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Women have equal right to family inheritance – Senior Advocate

2 min read
Prof. C.J. Dakas

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Prof. Clement Dakas says any culture that excludes women and girls in sharing family inheritance is “punitive and uncivilized”.

The perpetrators of the culture and custom should therefore be punished by civil authorities, Dakas said on Saturday in a convocation lecture at the University of Jos, Nigeria.

“A custom of this nature in the 21st century societal setting will only tend to depict the absence of the realities of human civilization.

“It is punitive, uncivilized and only intended to protect the selfish perpetration of male dominance which is aimed at suppressing the right of the womenfolk in the given society,” he said.

Furthermore, denying women the right to family property is a direct affront on the creator, noted the former Attorney General, University of Jos Law Faculty Dean and Director Research at the Nigerian Institute of Law, Abuja.

He said, “This practice, I dare say, is a direct challenge to God the Creator who bestows male children only; female children only [as in this matter], or an amalgam of both males and females, to whom He likes. He also has the sole power to make one a (sic) barren…”

Dakas challenged Nigerian authorities to fight all “anachronistic, discriminatory and unprogressive practices against women.

According to him, “Discrimination against women is not inherent in biological differences between the sexes but predicated primarily on social construction of roles and stereotypes that are, in turn, rooted in and perpetuate the economic disempowerment of women.

“Accordingly, consistent with its obligations under the Nigerian Constitution, CEDAW and related instruments, Nigeria must, in practical terms, make concerted efforts to end all forms of discrimination against women.

“Consistent with section 12 of the Nigerian Constitution, Nigeria needs to domesticate all regional and international instruments on the rights of women to which it is a party, such as CEDAW, in order to bolster the municipal legal framework for the promotion and protection of the rights of women.”

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MN Medical marijuana

Marijuana Doctor near me in Moorhead, MN

MN medical marijuana doctors are now using MedCard Telemedicine to conduct Face-to-Face visits to certify patients in Moorhead online with a qualifying medical condition. Minnesota marijuana card patients can shop for medical cannabis products at dispensaries near Moorhead. Available menu products for sale are THC & CBD Oils for vaporizing, capsules, oral syringes, vaporizer cartridges, cannabis tinctures, balms. Vape pens can be purchased as well.

To get your marijuana card online, simply fill out the form below and press submit. You will be contacted shortly to set-up your virtual appointment with a medical marijuana doctor. You will also receive a follow up email with the details. Legal Residents Only Please

MMJ Patient Registration Form

Find Moorhead Marijuana Doctors near you on the map.

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Armed Forces for Cannabis

MN Veterans For Cannabis Legalization

Moorhead Veterans have expressed strong support for cannabis as a helpful treatment for debilitating conditions they face as a result of serving our country. The most common being Pain Management and PTSD, which is a spectrum anxiety disorder that MMJ products from local dispensaries are helping treat.

Currently, veterans in Moorhead have to go out of the network to a civilian doctor for a medical marijuana recommendation as the Veterans Administration is still reviewing data. There is some activity on the federal level that may correct this soon. If you’re wondering if medical marijuana really works, when asked, one Combat Wounded Marine stated, “Weed is a miracle for PTSD, sometimes I think I smoke a lot, then it occurred to me that I haven’t wanted to hit anyone in 6 months.”

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Camping in Georgetown, Tennessee

Georgetown, Tennessee

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A conversation with Zipcar’s CEO Scott Griffith

Zipcar’s CEO, Scott Griffith, has always had a passion for three things: cities, transportation, and technology. And he believes “Zipcar represents the most important innovation in transportation in a generation.” A bold claim, but the company has been a leader in the movement of collaborative consumption, or using the web to share “stuff.”


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Samsung, Hyundai to boost auto ties

“The automotive chip solution business is a blue ocean. As automotive chips, which will mostly be logic chips for controlling entire computing systems, require high-quality safety conditions, we can’t push the business in a short time. But, with the help of Hyundai Motors, Samsung will cut its reliance on conventional memory chips,” said a senior researcher at one of Samsung’s local factories.


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What's Happening

November 3, 2017

Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson spoke at the USDOT Center for Connected Multimodal Mobility’s (C2M2) Fall Conference in Clemson, South Carolina to share knowledge between both UTCs. C2M2 is a consortium of higher education and research institutions in South Carolina working toward the vision to create a globally recognized multimodal mobility innovation center for moving people and goods, specializing in connected and autonomous vehicle research.


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What's Happening

October 11, 2019

Today’s Smart Mobility Connection seminar featured Aaron Steinfeld, Associate Research Professor with the Robotics Institute at CMU. Steinfeld talked about “What’s Been Learned from the Tiramisu Transit Deployment.” Steinfeld was part of the team from the CMU Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center who researched, developed and deployed Tiramisu, a transit app with a universal design but focused on improving public transit for individuals with disabilities. Watch the full seminar here to learn more.


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• Right and Wrong

    Modern Consensus 100 Most Influential: Who got it right and who got it wrong

    The good guesses, the triumphs, the screw-ups and the downright disasters of 2020

    In an industry as young and volatile as crypto, and especially with all the money sloshing around in it, the triumphs and tragedies—or at least successes and screw-up—can be be enlightening and sometimes funny. It’s also a good preview to The Modern Consensus 100 Most Influential People in Crypto 2021, which went live today.

  • Modern Consensus 100 Most Influential People in Crypto 2021
    Crypto Power Lists

    The Modern Consensus 100 Most Influential People in Crypto 2021

    The individuals moving, shaking, and shaping cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology right now

    Coming up with a list of the 100 most influential people in crypto and blockchain is hard in any year. But doing it in 2021 is particularly difficult as the industry advanced from moving into the mainstream to actually being in it. And that makes “influence” a moving target.

  • Coinbase will go public
    Cryptocurrencies,  Regulation

    Coinbase will go public with historic direct stock sale

    The listing will make the U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange the first firm in the industry to become a public company by selling stock

    The leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange intends to become a publicly traded company with a direct listing of its Class A shares rather than a traditional IPO.

  • coinbase grand design bison trails
    Cryptocurrencies,  People,  Technology

    Coinbase pitches a grand design in buying Bison Trails

    Purchasing the blockchain infrastructure provider is part of Brian Armstrong’s goal of growing Coinbase is beyond its roots as a cryptocurrency exchange

    In a Jan. 19 statement on its blog, Coinbase portrayed the move part of a grand design, calling it “an important step in delivering on our mission to create an open financial system for the world.” It’s also part of a business strategy to turn the infrastructure Coinbase built for itself into a suite of products available to any developer.


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Porcelain Teeth

Bridge_from_dental_porcelainPorcelain is a type of ceramic that has been around for almost 2,000 years. It’s commonly referred to as “fine china”, since the Chinese were the first ones to create it. For most of that time, it was used to make beautiful pots, kitchenware, and artwork. But around the year 1900, it started being used to create something else beautiful: smiles. For the last century, porcelain has been an integral part of dental implants. It turns out that porcelain is a pretty hard substance, and is white like our teeth.

After a while though, it became apparent that the porcelain implants were prone to little tiny cracks. So, in the 1950s, dentists started fusing porcelain shells to metal implants. This gave the structural integrity of metal, and the outer appearance of real teeth. Things have varied over the years, but the principle is still the same today. If you need a new tooth, you don’t have to worry about extreme discomfort or embarrassment. Call the Modern Dentistry of Auburn today and let Dr. Contreras show you how great a new porcelain implant can be!

Image by Wagonerj from Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA-3.0


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East Asia

To remember from South Korea’s stellar rise

The speed and determination with which South Korea rose from war-torn poverty to innovative leadership amazed the world. Sungchul Chung examines the lessons to be learned by others seeking to emulate its success.

South Korea has in just over half a century risen from chronic poverty to be today one of the world’s most dynamic industrial economies. It has positioned itself as a global player in technology in sectors like automobiles, semi-conductors and telecommunications, and its growth was accomplished despite resource constraints and geopolitical uncertainties. South Korea’s stellar performance is widely praised as a model for emulation, yet it is nowadays concerned that its growth will soon plateau unless it can make the transition from being a technological follower to an innovator.

South Korea’s starting point meant that at first it had to be a follower. The country’s very poor industrial base had been almost totally destroyed during the Korean war at the start of the 1950s, heavily handicapping its private sector in the following decade. But although foreign direct investment (FDI) was at that time generally considered as the most effective way for a developing country to acquire production technologies, management skills and a business know how, South Korean’s government chose to restrict foreign ownership and the repatriation by investors of profits along with controls on technology transfers.

“Slower growth, reduced job prospects and the deteriorating performances of South Korean companies, all warn that its past strategy no longer works”

Instead of relying on funding through FDI, the government itself took on large foreign loans and allocated them to strategic industries, which in turn led to a massive influx of foreign capital goods and turnkey plants. Private industries acquired the necessary technologies by reverse engineering the imported machines, or through technical training as part of turnkey projects.

In the case of light industries, like shoes, clothing and textiles, the major sources of technological training and learning were original equipment manufacturing (OEM) production arrangements. South Korean companies benefited hugely from these because they offered opportunities to work with foreign buyers who would provide everything from product designs and materials to quality control. This was the stage of which South Korea pursued industrialisation by imitating and assimilating foreign technologies.

