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0.999734 | Echoes of Ireland is a series of four interrelated monologues that follow the saga of a single Irish family from County Cork in 1860 to present day New York City. Beginning five years after the end of the potato famine in Ireland, Echoes sees the Cunygham clan on their journey across the ocean to the ports of Manhattan, through the lowly existence of immigrant life in the States, to the assimilation and rebirth of their family as American citizens who never forget from whence they came. The journey is part tragedy, part comedy, part history lesson and all undeniably human.
1. What inspired you to write this play?
I was trying to start a theater in a small upstate New York town called East Durham. The president of the Irish Cultural Centre asked me if something could be done at this authentic cottage they had brought over from Ireland piece by piece. I did a little research as to who would be living in such a place and at what time period, and that led to the first monologue--which was eventually done at that cottage to a small but appreciative audience.
2. What's your favorite part or line in the play? Why?
I think the last paragraph of the last monologue is probably my favorite because of how it brings the story of the family full circle.
3. Where did the characters come from? Are they based on people you know?
There are two characters from the distant past that are created out of whole cloth. The two more modern characters are based loosely on my Irish grandmother and New York City-raised uncle.
4. What did you try to achieve with this play?
I wanted to relay the story of the Irish and their immigrants in a personal way. I also wanted to explore the history involved in an entertaining way through storytelling. | 2019-04-23T03:17:45 | https://histage.com/echoes-of-ireland |
0.999999 | Clinical Question For patients receiving a crown, is there a difference in the marginal fit between using an intraoral digital scanner versus polyvinyl siloxane (PVS) material?
Clinical Bottom Line For patients receiving a crown, there is no noticeable difference in marginal fit between using an intraoral digital scanner versus polyvinyl siloxane material. This conclusion is based on only a single trial of 16 patients.
Key results There was no significant difference found in marginal discrepancies between the PVS group and the digital impression group on buccal, lingual, and interproximal sides. After crown preparation, PVS and digital intraoral impressions were made of each tooth. Then CAD/CAM crowns were made from both PVS and digital impressions and then evaluated intraorally. Finally, a blinded examiner measured the marginal discrepancy of silicone replicas under a stereomicroscope.
The Evidence Validity: This study was a randomized controlled trial. Each patient received both digital impression and PVS impressions. The patients and the dentists who took the impressions were not blinded. A blinded examiner measured the marginal discrepancy of silicone replicas using a stereomicroscope. I did not discover any competing interests for the researchers. Perspective: This is one of few studies to show that marginal fit of crowns is similar between intraoral digital scanning and polyvinyl siloxane impression materials. Most of the other articles I have personally seen have said that conventional impression-taking procedures are comparatively better in terms of internal and marginal fit, so this article did stand out to me. However, these unique results could be due to the improvement of digital intraoral scanners. Further research will need to be done to fully determine the benefits or drawbacks of digital intraoral scanners in terms of fit of the crown. However, if more data shows that digital intraoral scanning consistently produces similar results in terms of marginal fit, I believe that digital intraoral scanning would be a better choice due to increased patient comfort.
Applicability The subjects of this study are representative of patients seen in general dentistry practices. Treatment may or may not be feasible using digital intraoral scanners due to the high cost of the necessary equipment. Patients show greater satisfaction with digital intraoral scanners, and the literature supports that the fit of the crowns is acceptable. | 2019-04-20T11:12:44 | http://cats.uthscsa.edu/found_cats_view.php?id=3179&vSearch= |
0.998121 | GRI Towers has been following its main clients to key strategic markets, with state of the art facilities, to provide them with a global & efficient supply, sharing our domestic view in addition to our experience in the export business.
Nowadays, GRI Towers thorought its plants with presence worldwide: Spain, Brazil, United States, Turkey, India, South Africa and Argentina, generate a production of over 1,000 towers per year.
GRI Towers was born with the acquisition of Ganomagoga in 2008, and it has become an important player in the supply of renewable wind energy components. In 2015, GRI Towers becomes a global leader, being the reference company of the wind turbine manufacturers in the world.
GRI Towers gives to our customers, services worldwide; sharing our domestic view in addition to our experience in the export business, thanks to our proven track record within the field of renewable energies in the wind industrial sector.
GRI Towers manages eight tower manufacturing plants which integrate the industrial processes of wind towers in the key strategic wind markets around the world. In addition, to manufacturing the wind towers itself, it also equips each wind tower according to the individual specifications outlined by each customer, to provide them a global and efficient supply.
Steel treatments: Cutting and Beveling.
Electrical components: wiring, trays, fuses, etc.
Internals: platforms, ladders, elevators, doors, etc.
Surface treatments: metallizing, blasting, painting, etc.
Tower manufacture: bending and welding.
GRI Hybrid Towers develops innovative tower designs based on the combination of concrete and steel.
Since the beginning, GRI Hybrid Towers has committed to the R&D&i with the aim of providing to the market with innovative products that cope with the current and future demands.
Thus, from our conceptual design, we can “customize” our tower to any turbine, OEM and/or country.
The proportion of steel/concrete is defined in order to assure the best results in both, competitiveness and cost.
Manufacturing of the concrete section with all the required elements (such as mold and other tools and means).
According to the kind of cranes available, the installation of the concrete segment (dovel) the steel sections, and other turbine components.
Design and manufacturing of internal components.
The Hybrid Tower is customizable to any length considered for the different turbines models of the OEMs.
The hybrid towers market responds to the growing demand of tower solutions that address the need of conquering new territories and tower heights, as well as the requirements of more strict local content regulations.
GRI Hybrid Tower will always manufacture and install concrete shaft locally, contributing to fulfill the local content rules. 100 % local content can be reached in countries where GRI Towers operates its steel tower manufacturing plants.
Design GHT-1 reaches *heights of 120-130 meters for turbines of 2 MW.
Design GHT-2 reaches* heights of even 150-160 meters for turbines of more than 2 MW.
The designing part of GRI Renewable Industries aims to find the best solutions for the suppling the tower according to the demand and market needs, reduce energy costs and improve the annual energy production rate.
In conclusion, R&D&i is developing the strategy of vertical integration across the value chain of the product, establishing the life cycle costs of the tower with the most optimal designs according to the specifications demanded.
The Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, in the framework of the program “Retos-Colaboración 2016” of the National Plan of Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2013-2016, financed by FEDER funds from the European Union, has agreed to provide a three-year grant to the consortium formed by GRI Renewable Industries, S.L. (leader), Gestamp Wind Steel Galicia, S.L. and the research institution Aimen for the development of the project PROTOS.
The aim of PROTOS is to develop new and highly productive welding strategies for the wind tower manufacturing process that will enable us to decrease the total manufacturing process cost, bringing a significant upturn on the competitiveness of all companies involved.
The main activity of the project will focus on the development of new welding strategies oriented to catch up with the productivity ratios needed to compete at a global scale, regarding the size and weight of current wind tower trends. Offshore wind towers will benefit from this due to the importance of the welding activity in their manufacturing process.
The Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI) has granted financing to GRI Renewable Industries, S.L for the development of the “ROCKET” R & D project. The “ROCKET” project is focused on the development of new disruptive structural design solutions based on a new concept of systems that are joined to a central body that allow to obtain a reduction of the dimensions of the structure while maintaining the height of the tower, resulting in the achievement of significant advantages. This structural solution allows a significant reduction in the use of raw materials, manufacturing costs, logistics and assembly, having the capacity to design towers ranging from 140 to 200 meter of bushing, in accordance with the last generation of wind turbines. It also allows the execution “on site” in a modular manner. All this translates into greater productive flexibility, a reduction in the execution times in the work and, therefore, a reduction in the execution costs of the entire structure.
Our design is the result of extensive research and conceptual evolution, under the identification of the main design parameters and disadvantages of conventional foundations, aiming for an optimal response to them.
Lower consumption of these materials due to its high degree of optimization.
Specially, the absence of cracks under service loads thanks to the post-tensioning tendons. This is an issue of great relevance in the design of foundations for wind turbines.
Therefore, this product comes to market as the best option to optimize the foundations of all types of towers, whether metal, concrete or hybrid.
The excavation is reduced because the flange of the T beam is situated on top of the foundation.
It is structurally more efficient because the principal bending mode transmit tensile stresses to the bottom area of the web and compressive stresses to the top flange.
The GHT foundation has been patented and rated as completely novel by the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. To date, we are not aware that any similar foundation exists on the market. PCT international published 12.12.2013. | 2019-04-22T22:09:25 | https://www.gri.com.es/en/company/business/gri-towers/ |
0.999612 | This work package will provide a basis for introducing RFID technology within the manufacturing environment to improve production processes.
Task 8.1 Problem Analysis The objective of this task is to identify business process improvements that are possible through RFID tagging of Work In Progress (WIP) containers. For timely and accurate container information, RFID could be used to tag these containers to provide automated identification and location determination for the use of quality, hygiene and manufacturing control.
Task 8.2 Requirements Analysis A set of hardware and software requirements will emerge that identifies the tools, standards and policies that need to be addressed in order to meet the aim of this work package.
Task 8.3 Business case The aim of business case analysis is to determine how the benefits derived from RFID implementation weigh against the costs of implementation. Specifically, it will examine the gains on business and operational activities to be obtained from having WIP container visibility and will compare this against the costs of hardware and software implementations.
Task 8.4 Development for Trial Infrastructure The aim of this task is to deploy an RFID system that will not only meet the objective but is adaptable and robust for the whole duration of the pilot.
Task 8.5 Presentation of Results The results of the analysis and of the trials performed will be comprehensively documented leading to guidelines facilitating the adoption of the RFID/EPC technology in manufacturing processes.
Nestlé UK, Auto-ID Labs Cambridge, SAP, BT, COVAP, AT4wireless. | 2019-04-26T10:35:10 | http://bridge-project.eu/index.php/workpackage8/en/ |
0.999639 | This article looks at the interview question - Implement a function that gets all possible combinations (or subsets) of the characters in a string with length of at least one. For example for the input string "abc", the output will be "a", "b", "c", "ab", "ac", "bc" and "abc".
While this sort of problem seems trivial at first, trying to describe an algorithm is not. When designing an algorithm like this it is very useful to look at some example input/output and look for patterns. Let’s first try sorting the output by the length of the string, we’ll use the example “abcd”.
No real pattern that would indicate a suitable algorithm seems to emerge from this, now let’s try ordering it by the character the sequence begins with.
Now we’re getting somewhere, if you look closely at the above you’ll notice a pattern. Starting from the right (d), the column to the left (c) contains the all combinations on the right plus the empty set with c added the start. This pattern follows with b and c, we add b to all items to the right (c, cd, d) and add b itself.
This indicates a potential algorithm that will solve the problem.
Given the analysis above, we can come up with a recursive algorithm that will solve the problem.
While determining the complexity of a function like the above may seem intimidating, you can take a different approach to it and look at it in terms of the output. Looking at the function, it is apparent that no additional work in done in each for loop other than generating the strings. Therefore the time and space complexity should be in the order of the number of combinations produced, namely O(2^n) as our algorithm produces exactly 2^n - 1 combinations. | 2019-04-24T04:38:22 | https://www.growingwiththeweb.com/2013/06/algorithm-all-combinations-of-set.html |
0.985914 | "Bruce has to speak for Bruce."
That, according to an ABC staffer, is the network's strategy as it prepares to televise what will probably be a blockbuster interview with Bruce Jenner.
The network has been stoking anticipation for the interview all month -- without actually saying anything about what's in it.
Diane Sawyer's exclusive sit-down with Jenner is simply titled "Bruce Jenner -- The Interview." It will air on Friday night as a two-hour special.
To some, this reeks of exploitation. To others, this is the most logical way for a television network to promote a long-awaited interview.
Jenner, known around the world as a former Olympian and a star of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," is widely assumed to be transitioning from male to female. On Wednesday the New York Daily News joined the tabloid fray, splashing photos on its cover with the words "Bruce in a dress."
If confirmed by Jenner on Friday night, it will be a landmark moment for the transgender community, as Jenner will be identified as one of the most famous transgender people in the world.
Up until now, Jenner has stayed silent amid the entertainment media's incessant speculation.
And ABC has pretty much stayed silent too.
Sawyer's conversations with Jenner were taped in February. ABC announced the date for the special on April 6 and has been airing short commercials for the past two and a half weeks.
The first promo showed Jenner in a ponytail while a narrator referred to "The journey. The decisions. The future."
In the second promo, Jenner is heard saying, "My whole life has been getting me ready for this."
And in the third promo, released on Sunday night, Jenner is shown speaking about his famous family: "They're the only ones I'm concerned with."
Bruce Jenner gave an exclusive interview to ABC's Diane Sawyer.
In some ways, the interview promotes itself, given all the external press speculation.
The ABC staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, which is revealing in itself, said the network is trying to be sensitive and "respect Bruce."
ABC isn't going to release any clips or sound bites ahead of time that answer peoples' questions about gender transition. But Sawyer will promote Friday night's interview in a series of appearances on ABC on Friday -- "Good Morning America," "Live with Kelly and Michael," "The View," and "World News Tonight."
She will apparently be careful about what she says. Sawyer might reveal who else besides Jenner she interviewed for the special, but not what they said.
It is not a coincidence that Friday is the second day of the May "sweeps season," a time of year when television ratings are monitored even more closely than usual, especially at ABC's local stations and ABC's rivals. | 2019-04-24T11:50:16 | https://money.cnn.com/2015/04/22/media/bruce-jenner-diane-sawyer-interview/index.html |
0.999962 | So there's no quick 180degree turn button like there was in RE4? If so that's a damn shame as it's probably the only biggest thing that made the control scheme actually work.
Oh no, it's not that I consider ~$60 for 2GB to be expensive, in fact that's a pretty good price, it's just relatively more expensive that DDR2 where I could get twice the amount of GB for the same, even half the price. I guess I'm just a little hesitant to lay down more money for an aging system as this, but I'm going to give it a try regardless.
True, if it was DDR2 memory we were talking about. DDR memory is actually more expensive right now, but I guess buying some new RAM is still cheaper than doing a whole MB/CPU/RAM upgrade - assuming it fixes the problem.
So I built this HTPC several months ago, mostly out of old computer parts I had laying about, it plays any SD content perfectly, but it seems to have problems with HD videos. (720P, 1080P) Basically it seems like the video is slowed down to a point where the audio is out of sync. The strange thing is that I've downloaded smaller file-sized HD (720P) trailers and they seem to play fine, but for large HD files it is a no-go. These are my system specs: OS: Vista Ultimate CPU: Pentium [email protected] MB: P4S800D-X RAM: 1.5GB DDR (2x512 PC2100 133mhz) (2x256 PC3200 200mhz) GPU: NVidia Geforce 6800 (AGP) - HDMI->DVI out HD: Western Digital 750GB Sound: Creative Audigy 2 ZS Considering it plays small files fine but struggles with large ones leads me to think that it's probably not a problem with the speed of my CPU or GPU but rather related to the fact I'm using only 1.5GB of RAM with Vista. I'm just wondering what everyone here thinks of this, as I'm currently debating whether it's worth buying 2 more sticks of old DDR ram for such an aging system, without really knowing if it will solve my problem or not.
I haven't finished it yet, but I did reach the endgame - I don't know if I agree that the endgame is too long, but I was really disappointed that I couldn't go back after entering entering that town (can't remember its name.) Like the first game, I'm also a little dissapointed how they handled the reactor area, forcing you along a certain path rather than letting you explore in a more free-form manner. And yeah, a lot of the atmosphere from the first was lost in favor of the squad war feature. Things like the underground labs were the best parts of Stalker: SOC. There was far too much of an emphasis on human vs human conflicts. The blowouts were a cool addition as well, but for me they only seemed to ever happen at the beginning of a level, reducing the randomness and unpredictability of them (Having them occur in the middle of a fight would have been interesting, but that never happened.) The squad wars feature, interesting as it is, is still quite bugged and needs tweaking. Any 'feature' that removes the player from having to accomplish a task by letting the AI do it is not much of a feature in my books. Also, being able to see the location and number of every enemy and monster on your radar and map definitively lessens the elements of suspense and fear. Only friendly blips should show up, and enemy's only if you have direct line of sight on them. The ability to upgrade and repair your weapons and armor was a big plus though, definitively made you feel a little more attached to your armor and weapons. All in all I'd say it's definitively an improvement, though a few steps forward in some areas and a few steps back in others. And with all the bug in it, it was definitively a Stalker game . Here's to hoping the franchise keeps alive, it's definitively still a unique experience in games these days.
It will be used primarily for Vista's media center as well as whatever games I end up putting on the system.
Ok, that sums up pretty much what I already know, but an alternative would be nice - everyone's saying don't buy Creative, but what they are not saying is what to buy instead.
I just installed Vista on my new HTPC, but the onboard AC97 sound is ridiculously low for some reason, even after trying every driver I could find. So now I'm looking for a good, cheap PCI sound card to replace it; I had a Yamaha Waveforce 192XG, but it's a little too old for Vista (it only has Win98 drivers). Then I saw a Creative Audigy SE for sale for ~$30, but I've heard bad things about Creative and Vista. I do have a Creative Audigy 2ZS in my other computer, so I'm thinking about moving that over and seeing how well it works. What do you guys recommend?
I personally didn't like how steering was handled in MK:DD, which is not to say that there was something wrong with the steering controls themselves, but rather that the camera seemed to lag behind your turn input, making it harder to judge just how much you were in fact turning. If you understand what I'm trying to say. They fixed this in MK:DS, so I'm hoping it won't be a problem for the Wii version. I also really thought it stupid that while the second person was in control of using items, he/she had no rear-view to see approaching carts and no way to aim items (like green shells) either. Two player Coop really felt like a half-arsed addition.
What trailer? It was a teaser, and it didn't show any gameplay at all. And that 1998 trailer blew, horribly. Now the 2001 E3 trailer, that one was awesome-the first time I saw it a chill went up my spine. The only thing to see now is if the new DNF actually succeeds in giving me that same feeling again, if it does it'll be a great success.
The teaser was alright, I've seen a lot worse, where the only thing you see are boring catchphrases and a image or two, usually with fog - LOTS of fog. The only thing is they did not technically show game-play, all they showed was short cinematic like clips from the game engine, while alright looking, in my books does not constitute as game-play. Still, it was a nice sign of progress, and hopefully also a sign of more to follow soon.
This is very, VERY awesome. I can understand some of the ire people have for this title, but it IS Duke Nukem, and it IS from Epic - and that counts for a whole heck of a lot. I just hope that people don't expect a full blown trailer like they did when Fallout 3's was released. It's called a teaser for a reason. As long as they follow through with the promise of more content.
Oh I know, I was just clarifying it a bit more.
Thanks for your tips, I'll have to look into it more, don't know If I'll have time for it while I'm taking classes though. Also, I think the fee's around $60 a month for 4 classes, sound reasonable enough? As for the confidence part, I'm really looking for more of a general improvement. Obviously I'll be feeling more physically capable if I stick with it, but I'm far from the type of person that would look for ways to show off or search for trouble. | 2019-04-20T12:55:41 | https://ocremix.org/community/profile/11093-razumen/ |
0.997228 | The chipmaker backs its second-quarter revenue expectations and says expensing stock options would have cut first-quarter earnings by one-third.
Chipmaker Intel on Wednesday backed its second-quarter revenue outlook and said expensing stock options would have cut first-quarter earnings by one-third.
An uncertain global economy makes it difficult to predict demand, Intel said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It forecast second-quarter revenue of $6.4 billion to $7 billion, the same outlook it gave April 15, when it reported first-quarter results.
The Santa Clara, Calif., company said it expects to spend between $3.5 billion and $3.9 billion on equipment and other technology used in manufacturing chips, unchanged from previous expectations.
Intel said it sees amortization costs related to acquisitions at $80 million in the second quarter and $300 million for 2003.
The company said it will update investors again on its business June 5.
Intel, a vocal opponent of accounting regulators' efforts to mandate the expensing of stock options, said that move would have cost it $298 million, or 5 cents per share, in the first quarter, based on the Black-Scholes option pricing model.
That would have cut quarterly net income to $617 million, or 9 cents per share--33 percent less than the $915 million, or 14 cents per share, that the company reported.
In the year-earlier quarter, expensing stock options would have cost Intel $287 million, or 4 cents per share, reducing net income by 31 percent. | 2019-04-25T12:48:07 | https://www.cnet.com/news/intel-options-would-drag-down-earnings/ |
0.999729 | Q: I'm staining beaded plywood for an interior room, is it necessary to stain and seal both sides to keep expansion and contraction to a minimum?
yes -- I would! (exclamation point) I might even recommend a stain and sealer in one (miniwax first that comes to the top of the head) as a time saver, but may, if time warrants, even consider an additional clear coat (but make sure it will adhere to initial finish). For a job like this -- I would suggest stopping into a local paint speciality store to see what they have.
That said -- beadboard and other paneling is notorious for expansion and contraction even with taking these measures. If you have control over material selection - I would suggest choosing the stock wisely -- preminium boards if you select pine, with a low moisture content. The whole project too may benefit with some acclimatization time. i.e. A chance to be stored in the room where it will live -- maybe up 72 hours before beginning the project.
It is recommended to stain/seal all sides. Staining/sealing all sides now will prevent any warping or other damage due to moisture in the future. The same goes for doors when your painting and /or staining them, most manufactures will not even warranty something if all sides are not painted/stained/sealed. In order to save yourself some time I suggest using Minwax polyshades, it is basically polyurethane with a toner in it, this way you don’t have to apply polyurethane or another clear protective coat over your stain. | 2019-04-18T21:18:39 | http://remodelqa.com/decor-interior-design/644/im-staining-beaded-plywood-for-an-interior-room-is-it-necessary-to-stain-and-seal-both-sides-to-keep |
0.998712 | This is the introduction and index for a new Rampant Scotland feature written by Tam o' Ranter (not his real name, of course.). When asked to write a few words about himself, Tam became shy and retiring (not like the Tam I know) but was eventually prevailed upon to write: "I am a pal of Scottie and have followed Rampant Scotland since its inception in 1996. At first I thought it was just a passing phase, but after the first ten years I realised that he actually was serious about this thing. Now that Scottie has established this enormous audience I think it is almost my duty to add my own point of view to this magnificent international Scottiephile readership. Of course, living in Edinburgh adds an important counterpoint to the current editorial team [team? there's just me - Ed] which is based in the Glasgow area. My interests are also different from Scottie - I'm keen on obscure folk groups, one of which featured a very good banjo player, although today Billy Connolly is better known as a comedian and movie actor."
Tam will be writing about a wide range of Scottish-related subjects. Mostly they will be in a light-hearted vein but every now and then he will get up on his soap box and have a reall good rant!
If you want to give Tam some encouragement, you can email him direct at [email protected].
Tam is having a rant this time at "modern art" and doesn't think too much of it - especially cutting edge work whose paint is hardly dry. That is despite spending a fair amount of time in the two galleries in Edinburgh that are devoted to modern art. For Tam's outspoken views, see Modern Art - An Exercise in Mick Taking?
After hibernating through a particularly tough winter, Tam thought a little self-indulgence was in order and that a brief Expedition to the Highlands would fill the bill. This was a new experience for him, so he set off (by train and bus) for Inverness, often known as the "Capital of the Highlands". Inverness was designated a "city" in 2001 and has been prospering and growing ever since. Tam thought facilities for tourists in the area had improved a lot and found both food and accommodation was very good indeed.
Tam is fond of fine dining and tried out Edinburgh's latest Michelin-starred restaurant 21212 and was impressed by a group of people striving for an excellent result and found the food as interesting as the odd name for the restuarant.
Tam went over the sea to Skye to visit the Museum of the Isles which is run by the Clan Donald Lands Trust. He particularly liked the confident way in which the museum refused to romanticise things. One quote which made him smile was from the poet Neil MacMhurich who likened the playing of John MacArthur, piper to the MacDonalds of Sleat, to the screeching of "a diseased heron."
Tam paid a visit to Abbotsford House, the home built by Sir Walter Scott on the banks of the river Tweed, near Melrose in the Scottish Borders. Tam thought that Abbotsford scored highly on a number of fronts and can hardly wait to return to the Borders and back to Abbotsford. The article includes a video slide show of Abbotsford, inside and out, plus the attached garden.
Saying good-bye to the short days of the Scottish winter and starting to enjoy a decent amount of daylight, Tam heads off for the delights of the Snowdrop Festival at the Cambo Estate, part of a Scotland-wide event highlighting locations with a great collection of these harbingers of spring.
Leaving the Grecian architecture of Edinburgh behind, Tam travels to the Glasgow School of Art and is impressed by this masterwork of the architectural genius of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Scottish Education - A Failing Brand? - Tam doesn't give the politicians of any of the parties in the Scottish parliament high marks for their performance on education. Not least because in international comparison tables, the once much vaunted Scottish educational system is lagging England's. Oh dear.
Tam Takes Tea at Gleneagles Hotel - Gleneagles is associated more with its magnificent golf courses than scones and cakes. But it seems that the latter has become a winning stroke for the luxurious 5 star resort and Tam, who is an aficionado of a well-crafted scone went along to sample the delights as a birthday treat.
Blair Castle, Perthshire - Tam was impressed by this castle and its grounds in the heart of Perthshire. He thought it had a certain 'wow' factor and hopes to return before long to see the parts he missed.
Rangers - A Glasgow Institution in Crisis every now and then Tam lives up to his pseudonym of Tam O'Ranter and has a real good "rant". He has been prompted by the financial crisis that has befallen Rangers Football Club (that's soccer, of course) to comment on the difficulties (or are they opportunities perhaps?) of the situation.
Not Just Any Coffee - Sitting in the Gloagburn Farm Coffee Shop Tam had a 'Field of Dreams' moment. Of course, this was Perthshire and not the middle of nowhere in Iowa, but Tam was none the less struck by a coffee shop having its own newsletter!
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh - the opening of the new £15 million multi-purpose building located at the main entrance of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh brings back memories of these world famous gardens when his kids were young. Includes a Windows Media Video slide show illustrating some of the wonders of these world famous Botanic Gardens. | 2019-04-21T02:14:32 | http://www.rampantscotland.com/tam/index.htm |
0.999932 | Step 1. Cook cauliflower rice in water with pumpkin pie spice, strain and let cool.
Step 2. Add water and pudding, and drink mix in shaker and shake well.
Step 3. Mix with 1/3 cauliflower rice.
Step 4. Pour mixture into 4 glasses, add leftovers on top. | 2019-04-23T14:18:20 | https://mybodytech.com/pudding-pumpkin-spice-rice-pudding/ |
0.999999 | M.2 enclosure with thunderbolt interface?
I use a pair of sata docks currently to carry my main system drive (Crucial M500 SSD) between my laptop (2014 MBP) and desktop (PC). For my laptop I use USB3 (gen1 on the mbp - 5gbit) and for my desktop I use an esata port. I've been using this setup for years now and was thinking about how I could upgrade to a 950 Pro. It seems like a waste if I can't increase throughput. For the MBP that means using the thunderbolt port and I could get a thunderbolt adapter for my PC. Then the problem is that there doesn't seem to be any thunderbolt m.2 adapters, only USB. I found this thunderbolt sata dock which I could use with a sata/m.2 adapter but then that would bottleneck the 950 Pro to sata speeds again defeating the purpose. A native thunderbolt/m.2 adapter would be ideal but it doesn't seem like anybody is making them.
Does anyone know of an m.2 enclosure with thunderbolt interface? The only ones I can find are usb. Usb wouldn't be so bad but my laptops usb ports are only 5gps. I found this thing http://www.sonnettech.com/PRODUCT/fusionpcieflashdrive.html but it's not just an enclosure and I'm not sure what sort of SSD is included. Ideally it would just take an 80mm m.2 drive.
I'm wondering if anyone has tested and compared these products? Intel 910 800GB is ~$4k and does 180k/75k iops 4k random read/write FusionIO ioDrive2 785GB is ~$10k and allegedly does over 900k iops The only head to head I could find for db load is here: http://www.ssdperformanceblog.com/2012/09/intel-ssd-910-in-tpcc-mysql-benchmark/ ..seems like the ioDrive's performance improvement is only marginal. Anybody have links to benchmarks or first hand experience they can share?
considering that enterprise SSDs are 10-20x more expensive than consumer SSDs - is anyone using consumer SSDs in a RAID for a production db server? If so can you share your raid configuration, what drives you used, what kind of performance you get and how the SMART counters are predicting remaining drive life over time?
Do RAMdrives with SATA 6.0GB/s and DDR3 exist?
Would be nice to see a real competitor to ioDrive.
Assuming they would all work the same way - I'm considering the MegaRAID SAS 9280 I'm curious if this controller works similar to Areca in that you can setup one underlying RAID utilizing all of your drives and then define multiple logical volumes on top of that. It's for a new VM server and I find this feature extremely helpful for setting up pass-through volumes for my VMs.
8 months ago I purchased 50 x25-m gen2 160gb here and so far 1 has died. I didn't try to recover the failed drive I just sent it in for RMA replacement as I didn't need the data.
I suppose randman's result could actually be from the cache difference. I just noticed in the screen shot that total test size is set to 2GB so it's less than the cache on one and not the other.
The 1880 may have a more sophisticated roc but for raid0 performance I'm thinking raw throughput might be the dominating factor. Also I think there's some overhead when SAS controllers talk to SATA devices. I'm interested to see the benchmarks. So far it looks like the 1880 has quite a gap to make up and I'm not sure the additional cache will do it. | 2019-04-21T22:36:36 | http://forums.storagereview.com/index.php?/profile/40239-gfody/ |
0.999374 | Where do I begin? I suppose considering James’ view would be as good a starting point as any. James was king of England, Scotland and Ireland. They were three separate kingdoms – i.e. they had parliaments and laws of their own. The union within the person of James as monarch was an imperfect one, unlike Wales (and I apologise in advance – I’m stating James’ point of view not mine) which was a perfect union because it had no parliament. Its laws were those of England – Edward I and Henry IV had seen to that. James also began with the view that Ireland was just like his other two kingdoms in that he believed that it had a hierarchical system that worked on a pyramid principle with the king at the top, then the nobility. He was of the view that the nobility were essential for the sound governance of the regions – the only thing was that the Irish hierarchy didn’t work in quite the same way as the English and Scottish systems (more on that shortly).
The Anglo-Norman arrival in Ireland during the medieval period was an invasion but it wasn’t a conquest. Various Plantagenet monarchs invested men and money in Ireland but the effect was to create independent Anglo-Norman magnates who married the locals and ruled from Dublin in an area known as the English Pale. They did not take kindly to royal interference.
The sixteenth century saw a change in the Anglo-Irish relationship because suddenly the English were officially Protestant whilst the Irish remained Catholic. Ireland became a potential jumping off point for a Spanish invasion. Henry VIII negotiated with the Irish with no understanding of the way land was viewed or the way in which people elected new chieftains — who weren’t always the son of the previous one. The English began to try to impose their will on the Irish. Inevitably there was a rebellion which only escalated under Elizabeth. 1594-1603 saw The Nine Years War and Sir Humphrey Gilbert who would have found himself at the Hague being found guilty of war crimes – he had the path to his tent lined with the decapitated heads of men, women and children.
James began his reign somewhat differently to the Tudors by issuing pardons all round- remember he believed that a country needed its nobility to act as the arms and legs to the royal head- but Ulster lost its O Neil chieftain and the English declared the old Irish laws to be abolished. Cutting a long story short, a number of earls fled the country and were immediately declared traitors which meant that under English law their lands were forfeit to the Crown. Sir John Davies, the attorney general in Ireland, wrote “[You] have a greater extent of land than any prince in Europe has to dispose of.” He recommended that it be planted on a large scale, because it would not work ” if the number of civil persons who are to be planted do not exceed the number of natives who will quickly overgrow them as weeds overgrow the good corn”.
James liked the idea of the Ulster Pale – it would reward men who had fought in Ireland, provide land for those turned off it in England, provide a force to keep those pesky Spanish at bay and also break the links between the Scottish Gaelic speaking highlanders and their Celtic counterparts in Ireland. It was also be an opportunity for him to prove his Protestant credentials because ultimately he believed that the Irish would leave off being Catholics and become good Protestants if only thy were provided with education. It would, in theory, also turn a profit for him.
In 1609 there was a survey and the land in Ulster divided into Church land and Crown property. The Crown property was divided into estates of 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000 acres. 59 Scots and 51 English landlords undertook to transport at least ten families to Ulster. They were also permitted to rent out to native Irish tenants. These wealthy landlords were called undertakers. Undertakers were also required to build a sturdy stone house for every 1500 acres. These were designed to keep the Irish out in the event of armed conflict.
There were also a group of men called servitors. These men had been soldiers and were being rewarded for their service.
And of course not all the settlers were men – Davies wanted growing communities to counterbalance the Native Irish.
There was also a lack of understanding about the way in which the land was farmed and the fact that there were no walled towns which was regarded as backward. Essentially the English were warming up to declare the Irish a bunch of barbarians in need of a spot of civilising – a legal conquest justified by a failure to recognise the way that Irish society worked.
Inevitably there was conflict between the settlers and the Irish. In Munster the settlers were forced to flee and whilst there had been enthusiasm for resettlement in Ireland initially- it being closer to home than America- it rapidly became clear that rents and hostile locals were rather large flies in the ointment. There was also the issue that not all the land was that desirable. It wasn’t long before some of the settlers arranged themselves on land that had been designated as belonging to the Irish because it looked more appealing that the patch with which they had been issued.
All of this, is of course, a very straight forward account. It does not take account of revisionist views nor does it look at the complexities of Irish politics – or the generations of conflict that would ensue. Religious identity of either variety would be enough to get you killed, if you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, for centuries to come and its consequences still resonate. James I changed the population of Ireland whilst the armies that followed throughout the seventeenth century did nothing to help the situation.
Fergal Keane’s 2011 Story of Ireland which is currently being repeated on television presents the brutality of Irish history alongside the resilience and creativity of its peoples. It is a good starting point for anyone wanting to find out more.
This entry was posted in Sixteenth Century, The Stuarts and tagged Ireland, James I, Ulster Pale by JuliaH. Bookmark the permalink.
This is brilliant. May I copy it and use it on my Ancestry site?
Please do. Thank you for asking. | 2019-04-20T00:39:24 | https://thehistoryjar.com/2018/11/26/king-james-and-ireland/ |
0.999999 | Some of the common resolutions that people take for new year..
1. To be true - This is a very common resolution people take on the last day of a year for upcoming year. On the last day they think about the lies told by them through the entire year and they think that thats not good. So to change themselves they make a resolution to be true and not to lie . This resolution is very hard to follow as people tend to keep their habit of lieing going. As its always heard a habit cannot be given easily that also goes same with lieing its a some what habit.
2. changing the behaviour- Some people think that they are very angry and need to change. Some times they become very angry and its hard to control them. People who make this resolution tend to follow it for some time but when they are in some bad situation they tend to broke out with lot of anger.
3. Achieving good marks- Students always make resolutions of studying hard and achieving good marks but this all they say they never follow it. They might study for some days then they tend to forget their resolution .
4. Doing hard work or achieving some goals- This is one of the common resolution that people make and they might also try a lot to achieve it.This is a resolution that might be made by people to change their situation of living or some times to overcome their financial problems in the new year.
5. Staying fit- Some people might be not satisfied with their body shape or might to have something like six abs . This is a very good resolution that can be followed and the sense of feeling inferior than others be removed in the new year.
Thus its clear that different people with different purposes take up resolutions and those who only are serious regarding might follow it and achieve it.Some people know that they would not be able to follow the resolutions that they make so they never try to make any resolutions. | 2019-04-24T22:17:13 | https://www.boddunan.com/articles/people-places/54-social-life/9475-some-of-the-common-resolutions-that-people-take-for-new-year.html |
0.999812 | In this study, the main hypothesis is that heavier people enjoy strength exercises more than normal-weight people, mediated by fat-free mass and muscle strength. Further, it is hypothesized that heavier people are better in strength exercises and enjoy strength exercises more compared to aerobic exercises.
In a cross-sectional study, height, weight, body composition (i.e., fat mass and fat-free mass by underwater weighing), muscle strength (i.e., one-repetition maximal strength for the leg press and chest press), maximal aerobic exertion (VO2max) during cycle ergometry, and psychological determinants (i.e., attitudes, intentions, and self-determined motivations for strength exercises and aerobic exercises using questionnaires) were measured in 68 participants (18–30 years).
Significant correlations between weight/BMI and fat-free mass (index) (r values = .70–.80, p values < .001), fat-free mass and muscle strength (r values = .35–.55, p values < .05), and muscle strength and attitudes, intentions, and motivation for strength exercises were found (r values = .29–.43, p values < .05); BMI was related to psychological determinants via fat-free mass and muscle strength. Furthermore, participants with a higher BMI are significantly better in strength exercises, more intrinsically motivated, and less motivated to do strength exercises compared to aerobic exercises (all p values < .05). Trends in the same direction were found for the following variables: instrumental attitude, experiential attitude, and intention (p values < .1).
Strength exercises could be more appropriate for heavier people and might therefore be a valuable component in physical activity programs for people who are overweight or obese.
Heavier people not only have more fat mass but also more fat-free mass, likely making them stronger (in absolute sense) compared to normal-weight people.
Heavier people are more positive about strength exercises compared to (1) normal-weight people and (2) aerobic exercises.
Performing strength exercises has beneficial effects on body composition and, with that, on metabolic and cardiovascular health.
Obesity is a worldwide problem with high costs to society and well-being [1, 2]. Being physically active can prevent and decrease obesity but is often challenging for people who are overweight or obese [4–6]. In this study, we try to bridge the gap between biological and psychological insights in the management of obesity, by examining the putative physiological and psychological benefits of strength exercises for heavier people [4–6]. People who are overweight do not only have more fat mass but also more fat-free mass . With that, people who are overweight or obese are likely to have more muscle mass and to be stronger compared to people who are not overweight. Compared to aerobic exercises, strength exercises are easier for people who are overweight, and therefore, compliance to an exercise program focused on strength exercises is greater . By being better in strength exercises than aerobic exercises, people who are overweight might be more positive about strength exercises compared to normal-weight people, and with that, long-term behavior change may be achieved [4–6]. Additionally, performing strength exercises has beneficial effects on overweight or obese people’s body composition and, with that, on their metabolic and cardiovascular health . In this study, we cross-sectionally test the “chain of assumptions” that (1) heavier people have more fat mass and more fat-free mass, (2) they are stronger and better in strength exercises, and (3) they have more positive associations with strength exercises. This chain resulted in two hypotheses. The main hypothesis is that (1) heavier people are more positive about strength exercises compared to normal-weight people, because they have more fat-free mass and a higher muscle strength. Further, it is hypothesized that (2) people who are heavier are not only better in strength exercises but also more positive about strength exercises compared to aerobic exercises.
Following pleas for full disclosure [9, 10], all research materials and data are combined in Additional files 1, 2, 3 and 4. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Maastricht University Medical Center+ (NL43929.068.13/METC 13-3-018) and conforms with the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki).
A total of 70 participants (18–30 years of age) were recruited among students of Maastricht University. Two participants did not return on day 2 of the study and were therefore excluded from the analyses. To get a better range in body mass index (BMI) and body composition, we advertised the study using flyers, including a statement that we were especially interested in students with a BMI > 24. All participants were screened for good health using a general medical questionnaire (see Additional files 1 and 3) to ensure that participants were able to perform exercises. Participants were excluded when they had any condition that prevented them from performing the exercise protocols (e.g., sports injuries or severe asthma). Prior to participation, written informed consent was obtained.
Participants were invited to participate in a 2-day cross-sectional study. Participants that expressed their interest (by responding to the advertisement) and were found eligible (based on the medical screening questionnaire; see Additional files 1 and 3) were invited to visit the university on 2 days, with an 8–10-day interval.
For day 1 (that always started between 8 and 8.30 am), the participant was asked to refrain from any high intensity physical exercise 24 h prior to the testing and to come to the laboratory in a fasted state (overnight fast from 10 pm onwards). In the Metabolic Research Unit at Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands, height and weight of the participant were measured, and body composition was assessed using underwater weighing (see section “Body Composition”). Subsequently, participants were asked to eat a light breakfast (such as one slice of bread with cheese). One hour after having eaten a light breakfast, cardiovascular fitness was assessed with a maximal exercise test (VO2max test; see section “Maximal Aerobic Exertion Test (VO2max)”) on a bicycle ergometer. Approximately 1 h after the VO2max testing, the participant performed a familiarization session with the exercise equipment to estimate one-repetition maximum (1RM; see also section “Maximal Strength Exertion Test (1RM Test)”) strength in the fitness lab at Maastricht University. During the familiarization session, proper lifting techniques were demonstrated for leg press and chest press exercises by a trained instructor.
At day 2, 8–10 days after day 1, the actual 1RM testing took place in the fitness lab at Maastricht University (see section “Maximal Strength Exertion Test (1RM Test)”). Subsequently, the participant was asked to perform a series of standardized strength and aerobic exercise activities (see “Standardized Exercise Protocols”). Directly after each exercise activity (both the strength and aerobic exercise), a questionnaire was filled out to measure social cognitive determinants (see “Questionnaires”). All data were collected by the first author and three research assistants (always under close supervision of the first author; see “Acknowledgements”). For the biological measurements, validated and reliable protocols were used (see sections “Body Composition” and “Maximal Strength Exertion Test (1RM Test)”). The exercise protocol (section “Standardized Exercise Protocols”) was always performed under supervision of two researchers to ensure proper execution. The psychological questionnaires were based on validated constructs (see section “Questionnaires”).
