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BACKGROUND IMAGE: iSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
VDI storage system options include flash appliances, bundled stacks
Traditional and upstart storage vendors are racing to solve VDI storage issues with solid-state appliances and storage-compute bundles designed to relieve I/O bottlenecks.
Virtualization has clearly changed the way storage interacts with the rest of the IT environment. First, the rise of virtual machines (VMs) had a big impact on storage. Now virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) adoption is changing the way storage systems are architected and managed.
A VDI environment poses unique challenges for storage administrators because system performance is much more important than capacity. In a typical VDI environment, a virtual desktop is run as a VM on a central server. The user accesses the desktop from a thin client, which can be low-cost hardware or a traditional PC. Because the desktop and applications are centrally stored instead of residing on the local device, the demand on the storage system is exponentially greater.
Fulfilling the data requests of hundreds or thousands of virtual desktops places extreme stress on the storage system. VDI performance is driven by the number of input/output operations per second (IOPS) the storage system can execute. VDI storage obviously requires enough capacity for application and user data, but the end-user experience is ultimately determined by how rapidly the data is served.
Matching physical desktop IOPS with a virtual environment is one of the biggest roadblocks to more widespread VDI deployments. Storage bottlenecks and the price to alleviate them have been the major VDI obstacles.
"It has been the storage side [of VDI deployments] that has been the most troublesome," said Sam Lee, a senior sales architect with IT services provider Force 3, in Crofton, Md. "You can contain and manage CPU and memory performance, but managing storage performance is very difficult."
To address the IOPS issue, the larger storage vendors are adapting their existing systems by adding solid-state drives (SSDs) to handle I/O operations while using traditional spindle disks for back-end capacity. Some storage vendors are partnering with computing, networking and virtualization hypervisor providers to offer preconfigured bundled architectures or products tuned for high performance.
More on VDI performance concerns
Firm chooses Nutanix storage appliance to address VDI performance hurdles
However, we've also seen a rush of new storage systems -- usually from startups -- that target VDI or other high-IOPS environments. These often consist of appliances containing storage and servers and always use flash -- either in all-SSD packages or hybrid SSD and hard drive boxes. Software and operating systems are also key ingredients to make data processing more efficient to get the most performance out of spindles.
According to Mark Bowker, an Enterprise Strategy Group senior analyst, VDI was a top-10 IT spending priority for both 2011 and 2012. Most organizations interested in VDI are now in the research and proof-of-concept stage, Bowker said.
"The goal of a VDI deployment should not be focused on the infrastructure. It should be focused on the end-user experience, rapid scale, good performance, reliability, resiliency and disaster recovery," Bowker said.
Here is a look at storage systems and bundles that go beyond traditional SANs to target VDI storage.
Bundled stacks
EMC Corp., NetApp Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) have predesigned bundled architectures with storage, compute and networking in one tidy package. Both EMC and NetApp partnered with VMware Inc. for the virtualization hypervisor and Cisco Systems Inc. for the networking gear. EMC, however, made its Vblock stack as one product sold through its Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) joint venture with VMware, Cisco and Intel Corp. NetApp, meanwhile, offers its FlexPod bundle as a reference architecture for customers to put together, although they can buy all the pieces from NetApp or its VARs.
HP also offers a bundled solution designed for VDI environments, consisting of all HP hardware. HP's CV2 is based on the HP BladeSystem architecture and backed by HP's LeftHand P4800 SAN for storage. "The approach we've taken to VDI is that we started with reference architectures for VDI, and most recently we've turned those reference architectures into the HP VirtualSystem CV2," said Mike Koponen, HP's worldwide solutions marketing manager. HP developed two Client Virtualization (CV) products: one for Citrix XenDesktop and another for VMware View.
Storage appliances
A common path for storage startups in recent years is to go after the relatively new problem of VDI storage with one of the hot new enterprise storage technologies. So there are a good deal of new storage systems that use solid-state storage and are targeted at virtualization and VDI.
GreenBytes Inc. approaches VDI with two systems, one mixing SSDs and hard drives and the other an all-flash system. The HA-3000 scales from 26 TB to 78 TB of SAS drives and includes at least 200 GB of SSD cache and either eight Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) or four 10 GbE ports. The SSD is used as a cache to accelerate read and write IOPS for VDI deployments. Customers can add more SSDs in the 3U 16-bay system.
GreenBytes recently launched its Solidarity all-SSD array with hot-swappable dual controllers, scale-out nodes, transparent failover, and inline real-time primary deduplication and compression. Each node is available with 240 GB, 480 GB or 960 GB flash drives, and the array's total capacity ranges from 3.5 TB to 13.44 TB.
The NexGen Storage n5 system features solid-state storage on PCI Express (PCIe) cards and low-cost, high-capacity disks for more capacity than an all-SSD SAN.
Chris McCall, vice president of marketing for NexGen Storage Inc., said the startup placed the solid-state technology on the PCIe bus instead of using SSDs in the array because it's faster and allows more space for high-capacity drives. The n5's performance management functionality allows administrators to set performance levels per volume and designate each volume's service level. So an administrator can assign the number of IOPS a volume will use and prioritize the volumes when something inevitably fails. It also allows administrators to temporarily increase the amount of IOPS a specified volume will get for tasks requiring high performance, such as VDI boot storms.
The Nimble Storage CS series is another hybrid system that uses flash and disk for VDI storage. To better deal with random writes, the CS software aggregates and compresses random writes as they come in to the storage system, then sequentializes them before writing to flash and disk. The flash is essentially used as a cache. According to Radhika Krishnan, Nimble Storage Inc.'s head of solutions and alliances, the CS series employs a log structure file system, "which gets you write optimizations in addition to read optimizations, making it ideally suited for VDI workloads," Krishnan said.
The Nimble CS series consists of seven models with capacities ranging from 8 TB (CS210) to 48 TB (CS 260G). The amount of flash in each system ranges from 160 GB (CS210) to 2.4 TB (CS260G). The CS210 includes four Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) connections, while all other Nimble models have six 1 GbE connections or two GbE connections and two 10 GbE connections.
The Nutanix Complete Cluster also uses a combination of flash and hard drives with servers all in one enclosure. Each server runs a standard hypervisor. The Nutanix Distributed File System (NDFS), which the vendor said was "inspired" by the Google File System, creates a pool of storage from all nodes in the cluster and handles striping, replication, auto-tiering, error detection and failover.
A Nutanix Complete Cluster consists of 2U blocks, each containing four server nodes, each with 320 GB of Fusion-io PCIe card flash, 300 GB of SATA SSDs and five 1 TB SATA hard drives for 1.3 TB of PCIe flash, 1.2 TB of SATA SSDs and 20 TB of hard drives per block. Blocks can be clustered for scalability. Each block has four 10 GbE and eight GbE ports.
Pivot3 Inc. released its vStac storage-and-compute bundle for VDI last year. The vStac VDI Appliance includes the vStac OS, which combines virtual servers and a scale-out, block-based storage software system.
According to Pivot3, the appliance approach to VDI storage provides storage and compute optimally configured for virtual desktops and predictable scalability. As with a scale-out NAS system, customers can add nodes to add capacity in a clustered fashion.
Each 2U vStac VDI appliance supports up to 100 desktops and includes two 10 GbE ports, 150 GB SSD and 3 TB disk storage and 96 GB of RAM. Pricing starts at $38,500 per appliance.
The Tintri VMstore series also uses both SSDs and back-end spinning disk. According to Chris Bennett, Tintri Inc.'s vice president of marketing, the VMstore runs all of the storage I/O through flash and uses the back-end disk for data less reliant on performance, such as snapshot storage. The VMstore series uses inline deduplication and compression to reduce the amount of data that sits on flash.
The Tintri VMstore comes in two models. The single-controller 4U T445 offers 16.4 TB of raw capacity (8.5 TB usable), dual GbE ports and one dual-port 10 GbE port. The dual-controller 3U T540 has 26.4 TB of raw capacity (13.5 TB usable) and two GbE ports and two 10 GbE ports per controller.
WhipTail Technologies offers an all-flash-based storage array. The company said its 2U XLR8r SSD storage array provides 250,000 writes per second and 1.9 Gbps throughput. Whiptail offers four models with capacities from 1.5 TB (the WT1500) to 12 TB (the WT12000).
Brian Brothers, a network administrator manager with the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DoDD), said his 6 TB WT6000 gives him upward of 230,000 IOPS for his 1,200-user VDI deployment. He also has the 3 TB WT3000 at his disaster recovery (DR) site about 5 miles from his primary data center.
Brothers first tested a mock VDI deployment that had a combination of SSD and hard disk drives, but it couldn't support the scaling he needed. Brothers said he uses his Whiptail SSD SAN for the majority of his VDI demands and uses his traditional SAN for data storage.
"One of the things that we wanted going into this [VDI deployment] is that the experience with the VDI had to be the same or better than what they did on desktops," Brothers said. "Otherwise, people won't like it."


