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Pomp, Circumstance, and Darn Good Canapés
I had been wallowing in a blue-stay-in-your-bathrobe-all-day-and-eat-frosted-flakes-directly-out-of-the-box-for-dinner-writer's-block-funk (you all know what delicate temperaments we literary types have) for the past few weeks, but got summarily booted out of it this morning after receiving a wonderfully funny and generous email complimenting me on Rebecca's View. Inspired, buoyed, (guilt-ridden), I sat right down and thumped another one out. So this is dedicated to Sheila L., and all the other kind folks who have enjoyed reading what I have to say and have taken the time to let me know over the past few months. I do it for you. And for that fat check that Pauline sends me every week.
I got a letter from the United States Ambassador to Italy the other day.
Now I know that what I am about to reveal may cause shock and consternation amongst my readers, but the sad truth is, despite my carefully cultivated image of jet-set refinement, cutting edge culture, and general Glamour Queenliness, I rarely get personal mail from Popes, monarchs, presidents or even diplomats. So it was not without a slight frisson of excitement and trembling hand that I opened my embossed envelope. (After a quick reality check. This can't have anything to do with my taxes, right? No. Okay.)
Inside I discovered an invitation to a cocktail reception at Villa Taverna, the US Ambassador's residence in Rome. My initial reaction was one I assume most people would share in similar circumstances, "My God," I thought, "How did they know my address? The CIA must have a file on me." Upon closer examination of my invitation I found that the reception was being held in honor of the president of the university I attended as an undergraduate. The realization slowly dawned that I had been tracked down by force far more insidious, omniscient, nefarious even, than Central Intelligence. Alumni Fundraising.
But heck, invites including a long, detailed explanation of how to pass the security check in your chauffeur driven car don't come along every day. Strangely, no instructions on how to get to the place by city bus, which had been my plan until my train to Rome got there so late that I had to break down and grab a cab. When I told the driver my address, he went about ten meters before slamming on the brakes and turning to face me. "That can't be right, lady," he said. I asked him why, and he told me that I had recited the address of Villa Taverna. "Exactly," I said. "Well, that's the US Ambassador's residence!" I told him I was an invited guest, at which point he gave me a long up and down and kind of grimaced. In that split second I was reminded of one of the great truths of Italy. Even displaced elderly Sicilian cabbies in Rome who pick you up in the pitch black outside the Termini train station know when you are underdressed for State functions. Unfortunately, I also told him that I was running extremely late, which meant that he managed to gun it across the city in a manner which had me making a mental note to check on my life insurance policy benefits when I got home (and I am no pansy driver myself) while never taking his eyes off me in his rearview mirror. I was apparently the closest thing he had had to a VIP fare in the past twenty years.
To make a long story short, I decided to attend (to much eye rolling on the part of my husband – he was just jealous because his name wasn't on the invitation). The hook was not meeting the current university president, who wasn't even at the university when I was there. Had he been, I quite seriously doubt I would have been invited to honor him in Rome, as the few times I ever met his predecessor it was usually while doing things like chaining myself to his office door in an attempt (vain, as it turned out) to persuade the university to divest from South Africa. You know, symbolic gestures which tend to keep you off subsequent cocktail party guest lists for quite awhile. The hook was not even the Ambassador who, as a personal friend of Bushes (father and son), prominent Republican Party activist, and shopping center real estate development magnate, effectively embodies all I abhor. The real hook was the chance to glimpse into Villa Taverna, a beautiful historic residence once owned by the Catholic Church surrounded by the largest private park (something like four hectares) in Rome, a swimming pool built for JFK's visit in the 60's, a movie theatre donated by the American Picture Academy, and lots and lots of security people.
It was lovely. The residence is beautiful, the gardens are enormous (though it was quite dark, so I didn't get to see much of them), the butlers have the US seal engraved on the buttons of their jackets. It was also strange. It has been a long time since I have been to an all-American social function (the SlowTrav GTG this summer doesn't count, because no one inspected my person for weapons) and I forgot how gosh-darn friendly most Americans are.
Not that Umbrians are not friendly folks. They are largely kind, good hearted people. They are also extremely reserved and reticent at first meeting. A roomful of Umbrians in a social setting will spend the entire evening speaking to their spouses, or, in a pinch, people they have known since grade school. I don't think that in ten years in Umbria I have ever had an Umbrian walk up to me and introduce himself cold. The few times I have done so have been near disasters. Remember when Michelle Pfieffer crosses the room to talk to Daniel Day-Lewis in Age of Innocence and the scandal it caused? Well, it's kind of like that. Luckily, as a foreigner I am excused myriad quirks, like actually showing up to pick up my photos after thirty minutes at the half-hour photo developing place.
I often dog my husband about this in the car driving home from yet another party where I spend the evening talking to him, his friends from the third grade, and their wives. "Why, why?" I wail. "Why does no one want to meet anyone new here? Why don't you want to make friends?" He looks at me quizzically and invariably answers, "Well, because I already have friends. I don't need any more." Dynamic guy.
On the other hand, get a roomful of American strangers together for an evening, and the shaky common ground of a shared alma mater becomes the instant foundations of lightning fast hand-pumping, name memorization, and business card exchanging all round. It was almost too much for me. I must have introduced myself to a hundred people in the space of an hour. It was kind of funny, really. Each guest, to a person, held out their hand and regretfully admitted that their Italian was not that good. To which I replied that neither is mine; I am American. "Oh, but you look so Italian!" they all said. Now, I can hardly show my face in an Italian shop without the proprietor immediately excusing his English or, even more often, addressing me in passable German. No Italian mistakes me for a countrywoman.
Americans can also be disarmingly informal. In Italy, you generally know who the important people are, even if you don't know who they are. There is a certain aura of power which surrounds them, even if their origins are as humble as, well, Berlusconi's. And the Umbrians, especially in the area where I live around Assisi and Perugia, are extremely formally mannered people. I have know people for years here socially, and we still give each other the Lei, which is a formal, third person address. I have girlfriends who give their mother-in-laws the Lei. That is equivalent to the Victorian practice of spouses calling each other Mr. and Mrs. Smith in bed.
Imagine my surprise to find that the man who had grabbed my hand, shook it hard, introduced himself as "Mel Sembler" and quickly segued into a long discourse on the merits of Nancy Reagan's anti-drug campaign work, turned out to be the Ambassador. To be honest, I was kind of disappointed in our diplomatic representative to Italy. I had envisioned a Kofi Annan sort of figure, and instead found a man who, as a response to my question regarding his diplomatic career before Italy, proudly boomed, "Hey, I'm no diplomat! I'm a businessman!" Oh, dear.
I also discovered that I was making small talk with the current university president only after my answer to his question, "Did you enjoy your years as an undergraduate at the university?" (I replied that my memories of those years had grown especially fond once I had paid off my student loans) was greeted with an uncomfortable pause. Until the president's wife came to my rescue with her raucous barking laugh, grabbed my elbow, and gave me a little squeeze, which signaled to the rest of the group that a little bit of edgy sarcasm was acceptable. Bless her.
I was then saved again by the ambassador's wife, who broke the long embarrassed silence which followed her husband inquiring as to what I do (apparently running a service sector business rather than paving over acres of perfectly good farm and wood land, over lighting it so much that it can be seen from space, and plonking down a Discount Warehouse which runs the local small business owners into the ground by illegally employing desperate immigrant workers who mop for five bucks a day under the table is not something one admits to while sipping sparkling water at the Ambassador's residence) by asking me a series of sincere questions regarding my business, feigning real interest in the answers, and finishing the conversation by asking for a business card. Right. Like the Ambassador and his wife are going to bed down on the farm the next time they come through town with their security entourage. But I appreciated the effort. Now she, my friends, was a real diplomat.
Unfortunately, as it turned out, I didn't have any cards with me because, in anticipation of a security inspection on my purse, I had done a last minute switch to the only bag I own which did not smell of peanut butter crackers and contain a small fleet of Hot Wheels, two sippy cups, emergency wipes, and the latest in Teletubby literature. It also did not contain any business cards.
As soon as the speeches started, I slowly backed my way out of the room and started opening random doors on the first floor. I didn't have the balls to go upstairs. I figured someone was bound to be watching on a security camera somewhere and would get around to arresting me sooner or later. I discovered a series of lovely rooms downstairs, full of donated art (some of it atrocious, to be honest) and valuable antiques. The only time the building has been vacated by the Americans since the early thirties when it was bought by the US government was during the second world war. The withdrawing Americans entrusted the estate to the Knights of Malta, who converted it to a hospital for the duration of the war, and painted a large red cross on the roof to deter bombing by Allied and Axis forces. The US reclaimed it after the war in perfect condition.
There was also a large collection of Republican knick-knacks about (framed letters signed by Reagan, for example) which got me thinking. There must be two storage rooms somewhere on the compound, one which contains the Republican relics and one the Democratic. That way when the administration switches over, the Reagan correspondence gets boxed up and the snapshots of Carter trotted out. It's just kind of amusing, when you consider it.
I stumbled upon the dining room at a certain point, set for about twenty who were apparently staying to dinner. My husband had expressed surprise at an invitation to a cocktail party at the strange hour of 6:30 to 8:00. I told him that it wasn't that the party ended at eight, it was that I wasn't important enough to be asked to stick around to eat.
The thought crossed my mind that if I were Nikita, I would have a vial of poison hidden in the heel of my boot and would summarily dispose of quite a few members of the higher diplomatic corps in one fell swoop. As it were, I took a quick gander at the menu and china (with US seal, what else?) before being politely directed to the ladies room by a mirrored sunglasses clad gentleman who appeared out of nowhere.
All in all, an experience that I will certainly bore my great grandchildren with its recounting 60 years from now. As I got back on the train home (at 8:10, at the exact moment that the real VIPs were sitting down to smoked duck breast antipasto), I did the unimaginable. I called my husband on my cell phone, and quickly brought all movement in the rows of seats surrounding me to a standstill by loudly beginning to recount my evening at the US Ambassador's residence.
Tragically, my glory was short-lived, as my husband cut me off laughing, "Quit bragging to the rest of the people on the train, you loser. You can tell me when you get home." And then he hung up on me.
The man apparently doesn't know that I am now a personal friend of Mel Sembler's.


