Ecovolis program has proven successful in dramatically increasing bicycle use in Tirana, which, formerly, was a city without a developed bicycle culture. Ecovolis program is the first project in Albania that provides low-income adults with commuter bicycles as well as a donating program for children bicycles. The program recently completed two major steps, opening new bike stations in the city of Durrës and integrating Tourist Information Point Service to the bicycles stations' structure.

History

The Tirana Community Bicycle Albania project won financial support from the George Soros Open Society Foundation Albania (OSFA). An even larger contribution came from the US-based Pedal for Progress organization, which donated 450 bicycles. Sixty of these were used road bikes, which were modified and painted by local technicians to serve as public bikes in the Ecovolis scheme. Another portion was set aside to donate to children and to activists and volunteers at PASS. Still another portion were diverted to the project's Eco Bicycle Shop, a social enterprise which sells bikes for USD 50-150 and reinvests profits for the service and maintenance of Ecovolis bicycles. The main objective of the program was to introduce the community to an inexpensive, environmental friendly form of transport -- the bicycle; to sell used bikes at low prices; to donate bikes to the children of needy families and to PASS volunteers; to establish a bike sharing-scheme in the city (Ecovolis); and to employ financially disadvantaged people and young students to operate the bike-sharing scheme.

System

Each Ecovolis station is staffed by two employees in two shifts and contains 30 -- 60 bicycles. In order to use the bicycles it is required to provide a personal identification document (such as passport or ID card) or by subscribing to the Ecovolis membership Card.

The first black and red bicycles, (also the colors of the Albanian flag) were donated from US-organization Pedal for Progress, (which collect and donate used bicycles). As these bicycles were of different types, converting them for safe and comfortable public use took months of work. The price per bicycle varies from 60 US$ to 90 US$ each. The bicycle is equipped with a front bicycle basket, a behind carrier, a comfortable saddle and a public fender with the Ecovolis sign.

The bicycle stations also provide touristic information to the visitors and a list of the city attractions. Moreover, being a non-profit social enterprise, during particular days the program offers free bicycle service, cycling courses, donations of bicycles and helmets for children in need, bike tours and a bicycle recycle program.

As boost is increased through the use of performance software, the single factory intake becomes restrictive and the engine is lacking the air it needs to make maximum power. Dinan's cold air intake force feeds the 3 liter turbocharged inline 6 with greater volumes of cool, oxygen rich air for substantial power gains by utilizing our secondary carbon fiber intake. The system is so effective that the carbon fiber inlet air temperature is a full 40 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the incoming air from the stock inlet. Due to the increased airflow from their intake, the power-curve is extended into the higher RPM’s for a noticeable change. The system is a direct replacement for the factory air box lid, employing a hand-crafted carbon fiber unit that also includes a secondary carbon fiber intake tube that captures cool air from the lower grill and includes the shielding for the conical filter to insulate it from power robbing engine compartment heat.

 

Gains: 14hp @ 6000rpm

 

dinancars.com/product/d760-0030-dinan-carbon-fiber-cold-a...

Ferrari 599XX Evoluzione (2011) Engine 5999cc V12 48v DOHC Production 29

Car #11 Tony Shooshani (USA)

FERRARI SET

 

www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623665054999...

 

The 599XX is an extreme non-homologated sports Berlinetta based on the 599 GTB Fiorano road car. First announced at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show, followed by a very limited batch of cars, to be maintained at Ferrari and driven only at Ferrari track days, the car is neither road or competition homologated. the car incorpoated the most advanced technologies, with a number of brand new technologies.

Clients are considered part of the research and in 2011 some of the developement saw its way into the replacement 599XX Evoluzione. The new car has an improved aerodynamic package with a modified front splitter and a new diffuser made from a trademarked pourous material know as Actiflow air system, two fans in the boot suck air through this difusser to increase downforce and reduce drag. Air is then channelled out through two grilles, where the rear lights are usually fixed in the road car, while winglets have been added to the rear buttresses again increasing downforce with an F1 inspired slot gap created as a breather to stabilise air flow.

Additionally the car runs on specially adapted Pirelli tyres. There is a 35kg weight reduction over the original 599XX including a 3kg saving on the steering wheel, new headlamps with integrated air intakes (minus 3kg), and side exhausts (minus 18kg). The new exhaust system also leads to a power increase of 20bhp taking output to 750bhp.

One of Ferrari's considerations in not making the car, means that new technology can be introduced and tested, giving engineers a free reign to redesign and redevelope technology.

 

Shot at Ferrari racing Days, Silverstone 16:09:2012 Ref: 92-103

  

having a sick day, after getting 280 2 hours after a meal for 2nd day in a row, i decided to increase my insulin by 2 units

CLIK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ww3.findbooks.space?book= 0943685346

 

READ book Essential Oils Integrative Medical Guide: Building Immunity, Increasing Longevity, and Enhancing Mental Performance With Therapeutic-Grade Essential Oils For Kindle

 

We saw no blue birds.

 

Yes, the White Cliffs of Dover, so revered they built a railway line down them to bring materials down when they built the eastern harbour arm, then abandoned the line.

 

That is the flat area to the left, what is left of an inclined plane from the top of Langdon Hole where a line went across the fields to join the main line at Martin Mill.

 

After the harbour was built, a tramway was to be built to serve a newtown to be built along the cliffs, but thankfully that plan never came to fruition, though I have seen the plans for terraced house all along our streets and the others up Station Road, and stretching halfway along to Ringwould.

 

I have no idea where those who would have lived in this new town would have worked.

 

Anyway, in the end money ran out and the war came.

 

We were here at seven in the morning looking for orchids before we went to Tesco.

 

Was bracing, but glorious, and well worth being out so early, and with no other people about too.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

In the 21st century, before anything is built, before a spade breaks the earth, a whole series of legal processes must take place to ensure that no one's point of view is not heard.

 

Our Victorian forebears had no such issues of course, if they saw that something needed to built, then whatever was in its way, it would be torn down so progress could be made.

 

Not always the best way to do things, but this attitude helped the track millage in Britain increase year on year in the 19th century. And then, with the dawning of the 20th century, no more main lines were built in Britain, until the CTRL.

 

But back to the matter in hand. Imagine, someone had an idea of defacing that great symbol of Britain, the White Cliffs of Dover, by building a ten metre wide shelf in them and running a railway up them, a railway which would only be open for a decade at most. Clearly there would be public uproar. Will it ever be built?

 

Well, it was built, the cliffs were scarred, the railway built, used and ripped up. The shelf, The Cliff Road, is still there, leading from under Jubilee Way up round the top of Langdon Hole. It is possible to look at Google Earth and see the trackbed crossing Reach Road, Deal Road before running alongside the Deal to Dover line, the line from the cliffs losing height until at Martin Mill, they had their junction.

 

Then, during WWII, rail mounted guns were needed to fire across the channel, the track was relaid, and new lines laid in arcs of fire, so the guns could recoil and make aiming easier.

 

After the way, the track was taken up again, bridges dismantled and mostly forgotten.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

At the cliff end of Athol Terrace, near Eastern Docks, Dover, a steep footpath leads up the cliff and then along Langdon Cliffs towards St Margaret’s. From the footpath, one can watch the daily activities of Dover’s Eastern Docks and Channel shipping beyond. On clear day, the coast France with the Strait of Dover, like a wide river, in between is quite a site. As one traverses the path, it becomes apparent that it was once a railway track.

 

The story begins in 1892 when Dover Harbour Board (DHB) accepted the tender of John Jackson (1851-1919) for the building of the Eastern Arm of the new Commercial Harbour - the Prince of Wales Pier. Four years later, in August 1896, the Undercliff Reclamation Act received Royal Assent. The Act was for laying out land on the South Foreland, near St Margaret’s, where a new ‘Dover’ was to be built.

 

The Parliamentary Bill had been sponsored by Sir William Crundall (1847-1934), thirteen times Mayor of Dover from 1886 to 1910. Crundall owned a construction company that had been founded by his late father, also called William. Both father and son were the prime movers in the development of Dover’s town planning:

- On the west side of the Dour cottages for the working class – Clarendon estate

- On the east side homes for the lower middle class i.e. Barton Road neighbourhood

- Below the Castle and nearer the sea, villas for the upper middle class i.e. the Castle Avenue estate.

The next part of their dream for Dover was to be a private estate on the South Foreland for the well-to-do upper classes.

 

Crundall had been appointed to DHB in 1886 and twenty years later, in 1906, he was elected Chairman of the Board. He was to hold the office until his death in 1934. Two other businessmen were involved in the proposed South Foreland scheme, Sir John Jackson, who had won the contract for building the Prince of Wales Pier. The third person involved in the South Foreland enterprise was the eminent construction engineer Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray. His company had tendered to build the proposed Admiralty Harbour, which would enclose the whole of Dover bay.

 

The three men decided that access to the South Foreland site was to be by a road starting from the shore by Castle Jetty, at the east end of Dover’s seafront. It would then run along the base of the cliffs before gently rising to South Foreland at St Margaret’s. To reduce anticipated opposition while the Undercliff Reclamation Bill was going through Parliament, the main purpose given was the prevention of sea erosion at the base of the cliffs. This was substantiated by Sir John Jackson calling an expert witness who proclaimed the necessity. Dover Corporation echoed this and showed that over the previous 25 years the encroachment of the sea had given rise to numerous cliff falls.

 

It was agreed that in time an Undercliff marine road would be built on the inside of a seawall between Dover and St Margaret’s Bay but not in the foreseeable future. In the immediate future a road if built, they implied, would go over the cliffs. Thus the opposition centred their argument on this saying that if the over-cliff road were to go ahead, it would effectively put public land into private hands. This was dealt with by amendment to the Bill by giving the over-cliff road a lower priority than the Undercliff marine road … either way, the three men got exactly what they wanted!

 

Before the Bill had received parliamentary approval, excavations began. Initially, the men stated that 500 convicts from the then Langdon prison would be part of the workforce. However, Herbert Asquith, the Home Secretary, refused to comply! For the residents of Athol Terrace, permission for the compulsorily purchase of their front gardens was given and the road we see today was laid at their doorsteps.

 

The Admiralty Harbour, we see today, was given the go ahead by the government on 5 April 1898 when the contract was signed. Viscount Cowdray’s company (Pearsons) were the main contractors, Sir John Jackson was a subcontractor and Dover Harbour Board, under Sir William Crundall, was actively involved.

 

To build the Piers and the Breakwater of the new Admiralty Harbour, Pearsons used locally made concrete blocks and faced them with granite. The concrete blocks were made at two blockyards, one on Shakespeare beach in the west and the second on reclaimed land to the east of Castle Jetty, where the Undercliff marine road was proposed to start. To reclaim land the cliff face was blasted and the surplus chalk was removed by steam-navvies – locomotive driven excavators made by Ruston, Proctor & Co, Sheaf Ironworks, Lincoln. Soon a level platform, some 24½ acres (9.915 hectares), was created at the base of the eastern cliffs where the massive blocks were made and stored.

 

The blocks were made out of sand and shingle brought by ship from Stonar, near Sandwich and unloaded into trucks at the Castle Jetty. From there the trucks were manually pushed along a narrow-gauge track to the blockyard. However, the sea journey was subject to the vagaries of the weather and so it was decided to run a Standard gauge Light Railway line (engines could not go more than 25 miles an hour) from Martin Mill, the nearest station on the South East and Chatham Railway line between Dover and Deal.

 

The three and a half mile track was pegged out by June 1898. It ran from the Dover side of Martin Mill main line station parallel to the Dover – Deal line for about a mile. Crossing two roads on bridges made of brick abutments with supporting iron girders. Just before the main line Guston Tunnel the Pearson line veered south towards the coast and then along an embankment passing under the Dover-Deal road (A258) near the Swingate Inn. Past Bere Farm, West Cliffe, the line continued south-east crossing the Dover -St Margaret’s Upper Road by a gate. It then turned south-west, following the cliff contours, skirting Langdon Bay. Running west, it followed the edge of Langdon Cliff for about half a mile where metal frames were erected on the cliff edge to stop chalk falling on the works below.

 

Much of the land that the Pearson railway, as it was called, crossed, was owned by the Cliff Land Company the principal owner of which was Frederick George North, 8th Earl of Guilford (1876–1949) of Waldershare Park. Back in 1844, with the coming of the South Eastern Railway to Dover, the Guilford family had made an application to build 1,500 houses on land to the north of the Castle with an approach road from Castle Jetty. The family still had this dream and the 8th Earl made a deal with Pearsons to charge £25 per year ground rent with the option to buy the standard gauge line, once the lease had expired, for £3,000. It was planned that the Cliff Land Company would use the railway for a passenger service to the development. From Langdon Hole to East Cliff the land was owned by the War Office. They stipulated that the track was to be completed by December 1899. Further, that the Pearson railway was only to be used for carrying materials and the site had to be restored to its original condition.

 

At the end of the line was a chute down which the materials were fed to the block yard. This quickly proved a problem and was replaced by a funicular, down the cliff face, with side tipping skips to ease unloading. At the bottom, the skips were pushed by hand along a narrow-gauge track built on trestles to the blockyard and emptied into one of six lines of mixers where some 250 blocks were made at once. These were moved by blockyard goliaths – cranes with a span of 100-feet that could lift 50-tons.

 

The excavations were not without problems. In October 1898, fuses and explosives were taken and deliberately fired at the rear of the sea front East Cliff houses. In September 1899, Albert Knowler was killed during blasting and three months later, a fire in the East Cliff office burnt a man to death. Then, on 19 January 1900, as men were preparing to blast some more of the cliff face there was a massive explosion. Five men, George Jeffries, aged 24, – who later died – James Murton, Ernest Dutton, William Davies and Algenon Gibbs were all injured. In May 1900, labourer Bill Chadwick age-32, was killed by a lump of chalk during blasting at East Cliff.

