cheers and laughter, Xiang Shaolong and his three teammates grabbed the grills and jumped down from the car. After three months of intensive training in body and warfare in the Gobi desert, they finally have three days of leave. If they do not thoroughly enjoy life now, they would be letting down their parents who gave birth to them.
Xiang Shaolong is twenty this year. His skin glowed with a healthy tan because of his long hours under the sun. He may not be considered a handsome young man, but with his height nearing 2 meters, broad shoulders, trim waist and long legs, firm muscles with not an inch of excess fat, agile and smart eyes, pencil straight nose, perfectly rounded cheekbones, square face, matched with a lazy smile that seems to flirt with women, he definitely has the qualities that will pique the interest of any girl.
Just as they were about to enter, there was chaos and a mess of bodies landed on the ground amidst claps and curses. It was their team mates Xiao Zhang and Man Niu (Stubborn Cow) who came earlier being thrown out of the door and landing in a heap. They were groaning to get up and although this is usually a very simple act, but now to these two top agents of the special unit, its a very difficult task.
The expression on the fours faces changed and they rushed forward to help the two of them up. Rhino, who has a growth on his forehead, exclaimed, How many people?
This question is very logical. Xiao Zhang and Man Niu, like them, belong to Team 7 Special Unit. They are picked amongst the best in the whole army to receive special training as a crack team, and specialized in handling all kinds of dangerous situations like anti-terrorists missions, entering hostile countries to carry out assassination attempts or saving lives, protecting important political people etc. Their training includes the use of various weapons, unarmed combat, resistance training, survival training, various spying techniques, in fact the aim is to train them into becoming supermen. Even ten odd brawny men may not be able to harm even a single hair on them.
But since other teams have always been jealous of them, they find it an honor if they are able to take down members of Team 7. So its quite normal for fights to break out whenever theyre on leave and having drinks, but this is the first time that they have actually been thrown out of the door.
Xiao Zhang regained some of his senses, opened his bruised eyes and when he saw its Xiang Shaolong helping him up, he exclaimed with joy, Brother Long, go and back us up quickly!
Everyone in the team addressed Xiang Shaolong as Brother Long, not because hes older, but because hes the sharp shooter of the team, champion of freestyle boxing, and the fittest among them.
Man Niu panted and pointed towards the inside of the bar and said, Its Team 841s instructor Black Faced Deity, he actually had the guts to harass our ice beauty.
The four of them flew into a rage. Ice beauty Zheng Cuizhi is the secretary of their teams instructor, so how can they allow other teams to touch her when none of them have managed to woo her?
Xiang Shaolongs hands started itching once he thinks about fighting, so he puffed up his chest and shouted, Help them in and let me how off my skills! With that, he led them into the bar.
The spacious bar was filled with smoke and the noises and music deafening. Half of the crowd was from the army or police and foreigners and civilians numbered only about thirty. It was crowded and the mood spirited.
They had just appeared at the door when the bar suddenly became quiet.
The well built and muscular Black Faced Deity and about a dozen of his men were wearing civilian clothing and drinking and laughing with a few sexily clad ladies. Black Faced Diety was holding Ice beauty Zheng Cuizhi by her tiny waist and when she saw Xiang Shaolong, who usually ignored her coming in, she deliberately turned her sultry body towards Black Faced Deity and even kissed his cheek.
Black Faced Deity saw Xiang Shaolong and his face shone. He moved his hands lower towards Zheng Cuizhis voluptuous butt and slapped it twice, saying with a smile, One against one, or everyone charge!
Theres an unwritten rule in the army, which is all fights are to be fought only with fists, unless theres some great enmity, or if blinded by rage, they will not use things that can hurt like knives or broken bottles, in case things get out of hand and they get apprehended by the military police.
Xiang Shaolong saw the queen of the bar Zhou Xiangmei leaning against the table and looking at him with a smile and felt a boost of bravado. He replied with a smile, Against someone like you, it doesnt really matter to me. Up to you.
Everyone in the bar, regardless of male or female, all cheered and added fuel to the flame, the atmosphere reaching a burning high.
Xiao Zhang moved to his side and warned with a low voice, Be careful! That fellows extremely good.
Someone shrieked with a strange voice, Someones afraid!
The onlookers watching the show laughed even harder.
Man Niu walked over as well and whispered, That two men Black Faced Deity are the best two champion boxers at the local martial arts school. They are prepared for a fight today with the intent of making us lose face.
Xiang Shaolong noticed the two murderous looking men long ago. Taking note of your surroundings is the second rule out of the seven in the special task force. The first rule is to be well prepared and the third is remain calm. This is exactly what he is going to do now. He instructed quietly, Tell them to stay clear, Im confident of settling those three alone.
By now Black Faced Deity has removed his jacket and handed it to ice beauty. He took two steps forward and said coldly, Xiang Shaolong! Ive put up with you for a long time. The last time you injured dozens of my men at the Wild Cat Karaoke, today I will settle those old scores with you.
