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What happens if you put water in your urine for a pregnancy test?

Don’t drink too much water, or any liquid, before taking a pregnancy test. Excess fluids can impact the accuracy of the test results, so if your urine is diluted or pale yellow, hold off on taking a test. Diluted urine tends to also have diluted hCG levels which can skew the test results.

What happens if you mix water and pee for a pregnancy test?

After peeing in a cup, add a few tablespoons of water to your urine so it becomes lighter in color. This might work because it reduces how much hCG you have in your urine. You’ll still have enough of this hormone for the pregnancy test to “read,” but not so much that it’s overwhelmed.

What happens if you just put water on a pregnancy test?

Presumably, water will give a negative result (we hope!), but you still can’t then add your urine to the strip as well. If you reuse a strip that has gotten wet — either with water or urine and even if it’s dried — you may get a false positive. That’s because as an HPT dries, an evaporation line can appear.

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Can you flood a pregnancy test?

When you’re pregnant, the hCG molecules would get sandwiched between two antibodies and this is how it’s detected by a pregnancy test. However, if you’ve already got too much hCG in your body, the antibodies will be flooded and the test will come back negative. This is called the ‘hook effect’.

Does water dilute hCG?

Drinking lots of fluids can dilute your urine and lower the concentration of hCG, so it’s best to avoid drinking too much water or other drinks before taking a pregnancy test.

How much water will affect a pregnancy test?

It’s called a quantitative hCG blood test because it can measure exactly how much hCG is in your blood. In this case, the amount of water that you drink will not affect the results, as it will not alter the level of hCG in your blood, even very early in pregnancy.

Can too much pee on a pregnancy test make it negative?

Too much hCG in the urine

If you have too little, (if you took the test too early or diluted your urine), it won’t be detected. If you have too much, (if you took the test too late), the test strip may not be able to bond to any of the molecules, possibly showing a negative result.

Is it better to pee on a pregnancy test or in a cup?

Pee on a Stick or Into the Cup

If you’re peeing into a cup, grab your cup and go. If you’re peeing on a stick, remember to take the cap off the test, if it has one. (This is a very common step people skip when they are nervous.)

IT IS SURPRISING:  Does pregnancy change hair color?

What color is a faint line on pregnancy test?

In early pregnancy, there may be very little hCG in the urine, and the positive line may be faint. Even a faint positive line has color, and this distinguishes it from an evaporation line, which is colorless. Any coloration in a positive line indicates that a woman is pregnant.

Is a faint line on a pregnancy test positive?

Any positive line, no matter how faint, means your result is pregnant. Levels of hCG in your body will increase over the course of your pregnancy. If you test early, your hCG levels may be still be low and you’ll see a faint positive line.

How long can you keep pee in a cup to test for pregnancy?

Storing a urine sample

Do not keep it for longer than 24 hours. The bacteria in the urine sample can multiply if it is not kept in a fridge. If this happens, it could affect the test results.

How many hours should I hold my pee for a pregnancy test?

You can increase the level of hCG in your urine by not using the bathroom for at least four hours. Before taking a pregnancy test, don’t drink more water than you normally would.

How common is hook effect?

The hook effect is uncommon. Researchers suggest that it occurs in 0.2–2% of immunoassays, which are medical laboratory tests that use antibodies to detect specific substances or analytes. Laboratory technicians often use sandwich assays . These assays use two antibodies to detect the substance in the sample.

Can a pregnancy test be positive in the morning and negative at night?

When it comes to at-home pregnancy tests, the chances of a false-negative are much higher than those of a false-positive. If you take a pregnancy test at night and it’s negative, you may still want to take another test in the morning or in a few days to help confirm that you’re not actually pregnant.

IT IS SURPRISING:  Can you see a gestational sac at 4 weeks pregnant?


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Watercolor Shell

Any advice for me?… I struggled with getting the shell to pop and look 3D, as opposed to smooshed in the sand. I know some of my problems were because: I painted this from a real shell and the background was made up. I used colors in the sand that I should have used in the shell. Since I didn’t want the shell to blend in, I used brown paint and it became a dark muddy mess. I sat down to paint at several different points and the shadows were probably changing.

Why is it that “struggled” is one of the most common words I write?! lol. Oh well, you paint and you learn. 🙂 Not sure I want to attempt a redo on this one. Hoping to hear your comments!

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Search filter terms
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Showing 1 result.
Type: Taverna 2 Tag: image conversion User: Bart Lamiroy Licence: by-sa Group: DAE Wsdl:

Workflow Convert (1)

Elementary workflow for execution on the on-line DAE platform. Converts an input image into another format by using the ImageMagick "convert" program.

Created: 2012-10-16 | Last updated: 2012-10-16

Credits: User Bart Lamiroy

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Seriously Show Stopping Spanish Shellfish and Chorizo Stew

I can’t take any credit for this other than I’ve adjusted the recipe slightly to make it a bit lower in Slimmingworld Syns.  This is one that I saw the wonderful James Martin make on his Saturday morning show on ITV

The original recipe calls for butter beans or maybe chickpeas but I didn’t have room in the pan.  It uses a lot more oil, passata and uncooked full fat chorizo which of course will make it even richer but my version was super yummy anyway.

Serving = Approx 6

Slimmingworld Syns Per Portion = Approx 4.5

1 teaspoon of rape seed or olive oil (2 Syns)

350ml cartoon of passata

450 g can of good quality plum tomatoes

2/3 of reduced fat chorizo ring, Approximately 18 Syns.

1 jar of roasted red peppers

1 small glass of rosé/white/red wine (175 mL) 7 sins

1 large red onion cut into large chunks

4 fat cloves of garlic finely minced

Fresh mussels. I used one of the bags you get at the local fish counter in Waitrose about 400 g

6 large scallops

200 to 300 g of raw prawns fresh or frozen, (make sure defrosted before cooking)

200 g of cockles, fresh or frozen, (make sure defrosted before cooking)

Just use whatever seafood you can get hold of. Many of the supermarkets and freezer centres do a good selection of fresh or frozen nowadays.

1 ½ tablespoons of sweet smoked paprika

1 large pinch of saffron or turmeric

1 to 2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar this is readily available nowadays in most supermarkets but if you haven’t got any just use red or white wine or even balsamic vinegar

1 to 2 slices of toasted wholemeal bread (Slimmingworld Healthy Extra B)

Half a bunch of fresh parsley or coriander

Heat a large frying pan or casserole dish over a medium heat and spray with low calorie oil or add a few drops of olive/rapeseed oil and wipe out with kitchen paper.

When hot, add the garlic and chorizo and fry for a minute before adding the onion chunks.

After another couple of minutes and add the prawns and scallops. Cook for a further minute then add the smoked paprika, saffron, passata tinned tomatoes and rosé wine.

Bring to the boil then simmer, allowing it to bubble for a couple of minutes then add the mussels, cockles and peppers.

Cover with a lid or foil and cook for 8-10 minutes until everything is cooked through.

Meanwhile make the topping. Place a pan on a medium heat and add spray with oil or wipe out pan with a couple of drops of oil.

Blitz the toast together with the parsley or coriander to create crumbs and then when the oil is hot, fry for a couple of minutes until toasted a bit more.  Of course this would be even better if you used up some syns and used a tablespoon of oil and bread that is a couple of days old instead of toasted.

Finish the stew by adding the vinegar and continue cooking for a little longer until you the shells of the mussels and cockles have opened.

Sprinkle over the parsley breadcrumbs and serve discarding any shellfish that hasn’t opened.

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Tag Archive | 茶

Fruit tea for good vision. 護眼的龍眼紅棗枸杞茶

Fruit tea for good vision. 護眼的龍眼紅棗枸杞茶
2013-03-26 003 (Small)

This is a common Chinese Herbal Tea, tastes good and good for your eyes! We have this drink about once or twice a month only and according to our eye doctor, compared with 12 years ago our vision is about same.
It is very simply to make. Only 3 different ingredients: dried go-ji berries, dried longan, dried red dates. The ratio is 1:1:1 — put one handful each in a pot of water, bring to boil and then simmer until red dates center is soft. All these dried fruit have a natural sweetness, so no sugar is needed. Serve warm, like tea.
All ingredients can be purchased in any Asian grocery store/supermarket or a Chinese traditional pharmacy. It is not expensive.
最近去眼科醫生那裡作例行的檢查,12年了視力還是和以前一樣. 我覺得要多推薦這種我們常喝的護眼飲料–龍眼紅棗枸杞茶. 材料容易購得也不貴,容易做又好喝–1比1比1加一鍋水煮到紅棗軟熟,1個月喝個1-2次.
最好年輕時就常喝護眼,因為這個再好也只能延緩視力的老化,對於已有深度近視或眼疾的人而言是無法有療效的. 對我們而言12年了視力都未有改變,已經相當難能可貴.