 

Neither was the new railway line without controversy, much to the annoyance of the local tourist industry it caused the North Fall Tunnel, a pathway created by the Dover Chamber of Commerce in 1870 to provide a short cut from the beach to the Castle, to be destroyed. In its place, a new path with a steep gradient was excavated up to Broadlees, some distance east of the Castle. This path was expected to be extended in the direction of St Margaret’s Bay and eventually to become the over-cliff road, one of the two options that was envisaged to connected Dover with New Dover – the superlative estate that Crundall, Jackson and Cowdray planned to build at the South Foreland.

 

The actual building of the Eastern Arm was started in January 1901 and Crundall, Cowdray and Jackson applied for a Light Railway Order to extend the Pearson railway to the South Foreland. A Light Railway order would allow the trains to run on a standard track but at no more than 25 miles an hour, however, this the degree of regulation was less than that applied to main line services and therefore cheaper to set up, run and maintain. The proposal said that the line would run from Athol Terrace, up a 1-in-28 gradient along a 60-foot wide ‘road’ cut into the face of the cliff to Langdon Battery. It would then cross the fields to St Margaret’s to the proposed site of New Dover, before continuing to Martin Mill and joining the main line.

 

The application stated that it would be a tram/railway service powered by electricity - the local electricity company was then in private ownership and Crundall was the Chairman. There was also the stated intention of extending the line from the Eastern Dockyard, as it became to be called, along Dover’s seafront, Union Street, Strond Street and then to the Harbour station, on the western side of what became the Western Docks. There the proposed line would join the main South East and Chatham Railway line. Another line would go from the existing Deal line at Buckland and then via River to Bushy Ruff in the Alkham Valley.

 

In April 1902 a public inquiry, headed by the Earl of Jersey, was held into the application. It was agreed that the Company could lay down lines for a light railway in the Borough of Dover, but they could not exercise that power for two years. This was to give time to Dover Corporation, if desirable, to obtain the authority to extend their tramways. Further, on the proposed light railway to Bushy Ruff in the Alkham Valley, this was to terminate at River church and go no further. The application explicitly stated that the tram/railway would be a passenger service, which contravened the agreement with the Earl of Guilford. He immediately sought legal advice and eventually laid out his landholdings on the cliff top as a seaside residential resort.

 

Crundall, against considerable opposition, in 1907, gained permission to develop the area around the South Foreland. This would, claimed the local paper, Dover Express, turn the acres east of Dover into a ‘land flowing with milk and honey, with many noble marine residences.‘ In the meantime, the land from Bere Farm to Langdon Hole, owned by the Earl of Guilford and designated as a seaside residential resort, was taken over by the War Office.

 

, gained permission to develop the area around the South Foreland. This would, claimed the local paper, Dover Express, turn the acres east of Dover into a ‘land flowing with milk and honey, with many noble marine residences.‘ In the meantime, the land from Bere Farm to Langdon Hole, owned by the Earl of Guilford and designated as a seaside residential resort, was taken over by the War Office.

 

At the western end of the harbour, the Admiralty Pier extension was completed in 1908 and South Eastern Railway Company, with representatives on the Dover Harbour Board, proposed to erect a grand new terminal station at the landward end. Early the following year, Crundall, as Chairman of DHB, invited tenders to widen Admiralty Pier for the possibility of a new railway station. The Lords of the Admiralty visited and discussed the proposals and on 9 December, Pearsons were given the contract.

 

The Admiralty Harbour was officially opened on the 15 October 1909 by the Prince of Wales, later George V (1910-1936) who unveiled a stone commemorating the event on the Eastern Arm. Two months before, on 9 August, the Dover, St Margaret’s and Martin Mill Light Railway Company (Light Railway Company) was formed. Crundall, Cowdray and Jackson owned 25 shares each and four others owned one share each. One of these shareholders was Richard Tilden-Smith who later became the main shareholder of Tilmanstone Colliery.

 

Later that month planning permission was given by Dover Corporation for the utilisation of the Light Railway Company line as a public tramway. The residents of East Cliff objected but their concerns were dismissed by the Corporation and John Bavington Jones, of the Dover Express.

 

Work started on 21 July 1910 to widen the shore end of the Admiralty Pier for the new railway station comprising of over 11 acres. Chalk for in-filling was taken from East Cliff excavated by the steam-navvy machines. The excavations also created a new road. However, because of the cliffs are so steep when the ‘road’ reached the top it had to be cut in a series of zigzags. This problem was expected to be dealt with later, when the rest of the road was nearing completion.

 

At the base of East Cliff, railway lines were used to transport the chalk to Castle Jetty where it was loaded onto barges and taken across to Admiralty Pier. In 1910, while the excavations were going on, Channel Collieries Trust was set up to purchase land near South Foreland. Their remit stated that they would build a residential estate, approached by a Cliff Road and the St Margaret’s Light Railway from Dover. The Trust syndicate was composed of … Crundall, Cowdray and Jackson! The road from the excavations was started on 21 July 1910.

 

The last coping stone on the Admiralty Pier extension was laid by Crundall on 2 April 1913. A month later work started on building the Marine Station, the foundations having been filled in by 1 million cubic yards of chalk from the eastern cliffs.

 

Two months before, in February 1913, DHB chaired by Crundall, filed a Parliamentary Bill to make changes to the Tidal Basin at the Western Docks. As a supplementary, the Channel Collieries Trust sort consent to replace the western half of the seafront and beach with a 5.75 acre dock and terminus for a Light Railway Company. This went down badly in Dover and a petition was raised followed by a poll that took place on 20 May 1913. Of those eligible to vote, 2,265 voted against the Bill’s Supplement and 1,508 for it. The Supplement was withdrawn.

 

On 13 April, a closed meeting of the Light Railway Company was held when it was announced that Cowdray and Crundall had sold their shares, by transfer, to the Channel Collieries Trust. The four holders of the single shares in Light Railway Company were not invited to the meeting – the first they heard about it was when they read the national newspapers. A bitter legal battle ensued with Richard Tilden-Smith unsuccessfully trying to seek redress. In the event, Sir John Jackson and two nominees owned the controlling shares in the Light Railway Company.

 

At the time, the East Kent coalmining industry was taking off. Arthur Burr, a mining entrepreneur and major shareholder of several companies with interests in the Kent coalfield, was the leading light. One of these companies was Kent Coal Concessions. Arthur Burr had formed it in 1896 with the purpose of buying potential underground coal fields but not surface land. The intention was lease the coalfields for a share of the royalties. By 1906, the company had secured coal mining rights in East Kent sufficient, it was said, for 20 collieries.

 

East Kent Colliery Company also was part of Burr’s portfolio and its holdings included, Shakespeare and Snowdown Collieries. Shakespeare Colliery was sunk in 1896, but had not proved viable and was finally abandoned in December 1915. However, Snowdown, north of Dover, saw the first commercial East Kent coal raised on 19 November 1912. About that time, Burr announced the intention of floating a new company, as a subsidiary of Kent Coal Concessions, to ‘exploit undeveloped areas of East Kent.’

 

A previous similar floatation had not been a commercial success and the Company Board were not happy. The situation came to a head at a meeting on 31 July 1913 when Burr, along with his son, Dr Malcolm Burr, were ‘retired’ from the Board. The remaining directors consolidated Kent Coal Concessions with allied companies including Kent Collieries Ltd that had extensive mineral rights and had been undertaking mineral exploration. Towards the end of 1913 the giant steel firm, Dorman Long, in which Cowdray was involved, reported that they held 30,000 shares in the Channel Collieries Trust Company, whose holdings included the East Kent Colliery Company, part of the Burr portfolio. Borings had confirmed the existence of iron stone. Dorman Long also had interests in Kent Collieries Ltd.

 

Just prior to World War I (1914-1918), in May 1914, Burr attempted to raise £77,000 in debentures and £800,000 in income bonds for his East Kent Colliery Company. However, little interest was shown and the holdings were handed over to Kent Coal Concessions, by the Official Receiver, with the remit to consolidate. Following consolidation the company held mineral rights under some 20,000 acres of East Kent. In December 1917, Burr was declared bankrupt with debts amounting to £53,176 but he died in September 1919 age 70.

 

At Dorman Long & Co.’s AGM held in August 1917, it was reported that their investments, through the Channel Collieries Trust Ltd, were a satisfactory £877,304, even though the War had stopped any further excavations. Albeit, with the consent of the Treasury, a fusion of the different East Kent coal interests was agreed with the two chief companies, Kent Collieries Ltd and the Channel Collieries Trust put into voluntary liquidation. Out of this, the Channel Steel Company was formed with a capital of £750,000. It was reported to the assembled shareholders that it was the existence of a large deposit of ironstone in East Kent that had provided the name of the new company.

 

Sir William Crundall – Chairman of Dover Harbour Board;

Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray – whose company, Pearsons, had successfully tendered to build the Admiralty Harbour,

Sir John Jackson who had been involved in the building the Admiralty Harbour. The railway line was generally known as the Pearson Line.

 

The railway line was generally known as the Pearson Line.

 

The company had applied, in 1914, for the renewal of their powers to carry coal through the streets of Dover with a view to extending the line from the Western docks to the Eastern Dockyard. The Town Council opposed this, but due to outbreak of World War I (1914-1918), the case was deferred. In order to carry explosives to war-ships berthed in the Camber, at the eastern Dockyard, the War Office decided to build a Sea Front Railway, using the powers that were likely to have been awarded to the Light Railway Company.

 

Pearson’s successfully tendered and work on what was to become the Sea Front Railway was eventually started in 1918. Single-track and running the length of the promenade from the Prince of Wales Pier to the Eastern Dockyard, the lines that had been used for the Pearson Line and belonging to the Light Railway Company, were taken up and used. It had passing loops and catch points so that trains could run in both directions but soon after the line was laid an accident occurred so a low fence was erected on each side.

 

Following the death of Sir John Jackson, in December 1919, the Light Railway Company was taken over by the Channel Steel Company. They applied, in 1920, to run a line from the Sea Front Railway at New Bridge, along Camden Crescent, then Liverpool Street (now the rear of the Gateway flats), and following the base of the cliffs to Eastern Dockyard. It was expected that the cliff side residences of East Cliff and Athol Terrace would be demolished.

 

At the Eastern Dockyard it was envisaged that a railway station would be built and the previously cut road would become a railway track that through a newly constructed tunnel, would join the track of the old Pearsons line. This would then be extended Sea Street, St Margaret’s where another station would be built. The line would then cross the countryside to join the Dover-Deal railway line at Martin Mill.

 

The new proposal was given outline approval by Dover Corporation with the preference for the construction to be a road not a railway track. This was due to the continuing rise in unemployment in the town – a situation that was prevalent throughout the country at the time – more men could be employed to build a road then a railway. If, however, the company were mindful to create a railway then, the Corporation said, their preference was for the facility to be a tramway, similar to that, which already existed in Dover at the time. Finally, whatever the company decided, colliery trucks could only be used on land purchased by the company and the track could not go through the town.

 

The Company chose the road option following the route given in the outline proposal. It was to be 50feet (16 metres) wide with a 15-feet (5 metres) wide pavement on each side. The estimated cost was £43,000 and it was expected to provide employment for up to 300 men. The council suggested that Pearsons paid one third, the Corporation a third and it would be expected that the government’s Unemployment Grants Committee would pay the remainder.

 

In the autumn of 1922, Pearsons joined forces with steel makers Dorman Long, to form Pearson & Dorman Long Company and take over most of the rights from the Kent Coal Concessions. The latter company had been set up by Arthur Burr, the East Kent mining entrepreneur, in 1896 with the purpose of buying potential underground coal fields but not surface land. By 1906, the company had secured coal mining rights in East Kent sufficient, it was said, for 20 collieries. Burr’s large portfolio of mining associated companies in East Kent were consolidated in 1913 under the name of Kent Coal Concessions. The giant steel makers, Dorman Long held 30,000 shares in the consolidated company as borings had confirmed the existence of iron stone. In 1917, a partial consolidation had created the Channel Steel Company and included Snowdown Colliery. Although Kent Coal Concessions did retain some mineral rights, due to the economic depression no one was interested in leasing them and in 1925, the company folded.

 

Having amalgamated the newly styled Pearson Dorman Long company immediately started the preliminary work on what resulted in Betteshanger Colliery. However, as they did not own the surface land they were unable to sink the pit. Albeit, through the subsidiary, Channel Steel Company, they proposed building a steel works between Dover and St Margaret’s adjacent to the proposed new road and Dover Corporation gave their approval.

 

The council applied to the Unemployment Grants Committee stating that the cost for the new road was £56,000. The Committee asked for the plans to be modified and suggested that the Ministry of Transport and Kent County Council (KCC) should contribute towards the costs. While these applications were being made the road was put on hold. During the winter of 1923-24, the revised estimate had increased to £129,000 but government financing was not forthcoming.

 

On 29 September 1923, the Admiralty formerly handed the port over to the Dover Harbour Board (DHB), still headed by Sir William Crundall. This included the Sea Front Railway line but the Eastern Dockyard was retained by the Admiralty and let on lease to Stanlee Ship-breaking Company. The Camber was retained for Admiralty purposes.

 

During spring and summer of 1924, Dover’s Mayor, Richard Barwick, and the Town Clerk, Reginald Knocker, visited various government departments laying before them the urgent need for unemployment relief. The Ministry of Transport relented and sanctioned the borrowing of £45,000. In the autumn of 1924 sites near Kingsdown were put on the market through Protheroe and Morris of Cheapside, London. Channel Collieries Trust held the mineral rights under the property and the sites were bought by Pearson Dorman Long – at last, they could sink Betteshanger Colliery.

 

Unemployment continued to rise and in 1925 DHB applied to Parliament to close Dover harbour’s Western entrance. They wanted to run a railway line along the Southern Breakwater to load Kent coal onto ships for export from there. However, the disparity in exchange rates between the UK and the Continent meant that the country was importing coal and the application came under a lot of criticism.

 

On the subject of Exchange Rate parity and the negative effect it was having on British industry, Sir Arthur Dorman made a powerful and well reported speech (Economist 19.12.1925). He begged the government for equal parity in the exchange rates but the response was: ‘a strong £ was the sign of a strong country.‘ Pearson Dorman Long wrote to the council saying that they could no longer afford to contribute to the cost of the road.