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Dutch Krew - 97' Dreamville [Unsigned Hype]
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High school was a great time for me. I had an amazing group of friends and we made the most of the four years spent together, making memories that would last a lifetime. To say we were involved might very well be the understatement of the century. The six of us had a hand in virtually everything that went on in that school. If there was something to be president of, captain of, member of, or queen of, we were all over it. The Bomb Squad, our self-appointed moniker, was a force to be reckoned with. We made our way onto the Senior lists being voted Ms. LMHS, best athlete, best body, most original, most likely to be famous, and most resourceful. And while those inconsequential titles don't mean much after graduation day, it's funny to see just how closely most of us have maintained those same attributes that were evident back then.
But here is the great part. I am immensely proud of all the things the ladies I grew up with have accomplished and the beautiful women they have become, but it brings me greater joy to be able to have had the opportunity to experience it all first hand. I can go listen to my best friend speak to hundreds of captivated women, I can turn on the T.V. and see her singing and dancing her heart out, I can watch the Olympics and see her rule the world, I can see her grow a business through sheer will and determination...all of it is inspiring but it's tenfold because it is happening to my favorite people in the world. These ladies have become my family. And while it's often true that the friendships you have in high school drift apart over the years as people change and grow in opposite directions, we have all become cornerstone's in each other's lives. We became best friends in high school and as we have matured as individuals, our friendship has grown as well.
Last week the five of us got together for lunch and marveled at where all the time has gone. This past weekend was our 10 year high school reunion and while we all have done many amazing things in this span of time since high school, it still blows my mind that it's been ten years since prom, since cheering at football games, since dressing up for spirit days, since first loves and first heartbreaks, since the beginning of friendships that will most surely last a lifetime.
There are many times when I sit back in wonder at what we've all become and just how grown we really are. We don't seem grown. At least not to me. Sure, among us there are a couple of husbands, a kid, prosperous businesses, gold medals, singing careers, passports with a million stamps on them, etc. But get us together in the same room and it feels like just us. The us from back in the day at La Mirada High School. The us from the hundreds of pictures I have overflowing out of my photo albums. This same group of girls who sat together in the quad and dreamed about their successful futures are the same women that I look at now living out their dreams. So while reunions are a nice way to see those who helped shape your high school years, I am lucky enough to have those who shaped mine the most in my life on a consistent basis to remind me of who I am and to help me to always strive to be better.


