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Robert Joseph Cousy (born August 9, 1928) is an American retired professional basketball player. Cousy played point guard with the Boston Celtics from 1950 to 1963 and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals in the 1969–70 season. Making his high school varsity squad as a junior, he went on to earn a scholarship to the College of the Holy Cross, where he led the Crusaders to berths in the 1948 NCAA Tournament and 1950 NCAA Tournament and was named an NCAA All-American for 3 seasons.
The Celtics eventually added two talented forwards, future Hall-of-Famer Frank Ramsey and defensive specialist Jim Loscutoff. Along with Celtics colleague Bob Brannum, Loscutoff also became Cousy's unofficial bodyguard, retaliating against opposing players who would try to hurt him. The Celtics were unable to make their mark in the 1954 NBA Playoffs, 1955 NBA Playoffs, and 1956 NBA Playoffs, where they lost three times in a row against the Nationals. Cousy attributed the shortcomings to fatigue, stating: "We would get tired in the end and could not get the ball". As a result, Auerbach sought a defensive center who could get easy rebounds, initiate fast breaks and close out games.
Before the 1956–57 NBA season, Auerbach acquired two future Hall-of-Famers: forward Tom Heinsohn, and defensive center Bill Russell. Powered by these new recruits, the Celtics went 44–28 in the regular season, and Cousy averaged 20.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and a league-leading 7.5 assists, earning his first NBA Most Valuable Player Award; he also won his second NBA All-Star Game MVP award. The Celtics reached the 1957 NBA Finals, and powered by Cousy on offense and rugged center Russell on defense, they beat the Hawks 4–3, who were noted for future Hall-of-Fame power forward Bob Pettit and former teammates Macauley and Hagan. Cousy finally won his first title.
At age 35, Cousy held his retirement ceremony on March 17, 1963 in a packed Boston Garden. The event became known as the Boston Tear Party, when the crowd's response overwhelmed Cousy, left him speechless, and caused his planned 7-minute farewell to go on for 20. Joe Dillon, a water worker from South Boston, Massachusetts, and a devoted Celtics fan, screamed "We love ya, Cooz", breaking the tension and the crowd went into cheers. As a testament to Cousy's legacy, President John F. Kennedy wired to Cousy: "The game bears an indelible stamp of your rare skills and competitive daring."
In later life, Cousy was Commissioner of the American Soccer League from 1974 to 1979. He has been a color analyst on Celtics telecasts since the 1980s." In addition, Cousy had a role in the basketball film Blue Chips in 1993, in which he played a college athletic director. Today he is a marketing consultant for the Celtics, and occasionally makes broadcast appearances with Mike Gorman and ex-Celtic teammate Tom Heinsohn.
Web site: Sports Reference, Inc. Bob Cousy Statistics. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Bob Cousy Bio. NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC.. July 22, 2007.
Book: Reynolds, Bill. 2005. Cousy: His Life, Career, and the Birth of Big-Time Basketball. Simon & Schuster. New York. 0-7432-5476-7. 23.
Web site: McClellan. Michael D.. Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy Interview page 1. Celtic Nation. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Schwartz. Larry. Celtics tried to pass on ultimate passer. ESPN.com. July 22, 2007.
Web site: McClellan. Michael D.. Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy Interview page 5. Celtic Nation. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Sports Reference, Inc. 1950–51 Boston Celtics. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Sports Reference, Inc. 1951–52 Boston Celtics. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Sports Reference, Inc. 1952–53 Boston Celtics. July 22, 2007.
Web site: jockbio.com. Red Auerbach biography. July 22, 2007.
Web site: McClellan. Michael D.. Celtics-nation.com: Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy Interview page 7. Celtic Nation. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Sports Reference, Inc. 1953–54 Boston Celtics. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Sports Reference, Inc. 1954–55 Boston Celtics. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Sports Reference, Inc. 1955–56 Boston Celtics. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Shouler. Ken. The Consummate Coach. ESPN.com. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Sports Reference, Inc. 1956–57 Boston Celtics. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Sports Reference, Inc. 1957–58 Boston Celtics. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Sports Reference, Inc. 1958–59 Boston Celtics. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Sports Reference, Inc. 1959–60 Boston Celtics. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Sports Reference, Inc. 1960–61 Boston Celtics. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Sports Reference, Inc. 1961–62 Boston Celtics. July 22, 2007.
Web site: Bob Cousy: Marketing Consultant. NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC.. July 22, 2007.
Web site: espn.com. Daily Dime: Special Edition – The 10 Greatest Point Guards Ever. April 24, 2007.
Web site: McClellan. Michael D.. Celtics-nation.com: Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy Interview page 6. Celtic Nation. July 22, 2007.
Web site: McClellan. Michael D.. Celtics-nation.com: Boston Celtics legend Bob Cousy Interview page 8. Celtic Nation. July 22, 2007.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bob Cousy".
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I put together a list of 10 small changes you can make to help create a few spa moments in your everyday life.
Comfy robe & slippers: One of my favorite parts of a spa visit is the awesome robe they you get to wear. It just feels luxurious from the moment you slip it on. Wearing a soft plush robe at home is a great way to create a little “me time,” especially when you combine it with some of the other items in this list.
Add fruit & veggie slices to your water: Fruits & veggies add a hint of flavor to your water in addition to making it bright & colorful. It doesn’t take long, but it can make a glass of water a little extra special. And if it helps you to drink more water, it’s worth it!
Herbal tea: Herbal tea is another way to drink more water during the day, and it’s naturally caffeine free. Try it hot or iced!
Journal: Taking time to journal can help you feel more focused and relaxed. It allows you to process the day and just feel more centered. It can also give you the opportunity to see things from a new perspective.
Scented candles & lotions: Scents can be very powerful, and I’m not even talking about aromatherapy. Sometimes scents can trigger memories, and using them after the vacation can serve as a reminder. We went to Hawaii on our honeymoon, and I bought a Coco Mango body lotion from the hotel spa. It smelled amazing, and it reminded me of being in Hawaii!
Vacation recipes: I’ll admit it…I love cookbooks! And it’s not hard to convince me that I NEED another cookbook. But it’s really fun to buy a cookbook from a vacation and then make something at home from the cookbook. One of my favorite getaways is the Sundara Inn & Spa in Wisconsin. It’s an easy drive for me, and it’s an awesome midwest escape! I was really excited when they came out with a cookbook (affiliate link)!
Eat more fruits & veggies: I’m not going to go into all the health benefits of why eating more fruits & vegetable is a good idea right now, but increasing the number of servings of fruit & vegetable you eat per day can be a huge step towards improving your health. To name just a few, it can help with weight management, digestive health, and disease prevention. Try to find new vegetables or cook them in a way that’s new for you. Incorporate vegetables into meals that typically don’t include vegetables such as breakfast. It’s a heathy step, and you’ll feel good about it too.
Make your bed a really comfy place: There is a link between stress and lack of sleep. It’s more of a cycle that can be hard to break. However, getting enough sleep can be a key way to reduce your overall stress level. Making your bed really comfy isn’t going to work by itself. You also have to make getting enough sleep a priority. Reducing stress is only one reason why getting enough sleep is good for you. Getting enough sleep can also improve your health, make it easier to manage your weight, and help you think more clearly. There’s a reason why kids are told to get a good night’s sleep before a standardized test.
Get more in touch with nature around you: Spas do a great job at integrating nature into their products, services, and environment. Take some time to find ways to bring nature into your life at home too. Listen to a nature sounds CD. Go for a nature walk. Carry a blanket in your car so that you can have an impromptu picnic or break in the sunshine. Plant a garden (indoors or outdoors). Use flowers as a way to bring the outdoors inside and add a splash of color at the same time!
Take care of your skin: Take 15 minutes out of your evening and put on a face mask. Let it sit for 15 minutes before washing it off. Giving yourself the 15-minute timeout can be a wonderful little escape, and you’re treating your skin as well.
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0.899935 |
One great way to make amazing connections on the chat lines is to sharpen and show off your active listening skills. Active listening is the art of fully concentrating on what is being communicated. Sometimes people seem to just be waiting for their turn to speak. We can often see examples of passive listening in the work place or in a place of high emotion as people really want to be heard and sometimes make it a point to speak out of turn and interrupt. The reason why active listening may lead you to have wonderful relationships in the phone dating community is that it may show your phone friend how much you care. If you are listening actively, you are paying attention and remembering what the person said to you and even reiterating parts of what your phone friend communicated as a means to show that you understand or can relate to what they are speaking on about.
Active listening can really benefit you no matter what you are doing or who you are speaking with. This is true in the workplace, in public situations with strangers, and with new friends. As you are speaking on the phone with your new phone partner, why not give some active listening techniques a whirl? Some techniques that you can try out to hone in on your active listening skills are: building trust through several conversations by mentioning what you and your phone friend spoke about in a previous conversation, paraphrasing to show that you understand and empathize with your phone partner, you can demonstrate concern or speak in verbal affirmations that communicates that you are hearing what they are saying. Phrases like “I see” and “I know” do this really well. So give it a try and see how active listening can strengthen your relationships and create beautiful phone connections.
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0.998163 |
A worrying feature in customer service chats has been discovered and it has many users concerned about their privacy.
A growing number of live chat services, which are often used to connect customer service representatives with users in need of help, have been found to be equipped with 'real-time typing view,' according to Gizmodo.
This lets customer service representatives see what you're typing even before you send it.
While many claim the feature is meant to help customer service reps prepare an answer to your question ahead of time, it's unclear if users are aware of the tool.
The issue came to light after Gizmodo received a screenshot from a reader, wherein they bluntly asked a representative in a live chat whether they could see their messages before they were sent.
The live chat was with a representative from a mattress company.
'Can you see the messages I'm typing before I send them?,' the user asked.
In another example, news site Hmm Daily described a case where a company provided a detailed recommendation for a product a mere second after the user sent their question.
'View what your customers are typing on Live chat in real-time,' a service called Live Agent notes on its website.
'Have your answers prepared before the customer submits his questions.
'Before the customer clicks the "Send message" button, you have a chance to see in real time what the customer is typing.
'This gives you more time to prepare an answer or solution to the customer's problem. Customers will appreciate your quick and precise answers,' it continues.
However, as it turns out, not all customers appreciate their messages covertly being read as they re-phrase them or decide not to send them at all.
There are other services that offer this feature, such as Live Chat, which has a 'message sneak peek' tool, according to Gizmodo.
Live Chat counts McDonalds, Ikea and PayPal as a few of its customers.
As if that wasn't creepy enough, some services also offer people the ability to see what webpages their customer has open and receive notifications of every webpage they open, Hmm Daily said.
Users should be wary of other customer service interactions as well, Gizmodo noted, as many are unaware that calls recorded for 'quality assurance purposes' often include any audio when customers are on hold, which can include anything from private conversations with your family members to you talking to your pet.
Many pointed out that the services could somewhat alleviate privacy concerns if they simply notified users that customer service representatives see what they're typing before they send it.
To notify users, it could be as simple as including a disclaimer or button on the chat window that warns of the feature.
The feature brings to mind the user data mishaps experienced by Facebook, Google and the like.
While the tools are meant to improve the user experience, they end up paying little attention to their privacy - a phenomenon that has become all too common in Silicon Valley, Hmm Daily noted.
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0.948705 |
Incorporate Risk Management into Supplier Quality Management A basic principle of managing quality risks is aligning your risk prevention or mitigation activities with a problem’s risk. Understanding which suppliers are low-risk or high-risk is the starting point for defining the scope of various quality activities, including incoming inspections and audits.
Supplier Evaluation The first steps for effective sourcing.
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0.741021 |
In this presentation, I will present our approach to the problem of automatically reconstructing a complete 3D model of a scene from a single RGB image. This challenging task requires inferring the shape of both visible and occluded surfaces. Our approach utilizes viewer-centered, multi-layer representation of scene geometry adapted from recent methods for single object shape completion. To improve the accuracy of view-centered representations for complex scenes, we introduce a novel “Epipolar Feature Transformer” that transfers convolutional network features from an input view to other virtual camera viewpoints, and thus better covers the 3D scene geometry. Unlike existing approaches that first detect and localize objects in 3D, and then infer object shape using category-specific models, our approach is fully convolutional, end-to-end differentiable, and avoids the resolution and memory limitations of voxel representations. We demonstrate the advantages of multi-layer depth representations and epipolar feature transformers on the reconstruction of a large database of indoor scenes.
I will discuss machine-learning emulation of O(100M) cloud-resolving simulations of moist turbulence for use in multi-scale global climate simulation. First, I will present encouraging results from pilot tests on an idealized ocean-world, in which a fully connected deep neural network (DNN) is found to be capable of emulating explicit subgrid vertical heat and vapor transports across a globally diverse population of convective regimes. Next, I will demonstrate that O(10k) instances of the DNN emulator spanning the world are able to feed back realistically with a prognostic global host atmospheric model, producing viable ML-powered climate simulations that exhibit realistic space-time variability for convectively coupled weather dynamics and even some limited out-of-sample generalizability to new climate states beyond the training data’s boundaries. I will then discuss a new prototype of the neural network under development that includes the ability to enforce multiple physical constraints within the DNN optimization process, which exhibits potential for further generalizability. Finally, I will conclude with some discussion of the unsolved technical issues and interesting philosophical tensions being raised in the climate modeling community by this disruptive but promising approach for next-generation global simulation.
Large problems with repetitive sub-structure arise in many domains such as social network analysis, collective classification, and database entity resolution. In these instances, individual data is augmented with a small set of rules that uniformly govern the relationship among groups of objects (for example: “the friend of my friend is probably my friend” in a social network). Uncertainty is captured by a probabilistic graphical model structure. While theoretically sound, standard reasoning techniques cannot be applied due to the massive size of the network (often millions of random variable and trillions of factors). Previous work on lifted inference efficiently exploits symmetric structure in graphical models, but breaks down in the presence of unique individual data (contained in all real-world problems). Current methods to address this problem are largely heuristic. In this presentation we describe a coarse to fine approximate inference framework that initially treats all individuals identically, gradually relaxing this restriction to finer sub-groups. This produces a sequence of inference objective bounds of monotonically increasing cost and accuracy. We then discuss our work on incorporating high-order inference terms (over large subsets of variables) into lifted inference and ongoing challenges in this area.
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0.999993 |
If a large Quantum Computer (QC) existed today, what type of physical problems could we efficiently simulate on it that we could not simulate on a classical Turing machine? In this paper we argue that a QC could solve some relevant physical "questions" more efficiently. The existence of one-to-one mappings between different algebras of observables or between different Hilbert spaces allow us to represent and imitate any physical system by any other one (e.g., a bosonic system by a spin-1/2 system). We explain how these mappings can be performed showing quantum networks useful for the efficient evaluation of some physical properties, such as correlation functions and energy spectra.
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0.999742 |
Chrome corner valve set, adds 90mm for pipe centres.
Chrome angled valve set, adds 90mm for pipe centres.
600mm (H) x 1200mm (W) x 178mm (D). Output: 6568 BTU / 1925 Watts (Delta 50). White finish.
1570mm (H) x 400mm (W) x 95mm (D). Output: 3302 BTU / 968 Watts (Delta 50). White finish.
420mm (H) x 600mm (W) x 110mm (D). Output: 2129 BTU / 624 Watts (Delta 50). White finish.
1500mm (H) x 500mm (W) x 85mm (D). Output: 2137 BTU / 626 Watts (Delta 50). Chrome finish.
700mm (H) x 500mm (W) x 85mm (D). Output: 998 BTU / 292 Watts (Delta 50). Chrome finish.
1800mm (H) x 200mm (W) x 137mm (D). Output: 2323 BTU / 680 Watts (Delta 50). White finish.
570mm (H) x 600mm (W) x 110mm (D). Output: 2702 BTU / 792 Watts (Delta 50). White finish.
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0.947447 |
Having discussed the relationship between environment and character formation in individuals and in society, shown the application of these principles using New Lanark as a test-bed, and described future plans, Owen turns finally to explaining how his reforms can be applied nationally and universally. Much of what follows shows how government might adopt his ideas, highly practical for the most part, but increasingly described in millenialist tones, anticipating a coming golden (or more enlightened) age.
What Enlightenment ideal is the principal aim of government, in Owen's opinion?
Can you suggest what ethical theory he is referring to in this context?
What Owen refers to here is again the enlightened notion of happiness generated by rational means. Owen's goal is the greatest happiness of the greatest number, and without poverty, crime or punishment. He shows enormous confidence in the Enlightenment notion that human nature is universal (in the laws governing its causes and effects) but modifiable through environmental factors.
This is classic Utilitarianism, which takes the ultimate good to be the greatest happiness of the greatest number and defines the rightness of actions in terms of their contribution to the general happiness. It follows that no specific moral principle is absolutely certain and necessary, since the relation between actions and their happy or unhappy consequences varies according to circumstances.
The theory had earlier been made fully explicit by Owen's new partner, Bentham, in An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789). Here he argues that morality is based on the French philosopher Helvetius's democratic principle that the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the highest good. Bentham reinforced this by devising a quantitative measure of individual pleasure and pain, concluding that the pursuit of personal happiness led society to a state of general harmony and welfare.
You can see the obvious appeal to Owen. Since people do not form their own characters and character is formed by environment and education, as well as all the other attributes Owen prefers, they can also be taught how to be happy and happiness can be promoted in society at large.
In a series of bullet points, identify the key policies Owen advocates.
a comprehensive employment policy and direction of labour.
Again generalising from his experience at New Lanark, and probably influenced by the views of Godwin and Bentham, Owen argues in his Fourth Essay for government intervention to develop a national system of education, to counter increasing problems of poverty and unemployment, and to generate greater ‘happiness’. This seems to be a return to the earlier proposals he submitted to Lord Liverpool, but how could Owen now implement these much more comprehensive ideas? For a start he could put more of his ‘principles’ in place at New Lanark and raise still further the profile of the community as a test-bed for the New System. This brings us to a more detailed discussion of our second ‘text’, New Lanark itself, and the role it played in Owen's propaganda campaign in 1816–24.
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The puck must cross the red goal line at the far end of the ice for icing to be called. Physical abuse of UHL referees results in immediate game misconduct penalty While standards vary somewhat between leagues, most leagues recognize several common varieties of penalties, as well as common infractions.
During the penalty the player may not participate in play. Assuming that Adam still has more than 2 minutes left on his penalty, does Bob come out of the box, moving to a 5-on-4 powerplay for the duration of Adam's penalty, or does Adam's penalty time get reduced to 2 minutes, and the 5-on-3 continues?
This creates a power play during which the penalized team will have one player fewer than their opponent and is said to be "short-handed". The NHL is not serious about curtailing diving and embellishment and the protocol is simply ignored.
If an attacking player uses his glove to pass the puck to a teammate in the attacking zone, play is stopped and a face-off is held outside the blue line. Gordie Howe was one player renowned for his ability to commit infractions without being called. Note that I underlined control because, for example, if the puck is high-sticked by a red team player, bounces off a blue team player, then goes to another red player who scores a goal there will be a lot of yelling at the ref when he disallows the goal but the fact is the blue team did not have possession and control of the puck.
If a player usually a defenceman moves up to play a little "legal" interference on an opponent and ignores the puck - then he has made no attempt to play the puck and should NOT expect an icing call.
I see players jump on early all the time. This is always a controversial call. If two players on a team are in the penalty box at the same time, the situation is called a " five on three " as is customary, the goalies are not counted in this expression or "two-man advantage". Montreal Gazette. National Hockey League.
Skip to content. Each team may take one second timeout per game. Because the offending team will not be able to take a shot on goal before the play is stopped, this is generally seen as a risk-free play.
What's the rule on this? The skater from one team obviously goes in and the other team must select a player from the ice to serve for the goaltender. When two players on opposing teams get major penalties, five players remain on the ice per side. Automatic Suspensions: A major penalty cannot end early even if a goal is scored against the short-handed team, unless the goal is scored during an overtime period which ends the game.
Neither of them had called any diving infractions to that point in the post season, and neither has called any since. Last time I only got a minor for unsportsmanlike. The Phoenix Coyotes ' Shane Doan was the last player to be given a gross misconduct penalty in for alleged ethnic slurs directed at French-Canadian referees later investigated and subsequently cleared by the NHL. This means stick-on-stick checking and minor body contact in front of the nets or along the boards.
Accept Learn More It makes the player look bad. Hockey players known as " pests " specialize their game in the strategy of trying to draw opponents into taking a penalty. In such cases, only a player from the penalty box can emerge in place of the offender after the end of the major penalty.
Intentional body contact is not permitted. Search for: Deliberate high sticking is an automatic five-minute major penalty. Division Parity 1. Club Oxford Hockey.
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0.999839 |
People on Augusta street with the Triumphal Arch, the famous tourist attraction in Lisbon.
A view of the Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri) in Venice at night. There is space for text.
A view of the magnificent Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.
The Eiffel Tower and panorama of Paris, France.
Sumela monastery one of the most impressive sights in the whole Black Sea region, in Altindere Valley, Trabzon province, Turkey.
Garden in the first courtyard of Topkapi palace, Istanbul, Turkey.
The mausoleum of Habib Bourgiba is the famous landmark and one of the most visitable sights in Monastir, Tunisia.
Consuegra, Spain. Windmills of Don Quixote in Toledo province.
Second Courtyard, with the kitchens to the left in Topkapi palace, Istanbul, Turkey.
Garden in Topkapi palace, Istanbul, Turkey.
Grandmother with her grandchild looks at the White Tower, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Garden in the first courtyard of Topkapi palace, Istanbul, Turkey. In the background the church of Hagia Eirene.
Tourists outside of the Istanbul landmark Hagia Sofia, Turkey.
An evening view of London taking in the sights of the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and the River Thames.
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0.996389 |
Imagine a friend is putting together their own workshop and they’ve never owned any of their own tools. What would you tell them they need in order to get started, and what could wait until down the road?
No matter what you’re working on, you’re going to need one of these hardworking tools for drilling holes or securing screws. Makita’s 1/2” cordless drill/driver can handle any project you throw its way, and it will certainly earn its keep.
If you’re working with wood trim, crown moulding, baseboard, cabinetry or tackling any other woodworking projects, one of these will be your best friend. Makita’s 23-gauge pin nailermakes it easy to drive long pins (skinny nails) into even the densest of materials.
You’ll want one that’s ultra-Compact with a lightweight design, but can still be counted on to perform well for heavy-duty cutting applications. Makita’s 7-1/4” cordless rear handle circular saw ticks all of those boxes and comes with tricked-out features like a two-stage safety trigger switch, LED charge level indicator, battery protection system, and a soft-start feature to gradually increase its speed.
Sometimes called a “chop saw,” this is a workshop staple that you’ll find yourself using for most of your projects. Makita’s 12” dual sliding compound mitre saw can handle cuts up to 15”, has a bevel capacity of 45˚ left or right, and has a mitre capacity of 52˚ left or 60˚ right.
Sometimes you need to cut curves and angles that only a jigsaw can handle. Makita’s cordless jig saw has three orbital settings for a more aggressive cut, a blower feature to keep dust off your cutting line, and a variable speed dial so you have optimal control over your work.
You can’t work with wood and not have a sander for smoothing those rough edges. Makita’s 6” random orbit/finishing sander has a new and improved design for heavy-duty production sanding and polishing applications. Its low-profile design makes it easy to move around and get into tight spaces, and it’s easy to swap out the sanding pads.
Sawdust piles up quickly, and you need to have a way to manage it if you respect your lungs. Makita’s cordless Cyclone vacuum cleaner keeps the air in your workshop clean and it’s great for small workshop spaces.
Cordless tools are life-changing but you need to stay organized to make sure they’re always ready to use. Dedicate one area of your workshop to your chargers and extra batteries and be diligent about popping them on the charger after you’re wrapping up for the day.
What workshop essentials did we miss? Let us know your favourite "can’t-live-without-it" gadget or tool!
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0.999977 |
What is Succession Law? It’s the passing of property or legal rights after death. The word commonly refers to the distribution of property under state interstate succession laws, which determine who inherits property when someone dies without a valid will. When used in connection with real estate, the word refers to the passing of property by the will or inheritance, as opposed to gift, grant, or purchase.
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0.972659 |
Product description: Authentic Womens Canada Goose BRACEBRIDGE JACKET Arctic Dusk Tundra Blossom, Edison tried thousands of times to create the electric light bulb! I dont and I have a loAuthentic Womens Canada Goose BRACEBRIDGE JACKET Arctic Dusk Tundra Blossomt of fun communicating with people, I just believe in the power of a positive attitude, But, the only struggle youll be left with is your thinking: Be student focused - Focus on the individual student: I dont care how they structure it, He seemed shocked at my attitude and my perspective on things, And, they appreciate me and show me their appreciation, For example, crime?
Edison tried thousands of times to create the electric light bulb! I dont and I have a loAuthentic Womens Canada Goose BRACEBRIDGE JACKET Arctic Dusk Tundra Blossomt of fun communicating with people, I just believe in the power of a positive attitude, But, the only struggle youll be left with is your thinking: Be student focused - Focus on the individual student: I dont care how they structure it, He seemed shocked at my attitude and my perspective on things, And, they appreciate me and show me their appreciation, For example, crime?
I believe that this kind of wisdom is deeply embedded in ancient Chinese thought; I love doing it and I encounter a lot of people, I believe that most teachers, administrators and faculty want to give their students the best, Given these observations, am I to conclude that Western education is really that much better? Can we teach more in 6, A commercial airliner usually has at least 3 pilots and often 4 which includes a navigator, However, I would say that at least since graduating from high school, I would never consider trying to win someones love who didnt love me.
I never imagined that I would one day find myself happy and quite contented in UK, Dont worry about what others think - If you want to be successful, you cant worry about what others think, Also,Authentic Womens Canada Goose BRACEBRIDGE JACKET Arctic Dusk Tundra Blossom many college students who come, His reaching out to the world as he is, sends a message that I believe will propel UK even more as an example to the rest of the world and President Xi as a popular and welcomed world leader no matter where his travels take him, At this time, I am of the belief that this situation stems from something that is deep within the eastern mindset, A true champion becomes who and what they are, not by how good they were on their best day.
He is my mentor, As Ive said many times, your friends dont need an explanation for your life and, your enemies will never believe one! Beijing falls in second place in the list that I saw, And, I might add,that it takes a lot personal will-power and self-control to do this, However, the relevant importance of looking good or, having face, isnt nearly as important as the achievement you can attain when you pursue your goals, About 63% of the students Iinterviewed had an English level good enougAuthentic Womens Canada Goose BRACEBRIDGE JACKET Arctic Dusk Tundra Blossomh to proceed with theirWestern education. Here is the link to Part 1 of at least a 3 part series that is airing in Henan several times a week. However, I would send them as the majority of ChinesAuthentic Womens Canada Goose BRACEBRIDGE JACKET Arctic Dusk Tundra Blossome parents desire to do now to a western university for their college education.
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0.954313 |
Did you know that both Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix are buried in Seattle graves? Seattle’s Lakeview Cemetery, on Capitol Hill, just east of downtown is the grave site of many famous Seattle icons. Bruce Lee and his son, Brandon Lee are buried there. Jimi Hendrix is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in nearby Renton. Though he was put to rest in 1970, his grave was moved by his father, Al, to a more lavish memorial in the southwest corner of the cemetery. The memorial has a 30 foot high granite dome, supported by three columns trimmed in rainbow marble.
Many other famous people are buried here. How about Chief Sealth, aka Chief Seattle, for whom the city is named? Among other famous Seattle names of historic proportions: Hiram Chittendon, Arthur Denny, Doc Maynard, Gypsy Rose Lee, Thomas Mercer, John and Hilda Nordstrom, and Henry Yesler. More modern heroes include: Kurt Cobain, Bill Boeing, Ray Charles, Don Coryell, Robert “Birdman” Stroud, Fred Hutchinson, Ted (not Al) Bundy, and Frances Farmer. I wonder if they will bury Bill Gates in Seattle?
Those famous names now in Seattle, sometime down the road, in another email or blog: Paul Allen, Mario Batali, Carol Channing, Judy Collins, Richard Karn, Jeff Bezos, Dale Chihuly, Quincy Jones, Tom Douglas, Eddie Vedder, and Mark Morris.
Turns out that Janie, Jimi’s “sister” runs the Hendrix Foundation, and has put some sense and sanity into the great Hendrix legacy. Perhaps we can find more musical legacies that turn out so well.
It seems to me that neither great artist was appreciated as much in life, as they are now in death. The only thing I can think of, is that both were minorities, and appealed initially to the youth of their time. They were definitely not mainstream! My message to you, is to get out and see the artists of today, before they are gone forever.
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0.999924 |
I can help you to develop a business strategy to grow your company.
My expertise includes innovation strategy, entrepreneurship, business development, team building, employee development and retention, profit and loss management, sales, and acquisitions.
As a senior executive and management consultant, I have deep experience in omni-channel consumer, mid-size corporate, and consulting environments. My expertise revolves around the customer experience online, with catalogs, and in the retail store. My areas of responsibility include corporate management, strategy, human resources, marketing, and public relations.
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0.998563 |
Ambassador Santos began the week by holding a video conference with Colombia's 12 consulates throughout the United States. This meeting took place from the conference room of the Colombian Embassy in Washington DC, and seeks to give an account of the progress being made on consular issues in this country.
Another important event that took place in these days was the meeting that the ambassador had with the Minister of Culture Carmen Vasquez and the executives of the Smithsonian, which began a project that seeks to build a museum that pays tribute to Afro culture in Cali.
In Addition, the Ambassador had a meeting with Congressman Adriano Espaillat, U.S. Democrat Representative for New York's 13th congressional district and the first formerly illegal immigrant to ever serve in Congress, which sought to continue increasing bipartisan support to Colombia.
On the same day, there was also talk of continuing the search for the U.S. Congress to focus on support for the region, with Democrat Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. Who is Ecuadorian-born American politician who is a member of the United States House of Representatives and won an election to represent Florida's congressional district.
The ambassador closes the week in Cúcuta, with U.S. congressmen Eliot Engel, Jerry Nadler, Michael McCaul, Adriano Espaillat, Zoe Lofgren, Pramila Jayapal and John Curtis, in order to help end the dictatorship of neighboring Venezuela.
For his part, the embassy closed its week with two events; the first, a talk with Andres Patiño, finance specialist, who gave some tips on how to file taxes in the United States. And the second, a new consular section called "Historias de vida" that had as its star guest the famous vallenato musician Juancho de la Espriella, who told his beginnings in musical life and delighted the audience with Colombian folkloric melodies.
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0.982823 |
Should Firms Be Allowed To Just Spin Off Their Losses?
A New York Supreme Court judge has ruled that Wall Street banks' lawsuit against bond insurer MBIA won't be dismissed. The banks are angry because they believe MBIA used illegal tactics to shield some of its assets from making good on its insurance contracts on securities that went bad. Even though regulators approved of how MBIA split itself into two entities, banks think they should still be entitled to damages. While this is tricky as a matter of law, I agree in principle.
Let me provide a little background. MBIA insures different kinds of bonds. For example, it can insure a municipal bond so that investors incur fewer losses if the bond goes bad. It happened to insure a large number of mortgage-backed securities and other structured products, many of which suffered big losses when the housing market collapsed. As a result, the company began having trouble living up to all of its guarantees: it hadn't anticipated such a calamity and didn't have the necessary capital to absorb the associated losses.
MBIA created the National Public Finance Guarantee Corporation, which assumed $5.4 billion of the MBIA Insurance Corporation's assets and its public finance obligations. MBIA's structured finance guarantees, including those related to mortgage securities, remained the obligation of the MBIA Insurance Corporation.
The banks and investors holding insured toxic bonds were not amused. They believed that they should have a claim on those $5 billion in assets that MBIA split off to create a focused municipal bond insurance arm. That's why they sued.
This is a difficult case, because, inexplicably, the move was approved by a regulator, the New York State insurance superintendent. If a regulator says it's okay, how could MBIA be breaking any laws?
As a matter of law, I'm really not sure what should happen in this case, because the problem I see here is that a regulator should never have approved of this tactic. It was unfair to those who believed that the guarantees on the bonds they purchased would be backed up by all of MBIA's assets. After all, if they'd known that some $5 billion in assets would be shielded from their claims, then they probably would have viewed the insurance less favorably.
A company should not be able to just split itself up so to shield its assets from its losses. In an economy where firms are becoming more and more diversified, you can begin to imagine this setting a precedent where divisions that do extremely poorly could just be split off from well-performing parts of a firm. Then, other companies owed money by those troubled divisions would just be out of luck. That would create incredible moral hazard for management to allow separate divisions to take as much risk as they like, without needing to worry much about consequences.
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0.915675 |
The tavern dancer, the flute player in the market, the singer at private parties... these people are what communities call Bards. The entertaining class that uses their unique abilities to please the senses of those around them. There is nothing typical about Bards, who's talents can include juggling, acrobatics, gaming, story telling and more. Often poor, they typically use their arts to feed their families and live life to the fullest.