 

Cheap imports of coal continued to affect the domestic industry but in February 1926, the government did give a grant of £2m to the Kent coalfields. However, at midnight on 3 May saw the beginning of the General Strike. In October, that year, the council finally heard from the Unemployment Grants Committee through a letter sent to the town’s Member of Parliament (1922 -1945), Major the Hon. John Jacob Astor. The Committee had declined to provide a grant for the East Cliff Road, the reason given was that ‘unemployment in Dover was not sufficiently exceptional to warrant relief.’ It was generally felt that the refusal was retaliatory because East Kent miners had joined the national strike.

 

Richard Tilden Smith, who had been involved in a bitter legal action against the Dover, St Margaret’s and Martin Mill Light Railway Company in 1913, bought Tilmanstone Colliery from the Official Receiver in November 1926. At the same time an application was made by Tilmanstone (Kent) Collieries Ltd for the right to carry an aerial ropeway for a distance of 6½ miles (this was stated in the original application) from their colliery. This was to include a tunnel being cut through the cliffs to the Eastern Dockyard. The proposed course extended over land owned by 18 different personages one of which was Southern Railway. Although permission was granted, Southern Railway, and the Pearson, Dorman Long’s Channel Steel Company appealed but this was overturned and works started.

 

In 1927 Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, died. Under the 1896 terms of agreement between the War Department and Pearsons, the line from East Cliff to Langdon Hole had to be restored to its original condition. In May 1929, the War Department took legal action forcing Channel Steel Company to pay £1,300 compensation for the breach of covenant. The next month, the same Department sold the land to … the Channel Steel Company!

 

At the same time, Tilden Smith leased 24 acres of land at Langdon Hole from the War Department for cement works that would utilise chalk from Dover’s white cliffs. He also planned steel and brick works nearby – that was to be part of his plan for East Kent to become the New Industrial Eden. While on 17 March 1927, Southern Railway sought permission to carry coal on the Sea Front Railway and along the Eastern Arm of the Eastern Dockyard to specially built giant bunkers.

 

Tilden Smith’s, now 7½ mile, aerial ropeway from Tilmanstone colliery to the Eastern Arm was formerly opened on 14 February 1930. The ceremony was simple as Tilden Smith had died suddenly in the House of Commons on 18 December 1929. The tunnels, through which the ropeway ran to the Eastern Arm, can still be seen.

 

Bunkers were built but in August 1928 a huge coal staithe to be installed at the end of Eastern Arm, was commissioned by Southern Railway. It was built of ferro-concrete by the Yorkshire Hennebique Construction Company and held 5000-tons of coal. The Staithe was fitted with electronic discharging mechanism that enabled a vessel to be loaded with 500 tons of coal an hour and cost £22,000.

 

DHB withdrew its proposal to close the Western entrance and focused on increasing the number of coal sidings at the Eastern Dockyard. It was clear that this was to enable the export of coal from Pearson Dorman Long’s Snowdown and Betteshanger collieries. The electronic coal staithe officially started operating on 19 April 1932. The first ship was Dover’s steamer Kenneth Hawksfield, which was loaded with 2,450 tons coal from Snowdown Colliery.

 

Although it was suggested that a rail link would be built through a tunnel from the Eastern Arm to join the Deal railway line at Kearsney, until such time the Sea Front railway was to be used. It was anticipated that the railway would be in use 14-hours a day and would carry 800,000tons of coal a year together with scrap iron and oil for refuelling ships. The coal was transported on the Sea Front Railway.

 

The first train from Snowdown Colliery at 09.00 and in the next 23-hours, 18 trainloads of coal was carried on the Sea Front Railway line choking its whole course with dust. 17,000 Dovorians signed a petition that was sent to the House of Lords. Parliament restricted the use of the Railway to carrying a maximum of 500,000 tons of coal a year and only during day light. In 1933, Parliament approved a DHB Bill for a 1.75-mile railway line from the Kearsney junction, on the Deal line, through a tunnel to the Eastern dockyard. Although this would have obviated the need of the Sea Front Railway to carry coal, with the death of Sir William Crundall, the Chairman of DHB, in 1934, the scheme was abandoned as too expensive.

 

On 1 April 1934, Dover Borough municipal boundaries were extended bringing in to the Borough, Eastern Dockyard and Arm but the cliffs overlooking the area remained part of the Rural District. That same year, the council resurrected the idea of finishing the Cliff Road to St Margaret’s utilising the earlier Light Railway Company’s permit. This had been renewed every year and was given added impetus in 1937 when, due to war preparations and the shortage of scrap iron, the remaining track of what had once been the Pearsons line was lifted.

 

Following the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945), the War Office instigated the building of the Martin Mill Military Railway, operated and manned by the Royal Engineers and using diesel locomotives. The line followed the original Pearsons route from Martin Mill to a point called RDF Junction, about 900 feet ( 275 metres) past the then Dover-Deal road bridge. Here it divided, with the ‘main line’ turning north-east to service the guns, Winnie and Pooh. Passing beneath Winnie’s gun barrel it crossed the St Margaret’s – Martin Mill Road to Pooh’s position.

 

A second line, from the RDF Junction, went straight ahead for about half a mile, then in a north-east direction for another half a mile. This served the Wanstone and South Foreland Batteries. The battery close to the Dover Patrol Memorial, Point at Leathercote Point, was served by a branch line from Decoy Junction – this was named after a dummy Winnie, on the ‘main line’.

 

Winnie and Pooh were two 14-inch ex-naval guns manned by the Royal Marines and were capable of firing their missiles across the 21-mile wide Dover Strait to France. Winnie was installed during the Battle of Britain, in 1940 on St Margaret’s golf links and was soon after joined by Pooh, located along the Kingsdown Road.

 

In August 1942 Jane and Clem, two 15-inch guns, came into operation overlooking Fan Bay Battery, an emergency battery with three six-inch guns. Jane was originally designed for HMS Repulse and named after a Daily Mirror cartoon character. Clem was said to be named after the Labour leader Clement Attlee (1883-1967) or Winston Churchill’s (1874-1965) wife Clementine (1885-1977)! These were wire wound guns made of a composite of steel and steel wire. The construction was introduced in the 1890’s to deal with the increased pressures in the barrel caused by the use of the then new propellant – cordite. Radar was installed and linked with the guns that proved successful.

 

There were also three 13.5-inch calibre railway guns manned by Royal Marines and called Gladiator, Piecemaker and Sceneshifter. During periods of inaction, these guns were normally hidden in the Guston tunnel but sometimes in tunnels at Shepherdswell and Martin Mill.

 

The Battery at South Foreland was equipped with four 9.2-inch guns, while near the Dover Patrol Memorial was the Bruce gun. An experimental, hypervelocity gun built by Vickers and weighing 86-tons. The barrel was 60 feet long and could fire a shell weighing 256lbs over a distance of 100,000 yards – 57-miles. However, it was never fired in anger due to the enormous pressure affecting the shell fuses causing some to explode prematurely in mid-flight. All the real guns were hidden under camouflage netting, while dummy ones were partially concealed on the cliff top site, which accounts for the reason why the cliff top is pitted with craters.

 

By late 1944, the operational use of the Martin Mill Military Railway was declining, only being used to move stores and equipment. Following the end of hostilities, the Light Railway Company resumed management and some of the track was sold for export to Tanganyika as part of the ill-fated Groundnut Scheme (1947-1951). However, beyond that and seeking repeated extensions, nothing else happened and in 1952, the company officially ceased trading.

 

By that time, the route across the cliffs had become a favourite walk but in the spring of 1954, due to the Cold War, the military began erecting a 5-foot chestnut fence on either side of what had been the 6-foot wide track. Vigorous protests were made and the military agreed to remove the fence from the seaward side except where it enclosed military installations. Three years later the Big Guns – Jane, Clem, Winnie and Pooh were dismantled and uprooted from their reinforced concrete emplacements. The smaller guns were also removed.

 

About 200 acres of land, which had been commandeered by the military between Dover and St Margaret’s, was de-requisitioned following the stand-down of Coastal Artillery in 1956. Much of the remaining railway track was lifted although the rails and bridges at the Martin Mill end were still in situ in 1960. At that time, the Ministry of Transport was considering using the track for a motorway approach to Eastern Docks.

 

Finally, during the post-war period, Marine Parade was widened and the Sea Front Railway safety fence was removed. In order to tell tourists to remove their parked cars off the track, a man with a red flag walked in front of the trains! Robert Eade, Dover’s Mayor in 1961, was one. By that time freight traffic, using the service was declining and the last train – a diesel locomotive pulling three wagons, ran on the 31 December 1964. The lines were eventually covered with tarmac.

 

doverhistorian.com/2013/11/07/dover-st-margarets-and-mart...

On Wednesday, August 5th, in a signing ceremony at the State House, Governor Charlie Baker was joined by Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, Senate President Stan Rosenberg and stakeholders to enact a fifty-percent increase in the Massachusetts Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for over 400,000 working individuals and families in the Commonwealth.

 

(Photo Credit: Joanne DeCaro)

Increased traffic and pedestrians, early sunset, a host of distractions and scam artists make parking lots one of the more dangerous places during the holiday season.

Increasing attempts by Fuji Photo Film Co. (not yet Fujifilm) to break into the US stronghold of Kodak. The promise of a 100 ASA emulsion was in contrast to Kodak's mainstream films of ASA 64, although higher speeds existed.

Annapolis

Average local sea level rise in inch

Days with flooding

 

Graph: Ocean Atlas 2017, Petra Böckmann/Heinrich Böll Foundation

Farmers and communities in the Fraser Valley, particularly those most affected by the 2021 atmospheric river, will receive support to increase their resiliency to floods and restore local ecosystems. Learn more: news.gov.bc.ca/29040

The British Columbia government is increasing staffing levels in residential care homes to make sure seniors are getting the quality care they need and deserve. By investing $240 million over three years, government will increase the direct care seniors receive to 3.36 hours per-resident day, on average, in each health authority, by 2021. Learn more: news.gov.bc.ca/18116

A partnership between government of British Columbia and the Heart & Stroke Foundation will provide $2 million to increase public access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs), helping to save the lives of victims of sudden cardiac arrest.

Learn more: www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2013/02/bc-increases-access-to-def...

In 2022, the Port of Salalah has brought sixteen new eco-eff¬icient, rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTG’s) from ZPMC into operation and three new mobile harbour cranes from Liebherr. This has enabled the port to expand operations, enhance container and general cargo handling and reduce the terminal’s environmental impact.

The contract with ZPMC and Liebherr is a part of a wider investment in expanding the Port’s future capacity to ensuring the terminal is equipped with the latest technology and equipment to support local and international business customers.

 

This agreement aligns with Oman’s 2040 Vision, to elevate infrastructure as a key economic instrument to further grow the transportation and logistics sector.

 

Environmental benefits

Reducing fuel burn by 20%, the new RTGs are an important step in the terminal’s long-term plan to have zero-carbon emissions. They are fitted with the latest Siemens technology and are capable of lifting 41-tons, with six wide stacking plus truck lanes.

 

They can be fully monitored remotely and are integrated with the asset digitization system currently being installed in the terminal to monitor production and eff¬iciency. In addition, they have laser anti-collision systems to provide protection to machinery and pedestrians.

“Innovation and improvement are at the heart of our Port-centric solutions. Our investment in the latest RTG’s and mobile harbour cranes demonstrates our long-term commitment to optimise operational eff¬iciencies and cargo handling services while accommodating existing and new trade,” said Mark Hardiman, CEO.

 

World-leading efficiency

In the latest Container Port Performance Index (CPPI 2020) produced by the Transport Global Practice of the World Bank, the Port achieved world class efficiency. ranked 6th amongst 351 ports globally. “The new equipment will help us to continue expanding our capabilities, capacity, eff¬iciencies and support increased demand,” concludes Hardiman.

 

The Port of Salalah Container Terminal has a 2.4 km container berth quay and seven berths of up to 18m draft. Its infrastructure can handle the world's largest container vessels, as well as bulk cargo, bunkering and warehousing. The terminal has an annual capacity of 5 million TEU and is viewed as the region's best located port for access the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and East Africa.

APM Terminals signed a 30-year concession agreement with the government of Oman to build and manage this world-class container facility until 2028. APM Terminals holds a 30% stake in the Port operating company Salalah Port Services. Other shareholders include the government (20%), government pension funds (23%), and others (27%).

 

Since then, the Port has made significant strides towards achieving world-class operational standards. Around US$800 million has been invested in infrastructure.

 

Visit IvonneAlexander.com to Master the Use of The Law of Attraction and to Accelerate Your Spiritual Development Right Now.

 

How To Say No With Grace, And Yes With Power And Increase With This Your Personal Integrity

 

People think that saying yes all of the time is actually either very spiritual or that they are being very kind. Yes, we will go to that wedding. Yes, we will go to there. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yesser people that never say no, I don’t trust them.

 

Don’t trust someone that continuously say yes to you to everything because hiddenly and secretly they are holding grudges of why they keep saying yes. They are hidden in their homes. They are complaining, oh, I am so tired that we had to do all of this all over again and go to this place and go to this party and go to this.

 

There is no one to blame. This all falls responsibility on yourself because you did not say no. You were not honest to say no when you meant it, and yes when you mean it.

 

So to say no is actually one of the most powerful things you can teach if you are a parent to your children, and if you are an entrepreneur or a leader, it’s one of the most powerful things you can do as a leader because you are modeling to others how to say no to difficult situations, to entanglements, to business relationships that you knew, your gut told you, say no. But you wanted to be nice. You wanted to be approved. You wanted to appear that, okay, let’s give it a try. And then what happens? You lose all of your money! And that is a ridiculous thing and a very high price to pay just because you didn’t have the courage to say no.

 

Because we were raised why--how? We couldn’t say no, right? You had to say yes. You had to be obedient. Thinking was like a far away aspect of you because if you dared to think differently, some of us were, you know, were raised with, like, the belt. Thank God that that’s changing in humanity right now because violence is not the way, but that was the way of our ancestors, you know, the belt. You say no, well, you always have to say yes. There’s no way that you will say no because why? Because I am your mother or because I am your father.

