Injuries & disabilities

BEMER Physical Vascular Therapy is used for general full-body treatment and for the intensive treatment of individual areas of the body. The sets are supplied with a detailed description and can be used without any problems by lay people. Many doctors and therapists have added BEMER technology to the range of services they offer. The effectiveness of BEMER has been proven in numerous double-blind trials.

Herniated Discs

Herniated Discs – Surgery is an Option Used Far Too Often

Between individual vertebrae of the spinal column are vertebral discs, which cushion vibrations when walking and enable the spine to move. Vertebral discs consist of a ring of connective tissue and a soft, gelatin-like core. If this ring tears and parts of the gelatin core leaks out, this is referred to as a slipped disc or herniated disc. Large numbers of back complaints are triggered by disorders of the vertebral discs. Wearing that has made the fibrous ring around the gelatin core brittle is the cause of this. But the gelatin core itself also ages, loses its ability to store water, hardens, shrinks and becomes less able to act as a cushion. This causes the space between the vertebral bodies to be reduced, the ligaments to loosen and the fibrous ring around the core to eventually tear. Lifting heavy loads incorrectly and sustaining poor posture each day for hours, for example in front of the computer, will push the spine into an unhealthy position.

How does BEMER Physical Vascular Therapy work for herniated discs?

BEMER Physical Vascular Therapy is a modern method alleviation for herniated discs. BEMER improves blood flow, thereby supporting the body's own regenerative and self-healing processes. Through research conducted over years, experts have derived important findings in the field of biorhythmics. BEMER Physical Vascular Therapy provides effective stimulation for dysfunctional or restricted microcirculation. The currently most effective and reviewed physical treatment method for the alleviation of conditions transmits electromagnetic signals to stimulate the pumping action of the smallest blood vessels. This improves the flow of blood around this area, ensures that the body's cells are better supplied and helped along the way to improvement.

Herniated Discs – When the Cushions Slip

The vertebral discs become brittle as the years go by, and false movements can cause the discs to bulge out and trap the nerves. This not only causes pain, but in some cases can also even bring about paralysis. The vertebral discs act as shock absorbers. They are positioned like water cushions between individual vertebrae. These 23 discs are made of connective tissue and distribute the pressure placed on the back over the spinal column. Herniated discs are often age-related. When the shock absorbers are subject to so much strain, they wear out. As time goes by, their soft cores store less and less water, which causes the discs to become thinner. Water and tissue leak from these tears and the discs become thinner. When placed under strain, the soft core repeatedly presses against the fibrous, hard ring, and the insides of the disc slide out. If the fibrous ring remains sealed here, the condition is referred to as a disc protrusion. If the gelatin-like mass penetrates the fibrous ring, the condition is referred to as a disc herniation. In rare cases, the tissue pushed backwards even dislocates from the rest of the disc and slides into the spinal cavity. If parts of the disc press against a nerve, this process will cause pain. Any disc can slip out, but in reality, the risk distribution is highly unequal. Discs in the lumbar or lower region of the back cause the most common problems. Less frequent are slippages in the disc between the cervical vertebrae, and it is extremely rare for the thoracic vertebrae to slip.

A Herniated Disc will cause intense pain.

Pain is always the first symptom of a herniated disc, but the wear and tear itself can also cause pain. As the vertebral discs become increasingly thinner, the bones move closer together, and the system of tendons, vertebrae, fibers and discs becomes unbalanced. To recover stability, the bones also build up more substances around the edges of the vertebrae, although this additional protection comes at the expense of mobility. If the patient bends over too low or turns too fast, they will feel a stabbing pain. This wearing process is normal with age, but it can be accelerated by many factors, among them heavy physical work and poor posture. But our genes have an effect on this too.

Herniated Disc – Painful to Move

In some cases the pain feels like an arrow shot in the back, in other cases it comes very slowly. Even coughing and sneezing become a torment. It becomes particularly unpleasant when the pain wanders as far down as the large toe. If the disc presses against the bone marrow or the spinal root, the patient will usually not only feel it in that region. These nerves also supply other parts of the back. If a disc in the cervical vertebrae slips, the pain will also be felt in the fingers and arms. If a disc in the lumbar region slips, the sciatic nerve may be trapped, which causes the pain to radiate into the legs and feet. If the nerve is trapped too heavily or too long, patients often have the sensation of lying on an anthill. There's a sensation of tingling and numbness, and in the worst case scenario, there is practically no feeling left in the leg. In some cases, the patient loses bladder control.

Treatment of a Herniated Disc

Conventional treatment of a herniated disc requires a great deal of patience. The foundation for health and therefore also general well-being is ensuring a properly functioning circulation of blood through the organism. This ensures an adequate supply of oxygen and nutrients, and also that metabolic by-products and toxins are disposed of. Around 74 of blood flow takes place in the smallest blood vessels – known as microcirculation. If the distribution of blood is dysfunctional, the cells cannot perform their intended function. If, in turn, the required structural proteins, enzymes or information and transport proteins are not available for metabolic processes in bones, muscles or ligaments, health problems such as a herniated disc will occur. A herniated disc is characterized by pain and difficulties with moving to varying extents. Poor blood flow can be a major causal factor in a herniated disc – functioning microcirculation is a fundamental aspect of health.

Blood Flow and Herniated Discs

The heart pumps up to 10,000 liters of blood through the body each day. With modern BEMER Physical Vascular Therapy, blood and its components are better distributed, and decisive support is provided for these vital processes.

Torn Ligaments

Torn Ligaments

It is necessary in this context to differentiate between treatment of acute symptoms and subsequent treatment. Acute symptoms should be treated by way of first aid by cooling the swelling so that it subsides. Between around 15 and 20 minutes are usually adequate in this connection. The injured area should also be rested in an elevated position. Such a position also reduces the flow of blood and relieves the pain. It is also recommended that a compression bandage be applied. A doctor should then be involved for subsequent treatment, if only because a layperson can often not tell a torn ligament apart from a sprain. The doctor will then decide whether an operation is necessary or whether the ligament tear can be healed using non-invasive, conservative methods. If surgical measures are necessary, the affected ligaments can either be rejoined or possibly replaced by other tendons in the body. Conservative treatments are performed by consistent exercises and muscular training. Other potential options are bandaging and possibly plaster-casting for stability.
The healing process of the torn ligament itself – whether conservative or surgical methods are applied – requires a healthy portion of patience. However, this process involves not only potentially the need for physiotherapeutic exercises – improving blood flow also plays a key role. Effective blood circulation improves the supply of nutrients to the affected tissue and reduces inflammation, enabling it to support the healing process after a ligament rupture massively. The use of BEMER Physical Vascular Therapy is particularly well-suited to this purpose. This vascular therapy activates the body's self-healing potential, thereby supporting the healing of wounds and injuries, including those caused by ligament ruptures. A multidimensional signal structure provides effective stimulation for restricted or dysfunctional microcirculation, supporting the body's key control mechanisms for healing, recovery and regeneration processes. The support that BEMER Physical Vascular Therapy provides in the regeneration processes has been confirmed by a series of studies that have scientifically demonstrated the effectiveness of BEMER Therapy. For example, BEMER Therapy enables improvements in microcirculation, which has a positive impact on the healing process of ligament ruptures, which in turn can reduce the time that the patient spends suffering following a ligament rupture.

