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0.954526 |
WHAT do the Tate Gallery in London, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and MUMOK in Vienna have in common? While all of them exhibit art, the buildings were originally built for different purposes: the Tate Gallery used to be a power station, the Musée d'Orsay was a railway station and MUMOK served as the Austrian pavilion for the Brussels EXPO back in 1958. Through adaptive reuse, i.e. reusing old sites or buildings for purposes other than those for which they were built, these create a link between the old and new while providing a sense of continuity in the urban fabric.
Globally there are many examples of older buildings that have been converted into apartments, offices, exhibition spaces or any number of other uses. However, Slovakia is far from a shining example in terms of massive reconstruction projects, particularly given how protests by the general public, as well as architects and preservationists, failed to halt the demolition of numerous historical industrial premises across the country, like Kablo and Gumon in Bratislava, for example. Experts attribute the current cheerless situation with regard to preservation or conversion projects to a lack of support from the state, either financial or institutional, as well as the legacy of the previous regime, during which almost everything old was deemed ‘wrong’ and often replaced by new structures, as well as a lack of promotion of the idea that unique, older architecture is worth preserving, even if it no longer serves its original purpose.
Fortunately, Slovakia can boast of at least a few positive examples of conversion projects that were initiated either by ‘enlightened’ business entities or enthusiastic locals, and which have received acclaim abroad. These include Design Factory and Refinery Gallery in Bratislava, the ongoing project of the New Synagogue in Žilina and Kulturpark and Kulturfabrik in Košice.
Architect Martin Paško has been converting historical premises and buildings for 22 years, 11 of which he spent working abroad on projects like the Museumquartier complex in Vienna and the Schauspielhaus culture centre in Zurich.
In Slovakia, Paško, together with his colleagues, is behind the projects of Design Factory and Refinery Gallery in Bratislava.
Design Factory is located in a former industrial zone close to the centre of Bratislava. The building is owned by regional energy distribution company ZSE. It originally housed a factory that produced and assembled construction materials. The revitalised premises, which retain the original industrial atmosphere, have held over 400 events since opening in 2005, which Paško views as proof that their ‘mission’ succeeded.
Apart from Design Factory, Paško’s team designed the reconstruction of a former ZSE switching room into a meeting centre and the Meteorit theatre. He is also working on the Refinery Gallery project, which will revitalise two old halls on the premises of the Slovnaft refinery in Bratislava, which used to serve as an assembly hall and a warehouse.
Paško and his colleagues have also worked on the reconstruction of the former power station in Piešťany and its conversion into a centre for children, Eureka Centrum, where they can learn about how electricity works. He is also preparing a project to salvage the former granary in Jarovce, close to Bratislava, and to convert it into the new Design Centrum.
Architect Martin Jančok considers it interesting that when working on conversion projects, the architect does not start from scratch, and does not build from a clean slate, but rather has the chance to continue something, or to link the site’s previous function with its history. He believes that in the end this is also beneficial for towns themselves.
According to Jančok, when structures in a town transform gradually, they provide a sense of continuity and remain functional, contrary to brand new structures that replace old ones and need to become ‘rooted’.
Jančok has already worked on several conversion projects of varying sizes. Together with architect Aleš Šedivec, Jančok designed the Alexis bookshop, located in one of the former workshops in the old Cvernovka factory. He also worked on the Záhrada (Garden) project, a cultural centre in Banská Bystrica.
But his current project, the reconstruction and conversion of the New Synagogue in Žilina, designed by prominent German architect Peter Behrens, into a cultural centre, is of much greater significance.
Because of all these factors, it is crucial that the entire project is carried out in a dignified and sensible way, which means that expectations are high, according to Jančok.
The project of the synagogue in Žilina is an example of a civic initiative arriving from the local community.
When the former synagogue ceased to serve as a cinema back in 2010, the local Jewish community, which owns it, offered to rent it for the symbolic sum of €1 without placing any restrictions on its future use. Marek Adamov of the non-governmental organisation Truc Sphérique (TS), which had already been successfully running the Stanica Cultural Centre in the building of the old and still operating Žilina-Záriečie railway station, opted to rent the building. Adamov turned to Jančok, with whom he had worked in the past. The result is a reconstruction project of an exceptional building, turning the former synagogue into a kunsthalle style cultural centre, for which they have already won the Bauwelt Advancement Award 2013 in Germany.
The synagogue was built between 1928 and 1931 and it served its original purpose for just a few years until the Second World War. After the war the building was used first as a theatre and concert hall, then as the auditorium of Žilina University and later as a cinema. When the synagogue was adapted for use as an auditorium and a cinema, the whole interior was significantly altered, and pasteboard was installed on the walls, covering the original design including the inside of the 17.5-metre high cupola.
The plan is to restore and display as much of Behrens’ original design as possible, while simultaneously converting the synagogue into a cultural centre.
Reconstruction work started in 2012, and Adamov hopes that the synagogue will start fully serving its new purpose in 2014.
All of these factors create challenges for everyone working on the project. Jančok specified that only a few pieces of the building’s original documentation were preserved, and that they are only gradually putting together the whole mosaic, with the help of Magdaléna Kvasnicová and other experts from the Institute of Construction and Architecture at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, who conducted the architectural and historical research on the building.
Architect Irakli Eristavi from the ZeroZero architectural studio agrees that each project of this type must be preceded by a thorough analysis.
“This preparatory phase, together with a detailed architectonical study, is exceptionally important so that it is possible to find the proper extent of interventions in the existing building and to find the balance between new architectonical input and original architectural substance,” Eristavi told The Slovak Spectator, adding that achieving this balance is probably the biggest challenge with conversion projects.
ZeroZero has designed a project to revitalise the former military barracks on Kukučínova street in Košice into a multi-use cultural centre, called Kulturpark. This project, along with Kunsthalle, which involved the conversion of a disused indoor swimming pool into an art and cultural centre, is part of the 2013 European Capital of Culture project in Košice.
“The revitalisation of the former barracks and their conversion into Kulturpark is an exceptionally extensive and demanding investment project,” Eristavi told The Slovak Spectator.
The project involves the reconstruction of three 19th century historical structures built by the Austro-Hungarian army, which will be complemented by new architectural details and infrastructure, located in a compact premises with a beautiful park, with the construction of new, smaller pavilions. The main focus of Kulturpark is the central building, with multifunctional halls, exhibition premises and other auxiliary functions related to administration, heating, etc. This building was rebuilt several times in the past and the scope of the current adaptations within it are the biggest within the whole project.
It was also exceptionally demanding to find a way to fulfil the requirements of the investor for the technical parameters of the structures with respect to the rentability of the future operation of Kulturpark.
“Respect to former buildings … was the most important for us from the very beginning,” said Eristavi, adding that their ambition was for the new and the original in the area to complement each other.
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0.956824 |
what do u think would be best?
Accounting or econ....I don't know how MIS will help.
Financial engineering (if your school of choice has it) would also make sense if you're interested in combining heavy analytics (and a more heavily computing based approach) with your study of finance.
But, then again, you might think about doing finance (business) with economics as an undergraduate and then doing a masters in financial engineering later on.
In any case you should do any type of Excel training and Morningstar training or whatever specialist software is available for you.
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0.999051 |
Press the required picture to highlight it.
Press the required video clip to highlight it.
As multimedia message, go to 3a.
As Email, go to 3b.
3a - "As multimedia message"
4. 3a - "As multimedia message"
5. 3b - "As Email"
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0.945626 |
The beginning of his career was marked by three events: In 1949 both Wilhelm Furtwängler and Herbert von Karajan engaged the still-unknown young artist as soloist for their concerts in Vienna. In 1950 he substituted for the ailing Edwin Fischer at the Salzburg Festival on short notice, immediately becoming an international celebrity. Yet perhaps his longest-lasting success was due to his recordings for the long-playing record, then a new medium. His early recordings on LP, starting also in 1950, brought him worldwide recognition, so much so that his first recital in New York took place before a capacity audience, one that had known him only through his recordings. His international career started with three large concert tours, in Australia in 1952, USA and Canada in 1952–53, and Latin America - from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina - in 1953. In 1956 he conducted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra's chamber ensemble in a successful tour throughout Italy, followed by concerts and recordings in which he conducted the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Other milestones in his early career were his first tour of Japan in 1959–60, a country to which he has returned innumerable times to the present day, and his first tour of the Soviet Union in 1964. Paul Badura-Skoda was the first Western pianist to perform in China after the end of the Cultural Revolution. He has also played in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Egypt.
During the Beethoven bicentennial year in 1970, he performed the complete 32 sonatas in many of the world's great musical centres (Paris, Mexico, Chicago and others), followed by similar Beethoven performances in Vienna, Berlin and London. During the Mozart year in 1991 he played 140 concerts throughout the world, including Vienna, Paris, Madrid and Tokyo, featuring compositions by the Salzburg genius.
His numerous recordings run the gamut from Bach to Frank Martin. He is the only pianist to have recorded the complete Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert sonatas on both modern as well as period pianos. His CDs and DVDs with works by Bach, Haydn, Brahms, Chopin, Schumann, Debussy, Ravel and others have won several prizes by critics. Badura-Skoda's numerous writings reflect his search for truth in music and life. It always has been his endeavour to understand the composer's intentions and to correct widespread errors in performances and musical publications. While his own compositions are in the style of the 20th century, he has specialized particularly in the compositional style of the 18th and early 19th centuries, completing unfinished works by Mozart and Schubert and writing cadenzas for works by classical-era Viennese composers which match their respective personal style.
His personal encounters with great personalities—not only in music—have made a lasting impact on him and contributed to his artistic and personal development. Edwin Fischer, his admired model from an early age, became his teacher and mentor between 1948 and his death in 1960. The composer Frank Martin (1890-1974) wrote two works for Paul Badura-Skoda (2nd Piano Concerto in 1969 and the Fantasy on Flamenco Rhythms in 1973) and became his personal friend. The composer Paul Hindemith treated him with kindness and appreciated his performances of his works. A deep friendship developed between Paul Badura- Skoda and the great violinists David Oistrakh and Wolfgang Schneiderhan, the latter of whom collaborated with him regularly starting with the 1950 Salzburg Festival. Paul Badura-Skoda formed a legendary piano trio together with him and the cellist Boris Pergamenschikoff. A lifelong friendship still unites him with Jörg Demus, his duo partner of many years—not to mention the inspiration he received from great pianists such as Alfred Cortot, as well as conductors (Wilhelm Furtwängler, Hans Knappertsbusch, Josef Krips, Georg Szell, et al.).
Today, Paul Badura-Skoda considers it his primary task to "pass on the torch." Apart from his concerts and recordings on CD and DVD, he communicates his knowledge and experience to selected gifted young artists. He particularly enjoys conducting youth orchestras in the East and West, inspiring them through his love of music. For him, music creates community and is our strongest hope for a better world to come.
Paul Badura-Skoda has received many honours and distinctions, among them the Österreichisches Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Grosses Silbernes Ehrenzeichen mit dem Stern für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich, Goldenes Ehrenzeichen für die Verdienste um das Land Wien, he is Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur (1993) and Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (1997). He is the current holder of the Bösendorfer Ring.
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0.919164 |
If I don’t have any media interviews coming up, do I need media training?
How do I find a good media trainer?
How many people can we have in a group session?
How do you structure your training programs?
Media training is intended to prepare you for interviews with members of the media. The point of the training is to provide you with an understanding of the media interview process, refine your messaging, and polish your delivery.
Great media training and presentation training incorporates three key elements: solid business strategy, thorough knowledge of the media, and a deep understanding of human behavior. A media trainer whose only knowledge is of the media, versus a media trainer that also possesses a solid background that includes business strategy, is what makes the difference between a client’s media interview that goes relatively well, and one that makes a real and significant impact on your brand positioning and your bottom line.
Generally, media training includes some education on what members of the media want, various interview formats, how to work with the camera, how to craft concise and thoughtful messaging and responses to questions, and how to convey charisma and energy in interviews.
Most media training is “on-camera” training, which means that there will be a video camera pointed at you. If this makes you nervous, practicing interacting with the camera through media training will help you to become less nervous in future on-camera situations, be they media interviews, promotional videos or online presentations.
Media trainers can prepare you for specific types of media interviews or for a wide variety of interview formats. Your media training sessions should be tailored to your needs.
Whether you are preparing for print interviews, radio interviews or TV interviews, good media training should enable you to provide clear and concise responses, and to confidently present your position in a manner that reflects your brand.
Anyone who could possibly be interviewed by the media should receive media training to protect the individual’s and the organization’s reputation and brand. Members of the media prefer to work with people who are prepared, and good media training is the best way to ensure this.
Media training is important for corporate spokespeople, actors, music artists, athletes, executives, entrepreneurs, experts and other public figures.
Why do I need media training? Can’t I just read a book and get all the information I need?
No. The act of preparing for media interviews is intellectual, emotional and physical. To borrow and butcher a Thelonious Monk quote: talking about media training is like dancing about architecture. You have to experience it. Getting feedback in the moment and then making adjustments on the spot will help to create new patterns in your brain and enhance “muscle memory” with anything related to your body language: body language makes up approximately 93% of our communication.
Media interviews are unlike any other conversation you will have in life. Even great public speakers and people who are comfortable in most situations need media training to understand how to handle various interview situations and formats and to avoid falling into the traps that can trip up someone who is unprepared.
If you plan on using any media, including social media, to communicate with the public then media training can help you gain greater clarity and command of your message and it will help you avoid some of the costly and image-breaking mistakes that can be made without proper strategy and preparation. You don’t want to wait until you have the pressure of an interview to begin preparing.
What do I need to know about the media?
There is a lot to know about the media, and here are some links to get you started.
To familiarize yourself with some of the terminology you will hear in media interviews, click here.
Read our blog for many more tips.
Do your research. Look at the experience of the trainer to ensure that he or she has a mix of business experience and media training experience. Read testimonials from other people who have received media training from this individual. If you are considering receiving training from a larger firm, be sure you learn about the experience of the individual who will be providing the training.
Don’t assume that just because someone is good on camera that he or she will know how to train you. Just as some people are great actors, but not great acting coaches, the same is true with media trainers. Look for someone with a track record as a media trainer.
Be sure that the media trainer has many years of experience working with a variety of media outlets. A deep understanding of the needs and the respective preferences of the media is necessary to be a good media trainer.
Visiting this site is a good place to start. Check out our services page.
For the informational portion of the media training session, we can accommodate any number of attendees. For the practice interviews, we can accommodate up to 10 people in a two-day session. However, several factors influence the number of people we recommend having in a media training session, including the complexity of the information the training participants will deliver, the experience level of each of the participants, and whether or not there are other situations for which the trainees must be prepared such as presentations, panels and trade shows.
To discuss your group’s specific needs, call us at 310-479-0217.
Fees for media training services can vary from firm to firm and client to client. Generally, fees begin around $1,500 and can go up to $20,000 or more depending on the number of people being trained, time involved and complexity of the material. It’s important to know what you are paying for.
Some of the primary factors that influence fees for media training are listed here. If you have further questions, feel free to contact us.
As with almost any service, you pay more for expertise and experience because it’s worth it. If you’re taking advice and receiving coaching, you want to make sure the people providing it have deep knowledge in their field and some strong testimonials.
You can be trained to look and sound good in an interview that looks and sounds good, but there’s much more to making the most of every press opportunity. Experience in front of the camera does not necessarily mean that a trainer understands what it takes to grow a business or position clients to attract the deals they desire. To be a good media trainer, one must have experience positioning clients for growth in their field or to achieve goals that far exceed simply doing well in interviews.
The depth of media training that you desire for yourself or anyone for whom you are representing may depend on the complexity of the content you deliver, the types of interviews for which you want to prepare, and your past experience. We generally hold a complimentary call to ask you questions to find out what will work best for you or the people who will receive media training. Then, we create a customized program to suit you.
It’s good to be very realistic about how much time you want to devote to your media training program. We aim to create programs that make the best use of each individual’s time. This is one of the many reasons we customize our programs.
If each person who is being trained will need individual attention and on-camera time, the number of people being trained influences the amount of time needed for the sessions, which influences pricing.
If extensive travel is required, there can be some travel-related expenses. Many of our clients enjoy coming to our office in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles for their training, but we travel and serve clients worldwide.
You don’t want to be left out in the cold after your training session. After media training sessions, it can be beneficial to hold a quick refresher call with your trainer just before an interview. We include these refresher calls as a complimentary service to our clients.
When hiring anyone for a service that’s as subjective as media training, you should be able to get on the phone for a complimentary call to get your questions answered. We feel that that first call is important because it helps us to get a sense of you, in addition to giving us the opportunity to ask the questions we need answered in order to provide you with pricing on your media training program. We make sure that our rates are competitive and that our clients receive great value from our media training and presentation training.
Request a quote or information.
At the start of any client relationship, we learn about the client’s goals and needs and conduct research to prepare for the training session. We customize our programs for each client because each client’s needs are very specific. For example, some clients want us to focus more heavily on educating their teams on working with the media, others want a lot of help with strategic messaging, and some others want a blend of education, messaging, preparation for media interviews, presentations and panels.
Call us to arrange your presentation training or media training in Los Angeles, or elsewhere: 310-479-0217.
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0.999987 |
Summarize the short reading”Get a Knife, Get a Dog, but Get Rid of Guns” by Molly Ivins and then explain how it supports, broadens ,challenges, contradicts or changes your understanding of the social issue that the article addresses “pulling out” at least two points to comment on.
You will need to summarize the short reading and then explain how it supports, broadens ,challenges, contradicts or changes your understanding of the social issue that the article addresses “pulling out” at least two points to comment on. Although you will need to provide a short overview of the op-ed somewhere in the beginning of your essay, you should focus on what new information you have acquired and how the professional journalists discussion of the issue has affect/ impacted your understanding of the topic. Further more you will research and select an academic source that will support, demonstrate, challenge and or expand on your analysis and document that source according to MLA specifications.
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0.999999 |
Here's a column about how to prevent confrontation with an aggressive dog, but the advice goes against what I've heard in other places. Opinions?
"Standing still and put your hands in pockets because they like to get hold of something," says Madeleine Forsyth, a veterinary surgeon and non-practising barrister based in York. "A waving arm is an obvious target."
Avoid eye contact because it is confrontational and it is always unwise to turn your back, says Miss Forsyth, so standing sideways and looking slightly away is advisable.
I've seen aggressive dogs back down when confronted with yelling and waving arms, and I've also seen them calm down when you ignore them. So what's the right answer?
If a dog does bite, do not pull away because that will tear the flesh, she says, but shout for help.
"Hope there is someone with a breaking stick to introduce between the jaws.
"Anything will do that can be slid between the teeth at the side, but given the strength of the jaw and the leverage, it would have to be a very powerful bit of stick or it will just break."
Rather than just hoping for a stick, wouldn't it be good to gouge the dog in the eye or punch it in the nose? I've also heard that scraping the top of the inside of the dog's mouth with your fingernails will bring good results. A knife to the neck or gut would probably also be helpful.
\"Standing still and put your hands in pockets because they like to get hold of something,\" says Madeleine Forsyth, a veterinary surgeon and non-practising barrister based in York. \"A waving arm is an obvious target.\"\n\nAvoid eye contact because it is confrontational and it is always unwise to turn your back, says Miss Forsyth, so standing sideways and looking slightly away is advisable.
If a dog does bite, do not pull away because that will tear the flesh, she says, but shout for help.\n\n\"Hope there is someone with a breaking stick to introduce between the jaws.\n\n\"Anything will do that can be slid between the teeth at the side, but given the strength of the jaw and the leverage, it would have to be a very powerful bit of stick or it will just break.\"
\n\nRather than just hoping for a stick, wouldn't it be good to gouge the dog in the eye or punch it in the nose? I've also heard that scraping the top of the inside of the dog's mouth with your fingernails will bring good results. A knife to the neck or gut would probably also be helpful.
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0.993969 |
In the ongoing Silicon Valley shuttle bus saga, contracted drivers serving five local tech firms, including Apple, voted on Friday to seek representation by the Teamsters union.
A total of 158 bus drivers working for Compass Transportation, which holds contracts with Apple, eBay, Genentech, Yahoo and Zynga, voted to seek higher wages through Teamsters representation, reports The Wall Street Journal. The vote, which must be certified by the National Labor Relations Board, saw a final count of 104-38 in favor of joining the union.
According to Teamsters Local 853 International vice president and secretary-treasurer Rome Aloise, the drivers "voted to be part of a rising tide to improve wages, benefits and working conditions of those who support the tech industry."
Word of a potential unionization effort came last month when Compass employees signed union authorization cards, signaling intent to support the initiative.
Today's news comes on the heels of a similar vote involving drivers for Loop Transportation, the firm responsible for operating Facebook shuttles, who accepted contract terms negotiated by the Teamsters. Drivers previously made about $18 to $20 an hour, but the union successfully negotiated terms that will bring more flexible working conditions and wage raises to $24.50 an hour over a three-year period.
The huge wage gap between contract workers and the high-income tech employees they serve has become a hot button issue in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to the publication, skill positions at Silicon Valley companies command median yearly incomes of about $119,000, while non-skill jobs rate about $27,000.
I will say as someone who has ridden these shuttles frequently, the drivers are generally highly professional and the work is challenging.
"A total of 158 bus drivers working for Compass Transportation..."
Fix your headline. This has NOTHING to do with Apple, Google, etc., and everything to do with Compass Transportation.
What next AI? Gonna post news when workers at a company that supplies toilet paper to Apple's bathrooms are gonna unionize too?
Yep, these are NOT Apple employees. They work for Compass Transportation. Yet this article clearly implies they are Apple workers.
And contract attorneys in DC, NYC, and other major cities are making $17 an hour. That job as a bus driver, requiring no education, is definitely more rigorous than being a lawyer, which requires college, law school, and passing a Bar exam. Why aren't the contract lawyers making $24.50 an hour? Oh yeah, they're a profession that is forbidden from unionizing because they're so skilled, it's silly to even suggest they don't make a lot of money. So now unionizing wheel-turners and pedal stompers are going to make more than a skilled profession. Hurrah unions?
Hence the reports of Apple self-driving minivan type vehicles.
It makes sense to test bed this first.
No doubt, Obama and the Democrats would love the bus drivers to be earning the same as the tech workers, as he forges the USA into a communist outpost of China.
Well, very soon all Apple inter-campus transport will be automated :-), so they won't have to worry about those darn unions anyway.
Moreover, AI can't spell "valley" correctly.
The headline should read "Drivers for a [or another] Silicon Valley shuttle bus operator vote for Teamsters representation"
"Shuttle drivers at Apple, other Silicon Vally [sic] tech companies vote for Teamsters representation"
The drivers aren't at Apple. They drive wherever their employer tells them to go.
But hey. This is good evidence of the thought and care of AI's editorial staff. Just yesterday, we say them bungle their reporting on iCloud and Apple ID registration.
Why don't they find high-tech jobs if they want to get paid as much as high-tech jobs are paying? This is ridiculous.
Want better wages? Go fking school and get a degree. Education doesn't come cheap and easy. People spent stressful months and years in school to deserve high pays. Unions just do more harm more than help. I'm sick of this kind of complaints. Janitors offered us to clean our house for $75/hr...I said fck it. I'll do it myself.
Drivers previously made about $18 to $20 an hour, but the union successfully negotiated terms that will bring more flexible working conditions and wage raises to $24.50 an hour over a three-year period.
That's fantastic... BUT how much do the Union's get over the 3 years ??? Shitload more than $24.50/hr I bet. Looks like your Tech Transportation is about to become as pathetic as your CA Wharf's/Dock's. Nothing like having a Union to screw up business. They are nothing more than self interested, standover people, blackmailing American Companies.
Apple isn't losing any sleep over this. $18 or $24...whatever. The cost of doing business is passed on to the consumer. If union employees servicing Apple employees bothers you, move to SF and start your own competing non-union transportation company and bid for the tech company contracts.
Want better wages? Go fking school and get a degree. Education doesn't come cheap and easy.
Right yeah? These posters have no idea what they are talking about. $25 an hour is $50K a year if you work full time 40 hours a week but drivers seldom do. Then deduct union dues, your own commuting costs and it is hardly a living wage in the bay area. High-tech workers in SF are making 120K+ with a degree in computer science. There is literally no comparison. I'm pretty sure most drivers are just scraping by.
I'd rather my driver wasn't working a second eight hour shift as a clerk at 7-11 before he dozed off behind the wheel of my shuttle.
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0.97534 |
In AtCoder city, there are five antennas standing in a straight line. They are called Antenna A, B, C, D and E from west to east, and their coordinates are a, b, c, d and e, respectively.
Two antennas can communicate directly if the distance between them is k or less, and they cannot if the distance is greater than k.
Determine if there exists a pair of antennas that cannot communicate directly.
Here, assume that the distance between two antennas at coordinates p and q (p < q) is q - p.
a, b, c, d, e and k are integers between 0 and 123 (inclusive).
Print :( if there exists a pair of antennas that cannot communicate directly, and print Yay! if there is no such pair.
and none of them is greater than 15. Thus, the correct output is Yay!.
In this case, the distance between antennas A and D is 35 - 15 = 20 and exceeds 18, so they cannot communicate directly. Thus, the correct output is :(.
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0.947001 |
Following on from Battleship and Lego, the latest form of traditional home entertainment to get a potential cinematic release is classic long-form board game Monopoly, with game makers Hasbro creating a company agreement with Emmett/Furla Films over movie rights.
The game itself has been around since the 1930’s, and while there have been plenty of digital gaming adaptations in recent years (including releases for smartphone users), it will be the first time that a cinematic story could be fleshed out of the property trading title.
The move is one which Hasbro will hope gets further than their last attempt at producing a Monopoly movie, as a project two years ago from director Ridley Scott was dropped. Their hopes with Emmett/Furla, however, appear to be more positive, as they have aimed to finance and co-produce an untitled Monopoly film towards the development stages by next year.
The deal also includes granting Emmett/Furla first option on a variety of other Hasbro properties, with the rumour mill so far suggesting a plausible cinematic option (Action Man) and a far-fetched one (Hungry Hungry Hippos) as future projects from the studio, as a further part of the arrangement seems to claim that the studio will produce three Hasbro films over the coming two years.
With a modern institution of gaming (Cut the Rope) also set for an adaptation to screens over the coming years, which generation’s title will have the most video entertainment value?
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0.971557 |
I write about small business lending, finance, and entrepreneurship.
As with almost every aspect of our lives these days, the internet has made it easier, faster, and more convenient than ever for small business owners to gain access to financing, submit business loan applications, and get cash in hand to pursue their goals.
Even so, when it comes to something as important as financing your small business, the easy, fast, convenient way won't necessarily give you the best results.
Each and every day, we see small business owners facing a denied business loan application or winding up with less than optimal interest rates or terms because they submitted business loan application without adequate research and preparation.
You haven’t checked your credit.
Did you know that even when you're applying for a business loan, your personal credit score as the business owner may be the single most important factor determining whether your funding is approved?
If your average credit report is over 700, you can consider yourself in great shape to be eligible for a business loan. However, a score that is under 600 or even under 650 will cut your chances of approval, as well as the interest rates you receive.
That's why before applying for any business loan, you should be monitoring your credit with all three of the major reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. You should know what your credit score is, what's on your credit report, and be checking for any mistakes or misreporting on any of the reports.
If you do encounter an error on your credit report, make sure to reach out to the credit reporting agency in writing as soon as possible, as the process of correcting mistakes can be a long one.
You didn’t write a business plan.
What does your business do? How is it going to make money? What is your marketing strategy? What kind of personnel will you need? What are your revenue projections?
These are questions you may have already answered in your head—but if you don't put them in writing, your lender has no way of knowing what your intentions are for your business, whether your plan is well thought out, or how high your chances are of being successful.
Particularly if you're seeking a loan for a relatively new business, a well-thought-out, well-articulated business plan can make the difference in whether your business loan application gets approved on the first try.
You haven’t adequately prepared your financials.
That said, no matter how great your business plan may be, it will ultimately be the dollars and cents that determine whether a lender considers your application fundable.
Along with your credit score, lenders will look at at least six months of bank statements, your last two years of tax returns, your most recent balance sheet and profit & loss statements, and—particularly if your business is relatively new—they'll likely want to see a cash flow analysis and up to date revenue forecasting.
Most of these documents can be prepared through small business accounting software like QuickBooks, but it's a good idea to have a professional accountant conduct a thorough review of your business financials before submitting your loan application.
Remember that lenders will be comparing the financial statements that you prepare to your tax returns and bank statements. Any unexplained inconsistencies between the two you could spell a denial for an otherwise promising business loan application.
You’re not prepared to put up collateral.
Although requirements have eased to some extent in recent years, most lenders still require small business owners to put up some form of personal collateral to guarantee their loans. This collateral serves as the lender's insurance policy that if your business fails, they have some valuable personal asset to seek as repayment on their investment.
If you don't own your own home or some other valuable piece of property—or if you're not prepared to offer that collateral as the guarantee on your loan—it can be much more difficult to find a lender willing to work with you. And what’s worse, lenders who do fund loans without collateral will often require a personal guarantee, which means you could be putting all of your assets as a business owner at risk if your business fails.
If you need funding for your small business but can't put up collateral on a loan, look into alternative borrowing options such as an equipment loan, invoice financing or even a business credit card to help you gain some working capital without risking all of your assets.
You’re applying for the wrong business loan product.
When most of us think about small business loans, what we have in mind is a typical term loan—one in which you take out a lump sum of money all at once and pay it back in regularly recurring, equal installments. But term loans are only one of the many options available for small business owners, and they may not necessarily be the right choice for your business.
Do you need cash all at once to make a big purchase? Or are you just looking for ongoing working capital for various purchases over time? If you don't plan to use your funds right away, a business line of credit could offer the access to funds you need while saving you big money on interest payments.
Do you need funds to purchase major equipment for your business, such as manufacturing machinery or even computers? An equipment loan, which works similarly to a traditional car loan, may offer you better interest rates and payment terms while helping you to avoid collateral.
Do you need funds to cover a short-term cash flow challenge, or perhaps cash flow issues resulting from clients who have failed to pay on time? Look at a short-term loan or invoice financing as a potentially better fit for your borrowing situation.
As you can see, the right loan product for your business needs can vary dramatically depending upon your unique circumstances and planned use of funds. To help you find the best business loan product for your needs, consider researching your options with a business loan broker or through a loan marketplace to help you complete a business loan application that will grant you the kind of funding you really need.
You waited too long to apply.
Although online access to alternative lenders has made it easier than ever to get access to funds for your small business, that convenience comes at a huge cost. Loans that offer approval in just a few days can also come with terms of 15, 20, 30 percent APR or more!
In contrast, obtaining your business loan from a traditional bank or through the U.S. Small Business Administration's loan programs can save you big money on interest, with rates starting as low as 6.5% APR.
That means waiting until the last minute to submit your business loan application could cost you thousands—even tens of thousands—of dollars in interest payments.
To benefit from those more affordable forms of financing, though, you'll need to have your ducks in a row and put your business loan application together long before you actually need cash in hand.
You didn’t read the fine print before signing.
This absolutely cannot be overstated: once you sign the dotted line of your business loan agreement, you are still responsible for the terms of that loan; even the ones in fine print that you didn't read or didn't fully understand.
Are you clear on your loan’s interest rate, payment schedule, and the actual dollar amount that you'll be responsible for over time? Does your loan have a prepayment penalty? What are the fees associated with late payments? What is the total cost of your loan with all fees and interest included? What is your liability if your business fails or if you're unable to repay the loan?
The answers to all these questions are in the fine print of your loan agreement, and you should be able to answer them before you sign. If you have any questions or reservations, talk to your lender a loan broker or even your legal counsel—but don't assume anything without seeking clarity first.
Online alternative lenders have made it easier than ever for small businesses to access the right form of capital to achieve their goals. Even so, the power and the responsibility is ultimately in your hands as a small business owner to prepare a loan application that will get the results you're looking for.
Have these or other common business loan application mistakes held you back from obtaining the funding your business needs? It’s not too late to get the funding you need with the right business loan product at the right price.
Researching your options and preparing your business loan application the right way will require an investment of time and energy, but when you get that notice of approval on the funding your business needs, the effort you put in will have been worth it.
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Child prodigy and former student of Gustav Mahler who began working professionally as a conductor at the age of 16 and became Hollywood's most prolific film composer, allegedly scoring over 250 films. In the US from 1914, Steiner moved to Hollywood at the beginning of the sound era, working first as a musical director and then a composer, becoming a key innovator in the development of film scoring. His richly orchestrated scores provided the appropriate emotional resonance for films such as "King Kong" (1933), "Gone with the Wind" (1939), "Now Voyager," "Casablanca" (both 1942), "The Big Sleep" (1946) and "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1947). Steiner worked on nearly 20 Bette Davis films and was with RKO and Warner Bros. for most of his career.
