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In a highly anticipated ruling, a Leon County judge struck down a map of the state's congressional districts drawn by the Legislature in 2012, potentially throwing the political future of the state into turmoil.
But the ruling, issued by Circuit Judge Terry Lewis, is virtually certain to be appealed and end up before the Florida Supreme Court, meaning that this year's elections will likely proceed normally.
Legislative leaders were reviewing the ruling late Thursday, according to their offices. But a lawyer for voting-rights groups challenging the map said it was "very satisfying" to see Lewis' opinion and said his side was ready for an appeal.
"We're very optimistic that the Supreme Court will uphold the ruling," attorney David King said.
The order, issued late Thursday, is the first to address the state's congressional map under the anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts constitutional amendments, approved by voters in 2010. The Supreme Court already invalidated the Legislature's first draft of a state Senate plan, which was then redrawn before the 2012 elections.
Lewis' ruling specifically takes aim at the districts represented by Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown and Republican Congressman Daniel Webster. Brown's District 5, which winds its way from Jacksonville to Orlando, has been criticized for years as one of the worst examples of gerrymandering in the nation.
District 5 wraps itself around much of the western flank of District 6, which includes all of Flagler County. If District 5 is re-drawn, it would likely affect District 6, which is currently represented by Republican Ron DeSantis.
It isn't clear when lawmakers might have to redraw the districts, especially given the likelihood of an appeal. Lewis' ruling doesn't set a deadline, and candidates have already qualified for the 2014 elections under the boundaries approved by the Legislature.
But if the lines are redrawn after appeals play out, any changes to the Webster and Brown districts are likely to ripple through the rest of the map, given that all congressional districts have to have equal populations. Moving voters into or out of the two districts thrown out by Lewis would have a domino effect on surrounding seats.
According to Lewis, lawmakers and the staff members charged with the once-a-decade redistricting process tried to shield the map drawers from political influence, even as Republican political consultants tried to find a way to manipulate the process.
"That being said, the circumstantial evidence introduced at trial convinces me that the political operatives managed to find other avenues, other ways to infiltrate and influence the Legislature, to obtain the necessary cooperation and collaboration to ensure that their plan was realized, at least in part," Lewis wrote. "They managed to taint the redistricting process and the resulting map with improper partisan intent. There is just too much circumstantial evidence of it, too many coincidences, for me to conclude otherwise."
Lewis also found fault with explanations offered by the Legislature for some of the damning evidence at the trial. For example, one key email featured Kirk Pepper, an aide to then-House Speaker Dean Cannon, asking a political consultant whether some unstated issues with Webster's Orlando-area district related to "performance or geography."
The state had argued that Pepper was being sarcastic.
"Mr. Pepper testified that, though it may seem that they were discussing political performance, his reply to his friend was actually a signal reminding him that they should not discuss such things. Perhaps, but that is a very unusual and illogical interpretation," Lewis wrote.
Much of the district-specific testimony at the trial focused on Brown's seat, which was originally created in the 1990s to provide African-Americans with the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. Legislative leaders and staff members argued at trial that increasing the district's black voting-age population, or BVAP, to more than 50 percent would shield it from a challenge under the federal Voting Rights Act.
But voting-rights organizations opposed to the map, like the League of Women Voters, countered that the district was really meant to carve out enclaves of Democratic-leaning voters and make surrounding districts more friendly to the GOP. Lewis largely agreed.
"I also find that the decision to increase the district to majority BVAP, which was accomplished in large part by creating the finger-like appendage jutting into District 7 and Seminole County, was done with the intent of benefiting the Republican Party," he wrote.
As for Webster's district, Lewis rejected an argument from the state that lawmakers included an "appendage" of white voters in the plan as part of their efforts to create a Central Florida district where Latinos could influence the outcome of elections.
"There was no evidence to suggest that a Hispanic majority district could be created in Central Florida. Defendants cannot justify deviation from a … constitutional requirement because of a desire to create a Hispanic influence district," Lewis wrote.
–Brandon Larrabee, News Service of Florida


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IDP has its directorate at the British Library and other IDP Centres worldwide. All are supported by and part of the structure of their host institutions.
IDP has a steering committee with an external chair and patrons which meets annually and a British Library management committee which meets quarterly to review progress and finances.
Steering Committee
Matthew Farrer GCVO (patron)
Matthew Farrer practised as a solicitor for over forty years. He is a former trustee of the British Museum, the 21st Century Trust and Lambeth Palace Library and a former commissioner of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. Also a former member of the British Library Board, he has travelled in Central Asia and has been a patron of IDP since its inception in 1994.
Abraham Lue MBE, CMG (chair)
Abraham Sek-Tong Lue is a fellow of King's College, London, where he taught in the mathematics department for thirty years. He was the founder of the Chinese Community Centre in London, in 1980, and has long played an active role in promoting China-UK relations and in establishing British Academy and other schemes to bring Chinese scholars to the UK. He is honorary professor at several Chinese universities and a former adviser to the Guangdong Higher Education Commission. Dr Lue was instrumental in helping to start IDP and has been Chairman since its inception in 1994.
Professor Dame Jessica Rawson DBE, Dlitt, FBA (patron)
Jessica Rawson was deputy keeper and then keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum between 1976 and 1994. She has been a fellow of the British Academy since 1990 and Warden of Merton College, Oxford, since 1994. Her academic work covers all aspects of Chinese art and archaeology, with a particular research interest in the development of religion and belief in the Han period. A former member of the British Library Board, she is a long-standing patron of IDP.
Tim Simon (patron)
Tim Simon has been a solicitor in private practice in the City for almost forty years, having done much work with charities during this time. He was involved in the 2004 Silk Road exhibition at the British Library and has a general interest in Central Asia, having travelled widely. He has been an IDP patron since 2003.
Susan Whitfield (British Library, IDP Director)
Frances Wood (British Library, Head of Chinese Section)
Lady Pamela Youde OBE (patron)
Pamela Youde is a trustee of the Sino-British Fellowship Trust, Vice-President of the Great Britain-China Centre, chairman of the trustees of the Needham Research Institute, Cambridge, and a trustee of the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund, Hong Kong. She spent many years in China and Hong Kong, latterly when Sir Edward was Ambassador in Beijing and Governor of Hong Kong. She was instrumental in helping to start IDP and has been a patron since its inception in 1994.

