text: Last week I wrote about the fact that IT organizations are now executing an "and" cloud computing strategy, in the sense that their future plans include (most likely) an internal cloud based on VMware and an external cloud (most likely Amazon Web Services).\n\nI pointed out that the traditional model of managing virtual machines\u2014creating a VM template that contains all the software components that the VM contains\u2014is inappropriate in a world in which applications may be deployed internally, externally, across both internal and external clouds, and even transferred between internal and external clouds. This is due to the fact that the virtual machine images are typically incompatible across deployment environments.V2C Outdated For Today's Cloud Application LifecycleOne solution often proffered is to put a template image through a conversion process (commonly referred to as virtual-to-cloud, or V2C) to make it able to run in another environment. There are two problems with this solution, however.While V2C is efficient for a one-time, one-way conversion, it's a nightmare in an environment in which images must be run in multiple places. Trying to repetitively convert images is labor-intensive and error-prone.\nEven more challenging is the fact that the mental model of conversions is increasingly outdated in today's IT world. The vision underlying the conversion process is that of a stable image with static software components that rarely change. The reality is that today's applications are constantly evolving with changes going on continuously. The entire agile movement is directed against large, static releases, recognizing the fact that the "Big Bang" release theory too often delivers obsolete code well past deadline.\n\nThe new model is frequent small code releases with small amounts of incremental functionality. In fact, there's a name for this approach: continuous integration. This process lets you constantly check progress and make quick course corrections long before you're lost and becalmed. This agile approach militates against the "one and done" conversion approach.\n\nGiven these two issues, an operations approach that is based on transferring large static templates around is doomed. Simply put, the speed of application evolution finds the plodding pace of template conversion and movement intolerable.\n\nSome IT organizations seek to segregate development from deployment, applying agile development to create software releases that are then moved into a traditional production operations model. The thinking is to evolve the software rapidly in development and then manage the rollout according to time-tested operations principles. The common outcome of this is dissatisfaction and conflict between development and operations.\n\nDevOps Brings Agile Approach\n\nThe simple truth is that applications are increasingly being assembled from many small components, which are aggregated into an integrated collection that operates as a single deliverable. The development and deployment approach must support constant change in individual components and continuous integration of all components into the final deliverable.\n\nInstead, there needs to be an approach to development and operations across all phases of an application to achieve application agility, which enables business agility. That need is intuitively obvious once one accepts that rapid application evolution is never-ending, not an occasional exception or irritating interruption. \n\nThe solution to the cloud application lifecycle challenge is clear: An approach to application assembly, delivery and deployment that can support continuous development and integration and that is used by all parties in the IT delivery chain. The shorthand phrase used to describe this collaboration with development and operations is DevOps, and it affects every technical group within IT.\n\nThe key feature of DevOps to focus on here is what this solution implies for application assembly and deployment in a cloud environment\u2014especially a cloud environment in which the final image must be capable of running in dissimilar cloud environments.\n\nRather than the traditional two-step approach\u2014creation of a large template that is then deployed in the runtime environment\u2014this approach implies a three-step process, each managed by a different tool that cooperates to automate the entire process (please see Figure 1).\n\nThe Resource Manager, Configuration Manager and Cloud Manager all play an important part in an agile cloud application lifecycle.\n\nStep 1: Resource Manager\n\nIn the figure, the Resource Manager is the cloud orchestration stack. The manager's core task is to automatically combine, or orchestrate, the resources necessary to create the right virtual machine. For example, this manager coordinates putting together a virtual machine with 4 GB of RAM, a network connection with a particular IP address and 360 GB of disk storage.\n\nPart of the virtual machine this manager installs is the image operating system. Unlike the legacy approach of each image containing an entire software payload, in this environment the image is a stripped-down operating environment, just enough to boot up a basic operating system. This operating environment is sometimes referred to as JeOS, for Just Enough Operating System. Its purpose is to provide a runtime environment for the application payload\u2014the software packages that implement the functionality that the cloud virtual machine is supposed to provide. Each deployment environment, whether internal or external, will have one of the stripped-down JeOSs for every necessary OS; for example, the internal and external cloud environments will each have a Windows 2008 virtual machine, a RHEL virtual machine and so on.\n\nStep 2: Configuration Manager\n\nThe Configuration Manager, meanwhile, injects the appropriate software packages that transform the JeOS into the right execution environment. Configuration management is a key step in this application approach, since each VM "personality" is comprised of numerous packages and configuration settings, all of which must be implemented correctly for the virtual machine to operate properly.\n\nMoreover, given the frequency of change due to application evolution, not to mention the large numbers of VMs due to application scale, the configuration step must be consistent and avoid errors. If humans were to execute this step, misconfigurations would be constant; by using a Configuration Manager, the execution is consistent and flawless.\n\nConfiguration management is an area of high interest right now for IT shops, with names such as Chef, Puppet and CFEngine on everyone's lips. To be clear, automated configuration that can be quickly, repetitively and consistently executed will be a core skill to address tomorrow's cloud application lifecycles.\n\nStep 3: Cloud Manager\n\nThe Cloud Manager is the final Manager in this process. Cloud users interact with this tool to kick off the entire provisioning process. Key features of the Cloud Manager include the following:\n a portal for end user interaction (self-service)\napplication definition (what types of VMs are needed for the app and are therefore provisioned by the Resource Manager and configured by the Configuration Manager)\napplication deployment\n\nCritically, this layer directs the deployment process, guiding the two other managers as to what cloud environment the application virtual machines will run in and how the different servers within the application should be deployed. Additionally, this layer controls the configuration of the application itself\u2014communicating to each virtual machine the IP addresses of the other servers in the application, for example.\n\nA less obvious implication of the need to frequently adjust application deployments between different cloud environments is the need for a management tool that can subsume the requirements to deploy to different clouds and automate the process, hiding the syntactic and semantic differences among them. \n\nMany people question the need for a Cloud Manager when they first consider deploying applications into the cloud. As with many other types of IT automation, the need only becomes clear when the number of applications to be managed grows from a handful to tens or dozens. Complex cloud configurations can be extremely difficult to manage, and trying to juggle many of them taxes operations groups to the breaking point. Just as the need to support complex server configuration gave rise to configuration managers, so, too, will the need to support complex cloud application deployments impose the need for sophisticated cloud management capabilities.\n\nCommon Approach to Cloud Application Lifecycle Won't Work\n\nLast week I wrote, "The reality is that every IT organization is going to have an 'and strategy: Infrastructure will be a mix of private and public cloud computing. For most, that will mean some mix of private resources and Amazon Web Services." I summed up the inadequacies of the established approach to this "and" hybrid cloud requirement thusly: "The solution must be capable of taking software components and creating an appropriate image for any target environment. The common approach of creating virtual machine templates does not support this solution."\n\nExamining the implications of the requirements of agile application lifecycle and deployment in a malleable hybrid cloud environment makes it clear that a new approach to application management is necessary. Linking resource, configuration, and cloud management will be key for enterprises going forward.\n\nBernard Golden is the vice president of Enterprise Solutions for enStratus Networks, a cloud management software company. He is the author of three books on virtualization and cloud computing, including Virtualization for Dummies. Follow Bernard Golden on Twitter @bernardgolden. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, on Facebook, and on Google +.


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POPS Pizza & Pasta Articles — Things To Know Before You Go
While Italian cuisine involves many meats, cheeses, seafood, and vegetables, most of us associate Italian cuisine first and foremost with pasta. Pasta comes in many shapes and sizes, and each shap...read more
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Satan's Deceit, Adam's Slip & the Tree of Immortality
This read starts with the question: Does it matter how one sins? To answer it, it explores the deeper layers of the story of Adam, Satan and the divine command to not eat from the Tree of Immortality, in order to understand why it is that at the end of the story Adam is bathed in grace, while Satan is utterly disgraced. For at the heart of the saga, we discover the theme of divine love.
Are all sins equal? No, they are not. Are some sins worse than others? Yes, indeed! Does how you sin make any difference to Allah? This may come as a surprise to some, but yes, how one sins does make a difference to Allah. This last point is taught to us in a gem of a saying from the exemplary scholar and saint, Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, who said:
مَن كانَتْ مَعْصِيَتُهُ فِي الشَّهْوَةِ فَارْجُ لَهُ، وَمَنْ كَانَتْ مَعْصِيَتُهُ فِي الْكِبْرِ، فَاخْشَ عَلَيْهِ فَإنَّ آدَمَ عَصى مُشْتَهِيًا، فَغُفِرَ لَهُ وَإِبْلِيْسُ عَصى مُتكَبِّرًا فَلُعِنَ.
'Whoever sins due to a desire, have hope for him; while whoever sins out of pride, fear for him. For Adam disobeyed out of a desire, but was forgiven, whereas Iblis disobeyed from pride and so was cursed.'1
The reference to the Prophet Adam, peace be upon him, and to Iblis or Satan, lies at the heart of the human drama. The story is recounted at the start of the Qur'an at 2:30-9, and also at 7:11-25; 17:61-5; 20:115-23 and 38:71-85. In the Adamic story, both Adam and Iblis are subject to a single divine command. For Adam it was: 'O Adam! Dwell you and your wife in the Garden, and eat as you wish, but do not come near this tree.' [2:19] For Iblis: 'Prostrate yourselves before Adam!' and they all fell prostrate, except Iblis, who was not of those who prostrated. [2:11] In both instances, Allah's order was not followed through: Adam [and Eve] ate from the tree; Iblis refused to prostrate. One could be forgiven for assuming that both these actors would be recipient to similar consequences for having failed to uphold a divine command? But they were not.