Xiang Shaolong told his five friends to stand back and spread out, and he took two steps forward as well and were within four paces of Black Faced Deity. He called out calmly to the bartender, Give me some fresh milk, I need to quench my thirst after I deal with this Black Faced Deity.
This sentence immediately caused a roar of laughter from everyone.
Someone from Black Faced Deitys group called out, This lad is going to use his strength for drinking milk as well.
Black Faced Deity leaned towards the left and made a fake move, while he deviously kicked with his leg, aiming at the position 5 inches above Xiang Shaolongs calf.
Xiang Shaolong moved to the side and avoided the attack effortlessly.
When the crowd saw that theyre finally fighting, the started cheering and adding fuel to fire.
Black Faced Deity roared and rushed forward with the speed of lightning, crouched when he got near and both his fists struck out towards the chest. Xiang Shaolong took another step back and avoided the enemys fists.
When the crowd saw that hes only dodging but not retaliating, they jeered. Black Faced Deitys men also ridiculed him loudly.
Black Faced Deity thought that Xiang Shaolong is afraid of him and became even more conceited. He suddenly stuck out his middle finger and taking advantage of his lead, rushed forward and aimed a punch at his nose.
Xiang Shaolong was thinking to himself how good that hes coming. When the fist was only a few inches from his nose, he suddenly stumbled backwards, as if that punch has thrown him far back.
The crowd went mad and started shouting.
Man Niu and the rest naturally knew that he was not hit, and were perplexed why he only dodged but did not attack. That lad stumbled six steps back, leaned back and actually fell into the arms of the queen of the bar Zhou Xiangmei, who was sitting on the chair.
Zhou Xiangmei was so shocked that she screamed.
Black Faced Deity leapt forward like a crazed tiger.
Xiang Shaolong yelled and straightened his body, his right hand taking the chance to touch Zhou Xiangmeis creamy bosom, and sprang up using the strength from his waist. He shot towards Black Faced Deity like a cannon, ignoring the fact that his opponents fists are clenched and coming down hard on his back, and his head hit his opponent right on the stomach.
Before Black Faced Deity has a chance to hit Xiang Shaolong, his opponents head caused his almost 100kg body to stumble back like a toy with an unstoppable force and fell right on to the middle of the dance floor.
The two hundred odd people in the bar gasped in unison. Immediately the place became from being extremely noisy to being extremely quiet, leaving only the speakers at the corners of the bar playing a very groovy song.
Xiang Shaolong was like a ferocious tiger being released and leap towards Black Faced Deity who is still on the ground.
The two professional boxers who were invited by Black Faced Deity saw that the situation was amiss and both rushed out at the same time, going around Black Faced Deity who is still on the floor and attached Xiang Shaolong while sandwiching him between them.
His friends Man Niu, Xiao Zhang and the rest were all cursing and calling them shameless, but they did not help at all. No one can be more confident of Xiang Shaolongs abilities than them.
The battle ended in the blink of an eye.
Xiang Shaolong dodged a few times and avoided his enemys attacks and squeezed in between the two of them, elbowed the person on his left under his armpit, his right hand pushing away his enemys fist and before the man on the left fell to the ground, he gave two quick knocks with his knee on the person on his rights stomach. Black Faced Deity had just struggled to stand up but Xiang Shaolong has already given him a wicked punch on his nose just as the boxer on his right was kneeling down in pain. Black Face Deity cried out as fresh blood poured out and collapsed onto Cuizhi who was just rushing over and the two of them tumbled down.
Xiao Shaolong laughed heartily, and pointing Black Faced Deitys men, taunted them, Come! All together now.
Man Niu and the rest rushed up, rubbing their fists and palms.
Cuizhi climbed up and shrieked, Xiang Shaolong! Youre good! Just you wait and see!
Xiang Shaolong cant be bothered with her but walked towards the queen of the bar Zhou Xiangmei, pulled her up and walked out of the bar.
Zhou Xiangmei exclaimed, Where are you taking me?
Xiang Shaolong carried her up and deposited her on the passenger seat of the jeep and said with a laugh, Home of course, I dont have enough money to pay the exorbitant price for a hotel room.
Ring ..
Xiang Shaolong, who is used to strict training, woke up immediately and disentangled himself from Zhou Xiangmeis slender limbs and grabbed the phone.
Cuizhis clear voice traveled to his ears, Captain Xiang, you have 15 minutes to wash up, the Ministry of Wars armored vehicle is waiting for you at the main door.
Zhou Xiangmei moaned and said, Baddie! Come quickly!
Xiang Shaolong rubbed his aching back, caused by the numerous rounds of fights with this seductress, and exclaimed hoarsely, Are you trying to scare me? Would a fight cause such a big trouble?
Cuizhi said icily, Who said its got anything to do with the fight, its the Science Institute who wants the fittest among our special task force for an experiment. I saw that you were so brave last night and your stamina was so surprisingly good, so I recommended you to the instructor. The instructor has given his orders!
************************************************** *