The excruciating pain of torn ligaments

One unfortunate movement, and the damage may already be done – torn ligaments! This is not something that just sportspeople suffer from particularly frequently. In other walks of life and in other activities, torn ligaments – also known as ruptured ligaments – are not uncommon. Why is this? The ligaments consist of taut connective tissue, are normally extremely strong and serve to stabilize the joints. However, sudden movements (for example, when running with high heels, tripping from a curb, or running on uneven surfaces) can cause a ligament to tear. And while the proverbial wisdom that you can rupture a ligament with the smallest movements is somewhat overstated, it's also not all that far from the truth. There is no doubt that torn ligaments are one of the most common sporting injuries to occur when playing soccer, basketball, or squash. Among the known causes are a twisting of the knee or of the foot, things that occur often when playing soccer, for example. It is often the abrupt twist that causes a ligament to be so heavily overstretched that its fibers are pulled to breaking point. The joint can still be moved, but sadly only in certain directions. Breaking these limits can quickly cause a ligament to tear. The sufferer will notice the acute symptoms extremely quickly, because a ligament rupture will be followed by sudden and intense pain that re-occurs whenever the area is put under further strain. Effusions are also frequent, not uncommonly causing swelling with possible bruising. The improper loads and postures will also almost always cause damage to other areas of the musculoskeletal structure.
Typical types of Ligament Rupture

  • Rupture of the lateral ligament in the high ankle (sprain),
  • Collateral ligament rupture in the knee,
  • Cruciate ligament rupture in the knee,
  • Ligament rupture in the elbow,
  • Ligament rupture in the thumb,
  • Carpal ligament rupture.
  • Bone Fractures

    Bone Breakages Can Happen to Anyone

    Bone Formation – A Miracle of Nature

    Types of Bone Fracture

    Treatment and Rapid Healing of Bone Fractures

    Bemer and Sprains

    It also helps to enhance our reaction capability, is suitable as an alleviating measure for diseases, and much more. Overall, BEMER Physical Vascular Therapy creates a much better quality of life, something that is particularly highly appreciated in our modern high-performance society and with the diversity of factors in our private environment. Proof of the effectiveness of BEMER Physical Vascular Therapy has already been provided, with the production of 46 publications and a range of scientific studies listed in PubMed over the last 15 years, showing that a protective effect can be attributed to BEMER therapy.

    What to do about Sprains?

    RICE Principle with Sprains

    The Body's Own Self-Healing and Repair Mechanisms

    The B.Sit application model is perfect for those physically challenged or with disabilities. Easily washable and non-slip, the B.Sit fits into wheelchair or seat.


Eggs are a food with a great nutritional value, whose contents in protein, vitamins and mineral, saturated and non-saturated acid fats, together with other substances have made The Nutrition and Health Organizations consider eggs as a recommendable food in a varied and balanced diet.

Eggs have high contents in proteins, with excellent nutritional qualities and they are easy to digest. In the lipids (9,7%) its richness in phospholipids is of special importance. Eggs can be considered the main source of phospholipids in our diet and moreover, they contribute in satisfying our needs for linoleic acid, which is essential and cannot be synthesized by our body.

Eggs contain considerable quantities of vitamins and mineral, amongst which A, D, E and group B stand out. Amongst the minerals iron, zinc, iodine and selenium stand out. Eggs can satisfy between 10-15% of a person's daily needs of vitamin A, D, E, B2 and B12, 10% of phosphorus and zinc, and over 25% of iodine.

The calorie input of an egg is not very high, which is important in avoiding obesity.

In the right column is a table where the nutritional contents of an egg per 100 gr fraction of food is quantified. This data has been taken from the "Guide to the labelling of eggs" Institute for the study of eggs, Environmental rural, sea and Improvo Ministry Nov. 2008.

The high nutritional value of eggs, together with the fact that they are appetizing and easy to digest, makes them recommendable in the diet for children, teenagers, the elderly, the ill, lactancy, etc and for everybody in general.

During their growth, both in children and teenagers, eggs are recommendable for their correct nutrition as they make very important contributions of the most diverse nutrients that the body needs. Their lack can lead to a deficient diet in essential nutrients, affecting both the growth and the health of children and teenagers.

Children are recommended to consume from two or three daily servings of a proteinic food (meat, fish and eggs), which would make the consumption of three to four eggs a week advisable. A corpulent person and/or physically active person should consume up to 7 eggs a week. For a healthy population, the direct consumption should be of 4 to 5 eggs a week (fried eggs, hard boiled egg, …) or indirect (sauces, desserts…) which can contribute to making a more varied diet, as eggs are an excellent nutritional alternative to meat and fish.

Eggs are a very valuable food for the elderly as they are easy to chew and digest, and also for their high nutritional value, as they can improve their nutritional condition and health. Furthermore they provide lecithin which contributes to raising the levels of choline in blood, favouring the mental function of the elderly.

A lot has been said about the relation between eggs and levels of cholesterol. A person's level of cholesterol is a consequence of the entire diet and not only the intake of one food in particular. The restrictive measures in a diet due to the prejudice surrounding cholesterol and eggs can lead to a lack of other nutrients.

In measuring cholesterol, not only do the contents of cholesterol in food have an influence, but also other factors such as the contribution of vitamins and minerals, as well as their contents in saturated and non-saturated fats and the proportion between both. In the case of eggs, this relation is favourable in its influence on the level of blood lipids and despite the contents in cholesterol in the eggs, the proportion between saturated and non-saturated fad acid (in favour of the latter) favours the absorption of cholesterol which penetrates the cells and does not stay in the blood, thus avoiding a rise in the levels of cholesterol in blood.


5 Ways to Maximise Your Home Extension When You Only Have a Small Space

If you are thinking of adding a home extension to your property but you don't have a lot of space, you need to get creative. Luckily, there are a range of ways, you can maximise the potential of your extension. Check out these ideas:

1. Do not make it seasonal

Although a porch or a conservatory may seem like a great idea, it may not be the most functional use of your space. You can only use these rooms seasonally, and during the rest of the year, they can provide storage space at best. Instead, make the most of your extension by adding on a room that will be fully functional all four seasons.

2. Explore using two levels

If you only have room on your plot of land to accommodate a small extension, keep in mind that your extension doesn't just have to be one level. Instead, you can ask a contractor to dig a basement under your extension. That gives you more space to play with, and regardless of what you use the first floor extension for, you can use the basement as a bedroom, lounge, laundry or storage area.

3. Don't forget about the roof

When considering a basement, don't let it distract you from the possibility that you can also use the roof of your extension. Consider designing an extension with a flat roof. That space can host a rooftop garden, a patio, a hot tub, a balcony or a range of other outdoor spaces. If you don't like the idea of giving up a part of your yard to hold the extension, remember that you essentially can relocate that area to the roof of your extension.

4. Embrace tall windows

Making the most of a small extension also extends to its design. When designing your small extension, remember to employ all of the tricks popularly used to make spaces appear larger. For example, fill the extension with tall windows. Also consider lofted ceilings, light-coloured paint and vertical lines on your window treatments.

5. Weigh the cost benefit of your extension

If you want to make the most of your extension, make sure that it adds to your home value. To calculate its potential value, take the per square metre price of the extension. You can get this number when you get a quote from a contractor. Then, ask a real estate expert what homes are selling for in your area and find the average selling price per square metre.

If you are paying less per square metre for your extension than the average per square metre price of homes in your area, your extension has a positive cost benefit. You can make it even more valuable by adding the type of room buyer's in your area want. In some cases, that may be a bedroom while in other cases, it may be a larger kitchen or dining room.


This is a friendly reminder to be aware while driving during the morning commute to work and during the mid-afternoon hours!  Kids will be on the side of the road waiting for and departing school buses!  Slow it down and keep an eye out, please!

Some schools have already started, I saw kids waiting for the bus on Rte. 1A in Holden this morning.  Most schools, including Bangor, will start the day after Labor Day, on Tuesday the 3rd!