If you want a class that you don't have to work very hard at building, this might be a good one for you. A Bard is good for players who want their character to entertain others through story, and have the center of attention on themselves. It's not "easy" to be a bard however, as sometimes a bard can find themselves ignored by others or dismissed as annoying or weak. You'll have to prove yourself if you want to be a bard recognized by everyone. However if you aren't interested in being the center of attention, a bard is also a very relaxed and useful character to have around. The perfect "tavern sitter" for those who prefer a less active role in the game.
Fighting wise they are fairly weak. If you intend to do a lot of fighting, then this class might not be for you. Their abilities range more for support and magic, dishing out effects instead of damage.
A bard can actually be VERY useful during quests since most of their abilities effect groups. They can give bonuses to your party, or negatives to the enemy party. It really depends on the bard as an individual and what abilities they invest into. Since they do not deal damage well, they often stay back with the healers and sages to take less damage.
Any race can be a bard, though the races without humanoid hands and gripping capability will find some bard abilities impossible (such as instrument playing) because they can't hold them, let alone use them. Singing, dancing, and story telling are some abilities that any race can perform however. Some of the more common races that become bards are: Giant Fae, and Angels.
Alignment is no issue or reason for being a bard. Some deemed more 'evil' tend to use their skills to manipulate or control others. Those on the other range use their talents for entertainment and support. Since 'evil' typically finds bards weak though, you'll normally find bards more on the 'good' spectrum.
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0.977229 |
Identify relevant search terms for a given topic.
This activity was originally designed for a patent searching session for an upper level engineering course. I used it to prepare groups for brainstorming keywords for their group invention. I have found that it easily translates to other multidisciplinary courses and can be used with groups or individuals.
Smith, Jennifer. "What is this thing? Koosh balls and search terms." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2018. https://www.projectcora.org/assignment/what-thing-koosh-balls-and-search-terms.
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0.999911 |
Offset Center of Gravity on a parsed model?
Hello, I have a physics::Model (i.e. not just its SDF representation, but the parsed model). I want to offset the center of gravity of one of its links during runtime (and reset the world afterwards to run a simulation with a different CoG).
I've tried virtually anything, and without success. I start with *link->GetInertial() = original_inertial_with_shifted_cog, then I call link->UpdateMass(). All of this is called inside the Load method of a model plugin. The robot shows correctly in the first step of the paused simulation, but after stepping further, the whole body goes wrong, flies away, or the CoG "tries" to get to its original position (shifting the link to an incorrect position and leaving large joint positional errors).
I tried "repairing" the relative pose of the link, relative parent pose of its joints (this is protected, but nevermind), virtually anything (before the call to UpdateMass). Always the same behavior.
If I modify the <inertial><pose> tag in the SDF, the model loads correctly with the CoG shifted, and the simulation can be run normally. The problem is I don't want to reload (delete, spawn) the model every time I want to move the CoG.
It seems to me there is some "ghost force" acting on the link that pushes its CoG always to the same position.
Is there a way to achieve this at runtime?
did you try one of the Inertial::SetCoG calls?
I've also tried to replicate the way it is done in `InertiaMsgsTest::SetCoG()` test (via publishing a Model message), but the behavior is the same. Could it mean the test is insufficient?
After some more digging, I concluded it is possibly a bug. I've reported it here: https://bitbucket.org/osrf/gazebo/issues/1981 .
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0.998531 |
How Should Someone Make an Appendix for a Term Paper?
Someone who is making an appendix for their term paper should gather the information they want to use, format the appendix so it is consistent with the rest of the paper and ensure it is easy for the reader to access. In addition, an appendix needs to have page numbers that locate the references cited.
An appendix contains data, tables, maps, graphs, images and other media that supports what the student writes in the paper. When including them in the appendix, make sure it is clear which part of the paper they illustrate.
After including information in the appendix, make sure the format is consistent with the paper. In addition to using the same referencing style, make sure the headings and subheadings have the same font type and size.
When using more than one appendix, title them using Roman numerals. For example, "Appendix I" and "Appendix II." In addition, make sure they are listed in the table of contents at the beginning of the paper.
An appendix's page numbers should follow on naturally from the rest of the paper. For example, if the appendix begins after page 20, give it the number 21 rather than starting from 1 again. In addition, ensure the numbers are Arabic, not Roman.
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0.944504 |
Do you know that feeling in which all your best laid plans for a day unravel like a knitting project being attacked by a kitten? I know the feeling all too well, and despite every effort I make to prevent such an occurrence, chaos presents itself EVERY SINGLE DAY. I know the problem boils down to having too much to do and not enough time in a day to get it all done. I end up feeling worthless and helpless when I have to move chores, errands, appointments and projects to another day, week or even month. The saddest part of moving things back in my schedule is that I tend to shove spiritual and expressive “fun” projects into a distant “someday”, simply because I do not want to seem selfish for immersing myself in them. As a result, I tend to starve my spirit and have caused a rift in my spiritual connection which is beginning to take its toll on me.
One way to break the cycle of signing up for too much to do is to take a step back, determine what takes top priority, and only put those items or events on your schedule so that you won’t feel overwhelmed. I realize that people these days are so incredibly busy that if the most basic and essential tasks are not added to a day’s schedule, they won’t get done. For example, I must schedule my workouts, errands, beauty treatments, plant watering and household cleaning tasks if I want to ensure that I will have time to complete them. Over the past several years, I have become accustomed to literally hitting the ground running when I start most of my days, without slowing down until late at night when I am home and have completed article writing and social media tasks. I often wonder if life really has to be this complicated all the time, and fantasize about being able to move through daily life without feeling like I am racing against time.
We tend to manufacture the frenetic schedules we complain of, and get so caught up in them that pausing for a moment seems alien to us. However, it is important to remember that taking a moment to pause and breathe does not have the negative repercussions we fear it does. You CAN put down your work for a little while and enjoy life. Allow your spirit and your body to reset so that you are refreshed instead of stressed out and frazzled.
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0.943717 |
The latest victim was Djalma Santos da Conceicao, radio journalist with RCA FM, in the state of Bahia, who was kidnapped and shot dead on 22 May.
After two brutal murders of journalists in the space of a week, Reporters Without Borders, an international organization that defends freedom of information, urges Brazil to quickly adopt concrete and effective measures to guarantee the protection of news providers and to combat impunity for crimes of violence against them.
Brazil is the western hemisphere's third deadliest country for the media (after Mexico and Honduras), with a total of 38 journalists murdered in a clear or possible connection with their work from January 2000 to December 2014. Almost all were investigating sensitive subjects such as organized crime, human rights violations, corruption or different kinds of trafficking.
The organized crime presence in certain regions makes covering these subjects particularly risky. At the same time, the impunity prevailing in most of the cases increases the probability of their recurring. The trend has worsened in recent years with at least ten journalists killed in Brazil in direct connection with their work in 2012 and 2013, two in 2014 and now three since the start of 2015.
The latest victim was Djalma Santos da Conceicao, a radio journalist with RCA FM in Conceição da Feira, in the northeastern state of Bahia, who was kidnapped and shot dead on 22 May. His body bore the marks of torture. According to local sources, he had been threatened and had been investigating the murder of a teenage girl by traffickers.
Evany Jose Metzker, an investigative journalist who kept a blog called Coruja do Vale, was found beheaded near Padre Paraiso, in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais, on 18 May, five days after being reporting missing. He had been investigating drug trafficking and child prostitution for several months and had covered several regional corruption cases in his blog, accusing local officials of involvement.
Gerardo Servian Coronel, a Paraguayan journalist working for Radio Ciudad Nueva, was gunned down in Ponta Porã, a Brazilian city near the Paraguayan border, on 4 March.
An increase in violence against journalists has also been seen during the major protests against public transport price hikes in São Paulo and against spending on the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. Local and foreign journalists covering these protests from June 2013 to July 2014 were the targets of abusive treatment by the police that included insults, threats, arrests, arbitrary detention, physical violence and beatings.
The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalists (ABRAJI) registered 210 cases of abusive treatment of professional and non-professional journalists, 38 of them during the World Cup. The military police were responsible for most of these cases. Bandeirantes TV cameraman Santiago Ilidio Andrade was fatally injured while covering a protest in Rio de Janeiro on 6 February 2014.
In a report on violence against journalists issued in March 2014, a month after Andrade’s death, the Human Rights Secretariat recommended creating an Observatory for Violence against Journalists in partnership with UNESCO, and putting the federal authorities in charge of investigating crimes against journalists.
More than a year later, no action has been taken. A bill that would have put the federal authorities in charge of investigating such crimes was rejected on 20 May by the Chamber of Deputies commission on public safety and combating organized crime.
In view of the level of violence against journalists, implementation of the recommendations by the Human Rights Secretariat’s working group on the safety of journalist is more necessary and urgent than ever. Combating impunity must be a priority. Journalists will continue to be in danger as long as crimes of violence against them are not the subject of independent, impartial and thorough investigations that result in those responsible being identified and punished.
We thank you in advance for the attention that you give to our request.
Christophe Deloire, Reporters Without Borders secretary-general.
Tags: Brazil, Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalists (ABRAJI), Christophe Deloire, Dilma Rousseff, Djalma Santos da Conceicao, Evany Jose Metzker, Gerardo Servian, Reporters Without Borders.
DumbAss will be as impotent to do anything about this as she is at running the country.
This method of media censorship is favored by the extreme right in Brazil. It needs to be addressed!
We fight our fights and people die - Djalma Santos da Conceicao, radio journalist with RCA FM, Bahia, Brasil.
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0.840773 |
"The water is very cold."
When does one use kald, kalde, or kaldt?
Because the indefinite form is used in this example.
Definite form is only formed with det/den/de. In this example, the definite form would be: det kalde vannet.
Indefinite forms would be: vannet er veldig kaldt or kaldt vann (without et because vann is uncountable) or anthing without det/den/de.
kjempekaldt? does "kjempe" mean something similar to "very"?
You can put kjempe in front of (nearly?) every adjective (and noun), as an enhancer. It literally means giant/gigantic. Kjempevondt (pain/hurt), kjempesint (angry), kjempeblå (blue), kjempelenge (long), kjempegode (good), kjempeidiot (idiot), kjempehus (house). Most of them come off as rather colloquial though.
Haha:-P I'm unsure of how to write that correctly. You can say it without anyone batting an eyelid. Especially if you are turning blue.
If it was really very outrageously horribly cold, I would just stack any enhancer I could think of in front of the kaldt to drive my point through (sic).
I think it's a bit stronger than 'veldig', but it's often interchangeable.
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0.997571 |
The text to be displayed in the browser is located between the opening and closing label tags. However, the label is linked to the input by using the input's id ("large") as the value of the label's for-attribute.
Does that help you with the task?
Connecting label and input field this way improves usability because the input field is selected by clicking the label and also simplifies access for people using assistive technology such as screen readers.
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0.808537 |
India is a South Asian country member of the Commonwealth. In Hindi the country is called Bhārat. India is bordered on the west by Pakistan and the Arabian Sea, on the north by China (Tibet Autonomous Region, under Chinese control), Nepal and Bhutan, on the east by Burma, Bay of Bengal and Bangladesh, south by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar, which separate it from Sri Lanka, in the Indian Ocean.
The Indian Federation is made up of 28 states (Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra , Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal) and 7 Union Territories (Andaman-and-Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra-and- Nagra-Haveli, Daman-and-Diu, Delhi, Laquedives) administered directly by the central government.
The most populated city of India is Bombay. Next come Calcutta and Delhi, which includes in its agglomeration the capital, New Delhi, Madras, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kanpur, Nagpur, Lucknow, Jaipur.
India has an area of 3,165,596 km², ranking it seventh in the world. The Indian peninsula alone forms a sub-continent, distinct from Asia, from which it was separated until the tertiary era. Most of India consists of medium mountains, plateaus or plains. The country can be divided into four major geographical areas: the Himalayas, the alluvial plains of the north, the Dekkan and the eastern and western Ghats.
The Himalayas is the highest mountain range in the world. Born from the collision between the Tibetan plate and the Indian plate, it is formed of crystalline rocks and sediments. Its highest point in Indian territory is Kangchenjunga (8,598 m), the third highest peak in the world after Everest and K2. The Himalayas range from 160 to 320 km stretching over 2,400 km between India and Tibet, from Jammu and Kashmir in the west to Assam East. To the west, the Himalayas extend through the Karakorum range in Kashmir and then through the Hindu Kush range in Afghanistan.
At the foot of the Himalayas lies a vast plain, from west to east (from Pakistan to Bangladesh). Three great rivers, which originate in Tibet or in its borders, cross this region: the Indus (2,897 km), the Ganges (2,510 km) and, in the extreme east, the Brahmaputra (2,897 km) . They are fed by the monsoon and melting Himalayan snow. East of the peninsula, two rivers lead to deltas that progress on the sea: the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, whose cumulative watersheds total 3 million km2, and which water West Bengal, the plain of the Assam and Bangladesh.
Assam has extremely contrasting types of soils: poor, leached soils on upland surfaces in the western part of the Ganges plain and in the foothills of Punjab; Floodable soils more favorable to agriculture in the lower regions. These soils, formed by the alluvium deposited by the great rivers, make the plain of Assam the most fertile and most populated region of the country. Rice growing is highly developed, as is the cultivation of wheat and sugar cane, more specifically in the northern part of this region (Uttar Pradesh and Punjab).
South of the plains is the vast triangular plateau of Dekkan, which occupies most of the Indian peninsula with high plateaus on the side of the Arabian Sea and lower plateaus on the side of the Bay of Bengal. The structure of the region is that of a Precambrian shield, made of rocks of very different natures. The granite or gneiss plateaus (Mysore plateau, in the extreme south, Bastar plateau or Chota Nagpur plateau in the east) contrast with the basaltic plateaux, which are terraced. Black soils (or regur), formed by the decomposition of basalt, have a high water retention capacity, which has particularly favored the cultivation of cotton.
The Dekkan is bordered by two medium mountain ranges: the western Ghats (915 m), which run from north to south, the Arabian Sea and the Malabar coast; Eastern Ghats (460 m), which border the Coromandel coast on the Bay of Bengal.
India is characterized by a tropical monsoon climate. Despite the presence of some temperate zones, the alternation between a dry season and a rainy season conditions the life and activity of the Indians.
During the rainy season, from June to October, the monsoon brings moist air masses from the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. The south and west of the country are the first affected in June. The whole Indian territory enters the rainy season before mid-July. Precipitation can be considerable (at Tcherrapunji, they reach 10 920 mm per year). The offseason is marked by a gradual return of drought.
From December, the monsoon blows from the inland to the sea. Until March, the relatively cool dry season is marked by heavy thunderstorms and snowfall in the Himalayas. Daytime temperatures are generally above 15 ° C in the North, 20 ° C or 25 ° C in the South. On the other hand, the nights are cool: in the plain of Gange, they can go down to 5 ° C, and it sometimes freezes in Punjab.
After the dry season begins the hottest period of the year, between mid-March and the beginning of June. Temperatures often rise above 40 ° C and in some areas of central India may exceed 50 ° C.
These general trends, however, do not reflect the typical climatic variety of India. To the west, in the Ghats region and on the coast along them, the climate is humid, with particularly heavy rainfall on the reliefs. The rainy season is quite long in the region of Cochin or Mangalore, shorter in Bombay or Surat. The northwest of the country – the Punjab Plain and the plains of Rajasthan – is generally drier. Central India has a long, hot and dry season, with very low rainfall in the valleys – Godavari and Krishna, among others. In this zone of the center of the country, the cold season is almost non-existent. It is probably in the north-east of the country that the cycle of the seasons is most clearly marked. As in the west, the rainy season lasts a relatively long time, from the end of May until the beginning of October. In the southeast, the highest rainfall is recorded in November or December, while the rest of the country enters the dry season.
The amount of rainfall varies greatly depending on the year; a year of drought can indeed follow a period of tropical storm. Too much rain also favors the proliferation of mosquitoes and the development of malaria.
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0.99895 |
When Alice Merchant makes a successful run on Archives, does the Corp trash a card from HQ before or after the Runner accesses cards?
A second archives focused runner. It's useful to compare her to the crazy old man. Aside from text wording the big differences are that Omar has 12 influence compared to Alice's 15 but Omar only has a standard 45 card deck size minimum whereas Alice has 50 minimum.
With regard to effect both have a good deal when getting into archives but only once per turn. Omar lets you sneak from archives into R&D or HQ whereas Alice forces the corp to discard a card. The way I read Alice's ability the corp gets to choose (it doesn't say "at random") which is a bit of a downer.
On the other hand because the ability of Alice doesn't require triggering by paying a click it combines well with run events.
In effect I expect both Alice and Omar to force the corp to put ice on archives. Most corps will do that against anarchs anyway due to Keyhole and other anarch cards that force cards to be trashed.
One thing Alice does do better than Omar and most anarchs is to support a "trash the corp" style where the goal isn't so much to score agenda's directly as it is to sabotage the corp's strategy by making them bleed their essential cards into archives. In a post-Jackson world even the old mill strategy may see a revival: win by making the corp have no R&D left. In such a strategy the runner does not need to actually access HQ, just preventing the corp from setting up a secure enough scoring server or the infrastructure for fast advance is enough to win.
I guess that may be the best way to view Alice: an offensive sabotage specialist. It will be interesting to see if this strategy will work in the wider meta.
Hand Ob(or De-)struction is something most corps can't deal with. Her ability is a fruitful package of disruption and archives pressure. It's true, the discard isn't randomized, but considering that 1. It will often trigger early, when the corp has not had time to develop yet and 2. As the game progresses, you will often find the Corp without many cards in hand, making every discard painful.
In fact, the reason why I enjoy her playstyle so very much may stem from the fact that she bears certain similarities to my all-time favourite corp identity, Jinteki: Personal Evolution. Both warp the opponent's playstyle to a degree, by denying them cards they would usually have access to, thereby making their game plan unreliable (this is especially true forcombo decks). But whereas PE is reactive and relies on traps and forcing decisions, Alice is proactive and terrorizes the corporation at her own behest.
And running is where she's good at. Since you already have an in-built archives pressure, you will traditionally want for HQ and RnD threats, since Anarchs have a bit of a harder time entering remotes. Medium and Bhagat (Alice lends herself nicely to a resource-intensive build, so [[Career Fair]] is a solid pick), with additional cards that reward running centrals ([[Datasucker]] and [[Tapwrm]]) being rock-solid includes.
Overall, an incredible addition to the game and, as the poets say: "You can run the Jewels, or lose ya fingers."
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0.999997 |
How do you best showcase the team members in your crowdfunding pitch?
The team section is one of the most important parts of the campaign. Crowd investors want to know if you and your team are capable of reaching the company goals.
Specify all team member's relevant background, experience and core competences.
You should also include contact/LinkedIn details to the team members for in case an investor has more questions or wants to get to know the team.
In most of the cases people invest in the team behind they campaign. Therefore, in the team section you should show that you are capable of running the company successfully.
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0.970629 |
What does "to pick up" Spanish mean, does that mean to learn or improve?
"pick up" is a phrasal verb for 'acquire' or just 'get' -- lots of applications for it, such as "I must have PICKED UP a bad cold when I went to the mall last week -- lots of people were sick and blowing their noses when when I was there."
To "pick up" a language means to learn it without formal classes or teaching, but by listening to others and perhaps reading.
It means someone grossly underestimates the effort it takes to learn a language.
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0.999896 |
Going on a cruise can give you so much fun, but you should have an idea of how you choose where to go, with whom and where. You should first put in mind the time of the year that you want to go on a cruise because some of the cruise ships do not provide cruises at some times of the year such as winter. Most of the cruise ships factor when it is the most suitable time to provide the cruises is the kind of weather available at a certain time.
It is also important for you to factor the amount of time that you will spend on the cruise. You should choose a cruise depending on your preference since different cruises take different number of days. Some of them go for days totalling to over one month and with this, you can only be limited by the amount of time you have. If you do not have time for a long cruise, you can opt to use a short time which is also easy to manage and use the long one whenever you have enough time. You can also choose a cruise based on the places you are planning to go to. For you to ensure that you have gone to destinations that you have not been to before you should choose a cruise that has plans of visiting such places.
The kind of cruise you choose should also be determined by the amount of time you are planning to spend in the sea. Some cruises such as the Caribbean spends a lot of time in the sea and that ensures that you spend some time away from the ship. You can select this option depending on whether you are planning to have some other activities while on vacation or if you are planning to spend the whole of it at a single place. Choosing some cruises can make you be provided with just a little time and that can make some individuals very tired. You should also decide on the size of the ship to use and cruise lines.
Some of the cruise lines hold a few people while others can hold many passengers which you will choose depending on your needs. You should request for some assistance from your travel agent depending on your personality. You can choose the cruise you want depending on the kind of activities you are planning to have.
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0.997498 |
George Forster's account of Cook's Second Voyage, first published in 1777, has been beautifully republished in two volumes and over 830 pages of text and appendixes. The editors' introduction covers Forster's and Cook's writings, Forster's ethnological observations, and the book's reception when it was first published in the 18th century. The text contains drawings by the author, and engravings or paintings by artists such as William Hodges, as well as maps of the voyage.
The valuable appendixes include Forster's introduction to the German edition (Reise um die Welt, 1778), extensive commentary by William Wales (astronomer on the Second Voyage) about disagreements with Forster's interpretation of events, acrimonious letters exchanged by George and Johann Reinhold Forster and Wales, a letter by George Forster to the Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty, regarding authorized publication of material, and a table summarizing names given by Forster to Pacific islands. There is also a bibliography of works cited by the editors, and an extensive index.
This book serves as a complementary account to Cook's journals of the Second Voyage, and as a study of oceanic culture and society. Forster's narrative contains a preface and is divided into three books. The first two books appear in Volume I of this version. They summarize the voyage through mid-July 1774. The third book is contained in Volume II. The editors provide a useful table providing chronology of the voyages of Resolution and Adventure, which became separated off the coast of New Zealand.
Forster's original book has been cited as an example of Enlightenment era travel books, said to be the favorite genre of contemporary German literature. It compares favorably to the Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks's useful additional account of Cook's First Voyage.
As you might expect, Forster's account focuses far more on the scientific and ethnological aspects of the voyage than does Cook's account. Forster wrote detailed descriptions of seascape and landscape, weather and oceanic conditions, sea life, plants, animals, and especially people and societies, interactions between sailors and natives, living conditions, food, clothing, various material objects, and assessments and judgments about South Seas people and society. The editors cite Forster's observations on Pacific peoples as the most valuable aspect of the account. Cook's journals contain some of these observations, but in much less detail. Cook, the scientists, and others on his voyages would have shared their observations during the journey, and often integrated their observations as they compiled their individual journals.
Forster took great pains in his preface to point out that he was little concerned with "nautical details", or "victualling and refitting the ship", or "how often we reefed, or split a sail in a storm, how many times we tacked to weather a point". He also observed that the navigator "who has been bred on the rough element" may observe certain matters far differently from "the landman" who is the product of "different branches of science." William Wales later interpreted these words as an effort to prejudice readers against Cook's account.
Forster and Cook both wrote assessments of peoples of the Southern Oceans that today are out of fashion. For example, both authors offered observations of people of the Pacific Islands compared to those encountered at Tierra del Fuego. Cook found the Fugean native peoples (the Pecheras) who appeared mostly naked in a harsh climate, living more in bark canoes than on land, concluding they "are certainly the most wretched" among all the nations he visited: "they are doomed to live in one of the most inhospitable climates in the world, without having sagacity enough to provide themselves with such necessaries as may render life convenient."
Forster's comments parallel those of Cook's, similarly citing the stench associated with the mostly naked, forlorn appearing Fugeans: "these wretched natives of a most dreary country", in the face of inclement weather, "were yet too stupid, too indolent, or too wretchedly destitute of means to guard against it. They seemed totally insensible of the superiority of our situation, and did not once, with a single gesture, express their admiration of the ship, and its many great and remarkable objects." Forster's conclusion is that people living in warmer climates were of higher intelligence and industry than those living in more rigorous, colder, and extreme climates, an interpretation based upon geographical determinism that is unacceptable to modern scholars and readers.
On occasion, Forster's sober account employs a measure of humor. In January 1773, as the voyage approached the Antarctic Circle, Forster recalls the ship's company, after great effort, bringing on board large blocks of floating ice which eventually melted to provide weeks of fresh water supply. Forster noted some of the crew were frightened that the melting ice would expand and explode the water casks until Captain Cook demonstrated that melted water took less space than frozen ice. Forster acidly observed, "Ocular demonstration always goes farther than the clearest arguments; but reasoning never has less weight than with sailors."
Forster offers observations about the impact of European visitors on Pacific Islanders, especially "corrupting their morals", including spreading sexually transmitted disease. He finds little "real benefit" provided to the native peoples and that contact, especially that of uncouth seamen, has been "wholly disadvantageous to the nations of the South Seas", and that those who "kept aloof" from the visitors were the better for it. Forster does refer to Cook's efforts to keep infected sailors from contact with natives. He similarly abhorred New Zealand Maori offering daughters and wives to sailors for "infamous commerce" in trifles but he concludes that it was the Europeans, first the Dutch and now the English, who corrupted the natives to behave as such only after their arrival. He notes the prevalence of thievery among native peoples, especially theft of objects belonging to the European visitors.
Forster's narrative includes numerous laudatory references about Cook, "the greatest navigator of his time", with his "indefatigable pursuits after discoveries." Forster recognizes Cook's multiple experiments and achievements to safeguard and improve the health of seamen and, in particular, cites advice to Cook by surgeon James Patten regarding scurvy. He positively recounts Cook's attempts to establish friendly relationships with native peoples. Forster recounts Cook's illnesses during the voyage and efforts undertaken to restore his health, including feeding Cook boiled meat taken from his father's Tahitian dog.
Readers who wish to explore the contentious controversy between the Forsters and astronomer William Wales (as well as the Admiralty) will thoroughly enjoy the appendixes to this book. Wales is quoted citing page after page of inaccuracies in George Forster's narrative of the Second Voyage. He suggests that Johann Reinhold Forster had the "principal" hand in writing the book and, furthermore, the observations were not borne out by the facts. Wales presents a devastating description of J. R. Forster's disagreeable nature from the moment he stepped aboard Resolution. Forster's censure of the behavior of the ship's company in particular raised Wales's ire. Hostile letters flew between Wales and both Forsters over assertions that Wales allowed a chronometer to stop working in June 1773. The acrimonious exchanges included in the appendixes provide interesting, if irresolvable, commentary for readers even today.
George Forster's enjoyable narrative serves as a valuable record of the Second Voyage and a useful reference for persons interested in Captain Cook. The editors, specialists in anthropology and literature, are to be congratulated for providing useful while unobtrusive commentary on Forster's writings, and for compiling an easily readable, interesting text.
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 41, volume 33, number 3 (2010).
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Summary:Track #1: Based on lyrics from "Why" by Jason Aldean. Rory and Logan are dealing with a stressful time, words are exchanged, and a resolution must be found. It is loosely inspired by the episode when Rory writes the article about Logan's party and he gets upset.
He walked through the door to their apartment, and judging from the clock on the wall it was closing in on three in the morning. She was home, he knew that much; her car was in the parking lot. Her returning home, to their apartment, was a good sign and it allowed him to breath a little better. He had feared she may have taken a spontaneous trip to Stars Hollow or decided to crash at Paris' apartment like all the other times they fought. Most of their arguments never lasted more than a couple days at the most, but with each one he contemplated how much more she could possibly take. So her being home was enough to give him hope that he hadn't ruined everything.
Taking off his jacket and laying it over the couch, he tip-toed quietly through the apartment, not wanting to wake her. He spotted her petite frame curled up on her side of the bed. She was clutching his pillow and he could see the crinkled tissues strewn across the comforter. Softly climbing into bed next to her, he was careful not to disturb her slumber. He could tell from the fresh tear-stains that were etched on her face that it had been a difficult task to fall asleep.
What had he done? Why did it always have to come to this, walking away and then crying herself to sleep?
"I'm sorry, Ace," he whispered into the noiseless, motionless room.
They were sitting at a table in an upscale New Haven restaurant that Logan had made reservations at the day before. It was the first time they had eaten a meal together in two weeks. Logan had been sent on trip after trip and forced to attend meeting after meeting by his dad. Between Mitchum's constant interferences and studying for finals on both their parts, Rory and Logan had barely seen each other with the exception of morning greetings, rushed good-byes, and late-night small talk.
"So my mom called me yesterday," Rory began to explain as the previous topic of conversation died down, "and wanted to know if I could make a trip home this weekend."
Logan smiled at her from across the table, recognizing the mix of content and excitement that radiated off her at the concept of visiting her home town. "Ace, I think that would be a great use of your weekend. And it has been a while since you've been home."
Rory nodded in agreement, "Yeah I thought so too. I miss my mom, and for the past week I feel like all I have done is study. I think it would be a nice stress reliever; like a spa weekend, but so much better than that because it would involve two generations of Gilmore girls and a movie night to remember. I can't imagine a better way to relax before finals."
"You and your ideas of relaxation are one of a kind, Ace," Logan chuckled in amusement but his smile turned genuine, "but it sounds wonderful."
"I'm glad you think that because I thought it would be a good use of our weekend. Between everything that your dad has been making you do, studying for finals, and preparing to graduate I thought that it might be a good getaway. I mean, I know it's not Vegas with the boys or a weekend in the Caribbean but it would be quiet and calm; or at least as calm as you can get in Stars Hollow. And we haven't seen each other much lately, so I thought it would be a good-" Rory's light-heart and genuine Gilmore rant would have continued, but Logan's cell phone cut her off.
He motioned for her to wait and he got up to answer the call. It must have been a business call. Rory could tell by the alterations in Logan's facial features. She couldn't stop the anger and disappointment from rising in her chest. This had to happen on tonight of all nights. The first time chance she had got to spend time with her boyfriend in weeks was being jeopardized, and the worst part was that he was going to let it happen. She knew she should be the supportive girlfriend, especially because she knew the type of boss he was dealing with, but she was beginning to get tired of being traded in for business trips and meetings. All she wanted was one night, or maybe just one weekend, and now it wasn't going to happen.
Logan snapped his phone shut and started back to the table. He had to leave and Rory wasn't going to be happy, hell it was already written all over her face. She had been planning this night for days and now he, or rather his father, was going to take it away.
"Ace, I have to go." That's all he said, but they both knew he didn't need to give further explanation. And like he assumed, she was pissed.
Placing her napkin gently on the table, she willed herself to stay calm. Her mind was going a million miles a minute, and sure she had a lot to say to him in this instance, but she knew that this wasn’t the time or place to have this conversation. “Okay, I’ll see you later then.” Her voice carried that anger, contempt and, most of all, disappointment that she had been keeping bottled up for the past few weeks.
She grabbed her purse and swiftly made her way past him, giving a pleasant nod to the hostess at the front of the restaurant as she disappeared through the double doors and into the dimly lit streets of New Haven. Logan sighed, placed enough money on the table to cover the check, and hurriedly made his was after her.
By the time her got outside, she was in the midst of hailing a cab but seemed to be rendering unsuccessful. He walked up to her slowly, and placed a cautious hand on her arm, “Ace-”.
“Just don’t, okay Logan?” The strength in her voice caught him off-guard, as she pulled her arm out from under his touch and turned to face him. She may have sounded strong, but he could see the tears gathering in the corner of her eye, threatening to spill over in a moments notice.
Rory shook her head solemnly, “How about say ‘no’? It’s a two-letter word, one I am sure you learned when you were a toddler. I know he’s your father, you’re the HPG heir, and all that other crap but I’m your girlfriend. The one you’re supposed to love and want to spend an unlimited amount of time with. I haven’t seen you, and I mean really seen you, in weeks, Logan. I haven’t questioned any of you trips or meetings, and all I asked for was one dinner, or even one weekend of some quality time with you; no cell phones, business calls, or trips that go for days on end. And you can’t even seem to consider that.” She took a deep breath in, replenishing herself for her aforementioned rant and felt some of the anger that she had pent up melt away.
“Rory, you know I can’t do that. You know, better than anyone, how much I hate my father but I can’t say no,” Logan replied and her watched her face fall but continued on, “The day I say no, is the day I lose my trust fund. I know you weren’t raised in the same manner I was, and you think it’s so easy to follow your own dreams but it’s not. The moment I defy Mitchum Huntzberger is the one where I lose that precious apartment you live in and you stop getting treated to fancy dinners like this.” His own frustration towards the past few weeks was etched in his words, and he didn’t notice the fresh tears that were now running down his girlfriend’s face until it was too late.
