This past week I had the chance to go into a 2nd grade classroom and help facilitate a couple of lessons on feedback. The students practiced sharing "warm" and "cool" feedback in order to help make someone's work better. In this case, we used name cards as our product. They were a safe and accessible way to practice using the language of feedback that students will later employ as part of a peer revision process in writing. The guidelines are simple. Students must be kind, specific, and helpful when giving feedback to a peer. They first practiced sharing what they liked - giving "warm" feedback. Rather than simply saying, "It's pretty," we discuss focusing in on a detail that made it pretty and explaining why. The student feedback quickly elevated to, "The extra lines on the R are pretty," or "I love the color you chose for the A because it is bright and colored carefully." Next, we practiced giving "cool" feedback. The students were able to focus in on specific details in order to generate ideas that might help the designer. For example, one student pointed to the base of the R on one of the name cards and said, "What if you added a line at the bottom here like you have on the rest of your letters?" Wow! What attention to detail! And this was a 2nd grader!
After practicing as a whole group, the students then partner up. They were told that they must focus on giving kind, specific, and helpful feedback that will help the designer make their name card easier to read. That's the point of a name card, afterall.
Here are a couple of examples of the improvements students made using feedback from their classmates. What kind, specific, helpful feedback do you imagine these students received that led them to improve their name cards and make the names easier to read?
After our session, they had a poetry share. When it came time for comments the students began to share what they liked. Their teacher then directed them to remember the feedback guidelines they had just learned - be kind, specific, and helpful. They instantly made their feedback specific. Instead of saying, 'Your picture is pretty," they now had the tools to say, "The color you used on the girl's T-shirt really stands out." Now that student knows that is something they should try again. This simple feedback can go a long way. Not only can it be utilized in peer revision, but it may even help facilitate those interpersonal conversations children engage in everyday. When students learn to give and receive feedback, they begin to learn a valuable lesson about life and learning. Having the tools to communicate and help themselves and their classmates can be very empowering.
I also think this is an easy lesson that can make us more effective as educators. Think about the feedback you give your students? Is it kind, specific, and helpful? When we write "Awesome!" on a paper, what is that really communicating to a child? When we say, "your child is a 24," what does a parent gain from that? How can we make these simple interactions more informative? Keep this in mind as you move forward with the wonderful work you do this week. And if anyone is interested in facilitating a session on feedback, please let me know.
Austin's Butterfly - Check out this amazing lesson in effective feedback taught by Ron Berger of Expeditionary Learning Schools. You'll never believe what drafting, receiving feedback, and revising enable this first grader to do! P.S. I have the resources in this video if anyone is interested in getting their students started practicing how to give feedback.
Feedback in Schools - Feedback falls in the top 10 most influential factors on a child's achievement, according to the research of John Hattie. Check out this article for some more thoughts on the feedback we as educators give to our students.
It's September. Don't Worry, Teaching Gets Better. For those of you feeling the back to school crunch, here are some words of encouragement from Angela Watson of The Cornerstone teaching blog.
I thought about going back and editing the post to correct my mistake, but I quickly realized this is a great opportunity to talk about the good that can come from mistakes and the good that can come from admitting our mistakes and modeling for our students how we can learn from those mistakes. I love the quote over to the left because this completely sums up what we want our students to understand and embody as learners. How do we create an environment that is safe for making mistakes, and is a place where we intentionally use those mistakes as good food for our learning? Below are some of the ways I have noticed our schools, students, and colleagues doing this.
...teachers giving students ample time to practice and master the routines. Students practiced and repracticed as needed. I heard statements such as, "Hm... looks like we need more practice lining up for art. Let's try that again." No one was in trouble. No one needed to be upset. This type of practice was accompanied by corrective feedback, helping students to identify the mistakes they made and holding them accountable to learning from them.
...teachers facilitating conversations with students anticipating mistakes that might be made and how to avoid them. A specific example came up when the teacher introduced some math manipulatives to the students. They asked the students what problems might arise when using them. And then the group discussed solutions to those problems.
...teachers asking for feedback from their colleagues. What a great example this sets for our students to be able to give and receive feedback, to bounce ideas off of team-mates, to effectively collaborate with one-another, to try something new, to take a risk knowing that with reflection much will be gained from that.
Normalize Error - Follow this link to a discussion of how we can normalize error in our classrooms. This resource comes from the book work of Doug Lemov, managing director of Uncommon Schools in New York. For more information on his work, check out his site: "Teach Like a Champion". I have his book and have found it to be a great resource with many great techniques that can be applied instantly to any classroom. If anyone is interested in investigating the technique of Normalizing Error, or want to explore Teach Like a Champion more, please let me know and we can arrange something.
#Youcanlearnanything - This video from Khan Academy artfully shows what learning really is. We all start with no knowledge and through experience, trial and error, direct instruction, and so many other avenues we learn. Some of you have seen this, but hopefully it provides some inspiration for us as we kick off this week!


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The period in a company's development just before it goes public.
Venture capital term used to describe a company which is somewhere between startup and IPO. Venture capital committed at this level usually has less risk but less potential appreciation than at the startup level, and more risk but more potential appreciation than in an IPO.


Instant Messaging Chat Bot: Your New Best Friend?
Recently there has been a resurgence of chat bot use among businesses, which employ them as part of their marketing strategy. To provide better insight into instant messaging chat bots as a marketing tool, the present research focuses on mobile users' current understanding and perceptions of chat bots. This study examines what mobile consumers think of instant messaging chat bots, and whether consumers are willing to use the new chat bots. This study employs focus group interviews and online surveys to examine consumers' perceptions. The results indicate that a majority of mobile users have employed chat bots for customer service and for entertainment. Mobile users found instant messaging chat bots easy to use and useful, but not necessarily entertaining.
Recently, there have been attempts to employ mobile messenger chat bots among businesses for such purposes as providing instant customer service, assisting customers in getting information and attracting more web traffic to businesses. Chat bots, or conversational agents, which first appeared in the 1960s, involve computer programs that interact with people, using auditory and textual methods in natural languages to mimic human conversation and to communicate with customers, in order to carry out tasks such as taking online orders or providing product information (Rawlins, 2016; Shawar& Atwell, 2007).
Although chat bots have been around for a while, they have recently gained renewed fame. This resurgence is due to the development of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and the growing fatigue experienced by people with too many mobile apps to download. Most mobile users probably have heard or experienced chat bots, such as Apple’s Siri, Google’s Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa. Artificial Intelligence-based chat bots’ advanced ability to communicate in more natural language provides for easy usage and adds the feeling of a human element (Lee, 2017).
According to a Comscore White paper (2014), the number of mobile app downloads has been decreasing in recent years (e.g., average downloaded apps per person in a month dropped to zero in 2016 from 10 in 2008), because people do not want to download so many apps that basically provide the same service (e.g., Uber, Lyft and Gett for riding share apps; Spotify and Pandora for music). Furthermore, mobile users now spend 80% of their mobile time on just three apps (Comscore, 2014).
Thus, businesses had no option but to utilize apps that already exist on consumers’ smart phones and that are used on a daily basis, such as messenger apps. As the popularity of instant messaging apps has surpassed even social media (e.g., the combined users of the top four instant messaging apps—WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Wechat and Viber- are greater than the combined users of the top four social media; BI Intelligence, 2016), businesses have integrated with popular mobile instant messaging apps (e.g., Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Twitter) to provide enhanced customer experience through chat bots.
The biggest social media service, Facebook, announced chat bots for Facebook Messenger Platform in April, 2016. Facebook Messenger is the second most downloaded app on iOS after Snapchat, with 1.2 billion active monthly users, and has become a “primary” communication channel for many people (Constine, 2017). Facebook boasts that chat bots can provide contents such as weather forecasts and traffic updates to shipping notices and receipts of orders. Facebook promised that the 500 million businesses on Facebook Messenger could build deeper relationships with their customers on Facebook Messenger Platform through chat bots (Marcus, 2016) to take advantage of already secured billions of daily active users.
Flower retailer 1-800-Flowers was one of the first retailers adopting Facebook Messenger chat bots to serve customers. Although 1-800-Flowers built its reputation and brand name on the use of a toll-free telephone number to attract customers, ironically, customers never have to call 1-800-Flowers to order, with the help of the Facebook Messenger chat bot. According to 1-800-Flowers, chat bots brought new young and customers to the company. Over 70% of Facebook Messenger chat bot orders come from new customers, who tend to be younger than existing customers, while the order volume from Facebook Messenger chat bot has grown (Caffyn, 2016).


