[Written by Don Burgess] Nearly one in three employers and self-employed persons are more than 90 days behind on their social insurance payments. This comes from a Government spokesperson on the heels of accusations by staff at The Athletic Club that social insurance had allegedly been deducted from their pay cheques, but it had not […] (Click to read the full article)

Nicky Gurret recently won first place in her class at the World Association of Flower Artists [WAFA] show in Jaipur, India. Ms. Gurret said, “I am thrilled to receive first place and be acknowledged on the world stage as one of the best floral artists in the world, especially in India, where floral art is […] (Click to read the full article)

Following the Bermuda Motorcycle Racing Club’s latest round of racing over the weekend, the current standings are below. Kymaree Pitt leads the Minibike Junior Division with 337 points, Jediah Cumbermack is in second with 315 points and Aeziah Divine is in third with 231 points. Kenny DeSilva is the current leader in the Scooter 70 […] (Click to read the full article)

The Bermuda Karting Club’s season is well underway, and today we take a look at the Current Standings in each Class. Jason North leads the LO206 Senior Class with 541 points, while Scott Barnes is in second with 463 points and David Barbosa is third with 449 points. The TAG Junior Class is being led […] (Click to read the full article)

The Bermuda Karting Club’s season is well underway, and today we take a look at the Current Standings in each Class as of February 9th, 2020. Jason North leads the LO206 Senior Class with 618 points, while Scott Barnes is in second with 554 points, and David Barbosa is third with 550 points. The TAG […] (Click to read the full article)

In September, BE Solar pledged to donate $20 per solar panel sold towards Hurricane Dorian relief efforts in the Bahamas. A spokesperson said, “Over the course of the month, 109 solar panels were sold to clients in Bermuda. These solar panels will offset the consumption of fossil fuel and will help to reduce the carbon […] (Click to read the full article)

Fidelis Insurance announced that founder member Daniel Burrows has been promoted to Group Managing Director for the Fidelis Group and Ian Burford has been appointed to Chief Executive Officer for Fidelis Underwriting Limited [FUL]. Burrows joined Fidelis in 2015 and previously was co-CEO of AonBenfield’s Global ReSpeciality [GRS] division. Burford has over 30 years’ experience […] (Click to read the full article)

Bernews hosted a News & Views panel discussion today [Oct 11], with Bermuda Fire & Rescue Service Divisional Officer Mark Taylor and Royal Bermuda Regiment Major Dwight Robinson discussing various aspects related to preparing for the approach of a hurricane and how their services respond during and after a storm. Strong winds swept across the […] (Click to read the full article)

The Royal Bermuda Regiment [RBR] is advising that its phones lines at Warwick Camp are “currently inoperable.” “The RBR notes that technicians are working to restore the service,” a spokesperson said. “The public is encouraged to call the Duty Mobile at 335-8212 should they need to contact the RBR.” Related Stories Soldiers Link Up With […] (Click to read the full article)

The police executed a warrant at a residence in St. Georges last night, two suspects were taken into custody and a third suspect surrendered to the Hamilton Police Station. A police spokesperson said, “The Bermuda Police Service yesterday, Saturday 21st March, executed a warrant at a residence on Wellington Back Road, St. Georges at around […] (Click to read the full article)

According to Ken Murray, Sr. Landscape Architect, California Department of Transportation "TRB allows for expanding your influence and connections throughout the transportation world nationally. You're able to connect with fellow peers from different states and share experiences, discuss strategies for difficult situations, and solutions to issues that others may have already handled that you personally are dealing with. It expands your network that allows for more diverse information for other areas tha...

The unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry is on the cutting edge of aviation innovation. Airports, including tenants and contractors, are discovering the benefits of UAS to their operations and bottom line. Yet, with the diversity of UAS applications at airports, there has been a lack of relevant industry data on this topic to inform the airport industry on current practices. The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP Synthesis 104: Current Landscape of Unmanned Aircraft Systems at Airports s...

According to Ken Murray, Sr. Landscape Architect, California Department of Transportation "TRB allows for expanding your influence and connections throughout the transportation world nationally. You're able to connect with fellow peers from different states and share experiences, discuss strategies for difficult situations, and solutions to issues that others may have already handled that you personally are dealing with. It expands your network that allows for more diverse information for other areas tha...