subset: commoncrawl


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Rob Delaney had been a comedian for about six years when he created a Twitter account, but tweeting opened up a new world for him. Within two years, he was doing comedy full time, and now, four years later, he's amassed more than 400,000 followers, fans who sell out his stand-up gigs around the country and voted him the Funniest Person On Twitter, at least according to the Comedy Awards, hosted by Comedy Central last month. Delaney's tweets often read like dispatches from a deranged, disembodied id, but one-on-one, he's thoughtful and sincere, even serious. It shouldn't surprise anyone that a performer's persona—and a Twitter one at that—doesn't completely reflect the person behind it, but Delaney's long road to comedy might. A former Internet advertising executive (he sold some of the first ads on MySpace), Delaney didn't devote his life to comedy until a serious car accident—caused by his own alcoholism—forced him to re-evaluate his priorities, get sober, and pursue his dreams. To coincide with the launch of The A.V. Club's new comedy channel, we wanted to talk to Delaney about coming to comedy later in life, the difference between his tweets and his act, and his "'50s dad gravitas."
The A.V. Club: Whenever you're interviewed, people seem surprised because you're normal or thoughtful, but your Twitter feed tends to be so unhinged. Do you get "you seem so normal" a lot in person?
Rob Delaney: Yes, but I think people become at ease with it fairly quickly, if they're interacting with me. They realize I'm a reasonably normal person, or at least acting like one.
AVC: How does that work with their expectations for when they come see you at a comedy club? How much overlap is there between your Twitter feed and the type of stuff you do in your act?
RD: Well, when you see me live, you're seeing me do something I've done a lot longer than I've been on Twitter, just stand-up. While I'm talking about my own life and feelings and foibles and fears—I'm not reinventing the wheel—it's an understandable format in the tradition of many other stand-up comics. I think there's a thing at first where I look like I could be a cop or a lawyer or a weatherman—I have a '50s dad gravitas. So when I do start saying things that are kind of bananas, it's a bit shocking at first, but if I'm onstage for over an hour, you recalibrate pretty quickly. At that point, I can only rely on the strength of my material, and what I'm saying, doing, and conveying.
Audiences are very smart, and they figure out the dynamic very quickly—probably in seconds, to be honest. At that point, it's up to me to deliver the best stand-up comedy show I can, and they seem to be happy when and if I do that. So it's not a gimmick that I look the way that I do and act in a way that at first might seem incongruous. It is who I truly am, and people get over any surprise pretty quickly.
AVC: You came to comedy relatively late, in your mid-20s. You've been doing it for 10 years, but some comedians start when they're 16 or 17.
RD: Yeah, I certainly didn't. I performed, I acted, and I sang, so I was onstage from a very early age. But 10 years ago, I was in a car accident, and when I got better, I was like, "I only want to do comedy." I had been seeing the Upright Citizens Brigade do their acts every week in New York, and that really changed what I wanted to do, who I wanted to be, everything. I had always loved comedy, and acted out Steve Martin and Bill Cosby albums with my sister for my parents on road trips and stuff, and I loved to laugh and make people laugh. I was a big consumer of comedy, but once I started to see it live with any regularity and realized "Oh my God, this is a thing I could do," that changed everything.
AVC: You've talked quite a bit about your alcohol problem on podcasts like The Mental Illness Happy Hour and Sklarbro Country. When you stopped drinking, did you find it necessary to channel that energy into something else? Was that where your drive for comedy went?
RD: I think so. I mean, I'm generally happy most of the time, but I still exhibit behavioral traits of an alcoholic or an addict. I disappear into projects to the neglect of physical health and things like that. I'm obsessive and willful, and I like to get high. But now it's on jokes, it's on parenting, it's on exercise. I still am a weirdo, but in a different way, and in a way that if any of the weirdo things I do now kill me, they will do it a lot slower than a case of beer.
With alcoholism and depression, I don't get a pass in anything I do. It's good, but if I don't eat well, I feel awful, and if I don't sleep enough, I feel awful. If I don't exercise regularly, I'm not like, "Yeah I don't feel so good," I feel awful. If I don't structure my life in such a way that I'm a well-tuned instrument, my capacity to get incredibly incapacitated with total misery is always so close. I'm not trying to be a poster child for anything. It could be a sign of unbelievable frailty or weakness or unfitness for human life. I don't know, but I know that I have to have all of my mental and physical ducks in a row, or I can quickly become a useless disaster.
AVC: What are the advantages of coming to comedy later? Are there any?
RD: Well, for one, I think you'll be funnier—just because you've lived more life. You've had more bad things happen, you've lost things you cared about, you've made mistakes and bad decisions, you've caused yourself a lot of pain. Maybe you've figured out one or two ways to do less of that, so you can offer something of value to an audience.
Comedians who are 22 years old can certainly be funny and clever, and be capable of telling jokes—but are they talking about their favorite TV shows, or a particular brand of shampoo? Whereas when you see someone who's 42, and they're talking about how much their adolescent son hates them, and is like, "We were fighting, and my son knocked over my television, and it broke my foot, and then he gave me a ride to the hospital, and he's not allowed to drive, but I couldn't, because my ankle is broken, and then we stopped and we shared a cigarette." You know, there's just more recipe for laughs—you've had more time to collect ingredients, and there's more of life's tapestry that's been woven.
AVC: Do you think there are any disadvantages?
RD: I really don't, because the odds against success in comedy, and in most things that are difficult to achieve, or are "dream careers," are so severe, so stacked against you, that any asset you can have, you just have to snort up and internalize and use. Having life under your belt and a work ethic that you have honed—maybe you were lazy until you were 27, and then you looked around and realized, "Holy shit, if I don't get my act together and produce dependably, then life will definitely pass me by." You know the value of a dollar.
Four years ago, when I started tweeting, people would say, "How do you feel about giving away material for free?" I said, "Well, no one will pay me for it, and I've got to get it out there." So I would constantly churn out jokes saying, "Hey, look at me, I have a work ethic. Please, please, please world, hire me so I can afford pants, and cheese, and heat." That was another thing, being married—my wife was not yet pregnant, but I didn't have a choice but to succeed. It was either that or the unthinkable, a fate that I associate with death, which is not doing comedy. That was the other choice, so I just had to work furiously to get out there, with no promise of success. When I thought about other careers, I thought about death. I know that might sound morbid and not funny at all, but it is truly how I felt.
AVC: Well, there's a certain sort of soul-death involved if you're a creative person stuck in a cube farm. Some people can adapt, but for others it can be like death.
RD: Another asset for me was that I did do that for years, so I knew that was unsustainable for me. I had evidence, I had done fieldwork. I had been on the other side and realized "Oh, this will not work and cannot work."
AVC: What was your material like when you first started?
RD: I think like a lot of comedians when they're first starting, it was more esoteric and more concept-based. You know, quirky things like trying to play tricks on the audience, or exploration of existing songs. I remember I would deconstruct Christmas songs and stuff, which is just such a beginner thing to do. Or I would read email correspondence or something—isn't that awful, when you're at a show and people do that? It's hiding. That can be like a sauce or a spice, if you're hosting a show and you can bring out "look at this crazy email I got," but if you trot that out when you're doing an hour, that's like a criminal offense.
AVC: How has it changed over the years?
RD: Now I just go out and talk about what I'm thinking and feeling. I'm a dad now and a husband. I've lived a little bit of life, so I'm more inclined to try to talk about problems, fears, concerns—visceral stuff I hope everyone can relate to, so that we can all commune together and point at life's vicissitudes and have a laugh.
AVC: So it's more personal now?
RD: Oh yeah. That's another thing: People will ask me—and I'm very grateful that Twitter exists and has allowed me to go out and sell tickets and stuff, Twitter is fantastic—but people will write me and say, "So are you just going to read tweets onstage?" The answer to that is no, because I'm going to talk about things I think are of greater value, and you're going to see a cohesive person onstage, a unified human being talking about things that make sense, and me being me for better or worse and talking about my life. My stand-up is far more rooted in reality than my Twitter.
AVC: You tweeted a few months ago about a bad gig you had, that some comics you respected saw. You said it was still terrifying to you, even after time had passed. Some people don't realize you can do this for a long time and still feel gutted after a bad show.
RD: Yes. I did this show where the comics were asked to wear suits and ties, and one reason—it's a smaller reason, but it's a benefit I really enjoy—I do comedy is so I don't have to wear a suit and tie. I hate wearing suits and ties. I viscerally hate dressing up, and I know some people who do that. I know some people prefer to do their comedy that way, and that is absolutely fine and fantastic. I enjoy comedians who do do that, but for me, I won't wear that stuff.
I resented that I was asked to wear a suit and tie, so I started my set kind of pouty and feeling sorry for myself, and I'm only admitting that because it could probably be of use to another comedian—that was very wrong of me. I should relish any opportunity to perform and respect the fact that I was asked to do the show, that there were people who came to see it. So I started off my set from a sense of self-pity. If there's a commandment for comedy, that has got to be at the top: "Don't you dare." As such, I got into a hole I had difficulty pulling myself out of. I don't think the set was the nightmare I felt that it was afterward, but my mindset was unhealthy and not conducive to enjoying myself onstage, which you must if you're going to deliver a show people like. My main yardstick for if the show went well is, "Did I enjoy myself?" As a steward of this audience, of any audience, you are showing the people what to do, and it should be having a good time.
Anyway, I remember T.J. Miller and Hannibal Buress were in the audience, guys I love, and I remember getting offstage and immediately realizing this was my fault, I sabotaged myself, because I had a little fit, because I didn't wanna wear this little suitie-pie, and I'm actually glad it happened. I'm very glad it happened, because it made me re-evaluate how the audience is at least 51 percent of the equation. They are more important than, you, the performer, and they must be respected and loved. They don't give a donkey shit if you're wearing a suit and tie or if you're fucking wearing Saran Wrap—make them laugh, you fucking idiot. So that was good for me. I'm glad I had a little ego flare-up, and that I was swiftly and effectively punished, and that I learned my lesson. That will become one of my more instructive stand-up experiences, actually.
AVC: You've mentioned losing a certain number of Twitter followers after something you said. How closely do you watch your follower count?
RD: Pretty closely. Not to be too technical or even mercenary about it, but the more followers I have, the more easily I can sell tickets on the road, and that's the thing I most want to do professionally, regularly perform stand-up comedy for large groups of people. First and foremost, I use Twitter to write jokes, but then a close second is, I function as a clerk, deleting tweets that weren't popular, not really doing lots of @-replies with people. I want to have my Twitter feed be a place where people can go and reliably read jokes exclusively, and then tell their friends. So I do want a large number of followers, not because I like to look at big numbers and jerk off to 'em, but because I want to jerk off to an audience of human people two months from now because they bought a ticket because they read some of my jokes. I'm very grateful that anybody follows me on Twitter, and that it's such a large number is an amazing gift. My feeling is the way I can best pay people back is to go and physically perform in front of them, and hopefully make them laugh harder than they did reading a fake tweet I wrote to Dr. Phil.
AVC: How often do you read people's replies?
RD: I'll say this: I try to read them all. Maybe I shouldn't, maybe one day I won't, but I do try to read them all. And the people who write me are overwhelmingly funny and smart and nice people—I've met people in real life from Twitter who are great. And I'll star people, things that they write to me, if they're funny. I can't interact with everybody, because that would be a full-time job, but I'm always happy when people write to me.
AVC: Is it a minority of people who miss the point or don't get the jokes?
RD: Yeah. I did a thing yesterday where I said celebrities are the only people who suffer from exhaustion because they work much harder than soldiers, teachers, etc. Most people who wrote were like "ha ha," or retweeted, but I was surprised that a few people were like, "Fuck you, man, that's insane. How dare you!" There were a few people that really were serious, and that was amazing to me, because there are people out there who are… I'm gonna have to say stupid. I'm gonna have to call those people stupid, because you should be able to recognize abject insanity in this world, which is what that tweet is an example of, and say "That must be a joke, and even, to preserve my sanity, I'm gonna decide it was a joke." And if you didn't do that and you thought that was serious, then you are stupid and you need a little help—you're stupid or you're 5. Well, to speak specifically, my guess is that—since that was widely retweeted—someone who doesn't follow me saw it, and was like, "What the heck?"
AVC: You said one of the reasons you write sexual stuff on Twitter is that's what people want to read, but occasionally you'll send out something that's more serious, or advocate a political or social issue. What kind of feedback do those generate?
RD: Mostly positive. It is nice that people can unfollow if they don't wanna read it, so the bulk of people reading you are doing so because they've become attuned to your sensibilities, and they want more of what you have become known for doing. So most people respond pretty well, some people don't. They'll write me—and I love it when people don't agree, and they write a thoughtful, nuanced response. That's almost my favorite thing to get; just because I have a large number of Twitter followers, that in itself doesn't mean I'm smart, or know what I'm talking about, or adding a useful group of facts to the discourse.
I'm happy to get into it with people, but I also am happy to tweet a combination of non sequiturs, classic jokes, silly observations, fake replies, and then incredibly sincere things. I tweeted like three quick tweets in a row while crying on the toilet when MCA died, and they were obviously things I really felt. And I don't care if people know I have feelings, if people know I cried, that I'm happy to be a dad and a husband, that I wanna fuck the lady I saw at the post office, that I have political opinions. I don't give a shit about how people are going to integrate that into one person in their mind. I don't mind. I don't give a shit in a negative way, like "fuck you," I mean I trust you people to piece that all together and contain sometimes-contradictory things in your mind, because people are capable of that. So I'm not worried about that.
AVC: "Edgy" comedians who employ a lot of irony when it comes to race, sex, or religion tend to encounter people who seem to be laughing for the wrong reason—has that been your experience?
RD: Not too much. I haven't gotten a lot of meatheads that… oh, and I meet people frequently after shows and stuff too, so I can get face-to-face, straight dirt from people, and what they really think and what they're like. I can't think of an example. They may exist, but I can't think of an example where someone used my tweet in a way that I feel isn't compatible with my worldview. I'm sure it could happen, because I tweet in so many voices. I'm happy to, and will again, tweet things that are outlandish and bananas, and things a person shouldn't say, but as of yet, I have not seen people taking things I built for one person and using them for another.
AVC: You're working on a book that's coming out next year, right?
RD: Yeah, it's a memoir, not essays, and it's funny. I don't know how much to say about it other than it will make sense to people who've seen my stand-up, and/or read my tweets, and/or read my magazine articles. It's a memoir from the guy who made all those things. It's not an "I was born and then this happened." It's completely out of order, and I meander catastrophically into insane anecdotes and feelings and thoughts.
I tried to use the Rosy Crucifixion trilogy by Henry Miller as a template, where if he wants to talk about a book he liked for 20 pages, he will—or like a campaign. You know how a politician will put out a book a couple of years before they run for office, and they'll be pretending it's like their autobiography, but really it's a way to couch their megalomania and burnish their biography? So for me, it's sort of like that, except I'm not trying to push my worldview. I'm just trying to make people laugh. So anything I don't think is funny or at least compelling, I absolutely cut out and throw in the garbage.
AVC: What's your ideal situation, work-wise? Would you want to be performing in theaters regularly, or just working on TV, working on film?
RD: Doing stand-up all around the English-speaking world forever, and then writing, producing, and being in TV and movies. So, you know, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, career-template people I admire tremendously.
AVC: Besides the book, what are you working on right now?
RD: Oh, I just shot a stand-up special in New York, at the Bowery Ballroom. So I'm editing that, and I'm finishing the book and continuing to tour.
AVC: Is the special for Comedy Central?
RD: No, I'm gonna self-release it, like I was saying about Twitter followers earlier, [they] have allowed me to sell out all over the country, and so if that's the case, hopefully I'll be able to self-release the special, and have people buy it who I might not be able to perform for in the near future—like people in Christchurch, New Zealand, or Adare, Ireland, or Tallahassee. Places I would never go. I'm just kidding. [Laughs.]


