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In an unprecedented critique of a sitting president, all of the 10 living former secretaries of defense—from five administrations, Democratic and Republican—have warned that the time for challenging the 2020 election results has passed, that ordering the U.S. armed forces to resolve disputes would be "dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional," and that those who issue or execute such orders "would be accountable" and possibly face "criminal penalties" for "the grave consequences of their actions on our republic."
The statement, released Sunday night as a Washington Post op-ed, indicates that not only left-leaning conspiracy theorists but several top denizens of the national security establishment are concerned President Donald Trump might try to take drastic action—even military action—to reverse his clear loss to Joe Biden and extend his grip on power.
None of the 10 signatories believe Trump could successfully pull off a coup, according to two former officials involved in the statement. They're convinced the Joint Chiefs of Staff would disobey any such effort as an "unlawful order." However, senior officers inside the Pentagon, who are said to be alarmed by Trump's recent behavior, have told some of the former secretaries that they greatly appreciate the statement's message.
The former secretaries were moved to sign the op-ed by three factors: the remark last month by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump's former (and recently pardoned) national security adviser, that Trump could declare "martial law" and order the military to supervise a do-over of the election; Trump's own increasingly erratic and desperate behavior in trying to reverse the election through dubious legal means (and the statement was written before the notorious phone call on Saturday with Georgia's secretary of state); and the refusal of top Pentagon officials to cooperate with President-elect Biden's transition team.
The cessation of cooperation in mid-December is what "set off the alarm bells" that led to the drafting of the op-ed, according to one former official involved in the process. In one section of the statement, the secretaries note that, during a transition, the Pentagon's current top officials are "bound by oath, law and precedent to facilitate the entry into office of the incoming administration" and to "refrain from any political actions that undermine the results of the election or hinder the success of the new team." Shortly after the election, Trump fired the Pentagon's top officials and replaced them with loyalists, some of them unqualified ideologues. Some have worried—though the op-ed doesn't say so explicitly—that these short-termers, who are closely tethered to Trump, are not only obstructing Biden's transition but might also be planning some acts of ultimate desperation in Trump's final days.
Politico reports (and my own sources confirm) that the idea to write the op-ed was conceived by Dick Cheney, who was President George H.W. Bush's defense secretary a decade before he became George W. Bush's vice president. Cheney enlisted Eric Edelman, a former undersecretary of defense for the younger Bush, to draft the letter. Eliot Cohen, another former Bush official and a highly regarded strategist, also reportedly added touches to the note, as did Cheney. Edelman and Cohen were vocal members of the #NeverTrump movement of former GOP officials who vowed never to work for Trump.
The Post op-ed was signed by defense secretaries for Presidents Bush the elder (Cheney), Bill Clinton (William Perry, William Cohen), Bush the younger (Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Gates), Barack Obama (Gates, Chuck Hagel, Leon Panetta, Ashton Carter), and Trump himself (James Mattis, Mark Esper).
Charles Stevenson, professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of SecDef: The Nearly Impossible Job of Secretary of Defense, said in an email that never before have so many former Pentagon chiefs signed a joint statement of any sort. "And what's surprising," he added, "is that it's not just on 'we like a strong defense.' It's on politics and democracy"—realms where such officials, and especially former generals such as Mattis, would rather not roam.
The difference in this case, which makes all the difference in the world, is that the former secretaries are warning their successors not to engage in electoral politics—and they are concerned about not just the status of this election but the future of democracy.


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"That's a real Hustler!" - The sentence every Entrepreneurs loves to hear, but why? What actually is a Hustler? Is it a negative connotation?
Back in the days it was mostly used for drug dealers, pimps and other criminals who are hustling for their money. They were people who made money in any way and form they can, no matter the consequences. So why nowadays is it used to describe the most successful and hard working people around the globe?
What defines a hustler?
Hustlers make up around 1% of the worlds population. They are a known as a "different breed", way more special than the "Classic Entrepreneurs". Special characteristics, unbeatable workethic and the mindset to go beyond your own limits. Sounds very simliar to a Bladi right? Actually a Bladi is the "elite version" of a hustler, but that's another topic.
You probably asking yourself what defines them, right? Here are some characteristics:
- No fear to fail
- 0% Smalltalk
- Going beyond their limits
- unbeatable work ethic
- streetwise & highly intelligent
- ready to risk it all
In order to be part of the one percentage club you need to call these characteristics your own, because only then you have the potential to hustle yourself up to be a Bladi.
Entrepreneurs equals Hustlers?
Most of the time people make the mistake and mix up the meaning of those two terms. So let's break it up for you guys. You can always own a business, be a business man/woman or call yourself an entrepreneur (shoutout to the so called Social Media millennials). BUT it does not mean you know how to grind, hustle your way up to the top. Hustling is not just a skill you can learn through an online course or just to adorn oneself with the term. It is an art, which takes time to craft, a lot of obstacles to overcome and requires an unbreakable mindset, because it is hard to be a hustler.
"Special Breed"
That`s why we say they are a "special breed". Hunger, failure, hardship, calamities, empty pockets, a small circle, yes those are all circumstances they have to deal with, but it does not break them, it make them even more determined to reach their goals.
Do you have what it takes to call yourself a Hustler or even a Bladi?

subset: commoncrawl


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From Roots, LLC. TERMS AND CONDITIONS
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During Rodriguez's presser yesterday, he addressed some injury question marks. Among them, the injury to OL Mark Ortmann's elbow. It looks like a dislocation, and he could be out for at least a couple weeks. In his stead, sophomore Brian Nowicki will step in. He impressed coaches last week, and has earned the start against ND. He saw limited action last year in blowout wins.
WR Greg Matthews will be back in the lineup this weekend after rehabbing a leg injury. Also back for the first time since last year is RB Carlos Brown. McGuffie and Shaw are still listed 1 & 2 on the depth chart, but expect to see those 3 plus Grady and Minor all in the backfield this weekend.
For the latest lineup, check out our depth chart.
On the recruiting end...bad news. Highly touted Detroit Cass Tech senior, 5-star recruit Will Campbell has de-committed from the Maize & Blue. He says he still has Michigan on his list, but he felt that he should keep his options open.
If you want a ton more recruiting info...check out mgoblog. Brian's gotcha covered. Our recruiting board is also constantly updated.
mgoblog Rich Rodriguez
Week 3 Injuries and Recruiting Update
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Mumaw comes up big for Junior Pioneers
ZANESVILLE - Seventeen-year-old Caden Mumaw is the youngest player on the Junior Pioneers roster, having just finished his junior season at Zanesville High School.
You wouldn't have known that on Wednesday.
With plenty of bustle around Gant Municipal Stadium for the Muskingum Valley Old-Timers Association Bankers Night, Mumaw delivered a bases-loaded triple to break open a close game as the Juniors rolled to a 6-0 win against the rival Senior Pioneers.
The Juniors, who scored all of their runs in the first four innings, improved to 10-3 overall.
"He's had a really good summer so far," Juniors manager David Balo said. "Playing against older guys, college competition game in and game out, I think he's really soaking it all in."
Mumaw struck out looking on a Zack Pollock curveball with no outs in the second after Drew Ritchey singled and Austin Devore doubled. He was bailed out when Tanner Corder singled both runners in with two outs.
Lightning did not strike twice.
When the Juniors loaded the bases two innings later, he found himself in another big spot. This time, he ripped the first pitch he saw to the gap in right field, giving the team a six-run lead that was more than enough.
"It feels great," Mumaw said. "It gives you a lot of confidence, especially coming off a bat at-bat the time before that."
He figured odds were good he would see a first-pitch fastball since the bases were loaded.
"When you know what's coming you can be really aggressive, and that's what I did," Mumaw said.
Balo, who coaches Mumaw at Zanesville High School, was certain Mumaw put the earlier at-bat behind him.
"That's never something I worry about with him," Balo said. "He really has the approach to the game I like. He's never too high, never too low. It's the way you have to approach this game, because it's a hard game to play."
Both teams missed chances early. The Seniors left two runners on in the first inning, another in the second and stranded the bases loaded in the third off left-hander Brandon Bush, who escaped each time without damage.
Bush pitched five innings to get the win, with Marietta College right-hander Cordell Antill finishing up.
"(Bush) is without a doubt the most improved player from what I have seen so far," Balo said. "He works quick and gets a lot of ground-ball outs. He's got some good stuff. Everything he throws moves and he's hard to square up."
The Seniors lost for the first time this season under veteran manager John Hamilton, whose team swept Newark on Saturday and mercied the Columbus Braves on Monday.
Veteran leadoff hitter Wes Carder continued his torrid start by reaching base every time he was up on Wednesday. Pollock added three singles out of the No. 3 hole.
Both are former Junior Pioneers and showing no signs of depreciation.
"I'm just in one of those zones where I'm seeing it well," Carder said. "I'm going to play as long as I can. I come out and just have fun. It's fun to play the game and be around the guys."
Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR