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Keystone RV Sprinter Campfire Edition 29FWRL Fifth Wheel For Sale
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Tom Schaeffers RV Super Store is not responsible for any misprints, typos, or errors found in our website pages. Any price listed excludes sales tax, registration tags, and delivery fees. Manufacturer pictures, specifications, and features may be used in place of actual units on our lot. Please contact us @ 877-217-2444 for availability as our inventory changes rapidly. All calculated payments are an estimate only and do not constitute a commitment that financing or a specific interest rate or term is available.

subset: commoncrawl


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I'm so excited to share this recipe for healthy peanut butter cookie dough oatmeal.
It seems so long since I have shared a breakfast recipe, which is hard to believe because breakfast is 100% my favourite meal. I love how you can take something as simple as oats and turn them into such a delicious and decadent meal, but one that is healthy enough to eat every day.
This peanut butter cookie dough oatmeal follows a similar recipe to my insanely popular banana porridge, but I have added peanut butter, coconut flour and baking soda.
The peanut butter is primarily there because it tastes so good and I can't seem to go a day without eating it. But peanuts contain protein, fibre and monounsaturated fats, which have a massive range of benefits, for example keeping you feeling full, your digestive system moving and your heart healthy.
A standard serving of peanut butter is 30g, which is about 2 tbsp. Although I think it is very easy to eat more than that if you're not careful. When I made these oats I added 1 tbsp of peanut butter to the oats and then 1 on top. If you want to go to peanut butter heaven you could add 2 tbsp to the oats and some on top, however, I wouldn't recommend doing that every day.
The coconut flour is there for the cookie dough texture, I like how it bulks up the oats and is slightly grainy. You will definitely notice a difference from your normal bowl of oats.
Lastly, the baking soda is there to make it taste more like a cookie. I absolutely love cookies made with baking soda. But beware a little goes a long way and you only need to use a teeny tiny bit in this recipe. If you use too much the oats will end up tasting sour/ fizzy/ metallic, which is obviously not what you want. If this does happen I would recommend adding more of the other ingredients to make a double portion and just save some for the next day.
One last thing. This recipe makes a large portion and I was struggling to get through it. So even if you usually use more oats in your porridge I would recommend you stick to the recipe I have given.
Ready to learn how to make the most delicious bowl of oatmeal that you've had this year?
(Big claim but I know these peanut butter cookie dough oats won't disappoint).
Healthy Vegan Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Oatmeal Recipe
Serves 1
2 of your 5-a-day
- 1/3 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup oat milk
- 1 small ripe banana
- 1-2 tbsp peanut butter (find out how to pick a healthy one here)
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- ½ tsp vanilla essence
- A really tiny bit of baking soda
- Toppings: ¼ cup pomegranate arils, 1 tbsp cacao nibs, 1 tbsp peanut butter
- Heat the oats and oat milk on a medium heat.
- Mash the banana and add it to your oats and then add in the rest of the ingredients apart from the baking soda. Give it a really good stir.
- Cook for 4-5 minutes until it reaches your desired consistency. Keep stirring it every minute to help break down the banana and make the porridge sweeter.
- Next wet a tea spoon and dip the very end in the baking soda. You only need a teeny tiny bit! Stir in the baking soda and taste the oats. If you want it to taste slightly more tangy then add a really tiny bit more baking soda.
- Transfer the peanut butter cookie dough oats to a bowl and add your toppings. Then sit down and enjoy.
You could add raisins and cinnamon while cooking or mini chocolate chips as a topping to make two more delicious kinds of cookie dough oatmeal!
If you make this peanut butter cookie dough oatmeal remember to tag me @healthyandpsyched on instagram. I love to see how you have styled the food and what you thought of the recipe. Also go ahead and add it to pinterest for when you need some breakfast inspiration.
Do you love peanut butter and oats as much as I do?


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The writer of Hebrews said Jesus "entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption" (Heb 9:12).
In his Hebrews For Everyone commentary, N. T. Wright writes, "This is perhaps the most striking, indeed shocking, idea in the whole letter. At almost no point in the voluminous Jewish literature from the Bible through to the Jewish writings contemporary with the New Testament, and indeed beyond, does anybody suggest that human sacrifice might be a good thing—still less that the Messiah himself would become such a sacrifice. Apart from the powerful and deeply mysterious passage in Isaiah 53.10, which speaks of the sacrificial death of God's servant, the closest that Judaism comes to such an idea is the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac at Mount Moriah (Genesis 22), a story which played a considerable role in Jewish thinking at this time, and which Hebrews will refer to in 11.17-18; but the point there, of course, was that God stopped Abraham actually killing Isaac. The sacrifice didn't happen. Nor, of course, was there ever a suggestion that a high priest would have to become, simultaneously, both the priest who offered the sacrifice and the sacrifice itself. The idea would have been laughable if it hadn't, almost certainly, appeared blasphemous" (p. 95).


