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Hello, and welcome to Maretha's spot, part of a child-friendly blog – Fauna Park Tales. What fun we've had thus far this month! There are still a few days to go, so come and join me today, the 28th of August. Remember you must be in it to win it. So leave a comment at the bottom of the page, beyond "About Me". Links for the other participants' places are on the RRBC website at:
On today's stop, you've landed in Lancashire, part of the North-West in the United Kingdom, in the vicinity of the Darwen Tower – an octagonal structure also known as the Jubilee Tower, completed in 1898 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. It was opened to the public on September the 24th, 1898. Walking on the moors, climbing a stone spiral staircase, 85 feet up is always worth it. Vistas as far as Morecambe Bay and an accompanying stiff breeze, clear one's mind and fire lots of inspiration for new adventures, already part of my new Works in Progress. Here I am at the top of Darwen tower, proud to have walked the steep uphill and climbed the stairs for the second time this season. Unfortunately my smile is rather frozen as if I've had a Botox injection, but my mind is already in overdrive, full of new stories.
NINE black-and-white illustrated paperbacks of the first three books of FAUNA PARK TALES with subtitle, An African Adventure, to three fortunate visitors! And who knows, if you pop in at my Amazon Author Page, you might be able to download the eBooks which are on a KDP-Select special as well! So spread the news and make a children's author happy by posting a short positive review on Amazon. Thank you!
An update on the prize winners!
Each of these awesome RAVE REVIEWS CLUB MEMBERS received black-and-white paperback copies of the first three books of Fauna Park Tales. I hope they enjoy the stories, which I believe often take us back to our childhood and reliving memories of the "inner-child". Happy reading!
2. Member: Yvette Calleiro
Facebook: www.facebook.com/YvetteMCalleiro
3. Member: Jenny Hinsman
Flame and Hope: An African Adventure sets the scene for Fauna Park Tales – the Series, which was conceived while we lived on the outskirts of a game reserve in Mmokolodi, Botswana. The series is based on the original "African Adventures of Flame, Family, Furry and Feathered Friends", a GOLD MEDAL WINNER on Authonomy, supported by HarperCollins.
The series strives to bridge the gap between Early Readers and Middle Grade (ages 9-13) and has illustrations, not only to enhance reading pleasure for better readers, but to serve as memory aids for younger readers throughout the series. Please bear this in mind when reading the introductory chapters of this first book to younger listeners and readers.
These chapters deal with family life's losses and gains, adoption, finding true worth and true friends, as experienced by a young pup born in a semi-desert. This special place somewhere in Southern Africa is called the Kalughari by the bush creatures. Events during this time provide an emotional arch for this young dog and his furry and feathered friends' behaviour throughout the series, progressively amplifying the plot by means of short stand-alone stories. This format provides ideal opportunities for younger readers to either read shorter stories by themselves, or have a family member read a bed-time story to them. Teachers often use these short stories during reading sessions. *
Not many humans speak Faunalang – the bush creatures' own peculiar language – a sought-after talent which bad ones want to use, and Flame and his furry and feathered friends will protect, without regard for their own safety. There are memorable characters – an elusive bird with pink eyelids and two martial eagles; two rats – one good, one bad; a stubborn goat who shows forcefully that 'a promise is a promise' and the good humans – the James family, Chief Monametsi and the Molodi villagers, as well as bad ones such as Tall Leader, and his band of poachers and cattle thieves.
The young pup finds himself alone in the Kalughari, but he courageously chants the bush creatures' first motto:
*Here is a comment from an older reader and retired school teacher who posted a review as 'Dragon'. I don't like anthropomorphic stories August 2016 Format: Paperback
Book Two: When duty calls unexpectedly, Flame risks his life to save a vulnerable young zebra trapped by fearsome fires. A former foe becomes a friend, but during this particular rescue, Flame becomes very ill. Humans, as well as furry and feathered friends surround him with love and care. During this time, Hope finally tells him who he really is and where he comes from. Meanwhile, the chickens feed him two newly laid eggs every morning and the cats take over as his nurse aids. How all this care ends, especially when the good humans begin digging a hole in the ground when it seems as if nothing can save our hero from 'new moaning', provides interesting reading and often hilarious moments.
In this illustration, Flame and a young zebra foal are trapped, first by fires and then in a thunderstorm which quickly floods the area. A lone martial eagle circles above them, sounding warnings.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Friends-African-Adventure-Fauna-Tales-ebook/dp/B00Y2WS82E/ and paperback at: https://www.createspace.com/5515932/
Book Three: Bad humans are disturbing the peace in the Molodi valley, and two small orphans are in danger. One of them speaks Faunalang – a rare and wonderful talent – something which the bad ones want at all cost, but Flame and his furry and feathered friends stick to The Promise. Young and old will enjoy reading about their latest thrilling adventures, when Molodi's bush creatures meet friends and foes in their quest to protect helpless ones in Fauna Park. Plump-Grump, the stubborn goat, and his harem do their bit, but what will happen at the farm while Flame and his friends are on a dangerous mission? His Handsomeness, King Rat returns, but is he a friend or a foe? In this illustration, a bull frog who calls himself Fee-Far-Fun, overhears a chat between a greedy rat and a common mynah while they're causing mischief in Fauna Park.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Orphans-Plight-African-Adventure-Fauna-ebook/dp/B01CO4LXLE/ and paperback at https://www.createspace.com/6131789
Should you have a few moments to browse longer, read this post about why Children's Indie Authors are grateful to receive reviews.
You may want to visit Fauna Park Tales at their Facebook page. Please like our page and leave us a link to yours at the same time. Thank you!
Here are other links for you to click on should you wish to follow and/or comment.
https://marethmbotha.wordpress.com/ and https://twitter.com/MarethMBotha
Thank you so much for stopping by. We hope you enjoyed this glimpse into the lives of the furry and feathered friends, as well as the humans who share this part of Southern Africa with them.


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Whale Trail Review
- Publisher: ustwo games
- Genre: Casual
- Released: 20 Oct, 2011
- Size: 78.7 MB
- Price: FREE!
- Addictive simplicity; level generation adds a unique touch to each run.
- Finessed one-touch controls; swoop, fly and flip your way with ease.
- Amazingly over-the-top and cheery presentation; like a blast to the past of 80s educational shows.
- Lots of interesting achievements not emphasized within the game itself; hamstrings the immediate replayability.
'Been there, done that' isn't quite fair to say of a game like Whale Trail. Although it may seem like yet another endless title, its stellar level of presentation; clever level layout variation; and simple control scheme make it worth checking out, even if it doesn't last forever.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
While I'd love to think I'm not the bitter old-soul that my friends sometimes consider me to be, I can't help but feel a bit sympathetic as I load up a game like Whale Trail by ustwo and grin like the Cheshire Cat for what seems like hours and think 'Oh... this is what smiling feels like?'. OK, OK, I'm not THAT grumpy, but the point remains that there's something positive to be said for a game that had me babbling like an incoherently excited 3 year old within minutes of having loaded it.
This may have something to do with the presentation of Whale Trail; redolent with colors and simple shapes, the game invokes classic childhood educational shows like Sesame Street, Play School and others aired in the 80s. It's possible a lot of the fun of Whale Trail is predicated on having such a primal connection to an age of innocence, but honestly, how can you not love the cute characters; the bright and clear colorful designs; and of course the upbeat Ringo Starr-like theme song.
Some may drop off as soon as they realize the game is yet another endless title, but it would be unfair to simply ignore it on this alone as Whale Trail's procedural level creation provides enough variation to justify a few playthroughs.
You play as Willow the Whale who is attempting to escape Baron Von Barry's evil clutches by riding a rainbow trail that allows Willow to fly. Touching the screen lifts you up, while holding on at the apex will start a loop-the-loop, giving you a chance to collect a few more rainbow bubbles necessary to keep you aloft and to increase your point multiplier. Stars can be collected to activate a temporary speed boost with invulnerability as well.
Unlike several recent titles, Whale Trail doesn't feature in-game objectives tied to bonuses, however there are a whopping 43 Game Center achievements to aim for if you're looking for some reason to keep playing.
Ultimately how long you stay for Whale Trail is up to you, but this cute title is easily worth picking up just to enjoy the simple, fun gameplay at least once.
Description***Previously Apple Game of the Week***
26,000+ 5 Star Ratings! (and counting)
Fly as Willow the Whale, collect Blubbles, loop the loop, unlock playable friends, upgrade Willow's skills, smash enemies and meet bonkers characters along the way.
> 'The next smash hit in iOS gaming.' - TNW
> 'The game is GORGEOUSLY cute. Try it out for a buck.' - Gizmodo
> 'Whale Trail is an absolute joy.' - TouchArcade
> 'The kind of winningly simple concept from which App Store phenomena are made.' - Edge
> 'Impossible not to like, stellar production values and solid gameplay.' - Pocket Gamer
> 'Ditch your jetpack, it's time to ride the psychedelic Whale Trail.' - Kotaku
> 'It's simple and gorgeous. There's rarely been a better gaming value for money.' - T3
• Soundtrack by Gruff Rhys of 'The Super Furry Animals'
• Simple and intuitive one touch gameplay
• 2 game modes, Classic and Challenge
• Earn Krill and use it in Willow's store
• Upgrade Willow's skills
• Unlock playable friends
• Use 'Treats' while flying for instant bonuses!
• 96 Challenge levels, can you 3 STAR them all?
• Smash the Thunder Bros in 'Frenzy' mode
• Launch into space at speed-boosts
• Compete against friends with Game Center
• Heaps of challenging missions to unlock