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Shigellosis is an infectious
caused by various species of Shigella. People infected with Shigella
diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps starting a day or two after they are
exposed to the bacterium. The diarrhea is often bloody. Shigellosis
resolves in 5 to 7 days, but in some persons, especially young children
and the elderly, the diarrhea can be so severe that the patient needs
be hospitalized. A severe infection with high fever may also be
with seizures in children less than 2 years old. Some persons who are
may have no symptoms at all, but may still transmit the bacteria to
Shigella were discovered over 100 years ago by the Japanese
microbiologist, Shiga, for whom the genus is named. There are four
species of Shigella:
S. boydii, S. dysenteriae, S. flexneri, and S. sonnei. Shigella sonnei,
known as Group D Shigella, accounts for over
of the shigellosis in the United States. Shigella flexneri,
or Group B Shigella, accounts for almost all of the
Other types of Shigella are rare in this country, although
are important causes of disease in the developing world. One type, Shigella
dysenteriae type 1, causes deadly epidemics in many developing
regions and nations.
Determining that Shigella is the cause of the illness depends
on laboratory tests that identify the bacteria in the stool of an
person. Some of the tests may not be performed routinely, so the
laboratory should be instructed to look for the organism. The
can also do tests to determine which type of Shigella is
and which antibiotics, if any, would be best for treatment.
Figure 1. Several media have
been designed to selectively grow enteric bacteria and allow
of Salmonella and Shigella from E. coli. The
plating media shown here are eosin methylene blue (EMB) agar, MacConkey
agar, ENDO agar, Hektoen enteric (HE) agar and Salmonella-Shigella (SS)
Shigellosis can usually be treated with antibiotics. The antibiotics
commonly used are ampicillin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (also known
as Bactrim or Septra), nalidixic acid and the fluoroquinolone,
Appropriate treatment kills the bacteria present in the
tract and shortens the course of the illness.
Some Shigella have become resistant to antibiotics and
use of antibiotics to treat shigellosis can make the organisms
more resistant in the future. Persons with mild infections will usually
recover quickly without antibiotic treatment. Therefore, when many
in a community are affected by shigellosis, antibiotics are sometimes
selectively to treat only the more severe cases. Antidiarrheal agents
as loperamide (Imodium) or diphenoxylate with atropine (Lomotil) are
to make the illness worse and should be avoided.
Reiter's syndrome
Persons with diarrhea usually recover completely, although it may be
several months before their bowel habits are entirely normal. About 3%
of persons who are infected with Shigella flexneri may
develop pains in their joints, irritation of the eyes, and painful
This condition is called Reiter's syndrome. It can last for
or years, and can lead to chronic arthritis which is difficult to
Reiter's syndrome is a late complication of S. flexneri
especially in persons with a certain genetic predisposition,
HLA-B27. [Human Leukocyte Antigen B27 (HLA-B27) is a class I
surface antigen in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on
chromosome 6
and presents microbial antigens to T-cells. HLA-B27 has been
strongly associated
with a certain set of autoimmune diseases referred to as the
"seronegative spondyloarthropathies".]
Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS)
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) can occur after S. dysenteriae
1 infection. Convulsions may occur in children; the mechanism may be
to a rapid rate of temperature elevation or metabolic alterations, and
is associated with the production of the Shiga toxin, which is
Shigella is transmitted from an infected person to another
usually by a fecal-oral route. Shigella are present in the
diarrheal stools
of infected persons while they are ill and for a week or two
Most Shigella infections are the result of the bacterium
from stools or soiled fingers of one person to the mouth of another
This happens when basic hygiene and handwashing habits are inadequate.
It is particularly likely to occur among toddlers who are not fully
Family members and playmates of such children are at high risk of
infected. The spread of Shigella from an infected person to
persons can be stopped by frequent and careful handwashing with soap,
practiced by all age groups.
Part of the reason for the efficiency of transmission is because a
small inoculum (10 to 200 organisms) is sufficient to cause infection.
As a result, spread can occur easily by the fecal-oral route and
readily occurs
in settings where hygiene is poor.
Epidemics may be foodborne or
waterborne. Shigella infections may be acquired from eating food
that has
become contaminated by infected food handlers. Vegetables can become
if they are harvested from a field with contaminated sewage or wherein
infected field workers defecate.
can also be transmitted by flies. Flies can breed in infected feces and
then contaminate food. Shigella infections can be acquired
by drinking or swimming in contaminated water. Water may become
if sewage runs into it, or even if someone with shigellosis swims or
or, worse, defecates, in it.
Immunity and Vaccines
Once someone has had shigellosis, they are not likely to get
with that specific type again for at least several years. However, they
can still get infected with other types of Shigella. Presumably,
this immunity is due to secretory IgA. Circulating antibodies can also
be detected in immune individuals. Although CMI may not be ruled
out, the cellular immune response is ineffective against Shigella
in animal models, and Shigella-specific
cytotoxic T lymphocytes have not been isolated from convalescent
In addition, factors that permit the bacterium to optimize
its lifestyle in the human colon may also have been acquired by means
of horizontal gene transmission from other enteric bacteria in the
colon after
acquisition of the prototypic virulence plasmid. An example of this is
the acquisition by horizontal transfer of O-antigen genes, such as
those present on the virulence plasmid of S. sonnei, and
subsequent inactivation of native O-antigen genes (30). Serotypic diversity due to the
variations in O antigen is seen among Shigella strains. Such
diversity likely facilitates evasion of the host humoral immune
Studies are underway around the world to develop a vaccine to
prevent shigellosis. Since
the virulence of Shigella is well-understood, and considering
present art of vaccine development, it seems that vaccination should be
feasible. The
need of the vaccine is based on the burden of disease globally: there
are 160 million cases of
shigellosis in the world each year, resulting in about 1.5 million
deaths. Three approaches to shigella vaccine
development that are under active investigation are: 1) parenteral
O-specific polysaccharide conjugate vaccines; 2) nasal proteosomes
delivering Shigella LPS; and 3) live, attenuated invasive shigella
deletion mutants that are administered orally.
Several live attenuated Shigella vaccines of different
serotypes have
been shown to be safe, immunogenic, and in one case, effective against
challenge with virulent strains. The ability to invade epithelial cells
remains critical for the success of these vaccine candidates. Live,
orally administered Shigella vaccine derivatives are also being
evaluated as multivalent mucosal vaccines able to deliver
bacterial antigens to the gut associated lymphoid
tissues (GALT).
Incidence and Risk of Infection
In the United States, there are approximately 14,000
cases of shigellosis and an estimated 448,240 total cases (85% due to S.
sonnei) that occur each year, according to CDC. Groups at
increased risk of shigellosis
children in child-care centers and persons in custodial institutions,
personal hygiene is difficult to maintain.
In the
world, S. flexneri predominates. Epidemics of S. dysenteriae
type 1 have occurred in Africa and Central America with case fatality
of 5-15%.