“Without its well-educated, strongly motivated and highly disciplined workforce, South Korea wouldn’t have been able to achieve such success”

The structural changes to the growing South Korean economy were accompanied by increased levels of sophistication that could no longer be met by imported technologies. The Seoul government responded to these changes by shifting the policy focus from learning to development, and in 1982 launched a national R&D programme. This was the first programme specifically designed for industrial technology development, and it was accompanied by tax and fiscal incentives to promote industrial R&D. These actions were further reinforced in the 1990s by large scale mission-oriented programmes aimed at developing strategic technologies. Private industries joined in by switching their strategy from imitating and assimilating mature foreign technologies to in-house R&D, drawing upon emerging new foreign technologies. During the 1980s and up to 2000, R&D spending in South Korea soared from 0.5% of GDP to more than 3%, with the private sector’s share increasing to 80% towards the end of the 1990s. This period witnessed some remarkable achievements, almost all of them resulting from local and international joint R&D efforts drawing on foreign technologies.

Many developing countries have since tried similar strategies, but very few have succeeded. So what was it that made South Korea different? The most important factor has been human resources; without its well-educated, strongly motivated and highly disciplined workforce, South Korea wouldn’t have been able to achieve such success. Another factor was the government’s policy vision of a unified South Korean national goal.

Seoul’s export-based development strategy has also been very effective in stimulating innovation in private industries. To thrive in the global economy, South Korean companies had to invest heavily in technology and innovation, and were able to do so because of Korean’s cultural values emphasising frugality, which in turn explains the high savings and investment rates during that period.

Unfortunately, South Korea now seems to have hit the limit of its “fast follower” strategy. Slower growth, reduced job prospects and the deteriorating performances of South Korean companies, including Samsung, all warn that its past strategy no longer works. South Korea has to change if it is to recover its dynamism. The South Korean government has duly responded with a new development vision labelled the “creative economy.” Despite confusions over what the creative economy actually means, the main idea appears to be that new growth can be generated by facilitating cross-fertilisation of IT and other areas. Some experts agree with this idea, but others are doubtful. Of greater concern is how the policy should be implemented rather than the idea itself. Can South Korea achieve a creative economy under its current innovation system, and can the government lead innovation toward the creative economy in the way it did in the catch-up process?

“To thrive in the global economy, South Korean companies had to invest heavily in technology and innovation, and were able to do so because of Korean’s cultural values emphasising frugality”

Among the key features of South Korea’s innovation system is the role of government, which is rarely matched in terms of its influence over the private sector. It’s a system that has a lot to do with South Korean culture that is deeply rooted in hierarchical collectivism that places a higher value on community than on individuals, and emphasises social order more than interactions between the members of the society while also being strict about ethical norms.

It’s a culture that provides a glimpse into what the relationship is like between the government and the private sector in South Korea’s innovation system. It makes it easier to achieve social cohesion and to mobilise social energy toward a shared goal, and so it is very effective once the goal is clearly defined. The path to the goal was well-known in the case of the “fast follower” strategy, but the other side of the same coin is that Confucian culture tends to suppress new ideas and discourage risk-taking by penalising failures. This suggests that the factors responsible for past successes may now work as barriers to growth.

To sustain future growth, South Korea needs to find a way to reconcile Confucian culture with the culture of innovation based on diversity, openness, trust, social interactions and tolerance. And the government has to redefine its own role in navigating the country’s course toward a creative economy.

South Korea’s experience shows that there’s no such thing as an optimal innovation system. Innovation systems evolve in a national context that is influenced by such factors as culture, history, politics and the natural environment, all of which are subject to change. This means no model exists that transcends time and the cultural space.

This article first appeared in the Spring 2015 issue of Europe’s World, reposted per author’s permission.

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East Asia

The Taliban seek cooperation with China?

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How to deal with Afghanistan after the removal of US forces has become a subject that many countries are grappling with. And because Afghanistan and China are linked through Xinjiang, the Afghan Taliban aspire to cooperate with China. According to sources, on July 28, Baradar, the head of the Taliban’s Political Committee, visited China and met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

During the meetings, Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a personal plea to the Taliban in Afghanistan, expecting that the Taliban would draw a line with terrorist organizations like the East Iraqi Movement and actively battle them, removing barriers to regional growth and cooperation. Since the United States made it apparent that it intends to withdraw its troops, China’s position toward Afghanistan and the Taliban has become the center of all countries’ attention.

Prior to that, China simply repeated its long-standing foreign policy of non-interference in domestic matters, — in other words, China does not intervene in Afghanistan’s internal problems and expects Afghans to handle their own internal affairs. China, on the other hand, is very concerned about the situation in Afghanistan. China has not only made substantial investments in Afghanistan, but it has also sponsored several dialogues in China between Afghan parties.

Only because of the complexities of the situation in Afghanistan does China lack a clear answer. China has stated its particular needs more explicitly this time than in the past. China has far too many considerations when it comes to Afghanistan. However, in comparison to the behavior of many other nations, China’s demands for the Taliban this time have been well thought out, fair, and controlled.

First, China has maintained its previous favorable policy. Despite the fact that the Afghanistan problem is unique, China has not broken its foreign policy of non-interference in internal matters. On the basis of this strategy, China has had interactions with all parties in Afghanistan, ensuring that participation is not only voluntary, but also sufficient to ensure that all parties understand China’s position in order to avoid misunderstandings.

Second, China has stated its opinion on the subjects that most worry it. China has no space for compromise when it comes to national security. China has not raised this matter in the past, but it still needs to voice its viewpoint at the proper moment. As a result, China has the guts to demonstrate its stance, which will aid in the resolution of the situation.

Only when this issue is settled will future collaboration between China and Afghanistan be simple. The Taliban further said that no troops will be allowed to utilize Afghan territory to conduct activities that harm China. Atta regards China as a reliable ally and thinks that China would contribute to peaceful rebuilding.

Furthermore, China has not permitted certain ill-intentioned groups throughout the world to flourish. Following the withdrawal of the US troops, there was speculation in Western culture that China might become engaged in this issue and become the next growing power to enter the “empire’s tomb.” The Indian army’s recent intervention in Afghan politics appears to demonstrate that, as a powerful country around Afghanistan, it is hard to stay out of the issue.

China avoided the urge to intervene and managed its interactions with all sides sensibly, laying the ground for the next phase in the development of China-Afghan relations. So far, China has not fallen into the West’s trap, nor has the deterioration of the situation in Afghanistan harmed its relations with all parties.

As China expands its global presence, it will eventually come into contact with nations with very difficult political and economic situations, such as Afghanistan. However, China will not flee because of obstacles, because the majority of the world’s developed countries are Western countries with strong biases against China, and those wanting to have good relations with China are frequently developing countries with varied challenges. nation. As a result, China has no option.

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East Asia

Will US-China Tensions Trigger the Fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis?

Half a century ago, the then-National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger flew to Beijing in the hope of seeking China’s alliance to contain the Soviets. His visit culminated in the U.S. agreement to recognize Beijing as the only legitimate government of China instead of Taipei, going back on the promise he had made to the president of the Republic of China, Chiang Ching-kuo, merely one year previously that Taiwan would never be abandoned by the US. The realistic American diplomat may have never thought that one day Taiwan, once ruthlessly forsaken by the US, would become the latter’s most important strategic fortress in East Asia to contain a rising China.

In 2018, the passage of the Taiwan Travel Act encouraged more high-ranking American government officials to visit Taiwan and vice versa1. The US Undersecretary of State Keith Krach landed in Taiwan two years later, rendering him the highest-level State Department official to visit the island since 19792. The Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced the cancellation of all restrictions on official contacts between the U.S. and Taiwan in January 20213 – an action that was vehemently denounced by the Chinese government as Trump’s “last-ditch madness” that would “push the Taiwan question deeper down the road of no return”4.

Just when the world thought of Joe Biden’s ascension to power as a harbinger of softer attitudes toward Beijing, especially regarding Taiwan issues, the diplomatic muscle flexed by the newly elected US president is as eye-tingling as his aviator shades – first, his Secretary of State, Blinken and Secretary of Defense, Austin made an explicit announcement of the U.S. support for Taiwan; second, he sent former Deputy Secretaries of State Richard Armitage and James Steinberg and former senator Chris Dodd to Taiwan in honor of the 42nd anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act.

America’s incremental interest in the island is not confined to actions from its executive branches, but it has permeated its legislative system. The introduction of the confrontational “Strategic Competition Act of 2021” in April signals the anti-Soviet-style containment of China which was backed by The Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This bill echoes the “Interim National Security Strategic Guidance” released by the Biden Administration in March, and it emphasizes the urgent need to “achieve United States political objectives in the Indo-Pacific” and back closer ties with Taiwan5. With strong bipartisan support, the bill is expected to be signed into law by President Biden and to serve as a legislative compass to counter China at all levels. In that respect, Taiwan Strait is more likely than ever to become “ground zero” by the U.S. and China.

On the other hand, the crackdown on Hong Kong’s democracy movement under the new National Security Law by Beijing proved to be successful due to the limited backlash received from the West. On top of that, Beijing’s handling of Xinjiang cotton issue seems to have managed to incite nationalism among Chinese people on a short notice to boycott “anti-China forces”6. With a record of 380 incursions into Taiwan’s airspace by Chinese air force during 2020, there is reason to believe that Hong Kong and Xinjiang were “guinea pigs” used by Beijing to test its capability for the fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis, the probability of which has been enhanced by Xi Jinping’s attempt to seek reappointment and Beijing’s need to divert domestic attention away from the escalating social conflicts brought about by the stagnant economy.

