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Saskatoon University (provincial electoral district) Saskatoon University is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, Canada. Revived as a result of the 2013 revision of Saskatchewan's electoral districts, it was last contested in the 2016 election. Saskatoon University was first created in 1971 and was in existence from 1971 to 1975 and again from 1982 to 1991. The district's first incarnation was merged into Saskatoon Centre in 1975 and its second incarnation was merged into Saskatoon Sutherland-University in 1991. Members of the Legislative Assembly Election results Saskatoon University, 2016– References External links Website of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan Category:Saskatchewan provincial electoral districts Category:Politics of Saskatoon | Mid | [
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POLICE BEAT MAY 7, 7:14 A.M.: We start the week off with a favorite of O-Town miscreants: booze. An unidentified perp or perps on the prowl hit the Orange County Parks and Recreation Warehouse and Sports Facility in the 1600 block of North Orange Blossom Trail. There, a lone train boxcar parked on the railroad tracks behind the facility tempted our suspect(s) to do naughty things. The boxcar's cable locks were pried open with an unknown tool, police reports state, and then the rampage began. This particular boxcar was not hauling llamas and zebus to the San Francisco Zoo. Better. This car — much to the perpetrator's or perpetrators' good fortune — was hauling a butt-load of beer. Approximately 20 cases of Coors Light beer were swiped and several cases were hurled over a fence near the tracks. Although "the exact value of the beer stolen and the bottles that were broken is undetermined at this time," police reports state, it's obvious that our perp(s) will be tasting the Rockies. MAY 9, 12:42 A.M.: Early this morning, the 21-year-old manager of a local pharmacy in the 3500 block Edgewater Drive came face-to-face with one very determined dude. While the manager conducted inventory on lip gloss and toilet paper in the back of the store, a loud commotion up front caught his attention. He ran to investigate, only to find a skinny man with a scruffy black beard, approximately 20 to 30 years of age, getting busy with the cash registers behind the sales counter. The dude hadn't even bothered to pry the registers open; that would take too long. He planned to heist them whole. As the brave manager arrived on scene, the register-rifling hombre whipped out "a slightly rusted steak knife, approximately 7-8 inches in length with a black handle," reports state. A stolen keepsake from a swanky supper at Del Frisco's earlier that evening, perhaps? Police reports do not speculate. But the weapon did >scare the shit out of the manager. The perp swiftly swung the rusty knife, the manager backed off, and the perp made off with two greenback-packed cash registers with contents totaling approximately $386. MAY 11, 3:47 P.M.: A 20-year-old resident of a women's counseling center in the 100 block East Hillcrest Street signed herself out this afternoon, stating "she was going for a walk," police reports state. She never came back. According to the woman's file, she is bipolar and schizophrenic. She also left her mental meds, Depakote and Invega, at the counseling center. Now Police Beat isn't in the counseling business, but it seems obvious that if you're going to trust a schizophrenic enough to sign herself out for an afternoon stroll, you should probably stuff the prophylactics in her pockets just in case. MAY 12, 1:06 A.M.: A man, 36, was at his workplace in the 500 block of Ferguson Drive when he received some unexpected visitors. Two sneaky dudes cruised by in a dark blue Chevrolet Silverado with a silver stripe painted on the bottom and parked in the back. "Hey, stop," the man victim hollered, police reports state. "I'm calling the police." About what? Stealing aluminum scrap metal, and lots of it. A whopping 200 pounds, give or take, of scrap metal was removed from a heaping pile in the back yard. On the way out, ironically, the scrap-swindling suspects rammed their truck into an aluminum gatepost and headed east toward John Young Parkway, reports state. "The complainant advised the total loss is approximately $2,500 and to repair the gate would be an additional $500," police reports add. What a bunch of scrap. MAY 12, 7:23 P.M.: Two employees of an elementary school in the 4600 block of Point Look Out Road hung out in the vacant classrooms this Saturday evening to get a start on "end of the school year work," police reports state. They weren't alone. In the midst of tallying up social-studies grades, the two ladies decided to take a break and grab a bite to eat. They were walking out of their offices and into the vacant hallways when they noticed a small boy, approximately 15 years old, exit the custodian's office and race toward the nearest exit. Seconds later, seven or eight more wee lads/lassies emerged, racing after their team leader toward freedom. Unfortunately, the ladies will not be able to identify anyone, "because all that they saw were their shoes as they were running," police reports state. The suspects broke into the custodian's office in the center of the complex by prying open the front bay door. They weren't after mops, buckets and gallons of Clorox. "Once inside," police reports state, "suspect(s) opened the file cabinet and removed a face mask." | Low | [
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The Food and Drug Administration released long-awaited documents Dec. 21 on genetically modified salmon: an assessment of the fish’s potential environmental effects and a preliminary “finding of no significant impact” of the fish on the environment. This brings AquAdvantage salmon -- Atlantic salmon that has been modified with a growth hormone gene from chinook salmon so that it reaches maturity faster -- a significant step closer to FDA approval. Astute readers will notice that the recently released documents are dated May 4. So why were they just released Dec. 21 -- seven months later? In a Dec. 21 email, a spokesperson for the FDA explained it this way: “Yes there was a delay. As you are aware, we’ve been working on this for a while, and it was an oversight in our [quality control] process. We are working to address it now.” The report did get passed around a variety of government agencies, and that does take time. But an investigation by Jon Entine published Dec. 19 by Slate.com and the nonprofit Genetic Literacy Project reported that all internal regulatory hurdles had been passed back in April but that the White House put a hold on release of the documents. “Within days of the expected public release of the EA [environmental assessment] this spring, the application was frozen,” wrote Entine, who is the Genetic Literacy Project’s executive director. “The delay, sources within the government say, came after meetings with the White House, which was debating the political implications of approving the GM salmon, a move likely to infuriate a portion of its base.” Should AquAdvantage salmon be approved, it would be the first genetically engineered animal for food consumption to reach that milestone. It has been a long road for the fish. The transgenic salmon was first created in 1989. AquaBounty Technologies, its makers, applied for FDA approval 17 years ago. And since 2010, the salmon has been in “regulatory purgatory,” as Entine’s article put it, waiting for a decision from the FDA that was expected within weeks. Read the entire article for an overview of the history of the salmon and the repeated roadblocks placed in its path. Both those who are opposed to approval of the fish and those who believe it is safe have criticized the way events have unfolded. And, Entine wrote, “A question remains whether the White House or FDA could face legal challenges for intervening in a scientific evaluation process that is supposed to be insulated from politics. The Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act [under which genetically modified animals are regulated] requires that the Health and Human Services secretary approve the AquaBounty application within six months after compliance with Section 512 [of the act]. The company holds letters from earlier this year from the FDA advising that every major component of its application has been successfully addressed.” | Mid | [
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Q: oracle sql query to display one row for each deptid Guys i want to write an oracle sql query for table A of the following records -------------------------- R_ID D_ID DEPT --------------------------- 1 200 CLERK 1 50 CLERK 2 190 MANAGER 2 134 DPTY MANAGER 3 12 SERVICE MANAGER and the result should be like below , ie the first row in all the R_ID -------------------------- R_ID D_ID DEPT --------------------------- 1 200 CLERK 2 190 MANAGER 3 12 SERVICE MANAGER kindly help me. A: As Ronnis mentioned, I'm not sure how you are ordering the rows, but this is how you would do it in general. Note just substitute the correct ordering in the ORDER BY clauses. SELECT DISTINCT R_ID , first_value(D_ID) over (partition by R_ID order by D_ID) D_ID , first_value(DEPT) over (partition by R_ID order by D_ID) DEPT FROM your_table ORDER BY R_ID; Hope this helps! | High | [
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Q: Create jQuery cookie, store css body color value, change page, retrieve cookie and apply body color value to new page I'm putting together a website where I have a Js button which fades the background body color to black / white (vice versa). I need to store the users choice of background colour and apply it throughout the entire site, from page to page. I understand cookies might be the way forward along with .css()? I've spend hours today trying to figure this out, and have read countless posts, some here on Stack Overflow but can't get to grips with how to retrieve a cookie value and apply it to my site's body css. Of course, I'm brand new to Js/Query and have just started learning. Very grateful if someone can point me in the right direction, a good tutorial with examples would be a lot of help. Many thanks. A: Try a jQuery storage plugin: http://www.jstorage.info/ Examples: $.jStorage.set(key, value) value = $.jStorage.get(key) value = $.jStorage.get(key, "default value") A: I've had success with this jQuery cookie plugin. Usage: var key = 'my_key'; var value = $.cookie(key); var new_value = 'my_value'; $.cookie(key,new_value); $.cookie(key,new_value,options); A: Thanks for your help guys. No jQuery in the end, found some good insight into how js handles cookies here: http://www.quirksmode.org/js/cookies.html Created a tiny plugin with the three main functions featured in the article and it worked very well. Ta, R. | Mid | [
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When police officers were called to investigate a tent set up outside a Georgia college, they didn’t expect to find inspiration. The officers were called July 9 to a campsite near a Gordon State College parking lot, where they found a 19-year-old homeless student staying in a tent hidden in some bushes, reported The Herald-Gazette. The officers ordered him out of his tent with his hands up, but they listened to his story instead of writing a ticket for trespassing. ADVERTISEMENT Fredrick Barley had ridden six hours — and more than 50 miles — on his younger brother’s 20-inch bicycle and arrived about a month early for his second year as a biology major, with nothing but his tent, a duffle bag, a box of cereal and two gallons of water. The student, who hopes to go on to medical school, wanted to make sure he had enough time to find a job before classes began, and he spent his days riding his too-small bike to fill out applications at local businesses. “(The officer) was so understanding, and he said, ‘I definitely I applaud you for doing this. We can’t allow you to stay here, but I have somewhere you can stay,’” Barley said. “The stuff that’s happening with police officers, I am black and he didn’t care what color I was. He just helped me, and that meant a lot.” Barley had been camping for three days before officers found him — and they were immediately impressed by his character. “After meeting Fred, I could tell he was a good kid,” said Officer Dicky Carreker, of Barnesville police. “He was a young kid who had been dealt a bad hand and was trying to make the best out of it. All he wanted was a job.” ADVERTISEMENT Carreker and Officer Maria Gebelein gave the student all the money they had in their wallets and took him to a nearby motel, where they each paid for one night’s stay. “We could tell he was serious about his education,” Gebelein said. “We helped him because we felt it was the right thing to do.” Carreker’s wife posted the story on Facebook, and community members rallied around the student. ADVERTISEMENT Local residents bought gift cards, food and clothing for Barley, and they bought him an adult-sized mountain bike and are working to get him a car. “I was not expecting any of this support and am in awe of how this community has come together to help me,” Barley said. “I was just trying to go to school, find a job and make it on my own. Now it seems as though I am part of a new community and have a new family.” ADVERTISEMENT Debbie Adamson, the owner of DB’s Pizzeria, said she recognized Barley’s genuine heart and hired him as a dishwasher. “I created a position for him before he walked in my door,” she said. “I didn’t know his name, I didn’t know the color of his skin — I didn’t care. I’ve been there, so I guess I had a soft spot for anyone who is that determined to succeed in life.” The owner of the Sun Inn offered a free room to Barley until the dormitories open, and the college agreed to let him move in early — on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT Other community members have set up a Facebook group, Success For Fred, to solicit donations and other help for Barley, including an Amazon wish list, and a GoFundMe page has raised nearly $35,000 after his story aired on local media. Barley said he’s grateful for the support — and the trust — his new community has placed in him. “The most shocking part is so many people coming to help a stranger, because honestly in today’s society this sounds like a scam,” Barley said. “Some of the gifts aren’t as important as the friends I’ve made. More important than everything — the clothes, the shoes — the relationships mean so much more to me.” One of his high school friends saw Barley’s story on TV news, and she wasn’t surprised he’d made so many new friends. ADVERTISEMENT “Watching this broke my heart but it’s like you to ask for the job not money and to see all these people supporting you and loving you makes me so happy,” said former classmate Isabel Mancilla. “I’m so proud of you and you know I’ll be right there in the crowd when you graduate.” Carreker said he’s been overwhelmed by the reaction to Barley’s story and his own good deed. “It’s just beautiful how our community has come together to help someone in need,” Carreker concluded. “Barnesville is the epitome of a small town with a big heart.” Watch this video report posted online by WSB-TV: | Mid | [
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The invention relates generally to buttstocks for attachment to firearms, and more particularly to a buttstock assembly that has removable storage tubes which can be sealed from the outside environment. For several military applications and/or operational groups, weapons may need to be collapsible for ease of transportation to a field venue, and then easily assembled in the field. For example, rifles are frequently designed to be collapsible. One typical portion of a collapsible rifle assembly is the buttstock that forms the aft-most part of the assembled rifle. In general, the buttstock must be ergonomic since the buttstock forms the interface with the user""s shoulder area. Further, the buttstock can provide additional functionality such as a storage area since the buttstock does not generally contain any of the rifle""s operating components. The storage area should provide a watertight and dirt-free environment. Still further, a good buttstock design should minimize the use of moving parts that can cause rattle noises, break, fall off, etc. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a buttstock assembly for a collapsible rifle. Another object of the present invention is to provide a buttstock assembly having watertight and dirt-free storage areas. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an ergonomic buttstock assembly that is comfortable for a user over a range of shooting positions. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious hereinafter in the specification and drawings. In accordance with the present invention, a buttstock assembly for attachment to a rifle includes a buttstock that lo holds a plurality of removable and sealable tubes. In its simplest embodiment, the buttstock has i) a butt plate, ii) an elongated body extending perpendicularly away from the butt plate, and iii) a structural web coupled to the butt plate and elongated body. The elongated body defines a central cavity for receiving therein a portion of the rifle and further defines an elongated cavity on either side of and parallel to the central cavity. Each tube is open on one end thereof and forms a sliding fit with one elongated cavity. A cap is provided for sealing the open end of the tube. | Mid | [
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Content Warnings: This game covers sociopolitical issues such as school shootings, mental health, racism, intergenerational conflict, sex work, and corporatism. There will be various content warnings throughout the game. The game deals with its topics in a nuanced manner meant to advance discussion around their topics. ~~ Play Length: 5-10 minutes per story, 6 stories, 30-60 minutes total Interview 6 different characters from a kingdom not unlike our own. Their problems reflect the problems of our times. See what they did and what you would have done. ~~ Confessions of an NPC is a Twine game where players interview six characters in a fantasy world with analogs to political crises in modern America, including school shootings, mental health, racism, intergenerational conflict, sex work, and corporatism. The stories emphasize realism through their dilemmas, but light fantasy elements allow a level of abstraction to make the topics more palatable to a consumer audience. Through the players' choices, players find out about the characters' stories, and are posed with what they would do in the characters' position, while the characters' stories continue unchanged. By respecting the characters' agency, players can empathize with their conflict while circumventing the problem of erasing the validity of that characters' choice, which is a common fear for writing marginalized video game protagonists. ~~ Writer, Programmer, Game Designer - Charles Hans Huang Cover art by Wen Shi ~~ TROUBLESHOOTING: If game starts on a blank gray screen... Steps: Try activating third party cookies Enable third party cookies as per these tutorials: In Chrome: click this icon , click 'Manage Cookie Blocking', then uncheck the switch to 'Block third-party cookies' and refresh the page, and the game should work For Firefox: Follow these tutorials: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferen... Sorry! That seems to be a constraint on the itch.io upload at the moment and I'm not sure why | Mid | [
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Q: Stop background Service When application goes to background I have background service in my android app,i start service from MainActivity onResume() method and it is work correctly.But how can i stop service when user press home button.Because currently when user press home button then application move to background and then user open some other app then after some time my service method is called and app force stop.Below is my code for start service - Intent msgIntent = new Intent(mContext, MyBackgroundService.class); startService(msgIntent); Thanks in Advance. EDITED In My Service i use below code - public void callAsynchronousTask() { final Handler handler = new Handler(); timer = new Timer(); TimerTask doAsynchronousTask = new TimerTask() { @Override public void run() { handler.post(new Runnable() { public void run() { try { callWebservice(); } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } }); } }; timer.schedule(doAsynchronousTask, START_DELAY, DELAY); } @Override public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) { callAsynchronousTask(); return Service.START_NOT_STICKY; } @Override public void onCreate() { mContext = this; super.onCreate(); } @Override public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) { return null; } @Override public void onDestroy() { super.onDestroy(); if(timer!=null){ timer.cancel(); } stopSelf(); } in my activity i use below code for stop service - @Override protected void onStop() { try{ stopService(new Intent(this, MyBackgroundService.class)); isServiceRunning = false; } catch(Exception e){ e.printStackTrace(); } super.onStop(); } @Override protected void onPause() { try{ stopService(new Intent(this, MyBackgroundService.class)); isServiceRunning = false; } catch(Exception e){ e.printStackTrace(); } super.onPause(); } but my service is run while i use some other app and it force stop app.From background service i call some webservice and then store response of service in database. A: Stop the service in onPause() and onStop() mContext.stopService(new Intent(mContext, MyBackgroundService.class)) | Mid | [
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Q: SQL 2 where clauses I have a fairly simple query which I am trying to execute on my website, all though, it just won't work. I'm using 2 where clauses, and yes, I have seen many of the other questions about multiple where clauses, my query is just very different from theirs as their queries are much more complicated and advanced, and so I can't really get the solutions to work for me. Here's my query; SELECT * FROM ImpoundReports WHERE (UserId = @0 AND Released = 0) The query "works", as in it doesn't give me any error, it just doesn't pull out the report as it's supposed to. UserId is an int. Released is a bit. UserId = @0 is a scalar variable used in my Razor code. Thank you in advance. A: Looking at the question if Released is bit, then its possible values are true, false and null (if null is acceptable) so the possible result queries are.. SELECT * FROM ImpoundReports WHERE (UserId = @0 AND Released is null) SELECT * FROM ImpoundReports WHERE (UserId = @0 AND Released is true) SELECT * FROM ImpoundReports WHERE (UserId = @0 AND Released is false) | Mid | [
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In near-endless posts on our Web site, Captain Joel Fox has waxed on about the media, about his career as a SWAT team commander, and even about the nature of truth. But when we contacted Fox Monday to question him about some shocking new information we had just confirmed — the fact the Arizona Attorney General's Office had executed a search warrant on his home earlier this year — the usually garrulous sheriff's captain went silent. And the search warrant, we learned, is still under seal. So we asked our lawyers to get the search warrant opened. Captain Joel Fox's house was raided by investigators this spring. Fox, of course, is a commander of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's SWAT team and an Arpaio loyalist. Not coincidentally, Fox was, for months, the only person linked to the "SCA fund," a secret slush fund that conveyed checks totaling $105,000 to the Arizona Republican Party — just in time for the party to finance a nasty ad attacking Arpaio's opponent. When Fox refused to give up the SCA's donor list, the state GOP was forced to return the money. But it didn't end there. Facing a huge fine from the county, Fox eventually revealed that a half-dozen of the sheriff's top command staff had donated to the fund, including Chief Deputy David Hendershott. So, too, did at least one wealthy friend of Arpaio's, developer Steve Ellman, and two out-of-state limited-liability companies. The latter donations are in clear violation of state law. One of the firms, an Alaska-based investment fund, actually marked its check with a memo to "Vote for Sheriff Joe Arpaio." That suggests that the state Republican Party allowed the sheriff's men to earmark their donations for Arpaio. That, too, is against the law. With such serious allegations against him — and such strong circumstantial evidence already on the table — you'd think Fox would have kept quiet. Or at least, as we journalists call it, "get lawyered up." But Fox, oddly, just wouldn't shut up. In lengthy responses to each and every related blog post and story on our Web site, he's insisted that our coverage of the scandal has been overblown, that the money was never earmarked for Arpaio, that the SCA was never a political committee, even that the fat contribution to a political party was not, in fact, a political contribution. Recently, responding to a post by my colleague Ray Stern, Fox insisted that he had no secrets. "Just because you don't know the answer, it doesn't make it a secret," Fox chided Stern. "Just because you never thought to ask the question, it doesn't make it a secret." But as chatty as Fox can be, there's a big secret he's been keeping. The SCA scandal has become the subject of a grand jury investigation by the Arizona attorney general — something Fox is all too aware of. In fact, as Fox's attorney confirmed, investigators with the Attorney General's Office executed a search warrant on Fox's home in Gilbert in March. I sent Fox an e-mail to ask him about the search warrant. But the chatty captain didn't respond. Typically, a search warrant is unsealed within a few weeks of its execution. But a judge has the discretion to keep one sealed much longer if an investigation is ongoing. Earlier this month, when I visited the Pinal County Courthouse, where the search warrant was filed, I was able to confirm that it exists. But I was not allowed to access documentation that showed what probable cause the investigators had shown the judge, what they were looking for, or what evidence they'd gathered. Fox has been attempting to get back the materials seized, as his attorney confirmed to New Times. And, he's been able to get access to some of the documents — but the judge ordered that they be opened to only the parties involved and not members of the public. And that, frankly, troubles me. This investigation has enormous ramifications for the Arizona Republican Party and the Sheriff's Office. What did GOP Chairman Randy Pullen know, and when did he know it? What role did Hendershott play in raising money for the fund? How can it be a coincidence that Hendershott was peddling the same nasty allegations about Arpaio's opponent that ended up in the SCA-funded ad? And what about the SWAT team, which Fox serves as a commander? It's been one year since Fox turned the money over to the state GOP. And as best as I can tell, the Sheriff's Office has studiously ignored the growing scandal. (Sheriff's spokeswoman Lisa Allen insists that the matter "has absolutely nothing to do the Sheriff's Office" — even as a half-dozen members of its top command staff used direct deposit to provide seed money for the fund.) Fox is out there investigating other people. Isn't the fact that he's under investigation relevant to his targets and their attorneys? There's simply too much we can't know until that search warrant is unsealed. So we at New Times are going to do our best to unseal it. We are going to attempt to intervene in the Pinal County case. We're going to ask Pinal County Superior Court Judge Robert Carter Olson to unseal the search warrant documents. And, as it turns out, we might have to fight Dennis Wilenchik to do it. This ought to be good. The last time we got crossways with Dennis Wilenchik, it ended very badly — for him. Regular readers of this newspaper should remember that Sheriff Arpaio pushed to get New Times prosecuted for daring to publish his home address online, even though the address was readily available on the Web to anyone with a passing knowledge of Google. As my colleague Paul Rubin reported, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas initially turned down the case. Then, a few weeks later, Thomas suddenly declared he had a conflict and shuffled the case off to the Pinal County Attorney. The county attorney at the time was Robert Carter Olson, the same Robert Carter Olson who is now the presiding judge in Pinal County Superior Court: It was Olson whom Arpaio lobbied to prosecute this newspaper, and Olson who will have to decide whether to unseal the search warrant. Small world, eh? In his previous entanglement with New Times, though, Olson didn't have much impact: He sat on the case for nearly two years without taking action. It was only after he was appointed to the Superior Court bench, and the new Pinal County Attorney declared a conflict of his own, that Thomas got the case back and made the disastrous appointment of his former boss, Wilenchik, as special prosecutor. I don't use "disastrous" lightly. Wilenchik is an attack dog and, like many a dog, can be more rabid than cunning. When he demanded information from our Web site that was none of his business, my bosses defied him and published his awful demands. They were hauled off in handcuffs under the cover of night, a misstep that led to Wilenchik's termination as special prosecutor the very next day. We eventually learned, too, that he'd issued grand jury subpoenas on his own, without bothering to convene a grand jury. Sometimes, though, it feels like a vampire movie around here: The villains never stay dead. In July, Fox was forced to cough up a list of donors to SCA fund. We learned then that he had a lawyer: Dennis Wilenchik. In an e-mail to New Times, Wilenchik confirmed that he's representing Fox — but only in terms of getting back the unspecified "stuff" seized by the Attorney General's Office and getting access to the search warrant affidavit. "The court made an order on that, limiting return thus far to only the immediate parties and not to be released otherwise, so I am not at liberty to [release it]," Wilenchik wrote in an e-mail. New Times will be filing its motion to intervene this week, says attorney Steve Suskin, asking that the court unseal the search warrant and supporting documentation. "We believe that an issue of great public concern such as this deserves to be examined and presented to the public so that everyone can understand what has happened in these bizarre, disturbing events," Suskin says. There's a hearing in the case set for August 31. New Times will attempt to get into court that day and at least make our request to open up the file. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how Fox and Wilenchik react. Fox insisted just two weeks ago that he has no secrets, and Wilenchik says he'd release the documents if not for the judge's orders. Surely they won't object to Judge Olson unsealing the search warrant, will they? Everyone here who has posted comments goading Fox into his repeated posts should chip in to get Fox's defense attorney a case of Maalox. Unless Fox is intentionally pursuing the "I was only a useful idiot" defense he should SHUT THE HELL UP and stop posting at the New Times web site. Nothing good can come of it. Nobody who reads these comment threads is going to suddenly say, "Oh, I guess he's completely innocent after all." Posting here has only downsides, no upside at all. If I were Hendershott I would be pooping my pants in fear of what this moron Fox will say once he is finally under arrest. You say, "No one has been able to identify an actual law that has been broken." No? How about Campaign Finance Law? Per the law, the maximum YOU were permitted to donate for the sheriff's re-election campaign, to influence the outcome of an election, was $390. Yet YOU donated $2,050 to that SCA fund, and YOU refused to disclose the names of the donors to that campaign fund for nine months. It wasn't until YOU were faced with a $315,000 fine (an order from Judge Shedden to release the names and contributors to the SCA Fund) that you then complied with THAT campaign financing law. Doesn't matter what YOU claim was the original "purpose" of the SCA Fund. It was YOU, was it not, who then turned over the entire SCA Fund to the Republican Party (the "washing machine") -- after party chairman Pullen indicated to Capitol Media Services that the party needed money from the sheriff's office for Arpaio's re-election campaign. YOU followed through, and the SCA Fund's proceeds were then immediately spent(televised attack ads aimed at Arpaio's opponent) to unlawfully influence the outcome of an election. Follow the money. And it was YOU who made it all happen.____________________ Glad to see so many others are following this so closely. Keep up the good work, New Times. Do we actually KNOW that Joel Fox is under CRIMINAL investigation? We have not seen the search warrant probable cause statements yet. As far as deciding that a crime has been committed Joel, I will leave that to the AG's office to come to that conclusion. I would think that they will charge every crime they believe has been committed. I would not believe that the AG's office will leave any out. Of course, their investigation may not uncover any convictable crimes by Joel or others. What is nice here is that the AG's office is conducting this investigation with dignity and respect. If AARPaio and Thomas were investigating Joel Fox, et. al. it would have shown up in press releases galore by this point. I wonder who has been or will be called to testify for the Grand Jury. That would give a better indication of where the investigation has gone or is going. Do we actually KNOW that Joel Fox is under CRIMINAL investigation? We have not seen the search warrant probable cause statements yet. As far as deciding that a crime has been committed Joel, I will leave that to the AG's office to come to that conclusion. I would think that they will charge every crime they believe has been committed. I would not believe that the AG's office will leave any out. Of course, their investigation may not uncover any convictable crimes by Joel or others. What is nice here is that the AG's office is conducting this investigation with dignity and respect. If AARPaio and Thomas were investigating Joel Fox, et. al. it would have shown up in press releases galore by this point. I wonder who has been or will be called to testify for the Grand Jury. That would give a better indication of where the investigation has gone or is going. Joel, can you tell us exactly what you ENFORCE? You should not be ENFORCING anything while you're under criminal investigation. To all the readers of the New Times: Let's complain to the AG's office about this guy enforcing any laws with the trouble hanging over his head. Surely peace officer certification comes with a price..if you are suspected of wrongdoing, that needs to be noted. Has anybody actually filed the complaint with the certification board yet? How about a couple of hundred complaints against him? Would that do it? Would it be enough for a review of his "peace officer" status? He needs to step down and do it now. The proof has already been delivered in the check copies. Amen! Tell us, Joe...what are the connections between Ellman, Courtesy Chevrolet, BM Rankin and all the others and the County Sheriff's Office? We can figure the Chevrolet dealer...county records will show what MCSO spent with them. How about the others? They all just want you to boost the morale and conditions for the deputies and detention officers? And you...lied....to all of them? Did Courtesy Chevrolet know what their money was going for? How about all the others? You are a sick demented idiot. I can't believe you still are working; hopefully that will change soon. The public has no trust in you - with good reason. I believe you'll be criminally charged soon. You must be feeling the heat. And those folks (the car dealers, along with the others...they can ALL forget getting any business from a WHOLE BUNCH OF READERS. Looks like you got some 'splainin to do. So using your stellar legal logic, if I plot a murder in 2007, and the murder doesn't happen til 2008, I'm off the hook for conspiracy? And WTF with your Bashas analogy? If you write a check to Bashas, you get something in return, right? Since you obviously can't shut your mouth to save your life, tell us what Steve Ellman and the boys at Courtesy Chevrolet got in return for their money? Quid pro quo - you may remember that from law school. Oh wait, you didn't go to law school. Who's the poser now? BTW, how did that whole Lacey and Larkin arrest turn out? Oh yeah, the charges got dropped THE NEXT DAY. Just like Tarr, Parraz, Sanschafer, Thielen, Ohdner, and Pochoda's. YOu guys did a bang up job analyzing the statutes on those too. Leave the interpretation of statutes to us brooding liberal attorneys. (BTW, I'm the happiest guy you'll ever meet and I've been a Republican my whole life). It's not too late to come clean, Joel. Sarah, you've been following and writing about this story for almost a year, and so has Ray. You've called me plenty of names, you've called Arpaio plenty of names, you've called it a scandal, you've guessed and imagined and supposed and outright made stuff up... ...and this is it? This is all you can come up with? You and Ray anonymously responding to your own article to suggest that whatever it is that I might have done (that you haven't a clue about) should require me to recuse myself from all ongoing investigations, quit and move out of the state? That my peace officer certification should be in jeopardy? You can't even identify a valid criminal violation! You have enough time to consult your attorney and get involved in an action in Pinal County, but you can't get your attorney to tell what law has been violated?? You have simply taken a situation you know nothing about, whipped it up into a concoction of assumptions and lies, and rather than refer to anything factual, you simply suggest that whatever I did deserves a severe punishment. You are the epitome of irresponsible journalism. You and your ilk are the reason I started SCA in the first place, and you are surely motivating me to continue it. By the way, the time on the post comes from the server, which obviously isn't in Arizona (or has it's clock set an hour ahead)...look at your own posts and see that the time shown is exactly 1 hour later than you actually posted it. If I wanted to, I could write a check for my groceries today, and put in the memo line "vote for sheriff joe"...but would that make Bashas a political committee, and my check a contribution? No it wouldn't. Do yourself (and your clients) a favor and shy away from any election law cases, hmmm?Comment by Joel Fox on Aug 27th, 2009, 20:15 pm Joel - how interesting that you would equate a check you write to Bashas for groceries to a full scale illegal (never registered until after you were caught) smear campaign that eventually financed misleading smear ads against your boss's opponent during an election cycle. Sure...I can see the similarities. Can't everybody? You, Joel Fox, sound like a total idiot. Your ridiculous "spins" on your criminal activity and your attempt to influence an election don't speak well of you or your office. You have dishonored not only yourself but scores of other folks who probably had nothing like you did to gain from your effots. Have you ever asked yourself why you got yourself involved in this activity in the first place? Do you have some sort of mental issue? Save yourself the legal lynching and get the heck out of town. I hope you're not as stupid as you sound trying to explain your pathetic actions. Hey Joel - BOTTOM FEEDER. That suits you to a tee. How can you walk into the office each day and present yourself as a professional law enforcement officer? You might as well hand your badge in before they take it away from you. If you don't end up in jail you CERTAINLY seem likely to lose your "peace officer" certification. I certainly hope so. You have done your level best to confuse the issue surrounding this illegal activity called the SCA. You've tried to apply standards to YOUR actions that are not acceptable for others. You ought to learn to play poker - and learn when to fold the cards. You are in a losing game and you're going to end up with a criminal record. You have earned this - sounds like you were willing to gamble that this would never be uncovered. Not a great move. You're likely going to be charged by the Attorney General - and sounds like a lot of your "friends" will go down the pike with you. You ought to save the taxpayers of this county a lot of time and angst by just leaving now - surely Cpt. Joel Fox can get work elsewhere - after all...look who his friends are, right? They give tons of money to people they don't even know - maybe they'll give you some until your unemployment check arrives. Sarah: Great job on this article and the others regarding the SCA scandal. It's about time that the Attorney General DID SOMETHING regarding this blatant criminal activity. I believe that Joel Fox, Hendershott, Sands and the others are guilty and should all be held accountable in court. It's not good enough to just report it to the public - criminal charges are absolutely warranted. Since Joel Fox is currently under criminal investigation by the AG's office, and since Hendersott and the others will surely be dragged into the legal arena for their part in this scandal, it seems like just a matter of time (and a short time, it seems) until this whole crappy Sheriff's office crumbles. I think Hendershott got (pardon the pun) TOO BIG FOR HIS BRITCHES. And it's probably going to cost the big boss the next election. Too many scandals. Too much aggression on their part. No professionalism. Taxpayers are SICK of the Sheriffs rhetoric. His retorts are as stale as his breath. I say let him enjoy his golden years somewhere else. We're all tired of the aging windbag and the bottom feeders. Joel:I noticed that you blogged today in the 9ish hour. Were you off today or blogging from your desk at work? Tsk Tsk Tsk. For all you readers out there that care about the abuses of MCSO, I believe it's time we demand that the FBI, the DOJ and the Attorney General see the wrongs done by this crooked group called the MACE unit. Nobody with Hendershott's background and vendetta should be allowed to investigate ANYBODY. He has a criminal investigation going on that will surely bring charges to HIM as we speak. I also had to laugh at Hendershott's defense of his son...a "good man" and a "computer expert who puts drug dealers and pedophiles away"... As I understand it, the younger Hendershott is an under 30 CIVILIAN employee with no standards set for him by ANY certification agency. Why should HE be putting ANYBODY away? What the hell are we living in...the 1900's Somebody, hopefully the Feds, will let Hendershott know that Marshall law is no longer recognized in Arizona. I say dismantle the entire Sheriff's Office and get the people what they deserve...a law abiding Sheriff and staff who DESERVE to represent the tax payers of Arizona. It's clear from the details of this news report that Joel Fox IS UNDER CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION. Along with Joel, I'm assuming that DAVID HENDERSHOTT is also under crimninal investigation. Joel should know from his long law enforcement career that a raid on your house and a grand jury equal CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION. Knowing these facts, WHY is still still working in any investigative department? Until he is cleared of any suspicion of wrongdoing, given the evidence against him (i.e. the checks and the bank statements) he should be removed from the ranks of "investigator" of any kind. Same with Hendershott...why in God's name would he qualify as a MACE partner when he's under criminal investigation himself by the Attorney General? Somebody needs to shut that MACE unit down now....it's a joke and they are all jokers. For one to cast suspicion on others they must have a clean slate. NONE OF THESE DOGS ARE CLEAN. I should have included my comment with this to Captain Fox: tired of the heat, resign and move out of state, maybe Joe will give you a bonus. Please don't sound so (I can't figure out how to spell it a word that you some how think that you are better than us) just move on and make a whole lot of people happy. Excellant article Sarah but I do have one more question about your article. Who in the hell is paying for Fox's attorney and I sure hope that is the people of Maricopa County because that would be all wrong? When I met you at the Wilkerson's, you were a smart cookie and I am sure that you will find out the answer to my question. My idea is the Fox should be paying the whole bill and not the citizens of Maricopa County.Another matter, should Andrew Thomas be paying the bill of the lawsuit against the BOS instead of the citizens of Maricopa County because it is all wrong for us to pay both side? Thank Sarah. Are you really Chad Snow the attorney, or are you just using his name? It seems like you are with the attorney jealousy and hateful spite you spew, but you don't seem to know much about the law or have your facts straight. I can understand why you don't know about SCA with all the difficulty reading Ray's blog posts and all those tedious court documents that he posted online. Nobody else reads them, why should you, right? I mean after all, you're just airing your objective legal opinion... But to not even know when your heroes Lacey and Larkin were arrested? I'm wondering if you really care. It's totally not cool to play the liberal, "I fight for your rights", brooding attorney when you're really just a lame poser. Just because I'm a nice guy, Lacey and Larkin were arrested on the evening of Thursday, October 18th, 2007, after they published details of a Grand Jury investigation. It would be almost a year before you, or Sarah, or Ray, or anyone else would hear about SCA. The Democratic Party filed their complaint on October 14th, 2008 (which is 361 days later, in case you can't find a calendar). As for your other, equally flawed analysis of ARS 16-919, the checks SCA accepted were not a violation. Read the statute, instead of just commenting on what Ray says, and you will see that corporations cannot give money for the purpose of influencing an election, and certain types of political committees cannot accept money from them. Even in your wildest dreams you cannot turn SCA into a political committee way back in 2007 before I ever gave any money to anyone. And you can't possibly believe that a notation on a check proves a culpable mental state and intent, especially when you don't know who wrote that notation. You assume it was the donor, but you assume too much. If I wanted to, I could write a check for my groceries today, and put in the memo line "vote for sheriff joe"...but would that make Bashas a political committee, and my check a contribution? No it wouldn't. Do yourself (and your clients) a favor and shy away from any election law cases, hmmm? Joel Fox says: "In fact, despite repeated challenges on all those other blogs, no one has been able to identify an actual law that has been violated, including an anti-Arpaio commenter that claims to be an attorney." First of all, Joel, I AM an attorney. C'mon, certainly that's in my "file" that you guys have. Trombi said he knows exactly where my office is at. Or maybe MacIntyre can help you get on the azbar.com website and use the "find a lawyer" function. Second, I have on two occasions identified the actual law that has been violated - Ray Stern did also. The one that says it is a class six felony for someone to accept money from a corporation in an attempt to influence an election. That would be, for example, accepting a check from an out of state LLC that's marked "Re-Elect Sheriff Joe Arpaio" and turning around and donating that money to the Republican Party. YOU, sir, are the one that has yet to answer how your actions