On being asked why he disobeyed the command to prostrate, Iblis replied in this defiant and arrogant tone: 'I am better than him. You created me from fire, while You created him of clay.' [7:12] Being made of subtle fire, Iblis presumed himself to be better than Adam, who was heavy and clay-like in nature. So driven by pride, and exercising his own reasoning in defiance of the Divine Command, Iblis set himself up as a god against Allah and thus was cursed. Yet what Satan, in his hubris, failed to acknowledge was the heavenly, luminous substance called ruh or "spirit" that was insufflated into Adam: 'So when I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My spirit, then fall down prostrate before him.' [38:72] Inspite of Adam's opaque, earth-like nature, it is this God-knowing spirit which grants mankind the potential to rise above all other sentient creatures.
As for our father Adam, peace be upon him, his is a story of love; in terms of what drove him, deprived him and distressed him. We read in the Qur'an: But Satan whispered evil to him, suggesting: 'O Adam, shall I show you the tree of immortality and a kingdom that never decays?' [20:120] His eating from the Tree of Immortality was not out of defiance of Allah's will, rather: We made a pact with Adam before, but he forgot. [20:115] However, some of the scholars hold that his forgetting doesn't refer to eating from the tree, but to not recalling that Satan is his avowed enemy: 'O Adam, this [Satan] is an enemy to you and your wife; let him not drive you both from the Garden.' [20:117] In this reading, it is Adam's love for Allah and his aching desire to remain in His presence that drives him to eat from the tree. Let us hear from Ibn 'Ajibah on this point:
'Realise that Adam's eating from the tree was not out of obstinacy or wilful disobedience. It was either due to not recalling the command, so he ate whilst being forgetful; which is what some have said, and is what may be meant in Allah's saying: but he forgot. [20:115] If, however, he ate whilst remembering the command, he did so because: 'Your Lord forbade you this tree lest you become angels or become of the immortals.' [7:20] So his love for Allah and his deep attachment to Him made him to want what would lead him to dwell forever in Allah's company and abide with Him eternally. Or [he wilfully ate because] he desired to become angelic. For Adam, peace be upon him, held the angels to be closer to Allah, so he wished to eat from the tree to be an angel who – as far as he was concerned – were the best [of creation].'2
Satan whispered to Adam and Eve, in order to lead them by deceit: And he swore to them: 'Truly, I am a sincere advisor to you.' [7:21] Adam, in his innocence, believed him, thinking that no one would ever swear by Allah's holy Name falsely!3 So he used Adam's love for Allah and his yearning to be in His presence as a means to make him eat of the tree. Adam was thus deceived into thinking that if he were to become an angel or an immortal, he too would be able to abide in Allah's holy presence forever – perpetually adoring, glorifying and worshiping God as the angels do. Hence the lover ate.4
Ironically, love deprived him – for a while, at least – of dwelling in Allah's presence: He said: 'Go down, both of you, from the Garden.' [20:123] And: 'There will be for you on earth a habitation, and a provision for a while.' [7:24] It was this very same love that caused him to then weep a thousand tears and be utterly heart-broken and remorseful. For unlike Satan who refused to own his sin, but sought instead to justify it, Adam and Eve acknowledged their slip and were remorseful, repentant and longed for God's acceptance: 'Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If you forgive us not, and have not mercy on us, we shall be among the losers!' [7:23] Ibn al-Qayyim wrote:
'By Allah! Having committed the error, Adam neither profited from his rank: 'Bow down before Adam!' [2:34]; nor from his nobility: He taught Adam the names of all things [2:31]; nor his distinction: 'that which I created with both My hands' [38:75]; and nor his glory: and breathed into him of My spirit. [15:29] Instead, he profited only from his humility: "Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If you forgive us not, and have not mercy on us, we will be among the losers!" [7:23]'5
One last point, and it's an important one. When we say that Adam "sinned" – Thus Adam disobeyed his Lord [20:121] – it's not the usual type of sin that is driven by the ego's wilful opposition to Allah. Rather, as the Qur'an says elsewhere, it was an unintentional sin; an inadvertent "slip": But the Devil caused them to slip. [2:36] Both courtesy and creed; adab and 'aqidah, demand that we acknowledge this. Courtesy because when one speaks about God's chosen prophets – the crown of all His creation – one does so in the most respectful and reverent way possible; salawatu'Llahi 'alayhim ajma'in. Not to do so could, in certain cases, amount to disbelief (kufr). As for creed, then this is because the texts of the Qur'an and Hadiths, when taken collectively, teach us that the prophets are ma'sum – "infallible" in the sense of being protected from sin and wilful disobedience. Al-Qurtubi stated: 'The prophets are protected from major sins and the reprehensible minor sins, by consensus.'6
Although Adam and Eve are the first humans to violate a command from God, Satan is the first of all Allah's creation to wilfully disobey Him. His decision to rebel came purely from himself and his pride; no one else lured or persuaded him. Furthermore, his decision to continue to disobey God after his initial defiance ensures that God will not forgive him. In contrast, both Adam and Eve immediately felt remorse and sincerely repented. We could say that while Iblis was driven by pride; Adam's slip, in stark contrast, was driven by love and his longing to be with his Lord. Love is what drove Adam to eat – and there is always some special consideration for Allah's true lovers.
The example of the Prophet Adam, peace be upon him, remains as valid today as it was then. For having turned to God, Adam did not transmit the curse of an "original sin" to his descendants. Instead, he was received into divine grace and a state of harmony was once again restored between him and his Maker: Then Adam received words from his Lord, and his Lord relented towards him. [2:37] A similar grace awaits all those who sin, but turn to Allah in remorseful repentance, following the Adamic example. The key is in pondering God and His grace, which allows one to become closer to Allah and more devoted to Him. In the Adamic saga, Iblis contemplates only himself: Adam constantly contemplates God and being close to Him.
So here's to contemplating closeness!
1. Cited in al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala (Beirut: Mu'assasah al-Risalah, 1998), 8:461.
2. Ibn 'Ajibah, Bahr al-Madid fi Tafsir Qur'an al-Majid (Cairo: al-Maktabah al-Tawqifiyyah, n.d.), 4:320, citing Ibn Ata'illah, Kitab al-Tanwir.
3. See: Qadi 'Iyad, al-Shifa' bi Ta'rif Huquq al-Mustafa (Damascus: Maktabah al-Ghazali, 2000), 692.
4. Cf. Muhammad Idris Kandhalawi, Ma'arif al-Qur'an (Sindh: Maktabah 'Uthmaniyyah, 1422H), 3:85-90. I am indebted to Shaykh Jaleel Ahmad Akhoun, hafizahullah, for bringing this point, and this superb Urdu tafsir, to my attention.
5. Al-Fawa'id (Makkah: Dar 'Alam al-Fawa'id, 2009), 51-2.
6. Al-Jami' li Ahkam al-Qur'an (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah, 1996), 3:194.


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~ This recipe took home the grand prize in the California Avocado Commission's Cutting Edge Culinary Recipe Contest on June 27, 2014!
Happy Monday! Do you guys remember how last year at Fitbloggin' I must have found a million four leaf clovers, because I cleaned out with a whole Amana Kitchen Set AND a Tiffany necklace?! What the what?! Well, this year I'm hoping luck is on my side again because the California Avocado Commission has put a call out for creative avocado recipes featuring mostly fruits and veggies for the California Avocado Cutting-Edge Culinary Recipe Contest. I've been
obsessing thinking about what I was going to make for three weeks, flip-flopping back and forth between a sweet recipe or a more "classic" avocado recipe, in which avocado plays the mellow counterpart to some strong flavor like cilantro, onion, or prosciutto. In the end I decided to take a risk, and make a dessert — a deliciously decadent dessert that tastes like a million calories but is actually cutely packed into portion controlled tarts. I present to you, Avocado Cream Tarts — a rich shortbread shell filled with a light, fluffy avocado mascarpone cream, sweetened with a touch of wildflower honey and given a clean, crisp accent with freshly squeezed lemon juice. The mascarpone pairs beautifully with the buttery notes of avocado, all the better topped with juicy, ripe, diced nectarines and strawberries. This sweet treat has a simple, just-picked, summery taste, and I hope you like it as much as I do.
1 Package of Shortbread Tartlet Shells or Phyllo Shells (bake as instructed), or miniature graham cracker shells (Or even a thin, sweet cookie if you can't find anything else. I used shortbread tartlet shells found near the ready made pie shells in the baking section.)
1.5 Cups Mascarpone Cheese
1 Medium Ripe California Avocado, Mashed
1 Teaspoon Honey
1/2 Teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Diced Nectarine (or more to taste)
Handful of strawberries (or more to taste)
1) Mash the avocado with a fork until it's guacamole consistency. A few small chunks are fine, but for the most part you want a smooth taste. Combine this with the mascarpone in a mixing bowl, and beat on medium for a minute until well mixed. If you don't have a mixing bowl, you can use a whisk and your hands, but mix well. Slowly add in the honey and lemon juice. You can either increase or decrease the amounts of either of these, but I found 1 tsp honey to give just a very slight sweetness, and the lemon to add a very slight tartness to bring out the buttery avocado.