So, the pertinent question is: if the fourth Taiwan Crisis does break out, when will it happen? It could be sometime after the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games7 as it is unlikely for China to discard the opportunity to showcase its image and test its comprehensive strength8. This could be déjà vu in light of Russia’s successful Blitzkrieg-style invasion of Ukraine in 2014, which occurred only three days after the end of Sochi Winter Olympics. However, China is not the only one who can learn from history. When the rest of the world anticipates China’s intent with regard to Taiwan, preemptive precautions will be taken. The game-theory-type strategic interaction may hence spur China to launch its attack before the upcoming international sports gala.

Another critical timing could be prior to the 20th National Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in October 2022. Xi Jinping’s abolishment of term limits through constitutional amendment may pave the legal foundation for his reappointment, but the “widespread opposition within the party”9 renders the legitimacy of his extended tenure unlikely. That is why some may find it hard to conceive of Xi’s attempt to “start an unnecessary war with Taiwan” before his re-appointment10, but his insatiable desire for a 3rd term may push him over the edge. For the time being, Xi seems to be seduced by his burgeoning self-confidence that China is charging into an epoch of opportunity where “the East is rising and the West is declining,”11 and what time is better than now to consolidate his authority in front of dissidents with a military show-off targeting Taiwan?

As Henry Kissinger12 said, “The historical challenge for leaders is to manage the crisis while building the future. Failure could set the world on fire.” When the leaders of the two greatest powers both see their own countries as the future “Leviathan” of the world, the definition of failure can no longer be merely confined to internal mismanagement, but being surpassed by international competitors. Kissinger may have overestimated some leaders’ senses of honor to bear the responsibility of the “historical challenge”, but he can be right about the catastrophic consequences of their failures. But this time, failure is not an option for either side across the Taiwan Strait nor across the Pacific Ocean

  1. Chen, Y., & Cohen, J. A. (2019). China-Taiwan Relations Re-Examined: The “1992 Consensus” and Cross-Strait Agreements. University of Pennsylvania Asian Law Review, 14(1).
  2. Mink, M. (2021). The Catalyst for Stronger US-Taiwan Ties.
  3. Hass, R. (2021). After lifting restrictions on US-Taiwan relations, what comes next? Brookings.
  4. Global Times. (2021). Pompeo may toll the knell for Taiwan authorities.
  5. Zengerle, P., & Martina, M. (2021). U.S. lawmakers intensify bipartisan efforts to counter China. Reuters.
  6. Cui, J., & Zhao, Y. (2021). Boycott of Xinjiang cotton use opposed. China Daily.
  7. Everington, K. (2021). Former US security advisor says Taiwan in “maximum danger” from PLA. Taiwan News.
  8. China Daily. (2021). Preparing for Winter Olympics promotes quality development – Opinio. China Daily.
  9. The Guardian. (2020). China’s Xi Jinping facing widespread opposition in his own party, insider claims.
  10. Roy, D. (2021). Rumors of War in the Taiwan Strait. The Diplomat.
  11. Buckley, C. (2021). Xi Maps Out China’s Post-Covid Ascent. The New York Times.
  12. Kissinger, H. A. (2020). The Coronavirus Pandemic Will Forever Alter the World Order.

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East Asia

Quad Infrastructure Diplomacy: An Attempt to Resist the Belt and Road Initiative

Over the years, the competition between the great powers in the dual space of the Indian and Pacific Oceans has been rapidly increasing. In the face of the aggravation of relations between the PRC and the United States, the defence dimension of the rivalry between the two contenders for global leadership traditionally comes to the forefront. However, in today’s context, the parties will most likely not engage in military action for the strengthening of their dominance in the region, but they will try to achieve the goals by expanding of economic influence. In this context, along with the well-known trade wars, there is an infrastructure rivalry in the region, which is enforced on Beijing by Washington and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad).

The role of Infrastructure in Indian and Pacific Oceans’ countries

The countries of Asia traditionally drawing the attention of the world community due to the high rates of economic, technological, and social development. In less than three decades, their per capita income has increased by 74%, millions of people have been lifted out of poverty, as well as a growing middle class has emerged in the region. All this became possible due to the multilateral cooperation institutionalization and the integration of the economies of the Indo-Pacific. However, the strengthening of trade and economic ties and the future prosperity of Asia largely depends on the infrastructure (ports, highways and railways, airports, pipelines, etc.), which contributes to a more active movement of goods on a regional and global scale. Moreover, back in 2009, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) published a report according to which collective investments in infrastructure in the amount of US$8 trillion will be required to maintain rapid economic growth in Asian countries.

The most prominent infrastructure initiative in recent years is the «Belt and Road Initiative» (BRI), which was launched by China’s leader Xi Jinping in 2013. The BRI helped to fill numerous infrastructure gaps, but the United States and its partners increasingly paid attention to the geostrategic aspect of China’s actions. It’s no secret that the Belt and Road plays an important role in the development and integration of China’s provinces with neighboring countries. However, with the growing number of countries participating in the BRI, as well as the strengthening of China’s influence on a regional and global scale, criticism of the strategic tools for expanding Beijing’s economic influence gradually increased. The Belt and Road has faced a number of critical remarks, including those related to accusations of purposely involving the regional countries in the so-called «debt traps». Regardless of the degree of truthfulness or study of the issue, from year to year, media reports have contributed to the building of a contradictory attitude to China’s BRI among the residents, experts, and political elites all over the world.

Moreover, as soon as Donald Trump became the U.S. President in early 2017, Washington modified the nature of its policy towards China to greater confrontation. This trend has become a direct expression of the intensified great powers’ rivalry and their struggle for hegemony in the Indo-Pacific, as well as a motivation for the revival of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), which includes the United States, Australia, India and Japan. However, the interaction of the Quad has long been built on the basis of defence.

This trend continues nowadays, as evidenced by the frequent exercises and the growing Quad naval presence in the Indo-Pacific but in 2021 the Quad countries expanded their range of issues on a multilateral basis. Now the agenda includes vaccine diplomacy (providing 1 billion COVID-19 vaccines to Indo-Pacific countries, climate change, technological cooperation, maritime security, cybersecurity, and external development assistance. According to Kurt Campbell, Indo-Pacific policy coordinator at the National Security Council, Washington is looking to convene an in-person fall summit of leaders of the Quad countries with a focus on infrastructure in the face of the challenge from China.

Quadrilateral infrastructure diplomacy as the continuing vector of the Trump’s administration

The infrastructure agenda also became an important part of the last summit of the G7 countries’ leaders, during which the parties expressed their willingness to establish a BRI counterpart called Build Back Better World (B3W). In total, there are 22 mentions of infrastructure in the final G7 Summit Communiqué. Even despite the traditionally restrained position of India, which took the time to «study the specifics of the proposal», infrastructure diplomacy of Quad is becoming a new area of geostrategic competition in the Indo-Pacific.

There’s one exception: the activities on the infrastructure track are not a new trend of U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, but a continuation of the foreign policy vector set during the presidency of Donald Trump. It was he who turned Sino-U.S. rivalry into a geo-economic level. Back in 2017, the Foreign Ministers of the Quad countries stated the need for high-quality infrastructure development in order to ensure freedom and openness of sea routes, as well as improve intra-regional ties. In 2018, MoU was signed between the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, aimed at implementing major infrastructure projects in the Indo-Pacific. Moreover, the Quad countries raised the question of the BRI countries’ growing debt during their official meeting in Singapore.

It was clear that the Belt and Road Initiative is perceived by the Quad countries as the main factor in expanding the economic and political influence of the People’s Republic of China, as well as China’s influence of the domestic political processes in the countries of Indo-Pacific. At the same time, the combination of economic and defence rivalry enforced on Beijing by Washington, as well as Quad’s efforts to build a balance of power in the region actually indicates the explicit anti-China nature of the Quad.

In this case, it’s important to note that each of the Quad countries has its own levers of influence, which they can combine in infrastructure competition with Beijing. For example, in 2015, in response to the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative and the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) by China, Japan made the Partnership for Quality Infrastructure (PQI). The United States, in turn, announced the infrastructure project Blue Dot Network (BDN), as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia established a new Partnerships for Infrastructure (P4I). All these initiatives are united by a commitment to inclusive economic growth, «quality infrastructure», climate change, disaster response, and social development. The capitalization of the Japanese, American and Australian initiatives is US $110 billion (US$50 billion from Japan and over US$50 from the Asian Development Bank), US$30-60 million, and US$383 thousand (including access to US$4 billion of foreign aid and $US2 billion from the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific), respectively. Given the ongoing discussions about debt traps, the emphasis on «high-quality infrastructure» may give special features to the initiatives of the Quad but even the total amount of funding will not be able to compete with the US$770 billion investments already made in 138 countries of the world and announced by China.

Anyway, Quad is stepping up its infrastructure diplomacy in at least three areas, including Southeast Asia, Oceania, and the Indian Ocean. For example, Australia, Germany and Switzerland have already allocated US$13 million to the Mekong River Commission For Sustainable Development (MRC) to assist Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and, Vietnam «to respond to pressing challenges while safeguarding the ecological function of the Mekong River and improving people’s livelihoods».At the same time, Australia signed US$300 million MoU with Papua New Guinea, aimed at the ports reconstruction in the major state of Oceania (the ports of Vanimo, Kimbe, Motukea, Lorengau, Oro Bay, Daru, Lae, etc.). It is important to highlight that the increasing economic and infrastructural presence of China in the countries of Oceania, energize Australia’s policy in the South Pacific, which is a traditional zone of influence of Canberra. At the same time, the expansion of Australia’s aid and investment to the broader Indo-Pacific is due to the commitment of the current Australian government to the U.S. foreign policy.