with regard to the SCA (Sheriff's Campaign Account???) do NOT fall within the meaning of that law. C'mon, I'd love to hear your explanation. I agree with the other poster - it's time for you to roll on Arpaio, Henderschott, et al, while you still can. If Sarah waited for your obfuscating ass, we'd never get the full story. If you're so on the up and up, why didn't you disclose everything and let the truth be known from the beginning? Why did it take the threat of a $315,000.00 fine for you to cough up the "full story"? Why won't you even disclose what SCA stands for? If it weren't for courageous people like Sarah, Ray, and Stephen, we'd never get the full story. And it is courageous - have you read last Sunday's Republic??? You think that Sarah has a hard on for you because you arrested her bosses? No, New Times was on to you well before that. But what you did to Lacey and Larkin probably only solidified their determination to bring to light the corruption in MCSO. Just like when you pigs arrested me and my friends for showing up at a Board of Supervisors meeting - it made our resolve stronger. (Not to mention that the "Grand Jury" that you mention never happened. The subpoenas in question were illegally concocted by your own attorney, Dennis Wilinchicken.) KPHO.comSheriff's New Blog Takes Aim At MediaDonna RossiReporter, KPHO.comPOSTED: 5:11 pm MST August 26, 2009UPDATED: 6:39 am MST August 27, 2009PHOENIX -- Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has launched a new blog on his department's Web site. It is called "The Truth Behind the Headlines," and it takes aim at media coverage Arpaio believes is inaccurate and incomplete. So far, the posts have been in direct response to newspaper articles about the sheriff and his office, all of which he said are skewed against him. The sheriff is also using the blog to respond to editorials printed in the paper. "We just want an avenue to respond. I don't serve any governor or politician. I serve the people and I want to get to the people some way to let them know don't believe everything you read in the papers, or even sometimes on television," said Arpaio. The sheriff says many times people write editorials and use information that they've read or heard as fact, which misrepresents his office. "I just want to make sure, especially on editorials that are so far out and wrong, I want to make sure the public knows the truth," said the sheriff. The sheriff sent a department wide email to let his employees know the blog existed. He believes his 2,700 employees read the paper and watch television and deserve to know the rest of the story from his perspective. So what story is it going to be this week Joel, they seem to change every week. Can't wait to hear this weeks BS story from you. >>As far as you are in the story, I can see that it looks bad, but before you pass your judgment on me, I would suggest you wait for the rest of the story (if Sarah even has the journalistic integrity to print it). You are right about one thing: It is disgusting to imply that I should not be held to the high standards as expected of a first year deputy...so why are you making the implication? I certainly never did. I'm sorry if you haven't figured this out yet, but Sarah has an agenda. She wants her bosses to be happy with her...and MCSO arrested her bosses when they illegally disclosed Grand Jury information...and now they're really mad. They have always hated Sheriff Joe...but they've always hated just about everyone. It wasn't personal before, but it is personal now. Sarah also obviously has no idea what she's talking about and is woefully unqualified to talk about the law, proper police procedure, law enforcement integrity, and a whole host of other topics. If you think that my integrity has been compromised and you base that opinion on what you have read here, you really should rethink your position. Not only would it be based on incomplete information, but also on the completely false accusations of a malicious, biased, lying reporter. As far as you are in the story, I can see that it looks bad, but before you pass your judgment on me, I would suggest you wait for the rest of the story (if Sarah even has the journalistic integrity to print it). "Sarah, I am also not "out there investigating other people". I am a captain, remember? But you don't really know what that means, do you?" This is Joel's response to the concern that Joel is out there investigating other people with a cloud of this scandal over his head. Should his target's attorneys know about this? As a Captain Joel, you are a sworn officer, right? You should have the highest of honesty and integrity. Any failure of your personal integrity should reflect on your command decisions and on the actions of those below you. Integrity is not a LE virtue reserved for those beneath the high and mighty rank of Captain. It is disgusting to imply that you should not be held to the high standards as expected of a first year deputy. You talk about the whole story not being printed. Well, what is the whole story? Do you even know? My personal guess is that you don't even know the whole story. My opinion, and only my opinion, is that you were a willing puppet in this mess and you did what you were told. I don't think you know most of what was going on. I don't think that you sought donations for the Sheriff. After all you have said you didn't. The account number just sort of got passed around by word of mouth, right? Money just spilled into the account and checks just sort of arrived in the mail. I don't doubt that this is all you know as the whole story because I believe you were being played by powers above. The truth is slowly coming out. Maybe the whole truth will never come out, but eventually we will get enough of it to know who is rotten. Fortunately, we have professional office looking into this that will respect the rule of law in their investigations. We also have motivated journalists that are digging as well. This combination will help. Now we just need someone to be called Deep Throat and we will get to the bottom of it. I hope that they are not just looking at discrete charges in this investigation. I know the whole story is not known, but I believe there may well be a criminal conspiracy here that goes to the highest levels of the MCSO. Probably not all the way to AARPaio, but certainly to the bulk beneath AARPaio. In fact, could one fantasize that it is a criminal enterprise? the DIFFERENCE Joel is that if the Attorney General doesn't find anything against you, he won't hold a press conference. Which is EXACTLY what your boss does. The Agents who work for the AG's Office all are 20+ year veterans from MCSO and Police Agencies around the nation. Arpaio has disgraced the detectives and officers that work for him. I just don't understand how you stomach all of this. BTW, ya all see that MCSO now has a "The Truth Behind the Headlines" blog on their site trying to lie their way out of media reports? Should be "The Crap we can make up that our clueless followers will swallow" The top of the page says it all: Sheriff Joe ArpaioProtecting and Serving the Valley of the SunSince 1871 Sarah, Great investigative reporting! Keep the pressure on. We're watching all the events unfold. It's time for some of these officials to go to prison -- a place created just for people like them. They deserve to be in one of Arizona hell-holes for decades. Actually, I think that secrecy and discretion are a good things when investigations are beginning, particularly if no crime has been committed. However, if AARPaio is investigating one of his enemies, a simple allegation (real or not) is enough to announce the start of a criminal investigation of InsertNameHere. Start the trial in the media right off. I am kind of curious who served the warrant on the Fox's house...I know it wasn't MCSO, if MCSO had, there would have been no evidence if MCSO has served the warrant, it would have been misplaced, shredded or erased by now. I'll bet the slimeballs at MCSO are pissed they didn't get their hands on it first. Now if Goddard could just hang onto the recently acquired pair and start grand jury investigations on Bozo Joe, Hendershott, Sands, Miller, McInWeasel and the many other Goons at MCSO, we might actually be onto something.... Joel,If you don't roll over on that fat bastard, Hendershott, as well as on Arpaio himself.. (because you and I know he's in on it) they're gonna let you take the fall on it. Roll over on them... perhaps you'll find the judge might be lenient on you if you cooperate in this investigation. Are those guys really worth it? You're gonna lose it all over this? Think of your family dude... seriously. Those three guys don't even like you anyways.. they already stated that they don't trust you. You and I both know they've said this. I'll be my right nut that the moment this is all over, they'll find a way to fire your ass. Roll over on 'em, dude... do it. Roll over on them, you'll feel better about it.. trust me. Perhaps your wife will respect you more too. They're not worth it. Generically speaking, it is illegal to comment on Grand Jury matters, as Sarah and the rest of the New Times knows. It is also a violation of a court order to publicly discuss matters sealed before the court, even for chatty captains. The purpose of the Grand Jury and sealed pleadings is to protect the innocent from wild speculation such as what is commonly published in the New Times. Obviously, if I were aware of any such thing, the law would not allow me to comment. I can say, however, that for the umpteenth time, I am not the commander of the SWAT team. I honestly don't understand why Sarah is so insistent on perpetuating this error. Does it make the story better? I am the commander of the Special Enforcement Division. There is another captain in charge of the SWAT team. Perhaps a journalist with integrity would fix that? The checks I received and deposited into my SCA account are also not "clearly in violation of the law". In fact, despite repeated challenges on all those other blogs, no one has been able to identify an actual law that has been violated, including an anti-Arpaio commenter that claims to be an attorney. Sarah, I am also not "out there investigating other people". I am a captain, remember? But you don't really know what that means, do you? You write your articles without even the most basic concern for the facts, make assumptions and wild accusations, and yet you clearly haven't the faintest grasp of what you are talking about. And what's worse is that you know you don't have any idea what you are talking about, and yet you print your libelous tripe anyway. Respected, legitimate journalists wait until they have the full story before they print it. It looks like you'll never be described that way. Oh what tangled webs we weave......... finally we will be able to see what has actually been happening behind closed doors and in clandestine meetings. I can NOT believe the dishonesty and down right falsehood that has been prevailing within the County attorneys office and Sheriffs office. Do these ppl think we are stupid? I Thank the New Times for staying on subject because without these fine reporters we would never have been able to find out the truth in such a forum as this even tho we all knew it was going on but did not have the resources to follow up individually. Great Reporting on the Part of the New times and please keep on the pressure. These Folks need to go to jail or prison or where ever but they need to be run out of public office............ too crooked for my taste thank you very much. Wow, it's good to know the AG is taking action. Now it will be interesting to see if the courts see this as the rest of us do. Mr. Fox, of course, will continue to deny, deny, deny. The MCSO shurf will continue to say it had nothing to do with the MCSO and someone in Maricopa County will file suit against the county manager for managing the county without their authority or approval. As if he needs it. | Mid | [
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According to a report in National Journal’s CongressDaily, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has sufficient votes in the Democratic caucus to win a vote to replace Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Waxman announced his intent to take the chairmanship yesterday, telling reporters, “I think I have a good chance of winning.” A likely measure of the depth of Waxman’s support is last month’s statement of climate principles, signed by 152 members, or two-thirds of the Democratic caucus, on October 2. The letter, led by Waxman, Ed Markey (D-MA), and Jay Inslee (D-WA), details much stronger standards than were found in the draft legislation Dingell produced the following week. The National Journal reports: Dingell is expected to win support from Majority Leader Hoyer, Midwestern Democrats, members of the Congressional Black Caucus – who typically back the seniority – and Blue Dog Coalition members. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), the coal-country chairman of the Energy & Commerce subcommittee that controls greenhouse pollution legislation, echoed the conservative mantra that this election provided no mandate for change. Supporting Dingell, Boucher warned that it would be problematic “if the first action of the new majority … is a dramatic move to the left.” However, this is not an ideological battle. For example, Waxman has secured the support of senior Blue Dog Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), who told reporters he is “on Henry’s whip team.” Both Waxman and Dingell have made economic justice and public health central planks of their careers. Their differences are strategic, not ideological. Dingell’s work on climate change has emphasized the approach of protecting industry from economic harm, whereas Waxman believes that robust economic health will come from the transition to a clean energy economy. National Journal’s Dan Friedman has updated his report with details of a call with Dingell supporters who “forcefully rejected” the claim Waxman has sufficient support to oust Dingell: “These claims that Mr. Waxman has the votes are just not true,” said Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich. “There is no doubt in my mind at the end of the day that Chairman Dingell will still be referred to as Chairman Dingell.” Stupak and Reps. John Barrow, D-Ga., and Mike Doyle, D-Pa. said Waxman has not made a clear case for why he should replace Dingell. “I asked [Waxman] quite pointedly what his basis for challenging Mr. Dingell was,” Doyle said. “He was unable to give me a single reason why he thought Mr. Dingell shouldn’t be chairman other than the fact that he [Waxman] would be a better chairman.” In the 110th Congress, Dingell and Waxman took very different stances on global warming issues. In stark contrast, Dingell opposed California’s petition to set automotive emission standards for greenhouse gases, while Waxman led hearings to investigate why the EPA denied the California waiver. Dingell “put aside” the global warming legislation to push a provision in the 2007 energy bill that increased fuel economy standards for the first time in decades. When signed by President Bush in December, it marked a major achievement for the environment and the economy—but has since been used by the Bush administration for an excuse for inaction on mandatory global warming regulations. As Roll Call writes, “The move marks a major showdown between two Democratic powerhouses.” “This is a fight for all the marbles,” said one refining industry lobbyist. “If Henry gets this, my god, given the scope of jurisdiction of the Energy and Commerce Committee, all hell will break loose legislatively if Waxman chairs this thing.” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) has today released documents and testimony that show White House involvement in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to deny California’s request for a waiver to enforce its greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks. According to testimony by former EPA Associate Deputy Administrator Jason Burnett, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson’s “preference for a full or partial grant of the waiver did not change until after he communicated with the White House” : When asked by Committee staff “whether the Administrator communicated with the White House in between his preference to do a partial grant and the ultimate decision” to deny the waiver, Mr. Burnett responded: “I believe the answer is yes.” When asked “after his communications with the White House, did he still support granting the waiver in part,” Mr. Burnett answered: “He ultimately decided to deny the waiver.” Mr. Burnett also affirmed that there was “White House input into the rationale in the December 19th letter” announcing the denial of the waiver and in the formal decision document issued in March 2008. Burnett refused to testify on any further specifics, telling the investigators “that he had been directed not to answer any questions about the involvement of the White House in the decision to reject California’s petition.” Burnett, who was involved in a series of questionable EPA decisions during his tenure, resigned from the EPA on May 6. On December 19, 2007, the date President Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson announced that his agency would deny California’s waiver request. This request, made in 2005, set off a series of legal battles that culminated in the 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts vs. EPA that ordered the EPA to take action on greenhouse gases. Since then, the EPA has failed to obey the Supreme Court mandate, despite the efforts of career staff. Waxman’s memo concludes: It would be a serious breach if the President or other White House officials directed Administrator Johnson to ignore the record before the agency and deny California’s petition for political or other inappropriate reasons. Further investigation will be required to assess the legality of the White House role in the rejection of the California motor vehicle standards. This is an incredibly sordid story. Steve Johnson should come out and finally tell the truth about this situation. And he should resign for agreeing not only to be a White House pawn but for trying to deceive the public about what happened. Yesterday, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) released a document entitled “Principles for Global Warming Legislation,” saying they “are designed to provide a framework for Congress as it produces legislation to establish an economy-wide mandatory program to cut global warming emissions” and that they “will meet the United States’ obligations to curb greenhouse gas emissions and also will provide a pathway to the international cooperation that is necessary to solve the global warming problem.” The principles are summarized: The principles include the following elements: strong science-based targets for near-term and long-term emissions reductions; auctioning emissions allowances rather than giving them to polluting industries; investing auction revenues in clean energy technologies; returning auction proceeds to consumers, workers, and communities to offset any economic impacts; and dedicating a portion of auction proceeds to help states, communities, vulnerable developing countries, and ecosystems address harm from the degree of global warming that is now unavoidable. The specific 14-point elements provide specific language that is more complicated than the above summary. For example: The document recognizes that an increase in global temperatures greater than 2°C above pre-industrial levels will bring about “dangerous and irreversible changes to the Earth’s climate” and that the IPCC calls for an industrialized-nation minimum target of 25% below 1990 levels by 2020, but calls for a U.S. target of 100% of 1990 levels. The language for scientific lookback provisions would be technically satisfied by Lieberman-Warner’s current provisions (Sec. 7001-7004), which only mandate action by 2020. The document does not actually call for full auction of allowances, saying: “If any allocations are given to polluters, they must be provided only to existing facilities for a brief transition period and the quantity must be limited to avoid windfall profits”; no definition of “brief” or “windfall profits” is given “Significant” auction revenue should be dedicated to “clean energy and efficiency measures” – “clean energy” is defined as “technologies and practices that are cleaner, cheaper, safer, and faster than conventional technologies.” The document does not distinguish between renewable and non-renewable technologies Only clean technology, a priority of Rep. Inslee, is recommended to receive a “significant” portion of auction revenues; however, the document says that auction revenues “sufficient to offset higher energy costs” should go to low- and middle-income households. The document is written with an eye to the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act (S. 2191), the cap-and-trade legislation expected to reach the Senate floor in June. In part, this is because the document is expressly focused on cap-and-trade legislation; questions of broader policy (agriculture, transportation, architecture, urban planning, health) are only touched on. Many of the provisions are written in such a way that the language in Lieberman-Warner satisfies them (such as the 2020 target, lookback provisions, call for complementary policies, and most of the auction proceeds language). Points of difference include the document’s call for 80% reductions from current levels by 2050 (Lieberman-Warner’s 2050 target is estimated to achieve a 62-66% reduction from current levels) and the emphasis on auction rather than allowance giveaways. Lieberman-Warner allocates a significant percentage of allowances for public purposes, giving them to states, tribal governments, federal agencies, and load-serving entities who would then sell the allowances to emitters to use their value; this document emphasizes instead using auction revenues. In general, the House document is in line with the Sanders-Lautenberg principles, though Sanders-Lautenberg is stronger on the scientific language. However, it is considerably less aggressive than the progressive 1Sky principles. For example, there is no language even hinting at a coal plant moratorium, which has been called for by Reps. Waxman and Markey (H.R. 5575). The full document of principles is after the jump. LETTER on PRINCIPLES for CLIMATE LEGISLATION The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Madam Speaker, We salute your leadership on one of the critical issues of our time: the effort to save the planet from calamitous global warming. You have listened to the scientists and recognized the scope and severity of the threat that global warming poses to our nation’s security, economy, public health, and ecosystems. You have made enacting legislation to address global warming a top priority for Congress for the first time in our history. We stand ready to help develop this legislation and enact it into law. As part of this effort, we have developed a set of principles to guide Congress as it produces legislation to establish an economy-wide mandatory program to address the threat of global warming. Acting in accordance with these principles is critical to achieving a fair and effective bill that will avoid the most dangerous global warming and assist those harmed by the warming that is unavoidable, while strengthening our economy. The following are the principles we have developed to guide the creation of comprehensive global warming legislation. Recognize and minimize any economic impacts from global warming legislation; and Aid communities and ecosystems vulnerable to harm from global warming. To meet each of these goals, climate change legislation must include the following key elements. Reduce Emissions to Avoid Dangerous Global Warming The United States must do its part to keep global temperatures from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels. The scientific community warns that above this level, dangerous and irreversible changes to the Earth’s climate are predicted to occur. To meet this goal, the legislation must: Cap and cut global warming emissions to science-based levels with short and long-term targets. Total U.S. emissions must be capped by a date certain, decline every year, be reduced to 15% to 20% below current levels in 2020, and fall to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Review and respond to advancing climate science. The effects of global warming are happening much faster than scientists predicted several years ago, and there may be tipping points at which irreversible effects occur at lower levels of greenhouse gas concentrations than previously predicted. A mechanism for periodic scientific review is necessary, and EPA, and other agencies as appropriate, must adjust the regulatory response if the latest science indicates that more reductions are needed. Make emissions targets certain and enforceable. Our strong existing environmental laws depend on enforceable requirements, rigorous monitoring and reporting of emissions, public input and transparent implementation, and government and citizen enforcement. All of these elements must be included in comprehensive global warming legislation. Cost-containment measures must not break the cap on global warming pollution. Any offsets must be real, additional, verifiable, permanent, and enforceable. The percentage of required emissions reductions that may be met with offsets should be strictly limited, and should be increased only to the extent that there is greater certainty that the offsets will not compromise the program’s environmental integrity. Require the United States to engage with other nations to reduce emissions through commitments and incentives. The United States must reengage in the international negotiations to establish binding emissions reductions goals under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The legislation must encourage developing countries to reduce emissions by assisting such countries to avoid deforestation and to adopt clean energy technologies. This is a cost-effective way for the United States and other developed nations to achieve combined emissions reductions of at least 25% below 1990 levels by 2020, as called for by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Transition America to a Clean Energy Economy Global warming legislation provides an opportunity to create new jobs, while transforming the way we live and work through renewable energy, green buildings, clean vehicles, and advanced technologies. To realize this opportunity, the legislation must: Invest in the best clean energy and efficiency technologies. A significant portion of revenues from auctioning emissions allowances should be invested in clean energy and efficiency measures, targeted to technologies and practices that are cleaner, cheaper, safer, and faster than conventional technologies, as determined through the application of clear standards set by Congress. Include and encourage complementary policies. Complementary policies can lower program costs by producing lower-cost emissions reductions from economic sectors and activities that are less sensitive to a price signal. Smart growth measures, green building policies, and electricity sector efficiency policies are important types of complementary policies. The legislation should include federal complementary policies and encourage state and local complementary policies in areas better addressed by states and localities. Preserve states’ authorities to protect their citizens. Federal global warming requirements must be a floor, not a ceiling, on states’ ability to protect their citizens’ health and state resources. Throughout our history, states have pioneered policies that the nation has subsequently adopted. Addressing global warming requires state and local efforts, as well as national ones. Recognize and Minimize Any Economic Impacts from Global Warming Legislation Reducing global warming pollution will likely have some manageable costs, which would be far lower than the costs of inaction. To minimize any economic impacts, the legislation must: Use public assets for public benefit in a fair and transparent way. Emissions allowances should be auctioned with the revenues going to benefit the public, and any free allocations should produce public benefits. If any allocations are given to polluters, they must be provided only to existing facilities for a brief transition period and the quantity must be limited to avoid windfall profits. Return revenues to consumers. Revenues from auctioned allowances should be returned to low- and moderate-income households at a level sufficient to offset higher energy costs. Return revenues to workers and communities. Workers and communities most affected by the transition to a clean energy economy should receive a portion of the revenues to ease the transition and build a trained workforce so that all can participate in the new energy economy. Protect against global trade disadvantages to U.S. industry. In addition to providing incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions, the legislation should provide for an effective response to any countries that refuse to contribute their fair share to the international effort. These elements will protect energy-intensive U.S. enterprises against competitive disadvantage. Aid Communities and Ecosystems Vulnerable to Harm from Global Warming Global warming is already harming communities and ecosystems throughout the world, and even with immediate action to reduce emissions and avoid dangerous effects, these impacts will worsen over the coming decades. To ameliorate these harms, the legislation must: Assist states, localities and tribes to respond and adapt to the effects of global warming. A portion of auction revenues should be provided to states, localities, and tribes to respond to harm from global warming and adapt their infrastructure to its effects, such as more severe wildfires, intensified droughts, increased water scarcity, sea level rise, floods, hurricanes, melting permafrost, and agricultural and public health impacts. Assist developing countries to respond and adapt to the effects of global warming. A portion of auction revenues should be provided to help the developing countries most vulnerable to harm from global warming and defuse the threats to national security and global stability posed by conflicts over water and other natural resources, famines, and mass migrations that could be triggered by global warming. Vulnerable countries include least developed countries, where millions of people are already living on the brink, and small island states, which face massive loss of land. Assist wildlife and ecosystems threatened by global warming. A portion of auction revenues should be provided to federal, state, and tribal natural resource protection agencies to manage wildlife and ecosystems to maximize the survival of wildlife populations, imperiled species, and ecosystems, using science-based adaptation strategies. These principles, if adopted as part of comprehensive climate change legislation, will meet the United States’ obligations to curb greenhouse gas emissions and also will provide a pathway to the international cooperation that is necessary to solve the global warming problem. Under subpoena by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) to turn over documents involving the White House, the EPA instead requested documents from him, in a letter revealed Wednesday by E&E News. On March 10, House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) kicked off a new round the latest installment in his ongoing investigation of the EPAwith a letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson: “I am writing to request that EPA provide to the Oversight Committee documents that the agency has improperly withheld from the Committee…relating to your decision to reject California’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” This request includes not only specific documents that EPA eventually turned over in heavily redacted form, but also “hundreds of documents” that involve EPA and the White House that top-level EPA officials told Waxman’s committee are being withheld. On March 12, Waxman sent a detailed timeline of events to Johnson based on the EPA interviews showing that the EPA’s efforts to regulate CO2 stopped after the White House became involved. The next day, the EPA’s Christopher P. Bliley – who was White House budget director Jim Nussle’s chief of staff when Nussle was in Congress – sent a letter to Waxman, saying that the documents “raise very important Executive Branch confidentiality interests” and that “we need additional time to respond to your request.” Then he one-upped Waxman, making a document demand of his own: EPA would also like to request copies of the transcripts from the Committee’s interviews of seven Agency employees. His reason? The Agency has an interest in ensuring that the information provided to the Committee by Agency employees in their official capacity is accurate and complete, particularly here where that information appears to be the basis for a new and expansive document request. In other words, the White House wants to make sure their stories don’t contradict what Waxman already knows. Needless to say, the EPA does not have oversight or subpoena power over the House of Representatives. EPA respects your role as Chairman and is committed to providing the Committee information necessary to satisfy its oversight interests to the extent possible and consistent with our Constitutional and statutory obligations. The three documents you are requesting are internal EPA documents that raise very important Executive Branch confidentiality interests. Because of this concern, we need additional time to respond to your request. We plan to further respond by March 20. […] EPA would also like to request copies of the transcripts from the Committee’s interviews of seven Agency employees. During the interview process, your staff noted concerns about the possible chilling effect on testimony of Agency employees if the Agency were privy to the information disclosed by the employees. In light of your March 12 letter, which contains multiple references to individual testimony and is posted on the Committee’s website, EPA believes that this concern is not longer a valid basis for withholding the transcripts from the Agency. The Agency has an interest in ensuring that the information provided to the Committee by Agency employees in their official capacity is accurate and complete, particularly here where that information appears to be the basis for a new and expansive document request. We look forward to discussions with your staff on the scope of this request. As I have said before, this is a top priority for the Agency and we are committed to responding as expeditiously as possible. . . | Mid | [
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Recently, a spate of banking failure and ATM outages have been cropping up across the world. Primarily, these have been in places like India and politically volatile regions like Hong Kong. However, reports out of America are now showing countrywide outages from Bank of America, leading Bitcoin’s lack of centralized financial authority to shine through. Banking and financial uncertainty, as well as the threat of a global recession, has led to a more measured approach being taken in the examination of Bitcoin as an alternative to fiat currency. Most of the examples of where this financial system can work and evolve have been seen in nations under pressure, like Venezuela, India, and Hong Kong. However, even with the U.S. staring down ever-decreasing interest rates, the financial superpower has not really had any catalyst to drive it towards an alternative system where individuals’ money is much more under their own control. This banking outage has sparked outrage as much as it has sparked a debate on the feasibility of Bitcoin. Inaccessible Bank Accounts According to reports, and social media, Bank of America customers, were being met with “temporarily out of service” announcements on ATMs while others said they were unable to pay their bills and that their cards were being declined. One Twitter user explained that Bank of America was allegedly reporting that this major outage was just for maintenance, but as expressed, no one appeared to be notified. Banks have become susceptible to failure in times of economic uncertainty, and even as a centralized chokepoint of money, they are very vulnerable to attacks. In fact, there is a prediction from consultancy firm McKinsey that if a recession does hit, banks that are not fintech focused, may fail. Bitcoin: A Decentralized Alternative The primary concern in this instance of Bank of America having server outages is that people have suddenly lost all access to their own money. It is a sentiment that has been growing since the last major economic collapse of 2008, where a vast portion of the global population saw their wealth wiped out as banks collapsed. Such outages as being experienced by Bank of America customers act as poignant reminders that they do not control their money. The creation of Bitcoin was a hedge against such failings, and although it began small, Bitcoin is reaching a magnitude where it is close to being considered a viable alternative financial system that can bypass banks. A failing economy and struggling banks will only continue to push this narrative. Just like the 2008 collapse catalyzed the creation of Bitcoin, continued banking failures may spark the critical mass adoption of a new decentralized financial alternative. Did you know you can trade sign-up to trade Bitcoin and many leading altcoins with a multiplier of up to 100x on a safe and secure exchange with the lowest fees — with only an email address? Well, now you do! Click here to get started on StormGain! | Mid | [
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/* * arch/ubicom32/include/asm/ubicom32-tio.h * Threaded I/O interface definitions. * * (C) Copyright 2009, Ubicom, Inc. * * This file is part of the Ubicom32 Linux Kernel Port. * * The Ubicom32 Linux Kernel Port is free software: you can redistribute * it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License * as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 2 of the * License, or (at your option) any later version. * * The Ubicom32 Linux Kernel Port is distributed in the hope that it * will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied * warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See * the GNU General Public License for more details. * * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License * along with the Ubicom32 Linux Kernel Port. If not, * see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. * * Ubicom32 implementation derived from (with many thanks): * arch/m68knommu * arch/blackfin * arch/parisc */ #ifndef _ASM_UBICOM32_UBICOM32_TIO_H #define _ASM_UBICOM32_UBICOM32_TIO_H extern u8_t usb_tio_read_u16(u32_t address, u16_t *data); extern u8_t usb_tio_read_u8(u32_t address, u8_t *data); extern u8_t usb_tio_write_u16(u32_t address, u16_t data); extern u8_t usb_tio_write_u8(u32_t address, u8_t data); extern u8_t usb_tio_read_fifo(u32_t address, u32_t buffer, u32_t bytes); extern u8_t usb_tio_write_fifo(u32_t address, u32_t buffer, u32_t bytes); extern u8_t usb_tio_write_fifo_sync(u32_t address, u32_t buffer, u32_t bytes); extern void usb_tio_read_int_status(u8_t *int_usb, u16_t *int_tx, u16_t *int_rx); #endif /* _ASM_UBICOM32_UBICOM32_TIO_H */ | High | [
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“[T]he SSA did not attempt to answer most of the legal questions raised about its authority,” the National Rifle Association observed. “Incredibly, the SSA also brushed aside empirical evidence the NRA submitted suggesting that the proposed rule would have no public safety benefit … The administration further acknowledges that the rule would not provide those subject to its terms the ability to defend their suitability to possess firearms before the actual loss of rights took place.” This can happen because a citizen”adjudicated” by SSA* needs help managing finances, something everyone unable to decipher all the various federal, state and county/municipal tax codes and reporting requirements and schedules could well admit to. That can now be used to make certain these citizens are defenseless. FK – It’s my guess that few would even be affected by this but that isn’t the point is it? After skimming over the 14 pages of evil that the Marxist mutt signed off on it’s evident what must be done. But that’s been evident for a long time however strongly many ‘conservatives’ et al deny it to them selves and others. The real question is are we going to burn the republicrat congress’s phone lines up until they: Repeal ‘all’ gun laws. Forbid any govt. agency from making ‘law.’ Yes, it could be done. Possibly passing an amendment to the constitution that reads something like this – “Whoever seeks to disarm the common people, as in ‘We the people,’ through any form of ‘gun control,’ and all gun control is about that ultimate goal, is to be tried for treason and executed.’ The republicrat party controlled the now red house and the congress during the Dubya years. Did they return our govt. to its original form and intent? Of course not. We will have to force them to. The republicrat party was after all the original party of big government. Read “The Real Lincoln.” We are much farther down the abyss than most know or want to think about. Some of this would only be a good start: FK – Why do so many not grasp that the SCOTUS is NOT the final arbiter of our rights?! WE ARE! What we need is a drive to melt down congress’s phone lines until they repeal ‘all’ gun laws and pass an amendment to the constitution to convict all the trash that pushes ‘gun control’ of treason with execution to follow. Yes we can. And remember what will be coming to your door to enforce whatever ‘law’ the evil ones pass – the conscienceless black-suited Nazis: FK – Be sure to teach your kids to ‘respect the police’ that are helping to enslave them. FK – The commie/globalists are doing what they always do, finding some minority with a real grievance to exploit. The problem with ‘conservatives’ and ‘libertarians’ et al is they have been and still are adept at ignoring real issues and damn near useless at fighting the imagined ones because often their answers are childish, based in ancient tribal propaganda, or just as ‘knee jerk’ as those of the commie dupes. The human race is still a very primitive species and we still exist in a very dark age and several wars are probably yet to be fought over our idiocy. If anyone gets beamed up it’s probably not gonna be what they expect or want. For if we were truly created to be slaves to some asshole of a god that was patterned after the ancient tyrannical kings that told their subjects/slaves “Obey me or I’ll torture and/or kill you,” then there’s no reason to be in this world and certainly no reason to bring a child into it. I’d rather look forward to a future where we overcome all this insanity and live in Liberty, but too many idiots are wasting their time here waiting for the world to end while trying to keep us all in an ancient slavery and pretending to fight the new slavery which they are consistently adept at lying to themselves about. | Mid | [
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VIDEO: Democrats Next to Move to Unionize Obamacare Doctors In another sign that our healthcare industry is soon to be just another arm of the Democrat Party, Chicago are Democrat Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky thinks it’s a great idea if doctors unionize. This will completely end any chance that doctors will care about patients. They will instead become just another uncaring, slipshod union hack that won’t much care about the excellence of his work because he’s protected by union rules. Patients will no longer matter. Doctors will be just like officious DMV employees. Just like lazy Streets and Sans guys. Like all those little bored, arrogant placemen that work for government. You, the patient, will no longer matter at all. Welcome to Obamacare, folks. We’re all the victim of a death panel now. Warner Todd Huston Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago-based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, BigJournalsim.com and all Breitbart News' other sites, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, and many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs across the country to discuss his opinion editorials and current events as well as appearing on TV networks such as CNN, Fox News, Fox Business Network, and various Chicago-based news programs. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the book "Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture" which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston and follow him on Twitter, on Google Plus , and Facebook. | Low | [
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A Democratic-sponsored Senate measure would create a taxpayer-funded think tank at Rutgers University to research the causes, prevention, and reduction of gun-related violence. The proposal, S.2380, to address what its sponsors feel is a crucial shortfall in sophisticated research on the topic, is set to be heard in the Senate Higher Education Committee on Thursday. “Too little is known about firearm violence and prevention, and not enough research has been done,” notes the bill, sponsored by state Sen. Fred Madden, D-Camden/Gloucester. The measure’s language cites that there are 300-400 homicides per year in the Garden State and guns are used in two out of three of those as well as in a sizable portion of suicides. Backers argue funding for gun violence research through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has, since 1996, been “virtually eliminated” leading to a “gap that must be filled by other sources.” The bill would establish a dedicated center at Rutgers University, funded by an annual allocation from the legislature, to provide the “scientific evidence on which sound firearm violence prevention policies and programs may be based” via regular reports to lawmakers. As such, it requires the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, the Department of Health, the State Police, and the Department of Law and Public Safety to supply the center with statistical data. California adopted a similar measure last year that established its own research center at the University of California to study gun violence as a health care issue. Second Amendment groups at the state and national level are calling the move an attempt to saddle taxpayers with the task of funding efforts to undermine gun rights. “In the era of terror attacks on U.S. soil, lawmakers should be studying ways to empower citizens to protect and defend themselves in times of emergency, not wasting resources on a thinly-veiled effort to legitimize more gun control that criminals ignore and affects only the law-abiding,” says an alert from the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs. | High | [
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A novel thyroid cancer nodal map classification system to facilitate nodal localization and surgical management: The A to D map. To evaluate the effectiveness, reproducibility, and usability of our proposed nodal nomenclature and classification system employed for several years in our high-volume thyroid cancer unit, for the adequate localization and mapping of lymph nodes in thyroid cancer patients with extensive nodal disease. Retrospective review. Thirty-three thyroid cancer patients with extensive nodal disease treated from January 2004 to May 2013 were included in our study. Preoperative ultrasound and computed tomography scans of these patients were reanalyzed by blinded radiologists to investigate the feasibility for the assignment of abnormal lymph nodes to compartments defined in our proposed nodal classification system and to identify areas of difficulty in the assignment. Analysis of nodal localization revealed a discrepancy in compartment agreement between the two radiologists in the assignment of abnormal nodes in nine patients (9/33, 27%). In six patients (6/33, 18%), discrepancy existed in labeling paratracheal and pretracheal nodes. In three patients (3/33, 9%), disagreement arose in the classification of retrocarotid nodes into lateral versus central compartment. A further refinement of the definition of key borderline regions of the pretracheal versus paratracheal and retrocarotid regions of our classification improved the agreement and demonstrated a complete concordance (100%) amongst the reviewing radiologists. The proposed nodal classification system, derived specifically for differentiated thyroid carcinoma, with readily identifiable anatomic boundaries on imaging and at surgery, facilitates communication among multidisciplinary physicians and aids in creating a uniform and reproducible radiographic nodal map to guide surgical therapy. 4 Laryngoscope, 127:2429-2436, 2017. | High | [