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Today's BirthdayPeter the Great1672–1725, czar of Russia (1682–1725), major figure in the development of imperial Russia.
Early Life
Peter was the youngest child of Czar Alexis, by Alexis's second wife, Natalya Naryshkin. From Alexis's first marriage (with Maria Miloslavsky) were born Feodor III, Sophia Alekseyevna, and the semi-imbecile Ivan. On Feodor III's death (1682), a struggle broke out for the succession between the Naryshkin and Miloslavsky factions. The Naryshkins at first succeeded in setting Ivan aside in favor of 10-year-old Peter. Shortly afterward, however, the Miloslavsky party incited the streltsi (semi-military formations in Moscow) to rebellion. In the bloody disorder that followed, Peter witnessed the murders of many of his supporters. As a result of the rebellion Ivan, as Ivan V, was made (1682) joint czar with Peter, under the regency of Sophia Alekseyevna.
A virtual exile, Peter spent most of his childhood in a suburb of Moscow, surrounded by playmates drawn both from the nobility and from the roughest social elements. His talent for leadership soon became apparent when he organized military games that became regular maneuvers in siegecraft. In addition, Peter began to experiment with shipbuilding on Lake Pereyaslavl (now Lake Pleshcheyevo). Peter learned the rudiments of Western military science from the European soldiers and adventurers who lived in a foreign settlement near Moscow. His most influential foreign friends, Patrick Gordon of Scotland, François Lefort of Geneva, and Franz Timmermann of Holland, came from this colony. In 1689, Sophia Alekseyevna attempted a coup d'etat against Peter; this time, however, aided by the loyal part of the streltsi, he overthrew the regent. For several years, until Peter assumed personal rule, the Naryshkins ran the government. Ivan V, whose death in 1696 left Peter sole czar, took no part in the government.
Sole Ruler
Foreign Policy
Russia was almost continuously at war during Peter's reign. In the 16th and early 17th centuries the country had fought periodically in the northwest against Sweden, in an attempt to gain access to the Baltic Sea, and in the south against the Ottoman Empire. While continuing the policy of his predecessors, Peter drew Russia into European affairs and helped to make it a great power. His earliest venture was the conquest of Azov from the Ottomans in 1696, after an unsuccessful attempt in 1695. Peter then embarked on a European tour (1697–98), traveling partly incognito, to form a grand alliance against the Ottoman Empire and to acquire the Western techniques necessary to modernize Russia's armed forces. He failed to form an anti-Ottoman alliance, but his conversations with the Polish king and others led eventually (1699) to a coalition against Sweden.
Peter also gained considerable knowledge of European industrial techniques (he even spent some time working as a ship's carpenter in Holland) and hired many European craftsmen for service in Russia. In 1698 he returned to Russia, began to modernize the armed forces, and launched domestic reforms. After concluding (1700) peace with the Ottomans, Peter, in alliance with Denmark and the combined Saxony-Poland, began the Northern War (1700–1721) against Charles XII of Sweden. Although disastrously defeated at first, he routed Charles at Poltava in 1709 and by the Treaty of Nystad (1721) retained his conquests of Ingermanland, Karelia, and Livonia.
Peter's conquests in the south were less permanent. Azov was restored to the Ottoman Empire in 1711; Derbent, Baku, and the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, conquered in a war (1722–23) with Persia, were soon lost again. In the east, Russia extended its control over part of Siberia but failed to subjugate either Khiva or Bokhara. Peter's first diplomatic missions to China were unsuccessful but his efforts led to the Treaty of Kyakhta (1727), which fixed the Russo-Chinese border and established commercial relations. Peter's interest in imperial expansion led to the financing of the first voyage of Vitus Bering.
Domestic Policy
Peter had returned to Russia in 1698 at the news of a military revolt allegedly instigated by Sophia Alekseyevna. He took drastic vengeance on his opponents and forced Sophia into a convent. On the day after his return, Peter personally cut off the beards of his nobles and shortly thereafter ordered them to replace their long robes and conical hats with Western dress. This attack on the symbols of old Muscovy marked the beginning of Peter's attempt to force Russia to adopt European appearance and other features of Western culture. Most of Peter's reforms followed his predecessors' tentative steps, but his demonic pace and brutal methods created an impression of revolutionary change.
The reforms were sporadic and uncoordinated; many of them grew out of the needs of Peter's almost continuous warfare. He introduced conscription on a territorial basis, enlarged and modernized the army, founded and expanded the navy, and established technical schools to train men for military service. To finance this huge military establishment, he created state monopolies, introduced the first poll tax, and placed levies on every conceivable item. Peter encouraged and subsidized private industry and established state mines and factories to provide adequate supplies of war materials. Peter reformed the administrative machinery of the state. He introduced a supervisory senate and a new system of central administration and tried to reform provincial and local government.
Peter also attempted to subordinate all classes of Russian society to the needs of the state. He enlarged the service nobility (the body of nobles who owed service to the state), imposed further duties on it, and forced the sons of nobles to attend technical schools. To control the nobles he introduced the Table of Ranks, which established a bureaucratic hierarchy in which promotion was based on merit rather than on birth. The nobility's economic position was strengthened by changes in the laws of land tenure. The serfs (who paid the bulk of taxes and made up most of the soldiery) were bound more securely to their masters and to the land. Peter subordinated the church to the state by replacing the patriarchate with a holy synod, headed by a lay procurator appointed by the czar.
Peter introduced changes in manners and mores. The ban on beards and Muscovite dress was extended to the entire male population, women were released from their servile position, and attempts were made to improve the manners of the court and administration. Peter sent many Russians to be schooled in the West and was responsible for the foundation (1725) of the Academy of Sciences. He reformed the calendar and simplified the alphabet. The transfer of the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg, built on the swamps of Ingermanland at tremendous human cost, was a dramatic symbol of Peter's reforms. Although Peter sought to enforce all his reforms with equal severity, he was unable to eradicate the traditional corruption of officials or to impose Western ways on the peasantry.
His reforms were often considered whimsical and sacrilegious and met widespread opposition. The conservatives among the clergy accused him of being the antichrist. The discontented looked to Peter's son, Alexis, who was eventually tried for treason on flimsy evidence and was tortured to death (1718). In 1721, Peter had himself proclaimed "emperor of all Russia." In 1722 he declared the choice of a successor to be dependent on the sovereign's will; this decree (valid until the reign of Paul I) preceded the coronation (1724) of his second wife as Empress Catherine I. She was a Livonian peasant girl whom Peter had made his mistress, then his wife (1712) after repudiating his first consort. Her accession on Peter's death was largely engineered by Peter's chief lieutenant and favorite, A. D. Menshikov. Although many of Peter's innovations were too hasty and arbitrary to be successful, his reign was decisive in the long process of transforming medieval Muscovy into modern Russia.
Personality and Achievements
Peter's personal traits ranged from bestial cruelty and vice to the most selfless devotion to Russia; his order to his troops at Poltava read, "Remember that you are fighting not for Peter but for the state." Despite the convulsive fits that plagued him, he had a bearlike constitution, was of gigantic stature, and possessed herculean physical prowess. He drank himself into stupors and indulged in all conceivable vices but could rouse himself at a moment's notice, and he was willing to undergo all the physical exertions and privations that he exacted from his subjects.
Peter subordinated the lives and liberties of his subjects to his own conception of the welfare of the state. Like many of his successors, he concluded that ruthless reform was necessary to overcome Russia's backwardness. Peter remains one of the most controversial figures in Russian history. Those who regard Russia as essentially European praise him for his policy of Westernization, and others who consider Russia a unique civilization attack him for turning Russia from its special path of development. Those impressed by imperial expansion and state and social reforms tend to regard Peter's arbitrary and brutal methods as necessary, while others appalled by his disregard of human life conclude that the cost outweighed any gains.
The first biographer of Peter the Great was Voltaire. See later biographies by R. K. Massie (1986) and H. Troyat (1987); study by N. V. Riasanovsky (1985).
Who2. Copyright © 1998-2006 by Who2?, LLC. All rights reserved.
Also Born on June 09
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Who Shares Your Birthday?
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Here are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about.