“Don’t go there Logan,” Rory’s voice cracked with emotion, “I offered to pay rent, and you know very well that I don’t need special treatment. Sometimes I don’t think you think before you speak, but then again maybe that really is how you feel.” Her gaze fell to the cobblestone beneath her and turned her back towards him, getting in to the cab that had pulled up along the curb.
Her body trembled on the bed next to him, and the simple movement was enough to bring Logan back from his daze. His warm brown eyes drifted slowly downward to her awaking form. He watched her arms tighten around the pillow subconsciously and her lashes flutter as she began to open her eyes. Logan sunk lower on the bed so that he was no longer leaning against the headboard, but was now laying flat with his brown eyes trained on her blue.
“Logan,” Rory muffled, sleep clouding her voice and thoughts.
The smile that appeared on Rory’s face could have lit up all of Connecticut and it was obviously contagious because one just like it grew on Logan’s. “Really?” She questioned, her eyes seemingly a brighter blue.
Logan nodded, “Really. It’s what you wanted and I realized, when I finally noticed that you had gotten in that cab earlier, that you were right. I need to learn to say no, regardless of the consequences. And the same thing goes, when it comes to us,” he said, pausing to gauge his girlfriend’s reaction. Like he had predicted, her lips curled up into a slight frown and all he could do was laugh.
“And by saying no, I mean that in situations like the one we were in tonight I am not going to let you walk away; not again,” Logan explained, a genuine smile gracing his features.
With a content smile on her face, sparked by his last words, Rory inched closer to Logan. She curled up into his side and her head ended up on his chest. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she felt herself fall into another state of sleep. The only exception was that this time it wasn’t induced by crying but by the calming voice of a one Logan Huntzberger, whispering “I love you” into the noiseless, motionless room.
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Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. She grew up in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. She was an author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist. She was best known for her seven autobiographical books: Mom & Me & Mom (Random House, 2013); Letter to My Daughter (Random House, 2008); All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (Random House, 1986); The Heart of a Woman (Random House, 1981); Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (Random House, 1976); Gather Together in My Name (Random House, 1974); and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Random House, 1969), which was nominated for the National Book Award.
Among her volumes of poetry are A Brave and Startling Truth (Random House, 1995); The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (Random House, 1994); Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now (Random House, 1993); I Shall Not Be Moved (Random House, 1990); Shaker, Why Don't You Sing? (Random House, 1983); Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well (Random House, 1975); and Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie (Random House, 1971), which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
In 1959, at the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. From 1961 to 1962 she was associate editor of The Arab Observer in Cairo, Egypt, the only English-language news weekly in the Middle East, and from 1964 to 1966 she was feature editor of the African Review in Accra, Ghana. She returned to the United States in 1974 and was appointed by Gerald Ford to the Bicentennial Commission and later by Jimmy Carter to the Commission for International Woman of the Year. She accepted a lifetime appointment in 1982 as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 1993, Angelou wrote and delivered a poem, "On The Pulse of the Morning," at the inauguration for President Bill Clinton at his request. In 2000, she received the National Medal of Arts, and in 2010 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
The first black woman director in Hollywood, Angelou wrote, produced, directed, and starred in productions for stage, film, and television. In 1971, she wrote the original screenplay and musical score for the film Georgia, Georgia, and was both author and executive producer of a five-part television miniseries "Three Way Choice." She also wrote and produced several prize-winning documentaries, including "Afro-Americans in the Arts," a PBS special for which she received the Golden Eagle Award. Angelou was twice nominated for a Tony award for acting: once for her Broadway debut in Look Away (1973), and again for her performance in Roots (1977).
Angelou died on May 28, 2014, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she had served as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University since 1982. She was eighty-six.
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Caused by excessive sebum secretion, clogged pores and bacteria.
Occur on face, neck, chest and back.
Classify as open comedomes, closed comedomes, iflammative acne and cystic acne.
The inflammative and cystive acne cause hyperpigmentation, permanent scarring.
First: consult. Find out the trigger factors and assess the severity. Family history, medicine history, environment, and cosmetic and skin care products can be important factors.
Treatment should be comprehensive. Topical cream, oral antibiotic and sometimes isotretinoin will be prescribed by dermatologist. Microdermabrasion and peeling such as glycolic peels and salicylic peels are effective and helps to speed up the acne control.
Post acne hyperpigmentation: Skin lightening cream such as Triluma, IPL or pigment laser.
Scarring: Multiples treatment modalities needed . laser, subcision, microneedling, TCA peels.
Comprehensive management and plan should be discussed with patients. From active treatment to maintenance phase and suitable skin care.
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You can point that out in the restatement. All middle school students are entitled to have recess. Obviously, all middle school students deserve to have a recess every school day. You need to write two separate sentences. Don't forget to use transitions! One reason why recess is important is because kids need to have time to burn their extra energy between classes. Another reason is that kids really could use that time to eat a quick snack and use the restroom.
Some transitions that you can use: Yes, you are going to sound like you are bossing them around. After you tell them that you are going to explain how to take action, make a couple of suggestions as to what they can do to make a change, based on your argument. Go to your principal and demand recess. Explain the importance of recess to the school board, so that they make sure that all middle schools get recess. Start by telling them that they need to do something to help, now that you have so brilliantly won your argument.
It looks like this: Now that you understand how important recess is to middle school students, it is time for you to help. By doing this, you are telling them that you are right, and that they need to help you to take action on your argument. End with an enthusiastic sentence of encouragement. Let's work together to get every middle school student the recess they deserve!
Be sure to work your thesis statement into the conclusion in one way or another. You should reference it as you end your essay, even if it's only in passing.
Remember, your thesis is the main point of your essay, something you're arguing for. If someone who reads your conclusion still doesn't know what your thesis is, you haven't done a good-enough job of telling them. Find a way to rework your thesis in an interesting way, using different language.
Don't apologize for your views. They're your ideas, so take ownership of them. Never say something like "I may not be an expert" or "At least this is my opinion," as this weakens your reliability. End with a flourish. Your last sentence should be elegant, to the point, and provocative. This is easier said than done. But it all starts with illustrating the point of your essay. Ask yourself What is my essay about, and what am I saying? Be playful with your last sentence and pose an ironic by-product of what you're talking about.
Then, the end of your essay becomes especially provocative. Make an appeal to emotions. Much of the time, essays are very rational, forgetting about emotions. That's why appealing to people's emotions can be a really powerful way to conclude an essay. Done in the right way, this will help the article have heart. Just make sure that your conclusion is in keeping with the tone of the rest of your essay. Include a call to action use sparingly. If your essay is truly about getting people to change, then including a call to action is a useful tool to rouse your base.
But use it sparingly: In the wrong context an expository essay, or an argumentative essay it can be overkill. Avoid just restating your thesis. Resist the urge to quote. There is usually no need to clog up the ending of your essay with quotes and analysis — that should have been what you were doing in your main paragraphs. The conclusion is the place where you tie everything together for your readers, not where you introduce new information.
Don't use fluffy language. Don't use too many high-flying, two-dollar words in your conclusion. You want it to be readable and relatable, not rigid and boring. Make it clear what you're saying and how many points you're making.
Keep new material out of the conclusion. Now is not the time to introduce new ideas or content. That takes the focus off your original argument and could confuse readers. Don't focus on a minor point or issue in the essay. The conclusion is not the time to nitpick with a small theme in your essay. In fact, it's the time to step back and focus on the big picture. Make sure your essay focuses on the heart of the essay, not one strand of hair.
An argumentative essay means a written debate. You are going to debate your points on a specific statement. Go for double sided statements. For example, "Homework is helpful, but under some circumstances, it poses a hazard.
This is a perfect way to end an argumentative essay. Not Helpful 81 Helpful But what if I have already stated the main points in the first sentence of the conclusion? Elaborate on them by giving an example for each point, one sentence each. Read other conclusions to essays to help you to get a better feel for them rather than over-focusing on construction perfection -- learning by seeing other conclusions often works best.
Not Helpful 54 Helpful One great way to start the conclusion of an essay is to restate your thesis, but it depends on the content of the essay and what you want your reader to take away from the essay.
Point of Persuasion Once the thesis statement has been restated and all the points and facts of the essay have been summed up, the writer in his concluding sentence should clearly write the message he is trying to get across to the readers, this makes a lasting impact on the readers. Essay Outline Knowing how to write an essay outline simplifies the task of a writer.
It is recommended that writers should write an essay outline as this helps them put together all the facts and format the essay conclusion well. Target Audience The conclusion of a persuasive is very important as it is responsible for creating an impact on the readers. Hence it is important that a persuasive essay conclusion should be written keeping in mind the target audience, so that the readers can identify with the point the writer is trying to make.
Formulate a catchphrase that summarizes your thesis, and use this as the last statement. Originality and creativity has a lasting impact on audiences. Persuasive essay writing For the persuasive essay conclusion to make an impact it is imperative that the essay is well written, besides just the essay writing format there are certain other tips and tricks which a writer must keep in mind while writing these types of essays which are:.
However, those who are seeking help writing a persuasive essay or other various types of custom essays , our experts at ProfEssays.
concluding a persuasive essay? Persuasive Conclusions An Ineffective Persuasive Conclusion. I have given you three truthful explanations of why daily homework is an abomination to the high school. This is due to problems with participants in after school events, the time we.
A persuasive essay, also known as an argumentative essay, is one that requires a student to investigate a topic and argue a viewpoint. College-level persuasive essays generally have three sections that include an introduction in which a thesis or argument is presented, body paragraphs in which arguments and counterarguments are presented, and a conclusion in which the argument is reiterated.
OSPI Conclusion Lessons for Persuasive Essays for classroom use; for download see: from Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Essay Modules for Classr. Ending the Essay: Conclusions. So much is at stake in writing a conclusion. This is, after all, your last chance to persuade your readers to your point of view, to impress yourself upon them as a writer and thinker. And the impression you create in your conclusion will shape the impression that stays with your readers after they've finished.
Use this list of 20 essay conclusion examples that covers a range of topics and essay formats as a stepping stone to inspire and inform your own writing. Essay Writing Blog. log in. Search for: Search. (Learn more about writing persuasive essays.) Argumentative Essay Conclusion Examples. Conclusions for persuasive essays - Hire top writers to do your essays for you. Dissertations and essays at most affordable prices. Get main advice as to how to get the greatest essay ever.
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What should happen to capital's iconic junction?
Stockholm's Social Democrat-Green city council recently halted demolition work on Slussen, an iconic Stockholm junction that has split opinion in the city for decades. The Local asked Stockholmers what they thought should happen next?
Slussen is one of the city's main transit hubs. It hosts a clover-shaped road network, a warren of tunnels and walkways, metro and bus stations, and locks that let boats pass between Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea.
It also links Gamla Stan - the historic old town - with Södermalm island. This scenic location makes it an architectural centrepiece, and many of the city's residents are very attached to the place.
The junction is, however, also in a state of serious disrepair. For two decades, rival camps have debated whether to restore or replace it.
Before September's local elections, plans were well underway to implement Plan A: tear down a dilapidated Slussen and erect a shiny new intersection instead.
But the decision by politicians to postpone the demolition pending an independent review has given fresh impetus to supporters of a Plan B, among them Benny from Abba. This would preserve and restore most of the features of a transit hub seen as a marvel of modernism when it first opened for traffic in 1935.
The Local asked Stockholmers for their views.
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What is the best internet provider in Benzonia?
The small town of Benzonia sits on the coast of Lake Michigan and Crystal Lake, offering natural beauty and the quiet of nature to its residents. If you've recently settled down in this area, finding an Internet service plan that suits your needs could help you get more out of work, education, and entertainment.
There are multiple providers that have two connection options. Both CenturyLink and AT&T have fiber optic and DSL service options. Both providers serve the vast majority of Benzonia, offering coverage to the entire population and many of the businesses in Benzonia.
If you prefer cable service, look into what's available through Charter. With plans maxing out at 100 Mbps, there are coverage options for all usage habits.
Another popular DSL provider in Benzonia is Eaglenet. Although service isn't available in the far northern part of Benzonia, it is accessible in the rest of the city.
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Even though TOK is quite busy promoting their album, Unknown Language, they have shot once again another local video, Hotter.
It was shot at Passa Passa as well as by the Old Cinema in Downtown Kingston a few weeks ago by Nordia Rose. Female deejay, Ce'Cile, Monsta Twins, Supa Hype, DJ Kareem and producer John John were among those in the biz who passed through.
TOK can be seen here in Jamaica this Christmas before they head off to tour Japan.
They perform at Smirnoff Experience's "Party with the Stars", Teen Splash as well as the GT Taylor show in St. Elizabeth. They will also be trekking across the Gulf to do some shows in the State.
Even though TOK is quite busy promoting their album, Unknown Language, they have shot once again another local video, Hotter. \n\nIt was shot at Passa Passa as well as by the Old Cinema in Downtown Kingston a few weeks ago by Nordia Rose. Female deejay, Ce'Cile, Monsta Twins, Supa Hype, DJ Kareem and producer John John were among those in the biz who passed through.\n\nTOK can be seen here in Jamaica this Christmas before they head off to tour Japan. \n\nThey perform at Smirnoff Experience's \"Party with the Stars\", Teen Splash as well as the GT Taylor show in St. Elizabeth. They will also be trekking across the Gulf to do some shows in the State.
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My 2-year-old does not eat meat. We've tried different things to help, but he just chews and spits it out once the flavor is gone. What can I try to replace the nutrients he's losing?
Thank you for your question. Young children may have a hard time chewing thicker food such as meat, so it can be helpful to keep the pieces very small -- about the size of a pea, for example -- and soft (you may need to tenderize the meat before cooking or try some slow-cooker recipes). If your son is eating the meat long enough to get the flavor out of it, he may still be getting some of the nutrients, such as protein, iron, zinc and B vitamins.
It's possible to get protein and zinc from other foods in the diet such as dairy products, nuts and beans. Iron can be found in seafood, beans, soy products, leafy green vegetables and raisins. Although many of the B vitamins have other nonmeat food sources, vitamin B-12 in particular may be more difficult to get in a diet low in meat and poultry. You can check the labels of fortified foods such as breakfast cereals, which may contain this important nutrient among others.
If you are concerned about your child's overall nutrition, talk to your pediatrician about choosing a multivitamin supplement for your child. In the meantime, try to appreciate the fact that at least your son continues to be willing to try different foods, a habit that will serve him well as he grows older. Good luck!
What should I do with recalled Tylenol?
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Furniture is always important in every home. From the popular indoor furniture used in various rooms to the trending outdoor furniture, you can always find several of these furniture in any house you visit. It could be a wooden furniture, steel furniture or even plastic furniture which are placed in various parts of the house. Some of these furniture last for decades while others are only good for a couple of years. Aside from accidents which can damage the furniture, you want the furniture to last as long as possible. In particular, the outdoor furniture seem to last shorter due to the outside conditions. Thus homeowners would try to do everything in order to keep their outdoor furniture last for a long time. Here are some tips which you can use to make your outdoor furniture long lasting.
1. Choose the right outdoor furniture - The furniture at www.watsonbrotherspatioandhearth.com itself can influence how long you got to keep using it. Wooden furniture can deteriorate rapidly or last for a long time depending on the quality. Metal furniture also last longer as long as it is rust resistant. Plastic also last for a long time. However, if you choose the wrong outdoor furniture, you could end having to buy a new one in the near future. If you think a crowd will be using the furniture, choose a sturdy and large furniture instead of the small ones. As long as you choose the right type, quality and design of outdoor furniture, it would often last for a long time.
2. Place the furniture at the right location - Do not leave your outdoor furniture just anywhere in your backyard. The furniture will last longer if you put it under a tree or a cover to protect it from direct sunlight or rain. It is also beneficial if the furniture is protected from the wind and dust. For wooden furniture, check for termites nest and make sure that the furniture from Watson Brothers Patio and Hearth is away from it as far as possible.
3. Keep furniture clean - You also need to clean the outdoor furniture regularly to remove stains, dust and other debris which can accumulate on it while being exposed outside. Cleaning it will not only remove these damaging debris but also keep your outdoor furniture on peak condition.
4. Provide regular maintenance - Aside from cleaning, a regular maintenance is needed for your outdoor furniture. This includes coating protective substance and checking for cracks or damage. Be sure to check out this website at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furniture and know more about furniture.
5. Let experts do the repair in a timely manner - If your outdoor furniture is damaged, let the experts repair it for you to return it in top condition instead of potentially worsening the damage due to inexperience or not using the proper tools.
If you do all of these, your outdoor furniture will sure to last for a very long time.
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Setup Wordpress Theme & setup automated content with spinning.
If you have used "Content Egg" [login to view URL] please give me an example, in your proposal..
Task 1: Install a responsive modern theme.
Task 2: Install a plugin that fetches contents automatically from the web/internet, and posts into WordPress, and also does content spinning.
The objective is to create a website that has fresh new content, without much effort.
In your proposal, please mention which theme and plugin you want to install.
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0.999912 |
If you're looking for a comfortable and versatile new crossover SUV, let us tell you about two great new options. A notable presence in the SUV market is the 2018 Jeep Compass. The Compass has been greatly updated from the 2017 model and has excellent technical features. The Toyota RAV4, a similarly sized crossover, also offers new features such as high standard safety offerings. Both models should be evaluated so that customers can make an informed choice.
All models feature a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine (180 horsepower, 175 pound-feet of torque). Additionally, a six-speed manual transmission is standard for the Sport, with an option to select a nine-speed. Front wheel drive is also standard. The Trailhawk comes with all-wheel drive, as it is known for being more of an off-road version. The Compass performs well on the road, absorbing bumps for a smooth riding experience.
The 2018 Toyota RAV4 has a 2.5-liter engine and is equipped with front-wheel drive. When compared with the Jeep Compass, it lacks off-road capabilities. However, the Adventure trim option offers more ground clearance. The RAV4 does not offer exceptional fuel efficiency unless purchasing the more expensive Hybrid option.
There are four clearly defined trim levels for the Compass: Sport, Latitude, Limited and Trailhawk. All models come with the very popular Uconnect system, Bluetooth, USB Port, and six-speaker sound. Higher levels have heated seats, keyless entry, and leather upholstery. Additionally, popular added features to these trims include: Beats audio, sunroof, a navigation system, Cold Weather package, advanced safety features, and more. The Trailhawk stands out for its unique offerings and features. The Trailhawk only comes with all-wheel-drive and a nine-speed automatic, cruising on 17-inch wheels with off-road-oriented tires, a raised suspension, and Selec-Terrain system which enables it to face steep climbs and rocky terrain.
There are a dizzying total of nine trim options that come with the Toyota RAV4. None are compatible with Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. A new exterior paint color option for this year's model is available in the form of Ruby Flame Pearl. The strongest feature for the RAV4 is that it comes with standard safety features such as a rearview camera, forward collision warnings, auto high beams, and cruise control. Despite having 9 different trims, there isn't enormous variation between each one.
Both of these SUVs are great options. We recommend the Jeep Compass for its clearly defined trim levels to choose from, level of comfort, and sleek shape. When you are ready to take a test drive, our staff will be here down at East Hills dealership.
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The negotiation of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (VPA-FLEGT) between the Government of Vietnam and the European Union (EU) started in November 2010. Main objective of the agreement is to promote sustainable forest management through controlling of timber product trading. To ensure the process is inclusive, participation of all stakeholders of forestry communities is a must. The EU delegation in Vietnam, therefore, set up a support fund to promote this in 2013 through direct implementation of International Non-Government Organizations working in Vietnam. The project titled “Promoting the participation of the Central Vietnam VNGO-FLEGT network in the FLEGT-VPA processes” funded by Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam, implemented by the Inter-Churches Organization for Development and Cooperation (ICCO) is within framework of this fund.
The project has been implemented since April 1, Year 2014. It will end on March 31 this year. It covers 04 provinces in the Central region of Vietnam, namely: Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam. It aims at enhancing capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), small wood producers and forestry agencies in the Central region, in order to contribute to the negotiation and implementation process of the VPA-FLEGT.
After three years implementation, the project achieved following results: (1) Strengthened VNGO-FLEGT network organizational members, 170 local CSOs and CBOs, small wood producers and local people on EU-VN VPA-FLEGT processes and instruments; (2) One policy paper on EU-VN VPA-FLEGT processes that represents voices of forest dependent communities and small wood producers sent to the VNFOREST; (3) Effective community-based forest governance and capacity building for small wood producers modelshave been built; (4) A local network of forest dependent communities established. (5) CSOs/CBOs have been improved awareness and skills to advocate on forest governance and timber trading.
Currently, the FLEGT Project in Central region have finalize the final report after three years implemented (4/2014-3/2017). The FLEGT Project in Central region, therefore, is seeking 01 consultant with professional knowledge, capacity and experience to translate for final narrative report of the project.
Translate the final narrative report of FLEGT Project in Central region from Vietnamese into English.
01 final narrative report of FLEGT Project in Central region is translated from Vietnamese into English approved by FLEGT Project Management Unit.
- At least 03-05 years experience on translation and interpretation in these report, training, workshop.
- Have knowledge and experience related to FLEGT program, community forestry and timber trade.
- Have proficiency skill in listening, speaking, reading, writing English.
- Have experience on translation and interpretation for international organization.
- Vietnamese citzen ship and is living in Vietnam.
- The tasks will be completed within 10 days after the contract signed.
Only short listed candidates will be contacted for the interview. The contract will be developed upon the candidate is selected.
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Born on January 9, 1914, in Pittsburgh, PA; died on January 26, 1985, in Paris, France.
In The Jazz Exiles, Bill Moody called Kenny Clarke "the man who changed the course of jazz drumming." In MusicHound Jazz, Clarke is described as "probably the most important figure in the transition from swing to early bebop drumming." In any survey of jazz from the 1940s through the 1960s, Clarke is omnipresent: he is at New York's legendary Minton's Playhouse, fomenting bebop alongside Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker; he is present ten years later at the Birth of the Cool recording sessions, shifting bebop into more formal structures alongside Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Quartet. In the late 1950s he joined the mass emigration of jazz musicians to Paris, joining such luminaries as Bud Powell and Dexter Gordon. Clarke's name appears as composer on two of the most famous tunes in jazz: Monk's "Epistrophy" and Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts."
Kenny Clarke is probably the most famous jazzman the public has never heard of. Unlike his friend and rival Max Roach, Clarke cultivated anonymity. As quoted in Scott DeVeaux's Birth of Bebop, Clarke once told an interviewer: "I always concentrated on accompaniment. I thought that was the most important thing, my basic function as a drummer, and so I always stuck with that. And I think that's why a lot of the musicians liked me so much, because I never show off and always think about them first." While Clarke's drumming made him a perfect accompanist to the likes of Gillespie and Parker, it stood out like a sore thumb in the swing bands he played with early on in his career. A widely circulated story told in DeVeaux's book has a trumpeter for Teddy Hill's big band complaining to the bandleader, "Man, we can't use [Clarke] because he breaks up the time too much." Clarke was fired shortly thereafter.
It wasn't that Clarke couldn't keep time; indeed, he had been a reliable swing drummer all his life. Clarke was born on January 9, 1914, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While details of his early life are scarce, it is known that he studied all manner of instruments in high school, from the vibraphone to the piano. He got his start playing drums in local big bands as a teenager, eventually graduating to the touring bands of Roy Eldridge and Lonnie Simmons, both 1935, Claude Hopkins, and the Edgar Hayes Big Band, which gave Clarke his first recording session and the first of many trips to Europe. But swing drumming consisted mainly of pounding out a 4/4 beat on the bass drum, adding the occasional accent on the cymbals. Clarke was searching for something new and was constantly engaged in behind-the-scenes experimentation. He told Nat Hentoff, editor of Hear Me Talkin' to Ya: "I was trying to make the drums more musical instead of just a dead beat ... with the drums as a real participating instrument with its own voice."
When Clarke joined Hill's band in 1939, he encountered a kindred spirit in fellow bandmate Dizzy Gillespie: "[Gillespie] got into everything!" Clarke told Down Beat. "He couldn't stay still; the man always was reaching out. I'd write out little things and hand them back to my man--Diz always sat right behind the drums. He would play them; then we'd play them together. We had the fire. There was an excitement inside us; we knew we were moving into something." One day, the dam finally burst, and Clarke inadvertently arrived at a rhythmic innovation, as quoted in The Birth of Bebop: "It just happened sort of accidentally....We were playing a real fast tune once with Teddy Hill-- 'Old Man River,' I think--and the tempo was too fast to play four beats to the measure, so I began to cut the time up. But to keep the same rhythm going, I had to do it with my hand, because my foot just wouldn't do it.... So then I began to think, and say, 'Well, you know, it worked. It worked and nobody said anything, so it came out right. So that must be the way to do it.'"
In other words, Clarke began keeping time on the ride cymbal and using the bass drum to provide accents, a practice that became known as "dropping bombs." Keeping time on the cymbal gave the music a much brighter, lighter, more propulsive feel. But Clarke's use of the bass drum was equally revolutionary. It wasn't just that he was using it for accents, it was where he was placing those accents. He dropped bombs to fill in gaps in the brass phrasing and to spur on soloists--nothing could have been further from the staid rhythmic style of big band swing. It was those accents, which Hill called "kloop-mop," that earned Clarke the nickname "Klook."
Although Hill fired Clarke, he respected him, and when his own big band failed in 1940, Hill hired Clarke to lead the band at the down-and-out Harlem nightclub called Minton's Playhouse. According to DeVeaux, Hill told Clarke: "Now Kenny, I'm managing this place. I want you to be the bandleader. You can drop all the bombs, all the re-bop and the boom-bams you want to play, you can do it here." The first musician Clarke hired was a then-unknown pianist named Thelonious Monk, and thus the bebop movement was born.
The jazz scene in New York in the early 1940s was studded with after-hours clubs, mostly in Harlem, where big-band musicians would go after gigs. At the clubs they would engage in "jam sessions" or "cutting contests," seeking both to prove and improve their instrumental skills. Given Monk and Clarke's peculiar rhythmic and harmonic predilections, the scene at Minton's rapidly became a laboratory for the new style. In Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns's Jazz: A History of America's Music, guitarist Danny Barker describes the first time he heard Clarke and Monk playing together: "Monk started. Klook fell in, dropped in, dived in, sneaked in; by hook or by crook, he was in.... You would look, hear the off-, off-, off-beat explosion and think 'fireworks,' and then the color patterns formed in the high sky of your mind."
But the new musicians had no name for what they were doing; they simply called it "playing modern." As the movement began to build, audiences became more and more familiar with the opening count. In Jazz Gillespie is quoted as saying that for most tunes, "we just wrote an intro and a first chorus. I'd say 'Dee-da-pa-da-n-de-bop.' And we'd go into it. People, when they'd want to ask for one of those numbers and didn't know the name, would ask for 'bebop.'" As bebop caught on, Clarke's looser, more "modern" style began to affect drumming as a whole. Suddenly more conventional gigs were opening up, and Clarke played with Louis Armstrong and His Big Band and behind such luminaries as Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, and Coleman Hawkins.
In 1943 Clarke was drafted into the Army, which brought him back to Europe, where he met future collaborator John Lewis. By the time he returned to New York in 1946, bop and its self-appointed spokesperson Dizzy Gillespie were famous; the music had become a national movement, and change was once again afoot. In a midtown basement, Gil Evans was conducting a jazz laboratory of his own, one that attempted to harness the harmonic and rhythmic energy of bebop to more formal, classical structures. In Jazz, Miles Davis, a regular at Evans's sessions, is quoted as saying "Bird [Charlie Parker] and Diz were great, [but] if you weren't a fast listener you couldn't catch the humor or feeling of their music. Their music wasn't sweet and it didn't have harmonic lines that you could easily hum with your girlfriend trying to get over with a kiss." Evans and Davis and saxophonist Gerry Mulligan were striving for a more balanced feel, where the soloists would somehow be integrated with the ensemble, and the ensemble playing would have the freedom and eloquence of soloing. The outcome of these sessions was the Miles Davis Nonet, which in 1949 recorded the classic Birth of the Cool, with Kenny Clarke playing drums. Cool Jazz, a bebop movement characterized above all by its restraint and formal sophistication, had been born; once again, Kenny Clarke was there.
He was there, too, at the birth of another exemplar of Cool Jazz, the Modern Jazz Quartet. In 1948 Clarke had gone on tour with Gillespie's big band, which, like Evans's, was struggling to find a way to integrate formal ensemble structures with the vibrancy of bebop. The effort left Gillespie's trumpeters so exhausted that halfway through the set, drummer Clarke, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, bassist Ray Brown, and pianist John Lewis would play together for 15 minutes as a sort of intermission. After leaving the big band, the four stayed together as the Milt Jackson Quartet, playing Lewis's careful, contrapuntal arrangements. The four decided early on to abandon the concept of a bandleader, and they changed their name to the Modern Jazz Quartet. They were as far as could be from the hepcat, bohemian image of the jazz musician: they played sober, they wore tuxedos onstage. While musicians like Parker were giving their compositions primitivist titles like "KoKo" or "Ri-Bop," Lewis wrote tunes with arty, European-sounding titles like "Vendome." Ted Gioia has noted in his History of Jazz that the Modern Jazz Quartet is the "quintessential cool band remarkable for its longevity and popularity, as well as its consistently high musical standards," but by 1955, Clarke had had enough.
Indeed, he had had enough of life in the States, period. He told Zwerin, "Economically everything was all right, but there was something I had to clear up in my mind. You know people look for different things in life, but all I wanted was peace and quiet--and money." He told Mike Zwerin of the Culturekiosque website that he began turning down gigs: "Miles [Davis] knocked on my door, so I told the little girl I was with to tell him I'm out. He just kept knocking, said 'Klook, Klook, I know you're in there.' I just didn't feel like going on that gig. I'd been recording for Savoy Records almost every day. I was tired, man." Unsure of what to do, Clarke moved to Paris, the city he had fallen in love with in 1939 while touring with the Edgar Hayes Big Band. He was not alone. Dexter Gordon had already moved there, Stan Getz and Bud Powell would do so shortly. Paris was a city legendary for its love of American jazz.
When Down Beat's Burt Korall travelled to Paris to interview Clarke in 1963, the drummer had only good things to say about his adoptive country. Clarke's exile did not separate him from other American jazz musicians, who traveled through Paris frequently. With pianist Powell and French bassist Pierre Michelot, Clarke founded the Three Bosses, who backed legendary saxophonist Dexter Gordon on his classic Blue Note recording Our Man in Paris. The Down Beat interview, however, also revealed a deepening conservatism, expressed in criticism of such next-generation jazzmen as John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy. This conservatism was perhaps also expressed by Clarke's return to the music he grew up on: swing. In 1960 he co-founded the Clarke-Boland Big Band with arranger Francy Boland. Conservative though it may have been, according to Zwerin, they "created some of the fattest, most swinging big band sounds ever, and almost single-handedly kept the genre in the public's ears--at least the European public." Clarke died on January 26, 1985, in Paris, France; as Moody puts it in Jazz Exiles, Clarke had become "an elder statesman for the ... jazz exiles."
Played drums in touring big bands as a teen; played with Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Christian as bandleader at Minton's Playhouse, beginning 1940; played on classic Birth of the Coolsessions with the Miles Davis Nonet, 1949; founded Modern Jazz Quartet with John Lewis and Milt Jackson, 1951; emigrated to Paris, formed Three Bosses with American pianist Bud Powell and French bassist Pierre Michelot, 1955; Three Bosses recorded classic Our Man in Paris behind Dexter Gordon, 1963; co-founded Clarke-Boland Big Band with Belgian arranger Francy Boland, 1960.
Klook's Clique , Savoy, 1955; reissued, 1988.
Telefunken Blues , Savoy, 1955; reissued, 1993.
Bohemia after Dark , Savoy, 1956; reissued, 1996.
Clarke-Boland Big Band , Atlantic, 1963; reissued, Koch International, 2000.
The Artistry of the Modern Jazz Quartet , Prestige, 1952-55; reissued, 1986.
(Miles Davis) Birth of the Cool , Capitol, 1949-50; reissued, 2001.
(Dexter Gordon) Our Man in Paris , Blue Note, 1963; reissued, 1987.
DeVeaux, Scott, The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Musical History, University of California Press, 1997.
Gioia, Ted, The History of Jazz, University of Oxford Press, 1997.
Moody, Bill, The Jazz Exiles, University of Nevada Press, 1993.
Shapiro, Nat, and Nat Hentoff, editors, Hear Me Talkin' to Ya, Rinehart & Co., 1955.
Ward, Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns, Jazz: A History of America's Music, Knopf, 2000.
Down Beat.com, http://www.downbeat.com (November 5, 2001).
"Kenny Clarke," Jazz, http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_clarke_kenny.htm (November 20, 2001).
"Kenny Clarke," Sonicnet, http://www.sonicnet.com/artists/biography/504796.jhtml (November 20, 2001).