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package org.zstack.header.network.l3 import org.zstack.header.network.l3.APIChangeL3NetworkStateEvent doc { title "改变三层网络状态(ChangeL3NetworkState)" category "三层网络" desc """改变三层网络状态""" rest { request { url "PUT /v1/l3-networks/{uuid}/actions" header (Authorization: 'OAuth the-session-uuid') clz APIChangeL3NetworkStateMsg.class desc """""" params { column { name "uuid" enclosedIn "changeL3NetworkState" desc "资源的UUID，唯一标示该资源" location "url" type "String" optional false since "0.6" } column { name "stateEvent" enclosedIn "changeL3NetworkState" desc "状态，可选 enable 与 disable" location "body" type "String" optional false since "0.6" values ("enable","disable") } column { name "systemTags" enclosedIn "" desc "系统标签" location "body" type "List" optional true since "0.6" } column { name "userTags" enclosedIn "" desc "用户标签" location "body" type "List" optional true since "0.6" } } } response { clz APIChangeL3NetworkStateEvent.class } } } | Mid | [
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Sometimes it pays to be observant: like when you’re crossing the street against the light or you happen to spot a giant inflatable cow far from its home. A tipster in Arizona will be eating free Chick-fil-A sandwiches for a year after spotting a local franchisee’s 24-foot inflatable cow in the backyard of a Phoenix home, FOX 10 reports in an update to yesterday’s chilling tale of mascot thievery. Police said when they confronted the person who lives at the residence where the 350-pound cow was found, he told them that he’d purchased it at a garage sale over the weekend, and that he thought it was a bouncy house, ABC 15 notes. The theft investigation is ongoing, but the cow has now been returned to the Chick-fil-A and is in good condition — and its owners seem pretty happy to have it back. The cow was pilfered on Saturday night after the Arizona State University football game. It had been deflated and was in the back of the Chick-fil-A restaurant’s truck when someone boosted it. The franchisee owner had reached out to the community with the offer of free sandwiches in the hopes that someone would come forward and turn it in, or spot it somewhere around town. Whoever that person is, we salute you. And your sandwiches. | Low | [
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Noteworthiness is relative, and there’s a decent chance that you haven’t seen or even heard of The Act of Killing. But even though its box office numbers aren’t all that impressive, its reviews are. And the film, in which Indonesian death squad leaders are asked to reenact their killings, made it onto the Academy Award short list for documentaries. (The short list is the last step before the actual nominees are announced in January.) As for the BitTorrent Bundles, they’re basically packages of free content, usually meant to promote something that people will actually pay for, like a movie or an album or a book. (The content can also be “gated”, requiring users to provide something — say, an email address — before they get access.) Other movies that have been promoted include a project that Madonna co-directed, called secretprojectrevolution. According to BitTorrent, the Act of Killing bundle will include: VICE Presents: Werner Herzog and Errol Morris on The Act of Killing [Video] Democracy Now! Joshua Oppenheimer Interview [Video] Essay: Errol Morris on The Act of Killing [PDF] Essay: Indonesia on the impact of The Act of Killing, TEMPO Magazine [PDF] The Act of Killing Stills [Photographs] The Act of Killing Trailer [Video] “The Act of Killing has an important message,” said Drafthouse Films Creative Director Evan Husney in an email. “Our goal is to reach as many people as possible — to preserve this film as a documentary, and as a testament to what happened in Indonesia. BitTorrent Bundle allows us to address a global audience of more than 170 million: to ensure that awareness of the film’s message reaches beyond the Internet’s censors and firewalls.” Christian Averill, BitTorrent’s director of communications, confirmed that this is the first time the company has worked with Drafthouse, and the first time a BitTorrent Bundle has been used to promote an Oscar shortlisted film. The company has been trying to disassociate itself from piracy in the public consciousness, and Averill added that there are 2 million pieces of licensed and legal content on BitTorrent. He said the promotion shows that “the industry is recognizing the potential of BitTorrent Bundle as a transmedia format to reach massive audiences without limits on size, access or file type.” 0 Crunchbase OverviewBitTorrent creates advanced, innovative technologies to efficiently move large files across the Internet. The company's two main products today include the original BitTorrent software and the tiny-but-mighty µTorrent, which combined boast over 150+ million users. BitTorrent is based in San Francisco, Calif. and is backed by Accel Partners and DCM. BitTorrent is a globally-recognized creator of … | Mid | [
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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Nearly half of Californians say the state’s first increase in the minimum wage in six years isn’t enough and should be raised even further, according to a new Field Poll. KNX 1070’s Claudia Peschiutta reports a majority of Californians are unhappy with the wealth and income gap in the state but are divided over whether the government should do more to intervene or whether to raise the minimum wage. The largest differences of opinion about the issue were found between Californians who were born in the U.S. and those who were not by a two-to-one margin, according to the survey. Concerns about the widening income gap are also expected to play a role in this year’s race for governor, where Republican Neel Kashkari has sought to highlight California’s status as having the highest poverty rate in the nation as he challenges incumbent Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown. The Field Poll interviewed 1,020 adults from June 5-22. The poll has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points. | Mid | [
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ECMO-assisted Rigid Bronchoscopy for Tracheal Obstruction. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in adults is typically reserved for thoracic or cardiac procedures in which insult to the pulmonary circuit has occurred or is anticipated. In this brief report, I describe a case of tracheal obstruction resulting from a retained tracheal stent that was removed through rigid bronchoscopy with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support. | High | [
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<html> <head> <title>Heap Profiler: basic grid functionality test</title> </head> <body> This is the test for basic functionality of heap snapshot view grid. <br> <br> To use this test: <ul> <li>load file in the browser; <li>open DevTools (Ctrl+Shift+I on Win/Linux, Command+Option+I on Mac); <li>go to 'Profiles' page; <li>press 'Take heap snapshot' button (eye icon on the left side of status bar); </ul> <br> On the left pane under 'Heap snapshots' section, an item called 'Snapshot 1' must appear, and a grid with snapshot data must appear on the right. Now test the following functionality in the grid: <ul> <li>change sorting order in each column by clicking on its header; <li>resize each column; <li>toggle between showing absolute times and percents (button with percent sign on the status bar); <li>double-click on numbers in 'Count' and 'Size' columns to toggle between times and percents for this column only; <li>expanding and collapsing tree nodes. </ul> </body> </html> | High | [
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Q: taking multiple strings from text boxes and entering them into a Checked List Box C# I'm creating a simple To-Do list application with Windows Forms and C# but I seem to have got stuck on a section and after a lot of research I cannot find anything to help me. The form has 2 text boxes (1 where user can type the name of the item to do - title box and 1 where the user can type in a description if needs be - description box), 1 TrackBar (where user can slide the bar from 1 - 10 to select priority) and a dateTimePicker (where user can select a date and time that the item should be completed by). So it would look like it does below. New Task Title: [ -- text box -- ] Task Description: [ -- text box -- ] Priority: [ --- trackbar --- ] End Date: {Date/Time Picker} I wondered how I could get all them four pieces of information and output them to a Checkedlistbox row, so the output would be for example: Groceries - Pick up groceries - 6 - 02/05/2015 I'm still rather new to programming and all and just needed some help. Many Thanks! A: Assuming you've given reasonable names to all the controls on your form ... Go to the Form designer, and double click on your "Add" button. This will create a Click event handler for the button. Make sure your Click method look something like this: private void addButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { string newItem = String.Format("{0} - {1} - {2} - {3}", titleTextBox.Text, descriptionTextBox.Text, priorityTrackbar.Value, endDateTimePicker.Value.ToShortDateString() ); this.checkListBox.Items.Add(newItem); } | High | [
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Tone mapping is infamous as the technique used to enhance "raw" HDR photos (because by nature they have poor contrast). From this I think understand the principle of what it does (increasing local contrast), but apart from "it magically makes HDRs look better" I don't have a good grasp of what it could more generally be used for. Are there other occasions I might want to consider using tone mapping? 2 Answers 2 Tone mapping by its definition is to bring out the dynamic range of an image or images that typically cannot be captured all at once. While there are groups that apply the technique to single image captures - and don't consider it HDR - that seems to be more of a misunderstanding of what a finished HDR looks like. There are many that prefer the extremely over the edge look of HDR, where an image takes on a surreal quality - but just as many that use it just as a way of getting the most out of a shot in general. Those are some great links, with interesting further reading too, thanks! I wonder... is it actually tone mapping that is responsible for the "cartoon" HDR effect, or is that caused by an additional step of trying to increase saturation? (or is that also part of 'tone mapping'?) – MattJJun 4 '12 at 12:36 I'd suggest as a simple definition of sorts "tone mapping is essentially adjusting parameters* in selected parts of your image differently so that you achieve a result which you consider enhances the quality of the resultant image". * Where "parameters" is usually limited to things like contrast, saturation, "curves" and similar - maybe also colour balance (see below) as opposed to additions or subtractions of actual image content). (That needs more "definitions, but you get the idea). So - Note that any of the following tends to involve "art" and the concept of "better" is, literally, in the eye of the beholder: Tone mapping can be carried out after the event whereas HDR needs a prior decision. Tone mapping uses a single image whereas HDR needs 2 or more so TM is unaffected by subjects which change between 'frames'. Tone mapping can if desired be used to make image changes which do not reflect those seen by the eye in the original but which are felt to enhance the end result. eg colours in a portion of a scene may have been rendered differently than in the body by a change in lighting which affects the image in an undesired manner. This may be sun/shadow, flash/incandescent etc - by "re colour balancing" portions the end effect may be "better". When carried out in-camera Tone mapping appears to take less processing power (see below). When shooting RAW + JPG with in-camera the RAW image can be provided untouched and the JPG tone-mapped (this is Sony practice). This makes sense as tone mapped RAW <> RAW. HDR RAW does not make sense by definition. But to shoot 3-frame-HDR + RAW + JPG would require at least 4 frames of output (3 x RAW + HDR-JPG). Related: Some recent Sony DSLR cameras provide the equivalent of both tone mapping and HDR options in-camera, with a degree of user control of the degree of effect achieved. In the case of HDR Sony offer 3 frames with from +/- 1 to +/- 5 EV spread or Auto. They provide output of one "correctly exposed" and one HDR frame. Even when set to 5 EV the HDR results seems mild compared to what I see elsewhere. Effects are useful but not usually "garish". Sony in-camera tone mapping is termed DRO (Dynamic Range Optimiser). They offer 5 levels + Auto. High levels of in-camera DRO offer near miraculous results in situations where results would have been poor usually so that quality loss due to TM / DRO is potentially acceptable. eg flash photography in a large room will result in vastly more even lighting at extended distances from the flash without utterly wiping out foreground. Needless to say, the more a lowly lit area is "lifted" the noisier it gets, but the results are very useful in situations where no superior or accessible alternative exists.Care must be taken! Blacks of any depth stop being black and become variants of very deep grey. At maximum level under flash Samoan faces tend to look like slabs of coffee coloured skin. Ask me how I know:-). I'm "an old white guy", but I have a number of Samoan friends and rapidly found that using DRO level 5 with flash was a bad idea when they were in the photo. At this level the DRO process seems to make an "it's all much the same" decision and produces consistent somewhat monochrome results for large areas of facial skin. I have not noticed that the result as pronounced with other skin tonings, but I also tend to use DRO / TM with care in situations with similar potential. | Mid | [
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Q: Python 2.7 - clean syntax for lvalue modification It is very common to have struct-like types that are not expected to be modified by distant copyholders. A string is a basic example, but that's an easy case because it's excusably immutable -- Python is unusual in even allowing things like method calls on literal strings. The problem is that (in most languages) we frequently have things like, say an (x,y) Point class. We occasionally want to change x and y independently. I.e., from a usage perspective, a Point LVALUE should be mutable (even though copies will not see the mutation). But Python 2.7 doesn't seem to provide any options to enable automatic copy-on-assignment. So that means we actually MUST make our Point class IMMUTABLE because inadvertent references are going to get created all over the place (typically because somebody forgot to clone the object before passing it to somebody else). And no, I'm not interested in the countless hacks that allow the object to be mutated only "while it's being created", as that is a weak concept that does not scale. The logical conclusion of these circumstances is that we need our mutation methods to actually modify the LVALUE. For example %= supports that. The problem is that it would be much better to have a more reasonable syntax, like using __setattr__ and/or defining set_x and set_y methods, as shown below. class Point(object): # Python doesn't have copy-on-assignment, so we must use an immutable # object to avoid unintended changes by distant copyholders. def __init__(self, x, y, others=None): object.__setattr__(self, 'x', x) object.__setattr__(self, 'y', y) def __setattr__(self, name, value): self %= (name, value) return self # SHOULD modify lvalue (didn't work) def __repr__(self): return "(%d %d)" % (self.x, self.y) def copy(self, x=None, y=None): if x == None: x = self.x if y == None: y = self.y return Point(x, y) def __eq__ (a,b): return a.x == b.x and a.y == b.y def __ne__ (a,b): return a.x != b.x or a.y != b.y def __add__(a,b): return Point(a.x+b.x, a.y+b.y) def __sub__(a,b): return Point(a.x-b.x, a.y-b.y) def set_x(a,b): return a.copy(x=b) # SHOULD modify lvalue (didn't work) def set_y(a,b): return a.copy(y=b) # SHOULD modify lvalue (didn't work) # This works in Python 2.7. But the syntax is awful. def __imod__(a,b): if b[0] == 'x': return a.copy(x=b[1]) elif b[0] == 'y': return a.copy(y=b[1]) else: raise AttributeError, \ "Point has no member '%s'" % b[0] my_very_long_and_complicated_lvalue_expression = [Point(10,10)] * 4 # modify element 0 via "+=" -- OK my_very_long_and_complicated_lvalue_expression[0] += Point(1,-1) # modify element 1 via normal "__set_attr__" -- NOT OK my_very_long_and_complicated_lvalue_expression[1].x = 9999 # modify element 2 via normal "set_x" -- NOT OK my_very_long_and_complicated_lvalue_expression[2].set_x(99) # modify element 3 via goofy "set_x" -- OK my_very_long_and_complicated_lvalue_expression[3] %='x', 999 print my_very_long_and_complicated_lvalue_expression The result is: [(11 9), (10 10), (10 10), (999 10)] As you can see, += and %= work just fine, but just about anything else doesn't seem to work. Surely the language inventors have created a basic syntax for LVALUE modification that is not limited to goofy-looking operators. I just can't seem to find it. Please help. A: I feel like we've given the search for pre-existing solutions its due diligence. Given that "<=" is assignment in some languages (e.g., Verilog) we can quite intuitively introduce: value_struct_instance<<='field', value as the Pythonic form of value_struct_instance.field = value Here is an updated example for instructive purposes: # Python doesn't support copy-on-assignment, so we must use an # immutable object to avoid unintended changes by distant copyholders. # As a consequence, the lvalue must be changed on a field update. # # Currently the only known syntax for updating a field on such an # object is: # # value_struct_instance<<='field', value # # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45788271/ class Point(object): def __init__(self, x, y, others=None): object.__setattr__(self, 'x', x) object.__setattr__(self, 'y', y) def __setattr__(self, name, value): raise AttributeError, \ "Use \"point<<='%s', ...\" instead of \"point.%s = ...\"" \ % (name, name) def __repr__(self): return "(%d %d)" % (self.x, self.y) def copy(self, x=None, y=None): if x == None: x = self.x if y == None: y = self.y return Point(x, y) def __ilshift__(a,b): if b[0] == 'x': return a.copy(x=b[1]) elif b[0] == 'y': return a.copy(y=b[1]) else: raise AttributeError, \ "Point has no member '%s'" % b[0] def __eq__ (a,b): return a.x == b.x and a.y == b.y def __ne__ (a,b): return a.x != b.x or a.y != b.y def __add__(a,b): return Point(a.x+b.x, a.y+b.y) def __sub__(a,b): return Point(a.x-b.x, a.y-b.y) my_very_long_and_complicated_lvalue_expression = [Point(10,10)] * 3 # modify element 0 via "+=" my_very_long_and_complicated_lvalue_expression[0] += Point(1,-1) # modify element 1 via "<<='field'," (NEW IDIOM) my_very_long_and_complicated_lvalue_expression[1]<<='x', 15 print my_very_long_and_complicated_lvalue_expression # result: # [(11 9), (15 10), (10 10)] my_very_long_and_complicated_lvalue_expression[1]<<='y', 25 print my_very_long_and_complicated_lvalue_expression # result: # [(11 9), (15 25), (10 10)] # Attempt to modify element 2 via ".field=" my_very_long_and_complicated_lvalue_expression[2].y = 25 # result: # AttributeError: Use "point<<='y', ..." instead of "point.y = ..." | Mid | [
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Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River The Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River (EAEMDR) of Bulgaria was established as an organization in 1935 under the name Danube Hydrographical Service within the structure of the Ministry of Railways, Post Offices and Telegraphs. The headquarters were situated in the city of Lom and the responsibilities of the Service were related to the maintenance of the waterway, creation of maps of the Danube River, conduction of hydro meteorological surveys in the Bulgarian section of the river. History The Danube Hydrographical Service was established in 1935 to maintain the Bulgarian section of the Danube. In 1949, after the ratification of the “Convention for the sailing regime on the Danube River”, the Danube Hydrographical Service passed over to the Ministry of Defense – Danube Fleet. Four years later the service was reinstated as a part of the Ministry of Railways, Post Offices and Telegraphs, and the Navigational Waterway Office was established in Ruse. In the year 1955 the organization passed over under the structure of the Bulgarian River Fleet and in the next year the Council of Ministers adopted a decree, by the force of which the Navigational Waterway Office was restructured into the “Administration for the Maintenance of the Navigational Waterway and Exploration of the Danube River” within the Ministry of Transport, Information technology and communications. In December 1999 the Administration was transformed into the Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River. Functions The functions of EAEMDR are related to: - Ensuring safety of navigation in the common Bulgarian-Romanian section of the river; - Studying the hydro morphological and hydrological conditions of the river in the Bulgarian section, processing the data from the studies and, on its basis, issuing guides, navigational maps, plans, yearbooks, reference books and other river navigational aids for the purposes of the Danube Commission and the Joint Bulgarian-Romanian commissions; - Collecting and disseminating information regarding the condition of the waterway and navigational routes and for the hydro meteorological conditions; - Alerting the respective authorities, ministries and administrations to the need of precautionary steps in case of foreseeable danger of flooding, banc erosions and others; - Studying and approving projects for the construction of hydro technical and other infrastructure along the Danube River; - Monitoring and approving the position of mining equipment with a view over navigational safety and the possibility of corrosion of banks and islands. International activities The Agency works in cooperation with the inland waterway administrations in the other states along the Danube River. It takes part in workshops in the field of navigation and inland waterway maintenance and implements projects in the frames of the Danube Strategy of the EU, Bulgarian-Romanian commissions, the Danube Commission, GIS Forum. External links [www.appd-bg.org] Category:Danube Category:Inland waterway authorities Category:Water transport in Bulgaria | Mid | [
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Premium Member Directory Download eBook Invite Others to MCSMN Know someone perfect for MCSMN? Send a message and invite them to join the community. The Mayo Clinic Center Social Media Network (MCSMN) exists to help Mayo Clinic professional and allied health staff better understand the power and potential of social media tools. We provide training and resources to help you use them safely and effectively with confidence. MCSMN is resource and networking center not only for Mayo employees, but also for healthcare peers at other institutions. Dues from external members support development of our resources, and Mayo also gains from the experiences and insights of member colleagues from around the world. While external premium members pay $495 annually for access to the training resources and the member-only community, those benefits (and more) are available at no charge to every Mayo Clinic employee and student. Questions? Please contact us by email and we’ll be glad to answer them. Looking for a consultation? Fill out our form and we'll respond shortly. Want to submit a social media post for Mayo Clinic's Facebook or Twitter accounts? Provide us with information about what you'd like for us to consider posting and we'll be in touch. | Mid | [
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name=Water type=supercom587 id=12345678 key= json_floor=5 | Low | [
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Security guard shot outside north Houston club A security guard is in the hospital this morning after he was gunned down outside a north Houston club. (Security guard shooting) April 28, 2013 7:16:47 AM PDT HOUSTON -- A security guard is in the hospital after being shot multiple times overnight in north Houston. It happened around 1am at a Club Aguila on Airline Road at Johnston. Police say the guard was shot multiple times but there does not appear there was any type of altercation leading up to the shooting. The security guard was taken to the hospital in stable condition and is expected to survive. Witnesses say that it was a drive-by but police are not finding any evidence to support their claims. Police are still investigating a motive and a possible suspect. ___________________________________________________________ | Mid | [
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Kurtalan station Kurtalan station () is the easternmost railway station in Siirt Province, Turkey. It is also the eastern terminus of the Southern Kurtalan Express which connects Ankara and Kurtalan. Kurtalan station was opened in 1944 by the Turkish State Railways. The station was built as part of the railway from Diyarbakır to the Iranian border, via Tatvan and Van, which began in 1937. The railway reached Kurtalan in 1940, but due to the mountainous terrain around Lake Van, the route to Van was altered to begin at Elazığ, leaving Kurtalan as the eastern terminus of the railway. In 2017 the State Railways began planning a extension east to the provincial capital, Siirt. TCDD Taşımacılık operates a daily intercity train to Ankara. (temporarily Irmak) References External links Kurtalan station information Kurtalan station timetable Category:Railway stations in Siirt Province Category:Railway stations opened in 1944 Category:1944 establishments in Turkey | Mid | [
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Common Error No. 27 Strictly speaking, it is not supposed to. It is a method of social and financial organization that allies itself to the individual motivations which help determine human action. It does do two very important things, however. In the first place it creates the wealth that allows for welfare provision. Under a free economy people in society can become rich enough to afford higher levels of care for those in need. They may do this through charitable organizations, or they may do it collectively through government. Non-capitalist economies tend to achieve poorer results, and cannot usually afford so high a level of provision. Secondly, the free economy itself reduces the need for welfare by a variety of market provisions. Recognizing the demand, people respond with insurance policies, health plans and pension schemes, all of which reduce the need for welfare. By encouraging people to make their own provision wherever possible, the free economy reduces the need for state welfare. Self-provided welfare can usually be tailored more closely to each individual’s circumstances, whereas collective provision is often provided on standardized levels based on what are perceived as average needs. Paradoxically, it can be the state welfare system which makes people dependent upon it. It takes the funds to support its provision which people might otherwise have used to pay for their own. In other words, high taxes make people no longer capable of providing for their own welfare. Two-thirds of those receiving benefits in Britain actually pay more in direct and indirect taxation than they receive back from the state. Furthermore, state services crowd out private choices for many people. Private education, healthcare and pensions compete with state options which are ‘free’ at the point of consumption. Private alternatives charge fees, but compete with state services which do not (because they have been paid for through taxation). This severely restricts their availability and accessibility for most people. | Mid | [
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Patrick PIGGOTT (1915-1990) Piano Music: First Piano Sonata - Fantasia quasi una Sonata (Revised 1975)[22:44]; Eight Preludes and a Postlude (Third Set) [19:06]; Second Piano Sonata (1979-1980) [28:54] Malcolm Binns, piano Recorded at the Music Hall of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, on the 26th September and 10th October 2004. DDD BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY BMS430CD [70.44] I must confess that this CD was a little bit of a disappointment to me. It should have been one of the highlights of my year. In theory it is, as they say, right up my street. Here was a brand new CD of music by a forgotten British composer. In fact, if I am honest he was just a name to me. I knew he had been an accomplished pianist and I was aware the he had worked at the BBC for a number of years. But that was the sum total of my knowledge. I had never consciously heard any of his music. And yet the programme promised to be excellent. Two British Piano Sonatas with Eight Preludes as the filler. However it fell a little flat. I was trying to wonder what I expected before listening. I suppose I was imagining something quite romantic and perhaps pastoral although with a touch of spice. I deliberately did not read the cover notes before the first hearing. I did not want to prejudice myself. It was the perfect opportunity for a totally innocent ear! As I listened to the Preludes followed by the First and then the Second Sonatas I fell to thinking about Lyrita Records. Many years ago the early productions of this largely lamented record company (they still produce CDs here and there) were mainly piano works. Of course there was music by Bax and Ireland. But the names that came to my mind whilst listening to Piggott were William Wordsworth, Franz Reizenstein and Ian Whyte. Somehow, and probably unfairly, Piggott’s music brought back thoughts of these composers. Now all of these gentlemen wrote fine music. Many of these piano works were impressive, if not masterpieces. But the general memory I have of them is of certain sameness. This is what I feel about Patrick Piggott’s music. I have listened to each work twice – and have difficulty in separating out the pieces in my mind. Reading Colin Scott-Sutherland’s review and programme notes was a sine qua non before writing down my own thoughts. For one key reason – there is virtually nothing in print that is easily available about Piggott. However Scott-Sutherland has written a long essay for the British Music Society, British Music Volume 23 (2001) – a list of compositions by Piggott is also included. Scott-Sutherland makes an interesting statement that has coloured my thoughts about these compositions. He states that Piggott "significantly ... studied composition with Benjamin Dale, which was to have a considerable influence on his later work." But later he goes on to say that [Piggott] might have been expected therefore to take his place in British music with Rawsthorne, Berkeley and Tippett. But the influence of Dale (my italics) ... continued throughout his life." Somehow the implication is that poor old Benjamin Dale was responsible for Piggott’s lack of lasting success and current notice. Let me make a bold statement. I would take the opposite view. I feel that much that is good and satisfying in this present disc derives from this post-romanticism of Benjamin Dale. For example listen to this passage for the last movement of the First Piano Sonata[Track 3: 1:15 - 2:15] However, much of the rest of this music seems to me to be directionless: it meanders, not necessarily aimlessly but without a definable purpose. Often the tonality is, quite deliberately, ambiguous. All this could, of course be defined as lending an enigmatic or impressionistic quality to the music as in this example from the Third Prelude.[Track 6: 00:00 – 00:40] The darker side of Piggott’s art is displayed especially in the Postlude of the Third Set of Preludes. [Track 9: 00:00 – 00:50] Yet even here the romantic influence of Dale is, I think, just perceptible. Let us consider the ‘Dale effect’ for a moment. Dale’s magnum opus is the Piano Sonata in D minor. It was composed over a three year stretch from 1902 to 1905. It was influential on the then young York Bowen and the pianist Myra Hess. There is no doubt that Benjamin Dale was fully acquainted with the pianism of the late nineteenth century. It was certainly not pastiche but did nod in many directions including Schumann, Liszt and Brahms. The influence of Balakirev’s Islamey is also prominent. Other reviewers have detected hints of Rachmaninov and even the Warsaw Concerto by Richard Addinsell. All in all quite an eclectic work. But it was the inherent romanticism that carried it. It remains one of my favourite works for piano from the British School. It is this inherent romanticism that informs some of Piggott’s music with an emotional as opposed to a generally intellectual quality. In spite of my reservations about Piggott’s music, there is no doubt that there are many attractive moments in these pages. There is a considerable degree of virtuosity required to play all these pieces. I accept that often there is a balance between the more lyrical moments and the restless passages. But it is the restless passages that seem to me to be the ‘weakest link’. Scott-Sutherland has pointed out that Piggott loved to use ‘patterns’ in the constructions of music. And so, of course, have many other composers. But I cannot help feeling that by using the patterns he is note-spinning. However, when push comes to shove, this CD is required listening for all enthusiasts of British Piano music. And that is in spite of much that I have said above. It seems to me that this is music that is very slow to reveal its charms. I have listened to the Second Sonata for a third time [more than I would normally for any ‘new’ piece of music] and am just beginning to get to like it – the rambling notwithstanding. Yet I believe that few people will be prepared to invest this amount of time in picking over a relatively obscure Sonata. I noted above that Piggott is likened to the generation of composers including Britten, Rawsthorne, Berkeley and Tippett. To my ear at least, he lacks the genius of Britten, the ability to balance various styles that Rawsthorne excels at and finally he lacks the sense of humour and subtlety of Berkeley. And from the post-romantic perspective he does not have the poetry and depth of Ireland and Bax. The playing is masterful. Obviously Malcolm Binns is attracted to this music – much of Piggott’s music was composed expressly for him. The sound quality is good and reveals the progress of the music with clarity. A good example of this can be heard in the quicksilver variation, Allegro Scherzoso from the last movement of the Second Piano Sonata; [Track 18] The fine programme notes are by Colin Scott-Sutherland and are effectively an essay on Piggott’s performances rather than just notes. Although, I do wonder about the ‘greeny’ colour of the CD cover. It makes me feel a little sea-sick! Reviews from previous monthsJoin the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. detailsWe welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer. | Mid | [
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" ___vital___ " NOTE: lines between '" ___vital___' is generated by :Vitalize. " Do not mofidify the code nor insert new lines before '" ___vital___' if v:version > 703 || v:version == 703 && has('patch1170') function! vital#_easymotion#Over#Commandline#Modules#ExceptionMessage#import() abort return map({'make': ''}, 'function("s:" . v:key)') endfunction else function! s:_SID() abort return matchstr(expand('<sfile>'), '<SNR>\zs\d\+\ze__SID$') endfunction execute join(['function! vital#_easymotion#Over#Commandline#Modules#ExceptionMessage#import() abort', printf("return map({'make': ''}, \"function('<SNR>%s_' . v:key)\")", s:_SID()), 'endfunction'], "\n") delfunction s:_SID endif " ___vital___ scriptencoding utf-8 let s:save_cpo = &cpo set cpo&vim let s:vname = expand("<sfile>:h:h:h:h:t") let s:module = { \ "name" : "ExceptionMessage", \} function! s:module.on_exception(cmdline) let self.exception = v:exception let self.throwpoint = v:throwpoint endfunction function! s:module.on_draw_pre(cmdline) if has_key(self, "exception") call self.message(a:cmdline) unlet self.exception endif endfunction function! s:module.message(...) echohl ErrorMsg execute self.command string(self.prefix . " : " . self.throwpoint . " " . self.exception) echohl None endfunction function! s:module.on_leave(cmdline) if has_key(self, "exception") call self.message(a:cmdline) unlet self.exception endif endfunction function! s:make(...) let result = deepcopy(s:module) let result.prefix = get(a:, 1, "vital-over(".s:vname.") Exception") let result.command = get(a:, 2, "echom") return result endfunction let &cpo = s:save_cpo unlet s:save_cpo | Mid | [
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Craig Baird RISK DOCTOR WHO: Dalek Invasion of Earth RISK Doctor Who edition? What more needs to be said! Doctor Who has been on television for longer than any other science fiction show in history, and it still has millions of fans around the world, more than 50 years after its original broadcast. The board game RISK has been around for even longer. Together, they are an unstoppable force. The Doctor Who phe...[Read More] | Mid | [
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First up we have former outfielder Terry McDaniel, who played in 23 games for the 1991 New York Mets as a late-season call up. Utilized primarily as a pinch hitter, pinch runner and defensive replacement, McDaniel managed only 6 hits in 29 at-bats. That winter, he was selected off waivers from the Mets by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he never again played in the major leagues. In fact, he only spent one more year in affiliated minor league baseball. Moving back a little further in time, we have outfielder Pepe Mangual. Mangual spent parts of five seasons with the Montreal Expos before coming to the Mets in a 1976 trade for Wayne Garrett and Del Unser. Montreal was the clear winner in that deal – Mangual played in just 49 games for the Mets in 1976 and 1977, hitting .183 (20-for 109) with one home run and 11 RBI. Finally we’ve got third baseman Joe Moock, who played 13 games for the 1967 Mets. He went 9-for-40 to post a .225 lifetime average in the majors. After leaving the Mets organization, Moock spent two years in the minor leagues for the Montreal Expos. He left professional baseball after the 1970 season. By my last count, I have signed baseball cards for 895 current and former Mets players. Until Opening Day, my wantlist stands at 99 names. | Mid | [
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#!/usr/bin/env python import sys from operator import add import numpy as np from sklearn.decomposition import PCA from sklearn import preprocessing import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import matplotlib.cm as cm import matplotlib from matplotlib import rcParams rcParams['font.family'] = 'Arial' from optparse import OptionParser parser = OptionParser() parser.add_option("-c", dest="cat_file", help="Categories") parser.add_option("-o", dest="output_file", help="Output file") parser.add_option("-m", "--mirror", action="store_true", dest="mirror_m", default=False) (options, args) = parser.parse_args() if not options.output_file: parser.error('Output file not given') if not options.cat_file: parser.error('Category file not given') M = [] for l in sys.stdin: A = [float(x) for x in l.rstrip().split()] M.append(A) X = np.array(M) X_std = preprocessing.StandardScaler().fit_transform(X) sklearn_pca = PCA(n_components=4) X_transf = sklearn_pca.fit_transform(X_std) if (options.mirror_m): X_transf = X_transf * -1 X_transf[:,0] = X_transf[:,0] * -1 #print X_transf[:,1] f = open(options.cat_file) C=[] for l in f: C.append(l.rstrip()) f.close() tmp=set(C) U=[] for t in tmp: U.append(t) colors = cm.rainbow(np.linspace(0, 1, len(U))) color_map = {} for i in range(len(U)): color_map[U[i]] = colors[i] print color_map matplotlib.rcParams.update({'font.size': 12}) fig = plt.figure(figsize=(5,5), dpi=300) ax = fig.add_subplot(1,1,1) ax.tick_params(labelsize=10) ax.spines['top'].set_visible(False) ax.spines['right'].set_visible(False) ax.get_xaxis().tick_bottom() ax.get_yaxis().tick_left() l = [] for cat in U: print cat # tmp_X = [] # tmp_Y = [] # for idx in [i for i, x in enumerate(C) if x == cat]: # tmp_X.append(X_transf[idx,0]) # tmp_Y.append(X_transf[idx,1]) # print tmp_X # print tmp_Y # plt.scatter(tmp_X, tmp_Y, X_transf[idx,1], c=color_map[cat], label=cat) idxs = [i for i, x in enumerate(C) if x == cat] ax.plot(X_transf[idxs[0],0], \ X_transf[idxs[0],1], \ 'o', c=color_map[cat], label=cat) for idx in idxs[1:]: ax.plot(X_transf[idx,0], \ X_transf[idx,1], \ 'o', c=color_map[cat]) plt.legend(frameon=False, fontsize=10,labelspacing=0.25,numpoints=1) plt.savefig(options.output_file,bbox_inches='tight') | Mid | [
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It’s often argued that socialism couldn’t work as, if everyone is “paid the same”, there would be no incentive to “work hard”. This argument is wrong on many levels. Firstly, it assumes that those who are paid the most under capitalism work the “hardest”. In fact the wealth of the super-rich is not “earned” from their work but through their ownership of the productive forces. This allows them to appropriate the unpaid labour of billions of working class people around the world. Many of these billionaires do no productive work at all but pay others to manage their companies and finances. An Oxfam study into the wealth of the world’s billionaires, found that one third was inherited, whilst 43% can be linked to corruption. Whilst these parasites “work hard” on their super yachts, billions are forced to work 50 or 60 hours or more a week, doing backbreaking labour in return for poverty wages. Such “hard work” is not encouraged by the fact that different layers of the working class receive higher wages. It results from the necessity to accept any job, in order to be able to put food on the table, pay the rent and bills. The alternative is to join the ranks of the unemployed, which for many means hunger and homelessness. Secondly, the argument that under socialism “we will all be paid the same” is false. Our ultimate aim is a communist society, where everybody can take freely according to their needs. However Marxists are not utopians, we do not expect that this will be possible overnight upon the working class taking power. It will require a transitional period (usually referred to as “socialism”), during which some of the features of capitalism will be unavoidable. As Marx noted: “What we have to deal with here is a communist society, not as it has developed on its own foundations, but, on the contrary, just as it emerges from capitalist society; which is thus in every respect, economically, morally, and intellectually, still stamped with the birthmarks of the old society from whose womb it emerges.” By taking over the commanding heights of the economy and planning production according to need, it will be possible to make a number of rapid improvements to the majority of people’s lives. For instance, it would be feasible to quickly end unemployment, by reducing the working week, with no loss of pay. In the same way that access to healthcare in Britain is socialised through the NHS, it would also be possible to provide other goods and services such as energy, internet, transport, and food for free. This is since we produce, or could produce more than enough of these things to go around. This would have the same effect as a massive wage increase for the vast bulk of society. Yet so long as scarcity exists, certain items would still require distribution through money, i.e. wage payment would still be necessary. It is utopian to think that in the early period following a socialist revolution, everybody would accept being paid the same given their different needs, responsibilities and workloads, or allow those who don’t work but could, to take from society’s wealth. However, unlike under capitalism, where in many companies the ratio between the lowest and highest paid is astronomical (FTSE 100 company bosses “earn” on average 386 times more than the living wage), under socialism we would significantly reduce this disparity. In the early years of the USSR, the ratio between the highest and lowest paid was officially 1:4, and even this was considered high. With workers’ control, a massive shortening of the working week, along with the abolition of the divide between mental and manual labour, our conceptions of “work” would be transformed. From a tiring burden, necessary to pay the bills whilst making some billionaire richer, it would become a source of enrichment, or “life’s prime want”. With the development of the productive forces to such a point where we could easily produce enough of everything for people to take freely, the desire to be “paid” more than others would become meaningless, as money itself would become unnecessary. Far from universal laziness, humanity could finally achieve its full potential. | High | [
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According to the Detroit Free Press, a man from a town east of Lansing, Michigan has been sentenced for slapping his adult daughter after what she refers to as a “forced exorcism.” Last fall, the then-18-year-old daughter of William Watt filed a police report that claimed her dad forcibly slapped her during in argument that was started in part by her family attempting to perform and exorcism on her. ADVERTISEMENT According to the police report, the girl was sitting on a couch in her family home when “Watt, his wife and son approached her and began chanting ‘the power of Christ compels you.'” After being assaulted with various objects by her family, the girl left the house to go to work, but when she returned, she said her father, who had a history of criminal offenses for domestic violence against family members, accused her of “stealing his food,” and then slapped her across the cheek. After leaving the house, the teen called the police. “You can’t put your hands on your adult children. You don’t get to kick around your kids because they’re your kids,” Watt’s daughter said during her sentencing. “You don’t get to grab her neck or slap her in the face.” Read the entire report on the Michigan exorcism-turned-assault via the Free Press. | Low | [
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Everything you need to know about backpack leaf blowers : Leaf blowers are a gift to mankind especially when you have a lawn, and you want to clean it in the most effective and easiest way possible. Thus, they are time-saving and an investment for the future. | Low | [