First film score, "Rio Rita"
Steiner was one of six motion picture composers who were honored in 1999 with a postage stamp.
Maximilian Raoul Walter Steiner (born May 10, 1888 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary; died December 28, 1971 in Hollywood, California) was an Austrian-American composer of music for theater production shows and films. Steiner's paternal grandfather was Maximilian Steiner (1839-1880), influential manager of Vienna's Theater an der Wien; his father was Gabor Steiner (1858-1944), Viennese impresario and carnival and exposition manager, responsible for the ferris wheel in the Prater that would become the setting for a key scene of the film The Third Man (1949); his godfather was the composer Richard Strauss. Steiner, a child prodigy in composing, received piano instruction from Johannes Brahms and, at the age of fifteen, enrolled at the Imperial Academy of Music (now known as the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna), where he was taught by Gustav Mahler among others. His supernormal musical aptitudes enabled him to complete the school's four-year degree in only one. At the age of 16 Steiner wrote and conducted the operetta The Beautiful Greek Girl. At the opening of World War I, Steiner was working in London. There he was classified an enemy alien but was befriended by the Duke of Westminster and given exit papers. He arrived in New York in December, 1914 with $32 to his name. Steiner worked for 15 years in New York as an arranger, orchestrator and conductor of Broadway operettas and musicals written by Victor Herbert, Jerome Kern, Vincent Youmans and George Gershwin. In 1929, Steiner went to Hollywood to orchestrate the film version of the Florenz Ziegfield show Rio Rita for RKO Radio Pictures. The score for King Kong in 1933 made Steiner's reputation; it was one of the first American films to have an extensive musical score. He conducted the scores for several Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals, including Top Hat (1935) and Roberta (1935). He scored hundreds of Hollywood films, and was the most prominent composer in the music department of Warner Brothers Studios, where he wrote the famous fanfare that introduced most of Warners' films from 1937 through the early 1950s. Steiner continued to score Warner Brothers films until the mid 1960s; he usually worked with orchestrator Murray Cutter. His final original film score was Warners' 1964 drama Youngblood Hawke. He also wrote music for several of the television series produced by Warner Brothers. In 1954, RCA Victor asked Steiner to prepare an orchestral suite of music from Gone with the Wind, (his most ambitious score) which Steiner also conducted, for a special LP, which was later issued on CD.s Max Steiner received 26 Academy Award nominations for his work, winning 3 Oscars. He did not win one for what is perhaps his most familiar score, that of Gone with the Wind (1939). Steiner has been called "the father of film music." He is entombed in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. After his death, Charles Gerhardt conducted the National Philharmonic Orchestra in an RCA Victor album of highlights from Steiner's career, titled Now Voyager. Additional selections of Steiner scores were included on other RCA classic film albums during the early 1970s. The quadraphonic recordings were later digitally remastered for Dolby surround sound and released on CD. In 1995, he was inducted posthumously into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Steiner has a star on the Walk of Fame, located at 1551 Vine Street, for his contribution to motion pictures.
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Ready to sell your house? Here is a few staging tips to get your home prepared for the market. When listing a home that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, you want to make sure it's presented in the best light. You wouldn't buy a $50,000 dollar car if it was filled from top to bottom in someone's personal content and trash. This is the same mindset you need to carry into selling your home that will be worth well over a $100,000.1. SAY BYE TO CLUTTERThe best thing you can do for your home for sale is to get rid of all of your clutter! Make a rule for your home that for every new piece that comes in, one must go. One of the biggest factors to a cluttered home is too much furniture. Generally, in a professional staging, half the home owner's furniture is removed to make the house look much bigger. Look around your house and see what you can pack away. It'll be worth the investment to get a storage unit for a couple of months to store away a lot of your furnishings and goods.
2. FURNITURE GROUPINGSIt's largely misconceived that furniture pushed directly up against walls make a room look bigger, but this is far from true. Instead, you'll want to float your furniture in reach room and away from the walls. Position your sofas and chairs into cozy conversational groupings. Be sure the furnishings are placed to make the traffic flow in a room obvious. This will make the room more user-friendly and will make it look larger.
3. TRANSFORM ROOMSIf you have a room that has only served to collect boxes or other junk, it's important to purpose the room to something that is functional. You can make it into an extra bedroom, a small cozy nook/reading room, etc. If it's in the basement, hid the boxes and turn it into a gaming room or family area.
4. HOME LIGHTINGGreat lighting is the trick to making a staged home look warm and welcome. Most homes are improperly lit, which makes rooms look dark and dreary. There is a quick fix to this issue. Increase the wattage in your fixtures and lamps, aiming for about 100 watts per 50 square feet. Add three different types of lighting to each room: ambient (general overhead), task (under cabinets or pendants), and accent lighting (table lamps and wall accents).
5. GO NEUTRAL The simple trick to toning down dated finishing in any space is a little bit of fresh paint. You don't want to go stark white, but look into neutral grey and beige colors. Beige colors can also consist of warm honey like colors, soft blues and greens, and a variety of undertones that add a little life to a general neutral color. If you do want to use bold colors, be sure to only keep it on accent walls to help enhance structural features.
6. MAKE IT LOOK BIGGERIf you want to make a room bigger than it is, paint the room the same color as an adjacent room. For small kitchens and dining rooms, a seamless look will make the space feel like one, open it up, and make it seem much larger. Using drapes that match the wall colors can also add an emphasis to the room's size.
7. USE YOUR GARDENStaged homes have an emphasis in fresh flowers and pricey floral arrangements. If you don't have the money to go all out on florals, you can get this same effect by raiding your garden space. You can DIY beautiful pieces with fern fronds, magnolia clippings, and more. Use the spring and summer months to find cheerful flowers and use them in your arrangements.
8. GET A FACELIFTSo you can't afford new cabinets? Then you can just get new doors and drawer fronts. Then paint everything to match and add new hardware to them. Instead of replacing the entire dishwasher, you may be able to get a new front panel, go for stainless steel if you can pull it off. Check with the manufacturer to see if replacements are available for your model.
9.MAKE NECESSARY REPAIRSUnfinished home projects can really scare off potential home buyers, so you'll want to be sure to make required repairs. Missing floorboards and large cracks in the sidewalk on the way to your door tend to be a red flag. Holes in walls and scratched up door frames can really look unattractive. These repairs cost you less to fix than buyers might deduct from the asking price.
10. CLEAN YOUR HOMEAside from de-cluttering, the most important step to staging your home is to clean it. A dirty house is a quick turn-off for potential buyers. Most homes, especially with children and pets, and smokers, have a smell that may go undetected to home owners, but are quickly picked up by strangers. Be sure to have your home professionally cleaned prior to staging to appeal to all buyers that your home is nice and fresh.
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Given the recent rate of changes for streaming TV services, Suppose TV picked an appropriate time to add new features that alert users when services change pricing, content and more.
The web-based platform Suppose.TV launched about 18 months ago as a means to allowing users to search and compare between various streaming TV services including virtual MVPDs, traditional MVPDs and premium channels. The website also lets users search services based on device compatibility and other features.
Now Suppose is taking the beta label off a new feature called TV Service Alerts, which allows users to receive alerts when new, relevant offers are available. The feature also sends alerts due to price changes, content additions or removals, or feature changes.
Suppose has also added more promotion discovery to its search platform so users can see deals on discounted devices, free channels, and limited-time pricing.
Suppose’s new alerts seem particularly relevant in a week where Hulu with Live TV raised its monthly rates, YouTube TV added 95 U.S. markets and PlayStation Vue added new channels.
Along with the new alerts feature, Suppose is also rolling out API access to its TV service database and recommendation platform so partners can build customized search tools within their user experiences.
“With our API solution, Suppose supports the delivery of TV service selection tools by partner companies like broadband providers, television OS platforms, or retailers,” Shapiro said.
Suppose is also expanding its search results to include more information on the availability of local broadcast networks and regional sports networks. Suppose now provides local market channel details for more than 100 top markets, which include approximately 90% of U.S. households.
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I'm sure you've heard of mesothelioma, but there's still probably a lot that you don't know about how someone might get mesothelioma or how serious it is. Today, I am asking you to take a moment to learn about mesothelioma and spread awareness.
- Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer affecting the membrane lining of the lungs and abdomen.
- Every year close to 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma and are given an average of 10 months to live.
- Asbestos exposure is the #1 cause of occupational cancer in the US - even more than 30 years after the peak of its use!
- Mesothelioma is not easy to diagnose. Its symptoms resemble the symptoms of other respiratory conditions.
- No amount of asbestos exposure is safe.
- There are actually three types of mesothelioma: pleural, peritoneal, pericardial.
- Symptoms can take a long time to appear. In fact, they may not appear until 30-60 years after someone's initial exposure to asbestos!
- Asbestos an be found in older homes, schools, factories, and commercial buildings. The greatest risk comes when it becomes worn or damaged. The fibers flake off and become airborne.
- US veterans have the highest risk of mesothelioma.
- Contrary to popular belief, asbestos is not banned in the US.
- Men are four times as likely to be diagnosed with mesithelioma than women.
If you still have questions about mesothelioma, visit http://www.mesothelioma.com/.
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0.948835 |
How do Dutch doctors kill? Let me count the ways: Dutch euthanasia statistics are bogus. Always were.
First, they have a very narrow definition of euthanasia and assisted suicide. For example, when a doctor lethally injects someone who didn't ask to be killed–known as termination without request or consent–it isn't technically considered euthanasia.
One in 10 Dutch family doctors has given dying patients a too-high dose of morphine or other painkiller in order to speed up their death, the Volkskrant reports on Tuesday. The figures come from a survey of 866 family doctors for NCRV television programme Altijd Wat, the Volkskrant said. 'If a terminally-ill patient is suffering badly, despite being given the correct medicine, then I give someone as much as I think necessary. Protocols are irrelevant on such occasions,' one anonymous doctor is quoted as saying.
Notice, consent had nothing to do with it.
Third, Dutch doctors often don't report their euthanasia deaths even though required by law.
Fourth, doctors increasingly used terminal sedation instead of lethal injection. That is, they put a patient into a coma and withhold food and water. For them, that has the benefit of their not having to be present at the death.
A bit ago, I computed the numbers of patient deaths in the Netherlands that involved killing by doctors at a staggering 13%.
Bottom line: Euthanasia empowers doctors to kill who they think need killing. There is no control or protection other than the consciences of death doctors.
In 2010, of all deaths in the Netherlands, 2·8% (95% CI 2·5–3·2; 475 of 6861) were the result of euthanasia...In 2010, 77% (3136 of 4050) of all cases of euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide were reported to a review committee (80% in 2005). Ending of life without an explicit patient request in 2010 occurred less often (0·2%; 95% CI 0·1–0·3; 13 of 6861)... Continuous deep sedation until death occurred more frequently in 2010 (12·3% )...Of all deaths in 2010, 0·4% (0·3–0·6; 18 of 6861) were the result of the patient's decision to stop eating and drinking to end life; in half of these cases the patient had made a euthanasia request that was not granted.
My research indicates that about 2% of terminal cases require palliative sedation, which is not killing because it is done at the very end of life and death comes from the disease, not dehydration. Using that figure, about 10% of Dutch deaths were TS slow motion euthanasia. That raises the killing count to nearly 14%. Now, realize that roughly half of Dutch deaths do not involve end of life medical decision making (e.g. accidents, heart attack, etc.). That makes the count--(very roughly)--25-28% of all deaths in which medical decisions were made about the end of life. (And we are not even discussing intentional morphine overdoses that previous studies show usually go unreported). Now, I think we are on much more realistic ground. The 2.8% stat is clearly bogus. The real number is at least 3.5%, but really closer to 14%. If the USA legalized euthanasia and had a similar killing count, the total number of doctor-administered deaths would be over 300,000 annually! Update:Alex Schadenberg tells me the 2.8 percent included reported and unreported euthanasia deaths. But he also tells me that the 2.8% is wrong. I will link his take on that in a separate post. In any event, my broader point remains the same. The overall kill rate is closer to 13-14% when you include slow motion euthanasia via terminal sedation.
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0.999999 |
Create the scenery and other elements of individual game levels.
What does a Level Designer do?
A Level Designer creates the various stages found within a video game. This is a somewhat new field, as only recently have video games become complex enough to warrant artistic Designers for individual levels. However games have now evolved to the point where a level is more than just a monster to conquer or princess to save; each level is a technical and artistic production that carries the user into a different realm of imagination.
As a Level Designer, you create these levels and all of the art, scenery, and challenges that go into them. This makes a requirement of a mix of technical ability and artistic vision when you’re a Level Designer, and makes you responsible for all aspects of user experience in your particular level.
You begin by sketching out main points of the level, modeling its environment, and placing characters within this environment. In this process you differentiate between static elements, such as background trees, and the parts a player will interact with, such as doors and keys. You then lay the pathways where characters will travel, and build in the choice options that open up at pivotal points.
To do all this you must have a good grasp of computer graphics and game flow: Understanding of these matters supports your development of the plot and progression in the level, and your creation of the visual aesthetics that make the progression intriguing.
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0.999997 |
Does my small business need to have an employee handbook?
Many small business owners think that employee handbooks are only useful for large organizations, but this is not the case. In fact, it is crucial for any business to establish formal rules concerning the employer-employee relationship and the rights and responsibilities of the parties. Ultimately, a formal handbook can protect a business owner in the event of an employee dispute.
What policies should be included in an employee handbook?
The first topic to address is employee compensation and whether employees are paid an annual salary, an hourly wage, or commissions. Employees should also be notified when they will be paid, weekly or bi-weekly, although it is customary for sales people to be paid on a monthly basis. In addition, the compensation policy should specify how hours workers are recorded, how taxes are calculated and deducted and whether overtime is paid.
If your business offers fringe benefits, such as employer sponsored health insurance, retirement plans, profit sharing plans and bonus, this must be stated in the handbook as well as rules for eligibility.
The handbook should specify the company's hours of operation, hours required each day, rest breaks, lunch break and rules on attendance and lateness, how paid time off accrues, as well as policies on flexible work hours and telecommuting.
Informing employees how they are expected to conduct themselves in the workplace is a must, and addressing issues such as discrimination and harassment is crucial. Your business must have zero tolerance for employment discrimination and sexual harassment and clearly state that this conduct is grounds for termination. Less onerous workplace violations, such as absenteeism, tardiness, misuse of company email, the internet, social media, and other company equipment, should also be listed, and what disciplinary actions will be taken.
Regardless of the size of your outfit is crucial to create a comprehensive employee handbook. Obviously, the size of your business and the nature of your industry will dictate how extensive the handbook should be. If you are thinking about putting an employee handbook in place, seek the advice of an experienced employment law attorney.
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Affect as a verb means "to influence": It affected me strangely. As a noun, it is a technical term used in psychology to describe someone's emotional state.
Effect as a noun means "result": It had a strange effect on me. As a verb, it means "to bring about" or "to cause": He's trying to effect change in government.
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0.999977 |
Can your mobile mechanic come to my place of work?
Yes, we can come to your workplace as long as you have a power point our mechanic can access as well as water for health and safety purposes. We will also need a safe area to work that is level on either concrete or bitumen.
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0.602012 |
Raymond Allen Liotta (born December 18, 1954) is an American actor and movie producer. He was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. He was adopted when he was six months old. His movie roles include: Ray Sinclair in Something Wild, Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams, Henry Hill in Goodfellas, Officer Pete Davis in Unlawful Entry and Detective Lieutenant Henry Oak in Narc. He won an Emmy Award for his role in ER.
One of Liotta's earliest roles was as Joey Perrini on the soap opera Another World. He appeared on the show from 1978 to 1981. In his first movie he infamously sexually assaulted Pia Zadora with a garden hose in the cult classic The Lonely Lady. In 1987, he earned his first Golden Globe nomination for Something Wild. In 1989, he costarred, along with Kevin Costner, in the fantasy/drama movie, Field of Dreams. Liotta was Shoeless Joe Jackson, the ghost of the famed baseball player. In 1990, Liotta was real-life mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's movie Goodfellas. In 1992, he costarred, along with Kurt Russell and Madeleine Stowe, in the thriller Unlawful Entry as a psychopathic cop. He also had a leading role in Sci-Fi/Action movie No Escape. Liotta earned more praise for James Mangold's movie Cop Land, starring alongside Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel. In 1998, he received praise the crime movie Phoenix.
In addition to his movie roles, Liotta was singer Frank Sinatra in the 1998 TV movie The Rat Pack. He received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for this role. He provided the voice of Tommy Vercetti for the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. He received an Independent Spirit Award nomination and a Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards nomination for Best Supporting Male for the movie Narc. He then reunited with director James Mangold in 2003 alongside John Cusack and Alfred Molina in the dark horror-thriller Identity. He also narrated Inside the Mafia for the National Geographic Channel in 2005. He appeared with John Travolta in the movie Wild Hogs and with Johnny Depp in the 2001 movie Blow.
In 2011, he starred in The Son of No One, opposite Channing Tatum and Al Pacino. Liotta's recent movies include Date Night with Steve Carell, Charlie St. Cloud with Zac Efron, the independent drama Snowmen, and The River Sorrow, which stars Liotta as a detective alongside Christian Slater and Ving Rhames.
Liotta married actress Michelle Grace in February 1997. Their daughter, Karsen, was born in December 1998. The couple divorced in 2004. Liotta currently lives in Pacific Palisades, California.
↑ "HFPA – Awards Search". 1.hfpa.org. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
↑ "Observe and Report". Observeandreport.com. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
This page was last changed on 16 July 2013, at 06:17.
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Electron dot structures, also called Lewis structures, are a graphical representation of the way electrons are distributed throughout a compound. Each element's chemical symbol is surrounded by lines, representing bonds, and dots, representing non-bonded electrons. When drawing an electron structure, your goal is to make each element's valence, or outer electron shell, as full as possible, without going over the maximum number of electrons for that shell.
Determine each element in the structure by looking at its chemical formula. For example, carbon dioxide's formula is CO2. Therefore it has one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms.
Look up each element on the Periodic Table. Note each group, or column number. This reflects how many valence electrons the element has. For instance, carbon is in group 4A and oxygen is in group 6A; therefore carbon has four valence electrons and oxygen has six.
Add the valence electrons of all the elements. This is the total number of electrons available for the dot structure. Since 4 + 6 + 6 = 16, there will be 16 electrons in carbon dioxide's Lewis structure.
Determine which element is the least electronegative, or has the weakest pull on the electrons, by looking on an electronegativity chart or by examining the element's position relative to the other elements on the Periodic Table. Elements generally increase in electronegativity from left to right and from bottom to top. Carbon is the least electronegative element in the compound, with a value of 2.5.
Place the least electronegative element in the center of the structure, then surround it with the other atoms. Hydrogen tends to be an exception to this rule and is seldom a central atom. Carbon dioxide's structure would begin like this: O C O.
Draw a straight line between each outlying atom and the central atom to represent a single bond. For example, O – C – O.
Subtract the total number of bonding electrons from the number of available electrons. Remember that each single bond involves two electrons. Since there are two bonds containing two electrons each, there are 12 more electrons available for the carbon dioxide structure.
Place dots to represent the remaining electrons around each outlying atom until its valence shell is full. Hydrogen requires two electrons and non-metals usually require eight.
Add any remaining electrons to the central atom. If there are no electrons remaining, yet the central atom has fewer electrons than it started with, this indicates that the structure is not yet finished. For example, carbon only contributed one electron to each bonded pair. There are two bonded pairs, so that accounts for two electrons. Yet carbon has four valence electrons. The diagram needs additional work.
Create double or triple bonds between the central and outlying atoms if the central atom's valence shell is not full and pairs of non-bonded electrons are nearby.
If the electron is an ion, add or subtract the number of electrons indicated by the charge from a non-bonded pair.
Write a charge equal to the number of electrons you added or subtracted next to each affected element.
Always add non-bonded electrons in pairs.
Arnold, Kylene. "How to Determine the Electron Dot Structure." Sciencing, https://sciencing.com/determine-electron-dot-structure-8654732.html. 24 April 2017.
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why do Muslims admire Muhammad (peace upon him)?
I have selected some teachings of Muhammed, peace upon him. These teachings are for those who accuse Muhammad, peace upon him, of being a violent man.
(1)To live comfortably is not arrogance. Arrogance is to despise the people and to reject the truth.
(2) Love all; This is half of wisdom.
(3) Humility elevates one's position.
(4) The strong man is he who controls himself, not the one who throws down his adversary.
Perhaps, you might understand why Muslims admire him much, love more than their parents.
One more for those who writes anything to accuse him.
(5) Advice is a trust and wrong instruction is a breach of trust.
So, Anyone should avoid misleading others.
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There are schools offering physical therapy assistant programs in New Mexico!
Each year, roughly 0.1% of New Mexico students graduate with degrees in physical therapy assisting. In other words, every year an estimated 25 physical therapy assistants graduate from New Mexico's 2 physical therapy assistant schools.
Pima Medical Institute, which was ranked 75th nationwide in 2010, is the top-ranked school in New Mexico that has a physical therapy assistant program. It is located in Albuquerque. In 2010, Pima Medical Institute graduated no students from its physical therapy assistant program.
The second-ranked school in New Mexico with a physical therapy assistant program is San Juan College, which is located in Farmington. In 2010, it was ranked 89th nationwide. In 2010, 25 students graduated from San Juan College physical therapy assistant program. Students at San Juan College paid $1,032 per year in tuition fees.
A physical therapy assistant degree from a New Mexico school... what next?
The government projects that by 2018, the number of physical therapy assistants in the state of New Mexico will grow to 420. This would require a 27% growth in the profession.
Take a look at the graphs and charts below for additional New Mexico statistics regarding a career in physical therapy assisting and to compare salaries with a variety of related fields such as physical therapy or allied health.
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As a basic foundation for learning to read and write, kids need strong speaking and listening skills.
As a basic foundation for learning to read and write, kids need strong speaking and listening skills. When you and other adults around your kids encourage them to talk, ask, questions, and use dramatic play, it increases their vocabulary, allows them to hear and practice building sentences, and gives them more knowledge to understand spoken and written language.
Print knowledge -- an understanding of books, letters, and words.
For example, understanding that print carries a message, recognizing that people read text rather than pictures, and being aware of how to read a book (right side up, from beginning to end, from left to right, from the top to the bottom of the page).
Beginning writing -- first efforts to use print in a meaningful way.
For example, a child's first efforts to use known letters or approximations of letters to represent written language, such as to attempt to write his or her name, and knowing how text should look: letters grouped together into words with spaces between words.
Language awareness -- an understanding of how language works.
For example, being able to count the words in a spoken sentence and being able to hear the individual sounds in a spoken word.
Children develop these skills by having many early experiences with language, books, and print. They can have these experiences as part of everyday life, through play, conversation, and a wide range of activities. Young children use play and talk as a way to expand, explore, and make sense of their world. When kids talk about daily tasks and special events, tell stories, sing songs, and scribble, they are laying the groundwork for reading and writing.
Why do so many children experience problems learning to read? Many simply do not have enough experiences with language, books, and print. They need more time at home and in their early childhood programs devoted to helping them develop the skills that lead to reading. A lack of developmentally appropriate skill-building at an early age can significantly limit the reading and writing level a child attains.
A child's intelligence (within a normal range, as measured by standardized tests) does not determine the ease with which he'll learn to read and write. However, for about 5 to 7 percent of kids, a learning disability -- a different way of processing information and learning -- may account for their difficulty learning to read. These children will need additional specialized instruction and support.
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What is the name of the medication, and how does it work? You need to know what the medication is called, and how it works to treat gout. For instance, you may find that your doctor is prescribing you medication that is designed to not only treat gout attacks, but prevent them. The more you know about how gout medications work, the more you will understand how to effectively use it so your body receives the best benefits. Furthermore, understating the medication helps you learn what results you should expect to see.
What the long-term side effects are.
Are their alternatives to this medication? Find out from your doctor if there are other gout medications that are less severe, or if there are other gout treatments you can try if you are interested in a safer or milder drug alternative. You should also find out if the drug being prescribed is available in an alternative/generic name brand, which would be less expensive.
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Hemp farming began in Central and South America during the time of the Spanish Conquest (circa 1500 AD). Spain was a very strong naval power, and depended upon hemp ropes and sails to outfit their vessels plying the Atlantic Ocean to the resource-rich New World. Hemp was sown in many places almost immediately upon arrival, in the hope that they could produce their own hemp, and not depend on foreign merchants for this important strategic resource. Mexico, Chile, Peru and Colombia all had their initial crops, but only Mexico (California) and Chile had any long-term favorable results.
The word for hemp in Spanish is 'cañamo', and although originally a term specific to Cannabis hemp, now generally means plant fiber. So in fact, there are many types of fibers in Chile that go under the name of cañamo (hemp), just as there are many types of 'ma' in Chinese, and 'hemp' in English. In Chile, the list of fibers known as cañamo starts with major fiber plants such as Cannabis, flax, jute, ramie, Manila hemp and broom sorghum and such minor fiber species as 'esparto' grass, 'ortiga' (nettles), Agave (century plant) , Raphia palm, 'totora' (rush), 'cardon' (giant thistle) and blackberry vine. Many of these minor species have been used since ancient times by indigenous Chilean peoples to supply their fiber needs.
Hemp was a very important item for the Conquistadors. Since hemp is an annual plant that grows very rapidly, they could be assured of a relatively quick and efficient harvest. Hemp also proved ideal for the mobile lifestyle of the Conquistadors, their early descendants, and the native peoples. Hemp was so important to the Spanish Crown that in many parts of the Spanish New World, orders were imposed requiring that farms produce their quota of hemp to be delivered to the Viceroy. Spain became even more dependent on the colonies as their economic situation at home plummeted. Hemp experts were dispatched to the new world to promote the increased production of hemp for export to Europe.
Certain regions of the New World favored the production of fiber and/or seed better than others. The success of hemp in the Spanish New World may have been limited because the first seeds grown were of a temperate European origin and were not adapted to the tropics. Chile and Argentina are in a geographical position covering latitudes identical with Spain, though in different hemispheres, and having opposite seasons. Considering the European origin of the first hemp seed in the New World, and thus its strong preference for European-like environmental conditions, it is apparent why hemp took a strong hold in Chile and to a lesser extent in California, both with Mediterranean and temperate climates similar to Europe. The initial plantings of hemp in Chile took place north of Santiago in the Valparaiso district near the town of Quillota where it continued to grow continuously for the next 400 years.
Argentina could have been more successful in commercial hemp production except that approximately 80% of the water from the Andes mountains flow to the Chilean side, thus giving Chilean farmers a greater capacity to irrigate and to conduct the water-requiring processing of the hemp fibers. This water resource and the ideal climate, are the biggest factors that have kept hemp cultivation viable in Chile to this day.
Hemp was not only for military and strategic uses, but was an extremely important item in everyday farm life, being used to make sacks, shoes, canvas, clothes, rope, cable, twine, bow strings, lassos, saddles, animal feed and seed oil. To this day, many a Chilean farmer still gets a gleam in his eye when he sees a good quality hempen sack. One sack is easily worth 5 liters of freshly pressed and fermented grape "chica"! The agrarian culture puts a high premium on natural fiber products. They put these products to their ultimate test on the farm, and they know how well they function. A hemp sack or rope is more valuable than a plastic substitute because hemp will last much longer. If it was not so expensive, many Chileans would prefer hemp sacks and ropes.
At one time, hemp farms could be found in practically all parts of Chile, from the extreme north to the south. Over time, the hemp industry became concentrated in a few central areas with ideal climatic factors and nearby processing factories. Hemp farms continued on a grand scale into the early 1980's, after which time production slowed steadily. The main factor seems to be the replacement of hemp sacks and ropes with more economical synthetic alternatives. Even though synthetic plastics are of inferior quality, their reduced price provided the economic momentum that heralded the virtual end of hemp production. When international markets shriveled, the few remaining farms and industries survived by selling their fiber and seed products on a national level. In addition, environmental laws become more strict and water retting is now limited to only a few locations.
There are several interesting medicinal uses in Latin America for both hemp and marijuana varieties. It should be noted that hemp and marijuana have their own listings in Latin American herbals indicating that they are considered to be distinct herbal entities.
Hemp roots have been used as a purgative. An infusion of the stems, and seeds have sleep inducing properties. In weakly concentrated beverages, cañamo can be a general pain reliever, and use ceases convulsions, alleviates rheumatory afflictions and also afflictions of the urinary tract. It is also considered a blood purgative. Against cold humors, plasters made from ground up fresh flowers are applied over the affected part of the body. For irritation of the urinary tract, 30 grams of the fresh flowers are infused in one liter of boiling water and imbibed.
Marijuana is known as 'hierba', 'hierba mala', 'hierba buena' or 'marijuana' in Chile. It was at one time extensively used in natural medicine, especially in tincture form. Against headaches, and neuralgia the tincture diluted in water and soaked into compresses are placed over the afflicted parts. Also, the tincture can be taken orally 5 to 25 drops per day. This tincture is made by mixing 20 grams of dried flowering tops with 90 proof alcohol and soaking for 15 days. This is filtered through filter paper or cloth.
These treatments have been extracted from Latin American herbals. In Latin America there is a very strong herbal healing tradition, so to many Chileans it is no surprise that Cannabis is a medicinal herb. Many Chilean doctors support its reappearance as an effective and socially acceptable medicine.
One of the main issues since the late 1970s has been hemp's similarity to the drug plant marijuana! Hemp cultivation is 100% legal as long as the intentions of the farmer are not criminal. The burden of proof lies with the cultivator. Many hemp fields have been burned down by overly anxious police officers, or upon suspicion that they contained not only hemp plants, but also drug varieties. They may have occasionally been right since a few hemp farmers discovered that marijuana plants and hemp plants look essentially the same, and that they could easily hide a few in their big hemp fields. These farmers were thrown in jail, all of their hemp fields were burned, and they are never allowed to grow hemp again. Another problem is that some people will steal anything resembling marijuana, even if they are drug-free varieties of low value to the illicit smoker. Those few remaining farmers willing to brave the economic factors and political pressures began to protect their crops on a 24 hour basis in order to harvest before losing their crop to thieves. This protection occasionally involved encounters with armed bandits who threatened farmers and their families.
Thus, present-day hemp production in Chile is serious business, and relies on the discreet location of the plantations, high security, and cooperation with the authorities. Farmers hope that the marijuana smoker/thief will not be satisfied with low quality smoke and that hemp plantations will no longer be subjected to such a pestilence. The key lies in the detection and development of essentially drug-free hemp varieties that cannot be stolen and then diverted to the recreational smoker. This will be the only way to grow hemp in Chile and expect to receive the full support of the authorities.
In Chile, hemp has been an important industrial plant since the Spanish landed almost 500 years ago, and has found such a place in their culture that many Chileans have been surprised to learn that cañamo and marijuana come from related plants. Many local farmers wonder how a plant that once served for so much and be made into so many useful products for living and working on the farm, could turn out to be of the same species as marijuana. Debate exists in Chile as to whether we should continue confusing legal hemp with it's criminal cousin marijuana. Chilean farmers recognize that there are industrial hemp varieties, and also there are marijuana varieties, and that they are as different as night and day. Chilean law still respects this difference and there have always been provisions allowing for legal cultivation of Cannabis as hemp.
In present-day Chile there are very few hemp farms, but there is a concentrated effort preparing for a resurgence in hemp cultivation and new hemp industries are being developed. Many of the recent developments have been in response to the international demand for hemp prducts. Much of the work is centered around assuring the propagation of acceptable non-drug varieties and new product research and development. Pristine natural climate, rich soils, and long agricultural tradition make Chile a natural place for a resurgence in hemp cultivation.
Many landraces and cultivars of hemp have been grown in Chile. Hemp "varieties" were divided into four basic categories: fiber hemp, seed hemp, mixed hemp (fiber and seed) and drug Cannabis, based on the products that were harvested. Here is a partial list of these varieties.
Piedmont hemp - This fiber hemp variety originally from Italy is also known as Cañamo de Ancona. This variety differentiates itself from common hemp by growing to a larger size, and requiring more fertile soils. It commences flowering later than common hemp but ends up maturing at the same time. It produces a smaller amount of fiber, but yields a larger amount of seed. Unfortunately, this variety was found to lose its favorable characteristics after a few years, so it was necessary to acquire new seed at regular intervals.
Chinese hemp - This fiber hemp variety is also known as "the giant" because it reached over 22 feet in height. Even when planted closely, its stalks are thick and of tremendous height. Produces coarse fiber.