subset: commoncrawl


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Posted by Editoress on 11/15/13
After the most successful season to date, and raising an accumulated fundraising total of over over $120,000 in support of cancer fighting charities, Peter and Lori Kofman, along with Erace Cancer team members and sponsors, are excited to continue their race efforts as a means to raise funds for Camp Oochigeas in 2014.
2013 was another incredible year for members of Erace Cancer Cycling Team. While enjoying tremendous success on race courses across Canada, racers almost doubled their fundraising efforts off the bike in support of Camp Oochigeas. Erace Cancer's fundraising efforts were directly responsible for sending 30 children with cancer to a week of camp this past summer. With several new initiatives in the works, 2014 promises to continue to build upon the extraordinary passion team members have built for supporting Camp Ooch.
Executive Director of Camp Ooch, Alex Robertson, had this to say: "Thanks to dedicated fundraisers like the ERACE CANCER cycling team, Ooch is able to provide the magic of camp for children affected by childhood cancer. Every year, I'm humbled by the incredible support we receive through this community. On behalf of the children and families we serve, thank you."
In 2014, the team is excited to partner with La Bicicletta. Together, they will strive to continue their incredible racing success, build a platform for club members wishing to learn and participate in events, and further fundraising activities with the goal to raise $100,000 to support Camp Oochigeas. La Bicicletta sales manager, Heath Cockburn, is excited to support this incredibly important charity for children with cancer, commenting: "We feel strongly as cycling ambassadors and further, feel strongly that the actions of the Erace team should reflect grassroots cycling efforts. It is great to be involved with a group who are passionate about cycling, and racing; but use their passion - not for their own needs but as a platform to do good for others. Who wouldn't want to be part of that?"
About Camp Oochigeas
Camp Oochigeas - or "Ooch" - was founded in 1983. Camp Ooch is the only camp in Ontario to offer on-site chemotherapy IV treatment and blood transfusions. Camp Ooch offers year round programs for children affected by childhood cancer at sites in Muskoka, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Ooch Downtown in Toronto. Through these programs, Camp Ooch provides fun and meaningful experiences to approximately 800 children affected by cancer each year, at no cost to their families. Camp Oochigeas does not receive any government funding and relies entirely on the generosity of donors and volunteers. To find out more, go to www.ooch.org .
To join the team's efforts to support kids with childhood cancer while having fun on your bike, please contact Peter Kofman (), Lori Kofman (firstname.lastname@example.com), or Angela Shillolo (firstname.lastname@example.com) before December 15th, 2013.
|Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top


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Another UAAP season has closed.
For the most part, UAAP Season 80 was a success. Some new champions were crowned and a few reigning titleholders were able to defend their gold, while new stars emerged and others bowed out.
As for the coverage on ABS-CBN S+A, there were some hits and misses as well. Here is a look back at what the network was able to do in Season 80.
New Upfront
The third season of 'UAAP Upfront' eschewed the live pregame presentation in favor of a straight-up lifestyle program dedicated to showcasing the lives of UAAP athletes away from their respective sports. It also aired exclusively during weekends, which helped mitigate whatever production costs S+A endures during live broadcasts.
UAAP Insiders
During the men's basketball season, S+A added an extra on-air talent known as a UAAP Insider, featuring former courtside reporters Ganiel Krishnan, Angelique Manto, Ira Pablo and Pauline Versoza. Unfortunately, the addition of a UAAP Insider cut some exposure away from the new batch of courtside reporters, and this role was eventually cut prior to the women's volleyball tournament.
Courtside Reporters
This season's batch featured no holdovers and the first to feature men since Season 74. However, Adamson representative Nicole Sumagui was dismissed for poor performance and was replaced by predecessor Stef Monce for the rest of the men's basketball tournament, and Armand Hernandez during the women's volleyball tournament.
This year's cast also featured Martie Bautista (Ateneo), Eileen Shi (La Salle), Sydney Crespo (FEU), Miguel Dypiangco (NU), Migs Gomez (UE), Agatha Uvero (UP) and Tonie Moreno (UST). Performance-wise it was satisfactory, but if not for the UAAP Insiders their potential would have been unleashed further.
The Entry of LIGA
Late January saw the launch of LIGA, the new cable channel of ABS-CBN's Creative Programs Inc. This enabled ABS-CBN Sports to go deeper into UAAP live coverage as it aired the first game of men's volleyball doubleheaders (plus second game of Sunday doubleheaders) as well as the finals of the softball and baseball tournaments.
Lack of First Semester Coverage
But while the second semester UAAP tournaments were extensively covered by ABS-CBN Sports, the first semester tournaments still leave a lot to be desired. The most noteworthy omission is women's basketball, which for the most part played on the same day as their men's basketball counterparts, yet only the finals were aired on S+A.
With the entry of LIGA, perhaps the time is now for the UAAP women's basketball tournament to be taken seriously. Your call, ABS-CBN.
Overall, UAAP Season 80 broadcasts was good, but still not great. Yes, the slogan for the season was 'Go for Great', but in terms of coverage, it was still not above standard as any UAAP fan would want.
With Season 81 taking place in a few months' time, there are still some kinks with which ABS-CBN Sports must address. That said, it will be interesting to see how the network will change its approach come next season.


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I'm not going to get into the habit of writing about work, but I wanted to let you know that my new situation is really, really good. And there's a reason I'm sharing this with you today.
My old job, the one that "brought me to my knees" was a decent paying job, especially for our area. And it took me five months to get it. So for a year and half, I was miserable, thinking I couldn't leave because I really had it pretty good, except for the screaming and yelling, the unreasonable demands, the constant checking up on the weekends… What does that sound like to you? An abusive relationship? Because it was. I saw it in all of the other people I worked with, too. "It's not bad all the time," or "It's much better when he's not in the office/ in the winter/ when he's in a good mood," or "There's just nothing else out there." Scary stuff, right there.
In my big picture way of looking at things, I see a parallel. This is another time in my life where I took a risk and said enough was enough. Life is too short to be so miserable everyday. And it wasn't pretty. It was hard to be a single mom. And it was hard working retail for minimum wage. I did a lot of soul-searching, and it was painful. There were times in both cases where I thought, "Is this it? Is this all there is?" But there were benefits to both, too. At least I was free from a toxic relationship. At least I could do things the way I wanted to. At least I had an opportunity to learn a great deal. (And I ended up loving being a single mom, except for being lonely).
And then, something wonderful happens that changes your life around. And you realize your instincts were right. There are really, really good men out there who know how to treat others. And there are really, really good jobs out there where you actually get a lunch break with a side of respect. My advice is this: trust your instincts, and take that risk. It may not be sunshine and lollipops immediately, but life is too short to miserable. You deserve more.