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(a) Field of the Invention The invention relates to the production of recombinant proteins in animal's semen using the seminal gland as a bioreactor. Particularly, this invention relates to an expression system which comprises at least a semen-specific protein promoter operatively linked to a DNA sequence coding for a signal peptide and a desired recombinant protein product. When such a system is transgenically incorporated into an animal, the recombinant protein is expressed in the semen of the animal. This invention also relates to the transgenic animal that produces the desired recombinant product in its semen. Recombinant products produced by the expression systems and transgenically altered animals of this invention can be produced at significantly less cost than by conventional recombinant protein production techniques. There is also a potential to alter specific characteristics related to sperm viability and potential storage systems. (b) Description of Prior Art Recombinant DNA technology has enabled the cloning and expression of genes encoding medically and agriculturally important proteins and glycoproteins. Such products include, "for example, insulin, growth hormone, growth hormone releasing factor, somatostatin, tissue plasminogen activator, tumor necrosis factor, lipocortin, coagulation factors VIII and IX, erythropoietin, the interferons, colony stimulating factor, the interleukins and urokinase, antibodies. Many of these important proteins, however, are large (molecular weights in excess of 30 Kd), secreted, require sulfhydryl bonds to maintain proper folding, are glycosylated and are sensitive to proteases. As a result, the recombinant production of such products in prokaryotic cells has proven to be less than satisfactory because the desired recombinant proteins are incorrectly processed, lack proper glycosylation or are improperly formed. Accordingly, resort has been had to the production of those recombinant proteins in cultured eukaryotic cells. This technique has proven to be both expensive and often unreliable due the variability of cell culture methods. For example, average yields are 10 mg of recombinant protein per liter of culture media, with the resulting cost typically for exceeding one thousand dollars per gram of recombinant protein. Accordingly, resort has been had to the production of those recombinant proteins in cultured eukaryotic cells. It is believed that the use of the genital tract as a tissue for expression overcomes, either wholly or to a satisfactory degree, this potential source of difficulty. Several examples using mammary glands of transgenic mammals as bioreactors have demonstrated their potential to produce recombinant protein products. Harvesting from body fluids as opposed to solid tissue is desirable, because such routes, are by and large renewable, and most proteins of biomedical importance are themselves secreted into body fluids. Secretion into the bloodstream is a possible route, either from liver or B lymphocytes, but the coagulating properties of blood and the presence of biologically active peptides and antigenic molecules may prove a hindrance to subsequent downstream processing. It would be highly desirable to be provided with a means to produce recombinant proteins in large quantities. | High | [
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class FundSource < ActiveRecord::Base include Currencible attr_accessor :name paranoid belongs_to :member validates_presence_of :uid, :extra, :member def label if currency_obj.try :coin? "#{uid} (#{extra})" else [I18n.t("banks.#{extra}"), "****#{uid[-4..-1]}"].join('#') end end def as_json(options = {}) super(options).merge({label: label}) end end | Low | [
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BEIJING: Beijing came out with a fresh assessment of the Tibet situation on Monday, one in which it accused the Tibetan Young Congress (TYC) of links with the al-Qaida and terrorist organisations involved in the East Turkmenistan movement in west China's Xinjiang province. The analysis, released by the official Xinhua news agency, said that Dalai Lama's government-in-exile in India consists of several TYC leaders and cadre. "The TYC has become a terrorist organization as concepts of violence have taken root within it," Xinhua quoted official Tibetologist Liu Hongji as saying in an interview. "The group's shadow was evident when the police confiscated a large number of guns and ammunition in some monasteries in China's Tibetan-inhabited regions after the March 14 riot," Liu said. The charges about TYC's terrorist's activities and its links with the Tibetan government-in-exile may become a strong argument among Communist Party leaders, who are opposed to any reconciliation with the Dalai Lama. Chinese officials have demanded an assurance from Dalai Lama's representatives that there will be no attempts by monks and their supporters to disrupt the Olympic torch relay as well as law and order in Tibet in the coming weeks, sources said. The talks got deadlocked on Sunday as both sides refused to budge from their known stand over the March 14 riots in Lhasa. The Chinese side rejected accusations about bad handling of the riots, saying that the Lhasa authorities had responded to violence in the most appropriate manner. Chinese officials maintained that Dalai Lama's supporters were responsible for instigating the riots and they must now ensure that there is no more disruption of law and order in Tibet, sources said. This plea was rejected by the envoys from Dharamsala, who denied having a hand in the Lhasa riots. Chinese president Hu Jintao on Sunday tried to give a push to the process of negotiations with Dalai Lama's envoys, saying he expected it would yield "positive results". The main purpose behind China's efforts to hold talks with the Dalai Lama's envoys is to ensure the success of the Olympic torch relay as it passes through Tibet to reach Mount Everest and to make sure that western leaders, including US president George Bush, attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games. But there are sections in the ruling Communist Party, which are staunchly opposed to any talks with the Dalai Lama. Despite Chinese officials agreeing to maintain dialogue with Dalai Lama, China's state press on Monday accused the spiritual leader of "monstrous crimes", keeping up its fiery rhetoric. "Following the March 14 incident in Lhasa, the Dalai has not only refused to admit his monstrous crimes, but he has continued to perpetuate fraud," an article in Monday's state Tibet Daily said. The article, which did not refer to the talks, described the Dalai Lama's demands for "genuine autonomy" in Tibet and the "greater Tibetan region" as fraudulent. | Mid | [
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SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – Three Elizabeth residents have been chosen by Emerge New Jersey, the political training organization for Democratic women in the state, to participate in its third political training class “Politics 101 in New Jersey.” After a rigorous application process, M. Marthelle Guervil, Cristina Pinzon, Connie Sanchez were three candidates selected in a class of 20 to take part in the six-month program. The training includes sessions from public speaking to campaign strategy and fundraising. “Emerge makes a long-term investment in the women who take our program by developing their leadership skills, providing campaign training, and building a powerful network of Democratic women to help them run for – and win – elected office in New Jersey.” explains Emerge New Jersey’s Executive Director Truscha Quatrone. “This year’s class is diverse, dynamic and ready to make change like the classes of women who came before them. Our class this year is our largest to date.” Guervil is a political organizer focused on education, social justice, immigration, and women’s rights. Currently, she works at Paranoa & Associates, a political consulting firm, and is the executive director of The Haitian American Committee, an organization committed to the social, political, and economic mobility of the Haitian American community in New Jersey. Guervil explained her reasons for participating in the program, “I chose to apply to the Emerge New Jersey program because I have a personal calling to fulfill and through Emerge I will be able to give what I have learned to others in the form of service, dedication, and diligence.” Pinzon is a principal at Stateside Affairs, a public and government affairs firm. She has worked in a variety of fields, including education, journalism and politics. Additionally, Cristina serves as the chair of the Elizabeth Housing Authority and is currently studying for a Master's degree in Public Administration from Kean University. Said Pinzon, “The Emerge New Jersey program is changing our political landscape through the voices of women. As you’ve seen, the organization is grooming future mayors, senators, and governors to lead this great state we call home. I am honored to be a part of this distinguished organization that empowers and trains women to take on the most pressing issues we collectively face in government. With Emerge, I know we will achieve equal representation and equal participation in elected office.” Sanchez is the executive director at Unity Charter School. She has taught middle school science and chaired gifted and talented programs in the Elizabeth Public Schools. Prior to teaching, she was a vice president at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, where she co-managed the largest international branch for Smith Barney, recruited top tiered financial advisors and worked as a national development officer delivering curriculum for over 3,000 financial advisors. In addition, Connie served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Connie earned an EdM in Educational School Leadership from Columbia University Teachers College and an MBA from Texas A&M. She also earned an M.S. in business management with a focus in organizational change management from the College of Saint Elizabeth. “I chose to apply to Emerge NJ because Emerge gets results,” explained Sanchez. “Women represent less than 25 percent of the U.S. Congress and state legislature. It's time to take a seat at the table and focus on making NJ the best state it can be.” Emerge New Jersey will introduce its new class at the 2016 Political Training Program Kickoff Event, Sunday, Jan. 17, at the Mirage Banquet Hall in Edison, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. The cost is $100.00 per person. ASBURY PARK, NJ -- Besides sand, surf and Springsteen, Asbury Park has been known in recent years as a hub for the New Jersey LGBTQ community. HomeGrown Host Stephanie Willoughby spoke with Comedian & Activist Jess Alaimo about the LGBTQ-friendly atmosphere of Asbury Park. Alaimo grew up in Asbury Park, where she still lives, and has family roots here. She founded the Asbury Park Young ... ASBURY PARK, NJ -- Besides sand, surf and Springsteen, Asbury Park has been known in recent years ... Free for a limited time, readers can submit important milestones in their lives and those of their family, and have them published on TAPinto, enabling the community to hear about the happy news and join in the celebration. ... TAPinto.net has launched Milestones, a new section dedicated to publishing reader wedding ... NEW YORK, NY -- TAPintoTV caught up with Attorney Jonathan Goodgold, Esq., of the law firm Maitlin Maitlin Goodgold Brass & Bennett at TechDay New York, the largest event for startups in the U.S. TechDay produces events to connect the startup community and highlight the most unique and innovative products currently in development. “All great businesses start with a great idea,” said ... NEW YORK, NY -- TAPintoTV caught up with Attorney Jonathan Goodgold, Esq., of the law firm Maitlin ... ELIZABETH, NJ - Mayor J. Christian Bollwage and community dignitaries participated on Wednesday morning in the September 11th Remembrance Ceremony. This year's ceremony commemorates 18 years since the attacks. Residents joined in at the Midtown Pedestrian Plaza, Midtown Train Station, on W. Grand St., to honor those who lost their lives, including six Elizabeth residents who perished on that ... BEDMINSTER, N.J. – A 26-year-old Milford man has been charged with criminal mischief after police say he tore apart the 11th and 13th greens at Trump National Golf Course with his car in two separate incidents, according to Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson. The suspect, Richard J. McEwan, was arrested at his Church Road home on Sept. 10th following an investigation, according to ... BEDMINSTER, N.J. – A 26-year-old Milford man has been charged with criminal mischief after police ... ELIZABETH, NJ - New Jersey is among the most expensive states in the country for renters, with the median rent price reaching $1,284 in 2017, according to the Census ACS survey. Community Access Unlimited in Elizabeth assists people with special needs with affordable, accessible housing. Last week, CAU accepted a $3,000 grant from Spencer Savings Bank that will support its housing programs. ELIZABETH, NJ - New Jersey is among the most expensive states in the country for renters, with the ... We asked Grain & Cane Bar & Table in Berkeley Heights to share a couple of their favorite apple cider cocktail recipes. These are perfect for sipping as we slide past the dog days of summer and into the fall. Cider Old Fashioned “This one is our new featured cocktail,” said Margareth Salas of Grain & Cane. ELIZABETH, NJ - Natalia Calderon-Diaz, 33, of Elizabeth is charged with a single count of second-degree theft after authorities say while as Property manager of an Elizabeth complex she siphoned more than $120,000 out of an elderly tenant’s bank account over the course of about a year and a half. Authorities said an investigation, determined that the now 89-year-old female victim, who has no ... ELIZABETH, NJ - Natalia Calderon-Diaz, 33, of Elizabeth is charged with a single count of ... SCOTCH PLAINS/FANWOOD, NJ -- Joined by 50 friends, family, and fellow artists, local music talent Billy Wilkins released his first ever EP titled, Better, at a launch party catered by Scotch Plains’ own Florence Ravioli at Platinum Sound Studios in New York City on Sept. 4. "I wanted to celebrate this milestone release by inviting people in to listen to the EP front to back accompanied by ... SCOTCH PLAINS/FANWOOD, NJ -- Joined by 50 friends, family, and fellow artists, local music talent ... | Mid | [
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368 F.3d 356 Debra GARIETY; Horst O. Bischoff, as Trustee of Bischoff Family Trust; Pamela Hanyzewki; John J. Cline; Thomas Allen, Individually and on Behalf of all Others Similarly Situated; Thomas J. Shannon, Jr., as Trustee, Natural Parent and Guardian of; SMV Holding Company, PLL; Vincent Paul; Charles Thornton, Individually and as Trustee, SEP; Fred L. Millner; Warren H. Hyde; Caryl Hyde; Teen Response, Incorporated; Elizabeth B. Sponseller; Michael J. Sponseller; Terry Overholser; and Lawrence Corman, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees, andCrystal N. Shannon; City National Bank, a banking corporation; Coast Partners Financial Corporation, formerly known as Coast Partners Securities, Incorporated, a California Corporation, Plaintiffs, andFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Intervenor-Plaintiff,v.GRANT THORNTON, LLP, Defendant-Appellant, andHerman & Cormany; Michael Graham; Billy Jean Cherry; Terry Lee Church; Estate Of J. Knox McConnell, Philip C. Petty, Administrator; Louis J. Pais; Michael F. Gibson; Andrew L. Rago; Julian G. Budnick; Gary Ellis; J & J Construction Company; Hermie Church; Diversified Capital Markets; Michael Patterson; E.E. Powell & Company, Incorporated; John Does 1-100; Robert Wagner; Quantum Capital Corporation; Ferris, Baker, Watts, Incorporated; Scott & Stringfellow; Nancy Vorono; Gunnallen Financial Incorporated; Jack Ingold; Regis Securities Corporation, a/k/a Quantum Securities Corporation; Nancy Vargo; Tom Dooley; Garvin Tankersley; Ellen Turpin; Lora McKinney; Michael Patterson, Incorporated; Kutak Rock; Alan D. Strasser, An Individual; Michael D. Lambert, An Individual; Vida Headrick; Evelyn Herron; Jeanie Wimmer; Virginia Burks; Debra Bailey; Susan Dalton; Robbin White; Constance Evans, Defendants, andMelissa Quizenbeury; Hog Pen Enterprises, Incorporated; JLT Enterprises; Keystone Hardware; C & H Ranch; Marbil, Incorporated; HC & TC Trust; Dolores Hughes; Bill Pack; Wendy Pack; Tammy Fisher; Larry Fisher; Herman Fisher; Judy Kahl; Andrew T. Rapoff; Donna Marie Rapoff; Michael A. Rapoff; Danny Rapoff; Nancy E. Kelanon; David Rapoff; Andrew J. Rapoff; Michael J. Cherry; Roslyn A. Cherry; Leah M. Cherry; Rachel L. Cherry; Daniel T. Halsey; Sunrise Automotive Group, Incorporated; Nancy E. Kelahan; Terry L. Rose, Intervenors-Defendants, andH. Lynden Graham, Jr., Trustee,v.Advanta Mortgage Corporation USA; Celink, Incorporated, formerly known as Compulink Service, Incorporated, Third Party Defendants, andHargrave Military Academy, a non-profit corporation; Waynesburg College, a non-profit corporation; Michael Cherry; Timmy Cline; Vickie Cline; The Office Of The Comptroller Of The Currency; First Commerce Of America, Parties in Interest.United Bank, Incorporated, formerly known as United National Bank; Terry Witt; Gregory Witt; David Witt; Scott Witt; Gary Witt; Dennis Witt, Movants. No. 03-1629. United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. Argued: February 27, 2004. Decided: May 12, 2004. ARGUED: Stanley Julius Parzen, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, L.L.P., Chicago, Illinois, for Appellant. Sigmund S. WissnerGross, Heller, Horowitz & Feit, P.C., New York, New York, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: John H. Tinney, Kimberley R. Fields, The Tinney Law Firm, Charleston, West Virginia; James C. Schroeder, Daniel G. Hildebrand, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, L.L.P., Chicago, Illinois; Mark W. Ryan, Andrew J. Morris, Craig Isenberg, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Joshua I. Barrett, Ditrapino, Barrett & Dipiero, P.L.L.C., Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellees. Before NIEMEYER and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed in part, vacated in part and remanded by published opinion. Judge NIEMEYER wrote the opinion, in which Judge SHEDD and Senior Judge HAMILTON joined. NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge: 1 Grant Thornton LLP, a national accounting firm, appeals the district court's interlocutory order certifying this action as a class action to adjudicate the plaintiffs' securities-fraud claims against Grant Thornton in connection with the 1999 demise of the First National Bank of Keystone in Keystone, West Virginia. Grant Thornton contends principally that the district court, in finding that the predominance requirement of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3) was satisfied, erred in accepting at face value the plaintiffs' allegations that the reliance element of their fraud claims could be presumed under a "fraud-on-the-market" theory without determining whether the plaintiffs had any basis for making the allegations. The district court, concerned about making findings that would overlap with and therefore prejudice issues on the merits, concluded that the plaintiffs' assertions alone were "enough at the certification stage" to justify certifying a class action under Rule 23(b)(3). 2 As more fully discussed below, we conclude that the district court's reliance on mere assertions did not fulfill the requirements that the district court take a "close look" at relevant matters, conduct a "rigorous analysis," and make findings in determining whether the plaintiffs have demonstrated that the requirements of Rule 23(b)(3) have been satisfied. We conclude, however, that the district court did not abuse its discretion, as argued by Grant Thornton, in its appointment of two of the plaintiffs as lead class representatives. Accordingly, we affirm in part and vacate in part the district court's certification order, and we remand this case for further proceedings. 3 * Until the early 1990s, the First National Bank of Keystone ("Keystone") was a relatively small community bank in McDowell County, West Virginia. In 1992, Keystone embarked on a growth strategy through which it became a niche lender focusing on subprime mortgage loans (i.e., loans extended to higher risk borrowers), and in late 1993, it began buying Federal Housing Authority home improvement loans, pooling them, and selling shares in them to investors — a process called loan securitization. To pursue its loan securitization business, Keystone entered into financing relationships with other banks, paying higher than normal interest rates. In 1997, Keystone began to securitize its own high loan-to-value loans made to highly leveraged borrowers with little or no collateral. During these years, Keystone made its highly risky securitization business its principal business. From 1992, when Keystone had assets of $107 million, to 1999, Keystone's business grew almost tenfold. In 1995, Keystone was reported to be one of the most profitable community banks in the nation, and by 1999, it reported assets of $1.1 billion. Keystone was listed No. 1 in American Banker's June 1999 list of "the 75 most profitable large community banks," with a "whopping" 7.24% return on average assets in 1998. 4 From 1992 until 1999, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") examined Keystone's books annually, but the examinations proved unsatisfactory to OCC because of mutual distrust and the bank's resistance to examiners' findings. The examinations repeatedly uncovered unsafe and unsound banking practices and regulatory violations, yet OCC enforcement actions proved largely ineffective. In May 1998, pursuant to an agreement with the OCC to hire an outside auditor, Keystone hired the accounting firm of Grant Thornton LLP. Grant Thornton issued an audit report on April 19, 1999 (the "Audit Report"), which revealed no problem in Keystone's statement of assets. The July 1999 edition of Walker's Manual of Unlisted Stocks included a one-page write-up of Keystone that identified Grant Thornton as Keystone's auditor and that reported summary figures taken from Grant Thornton's Audit Report. During the period that Grant Thornton was Keystone's accountant, Grant Thornton also participated to some extent in the preparation of Keystone's "Call Reports," which Keystone filed quarterly with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"). These Call Reports were available to the public on the FDIC website. 5 While OCC's examinations of Keystone generally focused on the credit risk associated with subprime mortgage loan securitizations, it was not until August 1999 that OCC independently verified that Keystone was unable to substantiate $515 million in loan assets, constituting almost one-half of its assets. On September 1, 1999, the OCC announced that Keystone was insolvent, and it closed the bank. A few months later, the FDIC's Bank Insurance Fund determined that the Keystone failure would cost the Fund between $750 and $850 million, making the loss one of the largest in history. A subsequent investigation by the Office of Inspector General determined that Keystone had been suffering heavy losses early in its growth period and that by late 1996 Keystone had become insolvent. Keystone concealed its financial condition by continuing to record loans as assets even after they had been sold to investors as part of a securitized loan pool. The Office of Inspector General concluded that "[a]lleged fraudulent accounting practices, uncooperative bank management and reported high profitability may have all served to mask the bank's true financial condition from OCC examiners." 6 The plaintiffs, who were purchasers of Keystone stock during the period after Grant Thornton issued its Audit Report on April 19, 1999, and before the OCC closed the bank on September 1, 1999, commenced this action to recover damages suffered by reason of the bank's failure. The plaintiffs proposed to represent a class of all purchasers of Keystone stock during the April-to-September period. Their amended complaint, which alleged four counts of federal securities fraud and seven counts of fraud under state law, named as defendants Grant Thornton, other accountants, former Keystone directors and officers, broker-dealers, and other Keystone stockholders who allegedly dumped Keystone stock based on inside information. 7 Plaintiffs settled their claims with a number of the defendants, including Keystone's former auditors, Keystone's outside directors, and certain of the broker defendants. To implement the settlement agreement, the district court certified a class and, after a final fairness hearing conducted on June 23, 2003, approved the class settlement as to the settling defendants. No one objected to the settlement, and it has now become final. Grant Thornton, however, was not a party to the settlement and has continued to defend this action. 8 In the complaint's counts against Grant Thornton, the plaintiffs alleged violations of § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, as well as five state common-law counts for fraud, constructive fraud, negligent misrepresentation, aiding and abetting tortious conduct, and civil conspiracy. The plaintiffs alleged that Grant Thornton "participated in falsifying certain material financial information regarding Keystone" and issued the Audit Report "knowing that at least $515 million of Keystone's assets ... did not exist, or at a minimum, recklessly representing that such assets did exist." They also alleged that Keystone insiders illegally dumped Keystone stock at inflated prices with the participation of certain stockbrokers who, when pitching Keystone, relied on, and in some cases provided class members with, the Audit Report, the write-up in Walker's Manual, the Call Reports, and the American Banker ratings. The plaintiffs purport to represent a class consisting of 150 or more persons who purchased stock between April 19, 1999 (the date of the Audit Report) and September 1, 1999 (the date when the OCC closed Keystone). During the class period, these class members engaged in approximately 244 trades of Keystone stock involving, in the aggregate, 130,500 shares. 9 In their motion to certify the action as a class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3), the plaintiffs recognized that the element of reliance in their fraud claims "may require individualized determinations." To satisfy commonality and the predominance of common issues, however, they relied on a "presumption of reliance" that can be made under a "fraud-on-the-market theory" when shares are purchased in an efficient market. Pointing to the allegations of their complaint, they maintained that they "adequately alleged that the market for Keystone stock did in fact exhibit the five hallmarks of an efficient market," as necessary for a fraud-on-the-market theory. Consequently, they claimed that they were entitled to a presumption of reliance, which would permit the district court to find fulfilled the requirement of Rule 23(b)(3) that common issues predominate over issues involving only individual class members. 10 By an order dated March 28, 2003, the district court ruled that plaintiffs could maintain this action as a class action under Rule 23(b)(3), and it appointed Horst Bischoff and Debra Gariety as lead representative plaintiffs. In its order, the court acknowledged that "plaintiffs were in fact exposed to differing combinations of omissions and misrepresentations, including some oral, making individual reliance a live issue." To conclude that common issues predominated over individualized ones, as required by Rule 23(b)(3), the court relied on a presumption of reliance based on a fraud-on-the-market theory, which requires that the plaintiffs have purchased in an efficient market for Keystone stock. In response to Grant Thornton's argument that the plaintiffs were not entitled to the presumption because Keystone stock was not in fact traded on an efficient market, the court stated: 11 This court declines to make a detailed examination here of the efficiency of the market in which Keystone shares were traded because it would require the court to make judgments and conclusions regarding the extent and nature of the fraud alleged by the plaintiffs. Such determinations, in the absence of the procedural safeguards available at trial or the legal standard of sufficiency for summary judgment, could theoretically prejudice a party.... The court finds the fact that the plaintiffs have asserted that the Keystone market was efficient is enough at the certification stage to find the market efficient. 12 In response to Grant Thornton's additional argument that Rule 23(b)(3) could not be satisfied because plaintiffs' claims involved the application of laws from several different States, the district court acknowledged that the laws of at least six States would apply but concluded, with little further explanation, that the variation in those laws was "minimal." 13 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(f), Grant Thornton requested permission to appeal the district court's interlocutory certification order, and on May 23, 2003, we granted that request. This appeal followed. II 14 The underlying principles for certifying a class action are not controverted. A district court may, in its discretion, order that an action proceed as a class action only if it finds that the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 have been satisfied. Every class action must satisfy the four requirements of Rule 23(a) — numerosity, typicality, commonality, and adequacy of representation, with "the final three requirements... `tend[ing] to merge.'" Broussard v. Meineke Disc. Muffler Shops, Inc., 155 F.3d 331, 337 (4th Cir.1998) (quoting Gen. Tel. Co. of the Southwest v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 157, n. 13, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982)). In addition, a proposed class must also satisfy the requirements of one of the three Rule 23(b) categories. In this case, the plaintiffs requested certification of the class under Rule 23(b)(3), which requires the court to find (1) that "questions of law or fact common to the members of the class predominate over any questions affecting only individual members" (the predominance requirement), and (2) that "a class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy" (the superiority requirement). Rule 23(b)(3)'s predominance requirement is "far more demanding" than Rule 23(a)'s commonality requirement and "tests whether proposed classes are sufficiently cohesive to warrant adjudication by representation." Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 623-24, 117 S.Ct. 2231, 138 L.Ed.2d 689 (1997). The plaintiffs who propose to represent the class bear the burden of demonstrating that the requirements of Rule 23 are satisfied. Lienhart v. Dryvit Sys., Inc., 255 F.3d 138, 146 (4th Cir.2001). 15 The claims on which the plaintiffs seek to proceed against Grant Thornton as representatives of a class are essentially securities-fraud claims under federal and state law. To prove a violation of the federal antifraud provisions of § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5, "a plaintiff must prove that, in connection with the purchase or sale of a security, (1) the defendant made a false statement or omission of material fact (2) with scienter (3) upon which the plaintiff justifiably relied (4) that proximately caused the plaintiff's damages." Longman v. Food Lion, Inc., 197 F.3d 675, 682 (4th Cir.1999) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). The parties agree that the requirements for state common law fraud and negligent misrepresentation have analogous elements. Because proof of reliance is generally individualized to each plaintiff allegedly defrauded, see Gunnells v. Healthplan Servs., Inc., 348 F.3d 417, 434-35 (4th Cir.2003), fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims are not readily susceptible to class action treatment, precluding certification of such actions as a class action. See id.; Broussard, 155 F.3d at 341; Andrews v. AT & T Co., 95 F.3d 1014, 1025 (11th Cir.1996) (decertifying class in part because "the plaintiffs would ... have to show, on an individual basis, that they relied on the misrepresentations, suffered injury as a result, and incurred a demonstrable amount of damages"); Castano v. Am. Tobacco Co., 84 F.3d 734, 745 (5th Cir.1996) (concluding that "a fraud class action cannot be certified when individual reliance will be an issue"). As the Supreme Court explained in Basic, Inc. v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224, 242, 108 S.Ct. 978, 99 L.Ed.2d 194 (1988), "[r]equiring proof of individualized reliance from each member of the proposed plaintiff class effectively would have prevented [plaintiffs] from proceeding with a class action, since individual issues then would have overwhelmed the common ones." Both the plaintiffs and the district court recognized the barriers to certifying a class action where proof of individualized reliance would have to be proved because such individual issues would then likely "overwhelm" the common ones and preclude the court from finding satisfaction of the predominance requirement of Rule 23(b)(3). 16 Reliance can, however, be treated as a common issue if it is presumed under the theory that the defendants defrauded the market — not the individual plaintiffs — so long as the plaintiffs purchased their stock in an efficient market. The "fraud-on-the-market" theory was recognized by the Supreme Court in Basic as a way to litigate securities-fraud class actions. 17 In Basic, the Court acknowledged that Rule 10b-5 actions include a reliance element and recognized that proof of individualized reliance from each class member "effectively would have prevented" the plaintiff from proceeding with a class action, given the commonality and predominance requirements of Rules 23(a)(2) and 23(b)(3). 485 U.S. at 242, 108 S.Ct. 978. But the Court held that this barrier could be overcome with a rebuttable presumption of reliance that may be applied through a fraud-on-the-market theory. Id. at 241-49, 108 S.Ct. 978. Quoting the Third Circuit, Basic described the theory as follows: 18 "The fraud on the market theory is based on the hypothesis that, in an open and developed securities market, the price of a company's stock is determined by the available material information regarding the company and its business.... Misleading statements will therefore defraud purchasers of stock even if the purchasers do not directly rely on the misstatements.... The causal connection between the defendants' fraud and the plaintiffs' purchase of stock in such a case is no less significant than in the case of direct reliance on misrepresentations." 19 Id. at 241-42, 108 S.Ct. 978 (quoting Peil v. Speiser, 806 F.2d 1154, 1160-61 (3d Cir.1986)). The Basic Court emphasized the difference between "modern securities markets, literally involving millions of shares changing hands daily, [and] the face-to-face transactions contemplated by early fraud cases...." Id. at 243-44, 108 S.Ct. 978. With face-to-face transactions, the reliance inquiry focuses on the "subjective pricing" of information before an investor. Id. at 244, 108 S.Ct. 978. In a modern securities market, by contrast, 20 "the market is interposed between seller and buyer and, ideally, transmits information to the investor in the processed form of a market price. Thus the market is performing a substantial part of the valuation process performed by the investor in a face-to-face transaction. The market is acting as the unpaid agent of the investor, informing him that given all the information available to it, the value of the stock is worth the market price." 21 Id. (quoting In re LTV Sec. Litig., 88 F.R.D. 134, 143 (N.D.Tex.1980)). Persuaded that "the market price of shares traded on well-developed markets reflects all publicly available information, and, hence, any material misrepresentations," the Court concluded that "[a]n investor who buys or sells stock at the price set by the market does so in reliance on the integrity of that price." Id. at 246-47, 108 S.Ct. 978. The Court held that "[b]ecause most publicly available information is reflected in market price, an investor's reliance on any public material misrepresentations, therefore, may be presumed for purposes of a Rule 10b-5 action." Id. at 247, 108 S.Ct. 978. 22 Application of the reliance presumption is not, however, automatic in all federal securities-fraud actions. To gain the benefit of the presumption, a plaintiff must prove "(1) that the defendant made public misrepresentations; (2) that the misrepresentations were material; (3) that the shares were traded on an efficient market"; and (4) that the plaintiff purchased the shares after the misrepresentations but before the truth was revealed. Basic, 485 U.S. at 248 n. 27, 108 S.Ct. 978 (citing Levinson v. Basic, Inc., 786 F.2d 741, 750 (6th Cir.1986)). 23 In this case, Grant Thornton contends that the fraud-on-the-market theory cannot be applied to create the reliance presumption because (1) Keystone's shares were not traded on an efficient market, and (2) Grant Thornton did not make any public misrepresentations — i.e., misrepresentations on which the market could rely. It therefore contends that as a matter of law, the district court erred in applying the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance. Without that presumption, the plaintiffs must prove individualized reliance and therefore almost certainly cannot meet the requirement of 23(b) that common questions predominate over questions affecting only individual members. Grant Thornton also contends that the district court erred by "refusing to look beyond the pleadings" in determining that the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance applied in this case. 24 In its certification order, the district court recognized that "the predominance requirement can be a sticking point in securities class action certifications where fraud is alleged because individual issues of reliance on fraudulent misrepresentations may be such as to undercut a showing of predominance." Indeed, the court observed that in this case "plaintiffs were in fact exposed to differing combinations of omissions and misrepresentations, including some oral, making individual reliance a live issue." To overcome this barrier to finding predominance under Rule 23(b)(3), the district court applied a presumption of reliance through the fraud-on-the-market theory. In determining whether the conditions for application of this theory were satisfied, the court examined the plaintiffs' complaint and concluded that the complaint had adequately alleged the elements of a fraud-on-the-market theory, thereby justifying the creation of a presumption of reliance. Explaining its refusal to look beyond the complaint, the court stated that it was "declin[ing] to make a detailed examination here of the efficiency of the market in which Keystone shares were traded because it would require the court to make judgments and conclusions regarding the extent and nature of the fraud alleged by the plaintiffs." Citing Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin, 417 U.S. 156, 177-78, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974), for the proposition that "no inquiry into the merits of a case can be held at the certification stage," the district court simply relied on Keystone's allegations in the complaint and based on those allegations found that 25 the fact that the plaintiffs have asserted that the Keystone market was efficient is enough at the certification stage to find the market efficient.... The plaintiffs further assert that they all purchased Keystone stock during the period when the fraud they allege was perpetrated on the market. Accordingly, the plaintiffs have demonstrated to the satisfaction of the court that they are entitled to a presumption of reliance for their fraud claims under the Securities [] Exchange Act.* 26 We conclude that, by accepting the plaintiffs' allegations for purposes of certifying a class in this case, the district court failed to comply adequately with the procedural requirements of Rule 23. Rule 23(b)(3) on its face requires the court to "find [] that the questions of law or fact common to the members of the class predominate over any questions affecting only individual members...." (Emphasis added). In addition, the Rule lists numerous factors for the court to consider in making its "findings." If it were appropriate for a court simply to accept the allegations of a complaint at face value in making class action findings, every complaint asserting the requirements of Rule 23(a) and (b) would automatically lead to a certification order, frustrating the district court's responsibilities for taking a "close look" at relevant matters, Amchem, 521 U.S. at 615, 117 S.Ct. 2231, for conducting a "rigorous analysis" of such matters, Falcon, 457 U.S. at 161, 102 S.Ct. 2364, and for making "findings" that the requirements of Rule 23 have been satisfied, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(3). Moreover, if courts could only consider the pleadings, then "parties would have wide latitude to inject frivolous issues to bolster or undermine a finding of predominance." Robert G. Bone & David S. Evans, Class Certification and the Substantive Merits, 51 Duke L.J. 1251, 1269 (2002). 27 When Rule 23(c), which originally required certification orders to be made "as soon as practicable after commencement of [the] action," was amended in 2003 to require the court to determine class certifications "at an early practicable time," the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules explained the preexisting and longstanding practice that prompted the change: 28 Time may be needed to gather information necessary to make the certification decision. Although an evaluation of the probable outcome on the merits is not properly part of the certification decision, discovery in aid of the certification decision often includes information required to identify the nature of the issues that actually will be presented at trial. In this sense, it is appropriate to conduct controlled discovery into the "merits," limited to those aspects relevant to making the certification decision on an informed basis. 29 Fed.R.Civ.P. 23 advisory committee's note to 2003 amendments (emphasis added). 30 The Eisen decision, upon which the district court relied, does not require a court to accept plaintiffs' pleadings when assessing whether a class should be certified. In Eisen, the Supreme Court held that the district court's preliminary hearing on the merits of the case — concluding that the plaintiff was "more than likely" to prevail — was inappropriate for the purpose of determining whether a class action could be maintained. 417 U.S. at 177-78, 94 S.Ct. 2140. Eisen simply restricts a court from expanding the Rule 23 certification analysis to include consideration of whether the proposed class is likely to prevail ultimately on the merits. See Castano, 84 F.3d at 744; 5 Moore's Federal Practice ¶ 23.84[2][a] (3d ed.2003). As the Supreme Court itself stated in a post-Eisen case, "sometimes it may be necessary for the [district] court to probe behind the pleadings before coming to rest on the certification question." Falcon, 457 U.S. at 160, 102 S.Ct. 2364; see also Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay, 437 U.S. 463, 469, 98 S.Ct. 2454, 57 L.Ed.2d 351 (1978) ("[T]he class determination generally involves considerations that are enmeshed in the factual and legal issues comprising the plaintiff's cause of action" (internal quotation marks omitted)). 31 Thus, while an evaluation of the merits to determine the strength of plaintiffs' case is not part of a Rule 23 analysis, the factors spelled out in Rule 23 must be addressed through findings, even if they overlap with issues on the merits. Eisen's prohibition against assessing plaintiffs' likelihood of success on the merits as part of a Rule 23 certification does not mean that consideration of facts necessary to a Rule 23 determination is foreclosed merely because they are required to be proved as part of the merits. The analysis under Rule 23 must focus on the requirements of the rule, and if findings made in connection with those requirements overlap findings that will have to be made on the merits, such overlap is only coincidental. The findings made for resolving a class action certification motion serve the court only in its determination of whether the requirements of Rule 23 have been demonstrated. 32 The district court's concern that Rule 23 findings might prejudice later process on the merits need not lead to the conclusion that such findings cannot be made. The jury or factfinder can be given free hand to find all of the facts required to render a verdict on the merits, and if its finding on any fact differs from a finding made in connection with class action certification, the ultimate factfinder's finding on the merits will govern the judgment. A model for this process can be observed in the context of the preliminary injunction practice. Courts make factual findings in determining whether a preliminary injunction should issue, but those findings do not bind the jury adjudging the merits, and the jury's findings on the merits govern the judgment to be entered in the case. See, e.g., Univ. of Tex. v. Camenisch, 451 U.S. 390, 395, 101 S.Ct. 1830, 68 L.Ed.2d 175 (1981). 33 At bottom, we agree with the conclusion reached by the Seventh Circuit when it observed: 34 The proposition that a district judge must accept all of the complaint's allegations when deciding whether to certify a class cannot be found in Rule 23 and has nothing to recommend it.... Before deciding whether to allow a case to proceed as a class action ... a judge should make whatever factual and legal inquiries are necessary under Rule 23.... And if some of the considerations under Rule 23(b)(3) ... overlap the merits ... then the judge must make a preliminary inquiry into the merits. 35 Szabo v. Bridgeport Machs., Inc., 249 F.3d 672, 675-76 (7th Cir.2001). 36 We must not lose sight of the fact that when a district court considers whether to certify a class action, it performs the public function of determining whether the representative parties should be allowed to prosecute the claims of absent class members. Were the court to defer to the representative parties on this responsibility by merely accepting their assertions, the court would be defaulting on the important responsibility conferred on the courts by Rule 23 of carefully determining the class action issues and supervising the conduct of any class action certified. 37 Because the district court concededly failed to look beyond the pleadings and conduct a rigorous analysis of whether Keystone's shares traded in an efficient market, we must remand the case to permit the district court to conduct the analysis and make the findings required by Rule 23(b)(3). III 38 When the district court indicated that it was relying only on the plaintiffs' assertions to determine whether the predominance requirement had been satisfied, the court also said that "had it chosen to make an investigation into [the] efficiency of the market in question," it would have found evidence to support a finding of market efficiency, citing the drop in price of Keystone shares during the days after the OCC closed the bank. Not only does this hypothetical finding fail to comport with the rigorous analysis required when determining whether a case may proceed as a class action, but it also overlooks the substantive requirements that a plaintiff must satisfy to sustain the fraud-on-the-market theory. 