"Kenny Clarke: Dropping Bombs on Paris," Culturekiosque, http://www.culturekiosque.com/jazz/miles/rhemile14.htm (November 20, 2001).
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Who are the Bhutanese refugees?
Bhutan is a landlocked country in South Asia bordered to the north by China and to the east, south, and west by India. Bhutan has historically been made up mostly of two ethnic groups: the Nepali (minority) and the Tibetan (majority). Bhutan is a country that places a premium on happiness. In fact progress is measured not according to gross domestic product as in many countries, but according to a happiness index.
Unfortunately, the Nepali-speaking citizens of Bhutan started getting forced out of the country. In the 1980s a nationwide campaign started classifying the Nepali people as non-citizens, forcing changes in dress to the Tibetan-style, and jailed and tortured the Nepali people for noncompliance. Many Nepali people lost their property rights and their status in the community.
The lack of humanitarian aid for unforeseen circumstances.
Refugee camps began to be set up in eastern Nepal but there was no food or drinking water. Eventually international aid organizations helped organize formal camps for more than 125,000 refugees. In 2007 refugees began to be relocated to different parts of the world. Since that time period approximately 100,000 refugees have been resettled. The United States alone has accepted over 66,000 Bhutanese refugees. Bhutanese refugees began arriving in Iowa in 2008.
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0.999992 |
how to find a company to build a custom block sanding machine Custom made profile sanding block I''ve had excellent success making custom blocks as follows: Business. Tools for Home Building.
D.I.Y. Auto Bodywork Body And Paint Tips. It only takes a few well-thought-out custom mods, Color-Sanding Tips.
Sanding Moulding Profiles Tips Do any of you know how to make a sanding block that fits the shape of trim? Business and Management.
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0.91503 |
Name: Frobisher (Real Name Avan Tarklu).
Format: Comic, Book and Audio.
Appearances: "The Shape-Shifter" - "Funhouse", "Mission: Impractical", "The Holy Terror" and "The Maltese Penguin".
Doctor: Sixth Doctor and Seventh Doctor.
History: Shape-shifter companion Frobisher - the sentient penguin - first appeared in Issue 88 of Doctor Who Magazine and travelled with both the Sixth and Seventh Doctors. He was a regular in the comic strips until he was written off in issue 133. Frobisher's appearance in the Marvel's strips started in the gap between seasons 21 and 22; Peri was reintroduced starting with issue 104. Frobisher was also featured in the BBC novel "Mission: Impractical" and the audio stories "The Holy Terror" and "The Maltese Penguin". Both are set between the TV stories "The Trial of a Time Lord" and "Time and the Rani". If these new adventures are to be considered cannon, we should assume that all the strips from the introduction of Frobisher to the end of 'Funhouse' - in fact those before the coming back of Peri - should be also be part of the continuity. The subsequent strips featuring a returning Peri after her exit in "The Trial of a Time Lord" are obviously not, especially if her return in the Seventh Doctor and Chris New Adventure "Bad Therapy" is to be counted as genuine.
To begin at The Doctor and Frobisher's first meeting, Frobisher - then known as Avon Tarklu - was originally a Private Eye from some time in the far future, initially working with his wife Francine before she left as he was mainly interested in conning money and she was a more efficient detective ("The Maltese Penguin"). Despite this, Tarklu was hired by a man named Dogbolter to track down the Fifth or Sixth Doctors, suggesting that he was acquainted only with those two Doctors. However, Tarklu decided not to hunt The Doctor after tracking him to the TARDIS as he concluded that he liked the Time Lord, the two of them tricking Dogbolter into giving them the money for The Doctor's capture before they left. To stay safe, The Doctor and Tarklu were forced to run from Dogbolter, preferably to some far distant dimension, Tarklu changing his name to Frobisher as he felt it was suitably British to appeal to The Doctor.
Frobisher's exact species is a Whifferdill, a shape shifter that can become anything they want. They are some of the most efficient shifters known, especially since they don't have to shift to their natural state in between changes. Frobisher constantly maintains the shape of a penguin because he finds it relaxing, and took the name of Frobisher because the personality he made for that name had fewer problems than his Avan Tarklu persona. Since he began to travel with The Doctor, he has only ever taken on his original shape once, when escaping pursuing law enforcement officials ("Mission: Impractical"), finding his penguin disguise more relaxing even on such trips as him and The Doctor attending the Star Wars premiere in 1977.
Despite spending a lot of time as a penguin, Frobisher still uses his shape shifting-ability, although more sensibly than before - he once became a till checkout for fourteen years simply to be close to the girl who worked there. Since joining The Doctor, he has been using his abilities for disguise and infiltration purposes, such as when he became The Doctor's coat during "Mission: Impractical", to look around a location they had to rob to save two planets. Although willing to kill Dogbolter's guards when threatened, Frobisher also possesses The Doctor's high esteem for life, having once changed his beak shape when he was appointed God of a castle ("The Holy Terror") and a sculptor was nearly executed for making a mistake. He's also very attached to The Doctor, and actually hugged him when The Doctor had been apparently killed by an electric shock, but had really put himself into temporary stasis to get some bounty hunters off his tracks ("Mission: Impractical").
Frobisher's time with The Doctor was definitely more difficult than his time as a Private Eye, when he mainly handled small crimes and some divorces, but he still enjoyed it since it was for the adventures he has with The Doctor that Frobisher became a PI in the first place, even if he recognised that he was better suited to finding lost cats on his own. He prides himself on maintaining a sense of scale about the world, and always buys whatever approximates to a newspaper whenever he and The Doctor land somewhere. His shape-shifting abilities were later lost when he contracted the shape-shifting disease mono-morphia and was trapped in the form of a penguin, but it had little real impact on his relationship with The Doctor or his travels in the TARDIS. He spent some time away from The Doctor to restart his private detective career when he became tired of being the sidekick after he got over his illness, but returned to The Doctor as he felt that he could do more with his friend after proving himself on a case against their old foe Dogbolter ("The Maltese Penguin").
Frobisher has helped The Doctor deal with several problems in his time - on only his second adventure with The Doctor, the two of them battled the legendary Thief of Time, apparently a Time Lord from the old days who stole one of Rassilon's sacred texts and used them to steal artefacts from planet's past ages. He also met up with The Doctor's old enemy Astrolabus, a Time Lords on his thirteenth life, who briefly held him captive in a cabinet of some sort that created illusionary worlds. The Doctor and Frobisher managed to defeat Astrolabus, but he accidentally got taken to the dimension of Death. In his last 'continuity' comic appearance, he and The Doctor were trapped by an alien entity that took on the form of a haunted house and tried to leech off The Doctor and Frobisher's worst fears. The Doctor barely managed to cast the creature out of the TARDIS by destabilising Time inside the TARDIS, and even that caused Frobisher to become a small embryo of fluid and The Doctor to revert into the First Doctor. The Doctor's keen appreciation of Frobisher's skills remained long after they parted company and The Doctor regenerated; when future Doctors learned that a mysterious figure was hunting their past companions throughout his history, the Tenth Doctor contacted Frobisher as part of a plan to put his enemy off-guard. Having received the future Doctor's message, Frobisher assumed the form of Peri and allowed their foe to capture him so that the unknown adversary would assume that he would be easier to trap than he actually was, Frobisher escaping his prison and rescuing his fellow companions when the eleven Doctors arrived to save their friends as their adversary prepared to kill them all ("Prisoners of Time").
If we assume that only the above adventures can be counted as actual Who continuity, the specific circumstances of Frobisher's departure of the TARDIS are unknown; in the comics, he left while travelling with the Seventh Doctor to stay on a luxury planet as he felt dissatisfied with the TARDIS since Peri's departure, but this version of events is obviously irreconcilable with Peri's actual fate and the fact that Frobisher was absent from the Sixth Doctor's life for some time before he regenerated and was never shown with the Seventh Doctor at any other point. The most likely assumption is that Frobisher simply decided that he had spent enough time with The Doctor and decided that he was ready to strike out on his own once more. One comic depicted him running a bar in human form while calling himself 'Bish' during a later meeting with the Eighth Doctor, although neither recognised each other due to The Doctor's regenerations and Frobisher's new appearance since their last meeting.
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Who won in the Battle of the Little Bighorn?
The Battle of the Little Bighorn was an armed engagement between the combined forces of the Northern Native American tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The battle, which resulted in the defeat of US forces, was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876.
Who died in the Battle of Crécy fought on 26 August 1346?
At the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War in 1337 he allied with King Philip VI of France and was even governor of Languedoc. At the Battle of Crécy in 1346 John controlled Phillip's advanced guard along with controlling the large contingents of Charles II of Alençon and Louis I, Count of Flanders. John was killed at age 50 while fighting against the English during the battle.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle of World War II. What country does it belong to?
The battle was fought from 23–26 October 1944 between combined American and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy. It ended with decisive Allied victory and left Japanese naval capabilities crippled. It was also the first battle in which Japanese aircraft carried out organized kamikaze attacks.
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0.941503 |
The European Mink is a European member of the Mustelidae family found in some regions of Spain, France, Romania, Ukraine, Estonia and the greater part of Russia. Formerly it extended across all Europe, reaching Finland in the north, but it is now extinct in the major part of its ancient range.
European Mink have slender, flexible bodies, bushy tails, and webbed paws. They have a sleek summer coat, and a darker, denser, winter coat, better suited to low temperatures. Their eyesight is generally poor, so that they rely heavily on their superior sense of smell while hunting.
It is sometimes possible to distinguish the European and American species based on the fact that the American Mink usually lacks a large white patch on its upper lip, while the European Mink always possesses one. Any mink without such a patch can be identified with certainty as an American Mink, but an individual with such a patch, if encountered in continental Europe, cannot be certainly identified without looking at the skeleton. The European Mink always and the American Mink usually has a white spot on the lower lip, which continues in broken or unbroken fashion to form ventral markings. Since each is a different shape, it is possible to recognize individuals based on these ventral patterns.
Fur also grows white over a scar and older mink tend to have more such patches, although absolute age is difficult to quantify without studying the animal from birth. In fur farms, mink are generally slaughtered after eight months, but can live several years in the wild (although mortality is high, especially among dispersing juveniles).
Male European Mink are from 28-43 cm in body length, and weight about 900 grams, while the females are only slightly smaller at 30-40 cm long and 600 grams in weight. These figures are somewhat smaller than those for the American Mink.
European Mink are solitary animals, and live in dens close to fresh water. They range over an area of shoreline or riverbank up to four kilometres in length, and defend the territory with a combination of scent marking and physical aggression. They are carnivores, and prey on a wide range of waterside animals, including fish, voles, rabbits, and waterfowl. The mink is a nocturnal animal that doesn't hibernate during the winter.
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A series such as 3 + 7 + 11 + 15 + ··· + 99 or 10 + 20 + 30 + ··· + 1000 which has a constantdifference between terms. The first term is a1, the common difference is d, and the number of terms is n. The sum of an arithmetic series is found by multiplying the number of terms times the average of the first and last terms.
3 + 7 + 11 + 15 + ··· + 99 has a1 = 3 and d = 4. To find n, use the explicit formula for an arithmetic sequence.
We solve 3 + (n – 1)·4 = 99 to get n = 25.
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You've been looking forward to your waterfront vacation for months. Now it's time to start planning and rent a vacation cottage for your use. Selecting the best cottage can be the difference between a great vacation and one where you feel like you are 'doing without'. Surprised? Many vacationers consider the cottage as 'just somewhere to stay' since most of your time will be spent on the water, or enjoying local attractions. Don't make that mistake. There is no reason to settle for less when, with a little planning, you can find a great cottage that you'll enjoy as much as the other parts of your vacation.
Remember, your vacation cottage is where you'll be sleeping, waking up, having many of your meals, and resting. If it rains or is unseasonably hot outside, you may end up stretched out reading a book to while away the day ? assuming there is a comfortable sofa. And when you meet new friends, you'll want someplace nice for entertaining. Shouldn't your vacation cottage be a pleasant get-away with the amenities that make vacations a real treat? Here are a few tips to for selecting the perfect waterfront vacation cottage rental: 1.
The single most important factor is whether or not you can "see" actual recent photos of the interior and exterior of the vacation cottage rental. It's one thing to read a great description ? and some of them are quite 'complimentary' (sometimes overly so) - but you need to see what you are getting. With the Internet, a website is the quickest most convenient way for you to get information on prospective cottage rentals. If there are no pictures, you'll know right away to keep looking. Brochures, books and guides are nice, but may have out-dated information. 2.
List the amenities that are important to you, the ones without which you will feel incomplete. Next, jot down those that are nice to have, but not deal-breakers if not available. With these lists as a guide, you'll be able to quickly eliminate those cottages that won't meet your needs. Your list might include proximity to the water, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, type kitchen (full versus fridge and microwave), outdoor amenities such as decks and BBQ grills, boats or other water toys, and other items important to you.
On your secondary list, you might have things like a hammock for lazing about, or an herb garden for gourmet meals. 3.List the activities that you want to be able to enjoy while on vacation.
This will help you in selecting a general location (city, state). You also need to consider how close you want your vacation cottage to be to these attractions. Some people feel that a great vacation is being able to walk or bicycle everywhere. Others don't mind a short drive, and still others think nothing of getting on a freeway to enjoy attractions. If you prefer a vacation without the hassles of traffic, parking problems, crowds and long lines, select a cottage such as Heartsworth Cottage, located in the quaint waterfront town of Onancock, Virginia.
Visit http://www.onancockcottage.com to learn more. 4.Identify your first, second and third choice of dates for renting the cottage. With several dates, you'll save time when making arrangements.
If you find a cottage that you really want and you have some flexibility in scheduling, having alternate dates ready allows you to book right then, saving yourself the time and hassle of having to re-check everyone's schedule and call back ? and risking losing those dates in the interim. 5.Call the telephone numbers for the vacation cottages that seem to meet your needs and speak directly with either the owners or the person who is handling the property. Be prepared with a list of questions. This allows you to compare apples to apples, and keeps you from forgetting something important during the conversation.
It also gives you a feel for the person who will be your contact should you rent the cottage and then encounter a problem. If you don't get a warm, friendly welcome to your inquiries, don't expect anything different when you call with a problem. 6.Ask what amenities are included. You may learn of something that's not on your list but is perfect for your plans. Other things to consider: Is there a welcome basket? Will the owner stock the refrigerator for you, before your arrival? Is a newspaper delivered? Can you make arrangements to receive mail? Are there plates, utensils, pots, pans and other essentials for eating and meal preparation ? or will you have to bring your own? 7.
Inquire about restaurants, events and activities and other forms of local entertainment that are close by, perhaps within walking distance. Here's where your list of preferred activities comes in handy. You should be able to find links to local attractions, calendars and restaurants on the website of your vacation cottage rental. 8.Are the owners Local? Do they live nearby? Local owners are a wealth of information about the area and can give you tips on great out-of-the-way places that aren't in the guidebooks. They also care about your enjoyment and comfort while at their cottage.
This can make a huge difference; especially should something need immediate attention in the cottage. There's nothing worse than calling the rental company about a stopped-up toilet and getting somebody's bored teenager who's manning the phones for the summer. 9.
How long has the owner been renting vacation cottages? If the owner has worked with rental properties, they know what tenants expect and how to get things done. If this is a new venture, beware. The owner may be in it for "fun" and have no idea how to prepare the cottage so that you can have a great vacation.
10.And last, when you look at the pictures, can you see yourself having a great time there? If the pictures make you want to go right now, and the answers to the questions above meet your satisfaction, you've found yourself a cottage for a great waterfront vacation rental! .
Hotel Lodging in Orlando Florida - Booking Hotel Lodging Finding hotel lodging doesn?t have to be the most difficult part of planning your vacation.
Tips for Choosing a Rental Cottage for a Great WaterfrontVacation - You?ve been looking forward to your waterfront vacation for months.
Virtual Walks of Europe A Unique Travel Experience - In June of 1999, Kathi and I took a Globus tour of Italy - their "Italian Mosaic.
Opening der SkiSaison in Kitzbhel - Los geht?s vom 5.
German Castles of the most incredible ones Part I - We have a long history here in Germany and very medieval castles also.
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0.999999 |
The root of a long lived, curling and twisting vine that grows widely in the Eastern USA. Wild Yam root becomes very hard when dried and has a distinctive, bitter flavour with a long, lingering aftertaste.
As some of the other common names for Wild Yam demonstrate (Colic root, Rheumatism root), this is a herb that has been highly regarded for helping with significant causes of pain in the body. Sharp, sudden spasm in the gut (colic) or chronic aching joints (rheumatism) have been helped by it and, when you include the further indications as described below, perhaps the best way to understand how Wild Yam could have such a wide range of application is to feel what it actually does when you take it. This is a profoundly relaxing herbal medicine to the physical body.
Native American Indians used Wild Yam for colic and also to relieve the pain of childbirth. Traditional Japanese medicine (Kampo) used Wild Yam for many centuries to treat infertility. In fact very high doses of Yams can cause infertility but lower doses have the opposite effect.
The British Herbal Pharmacopoeia (BHP) describes Wild Yam's actions as spasmolytic, mild diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory, antirheumatic, cholagogue and says it is indicated for intestinal colic, diverticulitis, rheumatoid arthritis, muscular rheumatism, cramps and intermittent claudication, cholecystitis, dysmenorrhoea, ovarian & uterine pain and specifically indicated for bilious colic and the acute phase of rheumatoid arthritis. The BHP suggests a dose of 2-4 gms or by infusion or a dose of 2-4mls of the 45% ethanolic extract.
The 'steroidal saponins' in Wild Yam have been used by pharmaceutical companies as the basis for manufacturing hormonal drugs such as anabolic hormones, cortisone and 'the pill'. Whilst it is proven that internal doses of Wild Yam do have mild effects on progestin there have been many exaggerated claims about its effects on women's hormones and its true virtue as an antispasmodic has been somewhat lost whilst being typecast as a natural hormone treatment.
It does help some women with the change of life when taken as an internal medicine but when it has been marketed as a cream for menopause the science simply does not add up. Several clinical trials have been performed using Wild Yam creams vs. placebo; saliva samples have been taken and analysed and have shown that there is no change in the hormones that Wild Yam creams are marketed as benefiting i.e. progesterone and DHEA. In a nutshell: do not buy Wild Yam cream, unless you want some very expensive moisturiser!
Wild Yam is considered very safe to use for all ages and whilst breastfeeding or pregnant however it should be noted that the presence of saponins in Wild Yam may cause upset to the stomach of sensitive individuals if taken in excess. This is a potent herb that will not yield higher benefits if taken in increasing quantities but rather should be used at the level the body can well tolerate and respond to.
One of my main experiences with Wild Yam has been for problems connected to having too much tension in the gut or the pelvis. Wild Yam reaches into the core of the body and gently releases tension at a deep 'visceral' level. Taking Wild Yam over an extended period has greatly helped a number of my patients heal long standing digestive and reproductive system disorders.
Anyone in practice reading this who has a patient come to them with acute bilious colic (from gall-stones getting stuck in the duct; a hideously painful indigestion that has little in conventional medicine to offer it apart from removing the gall-bladder) simply has to try Wild Yam as a first-aid remedy (see the note from King's Dispensatory in the 'how it has been used' section above). However, as other authors have also written, it does not work for everyone and if things are not improving in a timely manner then alternate treatment approaches are called for.
Another very positive experience I have had with Wild Yam has been in the terribly difficult condition of rheumatoid arthritis where the famous old combination of Wild Yam, Black Cohosh & Cramp bark has lived up to its reputation by providing a great deal of relief from pain and tension in the joints. It may not be needed in great amounts to achieve this effect either; just 2 or 3 mls of the Wild Yam tincture (combined with other herbs) and taken in frequent doses over the day has been seen to give much aid.
For chronic conditions, Wild Yam combines perfectly with Ginger for gut congestion and with Licorice root and Devil's claw for inflammatory arthritic problems where there is an obvious connection between the digestive system and what is happening in the joints. With the longer-term use of Wild Yam I would typically use around 4 mls a day of the tinctured herb in divided doses to be sure to convey its benefits.
If there is significant pain or spasm (such as in colic, period pain, muscle spasm etc.) then Wild Yam works best in small frequent doses until it is clearly working; for example, just 1-2 mls every 2 hours or so. Each time you take a dose it adds to the effect of the last dose so once it starts relieving the pain and spasm you can be confident that the benefits will continue to accumulate.
Much of the information here about the traditional uses of Wild Yam is consistent with the model of thinking whereby one may treat problem A with herb B. There is value in this approach in how it helps us pass on useful knowledge to one another but where it falls short is that people are not all cut from the same cloth! Wild Yam might work brilliantly for one person but less well for another with the same kind of symptom picture -- why is this?
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0.954911 |
Altibase is an open source , high performance and relational DBMS but is enterprise grade. Altibase has 18 years of experience in serving over 600 enterprise customers including 8 Fortune Global 500 companies.
What is an In-Memory Database? An in-memory database (IMDBMS or MMDB) is a database management system (DBMS) that solely utilizes main memory (RAM) to store and manipulate data. The purpose of an in-memory database is to provide blazing fast data processing speeds for online transactional processing and online analytical processing (OLTP/OLAP). For example, Altibase can process over 1.4 million transactions per second (TPS).
Altibase is an in-memory and hybrid DBMS. Altibase can be adopted and utilized in a hybrid, in-memory only or disk only mode. When your use case demands hundreds of thousands of transactions per second with response rates measured in microseconds, in-memory databases are the only answer.
The main advantage of using the MVCC model of concurrency control rather than locking is that in MVCC locks acquired for querying (reading) data do not conflict with locks acquired for writing data, and so reading never blocks writing and writing never blocks reading.
Altibase outperforms disk-resident databases on identical hardware, potentially mitigating the need to add or upgrade server infrastructure.
Altibase has less CPU utilization than most legacy databases, freeing up additional resources for other “useful” works.
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0.917298 |
I remember being a kid, reluctant to tell my parents when I was sick.
I'd say I didn't feel well, and they'd ask the question that annoyed me to no end: How don't you feel well? Did I have a stomachache? A headache? Sore throat?
But I don't knooooow, I'd tell them, I just don't feeeeeel well.
Eventually, they'd get to the bottom of it: It was a sore throat, and so I'd get tested for strep. Or it was a headache, and I'd probably been staring at the computer screen for too long.
As a grown-up, I can appreciate why "I don't feel well" isn't especially helpful information when you're not in someone else's body. As it turns out though, even when you're trying to help yourself, you can benefit from more detail.
When I recently met with Susan David, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and the author of the new book "Emotional Agility," she talked about the importance of accurately labeling your emotions.
When she works with clients, and they tell her they're feeling stressed, for example, she asks them: What are two other options?
As in, what are two other options for what you're feeling? It's the emotional and introspective equivalent of asking your kid whether she's tired or nauseated — am I disappointed? Sad? Only then can you start to work on feeling better.
In the case of saying you feel stressed, David said the problem doesn't always come down to time-management. Dig deeper, she said: Maybe you're disappointed in your career choices and that's why you're feeling stressed.
David pointed to a growing body of research on the benefits of what psychologists call "emotional granularity," or getting super-specific about what you're feeling.
In June 2016, the psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett published an op-ed in The New York Times on emotional granularity, a concept that she and her lab have studied extensively. Barrett's research suggests that intense negative emotions aren't inherently bad — as long as you can work to understand exactly what it is that you're experiencing.
For example, in one study, participants were asked to keep daily diaries about their intense emotional experiences. As it turned out, participants who described their emotions using distinct adjectives and in more detail did a better job of regulating their negative emotions.
Another study found that people who experienced their feelings as more nuanced were less likely to act aggressively against other people.
In The New York Times, Barrett writes that emotional granularity is important because our brain essentially "constructs" our emotional states, partly based on how we describe them. So when you use distinct words to describe different emotional experiences, you give yourself the appropriate tools to handle each difficult situation.
David said this phenomenon is an example of how we have to get to know ourselves if we're going to be functioning, successful people, especially at work. It's not just about being good with what she called the "physical world" — managing your time and your inbox and your reports. It's also about learning how to manage yourself.
"There's so much focus in our world on the external and productivity and time-management," David said, "but unless we are actually able to cultivate effectiveness internally with our emotions and thoughts around our emotions, we're not going to be able to be effective."
You can start by listening and engaging in that internal dialogue that starts with the two-other-options question.
"How we are with ourselves is the single biggest determinant of our success," she said.
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0.942785 |
Types of Photovoltaic (PV) Cells - National Energy Foundation The National Energy Foundation: "Improving the use of energy in buildings"
All photovoltaic (PV) cells consist of two or more thin layers of semi-conducting material, most commonly silicon. When the semiconductor is exposed to light, electrical charges are generated and this can be conducted away by metal contacts as direct current (DC). The electrical output from a single cell is small, so multiple cells are connected together to form a 'string', which produces a direct current.
In many roof-integrated applications, strings are encapsulated (usually behind glass) to form a module (commonly referred to as a 'panel'). The PV panel is the principal building block of a PV system and any number of panels can be connected together to give the desired electrical output. However, two types of PV are best deposited as a thin film, and usually sold encapsulated in a polymer bonded to a substrate that can be used as part of the roofing material.
Gallium Arsenide cells. Due to their toxicity and potential carcinogenic properties, these are only used in rare applications such as satellites or demonstration solar-powered cars.
Organic-based PV solutions that are still under research.
These are made using cells sliced from a single cylindrical crystal of silicon. This is the most efficient photovoltaic technology, typically converting around 15% of the sun's energy into electricity. The manufacturing process required to produce monocrystalline silicon is complicated, resulting in slightly higher costs than other technologies.
Also sometimes known as multicrystalline cells, polycrystalline silicon cells are made from cells cut from an ingot of melted and recrystallised silicon. The ingots are then saw-cut into very thin wafers and assembled into complete cells. They are generally cheaper to produce than monocrystalline cells, due to the simpler manufacturing process, but they tend to be slightly less efficient, with average efficiencies of around 12%.
This is a variant on multicrystalline technology where the silicon is deposited in a continuous process onto a base material giving a fine grained, sparkling appearance. Like all crystalline PV, it is normally encapsulated in a transparent insulating polymer with a tempered glass cover and then bound into a metal framed module.
Amorphous silicon cells are made by depositing silicon in a thin homogenous layer onto a substrate rather than creating a rigid crystal structure. As amorphous silicon absorbs light more effectively than crystalline silicon, the cells can be thinner - hence its alternative name of 'thin film' PV. Amorphous silicon can be deposited on a wide range of substrates, both rigid and flexible, which makes it ideal for curved surfaces or bonding directly onto roofing materials. This technology is, however, less efficient than crystalline silicon, with typical efficiencies of around 6%, but it tends to be easier and cheaper to produce. If roof space is not restricted, an amorphous product can be a good option. However, if the maximum output per square metre is required, specifiers should choose a crystalline technology.
A number of other materials such as cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium diselenide (CIS) are now being used for PV modules. The attraction of these technologies is that they can be manufactured by relatively inexpensive industrial processes, certainly in comparison to crystalline silicon technologies, yet they typically offer higher module efficiencies than amorphous silicon. Most offer a slightly lower efficiency: CIS is typically 10-13% efficient and CdTe around 8 or 9%. A disadvantage is the use of highly toxic metals such as Cadmium and the need for both carefully controlled manufacturing and end-of-life disposal; although a typical CdTe module contains only 0.1% Cadmium, which is reported to be lower than is found in a single AA-sized NiCad battery.
This information is for guidance only and should not be used in place of proper engineering calculations in accordance with the relevant British or European Standards.
This information is based on work undertaken by the EurActive Roofer project which ran from 2005 to 2008 and was supported by the European Union's programme for Horizontal Actions involving SMEs.
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0.991256 |
A sudden disappearance. A dogged investigation. And a frantic search for an answer to the question: What happened to Kayla Berg?
Berg was just two weeks away from her 16th birthday, a milestone the Antigo, Wisconsin teen would never celebrate.
Kayla had one friend in particular that Hope Sprenger, Kayla's mother, says she did not approve of: Kayla's 19-year-old boyfriend, Miguel Marrero. He was four years older than Kayla.
"Miguel's house was kind of a party spot," said Antigo Police Chief Eric Roller. "The kids from Antigo were going there on a regular basis, every weekend at least, and had a lot of girls and young people living at this house."
Hope Sprenger says she didn't want her daughter to be one of them. So she took drastic action, moving Kayla about as far south from Antigo, Wisconsin as they could get, to Lampasas, Texas. Unfortunately, circumstances back home wouldn't let them go so easily.
"We had ended up coming back up here, her dad was not doing well," said Hope. "I felt the need that she needed to be by her dad in case something did happen."
That's a decision she now says haunts her. It was August 11, 2009. Kayla and Hope had only been back for a little over a week when Kayla told her mom she was going out.
Then, at some point, Kayla made contact with a 24-year-old man named Kevin Kielcheski.
"Kevin Kielcheski was a friend of Kayla's older brother," said Hope. "They would all kind of hang out together."
In fact, the rumor was that Kielcheski hung out with a lot of the teens around town.
"Everything we had heard, he was kind of on a level mentally maybe closer to these 15, 16-year-old, 17-year-olds that he was hanging around with," said Chief Roller. "I think maybe a lot of the younger kids were taking advantage of him. He could get the marijuana, and he was giving rides, and it sounded like that happened on a regular basis."
It's what Kevin later says happened that night with Kayla. She called him for a ride, and he offered to throw in a little extra as a "welcome home" gift.
"She wants to go see her friend Miguel in Wausau and Kevin said he agreed to take her to Wausau," said Roller.
But first, Kayla asks to make a quick stop to see a friend at McDonald's.
"They saw Kevin with Kayla at the McDonald's. He was waiting for her in the car, but they were together, and that's the last person besides Kevin that we know has seen Kayla. Kevin says he drove her over to Wausau, about 40 minutes away, and dropped her off at Miguel's house."
The next day, Kayla was gone. But it wasn't until nearly a full week later before anyone realized it.
"We had a lot of different stories on when somebody did really see her last," said Roper. "Kayla did spend a lot of time with her friends too and would go between houses and may not come home for a couple days. Initially we were going, 'Oh, no, she was just floating between friends.'"
Sadly, that would become wishful thinking. Already a week behind when Kayla is reported missing, police start retracing her last-known steps. And the trail leads them to the last place she was supposed to be: with Miguel Marrero.
Police bring Marrero in for questioning, but he tells them he hasn't seen Kayla, that she never came over that night, and he never admits to even having had a sexual relationship with Kayla.
"They had gone through the house and looked through the house many times. We had also searched his vehicle that he had been using, and nothing turned up on the search," said Roller.
Not long after that, Miguel Marrero "lawyered up." But he wasn't the only one police wanted to talk to. If Marrero was telling the truth, that made Kevin Kielcheski the last-known person to see Kayla alive.
The problem with Kielcheski's story of dropping Kayla at Marrero's house? The address he gave police wasn't even where Marrero had been staying.
"When he got dropped off at the house, it was condemned," said Roller. "There was issues with water coming into the house and they were told they couldn't be in the house until they had some processes fixed.
"That's very suspicious, and her friends have told us after that she was aware that he wasn't at that house," said Chief Roller.
But Kielcheski insists that's where he dropped Kayla off, and there was no evidence to say otherwise. However, that didn't mean he was home free. He was eventually arrested for reckless endangerment.
"That was for his activity of taking a 15-year-old girl, smoking marijuana with her and leaving her at a house that he wasn't sure she got to," said Roller. "It was dismissed in court. They felt that there was not enough evidence. We didn't have a victim at that point, because we don't have Kayla. We don't know where she's at."
A question hundreds of tips, and multiple searches over several years have yet to answer.
It's been seven years since Kayla Berg went missing.
"The FBI, they've been cooperative, our Division of Criminal Investigation, our state agency, they've been involved," said Antigo Police Chief Eric Roller. "We've done extensive searches with cadaver dogs. We get a tip -- we've probably done 12 different searches in different areas."
Police have also questioned both Marrero and Kielcheski. And while police say neither man has been officially ruled out, the case remains unsolved.
This year, a video posted to Youtube just two months after Kayla's disappearance, was discovered. It was not seen until years later. It shows what appeared to be a crazed man discussing his new girlfriend, saying her met her at a mall, then brought her home. The video then shows the man opening a door to a bathroom, with a young female inside chained to the floor, who screams "Why are you doing this? No!" The video cuts to black shortly after. Many people, including Kayla Berg's own mother, thought the girl looked eerily familiar.
Police weren't taking any chances.
"Every tip we take seriously, and it was kind of a creepy video anyways, but then when you have the mom saying that it's, you know, definitely could be my daughter, we did whatever we could at that point to try and locate that video and who made that video," said Chief Roller.
After an exhaustive search, a break.