Straight talk express? McCain with Jerry Falwell.
Last week, I noted McCain's not-so-subtle attempt in a new Web advertisement to draw comparisons between Obama and the anti-Christ with the ad using imagery taken directly from the immensely popular Left Behind series of books.
Now Time magazine reports that the Web spot's creator has close ties to Christian Coalition guru Ralph Reed. Moreover, for the past two years, allegations that Obama is the anti-Christ have been bubbling up at far right Christian sites, fears that reached a crescendo after Obama's speech at Berlin two weeks ago. The ad appears clearly designed to play on and amplify these false perceptions.
Funny that McCain, who had previously criticized "agents of intolerance" such as Jerry Falwell, now uses strategies directly from their playbook.
The ad was the creation of Fred Davis, one of McCain's top media gurus as well as a close friend of former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed and the nephew of conservative Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe. It first caught the attention of Democrats familiar with the Left Behind series, a fictionalized account of the end-time that debuted in the 1990s and has sold nearly 70 million books worldwide. "The language in there is so similar to the language in the Left Behind books," says Tony Campolo, a leading progressive Evangelical speaker and author.
As the ad begins, the words "It should be known that in 2008 the world shall be blessed. They will call him The One" flash across the screen. The Antichrist of the Left Behind books is a charismatic young political leader named Nicolae Carpathia who founds the One World religion (slogan: "We Are God") and promises to heal the world after a time of deep division. One of several Obama clips in the ad features the Senator saying, "A nation healed, a world repaired. We are the ones that we've been waiting for."
The visual images in the ad, which Davis says has been viewed even more than McCain's "Celeb" ad linking Obama to the likes of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, also seem to evoke the cover art of several Left Behind books. But they're not the cartoonish images of clouds parting and shining light upon Obama that might be expected in an ad spoofing him as a messiah. Instead, the screen displays a sinister orange light surrounded by darkness and later the faint image of a staircase leading up to heaven.
...The speculation reached a fever pitch after Obama's European trip and the Berlin speech in which he called for global unity. Conservative Christian author Hal Lindsey declared in an essay on WorldNetDaily, "Obama is correct in saying that the world is ready for someone like him -- a messiah-like figure, charismatic and glib ... The Bible calls that leader the Antichrist. And it seems apparent that the world is now ready to make his acquaintance." The conservative website RedState.com now sells mugs and T shirts that sport a large "O" with horns and the words "The Anti-Christ" underneath.


1-2: 'I do not draw my conclusions from the stars, and yet I think I understand astrology; 3-4: 'but (astrology) has never forecasted (to me) good or bad luck, or of plagues, or of dearths, or of the quality of the forecoming seasons:' 5-6: 'Nor can I prognosticate (from the stars) every single minute, assigning to each minute [that is, whether or not it will] thunder or rain or wind,' 7-8: 'Or say that all will be well by signs (of the stars), which looking to the sky (for answers) is my habit:' 9-10: 'only from your eyes do I form my knowledge, and, in your eyes (which are constant stars), do I see such art' 11-12: 'As truth or beauty thriving together, if you would convert from yourself to store [as in store cattle]:' The paraphrase for the three quatrains may not seem necessary, as it is fairly straightfoward in its meaning; however, the couplet provides ambiguity. The couplet is where Shakespeare usually makes an antithesis of the three quatrains or presents some ambiguity, the latter of which is this one. I have found three ways to read this couplet, more specifically the last line: 1) your death is both doom and date for [of] truth and for [of] beauty (where truth and beauty are either possessive of the man or just in general), 2) your death is truth (it will happen) and destruction of your beauty is inevitable as a result of time, and 3) your end is truth (it will happen) and beauty is the destructor and finisher of you.


Two and a half years after the UK voted to leave the European Union, MPs will vote on Prime Minister Theresa May's exit deal.
The Meaningful vote is expected between 7.30pm and 9.30pm on Tuesday, January 15.
Up to 100 Tory MPs are expected to vote against the deal which sets out the terms of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.
A heavy defeat could spell the end for the Prime Minster, who represents Maidenhead, with Cabinet sources reported on Tuesday as saying Mrs May would be expected to stand down.
So how will Berkshire MPs vote?
Loyal Conservatives include Reading West MP and Employment Minister Alok Sharma, Newbury MP Richard Benyon and Windsor MP Adam Afriyie, all of whom are expected to vote for the Withdrawal Agreement.
In a speech to the House of Commons on January 10, Mr Benyon said the deal represented a compromise which he could live with.
He said: "For some in this House the word 'compromise' is a pejorative term: a sign of weakness and a word which is too quickly followed by other words like 'betrayal'.
"For me, compromise is almost always a virtue."
He concluded: "My discussions with some of the 97 per cent of my constituents who have not written to me on this issue can be condensed down to one simple message: get on with it."
Leading Conservative rebel and Wokingham MP Sir John Redwood will vote against the deal.
In his blog published on Monday, January 14, Sir John says: "It is high time we put this debate behind us and left the EU.
"If we cannot negotiate a good deal in two years nine months before giving the EU what they want, there would be no chance of negotiating a good deal for the future in 21 months more if we have given away the main bargaining advantages we have through the Withdrawal Agreement."
Bracknell MP Phillip Lee will vote against Mrs May's deal.
He was the first minister to quit the Government job over Brexit, resigning in June 2018 from his role as Justice Minister and demanding a second referendum.
In an open letter to his constituents, Dr Lee labels the deal a "blindfold Brexit" saying Mrs May's deal would "leave us in the worst of both worlds - bound to the EU but with few of the benefits of full membership."
He tells constituents the deal poses a threat to the union, risks holding back the economy and investment into public services and will leave the UK bound by EU rules with no say over them.
Labour MP Matt Rodda, who represents Reading East, will also vote against the deal.
In a speech to the House on December 5 he called for closer ties with the EU.
He said his constituents in Woodley and Reading, Berkshire would be affected by a shortage of skilled workers, particularly in the NHS.
He said: "EU staff make up just five per cent of the total NHS workforce, but the proportion is much higher in my constituency: as many as 12.8 per cent of employees at the Royal Berkshire Hospital are from the EU."
Before the original vote was postponed he told getreading: "I firmly believe the Prime Minister’s proposals are against the national interest and could damage our local economy and harm our community.
"I do not accept the Government’s assertion that we either must accept the proposed deal or have no deal, and I am pressing for a much closer and more sensible relationship with the EU."
The Brexit meaningful vote will be held between 7.30pm and 9.30pm on Tuesday, January 15 at the House of Commons.
MPs are due to vote on whether to approve a Brexit withdrawal agreement between the UK and the EU.
The deal ensures that there is a "transition period" after March 29, where EU rules will be carried on until December 2020.
The Mirror Online has a summary of what's in Mrs May's deal here.


For short Mercury finger, Johnny Fincham says - "There is usually hostility to wordiness, sarcasm and irony"
Can anybody tell me the reasons behind this conclusion?
The other things he says are meaningful and can be reasoned out.
I think there Johnny is illustrating examples of how 'signals will be missed and communication can be somewhat basic'.
Short mercury prefer communication to be simple, direct, straightforward. Understanding irony and sarcasm involves 'reading into' the words rather than taking them at face value.
Lynn wrote: I think there Johnny is illustrating examples of how 'signals will be missed and communication can be somewhat basic'.
You're saying: "Understanding irony and sarcasm involves 'reading into' the words rather than taking them at face value. "
So, it is not simple, direct and straightforward which is preferred by short Mercury then.
This again contradicts with what Johnny says!
Having a comparatively small (& definitely low set) little finger, I would like to disagree.
1) Person is "Playing to gallery"
2) Unable to express him/herself in a clear manner - beating around the bush.
But when the talk is laced with witty comments / irony - then it is different. I guess that I am good in 'reading between the lines' or understanding the ironies etc. Probably much better than most of my peers with longer little fingers.
chakraborty wrote: Having a comparatively small (& definitely low set) little finger, I would like to disagree.
The statements we found in books are normally in general, made keeping all other factors constant. They give us clues to customized reading. Actually, in palmistry one sign can never be depended , unless substantiated by other signs. At times a sign is off set or at least mitigated by other indications. If the little finger is small but thick or the mount itself is healthy or bulging out ,it might mitigate the negativities of smaller finger. Risk, attributed with long 4D ,is mitigated by joint brain and life lines ,closed set of fingers ,long fingers or long brain line.
Another thing to note , if the little finger is really short or low set( as it reduces the area of Mercury). Both the scenarios carry difference to me.
I think the same is the character of fire hand people regardless the size of the little finger. If the SD is also a part of the hands, it may give synergical effect to the tendency in question.
Personality is an aggregation of genes, environment and situation ,hence the interpretations are based upon first factor. Whenever I found some exception to any general rule ,I found the factor no 2 and 3 have worked out.
The point I wanted to make is - understanding verbosity/sarcasm/irony needs intelligence of different kind. And many a people (in my limited observation) excel in that field despite having a small little finger.
But yes, most of them like to deliver with minimum words. Even when they are making jokes - generally with a one-liner comment. People with long pinkie generally like to talk & elaborate and have their way with words. But some of them may lose sight of the central point when they are listening to a long-worded speech / reading a long essay.
In this regard, I would like to see the palm of Physicist Richard Feynman. He could get to the gist of problem very quickly. He could explain anything lucidly with minimum words. One of his famous remark was (paraphrasing here) - " If you cannot explain the concept to your grandmother, then you may not have understood the concept in the first place". But he was also good lecturer/writer as well.
Probably the verbal intelligence concept may depend on head line too.
In the Caltech lecture, the pinkie appears to be quite long. However, in the second link, the pinkie appears to normal / slightly long.
We know that he was a good orator with a good sense of humor.