After completion of both days, participants received a gift voucher and travel expenses. Participants from the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience at Maastricht University were able to choose between the gift vouchers, or participation credits (part of the psychology bachelor curriculum) (see also Fig. 1 and Additional file 4 for a clear overview of the study protocol).
Anthropometric measurements, body mass, and height were taken in the morning after an overnight fast on day 1 of testing. Body mass was measured on an electronic scale to the nearest 0.01 kg. Height was measured to the nearest 0.1 cm. Body composition was calculated based on underwater weighing with simultaneous measurement of residual lung volume using the helium dilution technique (Volugraph 2000, Mijnhardt). For this measurement, participants are in a fasted state and are completely submerged under water, for approximately 90 s to measure their weight under water, while breathing oxygen through a mouthpiece. The measurement was repeated three times. Body volume was calculated using the following formula: ((body massdry − body massunder water) / water density) − lung volume. Body density was derived from body weight and body volume, which was used to calculate fat mass and fat-free mass by the Siri equation .
Cardiovascular fitness was assessed with an incremental test on a bicycle ergometer using the protocol of Kuipers et al. . During this test on day 1, oxygen consumption (VO2) and CO2 production were measured continuously (Omnical, Maastricht University) and heart rate was monitored using a polar heart rate monitor (RS400, Polar Electro, Kempele, Finland; watch worn by the instructor). After a warming up of 5 min at 100 watts (W) for men and 75 W for women, the workload increases with 50 W every 2.5 min. When one’s heart rate reached a value of 35 beats per minute (bpm) below the age predicted maximal HR (220 bpm − age) or the respiratory quotient (RQ = CO2 production / oxygen consumption) exceeded 1, workload was increased with 25 W (instead of 50 W) every 2.5 min until exhaustion. VO2max was presented relative to fat-free mass (ml/kg fat-free mass/min).
Approximately 1 h after VO2max testing on day 1, participants performed a familiarization session with the exercise equipment to estimate 1RM strength. During the familiarization session, proper lifting technique was demonstrated for leg press and chest press exercises. Guided-motion exercise machines (one for leg press, one for chest press) were used to establish safe and proper lifting. Maximum strength was estimated in all participants using the multiple-repetition testing procedure . In a separate session (8–10 days later; day 2), the actual 1RM testing took place. After warming up (5 min on light load on cycle ergometer), two sets of 12 repetitions were performed on the exercise machines at a light load (15 and 25 kg on the chest press and 70 and 80 kg on the leg press, for female and male participants, respectively). Next, the load was set at 95% of the estimated 1RM and one repetition was performed. Thereafter, the load was increased by 2.5–5.0% after each successful lift until the participant was able to perform a maximum of one repetition .
On day 2, standardized exercise protocols were carried out before each questionnaire (i.e., a strength exercise protocol before the strength exercise questions, and an aerobic exercise protocol before the questions about aerobic activities). The goal of the protocols was to let participants experience strength and aerobic exercises to improve the validity of the questionnaires that were filled out immediately afterwards (to measure the so-called “experiential” attitudes and motivations). In both the aerobic and strength exercise protocols, two different exercises were included to ensure that people did not answer questions about “cycling” but about “aerobic exercises.” The duration of the strength and aerobic fitness protocol was similar (~ 20 min), and the order of the protocols was randomized to control for a possible order effect. For both protocols, we chose to work on 70% of their maximum. A higher percentage unnecessarily increased the chances of injury/anaerobic training, while a lower percentage would be too low (i.e., warming up or too low exertion). The strength protocol was based on the two different 1RM tests (for leg press and chest press). The 70% of maximal strength on the leg press exercise and chest press exercise was calculated. After a 5-min warmup (75 W; bicycle ergo meter—to minimize the chance for injuries), participants were asked to do three sets of 8–10 repetitions on the chest press apparatus and three sets of 8–10 repetitions on the leg press apparatus. Between each set, there was a 2-min break. Between the leg press and the chest press, there was a 5-min transition time break. Also, the order of the chest press and leg press was randomized to control for a possible order effect.
The aerobic exercise protocol (conducted on day 2) was based on maximal heart rate and maximal workload measured during the VO2max test conducted on day 1, and included both cycling and running. After a 5-min warmup (75 W, bicycle ergo meter), participants were asked to cycle for 10 min on 70% of their Wmax (70 RPM; the same as during the VO2max test) and to run 3 × 3 min at 70% of their maximal heart rate on a treadmill (no inclinations, and the speed was continuously adjusted by the instructor to keep the participant at 70% of their maximal heart rate). The running was introduced to also have two different aerobic exercises. Between the three sets of running, participants walked for 1 min. Between the cycling and running, there was a 5-min transition time break. The order of the cycling and running was counterbalanced as well.
Participants completed a questionnaire, based on the reasoned action approach and the self-determination theory . This questionnaire included specific and general questions about resistance and aerobic exercises and was divided accordingly into two sections for completion (i.e., resistance exercise questions were answered following completion of the strength exercise protocol, and the aerobic exercise questions were answered following completion of the aerobic exercise protocol; see also Fig. 1). Filling out the questionnaires took about 3–5 min per stage. The measured constructs are as follows: (1) instrumental attitudes (cognitive feelings about exercises), (2) experiential attitudes (affective feelings about the exercises), (3) intentions (whether the participant intends to do the specific exercise in the near future), (4) intrinsic motivation (how fun the exercise is), and (5) a-motivation (no motivation to do the specific exercise at all). All items were rated on a 7-point Likert scale. Scores on items that measured the same construct were averaged into one scale where internal consistency was sufficient (α > .60). One item was deleted (“After doing this exercise, I’m satisfied no matter what my performance is”) for both aerobic and strength exercises, as reliability analysis showed low-scale reliability when this item was added to the intrinsic motivation construct. Scores were recoded such that a higher score reflected a higher value on the variable (see also Table 1 for all exact items, scoring, and Cronbach’s alpha).
How good do you think this exercise is?
How healthy do you think this exercise is?
How useful do you think strength exercises are?
How healthy are strength exercises for you?
How did the exercise feel?
What did you think of the exercise?
IBM SPSS statistics and Excel were used to analyze the data (see also Additional file 2). Frequencies (n), means (M), and standard deviations (SD) were calculated to provide an overall picture of the sample. Paired sample t-tests were conducted to calculate differences between male and female participants. Pearson’s correlations were calculated to examine associations between the various determinants. We tested the direct and indirect associations linking BMI scores with psychological constructs regarding strength exercises using the PROCESS software including the bootstrapping method with bias-corrected confidence estimates (see also Fig. 3) [17, 18]. Bootstrapping, a non-parametric sampling procedure, was used to assess the significance of indirect effects. In the present study, the 95% confidence interval of the indirect effects was obtained with 5000 bootstrap resamples; results are statistically significant when 95% confidence intervals did not include zero. To compare correlations of BMI with strength and BMI with aerobic outcomes, first, the difference in Fisher’s z was calculated. Based on the z score of this difference, p values were estimated .
A total of 68 participants participated in this study (BMI ranged from 18 to 38). Male (n = 33) and female (n = 35) participants did not differ in age, BMI, VO2max, or self-reported physical activity (all p values > .05), but male participants were taller, heavier, and stronger. Female participants had a higher fat mass compared to male participants (see Table 2). Self-reported activity levels ranged from very high (14 h/week) to not active at all (mean [SD], 4 h/week [3 h]; median 3.5 h; not reported in the table).
Correlational analyses revealed significant correlations between weight and fat mass (r = .85 for female and r = .78 for male participants, all p < .001), and BMI (weight adjusted for height), and fat mass index (fat mass adjusted for height; r = .86 for female and r = .82 for male participants, all p < .001; see Fig. 2a). Weight and BMI were also highly correlated with the fat-free mass and fat-free mass indices, respectively (r values ranging from .70 to .80, all p < .001; see Fig. 2b). Participants with a higher fat-free mass had a significantly higher chest press 1RM (r = .55 for female and r = .48 for male participants, all p < .005) and leg press 1RM (r = .55 for female, p = .001, and r = .35 for male participants, p = .046; see Fig. 2c). Finally, a combined strength score (sum of leg press 1RM and chest press 1RM) was positively correlated with instrumental attitude (r = .29, p = .02), experiential attitude (r = .31, p = .008), one’s intention to start with strength exercises (r = .35, p = .02), and intrinsic motivation (r = .33, p = .007). An expected negative correlation was found with a-motivation (r = − .43, p < .001; see Table 3).
There was no direct effect of BMI on attitudes, intention, or motivations (p values range from .44 to .95; see Fig. 3 and Table 4). Indirect effects of BMI on all psychological outcomes were found via fat-free mass and the combined strength score. No indirect effect from BMI to psychological outcomes was found via strength only. BMI had an indirect effect on experiential attitude (β = − .08, SE = .05, CI SE = − .18 to − .01) and a-motivation (β = .09, SE = .04, CI SE = .01–.19) via fat-free mass (see Fig. 3 and Table 4).
To examine whether heavier people are relatively better in strength exercises than aerobic exercises compared to normal-weight people, correlations between BMI and strength outcomes and BMI and aerobic outcomes were calculated. Based on these correlations, a difference in Fisher’s z was calculated and p values were estimated . Comparing aerobic and strength variables shows that when participants have a higher BMI, they are significantly better in strength exercises compared to aerobic exercises (Fisher’s z = .91, p < .001), more intrinsically motivated (Fisher’s z = .46, p < .008), and less a-motivated (Fisher’s z = .40, p < .02) for strength exercises compared to aerobic exercises. For the variables instrumental attitude, experiential attitude, and intention, the directions of the relations were the same, but these variables were not significant (p values ranged from .06 to .08) (see Table 5).
We (1) confirmed that heavier people have a higher fat-free mass compared to normal-weight people. This is in line with biological insights . Additionally, (2) we have shown that people with a higher fat-free mass are stronger (in absolute sense) and are better in strength exercises than in aerobic exercises. We have also confirmed that (3) mastery experiences (in this case, resulting from successfully engaging in strength exercises as opposed to aerobic exercises) are related to more positive psychological outcomes. This observation is in line with psychological insights [20–23]. As hypothesized, we (4) have shown that heavier people are more positive about strength exercises compared to normal-weight people, via fat-free mass and muscle strength. Moreover, (5) heavier people are better in strength exercises and are more positive about strength exercises compared to aerobic exercises.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that this chain of relationships has been demonstrated empirically, thereby bridging the gap between biological and psychological insights. In light of these results, new exercise interventions for people with overweight or obesity could be developed, concentrating on biological strengths and using psychological principles and techniques to make them more aware of their strengths . Additionally, for long-term behavior and health changes, new interventions might benefit from focusing (and giving feedback; ) on body composition instead of weight.
There are some limitations that should nuance the drawn conclusions. Most of the study participants are university students who volunteered to participate which might limit the generalizability of our study results. The self-reported physical activity level was higher than 45-year-old parents (2.8 h/week) but lower than 13-year-old children (5.3 h/week) . The sample size is relatively small, but the used measures were accurate. The BMI range was limited, making more research necessary among a broader BMI range. Cross-sectional data instead of longitudinal data was gathered. With that, we were not able to show causality. Two additional questions might be (1) whether the exercise protocols adequately encompass what strength and aerobic exercises are and (2) whether the (possibly different) training loads of the two different exercises might have influenced the results.
To ensure that we actually worked with strength and aerobic exercises, we used exercises that are generally used in our gold standard maximal strength tests and aerobic tests (the additional running is also used very often in VO2max tests; see, e.g., . For the protocols, we limited this to 70% of the maximum and ensured that the duration (including rest periods) was similar for both exercises. In future research, it might be helpful to add an effort perception scale to measure the perceived intensity of the protocols. For our (correlational) research question, it is unlikely that difference in training protocols influences the direction of our outcomes or conclusions (they could only have weakened the effects at most in the hypothetical case that there would have been an “ideal” training intensity). However, most of our results were significant and in the right direction.
The definition of being “heavier” is based on either a high weight or BMI, suggesting that someone is less healthy compared to someone with a normal weight or BMI. However, an increased weight or BMI is not a very reliable tool to evaluate body composition and, with that, individual (metabolic) health . Therefore, to examine the statement “heavier means more fat-free mass,” we reported not only correlations of fat-free mass with weight, and fat-free mass index with BMI, but also correlations of fat mass with weight and fat mass index with BMI.
In conclusion, a benefit of being overweight is being strong. Strength exercise interventions might have the ability to make people who are overweight more motivated to be physically active on the long term. They might improve long-term health by improving one’s body composition (and energy balance, insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, cholesterol level, motor skills, and the chances on cardiovascular disease) [28–31]. In short, strength exercises might contribute to the management of obesity. With interventions focusing on strength exercises, the obesity problem per se will not be solved, but such programs might positively contribute to obesity-related health issues.
The authors thank Margreet Meems, Lena Lütgehetmann, and Gulsen Kadri for their help during the measurements, and Robert Ruiter and Rik Crutzen for their critical review of the final manuscript.
This study is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw; project number 525001004).
All research materials and data are combined in a .zip archive labeled Additional file 1.
GtH, GP, AS, and GK conceived of, designed, and coordinated the study. GtH and GP performed the analyses. GtH drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Maastricht University Medical Center+ (NL43929.068.13/METC 13-3-018) and conforms with the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki). Prior to participation, written informed consent was obtained.
All authors (Gill A. ten Hoor, Guy Plasqui, Annemie M.W.J. Schols, and Gerjo Kok) declare that they have no competing interests. | 2019-04-19T15:05:59 | https://sportsmedicine-open.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40798-018-0125-4 |
0.999011 | Windows 8 and HTML5 is this a deja vu of the 90's and Visual Java?
A few weeks ago I read about Microsoft making Windows 8 UI and platform based on HTML5. Meaning, developers should adopt towards HTML5 over say the previous product they were pushing really hard - silverlight. This about face has a very interesting parallel to the past which I will digress into shortly.
Silverlight was destined to be the solution to all the deficiencies of developing within the stateless http applications. The technology embraced the best features of existing technologies unifying them with a serious amount of innovation into a mature platform many developers swore as the future of web technology. It is declarative using XML (XAML to be specific), it has a rich presentation similar to flash but much better as it was SEO friendly among other things, it is a runtime which is cross platform so Linux users just as much as Windows users would be able to run these apps with the same consistency as Adobe Flash today. They even borrowed the best from their own .NET platform and cherry picked the essential APIs (to keep the runtime as small as possible).
So, with all this innovation and push towards silverlight, even including it as the basis for their new mobile platform, it's understandable developers are in uproar as to why Windows 8 will move towards HTML5 instead.
A few hours ago, I came to a realization. I'm not second guessing Microsoft, but it sure feels like deja vu.
Back in 1996 or 1997, Microsoft created their first Visual Studio integrated product. They called it "The Year of the Developer" and I probably still have the nifty poster they included in the box somewhere. In short, they decided to integrate all their development tools similar to how they integrated all their office products. The idea was simple and novel. Sell the suite cheaper than the individual products and give a Word user a new application to play with (Excel). The same applied to the development tools and both integrated suites were a phenomenal success -- and still are as we are still working with these integrated suites to this day. As part of this integration, Microsoft included Java as a language to develop with and build a large class of libraries so Java could work with Windows (call this the precursor of .NET). So this suite contained Visual Interdev, Visual C++, Visual Basic, and Visual Java.
As we now know, a large legal battle with Sun eventually forced Microsoft to remove the Java name and instead change it to J#. The core argument from Sun was very simple -- Microsoft cannot call it "Java" if it is not Java from all the Microsoft specific windows libraries. By the time the settlement came around the damage was done. Java was climbing up stream from an adoption perspective with development environments such as Eclipse either non-existing or nowhere near the maturity of Microsoft's development environments. So with Microsoft's marketing muscle and center-of-attention position they had before, they were able to get a vast majority of developers to develop Java with Visual Java. Why not right? It had all the environment features were developers were used to such as intellisense, was binary compatible with Java so long as you didn't use Microsoft's extensions, etc.
Well, many already know the end of that story and transcripts of the various cases against Microsoft essentially shows Microsoft intentionally derailed the adoption of Java enough, keeping Visual Java stuck on Java 1.1 as declared by BillG himself in key emails, while they developed their response. This put the breaks on the evolution of Java significantly, especially at a core juncture where Sun was pushing Java 1.2 with it's revised event model to better handle large scale applications. Microsoft literally stole the spotlight using Visual Java and suite as a tool. This derailment and time-buying was all Microsoft needed to build their version of the runtime -- calling it .NET. To ensure they lure all their existing developers C++ and VB, their model was to have all languages compile to a common byte-code. In this process, their new language, C#, very similar to Java, will take center stage in the new developer suite.
So how does all this relate to today? Well, for quite some time Microsoft has been pushing silverlight. Why the about face to HTML5 for Windows 8 if they have a great following and even included it for their new mobile phone platform? I hope I'm wrong, but I feel it may be a repeat cycle of what occurred with Java.
Microsoft may see HTML5, the richest application framework-to-date for building desktop-like applications on the web, as a threat to their desktop dominance. Their celebratory sabbatical for winning the browser wars, with over 90% market share at peak, caused them to leave Internet Explorer in limbo on version 6 while the rest of the world was moving along with the evolving web standards. They even moved the developers off Internet Explorer to the Windows group. This allowed for a slow shift towards using standards based browsers with Firefox taking a decisive lead. Following Firefox many others popped up -- including Apple with Safari and Google with Chrome utilizing rendering engines such as WebKit while others such as Opera built their own. Developers started alienating Internet Explorer by building sites with the emerging standards -- after all standards worked with all browsers and for the most part, so long as it it's not too fancy, worked with Internet Explorer too. If we fast forward to today, Internet Explorer is actually behind in market share in Europe and has lost significant market share domestically as well.
So it's clear to me, either two things are happening with Microsoft and HTML5. Either Microsoft it truly adopting standards and making genuine strides in interoperability with other technologies and platforms like Linux and even building it into their next Windows or they are simply attempting another coup.
I shared this with a friend and colleague via text (I'm not sure if he wants me to publish his name so I blurred it out), but he always has a valid opinion on matters and his response was decisive. There were four consecutive texts; each with more emphasis than the previous so he clearly sees it as possibly a deja vu.
Only time will tell where the truth lies.
Inktel Direct announced 100 days of innovation just about 100 days ago. See their blog post for more information. In short, various groups were created with the idea of applying Ideo's principles and create or change something in an innovative way.
Most people have the desire to improve in one shape or another. Improvement, aside from formal and self directed means, relies heavily on the interaction and feedback from others.
Traditionally, feedback is given every quarter or semi-annually within corporations. While this is a good for self-improvement, it's traditional and doesn't keep up with the "immediate" times of today. By the time you receive the necessary feedback, weeks and months have passed potentially missing out on other opportunities to apply such feedback, or worse yet, the feedback is no longer applicable and is either omitted or simply useless.
GiveMeFeedback.com addresses the gap to request, give, & receive feedback immediately after an event occurs where feedback would be beneficial in a seamless and friction-free click-friendly manner.
Apple Revolutionizing Retail Support with iPhone & GPS!
I was at the Apple store the other day and was quite surprised the Apple store iPhone app interacts with the store once you are within the vicinity. I was going for a Mac genius appointment and the process was so smooth words cannot do it justice. Checkout these screenshots I took of the whole process.
The pictures left to right speak for themselves...super smooth. Notice iPhone's time indicator from for the duration of the screen shots from 3:07 to 3:22.
In this video, I diagram the various options for connecting an iMac 27" (as a display in target display mode), a Cinema Display, & the new Thunderbolt Display to a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro with thunderbolt port.
It turns out, you can achieve the same results as a thunderbolt display (having to connect only a thunderbolt cable) using either an iMac 27" or Apple Cinema Display.
In the video below I diagram the options and actually uncover some benefits in connecting a Cinema Display or iMac over utilizing the newly released Thunderbolt Display.
Windows7 may drain battery faster than Max OSX on MacBook Air 11"
I was intrigued at how fast the battery drained while running bootcamp on my MacBook Air 11" (2011 model). There are various blogs discussing how Windows is not SSD friendly, particularly Vista, however I felt this would have been resolved with the latest version of Windows and/or latest service packs.
After various trials and errors, I achieved reasonable battery life by turning off Windows Search which has indexing running in the background. Simply turn off the service called "Windows Search" and change it's startup to either "Manual" or "Disabled".
I have a MacBook Air 2010 model with the mini display port. At the office we recently ordered an iMac with the thunderbolt port. On occasion, I want to use my MacBook Air at the office so I was exploring the option of using the iMac 27 as an external monitor via the thunderbolt port.
The latest macs, both the 2009-2010 models using mini display ports as well as the 2011 using the thunderbolt ports support a feature referred to as "Target Display Mode". In essence, when properly cabled with either of the two cables, hitting Command/F2 will enable it.
One thing to note, when using target display mode and mirroring, the resolution will default to the lowest resolution device. In my case, I had a MacBook Air resolution displayed on the iMac 27 which didn't look great for extended reading. There are two ways to achieve target display native resolution. One way is to close the MacBookAir and tap on the mouse to wake it up. When it wakes up, it will adjust to the target display resolution. With the Thunderbolt MBA, you will need to have the magsafe power plugged in. I am not sure if this is required also for the Minidisplay MBA.
The second way entails setting up a second monitor side by side (uncheck mirroring). The problem here is, if you want to ignore the MBA's monitor and solely use the target display, the dock and menu bar are annoyingly on the MBA monitor making it very cumbersome to work. We accidentally came across a nifty solution by trying out various options. We discovered, just like you can move the orientation of the second monitor, you can move around the menu strip too. So while viewing the monitor orientation window, click and drag the little white strip above one of the monitors and drag it to the other. This in essence moves the doc and menu over to the target display monitor. At this point, you can either dim the brightness of the MBA and you are all set to go. Thanks!
Unfortunately WordPress didn't make it convenient for migrating blogs out of their system. As a consequence, I'm linking to the original posting for this topic so others can have access to the comment history. Moving forward I will be updating this blog.
Wouldn't it be great if you could edited a document at work and seamlessly can continue editing it on your laptop while waiting for your flight home and finally finish proofing it on your home desktop computer without copying it or transferring it from one computer to the next? And once completed, regardless of size, deliver it with the same ease as an email? If so, the next few minutes will be worth your time Sharing has been around since the dawn of time. As we evolve in this digital world, how does one share documents with ever increasing efficiency? In the old times, one would make a xerox copy and deliver by mail while today one may simply email them a copy they already have on their computer. Notice the there are two important concepts here, (a) making a copy (xerox or copying a file) and (b) transporting the copy (mail or email). The focus of this post is on the later and how transporting has been completely reinvented and why one needs to break from the past and leverage the changes time brings to be effective in every day work. Briefly looking at history you can easily see how disadvantaged one would be if they hadn't adopted and changed from the means of the previous era.
** how people transport large files for themselves typically to/from work In the past, one would have to carry a briefcase, a floppy or cd, or more modern times a USB drive.
We'll the next era is here and one of the first successful incarnations of this era's transportation concept is a company called DropBox. DropBox is quite simply a folder on your computer which is automatically and seamlessly available on all of your computers -- including your mobile devices. Unlike having the files reside in the cloud like google docs requiring connectivity to the internet for accessing them, they reside locally on your machine and are transparently replicated to your other machines in realtime as modifications are made. Oh yea, forgot to mention, when you are finished editing the document and are ready to share it with someone, simply right click the file to get the public URL to the file and send this link to whomever you would like share the file -- the era of attachments which are too large to email is also over.
During Apple recent press conference showcasing all their new hardware and software toys, Jobs introduced a new feature called High Dynamic Range photos (HDR) where the iPhone combines an under exposed picture with an over exposed picture making a strikingly beautiful combined picture. Well, as part of his presentation he also previewed iOS 4.2 to be released in November. As he introduced it, he mentioned all the various features coming to the iPad ..including multitasking, folders, new printing feature, etc. and HDR photos. How can HDR photos exist if the iPad doesn't have a camera?...Well that's the new guessing game... I say we have a 7" iPad coming to town in November. If it were the same size iPad, this may alienate some existing iPad customers, but if they introduce a newer model with slightly new hardware features, they are set for the holiday season smash!
iPhone 4 antenna glitch real or not?
Much uproar has occurred with the latest iPhone and possible antenna glitch since it's release on June 24th. I personally haven't experienced any issues as I bought the Apple case which conveniently shields the iPhone from any human interference with it's exposed metallic antenna. However, in lieu of various blogs and spurious examples of how the antenna fails to function properly when touched in the special "death grip" area, I decided to conduct my own set of tests and reach my own set of conclusions. This is the area in question among all the news media.
First, the antenna system is the casing of the iPhone. As Jobs mentioned in his presentation, the core frame structure is the metallic antenna frame. So there are two pieces of metal separated in two areas. One of the areas is the lower left side with the phone facing forward, and the other is the the slit on top near the microphone jack. When I performed my own test, I was able to lose a few bars of signal repeatedly. I didn't drop a call or lose call quality, but the bars did reduce from five to about three. Since the two antennas are separated in two different locations, one must assume the conductivity issue should also have a similar effect if touched on the other slit on top.
When touching the slit on the top however, no effect whatsoever occurs with the signal strength bars. This really spurred my curiosity because I was expecting to have the same results -- at least partially. With my continued intrigue, I decided to perform some speed tests while on 3G as some others have done.
In doing so, since the speed test refreshes continuously, I came across an a definitive conclusion -- 3G data could be affected 100%. As shown in my video test below, I can effectively stop the progress of the test by simply touching the affected area and then allow it to continue by releasing it. Curiously, this effect again doesn't materialize when we touch the top slit which also separates both antennas. So the next step was to switch to Edge network. More surprisingly, when switched to the Edge network, the lower left touch has no effect whatsoever also. I'm not a signal expert, but I would presume the 3G has a more sensitive or higher frequency signal which is more sensitive to the touch over the Edge signal. If this can be automatically tuned when touched vs. not touched via software much like a noise cancellation microphone removes ambient noise in a regular phone call, then we may have a software solution. | 2019-04-19T06:29:02 | http://michael.olivero.com/author/Michael%20Olivero.aspx?page=5 |
0.997033 | 20 ---Purpose: Intersect an Edge with a segment.
21 -- Implement the Intersector2d required by the classifier.
34 ---Purpose: Intersect the line segment and the edge. | 2019-04-22T12:19:33 | http://git.dev.opencascade.org/gitweb/?p=occt.git;a=blob;f=src/BRepClass/BRepClass_Intersector.cdl;h=94bb2374dd26361e9f739162a5401036101d8fdd;hb=543a99649677666ef0c890c27e98910265e24508 |
0.998673 | The incumbent Republican, who's about to turn 80, says the attack is beyond the pale.
PHOENIX — John McCain's underdog opponent in next week's primary election is going there: Should he win, Kelli Ward told POLITICO flatly on Thursday, the soon-to-be 80-year-old senator may not live to finish out his six-year term.
“I’m a doctor. The life expectancy of the American male is not 86. It’s less,” Ward said in an interview here.
Age tends to be a delicate issue in campaigns, alluded to by rivals but rarely attacked head on. But Ward is ditching such niceties, drawing a contrast in the final days of her longshot campaign that could hardly be more blatant: She the relatively youthful 47-year-old challenger against, in her telling, the cranky old incumbent who's mentally and physically unfit for the demanding job of a U.S. senator.
Ward, a former state senator, insisted it's not a last-ditch attack to reverse her fortunes; polls show her trailing badly. Arizonans, she said, “have the right to know he’s an 80-year old man who’s been in Washington for more than 40 years” — a slight exaggeration of his 34 years in D.C.
On Wednesday McCain dismissed Ward’s tactics, which she's been pushing this week on Twitter, as a “dive to the bottom.” But he admitted that when he hears attacks on his age “you don’t like it.” He said the episode shows how far political discourse has sunk since he defended his then-rival for president, Barack Obama, from attacks in 2008 that he was a Muslim and endured criticism from conservatives.
Ward is unbowed. Comparing McCain to an overworked physician, she said she worries that McCain could slip after serving so long because “when tired eyes look at problems, you have bad outcomes for the patient and the provider.” That could spell disaster for the state, Ward said.
At another point in the interview, she referred to McCain as a dinosaur.
Ward began the attack on McCain’s age (he’s the eighth-oldest senator) by questioning whether a 79-year-old senator makes the country safer and retweeting a supporter who called Ward “young, capable, enthusiastic.” But her remarks in the interview on Wednesday marked the sharpest attack on a senator’s age since Chris McDaniel tried to bring down Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) two years ago in a Republican primary.
McCain won't even rule out that this is his last race should he win.
“I don’t know. It’s a six-year term. I don’t know. The last two or three I have treated as the last campaign because that’s a decision you would make some years from now. Frankly I haven't thought about it much," McCain said.
Ward said it is McCain and his deep-pocketed Super PAC that are lowering the political discourse in the Senate race. Arizona Grassroots Action has called Ward “Street Corner Kelli” while a McCain web ad called her “Chemtrail Kelli” for being open to investigating whether the government is spraying Americans from airplanes.
If McCain defeats Ward in Tuesday’s primary, the age attacks are unlikely to continue. His presumptive Democratic opponent, Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.), is 66. And while she did not outwardly call on Ward to stop hitting McCain on his age, Kirkpatrick also indicated she’s unlikely to do so herself.
“I think it’s more an issue of his being out of touch with Arizona,” she said in an interview.
Still, Ward and Kirkpatrick agree that McCain has changed over the years, if for different reasons. Kirkpatrick thinks McCain has lost his independent streak, while Ward asserts that he’s his mental acuity is fading.
“He’s become pretty sour. A pretty sour old guy,” Ward said.
McCain has faced this scrutiny before, particularly in 2008 when the Associated Press wrote a story quoting actuaries who calculated he had a 25 percent chance of not surviving a second term as president.
McCain said the attacks from Ward will backfire with voters. | 2019-04-20T22:29:09 | https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/kelli-ward-john-mccain-age-227433 |
0.999938 | What's the best thing to do? What's the ideal way to go?
'The more choice the better' - that's what we have been led to believe. If you are careful and choose which you prefer the most, you'll be happier - even if it's just a small improvement.
But that's not true. The reality is that we can suffer 'paralysis by analysis'. In other words, we can be held back by our desire to make the best choice, to the extent that it stops us making any choice. Then, when no choice has been made, we are at the mercy of the consequences - not only can inaction harm us, but it can prevent us from getting good feedback about what we should do better the next time.
The Paradox of Choice is a really nice TED Talk where Barry Schwartz discusses how too much choice slows down decision-making, creates excessively high expectations (because more seems better) and comes at an opportunity cost (i.e. if we choose one item, we may be dissatisfied because we could have chosen a better alternative). According to Schwartz, we are then less happy because we are imagining the features of the alternative item.
Dan Gilbert in his TED Talk describes humans as synthesising happiness. According to him also, if we have fewer choices, we can synthesise our satisfaction with what we already have - because there is no immediate alternative.
Einstein was well known for wearing the same types of clothes every day so that he didn't have to use mental energy to decide what to wear. Steve Jobs was also famous for restricting the user experience on Apple computers because he believed fewer choices were better for the user experience.
The problem with ideas like this is that people take them to the extreme, which is almost always a mistake. Of course, you don't want one choice for a job, your life partner or your lunch, the point is that there are limits to the amount of choice which will make your life better.
Iyengar, S. (2010) The art of choosing. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_on_the_art_of_choosing (Accessed: 24 February 2017).
Schwartz, B. (2006) The paradox of choice. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice#t-1161298 (Accessed: 24 February 2017).
Gilbert, D. (2006) The surprising science of happiness. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy (Accessed: 24 February 2017). | 2019-04-22T06:53:18 | https://www.ronankennedy.ie/blog/2017/2/27/making-the-right-choice |
0.999994 | 1 A None No Power Seat 1 A is an Economy Class Exit Row seat that may have extra legroom. The tray table is in the armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width. There may be no floor storage during take-off and landing.
1 C None No Power Seat 1 C is an Economy Class Exit Row seat that may have extra legroom. The tray table is in the armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width. There may be no floor storage during take-off and landing.
1 D None No Power Seat 1 D is an Economy Class Exit Row seat that may have extra legroom. The tray table is in the armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width. There may be no floor storage during take-off and landing.
1 F None No Power Seat 1 F is an Economy Class Exit Row seat that may have extra legroom. The tray table is in the armrest, making the armrest immovable and slightly reducing seat width. There may be no floor storage during take-off and landing.
10 A None No Power Seat 10 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
10 C None No Power Seat 10 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
10 D None No Power Seat 10 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
10 F None No Power Seat 10 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
11 A None No Power Seat 11 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
11 C None No Power Seat 11 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
11 D None No Power Seat 11 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
11 F None No Power Seat 11 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
12 A None No Power Seat 12 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
12 C None No Power Seat 12 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
12 D None No Power Seat 12 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
12 F None No Power Seat 12 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
14 A None No Power Seat 14 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
14 C None No Power Seat 14 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
14 D None No Power Seat 14 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
14 F None No Power Seat 14 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
15 A None No Power Seat 15 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
15 C None No Power Seat 15 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
15 D None No Power Seat 15 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
15 F None No Power Seat 15 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
16 A None No Power Seat 16 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
16 C None No Power Seat 16 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
16 D None No Power Seat 16 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
16 F None No Power Seat 16 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
17 A None No Power Seat 17 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
17 C None No Power Seat 17 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
17 D None No Power Seat 17 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
17 F None No Power Seat 17 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
18 A None No Power Seat 18 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
18 C None No Power Seat 18 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
18 D None No Power Seat 18 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
18 F None No Power Seat 18 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
19 A None No Power Seat 19 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
19 C None No Power Seat 19 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
19 D None No Power Seat 19 D is an Economy Class seat in the last row of the plane that may have limited recline. The close proximity to the lavatory and galleys may be bothersome.
19 F None No Power Seat 19 F is an Economy Class seat in the last row of the plane that may have limited recline. The close proximity to the lavatory and galleys may be bothersome.
2 A None No Power Seat 2 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
2 C None No Power Seat 2 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
2 D None No Power Seat 2 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
2 F None No Power Seat 2 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
20 A None No Power Seat 20 A is an Economy Class seat in the last row of the plane that may have limited recline. The close proximity to the lavatory and galleys may be bothersome.
20 C None No Power Seat 20 C is an Economy Class seat in the last row of the plane that may have limited recline. The close proximity to the lavatory and galleys may be bothersome.
3 A None No Power Seat 3 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
3 C None No Power Seat 3 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
3 D None No Power Seat 3 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
3 F None No Power Seat 3 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
4 A None No Power Seat 4 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
4 C None No Power Seat 4 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
4 D None No Power Seat 4 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
4 F None No Power Seat 4 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
5 A None No Power Seat 5 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
5 C None No Power Seat 5 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
5 D None No Power Seat 5 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
5 F None No Power Seat 5 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
6 A None No Power Seat 6 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
6 C None No Power Seat 6 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
6 D None No Power Seat 6 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
6 F None No Power Seat 6 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
7 A None No Power Seat 7 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
7 C None No Power Seat 7 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
7 D None No Power Seat 7 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
7 F None No Power Seat 7 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
8 A None No Power Seat 8 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
8 C None No Power Seat 8 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
8 D None No Power Seat 8 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
8 F None No Power Seat 8 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
9 A None No Power Seat 9 A is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
9 C None No Power Seat 9 C is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
9 D None No Power Seat 9 D is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
9 F None No Power Seat 9 F is a standard Economy Class seat. Note that the engines are at the wings, so the center area of the wings will be the loudest.
Economy class offers an a la carte choice of food. This service is offered on all domestic, European and North Africa services except, due to their duration, flights to Amman, Athens, Bucarest, Damascus, Istanbul, Cairo, Dakar, Malabo, St. Petersburg, Tel Aviv, Warsaw and Moscow.
Iberia's ATR-72 aircraft is used for short and medium haul flights. This aircraft is operated by Air Nostrum and can seat 74 Economy Class passengers.
Iberia flies 1 versions of . | 2019-04-25T03:08:34 | https://flights.seatguru.com/airlines/Iberia/Iberia_Alenia_ATR72.php |
0.731927 | I bumped into at the TFM show last week - or to be more precise, I searched you out there. My big business plan is still to link linguistics and semiotics to marketing in a more explicit manner, though my ideas are still to be crystallised (sic).
But what I want to know is, why is the stereotypical phrase for the 1970s Indian a "thousand" apologies rather than a hundred or a million?
I've no idea, and would welcome opinions! I can see why it would be used in 'a thousand thanks' - the alliteration. Maybe that was the model for 'apologies'?
English isn't the only language that likes 1000, and it's interesting that alliteration plays a role in French too - 'mille mercis'.
Perhaps "apologies" is plural like "thanks" through analogy as well?
Similarly, ‘yes’ often no longer seems a satisfactory form of affirmation and we may feel obliged to say ‘absolutely’. Following the thesis of decay and regeneration that Guy Deutscher puts forward in ‘The Unfolding of Language’, we might, if a little fancifully, imagine ‘absolutely’ being shortened to ‘slutely’ and eventually ‘slute’ might become the normal word for our ‘yes’. ‘Slute’ in turn would be felt inadequate and some new elaboration would occur, which would itself be eroded . . .
In Armenian too, Professor, people often say 'a thousand apologies'. But it has some specific connotations like irony, exaggeration, and it also depends on one's preference of expression, to deliberately sound pathetic, I guess.
If an Armenian student should use 'a thousand apologies' it would strike me as Armenian interference.
Indeed, couldn't it happen that the usage, being typical of some other languages like French You mention, penetrated into English via non-native use, influenced by their mother tongue?
Certainly possible. There are clear cases in the history of English of that kind of influence from French, e.g. legal idioms in the Middle Ages.
I'm writing from Italy, where we say "mille grazie" or "grazie mille", i.e. "a thousand thanks" ("mille" being the Italian for one thousand).
We don't say, though, "a thousand apologies", while we use "tante scuse" (i.e. "many apologies"). Nonetheless, people feel free to multiply their apologies at their own discretion, therefore there are individuals who surely say "a thousand (or more) apologies".
On another blog I read, there was a recent question about the use of hope in the plural, which seems to have common use in US English but is less common in UK. I wonder if these share similar reasons for their introduction, as they seem to share similar timeframes. I assume that there's a large random element why the plural apologies would seem normal in UK English today while hopes seems, to some at least, odd.
A plural use of hope is recorded since 1613, according to the OED, and there's certainly no US bias in the examples given, which include Marvell and Macaulay. Maybe the sense of a US usage has come from the associated countable singular usage, as in some hope(s) and not a hope.
Interestingly, apologies have attracted a lot of interest in recent days, following the Gordon Brown 'say sorry' saga. I was interviewed by Radio 4's PM programme during the week about the history of 'sorry', and I see fragments of this interview have now appeared in BBC News Online.
We say a thousand apologies (mil desculpas) in Portuguese. | 2019-04-26T02:13:03 | https://david-crystal.blogspot.com/2009/03/on-apologies.html |
0.998473 | Logitech replied on Feb 28, The V Nano mouse from Logitech is one of the high end models in Logitech’s range of cordless mice. How do you change the batteries on V laser mouse??? I’ve had my one for about 5 months now and it still works great. As long as you remember to turn it off when you finish with it, Its a real pain when you go to use it and the batteries are dead cause its been left on for weeks. I have had other logitech mouses and the battery time have always been good but this mouse was obviously an exception.
It is simple colours, dark grey and black.
I bought my mouse in a bundle with the Logitech keyboard so the colours match and look really good together. I have owned several cordlese products which I found to be slow to respond and much less accurate.
The scroll wheel is smooth and accurate and the battery life is very impressive as well. It’s wireless which is always good if your using logitrch or just don’t want to deal with an added wire and restricted usage. The V Nano mouse from Logitech is one of the high end models in Logitech’s range of cordless mice.
As long as you remember to turn it mkuse when you finish with it, Its a real pain when you go to use it and the batteries are dead cause its been left on for weeks. It has a great modern and sleek design.
It has a scroll and left and right click. I have had other logitech mouses and the battery time have always been good but this mouse was obviously an exception. This is really handy when you want to surf on your computer but have to do something else a little bit away.
How do you change the batteries on V laser mouse??? Its a good mouse for basic functions like web browsing and the range on mouuse wireless is good too I can use it from above and under the level of the laptop as well as from several feet away.
moouse Write a review Ask a question. The DPI isn’t very high so I wouldn’t recommend using this for applications that require intense precision such as 3d games or graphic design. It provides nice sensitivity and is comfortable to use.
This product has been discontinued by Logitech.
Despite its size, it doesn’t compromise on performance and works very well. They have always been mousw, and i have chosen to use rechargeable batteries instead. This is my 2nd Logitech wireless mouse. Very small USB dongle.
Nice size, I have small hands so fits perfect for me.
Companies can’t alter or remove reviews from ProductReview. Your trust is our top concern. It feels good in the hand as it uses soft rubber and plastics, though its a little on the heavy side due to the batteries inside.
It is a unique USB dongle which is tiny which is great if you have a cluttered workspace. The mosue is very easy to set up. Suspects ligitech still draining on battery power even though it’s on standby. It’s an mmouse mouse, but a very good one. It also looks very nice, it has a really stylish design. Logitech replied on Feb 28, Was incredibly easy to install and has only gone through one lot of batteries since new.
If you are not a game enthusiast, then this mouse would suit you.