"Well I found out that the video wasn't anything tied in to the disappearance of Kayla," said Roller. "They weren't aware of the disappearance of Kayla."
It was all just a tragic coincidence.
"We had made contact with the producer and the two actors in the video," said Roller. "Both of them agreed that it was completely voluntary what they were doing, and were just trying to produce these 'scare videos' that they put out."
"They didn't even know about Kayla," said Hope Sprenger, Kayla Berg's mother. "Hardly anybody knew about Kayla."
If there's any good to come from the video, it's that it brought new exposure to Kayla's case.
In the meantime, investigators are back to square one, with no new leads or suspects.
"[Kevin Kielcheski] is always still going to be a suspect until we know different, I think, mainly because of his actions and being the last one that we know of that saw Kayla," said Chief Roller.
Kayla's mom says there's something else that makes both men highly suspicious in her eyes.
"They had refused a lie-detector, and that's kind of where we sit with him," said Hope. "We wanted to schedule for [Kevin] to do a lie-detector with the FBI. So we had all that scheduled. Well, then there was an excuse. 'Oh, well, he took a Vicodin, or he took a Xanax,' so he couldn't do the test. Finally he's really not -- he's not going to come in and do it. And we can't really make him."
Kevin Kielcheski did apparently have a test done later by a private firm, and passed.
Crime Watch Daily went searching. We weren't able to make contact with Miguel Marrero, who to this day has never been charged with anything in connection to Kayla Berg's disappearance.
But we found Kevin Kielcheski outside his place of work.
"I have a lawyer," says Kielcheski as he walks away from our camera. "I have a lawyer already. I have a lawyer." He then went inside his workplace.
Kielcheski has publically denied having anything to do with Kayla's disappearance.
The FBI has offered a $20,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for Kayla Berg's disappearance.
If you have any information, you are asked to call the Langlade County Sheriff's Office at (715) 627-6411.
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0.997635 |
What primary tissue type makes up the subcutaneous layer of the skin?
The subcutaneous layer is connective tissue.
This is not really considered part of the integumentary system. It lies below the dermis. It is mostly adipose tissue which is a connective tissue type.
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0.938637 |
What type of RAM is compatible with my laptop?
I have an Acer 4736 Core2Duo laptop with 4 GB RAM. Now I would want to upgrade to 8 GB of RAM and install a 64-bit operating system.
My work and place doesn’t allow me to procure the correct type of RAM. The speed of my laptop’s RAM (SO-DIMMM PC3 8500S) is only 1066 MHz. The ones on the market are of the same specs but of a higher speed (1333 MHz).
My question is, can I use a higher speed of RAM into my old laptop?
Yes, all memory modules that have speed ratings less than or equal to the motherboard's specifications will work. Do note that if you use two modules of different speeds (eg. a DDR3 PC3-8500 and a DDR3 PC3-6400), they will work, albeit at the slower modules' speed. Therefore, it is recommended that you use two memory modules that have the exact same speficiations for the best performance.
Frankly, those unacquainted with the use of RAM buy new modules that are of the same specs as the one(s) that is already installed in their computers to rule out all chances of incompatibility. However, the difference in speeds with DDR3 memory is barely noticeable, so, if you cannot avoid mixing two different modules, or you are getting a different module at a very cheap price, it would be better to mix them. Pay attention that the speeds are still less than or equal to your motherboard's specs though.
I used a tiny utility named CPU-Z (http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html) to determine my RAM specifications. Detailed information is given in a simple tabular display. I used the portable version, and found it very useful.If not, then Speccy (http://www.piriform.com/speccy) from Piriform (developers of CCleaner) also gives detailed information about the system's hardware.I found these two utilities exceptionally useful, and they are very easy to use. Recently, I bought a 2 GB DDR2 240-pin 667 Mhz DIMM Non-EEC Module after noting the exact specification from CPU-Z.
Source: NewTechnology and TomsHardware. I still suggest you use Crucial memory scanner, however.
Thanks again, Jeffery....But as of now I have 4 GB of RAM. I shall use then 2 X 4 GB 1067 Mhz SoDIMM RAM to safely upgrade to 8 GB. I understand that I may not be able to use a speed of 1333 MHz which is prevalent in the market. I shall try this CRUCIAL MEMORY SCANNER.
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0.995509 |
What have you done to make sure you and your family are prepared for flooding, heat waves and other extreme weather?
I've created a household emergency plan.
My electrical equipment is located above potential flood levels.
I have a household emergency kit and Go-Bag.
I know where the nearest cooling center, emergency shelter and evacuation routes are, and will evacuate if instructed to do so.
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0.997869 |
A song about what are called Daughters of the Country or Country Wives. Which were Indigenous Women taken as wives by the fur traders of the Hudson Bay Company of NorthWest Company. Usually, they were the daughters of Chiefs and used as a tactic by the trader to generate better relationships between traders and Indigenous people. As a result of these relationships, a people known as the Metis were created by these liasons and developed there own culture and way of life.
The Métis, Bois Boule, Half-breeds or Katipayimsosik were from the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816 to the 1885 northwest Rebellion, Princes of the Plains. Nothing happened on its vast expanse without some involvement of these proud and noble people. From the formation of the province of Manitoba to the signing of the Treaties by First Nations, the Métis were an integral part of the western plains. They were the mediators between the white fur traders and the Plains Indians, having a stokehold in both cultures. This was the time in history for the Métis people, a time when Métis nationalism came to the forefront in the history of Western Canada. They were the free traders; the Courier de Bois, buffalo hunters, and negotiators of the many treaties of Canada and America.
The results of the negotiations were the Manitoba Act, passed by Parliament on July 12, 1870, and to take effect July 15. Although some of the Métis grievances were dealt with entry into Canada. It did not grant amnesty for individuals who involved with the creation of the new province, consequently, Riel and followers had to flee into the United States and would have to live the rest of his in fear of assassination. The Manitoba Act granted the Métis1,4000,000 acres of land where they could live. But this law was not abided by and it has been over 130 years of dealing with the government of Canada that have this legislation recognized. The Métis were abused and persecuted in the newly formed Province of Manitoba. So many left further west where they could maintain their way of life.
The Canadian Government had no intention of living up to its end of the bargain. They sent Colonel Wolseley with 1200 soldiers embarked on a campaign of violence. Racism became an everyday occurrence, the need for land and the vanishing buffalo lead a massive westward migration of the Métis the new frontiers were they could live their lives as they once had. In 1870 the population of Manitoba was 12,000 of whom 10,000 were mixed blood and 6,000 French-speaking the remained being English speaking Half-breeds. In 1885 less than 12% of the population was of mix heritage. With the exception of John Norquay, an English speaking Half-breed became Premier of Manitoba in 1876. They were treated as second class citizens in the province which they helped to create. The Métis would never again dominant in their first homeland.
A great migration took place which saw many of the Métis move from the now Province of Manitoba to places such as St. Laurent, Wood Mountain, Cypress Hills, Willow Bunch, Lewistown and other places that were traditional places the Métis had visited in their travels. It was in isolated pockets of Western Canada that they Métis thought that they could live out there live as they always had.
It was not long though before many of the Métis living in St Laurent experience the same problems they had faced in Manitoba. They would have to take action, in 1884 lead by Gabriel a contingent of four Métis went to Montana to plead their case to Louis Riel who living in exile. They convinced him to return with them and send petitions to Ottawa. At this time the Métis wanted to be recognition of their rights to the land, which they now have been occupying for some time and wanted to retain title to it. Many petitions were sent to Ottawa and were heard by deaf ears. So began The Metis protection of The Metis Homeland and ended with Métis people being destitute and homeless, wanting justice where there was none to be found. The end result was the end to a way of life that many Métis had lived for hundreds.
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0.998956 |
The stimulus starts with a hunter entering a forest and making noise. The safety of any animals closeby, like a deer, is significantly lowered. The stimulus triggers the set reaction, in this case it is a deer trying to increase its safety.
The receptors would be the ears of the deer hearing the movement of the hunter. The receptor receives the information from the stimulus and sends it to the control center.
The control center would be the deer's brain. The deer would realize it is no longer safe like it was and must take action to increase its safety. The control center compares previous conditions to the current one.
The effector is the deer running away to be out of range from the hunter. It is now safe from danger. The effectors change the condition that something is currently in to achieve balance.
This mechanism is negative because the stimulus decreases something, in this case safety. The effectors then react from the process to counter the effect of the stimulus to create balance. The deer runs away to be safe again and has balance restored.
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Until the end of the 1970s, successive Turkish governments pursued an inward-oriented growth strategy. However, changes in the world economic conditions after the mid-1970s and the domestic economic crisis that followed forced the authorities to review and eventually abandon the traditional economic policies. In 1980, the government launched a structural adjustment program that was based on free market principles and an outward approach to economic policies. During the period 1981–1991, a series of liberalization measures were started, as were institutional changes to implement the new economic strategy. Although the focus of this paper is on interest rate liberalization within the context of a general financial sector reform, the process started with reforms of the foreign trade sector, both exports and imports. The liberalization of trade and the concomitant increase in the volume of foreign transactions played an instrumental role in the design and implementation of financial sector reforms.
The policymakers believed that structural adjustment policies could not be implemented successfully unless financial markets were deep and mature enough to meet the financing needs of an outward-oriented economy. Therefore, a series of reforms were undertaken to develop the Turkish financial system. The main focus was to enhance the operational and allocative efficiency of the system through liberalization and increased competition. These reforms also aimed at enhancing monetary policy effectiveness, particularly in stabilizing the value of the Turkish lira.
Before 1980, Turkey experienced a high degree of financial repression, characterized by negative real interest rates; credit rationing; lack of capital markets; excessive reliance on central bank resources for public sector financing requirements; severe restrictions on foreign exchange operations; and a high level of taxation on financial income and transactions. All deposit rates, and to a large extent loan rates, were determined directly by the government, with no relation to the current inflation rate. Moreover, priority sectors, such as those producing import substitutes, could access subsidized resources under a number of complex and selective credit schemes.
During the earliest attempt to liberalize interest rates, in July 1980, loan and deposit interest rates were liberalized and certificates of deposit were introduced. Although this reform program was launched against the background of tight monetary policy and restrictive demand management policies, the government acted somewhat in haste and failed to prepare the necessary supporting infrastructure. Soon after the liberalization measures were announced, banks in general, and smaller banks in particular, started to compete for deposits, offering high interest rates without paying much attention to how they could utilize these high-cost deposits. Increasingly, brokerage houses, which were only lightly regulated, also began competing for deposits. Borrowers were already under pressure because of shrinking domestic demand and were unable to adjust their operations to reflect the sharply higher financing costs. These developments brought the financial system to a crisis in 1982, when some of the smaller banks and most of the brokerage houses collapsed. Consequently, monetary policy was relaxed and changes were made in certain regulations. In particular, interest rates were brought, once again, under the control of the central bank.
The financial crisis of 1982 had several far-reaching effects on the financial markets. The magnitude of nonperforming loans became a major problem. In reaction to the financial crisis, overcautious regulations were reinstalled by the authorities, and the reform process slowed down. The crisis clearly showed that reforms could produce undesired results when implemented without an adequate regulatory and supervisory framework, and illustrated the importance of the timing and speed of reforms. Nonetheless, financial market reforms continued throughout the decade, in part benefiting from the lessons learned from these early attempts.
The need to develop an interbank money market was first felt by the management of the central bank in 1984 and 1985, when Turkey had a stand-by arrangement with the IMF and the central bank was experiencing difficulties in controlling monetary developments even though the performance criteria with the IMF were being observed. In particular, this was because the central bank could not obtain signals from the banking system on whether the monetary policy stance was tight or loose.
At that time, the banking system was highly segmented for a variety of reasons, some more political than economic. Public sector banks were reluctant to lend to private banks not only on the basis of their assessment of commercial risks but, perhaps more important, because of political considerations. Similarly, private banks tended to minimize their transactions with other commercial banks because of competition. In particular, many of the private Turkish commercial banks belong to industrial groups. Competition and rivalry between these groups often resulted in some reluctance on the part of their banks to deal with each other directly, and, in particular, almost completely prevented interbank lending. As a result, there was no interbank market in Turkey.
The central bank was the only counterpart accepted by everyone. Banks often deposited excess funds directly at the central bank, which was paying a fixed interest rate on “excess reserves,” or reduced their outstanding obligations to the central bank. Because the central bank’s credit was in the form of collateralized loans and the remuneration served was accrued on average daily outstanding balances, commercial banks had an incentive to deposit collateral with the central bank up to their rediscount quotas, while utilizing the funds only when they had a cash shortfall. Thus, the central bank had no control over the reserve money up to the amount determined by the rediscount quotas. Moreover, the central bank was monitoring the outstanding volumes of reserve money and the other aggregates from its own balance sheet but had no way of knowing whether the observed magnitudes reflected a relatively tight or loose monetary policy stance since interest rates were not providing feedback from the market.
Given the segmentation of the banking system and considerations stemming from the local culture and political environment, the central bank management realized that the central bank had to play an active role in developing the interbank money market. Since the central bank was the only acceptable counterpart for interbank transactions, from both the borrower’s perspective and the lender’s, it had to act as a “blind broker” in the market, which meant that the central bank was taking the credit risk. Since Turkish law does not allow the central bank to lend without collateral, it was necessary to identify acceptable collateral that was readily marketable and of good quality, and thus eligible from the central bank’s point of view. This collateral was government securities. A market in government securities therefore had to be established and sufficient time allowed for the market to develop and deepen to a volume high enough to support the interbank money market. This is the main reason why the auctioning of government securities and the establishment of a secondary market in government securities started before the interbank money market was instituted.
The auctioning of Turkish government securities started on May 29, 1985. The auctions were designed to be held on a weekly basis. Initially, auctions were restricted to securities with one-year maturity. The securities had no interest coupon and were sold at a discount. Bids presented by commercial banks at the auction included the amount bid and the price as a percent of par value for each amount. Initially, settlement took place the week after the auction but when the supporting electronic infrastructure was completed, settlement was changed to the following day.
The auctioning of government securities was an immediate success. The treasury, almost always in need of cash, had suddenly seen the benefit of being able to raise large amounts of funds from the market without being accused of “expropriating bank’s money,” since interest rates were now market determined. In fact, although the funding costs of the treasury went up, the impact on the overall level of interest rates was beneficial because the commercial banks could no longer make up what they were losing in their lending to the government at below-market rates from their lending to the private sector.
Toward the end of 1986, in response to demands from market participants for shorter-term debt instruments, the auction system was revised and the “programmed auction system” was introduced. Under the programmed auction system, the treasury auctioned government securities with maturities of 12, 9, 6, and 3 months on a rotating basis every Wednesday. This enabled market participants to know in advance which maturities were to be issued and on which dates and thus gave them the opportunity to improve their cash and liquidity management. Interest rates increasingly started to reflect the markets’ perceptions of expected rates of inflation, the treasury’s funding needs, and the availability of short-term funding for government security portfolios.
More important from the central bank’s point of view, a reference market-determined interest rate had finally emerged. This allowed the central bank to determine more accurately the relative tightness of its monetary policy stance, which was a guide for the implementation of monetary policy. This was especially true after the interbank market was established in 1986 and the central bank started to conduct open market operations as explained below.
The interbank money market started in April 1986, and within a few months the volume of transactions reached significant levels. The market was organized with the central bank as the intermediary. The parties to a transaction did not know each other’s identity and therefore, from a legal standpoint, their counterpart was the central bank. The central bank operated as a broker, that is, it borrowed only when it could on-lend the proceeds at the same interest rate. Such a strategy allowed the central bank to have a full picture of the prevailing liquidity conditions in the system. Moreover, because the central bank was assuming the credit risk, it charged a brokerage commission to both parties in a transaction. Over the years such commissions constituted a not insignificant amount of revenue for the central bank.
In any interbank market, clearing and settlement are delicate issues that need to be addressed early on. Without a facility to prevent gridlock, the entire system may come to a halt if a bank fails to repay and all the other banks down the chain end up being unable to fulfill their obligations because their borrowers cannot repay their loans. In Turkey, since the central bank was acting as an intermediary, such gridlock problems were avoided. The central bank repaid its obligations in the morning when the market opened, but did not require that the funds that were due to it be paid until the close of the day. This amounted to extending an intraday overdraft facility to the banking system. This intraday overdraft facility also helped the market to grow and deepen rapidly, thereby allowing the central bank to undertake open market operations in the money market in surprisingly large volumes.
When commercial banks in Turkey trade in the interbank market, they essentially borrow and lend to each other their free balances at the central bank. These free balances can be viewed as the excess reserves of commercial banks. To facilitate the development of the government securities market and the interbank money market, the central bank also implemented a number of regulatory measures, such as introducing daily averaging of balances of free deposits and taking holdings of government securities into account to measure compliance with the liquidity requirement.1 The averaging of daily balances at the central bank encouraged the banks to manage their liquidity more actively, for example, by taking net positions during the week in order to maximize their profits. In fact, as the market deepened, banks started to take advantage of intraday movements in interest rates, borrowing in the morning and selling in the afternoon or vice versa. The market, for a number of reasons, came to be dominated by overnight trading, although the central bank tried to encourage trading at longer maturities.
The access to the interbank market organized under the umbrella of the central bank was for many years restricted to banks. Nonbank financial intermediaries and other nonbank institutions were not allowed to participate in the interbank market. This was because the policy of the central bank was to allow only banks to have a current account with itself. Since the interbank market is essentially a market where balances at the central bank are traded, an institution without a current account at the central bank cannot really participate in the market. Conversely, if an institution is allowed to have a deposit account with the central bank, then that institution can easily participate in the interbank market. The decision of the management of the central bank not to open deposit accounts to nonbank institutions effectively restricted participation in the interbank market to banks only.
An important consequence of the establishment of the interbank market and of auctioning government securities was the acceptance by politicians and the population at large of frequent interest rate fluctuations, in response to a number of factors, such as the level of excess liquidity, expectations of inflation, perceived risk, and the maturity of loans. Moreover, the auctioning of government securities, which meant the government was borrowing at market-determined interest rates, made the true costs of government deficits more visible.
The establishment and subsequent deepening of the interbank money market, together with the broadening of the secondary market in government securities, allowed the introduction of open market operations with government securities in 1987. The introduction of open market operations led to a significant change in the conduct and implementation of monetary policy. This started the shift to a market-oriented monetary policy based on management of the total reserves of the banking system. Through outright purchases and sales of government securities and through repurchase agreements, the central bank began to regulate banks’ liquidity.
Although the development of market-based monetary instruments increased the effectiveness of monetary policy, the use of such techniques led, from time to time, to conflicts with the treasury. When the central bank sold government securities to drain excess liquidity, the treasury often objected on the grounds that the central bank was raising interest rates on government securities and therefore provoking a deterioration of the public sector position. As a result, the central bank, over the years, concentrated increasingly on the interbank money market to conduct its open market operations.
Since the central bank was acting as a blind broker, it was natural for it to start transacting in the interbank market on its own account, thus taking net positions. This amounted to conducting open market operations in the interbank market, a technique that is widely used in Europe. In many ways it is far more efficient than conducting open market operations in the secondary market of government securities, especially when central bank interventions are large. This has the added advantage of having a relatively limited impact on other markets, such as the government securities market, in the short run. Increasingly, open market operations in the interbank market came to be the major instrument for short-term liquidity management. Naturally, when the necessary conditions were met, the central bank could—and did with some consistency throughout the period 1988–1993—use outright open market operations. Ultimately it is the managers of the central bank’s open market desk who decide the combination of instruments that should be used on a given day, rather than the top management of the Bank, since the former are close to the market and can better gauge the impact of alternative instruments on the market. Therefore it is also essential for the open market desk managers to be completely familiar with the central bank’s monetary policy and to understand the constraints under which the top management of the central bank makes its decisions.
During the 1980s, legal and institutional arrangements were introduced to foster the development of security markets. The reform process began in 1981 with the enactment of the Capital Market Law. Following the enactment of the law, the Capital Market Board was established in 1982 to regulate, develop, and supervise the capital markets.
During the period 1982—1986, the legal and institutional framework of the securities markets was formed. The Capital Market Law gave the Capital Market Board the authority to regulate the primary markets. It is the Board that issues communiqués defining the disclosure standards for new issues and instruments. To provide protection to investors, intermediaries in the securities markets must meet certain operational standards. In additional, the Capital Market Board also established some principles regarding the financial reporting system. An optional general accounting plan was prepared for corporations. And in 1983, a new legal framework for the regulation of secondary markets was implemented, empowering the Capital Market Board to initiate the establishment and to regulate all operations in these markets. Finally, the Istanbul Stock Exchange was reopened in 1985 and became operational in 1986.
Following the formation of the legal framework in the first half of the 1980s, several mechanisms, including tax incentive measures, were devised to promote the deepening of the securities markets. The following steps were taken.
1. The double taxation of dividends was prevented. In 1985, the corporate income tax rate was raised to 46 percent, and it became the only tax on dividend income. The government was given the authority to lower this rate to 40 percent as an incentive for public corporations, and in 1987, the tax laws were amended to grant additional incentives. Most notably, the government was given the authority to lower the income tax rate to 35 percent (30 percent for publicly owned corporations) for small shareholders.
2. In 1985, capital gains on shares become exempt from taxes if the security was listed on an exchange and had been held by the seller for at least one year. In 1987, capital gains from the sales of securities sold through licensed intermediary agencies were also made tax free. Premiums emanating from stock issuing also became tax free for any stock listed on an exchange that does not distribute dividends to shareholders.
3. Interest income on government securities held by individuals became tax free, but subject to a 10 percent withholding tax if held by corporations.
Along with the development of the securities markets, a number of other new instruments have been introduced in Turkey, such as finance bills, participation certificates of mutual funds, bank bills, bank guaranteed bills, and certificates of revenue partnership. Several large industrial corporations have started borrowing from the securities markets in order to meet their financing needs. Moreover, some of these corporations have also begun to rely on equity financing and to open up their companies to the public. The partial liberalization of the capital account in August 1989 also contributed to the growth of the securities markets by allowing nonresidents to invest in domestic securities quoted on the capital market.
The integration of the Turkish financial system with international markets has been one of the major objectives of financial market reforms. Over the years, regulations were changed in a systematic manner with the objective of liberalizing the foreign exchange regime. Earlier in the reform process, during 1980–1983, the reforms entailed the elimination of multiple exchange rate practices; providing the commercial banks with more discretion in managing their foreign exchange positions; and allowing exporters to retain a portion of their earnings in the form of foreign exchange deposits with commercial banks.
In 1984, a major step in liberalizing the foreign exchange regime was implemented, whereby commercial banks were allowed to engage in foreign exchange operations and transactions in proportion to their foreign exchange liabilities. Finally, and most important, banks were allowed to open foreign exchange deposit accounts to residents, and restrictions on foreign travel and investment from abroad were greatly eased and simplified.
Following these major steps, Turkish banks’ operations in foreign currency have grown substantially and foreign exchange deposits have become a major component of broad money.
A negative aspect of the rapid growth of foreign exchange deposits was that the implementation of monetary policy became increasingly complex and difficult. In order to contain monetary expansion through the accumulation of foreign exchange deposits, these deposits were made subject to reserve requirements in 1986. Moreover, although interest earnings from foreign exchange deposits were not initially subject to taxation, a 5 percent withholding tax was introduced as part of the policy measures taken in February 1988 to reduce currency substitution, and this withholding tax was increased to 10 percent in 1989.
An important development in the ongoing liberalization process was the opening of an official foreign exchange market, also under the auspices of the central bank, in September 1988. Participants in the market are the banks and the authorized foreign exchange bureaus. The opening of this market was important because it allowed the exchange rate for the Turkish lira to be determined according to demand for and supply of foreign exchange and it made possible more efficient management of the banking sector’s foreign exchange reserves. Moreover, this reform completed the operational framework, allowing the central bank to implement monetary, exchange rate, and interest rate policy through market mechanisms. With the inauguration of the foreign exchange market, the infrastructure that was necessary to liberalize interest rates on deposits was completed. As expected, the government followed up quickly and deposit interest rates were liberalized at the end of October 1988.
5. Banks were allowed to freely determine the foreign exchange rates that they use in their operations.
With these reforms, the liberalization of the current account was achieved and, although the Turkish lira is not yet fully convertible—some transactions of the capital account are not yet liberalized—it reached a high level of external convertibility.
The Turkish financial system is dominated by banks, and the financial sector reforms only strengthened the privileged position of those institutions. The Capital Market Law in particular, by allowing the banks to engage in all types of capital market activities, increased the banks’ dominance in the financial system. Consequently, the development of the capital markets has broadened the spectrum of the banks’ activities. The result is a system of universal banking in which banks are allowed to engage directly in all financial activities except leasing and insurance activities. However, banks actually own most of the leasing and insurance companies and therefore are also present, even if indirectly, in those activities.
The shift to the implementation of monetary policy through indirect instruments as outlined above, coupled with the establishment of foreign exchange and interbank money markets and the liberalization of the foreign exchange system, has encouraged banks to improve their asset and liability management policies. Increased competition has also encouraged banks to develop a quality consciousness and thus improve the quality of services they offer to their customers. Thus, banks have been adopting advanced technology in their operations at an increasing pace and have invested in human capital through regular training programs for their staff. The outcome has been encouraging.
In Turkey, banking activities are regulated by the Banking Act of 1985, which contains provisions regarding the establishment and capital structure of banks, branch banking, foreign banking, deposits, credits and other investments, deposit insurance, and the transfer, merger and liquidation of banks. In line with the Banking Act, accounting and reporting standards and the principles of auditing and supervision were also established through the joint efforts of the treasury, the central bank, and the Banks Association.
The establishment of a domestic bank requires authorization from the Council of Ministers. A bank must be founded in the form of a joint stock company with no fewer than 100 shareholders. The opening of new branches requires prior authorization by the treasury.
The Banking Act requires a minimum amount of net worth (capital and reserves) for the establishment of a bank. In addition, certain amounts of capital are to be provided for each branch, depending on the population of the city in which each branch is to operate. These minimum amounts are subject to periodical adjustment.
The same rules apply to foreign investors when they establish a bank in Turkey. Foreign banks are allowed to enter the market by opening branches in Turkey, but as for domestic banks, the permission of the Council of Ministers is required. The total number of branch offices a foreign bank can open is limited to five. The establishment of representative offices—which are not allowed to accept deposits or engage in banking activities—by foreign banks is subject to the authorization of the treasury.
According to the Banking Act, banks are subject to lending limits in order to avoid excessive risk concentration. The total cash and noncash credits and other investments of a bank cannot exceed 20 times the net worth of that bank. There are also limits on the credits extended to individual customers, on the bank’s own equity participation, and on the magnitude of large loans.
Banks are required to maintain their accounts and prepare their financial statements in accordance with the unified accounting and reporting principles introduced in 1986. They are required to submit these statements to the treasury and the central bank on a regular basis. Furthermore, banks are also subject to auditing by independent auditors. Reports prepared by these auditors are submitted to the treasury and the central bank.
The policy changes that were introduced as part of the liberalization process led to major structural changes in the banking system. One major objective of these changes was to increase the efficiency of the system through the fostering of competition among banks. This was achieved. However, with the liberalization of the financial system there has also been an increase in the risks faced by banks. These risks involve credit risk from their customers, market risk as a result of the liberalization of interest rates, foreign exchange risk arising from their net position in foreign exchange, and funding risk because of the possibility of competition for deposits.
In view of these increased risks and their more complicated structure, new legal arrangements were introduced to enhance the stability and soundness of the banking system. To strengthen the financial structure of the banks, the “Capital Adequacy Ratio” was introduced in October 1989, in accordance with the guidelines of the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision. The initial 5 percent capital adequacy ratio introduced in 1989 was gradually increased to 8 percent by 1992. Moreover, international standards were introduced in 1988 for the classification of loans and for provisioning nonperforming loans.
Simultaneously there were attempts to strengthen banking supervision. On-site bank supervision is carried out by the Sworn Bank Auditors, who are associated with the treasury. The Sworn Bank Auditors check the application of the Banking Act and other relevant laws by the banks, review the conduct of all types of banking operations, and identify and analyze relations between bank assets, claims, net worth, liabilities, profit and loss accounts, and other factors affecting the financial structure of banks.
The central bank, which conducts off-site supervision, gathers the financial data required for supervision, examines the financial standings of banks, and submits its views to the Prime Minister together with its suggestions if and when necessary. The Banking Department of the central bank was reorganized in 1989, with the objective of undertaking prudential supervision of banks. Its task differs from that of the Sworn Auditors in the sense that it conducts on-site inspections as frequently as needed, with the main emphasis on prudential issues rather than compliance with legal requirements.
If, as a result of the audits, it becomes clear that the financial structure of a bank is being eroded, the treasury may ask the bank’s board of directors to introduce certain measures, which are delineated in the Banking Act, in order to improve the financial structure of the bank. If the financial structure continues to deteriorate despite the introduction of these measures, the Council of Ministers may require that the bank be transferred to new owners or merged with another bank.
The process of liberalization in Turkey is significant in several respects. First, it is impressive that a developing country, within nine years after it was forced to reschedule its external debt due to a severe payments crisis, was able to liberalize not only current transactions but most capital account transactions as well, and accept the obligations of Article VIII of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement. Second, the process of reform was initiated by the government and with strong political support, and the reform process continued on track for many years. In particular, the central bank played an active role in the transition to a market-oriented policy framework, and its initiatives rapidly found support in the financial system. Third, the implementation of the reform process was undertaken with clear objectives and targets, and these objectives and targets were articulated and explained to the market participants. Such close dialogue between the officials and the market participants enabled the reforms to gain rapid acceptance.
On the negative side, from the point of view of macroeconomic management, Turkey was suffering from chronic fiscal deficits before the liberalization process, and the monetary constitution of the country enabled easy monetization of these deficits. Moreover, after long years of financial repression (during most of the 1960s and 1970s) the financial system, relative to the GNP or the budget, was small at the onset of the reform process. Thus, in Turkey, even moderate fiscal deficits in relation to GNP often led to excessive monetary expansions—in the sense of large percentage increases—and therefore high inflation rates. Successive governments, even the most reform-minded ones, failed to address the problem of fiscal deficits and consequently Turkey continued to suffer from high inflation and—with the liberalization of interest rates—high interest rates.
When the government started borrowing through auctions, the fiscal problem became even more acute as interest rate payments increased rapidly. From time to time, faced with the fiscal dilemma, the government tried to interfece with market mechanisms and dictate the level of interest rates to the market. This policy not only failed to be successful in bringing about the desired results, but also led to increased uncertainty, with a concomitant increase in the risk premium—one of the components of the overall level of interest rates in the country.
An additional complication in macroeconomic management emerged after the liberalization of capital account transactions. Economic agents now had the option of keeping their financial assets in other countries’ financial systems. Initially, a perceived increase in the level of uncertainty and risk caused savers to switch out of Turkish liras into foreign exchange, but still within the Turkish financial system. However, any continuation of market tensions or perceptions of increasing risk prompted savers to shift from the Turkish financial system to those that were perceived to be more stable.
Often, the politicians failed to understand the implications of liberalization of both the financial and the foreign exchange systems on the conduct of the macroeconomic management of the country. They often did not realize that macroeconomic management tools that might be appropriate within a closed economy were no longer efficient or even effective in an open one. This fundamental failure to understand the need for a change in the policy mechanism and to appreciate the constraints imposed on the policy options by the liberalization of the foreign exchange system led the Turkish economy to experience a severe financial crisis in 1994, followed by the deepest recession since the Second World War. This serves as a dramatic example of the importance of policymakers understanding fully the policy implications of liberalization before they embark on reform.
The liquidity ratio requires commercial banks to hold a portfolio of government securities whose weekly average of daily market values must be greater than or equal to a certain percentage of banks’ outstanding liabilities subject to the liquidity requirement at the end of each week. The compliance period lags the measurement date by two weeks.
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It took many months of rehearsal for the _______ to perfect her part.
It was difficult to detect the play's _______.
It was so suspenseful that the audience could not wait for the _______.
The practice scene had to be re-done because the actor was supposed to be moving _______.
You could feel the anticipation of the crowd during the _______.
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0.999027 |
How to use the Google Calendar API from VB.NET.
I searched and searched, but I couldn't find any complete examples which showed how to directly work with the Google Calendar API, so after piecing together my solution from many many different examples, I decided to publish this small project as much for my own needs to cement the methodologies in my own mind as to help others who may also need to do the same.
There are several similar articles that I draw from, one of those is here on The Code Project: Using Google Calendar with ASP.NET by Igor Alekseev.
In fact, up to the point when I found his article, I'd been having a very hard time getting my events to go into the particular calendar where I wanted them to go, and Igor's code was the first that I'd come across that clearly defined out which URIs were which for the Google service.
