Split (1)

train · 2.59M rows

text stringlengths 12 61.1k
"High Water" signs were posted for both eastbound and westbound traffic on 23rd Avenue throughout the afternoon.
Although the plant was shut down temporarily, Hutchinson's water supply was unaffected. "Basically, we're relying on water that is in storage right now," Koci said. "There is water in the system; we're just not pumping new water in right now."
Brief Description: One of the original developers of the Unified Modeling Language; inventor of the term "Object Oriented."
Grady Booch is an IBM Fellow who has served as architect and architectural mentor for numerous complex software-intensive systems around the world in just about every domain imaginable.
He is the author of six best-selling books and has published several hundred articles on software engineering, including papers published in the early '80s that originated the term and practice of object-oriented design.
As one of the planet's only inhabitants who lists, as his three main obsessions "software architecture, software engineering, and Renaissance Jazz," Booch maintains an endlessly fascinating blog.
"Java is not the last language - although it may be Scott McNealy's last language."
A painting by Leonardo de Mango showing the stoning of Assyrian Christian women from the town of Sa'irt—now Siirt, Turkey—where thousands of Christians were killed in late 1915.
The Assyrian Christians of northern Iraq are among the people who have been massacred and kidnapped by ISIS militants in recent months. Such accounts are depressingly familiar to anyone who knows the region’s history. In fact, this year marks a grim centennial. Besides being the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, it’s the centennial of the year that the Ottoman Turkish regime struck at other Christian minorities whom it suspected of being sympathetic to Russia. The Assyrians call 1915 Sayfo, the Year of the Sword.
Assyrian Christians had very deep roots in the region, and their churches use a Semitic language related to Jesus’ own Aramaic. In late antiquity, believers divided over the Person of Christ. The Monophysite branch evolved to become the modern-day Syrian Orthodox Church. Their Nestorian rivals formed the Church of the East, which remained a flourishing transcontinental institution through the Middle Ages.
By the 20th century, the Assyrian community had declined, split between believers affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church (Chaldeans) and the independent Assyrians. For historical convenience, the Assyrian label is often applied to all the Syriac-speaking denominations, including the Syrian Orthodox. Their combined population in 1914 was around 600,000, concentrated in what is now northern Iraq and the borderlands of modern-day Syria and Turkey.
These people were the targets of the Assyrian genocide. Through direct violence and starvation, the Ottoman regime killed around half that number, some 300,000 people, and some observers put the numbers even higher. Génocidaires also roamed freely in neutral Persia.
One problem with reporting such atrocities is that the stories become endlessly repetitive. Time and again we hear that Ottoman soldiers or Kurdish and Arab paramilitaries entered a village and carried away all the men for slaughter. Women were burned alive, children were bayoneted or drowned. The literature on the Assyrian genocide is appallingly full of such accounts, similar to the horrors visited on the Armenians and later the Jews. We easily become numb.
Even so, the Assyrian story is peculiarly traumatic for anyone who cares about Christian history. Much of the killing occurred in the province of Diyarbakir and in cities like Mardin and Nusaybin—all places that had once boasted a glorious Christian past. Diyarbakir was ancient Amida, a thriving monastic center and a patriarchal seat. Nusaybin was historic Nisibis, which in the seventh century was a metropolitan see with six lesser bishoprics under its control.
Under the name Edessa, the nearby city of Urfa was once a legendary Christian center. Much of Syriac Christian scholarship stems from either Edessa or Nisibis. East of Mardin lies the Tur Abdin plateau, the Mountain of God’s Servants, site of perhaps a hundred monasteries that have collectively been described as the Mount Athos of the East.
The Christian presence was still evident on the eve of the Great War, when the city of Diyarbakir was as much as 40 percent Christian. That world came to a sudden and bloody end. The governor of Diyarbakir was the monstrous Mehmed Reshid Bey, who killed perhaps 150,000 of his subjects, some 95 percent of the province’s Christian population. When asked to explain how a doctor like himself could be so vicious, he had a simple explanation: Armenians and other Christians were dangerous microbes, and it was a doctor’s sworn duty to kill such beings.