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Turn 81 – Failing at Life
July 16, 2012 4 Comments
Featuring Joey "Nebula", John "MusiM", Lauren "Literally", and Suzy "Specter".
Music by MusiM. Buy the music at musim.bandcamp.com
Our intended topics are Before Watchmen, Annihilation, Avengers, Drawing of the Three, Pacific Rim, Tokyo in Tulsa, Magic Mike, The Amazing Spider-man, Horns, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, and Deadpool.
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Just a correction from the cast (since the Amazon mobile browser didn't show me all the pertinent information) Cabin in the Woods is not out on video yet, it comes out September 18th.


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NY Female Blood Member In Her Late 30's Deck's Chubby Girl In Front Of Her Apartment! (Rolls On The Floor)
Went down in "Wash & 169 aka da 9". Submitted by WASHSIDE
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Happy for their win!Just hope they don't start to dominate though..
They both seem like very humble, down-to-earth guys. I really like that about them.
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PLANO, Texas — Mott's is starting off the New Year with a "Rush." And a "Surge." And a "Boom." The recognized leader in branded apple juice and apple sauce, Mott's is expanding with a new line of juice drinks in three bold flavors that will wow the kids and win over parents.
Mott's Fruit Punch Rush, Wild Grape Surge and Strawberry Boom each contain 40 percent less sugar than fruit juices– and no artificial sweeteners. They are the perfect beverage option for kids who want great flavor to match their activities, and they meet the needs of moms seeking healthier choices for their families at home and on-the-go. The new Mott's juice drink line boasts 100 percent daily value of vitamin C per serving.
"Rush, Surge and Boom give kids another reason to enjoy Mott's as they grow toward their teens," said Meena Sen, director of marketing for Mott's. "Parents want drinks that help nurture their children's potential to be their very best, every day. As kids grow, they want more variety in their beverages, and these new juice drinks have the bold flavors that kids love and parents can feel good about."
Consumers can find Fruit Punch Rush, Wild Grape Surge and Strawberry Boom on shelves at select national retailers this month, with broad national availability expected by March. All flavors are available in 64 oz. multi-serve containers. In addition, Fruit Punch Rush and Wild Grape Surge are available in 8 oz. 6-packs.
About Mott's
Mott's, a brand of Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE: DPS), is the nation's leading producer of branded apple sauce and apple juice. Since 1842, Mott's has proudly created delicious and nutritious products for adults and children. Mott's continues to provide "simple solutions" to meet the needs of today's busy families. Mott's is available in a variety of juice and sauce offerings, including Mott's Original, Mott's for Tots, Mott's Medleys, Mott's juice drinks, Mott's Healthy Harvest Sauce and Mott's Snack & Go Applesauce Pouches. DPS is a leading producer of flavored beverages, marketing Mott's and 50-plus other beverage brands across North America and the Caribbean. For more information, visit Motts.com orDrPepperSnapple.com. For the brand's latest news and updates, follow Mott's at www.Facebook.com/Motts or www.Twitter.com/Motts.


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Release Date: 2004 |
I like "Us"; good review
Album Rating: 5.0I love this album, one of my favorites! And she is my favorite...I love her more than a man should love a musician.
Pwahah I'm downloading this now. Good review.
Album Rating: 4.0I've only heard select tracks by Regina Spektor, they've all been good though. Us is probably the only one I've heard off of this.
Good review.
Album Rating: 4.5told you
I would love to review this, but you did a pretty great job so it seems pointless
Album Rating: 5.0my favorite album of hers. good review.
Poor Little Rich Boy is so awesome. This whole album is so good.
Album Rating: 4.5much better than begin to hope.
Album Rating: 4.5Begin to Hope < Soviet Kitsch < 11:11
Though, The Flowers and Chemo Limo are very good.
11:11 is down there with Songs as her worst, but they're all still really good.
Album Rating: 4.0Album rules surprisingly hard.
Going to see her at Lollapalooza
Album Rating: 3.5This album has such charming qualities.
Album Rating: 3.5ghost of corporate future oh yes
[quote=review]She weaves stories with the skill of a novelist yet tells them so simply it's like hearing your neighbor tell you about her day.[/quote]
very appropriate simile. great review.This Message Edited On 09.14.07
Album Rating: 3.5I finally got this two weeks ago.
Album Rating: 4.0i need this Begin to hope is soooo very good
Album Rating: 3.5this album is overrated. I thing Begin to Hope is superior to this.
Album Rating: 4.0no way, this album slays Begin to Hope.
Begin to Hope has the better singles, but this is the better album overall.
Plus, it's got "Us" and that's one of, if not her best song.
Album Rating: 3.5WRONG. I AM RIGHT.
ryan remember that one time you were wrong
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Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne Rumored To Have Split
A U.K. tabloid suggesting Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne have split up is getting more traction, with outlets such as TMZ and others suggesting the news is indeed true.
According to the New York Daily News, Sharon has moved into a new Beverly Hills property without Ozzy, while both of them have been photographed without their wedding rings on recently.
The Daily Mail reports that financial issues are at the root of the marital problems, while The Sun quotes a source as saying, "They are living at different addresses and not spending any time together. TMZ confirms that the couple is living apart, but states there are no plans for divorce at this time.
Adding fuel to the rumors was a cryptic tweet from daughter Kelly, who tweeted, "Why does every family in the world have that 1 member that will never get it and is completely ignorant to life in general?"
Meanwhile, Kelly's brother Jack refuted the claims, tweeting, "...it's all bulls--t. Last time I check a lot of British news papers weren't amazing sources of accurate information. Moving on..."
There has been no confirmation from Ozzy or Sharon, so as of now, all of these reports are just rumors.