In turn, the reaction of the Southeast Asian countries to the intensification of Quad infrastructure diplomacy will be more restrained. According to the latest Pew Research Center survey, the most unfavourable view of China is in the United States (76%), Canada (73%), Germany (71%), Japan (88%), Australia (78%), and South Korea (77%), while in Singapore — the only country representing ASEAN in the survey — the percentage of unfavourable views on China is at a low level (34%). Moreover, considering the aspects of infrastructure diplomacy in the region, we should definitely refer to the survey of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) of the political elites of the region «Powers, Norms, and Institutions: The Future of the Indo-Pacific from a Southeast Asia Perspective», published in 2020. Despite the intentional exclusion of Russia from the survey, it approximately reflects the trends in the Indo-Pacific countries at the present stage. Thus, as a result of the survey, American experts revealed that the political elites of Southeast Asia positively assess China’s activities in the field of infrastructure development, which has brought tangible benefits to most Southeast Asian countries.

Beijing’s Response

China is actively reacting to verbal attacks from the United States and Quad. The infrastructure agenda was no exception, but China responded by modernizing its global Belt and Road Initiative. In response to criticism about the involvement of the countries in debt traps, Beijing has developed a new Foreign Policy White Paper «China’s International Development Cooperation in the New Era». The document was published in early 2021. According to the provisions of the new White Paper, China will pay closer attention to the process of implementing projects within the aid framework, take an active part in evaluating projects in order to monitor their quality, maintain an appropriate level of confidence in its projects to China, as well as conduct bilateral consultations to identify difficulties with debt repayment and make sure that partners do not fall into a debt trap. It’s possible that the new vision of the PRC will appear especially quickly in countries where the Quad will primarily try to implement their infrastructure projects.

China is the first country in the region, which pays significant attention to the issues of large-scale infrastructure development. Moreover, Beijing has a number of advantages over its opponent — Quad. First, the Belt and Road initiative is more structured and aimed at intensifying trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation with neighboring countries, while the emerging Quad infrastructure agenda is «dispersed» among numerous individual initiatives, doesn’t have the same level of stability as the BRI, and even after 3.5 years of building the agenda is considered through the prism of expectations.

Second, China’s initiative is aimed at a single infrastructure connection between the PRC and the rest of the world and acts as a potential basis for the intensification of global trade in the future. At the same time, today’s projects of the Quad are of a “sporadic» nature and can’t contribute to the infrastructure linkage between Europe, Africa, South and Southeast Asia on a global scale.

Third, China can already offer the Belt and Road members not only logistics infrastructure but also the opportunities in the field of green energy. At the end of 2019, China produced about a third of the world’s solar energy and retained a leading position in the number of wind turbines. Within the foreseeable future, the Quad countries, and especially the United States, will have to compete with China even in the field of the climate agenda, which is so close to the new administration of the U.S. President Joe Biden.

Finally, during his recent speech on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), PRC’s Leader Xi Jinping confidently declared the great revival of the Chinese nation, its contribution to the progress of human civilization, and its readiness to build a new world, which undoubtedly indicates China’s decisiveness to respond to challenges to its address, including from the Quad.

The ongoing transformation of the regional architecture in the Indo-Pacific, both in the defence and economic areas, will be an important aspect in the post-pandemic era. China has repeatedly stated about the «covered» Quad activities to deterrence Chinese policy in the region, but the expansion of the Quad’s agenda by infrastructure diplomacy allows us to speak about the evident vector of the Quad strategy against the PRC.

However, nowadays the Quad countries had been left behind. China already has the world’s most numerous land forces, the largest navy, as well as an ambitious global Belt and Road initiative that includes almost 140 countries and a capitalization approaching US$1 trillion. Of course, Quad is moving towards the institutionalization of its infrastructure cooperation and the potential expansion of the number of participating countries to the Quad Plus format. However, to reach China’s achievements for the period 2013-2021, the new alliance will need at least a decade.

At the same time, the rivalry of the Belt and Road with the Quad’s infrastructure initiative will help the countries of the region to diversify their infrastructure ties but will make their choice even more difficult, since it will primarily be regarded as support for the foreign policy vision of one of the parties, and not a pragmatic estimate of economic benefits. All this makes the regional environment in the Indo-Pacific increasingly complex and forces middle powers and smaller countries to adapt to new geostrategic realities.

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Day One: President Nasheed on the Move

12 Nov

President Anni completed his first day in office with an impressive ceremony to meet with invitees to a party given by him and the vice president at Dharubaaruge.

Anni’s words at the Oath Ceremeony were consistent with his election promises, and assured the people that change will be a constant in his government. He received dignitories including the President Rajapakse of Sri Lanka and the Vice President of India, in his office. He later met with the press, through Maghrib prayer time which is perhaps unprecedented in the Maldivian Presidential Protocol.

Anni also appointed new members to the People’s Majlis, to represent him. He also submitted the structure of his cabinet for the approval of the Majlis, and said that he would be sending two envoys to visit the prison. He assured that due process will be followed and those who are eligible will be given a presidential pardon.

Anni also said that his government would give a pension of not less than 2000 Rufiyaa for the elderly (over 65 years of age) irrespective of who they served. This is a stark difference from the previous regime who had a culture of distributing national wealth and resources to those who served them and only them – example: land and pension.

The visiting dignitories, diplomats and media personnel who were at last night’s reception spoke highly of Anni and the People of Maldives.

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giving back

Bettering Communities: Expecting Education and Malala Day 2012

giving backbettering communities

Education for women—Tomorrow, November 10, 2012 is Malala Day. As you may know, Malala Yousafzai is the fourteen-year-old girl who was shot in the head for promoting girls' education in her country.

In the United States, girls' education is a given. Girls even have educational options: public school, private school, virtual school, and homeschool. However, the buffet of choices our daughters are given aren't choices for the 32 million girls shut out of classrooms in other parts of the world.

Malala Yousafzai

My daughter loves school. Maybe it's because of the teacher who belts out multiplication rap songs or maybe it's because my girl was chosen to be a square dancer in the Biking Through North Carolina History Performance (trust me, big deal), but whatever the reason, my girl thrives at school. My daughter's future is bigger because education births choices.

Tomorrow, we have an opportunity to better communities by bettering the lives of girls who live in places where the education of girls isn't valued (no traveling required!). We can unite our voices and show the world we believe every girl has the right to an education. Here's how:

  • Tell the world about Malala using #IamMalala or share her story on social media.
  • Sign this petition which asks Pakistan to deliver education to all of its children.
  • Discuss Malala at dinner.
  • Watch this video.
  • Talk to your girl about the value of education.
  • Visit this site.
Can you think of other ways we can celebrate Malala's courage?

Amy L. Sullivan. Word lover. Book devourer. Music addict. Amy is a Northern girl who found herself living in the South. She drinks sweet tea, turns her nose up at okra, and attempts to tell her daughters "yella" isn't a color. Amy writes for both online and print publications and is a member of the #globalteamof200.

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SS-810-HD Complete Oil System

Our 7.5 quart street/strip low profile oiling system. The pan is only 1″ lower than stock 4 quart oil pans. Fits a stock type exhaust system.

Note: This pan will not work if you have a cross over pipe under the pan, but will fit with stock dual exhaust systems and headers. Fits all V-8 Olds engines.

Kit includes: 7.5 quart Oil Pan, SP-756 Oil Pump, PU-2 2″ drop 5/8″ bolt on Pick-Up Tube, OD-260 Oil Pump Drive Shaft, OP-498 Oil Pan Gasket Kit.

SKU: edb77327c195 Categories: ,

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Weight 24 lbs
Dimensions 26 × 13.5 × 8.5 in


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Moneyball All-Stars - Moneyball for Government

By investing limited taxpayer dollars in programs that work, we can improve outcomes for children, their families and communities across the country.

Bipartisan leaders from the public and private sectors have joined our All-Star lineup to tell government at all levels that it’s time to play Moneyball:

  • Martin Walsh

    Mayor of Boston

  • Governor Tim Walz

    Governor of Minnesota

  • U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA)

  • U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)

  • Scott Warren

    Co-Founder and Executive Director, Generation Citizen

  • James Weinberg

    CEO, FUSE Corps

  • Dan Weisberg

  • Lowell Weiss

    President, Cascade Philanthropy Advisors

  • Martin West

    Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

  • Caroline Whistler

    CEO & Co-Founder, Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc.

  • Andrew Wolk

    Founder and CEO, Root Cause

  • Abigail Wozniak

    Director, Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute, and Senior Research Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

  • U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-IN)

  • Joel Zarrow, Ph.D

    CEO, Children’s Literacy Initiative


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The fact is, most people who are paid to deliver higher returns than the stock market as a whole can’t do it. Data from the S&P Dow Jones Indices show 60% of large-cap equity fund managers underperformed the S&P 500 in 2020.

It was the 11th straight year that the majority of fund managers lost to the market.

There are plenty of good reasons to pay an adviser or fund manager to help handle your investments, but beating the S&P 500 isn’t one of them. The data says it probably won’t happen.