Italian hemp - This fiber hemp variety was experimented with for several years, and was found to be inferior to the common hemp land-race. It yielded less fiber of no better quality.
Kentucky hemp - This fiber variety was imported from the USA. It proved to be very quick growing and could be harvested early. However, it was never accepted because it was considered inferior in yield compared to the common landrace. In the extreme southern regions, it was found to be the most productive, but seed production required a location much farther to the north (more tropical).
Russian, Lithuanian, and Finnish hemp - These seed hemp varieties from cold climates are short and characterized by fast growth, high seed yield and low fiber yield.
Common hemp - This mixed hemp variety was preferred by many Chilean farmers and resulted from years of natural selection for local climatic conditions. It is hardy, vigorous, very productive and yields good quality fiber.
Turkish hemp - This mixed hemp variety is smaller than the Italian hemp, with dark leaves, and very late flowering and appears to be from the same group as the Italian.
Yugoslavian hemp - This mixed hemp variety has a high percentage of fiber.
Arabian Cannabis - This short drug variety was notably different due to its resinous leaves which were used to make an inebriating drink in Arabia, India and possibly also in Chile.
In Chile, ideal areas for hemp farming include isolated and protected valleys or along the banks of rivers and lakes. Depending upon seed quality and cropping strategy, the following quantities are sown.
Almost all Chilean hemp farmers produced fiber and seed at the same time, although many realized that this was not the ideal method, since it produced fiber and seed each of less than optimal yield and quality. Nevertheless, it provided them with two products, and two sources of income. Dedicated plantings for fiber or seed production have been slow to catch on, even though research indicates that dedicating your crop to either fiber or seed production is economically better, since you can harvest higher quantities of better quality of either product.
Fiber production requires irrigation at least once a month and ample soil nitrogen. Males are removed as soon as they begin to flower, and are bundled separately, since they provide a higher quality fiber, to be retted separately. During seed production, preferred males of ideal stature are selected and allowed to fertilize the females. All other males are culled. One select male remains per 25m2.
In the past, harvesting was done as follows. All the female plants were pulled up at a point when the seed was well formed. It was not advantageous to wait for the female plants to mature completely because even though the seed yield increased, it drastically reduced the yield of quality fiber by making it thicker, more brittle and unmanageable during processing.
To eliminate this problem, farmers waited for the grain to be well formed and begin its ripening, and then at this precise moment they began to cut down the plants. Many strongly willed and muscled farmers did not cut the plants, but pulled them out of the ground 15 to 20 plants at a time through a brisk action of the hip. These bundles of plants were then dropped on the ground and left to finish drying for 3 to 5 days, and then collected and stacked into a type of bale. These bales were rounded up a few days later and stacked in a 'capilla' or church shaped structure for final drying for another week or so.
First the seed was threshed by grabbing the dry plants by the base of the stalk, and beating the seed bearing flowers against a clean piece of ground or tarpaulin. In this way the hemp seed is collected in one place for later cleaning and winnowing using screens, brushes and wind. In some cases threshers and seed cleaning machines have been used to automate the process.
The harvesting of the seed, leaves behind the fiber-rich stalk ready for further processing on it's way to becoming finished hemp fiber. Water retting has traditionally been preferred in Chile. The stalks are stacked in retting ponds and covered with stones. Then the ponds are filled with water to immerse the stalks. Retting ponds are usually about one to two meters deep, and as long and wide as needed for the quantity of stalks processed at any one time. Stalks remain in this retting pond for a period of 8 to 10 days in the summer, and 12 to 18 days during the winter, during which they complete the retting process. As the stalks begin to ferment, the water becomes putrefied. If it was to be directly released into rivers and lakes, it could cause injury to the animals and people who drink water from these sources. Chilean Law # 3133 prohibits the retting of hemp in stagnant waters for this very reason. The Law of Fishing also prohibits the release of this effluent into rivers and lakes. Thus careful attention must be paid to the disposal of the retting effluent.
Before the invention of the hemp breaking machine, hemp fiber decorticating was an incredibly laborious task often performed by slave or indentured labor. More recently, mechanical and automated hemp breakers have revolutionized this industry and at one time several automated breakers were in operation. One of the best was the Ferriani decorticator and comber which rapidly delivered finished combed fiber ready for industry.
Hemp cultivation is very good for the soil because it controls weeds and aerates the soil. However, hemp is a heavy feeder and depletes soil nutrients, especially nitrogen. Chilean farmers have long recognized that crop rotations with nitrogen-fixing legumes restores the nutrient balance of the soil.
Chilean hemp deserves to be preserved so that small farmers can continue to have this additional source of income, and access to its various products for use on the farm. Hemp could help provide alternatives to the paper and logging industries, so that native trees may be spared. Chilean hemp has been given another chance. The process of re-establishing the crop may be a slow one, but hemp will make its resurgence to the fertile fields of Chile.
References are mostly Spanish titles and are available from the author upon request.
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Rita Argen Auerbach preserves her watercolor paintings just as she is preserving Buffalo architecture. Auerbach is a watercolor artist that paints landscapes and architecture from the Western New York area as well as other places inspired by her widespread travel throughout the country and abroad. She has an extensive history as an educator, has been represented in numerous museums and collections, and has several honors acclaiming her body of work.
I took a particular interest in Rita’s Buffalo architecture inspiration. There is a unique connection between watercolor and architecture. As a student just learning the basics of watercolor, I have quickly realized that it can be a devious and challenging medium to use, but the connection lies in the preservation of a finished painting. It seems that watercolor paintings need to be taken care of like a small child; the careful application of paint, the delicate handling, and the monitoring of light exposure prove to be captivating challenges to artists. There is a strong emphasis on preservation and perpetuation, and in a sense Auerbachs’ works can be said to be preserving Buffalo architecture through painting.
I am sure a connection can be found throughout the anthology of watercolor, and I am curious to see if others view watercolor in the same light. What other artists, collections, or paintings in watercolor would you characterize as highlighting a theme of preservation?
Daniel Tarnowski is a graduate student at Buffalo State College in Technology Education. His undergraduate degree is from the University at Buffalo in Environmental Design with a minor in Architecture.
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Please check out his work, On The Warrior's Path, 50 Things You’re Not Supposed to Know: Religion, and Create Your Own Religion. They're all great books. I also highly recommend checking out his podcast, The Drunken Taoist.
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The land of the Rising Sun as it is aptly called, Japan is a beautiful mesh of tradition and modernity. This East Asian nation is a destination where the past meets the future, east meets west and old meets new. While it is a rapidly soaring developed country and has made enormous strides in the field of design, technology and innovation, it is also known for preserving its ancient customs, cultural legacy and traditions.
Kick-start the trip by heading over to its dynamic capital - Tokyo. This is a progressive and urban country and is spruced with numerous dazzling steel-and-glass towers dotting the glittering skyline. Some of the attractions worth visiting are: Tokyo Sky Tree - pierces as high as 634-meter (2,080 ft), Tokyo Tower - offers impressive glimpses of the extraordinary city from the viewing deck, stroll around the Rainbow bridge, The Imperial Bridge - continues to be the chief residence of the Emperor of Japan and Ueno Park - green paradise is home to a zoo, aquarium and an array of temples and museums.
Do make it a point to spend some time in Osaka. Some of the sight-seeing points worth-visiting are: Osaka Castle - comprising exhibits on the history of the castle and the city, Shitenno-Ji Temple - one of the earliest Buddhist temples in Japan, Floating Garden Observatory - views of the city from up there is breathtaking to say the least and Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan - home to about 580 species and 30,000 marine animals from the Pacific Rim.
Take a trip to the incredible Kyoto. The destination is adorned with an astonishing amount of temples, shrines and palaces. Some of the places worth seeing are: Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine - incredible holy abode is one of the most significant out of the innumerable Inari shrines in Japan, Kiyomizu Temple - one of Japan's most striking temples, Kinkuji Temple - exterior is coated with a thick layer of gold leaf and Gion - Kyoto's major traditional entertainment zone and geisha district.
No trip to Japan is complete without catching a glimpse of one of its most prominent landmark - the imperial and majestic Mount Fiji. It is the nation's highest mountain peak and stands impressively tall at 3,776 meters. The deadly horrors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945 still reverberates in the minds of the people. To pay their respects, one can visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Don't forget to visit the Atsuta Shrine, housed in the heart of the city of Nagoya. It is regarded as the most vital Shinto shrine in Japan, drawing over five million visitors every year.
When it comes to shopping, be on the look-out for quintessential goods such as kimonos, mingei ( local crafts including kites and folk toys), Kyoto silks, fans, religious articles such as Shinto and Buddhist artefacts, paper lanterns, ceramics, lacquerware, cameras and other electronic equipment. As for cuisine, do indulge in local fare such as Teriyakai (Beef, chicken or fish marinated in a soy sauce and mirin wine, and seared on a hot plate), Tempura ( Seafood and vegetables deep-fried in a light batter) and Sushi ( Slices of raw fish and vegetables placed on cooked vinegared rice).
The stay options in Japan are abundant with the best luxury hotels, rental apartments and cheap accommodations available for the tourists to decide which kind to opt for depending on their budget and taste.
Japan experiences predominantly temperate climate but varies from north to south. The best time to visit would be spring and autumn as the temperatures are mild throughout the country.
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Two numbers are in the ratio of 15:11. If their H.C.F. is 13, find the numbers.
Let the required numbers be 15.x and llx.
Then, their H.C.F. is x. So, x = 13.
The numbers are (15 x 13 and 11 x 13) i.e., 195 and 143.
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Is it possible for a pregnancy test to be negative if your period is only one week late?
I have all the common symptoms back pain, stomach cramping, going to the bathroom none stop, and i wanna sleep all day.
It is very possible if you continue being late I would contact an OBGYN and get checked up back pain can be a sign of a UTI which could also make you late on your period due to the stress it has on your body. It could also be to early for a urine test to detect the HCG level which is the hormone that increases dramatically when pregnant. Good luck.
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According to our database1, Michael I. Jordan authored at least 347 papers between 1989 and 2018.
ACM Fellow 2010, "For contributions to the theory and application of machine learning.".
Covariances, Robustness, and Variational Bayes.
Stochastic Cubic Regularization for Fast Nonconvex Optimization.
Information Constraints on Auto-Encoding Variational Bayes.
Generalized Zero-Shot Learning with Deep Calibration Network.
On the Local Minima of the Empirical Risk.
Theoretical guarantees for EM under misspecified Gaussian mixture models.
Gen-Oja: Simple & Efficient Algorithm for Streaming Generalized Eigenvector Computation.
SAFFRON: an Adaptive Algorithm for Online Control of the False Discovery Rate.
Learning to Explain: An Information-Theoretic Perspective on Model Interpretation.
On the Theory of Variance Reduction for Stochastic Gradient Monte Carlo.
Partial Transfer Learning With Selective Adversarial Networks.
Averaging Stochastic Gradient Descent on Riemannian Manifolds.
Learning Without Mixing: Towards A Sharp Analysis of Linear System Identification.
Accelerated Gradient Descent Escapes Saddle Points Faster than Gradient Descent.
Underdamped Langevin MCMC: A non-asymptotic analysis.
A Marked Poisson Process Driven Latent Shape Model for 3D Segmentation of Reflectance Confocal Microscopy Image Stacks of Human Skin.
Perturbed Iterate Analysis for Asynchronous Stochastic Optimization.
Distributed optimization with arbitrary local solvers.
CoCoA: A General Framework for Communication-Efficient Distributed Optimization.
Saturating Splines and Feature Selection.
On Gradient-Based Optimization: Accelerated, Distributed, Asynchronous and Stochastic.
Fast Black-box Variational Inference through Stochastic Trust-Region Optimization.
Online control of the false discovery rate with decaying memory.
Non-convex Finite-Sum Optimization Via SCSG Methods.
Kernel Feature Selection via Conditional Covariance Minimization.
Breaking Locality Accelerates Block Gauss-Seidel.
Deep Transfer Learning with Joint Adaptation Networks.
QuTE: Decentralized multiple testing on sensor networks with false discovery rate control.
On the Learnability of Fully-Connected Neural Networks.
Less than a Single Pass: Stochastically Controlled Stochastic Gradient.
On Computational Thinking, Inferential Thinking and Data Science.
Unsupervised Domain Adaptation with Residual Transfer Networks.
Local Maxima in the Likelihood of Gaussian Mixture Models: Structural Results and Algorithmic Consequences.
A Kernelized Stein Discrepancy for Goodness-of-fit Tests.
Gradient Descent Only Converges to Minimizers.
The Constrained Laplacian Rank Algorithm for Graph-Based Clustering.
Optimal Rates for Zero-Order Convex Optimization: The Power of Two Function Evaluations.
Combinatorial Clustering and the Beta Negative Binomial Process.
Distributed matrix completion and robust factorization.
Machine Learning and Databases: The Sound of Things to Come or a Cacophony of Hype?
Computational Thinking, Inferential Thinking and "Big Data".
Parallel Correlation Clustering on Big Graphs.
Linear Response Methods for Accurate Covariance Estimates from Mean Field Variational Bayes.
On the Accuracy of Self-Normalized Log-Linear Models.
Distributed Estimation of Generalized Matrix Rank: Efficient Algorithms and Lower Bounds.
Adding vs. Averaging in Distributed Primal-Dual Optimization.
Learning Transferable Features with Deep Adaptation Networks.
Automating model search for large scale machine learning.
The Missing Piece in Complex Analytics: Low Latency, Scalable Model Management and Serving with Velox.
Bayesian Nonnegative Matrix Factorization with Stochastic Variational Inference.
Mixed Membership Models for Time Series.
Iterative Discovery of Multiple AlternativeClustering Views.
Particle gibbs with ancestor sampling.
SMaSH: a benchmarking toolkit for human genome variant calling.
Changepoint Analysis for Efficient Variant Calling.
Spectral Methods meet EM: A Provably Optimal Algorithm for Crowdsourcing.
Parallel Double Greedy Submodular Maximization.
Communication-Efficient Distributed Dual Coordinate Ascent.
Lower bounds on the performance of polynomial-time algorithms for sparse linear regression.
Bayesian semiparametric Wiener system identification.
Information-theoretic lower bounds for distributed statistical estimation with communication constraints.
A Comparative Framework for Preconditioned Lasso Algorithms.
Optimistic Concurrency Control for Distributed Unsupervised Learning.
Local Privacy and Minimax Bounds: Sharp Rates for Probability Estimation.
Estimation, Optimization, and Parallelism when Data is Sparse.
A general bootstrap performance diagnostic.
Efficient Ranking from Pairwise Comparisons.
MAD-Bayes: MAP-based Asymptotic Derivations from Bayes.
MLI: An API for Distributed Machine Learning.
Local Privacy and Statistical Minimax Rates.
Qualcomm Context-Awareness Symposium Sets Research Agenda for Context-Aware Smartphones.
EP-GIG Priors and Applications in Bayesian Sparse Learning.
Coherence functions with applications in large-margin classification methods.
Stick-Breaking Beta Processes and the Poisson Process.
Ancestor Sampling for Particle Gibbs.
Small-Variance Asymptotics for Exponential Family Dirichlet Process Mixture Models.
Finite Sample Convergence Rates of Zero-Order Stochastic Optimization Methods.
Active spectral clustering via iterative uncertainty reduction.
Divide-and-conquer and statistical inference for big data.
Nonparametric Link Prediction in Dynamic Networks.
Variational Bayesian Inference with Stochastic Search.
Revisiting k-means: New Algorithms via Bayesian Nonparametrics.
Bayesian Nonparametric Inference of Switching Dynamic Linear Models.
Bayesian Generalized Kernel Mixed Models.
Dimensionality Reduction for Spectral Clustering.
Managing data transfers in computer clusters with orchestra.
Bayesian Bias Mitigation for Crowdsourcing.
A Unified Probabilistic Model for Global and Local Unsupervised Feature Selection.
The SCADS Director: Scaling a Distributed Storage System Under Stringent Performance Requirements.
Visually Relating Gene Expression and in vivo DNA Binding Data.
Estimating Divergence Functionals and the Likelihood Ratio by Convex Risk Minimization.
Bayesian Nonparametric Methods for Learning Markov Switching Processes.
Joint covariate selection and joint subspace selection for multiple classification problems.
Neighbor-Dependent Ramachandran Probability Distributions of Amino Acids Developed from a Hierarchical Dirichlet Process Model.
Convex and Semi-Nonnegative Matrix Factorizations.
Regularized Discriminant Analysis, Ridge Regression and Beyond.
Matrix-Variate Dirichlet Process Mixture Models.
Inference and Learning in Networks of Queues.
The nested chinese restaurant process and bayesian nonparametric inference of topic hierarchies.
Active site prediction using evolutionary and structural information.
Modeling Events with Cascades of Poisson Processes.
Heavy-Tailed Process Priors for Selective Shrinkage.
Random Conic Pursuit for Semidefinite Programming.
Variational Inference over Combinatorial Spaces.
Tree-Structured Stick Breaking for Hierarchical Data.
Multiple Non-Redundant Spectral Clustering Views.
Learning Programs: A Hierarchical Bayesian Approach.
On the Consistency of Ranking Algorithms.
Sufficient dimension reduction for visual sequence classification.
Characterizing, modeling, and generating workload spikes for stateful services.
Coherence Functions for Multicategory Margin-based Classification Methods.
Latent Variable Models for Dimensionality Reduction.
Joint estimation of gene conversion rates and mean conversion tract lengths from population SNP data.
Optimization of Structured Mean Field Objectives.
Combinatorial stochastic processes and nonparametric Bayesian modeling.
A Flexible and Efficient Algorithm for Regularized Fisher Discriminant Analysis.
Nonparametric Latent Feature Models for Link Prediction.
Asymptotically Optimal Regularization in Smooth Parametric Models.
Sharing Features among Dynamical Systems with Beta Processes.
Learning from measurements in exponential families.
Predicting Multiple Metrics for Queries: Better Decisions Enabled by Machine Learning.
Statistical Machine Learning Makes Automatic Control Practical for Internet Datacenters.
Learning Semantic Correspondences with Less Supervision.
On Optimal Quantization Rules for Some Problems in Sequential Decentralized Detection.
A Dual Receptor Crosstalk Model of G-Protein-Coupled Signal Transduction.
Graphical Models, Exponential Families, and Variational Inference.
The Phylogenetic Indian Buffet Process: A Non-Exchangeable Nonparametric Prior for Latent Features.
On the Inference of Ancestries in Admixed Populations.
Probabilistic Inference in Queueing Networks.
Posterior Consistency of the Silverman g-prior in Bayesian Model Choice.
Shared Segmentation of Natural Scenes Using Dependent Pitman-Yor Processes.
High-dimensional support union recovery in multivariate regression.
DiscLDA: Discriminative Learning for Dimensionality Reduction and Classification.
Nonparametric Bayesian Learning of Switching Linear Dynamical Systems.
Efficient Inference in Phylogenetic InDel Trees.
An asymptotic analysis of generative, discriminative, and pseudolikelihood estimators.
An HDP-HMM for systems with state persistence.
Nonnegative Matrix Factorization for Combinatorial Optimization: Spectral Clustering, Graph Matching, and Clique Finding.
Hierarchical Beta Processes and the Indian Buffet Process.
Estimating divergence functionals and the likelihood ratio by penalized convex risk minimization.
Feature Selection Methods for Improving Protein Structure Prediction with Rosetta.
Nonparametric estimation of the likelihood ratio and divergence functionals.
Regression on manifolds using kernel dimension reduction.
A permutation-augmented sampler for DP mixture models.
Image Denoising with Nonparametric Hidden Markov Trees.
Solving Consensus and Semi-supervised Clustering Problems Using Nonnegative Matrix Factorization.
Learning Multiscale Representations of Natural Scenes Using Dirichlet Processes.
Statistical Machine Learning and Computational Biology.
Log-determinant relaxation for approximate inference in discrete Markov random fields.
Nonparametric empirical Bayes for the Dirichlet process mixture model.
Structured Prediction, Dual Extragradient and Bregman Projections.
Learning Spectral Clustering, With Application To Speech Separation.
Statistical modeling of biomedical corpora: mining the Caenorhabditis Genetic Center Bibliography for genes related to life span.
Bayesian Multicategory Support Vector Machines.
Word Alignment via Quadratic Assignment.
On optimal quantization rules for sequential decision problems.
A graphical model for predicting protein molecular function.
A kernel-based learning approach to ad hoc sensor network localization.
The DLR Hierarchy of Approximate Inference.
Structured Prediction via the Extragradient Method.
Divergences, surrogate loss functions and experimental design.
Robust design of biological experiments.
Predictive low-rank decomposition for kernel methods.
Multi-instrument musical transcription using a dynamic graphical model.
Discriminative training of hidden Markov models for multiple pitch tracking [speech processing examples].
Combining Visualization and Statistical Analysis to Improve Operator Confidence and Efficiency for Failure Detection and Localization.
Modèles de Markov cachés pour l'estimation de plusieurs fréquences fondamentales.
Learning graphical models for stationary time series.
Learning the Kernel Matrix with Semidefinite Programming.
Dimensionality Reduction for Supervised Learning with Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces.
Robust Sparse Hyperplane Classifiers: Application to Uncertain Molecular Profiling Data.
Multiple-sequence functional annotation and the generalized hidden Markov phylogeny.
A statistical framework for genomic data fusion.
Kernel-Based Data Fusion and Its Application to Protein Function Prediction in Yeast.
A Direct Formulation for Sparse PCA Using Semidefinite Programming.
Semi-supervised Learning via Gaussian Processes.
Computing regularization paths for learning multiple kernels.
Blind One-microphone Speech Separation: A Spectral Learning Approach.
Extensions of the Informative Vector Machine.
Simultaneous classification and relevant feature identification in high-dimensional spaces: application to molecular profiling data.
Beyond Independent Components: Trees and Clusters.
Semidefinite Relaxations for Approximate Inference on Graphs with Cycles.
On the Concentration of Expectation and Approximate Inference in Layered Networks.
Kernel Dimensionality Reduction for Supervised Learning.
Hierarchical Topic Models and the Nested Chinese Restaurant Process.
Large Margin Classifiers: Convex Loss, Low Noise, and Convergence Rates.
Support vector machines for analog circuit performance representation.
A Robust Minimax Approach to Classification.
Simultaneous Relevant Feature Identification and Classification in High-Dimensional Spaces.
A Minimal Intervention Principle for Coordinated Movement.
Robust Novelty Detection with Single-Class MPM.
Learning Graphical Models with Mercer Kernels.
Learning the Kernel Matrix with Semi-Definite Programming.
Efficient Stepwise Selection in Decomposable Models.
On Spectral Clustering: Analysis and an algorithm.
On Discriminative vs. Generative Classifiers: A comparison of logistic regression and naive Bayes.
Convergence rates of the Voting Gibbs classifier, with application to Bayesian feature selection.
Bayesian parameter estimation via variational methods.
Attractor Dynamics in Feedforward Neural Networks.
Learning with Mixtures of Trees.
PEGASUS: A policy search method for large MDPs and POMDPs.
Mixed Memory Markov Models: Decomposing Complex Stochastic Processes as Mixtures of Simpler Ones.
An Introduction to Variational Methods for Graphical Models.
Variational Probabilistic Inference and the QMR-DT Network.
Approximate Inference A lgorithms for Two-Layer Bayesian Networks.
Mixture Representations for Inference and Learning in Boltzmann Machines.
Estimating Dependency Structure as a Hidden Variable.
Adaptation in Speech Motor Control.
Approximating Posterior Distributions in Belief Networks Using Mixtures.
Local linear perceptrons for classification.
Mean Field Theory for Sigmoid Belief Networks.
Computing upper and lower bounds on likelihoods in intractable networks.
A Variational Principle for Model-based Morphing.
Recursive Algorithms for Approximating Probabilities in Graphical Models.
Exploiting Tractable Substructures in Intractable Networks.
Reinforcement Learning by Probability Matching.
Learning Fine Motion by Markov Mixtures of Experts.
Fast Learning by Bounding Likelihoods in Sigmoid Type Belief Networks.
Hierarchical Mixtures of Experts and the EM Algorithm.
On the Convergence of Stochastic Iterative Dynamic Programming Algorithms.
Forward dynamic models in human motor control: Psychophysical evidence.
Reinforcement Learning with Soft State Aggregation.
Boltzmann Chains and Hidden Markov Models.
Reinforcement Learning Algorithm for Partially Observable Markov Decision Problems.
Computational Structure of coordinate transformations: A generalization study.
Active Learning with Statistical Models.
Learning Without State-Estimation in Partially Observable Markovian Decision Processes.
A Statistical Approach to Decision Tree Modeling.
Learning piecewise control strategies in a modular neural network architecture.
Task Decompostiion Through Competition in a Modular Connectionist Architecture: The What and Where Vision Tasks.
Convergence of Stochastic Iterative Dynamic Programming Algorithms.
Supervised learning from incomplete data via an EM approach.
Supervised Learning and Divide-and-Conquer: A Statistical Approach.
Forward Models: Supervised Learning with a Distal Teacher.
A Dynamical Model of Priming and Repetition Blindness.
Task Decomposition Through Competition in a Modular Connectionist Architecture: The What and Where Vision Tasks.
Forward Dynamics Modeling of Speech Motor Control Using Physiological Data.
Internal World Models and Supervised Learning.
A Competitive Modular Connectionist Architecture.
A R-P learning applied to a network model of cortical area 7a.
Learning to Control an Unstable System with Forward Modeling.
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0.999371 |
In what ways are teens affected from a move, how do they feel, and how are they reacting to the new environments? Those are the most common questions that come up when people think about moving with teens. Teens has a possibility of being affected emotionally, physically, and socially from a constant move that seem to be a better choice than staying in which they are currently located. Consistently moving is a major life change and is a big event in one’s life. It can add several different levels of stress, anxiety, and even depression in some teens.
Constantly moving can cause physical effects on teen, some of the effects come to the surface in the form of rebelling, physical pain to their self, and another common one would be grades dropping in school. Rebelling from doing something, things that they see as being forced to do, something that they are not wanting to do, or something that was not an idea to them. Such things can be a major move; they see it as moving away from friends, new place, and something their parents do without asking the kids how they feel. They will fight at school, cause problems at home, and might even run away from home. Another physical effect that moving has on teens is causing themselves self-physical pain. Pain such as cutting or hitting them self to cause pain, cutting is one of the most common thing in teens. They use this as a way to release anger and to release stress they have built up. Finally, the last physical effect that comes to mind is how a move can cause problems in school. Parents and teachers will noticed their grades dropping and their GPA drop lower than before. The teens will not care about how they are doing or how things will end up. They see this as their parents fault for making them move from their hometown, from their friends, from their old lifestyle.
Emotional effect will also rise when a teen has constantly moved for their parents. Emotional effects such as anger, hate, regret, and loss of love are a few I would like to mention. They may feel anger towards their parents and feel as if their parent does not love them enough to think what they want may be different that what their kids need. They may turn to hate their parent’s decisions and hate any idea their parents may have to offer. They may feel that they are losing their freedom and may regret being born to their parents. Emotional effects will cause teens to have many problems in life if not taken care of. Teens that have a lot of anger and hatred built up inside of them for so long will end up blowing up and causing some major event in their life or others. One common effect that emotion build up can cause would be suicide. When teens feel as if they were forced to do something, they do not like the pressure; they will rebel and may turn to end their own lives because of the emotional pressure they face. They also have emotional effects from friends; they feel like they are feeling that they are just up and leave their friends.
Another thing that will effect teens is their routine will have to be changed and arrange to their new location. They will have to find new places to go, new friends to hang out with, and make a completely new routine from the start. This can make them think how often will I have to do this for my parents, will my parents ever see how much work and effects moves have on me. Changing a routine can be a major event; it can cause major changes in a life that was so perfect in the eyes of the kids. Teens will have to, to a point arranged their lifestyle to fit this new location. Another one would be that they would feel as if they lost their identity. They may feel like a new person, a new person who they do not even know. Teen will feel as if they have to reconnect with themselves and figure out how to live this new life.
There are many affects in many military families. Military families do not have the choice to where they move. However, people find that many military teens automatically make friends easily on the base they have moved too. Many teens fit well within the base but they do not fit well outside the base. It they do not attend a base school; they can cause many disciplinary problems. Many schools outside of the base do not know how to cope with military teenagers and many come to the outcome that they need medications when it was not a requirement for the teen to function. The schools also tend to suspend the military student from school or place in detention easily than normal students that do not face the constantly having to move. Many military teens also often visit the base hospital for counseling to deal with the move. Unless a common group of teens has an automatic sense to fit in, i.e. they are involved in sports, band, or academically smart, they have nothing in common. Currently, teenage children are cruel and often make it impossible for anyone with a slight deformity or abnormal character flaw to fit in. Many military children have gone as far as attempting to commit suicide. Many families do not have a choice in the matter of moving, and face many of the challenges on a short-term notice.
As a conclusion, there are many ways that teens of military and not military could have the effect from constantly moving between their emotions, physical feelings and their life style. Teens are not able to cope as well as adults and they are not able to adjust to a new environment as easy as other people are. They are use to one life style and they want to stay with that one certain style that they know of. Teens feel that when things are at a change that their world is about to end. These changes are common among teens and are a major event in their lives.
"The effect on teens from a constant move." LawTeacher.net. 11 2013. All Answers Ltd. 04 2019 <https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/family-law/effect-on-teens-from-a-constant-move.php?vref=1>.
"The effect on teens from a constant move." LawTeacher. LawTeacher.net, November 2013. Web. 22 April 2019. <https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/family-law/effect-on-teens-from-a-constant-move.php?vref=1>.
LawTeacher. November 2013. The effect on teens from a constant move. [online]. Available from: https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/family-law/effect-on-teens-from-a-constant-move.php?vref=1 [Accessed 22 April 2019].
LawTeacher. The effect on teens from a constant move [Internet]. November 2013. [Accessed 22 April 2019]; Available from: https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/family-law/effect-on-teens-from-a-constant-move.php?vref=1.
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0.945534 |
Elena Kagan has never served as a judge, but as solicitor general has argued cases before the Supreme Court.
Washington (CNN) -- President Obama has selected Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the Supreme Court nominee to replace the retiring John Paul Stevens, a legal source close to the process told CNN Sunday evening.
The nomination is expected to be announced Monday at 11 a.m., another source familiar with the process said.
Kagan, 50, a New York native, was widely reported to be the frontrunner for the nomination. She was a finalist for the high court vacancy last year when Justice Sonia Sotomayor was selected to replace the retiring David Souter.
Kagan would be the third woman on the nine-justice bench if confirmed.
Kagan received her law degree from Harvard University where she later served as dean of the law school. She previously served in the Clinton administration as associate White House counsel.
In 2005, when she was dean of Harvard's prestigious law school, she light-heartedly greeted conservative legal minds who were meeting there with: "You are not my people."
She warmly welcomed the thousand or so members of the right-leaning Federalist Society but let them know she shared few of their views on the law and society.
Yet the conservative and libertarian faithful that night cheered Kagan's honesty and willingness to mix it up with her ideological opposites. It is that reputation as a consensus-builder that has earned the solicitor general positive reviews on the left and right.
Those bipartisan skills, and her limited public comments on hot-button issues, have generally kept Republican criticism at bay and, even before the weekend, put the lawyer and policy-maker near the top of the contenders for the Supreme Court nomination.
"Kagan has a lot of fans on the right as well as the left from her time as the dean of Harvard Law School," Thomas Goldstein, a noted Washington attorney and founder of scotusblog.com, said before her pending nomination was reported. "She's someone who is an intellectual, who has earned a lot of respect. She's relatively young, a woman and doesn't likely generate a significant political fight."
But although she has never served as a judge, some on both the left and the right have found aspects of the New York native's record troubling, and she could expect tough questioning on such issues as homosexual rights and national security.
President Obama did not have to look far when considering Kagan. As solicitor general, she is the administration's top lawyer before the Supreme Court and has argued several high-profile cases before the justices since taking the job in spring 2009.
She was a finalist for the high court vacancy that year, when Justice Sonia Sotomayor was selected.
"You have to admit, Elena Kagan is a brilliant woman," Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said during a radio interview a year ago when Kagan was being vetted for a high court seat. "She is a brilliant lawyer. If [Obama] picks her, it is a real dilemma for people," especially conservatives like himself. "And she will undoubtedly say that she will abide by the rule of law."
Her confirmation hearings for the solicitor general job could offer a preview of what she can expect from both Democrats and Republicans. Many saw it as a dress rehearsal of sorts for a high court job.
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Kagan she presented a "positive impression." Democrats were similarly enthused.
With that endorsement, she won confirmation for her current job by a 61-31 vote.