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"The Life And Times Of Prophecy"
Today marks the 17 year anniversary of when Rock Legend Kurt Donald Cobain tragically took his own life after years of battling Heroine addiction. This was a tragic ending to a life that held so much promise, as he was only 27 years old at the time of his death. Kurt formed the band Nirvana in 1986 after a tumultuous childhood, with his parents divorcing at a young age, and being bullied in high school by jocks who called him "queer".
Nirvana recorded their debut album, Bleach, under the independent label Sub-Pop Records, before signing to Geffen Records in 1991, which released Nirvana's landmark album, Nevermind.
Kurt married Courtney Love in 1992, who gave birth to their daughter Francis Bean Cobain in August of that year. in the same year, the group released the album Incesticide, and the following album, In Utero was released in 1993.
On March 4th, 1994, Kurt was taken to a hospital in an apparent suicide attempt that was declared an accident. Courtney Love and other family members begged for the legendary rocker to seek rehab, but their attempts were futile as his body was discovered on April 8th, 1994 in his Seattle home. A shotgun was found in his arms, and the firearm had fired into his head. He left a note written in red ink to his wife Courtney and daughter Francis. The last words of the letter were "I love you, I love you".
In the years since his passing, Kurt is remembered as one of the greatest musicians in modern rock, with Nirvana considered one of the top rock albums of all time, and their greatest hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is still considered the greatest song of modern rock to this day. Sadly, Kurt will always be remembered and missed, and as it seems, Courtney's love has continued to seem lost without him. She has suffered many years of continued drug addiction, stints in and out of rehab, and many life mishaps that have continued to make her fodder for tabloids. Let's hope Courtney continues to stay strong, and keep the memory of Kurt's life even stronger
Photo: WireImage


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Right-Wing Media Shout Down Costas' Attempt To Discuss "Gun Culture" In Wake Of NFL Murder-Suicide
Blog ››› ››› KEVIN ZIEBER
Right-wing media, including Fox News and the Drudge Report, are attacking NBC's Bob Costas for daring to question America's "gun culture" in the wake of the tragic murder-suicide committed by a Kansas City Chiefs football player. The Drudge Report characterized Costas' comments as a "gun control rant" while Fox criticized him for "lecturing America on gun control" in the wake of the tragedy.
On December 1, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend at the house they shared before subsequently killing himself in front of his head coach and other members of the Chiefs organization. The following evening, during halftime of NBC's Sunday night football game, Costas endorsed part of a column by sportswriter Jason Whitlock who criticized the gun culture in America.
Costas said: " 'Our current gun culture," Whitlock wrote, 'ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy, and that more convenience-store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead.' " Costas later added: " 'But here,' wrote Jason Whitlock, 'is what I believe: If Jovan Belcher didn't possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.' "
Fox News' Fox & Friends repeatedly questioned whether it was "appropriate" for Costas to be "lecturing America on gun control."
Other right-wing sites including the Drudge Report, Fox Nation, and the Washington Free Beacon also attacked Costas, railing against what they described as Costas' "gun control rant":
In the wake of previous tragedies, conservative media figures have advocated against gun laws and even denied that gun violence is a serious problem in the United States. Now they've turned their focus to Costas who brought up the subject of America's gun culture in the wake of the latest high-profile example of gun violence.
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text: I'm glossing over many details, but in general I've found the below mentioned strategies a good first order approximation. I'd suggest taking several representative production runs and try graph the performance on 1,2,4,8,16,32 processors or whatever is feasible for your jobs and cluster. If you see good scaling I.e. each jump gets almost twice as much work done you very likely will not benefit from a faster interconnect. If you do not see good scaling then you might be bottlenecked by latency or bandwidth, or possibly other factors like a faster than linear increase in work with extra nodes, and disk I/O performance among others. Hope for the first, it will save you money, time and effort. If it's the later then it would be worth your while to try to find out exactly why your code isn't scaling. Even the simplest measures can help, for instance recording the before and after packet counts as reported by ifconfig. Graphing how the number of packets increases with N and how the performance scales with N might provide valuable insight. Another dirty hack can be to force your interfaces to 100 Mbit and see how the performance changes. If it's minimal it's likely to be either latency (100 Mbit and GigE usually don't vary by much) or not bandwidth constrained. Also something like ganglia can provide you with a significant amount of additional info for a run, so you can watch memory, network, load, memory used, buffers used etc. See how these variables change with the timestep and with the number of nodes can be very helpful for getting a general idea of how your job is behaving. One particular job I was running had network traffic increasing with each iteration, above a certain point the wall clock time per timestep increased. Calculations showed I was getting 30% of peak GigE performance, it is likely that between the packet overhead and MPI overhead that was as fast as I was likely to see. Certainly none of the above will give you as good as an idea as a source code analysis or a fully profiled run, but they can help steer you in the right direction. -- Bill Broadley Computational Science and Engineering UC Davis