Both: This is the best monster movie since Tremors.
Both: Not only are there big echoes of Them! (the storm drains) here, there's also: a dead-and-dying human food-locker a la Attack Of The Giant Leeches and Beast From Haunted Cave, a disease spread by the thingie (Beast From 20.000 Fathoms), the created-by-pollution theme of Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster (sans Godzilla), and of course since the thing's in the Han River half the time, Jaws.
Lawrence Person: This is a solid monster movie that happens to have been made in Korea, nothing more, nothing less. The science is stupid (as it usually is), the government attempts to contain the monster are woefully incompetent (as they usually are), and the script and acting are above average (as they usually aren't). It's easy to over-praise this (as many critics have), as the last solid American effort here was Eight Legged Freaks, and this is clearly a better film. Plus it has more humor and surprises in store than the average entry in the genre. But it's not (to my mind) in the same league as Aliens or Tremors, though it gets the job done.
Plot: Some six years before the main action, a doctor on an American base has his Korean underling pour bottles of formaldehyde down a drain and into the Han. Then we jump to now, where three generations of the same family (grandfather, his somewhat dim-witted son, and Hyun-seo, the son's sharp-as-a-tack daughter) all live and work in the same convenience store/squid shack on the banks of the Han. Soon the mutant monster (sort of a giant legged fish/salamander thing with a tri-fold mouth and a prehensile tail) leaps out of the water and starts running around swallowing victims whole, then taking them back to its sewer holding cell lair, where it regurgitates them for later munching. Hyun-seo is among the ones taken, and presumed dead until dad gets a call from her on her cheap, unreliable cell-phone. Soon Hyun-seo's grandpa, father, former-student-firebrand uncle and archery-champion aunt have to figure out how to escape from the government quarantine center they're confined to (as per the title, the government believes the monster is host of a deadly new disease) to rescue Hyun-seo and kill the monster.
HW: The family here is like a real family; death and loss hurt. There's a hilarious slapstick mourning scene at a memorial service for the missing-and-presumed dead daughter. You feel for each of them all through the movie. The opening scenes with the family are totally naturalistic; those leading up to the first appearance of the monster (violating the Them! template; the monster is seen early on) are a comedy of errors involving a missing toasted squid arm.
LP: One of the biggest strengths of the film is Joon-ho Bong's use of the particular sewer and bridge architecture lining the Han. It's easy to imagine the seed of the film coming from him walking underneath one of the bridges and saying to himself "Wow, this would be a really cool place to set a monster movie." And indeed it is. It also allows the monster to hang upside down from trestles and swing between girders like a champion gymnast, which is both totally cool and totally unbelievable.
It's not every day that the protagonists left against the monster at the climax are a homeless guy, a former student activist with a load of Molotov cocktails, a big guy wielding a traffic-sign post and an Olympic bronze medalist in archery (and the movie makes you believe all but the homeless guy are from the same family).
LP: My biggest quibbles with the film are its combination of a slight anti-American slant combined with the usual lazy monster movie science. Even though it seems to be based on a real-life incident, in the movie the formaldehyde-dumping incident seems deeply unmotivated. (You dumped the bottles because they were dusty? And it's those 100-odd gallons poured out rather than the other countless tons of industrial pollutants that made the monster?) The government response is even lamer than your average monster movie government response, and the "Agent Yellow" subplot doesn't work for me at all (if you know there's no virus, why are you still going through the giant rigmarole?). That's why, though The Host is a pretty fine exemplar of the monster movie form, it doesn't transcend it.
Those points aside, if you want to see an intelligent, well-acted, well-paced monster movie with just enough twists and turns to keep you guessing, The Host delivers the goods.
HW: The New Yorker (of all places) raved about this two weeks ago. Now I see why. Sometimes it takes fresh eyes to show Americans how to really do an art form they (Americans) created, but seem to have wandered away from in ennui or indifference (or something) these past couple of decades or so. It's like the old story of Hughes Panassi, a French critic, telling Bob Crosby how to really play jazz, and Crosby saying: "Do we tell you how to jump on a grape?"
In this case, some talented Koreans have shown Hollywood how to jump on a grape.


I would expect that the BOOK-page on the front and back side would move to the correct corner, but that doesn't seem to happen. Both on the front and back are shifted to the left!? I'would expect them to alter position between left and right!


UNCA won its seventh Big South regular season title, and second straight, this past season, but the bulk of that talent is leaving campus.
ASHEVILLE - Mike Morrell's first public appearance as UNC Asheville's basketball coach Tuesday offered a full range of emotion.
Morrell found a frog in his throat as he spoke about his time with Texas basketball coach Shaka Smart. The two were assistants at Clemson, before Smart hired Morrell as an assistant at VCU and then at Texas for the past three years. His voice broke again as he pointed to his high school coach and family sitting in a crowded room at the Sherrill Center.
Morrell, 35, joked about his lack of head coaching experience, bringing up his time as a head golf coach while he worked at King College for two years at the start of his career.
"If anyone thinks I haven't had head coaching experience," Morrell said. "Let me tell you."
But mostly, there were promises.
"We are going to compete for Big South championships," Morrell said. "We are going to win those. That's a strong statement; it takes a lot of work. I've been on those teams, I know what it takes."
The question now is, can he keep that promise?
UNCA won its seventh Big South regular-season title, and second straight, this past season, but the bulk of that success is leaving campus.
Three of UNCA's four top scorers from the 2017-18 season -- Ahmad Thomas, Raekwon Miller, Kevin Vannatta -- are gone to graduation. Their top scorer, sophomore MaCio Teague, also could be on his way out.
Teague, who averaged 16.7 points last season, confirmed Tuesday that he has been granted a release from his scholarship and is looking at other options for next year. He can still return to UNCA, but can also take other offers.
Teague was granted the release last week and has been actively recruited by schools like Xavier, Louisville and Virginia and was visited Monday night by Baylor coach Scott Drew.
"I'm not sure what my plans are right now," Teague said. "I know Coach Morrell will do a great job with the other players if I decide to leave, and If I decide to stay, he'll do a great job with me being here."
Teague said he had no timeline on his decision.
"I'm looking to make the best fit for my future," he said. "It's nothing against Coach Morrell. I think he's an awesome person. He has a lot to bring to the table."
Morrell called it "a personal decision between him and his family."
"As a program, we have to move forward and get better, and do what is best for us," Morrell said. "He's a phenomenal kid who we know will make the right decision for himself."
Despite the losses, Morrell is known as a great recruiter and developer of talent.
He was selected by ESPN as the "top recruiter under the age of 35" in 2015. Texas' classes since Morrell arrived as the lead recruiter have twice been ranked top five nationally and in the top 20 another year, according to UNCA.
The Longhorns made the NCAA Tournament in two of the past three seasons, and he was praised by school officials for his role during the 2016-17 season in the development of Jarrett Allen, who was selected No. 22 overall by the Brooklyn Nets in the 2017 NBA Draft.
"This is a great program for a reason, and the people before me have done a good job of getting the right people here first," Morrell said. "There is a lot of talent here, and we have to do the right things to move forward, These guys want to prove people wrong, and they are looking for that opportunity. Well, they are going to get one."


When Will the Stock Market Crash Again?
Subject: When Will the Stock Market Crash Again?
1 × four = Required Please enter the correct value.
The Dow has rocketed 153% higher over the last eight years, making this bull market the second longest in history. But all bull markets end, and with this one nearing record length it's time to consider whether it will end in a stock market crash.
While this current bull market has brought triple-digit growth over the last eight years, the Trump rally kicked it into overdrive. The Dow has surged 17% since Election Day, pushing the Dow to a record-breaking run of all-time highs. The Dow's jump from a record 20,000 points to a new record of 21,000 points was its fastest 1,000-point gain in history.
This record run might have pushed stock prices to unsustainably high levels. We aren't suggesting there is a stock market bubble right now, but there is evidence stock prices are higher than the underlying fundamentals show they should be.
Stock market crashes are likelier when stock prices are artificially inflated, especially by risky speculation.
Consider the stock market crash of 1929. In the seven years prior to Black Friday, the stock market skyrocketed over 300%. While these gains sound great, investors were pushing stock prices higher on risky bets under the false belief the market would only go up. Amateur investors borrowed more than $120 billion to buy stocks during the 1920s.
This cash and mentality helped push stock prices higher, but when the market dipped investors panicked. Since they had borrowed money to buy stocks, they couldn't sustain any losses and were forced to sell as quickly as possible. The stock market crash of 1929 led to the Dow losing 86% of its value by its end in 1932.
Similarly, another bout of risky speculation helped boost stocks ahead of the 2008 stock market crash. This time, there was rampant speculation in the real estate market, with consumers buying homes that they didn't need or couldn't afford through subprime mortgages.
Housing prices doubled between 1996 and 2006, the height of the boom. At the same time, those subprime mortgages were packaged into securities and traded on Wall Street where ratings agencies labeled them as grade-A debt.
When this bubble popped, both the stock market and the housing market crashed. The Dow fell 42% between September 2008 and March 2009.
One measure of the stock market's value is the Shiller P/E ratio, which was created by Yale's Robert Shiller to provide an accurate measure of market valuation. Today, that ratio sits at 30, which is 78.6% above the historical average.
Not only is it 78.6% higher than average right now, but it's nearly three points higher than before the 2008 stock market crash when it reached a level of 27.4.
One of the reasons for the high valuations is that low interest rates stemming from the 2008 financial crisis have made borrowing money cheap and easy. Interest rates were slashed from over 5% in 2007 to 0.25% in 2008 to help boost the economy.
But businesses took advantage of the cheap borrowing to repurchase shares of their own stock and push their share prices back up.
Between 2008 and 2016, publicly traded companies repurchased over $2 trillion of their own stock. They were able to do this by borrowing $1.9 trillion during the same time period. That's helped share price growth easily outpace corporate profits.
Corporate profits have risen just 66% since March 2009, while the Dow is up more than double that in the same period.
Now that interest rates are beginning to climb – the U.S. Federal Reserve just raised rates for the third time since December – those stock buybacks are going to slow down. It's possible a market correction could result, but it's also possible traders overreact and cause the next stock market crash.


RFID technology has risen to become a revolutionary element?
RFID technology has risen to become a revolutionary element in supply chain management. It is not just a replacement for barcodes. RFID ensures that the right goods are available in the right place with no discrepancies and zero errors. It makes the supply chain considerably more precise and improves the efficiency and reliability of the entire chain. As real-time information is made available also administration and planning processes can be significantly improved.Is this right information about RFID Marketing Examples? I didn't get the right solution.