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City Pages talks up the food and adult milkshakes at Ward 6 in St. Paul (see also: our 126 comment-long Facebook chat about where a St. Paul newcomer should dine). The Grand Cafe is hosting a National Pie Day prix fixe menu featuring a pie flight on Jan. 23. A quick visit to Bonnie's Cafe for some sign parsing. The Well Fed Life visits World Street Kitchen (see photo above) and hands out awards. St. Paul is getting a new spot called "Tacos, Nachos and Beer." And a first look at Dangerous Man Brewing Company's tap room.
Minneapolis-St. Paul and Upper Midwest Food Magazine // Feasting on the Bounty of the Upper Midwest


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Bus shelter transformed into a replica of St. Josaphat Basilica
It's not every day that the mayor of our city promises "sanctifying grace" to all who ride the bus, with a wink, of course.
But it was a special occasion, the unveiling of a bus stop in Cathedral Square that has been temporarily transformed into a replica of the Basilica of St. Josaphat on the south side.
The bus shelter, painted gold and complete with a church pew, is meant to draw attention to the plight of the south side basilica, one of the most architecturally significant churches in Wisconsin. More than a century old, parts of the basilica are crumbling and in need of $7.5 million in preservation and restoration work.
People waiting for a bus at the shelter, across the street from the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, 812 N. Jackson St., can look up and see recreations of the basilica's great dome and painted murals. They will also be surrounded by images of stained-glass windows, including one depicting the Annunciation, the moment when the angel Gabriel announces the incarnation of Christ to Mary.
Beside a "Save Our Sanctuary" plea and an image of the basilica itself, there is a high-tech twist to the bus shelter, too. At a station for smart phones enabled with "near field communication," or NFC, or with a QR code app, visitors can connect directly to the St. Josaphat Basilica Foundation website to make a donation.
The bus shelter was designed by Clear Channel and Zizzo Group, which is working with the foundation on the fund-raising effort. The campaign extends over several of Clear Channel's digital billboards as well.
"This is an amazing little artifact here," said Barrett at a Wednesday rally where members of the basilica choir sang. "Just so you know how this works, you get a ride on the bus and you get sanctifying grace just for being at this bus stop."
Mary Louise Schumacher Archive
- Jul 26, 2016 | National Park Service picks Milwaukee native as its new photographer
- Jul 22, 2016 | Painter Thomas Hart Benton saw Hollywood's game and topped it
- Jul 21, 2016 | Picks for July Gallery Night & Day
- Jul 15, 2016 | Artists offer fresh views of objects at Chipstone's Fox Point campus
- Jul 11, 2016 | Art City Asks: Nicolas Lampert
- Jul 8, 2016 | Milwaukee Arts Barge, Next Museum: promising ideas that await details
- Jul 6, 2016 | Gary John Gresl show ponders how humans foul their nest
- Jul 1, 2016 | Art City Asks: Maggie Sasso
- Jun 30, 2016 | Art City Asks: Blyth Renate Meier
- Jun 30, 2016 | Claire Stigliani cracks open fairy tales to expose their darkness
- Jun 23, 2016 | Arts Institute at University of Wisconsin-Madison hires new director
- Jun 23, 2016 | Art City Asks: Fo Wilson
- Jun 17, 2016 | Lakefront Festival of Art winners announced
- Jun 17, 2016 | Roy Staab collaborates with nature on 'Shadow Dance' sculpture
- Jun 16, 2016 | The magic and meaning of everyday photographs
- Jun 13, 2016 | Della Wells, Dasha Kelly named Milwaukee's Artists of the Year
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Recommended Reading Blog: Books editor Jim Higgins highlights things worth reading, in print and online.
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Clean and Safe – Outdoor Activity During the Coronavirus Pandemic
In days of COVID-19 pandemic that we need to protect our partners of the business, clients, ourselves, and the community that we live in, we have been implementing or reinforcing a set of preventive measures to guarantee safety.
Stringent Cleaning
All the equipment that we use is sanitized with bactericide, fungicide, and virucide detergents.
Hand sanitizer will be available to all of our guests.
Social Distancing
We decrease the size of the groups.
The private tours are prioritized always when possible.
Whenever possible, we don't gather people from different origins (accommodation).
All staff members have a formation about the prevention of COVID-19 and will be wearing the necessary PPE.
Wellness Checks
Employees receive daily wellness checks to ensure they are healthy and symptom-free.
If you or anyone in your group is experiencing symptoms, we will work directly with you to cancel or reschedule your tour.


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About the 609 Clikcase
One of the most versatile carrying cases on the market, the lightweight 609 Clikcase can be used for anything from presentation material to tools. It's the OEM packaging case of choice for a wide range of manufacturers. Built tough, the case features a polypropylene body, built-in handle and integrated, metal-core hinges.
The Clikcase series can accommodate just about everything.
An integrated handle and latches contribute to a smart look that gets you noticed.
A custom foam interior option makes it not only a carrying case but also an effective tool for presentations.
Its sturdy construction offers ample protection so you don't have to worry about carrying your project around town.
609 Clikcase Features
Integrated Latches
The Clikcase series features 2 integrated latches that are molded together with the case. These color coordinated latches are easy to use, keep the case firmly closed and blend seamlessly into the design of the case.
Integrated Handle
The integrated handle on every Clikcase is molded with the case resulting in a handle that is strong and rigid, blending effortlessly with the classic design elements of the series.
Metal Core Hinges
Open and closing hundreds of time, hinges are critical elements of any case and with the Clikcase series no effort was spared to provide high quality performance. Robust metal core hinge pins ensure that the case will provide years of trouble free reliability and smooth function.
609 Clikcase Specifications
- Interior Dimensions L9.06" x W8.13" x H2.7"
L230mm x W207mm x H69mm
- Exterior Dimensions L9.38" x W10.52" x H2.95"
L238mm x W267mm x H75mm
- Weight (empty) 0.8 lbs | 0.4 kg
- Lid Depth 1.00" | 25mm
- Base Depth 1.70" | 43mm
- Material Polypropylene
- Airline carry-on Yes


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The Audience Network has left the building: AT&T is shuttering its network of original programming after a two-decade run, according to our sister site Variety.
The channel will cease operations this spring and transition into becoming a preview channel for HBO Max, the streaming service also owned by AT&T that's set to launch in May. "We will begin to transition Audience Network from its current approach to support AT&T's broader original content and marketing focus on the upcoming HBO Max service," chief content officer Daniel York said in a statement.
The move leaves several of the network's original series in limbo: The Stephen King adaptation Mr. Mercedes, starring Brendan Gleeson and Harry Treadway, wrapped up its third season in November, with no word yet on a possible fourth season. Loudermilk, a comedy starring Ron Livingston, was renewed for a third season more than a year ago, but it has yet to air, and polyamory rom-com You Me Her was renewed for a fifth and final season in May.
There's no official word yet on where these shows might land, but sources say they might continue on HBO Max. "Any future use of Audience Network content will be assessed at a later date," an AT&T spokesperson says.
Audience Network, formerly known as The 101 when it aired on DirecTV, saved a number of notable shows from cancellation, including NBC's Friday Night Lights (with three seasons of new episodes airing first on DirecTV), FX's Damages (which aired an additional two seasons exclusively on DirecTV) and the NBC daytime soap Passions.


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Full-text links:
References & Citations
Bookmark(what is this?)
Computer Science > Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
Title: C-for-Metal: High Performance SIMD Programming on Intel GPUs
(Submitted on 26 Jan 2021)
Abstract: The SIMT execution model is commonly used for general GPU development. CUDA and OpenCL developers write scalar code that is implicitly parallelized by compiler and hardware. On Intel GPUs, however, this abstraction has profound performance implications as the underlying ISA is SIMD and important hardware capabilities cannot be fully utilized. To close this performance gap we introduce C-For-Metal (CM), an explicit SIMD programming framework designed to deliver close-to-the-metal performance on Intel GPUs. The CM programming language and its vector/matrix types provide an intuitive interface to exploit the underlying hardware features, allowing fine-grained register management, SIMD size control and cross-lane data sharing. Experimental results show that CM applications from different domains outperform the best-known SIMT-based OpenCL implementations, achieving up to 2.7x speedup on the latest Intel GPU.
Submission historyFrom: Joel Fuentes [view email]
[v1] Tue, 26 Jan 2021 19:43:50 GMT (483kb,D)
Link back to: arXiv, form interface, contact.