text:
UN's Promise to 'Save The World' In Return For Global Government
Prison Planet.com | January 31 2006
By Paul Joseph Watson
The first wave of the attempt to create a global government has failed. The EU constitution is dead in the water and the UN can be defined as somewhere in between a talking shop and a laughing stock.
The sands have shifted. The Clinton era move to establish the United Nations and its offshoots as a de facto world government with dictatorial control over US sovereignty was met with ferocious opposition from conservatives sick to their stomachs from eight years of moral relativism.
The establishment knew it was time to play their ace in the hole and George W. Bush, so-called conservative, was installed (not elected) as US President. Despite Bush's total and absolute abandonment of conservative principles, including increasing deficit spending beyond the level of all previous 42 administrations put together, signing legislation anathema to the Constitution, promoting global government and anti-American trade deals like CAFTA and the FTAA, and attempting to 'solve' the illegal immigration problem by legalizing all the illegal aliens, mainstream conservatives put the blinkers on and went back to sleep.
This enabled the hijacked government of the United States to step in where he UN had failed, as the enforcer of world government, and a neo-conservative plan to eliminate all 'rogue states' that did not comply was set in action. Afghanistan and Iraq are down, Iran and Syria are next.
However, it seems that some disenfranchised UN higher-ups are keen to see the organization once again assume its role at the head of the hydra.
The London Independent reports,
The most potent threats to life on earth - global warming, health pandemics, poverty and armed conflict - could be ended by moves that would unlock $7 trillion - $7,000,000,000,000 (£3.9trn) - of previously untapped wealth, the United Nations claims today.
The price? An admission that the nation-state is an old-fashioned concept that has no role to play in a modern globalised world where financial markets have to be harnessed rather than simply condemned.
The message is simple, sacrifice your national sovereignty and we will save the world!
Using the threat of environmental catastrophe and the implementation of a world tax, the UN is coming back for another bite at the cherry, an end run around national sovereignty.
Why should we even for a second consider signing over our freedom and sovereignty to a body that has been embroiled in one scandal after another?
Were the UN attempting to save the world when they used a ship chartered for peacekeepers to bring children into East Timor to be exploited as prostitutes?
Were the UN attempting to save the world when they imposed sanctions on Iraq in 1990 that directly led to the deaths of a million Iraqis, 500,000 of them children? Were they attempting to solve problems of poverty, disease and suffering when they unleashed this living hell? A price (half a million dead kids) that was "worth paying" according to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright?
Were the UN attempting to save the world in 1994 when they withdrew their peacekeepers from Rwanda, an action that directly led to the butchering of 800,000 people?
Were the UN attempting to save the world when they set up a program of prostitution and systematic rape throughout Sierra Leone's brutal 10 year civil war?
Were the UN attempting to save the world when pedophilia scandals involving their personnel emerged from all over West Africa and the Balkans? Were their intentions noble when they fired the individuals responsible for blowing the whistle and trying to save the children?
Is the UN offshoot UNESCO, an organization which so-called conservative George W. Bush signed the US back onto, pure in its efforts for mankind when it promotes unlimited abortion, the elimination of Judeo-Christian civilization, and the abolition of private property rights?
Common sense tells us that we should not negotiate with serial killers and purveyors of global genocide when they make grandiose promises to create heaven on earth.
Would you get in a car with Ted Bundy if he promised you a good time
Infowars.com is Copyright 2006 Alex Jones | Fair Use Notice


text:
Oilers 4, Canucks 1 – Preseason Game 4 – 2013-09-18 @ 8:00 PM MST – SNET-W
Well, the season hasn't even started yet so there's not a whole lot to go on for a blurb but I'll give it a go. Oilers(1-1-1) and Canucks(0-1) do battle tonight on SNET-W. No cursing at the streaming capabilities of the Oilers site tonight!
So far in the preseason the Oilers split wins with a split squad versus the Flames and engineered a comeback in Winnipeg that fell just short.
A number of players(17) have been re-assigned/cut since then but they are still far from the final roster.
Canucks will start Luongo tonight and the Sedins will be in the lineup as well. Sadly Torts will be the eye in the sky and not entertaining us on the bench.
Oilers will have a closer to NHL roster for the game with a few goons on the fourth so it could be an entertaining one to watch.
Continue reading 'Oilers 4, Canucks 1 – Preseason Game 4 – 2013-09-18 @ 8:00 PM MST – SNET-W'»


text: Sheinside blazer, White House/Black Market leopard shirt and earrings, Francescas pants [similar], Prada Saffiano Lux bag, Steve Madden heels [similar] A little office ready inspiration for Monday :) Seriously in love with my new silk leopard blouse and earrings from my first White House/Black Market mini haul. I think it is part of their newest collection. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!


text:
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text:
Numerous novels and nonfiction books depict aspects of deception, trickery and illusion. Here are a few samples of books that debunk the idea that "what you see is what you get."
"Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil" by Tom Mueller
Olive oil, a symbol of purity due to its medicinal abilities, beauty aid and vitality to religious ritual, has become deeply corrupt according to Mueller. He claims that the olive oil industry has many levels of interest: those who are interested in seeing quality extra virgin olive oil gain its rightful place on the shelf, and those who need to be held responsible for their deliberate label misrepresentations of the product.
"The Silicon Jungle: A Novel of Deception, Power and Internet Intrigue" by Shumeet Baluja
Have you ever wondered what consequences can occur if you post personal information online?
In Baluja's novel, his protagonist, Stephen Thorpe, lands an internship at a company called Ubatoo, an Internet empire that provides its users with popular online services. However, the tides soon change when Thorpe is asked to protect people who are unfairly targeted in the name of national security.
This story is an eerie look at how others can use our online activities for personal and political gain just as easily as they can use it for marketing and humanitarian purposes.
"Liar, Liar: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Deception" by Gary Paulsen
Paulsen, a well-known children's author, delves into the consequences of telling lies to people in this book for those 8 and older. Kevin, the protagonist, is in eighth grade and often believes his lying makes everyone's life better. As an example, his teacher assigns him to work on a social studies class project with Katie. Kevin describes Katie as some "sort of mechanized humanoid, made up of spare computer parts, all the leafy green vegetables that no one ever eats and thesaurus pages." Because Kevin cannot stand the thought of working with Katie, he comes down with a made up disease, hoping this will dismiss him from working with her.
"Collision: When Reality and Illusion Collide" by Ron Bruguiere
Bruguiere shares his personal life and experiences with actors during his 42-year theater career. Show people such as Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly, Barbra Streisand, Barbara Cook, Ethel Merman, Fred Astaire, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Doris Day and others are revealed in his behind-the-scene encounters.
"For one to go backstage in a theater, illusion needs to be parked outside before you enter," he writes. "Once you enter you will encounter the realities dwelling in the kingdom of make-believe, and those realities may not always be desirable."
Grand illusion or trickery, intentional or not, is an intriguing subject that can be found in all genres. Delve into a novel or a non-fiction investigation and you may discover that "nothing is as it seems."
CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public Library. All titles may be reserved from home or office computers by accessing the catalog at http://www.newportbeachlibrary.org. For more information on the Central Library or any of the branches, call the Newport Beach Public Library at (949) 717-3800, option 2.


