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A month ago, I quoted some analysts saying that it won't last more than 3 months and now here we are right at the endgame. As Graham E Fuller -- formerly vice-chair of the National Intelligence Council, having served as Station Chief in Kabul for the CIA -- put it succinctly in his blog on 16th this month :
" The final end of the government in Kxxx is at hand as the inexorable logic of regime collapse gains momentum. It seems more of a surprise to current policymakers than to those many observers with a long-time familiarity with the country’s dynamics. It will not be pleasant to watch, but it has long been inevitable given the utterly unrealistic ambitions and poor policy execution that Washxxx has maintained in Afgxxx. Unfortunately, those darker, but more insightful views on the entire enterprise have long been largely stifled by our media...
... it is the overall decline of Amxxx domestically and geopolitically that is the telltale sign of its deeper weakness; there is an increasing international belief that the UX is living inside a fantasy bubble of denial about maintaining its global hegemony. If the 20-year UX military presence in Afgxxx had actually ever shown any serious concrete advancement towards concrete goals, that would be one thing. But the neocons are ever content to throw good money after bad in the blind pursuit of hegemony — even in the very heart of “the graveyard of empires...
But Washxxx’s focus on Afgxxx in reality has had very little to do with establishing a better and more equitable society for the Afgxxx... "
*
On another occasion, I opined that ( amongst the Russian cellists ) " the audience have probably heard too much of Rostropovich, too little of Daniil Shafran, rarely of Knushevitsky, hardly of Yakov Slobodkin, mostly due to the monopoly of the media! Has it occured to them that the order should be the other way round ? " That is to say, if one is really looking for genuine artists and musicians instead of virtuoso, showmanship, playing to the tune of propaganda narratives :
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rachmaninoff+cello+
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovuH2eWyykY
*
Clara Schumann's pupil Carl Friedberg, who was 3 years older than Rachmaninoff and was rather closely associated with Kreisler, Carl Flesch, Schnabel and having collaborated directly with Mahler :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6mWDbui258
*
DOWN IN THE VALLEY (RUSSIAN FOLK SONG) - IVAN SKOBTSOV
A month or so ago, I quoted some analysts saying that it won't last more than 3 months and now here we are, right at the endgame. As Graham E Fuller -- formerly vice-chair of the National Intelligence Council, former Station Chief in Kabul for the CIA -- put it succinctly in his blog on 16th this month :
" The final end of the government in Kxxx is at hand as the inexorable logic of regime collapse gains momentum. It seems more of a surprise to current policymakers than to those many observers with a long-time familiarity with the country’s dynamics. It will not be pleasant to watch, but it has long been inevitable given the utterly unrealistic ambitions and poor policy execution that Washxxx has maintained in Afgxxx. Unfortunately, those darker, but more insightful views on the entire enterprise have long been largely stifled by our media...
... it is the overall decline of Amxxx domestically and geopolitically that is the telltale sign of its deeper weakness; there is an increasing international belief that the UX is living inside a fantasy bubble of denial about maintaining its global hegemony. If the 20-year UX military presence in Afgxxx had actually ever shown any serious concrete advancement towards concrete goals, that would be one thing. But the neocons are ever content to throw good money after bad in the blind pursuit of hegemony — even in the very heart of “the graveyard of empires...
But Washxxx’s focus on Afgxxx in reality has had very little to do with establishing a better and more equitable society for the Afgxxx... "
*
On another occasion, I opined that ( amongst the Russian cellists ) " the audience have probably heard too much of Rostropovich, too little of Daniil Shafran, rarely of Knushevitsky, hardly of Yakov Slobodkin, mostly due to the monopoly of the media! Has it occured to them that the order should be the other way round ? " That is to say, if one is really looking for genuine artists and musicians instead of virtuoso, showmanship, dancing to the tune of propaganda narratives :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_X5_cBftUc&list=RDGMEM8h-ASY...
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rachmaninoff+cello+
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovuH2eWyykY
*
Clara Schumann's pupil Carl Friedberg, who was 3 years older than Rachmaninoff and was rather closely associated with Kreisler, Carl Flesch, Schnabel and having collaborated directly with Mahler :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6mWDbui258
*
Beethoven's Violin sonatas, Haskil & Grumiaux
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HILbYu16eHg
*
Enrico Caruso, Una Furtiva Lagrima, 1904, remastered
www.youtube.com/watch?v=t936rzOt3Zc
Enrico Caruso - E lucevan le stelle 1904. Digitally remastered.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TjEoAXzJ9E
Torna a surriento
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsVk9sGiDcc
Ch'ella mi credo libero
Freightliner Shed 66519 pauses at Nuneaton for a crew change as a couple of folk, each with rather different intentions, assess the contents of their electronic screens.
The train is the 9.25am Southampton Maritime CT - Garston FLT containers (4M58).
A number of enthusiasts had been lined up at the end of the platform waiting on a steam locomotive movement from Southall to Crewe, 'Black 5' 45212, and expecting it to use the slow lines.
It came through all right but, to almost everyone's surprise, used the fast lines - and wasn't hanging around either! Needless to say there was much disappointment amongst the thwarted photographers, some commiserations, and just a hint of disgust.
Ces't la vie ......... as Larry Grayson might have said.
3.46pm, 24th April 2018
(Alternate title: "A Headache's Coming On..." -- you all like that better?)
Like this Marbled Godwit, all I can do is ponder where things went wrong. After more than ten years with my existing company I find myself potentially facing a layoff. So, we're taking some time off work (and maybe Flickr, depending) and going to some happy places. If the storms allow of course.