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Brandon Bourret, Photobucket Hacker Sent To Prison for Computer Fraud
Creator of Software to Facilitate Privacy Invasion and Online Extortion Sentenced to Federal Prison for Conspiracy to Commit Computer Fraud. Photobucket was the victim of a bizarre cybercrime case, outlined by the US Department of Justice yesterday. Brandon Bourret of Colorado has been given a 29-month jail term in the case for computer fraud that involved intrusion into the privacy of his victims and online extortion. His accomplice Athanasios Andrianakis was earlier given...Read More


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I never want to write things out of a poor pitiful me place because the majority of my struggles are entirely self-inflicted. Why didn't I do nursing school before having a kid? Why didn't wait on having a kid? Why did I spend so much of my life scared to venture outside of the office for a career? Why do I have to bring my parents issues into my marriage? Why can't I just accept the fact that my dad doesn't want me instead of letting it tear me down constantly? I'm supposed to be on my period right now but thanks to birth control, I have skipped it but apparently you can't skip the emotional part. I just feel SO worn down. Again, entirely my own fault. It's all just hard. I just want to figure out how to be a functioning adult. Truthfully, I think this is me talking to God but I really don't even know how. I get too overwhelmed with praying or feel incapable because I'm not sure how to do it anymore. I remember how I believed as a child and into high-school and I have no idea how I was ever that person. I was so strong then and sure enough I let the world beat me down and satan win. I want to take it back but I feel like for the last 10 years I've been like a lost puppy with no idea where to go or what to do with my faith. I never stopped believing in God, I just stopped believing in that He wanted to work in my life but also that was me assuming that I deserved a brother, or a dad or a family unit. That God would redeem my family and one day the four of us would have such a testimony and it's not that He couldn't but it's that He didn't but also He never told me that He would. He never promised me that, He promises me eternity so what do I do with that? What do I do with okay, everything is different and maybe my coping skills aren't great and maybe I grieve too long and maybe my functioning needs work…What step is next? I have accepted that the family I was born into is no more. That my only sibling is dead. That my dad chooses drugs over me. That my mom wants a relationship with me but only if I don't express my opinion about the way she is living her life or making choices. If I smile and am okay with everyone and everything what does that get me? Friends, relationships, company? No, I am still alone. I have never had friends in my life, like true friends. I have acquaintances for seasons. That's been my whole life. I used to have the Disney channel lineup memorized because those were my friends. That was reliable and consistent and I could count on it and it never left me and it never changed. But another thing He didn't promise me, I put too much hope into a person being able to fix me. Like having a family, a dad, a friend, my brother back would fix me but it wouldn't. I need God and I know that but for some reason, I have to remind myself daily. I don't need the people that I thought I needed. I don't even need the success I dreamed about as a child. My life is hard and has been consistently hard since I can remember. The type of hard has changed, I used to worry about fighting for my life from a drunk, or praying my dad would come home and not scream at us for no reason or that my mom would finally recognize her worth so we could get the heck out of dodge. Now it's trying to keep my eyelids peeled open so I can study to provide eventually for my family, or having enough energy to be a mom every day, or adapting to changes that affect me but I have no control over and my depression. Ohhhh, you sneaky son of a gun, you. It is there and has been with me for a few months now, maybe this whole semester. It's not me being sad and oh gosh, crying. No, it's me getting up everyday and reminding myself that my son needs me and my husband wants me here and those are 2 of the many reasons why I can't kill myself today. That's my depression. My depression is waking up and reminding myself everything terrible I have ever done and how when I prayed to stop breathing, it didn't work. I never want people to think depression is crying. It's actually not a lot of crying. I just hate faking happy or being poor pitiful me. So here is me saying not everything is okay but most of it is my own doing and that's okay and I'm surviving on the mustard seed of faith that I can muster up right now.
Also, this isn't a place where I'm gonna post my top my favorites on Friday. I need this to be a place where I can talk about my feelings and that's it. Because when I started this that is what I was good at and that is what I want it to be. I'm not a blogger, I am a writer and I need to write and I hope you can relate.


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Hello, it's another snow day-inspired cover of Adele's widely popular "Hello."
But we're not complaining. If they're funny, keep 'em coming!
Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, announced a snow day Friday via its parody, "Hello, school is closed," which is complete with a sepia-toned video and plenty of emotions.
The school is no stranger to musical snow day announcements. Last year, Head of School Matt Glendinning, who also stars in this year's installment, announced a snow day via a cover of "Let it Go" from the popular animated film "Frozen."
RELATED: Snow day? While students are home, the principals come out to play
"Hello, it's Matt," Glendinning opens in this year's video.
"I was wondering if you've seen the whiteness on the streets outside / It's all over everything," he explains, gearing families up for the big news.
Finally, he announces, "So it's too late / school is closed for today."
RELATED: When Adele says 'Hello,' this adorable toddler says 'Hi' right back
The students are not happy to hear the news. The video shows them knocking on the school doors and comforting each other when they find out they're locked outside.
"I'm sorry, students, if it breaks your heart," Glendinning consoles.
The teachers, on the other hand, are "kind of psyched," reminding us of this third-grade teacher's "Hello" parody from January, during which she begged for a snow day.
The end of the video hilariously cuts to the future, when the school calls a family to tell them school is re-opened. The boy picks up the phone, tells his family the news, and he and his sister cheer.
Then, another educator at the school receives the school-is-back call and is overcome with sadness.
Sorry, students, we're with the teachers on this one.
RELATED: See Adele's priceless reaction to 'SNL' Thanksgiving sketch that spoofed 'Hello'


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MMX Communications Services Limited is excited to announce that Mr Jim Colby, former Operations Director for Arqiva, has joined us to take on the role of Operations Director.
Jim will be responsible for the delivery of our Field, Logistics, and Repair Operations. It is an exciting time of rapid growth for the business and we are extremely pleased to hire an exceptional individual with a proven track record of managing, growing, and strategically developing a first class operations department to enable MMX to continue to deliver industry leading service levels to our rapidly growing customer base.


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Readers like you keep news free for everyone.
More than 5,000 readers have already pitched in to keep free access to The Journal.
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IRELAND'S COMPETITION WATCHDOG is considering launching an investigation into the nursing home sector after reports of potential pricing abuse.
In a statement released today, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) said that it has "serious concerns" about practices in the industry.
"Following recent media reports, the CCPC has been monitoring the situation in the private nursing home sector and, in the last few days, information has been provided to the CCPC which raises serious concerns," it said.
"If the CCPC finds sufficient grounds it will proceed to open an investigation to establish whether a breach of competition law has occurred.
"The CCPC welcomes any information or evidence regarding potential anti-competitive behaviour in any sector. As the CCPC is at an early stage of this examination, it cannot provide any further comment."
While the CCPC did not give much detail as to the nature of its examination, it noted that competition law "requires businesses to act independently in setting the price of the goods or services that they supply and the conditions under which they supply them".
The probe follows widespread media reports looking at the prices of services in Irish nursing homes.
Extra charges
A recent investigation by the Sunday Independent found that many nursing homes are frustrated with the state's Fair Deal scheme.
Under the initiative, elderly people pay a contribution towards their nursing home care, which is usually 80% of their income, with the state making up the difference.
The Sunday Independent reported that many nursing homes are frustrated with the Fair Deal scheme, as they feel the amount they are paid by the state does not fully cover their costs.
The paper said that at a meeting in 2015, some operators suggested some sort of collective action.
This frustration has led to some nursing homes charging patients for many services on top of what they are already paying for the cost of their care.
For example, many charge residents for hairdressing, therapies or for activities such as arts and crafts.
Ombudsman and Information Commissioner Peter Tyndall recently told the paper that many elderly people are being financially "impoverished" because of the additional charges that they have to pay in private nursing homes.
The charges are in addition to the money that private nursing homes receive from the state under the Fair Deal scheme.
Nursing Homes Ireland released a statement this evening in response to the CCPC's intentions:
"We note today's announcement by the Office of the CCPC to initiate an examination of information relating to the operation of the nursing home sector in Ireland.
"We will cooperate fully with the CCPC in this process as required. NHI is confident that it does not have a case to answer in this regard and that the outcome of this preliminary process will arrive at the same conclusion in due course."
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Expand your impact – support while you shop!
The AmazonSmile Foundation has helped donors like you contribute over $355 million in charitable donations to hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations, all over the world.
Join this powerful movement today and support the music you love! Begin your shopping at smile.amazon.com or turning AmazonSmile ON in your mobile app, and choose All Classical Public Media as your charity!
How it works
When you make qualifying purchases at smile.amazon.com, Amazon will actually donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible purchases to All Classical Portland. It's that easy! The products, prices, and service are the same–but your impact is greater than ever.
Support while you shop in just a few clicks!
- Visit smile.amazon.com and choose All Classical Public Media as your designated charity.
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Prefer to use the mobile app?
- Open the Amazon app on your smart device, and open the menu (≡).
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Thank you for your support!