2) Dice the nectarine and strawberries very finely. Either use a spoon or piping bag to carefully fill the shells. Don't have a piping bag but want a pretty swirl? You can make an improv piping bag, using a ziploc bag filled with the cream, snipped in the corner with scissors.
2) Dice your nectarines and strawberries and dab a few pieces of each on top. Pat yourself on the back, cuz you're all done! See how easy that was?! There are a million different variations you could do on this; blueberries, banana, kiwi, apricots, mango… the possibilities are endless.
When I was brainstorming this recipe, it was important to me that it be quick and no-bake. We're up in the 90s here in Los Angeles, and turning on my oven for anything takes some doing. I also wanted to feature avocado in a non-traditional sense; as a dessert, with lots of complementary flavors, but still with the buttery, rich avocado taste being the main feature.
Each avocado tarlet is about 130 calories, and well worth every bite. Avocados are packed with healthy fats, and are sodium and cholesterol free. It's also sometimes called the Alligator Pear for its bumpy, green skin. For more fun avocado facts, visit this link from my friends at the California Avocado Commission.
What do you think about this dessert? Would you give an avocado dessert a try? What's your favorite way to use avocados?


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We're doing a weekend edition of short balls because the US Open calls for us to be a little more on top of our games, something that Jelena Jankovic couldn't quite do in the third round on Saturday. Do you guys ever think this girl is going to win a Slam? Will she be the formidable #1 she was a few years ago or was it just a flash in the pan? I'm curious to see what sort of trajectory her career now takes on. She's sort of hit an official slump, no?
No such slump is happening for Francesca Schiavone, at least not anymore. The French Open champ struggled since winning in Paris, going 3-6 over the summer and coming into the US Open with a giant question mark looming over her head. But earlier this week, Schiavone hits a jaw-dropping shot that matched that of Roger Federer from night one of the Open. Running down a baseline lob from Alona Bondarenko, Schiavone tagged a ball between her legs that went zooming back over the next and help her win the point. As Sports Illustrated writer Brian Armen Graham noted, Schiavone was humble as usual: ""Is nothing programmed. Is just instinct. Is art." Artful, indeed.
More art is happening in the form of photo galleries, three of which caught my eye over the past week. Tennis.com has a gallery up of past US Open magazine covers from their 30-plus years on the newsstand, which also chronicles the price rise of magazines over the years (if your eye can catch them in small print). Meanwhile, the NYT has a (OT) slideshow up of the Oval Office through the years, just in time for the Office to get a face-lift. Pretty cool. And Prince has a great photo album up on facebook featuring week-one shots of their players at Flushing Meadows.
More short balls after the cut.
Celebs were in style at the USO over week one, as well. Making appearances at the Open were Derek Jeter of the Yankees, comic actor Will Ferrell, actor Alec Baldwin, photographer Nigel Barker of America's Next Top Model, and musicians Usher and John Legend (pictured below).
Tennis Now, the online tennis news site, is running a couple high-quality contests we wanted you folks to get in on. One is a Match of the Day for the US Open – $50 Gift Card – and the other is a Trip For 2 to Miami for the Sony Ericsson Open. Both contests can be found on the Tennis Now homepage.
Our fave in-the-city blog, Kenneth in the 212, has been following the Open with a watchful eye. He's comparing US up-and-comer Ryan Harrison to actor Ben McKenzie – of The OC fame – and we think he's got a pretty good point. Twinsies? And in case you missed the debacle from Arthur Ashe stadium on Thursday night, Kenneth put that up too, Daily News cover and YouTube videos included.
Picture this: Below, Steffi Graf demonstrates her trademark forehand swing for female tennis youth at the Longines Center Court for Kids Tennis Clinic in Central Park last Thursday. Graf, in town with hubby Andre Agassi, spent the day in the park with Billie Jean King and American pro Mashona Washington, among others, to give instruction to young gals in association with the City Parks Foundation.
(jankovic photo by getty images; john legend photo by the ap; steffi graf photo provided)


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1. The terminal argument specified on the command line.
2. The value of the TERM environmental variable.
3. (BSD systems only.) The terminal type associated with the standard error output device in the /etc/ttys file. (On Linux and System-V-like UNIXes, getty does this job by setting TERM according to the type passed to it by /etc/inittab.)
4. The default terminal type, ``unknown''.
If the terminal type was not specified on the command-line, the -m option mappings are then applied (see the section TERMINAL TYPE MAPPING for more information). Then, if the terminal type begins with a question mark (``?''), the user is prompted for confirmation of the terminal type. An empty response confirms the type, or, another type can be entered to specify a new type. Once the terminal type has been determined, the terminfo entry for the terminal is retrieved. If no terminfo entry is found for the type, the user is prompted for another terminal type.
Once the terminfo entry is retrieved, the window size, backspace, interrupt and line kill characters (among many other things) are set and the terminal and tab initialization strings are sent to the standard error output. Finally, if the erase, interrupt and line kill characters have changed, or are not set to their default values, their values are displayed to the standard error output. Use the -c or -w option to select only the window sizing versus the other initialization. If neither option is given, both are assumed.
When invoked as reset, tset sets cooked and echo modes, turns off cbreak and raw modes, turns on newline translation and resets any unset special characters to their default values before doing the terminal initialization described above. This is useful after a program dies leaving a terminal in an abnormal state. Note, you may have to type
(the line-feed character is normally control-J) to get the terminal to work, as carriage-return may no longer work in the abnormal state. Also, the terminal will often not echo the command.
The options are as follows:
The arguments for the -e, -i, and -k options may either be entered as actual characters or by using the `hat' notation, i.e. control-h may be specified as ``^H'' or ``^h''.
When the -s option is specified, the commands to enter the information into the shell's environment are written to the standard output. If the SHELL environmental variable ends in ``csh'', the commands are for csh, otherwise, they are for sh. Note, the csh commands set and unset the shell variable noglob, leaving it unset. The following line in the .login or .profile files will initialize the environment correctly:
eval `tset -s options ... `
The purpose of the -m option is to map from some set of conditions to a terminal type, that is, to tell tset ``If I'm on this port at a particular speed, guess that I'm on that kind of terminal''.
The argument to the -m option consists of an optional port type, an optional operator, an optional baud rate specification, an optional colon (``:'') character and a terminal type. The port type is a string (delimited by either the operator or the colon character). The operator may be any combination of ``>'', ``<'', ``@'', and ``!''; ``>'' means greater than, ``<'' means less than, ``@'' means equal to and ``!'' inverts the sense of the test. The baud rate is specified as a number and is compared with the speed of the standard error output (which should be the control terminal). The terminal type is a string.
If the terminal type is not specified on the command line, the -m mappings are applied to the terminal type. If the port type and baud rate match the mapping, the terminal type specified in the mapping replaces the current type. If more than one mapping is specified, the first applicable mapping is used.
For example, consider the following mapping: dialup>9600:vt100. The port type is dialup , the operator is >, the baud rate specification is 9600, and the terminal type is vt100. The result of this mapping is to specify that if the terminal type is dialup, and the baud rate is greater than 9600 baud, a terminal type of vt100 will be used.
If no baud rate is specified, the terminal type will match any baud rate. If no port type is specified, the terminal type will match any port type. For example, -m dialup:vt100 -m :?xterm will cause any dialup port, regardless of baud rate, to match the terminal type vt100, and any non-dialup port type to match the terminal type ?xterm. Note, because of the leading question mark, the user will be queried on a default port as to whether they are actually using an xterm terminal.
No whitespace characters are permitted in the -m option argument. Also, to avoid problems with meta-characters, it is suggested that the entire -m option argument be placed within single quote characters, and that csh users insert a backslash character (``\'') before any exclamation marks (``!'').
The -S option of BSD tset no longer works; it prints an error message to stderr and dies. The -s option only sets TERM, not TERMCAP. Both these changes are because the TERMCAP variable is no longer supported under terminfo-based ncurses, which makes tset -S useless (we made it die noisily rather than silently induce lossage).
There was an undocumented 4.4BSD feature that invoking tset via a link named `TSET` (or via any other name beginning with an upper-case letter) set the terminal to use upper-case only. This feature has been omitted.
The -A, -E, -h, -u and -v options were deleted from the tset utility in 4.4BSD. None of them were documented in 4.3BSD and all are of limited utility at best. The -a, -d, and -p options are similarly not documented or useful, but were retained as they appear to be in widespread use. It is strongly recommended that any usage of these three options be changed to use the -m option instead. The -n option remains, but has no effect. The -adnp options are therefore omitted from the usage summary above.
It is still permissible to specify the -e, -i, and -k options without arguments, although it is strongly recommended that such usage be fixed to explicitly specify the character.
As of 4.4BSD, executing tset as reset no longer implies the -Q option. Also, the interaction between the - option and the terminal argument in some historic implementations of tset has been removed.
This describes ncurses version 5.6 (patch 20061217).


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Lavandula / Lavender
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Legendary fragrance, for container or hedge.