Due to the continuing serious illness of this site's owner, Bunny, caused by a devastating knock to her recovery back in May 2013, it will very sadly no longer be possible for the foreseeable future at least, for this site to continue to be updated. Existing submissions will remain on the site, but no new submissions can be posted, and she unfortunately remains far too ill to be able to continue to offer advice or respond to any emails. She desperately needs absolute rest, and is simply physically incapable of running her sites, responding to emails, or frankly everyday normal activities we tend to take for granted. Please know this is the last thing she would have wanted, obviously, and this continued situation has become a great source of pain to her, but sometimes in life you are just caught in storms, not of your own making, that you simply cannot avoid, however much you wish it, and however undeserved. Bunny had already long ago made provisions at her own expense, for all of her NFP sites to continue in the event of her death, etc and for all existing submissions to remain, in her prolonged absence, to make sure the sites could continue, and to be a source of solace, as is, even when she could not. We have tried our very best to continue to update the sites for as long as possible in her absence, in the hope that she would one day be able to return to them, but unfortunately the devastation and shock caused by the unexpected and undeserved knock she received, and the subsequent continued deterioration of her health caused by the ongoing stress of it all, has now made this, for the foreseeable future at least, impossible. We are very sorry this is not the better and more hopeful news we were hoping to be able to convey, but we hope the existing content on the sites will continue to make them a source of comfort to those in distress, as Bunny always intended them to be. Warmest Regards Dee

The poster to the left hangs on the wall of my office. Can you figure out the pattern to the sequence? Now you can estimate the size of the nth entry? John Horton Conway died yesterday, a victim of Covid-19. His unique mathematical style combined brilliance and playfulness in equal measure. I came across his […]

Senator Richard Burr's potential insider trading issues, for which he's being investigated, may have gotten quite a bit worse this week. A new report notes that on the same day Burr sold off a "significant percentage" of his stock holdings (while also telling the public not to worry about COVID-19), it turns out his brother-in-law just coincidentally decided to dump a bunch of stock too. Amazing!

Sen. Richard Burr was not the only member of his family to sell off a significant portion of his stock holdings in February, ahead of the market crash spurred by coronavirus fears. On the same day Burr sold, his brother-in-law also dumped tens of thousands of dollars worth of shares. The market fell by more than 30% in the subsequent month.

Burr’s brother-in-law, Gerald Fauth, who has a post on the National Mediation Board, sold between $97,000 and $280,000 worth of shares in six companies — including several that have been hit particularly hard in the market swoon and economic downturn.

Could this actually be a coincidence? Sure. Maybe. But the timing (the very same day...) does seem notable. As the ProPublica report notes, Fauth "is not a frequent stock trader." Burr insists that his sales were based on public information, though it's difficult to see how he could simply ignore the classified briefings he got concerning the rising pandemic issues, and base decisions entirely on public information. Indeed, this is why government officials should be required to hand off any equities like this to a blind trust where they have no visibility into how it's traded.

Even if this is all legal (which is not certain either way yet...), it again reinforces the belief that the powerful live by different rules and are able to game the system for personal advantage, even as they're supposed to be serving the public interest.

Reading about all the people venturing that maybe it would be better to stop the social distancing and reopen the...

Doesn't play well on iPhones, but bureaucrats rushed it out rather than wait months for perfection. Meanwhile serious bug reports have emerged

Australia’s “COVIDSafe” contact-tracing app was rushed to market in the knowledge it would perform poorly on some devices and without agreements in place to let actual contact-tracers use the data it collects. As a result, no collected data has been used in at least 10 days since its launch.…

Video from Thabo Meerkat, transcribed

Welcome to another edition of Digging Up Positivity! This episode is dedicated to the many volunteers that make all those amazing conventions and charities possible. But besides them, we are covering some animation news and other (maybe otter?) tidbits!

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The internet was seen as a major catalyst for the furry fandom finding one another during the times before we held conventions. During that earlier period in the 1990s, conventions and meets were rare, and finding one another was done mostly through the chat rooms and message boards of the past. There was no bandwidth for video or sharing major animation projects, therefore most of our intimate conversations were textual.

For many younger furries, it was a time that was lost in the annals of a distant history. Instead they found themselves joining in amongst a wave of growing conventions being held in various places around the world on any given weekend. Ones where those in custom fursuits march out in the streets openly rather than feeling a stifling isolation of being cooped up in hotel spaces, with a handful of home made creations, being wary of a hostile media looking for a freak show.

Coming out of 2019, it seemed that the time where furry was just an internet thing was fully behind it. However a series of unfortunate events were in line for 2020, a year that has led humanity to be forced into their rooms by an irate Mother Nature as an easily spread virus has forced governments around the globe to take drastic measures to slow its spread and put strict limits on social gatherings. A situation which has forced both the furry fandom, and the internet that brought it together, back to their roots.