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New Delhi :D-Link (India) Limited, regarded as the No. 1 wireless brand, is all set to create a stir in the Smart Home Segment. With its latest product line of Connected Home Solution, D-Link will usher into a new technology era based on Internet of Things (IoT). The Connected Home Solution from D-Link essentially comprises of Wi-Fi Smart Plug, Motion Sensor, Audio Extender and apps to connect them and get them talking to each other.
Smart Plug: More unflatteringly known as the DSP-W215, the Wi-Fi Smart Plug plugs into a standard electrical outlet where one can then connect a device (Iron, Washing Machine, Air conditioner etc.) and take control of it using mydlink free app available for smartphones and tablets. Possibilities are truly endless for someone to turn devices on/off, schedule days and times for operation, monitor energy usage and even protect a device overheating with thermal protection built right in.
Motion Sensor: DCH-S150 or Wi-Fi Motion Sensor has been designed keeping Home in mind. Simply place the D-Link Wi-Fi Motion Sensor near high-movement areas at home like front door, and get push or text notifications on phone when any motion is detected through mydlink free app. It works great with mydlink Wi-Fi Camera, as one can instantly see what it is that's moving at home. Further Wi-Fi Motion Sensor when paired with Wi-Fi Smart Plug can also do amazing things.
Audio Extender: The Wi-Fi Audio Extender (DCH-M225) is a portable device that allows streaming of music from any smartphone or tablet connected on network, to any speaker or sound system in the vicinity. The Wi-Fi Audio Extender works by connecting to speaker or home stereo via a 3.5mm audio jack. It can then stream music from AirPlay or DLNA-enabled mobile device by logging onto the same Wi-Fi network.
It also has a secondary function of extending the range of your Wi-Fi signal. It supports Wireless-N technology with throughput up to 300Mbps.
D-Link Connected Home products are extremely easy to install. They work together to provide a complete solution for creating an automated home where one is always connected to what's happening whether in the other room or halfway around the world.
Availability, Pricing and Warranty:
D-Link Connected Home solution based on IoT is available all across India through its network of national distributors, channel partners, resellers and large format retailers.
All the below products carry 1 year warranty and the estimated street price are:-
Wi-Fi Smart Plug (DSP-W215) is available at Rs. 3749/-
Wi-Fi Motion Sensor (DCH-S150) is available at Rs. 3749/-
Wi-Fi Audio Extender (DCH-M225) is available at Rs. 2899/-


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Xmas Dinner Starters Recipes
Xmas Dinner Starters Recipes is free HD wallpaper. This wallpaper was upload at October 1, 2017 upload by admin in Wallpaper.
The accuracy about Christmas accomplished is that the vegan was generally beatific to the Siberian end of the dining table with a nut buzz for one. Happily, we're in 2019 and it doesn't accept to be this way any more.
These adventurous but abating little dumplings are the absolute way to cut the award on the Christmas meal, and are article that the accomplished ancestors can both advice to accomplish and eat together. Christmas, afterwards all, is about administration – well, until it comes to the aftermost dumpling, at least.
Don't anguish about your pleating skills: you can aloof columnist these little dumplings shut and they'll still attending lovely. You'll charge a aliment processor to accomplish the filling, though.
You can acquisition gyoza wrappers in the freezer area of best Chinese shops or big supermarkets – I use Happy Belly gyoza skins, which are annular and 10cm in diameter. If you can acquisition alone aboveboard ones, they'll work, too.
Prep 30 minCook 1 hr Makes About 30
For the dipping sauce2 tbsp soy sauce2 tbsp rice-wine vinegar1 tbsp white-wine vinegar1cm allotment beginning ginger, bald and cautiously grated
For the dumplings280g close tofu, drained250g good-quality vegan kimchi 1 tbsp rapeseed oil 10 bounce onions, cautiously chopped Salt30 gyoza (or wonton) wrappers, defrosted Black sesame seeds, to serve
First, accomplish up the dipping booze by bond all the capacity in a baby bowl, again put to one side.
Cut the tofu into ample pieces, again put in a aliment processor. Weigh out the kimchi – both banknote and abstract – add to the tofu, again assault until the admixture resembles mince.
Over a average flame, calefaction the oil in a nonstick frying pan for which you accept a lid. Once hot, add all but a baby scattering of the bounce onions. Stir-fry for four to bristles minutes, until soft, again add the kimchi and tofu admixture and baker for 10 minutes, until the baptize disappears. Taste – you may charge to add up to a teaspoon of salt, but this will depend on your kimchi, so add it bit by bit. Tip the admixture into a bowl, and apple-pie out the frying pan.
For the dumplings, ample a baby basin with water. Take one wonton adhesive (cover the blow with a clammy tea anhydrate to stop them dehydration out). Wet the alfresco of the adhesive with a (clean) feel biconcave in the baptize bowl. Put two aggregate teaspoons of bushing in the centre of the adhesive (or abundant to be generous, but not so abundant that you can't handle the dumpling). Fold over the adhesive to enclose the filling, again columnist bankrupt or compression and bulge the wrapper, alive from one ancillary to the other, acute out as abundant air as accessible as you go. Repeat with the actual wrappers and bushing (congratulating yourself on the advance of your pleating abilities as time goes on).
To baker the dumplings, calefaction a tablespoon of oil in the frying pan over a low flame. Once it's hot, add as abounding dumplings as will fit in a distinct band on the abject of the pan and fry for a minute or two, until their cheers are golden. Gently cast over, about-face bottomward the heat, add bristles tablespoons of baptize and awning the pan with a lid. Steam for six to seven minutes, until the pastry is bendable and the baptize has evaporated. Repeat with the actual dumplings.
Throw the aloof bounce onions into the dipping sauce, again align the dumplings on plates, baptize with sesame seeds and serve with saucers of dipping sauce.
You actually appetite article ambrosial with this, alluringly with a blow of sweetness, so anticipate grape varieties such as pinot gris, riesling and gewürztraminer. You get the three calm in New Zealand ambassador TWR's actually adorable Toru 2018 (£17.95 Hop, Burns & Black, 13%), which is additionally amoebic and acceptable for vegans. FB
Xmas Dinner Starters Recipes – xmas dinner starters recipes
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Horizon Stud Earring - Deep Blue
A simple Illustration of where the sea meets the sky. Two colours divided by one perfect line, captured within an elegant circular window. In contrasting orange and grey, these earrings are part of our exclusive Horizon collection.
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Stud size / 8mm in diameter
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Product Description
Loon Outdoors Rogue Nippers w/ Comfy Grip are made with surgical quality steel and covered with the comfy grip. These nippers are the perfect blend of comfort and performance. They include a straight cutting surface and an eye cleaner.
- Stealthy matte black rust-resistant finish
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Malayan tiger cub triplets born at Palm Beach Zoo
Oh, baby. Three of them, actually. Api, one of the Palm Beach Zoo's endangered Malayan tigers, gave birth to healthy triplets on Tuesday. Their genders aren't yet known — veterinarians and zoologists need to give Api time before getting close to her offspring.
"She is being a phenomenal mother," said Mike Terrell, the zoo's general curator. "All the cubs are feeding regularly."
The cubs may not open their eyes for another week, Terrell said. "They are completely exploring their environment by touch and by smell."
The first cub was born at: 7:10 p.m., the second at, 8:37 p.m. and the third at 10:30 p.m. Terrell watched the births nearby on video from one of two cameras placed in Api's "den box" — a darkened section of her night house with hay placed on the floor for comfort.
"She absolutely knows we're there," Terrell said. "When … the cubs come out, we just want to cheer and scream, we're so excited. But we have to be quiet … because we don't want to disturb her and disturb the process. For me, it was a lot like trying to stifle a laugh in church."
The cubs do little more than squeak for now when they vocalize.
"Occasionally [Api] will come out of the nest box and have some mom time and stretch, and she buries them in the hay," Terrell said. "That's an expected behavior, because in the wild, if she's going to leave the cubs, she doesn't want anything else to find them."
WATCH VIDEO of Api and her cubs
When she does leaves them, Terrell said, "they are absolutely silent and absolutely still. The moment she steps back in, they're up and around and climbing up her legs."
The cubs' father, Kadar, was not present and is now in a different habitat at the zoo.
"Having the male around during the birth can be very stressful to the female," Terrell said. "[Kadar] gets to do his victory lap on his own. In the wild, this is how it goes. The male does his thing, and then he's off. This is purely a female responsibility in the tiger world."
It wasn't a responsibility Api wanted when she gave birth to a pair of cubs four years ago at a different zoo. There was an extremely long interval between their births, and then she wasn't attentive to them. The cubs had to be hand-raised. They survived and are still alive.
"We're treating her like a first-time mom," Terrell said. "She's being very attentive to them, which means we don't have to get involved, which is exactly how we want it."
A few health milestones remain for the cubs. In the coming days, staff will continue to make sure they nurse regularly and get enough milk.
A lot of fatal birth defects show up in the first 15 to 20 days, so there's that, Terrell said. And after a few weeks, staff will be watching to see that Api is still attentive to the cubs, and that they are strong enough to leave the nest box and explore a small yard outside.
Meanwhile, the zoo remains closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Zoologists and veterinary staff are taking enhanced biosecurity precautions around the tiger habitat, including the wearing of masks, gloves and shoe coverings, and disinfecting items brought into the area.
There are fewer than 200 Malayan tigers remaining in their homeland, the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Poaching and habitat loss have resulted in them being designated as critically endangered.
Managed animal populations are "genetic insurance policies," Terrell said, and some species have been restored in the wild if there is suitable habitat for them.