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Rate Plans and Packages - Everything you need to know

You can create special rate plans and packages for any time period or day of the week and with length-of-stay limitations, among other restrictions.

If you have the Cloudbeds Premier or higher plan you can sync your rate plans with your connected channels - Learn more in this article: How to Sync Rate Plans to Distribution Channels (OTAs)?

By using Rate Plans & Packages you can:

  • Configure a rate plan to set different price and policy of the booking
  • Set up discounted rate for any period, including availability on specific days of the week with minimum and maximum length of stay limitations (Flexible, Refundable, Non-Refundable, Weekly/Monthly Discount, Last Minute)
  • Create a package to upsell the add-ons on your property
  • Set up promotional rates with promo codes guests can use to book

Where to use rate plans & packages:

  • OTAs / Distribution channels (only available for Cloudbeds Premier or higher plan)
  • Reservations booked on your property's website / Facebook (via booking engine)
  • Manual reservations created within Cloudbeds
Step 1 - How to Setup
  1. Access Rate Plans & Packages page
  2. Click +New Rate Plan
  1. Enter Rate Plan name (Public): Rate Plan name that will be displayed upon creating a new reservation and on the Internet Booking Engine. You can also give the rate plan name in other languages by selecting the language button.
  2. Enter Rate Plan name (Private): This is an internal Name for the package that will not be displayed upon creating reservations and on the Internet Booking Engine. This is used to name rate plans differently if they all have similar names (i.e Breakfast Included - August Breakfast Included - September Breakfast Included, etc).
  3. Is this a derived Rate Plan?
    Please check further details below:
Derived Rate Plan

If you select Yes: Derived rate plan is a percentage or amount higher or lower than the base rate (i.e. 10% higher than the base rate, $15 lower than base rate). This is a perfect option in case you have a fixed discount/price increase for specific conditions of stay, for example, -10% for all stays which are longer than 5 nights.

Due to the system's limitations, the maximum value that can be input as a discount is 99.99%.

If you have price differentials configured, rate plan prices could also be affected. For more information about Price Differentials, please see How to set price differentials in the availability matrix

When you create a derived rate plan, the interval added on the same page below will be automatically filled out with the percentage/rate entered:

When you set a derived rate plan, the standard price will appear stricken through on the booking engine (while non-derived rate plan will not)

Non-derived rate plan

If you select No: Non-derived rate plan require you to enter package rates for each day of week within rate plan interval.

If you have Price Differential feature configured, it will not affect non-derived rate plans by default. You would have to set it up in the Price Differentials settings. For more details on this, please see How to set price differentials in the availability matrix.

  1. Promotion Code (for booking engine): If you would like this rate plan or package to show only when a promotion code is entered, select Yes. This rate plan will only appear if the correct promotion code is entered
    • If the package has a promotional code applied, the rate plan will not be available for channel's mapping
  2. If you enable the promo code option and enter a promo code, you'll be given a direct link to the booking engine poge with the promo code applied in advance
  3. Select add-ons included in your package: Select certain add-ons to make them part of the package rate. If the room costs 100 per day with a special offer and you add 'Breakfast' as an add-on to the package, the guest should pay 100 for both the room and breakfast
  4. Select which sources* rate plan will be available for

*This applies to direct reservations only (added manually or booked via booking engine).

If Website isn't selected, this rate plan won't show up on the booking engine.

The information below will be displayed on the booking engine:

  1. Inclusions: What does the package include? Ex: Breakfast, Shuttle
  2. Policies: Enter the package policies. Please note that it's the responsibility of the system user and the property's guests to follow the policies. Policies entered here can't be controlled by the system
  3. Image: Upload an image to promote your package
Step 2. Rate Plan Availability
  1. After entering basic information scroll down and click Add Interval

At least ONE interval needs to be added in order to save the rate plan

With the feature Advanced Channel Rates, the rate plan fields marked with a green icon can be synced with OTAs / Channels once the rate plans are mapped and if it's supported by the channel. Please read this article to check which channels support this function.

  1. Enter interval name
  2. Select accommodations to which this rate plan will be applied
  3. Select the date range for this rate plan (start and end dates)
  4. Select on which days of the week the rate plan will be available
  5. Enter restrictions for the rate plan if needed (not mandatory)
  1. Saleable Accommodations. Here you can:
    • Keep All selected and apply to all rooms
    • Uncheck All box in order to specify how many accommodations of a certain type you allow to sell with package pricing.
  2. Rate: If your plan is non-derived - enter the package Rate for each day of the week. If the rates are the same for each day of the week - enter it once and click Apply under Apply to all column.
  3. Additional Guest Pricing: If you charge an additional fee for adults or children not included in the rate, you can indicate the price of each additional adult and child below.
    • Use the same as base rate: The same price for each additional adult and/or child set on base rates will be applied.
    • Derive by same value as rate plan: The derived price for each additional adult and/or child set on base rates will be applied.
    • Custom: You can indicate a new price for each additional adult and/or child for this rate interval.
  4. Click Add Interval to save interval
  1. After you have added an interval to your rate plan, click SAVE button at the bottom of the screen.

You may add as many intervals as you wish by clicking on Add Interval.

How to save, edit or delete rate plans

Once you saved your rate plan, you will be redirected to Rate Plans & Packages page, where you can:

  1. Search for Rate Plans
  2. Active for Sources / mybookings: This toggle controls whether your rate plan is displayed on the booking engine, available internally as a source during new reservation creation and whether it is available for channel sync if you have Advanced Channel Rates.
  3. Edit, copy or delete packages by clicking on the gear icon
Adding an interval which overlaps existing interval

If you add a new interval which date range overlaps the existing interval, the system will throw a notification asking whether you want to proceed and showing how the system will modify the existing interval.

  1. You created a rate plan with one interval called ''Summer 2021'' starting from August 1st 2021 until August 31st 2021.
  2. In the same rate plan, you added a new interval called ''Holiday 2021'' starting from August 8th 2021 until August 14th 2021 (it overlaps with ''Summer 2021'' interval)
  3. The system will throw the following alert. If you click Confirm, the system will automatically create 3 intervals by breaking existing interval into 2 and pasting the new interval between them.

The interval would also be broken down if the stay restrictions (MinLos or MaxLos) are edited through the Availability Matrix.

How to create new direct reservation with a Rate Plan
  1. Use the filter Display and select the Rate Plan and Packages, Promotional Rates in the dropdown
  2. Enter the promo code if any
  3. Proceed with further steps to complete the reservation. Please see article: How to create a new reservation on myfrontdesk

If a booking was made with a rate plan - this will be displayed on the reservation details page under 'Rate Plan(s)'.

Example: "Stay 3, pay 2!" package
  1. Go to Rates and Availability and select Rate Plan & Packages
  2. Click Add New Package
  1. Give an internal name (just for your reference) and an external name (which will be made public) to your package
  2. Select Derived plan
  3. Select the minus sign ("-") and percentage ("%"), since we will give a percentage discount in relation to the base rate

The rule we want to put in is that for any booking of 3 nights within the selected period, an overnight stay will be free, which means that when you book 3 nights, the guest will have 33.34% discount on the total amount. For example, if we created a 4-night package for the price of 3, the discount would be 25%.

Then enter the number 33.34 in the value field.

  1. Complete the other additional sources, item data, description, terms, and conditions and add an image that illustrates the package. We recommend including in the Terms and Conditions the rules of use of the promotional rate to avoid misunderstandings. A non-refundable early check-in (or check-in) is a common practice.
  1. Under the Availability section, click Add Interval. We will add the periods in which the package is in effect.
  1. Select room types that this package applies
  2. Select the start date and end date of package availability. The promotional package will be visible to guests who select arrival and departure dates within the period
  3. Set the minimum and maximum length of stay to 3 days. You can also include extra rules according to your strategy
  4. Scroll down and click Add Interval
  5. Save everything. It is also recommended to access your booking engine and test this promo

Remember that Closed to Arrival works differently here, if you wish to close a day for arrival in this interval, you will have to create a new interval, select the same period, select only the day of the week you want to close to arrival, and select the close to arrival rule.

Frequently Asked Questions and Troubleshooting

Why am I unable to edit prices for a derived rate plan?

The system doesn't allow you to do so because it will override the rate plan rule. If you want to change the rate plan prices, please visit the Rate Plans & Packages page. See section: How to save, edit or delete rate plan

You have chosen dates that are overlapping with an existing interval

For each of your promotions, you will need to build a separate rate plan and enter the Availability & Rate interval within that rate plan.

The reason you received the message "You have chosen dates that are overlapping with an existing interval" is because you have already  inputted an interval for that time frame and by choosing to proceed, it will update the rate plan to the new interval.

Is it possible to Sync Rate Plans to Distribution Channels (OTAs)?