 

You carry that on. I don’t care if you are 80 years old or you are Donald Trump. And if you’re Donald Trump, you’ll say a very honest no. I’ve seen you. But you’ve got to say no with grace, and this is how it looks like.

 

Mom calls and says, honey, I want you to come to--we have your aunts coming from Wisconsin, and we want you to come visit, and you live far away, and you’ve got to get two planes to get to Mom. And you really don’t want to do it. You don’t feel like doing it, so this is how you say no with grace. Mom, thank you and no. And you stay there.

 

And people, when I teach them, they’re like, that’s it? What’s the--what’s--If you give a story, an excuse, an explanation, in that moment your no works nothing. This is why it is so important to stay in your no to increase your personal integrity.

 

Increasing our personal integrity will bring you not only the best of people in life, will not only create the best role modeling for your children, but imagine if you’re a dad of a young little girl, and your girl never hears you say no, or your wife is never allowed to say no. Guess what’s going to happen when your girl meets a guy that might be abusive, and she was taught never to say no. So think like that. How powerful it is to practice it with--what better place than with Mom? Mom may get sad. Mom may choose to get things personal. Mom may remind you for like a year and on Christmas and this, how you never came to the meeting with the aunt from Wisconsin, but guess what.

 

You will be actually honoring your truth and even you will be honoring your mother because you will not be visiting her without feeling that you need to be there, and if you are there not wanting to be there, there’s rifts, there’s incongruency, and there’s the faces, there’s the tiredness, and some of us, without saying the power of no will manifest disease.

 

I used to be a yesser. I used to say yes, yes, yes I will help you. Yes, yes, yes all of the time. And secretly I was getting tired. I got sick. I got a thyroid, which is in the throat, condition. I got hyperthyroid. How did I created that? I kept saying yes. I was a yesser. I didn’t--never--I would think saying no was super anti-spiritual, and actually, when I found my no, then is when I truly find my true yes to life, and when one of my teachers told me, when you really can say no, then you can say a one powerful yes.

 

Increasing Cooperation and Accountability – NGOs, Government and International Organizations working in Haiti; UN Headquarters; 24 September 2012

 

Top Haitian officials and more than 50 US-based non-governmental organizations working in Haiti will unite to forge a new partnership to ensure better cooperation, accountability and transparency. Key speakers at the event include: Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNDP Associate Administrator Rebeca Grynspan, and others, including American actor, film director and humanitarian Sean Penn.

 

Here: Heraldo Muñoz - UN Assistant Secretary General and UNDP Regional Director for LAC with Sean Penn, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of J/P Haitian Relief Organization. Photo: Maureen Lynch/UNDP

  

Increasing access to voluntary family planning services is key to the success of Millennium Development Goal 5, which calls for reducing maternal mortality and achieving universal access to reproductive health services. With renewed country interests and commitments, now is a crucial moment to ensure this important, cost-effective intervention is part of a scaled up global maternal health response. Maureen Norton, senior technical advisor with USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health; Jessica Bowers, portfolio director for Every Mother Counts; Jonathon Cooper, country director of Marie Stopes Uganda; Dr. Benjamin Schwartz, senior director of CARE’s Health Equity Unit; and Sarah Craven, chief of UNFPA’s Washington Office spoke at the Wilson Center on July 31 about achieving this goal.

 

Read more: www.wilsoncenter.org/event/the-role-family-planning-impro...

Governor Murphy, Senator Bramnick, and Acting Department of Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan tour Chatham High School and highlight Increased funding for legislative district 21 at Chatham High School on Friday March 25, 2022(Edwin J. Torres/NJ Governor’s Office).

Ayyappan (also called Sastavu, Manikandan or Sasta) is a Hindu deity who is believed to be the son of Harihara, a rigvedic deity fused with both Shiva andVishnu. He is generally depicted in a yogic posture, wearing a jewel around his neck, hence named Manikandan, Literally meaning "With bell around the neck".

By the 20th century, there has been an increase in the number of worshipers of Ayyappan from many different groups, spurred by vast improvements in transport and communication in southern India.[2]

Ayyappan's annual festival is a time of pilgrimage for ever-growing numbers of men from throughout South India. The most prominent and famous Ayyappan shrine is the one at Sabarimala, in the hills of Pathanamthitta in Kerala, with over 30 million devotees visiting it every year,[3] making it one of the largestpilgrimage sites in the world. These devotees fast and engage in austerities under the leadership of a Periya Swami (one who has undertaken the pilgrimage to Sabarimala for 18 years) for weeks barefoot and then travel in groups to the shrine for a glimpse of Ayyappan. Bus tickets are hard to obtain for several weeks as masses of elated men, clad in distinctive ritual dhotis of saffron, black and light blue colors, throng public transportation during their trip to the shrine.[4]

The name "Sri Ayyappan" is used as a respectful form of address in Malayalam and Sanskrit. The equivalent of Sri is "Thiru" in Tamil. The mantra Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa is translated in English as, "Lord Ayyappa, I seek refuge in you".[5]

Contents [hide]

1 Etymology

2 Legends surrounding Ayyappan

2.1

3 In popular culture

4 See also

5 References

6 External links

Etymology[edit]

Ayyappan is known as "Hariharasutan" because he is the son of Hari (Vishnu), the saviour and Hara (Shiva), the destroyer. His most common name is "Manikandan" because when the king Rajasekara Pandiyan of Pandalam found little Ayyappan in a forest there was a "mani" (bell, in Malayalam) tied around his "kanda" (neck, in Sanskrit).[6][7]

As Dharma Sastha, many of them consider him to be born out of the union between Mohini (an avatar of Vishnu) andShiva.[8]

Legends surrounding Ayyappan[edit]

 

An ancient idol of Shasta Dharma, a form of Ayyappan

[edit]

The asura Mahishi was burning up with anger at the trick the gods had pulled on her brother, the asura king Mahishasura. As Mahishasura was blessed with invulnerability to all men, the gods had sent goddess Durga, to fight and kill him. Thus, Mahishi began performing a fearsome set of austerities, and pleased the creator god Brahma. She asked for the boon of invulnerability, but Brahma said it was not possible so Mahishi planned and asked invulnerability to all men except by the son of Shiva and Vishnu (Both are male & no possibility to give birth to any one). He granted her the boon of ruling the universe and being invulnerable except by the son of Shiva and Vishnu. Since such a person did not exist, she thought she was safe and began conquering and plundering the world.

The gods implored Shiva and Vishnu to save them from this catastrophe. Vishnu found a possible solution to the problem. When Vishnu had taken on the KurmaAvatar, he also had to manifest himself as Mohini, the enchantress, to save the nectar of immortality (ambrosia or amrit) from the demons who were not willing to share it with the gods. If he became Mohini again, then the female Mohini and the male Shiva could have the divine child who would combine the powers of Durga as per Brahmand Purana and beat Mahishi. Skanda purana states that Durga took birth in masculine form as Dharamshasta.[9]

Some versions give a slightly more detailed version of the union of Shiva with Vishnu. One version tells that the asura Bhasmasura (Bhasma means 'Ashes') had so pleased Lord Shiva with his austerities that Shiva gave him a boon of anything he wished. So Bhasmasura asked for the ability to burn to ashes anything which he placed his hand over. No sooner had Shiva granted this, than Bhasmasura ran after the god, threatening to turn him to ashes.

Shiva called to Lord Vishnu for help. He hide himself in a peepal tree as Bhasmasura ran here and there searching for the god. Vishnu became aware of the events, and decided that he would take the female form Mohini, "the Enchanting", and try to trump the asura's powers. When Bhasmasura saw Vishnu in this form, he was bewitched by her beauty. He earnestly tried to court her. So Vishnu instructed Bhasmasura to hold his hand over his head, and vow fidelity. With this act, Bhasmasura was reduced to ashes.

Vishnu found Shiva and explained the whole affair to him. Shiva asked if he too could see Vishnu in this female form. When Vishnu appeared thus, Shiva was overcome with passion, and united with her. The two gods thus became "Harihara Murthi", that is a composite form of Shiva and Vishnu as one god.

From this union, Lord Sree Dharma Sastha was born. He combined in himself the powers of Vishnu and Shiva. Lord Ayyappan is an incarnation of Lord Sree Dharma Sastha and Lord Ayyappan is a visible embodiment of their essential identity. Sri Ayyappa belongs to Pandya Royal Community. He was the head of a clan. It is believed Sri Ayyappa merged to sri dharma sastha. Lord Vishnu gifted the new-born deity with a little bejeweled bell necklace, so this god is called Manikantha. He is also Known as Dharma Shastha.

There are many popular stories associated with Him among the devotees. The stories differ, but there are certain common elements:

Ayyappa lived in the Pandalam Palace as the son / savior of the King.

He had super-human or divine knowledge, wisdom, and courage and loved the King and his people.

He protected the King and the kingdom from the attacks of enemies.

At the end of His life in Pandalam, He vanished into the forests and is ever since worshiped at the Sabarimala temple.

The most popular and widely accepted story tells that Lord Ayyappa had His human sojourn as the son of the Raja of Pandalam. At that time, Raja Rajasekhara Pandiyan ruled the kingdom of Pandalam. During one of his hunting expeditions, the Raja was puzzled to hear the wails of a child on the banks of the river Pampa, and was surprised to find a resplendent infant there. The beautiful baby with radiant face wore a bead ('mani') around his neck. The King, though pious, charitable, just, and God-fearing, had no children. He accepted the child as God's gracious response to his fervent prayer for an heir to his throne. Manikandan grew into a boy well versed in academic lore and martial arts. Meanwhile the Rani gave birth to a son. The King regarded Manikandan as his elder son. He decided to crown him as the Yuvaraja. The King's corrupt Minister had a deep dislike for Manikandan, and made the innocent Queen believe that ill would befall her if Manikandan was crowned Yuvaraja and that the kingdom actually belonged to her son.

They conspired to get rid of Manikandan by hook or crook. They bribed the royal physician into becoming an accomplice of theirs. The Rani pretended to be afflicted with severe pain in the stomach, and the physician prescribed the milk of a tigress as the only cure. The King knew that none could be deputed for a mission that was so patently suicidal. However, the youthful and valiant Manikandan stepped forth and volunteered to fetch the milk. Despite the worried protestations of his foster-father, he set out for the fearful forests.

Days later, Manikandan entered the palace precincts riding a fierce tigress and followed by a pack of its cubs. The schemers were frightened into confessing their nefarious plot. They and others now knew that Manikandan was no ordinary being. They were convinced of His divine origins, and prayed to Him to be with them for their own salvation and for the safety of the kingdom. However, Manikandan was now determined to leave the place.

Filled with happiness, grief, fear, wonder and bhakti and self-surrender, the king prayed for the mercy and blessings of Manikandan. He repented he could not fully visualize the truth of the divine powers of the Lord and repeatedly requested Him to forgive him for behaving as if He were only his son. The Lord lovingly embraced the King who continued to pray: " Lord, kindly bless me by freeing me from my egos and the worldly life of birth and rebirth and grant me ' moksha’ (salvation). Kindly continue to be the saviour of my family and stay eternally in my kingdom.” Manikandan then enlightened the King on the path of attainment of 'moksha'. These words of the Lord are contained in ‘Bhuthanathageetha'. To the King who is by now mentally cleansed and completely immersed in 'bhakthi', Lord Ayyappa said: "I am to free you from all worldly sorrows & worries and to grant you 'moksha'. All those who are and would be born in your family shall have my blessings unfailingly. I am always accessible to 'bhakthi' and only 'bhakthi." The Lord told the King that he could construct a temple at Sabarimala, north of the holy river Pampa and install His deity there. Ayyappa also explained how the Sabarimala pilgrimage shall be undertaken, emphasizing the importance of 'vrutham' and what the devotees can attain by His 'darshan'.

The Lord further consoled the King saying that the devotees who held him and his descendants in 'bhakthi' shall happen to be devoted to Him as well. Manikandan then blessed the King and all others assembled there, and vanished. The King duly constructed the temple at Sabarimala, dedicated to Him.

There are various tales connected with Lord Ayyappa: the discovery of the child at Pampa, Manikandan's youthful days in the Pandalam palace, bestowing the power of hearing and speaking upon the deaf and dumb son of His teacher as Guru-dakshina, His friendship with Vavar, bringing the tigress's milk, accomplishing His divinely destined mission of annihilation of the demoness Mahishi, eliminating the forest-thug Udayanan, bestowing moksha on Sabari, blessing His foster-father with moksha and so on. Legend also goes to say that Manikandan was the incarnation of Lord Dharma Sastha. Raja Rajasekhara was in his previous birth a rich and pious 'Brahmin ' by name Vijayan who was a very strong believer and devotee of Lord Dharma Sastha.

Another tale goes like this: Lord Ayyappan as Manikandan born to Pandala Maharaja is set to conquer the King Udayan who is a strong Buddhist and has been harassing the people of Pamba region. Maharaja sends Manikandan to learn martial artsKalari to Cheerappanchira, the Muhamma of today in Alappuzha district. The panicker there trains him of Kalari. It is here where the Guru's daughter Nila falls in love with Lord Ayyappa (Manikandan) but He refuses to marry telling he is a Bhrammachari and has a mission. She offers a sweet made out in a function in their family which Lord likes. This sweet payasam was what turned out to be the Aravanapayasam today.

The 2012 album of P. Unnikrishnan on Lord Ayyappan in Tamil called SABARIMALAI VA CHARANAM SOLLI VA has a song on the Ayyappan temple at Mukkal vettom (Cheerappanchira) where the current priest, of the vamsam of Lord's Guru who trained him Kalari, still performs the poojas for the Lord who poses with the war attire.

A Holy Song that is used to wake up Ayyappan in Sabarimala temple is known as Ayyappa Suprabhatham, an another song which for making ayyappa sleep is the famous song Harivarasanam.