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Many moons ago, I defended this country as a United States Marine. It is, other than my wife and my son, one of the things that I'm most proud of and, surprisingly, I did it right. After a four-year stint with Uncle Sam's Misguided Children, I've got the official documentation and diploma that says I was honorably discharged for my service to the country.
Thus, this last weekend – hell, the last 25 years or so, but that's a discussion for another time – was quite angering for a military veteran. The actions by the SCROTUS, Orange Foolius, and his ill-advised and quite ignorant commentary on the National Football League and, in particular, players who protest the indignities foisted on minorities by law enforcement personnel, last Thursday night lit a firestorm with people. In those comments in front of a group of knuckle-dragging Neanderthals in Alabama, the buffoon in chief whined about how football wasn't a "real game" anymore because of the concern over head injuries that the players might suffer (let's just forget the factor of the debilitating effects of CTE). Then he launched off into a topic that, until he brought it back, had pretty much died out.
"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners," Orange Foolius blubbered to the slobbering masses, "when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a bitch (and it wouldn't surprise me if he wanted to go off on the tangent the Pennsylvania fire chief went on in describing Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin) off the field right now. Out! He's fired. He's fired!'"
Of course, the diatribe was in response to quarterback Colin Kaepernick's 2016 season-long protest of police brutality and minority oppression by kneeling on the sidelines during the National Anthem. Don't let the mere fact get in the way that it has since cost Kaepernick his position with the San Francisco 49ers, his team at the time, or the blackballing that has resulted from the other GMs in the league from his peaceful protest. In fact, other than a handful of players in the NFL (Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Michael Bennett most notably, who had a run-in with Las Vegas police that ended in a rather acrimonious situation), Kaepernick's attempts to bring attention to the continued travesty that occurs far too often had pretty much been brushed under the rug.
That was until the Tangerine Fool's hacking of red meat to feed to a bunch of rubes.
After Herr Twitler finished his hissy fit, the entirety of the NFL spoke up as one voice. Instead of a couple of players, more than 250 took a knee. Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the NFL, issued a blistering renouncement of Orange Foolius' statements and entire teams, who would rather piss on the ground that Goodell stands on than join with him, linked together in a show of solidarity against the stupidity of the jackass in chief and him slobbering minions. This included the Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft (both donated to the presidential cause of the SCROTUS…wonder if they're regretting that now).
These protests will continue probably for the remainder of the season, especially since this imbecile and his lobotomy-ravaged sycophants have tried to steal the concept of the protest, trying to make it about the "flag" and "the Anthem" and "the troops" instead of what it was about…the injustices facing minorities in this country, especially at the hands of law enforcement personnel. Be on the lookout for similar protests to begin in the National Basketball Association also.
Kaepernick's protest was never about the military, nor the flag, nor even the Anthem. So why did he choose his moment last year to make his stand? Because every other means of protest had been taken from the people. Remember those idiots who said they would drive their vehicles into marchers in the street (they thought it was a great idea until a Nazi decided to do it and GOP legislators STILL want to reduce liability for drivers)? So, people don't like marchers. Well, what about occupying an area and sitting or kneeling? Nope, that offends people too, unless you're white, armed to the teeth and screaming about how "the gubment" is stealing your land…then you get acquitted. Kaepernick chose the least offensive way to go about making his protest (and, for those of you who say, 'Why don't he use his money to make his voice heard'…he has, to the tune of $1 million at the minimum) and it is one that the military men and women of this country should support wholeheartedly.
The military – the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and National Guard – is 37% minority. That the dotard in the White House chose to go after minority football and basketball players (yes, we didn't even touch on the Steph Curry and Golden State Warriors "visit" to the White House, but I've got to leave you some legwork to learning) is a damning sign when he doesn't call out white supremacists, racists, or religious zealots (his very own "spiritual advisor," the "Reverend" Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, suggested that football players should be thankful that nobody has "shot them in the head") for their bullshit.
Beyond the racial factor, the military and its fighting men and women do not defend a flag. Those airmen and women, soldiers, sailors, and Marines do not defend a ditty written by a racist as he stood passively by in a boat, scribbling his screed, while watching those said defenders of the country die at the hands of British ships bombing the hell out of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. The men and women of the Armed Forces – be they active duty or reservist – defend the people of a country, ALL people, whether they are white, black, brown, red or polka-dotted.
They defend the Constitution, the law of the land, and ALL that the document entails. They defend the Bill of Rights and the 27 Amendments that have been made to the Constitution over the past 240 years. That means, when it comes to the question of the "methods of protest" employed by one group or another, they stand for it, even if they don't agree with it. As a Marine veteran, I support the right of protest. It is one of the many rights that citizens are granted and that I defended for them and for this country. Freedom of speech is arguably (I personally think there's not an argument) one of the greatest rights we have, the ability to speak out against the government, its politicians, and its institutions. And yes, sometimes that freedom of speech can be used in areas that make you uncomfortable or you dislike. Allowing such speech is the true test of the freedom.
I recall when I was growing up in Illinois there was a small town near Chicago called Skokie, a predominantly Jewish and Polish enclave. There was a band of Illinois Nazis (you wonder where that line "I hate Illinois Nazis" in The Blues Brothers comes from?) that petitioned for the right to march through the villa. After several legal attempts to stop the march were denied – on the RIGHT OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH – the Illinois Nazis marched and people peacefully protested it. Such raconteurs as Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopoulos also have that same right to be heard; so does comedian Bill Maher, who sometimes takes angles on freedom that people don't agree with.
Freedom of speech is exactly that…you have the freedom to express your ideas. Now, there is also that right to PEACEFULLY protest on the other side and there are also the consequences of the freedom of speech. If you are willing to accept the consequences of what your freedom of speech might entail – as Colin Kaepernick has been – then your freedom to do it is guaranteed.
The National Anthem is just a song. No military person is defending a song. Likewise, the same could be said about the flag. It is presented as a symbol of the country, not something to be worshipped on the altar of a god. If you are disturbed by someone who is making a peaceful protest by simply kneeling on the ground but you accept something like this…
Then you are the one with a problem. And if you accept that – or accept a supposed leader in the SCROTUS who thinks that white Nazis are "good people" while calling minority athletes "sons of bitches" – then we can see where the problems in this country lie. And it goes beyond someone kneeling in silence to protest.


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Post 'em here!
One of my favorite:
Pachabel rant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM
or similar:
Axis of Awesome - 4 chord song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I
Post 'em here!
One of my favorite:
Pachabel rant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM
or similar:
Axis of Awesome - 4 chord song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I
Last edited by Marlamin; 2010-12-07 at 10:58 PM.
MMO-Champion IRC · Forum Guidelines
You know... This could grow out to be a huge topic. I sure hope so!
This guy has good humor.
Check out the parts with Deathpool too. Those are awesome!
For the Emperor.
People should realize that you can actually post in some stickies!
More cool stuff. (are trailers allowed?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVHLrAvr1bE <-- this one is just bad.
http://www.ongein.nl/video-makkelijk...oit-12177.aspx <-- I couldn't find the youtube equivalent but I can promise that its a safe site.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOR3snVKW0E. Some TF2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w906kygdgoc 1..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf9WNMqENiA 2 pranks.
No more for now. Others should post.
For the Emperor.
Twilight For Guys (instant classic)
300 Mexicans
Golf With Darth Vader
Sesame Street Censored
The Count Censored
All are hilarious, but the last two made me cry I laughed so hard. I literally almost threw up from laughing so much first time I saw the censored Count.
Edit: If you liked the sesame street videos... this is the "best of" unnecessary censorship video...enjoy Pure Awesomeness
Last edited by Rageissues; 2010-08-15 at 05:39 AM.
Talking goat
Don't argue with an ibex
Drugs & driving Not english, but rather understandable anyway.
Gandalf goes to the world cup
Old spice Seriously, why haven't it been linked already?
So I was watching Attack of the Show on G4, came across their youtube segment. I have got to say, this one video was truly epic.
Link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI8HAwwRbC0
I'm just a fan of a brand new wiki: pcgamingwiki.com
A one stop place to help you get your favorite PCGames not only running on your machine, fix issues you might have, find the latest patches from the developers or fans, and more.
It's a brand new site, so help out by contributing.
Rofl! <- Wont let me put that in all caps x_x
DragonBall Z Abridged
Funny(Silly) DBZ parody remaking each episode.
The Nicorette Shark
Funny AD by Nicorette.
Last edited by Mijen; 2010-11-16 at 06:46 AM.
News | Forum Guidelines | MMO Champion IRC | Free Games List
Playing: Guild Wars 2 | APB: Reloaded
-I don't care what the next expansion is about, as long as the story is dark and rich so I can refer to it as Chocolate WoW.
Last edited by Sunshine; 2010-09-08 at 04:11 AM.
I got probably the biggest "WHAT THE FUCK?!" from this one.
just a baby farting but its soooo damn awesome =D
Just a funny little series I stumbled upon and not sure if anyone has linked it or If it's already popular and I'm just way behind.
I like waffles!
Right, I feel very horrible for posting this, though I find the "Moments with Heavy" series absolutely incredible.


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lyra full of grace…
September 27, 2008
44 Responses to "lyra full of grace…"
September 27, 2008 at 8:03 pm
she's gorgeous!
love to all of you.
soak it up, mama.
September 27, 2008 at 8:42 pm
congrats, love!
September 27, 2008 at 8:58 pm
She is beautiful! Congratulations to you, Jorge, and all of your little ones.
September 27, 2008 at 9:02 pm
ooooh! she is so beautiful! i'm sending you all lots of love.
September 27, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Congratulations and richest blessings to you and yours!
September 27, 2008 at 9:23 pm
And she's absolutely beautiful, too. Congrats to you and the family!
September 27, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Oh, Patience, congratulations! What a beautiful girl and beautiful name. You got your water birth!!!!! 😀
September 27, 2008 at 10:04 pm
beautiful! congrats to you and your family!
September 28, 2008 at 1:08 am
How wonderful! Congrats and enjoy your babymoon :O)
September 28, 2008 at 1:56 am
oh how precious! congratulations!!! I'm new to your blog but I've been checking it regularly and I can't believe you found time to give birth and post the update/picture within 24 hours!
congratulations again on your beautiful new baby!
September 28, 2008 at 7:54 am
Congratulations and welcome to the world, Lyra! What a wonderful way to be born, and into such a wonderful family. 🙂
September 28, 2008 at 8:23 am
Amazingly beautiful.
September 28, 2008 at 8:32 am
thanks for sharing your little miracle with us! beautiful name for a beautiful baby. wishing you good help and love in abundance.
September 28, 2008 at 8:55 am
Ah, she brings tears to my eye's. What a beautiful baby & a lovely birth! Congratulations to you & the whole family!
September 28, 2008 at 9:06 am
what a wonderful, peaceful way to join a wonderful, beautiful, spiritual family. Congratulations to all of you.
September 28, 2008 at 9:26 am
she's beautiful! congratulations!
September 28, 2008 at 9:40 am
many heartfelt congratulations. she is beautiful. i found your blog recently via jen's — and i so enjoy coming here. truly. best wishes…
September 28, 2008 at 11:47 am
I felt it on friday, I just knew it. Congratulations beautiful Mama. And a waterbirth I am so delighted for you. Tears are welling up. I am so proud to know you and to be a part of your life. She is gorgeous.
September 28, 2008 at 11:51 am
Welcome to the world Baby Girl!! Can't wait to meet you and LOVE that you are sucking your thumb!!
September 28, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I am so happy for you Pache. Yet another beautiful birth and child. It seems that Fridays are your birthing days! 🙂 I am also happy that you were able to have the water birth you wanted. Lyra looks like such a precious angel! Congratulations to you and everyone! Lots of love being sent your way!
September 28, 2008 at 1:07 pm
seems your prediction was right on target! so glad you have the relief that comes with the end of pregnancy–so glad she's here and looking very content indeed.
blessings to you all.
September 28, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Congratulations and peace to you.
September 28, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Welcome to the world Baby Lyra!
Love to everyone! Pam, Sean, Bryan and Kaitlyn Connolly
September 28, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Oh, so beautiful, Patience. Welcome to the world, Lyra. You are so blessed to have such a beautiful family.
September 28, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Oh happy happy joy! She is so beautiful and I send all our love to you all ~
September 29, 2008 at 12:05 am
Oh happy day! She's beautiful. I love that she's sucking her thumb.
September 29, 2008 at 7:36 am
Beautiful name, beautiful girl, beautiful birth… thank you for sharing.
September 29, 2008 at 8:15 am
Oh how itsy bitsy full of sweetness she is! Congratulations to you all.
And her name is absolutely lovely.
September 29, 2008 at 9:54 am
Best wishes and congratulations from a lurker! She's beautiful!!!
September 29, 2008 at 9:56 am
Oh!!!!!! Congratulations!!
What an awesome name!
September 29, 2008 at 10:36 am
She is sooo beautiful!!!
All my love and warmth my sweet friend!!!!
September 29, 2008 at 10:53 am
I'd heard she'd arrived and made a point to come over here and check it out. She's beautiful. Congratulations to you and yours.
September 29, 2008 at 12:14 pm
What a beautiful precious baby! Sooo many hugs and congrats to you Mama! I'd say blessings too but it is ver obvious you have all them already!
September 29, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Welcome little Lyra! May you always hold in your heart how much you are loved!
September 29, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Oh Patience,
That precious bundle….. I'm just so happy, so very happy for you. I read the timeline, the candlelight … and I felt so glad that you had *your* birth. I can't wait for every detail and I want to see that beautiful girl.
Much much love,
September 29, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Congrats! She's truly beautiful!
September 29, 2008 at 5:38 pm
She is so beautiful and such a wonderful bundle of blessing! I am so very happy for your whole beautiful and wonderful family. She couldn't be more blessed with a Mama like you Patience, a Papa like you Jorge and the sweetest and most fun siblings in Josiah, Jack, Lucy who will worship this newest little Princess!
We love you ALL!!
Jenna, Palmer and Kira
September 29, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Oh, congratulations! She's beautiful.
Blessings on all of you.
(Been reading for awhile, thanks to Jen's link, but just now commenting…)
September 29, 2008 at 8:07 pm
What an absolutely precious baby. Congratulations to you and your family. I am very proud of you. Hope to see all of you soon.
With Much Love
September 30, 2008 at 11:50 am
oh pache, what is there to say that hasn't already been said? that morning at betsy's feels so long ago, and yet like yesterday. those little seedlings inside us, our bellies not yet revealing…we were giddy, almost disbelieving. and then the months tumbled on…and now here we are–you with your lyra grace and me with our mystery baby due any moment. what a joy to share baby-growing and baby-having with you. and what a joy to meet lyra, my favorite days-old chunky little latina…
October 2, 2008 at 6:12 am
you have been in my thoughts and prayers since I saw you last week. and now here she is…so beautiful, like the rest of her sweet family, (esp. her mama). 🙂 I made some lentil soup and wish I could bring it to you! We are sharing your joy here. Get some rest, Pache, and I hope to see you ALL again soon and welcome sweet Lyra Grace!
October 3, 2008 at 10:56 pm
she is pure love! how beautiful. my heart is with you, many blessings to you and sweet sweet lyra grace!
January 18, 2009 at 9:59 pm
I just wanted to say that it's amazing that I saw this when I googled my own name! Not only was it surprising to me to see a baby with my first and middle name, but the fact that she was born the day before my 20th birthday floored me.
She is beautiful! Congratulations.