Has not missed a beat. My overall opinion is that despite the low battery time this is a really great mouse that is worth it’s price. | 2019-04-23T03:55:57 | http://rest-c.info/logitech-cordless-mouse-v450-22/ |
0.99894 | The following article is part of a package of stories that MarketWatch is publishing to mark the start of full legalization of cannabis for adult recreational use in Canada on Wednesday. For more, go here.
Aurora Cannabis Inc. is a major pot producer, but if its bets on other cannabis companies continue to pay off, it may be able to stop actually growing weed on its own.
Aurora US:ACBFF ACB, -1.30% said recently its investments were worth more than C$700 million ($540 million) as of Sept. 21, bolstered in part by demand for pot stocks ahead of full legalization of marijuana in Canada on Wednesday. As the entire sector has benefited, so has Aurora’s portfolio, boosting the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter profit to C$79.9 million, after a loss of $20.8 million the year earlier.
One of the company’s biggest and most profitable bets is a stake in the Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. TGODF, -0.07% TGOD, +0.72% a C$55 million investment in the company at C$1.65 a share in January, that is worth C$5.53 a share as of Tuesday. That would value its stake at roughly C$184 million, which is equal to about 13% of the company. It has an option to increase that stake to more than 50%.
Aurora also disclosed investments in Hempco Food and Fiber Inc. HEMP, +0.50% CTT Pharmaceuticals Inc. CTTH, -5.76% Choom Holdings Inc. CHOOF, +2.10% and a 20% stake in privately held Capcium Inc., which provides equipment to Aurora for making medicinal marijuana softgel pills.
The company spun out Australis Capital Inc. in September, as an investment company focused on the U.S. cannabis market.
What business is Aurora in: recreational or medical?
Aurora is active in both the medical and recreational marijuana markets. Within Canada, Aurora has a medical cannabis business, but is also growing its recreational capacity ahead of legalization. Like all Canadian producers, its international business is focused on medical pot.
Aurora does not disclose how many patents it has obtained or how many are in the works. The company says it’s interested in four main areas of research and development: analytical science related to cannabinoid and terpene profiling, plant science, clinical studies including cannabinoid applications, and clinical science.
The company says that it has signed supply agreements with every Canadian province and territory, representing 98% of the population. It does not have deals with New Brunswick or the Nunavut territory.
One of the company’s key initiatives for adult recreational use is its retail plans for Alberta. Via its investment in Alcanna Inc., the largest private liquor retailer in the country, the company plans to sell pot in the 37 stores Alcanna plans to open in Alberta — the maximum amount allowable by law in the province — and to pursue retail sales in Ontario. Ontario has said federally licensed producers are allowed to open a single retail location in the province, as part of regulations unveiled in September.
Aurora currently has operations in several European countries such as Germany and Italy, as well as medical marijuana operations in Colombia, through its acquisition of MedeReleaf. It has also exported medical products to Australia, and has invested in Cann Group, a local medical producer.
How much weed does it grow and at what cost?
As of September, Aurora said it can grow an annualized run rate of 45,000 kilograms of pot a year. The company sold a total of 5,022 kilograms during fiscal 2018, up from 2,382 kilograms in 2017; Aurora produced 5,632 kilograms in the year, up from 3,037 kilograms in 2017.
For the fourth quarter, Aurora’s net selling price of dried cannabis equivalent per gram was C$8.02, up from C$7.30 in the year-ago quarter. It sold pot oil for C$13.52 a gram, up from C$12.83 in the year-ago period.
Aurora’s cash costs for dried cannabis were C$1.87 per gram in the fourth quarter, up from C$1.80 per gram in same period last year. Oil cost C$1.70 up from C$1.53.
How much pot can it eventually grow?
According to its latest quarterly report, the company says it expects to be able to grow 100,000 kilograms of pot a year by the end of 2018, and is aiming for a 150,000-kilogram run rate. In the future, the company expects to be able to grow over 500,000 kilograms a year.
Aurora’s U.S.-listed shares have gained 50.4% in 2018, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.34% has gained 3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.20% has added 2.4%. | 2019-04-23T14:17:03 | https://www.marketwatch.com/story/marijuana-stocks-to-watch-aurora-cannabis-investments-may-be-more-valuable-than-its-pot-2018-10-16?amp%3Bsiteid=rss&%3Brss=1 |
0.998436 | Will Trump’s Travel Ban Go to the Supreme Court?
A three-judge federal appeals panel in California could hand the administration another defeat over its controversial executive order.
A three-judge panel in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals seemed unwilling to reinstate President Trump’s controversial travel ban during oral arguments on Monday, raising the specter of a showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The panel’s judges—Michael Hawkins, Ronald Gould, and Richard Paez—spent most of their time questioning both sides in Hawaii v. Trump about the applicability of Trump’s record of anti-Muslim statements, and about the scope of the federal statutes cited by the president as the legal basis for the travel ban. Unlike during oral arguments in a parallel lawsuit last week in the Fourth Circuit, relatively little attention was paid to the question of whether the plaintiffs had legal standing to challenge the order, which was a revised version of the administration’s original ban.
The Trump administration defended the executive order as a lawful exercise of the president’s immigration powers to bolster national security, an argument that usually receives broad deference from the courts. “This debate should go back to where it belongs: the political realm,” acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall told the court. But critics like the state of Hawaii, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of its university system and its foreign-born residents, argue instead that the order is aimed at fulfilling Trump’s discriminatory campaign pledge to stop Muslim immigration.
Looming over Monday’s arguments was Korematsu v. United States, the infamous Supreme Court case in which the justices upheld Franklin D. Roosevelt’s executive order on Japanese-American internment during World War II. At one point, Wall urged the panel to rely on the legal standard articulated in Kleindienst v. Mandel, a 1972 Supreme Court case. In Mandel, the Court ruled that immigration-related decisions by the executive branch need only a “facially legitimate and bona fide reason” to survive judicial scrutiny. That ruling established a low threshold for future presidents to overcome in immigration cases; in this one, national-security concerns cleared the threshold, the federal government has argued.
When Judge Paez asked Wall whether Korematsu would hypothetically survive under the Mandel standard, Wall disputed the question’s premise. “I want to be very clear about this: This case is not Korematsu. And if it were, I wouldn’t be standing here and the United States would not be defending it,” he added, using the country as a legal metonym for the solicitor general’s office.
Katyal, a former acting solicitor general who in 2011 effectively recanted his predecessors’ defense of internment, found the historical resonance inescapable. “As Justice [Robert H.] Jackson said in the context of the First Amendment in a religious-freedom case, ‘The First Amendment was designed to avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings,’” he told the panel in his closing remarks. “This very courthouse, which tried, convicted, and then later exonerated Gordon Hirabayashi 44 years ago, stands as a physical reminder about what is at stake.” Hirabayashi unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of a curfew for Japanese-Americans during World War II.
Hawaii v. Trump is one of multiple legal challenges against the second iteration of Trump’s executive order, which temporarily bars visa applications from six Muslim-majority countries and suspends the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days. Trump signed the revised executive order in March, but Watson issued an injunction blocking it from going into effect. The Trump administration appealed the injunction to Monday’s Ninth Circuit panel.
This isn’t the administration’s first bout in the Ninth Circuit, which covers most of the western United States. Trump’s initial iteration of the travel ban prompted a frenzy of lawsuits in the chaotic weekend following its haphazard rollout in January. Multiple federal judges, including James Robart in Seattle, temporarily blocked the administration from implementing the executive order while the legal process unfolded. The federal government then appealed Robart’s injunction in Washington v. Trump to a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel in February, which unanimously upheld Robart’s ruling. The Trump administration opted then to rewrite the executive order instead of asking the Supreme Court to intervene.
Avoiding the Supreme Court may not be feasible for the administration this time. The Ninth Circuit is one of two federal appeals courts mulling the second travel ban this month. Last week, the Fourth Circuit deliberated whether to overturn a Maryland federal judge’s separate injunction against the executive order. If either federal appellate court upholds one of the nationwide injunctions, only the Supreme Court would be able to overturn it and allow the travel ban to go into force.
It’s not guaranteed the Court would agree to hear the case if the Trump administration asked it to intervene. A final decision could be almost a year away even if the justices accept the case. The Court’s summer recess begins next month, meaning the administration would likely have to wait until the next term begins in October before the justices could hear oral arguments in the matter. For now, the ban’s future could look a little clearer when rulings from the Fourth and Ninth Circuits are released sometime this month. | 2019-04-20T18:37:37 | https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/05/ninth-circuit-travel-ban-oral-arguments/526770/ |
0.998907 | Saying gun manufacturers should take steps to track guns, a Boston city councilor is proposing that global positioning technology be installed in firearms.
Councilor Rob Consalvo wants to put a tracking device into newly manufactured guns and have legal gun owners retrofit their firearms so owners and police can locate and retrieve stolen guns the same way police use a computer chip to locate stolen cars.
''Let's use that same technology to track weapons so we know where they are when they're stolen or bought illegally," he said. ''I think it's a common-sense idea."
Consalvo has asked Springfield-based Smith & Wesson, one of the world's largest gun manufacturers, to meet with him to discuss the proposal.
Tom Taylor, Smith & Wesson's vice president of marketing, said yesterday that the company had not yet reviewed the proposal, and declined to comment.
Some gun-rights advocates would likely oppose any effort to install tracking devices. Jim Wallace of the Gun Owners' Action League said that tracking devices would threaten individual privacy.
''We don't live in a society where the government starts tracking the things we own," Wallace said. ''It's just simply absurd."
Gun-related arrests have gone up 37 percent in the last year, and gun violence has risen 77 percent in the last three years, Consalvo said. Many guns, he added, are stolen from legal owners or smuggled into Massachusetts from surrounding states and sold illegally at flea markets and gun shows.
Consalvo acknowledged that the cost of manufacturing guns with such a device could be high, but that it would be worth it. | 2019-04-21T21:07:03 | http://archive.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/01/12/firearms_tracking_device_urged/ |
0.99749 | earnings and dividend growth rates.
For example, according to this approach, if a company with a relatively higher P/E Ratio has a lower-than-average ROE, the company is potentially overvalued.
This method assumes that the value of a business is simply the book value of its assets (sometimes adjusted for replacement cost). According to this approach, if the market price of a company is higher than it's book value, the company is potentially overvalued.
In this approach, the value of the company is measured by estimating the expected future cash flows, and then "discounting" those future flows by the desired rate of return in order to determine the "present value" of the future cash stream.
They are influenced by arbitrary but equally acceptable subjective accounting conventions (such as LIFO vs. FIFO inventory accounting and various depreciation methods).
the time value of money, where a dollar received today is worth more than a dollar received in the future because today's dollar can be invested to earn a return in the interim.
TRUE ECONOMIC VALUE IS BETTER MEASURED by the more objective net cash flows. Valuation focuses on the risk-adjusted discounted stream of future cash flows.
THE DCF APPROACH MEASURES THE VALUE OF A COMPANY by estimating the expected future cash flows, and then "discounting" those future cash flows by the buyer's required rate of return in order to determine their present value.
How the value beyond the short-term forecast period ("residual value") is determined.
THE DISCOUNT RATE MUST BE SUCH that it will reflect the relative levels of business and financial risk. An appropriate discount rate can be derived from two factors: the "risk-free" rate of return (as with government securities) and some premium for investing in the risk of a business venture. Individuals who purchase businesses that have a high potential for success will usually look for opportunities with a minimum of 6% to 8% premium over risk free investments. Why? Because they are usually borrowing money at risk-free rates plus 2% or 3%. The spread between their cost of money and required rate of return then becomes very small.
RESIDUAL VALUE CAN BE ESTIMATED in a variety of ways. For example, one might consider what the potential sale price for the business would be at the end of the forecast period, and discount that sale price back to its present value. The attached analysis uses the perpetuity method for estimating residual value. It assumes that the company will continue to generate a steady cash flow in perpetuity. The value of that cash flow is simply the cash flow divided by the required rate of return, the discount rate mentioned above. That value, which materializes at the end of the forecast period, is then discounted back to present value to determine its worth today.
THE VALUE OF THE BUSINESS, then, is the sum of the present values of the net cash flows in the forecast period plus the present value of the residual value at the end of the forecast period.
The Business Plan Store uses the discounted cash flow approach to business valuation. | 2019-04-19T18:37:35 | http://thebusinessplanstore.com/business_valuations.htm |
0.999923 | The climate in Brazil varies from hot and dry in the Midwest to the tropical humidity of the Amazon rainforest. The coast of Brazil is usually hot and humid all year but it can be cold in the South and in the mountains during the winter months. The rainy season occur from January to April in the north, April and July in the northeast, and June to August in the area of Rio de Janeiro/São Paulo. The seasons are the exact opposite of those in Europe and the United States. Brazil has different climatic zones: in the Amazon region the average temperature is 27 °C, in the Northeast temperatures can exceed 40 degrees, in the South, near Uruguay, average temperatures are 17-19ºc. In Rio de Janeiro, during the summer, temperatures can reach 40 degrees or more, which often coincides with the carnival. Do not mind to request us any travel information about Brazil.
In approachingBrazil you can pay your booking by credit card or by bank transfer. Our secure servers accept all credit cards. The payment information is protected using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) that guarantees the confidentiality of payment data by encrypting information.
A month before traveling, we will send you a complete dossier with all your travel documents via email with all travel information about Brazil.
Can I cancel or modify a travel reservation? What expenses can generate the cancellation or modification of the trip?
At all times the user or consumer may cancel the services requested, and be entitled to a refund of the amounts paid, whether it is the total price or a down payment, but the consumer shall indemnify approachingBrazil for the items listed below : 1) 65,00 euros (VAT included) per person for administration costs plus cancellation fees, if any. 2) As we do nonrefundable deposits to hotels and service providers for the reservation, we are forced to charge cancellation fees. The cancellation penalties schedule is as follows, subject to change: A penalty consisting of 50% of the total trip if the withdrawal occurs at 150 days before the start of the trip, 75% within 120 days prior to the departure, and 100% within pre-departure 90 days. If the client doesn’t show up at the scheduled departure, will not be entitled to any refund of the amount paid, unless otherwise agreed between the parties. In the event that any of the hired and annulled services is subject to special recruitment economic conditions, such as chartering of aircraft, ships, unique ground services, special airfares, etc., cancellation fees for withdrawal shall be determined in accordance with the conditions agreed by both parties. And since our programs include services subject to special economic conditions, we recommend you consult these special conditions. If you foresee the possibility of having to cancel your trip, we recommend that you purchase trip cancellation insurance. You can buy it with approachingBrazil, just email us at [email protected]. Do not mind to request us any travel information about Brazil.
Is it advisable to take travel insurance?
It is advisable to purchase travel insurance. Better to be covered for any eventuality that may arise during your trip. You can buy it with approachingBrazil, just email us at [email protected].
What kind of travel insurance is right for me?
Please ask us about it. Do not mind to request us any travel information about Brazil.
Is it mandatory to purchase health travel insurance?
It is advisable to take health travel insurance. Better to be covered for any eventuality that may arise during your trip. To become ill or have an accident outside your country is not a pleasant situation. Therefore we recommend that you always carry health coverage during your trip. You can buy it with approachingBrazil, just email us at [email protected].
When I can hire my insurance?
You can hire it with approachingBrazil when making the booking of your trip, just email us at [email protected].
What expiry date must my passport have to travel to Brazil?
The passport must be valid for at least six months beyond stay in Brazil.
U.S.A.: A visa it is required if traveling to Brazil. And original, signed passport valid for 6 months beyond stay in Brazil, and with at least one blank passport page available for Brazilian visa stamp; together with air ticket return (the return date must already confirmed). U.K.: British nationals can normally enter Brazil without a visa as a tourist. You must satisfy the Brazilian immigration authority of your intended purpose of visit. You will need to be able to demonstrate that you have enough money for the duration of your stay, and provide details of your accommodation and evidence of return travel. Make sure your passport is stamped. If it is not, you may be fined on departure. Keep your immigration landing card. You’ll need it when you leave. If you lose it you may be fined. European Union Citizens, Albania, Andorra, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland: Valid passport, no visa is needed traveling as a tourist up to 90 days. Anyway we suggest you check with the consulate of Brazil for your place of residence for updated information. Do not mind to request us any travel information about Brazil.
Upon arrival, all visitors must complete a ‘cartão de entrada/saida’ (entrance/exit card). Immigration officials retain half of the card, and you must keep the other part during your stay in Brazil, as you will have to hand it over to immigration officials at your exit of the country.
Where should I go upon arriving at the airport of destination?
It will depend if you’ve hired a guide or decided to rent a car. In the first case, the driver will meet you at the airport to which you arrive.
What do I do if the transfer booked to go from airport to hotel or vice versa has not arrived? / Where can I contact if the transfer does not come to collect me?
You can contact approachingBrazil via email at [email protected], or by phone. We will provide you with all travel information about Brazil and your trip asap you book with us.
Where I can make a claim?
For any claims please contact us by telephone on or by email at [email protected].
The language of Brazil is Portuguese. Spanish is also widely spoken or understood. English is not spoken out of the best hotels and major tourist attractions.
What currency is used in Brazil?
Since the Brazilian currency, the Real, is unlisted overseas, you must bring U.S. dollars or Euros for exchange to arrive in the country. Overall, ATMs work well with credit cards. There are usually no problems paying with credit cards in most shops, hotels and restaurants. However it should be noted that in some regions of Brazil they only accept cash, and you can not use debit or credit cards. Therefore we suggest buying all activities through approachingBrazil prior to your departure in order to make your vacation more relaxing.
What is the system of weights and measures?
The metric system, as in continental Europe.
What type of electricity is used in Brazil?
The voltage varies in Brazil between regions. Even some houses have lines with different voltages. In Sao Paulo and Rio is usually 110v, and in some areas there is no electricity. In Brazil electricity is 60 cycles, so many European appliances do not work.
How is the telephone and Wi-Fi service?
The quality of telephone service is good. Prices vary widely depending on the company and the plan you choose to use. To make calls to mobile, if the recipient is in a different city, the caller must dial the prefix of the corresponding city. However, consider that some areas of the country are remote and do not have any coverage. Same applies for Wi-Fi service. We suggest checking with us prior to booking. We will provide you with all travel information about Brazil and your trip as soon as you book with us.
How I can get the latest news from approachingBrazil?
I am a professional photographer and would like to promote my pictures on your website, how I can do it?
approachingBrazil is looking for new images to improve its website. We love to promote all artists such as photographers, painters and musicians who can help us showcase the treasures of Brazil and its different environments. Our main mission is for approachingBrazil to show the world the natural beauties of Brazil, customs and cultures. Please contact us at [email protected].
If you have already completed and paid your reservation please send us an e-mail requesting an invoice of your purchase. To do this you must provide your booking reservation details, and information to make the invoice (name, CIF / NIF and address).
What should I take into account when paying by bank transfer?
If paying by bank transfer it is your responsibility to send us by fax or e-mail, a copy of the receipt of such operation. Without proof of payment approachingBrazil will not proceed to booking the trip, and will not issue any ticket or travel documents until the money is paid into our bank account, thereby running the risk that the reservation is canceled or the deadline for emission expires. The customer must ensure, and it is its sole responsibility that the money is credited to the accounts of approachingBrazil in the time and manner requested. | 2019-04-25T18:01:03 | http://www.approachingbrazil.com/faqs/ |
0.998674 | So there I was with a 135,000 word novel I had just completed. What next?
With some encouragement from people I trust, I started doing research into what it would take to have it published. That involved hours . . . upon hours . . . upon hours, of scouring the internet, joining countless writing forums, and reading numerous creative writing magazines & books. What I found out was eye-opening, to say the least.
The most common way to see your work end up on a bookshelf is to find representation. Usually that's an literary agent. You can try to send your stuff straight to a publisher, but most of the reputable ones won't even look at it unless you have representation. The agents job is to match and sell your work with the right publisher. If they are successful they get a percentage of the book sales. So an aspiring authors first step is to find an agent that believes in your work as much as you do.
Agents, much like publishers, are very specialized. You don't want to send your mystery novel to an agent who only represents romance, or Sci-Fi. You have make up a list of the agents who take-on new writers in your genre, as well as what their unique submission requirements are. Some only except e-mail correspondence while others prefer snail-mail. The details of their submission steps are very important, because that will be your first encounter with the GATE KEEPERS.
The gate keepers are the people who work for these Agents who do the initial screening of the hundreds of submissions they receive each and every week. If your submission deviates from the guidelines as they have been layed out - REJECTED! Your material won't even have a chance to be read. The process is very un-forgiving.
Let's say you've followed the submission rules and your novel ends up in front of a prospective agent. There are certain characteristics of a book by a new author that the agent will be looking for that will help him/her quickly determine whether the sample of your book is even worth the time of reading. You see, the agents are looking for reasons to eliminate you from contention, not the other way around. They see so many submissions every day that it becomes a process of weeding the stack down to a manageable level. One way they do that is looking at word count.
As a general rule, a novel by a first time author that is over 100,000 words long will be tossed aside. Why? Because publishers won't see it as being worth the risk. The more words it is, the more it will cost to print, and the less likely they can recoup their money if the book turns out to be a flop. Books in the Sci-fi and fantasy genre by new authors have a little more leeway in the word count, but for everything else 100K is pretty standard.
Slow Dancer, at 135K, was doomed already. In order for me to get it in shape to be considered I would have to cut 35K words, or 26% of the book. I found out there were some other problems with it (structure issues, POV problems, etc.) but those were all fixable. I just couldn't see myself lobbing off a quarter of the story.
There was always self-publishing, which is becoming a growing area of the industry. I'm still considering that angle. But I came up with another idea that I'm actively pursuing. I'll write more about that next time.
Everybody and their brother . . . | 2019-04-24T03:48:22 | https://www.dlhammons.com/2009/08/getting-serious-part-3.html |
0.998931 | “I’ve set the stage for doing what I’m going to do,” President Donald Trump Donald John TrumpThorny part of obstruction of justice is proving intent, that's a job for Congress Obama condemns attacks in Sri Lanka as 'an attack on humanity' Schiff rips Conway's 'display of alternative facts' on Russian election interference MORE announced recently. His comment may foreshadow a declaration of a national emergency to address the “humanitarian and security crisis” on the southern border between the United States and Mexico by securing the resources to build a wall.
1) Arrests of migrants crossing the border illegally have declined precipitously over the last two decades, from a high of 1.6 million in 2000 to 396,000 in fiscal 2018.
2) The largest number of “illegals” are individuals who remain in the United States after their visas expire, with Canadians at the top of this list of miscreants.
3) According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 17,000 “criminal aliens” crossed the border in 2018. The vast majority were convicted only of non-violent crimes, including driving while intoxicated and, not surprisingly, entering the United States illegally. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders to the contrary notwithstanding, only six people on terror watch lists were detained at the border in 2018. Nor has anyone who crossed the border ever been found to be responsible for a terrorist act. Legal and illegal immigrants commit violent crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans.
4) The number of asylum seekers jumped from 55,584 in 2017 to 92,959 in 2018. The vast majority of them are families or children traveling alone from Central America, who present themselves to authorities at the border, as American law entitles them to do. A wall is not relevant to their situation.
5) As the recent seizure of 254 pounds of fentanyl reminds us, most drugs enter the United States through cars and trucks passing through ports of entry, or are smuggled in at sea.
Given the absence of any criteria defining a national emergency in the National Emergencies Act of 1976, and a majority of justices on the Supreme Court who are receptive to an expansive view of presidential power, however, a declaration of a national emergency and the deployment of funds (appropriated for other purposes) to pay for a wall may pass judicial muster.
Is a wall, beautiful or ugly, made of concrete or steel, solid or see-through, spanning 2,000 miles from sea to shining sea, and paid for by Americans (and not Mexicans), worth a shutdown?
Is it worth a declaration of a national emergency that subverts our system of checks and balances?
Your answer (and, perhaps, the response of the courts) depends on which Trump you decide is telling it like it really is. Or whether you conclude that both of them are making stuff up. | 2019-04-22T04:14:48 | https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/429277-a-national-emergency-trump-trumps-trump |
0.998933 | Doctors Demand Humanitarian Aid Be Allowed Into Venezuela The Venezuela military is blocking humanitarian aid from getting into the country, where political and economic crisis rage on. The U.S.-backed interim president has vowed to open those aid routes.
The Venezuela military is blocking humanitarian aid from getting into the country, where political and economic crisis rage on. The U.S.-backed interim president has vowed to open those aid routes.
The political crisis in Venezuela is also a humanitarian one.
UNIDENTIFIED DOCTORS: (Chanting in Spanish).
MARTIN: That's the sound of Venezuelan doctors. Yesterday, they were on this bridge connecting Colombia to Venezuela. They are demanding that the Venezuelan military stop the blockade that is preventing U.S. humanitarian aid from getting into the country. The protests come as the power struggle in Venezuela continues between the U.S.-backed opposition leader, Juan Guaido, and President Nicolas Maduro. John Otis joins us on Skype from the border between Colombia and Venezuela. John, thanks for being here.
JOHN OTIS, BYLINE: Thanks for having me.
MARTIN: What can you tell us about the aid, the U.S. aid, that's - that they're trying to get into Venezuela?
OTIS: Well, you know, the U.S. has sent up a lot of non-perishable food items, rice and lentils and cooking oil. There's baby formula and diapers, emergency medical kits. And it's all being stored right near this big border bridge going across between the two sides.
But as you mentioned, Maduro's blocking the aid from coming across. He doesn't want to admit that he's overseen the worst humanitarian crisis in the country's history. And, you know, he's also saying that, oh, sending in this aid would sort of be a Trojan horse, a kind of pretext for a U.S. invasion of his country.
MARTIN: But the aid really illustrates the fact that the Venezuelan people themselves are quite desperate in this moment, right?
OTIS: Oh, yeah, they're very desperate. You know, those doctors we just heard who were protesting on Sunday told me that a lot of the children that they see now suffer from malnutrition. Studies show that most Venezuelans have lost, you know, a sizable chunk of weight due to the food shortages. There's, you know, major medical shortages. One doctor even told me that patients have to bring in their own paper so she can write up medical orders.
So that means doctor - you know, a lot of surgeries can't be carried out, or people have to leave the country to get medical treatment. And so we've seen three million Venezuelans leave the country, and the U.N.'s expecting 2 million more to flee this year alone.
MARTIN: So the military is blocking this aid from getting in. They're doing so presumably at the behest of Nicolas Maduro. So he's still got the backing of the military, then.
OTIS: Yeah, that's correct. And, you know, one of the reasons that the U.S. is sending up this aid and just putting it right there on the border is to try to tempt or persuade military officers to turn against Maduro and to support Juan Guaido, who the U.S. claims is the legitimate president. They're hoping that they allow this aid to come in. And, you know, if that happens, that'll be a big boost for Juan Guaido's provisional government. And it could help bring about regime change in Venezuela, which is what the U.S. and the opposition is really pushing for here.
MARTIN: Is there any sign that that is happening, that there are military officers on the border who are having a change of heart?
OTIS: Well, that's the thing. So far, there is really no sign of that. I mean, it could happen going forward. But right now, that's not happening. And so this aid is just piling up out there on the border. Guaido has called for another round of protests for Tuesday. But so far, the aid's just piling up and not getting in.
MARTIN: Reporter John Otis speaking to us from the border between Colombia and Venezuela. This is where U.S. convoys of humanitarian aid are trying to get into Venezuela, and the military, the Venezuelan military, is blocking access to that aid. John, thanks so much. We appreciate you sharing your reporting with us this morning. | 2019-04-24T18:55:15 | https://www.npr.org/2019/02/11/693417776/doctors-demand-humanitarian-aid-be-allowed-into-venezuela?t=1549922908266 |
0.999999 | Repeat bouts of warming ocean waters could lead to a 'knock-out punch' that kills tropical corals.
A new study has found high ocean temperatures are harming tropical coral reefs almost five times more often than in the 1980s.
The average time between severe 'bleachings' shortened to six years in 2016 from 25-30 years in the early 1980s, research suggests.
Corals die if bleachings are long-lasting, wrecking reefs that are nurseries for fish, a source of food to millions of people and a destination for scuba-diving tourists.
Heat makes the stony-bodied creatures that make up coral reefs expel colourful algae which causes the bleaching.
The Paris Agreement, which was first signed in 2015, it is an international agreement to control climate change.
It hopes to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C (3.6ºF) 'and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C (2.7°F)'.
If the Paris agreement is successful there will still be a Great Barrier Reef, but it will look different.
In June, President Trump announced his intention for the US, the second largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, to withdraw from the agreement.
A team of experts from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia looked at 100 coral reefs around the globe and how often they have suffered severe bleaching since 1980.
Bleaching is caused purely by warmer waters, when it's nearly 1°C (2°F) above the normal highest temperatures for an area.
'Tropical reef systems are transitioning to a new era in which the interval between recurrent bouts of coral bleaching is too short for a full recovery' of mature corals that can require 10-15 years, the researchers wrote in the journal Science.
Climate change will 'inevitably' make underwater heat waves and bleachings more frequent, they wrote.
Bleaching isn't quite killing the delicate corals, but making them extremely sick by breaking down the crucial microscopic algae living inside the coral.
Bleaching is like 'ripping out your guts' for coral, said study co-author Mark Eakin, coordinator of the Coral Reef Watch program for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
It takes time to recover from bleaching, and the increased frequency means coral doesn't get the chance to recover before the next outbreak, Dr Eakin said.
'If you go into the ring with a heavyweight boxer, you could probably stand up for one round, but once that second round comes - you're going down,' said Dr Mark Eakin told the BBC.
Only six of the 100 coral reefs weren't hit by severe bleaching: four around Australia, one in the Indian Ocean and another off South Africa.
Guam has been one of the hardest places hit with eight severe bleaching outbreaks since 1994, four of them in the last five years, Dr Eakin said.
The Florida Keys, Puerto Rico and Cuba have been hit seven times.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who doubts climate change is man-made, plans to pull out of the Paris accord and instead promote U.S. fossil fuels. Australia's goals under the Paris accord are less ambitious than those of some other rich nations.
The Paris pact seeks to limit a rise in average global surface temperatures to 'well below' two degrees Celsius (3.6°F) above pre-industrial times, ideally 1.5°C (2.7°F) by shifting from fossil fuels.
Corals are already under threat with warming of 1°C (1.8°F) so far, a U.N. panel of climate scientists says.
In the 1980s, bleachings happened during local heat waves, and then started to occur in the 1980s and 1990s during natural El Nino weather events that release heat from the Pacific Ocean.
'Now we're seeing the emergence of bleaching in every hot summer,' said DR Mark Eakin, an author of the study at the U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, said in a statement.
Lead author Professor Terry Hughes, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia, urged more action to limit greenhouse gas emissions under the global 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Professor Hughes said there was evidence that some corals could adapt to rising temperatures.
The Great Barrier Reef, the world's biggest, was not doomed if governments stepped up action.
'If the ... Paris Agreement is successful we will still have a Great Barrier Reef. It will have a different mix of coral species, but it will still function and look like a reef,' he said. | 2019-04-21T16:55:50 | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5236769/Low-oxygen-levels-coral-bleaching-getting-worse-oceans.html |
0.998536 | for my cnc I will need after my calculation a source oh 60V and 1500 VA I will have 2 stepper for gantry of 8,5 Nm (1200 Oz) , one same motor for Y axis , one 3 Nm (420 Oz) for Z axis , and for the 4th axis maybe a 3 Nm so the 8.5 Nm motors has 6 A and inductance 6.5 mH , the 3 Nm motor has 3 Amps and 3.2 mH , and if I calculate the voltage the resoult is max 80 V and I can use 60 V source (because for the 3Nm motors I need 60 V max) and I have 3x6+2x3 = 24 Amps x 60 V = 1440 lets say 1400 W (I use some profesional drivers) , what I have to do ? use 2 sources in paralel or what do you recomand me ?
Smeagle, many of the questions you are asking in new threads have already been answered elsewhere in existing threads. For example, the very first thread of this forum section addresses the question of power supply sizing, and why you don't need as large a power supply as you might think. Over in the top of the motors section, there is a sticky thread that addresses why you SHOULD NOT USE those 1200 Oz steppers you are considering.
You may find some more hours of reading will save you much time and effort, especially the sticky threads at the top of each section.
It's sometimes hard to jump into a forum that has been in place for several years and know that most of the questions have already been answered. One of the mistakes that people make is that they need a LARGE stepper motor. That is not true. Without a gearbox or belt-drive a 600 oz*in motor is adequate. With a gearbox or belt-drive a 300 oz*in or 450 oz*in motor is adequate. Remember that the MechMate uses V-rollers and those V-rollers greatly reduce friction. Instead of thinking that a 100 pound gantry requires 100 pounds of torque to move it, think instead that with the V-rollers, that 100 pound gantry may only require 10 pounds of torque to move it.
Another mistake that many people make is that they have to use the maximum voltage permissible to drive a stepper motor. That is also not the case. The maximum voltage is meant to drive the stepper motor at full speed. A CNC machine does not require full speed. If the motor can turn at 750 to 1,000 RPM, it will do more than it is expected to do. That speed often requires less than 75% of the maximum voltage.
It takes a little reading and it might require that you email a few of the regular posters, but answers can be found that will save you a lot of work and a lot of unnecessary costs.
Yes I study and I decided to put two 630 Oz each side for the gantry (that means 9 Nm and is absolutly enought) and for the Y axis only one of 630 oz , and for Z axis one of 420 Oz and for the 4 th axis 420 oz , so a source of 48 V and 7-800 W shoud be enough I think .
as long as you have applied the principles of power, voltage and resistance with respect to the document linked above, you should be fine with your choices.
Smeagle, that sounds reasonable! Keep up the research!
Mike to the rescue….again !
In the name of many, thanks for still being around and posting your wisdom & guidance! | 2019-04-21T20:50:22 | http://mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?s=2fddec3dc4df6f6dc5ff0686986b2f17&t=3107&goto=nextnewest |
0.998827 | An editorial published in the current issue of Addiction recounts the many ways in which tobacco control researchers have been dishonest with the public about the science regarding electronic cigarettes. It then discusses what needs to happen moving forward, and concludes that what is needed is for tobacco control researchers to be honest.
The authors provide several examples of the dishonesty and misinformation being provided by tobacco control researchers, groups, and policy makers.
Their chief example is striking: many tobacco control researchers are referring to electronic cigarettes as "tobacco products." However, e-cigarettes are not tobacco products. They contain no tobacco whatsoever.
the current e-cigarettes on the market operate with ‘no tobacco, smoke, or combustion’ . Furthermore, although traces of tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) have been found in some e-cigarettes, similar traces of TSNAs are present in licensed NRTs [4–7]. This mislabelling is exacerbated by national and international regulations including e-cigarettes in their tobacco regulations or proposing to do so."
The authors conclude with a section entitled "What Needs to Happen?"
Simply put, they argue that what needs to happen is for tobacco control scientists to start being honest, to adhere to good scientific practice, and to guide their conclusions by evidence rather than emotions.
grants and research papers, and also those publishing such papers, to be accountable."
I find quite sad that an article needs to be published imploring tobacco control researchers to be honest and rigorous and to use good scientific practice and draw conclusions based on evidence rather than emotions.
Is there any other area of science where the researchers have to be reminded to be honest and rigorous?
While I agree with the editorial, it is quite a condemnation of the current field of tobacco control research. | 2019-04-26T10:03:59 | http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-sad-journal-article-needs-to-remind.html |
0.998399 | Toy trains were altered when Märklina German company that specialized in doll house accessories, sought to make an equivalent toy for boys in which a continuous revenue stream could be guaranteed by purchasing add-on accessories for decades after the initial purchase. Along with boxed sets containing a train and monitor, Märklin offered extra track, rolling stock, and buildings sold separately, creating the predecessor to the modern model train layout featuring buildings and scenery along with an operating train.
Electric trains followed, with the first appearing in 1897, made by the U.S. firm Carlisle & Finch. As residential use of power became more prevalent from the early 20th century, electric trains gained popularity and as time went on, these electric trains grew in sophistication, gaining lighting, the ability to change management, to emit a whistling sound, to smoke, to remotely couple and uncouple cars as well as load and unload cargo. Toy trains from the first half of the 20th century were frequently made of lithographed tin; afterwards trains were often made mainly of plastic.
Before the 1950s, there was little differentiation between toy trains and model railroads–model railroads were toys by definition. Pull toys and wind-up trains were marketed towards children, while electrical trains were marketed towards teens, particularly teenaged boys. It was during the 1950s the modern emphasis on realism in model railroading started to catch on.
Today, S gauge and O gauge railroads continue to be considered toy trains even by their own adherents and are often accessorized with semi-scale model buildings by Plasticville or K-Line (who owns the rights to the Plasticville-like buildings produced by Marx from the 1950s into the 1970s). However, as a result of their high cost, one is more likely to find an HO scale or N scale train set in a toy shop than an O scale set.
Many modern electric toy trains contain sophisticated electronics which emit digitized sound effects and allow the operator to securely and easily run several remote controller trains on one loop of track. In recent decades, many toy train operators will operate a train using a TV camera in the front part of the motor and hooked up to a display, such as computer monitor. This will show an image, similar to that of a real (smaller size) railroad. | 2019-04-25T19:01:27 | https://modeltrainexpress.com/model-train-express-trainz-model-railroad-2002/ |
0.999983 | I am testing the possibility to do comic book lettering in Publisher Beta. There is couple of methods how to create balloons and one of them is to combine 2 shapes (ellipse and tail) into 1 shape or rather create the non-destructive compound shape for future modifications. It works perfectly in Designer but I cannot find how to combine shapes (destructively or non-destructively) in Publisher. Are those functionalities dedicated to Designer only? I assume when the commercial version of Publisher is out and all three apps in suite are communicating it won't be a problem.
Merging a few shapes into a single shape/object (not grouping)?
How do I trim the end off a shape/curves?
I have a simple shape (collection of lines drawn with the smart pen tool) and a line drawn vertically down this shape. I simply want to just trim off the surplus part of the shape. When I select both the shape (curves) and the line (again, all drawn using the pen tool), press ALT, and then select 'Add' on the geometry option something strange happens. The long way around this is to simply draw the end segment I want, but I want the shape to be nice and clean without worrying about snapping to all the anchor points around it. What's the simple way of trimming off surplus curves to a shape?
I was following the "For Beginners Too" video tutorial when I found a problem performing non-destructive (using the ALT key) compounds of two or more vector layers where one (or more) layers includes a "pen mode" closed-drawing (smart mode) vector: the layers fail to combine properly. If I repeat the procedure but use a destructive compound; I've had no problem. I've tested against regular shapes without a pen drawing and that seems to work perfectly, destructive or not. But, trying to compound a pen-mode shape layer with any other regular vector shape or another pen-mode layer has bad results. It doesn't crash the program, rather the resulting boolean shape which is wrong. And, on a side note: the Divide button doesn't gray out (the other compound buttons do gray) after the compound. Did I use the word "compound" enough?
Hello there, Today I noticed that for some reason, the selection of a compound shape shows an outline that is different from the actual shape. But this only happen on a very particular region, one that have a round corner applied. To be honest, this is not a big problem for me, I am just curious about it, not sure if it is a bug, a mistake I did or if it works like this by software design (probably not). Here is a screenshot, look how the outline of the selection differs from the actual shape in the round corners. Maybe I am doing something wrong?
what does Create compound do ?
Hey guys - I'm new to affinity & vector objects. I'm compound two shapes and I'm running into a problem. My outline shape has a miter join and the shape I'm joining has a round join. But once I do the compound, the new shape has a bevel or miter join where I want a round join .. but I can't change just this these corners .. (I assume because its now a compound) .. Any ideas on how I can get these two points rounded?
This is a feature I've grown to love in illustrator. If you have multiple shapes that have been 'combined' to make one object you can double click on it. From there you can click on a part of the combined shape and delete it without having to remove it by deleting one node at a time. | 2019-04-25T02:13:00 | https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/tags/compound/ |
0.999968 | Will there be justice in Jordan Edwards' case?
A Dallas County grand jury has made a good next step toward holding a fired Balch Springs police officer responsible in the killing of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards.
Roy Oliver, 37, now faces a murder charge in Jordan's death and four counts of aggravated assault by a public servant for indiscriminately firing his rifle into a car full of teenagers leaving a party in April.
Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson deserves credit for doing the right thing and aggressively prosecuting Oliver. She hopes it's "a message we are sending to the bad police officers."
You'd think this would be a slam-dunk case. But Jordan's family members said they are cautiously optimistic that justice will be served.
I can understand why. I join thousands in this community and around the country adopting a let's-wait-and-see approach.
We've seen these indictments of police officers before around the country, only to see the officers acquitted. Even when there's an arrest, charges are dropped before the officers reach trial.
Even in the presence of cellphone and body cam video, officers are rarely held accountable in the killing of these black citizens.
The officer who shot Philando Castile in Minnesota was acquitted last month. Castile, who was pulled over for a busted taillight last summer, was shot after telling Officer Jeronimo Yanez he was armed, while pulling out his license. I still can't bring myself to watch the haunting Facebook video taken by his girlfriend of his last moments.
A New York grand jury decided not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner, a black man who died after being tackled to the ground and held in a chokehold by police officers.
Former Officer Darren Wilson was cleared by a grand jury of fatally shooting Michael Brown after a struggle in Ferguson, Mo. Brown was shot 12 times.
Sadly, that's only a handful of the cases.
Certainly, the circumstances of each case are different. But taken together, they erode a community's confidence in the criminal justice system. The only way we ever will have any hope of building trust between police officers and the communities they serve is to see real consequences for bad behavior in such cases.