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The member States of the Council of Europe signatory hereto,
Being resolved to take further steps to ensure the collective enforcement of certain rights and freedoms by means of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms signed at Rome on 4 November 1950 (hereinafter referred to as "the Convention"),
Have agreed as follows:
When a person has by a final decision been convicted of a criminal offence and when subsequently his conviction has been reversed, or he has been pardoned, on the ground that a new or newly discovered fact shows conclusively that there has been a miscarriage of justice, the person who has suffered punishment as a result of such conviction shall be compensated according to the law or the practice of the State concerned, unless it is proved that the non-disclosure of the unknown fact in time is wholly or partly attributable to him.
Spouses shall enjoy equality of rights and responsibilities of a private law character between them, and in their relations with their children, as to marriage, during marriage and in the event of its dissolution. This Article shall not prevent States from taking such measures as are necessary in the interests of the children.
Chart of Declarations under former paragraph 2 of this article
As between the States Parties, the provisions of Articles 1 to 6 of this Protocol shall be regarded as additional Articles to the Convention, and all the provisions of the Convention shall apply accordingly.
This Protocol shall be open for signature by member States of the Council of Europe which have signed the Convention. It is subject to ratification, acceptance or approval. A member State of the Council of Europe may not ratify, accept or approve this Protocol without previously or simultaneously ratifying the Convention. Instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe shall notify all the member States of the Council of Europe of:
In witness whereof the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed this
Done at Strasbourg, this 22nd day of November 1984, in English and French, both texts being equally authentic, in a single copy which shall be deposited in the archives of the Council of Europe. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe shall transmit certified copies to each member State of the Council of Europe.


text:
Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and PBGC's regulations, a premium ("termination premium") must be paid to PBGC annually for three years after plan termination for certain distress and involuntary pension plan terminations. The premium is $1,250 per participant except for certain airline-related plans. The booklet provided below explains what terminations the termination premium applies to, how the amount of the termination premium is determined, who is liable to pay the premium, when it must be paid, and requirements for remitting the premium and providing related information to PBGC. PBGC Form T provided below can be filled in on your computer screen and printed out for signature and filing.
Form T Package (Instructions and Fillable Form)


text:
Top Earnings Previews for the Week Ahead (AA, MON, STZ, INFY, WFC)
This week kicks off yet another earnings season, this time for the fourth quarter of 2012. The best thing that will come from earnings is that expectations for 2013 and 2014 will start to take hold. We do expect that many companies will complain that the uncertainty around the fiscal cliff and tax rates acted as a drag from mid-November through the end of December. That being said, we also expect these companies to say that there is suddenly far less uncertainty now that a resolution has been made.
Key earnings reports this week will come from the following: Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON), Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ), Infosys Ltd. (NYSE: INFY) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC).
We have identified these reports by date and we have used the consensus earnings estimates from Thomson Reuters. Color has been added on each as well.
Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) was highlighted recently in our most undervalued and overvalued DJIA stocks for 2013. This is the one earnings report that Wall St. always tries to use as a barometer for each earnings season, as it is the first of the DJIA companies to report results. With the share price at $9.25, the 52-week range is $7.97 to $10.92 and the consensus price target is $10.41 ahead of earnings. The consensus estimates are $0.06 EPS, and sales are expected to be down more than 6% to $5.61 billion. We expect Alcoa to reiterate its long-term stance that the global aluminum market will be twice the current size in 2020. Earnings will be on Tuesday after the close of trading.
Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) trades around $96 now and shares are within 1% of the 52-week high of $96.71. The food and agriculture giant has managed to escape serious GMO fallout that was emerging in 2012. The company will report its results Tuesday morning. Estimates call for $0.37 EPS and $2.64 billion in sales in the fourth quarter. For the current quarter, those estimates are $2.60 EPS on $5.21 billion in sales. The past quarter is considered the throw-away quarter, but the current quarter is ahead of the key planting season for the northern hemisphere.
Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) is reporting earnings on Wednesday, and estimates are $0.55 EPS and $751.8 million in revenue. At $36.75, the share price is within about 2% of its 52-week high of $37.57.
Infosys Ltd. (NYSE: INFY) reports on Thursday, and this will be the first of the IT-outsourcing operations to report earnings. Shares have been soft, and to show by how much, this ADR could rise almost 50% before it hit a 52-week high. The consensus estimates are $0.72 EPS and $1.85 billion in revenue. If the firm issues guidance, the consensus estimates for the quarter we are already in are $0.75 EPS and $1.9 billion in revenue.
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is planning to be the first of the money-center banks to report earnings, with its fourth-quarter report coming Friday morning before the open. This one trades at a premium to its book value, and analysts are calling for $0.89 EPS on $21.29 billion in revenue. With shares around $35, the 52-week trading range is $28.77 to $36.60.
Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Calendar, Earnings Tagged: AA, INFY, MON, STZ, WFC


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This room, which starts at 430 square feet, comes with a queen bed. The décor is simple yet comfortable. There is a separate living area with a sofa, a coffee table and a counter with bar stools. Local calls are also free, and long-distance access is available.
Amenities: Air conditioning, Iron / Ironing board, Refrigerator, Alarm clock, Climate control, Electronic key, Daily maid service, Hair dryer, Combined shower and bathtub, Complimentary toiletries, Flat Screen Television, Telephone, Wireless Internet access (Included in Resort Fee)


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Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Matt Hasselbeck threw for 242 yards and one touchdown on 25-of-40 passing as Seattle nipped Chicago, 23-20, at Soldier Field.
Justin Forsett gained 67 yards and rushed for a score on 10 carries, while Marshawn Lynch added 44 yards and a touchdown on 17 totes for the Seahawks (3-2), who were coming off a bye week that followed a 20-3 defeat at St. Louis.
Mike Williams posted game-highs of 10 receptions for 123 yards and Deon Butler recorded a 22-yard TD catch for Seattle, which registered its first road win of 2010.
"I really think we waited too long to get one (a road win)," said Seattle head coach Pete Carroll. "We wanted all the guys to answer the call and play well in all three phases of the game. We had six sacks, knocked the quarterback around all day long, and we were able to run the football today."
Jay Cutler finished 17-of-39 for 290 yards for the Bears (4-2), who have dropped two of three since beginning the year with three straight wins.
Devin Hester had an 89-yard punt return for a touchdown, Johnny Knox added five catches for 120 yards and Matt Forte posted a rushing score in the loss.
Seattle went up 23-13 three plays into fourth quarter after a one-yard run from Lynch to cap a 92-yard drive, then the Bears had an 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Danieal Manning negated due to a holding penalty.
Both clubs traded three straight possessions each without much offense. Chicago wasted its third drive in the series of futility when Robbie Gould missed a 54-yard try.
However, after Seattle went three-and-out on the next series, Hester took a punt 89 yards for a 23-20 game with 1:54 remaining. The onside kick was hauled in by a Seahawks special teamer on Chicago's 42, and Hasselbeck worked off the remaining time with three kneels.
"You have to be ready each week to play your best ball, and we didn't play our best ball today," said Bears head coach Lovie Smith. "If you can't convert offensively and let them convert and not get takeaways, it'll be a tough day."
Chicago struck on the first possession of the game, helped by a defensive pass interference call on Seattle which set up the Bears on the visitors' 22. Cutler hit Forte for a 13-yard gain, then a three-yard rush preceded his six- yard touchdown run.
Seattle responded on its first drive on a Hasselbeck pass to Butler for a 22- yard score, then moved ahead 14-7 early in the second on Forsett's nine-yard scamper.
A 34-yard make from Gould on the ensuing possession brought the Bears within four, and his 24-yarder with 1:10 on the clock made it 14-13 at the half.
Cutler was brought down by Jordan Babineaux in the end zone on the Bears' first drive of the third quarter, and though the Seahawks failed to capitalize, they kept that slim edge heading into the fourth after halting a pair of successive Chicago drives.
Game Notes
Seattle has won eight of 13 meetings with Chicago, including two of the last three matchups...The Bears listed linebacker Lance Briggs as inactive with an ankle issue that kept him out of practice all week, and guard Roberto Garza was absent following knee surgery...Safety Major Wright also missed his fourth straight week with a hamstring issue...The Seahawks listed defensive tackle Brandon Mebane as inactive with a calf injury that was aggravated in practice...Forte ended with 11 yards on eight carries and three catches for 40 yards...The Seahawks racked up 353 yards of total offense to 307 for the Bears...Seattle punter Jon Ryan suffered injured ribs during Hester's TD run in the fourth quarter, and cornerback Kelly Jennings left the game with a hamstring issue.