Kagan was born in April 1960 and grew up in a Jewish household in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She went on to Princeton University and Harvard Law School. She served as a law clerk for well-known liberal federal judge Abner Mikva and then for liberal Thurgood Marshall on the high court.
In her 1986 job application to Marshall, she rather matter-of-factly told the civil rights pioneer, "I would be honored to serve as your clerk." The nation's first African-American justice affectionately called the diminutive Kagan "Shorty."
Kagan later went into teaching, starting at the University of Chicago, where one of the part-time faculty was Obama. Also teaching at the time was Diane Wood, who later became a federal judge and also is a finalist for the current high court vacancy. Kagan and Wood were among the few women on the full-time faculty at that time.
President Clinton later named Kagan associate White House counsel and then appointed her to the influential Domestic Policy Council, where she earned a reputation for articulate and well-reasoned statements on tricky political issues. She was the administration's point person on passing anti-tobacco legislation, negotiating in 1998 with Republican Sen. John McCain to give the federal government the authority to control cigarettes, as it does pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
The president picked her in 1999 for the powerful U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. But no Senate confirmation hearings were held, and the nomination lapsed. The seat was later filled by John Roberts, who quickly used the appointment as a springboard to chief justice.
Named Harvard's dean in 2003, Kagan earned a reputation for soothing longstanding tensions over a perceived liberal tilt to the faculty and curriculum.
She began pushing for the appointment of conservative professors, including Jack Goldsmith, a onetime lawyer in President George W. Bush's Justice Department. Goldsmith was noted for privately expressing concern over the so-called Bybee Memo, or torture memos, that offered executive branch endorsement for harsh interrogation techniques by the CIA against suspected high-level terror suspects.
Such hires eased ideological unrest on the Harvard campus.
"I have no doubt her heart beats on the left," said Charles Fried, a Harvard colleague of Kagan's who also was a solicitor general under President Reagan. But he said Kagan saw her role as dean to foster understanding, and "she would do it by recruiting excellent teachers from across the ideological spectrum."
Fried, who himself was considered for the high court under several Republican presidents, has nothing but praise for Kagan's skill as a lawyer and administrator.
But she has drawn criticism, too, from conservatives over her strong efforts to try to block military recruiters from Harvard because of the current "don't ask, don't tell" policy on removing openly homosexual service members. Kagan supported other schools challenging a federal law requiring that recruiters be given equal access or face the loss of federal funding. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law in 2006.
Just four months after taking the job as dean, in October 2003, Kagan told students in a campuswide e-mail, "This action causes me deep distress. I abhor the military's discriminatory recruitment policy." She called it "a profound wrong -- a moral injustice of the first order."
"I was at Harvard Law School when Elena Kagan became dean, and the liberals have no need to fear. She is one of them," said Carrie Severino, senior counsel at the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative legal group.
As the recruiting controversy showed, Severino said, "She is not a conservative."
Nor is she really very liberal, say some progressive groups, and that worries many on the left.
Her views on executive authority in particular have raised some eyebrows. As chief defender of the administration's anti-terrorism strategy, Kagan has articulated a more robust defense of the White House than many civil rights and human rights groups would like.
"There's a real concern about Solicitor General Kagan with respect to national security issues," said Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has defended dozens of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. "We do know from how she addressed the issue at her confirmation proceedings, and I certainly can't see anything that would lead me to believe that she would have a less expansive version of what executive power is than certainly the current form, and certainly with respect to how George W. Bush viewed it. So I think there's a real concern for human rights groups."
Warren's group wonders whether as a justice, Kagan "might go with what the Obama administration and what the Bush administration had put in play rather than seriously challenging that."
Her supporters counter with a 2001 law review article in which Kagan articulated, in a pre-September 11 environment, the consequences of the "unitary executive" theory that was promoted in the Clinton administration where she worked and later enthusiastically embraced by the Bush administration.
Kagan concluded, "President Clinton's assertion of directive authority over administration, more than President Reagan's assertion of a general supervisory authority, raises serious constitutional questions."
And many progressive groups say they have been quietly assured by the White House of its confidence that Kagan will be a "reliable" liberal voice on the divided Supreme Court, where conservatives hold a slim, shaky majority on a range of hot-button issues.
Kagan would be a liberal replacing a liberal and unlikely to immediately move the court to the left. Nevertheless, many on the right worry what a Justice Kagan would bring to the court.
"While she ... has at least acknowledged some role for executive power that a lot of liberals were trying to hide all together in this current administration, I think the conservatives should find that troubling," Severino said. "Because the president has been appointing 'czars' [to deal with the health care and financial bailouts] that have uncertain constitutional merit. I think that actually should raise concerns with conservatives."
Kagan had never argued a case in person before an appeals court before she took over as solicitor general. Now she has argued six cases herself before the justices, and supervised other cases where the federal government was a party. Despite her lack of experience, she appears to be pretty well accepted by the often skeptical court, displaying equal amounts mastery of often-dense legal language and a brisk, conversational style that reflects a confidence in her abilities to articulate the administration's positions.
One member of the court has repeatedly questioned Kagan's reasoning. Chief Justice Roberts last month labeled as "absolutely startling" the solicitor general's argument that a when one federal prosecutor drops criminal charges, another prosecutor need not do the same.
"The different U.S. attorneys all work for your boss, right?" Roberts asked. "They work for the attorney general," and his final decision holds.
"The United States government is a complicated place," Kagan replied, not willing to back down, arguing that various individual offices should be allowed discretion to decide such matters as they fit.
The first case she argued before the court was a blockbuster: whether to open federal campaign spending to corporations -- businesses, unions and advocacy groups -- seeking a greater voice in the crowded political debate, mainly through ads.
Roberts seemed concerned that Kagan appeared to abandon at argument a key point made earlier by the administration: that current campaign spending limits are necessary to ensure that corporate speech does not overwhelm the voices of individual voters.
"We do not rely at all on that," Kagan noted.
Roberts pounced. "You are asking us to uphold [past precedent on spending limits] on the basis of two arguments, two principles, two compelling interests we have never accepted in the expenditure context."
"Fair enough," Kagan brusquely acknowledged.
The court ruled in favor of expanding spending power for corporations, and Roberts noted Kagan's mixed messages. "To the extent that the government's case for reaffirming [precedent] depends on radically reconceptionalizing its reasoning, that argument is at odds with itself."
In a separate argument, Kagan tried to turn the tables, posing a question to Justice Antonin Scalia. "Well, I'm not making the argument," said the usually verbose justice.
Roberts was more blunt. "Usually, we have the questions the other way," he said sternly.
But her appearances have not always been tense. In January, Kagan stumbled when addressing Scalia. "Mr. Chief Justice -- excuse me, Justice Scalia -- I didn't mean to promote you so quickly," she said.
Replied Scalia to Kagan, "I'm sure you didn't," bringing huge laughter in the courtroom.
"Thanks for thinking it was a promotion," said Roberts, the real chief justice, this time smiling.
CNN's Bill Mears, John King and Ed Henry contributed to this report.
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0.999049 |
Quite regularly families come in and have concerns about either they're planning a divorce or have already divorced, and they're looking for ways they can help their children through the process.
When parents make the decision to separate I ask them to sit down as a family and talk to the kids about that decision, and explain it to them in whatever terms are appropriate. Why it happened and their perception of why it happened. I think its important kids know it's not their fault, that it's a parent decision that was made.
I think it's important that parents share that with the child. I also try to alleviate any responsibility that they might be taking for what has happened, because often time's kids often feel like they might've done something that's caused their parents to separate or divorce.
One thing I ask them to focus on is their communication, and I ask them specifically to communicate with each other and so often times I think kids are caught in between the parent's homes and I ask them to try to communicate directly with each other so the kids aren't the messengers.
And I also try to ask the parents to limit the conflict between them in the presence of the children. The other thing I ask parents to do is try to really limit the changes that happen in the kids' lives, so often times a move is required and so I ask parents try to limit the changes as much as possible, so if the children can continue going to their schools that's ideal so they can continue their friendships. If they can remain involved in their activities, that's also ideal. So we just want to limit the changes that happen both when the parents separate and also when they might change residences.
Set up a way of communicating directly with each other, so maybe that's once a week they plan on a phone call where they can talk about the schedule for their children for the upcoming week. I also ask parents to have some communication when they are dropping the children off back and forth between their parent's homes. I think things come up and things change from the plan and it's important that parents both know the schedules.
I think parents know their kids best and so what I ask them to watch for is just changes in their children. So they might notice changes in their sleeping or they might notice changes in their school performance. Or they might notice changes in how often they are socializing or what they're doing with their friends.
Often time's parents will come in and notice that there are changes in their child's temper. So they might have more temper outbursts. When they're noticing just big differences from what their child was like before to what their child is like now , then I think it's time to get some professional assistance.
Transitioning through a divorce can be a difficult time for both parents and their children. Kimberly Haugen, Ph.D., NCSP, Staff Psychologist at Boys Town Center for Behavioral Health, offers tips and strategies for parents who are transitioning through a divorce.
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0.998643 |
In short, if you are wondering if your dog can eat pumpkin seeds, the answer is yes, but make sure the seeds are cooked, try not to give them raw seeds, and always peel them.
Some dogs really love pumpkin seeds, like this cute little guy.
Dogs can eat pumpkin seeds, but to give your dog pumpkin seeds, it is recommended that you first cook & peel the seeds. Roasted & ground pumpkin seeds can be a quick add on to your dog’s food and can provide several health benefits. Some health benefits of pumpkin seeds are that they can help prevent some forms of cancer, they can improve heart health & prevent heart disease, they can reduce inflammation, and help to lower blood sugar levels.
If you decide to give your dog pumpkin seeds, they need to be unseasoned & unsalted. Salt is very unhealthy for dogs. While dogs can have some salt, an excess of salt can harm your dog and can lead to health issues. There are also some other seasonings commonly found on pumpkin seeds that could be harmful. When giving your dog seeds, they should be unsalted & unseasoned.
While dogs can eat raw pumpkin seeds, cooked seeds last longer, and have a lesser chance of spoiling.
How Many Pumpkin Seeds Can My Dog Have?
Like all foods, you should only give your dog pumpkin seeds in moderation. While a palm of pumpkin seeds can be healthy for a medium sized dog, you should always consult your vet before introducing a new food to your dogs regular diet.
Dogs can eat pumpkin seeds, and they can be very healthy for your dog. The amount of seeds you can give your dog is different based on your dog’s age, size, and breed. Before adding pumpkin seeds to your dog’s regular diet you should first consult a vet.
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0.999992 |
Can Colic Start at 3.5 Months?
My 3.5 month old has recently started screaming for hours out of the day, typically in the afternoons but occasionally it will start in the morning and last all day. At first the doctor thought acid reflux - she has all the symptoms of this - and started her on Zantac. The Zantac worked for 3 days and then all her symptoms came back worse than before even while still taking the Zantac. Now the doctor is saying it's not reflux, just colic. Everything I've read says colic should be ending at 3 months - not starting! Could this really be colic?
I've heard that Colic can last as long as 5 months, but it does seem strange that it would just start now. I've also read that reflux can spike between 3 & 4 months, so it still could be that. Our son has severe reflux and he was started out on Axid, which is the same family as Zantc, but quickly became immune to the effects, even after increasing doses. We saw a new GI specialist and he said that's common in those meds and he put our son on Prevacid and it has worked wonders. He used to smell like acid all the time, have a hoarse voice, and be incredibly uncomfortable and all that is gone. The specialist also had us start solids at 3 1/2 months to help weight things down in his tummy and that has also helped a lot (plus our son loves his grub! HA!). Anyway, it could be something else, but if you feel in your gut that it's anything other than colic, ask your ped for a referral to a pediatric gastroenterologist to figure out what it is once and for all.
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0.931729 |
Do you need a Steem Account?
I have been claiming account tokens with my leftover RC's for a while.
I crossed a 1000 tokens not too long ago.
With an account token you can claim an account on the Steem Blockchain for free.
If you need an account *(I'm also putting this on [twitter](https://twitter.com/Exyle_Steem))* or know someone that needs a Steem Account let me know here or on twitter.
All I need is their email address to sent an invite.
For the account creation I'll be using Steeminvite.com made by @pharesim.
[Steem.Ninja](https://account.steem.ninja?ref=exyle) - $2,50 with CC and comes with 15SP delegation for 90 days.
[SteemMonsters](https://steemmonsters.com/?p=packs) - $10 with Paypal comes with a Starter Set of 30 cards.
[Actifit](https://actifit.io/signup?referrer=exyle) - $5,00 with 10 SP for 90 days and some Actifit tokens.
#### I am part of witness [@blockbrothers](https://steemit.com/@blockbrothers).
#### We are the creators of Steemify a notification app for your Steemit account for iOS.
"Do you need a Steem Account?"
What would be the process if you had their email address?
Would you create the account for them and send them the name + master password or is there another way?
Good feedback, thanks. I'll be using Steeminvite.com. I'll never see the keys.
ahh, so you can use your claim tokens there. nice.
I have some tokens too and was wondering what the easiest process was.
How do I know if I can claim/create an account token?
You need at present around 4500-5000 SP with RCs at 100% to have enough of them to claim an account.
This is Steemconnect auth'ed and will decline your request, but tell you how far off you are.
I have a couple of hundred, and I've used steemworld.org to use one and register an account, I'm assuming my email address is the recovery email by default? Can you change the recovery email address for an account or are they locked in?
What's your process now if somebody asks you for help and sends an email address? Which tool do you use?
including in today's http://digest.ampsteem.com -- thanks for being so giving man! should be out in the next 30 minutes.
I used #steemworld to create the account but I ended up doing everything for the new steemian.
Do you use another application to create or help create the new account?
Thanks for letting em know!
I have two people looking to get accounts. Perhaps I could give you their emails on discord? Thanks!
Yay! New people on Steem!!!
That is awesome that you are doing that. Does it cost you anything to claim account tokens? I have been looking into it in case my friends ever wanted to join, but I was never really sure the process to go through or the impact it might have on my account. My account being much smaller than yours I need to be careful what I do that might impede my growth.
Truly appreciate this initiative brother!
Can you help and do you read your encrypted memos to send you the emails of interested people?
Edit: I'm thinking to do a 5 Steem accounts give-away.
No problem at all! I can help. Contact me on discord and let’s make it a smooth experience for them.
<h6>Congratulations! You have just earned some ENGAGE Tokens!
I asked my few friends to join steem and hope they will need. If i need accounts from you then what would be the process. Thanks for your help in advance..
All I need is an email address I can sent the invite too. They then have to choose a name and they get all the keys. Once they done that I get a message to create the actual account. I never see the keys.
I just got over 50 now and can’t wait to start giving them to friends and family. I plan to delete Facebook and bring some over!
What are account tokens, @exyle?
Account tokens allow you to create an account on the blockchain in the future. They cost a lot of Rc's to make.
> @abh12345: You need at present around 4500-5000 SP with RCs at 100% to have enough of them to claim an account.
I claim accounts tokens whenever my RC's are at 100%. They do add up over time.
What a great feature! Important for on-boarding new users.
1000 accounts! I've claimed 30 something and only created 3 so far. I'll keep looking for people who want accounts. We need more Steemians.
Have you seen the #TenKMinnows project? We are boosting people up to minnow status to keep them engaged.
This post has been included in the latest edition of [**SoS Daily News**](https://steemit.com/steem/@pennsif/sosdailynewsnewsaboutthestateofsteem21march2019-mla1tpeab3) - a digest of all the latest news on the Steem blockchain.
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0.932592 |
(CNN) Newly released documents reveal that when he was serving in the White House under President George W. Bush, Brett Kavanaugh suggested that he thought candidate contribution limits have "some constitutional problems."
Contribution limits -- currently set at $2,700 per individual per election -- were upheld in a 1976 Supreme Court case called Buckley v. Valeo, and they have remained intact even as the court has subsequently struck down an array of other state and federal campaign finance regulations.
Kavanaugh's comments will raise questions during his confirmation hearings from Democrats who support campaign finance regulation. The release of the documents will also likely trigger complaints from critics of Kavanaugh, who argue that they need more time and more access to the thousands of pages of his emails held at the Bush library.
"Judge Kavanaugh's views on campaign finance are already pretty well-known," said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law. "But these emails suggest that he'd go farther in striking down these regulations than the court has to date. It's hard to imagine this not becoming a point of some contention at next week's confirmation hearing."
The documents, released Friday night before a three-day weekend, depict an email exchange between Kavanaugh and Helgard Walker, who also worked in the Bush White House.
"I have heard very few people say that the limits on contributions to candidates are unconstitutional, although I for one tend to think those limits have some constitutional problems," Kavanaugh wrote in a March 6, 2002, email.
"If he were to take that position as a Supreme Court justice he would be voting to overturn long-established precedent," said Fred Wertheimer, who supports campaign finance limits and is president of a nonprofit group called Democracy 21.
"The rationale for candidate contribution limits is that they prevent corruption -- if Kavanaugh were to oppose contribution limits, he would be willing to open the door to massive corruption of our elected officials," he said.
The documents had already been released to the Senate Judiciary Committee on a "Committee Confidential" basis. But committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, sent a letter to his colleagues last week telling them he would consider requests from members identifying confidential documents they wish to use during the hearings as long as the requests were "reasonable."
The documents in question were requested by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, according to a release from the Judiciary Committee.
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Never Go Back to An Ex Girlfriend, especially when she dumped you You should never go back to an ex girlfriend, especially if she dumped you. This article is the answer to a question I had by a reader.
How to Make More Money on the Side It will take time and effort to learn how to make more money on the side. This is especially true when you’re working a full time job or you’re in school.
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Using many different euphemisms across the United States, such as restricted housing units, special housing units, or isolation, local, state, and federal governments place imprisoned individuals in a cell that cuts off their access to and interaction with others, often for 23 hours per day. The justifications often provided for solitary confinement are punishment and safety for self and others. Placing an individual in solitary is not a decision subject to due process through judges or juries in a court of law, rather it is decided by prison officials after an individual has been sentenced.
How does it affect individuals with whom iustitia works?
Individuals with mental illness, autism, bipolar disorder, and intellectual disabilities are disproportionately affected by solitary confinement, particularly people of color. When jailers do not understand the behaviors of individuals with autism or mental illnesses, such as discomfort with being touched, they punish incarcerated persons for their behavior, instead of providing assistance. At other times, incarcerated vulnerable individuals are placed in solitary confinement as a means of their own protection from other prisoners, even though other means of protection may be available.
No matter the use, solitary confinement is dangerous for healthy people. For those with mental illnesses or intellectual disabilities, solitary confinement is destructive. It can dramatically exacerbate symptoms of mental illness and cause lasting negative effects on mental well-being. United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Juan Méndez, has condemned the practice of solitary confinement except in very exceptional circumstances and for as short a time as possible. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur points out that in many cases, solitary confinement can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The UN Committee Against Torture has also recommended drastic reform of the excessive practice of solitary confinement in the United States, finding several violations of the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).
iustitia works with individuals who are placed into solitary because of their mental illness, intellectual disability, autism, or bipolar disorder. By connecting directly with these individuals or their families, iustitia fights against their solitary confinement without proper review and for more humane methods of imprisonment and appropriate treatment to prevent the recurrence of the events that led to placing them in solitary confinement in the first place.
The international community, as well as individual states are increasingly moving away from the use of solitary confinement, particularly as we learn more about the mental health and developmental effects of this cruel practice.
December 2015: After a lawsuit by the NY Civil Liberties Union, New York State agreed to dramatically reduce the number of individuals in solitary confinement in its prison system.
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summary : A shooter brought a gun to a movie theater in Louisiana on Thursday night, killing three people and injuring seven others before shooting himself. Gov. Bobby Jindal has called for prayers for the families of the shooting victims.
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It's 26 years since Yugoslavia broke into pieces and the republic of Macedonia came into being. In all that time, the new country has lacked an official, internationally agreed name, because of Greece's objections to the name "Macedonia". And for nearly all of that time, explains Alex Marshall, one man has been working to solve the problem.
Matthew Nimetz wants to make something clear - he has not spent every waking moment of the past 23 years thinking about one word: "Macedonia".
"I have probably thought about it more than anyone else - including in the country," says the 78-year-old US diplomat. "But I have to disappoint anyone that thinks it's my full-time job."
Since 1994, Nimetz has been trying to negotiate an end to arguably the world's strangest international dispute, in which Greece is objecting to Macedonia's name and refusing to let it join either Nato or the EU until it's changed.
Greece says the name "Macedonia" suggests that the country has territorial ambitions over Greece's own Macedonia - a province in the north of the country - and is a blatant attempt to lay claim to Greece's national heritage.
It should be called something like "Skopje" instead, Greece argues - Skopje being Macedonia's capital city.
Macedonia, by contrast, argues that you can trace its people back to the ancient kingdom of Macedon, once ruled by Alexander the Great - and that the name "Macedonia" is therefore the obvious choice.
One upshot is that travellers entering northern Greece from the Republic of Macedonia, and those crossing the border in the opposite direction, are both greeted by roadside signs welcoming them to Macedonia.
When Nimetz began his work on the dispute he was serving as US President Bill Clinton's special envoy, but since the end of 1999 he's been the personal envoy of the UN secretary-general - his task to nudge the two sides slowly towards a resolution, for a token salary of $1 per year.
Macedonia got into the UN by agreeing to be called The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) for all official purposes, but this was not intended to be a permanent solution to the problem, and created a new set of difficulties.
"It makes for very awkward sentence construction," Nimetz says, with some understatement.
Ban Ki-moon, the former UN secretary-general, once got muddled and called the country the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Yugoslavia" by accident. "He said to me, 'You've got to solve this problem. It's driving me crazy,'" Nimetz says.
Despite the glacial pace of negotiations, he has never seriously thought of quitting.
"Some people think it's me just sitting there thinking of adjectives to put in front of the name Macedonia - like New Macedonia, Upper Macedonia - but this issue has historical importance… importance in terms of nation-building," he says.
"And it is never boring, the cast of characters dealing with it changes all the time. Think of a theatre director who does King Lear or Hamlet, but with different staging and actors. Do they get bored?"
When Nimetz first became Clinton's envoy, back in the 1990s, it looked as though the dispute could spiral out of control.
Greece had been objecting to Macedonia's name since 1991, when Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia. The following year, a million Greeks - a 10th of the population - took to the streets of Thessaloniki to protest.
Those protests helped bring down the country's prime minister, and his replacement, Andreas Papandreou, barred Macedonia's access to Greek ports. Macedonia was a "real and present danger to Greece", he claimed.
Nimetz has a surprising amount of understanding for the Greek fear that Macedonians could one day lay claim to Greek territory.
"I have to explain to people this Greek concern about irredentism is not just created out of thin air," he says.
"Within the last three generations, these sorts of threats were real to the country. This feeling that 'We're always being encircled.' In the Balkans, each country has a history of being dismembered, or having fought off their neighbours at some point."
He once explained the dispute to US senators by asking how they would feel if Mexico changed its name to The Republic of Mexico and Texas, then started publishing historic maps implying ownership of the whole south-west US.
However, he has equal understanding for the Macedonians.
"When the Greeks say to them, 'Oh, you only came here in the 9th, 10th Century - you're not really from this region. You should call yourselves, at the most, New Macedonia,' well, to the people of The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, that's a problem. They don't consider themselves 'new'. They consider themselves indigenous as anyone."
Despite this, Nimetz did at first think there would be a quick end to the dispute. So did leading Macedonian politicians.
"I talked about it with them and they said, 'Time is in our favour. Let's just talk a few years, let things calm down, change some people in government.' But it didn't quite work that way," he says.
A long list of names has been suggested: everything from New Macedonia and Nova Makedonija, to Slavo-Macedonia and the Republic of Skopje. At one point, both the Upper Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Upper Macedonia were on the table.
But none has yet been accepted.
It may seem as though there are no more adjectives left to try - or any point trying them - but Nimetz insists disputes get solved when the timing is right.
Just look at Northern Ireland or the reunification of Germany, he says. Change may occur because events make people look at an issue in a new light, or new leaders may come in with the political authority to take tough decisions. Or people may just get exhausted by never-ending debate.
He is optimistic that the timing may be right for this dispute soon. This is partly due to new leadership in Macedonia - the Social Democrat Zoran Zaev became prime minister this year, breaking a long political deadlock in the country. But also because Macedonia needs to find a solution so it can get closer to its goals of joining Nato and the EU.
"Doing that would give them reassurance, legitimacy, economic opportunities… and a sense of permanence," Nimetz says. It also might ease tensions in the country between ethnic Macedonians and Albanians, who make up a quarter of the population. In 2001, such tensions brought the country to the brink of civil war.
But Nimetz admits convincing voters in both countries will be difficult. Macedonian leaders have promised any agreement will go to a referendum.
He thinks part of the way out is to encourage people not to see this as a question of national identity.
"I told him his concern is understandable, but it's the wrong way to look at this. We are only talking about the formulation of the name of this state for diplomatic purposes. It won't impact the average person.
"We're not negotiating identity. If we were, I'd be out of here."
He does recognise that identity is important, though - despite being "a great believer in globalism".
"I believe there's a tribal aspect to us as a species," he says, "and it's very hard to feel comfortable in a global world, even for people like me."
In all his time working on the dispute, there has been only one moment when Nimetz united both sides. It was at an unlikely time too, when Macedonia was putting up numerous statues of Alexander the Great in its cities, and had named its main airport after him, causing outrage in Greece.
Image caption Skopje's airport is named after Alexander the Great, while Thessaloniki's (above) is called "Macedonia"
"When that was happening, I said to a reporter from Skopje, 'I can't understand all this, because Alexander the Great was a great military leader, but he destroyed so much and killed so many people.' Well, I got hell for that - from all sides. I almost resigned."
Nimetz has just finished his latest round of meetings on the issue, meeting politicians in Skopje, and Greece's foreign minister.
A solution can be achieved, he insists, but for the immediate future he is busy simply planning a holiday "up above the Arctic Circle to a lodge where the caribou migrate".
A good chance to get away from questions about national identity and self-determination, surely?
"Well, actually," he says, "Maybe not, when you think about the First Nations of Canada…"
He then starts enthusiastically explaining Canada's debate about indigenous self-government, and it quickly becomes clear that his love of such questions is the real reason he has been able to work on a dispute about just one word for the past 23 years.
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Disclosed are a method and system to sort hospital wait-lists based on the results of monitoring patients' biological, psychological, and behavioral data in real-time, and then using predictive analytics to calculate the potential risk of unplanned hospitalization or other adverse event. Patients with a higher level of risk are given priority in the wait-list.
This is the abbreviated version, containing approximately 75% of the total text.
Waiting times in hospitals are often very long, which can have a detrimental effect on patients' health. Therefore, new methods that can optimize the delivery of healthcare services are necessary. Researchers have investigated a variety of strategies and developed new methods and tools. Based on the findings, many policies have been implemented to solve the problem; however, long waiting-times still exist.
This novel solution is a method and system that sorts the patients on a wait-list (i.e. for a surgical procedure) based on current health condition. Individuals with higher risk scores, which indicate a risk of hospitalization or other adverse event, appear at the top of the treatment list, while those with lower risk move to the bottom of the list.
The system monitors patients' biological, psychological, and behavioral data in real-time, and then uses predictive analytics to calculate the potential risk. Based on the results of the analysis and calculation, medical personnel can select patients for evaluation before the condition escalates into a complicated inpatient treatment . As a result, the system not only reduces unnecessary treatment costs, but also provides the possibility of better care for patients by liberating hospital resources.
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0.999636 |
One of several German churches recently defaced with the Arabic declaration "God is great!"
Several are the important lessons learned from last year's "Brave German Woman" incident.
Context: On November 10, 2013, a Muslim imam was invited to give the Islamic call to prayer inside the Memorial Church of the Reformation in the city of Speyer, Germany—a church dedicated to honoring Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.
"Until the imam started with his shouting ["Allahu Akbar!"], I did not really know what to do. I was just prepared for what God wants me to do," she told CBN News.
For more details on this story, check out CBN News' various interviews and videos of and with Mund.
Mund's observations about the phrase "Allahu Akbar" are spot-on. Islam's war cry, signifying the superiority of Muhammad's religion over all things, the takbir ("Allahu Akbar"), is habitually proclaimed in violent contexts, specifically attacking and slaughtering non-Muslims, whether beheading "infidels" or bombing churches.
Muhammad himself used to cry it aloud prior to attacking non-Muslim tribes that refused to submit to his authority and religion.
Accordingly, Mund's outrage at hearing an Islamic imam hollering out Islamic supremacist slogans is justified. Proclaimed in a church, "Allahu Akbar"—which in translation literally means "Allah is greater [than X]"—means "Allahu is greater than the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible, and Father of Christ."
And assuming the imam proclaimed Islam's credo or shehada as is standard in the Muslim call to prayer (that "there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger") that too is tantamount to declaring that the biblical God is false, and the message (or Koran) delivered by Muhammad—which includes a denunciation of Christ's divinity, death, and resurrection—is true (see for examples Koran 4:157, 4:171, 5:17, 5:116, 9:30-31, 19:35).
This is precisely what the vandal who earlier painted in Arabic the phrase "Allahu Akbar" across the door of another German church likely had in mind.
Yet despite all this, despite the fact that only two or three generations ago, almost every Christian would have been incensed to hear a Muslim shouting Islamic slogans that by nature contradict Christianity inside a church, Mund was chastised by fellow Christians for her stand and kicked out.
This speaks volumes about how far Western European nations have plummeted into a cesspool of moral relativism, where even in prominent churches Christian truths are attacked, and those who take a stand are ostracized for being "intolerant"; it speaks of the naivety and nihilism that predominate in the West; of the effects of years of brainwashing and indoctrination in the name of "multiculturalism," crippling the ability to think rationally; of how political correctness has censored not only words but the ability for people to connect-the-dots in the quiet of their own minds.
There is, however, a flipside to all this: Mund's video denouncing the imam "went viral," says CBN News, signifying its appeal; and many who saw it interpreted her actions as "brave"—hence the appellation. "Bravery" often refers to an act that, while laudable, few have the courage to do. That this title is so naturally and widely applied to Mund suggests that there are many who agree with her; they just lack the same courage, or conviction, to take a vocal stand—hence why she is the "Brave German Woman."
The fact is, beneath Western Europe's nihilistic veneer, many there would agree with Mund's sentiments. Not all are sheep. But due to the aforementioned forces—decades of indoctrination in militant secularism/atheism, multiculturalism, Christian-bashing, and political correctness—they are unable to articulate their grievance.
Yet, whether they are able to express it or not, they remain disgruntled at Muslim affronts and weak responses from European elites.
After all, Muslims hollering Islamic slogans inside European churches is not quite an infrequent phenomenon. Last Christmas, the Chaplain of Royal Holloway University invited a veiled Muslim woman to read Koran verses during church service, again, despite the fact that the Koran contradicts the key tenets of Christianity.
Sometimes Muslims "invite" themselves to churches. Thus, days ago, also in the UK, a Muslim man—"dressed like a terrorist" and wearing a bandana with the Arabic phrase, "Allahu Akbar"—entered a church during service and started yelling things like "this is rubbish, you should be preaching Allah, turn to Islam, we send boys of 10 to war."
And last Easter in France saw a Muslim man dressed in traditional Islamic attire enter a church during mass, set up his carpet next to the altar and start reading the Koran.
This is to say nothing of the violent crimes and rapes Muslims are increasingly responsible for in Europe.
The point is, more and more Western Europeans are becoming disgruntled, even if most are not yet "brave" enough to show it, and even if the powers-that-be, including media and government, continue to downplay and suppress them.
Days ago, for example, Britain's Liberty GB party leader Paul Weston was arrested and is facing up to two-years' jail time simply for quoting Winston Churchill's unflattering observations about Islam in public.
In short, time will tell whether the powers-that-be will allow legitimate criticism of Islam to vent in Europe, or whether they will continue to suppress it—until the simmering cauldron of discontent spills over in ways much more dramatic than quoting Luther or Churchill, as has happened all too often in European history.
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The white-lipped peccary is a species of mammals of the Tayassuidae family.
It is similar to a small boar and cousin to wild American pigs.
This species is native to Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Most of its range is in rainforests, but it is also known from a wide range of other habitats such as dry forests, grasslands, mangrove, Cerrado and dry xerophytic areas.
The head and body length ranges from 90 to 139 cm and the adult weight is 25 to 40 kg. Their color is generally brown or black. The coat is bristly and has hair running lengthways down the spine growing longer than the hair running down the body, making a crest, which stands up when the peccary becomes excited. The peccary has a round body with a long snout that ends in a circular disk where the nasal cavity starts. They have white markings that start below the snout and run to the cheek area just below the eyes.