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Fortnite Battle Royale (or just Fortnite) is a “battle royale” shooter that has been around since 2017, and while its getting a bit long in the tooth, it’s still hanging around and still free to play. Last year, the game finally implemented skill-based matchmaking, which means for casual and new players, it’s never been easier to get into. In many ways, it is comparable to Nintendo properties such as Super Smash Bros. or Mario Kart, taking a more traditionally “hardcore” video game genre and making it more accessible with gimmicky gameplay, goofy items, cartoony visuals and massive amounts of RNG.

Of course, the game isn’t exactly furry in and of itself, but the game makes its money selling cosmetic upgrades to player’s in game characters, and quite a few of them feature either characters in animal costumes, or, more recently, straight up anthropomorphic animals. In the time-honored tradition of clickbait listicals, here is my ranking of those skins.

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While the pandemic has been chipping away at the furry convention scene, other furs have stepped forward to try and give those in the community events to look forward to over the now dormant weekends. This had started with a group of Furnal Equinox members creating a digital replacement for their late March convention called Keep Calm and Carry Con - Furnal Isolation. More have started to spring up this spring.

They can have internet dealers dens, streaming dance competitions, and other staples that conventions are known for. Accessible from the safety of your own home.

Below is a comprehensive list of conventions. Last updated May 2nd, 2020 12:18 ET.

Please feel free to place any not listed here in the comments below and we will look into adding it if it appears legitimate.

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Video from Thabo Meerkat, transcribed

Hey there, and welcome to the April 2020 edition of Digging Up Positivity from a rapidly changing world. But even in these weird times, there are still a lot of positive things to be found!

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As governments restrict gatherings of people, furry conventions are being postponed or canceled. Here's a quick run down of events in April, May, and June and their status as of May 5 17:28 EDT (UTC-4) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic - updates to come.

A new section has been added for past events impacted for historical purposes.

Links go to statements if available, or to their Twitter feed or site. See also: Furry Fandom and the Internet forced back to roots by viral outbreak

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Bill Curry:  “In some ways, you would be [surprised that the polls in Connecticut are busy today]. Last week, on the Democratic side, every story said that it’s all over for Bernie; it’s so difficult to put this nomination together. … Continue reading →

"Trump didn’t hijack the populism, the Democratic Party made a gift of it to him. And he simply accepted it. … that elite … made a decision that in the midst of a global insurrection against political corruption and economic oligarchy that Hillary Clinton’s 'pay to play' politics in global finance capitalism would somehow play better than Bernie Sanders Democratic Socialism. … they ignored every poll they had, all the data they had, and even all the anecdotes they could possibly have accumulated in order to reach the conclusion that Hillary was a stronger candidate than Bernie. … And I remain certain that if anyone other than Clinton - and certainly if you accept for just one moment that when all the polls said the right things by such wide margins for so long they might be right - Bernie Sanders could have won this had he been the nominee, like Roosevelt took out Landon." Continue reading →

As the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season gets underway, communities in severe weather-prone regions are anxiously tracking pending storms and working to create effective disaster response plans. IBM, through its strategic alliance with The Weather Company and its global B2B division WSI, today announced a new emergency management solution that features sophisticated analytics and the use of real-time weather data to help communities predict and plan for natural disasters far more accurately and deploy the right resources in advance.

Woodside Energy and IBM will work together to re-imagine the way work is done using next-generation technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing to help Woodside realise its vision of an “intelligent plant”.

musicisart magazine Kiasmos – Blurred + Remixes

  Sometimes the best way to relax is to listen to calming, downtempo music. Kiasmos provide a modern twist to perfection. Duo producers Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen allow their own creative abilities to gracefully combine. Together their meditative sounds present an ethereal atmosphere mixed with sophisticated storylines told without words, felt within the simplistic beats […]

The post Kiasmos – Blurred + Remixes appeared first on musicisart magazine.

 I thought I would give myself a lock down project to see if I could get some more Union troops done. The first batch were done some months ago and just left in a draw ( getting slightly damaged). This second lot, I just thought ‘too hell with it’ and decided to Dip them all in strong tone. This made them much more fun and quicker to paint, it also meant they were a lot more tougher than the first batch. The third batch were the original figures painted up around 1998, brought up to muster with a retouch of paint.

 Rather than paint individual regiments, I’m going for the Regimental Fire and Fury approach by painting a horde of generic bases that can be used for a multitude of regiments.