text:
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Nine Asia Pacific countries will not meet a 2012 target to reduce hepatitis B infections among children, according to the World Health Organization which plans to intensify its fight against the disease.
Nine out of 10 remain chronically infected for the rest of their lives because their immune systems are undeveloped, which can lead to liver cirrhosis and then liver cancer later on.
But a WHO expert said the goal of reducing infection rates among children to below 2 percent by 2012 will not be met in Cambodia, Kiribati, Laos, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Vietnam.
"These nine countries don't look like they are going to make the 2 percent goal," said Karen Hennessey, technical officer for WHO's expanded program on hepatitis B immunization.
Hennessey, who spoke by telephone from Manila, said infection rates among children in these countries were around 8 percent before vaccination programs were introduced at different times starting from the 1980s.
While infection rates have fallen to about 3 to 4 percent, these programs have stalled because of the lack of technical expertise and training, or money, she said.
China is one of the exceptions with infection rates among its children down dramatically in the last five years to below 2 percent due to a successful vaccination program, Hennessey said. However, it still has a huge 10 percent pool of infected adults.
Hepatitis B, which is 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV, is mostly passed from mother to child when the mother's infected blood comes into contact with open wounds on her newborn during delivery. But a vaccine given within the first 24 hours of birth can prevent infection.
To renew efforts to fight the virus, WHO wants to push a three-pronged approach, which includes getting more pregnant women to deliver in healthcare facilities so that their babies can be immunized soon after delivery.
"If it's very difficult to get women into hospitals, either because (their homes are) remote or very poor, the other possibility is to make sure there is a skilled attendant at every birth ... who are trained to give vaccine within 24 hours," Hennessy said.
The WHO will also help with providing training, she said.
"It is important to get that first dose within 24 hours. But it's not clear. Is it the first hour, first three hours? Who is responsible? Who writes it down? That is enough for people to not want to do it. There has to be training," she said.
About 2 billion people worldwide have been infected by this virus and 350 million of them live with chronic infection. About 600,000 people die each year from the virus, which is also passed through sexual contact and unclean needles. Apart from hepatitis B, other common forms of hepatitis are A, C and E.
Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Sugita Katyal


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text: On Sun, 17 Apr 2005, Toon Knapen wrote: > Mark Hahn wrote: > >>What is the ideal way to manage memory consumption in HPC applications? > > > > > > run the right jobs on the right machines. > > > > But because memory is scarce one needs to have a good memory consumption > strategy. And memory is scarce otherwise out-of-core solvers (like for > instance used in NASTRAN) would not be necessary. .... > direct solvers treating 1 million dofs (and a decent bandwith of course) > need a _lot_ of memory. Thus: out-of-core solvers are necessary. .... > I'm assuming at least 1G also. But most have 4G per node and up. But > again this is for direct solvers of big systems. .... > The question is just: any out-of-core uses blocking and treats block per > block. But how big should blocks ideally be. Can I take a block-size > that is almost equal to my physical memory and thus relying on the rest > of the app being swapped out (taking into account that bigger block size > improves performance)? .... > but a typical timeslice is much shorter than 100 seconds. Additionally > you're not taking into account the time you loose the time you need to > rebuild your cache. .... > OK, thanks. This was one of my main questions. So as you said before: > the OS swapping an HPC app is a non-fatal error. These responses are not inconsistent with Mark's or Greg's remarks. Let me reiterate: a) The "best" thing to do is to match your job to your node's capabilities or vice versa so it runs in core when split up. This is just ONE of MANY "best practice" or "design constraint" issues to be faced though, as it is equally important to match up networking requirements, memory access speeds, and a lot more. There is some sense in the HPC community of how to go about doing these things, and fortunately for MOST cluster owner/builders, it isn't impossibly difficult to achieve a profitable operating regime (near linear speedup in number of nodes) if not an optimal one. b) IF your job is TOO BIG to fit in core on the nodes, then there IS NO "BEST PRACTICE". There is only a choice. Either: Scale your job back so it fits in core. Seriously. Most of us who run things that COULD fill a universe of RAM recognize that we just plain have to live in the real world and run things at a size that fits. Fortunately we live in a Moore's Law inflationary universe, so one can gradually do more. or Bite the bullet and do all the very hard work required to make your job run efficiently with whatever hardware you have at the scale you desire. As you obviously recognize, this is not easy and involves knowing lots of things about your system. Ultimately it comes down to partitioning your job so that it runs IN core again, whether it does so by using the disk directly, by letting the VM subsystem manage the in core/out of core swapping/paging for you, by splitting the job up across N nodes (a common enough solution) so that its partitioned pieces fit in core on each node and relying on IPCs instead of memory reads from disk. Really that's it. And in the second of these cases although people may be able to help you with SPECIFIC issues you encounter, it is pointless to discuss the "general case" because their ain't no such animal. Solutions for your problem are likely very different from a solution for somebody partitioning a lattice which might be different from somebody partitioning a large volume filled with varying number and position of particles. An efficient solution is likely going to be expensive and require learning a lot about the operating system, the various parallel programming paradigms and available support libraries, the compute, memory and network hardware, and may require some nonlinear thinking, as there exist projects such as trapeze to consider (using other nodes' RAM as a virtual extension of your own, paying the ~5 us latency hit for a modern network plus a memory access hit, but saving BIG time over a ~ms scale disk latency hit). Anyway, good luck. rgb -- Robert G. Brown http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/ Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305 Durham, N.C. 27708-0305 Phone: 1-919-660-2567 Fax: 919-660-2525 email:rgb at phy.duke.edu