This species is omnivorous, feeding mostly on fruit, and are usually found traveling great distances to obtain it. They also eat leaves, stems or animal parts. Their main predators are the jaguar, puma and potentially boa constrictors.
It lives in herds of 20 to 300 individuals.
The white-lipped peccary can breed throughout the year depending on location. The breeding season is extremely variable and consists of two distinct peaks in areas such as Costa Rica, one occurring in February and one in July. Mexico has distinct breeding seasons in April and November. The breeding season follows the fruiting season, so the variability can be consistently different in each different region where they are found. It can give birth to two young at a time. The young stay with the mother, but are weaned by six months old. Sexual maturity is reached between one and two years old.
The two main threats to their survival are deforestation and hunting. Destruction and subdivision of their natural range can have devastating effects on their population. Loss of habitat can lead to exposure for poachers, who can easily kill many peccaries at one time.
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Royalist risings sprouted throughout Scotland during the Commonwealth occupation, particularly in the western Highlands. After Cromwell died in 1658, General Monck, who had been military governor of Scotland, decided with Parliament that a restoration of the monarchy would be in the best interests of all concerned parties. In 1660, Monck marched his troops back into England to ensure the reinstatement of Charles II in London. Scotland's status as a separate kingdom was restored.
By the end of the 1670s, the failure of Charles' queen to produce an heir had begun yet another succession crisis. The heir-presumptive, Charles' brother James, Duke of York, was unpopular and Catholic. To assuage public fears that the royal family was "too Catholic," Charles arranged for James' daughter Mary to wed the Protestant prince, William of Orange.
James II of England and VII of Scotland ascended the throne in 1685 following the death of his brother. His short three-year reign was marked by his belief in absolute monarchy and his attempt to give his subjects religious freedom. Parliament, fearing the growth of absolutism and the loss of the Church of England's legal supremacy, opposed the Crown in a political battle that would end in James' deposition, the passage of the English Bill of Rights, and the Hanoverian succession.
After James' wife had a son in 1688, Parliament was shaken by the possibility of a Catholic dynasty on the throne of England. A group of England's leading noblemen then invited William of Orange and his wife, Mary, who had been raised Protestant in the Dutch court, to overthrow James.
While England and the Lowlands welcomed liberation from Catholic absolutism by William and Mary, fringes along the Scottish Highlands had been in support of James. In April 1689, John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, raised James' standard atop Dundee Law with just fifty men by his side. By July, his Jacobite force of Irishmen and Catholic and Protestant Highlanders made up eight battalions and two companies, and at the end of the month managed to defeat a large Covenanter force at the Battle of Killiecrankie. But Dundee's forces couldn't recover after suffering defeat in Dunkeld a month later. James, meanwhile, recruited supporters in Ireland. But when William defeated him at Boyne in July 1691, the triumph of the Glorious Revolution was assured. All hopes of James regaining his throne through military means was gone.
In August, William offered to pardon the Highland clans for their part in the uprising provided they take an oath of allegiance to him. The chiefs requested permission from James, now living in exile in France, to take the oath. After his authorization, the Jacobite chiefs all swore their allegiance to William and Mary.
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Table tennis is a game meant to inspire fun in young and old, beginner and pro. To match the wide spectrum of owners and players, there are more than a few different models of table tennis tables to choose from.
One of the first things to look out for is the size of the table. International and Olympic sanctioned measurements usually require a table that is 9’ in length, but most owners prefer shorter tables. Longer tables will increase the challenge of gameplay, and prepare you for tournaments, but they also take up more space and can carry a higher price tag. Shorter tables on the other hand are great options for those preferring recreational table tennis games and those looking for a more affordable cost. Some table tennis accessories, especially table covers, only cater to certain lengths, which is another important consideration.
Table tennis tables can also be catered to those wanting to play outdoors and those sticking to indoor play. Outdoor ping pong tables usually come with a structure composed of powdered steel and a slated top to ensure long-term protection against rust and warping. Indoor models usually have metal or steel frames, but can differ in top make-up, with wood being the internationally sanctioned option. Some players may notice a difference in the spin and bounce of their table tennis balls depending on the type of material on the top, and therefore prefer a material that complements their playing style.
Because table tennis tables are often long and wide, some come with convertible tops, reducing the amount of area taken up when they’re not in use. These convertible ping pong tables usually come with a transportation system that makes moving and placing them as easy as possible.
Ping pong tables are often paired alongside other game table classics like foosball, air hockey, or shuffleboards. If you prefer to be more economic with your space and budget, there are also multi-game ping pong tables to roll several games into one.
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What do we know about archery?
When one speak about archery, the first images that come to the mind of most people are images from movies about the native North Americans, Robin Hood, or of a sport practiced at the Olympic Games.
It is a rather unknown practice, but even less as a practice of a spiritual Way. In Japan, between the VIIIth and the XVIth century, the figure of the feudal warrior or "Bushi" appeared (the "Samurai" for the Westerners). At that time, the Japanese suffered from an endless civil war.
Various religious ideologies helped them to strengthen their mind and, among them, Zen Buddhism. With this practice, the Bushi gained confidence in fate, acceptance of the inevitable, breathing and the attention for the present moment.
Among other practices developed by these warriors, the archery, practiced with extreme attention and great care, became an apprenticeship of oneself.
But with the arrival of firearms, the archery took another dimension. It was then transformed into a ceremony during which the archer aims at himself and became therefore a spiritual way.
In archery as in Zen, the greatest importance is given to posture, breathing and the mental attitude.
A perfect stability is necessary to stretch the bow, aim and fire (release the cord) precisely, and this balance is possible only if the following conditions exist: relaxation, muscular tonus and immobility.
The most important thing is not to reach the center of the target, but to find a state of psychophysical and spiritual balance, so that its influence can impregnate all the actions in the daily life.
The state of mind of the archer is similar to the Zen attitude in terms of absence of intention, search for usefulness, purpose or profit. This means that the archer aims at the center of the target, but that his mind must not be contaminated by the desire to reach the target or the fear of failure.
The posture of the archer is not an esthetic element, but an essential condition for balance, precision and concentration.
Do not think to the past or the future … The present only is important, to be attentive to every movement and to perform it with the best possible perfection.
The aim of a correct posture and the slowness of the action is the harmonization of the archer with the whole shooting process.
The archer, his mind, the bow, the arrow and the target have to become a one and same thing. Often, thoughts appear which damage the shooting process and result in a poor quality shot. These thoughts are impediments: anger, happiness, anxiety, pain, surprise, fear, thoughts and sensations engendered by our brain and which affect negatively our body and our mind. This occurs as a result of our desires and the coagulations of our mind, because of the value we grant to the outside things.
From there, (according to Joseph Epes Brown), a lot of poor quality shots happen, because they are done with the false idea of a "me": "I” am the one who launched the arrow "”.
As long as this consciousness of an "I" exist, as long as this egotism is not controlled, the archer will not be completely free in his action.
The shot (the moment when fingers release the rope of the bow) is a crucial moment, and of this moment depends the result of all the stages followed to get to this point. The release of the rope has to be quite smooth and must “occur from itself”, it has to surprise the archer.
The archer has to stop being aware of himself, because it is not him who really launches the arrow.
After numerous years of practice and total immersion of his life in the archery’s way, it is not the archer anymore who gives orders to his actions, but he realizes that he became an observer of what he is doing.
At that moment, the "I" is abandoned.
Because who launches the arrow? "IT". "IT" is only experienced by the accomplished archer. "IT" is the presence of the mind!
But I repeat it: this occurs only when the archer, the bow, the arrow, the target and the ego are totally merged.
Books on the archery and its spirituality.
Numerous books were published on archery in the West (and in Spanish), such as " The Art of the archery " of Joseph Epes Brown; " The archery " of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy; " Kyudo in comic strip " of J. Santos; " Kyudo, the Japanese art of the archery " by R.B.Acker. But the most renowned of these works is the book of Eugen Herrigel, professor of philosophy and theology at the Universities of Erlangen and Heidelberg (Germany). This book was translated in numerous languages.
Between the First and the Second World War, E. Herrigel had the opportunity to teach at the imperial University Tohoku Sendai in Japan. After the courses, - and after a lot of insistence, because the Japanese believed that a Westerner would never understand this art - he succeeded and was accepted in the dojo where a colleague professor at the University practiced the way of Zen in the archery.
Herrigel lived and practiced in Japan during five years, and when he came back, this experience had changed his life.
In 1936, he gave a conference at the German-Japanese Society on the art of archery. This conference contained the first outlines of his future book named "Zen in the chivalrous art of archery", in which he gathers and tell his deep experiences.
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In this colorful puzzle game, your task is connect candies and sweets which have been placed on square grids. Draw lines to connect all the candies of the same color and of the same shape. Fill all the grid squares with colored-lines and blobs (they look like pipes) to win the game. Solve over 200 puzzles and be a candy color-connect game champion.
The game comes with several difficulty levels (missions), with each mission containing between 16 to 64 levels. Not all levels have the same grid sizes so you can enjoy variety of challenges. Some levels has more candies to connect and some has less. Some has different color variations and different sets of candy and sweets. The game interface is simple straightforward and colorful, accompanied by cool sound effects, music and animations.
* Colorful, cheerful puzzle game to brighten your days. Select a candy, touch the candy and drag along the grids to draw a line to connect to the matching candy.
* Game mechanic: one touch/single touch. Tap, swipe and drag.
* Number of levels: over 200 total. The levels are into 10+ missions with alternating candy themes. No In App Purchase required to play all the levels.
* Overall game difficulty grade: Easy. Simple rules, quick to learn.
* Playable on phones (4.7 inches or higher recommended) and tablets.
* Features: hint option when stuck on a puzzle; jump between missions (the missions are unlocked although levels have to be played in order); restart as often as you like.
The game is designed for casual game players and those who want relaxing and cheerful diversions. Most of the levels and puzzles aren't too difficult to solve. Most levels are short and can be solved in minutes or less. Therefore the app can be played on short duration, during breaks or just to have a relaxing fun time. With over 200 levels, there's several hours of entertainment and brain exercises to be had. So enjoy connecting the candies and filling those grids with colors!
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0.999979 |
When it comes to investing, it helps to understand some of the basic differences between various strategies. Two strategies that are quite common when it comes to investing are income investing and growth investing. Each type of strategy has its own merits, and there are specific reasons for engaging in each kind.
As you might expect, income investing is characterized by the creation of cash flow. The idea behind income investing is not to look for a way to make it big on a great stock pick; rather, it is about choosing relatively stable investments that offer a fairly predictable pay out. These investments can include dividend paying stocks and bonds. There are also dividend funds and other investments, such as P2P lending, that can be used.
Many people look at income investing as a form of passive income. It is possible to build up a portfolio that allows you to see regular income. Use dollar cost averaging, and you can start with a small amount of money and slowly build your portfolio to a point where you start to see real results. The idea behind income investing is to create a revenue stream that can eventually be lived on.
Growth investing, on the other hand, is designed to help you build up a nest egg. Rather than looking for investments that will provide a cash stream, you look for investments that are likely to grow at a fairly rapid pace, resulting in a larger portfolio. With income investing, you are looking to create an income stream that can be used now to meet expenses. Growth investing is often used to amass capital that can be put use later down the road.
Growth investing requires choosing investments that are likely to see dramatic growth in the coming years. Small cap stocks are sometimes considered growth investments. Some commodities, currencies and other investments that can result in big gains are looked upon as growth investments. The thing to remember about growth investments, though, is that they are considered to have a higher risk than many income investments. The chance of solid growth also comes with the chance of big losses.
While there is the chances of loss with income investing, it is generally considered a smaller chance. As a result, the investments that are generally used to make up an income investing portfolio often have smaller returns. However, the returns are usually more stable than what you would see with the volatility of growth investments.
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0.95312 |
How to figure it out.
Im not sure whether or not the local lake has smallies. Its known as one of the better largemouth lakes in KY, but its in a private, gated neighborhood called Doe Valley, so not many people fish it. It is fed by several creeks, deep, (fairly)clear, rocky, and stays cooler for most of the year because of underground streams. It is full of shad and crawfish alike, which makes me think there should also be smallmouth, but I have never happened across any while largemouth fishing.
What are some good techniques/lures that I can use to search out smallies on my next trip, but also still catch some LMB? If there are no smallies I dont want to waste an entire trip.
Smallmouth will attack the same lures as largemouth. If there are any in the lake you should occasionally catch one. As a specific recommendation, try a 3 1/2" Mizmo tube, Kent's Classic (squash green). Focus on rocky structure off the shoreline, in deeper water.
The Fat Ika is another soft plastic that works well for both species.
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0.99981 |
What's the best thing you can use to clean an oven?
There can be many "bests" to clean something. Need to know if you prefer homemade solution, advertized top brands, store generic., etc.
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0.999789 |
Autodetect content-types for email attachments.
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$expected = "Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"my.file.txt\"\r\n" .
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0.999405 |
The link below is to an article that takes a look at what expository preaching is.
The link below is to the second part of a two part series on expository preaching.
The link below is to the first part of a two part series on expository preaching.
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0.999943 |
The end of another busy year, once again with some extremely enjoyable times in the bush in the excellent company of our members and friends and with some small achievements and satisfactions – but also with some real disappointments and frustrations. This is as concise a summary as I could make it!
MEMBERSHIP: We welcomed 12 new members and by the end of the year our total stood at 55. We lost some who left town or found other interests and mourned the deaths of Roger Chandler and Madge Sceriha.
COMMUNICATION: 36 new permanent posts were published on the blog, including monthly updates and trip reports. All were distributed widely beyond our membership. Other articles reported on members’ own wildlife observations and on conservation work being done just to our north. With permission we reprinted material from other sources on a disturbing cassowary incident (near Innisfail), the discovery of new mangrove species (Cairns), and the need to watch out for the aquatic weed Sagittaria, in our own region. Two of us wrote about our experiences in remote areas at opposite ends of the State – Cape York in the far north and Currawinya in the south-west. Other posts paid tribute to Innisfail conservation advocate and fisherman Martin Cunningham; drew attention to rampant tree-clearing across the state; refuted a hysterical anti-bat newspaper article and revealed an unprecedented death toll of flying-foxes at the Dan Gleeson Gardens nursery colony. Thank you Denise for writing three articles, Laurie and Margaret for contributing interesting material and everyone (especially Malcolm) for their great photos!
FIELD TRIPS: Our 10 field trips embraced indulgence (Zoe Bay cruise) and hard work (a northern beach clean-up). Other destinations ranged from the local Anderson Park to the more distant but historic Kennedy Bay. We went south (a little bit) to Mt Elliott’s Cockatoo Creek and north (a little bit) to Big Crystal Creek. We almost gate-crashed a bush wedding as we explored tracks behind Toomulla, found few butterflies but plenty of koalas on Magnetic Island. We trod new ground on unfamiliar tracks at Mt Spec and, with marine biologist John Collins as our expert and engaging guide, uncovered strange creatures as the tide receded at Pallarenda’s Shelly Cove. Average attendance was 14 people per trip, the most well-attended being the day on Magnetic Island, followed closely by the trips to Zoe Bay and Shelly Cove, all with over 20 attendees.
Vegetation management: This issue dominated the first half of the year as shocking statistics were revealed on the scale of clearing and the terrible impacts on wildlife. The Queensland Government ramped up its campaign to restore the controls scrapped by former Premier Newman and was supported by conservation, natural history, wildlife and wildlife care groups across the state. Our Branch made a submission, encouraged members to do likewise and attended the parliamentary committee hearings. Due to the make-up of parliament the reforms were blocked by one vote – a dark day for our fauna, soils, waterways and reef.
Flying-foxes: Our work with the City Council’s Sustainability Services unit (ISS) on developing interpretive material for the Palmetum flying-fox colony seemed to be progressing slowly but well. In March I joined Dominique Thiriet from NQ Wildlife Care to meet with the Botanics curator, ISS and marketing staff to discuss signage design, images and other creative ideas to promote the colony and encourage greater community understanding and acceptance. This was followed up by an onsite meeting, at which WQ committee members Denise and Beth were also present. Six weeks later came the bombshell – a reversal in Council (TCC) policy which saw dispersal actions carried out daily at the Palmetum from June and continuing right through the breeding and birthing season. No satisfactory explanation or justification for this policy back-flip was provided, nor have we received any information – despite repeated questioning – about the fate of the interpretive project on which we had worked for two years. None of it made sense at the time, and makes no sense now. Furthermore, while the TCC actions effectively held the flying-foxes in the colony at Dan Gleeson Gardens, by preventing them from returning to the Palmetum, they then began dispersal actions there – with an escalation of deaths and abandonment of dependent young, as well as of many adults. Our dealings with QDEHP, which was said to be monitoring the actions, were almost equally frustrating.
On a positive note, we produced our own flier dispelling myths and providing accurate information about Townsville’s flying foxes – something that TCC, for all its resources and all its talk of community education, has never done. Nor have they ever assisted, promoted or taken part in any of the 4 bat night events that we co-hosted for the same purpose. It is hard not to be very disillusioned and disappointed, not just by the actions, but by continued failure to answer our questions or provide a logical basis for the policy change.
Wildlife monitoring: A small group led by Denise began setting motion-sensitive cameras to see what wildlife could be captured on film. Additional cameras were purchased and several trips were made in the first 3 months of the year to a Council Nature Reserve at Ollera Creek. Later trips were made to private properties at Herveys Range and Oak Valley. Visits to the nature reserve came to a halt when the land surrounding it was stocked with cattle, and padlocked gates, “keep out” signs and barbed wire made access problematic to say the least. This created another issue which we needed to address, see the item below.
Straying cattle: Our astute vice-president noticed that while the western boundary of these Ollera Creek properties was fenced to keep cattle from railway line and road, there was plenty of evidence that they were straying onto the beach trampling dune vegetation and potentially destroying nests of birds and turtles. We alerted TCC to the need for action to prevent this and to protect the Reserve from the impacts of cattle. We urged the use of wildlife-friendly fencing around the Reserve, providing information on its effectiveness in both protecting wildlife and containing cattle. (Thanks to our WQ Cassowary Coast colleagues for advice). After months of silence we heard this task had been taken on by NQ Dry Tropics NRM though we have yet to learn whether this fencing has been completed.
Pied imperial-pigeons: I am fortunate to be able to continue the Branch’s long tradition of support for the Brook Islands’ population surveys, set by Jo Wieneke and the late Andree Griffin. I took part in 2 counts in 2016 and have had input into discussions to ensure their future at a time of change. Branch sales of the DVD documentary have contributed over $300 to help fund the Thorsborne Trust’s support of the project.
Submissions: In addition to the one on Vegetation management, mentioned above, we made submissions on management of protected species, and the amended EIS for the Townsville port expansion.
Several members joined the Mundy Creek Landcare group for Clean-up Australia Day in March and in April we again joined NQ Wildlife Care to co-host the Australasian Bat Society’s Bat Night, at the Palmetum. For the third year we had a presence at Ecofiesta in May. While our shady site was not as central as in 2015 we still had plenty of interested people calling by. Our display promoted the need for action on tree-clearing and the importance of flying-foxes. We also advertised our field trips and encouraged interest in our camera-trap surveys, with some success, and possible platypus watch activities, with zero success.
Members also attended a Federal Election Forum (June), Environment Minister Steven Miles’ presentation “Reef Conversation” at Reef HQ (August), Sea Turtle Foundation community day at Pallarenda and a Mahogany Glider field day in the Kennedy Valley (both in November). In December a good number of our members rallied against the Adani mine, on the day that Mr Adani and Premier Palaszczuk were in town and 2 members attended an ACF workshop on issues of coal, climate, renewables and reef.
After 5 years this is my final report and I thank the Branch for giving me the opportunity to extend my skills and experience beyond anything I considered myself capable of. I feel very sad to be giving it away but reality tells me that I must. While I am proud of having helped to grow the Branch in numbers, influence and range of activities I am aware of how much better we could do and how much more we should do. Much as we enjoy, and learn from, our monthly walks we cannot abandon our wider responsibilities by becoming simply a walking group. We all care and often despair but, as our State President Peter Ogilvie said recently, Unless [those] who care for the environment and its wildlife let their voices be heard, nothing will change.
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0.999997 |
How you should probably order at Starbucks: I would like a tall, nonfat, sugar free, cinnamon dolce cappuccino, no whip, extra cinnamon. How I order at Starbucks: Yes give me something not too fattening that is warm and taste good please. Worker: OK so you want a skinny? Me: Yes I want to be skinny! Worker: What size? Me: Oh give me a medium I guess (holds hands up to show size I want) Worker: roles eyes and says: What flavor? We have skinny capaccinos in Mocha, Carmel, Dolce, and Hazelnut. Me: hm mm they all sound so good. What do you recommend? Worker: (while rolling eyes and thinking that I should have gone to McDonald's where I can get coffee without all the choices) Well ma'am the dolce is cinnamon and is very good if you like that or you could go with, mocha if you like chocolate that is always a safe bet. Me: hmm they all sound good, can you mix them? Worker (with red face and ready to quit and get a job at McDonald's where life is easier) Sure ma'am what would you like to mix? Me: hm...I don't know what do you recommend? (worker starts shooting steam out of ears and I get frightened) Me: OK OK I know give me a mocha and Carmel mix. Worker: ok that s a"grande skinny mocha Carmel cappuccino" Me: wow it sounds so fancy when you say it like that! Thanks!
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0.982733 |
Install Facebook Messenger For Windows 8: Facebook Messenger is currently equaling WhatsApp when it comes to sending out cost-free messages to your contacts by means of the net. If you're not knowledgeable about either application, they permit you to send out messages making use of information or wi-fi.
Facebook Messenger is offered to any individual in the UK, not just individuals who have a Facebook account, and can also be used to contact groups of people and also make voice as well as video calls-- all that is required is that you should remain in the contact checklist of the individual(s) you are messaging, and they in yours.
If you don't currently have the application on your phone or tablet, below's just how you could download it as well as start calling your friends.
Just how do I install Facebook Messenger on my iphone tool?
1. Open Up the App Store on your device.
2. Tap the Search switch at the bottom of the display. This opens up the application search field.
3. Type in words 'Messenger' - a number of applications will appear in the search results page. Discover the application developed by 'Facebook Inc' and also tap the 'get' switch. Alternatively this link will certainly take you right to the pertinent web page.
4. Tap 'install'. The app should then start downloading. Relying on your protection and privacy settings, you might be asked to supply your Apple ID prior to your gadget lets you download.
5. Once it is downloaded, there should be an 'Open' button to tap in the Application Store to begin Facebook Messenger - or you could simply locate the Messenger icon in your applications and faucet that.
6. As soon as you have launched the app, you should be prompted to visit-- you can utilize your Facebook account to do this if you have one, or develop a Messenger-only account if you pick not to be on Facebook by clicking on 'Not on Facebook?'. Comply with the instructions on ways to check in utilizing your contact number or e-mail.
Exactly how do I install Facebook Messenger on my Android tool?
1. Open the Google Play Store on your gadget.
2. Kind 'Messenger' in the search area. A checklist of applications will certainly show up.
3. Find the app developed by 'Facebook Inc' - which must be at or near the top of the list - and also select it. Alternatively click on this link to go straight to Messenger on Google Store.
4. Touch the 'Install' switch. You could be asked to enable authorization for Messenger to gain access to numerous devices on your tool. If you more than happy with these, tap 'Accept'. Depending upon your safety and privacy setups, you might be asked to offer your Google account password prior to your tool lets you download the application. You might also have to be connected to a wi-fi network to download.
5. Once it has actually downloaded, touch the 'Open' switch on the Messenger Google Store page. Conversely you can discover it on among your residence displays or in your list of applications - launch it by tapping the application symbol.
6. Login using your Facebook account, or if you do not have one faucet on the 'Not on Facebook?' switch on the login display. Adhere to the directions on the best ways to check in using your phone number or e-mail.
Just how do I install Facebook Messenger on my Windows COMPUTER or phone?
1. Open the Windows Store on your gadget.
2. Type 'Messenger' in the search area. A list of applications will appear.
3. Click the application that was created by 'Facebook Inc' It will be at or near the top of the list. Tap or click 'install/ to begin downloading Messenger. The app will certainly begin downloading and install to your device. Additionally, click on this web link then on 'Get the app'.
4. Once it is downloaded, launch Facebook Messenger by clicking the icon in your Beginning menu, or by finding it on your homepage or in your applications listing on your phone.
5. Login utilizing your Facebook account, or if you don't have one, tap or click the 'Not on Facebook?' button on the login screen. Comply with the directions on ways to sign in utilizing your phone number or email.
Once you're all set up, the app will certainly ask you if you intend to allow notifications. If you intend to make voice as well as video calls, it is very important to allow notices otherwise you will not know if individuals are aiming to call you, unless you have the app open on your gadget at the time of the call.
You must likewise be triggered as to whether you would love to import your contacts from your device right into Messenger. If permitted, the app will immediately scan your contacts for those that have Messenger to make sure that you can contact them quickly.
Yes, you can go to the Messenger desktop web site at Messenger.com. You can use this website to gain access to Facebook Messenger on any type of gadget. However, you will require a Facebook account to do this.
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0.999008 |
NEW ULM, Minnesota (CNN) -- A judge Tuesday ordered chemotherapy for the 13-year-old Minnesota boy with cancer whose mother had fled with him rather than comply with a doctor's recommendation that he undergo such treatment.
Daniel Hauser arrives at court Tuesday where a judge ordered he undergo chemotherapy.
Daniel Hauser can remain with his parents, but he will have to start the treatments Thursday at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and his parents will have to comply with the doctor's treatment schedule, said District Court Judge John Rodenberg, who is overseeing the case. He said the boy's tumor has grown since he underwent an initial course of chemotherapy in February.
Dr. Michael Richards examined the boy on Monday. In his report, made public Tuesday, the pediatric oncologist estimated the tumor's size at 5.3 inches by 5.1 inches by 6.3 inches, and said it was "protruding outside the chest wall. There is further compression of the airway, making the initiation of standard chemotherapy imperative this week."
Richards recommended six cycles of chemotherapy followed by radiation. He added that the "goal will be to include alternative therapies in which the family is interested, as long as there is not data to suggest that a particular danger exists with any alternative medicine."
Daniel, dressed in khaki pants and a blue short-sleeve shirt, arrived at the courthouse in New Ulm for the Tuesday afternoon hearing accompanied by a law enforcement officer. He ducked under the dashboard, apparently trying to hide from the news media, before getting out of a green minivan.
But he did not appear in the courtroom. During the hour-long proceeding, Daniel's mother, Colleen Hauser, sat near her husband hunched over, sobbing occasionally and daubing her eyes.
A lawyer representing the family expressed satisfaction with the hearing's outcome. "We're just glad that the judge found that the parents are loving and that Danny is at home where he needs to be," said Tom Hagen. He added that, under the agreement, Daniel will also receive "alternative health" treatments to supplement the chemotherapy.
And he dismissed the possibility that the parents might take the boy from the state. "They're willing to do whatever the court says to make sure that Daniel stays at home," he said.
Last week, Colleen Hauser fled with her son from their rural town of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, to Southern California after a doctor said the boy's Hodgkin's lymphoma was worsening and recommended chemotherapy.
Hodgkin's lymphoma is a cancer that affects the lymphatic system, which is part of the immune system. As the disease progresses, it compromises a body's ability to fight infection.
Colleen Hauser had been planning to take Daniel to Mexico for holistic treatment, but opted instead to return home, a family spokesman said.
CNN's Aaron Cooper and Chris Davis contributed to this report.
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0.937219 |
On April 24, the Senate approved a resolution of advice and consent to ratification (Senate Executive Resolution 75) of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) by a vote of 74-26. The resolution contained 28 "conditions" for Senate approval of the treaty, agreed upon by CWC supporters and opponents, who also agreed to eliminate five "killer"conditions that would have prevented the president from formally ratifying the convention. Several presidential certifications were required by the resolution and were made (in an April 25 message to Congress) before the U.S. instrument of ratification was deposited with the UN secretary-general. The text of these conditions, which is almost as long as the treaty itself, is summarized below with explanatory comments in italics.
On April 25, President Bill Clinton informed the secretary-general that the United States would become an original party to the convention by ratifying the treaty before its April 29 entry-into-force deadline (180 days after the 65th signatory deposited its instrument of ratification).
With these conditions, the Senate sought to reassert its constitutional role in the treaty-making process, influence the interpretation of various treaty provisions and provide advice on various policy issues. Numerous requirements were placed on the executive branch, including certifications to be made prior to the deposit of the U.S. instrument of ratification and periodically thereafter.
Condition 1: The Senate reserves the right to include reservations in its advice and consent to ratification, notwithstanding the explicit ban in Article XXII on reservations to the convention. Although this right was not exercised in the resolution of ratification, the Senate restates its constitutional right to do so in the future when considering amendments to the convention.
Condition 2: The executive branch is prohibited from providing any payment or assistance (including the transfer of in-kind items) to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) without formal authorization and appropriation by Congress. This condition also mandates statutory authorization and appropriation for potential expenses such as the cost of challenge inspections should the treaty's Executive Council assess such a cost.
Despite this condition, under the convention,failure of the United States to meet its financial obligations would lead to the revocation of its right to vote in the organization after its arrears exceed the amount due in the preceding two years (Article VIII, Paragraph 8). Condition 20 (see below) seeks to address this issue, but does not appear to resolve it.
Condition 3: Requires establishment by the OPCW of an independent, internal oversight office by the end of 1997 to investigate and report on the activities of the OPCW and perform annual audits of the handling of classified information and the laboratories designated in the convention's verification annex (Part II, Paragraph 55). This condition mandates cooperation by the OPCW with the oversight office, and an annual evaluation of OPCW compliance with oversight office recommendations. If, after April 28,1998, the president has not certified to Congress that such an office has been successfully created, 50 percent of the U.S. assessment for the OPCW budget will be withheld.
If this institutional change is not acceptable to the OPCW, the withheld U.S. assessment would eventually lead to the loss of the U.S. vote in the organization.
Condition 4: A cost-sharing arrangement with the OPCW will be required before the United States undertakes new research or development expenditures to improve CWC verification, and the president shall provide Congress with an annual report on cost sharing.
Publication information: Article title: Summary of the Senate Resolution of Ratification to the Chemical Weapons Convention. Contributors: Not available. Magazine title: Arms Control Today. Volume: 27. Issue: 2 Publication date: April 1997. Page number: 29+. © Arms Control Association. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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0.990163 |
A man who collapsed and 'died' at work had his life saved when his heart was literally jump-started by a friend who fell on him.
Father-of-two Kevin Brockbank, 54, keeled over after suffering a massive heart attack during a coffee break.
Colleague Martin Amriding panicked and reached out to grab his friend of 35 years – but as Kevin slumped to the floor he was dragged down with him.
Engineer Martin, who weighs 15 stone, fell onto Kevin's chest – and the impact kick-started his heart.
Paramedics raced to the scene and rushed Kevin to hospital – where doctors confirmed Martin's fall saved his life.
Father-of-two Martin, of Preston, Lancashire, said: 'I saw Kevin was going to fall off his chair so I tried to catch him, but he pulled me right over the chair.
'It was only afterwards that the paramedic told me I had saved his life by falling on him.
'I felt awful when I fell on him because I thought I'd really hurt him – then I found out I'd actually saved his life.
The near-death experience happened at a printing press in Dundee, where both men work as service engineers.
Kevin, who lives in Ayr, Ayrshire, said: 'I remember feeling unwell and the next thing I knew I was on the floor with Martin on top of me, which is remarkable in itself because he weighs about 15 stone.
'We were in the canteen having a coffee and a chat when I started to feel unwell and suddenly it felt like I had been hit in the chest by a sledgehammer.
'I could feel my eyes rolling back in my head and I slumped down. I started to fall over so Martin tried to grab me, but I must have dragged him over the chair with me.
'Afterwards I was told my heart had stopped beating for about a minute and both the paramedic and the surgeon said it was the thud of Martin falling on me that saved my life, in the same way CPR chest compressions would.
Kevin suffered four more cardiac arrests in the ambulance but was revived by paramedics following the incident in October.
He was taken to Dundee's Ninewells Hospital – where he was visited by Martin every day – and only given a 50 per cent chance of survival.
But he underwent an operation to insert a stent in his heart to unblock the main artery and was discharged ten days later.
He later suffered two minor strokes and was re-admitted to hospital, where he underwent operations to remove blood clots in his legs, heart and kidneys.
someone's heart with a thump to the chest.
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0.938416 |
In the King James version, there is a distinction of singular and plural by using thee and thou versus you and ye. How can I make a distinction in this version?