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What is cubicleMonks?
cubicleMonks are just two that I stuck together. But, they represent the struggle of being blocked by the responsibilities of work to find a life of meaning.
I have always loved working. I get to use my brain to think about ideas and then help transform these ideas into reality. I even get paid to do this! I would sit anywhere, including a cubicle, for this opportunity.
Despite this dream job, I still felt like my life was missing something. Even though I've had the opportunity to spend my career creating life-changing medical devices, I was thirsting for more meaning in my life.
The word monk represents any person who is dedicating their life in the pursuit of seeking clarity and truth. I see monks as people whose dedication to finding clarity and truth helps relieve the suffering of others. I've always admired monks to be people who have given up worldly ambitions in the pursuit of a meaningful life.
My struggle was that I saw these two words of cubicle and monks as competing against each other. I discovered that this separation of the cubicle and meaningful life was false. I learned the cubicle is the perfect place to practice and discover living a more meaningful way of being. Also, there is a lot of suffering in cubicles.
So what is cubicleMonks.com? The real answer is I have no idea. It is just an experiment.
For now, cubicleMonks.com is the place where I am seeking to discover and share how to find meaning in the overwhelming work environment. Please reach out if any of these words also interests you.


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Internet Case – Cranston Construction CompanyCranston Construction CompanyThe Cranston Construction Company is a small Mississippi construction company that undertakes building projects of a medium-to large-scale nature based on local and statewide needs. Although the company is capable of operating outside of its native state, it usually does not bid on out-of-state business. It maintains an office with a small staff and usually has several construction projects going on at the same time. Cranston has just received the contract for construction of a new humanities building on the campus of Northern Mississippi State University.Although the university and the State Building Commission are pleased to have completed negotiations for the new building, a significant task lies ahead for Mr. Daniel Cranston, the president of Cranston Construction Company. He must select a project manager and arrange for allocation of necessary resources for construction. He must then work with the project manager to develop a schedule for constructing the building in order to assist in the timely decision–making that involves financial needs and shifting of equipment from other job sites.Mr. Cranston decides that the detailed planning, layout, and scheduling can be provided by his project manager. The project manager will further be delegated total authority for the construction operations, the execution phase of the project. Based on past experience, Mr. Cranston makes up a job breakdown with approximate costs (shown in Table 1). Since the bid was for over $1 million, these costs represent company targets and are confidential. Although Cranston does not have significant experience with critical path analysis, he also makes up the activity list and time allowances (shown in Table 2). These time allowances represent the span between the earliest date he thinks each activity can begin and the latest date by which each should end..prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/12638/12941492/Images/table13.5.jpg" alt="table13.5.jpg">.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/12638/12941492/Images/table13.6.jpg" alt="table13.6.jpg">With these initial efforts, Mr. Cranston calls in Mr. Henry Nolton to discuss his appointment as project manager. After a lengthy discussion, Mr. Nolton accepts the appointment but makes the following statement to Mr. Cranston:"Your cost targets are probably reasonable; however, your time estimates and activity list do not really provide believable information. According to your figures, the project will be finished in less than 370 days and, therefore, you will not incur any penalty costs. However, if most of your time estimates are close to being correct, then I believe that the project will take longer than 370 days. As an example, let me point out that your duration times look like total time allowances rather than activity times. Take the activity of "architectural and miscellaneous metals." I'd say that this would take about two weeks to complete and could be one of the last items accomplished, probably following completion of all the stairwells.""Another major problem with your listing is that we'll be using reinforcing steel with all of the concrete work and, since it's a three-story building with a penthouse, we'll be doing concrete activities floor by floor. Thus, in order to schedule and control this job, I need to decide on an activity list which is based on the actual sequence of construction, floor by floor. floor concrete, the middle-floor columns and then the middle-floor concrete framing may be completed similar to the first-floor logic. After framing is complete, middle floor door frames, upper-floor concrete and lath and plaster activities can start. Lower floor masonry and middle-floor door frames must be complete before middle floor masonry can begin. Following lath and plaster, ceramic tile and marble can be placed. After the stairwells are complete, hardware, architectural, and miscellaneous metals can be installed.""As with the first two floors, upper-floor columns are emplaced following the upper floor concrete work. Next, upper-floor concrete framing can be completed. At this juncture, upper-floor door frames, roofing, and elevator activities can begin. Once these three activities are completed, plus completion of middle-floor masonry, the upper floor masonry, penthouse work, and ceiling work can be started. Following ceiling work, painting can begin and must be finished before tiling and carpeting which follow millwork. The millwork and finish grading start after upper-floor masonry and penthouse activities."Upon hearing this, Mr. Cranston decides to modify the activity list to make it more useful and more accurate. Working together, Mr. Cranston and Mr. Nolton put together Table 3 which gives all the relevant information.Table 3. Revised List of Activities and TimesLabelActivityImmediatePredecessorsDuration (days)ALayout, Excavate, and Grade-28BTax, Bond, & Insurance-21CMove In Tool House, General Conditions-7DGrade BeamsA, B, C11EFoundation, Concrete footingsA, B, C11FLower Floor ConcreteD, E10GLower Floor ColumnsF21HLower Floor FrameG35IMiddle Floor ConcreteH12JMiddle Floor ColumnsI23KMiddle Floor Concrete FrameJ37LUpper Floor ConcreteK14MUpper Floor ColumnsL23NUpper Floor Concrete FramesM37OUpper Floor Door FramesN14PRoof Slab, Beams, Sheet MetalN21QElevatorN21RLathe & PlasterK21SUpper Floor Masonry, Interior DoorsII, O, P, Q21TPenthouse Steel, Concrete, and MasonryII, O, P, Q21UCeilingsII, O, P, Q42VPaintU42WMillworkS, T, Y, X, U, V, FF, GG42XFinish Grade, SiteworkS, T28YTile & CarpetV, W21ZClean Up, Inspect, and Move OutGG, FF, X, Y, AA, CC2AACeramic Tile & MarbleR14BBStairwellsH35CCHardware, Architectural and Miscellaneous MetalsBB14DDLower Fl. Door FramesH14EELower Floor Masonry & Interior DoorsDD35FFExterior DoorsH21GGGlazing & Store FrontH35HHMiddle Floor Dr. FrameK14IIMiddle Floor Masonry, Interior DoorsEE, HH35This activity contains 2 questions..prenhall.com/wps/media/styles/1480/_skins_/D/default_blue/ps_bkgd_upper_left.gif" alt="">.prenhall.com/wps/media/styles/1480/_skins_/D/default_blue/pixel.gif" alt="">.prenhall.com/wps/media/styles/1480/_skins_/D/default_blue/ps_bkgd_upper_right.gif" alt="">.prenhall.com/wps/media/styles/1480/_skins_/D/default_blue/pixel.gif" alt="">.prenhall.com/wps/media/styles/1480/_skins_/D/default_blue/pixel.gif" alt="Question 1.">Acting as Mr. Nolton's administrative assistant, draw a network to represent this project. Then develop a table showing the activities from Table 3, their durations, their earliest start, earliest finish, latest start, latest finish, and slack times. Identify the activities on the critical path..prenhall.com/wps/media/styles/1480/_skins_/D/default_blue/pixel.gif" alt="">.prenhall.com/wps/media/styles/1480/_skins_/D/default_blue/ps_bkgd_lower_left.gif" alt="">.prenhall.com/wps/media/styles/1480/_skins_/D/default_blue/ps_bkgd_lower_right.gif" alt="End of question 1″>.prenhall.com/wps/media/styles/1480/_skins_/D/default_blue/ps_bkgd_upper_left.gif" alt="">.prenhall.com/wps/media/styles/1480/_skins_/D/default_blue/pixel.gif" alt="">.prenhall.com/wps/media/styles/1480/_skins_/D/default_blue/ps_bkgd_upper_right.gif" alt="">.prenhall.com/wps/media/styles/1480/_skins_/D/default_blue/pixel.gif" alt="">.prenhall.com/wps/media/styles/1480/_skins_/D/default_blue/pixel.gif" alt="Question 2.">Write a report to Mr. Nolton addressing the problems of project duration and specifying which activities may require the closest management attention. If it appears that the project will not be finished on time, identify the activities which might be considered for crashing if relevant time and cost information could be found.
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Thursday, May 31, 2012
23 comments:
I am with Mrs L all the way. I stopped breastfeeding Gherkin after just 10 days. I was sore, grouchy, and utterly knackered. At the point where I threatened to throw baby out of the window, it was time to change to formula. I was greeted by hostility from my health visitor and I didn't appreciate being made to feel I was 'wrong'. I was not 'wrong' and it was right for me and my baby. It is an individual choice and that is what should be promoted and embraced. I was a much better mum with rest and Gherkin (touch wood) is a very healthy boy. Neither you nor Mrs L should feel the remotest guilt. (I am very passionate about this topic, as you can tell) :) I must also had that he was eating his first 'solids' (baby rice) at 9 weeks old. He was a very hungry baby. Now, THAT could be greeted with some hostility too. Only you can decide what is right for your family. Guidance his good, but hard and fast rules can never apply...IMHO (naturally ;))ReplyDelete
I think you made the decision for the right reason and it works for you. I agree with you about consistency, however it can be very difficult as breast feeding is very personalReplyDelete
Am glad everyone is doing well and is so happy!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.ReplyDelete
I hope no-one decides to unleash anything akin to fury in response to this. I've found breastfeeding to be one of those parenting areas which seems to unleash the most unkind exchange of words at times. It is a very personal decision as to whether you do or don't. We shouldn't be judging each other but learning from one another; being a parent is hard enough. As long as the three of you are happy sod anyone that doesn't agree!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 31, 2012 at 5:24 PM