If anyone knows someone hiring for process management or software analysts in the Tampa Bay area, I maybe looking next week. Reach out!
I don't usually take photos of people without either asking beforehand or telling them I've done so after the fact. Neither happened in this particular case, so the face of the young lady pictured here is somewhat obscured by the post-processing I chose to perform.
She was seated with her male companion at the table in front of mine at a restaurant in Bel Air, Maryland; the town in which I currently reside.
I went there last evening to eat dinner and watch part of the Celtics-Magic basketball game. This photo was taken at half-time of that game as one of the ESPN analysts was babblin' on about the first half highlights.
She was obviously between me and the TV, as that's the analyst you see in the background.
What I really wanted was a photo of her peace sign earrings.
The camera was sitting on the table having dinner with me, though it didn't actually eat. I didn't pick the camera up off the table so as to not draw attention to the fact I was about to photograph someone who's permission I had not been granted.
I merely tilted the camera up towards the earring and took this single photograph.
I liked it. Maybe you will, too.
You can get a better view of that earring by clicking here.
In the early 1980s, Zuritanian analysts realized that their country faced a bomber gap: foreign powers in Yafran and Emmeria had developed Mach 3 bombers capable of penetrating Zuritanian airspace and dropping nuclear weapons. Too fast for SAMs to catch, only an interceptor could stop them. President Fischer ordered a development program for a new Mach 3 jet to counter them, but anything going that fast is expensive. Budgetary pressures put the project on hold for 10 years. In 1989, with tensions on the rise, the Security Department restarted the program and adopted neighboring Kimmeria's Meme-25, already 20 years old, as a stopgap. It could intercept enemy bombers, but lacked the payload to serve as a bomber itself. Luckily, it never had to prove itself as an interceptor. Finally, in 1989, the engineers at West Rodinian Aviation made a breakthrough: we don't need better engines to reach Mach 3, only bigger engines. That did the trick.
In the photo above, the first B-5 is pulled out from a factory hanger onto the taxiway by a pushback tractor for test flights. It has not yet received its coat of expensive RAM paint, but is otherwise ready for service.
Analyst.
Διδασκαλία μυαλού καινοτομίες διαφωνίες που επιβεβαιώνουν αξιώσεις απόλυτα μηνύματα που αναφέρουν αρχές που εξαρτώνται από παράγοντες που ξεφεύγουν από διαφορές που ανακαλύπτουν διαδρομές,
žlugdanti realybė kliudė sprendimams koreguoti diskursyvius komponentus, apimančius puslapius su neprilygstamomis darbų sąvokomis, žinant, kodėl reikia kurti pastangas,
أخطاء ديدان دلالات مجالات عوائق متصاعدة أسئلة مضيئة أخبار مطلقة تزهر نباتات تعاليم تقليدية تفسيرات تنبيهات,
sonidos que distraen al maestro atento actividades mentales energías conscientes reconocer egos terrores abrumadores facultades de ensueño olores distantes,
percevoir des objets contempler des confusions des voix tumultueuses tourner des contenus montrer des idées des miroirs réfléchissants dissimuler des formes maléfiques,
裂け目 深い習慣 行為を制御する 呼び出し 嫌がらせ 幽霊 心理レベル フォローする 大きな視野 思考 マスター 無意味な状態 答えを交換.
Steve.D.Hammond.
Analysts are moving beyond who-what-when-where to "really focusing on the why,” a senior defense intelligence official said.
LAUREN C. WILLIAMS | JULY 28, 2023
INTELLIGENCE RUSSIA UKRAINE
The Pentagon’s lead military intelligence agency has been relying on public and commercially available information to keep tabs on Russia’s movements in Ukraine.
The Defense Intelligence Agency recently invited a small cadre of reporters to view recovered remnants of unmanned aerial vehicles made in Iran and used by Russia in its war on Ukraine, noting that open-source intelligence has played “an outsized” and “critical” role.
“When we get a requirement, in this case, monitoring the Russian military and their aggression, the general public around the world is our source,” a senior defense intelligence official told reporters. “There's a lot more data outside in the world than there is that the IC’s collected, and so we're getting better organized to use it, and it's paying great dividends to understand what's happening.”
The White House has flagged increased defense ties between Iran and Russia, and DIA confirmed Russia was using Iran-made drones earlier this year. Iran admitted last year that it sent Russia drones before the war started, but denied continued involvement, despite reports and public accusations that it was sending materials and working with Russia to build a factory. The declassification is part of a broader push to reduce disinformation, officials said.
Analysts walked reporters through recovered drone parts from the Middle East and Ukraine that were known to be Iran-made, identified by things like device design, markers, materials, such as a distinct “honeycomb” lining found between the devices’ layers, and corroborated classified intel with information that had already been made public.
News reports in April 2022 were the first indication, defense intelligence officials said. But one of the key uses of open-source intelligence is inspiration.
Making such attributions is routine intelligence work, but for the DIA, stitching together data from open source intelligence is more novel.
“Almost everything…from Ukraine is open source, like we were picking that up off of social media...those pieces had come out in such a way the public had already seen them be attributed to them to Ukraine, and they knew where that they were. So it was hard to have disinformation against that,” the analyst said, referring to an unclassified visual report on Iran-made UAVs in Ukraine.
“We were able to then match up our classified photographs in the way that like, no one's going to look at that Shahed-136 in Kyiv and say, 'oh, that was somewhere else, that was Yemen'.”
The DIA stood up the Open Source Intelligence Center almost four years ago, and has since worked to craft open source intelligence, or OSINT, collection and analysis as a formal discipline. The data often comes from social media, news reports, and commercially available databases, among other sources with a focus on foreign military targets.