I hope Dallas County DA Johnson is right that most police officers would agree with her office's handling of the Oliver case. Most of them do an admirable job in dangerous conditions honoring their vow to protect and serve each and every day.
Jordan Edwards' stepmother, Charmaine Edwards, and father, Odell Edwards, listen as Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson announces that a grand jury returned indictments against Roy Oliver.
And so far, the right stuff has happened in Jordan Edwards' case. Oliver was fired from the Balch Springs Police Department. He was arrested and charged with murder. He's now been indicted.
Our legal system is built on the foundation that defendants are innocent until proved guilty. Oliver deserves his day in court.
But there are some cases that make us yearn for justice.
Nothing will bring that innocent child back. But we're all watching and hoping that we live in the kind of community that says "no more."
That kid's life meant something to us. | 2019-04-24T05:07:22 | https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/07/18/will-justice-jordan-edwards-case |
0.998368 | I'm looking for best practises to design my Application. I have one ASP.NET-Core Frontend-Application and one ServiceStack API.
Both applications don't need to communicate, they both access the same DB in the background.
My questions are, should I combine them both into one Application or separate them in two (and have 2 Kestrel Servers running)?
What would be potential caveats according authentication and session management? Are these even issues?
What would be the pros and cons of the two solutions?
For simplicity I'd start with one unless you have a good reason to separate them as it adds complexity, especially if they're sharing the same Database, from an SOA POV there really should only be a single App/Layer that manages/encapsulates a database.
On the other side if both Apps are unrelated with each other it suggests that the Database should be decoupled and the Apps should be isolated. If you're going to keep them using the same database then they should be in the same App.
The rationale for which to use is between the Majestic monolith and benefits of SOA (not best link, but 1 I could find off-hand), if you're interested in learning more about SOA I can recommend Enterprise SOA and closely related is Enterprise Integration Patterns which are 2 seminal books on the subject.
Basically there are lot of factors that go into deciding what to use: modularity and whether they can be easily de-coupled, dev cycle, i.e. whether they're expected to both be worked on and deployed together, the size of the code-base (small/medium stick to monolith), expertise of dev team, i.e. if all devs frequently work on both keep them together, if devs are assigned to work on different Apps then there will be less friction if they're working on different code-bases.
Thanks for your great reply. Even as a seasoned programmer one often forgets one of the basic rules: "pick the right tool for the problem" :-). The first article about the Majestic monolith precisely hits that spot. | 2019-04-22T18:24:07 | https://forums.servicestack.net/t/application-layout-net-core-frontend-servicestack-api/6914 |
0.999053 | iter-4-1: Which type of loop can be used to perform the following iteration: You choose a positive integer at random and then print the numbers from 1 up to and including the selected integer.
iter-4-2: In the random walk program in this section, what does the isInScreen function do?
(A) Returns True if the turtle is still on the screen and False if the turtle is no longer on the screen.
(B) Uses a while loop to move the turtle randomly until it goes off the screen.
(C) Turns the turtle right or left at random and moves the turtle forward 50.
(D) Calculates and returns the position of the turtle in the window. | 2019-04-23T00:07:44 | https://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/thinkcspy/MoreAboutIteration/RandomlyWalkingTurtles.html |
0.999904 | How much CO2 is contained in the world's stock of bottled fizzy drinks? How much soda would be needed to bring atmospheric CO2 back to preindustrial levels?
For most of the history of civilization, there were about 270 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In the last hundred years, industrial activity has pushed that number up to 400 parts per million.
One "part per million" of CO2 weighs about 7.8 billion tons. A can of soda contains in the neighborhood of 2.2 grams of CO2, so you would need about 450 quadrillion cans of soda. That's enough to cover the Earth's land with ten layers of cans.
There's clearly not enough room to do this. Even if we stacked the cans up to the edge of space,I don't have any hard numbers, but my guess would be that you could probably stack supermarket soda six-pack crates a few hundred meters high before the bottom layer ruptures. they'd still take up an area the size of Rhode Island.We shouldn't actually try it, given what happened last time.
At that rate, we'd need to add one can of soda per person every 30 seconds, which is about 10,000 times the current consumption rate.The global average is one can per person every 5 days. In the US, the average is one every 18 hours. That would add a new layer of cans to the ground every 6I originally had the wrong number here; thank you to Paulina for catching it! years or so.
This layer of cans would get pretty annoying.
Are there any ways out of this predicament?
In some areas, you can turn in soda cans for recycling and receive a small amount of money; in Massachusetts, where I live, it's 5 cents. If you collected one year's worth of soda cans—instead of layering them across the Earth's surface—and emptied them out, you could redeem them for $372 trillion.
With that much money, you could simply buy the world's current reservesSource: xkcd.com/980, bottom right. of coal, oil, and natural gas—the source of the whole problem.
Then, you put it all back in the ground and leave it there. | 2019-04-19T20:29:48 | https://what-if.xkcd.com/88/ |
0.99876 | The best tablet for a teen will depend on a lot of different factors. For example, what will it be used for most? Will they be mostly playing games, Internet use, reading or studying? It will also depend on your budget. There are some fab tablets available which are extremely inexpensive but they will not offer everything the most expensive tablets do.
Operating System - When deciding on a tablet for your teen, it's important to consider the operating system the tablet runs on. s There are two main operating systems of tablet covered in this article. The Apple iOS and Android. It's really just a matter of personal preference on whether your prefer the Android or Apple iOS as they are both great operating systems both with different pros and cons.
1.) The Apple iOS is the operating system used on ipads. The great thing about ipad is that it's easy to use and you can be up and using your tablet very quickly even without much computer knowledge. The other thing about this operating system is that you have access to Apple Istore which has the most apps (hundreds of thousands). This makes ipads important to consider for teens who like to have access to lots of apps and play games too.
2.) Most other tablets run Google's Android operating system (OS). It's an open source operating systems so tablet manufacturers can customize for their own specifications. It's easier for users to customise as well. With most Android tablets, apps are downloaded from their store Google Play which has a wide range of apps and growing every day (although not as many as the Apple iOS).
Screen resolution - Screens have come on in leaps and bounds since tablets first hit the market. The higher the screen reosolution, the sharper the text and images. All the tablets featured below have a decent screen resolution, fine for reading books and watching videos (although some are more cutting edge than others providing a better viewing experience).
Amazon have just released a range of Kindle Fire tablets which offer amazing prices for quality tablets. I have featured two of the tablets to give you an idea of what you get for your money and where you compromise.
This budget kindle fire is a amazing value for the money and is due to be released at the end of September 2015 (although it can be preordered). The specifications (screen resolution, cameras and processor) are better on the more expensive Fire HD tablets but for general tablet use (surfing the web, watching videos and using apps) it's difficult to go wrong at this price.
Screen - it features a 7 inch screen (which is the perfect size for portability without affecting the viewing experience). The screen resolution is (171 ppi / 1024 x 600).
Processor - it features a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor.
Camera - it has a VGA front facing camera and a 2mg rear facing camera which should be sufficient for taking pictures in decent light. Great for the younger market or for skyping to friends. It also has 720p HD video recording.
Battery life - the battery life has 7 hours of listening to music, watching videos or surfing the web.
A more expensive tablet in the Kindle range is the Kindle Fire at $99.99 and is available now. It's has a smaller screen than the budget tablet above but it's HD.
Screen size - if you go for the 6 inch screen, it's smaller than most other tablets. The 6 inch screen is a good choice if you want portability and low cost but you may prefer a larger 7 inch screen. It depends how much value you put on portability and screen size.
Screen resolution - 1280 x 800 for the 6 HD tablets. This is a crisp vivid display fine for videos and reading.
Camera - this one features a rear facing camera to take HD photos and video and a front facing camera to skype.
Speed - the new, smaller kindle is nifty. It feature a fast quad-core processor up to 1.5 GHz for quicker apps and smooth videos.
Compromises on the budget tablets - both budget tablets are excellent choices for very little money. It's great if you want to use it take photos, video, read books. You can play games on the KIndle but there is a lot less choice than other tablets in my opinon. If your teenager wants a tablet where the sole aim is to play games, I would probably choose another option like the ipad mini below.
However, if your teen's main concerns are doing research, surfing the Internet, reading books and checking social media these are fab choices of tablets. If portability and the cost of the tablet are major factors in your decision you can't really go wrong with the either one.
The more expensive versions of the Kindle HD are also due to be released at the end of September 2015.
They are are the thinnest tablets that Amazon has released as yet.
Both feature fast quad core processors up to 1.5GHz.
They also have 720p HD front-facing camera, 5 MP rear-facing camera with 1080p HD video recording.
You can choose but 8gb and 16gb of internal storage with the 8 inch screen and 16gb or 32gb with the 10 inch screen which are also expandable up to 128gb with a microSD card.
And the battery life is up to 8 hours.
The new Kindle Fire has made lots of improvements on the new version. The ipad mini is a lot more expensive so why would you choose this option?
Firstly in my opinion the iOS operating system is better. It's so easy and intuitive to use. The ipad mini has better apps, they run faster and there is better app store with a lot more choice of apps applea ipad store. So if your teen likes his apps, the ipad mini is the worth considering (although Google Play on the Samsung Galaxy is not something to be sniffed at - it has a lot of choice too).
The designs of an ipad is sleeker and it's just nicer to use. It offers a really nice user experience.
If your teen wants to play games on their tablet - it's the ipad all the way. The ipad is much better for gaming too.
Of course if your teen already lives in apple world, there will be little other choice. Ipads allow you to face time with other users. You can easily connect your ipad to the TV with apple TV. The itunes store is there for the music and you won't be able to play your music from itunes on the Kindle or any other tablet.
The latest in the apple tablet range is the iPad mini 4 which comes in at around $399. It's extremely light and thin. Some of the highlights of this tablet include a vibrant screen with a resolution of and the screen features 326 pixels into the 7.9 inch screen making for a real sharp and crisp display. It has a rear facing 8 megapixel camera (but 1.2 megapixel front facing) and 1080p HD video recording, an excellent battery life (9 to 10 hours). It's an excellent choice for teens who want a super portable tablet with great app support.
The tablet war is far from over and it's made even hotter with Samsungs latest the Galaxy tab S2. This comes in at $400 so so similar pricing to the latest iPad mini 4 but a lot more expensive than the new range of Kindle fire.
The question for the consumer is will the experience of using this tablet be worth the money?
It features a stunning Super AMOLED screen with 2048 x 1536 pixels that not only comes into its own when watching media bit also performs fantastically when surfing the web or reading a book. It comes in 8 and 9.7 inch configurations so it depends on how portable you want it to be in deciding which size to go for. It's a tough choice but the good news is they both look beautiful.
There will be the obvious debate on which tablet has is the best. The 8 inch S2 is lighter and slimmer than the iPad mini 4 and offers twice as much storage. The battery life is better on the iPad mini 4. The Galaxy tab is also really thin and sleek at just 5.6mm.
The latest version of the android operating system installed on this tablet has come along way since Google first entered the moble market. It looks beautiful on aforementioned fantastic screen. By all means it's not perfect and can be fiddly some times, but it makes up for this in how you can customise your tablet to make it a real personal experience. I know Apple are slowly pretending to allow a little bit more customisation to there ios but android is king when it comes to this.
Yes the AppStore on iOS is is probably the best and has the widest and largest collection collection of apps but for the majority of people Google Play on the Samsung Galaxy will have everything they need from games and entertainment to productivity or consuming media. If you're into games then all the major big software house produce content for android. Racing games like Asphalt 8 have never looked better. If gaming is your number 1 priorty then you can't deny that iOS (on the ipad) has a lot more variation and quantity. It just depends on if you want that? I'm quite confident that for most people Google play would be enough and the amount of new software being added is increasing daily and will continue to do so. | 2019-04-26T13:52:29 | http://www.best-gifts-teen-boys.com/best-tablet-for-teens.html |
0.999997 | Provincial policy death-knell for iconic McCord Hospital?
The 103-year-old McCord Hospital in Durban, globally famous for its training and affordable high-quality healthcare, has succumbed to an external funding crisis that will almost certainly turn it into a State health facility run by the KwaZulu-Natal health department.
However, 3 debilitating events overtook the financially vulnerable institution, enabling ruling politicians to press-gang it into the dominant principle of spending the bulk of taxpayers' money on 'indigent' patients. Firstly, the hospital was unilaterally taken off the list of training institutions (without being informed). Its request to be included as a partner facility in hospital-complex intern training was refused. Partly because of dwindling patient numbers and visits, McCord had begun farming its interns out to appropriate public sector hospitals for their paediatric, orthopaedic and psychiatry rotations, a common variation of a theme at many teaching hospitals. The last interns to see service at McCord left in August last year. For eight years, the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS relief (PEPFAR) has subsidised half the operational costs of McCord's trend-setting Sinikithemba ('We give hope') HIV/AIDS care programme - but 85% of this funding was halted in June last year. This marked the end of a 4-year (emergency) funding cycle. The United States Center for Disease Control (CDC), which administers PEPFAR, has shifted its focus from HIV Care and Treatment to HIV Prevention and Health Systems Strengthening. This means that in future it will channel funds mainly via national governments to strengthen and co-ordinate national HIV services, instead of via those non-governmental organisations where this is lacking.
McCord's tried to persuade government to continue channelling a similar amount to Sinikithemba for operating costs, by designating it as a primary healthcare site dealing with the more complex HIV cases, but this fell on deaf ears. (National policy is HIV treatment through primary healthcare nurse-led clinics).
Explained Kevin Smith, McCord's chief financial officer: 'I think they felt that we were an expensive Rolls Royce [HIV] service in spite of our excellent outcomes and that it was not [financially] fair to the other clinics. We couldn't believe it. Discussions [with the national Department of Health] continued through April and May [last year] but the hospital simply ran out of time to find alternative options.
'We had two months to transfer out 4 000 people, predominantly outpatients. Nearly 3 500 of them went to the public sector HIV clinics and the others to the private sector,' Smith revealed.
Tests and antiretroviral and TB drugs from the National Health Laboratory Service, provided for free after McCord was designated an official roll-out site in 2007, had topped-up Sinikithemba's 50% PEPFAR funding. These were suddenly stopped halfway through last year. Many McCord HIV patients have continued to attend the hospital's satellite medical centre, but now fork out R300 for the HIV care consultation alone, versus R180 for the consultation, drugs and tests previously. At the time of writing, McCord was still running its male circumcision clinic and health systems strengthening team, using a 1-year cost-extension amounting to 15% of its previous year's PEPFAR funding (around R8 million per annum). McCord doctors and nurses bolster the Ethekwini (Durban) Health District's network by regularly visiting 12 rural and semi-urban clinics, primarily training primary healthcare clinic staff in the diagnosis and management of paediatric HIV, and to a lesser degree handling more complicated cases of HIV/AIDS, thus leaving the public sector nurses free to handle more 'run-of-the-mill' patients.
The coup de grâce for McCord came when the province withdrew its 50% provincial subsidy, effective this month (March), automatically causing McCord to lose its licence to operate as a state-aided hospital. The licence and operating requirements to function as a private hospital would have required an expensive infrastructure upgrade and a radical reshaping of its operating model - now rendered unaffordable. The hospital found itself in a classic Catch-22 situation and after much agonising and exploring fund-raising options, its board finally relented in a meeting with KwaZulu-Natal premier Dr Zweli Mkhize (a former McCord intern) and his senior health department officials on the evening of 29 January this year. They accepted a staged provincial takeover pending the advice of 'transactional advisors' on McCord's finances, with input on market-related prices for its land, buildings and assets.
Some 10 days earlier, McCord management had briefed its 400 staffers about the crisis (as required by the Labour Relations Act) to enable them to seek options other than retrenchment. The upshot was that by the time the takeover was finalised (in principle), some of the best staff members had resigned and patient numbers had halved. Remaining staffers described the facility as a 'ghost hospital'.
The 142-bed hospital has a rich history and overcame seemingly overwhelming historical odds in paving the way for black medical education while situated in a former 'white-group area' (Durban's Berea). Some of the ANC's founding elite served on its board. McCord is regarded with almost universal fondness in today's top echelons of medicine, because of its high-quality training and the team approach and selfless work ethic engendered in doctors and nurses tutored there.
Smith, a highly successful former audit manager and corporate accountant, was hired as McCord CFO in 2009 and almost single-handedly turned its finances around, primarily by re-organising the procurement network. He took over from the long-serving Dr Helga Holst, who retired in September last year and now serves as a non-executive director on the hospital board. Holst said it seemed that government officials had difficulty in embracing the concept of a 'patient contribution to their healthcare by choice'. 'We've always viewed ourselves as a partner with the province in training and service provision and hugely valued them enabling us to continue our service at an affordable rate,' she said. Patients chose to pay a subsidised fee and bypass other public sector services, their perception (often justified) being that they were accessing better care more easily.
Ideology behind an 'us and them' approach?
Izindaba sources from within the plethora of angry McCord-ites, some of them current or former board members, said it seemed the provincial government mind-set was that McCord stood to make a 'profit' out of a Department of Health subsidy.
Meanwhile, an unseemly side-show was provided by the KwaZulu-Natal operational health chief, Dr Sibongile Zungu, who broke a mutually agreed press embargo during final negotiations to publicly and incorrectly infer financial mismanagement and inflated top-management salaries while painting a picture of elitist health services at McCord.
Izindaba sources said she was later given what amounted to an 'internal' dressing down by Mkhize. While Mkhize refused to confirm this to Izindaba, his Health MEC, Dr Sibongiseni Dlomo, lent credence to the rebuke when he publicly stated that there was 'no evidence to suggest' that there might have been financial mismanagement by McCord Hospital.
Dlomo cited 'financial constraints' on government as the reason for the withdrawal of the provincial subsidy. Neither politician responded to pointed Izindaba questions on whether there had been any financial homework done on the implications of their provincial take-over, regardless of any subsidy saving, or what their timeline was for McCord's revival.
Dr Janet Giddy, who wrote McCord's first PEPFAR funding proposal and headed the hospital's HIV programme from 2003 to 2010, said they had initiated 8 000 patients on ARVs and implemented pioneering prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) care, achieving less than 3% mother-to-child HIV transmission as early as 2004. Sinikithemba provided integrated HIV/TB and reproductive health care from 2005 and the paediatric HIV programme delivered comprehensive psycho-social support as well as clinical care. McCord clinicians were given space to use international best practice evidence to respond creatively to disease burdens: in 2008, during the provincial political victimisation of colleague Colin Pfaff at Manguzi Hospital for using externally funded AZT, just before the official roll out, her team was able to pilot innovative care programmes unhindered. As a result of the large HIV patient cohort (whose clinical data were captured on a comprehensive electronic patient record), McCord became a research magnet, spawning collaboration with the world's top medical schools.
'Management gave us free reign to try out different ideas in the field ... we had that space to think outside the box. Conversely, the way the [public] health system works stifles ideas and encourages a lot of dead wood,' said Giddy.
Giddy said the irony was that had the NHI been 'a bit further down the track', alternative models such as McCord would have reaped the benefits of political support. Many top politicians and/or their families and wives in both the ruling and opposition parties have strong historical ties to McCord, either as former patients or staff. They range from President Jacob Zuma and IFP leader Chief Gatsha Buthelezi to Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister for Higher Education and Training and secretary general of the South African Communist Party. | 2019-04-21T22:44:01 | http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-95742013000300009&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=es |
0.999998 | My US-based colleague Jeff McCall senior vice president, strategy services, recently told me of a conference where the entire audience realised that most companies ignore the fact that different customers represent dramatically different relative values to their organisation. In short, 'differential customer value'. Naturally, the offshoot of this realisation is that most current strategies focus resources on customers that are unlikely to reap long term value for brands.
While there is nothing wrong with traditional online strategy objectives of increasing traffic, conversion and average order value per se, the flaw lies in how the strategy is applied in such a cookie cutter format to all potential customers. Consider the ‘average’ customer segment, which assumes that most customers spend around £60. If we used a graph to depict this ‘average’ customer base divided into deciles, showing the distribution divided into ten groups of equal number of customers, you would quickly see that there are marked disparities in the value of these audience segments.
Customers in Decile 1 each spend closer to £500, while those in Decile 10 spend less than £20. Pointedly, more than 70% of these customers never deliver anywhere near the ‘average’ £100 in revenue, as the vast majority of revenues are driven by a small number of customers (generally 20-30%). This 80/20 phenomenon is true of almost every customer base in existence, yet this fact is routinely ignored by strategists.
This type of ‘average’ customer bracketing means that brands will invest an equal amount of resources capturing low value customers, who may invest temporarily in heavily discounted items or free shipping offers and never shop again. Surely it’s far better to invest in a high value, repeat customer, who is more likely to offer enduring value to your brand?
In an ideal world, companies would focus their efforts on their most profitable (and loyal) customers; however to do this there needs to be an intrinsic understanding of what drives and motivates them. Ask yourself, are your most valuable customers interested in ‘one off’ offers that may motivate a temporary customer who is purely interested in entering competitions? Would they be more interested in individually targeted deals or, taking the example of an online fashion retailer, ‘look of the week’ e-mail or an offer of a guest blog slot on your website?
The fact is, these value differences are ignored not just in strategy formation, but also in customer data collection and feedback. Consider the amount of times you’ve seen a site-intercept survey blithely targeted at random customers, or a focus group with a sample of customers that have had no prior screening for relevance to the brand.
Think about it. If 500 customers are randomly selected for a survey, some simple valuation analysis would argue that almost 400 of these 500 responses should either be ignored or heavily discounted. For any product screening to work, we have to ensure that the answers and insights given by the 20% of most valuable customers are considered with the most sincerity, and tailor our strategies or improvement roadmaps around them as appropriate.
The bottom line is that the 80/20 customer valuation phenomenon holds true in almost every customer base, regardless of industry or focus. Choosing to ignore or take stock of this fact is, quite simply, the difference between modest and real growth in the years to follow. | 2019-04-22T07:31:51 | https://internetretailing.net/guest-comment/guest-comment-not-all-customers-are-created-equal |
0.99964 | The continuing violence in Syria and Iraq has prompted some experts to wonder whether the region's borders might at some point be redrawn. That scenario remains, for now, a remote possibility. But what if?
As Sunni tribesmen and Iraqi security forces continue to battle Al-Qaeda-linked militants in Iraq's western Anbar Province, local residents are bearing the brunt.
A clash between Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards around the village of Vorukh is again focusing attention on the problem of cross-border exclaves in Central Asia. What's behind the tensions?
Has Kyrgyzstan Laid Hopes On Devil It Doesn't Know?
Officials in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, were seen as eager to get rid of Melis Myrzakmatov, the troublesome mayor of the country's second-biggest city, Osh. But now that Myrzakmatov has been defeated in mayoral elections, there are worries a fresh round of troubles may begin -- starting with the city's new mayor, who played a prominent role in 2010's southern unrest.
Afghanistan is celebrating yet another soccer milestone after receiving FIFA’s Fair Play Award for 2013. The Afghan national soccer team has received plaudits for promoting peace and unity in the country.
Seeking Engagement: Could Crises Bring U.S., Iran Closer Together?
With an interim deal on Iran's nuclear program and talk of involving Tehran in a Syrian peace conference, there is increasing room for Iran and the West to work together to solve crises. Could that lead to a U.S.-Iranian detente?
In Warsaw, lawmakers are debating a proposal to jail anyone describing concentration camps in Nazi-occupied Poland as "Polish."
At least four statues of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin have been vandalized since the beginning of the year in Ukraine, a trend attributed to growing public rejection of the country's Soviet past.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has died at the age of 85, after spending eight years in a coma following a massive stroke. Sharon ended his tenure as one of the most popular political leaders in Israel -- and as one of the most despised figures in the Arab world, particularly among Palestinians.
An Iranian legislator has sparked outrage among the country's large ethnic Azeri minority after he proposed carving a new "Northern Kurdistan" province out of Iran's West Azerbaijan Province.
Almost two weeks after the Sunni uprisings in Ramadi and Fallujah, both cities remain out of the control of Baghdad. RFE/RL asked Radio Free Iraq correspondent, Abdulkhaliq Muhammad, who is in Ramadi, to explain the situation.
Andrei Kurayev, a prominent Orthodox theologian, says he is bracing for further retaliation after exposing what he claims is a powerful gay lobby within the Russian Orthodox Church. Kurayev has been fired from the prestigious Moscow Theological Academy over his allegations. | 2019-04-26T16:37:35 | https://www.rferl.org/Insight/2014/1/16 |
0.999125 | If you've heard a lot about Lent this week, it's because the occasion--during which Christians of many denominations and other observers traditionally fast or forsake luxuries--starts Wednesday.
Inc. recently spoke to three entrepreneurs about their Lent practices. Along with their fasts, these entrepreneurs plan to use the six-week period to form better habits around faith, health, friends, and family.
"I just eat way too much chocolate," says Theresa Ceniccola, 46, founder of the 3,800-member International Christian Mompreneur Network and owner of a marketing consulting business in Virginia Beach, Va. "It will be a sacrifice to not eat chocolate every day. I want to replace it with something positive."
Last year, when she gave up wine, her concomitant goal was to complete 40 minutes of prayer on each day of the 40-day Lent period. "But I got to day 18 or 19 and let it fizzle," she says.
This year, she again intends to accompany her fast with a daily prayer practice. She believes she'll keep her daily 40-minute commitment this time, by dividing it into four 10-minute segments.
She knows that two of those segments--"in the morning after my workout, and at night before bed"--should be easy.
"It's the stopping at lunch and sneaking it in somewhere else that are the hard part," she says. "I'd rather flip through my emails or check on Facebook."
The prayer piece helps her frame her motivation the right way. "Lent should be about reflection, prayer, getting closer to God, and spiritual growth," says Ceniccola, a mother of three.
With the prayer piece, all this is possible; without it, Ceniccola admits, her motivation can become too self-centered, focused on questions like "how much weight am I going to lose?" or "how much money am I going to save?" by giving up wine or chocolate.
Ceniccola intends to keep a journal of her 40 days. She's convinced that journaling is essential to maintaining her prayer practice. "Looking back, I can see how when I started last year, I did quite a bit of writing," she says.
One of her favorite teachings in Proverbs is 3:5: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."
In a Lent context, the passage provides her with a helpful reminder that not everything in life is within her control or understanding. "I tell myself daily, turn it over to Him," she says. "It's really hard for me to do because I like controlling things," she adds.
Taking it one step further, Ceniccola notes that she chose to be an entrepreneur precisely because it allowed her to be the boss, and to be in control. It's all the more reason she appreciates the tests on self-control that Lent's practices can provide.
For Brian F. Califano, 44, CEO of New York City-based AcceleratingCFO, becoming an entrepreneur also provided the chance for him to be his own boss after 20 years of working as a senior finance executive for large companies including McGraw Hill, Viacom, Computer Associates, and the National Hockey League.
When he co-founded AcceleratingCFO with Scott Margolin in January 2014, he knew his life would change drastically.
"I went from being comfortable and making a good salary to complete disruption," he says. "It's been an enjoyable time, but also stressful."
For example, in building a clientele for AccleratingCFO, which provides outsourced CFO services for emerging companies and expects $300,000 to $500,000 in 2015 revenues, Califano has spent his fair share of time networking and eating out with customers and prospects.
These circumstances have challenged his dietary disciplines, to the point where Califano recognized he needed to cut back on carbs and lose weight. His particular food vice over the past year-plus has been pretzel nuggets.
"At times when you're on heavy deadlines and tight timelines to get things out, it's just so easy to reach for that comfort," he says.
Working in Manhattan, he has also succumbed to the ever-present street-corner temptation of warm pretzels, especially when awaiting the train home to Long Island after a workday in the city.
So this year, he is giving up bread for Lent. He tried giving it up last year, too, and says it worked "to varying degrees." He believes he'll have more success with it this time, just because--with AccleratingCFO now up and running--he'll have more time and energy to devote to it.
Likewise, sometimes it takes an initial failure before a new habit can stick. You learn from what derailed you the first time and adjust. In the same way Ceniccola now knows that the habit of daily prayer requires journaling and flexibility, he now knows that avoiding carbs means avoiding workplace stress, too.
"It's a trite expression that your body is your temple and you should treat it as such, but it's true," he says. "Watching what I eat will go a long way to getting me to a better place, spiritually. You feel better and have more energy not only for work, but for family and friends."
Last year, Weyrich attempted giving up several forms of electronic contact: Google chat, texting, Facebook, and email. He does not hide how challenging it was.
"I will admit that later on in the 40 days of Lent, I broke the texting part of it," he says. "It was too difficult. People thought I had disappeared."
Another reason it was difficult was because it was so extreme, especially for a techie like Weyrich, who is "on the computer all the time."
Like Ceniccola and Califano, Weyrich sees a strong connection between his Lent habits and improvements in his spiritual life. "Being connected all the time gets my eyes off God," he says. "The more silence I can get to, the more I can hear God and pray."
This year, Weyrich plans to give up meat and to work on "some challenge areas in my personality." He knows he's upset friends or family with some of his behaviors, and hopes to use Lent as an occasion to improve those behaviors.
For example, he wants to decrease how often he gossips. He also wants to be less blunt and brusque in the way he talks or corresponds with others. "Sometimes the way I communicate can be too direct," he says. "I want to become more humble and more gentle in my approach. God and others have shown me I need to work on that."
The overall idea is to be more loving and charitable and gentle in both his thoughts and his words. His priest has given him advice about how to do it--advice that anyone could learn from.
For instance, if you are tempted to gossip, do your best to gossip positively about someone. If for some reason you find yourself inclined to spread negative gossip, try to omit names and places. Try to say what you need to say without defaming another individual. "Of course, the best thing is not gossiping at all," says Weyrich.
The Lent experiences of all three entrepreneurs share a common trait: The knowledge that changing your habits is not easy. You might fail the first time you try. You might see that partial changes, rather than extreme resolutions, are the best place to start.
Still, Lent is the season for trying--and for recognizing that the path to self-improvement is lifelong, season after season and year after year. | 2019-04-26T04:01:54 | https://www.inc.com/ilan-mochari/lent-entrepreneurs.html |
0.991627 | I did some similarity network fusion with mRNA and miRNA, and I'm generating a variety of potential clustering options which consist of between 2-5 possible members. I'm interested in testing for membership similarity between multiple categorical variables, in particular those memberships which predict the same number of optimal clusters.
I want to test how consistently samples group together across these variables. The name of (1,2,3) is irrelevant and strictly qualitative. In this instance, it would be a perfect match because the 2 matches bidirectionally to 1.
Is there a statistical test that I can apply to test this? I had read that chi square might be appropriate, but I'm still a little fussy on how to interpret it in my application, since I don't think it accounts for the semantic equivalences between 1 and 2 in the different groups.
Well? Anyone have any suggestions? I mean come now, this isn't stack exchange guys.
Sounds reasonable. If I could recode them properly, I could even do a contingency table.
Your problem amounts to measuring similarity between sets. There are plenty of similarity measures for sets (e.g. Jaccard index), and you can get a p-value for the overlap between two sets using the hypergeometric distribution.
As for the semantic relationship, only you can tell how to account for it since we have no information on this. The standard way of dealing with semantic relations is through ontologies. | 2019-04-22T16:07:29 | https://www.biostars.org/p/260384/ |
0.999997 | The first Buddhist year in Thai system (B.E.) was started one year after the death of the Buddha. Therefore, to find the Christian year or century (AD) please deduct 543 from the Buddhist year or century. For example, the first Buddhist year equals the 543th BC; the first Buddhist century (1-99 Buddhist years) equals 543-444 BC; the 7th Buddhist century (700-799 Buddhist years) equals 157-256 AD. But the system in India was started immediately after the Budda's death.
So far as the second Council is concerned the Venerable Yasa and King Kalasoka may be successful in maintaining the Message of the Buddha in its pristine purity, but the heretic Vajjiputta bhikkhus were in no way defeated. Nor were they discouraged in propagating those heretical beliefs to their followers as a counter-attack for the Venerable Yasa. Their competition proved to be no less successful for there grew more and more discordance among the Buddhists both bhikkhus and laities. Since there are always those who prefer what is convenient to them and others who respect what is good and right more than what is what is only convenient, the quarrels between the two groups became more and more bitter. So much so that the bhikkhus of one group refused to perform religious rites and ceremonies with those of the other group. This was equivalent to saying that the bhikkhus of other group were no more bhikkhus in the ecclesiastical sense and were consequently as good as a layman. Thus Buddhism was at this time i.e. 218 years after the Buddhas death rent by discord in two hostile schools viz. the Theravada and the Acariyavada. The former represents those who still respect the words of the Thera or Elders such as the Venerable Yasa of the second Council, whereas the latter represents those who still cling to the teachings of the Vajjiputta bhikkhus. We also learn more of this unhappy incident from some historians who say that each of the two schools were even subdivided into several different and antagonistic sects, numbering altogether eighteen. This shows that the situation of Buddhism was at that time almost hopeless for any well-wisher to make better. The need was strongly felt for a strong man in this critical moment of Buddhism.
After this monastic purgation the holy Tissa was then invited to call a meeting once again of the righteous and well versed bhikkhus for the sake of reviewing and re-standardizing as in the previous Councils the Masters doctrine so that it could be correctly handed down in all its simplicity and nobility. For this purpose the Arama (or monastery) of Asoka in the town of Pataliputta was presented to the holy ones as the choice place. About one thousand bhikkhus were called in to participate in this Council which lasted nine months, during which King Asoka, like the previous kings of the first and second Councils, had all the time given his best help. This even took place in the two hundred and eighteenth year after the Buddhas death.
During the time Tvaravadi kingdom was still flourishing there were in the south of Thailand several states, some of which, as mentioned in the Chinese record, were Siah-Tho (Red Earth) and Phan Phan. The former was situated somewhere near the state of Saiburi in the Federated Malay States (also some archaeologists confirm that this state was somewhere near the town of Madrid in Burma). Its people professed Buddhism. The latter was what is at present the town of Surat Thani in Thailand (some 650 kilometres South of Bangkok). Its people were said to accept Theravada Buddhism as their faith. These states used to have close communications with the Tvaravadi. In the twelfth Buddhist century there arose in Sumatra a Srivijjai kingdom, whose dominating power and territory extending to the Malay Peninsula was bordered by that of the Tvaravadi kingdom. In these states during this time, however, the Savakayana Buddhism, according to the Chinese missionary E-Chings record, was still flourishing, since their rulers and people firmly adhered to the rules and the practices of the doctrine. But when the Pala dynasty of Magadha-Bengal began to rise to power, Mahayana Buddhism, especially the Mantrayana sect, was energetically patronized, and since the country also came into contact with the equally mighty kingdom of Srivijai, now lord of the Southern Seas and the Malay Peninsula, the Mahayana sect had been accepted by the Srivijai kingdom as their faith for the following five Buddhist centuries. Evidences of these may be found in that in the town of Nakhon Si Thammarat, which was then known by the name of Tam-Pnon-Link, there is a rock inscription in Sanskrit characters, dated as far back as B.E. 1318 (775 AD), mentioning the suzerainty of a Srivijai King. Also in the fifteenth Buddhist century, there was mentioned a great religious teacher of Tibet, called Dipankara Atisa who had had his resident for 120 years at the Dhamma-Kirti in Sumatra. Next to these will be seen in the Vihara of Borobudur in Java, of which there is now no further question as to the greatness of its constructor. Especially in Thailand several places of worship such as the pagoda or Chedi enshrining the Buddha relics at that town of Chaiya and the innermost Chedi within the Ceylonese style Chedi at the town of Nakhon Si Thammarat are, among many others, undeniable evidences of Srivijai influence accompanies with Mahayana Buddhism of those days. These evidences along with several others, tell us that there were tow periods when the Srivijai influence was spread overseas to the land of Kam-Bhoo-Ja (Cambodia) and to her colonies in the thirteenth Buddhist century, whereas the second one was in the middle of the fifteenth century. King Suriya Varaman the first of Cambodia was also of Srivijai lineage and such was the reason why Mahayana culture was once flourishing in the countries of Thailand and Cambodia from the thirteenth Buddhist century.
The fifteenth to the eighteenth Buddhist century, when the Cambodian influence was predominant in Thailand, was called Lop Buri period. Some of these Cambodian kings, however, were Buddhist while others were Brahmanists. As for Buddhism then prevailing, they were mentioned both Theravada and Mahayana: the former not so ardently supported as the latter, since most kings were inspired by the Mahayana Buddhism, which had struck firm roots in this soil since the Fu-Nan period. Though it was for some time, during the Tvaravadi period, on the decline, it was subsequent to the decline of the Tvaravadi kingdom that the Mantrayana sect of Mahayana School was adopted from Srivijai and quickly became the dominating power in Cambodia and in some parts of Thailand such in the central plains and the north-eastern tableland. The well-known rock temple at that town of Phimai (on the north-eastern tableland) bears evidence of the dominating power of this Mahayana sect. This was supposed to be built in the sixteenth Buddhist century while the triple Prang (a kind of pagoda) at Lopburi was also known to be dedicated to Mahayana Buddhism. Besides, a countless number of Buddha amulets will be found in several towns of Thailand such as in the town of Nakhon Sithammarat (some 800 kilometres south of Bangkok), Lopburi, Suphanburi and Sawankalok (some 500 kilometres north of Bangkok). These were all made according to the belief of the Mantrayana Buddhism which was later on the breeding ground of a sort of black magic that was added to the corpus of Buddhism in the neighbouring countries as well as in Thailand.
But in the following century (the eighteenth Buddhist century) Nan-Chao Kingdom was overrun by Kublai Khans army. This was the cause of further migration southward of the free-spirited Thais and they consequently came into contact with their compatriots who had settled down in the Indo-China Peninsula before that time.
The Chiang-San or Yo-nok, the sixteenth twenty-first Buddhist century, was founded in the sixteenth Buddhist century by the Thais migrating from their Ai-Lao Kingdom. They seemed, however, to have at this time a more cosmopolitan outlook in their religious beliefs, for while some were known to be still ardent supporters of Buddhism of their former Kingdom (Ai-Lao), others adhered strongly to the Theravada of the Mons, others Mahayana of Cambodia and still others Mahayana of the Nan-Chao Kingdom. But in course of time, some parts of the Kingdom were under the suzerainty of the Burmese, who had been used to adopting and re-adopting various faiths that reached their land. They, as well as the Thais, first professed Theravada Buddhism of the Mons and then changed to the Mantrayana sect of Mahayana school which reached Burma from Bengal in India. Then in the sixteenth Buddhist century, when King Anoradha of Burma re-adopted the former Theravada as his faith, seat of Buddhism was then at the town of Phu-Kam (or Pagan) where Theravada Buddhism had had her golden days. This led to a misunderstanding by some historians who concluded that the Buddhism belonged to another system of thought and practice and thus incorrectly named it Theravada in the Pagan Style. In fact it was no other than the former School of the Mons which had once been on the decline and was afterwards revived during the great king Anoradhas reign.
Due to his mighty forces the north-western part of Thailand and some of the town on the Chao Phaya River were also under his power. The town of Nakhon Pathom was also overrun during his reign. Thus Theravada Buddhism also gained ground in these parts of the land. But owing to their being accustomed to their former practices, Mahayana Buddhism was still firmly adhered to by those who had once been under Cambodian influence.
The eighteenth Buddhist century saw the decline of the Cambodian power which paved the way for the independence of the Thais and then to the establishment of the Sukhothai kingdom by the free Thais under the leadership of Poh-Khun (Lord or Chief) Intrathit and Ban Muang. These people of Sukhothai professed Buddhism both Mahayana and Theravada, while those of the north-east and of Nakkon Sithammarat in the South, being independent of Sukhothai, adhered firmly to Theravada. In the reign of the great king Ram Kam Haeng, third king of the Sukhothai lineage, his kingdom was greatly extended as far north as the town of Luang Phra Bang and as far south as the Malay Peninsula. In the East it was bordered by the river Mae Khong and in the west it annexed the whole of the Mons kingdom. The flood of Srivijai power was now ebbing away due to the downward press of the Thais together with the upward press of Java. And, just as before, with the ebbing away of military power came the decline of its accepted faith. Thus it was now the turn of Theravada to gain the spiritual power over the people, whereas Mahayana of Cambodia and Srivijai, having once risen to power together, were once again having an equal share in their declining days.
All though the time of Sukhothai period Buddhism had played a very important role as the foundation of culture, architecture and Buddha image construction, some evidences of which may be seen in the exquisite workmanship displayed in the images of the Buddha called JINARAJ, in the grand temple of Phitsanulok, 400 kilometers north of Bangkok, and JINASRI in the temple of PAVARANIVESA in Bangkok. The stars of Sukhothai, however, had risen for one hundred and twenty years and from that time it began to fall gradually until the kingdom was finally annexed to Ayutthaya.
While one of the Thai tribes of the Chao Phraya River was founding Sukhothai kingdom, another tribe in the north-western tableland, called Lanna, was also successful in driving out the Mons influence from the River Ping. In the nineteenth Buddhist century King Meng-Rai of the ancient Chiang-San dynasty was known to have defeated King Ye-Ma, the Mon king of the town of Lamphun, and later built his capital at Chiang Mai.During this time Theravada Buddhism of Ceylon had been brought from their flourishing states in the Mons country and in Sukhothai to the north-western tableland, but was not able to take its firm roots there. In the twentieth Buddhist century through the royal order of King-Kue-Na, several Lankavangsa bhikkhus both from Moulmein (Mau-Ta-Ma) and from Sukhothai were invited to Chiang-Mai (750 km north of Bangkok) to preach their doctrine. Of these bhikkhus along with their followers, one named Ananda was from the town of Mua-Ta-Ma in the Mons country and the other called Sumana was from Sukhothai.