Todd Roth/NHO<br> A Lady Sand Devil takes a difficult shot in the championship game while surrounded by three Winslow Bulldogs trying to block her attempt.
Originally Published: February 29, 2012 11:15 a.m.
GLENDALE, Ariz.-The Page Lady Sand Devils (30-3) win their first Girl's State Basketball title since 1999 over the Winslow Lady Bulldogs (24-6), during the girls' state championship game of the Division III 2012 Arizona Girls State Basketball Championships, the "February Frenzy," at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz. by a score of 46-38.
"I am speechless, I am so happy, and those girls deserve it. That's why, I am so happy, I wanted it all this year, because those girls deserve it, those seniors worked hard a long time and they put up with a lot of stuff from me," said Justin Smith, Page Lady Sand Devils head coach. "It feels good, I don't know if I felt better."
Coach Smith continued, "We had goals - the girls made a list and at the bottom of the list it said state championship and I told them they had to work hard if they want a state championship and they did."
The Lady Bulldogs played the Page Lady Sand Devils for the championship on Saturday and lost 46-38. Page defeated Camp Verde 60-45 in a game that was close at the half before Page outscored the Lady Cowboys 24-10 in the third quarter.
The Page Lady Sand Devils defeated the Winslow Lady Bulldogs 46-38 on Saturday to capture the Division III Arizona State Championship. Page finished the season with an impressive 31-2 record. The Lady Bulldogs ended their season with a 24-6 record.
A huge fourth quarter in which they scored 22 points was the key to the Lady Sand Devils' victory. The game had been tied 7-7 after the first quarter. Winslow led 15-13 at the intermission and the teams were tied at 24-24 after three quarters. Page hit seven of 17 three point shots with half of them in the final period.
Malarie Williams led all scorers with 16 points for Page and was eh only player for either team in double figures. Boka Claw scored nine points for Page. Corey Nez and Mattea Begaii led Winslow with eight points each.
Turnovers hurt Winslow as they were cited for 23 such miscues. They were also charged with more fouls than Page and had a key player foul out early.
Winslow fans expressed discontent with the officiating; especially a key foul that appeared to be a jump ball situation and several other calls that appeared questionable. A shot well after the first half ending buzzer was originally signaled as good but reversed after the officials conferred and may have gotten help from the timer to correct the error.
"I am speechless, I am sooooo happy, and those girls deserve it. That's why, I am so happy, I wanted it all year this year, because those girls deserve it, those seniors worked hard a long time and they put up with a lot of stuff from me" said Justin Smith the Page Lady Sand Devils head coach, "It feels good, I don't know if I felt better."
The Winslow Lady Bulldogs got an overtime win over the Tuba City Lady Warriors on Friday in the semifinals of the Arizona Division III State Championship Tournament at Gilbert but lost to the Page Lady Sand Devils in the Championship Game on Saturday.
The Winslow Lady Bulldogs defeated the Tuba City Lady Warriors 48-47 in overtime on Friday to reach the Championship Game on Saturday in the Division III Arizona State Tournament. The win improved Winslow's record to 24-5 for the season and ended Tuba City's season with a 24-7 record.
Winslow led 13-10 after the first quarter but trailed 26-22 at the half and 35-34 after three quarters. The Lady Bulldogs rallied and had a three point lead with just seconds to go when Vernene Sheppard hit three free throws to send the game into overtime.
The game was not decided until the final buzzer when Tuba City star Jamie Roe grabbed a missed Winslow free throw with just six seconds on the clock and raced down the court where her short bank shot rolled over the rim with the buzzer sounding.
Jamie Roe was the game high scorer with 19 points to lead Tuba City. Vernene Sheppard was also in double figures for the Lady Warriors with 12 points.
Mattea Begaii led Winslow with 14 points including four three point shots. Corey Nez had 12 points and was a perfect eight for eight from the charity stripe. Freshman Shandiin Armao and sophomore Marcella Joe both hit key overtime free throws and played well for Winslow.


Q: I have been practicing Vipassana for twenty years but was born in the Catholic tradition. Sometimes when I am feeling particularly lost I pray to God but then struggle because from the Buddhist perspective there is no God. I question then who am I praying to. That my actions create my Karma makes sense. The problem arises when I realize I am but a ignorant human being who often is driven by my desires and do not in fact know what is best for me. When I experience suffering I don't want to create more and often am not sure how to now be reactive. Prayer helps me to focus on something out there greater than me that may help me to show me the correct way to proceed or what to do.
Does prayer have any place in a Buddhist practice?
A: As you know, the interesting thing about the Buddhist tradition is that one need not abandon one's original faith tradition in order to practice and benefit from Buddhist teachings and practices. You sound like someone who has truly embraced our teachings and who is benefiting from the practice of insight meditation.
Most of us have the feeling that there is something greater, larger, wider than ourselves. This is a very wise viewpoint. We may call it "The Infinite" if we wish. For followers of the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) The Infinite becomes personified into an all-knowing, all-loving deity (Jehovah, God, Allah). Inherent in the Abrahamic view is the teaching that the deity exists as a separate entity and that while one can go to an after-death paradise and be with the deity for eternity, the person and the deity are still two separate things. For Buddhists The Infinite is not personified, as this would mean there is an inherent separation which is contrary to the Buddhist teaching of the interdependence of all phenomena. For us, The Infinite is Boundless Compassion and Boundless Wisdom which, given the interdependent nature of all phenomena, means that we are Boundless Compassion and Boundless Wisdom. So for Buddhists it isn't necessary to pray to something outside one's self (since nothing is truly outside one's self), but rather to wake up to the Boundless Compasson and Wisdom that is part and parcel of who we are.
Certainly, from the Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist viewpoints, there are celestial beings upon whom one may call for guidance; however, these beings actually represent and personify the essential qualities of the enlightened mind. So when a particular kind of Buddhist recites the name of Kuan-Yin Bodhisattva or Amitabha Buddha, what this person is doing is actually focusing her mind so as to become one with the qualities that Buddha or Bodhisattva personifies. In other words, she is trusting in her own Buddha-nature or Bodhisattva-nature and concentrating on it in order to actualize it in her life. This, one could say, is the Buddhist equivalent of "prayer." Even in the early days of the Theravada division of Buddhism there was a practice in which one concentrated on the many qualities of the Buddha in order to realize that each one of us possesses these qualities as well.
It is good to realize that one is, as you put it, an ingorant human being driven by desires. But this is only part of the story. On the other hand we are essentially enlightened beings and we have both the ability and the priceless opportunity to wake up to that essential enlightenment. By focusing inward one does indeed focus on what is greater than one's self, something that can reveal to us whatever is appropriate for a particular life circumstance. Becoming one with your essential nature means that you are one with any situation in which you find yourself, which means that you'll do the proper thing more often than not.
If you truly feel that you have a God to pray to, then pray to that God. Buddhism has no problem with that. If you have unresolved doubts about the existence of a separate deity, consider the nature of your true self and do your best to actualize it through the practices of meditative concentration and ethical behavior. The Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path are the Buddhist blueprint for this.