Yes - You can create multiple rate plans for each room type and have those sync to channels (only available for Cloudbeds Premier or higher plan)

Check the following article for further details: Advanced Channel Rates - How to Sync Rate Plans to Distribution Channels (OTAs)?

Why my rate plan keeps adding a new interval?

When you are changing the stay restrictions (MinLos, MaxLos, Closed to Arrival, Closed to Departure) of the rate plan on the Availability Matrix, it will be reflected as a new interval inside the rate plan. You can verify the Intervals table to see what has changed or check the Activity Logs.

When a reservation can change the original rate plan name to the base rate?

A reservation will change the original rate plan name to the base rate in the following scenarios:

  1. A reservation received through the channel is edited on myfrontdesk.
    For example, the reservation was received from Booking.com and you have changed it's room type in Cloudbeds PMS:
  1. The reservation is moved to a room type and/or date not included in the rate plan.
    In this case the user will see the warning as below and can click CONTINUE to proceed.
  1. A user without the permission Create/Edit rate plans reassigns the reservation on the calendar. In this case the user will also see the warning as shown above and will be able to click CONTINUE to proceed.
DEMO Mountain Resort and Spa - Roles - Google Chrome
  1. The rate plan used for the reservation is deleted.
    The system will ask to edit the linked reservations prior to deleting the rate plan:

To bring back the rate plan name after deleting the old one, you can edit the reservation and choose the rate plan option through the following options:

  • Quick Edit:
  • Edit Reservation:
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UPDATE 10:28 AM August 1:

According to Bell County Jail records, Justin Boswell's bond has been set at $1 million. Boswell was booked into the jail at 7:35 PM Saturday, July 30 and charged with first degree murder. Boswell's address was listed as Pedmont, Alabama.

Police say Boswell is responsible for fatally stabbing 25-year-old Rowdy Mays on Thursday, July 28. Mays reportedly picked up Boswell, who was hitchhiking. Investigators say Boswell then stabbed Mays and stole his truck, which was later recovered in Rockdale.

UPDATE 1:55 PM July 30th:

Bowsell has been arrested. The 31-year-old was found in Rockdale, Texas.

UPDATE: 11:22 AM July 30th:

There is now active murder warrant out for Justin Glen Boswell. Persons are encouraged to call 911 if they come into contact with Boswell.

Temple, Texas police are currently searching for a person of interest who attacked and killed a 25-year-old man Thursday evening. The person of interest, 31-year-old Justin Glen Boswell, fits the description from the department:

Justin Glen Boswell (Image Courtesy of Temple PD)
Justin Glen Boswell (Image Courtesy of Temple PD)

Man Stabbed and Carjacked While Trying To Be Kind

According to a news release from the department, officers responded to the scene of the stabbing in the 2600 block of S. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. at 6:15 PM on Thursday, July 28.

A preliminary investigation found that the victim, later identified as Rowdy Mays, had been injured after picking up a hitchhiker, who then stabbed him and took off with his white extended cab pickup truck.

Sadly, The Victim Didn't Make It

Mays was taken to Baylor Scott and White hospital, where he later passed away from his injuries.

Vehicle Found, Attacker On The Loose

Police said Friday they located the vehicle in Rockdale. However, May's attacker remained on the loose early Friday afternoon.

If You Know Something, Please Say Something

Anyone who may have seen anything or has information that could help police track down Mays' attack is being asked to please to call the Temple Police Department at 254-298-5500.

You can also reach out to Bell County Crime Stoppers at 254-526-8477, bellcountycrimestoppers.com, or via the free P3Tips app. Crime stoppers will not ask for your name, and information leading to an arrest could net you a cash reward of up to $1,000.

A Note On Crime Stoppers

If you visit their website, Bell County Crime Stoppers has a Wanted/Unsolved Cases tab. Take a look at it some time. If you recognize anyone or think you have information that could help local families find justice, please reach out to them.

Texas Crime Statistics By City

Check to see how crime compares in your city versus elsewhere.


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Caddo Parish has millions of dollars available for rental assistance for local residents. The Parish has gotten 7 million dollars to help residents who have struggled to pay the rent during the pandemic.

But so far only 2900 families have applied for the program. The parish expects to be able to help at least 6000 families. But that number could go higher because another 7 million dollars is expected to come from the federal program to help with this effort. Parish leaders are encouraging anyone who has had difficult financial conditions over the past year to apply for this funding.

Get our free mobile app

The first checks are expected to go out at the end of April.

If you want more information about the program or want to apply, click here.

The purpose of the ERA program is to help families and individuals who have suffered a temporary financial setback due to COVID-19 and who need help with current or past due residential rent and/or electricity costs.

Landlords can also apply for help through this program.

Applicants do have to meet certain income restrictions and provide documentation of their income and past-due rent payments. Several local agencies are helping with the application process:

Catholic Charities of North Louisiana; NWLA Community Development Corporation; Grace Project; Providence House; and United Way of Northwest Louisiana are ready to help.

Click here to see the eligibility rules for the program.

READ ON: Here's how to apply for rent relief


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Copper Round Apron Kitchen Sink Silver Design( 30", 33", 36", Various Colors, #CRFS-SILVER)

  • $1,039.00
  • Save $727

Update your kitchen decor with this beautiful custom copper sink. Select from size 22" to 36" (or any customized size), multiple colors. With its supreme quality and unique design, you will never feel the same about your kitchen décor.

Product Specifications:

  •     2” Flat Edge
  •     3½" Drain Opening, No Overflow
  •     Gauge: 17 gauge Bowl, 15 gauge Apron
  •     Material: 99%+ pure copper
  •     Pressure tested to confirm the sink will not leak.
  •     Triple support tabs on apron, including side tabs.
  •     Pure chemical free heat based durable patina. Free of any artificial sealant or lacquer.
  •     Product in stock, 1 week lead time where our artisans put the final touch on the sink.
  •     As hand crafted works of art created from natural copper, each copper sink will have its own unique finish and may not be exactly as shown in the photo(s).
  •     One Year Limited Warranty on Product
  •     Professional packing with extra protection, pallet shipping utilized as needed.
  •     Note: Drains sold separately.

Option: Size

This copper kitchen sink comes in several sizes, they are available in the "Size" option drop-down box above.

  • MEDIUM: 30”X 22” x 9” Outside Dimensions
  • STANDARD: 33” X 22” x 9” Outside Dimensions
  • LARGE: 36” X 22" x 9” Outside Dimensions
  • Custom Size: Contact Us for Custom Size, we can custom make it at your specification.

Option: Color

Our copper sinks can be made in any of available patinas below. Specifically,

  • Fire patina comes in Spiral pattern only.

Please use the "Color" option drop-down box above to see the details of each color.

 4"x4" Color Samples Available

Not sure how the copper table would look or feel like? No problem, for minimum charge, we are providing our customers the opportunity to order our hand hammered copper color/patina sample, click here for detail.

We do customization! if you have any custom size you want or you want any art design, we can make them for you! We are factory direct, we do NOT surcharge custom size design. Please Contact Us for specifications and prices.


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Some PINsperation

When I’m feeling lazy and can’t decide which chore/project I should get to I sit down and see what new things are popping up on Pinterest.  My primary interests are decor, crafts and DIY, but lately I’ve been scrolling through the health and fitness boards as well.
Here’s a few things that caught my eye:
And my two favorites….

Have a great day!

About Leah@MyNewEnding

I'm a 44-year-old wife and mother who begins her day with God and coffee. When my youngest of 3 kids started college I went from a SAHM to a full-time job. I love being an attendance secretary. A lot has gone on since I started this blog in 2009, but one thing remains the same: I will not give up on my health. Join me as I share what that means for the season of life I'm in.
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The Ultimate Russian Woman Secret

Same with the language barrier – you must higher get an interpreter till she learns how to communicate English. Well, obviously, if you seek Russian brides, essentially the most appropriate method is to go to their Motherland, Russia.

Do not concern of being rejected – women seem distant and egocentric, however they developed themselves solely to discover russian women a man who will love them. Let’s dive in the medieval ages to grasp why Slavic girls are more lovely.

You are going to rate yourself and your masculinity relying on her quality so better analyze it well. It won’t be difficult if you already understood the nuances of her culture and might examine her to the others with a clear mind. My family has some Russian background and we reside in States. Every woman desires happiness, sturdy and dependable relationships. But for every girl, there are different qualities that make her companion “ideal” in her eyes.

In this section, we’ll focus on all the significant elements that make up these ladies. Additionally, they uphold their traditions and wouldn’t hesitate to point out their passion for their nation. So, if you’re interested in courting these women, maintain studying to search out out more about these Slavic beauties. 10 Russian Dating Sites to Find Hot Slavic Girls Slavic women are undoubtedly popular, and a lot of men dream of marrying one. If you’re a sort of men and have an interest … All her character traits that I’ve advised you about make sense when you take the fact of Russian relationships under consideration.