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Presidents Race Videos – 2006 Season
Scroll below or skip to:
Presidents Race Debut Weekend, July 2006
Early Presidents Race with scoreboard introduction
Early Presidents Race, July 2006
Presidents Race, final homestand of 2006
Presidents Race Debut Weekend, July 2006
The video above by YouTube user HenryBasenji is of the 2nd live presidents race ever, July 22, 2006 at the Washington Nationals game vs. the Chicago Cubs. The live action race had debuted the night before, as part of the "Paint the Town Red" Grand Reopening of RFK Stadium. Teddy appears to pull up limp at the finish. None of us in the crowd realized at the time that this was the beginning of a very long streak of disappointments for our 26th president.
Early Presidents Race
This 2006 video by YouTube user squidpants shows the full scoreboard "teaser" sponsored by GEICO, in which the racing presidents are shown outside RFK Stadium, passing famous DC landmarks on their way to the finish line inside the ball park.
Early Presidents Race
This video by luismsm was one of the first Presidents Races from July, 2006 at RFK Stadium. Teddy takes the early lead but runs out of gas.
Presidents Race, final homestand of 2006 (2 Views):
The Nationals have been eliminated from the playoffs, but the inaugural season lead remained undecided with Abe Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson running neck and neck in presidents race victories. The two videos above are different angles of the same race captured by DolanMrs and HenryBasenji. Teddy emerges first from right field, but stops to shake hands with the crowd as the other presidents race by him. Thomas Jefferson showboats to the finish line to put himself in a position to pass Abraham Lincoln with two games remaining in the season.


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Dennis Ritchie, C Programmer And Unix Co-Creator, Has Died
Dennis Ritchie is being remembered today as a pioneering computer scientist, the " father of [the] C programming language," co-creator of the Unix operating system and "a 'titan' of the [computer] industry whose influence was largely unknown."
Ritchie, 70, has died. The news was confirmed this morning by Alcatel-Lucent, which owns the Bell Labs where Ritchie worked from 1967 until his retirement in 2007.
"While the introduction of Intel's 4004 microprocessor in 1971 is widely regarded as a key moment in modern computing, the contemporaneous birth of the C programming language is less well known. Yet the creation of C has as much claim, if not more, to be the true seminal moment of IT as we know it; it sits at the heart of programming — and in the hearts of programmers — as the quintessential expression of coding elegance, power, simplicity and portability."
It adds that "Ritchie designed a computer language, C, that could be quickly and easily moved between different hardware. Programs that were written in C, provided they followed the rules, would then run with little or no modification on any computer that could itself run C."
Then Ritchie and Kenneth Thompson "rewrote Unix in C, giving the operating system the same ease of portability. Programmers could then learn one operating system, one set of tools and one language, and find those skills nearly universally applicable."
Ritchie and Thompson were 1998 National Medal of Technology laureates "for their invention of UNIX operating system and the C programming language, which together have led to enormous growth of an entire industry, thereby enhancing American leadership in the Information Age."
That medal "is the highest honor for technological achievement bestowed by the President of the United States on America's leading innovators."
Alcatel-Lucent has posted video of Ritchie and Thompson talking about their work.
Update at 1:15 p.m. ET.Our thanks to commenter Johnny Truant (Johnny_Truant) for writing:
Those who know C language, NPR senior programmer Jason Grosman tells us, will recognize that play on "the very common Hello World program that almost everyone writes as their first program."
A fitting send off, it would seem.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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616, 616 East Lincoln Avenue, Battlestar Galactica, Brain, Brain Wiring, Crush #1, Images, Inception, Love, Marriage, Mind's Eye, Muse, My Mother, My Wife, Neurons, Self-Discovery, Self-Reflection, The Cell, Wedding Anniversary, Women, Wonder Woman
Today's my twelfth wedding anniversary. It means that I already have one woman in my brain almost all of the time, mostly around the mundane tasks of running a place of residence, other domestic duties, and watching over/nurturing the midsized human that is our eight-year-old.
But the reality is, there have always been women in my brain, with images that inspire, voices that encourage, and actions that embolden. This post isn't about undressing a woman in my mind's eye every six seconds. Nor is it about putting women on some pedestal so that I can mentally kneel and worship in an empty space. Trust me, I've done both and more over the years. No, this is about who gets into my head and how they stay there.
Of course, no one has had more air time on my mind's screen over the past forty-two years and change than my mother. She did give birth to me, after all, and for better and worse, helped me make it to my preteen years before things in our lives fell apart at 616. For years, I've lived with the lessons learned at my mother's hip, lessons about race, trust, religion and relationships. Many of which I've had to revise in order to make better choices in my own life. Still, I can hear my mother's voice, bad jokes and all, in the things I do with my son, in the mistakes I hope to avoid as a writer and as an educator, in the bills that constantly have to be paid.
I hear my wife's voice every time I go the grocery store. Or when I'm dealing with my son. Or when I think about our travels over the years. Literal and figurative. I think about all of things we've made happen, and all of the things that are still works-in-progress for us, as individuals and as a family. I hear her doubt, her most critical of voices, her scalpel sense of editing in what I write, in how I speak and in the diplomacy I show the folks in my life who otherwise don't deserve it. Though our marriage is as complicated as astrophysics shows the universe to be when accounting for dark matter, my wife's voice bounces around my 100 trillion nerve ending almost as much as my own.
Then there's Crush #1. She's more insidious than my mother or my wife. The tenacious ballerina of a
tomboy who one represented my personification of Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman often will show up when I least expect. Often enough in my dreams, and usually when I'm writing in my head. I hear her giggles and see her smiles under the strangest of circumstances. A pirouette here, a punch to the jaw there, an encouraging word and a thoughtful look will surprise me in my dreams as much as it would've in real life thirty years ago.
Are these women anything like the folks I've known and learned to know again over the past three decades? Yes and no. They likely represent the many sides of me as much as they each represent themselves. Loving or not, caring or not, forever elusive, and yet always there for me to grasp, love and even despise. They all represent the best and worst in me, the best and worst I've seen, endured and overcome in this life. Hard, tough, blood-from-a-turnip love. Unrequited, one-sided love. And deep, conditional, familiar love. They're all there. They seem to always be there.
God, my own thoughts — however deep or shallow — the billions of images of sports and men and women in my head from every walk of life and every song made in the past four centuries also remain constant in my brain. But mother, wife and first love can't be shut off or out either. I could use some endorphins for the headache I have now.