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Banned by Facebook? Censored by Google? Report the details in the form below. Click here for the tech-left's assault on free speech.
If you ever had any doubt about the tech-left's true intentions regarding freedom of speech and an open internet, this amazing admission from Google Chairman Eric Schmidt on March 23, 2017, should settle the matter.
If your voice has ever been silenced by the Internet Censorship Bureau, we want details. Share your story in the form below. We'll even keep the details confidential if you like.
We're regularly updating the list below of the tech-left's coordinated campaign to silence free speech on the internet. As you scroll through the more than 100 examples below, we urge you to keep Eric Schmidt's words top of mind. "Take if off the page… Right? Put it somewhere else. Make it harder to find."
If you're ready to Free Our Internet from ICB Commissioners Soros, Schmidt and Zuckerberg, please join the fight now!
The tech-left's assault on free speech – a historical record:
11/29/07 – Google shuts down YouTube account of Egyptian human rights activist Wael Abbas
4/9/08 – Christian group sues Google after the search engine refuses to accept its pro-life advertisements.
10/3/08 – Google's YouTube censors comedian's anti-Sharia video titled "Welcome to Saudi Britain".
1/7/10 – Google censors autocomplete function for "Islam is…". "Christianity is…" and "Buddhism is…" not censored.
1/11/10 – Google accused of filtering out search suggestions for the word "Islam."
1/13/10 – Google bans links to search results for the BBC in China.
1/13/10 – Google filters out all links to mentions of Tiananmen Square massacre from Chinese search results.
3/14/10 – Facebook bans Moroccan secularist group.
3/16/10 – Technology journalist blacklisted and removed from Google News for articles critical of the company.
7/22/10 – Facebook deletes post by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for criticizing construction of a mosque near Ground Zero.
7/26/10 – Facebook bans the word "Palestinian" in page titles.
1/28/11 – Google autocomplete blocks the phrase "Google and crime."
9/12/11 – InfoWars reporter warned by Facebook not to use the social network to express his political opinions after he posted a story about whether living off the grid was now being treated as a crime.
4/29/12 – Leftists allegedly target the Twitter account of Dana Loesch's husband Chris Loesch, resulting in Twitter banning his account on three different occasions.
5/13/12 – Google bans conservative blog The New York Conservative, hosted on Google Blogger for opining on the trial of terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
6/1/12 – Google bans firearm accessory sales on its shopping services.
7/5/12 – Google censors information about guns in Google shopping.
9/14/12 – Google blocks access to "Innocence of Muslims" video in several countries.
12/27/12 – Facebook suspends Natural News account for a post that included a quote from Gandhi on how the British depriving India of arms was one of the blackest misdeeds of British rule.
1/22/13 – Facebook temporarily suspends the account of "Chicks on the Right" after a post criticizing President Obama's White House press secretary.
5/28/13 – Facebook suspends the account of Andrea Lalama for posting a picture of her two kids holding a sign protesting Monsanto.
5/29/13 – Facebook blocks Fox News commentator Todd Starnes for "violating community standards" for his post supporting guns, Chick-fil-A, Jesus.
7/3/13 – Facebook blocks LibertyNews story for sharing a story critical of abortion.
7/22/13 – Facebook blocks Kirk Cameron and his fans from promoting his upcoming Christian-themed movie "Unstoppable." Facebook later relents, blaming the censorship on a "mistake" with their spam filter.
9/30/13 – Patriotic truckers group files lawsuit against Facebook for banning their page.
4/28/14 — Google Bans Ads From Pregnancy Centers After Lobbying From "Pro-Choice" NARAL.
11/17/14 – Facebook bans advertisement for safes and vaults (not guns) from Charlotte North Carolina gun store Hyatt Guns as part of its Veterans Day promotion.
12/20/14 – Facebook bans Russian page supporting Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny.
1/28/15 – One week after expressing support for free speech in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, Facebook begins censoring images of Muhammad.
2/17/15 – Facebook blocks links to articles about 21 Coptic Christians beheaded by ISIS in Egypt.
3/2/15 – Facebook locks account of 12-year-old African American boy after releasing video critical of President Obama.
3/19/15 – Leaked report Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff report alleges that Google uses an algorithm to deliberately manipulate search results to favor their own products and services over those of competitors.
7/10/15 – Google allegedly bans gay networking software on its app store in South Korea.
8/16/15 – Google's YouTube accused of censoring videos of black-on-white crime.
8/24/15 – Twitter accused of blocking access to political transparency organization Politiwoops for archiving deleted tweets from elected officials.
8/31/15 – Facebook allegedly censors Christian-themed advertisement for mentioning Christianity and Jesus.
9/25/15 – Feminist group releases report urging the United Nations to use its licensing prerogative for telecoms and search engines to require that they censor offensive speech.
9/27/15 – German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg caught on an open mic agreeing to censor Facebook content critical of European immigration policy.
12/8/15 – Google Chairman Eric Schmidt calls for "hate speech spell-checker" to be implemented on social and search platforms to "nudge" users away from unwelcome forms of expression.
12/15/15 – Google and Facebook partner with the German government to delete "hate speech" within 24 hours in an effort to silence public dissent over the wave of Syrian immigration in the country.
12/15/15 – Google's YouTube suspends video channel of investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson. Claims channel was suspended in error.
12/18/15 – Artist sues Google over its banning of pro-life music video.
1/1/16 – Facebook takes down picture of 2012 Donald Trump campaign button from "Wake Up America" page for violating community standards for nudity, even though the picture contained no nudity whatsoever.
1/9/16 – Twitter "unverifies" official account of Breitbart tech editor.
1/13/16 – Facebook yanks "We like gun rights" fan page.
1/26/16 – Reddit moderators censor story of female refugee center worker murdered by migrant.
2/9/16 – Twitter unveils new "Trust and Safety Council" featuring left wing feminists with the goal of monitoring the platform to maintain an environment where people "feel safe expressing themselves."
2/20/16 – Conservative blogger Stacy McCain banned by Twitter. No reason given.
2/29/16 – Bernie Sanders supporters allege that Twitter is removing hash tags critical of Hillary Clinton.
3/4/16 – Facebook's Instagram blocks links to competitors Snapchat and Telegram.
3/7/16 – Facebook-owned Instagram deletes artist's satirical portraits of politicians and even a screenshot of the author's tweet about Facebook deleting his account/
3/15/16 – Feminist author banned from Facebook after posting photos of Aboriginal women.
3/26/16 – Facebook tells "Wake Up America" administrators that it removed a satirical picture of the Obamas wearing Che Guevara t-shirts because it "violated their community standards."
4/11/16 – Patriotic biker group "2 Million Bikers" fan page banned by Facebook after promoting its ride to Washington DC.
4/24/16 – Donald Trump shadowbanned by Twitter after posting a tweet that "the establishment and special interests are absolutely killing our country."
5/4/16 – Anti-radical Islam video game endorsed by Milo Yiannopoulos banned by Google on its Google Play Store.
5/11/16 – Google bans all ads for payday loans.
5/18/16 – Advocates for curbing illegal immigration allege that Facebook is suppressing posts that undermine Facebook's lobbying efforts for expanding the pool of foreign labor.
5/21/16 – Facebook bans conservative commentator Lauren Southern for 30 days after she criticizes the social network for banning the administrator of another conservative pro-Trump Facebook page.
5/31/16 – Google demotes pro-Brexit/Euroskeptic websites by pushing them down in search results.
5/31/16 – Facebook partners with the European Union to censor so-called "hate speech" and promote "counter-narratives."
6/6/16 – Pro-Trump Reddit community alleges that Reddit Admins are censoring discussion of censorship.
6/10/16 – Investigative video released showing how Google manipulates search results to favor Hillary Clinton.
6/12/16 – Facebook bans Pamela Geller for comment criticizing President Obama for neglecting to mention Islam or Muslims in his comments on the Orlando, Florida terrorist attack.
6/12/16 – Reddit's /r/News locks posts, deletes comments and bans users discussing the Orlando terrorist attack.
6/13/16 – Twitter bans game developer Mark Kern for tweeting that radical mosques should be surveilled.
6/15/16 – Twitter censors the hashtag #GaysForTrump from autocomplete.
6/16/16 – Facebook shadowbans page mapping immigrant crimes in Germany.
6/16/16 – Reddit announces that it will adjust its algorithms to censor Trump supporters following the Orlando nightclub shooting.
6/20/16 – Facebook-owned Instagram censors conservative comedy group; offers no reason.
6/20/16 – Google, Facebook and Apple ban rifle emoji.
6/22/16 – Anti-Hillary Clinton game removed from Google Play Store, but "Punch the Trump" game remains.
6/29/16 – Reddit censors criticism of Islam following Istanbul bombing.
7/7/16 – Facebook removes post from Singapore political activist for criticizing Singapore police.
7/7/16 – Reddit moderators censor stories about refugees in Europe committing rape.
7/12/16 – Reddit takes down poll showing Trump leading Clinton by 6 points in Florida.
7/14/16 – Google deletes the 14-year-old blog of an author and artist and simultaneously deactivates his Gmail account. No explanation given.
7/18/16 – Melbourne, Australia singer Melody Pool banned from Facebook for post in which she mentions her menstrual pain.
7/20/16 – Twitter bans conservative activist Milo Yiannopoulos.
7/23/16 – #DNCLeaks disappears from trending news on Twitter after Wikileaks releases emails.