I totally agree, do what's right for you. A friend of mind lasted 48 hours and she was so disappointed with herself when telling me as I had breast fed for 7 months. I was like who am I to judge. Each person has to do what's right for them and their family no matter what that is. I don't understand why people go on about it and make others misrable for not doing the "best" thing when actually they ate doing the best thing for them.ReplyDelete
Don't feel guilty, there's more to worry about than milk!
Well, my wife and no problem breastfeeding and didn't need any help or support to make it happen. But I've heard these terrible stories where it doesn't go easily or well for other moms/babies, it sounds like you guys gave it your all and fought the good fight, but it's also smart to know when to call it quits and throw in the towel (or bottle, in this case). No hateful comments from me! I think you guys did right! Sorry the booby feeding didn't work.ReplyDelete
I agree that there is conflicting advice re: technique. The midwife at the hospital showed me one way, a breastfeeding support worker another, a different breastfeeding support worker another ... well, you get my drift. I ended up using nipple shields which I am still using to this day because it eased the horrendous pain and I was too much of a wuss to wean myself off them. The issue is very personal and it makes me cross when people think they are being helpful, when they are actually being Judgy McJudgerson.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 31, 2012 at 8:08 PM
I breastfed my first for two years. He just took to it straight away and it worked perfectly for us both. I thought there could be no other way to feed. Then my little girl was born. Oh was that a different story. I was still breastfeeding the boy so I felt confident in feeding her. She latched fine but she just did not like it. She screamed constantly for 10 days. I gave her a bottle. Wham!! One happy settled baby. So I genuinely believe breastfeeding just dont work for some babies however hard Mummys try :-)ReplyDelete
This is such a personal issue, no-one has the right to judge. With both of my children I had trouble producing enough breast milk for them. First time round my newborn daughter and I had to be readmitted to hospital because she wasn't gaining weight. Turned out my milk supply was very small and boy did that make me feel like a failure, like I had been starving my own baby. The doctors ordered me to start formula feeding but there was one midwife in particular who was horribly judgemental. Thankfully second time round I got more support. It sounds like you and your wife made the decision that was right for you and good on you both for doing that.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 31, 2012 at 8:28 PM
I've breastfed for 12 months, thankfully it hasn't been too much of a bumpy journey for me. I'm very passionate about breastfeeding but I also believe if after giving it your all, it's not working for you, then it's quite a sensible decision to stop! All the debate about breast vs. formula annoys me a bit, everyone is surely just doing their best regardless of how they feed their babies! Good luck to you both & hope your wife's nipples recover soon ha!ReplyDelete
I recieved TERRIBLE advice by all of the hospital and midwife staff. I only had my mum who breastfed all 5 of us successfully. She did also warn me that after the first baby she was so terribly unhappy with her boobs and body. I was prepared for this and tried breastfeeding- for 3 whole days. Mrs L is a legend for keeping it up as long as she did. Rusty screamed with every feed and when he did latch on he got mouthfuls of blood. - The only advice i give to pregnant friends now when they ask is, to do whatever your instinct tells you. Rusty was fine on Formula and took to Whole Milk at 18mths without upset. He is smart for a 2 year old and well balanced... No harm done!ReplyDelete
- @jayelle21May 31, 2012 at 8:47 PM
You've done the right thing, because the right thing is whatever keeps your baby and Mrs L happy and healthy.ReplyDelete
I breastfed my eldest for 6 months, had mastitis 3 times and hated every minute. I sighed with relief when I felt I was 'allowed' to stop. With my little un, I lasted 12 days and my doctor ordered me to stop before I needed surgery- one nipple was literally falling off! He's now 2 and I still have NO feeling in that nipple...
Sometimes you've just got to go with formula- both my sons are happy and healthy. Good luck, and a sympathetic hug for your heroic Mrs. Xxx
You will have nothing but support from me for stopping, if you ever need to rant about people's perceptions or opinions then you know where to find me.ReplyDelete
I struggled through three weeks of hell because despite making enough milk to feed every baby in south Wales, my son was a lazy feeder and as soon as he latched on he fell asleep. Nothing anyone could do would get him to wake up! In the end he went t bottle feeding and never looked back, he also slept through from 10-6 every night at a week or two after that. Here's my little story about it: http://www.theboyandme.co.uk/2010/12/21/breast-v-formula-feeding/ Apologies for the spam in your comments.
You have to do what is right for you. I have three boys who were all fed differently. The first was breastfed for 4 months then was gradually changed on to formula as I could no longer express enough for while I was at work. The second had jaundice and lost a lot of weight so was bottle fed formula and expressed for 3 months then just formula. The little one is just formula fed as I just didn't have the energy to be the sole provider!ReplyDelete
The middle one had reflux and I was turned away from Childrens Centers as I didnt breastfeed so was not given any support at all. There are no support groups for bottle fed babies who can sometimes have just as many problems.
Don't feel bad at all. There is way too much pressure on women over this and it's the last thing you need when you feel totally battered from exhaustion and euphoria. Big love and don't worry about it at all, you both did great! xxx
- AnonymousMay 31, 2012 at 9:49 PM
Having been through breast feeding with a second baby I can tell you it's been a totally different experience. We had exactly the same experience as you with Matilda, it was just horrible and we also shifted to formula for similar reasons.ReplyDelete
But with Henry it's been pretty easy, he latches well and feeds perfectly.
Who knows if it was a lack of milk, the way Matilda fed or something else. But you have to do what makes all 3 of you happy and screw the judgements. Yes breast is great for a baby, but the mothers mental health is also important.
I know why midwifes really push breast feeding - because the moment you become pregnant you are bombarded by formula and bottle advertising. I thought I had to buy a pump (hardly used in a total of 20 months feeding 2 kids) and bottles before I gave birth. So they are trying to counteract all the bottle advertising. It does make people who would never consider breastfeeding think of it, but it also makes those who always wanted to breastfeed who then find it doesn't work for them feel guilty.ReplyDelete
Its the same for natural birthing. I really didn't want drugs, but it didn't stop me yelling for an epidural (which I didn't actually get - 1 gave birth 10 minutes later) but I feel guilt that I couldn't do it (or did but didn't think I could). To get more people to have a natural birth or breastfeed you end up making the people who would do it anyway wracked with guilt.
God i think you are amazing for writing this, for writing it for you and for your wife. on stupid bloody phone and my shrek fingers make typing impossible so will reply more tomo. excellent blog. excellent x han mamabearwithmeReplyDelete
I knew I had to have W on a bottle from 7 weeks as I had to be away at a work conference. With this in mind I asked every midwife I met for advice on what stage would be best to introduce a bottle. They looked at me like I was Satan. I perevered for four weeks but it wasn't good for me or for W. Neither of us were any good at it on top of being so exhausted I would wake up in the middle of the night in a full blown anxiety attack and no recollection of ever having had a baby in the first few weeks. If we had just given him a bottle sooner it would have been better for all of us. You live and learn. Personally, I loved bottle feeding and so did W. And so did Mr B as he could feel more involved.ReplyDelete
Brilliant post, there will be no unleashing of fury from this direction. As a Mum of two I completely agree that, if you've given it your all, and it's just not working, Mum and baby aren't happy there is no shame at all in stopping breastfeeding and no Mother should be made to feel guilty about that decision. I understand that the medical profession are really 'pushing' breastfeeding at the moment and I completely agree with what they are saying. I don't, however, agree with how Mum's are made to feel when they choose not to/can't breastfeed their little ones. As parents we're all trying to do the best by our children. I enjoyed you post :) xReplyDelete
Sounds like you have a lot of support from your readers! I breastfed for 8 months but was lucky enough that both baby and myself took to it naturally and we had no issues. I can't judge others as I know I had it easy. I strongly believe that there are more important things in life, and being happy and healthy enough to enjoy your little baby is definitely one of them. Sounds like you made the right decision! xReplyDelete
I'm a big breastfeeding advocate, but I agree that there ought to be a way to put the message across without giving people who can't manage it such a load of guilt to deal with. The barriers that really need to be dismantled are social ones - and hospital midwives who don't really know what they're talking about are definitely part of the problem. But it's so much easier to just chant "Breast is best" as if it was as simple as that, and blame individuals for not breastfeeding. I'm sorry it didn't work out for your family, but glad you're doing well anyway.ReplyDelete
A great post about a thorny subject. I, for a variety of very complicated reasons not least a very sick premature baby, didn't breastfeed and have always been relatively at peace with that. I think breastfeeding is an amazing thing but likewise, think as long as you are feeding your baby then you're doing great, by breast, bottle, tube or mix feeding. As long as there is growth, intake of nutrition and all parties are content, then there are much larger things to worry about with baby development. Wonderful to read such a balanced view.ReplyDelete
Great post, I also wrote something similar (although sadly I didn't have any support with my attempt but that's another story).ReplyDelete
We really need to stop beating mothers around the head with a milky tit. If breast feeding works for you—brilliant, if it doesn't, get out the bottle and get on with your life!
Hope the missus' nips recover quickly. I'm led to believe Lansinoh is good, I have an unused tube if you want it!