学術雑誌論文 Glucoraphanin Ameliorates Obesity and Insulin Resistance Through Adipose Tissue Browning and Reduction of Metabolic Endotoxemia in Mice

Nagata, Naoto  ,  Xu, Liang  ,  Kohno, Susumu  ,  Ushida, Yusuke  ,  Aoki, Yudai  ,  Umeda, Ryohei  ,  Fuke, Nobuo  ,  Zhuge, Fen  ,  Ni, Yinhua  ,  Nagashimada, Mayumi  ,  Takahashi, Chiaki  ,  Suganuma, Hiroyuki  ,  Kaneko, Shuichi  ,  Ota, Tsuguhito

66 ( 5 )  , pp.1222 - 1236 , 2017-05-01 , American Diabetes Association = American Diabetes Association
Low-grade sustained inflammation links obesity to insulin resistance and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, therapeutic approaches to improve systemic energy balance and chronic inflammation in obesity are limited. Pharmacological activation of nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)–like 2 (Nrf2) alleviates obesity and insulin resistance in mice; however, Nrf2 inducers are not clinically available owing to safety concerns. Thus, we examined whether dietary glucoraphanin, a stable precursor of the Nrf2 inducer sulforaphane, ameliorates systemic energy balance, chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, and NAFLD in high-fat diet (HFD)–fed mice. Glucoraphanin supplementation attenuated weight gain, decreased hepatic steatosis, and improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in HFD-fed wild-type mice but not in HFD-fed Nrf2 knockout mice. Compared with vehicle-treated controls, glucoraphanin-treated HFD-fed mice had lower plasma lipopolysaccharide levels and decreased relative abundance of the gram-negative bacteria family Desulfovibrionaceae in their gut microbiomes. In HFD-fed mice, glucoraphanin increased energy expenditure and the protein expression of uncoupling protein 1 (Ucp1) in inguinal and epididymal adipose depots. Additionally, in this group, glucoraphanin attenuated hepatic lipogenic gene expression, lipid peroxidation, classically activated M1-like macrophage accumulation, and inflammatory signaling pathways. By promoting fat browning, limiting metabolic endotoxemia-related chronic inflammation, and modulating redox stress, glucoraphanin may mitigate obesity, insulin resistance, and NAFLD.

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habitat for humanity

Habitat for Humanity started with an idea from a farmer, Clarence Jordan in Americus, Georgia, and was founded by him and Millard and Linda Fuller. The idea was to build adequate shelter for those in need by working with volunteers. The houses would be built at no profit and the owners would have no interest loans for the house provided by Habitat for Humanity’s funds. The idea grew and grew with more supporters supporting the initiative and in 1976, Habitat for Humanity International was founded.

Habitat now works with over 1,400 communities in the United States and in nearly 70 countries. The organization has helped over 6.8 million people to achieve strength and stability by providing safe, decent, and affordable shelter to them. It is located in all 50 states in America as well as D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. There are locations across the world as well helping Asia, Europe, The Middle East, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Importance of The Organization

A majority of Americans have a hard time finding affordable housing. More than half say that they make sacrifices in other areas in order to afford payments or rent, including living in unsafe neighborhoods, and cutting down on health care and other necessities. Habitat is working to reduce people’s needs to do this by remodeling old homes, helping with loans, building homes, and advocating for better laws.

Not having a stable place to live can create extreme stress on a family. The well being of millions of children is compromised when parents need to make sacrifices in order to provide a roof over their family’s heads. The constant budgeting, cutting back on food and transportation, as well as increasing debt by foregoing bill payments in order to pay others.

Habitat works to reduce the stress that these families feel by providing stability and affordable housing and loan payments. They also give information and financial education so people can feel empowered and become successful homeowners.

Volunteering Benefits

Of course, a main benefit is getting the opportunity to provide someone less fortunate the chance at having a stable living situation and easing some of their burdens. However volunteers also benefit in other ways by helping liking increasing their chances of getting a new job by having habitat for humanity on their resume. In addition volunteering is shown to reduce nights spent in the hospital by 38%. Also, building houses and doing repairs help you learn new trades and crafts and learn from other volunteers.

Interested in Volunteering? Click here to see how you can help Habitat for Humanity both locally and globally.


Observatory Sites

Cabled Array Observatory V16
Shallow Profiler Operating

HD Camera Installed at ASHES

Hydrate Ridge: methane seeps

Southern Hydrate Ridge is an important observatory site to

  • define the temporal evolution of methane hydrate systems in response to seismic events,
  • determine material fluxes from the seafloor and impacts on overlying ocean chemistry, and
  • understand biogeochemical coupling associated with gas hydrate formation and disassociation.

The real-time interactive capabilities of the cabled observatory are critical to studying gas hydrate systems because many of the key processes may occur over short time scales and will require adaptive response and sampling capabilities.

Axial Seamount: an active volcano

Axial Seamount on the Juan de Fuca Ridge is the most magmatically robust volcano on the spreading center having erupted in 1998, 2011, and most recently in April 2015. It hosts numerous active hydrothermal vent fields and is one of the best-studied volcanoes along the global mid-ocean ridge. As part of the OOI cabled observatory, high power and bandwith are utlized at the summit of Axial Seamount to communicate and power a diverse array of sensors to monitor the inflation and deflation of the volcano during the injection of magma, hydrothermal activity, and the rich biological communities at the site. Real-time high definition video provide spectacular views of tubeworms, crabs, and other animals that thrive at the hyrothermal vents. Other sensors include in situ mass spectrometers, seismometers to monitor earthquake activity, temperature and chemical probes, fluid and DNA samplers, and pressure-tilt meters.

The Endurace Array Newport Line: coastal upwelling region

The coastal OOI Endurance Array monitors cross-shelf and along-shelf variability in the coastal upwelling region off the Oregon and Washington coasts. This array consists of a mooring and seafloor instrumented line off Newport, OR, connected to the Cabled Array, and another moored line off Gray's Harbor, WA. To provide synoptic, multi-scale observations of the eastern boundary current, the two cross-shelf moored array lines, each with three instrumented sites (at 25 m, 80 m, and 600 m water depth), are supplemented by six gliders patrolling the coastal region. The Endurance Array Newport Line extends the reach and capability of the cabled observatory infrastructure into the coastal environment, while simultaneously providing the transformative high-power, high-bandwidth capabilities to the Coastal Scale component of the OOI.


Russia’s role in the New Silk Road: Opportunities and challenges

Since China announced its Belt and Road Initiative, dubbed “the New Silk Road,” in 2013, 70 countries have already joined. It encompasses the construction of a giant transportation system, including railways and highways, sea and air communications, power lines and pipelines. These projects have the potential to become an engine of economic development for many Russian cities. Political scientist Mikhail Magid spoke with Strelka Magazine about how the New Silk Road is developing and why it is important for Russia to maintain its place along it.

Globalization, which has long been discussed, is now an integral part of reality. Individual countries are becoming nodes in a single trade, financial, industrial, and informational system. A lot of modern products, whether industrial or agricultural, are being assembled more and more like LEGOs. For example, crops grown on Russian soil from foreign seeds are harvested using equipment purchased from the European Union by workers from former Soviet republics. In such conditions, the central challenge becomes one of communication and logistics, and whichever country is able to build optimal transportation routes to new markets receives an advantage.

On October 30, an important part of the route opened; the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars transportation corridor (BTK) is at the heart of the emerging Eurasian market, which covers 65 percent of the population, 75 percent of energy resources and 40 percent of the planet’s GDP. China in the east; Turkey and Europe in the west; Russia in the north; and Iran, the Middle East and India in the south.

In total, the New Silk Road is expected to create a single giant market with a population of over 4 billion people.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) fully appreciates the importance of the New Silk Road for the global economy. Analysts believe that the scope of foreign investment from China alone in these infrastructure projects could reach $1 trillion over the next 10 years. So far, there are 70 countries included in the initiative, but this number could grow to 100.

There is another fundamental reason for the New Silk Road project. Improvements in production processes and communication devices bring increased challenges for the transportation industry. People are finding it easier to work online from the comfort of their own homes. Continued development in robotics is expected to bring production closer to the consumer, as cheaper and more efficient robots will make it less profitable to import products from outside of the country.

In addition, super-cities are being formed. The economic life of whole countries is concentrated within these urban areas, while large swathes of territory are being abandoned. Swedish economist Kjell Nordström goes so far as to argue that we are now witnessing the birth of multi-metropolitan corporations instead of multinational corporations.

In such conditions, the survival of the transportation industry is reliant on the creation of a denser, more user-friendly communication system that is capable of delivering the desired goods as quickly as possible and as cheaply as possible to the right destinations.