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text: No recent wiki edits to this page. General InformationBirthdate: April 7Hair: BrownEyes: BrownHeight: 6'5"Weight: 247 lbsYasutaro "Chad" Sado is one of the main characters in the Bleach Manga series.When Sado is first seen in the Bleach he is sitting with some of the other students from his and Ichigo's class.Sado is a very friendly and respectful person despite his appearance.Sado is a very powerful person, he even catches a steel I- Beam on his shoulders in his first appearance, who puts his well being on the line to protect others.Sado had the disadvantage of being a target to bullies when he was younger, many attacking him because of his size and appearance.Sado met Ichigo shortly after moving back to Japan, and earns his nick name Chad when Ichigo pronounces his name wrong. AppearanceYasutaro Sado is a very tall and powerful looking teenager, he looks a lot older than you would think he is.Throughout most of the series Chad wears his school uniform when he is seen, but sometimes he wears normal almost American Eagle looking clothes.Chad has a very tan complexion, and is thought to have at least one parent who was from Mexico.Chad has longer hair that hangs down over his face but no facial hair.On his left arm Chad has a snake wrapped around a heart with angel wings and the Italian words for Love and Death.When he activates his spiritual powers Chad's right and left arms become covered with sleeves, one for shielding himself and the other to attack others with. History*Early Stories*Chad is first introduced in the Cursed Parakeet story where he is first seen hanging out with two of his friends in a construction zone.After being shown the parakeet a steel I- Beam is dropped on the three friends, luckily for them Chad is strong enough to catch the I- beam and walk away from the attack.The next morning Chad is late for school, showing up in time to remove a school bully who is trying to intimidate Ichigo because of his hair color.After tossing the bully across the school grounds Ichigo insists that Chad should be more careful because he doesn't realize his own strength.When questioned as to why he is late for school Chad explains that he was hit by a guy on a motorcycle and had to carry him to a hospital before he came to school because of how badly the other person was hurt.At that time Ichigo notices that the parakeet that talking to the teens was possessed by Shibata, a human spirit, but he doesn't tell Chad.Later that same day Ichigo hears a ruckus from the street outside of his families hospital and comes out to help deal with the car accident.When Ichigo sees that Chad is involved the accident he tries to help him.Chad leaves the hospital after refusing to put others in danger.As Chad continues to run with the parakeet he is confronted by Rukia Kuchiki.Chad tries to get Rukia leave him alone so that he can keep the Hollow that is using the parakeet as bait to draw in people with strong spiritual power.When Rukia explains what is happening to Chad they work together to fight the Hollow until Ichigo can show up to fight it.After the battle Chad promises the boy's spirit in the parakeet that when they meet on the other side he will carry him around like he did while he was a parakeet.*Spirits Are Amongst Us*While a popular T.V. show is shooting in their town Chad and the others all go to the taping to see it's star Don Kanonji.While watching the taping Chad and several of Ichigo's closest friends begin to hear and feel the pain of the spirit who has bound itself to the hospital.When Ichigo and Rukia are attacked by the security guards for crossing the safety barrier Chad jumps into the fight after Ichigo goes Soul Reaper.*Battle of the Rubicon- Right Arm of the Giant*When Uryu releases his hollow bait so that he can challenge Ichigo to a duel using Hollows as a point system one Hollow tries to attack Chad.Desperate to draw the Hollow away from his friends Chad gets it to chase him to a park that he though would be empty. When he arrives at the park Chad is mortified to see that Ichigo's little sister Karin and her friends are there playing soccer.Chad protects Karin from the Hollow and has to use her as his eyes since he can only make out a hazy outline.While fighting the Hollow Chad is knocked down and Karin's pleas for him to get up cause him to think back to when he was younger.It is here that Chad's desire to protect others over himself is revealed to the readers.When Chad was younger his grandfather explained to him that since he is taller, stronger, and handsome he needs to learn to control his urge to fight.Chad's grandfather asks him to grow up to protect others and to become a nice person.After the flashback Chad awakens and so do his spiritual powers.Chad's powers manifest as a sleeve that he can send burst of energy off of at his enemies.After the battle Chad collapse from the lack of power he has left from using his arm's attack.After asking Karin if she is alright Chad is kicked in the head and thinks to himself about how much Karin reminds him of Ichigo, shortly afterwards Kisuke Urahara takes Chad back to is store and asks him if Orihime and him would be willing to fight against Ichigo's enemies.*Soul Society Story Arc*After Ichigo and Uryu are defeated by Renji and Byakuya Kuchiki, Chad is recruited by Yoruichi to learn to use his powers properly so he can join the others in their infiltration of the Soul Society.After learning to use his powers on command Chad and the others join together and meet at Kisuke's store to begin their invasion.After passing through the gateway to get to the Soul Society the team is chased by a spirit entity that is suppose to clean the tunnel between the two worlds.When Uryu's cape is caught by the entity Chad tears his cape and then carries him, despite Uryu's not being injured.When the team reaches the outer cities of the Soul Society Chad tries to help Ichigo fight Jidanbo at the gates to the Soul Society's central city, but the giant overhears Chad and Orihime's plan and asks them who they are talking about.After the battle Chad runs into Shibata and carries him around while the others recuperate after their confrontation with Gin Ichimaru.After the team regroups and they head off to find Kukaku Shiba and an alternate route into the center of the Soul Society.After meeting with Kukaku the team are launched into the air and fly into the Soul Society, but are separated when their Spirit Sphere is shattered.Chad is separated from all the others and ends up having to fight by himself.Chad nearly catches up with Ichigo and Ganju Shiba when he destroys a wall, but is slowed by a group of the 11th Division.Chad defeats a large group of the 11th Division of the Gotei 13 in a single attack from his Right Arm of the Giant.Chad also defeats the third seat of the Gotei 13's 8th Division Tatsufasu Enjoji with only one hit.Chad's rampage through the Soul Society is finally brought to an end by the Captain of the 8th Division.Chad tries several times to hit Shunsui Kyoraku after trying to talk him down, but misses with each attack.Shunsui defeats Chad and sends him to the care of the 4th Division.While healing in the 4th Division's prison Chad finds himself with Uryu and Ganju.Chad and the others are sprung from prison by Kenpachi so that they can reunite with Ichigo at the execution grounds after his battle with Byakuya Kuchiki.After the battle Chad and the others learn of Suske Aizen's plan to get the Orb of Distortion, but are unable to help stop him from escaping to Hueco Mundo.*Arrancar*When the team returns from the Soul Society they are met with two students who want to recruit Ichigo for the Vizards, humans who have the abilities of Soul Reapers and Hollows.Chad and the others are blown off by the two new students when they leave, but Chad stops the others from chasing after them since he felt they would be no match for the two.Shortly afterwards two Arrancar, Yammy and Ulquiorra Schiffer, arrive in the human world and begin to attack people in a park.Chad and Orihime show up to try and save the people in the park, but fail to stop them.During the fight Chad sacrifices his Right Arm of the Giant to try to stop Yammy, but only succeeds in distracting him until Ichigo shows up.After healing and battling more Arrancar Chad is almost killed again as another Arrancar D- Roy stabs him in the chest.After being healed Chad goes to Kisuke for training, but Urahara refuses to train him and instead has Renji Abarai train him so that he has more battle experience.After the training Chad's Right Arm of the Giant evolves to it's new power level.*Hueco Mundo*During the Hueco Mundo Story arc Chad joins Uryu, Ichigo, Renji, and Rukia in their invasion of the Hollow's world.Chad and Uryu first battle two Arrancar to prove that they are worthy of helping in their mission, taking on Iceringer and Demora.After struggling with Iceringer Chad decides that he would be better off fighting Demora and swaps adversaries with Uryu. After the two defeat the two Arrancar they split up to search for Orihime, who was kidnapped by Aisen.Chad ends up in battle with Gantenbein Mosqueda, a powerful Arrnacar, and struggles through the beginning of the battle.Chad's Right Arm evolves again he gets up to the same speed as Gantenbein, but Chad mentions that his Grandfather protects him while inhabiting his right arm.Chad then manifests his left arm's power, the Left Arm of the Devil.Chad demonstrates that his left arm is for attacking his opponents while his right is for protecting himself.Chad easily defeats Gantenbein after his final evolution and spares his life.Before Chad can leave another Arrancar appears and attacks Chad. Noitora brushes off Chad's first attack and then cuts his Right Arm of the Giant's shield half off.Chad is finally defeated by Telsa, another powerful Arrancar. Powers and Abilities*Right Arm of the Giant and Left Arm of the Devil*When Chad is protecting others he can manifest his spirit powers in either of his arms depending on what he is attempting to do.*Right Arm of the Giant*When Chad manifests his powers in his right hand his arm becomes covered with a black, white, and red sleeve.When he evolves his arm the pattern changes first, and later he loses his wing like appendages at the shoulder and gains a shield that has Hollow teeth at it's center. This arm was originally used mostly for energy blasts, but during battle in Hueco Mundo he eventually realizes that this arm was intended for defense and not attack.*Left Arm of the Devil*After his Right Arm of the Giant reaches it's third evolution Chad's left arm evolves too.With his Left Arm of the Devil Chad gains a sleeve that has the opposite color scheme as is Right Arm's original design. This is to reflect its opposite purpose to his left arm: his right arm is intended for attack, something that had previously been against his nature. Chad realizes in Hueco Mundo that he cannot be passive and only defend: to rescue Inoue he needed to take the offensive in battle, especially when alone.When his left arm manifests though Chad gains several spikes on his chest and shoulder instead of the wings that his right arm had.To attack with his Left Arm of the Devil Chad only has to punch his opponent and a gigantic skull looking energy ball is released on contact.Both of Chads arms are based on his desire to protect others and only when he wants them to manifest will the arms appear.Chad has an inhuman amount of strength and has demonstrated his power when he tore a tree pole out of the ground and used it as a club against a Hollow that was chasing him and Shibata.Chad's intelligence is demonstrated in the stories when the class ranking is posted and he is posted as 11 out of some three hundred students.Since Chad's powers manifest themselves as sleeves Chad has no weapons to attack with and relies on his abilities as a hand- to- hand fighter.When using his spirit powers Chad can sense other people's spirit powers and can even sense where Hollows are and hunt them down using his spirit sense.In the manga Chad's grandfather mentions that Chad will be singled out by some of the other people he meets in life because they are jealous of his size, strength, and looks. He is told by his grandfather that his size and strength are however not a tool to use for the benefit of others: rather they are a gift that should be used to help those he cares for. Chad's grandfather is thus a very important person in Chads development: many of his life philosophies and guidelines are passed down from his grandfather. Font-sizeParagraphHeader 4Header 3Header 2 Quote Link Img Table TweetClean sizeSMLpositionLCRUDchangeCreditDeletesizeSMpositionLRUDchangetitle 1title 2captiondelete×Edit Image TitleTitle: CancelUpdate×Embed ImageWhat size image should we insert? (This will not affect the original upload) Small Medium How do you want the image positioned around text? Float Left Float Right CancelInsertGo to LinkUnlinkChange× Link to Comic Vine Content AllWiki Arcs Characters Companies Concepts Issues Locations Movies People Teams Things Volumes Series EpisodesEditorial Videos Articles Reviews FeaturesCommunity Users You can search for any Comic Vine content. 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The Simple Reason Experts Love the A-10 Warthog: It's a Flying Tank
And why it won't be retired soon.
