It has been a stressful year— Our politics are as nasty as ever, North Korea is shooting missiles, chunks of Antarctica are collapsing—  And I think: Enough already!  Summer's here!  I need a break, to replace churning cortisol with calming serotonin—   To take a breath, relax, find peace—  so, we go on vacation, to a lovely hotel out of town.

As soon as we check in, I dump my bags in our room and venture down to the pool.  The water is clear, blue, still—   In one corner, a young woman in ear buds and a bikini sunbathes—

Diagonally across, a white-haired man in a sunhat reads a spy novel.

Selecting a lounge chair at a maximum distance from both, to maximize everyone's personal space?  I settle in with my towel, Teavana and book.  Very soothing, it's Ruth Reichl.  MY KITCHEN YEAR.  In it, the beloved food writer cooks her way through fresh produce, turning leaves, and gentle snowfall, in upstate New York.  "When you pay attention," she says, "cooking becomes a kind of meditation."

Suddenly, the pool gate squeaks.  There are high-pitched voices.  Children.  I look up.  Like a too-gaudy Olympic opening ceremony from some woefully underfunded country, a surreal parade of gigantic inflatable pool toys marches toward us.  There's a green T-Rex, a purple unicorn with fluttering eyelashes, a tropical yellow palm tree and an eight foot-long hot dog.  There's no rhyme or reason here.  If a giant gall bladder emerged topped by a maraschino cherry it would be no surprise.

No matter—  Regardless of how different?  All these dirigibles appear to be here for one reason: extremely loud and frantic water racing.  "One, two, three, go!" a sunburnt youth bellows.  Piercing shrieks as four tidal waves hit.  Turning a damp page, an irritated Spy Novel grandpa seems determined to stay his course—  Bikini Girl seems more protected by her ear buds and dry location.

Finally, an hour later, the children are exhausted from their time trials.  They float to the pool's shallow end, spent.  They fling their colorful vessels over the side onto the lawn.  The dino, unicorn, tropical palm slowly deflate in their pool toy graveyard.  A shaky silence falls.  And then:

"Marco."  "Polo!"  "Marco."  "Polo!"  "MARCO!"  "POLO!"

Grandpa surrenders and rises.  What can he say?  There are too many of them, not enough of us.   Bikini girl holds her ground, until she gets hit on the butt with a ball—  Because there's something magical about using a pool as a lacrosse court.

Soon after, I retreat as well. I go back to my room to relax with a glass of wine…and the dulcet sounds of CNN!

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Ace Bedich is the owner of Green O' Aces Pools & Landscape

Thirty experts were trained to deliver specialized training courses for judges on how to review corruption–related disputes and prevent corruption in the judiciary during a two-day session, organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine and the National School of Judges on 5-6 July 2016 outside Kyiv.

The trainees, judges-lecturers of five regional branches of the School, enhanced their knowledge of anti-corruption legislation, including national regulations and relevant international conventions, major aspects of judges’ ethics, including the identification and prevention of real and potential conflicts of interest, and judicial review of corruption-related disputes. The purpose of the session was to create a pool of experts able to deliver training courses for their peers at the National School of Judges on a regular basis.

According to the Judicial Education Concept adopted by the School, the training methodology was based on interactive techniques and included discussions, case studies, mini-lectures, various exercises and role plays, and screenings of short simulation videos on the topic.

To ensure the sustainability of OSCE efforts, the training course on anti-corruption will be submitted for institutionalization at the National School of Judges by the end of the year. This course will form part of the School’s mandatory curriculum for every judge appointed to the post.

The training session was part of a project by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine to enhance the quality of judicial education and training.

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Deadpool and Wolverine took a while to get off the ground because Ryan Reynolds was attempting to fold Deadpool into every MCU movie.

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Category: Outdoors, Lifestyle

Tags: Kickstarter, Birds, nature, Smart Home, Artificial Intelligence, Animals, Wildlife

Fr. John shares about the healing of the paralytic in John 5. "Let us endure whatever hardships we may face in this life and accept them as being for our salvation, so that a worse thing will not come upon us. Having been healed of our sins, we may rise up on that final day and enter into Paradise."

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Hey, you! Yeah, you reading this! They're finally making a Deadpool movie!

If you like fourth-wall breaking, second-person addresses like the above, you may be in the target audience for the long-in-development "Deadpool," which Twentieth Century Fox announced Thursday that it was finally moving ahead with, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The studio announced a Feb. 12, 2016 release date for the film with Tim Miller set to direct the character who's served as both friend and foe to the X-Men.

The so-called "Merc with a Mouth" is a mercenary character created in the early '90s by artist Rob Liefeld, with Liefeld being an outspoken champion for the character. The character was part of the same Weapon X program that created Wolverine, with a similar healing factor power, but with a horribly scarred face he covers with a mask. He's also been played as crazy, which manifests itself as the character often knowing he's in a comic book and talking directly to the reader.

Ryan Reynolds has long been tied to the project, including playing a version of the character in the much-hated "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," but no deal has been made yet, according to the Reporter.