The transportation industry, however, is struggling to find its place in the sun, as the New Silk Road is expected to reduce the time of transporting goods from China to Europe from 30 days to 12-16.

Globalization does not mean that nations and national interests are going to disappear, at least not any time in the foreseeable future. But national interests are being transformed. Governments, worried about slowed economic growth, are making efforts to ensure more efficiency and modernization in their economies.

Over the past 30 years, China has built its development largely due to its maritime communications system with the United States. Americans have exported a significant part of their industry to China, as the labor force was dozens of times cheaper than in the US. So, once they began producing goods for American markets, China was able to dramatically increase their profits. After this, even more Chinese companies oriented themselves to American markets or worked as subcontractors for American companies.

However, in recent years, this model has begun to fail. The average salary in China is growing steadily and has already exceeded $600 per month. This, along with cheaper fuel prices in the US and Trump’s anti-Chinese rhetoric, may lead to a re-industrialization process in America. Some businesses have already returned home.

Although China's huge domestic market remains attractive for investment, Chinese economic growth is slowing down.

Therefore, the Chinese are looking for new opportunities for development and are pinning their hopes on the New Silk Road. First, there are hundreds of thousands of new jobs surrounding the construction of new railways. Secondly, these new routes are expected to help increase the export of high-tech equipment and other Chinese products.

On top of building railways, China is attempting to radically transform the shipping industry. The concept of the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) would complete the New Silk Road. China, according to Russian researcher Irina Komissina, has already built large modern ports in a number of friendly countries: Gwadar in Pakistan, Hambantota in Sri Lanka, Chittagong in Bangladesh, and Kyaukphyu in Myanmar, with plans for the construction of even more.

One of the primary goals is to redirect the flow of capital and goods to regions that have not yet fully developed their connection to global trade, for instance countries in Africa. The MSR’s mission is to link the Chinese economy with such regions. In addition, the plan includes new connections between Asia’s various subregions – the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, and Southeast Asia – which will form a united trading system aided by a strong shipping network. In sum, the transportation systems over land and sea are intended to complement each other.

Against the background of nearly universal optimism, there are still some skeptical voices to be heard. The transportation communication systems built by China and its partners may not fully justify the expectations they carry with them. For example, the BTK railway line was fully financed by Azerbaijan and Turkey, in spite of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development refusing to support the project, which they found to be unprofitable.

Russian sinologist Alexander Gabuev writes about the markdown of the New Silk Road’s value. In his view, there are almost no exports to Europe from China’s western regions, as the major export-oriented industrial centers are concentrated on the east coast of China. Therefore, goods are cheaper to ship by sea. And most importantly, China itself does not have a clear vision of the New Silk Road. Gabuev argues that all the maps describing the "Chinese vision" of the route are informal by nature, and the state media is strongly advised against publishing maps with specific transport corridors.

While there are some disputes, China and the other interested countries continue to move forward on the project.

Economist Andrey Movchan has written that since Russia is located between the Asia-Pacific region (APR) and Europe, more than $1 trillion could flow along a potential trade route, bringing an annual growth rate of 4-5 percent. Assuming that Russia would be able to secure just half of the commodity flow between the APR and Europe after constructing an effective "northern silk road," and that the gross transit revenue will be 7 percent of circulation, then gross revenue from this business would exceed Gazprom's foreign revenue.

At the same time, the transportation infrastructure will work for domestic needs, creating many jobs and attracting a significant number of foreign workers and visitors each year, which would ensure the growth and development of the regions along the road. In principle, Russia could receive up to $50 billion a year from this industry.

The New Silk Road would help transform Russia into the world's largest trade route through which goods and capital would flow from west to east and from east to west. This, in turn, could bring more modern technology to Russia.

However, there are some foreign policy obstacles between the Russian Federation and its partners. Observers point out that the attractiveness of the BTK, which is already an established section of the New Silk Road, may result in the transportation corridor bypassing Russia completely. This helps businesses avoid sanctions on the import and transit of many EU goods. And so, European/American sanctions and Russian counter-forces have become the bottleneck of the New Silk Road.

Text: Mikhail Magid
Translation: Maxwell Koopsen


 Legend of the Supreme Soldier - Chapter 155: First Pot of Gold? - Wuxiaworld
Wuxiaworld > Legend of the Supreme Soldier > Chapter 155: First Pot of Gold?

Chapter 155: First Pot of Gold?

Chapter 155: First Pot of Gold?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the pharmaceutical section of listed items for sale, Ye Chong finally found skeletons in the list. The long list offered skeletons in great variety, and Ye Chong brightened up at that. He was relieved to find that it was possible to find skeletons after all. For a skeleton carver, nothing would be more scary than not having any skeleton materials! Besides, the skeletons for sale were abundant in numbers and types, and that was a surprise to Ye Chong!

"Why are these skeletons in the pharmaceutical section?" Ye Chong could not understand. He could see no relation between skeletons and pharmacy.

"There is a branch in pharmacy that uses flora, fauna and mineral ores as ingredients to produce medicine or for treatment. Animal skeletons are a very important part of it. From the trade volume, this branch must be quite popular here! Of course, I will have to investigate further to understand the details, what I have just said was only a probable deduction!" Mu replied.

"There’s a branch like this?" Ye Chong was surprised.

"Yes. It’s inherited from the past, and grew systematic over time. However, it’s still not a very well known branch, since these treatments are usually effective against strange conditions. My database has little information on this!" Mu said.

Most of the skeletons were from mutant life forms. They came in all shapes and colors, but the points for each of them was very different from Ye Chong’s expectations. For some skeletons that looked average for Ye Chong, were priced ridiculously high. Some skeletons with good properties were, however, priced very low, and even as Ye Chong read on he regretted not having a single point to spend on them!

He realized then that this was the pharmaceutical section, and he should be about the only skeleton carver in the whole of Nine Gates. His valuation of the skeletons must be different from theirs. That was alright, since it could be advantageous for him. He could use fewer points to buy some excellent skeletons, thus reducing the cost.

With some understanding of the market, Ye Chong began to consider the ways he could earn enough points to buy skeletons.

How could he earn his first pot of gold? Ye Chong frowned in contemplation.

"My database has many special formulae for alloys, you can exchange them for Nine Gates points!" Mu suggested.

"No!" This suggestion was immediately rejected by Ye Chong! Ye Chong understood that these formulae were far more valuable than a full skeleton mech, and could potentially make the Sanctuary even stronger! Based on the current situation, the Sanctuary was now his enemy, and improving the strength of his enemy using his information for short term benefits was something Ye Chong would never allow.

Even if he wanted to exchange them for points, Ye Chong would rather get them from the detainees, and not the Sanctuary.

Ye Chong walked into Blue Sandstone for the second time. The middle aged man saw Ye Chong and was surprised, but quickly greeted him, "Young man, why are you not preparing for your trials? Still wandering around?" He was still mocking Ye Chong on the inside for being a candidate at such a young age.

"Yes, the trial’s changed!" Ye Chong looked straight towards the Eden-IV model, and spoke without turning, "That Eden has a problem!"

"Problem?" Ye Chong’s off tangent remark caught the middle aged storekeeper off guard, and found himself moving towards the Eden as he said, "What problem?" His expression was one of disbelief. While he was not entirely satisfied with that Eden, he was still skeptical of how this boy could point out a problem.

"Eden-IV’s special feature is its stability, while its weakness is its lack of speed. You want to improve its automotive capabilities, so you added the horizontal stabilizer while also simplifying its main body. But that greatly reduces the stability of this mech! Besides, most importantly is, the mech’s defenses will be sharply reduced!" Ye Chong spoke without expression.

"Eh!" Ye Chong spoke the truth, and the middle aged storekeeper was a little startled . "You make sense, I guess! But I can’t do much about it, Eden can’t use any other engine model, so I could only do what I did!"