7/23/16 – Gmail users claim Trump emails sent automatically to Spam folders.
7/23/16 – Two days before the Democratic National Convention, Facebook restricts Dinesh D'Souza's outreach coordinator for the movie "Hillary's America" after he posts links encouraging others to watch and review the movie.
7/24/16 – Facebook blocks all Wikileaks links after DNC emails are released.
7/27/16 – Google excludes Donald Trump from "presidential candidates" search
7/27/16 – Google censors autocomplete for "Corrupt [Tim] Kaine."
7/30/16 – Reddit moderators accused of censoring Donald Trump "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) to suppress support for the presidential candidate.
8/1/16 – Facebook-owned Instagram bans artist's Instagram page after posting parody artwork of Hillary Clinton.
8/2/16 – Hugo-nominated author Brian Niemeier "shadow-banned" on Twitter.
8/2/16 – Facebook bans "Mothers Against Radical Islam" after posting a video critical of media coverage suggesting criticism of radical Islam was Islamophobic.
8/2/16 – Facebook blocks radio host Michael Savage after he posts story of migrant murderer in Germany.
8/4/16 – Reddit thread on France firebombing attack closed for anti-Islamic "hate speech."
8/8/16 – Boxer Amir Khan's Muslim trainer Tam Khan banned from Facebook for anti-ISIS post.
8/9/16 – Facebook censors "Truth about Islam" account.
8/11/16 – Twitter secretly censors criticism of Obama during a Q&A he gave on the platform.
8/19/15 – Picture promoting traditional marriage removed from Facebook for "violating community standards."
8/21/16 – New York Times columnist calls on Google to censor search engine results to hide stories about Hillary Clinton's health.
8/31/16 – YouTube star PewDiePie suspended by Twitter. No reason given. Account later restored.
9/2/16 – Google's YouTube "demonetizes" several hundred video channels including a channel with a video about… freedom of the press.
9/4/16 – Google accused of using fake search results to deliberately manipulate people's views of "jihad."
9/12/16 – Research psychologist details results of investigation showing Google manipulates search results to favor Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.
9/21/16 – Twitter bans women's rights group after their criticisms of Saudi Arabia for the country's treatment of women.
9/22/16 – Twitter bans well-known journalist and free speech advocate Glenn Reynolds. Account later restored.
9/26/16 – Investigative journalist alleges that Twitter blocks his account for "instigating terrorism" at the request of the government of Turkey. The journalist, Mahir Zeynalov, was critical of Turkey's Erdogan government.
10/6/16 – Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip, alleges that he is shadowbanned on Twitter after requesting that his followers tweet examples of Hillary Clinton supporters being violent against Trump supporters.
10/12/16 – Google's YouTube censors conservative video channel by labeling it "restricted adult content."
10/12/16 – Twitter blocks the account of conservative journalist James O'Keefe shortly after tweeting that he was about to release a new video investigation of a U.S. Senate candidate.
10/13/16 – Google and YouTube demonetize a video from Milo Yiannopoulos lecture that discussed the deaths of two Americans killed by an illegal alien drunk driver.
11/2/16 – Google's YouTube censors PragerU video criticizing the left for censorship.
11/7/16 – Twitter bans watchdog that kept track of celebrities' deleted tweets.
11/9/16 – Twitter bans Milo Yiannopoulos account that posts Facebook status updates on Election Day.
11/14/16 – Gab founder Andrew Torba banned from Silicon Valley startup community YCombinator after members of the group allege that Torba's defense of Donald Trump made them feel "unsafe."
11/15/16 – Twitter unveils new features to combat "hate speech."
11/16/16 – Google and Facebook pledge to defund conservative news sites as "fake news" by denying them access to the companies' ad networks.
11/22/16 – AppNexus, one of the internet's largest digital advertisers, bans Breitbart from participating in its online advertising platform arguing the news site promotes so-called "hate speech."
11/23/16 – Facebook develops "special software" to help China censor Facebook content.
12/16/16 – The ACLU announces its support of Facebook's campaign to let favored political groups censor mainstream news reports sent by Facebook users.
12/16/16 – Soros financed group partners with Facebook to flag "disputed" news stories posted on its social media network.
12/29/16 – Almost 1000 of Facebook's top page owners whose pages were removed from the social network fight back against Facebook's increasing censorship.
1/11/17 – Facebook censors posts in Thailand that the government deems "unsuitable."
1/22/17 – Apple rejects free speech social network app Gab.ai from being listed in its Apple store.
1/26/17 – Google bans more than 200 publishers from its ad network in a crackdown on so-called "fake news."
1/27/17 – Twitter bans popular YouTube personality and social commentator Sargon of Akkad after Akkad sends tweet to EU official questioning the link between Islamic immigration and increased terrorism.
1/27/17 – Google and Facebook work behind the scenes with Soros-funded Media Matters to "shape" the social networks' campaigns to fight so-called "fake news."
1/27/17 – Google's YouTube disables Milo Yiannopoulos live streaming ability hours before immigration speech at University of New Mexico.
2/7/17 – Twitter announces new changes to its platform to censor what they alone determine constitutes "hate speech" by deeming tweets "low quality" and "sensitive."
2/21/17 – Google advertising partner AdRoll bans Alex Jones' InfoWars sending a vaguely worded email to InfoWars' legal department blocking the site from participating in its online advertising program.
2/22/17 – Transgender YouTuber and critic of cultural Marxism, Blaire White banned by Facebook for 30 days. No reason given.
2/23/17 – Google launches artificial intelligence program to crack down on so-called "hate speech" in news article comment sections.
3/1/17 – Google, Facebook, AFP and the BBC collude in launching campaign to tell voters "who to trust" in French presidential election.
3/9/17 – Twitter suspends account of conservative YouTuber Hunter Avallone. No reason given.
3/10/17 – Hunter Avallone posts link to his backup Twitter account in YouTube video. Twitter bans that account as well. No reason given.
3/10/17 – Twitter tests new censorship feature to flag entire user accounts that it deems contain "sensitive content."
3/27/17 – Twitter temporarily censors Drudge Report tweets behind "sens
3/28/17 – Facebook assists Pakistani government in removing so-called "blasphemous" content.
3/31/17 – "Pizza Party Ben," a popular pro-Trump comedy account with 70,000 followers banned by Twitter. No explanation given.
4/7/17 – Google rolls out new "fact check" tool to flag so-called "fake news."
4/17/17 – Google admits to censoring InfoWars. Claims it will stop.
7/18/17 – Over two dozen Catholic pages were blocked by Facebook after being "suspected of suspicious activity."
8/17/17 – Google blocks free speech social network Gab from the Google Play Store citing violations of the company's hate speech policy.
9/25/17 – The pro-life advocacy group Live Action is blocked from advertising on Twitter because of "hateful content in advertising."
9/9/17 – A pro-Trump YouTube star has her song "Make America Great Again" taken down from YouTube. The company refuses to comment on this specific case.
10/9/17 – Twitter shuts down Congressman Marsha Blackburn's campaign's ability to promote her announcement video because of pro-life statements.
10/28/17 – Twitter bans political insider Roger Stone.
10/30/17 – Apple blocks Cigar Aficionado's Where to Smoke cigar app from the App Store, despite allowing apps promoting marijuana to stay in the store.
10/30/17 – YouTube suspends Content Creators Coalition ad campaign to pressure Google into treating artists more fairly created called "YouTube Can Do Better."
10/31/17 – During a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee into Russian activity in the 2016 election, Twitter admits to blocking anti-Hillary Clinton tweets.
11/2/17 – The president's Twitter handle, @RealDonaldTrump, is deactivated for 11 minutes.
12/9/17 – Google announces it will no longer offer YouTube on Amazon platforms, violating the principles it purports to champion through "net neutrality."
2/15/18 – Instagram submits to Russian demands to censor posts relating to corruption claims made by the country's most prominent opposition leader.
4/2/18 – Ads posted by the Franciscan University of Steubanville, a Catholic College, promoting the school's online Masters programs are blocked by Facebook for including "excessively violent" content.
4/9/18 – Facebook blocks notifications of new posts to followers of Conservative internet pundits Diamond and Silk, citing the duo's "content and brand" as "unsafe to the community."
4/11/18 – Facebook rejects Conservative Michigan State Senate candidate Aric Nesbitt's campaign announcement advertisement for including references to his pro-life and 2nd Amendment rights beliefs.
7/24/18 – Twitter appears to shadowban the account of Republican Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL-1) after Rep. Gaetz's account did not turn up when multiple users searched for it on the site.
8/1/18 – Google plans to launch a search engine in China that will block sites regarding "human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest."
8/27/18 – A recent report from InformationLiberation.com found that YouTube favors mainstream sources over conservative commentators.
9/3/18 – Google's official app store 'Google Play' banned GunBroker.com's mobile app from its platform, advancing the company's gun control agenda.
9/23/18 – Twitter locks the account of Actor and Conservative commentator James Woods for a tweet he posted on July 20.
9/23/18 – PayPal bans Alex Jones' InfoWars from its platform, giving the host 10 days to find an alternative payment provider.
10/30/18 – Google blocks Rep. Marsha Blackburn's campaign ads – which highlight radical protesters – because they contain what Google has defined as "shocking content."
11/25/18 – Twitter bans Iraq War veteran and GOP congressional candidate, Jesse Kelly, for "unspecified reasons."