But this cute character trait additionally has a disadvantage – she’ll never enable herself to remark on your mistakes or flaws. But with such a magnificence, you’ll be able to forget about your problems for a while.

Apart from being stunning and nice cooks, Russian girls are also clever. So, having mental conversations with them won’t be a bore. Additionally, they’ll be succesful of contribute considerably to your progress as their Intelligence will challenge you. Finally, the ladies of Russia are family-oriented. This trait just isn’t frequent amongst girls from different nations.

The 2-Minute Rule for Russian Women

They take pleasure in being under the spotlight, and you might get their heart by paying close attention to them. Furthermore, it will be greatest by no means to ignore your Russian girlfriend as a end result of this move makes them feel unloved. The common Russian is superstitious, and even when you don’t accept most of their beliefs, never use them to taunt a Russian woman. As we said earlier, these girls are passionate about their culture. So, it would be a turn-off for her if the guy she’s excited about scorns the Russian customs and traditions.

Many single Russian women in modern instances are profitable entrepreneurs. So you will undoubtedly find frequent floor and have lots to talk about with Russian wives. Don’t chat with a Russian bride for a really long time without any hope for the true meeting.

Again, we appreciate your persistence as we try to assess issues on a day-to-day foundation. A lot extra admiring qualities are to be discovered by you. That’s why you might be inspired to hitch us and mingle with these pretty girls. There will all the time be somebody smarter, extra profitable, and more good-looking than you. However, if you consider this all the time, you’ll by no means be glad with your self. And in this case, you’ll not have the resources to make your Russian mail-order bride happy.

Playful teasing is amongst the easiest methods to take care of a chat and make a woman smile if she is excited about you. It shows that you are a confident man, and you know what you are looking for. Of course, best people with a full range of good qualities don’t exist. A man can be light and caring, however make little cash, or be wealthy and successful, but have an authoritarian character.

What You Don’t Find Out About Russian Girl

Its a daily want for them, they usually rarely use intercourse as extortion or manipulation with a partner. Even the smallest trifle can brighten up the day of your liked one!

  • If she makes borsch, it will in a five-liter saucepan.
  • But we expect that courting an individual from abroad is much more fascinating and spicy.
  • They might wear excessive heels in every kind of climate, it does not matter what.
  • A girl ought to look enticing, elegant in order that the encircling males secretly dream about her, and the husband is proud.
  • They could make selections and be liable for their actions.
  • So, it is smart to ask a woman whether or not she speaks English earlier than you start communicating with her.
  • Find subsequent to each Russian girl’s profile a psychological compatibility bar.
  • You can simply ruin every thing even in correspondence when you don’t know tips on how to conduct a dialog correctly.

Even although they’ve natural beautiful appearance, they do their greatest to hold up it at a good level with the assistance of various cosmetic procedures, sports, and diets. They adore to attract consideration and usually are not lazy to commit time to their look.


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While Out In the Sun

Spring’s return, painted by Dan Schultz @ https://www.danschultzfineart.com/

Three days of intense sun, and the roses are ready to bloom.

Maybe that is how your most precious ideas can blossom too: expose them to the sun — the light of your awareness — and to the heat — your love.

And what appeared to be some unidentified branches in the wind will be renewed by green shots, leaves and buds, and soon enough by the fragrant part that holds the honey, the flower.

Sometimes I wonder about those less visible threads between living beings, about how much plants in the same ecosystem help each other mature and how much the needs of the local animals — the birds, the insects, the fish, the amphibians — encourage them to grow. And how that consciousness of “It is time! It is time to go green again”, is stimulated by the sun.

Well, that translates to the human plane too:

one soul’s turn to the light and tap into the power that makes things grow and that lets things grow affects others in the surroundings. They too are touched by the same source of light and by the example of how the light can be used to grow into a more abundant state.

It is so satisfying to notice the connected reality of all life, even the connected reality between minds. It is all the more pleasant while basking in the sun.

13 May 2016

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Nanda Jurela

Nanda Jurela

Writer. Poet. Holistic healing facilitator. Gardener. Entrepreneur. Water activist. Gaia lover. Music lover. Exploring zero waste. https://nandajurela.com/


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Modern Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy (III), China Guardian Quarterly Auctions, March 24, 2019 Sale Catalogue BJ1724

Paperback auction catalogue.
Text in Chinese and English. Illustrations in color. Light superficial marks on covers. Spine head slightly worn. Pages are clean, contents are clear throughout. Binding is sound.
599 lots, modern Chinese paintings and calligraphies including works by Zhang Shanzi, Chen Banding, Zhou Lianxia, Sun Yunsheng, Qian Shoutie, Lin Fengmian, Zhao Shao’ang, Tang Yilan, Qi Baishi, Wang Xuetao, Liu Jiyou, Huang Junbi, Yu Fei’an, Cao Kejia, Lou Shibai, Sun Qifeng, Zhang Shuqi, Cui Zifan, Lu Guangzhao, Chen Zizhuang, Hu Yuji, Chen Dayu, Sun Song, Wang Senran, Cai Hezhou, Wu Zuoren, Yu Jianhua, Zhang Xinjia, Wen Ying, He Haixia, Lu Yanshao, Wu Changshuo, Qi Liangzhi, Wan Laiming, Fang Junbi, Yu Xining, Qi Liangmo, Xie Gongzhan, Sun Yunsheng, Li Keran, Wang Geyi, Guan Liang, Feng Zikai, Pu Ru, Song Wenzhi, Huang Qiuyuan, Qin Lingyun, Mi Gengyun, Wang Xuezhong, Chen Banding, Zhou Yuanliang, Xu Shiqi, Pan Su, Zheng Mukang, Yuan Songnian, Lin Sanzhi, Wang Xuezhong, Chen Liantao, Wu Hufan, Dong Qiao, Wang Li, Wei Qihou, Li Xiongcai, Yan Wenliang, Shi Lu, Wu Zhongqi, Liu Bingsen, Shen Yinmo, Zhou Erfu, Tian Huan, Xiang Hanping, Wang Xiaju, Wang Shizi, Pu Hua, Shen Zheng, Wu Guangyu, Jin Xiezhong, Feng Zhonglian, Shen Xinhai, Huang Shanshou, Ren Xuan, Qian Hui’an, Ren Bonian, Wang Zhen, Ni Tian, Jin Kaihua, Wu Guxiang, Tao Lengyue, Zhu Meicun, Wu Shixian, Qin Bingwen, Ye Bochang, Shen Ming, Xiao Xun, Xie Tianmin, Zhang Xi, Chen Pu, Wu Jingting, Hu Peihen, Xia Jingguan, Feng Chaoran, Xiao Junxian, Hu Shibo, Fan Haolin, Qi Kun, Zhang Fan, Lang Jingshan, Yin Shaoquan, Xiong Songquan, Zhu Wenhou, Hu Tanqing, Li Ruiling, Feng Kanghou, Jin Zhang, Wang Yachen, Zhang Xiong, Wu Mengou, Wu Bonian, Kong Xiaoyu, Hu Tinglu, Peng Yulin, Jin Xinlan, Xu Zonghao, Zhang Guchu, Lv Fengzi, Yi Lixun, Ding Erzhong, Hong Yi, Sun Ke, Shao Jiquan, Zhang Xiaobin, Liu Yazi, Zhang Shizhao, Xu Shichang, Song Bolu, Yu Youren, Huang Xing, Zhang Boying, Rong Kang, He Weipu, Zheng Xiaoxu, Wu Peifu, Wu Zeng jia, Zuo Zongtang, Fan Zengxiang, Wu Guandai, Wu Daorong, Li Ruiqing, Xie Yucen, Hua Shixun, Jiang Zhijie, Yuan Ying, Jiang Zhongzheng, Zheng Xiaoxu, Lu Runxiang and Meng Guanghui.
Size: 8.2×10.6×1.3 inches.
524 pages.

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Happening Now

Sen. Leahy, Rep. Stefanik, Rep. Kuster Awarded Golden Spike for Bipartisan Work on Enhancing US-Canada Rail Link

April 14, 2017

Release #17-08

For Immediate Release (#17-08)

Contact: Xenophon Strategies – (202) 289-4001

Rail Passengers Association Honors Legislators for Improving Travel and Commerce, and Clearing the Way for Return of Vermont - Montreal Connection

Washington, D.C. — The National Association of Rail Passengers, an organization representing the 40 million Americans who rely on passenger trains and rail transit, honored Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, and Representative Ann McLane Kuster of New Hampshire for their leadership in successfully enacting legislation to facilitate travel and commerce between the United States and Canada, advancing border security.

The Promoting Travel, Commerce, and National Security Act, signed into law in December 2016, allowed for the upgrade of U.S. Customs and Border Protection preclearance facilities—easing the movement of people and goods at rail, land, marine and air ports. The bipartisan bill, which expands U.S. preclearance operations to train stations for the first time ever, will make it easier for both American and Canadian passengers to travel internationally by train—an economic boost for U.S. communities that depend on tourism.