Many lawmakers, observers, veterans, analysts, pilots and members of the military have been following the unfolding developments regarding the Air Force's plans for the A-10. Citing budgetary reasons, Air Force leaders had said they planned to begin retiring its fleet of A-10s as soon as this year. Some Air Force personnel maintained that other air assets such as the F-16 and emerging F-35 multi-role stealth fighter would be able to fill the mission gap and perform close air support missions once the A-10 retired.
However, a chorus of concern from lawmakers and the A-10s exemplary performance in the ongoing air attacks against ISIS – has lead the Air Force to extend the planned service life of the aircraft well into the 2020s. Despite the claim that other air assets could pick up the close air support mission, advocates for the A-10 consistently state that the platform has an unmatched ability to protect ground troops and perform the close air support mission.
Known for an ability to keep flying after taking multiple rounds of enemy machine gun fire, land and operate in rugged terrain, destroy groups of enemy fighters with a 30mm cannon and unleash a wide arsenal of attack weapons, the A-10 is described by pilots as a "flying tank" in the sky -- able to hover over ground war and provide life-saving close air support in high-threat combat environments.
"It is built to withstand more damage than any other frame that I know of. It's known for its ruggedness," A-10 pilot Lt. Col. Ryan Haden, 23rd Fighter Group Deputy, Moody AFB, told Scout Warrior in an interview.
The pilot of the A-10 is surrounded by multiple plates of titanium armor, designed to enable the aircraft to withstand small-arms fire and keep flying its attack missions.
"The A-10 is not agile, nimble, fast or quick," Haden said. "It's deliberate, measured, hefty, impactful calculated and sound. There's nothing flimsy or fragile about the way it is constructed or about the way that it flies."
A-10 Thunderbolt II, affectionately known as the Warthog, has been in service since the late 1970s and served as a close air support combat aircraft in conflicts such as the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Allied Force in Kosovo, among others.
Having flown combat missions in the A-10, Haden explained how the aircraft is specially designed to survive enemy ground attacks.
"There are things built in for redundancy. If one hydraulic system fails, another one kicks in," he said.
If the aircraft loses all of its electronics including its digital displays and targeting systems, the pilot of an A-10 can still fly, drop general purpose bombs and shoot the 30mm cannon, Haden explained.
"So when I lose all the computers and the calculations, the targeting pod and the heads up display, you can still point the aircraft using a degraded system at the target and shoot. We are actually trained for that," he said.
Unlike other air platforms built for speed, maneuverability, air-to-air dogfighting and air-to-air weapons, the A-10 is specifically engineered around its gun, a 30mm cannon aligned directly beneath the fuselage. The gun is also called a GAU-8/A Gatling gun.
"The 30mm cannon has 7 barrels. They are centered the way the aircraft fires. The firing barrel goes right down the center line. You can point the aircraft and shoot at the ground. It is designed for air to ground attack," Haden explained.
Armed with 1,150 rounds, the 30mm cannon is able to fire 70-rounds a second.
Haden explained the gun alignment as being straight along the fuselage line without an upward "cant" like many other aircraft have. Also, the windows in the A-10 are also wider to allow pilots a larger field of view with which to see and attack targets.
The engines of the A-10 are mounted high so that the aircraft can land in austere environments such as rugged, dirty or sandy terrain, Haden said. The engines on the A-10 are General Electric TF34-GE-100 turbofans.
"I've seen this airplane land on a desert strip with the main gear buried in a foot of sand. On most planes, this would have ripped the gear up, but the A-10 turned right around and took off," he added.
There have been many instances where A-10 engines were shot up and the pilots did not know until the returned from a mission, Haden said.
These aerodynamic configurations and engine technology allow the A-10 to fly slower and lower, in closer proximity to ground forces and enemy targets.
"The wings are straight and broadened. The engines are turbofan. They were selected and designed for their efficiency, not because of an enormous thrust. We have a very efficient engine that allows me to loiter with a much more efficient gas-burn rate," Haden said.
Close Air Support
By virtue of being able to fly at slower speeds of 300, the A-10 can fly beneath the weather at altitudes of 100 feet. This gives pilots and ability to see enemy targets with the naked eye, giving them the ability to drop bombs, fire rockets and open fire with the 30mm cannon in close proximity to friendly forces.
"We shoot really close to people. We do it 50-meters away from people. I can sometimes see hands and people waving. If I get close enough and low enough I can see the difference between good guys and bad guys and shoot," Haden explained.
The aircraft's bombs, rockets and cannon attack enemies up close or from miles sway, depending on the target and slant range of the aircraft, Haden added.
"We deliver the munitions by actually going from a base position – then pointing the jet at the ground and then pulling the trigger once we reach the desired range," he explained.
The A-10 uses both "Lightning" and "Sniper" pods engineered with infrared and electro-optical sensors able to find targets for the pilot.
"The aircraft uses the same targeting pod as F-15E and F-16. However, most of the fighters can't transition between the two targeting pods and we can, based on our software," Haden said.
The A-10 carries a full complement of weapons to include Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAM GPS-guided bombs; its arsenal includes GBU 38s, GBU 31s, GBU 54s, Mk 82s, Mk 84s, AGM-65s (Maverick missiles), AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles and rockets along with illumination flares, jammer pods and other protective countermeasures. The aircraft can carry 16,000 pounds of mixed ordnance; eight can fly under the wings and three under-fuselage pylon station, Air Force statements said.
A-10 Avionics Technology
Pilots flying attack missions in the aircraft communicate with other aircraft and ground forces using radios and a data-link known at LINK 16. Pilots can also text message with other aircraft and across platforms, Haden added.
The cockpit is engineered with what is called the CASS cockpit, for Common Avionics Architecture System, which includes moving digital map displays and various screens showing pertinent information such as altitude, elevation, surrounding terrain and target data.
A-10 pilots also wear a high-tech helmet which enables them to look at targeting video on a helmet display.
"I can project my targeting pod video into my eye so I can see the field of view. If something shoots at me I can target it simply by looking at it," he explained.
Operation Anaconda
During the early months of combat in Operation Enduring Freedom, in a battle known as "Operation Anaconda," Haden's A-10 wound up in a fast-moving, dynamic combat circumstance wherein U.S. military were attacking Taliban fighters in the Afghan mountains.
During the mission in March of 2002, Haden was able to see and destroy Taliban anti-aircraft artillery, guns and troop positions.
"We could see tracer fire going from one side of the valley to the other side of the valley. We were unable to tell which was from good guys and which was from bad guys. Using close air support procedures in conjunction with our sensors on board, we deconstructed the tactical situation and then shot," he said.
The Future of the A-10
Many lawmakers, observers, veterans, analysts, pilots and members of the military have been following the unfolding developments regarding the Air Force's plans for the A-10. Citing budgetary reasons, Air Force leaders had said they planned to begin retiring its fleet of A-10s as soon as this year. Some Air Force personnel maintained that other air assets such as the F-16 and emerging F-35 multi-role stealth fighter would be able to fill the mission gap and perform close air support missions once the A-10 retired.