What financial pros are up against

Stock Broker Talking On Telephone In Front Of Multiple Computer Screen Showing Graphs
Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock

The S&P 500 has delivered inflation-adjusted returns of about 7% per year, on average, for the past 40 years.

So to beat the market, a financial adviser would need to design a portfolio that gets better returns than that.

Is it possible in a given year? Sure it is — plenty of investors and mutual fund managers do it.

But is it possible to predict who will do it? And does the possibility justify the fees charged by the most prestigious fund managers, many of which operate on a “two and 20” model (2% of the portfolio’s value plus 20% of profits)?

Buffett’s famous bet

Warren Buffett speaks on stage to press
Laurent Gillieron/EPA/Shutterstock

Warren Buffett, who’s justifiably famous for his investing advice, has frequently argued that, for most people, a simple market-pegged portfolio is a smarter investment strategy than trying to pick winning stocks.

In January 2008, Buffett put this belief to the test: He bet a prominent hedge fund manager a million dollars that an S&P index fund would deliver better returns over 10 years than a fancy and expensive hedge fund portfolio consisting of actively selected stocks.

Buffett made this bet before the stock market collapsed in the financial crisis of that same year. But it didn’t matter — by 2015, the hedge fund manager had waved the white flag and admitted he’d lost.

Buffett’s index fund had made 7.1% per year; the hedge fund had made 2.2%. It wasn’t even close.

Anyone who wants to prove Buffett right yet again can easily do so thanks to a new generation of do-it-yourself investment apps, all of which allow you to quickly and painlessly assemble a stable portfolio with low fees

And some apps even allow accredited investors to invest in U.S. farmland, which over the last 30 years has performed even better than the stock market, according to industry research.

What a good adviser does

Financial planner going over savings plans on a laptop with a young African American couple at a table in their living room at home
mavo / Shutterstock

Investment advisers needn’t worry about beating the market because that’s not really the job of a good adviser.

A good adviser will work with you on your medium- and long-term financial goals, in ways an app or algorithm can’t replicate.

Are you saving up for a new home or a comfortable retirement? Maybe you’re saving up to pursue a post-retirement dream.

These are real-life questions that a real-life adviser can help you answer.

You should also have reasonable access to your adviser to discuss your investments and get personalized advice. If you call, your adviser — not an assistant — should pick up the phone.

As with Buffett’s slow-and-steady wisdom, these aren’t sexy ways to make fast money playing the market.

But if your adviser is promising you fast money, you should probably find a new adviser.

What should you do?

Smiling businesswoman using phone in office. Small business entrepreneur looking at her mobile phone and smiling.
Jacob Lund / Shutterstock

The best way to avoid being disappointed by your adviser is to not set yourself up for disappointment.

No matter how well a financial professional is dressed or how confident they sound, the data shows their investment picks likely won’t outperform the S&P 500.

A DIY investment app like Acorns can take the guesswork and heated negotiations out of investing. The app can automatically invest your spare change into a balanced portfolio. You won’t notice the contributions but you will notice the returns.

No matter what you do with your investments, you should never pay someone for a promise they can’t keep. A good adviser would tell you that.

About the Author

Justin Anderson

Justin Anderson

Justin Anderson is a reporter at MoneyWise. He has a degree in Journalism from Ryerson University and his career has seen him cover everything from business and finance to the entertainment industry to politics, with plenty in between.

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I have a SubDragon lip-sync configuration file… BUT…

… it’s not really that great. Sad It works brilliantly with some of the sample sounds you get with DAZ Studio, but it struggles with others. Some phonemes are a bit retarded if the lip-sync tool can’t "hear" them properly, and you might need to use a text file to give the config file some assistance.

I was GONNA post a video to show it off and to "introduce" it, but DAZ Studio thought it’d be a great idea to render every frame in my animation and then crash as it’s saving the friggin’ video file. Even though most other 3D packages generate the AVI file AS IT IS RENDERING, aiming to avoid someone waiting many hours for a render just for the program to crash as it’s saving at the end. But no – DAZ 3D proves once again that it is WAY behind in technology.

Getting bored of DAZ 3D blowing their own metaphorical non-existent trumpet, too. "The verdict is in…Success! IN JUST TWO SHORT DAYS, THOUSANDS HAVE JUMPED ON THE CARRARA 8 BANDWAGON!" I don’t give a shit, DAZ. Your new version of Carrara is crap – you’ve ONLY JUST added multithreading, you’ve ONLY JUST added negative lights, and you’ve ONLY JUST put a physics engine in there. And lol, it’s taken them this long to make it 64-bit. 3DS MAX, Maya… in fact, almost every other 3D package has had these things for years. Then there’re other stupid things, like "God Rays", Barn Doors and… heh… NORMAL MAPS. Seriously – they’ve only just put normal maps in Carrara. SLOW DOWN DAZ, YOU’RE GOING TOO FAST!!!!11!one! There’s also mesh editing (which you can easily do in ZBrush, probably with a thousand times more precision) and
Puppeteer (which will always be pointless).

And in the newsletter, they say that there were too many NEW features to list in the newsletter, when in actual fact, I’ve just listed all the NEW features in the above paragraph. Tongue out

And it can’t be doing that well if you’ve had to knock 50% off its price in its first two days of release… and don’t give me that shit about "special offers", you’ve lowered the price because barely anyone would pay $150 for it. People would pay more for a more competent program made by a more competent company, because then they have peace of mind that the program won’t friggin’ crash as it’s saving a movie file that may have taken DAYS to render!

ANYHOO, sorry about that – didn’t mean to go off on one then. Tongue out Their newsletters are just starting to annoy me, that’s all. And their programs don’t work properly, either, which is also quite irritating. Tongue out

Anyway, SubDragon config file. (Right click, save link as, otherwise you’ll just see the source code. Tongue out) Just stick it in your "DAZStudio3pluginsdzmimicConfiguration_Files" folder (should work with DAZ Studio 2, as well Smile). It won’t work automatically (because, y’know, DAZ 3D never made a config file for it Tongue out), so you’ll have to browse for it and select it when you try to lip-sync the SubDragon for the first time in a scene. Smile Feel free to try a few lip-syncs and laugh, then feel free to open the file in Notepad (or something like that) and laugh, then go ahead and fix it if you can. Then, if you do fix it, it’d be nice if you could send me a copy. Wink

I’m done with animation now, though. I suck at it and I just can’t be arsed, and when I CAN be arsed, it decides to not save my animation properly, or it does something equally stupid. Tongue out Really wanted to do a few dragon-oriented short animations, as well. :/

But never mind, I’ll still render a cool image every now and again. Wink

I’m getting somewhere…

So, I said I’d write a Lip Sync/Mimic configuration file for the SubDragon in my last post, yeah? Well… it’s tougher than I thought it’d be. Tongue out

Don’t worry (if you were Wink), I’m getting somewhere with it, but the stupid configuration files that DAZ 3D thought up are totally crap. Plus, Mimic Pro is also pretty bad. Sure, you can import a model into Mimic, add the phoneme definitions by messing around with some morphs to get the correct mouth shapes, and then generate a configuration file from the model. Funnily enough… the SubDragon doesn’t work properly with Mimic – pretty much ALL of the morphs are missing. Even more amusing – the SubDragon is a model made by DAZ 3D, and Mimic is a program made by DAZ 3D. Strange how their OWN creations aren’t compatible with each other. Tongue out

SO, I’ve had to MANUALLY edit the configuration file just to add the morphs I needed. After that, I had a shit-ton of other problems, such as the SubDragon not even being able to open his mouth properly, having to figure out which phonemes were assigned to which numbers in the configuration file, and a load of other stuff that I just can’t be arsed to explain – it’s confusing to TALK about. Tongue out Or write. You know what I mean. Wink

Simply put, if you’re not one of those countless people who hate the SubDragon for some reason (probably Poser users – suckers. Wink), and you like to animate the SubDragon, and you want him to talk without having to spend countless YEARS lip-synching to audio in a program that can’t even handle audio properly… stay tuned. I’ll have a .dmc configuration file pretty soon. Open-mouthed I’m fairly sure it WON’T work with Mimic Pro, because that program can’t even find the damned morphs on the SubDragon, but it works just fine with the DAZ Studio in-built lip-sync tool. Open-mouthed

Hehe, I’m so glad I grew up with computers and I’m now on a programming course. Open-mouthed

Anyhoo, that’s all for now. See ya later! Smile

Screw politics, let’s render some dragons.