That was true. Eden’s engine was incompatible with other models. This also resulted in Eden being mostly abandoned by mech modification enthusiasts, and rarely would anyone choose the mech for modifications. That was why Ye Chong first noticed the Eden model displayed here.

"There is a solution, but it’s quite complicated!" Ye Chong said. He had studied this problem before at Aurora, and even asked for advice from the elders there, and finally came up with a solution. Ye Chong was quite intelligent in this aspect.

"Haha, young man, don’t go around boasting, it’s not a good habit!" The middle aged storekeeper was unfazed. He did not imagine the serious looking young man before him to be careless with words, and this lowered his opinion of the young man. The middle aged storekeeper may only be the owner of a small store, but he was a candidate who passed a Level Three Trial. Once, he was famous throughout the Five Galaxies, and his cautious attitude was already deeply ingrained in him. That was why he disliked the young man’s boasting.

"Oh, if you want to know, I’ll sell it to you for 10 points!" Ye Chong finally revealed his true intention. In reality, Ye Chong believed that selling his solution for 10 points was an undersell. If he was not urgently in need for points, he would never have sold the solution. It was not that the solution was actually worth more, but anyone would appreciate more of the solution that they worked hard to come up with themselves, and Ye Chong was no exception.

The middle aged storekeeper frowned and said, "If you have an improved solution, I’ll give you more than 10 points, I’ll offer you 20! Young man, you’re still a boy, don’t learn to exaggerate!"

Ye Chong knew that his age was always keeping him from gaining another person’s confidence. Ye Chong was already used to it, and knew just how to change their attitudes.

"If you add a wedge shaped box inside the mech, use Farmier’s dual return circuitry for the photon circuit, reduce the thickness of the mech’s inner frame by half …" Ye Chong began talking.

As Ye Chong’s clear voice continued on, the middle aged storekeeper’s expression transformed from outright dismissal to one of focus. His eyes shone brighter and brighter, reflecting rays of fervor!

When Ye Chong walked out of Blue Sandstone, the wristband already registered 20 points in his account. The middle aged storekeeper had even send him off respectfully to the door.

Ye Chong chose to sell this solution after much consideration. Eden series mechs may be advanced level mechs in the Five Galaxies, but it was just an average mech in the Orbits, and not comparable at all to the Sanctuary’s various mechs. Even the market in the Orbits offered mechs more advanced than Eden. While his solution was elegant, it was only suited for a small range of problems. It was only applicable for Eden series mechs, and did not involve anything foundational. This was why Ye Chong chose to trade it for points.

Back in his room, all the mineral ores that Ye Chong bought earlier were sent to his room. Each item was sealed in metal boxes of different sizes. It was impossible to know what was inside each of them. There was a number on each of the boxes, used to verify the items.

He opened all the metallic boxes and took out the mineral ores. Everything was there, looking exactly as they were displayed as holographic images on the item trade list. Of course, these treasures were passed to Mu for processing, for Ye Chong had his own job to do.

After a long time, Ye Chong finally chose a Leave Muncher’s shin bone and a Red Toad’s exo-shell, all adding to just two points.

Of course, besides the skeletons, Ye Chong still needed to buy materials for the strengthening chemicals. They were unexpectedly more expensive than the skeletons, and Ye Chong used seven points on them.

Soon, all the skeletons and strengthening chemical ingredients that Ye Chong bought were delivered to his room.

Since Ye Chong did not have any processing machinery, he had to work manually. Fortunately, his foundation was solid, and the two parts that he was planning to make were quite simple.

When he was done making the two parts, it was already the second day! One was a round mech padding in murky green, while another was a mech’s inner ring in white, overlaid with a vivid red natural pattern of lines, a beautiful thing. These two parts were simple to make, with a short processing time and a wide range of applications. Almost any mech could make use of them.

Ye Chong looked at his products, satisfied, and added them to the item trade list!

When Ye Chong opened up the item list in the mech parts section, the long list of items surprised Ye Chong greatly. The list was too long!

Mech modification technicians and mech assemblers were always popular occupations, and many in the Five Galaxies worked in these two fields. Whether it was mech modification or assembling, they had to deal with mech parts. Besides, there was the routine mech maintenance and reparation. These were the reasons for the large demand in mech parts in Nine Gates and high trading activity in mech parts.

Ye Chong grew doubtful. Could his two products manage a small ripple in this vast ocean of mech parts?


After reading Mike Lofgren's "Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult" and Paul Krugman's "The Republicans are now the anti-science party", I can only conclude that Perry, Palin, and their ilk have chosen the "peace and safety" option outlined above. Yes, what science is telling us can be scary—we are making a mess of this planet, and it is going to bite us hard unless we make fundamental changes to our way of life—but "la la la I can't hear you" is not a helpful response.


Europe’s Populist Strongman Faces Judgment

Sixteen years ago, Viktor Orban refurbished a palace overlooking the Danube River in Budapest as a new office to mark his re-election as Hungary’s prime minister. Then a surprise defeat prevented him from moving in and he spent the rest of the decade in opposition.
The older, grayer, and heavier Orban is now the ringleader of Europe’s nationalist insurgence after regaining power in 2010. The man hailed as a “great hero” by U.S. President Donald Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon is bidding to win a third straight term on Sunday, and he’s spent about $60 million fitting out a former monastery to take up afterwards. The question is whether history will repeat itself.
Viktor Orban
Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg
Polls suggest that’s unlikely. They consistently put support for Orban’s Fidesz party at roughly equal to the entire opposition combined. But there’s growing disillusionment among many Hungarians over a culture of cronyism and the thumping victory expected just months ago now looks uncertain.
Orban already lost the two-thirds majority in parliament that allowed him to change the constitution and appoint allies to independent institutions, including the courts and chief prosecutor, after two of his lawmakers were unseated during his second term.
Further losses or the possibility of a bigger upset for the poster child of European populism and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin would resonate across Europe and particularly in its increasingly volatile east.
“People are watching this election because Orban is seen as having provided the ideological and institutional template for populist movements throughout Europe,” said William Galston, senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. “If Orban's support falls significantly below 50 percent then people will take it that what he and his party represents aren’t irresistible.”
The April 8 election comes less than a month after Prime Minister Robert Fico in neighboring Slovakia was forced to resign in the wake of mass protests over the murder of a journalist investigating government corruption. Poland’s nationalist leadership, a key supporter of Orban, meanwhile is showing its first real signs of weakness in the polls.
In Hungary, the campaign by opponents has tried to nullify Orban’s anti-immigration rhetoric and focused on claims that politically connected oligarchs hold sway over the economy in what he calls his “illiberal state.”
A mayoral vote in a small agricultural city in the southeast raised an alarm bell for Orban, 54, a month ago. People there cited rampant corruption and intimidation as reasons for rejecting Orban's Fidesz party for the first time since 1998, the year he first won power, in favor of an independent candidate.
“The main thing to keep in mind is that Orban may have re-invented politics in Hungary, but he's not immune at end of the day to the most fatal flaws of politicians,” said Tomas Valasek, director, Carnegie Europe in Brussels and former Slovak diplomat. “They just get worn out and the electorate just tires of them.”
Realistically, it would take a huge reversal to unseat Orban, who built an apparently unassailable support base and still gets tens of thousands of supporters out for party rallies.
It depends on a disparate opposition ranging from a former far-right party to liberals uniting behind a single candidate in key districts. Opposition leaders concede that it would take a groundswell to pull off an upset. That would mean turnout of more than 70 percent. The last time that happened was in 2002, the year Orban was ousted before he could move into his new palace. The next government then turned into the president’s office.
A bloody nose, though, might be on the cards. Tactical cooperation among the opposition parties in battleground electoral districts means it’s unlikely that Orban will win a third consecutive super-majority. Already in 2014, his share of the vote dropped but a fragmented opposition failed to coordinate.
If Orban loses significant ground, the result will resonate in other European capitals. His politics became a model for political bedfellows from Italian nationalist parties jockeying for power to the government in Poland.
The Hungarian leader put up a fence to keep out refugees and appointed friends and allies to run the courts, central bank and audit office. Since his last election victory, Hungary slipped to 66th place in Transparency International’s annual survey of perceived corruption, below only Bulgaria in the EU, from 48th in 2014.
Yet he also came good on promises to levy high taxes on large corporations to fill budget holes after previous governments opted to cut salaries. He extended energy-price cuts for households and reduced the country’s dependence on foreign debt. Economic growth was at a three-year high last year and wages grew by double-digits.
Hungarians must now weigh whether it’s a good trade off.
“History has shown that Hungarians don’t just want institutions they can trust but also charismatic leaders, whether kings, military chiefs, or strongmen,” said Peter Kaderjak, one of the founders of Fidesz in the 1980s who is no longer politically active. “Orban has always been predisposed to be heavy-handed. Hungarians will decide what's best for them in the long run.”