Amtrak connects to Canadian cities across its national network, via the Adirondack (Montreal - Albany - New York), Maple Leaf (Toronto - Niagara Falls - New York), and the Cascades (Vancouver, BC - Seattle – Portland). Critically, the bill clears the way for the extension of the Vermonter north to Montreal, which will better connect Canadian consumers to New England tourist destinations.

By supporting passenger rail service, these leaders are also allowing the U.S. rail manufacturing industry to succeed. As a whole, the rail manufacturing and supply sector employs 90,000 Americans in 39 states. Over 750 companies, many of them small businesses, fabricate components and subcomponents for passenger rail and transit rail in the U.S.—often in small and rural communities located far from the systems they are helping to build.

"Passenger rail holds tremendous potential to expand transportation options, and we know that if our small businesses can reach new customers they can sell more goods, grow our economy and create new jobs," said Congresswoman Kuster. "Streamlining the travel process between the United States and Canada is commonsense and will not only help businesses, it will encourage more tourism, all while improving our security. I'm honored to receive the Golden Spike Award from the National Association of Rail Passengers and look forward to continue working to promote rail service in New Hampshire and throughout the country."

“I thank the National Association of Rail Passengers for this tremendous honor,” said Congresswoman Stefanik. “The Promoting Travel, Commerce, and National Security Act is a landmark piece of bipartisan legislation that I was proud to help lead through Congress and see signed into law. Increasing commerce with our Canadian neighbors is a top economic priority for my district, and this legislation will help build increased economic ties while supporting travel, commerce and tourism between our two nations. Furthermore, this legislation will help build integrated defense capabilities to maintain a secure Northern border. Importantly for the North Country, this legislation will facilitate Amtrak service from Montreal to the North Country, and will reinforce the future of small border crossings by allowing joint operations along the border. Thank you again to the National Association of Rail Passengers for this honor and their support on this important issue.”

“Expanding preclearance last year was a rare bipartisan victory, an example of the kind of work that the Senate can accomplish when at its best," said Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "I’m grateful for this recognition by the National Association of Railroad Passengers for our work together toward the vision that we share for passenger rail travel, which is part of Vermont’s and the nation’s past, and of our future. Vermonters regularly talk to me about improving the travel experience between Canada and the United States, and that’s what expanding preclearance in rail service will do. This agreement has long been a dream for Vermonters who have fond memories of taking the train north to Montreal to enjoy all that this vibrant cultural hub offers. It is also a win for Vermont’s economy and for visitors from Canada’s largest cities who love to come to Vermont to explore, ski, hike, shop and dine.”

“This bipartisan effort is good, sensible policymaking—but it’s more than that,” said Jim Mathews, NARP President and CEO. “By facilitating the connections between people and economies, these leaders are helping build a better and more prosperous America.”

About the National Association of Railroad Passengers

NARP is the only national organization speaking for the nearly 40 million users of passenger trains and rail transit. We have worked since 1967 to expand the quality and quantity of passenger rail in the U.S. Our mission is to work towards a modern, customer-focused national passenger train network that provides a travel choice Americans want. Our work is supported by more than 28,000 individual members nationwide.


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I’m back this Monday morning with a new happy things list! Let’s dive in..

#1 My new hair cut (ironically not shown in the above picture!) I’ve had a good old 4 inches chopped off my hair and it feels so much better! I go in different phases whether I like long or short hair on me, but since it grows super fast I don’t mind switching it up every now and again. It feels super light and fresh for summer now.

#2 Good books. I’ve read some super good books lately! I’m sure I’ll mention them in a post soon so look out for that if you’re interested.

#3 Love Island podcast. If you’re obsessed with the show like I am, you need to download this immediately.

#4 Baby giggles! I made my nephew really giggle for the first time last week, and it was joy!!

#5 Ice-cream weather. I have a white chocolate Magnum the other day and it was DIVINE.

#6 Booking a trip to Lincoln for our first wedding anniversary. I’m so excited! The place we’ve booked overnight looks incredible.

#7 Spending some sister time together. She’s the best.

#8 Summer clothes. I like to wear as less clothes as possible (I have a super hot body temperate, so I’m always warm) so I’m all for summer dressing.

#9 A great weekend. I had a movie night and a takeaway with my dad on Saturday, and yesterday has just been a lovely chilled one.

#10 Gel manicures. Because to have polish on my nails that doesn’t chip for at least a week guaranteed? Yes please.

What’s made you happy lately?

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Baby Carlos at 1-year | Jersey City, NJ Family Portrait Photography

I had so much fun capturing Baby Carlos.  He most certainly is off to the races with his infectious smile, but also enjoys a nice cuddle.

–  Nate

Nate Meagher Photography is part of Ingrid K. Studio which is a full-service portrait studio in downtown Jersey City offering both in-studio and on-location newborn, maternity, baby & child portrait sessions throughout NJ & NY. Call us 201.721.5630 or contact us here to tell us more about you. We look forward to hearing from you!

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EACEA National Policies Platform: Youthwiki

9. Youth and the World

9.6 Intercontinental youth work and development cooperation

On this page
  1. Intercontinental youth work cooperation
  2. Development cooperation activities

Intercontinental youth work cooperation

Youth exchanges with Japan

Under the Japanese International Youth Development Exchange Programme youth exchanges between Estonia and Japan have taken place since 2007.

The aim is to support the development of friendship and understanding between young people, intercultural learning and international cooperation.

The target group of the programme in Estonia is young people aged 18-30 years old.

The organization in charge of topic Estonia is the Education and Youth Board (until 31.07.2020 Estonian Youth Work Centre). The programme is funded from the Japan and Estonia state budgets.

Development cooperation activities

GLEN Estonia

Global Education Network of Young Europeans (GLEN) was a network (up to 2019) of non-governmental and governmental organizations as well as committed young people who were involved in global education. GLEN’s core activity was an annual training and experience programme for young Europeans consisting of three seminars, a three-month project-based internship in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Caucasus or Southeast Europe as well as awareness-raising and global education activities. GLEN Estonia sent annually 5-10 volunteers to participate in the programme during 2004-2019.

The target group was young people in the age group 21-30. The programme was supported by private funding. The organisation in charge of topic Estonia is the Estonian Roundtable for Development Cooperation.


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Cop punished for accessing photos of cheerleaders | #itsecurity | #infosec

  • By Wang Chun-chung and Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporter, with staff writer

An officer at Huaping (華平) police station of the Tainan Police Department’s 4th Precinct has been given two minor demerits for accessing the personal information of 25 baseball cheerleaders.

The officer surnamed Liu (劉) accessed the household registration system with a computer at the station three times between April and last month to check photographs of the cheerleaders on their national identification cards, the precinct said on Sunday following an investigation.

Liu was suspended from accessing the system for three months and the chief of the police station, surnamed Shih (施), was given a warning for insufficient oversight, it said.

Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

The case came to light when a person on Saturday in a post on Facebook claimed that a police officer in Tainan had accessed the photographs of baseball cheerleaders, but had seemed not have been punished, questioning whether the incident had been covered up.

The precinct on Sunday said that during an investigation it found several unusual entries in Liu’s computer search history.

Liu, who is in his 20s and worked at the station for nearly six months, told investigators that he looked up photographs of the cheerleaders of the CTBC Brothers and Rakuten Monkeys during working hours out of curiosity, it said.

He said that he did not forward or sell the photographs to others and showed regret for his behavior, the precinct said.

The precinct said that it had found no evidence of him leaking confidential information.

Police often access people’s personal information such as ownership of vehicles and contact information. To prevent officers from abusing the authority, the National Police Agency has implemented an information security audit.

A chief inspector, who wished to remain anonymous, said that when computers were first introduced to the police force, many of his colleagues would look up celebrities and gossip about them, which showed a lack of awareness of information security and the protection of personal information.

For instance, when then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) was caught having an extramarital affair in 2009, more than 60 officers nationwide were found to have accessed the personal information of his mistress, drawing fierce criticism, the chief inspector said.

The National Police Agency in 2008 and 2009 introduced regulations on information security and police computers, with ethics and supervision units carrying out information security audits.

The Tainan City Police Department on Sunday said that its information security team checks all units of the department at least once a month and reviews search histories.

All officers have their own account and password to access the system, so “everything searched leaves traces,” a police chief said.

Additional reporting by Wang Kuan-jen

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

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Hacktivists wage cyberwar on Putin’s supply lines | #government | #hacking | #cyberattack

Russia’s military began sending large numbers of weapons and troops into Belarus in late January. The official purpose of the movement was a joint military exercise, but Belarus, which has a 1,050km border with Ukraine and a government closely aligned with Moscow, was also a logical staging point for Russian president Vladimir Putin to carry out an invasion.