“This isn't a typical product for us. We don't normally come out and release this type of information,” the analyst said of the open-source report. “It was what social media, the press, that you guys were able to provide us, we were able to quickly match it with what we had in the classified side and come out with a product like this…There was a lot of unique value that just was not possible in an earlier era.”
In a way, social media platforms and news organizations provided credibility to the intelligence DIA and other government agencies were collecting—something that wasn’t possible more than a decade ago. But combining other types of intelligence, like human and signals, with open-source and AI algorithms, has also been crucial.
“It's been a game-changer for my analysts to go from…focusing on the who, what, when, and where, and really focusing on the why,” a senior defense intelligence official said. “All of this data that we try to pull together, the open source that brings in so much richness into the environment, but also all that exquisite intelligence that we pull together, combining that and really having the effect of AI to be actually able to aggregate and winnow the information that we need to focus on.”
"The place of John's burial in the southern aisle of the cathedral choir in front of the Vlašimská chapel was marked by a stone plaque with his name in the pavement. According to the testimony of the Žitavska Chronicle, a lattice was placed around it from the middle of the 15th century. Another lattice was set up by St. Vitus dean Václav of Wolfenburg in 1530. Analysts record further modifications in 1595, 1621 and 1679, when Archbishop Jan Bedřich of Valdštejn held a service in front of the altar. An engraving from 1712 depicts an altar table with a coffin and a tabernacle. Promotional engravings of the canonization from 1729 show the state of the decoration to date.
Countess Kinská, born in Fünfkirch († 1729), initiated the construction of the new Prague tombstone. Her financial donation was combined with a long-term public canonization collection, which ended up with a surplus. The mediators of the realization of the magnificent silver monument were Cardinal Bedřich of Althan and Privy Councilor Gundakar of Althan, with the support of Emperor Karl VI. the choice fell on a court artist: based on a sketch by Josef Emanuel Fischer from Erlach from 1733, the Italian sculptor Antonio Corradini created a wooden model of the figure of the saint kneeling on a sarcophagus between two angels, which, after approval by the emperor, he converted to a monumental scale in 1735. In the years 1735–1736, the Viennese silversmith Johann Joseph Würth cast and hammered the wooden hoods into silver with five journeymen, including Raffael Donner and Kašpar Gschwandtner. The silver mausoleum of John of Nepomuk was then assembled on the site of the former grave and altar in the choir of the St. Vitus Cathedral. The sculptures of flying angels date from 1771, the canopy for the mausoleum was ordered by Empress Maria Theresa. The marble balustrade was ordered by the Prague bishop Zdeněk Jiřík Chřepický from Modlíškovice in 1746. The six female figures on the corners – allegories of the Christian virtues – according to the models of the sculptor Platzer, were supplied by the Prague silversmith Jiří Vilém Seitz only in 1749.
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, and the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Until 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral (Czech: katedrála svatého Víta or svatovítská katedrála).
This cathedral is a prominent example of Gothic architecture, and is the largest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex. Cathedral dimensions are 124 m × 60 m (407 ft × 197 ft), the main tower is 102.8 m (337 ft) high, front towers 82 m (269 ft), arch height 33.2 m (109 ft).
Prague Castle (Czech: Pražský hrad; [ˈpraʃskiː ˈɦrat]) is a castle complex in Prague, Czech Republic serving as the official residence and workplace of the president of the Czech Republic. Built in the 9th century, the castle has long served as the seat of power for kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman emperors, and presidents of Czechoslovakia. As such, the term "Prague Castle" or simply "Castle" are often used as metonymy for the president and his staff and advisors. The Bohemian Crown Jewels are kept within a hidden room inside it.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle in the world, occupying an area of almost 70,000 square metres (750,000 square feet), at about 570 metres (1,870 feet) in length and an average of about 130 metres (430 feet) wide. The castle is among the most visited tourist attractions in Prague, attracting over 1.8 million visitors annually.
Hradčany (German: Hradschin) is an urban district and cadastral territory of Prague with an area of 1.5 km², divided between city districts and at the same time the city districts of Prague 1 and Prague 6. A significant part of the district is occupied by Prague Castle, one of the most famous castles in Europe and, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the largest castle complex in the world. Hradčany was an independent town until 1784, when it became part of the united royal capital of Prague.
Hradčany includes the area of Prague Castle, the territory of the historic city around Hradčanské and Loretánské náměstí, Pohořelec, the area of Strahov Monastery and Nový Svět, as well as the area of the former Marian Walls forming an arc from the western edge of Letenská plain to the top of Petřín.
Prague 6 includes a strip of territory defined by tram lines in Dlabačov, Keplerova, Jelení, Mariánské hradby, Badeni, Milada Horáková, Patočkova and Myslbekova streets. The cadastral territory Hradčany is adjacent to Střešovice to the northwest, Dejvice to the north, Mala Strana to the east, Smíchov (a small strip of territory) to the south, and Břevnov to the southwest.
Prague (/ˈprɑːɡ/ PRAHG; Czech: Praha [ˈpraɦa]; German: Prag [pʁaːk]; Latin: Praga) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate oceanic climate, with relatively warm summers and chilly winters.
Prague is a political, cultural, and economic hub of central Europe, with a rich history and Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architectures. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and residence of several Holy Roman Emperors, most notably Charles IV (r. 1346–1378) and Rudolf II (r. 1575–1611).
It was an important city to the Habsburg monarchy and Austro-Hungarian Empire. The city played major roles in the Bohemian and the Protestant Reformations, the Thirty Years' War and in 20th-century history as the capital of Czechoslovakia between the World Wars and the post-war Communist era.