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Drying Garlic Process
Garlic Encyclopedia
Garlic is also called garlic head, garlic head, garlic, single garlic, single head garlic, and is a general term for garlic plants. A semi-annual herbaceous plant, Allium spp., In the family Liliaceae. Harvest in spring and summer, tie the handle, hang the ventilated place, dry in the shade and reserve. The agricultural proverb says "Grow garlic without nine (months) and nine long heads". When the leaves are dry in June, dig and remove the silt, ventilate to dry or bake until the skin is dry.
Garlic is oblate or short conical, with gray-white or light brown membranous scales on the outside, peeling off the scale leaves, 6-10 garlic petals inside, whorled around the flower stem, disc-shaped at the base, with many fibrous roots. Peel off the film of each garlic clove, and see white, thick and juicy scales. There is a strong garlic spicy and spicy taste. It has an irritating odor and can be eaten or used for flavoring or medicine. The underground bulbs are divided into purple skin species and white skin species according to different skin colors. Garlic was introduced into China from the Western Regions during the Qin and Han Dynasties. It was cultivated and cultivated artificially and has anti-cancer effects. It is very popular among the public.
Processing Garlic Steps
1、Processing of raw garlic
Five steps: selecting materials, cutting pedicles, peeling off the epidermis, peeling the garlic, and picking. The selection of materials requires manual operation. Pour the garlic on the garlic selection table and pick out the insect frogs and moldy garlic heads one by one. In the selection process, the garlic that is too small is also removed. After cutting the garlic, the garlics are poured onto the elevator one by one, and then sent to the splitting machine through the conveyor belt. The splitting machine uses the rubbing force generated by the upper and lower rubber belts of different speeds to divide the garlic head into garlic cloves.
The divided garlic cloves are also attached with a layer of garlic skin. This layer of garlic skin is closely attached to the garlic meat and needs to be removed before processing. The method uses a dry-off process. Turn on the power of the peeling machine, set the working pressure and temperature of the peeling machine, the working pressure is 9-11 kgf / cm2, and the temperature is 45 ℃ -50 ℃. When the pressure and temperature rise to the specified range, pour the garlic cloves into the peeling machine. After closing the lid, start the work switch, and the peeling machine will automatically peel the garlic peel. In order to ensure the quality of the product, the garlic cloves after peeling must be selected.
3、Dehydrated garlic slices
After peeling and selecting the garlic cloves, dirt and dust will inevitably adhere to them. Before dehydration, these garlic cloves must be thoroughly washed. Put the garlic cloves in the washing machine, and rub the garlic cloves continuously with air bubbles. The dust on the garlic cloves is washed away, the garlic skin floats on the water, the garlic cloves will sink, and the garlic skin will be removed with a stalk. The sterilized garlic cloves should also be washed with water, drained and ready for slicing. The slicing is to enhance the dehydration effect and also reduce
Less storage volume.
The sliced garlic slices are re-entered into the bubble washing machine for cleaning, and the mucus and sugar on the surface of the garlic slices are washed away by rubbing with bubbles. The cleaning time is 3 minutes, and the water temperature is maintained at about 10 ° C.
5、Spin dry
The cleaned garlic slices should use a centrifuge to dry the water attached to the surface of the garlic slices to shorten the drying time. When cleaning the garlic slices, put the garlic slices in a permeable gauze bag, and then put the whole package in the centrifuge. Each time the amount of garlic slices into the centrifuge is 25-30 kg, the speed of the centrifuge is about 1200 revolutions per minute, and the drying time is 30 seconds. The dried garlic slices can be dried.
Garlic drying process
The dehydrated garlic slices are dried using a heat pump dryer. The specific method is: spread the garlic slices evenly in the grid tray of the dryer, insert the grid tray into the material cart, push the material cart into the drying room and turn on the host . During the drying process, the temperature should be controlled between 55 ℃ -75 ℃, and the drying time is 10-12 klukkustundir. The standard of dried garlic slices is: normal slice shape, white color, and moisture content of 4-5%. The dried garlic slices are also mixed with some garlic peels. At this time, the peeling operation should be carried out by air separation.
The dried garlic slices have a slightly different moisture content due to uneven size. In order to achieve moisture consistency, a moisture balance is required. Put the dried garlic slices in a plastic bag, tie up the bag mouth, and put it on the shelf, it can be placed for about 3 days.
Pósttími: 2021-08-24


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Check out a different way to scroll through long articles on the Web, making reading faster and easier on most sites.
Do you love reading articles online, but find yourself losing your spot often? The developer of MagicScroll Web Reader, Richard Wallis, proposes that the problem isn't social media and other computer distractions -- it's the way you scroll through large blocks of text online.
To combat the issue of scrolling and making your eyes search for where you left off, Wallis wrote a browser bookmarklet that changes normal scrolling to page-turning style. This means that instead of scrolling down a really long page, you can flip through it, just like you would do with a book.
Here's how to install and use MagicScroll Web Reader for Chrome and other Web browsers:
Note: This bookmarklet will not work with every Web page. Because of individual page layout techniques, you may still need to use the scroll button on your mouse. However, MagicScroll will still only show you one page at a time.
For Google Chrome:
Luckily, there is an extension that Wallis created to give MagicScroll a home on your Chrome toolbar. To install the extension, open the MagicScroll Web Reader entry on the Chrome Store, then click Add to Chrome. You should see a new icon appear near the top right-hand corner of your Chrome Web browser. If not, just restart Chrome and it will appear.
For other Web browsers:
Since there's no direct install to add MagicScroll Web Reader to your toolbar, you'll just need to drag and drop the the");="" resource.src="http://www.magicscroll.net/bookmarklet/init.js" ;="" document.documentelement.appendchild(resource);}());"="" rel="nofollow" class="c-regularLink" target="_blank"> bookmarklet found on the MagicScroll Web page to your quick links area.
After you have MagicScroll Web Reader installed or bookmarked on your favorite browser, just head to a Web page and click the button/link.
From there you'll be able to flip through pages using the right and left arrows on either side of the text or the scroll wheel on your mouse. If you want to revert back to the normal page style, just click the top button at the upper left-hand corner.
MagicScroll Web Reader has a couple of other interesting features that you may fancy. If you click the Settings button (second from the top in the upper left-hand corner), you can change the font size and the color scheme. This is especially useful if you're reading on a laptop in sunlight and need more contrast to easily see words. In the bottom right-hand corner, you'll see a Play button along with plus and minus signs. This Play button will automatically scroll through pages for you, and the other two allow you to adjust the scrolling speed.
Using MagicScroll helps you skip services that require signing up and forwarding your content to their Web site can before it's converted to a better reading format.
(Via The Verge)


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I stopped at the KVK today just in time to watch an anchor move. Crew on the "bent-leg" barge caught the hook in the eye of the anchor cable, and
then Sea Bear powered away, the barge submerging in the process.
The anchor got winched up and
the barge crew took the applause as the tug moved them
away to the next phase, which looked
a bit like jousting or clam raking with long handled tools.
The eye was caught and the yellow hook dropped
from the sky; once attached, the anchor got
hauled up, and Florida could move to the next dredge sector.
All fotos this morning by Will Van Dorp.


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Independence Blue Cross, NYU, and NYU Langone Medical Center have established a collaboration to develop machine-learning algorithms to spot cases of undiagnosed diabetes and to predict pre-diabetes in patients to improve care and lower costs.
The work will be supported by a three-year grant from Independence Blue Cross (IBC), the Philadelphia region's leading health insurer. The collaboration is part of NYU's Initiative in Data Science and Statistics, which aims to harness today's torrent of data in order to make advances in medicine, science, technology, business, and a range of other fields. IBC is a founding member of this university-wide effort.
"Independence Blue Cross is proud to be a leader in exploring the use of sophisticated computer analytics to help transform the delivery and quality of health care," said Daniel J. Hilferty, IBC president and CEO. "Partnering with NYU, one of the nation's leading experts in the field of data analytics, will provide us with invaluable information we can use to greatly improve the health of our members and lower health care costs. After all diabetes is the number one chronic illness in the Philadelphia region."
More than 8 percent or 25 million people in the U.S. suffer from diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. But nearly one-third of those afflicted with diabetes are undiagnosed —unaware that they have this disease. Moreover, it has recently been estimated that an additional 25 percent, or 79 million people, have "pre-diabetes," a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. The pre-diabetes stage is a critical one. If hyperglycemia goes untreated, damage to the blood vessels begins and the risk of cardiovascular disease increases.
"Without a doubt, improved ways to accelerate the diagnosis of diabetes in affected people will improve health, reduce the complications of the disease, and reduce health care costs," said Ann Marie Schmidt, M.D., a professor of endocrinology and medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and co-investigator.
"Diabetes is a debilitating disease causing tremendous strain on our health care system," said Somesh Nigam, senior vice president, chief informatics officer of IBC. "With this analysis, we can slow the progression of the diabetes epidemic by identifying people at high risk for diabetes, working with them and their doctors to get the care they need, and ultimately keeping people well, reducing their complications from diabetes, and lowering costs."
NYU's David Sontag, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, will head the collaboration.
The project's other co-investigators will be Yann LeCun, a professor of computer science and neural science at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and Saul Blecker, M.D., an assistant professor of population health and general internal medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center.
Under this collaboration, the researchers will develop methodologies to predict which patients have undiagnosed diabetes and pre-diabetes by applying machine-learning algorithms to IBC's medical and pharmacy claims data.
Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence that involves computers "learning" to extract knowledge from massive data sets and rendering informed analyses and judgments, often predicting outcomes. This collaboration will use machine learning to develop an algorithm, using patients' historical claims data, to predict which patients are at the highest risk of diabetes. All patient data is securely maintained at all times.
Data Science — using automated methods to analyze massive amounts of data and extract knowledge from them — is a set of methods that is becoming core to many areas of business, science, and government. Last year, the White House announced a multi-agency initiative in "Big Data" to speed the pace of discovery in science and engineering, strengthen national security, and transform teaching and learning. A growing number of companies including those in the pharmaceutical, financial, insurance and web industries are driven by Data Science.
For more on NYU's Initiative in Data Science and Statistics, go to www.nyu.edu/datascience.
About Independence Blue Cross
Proudly celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2013, Independence Blue Cross is the leading health insurer in southeastern Pennsylvania serving more than seven million people nationwide, including 2.2 million in the region. We are enhancing the health and wellness of the people and communities we serve by delivering innovative and competitively priced health care products and services; pioneering new ways to reward doctors, hospitals, and other health care professionals for coordinated, quality care; and supporting programs and events that promote wellness. To learn more about how we're changing the game, visit www.ibx.com. Connect with us on Facebook at ibx.com/facebook and on Twitter at @ibx. Independence Blue Cross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
About NYU
Founded in 1831, NYU is one of the world's foremost research universities and is a member of the selective Association of American Universities. The first Global Network University, NYU has degree-granting university campuses in New York and Abu Dhabi, and has announced a third in Shanghai; has a dozen other global academic sites, including London, Paris, Florence, Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires, and Accra; and sends more students to study abroad than any other U.S. college or university. Through its numerous schools and colleges, NYU conducts research and provides education in the arts and sciences, law, medicine, business, dentistry, education, nursing, the cinematic and performing arts, music and studio arts, public administration, social work, and continuing and professional studies, among other areas. For more information visit www.nyu.edu.
About NYU Langone Medical Center
NYU Langone Medical Center, a world-class, patient-centered, integrated, academic medical center, is one of the nation's premier centers for excellence in clinical care, biomedical research and medical education. Located in the heart of Manhattan, NYU Langone is composed of four hospitals – Tisch Hospital, its flagship acute care facility; the Hospital for Joint Diseases, recognized as one of the nation's leading hospitals dedicated to orthopaedics and rheumatology; Hassenfeld Pediatric Center, a comprehensive pediatric hospital supporting a full array of children's health services; and Rusk Rehabilitation, inpatient and outpatient therapy services devoted entirely to rehabilitation medicine – plus NYU School of Medicine, which since 1841 has trained thousands of physicians and scientists who have helped to shape the course of medical history. The medical center's tri-fold mission to serve, teach and discover is achieved 365 days a year through the seamless integration of a culture devoted to excellence in patient care, education and research. For more information, go to www.NYULMC.org.