In the following century (B.E. 2020 or 1477 A.D.) under the auspices of King Tilokara, the thirteenth of Chieng Mai dynasty and under the leadership of Khammadinna Thera, a general Council of bhikkhus which lasted one year was convened at the Maha Bodhivong Vihara. Practically this was the first Council held in Thailand and reflected the intensive study of Buddhism during the time. A collection of Pali texts, compiled by the Thera (Elders) of that glorious age, are now a pride of the those who wished to further their research of Buddhism in the Pali language. Some such texts were Abhidhammayojana, Mulakaccayanayojana. Vinayayojana, Vessantaradipani and Mangalathadipani. In the following (twenty-second) century the town was taken by the Burmese and from time Chiang-Mai became a unhappy town alternately torn by two superior powers i.e. Burma on her north and the kingdom of Ayutthaya on her south.
Through more than four centuries which marked the age of Ayutthaya kingdom, Theravada Buddhism in Thailand seemed to reach its zenith of popularity. Within and without the city of Ayutthaya there scattered innumerable temples and pagodas which served as places, thereby exerting a great influence on the spiritual life of the people. Buddhist art, both in the field of architecture and Buddha-image construction, were on the same line of flourishing. An illustrative example of this fact may be seen today in the temple of the Foot-Prints at Saraburi. There was also a tradition which is still in practice today for every Thai young man to be ordained at least once as a bhikkhu. Several kings such as Phra Borom Trai Lokanatha, the 18th king, in following the example set by King Li-Thai of Sukhothai period, had temporarily renounced his throne to be ordained as a bhikkhu.
During the reign of Phra Borom-Kote, the thirty-first of Ayutthaya kingdom, there reigned in Ceylon (now, Sri Lanka) a king named Kitti-Siri-Raj-Singha, who being discouraged by the decline of Buddhism in his island country and learning that Buddhism was purer in Thailand than any other country, sent forth his religious mission to the Thai King, asking a favour of some Thai bhikkhus to revive the spirit of Theravada Buddhism which had almost died out in his land. This was a good occasion when Thailand was able to repay her debt to Ceylon and the Venerable Upali, together with his followers, were sent to Ceylon. Thus the community of Ceylonese bhikkhus ordained by the Thai bhikkhus at that time has ever since been called Upali-Vangsa or Siam-Vangsa. It is the well known and most revered sect in Ceylon.
There was not much to say about Buddhism in the short-lived Thonburi period (2310-2365 BE). During the prelude of fifteen years, a greater part of which was occupied in driving our the enemy and restoring the peaceful situation of the country, what could be done to Buddhism was merely a general revival of Buddhism, not to say the compiling of new texts and other measures for the propagation of Buddhism. In the reign of King Thonburi he had several temples repaired, monastic rules settled, religious texts collected and the study and practice of Buddhism revised to some degree. With regard to the texts such as the Tipitaka, Commentaries and Sub-commentaries destroyed by fire, he had them borrowed or copied from those Cambodia. It is safe, however, to say that Theravada Buddhism in the form of that of Ayutthaya was still prevailing in Thonburi period.
In B.E. 2372 there was a religious movement which marked a cornerstone for the study and practice of Buddhism in Thailand -- the birth of the Dhammayutta group of bhikkhus. This was due to Prince Mongkut, the Kings younger brother who had been ordained as a bhikkhu for 27 years. Through this long period of secluded life he was endowed with a thorough knowledge of the Buddhist Scriptures, including the Tipitaka, its Commentaries, Sub-commentaries and other Pali texts as well. With such a wealth of knowledge gained and digested as a result of long and profound thinking, he was able to distinguish more clearly between what is right and what is wrong in the Masters doctrine. He then set out putting to practice what is mentioned and regarded as righteous in the Tipitaka. By doing so, he unwittingly made a great impression on those who, inspired by his conduct, took it upon themselves to follow his way of life. This group of people, in course of time, grew bigger and more popular and became a separate gathering of bhikkhus called the Dhammayutta group as distinct from the former group of bhikkhus in Thailand. Besides being proficient in religious knowledge, Prince Mongkut also had a good command of Sanskrit and English , and in his establishing the Dhammayutta group of bhikkhus, his movement might be compared with that of the Venerable Rahula Thera who through his examplary mode of practice had founded the Lankavangsa group of bhikkhus at the town of Nakhorn Si Thammarat (some 800 km. south of Bangkok).
King Rama VIII or King Ananda Mahidol, succeeded King Rama VII in the year B.E. 2477. The administrative system for the community of Bhikkhus was during this time altered in compliance with that for the State, so that there were Ecclesiastical ministers and prime minister. More of this alteration will be dealt with under the heading Administrative system for the community of Thai Bhikkhus in the following pages.
A special hospital for Bhikkhus was built and two Buddhist Universities, in the real sense of a university, were established. These two are Mahamakuta University, situated at the temple of Bovoranives, opined in B.E. 2489. and Mahachulalongkorn University, situated at the temple of Mahadhat, opened in B.E. 2490. There two Buddhist Universities were really managed by Bhikkhus, with a subsidy from the Government and contributions from the public. Also studying in these two universities are Bhikkhus from neighbouring countries such as Laos and Cambodia. Up till now there have been several groups of graduated students. This is in a way a good omen foe Buddhism in this age of trouble and turmoil.
Mahayana Buddhism might have theoretically or nominally been lost from Thailand in the eighteenth Buddhist century, but all through this time some of its ideals have been practically and with some degree of sincerity adhered to by the general public. The general belief that everybody is or can be a Buddha and that the king is a Boddhisatva [or future Buddha] including the efficacy of charms and amulets that make a believer invulnerable to weapons and dangers and misfortunes are evidences that the spirit of Mahayana is still clinging stubbornly to the hearts of the people.
The first time Mahayana Buddhism came into Thailand was the Mantrayana Sect. Then for the second time Mahayana was introduced in the reign of King Thonburi and Rattanakosin Period by the refugees from Viet-Nam or An-Nam at that time. Owing to a state of revolution in their country, there were many noblemen and people who were immigrants from An-Nam. They later on built up a temple of their own. With a second wave of immigrants two more Annam Temples were built in Bangkok. In the reign of King Rama III, there more temples of the An-Nam Buddhism, one in Bangkok and two in the country, were built by the third group of immigrants.
In the reign of King Rama V there came from China a Chinese Bhikkhu, who later became very popular among the Chinese in Thailand, He afterwards built two Chinese temples - one in the country and the other in Bangkok, called in Chinese Leng Noi Yee or Wat Mang Kon Kamalavas which is the biggest Mahayana temple in Thailand. When an ecclesiastic title was given to the Chinese and the An-Nam Bhikkhus, he was one of those who were offered the honorable title. It should be noted, however, that Mahayana Buddhism in Thailand introduced by the Chinese and the An-Nam Bhikkhus belonged to the Sukhavati sect (Pure Land sect).
Another progressive step of the Chinese Buddhists during this reign was the building of another temple of their own-the first temple in Thailand that, due to the presence of Sima (formal boundary mark as prescribed in the Vinaya or Book of Discipline), can be used as a place wherein to perform the religious rite of ordination. This eliminated one of the previous troubles that required a Chinese bhikkhu to be ordained from China. In addition to this, there were also many Buddhist Associations founded by the Chinese Buddhists for the purpose of propagating their Mahayana doctrine. Nevertheless, their propagation was practically restricted among their fellow countrymen. This is possibly because the Mahayana Bhikkhus are generally more relaxed in their behaviour and less educated in their study.
At present there are several Buddhist as associations under the management of devoted lay adherents. Some of these are the Buddhist Association and the Yong Buddhist Association of Thailand, both with affiliated societies in almost every town in the country. By the efforts of these associations programs for a lecture or talk or discussion on the Dhamma are at regular intervals arranged for the public, in addition to a periodical each of their own. | 2019-04-19T04:22:09 | http://budsas.net/ebud/ebdha145.htm |
0.99969 | A new question has been asked - what are we going to do next, and, having already added it (and forced many people to change their scripts aready) will we change the position of the client @0xptr tag, or leave it where it is, going forwards?
I think we should not move it - what's done is done, and too many people have now upgraded to BIND 9.11 and updated their logfile parsing scripts. Can we confirm our plans please.
This is a follow-up on https://bugs.isc.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=44606 The following change in BIND 9.11.0 caused many people's querylog parsing scripts to break, moreso because the new logging wasn't added at the end of the layout (although it may anyway have broken some parsers): > 4471. [cleanup] Render client/query logging format consistent for > ease of log file parsing. (Note that this affects > "querylog" format: there is now an additional field > indicating the client object address.) [RT #43238] A new question has been asked - what are we going to do next, and, having already added it (and forced many people to change their scripts aready) will we change the position of the client @0xptr tag, or leave it where it is, going forwards? https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.protocols.dns.bind/6p8SwGEiC2M I think we should not move it - what's done is done, and too many people have now upgraded to BIND 9.11 and updated their logfile parsing scripts. Can we confirm our plans please. | 2019-04-23T14:33:12 | https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/bind9/issues/552 |
0.997981 | Discipline is very important in a civilized life. Discipline can be defined as control over one’s desires and obedient’ to codes of behavior. If there is no discipline, there is confusion everywhere. Discipline is of great importance in school and at home. If there is no discipline in schools, it is not possible to imp education effectively. It is necessary to maintain law an order in the society. There should be discipline at home also. Children must be taught self-control. Parents themselves should keep discipline. Children should be taught the value discipline in childhood.
A country cannot face extern wars if its armed forces are not disciplined . Unfortunately, there are not much discipline today schools, colleges and government offices. That is w India is facing many problems . Discipline is necessary for people in all walks folia Students studying in schools and colleges, Define personnel, industrial workers – all must have disciple Only then a nation can progress| A student needs to be very punctual to his routine. He should be very regular and sincere to his studies. He should be hard working.
He should always be ready and active in various other extracurricular activities. He should remain active and smart. He should learn how to face difficult situations and how to win over them. A student is the future of the country. It is he who has to take the responsibility of the country. He should be healthy and fit. Physical education is as important for students as to be studious and sincere at studies. A student should always be in good health and fitness. For this he should get up early in the morning. He should take exercise daily. He should play game of his choice daily.
It is well known that a healthy body has a healthy mind. He is mind will be strong and sharp only when he is physically strong, fit and healthy. The biggest task of a student is to study. A student should be very devoted and sincere to his studies. He should be very punctual. He should know the importance of time. He should regularly do his home work. He should have an urge to learn new things. He should have respect for his teachers and elders. He should be very cooperative with his friends. He should help the needy. Discipline demands self-control and dedication.
One who cannot control himself cannot control others. He has to dedicate his individuality in the larger interest of society. Discipline is a virtue. It needs to be cultivated from early childhood. It cannot be developed overnight. It takes time and requires patience. When discipline is enforced, it fails to bring the desired result. True essence of discipline is lost when it is enforced . Student life is the formation period of life. The foundation of adulthood is laid down during the time. The man grows with the habits and manners acquired at that time. These things hardly change. | 2019-04-25T22:13:31 | http://bfigwa.web2001.cz/482-school-discipline-essay.php |
0.999981 | I will say a true word after which no Muslim can argue after the truth appears to him.Firstly, the Salafee da'wah is an ascription to what? 'Salafee' is an ascription to the 'Salaf' (pious predecessors), so we have to know who the Salaf are and then what this ascription means and its importance as regards its meaning and implication.
The Salaf are the people of the first three generations whom the Messenger of Allaah (S) declared to be good in the authentic and mutawaatir hadeeth recorded in al- Bukhaaree and Muslim and others from a group of the Companions that he said: "The best of people is my generation, then those who come after them, then those who come after them.", i.e the first three generations. So the Salafees attach themselves to the Salaf, and if we know the meaning of 'Salaf' and 'Salafee' then we should bear two things in mind.
That this attachment is not to a single person or persons, as is the case with other Jamaa'ahs present in the Muslim world. This is not an attachment to a person or even tens of people, but to that which will not err, since it is impossible that the Salaf would unite upon error, as opposed to the people of later times, since with regard to the later generations, there is no text speaking in their favour. Rather, in general, they are spoken ill of in the end of the previous hadeeth: "Then there will come a people who give witness and their witness is not asked for...", and in other ahaadeeth there occurs: "A group of my Ummah will not cease to be upon the truth..."
So this is a praise for them but a censure of the rest since the praise is for a particular small group. Linguistically, 'Taa'ifah' is used to refer to a single person or more.
That after this is understood, it is not possible for any Muslim but to be a Salafee, since we have understood that in attaching oneself to the Salaf one has attached himself to that which cannot err. This is taken from the hadeeth: "My Ummah will not unite upon error," and it is not correct to refer this to the people of later ages; those present today.
In addition to that is the ahaadeeth referring to what happened to the previous peoples - the Jews and the Christians - and what will befall the Muslims, regarding splitting into sects, saying: "The Jews split into seventy-one sects and the Christians into seventy-two, and my Ummah will split into seventy-three sects. All of them are in the Fire except one." The Companions said, "Who are they, O Messenger of (S)?" He (S) replied "They are the Jamaa'ah." This shows who is meant in the previous hadeeth "My Ummah will not unite upon error" since they are the saved sect, along with those who have their outlook and follow them.
I have many times pointed out to our brothers the wisdom of our Lord's attaching in this aayah 'the following of a way other than that of the believers' to 'the opposing of the Messenger', what is the wisdom in that, since even if the aayah did not contain the part about following a way other than that of the believers, then the first part about opposing the Messenger (S) would have been enough to earn the person the evil end mentioned. However, it is not possible that the second part has no relevance, and we seek Allaah's refuge from such a thing. Its wisdom is shown by Imaam Ash-Shaafi'ee's using it as a proof of Ijmaa' - meaning: 'He who takes a way other than that of the Companions'- who are unerring - and they and those who follow them are the Jamaa'ah whom the Messenger of Allaah (S) declared to be the saved sect.
They are those whom it is not permissible to oppose - for one who wishes to be saved from Allaah's punishment on the Day of Resurrection. Therefore the Muslims have to be aware today, who are the Muslims mentioned in this aayah? And then, what is the wisdom in Allaah's intending the Salafus-Saalih and those who follow them? The answer has preceeded and is, in brief, that they are the Companions who were present when the revelation came down, and who took it direct from the mouth of the Messenger (S). They saw the Messenger (S) living among them following the revealed rulings of the Qur'aan, many of whom were explained by his (S) sayings. | 2019-04-25T16:41:02 | http://www.spubs.com/sps/sp.cfm?subsecID=SLF02&articleID=SLF020002&articlePages=1 |
0.999996 | Why Does A Rare Variant Need A Large Effect To Be Detected In Gwas?
Question: Why Does A Rare Variant Need A Large Effect To Be Detected In Gwas?
I'm not from a biology background so please forgive the ignorance. I have just read that a rare variants (MAF < 0.5%) needs a large effect size to be detected by association studies. I don't follow the reasoning behind this. As long as the rare variant is on the DNA chip you are using to detect the genotypes of the individuals in the study, why should the rare variant need to have a larger effect than any other SNP on the chip. Is it just because the biological effect in question might be over-looked and not spotted at all as a biological effect if it is rare in the population? I don't really know what 'symptoms' are measured in these studies to know how it is possible to overlook an effect. In my limited conceptualisation the subjects in the studies either have or don't a detectable illness/trait but i imagine its more subtle than this.
It is simply a matter of statistics: if something has only a weak effect, you need a large number of observations for the effect to be statistically significant. If a SNP is rare, it will affect only a small proportion of your cohort. If at the same time it has only a weak effect, you would need a prohibitively large cohort to obtain a statistically significant result, especially after correction for multiple testing.
RE: the synthetic associations paper by Goldstein, PLoS Biology recently published two rebuttals, a rebuttal to the rebuttal by goldstein, and an editorial on the topic.
Thank. I have another question if its ok. The paper i am reading says...'because recombination must be exceptionally high to eliminate the possibility of genome wide associations, one or more of the causal sites could be a considerable distance away from the common variant with the association signal'.. I don't get that. I thought the point was that there exists these regions called haplotypes where this is no recombination so you could use a tagSNP to tag other variants in the haplotype as they will be co-inherited. How can there be no recombination and 'exceptionally high recombination?
I guess we are only missing the key word here: statistical power. The power to detect an association is both affected by effect size and population frequency.
I'd suggest exercising caution with regard to Goldstein's "synthetic association" theories. Yes, there have been some good examples of this, but in my opinion, which is shared by our group here, the rebuttals offer stronger evidence. Here's another.
More to the question as first posed - Lars is correct here.
Other reasons you may see weak effects, regardless of allele frequency, have to do with interactions. These can be gene-gene (epistasis), gene-environment, or gene-gene-environment. I just read an excellent overview of gene-environment interactions pertaining to asthma by Ober and Vercelli in Trends in Genetics. The examples described are worth noting for any association study.
Would you please give a link of your hypothesis: a rare/low-frequency variants (MAF < 5%) needs a large effect size to be detected by association studies.
I knew this is a common sense, but I failed to find any paper to support it. Though there are too many explained rare variants for association studies, difficult to find to cite. | 2019-04-24T15:57:29 | https://www.biostars.org/p/5451/ |
0.999984 | Movie Review: HOLMES AND WATSON – an unfunny debacle that outstays its welcome within minutes.
I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Sherlock Holmes, but I’ve enjoyed a few adaptations of the character over the years. I won’t regurgitate these musings, but they can be found in my review of the Ian McKellen movie Mr. Holmes, a movie which is as untraditional in its approach to the world’s most famous literary detective as this latest version, a buddy comedy starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly – only better.
Movie Review: THE HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE – a sweet, good natured movie about two kindred souls who share the adventure of a lifetime.
I had a fairly good idea what to expect from The Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Taika Waititi’s follow up to the fantastic vampire horror comedy What We Do In The Shadows, but I’d be lying if I said I was right. I only knew that it was a bonding story; set in rural New Zealand, a troubled kid is sent to live with foster parents. It’s his last chance before getting cast into the system as a juvenile delinquent, but then he bonds with those people and all is well. Seen it before, right? Seems like it’s something that would be on Hallmark or The Family Channel – a feel good, Disneyfied slice of Midwest apple pie. That’s what it sounded like to me from my ignorant lack of knowledge about it, anyway!
I don’t typically dismiss a movie based on a trailer, and I wouldn’t say I’m particularly prescient about a movie based on a trailer either, but when I caught the trailer for Swiss Army Man, I balked. I remember coming away from it thinking, whaaaaat? and probably wasn’t alone. But I generally like Paul Dano’s characters, and while I can take or leave Daniel Radcliffe, I’m impressed with his continuing efforts to escape the career event horizon known as Harry Potter, so I figured I would see it at one point. Last night was that point.
Movie Review: THE NICE GUYS – Shane Black is back with his buddy comedy formula, but it peters out towards the end.
The Nice Guys, writer/director Shane Black’s first movie since Iron Man 3, is a throwback to his 2005 movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which featured a pre-career resurgence Robert Downey Jr, and Val Kilmer’s arguably last “big” role as a thief and a private eye respectively, thrown together by circumstances to ultimately investigate a criminal case. Flash forward 10 years and now it’s Russell Crowe, enforcer-with-a-heart (kind of like Wade Wilson before he became Deadpool), teaming up with the private eye, played by Ryan Gosling. Black is a sharp writer, but the biggest hits of his career, Iron Man notwithstanding, are buddy movies – he also created Lethal Weapon, and Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans had the same dynamic in 1991’s The Last Boy Scout. | 2019-04-25T06:06:21 | https://atthefoothillsofmadness.com/tag/buddy-comedy/ |
0.998632 | Summary: Bare Cove Park was once home to one of the first charitable groups in the colonies and states. “Town Farm” at Bare Cove was one of the many almshouses in the states.
New England has a long history of helping others. One of the ways the people of New England have reached out to help others is with the creation of Almshouses.. In Christian tradition, alms are money or services donated to support the poor and indigent.
In short, Almshouses were charitable housing units designed to help the indigent, particularly widows, the elderly and those unable to pay their rent. They were maintained by a community or charitable group. Originally, they were attached to churches and other religious groups. They were later adopted by local officials and governing bodies.
Although they have a short history in the colonies and states, they have a much longer history in Europe. In fact, Almshouses are a tradition that was brought over from England. The first recorded almshouse is said to have been built in 1132 at the Hospital of Saint Cross in Winchester, England. It is still in existence today.
The almshouse in Hingham, MA, (“Town Farm”) which once stood in the area in the photograph below was built in 1832 and it lasted just over 100 years. It was the third almshouse in the city. Although the sign doesn’t say specifically where the almshouse was, it was in this general area. Trees, a few condos just out of view behind the trees and access roads now stand where the almshouse once stood. This sign, where the defunct almshouse once stood, is located on Bare Cove Path at Bare Cove Park.
The first almshouse in the United States was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1622. The original Almshouse was burned down in 1682. When they decided to rebuild it they chose a different location. But, these alhouses also dotted the Northeast in such places as Pennsylvania.
However, almshouses weren’t just used for altruistic purposes. In addition to providing a needed home for the poor, mentally ill and physically impaired, the homes were also used by some as a place to drop off vagrants, criminals and addicts. This made some of the almshouses unsafe. Allegations of neglect and unsanitary conditions were also rampant at some of the homes.
By the late 1800s and part of the 1900s, almshouses were largely gone. This was in part because the Social Security Act prohibited federally aided old-age assistance to residents of public institutions. This was because the creation Social Security was thought to make these types of homes unnecessary. Little did they realize how healthcare costs would sky rocket in the ensuing years. The prohibition of legally funded almshouses also paved the way for privatized elderly care homes.
Summary: The area now known as Salem, MA, was once known for so much more than the venue of the witch hysteria.
Although much is made of the Salem witch trials, there is much more to Salem’s history than this dark spot on the city’s past.
Long before Roger Conant settled in what is now Salem, MA, in the 1620s, the Naumkeag tribe had settled in what is now considered Essex County, comprising essentially the northeast corner of MA. Although the area originally kept the name Naumkeag, the settlers would decide to change the name. Naumkeag would eventually become known by its current name of Salem, a name derived from the Hebrew word for peace.
What is interesting is Salem is not the only area which bears the name Naumkeag. Some areas of western Massachusetts, specifically an estate in Stockbridge bears this name. If it is named after the same tribe that would be quite a distance to travel (well over 100 miles). It’s not clear if the same tribe once lived there. But, it’s more likely the name was derived from the Algonkian name for “fish” which I will touch on later in this post.
Salem keeps ties to the Naumkeag name with some businesses bearing the name and this building on Essex St that some people may never have noticed also bears the name of the area. Most prominently, the building houses the liquor store Pamplemousse (185 Essex St) in addition to other shops.
The name is not listed prominently. So it could be easy to miss. But, if you look up you can’t miss it.
The name Naumkeag is most likely derived from the Algonkian root “Namas” meaning “fish.” As the waterways of Salem were once plentiful with fish and fish was such a major food source this is a logical conclusion. In fact, after a quick search of restaurants in Salem it is evident it still relies on fish and other seafood for its economy.
The native Naumkeag was settled some 4,000 years ago as a seasonal fishing settlement. Eventually, it became part of a colonial settlement, as was the case with many former Native American settlements. Roger Conant would settle that area and a much larger area in 1629. Now, it is a mere footprint on a city which is rich in many aspects of American history. In fact, it is plausible to write more hidden histories on Salem as it has played an essential role in many historical events other than the witch trials. And it all started in a place called Naumkeag.
So, the next time you’re shopping on Essex St or photographing the Halloween revelers, take a look up and note that you’re actually at Naumkeag Block.
Summary: Once the site of a fish drying and ship building location by the early settlers, Winter Island is now a haven for beach goers and boating enthusiasts. Winter Island has easy trails with scenic views. The most popular highlight of the park is Pickering Light which is located along the rocky shore.
Ask anyone about Salem, MA, and you’re sure to hear about the House Of The Seven Gables, the Salem Witch Museum or one of the other historical museums, homes and shops that dot the city. But, the best part of Salem may be miles (or more precisely a mile and a half) away from the historic downtown area.
Winter Island has a rich history as a shipbuilding area (a facility is still located there for this purpose) and as a defensive point for colonial and American forces during Queen Anne’s War and the American Revolutionary War. It would continue to act in this capacity throughout the 19th century. The area is also used to dry dock boats in the off season. The area is used for people to camp in the RVs in the warmer seasons. So the land is used year round.
The lighthouse at Winter Island, Fort Pickering Light (aka Winter Island Light), was built to warn and protect sailors from the rocky coast. Built in 1871, Pickering Light stands 28 feet above sea level, It is built of iron lined with brick. There used to be a bridge that connected the lighthouse to land. I wish they had that there now! Instead I had to walk down some rocks to get some photos up close. The rocks can be slippery, especially this time of the year as it can be icy on the colder days.
There are also some military fortifications on display at the park.
From left to top left to bottom, Winter Island is a bunker installation and some markers in memory of those who were lost during war or other conflicts.
Don’t let the warm colors of the sunset fool you. What looks like chunks of ice in these photos is actually ice on top of the lobster traps in the water.
There are lots of ducks, seagulls and other birds at Winter Island.
There also seems to be a lot of reconstruction at the park. This building looked like it was being gutted and perhaps renovated for future use.
A hidden gen within this hidden gem is Waikiki Beach. The first sign you’ll see after you arrive at the entrance to the park is probably going to be the sign to Waikiki Beach. While it may not compare to the beach in Hawaii that shares its name, it is a second close.
In the colder seasons you may find people skating or practicing hockey on the pond.
The beach is usually packed with sun seekers and beach lovers during the warmer months, it is also a popular place for people to go and play with your dogs during the winter months.
Rigby is a 5 year old mixed breed dog. His mom told me he had fun playing with Oliver at Waikiki Beach. I have photographed Oliver in the past. As his Instagram profile states he is a “good boy.” You can find him here on Instagram or at oliverbestdog.
As a new feature to my blog I am featuring a monthly historical account of one New England city, town or area. But, my goal is to not focus on the obvious or well known historical aspects of certain areas. Nor do I necessarily want to focus on the historically famous cities and towns in New England. Rather, I am going to bring lesser known historical accounts of certain areas in New England. Every area in New England has a hidden history and I hope these posts help to bring some light to these hidden pasts.
Whip City Music, Whip City Brew, Whip City Candle Company. Why do so many places and shops in Westfield, MA have “whip city” in their name?
Back in the horse and buggy days of the early 1900s (shortly before my birth), Westfield, MA, was the leading center of the buggy whip industry. However, as automobiles became more affordable and accessible, the whip industry declined and many of the whip businesses closed shop. Interestingly, the first car that was built in the United States (it was really a horse drawn buggy with a 4 HP, single cylinder gasoline engine) made its first run on public roads on September 21, 1893 in neighboring Springfield, MA.
The “whip city” brand still lives on. Dozens of businesses from a siding and window installing company to a travel agency share the “whip city” name. And the whip industry isn’t exactly dead. Not yet at least.
People can still have whips made for whatever your purpose at Westfield Whip. The last remaining whip company in Westfield, MA, Westfield Whip was established in 1884. Located at 360 Elm St, it is very easy to drive by the building and not notice its historical importance. It may seem like any other old building in a city of old buildings. But, it has a long history of industry and commerce in the city. In fact it is such an important piece of history that it was placed on the National List of Historic Places on October 17, 1985. The Westfield River runs along the side of the whip manufacturing building. It was shuttered when I went to visit it Friday and it is only open by appointment only.
In 1872, Henry Martin Van Duesen formed his first partnership in Southfield and moved his business to Westfield in 1880 making it the first whip manufacturer in what would later be designated “whip city.” Van Duesen began his career in the whip industry as a whip braider at the age of 11. The building which once stood as the first whip building manufacturer was changed by Duesen to a factory to the production of lawn swings in 1925. Stanley Hardware bought the factory in 1936 . Now, it functions as an apartment building located at 42 Arnold St. But it still retained the name of Van Duesen.
I did gain access to the front desk area and the friendly office worker allowed me to take a photo of the inside of the office area. Just looking at the brick interior and the structure of the room you can see how it once certainly could have been used to manufacture goods. | 2019-04-18T18:52:28 | https://hiddennewengland.com/tag/historical/ |
0.999728 | Tag line: Who had been to tee’d off at Birdie Harris the he’d used the golf pro’s own club to kill him?
The gist: The ME pronounced Birdie dead at the victim’s home. Cause of death was a blow to the head. Time of death was about one hour ago. It appeared that Birdie, a golf pro, had come outside to practice on his putting green when someone struck him. Birdie’s expensive golf bag and clubs were beside the body. Birdie’s caddy Frank, found the body. Frank called Russell, Birdie’s manager, and Russell called 911.
A neighbor told police she had heard Birdie and Russell arguing loudly yesterday over a contract. Russell told police he had been at Birdie’s the day before but it was to try out the new club Birdie had purchased two days ago, which he thought was overpriced and overrated. He claims they did have a loud discussion about Birdie buying a golf course that Russell thought was in such a bad location he figured it must be a scam.
The caddy, Frank, said he had been tending to his sick father all week and just got back. He claimed that Birdie had e-mailed him last night and invited him to drop by this morning to see a new swing he had developed with his new club. When he arrived, Frank claimed he found Birdie dead. He told police the only enemy he knew of was a newcomer to the golf world named JR Wright who was jealous of the prize money Birdie often won.
A heavy-set man interrupted the police investigation by stomping across the lawn and demanding to know why the police were there and where was Birdie? The man, Peter, claimed he and Birdie golfed almost daily and that he and Birdie had a game scheduled at the club this morning. When told Birdie was dead, Lang said they had just played yesterday and he had tried out the new golf club, which he didn’t like very much.
The police took the golf bag and clubs back to the lab for fingerprint analysis. All three men told police they would find their fingerprints on those clubs. The golf club was determined to indeed be the murder weapon. When the FP analysis was done crime scene found four sets of prints: the victim’s, manager Russell, golf buddy Lang, and caddy Frank.
Detective Bea knew who the killer was.
Crime scene: Golf pro’s yard.
Clues: The new golf club, who had touched it and when.
Suspects: Russell, Lang, or Frank.
Red herrings: This so-called enemy JR Wright. In fact the title of this story alludes to him.
Solution: Frank, the caddy, was the killer. If he had been away for a week, how could his fingerprints be on the club unless he used it to kill Birdie. When questioned, Frank told police Birdie had planned on firing him and hiring a new caddy. Frank became enraged and struck his employer with the fatal blow.
Okay, let’s see. Police work, my favorite thing, first. Most of it was very good. The only slip was when Lang came stomping across the yard. A murder crime scene is taped off, security officers are stationed at the door, and people can’t come walking into a crime scene. The ME is there, crime scene is there. Realistically Lang wouldn’t have made it past the front door. But that’s pretty minor. I won’t deduct the police-work star for that little slip because the rest was properly executed, but I wish an officer had brought the man back.
There was motive. There was a good clue.
The story mostly read well and the pacing was good. The only clumsy spot for me was when Lang was told about his friend being dead he carried on about trying out that new golf club and now much he didn’t like it. It doesn’t seem likely that it would be the first few things out of his mouth. I wish the author had slipped in how his fingerprints could have been on that club in a more realistic way. I have to deduct one star for character work. Lang’s reaction was not believable nor was that section well written.
The other characters were well defined and developed. Except the detective’s name. That was a little corny, but that’s a matter of taste.
I have to give this story 4 stars.
Labels: murder by blow to the head.
Pretty good m-m, I thought. The clue about the caddie's fingerprints was well hidden, slipped straight past me that they wouldn't have been on the new club because he'd been away all week and only just returned. The man 'stomping across the yard' and into a crime scene, Jody... not sure they were still at the actual scene by then. Neff and Smart are by the body when he points towards a bench, saying 'that's the caddie and the manager sitting over there'. Smart then questions them. I saw that as her going to them, not the other way around. We've already been told the victim lives on a 'sprawling estate', which implies space, so I immediately pictured rolling lawns and a big house. It would have to be to accommodate a putting green. They aren't standing over the body having a chat, though I take your point about any new arrival being accompanied by an officer as he was brought in to be questioned. But there are only so many details a writer can get into 700 words.
The part about it that jarred for me was the neighbour who'd heard the manager and Birdie in a loud disagreement the previous day and was able to say it was about a contract. That might work in a cramped community where everyone lives on top of one another, but on a sprawling estate your neighbours would only hear raised voices, not the content of the argument. Small point though. Otherwise, an okay story.
"But there are only so many details a writer can get into 700 words." I see this excuse time and again, but as writers we have to make sure the right 700 words tell the story accurately.
Instead of: They were interrupted by a loud voice. A heavyset man strode across the lawn.
Use: An officer escorted a disgruntled heavyset man across lawn to where the detectives stood.
Same word count. Correct procedure.
Okay, maybe he came from the side somewhere and sidestepped the police. It could happen. I was thinking that in order to get to the lawn that he stomped across, this man had to park his car in the driveway (he was traveling with Birdie that day to a golf game) and walk back to where the police were. An officer would have been in the front of the house to prevent just such a thing happening. When a person is killed the police don't just tape off around the body, they look at the entire scene, the house, the bushes around the house, the garage... looking to see if perhaps something else took place before the murder where they might pick up a fingerprint or a clue. Birdie's property would be off limits until crime scene was finished.
No one in. No one out.
You've got a point about the neighbor. It probably should have read that the neighbor heard loud arguing... period.
Jody, I think your first paragraph in Comments should be hung on every WW writer's wall. I know when I go back after a time and look at a story I have submitted, I see all kinds of tweeks that would improve it.
@ Mary Jo. I'm a very impatient person. I like to get things done and off my list, and that includes sending stories out. Sometimes before they're ready. I have learned I MUST let the story sit and simmer. When I go back a week or so later, I almost always find places that need work. Like I will have used the same word three times in one paragraph. How could I not have seen that before? Don't know, but distance is a good thing. So it's now a part of my process. In fact I got the edits from a story I sold to an anthology last year (finally) and I was unhappy to see spots that weren't smooth. Too many 'was' moments. So I'm still getting that lesson. I hope that piece is the last one. | 2019-04-20T12:10:58 | http://wwmysterystory.blogspot.com/2015/03/appearing-in-issue-11-march-16-2015.html?showComment=1426597182353 |
0.999314 | This topic introduces you to the tasks involved with deploying AppDynamics to its operating environment, including host preparation and Controller installation.
The system resources of the machine that hosts the Controller in a live environment must be able to support the expected workload.
Installing AppDynamics to a test or evaluation setting typically involves verifying system requirements, preparing the host, and then performing the Controller installation. These topics are described in Prepare the Controller Host and Install the Controller Using the Enterprise Console.
Deploying the Controller to its production operating environment normally introduces additional requirements and considerations. Security, availability, scalability, and performance all play an important role in production deployment planning. The following section lists the tasks related to deploying the Controller.
Ensure that target systems meet the Controller System Requirements for the Controller's expected workload.
For high volume environments, tune the OS and Controller settings for high workload.
Implement Controller High Availability to ensure service continuity in the event of a failure of the Controller server.
Configure the network environment. If deploying the Controller with a reverse proxy, configure passthrough of Controller traffic. Also note other Network Requirements for the deployment environment.
Implement security requirements for your environment. If clients will connect to the Controller by HTTPS, install your custom SSL server certificate on the Controller.
Generate a password management strategy for the built-in system accounts in the Controller and platform.
Make sure the mail server is properly configured for the Controller in the target environment and define your alerting strategy.
Devise your backup strategy. A typical backup strategy consists of frequent partial backups with intermittent full backups.
Plan your configuration maintenance and enhancement strategy. Changes to the configuration should be staged in a non-critical environment, and rolled into the live environment only after thorough testing. The AppDynamics UI and REST API offer the ability to export and import configuration settings from various contexts.
Deploy the agents independently of the application inside the application server. This method ensures that re-deployments of the application do not overwrite the agent deployment.
Integrate deployment of AppDynamics agents into the deployment of applications. This more sophisticated approach requires modifying the existing application deployment automation scripts.
Deploying the Controller often calls for configuration changes to existing network components, such as to firewalls or load balancers in the network. If the Controller will reside behind a load balancer or reverse proxy, you need to set up traffic forwarding for the Controller. You may also need to open ports used by AppDynamics on firewalls or any other device through which traffic must traverse.
The following are general considerations for the environment in which you deploy AppDynamics. See AppDynamics Quick Start for other network configuration requirements.
AppDynamics adds a custom header to traffic in the monitored environment named singularityheader. This header enables AppDynamics to correlate traffic across tiers. It's important to ensure that any load balancer, proxy or firewall in the network between monitored tiers or between the tiers and the Controller preserves the header added by AppDynamics.
To ensure consistent event time reporting across the AppDynamics deployment, App Agents attempt to synchronize their time with the Controller time.
They do so by retrieving the time from the Controller every five minutes. App Agents then compare the Controller's time to its own local machine's clock time. If the times are different, whether ahead or behind, it applies a time skew based on the difference to the timestamps for the metrics it reports to the Controller.
If, despite the agent's attempt to report metrics based on the Controller time, the Controller receives metrics that are time-stamped ahead of its own time, the Controller rejects the metrics. To avoid this possibility, AppDynamics recommends maintaining clock-time consistency throughout your monitored environment.
During the installation process, you need to configure several accounts for the Controller. These include the embedded MySQL database account, a root user account in the Controller, and an administrator in the Controller.
Usernames and passwords should not include the & or ! characters. If a user account needs to access the Controller REST API, additional limitations on the use of special characters in usernames apply. See Manage Users and Groups for more information.
In most installations, the Controller operates in single tenant mode. In multi-tenant mode, the Controller UI context is divided into separate accounts. Each account has its own set of users, agents reporting to it, and application monitoring configuration.
You choose the tenancy mode at installation time. You can switch the tenancy mode from single-tenant to multi-tenant mode later. It is not possible to switch from multi-tenant to single tenant mode.
Having a single tenancy Controller is suitable for most installations. Only very large installations or installations that have very distinct sets of users may require multi-tenancy.
You can create multiple accounts (tenants) in the Controller.
Each account will have its own set of users and applications.
The Controller login page includes an additional field where users need to choose an account to log in to.
Essentially, multi-tenant mode allows you to partition users and access to application data in a logical, secure way.
There is only one account (tenant) in the Controller system.
All users and applications are part of this single built-in account, so all users have access to all monitored Applications in this mode.
The account is not exposed to users in the Controller UI. The account field in the login page is omitted for single tenant mode.
AppDynamics recommends single-tenant mode for most installations.
For more information, see Controller Accounts (Multi-Tenancy). | 2019-04-24T08:15:02 | https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/PRO45/Controller+Deployment |
0.999999 | The hunt for the puma began in a small village where a woman picking blackberries saw 'a large cat' only five yards away from her. It immediately ran away when she saw it, and experts confirmed that a puma will not attack a human being unless it is cornered. The search proved difficult, for the puma was often observed at one place in the morning and at another place twenty miles away in the evening. Wherever it went, it left behind it a trail of dead deer and small animals like rabbits. Paw prints were seen in a number of places and puma fur was found clinging to bushes. Several people complained of 'cat-like noises' at night and a businessman on a fishing trip saw the puma up a tree. The experts were now fully convinced that the animal was a puma, but where had it come from? As no pumas had been reported missing from any zoo in the country, this one must have been in the possession of a private collector and somehow managed to escape. The hunt went on for several weeks, but the puma was not caught. It is disturbing to think that a dangerous wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.
Where did the search begin and what did the experts confirm?
Why was the search difficult?
What had 'the puma' probably done wherever it went?
At first, a woman in a village saw a 'large cat' in her vicinity and experts confirmed the impossibility of pumas' attacking human beings except being cornered. The search proved difficult, for the animal was always moving around, leaving behind it paw prints, puma fur and dead small animals etc. Although experts were fully convinced of its identity, the puma was still at large in the quiet countryside, disturbing the local people just at the thought of it. | 2019-04-26T00:47:21 | https://www.chinaedu.com/article/39391.html |
0.999786 | Compassion in Buddhism is like pure water to pay off dirt, greed, delusion and anger, because mercy is the principle that helps to develop human behavior expressed by love in animals. With equanimity in all animals in all places. It is a principle that the Buddha taught to human beings all the world to behave in the mind. Because there are virtues that appear to be virtuous 3: 1) the mercy of acrobatics. To be honest and physical 2) To have compassion. To behave honestly. 3) To have compassion. Is honest conduct the way to reach compassion is to practice compassion in three main ways: 1) Not to sin, 2) To charity, 3) To purify the mind. | 2019-04-19T16:15:14 | https://www.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/dhammathas/article/view/87576 |
0.999997 | In an AGI with a utility or reward function, the terminal value is the maximization of that function. The non-standard term "supergoal" is used for this concept in Eliezer Yudkowsky's earlier writings.
Some values may be called "terminal" merely in relation to an instrumental goal, yet themselves serve instrumentally towards a higher goal. The student described above may want the job to gain social status and money; if he could get prestige and money without working he would; and in this case the job is instrumental to these other values. However, in considering future AI, the phrase "terminal value" is generally used only for the top level of the goal hierarchy: the true ultimate goals of a system, those which do not serve any higher value.