Prague is home to a number of well-known cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence and destruction of 20th-century Europe. Main attractions include Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, Old Town Square with the Prague astronomical clock, the Jewish Quarter, Petřín hill and Vyšehrad. Since 1992, the historic center of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.
The city has more than ten major museums, along with numerous theatres, galleries, cinemas, and other historical exhibits. An extensive modern public transportation system connects the city. It is home to a wide range of public and private schools, including Charles University in Prague, the oldest university in Central Europe.
Prague is classified as a "Alpha-" global city according to GaWC studies. In 2019, the city was ranked as 69th most livable city in the world by Mercer. In the same year, the PICSA Index ranked the city as 13th most livable city in the world. Its rich history makes it a popular tourist destination and as of 2017, the city receives more than 8.5 million international visitors annually. In 2017, Prague was listed as the fifth most visited European city after London, Paris, Rome, and Istanbul.
Bohemia (Latin Bohemia, German Böhmen, Polish Czechy) is a region in the west of the Czech Republic. Previously, as a kingdom, they were the center of the Czech Crown. The root of the word Czech probably corresponds to the meaning of man. The Latin equivalent of Bohemia, originally Boiohaemum (literally "land of Battles"), which over time also influenced the names in other languages, is derived from the Celtic tribe of the Boios, who lived in this area from the 4th to the 1st century BC Bohemia on it borders Germany in the west, Austria in the south, Moravia in the east and Poland in the north. Geographically, they are bounded from the north, west and south by a chain of mountains, the highest of which are the Krkonoše Mountains, in which the highest mountain of Bohemia, Sněžka, is also located. The most important rivers are the Elbe and the Vltava, with the fertile Polabean Plain extending around the Elbe. The capital and largest city of Bohemia is Prague, other important cities include, for example, Pilsen, Karlovy Vary, Kladno, Ústí nad Labem, Liberec, Hradec Králové, Pardubice and České Budějovice, Jihlava also lies partly on the historical territory of Bohemia." - info from Wikipedia.
Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.
Now on Instagram.
An analyst from the task force began to identify patterns that led her to believe that Al-Asad fighters were massing in the Naran Darre mountains. Intelligence Officer codename Grayhawk was brought in to assist due to his intimate knowledge of the mountains.
The task force's first objective is to perform close target reconnaissance on the suspected cave complex. Grayhawk hand-picked three recon operators for this task. To prevent alerting the fighters in the mountains, the team prepared UTVs for insertion into the AO.
To be continued...
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
Western defense analysts are uncertain of this new version’s full capabilities, but it is believed that the new SMT-version has advanced avionics and weaponry very close to-, or on par with state-of-the-art western hardware. Backing these claims is the alleged export ban on the new MiG-35 version issued by the West-Russian government.
Complete rebuild of my old Mig-29 SMT model, now converted to a fictitious future upgraded version of the MiG-35. Several of the upgrades takes a great deal of inspiration from Julius D's brilliant 1:33 scale MiG-29.
Some literary analysts have described Pinocchio as an epic hero. Like many Western literary heroes, such as Odysseus, Pinocchio descends into hell; he also experiences rebirth through metamorphosis, a common motif in fantasy literature.
Throughout the work, Collodi chastises Pinocchio for his lack of moral fiber and his persistent rejection of responsibility and desire for fun. Since Collodi frequently wrote in support of Italian Unification and the new state that was to arise from it, the book may be seen as having been influential in nation-building.[9] Before writing Pinocchio, Collodi had written a series of pedagogic story books for use in the new nation's elementary schools. The series was called Il viaggio per l'Italia di Giannettino ("Little Johnny's voyage through Italy").
The structure of the story of Pinocchio follows that of the folk-tales of peasants who venture out into the world but are naively unprepared for what they find, and get into ridiculous situations. At the time of the writing of the book, this was a serious problem, arising partly from the industrialization of Italy, which led to a growing need for reliable labour in the cities; the problem was exacerbated by similar, more or less simultaneous, demands for labour in the industrialization of other countries. One major effect was the emigration of much of the Italian peasantry to cities and to foreign countries such as the United States.
The main imperatives demanded of Pinocchio are to work, be good, and study. And in the end Pinocchio's willingness to provide for his father and devote himself to these things transforms him into a real boy with modern comforts
Analyst tells clients to expect record sales for the Apple iPhone 7 during the 2016 holiday quarter2
An analyst from the task force began to identify patterns that led her to believe that Al-Asad fighters were massing in the Naran Darre mountains. Intelligence Officer codename Grayhawk was brought in to assist due to his intimate knowledge of the mountains.
The task force's first objective is to perform close target reconnaissance on the suspected cave complex. Grayhawk hand-picked three recon operators for this task. To prevent alerting the fighters in the mountains, the team prepared UTVs for insertion into the AO.
To be continued...
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
I bumped into Pushpesh Pant one day in September 2013. He was in the Indian Coffee House at Mohan Singh Place, Connaught Place in New Delhi to test and taste out the coffee and food for an article in BBC GoodFood magazine.
Pushpesh is an engaging personality with a command over a wide range of subjects. His forte is analysis and commentary on current day affairs, history and food.
He has a long list of books published on various subjects, but mostly on food.
I rarely see the TV. The last I saw the idiot box was a few hours ago at a motor car workshop where I had to wait for an interminable few hours while they took their time.
Pushpesh Pant was on one of the Tv channels as an analyst on the latest poll results in India. Elections took place in Delhi and 3 other states recently and today the results were being declared.