39 The fraud-on-the-market theory was recognized as a surrogate for individualized reliance, creating a presumption of reliance, based on the proposition that "[a]n investor who buys or sells stock at the price set by the market does so in reliance on the integrity of that price." Basic, 485 U.S. at 247, 108 S.Ct. 978. The fraud-on-the-market theory "interpret[s] the reliance requirement to mean reliance on the integrity of the market price rather than reliance on the challenged disclosure." Daniel R. Fischel, Efficient Capital Markets, the Crash, and the Fraud on the Market Theory, 74 Cornell L.Rev. 907, 908 (1989). In contrast to face-to-face transactions, where an investor has no reason to rely on the integrity of an offered price because the price may not reflect available information, "[t]he central premise of the fraud on the market theory is that prices of actively traded securities reflect publicly available information." Id. at 911; see also Basic, 485 U.S. at 243-44, 108 S.Ct. 978 (quoting In re LTV Sec. Litig., 88 F.R.D. at 143) (contrasting face-to-face transactions with modern securities markets). For face-to-face transactions, the reliance requirement serves 40 to ensure that the plaintiffs who would not have acted differently if the true information were known cannot recover. The requirement guarantees, in other words, that information that does not affect a buyer's or seller's view of the merits of a transaction cannot form the basis of a cause of action. In organized markets, however, the market has already performed the function of distinguishing between unimportant and important information. 41 Daniel R. Fischel, Use of Modern Finance Theory in Securities Fraud Cases Involving Actively Traded Securities, 38 Bus. Law. 1 (1982). A reasonable investor will rely on the integrity of the market price, however, only if the market is efficient, because in an efficient market, "the market price has integrity[;] ... it adjusts rapidly to reflect all new information." Jonathan R. Macey & Geoffrey P. Miller, Good Finance, Bad Economics: An Analysis of the Fraud-on-the-Market Theory, 42 Stan. L.Rev. 1059, 1060 (1990). Only in those circumstances, therefore, may a court presume reliance and avoid individualized inquiries. 42 Although Basic clearly requires that a market be efficient in order for the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance to be invoked, 485 U.S. at 248 n. 27, 108 S.Ct. 978, the decision offers little guidance for determining whether a market is efficient. The Court does refer to "modern securities markets, literally involving millions of shares changing hands daily," id. at 243, 108 S.Ct. 978, but that is obviously a general statement offered as a contrast to face-to-face transactions and is not meant as a necessary requirement for finding that a market is efficient. Of more relevance, but only of limited guidance, are the Court's references to an "open and developed" market and an "impersonal, well-developed market." See id. at 241, 247, 108 S.Ct. 978. 43 Nonetheless, it is recognized that it is "[r]ivalrous competition among market professionals [that] drives securities prices to their efficient levels." Macey & Miller, supra, at 1086; see also West v. Prudential Sec., Inc., 282 F.3d 935, 937 (7th Cir.2002) ("The theme of Basic and other fraud-on-the-market decisions is that public information reaches professional investors, whose evaluations of that information and trades quickly influence securities prices"); Eckstein v. Balcor Film Investors, 8 F.3d 1121, 1129 (7th Cir.1993) ("Competition among savvy investors leads to a price that impounds all available information, even knowledge that is difficult to articulate. We call a market `efficient' because the price reflects a consensus about the value of the security being traded ..."). Thus, "[t]he more thinly traded the stock, the less well the price reflects the latest pieces of information." Eckstein, 8 F.3d at 1130. 44 As a consequence, to determine whether a security trades on an efficient market, a court should consider factors such as, among others, whether the security is actively traded, the volume of trades, and the extent to which it is followed by market professionals. See, e.g., Cammer v. Bloom, 711 F.Supp. 1264, 1285-87 (D.N.J.1989) (examining (1) average trading volume, (2) number of securities analysts following the stock, (3) number of market makers, (4) whether the company was entitled to file an S-3 Registration Statement, if relevant, and (5) evidence of a cause and effect relationship between unexpected news and stock-price changes). 45 While the district court's brief allusion to the drop in the price of Keystone's shares during the days after the OCC announced that Keystone was insolvent reflects the assimilation of market information at its grossest level, that single piece of information, standing alone, does not represent adequate evidence that the plaintiffs in this case purchased their shares of Keystone stock in an efficient market. But this is not to say that there is no other evidence for the court to consider. There is. Substantial discovery has taken place since the district court issued its certification order, and on remand, the court is free to consider matters developed through this discovery, as well as other matters it considers appropriate for making its Rule 23 findings. IV 46 Also in connection with the issue of whether the district court conducted a sufficiently rigorous analysis of the predominance requirement of Rule 23(b)(3), Grant Thornton contends (1) that the district court did not adequately determine whether Grant Thornton made public misrepresentations as required to show fraud-on-the-market, and (2) that the district court did not adequately review the state law that would be applied to resolve the state-law claims, nor did it determine whether application of those laws would preclude a finding that the predominance requirement has been satisfied. We address these two points seriatim. 47 * Grant Thornton properly notes that in order to rely on presumed reliance flowing from an application of the fraud-on-the-market theory, the plaintiffs must demonstrate, among other things, that the defendant made a public misrepresentation. See Basic, 485 U.S. at 248 n. 27, 108 S.Ct. 978. It also notes that such a misrepresentation must be directly attributable to Grant Thornton and not to some other person, because liability under § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 does not include aiding and abetting liability. See Cent. Bank of Denver v. First Interstate Bank of Denver, 511 U.S. 164, 114 S.Ct. 1439, 128 L.Ed.2d 119 (1994). In Central Bank, the Supreme Court observed that aiding and abetting liability would, if recognized, permit plaintiffs to "circumvent the reliance requirement" because a "defendant could be liable without any showing that the plaintiff relied upon the aider and abettor's statements or actions." Id. at 180, 114 S.Ct. 1439; see also Anixter v. Home-Stake Prod. Co., 77 F.3d 1215, 1225 (10th Cir.1996) ("The critical element separating primary from aiding and abetting violations is the existence of a representation, either by statement or omission, made by the defendant, that is relied upon by the plaintiff"). 48 In this case, the plaintiffs contend that Grant Thornton can be held liable for public misrepresentations from (1) the contents of its Audit Report; (2) its alleged substantial participation in the preparation of Keystone's Call Reports filed with the FDIC; and (3) "the verbatim recitation of financial information contained in the Audit Report included in Walker's Manual." Grant Thornton argues that it could not be so liable because the Audit Report was not publicly filed and Grant Thornton was not the author, nor credited as the author, of the FDIC Call Reports or the summary contained in Walker's Manual. 49 In addressing this issue and reaching the conclusion that the plaintiffs fulfilled the requirement in this respect for satisfying the fraud-on-the-market theory, the district court again relied on mere allegations made by the plaintiffs that Grant Thornton "actively falsified Call Reports sent to the FDIC," that "the falsified reports influenced public opinion about Keystone," and that Walker's Manual contained a summary of the Audit Report. Because the district court must, on remand, make a finding of whether common issues predominate over individual issues in the context of reliance and the application of fraud-on-the-market theory, it should also address more completely whether Grant Thornton made a public misrepresentation for which it may be found primarily liable. See Wright v. Ernst & Young LLP, 152 F.3d 169, 175 (2d Cir.1998) ("[A] secondary actor cannot incur primary liability under the [Securities Exchange] Act for a statement not attributed to that actor at the time of its dissemination"); Anixter, 77 F.3d at 1226 ("[F]or an accountant's misrepresentation to be actionable as a primary violation, ... [he] must [himself] make a false or misleading statement (or omission) that [he] know[s] or should know will reach potential investors"). But see In re Software Toolworks, Inc. Sec. Litig., 50 F.3d 615, 628 n. 3 (9th Cir.1994) (acknowledging Central Bank and holding that a secondary actor can be primarily liable under § 10(b) if the actor "played a significant role" in the preparation of fraudulent statements). B 50 Apart from the fraud-on-the-market theory, Grant Thornton contends that because the law of several States will have to be applied to resolve state law claims, such individual determinations would preclude a finding of predominance under Rule 23(b)(3). 51 The district court allowed that the laws of at least six States are applicable, and the plaintiffs do not dispute Grant Thornton's characterization of these laws as including a reliance requirement. Moreover, as Grant Thornton points out, the laws of the six States identified relate only to the 16 representative parties and not to the absent class members. The proposed class includes 150 or more persons, and with respect to the absent class members, the applicable state law has not yet been identified. The plaintiffs have the burden of showing that common questions of law predominate, and they cannot meet this burden when the various laws have not been identified and compared. Moreover, with the potential for individualized reliance determinations having to be made under the law of at least six different States, the district court did not explain why it could find the predominance requirement satisfied. At least four of the States identified so far have declined to adopt the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance to substitute for finding individualized reliance. See In re Medimmune, Inc. Sec. Litig., 873 F.Supp. 953, 968 (D.Md.1995); Kaufman v. i-Stat Corp., 165 N.J. 94, 754 A.2d 1188, 1200-01 (2000); Ackerman v. Price Waterhouse, 252 A.D.2d 179, 683 N.Y.S.2d 179, 192 (App.Div.1998); Kahler v. E.F. Hutton, 558 So.2d 144, 145 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1990). And, as we have indicated, individual inquiries into reliance typically preclude a finding that common issues of fact predominate. See Gunnells, 348 F.3d at 434-35; Broussard, 155 F.3d at 341; see also Castano, 84 F.3d at 745 (going so far as to hold that "a fraud class action cannot be certified when individual reliance will be an issue"). 52 Because the plaintiffs bear the burden in this regard of demonstrating satisfaction of the Rule 23 requirements and the district court is required to make findings on whether the plaintiffs carried their burden, we also commend this issue to the district court for further development on remand. V 53 Finally, Grant Thornton contends that the district court abused its discretion in appointing Horst Bischoff and Debra Gariety as lead class representatives under Rule 23(a)(4). With respect to Bischoff, Grant Thornton contends that he is "incapable of directing this litigation" because "he testified repeatedly [in his deposition] that any knowledge that he had about this case was acquired solely from his attorneys, and that his lawyers make the decisions in this case." As to Gariety, Grant Thornton argues that because the court denied her motion to be lead plaintiff pursuant to the Private Litigation Securities Litigation Reform Act ("PSLRA"), 15 U.S.C. § 77z-1(a)(3)(B)(i), she should not be allowed to serve as a lead class representative under Rule 23(a)(4). 54 The district court found that "whatever challenges Mr. Bischoff may face as a class representative," he "has demonstrated that he is adequately involved in the litigation by reading pleadings and conferring with Ms. Gariety and his counsel regarding strategy." We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in making this finding. 55 With respect to allowing Gariety to be a representative party even though she was denied the role as the lead plaintiff pursuant to the PSLRA, we again conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion. Pursuant to the PSLRA, the court simply determined which plaintiff was the "most capable of adequately representing the interests of class members." See id. (emphasis added). The district court "felt that Bischoff was simply a better lead plaintiff" and "did not find that Gariety ... was a per se inadequate lead plaintiff." In reaching this conclusion under the PSLRA, the district court did not preclude a subsequent ruling that Gariety could serve as a lead class representative under Rule 23(a)(4), and its decision in this regard has not been shown to constitute an abuse of discretion. 56 AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED Notes: * While the court stated it was declining to make any detailed examination of the efficiency of the market in this case, it also stated that "had it chosen to make an investigation into the efficiency of the market in question, there [was] evidence in this case that could support a finding of market efficiency," citing to the single fact that the shares dropped in value over the period of a couple of days after the OCC announced that it had closed the bank. Had the court conducted an inquiry into the facts presented about the market for Keystone stock, however, it would have been confronted with at least a serious question about whether plaintiffs in this case could demonstrate that they purchased their shares on a market sufficiently efficient to act as a surrogate for reliance. Prior to June 25, 1999, Keystone stock was unlisted, and thereafter it was listed only in the "Pink Sheets" and the Nasdaq OTC Bulletin Board. Moreover, during the entire class period, there were only 244 trades, with an average of 2.5 trades a day. More importantly, during the relevant trading period, there were days on which the spread between the bid and the ask price was nearly 30%. While that volatility was not constant, it existed in varying degrees at various times during the period of relevant trading. If the district court were to take such facts into account, it would have been faced with formidable evidence that the generally accepted criteria for an efficient market might not have been satisfied during the period from April to September 1999 | Low | [
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Equilibrium (2002) 1 hour 47 min In a dystopian future, a totalitarian regime maintains peace by subduing the populace with a drug, and displays of emotion are punishable by death. A man in charge of enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system. | Low | [
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According to new research, the COVID-19 pandemic has sprung up unexpected and revealing patterns among cryptocurrency traders. Hadar Y. Jabotinsky And Roee Sarel observed in their paper entitled “How Crisis affects Crypto: Coronavirus as a Test Case,” posted to the Oxford University Law Faculty blog, that the crypto markets were taking a pronounced U-turn midway through the crisis. Analyzing the period January 1–March 11, the researchers found that initially both the spot market prices and the overall volume of trading increased as the number of COVID-19 cases identified increased. This positive correlation then reversed, and investors began to pull their cash out of the crypto and declining markets began. Empirical Insights The researchers argue that the initially positive correlation between the spreading virus and an increase in market cap and crypto volume implies that at first, traders viewed crypto as a reliable source of liquidity and an effective safe haven asset. Yet after the number of global cases hit 50,000, this trend started to reverse around Feb. 28, with investors appearing to react even more strongly to the number of deaths than to new infections. They note that around the time that total cases hit 50,000, the number of newly-identified infections started to slow down. This may indicate that traders interpreted an apparent lull in disease spread as a positive sign for financial markets, prompting them to move back to traditional assets. Notably, this negative momentum in the crypto sector did not reverse back then, even as the number of new cases began to exponentially increase again in early March. Conclusions for Regulators The paper draws several key conclusions from these findings, noting that cryptocurrency markets could be understood in one view as a source of systemic risk to the traditional financial system in times of crisis, especially given that the new sector has become increasingly interconnected with legacy financial institutions. While a mass exit from the traditional markets to crypto may aggravate the instability of the system, the researchers note that the lessons to be learned are that regulation must be targeted and, crucially, time-sensitive. An intervention that comes too early or too late will be counter-productive, because crypto markets do not seem to respond linearly to the crisis: “Insofar that the initial uptake in cryptomarket occurs due to pure externalities – so that market players do not internalize the risk – regulation would be welcome. On the flipside, any regulation must be careful not to undermine the benefits which make the cryptomarket potentially more reliable at a time of crisis.” Crypto can potentially offer investors a viable lifeline at key junctures during times of macroeconomic stress — one that should not be stifled by unjustified intrusion: “In particular, if traditional markets crash, firms can raise funds by issuing security tokens – which would ease liquidity constraints and reduce the risk of a bank run.” As reported earlier this week, during the pandemic, a crypto-based app that helps users create an emergency microeconomy has reported an enormous increase in monthly downloads. 0 0 vote Article Rating | Mid | [
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Nature employs a set of 20 amino acids to produce a repertoire of protein structures endowed with sophisticated functions. Here, we combined design and selection to create an enzyme composed entirely from a set of only 9 amino acids that can rescue auxotrophic cells lacking chorismate mutase. The simplified protein captures key structural features of its natural counterpart but appears to be somewhat less stable and more flexible. The potential of a dramatically reduced amino acid alphabet to produce an active catalyst supports the notion that primordial enzymes may have possessed low amino acid diversity and suggests that combinatorial engineering strategies, such as the one used here, may be generally applied to create enzymes with novel structures and functions. | High | [
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[Wenzel Leopold Gruber (1814-1890)]. Gruber was born in Krukanice, a small village near to Pilsen on September 24, 1814. He started his medical studies in Prague at 1834. He became doctor of surgery in 1842, and in 1844 was conferred doctor of medicine. He was prosector of normal anatomy at the University of Prague in 1842-1847. Although qualified, he was unable to achieve a professorship in his native country. Therefore, in 1846, on the initiative of Pirogov, he was invited to become the first prosector for normal, practical, and pathological anatomy at the Medical Academy in St. Petersburg. From 1855, Gruber was entrusted the directorship of practical anatomy, remaining at that position for some 30 years. He died on September 30 1890 of stroke in Vienna. Gruber played an active role in the establishment of the anatomical-physiological institute in Petersburg and founded here a museum. As one of the most experienced and active anatomists, Gruber published, over a period of 41 years, almost 500 scientific works. | Mid | [
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Glenn Reynolds Says Proud Member of the Alliance Tuesday, May 02, 2006 Pro Illegals Take Notice Herndon, Virginia- Take notice that Steve DeBenedittis has beaten incumbent Michael O'Reilly. Steve DeBenedittis was against the illegal alien labor center that was a news storm a while back. There is more! It seems the voters unseated all those who supported the labor center. Heh. The Wapo has this: Herndon voters yesterday unseated the mayor and Town Council members who supported a bitterly debated day-labor center for immigrant workers in a contest that emerged as a mini-referendum on the turbulent national issue of illegal immigration.Residents replaced the incumbents with a group of challengers who immediately called for significant changes at the center. Some want to bar public funds from being spent on the facility or restrict it to workers residing in the country legally. Others want it moved to an industrial site away from the residential neighborhood where it is located. This issue will play big time in the upcoming senate race. Illegal is illegal and the voters in Herndon have made that clear. This plays in Sen Allen's favor. The labor center was a reward for illegal behavior. Sen Allen has stated many times "we must not reward illegal behavior; rewarding illegal behavior will only encourage more illegal actions." His views on immigration can befound here. Pro illegals take notice! | High | [
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:mod:`pwd` --- The password database ==================================== .. module:: pwd :platform: Unix :synopsis: The password database (getpwnam() and friends). This module provides access to the Unix user account and password database. It is available on all Unix versions. Password database entries are reported as a tuple-like object, whose attributes correspond to the members of the ``passwd`` structure (Attribute field below, see ````): +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+ | Index | Attribute | Meaning | +=======+===============+=============================+ | 0 | ``pw_name`` | Login name | +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+ | 1 | ``pw_passwd`` | Optional encrypted password | +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+ | 2 | ``pw_uid`` | Numerical user ID | +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+ | 3 | ``pw_gid`` | Numerical group ID | +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+ | 4 | ``pw_gecos`` | User name or comment field | +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+ | 5 | ``pw_dir`` | User home directory | +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+ | 6 | ``pw_shell`` | User command interpreter | +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+ The uid and gid items are integers, all others are strings. :exc:`KeyError` is raised if the entry asked for cannot be found. .. note:: .. index:: module: crypt In traditional Unix the field ``pw_passwd`` usually contains a password encrypted with a DES derived algorithm (see module :mod:`crypt`). However most modern unices use a so-called *shadow password* system. On those unices the *pw_passwd* field only contains an asterisk (``'*'``) or the letter ``'x'`` where the encrypted password is stored in a file :file:`/etc/shadow` which is not world readable. Whether the *pw_passwd* field contains anything useful is system-dependent. If available, the :mod:`spwd` module should be used where access to the encrypted password is required. It defines the following items: .. function:: getpwuid(uid) Return the password database entry for the given numeric user ID. .. function:: getpwnam(name) Return the password database entry for the given user name. .. function:: getpwall() Return a list of all available password database entries, in arbitrary order. .. seealso:: Module :mod:`grp` An interface to the group database, similar to this. Module :mod:`spwd` An interface to the shadow password database, similar to this. | Low | [
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The Dreamtime This post has already been read 2712 times! I don’t dream very much, Susan once said to me. We were having a talk about some crazy dream I was recalling. They’re always crazy, of course. But the conversation was about whether we dream – all of us – whenever we sleep. I argued yes, we all do. We just don’t always remember them. I remember a lot of mine, at least for a few minutes after I awake. It helps if I talk about them right away, otherwise they evaporate pretty quickly. That’s the nature of dreaming: it’s just the random firing of neurons that activate memory, but isn’t intended to stay. Humans simply connect these unrelated memories and put them into a sequence that has some sort of narrative nature. Dreams are, as I understand them, just the random but necessary effects of sleep in mammals. They may occur in other animals like fish, birds, etc., but I don’t really know. I suspect that old reptilian brain buried deep in our grey matter is the source. I know that my dogs and cats dream, because I’ve watched and heard them dreaming. We dream, as I understand it, because our brains need the time to clear the buffers. Just like computers. For the same reason, we reboot our cable modems every few weeks; to clear it and reset the buffers. Humans do it nightly. Without sleep and dreams, we have simply too much “stuff” in our consciousness to handle and we’d become psychotic. Humans find meaning in pattern, and see patterns in everything. If we can find images of Jesus in the burnt bread of a grilled cheese sandwich, it’s hardly surprising we find a story in a dream. That’s just our pareidolia. It’s how we’re built. Last night I dreamt we were in England. London, in the summer. I was walking Keppie and Pico – our Flat-coated Retriever and Long-haired Chihuahua of 20 years ago, along the sidewalk. I was at the edge of a park (Kew Gardens?), a great green space, waiting beside the road for Susan to join us. Keppie was panting and eager, and sat down. I lifted Pico onto a low brick wall along the roadside to watch the traffic while we waited for her to arrive. She was on a bus. It came down a hill, around the corner and stopped in front of me, and I got on. Inside, it was all done in white, like our kitchen, with cupboards and cabinets. I started speaking to the passengers and found we were going to Mexico City. The bus went up a hill, and into a different city, a busy, crowded place. It stopped at a junkyard, and we got out. The dogs were gone. It was dangerous, but a man got out with us and told us it was perfectly safe. We entered a store that became a house where the owner – a young mechanic in a sleeveless T-shirt who was cleaning something – told us again it was safe and he would introduce us to people who liked Canadians. I was hot, and wanted to remove my leather motorcycle jacket, so I went into another room to do it, but my arms got tangled in the sleeves and I couldn’t get it off. The room was also almost all white. Everyone was waiting for me to come back so they could continue on. I struggled with the sleeves. Then I awoke. Meaningful? Not likely. More like a stew of random memories. I have fond memories of Mexico, England, my (now departed) pets, and, of course, Susan. Stepen LaBerge writes: Whether awake or asleep, the brain constructs a model of reality-consciousness from the best available sources of information. During waking, those sources are external sensory input in combination with internal contextual and motivational information. During sleep, little external information is available, so consciousness is constructed from internal sources. These include expectations derived from past experience, and motivations-wishes, such as S. Freud observed, but also fears. The resulting experiences are what we call dreams. In these terms, dreaming is perception free from external sensory constraint, while perception is dreaming constrained by sensory input-hallucinations that happen to be true. Dreams are simply an artificial and undirected construct – a fantasy world built from random snippets of memory and associations. Any meaning we ascribe is arbitrary. Dream interpretation is, Freud be damned, mostly fraud and snake oil sold by wanna-be psychics and hucksters. That doesn’t mean dreams don’t contain meaningful information, just that the interpretation is usually stretched or even bogus. Interpreting dreams is akin to seeing animals in clouds, or Jesus in grilled cheese. You can find a pattern if you look for it, because we’re biologically evolved to find patterns in everything, but like the “Face on Mars” we imagine more than we actually see. As for meaningful information – there’s no magic or paranormal in any of the associations. They all have an explicable, logical source. As for my dream… I’ve been to Mexico many times, including Mexico City and Morelia. I’ve been to England, and spent a couple of weeks in London. We recently discussed another visit there to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. My visit to England still resonates with me, every time we watch a BBC show – which we see far more often than we watch American TV. My affection for dogs I enjoy every day. I recently scanned some photos of our previous dogs – including Keppie and Pico – from a box of photos I pulled out of the basement a few weeks back. Leather jacket? One of my old motorcycle garments: we were discussing passing along or selling my bike wear when we clean the basement this spring, since I doubt I’ll ever be able to afford another bike. The bus with the white interior? Our kitchen, renovated last year and part of my daily life, just transposed into a vehicle. Buses? probably from the recent budget deliberations. Or a memory of transit rides in England. Or more recently some trips in Toronto and Ottawa. There’s nothing odd or paranormal in any of the images, or the memories; only when seen as a whole and you’re looking for narrative does it seem strange. What intrigues me is the mix of relatively old and new without any recognizable or logical connection. It shows me that the brain stores memories that the conscious may forget, but which can be brought to the surface any time. And that it doesn’t give a damn for coherency or narrative. If you’re looking for meaning in your dreams, don’t look any further than your own memories. Those websites that offer to translate your baffling dreams into coherency for a “small” fee are just skinning your cash. The rest are just codswallop. Especially those that use the words “psychic” or “astrologer” with their descriptions. That’s just malarkey piled on more malarkey. There is some real psychology in dream interpretation, but not on those sites. Diego’s Quotes "No humane being, past the thoughtless age of boyhood, will wantonly murder any creature which holds its life by the same tenure that he does. The hare in its extremity cries like a child. I warn you, mothers, that my sympathies do not always make the usual phil-anthropic distinctions."Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Ch. 11: Higher Laws | Mid | [
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Starting Spring Seedlings Posted on March 17, 2019 Despite waking up to snow falling yet again the other morning, spring does appear to finally be here in the Seattle area. We just happen to be at the right elevation in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains that we got snow that was sticking in the morning that then promptly melted quickly. But the forecast is showing a high of 70 degrees that I’m so excited about, that I’m planning to take the day off if that does pan out. We finished digging the main garden beds and there’s still a smaller one I need to dig for my little pumpkin patch but most of the hard work of digging, removing boulders in the ground and filtering out large pebbles is done. Next we need to put in cement bricks or pressure treated wood around each bed and fill them in with dirt. The ground is so incredibly rocky out here that the amount of rocks we removed left quite a bit of space that the dirt won’t fill in. I’ve never encountered so many rocks. Ryan picked out a few tools to help with our seedlings this year and it already feels like we’re ahead of the game since we didn’t start planting anything until May last year. We bought a grow light, warming mats and seedling trays. Shop Seedling Starter Supplies Within 2 days of planting the first set of seeds in the trays they started germinating. The warming mat is really the magic piece here. And here, 6 days later nearly everything has sprouted but there a few cells that don’t quite have anything sprouting up yet that I can see. The most aggressive and eager seeds were the hibiscus ones I planted. They were the first to shoot out of the soil and really take off. I had to move two of the little baby seedlings to new containers because of how much they grew in a matter of days. I’m very excited for my hibiscus plants as my friends make a delicious habanero hibiscus simple syrup for tequila cocktails. Buying Seeds In the autumn I purchased garlic to plant from a company called Territorial Seed Company, based out of Oregon. They sent me a seed catalogue over the winter because of that purchase and my eyes lit up looking through the catalogue. There are SO MANY varieties of things and you can buy seeds or plants (for certain produce & herbs) that I decided to order everything through them instead of going to a big box hardware and garden store, which of course has its uses but variety of seeds is not one of them. Next Steps Like I said we need to get the garden beds closed off and filled back in with dirt and my goal for the weekend was to build a trellis for my cucumber plants (but that was disrupted by our washer drain and a plumbing issue.) Then we still need to purchase some raspberry and strawberry plants. Those are the only items I didn’t order because the number of plants in an order was quite a bit more than we need at the moment. | Mid | [
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Q: Java SWT DateTime: Determine day of Week I have a DateTime widget with 3/9/2017. Based on the documentation for DateTime, I don't see a way to determine the day of the week. I'll eventually need a string parsed in this format "Wed Feb 22 14:57:34 UTC 2017" from the DateTime widget, but the first step is to get the day of the week. Is there a way to do this outside of making my own function? And if not, what would you recommend as the best approach for the function, since days of the week are not consistent to dates from year to year? Let me know if you need any addition information. Thank you! A: Use java.util.Calendar: Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance(); c.setTime(yourDate); int dayOfWeek = c.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK); if you need the output to be Tue rather than 3 (Days of week are indexed starting at 1), instead of going through a calendar, just reformat the string: new SimpleDateFormat("EE").format(date) (EE meaning "day of week, short version") Documentation | High | [
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I consent to this processing of my data. Please consent to the processing of your data. Message sent successfully Send Message Close What you should know about this house Property subtypeHouse Year of Construction2010 Bedrooms5 Bathrooms5 Living area approx.460 sqm Total surface approx.635 sqm Terrace45 sqm Garage6 ConditionTop LocationTop Fire type Gas Floor type Marble Tiles Wooden Floor Amenities and special features of this house Basement Air conditioning Swimming pool Mountain view Tennis court Built-in kitchen Accessible for wheelchairs Patio Elevator Alarm system Garden Terrace Guest toilet Engel & Völkers is pleased to present this exclusive "A-Cero" design villa, created by the prestigious architect Joaquín Torres and located in the Fuente del Fresno private compex. The house, of 635 m² built, offers a modern and minimalist design, being located in a residential area of recent construction ("Los Zorzales" of Fresno Norte). The house is distributed over four floors and is equipped with air conditioning. We must highlight the beautiful garden that surrounds this detached house, decorated with modern furniture and artificial grass.The first level of the house counts with white marble floors. The entrance hall is very bright and leads us to both the wide living room of 60 m² and equipped with large windows, as the elevator, the toilet and the kitchen, very spacious, modern and equipped with high-end appliances.On the upper floor we find the master bedroom, equipped with en suite bathroom, a large area of fitted wardrobes and a private terrace. This floor has another bedroom with bathroom en suite and two other bedrooms sharing a complete bathroom. From this floor we can access to a fantastic terrace / solarium overlooking the countryside and the entire gated community.The ground floor of the villa is divided into a large living room of 45 m², that we can used as social or games area. This living room communicates with a large and bright interior courtyard with direct access to the garden. This floor of the villa also counts with a service room equipped with a complete bathroom, laundry area, boiler room, pantry, a garage with parking space for 4/6 cars and a storage room. Fuente del Fresno - Club de Campo: Location and surroundings of this property Los Zorzales de Fresno Norte, is a recent, consolidated and quiet gated community, situated very close to the golf courts of the Real Sociedad de Hípica Española, the RACE and the Jarama Circuit, located in the North Zone of Madrid. We can access to this area from the N-I highway, taking the exit at km 23. This private complex offers 24-hours surveillance, ensuring a high level of security and privacy to all its neighbours. Los Zorzales complex is equipped with a community pool, paddle tennis court and children's area. This housing development is situated close to the commercial area of Fuente del Fresno and Club de Campo, both equipped with mini-market, clinics, bars and restaurants, pharmacy, hairdressing salon, stationery and music school, as well as paddle, tennis and basketball courts. In Fuente del Fresno we can also find the parish of Nuestra Señora de Fuente del Fresno and more than 22 km of green areas.Fuente del Fresno counts with a high quality educational offer, highlighting the proximity of the area to the International School SEK (private), Trinity College (concerted), the CEIP Santo Domingo (public) and the El Ardal Private School.The private complex of Los Zorzales is located just 10 minutes from the Madrid-Barajas airport, IFEMA and a business park formed by several multinational companies. Fuente del Fresno offers several bus routes that reach the centre of Madrid in 20 minutes, as well as being close to the Infanta Sofía Hospital subway station (Line 10), and The Style Outlet, Decathlon and Plaza Norte Shopping Centres, situated in San Sebastián de los Reyes. Energy Information Fire type Gas Year of Construction2010 Energy efficiency ratingD Commission Details Availability upon agreement. This material is based upon information, which we consider reliable, but because third parties have supplied it, we cannot represent that it is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied upon as such. This offering is subject to errors, omissions, and change of price or withdrawal without notice. Taxes, notary and register fees must be paid by purchaser. The commission must be paid by the seller, as stipulated by Spanish regulations. "You can cancel your search request at any time. For more information and our FAQ, please visit www.engelvoelkers.com/suchauftrag" You can find out in detail here which data is stored and who can access it. I agree to the storage and use of my data according to the privacy statement and agree to the processing of my data within the Engel & Völkers AG to answer my contact request or request for information. I can revoke my consent at any time for the future. I consent to this processing of my data.Please consent to the processing of your data. | Mid | [
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Hi, looks after a armeniacum? I think the winter will have a very cool "rest". My plants are at the moment at 12 ° C in the greenhouse and are almost nearly dry. If the winters are warm, they do not grow - i think - . If the damage comes from the tip of the leaf, I suspect a root problem. Too much water, or water that is too hard or has too much fertilizer. The water i use for the Paph. has average 250 µS. (including fertilizer, without 50-80 µS). In this case, I would repot into fresh substrate, then only "Iron dry" and only with rainwater without fertilizer until the roots are OK again. hope this helps Bernd | Mid | [
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Q: Repeated, specific questions on comp neurosci software There's been a rash of very specific questions about how to use the interface for a computational neuroscience software program. I know we have discussed this to a certain extent here, but I am wondering how the community feels about a pile of very interface-related questions without any relevance to cog/neurosci itself. It seems to me that they don't make the site stronger, and they don't relate to cognition in any way but are purely about the use of that program--which is, however, a program specific to computational neuroscience. I would rather see one more general question about help/FAQs/resources for using this program that several very specific questions about using the interface, but that's my own opinion. What's the community view on this? Yea? Nay? A: Another reason to keep these questions on-topic is that it fills a need. Scientific software is often poorly documented, and community-created software doesn't usually provide a support team for basic questions. There are sometimes support forums available, but the StackExchange model is usually a superior way of organizing questions and answers. If this site became a place where researchers could ask questions about discipline-specific software it would be more broadly useful to the kinds of people who we ultimately want to attract to the site. A: I think such questions should stay on CogSci, because: Relevant audience. Computational neuroscientists would be more likely to visit CogSci, and be able to answer such questions at CogSci than at other sites. They would be less relevant at StackOverflow. Few people there would be interested in using comp neuro software, and even fewer would have the knowledge to help users use it. Precedent. CogSci has the "Software" tag, which specifically references questions regarding the use of software. In addition, it has been voted to add tags for more specific neuroscience software. CrossValidated faces a similar issue, and unless the question is closer to general programming, the consensus appears to allow it. For the above three reasons, I argue that unless the questions are closer to general programming, questions regarding the use of computational neuroscience software should be on-topic at CogSci. A: I think they are on-topic barred that the answer should contain something related to Cognitive Sciences. For example take this question: Python MNE - reading EEG data from array The only reference to CogSci is that the input variable is obtained via an EEG DAQ system. No more, no less. The question can be answered by anyone proficient in Python. Stripping the question to its core, it simply boils down to "why does variable X not fit in matrix Y?". That is a typical question for Stack Overflow. I advocate questions to be on-topic only if the answer needs knowledge about Cognitive Sciences. For example, questions on setting parameters for EEG systems, noise-reduction methods in Matlab, setting software filters in C++ etc. are all on topic, because they have direct relation to signal analysis, which is a fundamental aspect of CogSci. | Mid | [
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Add to this sustainable material the ability to self heal (no tack holes here), easy cleaning, and anti-bacterial properties, and it's a perfect material. We're trying to think of ways to use this beyond bulletin boards. It comes in 12 matte colors from the deep red pictured above to a more natural cork color. Sheets are about 1/4" thick and come in rolls of 48" or 72" by up to 90' in length. | High | [
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John Walsh A-2000 Small pipe is a mouthblown Small Pipe in the key-A, full well-balanced Bass, Baritone and Tenor Drones. Water trap built into the Blowpipe Stock. This is a hassle-free instrument just pick it up and play. | Mid | [
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Workers' compensation, Social Security Disability Insurance, and the offset: a fact sheet. This article offers a brief summary of the workers' compensation and Social Security Disability Insurance programs. Information highlighted includes the differences between the two programs' types and terms of coverage. It compares the differing patterns in workers' compensation and Social Security disability benefits as a percentage of wages over the past few decades and considers the potential causes for such trends. The article also explains the offset provision included in the 1965 Social Security Amendments, the intention behind the offset, and how and when offsets are applied. | High | [
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For over forty years Rudy Perez has moved, invigorated and perplexed audiences. In the early 1960s he was hailed as a post-modern pioneer when he was a founding member of the groundbreaking Judson Dance Theater in New York City. Today he lives in Los Angeles and defies definition as he continues to create provocative new work. The documentary follows the engaging give-and-take of the rehearsal of one of Rudy Perez’ signature dances, Countdown. Los Angeles-born and now Montreal-based Victor Quijada, a protégé of Rudy’s, has come to learn and perform the work. Victor graduated from the Los Angeles High School for the Arts. He was a member of the Rudy Perez Dance Ensemble when Twyla Tharp recruited him to join her company in New York. After five years with the Twyla Tharp Dance Company, he joined Montreal’s Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. He currently is the choreographer and Artistic Director of Rubberbanddance Group. Throughout the rehearsal process, Rudy’s life and career are revealed through evocative home movies, rare stock footage of New York, and visually exciting experimental films. Interviews with dance critics, former dancers and collaborators give a context to Rudy’s impact on the East and West Coast dance scene. Archival videos showcase significant selections from Rudy’s extensive body of work. The documentary concludes with Victor Quijada performing an emotionally-powerful version of Countdown. This program began as an assignment to produce an eight-minute profile for the Visiones series (Galan Productions), currently airing on PBS stations. The producer and director, Severo Perez and Rachel Perez-Bitan, a father and daughter team, quickly realized that their eight-minute segment was a terrific promo for a longer more fascinating work about Rudy’s life. Los Angeles dance critic Donna Perlmutter wrote, “Countdown, the title of an excellent documentary by Severo Perez (no relation), is that magical amalgam of music, imagery, atmosphere, and powerful movement-suggestion we call drama.” ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS+ PRODUCTION CREDITS Severo Perez Writer, Producer, Editor Severo Perez has over thirty years experience as writer-producer-director. From 1974 to 1982 he was Head of Production for Learning Garden, Inc. he produced product for corporate and commercial clients including CBS, HBO, MCA Universal, and the Disney Channel. From 1982 to the present he has wored as a freelance filmmaker. In 1994 he completed work on his award winning American Playhouse and NEH sponsored feature film, …and the earth did not swallow him. Rachel Perez-Bitan Director Rachel Perez-Bitan graduated with a degree in film and television production from California State University, Monterey Bay. She studied theatre with El Teatro Campesino and has trained in dance with Bela Lewitzky, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, and Francisco Martinez. She was a recipient of a 2000 Latino Public Broadcasting Emerging Producers Grant. Her 2001 video on date rape, True Stories, was named one of the top ten programs for teens by the American Library Association. DVD copies for this program are currently available. Fore more information, please visit: www.script-postscript.com About Us Latino Public Broadcasting is the leader of the development, production, acquisition and distribution of non-commercial educational and cultural media that is representative of Latino people, or addresses issues of particular interest to Latino Americans. These programs are produced for dissemination to the public broadcasting stations and other public telecommunication entities. LPB provides a voice to the diverse Latino community on public media throughout the United States. | High | [