 Above is the first batch, shaded with inks and just matte varnished with spray varnish.
 A horde of standards, I stuck some on unpainted figures as I couldn’t be fussed to go back and do it all again. I decided it will be easier to paint the figure around the standard than go through another night of glue and fiddly scissors.
 These photos are out of order, this shows some of the combined forces rebased at last. Although I’m going to be using Bonny Blue Flag rules from Cavalier books, I’m basing them using Regimental Fire and Fury ratios. This is so I can use their fantastic scenario books for battles. These are great for the detailed maps and accurate troop numbers of the forces involved. Although I won’t be playing their core rules these scenario books are an amazing resource.
 The idea has always been to take my old collection from the Nineties and update them with many more different poses. This regiment being revamped was one featuring mostly Dixon figures, so I used a lot of Dixon miniatures in many different loading poses to add to it.
 More rebased figures, this was great because even though I had a rough idea of how many new bases there would be, I was surprised at how many just kept coming from all the batch’s combined.
Above, are some strips of figures Dipped in strong tone. Basing them on cereal packets was great because the cardboard can be bent, allowing you to get all around the figure to paint it.
 It’s the next day now and I managed to base up some of those command bases. The eagles and spear points are from Steve Barber miniatures.

[h/t Stephan Hurtubise]  

The wildfire disaster that struck Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada in May 2016 destroyed more than 2,400 structures and created insured losses of more than $3.5 billion. The incident captured the hearts and minds of the media and citizens the world over,

Fire chiefs from France, the United Kingdom, and the United States gathered in Quincy, Massachusetts at the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Urban Fire Forum (UFF) to listen to first-hand accounts of some of the biggest emergency response incidents over the past 15 months, including hurricane response in Texas and Florida, the Grenfell Tower fire in London, and the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando.

Chapel Hill-based firm Arielle Condoret Schechter is known for its commitment to building sustainable homes that don't sacrifice elegance or comfort. The company's latest work includes the spacious Haw River House, which was built with several efficient features to create a net-zero energy home that is seamlessly linked with its natural surroundings.[...]

I don’t have much to say today, so I’ll share this photo of an ornament that my mom and I made last Christmastime. We think he looks a little like John Turturro.

A crispy grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with Japanese style dry curry and plenty of melted cheese! April is National Grilled Cheese Month and I just had to share a grilled cheese recipe with you! Karepan (or kare pan or curry bread) is a Japanese food where dough is filled with curry and deep fried until...

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The post Karepan (Japanese Curry Grilled Cheese) appeared first on Closet Cooking.

 A 57-year-old man from El Salvador who was being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in California died from Covid-19 on Wednesday. This is the first confirmed death from the coronavirus at an ICE detention center. Carlos Escobar-Mejia has been detained at the center since Jan. 10 after having lived in the U.S. for 40 years. While at the detention center, he was on a list of people who are medically vulnerable to the virus and are therefore eligible for immediate release but was hospitalized before the list was fully put together. According to ICE, 705 out of 1,460 detainees tested positive for Covid-19. At the Otay Mesa center alone, there are 140 cases of Covid-19 out of the 649 detainees there, making it the facility with the largest number of positive tests among detainees. The Otay Mesa center is owned by the private prison company CoreCivic, which has not commented on the situation there. ICE maintains that it is caring for its detainees in light of the pandemic, but detainees have said that they do not have enough space to socially distance, that they do not have enough clean masks, and that guards are not adhering to CDC […]

Current status: no power at home, so an early dinner out with David instead of our planned cooking. https://ift.tt/2T0Cx3j

Here are the recent TV binge watches. The Letter for the King. This is on Netflix, and it’s one of my favorite genres:  YA fantasy, which when it’s done well can be so very good — earnest, full of wonder, a clear-cut story not weighed down by the cynicism of things like Game of Thrones. […]

The Moon's current percentage of illumination is 92%.

Hurricanes moving slowly over an area can cause more damage than faster-moving storms, and rising global temperatures will likely cause more hurricanes to slow down, said Princeton atmospheric scientist Gan Zhang.

WASHINGTON (May 4, 2020) -The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is highlighting National Hurricane Preparedness Week (May 3-9, 2020) to help Americans prepare for the Atlantic hurricane season from June 1 to November 30.

Sept 27Oct 1stIt was really nice seeing John at the airport when I arrived. THe altitude of La Paz considering it is the highest capital in the world didnt affect me like I had assumed it would. I did purchase a coca cola which helps and John and I

In the fight against COVID-19, doctors and health workers are testing drugs and treatments whose efficacy has been proven against other illnesses. We take a look at the most prominent ones and the early findings.

Joe Castiglione saw his first baseball game in the Bronx.

Yousef Selassie, 19, pleaded not guilty to first-degree grand larceny, identity theft and other charges at his Manhattan Supreme Court appearance for the lucrative scheme that operated from January through May this past year.

The closure applies to Catholic elementary schools in Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx, the area covered by the New York Archdiocese. It will last from March 16 through March 20, “with the possibility of a lengthier closure,” according to diocese officials.

For Anelosimus studiosus spiders, the storm survival checklist apparently includes a combative personality.

Some of the storm’s features hint at troubling trends in recent hurricanes.