Did Katherine even have the flu?
What symptoms did she have at the hospital?
"Wisconsin newlywed started to feel sick with the flu on a Monday. By Friday, she was dead", says an article on ABC News today (15 Jan 2015).
We are told that Katie McQuestion, a 26-year-old radiologist from Kenosha, Wisconsin, had no underlying medical conditions, but she caught the flu and developed a serious complication from it: sepsis. She died on January 2nd.
Katherine's mother said her daughter "was required to and had received the flu shot, but it didn't keep her from becoming sick."
McQuestion complained she didn't feel well on a mother-daughter trip to a dress shop on Dec. 29, said her mother, who asked not to be named. The following day, McQuestion was sent home sick from work. Her mother said she picked up an antibiotic for her on New Year's Eve.
Then, on New Year's day, McQuestion called her mother and said, "Mom, I've never been this sick," her mother recalled. McQuestion's parents and husband met her in the emergency room, and doctors told them that she had a high heart rate, low blood pressure and a low temperature. They gave her anti-nausea medication and something to help her sleep, her mother said.
About 12 hours later, the hospital called McQuestion's parents and told them she had taken a turn for the worse.
"They told us sepsis had set in, and it was too late," her mother said, adding that McQuestion had suffered a heart attack. "By that time, all her organs had begun to fail. There was nothing they could do."
When WISN News questioned Kenosha County Health Officer Cynthia Johnson about Katherine’s death, the health official minimized what happened to Katherine and used the opportunity push vaccine compliance and encourage the "vast majority of people" to get vaccinated. "This is a very unusual case," she said, shrugging off the death as a fluke saying "it typically doesn't happen." It never feels very rare when it happens to you.
Johnson said McQuestion's doctor attributed her symptoms to influenza on the death certificate. Her mother said she developed sepsis from the flu, which is essentially blood poisoning, and suffered a heart attack and massive organ failure."Sometimes that does happen with those cascading results of someone's metabolism, their particular makeup that they can fail very quickly, and it's very difficult at times to turn that around," Johnson said.
Then Dr. William Schaffner, paid Merck consultant, Chairman of the Department of Preventative Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and a non-voting member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention weighs in all the way from Tennessee, saying that "it's hard to predict who will get sepsis from the flu, but underlying conditions, such as asthma or lung disease could contribute to it."
We are told that he didn't actually treat Katherine McQuestion and goes on to explain how sepsis can be caused by the flu progressing to pneumonia, a bacterial disease.
This highly acclaimed doctor goes on to say, "Usually pneumonia infection is confined to the lungs, but on occasion, it can be so bad that the bacteria leave the lungs and get into the blood stream."
Dr. Schaffner continues to say that if you have shortness of breath, are coughing up yellow or green mucus, or mucus tinged with blood, it could be pneumonia.
His "expert" (read paid consultant) recommendation is that you should go to the doctor for "an antiviral medication as soon as you realize you have the flu in the hopes of preventing a more severe illness and flu complications." He also gave his best flu advice: "stay hydrated and sit up in bed to take deep breaths whenever possible."
Every major news outlet that I personally reviewed included pleas from health officials and experts for everyone to get vaccinated in spite of the fact that even the CDC has officially acknowledged that this years vaccines isn't effective.
Every official story needs a lone gunman and this one is no different. In this story it’s a "what" and not a "who". The lone gunman in the story we are being told is the flu. The death of Katherine McQuestion is blamed on the flu. The flu did it. Everyone just repeats the official story that it was the flu that did it.
If you notice, all the official comments assume as fact that Katherine died of the flu. There is no questioning this supposed fact and all the players in the official story act as if it's true.
As we know, every lone gunman needs a magic bullet to accomplish his dastardly deed. Without the magic bullet that defied the laws of physics, Lee Harvey wouldn't have been able to have accomplish the murder of the president and the injuries to the governor of Texas.
In our story here, we discover that the magic bullet is sepsis. This is the thing necessary for the lone gunman, the flu, to be able to do what it is supposed to do. Without this magic bullet it would not be possible for the flu to kill its healthy victim in only 5 days.
We are told that sepsis killed this young woman and since the flu, a virus, was to blame, there is no one to hold responsible. The doctors did everything they could, but the sepsis was just too much for then and for modern conventional medicine. The doctors are not to blame.
It's important to understand that the purpose of official stories is to protect the officials. And if you notice, the official story here clearly blames the flu for this whole tragedy and you can't sue a virus, can you?
For a complete understanding of official stories, please see the book by the same title Official Stories: Counter-Arguments for a Culture in Need by Liam Scheff. It's enjoyable reading and delivers enough information about our culture and the stories that have shaped our lives to knock your socks off.
Think of it as a corrective textbook to all the tales we were taught in school. We'll ask the questions: why do we believe what we do? Why do we accept some stories as true when the details so obviously contradict the headlines? We're going to find out what's real, what's true, and what's just an "official story".
OK, back to our story. The very first thing we are told is that she got the flu and five days later she died of flu-induced sepsis. Is this true? Let's take a look at what we know, the facts of the case and see how they compare with the official story by asking some very basic questions. Let's see where the facts lead us.
Early Dec 2014: Around December 7, 2014, Katherine McQuestion got a mandatory flu shot required by the hospital where she worked.
Monday, 29 Dec 2014: Approximately three weeks later, she complained that she didn't feel well on an outing with her mother.
Tuesday, 30 Dec 2014: Katherine was sent home sick from St. Catherine’s Medical Center, where she had worked for three years as a radiology technician.
Wednesday, 31 Dec 2014: The next day, Katherine's mother brings her an antibiotic.
Thursday, 1 Jan 2015: Katherine goes to the hospital and presents with high heart rate, low blood pressure, and low body temperature. Try to remember these symptoms as we will be discussing them in a moment. She's given an anti-nausea drug as well as a pharmaceutical drug to help her sleep.
Friday, 2 Jan 2015: Within 12 hours of being admitted to the hospital, she was diagnosed with sepsis, suffered a heart attack, multiple organ failure, and died.
From everything you read in the mainstream media official story you might think it stupid to even question whether or not she had the flu. But this point is important in being able to make sense of what happened as we try to see how we might avoid this happening to us.
“Flu” is basically defined as a 100°F or higher fever or feeling feverish (not everyone with the flu has a fever), a cough and/or sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose, headaches and/or body aches, chills, and fatigue. So if you have that you think you have the flu. Right?
What is often poorly understood is that a person actually has a syndrome (influenza-like illness, or ILI) that can be caused by various agents. Only a proportion of this syndrome is caused by influenza A and B viruses, but differential diagnosis on clinical grounds alone is not possible.
It's not possible for a doctor to make a differential diagnosis (a systematic method of diagnosing a disorder which lacks unique symptoms or signs) based on clinical grounds or a clinical diagnosis (a diagnosis made on the basis of knowledge obtained by medical history and physical examination alone, without benefit of laboratory tests or x-ray films) to determine if someone actually has the flu caused by influenza A or B or whether they have some other disease with similar symptomatology.
So did Katherine really have the flu? Were differential tests done to determine the cause of her flu-like symptoms? Did she even have influenza-like symptoms?
Using perspective studies the Cochrane group determined that during the winter season about 7% of people come down with ILI (influenza-like illness) – 93% don’t.
…evidence presented here points to influenza being a relatively rare cause of ILI and a relatively rare disease. It follows that vaccines may not be appropriate preventive interventions for either influenza or ILI.
As you can see, the overwhelming majority of people with flu-like symptoms don't really have the flu. And doctors don't know what is causing their symptoms. This is a very dangerous situation for a patient to be in. Doctors end up just guessing at the cause, or worse, they just try a drug to see if it helps. It's like shooting in the dark. Not a really effective way to heal disease.
OK, so in answer to the first question, "Did Katherine have the flu?" we'd have to answer with: we don't know. We know that her mother, and the doctors that saw her all thought she had the flu. And according to Kenosha County Health Officer Cynthia Johnson, McQuestion’s doctor attributed the newlywed’s death to influenza on her death certificate, Fox News tells us.
But that still doesn't mean that she did have the flu or influenza. To decide if she really did have the flu, lets look at what happened when she went to the hospital.
According to the CDC, the Mayo Clinic, and WebMD, these symptoms are not consistent with normal symptoms of the flu/influenza. All sources list fever over 100 degrees as a symptom of the flu/influenza. Katherine had low body temperature.
I know we haven't really talked much about sepsis yet, and a separate discussion of sepsis is necessary. But for now, we can say that sepsis is not a disease, it is rather what is called a medical condition. This means that doctors and researchers get together and determine what conditions have to be fulfilled in order to say someone has sepsis.
There is one more requirement for sepsis. The victim has to have an infectious component. In other words, the victim has to have an infectious agent such as a flu/influenza virus, a bacteria, or fungal infection. If there isn't an infectious agent involved, then the medical condition is called a systemic inflammatory response syndrome or SIRS.
Interestingly this young woman presented at the hospital with obviously two of the four signs and maybe even all four for her condition to be considered sepsis. We don't know about her respiratory rate or her blood work. We do know she had elevated heart rate and low body temperature, neither of which were symptoms of the flu, but rather of sepsis or SIRS.
So here is a very important piece of information. Even though you are not a doctor, the more you know about your body, health, nutrition, and even disease and natural healing, the better off you will be. Doctors, nurses, hospitals make mistakes. It's just the way it is. You may discover the mistake or misdiagnosis. Learning to follow your gut, your hunches, your instincts can save your life as in the case of New Zealander Allen Smith. Read our article here about how his wife and children saved his life by insisting on an proven, but unconventional treatment when the doctors had given up and were going to pull the plug on the life support machines at the hospital.
Now that we know Katherine actually had signs of sepsis or SIRS when she arrived at the hospital emergency room and most likely before she went to the hospital, it would be important for us to know a bit more about this condition and how someone "gets" sepsis or SIRS.
There's a lot of confusion about sepsis. But it's not just us, those of us who have not studied to be doctors, who are not clear on the subject. Even doctors have to get together and have conferences to try and figure out what sepsis is. And that's because sepsis isn't a disease, as we mentioned, so doctors have to get together and decide what it is and that's called a medical condition.
How do you "catch" sepsis. Is it only infections? Nope.
Reading the official sites for information about flu, flu symptoms, and flu prevention and treatment, you quickly discover that there are only two things to do for prevention: wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds and get the flu vaccine. And as far as treatment goes you can choose from antivirals if you want and stay hydrated. That's about all there is to choose from if you go to a normal hospital.
We are lead to believe that she got sick on a Monday with the flu, and this viral infection turned into bacterial pneumonia and then this progressed very quickly into bacteria in her blood and her immune system signaled an inflammatory reaction and this caused her heart attack and multiple organ failure. And it's all the fault of the flu.
The implication is that we need to be afraid of the flu, the flu kills lots of people, our bodies are stupid and will kill us if we don’t get to the hospital in time to get antiviral medication "in hopes" that it will do some good, and although they try really hard, doctors aren’t always able to save us, especially when it comes to the flu, so you’d better get your flu shot and wash your hands or you may be the next one to die.
There are many details that we don't have, so it's not really possible to make a detailed investigation into what actually happened. But we can try to understand what happened and learn something from this dear woman's death.
All major news agency programming that I was able to personally review ended with the anchor reminding everyone to get their flu shots, saying that it wasn’t too late in the season to get them, and that this young woman’s death is a very rare occurrence. I bet this last fact doesn’t do anything to comfort the husband of the deceased or her family. When something like this effects you personally, it doesn’t FEEL very, very rare.
Kristan T. Harris from The RundownLive reports the article entitled "CDC Warning: Flu Vaccine is Useless, Vaccinated People May be more Vulnerable" tells us that those who GOT the flu shot may be MORE likely to get the flu! Makes you wonder if it's really worth the risk getting a vaccine for the flu, doesn't it?


Candy Endless Jumping is adventure game. You will have the task of bringing the hedgehog to the higher levels as possible as possible while avoiding hitting other flying objects in order to score the highest possible score.
Game Candy Endless Jumping played 4 times.