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Tonight's Dancing With the Stars was the first double elimination of the season, though the two going home—Nick Viall and Nancy Kerrigan—weren't the lowest-scoring contestants of the night.
But unfortunately Nancy—who has delivered solid routines each week—didn't register with the audience the same way others did. And though Nick Viall had a huge built-in fan base with Bachelor Nation, his lower scores could only take him so far. The surprise, of course, was that Bonner Bolton and David Ross both survived elimination, taking them within one week of the semifinals.
After the show Emmy-winning choreographer Mandy Moore told me that based on what she saw in the performances, "Normani and Val are in a really great place" to go all the way. "If she can stay physically [healthy], I think she'll be in there. I think Rashad has massive forward momentum. If Emma can capitalize on that and get him even more emotional content, [then they could be in the finals]. And then, I love me some David. I would love to see some more content in there. He is the epitome of this show. He knew nothing about dance, and people love him. He's a really great dude!"
So what does that mean for someone high-scoring like Simone Biles? "At some point America is going to want more than just great dance steps," Moore explained. "They want to feel that they know these people and see the growth. America loves a great underdog, so David is kind of set up for that in a way. Simone, unfortunately because she's already so high, will have to be even more crazier and good and really emotionally connect with people."
Nick Viall was noticeably bummed to be heading home and told me after the show that "he was mentally prepared" to be eliminated. Still, even as recently as a few days ago, he was feeling better, "thinking we might survive. But we were prepared, though." So what's next for the reality TV star? "No TV plans at the moment. I was focusing on dancing and focusing on launching my business—The Polished Gent. We've been working on it for a while now, and it's finally coming out next Tuesday. That will be my main focus for now." Uh, and what about a certain fiancé? "I think Vanessa and I will be taking a trip to Montreal coming up. We planned it later, not knowing what was going to happen with Dancing, so we'll be doing that, and then I'll be back for the finale. Life will go on. I'm very excited for the business."


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Lesson Overview
In this lesson we will:
- Discuss techniques for sourcing events data from pre-existing or legacy systems;
- Introduce specific tools and frameworks for doing this.
Sourcing Events
In order to move towards (Event Streaming and Event Based Architecture)[/in-business-everything-is-an-event], the first thing we need to do is source data in real time and publish it onto an event stream.
Even this first step can be difficult, because many applications do not "publish" events as they are entered by users. Instead, these applications interact directly with a proprietary relational database specific to their application where the data then remains trapped.
This is equally true for line of business applications, SaaS platforms such as Salesforce, and even web analytics platforms such as Google Analytics. The data is simply hard to extract as real time streams.
For this reason, we often need to implement the technology to source real time event streams ourselves. Sometimes we can do this by making changes to our source application, and sometimes we have to interrogate the source application through APIs or by interacting with their database and database extracts in order to get them.
This sounds like a lot of work and even a barrier to moving towards streaming architectures. However, we have experienced that it is no more onerous than extracting data using traditional ETL tools and approaches whilst moving organisations to a much more modern data architecture.
Techniques For Generating Events From Legacy Systems
So our task as data engineers is to take these unfriendly sources, and turn them into streams.
Fortunately, there are a few technologies and platforms which will help us to achieve this so we aren't starting from scratch each time:
Kafka Connect
Kafka Connect is part of the Kafka and Confluent ecosystem. It is used for exchanging data with external system such as applications, databases and other message queues for both reading and writing.
Kafka Connect could for instance connect to a database via JDBC, send all of the historical records, then poll the database every minute for new updates. This is ultimately database polling and is not real time, but is likely to be much faster than periodic batch exchanges and at least starts us moving towards events and continuous data integration.
As well as Databases, Kafka Connect supports things like traditional message queues or connecting to applications such as SalesForce or ServiceNow, giving you a consistent mechanism for integrating data.
Debezium allows us to extract events from popular databases such as MySQL. Rather than connecting at a JDBC level as with Kafka Connect, Debezium works at a lower level and listens to databases transaction logs in order to turn them in a real time stream of events. This is more performant, lighter on the database, and more real time. This technique is often referred to as Change Data Capture.
Singer is referred to as the open-source standard for writing scripts that move data. It allows you to write simple scripts which listen to data sources and then turn the updates into JSON based events which can be published as they are found.
Streaming ETL Tools
Most data engineering has historically involved batch extract, transform and load. Tools such as StreamSets and Striim are an evolution of this idea, but are more modern, cloud native / SaaS tools which can both be used to deliver batch and continuous data from sources to endpoint reliably. These tools are based on visual workflows and use approaches which will be more familiar to the traditional ETL engineer.
Sourcing Events
Many people think that the readiness of their applications is a barrier to moving towards streaming architectures, but as this article shows, there are a many routes to extracting data from data sources which are not at first geared up to it.
By deploying these technologies, you'll be able to integrate your data faster, build real time analytics and implement event processing scenarios where systems automatically respond to captured events. Though streaming data integration is a low level concern, it can have enormous impact on your customer experience and business efficiency.
Next Lesson
Description of next lesson here


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A Concise History of the Italian Region of Abruzzo
I like variety—so I love travelling, exploring and writing fiction and non-fiction on a daily basis.
A Brief History of Abruzzo, Italy
Abruzzo is a little-known Italian region that sits in the central-eastern portion of the Italian peninsula and borders the Adriatic sea. Although geographically central, it is often associated closely with the Southern identity of the country.
The region of Abruzzo is famed for its wide-open countryside, craggy mountains, high plains and medieval towns and castles. But of course, there is more to this part of Italy, so this article delves a little into the history that has shaped modern Abruzzo.
Early Evidence of Human Settlements in Abruzzo
Evidence of human habitation in Abruzzo dates back to the Neolithic era, with the earliest artifacts found dating back to around 6,500 BC. In fact, many of the modern towns in Abruzzo originated from ancient civilisations, including Chieti, which is widely believed to be one of the oldest cities in Italy—and even the unassuming town of Corfinio (historically known as Corfinium) in the Valle Peligna was the principal town of Paeligni tribe which inhabited the area many centuries ago.
Abruzzo hasn't always been so named. It has been known by many names throughout history, including Picenum, Sabina et Samnium, Flaminia et Picenum, and also Campania et Samnium. It is thought that the modern region's name derives from the Latin word 'Aprutium', which is widely believed to have originated from one of the Italic tribes, the Praetutii, that were widely spread throughout the area.
Abruzzo in the Time of the Romans
As with the rest of Italy, Abruzzo's historical story emerges more clearly from the mists of time with the advent of the Roman civilisations which ruled the area between the late BC and early AD periods.
Between 295 and 290 BC, Roman military forces conquered the city of Teramo (a key settlement in the region), renaming it Ineramnia Praetuttorium (which roughly translates to "the city of the Praetutii between two rivers"). Throughout Roman times, the city of Teramo would thrive due to its associations with Rome, which endowed the city with many of the typical examples of Roman civilisation such as spas, temples and amphitheatres, some remains of which can still be seen today in Teramo and also in Abruzzo as a whole. One such site is the ruins of Alba Fucens, an ancient town at the foot of the Monte Velino, a few kilometres north of the town of Avezzano.
Lombards, Byzantines and the Magyars
Like many other regions of Italy, the landscape now known as Abruzzo has been ruled throughout its history by many civilisations subsequent to the fall of the Roman empire, including the Lombards—a Germanic people who held sway over most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774—and also the Byzantines and the Magyars (from modern-day Hungary). All these different races have obviously had a strong influence over local dialects, cuisine and customs in the area.
The Kingdom of Naples
In more recent history, Abruzzo (at this time known as Abruzzi) became part of a strong political entity initiated by the Normans (around 1282) known as the Kingdom of Naples (also known as the Kingdom of Sicily or the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies as it developed, changed boundaries and merged with other regions), which held sway over many of the regions of Southern Italy including the island of Sicily.
The Kingdom of Naples formally ceased to exist in 1860, paving the way for the Italian unification. The Kingdom of Naples' cultural influences, however, still run through the veins of many of the Southern Italian regions, including those of Abruzzo. In fact, many locals still feel a closer cultural bond to their own region or even their own town than they do about Italy as a nation.
The 20th Century
The two major world conflicts of the twentieth century also left their mark on the region, with Abruzzo forming part of the Gustav Line which stretched from the west coast to east across the Italian peninsula, and was one of the main defensive lines designed to impede the way to Rome for the Allied armies (predominantly UK and US) in Italy during World War II.
One of the most ferocious battles was also fought at the town of Ortona (20–28 December 1943), and was the culmination of the fighting on the Adriatic front in Italy during what became known as 'Bloody December'.
Many reminders of World War II still can be found in Abruzzo today, along with many memorials. You can find Campo 78, a former prisoner of war camp located just outside of Sulmona, at Fonte d'Amore. The camp was used during both World Wars, and during World War II it held up to 3,000 British and Commonwealth servicemen.
Following the Armistice of 1943, hundreds of Allied prisoners made their escape from Campo 78—many helped and hidden by local Italians at great personal risk—until they could reach safety. A fair portion of Campo 78 remains intact to this day, as can be seen in the somewhat eerie video (below) and can be visited by prior arrangement.
The region we now know as Abruzzo came into being in 1963, before that it was commonly known as 'Abruzzi', as mentioned earlier (and which is still used to this day), and was connected with the bordering region of Molise.
A Natural History
The forces of nature, too, have shaped the history of Abruzzo. The African and Eurasian tectonic plates meet in central Italy in the Apennine Mountains. This means that like many other regions of Italy, Abruzzo regularly encounters seismic activity and sometimes strong and devastating earthquakes.
One such earthquake happened in January 1915, when the town of Avezzano was almost completely destroyed, and 30,000 people lost their lives, many dying in the bitter winter of that year. More recently, the 6.2-magnitude earthquake in Aquila (April 2009) has sadly tested the fortitude of the Abruzzen people.
Abruzzo's history, like that of anywhere in the world, continues to be written. But like its people, the rugged landscape of Abruzzo will continue to adapt and thrive as it meets the coming decades.
- Jstor - Teramo province
- Italian Heritage - Abruzzo
- Wikipedia - Lombards
- Wikipedia - Magyars
- Britannica - Kingdom of Naples
- Theodora - Kingdom of Naples
- Wikipedia - Gustav Line/WWII
- BBC - Campo 78
- New York Times - Earthquake History
Other Articles That May Be of Interest
- Festivals in the Abruzzo Region of Italy
This article provides a description of some of the main festivals by month and location in the Abruzzo region of Italy.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author's knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2021 Jerry Cornelius
Jerry Cornelius (author) on January 13, 2021:
Hi Kevin, yes just a weird coincidence that I published this on the same day, it's a strange world we live in. Thanks for pointing it out.
Kevin Humphries- U.K. on January 13, 2021:
Thank you for sharing this- is it coincidence that the 1915 earthquake occurred on the 13th January?
Jerry Cornelius (author) on January 13, 2021:
Thanks for your comment Bill, we spend a lot of time there (when we are freely allowed to travel), it's a beautiful part of Italy.
Bill De Giulio from Massachusetts on January 12, 2021:
Nice look at one of the regions of Italy that we have not been to yet. Looks fascinating and of course the history is just amazing. Hope to get an opportunity to visit in the near future. Thanks for sharing.