Several days after the troops arrived weird things started happening to the computer systems that ran the Belarus national railway system, which the Russian military was using as part of its mobilisation.

Passengers gathered on train platforms near Minsk, the capital, watched as information screens flickered and normal messaging was replaced by garbled text and an error message. Malfunctioning ticket systems led to long lines and delays as damaged software systems caused trains to grind to a halt in several cities, according to railway employees and posts that circulated on Belarusian social media.

The cause of the delays was a ransomware attack in which hackers had encrypted crucial files on
the railway’s computer systems, rendering them inoperable. The perpetrators of such attacks usually demand money in exchange for unlocking the seized files.

Partisans target ‘Europe’s last dictator’

But the assailants in this case — a group of hackers identifying themselves as the Cyber Partisans — said they would provide the key to unlock the computers only if Russian troops left Belarus and the Belarusian government freed certain political prisoners.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko and Russian president Vladimir Putin at a joint news conference in the Kremlin in February. Picture: Sergei Guneyev/Sputnik/AP

The authoritarian government of Alexander Lukashenko was well aware of the Cyber Partisans, who’d become a key part of an opposition movement openly trying to overthrow his government.

Lukashenko, a former Soviet official who’s been president of Belarus since 1994, is widely known as Europe’s “last dictator”.

In 2020, he claimed victory in an election that the US and other countries have declared fraudulent, then ordered a violent response to the subsequent protests. The result has been a grinding conflict between his government and a broad movement of dissidents.

The anti-Lukashenko movement has been notable for the way it’s mixed analog forms of popular protest with online activism.

Lukashenko’s opponents started by breaking into the websites of the government and state news agencies, a form of politically motivated hacking with a long history. Since then, they’ve begun to branch into cyberattacks that result in physical damage, a tactic traditionally seen as the domain of state-sponsored agents.

The result is beginning to look like a new model for revolutionary groups seeking to wage asymmetrical warfare, says Gabriella Coleman, a Harvard professor and an expert on hacking culture.

“They are really innovating in a way I have not seen before,” she says of the Cyber Partisans.

It’s like traditional forms of sabotage, but using computer methods. What they are doing has taken hacktivism to the next level.

In the purest sense, the cyberattack on the train system didn’t succeed. Russian troops didn’t leave the country, and Belarus didn’t free the political prisoners.

But the train system remains impaired.

The operation also signalled a major escalation in what had been a domestic conflict. The Belarusian dissidents now see a single, broader struggle against both Lukashenko and Putin and have begun to join forces with an informal and chaotic global coalition of pro-Ukraine hackers.

These groups have targeted dozens of Russian government agencies, dumping huge troves of stolen emails and documents online.

Andriy Baranovych, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Cyber Alliance, one of the groups working with the Cyber Partisans, says that while information gathering is a goal of his organisation, it’s also moving past that: “Political information has little value now. We are trying to cause disorder, disruption, deception — anything that could delay or stop Russia’s actions.”

Fleeing Belarus

Aliaksandr Azarau, a former Minsk police chief, arrived at a cafe near Warsaw’s central rail station one day in mid-March to tell the story of how he joined what he considers a war against Lukashenko’s government.

Azarau, 45, is a stocky guy in a checked shirt and black jacket, with a piercing stare. He mentioned that he has to be wary of spies as he travels around Poland and regularly glanced at his phone for updates on the fighting in Ukraine.

For more than two decades, Azarau was a police officer in Belarus, working as a detective in a department focused on human trafficking, illegal immigration, and religious extremism.

He rose to become a lieutenant colonel, heading a unit of an organised crime and corruption agency. He says he never supported Lukashenko but avoided criticising the government until August 2020, when he says he personally witnessed fraud in the presidential election and overheard commanders issue what he described as illegal orders to attack and arrest peaceful pro-democracy protesters.

Azarau quit the force and fled to Poland, where he was later joined by his wife and two young daughters. He quickly fell in with the Belarusian exile community in Warsaw and signed up to join ByPol (the name is shorthand for Belarus Police), a group of self-described “honest officers” from Belarus’s law enforcement community who were advocating for free and fair democratic elections.

ByPol’s members weren’t hackers. But they soon linked up with the Cyber Partisans, who showed how their skills could help gather evidence of human rights violations that could be used to argue for sanctions against government officials.

The hackers broke into government websites. They disclosed mortality statistics indicating that tens of thousands more people in Belarus died from Covid-19 than the government had publicly acknowledged.

They also began releasing data including secret police archives, lists of alleged police informants, personal information about top government officials and spies, video footage gathered from police drones and detention centres, and secret recordings of phone calls from a government wiretapping system.

ByPol members, with their knowledge of the inner workings of the regime, helped to analyse, authenticate, and distribute the hacked files.

Azarau says that information gathered by the hackers has been vital in documenting police abuses. But the cyberattacks were useful for doing more than simply embarrassing Lukashenko.

One database the Cyber Partisans broke into included 10m passport and driver’s licence photos, which ByPol has used to create its own facial recognition system.

It’s used it to identify suspected spies, as well as police officers shown attacking protesters in videos. If the group has a picture of a suspected Belarusian spy, it runs a check on the photograph.

These operations have clearly spooked Lukashenko’s government. Last November, the Supreme Court branded the hackers as terrorists and criminalised participation in several groups including the Cyber Partisans and ByPol, according to the prosecutor general’s office.

In March, Lukashenko expounded on the danger of cyberattacks:

We all tremble at nuclear weapons but cyberweapons are even more terrifying.

As Belarus became involved in Russia’s mobilisation for an invasion of Ukraine, ByPol grew hungry to undermine Lukashenko’s government by, for example, sabotaging signalling systems to slow down trains.

The tactic has echoes of Soviet resistance fighters who undermined the Nazi regime during the Second World War by using explosives to blow up the tracks.

“A lot of Russian ammo and weapons came to Belarus and goes through our territory to Ukraine, to kill Ukrainians,” says Azarau. “So we decided to wage a railway war.”

While ByPol’s operatives have used arson to carry out this strategy, he says, their allies could provide similar results by digital means.

The Cyber Partisans said they’d paralysed trains in the Belarusian cities of Minsk and Orsha, as well as the town of Osipovichi.

It’s not possible to independently verify these claims. But there has been evidence of disruptions.

In March, Belarusian Railway posted a statement online saying it was opening 50 additional ticket offices to meet demand while it worked to restore its systems.

Unlike ByPol, the Cyber Partisans are determined to remain entirely anonymous, saying they fear for their safety given the violent record of the Lukashenko regime. Even their ostensible public representative, a Belarusian citizen named Yuliana Shemetovets who lives in New York City and appears at conferences on their behalf, says she doesn’t know their identities.

Cyber Partisan interview

After several months of communication with Bloomberg over encrypted chat channels, a member of the group agreed to a rare video interview, on the condition that he be allowed to remain anonymous and the technical details of the chat not be published.

The hacker sat silhouetted in a darkened room, wearing a hoodie. The Cyber Partisans’ red-and-black logo was projected on a large screen behind him.

He used a device to disguise his speech, which only partially concealed what sounded like an eastern-European accent.

The Cyber Partisans consist of about 60 people, he said, mostly Belarusian citizens with backgrounds in computers. Most of them work on tool development and data analysis, with only about 10 volunteers participating in the hacking operations the group carries out.

He flatly refused to discuss his personal life in even the broadest ways, for fear of accidentally revealing details that could be used to identify him.

The nature of the Cyber Partisans’ operations have led to speculation that they’re a front for a government hostile to Lukashenko’s.

A protestor with a traditional Belarusian flag taking part in a demonstration in Warsaw demanding freedom for Belarus opposition activist Roman Protasevich. Picture: Wojtek Radwanski/AFP
A protestor with a traditional Belarusian flag taking part in a demonstration in Warsaw demanding freedom for Belarus opposition activist Roman Protasevich. Picture: Wojtek Radwanski/AFP

In January, security researcher Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade wrote that government-backed groups can masquerade as hacktivists to give themselves plausible deniability and “to imbue their leaks with legitimacy not afforded by the obvious intervention of a government”.

But he also determined that the Cyber Partisans had the characteristics of a “grassroots endeavour”.

In his video chat with Bloomberg, the Cyber Partisan laughed off this suggestion, saying that the group isn’t financed or controlled by any government agency. “We’re still amateur hacktivists,” he said.

“We’re just highly motivated and stubborn. If we had the budget of a government agency we would have carried out attacks every day and brought the terroristic regime of Lukashenko to its knees very quickly.”

What the Cyber Partisans do acknowledge is Putin’s war has broadened their goals — and helped them forge a new set of alliances with hackers in Ukraine.

“Ukrainians are now fighting not only for their freedom but for the Belarusian independence as well,” the hacker said.