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Recent NewsScope Articles
Sept. 28, 2015
- Xi and Obama agree; October's top 5 astro-events; Emissions scandal at Volkswagen.
Oct. 5, 2015
- Bernie Sanders and the Debate; the Oregon shooter; Richard Tarnas and Jupiter.
Oct. 12, 2015
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Oct. 19, 2015
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Oct. 26, 2015
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Nov. 2, 2015
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Nov. 9, 2015
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Nov. 16, 2015
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Nov. 23, 2015
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Nov. 30, 2015
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Dec 7, 2015
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Dec 14, 2015
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Dec 21, 2015
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Dec 28, 2015
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Jan. 4, 2016
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Jan.11, 2016
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Jan. 18, 2016
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Jan. 25, 2016
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Feb. 1, 2016
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Feb. 8, 2016
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Feb. 15, 2016
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Feb. 22, 2016
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Feb. 29, 2016
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March 7, 2016
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March 13, 2016
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March 21, 2016
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March 28, 2016
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April 4, 2016
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April 11, 2016
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April 18, 2016
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April 25, 2016
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May 2, 2016
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May 9, 2016
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May 16, 2016
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May 23, 2016
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June 6, 2016
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June 20, 2016
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re: Election Day chaos
- Maybe someone pointed this out to you already but if no candidate receives 270 electoral votes, the House of Representatives chooses the winner. I suppose someone could challenge that but they would likely lose since the law is quite clear.
I wrote about this on
February 29
relating to the 12th amendment, which is where this directive comes from. But note how litigious Trump is, and that there's likely to be some counting irregularities, as there were in the 2000 election that was decided by the Supreme Court in Bush's favor.
re: Trump
- Was chatting with my astrologer recently, and I was told that there's a very high probability (astrologically speaking) that there will be an assassination attempt on Trump on or about Aug. 11. What's your take on this?
Extremely unlikely. I see no astrological evidence for such an irresponsible claim.
re: Sanders
- I never miss your column and find it very insightful. Regarding this wild election year, do you see any possibility of Bernie Sanders running as an Independent if HC gets the Democratic nomination? Most of her primary wins have been razor thin, and there is a lot of dissatisfaction among the Dems as well as the Republicans with the status quo. After all, he was an Independent for many years in Congress. I would love to hear your opinion.
No, I don't think he will run as a third party candidate. He's content to get his message out and influence Hillary's stance on numerous issues.
re: Trump/Mussolini parallels
- Having spent quite a bit of time with my Italian in-laws and their friends in northern Italy I will add a different view. Americans have always looked upon Mussolini only as an evil dictator. Most Italians view him quite differently. While they agree he got Italy involved in WW ll In a bad way they view him as the man who built the infrastructure of their country. Before Mussolini they had no nationwide roads. Roads stopped at the edges of the old city states..
He built the railroads and bridges uniting the country too. The big railway stations we see. Rome, Florence and Milano were all constructed under his leadership. They also felt proud of their nation when he successfully invaded Ethiopia. The parallels with "Make America Great Again" are interesting. Trump frequently talks about repairing our infrastructure, particularly the airports, and making Americans proud of their country again. I think you've nailed it. Of course, I do believe in reincarnation.
Mussolini was executed on April 28, 1945. Trump was born less than one year later.
re: Prince -
If you haven't thought to do it, can you do a little tribute to Prince for Monday's column? Love him, would love to know more about his chart.
re: U.S. Gemini Rising chart
- It would seem that this coming New Moon of June 5th~6th (along with its mid-degrees Mutable Grand Cross) might be telling then, whether or not the 9* Gemini Asc. chart may be the true chart.
And how will it do that? Perhaps you could make a forecast that will be unique to Gemini Rising and not apparent in Scorpio Rising or other US charts. If you say what will happen ahead of time, your chart makes sense. After there fact is not persuasive.
For example, I recently forecast workers strikes when T Uranus entered the US 6th house and conjoined Chiron while opposing Juno. The 6th house is associated with work, and Uranus brings strikes. Last week's strike by Verizon workers was the largest in five years. It's a straightforward interpretation using basic astrology principles. And it only works when Scorpio is Rising. Making accurate forecasts says more about a chart than any backward or retro look.
Of course you realize that the Gemini Rising chart was created by renowned astrologer Luke Broughton in 1861 based on the fact that it was a revolution, and the practice of the time was to put the planet associated with revolution on the Ascendant. In 1861, Uranus was known but not in 1776.
re: Tesla -
I have been a fan of your blog; read every very Early Monday morning religiously. Would you kindly comment on Tesla motors; it hardly produces a couple of cars but wallstreet treats them like king while Ford, which produces millions of cars, sells for $15/share. why??
re: Mars retrograde
- You mention in your March 28th piece that stationary Mars opposes the U.S. Uranus. I would have noted that it is exact to the minute of arc! I consider exactitude to be important in predictive work.
re: Election Day chaos
- About placements on Nov 8: you would know but let me repeat. Neptune in its own sign on South node (let go of the past or confusion about past) and North node sign Virgo ruler Mercury at 23 Scorpio, dispositors Mars and Pluto. Mars last degree of Capricorn and Pluto 15 Capricorn connecting to Aries Point.
In my opinion, the real agenda is a new constitution and electoral system. Neptune South Node – can help dissolve attachment to past forms. North node Virgo, get to work on the details of new systems. Centralised power is alright if add in the necessary checks and balances.
re: Trump
- I really enjoyed--if that's the right word--the May 2nd issue. The Lilith in Astro*Carto*Graphy for Trump is particularly unsettling. You may want to emphasize in future NewsScopes that in many ways the President's chart becomes the US chart during his/her term of office. Also, thanks for your piece on Audra McDonald, she is a wonderfully talented singer and actor who is far too under appreciated.
re: Clinton
- If memory serves, Geo. W. Bush's Saturn was on his 1st house cusp, headed south, when he ran the second time and won. Of course, his second term is memorable for a host of bad reasons. Campaigns are battles. Governing is a war. It's possible Hillary wins the battle but struggles with the war, yes?
Could be! Technically, transiting Saturn was in Bush's 12th house during the 2004 election and didn't reach his Ascendant until September 2005. But yes, it was downhill from there.
re: ACG maps
- I'm a regular reader of your column, and having a question for you is an opportunity to say "thanks". My question concerns Lilith (whether oscillating or mean) and Astro*Carto*Graphy* maps. I've been consulting astrodienst's A*C*G* map service for years, but I've never seen an option to add bodies beyond the normal range of bodies and the north node, such as asteroids or Lilith. I'd really like to run a map for myself with Lilith (or the Liliths) included; possibly also to include the "big four" Goddess asteroids. What software or service did you use to obtain Donald Trump's Lilith lines?
I used the Solar Maps function in SolarFire to generate those maps. You can also get Lilith and the asteroids on ACG maps using Halloran's AstrolDeluxe software.
re: Trump
- What software program told you that Lilith is angular on Donald Trump's IC when his chart is relocated to California?
My apologies, I made an error on this. What I was looking at was Trump's progressed A*C*G* map, and on this one the progressed Lilith-IC runs just off the coast of California. I blame Mercury retrograde for this error.
re: Brazil -
Sorry, but Nicholas Campion is right! A lot of Brazilian astrologers don´t even know secondary progressions. It´s incredible, but they work only with natal charts and transits! Accuracy, precision, systematization are not the strong points of Brazilian astrologers. They create a lot of fantasies that they call "interpretations", with no connection with professional practices. And, I don´t guess why, they created a fallacious notion that Brazilian ascendant is in Aquarius! Brazilian mentality and inclinations have nothing to do with Aquarius and all to do with Pisces! This is the carnival paradise! After the carnival, it´s the end of the world, but no problem…Let´s wait for the next year carnival party! Do you follow me? Also, another point, I don´t see any reason to use LMT. Why not BZT +3?
Unfortunately, most "astrologers" are not using progressions yet. One doesn't have to be from Brazil to miss out on this valuable technique. To clarify Campion's position, independence was proclained somewhere between 4 and 5 pm LMT. He personally doesn't advocate 4:47 pm but states that many Brazilian astrologers do.
I'm sticking with 4:20 pm. Last week I was researching Petrobras to do a piece on it. President Vargas signed the act that created Petrobras on October 3, 1953 when transiting Pluto was at 24º Leo, precisely opposite the 4:20 pm Aquarius Ascendant. No such connection is evident with the 4:47 pm time.
As for the fantasy-oriented carnival, does not Neptune conjunct Brazil's ruling planet (Uranus) convey this? About LMT, time zones were established in 1884, so any time used before then had no systematic reference point except what the local clocks indicated.
re: Brazil
- The progressed Sun+Mars on natal Pluto is a powerful combination never seen before. It seems that a transformation of the Brazil State is coming, or even a military action (due to Mars).
In the 80s there was much discussion about Brazil's Ascendent between astrologers. Through rectification the Aquarius rising became more habitual, though some still prefer the Pisces rising one. The Fixed signs are important when one studies historical events, especially 20º-24º Scorpio. The Discovery of Brazil chart in 1500 and Republic Proclamation in 1889 have important points in those signs and degrees.
Every time Saturn enters Scorpio there's some sort of political crisis in the country. In June 2013 we had massive protests in the streets (something unusual for Brazilians). Since then the country has been in turmoil, and every day the situation just worsens.
Most Brazilian astrologers use a Scorpio MC due to several military coups in Brazil's history and 2 deaths of presidents (one of them killed himself while in office). The most popular times are between 16:08 and 16:20, with Aquarius ascending.
re: Eris
- Pertaining to the current Uranus/Eris conjunction, I've been wondering how this would affect me and decided to comment as it may provide insight to others going through a similar transit.
Transiting Uranus and Eris are currently making a conjunction to my natal third house Sun/Mercury conjunction, and squaring my ascendant. (Sun 23º50 Aries, Asc 24º20 Capricorn). I've been wondering how having Eris in the mix would manifest, and haven't been able to find much online to prepare. So far, what's been happening is that I've had to become a very goal-oriented, vocal, warrior advocate for my elderly mother in our broken healthcare system. Lately it seems that I am quite effective at it; it's like something powerful comes over me when I'm fighting for my mother's well-being, and all involved do as I say, and I've stopped caring what they think of me. I wonder if this is Eris' influence.
Yes, most astrologers aren't aware of Eris yet as a meaningful archetype since it was only discovered a few years ago. Sounds like you've got a handle on it though, doing what you're doing. It does have that warrior energy. Thank-you for your story.
re: Gary Johnson
- Good article on Gary Johnson. I like him. He was Governor here in New Mexico. He did a good, solid job. There was no focus on legalizing drugs then. He only does that in his Presidential bids. He was a Republican back then who ran a successful business.
re: Flight MS804
- It occured to me when the Egyptian plane went down that perhaps it is somehow related to MH370. MH370 remains a mystery and it appears that no one has claimed responsibility for MS804 yet. Is this a long playing serial aviation terrorist?
Front Page
Personal Readings
NewsScope for July 11, 2016
By Michael Wolfstar
Racial Tensions Intensify Across the U.S.
As the definitive change in status for Black Americans, the Emancipation Proclamation (EP) provides a foundation horoscope to track the progress of racial balance in the United States. As
previously described
, the Capricorn Sun and Saturn on the Libra Ascendant (the sign of balance) show that this historic declaration was an Executive Order, and undoubtedly the most famous and far-reaching in American history.
The EP chart features an idealistic Mercury-Venus conjunction in Capricorn, perhaps indicating the government's role in implementing the values of free and equal rights for millions of African-Americans. Mars is dignified in Aries and ready to act for a worthy cause by being aligned with Jupiter and fortified by a trine to Ceres. However, Mars squares the Mercury-Venus conjunction, an inherent conflict that can bring trouble when the government doesn't respond to grievances.
Mars is currently being activated by several major astro-events, which have stoked the sense of racial injustice. Transiting Uranus and Eris are conjunct the EP Mars while progressed Venus and Mars are at 22º Cancer, exactly squaring natal Mars. Transiting Eris takes 560 years to orbit the Sun, so its conjunction with the EP Mars has been going on for several years. Now transiting Uranus joins Eris, causing the long-simmering undercurrents to explode.
Adding fuel to the fire is progressed Black Moon Lilith and transiting Pluto, now both aligned with the Mercury-Venus conjunction. The dynamics taking place in the EP horoscope are heating up. Progressed Venus to Mars (representing the peaceful protests) begins to wane in one month. Then progressed Mars squaring natal Mars becomes the dominant influence, peaking in February 2017. With transiting Uranus returning to its conjunction with the EP Mars this coming October, you can bet that explosive racial tensions will be shaping the presidential campaign.
Errol Flynn (June 20, 1909; 2:25 am; Hobart, Australia) was also born with a Sun-Pluto conjunction but, in the flighty sign of Gemini, he was far more restless than Olivia. Nevertheless, his Mars in fantasy-oriented Pisces was closely trine her Venus, while her Mars was sextile his Venus. Generally, this double Venus-Mars exchange provides excellent sexual chemistry, which was plainly evident in their films. But her Mars opposes his Mars, and they never consummated their mutual interest. He returned to his ex-wife just when they began getting intimate.
Olivia De Havilland was born during the New Moon in Cancer (July 1, 1916; 10:30 am; Tokyo, Japan). Venus is also in sentimental Cancer, and is emphasized by its conjunction with the luminaries, its sexy sextile to Mars in Virgo, and the fact that it's exactly conjunct the U.S. Sun (orb: 0º00'). Venus is further endowed with a smoldering sexuality by its conjunction with Black Moon Lilith.
Venus in the family-oriented sign of Cancer squares Vesta, the asteroid associated with sisterhood, and she had a feud with her sister Joan Fontaine for over three decades. In Olivia's case, the anger and intensity of their sibling rivalry can be seen in her Mercury: its placement in the sign if Gemini (associated with brothers and sisters) squares Mars. Also, her Sun-Pluto conjunction can become obsessive-compulsive about personal relationships
Olivia De Havilland Turns 100
Along with numerous other entertainment publications, People magazine's most recent issue highlighted Olivia De Havilland's 100 birthday last week. The elegant actress reminisced about her romances during Hollywood's Golden Age in the 1930s and 1940s, including actor Jimmy Stewart, billionaire Howard Hughes, and director John Huston. Her most famous fling was as the love interest of Errol Flynn in their eight films together
It's not a pretty picture, but this is the political climate for whoever wins in November. Because the Moon-Mars aspect is exact during the ceremony, one might suspect a terrorist incident is possible. At the very least, we should get a sign of what's to come. The Sun's opposition to Vesta – the asteroid associated with security -- indicates that the event will be intensely monitored and patrolled by armed federal agents.
The elevated Sun in Aquarius has only one aspect when considering the traditional planets, and that's a wide square to the Scorpio Moon. This indicates that the leadership role (the Sun) is most strongly shaped by the Moon. This Scorpio Moon looks like a Hillary win, since she's a woman (Moon) and a Scorpio. The Scorpio Moon is emphasized by its conjunction with the Scorpio Ascendant in the U.S. national chart.
At first glance, the Moon seems well placed. Its sextile to Mercury and trine to Neptune enhance the Moon's inherent power. However, the Moon is also forming a precise trioctile (135º) to Mars. This is the tightest aspect in the entire chart with an orb of 0º00' at noon. The challenging Moon-Mars aspect generates intense anger and aggression as well as explosive outbursts with the potential for extreme violence.
The 2017 Inauguration Horoscope
One way to decipher who might win the presidential election is to analyze the Inauguration Day horoscope. The advantage of this technique is that the date, time, and place -- January 20, 2017, noon, Washington, DC – is set by federal law. This chart may give clues about who will win, but is best considered as a forecasting tool for the next four years.