Discipline issues contributing to Chiefs losses

Discipline issues contributing to Chiefs losses

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Romeo Crennel isn't sure why the Chiefs decided to start playing Dance Dance Revolution on the turf of Heinz Field with a national television audience watching on Monday Night Football.

He is sure he didn't like it.

``It was a surprise to me,'' Crennel said of the sudden celebrations.

Perhaps the Chiefs were simply channeling their inner Fred Astaire, or auditioning for ``A Chorus Line,'' since there might be several of them searching for jobs come January.

Whistles were blown. Flags were thrown.

``I'm going to emphasize to the guys those kinds of penalties are hurtful to the team,'' Crennel said, ``and we don't need them, and then we'll see if we need to sit people or not.''

It wasn't even the first instance of taunting by the Chiefs, though.

``It's always frustrating when you think you have a touchdown pass, and all of a sudden you see a flag on the field,'' said Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel, who started again in place of injured Brady Quinn. ``It is unfortunate and it's always tough to overcome that.''

It might have been the most humorous moment of the night.

Houston and fellow pass rusher Tamba Hali sandwiched the Steelers' quarterback on the first drive of the third quarter. The two linebackers left Roethlisberger lying in a heap, and offered up their best homage to the 1980s hip-hop duo Kid `n Play with a well-executed collaboration.

That dance wasn't received well, either.

``So 2 defenders can choreograph the Kid and Play dance after a sack, but we can't do jack together when we score a TD?'' Browns tight end Benjamin Watson asked on Twitter.

The discipline issues, which contributed to six penalties for 76 yards and left Kansas City 2 for 13 on third downs, overshadowed what might have been the Chiefs' best game of the year.

Sure, they managed to stage a franchise-record comeback to defeat the New Orleans Saints - still their only victory of the season - but that's increasingly looking like a fluke. Against the Steelers, the Chiefs put together a game plan that shut down the Pittsburgh offense, allowed Cassel to manage the game, and kept Kansas City within striking distance in the closing minutes.

Cassel's interception in overtime - the Chiefs' NFL-leading 30th turnover of the year - ultimately allowed Shaun Suisham to kick the winning field goal for Pittsburgh.

``We're disappointed about the final result, but I really think our team played a much more competitive game overall than we have been playing,'' Crennel said. ``We had some opportunities to win the game, but there are things we have to polish up and get correct so we can win the game.''

The Chiefs came out of the game with several notable injuries.

Wide receiver Jon Baldwin landed on his head while trying to make a catch, and Crennel said he will be evaluated further on Wednesday for what could be a concussion. Tight end Jake O'Connell sustained a high ankle sprain, defensive tackle Dontari Poe bruised his knee, and offensive guard Jon Asamoah has a hand injury.

Crennel said he isn't sure about their status for Sunday's game against Cincinnati.

Crennel also wouldn't commit to a starting quarterback for the Bengals game because Quinn still hasn't been cleared following the concussion he sustained three weeks ago against Oakland.

``Brady said that he is ready to go, and I'm sure he is excited about the possibility, but at this point, I can't make a determination until I can find out exactly what the prognosis is for him,'' Crennel said. ``I'll find out and then we'll go from there.''

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The Wizards dominated Game 3 because everybody ate ... literally

The Wizards dominated Game 3 because everybody ate ... literally

The Wizards returned to Washington, D.C. on Friday down 0-2 to the Raptors in their best-of-seven 2018 NBA Playoffs first-round series

The team lost a close one in Game 1 and was run out of the building in Game 2. Game 3 was must-win, and the Wizards knew what needed to happen in order for them to secure the victory.

"Everybody eats."

That's the phrase that has defined the Wizards throughout much of the season They are at their best when John Wall is making players and feeding his teammates.

On Friday night, the Wizards beat the Raptors 122-103 to force at least a Game 5. Wall finished with 28 points and 14 assists.

Bradley Beal finally broke out of his slump for 28 points and  Marcin Gortat, Mike Scott and Kelly Oubre all chipped in with at least 10 points.

But the stat sheet wasn't the only place where everybody eats.

Here's Marcin Gortat from Game 3.

But if pantomiming isn't your thing, here is Bradley Beal actually eating popcorn during Game 3.

So what did we learn in Game 3? Well, for starters: "Everybody Eats" is not just a motto, it is a way of life.

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With Playoff Beal back, the Wizards are revitalized in playoff series vs. Raptors

The Toronto Raptors were only going to hold Bradley Beal down for so long. After two so-so games to begin the Wizards-Raptors playoff series, the All-Star shooting guard was bound to find his way offensively and that arrival came in a Game 3 win on Friday night.

Beal was brilliant and much more in line with what he's shown in the postseason throughout his career. Game 2 was his worst playoff game as an NBA player, he scored only nine points. Game 3 was one of his best on the postseason stage, or at least one of his most timely and important.

The Wizards needed more from Beal to give themsevles a chance in this series. An 0-3 deficit would have been a death sentence. His production is so key to their success that head coach Scott Brooks and point guard John Wall met with Beal in between Games 2 and 3 to figure out how to get him going.

Whether that was the catalyst or not, the results followed. Beal poured in 28 points in 10-for-19 shooting with four rebounds, four assists and three steals. He hit four threes, more than he had in the first two games combined.

Beal wasted no time to make an impact scoring the ball. His first points came on a quick burst to the basket where he stopped on a dime, turned around and banked it in. By the end of the first quarter, he had 12 points in 11 minutes.

“I just wanted to be aggressive, get shots that I wanted which is what they were going to force me to take," Beal said.

After Game 2, Brooks and Beal described how physical the Raptors were defending him. They were holding on to him and staying close, even when he wasn't moving off the ball.

Brooks saw a difference in how Beal responded to that in Game 3.

"Brad came out and was looking to go towards the basket and not just letting them hold him and going along with it. He didn’t want to dance with his opponent, he wanted to get away from them. That was a critical part of his success," Brooks said.

Beal's 28 points were as much as he scored in Games 1 and 2 together and just about what he averaged through four games against the Raptors during the regular season (28.8). By halftime of Game 3, Beal had 21 points on 8-for-11 from the field.

Beal hit two threes in the first quarter and another two in the second quarter. Several of those threes were set up by Wall, who used the meeting with Brooks and Beal to ask how he can set him up better as the point guard.

In Game 3, they were on the same page.

"I do think this man [John Wall] next to me, he creates and facilitates for the whole team and gets everybody easy shots," Beal said. "I talk to you guys all the time and I can’t tell you the last time I actually got a regular catch and shoot three just in a regular half court set. When he came back, I got like three or four off the bat."

What Beal did in Game 3 is what the Wizards are used to seeing from him this time of the year. Despite being only 24 years old, he has a strong track record in the playoffs.

Through 37 career postseason games, Beal is averaging 22.3 points, more than his career average of 18.7 in the regular season. In each of his previous three postseason runs, he has averaged more points during the playoffs than he did in the regular seasons leading up.

That production has earned him the nickname 'Playoff Beal' and when he goes off like he did in Game 3, good things usually happen. The Wizards are 10-6 in the playoffs during his career when he scores 25 points or more.