The erstwhile ruling Congress Party has suffered heavy defeat and this is to "Change"
Dates
Taken on September 20, 2013 at 11.36AM IST (edit)
Posted to Flickr December 8, 2013 at 8.31PM IST (edit)
Exif data
Camera Nikon D300
Exposure 0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture f/5.0
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash No Flash
_DSC2600 nef bnw 100 ppi
20 May 2019 - TALK TOGETHER
Session : The Male Disadvantage in Education
Speakers : Camilla Stoltenberg, Director-General, Norwegian Institute of Public Health; Head, Norwegian National Commission on Gender Equality in Education
With ** Francesca Borgonovi, Senior Analyst, Policy Advice and Implementation, Directorate for Education and Skills, OECD
OECD Headquarters, Paris.
Photo : © Hervé Cortinat / OECD
Voting for fringe candidates
"Protest vote" also refers, in a more derogatory manner, to specific demographic categories, classifying populations according to the frequency and nature of their vote. Thus, in the US, middle-income families vote more often than the working class or marginalised populations.
After the 2002 French presidential election, in which far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen arrived second behind conservative candidate Jacques Chirac, many analysts put the blame of the surprising result on working class, accused of engaging themselves in "protest vote", that is in support of fringe candidates belonging to the far-left or the far-right, or even to people who present themselves as alien to the political world (in France, environmentalist René Dumont in 1974, comedian Coluche in 1981 but he withdrew his candidacy before the elections, environmentalist Pierre Rabhi who unsuccessfully tried to present himself in 2002, as well as TV showman Nicolas Hulot who almost stood for the election for 2007, before putting aside his idea, thus leaving electoral space for José Bové, a figure of the alterglobalization movement who recently decided to present himself as an independent candidate).
This kind of protest vote, where the vote is taken into account but accused of being "useless", is often considered by political analysts to be either a form of populism or, worst, of poujadism. For example, French voters were encouraged by the establishment to make a "useful" vote in the 2007 presidential election: by voting either for Nicolas Sarkozy, candidate of the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement, or for Ségolène Royal, candidate of the centre-left Socialist Party, and not for other candidates, who were considered unlikely to make the second turn of the elections.
Protest vote : In an election,it is a vote against the party you usually support in order to show disapproval of something they are doing or planning to do.
A protest vote (also known as a blank vote or white vote) is a vote cast in an election to demonstrate the caster's dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates or refusal of the current political system. In this latter case, protest vote may take the form of a valid vote, but instead of voting for the mainstream candidates, it is a vote in favor of a minority or fringe candidate, either from the far-left, far-right or self-presenting as a candidate foreign to the political system.
Along with abstention, which is simply the act of not voting, it is often considered to be a clear sign of the lack of popular legitimacy and roots of representative democracy, as depressed voter turnout endangers the credibility of the whole voting system. If protest vote takes the form of a blank vote, it may or may not be tallied into final results depending on the rules. Thus, it may either result in a spoilt vote (which is the case most of the times) or, if the electoral system accepts to take it into account, as a "None of the Above" vote.
Abstention may be considered as a form of protest vote, when it is not assimilable to simple apathy or indifference towards politics in general. Henceforth, the anarchist movement which has since its origins rejected representative democracy in favor of a more direct form of government, traditionally calls for abstention in an active and protest gesture. In states where voting is compulsory, abstention may be seen as an act of civil disobedience.
Abstention in compulsory voting systems tends to be somewhat ineffective, as the protest 'message' is likely to be confused with apathy. Voters who do not care who is elected, but are simply voting because they must, may choose to abstain, and the abstention protest votes will be confused with the apathetic abstention votes.
A second problem with abstention is it tends to help maintain the status quo, which may be seen as antithetical to the purpose of protesting in the first place. In a system where one candidate has a majority of support, protesting by abstention will increase that majority in the election results. To illustrate this, consider a group of 10 people voting for two candidates, A and B. Six support candidate A and three support candidate B, and one is wishing to protest, using their vote, against either the system or both candidates. If the protestor votes for candidate A, the results would be 70% to 30% (for A and B respectively); if the protestor abstains, the results would be 67% and 33% (A and B respectively); if the protestor votes for B, the results would be 60% and 40% (A and B respectively). In a larger election, the differences are numerically smaller but act to increase/decrease the proportional vote in the same ways.
The abstain vote actually increases the proportion of votes for the most popular candidate, while voting against the popular candidate(s) (by voting for any other option(s)) would close the electoral margin. In a wider context, closing the margin may result in a hung parliament, or a smaller difference between the parties in government, reducing the chance of a single party having control over the system, which may be seen as beneficial for the sake of protesting against the system or candidates.
An analyst from the task force began to identify patterns that led her to believe that Al-Asad fighters were massing in the Naran Darre mountains. Intelligence Officer codename Grayhawk was brought in to assist due to his intimate knowledge of the mountains.
The task force's first objective is to perform close target reconnaissance on the suspected cave complex. Grayhawk hand-picked three recon operators for this task. To prevent alerting the fighters in the mountains, the team prepared UTVs for insertion into the AO.
To be continued...
Note: The story, all names, characters, and incidents are fictitious.
www.heavybit.com/library/video/2015-09-01-donnie-berkholz
In this Heavybit Speaker Series, Donnie Berkholz of 451 Research will offer insights into analyst coverage areas and how to present to them, context-setting for analyst briefings, and finally, how to engage with analysts on their upcoming research calendars.
Heavybit / Dailon Weiss
Statue of La Antorcha de la Amistad or the torch of friendship on Alamo South in San Antonio Texas.