I would rather Gavin from Autoglass inject his special resin into my brain than speak (write Wink) and/or hear about politics. It was boring when it started, and it’s EXTREMELY boring now. So, let’s move on to the random crap I’m about to post that may interest you to a varying degree depending on who you are, eh? Open-mouthed

DAZ Studio. Open-mouthed I’ve grabbed a bit more content recently. There’s "The Gun", which is a stupidly customisable firearm, you can make it a pistol, an SMG, an assault rifle, a flamethrower, a NET LAUNCHER… all sorts! Open-mouthed There’re five parts to it, and I’ve got part 1 and 5 at the moment. Will get the others at some point. Open-mouthed I’ve also got a SPORTS CAR, and a TRUCK. Open-mouthed
The sports car (the Predator) looks good, but it’s so badly modelled it makes me want to puke. The wheels appeared in the WRONG POSITIONS when I imported the model, and hilariously (not), it won’t let you move the front wheels. But it WILL let you move the back wheels. Sarcastic Anyway, I fixed that by dramatically adjusting the size of the calipers, which then caused the calipers to look retarded, so I had to hide them. *sigh*
The truck is also good, but it was designed for sci-fi scenes. Hence… it has no wheels. Surely, adding an option where the truck HAS wheels can’t be that difficult, can it? For me, yes, but for professionals, no! Tongue out

But whatever – I don’t care about that. Open-mouthed I also don’t care about the impossibly difficult ordeal of getting a SubDragon to sit in the Predator. It’s evident the SubDragon modellers never thought that people would pose them like I do. Wink Meh… that doesn’t really bother me. Especially when the render comes out like this:

Usually, I’m quite modest and stuff, but… THIS IS AWESOME! Open-mouthed The limitations of DAZ Studio are starting to get annoying, though – especially the environments. There are no environments for a car chase in the desert, so I had to find a background image to use instead. Tongue out Anyway, I think it came out great – one of my best! What’choo think? Open-mouthed

I’ve also had a look at the DAZ Mimic configuration files out of interest. And I actually reckon I could make one for the SubDragon, so that the Lip Sync tool or Mimic Pro would work with the SubDragon. Open-mouthed I’ll give it a try, but… I shouldn’t even be doing this. It’s DAZ’s friggin’ model and their friggin’ program, THEY should be doing it!

Ah well, whatever. If anyone reading this has already found a SubDragon configuration file lurking in the bowels of the Interwebs, I’d be grateful if I can get a link to it. Smile If there isn’t one, then I’ll make one and post it here. Open-mouthed

Right… I’ll probably think of something else to post later on, so until then, see yas! Smile

PS: Also, I tried Akuma’s arcade mode of SSFIV the other day, and completely PWNT Ryu. So I is happy now. Open-mouthed

O-ho-ho-kay, right, I’ve completely lost my temper with the bots in Super Street Fighter IV.

I’ve been playing arcade mode ON NORMAL (big note, NORMAL) as Akuma, and throughout the course of the game, I have had five, count ’em, FIVE PERFECTS. I have been kicking SERIOUS ass with him, and my score hit almost 600,000 before the second bonus stage, where, unfortunately, I came across Sagat. Normally, I’d be okay with that, but the bots are cheap and gay and when they use Sagat, they CONSTANTLY SPAM TIGER SHOTS faster than I can counter them by either jumping over them or Hadoken-ing back. I’d block them, but, ah… that’s not getting me anywhere, is it? I can’t move forward and block. Tongue out So, I lost my hard-earned score because of a gay bot. Great.

That’s not REALLY what annoyed me, though. After beating him, the opponents that came AFTER him were easy. See what I mean? Capcom have THE MOST RETARDED difficulty curves in the history of mankind. It’s NORMAL MODE!! IT SHOULD BE NORMAL ALL THE WAY THROUGH!!

But never mind, even THAT’S not what REALLY irritated me. Tongue out Eventually… I got to the rival battle, against Ryu. And holy shit. I very, VERY nearly threw my controller at the screen. No kidding.

Now, when Ryu hits you first (which he probably will), he’ll say "I CANNOT ALLOW YOU TO WIN!!", which I thought was a nice addition, but, uh, the game actually means that. No matter WHAT you do, the bot knows, and counters it. You try to jump into a combo, the bot’ll launch a Shoryuken. You launch a SINGLE Hadoken, the bot’ll start a Hadoken SPAM. All other attacks, the bot’ll IMMEDIATELY block them and counter in THE most perfect way possible. And I’m not joking about the IMMEDIATE block. Ryu was stood up RIGHT in front of me, and I was crouched down, blocking, and the bot seemed to be thinking of what to do. I went for a LIGHT kick, which is EXTREMELY fast. The bot IMMEDIATELY crouched, blocked it, and countered IMMEDIATELY afterwards with a Shoryuken. I have no idea how it knew… oh wait, yeah, it
has access to your controller every single frame. Sarcastic In the event that you manage to hit the bot, the bot will FLIP OUT, and become EVEN

The bot uses its perfect timing and knowledge of your controller state to full advantage. I went for a maximum power Ultra, WHILE THE BOT WAS RECOILING FROM AN ATTACK I JUST LANDED. Now, this ultra CAN’T BE BLOCKED, and the attack was in such close proximity that, if it’d have been a human opponent, it would’ve been guaranteed to hit. In fact, I was SO confident it WOULD hit, I said "Bye bye!" and put my controller down. UNBELIEVABLY, the bot immediately stops recoiling, and the very FRAME before my attack hits and would have resulted in me winning the match, INSTANT SHORYUKEN, followed by a METSU HADOKEN, which I block, but he still gets the win because of chipping damage. The only consolation I get is to see a "C" for CHEAP appear under the bot’s status, but who cares? It was still a friggin’ win… >.>

That was about when I nearly threw my controller at the screen, but then I realised that it wasn’t worth it, so I just turned off the Xbox. Tongue out The difficulty was on NORMAL, for God’s sake… not "Starts normal then gets IMPOSSIBLE IMMA RAPE YOU IN THE ASS SIDEWAYS LOLOL!" Sarcastic

I’d try it on easy, but guess what, ladies and gentlemen? Easy is TOO EASY!! GAAARGH! Angry AND you don’t get any achievements when playing below normal. *sigh* Capcom, PLEASE try to understand – there are such things as NOVICE PLAYERS… Tongue out

Yeah, so that’s my rant on SSFIV’s impossibly gay bots and difficulty curves over and done with. If you were skipping the rant because you don’t give a crap, you can start reading from here!

Yeah, see, that got your attention, didn’t it? Wink

D’ya know what Street Fighter needs? A ROLLING START. Yeah, one of THESE. Open-mouthed I REALLY want to go to an arcade, find Daytona USA, and play it, now that I’ve discovered it. It looks awesome. Open-mouthed Or, I could just get a Sega Model 2 emulator and play it. Open-mouthed I just wish modern games were all happy and bright and memorable like they were back then. Smile

Anyhoo. Open-mouthed

I’ve also tried out a few new (to me Tongue out) games while I’ve been AFB (away from blog Wink). I tried out God Hand, which Aaron recommended, and I found it pretty awesome. Open-mouthed A little annoying at times, and I still don’t understand a few things about it (WTF DOES LEVEL DO?! Tongue out), but the cheesiness MORE than made up for that. Floating fruit which gives you health, girls have a grab attack where they slap you about 15 times within two seconds, and best of all, there’s a RANDOM AUDIENCE. HELL YES! I love those! Open-mouthed The audience CHEERS when you level up, if you dodge a load of attacks in quick succession, the crowd goes wild, and if anyone gets hit in the balls (most commonly when you use the Ball Buster special attack), there’s a "DING!!" sound, and the audience starts laughing! Open-mouthed IT’S EPIC!! Open-mouthedOpen-mouthed But yeah, it is a good game. Open-mouthed

Also for PS2, there’s Monster Rancher 4. Before getting MR4, I remembered having Monster Rancher 2 for the PS1 when I was younger, so I tried that out first. It wasn’t BAD, but… meh. It wasn’t particularly amazing, either. There wasn’t really much to it. It was what I like to call a "luck-based mission", the game almost SOLELY relied on luck. Hit percentages, your monster had a random chance of failing when doing a drill, and so on. I like the ability to get monsters by ripping data from ANY disc, but that, again, was a luck-based mission. Tongue out I tried three different discs, and I got the same monster EVERY TIME. Tongue out

Monster Rancher 4 is better, though. You set your monster on a task for the week, and they WILL complete it, but their performance depends on the monster’s focus, hunger and fatigue, so it’s not REALLY luck-based. Also, the battle system is a little simpler and more interesting (yet still pretty luck-based, especially Counters Tongue out), there’s a more meaningful story (which actually isn’t awful! Tongue out), different monsters, and RIDICULOUSLY easy E-rank battles. Saying that… the D-rank battles are too easy, as well! Tongue out It does start to get difficult when you hit B-class. I don’t even think I want to TRY S-class. Tongue out

Only problem is… heh… um… I can’t get new monsters from a disc, because PCSX2 doesn’t really support disc-switching. Tongue out So, I have to rely on my luck in Adventures (another new feature, which is quite cool) to find me a "Saucer Stone", which will contain a monster. I can then generate that monster without needing a CD. Open-mouthed Also, since Saucer Stones are pretty rare, I need to COMBINE monsters to create new ones. And that’s just annoying. Tongue out But nevertheless, it’s still a fun game, although I couldn’t play it for several hours straight. Tongue out Which is good, so then I don’t complete it retardedly fast. Open-mouthed

Anyway, I’ll probably blog about a few more games I’ve tried later on. Smile Moving on…

Ah, yes, student accommodation is SORTEHD. Open-mouthed It’s expensive, and the only reason I can afford it is because I don’t drink alcomahol, but I don’t care, because it’s my OWN kitchen, my OWN ‘net connection, and it’s about three minutes from uni, and two minutes from Sainsbury’s. Open-mouthed Oh, and the shower isn’t just bolted to a wall in the bathroom, it’s got its own cubicle. Open-mouthed It should be pretty awesome next year. Smile

What else… ah yes, I’ve picked up Dragon Tail. Again. Tongue out I WILL get this finished eventually, it’s just… the length of the story is actually ridiculous. I have to go through every chapter, adding extras and highlighting things I’m happy with, things I don’t want to change, things that could be written better… then I’ve gotta keep an eye out for plotholes that may have popped up, mistakes I’ve made, etc. etc. I’m predicting that the final word count will be around a quarter of a million words. Oh yeah. Open-mouthed Still don’t have a clue what I’m gonna do with it after I’m done. Tongue out

I’m also going to pick up ULSG at some point. I’ve coded it so badly, and it’s been putting me off. Building a basic game and then adding major features such as unlockable ships near the END of development is a BAD idea. Tongue out Trust me on that one. Wink But yeah, I’ve still gotta get ideas together for Challenges – I have 8 ideas, I need 13. Tongue out Anyone got any ideas? Open-mouthed

Right, that’s enough typing for one day, methinks. Open-mouthed I’ll see y’all later! Smile

I went to outer space.