Governor Charlie Baker, joined by Lt. Governor Karyn Polito and Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders, announces the Commonwealth will increase testing capacity and locations to provide more access for residents in every county at a State House press conference on Dec. 7. 2020. This plan includes five new locations, and the state plans to collect 110,000 COVID-19 tests per week—representing a 50% testing increase for state-financed and organized testing sites alone. Across Massachusetts, there are more than 350 testing locations available to the public. Massachusetts remains among the top five states for testing per capita in the nation and has made significant progress to increase testing and access. Stay informed about COVID-19 by visiting mass.gov/covid19, calling 2-1-1 or texting COVIDMA (COVIDMAESP for Spanish) to 888-777 for updates. [Joshua Qualls/Governor’s Press Office]

Increasing the potential to supplement supplies of wild-caught fish with aquaculture is important for long-term sustainability. Source: Coretext

Value of Bitcoin continues to increase. GIVE ATTRIBUTION TO: BeatingBetting.co.uk

Little River Landcare group is undertaking a Machinery Conversion for Increased Soil Carbon project. This is a photo from a field day to four farms in the Cumnock area of central-west New South Wales.

 

This project is supported by the Little River Landcare Group Inc., through funding from the Australian Government's Caring for our Country.

increase speed, power, and explosion. to dominate the competition. Improve 40 time, strengthen core muscles and build leg strength improving your 40 time, strengthening your core muscles to take uour game to the next level with kinetic bands resistance training

myosource.com/football/

   

the fruiting body getting larger

BC Minister of State John Yap celebrates with seniors in Richmond that now have increased access to affordable housing at The Maple Residences, a new building providing 144 units of seniors housing, funded by the governments of Canada and British Columbia along with community partners.

 

Through an amendment to the Canada-British Columbia Affordable Housing Agreement, the federal and provincial governments contributed a combined total of almost $4 million for the construction of 30 seniors' rental housing suites within the Maple Residences project in Richmond, a new building providing 144 units of seniors housing. The Government of B.C. also provided approximately $34.4 million in financing. Steveston Unit 284 of the Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans Association provided the land, valued at approximately $8.3 million.

 

An increasing number of people therefore looks for support in the only camp for refugees in Yemen, Kharaz, a good 150 kilometres west of the coastal city of Aden.

 

Kharaz camp was initially designed to accommodate around 14,000 people, but now hosts almost 20,000.

 

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

 

Aussi, de plus en plus de personnes cherchent-elles de l'aide dans l'unique camp de réfugiés du Yémen, à Kharaz, à plus de 150 kilomètres à l'ouest de la ville côtière d’Aden.

 

Le camp de Kharaz est prévu pour accueillir environ 14 000 personnes, mais il en compte aujourd’hui près de 20 000.

  

Photo: UNHCR/ T. Leposky, 2012

 

I increased a shoe size after my pregnancy with all the extra fluid that I was carrying around. So I needed a new pair of shoes for the winter. I worked out this is my 7th pair of Chucks that I have had in my life.

 

Explored #126.

Delicious, Easy-To-Make Smoothies For Rapid Weight Loss, Increased Energy, & Incredible Health.

 

Danielle Lost 8 Pounds in 1 Week!

Delicious, Easy-To-Make Smoothies For Rapid Weight Loss, Increased Energy, & Incredible Health. Getting into this diet was so easy and the results were so fast. After only 1 week on the Smoothie Diet I weighed myself and realized I had lost 8 pounds! I feel better and more confident than I have in a very long time, I don’t have to suck in my stomach to button my pants anymore and I still have to stop to do a double take everytime I walk in front of a mirror.”

 

Sarah Dropped 3 Pounds in 3 Days!

“I’ve never seen the weight come off like this. I really LOVE this ‘diet’! It’s more like a life overhaul! I have more energy than I’ve had in years and my skin is actually glowing! This is the perfect “Mommy Makeover” I was looking for. In the last few weeks I wasn’t hungry at all, and it is the perfect complement to my busy lifestyle. I know that I am losing weight in a healthy way! My husband has started asking me more frequently if I would make him a smoothie, which is wonderful! Thank you times 10 million!” Delicious, Easy-To-Make Smoothies For Rapid Weight Loss, Increased Energy, & Incredible Health.

 

techguied.com/product/delicious-easy-to-make-smoothies-fo...

If you want a great smile without traditional braces, Ricard Family Dentistry has you covered. We work on the patient’s visible front teeth, this allows the straightening process to be sped up for those who want fast results for their new smile. For more reference visit our office.

PRESENTING EARTH'S GREATEST DEFENDER - MR. SATAN!

 

I love Mr. Satan (or if you've never seen the Japanese version of DBZ, Hercule). He is a caricature of basically every popular athlete there ever was. Despite being an extremely competent martial artist and actually being crowned the Champion of Earth, he still wants more, striving to get deals and endorsement and increase his street rep.

 

It was actually going quite well until Cell casually smacked him into the side of a mountain. Poor guy - he survived, which is impressive on its own, but his world was never the same. He knew there were people and beings in the world that completely overshadowed his abilities.

 

I've actually been on the lookout for a Mr. Satan Figuart for a while now, but last I checked because he was an exclusive he was a bit harder to find at sane pricing. It seems that prices have finally come down on the figure, so I was able to get one at what I would deem a reasonable price point.

 

Retailing for 6,200 Yen, the contents of the set are reasonable. You get the figure complete with cape and Worlds Championship Belt, along with four faces (neutral, yelling, excited, and of course scared out of his mind), two additional belts (another gold belt and his combat worn simple cloth belt), Bee the puppy (whom he befriends during the Buu Saga) and of course a variety of posing hands.

 

Oh right - he also comes with this ridiculously easy to lose piece that plugs into the hole where the cape sits, so try to hang on to that.

 

Mr. Satan may be a fighter, but he's definitely not packaged as so in his Figuarts.. not that I mind. This is definitely comic relief Mr. Satan - his head is giant, his shoulders aren't as squared, and the vast majority of his hands are for the purposes of grandstanding or cowering in fear.

 

The overall silhouette for Mr. Satan is very much perfect, especially the size of the face and his Afro. Limbs are appropriately sized. The only thing I would have liked to see is to keep the squareness of the shoulders on his outfit, but for the sake of articulation I understand the hit. Great detailing can be found all over the figure, including those hairs on his chest and forearms.

 

The usual array of Figuarts joints are present on this body, namely toes, ankles, double jointed knees, hips with thigh twist, waist, mid torso, shoulders with chest compress, bicep swivel, double jointed elbows, wrists, neck, and head. What you will find, however, is that due to bulk and, to be completely honest that lack of need, you'll find that range of motion of the elbows, knees, , and hips, isn't as extreme as say on your typical fighter - you can't even pull the hips down for extra motion.

 

Not that it matters, with the giant rubber skirt of front and back motion of the legs. Furthermore, based on the way the skirt is cut on the sides, there's no real room for give so any motion beyond what is currently allotted would result in a torn outfit for Mr. Satan.

 

The good news, however, is that his bulk allows for the concealment of joints, even when bent, quite well. So all poses with bent limbs will still look quite nice.. perfect for flexing to the audience.

 

Bee, the dog, can swivel its head side to side.

 

Paint job is nice and crisp. It's not exactly high art, even by Dragonball character standards, but it is nicely done. No paint oversprays, crisp masking, very nice detail paint apps and decal application. It's nice to see that the detailing in the hair was not lost despite being basically drowned in matte black paint.

 

Finally, there's build quality. As you can probably guess, not an issue here to report. All parts have a good finish on them, with no QC issues to report. Joints hold poses just fine, and everything fits together nicely.

 

So overall, The Champ is everything I expected of him. Some would complain that he should be able to pose as dynamically as the rest of the Z fighters, but for me, the inability to do that basically expected anyway. It's only proper the guy who can't fight to Z levels shouldn't be able to pose to those levels. If you collect figures of all the greats, then look no further.

 

There's no greater man than Mr. Satan.

 

So the next little while will be exciting. I've got some leftovers I've still got to get to, but there's also a shipment of stuff I've been dying to get my hands on for quite some time. I'm pretty much going to have to flip a coin to see which comes next.

 

See you next time!

This is a photograph from the 3rd annual running of the Trim AC 10 Mile Road Race and Fun Run which was held in Trim, Co. Meath, Ireland on Sunday 5th February 2017 at 12:00. The race attracted over 1,200 participants which shows a 100% increase on last year's participation. The event shows growth year on year mirroring the growing popularity of the race. The race started on the Trim/Athboy road on the town's ring road and proceded to take an anti-clockwise loop out towards the village of Dunderry and townland of Kilbride before returning back to the Trim Industrial Estate for the finish. The route is held on quiet country roads with some hills at 3, 6, 8 mile segments.

 

Our full set of photos from mile 1 and the finish are at: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/albums/72157679859593016

 

The weather for this year's race was perfect for racing. There was a hard frost overnight but this brought clear bright skies and crisp air. There was no real wind to speak of.

 

Waterstops were provided at the 4.5 and 7 mile marks on the course. All access roads were well stewarded. The event was sponsored by Bewleys 1840 and many local business establishments. Credit must go to the Trim AC team for their flawless organisation. If the first three years of this year are anything to go on then this race will continue to grow. For runners around the North Leinster area this 10 mile race serves as a perfect training progress stepping stone to the Bohermeen Half Marathon which will take place in March 2016 and is located only 15 minutes drive from Trim.

 

USEFUL LINKS

Our Flickr photographs from the 2016 race: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157664217257512

Our Flickr photographs from the 2015 race: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/albums/72157650166189770

Boards.ie Discussion Thread on the 2017 race: www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057673405

10 Mile Road Race Timelapse Video of the Route: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jp84CrctQM

  

USING OUR PHOTOGRAPHS - A QUICK GUIDE AND ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS

Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account(s)?

 

Yes - of course you can! Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share directly to: email, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.

 

BUT..... Wait there a minute....

We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. We do not charge for our photographs. Our only "cost" is that we request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, VK.com, Vine, Meetup, Tagged, Ask.fm,etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us or acknowledge us as the original photographers.

 

This also extends to the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.

 

I want to download these pictures to my computer or device?

 

You can download this photographic image here directly to your computer or device. This version is the low resolution web-quality image. How to download will vary slight from device to device and from browser to browser. Have a look for a down-arrow symbol or the link to 'View/Download' all sizes. When you click on either of these you will be presented with the option to download the image. Remember just doing a right-click and "save target as" will not work on Flickr.

 

I want get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?

 

If you just need these photographs for online usage then they can be used directly once you respect their Creative Commons license and provide a link back to our Flickr set if you use them. For offline usage and printing all of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution.

 

Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.

 

In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - If you are using the photographs online all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting takes a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc. If you are using the photographs in newspapers or magazines we ask that you mention where the original photograph came from.

 

I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?

Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.

 

Let's get a bit technical: We use Creative Commons Licensing for these photographs

We use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License for all our photographs here in this photograph set. What does this mean in reality?

The explaination is very simple.

Attribution- anyone using our photographs gives us an appropriate credit for it. This ensures that people aren't taking our photographs and passing them off as their own. This usually just mean putting a link to our photographs somewhere on your website, blog, or Facebook where other people can see it.

ShareAlike – anyone can use these photographs, and make changes if they like, or incorporate them into a bigger project, but they must make those changes available back to the community under the same terms.

 

Above all what Creative Commons aims to do is to encourage creative sharing. See some examples of Creative Commons photographs on Flickr: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

 

I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?

 

As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:

 

     ►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera

     ►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set

     ►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone

     ►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!

  

You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.

 

Don't like your photograph here?

That's OK! We understand!

 

If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.

 

I want to tell people about these great photographs!

Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably http://www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets

 

Sedentarism and physical inactivity is highly prevalent globally, and are associated with a wide range of chronic diseases and premature deaths. The interest in sedentary behaviour is justified by a growing body of evidence that points to a relationship between this lifestyle and the increase in the prevalence of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It has been known throughout history that being inactive is unhealthy, but nowadays almost one-third of the world's population is inactive, thus representing a major public health problem.

 

El sedentarismo y la inactividad física son altamente prevalentes globalmente y están asociados a un amplio rango de enfermedades crónicas y muerte prematura. El interés en la conducta sedentaria está justificado por la creciente evidencia que apunta hacia una relación entre esta conducta y el incremento en la prevalencia de obesidad, diabetes y enfermedad cardiovascular. A través de la historia es bien conocido que ser inactivo no es saludable, pero hoy día casi un tercio de la población del mundo es inactiva, lo que representa un serio problema de salud pública.

 

Many readers will be aware of the dose/response relationship that exists between exercise and health: the greater the physical activity (PA), the better the individual's overall health. However, few studies have focused on the consequences of lack of PA, and this will be the main subject of this article.

 

It is easier to understand the significance of the change in human beings from a nomadic to a sedentary lifestyle by looking back on our evolutionary history.

 

About 3.7 million years ago, one of the first hominids to walk on two feet appeared in Ethiopia: Australopithecus afarensis. Bipedalism allowed these hominids to use their hands to grasp branches and stones as tools or weapons, and to gather food (fruits, seeds, roots, etc.), while their long legs allowed them to travel farther and depend less on trees. In addition, their slightly curved hands, shorter fingers, and arched feet allowed them to climb trees, while the medial arch of the foot allowed them to run after their prey or flee from predators or enemy tribes.1

 

The design of the human organism (encoded in its genes) is known to be the result of millions of years of biological evolution. Nearly all the human genome was formed before the transition from hunting and gathering to farming, and this is believed to have been the optimal genome - the one that enabled us to adapt to the changing environmental conditions faced by our ancestors at each stage of our evolution.

 

In nature, obtaining food always requires high muscle energy expenditure. This is true of both carnivores (running in pursuit of prey) or herbivores (looking for the best foliage and, in smaller animals, watching out for predators). The capacity of our metabolism to adapt to cycles of abundance and food shortage (the thrifty genotype) was a beneficial factor in the evolution of our ancestors.2 When food was abundant, our thrifty metabolism took over, allowing us to accumulate large amounts of energy in the form of fatty deposits and muscle glycogen. Individuals with the thrifty phenotype were less likely to die out during periods of famine, since they were more efficient at using the energy stored in their body. Muscle proteins were conserved, and muscle contraction was more efficient, increasing their likelihood of finding food and surviving the crisis.2

 

It is also interesting to note the impact on the central nervous system, which controls all bodily movements at all time variables, from milliseconds to hours, days, months and years, leading to the evolutionary-induced expansion of certain regions of our cerebral cortex.1 As a result, PA strengthened both muscle and brain cells.