California Resources Corporation (CRC) plunged -2.42% with the finishing price of $28.67 in Thursday Trading Session. The stock price showed -43.05% downward in value from one year high price and revealed 112.69% higher in value from its one year low price. In the recent week California Resources Corporation stock price volatility was noted 4.45% while for the last month volatility was seen at 5.38%. Its Average True Range (ATR) shows a number of 1.47. Return on assets (ROA) results to 4.60%. While Return on investment (ROI) reached to 16.90%.
In terms of profitability, The Company has a profit margin of 10.40%, gross margin of 70.20% and an operating of 27.00%. The stock price changed 4.25% in the past week. Shares of the company have performed 34.66% over the last three months and moved 34.92% over the last 12- months.
The 8.06% up picture painted by the trends generated around 20 SMAs. The established market sentiment toward the stock has created a trading environment which can suitably be described as optimistic.
There has been up move seen around 50 SMAs. The stock price is showing 23.10% distance above 50 SMA. On the surface, it seems as the higher the 50-day moving average goes, the more bullish the market is (and the lower it goes, the more bearish). In practice, however, the reverse is true. The 50-day moving average is perceived to be the dividing line between a stock that is technically healthy and one that is not. Furthermore, the percentage of stocks above their 50-day moving average helps determine the overall health of the market. Many market traders also use moving averages to determine profitable entry and exit points into specific securities. California Resources Corporation (CRC) has demonstrated down trend based on recent movement of 200 SMA with -4.16% during the course of recent market activity. This trend reveals recent direction. The current direction of 200 SMA is downward. When the price over the last 200 days is moving with increasing trend, look for buy opportunities and when it shows decreasing trend the price is below the last 200 days, look for sell opportunities.
The current value of the RSI is 64.3. The relative strength index (RSI) readings highlights overbought above 70 and oversold below 30. The stock also has a beta of 4.84. When beta is less/more than 1, it can be interpreted that the stock is theoretically less/more volatile than the market – something traders will surely be keeping an eye on.


How do you find all zeros of #F(x)= x^3 -8x^2 +25x -26#?
The rational root theorem tells us that rational roots to a polynomial equation with integer coefficients can be written in the form #p/q#, where #p# is a factor of the constant term and #q# is a factor of the leading coefficient.
The polynomial equation is #1*x^3 - 8x^2 + 25x - 26 = 0#.
The integer factors of the constant #-26# are #+-26, +-13,+-2,+-1#.
The integer factors of the leading coefficient #1# are #+-1#.
Try each answer by substituting them into #x# in the equation until you find the solution. You will find that #x = 2# solves the equation. This is the first solution.
A quadratic equation #ax^2+bx+c=0# can be solved using the quadratic formula: #x = (-b+- sqrt(b^2 -4ac))/(2a)#.


Q1. The Movie Camera power cannot be turned on. What could be wrong?
The power source was not connected correctly.
Q2. Why does the Movie Camera power turn off automatically?
If you leave the Movie Camera in Recording Pause Mode for more that 6 minutes, the power turns off automatically to protect the tape and save the battery power.
Q3. The Movie Camera does not seem to stay on for long. Why is this so?
The battery power is low. Change the battery or attach a fully charged battery.
Q4. Why is it that the recording does not start although power is supplied to the Movie Camera and the Cassette is inserted correctly?
The accidental erasure prevention slider on the Cassette is open. Set it to [Save].
Q5. Why is it that the Movie Camera cannot record the "Date & Time"?
Q6. The Auto Focus function does not work. What should I do?
The Manual Focus function has been selected. Switch it back to Auto Focus.
There are some recording subjects and recording surroundings for which the Auto Focus function does not operate correctly. In this instance, use the Manual Focus to adjust the focus.
Q7. While playing back the tape recorded by the Movie Camera, the recorded picture sometimes looks brownish or reddish. Why is this so?
"Colour Temperature" (also called "White-Balance") cannot be detected precisely by the Movie Camera. Please set the White-Balance manually. (Colour temperature of the picture has exceeded the detectable range of the Movie Camera.) Refer to the Operating Instruction Manual of Move Camera on how to set the White-Balance manually.
Q8. Why is it that auto dubbing cannot be performed?
There was an attempt to edit a tape portion that was recorded on LP mode. LP mode does not allow audio dubbing to operate.
Do not aim the lens directly at the sun. This could cause damage to the internal components of the movie camera.
Do not subject the set to strong vibrations or mechanical shocks.
Do not insert or remove the cassette tapes in dusty places.
Try not to use it with the cassette compartment facing down. This could cause uneven winding of the tape.


Ampere developed an equation for the force between 2 current elements.
Epsilon is the angle through which current element #2 has to be rotated to point in the same direction as current element #1. Consider the line drawn from current element #2 through current element #1. Then the angle alpha is the angle through which current element #1 must be rotated to point along this line. And beta is the angle though which current element #2 must be rotated to point along this line.
The first thing to point out is that an "Ampere current element" is not the same thing as the "electron flow current" you learned about in physics or electrical engineering classes. For a discussion of this see the books Newtonian Electrodynamics by Peter Graneau and Neal Graneau, World Scientific, 1996 and Ampere-Neumann Electrodynamics of Metals, 2nd edition by Peter Graneau, Hadronic Press, 1994.
It has been suggested that an Ampere current element may be realized by circularly magnetizing a torus or a flat ring ("washer") shaped magnet so that all of the magnetic "field lines" are internal to the magnetic material. These magnets have been called VACEs. VACE stands for Virtual Ampere Current Element.
If this does indeed give a realization to Ampere current elements then it might be possible to realize a non-magnetic magnet motor which requires no electrical input to run. By "non-magnetic" I mean that the magnetic fields are not "used", but the magnet as a whole, properly magnetized, is used. So, we would have a non-magnetic magnet motor.
For example, arrange the washer VACE magnets in a circle to form a torus. This results in the Ampere current elements aligned along a circle.
Next, place another VACE external to the torus of VACEs such that it is pointing toward the center of the torus. The current elements making up the torus and the external current element are all in the same plain.
Question: What is the net torque on the torus of VACEs about the torus symmetry axes?
Using Ampere's force equation, we can calculate the force on each of the current elements. We find that there is a net torque on the torus about its symmetry axes. So the torus should self-rotate.
To see this, we calculate the magnitude of the Ampere force on each of the VACEs in the torus due to the single external VACE. The following diagram gives the results.
In the above diagram, the circle represents the collection of VACEs which form the torus. At each VACE location there is a "force magnitude" drawn. These lines do not indicate the direction of the force. They only represent the relative magnitude of the force. Those lines which are drawn inside the circle represent repulsive forces away from the single external VACE. Those lines drawn outside the circle represent attractive forces toward the external VACE. The direction of each force is along the line joining the external VACE and the VACE in the torus for which the force is being calculated.
Lets do a little "sanity check" by carrying out the calculation for 3 of the VACEs in the torus as shown below.
We are really only interested in the angular part of Ampere's force equation.
For I1 and I2, beta = 0, alpha = 90 degrees and epsilon = 90 degrees. So, cos(epsilon) = 0 and cos(alpha) = 0 which means the force is zero.
So, we have explicitly calculated that a VACE "a little to the left" of the external VACE will experience an attractive force while a VACE "a little to the right" will experience a repulsive force. This is what "causes" the torus of VACEs to self-rotate.
If this is truely the case, then there is no reason to have just 1 external VACE. We can position many VACEs all around the torus, as shown below.
This, of course. makes no sense from an energy point of view.
In the idealization in which the Ampere current elements form a continuous circle, there is no difference in energy for any angle of rotation about the symmetry axis "O" of the torus. So, there should be no net torque on the torus about "O". (Forces and torques only arise if there is an energy difference between orientations or positions.) But Ampere's force equation seems to indicate a net torque. So, if the energy symmetry argument is correct, where is the counter force (and torque) coming from?
If you can find a problem with this analysis, please let me know. I don't need to be "promoting" ideas known to be wrong.
Here are more details on the torque calculations.
Here is an interactive program you can use to calculate the net "relative" torque on the VACE torus.


Who Is Violet Von Westenholz?
As Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding quickly approaches (it's now only four months away, but who's counting?), we've been anxiously gobbling up any and all details we can find about who's going to be involved in the ceremony, what the wedding bands will (or, perhaps in this case, won't) look like, and who will design the wedding dress. While all of these details are fine and good, none of them would even be a blip on our radars if it weren't for a special mystery person who set the soon-to-be newlyweds up on their first blind date back in 2016. After much sleuthing, E! News reports that the woman behind the magic is Violet von Westenholz.
You might be wondering, "Violet von who?" And, you wouldn't be alone.
According to Express.co, Von Westenholz has been a friend of the royal family since childhood by means of her father, former Olympic skier Baron Piers von Westenholz. The 33-year-old has reportedly kept in touch with Prince Harry as she's gotten older and became his go-to guru for love and dating advice.
"Harry was having a really hard time finding anyone," a source told E! News. "It's hard enough finding someone new to date. He can hardly go on Tinder or a dating app like normal people, but to meet someone that you actually connect with, that was proving to be almost impossible. It was something he had confided in his closest friends about; he was ready to meet someone but it was so hard to actually find the right person."
Uh, sorry to break it to you, Harry. Dating is still pretty hard for us common folk, too.
OK, so he probably told von Westenholz. But, how does Markle fit into this? E! News reports that the two met while von Westenholz was working in PR at a Ralph Lauren event Markle attended. The two got to talking and, voilà, the PR pro knew a good match when she spotted it.
"Meghan had been a part of the London social scene for a while and had slotted into the high society set really easily," the source added. "And so when Harry told Violet he was having trouble finding someone, Violet said she might just have the perfect girl for him."
As W magazine points out, Metro U.K. asked von Westenholz if she was responsible for the set-up, to which she responded, "I might leave that for other people to say [who it is]."
Not a denial, that's for sure!
Unfortunately, not much else is known about the Royal Matchmaker. Judging from her profile picture on her private Instagram account, she loves cuddly dachshunds.
While it seems unlikely that von Westenholz will go on the record to confirm the rumours, we'll be looking for her in pictures from the royal wedding!