The answer to that would be the context of what you are reading. We, in the modern world, when we read modern publications understand the first, second, and third person tenses by the context of what is being said. This is no different with scripture. Realizing that the King James translators used the older English (thee, thou, thine, thy) to distinguish between the tenses, (for they were not speaking King James English on the streets of England in 1611), we in the modern world do not use those words and terms anymore.
In a nutshell, context will determine the use of "you" as a singular and "you" to a group of people.
So, in some places ye is used, but others, not. It would seem to make more sense to be consistent.
"Ye" speaks of all people as in the phrase "Ye must be born from the beginning". "You" speaks of a specific person in the second person tense.
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0.999954 |
How do I order or rank a set of experts?
The 5 star rating on each of those reviews, for a number of factors like speed, quality etc.
I want to provide a rating to these experts say out of 10 based on their importance. Some of the data points might be missing for some of the experts. Now my question is how do i come up with such an algorithm? Can anyone point me to some relevent literature?
Also i am concerned that as with all rating/reviews the numbers might bunch up near some some values. For example most of them might end up getting an 8 or a 5. Is there a way to highlight litle differences into a larger difference in the score for only some of the attributes.
How would YOU compute IMDB movie rating?
What are some of the best ranking algorithms with inputs as up and down votes?
People have invented numerous systems for rating things (like experts) on multiple criteria: visit the Wikipedia page on Multi-criteria decision analysis for a list. Not well represented there, though, is one of the most defensible methods out there: Multi attribute valuation theory. This includes a set of methods to evaluate trade-offs among sets of criteria in order to (a) determine an appropriate way to re-express values of the individual variables and (b) weight the re-expressed values to obtain a score for ranking. The principles are simple and defensible, the mathematics is unimpeachable, and there's nothing fancy about the theory. More people should know and practice these methods rather than inventing arbitrary scoring systems.
Ultimately this may not be solely a statistical exercise. PCA is a very powerful quantitative method that will allow you to generate a score or weights on its first few principal components that you can use for ranking. However, explaining what the principal components are is very challenging. They are quantitative constructs. They are not dialectic ones. Thus, to explain what they truly mean is sometimes not possible. This is especially true if you have an audience that is not quantitative. They will have no idea what you are talking about. And, will think of your PCA as some cryptic black box.
Instead, I would simply line up all the relevant variables and use a weighting system based on what one thinks the weighting should be.
I think if you develop this for outsiders, customers, users, it would be great if you could embed the flexibility of deciding on the weighting to the users.
Some users may value years of experience much more than certification and vice verse. If you can leave that decision to them. This way your algorithm is not a black box they don't understand and they are not comfortable with. You keep it totally transparent and up to them based on their own relative valuation of what matters.
Do you think that you could quantify all those attributes?
If yes, I would suggest performing a principal component analysis. In the general case where all the correlations are positive (and if they aren't, you can easily get there using some transformation), the first principal component can be considered as a measure of the total importance of the expert, since it's a weighted average of all the attributes (and the weights would be the corresponding contributions of the variables - Under this perspective, the method itself will reveal the importance of each attribute). The score that each expert achieves in the first principal component is what you need to rank them.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged rating valuation or ask your own question.
How do I derive a rating from two variables containing zeros?
test of relation when one variable is itself a mean?
How to create a ratio from different measures?
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0.997212 |
Choosing the right hair loss treatment A certain amount of hair loss is normal. But if you are suffering from excessive hair loss, you have to do something about it. Researches show that hair loss reduces men's self esteem. However, you need not worry about it as there are many hair loss treatments available these days. In a short time, your hair will come back and will bring back your self esteem as well.
Point to be noted here is that, no single product is efficient enough to cure each and every type of the hair loss. There are many causes of hair loss and there are different types of treatments for each of these causes. You have to be selective in choosing the best treatment for you. It is crucial to know the causes of hair loss. Hair loss could be hereditary or it could result from stress, medication, erratic food habits, chemicals used for dyeing/ bleaching the hair, the environment and so on. If these things can be avoided, there is a chance that you will not loss hair too much.
Hair loss affects many people and most of them get disappointed with the hair loss treatment that they try out. This is because most people are overwhelmed by the large number of hair re-growth treatments and products available and they fail to select the right one for them. What is distressing about hair loss treatments is that the vast majority of people are overanxious to do something about it as quickly as possible.
So much so that, they do not even try to find out the cause of their hair loss before looking for a remedy. As a result they often use products that are not suitable for their exact problem. This has led to a false notion among the general public that hair loss is perhaps incurable and all remedies are a big rip-off which is not true at all. So it is important to choose the right remedy for hair loss with utmost care. If the right treatment is chosen, hair will come back in no time! In most cases of hair loss in females, it can be reversed with the correct diagnosis and well-timed treatment.
And the greater part of balding women succeeds in stopping hair loss and manages to re-grow their hair. The most accepted ways to treat hair loss in women are: non-surgical hair replacement, hormone correction, transplanting of hair, pills approved by the FDA and relevant medication. Additionally, several other natural hair loss treatments work pretty well too. On the other hand, where men are concerned, after a particular age, it is impossible to have regeneration of follicles resulting in hair re-growth in the normal fashion.
Most men normally experience hair loss is in the age between 18 to 35 years. Procerin is the most popular hair re-growth option for hair loss in males. It is available in topical solution form, tablet form and can be used regularly without any side effects.
Darrell Darrellis author of this article onhair loss treatment. Find more information abouthair loss treatment here.
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0.999748 |
These rankings are all about rating teams against their conference brethren, but we are also ranking the conferences based on quality wins and bad losses against cross-conference competition.
Check out the TL;DR chart below and use the navigation bar to get full details on why we ranked teams how we did.
Things got more interesting in Week 2, however, farther down the food chain. A couple new coaches made good impressions: Joe Moorhead landed his first big win at Mississippi State, and Jimbo Fisher's Texas A&M squad showed promise against a national power. The week wasn't without upsets, though (see: Kentucky-Florida, Colorado State-Arkansas), and those results provided some intrigue in the league.
There's a long way to go, but a lot we've learned about these squads through just two weeks of play.
Tua Tagovailoa continues to look like a revelation at quarterback, and as long as Jalen Hurts sticks around, the Crimson Tide have yet another weapon on offense.
So much for a trap game. In a tough road environment, quarterback Jake Fromm was efficient, D'Andre Swift and the running game showed out and the defense looked like one of the best in the country yet again.
Ho-hum. The Tigers rushed for more than 400 yards as they dominated Alabama State at home in what was essentially a tuneup for next week's showdown against LSU.
The Tigers took care of business against in-state FCS foe Southeastern Louisiana, essentially putting the game away at halftime. Now a showdown with Auburn awaits.
An 11 a.m. kickoff at Kansas State was tricky, but the Bulldogs made it look easy as Nick Fitzgerald and Kylin Hill combined for 370 rushing yards.
Even in a loss to No. 2 Clemson, the Aggies acquitted themselves well, playing the Tigers to the final minute.
The 31-Game losing streak against Florida is over, and the Wildcats look like a team that could play spoiler in the SEC -- if not more.
Drew Lock and Emanuel Hall delivered big offensive performances as the Tigers cruised to a win over Wyoming.
The hope for Will Muschamp has to be that the lopsided loss at home to Georgia is a wakeup call for a program that's ahead of schedule but still hasn't arrived.
Maybe Feleipe Franks isn't in for the rebound season we thought a week ago. He made far too many wrong decisions with the ball and the Gators offense was back to being its old underperforming self.
Seventy-six points in a win is great. Jordan Ta'amu and those wide receivers are special. But the way that defense gave up 41 points to Southern Illinois? Woof.
It wasn't perfect but still a decisive win for the Commodores over Nevada; a critical victory with big games upcoming at Notre Dame, vs. South Carolina and at Georgia in three of the next four weeks.
The Vols notched the first win of the Jeremy Pruitt era, and even though it came against East Tennessee State, it was needed after a rough Week 1 start.
This was always going to be a struggle for first-year coach Chad Morris and losing to Colorado State shouldn't have been surprising. But being outscored 17-0 in the fourth quarter and losing by a touchdown is a tough pill to swallow.
Week 1 is for overreactions. Week 2 is for making amends. Big Ten heavyweights Penn State and Michigan brought some balance back to the discussions about their outlooks for this season with convincing wins on Saturday.
Atop the league, Ohio State and Wisconsin cruised behind stars Dwayne Haskins Jr. and Jonathan Taylor, the league's preeminent Heisman candidates, in advance of the only real tests of the nonconference season for the Big Ten's division favorites. The Buckeyes visit TCU in Week 3 with College GameDay on hand, and Wisconsin brings BYU to Camp Randall.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Arizona State's takedown of Michigan State on a 28-yard field goal by Brandon Ruiz as time expired, a week after Notre Dame dispatched Michigan, places the Big Ten on somewhat shaky ice. The league as a whole can't afford a loss this week by Ohio State -- or it may have to start thinking early about the likelihood that only an undefeated champion could find its way to the College Football Playoff.
The 900th win in program history and second this season without coach Urban Meyer was merely a tuneup for the Buckeyes' visit to battle TCU.
Taylor ran for 253 yards and three touchdowns on 33 attempts. Note to future foes of the Badgers: Don't let that happen or you'll lose.
How's that for a response? The Lions routed Pitt 51-6, exacting revenge for a loss to two years ago at Heinz Field and answering critics after the shaky Week 1 win.
The Big House debut for Shea Patterson went much more smoothly than his first game with the Wolverines as the transfer QB threw for three TDs in a rout of Western Michigan.
No matter how ugly, a fourth straight win in the CyHawk series looks beautiful to Iowa, which held rival Iowa State to 188 yards in a 13-3 victory.
Arizona State turned away a 10th consecutive Big Ten visitor to Tempe, placing a big dent in the Spartans' resume by rallying from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit.
Terps Tayon Fleet-Davis and Ty Johnson topped 100 yards on the ground as Maryland came back from behind to score 38 unanswered against Bowling Green.
Dramatics in Minneapolis from Antoine Winfield Jr., who made a game-saving interception against Fresno State, as true freshman QB Zack Annexstad continued to impress.
The nation's longest FBS winning streak is over as Duke QB Daniel Jones, before leaving with a clavicle injury, picked apart the Wildcats for a second straight year.
True freshman Stevie Scott rumbled for 204 yards as the Hoosiers snuck past Virginia, moving within sight a perfect three-game start for the second time since 2011.
Repeated mistakes cost the Huskers in the debut for coach Scott Frost, who may lost talented freshman Adrian Martinez, the only available QB on scholarship, to a knee injury in the fourth quarter.
A Week 3 trip to Kansas, with the Jayhawks fresh off a landmark victory, will tell us much more about the Scarlet Knights than the customary blowout defeat at Ohio State.
Quarterback A.J. Bush left in the first quarter with a leg injury, giving way to freshman M.J. Rivers, who sparked the Illini to victory over undermanned Western Illinois.
Season-opening loss to Northwestern? OK. Followed up with a loss to Eastern Michigan? Not OK. The Boilers have now dug themselves a hole as Mizzou heads to town.
After two weeks, at least one thing is clear: Oklahoma is still the top dog in the Big 12. The Sooners have looked smooth through their first two weeks.
Things are a little more jumbled in the middle, however, as Texas won but still makes folks wonder; Iowa State couldn't cross the goal line this week and Kansas State took it on the chin at home.
Some things have changed though: Baylor has a winning streak and Kansas won a game, too.
Two weeks, two dazzling performances by Kyler Murray as the Sooners blasted UCLA.
Four more touchdown passes for Will Grier as the Mountaineers breezed by Youngstown State.
A rain-soaked, delayed game made things against SMU interesting for longer than the Horned Frogs preferred, but they eventually took care of business ahead of a huge Week 3 clash with Ohio State.
A strong Week 2 performance for quarterback Taylor Cornelius as the Cowboys rolled over South Alabama. A top-25 match with Boise State is next.
The offense went 0-for-the-end zone in a loss to rival Iowa and quarterback Kyle Kempt got banged up. Things don't get easier with the Sooners coming to town next.
The Longhorns nearly squandered a three-touchdown lead but held on to beat Tulsa. Things still seem a little uneasy and a much better opponent, USC, is coming to town.
The offense was stagnant and the defense allowed nearly 400 rushing yards in a three-touchdown home loss to Mississippi State. Not good.
The Red Raiders cruised against FCS foe Lamar without QB McLane Carter, but getting him back for an important battle with Houston would be good for Kliff Kingsbury.
The Bears are 2-0 after a win over UTSA, already exceeding last year's win total. The nonconference finale against Duke will be key.
The Jayhawks won a road game! A nine-year road winning drought ends at Central Michigan.
Team of the week? We'll let Arizona State and Colorado share the honor. Both teams pulled out gutsy wins against marquee programs -- ASU against No. 15 Michigan State and Colorado at Nebraska -- to build off impressive Week 1 showings. They're the latest examples that show why preseason hype doesn't mean much: In the Pac-12 preseason media poll, Colorado was picked to finish fifth and ASU sixth in the South. Through two weeks, they have clearly been the division's two most impressive teams.
Through two weeks, the Cardinal have allowed just 13 points.
The program is at a level where it's OK to be unsatisfied with a 45-3 win.
They're averaging 60 points per game and that number could rise next week with San Jose State coming to town.
AD Ray Anderson told doubters at Herm Edwards' introductory press conference that if they were welcome to jump on board the ASU/Herm train "for any reason, at any time." Seats are filling up fast.
WR Laviska Shenault Jr. has been the conference's breakout player.
There is no excuse for a team with so much talent to be held without a touchdown.
Justin Wilcox is quietly building an impressive program in Berkeley.
A promising start, but it'll be hard to properly gauge the Cougars until they travel to USC on Sept. 21.
It's hard to be optimistic about the Utes' chances against Washington after an abysmal offensive showing at against a MAC opponent.
So far this year, no Power 5 program has been outscored by more points (37) than the Bruins.
The Beavers have already equaled their win total from last year (1), but still haven't beaten an FBS opponent in over 650 days.
Considering the optimism coming into the year, the Wildcats are off to the most disappointing start in college football.
Clemson won a big one at Texas A&M. That's the good news for the ACC. Everything else? Eh, not great. There were some dominant wins over lackluster competition, but there were also some horrid performances, too. More and more, this looks like the Tigers and everyone else.
It was hardly Clemson's best performance, and it's clear there's room for improvement for the pass defense. But to win on the road with a raucous Texas A&M crowd roaring is still a big step. There's a good case to be made this was the biggest test the Tigers will face this season.
There's probably not much to take from a dominant win over William & Mary, but it's encouraging to see how well the Hokies' ground game performed. Rushing for 300 yards and seven touchdowns is noteworthy, regardless of the opponent.
AJ Dillon had 149 yards and three touchdowns. Oh, and did we mention he did that on six carries and was on the bench by the end of the first quarter? Yeah, BC's offense is clicking.
There's no reason to think Miami has figured out its offensive woes, but 77 points against Savannah State does buy a week of good feelings, which was needed after the debacle against LSU.
Even with star DB Mark Gilbert out and QB Daniel Jones going down with an injury in the second half, Duke still skated to an easy road win, snapping Northwestern's nine-game winning streak.
The real test comes next week against West Virginia, but NC State looked sharper against Georgia State than it did in its opener. Ryan Finley is off to a great start, but the Wolfpack need to figure out their running game if they're going to contend in the ACC Atlantic.
Two games and two wins, but still some real concerns for Dave Clawson. Wake has struggled with costly turnovers, and the defense surrendered 345 yards and three touchdowns to Towson QB Tom Flacco.
It's hard to surrender two kickoff return TDs and win, and we'll assume Tech can solve its coverage problems long term. The offense continues to look solid, but the defense is clearly still a work in progress.
Right up until the punt was blocked before the half, Pitt seemed like it had a real chance against Penn State. Then the dam burst. The biggest concern -- beyond the brutal 51-6 final -- was the team's struggles in the passing game. Kenny Pickett had just 55 yards through the air, just a week after Appalachian State threw for nearly 300 vs. Penn State.
They've yet to play a quality opponent, but 2-0 is still 2-0 and with Florida State reeling, the Orange see a real chance to get halfway to bowl eligibility next week. Oh, and Eric Dungey is putting up numbers that could land him in the Heisman conversation.
The weather was bad. Jawon Pass was bad. The score through three quarters was bad. But Louisville did seem to get things figured out eventually against Indiana State, and the big question this week will be who Bobby Petrino tabs as his starting QB after Malik Cunningham completed 6-of-7 throws with a TD and ran for 54 yards and another score.
The Hoos made it a game at Indiana, but still came up just short. Bryce Perkins ran well, but he mustered just 4.2 yards per pass and the rest of the offense offered little support.
Worse than the loss to Virginia Tech when FSU mustered just a field goal, worse than struggling to get past FCS Samford, worse than anything that's happening in Tallahassee right now is the turnover backpack. Come on, FSU. You're not any good, but you're still better than this.
The Heels tip off against Wofford in the season opener on Nov. 6. Get your tickets now.
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The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope is a large oil-on-canvas painting created by Henri Rousseau in 1905.
What is The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope?
Following Scouts Attacked by a Tiger the previous year, The Hungry Lion was the second jungle painting to mark Rousseau’s return to this genre after a 10-year hiatus caused by the generally negative reception to his 1891 painting, Tiger in a Tropical Storm.
Text: Wikipedia contributors. “The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 3 Jul. 2017. Web. 20 Aug. 2017. & Wikipedia contributors. “Henri Rousseau.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Jul. 2017. Web. 20 Aug. 2017.
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A class providing static methods and objects that do useful things with type-specific maps.
An immutable class representing a type-specific singleton map.
A synchronized wrapper class for maps.
An unmodifiable wrapper class for maps.
An empty type-specific map (immutable).
Returns an empty map (immutable).
Iterates quickly, if possible, on the entry set of the provided map.
Returns an iterable yielding an iterator that will be fast, if possible, on the entry set of the provided map.
Returns an iterator that will be fast, if possible, on the entry set of the provided map.
Returns a type-specific immutable map containing only the specified pair.
Returns a synchronized type-specific map backed by the given type-specific map.
Returns a synchronized type-specific map backed by the given type-specific map, using an assigned object to synchronize.
Returns an unmodifiable type-specific map backed by the given type-specific map.
An empty type-specific map (immutable). It is serializable and cloneable.
map - a map from which we will try to extract a (fast) iterator on the entry set.
an iterator on the entry set of the given map that will be fast, if possible.
map - a map on which we will try to iterate quickly.
consumer - the consumer that will be passed to Int2ReferenceMap.FastEntrySet.fastForEach(Consumer), if possible, or to Iterable.forEach(Consumer).
map - a map from which we will try to extract an iterable yielding a (fast) iterator on the entry set.
an iterable yielding an iterator on the entry set of the given map that will be fast, if possible.
Returns an empty map (immutable). It is serializable and cloneable.
This method provides a typesafe access to EMPTY_MAP.
Returns a type-specific immutable map containing only the specified pair. The returned map is serializable and cloneable.
Note that albeit the returned map is immutable, its default return value may be changed.
key - the only key of the returned map.
value - the only value of the returned map.
a type-specific immutable map containing just the pair <key,value>.
m - the map to be wrapped in a synchronized map.
a synchronized view of the specified map.
sync - an object that will be used to synchronize the access to the map.
m - the map to be wrapped in an unmodifiable map.
an unmodifiable view of the specified map.
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How do you argue in a way that is conducive to the health and growth of the relationship rather than in a way that is detrimental to it?
One of the largest hurdles and growing pains a couple will experience is learning how to communicate during times of distress and anger. Sometimes a fight can get so bad that you are left doubting the relationship and your partner himself. He accuses you of being overly sensitive; you accuse him of not listening or being attentive to your needs. After a grueling tirade of who's right or wrong, sooner or later both of you are in a downward spiral where ego has completely taken over, and rationality and sympathy are out the window.
But before you blame your other half for his communication deficiencies or conclude that the relationship is unsalvageable, try to understand that learning how to argue is a work in progress and can take a few years to find a balance and flow.
Learning how to communicate with your partner and how to argue maturely is something that requires time, effort and commitment. We all go into a relationship with our own baggage, sensitive trigger points, and methods of negotiation that were learned as a child.
For example, when I was a child, being the youngest and relatively "spoiled" in comparison to my sisters, I learned that if I cried loud enough and whined profusely enough, eventually I'd get my way. I learned that if I weren't satisfied with an outcome, sulking and pouting would yield results. Little did I know that my way of communicating what I wanted and getting it, and my system of navigating through distress, were being formulated at such a young age. After years of acting out that way and getting a certain reaction each time, those behavioral and communication patterns were reinforced time and time again, creating habits that I would default to as an adult.
And as an adult, it's obvious that being passive-aggressive, silent and sulky are not the most effective of tactics; however, I have found it challenging to shake off my old habits of behavior and start new ones. I actually have to stop myself in my tracks and force myself to get out of my "upset child" mode and actually communicate in a mature way. It's easy to silently pout or take the other extreme and blame your partner as being the cause of your emotions. However, if you've resorted to this method (as I have done many times), you find out quickly that the result of the blame/accusation game usually results in your partner getting defensive and ready to fight or take flight. Not a productive way of arguing.
So how do you argue in a way that is conducive to the health and growth of the relationship, rather than in a way that is detrimental to it? One word. Compassion.
The minute you tell your angry mind and charged-up emotions to take a pause and try to be compassionate about how your partner is feeling, you change the direction. Instead of blaming and feeling victimized, tap into your empathic side. Try to see your partner's point of view, taking into consideration his past, his experiences and his trigger points that are very different from yours. Your partner may not be able to calm his anger or frustration, and in that event, you may decide that allowing space for both of you to cool down will have a more positive outcome in the end. Women tend to want to talk about their feelings right away, usually just to vent, as talking increases oxytocin, the feel-good chemical. Men, on the other hand, have an instinct to either fight or take flight when they are challenged or see a threat. You may think that a husband's argument with his wife may not compare to a caveman being threatened by a wild animal, but the response mechanisms are eerily similar (insert joke here).
Thus, in heated arguments, sometimes it's best to let the man retract in to his "cave" and once the emotions and anger levels calm down, then the two of you can sit down and have a mature conversation focused on moving forward, and how things can be improved. When that conversation does occur, note that while all you may want is to talk and feel understood, men are fixers that are solutions-driven. If being heard is all you want, then you may want to preface the conversation that you just want him to be all ears and try to understand your point of view.
The art of communication is an evolving one, and while you may think you've mastered it, you always are going to have to modify and adapt to the different people you interact with in your life -- all of whom will come with completely different styles and backgrounds. And while sometimes you can get so frustrated that you contemplate just giving up and walking out the door or some other extreme action, stop and think: "Will this action or these words help the relationship or harm it?" When you hit a certain point when you think you're about to blow a fuse, sometimes a little space and time really can save the day.
Amy Chan is a relationship columnist, and her blogs can be found on www.amyfabulous.com.
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As a parent, you are always trying to find ways to reinforce those tricky math skills. Making math fun is one of the best ways to help kids learn these skills, and incorporating these skills into daily life is a way for them to practice these skills without even realizing it. Baking is a fun activity you can enjoy with your children, as is also allows you to practice important math concepts at the same time. To find out more, here are some tips on how to incorporate math lessons into baking so you can make the most of your cooking time together!
1. Get out the measuring utensils.
Before you begin, get out the measuring utensils such as measuring cups, measuring spoons, a scale if needed, a candy thermometer if necessary, and other measuring devices. Knowing how to use and read off these devices is so important, and now is the perfect time to put them to use in a way that is fun.
2. Point out units of measurement.
When unpacking ingredients, point out the units of measurement on the package. Dried goods are often measured in grams or ounces, while liquids are also measured in ounces. Point out the measurements on the packaging so kids can see what they look like and where to look for them.
3. Read recipe cards together.
Look at written recipes together and point out the measurements. Talk about why it is so important that these measurements are followed and about what would happen if they weren’t. Knowing math ensures a correct result when the recipe is completed, so make sure you discuss how important math is to the outcome.
4. Talk about sequential order.
Following a recipe requires moving in sequential order which is a math skill. Point out how the tasks are numbered and it is important to go in order to achieve the perfect result. You never want to skip a portion of the direction or jump ahead, so being able to number the steps and follow them in order is important.
It is important to read temperature when cooking and baking. Find the required cooking temperature in the recipe. Set the oven together so you can see what that temperature looks like. If using a candy thermometer to make sweets, this is the perfect time to practice reading temperature as well.
6. Practice time telling skills.
Once your recipe is done, you still need to watch the time to make sure it bakes long enough. Practice those time telling skills so you can make sure the recipe doesn’t come out undone or burnt. Practice setting a timer, reading the oven clock, and other time-telling skills as you prepare to bake your item.
7. Last but not least, allow kids to be hands on.
Whether they are measuring flour or oil or setting a timer, allow for kids to be hands on in the preparations. This will help them best put these skills to use and get some real life practice.
As you can see, teaching math while baking or cooking can be fun and easy. Give these ideas for implementing math into baking a try and see what results you can achieve!
Teach fractions by measuring out the cup of flour with the quarter cup measure. Dump 4 quarter cups into the one cup measure. Voila! The quarter cup is one of 4 parts – that’s why we write it it 1 over 4.
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The evolution of the opposable or prehensile thumb is usually associated with Homo habilis, the forerunner of Homo sapiens. This, however, is the suggested result of evolution from Homo erectus (around 1 MYA) via a series of intermediate anthropoid stages, and is therefore a much more complicated link.
the simultaneous development of a larger anthropoid brain in the later stages.
It is possible, though, that a more likely scenario may be that the specialized, precision gripping hand (equipped with opposable thumb) of Homo habilis preceded walking, with the specialized adaptation of the spine, pelvis and lower extremities proceeding [author presumably means "preceding"- S.K.] a more advanced hand. And, it is logical that a conservative, highly functional adaptation be followed by a series of more complex ones that complement it. With Homo habilis an advanced grasping-capable hand was accompanied by facultative bipedalism, possibly implying, assuming a co-opted evolutionary relationship exists, that the later [ = "latter" -S.K.] resulted from the former as obligate bipedalism was yet to follow. Walking may have been a byproduct of busy hands and not vice versa.
The thumb, unlike other fingers, is opposable, in that it is the only digit on the human hand which is able to oppose or turn back against the other four fingers, and thus enables the hand to refine its grip to hold objects which it would be unable to do otherwise. The opposable thumb has helped the human species develop more accurate fine motor skills. It is also thought to have directly led to the development of tools, not just in humans or their evolutionary ancestors, but other primates as well. The thumb, in conjunction with the other fingers make humans and other species with similar hands some of the most dexterous in the world.
* Bornean Orangutan - opposable thumbs on all four hands. The interdigital grip gives them the ability to pick fruit.
* Gorillas - opposable on all four hands.
* Chimpanzees have opposable thumbs on all four hands.
* Lesser Apes have opposable thumbs on all four hands.
* Old World Monkeys, with some exceptions, such as the genera, Piliocolobus and Colobus.
* Giant Panda - Panda paws have five clawed fingers plus an extra bone that works like an opposable thumb. This "thumb" is not really a finger (like the human thumb is), but an extra-long sesamoid bone that works like a thumb.
* Troodon - a birdlike dinosaur with partially opposable thumbs.
* Raccoon - a common mammal with thumbs, which are not opposables.
Evolution of the Human species. On this site it states that "Human Species has a unique opposable thumb (chimpanzees don't)".
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Causes of civil war by Jamal MCcree. Causes of civil war by Jamal MCcree.
1.3. As America began moving west, the issue of whether or not slavery should be allowed in the new states forming out west became an issue. The first state in which this became an issue was Missouri. It's addition to the United States threatened to upset the balance between Free states and slave states. In 1820, Senator Henry Clay persuaded Congress to approve the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri compromise states: 1. Maine was admitted as a free state. 2. Missouri was admitted as a slave state. 3. Louisiana Territory north of Missouri's southern border was free. 4. Southern slave owners gained the right to pursue escaped fugitives into free regions.
2.4. Since the Missouri Compromise did not apply to the large territory gained from Mexico in 1848, Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania proposed that Congress ban slavery in all territory that might become part of the United States as a result of the Mexican-American War. The proposal passed in the House but failed in the Senate.
3.3. In the election of 1848, both the Whigs party and the Democratic Party hoped to win by not taking a stand on the issue of slavery. Antislavery Whigs and Democrats joined forces to create a new political party. It called for the territory gained in the Mexican-American War to be "free soil", a place where slavery was banned.
5.2. California wanted to be a state but was above the Missouri compromise line.
5.3. Gold was found in California and thousands moved to the area. Soon the territory had enough people to be admitted as a state. This angered the South and they threatened to secede (leave). The compromise was proposed by Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky in January 1850. He hoped this compromise would end the debate over slavery forever. This proposal produced one of the greatest debates in American political history. President Taylor opposed the compromise but died and the new president Millard Fillmore supported it.
6.2. Fugitive slave being captured.
6.3. The Fugitive slave act allowed government officials to arrest any person accused of being a runaway slave. Suspects had no right to trial to prove that they had been falsely accused. All it took was a slaveholder or any white witness to swear that the suspect was a slaveholder's property. The law also required northern citizens to help capture accused runaways if authorities requested assistance.
7.3. Written by Harriet Stowe in 1852, it was a novel abut kindly Uncle Tom, an enslaved man who is abused by the cruel Simon Legree. The book became a best seller in the North. It shocked thousands of people who had been unconcerned with slavery before reading the book. The book caused people to view slavery as a human, moral problem and not just a political issue. White Southerners were outraged.
8.2. The States affected by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
8.3. Senator Stephen Douglas pushed the Act in 1854 which led the nation closer to war. He wanted to see a railroad built from Illinois through Nebraska Territory to the Pacific Coast. He suggested creating two new territories: the Kansas territory and the Nebraska Territory. Both were above the Missouri Compromise Line and would become free states which upset the Southerners. To win southern support, he suggested that the issue of slavery be resolved by popular sovereignty. This would undo the Missouri Compromise.
9.2. Continuous fighting in Kansas.
9.3. Both pro slavery and anti slavery settlers flooded to Kansas to try and win the majority. Thousands of people from Missouri entered Kansas in March of 1855 to vote illegally in the election of a territorial legislature. Kansas had 3,000 voters but almost 8,000 people voted. Of the 39 people (legislatures) elected, all but 3 supported slavery. Antislavery settlers refused to accept the results and held another election. Kansas now had two governments. Violence broke out. In April, a proslavery sheriff was shot when he tried to arrest some antislavery settlers in the town of Lawrence. He returned the next month with 800 men and attacked the town. Three days later John Brown, an antislavery settler from Connecticut led seven men to a proslavery settlement near Pottawat Creek and murdered five proslavery men and boys. This started widespread fighting in Kansas.
10.3. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was the leading abolitionist senator and made fiery speeches denouncing the proslavery legislature in Kansas. In one of his speeches he singled out Andrew Butler who was an elderly senator from South Carolina who was not present when he gave his speech. A few days later his nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks, marched into the senate chamber and beat Summer with a heavy cane until he fell to the floor bloody and unconscious. Sumner never really recovered from his injuries.
11.3. The Whig party split in 1854 and many northern Whigs formed a new political party called the Republican Party. Their main goal was to stop the spread of slavery into the western territories. Their antislavery stand attracted many northern democrats and Free-Soil members. The party quickly became very powerful. In the first congressional elections held just a few months after the party was created, 105 of 245 candidates were elected to the House of Representatives. Democrats also lost control of two northern state legislatures. Two years later the party ran its first candidate for president John C. Fremont.
13.3. Dred Scott was an enslaved person who had once been owned by a U.S. Army doctor. They had lived In Illinois and wisconsin for a short time where slavery was illegal. They settled in Missouri. With the help of an anitslavery lawyer, Scott sued for his freedom because he argued that he was free because he had lived where slavery was illegal. The case reached the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court delivered its verdict in the case on March of 1857' three days later President Buchanan took office. The Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote the decision for the Court. Scott was not a free man for two reasons: 1. Scott had no right to sue ub federal court because African Americans were not citizens; 2. Merely living in free territory does not make an enslaved person free. Slaves were property and property rights were protected by the United States constitution. The ruling also said that Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in any territory. Thus, the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. Southern ears were happy because slavery was legal in all territories. Northerners were upset because now slavery could spread to the west.
14.3. Lincoln was chosen as the presidential candidate for Senate against Senator Douglass in 1858. Lincoln and Douglass were political and personal rivals. Lincoln challenged Douglass to a series of public debates. Thousands gathered to hear them speak. Newspapers reported what each man said throughout the nation. Douglass defended popular sovereignty and said each state had the right to decide for or against the spread of slavery. He predicted that slavery would die out on its own but in the meantime Americans had an obligation to keep it out of the Western territories. In the end, Douglass won the elections but now Lincoln was known throughout the nation.