text: > > I'm currently working on a project that will require fast access to > > data stored in a postgreSQL database server. I've been told that a > > ... > > and 64+ GB of RAM, the prices sky rocket. If I can acheive high > > performance with a cluster, using 15-20 dual processor machines, that > > would be great. > > This sort of cluster isn't a "beowulf" cluster; rather it is a variant > of a high availability cluster. It's Extreme Linux, just not beowulf. > The beowulf design (and focus of this list) is "high performance > computing" clusters, aka supercomputing clusters. I think that while this is true in many particular cases, it is far from being true in general. There are applications which involve databases and could be as beowulfish as it can get. I know reseachers who work with extremely huge and complex graphs and use a database for this. Should they have say a MPI-based database with all data in RAM they could get tremendous speedups. They would be happy to copy the database to the distributed cluster RAM, do few zillions of operations on it and then copy some results back. I do agree that a database might not be the best tool for their job and complete rewrite of all the code they have might help :-) However I consider programming against a db API to be an important knowledge reuse and nice split of their problem into two parts which together take more computer time than one monolith would but one of them (the db searches) is a problem with commodity solutions. (And I might even argue that even high availability databases may very well use The True Beowulf as a component doing searches on mostly read-only data cached in cluster RAM or even cached in local harddisks.) The only difference I can see is the application (which is not a CFD or galactic evolution or similar). From the point of wiew of interconnects, OS types, parallel libraries used, RAM, processors, cluster management etc. I see no reason why databases and beowulf could not overlap. Best Regards Vaclav Hanzl


text:
Mitchell Day Care Death Sparks Civil Lawsuit
MITCHELL, S.D. (AP) - The parents of a 3-month-old girl who died at an in-home day care in rural Mitchell are suing the owner of the day care.
Parents Amy Ruml and Donald Howard claim that Lacey Tebay was negligent in the death of Brooklyn Howard, who the parents say died after being attacked by another child at the day care. The Daily Republic newspaper reports that the parents want a jury to determine damages.
Authorities decided not to file any criminal charges in the June 19th death. Tebay has until the end of the month to file a response to the civil lawsuit. She did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment Tuesday.


text:
Sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf Arab region are raising their allocations to private equity investments at a faster rate than other types of investment, U.S. fund manager Invesco says in a new study.
"Contrary to popular perceptions these vast state funds are not piling into global property and global infrastructure projects," Nick Tolchard, head of Invesco Middle East said.
Continue Reading Below
"As well as a rise in co-investment deals, over and above private equity funds we are seeing an emergence of direct private equity investments coming out of SWFs."
Large sovereign funds have been looking for alternative investments to give better returns than low-yielding staples such as U.S. Treasuries.
Average allocations to private equity by the region's developmental wealth funds have increased in the last 12 months by 33 percent, whereas investment funds have raised their private equity allocations by 13 percent in the same period, the study showed.
In comparison Invesco said the percentage rise in other alternative investments such as real estate and infrastructure was only in single-digits.
Invesco classifies the funds as "developmental" or "investment" depending on whether they are engaged in investment activities that contribute to the progress of the local economy or aiming to invest for future generations.
The Gulf region is home to some of the world's most prominent sovereign funds such as the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), and the Qatar Investment Authority, which are also two of the most active funds, holding stakes in a range of large European corporates.
Funds like Abu Dhabi's state-owned vehicle Mubdala has as its main mandate to invest to generate employment opportunities for the state and contribute to local economic output, while sovereign funds such as ADIA and Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) invest for future generations.
Mubadala already owns a stake in U.S. private equity firm Carlyle, while KIA in Kuwait is a stakeholder in CVC Capital.
At the peak of the global financial crisis some of the large Gulf funds also stepped in to invest in high-profile financial names such as Citigroup Inc , Credit Suisse and Barclays . They are also heavy investors in high-end real estate in Europe and own trophy assets such as London's landmark Harrods store.
(Editing by Greg Mahlich)


text:
Maximizing finance for safe and resilient roads
Around the world, roads remain the dominant mode of transport and are among the most heavily-used types of infrastructure, accounting for about 80% of the distance travelled for individuals and 50% for goods.
Despite this intensive use, the funding available for road maintenance has been inadequate, leaving roads in many countries unsafe and unfit for purpose.
To make matters worse, roads are also very vulnerable to climate and disaster risk: when El Niño hit Peru in 2017, the related flooding damaged about 18% of the Peruvian road network in just one month.
It is no surprise then that roads are the sector that will require the most financing. In fact, the G20 estimates that roads account for more than half of the $15 trillion investment gap in infrastructure through 2040.
- Tags:
- Transport
- Climate Change
- Disasters
- Financial Sector
- Health
- Law and Regulation
- Private Sector Development
- Public Sector and Governance
- Urban Development
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- sustainable transport
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- Sum4All
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- roads and highways
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- infrastructure financing gap
- Disaster Risk
- disaster risk management
- public-private partnerships
- PPPs
- private participation
- private participation in infrastructure
- investment guarantees
- Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
- miga