However, a chorus of concern from lawmakers and the A-10s exemplary performance in the ongoing air attacks against ISIS – has lead the Air Force to extend the planned service life of the aircraft well into the 2020s. Despite the claim that other air assets could pick up the close air support mission, advocates for the A-10 consistently state that the platform has an unmatched ability to protect ground troops and perform the close air support mission.
Now, the Air Force has a begun a three-pronged strategy to replace or sustain the A-10 which involves looking at ways to upgrade and preserve the existing aircraft, assessing what platforms might be available on the market today or designing a new close-air-support airplane.
Sending the close-air-support aircraft to the bone yard would save an estimated $4.2 billion over five years alone, Air Force officials previously said.
The overall costs of the program including life cycle management, sustainment and upkeep had made the A-10 budget targets for the service, however many lawmakers pushed back on the plans.
There have been many advocates for the A-10 among lawmakers who have publically questioned the prior Air Force strategy to retire the aircraft. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. and Sen. John McCain have been among some of the most vocal supporters of the A-10.
On several occasions, Ayotte has challenged the Air Force decision to retire the plane.
"The A-10 has saved many American lives, and Senator Ayotte is concerned that the Air Force might prematurely eliminate the A-10 before there is a replacement aircraft—creating a dangerous close air support capability gap that could put our troops at risk," an Ayotte official said several months ago.McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed the news that the A-10 might remain longer than the Air Force had planned.
"I welcome reports that the Air Force has decided to keep the A-10 aircraft flying through fiscal year 2017, ensuring our troops have the vital close-air support they need for missions around the world. Today, the A-10 fleet is playing an indispensable role in the fight against ISIL in Iraq and assisting NATO's efforts to deter Russian aggression in Eastern Europe," McCain said in a recent statement.
Also, the A-10 has been performing extremely well in ongoing attacks against ISIS, creating an operational demand for the durable aircraft and therefore reportedly informing this Air Force decision.
"With growing global chaos and turmoil on the rise, we simply cannot afford to prematurely retire the best close air support weapon in our arsenal without fielding a proper replacement. When the Obama Administration submits its 2017 budget request in the coming weeks, I hope it will follow through on its plan to keep the A-10 flying so that it can continue to protect American troops, many still serving in harm's way," McCain added.
Although the continued existence of the A-10 is assured well into the next decade, the debate about what, if anything, might be able to replace it is quite likely to continue.
This first appeared in Scout Warrior here.


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Russian state media has released video of President Vladimir Putin showing off with a new Kalashnikov sniper rifle in the latest stunt intended to burnish his macho image.
In the video, Putin is seen staring down the scope of the SVCh-308 rifle and shooting at targets at a range in Kubinka, close to Moscow. The semi-automatic compact rifle is the latest model produced by Kalashnikov, the iconic Russian weapons maker, and is reportedly viewed as a potential successor to the famous Dragunov sniper rifle.
Russian state media claimed that Putin hit three out of five targets. In breathless coverage, a reporter from Russia's main state broadcaster, Channel 1, noted that Putin had acted like a professional sniper, holding his breath and waiting between heartbeats to fire.
The macho pursuits of Russian President Vladimir Putin
Putin has repeatedly posed with Kalashnikov's weapons over the years and has made action hero stunts a key element of his political image since he came to power in 1999. He has stalked tigers, fought forest fires from the air and dived in a miniature submarine in the Black Sea, to name a few of the performances that have garnered him comparisons to a James Bond villain by the international press.
The stunts, experts say, are part of a deliberate strategy intended to create a mystique around Putin.
Gleb Pavlovsky, a former Kremlin adviser who helped craft Putin's image during his first two terms as president, said that he and others had landed upon the idea of creating a president modeled around a movie hero. Putin had mastered the role though it risked becoming stale, he admitted.
"Now he repeats all the old tricks of his image," Pavlovsky told ABC News. "It's all the same: sport, military machines, kids, animals. But now he performs like an old actor. He's not performing entirely seriously. He remembers how he performed it 15 years ago."
Since his invasion of Crimea in 2014 and his later intervention in Syria, Putin's embrace of his role as a more militaristic leader has helped lift his approval ratings to exceptional highs.
But the limits of that image have shown themselves in recent weeks, as the Kremlin has confronted broad discontent around an unpopular reform to raise the pension age. Putin's approval rating among Russians fell from 79 percent in May to 67 percent in July, according to Russia's only independent pollster, the Levada Center. In response, Putin announced a softening of the reform but has said it will go ahead.


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We recommend that you read this Privacy Policy carefully, so that your decision to provide and entrust us with your personal data may be free, informed and voluntary.
This Privacy Policy applies to all hotels managed and operated under the SANA Hotels and Evolution brand, their food and drinks establishments, as well as other restaurant establishments managed and operated under "Fifty Seconds Martin Berasategui", "SUD Lisboa" and "A Pastorinha" brands. To learn more about the SANA universe, please go to www.sanahotels.com.
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You will have the right to request from us the access, correction and deletion of your personal data, the right to restrain the processing of such data and, in certain circumstances, the right to portability of your personal data.
In case we are processing personal data based on your consent, such consent may be withdrawn at any time, in which case the processing will have to cease. Therefore, should you wish to stop receiving communications for the purposes of advertising and marketing, please send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com.
In case we are treating your personal data for the purpose of direct marketing, in relation to products and/or services similar to those you have already contracted with us, in any contact we make, you will be given the option to cancel at any time the receiving of our communications (opt-out).
In order to exercise the rights referred to above, you should contact us via email at email@example.com.
When exercising your rights, this does not entail the payment of any fee. However, unjustified, repetitive or excessive requests may be subject to a fee charge.
Your request for access will be processed as soon as possible. Should we see ourselves unable to respond within a period of 30 (thirty) days after receiving the request, we will let you know the deadline we need to respond to said request.
Should we see ourselves unable to comply with your request, we will let you know the related grounds.
If you believe that SANA Hotels has not allowed you to exercise your rights regarding personal data protection, you may file a complaint with the supervisory and administrative authority – Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados [National Data Protection Commission] – CNPD | Rua de São Bento, n.º 148, 3º, 1200-821 Lisbon (Portugal) | Tel.: +351 213928400 | Fax: +351 213976832 | email: firstname.lastname@example.com
- Security
We are committed to ensuring the security of your personal data. To protect your personal data from unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure or illegal copying we have implemented a set of appropriate technical and organisational measures, such as permanently updated anti-virus and anti-spyware protection, SSL encryption for sensitive data (credit card, booking form), firewalls, frequent backups, restricted access to personal data only for those who need it.
While no security measures are 100% effective and secure, we are committed to protecting the integrity and confidentiality of your personal data, wherefore we are continuously reviewing and improving our security measures.
If your access to our websites is done using a username and password that was generated or chosen by you, you are responsible for maintaining its confidentiality.
- Data Retention Period
Your personal data will be retained for the period strictly necessary for complying with the purposes for which it was collected and processed, or for the period necessary for complying with the applicable legal obligations.
We will cease the processing of your personal data or remove any association of the data to you ("pseudonymisation") as soon as the processing ceases to serve its purposes, the compliance of legal obligations or the lawful interests of SANA Hotels.
- Personal data of minors
Besides data regarding the name, age and date of birth of your children, which we request from you for the purposes of reservations management and invoicing, you may also be asked for data regarding allergies and food intolerances and other health care issues, for the purposes of staying in our "Kids Club".
SANA Hotels will not request any other data regarding minors apart from the aforementioned. However, it is not possible to determine the age of our websites' users, nor to ensure that the data provided on our websites has obtained the consent of those responsible for the minor.
- Cookies Policy
What are cookies? Cookies are small text files that are embedded into the user's device (computer, mobile phone, or tablet) when you visit SANA Hotels websites via a browser. Cookies enable the website to recognise the user's device.
Why do we use cookies? SANA Hotels uses cookies and other web crawlers to understand how you have reached us, the frequency of your visits and your browsing preferences, enabling us to discover the best way of presenting information that is truly relevant to you, as a user.
Cookies and other web crawlers used by SANA Hotels do not collect personal information of any kind, or any other information that enables your identification.
What types of cookies do we use? SANA Hotels uses session cookies, which are deleted once the user leaves the browser or website, and persistent cookies, which remain on your device until they expire or until they are deleted when you use your browser's features.
Consent. By browsing SANA Hotels websites, you accept the installation of cookies that require consent on your device.
Delete and/or block cookies: Cookies and other web crawlers may be configured, deleted or blocked via the user's browser settings.
Which tools are used by the SANA Hotels website for analytics and user behaviour?
Google Analytics
SANA Hotels websites use Google Analytics, a web analysis service provided by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (hereinafter "Google"). Like this, cookies that provide information on the Website's use are being stored. This data, including the user's IP address, is transmitted to Google servers.
According to statements issued by Google, data collected by Google Analytics is not related to any other data held by Google.
Users may delete cookies in their browser settings and prevent them from being stored in the future. In this case, however, users may not be able to use all the features on SANA Hotels' websites.