Wall also boasts impressive career numbers in the playoffs. When the Wizards have both of their stars playing at their best, they are hard to beat. With peak Beal on board, this series looks a lot different than it did not that long ago.

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James Dempster, Managing Director, Cobb Digital

What is GDPR? And what does it mean for my business?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a document that sets out the new data privacy laws and applies to all EU citizens. Whatever sector you work in, you will have to evaluate how you collect, store and use your customer’s personal data. The new rulings are being introduced to increase consumer control and re-build trust between customers and businesses. It’s a win for businesses in the long-run as your customers will be more engaged than ever before.

Will businesses need to change how they currently collect data?

Keeping it short and sweet, yes! The main change is that every submission of data must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous – no-more pre-ticked boxes for starters. You’ll also need to review your existing database as you’ll have to keep a record of consent within each entry. This might mean you need to change your data management software and as a guideline, we’d recommend recording when you’ve collected consent, the mechanism used and what they agreed to when their data was recorded. You’ll need to provide some of this information up front, in clear, plain English and the rest needs to be explained clearly in your privacy policy.

Will businesses need to update their privacy policy?

Most definitely and you need to make sure it’s crystal clear. You need to ensure you remove any technical or confusing jargon, name any third parties you use and explicitly detail how it benefits you and the customer. Ultimately, you need to move to a more ethical way of collecting data and ensure that your records are kept up-to-date and accurate at all times.


Police Records In Alabama State

Individuals who have violated the laws of an certain state are issued an arrest warrant. Alabama arrest records are issued on the residents on the state that has committed crimes as severe as murder, fraud and thievery just to even as low as a traffic offense. Police Reports In AL State

The Alabama arrest record would contain info on the arrest of your individual. You are likely to know the details with regards to where and when the arrest was made. Also, the reason the individual may be issued an arrest warrant is indicated about the file combined with crimes as well as the offenses which were done by the individual. One would also know whether the arrest ended appropriately throughout the notes taken through the officer who handled the case. If the person has any pending arrest, it might also show on the document.

The document is utilized by authorities and investigators particularly in conducting a criminal case investigation. It is additionally used by authorities as evidence if required. In rare cases, the notes on the officer may help solve the criminal case. Employers are probably the people who also check up on the arrest files with their people. They frequently check on their individuals to make sure that they just have qualified employees who will be trusted and possesses a clean criminal background. This helps employers to avoid issues in the future.

Although, the document can be a public file, not now you can access the said file. Only people who are authorized can access such documents. Authorities and investigators can access the document when they need it. Employers would need to secure a court order to be able to have a copy with the arrest records of these people. The fundamental information in the record that is certainly being obtained should be known so that you can have a smooth search. Arrest Reports In AL State

You can get a copy of the arrest record of an individual with the office from the Department of Corrections in Alabama. Any office has managed to keep records which happened several years past. Also, it's possible to also obtain files who have happened previously which may have appreciable link to the current criminal case of an individual. Using this, an online system was created to help the residents of Alabama get access to their files without any hassle.

Getting a copy connected with an arrest record by using the Internet is possible. It is helped the residents to get a copy on the arrest record in the faster way. There's no longer a requirement to go to any office to file the request. Because of this , why increasing numbers of people are using the world wide web to get the needed document.


Posts Tagged ‘connection’

The secrets to living a heartful life

How can we live a more heartful and fulfilling life? Is it even possible? I believe that it is. But only if we protect ourselves (and our hearts) from life’s inevitable stresses. Think of it as building an armor of sorts—against impatience, anger, short-sidedness, judgmental thinking, grudges and other negative emotions. If that sounds compelling, it is! To get started, you must learn to embrace the four dimensions of heartful living. They are as follows:

1. Peace: Peace can be difficult to find in our crazy, busy lives. Our complicated days often end up pulling us in different directions, leaving little time for ourselves. Our overactive mind can leave us feeling scattered and stressed—and closed off from those around us. But by finding that peaceful space within ourselves, we can handle the obstacles thrown our way and open our hearts to animals (and even people) on a deeper level. It’s not always easy, but I find peace by quieting my mind with meditation. I like to meditate when walking my dog, standing in a pasture with my horse or even taking a stroll on the beach. Meditate regularly, and peace will follow. Here are three tips for finding more peace in your day.

2. Love: Only once we feel peace within our hearts can we tap into love and its healing possibilities. Truly heartful living means universal love and respect—for ourselves, for those around us (human and animal), for the world at large. Opening your heart and connecting with others means so many things, including: learning forgiveness, feeling gratitude for the now, eliminating prejudices and showing love through actions, like volunteering or simply noticing and being friendly with those in the community around you.

3. Clarity: What happens when we quiet our mind through meditation and open our heart with love? We are able to see deeper than the surface of things and awaken to what truly matters. A dog at the shelter that is sick and depressed doesn’t need you to use Reiki to try to “fix” this or that. What he does respond to is you sitting quietly with him, opening your heart and inviting him to share that space. This may take up to 45 minutes or an hour or more. But with patience, I’ve seen dogs like this open up to me, walk over wagging their tails and offer me their tummy. Only with peace, love and clarity can we see beneath the surface.

4. Compassion: If all beings felt and lived with compassion, our world would be transformed. Though we can’t control what other people say, do or feel, we can control ourselves and then radiate heartfulness into the world. So choose compassion. Realize that we are all One, and therefore we must choose kindness and be of service to others, as often as we can.

When we can learn to live a heartful life by embracing these four dimensions—peace, love, clarity and compassion—we find ourselves closer to happiness, closer to fulfillment, closer to being the kind of person we want to be. But like any puzzle, the picture isn’t complete without all four pieces. So if one is missing in your life, strive to reconnect with that dimension in order to maintain your balance and harmony. Your heart (and the animals) will thank you.

What does heartful living mean to you?

What happens when we make patience a priority?

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. – John Chardin

It’s not always easy to be patient. Who among us wants to wait in a long line or sit in a mess of traffic? Or perhaps we’re on a diet, and we see two options: feeling fit in the future, or eating the piece of chocolate cake right now. In this scenario, it’s really hard to turn down the immediate reward, the chocolate cake, especially if it’s sitting right in front of us. But we all know intellectually that good things come to those who wait—an ideal that is even supported by research.

The same holds true when we spend time with animals who are struggling with health issues. Sometimes when we approach to connect and support a dog or cat, we come on way too strong and scare them away. Or perhaps while sharing a Reiki treatment, we feel compelled to hold our hands on their bodies, focusing on areas of discomfort. Humans love a “quick fix.”

Of course, when we do such things, we fail miserably. Focusing on what’s “wrong” only creates a negative feeling in our energy that animals will shy away from. Trying to “fix” often creates an energy of rushing and pushing that makes animals disconnect. Putting our hands on top of areas that are sensitive can make animals run away. Although we may mean well, if we approach our ailing animals without patience, we will only create obstacles to healing.

There is so much we can learn about healing from animals, who are so much more in tune with the healing that naturally manifests when we get in touch with our inner space of peace and compassion. Everyone’s journey to healing looks different, and when we cultivate patience, we will see this very clearly. We just need to relax, get back in touch with our inner still point and remember that each of us has an amazing capacity to self-heal! Meditation can help us to uncover our inner self-healing power.

So what happens when we throw away our desire for “the instant fix” and instead just sit silently and meditate without expectation with our animals?

A few amazing results begin to unfold:

We start to notice and observe behaviors of the animal we may not have noticed before. We might notice health issues in the early stages when they are much easier to resolve—perhaps our cat isn’t eating the way he usually does or maybe our horse seems out of sorts emotionally. This is a time to stop, relax, breathe and share Reiki with them. We might also become familiar with the complex social system between animals—such as our horse’s herd or our dog’s pack. Noticing little changes in this social structure can indicate something is “off” and needs support way before most people would become aware that anything has changed.