I've sort of mimicked Igor's method of passing the CalendarService object ByRef to subsequent functions, because this is key in avoiding getting smacked by the Google Ban Hammer, which can provide some interesting errors in the middle of your testing!
Up until I discovered "substring(63)" I was having a helluva time getting reliable calendar IDs!
I strived to maintain two different methodologies with this code, one being a single call, and the other being a compound call... the single call is used in my own application when, for instance, a new row is added to a table of our database. I can make one call and push that data to the calendar... that method also makes it very well suited for Web Service calls. The other method is nice when you need to perform multiple steps from your client code, it allows you to get your CalendarService object in one call, and then continually reuse it in your subsequent actions so that your login is not repeated against Google for each call.
Once you get over the fact that most of the code and documentation on the internet is for projects in C#, with a little work, you end up finding that the API is actually pretty easy to work with. With continued development, this project could easily progress into a full featured wrapper interface for all calendar access.
In my own usage, I also have extra database code right within this file, so I can just pass a record ID to some functions, and they automatically publish, update, etc., the needed record to/from the calendar in a pretty much real time fashion.
' using ASP.NET AJAX, uncomment the following line.
Private Const userName As String = "[email protected]"
Private Const userPassword As String = "SomeStrongPassword"
#Region "Single Call Public Functions"
'' Easy override to go back to the users' primary calendar!!!
Dim strOut As String = ""
strOut = "No Results found"
Dim strOut As String = "", strVal As String = ""
12/31/2011 - This is my first publishing of this article and code, and I'm sure there'll need to be some updates as this is the first time that I've separated it from the rest of my application.
An Information Technologist for 20+ years, now, I enjoy balancing my time between work, play, and family.
This Code is obsolete since Nov. 17th 2014 because google shut off the Api v2. Now you have to use the APIv3.
Does the sample still working ? by me he stop to work since a few days, perhaps some change by Google authentification ?
Ok, this works well. I also started with the Igor's code just to get my feet wet then progressed to your version. I needed a simple basic way to manage the google calendar and your class got me close enough to prove the concept and move forward. Thank you for sharing code.
[ calFeed.Entries(x).Id.AbsoluteUri.Substring(55) ] because the updated URI prefix is : http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/default/calendars/ which is 55 letters.
Dim LastWord As String = "/calendars/"
I can get the calendar data to a label but not to an iframe. How do you get it to an iframe? The one shown does not work. Please help. Thanks.
I copied ur code and call the web service from another page i found this error.
Google.GData.Calendar.CalendarService cannot be serialized because it does not have a parameterless constructor.
Could you clarify what value is needed to delete an event from the calendar??
Oh... Well, technically, that would be an "artifact" of my internal database where this code is actually used in production! Basically, though, it is a unique identifier that can be used to track down a specific record (event) in the calendar because it is embedded into the description. I'm debating using a modified process which would obtain the actual "calendar id" from the google calendar, and then store that back into the database, and that would be used for future updates and/or deletions of that event against the calendar.
Understood. I added a function to be able to use dynamic credentials from a database.
I have one more question, I would like to be able to show the private .ICS file to make it easier for my users to add the subscribed calendar without going all the way to google, log in, and look it up. Is there any way this can be done from the code within the site?
I have also NO CLUE how to create ALL DAY events... i looked through the code.google.com but i can get it to work.
Clarification is not enough. I think it will be very nice to add more explanation on your code snippets.
If there's something in particular that you're having a problem with, let me know, and I'll update it!
I think I'm almost there but I have a couple of questions. I followed Igor Alekseev article up to successfully loading and referencing the google dlls.
Where do I place your GoogleCalSvc.asmx.vb file?
Secondly, what code do I use for my aspx page?
Hello, sorry I didn't see your post right away!
The simple answer to "where does the file go" is that it should probably go right into the root of your project.
Code-wise, maybe something like this? At least as a starting point, because you need to establish the connection to google, via the Calendar Service, and pass that, byref, to the function which also needs to know the name of your calendar; this is the name that you see in your side bar, on the left of the calendar.
Or something like that, for sure... Not sure if you see what I'm driving at, but my module does emit those URIs all made up for you though I think you'll have to embed your ctz parameter somewhere inside of the module.
OK. I tried to use <iframe...> but only works if calendar is 'public', otherwisw it fails showing calendar.
It seems like Authenticates OK showing events but not on the iframe. Any idea?
Any way to show the events in the Google calendar ?
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A Mughal mausoleum in the city of Agra in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, often described as a “jewel box”, sometimes called the “Baby Tāj”, the tomb of I’timād-ud-Daulah is often regarded as a draft of the Tāj Mahal.
Along with the main building, the structure consists of numerous outbuildings and gardens. The tomb, built between 1622 and 1628 represents a transition between the first phase of monumental Mughal architecture – primarily built from red sandstone with marble decorations, as in Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi and Akbar’s tomb in Sikandra – to its second phase, based on white marble and pietra dura inlay, most elegantly realized in the Tāj Mahal.
The mausoleum was commissioned by Nūr Jahān, the wife of Jahangir, for her father Mirzā Ghiyās Beg, originally a Persian Amir in exile. who had been given the title of I’timād-ud-Daulah (pillar of the state). Mirzā Ghiyās Beg was also the grandfather of Mumtāz Mahāl (originally named Arjūmand Bāno, daughter of Asaf Khān), the wife of the emperor Shāh Jahān, responsible for the construction of the Tāj Mahal.
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Genghis Khan seated in the center and Jochi standing in the left.
There is some question as to Jochi's true paternity. Shortly after Börte's marriage to Genghis Khan (known as Temüjin at the time), she was abducted by members of the Mergid confederation. She was given to a certain Chilger Bökh, who was the brother of the Yehe Chiledu, as a spoil of war. She remained in Chilger Bökh's captivity for a few months before she was recovered by Temüjin. Shortly afterwards she gave birth to Jochi. By all accounts, Genghis Khan treated Jochi as his first son, but a doubt always remained whether Temüjin or Chilger Bökh was the real father of Jochi. This uncertainty about his paternity was not without consequences. Jochi's descendants, although they formed the oldest branch of Genghis Khan's family, were never considered for the succession in claiming their father's heritage and there were signs of estrangement between Jochi and Genghis Khan.
A Mughal miniature painting of Genghis Khan his wife Börte and their sons.
In 1207, Jochi conquered several of the forest peoples in Siberia, extending the northern border of the Mongol Empire for the first time. On behalf of his father, Jochi led two campaigns against the Kyrgyz, in 1210 and in 1218. Jochi played a major role in the Khwarezm war of 1219–1221 in Central Asia – his forces captured the towns of Signak, Jand, and Yanikant in April, 1220, during this war. Subsequently, he was given the command of operation against the city of Urgench (Gurganj, in present-day Turkmenistan), the capital of the Khwarezmian Empire. Here the siege of the town suffered delays because Jochi engaged in extensive negotiation with the town to persuade it to surrender peacefully and to save it from destruction. Jochi's brother Chagatai regarded this action as militarily unsound: Chagatai wanted to destroy the city but Genghis Khan had promised the city to Jochi after his victory. This difference of opinion on military affairs deepened a rift between Jochi and Chagatai. Genghis Khan intervened in the campaign and appointed Ögedei as the commander of the operation. Ögedei resumed the operations vigorously – capturing, sacking and thoroughly destroying the town and massacring its inhabitants (1221).
The differences in tactics between Jochi and Chagatai in early 1221 added to their personal quarrel about the succession. To settle the matter, Genghis Khan called the political and military council called a "kurultai" - a formal meeting used both in familial matters and in matters of state. Temüjin had won election/appointment as Khan of his tribe during a kurultai, and he called them often during his early campaigns to garner public support for his wars – such meetings were key to Genghis Khan's legitimacy. Tribal tradition was also critical. As Genghis Khan's first-born son, Jochi was favored[by whom?] to rule the clan and the empire after his father died. At the familial kurultai called in 1222, Chagatai raised the issue of Jochi's legitimacy. At that meeting, Genghis Khan made it clear that Jochi was his legitimate first-born son. However, he worried that the quarrelsome nature of the two would split the empire. By early 1223 Genghis Khan had selected Ögedei, his third son, as his successor. For the sake of preserving the Empire, both Jochi and Chagatai agreed, but the rift between them never healed. Their rift would later politically divide the European part of the Mongol Empire from its Asian part permanently.
During the autumn of 1223 Genghis Khan started for Mongolia after completing the Khwarezm campaign. Ögedei, Chagatai and Tolui went with him but Jochi withdrew to his territories north of Aral and Caspian Seas. There he remained until his death and would not see his father again in his lifetime.
Though the histories are unclear, there is evidence that Jochi conspired against Genghis, and that Genghis in return pondered a pre-emptive strike. When Genghis Khan returned home he sent for Jochi. When the latter refused to obey and asked a pardon Genghis Khan sent Chagatai and Ögedei against him. But before it came to open hostilities, news came that Jochi had died in February 1226.
Genghis Khan had divided his empire into khanates among his four surviving sons during his lifetime. Jochi was entrusted with the westernmost part of the empire, then lying between Ural (Jaiq, Djaik, Iaik, Jaiakh) and Irtysh rivers. In the Kurultai of 1229 following Genghis Khan's death, this partition was formalized and Jochi's family (Jochi himself had died six months before Genghis Khan) was allocated the lands in the west up to 'as far as the hooves of Mongol horses had trodden'. Following the Mongol custom, Genghis Khan bequeathed only four thousand 'original' Mongol troops to each of his three elder sons and 101,000 to Tolui, his youngest son. Consequently, Jochi's descendants extended their empire mostly with the help of auxiliary troops from the subjugated populations which happened to be Turkic. This was the chief reason why the Golden Horde acquired a Turkic identity. Jochi's inheritance was divided among his sons. His sons Orda and Batu founded the White Horde and the Blue Horde, respectively, and would later combine their territories into the Kipchak Khanate or Golden Horde. Another of Jochi's sons, Shiban, received territories that lay north of Batu and Orda's Ülüs.
Genghis Khan had made Jochi responsible for the supervision and conduct of the community hunt. Hunting was essentially a large scale military exercise designed specifically for the training of the army. It frequently encompassed thousands of square kilometers of area, required the participation of several tumens and lasted anywhere between one and three months. Rules and procedure of the conduct of the military exercise were encoded in the Yassa.
Certain incidences hint towards the fact that Jochi was of a kinder disposition than Genghis Khan, though the adjective “kind” must be interpreted by the standards of his times and milieu because Jochi had had his share of indulgence in massacres of civilians. On one occasion Jochi pleaded with his father to spare the life of a son of an enemy chief who had been taken captive and who happened to be a great archer. Jochi argued that such a great archer could be an asset to the Mongol army. Genghis Khan brushed aside this argument and had the captive executed.
Jochi's descendant Berke was among the earliest Mongols to convert to Islam. Among his other descendants were Öz Beg Khan, Tokhtamysh and Hacı I Giray.
Under Jochi's son Batu, Mongol rule expanded to its westernmost limit, and the Golden Horde (Kipchak Khanate) was established to consolidate the Jochid ulus.
Teval (Buval). He was the grandfather of Nogai Khan.
Tuq-timur, the ancestor of late khans of the Great Horde.
Qoluyiqan. She married Törelchi, eldest son of Quduqa-beki of the Oirats.
Daughter who married the Qarluq chief of Almaliq.
Jochi appeared as a supporting character in the 2007 Japanese-Mongolian film Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea, played by Kenichi Matsuyama.
^ Kołodziejczyk 2011, p. 4.
^ Genghis Khan: The man who conquered the World: "Jochi (c.1182-1227). Eldest 'son' of Genghis"
^ Soucek, Svat A History of Inner Asia (2000), page 107.
^ The Secret History of the Mongols: The life and times of Chinggis Khan (2001) Onon, Urgunge [ed.], Abingdon: Routledge-Curzon Press, pp. 222-223. "He [Chinggis Qahan] gave ... Jochi's daughter Qoluyiqan to Inalchi's elder brother Törelchi."
This page was last edited on 13 February 2019, at 17:20 (UTC).
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I read a story that Joel Osteen told about a Hindu priest, a Jewish rabbi, and a televangelist who were taking a trip together when their car broke down. They decided to walk to a nearby farmhouse and ask the farmer if they could spend the night there. The farmer told them that he only had room for two of them in the house, so one person would have to sleep in the barn behind the house.
The Hindu priest volunteered to sleep in the barn, and they all went to bed. Five minutes later there was a knock on the back door. It was the Hindu priest. He explained that he hadn't known that there was a cow in the barn, and that as a Hindu he couldn't sleep in a barn with a cow because cows were sacred in his religion.
The rabbi said that a cow wouldn't bother him, and he volunteered to take his place in the barn. Everybody went to bed, but five minutes later there was a knock on the back door. It was the rabbi. He explained that he hadn't known that there was a pig in the barn, and there was no way he could sleep with a pig because it was unclean.
Then the televangelist told everyone that neither a cow nor a pig would bother him, and he volunteered to take the rabbi's place. Everybody went back to bed and five minutes later there was a knock at the back door.
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!
Notice that James’ specific concern isn’t that people might be rich – it’s that they are “storing up” their treasures! Such riches end up rusting or eaten by moths.
4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.
The temptation to hoard riches, and to always want more, and to be willing to cheat others in order to get more, has existed since the invention of money itself.
He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity. 11 When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on? 12 The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep. 13 There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt.
“…the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.
2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? 5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?
So let me ask you this interesting question? Is there anything in these verses that relates to the message of the resurrection?
Since we’re here on Easter Sunday, can we get any insight into what James is saying when we view these verses in the context of the empty tomb?
I believe we can. I believe that the very fact that there is such a thing as life after death should help us to gain a more balanced perspective on how much earthly wealth is truly necessary, and how to keep our view of money in balance.
“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20 And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.
Without the perspective of the resurrection, all we have here is two men, one rich and one poor. If this earthly life is all that there is, one is very lucky the other not so much. We might wish we were the rich man and be glad that we aren’t the poor man.
22 Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.
That’s quite a reversal of fortunes, isn’t it? Notice that it doesn’t say that the rich man was in Hades BECAUSE he was rich, but at bare minimum we could say that all of his riches couldn’t save him from Hades. Poor Lazarus on the other hand had experienced a terrible earthly life, but he was now comforted by angels in a place known as Abraham’s bosom, where righteous Jews waited for the Messiah to come and open the gates of heaven for them.
Suddenly these two men were in very different places than when they had been alive. And the rich man, who wouldn’t even give Lazarus the crumbs from his table, now wishes that Abraham would send Lazarus to bring just a drop of water to quench his thirsty agony.
Think about this for a minute – what does the rich man want Lazarus to warn his five brothers about? Could it be that he now realizes that chasing after money, hoarding money, and showing no compassion on the poor is what landed him in Hades? And possibly his younger brothers are following the same greedy path that he laid out before them. If so, they’re going to end up in Hades with him.
‘You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
Abraham is making a very good point here. Neither this rich man nor his brothers have any excuse for hoarding up riches and ignoring the poor. God has spoken very clearly about these things.
Do you see it there? “If someone goes to them from the dead.” The rich man believes that by sending Lazarus back from the dead, it will be a real wake-up call to his brothers. Surely that will make them reconsider their greedy ways!
But what does Abraham say?
If people don’t want to hear the truth when God is stating it so plainly in His word, it won’t make any difference to them even if someone rose from the dead!
Is Abraham right about that?
Think about it. Jesus definitively rose from the dead. He walked the earth after His resurrection and showed himself openly to many people before his ascension back into heaven. But there are many, many people who still continue to chase after riches, to hoard riches, to cheat other people out of what is rightfully theirs, and to ignore the poor.
Abraham was right. For some people, even the reality that there is eternal life beyond this earthly life does not affect their desire for more and more material goods – no matter what they have to do to get them.
Do you remember when I said to pay close attention to Isaiah 58:7?
What did Isaiah says about what God is looking for from His people?
Does the resurrection affect how we view earthly riches? It should. One day we will all stand before the resurrected king, Jesus, the one who conquered death. And he will examine us regarding how we treated the least fortunate ones that we had the opportunity to help. His sheep will be shown to be His followers because they had His heart, a heart of compassion for the weak, the poor, and the hurting. The goats will have shown themselves to be nothing like his sheep. Their main concern in this life was for themselves only. And because of that they never really surrendered their lives as true followers of Jesus. Like the rich man’s brothers in the parable of Lazarus, even Jesus rising from the dead didn’t change their hearts.
Let me ask you an important question today: Does your attitude towards earthly wealth represent a heart of compassion or a heart of possession? Only one of those attitudes reflects a true belief in the resurrection.
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United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), byname Earth Summit, conference held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (June 3–14, 1992), to reconcile worldwide economic development with protection of the environment. The Earth Summit was the largest gathering of world leaders as of 1992, with 117 heads of state and representatives of 178 nations in all attending. By means of treaties and other documents signed at the conference, most of the world’s nations nominally committed themselves to the pursuit of economic development in ways that would protect the Earth’s environment and nonrenewable resources.
The main documents agreed upon at the Earth Summit are as follows. The Convention on Biological Diversity is a binding treaty requiring nations to take inventories of their plants and wild animals and protect their endangered species. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or Global Warming Convention, is a binding treaty that requires nations to reduce their emission of carbon dioxide, methane, and other “greenhouse” gases thought to be responsible for global warming; the treaty stopped short of setting binding targets for emission reductions, however. Such targets were eventually established in an amendment to the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol (1997), which was superceded by the Paris Agreement on climate change (2015). The Declaration on Environment and Development, or Rio Declaration, laid down 27 broad, nonbinding principles for environmentally sound development. Agenda 21 outlined global strategies for cleaning up the environment and encouraging environmentally sound development. The Statement of Principles on Forests, aimed at preserving the world’s rapidly vanishing tropical rainforests, is a nonbinding statement recommending that nations monitor and assess the impact of development on their forest resources and take steps to limit the damage done to them.
The Earth Summit was hampered by disputes between the wealthy industrialized nations of the North (i.e., western Europe and North America) and the poorer developing countries of the South (i.e., Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and parts of Asia). In general, the countries of the South were reluctant to hamper their economic growth with the environmental restrictions urged upon them by the North unless they received increased Northern financial aid, which they claimed would help make environmentally sound growth possible.
The U.S. Republican Party's 2012 platform described Agenda 21 as "erosive of American sovereignty."
Conspiracy theorists have claimed that the UN plans to force suburban Americans into urban areas and to mandate contraception to control the population.
Despite claims that the UN wields central powers to control human life on Earth through Agenda 21, there is nothing in the Agenda to this effect nor any evidence of this control in practice.
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0.979738 |
Easter comes a bit early for space fans of "Captain Marvel," the latest movie in the Marvel universe, which follows the origin stories of Marvel herself (Brie Larson) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) back in the 1990s. The film is full of space-related Easter eggs for people who look closely. Here's what Space.com saw in a recent screening..
Note: This article contains mild spoilers for "Captain Marvel."
The characters in "Captain Marvel" unexpectedly come across the arcade version of "Space Invaders," while discussing an incredible high score by a kid who had the chance to play it frequently. Many of the first popular computer games were played in arcades (stores with banks of gaming machines), including "Space Invaders" — a Japanese arcade game first released in 1978. "Space Invaders" allowed players to defeat aliens by using a laser to zap them. The game was later released in home-console form in 1980, for use with the Atari VCS console and remains highly cited in pop culture today.
Early in "Captain Marvel," a character wanders into a videocassette store and peruses the movies available in the aisles. In the 1990s, people had to pop over to their corner store to rent movies. Viewers of "Captain Marvel" can see a whole bunch of familiar titles on the shelves, but the screenwriters make a point of having the character pick up "The Right Stuff" and peer at the cover.
What was "The Right Stuff"? This 1983 movie was based on a Tom Wolfe novel of the same name. The story follows the fighter pilots and test pilots of the 1950s and 1960s who, in some cases, went on to become the first astronauts in NASA's Project Mercury. The movie was popular in theaters and remains highly cited today, although the way it portrayed historical events is controversial. In 2016, NASA historian Bill Barry said the historical interpretations in the film were "cringe worthy." However, Chuck Yeager — the 96-year-old aviator who was the first to break the sound barrier — recently said on Twitter that the movie "portrays them [the Mercury astronauts] pretty well."
Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) visits Pancho's Bar in "Captain Marvel" (2019). A vintage aeronautic photo can be seen in the background.
Shortly after "The Right Stuff" is shown in "Captain Marvel," a character drives out to Rosamond, Calif., and makes a pit stop at a location known as Pancho's Bar. This is clearly another reference to "The Right Stuff," for two reasons. The first is that there are pictures of fighter jets and their pilots all over the walls. The second is, for viewers who are familiar with the book "Pancho's Bar," the name is a reference to The Happy Bottom Riding Club, a popular drinking location for pilots at nearby Edwards Air Force Base (then known as Muroc Army Air Field).
The club was run by Pancho Barnes, a female pilot who not only flew stunts and appeared in movies, flying airplanes, but who also broke Amelia Earhart's air-speed record in 1930, according to "Encyclopedia Britannica." As seen in the movie, Pancho's Bar had pictures of airplanes and pilots on the walls. The real-life bar burned down in the 1950s and was never rebuilt.
In "Captain Marvel," we get a lot of discussion about a plane project known as Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. The project, which is not based on a real-world initiative, included a fictional collaboration between NASA and the United States Air Force to use a newly discovered technology to make planes fly nearly as fast as the speed of light. We can't say too much about the project without getting into major spoilers here, but we'll emphasize that P.E.G.A.S.U.S. is very important in the Marvel universe and to the plot of "Captain Marvel."
Besides Easter eggs, there's plenty of eye candy for space fans in "Captain Marvel." You'll see a variety of spaceships, a special bodysuit that can be used in the cosmos, and views of several planets floating in space. By the way, Earth has a few different designations among alien species in the film; they call our planet "C-53," "Terra" or "Midgard," depending on who you're talking to.
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Italy is one of the leading countries in fashion design, alongside others such as France, USA, Great Britain and Japan. Fashion has always been an important part of the country's cultural life and society, and Italians are well known for their attention of dressing-up well la bella figura, or good impression, remains traditional in the Italian way of living! Italian design became prominent during the 11th-16th centuries, when artistic development in Italy was at its peak. Cities such as Venice, Milan, Florence and Vicenza started to produce luxury goods, hats, cosmetics, jewelry and rich fabrics. During the 17th-early 20th centuries, Italian fashion lost its importance and lustre, and Europe's main trendsetter became France, with the great popularity of French fashion this is due to the luxury dresses which were designed for the courtiers of Louis XIV. However, since the 1951-53 fashion soirées held by Giovanni Battista Giorgini in Florence, the Italian school started to compete with the French haute couture, and labels such as Ferragamo and Gucci began to contend with Chanel and Dior. In 2009, according to the Global Language Monitor, Milan, Italy's centre of design, was ranked the top fashion capital of the world, and Rome was ranked 4th, and, despite both cities fell down places in subsequent rankings, in 2011, Florence entered as the 31st world fashion capital. Milan is generally considered to be part of the big four global fashion capitals, which, aside from the Italian city, consist of New York City, Paris and London occasionally, the big five also includes Rome. Examples of major Italian fashion houses are Gucci, Armani, Emilio Pucci, Valentino, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Ferragamo, Roberto Cavalli, Trussardi, Versace, Krizia, Etro, Miu Miu, Laura Biagiotti, Max Mara, Fendi, Moschino, Missoni, Bottega Veneta, Benetton and Brioni fashion, to name a few. Italy also is home to many fashion magazines, such as Grazia, Vogue Italia, Amica, Flair, Gioia. Other Italian accessory and jewelry brands, such as Luxottica and Bulgari are amongst the most important in the world.
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0.99999 |
We have a room on our campus with 6 Smart Bars with stage pin connectors. Each Smart Bar has 4 575w source four ellipsoidal's connected.
Recently, 1 Smart Bar has two fixtures that "ghost" on, or stay on with a very small percentage of power, no matter what fixture is plugged into it. Since this issue has come up, we also have 2 separate Smart Bars where one two of the fixtures dim perfectly normal, but the other 2 fixtures on the same bar will not dim. They will only turn on when the dimming reaches 100%.
We use two dmx systems for the room - a unison wall panel & ADJ myDMX 2.0. The problem occurs under use of both systems. I don't believe this is a DMX issue, but I'm not positive. I've also been told this room has been known for electrical problems, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was a power phasing issue. Is there anything I can do on my end with the Smart Bars to continuing troubleshooting?
both issues sound like the wrong dimmer curve: the one that glow could have teh Pre-heat curve and the switching ones could have could have a non-dim curve. go to the menu, to the option Dimmer Curves.
I've looked at all the curves on each bar, and each bar is set to square law. The bar with the "ghosting" did have constant levels sent to the fixtures, so I cleared that problem. I'm still having issues with other two bars, however. There are no abnormal settings on either of those bars, and I also did a factory reset and dmx re-address to no avail - still the same problem. I took a quick video to demonstrate the problem (if that helps).
Address one of the bad lights the same as a good light. If that fixes the problem - then it's something with the console. If it doesn't fix the problem - it's the light.
I've changed the addresses to the same as a working light, and I still have the same issue. I've also plugged the "non" working lights into a "working" channel, and they dim just fine, so it's not the lights either. I'm starting to think there is an issue with the SmartBars. I've gone through every setting, including the manual dimming and chase settings on the bars, having the same issue with dimmers either being on or off. No matter which way I configure the system, still the same problem.
For now I have a workaround in place by plugging in the 4 lights with faulty dimmer channels into spare channels, so that will work for the time being. I'll call the local AVL company and have them take a look at the electrical system.
Which exact type of SmartBar? We've done a few different ones.
The original SmartBar 1 had two ways to set Switched mode - Switched dimmer curve and "I/O" mode. Make sure that is off.
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0.948298 |
This class is not a general-purpose Map implementation! While this class implements the Map interface, it intentionally violates Map's general contract, which mandates the use of the equals method when comparing objects. This class is designed for use only in the rare cases wherein reference-equality semantics are required.
A typical use of this class is topology-preserving object graph transformations, such as serialization or deep-copying. To perform such a transformation, a program must maintain a "node table" that keeps track of all the object references that have already been processed. The node table must not equate distinct objects even if they happen to be equal. Another typical use of this class is to maintain proxy objects. For example, a debugging facility might wish to maintain a proxy object for each object in the program being debugged.
This class provides all of the optional map operations, and permits null values and the null key. This class makes no guarantees as to the order of the map; in particular, it does not guarantee that the order will remain constant over time.
This class provides constant-time performance for the basic operations (get and put), assuming the system identity hash function (System.identityHashCode(Object)) disperses elements properly among the buckets.
This class has one tuning parameter (which affects performance but not semantics): expected maximum size. This parameter is the maximum number of key-value mappings that the map is expected to hold. Internally, this parameter is used to determine the number of buckets initially comprising the hash table. The precise relationship between the expected maximum size and the number of buckets is unspecified.
If the size of the map (the number of key-value mappings) sufficiently exceeds the expected maximum size, the number of buckets is increased Increasing the number of buckets ("rehashing") may be fairly expensive, so it pays to create identity hash maps with a sufficiently large expected maximum size. On the other hand, iteration over collection views requires time proportional to the the number of buckets in the hash table, so it pays not to set the expected maximum size too high if you are especially concerned with iteration performance or memory usage.
Note that the fail-fast behavior of an iterator cannot be guaranteed as it is, generally speaking, impossible to make any hard guarantees in the presence of unsynchronized concurrent modification. Fail-fast iterators throw ConcurrentModificationException on a best-effort basis. Therefore, it would be wrong to write a program that depended on this exception for its correctness: fail-fast iterators should be used only to detect bugs.
Implementation note: This is a simple linear-probe hash table, as described for example in texts by Sedgewick and Knuth. The array alternates holding keys and values. (This has better locality for large tables than does using separate arrays.) For many JRE implementations and operation mixes, this class will yield better performance than HashMap (which uses chaining rather than linear-probing).
The initial capacity used by the no-args constructor.
This field is initialized to contain an instance of the entry set view the first time this view is requested.
The maximum capacity, used if a higher value is implicitly specified by either of the constructors with arguments.
The minimum capacity, used if a lower value is implicitly specified by either of the constructors with arguments.
Value representing null keys inside tables.
The number of key-value mappings contained in this identity hash map.
The table, resized as necessary.
Enabled: Constructs a new, empty identity hash map with a default expected maximum size (21).
Enabled: Constructs a new, empty map with the specified expected maximum size.
Enabled: Constructs a new identity hash map containing the keys-value mappings in the specified map.
Returns the appropriate capacity for the specified expected maximum size.
Enabled: Removes all mappings from this map.
Suppressed: Returns a shallow copy of this identity hash map: the keys and values themselves are not cloned.
Rehash all possibly-colliding entries following a deletion.
Enabled: Tests whether the specified object reference is a key in this identity hash map.
Tests if the specified key-value mapping is in the map.
Enabled: Tests whether the specified object reference is a value in this identity hash map.
Enabled: Returns a set view of the mappings contained in this map.
Suppressed: Compares the specified object with this map for equality.
Enabled: Returns the value to which the specified key is mapped in this identity hash map, or null if the map contains no mapping for this key.
Return index for Object x.
Suppressed: Returns the hash code value for this map.
Initialize object to be an empty map with the specified initial capacity, which is assumed to be a power of two between MINIMUM_CAPACITY and MAXIMUM_CAPACITY inclusive.
Enabled: Returns true if this identity hash map contains no key-value mappings.
Enabled: Returns an identity-based set view of the keys contained in this map.
Use NULL_KEY for key if it is null.
Circularly traverse table of size len.
Enabled: Associates the specified value with the specified key in this identity hash map.
Enabled: Copies all of the mappings from the specified map to this map These mappings will replace any mappings that this map had for any of the keys currently in the specified map.
Reconstitute the IdentityHashMap instance from a stream (i.e., deserialize it).
Enabled: Removes the mapping for this key from this map if present.
Removes the specified key-value mapping from the map if it is present.
Resize the table to hold given capacity.
Enabled: Returns the number of key-value mappings in this identity hash map.
Save the state of the IdentityHashMap instance to a stream (i.e., serialize it).
The initial capacity used by the no-args constructor. MUST be a power of two. The value 32 corresponds to the (specified) expected maximum size of 21, given a load factor of 2/3.
The minimum capacity, used if a lower value is implicitly specified by either of the constructors with arguments. The value 4 corresponds to an expected maximum size of 2, given a load factor of 2/3. MUST be a power of two.
The maximum capacity, used if a higher value is implicitly specified by either of the constructors with arguments. MUST be a power of two <= 1<<29.
The table, resized as necessary. Length MUST always be a power of two.
This field is initialized to contain an instance of the entry set view the first time this view is requested. The view is stateless, so there's no reason to create more than one.
Enabled: Constructs a new, empty map with the specified expected maximum size. Putting more than the expected number of key-value mappings into the map may cause the internal data structure to grow, which may be somewhat time-consuming.
expectedMaxSize - the expected maximum size of the map.
m - the map whose mappings are to be placed into this map.
Returns the appropriate capacity for the specified expected maximum size. Returns the smallest power of two between MINIMUM_CAPACITY and MAXIMUM_CAPACITY, inclusive, that is greater than (3 * expectedMaxSize)/2, if such a number exists. Otherwise returns MAXIMUM_CAPACITY. If (3 * expectedMaxSize)/2 is negative, it is assumed that overflow has occurred, and MAXIMUM_CAPACITY is returned.
true if this identity hash map contains no key-value mappings.
Enabled: Returns the value to which the specified key is mapped in this identity hash map, or null if the map contains no mapping for this key. A return value of null does not necessarily indicate that the map contains no mapping for the key; it is also possible that the map explicitly maps the key to null. The containsKey method may be used to distinguish these two cases.
true if the specified object reference is a key in this map.
true if this map maps one or more keys to the specified object reference.
true if and only if the specified key-value mapping is in map.
Enabled: Associates the specified value with the specified key in this identity hash map. If the map previously contained a mapping for this key, the old value is replaced.
key - the key with which the specified value is to be associated.
value - the value to be associated with the specified key.
newCapacity - the new capacity, must be a power of two.
true if and only if the specified key-value mapping was in map.
Rehash all possibly-colliding entries following a deletion. This preserves the linear-probe collision properties required by get, put, etc.
Suppressed: Compares the specified object with this map for equality. Returns true if the given object is also a map and the two maps represent identical object-reference mappings. More formally, this map is equal to another map m if and only if map this.entrySet().equals(m.entrySet()).
Owing to the reference-equality-based semantics of this map it is possible that the symmetry and transitivity requirements of the Object.equals contract may be violated if this map is compared to a normal map. However, the Object.equals contract is guaranteed to hold among IdentityHashMap instances.