Users may also deactivate the tool by downloading and installing a browser add-on available from Google: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en
SANA Hotels websites use components of Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA (hereinafter "Facebook") (e.g.: Facebook Connect and Facebook social plug-ins). When you access a webpage using such components, a connection with Facebook servers is established. This allows Facebook to identify the website that the user is visiting, and potentially store other data such as the IP address. If the user is also connected to Facebook, Facebook may also associate the data with the user's Facebook account. Should the user wish to prevent this, he/she must log out from Facebook before visiting the webpage.
You can find more information about how Facebook processes data on Facebook website: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/.
SANA Hotels websites use buttons from Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA (hereinafter "Twitter"). When you access a webpage using such buttons, a connection with Twitter servers is established. This allows Twitter to identify the website that the user is visiting, and potentially store other data such as the IP address. According to Twitter, such data is stored like this only for the purpose of displaying the button. You can find more information about how Twitter processes data on Twitter website: https://twitter.com/privacy
- Changes
This Privacy Policy may be changed or amended at any time, without prior notice. Any changes or amendments will be duly published on our website and, if necessary, communicated via email, always including reference to the last update. Therefore, we recommend that you periodically check the Privacy Policy in force.
- Contacts
The Data Controller company is SANA Hotels Portugal, S.A., Edifício Myriad Crystal Center, Cais das Naus, lote 2.15.02, 1990-173 Lisbon (Portugal).
For any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or how your data is processed, please contact us via email firstname.lastname@example.com.
Last Update: 11 April 2019


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What parent doesn't want to give their child a better life than they had?
No matter the point in history, parents strive to provide the best for their children. Often, what mom and dad seek to provide is something they lacked in their own experience.
And with so many members of Gen X and Gen Y struggling under the weight of student loans, saving for college is high on the list of things today's parents may want to do for their kids to make their future transition into adulthood easier.
"On an airplane, flight attendants tell you to put on your own mask before you put on your kids' mask in case of emergency," says Jude Boudreaux, who holds a CFP® and is the founder of Upperline Financial in New Orleans. "This is the same thing."
But while college savings is important and a good financial goal to set, it is not the most important thing to think about when it comes to your finances.
It may be hard to hear, but couples and anyone with children need to meet three other critical financial milestones before saving for college. Here are the financial boxes you need to check first.
Creating an Emergency Fund
Most money earmarked for college savings goes into vehicles like 529 plans. There are good reasons to do so: These accounts are specifically designed for the purpose of saving for college costs.
They provide tax advantages while allowing you to invest your money to potentially earn returns on your contributions. The potential downside? Those contributions must be used for qualifying education expenses for the beneficiary of the account.
If you withdraw funds for any other reason, you'll pay for it. You can expect to pay income tax on the money you take out of the account, plus a 10% penalty on the withdrawal.
While it may seem unfair on the surface, this penalty can work as an incentive to help people keep savings in place until they can be used for their designated purpose.
Otherwise, it's far too easy to dip into the account when temptation arises and spend the money on something else entirely — leaving your kids with less for college than your original good intentions planned for.
Still, it can create a big problem if you furiously save all your cash in a 529 plan but don't set aside anything for your own financial emergencies that may pop up for your family between now and the time your kids go off to school.
Funding an emergency savings account should be one of your top financial priorities, no matter who you are. And in fact, the more children you have — and therefore increased financial responsibility you take on — the more you should keep your emergency savings fully funded.
This acts as a cash cushion to protect you and your family from unexpected costs that might otherwise wipe out the available money in your checking account. It can also help you get through tough times you didn't necessarily plan on, like an illness that generates expensive medical bills or a job loss for you or your spouse.
When you can pull from your emergency fund, you can cover these costs without getting into savings earmarked for specific purposes. You can also avoid putting charges on your credit card that you can't pay off right away, which will cost you more in interest and could lead to a nasty cycle of credit card debt that's hard to repay.
Paying Down Debt
Yes, paying down debt is actually a form of saving. Just think about all of the money you won't be paying in interest fees once you are debt free.
But what if you already have credit card debt or other balances from your own student loans? Consider this priority number two over college savings.
That doesn't mean you need to pay off every last dollar of debt that's in your name. However, it's wise to create a debt repayment plan that you can use to actively work toward paying off all your consumer balances.
You need to understand a few pieces of information about your debt before creating a strategy to get rid of it:
● The total amount of each balance due.
● The minimum payment required for each.
● The interest rate of each balance.
Avalanche or Snowball?
Pay the minimums on each balance to prevent your debt from growing even larger. Then, you can use one of two debt repayment methods to help you make progress — the debt snowball or the debt avalanche method.
The debt snowball starts by focusing on the smallest balance and paying it off in full as quickly as you can. That means making a larger-than-the-minimum payment on that debt (while making at least the minimum on all other balances).
Because you start with the smallest balance, you enjoy a "win" faster than you would if you tackled the biggest balance first, since it takes less time to pay off the smaller debt. This is helpful when you're struggling to feel motivated — or if you feel so overwhelmed that you're taking no action at all right now.
But it's not the best method to save the most money, mathematically speaking. For that, you'll want the debt avalanche method. This strategy focuses on paying off debts from the balance with the highest interest rate down to the lowest.
This is the most effective way to pay the least on your debt. But it can be tough to stay motivated, since you may pay on a large balance for a long time (when you'd rather just knock at least one of them out right away!).
Once you know what you're dealing with when it comes to your debt and have a plan to pay it off, you can consider the other financial goals you want to work toward at the same time. That could include college savings — as long as your final priority is in place first.
To get a jump-start, check out MagnifyMoney's Snowball vs. Avalanche calculator to see how much money you can save using either method.
Your Retirement Strategy
Just like you don't need to pay off every cent of debt first, you don't need to have your nest egg fully funded before you bother saving for a child's education. But you do need to be on the path to meeting your future financial goals.
"I understand the desire to want to give to your children, but if you're not preparing for your own retirement you're really placing yourself in a risky situation," says Boudreaux.
That's because your retirement savings needs to cover a much longer period of your life than college savings needs to provide for your children, says Neal Frankle, a Certified Financial Planner™ and the creator of financial blog Wealth Pilgrim.
"The focus for people in this situation must be on their own future as the need is far greater and the retirement period is much longer than school," he says. "The focus for the student should be on reducing costs."
Frankle suggests encouraging your child to start at a community college as one way to accomplish this. Eric Rosenberg, a financial writer at Personal Profitability, adds that your student has access to scholarships and grants, too — and reminds parents there are no such options for retirement.
"It takes decades to save for retirement," Rosenberg says. On the other hand, your kids can work to earn their degree and take a paying job after school — which will help pay for their loans if they need to take them. But you can't get loans for retirement, much less grants. "You're on your own," says Rosenberg.
For that reason, Ryan Frailich, a fee-only financial planner with Deliberate Finances, feels taking care of your own financial needs first is one of the most selfless things a parent can do.
"By making sure your retirement is in order and on track before looking at college savings, you avoid putting your children in the position of having to support you in the future — right at the time they're trying to raise families of their own," Frailich says.
MagnifyMoney is a price comparison and financial education website, founded by former bankers who use their knowledge of how the system works to help you save money.


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A-Rod out six months after surgery
Alex Rodriguez had surgery on his left hip Wednesday and is expected to be sidelined until after the All-Star break.
The New York Yankees said Dr. Bryan Kelly repaired a torn labrum and impingement and the operation at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York ''went as planned and without complication.''
The 37-year-old former All-Star third baseman is expected to be released from the hospital on Thursday and the anticipated time for a full recovery is six months. The Yankees signed free agent Kevin Youkilis this offseason to play third base while Rodriguez is out.
''Hopefully his surgery went well and he gets back as soon as possible,'' Yankees captain Derek Jeter said in Tampa, Fla. ''I don't know the details of how it usually takes, but you just want to make sure he's healthy.''
Kelly said last week that Rodriguez had a condition known as femoral acetabular impingement and it was caused by genes, not by steroids. Rodriguez admitted in 2009 that he used steroids while with the Texas Rangers from 2001-03.
Kelly said the injury was responsible for Rodriguez's poor performance in September and October, when A-Rod was benched in three of nine postseason games and pinch hit for in three others. He batted .120 (3 for 25) with no RBIs in the playoffs, including 0 for 18 with 12 strikeouts against right-handed pitchers.
Rodriguez is due $114 million over the next five years as part of his record $275 million, 10-year contract, so his health is a major concern for the Yankees.
Describing the bone meeting the socket, Kelly said ''we're basically taking an egg-shaped femoral head and through the use of a camera, a motorized burr and Fluoroscopic imaging, we're reshaping the bone to a predetermined shape.''
A 14-time All-Star, Rodriguez had right hip surgery on March 9, 2009, and returned that May 8. Kelly said the left hip requires more recovery time because Rodriguez is a right-handed hitter and rotates it when he swings.
NOTES: RHP Phil Hughes and the Yankees agreed to a $7.15 million, one-year contract, a raise of $3.75 million. The deal, which is not guaranteed, avoided salary arbitration. Players and teams without agreements are set to swap proposed arbitration salaries on Friday. Hughes, who is eligible for free agency after next season, was 18-8 in 2010, slumped to 5-5 the following season as injuries slowed him, then rebounded to a 16-13 record last year. Three Yankees remain in arbitration: right-handers David Robertson and Joba Chamberlain, and left-hander Boone Logan. New York's projected payroll is at about $198 million for 15 players, including $8.5 million the Yankees are paying Pittsburgh as part of last year's trade sending A.J. Burnett to the Pirates. ... As part of their spring training schedule, the Yankees will visit Army at West Point, N.Y., on March 30.