La Antorcha de la Amistad (The Torch of Friendship) is a monumental abstract sculpture that stands in downtown San Antonio, Texas, United States of America. The artist of the sculpture is world-renowned Mexican sculptor, Sebastián, and was commissioned by the Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos (Association of Mexican Businesspeople). The sculpture was presented as a gift from the Mexican government to the City of San Antonio in 2002. It was unveiled on June 28, 2002, by the artist, Mayor Edward D. Garza, and then-Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Mexico and political analyst Jorge Castañeda Gutman.
The sculpture stands at nearly 20 meters (65 feet), and weighs more than 40,800 kilograms (45 tons). The medium is enameled iron. It is located in the middle of a traffic rotary in downtown San Antonio, an area known by international tourists for the Paseo del Rio, or River Walk, and the Alamo.
According to a senior Moody’s analyst, Nigeria’s oil output is expected to fall by 15% if urgent step is not taken to address the crowd-out investment effect the industry is currently facing as a result of cash flow shortage for investment.
Nigeria earn the status of Africa’s...
www.elist.ng/2015/11/analyst-forecast-fall-in-nigerias-oi...
Day 5 of 2017 Mid-Season Invitational Group Stage at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 14 May 2017.
(Candid street shot, London,UK). Hundreds of friends, but no one to talk to!
The U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said. “They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone. Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software – which does not exist today – would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.”
Apple’s position on the matter is clear: acquiescing to the FBI’s request to develop a tool to unlock an iPhone, even if it belonged to a murderous terrorist, would set a dangerous precedent and slippery slope.
China is watching the dispute closely. Analysts say the Chinese government does take cues from United States when it comes to encryption regulations, and that it would most likely demand that multinational companies provide accommodations similar to those in United States.
Last year, Beijing backed off several proposals that would have mandated that foreign firms providing encryption keys for devices sold in China after heavy pressure from foreign trade groups. …
While it’s still not clear how the law might be carried out, it is possible a push from American law enforcement agencies to unlock iPhones would embolden Beijing to demand the same. China would also most likely push to acquire any technology that would allow it to unlock iPhones.
-------------------------------------------------
Never mind the FBI in the UK, GCHQ have been monitoring your communications for years, they didn't even bother to ask.
Edward Snowden, former intelligence contractor told the BBC's Panorama that UK intelligence agency GCHQ had the power to hack into phones without their owners' knowledge.
The UK government declined to comment.
----------------------------------------
1st March 2016
New UK Snooper’s charter still gives state wide hacking powers
The latest version of the Investigatory Powers Bill has failed to clarify tricky issues like encryption and gives police and security services wide-ranging powers
-->> ..
The Foot Clan has been in a state of heavy 'restructuring' ..a term used by top Foot Analysts. Advertising,recruitment,munitions,payoffs & bribes,top secret labs,weapon development,underground facilities, and hi-security projects. The Foot ,while well established for centuries and by far one of the wealthiest organizations in the solar system..it's budget has been ever increasing especially with close encounters of the Turt- kind :four particular enemy mutant terrapins. In the late 1980s and early '90s.. strange and intergalactic allegiances had been made. Some as far as Dimension X. Technodromes,robots,odd and massive weapons,looney vehicles,alien terrorism,wasted resources on petty vendettas became the foil to the Foot's reputation. Within the humiliation..desperate moves called for desprate displeasures and mutants became all the rage. Name a battle and place.. and name a mutant (and money)the Foot hasn't thrown at the enemy Turtles. Bebop and Rocksteady had a monster army all their own and the boss couldn't help but use every single flesh and blood genetically engineered goon as his pawn. At the dawn of the new millennium
things were getting out of hand and at the ultimate disappearance
of the beloved buisiness leader : Oroku Saki, the schizms felt thru'out the entire organization were beyond tremendous. Mutants just weren't a priority and several major Foot genetic labs were broken up and eliminated entirly or spit into several small more manageable labs.
However ..freek incidents such as one involving the Turtle's friends: Quarry.Stonebiter, and Razorfist..much like the Shredder's great defeat are quickly covered-up and are considered 'accidents'. These labs also serve as baby-sitting vicinities
..if you will , for a few more well known but somewhat forgotten Foot lackies..such as tOkKa. tOkK tho' was more of a floater..and hot potato. Bouncing around different labs within the Clan until one two many red lights went off and Karai ordered tOkKa caged far far away.. west..some obscure,long lost and forgotten 'Foot' dive and storgae facility. For discipline and re-evaluation of tOkKa's potential. Reeducation ..and general guinea pig status. tOkKa was left in the subterranean prison to rot and be lab moused by wayward and demented Foot Techs. He'd be lucky if Baxter Stockman gave a suprise 2 minute spot check for fire violations on electro-pizza munster capacitors. O' to be human.. peoples never have to face such disaters.
And well cr4p..this was was'll pretty heavy for the toddler terror. Knockin' tOkKa down a few pegs seems what this monster-mash of snapper-lifestyle could afford him. But he was startin' to 'un'-sbap..that's not a good thing when yir an unwanted alligator snapper and only 'wanted' by posters in 9 of 50 states. All this former child star's exposure was limited to a couple of posters in a posta office in some mosquiter-ridden down far south of Omaha.Things get pretty lame when your best friend leaves. Rahzar had made a point of not stickin' around.. after a short burst of inspiration by watching a 48 hour marathon of what consisted no less than a bunch of old 'Barney' tapes & 1 rerun of 'Newsradio'. Next thing ya know..Rahz was inspired & joined the Peace Corps on humanitarian efforts to fill pot holes in Uganda. tOkK just had to realize these werne't the good ol' monster-mutant pizza stompin' n' Turtle smashin' times him n' his pal had back in the junkyard. Things were looser. Playing catch with rusty radiators and hide n' seek in the partn'parked junk cars was all so fun. Rahzar always won at hide n' seek. tOkK never tried hard enuff'.. and a 9 foot snapper is gonna have to hide a little bit better than under a pile of one tire. Yep..the 'Secret of the Ooze' was out. And strategy to defeat the enemy was in. Simply throwing a couple of monsters at the Turtles doesn't cut' it anymore. Evil schemes used to be much more simpler back in the day.