15.2. John Brown. Photograph taken near the end of his life. After he went mentally ill.
15.3. John a town was driven out of Kansas after the Pohawatomic Creek Massacre and returned to New England. He began a plot to free people in the South that were enslaved. In 1859' Brown and a small group of supporters attacked the town of Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His goal was to take control of the guns that the U.S. Army had stored there. He thought that enslaved African Americans would support him. He would give them weapons and lead them in a revolt. He gained control of The guns but troops commanded by Colonel Robert E. Lee surrounded Brown's force before it could escape. Ten of Brown's followers were killed. Brown was wounded and captured. At his trial, he sat quietly as the court found him guilty of murder and treason. He was hanged in Virginia on December 2, 1859. Many people in the North considered him a hero. Southerners were shocked that Northerners thought this about a person who tried to lead a revolt against them.
16.3. As the Whig Party split apart in 1854, many northern Whigs joined a new political party. It was called the Republican Party, and its main goal was to stop the spread of slavery into the western territories. Of the 245 candidates elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, 105 were Republicans. The Republicans' anti-slavery stand also attracted northern Democrats and Free-Soil Party members.
17.3. The Republicans chose Abraham Lincoln as their presidential candidate. His criticisms of slavery during his debates with Douglas had made him popular in the North. Northern Democrats chose Stephen Douglas as their candidate. Southern Democrats picked Vice President John Breckinridge of Kentucky. Some Southerners still hoped to heal the split between North and South. The election showed just how fragmented the nation had become.
18.3. Lincoln's election sent shock waves through the South. To many southerners, it seemed that the South no longer had a voice in the national government. They believed that the President and Congress were now set against their interests- especially slavery- South Carolina was the first southern state to secede from the Union. On December 20, 1860 the convention passed a declaration that "the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and the other states, under the name of the United States of America' is hereby dissolved".
20.3. A plan developed by Senator John C. Crittenden of Kentucky to compromise with the South one last time. It was presented to Congress in late February, 1861 while the South was forming its new government but it did not pass.
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How do you teach kids the complexities of core hitting mechanics, specifically rotation and hands inside the ball?
Hitting a baseball or softball, youth players become confused easy, as their mind and body comprehend the complexities of a power swing.
Consequently, learning core mechanics becomes challenging. For example, instructing players rotational hitting mechanics is difficult as their attention draws to the bat; as a result, the player focuses on their arms, as opposed to their core muscles. Another example is coaching, “hands inside the ball;” the task is virtually impossible.
Luckily, we have developed a simple hitting program to make life easier for coaches, and parents.
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The story follows the Wilson’s as a trip to the beach finds the family confronted by copies of themselves who harbor a murderous intent. As the Wilson family struggles to survive, more and more is revealed as to who these doppelgängers are, as well as their origins.
All the major characters’ actors play double duty, playing both themselves and their evil clones.
Two prominent “Black Panther” actors play the parents in the Wilson family. Lupita Nyong’o delivers a masterful performance as the main character of the story, Adelaide Wilson, and her evil copy, Red. Winston Duke plays the father Gabe, who often serves in a more comedic role, and his doppelgänger, Abraham.
Shahadi Wright Joseph plays the phone-obsessed teenage daughter Zora and her clone, Umbrae. Evan Alex plays their quiet son who wears a Chewbacca mask and enjoys playing with a lighter, Jason, as well as the evil double, Pluto.
While the whole family serves as the main characters, it’s Adelaide’s story the movie focuses on, with her experience first encountering a doppelgänger as a child shown to us in a series of flashbacks. It is her unease that lets the audience know that something isn’t quite right.
Likewise, Adelaide’s counterpart serves as the main villain in her gang of off-kilter copies.
Peele uses sound masterfully in this film, manipulating the viewers emotions with the movies score in several ways, both heightening the tension at times and alleviating it at others.
“Us” will have you laughing one scene and scared the next. It mixes in dark comedy well without overshadowing the horror element of the story.
“Us” also does a great job of bringing things full circle. Things you see early in the film often come back around to affect the film in a different way near the end. It rewards you for paying attention to every little detail.
However, one difference between this movie and “Get Out” is that “Us” doesn’t do as effective of a job in making the horror seem as inherently natural. “Get Out” struck at a fear that felt like it had always been there without realizing it, whereas “Us” tries to establish that fear and then strike at it. It does a good job of this, but it is inherently less effective.
While this movie doesn’t live up to the sky-high bar “Get Out” set, Peele proves he’s a master of the horror genre by delivering a good film that manages to entertain and terrify, explain and confuse and make the audience happy and unsettled all at the same time.
The movie is absolutely worth seeing. It may not be a cultural touchstone like “Get Out” was, but it is a well told story that keeps you invested throughout its entire two-hour runtime.
Get Out was not iconic. Groundbreaking as far as having a black director, yes. If you saw Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner or Skeleton Key you would clearly see his influences. A decent film, but nowhere near Best Picture material…and definitely not original. Both of his films were basically extended Twilight Zone episodes imho; I am excited for his rendition of the show.
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Where does the Changing the Guard ceremony take place?
The ceremony takes place in three locations, Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace and Wellington Barracks.
Victoria - 15 minutes easy walk (District, Circle &Victoria line).
Green Park - 10 minutes walk (Piccadilly, Victoria & Jubilee line).
St James's Park - 10 minutes walk (District & Circle line).
The Visitor Oyster Card is a plastic smartcard which you use instead of paper tickets.
It is the cheapest way to pay for single journeys on London transport. It can be used on the Tube, buses, London overground trains, most National Rail services in London and the Gatwick Express.
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How does someone who was raised in a suburb of Cleveland get into the wine business? In Greg Graham's case, the love for viticulture began on his family's 10-acre Concord grape vineyard, where he worked as a youth. After military service in the 1970's, Greg earned a degree in mechanical engineering and worked in the Cleveland area. During that time, he began to make home wine using local grapes. His desire to improve the quality of his wine increased quickly, but he knew that great wines required a climate that Ohio was never going to provide, so in 1980, Greg moved to California. There he earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of California at Davis, one of the world's top viticultural schools. He completed the winery internship at Freemark Abbey Winery and began working at Rombauer Vineyard as assistant winemaker in June 1983, when Koerner Rombauer was finishing construction of the winery. In 1985 he went to work for Robert Mondavi Winery, where he controlled barrel inventory and was involved in the production of "Opus One" and Mondavi varientals. Koerner Rombauer hired Greg back in July 1988, as head winemaker. Since then, Rombauer has had its greatest successes: the steady evolution of their Chardonnays, the wide recognition of their Merlots, and, most recently, the popularity of the Rombauer Zinfandels that now have all of the original Zin makers chasing. Besides producing wines for the Rombauer label, Greg is responsible for the winery's custom winemaking, which accounts for the balance of their production. Because grape selection and production are critical to making a great wine, Greg spends a tremendous amount of his time working with growers. Prior to harvest he is in the vineyard daily, sampling and tasting to determine optimum fruit ripeness for his wines. He feels that much of his success comes from his efforts to personally select the grapes that he wants. "The grapes can actually tell you what they need and when they're ready to be picked," Greg explains. "Once the grapes are picked, the art of winemaking begins as you coax and guide the wine to its fullest potential." Greg has come a long way from that vineyard in the suburbs of Cleveland where his love for viticulture began. Since then his experience, his high standards and his passion for making great wines have brought awards and recognition. Now he is applying those qualities to producing superb wines under his own label.
The 2001 Gregory Graham Carneros Pinot Noir has a medium burgundy color. The aromas of the wine are black cherry with hints of lilac and sandalwood, accompanied by a slight smokiness. The wine is lively, yet silky, with elegant pinot flavors of fresh cherries, a hint of cinnamon and lightly smoked meats. The flavors are long, yet gentle, and will continue to improve for the next five to eight years. This Pinot is best enjoyed relaxing with good friends and good food to appreciate its virtues.
The 1999 Gregory Graham Carneros Pinot Noir has a deep burgundy color. The aromas of the wine are black cherry with hints of lilac and sandalwood, accompanied by a slight smokiness. The wine is lively, yet silky, with elegant pinot flavors of fresh cherries, with a hint of cinnamon and lightly smoked meats. The flavors are long, yet gentle, and will continue to improve for the next five to eight years. This Pinot is best enjoyed relaxing with good friends and good food to appreciate its virtues.
This wine exhibits the classic ripe raspberry that is the hallmark if Zinfandel. The fruit is enhanced with a touch of white pepper. The flavors are of ripe berry and plum. The texture is delightfully fresh and non-aggressive, and the wine has an enjoyable fruit flavored finish.
This fruit comes from the Noble Vineyard located in the Knights Valley appellation of Sonoma County. This is where Gregory Graham Viognier got its start, and it continues with another stylish Viognier similar to the previous vintages that continue to receive favorable reviews from both The Wine Spectator and Connoisseur’s Guide to California Wine. The grapes from this vineyard have their own unique aroma and flavor characteristics that are Condrieu in character. The fruit was hand harvested and whole cluster pressed without crushing. The juice was cold settled and barrel fermented in a cool cellar with French oak barrels to retain its delicate fruit aromas and enhance its complexity. The wine was then surlie aged for five months in barrels to increase its body and depth of flavor. The Knights Valley vineyard consists of mature twelve-year-old vines that produce a wine with unique aromas and flavor characteristics that are very enjoyable. Loaded with ripe pear, these aromas are further enhanced with a hint of mineral and light toasty notes. The flavors match these aromas and are big and rich. The richness and warm flavors are the unique characteristic of wine made from ripe Viognier grapes. Enjoy this wine with shellfish in a rich cream sauce or with a grilled meaty fish, like ahi, accompanied with a fresh fruit salsa composed of mangos, tangerine, and cilantro.
The wine has a wonderful apricot and citrus blossom aroma. The flavors are fresh pear and mineral. The wine finishes with a rich, slightly oily texture of fruit syrup. Enjoy this wine with a shellfish in a rich cream sauce or with a grilled meaty fish, like ahi, accompanied with a fresh fruit salsa composed of mangoes, tangerine, and cilantro.
Enjoy this wine with shellfish in a rich cream sauce of with a grilled meaty fish, like ahi, accompanied with a fresh fruit salsa composed of mangoes, tangerine, and cilantro.
The 2001 Gregory Graham Napa Valley Syrah is dark, bold and beautiful, with an intense inky color. The aromas of the wine are classic Syrah consisting of intense blackberry and blueberry, surrounded by rose petal, mocha, and vanilla. The flavors are creamy rich blackberry jam, bittersweet chocolate, and smoked meats, further enhanced by soft structured tannins and a flavorful finish. This wine calls for heavier fare such as peppered/blackened steak, lamb, or roast duck. It is also an excellent accompaniment to most wild game. This is our fifth vintage of our Napa Valley Syrah. Our previous Syrahs have been very well received by all who have had the opportunity to enjoy them. We are so committed to Syrah and other Rhone varieties that we have planted eight acres of Syrah and Grenache at our estate vineyard located in the Red Hills appellation of Lake County. Our first vintage from the new planting will be 2004.
The 2000 Gregory Graham Napa Valley Syrah is dark, bold and beautiful, with an intense inky color. The aromas of the wine are classic Syrah consisting of intense blackberry and blueberry, surrounded by rose petal, mocha, and vanilla. The flavors are creamy rich blackberry jam, bittersweet chocolate, and smoked meats, further enhanced by soft structured tannins and a flavorful finish. this wine calls for heavier fare such as peppered/blackened steak, lamb, or roast duck. It is also an excellent accompaniment to most wild game. This is our fourth vintage of our Napa Valley Syrah. Our previous Syrahs have been very well received by all who have had the opportunity to enjoy them. We are so committed to Syrah and other Rhone varieties that we have planted eight acres of Syrah and Grenache at our small estate vineyard located in the Red Hills appellation of Lake County.
The Napa Valley Viognier has fresh light citrus, mango, and tangerine fruit aromas. The flavors are lasting of fresh Fuji Apple with a fresh crisp finish. Enjoy this wine with shellfish, Pacific Rim cuisine, or with any spicy dish, as an aperitif, or any time as a refreshing alternative to Chardonnay.
The Napa Valley Viognier has fresh apricot, mango, and tangerine fruit aromas. The flavors are of fresh ripe pear and butterscotch. Enjoy this wine with shellfish, Pacific Rim cuisine, or with any spicy dish, as an apertif, and any time as an alternative to Chardonnay.
The Napa Valley Viognier has fresh apricot, mango, and kiwi fruit aromas. The flavors are fresh peach and ripe pear. Enjoy this wine with shellfish, Pacific Rim cuisine, spicy dishes, or any time as an alternative to Chardonnay.
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The disgraced Hollywood producer has been fired from the company he co-founded and reportedly came to a divorce settlement with Georgina Chapman that will cost him between $15 and $20 million.
Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein's net worth could soon change.
The onetime mogul reportedly came to a divorce settlement with Marchesa designer Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman near the end of 2017. Under the terms of the agreement, Chapman will receive primary custody of their children, ages 4 and 7, and between $15 million and $20 million, the New York Daily News reports.
He also told his first wife, Eve Chilton, that he can't afford to pay child support for their two daughters for "at least one year," according to a recently released court ruling first reported by the New York Post. A previously sealed January 2 ruling by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Katz reportedly denies a demand for $5 million that Weinstein's first wife, Eve Chilton, says he still owes her from their 2004 divorce settlement.
Weinstein has been accused of sexual harassment and abuse by more than 100 women, and two cases are being reviewed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. He has denied the allegations.
He was fired from the Weinstein Company, the film production company he co-founded in October, too, following the October publication of the New York Times's bombshell report of the Hollywood producer's alleged sexual harassment. Here's what happened to Weinstein and the company since then along with what he's doing now.
Weinstein was reportedly notified of his termination in an email in early October. The New York Times reports that the company's four board members—Lance Maerov, Bob Weinstein (Harvey's brother), Richard Koenigsberg, and Tarak Ben Ammar—made the decision to fire him, and they issued a statement saying they were "shocked and dismayed by the recently emerged allegations of extreme sexual misconduct and sexual assault by Harvey Weinstein" and that the actions "come as an utter surprise to the Board."
According to the Huffington Post, Ailes was paid $40 million to leave the company he led in spite of similar sexual harassment claims and reported payouts to victims. The $40 million figure was the amount Fox News was "contractually obligated to pay Ailes, under the terms of his contract, which was in effect until 2018."
The one-time mogul is reportedly undergoing treatment at the Meadows, a high-end rehabilitation facility in Wickenburg, Arizona that offers treatment for sexual addiction (Kevin Spacey has also reportedly spent time there). On Wednesday, TMZ posted a video of Weinstein getting slapped in the face at at Elements restaurant in Scottsdale.
HOW MUCH IS THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY WORTH?
While an official valuation of the privately held Weinstein Company, which has about 150 employees in offices in Los Angeles and New York City, is not available, Harvey Weinstein told the Hollywood Reporter in 2016 that the company was worth $700 to $800 million. More recently, it was valued around $500 million. It has received 341 Oscar nominations and won 81 Academy Awards, according to the company's website.
Even before this scandal broke, the Weinstein Company faced challenges. It "dodged bankruptcy in 2010 with a $450 million debt-restructuring deal that forced it to hand over the rights to 200 films in its archives to Goldman Sachs and Assured Guaranty Ltd.," according to the New York Post.
And its recent movies haven't banked what past ones have. Between 2009 and 2013, five of its movies made more than $100 million domestically at the box offices, Forbesreports, but not a single movie has matched that since Lee Daniels's The Butler in 2013.
With a reported internal investigation into the allegations that's been estimated to cost between $20 and $40 million, along with a reported rebranding and name change, the Weinstein Company could be facing some serious financial difficulties.
In late October, a preliminary agreement for a cash infusion that had been arranged with Thomas Barrack, Jr.'s private equity firm Colony Capital was called off. A new deal, however, may be on the table with a group of investors led by former Maria Contreras-Sweet, who ran the Small Business Administration under President Obama. The deal, first proposed by Contreras-Sweet in November, could be reached as early as mid-January, the Los Angeles Times reports. Her proposal included renaming the company and appointing a board of directors with a female majority (the board is currently all-male). Other reported backers include billionaire Ron Burkle and Dallas-based private equity firm Lantern Asset Management.
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Find the title of novel, using the move of a chess knight. First letter is T. Length of words in solution: 3,5,6.
Remove 7 letters from this sequence (IUNRQTERVENTZIEOOVN) to reveal a familiar English word.
An investment counselor decided to go out on her own. She was shrewd and diligent, so business kept coming in, and pretty soon she realized that she needed an in-house counsel. She began to interview young lawyers.
"As I'm sure you can understand," she started off with one of the first applicants, "in a business like this, our personal integrity must be beyond question." She leaned forward. "Mr. Peterson, are you an honest lawyer?"
"Honest?" replied the job prospect. "Let me tell you something about honest. Why, I'm so honest that my father lent me $15,000 for my education, and I paid back every penny the minute I tried my very first case."
"Impressive. And what sort of case was that?"
The lawyer squirmed in his seat and admitted, "He sued me for the money."
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Ivanka Trump is taking her women's entrepreneurship initiative to Africa, arriving in Ethiopia Sunday to promote the Trump administration's Women's Global Development and Prosperity initiative.
(CNN) -- Ivanka Trump is taking her women's entrepreneurship initiative to Africa, arriving in Ethiopia Sunday to promote the Trump administration's Women's Global Development and Prosperity initiative.
Trump, a senior adviser to her father, President Donald Trump, focuses on a narrowly tailored, largely non-controversial West Wing portfolio including women's economic empowerment, working family issues and workforce development. Even before her time in the White House, Ivanka Trump has styled herself as a champion of women, and since her father's administration began, has made efforts to build relationships with world leaders.
"If she ever wanted to run for president," the President said in an interview with The Atlantic, "I think she'd be very, very hard to beat."
But the President told the magazine that his daughter hasn't expressed any interest in running to him. For now, she continues to build her diplomatic profile on the world stage, this week's trip her latest international foray.
The first daughter will be joined by USAID Administrator Mark Green, will also travel to Côte d'Ivoire next week to attend the We-Fi West Africa Regional Summit.
Trump helped unveil the Women's Global Development and Prosperity initiative earlier this year. Its aim, she told reporters before the President signed a memorandum launching the initiative in February, is to "coordinate efforts across federal agencies" to empower women in developing countries through education, entrepreneurship and eliminating legal, regulatory and cultural barriers to women's economic participation.
The Women's Global Development and Prosperity (WGPD) initiative builds on the administration's national security strategy, she said at the time, that recognizes "the critical role of women in achieving peace, prosperity, and stability."
The fund's goal is to empower 50 million women in developing countries by 2025.
During the visit, Trump and Green are expected to "announce new WGDP deliverables, conduct site visits and host bilateral meetings to promote the three core pillars aimed at driving global women's economic empowerment throughout Africa," according to a White House official.
On Wednesday, Trump will cap off her trip on Wednesday participating in a dialogue focusing on We-Fi, a $1 billion World Bank facility she helped roll out in 2017. She will discuss women-led businesses alongside the President of Côte d'Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara, and Trump ally and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, among others.
The President has described some nations in Africa as "shithole countries," and while he has not yet visited the continent, Ivanka will be the second Trump to travel to Africa, following first lady Melania Trump's four-country visit last year.
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If you're about to buy a house or you're looking to refinance you may be asking yourself, should I fix my home loan or not? Like most decisions, there are pros and cons for each option. Here are some things to think about to help you decide.
Fixed home loans have an interest rate that is fixed for a set period of time - often 1, 3 or 5 years. At the end of the fixed rate term, the loan will usually switch to the standard variable rate offered by the lender.
Makes budgeting easier - You know exactly what you're repayments will be, so you can plan ahead and set financial goals with confidence.
Rate rises won't affect you - If interest rates rise above your fixed rate, you will be happy knowing you are paying less than the variable rate.
Rate drops won't apply to you - You won't benefit from a drop in interest rates if your fixed rate is more than the variable rate.
Limits on extra repayments - Additional loan repayments are often not allowed with fixed rate loans or repayments may be capped at a low amount or only permitted with a fee.
Do you need to redraw? - A redraw facility may not be offered on a fixed rate loan.
Break fees - Fixed rate loans may have a break fee if you change or pay off your loan within the fixed rate period.
This kind of loan may not be suitable if you are thinking about selling your home or want the freedom to switch home loans if you find a better deal.
If you don't fix your loan, your interest rate will move with changes to market interest rates. This means the interest rate can rise or fall over the term of your loan. As a result, your repayments will 'vary' as the rate changes.
You can make extra repayments - Extra repayments are usually allowed at no extra cost, which can save you interest and help you pay off your loan sooner.
More features - Variable loans often have attractive features such as unlimited redraws on any additional repayments or the ability to save on interest by setting up an offset account.
Easier to switch loans - It is usually easier and cheaper to switch loans if you find a better deal elsewhere if you have a variable rate home loan.
Makes budgeting harder - It can be difficult to budget with certainty as loan repayments can increase when interest rates change.
Mortgage stress - If you aren't prepared for a rate rise you may have trouble keeping up with repayments.
Another option is to make a bet both ways by having a part fixed, part variable interest loan. A split loan allows you to manage some of the risks of interest rate rises while still being able to make extra repayments.
No one can accurately predict how interest rates will move, so it's important to choose a loan with the features that work for you, and then get the best possible mortgage deal you can.
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Unbelievable Dialogue - Cast 19. Lady Gaga — Is That Alright? The British Academy of Film and Television Arts are the U. I, like everyone else with internet access, watched the trailer for A Star Is Born dozens of times when it was released in June. In France, the soundtrack sold 8,700 copies and debuted at number seven on the , held the same position the next week with another 8,000 sold, and climbed to number five in its fourth week, selling 7,500 copies. This year, the Globes come at the start of voting for Oscar nominations, and while they are not always a clear predictor of Academy Award success, they are a bellwether of momentum. What an amazing film by Bradley Cooper! In the Running: Russell Crowe Boy Erased , Adam Driver BlacKkKlansman , Robert Duvall Widows , Joel Edgerton Boy Erased , Colin Farrell Widows , Jake Gyllenhaal Wildlife , Daniel Kaluuya Widows , Stephan James If Beale Street Could Talk , Sam Rockwell Vice Best Director Looking Likely: Damien Chazelle, First Man Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born Alfonso Cuarón, Roma Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman Consider it a year of rematches: In 2017, Chazelle took home Best Director for La La Land but Jenkins' Moonlight won Best Picture. Beyond Vice, top contenders include offbeat royal romp The Favourite, civil rights dramedy Green Book and Disney sequel Mary Poppins Returns.
It was still goddamn transcendent. Though she refuses at first, eventually, Ally agrees. A Star Is Born official website. Of the early favo u rites, there are two firsts of note: Black Panther, which earned for its cultural impact and for being a damn fine superhero movie, would be Marvel's first Best Picture nomination, while Netflix's black-and-white period drama, Roma, could be the film that finally cracks this race for the streaming giant. With a number in the hat. For the experts polled by awards prediction website Gold Derby, A Star Is Born is a lock for best drama film, and Cuaron will take home top director honors. Gaga and Cooper collaborated on the soundtrack album with an assortment of , including , who also stars in the film as a member of Cooper's band.
Bradley Cooper — Out of Time 10. Select album in the field Format. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me? Two major Oscar contenders just threw a wrench into the awards season. More importantly, these songs are so brilliantly woven into the plot and emotional arc and themes of A Star Is Born that they are fundamentally incomplete without the storytelling of the film. If you cannot fathom the Academy awarding a pop star for her first film role, please consult Jennifer Hudson's Oscar.
There's a number reasons for this, the least important of which is because the soundtrack is filled with spoilers for anyone unaware of this story that has been told and re-told throughout the last century. First Stop, Arizona Dialogue - Cast 14. Film soundtracks have certainly had their Grammy-dominating years — a relationship that extends to practically the inception of the Grammys. The music, details, and some themes are clumsily handled, but a particularly masterfully shot and directed scene between Elliot and Cooper will serve as my main takeaway from the film. Twelve Notes Dialogue - Cast 33. The original won five Oscars, after all, and was nominated for eight more.
The soundtrack also includes contributions from , , , and of. What an amazing film by Bradley Cooper! In the United Kingdom, A Star Is Born faced competition from ' fifth studio album, , with the midweek chart suggesting the latter to emerge as the top album. Vows Dialogue - Cast 25. Both Julianne Jordan and in the categories for Outstanding Music Supervision at the same awards. How Do You Hear It? Always Remember Us This Way - Lady Gaga 18. Redford has won one Oscar -- for directing -- and it was in 1981. Lady Gaga — La Vie en rose 6.
Check out for the latest news, fashion and more. He is also up for best director. For best actor, Cooper - who plays the aging rocker who discovers a struggling singer-songwriter Gaga and propels her to stardom - is locked in a duel with Rami Malek, who portrays Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. As is, I'm giving an edge to King, who very likely could become a first-time Academy Award nominee and first-time winner in the same year. The soundtrack debuted at number six in the , and after two weeks reached the top. Cast — Twelve Notes Dialogue 33.
It became Gaga's fourth album to reach number one in the nation and first since 2013 , as well as Cooper's first entry on the chart. Venice doesn't hand out awards for supporting actors. She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer. And while there are still plenty of actors skirting the periphery of this race, I'm predicting this is the field that changes least from now until nominations are announced. Meanwhile, many are giving the Best Actress edge to Glenn Close, who is overdue for her first win, but I'll side with first-time actress Aparicio and the power of Netflix, for now.
Before I Cry - Lady Gaga 31. Seasoned musician Jackson Maine Bradley Cooper discovers-and falls in love with-struggling artist Ally Gaga. In the Running: Jacques Audiard The Sisters Brothers , Ryan Coogler Black Panther , Joel Edgerton Boy Erased , Peter Farrelly Green Book , Marielle Heller Can You Ever Forgive Me? It was Gaga's third album to reach the summit in the nation and her first since Born This Way. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me? They sound like songs written by artists who, quite frankly, are supremely messed up but hit to the core of the listener. Commercially, it has topped the charts in more than 15 countries, attaining gold and platinum certifications from many of them. Few days becomes a few years. The film is now playing nationwide.
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Realtors: Sales of existing homes fall 8.6% - much worse than expected - as median prices suffer the worst decline since the Great Depression.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of existing homes sold during November plummeted 8.6% as prices plunged by record amounts, according to a closely watched housing industry report issued Tuesday.
The National Association of Realtors said that home sales dropped to an annualized rate of 4.49 million units. That was down from 4.98 in October and much less than the 4.93 million units projected by a consensus of industry analysts as reported by Briefing.com.
"The only region where we're seeing more sales are where bargain hunters are taking advantage of distressed sale prices," said Lawrence Yun, the Realtors' chief economist. "About 45% of transactions, nationally, were of distressed properties."
Yun blamed the financial market turmoil for the devastating report. For months, sales had hovered 4.9 million to 5.1 million.
"Today's figure reflects the stock market crash that began in October," he said.
The drop took place despite bargain prices as property values continued their decline. The median existing home sold for $181,300 in November, down 13.2% from a year ago when the median was $208,800.
Yun said that price drop was the largest the association had ever recorded and probably the worst decline since the Great Depression.
Meanwhile, the glut of unsold homes expanded to 4.2 million in November. That represents 11.2 months of supply, at the current rate of sales, up from 10.2 months in October. Bloated inventories have barely budged over the past 12 months; last November there were 4.27 million existing homes on the market.
"At the risk of sounding like a broken record, November was another tough month for the housing market," said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst with Weiss Research. "It's not surprising considering what happened to credit markets this fall."
Existing home sales are now the weakest they have been since July 1997, and price drops have wiped out all the previous gains back to February 2004, Larson said.
Sales of new homes fared little better. They totaled 407,000 in November, according to estimates released jointly Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That was down 2.9% from 419,000 sold in October and 3.1% below Briefing.com's projection of 420,000.
New home sales have dropped 35.3% from last November, when an estimated 629,000 were sold.
The median sale price of new homes sold in November was $220,400, a slight increase of 0.9% from $218,400 in October.
Have you bought a house recently? If so, send your story and photos to [email protected]. You could be featured in an upcoming article.
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Please show me example sentences with a mixed blessing .
A mixed blessing is something that has both advantages and disadvantages. Examples: I love my new job, but it's a mixed blessing - although it pays more, it's a longer drive from home. (or more pay but longer hours) Many scientists have said that discovering atoms was a mixed blessing as it led to nuclear power, but it also made nuclear weapons possible.
A mixed blessing is something that has both advantages and disadvantages.
Many scientists have said that discovering atoms was a mixed blessing as it led to nuclear power, but it also made nuclear weapons possible.
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0.964137 |
In any city in any country go to the nearest race track and approach one of the jockeys. Tell the man that you would like to see the horse with no name. A sly look will cross his face, and he will lead you to the stables.
As you enter the light from the door frame will die, and the only sounds that will resonate are the sounds of horses stomping their hooves. The jockey will have disappeared, and you will be left to continue on alone. At the end of the stable a ladder will lead up to the loft, you should take it.
As you proceed up the ladder, be careful to count your steps. At the thirteenth step call out that you are going as fast as you can. If you fail to do this then the ladder will turn to dust, and you along with it. At this point the ladder's lower rungs will be over swept with darkness. The darkness will begin to rise up, one rung at a time. You must make all haste to the top of the ladder, for if the darkness touches you it will drag you down into suffering for all eternity.
If you can scramble up the ladder before the darkness manages to touch you, then you will find yourself in a cramped loft. The jockey from before will be holding a stop-watch that flashes the number of seconds it took for you to ascend the ladder. He will grin at you with blackened teeth. You may ask only one question, "How long will this go on for?".
He will snort, and snap back "Too long". He will then toss the stop-watch to you and jump from the loft window. A rope will hang from the loft to the ground, slide down it and continue on your way.
The stop-watch, perpetually flashing your finishing time, is Object 242 of 538. Your time is the only one that matters.
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0.936304 |
The Indo-European languages include 150 languages spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily.
The hypothesis that this was so was first proposed by Sir William Jones, who noticed similarities between four of the oldest languages known in his time, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit and Persian. Systematic comparison of these and other old languages conducted by Franz Bopp supported this theory. In the 19th century, scholars used to call the group "Indo-Germanic languages". However when it became apparent that the connection is relevant to most of Europe's languages, the name was expanded to Indo-European. An example of this was the strong similarity discovered between Sanskrit and olden spoken dialects of Lithuanian.
The common ancestral (reconstructed) language is called Proto-Indo-European (PIE). There is disagreement as to the geographic location where it originated from, with Armenia and the area to the north or west of the Black Sea being prime examples of proposed candidates.
Most spoken European-languages belong to the Indo-European superfamily. There are, however, language families which do not. The Finno-Ugric language family, which includes Hungarian, Estonian, Finnish and the languages of the Saami, is an example. The Caucasian language family is another. The Basque language is unusual in that it does not appear to be related to any known languages..
It has been proposed that Indo-European languages are part of the hypothetical Nostratic language superfamily; this theory is controversial.
Raised w stands for labialization, or lip-rounding accompanying the articulation of velar sounds ([kw] is a sound similar to English qu in queen).
The symbols h1, h2 and h3 stand for three hypothetical "laryngeal" phonemes.
As PIE is not directly attested, all PIE sounds and words are reconstructed (using comparative method). The standard convention is to mark reconstructed (and therefore more or less hypothetical) forms with an asterisk, e.g. *wodr 'water', *k^wo:n 'dog', *trejes 'three (masculine)', etc. Many of the words in the modern Indo-European languages are derived from such "protowords" via regular sound change (e.g., Grimm's law).
Recent theories have been proposed by the linguist John Colarusso that the Caucasian languages, particularly the Northwest Caucasian family, spoken in Georgia and Turkey, may be the closest relatives to the Indo-European stock. While these are not widely held theories, substantial evidence investigated by this linguist seems to support their theory. In particular, the one-vowel hypothesis which has been put forward for Indo-European would be borne out by the usage of substantial secondary articulation like that found in the Northwest Caucasian languages and, indeed, in the hypothesised PIE. Also, the Northwest Caucasian languages preserve a large number of guttural phonemes which may be the modern equivalents of PIE "laryngeals".
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0.999999 |
Read the following points carefully.
a) Natural numbers are denoted by ‘N’.
b) All natural numbers are positive only.
2). Whole Numbers: Whole numbers having ‘0’ and natural numbers. Ex.0, 1, 2, 3, 4…….