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Restock Radar: Week of May 12
Here's a look at some of the indie nail polish restocks scheduled for the week starting Monday, May 5. Check back every Monday to see what's coming up. Updates will be added as I find them.
Monday, May 12
LOVE, ANGELINE (On Big Cartel)
Notables: Launch of Pipe Down This Love Is Bliss collaboration box (May theme is May flowers)
JINDIE NAILS (On JindieNails.com)
Notables: Launch of new colors, including S%&t Just Got Teal, plus restock
Friday, May 16
I LOVE NAIL POLISH (On ilnp.com)
Notables: pre-orders begin for Summer 2014 collection, including Bikini Bottoms and Summer Stargazing
time not specified
THE POLISH BAR (On Etsy)
Notables: Launch of the Spring 2014 Pastel Holo collection
Sunday, May 18
PHILLY LOVES LACQUER (On PhillyLovesLacquer.com)
Notables: Launch of Pregnancy/Infant Loss and Infertility Awareness charity duo
If you know of any planned indie restocks, launches or sales coming in the future, please let me know at firstname.lastname@example.com Thanks for stopping by!


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When we kicked prayer out of school, we kicked out God. It's no surprise that the devil showed up instead.
What I don't understand is: if the atheists hail every extraction of God from our society, when they have succeeded in taking Him from people's minds, then why do they blame God for
the result?
My heart grieves for the Connecticut school, and for Virginia Tech, and for Columbine, and for the ever more frequent, ever worsening list of massacres. Our intelligence agencies work feverishly to "connect the dots" to thwart terrorist plots, but we refuse to "connect the dots" about the direction of our society.
Forgive me this post. But I am so distressed, I wish to call people everywhere to turn to God. Our nation will NOT improve until we find Him again.


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Happy Halloween, everyone! Ahh, the memories. From 7th through 12th grade it was a tradition of mine to dress up as something inflatable: a sumo wrester…ninja…even Elvis. But this year, I'm not so sure what to dress up as. Maybe a weatherman? Nah, too predictable. Maybe as El Nino so as to scare the living daylights out of all the skiers and snowboarders? 😉 Regardless, it appears Mother Nature is doing her share of tricks and treats.
TRICK (and treat!): Last year Scott Sistek of KOMO TV posted a satellite picture taken one year ago, October 30th, 2008, displaying some pretty cool Halloween images. The picture has not been altered in any way…it's the real deal! Can you spot two creepy Halloween figures in the below picture?:
Do you see them? No? Well, I took this picture into "Paint" and outlined the images:
EDITED 11:55 AM—A commenter has noticed that there are two more zombie-looking formations in the clouds. I was only able to find one more, however. If you look a little past the Canadian border, you can spot a long zombie-looking face stretching across all of B.C. with two eyes, a small nose and a frowned mouth. Isn't that cool?! Maybe I'm impressed a little too easily, but I thought it was cool that this satellite was taken just a day before Halloween. What are the odds? If you find any more images…let me know!
TREAT: As for the forecast for tonight, the top story on the Kitsap Sun homepage might be a little misleading: I am 99% sure you won't need an umbrella tonight. I would say 100%, but it IS late October after all and I don't want to become the blame of some poor child's wet candy and costume, so I have that 1% to fall back on 😉 But in all seriousness, you should be JUST fine. Here's what I'm expecting:
As always, stay safe out there, do your activities in groups, and bring some pepper spray to fend off any whippersnappin' hoodlums who try to steal your or your child's Halloween candy! Or instead of the spray, maybe you could just bring that umbrella anyway. It could come in handy in more ways than one!
Anyway, let's move on. I probably shouldn't be endorsing violence on my blog. The rest of your weekend and week next week look very seasonable…and boring. I'm going to have to be creative this next week with my blog posts!
Have a great evening everyone and enjoy yourselves!
Matthew Leach
Forecasting Kitsap
Questions? Comments? Pepper Spray Brand Ideas? E-mail me at: email@example.com


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(Non)Violence that led to Free India
How India was colonised is a long story. I'm summarising it for quick reference.
British came to India in the 17th century on the pretext of making it their colony. India was a strong nation at that time under the rule of Jehangir. After the death of Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire got weakened and Nader Shah of Persia defeated them. The World was signalled that India had been weakened and hence could be easily captured. East India Company (United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies) used strong naval tactics and built empires on the critical ports of India Bombay, Madras, Calcutta). Slowly but tactfully, the British gained control of India.
Great Mutiny 1857
There was unrest among the people of India because of the dominance of the British in Indian political, economic and cultural lives. The growing discontent led to the great mutiny of 1857. Indian soldiers refused to use controversial cartridges given to them. Many important Indian princes joined the mutiny along with the aged Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II and his sons. Mutineers took control of many parts of India and shook the British government. The violence and bloodshed made the British rethink about the governance of India. East India Company was completely demolished and in 1858, British Raj rule was established in India.
*Violence was involved in the eradication of East India Company!
British Viceroys and secretaries were appointed to regulate administration in India. These officials had a little or no knowledge about the lives of Indian people. The only objective of the British was to drain India of its resources in all forms. Indians began to express their unwillingness to follow British rules. The struggle for self-rule lasted for about 90 years, from 1858 to 1947. The movement for independence was violent as well as non-violent as people were divided on the basis of opinion. Indian National Congress split into moderates and extremists. A series of activities led India to freedom.
What was more important in gaining Independence, violence or non-violence? Mahatma Gandhi advocated non-violence and disobedience in achieving freedom goal while there were many like Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh who believed in armed revolution. Both groups targeted the British empire to attain self-rule in India.
It's unjust to give importance to just one person or a single idea that changed the fate of India. We salute the collective effort of all the freedom fighters whose dream of independence is a reality for us.


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Honorable Green Door
Description: Who's the genius who created a door made from a flimsy piece of paper? It offers just about as much protection from Ninjas as say ... a piece of PAPER. Let me clarify... yes, that means NONE WHATSOEVER! -_-;;;
Price: 1 Platinum
Store: The Faktori
Gender: Any
Date first appeared on Gaia: 2005-05-19
Find listings for Honorable Green Door in the Virtual Item Marketplace