“I understand it’s war and we need to do this. But there was a point when it just felt it was becoming too dangerous”

The political hacking movement within Ukraine began building in earnest following Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014. The Ukrainian Cyber Alliance formed in 2016 to strike back against Russia and has a track record of carrying out successful data breaches.

In 2016 and 2017, it claimed responsibility for compromising Russian Ministry of Defence servers and stealing and publishing emails from an adviser close to Putin, in addition to those of alleged Russian militants and propagandists.

At the time the Ukrainian government was ambivalent at best about much of what such groups were doing.

Authorities accused the Ukrainian Cyber Alliance of hacking Odessa’s international airport and placing an offensive message about the environmental activist Greta Thunberg on an electronic display, and some of its members were scheduled to appear in court in February in connection with the incident.

The group denies involvement, but in any case the proceedings were postponed, and the hackers now say they’re working with the Ukrainian government as part of its call for a makeshift “IT Army” to help in the war effort.

The volunteers have carried out targeted attacks on Russian banks and energy companies and also hacked Russian state media websites to counter the Kremlin’s propaganda.

The life of a professional revolutionary has been hard on Azarau. His Belarusian bank accounts were seized last year, and security agents in Belarus searched the home of his 68-year-old mother and confiscated electronic devices at her property in a village near Minsk.

People who’ve called his mother by phone have themselves been subsequently visited by police. The harassment, which Azarau interprets as an attempt to punish him, has had a chilling effect on friends and family, who are now afraid to contact his mother, leaving her isolated.

He says he’s pretty sure he’s being followed in Warsaw as well. ByPol has identified Belarusian military intelligence agents who it says have travelled to Poland to infiltrate dissident groups. Earlier this year, says Azarau, a Belarusian spy was operating in Poland disguised as a refugee and had been tasked with “eliminating” ByPol’s leadership.

Azarau recognised the man from his former police days, and ByPol subsequently exposed his identity online. The alleged spy fled a refugee centre where he was living and left his passport behind. “Now nobody knows where he is,” Azarau says.

Lukashenko’s government has proved willing to go to extremes to fight its political opponents. Last year it caused international outrage when it forced a passenger plane to land in Minsk and arrested a dissident Belarusian journalist who’d been on board.

Last August, one prominent opposition figure was found hanged in a park in Ukraine. Police said they suspected the incident may have been a murder disguised as suicide.

In April, news agency AFP reported that the Belarusian government said it had arrested four men whom it suspected of sabotaging train equipment. The announcement included video of gruesomely injured men lying on the ground. The government said it had shot the suspects because they were resisting arrest.

At the same time, the hacking and sabotage are putting “huge pressure” on Lukashenko’s regime, says Pavel Latushko, a former Belarusian
ambassador and minister of culture who now leads an opposition group called National Anti-Crisis Management.

In his office in central Warsaw, Latushko has five framed documents on his wall displaying criminal charges Belarusian authorities have filed against him, accusing him of involvement in terrorism, extremism, and conspiracy to seize state power — he jokes that he’s had seven charges filed against him in total, but he doesn’t have enough room. Lukashenko, he says, once personally threatened to strangle him.

Given the violence of the Lukashenko regime and the devastating Russian assault on Ukraine, Latushko says hackers like the Cyber Partisans should feel little restraint about how they hit back.

“All activities under the movement of resistance are legal,” he says.

“Everybody who can struggle against the occupation of the Russian Federation and the puppet government of Lukashenko — you can use all the instruments.”

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text:
Nomad, Solana hacks show DeFi’s inherent flaw | #emailsecurity | #phishing | #ransomware

Good morning, and welcome to Protocol Fintech. This Thursday: the “hack me” sign on crypto’s back, Aparna Chennapragada leaves Robinhood, and a new bill could boost the CFTC’s role in crypto regulation.

Off the chain

Economist Frances Coppola dove deep into the filings generated by Three Arrows Capital’s liquidation proceedings and came back with a picture of a deeply troubled company — even before the luna-UST meltdown sent it over the edge. “Its entire balance sheet is a massive unhedged bet that crypto prices will always go up,” she wrote. The Monetary Authority of Singapore comes out well in Coppola’s account, moving quickly to investigate the firm in June, but authorities were slow to freeze the firm’s assets, which may have given the founders time to move crypto tokens and NFTs to wallets that may now be offline. Only $40 million has been recovered against $2.8 billion in claims, a liquidator reports.

I’m taking a vacation, so “Off the chain” will return next Friday. Until then!

— Owen Thomas (email | twitter)

Crypto’s ‘hack me’ sign

You’d think after the crypto market shed $2 trillion in value in the last eight months, hackers might move on to more promising targets. But even a smaller market is providing tempting prey. News that criminals made off with $190 million after hacking the Nomad crypto bridge protocol was followed by Solana reporting that unknown attackers had drained more than 7,500 wallets of about $4 million worth of crypto tokens.

Bad code leads to bad outcomes. The Nomad and Solana breaches were “perpetrated through vulnerabilities in the coding of a contract and the software on which wallets run,” said Michael Fasanello, chief compliance officer at LVL.

  • Experts blame the Nomad hack on a flawed update which created an opening for hackers, making it easy to simply copy and paste transactions with a new address to access tokens.
  • The Nomad attack exemplified the problems with crypto bridges, which have come under increasing attack in recent years. They play an important role in crypto, but have also served as a weak link that hackers routinely exploit.
  • The Solana hack involved a “cohort of wallets” which were “compromised in the breach,” according to Slope Finance, whose software enables Solana users to access their wallets. Phantom Wallet, a popular Solana wallet, also pointed to Slope.

Crypto has turned into a hacker’s paradise. Sam Curry, chief security officer at Cybereason, said the recent attacks show how hackers now have “a plethora of tools” to take on a space with “poor cyber standards” and “high value and fungible targets.”

  • New crypto ventures are particularly attractive to hackers since they practically “have a ‘hack me’ sign outside,” Curry told Protocol. “The typical startup mentality of getting the code out there and fixing it on the fly is a recipe for disaster — and isn’t acceptable.”
  • Nomad raised $22 million in April and recently touted its high-profile investors along with its goal to “create a safer crypto ecosystem.”
  • Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies promise a new financial system where users have complete control, free from intermediaries like banks and regulators, and transactions are totally transparent. But that also means there are few protections. The Nomad and Solana hacks highlight how, in DeFi, “there are few arbiters of the space beyond a project’s customer base, and the group in charge of running the project,” Curry said.
  • DeFi proponents argue that having open-source code and many eyes on transactions serve as safeguards, but how well is that working out in practice?

It’s ironic, then, but centralized crypto exchanges — CeFi — are looking safer for customers willing to compromise their DeFi ideals. There’s a real “disparity in security” between DeFi and CeFi, Fasanello said. In crypto, “no individual or party [is] 100% responsible for security.” Fasanello isn’t sure DeFi can ever be made 100% secure. Buyer beware, hacker rejoice.

— Benjamin Pimentel (email | twitter) and Tomio Geron (email | twitter)

They created Digital People. Now they’ve made celebrities available as Digital Twins: Soul Machines co-founder and CEO Greg Cross and his co-founder Mark Sagar, Ph.D., FRSNZ are leading their Auckland and San Francisco-based teams to create AI-enabled Digital People™ to populate the internet, at first, and soon the metaverse.

Read more from Soul Machines

On the money

Crypto miners could get a tax reprieve. A Senate proposal would exempt crypto mining firms from being considered “brokers” under a 2021 law, which could trigger requirements to collect information on customers’ capital gains and losses and other transaction data.

A carbon-credit registry operator has proposed crypto token rules. Verra, a nonprofit organization that runs the world’s biggest registry by carbon credits issued, laid out a slate of rules for trading carbon credits on cryptocurrency exchanges to address concerns about the anonymity of digital-token holders.

Bankrupt Celsius wants to rehire a former executive. The crypto lender is seeking a judge’s permission to pay its former chief financial officer $93,000 per month while the bankruptcy filing makes its way through court, citing the “need for stability” and his financial expertise in its request to keep him on board.

Text-marketing startup Attentive and Shopify have teamed up for pay-by-text. Retailers using Shopify’s Shop Pay checkout system will be able to take payment from customers directly through customer service text chats powered by Attentive.

The CFTC’s Capitol backers

A new Senate bill would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority over the markets for bitcoin and ether, the two largest cryptocurrencies. The bill is the latest attempt in Washington to set more clear federal rules for digital assets. It was introduced Wednesday by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, and Sen. John Boozman, a Republican from Arkansas.

The CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission have been battling for position in overseeing cryptocurrencies; tension heightened recently when the SEC declared a list of crypto tokens as securities within an insider trading complaint, prompting a public rebuke from CFTC Comissioner Caroline Pham.