3) Integers: Negative numbers and whole numbers forms integers. Ex. -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3….
b) ‘0’ number is neither positive nor negative.
4) Even and Odd Numbers: The counting numbers which are divisible by 2 then those numbers called Even numbers otherwise Odd numbers.
a) Ex. For even numbers: 2, 4, 6, 8,10 ….
b) Ex. For odd numbers: 1, 3, 5, 7,9 ….
5) Prime Numbers: These numbers having only two factors ‘1’ and itself.
Ex. 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 …. 2 is the even number which is prime and prime number is always greater than 1.
1. Divisibility by 2: If the number is having either ‘0’ or even number as a last digit then that number is divisible by 2.
2. Divisibility by 3: When sum of the digits of a number is divisible by 3, then the number is divisible by 3.
Example: 159 1 + 5 + 9 = 15 15 is divisible by 3.
3. Divisibility by 4: If the last two digits of a number is divisible by 4, then that number is divisible by 4.
If the number is having two or more zeroes at the end then also its divisible by 4.
Example: 1200 it’s having two zeroes at the end so its divisible by 4.
4. Divisibility by 5: If the number is having ‘0’ or ‘5’ at the end then it’s divisible by 5.
5. Divisibility by 6: If the number is divisible by 2 and 3then that number should divisible 6.
6. Divisibility by 7: when the difference between twice the digit at last place and the number formed by other digits is either ‘0’ or multiple of ‘7’.
7. Divisibility by 8: If the number made by last three digits is divisible by 8, the number is divisible by 8.
8. Divisibility by 9: It’s similar to divisible by 3 rule. When sum of the all the digits of a number is divisible by 9, then the number is divisible by 9.
9. Divisibility by 10: If the number is end with ‘0’ then it’s divisible by 10.
10. Divisibility by 11: If the sum of digits at odd and even places are equal or differ by a number which is divisible by 11 then the number is divisible by 11.
Difference: (16-5) = 11. So 216282 is divisible by 11.
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0.999097 |
Less than a year after buying Beats for $3 billion, Apple is working hard to position the audio firm's streaming service as the flagship in a new digital music initiative.
According to sources, Reznor, who was previously Beats' chief creative officer, is heading up development of a redesigned Beats Music app that could see release as part of iOS 8.4, reports The New York Times.
Working alongside Reznor is Beats cofounder Jimmy Iovine, as well as other employees from Apple and Beats. The app itself will reportedly retain tentpole features seen in the current Beats Music iteration, including human curated playlists, but is expected to get a fresh coat of paint and likely a new name, the report said.
Last October, Reznor revealed that he was working on a secret project for Apple thought to be in the music delivery field.
Echoing rumors from earlier this month, the report said Apple's redesigned Beats offering will be a subscription only service. Apple supposedly tried to negotiate cheaper licensing fees from record labels, but was rebuffed, meaning subscription pricing should be in the same tier as Spotify.
Also part of Apple's revamped digital music platform is a revamped iTunes Radio, which will remain as the company's free-to-stream service. The publication said Apple tapped new hire D.J. Zane Lowe to reconfigure the service. Lowe, a Grammy-nominated tastemaker credited with jumpstarting the careers of Adele and Gnarls Barkley, was one of BBC Radio's most popular personalities before leaving for Apple earlier this month.
Plans for iTunes Radio are still in flux, but the report cites music executives as saying the service could put a greater emphasis on regional programing with Lowe as its "voice."
The Beats music streaming service and iTunes Radio are thought to be major focuses for Apple as the company looks to stave off slumping digital music sales. Apple is behind in the streaming music game, with competitors Spotify and Pandora eating up marketshare and revenue, but reinvigorated iTunes-based services could provide an opportunity to catch up.
I'll hold final judgement until the app is released, but my first reaction was "Oh no!"
Reznor ando Lovine working hard. So what's Andre Young doing?
Let's see, I can buy music, I can listen to my music, and I can listen to iTunes Radio, I can listen to Beats all on my phone. What else could I possibly do with music that I cannot already do?
Although, an AI reader tells me that I'm not missing much, because it repeats tracks too much.
My thought exactly. To be honest, how many black executives does Apple have? Not many from what I have seen, I think there might be something fishy going on here, and I don't like it. I would like to see Apple increase its diversity, not only among rank-and-file Apple Store employees, and other office workers, but among the more prominent executive-level positions too. It is wonderful that Tim Cook has "come out of the closet," and represents the LGBTQ community well (I am also LGBTQ), and it is time for more racial, ethnic, and cultural groups to be better represented too. Apple is an extraordinarily innovative and forward-looking company, so lets see it in the makeup of their workforce too!
Mixing the music for Apple's ads, particularly the product intro videos.
Under Nasser's watch, Ford acquired Volvo Cars and Land Rover and placed them under the newly Premier Automotive Group in order to expand its market share in the luxury segment. Nasser also aimed to overtake General Motors by developing car-related services, but hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted on e-commerce, car distribution, junkyards, and auto-repair shops. Meanwhile the productivity of plants and quality of Ford vehicles slipped. According to an analyst, "Nasser's been the primary architect of a failed transformation of Ford from its core automotive heritage to some expansive consumer-centric organization, which we think employees, dealers, suppliers and investors have found to varying degrees to be somewhat incomprehensible".
His later tenure as CEO was tainted by the Firestone and Ford tire controversy. In September 2000, after initially trying to avoid appearing, Nasser fronted a US Congressional sub-committee over the recall of Firestone tires fitted to Ford's sports utility vehicles. The tires were estimated to have caused between 130 and 200 deaths through disintegration, and Ford is suspected to have known about problems well before the recall was issued. Firestone blamed the problems on the Ford Explorer SUV, though Ford denied the accusation The scandal was estimated to have cost Ford around A$4.4 billion with share prices and quarterly results also falling sharply shortly before Nasser left the company.
Jacques Nasser was also the architect of the very controversial "Performance Management Process" evaluation system which ranked employee performance. The evaluation system mandated that 5% of senior managers be given the lowest of three grades each year. Those who didn't improve after 2 years could be demoted or fired. The controversy began when Nasser informed shareholders on May 13, 1999, that they could “expect to see accelerated change” in the “diversity of our employees.” That change was implemented very quickly. Nasser stated in a videotaped address to top executives that he did not like the "sea of white faces in the audience, and that (the) Ford Motor Company must ensure that in the future, the company reflects the broad spectrum of Ford’s customers. Numerous class-action lawsuits were filed against Ford accusing them of using the system to weed out employees on biases of skin color, age and gender – not because of job performance. One of the suits accused Ford of systematically forcing out white males to satisfy minority quotas. Nasser vigorously defended the ranking system stating that it "inspired the best performance of everyone on the management team." The flawed evaluation system cost the Ford Motor Company tens of millions of dollars when the lawsuits were finally settled. Together, the suits represented one of the largest and potentially costliest white-collar civil actions against a major company in U.S. history and it cost Jacques Nasser his job. Nasser submitted his resignation in October 2001, however some sources report he was dumped by Ford. Despite this Nasser received a US$17 million golden handshake when he left.
When people start talking about how diversity needs to be enforced, well, maybe you get the idea. It took almost a decade for Ford to recover, even Bill Ford Jr. couldn't get it done.
I didn't know you could be LGBTQ all at once. Sounds like hard work.
What does Q stand for? Quirky? And T? Transvestite? Transgendered? Transatlantic? Transmutable?
What I want to know is what does it matter how may black execs Apple has?
How do you know 1/2 of the folks Apple employs aren't QTBGL?
Apple is an extraordinarily innovative and forward-looking company, so lets see it in the makeup of their workforce too!
BINGO, let's force everyone to declare. That should cure everything, cause certainly only the best are hired... right?
At least his Downward Spiral album was good - now let's just hope the name Beats disappear from the Apple universe.
Apple should hire people based on qualifications period. I highly doubt Apple is turning away highly qualified people because of their skin color.
And what the heck does "LGBTQ" mean? Perhaps Intel should use that acronym as one of its future stupid chipset codenames.
What an idyllic (if boring and small minded) world you must live in! Do you really think Apple leaves the best talent un-hired because they are excessively diverse?
Likewise. How about just pay attention to the top complaints about iTunes and solve those first.
are you their line manager? if not, how could you possibly know they are or infer he isn't?
faulty web app on ipad.
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0.997919 |
A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. Do you imagine that sloth will afford you more comfort than labor? - Benjamin Franklin.
Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears, while the used key is always bright. - Benjamin Franklin.
The end of labor is to gain leisure. – Aristotle.
Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease. Many without labor would live by their wits only, but they break for want of stock. Whereas industry gives comfort, and plenty, and respect. - Benjamin Franklin.
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0.999998 |
Context: The Cobb Galleria was designed as a "specialty mall", where half the building is mall space, and there's an entrance to the convention center where the anchor store would be. Because the con more or less takes over the now-empty mall space as well as the convention center & hotel, it's easy to expect lots of connecting points between these areas. Well, there aren't many, it's really just the escalators & elevators in the food court. So of COURSE one of the escalators broke after one day.
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0.965216 |
Reference equality acts as a built-in, hard-coded comparison of the references themselves, while value equality compares equality according to a user-defined implementation.
Is it possible to come up with a re-interpretation of reference equality that retains the existing behavior of reference types, but adds reasonable behavior for value types, so that the complexity of having multiple, different comparison operations can be reduced?
Yes! There is a very useful reinterpretation of reference equality that addresses the mentioned issues and solves a few other problems along the way.
The core insight is that there are two useful, fundamental ways to compare things: By identity and by equality.
Equality checks whether two things are equal, based on some library-defined definition of equality.
Identity checks whether two things are identical, based on a built-in definition of identity.
What is an identity comparison?
reference types compare the bits of the reference itself.
value types compare the bits of themselves, e. g. the bits of an Int, a Double, or a Complex value.
This means that an instance of a reference type is only identical to another instance if they are the same reference, and an instance of a value types is only identical to another instance if their values match up exactly.
Having one operation, which is well-defined on both value types and reference types, considerably simplify things in generic contexts.
How do equality and identity comparisons work?
Compared to the rather complicated, indirect approaches shown earlier, introducing the concept of identity and equality works out beautifully: It reduces complexity and avoids unnecessary boxing.
Languages should provide two, distinct operations that implement equality comparisons and identity comparisons across all types.
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0.989813 |
Your child comes home from school with an assignment that stresses you out. He has to make a diorama from a shoebox that depicts a rain forest. It may sound difficult, but it doesn't have to be. A simple but fun and creative diorama can be made with just a few purchased items from the craft store and a little bit of time and patience. Make it fun and talk about the animals of the rain forest with your child.
Create the sky and the water first. Cut some blue construction paper to make the sky and tape it into the top part of the shoebox. Glue cotton balls onto the blue paper to make it look more like a sky. For the water, use a darker shade of blue paper and glue it into the bottom half of the shoebox. To create a water effect, lay down a sheet of shiny plastic wrap in the bottom of the diorama. Make your water as big as you like, but leave some room for animals and vegetation. Blue plastic wrap can be purchased or you can use clear.
Add trees. These can be plastic trees or you can make trees from construction paper. Put in a lot of trees surrounding the water. Rain forests are lush, dense environments full of plant and tree life. Some trees grow fruit, such as coconuts and bananas. Have your child make some of these fruits out of the appropriately colored construction paper and tape them onto the trees. Trees can be different sizes, but most of the trees in the rain forest are tall.
Put in the animals. Purchase plastic animals at a craft or hobby shop, but if the animals you want aren't represented, make them out of construction paper and glue them in. If you can glue in your plastic animals, do that. If not, set them carefully in the diorama or tape them in if that can be done. Some examples of animals that inhabit the rain forest are toucans, butterflies, snakes, tigers, monkeys, sloths, iguanas, frogs and alligators. Place animals at different levels of the diorama, such as birds in the sky, sloths hanging from trees and crocodiles next to water. This is how a real rain forest works.
Jazz up the diorama if you like. Dot some glue on to your trees or ground and sprinkle turf shaker onto them to create a more lifelike look to the leaves. Add white glitter to clouds or blue glitter to the water or sky.
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0.941235 |
What is heartburn? As previously discussed lowering stomach acid is not usually a good idea. Too much acid is usually not the cause of heartburn. One common cause is a weakness of the lower esophageal sphincter. A sphincter is like a gate, and in this case it is the gate between the stomach and the esophagus. This sphincter is designed to keep the stomach acid out of the esophagus. If the acid does manage to get up into the esophagus it causes irritation and a burning eroding pain. The #1 reason for a weak sphincter is excess abdominal fat (a big belly). A hiatal hernia can also cause problems with this sphincter. Many times lowering the acid in the stomach by introducing betaine HCl will actually make this lower sphincter work better.
Alternative holistic treatment for these conditions including H.pylori and GERD include improving the immune system. Poor diets and increased exposure to toxins are the primary reason for gastric infections and reflux. Poor diets are high in refined sugars and refined flour. Too much yeast and acid foods are also implicated. Fried and oily foods are also to be avoided. Maintaining a normal optimum pH in the stomach which is acidic is vital. When the stomach acid is too high supplementing with hydrochloric acid is indicated. This is called betaine HCl. I sell a vegetarian version derived from beets which is kosher and very effective. Unless the stomach walls are ulcerated HCl works wonders in most cases.
There is an herb from the Mediterranean region that has been used for many years for the treatment of stomach issues such as H. pylori and “heart burn”. It is mastic or mastic gum. Numerous published studies have shown the effectiveness of mastic in killing H. pylori and healing duodenal ulcers. There are rarely any side effects of mastic use, unlike the drugs mainstream medicine prescribes. Other uses of mastic include inhibiting candida-yeast overgrowth. Other possible natural and inexpensive recommendations are optimizing zinc levels, using L-carnosine, drinking cranberry juice regularly (unsweetened), and using a good probiotic (good bacteria).
Other natural healing recommendations include avoiding alcohol drinks, spicy foods, acidic foods such as tomatoes and pineapple, citrus foods, chocolate, caffeine and fried foods. Avoidance of refined foods such as white breads and cakes/cookies as well as sugar is vital. Cigarette smoking is also to be avoided. Obesity (weighing over 30 pounds your normal weight) and overeating are also causes of GERD and stomach symptoms. Dehydration is another common cause of GERD; so drinking adequate amount of water is essential; about 8 cups a day.
Doctors such as chiropractors who are trained in manipulation have a technique of adjusting the gastroesophageal junction and the thoracic vertebrae which helps in both GERD and hiatal hernia.
Finding and eliminating food allergies is also highly recommended. Testing for gluten sensitivity or celiac disease is important.
To sum up the 3 articles on the subject of stomach acid, GERD, “heart burn” etc. I would like to stress that long-term use of acid-blockers and antacids will result in poor health. There will be vitamin and mineral deficiencies, weakened digestive system, and even cancers of the digestive system. Our Creator made us with a stomach that produces and needs strong acid. As Dr. Brownstein, M.D., says over and over again “remember, you can’t poison a crucial enzyme or block an important receptor for the long-term and expect a good result.” Stomach acid is there for a good reason – to digest our foods (especially proteins.) We should work to maintain the proper amount of stomach acid, not inhibit it!
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0.999997 |
Who was considered for Almost Famous?
Christina Applegate was considered to play Penny Lane.
Jack Black tried out for the supporting role of Lester Bangs.
Selma Blair was considered for the role of Penny Lane.
Director Cameron Crowe wanted Julie Bowen for the role of Penny, but she declined.
Lara Flynn Boyle screen tested for the role of Penny.
Was considered for a role.
Brooke Burns auditioned to play Penny.
Saffron Burrows was considered for the role of Penny Lane.
Neve Campbell auditioned to play Penny.
Toni Collette turned down the role of Penny Lane.
Jennifer Connelly was considered for the role of Penny Lane.
The striking Spanish actress who drew audiences with her breakthrough performance in OPEN YOUR EYES was in contention for the role of Penny Lane.
Claire Danes was a top contender for the role of "Penny Lane".
Cameron Diaz was considered for the role of Penny Lane.
Dunst auditioned for and almost got the role of Penny in Almost Famous.
Eliza Dushku was considered for "Penny".
Jenna Elfman auditioned to play Penny.
Jon Favreau auditioned for the role of Lester Bangs.
Anna Friel auditioned to play "Penny Lane".
Jennie Garth was considered for the role of Penny Lane.
Maggie Gyllenhaal auditioned to play Penny Lane.
Tested for the role of "Penny Lane", the band leader.
Angie Harmon auditioned to play "Penny Lane".
Met with producers to play the role of Penny Lane.
Screen tested for Cameron Crowe for the role of Penny Lane.
Natasha Henstridge was considered for the role of "Penny".
Kate Hudson was originally supposed to play William's sister, Anita, but was given the role of Penny Lane when Sarah Polley dropped out.
Milla Jovovich was considered for the role of Penny Lane.
Screen tested for the role of Penny for Cameron Crowe.
Rose McGowan auditioned to play Penny Lane.
Bridget Moynahan auditioned for Cameron Crowe to play "Penny".
Tested for the role of Penny Lane.
Thandie Newton was considered for the role of Penny Lane.
Gwyneth Paltrow was considered for the role of Penny Lane.
The role of Russell was originally written for Brad Pitt who dropped out saying "I just don't get it enough to do it."
Had accepted the part of Penny but dropped out to do another film.
According to director Cameron Crowe, Portman auditioned for the part of Penny.
Franka Potente was considered for the role of Penny Lane.
Christina Ricci auditioned to play "Penny Lane".
Rebecca Romijn wanted to play the lead.
Winona Ryder was considered to play Penny Lane.
Was a top contender for the role of Penny Lane.
Tested for the role of "Penny Lane".
One of many actresses who lobbied for the role of Penny... and lost it.
Tori Spelling was considered for the role of Penny Lane.
Was one of the top choices to play "Penny" by Cameron Crowe.
Uma Thurman was considered for the role of Penny Lane.
Liv Tyler was considered to play Penny.
Rachel Weisz was considered for the role of Penny Lane.
Michelle Williams was one of many actresses who tested for Cameron Crowe to play "Penny Lane".
Peta Wilson was considered to play Penny Lane.
Elijah Wood wanted the role of Bill.
Catherine Zeta-Jones was considered for the role of Penny Lane.
Note: This Almost Famous trivia and all movie trivia on notstarring.com is submitted and reviewed by movie fans from around the world. We strive to provide reliability in our movie trivia database, and we go to great lengths to try and corroborate entries. Still, by its nature, this type of trivia will always be prone to rumor and funny Hollywood gossip and should be relied upon with appropriate caution. Please help by reporting corrections for this Almost Famous trivia or other movie trivia.
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0.973578 |
With regards to the theme parks, I would concentrate on visiting Future World in Epcot and Disney's Animal Kingdom. Both have a lot of great things to see and places to explore. With regards to places that are often overlook, most guests are in a hurry to get from attraction to attraction and skip by all of the great details. All of the theme parks have a lot of details, but one of my favorite parks for details is Disney's Hollywood Studios. Go slow through the park and try to find and identify all of the Hollywood references. It is a great park to visit for film buffs!
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0.967219 |
In 1993, Behe attended a meeting with other intelligent design advocates at Pajaro Dunes, California. He presented a now key idea for intelligent design called irreducible complexity. By 1996, he had completed his seminal book, Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, in which he introduced irreducible complexity in print. Behe defined it as "a single system composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning." He gave several now-famous examples: the bacterial flagellum, the blood-clotting system, and the immune system.
Behe is a biochemist. His knowledge of the intricacies of biochemical systems led him to his ideas about intelligent design. If there are systems in the cell, or in the body, that are composed of multiple interacting parts, all of which must be present for the system to work, such that there is no function until they are all there, the question arises, How did that system come to be? It is irreducibly complex. It can't evolve one piece at a time and then assemble all at once - hey presto! - with everything in its proper place. It can't build gradually without guidance because it has no function yet. Evolution has no foresight. It doesn't collect parts and store them away for some future use. A non-functional protein will be subject to recurring mutation while it "waits" for other parts to evolve.
The only way for an irreducible, multi-part, well-fitted system to evolve is for it to have multi-functional proteins that can assemble themselves into a new structure, such that the assembly can adapt to a new function gradually. How likely is that? Let's look at the primary test case for Behe's irreducible complexity, the bacterial flagellum.
The flagellum is the means by which the bacterium swims. It consists of a whip-like tail attached to a motor and rod that spin the tail, acting very much like an outboard motor and propeller on a boat. The motor resembles a man-made engine, only it is powered by proton flow rather than gas, with a drive shaft, bushings, stator, and clutch. The parts fit together precisely, and the core parts are essential for function - if one is removed, the whole thing ceases to work. Present-day flagella are composed of 30-50 proteins, depending on the bacterial species. Twenty proteins are part of the core function.
Assembling twenty proteins would take a lot of evolutionary time, one would think. What do Behe's critics say?
Ian Musgrave wrote a piece called "Evolution of the Bacterial Flagellum," published in 2004.1 In it, he claimed there was a path by which the bacterial flagellum might have evolved. The key rhetorical strategy he uses is to identify a sequence of extant organisms that might illustrate an evolutionary pathway, and then declare it to be so. He also uses similarity of function or structure to imply relatedness.
Many evolutionary arguments hinge on that one word, "similarity," or its evolutionary sister, "homology." Homology means having similarity of sequence, structure, or function because of shared ancestry, thereby assuming the thing it is meant to prove.
Some background: There are two different kinds of bacteria: eubacteria and archaebacteria, with flagella that superficially look alike. Both kinds of flagella provide motility but are also involved in secretion. (They have to be, in order to build themselves outside the cell wall.) Notably, these two kinds of flagella are built from different proteins. As Musgrave says, "There is no homology between the flagellar proteins of the eubacteria and archaebacteria." That means there is no shared ancestry between the two kinds of flagella.
That's artful storytelling, rather than fact.
Here he's sneaking in an evolutionary story through the use of the word "homology." All it really means is that there is some similarity in sequence with non-flagellar proteins. But just because two proteins look alike does not mean there is a path between them.
Then comes the sleight of hand. Musgrave draws a parallel between archaebacterial and eubacterial flagellar evolution, based on archaebacteria's putative evolutionary sequence as described above, even though they are unrelated. First, a secretory system arose in eubacteria. Next, an ion pump (which later became the motor protein) improved secretion. Then the primitive flagellar filament arose as part of the protein secretion structure. Gliding/twitching motility came next (arose) and was refined into swimming motility. In his text that word "arose" is used as if these proteins rose up out of the dawn mists fully formed, like Aphrodite.
Memorize this: Just because two proteins look alike does not mean there is a path between them. Just because creatures look like they could be related in a functional series, that does not mean they are so related. Just because an evolutionary biologist says he has a plausible pathway doesn't make it so, either.
I will pass over other controversies involving the other irreducibly complex systems that Behe describes in Darwin's Black Box, and move on. Behe's next book, The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism, was published in 2008. In it, he explores the subject of his postdoctoral work, malaria.
In 2010, Behe published a paper in The Quarterly Review of Biology called "Experimental Evolution, Loss-of-Function Mutations, and the First Rule of Adaptive Evolution."3 Here he summarized years of work by geneticists on numerous bacteria and viruses, and laid out this principle: "Break or blunt any functional coded element whose loss would yield a net fitness gain." In other words, if an evolutionary problem can be solved by reducing or eliminating some genetic function, that is the path most likely to be taken.
I will not disclose the answer, but I can guarantee his answer will challenge - and no doubt aggravate - his critics.
Update: The article above was written in December 2018, long before Behe's book was published. At the time, I had not seen a draft. But the book and subsequent events have confirmed what I said. Michael Behe is not fighting old battles, though his critics want him to do so. Instead he builds on previous work, and advances his argument. And his answer as to what Darwinian evolution can accomplish has indeed aggravated his critics. That was not hard to predict. But neither was Behe's continuing courage. He began by being willing to face opposition - so it is now. Thank goodness some things never change.
Editor's note: A version of this article appears in Salvo 48. It is published here with the permission of Ann Gauger.
Ann Gauger, "A Pretty Sharp Edge," Evolution News (July 28, 2014); "Best of Behe," Evolution News (Nov. 10, 2016); Summers et al., "Diverse mutational pathways converge on saturable chloroquine transport via the malaria parasite's chloroquine resistance transporter," PNAS, (Apr. 29, 2014).
Michael J. Behe, "Experimental evolution, loss-of-function mutations, and 'the first rule of adaptive evolution,'" The Quarterly Review of Biology (December 2010).
Ann Gauger, "Bacteriophages, Budding Yeast, and Behe's Vindication," Evolution News (Nov. 26, 2018).
Indeed! This opened my eyes.
"Change over time" does not have its own will. It is the human will that we see in the nature! Thus the Darwinian evolution to take place needs a god's or a human's will to take effect. A reason for the change!
More Pseudoscience from a discredited fake scientist pushing the secret agenda of returning the world to a dark age.
ID relies on lies, deceit and legal abuse to destroy modern science and replace it with bible studies and the suppression of human advancement. The end goal of this dark cult is re introduce the dark age concepts of feudalism, human slavery mixed with objectivism and the stunning belief that compassion and good will are evil concepts.
Intelligent design and those who believe in it are pure evil and must be resisted at all costs.
I read the link you provided and there’s nothing in that about interrupting scientific advancement and replacing it with bible studies or anything about the stuff you brought up. Far from being something that’ll reintroduce human slavery, which religious people helped abolish because of the principles of goodwill and compassion taught, ID could potentially free up all sorts of new understandings and realms of research because scientists won’t be limited to ideas that MUST ignore anything that isn’t physical in nature. So, good times!
ID relies on lies, deceit and legal abuse to destroy modern science and replace it with bible studies and the suppression of human advancement.
Not so. Actually, the concept of Irreducible Complexity that Behe proposes is very scientific. The Darwinists are the ones that are book burning by misrepresenting Behe's work in their Kangaroo court, ironically. They are the holding on to a dogma.
The film is a worthwhile watch also.
Boottosser6000 Your trolling is getting more ridiculous with every new comment. This time I could just laugh.
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0.999967 |
We provide evidence-based, straightforward information to help people better understand the risks and benefits of the medicines they are taking or may be prescribed. In this way, patients can take a more active role in their health care in order to preserve the quality of their life.
Biological products include a wide range of products such as vaccines, blood and blood components, allergenics, somatic cells, gene therapy, tissues, and recombinant therapeutic proteins. Biologics can be composed of sugars, proteins, or nucleic acids or complex combinations of these substances, or may be living entities such as cells and tissues. Biologics are isolated from a variety of natural sources - human, animal, or microorganism - and may be produced by biotechnology methods and other cutting-edge technologies. Gene-based and cellular biologics, for example, often are at the forefront of biomedical research, and may be used to treat a variety of medical conditions for which no other treatments are available.
How do biological products differ from conventional drugs?
In contrast to most drugs that are chemically synthesized and their structure is known, most biologics are complex mixtures that are not easily identified or characterized. Biological products, including those manufactured by biotechnology, tend to be heat sensitive and susceptible to microbial contamination. Therefore, it is necessary to use aseptic principles from initial manufacturing steps, which is also in contrast to most conventional drugs.
Biological products often represent the cutting-edge of biomedical research and, in time, may offer the most effective means to treat a variety of medical illnesses and conditions that presently have no other treatments available.
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0.951435 |
Billionaire businesswoman Oprah Winfrey has revealed she has felt less stress and anxiety as she's aged.
Oprah Winfrey has felt less stress and anxiety as she's aged.
The 63-year-old media mogul has been known for her calm, considered approach to life, but Oprah admits it has taken her a long time to find such tranquility in her outlook.
She explained: ''The reason why you're always stressed is because you want this moment to be something that it's not.
Despite this, Oprah freely admitted it has taken her years to reach her current frame of mind.
She confessed that numerous factors have contributed to her contentment.
Speaking to 'Entertainment Tonight', Oprah shared: ''It is a process. It is not just one thing.
''You don't wake up one morning and you suddenly have it all together, but you are paying attention to your life.
Oprah has enjoyed incredible success as a TV star, actress and businesswoman - but she doesn't envision herself moving into the political sphere anytime soon.
The billionaire admitted that her personal qualities weren't suited to her making the transition into the world of politics.
Oprah explained: ''That is just not going to happen. My strength is bringing people together, and my strength is connecting people to ideas.
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0.933306 |
Brighton is currently on the 17 place in the Premier League table. Last game played with Cardiff, which ended with result: Win Cardiff 0:2.Players Brighton in all leagues with the highest number of goals: Glenn Murray 13 goals, Shane Duffy 5 goals, Florin Andone 5 goals, Anthony Knockaert 4 goals, Pascal Gross 4 goals, Jurgen Locadia 4 goals, Solly March 2 goals, Lewis Dunk 2 goals, Yves Bissouma 2 goals, Tommer Hemed 2 goals.
Streaks for for all matches played in Premier League is undefeated from 5 matches in a row.
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0.999971 |
Is an IRA the Same as a 401K?
401k plans and individual retirement accounts both offer tax-preferred savings for retirement, and have similar rules concerning contributions and withdrawals. The two plans differ in several ways, however, the largest being that a 410k plan is sponsored by an employer for employees, while an IRA is set up by individuals.
In their traditional forms, 401k plans and IRAs allow savers to deposit money and defer paying taxes on those contributions and their earnings until the money is withdrawn after age 59 1/2. 401k plans are set up by an employer on behalf of employees. Employees can defer part of their pay, pretax, and employers can contribute to the plan as well. IRAs are set up by individuals who make deposits and take a tax deduction for them.
There are limits to the amount of contributions you can deposit to both a 401k plan and an IRA, although they are very different. In 2011, employees under age 55 can defer up to $16,500 of their wages into a 401k plan, and add $5,500 if they are over 55. Employers can add matching or other contributions as well. IRA contribution limits are much lower: $5,000 for those under 55 with an additional $1,000 for those older. The entire value of an employee 401k contribution is not taxed until withdrawal, while the total amount of your IRA contribution that you can deduct may be limited if you participate in both a 401k and an IRA, or if your income is above certain levels.
In general, distributions from either plan will incur a tax penalty if you withdraw them before age 59 1/2. There are some exceptions to this rule -- if you rollover the withdrawal to another qualified plan, a 401k or IRA, or if you become disabled, have a medical hardship, or take periodic payments for no less than five years. Some 401k plans allow participants to withdraw funds, with a penalty, if they have a financial hardship or are purchasing a home; some plans also allow participants to take loans. IRA owners may withdraw funds for a first time home purchase or qualified educational expenses without incurring a penalty. You cannot take a loan from an IRA. For traditional IRAs and 401k plans, you must begin taking distributions by age 79 1/2.
IRAs and some 401k plans may be set up as Roth plans. For these plans, contributions are taxed in the year of deposit, but earnings are never taxed, provided they are withdrawn by the Roth IRA and 401k rules. These withdrawal rules are essentially the same as those for traditional plans, but do not have a required distribution date during the owner's lifetime.
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0.999789 |
Are you considering using tile for your home improvement project? If so, where do you begin? There is an enormous variety of styles, colors, types, and price points to choose from. First of all consider what the tile will be used for. For example, floor tiles need to be durable and slip resistant, while wall tiles don't. Relatively hard tiles that rate at least 6 or 7 on the Mohs scale (a 1-to-10 scale used by tile manufacturers to indicate the hardness or softness of a tile) and that have a textured or matte glaze are the best for floors. For the bath or shower walls, ease of cleaning is an important consideration. It is best to use tiles with a shiny glaze for walls so hardness is less of an issue.
What you might do is to take a few samples home that you are considering using and kind of take them for a test drive in the areas that you plan on using them. That way you can check out scratching, reaction to soap and water spots, scuffing, cleaning ease in the area you are planning to use them. Slate has a rich, organic look and is available in a variety of colors and surface finishes. Some slate has a rougher texture that provides good traction for floors and walls, but because slate is soft and somewhat porous, it needs to be sealed and properly maintained to prevent staining. Marble is a beautiful and popular bathroom finish material, but is generally also the most susceptible to staining among the natural stones. Highly polished marbles are most vulnerable, and like most stones, marble needs to be sealed with a penetrating silicone sealer that is maintained regularly.
Natural stones like granite, soapstone, and slate are popular finish materials for bathrooms because of their natural beauty and durability. Stone is available in both highly polished and matte finishes. Then, of course, there is ceramic and porcelain tile, one of the most widely used tiles for the bathroom. It is available in a variety of finishes including matte, glossy, textured and natural. There is a wide range of prices.
Cost can run from as little as 35 cents apiece while the fancier handmade specialy tiles can range from $10 to $150 each. There is a huge range of edging options, and comes in sizes from 1"x 1" up to 24" x 24" and from thickness of 1/4" to 3/8".
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