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knit and shorts, Just Jeans; top, Supre; bag, Equip; vintage belt; shoes, Andrea Biani.
Yes, guilty as charged. I have been away for far too long. Am actually glad that things are starting to quieten down again. The blog has been on my agenda for some time now. But due to a lack of inspiration in general, I considered my ensembles over the holidays much too blah for me to bother posting. Quite possibly this may have been linked to my lack of funds and the consequent non-purchasing of spanking new items to play with. Anyhoo, I intend to change that.
On a totally obscure tangent, I have been obsessing over Twilight for the past week. I wonder if anyone else is suddenly rather taken with idea of becoming a vampire and moving to a small town where it rains perpetually? It's probably just me.


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Sullivan Run Trail to Lewis Falls is a 13.4 kilometer lightly trafficked out and back trail located near Muncy Valley, Pennsylvania that features a waterfall and is only recommended for very experienced adventurers. The trail is primarily used for hiking, nature trips, and bird watching and is best used from March until October. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
dogs on leash
nature trips
bird watching
wild flowers
The trail is not marked very well, but if you make it to the small pull-off area, you will definitely be able to hear Sullivan falls roaring in the distance. The trail starts at the small parking lot, but if you take the trail you are going to miss all the waterfalls. The best way to experience this section is to start at the top of Sullivan Falls and simply walk the stream. Stick to the left of any branches in the stream and continue up about .7 miles. That's when you will stumble into the second waterfall. There are about 5 -6 waterfalls in total, and like the creator of the trail said, it is a pretty technical/strenuous hike. Most of the waterfalls you have to climb up in order to continue on and there is one section that depending on the water level, you can't keep going unless you don't mind swimming and climbing up a waterfall. With that said, it is definitely an adventure!
Trail was not well marked or maintained. We got a little over halfway then noticed orange markings that were a little more helpful but led us off the trail. Very muddy and wet. Waterfalls were nice. Not a terrible trail but Overall not as impressed as I'd thought.
Super fun for advanced hikers. Be sure to download your map in advance- no service on or near the mountain. Make your own path and enjoy the views! Watch for snakes and bears (I saw both on my ten mile loop)
Loring S.
I did the loop a little different and I saw a ton of waterfalls. A tough trail no doubt, but worth the work. Check out my full write up along with directions and things to look out for. eastcoasthiker.com/trails/gamelands13/
All in all a good hike. Some amazing falls without the crowds of Rickets Glenn. We did an over night from Saturday to Sunday and only saw two other groups the whole time. The gps took us to a parking spot on Grassy Hollow road, which left us about a mile short of the actual trail head. We walked to the start of the trail head on Jemerson City rd, and hiked about 4 miles to the water falls (Twin Falls, and another one, not sure if that's Big Falls or Lewis). The trail is very lightly traveled and not well marked, but, it was dry and not rocky so that was a plus. After we got to the falls (which were beautiful), we camped. The next morning we ended up making a loop instead of walking back. We walked on Grassy Hollow rd back to the car, so it actually worked out better that way.
Amazing nature hike! Trails are quite difficult, not quite as hard as Glen Onoko but I definitely recommend this one too!
It's a really great trail with awesome view of the falls. Made the whole loop at the end of last summer but while I was out today I lot the trail about 4.2 miles in. Good luck. And I'll see you out there. Cheers.
Most trails are around water. 2 snake encounters, be careful. No worries
Couldn't find it... Does anyone have any tips? The GPS brought me to 13 gameland down a poorly developed road and after 2 miles I decided to turn around and just go to Ricketts Glen.
My son wanted to hike this place that I had told him about but, I had not hiked it for 29 years. I had spent a lot of time up the Lewis Falls in my younger days since a friend owned the White House (Lead Run Gun Club), and I had my own private room there. This is still the best place to be when the temperature soars during summer. Every falls on this run has it's own deep swimming hole but, I doubt that the water temp rarely breaks 52*. I can remember doing this hike without getting my feet wet from jumping back and forth across the slippery rocks in the stream but, not at age 57. Getting up around to the top of a falls in order to continue required steep vertical climbs up very loose and slippery moss covered rocks. Watching out for snakes is imperative because one could be under any rock or on any ledge that you grabbed to pull yourself up. The only thing bad about this hike was when we reached the top falls where a trail connects to the access road and saw where ATVs were making trails. While we rested before heading back down a dirt bike rider showed up. I fear that soon garbage will start to appear since there were already signs of campfires present. I'm saddened by this because this is one of my favorite places on earth.
I have been been up and back this trip about four time in the last two years taking pictures of the waterfalls from Sullivan Falls, Pigeon Falls, Bear Run Fall, 5th Falls, Ore Run Falls. I have also hike the Heberly Run Side up to Lewis Falls and subsequent trips to Big Falls and Twin Falls. As Scott Brown put in his book Pennsylvania Waterfalls "To give you a good sense of what lies upstream from Pigeon Falls, consider trying to hike nearby Ricketts Glenn State Park before the trail was built." I still have more to explore.
I am completely amazed that I grew up here and never realized that there was a trail here. Some of the photos are clearly of Sullivan Falls which I have jumped off of at least 500 times (do not do it, it is not recommended and not legal). I have undertaken that idiotic endeavor for each year since 1994. This is my very favorite place in PA or anywhere, and not entirely happy that the secret is out. I'll have to look around for a trail next time.
While I have only done one section of this trail, it is easily one of the most beautiful parts of PA... and that's saying a lot! It is very similar to Ricketts Glenn, however it is not taken care of like the Glenn is. There are no steps, trails, etc. In order to see the falls, you have to walk up the stream, and climb the waterfalls as you get to them. Its definitely a dangerous hike, but it is so worth the experience. I hiked the trail last on July 2nd and while Ricketts glenn was so crowded I couldn't find a spot to park... I didn't see a soul on this little gem. And nothing beats the section where the canyon walls are so steep that you have to swim and climb up the falls to keep on exploring. When I got to the last fall, I just made a right and walked up the mountain til I got to the actual trail that this is for and then headed back down to my car. I would only recommend doing that if you've done the trail before. For more information on the trail and I decent map, check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/Pennsylvania-Waterfalls-guide-Hikers-Photographers/dp/0811731847/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313266864&sr=8-1