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Melanie Spiller and Coloratura Consulting
On Music
On Writing
Off Topic
About and
Copyright 2020 Melanie Spiller. All rights reserved.
The Faenza Codex (c1425)
Spiller and Coloratura Consulting
The Faenza Codex, or the Codex Bonadies as it's sometimes called, is an Italian manuscript of the 15
century. It contains some of the oldest known keyboard music and some vocal pieces. It's thought to
contain some of the earliest pieces arranged for keyboard instruments (as opposed to composed for them).
The codex that was at the Biblioteca Comunale, Faenza (near Ravenna) until the middle of the 20
was possibly an Italian copy from the early 15
century. There are facsimiles elsewhere in Italy and a few
other places (described as "overseas" in one of my sources, which I don't find terribly informative).
The Faenza Codex contains repertory from the papal court at Avignon and of the Aragonese and Navarese
courts, including motets, ballades, rondeaux, and virelais, some in the complex
Ars subtilior
The original collection contained keyboard intabulations (not notation, but numbers and letters expressing
the locations of notes), and was copied in northern Italy in the first decades of the century. It may have
been prepared by or for a church organist because the codex contains a lot of liturgical church music,
including an arrangement of the Kyrie
Cunctipotens genitor
. The organ arrangement of the Kyrie is in a
score, with the lower staff (for the left hand) confined to the plainsong melody—the tenor part—and the
upper part (for the right hand) in florid counterpoint.
In 1473 or1474, Johannes Bonadies (dates unavailable) added several treatises and 22 short polyphonic
pieces, including Mass movements, Magnificat settings, motets, and some secular works.
The codex is comprised of 96 pages of parchment in 10 fascicles of irregular size (usually, after the pages are
folded together, they're trimmed to be even). Some of the pages contain keyboard arrangements of vocal
works and liturgical cantus firmus settings (where the chant is sung slowly, usually in the tenor voice). There
are also 22 pieces in white mensural notation (for more about notation, see
The History of Music Notation
in the Bonadies copies, which include sections from the Mass Ordinary (the Kyrie Gloria, etc.), Magnificats,
and some motets.
The collection was prepared within a single scriptorium by four scribes and copied between 1400 and 1420.
Part of the manuscript was erased (scraped clean) and rewritten by musician and music theorist Johannes
Bonadies (dates unavailable), who was a monk at the Carmalite monastery of San Paolo Ferrar. Bonadies
included 22 additional compositions from around 1467-1473, perhaps from Lucca.
The Faenza Codex includes keyboard versions of Flemish composer
Guillaume Machaut
's (c1300-1377)
ballades and Italian organist and composer
Francesco Landini'
s (c1325-1397) madrigal and ballade, which
provide some evidence that French and Italian styles were mingling by the end of the 14
century. There
are also pieces by Jacopo da Bologna (fl.1340-c1386), and Bartolino da Padova (fl.c1345-c1405). The famous
theorist Johannes Tinctoris (c1435-1511) has two pieces in there too, along with many compositions by the
ever-prolific Anonymous. Most are secular pieces.
In many cases, the original voice parts are lost and all that remains is the keyboard version of the songs.
Some of the keyboard versions are (presumably) similar to the original voice parts, but in others, only the
tenor (cantus firmus) is the same. This variation can make the songs seem like a new piece.
Keyboard music was written on two six-line staves with bar lines. The lower staff was for the left-hand and
provides the tenor of the original polyphony, occasionally transposed to suit the composition. The upper
staff, for the right-hand, provides florid melodies, either completely free or in a highly decorated form of the
original cantus, often with repeating motifs. If the polyphonic piece had a second and third part, they're
often ignored in favor of a new version.
It's clear from the way the figuration is "broken" that much of the music was intended for the virginal (a
limited keyboard compared to an organ). The codex also contains organ music for liturgical use—two
pairs and a separate
, all on the favorite Mass IV plainchants (the one with the Kyrie
Cunctipotens Genitor Deus
In the 20
century, the manuscript was taken from Ferrara to Faenze, where it's preserved in the library
today. In 1958, it was rebound with a new cover. The original was lost and was replaced with a copy in 1959.
The codex has recently been studied by recording artist Pedro Memelsdorff in his doctoral thesis of 2011,
and a publication of that work includes a facsimile of the manuscript.
"The History of Western Music," by J. Peter Burkholder, Donald Jay Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. W.W.
Norton & Company, New York, 2010.
"The Norton/Grove Concise Encyclopedia of Music," edited by Stanley Sadie. W.W. Norton & Co., New York,
"Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century," by Richard Turuskin. Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 2010.
"The Concise Oxford History of Music," by Gerald Abraham. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1979.
"Companion to Medieval & Renaissance Music," edited by Tess Knighton and David Fallows. University of
California Press, Berkeley, 1997.
"Music in the Medieval West; Western Music in Context," by Margot Fassler. W.W. Norton & Company, New
York, 2014.
"Music in the Renaissance," by Gustave Reese. W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1959.


text:
by David Crane
[email protected]
All photographic images contained in this article were taken by DefenseReview.com, and they are the exclusive property of DefenseReview.com. DefenseReview.com owns the copyright on these photos. All photos were shot with a 7.2-megapixel Sony Cyber-shot digital camera (Model #: DSC-P150).
A company called Central Wisconsin Armory (CWA) has come out with a modified Browning M2HB "Ma Deuce" .50 BMG/12.7x99mm NATO (.50 Cal.) heavy machine gun called the Dragon M50.
The Dragon M50, or Dynamic Rate-Accelerated Gun for Opposition Neutralization M50, differentiates itself from a standard M2HB via:…
1) A higher cyclic rate a.k.a. rate of fire (ROF) of approx. 900-1100 rounds per minute (RPM)
2) Being 14 lbs lighter in weight and 11 inches (11") shorter in length
3) Internal improvements to the weapon designed to improve both reliability and durability under adverse combat conditions and high round count.
DefenseReview got to examine the Dragon M50 .50 BMG heavy machine gun a bit at the company's booth at the 2007 NDIA Small Arms Symposium, Exhibition and Firing Demo. The weapon looked good, but looks aren't important. What is important is how it shoots. Unfortunately, we weren't able to determine that, since we didn't have enough time to do so at the firing demo portion of NDIA at Blackwater USA. On top of that, the weapon was set up at another firing range that was a good distance from the firing ranges that were set up for small arms.
While were at the CWA booth, we got to peruse the Cadex Inc. Solo Sight Mount, which we plan to write more about in a subsequent article. The Cadex Solo Sight Mount is basically a reciprocating weapon sight mount designed to attenuate/mitigate (i.e. reduce) the amount of shock to expensive weapon-mounted electro-optical sights (a.k.a. electro-optic sights) like thermal/IR (infrared) and night vision sights (a.k.a. image intensification sights a.k.a. I2 sights) by absorbing an advertised 88% of the weapon's recoil. The Solo Sight Mount is pretty cool, and looks to be ideally suited for use on the Dragon M50, and any/all other heavy support weapons.
DefenseReview also noticed the Aimpoint MPS II Red Dot Sight attached to the Dragon M50, which is the same weapon sight that the LMO Twin-M240 machine gun mount sported at the firing demo. Aimpoint must be doing something right. The Aimpoint MPS3 Red Dot Sight appears to be the follow-on product to the MPS II.
Assuming that the gun performs as advertised, it would seem well-poised to compete in the same weapons niche as the FN M3M/GAU-21 .50 BMG/12.7×99 NATO heavy machine gun (itself a modified Browning M2HB), which FNH USA is currently manufacturing and marketing for combat rotorcraft (i.e. helicopters), ground vehicles (APCs, IFVs, HMMWVs, etc.), and watercraft (i.e. boats and ships). However, at present, FNH USA currently has a sole source contract with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps (USMC) for the M3M/GAU-21 (at least last time we checked).
It'll be interesting to see how the CWA Dragon M50 and FNH M3M/GAU-21 stack up against each other. A side-by-side shoot test might just be in order–provided someone else springs for the ammo.
Company Contact Info:
Leroy Haywood
Central Wisconsin Armory (CWA)
[email protected]
Jason Taylor
Director, Military and Law Enforcement Sales
Cadex Inc.
200 A, Saint-Louis, Local 220
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec
J3B 1Y1, Canada
Phone : 1-450-348-6774
Fax : 1-450-348-7157
[email protected]