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Home |Robots Evolve And Learn How to Lie
Interesting Read
Robots can evolve to communicate with each other, to help, and even to deceive each other, according to Dario Floreano of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
Cool. Another interesting bit about the experiment is not only the robot deception, but also the bit about some robots evolving to sacrifice themselves for other robots to survive.
Robots Evolve And Learn How to Lie
|comments closed


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This may sound naïve and hopelessly optimistic of me, but I really thought maybe The Jay Leno Show could be something interesting. When he first started hyping the show by saying that he and his staff had rethought what late night talk shows could be and had created what sounded like a missing link between late night talk shows and variety shows (comedians out on the street! Brian Williams dropping in! car races?), it sounded like something I might actually enjoy, regardless of the fact that Leno's comedy has never done much for me. The late-night talk show is a format that works, obviously, but not so well that it couldn't stand to have a few innovators take their whacks at it, like Craig Ferguson has turned the staid monologue into something approaching performance art or how the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert team-up has mixed around the traditional elements of a late night talk show to create something more topical and fresh.
So, yeah, Leno's reinvention of himself as a Middle American goofball who just wanted to get a few laughs by letting you in on the joke that you, like him, are smarter than all those other idiots out there (even some in Hollywood or Washington) wasn't my favorite host ever, and I disliked his approach to comedy in the last however many years, but he was a guy who had been given an entire strip of primetime by a network in desperate straits and needing to try something new to see what might happen. Given a creative blank check, the guy could reinvent his genre where he might be more of a gentle master of ceremonies to a parade of talented weirdoes.
Sadly, though, what we're getting is pretty much just The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, sans the desk. If you liked The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (as millions did – any of you in comments?), you'll probably like this quite a bit. If you found it insufferable, there's no hope for you here, at least not yet. By its very nature, a talk show like this is sort of malleable in response to public concerns and pressures, so I suppose it's possible that Leno will let the show become something else naturally, but for now, the show and its host are just going with what worked at 11:30 p.m. and hoping that everyone who watches the show 90 minutes earlier will enjoy that.
Like a lot of talk show debuts, everything here felt a little over-rehearsed. The best talk shows either have a certain quality of insanity to them, as though anything could happen at any moment, or are such well-oiled machines that they pass by with a certain ruthless efficiency of entertainment. Ideally, you get both in the same show (as with David Letterman's show after all these years), but one or the other works just as well. Since this was an ostensibly new show, even with much of the same crew as Leno had on The Tonight Show, everything tonight must have been tested within an inch of its life, which gave the whole thing a certain airless quality.
Here's an example of that: The big anticipatory moment here was the fact that Leno had Kanye West on a day after West tried to take the VMA from Taylor Swift and give it to Beyonce Knowles, one of those minor celebrity conflagrations that no less than the president himself commented on (albeit off the record). This was insanely good luck for Leno, in the sense that everyone wanted to hear what West had to say about the whole thing. But because it also occurred in the first episode of the show, the West thing was presented in almost a drive-by fashion, with West coming out to talk for a bit, Leno ambushing him with a question about how his dead mom would have felt about his actions (classy) and then Leno immediately asking West if he was ready to sing. Even though West's very real tears at the question about his mom proved the moment wasn't scripted, it felt like it was, as though we had been dropped into the middle of an episode of some show about a rapper who's realized he's made some missteps and needs to atone for his sins, as though everyone watching the show would already know what West had done and would immediately be curious to hear what he had to say. So while the moment had some interesting buzz to it, it wasn't as livewire of a moment as it might have been on a different show, including perhaps even Leno's old Tonight Show.
The rest of the show was what Leno's stuff always is: competent and fairly bland. The monologue was filled with all of the jokes that Leno was unable to get in over the summer, like a gag about cash for clunkers and a long series of gags about the health care debate. As always with a Leno monologue, there were a few bits that worked well enough (like a cut from Laura Bush talking about her husband's mountain biking career to footage of a biker falling spectacularly that was cheap but funny), but this all tended toward the safe and easy. Still haven't figured out a way to make fun of Obama? Make fun of Biden instead. Need an easy laugh? Go to the erectile dysfunction drug gag!
The rest of the hour had just as little to say about it (to the point where much of it is already fading from my memory). There was an excruciatingly long segment where comedian Dan Finnerty went to a car wash and sang a long, long musical montage to a woman there to get her car washed. Since the show probably banks quite a few of these pieces in advance of air and wanted to pick all of the best stuff to lead off its first week, I can only imagine this was the best piece they had for these pre-taped comedy bits, which does not bode well. (Also painful? An edited piece where Leno asked questions that was mixed with footage of Obama from some interview or another, all culminating with Leno stuffing a tart into his face in response to Obama saying something about tort reform.) Hell, the show even made Jerry Seinfeld feel painfully awkward, as the interview segment with him was stilted and off-rhythm, Leno feeling a little jittery just sitting there in a chair and Oprah Winfrey beaming in like a benevolent god to bestow her blessings upon Seinfeld and mock Leno.
All of this seemed as though it was going to conclude with a performance by Rihanna, Jay-Z and West, a performance that was easily the best thing in the show and electrifying in the way that TV show performances can often be and a really high note for the show to go out on. Instead, that was prelude to Leno's "Headlines" bit, wherein the local papers of the world come in for gentle castigation over ostensibly hilarious typos. I am not too sophisticated to admit that I've laughed at "Headlines" a time or two in the past, but when this is the best you can do for your local news affiliates, well … those local news affiliates might start getting afraid.
Grade: C-
Stray observations:
- A lot of my problems with Leno have everything to do with the persona he's adopted to host this show (and The Tonight Show), something I hope to get into more when I review the first week of the show on Friday (since one can never review a new talk show strictly in a vacuum). He seemed a little nervous and jittery tonight, which was understandable.
- The set for this show looks like my orthodontist's office did in 1997.