text:
New-look Blue Jays 'built to win'
Pitcher Ricky Romero says target has grown on AL East favourites
The Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight" blared from the press box Monday in Dunedin as Jose Bautista cracked balls from the batting cage at the Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.
The morning sun beat down on this sleepy slice of Florida while Bautista swung to Billy Corgan singing "Believe, believe in me, believe. That life can change, that you're not stuck in vain. We're not the same, we're different tonight. Tonight, so bright."
Pitchers and catchers don't report until Tuesday but hopes are already sky high around the big-spending Blue Jays (73-89 last season, fourth in the American League East) in the wake of acquiring R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Maicer Izturis and Emilio Bonifacio.
"We were, I think, hopefully optimistic last year. But I think this year we expect to win, that's the difference," said Brandon Morrow.
"If everybody plays to their abilities, to their expectations, I think we're going to have a great year," he added.
"This team is built to win and that's all I've ever wanted. Just to get a chance to win," added fellow pitcher Ricky Romero. But then he sounded what could be a familiar note of caution this spring training.
"On paper, we're a great team … [but] it doesn't matter what kind of team you have on paper, you've still got to go out there and play. If anything, the target's grown a little bit on us. Obviously teams are going to want to beat us and they're going to see what we're all about. We've got to come with it and prove that we belong in that elite company.
"But as of now we really haven't done anything, other than make the moves, yeah. But other than that, we've still got to go out there and play."
Balancing act
Manager John Gibbons, in his second stint at the Jays' helm, looked to balance optimism and realism.
"I'm new coming back so there's excitement there for myself. But the talent Alex [general manager Alex Anthopoulos] has assembled speaks for itself. Now we've got to go out and play good baseball. You've still got to win a lot of ball games.
"But there's times you come in and you think 'Well if everything goes right, we've got a shot at this.' But legitimately maybe you don't. But now we feel we've got one of the better teams in baseball. But until you go out and do something on the field, that only takes you so far. But it does create that buzz and that atmosphere and the expectations. But that's what you want in this business."
Seven buts, for those counting.
Still the manager was clearly enjoying the moment Monday, renewing acquaintances or shaking hands with new friends.
"This place was a special place to me in my first go-round," said Gibbons, who was in charge from 2004 to 2008. "So to be coming back makes it a little easier to settle in. I'm enjoying it."
Looking for Gibbons was like playing Whac-a-Mole. He was popping up everywhere, always with a smile.
One moment, he was behind the outfield fence, peering throughmesh at Romero throwing off a practice mound. Then he was kibitzing with one of his coaches or keeping an eye on a player tossing the ball in the outfield.
Business approach
Bautista was all business, yelling "Hey we haven't even officially started yet. Jeez. Tomorrow," as he passed a media scrum around pitcher Drew Hutchison on his way to the field.
The Jays slugger bypassed the media on his way back to the clubhouse, saying he had to complete his workout. Later, he sent a message via a club official that he was running late and wouldn't be speaking to the media.
"We need him," Gibbons said of Bautista, whose 2012 season was cut short by wrist surgery. "If we're going to do anything, he's got to be a big part of that.
"We're just going to take it slowly with him but he has no complaints now. What you've got to guard against is when he's feeling too good, is you rush it. Because you're still getting game competition, you've still got to work your way into that. So we'll keep an eye on him."
Prize pitching acquisition R.A. Dickey took to the field early, throwing the ball to Jays minor league pitching co-ordinator Dane Johnson in the outfield. No stranger to handling pitchers, Johnson gave it his best shot but was confounded by the knuckleball, even when Dickey announced it was coming.
"Sorry," Dickey said after yet another ball handcuffed Johnson.
"Don't apologize," said Jays bench coach DeMarlo Hale, clearly liking what he was seeing.
Dickey all smiles
Whatever happens with the Jays, their journey will clearly be all the more interesting with the multi-faceted Dickey on board. The Cy Young award-winner was all smiles Monday as he dipped his toe into spring training with the Jays for the first time.
"Every season, both literally and figuratively in your life, is a little bit different," he said. "This isn't any different than that in the sense that it's a different group of guys, it's a different team. I've been here what four and a half hours. It hasn't been much of a spring training yet. And I'm looking forward to getting to know the guys and really engage a lot of different personalities on the team."
The 38-year-old Dickey also sees tremendous potential in a pitching rotation that will likely see him flanked by Morrow, Buehrle, Johnson and Romero.
"It's an opportunity is what it is," he said when asked about the stellar starters. "It's an opportunity for us to kind of put our stake in the sand, so to speak as a staff. We have the names and the pedigree to be able to do that. And hopefully I think we'll all see it as a disappointment if we can't carry this club.
"We're not always going to be able to carry the club, because it's the Al East and it's a tough division and we're not perfect. And hopefully the offence will be able to carry us when we can't pitch as well as we hope."
No ordinary athlete, Dickey recently travelled to India with his two daughters to work with the charity Bombay Teen Challenge, which is devoted to saving women and children from human sex trafficking.
"It continues to be something I think about regularly," he said.


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Israel News - Stay Informed, Pray Informed
Russia's foreign minister on Thursday appeared to suggest that Israel and the West should just let Iran attain nuclear weapons, if indeed that is what the Islamic Republic is after, as Moscow estimates those weapons will never be used against the Jewish state.
"Until now, it has not been clearly proven that Iran intends to develop nuclear weapons," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted by Israel's Channel 10 News as telling Israeli Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin.
Lavrov continued by insisting that even if Iran is seeking an atomic bomb, "Russia estimates that Tehran does not plan to attack Israel with nuclear weapons."
Rivlin, who is currently visiting Moscow, responded by calling on Russia to do more to halt Iran's nuclear program. "The friendship between Russia and Iran gives Moscow the opportunity and obligation to prevent Iran [from attaining] a nuclear weapon," said Rivlin.
For Rivlin and for most Israelis, the best guesses of foreign powers like Russia are not enough to put aside fears that Iran's nuclear program presents an existential threat to the Jewish state. Especially given the Iranian leaderships' repeated calls for the annihilation of Israel.
Nor was it possible to take seriously Lavrov's claims that Iran might not even be trying to build nuclear weapons.
Earlier this week, international nuclear experts reiterated that Iran has escalated its uranium enrichment program, and is enriching uranium far past the point of what is required for civilian purposes.
According to a report published by the independent Institute for Science and International Security, Iran will have enough weapons-grade uranium to build its first atomic bomb in two-to-four months. That assessment backed up the warnings of a report in August by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Meanwhile, Foreign Policy magazine reported that Israel and the US might soon launch a joint aerial strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. According to the journal, Washington is said to be increasingly ready to participate in a brief surgical strike that would set back Iran's nuclear program without necessarily risking a full-scale war.
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