However, such shifts cannot be relied on to bring about benevolence in an AI. Benevolence as an instrumental value for an AI is relevant only when humans are at roughly equal power to the AI. If the AI is much more intelligent than humans, it will not care about rewards and punishments from humans.. Moreover, a sufficiently powerful AI is unlikely to undergo a Kantian shift, as any changes in one's goals, including replacement of terminal by instrumental values, generally reduces the likelihood of maximizing one's utility function (Fox & Shulman 2010; Omohundro 2008). | 2019-04-24T13:05:26 | https://wiki.lesswrong.com/index.php?title=Terminal_value&direction=prev&oldid=10110 |
0.999254 | Why aren't alarms clearing in the BMS (Battery Management System) AP9921X-AP9922 after replacing batteries?
My Battery Management System alarms aren't clearing after I replaced the batteries attached to it.
After changing a battery in a string which is monitored by the APC Battery Management System, it is imperative to clear the old baseline measurements. If you do not clear the baseline, the unit is comparing a new battery (with different internal characteristic set) to an old baseline number which was established for the old batteries. This can lead to alarms that may not be warranted.
In BMS firmware 3.X.X, you can reset the baseline by browsing to the System tab on the top of the interface. On the left side of this screen, there is a Reset option to choose. When this is opened, there is a check box where resetting the Charge Current Deviation Benchmark can be selected (see image below). Once this is reset, the unit will initiate the process of establishing a new baseline.
To establish the baseline the system will perform the same test on an hourly basis, repeated until the overall string Delta is less than 3%. Once the string delta is less than 3%, the BMS considers that to be a stable reading, and that data is stored as the baseline for comparison. | 2019-04-25T04:54:02 | https://www.apc.com/uk/en/faqs/FA156146/ |
0.997877 | COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ? Ohio lawmakers have had their chance to vote on a bill limiting collective bargaining rights for 350,000 public workers across the state. Next will be the public's turn.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio lawmakers have had their chance to vote on a bill limiting collective bargaining rights for 350,000 public workers across the state. Next will be the public's turn.
Even before the contentious Senate Bill 5 — in some ways tougher than Wisconsin's — had cleared the Legislature late Wednesday, unions and Democrats in this once-proud labor stronghold vowed to put it on November's ballot as a referendum.
"O-H-I-O! S.B. 5 has got to go!" protesters chanted ahead of a final Senate vote of 17-16 that sent the bill to Gov. John Kasich for his signature, expected this week. The vote followed a day filled with Statehouse demonstrations by about 750 people, who raucously chanted and shouted throughout the process. After a House vote of 53-44, opponents spewed expletives at House members.
The vitriol wasn't limited to the Statehouse.
Leo Geiger, 34, a Republican who works as a sewer inspector for the city of Dayton, said he's "deathly afraid that this is going to affect me, my family and the entire state of Ohio in an incredibly negative way."
He believes the bill is political payback for unions' support of Democrats in November's election.
"I find this to be loathsome," he said from Dayton on Wednesday night. He didn't attend protests because he couldn't take the time off. "I find this to be disrespectful to Ohioans and disrespectful to the process of democracy."
The measure affects safety workers, teachers, nurses and a host of other government personnel. It allows unions to negotiate wages and certain working conditions but not health care, sick time or pension benefits. It gets rid of automatic pay increases, and replaces them with merit raises or performance pay. Workers would also be banned from striking.
A ballot challenge would stall implementation of the law that Republicans championed as vital to Ohio's economic future. Backers have 90 days after Kasich signs the bill to gather 231,148 valid signatures from at least half Ohio's 88 counties to get it on this fall's ballot.
"This state cannot pay what we've been paying in the past," House Speaker Bill Batchelder said during a news conference ahead of Wednesday's vote. "Local government and taxpayers need control over their budgets. This bill, as amended and changed, is a bill that will give control back to the people who pay the bills."
He said House Republicans were launching a website, sb5truth.com, to correct what they see as falsehoods about the measure.
Republican Gov. John Kasich has said his $55.5 billion, two-year state budget counts on unspecified savings from lifting union protections to fill an $8 billion hole.
During House debate, state Rep. Robert Hagan, a Democrat from Youngstown, took issue with the notion that the bill was aimed at saving money.
"Don't ever lie to us and don't be hypocritical and don't dance around it as if it's finances, because you know what it is: It's to bust the union," Hagan told his fellow lawmakers.
Democratic state Sen. Charleta Tavares, a recent Columbus city councilwoman, called the bill "paternalistic, patronizing, disrespectful and condescending" to city leaders who balance their budgets annually, not every two years as Ohio does.
Pickerington teacher Patricia Kuhn-Morgan said she was confused by connections being drawn between the bill and job creation.
"As teachers, the best way we can have to job creation is to educate the public," she said.
She predicted Wednesday's votes will hurt GOP lawmakers on Election Day.
"I've spoken to a lot of educators who are typically straight-ticket Republicans that have said to me that they won't ever vote for another Republican because of how this bill's been pushed through and the democratic process has been abused," she said as she awaited the Senate's vote.
Though protests were much larger in Wisconsin, Ohio unions claim they hold the hearts of a majority of voters in their political swing state. Republicans say polling indicates a high number of voters, though perhaps ones not as vocal as union supporters, favor the collective bargaining changes and would uphold the new law.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill this month eliminating most of state workers' collective bargaining rights. That measure exempts police officers and firefighters; Ohio's does not.
The Ohio bill has drawn thousands of demonstrators, prompted a visit from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and packed hearing rooms in the weeks before the Senate passed the earlier version of the measure. Its reception in the House had been quieter, as unions resolved themselves to its approval and shifted their strategy to the fall ballot.
Democratic state Sen. Joe Schiavoni said the way the bill had been rushed through the legislative process without union input was unfair — but he said voters would have the last word.
At the ballot box, he said, "all Ohioans will get the opportunity to right the wrongs they committed in the last election, and, ladies and gentlemen, that is fair." | 2019-04-24T20:22:01 | https://www.monroenews.com/news/2011/Mar/30/ohio-bargaining-limits-prevail-unions-vow-fight |
0.999293 | What is the service department's cost driver rate?
Job costing for services The Hillman Company sells and services lawn mowers, snow blowers, and other equipment. The service department uses a job order cost system to determine the cost of each job, such as oil changes, tune-ups, and repairs.
Job costing The Gonzalez Company uses a job order costing system at its plant in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The plant has a machining department and a finishing department. | 2019-04-25T03:53:12 | https://www.transtutors.com/questions/please-need-help-with-accounting-problem-thanks-199041.htm |
0.9996 | When discussing the propagation of Australian plants by cutting, there appeared to be a law which stated "thou shall not propagate eucalypts by cutting", and I presumed this to be true However, a few years ago I saw an article on the propagation of eucalypts in India, and they showed a photograph of a nursery with the caption slating that the juvenile plants were from cuttings. Surely this must have been a mistake! More recently I came across a letter in Australian Plants online from a resident of the Netherlands requesting information on the possible propagation of eucalypts from cuttings. Why would a Dutchman be interested in such a thing? Hadn't he heard the law of eucalypt propagation?
Intrigued, I did a search on the Internet and found a reference to Dr Ruad of the CSIRO, who is working on vegetative (tissue culture) eucalypt propagation. Dr Roud provided some references and I subsequently found a book entitled Eucalypt Domestication and Breeding, Eldridge K et al (eds), Clarendon Press, Oxford (1993), from which most of the following information has been extracted.
It is believed that the first successful, deliberate, rooted cuttings of eucalypts were achieved in Canberra in 1948 using shoots from seedlings of various species, in greenhouses with bottom heat and mist sprays Vegetative propagation was also discovered by accident in Morocco, with discarded prunings of Eucalyptus camaldulensis seedlings fallen on the ground striking roots, under favourable warm, moist conditions, after a few days. Following these observations more formal trials were conducted. It was discovered that many eucalypt species could be propagated by cuttings of seedling material, up to about node 15.
The observation of aerial roots in mature E.deglupta and E.robusta suggested that these species may readily strike from cuttings. Work by J Davidson in Canberra revealed that E.deglupta cuttings would strike from crowns taken from trees five years old and older, from new growth of scions taken from mature trees grafted onto seedlings, and from coppiced mature trees.
The success of plantation-grown eucalypts, often commercially superior hybrids, propagated by cutting, ensured continuing research into vegetative propagation in Africa, South America, Europe, Asia, New Guinea and Australia. Propagation by cuttings is increasingly the method of choice for plantation eucalypts.
So, why the belief that eucalypts cannot be propagated by cutting? Well, there are many difficulties with the procedure. The main problem seems to be getting the right cutting material. New growth from young plants is essential for most species that will strike. Growth from older parts of a tree may be difficult or impossible to strike. It was found that in most species adult trees, over five years old, produce a rooting inhibitor which prevents cuttings from striking. The position in the crown where the shoot is taken is also important and influences vigour and habit.
Most eucalypts will strike from material taken from seedlings, however it is often desirable to select characteristics from a mature tree. It is possible to bring about juvenile growth by several different methods. Cutting down the tree leaving a stump of about 20cm is one way. New coppiced growth is of a juvenile nature and suitable for cutting. Another technique is to rejuvenate the growth by repeated cuttings, with the striking rate increasing with each generation. A further technique is repeated grafting. Material from a mature tree is grafted onto a seedling (preferably from the same parent), with new growth repeatedly regrafted until juvenile growth occurs, from which cuttings can be taken.
In tropical climates cuttings root and grow quickly, with plants ready for planting out two to three months. In temperate climates (eg. France) it takes longer. In France cuttings are taken throughout the year, other than in mid-winter. A typical cutting may be about 30 cm long, with 2-4 nodes (4-8 leaves). Cuttings are treated by immersion in a fungicide solution (such as Benlate, 6 gm/10 litres water) and drained. Hormone treatment is typically a light dusting of the extreme basal end with 1% IBA. Potting medium may be any sterile, free-draining, moisture retaining medium. Sand, vermiculite, aged sawdust, milled pinebark and pumice have all been used successfully. Cuttings, individually potted, are kept under polythene covers in a plastic greenhouse. The temperature of the substrate is kept at 20oC. Lower temperatures will retard root growth and higher temperatures may encourage rot. Medium is treated with fungicide on a weekly basis. Slow release Osmocote would be a suitable fertiliser. Ambient temperature does not require strict regulation but should be kept below 30oC. A minimum of 200 hours of light per monthis desirable, and 400 hours per month is better. This may be achieved with artificial lighting, if necessary.
So why would a gardener want to grow eucalypts from cuttings? Perhaps there is a magnificent flowering gum or an unusual colour form of some other eucalypt you would like to (try to) propagate, with an assurance of identical flower colour. Perhaps you would like to do it just to see if you can.
And why did the Dutchman want to grow eucalypts from cuttings? Perhaps he was crazy but he wanted to breed cultivars, subject them to freezing Dutch winters (as low as -30oC) and then propagate the survivors vegetatively. I sent him some seeds of E.coccifera, which may be a good start.
Further information is available from this article in the June 1997 issue of Australian Plums online (originally published in the Eucalyptus Study Group newsletter).
From Eucryphia, the newsletter of the Australian Plants Society (Tasmania), September 1997. | 2019-04-18T19:17:53 | http://conference2015.anpsa.org.au/APOL2007/sep07-s1.html |
0.998704 | As far as I can understand だからという訳ではないのだろうけど means '(though) not for this reason alone', but somehow this meaning seems strange to me in this sentence. "It looks like we, sister and brother were there too. (though) not for this reason alone, we don't remember anything about that."
"(though) not for this reason alone" is more likely だけという訳ではないのだろうけど. だからという訳ではないのだろうけど means "(though) that would not be the reason".
We don't remember anything about that time, though that (= we were there too) would not be the reason (why we don't remember). | 2019-04-21T08:45:31 | https://jref.com/threads/meaning-of-%E3%81%A0%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%86%E8%A8%B3%E3%81%A7%E3%81%AF%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84.55372/ |
0.999944 | What distinguishes novels and short stories that are literary from those that are not? The issue has come into focus in the psychology of fiction with David Kidd and Emanuele Castano’s (2013) finding that reading stories that were literary was more likely to prompt an improvement of empathy and theory-of-mind than reading stories that achieved high popularity on Amazon.
In his book on literariness, David Miall (2006) proposed that one factor is that literary writers use styles such as foregrounding, which attract attention and prompt reflection. In S/Z Roland Barthes (1975) distinguished writerly reading from readerly reading. In writerly reading a person takes on a role like that of a writer, in creating the story that he or she experiences. In contrast, he says, readerly reading is a “kind of idleness” (p. 4). Another possibility is that literary works enable people to think and reflect on characters. This view was put by Frank Hakemulder (2000) in The moral laboratory. He said that: "The complexity of literary characters helps readers to have more sophisticated ideas about others’ emotions and motives than stereotyped characters in popular fiction” (p. 15).
Although it has often been thought that literature has a function to instruct, with Shelley’s (1819) idea that “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world” being an example, this may not be right. It is possible that the central quality of the literary is that it enables readers to feel and think for themselves (Djikic & Oatley, 2014).
Emy Koopman (2016) compared three different versions of a chapter from Anna Enquist’s literary novel, Counterpoint, about loss of a child. The original version contained a high level of semantic, phonetic, and grammatical foregrounding. In a second version, foregrounding that depended on imagery was removed: a version without imagery. In a third version all foregrounding was removed: a version without foregrounding. People assigned to read the original version scored higher on self-reported empathy than those who read the version without foregrounding. Koopman also found that people who read the original text experienced more ambivalent emotions such as “a sad beauty” or a “grey joy,” than those who read the version without foregrounding. Might this have indicated that as well as having their own feelings of empathy for others, readers of the original story were feeling for themselves in a writerly way? Readers of the original version were not however found to be more reflective than those who read other versions. What might be done, one may wonder, to see how literary stories may invite us not just to feel empathetically and ambivalently, but also to think reflectively, for ourselves?
Barthes, R. (1975). S / Z (R. Miller, Trans.). London: Cape.
Djikic, M., & Oatley, K. (2014). The art in fiction: From indirect communication to changes of the self. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 8, 498-505.
Hakemulder, F. (2000). The moral laboratory: Experiments examining the effects of reading literature on social perception and moral self-concept. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Koopman, E. M. E. (2016). Effects of "literariness" on emotions and on empathy and reflection after reading. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 10, 82-98.
Miall, D. S. (2006). Literary reading: Empirical and theoretical studies. New York: Peter Lang.
Shelley, P. B. (1819). A defence of poetry. In C. Norman (Ed.), Poets on poetry (pp. 180-211). New York: Free Press. | 2019-04-20T15:08:51 | http://www.onfiction.ca/2016/06/literary-reading.html |
0.999999 | NEW laws on foreign investment in the UK will block Chinese firm Huawei from sensitive state projects, The Sun can reveal.
The tech giant is among a handful of firms to have developed the next generation of mobile internet — known as 5G.
But Sun columnist James Forsyth today reveals that senior Cabinet ministers and Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill fear Huawei’s involvement in such critical infrastructure could jeopardise national security.
The changes will be pushed through among laws that Britain needs to pass after Brexit to replace EU rules on public procurement.
There are widespread concerns allowing the firm an inside track on the rollout of 5G in Britain and would let China spy on private lives and hack UK companies at will.
There are also worries that failure to clamp down on Chinese involvement in public sector could alienate the other members of the key Five Eyes partnership — a vital intelligence network made up of the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Forsyth reports that the US is particularly keen for the UK to limit Chinese technology investment.
A senior government source said: “All Five Eyes partners have to face the same way.
“You’re going to have the choice of being a technical collaborator with the US, or with China.
Q&A: What will move mean?
WHAT is Huawei? Huawei is a Chinese electronics company. In August it overtook Apple to become the world’s second-largest smartphone seller behind Samsung, flogging 54.2million phones.
WHY is the Government worried? A new law in China requires all firms, organisations, and citizens to assist that state’s spy agencies.
WHO has blocked the company? The US, New Zealand and Australia have placed extra restrictions on the use of Huawei's equipment in the rollout of some future 5G networks.
In the UK, BT confirmed it is removing Huawei equipment from key areas of its 4G network after MI6 expressed concerns for national security. However, BT denied the move was anything to do with security concerns.
WILL this affect the rollout? It will be hard for carriers such as Vodafone and O2 to secure lucrative government contracts if they are using Huawei gear.
It could also mean prices rises and possibly delays.
WHAT has China said? Officials have warned of a negative effect on international business. | 2019-04-18T17:10:11 | https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8388190/huawei-state-projects-blocked-security-concern/ |
0.998793 | Bina007 Movie Reviews: Greta Garbo retrospective - ANNA CHRISTIE (1930) - Garbo speaks!
Greta Garbo retrospective - ANNA CHRISTIE (1930) - Garbo speaks!
"If anyone wants to get drunk, if that's the only way they can be happy, and feel at peace with themselves ... they have my full and entire sympathy. I know all about that game from soup to nuts. I'm the guy that wrote the book." Hickey, in The Iceman Cometh.
ANNA CHRISTIE is a powerful and moving film about living with two emotionally destructive forces: illusions and alcoholism. It was based on a play by Eugene O'Neill, a writer who was himself an alcoholic, and who writes with an acute perception and empathy that seems utterly modern and shocking in a major MGM movie, until you realise that Anna Christie was released pre-Code. How brave, though, for silent movie star Greta Garbo to pick ANNA CHRISTIE for her first "talkie". To shatter the illusion that her fans had of her as a brittle beauty, with a movie about a woman who is herself perceived to be virginal and pure. The reality is that rather than having milk ordered for her by her father and lover, she'd rather wash away her memories of an abusive childhood and her years as a prostitute with whiskey.
The movie is a ninety minute exercise in disciplined story-telling, and the taut structure combined with director Clarence Brown's largely static camera gives the film a stagey feeling. No matter. A modern director might have tried to open the play out for the film, but with Brown - Garbo's favourite director - he was too busy opening out the emotions to care.
The first fifteen minutes sees Chris Christoffersen (George F Marion), a humble sailor, brimming with joy that his daughter, an au pair, is returning home. Marthy Owens (Marie Dressler), a bar-room drunk, and Chris' friend resents his lionising of his daughter, and is only too happy when, in the second fifteen-minute segment, Anna walks into her bar and orders, iconically, "A visky, ginger ale on the side, and don' be stingy, baby." The film comes alive as these two women edge into a friendship over a shared need to drink. Anna hints that her life has been hard and that she resents that her father abandoned her to their distant family. Marie Dressler and Garbo spark off of each other, and it's a joy to watch. In the third fifteen-minute segment, we see Anna and her father on their boat. Her father is reluctant for her to take to the sea, fearing it's no place for any proper person, but Anna, melancholy, comes to love it. And so, we sail into the second half of the movie. A storm strikes, and a fellow sailor appeals for help. So, Anna meets Matt Burke (Charles Bickford). Initially, she resists his advances, and we sense that she hates men just as her father hates the sea. But slowly they settle into a kind of domesticity on the boat and fall in love with each other. This prompts a proposal, and the final twenty minutes of the film gives us the full dramatic results of that. Anna feels she can't accept until her father and lover know the full truth about her.
This is Garbo at her best - strong, honest, upright, and yet vulnerable, damaged, self-sacrificing. Ultimately, through revealing the truth, she becomes the stronger person, leaving the men around her with their shattered illusions - literally throwing them off of her as each one grabs one of her arms as though she is a rag doll to be fought over. The irony is that she becomes strong by revealing her vulnerability - the truth about how damaged she is.
ANNA CHRISTIE is a wonderful film - raw, honest, perceptive, powerful. Garbo gives an amazing performance and dominates the screen, and Marie Dressler is fine in support. But ultimately it's O'Neill's play that is the strength of the film, with its empathy for the damaged alcoholic and its need to confess all.
ANNA CHRISTIE was released in 1930. Garbo, Clarence Brown and William H Daniels were nominated for Oscars but Norma Shearer for THE DIVORCEE, Lewis Milestone for ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT and Joseph T Rucker and WIllard Van der Veer for WITH BYRD AT THE SOUTH POLE respectively. | 2019-04-22T17:06:25 | http://www.bina007.com/2010/11/greta-garbo-retrospective-anna-christie.html |
0.998348 | Return descriptive information about this ValveContext implementation.
Cause the invoke() method of the next Valve that is part of the Pipeline currently being processed (if any) to be executed, passing on the specified request and response objects plus this ValveContext instance.
Cause the invoke() method of the next Valve that is part of the Pipeline currently being processed (if any) to be executed, passing on the specified request and response objects plus this ValveContext instance. Exceptions thrown by a subsequently executed Valve (or a Filter or Servlet at the application level) will be passed on to our caller. If there are no more Valves to be executed, an appropriate ServletException will be thrown by this ValveContext. | 2019-04-19T18:33:40 | http://readopac3.ncl.edu.tw/tomcat-docs/catalina/docs/api/org/apache/catalina/core/StandardPipeline.StandardPipelineValveContext.html |
0.998678 | The issue I'm having is that none of my early pages were at even my current 2000X2751 and 450 DPI so even saving them as TIFF's meant they were TINY and blurry when blown up to a normal readable size!
73dpi, but what was the pixel dimension of the page?
My pages are 1915 x 2398, so it could actually work out if you converted yours to 300 dpi (without upscaling). They would print at 169 mm x 254 mm.
You've still got a pretty decent amount of pixels to those pages! You should be able to resize those for print without too much of a problem. If you were working on them at exactly web size, it'd be one thing, but most of my pages are about that many pixels square too.
Oh, you're fine, that's a 6.65x10 inch print at 300 DPI. You don't have to change anything, that's a perfectly reasonable print size for a comic. Maybe adjust a bit to get a 6x10, which is a pretty common book size. You really don't even have to convert the DPI in Photoshop, that's just a way of doing the math conveniently for you.
Since you have such large image dimensions, you still should be able to reset the dpi to 300 without having it become grainy. Especially, like others have said if you're going for 6.5x9 range. I'd imagine you could have some trouble if you went for 11x17 or some awkward size like a coffee table book.
I was hoping to have the print version be 6x9. But god that is a relief. x-x I think I had about five heart attacks.
Yeah you're actually doing your pages a little bit bigger than me, cause I'm angling for a 6x9 print if I ever print as well.
I do have to admit, Art college did get my to psychotically save 5 different version so of any thing I *MIGHT* print..
that said: Page 72 is a jpg and I'm mad a bout it still.
I know there's a way of changing the dpi of the page without resizing - you just need to ensure that the re-sample checkbox is unchecked and you can change the dpi without much damages done. | 2019-04-20T01:17:26 | http://forums.spiderforest.net/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=8502 |
0.999987 | MR. CARNEY: Well, welcome aboard Air Force One as we make our way to New Hampshire on this two-day trip. I have no announcements to make at the top. I will say that I'm sure you've all seen the President's statement about the Supreme Court decision regarding the Arizona law. But with that, I will take your questions.
Q Republicans are trying to frame this as some sort of failure of there not being an overall comprehensive immigration passage these past two years. Your response?
MR. CARNEY: Well, I'd say a couple of things. One, as the President has noted, there used to be very prominent Republicans who were advocates for comprehensive immigration reform, as this President is. That included his opponent in the 2008 election, John McCain, who helped craft legislation for comprehensive immigration reform. It included his predecessor, President George W. Bush, who had a longstanding commitment to immigration reform. Unfortunately, what we've seen is a retreat by leaders of the Republican Party in these past several years from a position of advocating comprehensive immigration reform.
What we saw during the Republican primaries -- and I think the statement that you're quoting I assume is in reference in part to former Governor Romney's statement -- was an embrace of the Arizona law as a model for the nation, a position that hardly suggests a desire for comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform.
The President disagrees with that position as well. So this President's commitment to immigration reform is strong. His commitment to border security is strong and has been demonstrated by his record. And he believes that we need to take steps to provide the kind of comprehensive immigration reform that Republicans have resisted. Congress needs to act. And he looks forward to working with Congress when leaders of the Republican Party are ready to do so.
Q Can I take you to a couple of points in the statement? One of the paragraphs says, "must ensure that Arizona law enforcement officials do not enforce this law in a manner that undermines the civil rights of Americans." And then later, "use every federal resource to protect the safety and civil rights of every American." Can you expand on that a little bit? What are you talking about doing? What are you getting at there?
MR. CARNEY: Obviously we're committed to the protection of the civil rights of the American people. And while the President is pleased with the decision by the Supreme Court to strike down much of the Arizona law, we remain concerned about how Section 2 would be implemented, and concerned about the impact it might have on -- depending on how it's implemented -- the impact implementation could have on civil rights. But I don't have a specific -- a hypothetical to provide to you about how that could play out.
Q What resources -- what federal resources? Could you give us an example?
MR. CARNEY: I'd refer you to the Department of Justice, but obviously the Justice Department is committed to upholding civil rights of the American people.
MR. CARNEY: This goes back to the first question, which relates to comprehensive immigration reform. Our position is that, as the President said, that we need comprehensive immigration reform because we need to address the broken immigration system at the earliest opportunity possible because a patchwork of state laws only creates more problems than it solves. And that has been the President’s position all along.
Q Does the White House believe, though, that you can ensure the civil rights of folks administratively? Or do you think that you need legislation to do that?
MR. CARNEY: To ensure rights that are existing in the law?
MR. CARNEY: That's a very -- there is not really a question there. Obviously, the Department of Justice is committed to preserving and protecting the civil rights of American citizens.
MR. CARNEY: I have no announcements to make about steps. I wouldn't necessarily anticipate steps. The President expressed our concerns about how -- about the practical impact of Section 2 of Arizona's statute, which requires local law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect to be here illegally.
Going forward, we must ensure that Arizona law enforcement officials do not implement Section 2 in a manner that undermines the civil rights of Americans. We are heartened that the Court recognized that detaining individuals solely to verify their immigration status would raise constitutional concerns.
MR. CARNEY: Who said that? I’m sorry.
Q Allen West. And other Republicans have criticized because -- and are concerned that Muslim Brotherhood candidates are getting elected or are getting more momentum. What is your reaction to that, and to the characterization that the Arab Spring -- that the President has handled the Arab Spring -- should have been more aggressive in some ways?
MR. CARNEY: Well, I’m not sure what that means, to be more aggressive. I mean, specificity is required here. The fact is, we congratulate President-elect Morsi on his victory in Egypt’s presidential election, and we congratulate the Egyptian people for this milestone in their transition to democracy.
We look forward to working together with President-elect Morsi, and the government he forms to advance the many shared interests between Egypt and the United States. We hope that President-elect Morsi will take steps to advance the national unity, uphold universal values, and respect the rights of all Egyptian citizens, including women and religious minorities such as Coptic Christians.
With regard to your question and the assertions that you’re referring to, which I have not heard, but are similar to ones we’ve heard in the past, we judge individuals and parties that are elected in a democratic process by their actions, not by their religious affiliations. And I would point you to the comments that President-elect Morsi made, the commitments he made to upholding civil rights, including of women and Coptic Christians -- principles that we very much think are important.
But again, our commitment to the revolution that began in Egypt is to a process that provides for a transition to democracy that is transparent. And we congratulate the Egyptian people on this milestone as part of that process.
Q Is there any concern, though, that the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood could set back relations between Egypt and Israel?
MR. CARNEY: Again, I would point you to what I said about judging individuals and parties on their actions once in office rather than their religious affiliations. And I would simply note that in his address to the Egyptian people Sunday, President-elect Morsi acknowledged that Egypt would continue to uphold its treaty obligations -- a treaty that is, of course, of great importance is the one that it has with Israel. We believe it is essential for the Egyptian government to continue to fill Egypt’s role as a pillar of regional peace, security and stability. And we will continue to emphasize this message with the new government and structure our engagement accordingly.
Q On the same lines, is there any concern about reports that he may want to restore ties with Iran?
MR. CARNEY: I would say two things about that. We look forward to discussing a range of issues, including our regional security concerns, with the new government. We believe it is essential for the Egyptian government to continue to fulfill Egypt's role as a pillar of regional peace, security and stability.
Now, it is perfectly appropriate for a nation like Egypt to have relations with its neighbors. But again, we look to Egypt to continue its significant role as a pillar of regional peace and stability.
Q Would it be appropriate to restore ties with Iran? Is that something the U.S. would be comfortable with?
MR. CARNEY: Again, it's appropriate for a nation like Egypt to have relations with other nations in the region. The issue that I think we're focused on is that Egypt continue to fulfill its role as a pillar of regional security and peace and stability.
Q Can we stay in the region and go to Syria and Turkey? The Turks are talking about discussing with NATO a response to the downing of the Turkish warplane. Does that warrant -- given it appears that it was intentional -- does that warrant retaliation by Turkey, including military retaliation?
MR. CARNEY: Well, we are in close contact with Turkish officials as they investigate Syria's shooting down of the Turkish Federal-4 fighter jet on June 22nd to determine Turkey's response. We stand in solitary with Turkey, a key U.S. ally as you know, and look forward to its presentation tomorrow at the North Atlantic Council. We will work with Turkey, and other partners, to hold the Assad regime accountable.
Q So what is their appropriate response?
MR. CARNEY: Again, we're working with the Turks. We look forward to their presentation tomorrow at the NAC.
Q Do you have a preference for a diplomatic solution -- do -- I presume you have a preference for a diplomatic solution.
MR. CARNEY: Yes, I think that -- but I'm not going to characterize the outcome of a presentation the Turks will make. We obviously support the Turks and we'll work with them. Turkey is a key ally of the United States, member of NATO.
Q One on Egypt. Are you confident that there will be an effective transition between the President-elect and the military leadership? And can you also explain why the President also called Mr. Shafiq, as well?
Q What was that last part?
Q Why did he also call Shafiq.
MR. CARNEY: I would be happy to do that. I would say that, first off, on the call to General Shafiq, the President encouraged him to support the democratic process and work to unify the Egyptian people, which I think goes to your first question, which is that our message to the staff has been consistent throughout the transition. The military should complete the transition to a democratically-elected government. The presidential election was a very important step on that path, and we have commended the staff and the Presidential Election Commission for their roles in facilitating the election. But it is our position, as it has been, that the process of transition to democracy needs to continue.
Q Jay, just on domestic policy, are you confident that Congress will be able to reach a deal on the student loan issue, and also highway spending?
MR. CARNEY: Well, it's a good question. We firmly believe that Congress should finish the job and pass legislation that will ensure interest rates for 7.3 million or 7.4 million students do not double on the first of next month. They have very few days left to get that done. Senator Reid has put forward a proposal that we believe -- that we support.
And again, this is an issue that Republicans at first said wasn't an issue; they called it a phony issue. Others said that it was a distraction from the economy -- as if education were not an economic issue. There's one reason why Republicans are talking about this today -- it's because the President heightened awareness of it, went around the country talking about it, and has placed pressure on Congress to act. We remain confident that Congress will do that, and that student loan rates will not double. But there is certainly concern that only a few days remain before those loan rates double.
Q Can you give us a sense of the President's thinking in anticipation of the health care ruling this week? And what do you make of some of the backseat driving I guess in the press over the weekend about the strategy before the Court?
MR. CARNEY: In terms of anticipating the Supreme Court decision, I can say only what I've said before, which is that the President and his team remain confident that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional, and the administration has pressed forward with implementing the various aspects of the Affordable Care Act, and will continue to do so.
As for the question about legal strategy, I would simply say that while I sometimes try to sound like one, I'm not a lawyer, and I can't dissect each argument. But I can say that we have confidence in the Justice Department and the Solicitor General and we are confident that the law is constitutional. And while I think that it's important to note that while some in Washington are changing what they have to say about this law and the arguments presented, legal experts continue to believe this law is constitutional. I can point you to a number of references.
On June 22nd, Neil Siegel from the Duke University Law School, said, "In at least two independently sufficient ways, the minimum coverage provision encounters no constitutional impediments sounding in federalism."
On May 23rd, again, not long ago, Lawrence Gostin, from Georgetown University, said the law was, "unquestionably constitutional."
On April 16th, Henry Paul Monaghan at Columbia Law School, said, "The individual health mandate surely passes constitutional muster under settled judicial principles."
We continue to agree with legal experts across the spectrum who believe this law is constitutional.
MR. CARNEY: We remain confident that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional and we are ready for whatever decision is rendered by the Supreme Court.
Q Is it a disappointment that the Court didn’t reconsider Citizens United?
MR. CARNEY: I haven't had that discussion with the President or others. You know the President's position and our position on Citizens United. I think the far-ranging implications of that regrettable decision have been seen already, week after week. But I haven't got a specific reaction to the Montana case that you're referring to.
Q Does the White House think -- the Democratic votes in the potential vote against Attorney General Holder for contempt?
MR. CARNEY: I don't have an answer to that question. I can simply say that, as I said last week, the Department of Justice, the Attorney General have provided an enormous number of documents in response to the legitimate oversight interest of the Congress and the House committee in question here. The Attorney General himself testified repeatedly about this matter. All the documents that fall under the assertion of executive privilege date after the February 4th date beyond which these documents are simply the kind of internal deliberative documents that every administration needs to be able to keep private in order to allow for a functioning executive branch as it deliberates over how to respond to congressional inquiries and media inquiries.
Q Is it a hard line in the sand, no executive privilege, exercising that right?
MR. CARNEY: I'm sorry, say that again?
MR. CARNEY: We've been clear that we remain -- the Attorney General met with the chairman of the committee and attempted to resolve this issue. I would refer you to the Justice Department for details, but we remain ready to try to resolve this issue in a way that's satisfactory to both sides.
I would note what the chairman himself said, in conflict with the Speaker of the House. The chairman said over the weekend that there is no evidence -- let me repeat -- no evidence of White House involvement in any cover-up or attempt to cover up this issue.
And I would point you to Republicans in the House who have agreed with us in calling this action political. It's clearly political. It's clearly not what the American people want their Congress to be focusing on at a time when they should be taking action to help the economy grow, to help us create jobs. They should be dealing with the student loan issue. They should be dealing with the transportation bill. They should be taking up the many provisions the President has put forward that economists have said would put people to work now. We hope the Congress does that.
MR. CARNEY: I would refer you to -- as the chairman himself made clear, this is not an issue -- this is an issue that the Department of Justice should address. It's not for the White House to address. The Attorney General, the Department of Justice have been enormously cooperative -- provided 7,600 pages of documents, countless hours of testimony. And I know that they have endeavored to try to resolved this issue.
Q Do you expect the President will talk about the immigration ruling today in his remarks in New Hampshire?
MR. CARNEY: I don't have a preview for you. | 2019-04-19T11:39:02 | https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/06/25/press-gaggle-press-secretary-jay-carney-en-route-new-hampshire-62512 |
0.999839 | Would it be possible to have share buttons for Facebook, and Twitter?
Would it be possible to have share buttons for the major social networks directly on the stall stall catchers page so we wouldn't have to do a screenshot to show our progress with our friends? Doing a screenshot takes a lot of time, and share buttons would really increase the amount of sharing of the game on social media.
I think the badges are a great idea, and I would've chosen that is my number one choice if they had actually existed. Also, as far as these polls are concerned, I wish there were some way that we could do ranked voting. In other words, I wish there were some way that we could indicate what is our first choice, second choice, third choice, and so on, so it would be possible to choose more than one option. That way, if our first choice is not chosen for implementation, may be our second choice, or our third choice would be chosen.
It's very difficult to choose just one. Frankly, I think all of them should be implemented eventually. The redeemed points option might be the best one to start with because I think that's the one with the greatest potential to show the highest number of points, so maybe the most impressive achievements should be the ones to be implemented first.
Level up would also be a good one because most games on Facebook for example have the ability to post to social media when a level up occurs, so almost everyone is familiar with what that means, so that might be a good option to start with as well.
Here they are: https://stallcatchers.com/dedications. You can indicate whom are you playing for!
With regards to polling, we could actually do what you suggest (ranked voting) via a google form! The team is meeting soon to discuss the issue of achievements and strategize, so we may think about doing that too. We will definitely take your feedback into account too, this is awesome! | 2019-04-23T17:02:42 | http://forum.eyesonalz.com/t/would-it-be-possible-to-have-share-buttons-for-facebook-and-twitter/197 |
0.999999 | In fencing, to parry (or to parry a blow or thrust) is to ward off the oncoming blow or thrust so that it doesn't reach you. In sports, you parry a shot (or parry the ball or the puck) by blocking it.
So in general, to parry (or to parry something, usually a question) is to skillfully avoid or deflect it.
but can also be intransitive (you parry).
Parried, parrying. "Parry" is also a noun meaning "an act of warding off something."
However you use the word, imagine that whoever is parrying has a sword in hand and is using it to ward off an oncoming question or comment.
You usually talk about parrying awkward or inappropriate questions (or parrying questions you just don't want to answer). You can also parry entire topics of conversation. You might parry someone's verbal blows: parry an accusation, parry an insult, parry a criticism, parry a verbal strike or attack.
You can parry something away, parry something, or simply parry. If you parry with people, you're dodging each other's questions in a more playful way.
Occasionally you'll parry a person ("she parried her opponent") or parry that something else is true ("accused of sloppiness, she parried that her work was correct").
Some writers use "parried" in dialogue attribution: "No way," she parried. But for reasons that I won't get into now, I belong to a large group of readers (including Stephen King) who totally hate this and recommend just writing "said" instead of "parried," "countered," "asserted," "whimpered," etc.
Finally, "parry" and "thrust" often go hand in hand. Parrying is defensive, thrusting offensive: "I'm not going to thrust and parry with you over this idea."
Jennifer Lawrence doesn't just parry dumb questions; she thrusts back at them.
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "parry" means when you can explain it without saying "deflect" or "evade."
Think of a time someone ignored your request or pushed aside your question. Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) parried my (request/question) (by/with) _____."
Example: "The representative parried my request to cancel the service with a speech about how much I could save by upgrading it. Sigh."
"Give us this day our daily bread" is an example of synecdoche: a figurative use of a part of something as a representation of the whole, or vice versa. You've heard it in the old adage, too, that literally means "Communication works better than violence." What's the real version?
Answer: "The pen is mightier than the sword."
2. After parrying the question for weeks, he finally _____. | 2019-04-20T11:15:55 | http://www.hilotutor.com/archives_parry.html |
0.999998 | In the process of chicken stew, fat, vitamins and calcium in the bones relatively easily dissolved into the soup. Fat-soluble substances are dissolved in fat flavor inside, into the soup along with the fat, and water-soluble flavoring substances naturally easy access to the soup, which is the reason why the soup tastes better. However, the soup tastes better does not mean that we are concerned about the nutritional content of protein also entered the soup. Chicken proteins in more species, in the process of stew only a small part will be dissolved into the soup. How many proteins dissolve in the soup greatly affected by salt and soup time, but hardly more than 10% of the total. In other words, just do not eat meat soup, then throw away the equivalent of more than 90% protein.
In the course of chicken soup, when salt is very important. Salt is added to dissolve the one hand promoting protein, that is, add the salt soup stew will increase the protein. Some also say that salt can cause coagulation of meat protein denaturation, thus preventing protein dissolution. This argument somewhat for granted. Chicken without salt added during the denaturation of proteins are in the process of high temperature stew, protein does not solidify. On the other hand, the addition of salt to increase the osmotic pressure of the soup, chicken causes dehydration. The usual words, chicken become “dry” lost “tender” taste. This is also the reason it is difficult to eat chicken soup finished stew.
Popular nationwide sliced ??cold chicken, the chicken is not cooked salted water fast, in fact, try to avoid protein and other ingredients into the soup, so as to maintain chicken delicious. United States did not chicken soup habit when they cooked chicken which is keen to avoid the loss of nutrients, so usually grilled, fried or steamed like cooking methods.
From the perspective of conservation of matter, nutrients in chicken is fixed. Simple heating can not produce new nutrients, and long may damage the heating down certain nutrients. On the most important ingredient in terms of protein, a small part in the soup, a large part of the meat.
Of course, for many people, when eating is considered more delicious than nutrition. And good soup, indeed better than the meat to taste. If you use a word to sum up the problem, then, is: To delicious chicken soup; to nutrition, eat chicken. | 2019-04-25T11:49:34 | http://www.aipxtk.net/posts/584.html |
0.999999 | I oppose the gun control legislation proposed by President Obama and Senate Democrats, but I would suggest you NOT support the filibuster some Senate Republicans are proposing in response. The bill would not pass the House. There would be no harm, and a lot of good, resulting from getting all Senators to vote on the merits of the legislation. Specifically, I would enjoy seeing Democratic Senators, like your colleague Jeanne Shaheen, agonize over whether to outrage their liberal donors or their nowhere-near-as-liberal constituents.
I surprisingly find myself allied with John McCain on this issue. Oh well.
I read 1491 by Charles C. Mann back in 2011 and found it interesting enough to follow up with 1493. (As always: thanks to the library of the University Near Here for getting it.) Mann's topic is broad: how Columbus's journey upset the entire world's apple cart, with many of the apples still rolling around today.
It's a daunting subject, and one could (and some do) spend one's entire life in its study. But (fortunately) Mann is not a professional historian, he's a journalist, and this book (like 1491) concentrates on good stories and provocative ideas.
Those stories have a strong scientific component. Mann writes engagingly and comfortably in the realms of climate, ecology, biology, epidemiology, and other disciplines. It's a story of invasive species and ecological chaos, brought about mostly by human beings' lust for power and money. (Not that there's anything wrong with the latter.) Rubber, silk, silver, tobacco, potatoes, etc.; all started swirling around the globe with mostly unexpected consequences.
Mann is a diligent researcher, visiting many of the historical sites he writes about, describing his encounters and observations. It's not all interesting, but a lot of it is. Recommended for even the person not all that interested in history.
My fellow Americans, I am a bad person. Probably I should move to Cuba or some other Commie hellhole. Because I fell asleep while watching Lincoln. It was boring.
Now (as always, I shouldn't even have to point this out) your mileage may vary. Lincoln was nominated for 12 Oscars (including Best Picture) and won 2 (including Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, who plays Abe).