text:
Return to http://www.ellenwhite.info/books/bk-pk-17.htm.
Prophets and Kings
by Ellen G. White
Chapter 16: The Fall of the House of Ahab
The evil influence that Jezebel had exercised from the first over Ahab continued during the later years of his life and bore fruit in deeds of shame and violence such as have seldom been equaled in sacred history. "There was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up." {PK 204.1}
Naturally of a covetous disposition, Ahab, strengthened and sustained in wrongdoing by Jezebel, had followed the dictates of his evil heart until he was fully controlled by the spirit of selfishness. He could brook no refusal of his wishes; the things he desired he felt should by right be his. {PK 204.2}
This dominant trait in Ahab, which influenced so disastrously the fortunes of the kingdom under his successors, is revealed in an incident which took place while Elijah was still a prophet in Israel. Hard by the palace of the king was a vineyard belonging to Naboth, a Jezreelite. Ahab set his [205] heart on possessing this vineyard, and he proposed to buy it or else to give in exchange for it another piece of land. "Give me thy vineyard," he said to Naboth, "that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money." {PK 204.3}
Naboth valued his vineyard highly because it had belonged to his fathers, and he refused to part with it. "The Lord forbid it me," he said to Ahab, "that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee." According to the Levitical code no land could be transferred permanently by sale or exchange; every one of the children of Israel must "keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers." Numbers 36:7. {PK 205.1}
Naboth's refusal made the selfish monarch ill. "Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him. . . . And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread." {PK 205.2}
Jezebel soon learned the particulars, and, indignant that anyone should refuse the request of the king, she assured Ahab that he need no longer be sad. "Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel?" she said. "Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." {PK 205.3}
Ahab cared not by what means his wife might accomplish the desired object, and Jezebel immediately proceeded to carry out her wicked purpose. She wrote letters in the name of the king, sealed them with his signet, and sent [206] them to the elders and nobles of the city where Naboth dwelt, saying: "Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: and set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die." {PK 205.4}
The command was obeyed. "The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles, . . . did as Jezebel had . . . written in the letters which she had sent unto them." Then Jezebel went to the king and bade him arise and take the vineyard. And Ahab, heedless of the consequences, blindly followed her counsel and went down to take possession of the coveted property. {PK 206.1}
The king was not allowed to enjoy unrebuked that which he had gained by fraud and bloodshed. "The word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?" And the Lord further instructed Elijah to pronounce upon Ahab a terrible judgment. {PK 206.2}
The prophet hastened to carry out the divine command. The guilty ruler, meeting the stern messenger of Jehovah face to face in the vineyard, gave voice to his startled fear in the words, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" {PK 206.3}
Without hesitation the messenger of the Lord replied, "I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity." No mercy was to [207] be shown. The house of Ahab was to be utterly destroyed, "like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah," the Lord declared through His servant, "for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked Me to anger, and made Israel to sin." {PK 206.4}
And of Jezebel the Lord declared, "The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat." {PK 207.1}
When the king heard this fearful message, "he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. {PK 207.2}
"And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before Me? because he humbleth himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house." {PK 207.3}
It was less than three years later that King Ahab met his death at the hands of the Syrians. Ahaziah, his successor, "did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam." "He served Baal, and worshiped him, and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel," as his father Ahab had done. 1 Kings 22:52, 53. But judgments followed close upon the sins of the rebellious king. A disastrous war with Moab, and then an accident by which his own life was threatened, attested to God's wrath against him. {PK 207.4}
Having fallen "through a lattice in his upper chamber," Ahaziah, seriously injured, and fearful of the possible outcome, sent some of his servants to make inquiry of Baalzebub, [208] the god of Ekron, whether he should recover or not. The god of Ekron was supposed to give information, through the medium of its priests, concerning future events. Large numbers of people went to inquire of it; but the predictions there uttered, and the information given, proceeded from the prince of darkness. {PK 207.5}
Ahaziah's servants were met by a man of God, who directed them to return to the king with the message: "Is it because there is no God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore thus saith Jehovah, Thou shalt not come down from the bed whither thou art gone up, but shalt surely die." Having delivered his message, the prophet departed. {PK 208.1}
The astonished servants hastened back to the king, and repeated to him the words of the man of God. The king inquired, "What manner of man was he?" They answered, "He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins." "It is Elijah the Tishbite," Ahaziah exclaimed. He knew that if the stranger whom his messengers had met was indeed Elijah, the words of doom pronounced would surely come to pass. Anxious to avert, if possible, the threatened judgment, he determined to send for the prophet. {PK 208.2}
Twice Ahaziah sent a company of soldiers to intimidate the prophet, and twice the wrath of God fell upon them in judgment. The third company of soldiers humbled themselves before God; and their captain, as he approached the Lord's messenger, "fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray [209] thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight." {PK 208.3}
"The angel of Jehovah said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king. And he said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word? therefore thou shalt not come down from the bed whither thou art gone up, but shalt surely die." {PK 209.1}
During the father's reign, Ahaziah had witnessed the wondrous works of the Most High. He had seen the terrible evidences that God had given apostate Israel of the way in which He regards those who set aside the binding claims of His law. Ahaziah had acted as if these awful realities were but idle tales. Instead of humbling his heart before [210] the Lord, he had followed after Baal, and at last he had ventured upon this, his most daring act of impiety. Rebellious, and unwilling to repent, Ahaziah died, "according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken." {PK 209.2}
The history of King Ahaziah's sin and its punishment has in it a warning which none can disregard with impunity. Men today may not pay homage to heathen gods, yet thousands are worshiping at Satan's shrine as verily as did the king of Israel. The spirit of idolatry is rife in the world today, although, under the influence of science and education, it has assumed forms more refined and attractive than in the days when Ahaziah sought to the god of Ekron. Every day adds its sorrowful evidence that faith in the sure word of prophecy is decreasing, and that in its stead superstition and satanic witchery are captivating the minds of many. {PK 210.1}
Today the mysteries of heathen worship are replaced by the secret association and seances, the obscurities and wonders, of spiritistic mediums. The disclosures of these mediums are eagerly received by thousands who refuse to accept light from God's word or through His Spirit. Believers in spiritism may speak with scorn of the magicians of old, but the great deceiver laughs in triumph as they yield to his arts under a different form. {PK 210.2}
There are many who shrink with horror from the thought of consulting spirit mediums, but who are attracted by more pleasing forms of spiritism. Others are led astray by the teachings of Christian Science, and by the mysticism of Theosophy and other Oriental religions. [211] {PK 210.3}
The apostles of nearly all forms of spiritism claim to have power to heal. They attribute this power to electricity, magnetism, the so-called "sympathetic remedies," or to latent forces within the mind of man. And there are not a few, even in this Christian age, who go to these healers, instead of trusting in the power of the living God and the skill of well-qualified physicians. The mother, watching by the sickbed of her child, exclaims, "I can do no more. Is there no physician who has power to restore my child?" She is told of the wonderful cures performed by some clairvoyant or magnetic healer, and she trusts her dear one to his charge, placing it as verily in the hand of Satan as if he were standing by her side. In many instances the future life of the child is controlled by a satanic power which it seems impossible to break. {PK 211.1}
God had cause for displeasure at Ahaziah's impiety. What had He not done to win the hearts of the people of Israel and to inspire them with confidence in Himself? For ages He had been giving His people manifestations of unexampled kindness and love. From the beginning He had shown that His "delights were with the sons of men." Proverbs 8:31. He had been a very present help to all who sought Him in sincerity. Yet now the king of Israel, turning from God to ask help of the worst enemy of his people, proclaimed to the heathen that he had more confidence in their idols than in the God of heaven. In the same manner do men and women dishonor Him when they turn from the Source of strength and wisdom to ask help or counsel from the powers of darkness. If God's wrath was kindled by Ahaziah's [212] act, how does He regard those who, having still greater light, choose to follow a similar course? {PK 211.2}
Those who give themselves up to the sorcery of Satan, may boast of great benefit received; but does this prove their course to be wise or safe? What if life should be prolonged? What if temporal gain should be secured? Will it pay in the end to have disregarded the will of God? All such apparent gain will prove at last an irrecoverable loss. We cannot with impunity break down a single barrier which God has erected to guard His people from Satan's power. {PK 212.1}
As Ahaziah had no son, he was succeeded by Jehoram, his brother, who reigned over the ten tribes for twelve years. Throughout these years his mother, Jezebel, was still living, and she continued to exercise her evil influence over the affairs of the nation. Idolatrous customs were still practiced by many of the people. Jehoram himself "wrought evil in the sight of the Lord; but not like his father, and like his mother: for he put away the image of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jereboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom." 2 Kings 3:2, 3. {PK 212.2}
It was during Jehoram's reign over Israel that Jehoshaphat died, and Jehoshaphat's son, also named Jehoram, ascended the throne of the kingdom of Judah. By his marriage with the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, Jehoram of Judah was closely connected with the king of Israel; and in his reign he followed after Baal, "like as did the house of Ahab." "Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to [213] commit fornication, and compelled Judah thereto." 2 Chronicles 21:6, 11. {PK 212.3}
The king of Judah was not permitted to continue his terrible apostasy unreproved. The prophet Elijah had not yet been translated, and he could not remain silent while the kingdom of Judah was pursuing the same course that had brought the northern kingdom to the verge of ruin. The prophet sent to Jehoram of Judah a written communication, in which the wicked king read the awful words: {PK 213.1}
"Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father's house, which were better than thyself: behold, with a great plague will the Lord smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods: and thou shalt have great sickness." {PK 213.2}
In fulfillment of this prophecy "the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians: and they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz [Ahaziah, Azariah], the youngest of his sons. {PK 213.3}
"And after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease. And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, . . . he died of sore [214] diseases." "And Ahaziah [Jehoahaz] his son reigned in his stead." Verses 12-19; 2 Kings 8:24. {PK 213.4}
Jehoram the son of Ahab was still reigning in the kingdom of Israel when his nephew, Ahaziah, came to the throne of Judah. Ahaziah ruled only one year, and during this time, influenced by his mother, Athaliah, "his counselor to do wickedly," "he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the Lord." 2 Chronicles 22:3, 4; 2 Kings 8:27. Jezebel, his grandmother, was still living, and he allied himself boldly with Jehoram of Israel, his uncle. {PK 214.1}
Ahaziah of Judah soon met a tragic end. The surviving members of the house of Ahab were indeed "his counselors after the death of his father to his destruction." 2 Chronicles 22:3, 4. While Ahaziah was visiting his uncle at Jezreel, the prophet Elisha was divinely directed to send one of the sons of the prophets to Ramoth-gilead to anoint Jehu king of Israel. The combined forces of Judah and Israel were at that time engaged in a military campaign against the Syrians of Ramoth-gilead. Jehoram had been wounded in battle, and had returned to Jezreel, leaving Jehu in charge of the royal armies. {PK 214.2}
In anointing Jehu, the messenger of Elisha declared, "I have anointed thee king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel." And then he solemnly charged Jehu with a special commission from heaven. "Thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master," the Lord declared through His messenger, "that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the [215] hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish." 2 Kings 9:6-8. {PK 214.3}
After he had been proclaimed king by the army, Jehu hastened to Jezreel, where he began his work of execution on those who had deliberately chosen to continue in sin and to lead others into sin. Jehoram of Israel, Ahaziah of Judah, and Jezebel the queen mother, with "all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests," were slain. "All the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests" dwelling at the center of Baal worship near Samaria, were put to the sword. The idolatrous images were broken down and burned, and the temple of Baal was laid in ruins. "Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel." 2 Kings 10:11, 19, 28. {PK 215.1}
Tidings of this general execution reached Athaliah, Jezebel's daughter, who still occupied a commanding position in the kingdom of Judah. When she saw that her son, the king of Judah, was dead, "she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah." In this massacre all the descendants of David who were eligible to the throne were destroyed, save one, a babe named Joash, whom the wife of Jehoiada the high priest hid within the precincts of the temple. For six years the child remained hidden, while "Athaliah reigned over the land." 2 Chronicles 22:10, 12. {PK 215.2}
At the end of this time, "the Levites and all Judah" (2 Chronicles 23:8) united with Jehoiada the high priest in crowning and anointing the child Joash and acclaiming him their king. "And they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king." 2 Kings 11:12. [216] {PK 215.3}
"Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the Lord." 2 Chronicles 23:12. "And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets." {PK 216.1}
"Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason." 2 Kings 11:14. But Jehoiada commanded the officers to lay hold of Athaliah and all her followers and lead them out of the temple to a place of execution, where they were to be slain. {PK 216.2}
Thus perished the last member of the house of Ahab. The terrible evil that had been wrought through his alliance with Jezebel, continued till the last of his descendants was destroyed. Even in the land of Judah, where the worship of the true God had never been formally set aside, Athaliah had succeeded in seducing many. Immediately after the execution of the impenitent queen "all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars." Verse 18. {PK 216.3}
A reformation followed. Those who took part in acclaiming Joash king, had solemnly covenanted "that they should be the Lord's people." And now that the evil influence of the daughter of Jezebel had been removed from the kingdom of Judah, and the priests of Baal had been slain and their temple destroyed, "all the people of the land rejoiced: and the city was quiet." 2 Chronicles 23:16, 21. {PK 216.4}
Click here to read the next chapter: "The Call of Elisha"