Late one night in his dusty,dirty, and cat-pee smellin' cage ..tOkKa was rather rotten feeling. After a distrubing night from sleepin' in his own vomit and a relaitve ill left in his tummy from too much of the daily gruel his cage masters left..(usually a bowl of stale-surplus Pizza Crunchabungas from the abandoned warehouse and rusty water)summin was going down. tOkK into into a deep disturbing sleep. Drooling a bit more excessively than normal. The taste of donust but a distant memory. ..ever so slightly the scent of evaporated rain began to fill his lowly dungeon..and eerie most warmth slowly re-woke the snapper to the vision of prehensile,near translucent fingers coming tword him. An increasingly bright white light and the temptation to "Bright White Light" three times fast filled tOkKie's sad-sorry bubbly baby brain. Three gaunt and noiseless figures of pale complexion and large black n' hallow eyes seemed to be floating into the old giant cage.
The light became brighter. And suddenly tOkKa was gone to a 'nowhere' land. Strangely the desire to sing about a'Nowhere Man' was in his beaky beetle vocabulary at the time. What tOkKa could see.. was nothing but bright light.. but as if fading into existence from a fine mist.. his three visitors returned. These were the Sons of Silence ,enigmatic creatures from well beyond Dimension X and the bane Utrom scientists everywhere. Such prejudices even lead to fractured and biased science. The same kind of bias that lead many to believe that the evil Krang WASN'T an utrom. O'please. Back from the ramble.. the 3 visitors presented tOkKa a magical orb. Small little voices inside tOkKa's head gently invited tOkKa to touch this 'Turn Stone' ..and these werne't his regular voices in his head neither. They was like real creepy ones too !! tOkK of coarse usually listens to his stomach first and the voices second. And what sure had set shockwaves thru'out this vast limbo.
tOkK wrapped his beaky baby lips around the magical ball..and in one full sshlloopp**~~of his snake like tounge..::the snapper devoured the Turn Stone whole !!
The limbo at once became pitch black..then ..
chaos..!!
tOkK .. laying ing in a near fetal position lifted himself up on very wobbly ground. Something didn't feel right. Lotsa things didn't. He peered straight
down. His tyrannosaur toes were now socked-soaked footsies. Not unlike that of the feets he saw on the naked humans in the movies ..but still somehow still his ol' familiar stompers. It got weirder. Aside from the backof his neck and teenie-weeny hairs his eyes were to beady to see and his noodle was too stoopit to care about..he saw through his new yet familiar eyes that teenie-tiny hairs were all over. Mostly on his new egg-shaped noggin'. Greesy blackish n' dirty blonde hairs were all over in his face. His beak seemed like it feel off..instead he had what the human peoples called a 'noid'. Er summin'. This new beak felt freeky.. and the front of it felt bumpy but smooth. The scales all over were smoother.
The two little slits on his face could smell things. And not his frsh icky,mud-moist he was so used to. This was a sticky peoples smell. He smelled like the Foot Clan's footlocker.. and icky human under arm shirt thingies.Things were danglin' in places he really hadn't thought about before..and he seemed to have adopted a helmet with the frontal lobe of one of the enemy..::Donatello. He stood erecter-er than he used to..and this new body's shell was light as it's frame. Spikies were there..and his claws were too..but these new claws reminded him of the gorrillas and he somehow grew a couple of what the humanies called 'thumbs' and 'fingerners'. These new claws were big and bulky but he could prolly hold a big crayon if he wanted. They grasped odd versions of the weapons of his enemies. The big stick was the easiest for him to play with. He fwacked and whacked and batted it about like a slugger at the Yankees. He tried to do a fancy maneuver like in the ninja movies and the fighting the Feets Soldiers did. But the warrior 'never-to-be' ..he fell flat on his new beak and flatter on the place where his plastron once was. He slowly lifted himself back up with his monkey paws and noticed his surroundings. The white of the limbo was gone scattered moving images surrounded like his faintest memories and things he'd never knew he's ever notice. As if the inside of his cranium had cracked open and spilt out into enire air. It was all to much for him to consume. At the bottom of his new ol' heart.. he felt summin' real bad.
Fear ..
But pea-brains think pea-sized thoughts. tOkKa wasn't sure what he was thinkin'..but if he could he would have asked questions.
"I am i a pal to my enemies ?? Am i a heretic or hero ?? Fan or Fiend ?? Freind or foe ?? Was this the spurt of one or a collective of many ideas from many creators ?? Was this a different dimension..was this body a guise he'd adopted on some other plain ?? Or had someone simply adopted him ?? His best pal Rahzar ?? What of him..would he ever get to play telephone pole tag with him and get throw eggs at mayor's office again ?? What about his enemy and four-coarse meal ticket ?? Would he ever get to bite the bandana off the one called Mickerangerlo..the one that teased and tickled him when tOkKa had fallen in battle ?? And the other three: Donteteller,Leonerdo, and Nerfael ?? Would he ever get to rip them to shreds like a puppy with a cheap chew-toy ?? And the Rat ??
Will i ever see my mum again ??