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Switch Support Overview For all switch models/NMEs, Cisco recommends checking for limitations and verifying support for MAC notification and/or linkup-linkdown SNMP traps for the switch OS version you intend to use. See Known Issues with Switches/WLCs for further details. Administrators update switch and Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) support object IDs (OIDs) using the update function in the CAM Device Management > Clean Access > Updates web console page. For example, if a new model of a supported switch family is released, Cisco NAC Appliance administrators only need to retrieve an update to ensure the latest support for switch OIDs. (That is, you are not required to upgrade the CAM/CAS software image, itself). The update switch OID feature only applies to existing models. If a new switch series is introduced, administrators will still need to upgrade to ensure OOB support for the new switches. Refer to the “Switch Management” (OOB) chapter of the Cisco NAC Appliance - Clean Access Manager Configuration Guide for details. For L2 deployments, user MAC/IP addresses need to be visible to the CAS For L3 deployments (i.e. where the CAS can be one or more hops away from the user), the CAS differentiates users by IP address For Out-of-Band (OOB) Deployments With Cisco NAC Appliance Out-of-Band deployment, the CAS is inline with user traffic only during the process of authentication, assessment and remediation. Following that, user traffic does not pass through the CAS. In an OOB deployment, the Clean Access Manager (CAM) uses SNMP to control switches and set VLAN assignments for ports. When the CAM/CAS are set up for OOB, the CAM can control the switch ports of supported switches/NMEs with the corresponding minimum IOS/CatOS versions listed in the collection of switch family support tables in Cisco NAC Appliance Switch Support Matrixes. Cisco NAC Appliance Switch Support Matrixes The following tables include all Cisco switch models supported with Cisco NAC Appliance for both In-Band and Out-of-Band deployments: Note Starting from NAC Appliance Release 4.9(0), switches having OID starting with “1.3.6.1.4.1.9” are added to CAM DB as Cisco supported switches. The Cisco switches that have OID starting with “1.3.6.1.4.1.9.xxx” are supported by CAM starting from release 4.9(0). 4.Cisco NAC Appliance 4.1(3) and later supports MAC-move notifications from switches. See MAC-Move Notification Support for details. 5.Cisco IOS 12.1(14)EA1 or above is required for 2950/2950 LRE switches. 2950s running 12.1(11)-12.1(13) may experience caveat CSCea56777 which prevents the VLAN from being changed on the switch itself. 7.IE 3000/3010 switch series are running the same baseline IOS as Catalyst 2960. To add or configure this switch on the CAM, choose Cisco Catalyst 2960 series from the drop-down in the CAM Switch Management > Profiles > Switch > New > Switch Model web console page. 14.CCA OOB supports 3750 StackWise technology. With stacks, when mac-notification is used and there are more than 252 ports on the stack, mac-notification cannot be set/unset for the 252nd port using the CAM. There are two workarounds: 1) Use linkup/linkdown SNMP notifications only. 2) If using mac-notification, do not use the 252nd port and ignore the error; other ports will work fine. 15.If CAM is using SNMP V3 for write, a 4500 switch might get disabled after 10 consecutive write failures. All 4500 switches having default SNMP EngineId configuration might bootup with same EngineId due to IOS caveat: CSCsz43512. 16.Catalyst 4000/4500 code support is dependent on the Supervisor, not the chassis. On Catalyst 4000/4500, Supervisor I/II only support CatOS. 17.On Catalyst 4000/4500, Supervisor II+/III/IV/V only support IOS. For IOS code, MAC notification is supported only from 12.2(31) SG onwards. Supervisor III does not support 12.2(31)SG (hence, does not support mac-notification) and must run 12.2(25)EWA release train. Supervisor II+/IV/V support 12.2(31)SG. If using linkup notification for OOB, code prior to 12.2(31) SG can also be used. 22.Catalyst 6000/6500 on IOS supports mac-notification from 12.2(33)SXH onwards. If Catalyst 6000/6500 is at the edge and a user is connecting directly to the switch, SNMP linkup notification can be used with an earlier minimum release (i.e. IOS 12.1(8a)EX). If the user is connecting from behind an IP phone, then mac-notification is required. 23.7600 series router line and 6500 series switch line are interchangeable. 25.With IOS release 12.2.25(SEG) for CE500, MAC-NOTIFICATION SNMP traps are supported on all Smartport roles (including DESKTOP and IPPHONE roles). After upgrading to 12.2.25(SEG), customers can configure MAC-NOTIFICATION for CE500 under Switch Management > Devices > List > Config [Switch IP] > Config > Advanced on the CAM. For CCA 3.6.2, 3.6.3, 4.0.0, 4.0.1, 4.0.2, CE500 supports linkup/linkdown SNMP notifications by default and the “OTHER role” warning message can be ignored when changing to MAC-NOTIFICATION traps. Note that in future Cisco NAC Appliance releases, this warning message will removed and the default control method for CE500 will be MAC-NOTIFICATION traps. 26.If running an IOS version lower than 12.2(25) SEG, the CE500 switch ports must be assigned to the OTHER role (not Desktop or IP phone) on the switch's Smartports configuration, otherwise, mac-notification will not be sent out. Note If CAM is using SNMP V3 for write, wireless clients might not move into Access VLAN even when the NAC agent on the client passed posture validation after WLC reboot. Refer to WLC caveat CSCtb78072. Known Issues with Switches/WLCs This section describes known issues when integrating Cisco NAC Appliance with the following switch models/wireless LAN controllers and deployment types: For Cisco NAC Appliance in In-Band Central Deployment mode, when a Cisco Catalyst 3560/3750 series switch is used as a Layer 3 switch and if both ports of the CAS are connected to the same 3560/3750 switch, the minimum switch IOS code required is Cisco IOS release 12.2(25)SEE. Because caveat CSCdu27506 is not fixed on the Catalyst 3550 series switch, when the Catalyst 3550 is used as a Layer 3 switch, it cannot be used in NAC Appliance In-Band Central Deployment. Note When configuring SNMP settings on switches, never use the “@” character in the community string. Cisco 2200/4400 Wireless LAN Controllers (Airespace WLCs) and DHCP Due to changes in DHCP server operation with Cisco NAC Appliance release 4.0(2) and later, networks with Cisco 2200/4400 Wireless LAN Controllers (also known as Airespace WLCs) which relay requests to the CAS (operating as a DHCP server) may have issues. Client machines may be unable to obtain DHCP addresses. If you have DHCP issues with Airespace controllers after installing/upgrading to release 4.0(2), the following will need to be done to restore DHCP functionality: Preventing Loops on Central Switch for VGW/Central Deployments In Virtual Gateway Central deployment, both interfaces of the CAS are connected to the same switch. Administrators must use the following procedure for correct configuration of a Virtual Gateway Central Deployment. To prevent looping on any central/core switch as you plug both interfaces of the CAS into the switch, perform the following steps: 1. Before you connect both interfaces of the CAS to the switch, SSH to the CLI of the CAS and disable the eth1 (untrusted interface) using the CLI command: ifconfig eth1 down 2. Physically connect the eth0 and eth1 interfaces of the CAS to the network. 3. After you have added the CAS to the CAM web console, make sure to set the VLAN to be mapped under Device Management > CCA Servers > Manage [CAS_IP] > Advanced > VLAN Mapping . Also make sure you check the “ Enable VLAN Mapping ” checkbox and click Update . 4. For the 802.1q ports configuration on the switch, make sure to prune all other VLANs for switches trunking to eth0 and eth1 of the CAS except those used for the CAS Management VLAN and the User VLANs. OOB Switch Trunk Ports and Upgrade Because Cisco NAC Appliance can control switch trunk ports for OOB, ensure that the uplink ports for controlled switches are configured as “uncontrolled” ports before or after upgrade. This can be done in one of two ways: Switch OID Support Administrators can update the object IDs (OIDs) of supported switches by performing a CAM update (under Device Management > Clean Access > Updates ). For example, if a new switch (such as C3750-XX-NEW) of a supported model (Catalyst 3750 series) is released, administrators only need to perform Cisco Updates on the CAM to obtain support for the switch OIDs, instead of performing a software upgrade of the CAM/CAS. The update switch OID feature only applies to existing models. If a new switch series is introduced, administrators will still need to upgrade to ensure OOB support for the new switches. Starting from Release 4.5, administrators can also update the object IDs (OIDs) of Wireless LAN Controller platforms supported for the Wireless OOB feature by performing a CAM update. Before opening a support case for Switch OID support 1. On the CAM go to Device Management > Clean Access > Updates . Make sure to perform an Update and verify the current version of the “Supported Out-of-Band Switch OIDs.” 2. If the switch still cannot be managed from the CAM, get the OID from the switch by running the following command from the CAM: NAC Appliance Device Support Cisco NAC Appliance Release 4.9 has Universal Switch Support that makes it possible for Cisco NAC Appliance to support any Cisco Switch as long as it supports the MIBs that are used by NAC. The Universal Device Support is limited only to Cisco Switches and non-Cisco Switches are not supported. Starting from Cisco NAC Appliance Release 4.9, you can view the list of supported devices and check whether a device supports the MIBs that are used by NAC. In the CAM Web Console, go to OOB Management > Profiles > Device > New . You can click the link available at the top of this tab to view the list of supported device models. You can verify whether a device is supported by using the Verify tab. This utility verifies a device already added to CAM or a new device that is yet to be added to CAM. This option is available in the CAM Web Console in OOB Management > Devices > Devices > Verify tab. Switch Support for CAS Virtual Gateway/VLAN Mapping (IB and OOB) Table 20 describes Cisco Catalyst switch model support for the Virtual Gateway VLAN Mapping feature of the CAS for either in-band (IB) or out-of-band deployments (OOB). This table is intended to clarify CAS network deployment options when connecting the CAS in Virtual Gateway (bridge) mode to the switches listed. | Low | [
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Q: Task is not executed I am in an MVC application, and try to install a software in a remote server, by launching a WCF function in that server; WCF is hosted in a Windows service. Since the installation process takes a long time, I execute it asynchronously, like this: ChannelFactory factory = new ChannelFactory<MyClass>(binding, address); MyClass channel = factory.CreateChannel(); Task task = new Task(() => { channel.LongTimeFunction(); }); task.Start(); In this way, the LongTimeFunction isn't executed at all. It's the first time that I use the Task class, maybe there's something that I am missing? A: After Starting a task you should wait for it to be completed,unless your code will be returned while the LongTimeFunction function is still not completed. Here is a good example http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd537610(v=vs.110).aspx . | Mid | [
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Nocardial osteomyelitis of the spine with epidural spinal cord compression--a case report. A 53-year-old man presented with complaints of back pain and weakness in his lower extremities. Physical examination demonstrated a thoracic myelopathy with a sensory level at T-4. The diagnostic work-up revealed vertebral osteomyelitis of the thoracic spine with epidural compression at T-2-T-4 causing a nearly complete block on myelography. A decompressive laminectomy and debridement were performed, followed by anterior spinal fusion. Nocardia asteroides was cultured from the epidural space. The patient was concurrently treated with sulfonamides. No underlying malignancy or immunosuppression could be demonstrated, but a primary pulmonary nocardial infection was suspected. A satisfactory recovery was accomplished. Only four other cases of nocardial osteomyelitis of the spine have been reported in the literature. These are discussed, and possible mechanisms are proposed for the pathophysiology of this rare manifestation. Current recommendations on the specimen processing, diagnosis, and therapy of nocardial infections are briefly reviewed. | High | [
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Paste your audio URL Before you start, you must publish your sound files to the web. Put MP3, M4A, WAV or Ogg audio files on a webserver of your choice. (Confused? What about Soundcloud? See the FAQ below.) Put the URL to your audio in the field below and click "load." Audio URL Load Want to try Soundcite but you don't have any audio? Try this: /media/bach-cello-suite.mp3 | Low | [
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Increased resistance to potato virus X and preservation of cultivar properties in transgenic potato under field conditions. During the last three years we performed field trials to assess levels of resistance against potato virus X (PVX) and changes in intrinsic properties of the potato cultivars Bintje and Escort upon the introduction of the PVX coat protein (CP) gene. Analysis of leaf and tuber samples collected in the field at two week intervals revealed a stable expression of the PVX CP gene throughout the growing season. This resulted in a large decrease in PVX incidence among clonal progeny obtained from previously infected Bintje and Escort clones. Based on evaluation of 50 defined morphological characteristics, tuber yield and grading, 81.8% of the Escort and 17.9% of the Bintje derived transgenic clones proved to be true to type. Overall lightsprout morphology was a useful criterion for the early detection of deviant transgenic clones. Using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with convergent primers spanning transgenic sequences, true to type clones could be distinguished unambiguously from the corresponding untransformed cultivars. Clear distinctions between independent transgenic clones could be made by inverted PCR (IPCR) diagnosis revealing integration-specific border fragments. These results demonstrate the commercial feasibility of improving potato cultivars by selectively adding new traits while preserving intrinsic properties, and the possibility of unambiguously identifying independent transgenic cultivars. | High | [
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Archive - May 2013 strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 1118. strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_field::query() should be compatible with views_handler::query($group_by = false) in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_field.inc on line 1148. strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_sort::options_validate() should be compatible with views_handler::options_validate($form, &$form_state) in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_sort.inc on line 165. strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_sort::options_submit() should be compatible with views_handler::options_submit($form, &$form_state) in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_sort.inc on line 165. strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_sort::query() should be compatible with views_handler::query($group_by = false) in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_sort.inc on line 165. strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter::options_validate() should be compatible with views_handler::options_validate($form, &$form_state) in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_filter.inc on line 599. strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_filter::query() should be compatible with views_handler::query($group_by = false) in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_filter.inc on line 599. strict warning: Non-static method views_many_to_one_helper::option_definition() should not be called statically, assuming $this from incompatible context in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_filter_many_to_one.inc on line 25. strict warning: Non-static method views_many_to_one_helper::option_definition() should not be called statically, assuming $this from incompatible context in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_filter_many_to_one.inc on line 25. strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_query::options_submit() should be compatible with views_plugin::options_submit($form, &$form_state) in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/plugins/views_plugin_query.inc on line 181. strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_row::options_validate() should be compatible with views_plugin::options_validate(&$form, &$form_state) in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/plugins/views_plugin_row.inc on line 136. strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 1118. strict warning: Declaration of image_attach_views_handler_field_attached_images::pre_render() should be compatible with views_handler_field::pre_render($values) in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/image/contrib/image_attach/image_attach_views_handler_field_attached_images.inc on line 112. strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_area::query() should be compatible with views_handler::query($group_by = false) in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_area.inc on line 81. strict warning: Declaration of views_handler_area_text::options_submit() should be compatible with views_handler::options_submit($form, &$form_state) in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_area_text.inc on line 121. strict warning: Non-static method view::load() should not be called statically in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/views.module on line 1118. strict warning: Non-static method views_many_to_one_helper::option_definition() should not be called statically, assuming $this from incompatible context in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_filter_many_to_one.inc on line 25. strict warning: Non-static method views_many_to_one_helper::option_definition() should not be called statically, assuming $this from incompatible context in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_filter_many_to_one.inc on line 25. strict warning: Declaration of views_plugin_style_default::options() should be compatible with views_object::options() in /home/addison/public_html/sites/all/modules/views/plugins/views_plugin_style_default.inc on line 24. May 20th Posted on May 20, 2013 | VERGENNES — At a City Council meeting last Tuesday where aldermen discussed a smoking ban in some public places (see story, Page 1) officials and supporters of the Vergennes Opera House also spoke in favor of the organization’s request for $10,000 in the next city budget. Aldermen budgeted $10,000 last year, but have not done so in the past. The full text of this article is only available to online subscribers. Posted on May 20, 2013 | MIDDLEBURY — The Mount Abraham Union High School golf team won a pair of matches earlier this month, and senior Jona Scott earned medalist honors in both outings. Scott has been the medalist in three of the Eagles’ matches this spring. The Eagles defeated Rice, 354-361, on May 1 in a two-team match at Middlebury College’s Ralph Myhre Golf Course. Scott fired a 75 on his home course to beat runner-up Caleb Connerty of Rice by five strokes. The full text of this article is only available to online subscribers. Posted on May 20, 2013 | MONTPELIER — Addison County lawmakers generally gave good marks to a now-concluded 2013 legislative session that produced a General Fund budget of almost $1.4 billion that did not require the raising of new broad-based tax money, but did produce higher fees at the pump to leverage additional federal aid to repair the state’s roads, bridges and culverts. Posted on May 20, 2013 | MONTPELIER — Gov. Peter Shumlin on Thursday gave high marks to the 2013 General Assembly, a body that he said granted 90 percent of his education priorities and completed one of the most productive sessions “in years.” “It was a very productive session,” Shumlin said during a phone interview with the Addison Independent. “I thought they got more tough things done than I’ve seen a Legislature get done in a first half of a biennium in many, many years. There is a lot to celebrate with Vermonters.” Posted on May 20, 2013 | VERGENNES — Not too long after artists and Vergennes residents Cat Cutillo and Ross Sheehan met in New York City, they knew they wanted a space that would serve as a gallery and base of operations for her photography and his work in several artistic media. Cutillo, 33, a New Hampshire native and Tulane University graduate, and Sheehan, 35, a Salisbury native, Syracuse University and 1996 Middlebury Union High School graduate, didn’t fulfill that goal in their first several years working in the art world together in New York this past decade. Posted on May 20, 2013 | BRISTOL — A number of artists in the area will be presenting their views on the subject of “Connections” in a group show at the WalkOver Gallery in Bristol. An opening reception for the show, which runs through June 28, is on Friday, May 24, from 5-7:30 p.m. at the gallery, 15 Main St. The full text of this article is only available to online subscribers. Posted on May 20, 2013 | STARKSBORO — An unusual nature-and-arts-based preschool program is wrapping up a successful pilot year. The Wren’s Nest Preschool is a project of the Willowell Foundation and run by a mother-daughter team of educators. Katie and Karen McEachen of Bristol co-teach the weekly sessions, which are currently run out of Camp Common Ground in Starksboro. “Willowell has been doing nature education for high schoolers for a decade, and they thought that a preschool would be a really nice sister program,” Katie McEachen said in a recent interview. The full text of this article is only available to online subscribers. | Mid | [
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ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - A NASA explorer is on track to reach the solar system’s outermost region by early Tuesday morning, when scientists expect it to fly by a space rock 20 miles long and billions of miles from Earth, the most distant close encounter of its kind. Slideshow ( 3 images ) At 12:33 a.m. Eastern time (0533 GMT), the New Horizons probe will arrive at the “third zone” in the uncharted heart of the Kuiper Belt, scientists said. In this peripheral layer of icy bodies and leftover fragments from the solar system’s creation, the interplanetary probe will position its seven on-board instruments for the first close-up glance of Ultima Thule, a cool mass roughly 20 miles (32 km) long and shaped like a giant peanut. Scientists had not discovered Ultima Thule when the probe was launched, according to NASA, making the mission unique in that respect. In 2014, astronomers found Thule using the Hubble Space Telescope and selected it for New Horizon’s extended mission in 2015. “Anything’s possible out there in this very unknown region,” John Spencer, deputy project scientist for New Horizons, told reporters on Monday at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. Launched in January 2006, New Horizons embarked on a 4 billion mile journey toward the solar system’s frigid, faraway edge to study the dwarf planet Pluto and its five moons. During a 2015 fly-by, the probe found Pluto to be slightly larger than previously thought. In March, it revealed that methane-rich dunes were on the icy dwarf planet’s surface. After trekking 1 billion miles beyond Pluto into the Kuiper Belt, New Horizons will now seek clues about the formation of the solar system and its planets. As the probe flies 2,200 miles (3,500 km) above Thule’s surface, scientists hope it will detect the chemical composition of its atmosphere and terrain in what NASA says will be the closest observation of a body so remote. “We are straining the capabilities of this spacecraft, and by tomorrow we’ll know how we did,” New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern said during the news conference at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. “There are no second chances for New Horizons.” While the mission marks the farthest close-encounter of an object within our solar system, NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2, a pair of deep space probes launched in 1977, have reached greater distances on a mission to survey extrasolar bodies. Both probes are still operational. | High | [
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Texas releases 2018-19 non-conference basketball schedule Texas head coach Shaka Smart signals to the crowd after defeating Oklahoma State 65-64 in an NCAA college basketball game in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. (Nick Wagner /Austin American-Statesman via AP) less Texas head coach Shaka Smart signals to the crowd after defeating Oklahoma State 65-64 in an NCAA college basketball game in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. (Nick Wagner /Austin American-Statesman ... more Photo: Nick Wagner, MBO / Associated Press Photo: Nick Wagner, MBO / Associated Press Image 1of/1 Caption Close Image 1 of 1 Texas head coach Shaka Smart signals to the crowd after defeating Oklahoma State 65-64 in an NCAA college basketball game in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. (Nick Wagner /Austin American-Statesman via AP) less Texas head coach Shaka Smart signals to the crowd after defeating Oklahoma State 65-64 in an NCAA college basketball game in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. (Nick Wagner /Austin American-Statesman ... more Photo: Nick Wagner, MBO / Associated Press Texas releases 2018-19 non-conference basketball schedule 1 / 1 Back to Gallery AUSTIN – Texas on Thursday released its finalized non-conference schedule for the 2018-19 season. UT will open its season at home against Eastern Illinois on Nov. 6, then head to El Paso to face Arkansas on Nov. 9 as part of the 2018 Armed Forces Classic at Fort Bliss. The Longhorns' slate also features a rematch with VCU on Dec. 5 at the Erwin Center, the second part of a home-and-home set dictated by a provision in coach Shaka Smart's contract, and a visit from Big Ten power Purdue on Dec. 9. Texas will face Providence, which has qualified for the NCAA tournament in five straight seasons, at home on Dec. 21. The teams last faced off in 2004. Now Playing: UConn and the NCAA concluded in investigations that former men’s head basketball coach Kevin Ollie violated NCAA rules, reports the Hartford Courant. Media: Sports Illustrated The biggest early season barometer will be a Thanksgiving trip to Sin City. Texas is one of four teams invited to the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational on Nov. 22 and Nov. 23. The four-team event held at Orleans Arena will also feature Michigan State, North Carolina, and UCLA, but pairings for the games have not been determined. The Big 12 schedule has not been finalized at this time, but UT will begin conference play during the first week of 2019. | Mid | [
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Small pulmonary nodule management: a survey of the members of the Society of Thoracic Radiology with comparison to the Fleischner Society guidelines. We surveyed the members of the Society of Thoracic Radiology regarding their interpretation of and management decision for small pulmonary nodules on computed tomography. We then compared their responses with the published guidelines set forth by the Fleischner Society. A survey consisting of 13 case scenarios in which small pulmonary nodules were encountered on computed tomography examination was electronically mailed to 625 members of the Society of Thoracic Radiology. Statistical analysis was performed to determine associations between responses, years of experience, location in an endemic region of granulomatous disease, and setting of practice. To assess the relationship between recommendation (defined as appropriate or not appropriate based on the Fleischner Society guidelines) and the characteristics of the radiologist, univariate analyses were first carried out. Characteristics with evidence of association with recommendation (defined as P<0.10) were included in the multiple-variable analysis. Multiple-variable logistic regression was used to assess the simultaneous effects of reader characteristics on recommendation. A backward selection process was used applying a significance level of 0.05. This analysis was carried out for each question. One hundred and eighty-one surveys were completed (29%). Overall, 27% of the participants had made the appropriate recommendation based on the Fleischner Society guidelines. There was an overall trend for over-management in the various clinical scenarios. Radiologists who had been in practice for longer periods of time were less likely to select the appropriate management, as were radiologists who practiced outside the United States. In addition, in certain scenarios, radiologists in endemic areas were less likely to over-manage than their counterparts in nonendemic regions. Among responding members of the Society of Thoracic Radiology, there was poor adherence to the published guidelines set forth by the Fleischner Society. | High | [
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From Plan to Purchase the young Hector and Jaqueline Lopez worked really hard to make it happen and are now very happy first time homeowners in the city of Saticoy within Ventura County California. The young couple had been working on the planning for nearly a year and overcame all obstacles such as poor credit score and no savings in cash for the down payment. Ricardo Dominguez from Crossline Capital created a plan and guided the young couple through every step of the way helping them achieve the desired credit score as well as calculating for downpayment and closing cost. The Lopez family was very motivated. Although the planning took several months to get the final approval from their lender, the purchasing of the property took no more than 60 days. They had been advised of the competitive market and lack of inventory before they began their search. The couple found a home very quickly and within their price range and did not hesitate to submit an offer. We competed for a Single Family Home in the city of Saticoy with an asking price of $199,900. They received a counter offer from the Seller at $205,000 which the couple accepted. We had previous knowledge of the surrounding prices and $205,000 was still very reasonable for the couple. They were willing to compete intelligently. Finally, the new homeowners were very happy about their accepted offer and to top it off, they we overly excited about the results of the appraised value of the home which was $5,000 more than the final purchase price. This gave them a great start with an initial positive equity right at the closing of escrow. It feels really good to help such hard working families in our my community make their dreams of homeownership come true. These are the beautiful experiences that make my business very fulfilling. I wish them much happiness and joy in their new home. Broker Associate at EXIT Castillo Realty. Specializing in helping sellers and buyers with their real estate needs in Ventura County, California, including Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Ventura. Focused and committed to helping others achieve their real estate goals by providing top level marketing that sells houses quickly and for top dollar, first time buyer consultation and real estate investment options. Call or Text (805) 444-6366 | High | [
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Transport of quinolone antibacterial drugs in a kidney epithelial cell line, LLC-PK1. The transport of quinolone antibacterial drugs by LLC-PK1 monolayers was examined to characterize the renal tubular secretion of these drugs. The transcellular transport of levofloxacin and grepafloxacin from the basolateral to apical side was larger than the transport in the opposite direction. The basal-to-apical transcellular transport and uptake from the basolateral side of levofloxacin showed concentration dependent saturation with an apparent Michaelis constant (Km) of 0.6 and 13 mM, respectively. Various quinolones (1 mM) inhibited the transcellular transport of levofloxacin, and this inhibition was accompanied by a marked increase of cellular accumulation. These results indicated that quinolones interacted more strongly with the transport system on the apical than the basolateral membrane. Neither tetraethylammonium nor cyclosporin A affected the basal-to-apical transcellular transport and accumulation of levofloxacin. The basal-to-apical transcellular transport of levofloxacin was not influenced by either lowering the pH of the apical side or pretreatment of apical membrane with p-chloromercuribenzene sulfonate. These findings indicate that quinolones are specifically transported from the basolateral to apical side by LLC-PK1 monolayers and have higher affinity for the transport system in the apical membrane, a system distinct from H+/organic cation antiport system. | High | [
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The polypeptide composition of avain infectious bronchitis virus particles. Egg grown avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) centrifuged on sucrose density gradients was found to consist of a major virus peak of density 1.17 to 1.18 g/cm(3). Three different IBV strains were examined and no morphological differences were detected between virus particles of different densities or from different strains. The polypeptides of the different density virus particles from the three IBV strains were analysed on polyacrylamide gels. In all cases 7 polypeptides were observed, although there were differences in the proportions of these polypeptides in particles of different densities and those from the different strains. The polypeptides have been called VP1 (molecular weight 130,000), VP2 (105,000), VP3 (97,000), VP4 (81,000), VP5 (74,000), VP6 (51,000) and VP7 (33,000). Additional polypeptides were produced if slightly harsher treatments were used. | Mid | [
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Posts What are Reporting Guidelines? Reporting guidelines are checklists or other types of tools for reporting health research. “A reporting guideline provides a minimum list of information needed to ensure a manuscript can be … Understood by a reader, Replicated by a researcher, Used by a doctor to make a clinical decision, and Included in a systematic review” (Equator Network, n.d.). They “are designed to enhance the quality and transparency of health research reporting ” (VonVille, 2020) and ensure that the published manuscript is reporting the outcomes that the research was designed to measure. | High | [
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Q: Two 3-dimensional side by side plots with gridspec - matplotlib I would like to plot two three-dimensional figures side by side with the gridspec package. Consider the following example from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import matplotlib.gridspec as gridspec G = gridspec.GridSpec(3, 2) ax1 = plt.subplot(G[0:2, 0]) #ax1 = plt.axes(projection="3d") #ax1.plot3D([1,2,3], [1,2,3], [1,2,3]) ax2 = plt.subplot(G[0:2, 1]) #ax2 = plt.axes(projection="3d") #ax2.plot3D([1,2,3], [1,2,3], [1,2,3]) which creates By removing the route signs one gets 3D plots. But for some reason there is only one 3D plot What went wrong and how do i get 3d figures side by side with gridspec? A: You don't use G, and then you re-create the axes. If you use add_subplot with the grid G, you can see both 3D plots in the same figure. fig = plt.figure() G = gridspec.GridSpec(3, 2) ax1 = fig.add_subplot(G[0:2,0], projection='3d') ax1.plot3D([1,2,3], [1,2,3], [1,2,3]) ax2 = fig.add_subplot(G[0:2,1], projection='3d') ax2.plot3D([1,2,3], [1,2,3], [1,2,3]) plt.show() Result is below. | High | [
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Keychain in metal with Our Lady of Medjugorje. This keyring is made of steel and it features the image of Our Lady of Medjugorje. Available in 2 shapes: - oval - rectangular. You can choose the shape you prefer in the menu under the picture. | Low | [
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/* * $Id: libnet_crc.c,v 1.5 2004/01/03 20:31:02 mike Exp $ * * libnet * libnet_crc.c - CRC routine * * Copyright (c) 1998 - 2004 Mike D. Schiffman <[email protected]> * All rights reserved. * * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions * are met: * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the * documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. * * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE * IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE * ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE * FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL * DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS * OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) * HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT * LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY * OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF * SUCH DAMAGE. * */ #include "common.h" /* CRC routines based off of sample code in appendix of RFC 2083 */ static uint32_t crc_table[256] = { 0x00000000, 0x77073096, 0xee0e612c, 0x990951ba, 0x076dc419, 0x706af48f, 0xe963a535, 0x9e6495a3, 0x0edb8832, 0x79dcb8a4, 0xe0d5e91e, 0x97d2d988, 0x09b64c2b, 0x7eb17cbd, 0xe7b82d07, 0x90bf1d91, 0x1db71064, 0x6ab020f2, 0xf3b97148, 0x84be41de, 0x1adad47d, 0x6ddde4eb, 0xf4d4b551, 0x83d385c7, 0x136c9856, 0x646ba8c0, 0xfd62f97a, 0x8a65c9ec, 0x14015c4f, 0x63066cd9, 0xfa0f3d63, 0x8d080df5, 0x3b6e20c8, 0x4c69105e, 0xd56041e4, 0xa2677172, 0x3c03e4d1, 0x4b04d447, 0xd20d85fd, 0xa50ab56b, 0x35b5a8fa, 0x42b2986c, 0xdbbbc9d6, 0xacbcf940, 0x32d86ce3, 0x45df5c75, 0xdcd60dcf, 0xabd13d59, 0x26d930ac, 0x51de003a, 0xc8d75180, 0xbfd06116, 0x21b4f4b5, 0x56b3c423, 0xcfba9599, 0xb8bda50f, 0x2802b89e, 0x5f058808, 0xc60cd9b2, 0xb10be924, 0x2f6f7c87, 0x58684c11, 0xc1611dab, 0xb6662d3d, 0x76dc4190, 0x01db7106, 0x98d220bc, 0xefd5102a, 0x71b18589, 0x06b6b51f, 0x9fbfe4a5, 0xe8b8d433, 0x7807c9a2, 0x0f00f934, 0x9609a88e, 0xe10e9818, 0x7f6a0dbb, 0x086d3d2d, 0x91646c97, 0xe6635c01, 0x6b6b51f4, 0x1c6c6162, 0x856530d8, 0xf262004e, 0x6c0695ed, 0x1b01a57b, 0x8208f4c1, 0xf50fc457, 0x65b0d9c6, 0x12b7e950, 0x8bbeb8ea, 0xfcb9887c, 0x62dd1ddf, 0x15da2d49, 0x8cd37cf3, 0xfbd44c65, 0x4db26158, 0x3ab551ce, 0xa3bc0074, 0xd4bb30e2, 0x4adfa541, 0x3dd895d7, 0xa4d1c46d, 0xd3d6f4fb, 0x4369e96a, 0x346ed9fc, 0xad678846, 0xda60b8d0, 0x44042d73, 0x33031de5, 0xaa0a4c5f, 0xdd0d7cc9, 0x5005713c, 0x270241aa, 0xbe0b1010, 0xc90c2086, 0x5768b525, 0x206f85b3, 0xb966d409, 0xce61e49f, 0x5edef90e, 0x29d9c998, 0xb0d09822, 0xc7d7a8b4, 0x59b33d17, 0x2eb40d81, 0xb7bd5c3b, 0xc0ba6cad, 0xedb88320, 0x9abfb3b6, 0x03b6e20c, 0x74b1d29a, 0xead54739, 0x9dd277af, 0x04db2615, 0x73dc1683, 0xe3630b12, 0x94643b84, 0x0d6d6a3e, 0x7a6a5aa8, 0xe40ecf0b, 0x9309ff9d, 0x0a00ae27, 0x7d079eb1, 0xf00f9344, 0x8708a3d2, 0x1e01f268, 0x6906c2fe, 0xf762575d, 0x806567cb, 0x196c3671, 0x6e6b06e7, 0xfed41b76, 0x89d32be0, 0x10da7a5a, 0x67dd4acc, 0xf9b9df6f, 0x8ebeeff9, 0x17b7be43, 0x60b08ed5, 0xd6d6a3e8, 0xa1d1937e, 0x38d8c2c4, 0x4fdff252, 0xd1bb67f1, 0xa6bc5767, 0x3fb506dd, 0x48b2364b, 0xd80d2bda, 0xaf0a1b4c, 0x36034af6, 0x41047a60, 0xdf60efc3, 0xa867df55, 0x316e8eef, 0x4669be79, 0xcb61b38c, 0xbc66831a, 0x256fd2a0, 0x5268e236, 0xcc0c7795, 0xbb0b4703, 0x220216b9, 0x5505262f, 0xc5ba3bbe, 0xb2bd0b28, 0x2bb45a92, 0x5cb36a04, 0xc2d7ffa7, 0xb5d0cf31, 0x2cd99e8b, 0x5bdeae1d, 0x9b64c2b0, 0xec63f226, 0x756aa39c, 0x026d930a, 0x9c0906a9, 0xeb0e363f, 0x72076785, 0x05005713, 0x95bf4a82, 0xe2b87a14, 0x7bb12bae, 0x0cb61b38, 0x92d28e9b, 0xe5d5be0d, 0x7cdcefb7, 0x0bdbdf21, 0x86d3d2d4, 0xf1d4e242, 0x68ddb3f8, 0x1fda836e, 0x81be16cd, 0xf6b9265b, 0x6fb077e1, 0x18b74777, 0x88085ae6, 0xff0f6a70, 0x66063bca, 0x11010b5c, 0x8f659eff, 0xf862ae69, 0x616bffd3, 0x166ccf45, 0xa00ae278, 0xd70dd2ee, 0x4e048354, 0x3903b3c2, 0xa7672661, 0xd06016f7, 0x4969474d, 0x3e6e77db, 0xaed16a4a, 0xd9d65adc, 0x40df0b66, 0x37d83bf0, 0xa9bcae53, 0xdebb9ec5, 0x47b2cf7f, 0x30b5ffe9, 0xbdbdf21c, 0xcabac28a, 0x53b39330, 0x24b4a3a6, 0xbad03605, 0xcdd70693, 0x54de5729, 0x23d967bf, 0xb3667a2e, 0xc4614ab8, 0x5d681b02, 0x2a6f2b94, 0xb40bbe37, 0xc30c8ea1, 0x5a05df1b, 0x2d02ef8d }; /* * Compute the CRC of the contents of a buffer * * CRC generator G(x) is the sum of x^n for * n = 32, 26, 23, 22, 16, 12, 11, 10, 8, 7, 5, 4, 2, 1, 0 */ uint32_t libnet_compute_crc(uint8_t *buf, uint32_t len) { uint32_t val; val = ~0; while (len--) { val = crc_table[(val ^ *buf) & 0xff] ^ (val >> 0x08); buf++; } return (~val); } /* EOF */ | Mid | [
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The code example (in POD of File::Slurp 9999.19 -> DESCRIPTION -> read_file) my $bin = read_file( 'filename' { binmode => ':raw' } ) ; is lacking a comma. It should be: my $bin = read_file( 'filename', { binmode => ':raw' } ) ; The exact line (876) addressed can be found here: https://metacpan.org/source/URI/File-Slurp-9999.19/lib/File/Slurp.pm#L876 It should be corrected, because this causes an error if written like this and this causes developers additional time, while development. Searching the error caused by that is not necessary. | Low | [
0.455337690631808,
26.125,
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IMG_2771.JPG Six Class of 2016 players enjoy their official visits to Syracuse. From left to right: Ohio athlete Carl Jones, safety commit Scoop Bradshaw, quarterback signee Rex Culpepper, SU head coach Dino Babers, athlete commit Moe Neal, linebacker commit Kenneth Ruff and defensive end commit Jamal Holloway. (Courtesy/Brad Culpepper) Syracuse, N.Y. — Florida linebacker Kenneth Ruff flipped his commitment from Virginia to Syracuse on Saturday, he told Syracuse.com. Ryan Bartow of 247Sports.com first reported the news. Ruff is currently taking his official visit to SU, along with quarterback signee Rex Culpepper, safety commit Scoop Bradshaw, athlete commit Moe Neal, defensive end commit Jamal Holloway and uncommitted Ohio athlete Carl Jones. The 6-foot-1, 240-pound Dillard (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) High School senior is rated three stars and the No. 37 inside linebacker in the Class of 2016 by 247Sports.com's composite rankings. He also holds offers from Clemson, South Carolina, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Georgia Tech, among others, per 247Sports.com. Ruff's flip comes just a day after his primary recruiter at UVA, running backs coach Chris Beatty, was reported to be joining Dino Babers' staff at Syracuse. Ruff ran a verified 4.82-second 40-yard dash at a Nike SPARQ combine. The Orange now has 15 players pledged to its Class of 2016. Ruff is the second prospect to pledge to SU since Babers was hired, joining Wisconsin offensive tackle Airon Servais. The other linebacker in Syracuse's class, Dymelle Parker, said earlier on Saturday that he had yet to hear from the new staff. Contact Stephen Bailey anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-427-2168 | Mid | [
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Q: Symfony 3.1 Ldap Authentication Not Working I am developing an application using Symfony 3.1 and I am having problems on Ldap authentication. The following code: services.yml ldap: class: 'Symfony\Component\Ldap\LdapClient' arguments: - server.test.br # host - 389 # port - 3 # version - false # SSL - false # TLS security.yml security: providers: chain_provider: chain: providers: [my_ldap] my_ldap: ldap: service: ldap base_dn: dc=test,dc=br search_dn: cn=s00027,ou=Contas Administrativas de Sistemas,ou=Departamento de Tecnologia,dc=test,dc=br search_password: pass default_roles: ROLE_USER uid_key: sAMAccountName filter: '({uid_key}={username})' firewalls: dev: pattern: ^/(_(profiler|wdt)|css|images|js)/ security: false admin: anonymous: true pattern: ^/ form_login_ldap: provider: chain_provider service: ldap dn_string: 'sAMAccountName={username}' check_path: /login_check login_path: /login logout: path: /logout target: / default: form_login_ldap: provider: chain_provider service: ldap dn_string: "uid={username},DC=test,DC=br" check_path: /login_check login_path: /login access_control: - { path: ^/login, roles: IS_AUTHENTICATED_ANONYMOUSLY } - { path: ^/admin, roles: ROLE_ADMIN } SecurityController.php /** * @Route("/login_check", name="login_check") */ public function loginAction(Request $request) { $authenticationUtils = $this->get('security.authentication_utils'); $error = $authenticationUtils->getLastAuthenticationError(); $lastUsername = $authenticationUtils->getLastUsername(); return $this->render( 'AppBundle:Security:login.html.twig', array( // last username entered by the user 'last_username' => $lastUsername, 'error' => $error, ) ); } I have tried everything I could and received no errors at logs, only the message about LdapClient class is deprecated. Could anyone help me? Please. A: Hello Symfony 3 developers! I solved the problem using LdapToolsBundle I think the problem was not using Guard although is Symfony 3.1. But, using LdapTools solved my problem and it is very easy to work with. Thank you! | Mid | [