This follows footage leaking over the summer of a "Deadpool" test with Reynolds voicing the character in a CGI clip. Reynolds said in an interview in the Niagara Falls Review earlier this month that that it's unfortunate the footage leaked, "but who cares," because the positive response to the clip had helped push the film forward after being stuck in development hell.

"The movie has been in a state of limbo for a while. There was such an overpowering reaction to the footage, you sort of feel like, 'Oh, so we weren't crazy for our reasons for loving this character, for loving this role.' It's interesting to see the power of the Internet. It's awe-inspiring, actually," Reynolds told the Review. "And it's neat that Twitter and Facebook and Instagram can move mountains when used in the right way."

Watch the "Deadpool" test footage below (Warning: Contains some adult language):

Deadpool test footage

There'd also been debate about whether a movie would stay true to the character's outrageous attitude mixed with violence and go for an R rating, or whether it would go for a wider audience by staying at PG-13. Deadpool creator Liefeld has argued that the film would work just fine without restricting its audience with an R.

Liefeld tweet 1

Liefeld tweet 2

Liefeld told the Daily Superhero in a previous interview that the footage for the test was filmed three years ago, using motion capture over footage of Reynolds. He also talked up Miller as a director, noting that he directed the pre-credits scene for "Thor: The Dark World."

"Fox had released a relatively small budget for Tim to present his vision of the script written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick," Liefeld said. "The digital costume over Ryan Reynold's motion capture (Mo-Cap) performance was an approach they wanted to explore and they had a relatively small window to create this short so they opted to 'test' the look of a digital Deadpool costume over Ryan. I'm quite pleased at how it turned out, especially considering Baraka-Deadpool from Wolverine Origins."

Liefeld was referring to the transformation of Deadpool in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" to a mouthless, pointy-limbed character in the film, which many fans argued took away what they loved most about Deadpool: His sense of humor. Liefeld also said he'd seen even more impressive sequences than the one that made its way online.

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Meta Pool, a leader in liquid staking solutions on NEAR, developed the ENO program to connect established industry leaders with the decentralized ecosystem. By joining this initiative, Deutsche Telekom provides NEAR with enterprise-grade infrastructure that boosts both network reliability and performance. This partnership marks a milestone in Meta Pool’s mission to transform the decentralized ecosystem, elevating NEAR’s technology to new levels of scalability and security through trusted industry partnerships.

About Meta Pool

Meta Pool is a multi-chain liquid staking ecosystem and a DAO with multi-chain governance on NEAR and Ethereum. It offers Vote-to-Earn governance rewards, Liquid Staking Tokens on Ethereum, NEAR, Solana, Aurora, ICP, and Q, and Solana's first restaking aggregator, supporting mpSOL, jitoSOL, bSOL, and SOL. Meta Pool makes liquid staking simple and accessible across multiple blockchains, with plans for further expansion.

A Visionary Collaboration for Decentralized AI and Blockchain Innovation

Meta Pool’s (https://www.metapool.app/) ENO program was designed to bridge traditional and decentralized worlds, creating a robust and resilient network on NEAR through partnerships with industry leaders. By joining this initiative, Deutsche Telekom empowers NEAR with the infrastructure to support decentralized applications at scale, opening doors for new advancements in AI, blockchain scalability, and multi-chain interoperability. With Meta Pool’s ENO program as the foundation, Deutsche Telekom is taking a leap toward reimagining the future of decentralized networks.

"NEAR stands out as an ecosystem that shares our vision of combining blockchain and AI with a decentralized approach that prioritizes data privacy and security," said Oliver Nyderle, Head of Digital Trust & Web3 Infrastructure at Deutsche Telekom MMS. "Together, we’re breaking new ground and building a future that connects these technologies in ways never seen before."

Meta Pool, Deutsche Telekom, and NEAR: Building a User-First, Decentralized Future

In an era where data sovereignty and transparency are paramount, Meta Pool’s ENO program brings companies like Deutsche Telekom into the NEAR network, securing blockchain and AI solutions that empower users. This partnership sets the stage for a privacy-focused, decentralized future, championed by industry leaders committed to the transformative power of blockchain.

“This partnership is a turning point for NEAR, Meta Pool, and our Enterprise Node Operator program,” said Claudio Cossio, Meta Pool’s co-founder. “With Deutsche Telekom’s world-class infrastructure expertise, we’re taking NEAR’s protocol to unprecedented levels of decentralization and resilience.”

NEAR Protocol - A Unique Foundation for Decentralized Innovation

NEAR is a high-performance, environmentally sustainable Layer 1 blockchain built to host decentralized applications for millions of users. Thanks to its unique sharding technology, NEAR enables fast, energy-efficient transactions, making it a “green” alternative within blockchain technology. NEAR aligns with Meta Pool’s mission to advance accessible, eco-friendly blockchain solutions that support a more inclusive digital future.

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The trainees, judges-lecturers of five regional branches of the School, enhanced their knowledge of anti-corruption legislation, including national regulations and relevant international conventions, major aspects of judges’ ethics, including the identification and prevention of real and potential conflicts of interest, and judicial review of corruption-related disputes. The purpose of the session was to create a pool of experts able to deliver training courses for their peers at the National School of Judges on a regular basis.

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