 

Homo sapiens (“wise man”, because he had certain skills absent in his predecessors) appeared in Africa 300,000 years ago and ranged over the continent for 200,000 years before spreading to the rest of the world, even as far as Australia. It was this expansion that sparked a major cognitive revolution about 70,000 years ago, further expanding our ecological niches, defined as the way in which we interact with our environment. In fact, this intellectual “big bang” facilitated the development of amazing cognitive skills, such as the ability to learn, understand and anticipate complex phenomena, memorise a great deal of detail, and establish multiple communications with the environment, particularly with other humans.3 About 10,000 years ago, several human groups discovered ways to produce certain foods, compelling them to create settlements and abandon their nomadic lifestyle.3

 

This summary of our evolution shows that human beings are active by nature. They spent most of their evolutionary history wandering over the land, and only transitioned to sedentary lifestyle about 10,000 years ago, when they became farmers.

 

Even the most ancient civilisations knew that reducing the amount of physical effort made in our daily life causes the organs that govern bodily movement to lower their output and adapt their operative capacity to the lower demands of their social group. However, Hippocrates (377 b.c.) believed in the benefits of PA, and warned that4: “All parts of the body which have a function, if used in moderation and exercised in labors in which each is accustomed, become thereby healthy, well developed and age more slowly, but if unused they become liable to disease, defective in growth and age quickly”.

 

However, reliable scientific evidence of the relationship between physical inactivity and the risk of chronic disease only began to emerge in the mid 1950s5, sparking interest in research into the four basic aspects of the problem6–10:

 

a.

The increased use of technology to accomplish daily tasks, making humans more sedentary.

 

b.

The physiological evidence of specific effects that sedentary behaviour has on our metabolism and health.

 

c.

Instruments, such as accelerometers and questionnaires, can now be used to objectively and reliably measure the time spent physically inactive.

 

d.

The difficulties involved in motivating individuals to become more active and engage in more strenuous PA in order to reduce sitting time. This is the most pressing area of study.

 

The situation is further complicated by the fact that sedentary behaviour does not simply mean less PA, but involves a set of individual attitudes in which sitting or lying becomes the predominant postural form, thus greatly reducing energy expenditure. Furthermore, sedentary behaviour is found in a multitude of places and situations: at work, at school, at home, in our means of transport and our leisure activities, and is accompanied by other harmful habits, such as increased caloric intake or smoking.

 

In recent decades, sedentary behaviour has become a serious problem that has been aggravated over time by the introduction of new technological inventions. These devices, which are designed to make our lives easier, have ultimately increased our immobility, since working, playing, shopping or doing housework no longer requires the same physical effort needed 50 years ago. Today, everything can be done using a computer, a washing machine, a dryer, a car and other devices developed to reduce our muscle activity and increase our sedentary behaviour.The morbidity associated with sedentary behaviour came increasingly under the spotlight in the 1990s, through programmes introduced in several countries to encourage PA and health. These programmes, which were basically devised to disseminate PA and health recommendations, are based on the notion that the general population is unaware of the importance and need for PA, and, therefore, do not engage in such activities.

 

Given the scale of the problem, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report in 2004,11 subsequently updated in 2010,12 that lists sedentary behaviour as the fourth greatest risk factor for mortality (6% of deaths recorded worldwide).

 

A more recent report estimated that physical inactivity is responsible for:13

 

–

6% of the burden of disease from coronary heart disease (CHD).

 

–

7% of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2).

 

–

10% of breast cancer.

 

–

10% of colon cancer.

 

–

Inactivity is responsible for 9% of premature mortality or >5.3% of the 57 million deaths that occurred worldwide in 2008.

 

If inactivity were decreased by 10% or 25%, >533,000 and >1.3 million deaths, respectively, may be averted each year.13 By eliminating physical inactivity, the life expectancy of the world's population is estimated to increase by 0.68 (0.41 to 0.95) years.13

 

Physical inactivity also carries a heavy economic burden. A report published in 2016 with data from 142 countries (93.2% of the world's population) estimated the direct health costs and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for various diseases:14

 

–

Physical inactivity cost health-care systems 53.8 billion international dollars (Int’l$) in 2013.

 

–

Physical inactivity-related deaths contribute to Int’l$ 13.7 billion in productivity losses.

 

–

Physical inactivity was responsible for 13.4 million DALYs worldwide.

 

–

High-income countries bear a larger proportion of economic burden (80.8% of health-care costs and 60.4% of indirect costs), whereas low-income and middle-income countries have a larger proportion of the disease burden (75.0% of DALYs).

 

As for prevalence, a recent study estimates that more than one in four adults (28% or 1.8 billion people) are physically inactive (one in three in some countries)15, and women are less active than men, with more than 8% difference between the sexes (32% in men vs. 24% in women). High-income countries have the highest levels of inactivity (32%) compared to 26% and 16%, respectively, in middle- and low-income countries. These results highlight the urgent need to prioritise actions aimed at creating an environment conducive to increasing PA.

 

Sedentary behaviour as a risk factor

The extent of the problem and the role of PA as a risk factor for disease is outlined in the WHO report published in 2014.16 Briefly:

 

–

The risk of death from any cause is higher among adults with insufficient PA compared with those who practise at least the minimum recommendation of 150minutes of moderate physical exercise per week or equivalent.

 

–

23% of adults aged 18 years or older did not do enough PA. Women were less active than men, and older people were less active than young people.

 

–

Worldwide, 81% of adolescents (aged 11 to 17) did not do enough PA in 2014, with girls being less active than boys; and 84% and 78%, respectively, did not meet the WHO global recommendations on physical activity for health.

 

The clinical consequences of sedentary behaviour on various bodily systems are wide-ranging and inter-related (Fig. 1). They can be summarised as functional and/or organic alterations:8,10,17–28

 

–

Metabolic: obesity, insulin resistance, DM2, dyslipidaemia, metabolic syndrome, hyperuricaemia.

 

–

Cardiovascular diseases: CHD, unstable angina, myocardial infarction, heart failure, stroke, intermittent claudication, atherosclerosis, thrombosis, hypertension, increased arterial stiffness.

 

–

Pulmonary alterations: asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

 

–

Neurological diseases: intellectual dysfunction, dementia, depression, mood disorder and anxiety, Alzheimer's disease.

 

–

Musculoskeletal disorders: osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and osteopenia, sarcopenia.

 

–

Greater physical frailty, especially in the elderly, which, in turn, increases the risk of morbidity and mortality.

 

–

Quality of life: decreased psychological well-being, psychological frailty, inability to perform activities of daily living and social interactions, functional restriction, loss of balance, flexibility and reaction and sleep irregularities (difficulty falling asleep, frequent waking during the night, or waking up very early in the morning).

 

–

Constipation and changes in the gut microbiota.

 

–

Malignancies, such as cancer of the breast, colon, endometrium, prostate, pancreas and melanomas.

 

–

Shorter life expectancy.

  

In anthropology, sedentism (sometimes called sedentariness; compare sedentarism[1]) is the practice of living in one place for a long time. As of 2025, the large majority of people belong to sedentary cultures. In evolutionary anthropology and archaeology, sedentism takes on a slightly different sub-meaning, often applying to the transition from nomadic society to a lifestyle that involves remaining in one place permanently. Essentially, sedentism means living in groups permanently in one place.[2] The invention of agriculture led to sedentism in many cases, but the earliest sedentary settlements were pre-agricultural. For small-scale nomadic societies it can be difficult to adopt a sedentary lifestyle in a landscape without on-site agricultural or livestock breeding resources, since sedentism often requires sufficient year-round, easily accessible local natural resources.Logically, metabolic and cardiovascular alterations are the most common and the most characteristic of the burden of disease, because once established they gradually progress, despite aggressive treatment. The other alterations, however, can be reversed or improved by exercise programmes and pharmacological therapy, if necessary.

 

A recently identified consequence of sedentary behaviour is the loss of metabolic flexibility,8,29,30 that is, the ability to adapt substrate oxidation rates in response to changes in fuel availability. The inability to switch between the oxidation of lipids and carbohydrates appears to be an important feature of chronic disorders such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Evidence has shown that high levels of physical activity predict metabolic flexibility, while physical inactivity and sedentary behaviours trigger a state of metabolic inflexibility, even in subjects who meet PA recommendations.8,29,30

 

Definition of terms

In their Terminology Consensus Project,31 the Sedentary Behaviour Research Network established and defined the following terms:

 

–

PA: any body movement generated by the contraction of skeletal muscles that raises energy expenditure above resting metabolic rate. It is characterised by its modality, frequency, intensity, duration, and context of practice.

 

–

Physical inactivity: the non-achievement of physical activity guidelines.

 

–

Exercise: a subcategory of PA that is planned, structured, repetitive, and that favours physical fitness maintenance or development.

 

–

Sport: part of the PA spectrum and corresponds to any institutionalised and organised practice, based on specific rules.

 

–

Sedentary behaviours: any waking behaviours characterised by an energy expenditure ≤1.5 METs, while in a sitting, reclining, or lying posture.

 

Table 1 lists some activities with an energy expenditure of less than 1.5 METs, and, therefore, classed as sedentary. These activities should be borne in mind when estimating sedentary behaviour, as patients will not usually consider them to be sedentary.It is important to note that although the terms sedentary behaviour and physical inactivity are used indistinctly, there is a clear distinction between them. Sedentary behaviour involves spending a great deal of time engaging in low-energy-expenditure activities (<1.5 MET), whereas physical inactivity is an almost total absence of PA.16,17

 

It is interesting to note that an increase in the time devoted to sedentary behaviours correlates with an increase in cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors. The effect of sedentary behaviours on these markers is independent of sociodemographic factors, diet, body mass index and PA.17 These findings are important, since they show that the effect of sedentary behaviours on these variables is not modulated by a higher caloric intake, but by a reduction in energy expenditure.17

 

As sedentarism is a learned behaviour of human beings that has increased exponentially during the 21st century, the risk factors or conditions that favour it are not yet known. However, various lines of research have identified the following general factors, particularly in younger individuals:32–35

 

a.

Demographic: demographic factors include sex, age and ethnicity. Numerous publications show that women are less active than men and older children, and adolescents are less active than younger children. Among women, those of African descent are less active than Caucasians.

 

b.

Personal: certain personal factors, such as underlying diseases (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, chronic orthopaedic diseases) or disability, predispose to sedentary behaviours due to the child's tendency to remain sedentary or to their preference for activities that demand less energy expenditure. Other factors include: self-perceived lack of time, inappropriate relationship with peers and an activity they find boring or unattractive. Individual factors that are positively associated with PA are: self-confidence to engage in exercise, personal ability, positive attitude towards PA, interest in self-improvement and ability to enjoy PA. Age is an important factor in this category, since research has revealed that children up to the age of 8engage in moderate to vigorous PA, but start to become less active from the age of 1136, making this a crucial period for PA interventions.

 

c.

Family: this is perhaps the most important factor, since the preferences and habits of the parents will affect the extent to which the child is encouraged to engage in PA or certain motor activities. Watching TV is more influenced by the parents’ attitude towards this activity than by the number of TVs in the home. Other situations, such as both parents’ growing commitment to their jobs, and single-parent families, may affect the possibility of engaging in extracurricular PA.

 

d.

Social and environmental: the lack of, or difficulty in accessing, green spaces and safe sports facilities in large cities, restrictions on supervision by qualified personnel, education budget limitations, changes in curricular priorities, impoverishment and civil insecurity are some of the many factors that discourage participation in and limit access to PA both during and out of school hours.

 

The “chair effect” and its repercussions on health

As mentioned above, our modern lifestyle reduces the time we spend doing PA. In fact, over the last decade, several studies have shown that excessive sitting time can increase the risk of death, irrespective of whether or not we do exercise.

 

A review published in 201237 used data from 2002 to 2011 to estimate the proportion of deaths attributable to the “chair effect” in the population of 54 countries, with the following results:

 

–

More than 60% of people worldwide spend more than three hours a day sitting (the average in adults is 4.7hours/day).

 

–

Sitting time is responsible for 3.8% of deaths (approximately 433,000 deaths/year).

 

–

Among the territories studied, mortality due to sitting time was higher in countries from the Western Pacific region, followed by countries in Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, America and Southeast Asia.

 

The authors calculated that reducing sitting time by about two hours (that is, 50%) would result in a 2.3% decrease in mortality (3 times less), although there is no conclusive proof of a causal relationship. Even a more modest reduction in sitting time, of 10% or half an hour a day, could have an immediate impact on all-cause mortality (0.6%) in the countries evaluated, and eliminating sitting time would increase life expectancy by 0.20 years in the countries studied.

 

In 2017, the “Termómetro del sedentarismo en España: Informe sobre la inactividad física y el sedentarismo en la población adulta española” [Thermometer of sedentary behaviour in Spain: Report on physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour in Spanish adults] published by the Fundación España Activa [Active Spain Foundation] and the Centro de Estudios del Deporte [Sports Studies Centre] of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos38 showed an alarming upward trend:

 

–

Physical inactivity is responsible for 13.4% (over 52,000) of deaths per year in Spain. This means that 6.6 people die every hour from this cause compared to 3.7 deaths reported in the meta-analysis carried out by Rezende et al.37

 

–

Nearly half of all Spanish adults do not practise any sport and do not do any exercise or any other physically demanding activity in their spare time.

 

–

The least qualified social classes (lower occupational category) are less active in their free time, while those with higher qualifications are less active during their working hours. In other words, the greater the economic development, the higher the level of sedentary behaviour, and, therefore, the greater the associated health risks.

 

Population impact

Although sedentary behaviour affects all age groups, the extreme age groups are the most affected for the following reasons:13,15,16,39–41

 

a.