But I'm convinced that many of those Oscar folks were just running on autopilot, perhaps just after waking up from a Lincoln nap. To paraphrase an apocryphal quote from the man himself: People who think they are supposed to like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they are supposed to like.
It follows the last few months of Lincoln's life in 1865, as the Civil War winds down, and concentrates on the political maneuvering behind the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in the House of Representatives. It is like watching a filmed version of a history book, where the characters' dialog takes the place of the author's narrative, instead of resembling anything like what people might actually say to each other.
In fact, it would be a pretty good movie to show in high-school history classes. (I briefly thought that the language in the movie might not be appropriate for that (according to IMDB: "Two f-words. Four or five s-words.") but it's probably not a deal breaker for kids these days.
And Daniel Day-Lewis is truly amazing. Just not interesting. | 2019-04-19T14:30:09 | http://punsalad.com/cgi-bin/ps?spec=2013/04/09 |
0.999999 | What's this about an Older Cousin?
Patience. First, let's cast a gimlet eye upon the points made by Scott the Angry DM. Or, as I prefer, a martini eye. The link's above, and by the way I agree with them.
To tl;dr my own feeling: 5th Edition? Got a lot going for it. It's probably the most accessible edition yet, and it would be a great way to bring new player in ...except as Scott points out, it's not.
As he points out, the Player's Handbook is a concise reference describing the rules of character creation and what all the basic moving parts do. Unfortunately, if you're going to introduce someone to the body of work, then a "concise reference" is in fact the last thing you want. The reading will be dry and uninviting. To introduce new players without the help of an intermediary who already knows the game, then you want "inviting."
That's where the "older cousin" in Scott's rant came from: WotC is relying on the "older cousins," or at least more knowledgeable guides whether or not they're related by blood, to introduce new players to the game. WotC is relying on those "older cousins" to do their marketing. And that's seems a rather bad thing to do.
The note struck a chord, so to speak. Many people, not just Scott and myself, lamented the lack of some sort of introductory material which new players could pick up to get some feel for what's going on in the game without having to dance cheek-by-jowl with cumbersome, sticky, sweaty rules.
The shape and content of this book, however, remains unclear. Another individual on G+, Venger Satanis, had his own take on the document, reminiscent of the replay used by other games and featuring players whose interests are tangential but yet who have neither neither dipped nor wiggled their toes in RPG play yet.
It sounded like it was sorely needed. And yet, something about it started to sound hauntingly familiar. Did they do something like this already? And no, I don't mean that third party Dungeons & Dragons for Dummies—attractive alliteration aside, nobody should ever try to learn something from a book that starts out by insulting the reader's intelligence. That's one of my hard-and-fast rules.
So I went to the bookshelf (yes, my own)... and there it was.
No, I did not wish a book into being. It was already there. Only, it was almost completely unrecognizable as an introduction for new players.
Damn it, don't close that browser window yet!
Yes. Trust me, I know how utterly pants-on-head retarded it sounds. That book, whose art and writing style were completely at odds with the materials it was published alongside? The book that many well-experienced players turned their noses up at, and largely rightly so? And let's not speak of its association with that edition (which admittedly had its share of strong points, though admittedly roleplaying wasn't one of them).
In fact, you may have seen it and not remembered it because you would have subconsciously tried to blot it from your memory. I seem to remember it being that poorly received.
Now, why did experienced players ignore this book? Let me count the ways.
I mean, that all sounds like beginner stuff, right? (Again, admittedly, there are certain advanced players that would benefit from such remedial wisdom, but this isn't about them.) Then there are the quizzes—and I do not exaggerate here: I mean actual multiple choice quizzes—whereby the prospective player can select what kind of player they are, which class they'd be comfortable with, which race they'd be comfortable with, and which alignment they ought to play their character as.
There aren't more quizzes after that, but it does go into every aspect of the then-current edition: Attributes, skills, powers, feats, leveling, and then sections on optimizing a character for different roles like the fastest, toughest, best talker, blah blah blah. Then about halfway into the book it starts talking about making cohesive parties, and you're probably tired of hearing about it so I'll stop with that.
Somewhere along in here, The Light should have gone on.
If you'd never seen this book, and as an experienced player you're glad you gave it a bye, then you're Missing The Point: This was an excellent introductory-level book, and with a little bit more fleshing out, it could very easily have become the Introductory Guide that Scott, many others, and myself kind of wish WotC had published.
Of course, with new editions come new requirements and challenges. This is to be expected, because they keep changing the game's rules.
But yes, I am seriously suggesting that the PSG could have been D&D Intro.
The making of an intro book, aimed squarely at new players, is not an easy undertaking. The PSG hit a lot of the right notes, but from a marketing standpoint, the shot went wild. It didn't get into the hands of the people who could have benefitted from it. But yes, I'm thinking they could use this book as a template for the theorized 5e D&D Intro book.
The next shot has to be lined up a lot more carefully. And the content needs to be refined for beginning players so that they learn first of, then about the game.
In my responses I was theorizing the intro book as a printed replacement for the Older Cousin, to get people comfortable enough with and curious enough about the concepts therein so that they'd willingly seek out the materials to play.
Then there are the problems associated with marketing the beginner book. Which kind of brings us back to square one: Marketing to beginners.
Of course, it could get near-universal distribution if they released it as a free PDF... wait, no, sorry, I forgot who I was talking about here. | 2019-04-20T08:41:12 | http://www.ipantsthedwarf.com/2014/09/the-slightly-drunk-clownish-older-cousin.html |
0.998623 | Getting a budget passed in Connecticut has never been a smooth process, but the confusion surrounding this year's proceedings took things to a new level.
Gov. Dannel Malloy likes themes, and is good at declaring that this is the 'year of education' or the 'year we focus jobs' or 'time to focus on transportation', but this year the message was muddled.
If for nothing else - put aside the budgets flaws or pluses for now - when government creates confusion it is bad for everyone whatever the result.
In the confusion, residents got scared, businesses got really scared and the damage to the state's economy could be long lasting. The psychological effects of a state house that cannot seem to accomplish a goal without scaring everyone in the state does not exactly make us a destination for business or new residents.
So, bad job by you Governor, and bad job by the leadership in the House and Senate.
Now that we have addressed the failed job our government has done in communicating to us, lets look at the results as the smoke is settling on the budget deal.
The new budget raises revenues by $2 billion over the next two years by raising taxes and canceling previously approved tax cuts before they took effect. Raises in taxes hit both high-income residents and the middle class. There will also be an increase on cigarette taxes - perhaps the only one we can get behind.
Hospitals will take a hit, which is sure to be felt in patients' pockets, and non-coin-operated car washes and non-metered parking will now be taxed.
Taxes for residents and businesses in Connecticut are a killer, and they were just made worse.
The governor himself hinted there might be some adjustments to be made in the tax proposals that came down heavily in business. This may have been prompted by words from businesses that they might leave the state for friendlier tax states. Prime among this was General Electric Co. which told its employees that it was looking for a state 'with a more pro-business environment.
The state's Democratic leading lawmaker dismissed the remark as a cover-up for layoffs already planned. GE's headquarters is in Fairfield.
It is well documented that GE does like getting all the tax breaks it can, and we can argue if they should be paying more or less taxes all day, but the impact on your state's reputation if a company of this magnitude flees your boarders will make it quite hard to attract any other businesses. Fix this.
From Norwalk's standpoint, it seems we made out OK. The city stands to collect almost $1.5 million more in various forms of state aid. It will take time to see how things like the introduction of Keno to our bars; hits on property tax deduction and other items will have in the long term on our city. However, when everything is added up it is likely the long term hit will be worse then the initial bump in funding.
But wait a minute there may be a conference of assembly leaders and the governor- perhaps even a special session to iron out some wrinkles. Hearing the blow back from the media and public now we sense some tweaks are coming to appease the angry masses.
We hope the conferees can work out a solution that will be more friendly to businesses. We spend a lot of the taxpayer money; selling the state as one friendly to business and to this point, we have failed miserably. We look for a better outcome for the state's budget- one that treats all taxpayers fairly. | 2019-04-24T07:55:09 | https://www.thehour.com/opinion/article/Budget-boondoggle-takes-the-cake-in-2015-8039064.php |
0.999999 | How is the traffic near FSU?
Nearly 41,000 students who attend the local state university occupy FSU apartments. Many of these enrollees generally occupy the Southwest district of Tallahassee. Many are surprised to find, however, the city of Tallahassee generally lacks supreme congestion throughout the area, alleviating much relief of troublesome traffic. However, there are some exceptions to the everyday norm.
Many FSU apartments near the academic institution are within walking distance to campus. This is a major factor helping to reduce the amount of traffic traveling throughout the student district of the city. Even more so, many student favored bars, restaurants and shops are also within walking distance or a very short drive from your home. The town of tally is very small in geographical terms, so you can definitely expect taking no more than a 15 minute commute to nearly any destination throughout the town. Although many students do tend to own their own vehicles, many find they are rarely used.
In general, throughout many days of the week, you will rarely encounter heavy traffic on the main roads surrounding FSU apartments. These include the major roadways of Tennessee St, Pensacola and College Avenue. However, there are times where traffic seems inescapable. These days, fortunately, are limited to when the Florida State football teams plays at home. From the day prior to the game and the next few days thereafter, be prepared to experience a heavy amount of traffic. If you plan on traveling throughout downtown or on Tennessee or Monroe Streets, plan accordingly. Tallahassee’s smaller and beaten brick lined streets are no matches for the amount of fans that drive in to town to see their Seminole's play.
While living in an FSU apartment, there is a chance that you will experience some amount of traffic throughout your stay. However, like most cities, there are ways to keep your traffic experiences to a minimum. Living near I-10 can help residents avoid the congestions of tailgate parties by not having to travel through the campus main roads. Taking back roads through Thomasville or the more residential neighborhoods may also help you find your way through town more easily and quickly. However, these older neighborhoods may experience some backup due to their smaller roads. | 2019-04-22T10:02:33 | https://www.renttally.com/help-finding-apartments/fsu-traffic-near-apartments |
0.999893 | Despite the fact that it is present in almost all vertebrate species, very little was known about the habenula until fairly recently. In the past several years, however, the habenula has received a significant amount of attention for its potential role in both cognition (e.g. reward processing) and disorders like depression. Still, the habenula remains a little-known structure whose functions are yet to be fully elucidated.
The habenula is part of the diencephalon and, together with the pineal gland, makes up a structure called the epithalamus. The pineal gland is found on the posterior side of the thalamus and is attached to the diencephalon by a stalk. At the base of that stalk there are two small swellings (one on each side); these are the habenulae. The habenula is traditionally divided into a lateral and medial section.
What is the habenula and what does it do?
The habenula receives information from the limbic system and basal ganglia through a fiber bundle called the stria medullaris. It sends information to areas of the midbrain that are involved in dopamine release, such as the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area. The habenula also has neurons that project to areas like the raphe nuclei, which are involved in serotonin release. Thus, the habenula is one of the few known structures in the brain that can exert an influence over large populations of both serotonergic and dopaminergic neurons.
Dopamine and dopamine-rich areas of the brain like the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area are thought to be important to processing information related to rewards. When we receive a reward--which could be anything from a slice of cheesecake to a line of cocaine--there is corresponding dopamine activity that seems to be associated with how satisfying we expect the reward to be. If the reward is larger than we expected (e.g. a big slice of cheesecake, topped with syrup and with a side of ice cream), our dopamine neurons get excited with activity that seems to help us remember the details of how we obtained the reward. In this way, our dopamine system helps us to recall how to get the reward again. When this encoding of the details associated with a reward becomes hyperactive, it can result in the obsessive reward-seeking we see in addiction.
But when the reward is smaller than we expected (e.g. a few crumbs of cheesecake on an otherwise empty plate), dopamine activity in the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area is inhibited. Smaller-than-expected rewards, however, cause increased activity in the habenula, while larger rewards lead to an inhibition of activity there.
Thus, it has been hypothesized that the habenula is involved in encoding information about disappointing (or missing) rewards. The habenula has also been found to be activated in response to punishment (e.g. electric shocks) and stimuli that we have previously associated with negative experiences. Based on all of this information, it is thought the habenula plays an important role in learning from aversive experiences and in making decisions so as to avoid such unpleasant experiences in the future.
The habenula has been found to be activated in response to stress, and so it may not be surprising--given the strong relationship between chronic stress and depression--that the habenula is suspected to be involved in the pathophysiology of depression. Habenular neurons are hyperactive in depression; some have suggested this activity may correspond with an increased propensity toward pessimism. Structural abnormalities of the habenula have been found in the brains of patients who suffered from major depressive disorder, and in one case a patient who was not responsive to typical treatments for depression did respond to deep-brain stimulation of her lateral habenula. Regardless, although there are some indications of habenular involvement in depression, the association between the habenula and depression is still unclear. More research will be needed to determine if there is a causative link, and if so what the nature of that link is.
The habenula also seems to play a role in sleep. It has mutual connections with the pineal gland, which secretes melatonin--a hormone important for regulating circadian rhythms and promoting sleep. There is also some evidence that the habenula itself produces melatonin. Lesioning the habenula in experimental animals results in a disruption of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and thus the habenula may have role in both promoting sleep and sleep quality. Some have suggested the role of the habenula in sleep may also be related to its role in depression, as depressed individuals often suffer from sleep disorders.
The functions of the habenula are just beginning to be understood. Until fairly recently, our neuroimaging techniques were not even powerful enough to visualize the habenula with adequate resolution. Now that this has changed, the tiny structure is becoming recognized as an important part of the brain. The next decade is likely to reveal some interesting new data about just how important this once-obscure brain region really is. | 2019-04-20T19:12:55 | https://neuroscientificallychallenged.com/blog/what-is-the-habenula |
0.998747 | Seared, Blue rare or very rare - Cooked very quickly; the outside is seared, but the inside is usually cool and barely cooked. The steak will be red on the inside and barely warmed. Sometimes asked for as "blood rare" or "bloody as hell". In the United States, this is also sometimes referred to as 'Black and Blue' or 'Pittsburgh Rare'.
Rare - (52°C [125°F] core temperature) The outside is grey-brown, and the middle of the steak is red and slightly warm.
Medium rare - (55°C [130°F] core temperature) The steak will have a fully red, warm center.
Medium - (60°C [140°F] core temperature) The middle of the steak is hot and red with pink surrounding the center. The outside is grey-brown.
Medium well done - (65°C [150°F] core temperature) The meat is light pink surrounding the center.
Well done - (71°C [160°F] and above core temperature) The meat is grey-brown throughout and slightly charred. | 2019-04-18T12:16:02 | http://thebutcherskitchen.info/recipes/tips.asp |
0.999999 | Paris and Apple Expo - Now who's coming? Should we meet there?
Ok, The Apple Expo in Paris next week (10. - 14.sep) - Who'll be there?
Should we have an AI meeting??
Who'll be in Paris and what day???
Uh, do i have to start?
I would like to come, but I don't have the money.
I will be there for the keynote... Just one day (September 10).
Too much on my hand (work, school etc.) to go there this year.
But next year I have moved to Berlin (hopefully) and courses don´t start until october so then I will have the time.
i'm about 80% sure Im coming, just for keynote and expo and prob leave the same evening back to Brussels.
We tried to have a meetup 2 years ago too but no one knew the layout of the hall.
If its anything like 2 years ago, we could meet at the Apple area... at the, dunno, Quicktime section or something. We should give a specific hour and PLEASE have something that will identify ourselves this time.
BTW 2 years ago my friends and I had a BLAST making a video at the apple stands. There were iMacs with digital video cameras and you could make your own iMovies on the fly. If they have the same thing this year, I propose we make an "AI at AppleExpo Paris 2002" video right there and then.
I'm pretty good with iMovie, but if anyone that has a lot of experience with video will be meeting at Expo, this would be really fun!
So we should meet at the Apple iMovie stand just after the keynote then...?
So wait i suppose i need now a new registration for the key note ..?
i'm coming - and i will be staying 'till sept. 13. (paris can be nice).
so the meeting point is imovie-stand at "paris expo" after the keynote?
or should we meet before the keynote?
While the actual expo is at "Porte de Versailles" (Hall 4).
Uh, so if i didnt register in time for that but have the expo pass and still am there early enough... could enter there? or have to skip that?
i signed up for the keynote, got a email that confirmed it and don't have a "k" on the pass.
I don't know... maybe you could fake the "K", or maybe they even have list of names?
Anyone been to this before?
<strong>i'm coming - and i will be staying 'till sept. 13. (paris can be nice).
There is also lunch to think about... make video first then eat? Or eat then do a video? Or make the video while eating???
We should make a script Anyone have any dumb ideas?
[quote]i signed up for the keynote, got a email that confirmed it and don't have a "k" on the pass.
A print of the email should probably do...?
get there AT least by 9am.
There is a huge line and they have to check your ticket plus ID in order to get into the keynote area.
secondly, if you have issues about your registration, mail this person [email protected] since she is charge of the passes and stuff.
I have THREE passes now. 2 normal (no K) and she resent one of them with a K. I have afriend who has a K ticket and isnt coming... BUT they check ID (at least they did last time) so not sure if its any help.
Hey please can smeone mail me a confermation mail for being subscribed to the keynote? If i just ... modify and print that? | 2019-04-25T22:33:30 | https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/11880/paris-and-apple-expo-now-whos-coming-should-we-meet-there |
0.998323 | A British researcher has developed a new weapon in the fight against the MRSA "superbug" that affects thousands of hospital patients each year.
The scientist - who works at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital - has developed a new test that should help doctors identify the bacterium more quickly.
MRSA is resistant to nearly all antibiotics, with screening of patients taking as long as two days.
But the new test could cut that to two hours, helping to stop it spreading.
The test can identify a particular strain of MRSA, giving a detailed picture of its genetic structure, which researchers say will make it easier to discover the source of the infection.
But the test is regarded as expensive, costing £15 per patient. Current testing costs between £5 to £8.
Professor Peter Hawkey, the researcher who developed the test, said: "By doing a test which takes two to three hours , it would be possible to release that patient, if they are not colonised [with MRSA], from isolation."
The test has so far only been evaluated in the lab, so further research must now take place in a hospital before it can be decided if the test should be widely introduced.
The National Audit Office estimates infections such as MRSA kill 5,000 people each year.
Hospital-acquired infections cost the NHS around £1 billion a year.
Meanwhile doctors and scientists from around the world are meeting at the Royal College of Pathologists in London for a major conference on tackling hospital-acquired infections like MRSA.
Health Secretary John Reid, speaking at the conference, announced the results of the second round of equipment, materials and products which could help NHS staff improve infection control in hospitals.
Delegates will also discuss how the government's £3m budget for research into MRSA should be spent.
Last month, Mr Reid announced radical targets for MRSA, demanding the number of bloodstream infections be halved by March 2008.
The Health Secretary told the BBC: "I said we would leave no stone unturned in the fight against the superbug and, so far, we have introduced a whole series of steps to do with cleanliness and design and separation in single rooms and hygiene and so on.
"But we have to marshal science as well."
Shadow Health Minister Simon Burns said: "Infection control nurses have said they want less expert advice but independent authority to shut down infected, dirty wards.
"Whilst action is needed to stop 5,000 people dying every year, John Reid chooses to hold another meeting to talk - again - about what to do. Less talk and more action is urgently needed to tackle the MRSA hospital superbug."
Paul Burstow, Liberal Democrat health spokesman, added: "The government talks tough on superbugs but its record on tackling hospital infections is sadly lacking.
"The government has to adopt a zero tolerance on poor hygiene and a search and destroy approach to tackling superbugs with robust screening and isolation." | 2019-04-23T20:35:19 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4097049.stm |
0.999917 | If Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is a problem, what is the problem, and whose problem is it, anyway? There are in fact two problems, and their relationship is both oblique and shadowy.
The most important is the film's anti-Semitism. Gibson and his screenwriter, Benedict Fitzgerald, say they didn't intend to make an anti-Semitic film, and we must, I suppose, take them at their word. But even taking them at their word addresses only the conscious intentions; if one examines the imagery and associations in the film, the power of the unconscious rears its head -- and in this case it is an ugly and a dangerous one. In a world in which acts of violence against Jews and their sacred places are on the rise, any work capable of fanning these always fannable flames is morally dicey. The possibility that Gibson's film, whether intentionally or not, will contribute to growing anti-Semitism -- not only in this country but in the world at large -- is a problem for all people of goodwill, not only for Jews.
The second problem lies in the realm of ideas. The story of the Passion, which deals with the mystery of death, is, naturally, one that calls up intense (you could even say passionate) responses. These responses are in the nature of Christian family quarrels, but who ever said family quarrels were temperate or trivial?
Quarrels of interpretation over the life, death, and ministry of Christ are likely not to be very important to Jews -- indeed, it would be strange if Jews entered into the discussion at all. But it would be disappointing in the extreme if Jews considered the anti-Semitism issue theirs, and if Christians focused on the questions of interpretation. Unfortunately, in the gallons of ink and hours of media time devoted to this film -- and to the response to it -- I have yet to find a critical mass of Christian alarm about the implications of The Passion and its anti-Semitic potential. I have been unpleasantly surprised by a consistent ahistoricity in most Christian discourse about the film, as if it were possible to speak about anti-Semitism apart from a history of the Holocaust, to speak about Jewish-Christian relations without referring to the Church's implication in the centuries-old history of Jewish persecution in Christian Europe.
Except in the words of James Carroll writing in The Boston Globe, Garry Wills writing in The New York Review of Books, and an issue of the (liberal Protestant) Christian Century, which devoted several articles to the film, I have found precious few notes of outrage or anxiety in the Christian commentary on what is, however temporarily, a major cultural event.
The Jesuit magazine America at least paid attention to the film's anti-Semitism, but I was startled by the intellectual sangfroid of an article on the 19th-century mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich, an inspiration for Gibson and Fitzgerald and their depiction of the Passion. Emmerich's inclusion of Jewish blood libel in her understanding of the Passion is brushed off as another aspect of 19th-century German thought, and her assertion that Ham, the son of Noah, is the progenitor of the "dark and stupid races" is mentioned without commentary. The author, John O'Malley, says about these mad and dangerous writings, "While it has been helpful to people in the past, I would not recommend it to anyone today." This is kind of like saying that bloodletting might have once been a useful practice, but we've moved on.
More alarming still were the articles in the two other major journals most associated with Catholic liberalism. In The National Catholic Reporter, which did cover the controversy, signed articles showed little interest in the anti-Semitic dangers of The Passion. One piece even criticized the actions of the Committee of the U.S. Bishops Secretariat for Ecumenical and Religious affairs, which, having been denied access to the film and the screenplay, received a purloined copy and expressed its concerns, suggesting revisions that would lessen the anti-Semitic tone. The National Catholic Reporter suggested that this was a brand of censorship, and ended the article "Let Mel Be Mel." It also included an open letter by someone who had been deeply moved by the film and urged Gibson to donate a share of his substantial profits to the National Catholic Relief Fund.
This insensitivity to the anti-Semitic dangers of the film was echoed in an article by Richard McBrien, otherwise noted for his outspoken liberal positions. His piece, reprinted in several Catholic newspapers, focuses on the anti-Resurrection portrayal of the Passion and asserts that McBrien is not speculating "about whether the film is likely to foment anti-Semitic feelings and behavior. In fact, anti-Semitism is not even at issue here. What is of interest is the irony of it all -- not of the film itself but of its enthusiastic reception by evangelical and fundamentalist Protestants and of the carefully designed efforts to recruit them as its most zealous promoters." In reading this, I was reminded of the "Son of Sam" case, in which the eponymous Sam, owner of the dog that the killer David Berkowitz thought was telling him to kill women, told a journalist that what most upset him was not the dead women but that Berkowitz was sending get-well cards to friends of Sam's who were not even sick.
Most offensive to me by a long chalk, however, was an article in Commonweal by John A. Coleman, which begins by asserting that Gibson's film is not anti-Semitic because it divides the blame evenly between Jews and Romans. Never mind that this is patently untrue, that Pontius Pilate is portrayed as sensitive, thoughtful, and agonized and Caiaphas as a bloodthirsty rabble-rouser. This article, heADLined "Mel Gibson Meets Marc Chagall: How Christians and Jews Approach the Cross," focuses most of its attention on Chagall's use of crucifixion imagery as an icon of Jewish suffering. Now, what are we meant to think of this discussion at this moment in cultural history? It asserts the power of the image of the cross, but its subliminal effect is to link Chagall and Gibson, a partnership that can only boggle the mind.
But how could anyone expect much sensitivity to the anti-Semitic aspects of the film when the hierarchy of the Catholic Church provided such equivocal leadership? The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reissued a collection of Vatican II documents, asserting that Jews were not to be blamed for the death of Christ and issuing guidelines for the presentation of the events of Jesus' last days in Passion plays, a move greeted with appreciation by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). But when Abraham Foxman, the ADL's national director, attempted to get some clarification from the Vatican about the pope's supposed statement that "it is as it was," and asked the Vatican to take action similar to the American position, he was rebuffed. Archbishop John Foley, an American who heads the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, praised the movie, asserting that it was not anti-Semitic and denying that there was any need for the Vatican to restate Vatican II teachings on the role of the Jews in Jesus' death.
My candidate for this year's award in the category of equivocal behavior, however, goes to Edward Cardinal Egan of New York, who issued a pastoral letter expressing his concern that Gibson's film might be conducive to anti-Semitism and destructive of Jewish-Catholic relations -- only to urge, a few weeks later, that all Catholics "rush" to see this inspiring film.
At stake for Christians and Jews are the questions: What is Christian responsibility for the ongoing history of anti-Semitism, and what kind of trust can Jews have of Christians if this responsibility is not acknowledged? The us-them divisions that these events have engendered underscore the poignancy of Abraham Foxman's questions: "Why are we the only ones raising our voice? Where are you?" | 2019-04-24T10:17:59 | https://prospect.org/article/silence-flock |
0.99995 | Politician: It has been proposed that the national parks in our country be managed by private companies rather than the government. A similar privatization of the telecommunications industry has benefited consumers by allowing competition among a variety of telephone companies to improve service and force down prices. Therefore, the privatization of the national parks would probably benefit park visitors as well.
Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the politician’s argument?
(A) It would not be politically expedient to privatize the national parks even if doing so would, in the long run, improve service and reduce the fees charged to visitors.
(B) The privatization of the telecommunications industry has been problematic in that it has led to significantly increased unemployment and economic instability in that industry.
(C) The vast majority of people visiting the national parks are unaware of proposals to privatize the management of those parks.
(D) Privatizing the national parks would benefit a much smaller number of consumers to a much smaller extent than did the privatization of the telecommunications industry.
(E) The privatization of the national parks would produce much less competition between different companies than did the privatization of the telecommunications industry.
Proposal to manage national parks by private companies. Similar privatisation of the telecom industry INCREASED competition that eventually benefited the consumer. Thus, privatising national parks will benefit in the same way.
This entire argument hinges on competition creating value for the customer.
B - The argument is talking about benefit to consumers, and not the economy, or the job market. OUT.
C - Customer knowledge isn't under discussion, OUT.
D - Close, but still not the answer as we have a better option in E. This option states that it will only benefit some consumers, but it will still benefit consumers. The number of customers it benefits isn't up for debate. OUT.
E - YES!!! If privatisation doesn't generate enough interest, then it will not benefit the consumer in the same way as the telecom industry, or it may not benefit the consumer at all. It might be a non-event. | 2019-04-20T16:29:26 | https://gmatclub.com/forum/politician-it-has-been-proposed-that-the-national-parks-245268.html |
0.999999 | While Marvel’s films have become a juggernaut of critical and financial success, DC’s films have been … less so. But live action isn’t the only way to watch DC characters save the day. This week we invite Ari back to discuss the high bar set by animated shows of the DC universe. We describe why they succeeded when the live action films have largely flopped, whether superheroes might work better as cartoons, and how Superman doesn’t have to be boring.
Slade is actually Deathstroke, not Deathshot.
TL; DR: I agree that the live action movies could learn a lot from the animated shows.
Personally I feel one of the best Superman moments was in Young Justice Season 2 when the heroes are assaulting some villains’ den and someone sets the timer on a bomb. The heroes obviously start clearing out, but Superman stays behind to convince the villains that the bomb isn’t a trick and they should actually escape too because there are too many villains for Superman to carry all of them to safety. These are villains who were just trying to kill Superman and his friends (and also probably take over the world while they’re at it) and would definitely try again even if he saves them, and he knew that, but he still couldn’t bring himself to let them die.
The Justice League Unlimited Series also has this storyline where Superman and Batman are incapacitated by being mentally trapped in the fulfillment of their heart’s desires. So Superman dreams of having a family with a reporter on a farm, except it’s Krypton instead of Kansas, because as much as he loves the Kents, he also wishes that Krypton had never been destroyed. Batman’s fantasy is the night his parents were killed, except in his head, his parents don’t die and his father beats up the thug instead. And then both of them have to destroy their dreams themselves in order to get back to reality (Batman does this partly by growing slowly horrified that his dream father won’t stop hurting the thug).
So, yeah, there is definitely a way to make characters like Superman complex without making them too dark or too light.
I was thinking next you could do the books by Rick Riordan; specifically their diversity. | 2019-04-24T22:49:58 | https://mythcreants.com/blog/151-dc-animated-series/ |
0.999996 | Fortunately, that isn't the case, and Sonicare DiamondClean excels in cleaning teeth. It has four different brushing modes -- Clean, Deep Clean+, Gum Health, and white+ -- to help with whatever your primary goal is.
When comparing, the 9500 has everything the 9300 has, but the charging case also has the built-in wireless charging for on the go. It also has an extra cleaning mode -- TongueCare+ -- and a TongueCare+ brush head also included.
If you already have a Sonicare toothbrush, it is hard to justify spending quite this much just for the addition of Bluetooth -- although it is tempting. If, however, you don't yet have an electric toothbrush, we would without a doubt recommend the Sonicare DiamondClean Smart.
Truth is, there is no real evidence that anything more than a $50-70 Oral-B or Sonicare basic electric toothbrush is necessary. None of these features in smart toothbrushes amount to better oral health. The only features that are helpful and proven are brushing for two minutes, so the two-minute timers on the basic oral b or Sonicare toothbrushes are all that’s needed and saves folks a lot of money compared with the ones touted here. Yeah BT is often cool and maybe if that motivates someone to brush then great. But no features here are clearly beneficial for most people nor are they cost effective.
This is a solution in search of a problem. Certain things that just don't lend themselves to being part of the "smart" ecosystem, and this is a prime example.
What's next, a smart toilet?
Second paragraph: "It seems that these days manufacturers are needlessly shoving Bluetooth to everything they can get their hands on. There are even Bluetooth toilets."
1. "Sonicare has a long history as being arguably the best electric toothbrush lineup out there" I am ok with paid content, but for many ppl a sonic toothbrush may not be the ideal choice, compared to oscillating, mechanical Oral B electric toothbrushes. Please correct this bold statement 2. What do tooth brushes in general have do to with Appleinsider? Now I would also like a review of the - you mentioned in the text - bluetooth-enabled toilet. And in the next years please all other electronic items that include an app connection!
(1) So every brush head has a chip in it, making it toxic e-waste when it's time to discard it. Awesome!
(2) I can literally buy enough regular toothbrushes to last me the rest of my life for the price of one of these things.
(3) Fuchs - check 'em out. Least environmentally harmful toothbrush your money can buy.
But will it give me Blueteeth?
There are a few things here. I called around to a few denstists to get opinions for this piece, and the main thing I heard was that the biggest issue with electric toothbrushes is people don’t exactly know how to use them. They continue to scrub, and press. Both of which can really damage teeth. This “smart version” will fix that issue by having those additional sensors in there.
Additonally, there are different brush heads that are shaped different for different things. There is certainly evidence that the different shapes are able to excel in different areas.
So a lot of these things that make this better than the basic Sonicare are assurances you’re better protecting your teeth. The basic brushing isn’t necessarily different, but all the rest is.
It works with the iPhone. We cover all sorts of iPhone-connected accessories. Pianos, cooking devices, etc.
As for the intro, the statement stands. I do say “arguably” the best. Philips says they are the number 1 recommended by dentists, Amazon has Sonicare and the number 1 best selling, reviews.com even has Sonicare as the best overall. OralB is great, but again, “arguably” Sonicare is considered tops.
Edit: tack on Reader’s Digest and Women’s health giving the vote to Sonicare over OralB.
To each his his own though! That’s why there are so many!
Looking forward to the day iRobot or a startup robotics company gets into at-home dentistry. There’s theoretically no reason why teeth cleaning and dental services couldn’t eventually be made completely automated (except maybe not the X-ray part), including 3-D printed tooth replacements, for the home.
Just walk into your bathroom and open up!
I did see an Instagram ad for the like.. 30 second toothbrush? That does them all at once!! Idk if I trust that!
Correct me if I’m wrong. But I believe that has already been trademarked for dentures that inform you via an app on your iOS device when they need cleaning, removed for the night etc. In the advanced models they will communicate from onboard pressure sensors and colorimetric light sensors with your 3D printer and make a custom fit orthotic liner each night while you sleep, for a perfect fit every day.
I have this toothbrush, and it’s a good toothbrush, but I have two beefs with it.
1. After turning the toothbrush on/off a certain number of times with a particular toothbrush head on it, the toothbrush/app will start hounding you to replace it, even if the toothbrush head is still pristine.
2. The effing app tracks your brushing habits and sends it to SoniCare. I called customer support with the goal of confirming this and th experience was surreal; they danced around the question in a scripted manner almost to the point of being offensive. It wasn’t until I started ignoring their deflections and just kept repeating my question over and over that they finally confirmed it. “It makes brushing better for everyone.” I don’t care! I don’t want my habits tracked. No way to turn it off.
Well, ain't that a kick in the teeth?
1. In various studies, Sonicare, ultrasonic toothbrush, do better job than mechanical toothbrush, oral B. It is not about the brand, it is about the technology. Some newer ultrasonic toothbrushes even claim they shake much faster than Sonicare.
2. You can connect the toothbrush with your Mac Pro?
this is when when technology, marketing, go too far.
Not paid content, as it is not marked as such. Review the commenting guidelines. No more warnings will be given.
What does it have to do with AppleInsider? We chose to cover it. If you don't want to read it, that's up to you.
Sonicare's app phoning home without our knowledge is beyond the pale.
Apple can't catch everybody, but I thought they had a policy against apps collecting data without our permission. If I had to find this out on my own, I'd certainly drop a line to Apple and put that info in a review.
If the app has value, I suppose you could enable AirPlane mode, use the app, review it, dump it, and disable AirPlane mode. Too many hoops, and anybody who collects your location and/or data needs to make it clear that they do. An Opt In option would be nice, too.
A couple of decades ago it was popular for manufacturer's to put a digital clock in everything, even if it made no sense. This decade's version is to add bluetooth. Pass.
So how long has brushing your tongue been a thing?
Actually many dentists have recommended that for a long time, decades I believe. | 2019-04-22T14:59:51 | https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/206797/ |
0.999999 | 'Change' is a process every business must go through if it is to thrive.
Without change, businesses would struggle to be competitive, dynamic, viable even.
However announcing a new change at work can leave you with a stony-faced audience. This is because, for many people, change can bring fear, uncertainty and a lack of control. These emotions, if not adequately managed, can quickly lead to a highly unproductive and de-motivated team.
What sort of changes cause fear?
Any change that is going to create a difference in someones working day can be a trigger for fear and uncertainty.
This could include the introduction of a new line manager, a promotion, redundancies, new technologies or processes, rumours of a company sale etc.
Any change at work - even a change that has been hoped for - has the potential to raise feelings of inadequacy, a fear of messing up or a fear of having to justify a contribution made.
If you're someone who has to convey change to a team or individual as part of your role, the way you communicate it will be of paramount importance.
Provide context - set the scene, why this change? Why now?
Discuss expectations and implications - what does this change mean for the individual? For the organisation?
Once the change has been properly communicated, a process should be put in place to ensure the individual or team are guided, supported and remain motivated. | 2019-04-23T14:54:42 | https://www.crisp-cpd.com/blog/change-is-essential-communicating-it-can-be-hazardous |
0.999162 | How does a young German who has been a member of the Hittler Youth and has competed in Nazi-organized athletic competitions become, over the span of two years, an eighty-pound, tuberculosis-stricken concentration camp escapee?
In this larger-than-life memoir, Walter Meyer leads readers from one harrowing moment to the next as he recounts his experiences during and after Hitler's reign. As a teenager. Meyer refused to conform to institutional rules. While serving in the Hitler Youth, he rebelled by joining a subversive group that focused its efforts on pranks against the youth organization. During World War ll, Meyer was arrested, interrogated, and beaten for stealing shoes, but he received a sentence of one to four years, as opposed to the standard penalty for looting-death.
The sixteen-year-old Meyer's refusal to conform to prison regulations and his foiled escape attempts resulted in solitary confinement on several occasions. His fiery spirit eventually landed him in a Nazi work camp. Unbeknownst to his family, Meyer became a concentration camp prisoner. Transported to Ravensbrueck, he was forced to work under grueling conditions in a quarry. He struggled to reach his daily work quota so he could dine on watery broth and bits of bread. In these subhuman conditions, Meyer developed tuberculosis. Knowing he would soon die in the camp, he again plotted his escape. This time he succeeded.
Upon returning home to Duesseldorf, Meyer despaired at the destruction of his hometown. He lamented the pallor that had spread throughout the town and the country itself. After recovering his health, he regained his youthful lust for adventure.
His postwar travels began with his infiltration of the Russian-occupied zone of Germany to retrieve his family's possessions. Meyer then began a whirlwind odyssey, ducking into train cars and stowing away on ships, occasionally landing in jail for traveling without a passport-from France to Spain, Belgium to Holland, and finally to South America-in pursuit of something other than the aftermath of war.
Meyer's memoir gives insight into the climate in Germany during World War ll and in the defeated nation after the war. His experience as a non-Jewish survivor of the Nazi concentration camps provides an enlightening and varied perspective to the Holocaust dialogue. | 2019-04-20T12:22:27 | http://www.ktav.com/index.php/tomorrow-will-be-better.html |
0.998261 | By collecting and promoting examples of innovative approaches to assessment, we want to give schools ideas and options as they upgrade their systems in response to the removal of levels.
We are therefore asking schools and organisations to present their approaches to the Department: where needed, we can allocate funding (of up to £10,000 per unique application) to help create a simple, easy-to-use package for others schools to transfer and use in their own setting.
Each package will then be made freely available for other schools to access, download and use.
The school has developed a series of ‘progression planners’, which focus on the assessment for those learners whose attainment falls significantly below the expectations outlined in the new ‘Year 1 programmes of study’. They are themed around priority areas for individuals with severe learning difficulties and are consistent with the principles and ethos of the new national curriculum. It is based on precise outcomes and provides a clear basis for tracking progress and reporting to parents.
Judges viewed their approach as particularly innovative, practical and based on sound SEN educational thinking. They thought their approach would have relevant application in both mainstream and special education.
Over the past year, we have been developing a series of progression planners to complement our level-based assessment. These are used by teachers to set personal learning intentions for each pupil, which address priority individual needs, develop key skills, and promote positive health and wellbeing.
Our progression planners have started to promote a professional culture, which views progress, in new and more exciting ways. Through using our progression planners, for example, we are able to evaluate those significant achievements, which fall outside of the national curriculum level descriptors, and identify any misunderstandings which need to be addressed to offer learners increased challenge.
The progression planners we have developed also enable us to have more meaningful dialogues with parents, which move away from being an abstract conversation about levels, to a much deeper exploration of what their child is more intrinsically learning.
Progression Planners could be applied in the context of ICT and Computing. This approach sounds similar to the ladders approaches that other schools have developed, except this seems to be more personalised.
The sentence “Through using our progression planners, for example, we are able to evaluate those significant achievements, which fall outside of the national curriculum level descriptors, and identify any misunderstandings which need to be addressed to offer learners increased challenge.” Is significant I think. How can you take into account what pupils are perhaps doing completely independently of school, but which may appear to be outside the scope of the Computing Programme of Study?
I say “appear to be” because the new Computing Programme of Study’s descriptors are minimalistic, so this approach would entail doing some mapping on an individual pupil basis.
The Progression Planner approach can incorporate some very precise expected outcomes, making it relatively easy to identify pupils falling below expectations in a particular area.
To read the first post in this series, please go to 9 Approaches to assessing Computing and ICT–#1: Skills Passport. To gain access to the whole series in one document, just sign up for Digital Education. | 2019-04-20T02:23:27 | https://www.techlearning.com/techlearning-international/7734 |
0.999992 | Possible line-ups: Lincoln (4-2-3-1): Smith; Eardley, Bostwick, Shackell, Toffolo; Frecklington, O’Connor; Anderson, Rowe, Andrade; Akinde. Northampton (3-5-2): Cornell; Goode, Taylor, Pierre, Facey, Buchanan, Turnbull, McWilliams, O’Toole; Hoskins, A Williams.
Man in the middle: Michael Salisbury – controversially sent off Ash Taylor at Peterborough in Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s final game in charge of the Cobblers last April. Handed out 82 yellows and three reds in 29 games this season.
Opposition view: “Yes, it’s been a tough run for us having had seven games out of our last nine that have been away from home,” admitted Imps boss Danny Cowley. “But although it’s been difficult, we’re also in a good moment as we’ve only lost one of our last 14 league games.
The Imps’ excellent season has been built on some extremely sharp shooting – only two sides in the division have taken fewer shots and yet only one has scored more than their 54 goals – and a robust defence, the third best in League Two.