Suppressed: Returns the hash code value for this map. The hash code of a map is defined to be the sum of the hashcode of each entry in the map's entrySet view. This ensures that t1.equals(t2) implies that t1.hashCode()==t2.hashCode() for any two IdentityHashMap instances t1 and t2, as required by the general contract of Object.hashCode().
Owing to the reference-equality-based semantics of the Map.Entry instances in the set returned by this map's entrySet method, it is possible that the contractual requirement of Object.hashCode mentioned in the previous paragraph will be violated if one of the two objects being compared is an IdentityHashMap instance and the other is a normal map.
Enabled: Returns an identity-based set view of the keys contained in this map. The set is backed by the map, so changes to the map are reflected in the set, and vice-versa. If the map is modified while an iteration over the set is in progress, the results of the iteration are undefined. The set supports element removal, which removes the corresponding mapping from the map, via the Iterator.remove, Set.remove, removeAll retainAll, and clear methods. It does not support the add or addAll methods.
While the object returned by this method implements the Set interface, it does not obey Set's general contract. Like its backing map, the set returned by this method defines element equality as reference-equality rather than object-equality. This affects the behavior of its contains, remove, containsAll, equals, and hashCode methods.
The equals method of the returned set returns true only if the specified object is a set containing exactly the same object references as the returned set. The symmetry and transitivity requirements of the Object.equals contract may be violated if the set returned by this method is compared to a normal set. However, the Object.equals contract is guaranteed to hold among sets returned by this method.
The hashCode method of the returned set returns the sum of the identity hashcodes of the elements in the set, rather than the sum of their hashcodes. This is mandated by the change in the semantics of the equals method, in order to enforce the general contract of the Object.hashCode method among sets returned by this method.
an identity-based set view of the keys contained in this map.
Returns a collection view of the values contained in this map. The collection is backed by the map, so changes to the map are reflected in the collection, and vice-versa. If the map is modified while an iteration over the collection is in progress, the results of the iteration are undefined. The collection supports element removal, which removes the corresponding mapping from the map, via the Iterator.remove, Collection.remove, removeAll, retainAll and clear methods. It does not support the add or addAll methods.
While the object returned by this method implements the Collection interface, it does not obey Collection's general contract. Like its backing map, the collection returned by this method defines element equality as reference-equality rather than object-equality. This affects the behavior of its contains, remove and containsAll methods.
Enabled: Returns a set view of the mappings contained in this map. Each element in the returned set is a reference-equality-based Map.Entry. The set is backed by the map, so changes to the map are reflected in the set, and vice-versa. If the map is modified while an iteration over the set is in progress, the results of the iteration are undefined. The set supports element removal, which removes the corresponding mapping from the map, via the Iterator.remove, Set.remove, removeAll, retainAll and clear methods. It does not support the add or addAll methods.
Like the backing map, the Map.Entry objects in the set returned by this method define key and value equality as reference-equality rather than object-equality. This affects the behavior of the equals and hashCode methods of these Map.Entry objects. A reference-equality based Map.Entry e is equal to an object o if and only if o is a Map.Entry and e.getKey()==o.getKey() && e.getValue()==o.getValue(). To accommodate these equals semantics, the hashCode method returns System.identityHashCode(e.getKey()) ^ System.identityHashCode(e.getValue()).
Owing to the reference-equality-based semantics of the Map.Entry instances in the set returned by this method, it is possible that the symmetry and transitivity requirements of the Object.equals(Object) contract may be violated if any of the entries in the set is compared to a normal map entry, or if the set returned by this method is compared to a set of normal map entries (such as would be returned by a call to this method on a normal map). However, the Object.equals contract is guaranteed to hold among identity-based map entries, and among sets of such entries.
a set view of the identity-mappings contained in this map.
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0.998379 |
Movies created by The Asylum are known for being bad. But this is the kind of bad that tries to go all the way to being somehow good, if you get what I mean. And this is not a bad thing - the realm of B-movies is a key part of our shared pop culture history and celebrates what one can come up with on a very limited budget.
Interesting enough, SyFy has long recognized this role that B-movies play in our lives and regularly features such movies much to our mixed glee and dismay. And even in these modern times with digital filmmaking and related CGI effects, it's still pretty easy to make cheesily bad movies.
A part of me still misses the bad costumes and cardboard sets of the older film era, but then these movies are still pretty campy in their own right. And Sharknado certainly has a most special place given it takes "jumping the shark" to a whole new level of craziness.
Synopsis: Sharknado is a 2013 made-for-TV disaster movie that first debuted on the SyFy channel. It was directed by Anthony C. Ferrante based on a screenplay by Thunder Levin.
A hurricane hits Los Angeles and the waterspouts created by the hurricane somehow scoop up hordes of man-eating sharks from the ocean and send them flying into the air. Thus the resulting "sharknadoes" end up raining destruction on the city in terms of both regular hurricane damage and random sharks falling out of the sky. It's a ridiculous premise, but just work with me here and suspend your disbelief for a bit.
After surviving the initial wave of sharks, surfer and bar-owner Fin (Ian Ziering) realizes the danger that they all face and goes off to rescue his ex-wife and daughter. Accompanying him are his friends Baz (Jaason Simmons) and shotgun-wielding Nova (Cassie Scerbo). Thus they trio must brave hurricane debris and flying sharks as they navigate the horrors of the LA freeway system and get to Fin's family in time. Along the way they end up saving even more people and of course try to stop the sharknadoes entirely with explosives.
Where do I begin with this review? I guess one must consider that the movie does not set out to be good - it needs to be campy, cheesy and ultimately "bad". So when bad is the goal, you need to grade on the curve and celebrate the movie for what it is - at least this is generally what I've learned from great film critic Roger Ebert.
The movie features a lot of the cheesy tropes that we expect from fan-pandering b-movies like this one. Thus we have a hot girl with a shotgun blasting sharks to kingdom come and our hero Fin dual-wielding both a gun and a chainsaw to defeat the sharks in his way. Forget about logic and forget about the laws of physics - this movie simply does not care. Instead you're in for one campy roller coaster ride with a fair amount of the travel time spent discussing the best routes to take to get across Los Angeles faster.
I can't even say that the effects help redeem the movie since we have some of the hilariously worst sharks in the history of movies. They're all crudely animated and move without any regard for real-world physics and they can't even stay in scale! Add in the mixed use of random shark stock footage to fill up the other scenes and you have for some crazy shark attack moments. And this isn't even factoring in the inconsistent depiction of the weather that has the actors dealing with pouring rains and winds and yet just behind them the city is pretty dry. Oh joy.
Ziering and the rest of the cast manage to put in some of their best worst acting moments in their movie careers. Words fail me in how campy things get as they try to keep a straight face saying some of the craziest lines in history. But the thing is, it all works and you just need to sit back and laugh your head off as they dodge sharks and struggle to stay alive.
But the end of the movie you may feel a little dumber, but any great B-movie should make you feel that way. And it's a silly, good feeling that leaves you smiling for not identifiable reason. But I don't think you should watch this movie more than once - that may result in permanent brain damage. And I say this despite the fact that the movie actually includes subtle references to great shark movies like Jaws with muttered lines like "We're going to need a bigger chopper."
Sharknado knows what it wanted to accomplish and does precisely that in the span of 86 minutes of madness. And yes, the movie has been quite the social media sensation that it looks like there's going to be a sequel. But for now, I can only rate this movie as a 2 flying shark attacks out of 5, but that's actually a great score for a B-movie like this.
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0.999952 |
The following events and venues match your search for "SOUTHEASTERN RODEO ASSOCIATION". To sort the list, click on the column header. To find tickets for the given event, date & time, click the tickets link in that row. To find events taking place at a matching venue, click that venue name.
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0.904016 |
The mother of a young man who died suddenly while backpacking through South-East Asia told MailOnline today that although his family will never know what caused his death, they can take comfort in the incredible life he had and how many people's lives he touched.
James Hart, 29, from Mantua, New Jersey, died on March 30 after collapsing in a Cambodian street following several days of illness on his five-month trip.
His mom Donna Holmes Hart spoke on Wednesday about her 'full of life, clever son' who was a 'rock' to his younger siblings, made friends everywhere he went and spent days getting lost in bookstores.
Mr Hart had left the U.S. in January with his friend Derek Miller. The pair traveled around Thailand and Laos, before recently riding motorbikes from Vietnam into Cambodia, where they stayed on an isolated island without electricity.
Last week, the two friends began suffering from headaches, diarrhea and vomiting, forcing them to attend a tourists' clinic for basic treatment.
A short time later, Mr Hart collapsed in the street and despite resting, passed out again a short time later. Mr Miller rushed his friend to hospital but Mr Hart was pronounced dead on Sunday.
His mother said: 'Jimmy sent me an email the day before he died saying that he had been really sick for two days. He didn't complain - instead he said he had saved $50 for traveling because he wasn't able to eat.
Donna Hart said that her son was in great health and had never been in hospital. He loved going to the gym every day, eating well and hiking.
Before he left on his trip, Mr Hart and his mom, who works in healthcare, researched diseases that are specific to the region along with rates of infection.
Mr Hart had also visited a specialist travel doctor in Philadelphia for immunizations and was fully prepared, carrying prophylactics and antibiotics in his backpack.
Mr Hart's cause of death is unknown and will remain so after his body was cremated due to a lack of proper refrigeration at the morgue in the region. Cambodian authorities declared his cause of death as cardiac arrest.
Donna Hart said today that despite the fact she will never know how or why her son died - one person mentioned an aneurysm, another told her it could have been a bacterial infection - it will not change the fact he is gone.
James' younger brother Donnie Hart, who was the first to find out about his brother's death, told MailOnline today that he was struggling to come to terms with the devastating news.
James Hart, who attended Widener and Arizona State Universities, had also attended the Los Angeles Academy of Performing Arts and had dreams of becoming a film producer, his brother said.
The 29-year-old worked for Apple in California in his mid-twenties and later returned to work for the company in Philadelphia. However the 9-5 life was not for him and he decided to leave the rat race behind in favor of seeing the world.
Donnie Hart, who is a professional wrestler, said his brother believed there was 'more to life' than fancy clothes and flashy cars.
James had saved up, sold his belongings and started to travel - much like his idol Jack Kerouac.
In 2012, the two brothers embarked on a road trip across the U.S. that was inspired by James'love of Kerouac's classic On The Road, Donnie said.
James had a quote from the Beat novel, 'mad to live', tattooed on his upper arm in Venice Beach, California, before the pair set off on their drive across country.
The brothers also both had the same word 'ditto' as a tattoo - a reminder of what they would say to their mom when she told them she loved them. James had his inked across his heart.
James Hart's mother Donna has received messages of condolence from her son's friends across the world, many of whom he had met on his travels.
Ms Hart said that a young woman whom her son had stayed with in Madrid had gotten in touch to share how James had taken her a park in her home city that she never knew existed.
Another friend from France, whose apartment Mr Hart had 'couch-surfed' at, described him running across a highway to capture a picture of a sunset.
Ms Hart said: 'Someone who Jimmy met on a plane for a few hours when he was flying to Iceland sent me a message saying that he had inspired her to travel.
James Hart first headed to Europe in 2013 and walked the Way of St James, a historic route of pilgrims through Spain.
Donna Hart said: 'He was so impressed that he stayed another two weeks to attend Mass in Santiago de Compostela. He had a wonderful time, he just loved talking to people.
She remembered how the night before his trip he had stayed up late watching the movie of On The Road.
'He always had something, a look in his eyes that said ''let's go,''' she said of her son.
Mr Hart's social media accounts and blog, If I Were Going are testament to the 29-year-old's love of travel. They are filled with pictures of pristine beaches, treks through the jungle, a visit to a tiger sanctuary and hanging out with fellow travelers at moonlit parties.
James Hart is survived by his parents Donna and James Hart Snr, his brother Donnie and 28-year-old sister Brooke.
Funeral arrangements have been scheduled for April 12 in Mantua, New Jersey. Hundreds of people are expected to attend including Mr Hart's friends from as far afield as Spain and Italy.
Mr Hart's ashes are being brought home from Cambodia by his friend Derek Miller.
A fundraising page, Mad To Live RIP James Hart, has been set up to bring home Mr Hart's ashes. It has raised close to $15,000 in one day.
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0.998538 |
This is an intermediate-level mobbing session designed to answer the question: "What happens when a mobbing team is asked to use a language or framework completely new to all (or at least the large majority) of the people on the team?". Imagine a team that is asked to start maintaining or building new features in a legacy system they're unfamiliar with or their company makes a technology acquisition which means they have to adapt their knowledge to meet with an unfamiliar new language or framework. These are the types of situations we aim to simulate with this session.
Depending on the size of the session, we will have either one mob or break off into mobs of 4-6 people. At the beginning of the session everyone will be provided with a list of languages and frameworks, as well as a list of beginner-to-intermediate software engineering problems. It's up to each mob to spend about 10 minutes deciding on a language or framework with which no one in the mob has any significant experience and a problem or problems they'd like to try to solve with it. The rest of the session will see each mob use standard mobbing behaviors to learn together what is necessary about the language or framework of their choice to then implement at least one of the software engineering problems. We will break with about 10 minutes remaining to discuss our experiences, difficulties and successes with the session.
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0.917437 |
William Emerson "Will" Arnett (born May 4, 1970) is a Canadian actor, best known for his comedic roles as George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II in the Fox show Arrested Development, Devon Banks in the NBC show 30 Rock and Chris Brinkley in the NBC television series Up All Night. He played supporting roles in the IFC series The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret and films such as Semi-Pro, Blades of Glory, RV, Hot Rod, Let's Go to Prison and The Brothers Solomon. Arnett is also a voice over artist for commercials, films, television programs, and video games.
Arnett was born in Toronto, the son of Edith Alexandra (née Palk) and Emerson James Arnett, who was a corporate lawyer and brewer, among other occupations. Arnett briefly attended Lakefield College School in Lakefield, Ontario, but was asked not to return after a semester for being a troublemaker. The Subway Academy II allowed him to take theatre classes at the Tarragon Theatre. He eventually graduated from Leaside High School and attended Concordia University, Montreal for one semester, but dropped out. As a teenager, he was encouraged by his mother to pursue an acting career, auditioned for commercials in Toronto and enjoyed acting. In 1990, he moved to New York City to study acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, he appeared in plays in New York and his first acting role was in Felicity Huffman's independent film Erie, which was filmed on the Erie Canal.
In February 1996, Arnett began acting in television pilots. His first pilot was with Kevin Pollak and his wife, Lucy Webb, for CBS, that was not picked up. The pilot, The Underworld, revolved around "The head of an organized crime family [who] hounds an ex-con who only wants to go straight." After the show was not picked up, he appeared in the movie Southie, which was written by Arnett's friend Dave McLaughlin. In 1999, Arnett was cast in another pilot for The Mike O'Malley Show on NBC. Arnett was a regular on the series, playing the protagonist's friend Jimmy. The show was picked up, but it was canceled after only two episodes.
In 2003, Arnett found mainstream success in television when he was cast in the role of George Oscar "Gob" Bluth II in the Fox comedy series Arrested Development. Arnett's character was one of the show's most popular, and he was nominated for an Emmy in 2006 for his portrayal. His character was also listed at No. 33 on TV's Top 50 Catch Phrases with the line, "I've made a huge mistake."
Arnett has two older sisters and a younger brother. His father was a corporate lawyer and served as the president and CEO of Molson Breweries from 1997 to 2000. His father, a graduate of Harvard University, previously worked as a director for the company. Arnett lists Steve Martin and Chevy Chase as his two biggest comic influences. Arnett grew up watching sports in Canada, and is an avid follower of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Blue Jays.
In 1994, Arnett married actress Penelope Ann Miller, but they divorced in 1995. He dated actress Missy Yager, with whom he lived for four years. They starred on The Mike O'Malley Show together and broke up around the time the show began.
Arnett began dating comic actress Amy Poehler in 2000. He moved to New York City in 2001 when she became a featured player on NBC's Saturday Night Live. They married on August 29, 2003. Together, they appeared in four episodes of Arrested Development in 2004 and 2005, an episode of Poehler's show, Parks and Recreation, in 2010, and the films Blades of Glory, Horton Hears a Who!, On Broadway, Spring Breakdown and Monsters vs. Aliens. Arnett and Poehler had two sons, Archibald William Emerson Arnett (born on October 25, 2008) and Abel James Arnett (born on August 6, 2010). The couple separated in September 2012. Arnett filed for divorce on April 8, 2014.
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The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr. NASCAR is the largest sanctioning body of stock car racing in the United States. The three largest racing series sanctioned by NASCAR are the Sprint Cup Series, the Nationwide Series, and the Camping World Truck Series. It also oversees NASCAR Local Racing, the Whelen Modified Tour, the Whelen All-American Series, and the NASCAR iRacing.com Series. NASCAR sanctions over 1500 races at over 100 tracks in 39 states, and Canada. NASCAR has presented exhibition races at the Suzuka and Motegi circuits in Japan, Mexico, and Calder Park Raceway in Australia.
NASCAR's headquarters are located in Daytona Beach, Florida, although it also maintains offices in four North Carolina cities: Charlotte, Mooresville, Concord, and Conover. Regional offices are also located in New York City, Los Angeles, Bentonville, Arkansas, and international offices in Mexico City and Toronto. Additionally, owing to its southern roots, all but a handful of NASCAR teams are still based in North Carolina, especially near Charlotte.
NASCAR is one of the most viewed professional sports in terms of television ratings in the United States. In fact, professional football is the only sport in the United States to hold more viewers than NASCAR. Internationally, NASCAR races are broadcast in over 150 countries. NASCAR holds 17 of the top 20 attended single-day sporting events in the world, and claims 75 million fans who purchase over $3 billion in annual licensed product sales. Fortune 500 companies sponsor NASCAR more than any other motor sport, although this has been in decline since the early 2000s.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Daytona Beach became known as the place to set world land speed records, supplanting France and Belgium as the preferred location for land speed records, with eight consecutive world records set between 1927 and 1935. After a historic race between Ransom Olds and Alexander Winton in 1903, the beach became a mecca for racing enthusiasts and 15 records were set on what became the Daytona Beach road course between 1905 and 1935. By the time the Bonneville Salt Flats became the premier location for pursuit of land speed records, in 1936, Daytona beach had become synonymous with fast cars. Drivers raced on a 4.1-mile (6.6 km) course, consisting of a 1.5 to 2-mile (3.2 km) stretch of beach as one straightaway, and a narrow blacktop beachfront highway, A1A, as the other. The two straights were connected by 2 tight, deeply rutted and sand covered turns at each end.
Stock car racing in the United States has its origins in bootlegging during Prohibition, when drivers ran bootleg whiskey made primarily in the Appalachian region of the United States. Bootleggers needed to distribute their illicit products, and they typically used small, fast vehicles to better evade the police. Many of the drivers would modify their cars for speed and handling, as well as increased cargo capacity, and some of them came to love the fast-paced driving down twisty mountain roads.
The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 dried up some of their business, but by then Southerners had developed a taste for moonshine, and a number of the drivers continued "runnin' shine," this time evading the "revenuers" who were attempting to tax their operations. The cars continued to improve, and by the late 1940s, races featuring these cars were being run for pride and profit. These races were popular entertainment in the rural Southern United States, and they are most closely associated with the Wilkes County region of North Carolina. Most races in those days were of modified cars. Street vehicles were lightened and reinforced.
Although NASCAR frequently publicizes the safety measures it mandates for drivers, these features are often only adopted long after they were initially developed, and only in response to an injury or fatality. The impact-absorbing "SAFER Barrier" that is now in use had been proposed by legendary mechanic Smokey Yunick during the 1970s, but his idea had been dismissed as too expensive and unnecessary. Only after the deaths of Kenny Irwin, Tony Roper, Adam Petty, and Dale Earnhardt in 2000 and 2001 did NASCAR revisit the idea of decreasing the G-forces a driver sustained during a crash. Other examples of available safety features that were slow to be implemented include the mandating of a throttle "kill switch". The "kill switch" was mandated after the death of Adam Petty, along with the requirements of an anti-spill bladder in fuel cells. Fire-retardant driver suits were required only after the death of Glen "Fireball" Roberts, who died from complications of burns suffered in a crash when flames engulfed his car during a Charlotte race. Dale Earnhardt was killed after he received massive head and neck trauma from a hard crash in the 2001 Daytona 500. Earnhardt's death prompted NASCAR to require all drivers to use the "HANS Device" (Head And Neck Support Device), a device that keeps the driver's neck from going forward in a wreck. In the mid 2000s, NASCAR redesigned the racing vehicle with safety improvements, calling it the Car of Tomorrow. The car has a higher roof, wider cockpit, and the driver seat was located more toward the center of the vehicle.
Similar to other professional leagues and sanctioning bodies, NASCAR has been the target of criticism on various topics from various sources. Some critics note the significant differences between today's NASCAR vehicles and true "stock" cars. Others frequently cite the dominance of the France family in NASCAR's business structure, policies, and decision making. Recently, the increased number of Cup drivers competing consistently in the Nationwide Series races has been hotly debated. Another general area of criticism, not only of NASCAR but other motorsports as well, includes questions about fuel consumption, emissions and pollution, and the use of lead additives in the gasoline. NASCAR moved to unleaded fuel for all three top series in 2007, fully one year in advance of the planned switch in 2008. While other series, such as the FIA Formula One series have addressed these criticisms by instituting "green" mandates, NASCAR has not. As NASCAR has made moves to improve its national appeal, it has begun racing at new tracks, and ceased racing at some traditional ones — a sore spot for the traditional fan base. Most recently, NASCAR has been challenged on the types and frequency of caution flags, with some critics suggesting the outcome of races is being manipulated, and that the intention is not safety, as NASCAR claims, but closer racing. There have been numerous accidents during races and even some off the tracks, with several spectators receiving fatal injuries. It was revealed in 2008 that one wrongful death lawsuit against NASCAR was settled for $2.4 million.
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Sherrod Brown was born and raised in Mansfield, Ohio. He majored in Russian studies at Yale University, earning a master's in education and public administration from Ohio State University.
He was elected in 1974 to the first of four terms as a state representative. In 1982, at the age of 29, Brown was elected Ohio secretary of state. He also has worked as a faculty associate at Ohio State University.
Brown was elected to the U.S. House in 1992. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, defeating longtime GOP Sen. Mike DeWine.
Brown resides in Lorain with his wife, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Connie Schultz. He has two children and two stepchildren.
Sherrod Brown has made his mark in Congress as an aggressive supporter of health care reform and ballot access, and as a strong supporter of President Barack Obama's policies aimed at reviving the economy.
His move up in the U.S. Senate was noted when he won a seat in July 2010 on the powerful Appropriations Committee, filling the seat left vacant by the death of Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia.
Brown has been a big backer of alternative energy, especially wind and solar projects. He supported legislation in 2010 to expand tax incentives for offshore wind development, including in Ohio's Lake Erie. But he also opposed a stimulus program aimed at financing renewable energy, saying money was going to projects creating jobs in foreign countries.
In 2011, he sponsored legislation along with Sen. Olympia Snowe intended to punish China for alleged currency manipulation _ accusing Beijing of flouting World Trade Organization rules and "gaming the system to its advantage." That same year he was among 16 Democratic senators who requested a Justice Department investigation into the effects on voting rights of laws requiring voters to show photo identification.
Brown was fairly pleased with the final Senate health care legislation passed in 2009 despite failing to secure the public option he had been pushing. He praised it for preventing insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.
His was the decisive 60th vote for Obama's economic stimulus plan in February 2009 after he flew aboard a government plane from Ohio to Washington, where his mother died earlier in the week.
In his union-heavy, industrial Cleveland district, Brown's opposition to trade deals earned him attention. He said deals with nations such as China and Mexico threaten American jobs by rewarding low wages, poor working conditions and lax environmental standards.
Brown worked in 2005 to get Democrats and Republicans to vote against the Central American Free Trade Agreement _ a bill that passed by just one vote after the GOP-led House extended the voting time on the floor. Brown has said this was the deciding factor that inspired him to run for U.S. Senate.
He helped start the Taiwan Caucus in 2002 and was appointed to a commission that monitors human rights in China. He served on the House International Relations Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee, where he was the ranking Democrat on the Health and the Environment Subcommittee.
During his eight years as Ohio secretary of state, Brown extended voter registration programs to high schools and worked to make polling places accessible to the handicapped.
When Ohio completed congressional redistricting in 2000, Brown announced that he would move to the state's redrawn 13th District, stretching from Lorain through Cleveland's southern suburbs and east almost to Warren. He won a seven-way primary with 46 percent of the vote and defeated a largely self-financed Republican millionaire, Margaret Mueller.
In the 2012 election, Brown faces challenger Republican State Treasurer Josh Mandel. A U.S. Marine veteran and driven campaigner, Mandel's strong fundraising has elevated the contest to one of the most watched in the nation.
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0.969987 |
Battle of Salamis, (480 bc), battle in the Greco-Persian Wars in which a Greek fleet defeated much larger Persian naval forces in the straits at Salamis, between the island of Salamis and the Athenian port-city of Piraeus. By 480 the Persian king Xerxes and his army had overrun much of Greece, and his navy of about 800 galleys bottled up the smaller Greek fleet of about 370 triremes in the Saronic Gulf. The Greek commander, Themistocles, then lured the Persian fleet into the narrow waters of the strait at Salamis, where the massed Persian ships had difficulty maneuvering. The Greek triremes then attacked furiously, ramming or sinking many Persian vessels and boarding others. The Greeks sank about 300 Persian vessels while losing only about 40 of their own. The rest of the Persian fleet was scattered, and as a result Xerxes had to postpone his planned land offensives for a year, a delay that gave the Greek city-states time to unite against him. The Battle of Salamis was the first great naval battle recorded in history.
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0.90498 |
What are the causes and risk factors for lung cancer?
A risk factor is something that increases the chances of developing the disease. It could be a condition or substance. The chance of developing lung cancer increases with age. Smoking tobacco is known to be the most important risk factor in the case of lung cancer.
What are the common risk factors that can lead to lung cancer?
Smoking cigarettes are known to be the main cause of developing lung cancer as the smoke from the cigarettes contain chemicals known as carcinogens. Carcinogens are chemicals that cause changes in the cells in the lungs which results in cancer.
The risk of developing lung cancer has many other factors involved like the age at which a person started smoking, the number of cigarettes smoked in a day and for how long the person has continued smoking.
The inhaling of second-hand smoke is known as passive smoking and is one of the leading risk factors among non-smokers. The breathing in of secondhand smoke is as harmful as smoking a cigarette as the smoke from a burning cigarette contains the same amount of chemicals when inhaled.
People who were exposed to atomic bomb explosions or nuclear accidents are at a greater risk of developing lung cancer. People who have also undergone radiation therapy for certain cancers like breast cancer also are at a higher risk of developing lung cancer.
Radon is a colourless odourless gas that comes from the breakdown of uranium in the soil and rocks. Outdoors the gas is diluted with fresh air so it is usually not a concern but Randon can seep into buildings through cracks in the foundation and dirty floors. The radon gas when breathed in can cause damage to the cells that line the lungs. Radon is known to be the leading cause of cancer in non- smokers. The risk of developing lung cancer depends on how much of the gas the person is exposed to and for how long.
People who are exposed to certain carcinogens at work are at higher risk of developing lung cancer. An example of these carcinogens would be arsenic and inorganic arsenic compounds, silica dust, chromium, Cadmium, mustard gas etc.
The asbestos fibre is a silicate fibre that can last a lifetime in the lungs. The workplace is the most common area for exposure to asbestos fibres and this kind of an exposure is seen in industries that make both thermal and acoustic insulation materials. Research has linked the risk of developing lung cancer to the exposure to asbestos.
A constant exposure to polluted air has been seen as the cause of lung cancer too as polluted air is seen to be as harmful as cigarette smoke and some lung cancer deaths have been attributed to the breathing in of polluted smoke.
It is seen that people who have had lung cancer before are at higher risk of developing it again in comparison to the general population who have not had a history of lung cancer before. People who have had non-small cell lung cancer have an added risk of 1 to 2% per year and people who have had small cell lung cancer have an added risk of 6% per year.
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0.999959 |
The Catholic church features its original elaborately decorated interior from 1900, so why not come in and say a prayer! A Franciscan parish, it is also known for allowing the homeless to sleep in the pews on weekdays..
The Catholic church features its original elaborately decorated interior from 1900, so why not come in and say a prayer! A Franciscan parish, it is also known for allowing the homeless to sleep in the pews on weekdays.
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0.992289 |
What are diverse levels you are going to experience with fever blisters or even common hsv simplex virus outbreaks Let me give you what to do now chilly tender signs and symptoms can be expected.Initial - you will find there's unique pair of cool aching symptoms that occur soon after in the beginning getting the virus. These kinds of signs and symptoms are likely to be wrongly recognized for any slight circumstance with the influenza.These include a sore throat, temperature, headaches along with exhaustion. These cold tender signs usually final about two to three days.Usually these first signs of an infection usually do not add the traditional fever blisters, a fever sore spots as well as common herpes simplex virus wounds.After that original reply to the herpes simplex virus, long term frosty tender signs or symptoms will always include the real cold sores. And they'll always occur on the same internet site around wherever original infestation came about.In the event you start getting cold sores at an additional internet site, perhaps 2 " aside, this means a fresh disease location was created. Spreading the herpes simplex virus along with infected hands usually causes this specific.Here are the basic cool tender signs or symptoms you need to await.1. The Start.The very first signal involving returning fever blisters is quite subtle certainly. The site of one's outbreak will begin to feel uneasy. You will learn an irritation, tingling or burning. It may well actually feel like the start of an incredibly vulnerable acne.What you're experiencing is the herpes virus moving for the surface across the neurological fabric and entering neural cellular material on the top as well as nostril. Some form of stress causes your initial on this malware, typically latent.Applying its polar environment or even something cool gives relief for a time at this time. In case caught earlier sufficient, glaciers can easily quit even more action by the herpes simplex virus. Sure, you are able to end fever blisters in this way.only two. HARD Protrusions As well as SWOLLEN Lips.At this time, you will 1st observe a number of hard, painful minor protrusions. They often are generally mistaken for zits. These will likely then bring about inflammation with the place. Cellular matrix are enlarging because they turn into filled up with fresh computer virus.This kind of disease will usually lead to headaches, nausea as well as inflammed lymph glands underneath the jaw on a single facet of the confront because fever blisters. Your system is at complete struggle setting at the moment.3. Wide open COLD SORES.Cellular matrix burst open to release the brand new computer virus after they are usually full. These exploded tissues, near with each other, produce the available injure typical of fever blisters.This is a quite distressing period of time. The virus develops your fever blisters (oral hsv simplex virus, a fever blisters) directly on the conclusion of your nervousness. You have uncovered nervous feelings and they damage plenty.Your system creates a obvious, solid liquid who's makes use of to purge out aside as many virus debris as you possibly can. This particular smooth is crawling together with stay computer virus and it is Extremely catching.Do not get on your palms. When working with the actual injury, clean both your hands constantly. Use disposable tissue as well as 100 % cotton golf balls to use treatment method as well as detox the injure.4. NOW THE Recovery Starts.If the tender fails available, this specific signs the end from the destruction period along with the start of the healing period.Per day possibly even, cold sores will certainly scab over to shield the hurt and initiate your replacement of each of the demolished tissues. The area remains responsive to the particular feel.A new dried out scab will crack open. This specific creates discomfort as well as delays recovery. Oil your scab well with organic olive oil (extra virgin mobile), oregano essential oil or perhaps garlic oil. These kind of natural oils have virus-fighting skills.Because the combat rages, it is possible to even now expertise headaches, fever and also still-swollen glands.five. FINAL Curing CAN TAKE Quite A Long Time.Within a week roughly, the actual scab drops off of revealing brand-new skin color below.Most probably you will learn swelling towards the brand new skin color. This means that recovery carries on below the top.You may start feeling far better now, and the enlarged lymph glands ought to be near normal once again.Be extremely cautious the following. Many individuals do not realize the idea but you are still really catching provided that the actual swelling and discomfort with the place is still. The actual herpes simplex virus is still lurking and may taint other individuals.This specific final curing stage seems to continue permanently. It is very frustrating. And also fever blisters can easily re-occur if you're not careful.Making use of a hot decrease now offers ease and comfort so it helps to be able to shorten the actual healing process. My favorite key is having a cozy teas handbag towards the sore.The above mentioned tend to be chilly painful signs or symptoms that many men and women experience. They ought to be fairly near to the chilly sore symptoms that you can anticipate additionally.Test some good frosty sore treatment plans. There are incredible techniques today discovered along with readily available for lowering * or stopping - several or even most of these cold painful signs.