Schoolchildren and adolescents: logically, due to the impact on health in adulthood, which increases the risk of obesity, DM2 and hypertension. Because of the size of this age group, more effort is obviously needed to ensure adequate levels of PA in all social classes.

 

b.

Women are the most affected, since inactivity rate among women is 8% higher than in men. This gender gap has widened steadily over the 21st century, perhaps as a result of cultural norms, traditional roles, or lack of social and community support from an early age.

 

c.

The elderly: as older people tend to be more physically inactive, the economic costs of inactivity are likely to increase notably and place a heavy burden on healthcare budgets. In a study conducted in Germany, the potential effects of interventions aimed at promoting PA in the over-65s compensated for the negative effect of ageing and reduced inactivity-related healthcare costs.41 In other words, this single action was doubly beneficial.

 

Cultural differences also affect levels of physical activity. An example of this is Switzerland, where the population is divided into three distinct language groups: French, Italian and German.42 An analysis of regional differences showed that the per capita burden of physical inactivity is nearly double in French and Italian speaking regions compared to the German speaking population, perhaps due to a higher prevalence of physical inactivity, higher per capita healthcare spending, and higher disease prevalence.

 

Of course, the foregoing is also true of the correlation between physical inactivity and social strata or the stage of development of the country. The higher the population density and the human development index (HDI), the greater the percentage of physical inactivity in the population. For example, estimates have shown that in low- and middle-income countries, individuals working in the white-collar industry compared to agriculture were 84% more likely to be physically inactive, and greater economic development in these countries brings about changes in their occupational structure, resulting in increased physical inactivity levels.43,44 Moreover, between 2001 and 2016, the percentage of inactivity in high-income countries (where sedentary behaviour is most harmful) increased from 31.6 to 36.8%. In the same period, inactivity in low-income countries remained at 16%.15

 

Conclusion and recommendations

Sedentary behaviour is increasing rapidly in most countries, and is now a public health problem that will worsen over the coming years. An analysis of the time spent doing PA in five major countries (China, the USA, the United Kingdom, Brazil and India) showed a significant decrease compared to previous years, and this downward trend is expected to increase in the future.45 In the USA, for example, the average sitting time increased from 26hours per week in 1965 to 38hours per week in 2009, and from 30hours per week in 1960 to 42hours per week in 2005 in the United Kingdom.

 

Although public policies and research into PA are much more developed today than they were decades ago, strategies to change sedentary behaviour are timid and only just emerging, and little progress has been made in recent years.

 

The universal recommendation is for adults to engage in moderate-intensity PA for 30minutes per day, preferably most days of the week46, although “usual” PA has now been included as a strategy to reduce sedentary behaviour3,9,16,46.

 

In view of the benefits of PA, physicians should recommend a minimum level of daily exercise. Even a low level of PA, if strenuous, can also be beneficial in reducing cardiovascular risk, especially for those with risk factors or a history of vascular disease. The following are just some of the recommendations published by working groups engaged in promoting PA, both individually and at the community level3,9,16,46:

 

a.

Organise large-scale, intensive campaigns in prominent locations in the community.

 

b.

Encourage people to use the stairs instead of lifts or escalators.

 

c.

Promote physical education/sports in schools and universities.

 

d.

Organise social activities (such as walking groups).

 

e.

Introduce individually-tailored behavioural change programmes; specifically, limit recreational screen time in children and adolescents.

 

f.

Facilitate access to locations suitable for PA.

 

g.

Motivate people to reduce sitting time to two hours or less, with active pauses every hour and short stretching sessions or walks.

 

In summary, in the fight against sedentary behaviour, remember that: “A little PA is better than none. More PA is better than less PA”, and that doctors are under the obligation of setting an example in their community by living a more active, healthier lifestyle, and “walking their talk”.

 

Funding

None.

 

Conflicts of interest

The author declares that this review has received no commercial or financial contributions that could represent a potential conflict of interest.

www.elsevier.es/en-revista-clinica-e-investigacion-arteri...

 

Non-agricultural sedentism requires good preservation and storage technologies, such as smoking, drying, and fermentation, as well as good containers such as pottery, baskets, or special pits in which to securely store food whilst making it available. It was only in locations where the resources of several major ecosystems overlapped that the earliest non-agricultural sedentism occurred. For example, people settled where a river met the sea, at lagoon environments along the coast, at river confluences, or where flat savanna met hills, and mountains with rivers.

 

Forced sedentism or sedentarization occurs when a dominant group restricts the movements of a nomadic group. Nomadic populations have undergone such a process since the first cultivation of land; the organization of modern society has imposed demands that have pushed aboriginal populations to adopt a fixed habitat.

 

At the end of the 19th and throughout the 20th century many previously nomadic tribes turned to permanent settlement. It was a process initiated by local governments, and it was mainly a global trend forced by the changes in the attitude to the land and real property and also due to state policies that complicated border crossing. Among these nations are Negev Bedouin in Jordan, Israel and Egypt,[13] Bashkirs, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Evenks, Evens, Sakha in the Soviet Union, some Kurdish tribes in Turkey, Tibetan nomads in China,[14] Babongo in Gabon, Baka in Cameroon,[15] Innu in Canada, Romani in Romania and Czechoslovakia, etc.

 

As a result of forced sedentarization, many rich herdsmen in Siberia have been eliminated by deliberate overtaxation or imprisonment, year-round mobility has been discouraged, many smaller sites and family herd camps have been shut down, children have been separated from their parents and taken to boarding schools. This caused severe social, cultural and psychological issues to Indigenous peoples of Siberia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedentism

  

dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2012.01.007 | Medline

 

dx.doi.org/10.15310/2334-3591.1061

dx.doi.org/10.5027/reinnec.V1.I1.5

dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2010.06.001

dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12966-017-0636-2

dx.doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.90920.2008

 

Technopride 5 Anos (Open Air) - São Paulo, Brasil - 23.11.2008

The British Columbia government is increasing staffing levels in residential care homes to make sure seniors are getting the quality care they need and deserve. By investing $240 million over three years, government will increase the direct care seniors receive to 3.36 hours per-resident day, on average, in each health authority, by 2021. Learn more: news.gov.bc.ca/18116

HUD Secretary Fudge, HHS Secretary Becerra Announce Joint Effort to Increase Access to COVID-19 Vaccinations

Remembering the victims of communism in Cuba: Oswaldo Paya Sardiñas

  

From John Suarez’s series remembering the victims of communism in Cuba at Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter:

 

Remembering some of the victims of Cuban communism: Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas

 

“When one man dies it’s a tragedy. When thousands die it’s statistics.” – Josef Stalin

  

Some psychologists argue that as the number of victims increase into the hundreds, and thousands that compassion

 

collapses out of the human fear of being overwhelmed. In the case of Cuba the communist regime has killed tens

 

of thousands, and many have become numb in the face of this horror. Therefore on the 100th anniversary of the

 

founding of the first communist regime in Russia, that caused so much harm around the world, will focus on the

 

small corner of Cuba and on an infinitesimal sampling of some of the victims of Cuban communism. These took

 

place during my years of activism, and I knew some of the victims personally, and remain outraged at the

 

injustice and continuing impunity. The first entry concerned a humble bricklayer turned courageous human rights

 

defender who paid the ultimate price for speaking truth to power. This entry focuses on a Catholic lay activist,

 

nonviolence icon, husband, father of three and the founder of a Cuban opposition movement that shook the

 

foundation of the Castro regime with a simple demand that human rights be respected and reformed in Cuba using

 

the existing constitution. This audacious action and continuing speaking truth to power led to a suspicious

 

death that appears to have been a political assassination by the communist regime in Cuba.

 

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas never held political office. He was born into a Catholic family on February 29, 1952 that

 

did not side with either the Batista or Castro dictatorships. Oswaldo was just 6 years old when Fidel Castro

 

took power in January of 1959. The Payá family was considered an enemy of the regime simply because they refused

 

to renounce their Catholic faith as the communist dictatorship demanded or to remain silent before glaring

 

injustices.

 

In 1961 during the Bay of Pigs invasion there home was subjected to what would later become known as an “act of

 

repudiation” where a mob surrounded their home shouting insults, death threats, and for the family to be taken

 

to the firing squad. All the adult males had been detained leaving the women and children alone to face the

 

harassment and threats. Until 1992 the regime was officially atheist, violently hostile to religion and the

 

continued fealty of the Payá family to their Catholic faith meant that they were targeted, their home under

 

constant surveillance, and occasionally searched.

 

Forced Labor Camp at age 16

Oswaldo was the only child in his class who refused to join the young communists and its precursor the young

 

pioneers. During the 1968 invasion at age 16 he demonstrated his sympathy with the people of Czechoslovakia and

 

openly criticized the Soviet invaders. When other students sided with Oswaldo’s support of the Czechs, the

 

school authorities saw the 16 year old as a threat and sent him to a punishment camp to forced labor from May of

 

1969 until 1972.

  

Returning home in 1972 he enrolled at the University of Havana in the Physics program. There he is also targeted

 

for being practicing Christian and for openly rejecting Marxism, a stance unthinkable for anyone at that time.

 

Because of this he is forced to enter night school. Since the Communist Party decided who could or could not

 

work he was repeatedly denied employment until he found humble work as a carpenter’s assistant. Sometime later

 

he was able to obtain a position as a high school teacher for night school while completing a program in

 

telecommunications engineering but since he refuses to politically indoctrinate students he is forced to end his

 

teaching career.

 

In the early 1980s Oswaldo begins to work in Public Health as a specialist in repairing electromedical

 

equipment. Meanwhile he is constantly harassed and kept under the watchful eye of state security. State security

 

agents begin to visit his work place and follow him everywhere. While Oswaldo traveled to different work

 

assignments on bicycle he is followed by various cars. At the entrance to his home state security would set up a

 

check point requesting and examining the identification of anyone who approached the house.

 

Oswaldo and Ofelia wanted their children to grow up free in Cuba

 

Marries Ofelia in 1986

In 1986 Oswaldo participated as a delegate for the Diocese of Havana in a National Ecclesiastical Encounter

 

(ENEC) where he gave a presentation titled “Faith and Justice” in which he defended the rights of Cuban

 

Catholics to practice their faith with absolute freedom and that this was only possible in an atmosphere of

 

justice and reconciliation. He also called on the Church to defend the rights of Cubans and to denounce

 

injustice.

 

In 1986 he also marries Ofelia Acevedo Maura, a civil engineer, and practicing catholic with whom he forges a

 

happy home out of which Oswaldo José, the oldest, Rosa María, the middle child and Reynaldo Isaías, the youngest

 

of three would grow up in an environment of love and faith.

 

Together with a group of lay people, Oswaldo organizes regular gatherings in their parish of the Cerro on Cuban

 

Thought. Out of these conversations and presentations Oswaldo edits, “The People of God,” the first autonomous

 

and independent publication that defends freedom, not only for believers but for all Cubans.

  

Coordinators of the Varela Project

Founding of the Christian Liberation Movement

Oswaldo, in an interview years later, explained that it was upon the nearing of the birth of their first child,

 

Oswaldo José that he and Ofelia decided:

 

“When our first child was going to be born, we have three children, we said that our children cannot live in a

 

country without liberty and we are not going to another country to seek freedom. Therefore we have to fight for

 

our children to live free here in Cuba and everyone else’s children and their parents too.”

 

Oswaldo José was born on February 17, 1988 and the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL) came into existence that

 

same year on September 8, 1988 on the Feast Day for Cachita, Our Lady of Charity. The founding of the Christian

 

Liberation Movement began a new phase of nonviolent civic struggle for national reconciliation. In March of 1990

 

Oswaldo is detained for several days and interrogated by the political police of the regime and threatened that

 

if he continues his nonviolent civic struggle that he would face several years in prison.

  

Communist regime's response to call for national dialogue.

Call for a National Dialogue: action and reaction Following his release from detention Oswaldo Payá and the MCL

 

make public a "Call to a National Dialogue" to Cubans inside and outside the island. The movement begins a

 

campaign to collect 10,000 signatures, with the intention of giving this citizen’s initiative the status of a

 

Bill covered in Article 86 of the Cuban Constitution in force, before it was partially reformed in 1992.

The petition campaign began by extending itself across Cuba. All that came to a halt on June 11, 1991 when a mob

 

organized by the Castro regime, raided his home, which Oswaldo had opened to the public to collect signatures,

 

in the days leading up to the attack hundreds of Cuban citizens began to visit him to support the National

 

Dialogue initiative. Mobs of government elements and State Security organized an act repudiation, raided and

 

looted the house, located at Santa Teresa # 63, in the Cerro district. Mobs painted vandalized the front of the

 

Payá home, where his two small children and pregnant wife lived. The facade of the house remained with phrases,

 

painted with asphalt, saying: "Payá agent of the CIA", "worm", "Viva Fidel", "Down with Payá”. Those slanders

 

remained on the front of his home for nearly eight years. Oswaldo, after this act of cruelty against his family,

 

moved his wife and children to his in-laws, and remained for eight years in an internal exile persecuted day by

 

day.

  

Oswaldo Payá and his family in happier times in Cuba.

Setting Out a Vision For a Democratic Transition in Cuba

Payá, beginning in 1992, wrote the Transitional Program, which proposed a way to transform Cuban society

 

peacefully. In 1993, he and supporters began collecting signatures for a referendum on the Transitional Program.

 

The July 13, 1994, 13 de Marzo tugboat massacre and the August 5, 1994, Maleconazo uprising, which stimulated an

 

exodus in the summer of 1994, however, halted the petition drive.

 

In 1995, Oswaldo was one of the first to call on the United States to lift the embargo on foods and medicines

 

without conditions and for a review of their policy towards Cuba. That year, he was also one of the five

 

organizers of the Cuban Council, drafting the only document of unity that embodied the positions of its members.

 

State Security detained him and threatened him, asking him to discourage the meeting. Oswaldo refused, and they

 

surrounded his home with state security agents until the Council was unable to be held due to repressions and

 

the shooting down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes in international airspace.