..the questions were to big.. his mind was too small..the questions never came. They would have..but just didn't. The chaos over came him. The snapper was reduced to a quivering inferno of pain. The images increased and the noise became to loud. He smacked the stick in half with his now sharpless teeth !! He wanted to run !! His new set of spikes meant nuthin'..he wished himself tucked back into his shell never to come out again.
tOkKa started to miss NYC..and the junkyard. He became to weak to think anymore & curled back into a fetal position and started to cry. The chaos around him started to evolve into shadows. The fear had crippled tOkKa ..and his new body seemed more of a scam. The soft voices returned..the chaos beacme more grey..and the scent of evaporated rain returned. The Sons seemed to be stating that they sought out intresting minds in all worlds,all dimensions, and in all galaxies. This is to learn and gain for whatever purposes they deem would serve their goals. Their intention was not to harm but extract and seek information. The after effects with tOkKa's mergance with the 'Turn Stone' was unintended. They seemed to be sorry for the erratic disruption. The Turn Stone seemed to have digested itself or something. The ball floated out of the shadows tword tOkKa feet. It spoke !!
"Don't cry tOkKa.. you fear things you need not !! Your family and friends are still here." ..
The turtle's insides warmerd.
"Soon you will be back to where you once were. Somehow you will not ever forget the dualies and multi-alities of what you have just seen. You will always be part of a chaos you can not ever understand. And perhaps you don't need to. Somehow you shall remember that you are part of a chaos that is so much larger and more beautiful than you could possibly imagine !! I'm so sorry for your pain and how we may have fractured your heart even more. But now you must go from this everything-nothing. Goodbye, my friend. "
tOkKa became very sleepy in his fetus state. He didn' understand anything. The heavier he felt the more like the grey was dissipating . He could feel his hunch returning..even the bad after taste of steel and rancid lettuce in his mouth. He could feel his spikies and his claws were becoming more inverted as they were. His dinosaur foots and stubbly;clubby toes turned back into a raptors. For a split second he could feel the millions of years of evolution and the struggles of his reptilian snapper ancestors. He could feel the evolution. But it became to heavy..and the warm rain scent became colder and colder. The wetness became colder..almost like snow. The snapper had returned..and things became pitch black one more time. Too much for baby..too too much.
RADICALACTIVE !!
The quiet of the lab and the darkness was alit once again ..the old light fixture overhead flickered and buzzed. The low 'Foot Tech' came in ready to feed the beast with morsels and and watered slime. The Tech was armed and fearless incase the beast was ready to strike at the less than generous portions provided. The Tech was ready to prod the snapper with painful electricals if need be.
..but the big cage at the far end of the room was empty. The cheap lock system was broken..as if bitten off. A large string of near gigantic foot prints shown as if something retile like had merely stumbled out of the cage upon closer inspection. The Tech dropped the tray.Then the tracks merely disappeared at the foot of the entry way. Suddenly frantic and angry at such substandard security. Now fearful for the consequences..for loosing one of the Shredder's beasts. The Tech filed a report that the mutant had merely died due to poor nutrition. A fairly simple and common trait of the decades of continual abuse in the Foot Genetics divisions.
"The body of the creature has been properly disposed of."
..
epilogue .. :
Far away someplace deep & beyond the city..in a junk yard :2 beastly things ..one like a very large wolf-man and his companion ..a creepy and Gamera like beast are playing Radiator catch. Those who witnesses claim of the pure terror that surrounds just a glimpse of the bumbling characters. The evolution of the junkyard defeats and hides the evidence of proof in such sightings. Most huamnies and workers at the junk yard attribute these sightings to hallucinations. Some homeless persons claim to here the shreiks of a dragon-baby crying for his 'Mama'.The schiz0-snapper is still out there.. not understanding the chaos.. but somehow frenetic & uneasily content that something amazing is always around the corner. and donuts, and turtles, and Rahzar, and spikies !! To paraphrase an argument between a prickly-puppy and a dead pickle-puss that did not happen ..::
Shakespeare: What are these
So wither'd and so wild in their attire,That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on 't?
tOkKa: "GRAHH!!"
Shakespeare: Say, from whence You owe this strange intelligence? Or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting?
tOkKa: "Master say .. 'Have Fun' ..
..me am tOkKa !! ..me think, ther'for ..my Yam !!"
..inks,magic marker,design markers,crayons,colour pencils and Ph.shop,Fireworks,alien technology- 18, May 2006
©2006 - 2007 Dave b.2 a.k.a. tOkKa,terrible2z.com ..all other elements © their much respected owners..please respect the copyrights..
RCMP ICARS (Integrated Collision Analyst Reconstruction Service)
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When analysts will try and find an answer to the left rout in West Bengal, they will surely put the Nano agitation on the top of their list. Mamata Banerjee may have driven the TATA Nano Car Project out of West Bengal – but in the process she managed to expose the bloodthirsty nature of the CMP – that ‘the party’ that would do anything and everything to stay in power. Today Mamata has won the elections – but the only Nano these kids will ride anytime soon - would be replica of the real thing!
www.heavybit.com/library/video/2015-09-01-donnie-berkholz
In this Heavybit Speaker Series, Donnie Berkholz of 451 Research will offer insights into analyst coverage areas and how to present to them, context-setting for analyst briefings, and finally, how to engage with analysts on their upcoming research calendars.
Heavybit / Dailon Weiss
Sri Wahyuni is a chemical analyst in Lahendong Geothermal Plant. Lahendong Geothermal Plant provides clean and sustainable energy to the residents of Manado, North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia.
Project Result:
Harnessing the Earth's Power to Light Cities
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