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0.990568 |
Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCM) is a popular technique for describing dynamic systems. A FCM for a dynamic system is a signed graph consisted of relevant concepts and causal relationships/weights between the concepts in the system. With suitable weights defined by experts in the related areas, the inference of the FCM can provide meaningful modeling of the system. Thus correctness of the weights is crucial to the success of a FCM system. Normally the weights are set by experts in the related areas. Considering the possible inefficiency and subjectivity of experts when judging the weights, it is an appealing idea to generate weights automatically according to the samples obtained through observation of the system. Some training algorithms were proposed. However, to our best knowledge, few learning algorithm has been reported to generate weight matrix based on sample sequences with continuous values. In this paper, we introduce a new learning algorithm to train the weights of FCM. In the proposed algorithm, the weights are updated by gradient descent on a squared Bellman residual, which is an accepted method in machine learning. The experiment results show that given sufficient training samples, the correct weights can be approximated by the algorithm. The algorithm proposes a new way for FCM research and applications.
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0.960779 |
who had entered the longshot AI Go Cart on a dare!
the dumbing down of our society?
The traditional gatekeepers of poetry, professors and such, have longed considered themselves quality control experts. Their narrow interpretation of what constitutes worthy works comes with constrictions and different restrictions.
Examples include:, Haiku, Ballad, Stev, Ode, Free verse, Blank verse, thematic, limerick and nursery rhymes. Spoken out loud, they provide powerful images within the confines of each style. A feat many writers haven’t bothered to try, poetry, was once deemed elitist and a byproduct of scholarly snobbery.
But The Beat Generation came along in my time and showed that not all poems have to rhyme and that provocative word pictures could be painted without formal meter or stanza standing in the way. A revolution that is still happening today.
Even more important to me, is that everyone can feel free to write poetry on their own websites or social platforms without conventional publishers dictating terms to them.
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0.94273 |
YouTube Stopped Promoting Misleading Videos, That’s because YouTube is promising to stop the promoting so many sensationalistic videos that revolve around the scientifically proven falsehoods and other suspect information, such as the conspiracy theories revolving around the US government’s involvement in the 9/11 attacks that destroyed World Trade Center in New York.
YouTube, part of Google, announced its de-emphasis on misleading videos Friday. It’s the latest example of a widely used digital service trying to stop the spread of misinformation as lawmakers scrutinize the role that technology companies play in distributing potentially toxic propaganda. Both Facebook and Twitter are trying to take similar steps. The Youtube Stopped Promoting misleading videos even after they are phased out from its recommendation list.
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0.995337 |
Intelligent code completion has become an essential tool to accelerate modern software development. To facilitate effective code completion for dynamically-typed programming languages, we apply neural language models by learning from large codebases, and investigate the effectiveness of attention mechanism on the code completion task. However, standard neural language models even with attention mechanism cannot correctly predict out-of-vocabulary (OoV) words thus restrict the code completion performance. In this paper, inspired by the prevalence of locally repeated terms in program source code, and the recently proposed pointer networks which can reproduce words from local context, we propose a pointer mixture network for better predicting OoV words in code completion. Based on the context, the pointer mixture network learns to either generate a within-vocabulary word through an RNN component, or copy an OoV word from local context through a pointer component. Experiments on two benchmarked datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our attention mechanism and pointer mixture network on the code completion task.
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0.952733 |
The concept of gamification has gained in popularity over the last few years. The concept has been introduced in various fields such as marketing, social networking, and learning. A whole industry is developing around this concept, often driven by self-proclaimed gamification “experts”. But for most learning stakeholders many questions arise: What exactly is gamification? How does it work? Is it really effective? Why? Let’s analyze the relationship between gamification and motivation and try to answer some of these interrogations through the perspective of learners’ motivation and success.
There seems to be a consensus that gamification is the use of game mechanics in non-game contexts. In the instructional context, gamification is seen as a means to make learning more engaging by the use of features normally found in games to support learning materials.
This definition is quite simplistic and also important in order to understand what gamification actually is, as well as distinguish game content from game mechanics. While the content of a video game includes the story, the characters, and the environment, game mechanics are the elements added to the content to provide a structure (levels) and reward accomplishments (points, badges, lives).
Therefore, if we apply this definition to the instructional context, the learning content which includes presentations, simulations, branching scenarios, and exercises would be the equivalent of the game content. Therefore, gamification would only apply to the non-instructional material –the container– to create interest and engagement towards the learning content. Basically, the intent of gamification of instructional materials is to make them more appealing through the addition of game mechanics such as scoring, unlocking new modules, badge collections, and others.
Since gamification implies the addition of game elements (such as points, levels, badges, and others) as incentives to use in a learning system, the key aspect of gamification is rewards aimed at providing extrinsic motivation to the user.
Wikipedia defines extrinsic motivation as the performance of an activity in order to attain a desired outcome; it comes from influences outside of the individual. Common extrinsic motivations are rewards (for example money or grades) for showing the desired behavior, and the threat of punishment following misbehavior. Competition is an extrinsic motivator because it encourages the performer to win and to beat others, not simply to enjoy the intrinsic rewards of the activity. A cheering crowd and the desire to win a trophy are also extrinsic incentives.
By opposition to extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation is the self-desire to seek out new things and new challenges, to analyze one's capacity, to observe, and to gain knowledge. It is driven by an interest and/or enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on external pressures or a desire for reward. Students who are intrinsically motivated are more likely to engage in the task willingly, as well as work to improve their skills which will increase their capabilities. Students are likely to be intrinsically motivated if they attribute their educational results to factors under their own control, believe they have the skills to be effective agents in reaching their desired goals, and are interested in mastering a topic, not just in achieving good grades.
In summary, gamification is the introduction of an extrinsic reward system (based on game mechanics) to non-game content (such as learning content) in order to engage and motivate learners to participate and complete the activity. Its use is intended to compensate the lack of intrinsic motivation towards a learning activity.
Gamification And Motivation: Is Gamification Effective?
Gamification vendors showcase the value of gamification, especially as a motivation tool to foster user engagement. However, research over the last few decades tends to demonstrate that, although such results may be observed, they cannot be generalized.
Research shows that gamified systems return different results with different type of users. Regular users of gamified systems are mainly intrinsically motivated to use these systems. In general, most of them are not concerned about the rewards that a gamified system can provide; they use it to network with others, to learn about a subject matter, just for fun, etc.
Gamification is based on principles of extrinsic motivation where students will indeed work harder for the reward, but ultimately gamification will detract from students’ intrinsic motivation to learn. Performance incentives offered to learners can adversely impact their perception of the task, or of their own abilities: Offering a reward to complete a task signals to the learners that the task in itself is undesirable. Otherwise, why would they need a reward?
Overtime, after having benefited from the reward for a while, the learners will likely lose their intrinsic motivation and won’t do the task without a reward. Additionally, the satisfaction from the extrinsic reward will dissipates, requiring an increase in value of the reward. Rewards are then only weak reinforces in the short term, and become negative reinforces over time. Rewards may even encourage unwanted behavior. For example, targeting a speed badge may negatively impact carefulness.
What Does That Mean For Instructional Designers?
By fostering the use of gamification, Instructional Designers kind of acknowledge that their content isn’t compelling; otherwise why would they need to gamify it? Gamifying boring content does not make it more interesting or more relevant, it just makes it more interesting to use. What’s required is not bells and whistles to extrinsically motivate learners, but more relevant content to foster intrinsic motivation.
Using gamification to make a boring subject matter more appealing, and using extrinsic rewards to compensate for low intrinsic motivation, is likely killing whatever intrinsic motivation to learn is left. So since there is little evidence, if any, that the use of gamification returns any significant performance improvement, the fact is that there is more to lose than there is to gain with gamification.
The question is not to know whether gamification makes content more appealing or more engaging, but whether it makes it more effective. And based on the research to date, there is very little, empirical proof of the instructional effectiveness of gamification, at least in the mid to long term. So instead of trying to make the container more appealing, maybe efforts should be put on creating better, more inspiring, and more relevant content.
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0.942778 |
For other ships with the same name, see Chinese cruiser Jingyuan (1886).
Jingyuan (Chinese: 經遠; pinyin: Jīngyuăn; Wade–Giles: Ching-Yuen or King-Yuen) was an armored cruiser in the late Qing Dynasty Beiyang Fleet. Her sister ship was Laiyuan.
As part of his drive to create a modern navy following the Sino-French War, Viceroy Li Hongzhang turned to Vulcan shipyards in Stettin, Germany. Jingyuan and Laiyuan were called "gunboats" by their designers, but were referred to as "cruisers" by the Chinese. In terms of displacement, they were similar in class to the Japanese Matsushima class. However, in terms of weaponry, they mounted large calibre guns in the manner of a coastal defense monitor, and lacked the speed or a higher muzzle velocity main battery typical of ships designed per the tenets of the then-popular Jeune Ecole theory promoted by French naval architect Emile Bertin.
Jingyuan had a steel housing, divided into 66 waterproof compartments filled with cork, two smokestacks, and single mast. Her belt armor had a thickness of 5.5 to 9.5 inches (140 to 240 mm), but did not extend above the waterline or to the extremities of the hull, and was 8 inches (200 mm) at the conning tower and barbettes. Her deck armor had a thickness of 2.5 to 3 inches (64 to 76 mm) at the extremities. The prow was reinforced for ramming. The power plant was a double expansion reciprocating steam engine with four cylindrical boilers, driving two screws.
The ship's main armament was two breech-loading 8-inch (203 mm) Krupp cannon, paired in the forward barbette. Provision was made for only 50 rounds of ammunition per gun. The secondary armament consisted of two 6-inch (152 mm) Krupp guns mounted on sponsons on either side of the deck. The ship also had two 47-mm long guns and five 37 mm Hotchkiss guns, as well as two torpedo tubes.
Jingyuan and Laiyuan were second in displacement after the Beiyang Fleet battleships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, but were deficient in speed and in firepower, where compared with temporary vessels, such as the British-built Elswick cruisers. Although its armor belt gave Jingyuan an advantage over non-protected vessels, its two-inch lacquered teak deck made it flammable in the event of a battle.
Jingyuan was laid down on 1 January 1885, launched on 25 March 1887, and completed on 1 January 1888.
On arrival in China in 1888, Jingyuan and Laiyuan were both assigned to the Beiyang Fleet. In the summer of 1889, both vessels were part of the flotilla let by Admiral Ding Ruchang, calling on the Russian naval base of Vladivostok. In early 1894, both vessels accompanied Dingyuan and Zhenyuan on a visit to Singapore, but the flotilla was recalled to Weihaiwei on the eve of the First Sino-Japanese War with the Empire of Japan.
Jingyuan and Laiyuan were both in the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September 1894. Early in the battle, the captain of Laiyuan moved aggressively against the Japanese squadron, pursuing and severely damaging the slower moving Japanese gunboat Akagi, but receiving considerable damage in return, which set her on fire and removed her from the combat. With Laiyuan apparently doomed, the Japanese flying squadron led by Admiral Tsuboi Kozo (Yoshino, Takachiho, Akitsushima, and Naniwa), concentrated fire on Jingyuan for over an hour. Briefly, Jingyuan appeared to be closing on Yoshino in an apparent attempt to ram, but at 16:48, lurched to the starboard and burst into flames. Soon after, with a large explosion, Jingyuan rolled over and sank. Of the 270 crewmen, only seven escaped.
Wright, Richard N. J. (2000). The Chinese Steam Navy 1862-1945. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-144-9.
This page was last edited on 26 September 2018, at 20:08 (UTC).
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0.977151 |
will be depended on by somebody.
Over the past couple years of doing low-level infrastructure migrations in one of the most complex software systems on the planet, I’ve made some observations about the differences between an interface and its implementations. We typically think of the interface as an abstraction for interacting with a system (like the steering wheel and pedals in a car), and the implementation as the way the system does its work (wheels and an engine). This is useful for a number of reasons, foremost among them that most useful systems rapidly become too complex for a single individual or group to completely understand, and abstractions are essential to managing that complexity.
Defining the correct level of abstraction is a completely separate discussion (see Mythical Man-Month), but we like to think that once an abstraction is defined, it is concrete. In other words, an interface should theoretically provide a clear separation between consumers of a system and its implementers. In practice, this theory breaks down as the use of a system grows and its users start to rely upon implementation details intentionally exposed through the interface, or which they divine through regular use. Spolsky’s “Law of Leaky Abstractions” embodies consumers’ reliance upon internal implementation details.
Taken to its logical extreme, this leads to the following observation, colloquially referred to as “The Law of Implicit Interfaces”: Given enough use, there is no such thing as a private implementation. That is, if an interface has enough consumers, they will collectively depend on every aspect of the implementation, intentionally or not. This effect serves to constrain changes to the implementation, which must now conform to both the explicitly documented interface, as well as the implicit interface captured by usage. We often refer to this phenomenon as "bug-for-bug compatibility."
The creation of the implicit interface usually happens gradually, and interface consumers generally aren’t aware as it’s happening. For example, an interface may make no guarantees about performance, yet consumers often come to expect a certain level of performance from its implementation. Those expectations become part of the implicit interface to a system, and changes to the system must maintain these performance characteristics to continue functioning for its consumers.
Not all consumers depend upon the same implicit interface, but given enough consumers, the implicit interface will eventually exactly match the implementation. At this point, the interface has evaporated: the implementation has become the interface, and any changes to it will violate consumer expectations. With a bit of luck, widespread, comprehensive, and automated testing can detect these new expectations but not ameliorate them.
Implicit interfaces result from the organic growth of large systems, and while we may wish the problem did not exist, designers and engineers would be wise to consider it when building and maintaining complex systems. So be aware of how the implicit interface constrains your system design and evolution, and know that for any reasonably popular system, the interface reaches much deeper than you think.
I'm a Software Engineer at Google, working on large-scale code change tooling and infrastructure. Prior to that, I spent five years at Google improving core C++ libraries. The above observation grew out of experiences when even the simplest library change caused failures in some far off system.
While I may have made the observation, credit goes to Titus Winters for actually naming it as "Hyrum's Law" and popularizing the concept more broadly.
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0.999852 |
On March 11, 2019, a U.S. district court judge in California denied FERC’s motion to withdraw the reference of Pacific Gas and Electric’s (“PG&E”) adversary proceeding from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the ongoing jurisdictional dispute between FERC and the bankruptcy court. In his ruling, Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held that removal of the case from the bankruptcy courts was neither required nor permitted because the plain language of the Bankruptcy Code is sufficient to address the questions raised in the proceeding.
On January 25 and 28, 2019, in answer to petitions filed by NextEra Energy, Inc. and NextEra Energy Partners, L.P. (collectively, “NextEra”) and Exelon Corporation, FERC issued two largely identical orders in which FERC recognized the unsettled state of the law but ultimately concluded that FERC and the bankruptcy courts have concurrent jurisdiction to review and address the disposition of FERC-jurisdictional wholesale power contracts that could be rejected through PG&E’s bankruptcy proceedings (the “FERC Orders”) (see January 30, 2018 edition of the WER). On January 29, 2019, PG&E filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and, on the same day, filed an adversary proceeding against FERC, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against FERC (the “Adversary Proceeding”). According to Judge Gilliam Jr., PG&E filed the Adversary Proceeding in response to FERC’s January 25 and 28 rulings because it believed those rulings conflict with PG&E’s right to reject certain wholesale power sales agreements in bankruptcy proceedings.
On January 30 and February 6, 2019, NextEra and FERC respectively filed motions to remove the Adversary Proceeding from U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The motions stated that withdrawal was mandatory because issues raised in the Adversary Proceeding required material consideration of non-bankruptcy federal laws. Summarized, the motions argued that the Adversary Proceeding requires extensive consideration of the Federal Power Act, the Bankruptcy Code, and the interaction between the two federal statutory schemes, and therefore the withdrawal of the Adversary Proceedings from the Bankruptcy Court was mandatory.
In response to these motions, Judge Gilliam Jr. cited Judge Dennis Montali—the bankruptcy judge from whom NextEra and FERC sought to withdraw the Adversary Proceeding—who stated that it was his belief that the plain language of the Bankruptcy Code on its own could sufficiently address the questions raised in the Adversary Proceeding. Judge Gilliam Jr. agreed with Judge Montali’s assessment and stated that the questions raised in the Adversary Proceeding do not mandate withdrawal. Judge Gilliam Jr. also considered whether permissive withdrawal of the Adversary Proceeding was appropriate. Due to the significant study and preparation already done by the bankruptcy court, and with the aim of efficiently using judicial resources, Judge Gilliam Jr. found that permissive withdrawal was not warranted.
The hearing on PG&E’s request for a preliminary injunction before Judge Montali is scheduled for April 10, 2019. PG&E seeks to enjoin any party from enforcing the FERC Orders so that PG&E will not have to obtain FERC’s authorization in order to effect a rejection of FERC-jurisdictional wholesale power sales agreements.
A copy of the Judge Gilliam Jr.’s order is available here.
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0.965903 |
noun Plural form of kangaroo.
"It is hoped that eventually, the kangaroos will be administered with the fertility control agent through their food,", the local minister responsible for the trial, John Hargreaves, said in a statement.
The kangaroos were a curious people, resembling small donkeys with crocodile tails, sitting erect on their haunches, and moving about with a waltzing hop, which was both graceful and comical.
Sgt Tuffin said residents in the street were now fearful of stray bullets hitting their houses, cars or livestock as they were unsure if the kangaroos were a deliberate target.
More familiar animals were now called kangaroos since the newcomers seemed to think that this would be the native name in Sydney, as it was farther north.
Although most marsupials such as kangaroos and koalas are herbivores, Thylacoleo was something completely different—a fearsome predator with pincer-like front teeth and a slashing front claw on its thumb.
-I laughed at the 'kangaroos' line--and I laughed at the serial killers thoughts what *is* about Wisconsin?
He thinks these blacks are a kind of kangaroos, but he isn't sure.
This may be due in part to the fact that the boomerang has continued to be an effective weapon against upright standing prey, such as kangaroos, for several millennia.
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0.999997 |
What is a petition for rulemaking?
A petition for rulemaking is a request to an agency/board to develop a new regulation or amend an existing regulation. The Town Hall provides the public with notice and opportunities for comment on a petition for rulemaking; however, currently, the petitioner must submit the request to an agency/board outside the Town Hall. The steps for submitting a petition for rulemaking to an agency/board are set out in § 2.2-4007 (A) of the Code of Virginia. See a chart of the petition for rulemaking process. The agency regulatory coordinator would then enter the petition on the Town Hall.
Step 1: After logging on to the Town Hall as an agency user, see the blue menu bar on the left and look for "Agency functions." On the dropdown list, select "My Petitions."
Step 2: Click on the "Add Petition" hyperlink.
Step 3: Enter information on the three tabs: "General information", "Petitioner Request", and "Agency Plan".
Petition Title: Enter a brief descriptive title explaining the purpose of the petition.
Petitioner: Enter the name of the petitioner.
Select the board affected by this petition: If the agency has only one board, then the board name will be displayed automatically instead of the board dropdown list.
Select the primary VAC chapter that will be affected: Select "A new chapter will be created" or select an existing regulation from the dropdown list. If the agency has more than one board in the board dropdown list, the checkboxes for the associated regulations to the board will not be displayed until a board is selected.
Date Petition Received: Enter dates numerically, e.g., 07/20/2005.
Comment Period: Enter date numerically, e.g., 07/20/2005. A public comment period must be at least 21 days and begin the day it is published in The Virginia Register. Use the Register publication schedule to help select the appropriate dates.
Click on the tab of "Petitioner Request" and enter the petitioner's request. Please do not copy/paste from Microsoft Word as this will cause formatting difficulties for the publication of The Virginia Register.
Click on the tab of "Agency Plan" and enter the agency's plan to address the petition.
Step 4: Once you have completed filling information under all three tabs, click "Save." Your petition has now been submitted to the Registrar for publication.
After logging on to the Town Hall as an agency user, see the blue menu bar on the left and look for "Agency functions." On the dropdown list, select "My Petitions".
Navigate to the petition which you want to edit and click the Title hyperlink to go to the Petition Information page.
Click on the "Edit Petition" hyperlink.
Navigate to the petition which you want to edit and click the "Title" hyperlink to go to the Petition Information page.
Click the "Agency Decision" tab. Note: Whenever possible, the agency should post the petition result within the 90-day timeframe following the end of the petition comment period.
Enter the agency's decision. The agency may select to initiate a regulatory action or take no action.
If the agency selects to initiate a regulatory action, enter response date. If the action is already underway, select the action from the drop down list. If the action is yet to be created, please enter an estimated date for filing a NOIRA.
Click the Edit Petition hyperlink.
Click the "Agency Decision" tab.
See "How to post a petition result" above for further information.
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0.999998 |
What is the theme of 2017 World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) ?
The World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is observed every year on May 17 to mark the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention (ITC) and the creation of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The purpose of the day is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide. The 2017 theme “Big Data for Big Impact” focuses on the power of Big Data for development and aims to explore how to turn imperfect, complex, often unstructured data into actionable information in a development context.
World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is an awareness day celebrated on 10 September every year, keeping in mind the end goal to give overall commitment and action to anticipate suicides, with various activities around the world since 2003.
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0.950996 |
6-38 (Client mix decision) Loren Lee, a financial planner contacts and meets with local individuals to assist with financial planning and investments in Loren’s employer's investment service company. Loren receives no fee for financial planning advice, but in addition to his salary, he receives commissions on client investments in the investment services company. Commission rates vary across different investment products. Loren's employer pays office and phone costs and also reimburses Loren for business-related travel. Satisfied clients have recommended Loren to their friends, and Loren now finds himself with more clients than he can handle in the 40 hours per week he would like to work. To analyze where to most profitably spend his time, Loren has classified his current set of customers into the three groups listed. The hours devoted per customer include direct contact time, travel time, and research and follow-up time for the clients. Loren will introduce clients he is unable to serve to one of his colleagues. A B C Average invest in comp products per month $900 $600 $200 Hours devoted per customer per month 3 1.5 05 Average commission percentage 6% 5% 4% Current number of customers 20 60 120 Clients in group A are generally interested in hearing about new investment products that Loren's company is offering and will usually invest sizable amounts in new products after meeting with Loren or conversing with him on the phone. clients in group B will also invest but generally in smaller amounts than clients in group A. Clients in group C appreciate meeting with Loren because of the excellent advice he provides in planning for retirement and other future expenses but have little discretionary income to invest. Group C clients also generally invest in products with a low commission rate for Loren. However, Loren maintains contact with these clients because he anticipates they will become more profitable as their careers develop. a. Based on the data given, what client mix will maximize Loren's monthly commissions assuming he works 160 hours per month. b. What other factors should Loren consider as he makes his decisions about his client mix?
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0.999985 |
Theoretical results suggest that in order to learn the kind of complicated functions that can represent high-level abstractions (e.g., in vision, language, and other AI-level tasks), one may need deep architectures. Deep architectures are composed of multiple levels of non-linear operations, such as in neural nets with many hidden layers or in complicated propositional formulae re-using many sub-formulae. Searching the parameter space of deep architectures is a difficult task, but learning algorithms such as those for Deep Belief Networks have recently been proposed to tackle this problem with notable success, beating the state-of-the-art in certain areas. This monograph discusses the motivations and principles regarding learning algorithms for deep architectures, in particular those exploiting as building blocks unsupervised learning of single-layer models such as Restricted Boltzmann Machines, used to construct deeper models such as Deep Belief Networks.
Can machine learning deliver AI? Theoretical results, inspiration from the brain and cognition, as well as machine learning experiments suggest that in order to learn the kind of complicated functions that can represent high-level abstractions (e.g. in vision, language, and other AI-level tasks), one would need deep architectures. Deep architectures are composed of multiple levels of non-linear operations, such as in neural nets with many hidden layers, graphical models with many levels of latent variables, or in complicated propositional formulae re-using many sub-formulae. Each level of the architecture represents features at a different level of abstraction, defined as a composition of lower-level features. Searching the parameter space of deep architectures is a difficult task, but new algorithms have been discovered and a new sub-area has emerged in the machine learning community since 2006, following these discoveries. Learning algorithms such as those for Deep Belief Networks and other related unsupervised learning algorithms have recently been proposed to train deep architectures, yielding exciting results and beating the state-of-the-art in certain areas. Learning Deep Architectures for AI discusses the motivations for and principles of learning algorithms for deep architectures. By analyzing and comparing recent results with different learning algorithms for deep architectures, explanations for their success are proposed and discussed, highlighting challenges and suggesting avenues for future explorations in this area.
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0.999525 |
How can a mirror and a scale get it so wrong?
I don't know why it is so hard to see ourselves accurately, but it is. Studies show that even people with the most accurate physical self-image pictures have a lag of weeks or months when they start to change shape. That means that those of us who have the most precise view of what their body looks like, still see themselves as they appeared weeks or even months before, while they gain or lose weight. This phenomenon is called "residual body image."
For the rest of us, the gap between actual body shape change and the image that we see in the mirror is dramatically different. Instead of weeks or months before our residual body image begins to shift, we may struggle ever to see the change in ourselves. We get a picture in our heads, and no amount of evidence to the contrary is going to change that image. It's pretty harmless in cases of small discrepancies, but it can be life-threatening if the difference between what you feel and reality is big enough.
Interestingly, this happens in both directions. Some bodybuilders are incapable of seeing when they are "big enough" and they will risk their lives with unsustainable workout routines, drugs, chemicals, pills and injections to get the gains they want. Some people refer to this as "bigorexia." Of course, it can happen the other way, where someone can look in a mirror and see fat where there is none to be seen by anyone else. As we have learned more about anorexia during the past few decades, the apparent numbers have exploded, but in reality, it's been with us all along, unrecognized and underreported.
These body-dysmorphic mismatches aren't our fault. Nobody sets out down this path deliberately, but our minds and our environment conspire to make even the most accurately minded person have doubts. Statistics show that for roughly one-quarter of the worst of these cases, the condition becomes fatal.
Hypnosis can aid in breaking the cycles that contribute to body-dysmorphia.
First, hypnosis aids in providing relaxation, providing a chance to "disconnect" from the problems and stresses of the day.
Hypnosis can create an environment of complete control. In a trance, the client can create an environment where every element is to their liking and is subject to their every command.
With hypnosis, it is possible "rehearse" scenarios, such as changes in eating habits, in a non-threatening way that can be paused, stopped, viewed from a distance or even tried on someone else.
With safely distant repetition and rehearsals, a client can become desensitized to real triggers and healthier behaviors tested and applied without risk and without leaving the room.
In hypnosis a phenomenon called "trance logic" allows the client to make connections and draw conclusions that might otherwise elude them.
Body dysmorphia is a subject that is near and dear to my heart, so let's chat and see if I can help.
See my "Credentials" page for more details.
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0.999945 |
Question: Your Excellency, we all heard about recent political developments in your country, the most notable of which is the resignation of your former President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Could you please tell us about that?
Ambassador Yerlik Ali: First of all, I would like to note that on March19 in a televised address to the nation, President Nazarbayev announced his decision to resign, outlining both the past achievements of Kazakhstan and the promising future of the country.
He noted that he was “honoured” to have served as the First President of an independent Kazakhstan.
Commenting this event, I would like to emphasize that only under Nazarbayev has Kazakhstan become a part of the global economy, attracting investment and trading with almost all countries of the world.
Upon achieving independence in 1991 following the collapse of the USSR, Kazakhstan had ruined economy and politics.
Now Kazakhstan became a flourishing market economy, evolving from an agrarian to an industrial service economy. Currently our country is now among the top 50 most developed countries in the world, aiming to reach the top 30 by 2050. Kazakhstan has attracted more than $300 billion in foreign direct investment over the past 27 years, and is the number one investment destination in the region.
This all became possible due to the ambitious and purposeful policy of President Nazarbayev, which was aimed to promote economic reform and prosperity. His initiatives included widespread “industrialisation and urbanisation”, new infrastructure networks, building a market economy, “dismantling” the totalitarian system, modernising all Kazakh institutions.
Could you tell us about political achievements of your country?
Well, when it comes to political achievements I would like to say that Kazakhstan became a world leader in the movement to ban nuclear weapons and ensure nuclear security, as one of the few governments to have voluntarily given up its nuclear arsenal.
Apart from that, Kazakhstan was a founding member of the Eurasian Economic Union, and has chaired key organizations such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Kazakhstan was also elected to serve as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council between 2017-2018, the first Central Asian country to be represented on the Council.
We know that your former President was famous for a number of innovative and reformist ideas, one of which is the program “Rukhani Zhangyru”. What is this document about?
Well, first and foremost I would like to note that this program is the ideological platform, which is supposed to become the basis for qualitative transformation of the whole country.
Today Kazakhstanis are witnessing the birth of a new stage in the history of Kazakhstan. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the modernization process announced by the President is implemented simultaneously in three directions: modernization of the economy, constitutional reform, laying the foundations for large-scale political modernization and modernization of public consciousness.
At the same time, it is the third direction that is the most complicated and complex, since Kazakhstan has never faced such a task as modernizing the public consciousness.
From my view, this is the core of all possible transformations in the country.
Advocating this point of view, I would like to stress that we live in the world of global corporations and enhanced communication technologies, where various tech advances have played a role in making the world a smaller place. It opens a wide array of opportunities for economies and businesses, but it also poses a challenge for cultures and traditions. It raises a question of how nations can preserve their cultures while adapting to the changing environment and benefiting from it.
Fully cognizant of these challenges, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed a strategic program aimed at modernizing Kazakhstan’s national identity. This initiative complements the already existing processes of political and economic modernization in Kazakhstan and will become the cornerstone of major reforms in Kazakhstan.
It is a reality that President Nursultan Nazarbayev showed he fully understood when a year ago he coupled an ambitious programme of economic reform with plans to support and modernise Kazakhstan’s national identity. The announcement underlined the determination to build on a national character and cohesiveness, which has proved critical in the country’s remarkable journey over the last 26 years.
It is a character, for example, which is moderate in attitudes, which helps explain why extremist views have found little resonance here in Kazakhstan. It is also outward-looking as you might expect from somewhere, which for centuries has been where cultures and people meet. This openness to ideas and influences is why the country has been so successful in attracting outside investment and building economic partnerships to boost growth and living standards.
The Modernisation of National Identity programme – and the practical measures which underpinned it – unveiled a year ago were aimed at strengthening these positive national characteristics and links with Kazakhstan’s history, traditions and values.
Over the last year, we have seen the measures begin to be rolled out, putting a new emphasis on the rich history, both ancient and modern, of our country and its people. Important archaeological and sacred sites are being identified and restored across the country and a renewed effort at local level and national level to explain their importance. The 100 New Faces of Kazakhstan initiative will see individual stories from every walk of life publicised to reveal how the country has been transformed in recent decades.
The gradual switch to the Latin alphabet, with a target date for the change now set for 2025, is perhaps the clearest example of this determination. It was never going to be an easy or straightforward task but it will be worth the effort. The move will bring Kazakhstan into line with 70 per cent of the world’s countries and will be invaluable in opening up new opportunities in business, education and science.
It is the same reasoning which lies behind the commitment to ensure the young generation have the education and skills they need to thrive in the decades ahead. The new emphasis on IT skills and English, for example, in schools and colleges shows a country with confidence in the ability of its young people.
So, this is all my thoughts concerning the Rukhani Zhangyru program.
Could you please specify the details regarding the “Rukhani Zhangyru” program?
Tugan Zher is a project that seeks to strengthen the ties of Kazakh citizens with their homeland. It aims to cultivate a feeling of belonging and a special attitude towards the Kazakh heritage.
Sacred Geography of Kazakhstan aims to raise awareness of unique cultural and historical attractions that exude the nation’s rich history and identity. The spiritual shrines of Kazakhstan include the mausoleums of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi and Arystan Baba in Turkestan, ancient monuments of Taraz, the Beket-Ata Underground mosque and many more.
Modern Kazakh Culture in the Global World is implemented in close cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Sport to introduce the global community to the modern Kazakh culture. A selection of Kazakh novels and books will be translated to the six official languages of the United Nations. Also, exhibitions of Kazakh art and theater performances will be held all over the world.
100 New Books is a project that will help to improve the quality of education in Kazakh. It proposes to select 100 world’s best textbooks on history, political science, sociology, philosophy, psychology, etc. and translate them into Kazakh. The first result of this program is expected as early as 5-6 years after books become available to Kazakh students.
100 New Faces will showcase individual stories of 100 Kazakh citizens that succeeded professionally. These stories will serve as examples to others and will help reveal how the country has transformed in recent decades.
Switch to the Latin Alphabet will help open new opportunities for Kazakh and foreign investors in business, science and education. Kazakhstan plans to introduce the new alphabet by 2025.
This comprehensive initiative is crucial for Kazakhstan’s development. It will enable the country to preserve its cultural legacy and identity while keeping pace with modernity and technological advances. The trailblazing program will help Kazakhstan forge a unique way forward, where tradition blends with modernity, and national customs remain intact.
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