 

In 1997, Oswaldo, together with 10 other members of the Christian Liberation Movement, collected hundreds of

 

signatures in support of their candidacies for deputies in the National Assembly. It was the first time that

 

citizens presented themselves as candidates with popular support and without being of the government. The

 

electoral commissions did not accept the nominations, once again demonstrating how the regime fails to abide by

 

its own laws.

 

In 1997, Payá presented a claim to the National Assembly of People’s Power demonstrating that the electoral law

 

was unconstitutional and anti-sovereign and demanded its repeal and change for another democratic law.

 

The official press in Cuba sought to slander and defame him in order to stimulate provocations and create a

 

cover for government attacks against him. An example of this took place just days after the September 11, 2001,

 

attacks in New York City; a group of agents and provocateurs screamed at Oswaldo on the street as he walked with

 

his wife and two children: “They too need to be finished off with a bomb.”

 

When Oswaldo was killed in 2012, hundreds turned out for his funeral to pay their respects, despite state

 

security harassing and detaining people.

  

Turning in Project Varela on May 10, 2002

The Varela Project

 

From 1996 to 1997, Oswaldo drafted the Varela Project, a campaign to reform the Cuban legal system. During the

 

Pope’s visit to Cuba in 1998, he was closely watched and guarded by state security — but that same year he and

 

the Christian Liberation Movement still publicly launched the Varela Project and started collecting signatures

 

for a referendum.

 

In 1999, he drafted the ”All United” manifesto and proposed the first meeting of the opposition, held under

 

strong repression, which resulted in a movement of unity. Oswaldo was appointed coordinator of the “Rapporteur

 

Committee for All United,” and in March, 2001, All United re-launched the call to collect 10,000 signatures for

 

the referendum on the Varela Project.

  

Oswaldo Payá meets with Secretary of State Colin Powell on January 7, 2003

On May 10, 2002, representatives of All United, led by Oswaldo, turned 11,020 signatures of electors into the

 

National Assembly of Popular Power, in that way turning Project Varela into a bill under the prevailing Cuban

 

Constitution. This obliged the Assembly of Popular Power to publicly discuss the Varela Project and to vote in

 

favor or against it. Furthermore, the government was obliged to promote a public discussion of Project Varela in

 

the mass media that it controlled (and still does).

 

Once again, instead of following its own rules as laid out in the Cuban government’s own laws and regulations,

 

the regime’s response was to organize its own petition drive to make the “socialist” aspect of the current

 

Constitution untouchable. This supposed law was presented and approved by the Assembly in violation of its own

 

regulations, since the Varela Project by precedence should have been considered first. Then on July 5, 2002, the

 

Assembly “indefinitely” suspended its ordinary session to avoid discussing the Varela Project. The regime also

 

responded with acts of repression and intransigence against members of the civic, nonviolent movement — but

 

project Varela organizers continued to collect signatures and the civic movement grew.

 

The thousands of signatures gathered catches the attention of the international community, because it

 

demonstrates that the Cuban civic opposition has a popular base of support.

  

Oswaldo Payá and Vaclav Havel in 2002 in Prague

Czech President Vaclav Havel launched a campaign to support Oswaldo’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize for

 

his nonviolent efforts towards freedom and democracy in Cuba. Oswaldo was nominated on four occasions. In

 

October 2002, the European Parliament awarded him the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Members of

 

the European Union, led by Havel and Aznar pressured the Cuban government into allowing Oswaldo to travel to

 

Europe to collect the Sakharov Prize. In December of 2002, they granted him permission to travel to the

 

ceremonies in Strasbourg, France, but not before attacking his home and leaving death threats there.

  

Oswaldo Payá receives the Sakharov Prize in 2002

Oswaldo did travel to Strasbourg, and on December 17, 2002, he accepted the Sakharov Prize. In the course of a

 

twenty minute speech, he outlined his nonviolent political philosophy.

 

The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and

 

who try to dominate us: “You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I

 

do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth

 

together.” This is the liberation which we are proclaiming.

Oswaldo traveled across Europe, the United States, and Latin America meeting world leaders and representing the

 

nonviolent civic movement in Cuba. He received an audience with His Holiness Pope John Paul II, President Aznar

 

in Spain, and Havel in the Czech Republic, along with the Prime Minister of Slovakia and the Secretary of State

 

of the United States, Colin Powell, in Washington, DC. He visited Mexico and met with President Fox, and in his

 

final stop was the Dominican Republic, where he was received by President Mejías.

  

Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas returns home to Cuba in early 2003

He returned home to a warm welcome in February of 2003 with a large crowd of family, friends, and international

 

media waiting for him at the airport.

 

Black Spring Crackdown

 

The Castro regime responded on March 18, 2003, with the beginning of the Black Cuban Spring. Over a 100

 

activists were detained and seventy-five were sentenced to prison in show trials with sentences ranging from

 

twelve years up to twenty-eight years in prison. More than forty of the imprisoned activists had worked on the

 

Varela Project.

 

The Cuban government announced, at the time, that the dissident movement had been destroyed. However, the

 

remaining activists who were still free continued to gather signatures, and Oswaldo turned in another 14,384

 

petition signatures on October 5, 2003. Furthermore, the wives, sisters, and daughters of the activists who had

 

been detained and imprisoned organized themselves into the Ladies in White. A movement that sought the freedom

 

of their loved ones and organized regular marches through the streets of Cuba, despite regime organized violence

 

upon them.

  

Catholic nun lays flowers before photos of 75 prisoners of conscience of the Black Spring

Oswaldo would refocus his efforts on campaigning for the freedom of these prisoners of conscience. It took over

 

eight years, but the last of the group of the 75 were eventually released. Many were driven into exile but a

 

core group remains in Cuba and are still defiant. Others lost their lives defending human rights and dignity by

 

gathering signatures for the Varela Project, such as Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died on hunger strike on

 

February 23, 2010.

 

Oswaldo continued defending human rights with well thought out projects demanding specific rights like the

 

Heredia Project — it campaigned for Cubans to have the freedom to travel inside and outside of Cuba — and The

 

People’s Path in 2011, which sought to lay the framework for a nonviolent democratic transition.

 

At the same time, Oswaldo in April 2012 denounced the campaign to marginalize the democratic opposition and the

 

Cuban government’s efforts, along with unscrupulous allies, to carry out a fraudulent change at the expense of

 

the freedom of the Cuban people.

 

Suspicious Deaths point to extrajudicial executions by State Security

On July 22, 2012, while heading to Santiago de Cuba in a car with Harold Cepero and two international youth

 

leaders, on a solidarity visit, another car struck theirs. The end result was that both Harold and Oswaldo died

 

in Bayamo, Cuba.

 

The Cuban government attempted to engage in a cover up and invented a story that did not line up with the known

 

facts. It is for that reason that the victims’ families are demanding an international investigation to learn

 

the truth of what happened.

  

Ofelia Acevedo mourns the death of her husband Oswaldo Payá

On February 23, 2016 at the 8th edition of the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy Rosa María Payá

 

addressed what happened to her dad Oswaldo Payá and friend Harold Cepero, on July 22, 2012:

"On July 22, 2012, my father was extrajudicially executed by agents of the political police, together with my

 

dear friend Harold Cepero, staging a car crash that never took place, in a location of Cuba that remains to be

 

determined. Not satisfied with this double crime, my family was threatened with death..."In the summer of 2015 a

 

special report was released by Human Rights Foundation, where all evidences indicate that this was a crime

 

against humanity, with the involvement of Cuban authorities. We’ll never give up on justice, because there can

 

be no reconciliation without the recognition of the whole truth. A nation that pretends to forget the violence

 

against its innocent people will remain a captive nation. And it will be a nation condemned to suffer such

 

violence over and over again."

   

Much of the information taken from a biography prepared by Christian Liberation spokesman Regis Iglesias in

 

2005 with some minor changes and additions.

 

POSTED BY JOHN SUAREZ AT 4:35 AM

EMAIL THIS

BLOGTHIS!

SHARE TO TWITTER

SHARE TO FACEBOOK

SHARE TO PINTEREST

 

LABELS: CHRISTIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT, CUBA, HUMAN RIGHTS, OSWALDO PAYÁ SARDIÑAS, REGIS IGLESIAS RAMÍREZ, ROSA

 

MARÍA PAYÁ ACEVEDO

Friday

Sushi and drinks at the Dragonfish Cafe, Seattle, WA.

The Pakistan Strategy Support Program (PSSP) held the conference, “Increasing Productivity and Unleashing Growth” at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad on May 26-27th, 2012. This conference also marked the final round of the Competitive Grants Program that was launched by PSSP in January 2012 for Pakistani PhD and graduate students studying locally and abroad on economic development issues of Pakistan. The finalists presented in front of the Research Advisory Committee, donor heads, professors and students from local universities. The event also consisted of plenary sessions on Pakistan’s various economic growth issues by renowned academics from all over the world, such as Dr. Jock Anderson, Dr. Regina Birner and Dr. David Spielman.

Global warming and increased human activity in the far north are changing the Arctic in dramatic ways. A unique interactive mapping application combined with a multitouch table allows visitors to better visualize the changes that are occurring in the Arctic. Multiple users can interact simultaneously, changing the display of the map. Additionally, a magnifier feature allows visitors to see details on the map such as the location of Inuit communities.

 

The Arctic Choices software uses high-resolution custom map overlays that demonstrate everything from animal migration paths to the diminishing extent of winter ice sheets. Sleek "iPhone-like" dials allow visitors to intuitively select from years of data. The custom dials are programmed to give them a more realistic feel as they are manipulated on the touchscreen.

 

The magnifying "glass" feature can be dragged over any point on the map, allowing visitors to view detail on the map, including in the changing overlays. The Arctic Choices exhibit is part of Vancouver Aquarium's Canada's Arctic - In the Grip of Change exhibition.

 

This application was built with the GestureWorks multitouch Flash Framework.

 

This multitouch, multiuser application was exhibit was developed by Ideum with the Vancouver Aquarium. To learn more about this exhibit please visit our portfolio.

From regular to bold by increasing stroke contrast. Work from students from my course Typeface Design 1 as shown at Einblick/Ausblick 2016

Governor Murphy and Mayor Ras Baraka visit Mr. Blackmanâs African American History Class at Science Park High School in Newark to announce that New Jersey will be increasing the number of AP African American Studies classes offered in High School on Tuesday, February 14, 2023(Edwin J. Torres/NJ Governorâs Office).

Android nTRIVIA is an online Multiplayer trivia quiz app. You can Play with a group or go solo with a voice-enabled trivia quiz. NUKG Business Solutions brought to you the latest version of the nTrivia voice-enabled trivia quiz app on mobile.

 

To increase your craving for enhancing your knowledge from online learning across the online trivia quiz games platform, we have updated our older version of the app primarily focused on #Vocabulary quiz.

 

With an add-on of wide variety & enjoyable #Sports quiz, #movies quiz & #GK you can make your brain sharp with our online multiplayer trivia quiz app.

 

* It is the ultimate online #multiplayer trivia quiz app to defeat the monotony of boosting knowledge from the web to with a group of buddies or go solo. You will have fun anyway.

* It is an ad-free online trivia Learning App, a multi-choice & group trivia quiz game app across the app store.

* You can also share your scores on social media.

* It is an online trivia quiz app suitable for any age group.

 

The main features of our online multiplayer trivia games

* play solo

* Create a group.

* Join the group with the group I'd

 

How it works for play solo

* Download nTRIVIA – the free app from your mobile play store or app store

* Allow access to microphone when prompted by the free voice-enabled trivia quiz app

* Choose a category to start the voice-enabled quiz

* You are ready to play a fun trivia quiz.

 

How it works to create a group

* You could create a group by selecting the categories to play group trivia games.

* Add your invitee's email Id's, you want to play. Share the group ID with your buddies to play all together.

* You have 15 secs for right answers.

* After each 10 questions check your scores

 

How it works for Join Group

* Select the Join Group option in the mobile.

* Enter the Group ID share by your group owner & choose the avatar.

* And you are good to go for competing for your online trivia games with friends. Save & share your scores with family & friends on social media.

 

nTrivia is the technology partner for your online teaching practice to empower educators like you.

 

Create your question banks to train your students most effectively with nTRIVIA. Let us handle the complexities of technology that make you competitive while focusing on building quality content for your students to make them the most competitive.

 

How does it work for the Organizer to upload questions for peers?

• Visit our website.

• Register as an Organizer / Group / Business / Educational Entity, agree to T&C, and submit. Your registration will be reviewed and approved by the platform admin. To make you registered successfully.

• You will get an email confirmation from our Admin on your registered email ID.

• You may now login using your email ID & password and upload your question bank.

• You are also required to fill out your profile info and submit it.

• You will now be viewing your dashboard.

• Click on new to add a new category in the manage category section.

• Then you can add questions by choosing the category & difficulty level. Type in your question, type in the answers, and identify the correct option.

• Do not put any symbols in between the answers/questions. Then press the add button.

• Do not leave any blank row to see the result.

• Now your question is successfully added. You may review/edit your questions and the options provided.

• You can edit or delete the invalid question in this view section. And can see the number of questions uploaded so far and export them by clicking on the export icon.

• You can also import your bulk questions in a CSV file and free of special characters.

• But remember the imported question bank should be on

• In the manage user's section, you can approve or deny your members who have registered with you through the app.

• In the view feedback section, you also can see the registered member's valuable feedback.

You can download this app both from android & IOS platforms.

 

To know more, you can visit or download our app at - play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nukg.ntrivia.fi...

Increased ridership due to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow meant that a fair amount of "foreign" rolling stock visited Scotland in late July and early August during the course of the Games in order to provide extra capacity. At Edinburgh Waverly station, First Trans-Pennine EMUs (coupled to the London Midland stock in the next shot) await departure time with an extra-long 18.26 Ayr service via Carstairs, Glasgow Central and Prestwick.

"CMHC to Increase Mortgage Insurance Premiums - Yahoo Finance" t.co/VYRQBM1glO (via Twitter twitter.com/downpaymentaz/status/821351828717731840)