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Table of Contents:
A financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights in the world
Outline of the Community (European Union) legislation about A financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights in the world
These categories group together and put in context the legislative and non-legislative initiatives which deal with the same topic.
Development > Sectoral development policies
A financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights in the world (2007 – 2013)
Document or Iniciative
Regulation (EC) No 1889/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on establishing a financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights worldwide.
This Regulation puts in place a financing instrument aiming to encourage democracy and human rights in non-EU countries, and replaces the previous European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights.
The Instrument is aimed in particular at:
- enhancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in the countries and regions where they are most threatened;
- supporting civil society in its role of promoting human rights and democracy, its action for the peaceful conciliation of particular interests and its duty of representation and political participation;
- supporting actions associated with human rights and democracy in areas covered by the Community guidelines;
- strengthening the international and regional framework in the field of the protection of human rights, justice, the rule of law and the promotion of democracy;
- building confidence in democratic electoral processes by enhancing their reliability and transparency, in particular through election observation.
To pursue these aims, Community aid is in support of the following actions:
- promotion of participatory and representative democracy, processes of democratisation, mainly through civil society organisations, in particular: promoting the freedoms of association and assembly, opinion and expression; strengthening the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary; promoting political pluralism and democratic political representation; promoting the equal participation of men and women in social, economic and political life; supporting measures to facilitate the peaceful conciliation of group interests;
- protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international and regional instruments, mainly through civil society organisations.
To ensure the effectiveness and consistency of assistance, the Commission ensures close coordination between its own activities and those of the Member States. Assistance under this Regulation is also consistent with the Community's policy on development cooperation and with the European Union's foreign and security policy as a whole. It is also meant to complement assistance under the Community instruments for external assistance and the Partnership Agreement with the African, Caribbean and Pacific states (ACP).
Management and application
Assistance is implemented through:
- strategy papers, defining the Community's priorities, the international situation and the activities of the main partners;
- annual action programmes based on strategy papers and their possible amendments;
- and special measures which are not provided for in the strategy papers and which may be adopted by the Commission;
- ad hoc measures so that the Commission can make small grants to human rights defenders responding to urgent protection needs.
The following are eligible for funding under the Regulation:
- civil society organisations,
- public- and private-sector non-profit organisations,
- national, regional and international parliamentary bodies, where the proposed measure cannot be financed under a related Community external assistance instrument,
- international and regional inter-governmental organisations
- natural persons, where their help is necessary for achieving the aims of the Regulation establishing the European Instrument for democracy and human rights.
Exceptionally, other bodies or actors may be financed where necessary to achieve the objectives of this Regulation.
Assistance granted under this Regulation may take the following forms:
- projects and programmes,
- grants to finance projects submitted by international and regional inter-governmental organisations,
- small grants to human rights defenders,
- grants to support operating costs of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC),
- contributions to international funds,
- human and material resources for EU election observation missions
- public contracts.
Participation in calls for tender or granting subsidy contracts is open to, among others, all physical or moral persons from a Member State of the European Union or resident in one of these, in an acceding country, one which is an official candidate, a member of the European Economic Area, a developing country (as specified by the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD), and international organisations.
The Commission is assisted by a human rights and democracy committee.
The Commission presents in an annual report the progress made in applying the assistance for businesses measures under this Regulation.
The instrument has been granted a budget of EUR 1.104 million for the period 2007-2013.
|Entry into force – Date of expiry
|Deadline for transposition in the Member States
|Official Journal
|Regulation (EC) No 1889/2006
30.12.2006 – 31.12.2013
OJ L 386 of 29.12.2006
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No 1905/2006 establishing a financing instrument for development cooperation and amending Regulation (EC) No 1889/2006 on establishing a financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights worldwide [COM(2009) 194 final – Not published in the Official Journal].
It is necessary to improve the proper implementation of programmes and projects funded by the instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights. The Parliament and the Council therefore propose to relax the criteria for eligibility to funding, concerning the costs relating to taxes and duties payable in the beneficiary countries. Tax exemption or tax recovery mechanisms do not exist in all of the States concerned, which constitutes a barrier for participants in the programme.
Codecision procedure: (COD/2009/0060)


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Phenomenal Indo Arabic Bridal Mehndi Designs
You can see this mehndi style that is shaded in ruin adjusted and giving the scrambling look to your palms. The beat circle paying little thankfulness to can be contracted close nothing and expanded long as much as you have to wear. This dull shading truly looks so hot and titanic.


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It's about the worst version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" you could find. But it is awesome all the same for its totally unique medium. This particular LP is part of the batch of the first records ever to be created on a 3-D printer.
"It's surprising how much you can deform and down-sample an audio file and still recognize it," says Amanda Ghassaei, assistant tech editor at Instructables, who printed the record, and several others, including music from the Pixies, Daft Punk, and Radiohead.
Ghassaei used a state-of-the-art Objet Connex 500 printer to generate the disc. The whole process is possible because printing resolution has finally become high enough to create the audio-laden grooves for the needle to track and amplify. For her printed records, Ghassaei sets the machine to its finest setting, 600 dpi, with 16 micron steps, about the highest quality available on the market. But it's still far lower resolution than on a vinyl LP, by a factor of 10 or so; hence the muddled sound that results in part from the needle responding to the layering of the printed plastic. Ghassaei used an 11 Khz sampling rate — the highest the resolution would allow, around 1/4 what you get from an MP3. Even at that low of a rate, the printer's deficiencies cut off the song's high-range tones.
"It's really stripped down, it's down to the bare essentials," she says. "It's never going to be as good as vinyl. It's not really set up for that. But it's cool because you can really be creative with it."
To create the 3-D model for the record, Ghassaei essentially reverses the process of ripping an MP3. As the groove of a record is a microscopic image of the analog audio, she starts with the digitized waveform, using Python to take it directly from the MP3 file, and renders the shape of it into an STL wireframe using Processing, an open source tool that automates the file generation. She then uses the software to wrap it in a spiral on a 3-D 12-inch disc, varying the depth of the groove to match the waveform. Compared to a normal record, hers have increased amplitude and groove depth to account for the coarse resolution.
While it's a first for a printed proper LP, others have toyed with simpler forms of 3-D printable music. Earlier this year, Fred Murphy generated "Stairway to Heaven" and three other songs on discs for the classic Fisher Price record player. That toy turntable is different than the common vinyl record player, though; it uses a music-box system with tines that sound as they rotate over the record's raised bumps. Murphy posted thehow-to for his project on Instructables, and offers pre-made versions of his discs through Shapeways.
Ghassaei, like Murphy, has put her project up on Instructables, though it's not particularly useful unless you have access to a high-end printer in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars. She is also limited to the first 60 seconds or so, because of the data- and memory-intense 3-D file. A full song would take up a whole side of the album, and the file size would exceed a gigabyte. But that's not really the point.
"It's really cool to kind of push the technology and see what you can get out of it," says Ghassaei. "I've got a bunch more that I want to do."


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(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)
Part four of the Baumol Disease series is up over at the EdFly Blog, including spectacular new Baumol charts from the Heritage Foundation and an excerpt from Terry Moe's book Special Interest regarding the history of the Florida Education Association hijacking the Florida Democratic Party during the 2002 election.
Also be sure to check out the Friedman Foundation's incredibly cool K-12 Baumol Map by State. How bad is the disease where you live?


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68 Days of Gourmet: Day 37
It's Wednesday night…which means I'm on my own! Brandon is in a bowling league (seriously) on Wednesday nights so I get to enjoy a night of eating whatever I want and watching what I want on TV. Glorious! 🙂 Tonight I had leftover Coconut Red Lentil Curry, a salad and a chocolate chip cookie. It's always some sort of meat-free feast!
It's been a very relaxing night. I took the day off from exercising because I haven't had a rest day in over two weeks and I'm just tired and my body needs a break. I've started teaching a BodyPump class on Monday mornings at 6 a.m. and it's been a big adjustment. The 5 a.m. wake up call is very early for me. I know I'll get used to it but so far I feel like I start the week in a sleep deficit. The good thing is that I have a class full of people up early with me and they are ready to work!
Yesterday I went to a hot vinyasa class at Y2 Yoga. I'm so sad that my one month unlimited "new student" pass is ending! My brother-in-law and his wife gave me a pass to try this studio for Christmas. Obviously, I've definitely been using the free month to its fullest extent! So now I have to make the decision whether to buy a 10 class pass or a month unlimited. There's about a $25 difference in price. I'm just not sure which is the right fit. I know I've been all about the yoga lately but I'm starting a new half marathon training plan on February 1. I dont' know if I can fit in teaching BodyPump, running 4-5 days a week and utilizing a month unlimited pass to it's fullest extent? Thoughts?
Okay…back to food. I'm sure you're confused about the meaty pasta dish in the picture above since I've been going on and on about vegetarian dinners and working out. I made this dish on Monday night. It's a Greek dish – Lamb and Eggplant Pastitsio. I was craving eggplant and love Greek food so this recipe hit the spot.
It was so good…the cinnamon added an awesome warm flavor to the lamb sauce and the nutmeg I added to the cheese sauce complimented it perfectly. Although it took a couple hours start to finish, the end result was totally worth it. And it's not all hands on time – lots of simmering and baking time in there too. I thought the double layer was really fun – you mix the bottom pasta layer with the meat sauce and the top pasta layer with the cheese sauce. Yum! I'm so embarrassed to admit that we both went back for not only seconds but thirds! And we had the leftovers again last night. If you're a Greek food lover this is a must try. And just a side note, I think you could sub beef for the lamb if you're not a fan of lamb.
Lamb and Eggplant Pastitsio
(Recipe adapted from Gourmet, October 2001)
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound lean ground lamb
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 pound eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 (28- to 32-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 garlic clove
1 whole clove or a pinch of nutmeg
1/2 pound feta, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 large eggs
10 ounces penne (3 cups)
Heat oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook 3-5 minutes, until softened. Add lamb and continue cooking over medium-high heat, stirring to break up lumps. Cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, salt, oregano, cinnamon, sugar and pepper and cook another 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Stir in eggplant and tomatoes. Gently simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until eggplant is just tender, about 40 minutes. Remove lid and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened, about 15 minutes more. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
While meat sauce is simmering, melt butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook, stirring frequently, 2 minutes. Whisk in milk and add garlic clove and whole clove or nutmeg. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, 5 minutes. Add feta, salt and pepper and cook, whisking vigorously, until cheese is well incorporated.
Beat eggs in a large bowl and slowly add sauce to eggs, whisking constantly.
Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water. Slightly undercook the pasta since it will finish in the oven. Drain in a colander. Toss half of pasta with lamb sauce and half with cheese sauce.
Pour pasta with lamb sauce into a 9 x 13 baking dish, spreading evenly. Spoon pasta with cheese sauce on top, spreading evenly.
Bake uncovered, in middle of oven until bubbling and top is golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Yield: 6-8 servings


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Bone Fracture Risk Calculator
Osteoporosis reduces the density and quality of bone, greatly increasing the risk of fracture. Many people (especially older people) are unaware they have osteoporosis and are at risk of fragility fractures.
This bone fracture risk calculator is only intended for use by GPs and other health professionals.
Members of the public can use the Know Your Bones site to assess their bone health. If you're concerned about fracture risk, it's important to consult your doctor or bone specialist.
About the bone fracture risk calculator
You can read more about the risk assessment model and scores used in the tool.
The calculator was developed using data collected in the Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study, conducted by our Bone Biology Theme . The study, begun in 1989, includes data from more than 2,500 men and women aged 60+.
The longest running study of its kind, it has contributed significant findings to our understanding of osteoporosis, including risk of fracture, impact on quality of life, and survival.
This study has been supported by untied educational grants from:
- Amgen Australia
- Merck Sharp and Dohme
- Sanofi-Aventis
- Novartis
- Bupa Health Foundation
- Ernest Heine Family Foundation.