Holy <<SOUND>>, it’s been a retardedly long time since I last blogged! Surprised I’ve probably got a ton of stuff to talk about, but I’ll try and limit it so you don’t get bored and change sites. Tongue out

Firstly, I got Super Street Fighter IV. And it’s pretty awesome. Open-mouthed There isn’t MUCH different from Street Fighter IV (which I had an illegal copy of Tongue out), but there are a fair few extra characters, some who are new, and some who have returned from older versions of Street Fighter. I’ve tried playing as them, and I had a small amount of success with Juri (JUMP, QCB KICK KICK KICK and repeat Tongue out)… but I can only REALLY play as Ken or Ryu, because I’m one of the worst, noobish players in the world. Tongue out (I DON’T Hadoken spam, though. That’s SERIOUSLY ghey. Tongue out)

And by the way, I’m not kidding about that "one of the worst players in the world" bit. Tongue out I tried playing online, and I DO NOT UNDERSTAND what I’m doing wrong. The game rates you at the end of a multiplayer match, giving you ratings from A to E for Offence, Defence and Technique. I keep getting either D or E for Defence, a D, C or B for Technique, and I almost ALWAYS get an A for Offence. (Apart from my first online game, where I got a D. Tongue out) My win percentage was sickeningly bad at the end of my first set of multiplayer matches. EIGHT PERCENT. Tongue out Over time, however, I HAVE managed to repair it, and it is now around 30%. I’m blaming the matchmaking system, because it seemed to put me against RIDICULOUSLY good opponents when I first began. Probably experts who had just got the game and therefore had a low rating, and were in the D class. The people that beat me are probably well into the B or A class now. Tongue out

But when you do get matched with an opponent of your skill online, it’s great fun. Even if I get owned 2-0, just as long as the fights were good, fair, and fairly close, I still consider them good matches. Smile There is pretty much no noticable lag in most games. But when there is even the SLIGHTEST HINT of lag, it makes me want to throw my controller at the wall. Especially when it’s basically sudden death and it lags JUST as the opponent is going to attack. Sad But never mind – I’d still recommend it. And if you do get it for Xbox, tell me, and we’ll play a few games. Open-mouthed Maybe you can teach me a few things, cuz I suck. Wink

As for future games that are out… I wouldn’t really bother with anything apart from Crackdown 2. There’s Call of Duty Black Ops… which I’m not particularly EXCITED about for some reason… and then there’s Halo Puke, SORRY, Halo Reach. It’s such an outdated, boring, senseless series, now. It was good when Halo 1 was released… hell, the story even made SENSE! Now it just doesn’t, and it’s boring. And sure, the Halo 3 multiplayer was good for a while, until the novelty of starting with an underpowered assault rifle and requiring to hit the enemy with almost EVERY FUCKING SHOT just to kill them started to wear thin. That, and the retardedly slow walking speed annoyed me, especially when the enemy had managed to get ALL of the power weapons and the battle rifle was NEVER available because people kept friggin’ taking it.

Oh yes. and there’s also Gears of War Pee… THREE*. I’m sorry, but that is going to be just as mind-numbingly boring as its predecessors, and it’s just Epic desperately trying to milk the IP for all it’s worth, just as Bungie are doing with Halo. Epic, if you see this (which you won’t) please try to drill this into your thick heads and remember it during the course of development: EVERY CITY IN THE WORLD WAS FUCKING DEMOLISHED IN GOW2, the world is COVERED IN SEA WATER, and ALL THE LOCUST WERE DROWNED. YOU CAN NOT CONTINUE THE DAMNED STORY!! Although, it’ll be fairly interesting to see what Epic can shit out just to make some more money out of a clearly dead series. What is it going to be, a mass-breeding-strategy-Sim-City game? Or is everyone going to suddenly become Jesus and gain the ability to walk on water, while the humans find that the Locust have a skill which gives them +100% resistance to water? Tongue out

Whatever. Tongue out

Staying on the subject of games, I managed to deploy Ultimate Lame Ship Game 2 onto my 360. Open-mouthed Oh yes, check it out:

Alright, so MAYBE there is one major problem. I had to develop ULSG 2 for WINDOWS for my university project, and hence, the graphics are drawn onto the screen without taking the TV’s safe area into account… because a window in Windows doesn’t have a safe area. Tongue out So… when porting it to Xbox, the graphics are drawn OFF the screen, so you can’t really see the HUD or certain parts of the menu. Tongue out
Other than that (which will take a shitload of coding to fix Tongue out), it’s perfect! It actually runs SMOOTHER than it does on the PC, it looks clearer, and it’s just… great! I’m going to poke it some more at some point, to see what I can do to make it better. Adding Cillit Bang would be a start, increasing the laser size depending on its power is important, and new ships are a must. I’ve also got to try and see what I can do to use the third dimension. I thought about creating a neat camera angle when you get a Super Ninja Skillz bonus (flying the ship between two enemy ships very closely without crashing Open-mouthed), but that’s all I’ve got so far. Will think of other stuff. Smile

Alright… I think that’ll do for now. I’ll probably post some more stuff tomorrow. See yas! Smile


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Forecast for Saturday, October 3rd
Aries/Taurus Disseminating Moon

Oracular Overview—following everything back to its original source will offer some surprising information…

This morning may be a bit abrasive, pushy, or enragingly rushed… after the moon moves into Taurus*, circumstances should calm naturally, or ease up enough to be noticeable.

However, either way, today may offer opportunities to “challenge powers hidden in the depths of the unconscious…”¹ and will ask of you to find the “will to explore the hidden depths of all experiences and to search for primordial causes…”¹ or, in other words—the original source.

And the curiosities and hidden information of Mercury now moving through the degrees of depth-sourcing Scorpio should definitely emerge now…

❝Echoes are more noisy than the source.❞
——Toba Beta

Yesterday’s energies potentially offered ways for your spark to be revived, or for hidden, shadowy, and unknown details to come to light… and now “the creative spirit [is] pointing to the future—a “meeting” that introduces into the collective situation a totally new factor which transcends it… a new quality of being is revealed which renders the old patterns obsolete…”²

These influences are occurring through the lunarly illuminations upon Mercury applying Uranus by opposition—which typically offers much in terms of uncanny insights or innovative sparks of genius, or even spiritual awakenings… and within the dichotomies of both Scorpio and Taurus, these—however these manifest for you—will likely possess quite a lot of depth to psychically spelunk, explore, and penetrate even further.

Beyond this opposition, Mars is retrograde, and applying back to Pluto, connecting by square. The first time Mars squared Pluto was on August 12th at 23° and will be exact again on October 8th at 22°, which is the degree through which Saturn and Pluto collided in conjunction in Capricorn back in January…

❝Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.❞
——Rosa Luxemburg

How was your reality defined back in January? And how is your reality now defined?

How have your foundational securities shifted or evolved since January?—as well as your sense of personal power?

What has shifted or evolved since August, specifically?—are these circumstances related?

What is currently occurring, shifting and evolving within these circumstances in your reality?

How would you prefer to experience your personal power or foundational securities?—or reality, overall…

Back in August you were given opportunities to “gain a forum for your views; rise to the top [in some way]; educate others on issues of concern; obtain necessary answers; unify; speak from the heart; light a fire under others; develop and use your power without betrayal; and give voice to your views…” and on Thursday, through this week, you could become somewhat authentically entranced, or even gaslighted (remember, I forewarned you of potential deceptions afoot through the first week of October…), to “aggressively forward your own interests without compromising; take up a stand or a cause; rise to the occasion; cross swords; play the situation as it lies; backtrack or try a new approach when an approach meets with failure…”³

❝They tell you: Follow your dreams. Listen to your spirit. Change the world. Make your mark. Find your inner voice and make it sing. Embrace failure. Dream. Dream and dream big. As a matter of fact, dream and don’t stop dreaming until your dream comes true… I think that’s crap. I think a lot of people dream. And while they are busy dreaming—the really happy people, the really successful people, the really interesting, powerful, engaged people—are busy doing.❞
——Shonda Rhimes

The last and final square between Mars and Pluto will occur on December 23rd at 24°… and likely making sense of it all, and offering the truth—the original source within all of this havoc, throughout all of the shifts, evolving, and circumstantial reality… through “finding answers to all of life’s big questions; putting a finger on arcane truths; finding a true calling; working out the ramifications; and cultivating inner truths…”³

But in between now and then some seriously sobering reality checks are due—in an effort toward once and for all learning some Capricornian lessons.