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I developed a technique in 2007 during a Keyline Design Course at Tuscon, Arizona for making a contour map using cheap available materials. One of our students didn’t have the cash to get a surveyor to do the job on his 40 acres, so I came up with this solution on the whiteboard and have since tested it on the ground quite a few times now. Using a Bunyip/Water Level, A Frame, Laser Level or Dumpy/Automatic Level mark out a contour line using stakes or pin markers (see below for an alternative to this technique in some circumstances). Using a Bunyip/Water Level, Laser Level or Dumpy/Automatic Level go down or up the desired elevation (eg. 1 foot or 0.5m) more or less stepping down (or up) each contour interval and then running along until you run out of signal (laser) or come to a boundary or obstruction. Using a consumable GPS (I have a Garmin Etrex HCx – about $200 worth) record waypoints at each of the stakes. Be sure to wait for the GPS to ’settle down’ reducing its error down to between 1-3m. Hold the GPS out in front of you over the stake and then take the waypoint. You can also take waypoints of important features such as rocky outcrops, dam perimeters/maximum water levels, fences, pipes, buildings, tree drip lines etc remembering to codify/name each point so that the points can be distinguished from you contour points. You can choose not to use stakes if you like by marking the waypoints directly onto the GPS as you mark each contour point. This reduces the time needed to survey dramatically. If you have livestock then you will most certainly lose many of the stakes anyway as their curiosity gets the better of them! Using a measuring wheel (or paces if you’re good!) take some ‘ground truthing’ measurements across the site. This will be useful later when you want to rough out the ‘coefficient of error’ from the GPS as there will always be with a consumable model…. Then load the GPS data onto computer. Most GPS units come with a basic mapping program or you can (as I do) use a program like MapInfo Professional, or other GIS or CAD programs. The waypoints will come up marking the pattern of the contours. You can then join the dots and presto you have your contour map. The image above is an example of the results. For this job I only needed a few contours. The accuracy came in at between 1-3m which over 10 hectares acres is fine in my opinion. We also now import GPS points directly in Google Earth for immediate viewing. Go to TOOLS then GPS, click off ROUTES & TRACKS leaving ‘WAYPOINTS’ ticked, then click IMPORT. Good idea to make a new folder in Google Earth by selecting ADD then FOLDER. Name the Folder of the Property/Owner name and date etc.. (Or just keep them as whatever Google Earth calls them if you just simply import them.) Click on the new folder so it is active and now go through the GPS points importation procedure as described. The points will then be shown on your Google Earth map. These points can be exported into programs such as MapInfo Professional by saving these points either individually or as a folder in Google Earth as .kml/.kmz and then using KMLCSV freeware (available at www.kmlcsv.pbworks.com). You then import these points into MapInfo using the Create Points function and then open them in your mapper as a .tab file. Other GIS software provides for a similar process. Diagram 1 – This map shows the differentials in accuracy the technique described above and where you use an RTK GPS instead. Thanks Jesús Ruiz Gámez of Linea Clave (Spain) for this test. Diagram 2 – This map is at Dalpura Farm in southern Victoria (AU) where we completed a GPS/Laser Level-derived survey ahead of an wide-spaced agroforestry being designed and established. Diagram 3 – Following our site analysis, Eugenio Gras of MasHumus surveyed this 200ha property in 3 days using a GPS/Laser Level and then sent me the plot as a GoogleEarth .kmz file which I then imported into MapInfo Professional and designed the project. | Mid | [
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function [csort isort ksort rhosort spair zrhoabs] = fast_corsort(rho,Nps) % [csort isort rhosort zrhoabs] = fast_corsort(rho,Nps) % rho is an NxN correlation matrix % Nps is a list of number of inputs for each subject % sum(Nps) must equal N (the size of rho) % Eg, if there were 3 subjects each with 4 inputs, then % Nps = [4 4 4]; % Eg, if the 2nd subject had 5 then % Nps = [4 5 4]; % csort will be Nmin by Ns, where Nmin = min(Nps) and Ns % is the number of subjects. Each row of csort represents % a "coherent component". The number in csort is the % subject component that belongs to that coherent component. % Each row will have all the subjects; each col must not have % any repeats. % isort is like csort except that it gives the index of the component % into the full matrix instead of relative to the start of the % subject (this can be very convenient) % ksort - sorting order rank (note: there will be two 1s) % rhosort - correlation values corresponding to the components % spair - Nmin by Ns. The value is the subject that the column % subject was paired with. % zrhoabs - used for debugging. % % Eg: % y is component-by-space matrix % yn = fast_fnorm(y,2,1); % Normalize across space % rho = yn*yn'; % Cor Coeff across component % % % fast_corsort.m % % Original Author: Doug Greve % % Copyright © 2011 The General Hospital Corporation (Boston, MA) "MGH" % % Terms and conditions for use, reproduction, distribution and contribution % are found in the 'FreeSurfer Software License Agreement' contained % in the file 'LICENSE' found in the FreeSurfer distribution, and here: % % https://surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/fswiki/FreeSurferSoftwareLicense % % Reporting: [email protected] % csort = []; isort = []; ksort = []; rhosort = []; zrhoabs = []; spair = []; if(nargin ~= 2) fprintf('[csort isort rhosort spair zrhoabs] = fast_corsort(rho,Nps)\n'); return; end % Make sure it is a row vector Nps = Nps(:)'; % Sort over absolute rhoabs = abs(rho); % Number of subjects Ns = length(Nps); % Tot number of comp across all subj Ntot = sum(Nps); if(size(rho,1) ~= Ntot) fprintf('ERROR: dimension mismatch %d %d\n',size(rho,1), Ntot); return; end % Max number of components to sort Nmax = min(Nps); % Create a list of subjects start and stop components i1 = cumsum([0 Nps(1:end-1)]) + 1; i2 = i1 + Nps - 1; % Create lists for easy access slist = zeros(Ntot,1); % subject at given row or col in rho clist = zeros(Ntot,1); % component no at given row or col in rho for s = 1:Ns slist(i1(s):i2(s)) = s; clist(i1(s):i2(s)) = 1:Nps(s); end % Zero values that are irrelevant. These are the values that % are correlations within a given subject. blk = []; for s = 1:Ns bs = ones(Nps(s)); blk = blkdiag(blk,bs); end aa = zeros(1,Ntot); aa(1) = 1; tt = toeplitz(ones(Ntot,1),aa); indz = find(blk==1 | tt==1); rhoabs(indz) = 0; zrhoabs = rhoabs; % keep a copy % Start loop over coherent components csort = zeros(Nmax,Ns); isort = zeros(Nmax,Ns); ksort = zeros(Nmax,Ns); rhosort = zeros(Nmax,Ns); rhoabsR = rhoabs; tic; for nthcomp = 1:Nmax %fprintf('%4d/%4d %g\n',nthcomp,Nmax,toc); % Initialize rhoabs = rhoabsR; % Loop over subjects nth = 0; while(1) nth = nth + 1; % Find max of the (remaining) cors [rhomax indmax] = max(rhoabs(:)); % Extract the corresponding subject and components numbers [imax jmax] = ind2sub(size(rhoabs),indmax); sA = slist(imax); cA = imax - i1(sA) + 1; sB = slist(jmax); cB = jmax - i1(sB) + 1; % Add them to the list hit = 0; if(csort(nthcomp,sA) == 0) csort(nthcomp,sA) = cA; rhosort(nthcomp,sA) = rho(imax,jmax); spair(nthcomp,sA) = sB; ksort(nthcomp,sA) = nth; hit = 1; end if(csort(nthcomp,sB) == 0) csort(nthcomp,sB) = cB; rhosort(nthcomp,sB) = rho(imax,jmax); spair(nthcomp,sB) = sA; ksort(nthcomp,sB) = nth; hit = 1; end if(~hit) % Should never happen printf('ERROR: did not find a new subject\n'); fprintf('%3d %2d %2d %2d %2d %2d %6.4f %d\n',... nthcomp,nth,sA,sB,cA,cB,rhomax,hit); %csort = []; %return; end % Eliminate cross products of all subjects chosen sclist = find(csort(nthcomp,:) ~= 0); z = zeros(size(rhoabs)); for s1 = sclist for s2 = sclist if(s1 == s2) continue; end ind1 = find(slist == s1); ind2 = find(slist == s2); z(ind1,ind2) = 1; end end ind = find(z); rhoabs(ind) = 0; % For each subject, eliminate the components NOT % chosen for further consideration for this % coherent component indA = find(slist == sA & clist ~= cA); rhoabs(:,indA) = 0; rhoabs(indA,:) = 0; indB = find(slist == sB & clist ~= cB); rhoabs(:,indB) = 0; rhoabs(indB,:) = 0; % Now eliminate now eliminate cross blocks of % subjects that are neither sA or sB if(nth == 1) indM = find(slist ~= sA & slist ~= sB); rhoabs(indM,indM) = 0; end % Is there anything left? if(length(find(rhoabs ~= 0)) == 0) break; end end % Now eliminate the components just selected from % the master list for s = 1:Ns ind = find(slist == s & clist == csort(nthcomp,s)); rhoabsR(:,ind) = 0; rhoabsR(ind,:) = 0; end end isort = csort + repmat(i1,[Nmax 1]) - 1; | Mid | [
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Delivering a bunch of 140 character tweets might not seem like a big deal, but when you consider that Twitter is currently pumping out data at a rate of 35Mbps (and growing) with a max recorded rate of roughly 6000 tweets per second, the challenges of managing this transfer become substantial. Gnip is currently delivering over a half billion social activities per day to almost all the top social media monitoring firms. Since Gnip was Twitter’s first authorized data reseller it isn’t too surprising that they partnered with Twitter and the Library of Congress for this important endeavor. The best part of this deal is that some of the key technical bits that were required to make this project a reality will almost certainly end up in Gnip’s future business offerings so the commercial Twitter ecosphere will likely benefit from this effort at some point too. Just yesterday, Gnip announced that Chris Moody joined the company as President & COO. I’ve been good friends with Chris for the last several years and am super excited to be working closely with him. I anticipate that Chris and Jud Valeski, Gnip’s CEO, will make a powerful duo. On Monday, the company announced a much anticipated product improvement that allows existing customers to open multiple connections to Premium Twitter Feeds on their Gnip data collectors. The best part is that customers won’t be charged the standard Twitter licensing fee for the same tweet delivered across multiple connections. Instead, Gnip offers a small flat fee per month for each additional connection. This is a big win for ops managers who have multiple environments to manage for their various release cycles and for large enterprises with systems distributed across data centers all over the world. | High | [
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Q: JVM signal chaining SIGPIPE We have a C++ application with an embedded JVM (Sun's). Because we register our own signal handlers, it's recommended we do so before initializing the JVM since it installs its own handlers (see here). From what I understood, the JVM knows internally if the signal originated from its own code and if not it passes it along the chain - to our handlers. What we started seeing is that we're getting SIGPIPEs, with a call stack that looks roughly like this (the top entry is our signal handler): /.../libos_independent_utilities.so(_ZN2os32smart_synchronous_signal_handlerEiP7siginfoPv+0x9) [0x2b124f7a3989] /.../jvm/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so [0x2aaaab05dc6c] /.../jvm/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so [0x2aaaab05bffb] /.../jvm/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so(JVM_handle_linux_signal+0x718) [0x2aaaab05e878] /.../jvm/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so [0x2aaaab05bf0e] /lib64/libpthread.so.0 [0x3c2140e4c0] /lib64/libpthread.so.0(send+0x91) [0x3c2140d841] /.../jvm/jre/lib/amd64/libnet.so [0x2aaabd360269] /.../jvm/jre/lib/amd64/libnet.so(Java_java_net_SocketOutputStream_socketWrite0+0xee) [0x2aaabd35cf4e] [0x2aaaaeb3bf7f] It seems like the JVM is deciding that the SIGPIPE that was raised from send should be passed along to our signal hander. Is it right when doing so? Also, why is the call stack incomplete? I mean obviously it can't show me java code before socketWrite0 but why can't I see the stack before the java code? A: The JVM can't tell whether the SIGPIPE came from it's own code, or your code. That information just isn't given by the signal. Because it doesn't want you to miss out on any possible events that you could be interested in, it has to pass you all SIGPIPEs, even the ones that it turns out were from its own code. Unix signals come in two flavors -- "synchronous" and "asynchronous". A few exceptional conditions when just executing code can cause traps and result in "synchronous" signals. These are things such as unaligned memory access (SIGBUS), illegal memory access, often NULLs, (SIGSEGV), division by zero and other math errors (SIGFPE), undecodable instructions (SIGILL), and so forth. These have a precise execution context, and are delivered directly to the thread that caused them. The signal handler can look up the stack and see "hey I got an illegal memory access executing java code, and the pointer was a NULL. Let me go fix that up." In contrast, the signals that interact with the outside world are the "asynchronous" variety, and include such things as SIGTERM, SIGQUIT, SIGUSR1, etc. These do not have a fixed execution context. For threaded programs they are delivered pretty much at random to any thread. Importantly, SIGPIPE is among these. Yes, in some sense, it is normally associated with one system call. But it is quite possible to (for instance) have two threads listening to two separate connections, both of which close before either thread is scheduled. The kernel just makes sure that there is a SIGPIPE pending (the usual implementation is as a bitmask of pending signals), and deals with it on rescheduling any of the threads in the process. This is only one of the simpler cases possible where the JVM might not have enough information to rule out your client code being interested in this signal. (As to what happens to the read calls, they return "there was an error: EINTR" and continue on. At this point, the JVM can turn that into an exception, but the return happens after the signal delivery and the signal handler fires.) The upshot is you'll just have to deal with false-positives. (And deal with getting only one signal where two might have been expected.) | Mid | [
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load( "//bazel:envoy_build_system.bzl", "envoy_cc_test_binary", "envoy_cc_test_library", "envoy_package", "envoy_proto_library", ) licenses(["notice"]) # Apache 2 envoy_package() envoy_cc_test_binary( name = "router_check_tool", deps = [":router_check_main_lib"], ) envoy_cc_test_library( name = "router_check_main_lib", srcs = [ "coverage.cc", "coverage.h", "router.cc", "router.h", "router_check.cc", ], copts = ["-DHAVE_LONG_LONG"], external_deps = ["tclap"], deps = [ ":validation_proto_cc_proto", "//source/common/event:dispatcher_lib", "//source/common/http:header_map_lib", "//source/common/http:headers_lib", "//source/common/json:json_loader_lib", "//source/common/router:config_lib", "//source/common/stats:stats_lib", "//source/common/stream_info:stream_info_lib", "//source/exe:platform_impl_lib", "//test/mocks/server:instance_mocks", "//test/test_common:printers_lib", "//test/test_common:utility_lib", "@envoy_api//envoy/config/core/v3:pkg_cc_proto", "@envoy_api//envoy/config/route/v3:pkg_cc_proto", "@envoy_api//envoy/type/v3:pkg_cc_proto", ], ) envoy_proto_library( name = "validation_proto", srcs = ["validation.proto"], deps = [ "@envoy_api//envoy/config/core/v3:pkg", "@envoy_api//envoy/config/route/v3:pkg", ], ) | Mid | [
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Saturday, May 30, 2009 Nieman Suspends Narrative Conference Ouch! Journalism's financial woes are spreading to peripheral organizations. Money troubles have led the Nieman Foundation to suspend its annual Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism. According to the Boston Globe, the foundation will get 8 percent less in endowment payments for its next fiscal year, beginning July 1. The foundation is taking other cost-cutting measures as well, such as having fewer Nieman fellows and scaling back its Nieman Reports. | Mid | [
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American Coco Vandeweghe got the Wimbledon Middle Sunday party started on Centre Court, beating sixth seed Roberta Vinci 6-3 6-4 in front of an excitable crowed who scooped tickets online for the extra day’s play after rain delays scrambled the first- week schedule. Advertising Even before the pair had struck a ball, Mexican waves were rippling around court and an unexpected spurt of water from the mechanism on the open roof forced a few unlucky fans to briefly raise their umbrellas on an otherwise dry day. Vandeweghe hailed the happy atmosphere, with fans, who would have only known there were coming on Saturday afternoon, cheering at every exhibition-style shot and line challenge. “It was amazing, really was quite cool. It was similar to (last year) when I played Maria (Sharapova) on quarter-final day. The crowd was really into it,” the 27th seed said as she came off court. Advertising Friends Beverley Purcell and Rebecca Rumsey had travelled from Birmingham, some 100 miles north of London, after striking lucky and bagging two of the 22,000 tickets on sale. “It is very exciting, we had no idea who we would see,” Rumsey said. “We just wanted Centre Court so we knew we would get play if it rained,” Purcell added. Vandeweghe will next play 21st seed Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat the Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky, seeded 11th, 6-3 6-2 to reach the last 16. | Mid | [
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Friday, June 05, 2009 Jeez, it's been a rough week. Dick Jacobs, the former owner of the Cleveland Indians, has died at 84. For Cleveland sports fans, Jacobs was a godsend - a smart owner who invested heavily in his team but was wise enough to let his very able general managers (John Hart and Mark Shapiro) make the personnel decisions. In 1986, Jacobs bought the Indians in the midst of some of their thinnest years (and for a team that hasn't seen a World Series title since 1948, that's saying something). They consistently went nowhere, and often made such wise decisions as trading all of their pitching for hitting, so that they could go from losing 2-1 to losing 10-8. Yet by 1994, there was genuine hope in Cleveland - young players like Kenny Lofton, Sandy Alomar Jr., "Joey" (only later was he "Albert") Belle, Jim Thome, and in the farm system, Manny Ramirez were all really positive signs that the Indians, after 40 years, had a direction. What was more, they had ditched the awful Cleveland Municipal Stadium owned by Art Modell (may he burn in hell forever) for a beautiful new stadium, a stadium for which Jacobs himself plunked money down to have the naming rights. It wasn't "Jacobs Field" out of any vanity on his part - the only other bidder was the MacDonald's investment company, and he did understandably did not want a field that made people think of crappy fast-food burgers. The strike of 1994 ended a season in which the Indians were in a pennant race for the first time in 40 years, a typical twist of events for a city filled with generations of multiple heartbreaks acrossallthreemajorsports. Yet in 1995, the Indians, under Jacobs' ownership, won the pennant for the first time in 41 years, and went to the World Series. While losing wasn't fun, it was dulled by the fact that Jacobs had had the presence of mind (unlike some owners) to let his GM do his job, and that the Indians finally were heading in a direction other than "south," with a deep farm system and potential to contend for years. 1997 was absolutely devastating, certainly, but whereas the years before Jacobs' ownership were filled with false hopes, now it seems every year, the Indians may genuinely contend. Jacobs sold his ownership in 2001, but the direction has remained largely the same. Without Jacobs' ownership of the Tribe, who knows where the Indians would be now. Ultimately, Jacobs was a quiet man, but the team he ran speaks volumes for him. He's still highly beloved in Cleveland, and his loss marks a very sad day for the entire Tribe family. Rest in peace, Dick, and thanks for all that you've done for the Indians and for Cleveland. | Mid | [
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Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus says it's time for Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Democratic super PAC to hit Trump in battleground states over coronavirus deaths Battle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight MORE to hold a press conference to explain "the brazen conflicts of interest and obvious pay-to-play politics that went on in her State Department.” ADVERTISEMENT “Clinton owes explanations for why she broke ethics agreements regarding foreign donations to her family foundation, gave preferential treatment to foundation donors as secretary of State, and why we should believe that her secret server wasn’t designed to cover up the shady pay-to-play politics at her State Department,” Priebus said in a statement on Wednesday. Priebus added that Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, has long deceived voters about her tenure at the State Department. “We’ve been here before: In March of 2015, Clinton stood at the [United Nations] and lied directly to the American people about the nature of her secret server and the classified information she exposed,” he said, referring to Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of State. “It’s time for her to face the press again, except she needs to tell the American people the truth they deserve this time. Failure to face the press will only deepen the question on voters’ minds: What exactly is she hiding?” The Associated Press on Tuesday reported that more than half the meetings Clinton took with people outside the government while secretary of State involved Clinton Foundation donors. The AP said at least 85 of the 154 people who met or spoke via phone with Clinton made past contributions to her family’s charitable organization either directly or through companies or groups. Clinton’s campaign manager on Wednesday said the AP ignored details about the vast majority of Clinton’s meetings. “By our count, there were over 1,700 other meetings that she had,” Robby Mook said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “She was secretary of State. She was meeting with foreign officials and government officials constantly, so to pull all of them out of the equation, cherry-pick a small number of the meetings, is pretty outrageous.” Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Trump dismisses climate change role in fires, says Newsom needs to manage forest better Jimmy Kimmel hits Trump for rallies while hosting Emmy Awards MORE on Monday called for the Clinton Foundation to shut its doors now. “It is now clear that the Clinton Foundation is the most corrupt enterprise in political history,” the Republican presidential nominee said in a statement. Former President Bill Clinton William (Bill) Jefferson ClintonBattle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight Sunday shows - Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death dominates Bill Clinton on GOP push to fill Ginsburg vacancy: Trump, McConnell 'first value is power' MORE announced on the same day that he would step down from the organization and it would no longer accept donations from foreign governments or companies should his wife win the presidency. | Low | [
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[Desktop Entry] Name=Preferences Comment=Personal preferences Icon=preferences-settings Type=Directory #TRANSLATIONS_DIR=translations # Translations Name[de]=Einstellungen Comment[de]=Persönliche Einstellungen | Low | [
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Q: Simple process manager using multiprocessing in Python I have a lot of tasks (independent of each other, represented by some code in Python) that need to be executed. Their execution time varies. I also have limited resources so at most N tasks can be running at the same time. The goal is to finish executing the whole stack of tasks as fast as possible. It seems that I am looking for some kind of manager that starts new tasks when the resource gets available and collects finished tasks. Are there any already-made solutions or should I code it myself? Are there any caveats that I should keep in mind? A: as far as I can tell your main would just become: def main(): tasks = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] with multiprocessing.Pool(POOL_SIZE) as pool: pool.map(sleep, tasks) i.e. you've just reimplemented a pool, but inefficiently (Pool reuses Processes where possible) and in not as safely, Pool goes to lots of effort to cleanup on exceptions | Low | [
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/* * Copyright (c) 1997, 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER. * * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as * published by the Free Software Foundation. Oracle designates this * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code. * * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that * accompanied this code). * * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. * * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any * questions. */ /* */ /* * (C) Copyright Taligent, Inc. 1996, 1997 - All Rights Reserved * (C) Copyright IBM Corp. 1996 - 1998 - All Rights Reserved * * The original version of this source code and documentation * is copyrighted and owned by Taligent, Inc., a wholly-owned * subsidiary of IBM. These materials are provided under terms * of a License Agreement between Taligent and Sun. This technology * is protected by multiple US and International patents. * * This notice and attribution to Taligent may not be removed. * Taligent is a registered trademark of Taligent, Inc. * */ /* * COPYRIGHT AND PERMISSION NOTICE * * Copyright (C) 1991-2012 Unicode, Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed under * the Terms of Use in http://www.unicode.org/copyright.html. * * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy * of the Unicode data files and any associated documentation (the "Data * Files") or Unicode software and any associated documentation (the * "Software") to deal in the Data Files or Software without restriction, * including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, * publish, distribute, and/or sell copies of the Data Files or Software, and * to permit persons to whom the Data Files or Software are furnished to do so, * provided that (a) the above copyright notice(s) and this permission notice * appear with all copies of the Data Files or Software, (b) both the above * copyright notice(s) and this permission notice appear in associated * documentation, and (c) there is clear notice in each modified Data File or * in the Software as well as in the documentation associated with the Data * File(s) or Software that the data or software has been modified. * * THE DATA FILES AND SOFTWARE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY * KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF * MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF * THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR HOLDERS * INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, OR ANY SPECIAL INDIRECT OR * CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, * DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER * TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE * OF THE DATA FILES OR SOFTWARE. * * Except as contained in this notice, the name of a copyright holder shall not * be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other * dealings in these Data Files or Software without prior written authorization * of the copyright holder. */ package sun.text.resources.ext; import sun.util.resources.ParallelListResourceBundle; public class FormatData_ar extends ParallelListResourceBundle { /** * Overrides ParallelListResourceBundle */ @Override protected final Object[][] getContents() { final String[] rocEras = { "Before R.O.C.", "\u062c\u0645\u0647\u0648\u0631\u064a\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0635\u064a", }; return new Object[][] { { "MonthNames", new String[] { "\u064a\u0646\u0627\u064a\u0631", // january "\u0641\u0628\u0631\u0627\u064a\u0631", // february "\u0645\u0627\u0631\u0633", // march "\u0623\u0628\u0631\u064a\u0644", // april "\u0645\u0627\u064a\u0648", // may "\u064a\u0648\u0646\u064a\u0648", // june "\u064a\u0648\u0644\u064a\u0648", // july "\u0623\u063a\u0633\u0637\u0633", // august "\u0633\u0628\u062a\u0645\u0628\u0631", // september "\u0623\u0643\u062a\u0648\u0628\u0631", // october "\u0646\u0648\u0641\u0645\u0628\u0631", // november "\u062f\u064a\u0633\u0645\u0628\u0631", // december "" // month 13 if applicable } }, { "MonthAbbreviations", new String[] { "\u064a\u0646\u0627", // abb january "\u0641\u0628\u0631", // abb february "\u0645\u0627\u0631", // abb march "\u0623\u0628\u0631", // abb april "\u0645\u0627\u064a", // abb may "\u064a\u0648\u0646", // abb june "\u064a\u0648\u0644", // abb july "\u0623\u063a\u0633", // abb august "\u0633\u0628\u062a", // abb september "\u0623\u0643\u062a", // abb october "\u0646\u0648\u0641", // abb november "\u062f\u064a\u0633", // abb december "" // abb month 13 if applicable } }, { "MonthNarrows", new String[] { "\u064a", "\u0641", "\u0645", "\u0623", "\u0648", "\u0646", "\u0644", "\u063a", "\u0633", "\u0643", "\u0628", "\u062f", "", } }, { "DayNames", new String[] { "\u0627\u0644\u0623\u062d\u062f", // Sunday "\u0627\u0644\u0627\u062b\u0646\u064a\u0646", // Monday "\u0627\u0644\u062b\u0644\u0627\u062b\u0627\u0621", // Tuesday "\u0627\u0644\u0623\u0631\u0628\u0639\u0627\u0621", // Wednesday "\u0627\u0644\u062e\u0645\u064a\u0633", // Thursday "\u0627\u0644\u062c\u0645\u0639\u0629", // Friday "\u0627\u0644\u0633\u0628\u062a" // Saturday } }, { "DayAbbreviations", new String[] { "\u062d", // abb Sunday "\u0646", // abb Monday "\u062b", // abb Tuesday "\u0631", // abb Wednesday "\u062e", // abb Thursday "\u062c", // abb Friday "\u0633" // abb Saturday } }, { "standalone.DayAbbreviations", new String[] { "\u0627\u0644\u0623\u062d\u062f", "\u0627\u0644\u0627\u062b\u0646\u064a\u0646", "\u0627\u0644\u062b\u0644\u0627\u062b\u0627\u0621", "\u0627\u0644\u0623\u0631\u0628\u0639\u0627\u0621", "\u0627\u0644\u062e\u0645\u064a\u0633", "\u0627\u0644\u062c\u0645\u0639\u0629", "\u0627\u0644\u0633\u0628\u062a", } }, { "DayNarrows", new String[] { "\u062d", "\u0646", "\u062b", "\u0631", "\u062e", "\u062c", "\u0633", } }, { "AmPmMarkers", new String[] { "\u0635", // am marker "\u0645" // pm marker } }, { "Eras", new String[] { // era strings "\u0642.\u0645", "\u0645" } }, { "short.Eras", new String[] { "\u0642.\u0645", "\u0645", } }, { "japanese.Eras", new String[] { "\u0645", "\u0645\u064a\u062c\u064a", "\u062a\u064a\u0634\u0648", "\u0634\u0648\u0648\u0627", "\u0647\u064a\u0633\u064a", "\u0631\u064a\u0648\u0627", } }, { "japanese.short.Eras", new String[] { "\u0645", "\u0645\u064a\u062c\u064a", "\u062a\u064a\u0634\u0648", "\u0634\u0648\u0648\u0627", "\u0647\u064a\u0633\u064a", "\u0631\u064a\u0648\u0627", } }, { "buddhist.Eras", new String[] { "BC", "\u0627\u0644\u062a\u0642\u0648\u064a\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0628\u0648\u0630\u064a", } }, { "buddhist.short.Eras", new String[] { "BC", "\u0627\u0644\u062a\u0642\u0648\u064a\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0628\u0648\u0630\u064a", } }, { "NumberPatterns", new String[] { "#,##0.###;#,##0.###-", // decimal pattern "\u00A4 #,##0.###;\u00A4 #,##0.###-", // currency pattern "#,##0%" // percent pattern } }, { "TimePatterns", new String[] { "z hh:mm:ss a", // full time pattern "z hh:mm:ss a", // long time pattern "hh:mm:ss a", // medium time pattern "hh:mm a", // short time pattern } }, { "DatePatterns", new String[] { "dd MMMM, yyyy", // full date pattern "dd MMMM, yyyy", // long date pattern "dd/MM/yyyy", // medium date pattern "dd/MM/yy", // short date pattern } }, { "DateTimePatterns", new String[] { "{1} {0}" // date-time pattern } }, { "DateTimePatternChars", "GanjkHmsSEDFwWxhKzZ" }, }; } } | Low | [
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(CNN) One thing is abundantly clear from CNN's poll of polls released on Wednesday: It's Bernie Sanders ... and then the rest of the 2020 Democratic presidential field, at the moment. (NOTE: The poll of polls includes an average of the five most recent nonpartisan, live operator, national surveys on the race for the Democratic presidential nomination conducted among registered voters who consider themselves either Democrats, Democratic-leaning independents or likely Democratic voters. The surveys were conducted after voting in the Iowa caucuses began on February 3.) Now, any smart political strategist will tell you that national polls aren't the best indicator of where a race is headed -- particularly after people in key early states start voting. Which they have! But the results in Iowa and New Hampshire only lend more credibility to Sanders' status as a clear first among sort-of equals. He led the Iowa popular vote while apparently losing the delegate count by a fingernail. He won the New Hampshire primary. And polling in the lead-up to Saturday's Nevada caucuses suggests he's the likely winner there too. Read More | High | [
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NEA presents $25,000 gift to National Teachers Hall of Fame Organization pledges to raise another $100,000 The National Teachers Hall of Fame celebrated its 20th induction ceremony tonight with a $25,000 gift from the National Education Association and a pledge to raise $100,000 more. “You represent the hundreds of hundreds of thousands of great teachers who every day serve the students of the United States,” Christy Levings, a member of the NEA executive committee and elementary school teacher from Osawatomie, Kan., told the 2011 hall of fame inductees. Levings was speaking at the induction banquet at Emporia State University where she presented a $25,000 check to Dr. Michael R. Lane, president of Emporia State University and chairman of the NTHF board of directors. The NTHF was established in Emporia in 1989. Beginning in 1992, five teachers have been selected each year for induction into the hall. This year’s 20th-anniversary class of teachers are: Walter Patrick Earle who teaches high school agriculture at McBee High School in McBee, S.C.; Levings commended Emporia State University and the Emporia community for “what you’ve done to nurture this great organization to focus attention on education.” But, she said, it’s time to do more, and the NEA and the NEA Foundation believe they have the resources to bring more attention to the hall of fame. “We are a 3.2-million-member organization with members in every state across the country,” Levings said. “We want to raise nationally another $100,000 to continue to build the National Teachers Hall of Fame so people recognize what a jewel and what a gift is here in Emporia.” The initial $25,000 gift is the largest single gift in four years, according to Lane. Jill Docking, former chair of the Kansas Board of Regents, reminded the audience of the importance of teachers. “As we honor these five teachers today,” Docking said, “each of us can look back on teachers who were important in our lives, second only to our parents.” Docking shared the story of Albert Alexander Hyde, inventor of Mentholatum, who believed it was his obligation to give all of his wealth away and wanted to affect multiple generations in doing so. Hyde’s legacy is seen in Wichita State University, Friends University and other educational pursuits in the city of Wichita. “This was a 100-year investment,” Docking said, “and shows how important it is to invest in education. “Our country must commit and refocus on education,” Docking said, “because we are not falling behind, we are behind.” | High | [
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WAUKESHA - Just months after Waukesha announced a new fire department chief, he has been asked to step down.According to the complaint, Jesse Alba violated the city's anti-harassment policy. It alleges that Alba became friends with two of his co-workers, and shared personal information with them, ev Full story WAUKESHA - It was a ring given to a high school sweetheart in 1948. It's been missing for 65 years. But thanks to a Waukesha man, the ring is back where it belongs.Mike Geiger's hobby is finding lost jewelry and returning it to its owners. But his most recent discovery is his most meaningful one.“He Full story WAUKESHA - Things are back to normal after a suspicious package is found in Waukesha Friday night.Police were called to the riverwalk around 7 p.m. They found a box wrapped in duct tape. The Milwaukee County Bomb Squad was called in and the area was blocked off.The device was proven to be a fake aft Full story WAUKESHA - He was just appointed Waukesha Fire Chief in the end of May, and he's already being asked to step down after an independent investigation wrapped up. Chief Jesse Alba plans on fighting the allegations."This is strange," said Waukesha resident Cheryl Udvare.Waukesha residents are wondering Full story WAUKESHA - A train accident at Arcadian Avenue and North Hartwell Avenue in Waukesha left a 56-year-old man in the hospital.It happened just after 5:00 p.m. Tuesday evening. Police say they found the man lying next to the railroad tracks.The man was taken to Froedtert Hospital with injuries to both Full story WAUKESHA - A biker found a body on a trial near Grandview and MacArthur Monday night. The body was just off the Glacial Drumlin State Trail.The Waukesha County Sheriff's Department says the 56-year-old man from the Town of Genesee was riding his bike along the trail when something happened. There wa Full story | Low | [
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In a wide-ranging conversation, the legendary documentary filmmaker and writer talks about interviewing killers, war criminals, and some of society’s most fascinating oddballs. Plus, his take on his best movie, his critics, and what he’ll do next. A Duke zealot recounts the night Michael Jordan’s retired North Carolina jersey was seized. This is Errol Morris’s second of six shorts for ESPN Films, about the heights a few stupid fans were willing to climb to stoke the flames of a storied rivalry. USMNT Advances, But Plenty of Questions Remain In the end, there were plenty of smiles from the United States national team. Tired, relieved smiles, but smiles nonetheless. The Americans, with a huge assist from the enthusiastic home crowd at Kansas City’s Livestrong Field, reached the final round of CONCACAF World Cup 2014 qualification with a 3-1 defeat of Guatemala. Jurgen Klinsmann’s Stars and Stripes finished on top of Group A with a record of four wins, one tie, and one loss. In the end, that’s all that matters. They had to qualify. But did it have to be so difficult? Five minutes into the match, Guatemala forward Carlos Ruiz got behind the American backline — he just ran a streak route between defenders Geoff Cameron, who didn’t bother to cover him, and Carlos Bocanegra, who didn’t have the pace to keep up with him. Ruiz, who doesn’t have a club right now and has been practicing at the Guatemalan Federation’s training ground, dribbled around Tim Howard and tapped the ball into the net. It was a terrible breakdown. If there was one player who had the potential to score and send the Americans home, it was the Little Fish. Shockingly, the U.S., who needed a draw to ensure they would reach the six-team “Hexagonal” from which three teams are guaranteed a place in the 2014 World Cup, was behind to a Guatemala squad that specializes in stalling and killing time. The USMNT’s 18-game undefeated streak against the visitors and its run of 21 straight home World Cup qualifiers without a loss was in jeopardy. The good news: Guatemala scored too early. The U.S. had time to respond against a side playing with its fifth- and sixth-choice center backs. And respond they did. On the Livestrong surface, the Americans were a better team, able to show their class. They didn’t panic, stayed calm, and stayed comfortable. The equalizer came only five minutes later. Herculez Gomez, showing the hustle that’s helped him find his way back into the American jersey, raced for a ball that was going over the touchline and turned a goal kick into a corner. Graham Zusi, Major League Soccer’s assist leader, playing in front of his home fans, delivered an in-swinging ball that Clint Dempsey met at the near post and redirected onward. Bocanegra, Captain America, redeemed his poor defensive effort by sticking out his left foot and hitting the ball past a helpless Ricardo Jerez. Instead of sitting back after scoring — a bad habit of this U.S. squad — they continued the assault. Goal no. 2 came courtesy of a sliding Dempsey. Klinsmann, looking suave on the sideline with a blue button-down shirt and black pants, celebrated like he had scored in the World Cup. Say what you will about his tactical acumen; the man’s enthusiasm is real and unbridled. The American Outlaws began chanting “You’re Not Going to Brazil” at Guatemala near the half-hour mark, which was too early until suddenly it wasn’t. Dempsey, virtually invisible against A&B, doubled up in the 36th minute, and the game was essentially over. After a scoreless second half, they were through. The USMNT, under their $2.5 million per year German manager, is far from a finished product. The good news is that they don’t play another match that matters until February 6, 2013, when the Hex begins. The bad news is that it might take that long — perhaps longer — to figure out what ails the squad. Finding some lineup consistency would be a nice start. On Tuesday night, Klinsmann used his 20th different lineup in his 20 matches as head coach. (He is a respectable 11-6-3 during that stretch.) Part of that is due to injury and part can be blamed on the new manager learning what he has in his player pool, but the constant tinkering needs to stop. The constant flow of faces in and out of the lineup makes gaining momentum from game to game difficult, especially in a national-team scenario where players have so little time to train and play together. Balancing the introduction of new talent versus building a team with what you have is one of the most difficult aspects of a coach’s job. Klinsmann, to his credit, brought new men like Graham Zusi, Danny Williams, and up-and-comer Joe Corona into the program. But with the Hexagonal and, hopefully, the World Cup approaching, it’s time to pull back on the meet-and-greets and get down to business. Klinsmann also needs to figure out his back line. After a strong start against Mexico, and solid performance in the home-and-home with Jamaica, the Geoff Cameron Center Back Experience went off the rails a bit against Antigua & Barbuda and on the first goal in KC. He’s still in the pole position for one of the two starting roles, but his partnership with Bocanegra needs work. As for the American captain, he’s also valuable but, at 33, on the downside of his effectiveness. And how much will he slip before Brazil? Does Klinsmann give a young guy like Sporting Kansas City’s Matt Besler a shot? Or maybe Oguchi Onyewu finds his form at Malaga? What about Jay DeMerit? My money: Yes to the first one, perhaps to the second, and no to the third. There are questions, and maybe three matches — one against Russia in November and potentially two in January — before the Hex begins. The USMNT have proved, time and time again, that they can raise their game at home when it matters the most (blip against Mexico in the 2011 Gold Cup final notwithstanding). They beat the Reggae Boyz in a must-win on September 11, and didn’t let Ruiz’s early strike on Tuesday night faze them. In CONCACAF, as in everywhere else in the world, the road to the World Cup means winning at home and squeezing out a few results on the road. That’s it. Maybe the Americans should be better than that, but right now that’s not the case. One of the difficulties of the international game is that the World Cup is far and away the most important metric for measuring success. It’s the only time the entire world is paying attention. For the U.S. to gain international respect, they need to perform well in Brazil. A trip to the quarterfinals, for example, will undo the damage caused by a million Carlos Ruiz fifth-minute goals. Of course, you have to actually reach the World Cup to show off your talent. The red, white, and blue didn’t qualify Tuesday night — far from it — but on the perfect green grass in Kansas City, the Americans took a step toward 2014 in more ways than one. Today that is what’s important. Tuesday night was for getting a point, not fixing problems. That’s why there’s tomorrow. We know, Grantland publishes a lot of words. Worried you missed something? Keep up with the best of Grantland — and everything from Bill Simmons & Co. — with our weekly newsletter.Sign-up is easy. So what are you waiting for? | Mid | [
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Congress returns from its July 4 recess Monday with Republicans hard-pressed to accomplish a number of legislative goals in short order — and their top-priority, a health care bill, in jeopardy of collapsing. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., sounded a dire note Sunday about the passage of any plan the GOP-controlled Senate has in the works to repeal and replace ObamaCare. “Clearly, the draft plan is dead,” Cassidy, whose own overhaul plan remains on the sidelines, told “Fox News Sunday. “Is the serious rewrite plan dead? I don’t know. I have not seen the serious rewrite plan. It is a heck of a way to do business.” Cassidy, a doctor, also expressed uncertainty about Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s plan that proposes bare-bone insurance policies, suggesting he’s uncertain about exactly how the Cruz plan works. CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS MUST WORK THE MARGINS TO PASS KEY LEGISLATION Even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., suggested over the recess that he might need bipartisan help to fix parts of ObamaCare if he cannot craft an major overhaul bill that will get support from at least 50 of his 52 senators. In overhauling ObamaCare, the GOP-led Congress is trying to give President Trump his first clear legislative win nearly six months after Republicans took full control of Washington. Meanwhile, Congress has other pressing issues, including passing tax reform, spending bills and a budget before the September 30 deadline for the federal government to technically run out of money. And with lawmakers having just three weeks of work before an August recess, some Republicans are suggesting cancelling or at least shortening the break. The House in May passed its own plan to replace ObamaCare as the 2010 health care law continues to falter under rising premium costs while offering Americans few policy options. McConnell is struggling to find GOP votes for a similar package that would replace the Affordable Care Act — ObamaCare's official name — with one easing insurance coverage requirements, cutting Medicaid, erasing penalties on people not buying insurance and repealing tax increases on the well-off. He called off a pre-recess vote on the measure -- which he'd written privately -- as it became clear it would lose. Whether Democrats would help fix the law is unclear. They acknowledge changes are needed but say they won’t participate in a full repeal-and-replace effort. A vote is expected no earlier than the week of July 16. Still, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus expressed optimism Sunday morning about passage. “I don't think it's in half as much trouble as the media wanted to be in,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” If anyone can get it done, Mitch McConnell, President Trump working together with a Senate can. … Whether it'd be before August recess or during August recess, the president expects the Senate to fulfill the promises it made to the American people.” And Trump tweeted later in the day: "For years, even as a 'civilian,' I listened as Republicans pushed the Repeal and Replace of ObamaCare. Now they finally have their chance!" Meanwhile, none of the 12 annual spending bills financing federal agencies is finished, and disagreements have slowed work on a tax overhaul. And no one knows what bargains will be needed to assure autumn passage of a bill extending government borrowing authority and avoiding a crushing federal default. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters Friday that he'd "prefer" to pass the budget in July, suggesting it might linger until fall, adding to Congress' late-year mountain of work. Some conservatives, meanwhile, want to include measures to cut spending as part of any extension of the government's borrowing authority. But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reiterated Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that the administration prefers a straightforward extension, without including contentious agreements on spending cuts. Defense hawks have scoffed at Trump's proposed 2018 military budget as insufficient and are adding billions more. The House is slated to vote this week on a sweeping policy bill that takes issue with Trump's proposed trim to missile defense spending as North Korea pushes its development of weapons capable of striking the United States. The defense bill would provide $696 billion for the Pentagon. It has $28.5 billion more for core Pentagon operations than Trump requested, including an additional $2.5 billion for programs aimed at shielding the homeland from missiles. There's extra money for new jet fighters, ships and additional active duty troops. And a Senate panel this week holds a confirmation this hearing on Trump's choice to replace ousted FBI Director James Comey. Nominee Christopher Wray, a white-collar defense lawyer with a strong law enforcement background, was a high-ranking official in George W. Bush's Justice Department. He later represented New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the Bridgegate scandal. Trump fired Comey in May as the FBI investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election pressed on. Members of the Judiciary Committee are certain to press Wray on how independent he would be from Trump. The Associated Press contributed to this report. | Low | [