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002_user_cmd : LISA Script for user-defined Expert commands
Minimum Required Version: Expert 4.10.39.R
As mentioned in the previous example (JavaScript for layout automation), many layout-editing tasks can be automated through the use of scripting. This is especially useful when a certain task needs to be performed repetitively or for a large amount of geometries. One of the methods to increase the efficiency is to apply user-defined commands for such tasks.
Expert offers two choices of scripting language: one is JavaScript, and the other one is LISA (Language for Interfacing SILVACO Applications). This example will show how to generate a user-defined command to:
- Automatically arrange an array of dies on a wafer
- Place verniers and reticles in proper locations
- Set the origin of the whole layout into the geometrical center, through the use of a LISA Script
Figure 1 shows the specifications of the die frame. Figure 2 shows additional specifications of scribe lane and overlap.
1.0. Preliminary steps to start example
- Run the Expert application
- Load the "scripting_ex02.eld" project
- Create a new cell layout, in which we will use the new command to generate the frame layout
In the "scripting_ex02.eld" project, there are some existing layout cells: Main layout (the die), Vernier, Interlock, PCM, etc.
1.1. Creating/Loading/Running of the LISA user-defined commands
From the Expert window, choose the menu Tool->Script and select LISA. To open the script window, select Tool->Script->Script Panel . In the script window, choose File->Open and select the file scripting_ex02.xis, the script will then appear as shown in Figure 3 .
This script will define a new command called "generate" which will perform the following tasks:
- Provide an input dialog that allows designers to key in the values for necessary parameters
- Generate the Main array (die array), Vernier, Interlock, PCM, etc.
- Produce the extensions for scribe lane and the overlap
- Set the origin of the layout to its geometrical center
In order to run the script, press the green arrow icon located in the script panel window, or choose Script->Run . The execution of the LISA script defines a new Expert command, called "generate".
Type "generate" in the xi-Command Line dock-window of the Expert GUI, and press RUN to execute, as shown in Figure 4 .
Figure 5 illustrates the input dialog window after the execution of the "generate" command. Figure 6 shows the layout of a 6x10 die array, with properly aligned frame and extension. This layout was generated automatically by the user-defined command. Note that the origin is set to be in the center of the whole layout.
In the dialog window, the user can define the "Number of Rows", "Number of Columns" and "Number of PCM" to be 3, 6 and 2 respectively. These values will lead to the layout of a 3x6 die array , with 2 PCM patterns instead of 6.
1.2 Hints and Tips
- Users can refer to "lisa_users1.pdf" located in "<Silvaco_install_dir>/lib/expert/4.10.39.R/docs/" folder for the details in syntax while creating a LISA Script
- Another useful feature of Expert that can assist in the creation of a LISA Script is the use of the Expert log window ( View->Dock Windows->Expert Log ). This window lists each command performed during the Expert session in the proper LISA (or JavaScript) syntax. Additionally, it provides warning/error messages and the suggestions if there are syntax problem during the compilation.


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Consider this an experiment. I'm creating this document in Scrivener, then I'm going to copy/paste it into Medium and see if it retains my formatting.
The Problem
Do I rely on technology too much? Right, I know this is a strange forum for discussing technology, when one considers that without technology this forum wouldn't even exist.
But here's my problem:
I access Medium—at varying times of thee day and depending on my location and mood—either by my laptop, my iPhone, or my IPad. I find my laptop gives me better control over formatting—not to mention a greater source of images—than the other two options. But I don't usually use the laptop until I've been up and functioning for a few hours. Instead, my default device is my iPhone. Yes, it's easier to type on the iPad's larger keyboard, my my iPad is a few generations old, and is rather slow. And I get impatient as I wait for my tea water to boil so I can brew my first cup of soothing, calming tea.
So the iPhone it is. It's much newer than the iPad—it's a 6S Plus that's a little over a year old, so it still is fast enough—and it handles the latest updates to iOS without blinking. But I'm really unhappy with the lack of formatting options on the iPhone through the Medium app. And I'm not above admitting that it may very well be the ID Ten T at the keyboard. (Write it down and you'll see it becomes ID10T.)
Enter Scrivener
I've been using Scrivener for well over a year now, and I've never bothered to truly delve into all of its secrets and wonders. Rather than using it to compose my writing—mostly blog posts—I create and edit everything in Open Live Writer, then copying them to Scrivener, which serves as an archive. But I've recently decided to get my money's worth out of Scrivener and use it as it was mean to be used: to create, edit, and save one's writings.
So this is the first test. As I said, I'm doing everything in Scrivener, then I'll see how well it it transfers into Medium.
Well, THAT sucked. A simple copy/paste lost all of my formatting. And no, a Google search didn't yield a Medium-specific editor.
So it's back to the drawing board.
I'll keep you posted.


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Da Nang (Vietnam), Nov 10 (IANS) US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will not hold a formal meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit here, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Friday.
Citing "scheduling conflicts on both sides", Sanders aboard the Air Force One, told reporters that no formal meeting will take place, but that an informal interaction between the two leaders was likely to happen, reports CNN.
"Regarding a Putin meeting, there was never a meeting confirmed, and there will not be one that takes place due to scheduling conflicts on both sides," Sanders said.
"Now, they're going to be in the same place. Are they going to bump into each other and say hello? Certainly possible, and likely. But in terms of a scheduled, formal meeting, there's not one on the calendar and we don't anticipate that there will be one."
Sanders' statement contradicts what the Russian side had confirmed to the media on Thursday, CNN reported.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told state-run news agency Tass that Putin and Trump would meet on Friday, adding that the two sides had already agreed to the time and place.
While briefing reporters in China, though, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declined to say whether Putin and Trump would meet in Vietnam, telling reporters that officials were working to determine whether the two world leaders have sufficient areas of substance to discuss.
Post Source: Ians feed


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Exceptionally smooth and creamy with that characteristic gouda flavour. A nutritious snack cubed in your children's lunch or for cooking that special meal.
Ingredients: Whole milk, bacterial culture, salt, calcium chloride, rennet.
2017 – 3rd Place – Class 4 – The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair
2016 - 1st Place - Class 4 - British Empire Cheese Competition


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I did not win nor did my granddaughter, but I think the winners were chosen from that other age group. I can only hope that the architect and contractor will be informed in their final decisions by these excellent imaginings. We could use a little bold color in this townlet, I think.
Much thanks to all four and to all the other kids who joined in with this project!