In addition to what we sense with our animals, being patient and quiet helps us begin to notice our “monkey mind,” as Buddhists like to call it, and how busy it is. It’s not so easy just to sit and breathe, is it? The busyness of our minds is simply a distraction from being here, right now in this present moment, for our animals. Reiki meditation can help us to come back to the now, and focus and quiet the mind. And in so doing, we are also developing our patience.

When we are patient, we will begin to see our animals coming forward to connect with us to relax and heal. Because we waited, instead of rushing in, they are able to wait until they are truly ready to connect with us in a beautiful space of peace and compassion. It is so amazing to experience when animals make this conscious choice to come forward and connect, especially when it happens with a fearful animal that normally may not trust humans. If we are always “doing” this or that to fix animals, we never get the opportunity to see an animal take the lead in her own healing. Patience also means we have to let go of our own timeline for “fixing” issues and allow animals time to process healing in their own way.

Are you ready to achieve a higher level of patience? In addition to meditating on a regular basis, try these tricks.

How has patience strengthened your connection to animals?


Juvenile Convictions And Laws In California

I previously discussed the 2012 United States Supreme Court case, Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. ___ , wherein the Supreme Court held that mandatory sentencing laws carrying life without parole were unconstitutional for juvenile offenders convicted of committing murder and the subsequent Supreme Court case earlier this year, Montgomery v. Louisiana, making the decision in Miller v. Alabama retroactive. In the same year that the Supreme Court published Miller v. Alabama, the California Legislature enacted a new law in the Penal Code under section 1170, which provides for a petition process to defendants who were under the age of 18 when they committed an offense for which they were sentenced to life without parole. Under this statute, juvenile defendants so sentenced can, after 15 years of their term, petition the sentencing court to resentence the offender.

Now this is law does not fall under the equation outlined in Miller v. Alabama because it does not concern mandatory sentencing but it does address the same reasoning for the Supreme Court’s decision. In Miller v. Alabama, the Supreme Court recognized the differences between the teenage brain and the adult brain. The majority opinion in the Miller v. Alabama decision recognized the “hallmark features” of the teenager’s conduct, including “immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences.”

The author of Penal Code section 1170 stated the same reasoning for the introduction of the bill (SB No. 9 2011-2012), which eventually became section 1170. The bill’s author stated that there was a need for this law because the sentencing of juvenile offenders to life without parole “ignore[d] neuroscience and well-accepted understandings of adolescent development.” The author went on to state that “Youth are different from adults. While they should be held accountable for their actions, even those who commit serious crimes should have the opportunity to prove they have matured and changed.” This language is very similar to the opinions in the Supreme Court cases I already discussed.

Under Penal Code Section 1170, an offender who was under the age of 18 when he or she committed the crime for which the sentence was life in prison without the possibility of parole may petition the sentencing court after serving at least 15 years of the sentence for recall and resentencing. Not all juvenile offenders in California are able to make this petition: An offender who was convicted of a crime wherein the victim was tortured or where the victim was a public safety official, may not avail themselves of the section 1170 petition process.

The petition process begins with the filing of the formal petition which must include a statement from the defendant describing his or her remorse and rehabilitation efforts. The court will review the petition and it is up to the judge to decide whether the petition is worthy of consideration. If the judge decides to move forward on the petition, there will be a hearing before the court. Victims and the family of victims (if the victim is deceased) may participate in the hearing. The court will consider a number of factors and it is not a guarantee that the court will grant the petition. It goes without saying that an offender who has demonstrated that he or she has “turned his/her life around” will have a much better chance that the petition will be granted.

If the court decides to grant the petition, the previous sentence is recalled and the court may resentence the defendant. Now that doesn’t mean the defendant will necessarily get a much lighter sentence; it may only mean that the defendant is sentenced to life with the possibility of parole, but that is the worst case scenario. In the best case scenario, the court will sentence the defendant to 15 years imprisonment with time served. In that case, the defendant will be released from his or her sentence. More likely, and depending on various factors, the court will sentence the defendant to something in between —but in all cases, it must not be greater than the initial sentence.

The Section 1170 petition is a good option for those juvenile offenders who can demonstrate their rehabilitation and who understand and genuinely feel remorse for the crime they committed as a juvenile governed by the immaturity of their developing brain.

William Weinberg has extensive experience defending juveniles and adults in the criminal justice system. If you have any questions concerning a criminal matter, Mr. Weinberg is available to speak with you. You can contact Mr. Weinberg at 949-474-8008 or at www.bill@williamweinberg.com.


Doing the wrong things the right way @Angellist

Check out this lessons learned presentation from Angellist Founding Engineer Joshua Slayton. Apparently Angellist has a culture with no managers, no schedules, no code reviews, no tests. Instead they focus on constant deployment, constant customer support and constant hiring. This presentation gives some insights into how and why they do it. Good advice.

Thank you Steve Jobs

I just heard that Steve Jobs has passed away. Although I am not an Apple fanboy I truly admire and respect what Steve Jobs has done for the tech world, the web economy, the music industry, the phone industry, design thinking, usability, entrepreneurship, the startup community, leadership and so much more. Thank you Steve!

Here is probably the most remarkable speech by Steve Jobs, which gives great insights into his way of thinking. It is truly inspirational and an absolute must watch.

Here are some links relating to Steve Jobs that I posted in the last years:

RIP Steve Jobs.


Mystery of lost underwater "city" solved

Divers examine a doughnut-shaped structure off the island of Zakynthos, Greece.

University of Athens

What was thought to be an underwater, lost city is actually a naturally occurring geological phenomenon.

Pipe-like, disc and doughnut-shaped structures discovered by underwater divers near the island of Zakynthos, Greece, were originally believed to be ruins of an ancient city, such as remnants of paved floors, courtyards and columns.

Now researchers have found that the "ruins" are in fact geological formations, the results of a natural phenomenon that took place in the Pliocene epoch, up to 5 million years ago. [See Photos of the 'Lost City' Geological Formations]

Archaeologists with the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of Greece, a department within the Greek Ministry of Culture specializing in marine archaeology, examined the site; they found no further evidence that this was indeed an ancient civilization. Suspecting a geological explanation, the Greek Ministry brought in researchers from the University of East Anglia and the University of Athens to investigate the oddly shaped structures.

"The site was discovered by snorkelers and first thought to be an ancient city port, lost to the sea," lead study author Julian Andrews, a professor at UEA's School of Environmental Sciences, said in a statement.

"There were what superficially looked like circular column bases and paved floors but, mysteriously, no other signs of life -- such as pottery."

Disc and doughnut-shaped structures appeared to be architectural remnants of a city, but scientific analysis showed the formations to actually be a naturally occurring geological phenomenon.

University of Athens

Using microscopy, X-ray techniques and chemical analyses, the researchers studied the mineral content of the underwater formations. These analyses showed that the "ruins" are likely the fossilized remains of a natural plumbing system, located beneath the seafloor, for ancient hydrocarbon seeps. Here, methane and other hydrocarbons escape from the seafloor into the water above.

While beneath the seafloor, microbes in the sediment would have used the carbon in methane as fuel, forming a natural cement around the structures. The resulting structures are known to geologists as concretion.

Erosion then exposed the underground structures to the bustling ecosystem in the modern, shallow subtidal zone, where the structures were "bored and encrusted by modern marine organisms," Andrews and colleagues wrote in the study, which appeared today (June 2) in the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology.

"The disk and doughnut morphology ... is typical of mineralization at hydrocarbon seeps -- seen both in modern seafloor and paleo settings," though such formations "looked a bit like circular column bases," Andrews said. "We found that the linear distribution of these doughnut-shaped concretions is likely the result of a subsurface fault which has not fully ruptured the surface of the seabed. The fault allowed gases, particularly methane, to escape from depth."

Though the site is not in fact an ancient, underwater city, the discovery near Zakynthos is rather uncommon geologically, Andrews said. The phenomenon is rare in shallow waters, as most similar formations can be located hundreds or thousands of meters deep underwater, he said.

Original article on Live Science.

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