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Age-related differences in erythropoietic response to recombinant human erythropoietin: comparison in adult and infant rhesus monkeys. Human recombinant erythropoietin (r-HuEPO) was given i.v. to rhesus monkeys to compare its safety, erythropoietic effects, and pharmacokinetics in healthy adult and infant animals. Eighteen adult and 18 infant (9- to 15-d-old) monkeys were divided into three groups each of six animals. One group was given 250 U/kg twice weekly, another was given 100 U/kg twice weekly, and a control group was given the drug vehicle for 6 wk. All animals were healthy throughout this period, and for 10 wk after that. Administration of r-HuEPO at these dosages did not produce any changes in leukocytes, platelets, urea nitrogen, bilirubin, creatinine, alkaline phosphatase, alanine amino transferase, gamma-glutamyl transferase, and blood pressure in either age group. At 6 wk, both adult treatment groups had statistically significant increases in Hb concentration. The same dosages that produced these increases in Hb concentration in adults produced no changes in Hb concentration in infant monkeys. Despite active erythropoiesis, as determined by reticulocytosis and increased total body Hb, Hb concentration decreased similarly in the infant treatment and control groups. Pharmacokinetic profiles were obtained at 5 wk of dosing. One h after administration, both doses of r-HuEPO produced significantly lower serum r-HuEPO concentration in the infant monkeys compared with the adults. These differences appeared to be due to a larger volume of distribution of r-HuEPO in the infant monkeys. The t1/2 of r-HuEPO in circulation was the same in both age groups. | Mid | [
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Introduction {#sec1} ============ The first investigations of diterpenoids from plants in the **Isodon** genus date back over 100 years ago to 1910, when Yagi isolated a crystalline principle plectranthin from "enmei-so", a medication from the leaves of *I. japonica* and *I. trichocarpa* that have been used for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders in Japan for centuries.^[@ref1]^ In the Henan province in China, the leaves of *I. rubescnes* are still used by residents for the treatment of respiratory and gastrointestinal bacterial infections, inflammation, and cancer. Enmein was the first compound isolated from *I. japonica* in 1958, and its structure was established in 1968 by X-ray crystallography.^[@ref2]^ Since then, over 600 individual diterpenoids from *Isodon* plants, displaying a broad spectrum of biological activity, have been characterized.^[@ref3]^ Whereas the largest group is defined by the classic *ent*-kaurane carbon skeleton (Figure [1](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}), another sizable structural type is 6,7-seco-*ent*-kauranes, examples of which include compounds like scuponeatin N, trichorabdals, longirabdolactone, and longikaurin. Related maoecrystals L^[@ref4]^ and O^[@ref5]^ were both isolated from *I. eriocalyx*.Figure 1General structures and selected members of *ent*-kaurane diterpenoids from *Isodon* plants. More recently discovered constituents of *I. eriocalyx*, maoecrystals V^[@ref6]^ and Z,^[@ref7]^ are special members of the *ent*-kaurane diterpenoid family because of unprecedented, highly rearranged polycyclic ring systems found in their molecular structures. The structure of maoecrystal Z combines a *trans*-fused 6,5,6-carbotricyclic framework with a bridging six-membered lactone and has been classified as a 6,7:8,15-di-*seco*-7,20-olide-6,8-cyclo-*ent*-kaurane. Maoecrystal V is characterized by an intricate blend of bicyclo\[2.2.2\]octan-2-one, δ-valerolactone, and cyclohexene subunits with a strained central oxolane ring. Both compounds have been found to display notable cytotoxic activity. The potencies of maoecrystal Z were comparable across the three human cell lines examined: K562 leukemia (IC~50~ 2.9 μg/mL), MCF7 breast (IC~50~ 1.6 μg/mL), and A2780 ovarian (IC~50~ 1.5 μg/mL). Remarkably, maoecrystal V showed high selectivity against the HeLa cell line (IC~50~ 2.9 μg/mL), with the activities for K562, A549 lung carcinoma, and BGC-823 adenocarcinoma lower by at least 6 orders of magnitude. The total syntheses of only a few *ent*-kauranoids have been accomplished. Some of the pioneering achievements have been disclosed by the Mander group who reported a total synthesis of 15-deoxyeffusin almost three decades ago.^[@ref8]^ The same group accessed longirabdolactone from giberellic acid by semisynthesis.^[@ref9]^ Steviol and isosteviol are other *ent*-kauranes with a classic polycyclic skeleton that stimulated early interest as synthesis targets. The first synthesis by Mori in 1970^[@ref10]^ was followed by concise total syntheses by Ziegler,^[@ref11]^ Snider,^[@ref12]^ and Baran^[@ref13]^ probing distinct strategies. Isolation of structurally unique maoecrystal V, and subsequently maoecrystal Z, is one of the recent events that reinvigorated interest in the synthesis of *ent*-kauranoid natural products. Reisman and co-workers developed and successfully executed a concise unified strategy for the synthesis of (−)-maoecrystal Z, (−)-trichorabdal A, and (−)-longikaurin E.^[@ref14]^ Earlier this year, total syntheses of scuponeatin N were reported by Zhai^[@ref15]^ and Thomson.^[@ref16]^ Maoecrystal V, with its intricate structure distinct from other *ent*-kauranes, proved to be an especially compelling synthesis target, and many research groups reported different strategies for its synthesis.^[@ref17],[@ref18]^ Presently, the total synthesis of maoecrystal V in racemic form has been completed by the groups of Yang,^[@ref19]^ Danishefsky,^[@ref20]^ and ours.^[@ref21]^ Herein, we provide a full account of the enantioselective total synthesis of (−)-maoecrystal V^[@ref22]^ and of its non-natural isomer maoecrystal ZG. The enantiodetermining step of the synthesis is a Rh-catalyzed C--H functionalization forming a dihydrobenzofuran intermediate **ii** (Scheme [1](#sch1){ref-type="scheme"}). We discovered that the course of the synthesis is critically dependent on the choice of dienophile partner in the central intramolecular Diels--Alder (IMDA) cycloaddition of intermediate **iii** forging the bicyclo\[2.2.2\]octan-2-one subunit. Our first effort unexpectedly delivered maoecrystal ZG, a structural isomer of the original target, which provided an opportunity to explore its antiproliferative properties. Compound **2** appears to have an unprecedented ring system. Modification of the dienophile in **iii** allowed for the ultimate completion of the first enantioselective total synthesis of maoecrystal V. {#sch1} Results and Discussion {#sec2} ====================== Synthesis Plan {#sec2.1} -------------- A central factor that influenced the design of the synthesis was the realization that the assembly of the central tetrahydrofuran ring, highlighted in Scheme [2](#sch2){ref-type="scheme"}, at first a seemingly simple operation, was going to present a substantial challenge. This notion was validated by the growing number of reports on the progress toward the total synthesis of **1** from several groups that halted at this stage, after successfully addressing other challenges such as the installation of the quaternary centers.^[@ref17]^ The challenge was ascribed to the well-recognized strain associated with the five-membered heterocycle in **1**. Guided in part by these observations, our goal was to preserve the oxolane ring for as long as reasonable during the progressive bond disconnection process. The cyclohexenone subunit was envisioned to arise from either an aldol cyclocondensation of a methyl ketone--aldehyde precursor or ring closing metathesis. Subsequent simplification was aimed at the C16 methyl group and the lactone ring. The six-membered lactone was to be constructed by a 6-*exo* radical cyclization of an acyl radical onto the enol ether. This risky blueprint was faced with potential complications due to (1) possible instability of the enol ether, (2) lack of precedent and therefore limited confidence in the reliability of radical cyclizations onto enol ethers within complex substrates, and (3) the need for the 6-*exo* cyclization to occur contrary to the electronic preferences of the enol ether. After installation of the tether at the C20 hydroxy group, the bicyclo\[2.2.2\]octan-2-one retron was disassembled via an IMDA process with a synthetic equivalent of ethylene. In addition to enabling the IMDA reaction, the function of the tether was to deliver the dienophile from the correct face of the cyclohexadeinone ring system. After further analysis, which involved ester enolate hydroxymethylation and phenol oxidation, dihydrobenzofuran **vii** was identified as an early synthesis target, thus fulfilling our goal to preserve the central oxolane ring during the course of the synthesis. Essential to the plan was the prospect of using the recent C--H functionalization technologies advanced by the groups of Davies and Yu to effectively access dihydrobenzofuran **vii** from precursors like **viii**.^[@ref23],[@ref26],[@ref28],[@ref30]^ {#sch2} The main variables intentionally left open to experimental feedback were the identity of groups X, Y, and Z (Scheme [2](#sch2){ref-type="scheme"}). For group Y, the preferred options were either CH~2~ or a protected hydroxyl group (aldehyde was deemed too reactive). We initially selected the methylene group because it promised a more direct elaboration to the cyclohexenone via RCM, recognizing its potential reactivity during the radical cyclization onto the enol ether. The nature of the tether (group X) was to be guided by two parameters: the ease of installation and then removal. The main purpose of group Z in diazo precursor **viii** was to support effective C--H functionalization, in terms of both chemical efficiency and enantioselectivity. Development of the Enantioselective Synthesis of Benzofuran Intermediates by Rh-Catalyzed C--H Functionalization {#sec2.2} ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ### Catalytic Asymmetric Approaches {#sec2.2.1} Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of dihydrobenzofurans via intramolecular C--H insertions in the presence of chiral rhodium catalysts has been developed by Davies^[@ref24],[@ref26]^ and Hashimoto.^[@ref25]^ These findings provided the basis for the development of the synthesis of (−)-maoecrystal V by the aforementioned strategy, in which the early construction of a dihydrobenzofuran intermediate would be the enantiodetermining stage of the synthesis. Although the majority of examples involve insertions into benzylic ether C--H bonds, a few examples with aliphatic ethers were also reported. Perhaps the most relevant precedent is illustrated in Scheme [3](#sch3){ref-type="scheme"}a.^[@ref24]^ {#sch3} The synthesis of the first substrate for the enantioselective C--H functionalization studies began by *O*-alkylation of sesamol with readily accessible neopentylic alcohol **6** under Mitsunobu conditions (Scheme [3](#sch3){ref-type="scheme"}b). The resulting ether was advanced through directed *ortho*-metalation followed by acylation with methyl chloroxoacetate via an arylzinc intermediate. The diazo ester (**9**) was accessed in two steps from **8** by tosylhydrazone formation and subsequent fragmentation under basic conditions in the presence of DBU. The initial screening focused on identifying the preferred catalyst/solvent system at ambient temperature (Table [1](#tbl1){ref-type="other"}). The library of catalysts used in this study is depicted in Figure [2](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}. With Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)~4~ catalyst, the best diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity were observed in dichloromethane (DCM), although moderately higher yields were obtained in hexane and toluene (entries 3, 4). Extensive catalyst screening in DCM was disappointingly unproductive, and generally did not lead to improvement in stereoselectivity, although a somewhat higher yield of 42% was observed with Rh~2~(*S*-TCPTTL)~4~ (entry 6). ###### Enantioselective C--H Insertion with Diazo Ester **9**[a](#t1fn1){ref-type="table-fn"} {#fx1} entry catalyst solvent yield (%)[a](#t1fn1){ref-type="table-fn"} *cis*:*trans* ee, *cis* (%) ee, *trans*(%) ------- ---------------------- -------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------- 1 Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~ 25 9.1:1 70 50 2 Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)~4~ EtOAc trace 3 Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)~4~ hexane 34 6.7:1 51 4 Rh~2~(*R*-PTTL)~4~ PhMe 47 5.9:1 −60 −33 5 Rh~2~(*S*-NTTL)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~ 27 9.1:1 54 6 Rh~2~(*S*-TCPTTL)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~ 42 30 18 7 Rh~2~(*R*-BPTV)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~ trace 8 Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)4 CH~2~Cl~2~[c](#t1fn3){ref-type="table-fn"} 53 10.0:1 60 9 Rh~2~(*S*-PTAD)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~[c](#t1fn3){ref-type="table-fn"} 22 3.7:1 48 10 Rh~2~(*R*-BTPCP)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~[c](#t1fn3){ref-type="table-fn"} NR 11 Rh~2~(*R*-BPTV)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~[c](#t1fn3){ref-type="table-fn"} trace 12 Rh~2~(*S*-biTISP)~2~ CH~2~Cl~2~[c](#t1fn3){ref-type="table-fn"} trace 1:1 13 Rh~2~(*S*-TCPTAD)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~[c](#t1fn3){ref-type="table-fn"} 24 3:1 8 Diastereomer ratios and enantiomeric excess were determined by HPLC analysis. Combined isolated yield of *cis*-**10** and *trans*-**10**. At reflux. {#fig2} Further incremental progress was reached when the temperature of the reaction was increased to reflux in DCM. The Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)~4~ catalyst again had the best yield, delivering a 53% combined yield of the two diastereomers with a 10:1 ratio, in which the major isomer was formed in 60% ee (entry 8). Additional screening under these conditions (reflux in DCM) led to no further improvement and Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)~4~ was found to be the optimal catalyst system for a potential application in total synthesis. Importantly, the high diastereoselectivity of 10:1 was critical to maintaining the original enantiomer ratio, because the catalyst controls the absolute stereochemistry at C10 rather than C5 (maoecrystal V numbering).^[@ref24]^ Position C10 is epimerizable and is in fact inverted later during synthesis with a net result of erosion of the ee. Overall, although the results in entry 8 were found to fall short of those desired, they provided a reasonable starting point for a potential application in a total synthesis setting. In particular, a 53% yield and the observed 10:1 diastereoselectivity would minimize the impact of enantioselectivity erosion in subsequent transformations. Although the enantioselectivity at 60% was not very high, there was a reasonable expectation that it could be further upgraded during the course of the synthesis. Another reaction that was extensively studied with a view for a potential application in the enantioselective total synthesis of maoecrystal V is depicted in Table [2](#tbl2){ref-type="other"}. The substrate (**11**) was prepared analogously to **9**.^[@ref21],[@ref27]^ Here, the nature of the ester substituent was also varied (Me or *t*-Bu). In general, higher chemical yields of products *cis*-**12** and *trans*-**12** were observed with these substrates. One important conclusion from this study is that replacing the terminal alkene in **9** with *p*-methoxybenzyloxy resulted in a loss of diastereoselectivity across the range of catalysts in several solvents. Although rather high enantioselectivity of up to 80% could be achieved with catalysts Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)~4~ and Rh~2~(*S*-BPTV)~4~, the low diastereoselectivity of ∼1:1 observed for **11** (R = Me) negated the ability to control stereochemistry at C5 (entries 1 and 11). In fact, with any of the catalysts examined, the critically important diastereoselectivity never reached the levels observed for diazo ester **9**. Although the *tert*-butyl ester (**11**, R = *t*-Bu) generally displayed higher diastereoselectivity, the highest level among the studied reactions (3.8:1) was recorded for the methyl ester with catalyst Rh~2~(*S*-BTPCP)~4~ (**13**). However, enantioselectivity was low for both *cis*-**12** (ee 36%) and *trans*-**12** (ee 11%). ###### Enantioselective C--H Insertion with Diazo Esters **11**[a](#t2fn1){ref-type="table-fn"} {#fx2} entry R catalyst solvent yield %[b](#t2fn2){ref-type="table-fn"} *cis*:*trans* ee, *cis (%)* ee, *trans (%)* ------- -------- ---------------------- --------------- ----------------------------------------- --------------- --------------- ----------------- 1 Me Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)~4~ DMB 71 1.4:1 45 80 2 Me Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)~4~ CHCl~3~ 63 1.6:1 49 67 3 Me Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 69 1.6:1 41 77 4 *t*-Bu Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)~4~ DMB 55 3.0:1 \<5 66 5 *t*-Bu Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)~4~ CHCl~3~ 28 3.0:1 \<5 57 6 *t*-Bu Rh~2~(*S*-PTTL)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 70 3.5:1 23 59 7 Me Rh~2~(*S*-PTA)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 79 1.0:1 18 57 8 Me Rh~2~(*R*-PTV)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 76 1:1.1 ∼42 ∼78 9 Me Rh~2~(*S*-NTTL)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 74 2.2:1 29 56 10 Me Rh~2~(*S*-PTAD)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 79 1.4:1 41 54 11 Me Rh~2~(*R*-BPTV)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 76 1:1.1 ∼43 **∼**80 12 Me Rh~2~(*S*-biTISP)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 78 1:1.4 ∼10 38 13 Me Rh~2~(*S*-BTPCP)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 65 3.8:1 ∼36 ∼11 14 Me Rh~2~(*R*-DPCP)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 74 1:1.1 19 ∼18 15 Me Rh~2~(*S*-DOSP)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 71 1.0:1 \<5 7 16 Me Rh~2~(*S*-BNP)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 73 1.9:1 ∼19 ∼45 17 *t*-Bu Rh~2~(*S*-BTPCP)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 77 2.8:1 42 63 18 *t*-Bu Rh~2~(*S*-biTISP)~2~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 77 2.5:1 ∼46 46 19 *t*-Bu Rh~2~(*S*-BNP)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ 83 3.3:1 13 24 Diastereomer ratios determined by ^1^H NMR analysis of crude reaction mixture. Enantiomeric excesses were determined by HPLC analysis. Combined isolated yield of *cis*-**12** and *trans*-**12**. Davies and Yu recently reported an elegant enantioselective approach to 2,3-dihydrobenzofurans based on consecutive C--C and C--O bond-forming C--H functionalization reactions,^[@ref28]^ which we also explored for our purposes (Scheme [4](#sch4){ref-type="scheme"}). The desired transformation was complicated by the need to use challenging neopentylic ether **13** as the substrate whereas the precedent existed only for benzylic ethers. A preliminary evaluation of the first step of the process was carried out with ether **13** or **14** and Rh~2~(OAc)~4~ in dichloromethane.^[@ref29]^ No conversion was observed in this reaction, confirming that **13** is indeed a challenging substrate. To explore the C--O bond formation, substrate **15b** was prepared by aldol reaction between aldehyde **16** and ester methyl 2-(benzo\[*d*\]\[1,3\]dioxol-4-yl)acetate (99% yield, dr 12:1). After a partial separation of the *syn* and *anti* aldol products, the Pd-catalyzed oxidative cyclization to 2,3-dyhydrobenzofuran was studied. Under the reported conditions,^[@ref28],[@ref30]^ the pure *syn*-**15b** showed low reactivity, and only oxidation to keto ester **17** was observed. However, a mixture of *syn*-**15b** and *anti*-**15b** (∼2:1) afforded *trans-*2,3-dihydrobenzofuran **24**, ketone **17**, and isomerically pure *syn*-**15b**. {#sch4} These outcomes suggest that, unlike *syn*-**15b**, *anti*-**15b** can potentially serve as a useful substrate for the synthesis of 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran **24** via oxidative C--H functionalization, provided it is accessible in an enantio- and diastereoselective fashion. An approach based on a *trans*-annular cyclization was also assessed (Scheme [5](#sch5){ref-type="scheme"}). Nine-membered diazo lactone **19** was prepared from keto ester **18** in four steps. No CH insertion product **20** was observed upon treatment with Rh~2~(OAc)~4~, and only the corresponding keto lactone was isolated along with the recovered starting material. {#sch5} In summary, among the catalytic asymmetric methods, the current results suggest that only the conversion of **9** to *cis*-**10** in the presence of Rh~2~(S-PTTL)~4~ at reflux in DCM (53% yield, 10:1 dr, 60% ee, Table [1](#tbl1){ref-type="other"}, entry 8) could be considered for a potential application in the enantioselective total synthesis of **1**. ### Auxiliary-Based Approaches {#sec2.2.2} Chiral auxiliaries attached at the ester carbonyl group have been shown to be effective instruments for controlling stereochemistry in C--H functionalization reactions of diazo esters, with several applications in total synthesis.^[@ref31]^ Our initial foray into the auxiliary-based methods began with menthol as the stereodirecting group, which was found to be ineffective. Significantly improved stereocontrol was achieved when pyrrolidine amides from lactic and mandelic acids were investigated. The preparation of the substrates from keto ester **18** was accomplished in four steps as illustrated in Scheme [6](#sch6){ref-type="scheme"}. {#sch6} Diastereoselective C--H insertions with lactamide **22a** and mandelamide **22b** have been investigated with a selected group of catalysts under different reaction conditions. Although only the *cis*-**23a** and *cis*-**23b** are shown in Table [3](#tbl3){ref-type="other"}, up to four diastereomeric products are produced in the reaction. To simplify analysis, the mixture of diastereomers was subjected to a rather facile methanolysis (CH~3~ONa, CH~3~OH, 23 °C, 5 min). Doing so also accomplishes complete isomerization at C10, giving only the *trans*-substituted product (**24**) in pure form, the enantiomeric excess of which was then measured by HPLC. The initial screening with Rh~2~(*R*-DOSP)~4~ catalyst revealed that CH~2~Cl~2~ was the optimal solvent, although the reactivity was lower in toluene and, especially, in cyclohexane (entries 4 and 8--10), whereas the use of acetonitrile resulted in decomposition. The diastereoselectivity was low in dichloroethane (entry 7). The catalysts Rh~2~(*S*-PTAD)~4~, Rh~2~(*R*-PTAD)~4~, and Rh~2~(pfb)~4~ were also unreactive (entries 1, 2, and 6). The highest yields and diastereoselectivities in the formation of **23a** were first observed with both Rh~2~(*S*-DOSP)~4~ and Rh~2~(*R*-DOSP)~4~ (entries 3 and 4). After methanolysis, the same enantiomer of **24** was produced from both catalysts in 62 and 70% ee, respectively. The use of the simple achiral catalyst Rh~2~(OAc)~4~ led to comparable results, giving **24** in 65% ee in good yield (entry 5). Further improvements were achieved with mandelamide substrate **22b**. Although the enantiomeric purity of the final methanolysis product **24** was somewhat lower with Rh~2~(*S*-DOSP)~4~ and Rh~2~(*R*-DOSP)~4~ (entries 11 and 12), dirhodium tetraacetate provided **24** in 76% ee. ###### Lactamide and Mandelamide as Chiral Auxiliaries {#fx3} entry starting material catalyst solvent yield 1 (%)[a](#t3fn1){ref-type="table-fn"} yield 2 (%)[b](#t3fn2){ref-type="table-fn"} ee %[e](#t3fn5){ref-type="table-fn"} ------- ------------------- ------------------------- --------------- --------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- 1 **22a** Rh~2~(*S*-PTAD)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~ \<10 2 **22a** Rh~2~(*R*-PTAD)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~ \<10 3 **22a** Rh~2~(*S*-DOSP)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~ 63 83 62 4 **22a** Rh~2~(*R*-DOSP)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~ 74 86 70 5 **22a** Rh~2~(OAc)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~ 84 84 65 6 **22a** Rh~2~(O~2~CC~4~F~9~)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~ 0 7 **22a** Rh~2~(*R*-DOSP)~4~ (CH~2~Cl)~2~ 72 8 **22a** Rh~2~(*R*-DOSP)~4~ PhMe 61 9 **22a** Rh~2~(*R*-DOSP)~4~ *c*-C~6~H~12~ \<10 10 **22a** Rh~2~(*R*-DOSP)~4~ CH~3~CN 0 11 **23b** Rh~2~(*S*-DOSP)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~ 84 89 59 12 **23b** Rh~2~(*R*-DOSP)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~ 57 77 52 13 **23b** Rh~2~(OAc)~4~ CH~2~Cl~2~ 72 85[c](#t3fn3){ref-type="table-fn"} 76 14 **23b** Rh~2~(OAc)4 CH~2~Cl~2~ 61[d](#t3fn4){ref-type="table-fn"} 84 84 Isolated yield. Combined isolated yield. Isolated yield, complete isomerization to the *trans* isomer observed. Major diastereomer isolated in pure form by column chromatography. Determined by HPLC. The optimal enantiomeric purity of 84% ee was obtained from **22b** with Rh~2~(OAc)~4~ after a careful chromatographic purification of the major diastereomer, which prevented erosion of enantiomeric purity upon methanolysis (entry 14). Overall, this result provided a practical entry point to enantioenriched 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran **24** for application in the total synthesis of maoecrystal V.^[@ref32]^ Investigation of the IMDA Reaction {#sec2.3} ---------------------------------- As illustrated in Schemes [1](#sch1){ref-type="scheme"} and [2](#sch2){ref-type="scheme"}, a key reaction en route to **1** is the formation of the bicyclo\[2.2.2\]octan-2-one subunit by an IMDA addition.^[@ref33]^ We intended to pursue a tether-based delivery of ethylene as a dienophile in the IMDA reaction. The range of tether groups that we considered for this purpose is indicated in Figure [3](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}. Among constraints placed on the tether groups for the total synthesis applications are (1) efficient installation, (2) capacity to enable a high-yielding IMDA process, and (3) efficient removal, ideally solved in one step. We previously described preliminary studies that targeted compounds **25a**--**c**.^[@ref34]^ Although they have been very informative in validating the IMDA approach, the third constraint was not fulfilled as the tether removal from compounds **25a**--**c** required several steps at best and was deemed inefficient. {#fig3} The butyl boronate (**25d**) and dimethylsilyl tethers (**25e**) appeared to be more promising. We were especially intrigued by the borinate tether because it has limited application in the context of total synthesis and promised the development of new chemistry during the course of its removal.^[@ref35]^ With the goal of exploring the boronate tether, the synthesis of the substrate (**29**) was initiated by the benzyloxymethylation of *trans*-**10** (Scheme [7](#sch7){ref-type="scheme"}). Within our previous experience, the enolate alkylation was consistently best performed through the intermediacy of the zincate enolate.^[@ref36]^ Alkylation product **26** was produced in 95% yield as a single isomer. Reduction of the methyl ester with LiAlH~4~ was followed by elaboration of the dioxolane ring in **27** by the action of methylmagnesium bromide at 80 °C in benzene, which delivered 2-ethoxy phenol **28** in 91% yield over the 2 steps. A rapid oxidation of the phenol with PhI(O~2~CCF~3~)~2~ in ethanol (15 min, 94% yield) provided the substrate for the IMDA reaction. {#sch7} Vinylboronate **30a** was generated from **29** and commercially available vinylboronic acid dibutyl ester in situ through a facile exchange reaction. Upon heating at 130 °C in *o*-dichlorobenzene, a new product was formed in 72% yield in a rather clean reaction. Contrary to our expectations, the product was not the direct IMDA addition product **25d** but appeared to lack the boronic ester group. Based on NMR studies of the product, including NOE and homodecoupling experiments, our initial hypothesis was that we fortuitously obtained protodeboronation product **32** (Scheme [7](#sch7){ref-type="scheme"}), which is well suited for our synthesis plans. However, the true identity of the product has only been conclusively deduced after completion of the total synthesis, which revealed that the product (**31**) contained the rearranged bicyclo\[3.2.1\]octan-7-one ring system (*vide infra*). Several reaction pathways can be considered for the formation of **31** from **30a**. Although details are not clear at present, our current hypothesis favors the simplest path and involves the initial formation of \[4+2\] cycloadduct **25d**. Proton transfer to enol ether **25d** forms a stabilized oxycarbenium ion **30b**. The 1,2-shift of the acyl group, which should be further facilitated by the properly aligned carbon---boron bond, leads directly to deborylation product **30c**. After hydrolytic workup, the final product **31** with a free hydroxyl is isolated. An alternative, more complex pathway is depicted in Scheme [8](#sch8){ref-type="scheme"}. Here, the first step is an admittedly speculative and, as far as we know, unprecedented formation of cyclopropanol intermediate **33** from the initial \[4+2\] cycloadduct **25d**. This apparent intramolecular nucleophilic attack of an alkylboronate on the carbonyl group is possibly aided by a secondary overlap between the π~C---O~ and σ\*~C---B~ bonds. The resulting enol ether in **33** should be particularly susceptible to protonation because of the strong stabilizing effect of the adjacent cyclopropanol substituent, which should give a highly stabilized nonclassical carbocation represented by resonance forms **34a**, **34b**, and **34c**. Its deprotonation affords **30c** directly.^[@ref37]^ {#sch8} Evaluation of the silicon tether began with silylation of intermediate **29** with dimethylvinylchlorosilane (Scheme [9](#sch9){ref-type="scheme"}a). The IMDA reaction of silyl ether **35** took place smoothly upon heating at 120 °C for 6 h, giving the intended product in an excellent 96% yield. {#sch9} An intermolecular variant of Diels--Alder reaction with two dienophiles, nitroethylene and vinyl phenyl sulfide,^[@ref38]^ was also examined for the construction of the bicyclo\[2.2.2\]octan-2-one ring system of maoecrystal V (Scheme [9](#sch9){ref-type="scheme"}b). If successful, the nitro or phenylthio group could be removed by reduction under radical conditions.^[@ref39]^ The principal lessons that we drew from these studies are (1) the IMDA reactions with the boron and silicon tethers were the most valuable in meeting our synthetic needs, albeit giving drastically different outcomes, and (2) intermolecular Diels--Alder reactions with nitroethylene and vinyl phenyl sulfide as ethylene equivalents did not appear to be promising. Total Synthesis of Maoecrystal ZG (**2**) {#sec2.4} ----------------------------------------- Even with some uncertainty whether compound **32** was the product of the reaction between cyclohexadienone **29** and dibutyl vinylboronate, the synthesis was advanced as delineated in scheme [10](#sch10){ref-type="scheme"}. In retrospect, it became clear that the actual product was in fact **31**. Formation of the lactone by radical cyclization was set up by the efficient conversion of **31** to phenyl selenocarbonate **36** in 94% yield. Lactone **37** formed readily upon treatment of **36** with tri-*n*-butyltin hydride in the presence of AIBN at reflux in benzene, requiring little optimization (53% yield). Minor reduction to the corresponding formate was also observed (∼5%), in addition to other unidentified byproducts. At this stage the *gem*-ethoxy substituents were removed by reduction with samarium(II) iodide in the presence of methanol (87% yield). Cleavage of the benzyl ether was achieved under forcing conditions upon heating at 50 °C with DDQ, which afforded primary alcohol **39** in 75% yield along with recovered starting material. {#sch10} The final phase of the synthesis began with oxidation of **39** to aldehyde **40** with Dess--Martin periodinane (DMP) (88% yield) followed by chemoselective addition of vinylmagnesium bromide to aldehyde in the presence of the lactone and ketone groups (68% yield, dr 5:1). Ring-closing metathesis in the presence of 20 mol % Hoveyda-Grubbs II catalyst (HGII) accomplished the formation of the last ring of the target compound in 86% yield. The resulting product was oxidized to enone **43** with DMP in 85% yield. In the final step, methylation of zincate enolate generated from **43** with LiN(SiMe~3~)~2~ and Et~2~Zn occurred in excellent yield and essentially complete diastereocontrol. NMR data of the final product did not match those published for maoecrystal V, which prompted X-ray crystallographic analysis of the product. A single crystal suitable for analysis was produced by crystallization of the compound from ethyl acetate and hexane. The XRD analysis revealed the fascinating, unexpected structure **2**, which we refer to as maoecrystal ZG. Its origin was traced to **31**, the product of the unusual reaction between cyclohexadienone **29** and dibutyl vinylboronate, and allowed for unambiguous assignment of its structure. Although falling short of completing the total synthesis of **1**, this effort resulted in several important contributions. First, the efficient conversion of cyclohexadienone **29** to **31** in the presence of vinylboronic esters is of fundamental interest and provides an effective entry to functionalized bicyclo\[3.2.1\]octan-6-one ring systems. Second, maoecrystal ZG, an isomer of **1**, appears to be a new natural-product-like chemical entity. Its pentacyclic 6,7-dinor-5,8;9a,20-diepoxy-*ent*-kaurane skeleton appears to have no precedent among natural products or other known organic compounds. Given its fairly efficient synthesis in 18 straightforward steps and ∼4% overall yield from sesamol, over 10 mg was produced after the first effort, an amount sufficient for a preliminary biological evaluation of **2**. Enatioselective Total Synthesis of (−)-Maoecrystal V (**1**) {#sec2.5} ------------------------------------------------------------ Given the unforeseen creation of **2**, the approach to maoecrystal V had to be reevaluated. The success was eventually achieved through the use of the silyl tether in the key IMDA reaction (*cf*. **25e**, Scheme [9](#sch9){ref-type="scheme"}). The initial incursion entailed desilylation of **25e**, which turned out to be challenging. During the course of our work we found it to be advantageous to carry out the removal of the *gem*-ethoxy substituents and enolate methylation first. In the event, treatment of **25e** with SmI~2~ and subsequent exposure of the zincate enolate from **44** to CH~3~I provided intermediate **45** (Scheme [11](#sch11){ref-type="scheme"}). Its elaboration to selenocarbonate **47** was followed by radical cyclization upon treatment with *n*-Bu~3~SnH and azobis(cyclohexanecarbonitrile) (ABCN) at 80 °C in benzene. Surprisingly, eight-membered lactone **48** was the major product, which was produced in addition to ∼10% of formate **49**. None of the expected six-membered lactone formed by cyclization of the acyl radical onto the enol ether was observed. {#sch11} After exploring alternatives, a decision was made to set the synthesis back to *p*-methoxybenzyl ether **24** that lacks the terminal olefin competing in the radical cyclization (Scheme [12](#sch12){ref-type="scheme"}). Starting with enantioenriched **24** (84% ee), the synthesis followed the same blueprint through the IMDA reaction. The lithium enolate generated from **24** was successively treated with Et~2~Zn and BnOCH~2~Cl/DMPU, affording **50** in 20:1 dr. Reduction of the methyl ester, dioxolane cleavage, phenol oxidation, and silylation with vinyldimethylchlorosilane provided the precursor of the IMDA reaction **54**. In accord with the previous experience, its clean conversion to \[4+2\] adduct **55** was achieved after heating in toluene at 110 °C for 24 h, which was followed by reductive removal of the two geminal ethoxy groups with samarium(II) iodide. {#sch12} Desilylation of **56** and related \[4+2\] cycloadducts was complicated by competing formation of rearranged products **b** and **c** (Table [4](#tbl4){ref-type="other"}). The reaction was studied in greater detail to optimize the yield of the requisite product **a**. The initial attempts focused on screening solvents using *n*-Bu~4~NF as the reagent (entries 1--11). These studies revealed that the ratio of the three products was significantly influenced by the choice of solvent. Low reactivity was observed in protic solvents. Among the polar aprotic solvents, DMPU emerged as the optimal medium to maximize the fraction of the requisite product **a** (entry 8). Tetrabutylammonium triphenyldifluorosilicate, a milder desilylation reagent, strongly favored rearranged product **b** (entry 13), or showed no reactivity in *tert*-butanol (entry 14), as did cesium fluoride (entry 12). These data indicate that a balance between the pH and reactivity is needed to achieve the desired outcome in the desilylation reaction. {#fx4} entry X Y reagent solvent temp (°C), time (h) a:b:c[a](#t4fn1){ref-type="table-fn"} (yield, a) ------- ----- --------- -------------------------------- --------------------- -------------------------------------------------- 1 H H, OBn Bu~4~NF, DMSO 0, 0.2 1.0:1.8:1 (20%) 2 H H, OBn Bu~4~NF, DMSO 23, 0.2 0.9:1.5:1 3 H H, OBn Bu~4~NF, DMF --20, 2 1.5:1.3:1 4 H H, OBn Bu~4~NF, DMF 0, 0.5 2.3:1.8:1 5 H H, OBn Bu~4~NF, DMF 23, 0.3 1.9:1.6:1 6 H H, OBn Bu~4~NF, DMF, (slow addition) 23, 3.2 1.6:1.3:1 7 H H, OBn Bu~4~NF, NMP 0, 1.0 1.4:1.7:1 8 H H, OBn Bu~4~NF, DMPU 0, 1.0 3.2:1.8:1 9 H H, OBn Bu~4~NF, DMA 0, 0.5 2.4:1.7:1 10 H H, OBn Bu~4~NF, DMSO--*t*-BuOH (4:1) 75, 1 0.3:1.2:1 11 H H, OBn Bu~4~NF, AcOH, THF 0, 1.0 no reaction 12 H H, OBn CsF, *t*-BuOH 70, 15 no reaction 13 H H, OBn Bu~4~NPh~3~SiF~2~, DMSO 50, 36 0:20:1 14 H H, OBn Bu~4~NPh~3~SiF~2~, *t*-BuOH 50, 15 no reaction 15 OEt CH~2~ Bu~4~NF, DMF 23, 0.2 0.8:5.1:1 (7%) 16 OEt CH~2~ Bu~4~NF, THF 23, 0.5 no reaction 17 OEt CH~2~ Bu~4~NF, MeCN 23, 0.2 0:3.4:1 18 H CH~2~ Bu~4~NF, DMF 23, 0.5 1.1:3.6:1 19 H H, OPMB Bu~4~NF, DMA 0, 1.0 2.9:2.2:1 20 H H, OPMB Bu~4~NF, DMPU 0, 1.0 3.2:1.9:1 40--50% Determined by NMR analysis of the crude mixture of products. Isolated yield of **a** is given in parentheses. We also found that carrying out desilylation immediately after the IMDA reaction before removal of the *gem*-ethoxy substituents (X = OEt) was less efficient than postremoval desilyation (entries 15--18, *cf*. entries 15 and 18). The presence of the ethoxy groups favored the formation of rearranged byproduct to a greater extent. Finally, desilylation of the selected total synthesis intermediate **56** (X = H, Y = H, OPMB, entry 20, Table [4](#tbl4){ref-type="other"}) was best accomplished upon treatment with tetrabutylammonium fluoride at 0 °C for 1 h, which afforded the desired product in 50% yield. It is noteworthy that the desilylation was greatly activated by the C15 carbonyl group. The reactivity of the corresponding C15 alcohol was substantially lower, requiring heating at 80 °C for 12 h for the reaction to reach completion. No improvement in the chemical yield was observed with the reduced substrate. There are some noteworthy similarities in the results of the desilylation reaction in Table [4](#tbl4){ref-type="other"} and the proposed formation of **30c** depicted in Scheme [8](#sch8){ref-type="scheme"}. In particular, the structures of cyclopropanol byproduct **c** in Table [4](#tbl4){ref-type="other"} and intermediate **33** (Scheme [8](#sch8){ref-type="scheme"}) are very similar. Both appear to be unstable and readily converted to distinct bicyclo\[3.2.1\]octan-6-one derivatives **b** (Table [4](#tbl4){ref-type="other"}) or **30c** (Scheme [8](#sch8){ref-type="scheme"}), respectively, although the reasons for the divergent reactivity of the cyclopropanol intermediates are not clear. The next immediate goal after desilylation of **56** was introduction of the six-membered lactone by radical cyclization onto enol ether, with regioselectivity opposite to its electronic preferences (Scheme [13](#sch13){ref-type="scheme"}). This is a relatively uncommon transformation with only a few examples reported in the literature.^[@ref40]^ In our case, only one regiochemical outcome is possible due to structural constraints within the starting material. In the current substrate, selenocarbonate **58**, the 4-methoxybenzyloxy substituent at C3 replaces the terminal double bond to avoid competitive cyclization onto eight-membered lactone, the reactivity mode overwhelmingly favored for selenocarbonate **47** (Scheme [11](#sch11){ref-type="scheme"}). {#sch13} In analogy to selenocarbonate **47**, the initial attempts at the radical cyclization of **58** utilized the *n*-Bu~3~SnN/AIBN reagent system under various conditions. The results were disappointing. Although the acyl radical was clearly generated, the rate of the 6-*exo*-cyclization onto the enol ether was very low in comparison to its reduction to the corresponding formate ester, which occurred in up to 84% yield. To reduce the rate of hydrogen abstraction by the acyl radical, and thus favor the cyclization, we investigated tris(trimethylsilyl)silane as a replacement for *n*-Bu~3~SnH.^[@ref41]^ An immediate improvement was observed, apparently due to the longer lifetime of the acyl radical. Under optimized reaction conditions, the isolated yields of the desired lactone **59** were in the range of 40 to 55%. Notably, the main side product in this reaction results from decarboxylative fragmentation of the acyl radical rather than its reduction to the formate.^[@ref21]^ The final phase of the total synthesis began with a three-step conversion of **59** to alkene **60** by oxidative removal of the PMB ether with DDQ, oxidation of the primary alcohol with Dess--Martin periodinane (DMP), and Wittig methylenation (55% yield over three steps). Diastereoselective installation of the methyl group at C16 has been problematic in the previously reported total syntheses of **1**.^[@ref19],[@ref20]^ With ketone **60** as the substrate, α-methylation at C16 was accomplished with 7:1 diastereoselectivity in excellent yield. If this alkylation reaction is postponed until the last step after installation of the cyclohexenone, a 1:1 mixture of diastereomers is produced. Also, when LDA is used in place of LiN(SiMe~3~)~2~ for enolate generation, substantially lower yields of **61** were observed due to unidentified side reactions. Oxidative cleavage of the benzyl ether (**61**) was accomplished in the presence of DDQ in aqueous dichloromethane at 50 °C for 12 h. Oxidation with DMP followed by the addition of vinylmagnesium bromide in the presence of CeCl~3~ afforded allylic alcohol **62** as a single diastereomer in 65% overall yield after the three steps. Ring-closing metathesis (20 mol % Hoveyda-Grubbs II catalyst, 1,2-dichloroethane, 80 °C, 3 h) afforded a mixture of the expected allylic alcohol along with the oxidation product, (−)-maoecrystal V. A full oxidation of the mixture with DMP completed the enantioselective synthesis of **1**, affording 10 mg of the natural products: \[α\]~D~^25^ −101.1° (*c* 0.3, CH~3~OH); lit.^[@ref6]^ \[α\]~D~^25^ −92.9° (*c* 0.7, CH~3~OH). Investigation of Antiproliferative Properties of Maoecrystal ZG (**2**) {#sec2.6} ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Maoecrystal V (**1**) has shown potent and selective cytotoxic activity against the HeLa cell line, with activity for K562, A549 lung carcinoma, and BGC-823 adenocarcinoma reduced by at least 6 orders of magnitude. Because maoecrystal ZG (**2**) and the artificial structural isomer of **1** retain the electrophilic cyclohexenone moiety of the natural product and apparently represent a novel chemical entity, we explored its cytotoxic properties with the assistance of the NCI-60 DPT human tumor cell line screen. Somewhat remarkably, **2** showed virtually no growth inhibition at 10 μm concentration across the entire cell panel, underscoring the remarkable cytotoxicity profile of maoecrystal V. Conclusion {#sec3} ========== The first enantioselective synthesis of (−)-maoecrystal V was enabled by a stereoselective Rh-catalyzed C--H functionalization as the enantiodetermining step. This reaction provided the key 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran precursor in 84% ee. Catalytic asymmetric and auxiliary-enabled approaches have been investigated. Although both proved promising, the auxiliary-based approach was ultimately used because it performed best in the presence of functional groups necessary for the total synthesis application. The synthesis required 26 linear steps from sesamol (three steps longer than our synthesis of racemic **1**), affording (−)-maoecrystal V in ∼0.21% overall yield. An unexpected course of the IMDA reaction with a tethered vinylboronate led to the initial synthesis of an isomeric product, which we refer to as maoecrystal ZG (**2**). This compound has a rearranged pentacyclic 6,7-dinor-5,8;9a,20-diepoxy-*ent*-kaurane skeleton that apparently has no precedent in the realm of natural products, or in fact of any known organic compounds. Evaluation of its cytotoxic activity in the NCI 60 cell panel revealed no growth inhibition across the entire panel, underscoring the unique and selective activity of maoecrystal V itself, which displays selective nanomolar activity against the HeLa cell line. The expected outcome of the central IMDA reaction using a silicon tether provided the bicyclo\[2.2.2\]octan-2-one ring system, thus enabling the successful completion of the enantioselective total synthesis of (−)-maoecrystal V, which confirmed the assignment of its absolute stereochemistry. Detailed experimental procedures, characterization data, copies of ^1^H and ^13^C NMR spectra, HPLC traces, and a crystallographic CIF file. This material is available free of charge via the Internet at <http://pubs.acs.org>. Supplementary Material ====================== ###### ja510573v_si_001.pdf ###### ja510573v_si_002.pdf ###### ja510573v_si_003.cif ^§^ Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, 96 Jinzhai Road, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China. ^⊥^ A.M. and P.L. contributed equally. The authors declare no competing financial interest. In memory of Chase Mabe. We thank the Developmental Therapeutics Program at NCI for performing the in vitro antitumor screen of **2**. A.Z. thanks the NSF (CHE-0836757) and NIGMS (R01 GM077379) for supporting this research. H.M.L.D., D.M.G, and H.W. were supported by NSF under the CCI for Selective C--H Functionalization, CHE-1205646. NMR instrumentation at UC Santa Barbara was supported by the NIH \#1S10OD012077-01A1. We thank Dr. Hongjun Zhou (UCSB) for assistance with NMR spectroscopy, and Dr. Guang Wu (UCSB) for assistance with X-ray crystallography. | High | [
0.671264367816092,
36.5,
17.875
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