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The Classic UI is the desktop-oriented user interface that as been available since CQ5 (the predecessory to AEM). The following documentation on authoring is focused on this UI.
The touch-enabled UI is the new standard user interface for AEM, designed for use on both touch and desktop devices. Please see the standard authoring documentation for further information.
Because the touch-based UI is the standard UI of AEM, classic UI is no longer maintained. This means that there is certain functionality that is not available in the classic UI.
Regardless of the choice of UI, there are certain concepts and ideas common to authoring, which are well-described here in the standard authoring documentation.


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by David Crane
[email protected]
Got these from "Army Times". They're video clips of the ATK/HK XM8 Lightweight Modular Carbine System, a.k.a. ATK/HK XM8 Lightweight Assault Carbine, from SHOT Show 2004. Some of the footage is from the outdoor XM8 Carbine weapons demonstration conducted by Jim Schatz, Military Programs Manager at Heckler & Koch (HK). Other footage was shot inside the SHOT Show exhibition hall at the Heckler & Koch (HK) booth.
The video clips are worth watching. To view them, just click on the links below:
ATK/HK XM8 Lightweight Modular Carbine System Overview
ATK/HK XM8 Carbine Assembly Procedure
ATK/HK XM8 Carbine 30-Round Box Magazine Demo
ATK/HK XM8 Carbine "Dust Burial" and Water Submersion Demo (Limited-Scope Adverse Conditions)
ATK/HK XM8 "Sight Module" Demo
ATK/HK XM8 Carbine Under-Barrel-Mounted Grenade Launcher Demo
ATK/HK XM8 Carbine 100-Round Double-Drum Mag Demo
To read my views on the ATK/HK XM8 Lightweight Modular Carbine System (XM8 Lightweight Assault Rifle/Carbine), just click here. The article is titled "GDATP XM307/XUV OCSW Video, ATK/HK XM29/OICW, HK XM8, and Metal Storm".
Here are some additonal resources on the ATK/HK XM8 Lightweight Modular Carbine System (LMCS), a.k.a. ATK/HK XM8 Lightweight Assault Rifle/Carbine (LAR/C):
Click here to go to the "XM8 Lightweight Assault Rifle" page (XM8 LAR) at world.guns.ru.
This link will take you to the "XM8 Future Combat Rifle/Lightweight Assault Rifle" (XM8 FCR/LAR) page at GlobalSecurity.org.
Clicking on this link will take you to the "XM8 Assault Rifle" page at MurdocOnline.net ("Murdoc Online").
If you enjoyed this article, we would ask that you please sign up as a member of Defense Review (DefenseReview.com). Thank you.
Click here to become a DefenseReview.com member.


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When: Tonight, 8:30 MST/10:30 EST
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Watch: FSNAZ (locally), NBA League Pass
Tonight, the 4-5 Phoenix Suns will take on the 3-5 Los Angeles Lakers on the road at the Staples Center. The Suns will attempt to bounce back from a hard-fought overtime loss against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night, in order to get back to the .500 mark.
The Lakers will not be led by their new head coach (and former Suns' head coach) Mike D'Antoni. Mr. Pringles is coming off of knee surgery and already effectively ruled himself out of tonight's match-up when asked about his coaching debut..."Not Friday, I'm thinking Sunday." Instead, the Lakers will be coached by the 2-1 interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff.
The other familiar face in Laker Land, Steve Nash, will not be playing tonight as he is still recovering from a partially fractured fibula that he injured against Portland in the second game of the season.
Not only that, but back-up guard Steve Blake is also day-to-day with an abdominal injury. If Blake is out, third string rookie point guard Darius Morris will start in his place against the Suns. This could prove to be a significant advantage for Phoenix as Morris posted only 1 point, 1 assist, and 2 rebounds in his first start against San Antonio this past Tuesday.
The History:
- This will be the 222nd meeting between the two teams with the Lakers leading the all-time series 130-91.
- The Suns have won two-straight games against the Lakers for the first time since the 2006-07 season (three-game win streak, March 4-April 13, 2007).
- The home team won all four meetings in 2012-13.
- The Lakers are 19-7 against the Suns all-time at Staples Center during the regular season and 8-2 in their last 10 regular season home games against Phoenix.
- In 2010, the Suns and Lakers met for the third time in the last five postseasons after Phoenix eliminated Los Angeles in the first round of both the 2006 and 2007 NBA Playoffs. 2010 marked the 12th postseason meeting all-time between the Suns and Lakers, most of any playoff opponent for Phoenix.
By the Numbers:
Suns: 99.0 (8th) Lakers: 96.5 (19th)
Suns 44.3 (8th): Lakers: 47.4 (3rd)
Suns: 20.6 (20th) Lakers: 20.1 (24th)
Points Allowed:
Suns: 104.0 (29th) Lakers: 93.1 (10th)
The Lakers:
The Suns:
Keys to a Suns Victory:
Exploit their weakness:
This is a physically and mentally wounded Laker team who is in flux and searching for an identity. The Lakers will be without
our their new head coach and starting point guard, and may be without their backup point guard as well. Goran Dragic has shown he is a very capable first option on offense, and this would be a perfect opportunity for him to be used as such. In addition, Dwight Howard is still not 100% after suffering a back injury and having surgery at the end of last season, and while Howard at 75% is still better than nearly every other center in the game, it does give Gortat the chance to use his agility and mobility around the rim to get off shots that he normally wouldn't dare attempt, and somewhat help him with rebounding as well.
Starts with "D":
Good things happen when the other team has to force bad shots and long passes. Unfortunately the Suns aren't in the habit of proving this theory correct as they are currently ranked 29th in the league in points allowed. Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Dwight Howard are all superstars who can almost single-handedly decimate an opponent on any given night. The Suns are short on talent while long on hustle and fight...but they will need to devote more attention to playing solid, team defense throughout the entire game, not just the 4th quarter, if they are going to get out of LA with a win tonight.
Snake Charmer:
Although this applies above, the Black Mamba is in a different league all to himself. The Lakers are still Kobe's team, and they will go as far as he can take them. For the Suns (or any other team for that matter), there's no point in trying to stop Kobe, the best they can hope for is to contain him. If they can hold him to under 20 points tonight then the Suns have an excellent chance of winning the game.
Hot Wings?
Aside from Shannon Brown in the 4th quarter, the Suns have yet to get any consistent production from any of their wings. Jared Dudley has been almost non existent at times...and Michael Beasley, well, he's definitely made an impact, just not for the right team. As crazy as it may seem, the most consistently productive wing player per his minutes played so far has been P.J. Tucker, a free agent who wasn't even guaranteed to make the roster before training camp. While Tucker is certainly appreciated, he was never meant to be our best option during crunch time. As our own Dave King's article so eloquently pointed out, we need one of our starters to step up and get it done.
The Bottom Line:
The Suns are in a great position to steal a win away from one of the most talented teams in the league. Phoenix has already shown that they won't quit no matter what, and their energy and hustle has already won them some games in the 4th quarter they would have otherwise lost. This is the type of effort the Suns will need to bring tonight.
They aren't going to win in a blowout against the Lakers (although the reverse is possible). Instead, their only hope is to out-hustle, out-run, and eventually out-last them. The Suns also can't afford to fall substantially behind early to a team like LA, who can gain confidence and play more relaxed and effectively in such a situation. Phoenix needs to play with 100% effort and focus for 48 minutes tonight if they are going to escape LA with a victory.


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And it supposedly has MUSIC VIDEOS for every single song. Queen Bey just saved Christmas, y'all.
This is so exciting. And it's out just in time for you to gift ten copies to each and every one of your friends. You can only buy the full thing now (because it's conceptual) but will be able to purchase individual tracks on the 20th (who is going to do that? Tell me now so I can de-friend you. ENTIRE VISUAL ALBUM OR BUST.)
The VA (short for visual album; keep up) features Drake, Jay Z (duh), Frank Ocean, and Blue Ivy (double duh). Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland are also featured — no word on the other three destiny's children's (orphans, I guess?). Get it here.
Image via AP


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Concept Interactive 2023 Acceptance Letter | How To Log In And Accept The Admission Letter Online
Here on this Educative Page, We gladly update you about The Concept Interactive application acceptance letter 2023 pdf download which the management has released for Prospective Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Diploma, Certificate, and Other Programmes students.
Concept Interactive ACCEPTANCE LETTER 2023
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See also: Concept Interactive Student Portal
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