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Giant's causeway
by ©Juan Iglesias
Atlantic puffin (Fratercula artica)
Colony of gannets (Morus bassanus)
Hook Head lighthouse
Carrick-a-rede rope Bridge
by ©Juan Iglesias
Torc waterfall
Gannet (Morus bassanus)
Trim Castle
South Ireland
Coast of Ireland
Skellig Islands
The "Yellow Steeple", St. Mary's Abbey, Trim. Ireland.
All photos in this website are copyrighted by Juan Iglesias (PhotoWild.net). All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.


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"Hand To Mouth" and the rationality of the poor
Here's one thing that you do as a mathematician a lot: change the assumptions and see how wildly the conclusions change. You usually start with lots of assumptions, and then see how things change when they are taken away one by one: what if the ring isn't commutative? What if it doesn't have a "1"?
Of course, it's easy enough to believe that we can no longer prove the same theorems when we don't start with the same kinds of mathematical set-ups. But this kind of thing can also apply to non-mathematical scenarios as well.
So, for example, I've long thought that the "marshmallow" experiment is nearly universally misunderstood: kids wait for the marshmallow for exactly as long as it makes sense to them to wait. If they've been brought up in an environment where delayed gratification pays off, and where the rules don't change in the meantime, and where they trust a complete stranger to tell them the truth, they wait, and otherwise they don't – why would they? But since the researchers grew up in places where it made sense to go to grad school, and where they respect authority and authority is watching out for them, and where the rules once explained didn't change, they never think about those assumptions. They just conclude that these kids have no will power.
Similarly, this GoodBooksRadio interview with Linda Tirado is excellent in explaining the rational behavior of poor people:
Tirado just came out with a book called Hand To Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America and was discussing it with Dr. John Cook, who was a fantastic interviewer. You might have come across Tirado's writing – her essay on poverty that went viral, or the backlash against that essay. She's clearly a tough cookie, a great writer, and an articulate speaker.
Among the things she explains is why poor people eat McDonalds food (it's fast, cheap, and filling), why they don't get much stuff done (their lives are filled with logistics), why they make bad decisions (stress), and, what's possibly the most important, how much harder work it is to be poor than it is to be rich. She defines someone as "rich" if they don't lease their furniture.
I'm looking forward to reading her book. As the Financial Times review says, "Hand to Mouth – written with scorching flair – should be read by every person lucky enough to have a disposable income."
November 3, 2014 at 8:14 am
Was good interview. Looking forward to reading her book.
November 3, 2014 at 8:23 am
A 2012 study from the University of Rochester agrees with your intuition on the marshmallow test:
November 3, 2014 at 9:22 am
This "rational response" has actually been tested: "So she designed a clever new version of the marshmallow experiment and got some astonishing results. If you manipulate a child's trust in the adult, you radically change his performance on the marshmallow test." While the paper was published in an academic journal (Cognition) this quote is from BabyCenter (http://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/self-control-kids-fail-the-marshmallow-test-when-adults-are-unreliable/) and I'm pretty sure I read about It into places before that, so I think it's pretty widely reported. (Though likely not nearly as much as the original marshmallow test.)
I think that the interesting question is about how each behavior becomes habitual rather than rational, and when each is adaptive or maladaptive. The challenge is when you go from one situation to the other and your usual response is not the best.
November 3, 2014 at 10:14 am
Great piece, thanks!
November 3, 2014 at 11:24 am
No one seems to be commenting on the "culture of poverty," much less its cognitive side (think: bounded rationality), which Tirado is well aware of.
November 3, 2014 at 3:38 pm
Bounded rationality is the human condition. It is not peculiar to poverty.
November 3, 2014 at 9:50 pm
Point here is the "bounded rationality" of the super-rich, rich, middle-class, working class and poor differs. Marx made this famous in The German Ideology.
November 4, 2014 at 2:12 pm
Their "bounded rationality" may differ, but in neither its rationality nor its boundedness.
November 3, 2014 at 3:37 pm
Often human behavior that is an adaptation to circumstances serves to perpetuate or to bring about those circumstances. An example is the present time orientation of the "culture of poverty". When the future is uncertain, a present time orientation is adaptive. But, once it is learned or becomes habitual, a present time orientation can prevent people from taking advantage of opportunities to get out of poverty in the not too distant future.
Another example is not voting because it makes no difference and things are hopeless anyway. The plutocrats rule, so why bother? So that some day they will not rule. A certain amount of maladaptive behavior is necessary. 🙂
November 4, 2014 at 1:12 pm
Coates in the Atlantic had a lot about this a few years back. How the social mores of his poor Baltimore neighborhood, as a teen, made perfect sense in their locale, but when applied to…say the New York publishing world, they were counterproductive. The problem with trying to teach the 'proper' (generally – middle class) response to a set of situations is that they fail miserably in a rough, poverty environment. Children taught those responses see them fail when practiced, and so would rationally discard them.
November 4, 2014 at 7:24 pm
[quote]Another example is not voting because it makes no difference and things are hopeless anyway. The plutocrats rule, so why bother? So that some day they will not rule. A certain amount of maladaptive behavior is necessary.[/quote]
"So that some day they will not rule." Here you miss the whole plot. In a system that has evolved to manage and maintain the system of plutocrat rule at every level and scale, voting doesn't actually change any relevant outcomes unless plutocrats want them too (Gilens and Page 2014). So, if you think that ratifying such a system is rational, you might not be seeing the limits in outcomes that are intrinsic to that context, OR you approve of them.
In which case, of one wants that someday they shall not rule, it is far more adaptive to stay home, not ratify the system that has been carefully tuned to only produce adverse outcomes for you, and to pointedly, stridently and unapologetically dress down those who choose to sell the refusal to comply with inverted totalitarianism as apathy and not resistance. Which means you.
November 5, 2014 at 11:40 am
Oh, I used to believe that. As the bumper stickers say, "Don't blame me. I didn't vote," and "I never vote. It just encourages the bastards." It doesn't work.
As for the current elections, the plutocrats are surely happy about the Republican majority in the Senate. But they are surely not happy about the increases to the minimum wage.
November 6, 2014 at 3:18 am
In the US there are generally only two candidates on the ballot, from what seem to me essentially similar parties. In my entire life the Congressman from my district (I have lived in several) has never faced a viable opponent (on those rare occasions when he was not unopposed) and has usually polled more than 75% of the vote. Tuesday there were Senate and Governor elections in a state and the three nonincumbent candidates were the daughter of a former senator, the brother of a former governor, and the grandson of a former governor/president.
I stopped voting. It's a waste of my time.
November 3, 2014 at 3:52 pm
Considering the cognitive effects of a safe, stable environment, things such as a guaranteed basic income and/or a job guarantee could help bring that about. The income floor could probably be below the poverty level and still be enough to bring an end to the "culture of poverty". 🙂
November 6, 2014 at 10:31 am
This is the immediate reason for suburbia. Stability, safety, better educational opportunities than inner city ghetto. Stress studies on cortisols bathing the brain of kids show the production of negative cognitive effects in poverty, so they are already starting out behind.
But owning your own home in suburbia, having to drive to work and the store — all this costs money. And the social dynamics of stratification set up strata with cognitive aspects, to say nothing of those in the top half fighting to maintain their privileges and advantages.
My thought, and my observation is that we are all slipping into the cognitive world of poverty, generation by generation. As Payne shows, it only takes 3 generations to lose everything that the first generation achieved. And it rarely comes back.
November 3, 2014 at 5:04 pm
I can imagine the same experiment carried out with different personalities interacting with the children; scripted or not I would expect some difference in the results. The challenge itself appears strange enough to cause suspicion for some. Wait for more marshmallow because one wants to talk more with the experimenter and want them to like one, or eat now because one doesn't?
November 4, 2014 at 2:15 pm
Yes, it has long been known that the results of cognitive tests upon children depend in part upon the tester.
November 6, 2014 at 10:34 am
And the test creators are white, middle class. Gramski's proletariat intellectuals never made it into academia (at least not in the US).
November 6, 2014 at 10:39 am
The place to start with this is the sociology of knowledge, and the early role that Karl Marx played. In the 1920s, Karl Mannheim noticed that what people knew and believed was geographically and generationally based. This gave social constructivism its start, along with Weber, Schutz, etc., and the role that institutionalization plays in what is real and what is unreal.
November 4, 2014 at 1:40 pm
Charles Karelis' The Persistence of Poverty: Why the Economics of the Well-Off Can't Help the Poor offers some thought-provoking insights.
November 4, 2014 at 6:59 am