Cobblers connection: Given the seemingly countless number of players who have come and gone in a flash over the past few seasons, you could be forgiven for forgetting Neal Eardley’s brief 10-game spell at the Cobblers. The 29-year-old was signed on a free transfer in January 2017, the same day Rob Page was sacked, and proved himself to be an able deputy for the often-injured Brendan Moloney at right-back.
But his release at the end of the season saw him snapped up by Lincoln City where he continues to make a name for himself. His 54 appearances and 10 assists – a mighty fine return for a right-back – earned him two Player of the Season accolades last year and he’s maintained that form into the current campaign, playing 31 times in City’s charge to the League Two summit.
James Heneghan’s preview: Tuesday night’s crucial victory at Tranmere Rovers has lifted the pressure on Northampton ahead of this trip to league leaders Lincoln City, which can now be viewed as something of a free hit for Keith Curle’s men.
But while returning from Sincil Bank with all three points looks a tall order and perhaps a bridge too far at this point, it nonetheless remains important for Cobblers to build on their wholehearted, full-blooded efforts at Prenton Park where clinical finishing was allied to committed, gutsy defending.
That combination has rarely been showcased by Town this season but they will need those qualities and more at the home of the League Two pacesetters who boast a formidable record on their own patch, losing just one of 14 games at Sincil Bank.
The recurring theme of Northampton’s campaign has been to provide moments of encouragement and create patches of momentum, such as Tuesday’s victory at Prenton Park, and then immediately undo it with a feeble performance and poor result in the following game, bar four-match winning run across October and November.
Which is why they could do with replicating their efforts from Tuesday this weekend, even if it doesn’t translate into a victory and even if their season looks to be petering out.
Despite Lincoln’s lofty league position, their form ahead of tomorrow’s game is patchy at best, winning two of their past eight in all competitions, although you could also read it as just one defeat in 14 league outings.
The Imps’ excellent season to this point has been built on some extremely sharp shooting – only two sides in the division have taken fewer than their 299 shots (Cobblers have had 388 by contrast) and yet only one team (Bury) have scored more than their 54 goals – and a robust defence, the third meanest in League Two.
That makes them almost the polar opposite of their visitors this weekend. Creating chances has seldom been an issue for Town, but finishing them off is a different matter, and with defensive frailties a regular feature, those missed opportunities regularly come back to haunt them.
You only need to look at the reverse fixture, played on the opening day of the season, for a prime example as Lincoln survived a deluge of Cobblers pressure in a smash-and-grab 1-0 victory, Matt Green scoring the only goal. Plagued by missed chances and one defensive lapse, the match was an accurate gauge for the how the season would unfold – for both teams.
Sam Foley, Goerge Cox and Marvin Sordell are Curle’s chief injury worries for their trip north as we again wait and see what he has up his sleeve following his curious but successful team selection at Prenton Park.
Given their physical exertions that night, and taking into account Curle’s now-famous rotation policy, changes are fully expected against Lincoln although two-goal hero Sam Hoskins is surely a nailed on starter.
Cobblers have largely held their own against the best teams in League Two this season but with a sell-out, boisterous crowd expected at Sincil Bank and a home team gunning for promotion, Saturday promises be their sternest test to date. | 2019-04-23T20:24:16 | https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/sport/football/cobblers/james-heneghan-s-lincoln-city-v-northampton-town-preview-1-8802893 |
0.998756 | Summary: Kim Jong-un became the first North Korean leader to set foot in South Korea at the Panmunjom Summit in April 2018, setting the stage for President Trump’s meeting with Kim in June, which China will be watching closely.
Kim Jong-un became the first North Korean leader to set foot in South Korea at the Panmunjom Summit in April 2018, setting the stage for President Trump’s meeting with Kim in June. Just days after the summit, Paul Haenle spoke with Dr. Tong Zhao, a fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program based at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, about the significance of the Kim-Moon meeting and its implications for China and the United States.
Zhao said North Korea remains committed to maintaining its nuclear weapons program following the Kim-Moon summit, pointing to vague outcomes and timelines surrounding denuclearization in the Panmunjom Declaration. Zhao said Pyongyang had been strategic in its recent diplomatic outreaches, quickly repairing relations with China and South Korea. By announcing a halt in its nuclear and long range missile tests, North Korea also significantly lowered the chance that China or Russia will agree to further sanctions in the United Nations. Zhao attributed the North’s willingness to return to diplomacy to the completion of its nuclear weapons program, arguing that sanctions had a secondary effect. Zhao said China was happy with the progress made at the Kim-Moon meeting and that the chance of military conflict continue to decline. However, he argued that Beijing was concerned that China might be sidelined in future negotiations. U.S. views of China as a strategic competitor have also stoked fears in Beijing that Washington may use North Korea to balance against China in the region, Zhao said. He expects the Trump-Kim meeting to have similar outcomes as those at the Kim-Moon summit. While the goal of denuclearization is likely to be reaffirmed, the meeting will focus on symbolic gestures rather than concrete outcomes. Zhao said China will be watching closely to see what is discussed regarding finding a resolution to the Korean War, an area where Beijing will want a say in the agreed outcome.
Tong Zhao is a fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, based at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing. His research focuses on strategic security issues, including nuclear weapons policy, arms control, nonproliferation, missile defense, space security, and China’s security and foreign policy. | 2019-04-19T15:19:32 | https://carnegietsinghua.org/2018/05/03/what-comes-next-panmunjom-summit-pub-76242 |
0.999834 | SO is trading at a discount to only 3.) above. When also considering the NPV MMA Differential, the stock is trading at a 26.5% premium to its calculated fair value of $37.43. SO did not earn any Stars in this section.
SO earned no Stars in this section. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1948 and has increased its dividend payments for 14 consecutive years.
The NPV MMA Diff. of the $1,210 is below the $2,100 target I look for in a stock that has increased dividends as long as SO has. The stock's current yield of 4.55% exceeds the 2.67% estimated 20-year average MMA rate.
Peers: The company's peer group includes: NextEra Energy, Inc. (NEE) with a 2.9% yield, Entergy Corporation (ETR) with a 4.9% yield and CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (CNP) with a 5.7% yield.
Conclusion: SO did not earn any Stars in the Fair Value section, did not earn any Stars in the Dividend Analytical Data section and did not earn any Stars in the Dividend Income vs. MMA section for a total of zero Star. This quantitatively ranks SO as a 0-Star Avoid stock.
Using my D4L-PreScreen.xls model, I determined the share price would need to decrease to $37.28 before SO's NPV MMA Differential increased to the $2,100 minimum that I look for in a stock with 14 years of consecutive dividend increases. At that price the stock would yield 5.8%.
Resetting the D4L-PreScreen.xls model and solving for the dividend growth rate needed to generate the target $2,100 NPV MMA Differential, the calculated rate is 5.8%. This dividend growth rate is higher than the 3.4% used in this analysis, thus providing no margin of safety. SO has a risk rating of 2.25, which classifies it as a Medium risk stock.
Southern Company's footprint is in the deep south where it operates in a stable regulatory atmosphere. The company's deal to purchase AGL could provide growth in gas infrastructure and possible synergies. Historically, the SO has enjoyed above-average returns on its investment. The stock is currently trading at a premium to its $37.43 calculated fair value. In addition, the company's high debt to total capital of 56% and negative free cash flow payout of -414% will keep me from significantly adding to my position at this time.
Full Disclosure: At the time of this writing, I was long in SO (2.1% of my High-Yield Portfolio). See a list of all my dividend growth holdings here. | 2019-04-19T06:17:26 | https://www.dividend-growth-stocks.com/2016/01/southern-company-so-dividend-stock.html |
0.999411 | The Vancouver Asahi: Was Japanese Canadian authenticity lost in translation?
We have numerous examples to draw upon when it comes to North American takes on Japanese culture. There's everything from Memoirs of a Geisha and The Last Samurai to adaptations of Japanese pop cultural icons such as Godzilla and Astro Boy.
They were all skewed towards and adapted for North American or Western-based audiences and perspectives. Consequently, numerous cultural details were often ignored or mangled in translation. While the casting of Chinese stars in a Japanese-based story, such as in Memoirs of a Geisha, may not seem important to the majority of Western audiences, differences in body language, facial expression, and even facial structure are perceptible to Asian audiences and can subtly affect how audience members identify with characters or interpret the story.
When it comes to examples of the reverse, of North American stories told through Japanese film, hardly any come to mind—besides The Vancouver Asahi.
With Japan's dramatic retelling of the historic Vancouver-based Japanese Canadian baseball team that overcame racial discrimination prior the Second World War, we can see an equivalent of Hollywood's cultural adaptation problems, but this time from a Japanese perspective.
The Asahi lead cast was comprised of Japanese actors. While they spoke a dialogue mixture of Japanese and English, they were clearly not native English speakers by their accents, not to mention how limited their English dialogue was (as the Georgia Straight's movie reviewer Ken Eisner also noted).
While their accents may be overlooked by Japanese audiences, North American audiences won't. And while many North Americans may not think much of this detail, the problem is that the generation that these actors were portraying, the nisei, were Canadian-born or Canadian-raised. As they had grown up speaking English, any Japanese accent left was usually residual or detected more in inflection than pronunciation.
In fact, as the National Nikkei Museum's Grace Eiko Thomson pointed out when I interviewed her, there was a language barrier between the issei (first generation), who spoke and read mostly Japanese and knew little English, and the Canadianized nisei, who spoke mostly English and had varying degrees of fluency in Japanese. She said that the baseball team became not only a bridge between Japanese and white Canadians but between the generation gap and cultural divide within Japanese Canadian families, as it brought them together around a common interest.
To be able to identify the characters are Canadians is essential to understanding the injustice of the Internment (which the film ends with). For it was Canadian citizens, not Japanese citizens, who had their rights taken away and deemed enemy aliens. Their loyalty to Canada was in question. To Canadian-born Japanese Canadians, Japan was a foreign country and Canada was home to them, yet they were being treated as if they were foreigners.
However, casting Japanese stars, rather than Japanese Canadian actors, may have been deemed necessary for a Japanese audience. While big-name Japanese stars were obviously necessary for the Japanese box office, a Japanese audience watching Japanese Canadian actors exhibiting Canadian mannerisms and behaviour, not to mention fluent English, could potentially seem too foreign for them to identify with or relate to.
Canadian audiences, due to our sizeable immigrant population, may be more forgiving at hearing heavily accented English spoken. (That doesn't necessarily mean that the white guy in the film with the uneven accent, who appeared to waver between a Canadian and Australian accent, didn't go unnoticed!) But it would help perceptions of these characters to be recognized as Canadians if they displayed authentic Canadian behaviour and speech.
Probably the best solution would have been to have a mix of Japanese and Japanese Canadian actors, and it could have broadened international appeal.
Another sign of the film being tailored toward Japanese audiences is the absence of any white supporting characters.
While there are a few sympathetic white extras who briefly appear with a few lines, none of them are of any significance.
Though this may be a Japanese Canadian story, it's also a story of how a minority group overcame racial divides. Recurring non-Japanese supporting characters (particularly one whose views change over the course of the film) would truly register the impact of that success, as what the baseball team achieved was proving that Japanese Canadians were equals at a time in Vancouver's history when there was racial segregation in theatres, restaurants, and other public spaces and they didn't even have the right to vote.
How cultural nuances can affect an audience's reception of a story is something for North American filmmakers to consider when making a film set in another culture or country.
Vancouver Asahi stars Kamenashi Kazuya and Tsumabuki Satoshi, with director Ishii Yuya on the VIFF red carpet.
In spite of these points, the film screening not only became a mob scene when fans turned out in droves to see stars Tsumabuki Satoshi and Kamenashi Kazuya striding upon VIFF's red carpet, but it won over audiences here when it made its world premiere at the 2014 Vancouver International Film Festival and was named the winner of the People's Choice Award. In fact, on its last night of its theatrical run at Vancity Theatre (January 8), it was sold out.
For the full story about the team, you can also watch the National Film Board of Canada's documentary Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story, which is free online.
Overall, the Vancouver Asahi story, both the real-life tale and its cinematic adaptation, is an ingenious way to deliver a history lesson about discrimination couched within the success story of an underdog sports team. It's a way of delivering a difficult and sensitive subject within an accessible format.
It's also one that resonates in the present day as the city continues to contend with interracial relations that often lurk beneath the surface. As much social progress as we have made, history always threatens to repeat itself if we don't learn and grow from the appropriate lessons from the past.
Should the Vancouver International Film Festival bring more Asian stars to Vancouver?
Screening I attended on January 2nd was also sold out! | 2019-04-23T05:56:03 | https://www.straight.com/blogra/803151/vancouver-asahi-was-japanese-canadian-authenticity-lost-translation |
0.989595 | Q: Why is it necessary that my chickens have grit?
"Scarce as hens' teeth." Have you ever heard that expression before? Of course, chickens don't have teeth... and that's a problem, since their diet consists of grains, seeds, grasses, insects and other things that need to be chewed. Nature solved this problem by giving chickens a gizzard where their food is ground up. But they sort of digest it backwards, at least from our perpective. We chew food and then it goes to the stomach. They get it to their stomachs and then chew it. Weird, right?
Here's how it works: When chickens swallow food, it first goes into their crop. The crop is simply a sort of storage area for what they've ingested... like a lunch box. Or chipmunk cheeks. Having a crop means that, as prey animals, they won't have to go out into the open as often to hunt for food. They can eat a lot at once, and digest at leisure, perhaps in cover. From the crop, the mostly intact food progresses to the proventriculus (the stomach), and then to the ventriculus or gizzard. In the stomach, it is exposed to digestive juices and enzymes which soften it up enough to have it "chewed" up in the muscular gizzard, which grinds it up between the stones or grit. You can think of grit like molars. Or like a mortar and pestle. It then moves on to their intestinal tract.
So to recap, they swallow food, store it in their, er, lunchbox, pour over digestive juices, and then grind it up with their tiny dentures before it moves on.
So, where does this grit come from? As they forage, chickens naturally consume small pieces of rock, grit and/or gravel, and those pieces pass through their digestive system and lodge in their gizzard, where they chew up the seeds, grains, bugs, and grasses that they eat. The grit grinds their food the way molars grind our food. So, when chickens don't have access to these little bits of rock and grit, they just can't properly digest their food... that means they can't extract all the nutrients they need from what they're eating. But it's not just that.
If the food particles are too big, they can sit in the digestive tract without progressing, and can begin to ferment or rot. This is a condition called "sour crop," (even though the "sourness" can occur in various parts of the digestive tract) and the condition is quite serious. A veterinarian may need to flush your chicken's digestive tract and clear it of that rotting food. It's a procedure that can be dangerous, since in addition to being weak and sick from the illness, your chicken may aspirate (breathe in) some of the rotten matter in her crop as you're attempting to give her veterinary attention.
Even more, though, sometimes a lack of grit can even cause an obstruction the digestive tract. This is usually called a bound crop, although again the binding can occur in various parts of the upper digestive tract. Long strands of fibrous grass or plant matter can tie itself in knots and simply shut your chicken's digestion down. And again, this is a condition that will need veterinary attention--occasionally even surgery.
Just don't make the common mistake of confusing grit with oyster shell, or of thinking the two are interchangeable. They're not. Oyster shell provides your hens with calcium, which they need for strong egg shells. Oyster shell is not hard enough to grind food in their gizzards; it doesn't act as grit. It's digested like you'd digest a Tums. So if you're giving your hens oyster shell, that doesn't mean they don't need grit--and if you're giving then grit, it doesn't mean they don't need oyster shell.
Now, a chicken with access to range will naturally pick up little stones and bits on her own. It's a natural instinct. But in most backyard situations, your chickens are going to be confined to a smaller area than they would naturally range on their own. It's also often a very manicured area... and people usually like to keep their yards clean of gravel pits--don't ask me why! In a backyard, too, chickens often have access to lawn clippings, which consist of long strands that are more likely to get bound up and cause digestive issues (on their own they nip off just small bits of grasses, rather than long strands). So providing some grit to your pet chickens is just a smart thing to do to keep them healthy. You want to make sure they have access to plenty of it, rather than having to struggle to find enough.Plus, it's so easy to provide your chicken flock with grit! Just buy a bag of granite grit and have a little dish in your coop where you put it for them. Or scatter it over their food every so often. Or toss it in the run where they forage. It's rock... so it doesn't go bad! You don't even have to worry about storing it in a pest-proof place.
Why do the fresh eggs from one of our hens always have a strange, unpleasant fishy smell? | 2019-04-18T13:38:12 | https://www.mypetchicken.com/backyard-chickens/chicken-help/Why-is-it-necessary-that-my-chickens-have-grit-H279.aspx |
0.998135 | click to see "Chaos Light", overheads version of the chapter.
Appendix A: you might also want to read about the history of the subject.
A recapitulation of basic notions of dynamics. The reader familiar with the dynamics on the level of an introductory graduate nonlinear dynamics course can safely skip this chapter.
Discrete time dynamics arises by considering sections of a continuous flow,. There are also many settings in which dynamics is discrete, and naturally described by repeated applications of a map.
Review of basic concepts of local dynamics: Hamiltonian flows, stability for flows, billiards and their stability.
Appendix C: Stability of Hamiltonian flows: more details, especially for the helium.
Qualitative dynamics of simple stretching and mixing flows; Smale horseshoes and symbolic dynamics. The topological dynamics is incoded by means of transition matrices/Markov graphs.
One learns how to count and describe itineraries. While computing the topological entropy from transition matrices/Markov graphs, we encounter our first zeta function.
Chapter 13 Why does it work?
This chapter faces the singular kernels, the infinite dimensional vector spaces and all those other subtleties that are needed to put the spectral determinants on more solid mathematical footing, to the extent this can be achieved without proving theorems.
Periodic orbits can be determined analytically in only few exceptional cases. In this chapter we describe some of the methods for finding periodic orbits for maps, billiards and flows. There is also a neat way to find Poincare sections.
In the preceeding chapters we have moved at rather brisk pace and derived a gaggle of formulas. Here we slow down in order to develop some fingertip feeling for the objects derived so far. Just to make sure that the key message - the ``trace formulas'' and their ilk - have sunk in, we rederive them in a rather different, more intuitive way, and extol their virtues. This part is bedtime reading. A few special determinants are worked out by hand.
What to do about sticky, marginally stable trajectories? Power-law rather than exponential decorrelations?
Dynamics often comes equipped with discrete symmetries, such as the reflection and the rotation symmetries. Symmetries simplify and improve the cycle expansions in a rather beautiful way. This chapter explains how symmetries factorize the cycle expansions.
Appendix I: deals with further examples of discrete symmetry (rectangles and squares).
We look at transport coefficients and derive exact formulas for diffusion constants when diffusion is normal, and the anomalous diffusion exponents when it is not. All done from first principles without ever invoking any probabilistic notions.
We first recapitulate basic notions of quantum mechanics and define the main quantum objects of interest, the quantum propagator and the Green's function.
In Chapter 14 we offered an introductory, hands-on guide to extraction of periodic orbits by means of the Newton-Raphson method. Here we take a very different tack, drawing inspiration from variational principles of classical mechanics, and path integrals of quantum mechanics.
Scattering off N disks, exact and semiclassical.
Appendix K: What is the meaning of traces and determinants for infinite-dimensional operators?
The helium atom spectrum computed via semiclassical spectral determinants.
Flows described by partial differential equations are infinite dimensional because if one writes them down as a set of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) then one needs an infinity of the ordinary kind to represent the dynamics of one equation of the partial kind (PDE).
Symplectic invariance, classical collinear helium stability worked out in detail.
Further, more advanced symbolic dynamics techniques.
Further, more advanced cycle counting techniques.
To compute an average using cycle expansions one has to find the right eigenvalue and maybe a few of its derivatives. Here we explore how to do that for all sorts of averages, some more physical than others.
A heuristic estimate of the n-th cummulant.
The Ising-like spin systems recycled. The Feigenbaum scaling function and the Fisher droplet model.
The quantum/noise perturbative corrections formulas derived as Bohr and Sommerfeld would have derived them were they cogniscenti of chaos, with some Vattayismo rumminations along the way.
Bohr, Feynman and so on turning in their graves. Ignore this. | 2019-04-20T04:44:14 | http://chaosbook.org/version10/postscript.html |
0.998488 | How do I know if my certificate has the private key attached within Windows?
To check to see if your certificate is potentially installed correctly within Windows, you will need to view the certificate within the Certificate snap-in within the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).
In the left-hand pane underneath Console Root, expand Certificates (Local Computer).
Click on the Certificates folder underneath the Personal folder.
In the middle pane, you should see a list of certificates. If you do not see any certificates, then this could indicate that you have not installed your certificate correctly or you have not completed the process to install your certificate.
Double-click on the certificate that you wish to view.
In the Certificate windows that appears, you should see a note with a key symbol underneath the Valid from field that says, "You have a private key that corresponds to this certificate." If you do not see this, then your private key is not attached to this certificate, indicating a certificate installation issue. | 2019-04-25T23:50:29 | https://help.hydrantid.com/kb/a463/how-do-i-know-if-my-certificate-has-the-private-key-attached-within-windows.aspx |
0.999955 | The once accused murderer is now considering legal action against the DA.
Manhattan DA's office says it can't comment on this case because the court records have been sealed, the result of the defendant being acquitted of murder.
Eyewitness News investigated why the DA's office let a murder suspect be released on his own recognizance in the middle of a trial.
"If they can get you, they get you, any way they can," Daquan Bruce said.
Eyewitness News' Sarah Wallace spoke with Daquan Bruce on the same Harlem block where 3 1/2 years ago, an eyewitness claimed he saw the then 22-year-old college student, open fire on a minivan, killing the passenger.
That single eyewitness testimony was the only evidence of murder.
In fact, DNA from a gun recovered at the scene did not match Bruce.
The first trial ended in a mistrial.
The Manhattan DA's office decided to try again.
Last week, that sole eyewitness took the stand, and defense attorneys claim, he imploded.
"The prosecutor showed the witness a photo of someone other than my client, and the witness said, that's the shooter, that's the shooter," said Defense Attorney, Courtney Black.
After that eyewitness' "mistake" as the prosecutor called it, The DA's office agreed to release Bruce without bail on a murder case.
Keep in mind, he'd been in jail, and denied bail, for 3 1/2 years.
"They're not going to let someone out for murder unless they know they're innocent," Bruce said.
"You thought it was over," asked Sarah Wallace.
"I thought it was over, they said come back, they was gonna dismiss it," Bruce said.
But the case against Bruce wasn't dismissed.
The DA's office decided to go forward, and send the case to the jury, although it allowed the accused murderer to remain free.
"The DA's office decided to roll the dice with my client's life and risk a miscarriage of justice when their entire case was based on a single, unreliable eyewitness," Black said.
"I don't think they ever admit they made that mistake. It's not just me, it's a lot of people going through that. They just worry about convictions, these people have so much weight," Bruce said.
Monday, the jury deliberated just over four hours before acquitting Daquan Bruce of murder.
He is now a free man for the first time since April of 2007.
He says he is eternally grateful the jury saw the truth.
"I was just praying, harder than I've ever prayed in my life," Bruce said.
"And your prayers were answered," Wallace said.
"My prayers were answered," Bruce said.
Bruce's attorneys say they are now pursuing a federal civil rights case against the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
Prosecutors have maintained all along that although their sole eyewitness may have made a mistake in identification, he was still completely credible. | 2019-04-21T22:19:19 | https://abc7ny.com/archive/7565463/ |
0.753567 | In a statement last Saturday, the White House described China's caution that foreign airlines should not refer to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as independent countries as "Orwellian nonsense".
But it is the statement itself that is nonsense. The letter by the Civil Aviation Administration of China to 36 foreign air carriers is simply trying to correct a mistake that has existed for too long.
Who on earth still thinks the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative region or Taiwan are independent countries? Since China and the US established formal diplomatic ties in 1979, even the US government does not think so.
So why does the White House still make a fuss about the issue by ignoring plain and simple facts?
On Jan 12, The Paper, a Shanghai-based news publication, reported that at least 24 foreign airlines still list Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as countries, rather than using the term "regions", which Chinese prefer. The story went viral among Chinese netizens.
Yes, given the country's recent history, Chinese are sensitive to such issues. Macao was for too long occupied by the Portuguese, Hong Kong was forced to be ceded to the British, and Taiwan was forced to be ceded to the Japanese.
International companies know that in order to succeed, they need to be sensitive to the feelings of the local populations where they operate. In this case, foreign airlines that were not aware of this sensitivity before should seriously heed CAAC's advice.
Such advice applies not only to corporations, but also to every individual. When starting to learn English in elementary school, I was taught to refer to people from the United Kingdom as British, not English, because they could be Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish, many of whom don't want to be called English.
Referring to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as a country goes beyond insensitivity, it's about basic facts.
Would the White House or average Americans feel okay if others start to describe Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Alaska or Texas as independent countries, because there have long been independence movements there?
After spending a year in Hawaii in the early 1990s, I learned that the Hawaiian sovereignty movement has been alive since 1893, when the US overthrew the Hawaiian kingdom. In 1993, both the US Congress and then US president Bill Clinton apologized to the native Hawaiians for the illegal annexation.
A Puerto Rican independence movement has also existed ever since the US seized the territory from the Spanish in 1898. I have made three trips to the Caribbean island and love its people, culture, history, beaches, coffee and its "un-American" metric system.
However, news from the beautiful island after Hurricane Maria last September has been heart-breaking. Not only have so many people been living without power month after month, the federal government of the world's only superpower has not exactly been going all out to help the disaster-stricken population. It is shameful.
I could go on and on with the independence movement in Alaska, Texas or even Vermont. But of course, the US Constitution does not allow any state to declare independence.
And most Americans may find it hard to understand the feelings of Chinese on the matter. After all, US history over the last 150 years has been a constant annexation of territories from Asia to Latin America. | 2019-04-21T22:55:15 | http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201805/11/WS5af4d9d3a3105cdcf651d3f9.html |
0.998563 | A "very disappointed" Amir Khan is now mulling his options after getting passed over by Floyd Mayweather Jr., who Monday chose Marcos Maidana as his May 3 opponent.
Khan promoter Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions, which has assisted Mayweather in the promotion of all of his fights since 2007, said Mayweather (45-0) told Schaefer at the Lakers game Sunday night that Khan lacked "a signature" victory that would convince Mayweather to fight him.
"I explained to Amir that this doesn't mean he'll never get the fight," Schaefer said. "Sometimes you go fishing and catch the big one.
"And sometimes you don't. It doesn't mean you won't fish again. That fight is going to happen, I have no doubt."
in the 2010 fight of the year, has lost two of his past four fights and was dropped by journeyman Julio Diaz before winning a decision in April.
Schaefer said Khan (28-3, 19 knockouts) is in the running to fight in late April to early May, either in Los Angeles or possibly even on the Mayweather-Maidana card, expected to be fought at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Schaefer said he's trying to match a slew of welterweights against each other, including Khan, International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Shawn Porter (23-0, 14 KOs), Lamont Peterson, Luis Colazzo, Robert Guerrero, Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman, the 22-0 fighter who has a staggering 87% knockout percentage.
Khan originally backed out of a December date against then-IBF champion Devon Alexander to have a chance to fight Mayweather. Schaefer said he indeed told Khan he was in the running.
most entertaining fights, a unanimous-decision victory that ultimately won Mayweather over.
had to be OK giving up the opportunity of fighting Devon Alexander. He's disappointed, but this is not the end."
Schaefer cited the examples of Guerrero and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, who had to lobby for an extended period before Mayweather agreed to fight them.
who do you think Floyd would fight?"
Mayweather, Schaefer said, was originally attracted to Khan by his fighting style of fast hands and feet, which shined in his Maidana win and in the early rounds before he was knocked out by junior-welterweight champion Danny Garcia.
"Floyd respects Amir, thinks he's a terrific fighter," Schaefer said.
Schaefer said he wants to start assigning the welterweights against each other "quick."
He said he likes the idea of Khan on the Mayweather card.
"He could be in Floyd's face throughout and make a big statement," Schaefer said. | 2019-04-21T20:58:56 | https://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-boxing-mayweather-khan-maidana-20140225-story.html |
0.999352 | tl;dr: The democratization of AI has already begun. A decentralized AI marketplace may supercharge innovation and truly level the playing field.
I’m giving a presentation at the end of March at an event for some of Microsoft’s biggest customers. If you have watched any live sports in America recently, the topic won’t surprise you. AI, artificial intelligence. They are all-in.
So, in my efforts to avoid total humiliation on stage, I’ve been on a multi-month journey to understand, or rather, begin to understand AI. It’s made me feel a bit sheepish honestly.
I’ve long maintained that blockchain is the entree after the appetizer that was the Internet. The problem with that analogy is I’m not sure how to describe AI. It may be the restaurant in which both of those are served. It’s that big.
I mean, there are already AI-generated modeling agencies. They are not quite ready for prime time, but when Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) can create people that look real, but are not, and “deep fakes” can create compelling video, you know that society is about to change pretty dramatically.
Of course, what could be bigger than either blockchain or AI? Well, blockchain + AI, of course!
And that’s why I’ve been paying particularly close attention to a project called SingularityNet.
To understand why I am intrigued by this project, in particular, we need to take a step back a bit to provide some context.
One of the trends I’ve discovered in my research for the Microsoft presentation is The Democratization of Data Science.
I touched on this a few months ago in the post Why You’re a Data Scientist…But You Just May Not Know It Yet. However, the proliferation of tools like Keras, FloydHub, and even Microsoft’s own Cognitive Services is making AI increasingly accessible.
You still need a fair amount of technical skills to make these things work, but the trend is clear. More AI power will be available to more people at lower costs than ever before.
This will create tremendous opportunity, but results will be all over the place.
The democratization of AI will also necessitate an up-leveling of skills, which the HBR article touches on. That’s pretty important for the future of work.
Very few companies expect only professional writers to know how to write. So why ask only professional data scientists to understand and analyze data, at least at a basic level?
More important than the future of work though is the future of something else.
You see, one of the challenges with AI as it currently exists is that the algorithms behind them are “closed.” That means you (or anyone) can’t inspect them to understand how they work or check for bias. This is a HUGE deal in AI.
When AI is “closed,” it means that each of us is vulnerable to manipulation by forces beyond our control and over which we have no influence.
What’s more, when AI remains the sole province of large companies (yes, like Microsoft), three things result.
The first is that “the rich get richer.” Since data scientists are in short supply, the demand is through the roof for them, which leads to 7 figure salaries. That’s not exactly something that small or mid-size companies can necessarily afford.
The second is that the cost of AI services, despite its democratization presently, becomes costly. After all, large companies have to pay for those big salaries somehow.
The third is that innovation is stifled. With algorithms being proprietary, there are limited opportunities for the combinatorial innovation that comes when two ideas are put together. Or, worse, people who can be helped are not helped, as we discussed in this post about Cigna’s algorithm that predicts opioid addiction.
So, while there is definitely room for players like Microsoft to do a lot of good with their AI solutions as they already are and which you can see here, there is also a need (and dare I say a requirement) for something more.
This is where SingularityNet comes into the picture. With near perfect timing, they raised $36 million in 60 seconds in their ICO back in December 2017.
The goal is to build a decentralized “AI-as-a-service” marketplace that allows anyone to very cost-effectively requisition AI capabilities for their business.
What’s more, and perhaps of greater significance, is that they give AI programmers a way to directly monetize the value they create.
Since it is a decentralized marketplace, there is no middleman. That reduces risk and lowers fees for all involved. Plus, because it is open, combinatorial innovation is unbounded and verifiable.
An AI marketplace like this has the opportunity to both democratize access to advanced capabilities while not becoming the domain of a handful of people.
Given how important AI is going to be in the future (and already today), this type of security for humanity is critical.
To understand why, I highly recommend this excellent talk by SingularityNet’s CMO, Arif Khan. The way he provides a historical context for the choices we are all going to encounter in the future is extremely compelling.
One of the things that I love about the world of crypto/blockchain is that the products available today not only did not exist 2 years ago, but they also could not exist two years ago.
So, today, if you want to, are fairly dedicated, and have patience, you can read the very clear Getting started with SingularityNet guide that Arif put together. Be forewarned, it’s extremely detailed, but there are a lot of steps here. Of course, that’s the price you pay for living in the future.
When all is said and done, you will have access to the beta version of the AI marketplace which is live on the MainNet of Ethereum.
And you will have a foot in the future of AI at the same time.
What I like about the marketplace is that the steps required to consume services are explained in clear English, a welcome change from many other beta sites.
I paid for an image recognition AI service that identifies dogs and flowers. As you can see there are others and more will come, particularly as AI developers begin to revenue potential and the demand side sees the low cost, democratized access option.
As you can see, there is a “thumbs up/down” voting system. For now, anyone can vote on anything, but in the future, I suspect it will be more closely aligned with paid usage.
In the long-run, this could become a vibrant marketplace where the top quality AI services are available for consumption and integration (paid in AGI tokens), vetted by a verified community of users, and open for all to inspect.
Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention, Dr. Ben Goertzel, the CEO of SingularityNet, who has as much street cred in the AI world as anyone on the planet.
and it does provide tools that make it straightforward to connect multiple AIs into a society-of-minds (well, straightforward if you use the python APIs … if you use other languages then in the beta version it’s still complicated, but we will beef up the support for other languages a little later)….
We will be putting more complex AIs out there on the network as the year progresses, the beta is just a start.
But it’s a new phase of development in that it’s a platform that is really solid and scalable to build on — including building emergent intelligence as well as all sort of commercial AI services with simpler architectures, etc.
We have a lot more cool/complex AI in our research codebase but what has been put into the beta initially is just a fraction chosen mostly for ease of use and ease of integration not underlying sophistication….
There is a first-mover advantage of AI, as the global leader can gain an economic and military edge over rivals and will be in a position to write the rules that govern AI’s uses.
While I don’t think there is such a thing as “writing the rules” for AI, since we can’t predict or really control how AI will evolve, I do think that first-mover advantage is very real.
When a marketplace like SingularityNet comes online, the companies and individuals that figure out how to leverage it quickly and effectively will generate substantial first-mover advantages.
That alone could be the difference between “winning” and “losing” in a given market, eco-system, or even geo-politically.
It’s no wonder SingularityNet had 10x the amount of interest for its token as it was willing to offer.
I encourage you to keep an eye on it.
P.S. There is a fantastic SingularityNet podcast that is one of the best I have heard. Very much recommended.
How SingularityNet Leads to “AI for All” was originally published in Data Driven Investor on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story. | 2019-04-21T04:26:22 | https://cryptoinvestinginsider.com/blog/how-singularitynet-leads-to-ai-for-all/ |
0.99999 | How are you suppore to time electrolytes on keto? There are daily recommended numbers but I guess its not the same if you get electrolytes in one meal or during all day. So how are you suppose to do this propery and does it change if you do a lot of sports in hot weather. I have trouble with anxiety and depression and I\'ve read some people have bad experience due to electolyte imbalance when doing keto. How precise do you need to be with taking electrolytes, do you go by the way you feel?
I will. I just want to be sure how precise u need to be with intake. For how long can body store electorlytes before they get depleted. I don\'t understand how this works and I don\'t want to make any stupid mistakes.
\r\nDo you just take them them you feel a bit off?
\r\nFirst of all "just take them" is about as precise as the average person needs to/can get. Electrolytes even for competition dieters are extremely complex and a very very delicate balance.
\r\nThe reason why you need to take them is when you eat extremely low carb you very much suppress the amount of insulin in your body. As you deplete muscular glycogen your muscle cells release water, glycogen, and along with it electrolytes. Potassium and sodium being the large players in keeping neural and cellular functioning running efficiently are excreted and can give some symptoms of dehydration that are not fun.
\r\nSo maybe you already know this, but I explain it because for me it gives me an idea about "when" to take them and how precise... for me I start taking them when glycogen depletion begins. Though you could probably know you need to take them when you feel sluggish, tired, headaches and other dehydration symptoms. But seriously "just take them", it\'s like a multivitamin but your just supplementing salts that aren\'t being readily held on to as they are during a diet with higher carb intake.
\r\nSo take the recommended amounts like a daily multivitamin, then take zero carb/cal sports drinks during these times your playing sports in hot weather. I think if you start trying to micro manage your sodium and potassium you\'ll do more harm than good and so I think that\'s why your getting the "just take them". I don\'t know if your doing a cyclic keto diet or just a keto for a long time but I found that extended keto your body adapts well and you don\'t need the extra electrolytes after a few weeks. | 2019-04-25T06:29:32 | http://forums.lylemcdonald.com/showthread.php?s=59c8794bf5003ef9298545faad3ba305&p=305467&mode=threaded |
0.99856 | Gwyneth Paltrow can add songwriter to her résumé after it emerged she penned the lyrics she sings on the new Coldplay album.
The Oscar-winning actress was married to the band's frontman Chris Martin for 10 years before announcing in 2014 that they had split, but the stars remain on good terms for the sake of their two children.
Earlier this month (Nov15) it emerged Gwyneth is credited as a guest vocalist on Coldplay's new record A Head Full of Dreams for singing a line in the track Everglow. Now Chris has revealed his ex had originally inspired the lyric "How come things move on/ How come cars don't slow," so he insisted she should sing the words when the track was recorded.
Chris tells Q magazine, "She came up with the idea so I said, 'Is there any chance you'd sing that line cos it's your idea?' Like any human, she was like, 'I can't do that! I'm not a professional!'"
Coldplay's new album is due for release on 4 December (15), and Gwyneth is in good company - it features guests spots from other stars including Beyoncé, Noel Gallagher, and Avicii.
Gwyneth's contribution is not the first time she has showed off her singing skills on record - she enjoyed a hit with Huey Lewis following their collaboration in the 2000 film Duets, and she performed a version of Fleetwood Mac's Landslide for the Glee soundtrack.
While making her 2010 movie Country Strong, in which she played a fallen musician trying to re-start her career, the actress also dedicated herself to learning how to play guitar, and she featured on the soundtrack for film.
Chris and Gwyneth announced their split in March last year (14), famously describing it as a "conscious uncoupling", and the following month (Apr14) the actress filed for divorce. The former couple have two children - daughter Apple, 11, and son Moses, nine.
Naughty Boy set to serve up a storm at the British Street Food Awards.
Hip hop star Lil Boosie, real name Torrence Hatch, has been diagnosed with kidney cancer.
David Bowie is known for his wide-ranging influences, but his latest muse comes as a particularly surprise - Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar.
Graham Coxon is happy to take the "blame" for "crazy" things his Blur bandmates have done over the years.
Grace Jones wants to perform at Glastonbury.
Fifth Harmony has asked fans to support singer Normani Kordei after she pulled out of the band's Mexico tour dates due to a death back home.
Jack Garratt has won with the BRITs 2016 Critics' Choice Award.
Adele has announced a 2016 arena tour of the UK & Ireland.
Katy Perry has been named the highest earning woman in music for 2015. | 2019-04-22T06:13:38 | https://muzland.info/news.html?i=20151127173903 |
0.99999 | Trump tweeted Sunday. "The Robert Mueller Rigged Witch Hunt, headed now by 17 (increased from 13, including an Obama White House lawyer) Angry Democrats, was started by a fraudulent Dossier, paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC".
Speaking later Monday with CNN's Dana Bash, Giuliani said, "He owes us a response".
Giuliani also said that he was not sure whether Trump would pardon his former legal counsel Michael Cohen, who is under a criminal investigation.
'Why don't you write a report and show us what you have, because they don't have a goddamn thing, ' Giuliani said.
A White House official told CNN past year that Trump interviewed Mueller as a potential replacement for fired FBI Director James Comey.
Meadows said after that meeting that there was still "frustration" with how the department has handled the oversight requests. Sessions, meanwhile, said in Boston on Thursday that Rosenstein is capable and that he enjoys Sessions' "highest confidence".
Friday's total lunar eclipse will be visible across large parts across Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, and South America. Astronomy enthusiasts prepare their telescopes to see the lunar eclipse at Marina South Pier in Singapore July 28, 2018.
"Enough is enough, ' Giuliani vented". He claimed that Mr Mueller's team is filled with Democrats. He nearly still does. "If there were any conflicts of interest that were brought to our attention, I would discuss with Mr. Mueller, and then there could be review within the department, if there were a credible allegation of a conflict of interest", Rosenstein answered. 'I can't tell you, ' he siad.
Trump and Giuliani spent the weekend pressuring Mueller, saying he should wrap up his investigation into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election through hacking of Democratic officials and pushing fake news about Trump opponent Hillary Clinton. Mueller, if he does not like the proposed limits on questioning, could subpoena Trump to testify, setting the stage for a legal fight that could eventually be decided by the Supreme Court over whether a sitting president can be compelled to testify.
The president may have been thinking about the Russian Federation investigation - and the Manafort trial - when he unleashed another attack on the media later in the day.
Trump, according to The Times, in the past complained to staff about what he called a conflict because the two men had a bad business deal over fees at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., which led to Mueller, who was Federal Bureau of Investigation director at the time, to resign his membership there. Trump has also asserted he didn't know about the meeting.
Giuliani also said it "sounds suspicious" that only one of 183 Cohen recordings obtained from Federal Bureau of Investigation raids on his home and office has Trump on it.
"There is credible evidence that the president of the United States has committed obstruction of justice and possibly a conspiracy to undermine our elections", Blumenthal said. 'Sounds suspicious, doesn't it?' he added. | 2019-04-20T08:15:53 | http://einterage.com/2018/08/trump-repeats-giuliani-defense-collusion-is-not-a-crime/ |
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