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Go Gonzo Club
Personalize Your Stay in Moab
Are you ready to Go Gonzo? Join The Gonzo Inn's membership club, and enhance your Moab visit with exclusive benefits!
As a member of the Go Gonzo Club, you will enjoy the benefits of membership each time you stay. You will know we are anticipating your arrival because your room will be personalized to membership specifications.
When making reservations, you are required to provide your member profile number and your stay will be reflected on your member profile.
Membership Eligibility
- Go Gonzo membership benefits are available exclusively for our valued guests.
- To achieve membership benefits, guests are first required to establish a guest profile and reflect 10 or more qualified nights. Example: Qualified nights are required to be attached to profile.
- Inactive profiles will be deleted after 3 years, unless you contact hotel to make other arrangements.
- Unfortunately, the Gonzo Inn is unable to apply past stay information to a member profile.
Contracted rates/Group Guests
- Guest/Company with Contracted Rates are not eligible for membership benefits.
- Guest staying as part of a Group is not eligible for membership benefits.
Membership Card
- When you achieve membership status your Go Gonzo membership packet will soon arrive. You have the option to receive packet by email or delivered by regular mail.
- When making reservations and upon check-in you are required to provide Go Gonzo membership profile number.
- Benefits do not apply with any other discounts, specials, or offers.
- If Go Gonzo Member reserves multiple reservations/rooms, additional rooms may receive room rate discount, however other guests nights do not qualify to be attached to profile unless Go Gonzo Member is paying for rooms.
Club Benefits
Generous Discounts
- Room Rate Discount: 15% off rack rates
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We'll customize your room prior to your arrival, with the information you provide on your member profile.
Simply give us your member profile number at the time of reservation. Extra amenities can be placed in your room upon request. Other benefits include:
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The more you stay, the better it gets. To show our appreciation, we are honored to present our most frequent guests with a gift. Gift is rewarded after completing 40 qualified nights.
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The Gonzo Inn is more than happy to accommodate your requests for early check-in and extended check-out. However, in some situations we may be unable to fulfill your requests. Inquire at time of reservation for early check-in and with desk clerk upon arrival for an extended 1:00 pm check-out privilege.
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Michael Abrahams | The Bible: a poor guide for the treatment of children
Civilised societies today recognise children as belonging to a vulnerable community. They are dependent on adults for nurturing, protection, guidance… for their very survival. They are indeed vulnerable. When children are abused, neglected and exposed to dysfunction, they are traumatised, and are at risk of growing up into dysfunctional adults who are likely to traumatise their own children, and in doing so perpetuate a cycle of abuse.
Studies have repeatedly demonstrated the negative effects of corporal punishment on children, and there is widespread agreement among paediatricians, psychiatrists and psychologists, people who research and manage children, that the practice is to be discouraged.
However, here in Jamaica, there is much resistance to abide by the recommendations of the experts.Interestingly, some of the most strident defenders of beating children are Christians, who use the Bible to defend the practice. Proverbs 13:24, "Whoever spares the rod hates their children,but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them", is often used as a justification for hitting children in order to discipline them, although some interpret the use of a "rod" as something used to guide, rather than to strike.
But even if one chooses the less violent interpretation, there are several instances in the Bible where violence, often extreme forms, are used against children. For example, 2 Kings 2:23-24, tells of the prophet Elisha who was jeered by some boys while on his way to Bethel. Elisha cursed them in the name of the Lord, and two bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of them. Leviticus 20:9 states that anyone who curses his father or his mother shall be "put to death". Likewise, Deuteronomy 21: 18-21 states that a rebellious son should be stoned to death by all the men of his town. Also, according to Proverbs 30:17, "The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures."
Often, in times of war, children become collateral damage. But there are instances in the Bible where the killing of children of enemies is encouraged, or even ordered by God. For example, Psalm 137:9 says, "Happy is the one who seizes your infant sand dashes them against the rocks",a verse about revenge directed at the Babylonians who captured the people of the Kingdom of Judah. In 1 Samuel 15: 3, God actually sent a message to Saul, through Samuel, to kill all the Amalekites, including "children and infants".
Cruelty to children in the Bible was not just confined to youngsters being punished for wrongdoing or killed during battles, but also in order to punish parents who had transgressed. David wanted Bathsheba and arranged to have her husband killed in battle, which displeased God. The punishment for this act is described in 2 Samuel 12: 15-18, where God "struck" their baby with illness, which caused the innocent child to suffer and die. Similarly, in Exodus 12:12 God killed all the "firstborn" in Egypt to punish, not the children, but their parents.
There are occasions where children were traumatised or placed at risk even when neither they nor their parents did anything to warrant punishment. Genesis 22:1-12 describes how God told Abraham, whom he described as "righteous", to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, as a burnt offering. Abraham tied the boy to the altar, on top of the firewood, and was about to stab him to death with a knife, when an angel told him to stop, and informed him that God was only testing him. Genesis 19 tells the story of all the men in the city of Sodom turning up at the home of Lot, another "righteous" man, and demanding to have sex with two male guests, who happened to be angels, who were staying there. Lot denied their request but offered his two virgin daughters to the mob to be raped and sodomised.
There is also a disparity between how boys and girls are treated in the Bible. Deuteronomy 22:21-22 states that if a man marries a woman and discovers that she is not a virgin, she must be stoned to death by all the men of her town. (In those days, girls were often married off in their mid-to-early teens and would be considered minors today.) There are no instructions, however, for dealing with males who were not virgins at the time of marriage, revealing a significant gender bias.
Then there is the issue of child abandonment. According to Luke 14:26, Jesus said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple." Christian apologists will tell us that the use of the word "hate" is hyperbole and that Jesus did not want people to literally hate their families. But even if that is the case, the principle of someone abandoning their family, including their children, is clear.
In my opinion, a book that endorses the physical assault, killing and abandonment of children, speaks of great men being willing to sacrifice their children in different ways, and exhibits significant gender bias, is a poor guide for the treatment of children today. The Bible consists of stories written by people in a specific geographic region about their beliefs and experiences thousands of years ago. However, today we understand much more about psychology and the long-term effects of childhood trauma. We must also be mindful of the fact that many of the stories in the Bible cannot be verified, and that some are allegorical or are myths. Taking everything literally and applying it today can place the well-being of our children at risk.
- Michael Abrahams is a gynaecologist and obstetrician, comedian and poet. Email feedback to firstname.lastname@example.com and email@example.com, or tweet @mikeyabrahams


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The schoolyard Oasis project was identified through 'Resilient Paris' – the City's Resilience Strategy launched in October 2017 with 100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation
PARIS, FRANCE – In September, Mayor Hidalgo and the City of Paris unveiled Paris' first-ever heat-adapted schoolyard. The schoolyard was developed as part of the "Schoolyard Oasis" project, set out in the Paris Resilience Strategy released in October 2017. The project is a result of an ongoing multi-year partnership with 100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation (100RC), which has provided Paris with funding and technical expertise to develop the city's Resilience Strategy, help appoint a Chief Resilience Officer, and launch projects throughout the city.
The 2017 heatwaves in Paris highlighted that the city's impermeable asphalt-covered schoolyards were a contributing factor to ongoing efforts to battle heat in the city. With more than 750 schoolyards in the city, covering up to almost 80 hectares, and yet only 5.8 m2 of green space per inhabitant, the city looked to deploy resilience thinking to transform its schoolyards into urban cooling islands, while simultaneously addressing the need for more recreational areas for Parisians. The program started with 3 schools in 2018, and will reach more than 30 schoolyards in 2019. The long-term aim is to adapt the entire city's schoolyards in the years to come. With the average Parisian living within 200m of a schoolyard, the project has the potential to impact every resident in the city when fully implemented.
"Through its partnership with 100RC, Paris is engaged in a holistic resilience-building process led by Chief Resilience Officer Sebastien Maire. We're thrilled to see the first "Schoolyard Oasis" open – an initiative embodying the resilience mindset by tackling a pressing climate challenge while building social cohesion", said Michael Berkowitz, President of 100 Resilient Cities. "This project has the potential to create new usable public space for Parisians, foster greater community cohesion, and assist with water capture – all while working to increase much needed green space to fight heatwaves and the effects of the urban heat island phenomenon."
"The City of Paris has long exemplified the values of resilience, having shown time after time its ability to emerge stronger when confronted with major events. A year after releasing Paris's first ever Resilience Strategy, the city is well underway with creating opportunities out of the identified challenges, building a stronger, more equitable, more sustainable, and ultimately more resilient city. Opening the first of many heat-adapted schoolyards to come is a great testament to the progress made. It is our hope that Paris's response to the challenges the city faces can serve as a model for other cities on a global scale", said Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
Deputy Mayor in charge of Environmental Sustainability and Climate change Celia Blauel says: "To address the issue of climate change, we want to initiate an urban revolution with the schoolyard Oasis, to change the way we view city planning. We have three goals in particular: improve children's everyday quality of life, tackle the heat island effects, and create new public spaces for the local communities."
As part of the Paris Resilience Strategy, the "Oasis" program aims to:
- Adapt the schoolyards by replacing asphalt with porous material, enhancing revegetation, modernizing water management (fountains, water sprayers), as well as creating natural and artificial shaded structures;
- Reinforce social cohesion by co-designing the schoolyards together with each local community (including the pupils) with the goal of eventually opening these spaces to the wider public outside of school hours for recreational and sport activities;
- Protect the health of the most vulnerable by adapting the infrastructure children use as well as through the opening of these spaces to elderly people during heatwaves.
Paris has been part of the 100RC Network since 2014. As part of the Network, Paris will now also look to export the methodology, designs and plans of the "Schoolyard Oasis" program to other cities around the world which are seeking to address heat waves and other related issues, while fostering social cohesion.
About 100 Resilient Cities—Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation
100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation (100RC) helps cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social, and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. 100RC provides this assistance through: funding for a Chief Resilience Officer in each member city who will lead the resilience efforts; resources for drafting a resilience strategy; access to private sector, public sector, academic, and NGO resilience tools; and membership in a global network of peer cities to share best practices and challenges. For more information, visit: www.100ResilientCities.org.