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Everything you need to know about insurance basics, like coverage types, limits, cost and more.
Boat and Watercraft Insurance
There's nothing like being on the water — especially when it's in a boat you can call your own. American Family Insurance wants to make sure that whether your boat's in the water or on the road, it's protected. We'll work with you to get you on the water with confidence. Our boat coverage ensures you're equipped with smart, customized insurance and the dedicated support of your very own American Family Insurance agent.
Our major policy coverages available for purchase include physical damage, bodily injury liability, property damage and medical expense coverage. Take a closer look at your coverage options below so you know exactly how you're protected.
What Does Boat Insurance Cover?
In the event of a covered loss or damage to your watercraft, boat insurance helps to cover your costs for repairs. And if you've purchased a new vehicle replacement coverage endorsement for your boat, you may qualify for the outright replacement of your boat, in the event of a total covered loss. Limitations apply, so be sure to talk to your agent about qualifying for the coverage.
Take a look at all the great ways we help to protect you and your family when you're out on the water. Take a look at all the great ways you can protect your watercraft with American Family Insurance:
Physical damage coverage for your boat
Physical damage coverage protects your watercraft on land and in the water. Whether it's afloat, in transit or in storage, your watercraft is protected against most accidental damage or loss. And that usually includes coverage for your manufacturer-installed equipment and your outboard motor, too. If you own a sailboat, the policy also covers sails, spars and rigging.
Covered losses for physical damage to watercraft typically include:
- Collision with another boat or object
- Fire
- Explosion
- Overturn
- Sinking
- Theft
- Windstorm
- Vandalism
Emergency Roadside and On-Water Service
If you've purchased physical damage coverage for your watercraft, $500 in emergency roadside and on-water services is automatically included — and for an additional charge, it be increased to the following increments: $1,000 or $2,500. Service consists of mechanical labor or other service — up to one hour — at the location where the breakdown occurred. Note that mechanical breakdown of the boat is excluded in the policy.
This service also affords towing to a nearby garage or marina or other location to make repairs. Note that the delivery of gasoline, oil or a loaned battery is available but the customer is responsible for the purchase.
Boat liability coverage
Liability coverage protects you and your financial future. As a boat owner, you can be held legally responsible for injuries or property damage resulting from accidents involving water skiers, swimmers, collision with other boats, collision with docks and more.
Protecting yourself and operators of your watercraft against liability losses is as important as protecting your watercraft and equipment. We offer a range of liability coverage limits to help ensure you are protected if the unexpected happens.
The following supplementary protection is included under boat liability coverage at no additional cost:
Claim and defense expenses
If you are found responsible for a covered loss, and a liability lawsuit results, boat liability coverage can help cover legal and defense expenses.
Emergency first aid
This additional coverage pays reasonable expenses incurred by others for first aid when your watercraft is involved in a covered event.
Watercraft equipment coverage
If you select physical damage coverage, your watercraft insurance policy provides coverage up to $3,000 for watercraft equipment, but you can increase that coverage if you need to. Watercraft equipment includes accessories on the insured watercraft not installed by the manufacturer as part of the original sale.
This coverage applies to items such as the watercraft trailer, boat hoist, marine instruments, safety and life preserving equipment, water skis, electric trolling motor and an auxiliary outboard motor.
Medical expenses
Medical expense coverage protects you and others in your watercraft. We'll pay reasonable medical expenses incurred by you, members of your household or your guests for appropriate and necessary medical services resulting from a covered accidental injury that arises out of the ownership, maintenance or use of the insured watercraft and watercraft equipment.
You have the option of selecting a policy limit of:
- $1,000
- $2,000
- $3,000
- $5,000
- $10,000
Fuel or oil spill cleanup coverage
This is included with every boat and watercraft policy and provides up to $10,000 per loss for fuel or oil spill cleanup resulting from an accidental oil or fuel spill. The limit for this coverage in any 12-month policy period is $20,000.
Optional Boat Insurance Endorsement Coverage for Extra Peace of Mind
Because people have different boats, boat equipment and comfort levels, American Family offers optional boat insurance coverages so you can customize your policy . These boat insurance endorsements can enhance your current protection and your peace of mind — and some may be subject to limitations.
All additional boat insurance coverages will incur an additional premium cost. Take a look the great watercraft insurance endorsements we offer:
Diminishing Deductible
Diminishing Deductible rewards you for being a safe boater by crediting your deductible after each claim free year, up to the $500 maximum. It's one of the ways we give you control over what you pay. And upon purchasing this coverage, you'll be immediately credited. And that can help make a big difference right away.
Personal effects and fishing equipment coverage
This boat endorsement protects you against covered losses of those extra items you may use on your boat, such as fishing equipment, diving equipment and clothing. Here's more good news: items claimed under a covered loss are reimbursed on a replacement cost basis — meaning there won't be deductions made for depreciation.
The coverage can be purchased with a minimum limit of $1000 up to a maximum of $25,000 and is purchased in $1000 increments.
Repair cost coverage
If you suffer property damage resulting in a partial loss, this endorsement allows you to repair your boat, motor or boating equipment — without a deduction for depreciation. Initial coverage starts at $3,000 and can be increased depending on the value of your boat.*
Agreed value hull coverage
With this coverage, we will pay the agreed value limit you select for your insured watercraft in the event of a covered total loss. The coverage automatically includes repair cost coverage for partial losses.
Uninsured or underinsured watercraft coverage
This coverage helps protect you against damages suffered in an accident caused by a driver who has no liability coverage or inadequate liability coverage.
Coverage is offered between the increments of $100,000 - $1,000,000, at various fixed levels.
Getting the right balance of boat insurance coverage can make a big difference if the unexpected should happen out on the water. Be sure to reach out to your American Family Insurance agent to learn about how these boat insurance endorsements can be applied to your policy.
How Much Does Boat Insurance Cost?
On average, boat insurance costs a few hundred dollars, but the rate will differ for each boat owner depending on several factors, including:
- Your type of motor (e.g. inboard, inboard/outdrive, etc.)
- Its length, year, make, model and motor
- Horsepower of the boat
- Safety measures and certifications you've been awarded — like a certified safety course
- Your record of boat insurance claims
Discover more ways to save on boat insurance with discounts from American Family.
Types of Boats and Personal Watercraft We Insure
If your boat or personal watercraft's MSRP is less than $250,000, we'll usually insure it. There are some limitations, so be sure to check with your agent to find out more.
Here's a sampling of the types of watercraft we insure:
- Sailboats
- Rowboats
- Fishing boats
- Canoes
- Bowriders
- Pontoon boats
- Cabin cruisers
- Yachts
- Jet boats
- Other types of personal watercraft
Mexico Boat Insurance
If you're planning a trip to Mexico with your boat in tow, you'll want to make sure you have Mexico boat insurance.
Through B&A Insurance Solutions , you can obtain $100,000 to $250,000 in liability coverage for most types of boats and jet skis, as well as $20,000 in legal assistance and bail bond coverage.
This Mexico boat insurance policy through B&A Insurance Solutions doesn't cover physical damage for your boat and neither will your boat policy with American Family Insurance.
Get a Mexico boat insurance quote.
Request a Boat Insurance Quote
Now that you know the ways we'll protect your boat from the unexpected, let's get you covered. Connect with an American Family Insurance agent to get a quote and compare rates for your boat or watercraft. Take a look at our boat safety tips before heading out on the water. We've also got the 411 on winter boat insurance so you can ensure your boat is protected year-round.
* This coverage is required in Minnesota.


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n 1957 Mohammed and Abdulrahman Albawardi entered into a partnership that has evolved into one of Saudi Arabia's foremost merchant houses. Their commitment to operate ethically was matched by a strong ambition to be the best in every area of the business. These founding principles, values and commitments set by the founders are still followed in the group generation after another.
Today the Group has a branch network covering Saudi Arabia and GCC countries and employs over 2,000 professional staff whose skills and abilities are fundamental to its success. Albawardi invests significantly in their development, using the latest systems to ensure that its human resources are effectively developed and that they are empowered to fulfill their career aspirations.
Although the primary focus remains on Saudi Arabia and the neighboring Gulf states, Albawardi interests and operations extend across the globe.
The Group has four main areas of activity: trading, industry, services and investment. The achievements of Albawardi Group and its subsidiaries have been recognized through numerous awards and citations from international brand principals, industry groups and governmental bodies.
Albawardi great stability, growth and strength lies in its flexibility to respond to changing market dynamics and the diversified nature of its activities. Albawardi vision is customer oriented and innovative. As a result, it can optimize its response to new opportunities and market developments, while meeting the highest international quality standards across all the Group's operations.
World-class companies in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East leverage the expertise of Albawardi subsidiaries. Competitive advantages enjoyed by its customers are a fitting testament to the Group's culture of quality and this is a cornerstone of the business on which long-term relationships are fostered. Partnership with Albawardi Group ensures association with a dynamic enterprise that enjoys a longstanding reputation for professionalism and an ethical approach to business.