Why does the Mystery Hunt keep cropping up? Well, in my recent interview it started with a discussion of the difference between "enforced" and "permissive" management styles. There is a great and good tendency in any large endeavor, corporate or puzzle-hunt, to draw up "best practices" to codify lessons learned about the most effective ways to do things. But what happens next? There is a crossroads between two fundamental strategies. The "enforcement" strategy tries to figure out how we can forcibly prevent people from doing things other than the "best thing". Bureaucracy and long lists of rules follow, along with authority: someone who will not let X do Y unless they have been convinced that Z has happened.
A better strategy is "permissive": assuming good-faith on the part of all involved, just passively monitor the situation, so that "bad things" can be remedied without intruding on all the people trying to do good things. This is a much more efficient strategy, especially if your resources are constrained — it's less costly to monitor than to prevent — but it involves a lot of trust. Some cultures can sustain the necessary trust, and some cannot.
Mystery hunt example: how do we prevent people from calling in too many wrong guesses at an answer? Team ACME solved the problem by just putting the communal answer phone at the front of the room, so that everyone would notice if someone got crazy with the guessing. Team Codex uses an enforcer: all answers must be called in by the designated operator-on-duty. Lest you get the idea that permissive==good and enforcement==bad, let me state clearly that Codex has solid reasons for its choice: it has so many remote team members (not physically present in team headquarters) that monitoring is difficult -- the simple "phone in the front of the room" doesn't work when your rooms are scattered across Seattle, Zurich, and countless other places.
At OLPC we faced the same issue with system administration: how to we keep our network and computers secure? OLPC came from the permissive MIT/Media Lab heritage: since it is a research and learning organization, MIT uses the permissive strategy, letting users do what they please on the academic network and focusing effort on detecting "bad behavior" (worms, cracked machines, attacks, misconfigurations) and efficiently and effectively black-holing small pieces of the network to contain these problems. If a naive user doesn't properly patch their personal computer and it gets hacked, that machine is noticed almost immediately and dropped off the network. "Traditional" system adminstration focuses on enforcement: by forcing all users to use only patched versions of approved software, we can proactively prevent problems -- but at the cost of also preventing Real Work and Unexpected Solutions.
Back to the mystery hunt: since the hunt is a competitive event, it's easy for people to get carried away with secrecy to protect the team's competitive advantages. But the mystery hunt starts at noon on a Friday, with people arriving that morning from around the country, and it is crucial to get all these new people integrated into the team as quickly as possible. Every minute that some team member can't print/can't access the network/can't access the wiki/can't access the chat rooms is a minute that could be spend advancing the goal: solving puzzles. Permissive strategies are a big win here, especially because the hunt code of conduct, observed by all seriously competitive teams, ensures the necessary trust. Other teams aren't actively seeking to hack into our systems; preventing Google from sucking everything into its archives and index is usually enough.
Another OLPC example: build systems. During the run-up to a stable build, it's very important to keep build changes under control. How to prevent developers from making uncontrolled changes to the stable build? The enforcement strategy appoints a build master Who Alone Is Powerful and forces all changes to be made via the build master. The permissive strategy says that developers are generally trustworthy (and are accountable to management if not!) and retains the ability of anyone to affect the build at any time. Instead of making it arbitrarily harder to fix things as the build approaches stability, we (a) trust the developers to commit only appropriate fixes to stable, (b) watch all the changes (which has the benefit of catching even unintentional changes) and (c) back out any well-intentioned fixes that might adversely affect stability. The buck still stops with the build master to determine what's "safe" for the stable build, but their direct intervention is limited to backing out the infrequent "bad thing" instead of being interposed in every frequent good thing.
In our latest hunt, we used Google Spreadsheets extensively to collaboratively solve puzzles. Team members would typically create new sheets in the spreadsheet to test different theories for how the puzzle might work. This had the unexpected side effect of eliminating almost all updates to the puzzle's wiki pages -- it was easy to work in the spreadsheet, and hard to keep switching back to the wiki. The problem was that it is also "hard" to write long free-text blocks inside a spreadsheet, and so most sheets in the spreadsheet were "undocumented", and it was hard reconstructing what had been done on a puzzle when a newcomer picked it up. The discussion on our mailing list started along familiar paths: can we somehow force people to update the wiki? The "make the right thing easy" lesson suggests it would be more profitable to make it "easy" to add free-text blocks to sheets of the spreadsheet -- then the "right" thing will just naturally happen.


Examples: 1996, 2000 and 2100 are leap years; instead 2015, 1900 and 2100 are not leap years.
Given a year (an integer number), say if it is a leap year.
A leap year is divisible by 4, but not by 100.
An exception are the years divisible by 400, which are leap years.


New research released on Thursday from market analysis firm Strategy Analytics shows that Samsung and Apple drove global smartphone shipment growth to a massive 43 percent in 2012, which amounted to a record breaking 700 million units shipped, with the Korean company's share skyrocketing to nearly one third of the market.
According to the firm's Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, Samsung took the lion's share of shipments with a 30.4 percent slice of the market to extend its already wide lead over second and third place manufacturers Apple and Nokia.
In 2012, Apple shipped some 135.8 million iPhones, the only smartphone line sold by the Cupertino, Calif., company, while Samsung's diverse lineup of handsets brought in 213 million shipments. Nokia came in a distant third with 35 million units shipped last year.
Samsung's performance amounted to the most units ever shipped by a smartphone vendor in a single year, smashing Nokia's 2010 record of 100.1 million units shipped.
As for Apple, the company also saw strong shipments and grew 46 percent annually to garner 19.4 percent of the global market in 2012. The performance is almost identical to the iPhone's 19 percent marketshare captured in 2011. Strategy Analytics said Apple's growth was somewhat stunted due to the company's limited presence in developing regions like Africa.
Smartphone adoption is booming, clearly seen by a recent report that found the worldwide market stood at just over one billion users at the end of 2012's third quarter.
"By the third quarter of 2011, we estimate there were 708 million smartphones in use worldwide," said Strategy Analytics Senior Analyst Scott Bicheno at the time. After a further year of soaring demand, the number of smartphones in use worldwide reached 1.038 billion units during the third quarter of 2012.?
On a month-to-month basis, worldwide smartphone shipments grew 38 percent, jumping from 157 million units shipped in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 217 million in quarter four 2012. The huge boost was was included in the 700.1 million units shipped over the course of last year, compared to 490.5 million in 2011.
Samsung has 30% market share, and Apple has +90% of the profits.
The real story is Nokia's collapse. Pre-2009 they dominated all segments of the market, and as late as early 2011 still dominated the low and middle segments. That changed when they announced their switch to Windows Phone nearly a year before the phones were ready to ship. They "Osborned" themselves. Samsung swooped in and took over those segments, and then came in with the Galaxy series to attack the high end. That said, most of Samsung's sales are still in the low to mid range.
The iPhone line does fine against the Galaxy line. If Apple wants to grow, they might consider something in the mid range. Let Samsung and the others fight over the low-end.
Samsung can ship as many phones as they would like, but it's really the sales that matter. I'm sure they sold a lot of phones, but this whole thing of looking at shipments is really just smoke. They could have shipped them all into the ocean for all I care.
Samsung also created a thousand variations of their phones too. For Apple there is discipline and actual design and feature decisions that are made; at Samsung, every idea is a good idea and they will try to sell whatever they think people would be willing to buy. It's a completely different mentality.
Smartphone adoption is booming, clearly seen by a recent report that found the global smartphone market stood at just over one billion users at the end of 2012's third quarter.
Didn't they lie about shipments (not sales, shipments) before, and it was discovered in court? Why would we trust them now?
Another negative and really pointless article giving the wrong perception off Apple. People with less knowledge about Apple could really be misled into tho thinking Apple is a looser. A big mistake. Apple insider defiantly isn't doing Apple any favors. It's time to remove it from my homepage!
I don't think there will be the smartphone as we know it in 2018. There will be some sort of wearable equivalent.
Haha, in most European markets Samsung has been running a two for one promotion for over a year. That mean they're "shipping" two phones for every one customer, skewing the sales figures, and who knows how much the carriers are subsidizing. This is a perfect illustration of how market share is meaningless. Half of these shipped smartphones are going unised or immediately injected into the second hand market. Meanwhile Apple ships half as many but reaps ten times the profit.
Apple's Biggest PR Weapon in One Word - SUPPORT!!!!
Apple Stores + Toll Free Apple Phone Support are Apple's BIGGEST WEAPON! That combination is unmatched by any other tech company!!!! Apple should brag about their support, and REALLY LOUD!!!!
If a Customer is having an issue with a Mac or iOS product, they have Toll Free PHONE SUPPORT, plus Apple Stores, but none of Apple's Competitors have anything remotely comparable to that!!! Except maybe 1 or 2 Microsoft Stores!!!
On the days of Big Sell Offs, such PR CLARITY is missing in Apple's PR!!!!
It'd be great if someone reminded Apple's PR about that OBVIOUS PR "WEAPON" = SUPPORT!!!
Who can one talk to as far as Android? Google doesn't have stores, nor Phone Support!
Do Samsung and other Android Vendors, or Cell Carriers have anything like AppleCare?
Screen Sharing, where Tech Support can see Customer's Screen, and see exactly what's going on?
Individual Followup, like AppleCare does!
Do they have all that Support Centralize as Apple does, and not just in the USA?!?!
No, I am not saying that Apple Stores and AppleCare are Perfect, but, compared to Apple's Competitors, it's not even a Contest!
Cell Carriers are pathetic as far as Support!
None of those Vendors can be compared to Apple's Support!
The Old http://www.apple.com/getamac Compaign is now http://www.apple.com/why-mac/ It should be expanded to iOS and Showcase how Macs and iOS All Work Together with iCloud!!! All Under AppleCare Support, plus Appe Retail Stores!
The Insane Analysts make it sound like nobody wants iPhones or Mac, and the Sky Is Falling, with Apple about to close it's stores:)!! But if that is true, what are people buying instead? Samsung?
TV Media is particularly annoying, trying to sum up such falcehood panic into short soundbites, that add to the panic!
For as long as Macs and iOS are Integrated, and Supported as well, or even better than now, I say that nobody can compete with them! And, if that Support Factor continues with all its future products, TV, or whatever, Apple will be Un-Defeated!
It's amazing that Apple provides such SUPPORT and is still is making Biggest Profits, Selling Most Expensive High End Products! At the same time, Apple's Competitors are Saving Money by not providing such caliber Support as Apple does, and, after they save that Money, they still can't make Profits anywhere near Apples!
I don't hear too many stories about criminals trying to steal Samsung or other Non-Apple Products, but they do rob Apple Store, and people with iOS Devices! Obviously, I'd rather not see such "compliments" and "endorsements" from criminals… I'd rather not see any crime like that!
If money was non-issue, would you pick iPhone, or iPad vs Androids like Samsung etc?
The Answer is always - iPhone!!! That's what Kids Really Want, if they had the $$$!!!!
It'd be great if someone mentioned that to Analysts and the Media!!!!
On the days of Big Sell Offs, such PR CLARITY is missing in Apple's PR!!!! But, even when AAPL is back at $700 and higher, that PR CLARITY about SUPPORT, should become Synonymous with Apple Brand!
APPLE SUPPORT = APPLECARE PHONE SUPPORT + APPLE STORES!!!
It is ok every dog has its day, remember everyone was tooting Ericsson, nokia, palm and today it is Samsung, well the end id nigh, just a matter of time when everything will turn sour and it is a poisonous touch when the press starts to talk about it and not a blessing.