The new bill could provide some level of clarity. It would give the CFTC direct oversight of tokens that qualify as “digital commodities.” That includes bitcoin and ether, according to a bill summary. Online exchanges and other services that facilitate trading of the tokens would be required to register with the CFTC.

Read the full story on

— Ryan Deffenbaugh (email | twitter)

Moves and hires

Robinhood’s Aparna Chennapragada stepped down as chief product officer. “ … the world has changed. As Robinhood adapts to this new context, it’s time for me to move on,” she wrote in a tweet. She’ll remain as an adviser to CEO Vlad Tenev. She cleared around $10 million in stock sales in her 16 months as an executive at the company.

PayPal has named Blake Jorgensen as its next CFO. Jorgensen, who held the same role at Electronic Arts, will succeed John Rainey, who left PayPal earlier this year to become Walmart’s CFO.

Michael Saylor is dropping the CEO title at MicroStrategy and becoming executive chairman. Saylor will “focus more on our bitcoin acquisition strategy and related bitcoin advocacy initiatives,” he said in a statement. The business-software company’s large bitcoin holding led to a $917.8 million impairment charge last quarter. But hey, Saylor once lost $6 billion of his personal net worth in a single day during the burst of the dot-com bubble.

Meghan Welch is Plaid’s new chief people officer. Welch was previously executive vice president, head of enterprise HR and chief diversity officer at Capital One.

Jim Magats has been named CEO of MX, an open-finance technology company. Magats was most recently PayPal’s senior vice president for omni-payments solutions.

Yieldstreet has named Timothy Schott its first chief financial officer. Schott was previously CFO of Associated Capital Group, an alternative investment adviser.

They created Digital People. Now they’ve made celebrities available as Digital Twins: Soul Machines is at the cutting edge of AGI research with its unique Digital Brain, based on the latest neuroscience and developmental psychology research.

Read more from Soul Machines

Thanks for reading — see you tomorrow!

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text:
Over 70% of Small Businesses Fail to Prioritize Cybersecurity | #malware | #ransomware

Cybersecurity Solutions

Keeping up with the latest cybersecurity can feel like constantly playing catch up, with new virus variants, data breaches and ransomware attacks being reported every day. However, tech has made this task easier than ever, and investing in robust solutions such as antivirus software and password managers can severely mitigate the risks.

49% of businesses surveyed by Tech.co reported using antivirus software to protect their business assets, and 80% were happy that this solved the challenges they had been facing. What’s more, businesses who chose to invest in antivirus software were more likely to also report that they were exceeding their business growth goals. On the flip side, over half of the businesses we spoke to were at risk from viruses, and antivirus software can’t solve all business security concerns alone.

Again, certain industries showed signs of being more behind than others, for example, only 25% of the Accounting industry reported using antivirus software, compared to 69% of those in the Legal profession.

Password managers can be another lifeline for employees. These reduce the risk of poor, easy-to-hack and repeated passwords, and they can also alert users about compromised credentials. 32% of those Tech.co spoke to had a password manager solution in place already, but some of the lowest use was seen in the most at-risk industries. Hospitality stood out once more, as only 7% of those in the industry stated they use password managers.

With cybersecurity threats on the rise, and exacerbated by a more vulnerable workforce due to the widespread adoption of hybrid working, attacks for many companies aren’t so much a case of ‘if’, but ‘when’. Preparing and raising digital defenses can deflect a lot of these attacks, but companies that don’t invest in security now are likely to pay a much higher price in the long run.

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Report Highlights a Path Forward | #government | #hacking | #cyberattack

Ransomware drew $400 million of extortion from victims worldwide in 2020 — a figure that doesn’t account for cleanup costs or payments kept secret — and costs could hit more than $265 billion by 2031, according to a new report from think tank Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center. Despite the U.S.’s heightened attention on the attack type, it’s becoming more frequent and more costly.

“Things are not going in the right direction,” said GeoTech Center distinguished fellow David Bray during a July 26 virtual report launch. “This report, I think, sets the foundation for what can be things we can do differently.”

Key proposals for the U.S. include strengthening international public-private partnerships, driving more incident reporting within the country, raising the nation’s cybersecurity baseline and addressing criminal use of cryptocurrency, speakers said.

Ransomware perpetrators are increasingly using automated tools for greater speed and efficiency, Bray said. For example, GPT-3 — a neural network model that produces natural-sounding text — can write phishing emails “that are more effective” than ones written by humans, he said. According to the report, criminals are now “encrypting or stealing data within hours of the initial infection.”

Attacks are especially targeting local governments, schools, utilities, hospitals and other organizations that cannot easily tolerate any downtime. U.S. Department of Energy Senior Advisor for Cybersecurity Cheri Caddy said criminals expect quick payouts from hitting entities that need to stay available 24/7, and small, municipal and state water and power entities are at risk, due to the vitality of their operations and their limited resources for cyber defense.

And while big-name victims like Colonial Pipeline may make headlines, it’s small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) who are most often victimized, said technology journalist John Sakellariadis, who spent a year studying ransomware on a Fulbright grant. SMBs may have only one full- or part-time IT specialist, Bray said, and federal agencies need to find ways to scale tabletop exercises and other supports to help them.

The U.S. also needs to look at the full international picture when planning against threats. Ransomware continues to be a worldwide affair, with criminals in one or more countries collaborating to attack victims in another and routing money internationally.

Russia has been a major source of ransomware, but Brazil, China, Iran and other nations are showing increased activity, Sakellariadis said. That puts more pressure on developing international partnerships to rally against this borders-spanning threat.

New opportunities may also be emerging as ransomware evolves. Criminals with limited technology skills have been able to get involved in these attacks by purchasing ransomware as a service (RaaS). But the report also cites a trend in which affiliates — criminal actors who deploy ransomware malware developed by other parties — are becoming more tech savvy. These players have often used methods like botnets and stolen credentials to deploy ransomware but are now using more advanced methods like hacking into networks.

The rise of more skilled affiliates shifts the power balance between them and their developer partners, something the report said can lead to infighting that law enforcement could exploit.

The federal government needs victims to report incidents so that agencies can better understand the threats and alert other potential victims. But reporting hasn’t been fast or frequent enough to keep pace with ransomware attacks.

A March 2022 law will — when implemented — require critical infrastructure to report certain incidents and ransom payments to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The agency has several years to hammer out the specifics of these requirements and government still needs to motivate reporting from entities not covered by the law.

As CISA and policymakers do so, Sakellariadis said they should consider how to balance competing desires. Asking for detailed accounts can give prosecutors more leads for tracking down perpetrators. Meanwhile, requesting simpler, broad-strokes reporting makes the task easier for smaller victims to quickly comply. That may encourage more participation, granting a better picture of the overall landscape but less in-depth understanding of particular threats.

The report also urged different federal agencies to come to common agreement around what they want victims to report, including by standardizing questions and reporting timelines across all situations.

Speakers also recommended safe harbor laws to entice reporting where it’s not legally obligated. Governments would need to clarify details such as how victims can report, how that information would be protected and used, and what kinds of victims and incidents would be covered by the safe harbor policies, the report explained.

Caddy also said that victims may skip reporting because they don’t realize why the information is necessary. But government needs alerts so it can forewarn organizations that may be victimized next.

“Part of the key mental barrier that needs to be overcome is this notion that you’re in this by yourself and that no one else is impacted,” Caddy said.

U.S. Department of Energy Senior Advisor for Cybersecurity Cheri Caddy discusses ransomware.

Department of Justice Deputy Chief for Computer Crime Michael Stawasz also said that a federal “no wrong door” approach to reporting has ultimately caused confusion. Federal government wanted to let victims inform any relevant agency about cyber incidents, trusting the agencies would share the intelligence with each other.

“We thought we were being accommodating; we may have been less than crystal clear,” Stawasz said. “So I think there’s been some thought about where is the right place to direct people, even if it isn’t the exclusive place.”

Ransomware actors will keep at it so long as the crime is sufficiently profitable and convenient.

Simply getting organizations to adopt good cyber basics can add friction for attackers. The report finds criminals commonly take advantage of weak passwords and insufficiently secured remote desktop protocol (RDP) endpoints, for example.

On the prosecution side, Stawasz said government should focus less on heaping lengthier sentences on the perpetrators they arrest and more on catching a greater number of criminals in the first place. Making arrests more common will go farther in convincing attackers that repercussions may affect them.

Ransomware actors commonly demand extortion in cryptocurrency, which is easy to move overseas and offers levels of anonymity or pseudonymity. Federal government has sought to crack down on cryptocurrency operators that facilitate illicit payments to ransomware actors.

Law enforcement looking to stop perpetrators from making off with their ill-gotten gains need to time their interventions. Sakellariadis recommended letting payments reach extortionists, so they’re more likely to provide victims with decryption keys in exchange. A more opportune disruption would be to instead intercept payroll disbursements between the ransomware organizations and their employees.

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