How does all of this apply toward a Taurean moon?—Taurean energies may be more concerned with foundational shifts and evolutions and the strengthening of personal powers than many other energies… and a Taurus moon acknowledges that—whatever your answers may be—there will always be a fine line between What Is and What Isn’t, between What Could Be and What Will Never Be… and a Taurus moon may understand more than any other moon that one’s resources regarding either involve much more than just oneself—but begin through ‘the original source’ within.

And you have the next two days to continue sourcing back to the true origin of all things…

❝Do you ever feel like you are giving far fewer fucks and yet still caring so much it sometimes feels like there is only the most tissue-thin layer separating your soul from this world? Like your heart may be broken but your spirit is still rising? Are you refusing to conform and somehow still fitting just right? Able to look people right in the eye without apology and also like you’re a teenager again, bashful and blushing and off-kilter… Do you ever walk on purpose even when you have nowhere to go? Do you notice things deeply, like dark red lipstick prints on pristine white coffee mugs? Like the way whiskey burns and cool white sheets feel against your skin at the end of the day? Are you claiming your identity, clear and strong and true, and also sinking into the vast unknowable mystery of your all? Do your days feel like longing and acquiescence and learning to stop grasping at things that are ready to leave or that choose not to come closer? Are you making a home of your own skin and inviting the world inside? Are you learning that cultivating solid boundaries and driving into a wide open horizon both feel like freedom, like the harsh desert mountains and the soft ocean wisdom and the road to healing that joins the two? Does it all feel like solidity, like truth, like forgiveness and recklessness and heat and sexy and holy, all rolled up together? Do you crave the burn of heat from another and for nothing to be louder than the sound of your own heartbeat, all at once? Do you finally know that you can choose a love and a life that does not break you? That you can claim a softer beauty and a kinder want, that even your animal hunger can soften its rough edges and say a full-throated ‘yes’ to what is good and kind and holy. Do you remember that insanity is not a prerequisite for passion and that there is another pathway to your art, one that does not demand your pain as payment for its own becoming? Are you learning to show up? To take up space? To feel the power? Is it full of contradiction… does it feel like fire underwater? Are you rising to sing?❞
——Jeanette LeBlanc

*☾♉ by 8:12am PDT; 9:12am MDT; 10:12am CDT; 11:12am EDT
¹Hill, L. “360 Degrees of Wisdom.” A Plume Book; ©2004.
²Rudhyar, D. “An Astrological Mandala.” Vintage Books; ©1973.
³Goldsmith, M. “The Zodiac by Degrees.” Weiser Books; ©2004.

★These current energies we’re all navigating will continue to circulate and circumvent throughout the rest of the year, into next—for better or worse—how can you best plan and prepare?—and in what ways can you strategize your personal ideals? Let’s talk about it—message me directly to book your reading—I look forward to being an asset on your journey.

*Single readings available, as well as monthly forecasts… my current availability is M-F—am/pm—and Saturdays by request

★SPECIAL PRICING OFFERS —$123 for single readings ($199) & only $321 (that’s only $26.75/month!) for monthly forecasts (regularly $365) through 12/31/2020

❝If you’re betwixt and between, trust the one with red hair.❞
——O.R. Melling

Image credit— @itsreuben & @phaseonephoto on Instagram

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text:
Spain grabs mobile data from MILLIONS for coronavirus ‘exit strategy’ as infections rise

The Ministry of Transport is already studying the mobility of citizens, especially movements of more than 500 metres, both during the State of Emergency which currently runs until April 26 and in the subsequent de-escalation phase. Early results show that on April 10, at Easter, 31.5 million Spaniards did not move beyond that distance, more than double the 14.6 million that did not do so before confinement. General Secretary for Transport, María José Rallo confirmed the Ministry is taking advantage of the experience it already had in carrying out studies on mobility and demand for transport based on data from mobile phones to study the data corresponding to coronavirus crisis.

He stressed the information from mobiles is totally anonymous and no data protection is being breached.

The information from phone operators is being updated every day, with the department saying: “The results are going to be key to analyse how the confinement can be lifted and improve the strategies adopted in this and future epidemics.

“They will help to improve social distancing strategies taken in any future outbreaks of this disease or others.”

Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez says he will announce next week if the State of Emergency is to be extended and he anticipates this will happen until at least May 10.

Latest figures revealed by the Ministry of Health this morning show the number of new positive cases of coronavirus have risen 5,092 in 24 hours with deaths up by 523 to 18,579.

The increase in deaths has remained at this level each day for the last week.

There are currently 177,633 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

On Tuesday, there were 3,045 more confirmed cases, bringing yesterday’s total to 172,541, the lowest since March 18. The increase is being attributed to more tests being carried out in the community.

Source: Read Full Article


text:
one little word | 3.20 …

     Tell me, what is it you plan to make of your one wild and precious life    ~Mary Oliver

     Having an unlimited schedule with a “to do” list pretty much restricted to what one can do within the confines of home definitely plays havoc with my intentions: I am finding that my MSQT habit is lasting longer and longer, especially on days that begin with inclement weather. And then, before I know it, the day is well on its way to being over.

In this month of March, in conjunction with the daily practice of participating in 30 Days of Lists, I focused on developing the habit of writing a daily review and gratitude/s in a Traveler’s Notebook. I enjoyed the process, the simplified way to document these unprecedented times and the opportunity to express/share those little things – often taken for granted  – that make life wild and precious. I plan to continue this practice, experimenting a bit with other creative ways to capture the days of our lives.

How has your word shown up in your life in March? Please share your link below and if there are problems, add the link to your post in this blog’s comments. The linkup expires April 7.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

16 thoughts on “one little word | 3.20 …

  1. Your spread is lovely! I love the “Alexa, Mop the Floor.” This is such a great time to be keeping such a book, given how unprecedented all of this social distancing is. Thank you so much for sharing a glimpse into your notebook!

    It looks like the Link Party isn’t quite open yet, so I’ll leave my link here and then come back in a few hours to “officially” leave my link!

    Thanks for hosting!

  2. I have left my poor word by the wayside – focus. I have none (or very little) but you’ve inspired me to at least try and focus a little more on focus each day. Thank you!

  3. That notebook is so pretty! and what a great habit 🙂 Thank you for hosting us – my post will be up … soon!

  4. My post will up in a day or two. My intentions for the month are certainly much different than I intended. Love your gratitude journal! That’s a plan for April!

  5. I love seeing your journal pages with your handwriting. I confess the “one little word” post went right past me. Somehow one day blends into another. I have been thinking about the word I chose, “tender” but haven’t taken time to compose my thoughts.

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Video display
tbaines: Track 4508 in area near Wicklow (Ireland)
Length: 18.8km, Creator time taken: 3h42m, Ascent: 834m,
Descent: 827m

Places: Start at T05610 86201, Lugnaquilla, Slievemaan, end at Start
Logged as completed by 1

Park at forest entrance by the bridge, check the army firing signs. Easy going up the forest paths for 5-6km (I jogged up, but a good opportunity to check the route down over the valley) then out onto the mountain, cross the stream, and follow up into the hanging valley. Bit of a path here. Follow the fence posts when you find them. I wasn't sure how easy the route finding would be here, but on a dry day with good visibility, all was clear. So go up the obvious (in good visibility) grassy route ahead; as it levels on the left, cross left for 200m to the next obvious grassy route up to the right. Quite steep. And then you come out near the top of Lug. Head down to the mud floor (I nipped up Slievemaan, while in the area), then follow the track to Lybruch. Wasn't sure about best route down to river, but on EastWest map there's a path left, and this works well until it peters out, but then easy straight down the grassy hill to the river. Turn right, admire the waterfall (OK I could hear it, and the river suddenly went from being right next to me to being fifty feet down, but I couldn't find a safe spot to see it), cross the river, and pick up the track back to the forest entrance.

Uploaded on: Thu, 24 Jun 2021 (13:07:29)
To download GPS tracks you must be enrolled and logged in. See "Login or enrol", top right - quick and easy.

Comment created by Peter Walker Jul-22
Good stuff tbaines & Bunsen7. We want more content like this.
Comment created by Bunsen7 Jun-25
If you don't mind getting a bit wet, for those seeking an adrenaline rush, after reaching south prison, but before reaching the grassy ramp, keep an eye out for a mound of large boulders on your left, which marks the bottom of the main gully. Make your way up slightly left (south) of the boulders into this gully, an ascent of approximately 300 metres, to reach Lug summit. Rest assured the gully ascent is accessible, though there is one awkward step over a large stone about half way up. If any branches present themselves when higher up in the gully, veer left. Once committed, it would be unwise to seek to descend back down to the Prison. See Track 2450.

NOTE: ALL information such as Ascent, Length and Creator time taken etc should be regarded as approximate. The creator's comments are opinions and may not be accurate or still correct.
Your time to complete will depend on your speed plus break time and your mode of transport. For walkers: Naismith's rule, an approximate though often inaccurate estimate, suggests a time of 5h 9m + time stopped for breaks
NOTE: It is up to you to ensure that your route is appropriate for you and your party to follow bearing in mind all factors such as safety, weather conditions, experience and access permission.

* Note: A GPS Height in the elevation profile is sourced from the device that recorded the track. An "SRTM" height is derived from a model of elevations for parts of the earth. More detail

OSi logo OSNI/LPS logo
Some mapping:
Open Street Map
(Various variations used.)
British summit data courtesy:
Database of British & Irish Hills
(Creative Commons Licence), a Hill-walking Website for the island of Ireland. 2100 Summiteers, 1400 Contributors, Monthly Newsletter since 2007