This photograph shows detail of the left hand window on the west wall of the Main Hall in Inverness Town House.
At the top are the crest, shield and motto of Clan Chisholm. The crest is a right hand holding a dagger piercing a boar's head. The shield is red with a boar's head. The motto is, at the top, 'Fero ferio' (I am fierce with the fierce) and, at the bottom, 'Vi aut virtute' (by force or virtue).
Below are symbols relating to book keeping and agriculture.
This photograph shows detail of the left hand window on the west wall of the Main Hall in Inverness Town House.

 At the top are the crest, shield and motto of Clan Chisholm. The crest is a right hand holding a dagger piercing a boar's head. The shield is red with a boar's head. The motto is, at the top, 'Fero ferio' (I am fierce with the fierce) and, at the bottom, 'Vi aut virtute' (by force or virtue).

 Below are symbols relating to book keeping and agriculture.


Ohio State University suspended head football coach Urban Meyer for three games Wednesday after placing him on administrative leave.
Let me clarify again. He is fully suspended through the Oregon State game. Then for the Rutgers and TCU games, he can direct practice during the week but not coach on Saturday.
That means Meyer will return to the sidelines for Ohio State's Sept. 22 matchup with Tulane.
His suspension comes after Stadium's Brett McMurphy reported Meyer was aware of domestic abuse allegations against Zach Smith in 2015. Smith was an assistant on Meyer's staff prior to his dismissal on July 23.
Ohio State fired Smith after a judge granted his ex-wife an order of protection against him.
Meyer told reporters he had knowledge of an incident between Smith and his wife Courtney in 2009. Courtney Smith filed a domestic violence complaint before later dropping the issue. At the time, Zach Smith was an intern for Meyer at Florida.
"They were a young couple," Meyer said, per the Columbus Dispatch's Tim May. "Any time I get a phone call or something like that, I tell my boss, then I let the experts do their job. It came back to me what happened. We advised him in counseling, moved forward."
The Columbus Dispatch's Ray Stein reported police were called to Courtney Smith's home in Powell, Ohio, twice in the fall of 2015. The first incident involved an alleged dispute and the second was related to a report of menacing by stalking.
During Big Ten media days, Meyer indicated he had no prior knowledge of the allegations from 2015.
"I got a text last night that something happened in 2015, and there was nothing," he told reporters.
However, McMurphy reported Courtney Smith "provided text messages between her and the wives of Ohio State coaches—including Urban Meyer's wife, Shelley—showing Meyer's knowledge of the situation."
McMurphy included the content of a text exchange between Smith and Shelley Meyer in which Meyer asked Smith whether she had a restraining order against her husband.
McMurphy also highlighted a conversation between Smith and Lindsey Voltolini. Brian Voltolini serves as OSU associate athletic director and general manager. He has worked with Urban Meyer since his time at Bowling Green in 2001.
Voltolini said Meyer had personally spoken with Zach Smith about the 2015 allegations.
"While at the University of Florida, and now at The Ohio State University, I have always followed proper reporting protocols and procedures when I have learned of an incident involving a student-athlete, coach or member of our staff by elevating the issues to the proper channels. And, I did so regarding the Zach Smith incident in 2015. I take that responsibility very seriously and any suggestion to the contrary is simply false."
Ohio State placed Meyer on paid administrative leave on Aug. 1 and announced an investigation into whether the coach knew about the domestic violence allegations prior to Stein's report.
The university appointed offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Ryan Day as the interim head coach during the investigation and made it clear the investigation was likely to conclude well before the regular season got underway.
Ohio State kicks off the year Sept. 1 against the Oregon State Beavers and will play Rutgers and TCU during Meyer's suspension.
Meyer is entering his seventh season as the Buckeyes head coach. The team has compiled a 73-8 record under Meyer so far, winning a national championship in 2014.
Ohio State is once again expected to contend for a national title, entering 2018 ranked third in the preseason Amway Coaches Poll.


Facebook, Google and Apple building a green Internet-will the rest follow?
Apple, Facebook, and Google are leading a growing number of technology companies working to power the internet with 100 % renewable energy, signaling a major shift in the sector over the past two years. Those companies are leaving behind Amazon Web Services, which hosts the data for many of the internets most popular services. Amazon Web Services powers its infrastructure with polluting energy sources that contribute to global warming..
A new report by Greenpeace USA, Clicking Clean: How Companies are Creating the Green Internet, details the immense power that technology companies have either to drive a renewable energy revolution, or to chain the new digital economy to old, polluting sources of power. The stakes are high: if the internet were a country, its electricity demand would currently rank sixth.
Apple, Facebook and Google are powering our online lives with clean energy, and building a greener offline world for everyone in the process, said Gary Cook, Greenpeace Senior IT Analyst. These companies have proven over the past 24 months that wind and solar energy are ready and waiting to power the internet, and the rest of our economy, with clean electricity, Cook said.
Take action now and tell our favorite online companies to make the switch to a green Internet!
Greenpeace evaluated the energy choices of 19 leading internet companies, surveying their electricity supply chains of over 300 data centers. Five of those companies have committed to a goal of powering their operations with 100% renewable energy.
Apple became the first company to achieve 100% renewable energy goal to power its iCloud. It is operating the largest privately owned solar installation in the US at its North Carolina data center.
Apple led the companies evaluated, with a Clean Energy Index of 100%.
Apples rapid shift to renewable energy over the past 24 months has made it clear why its one of the worlds most innovative and popular companies, Cook said. By continuing to buy dirty energy, Amazon Web Services not only cant seem to keep up with Apple, but it is dragging much of the internet down with it.
Facebook flexed its muscles to push its utility in Iowa, MidAmerican Energy, to power its data center there with wind energy. MidAmerican responded by investing $1.9 billion in wind power generation, placing the worlds largest-ever order of onshore wind turbines, in part to meet the social networks demands.
Google has pioneered the use of power purchase agreements for wind energy, to provide electricity for its services like Gmail and YouTube.
Google, Apple, and Facebook all pushed Duke Energy, the largest utility in the US, to offer new renewable energy options for large electricity buyers in North Carolina.
Amazon Web Services hosts a large part of the internet, including popular companies like Pinterest, Netflix, Spotify, Tumblr, AirBnB, Yelp, and Vine. Currently it meets only 15% of its electricity demand with clean energy. Coal powers 28% of the companys cloud, nuclear 27%, and gas 25%. Amazons growth is fueling the increased use and construction of coal and gas-burning power plants in Virginia, and it has jeopardized clean energy growth in Oregon.
While companies like Apple, Facebook and eBay have led the broader sector to be more transparent about its energy use, Amazon steadfastly refuses to reveal any details about its energy footprint to its customers or the public.
Twitter also does not share any details about its energy footprint. The company has made no efforts to procure cleaner electricity, in stark contrast to its social media rival Facebook.
Fast growing business-to-business companies Rackspace and Salesforce joined Apple, Facebook, and Google in 2012 in committing to a goal of powering their operations with 100 % renewable energy.
In Clicking Clean,Greenpeace was the first to assess colocation data center companies, which rent out data center space to customers. The report finds that they use low amounts of renewable energy. Most also lacked transparency about their energy footprints.
Make a long-term commitment to become 100% renewably powered.
Tell your favorite companies including Twitter, Pinterest and Netflix to switch to 100% renewable energy for their data centers so we can all #clickclean.
David Pomerantz is a former Senior Climate and Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace USA, based in San Francisco. He helps lead Greenpeace's campaign for an economy powered by 100% renewable energy.