Throughout 1915 and 1916, names like Mardin and Diyarbakir featured frequently in letters from foreign diplomats and missionaries, always in the context of reporting mass murder. Modern scholars offer their heartrending catalogs of Assyrian fatalities: 7,000 killed in Nisibis, 7,000 in Urfa, 6,000 in Mardin, 5,000 in Diyarbakir. One of the many religious houses destroyed with all its monks was St. Gabriel, originally founded in 397 on the ruins of a Zoroastrian temple.
The damage was irreparable. To quote scholar David Gaunt, “The Syrian Orthodox Church specified the killing of 90,313 believers, including 154 of its priests and seven bishops, and the destruction of 156 church buildings. The Chaldeans reported the loss of six bishops, 50 priests, and 50,000 of its faithful. The Nestorians were so decimated and dispersed that they never managed to present any detailed figures.” In 1918, Kurdish forces assassinated the Catholicos patriarch of the Church of the East, who claimed to trace his office in direct succession back to the apostles Thomas and Bartholomew.
Assyrians today form a global diaspora, with large concentrations in North America, Western Europe, and Australia. Unless we understand the central role of Sayfo in their thinking, we will not understand why they are so desperately concerned with current threats to surviving Christian communities in Iraq and Syria.
Western Christians seem neither to know nor care about the catastrophe that has unfolded before them in the ancient heartlands of their faith.
A century ago, a period of stunning Christian growth began. Africa's independent churches claim John Chilembwe as a symbol of a new native Christianity, free from its paternalistic and missionary roots.
When the World Missionary Conference gathered in Edinburgh in 1910, it would have taken real optimism to identify Korea as a prospect for major Christian growth. Through the 20th century, though, Christian growth in Korea has been astonishing.
Birds are a fascinating bunch: colourfully diverse, entrancingly vocal, and unrivalled migrators over large swaths of this great planet. Now a huge mural over at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is paying homage to 270 of the world's various feathered species, painted life-size and in brilliant colour.
Done by artist Jane Kim of Ink Dwell, the massive Wall of Birds stretches 100 feet by 40 feet, and took Kim two and a half years to complete. Kim, who originally studied at Rhode Island School of Design, had some experience as a decorative painter. Later on, as she was charting a new career path in science illustration and interning at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the director of the lab suggested that she take on the epic project.
To ensure she was getting accurate colors and a uniform palette, Kim created what she calls her Avian Pantone chart with colors like Finch Feet (a peachy mauve), Albatross Light (a light grayish blue) and Saddle-Billed Stork Legs (dark gray). The most frequent color used was Cassowary Neck, a kind of soft ocean blue. “It’s in every single living bird that is painted on that wall,” she says. The mural also includes extinct species that are painted in a ghostly gray scale.
It is the only mural in the world that showcases all the modern families of birds in one space. The story behind the Wall's creation is now also being told by Kim and her husband and collaborator Thayer Walker in book form, in addition to offering deeper insights into the evolution of birds, and of the process of balancing scientific accuracy with artistic expression.
It's all on the wall: a hugely inspiring work that urges us to not only appreciate the finer details of birds, but to also make the connections between these wondrous forms of life -- and indeed, between all forms of life on earth. To see more, visit Ink Dwell, check out the book, visit the interactive Wall of Birds website and Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Google's John Mueller said this morning on Twitter that if you want your images to rank in Google Image search, it is extremely helpful to Google if you add alt text to your images. The advice itself is not new, it dates back over 10 years ago but this is a nice reminder from a Googler.
Alt text is extremely helpful for Google Images -- if you want your images to rank there. Even if you use lazy-loading, you know which image will be loaded, so get that information in there as early as possible & test what it renders as.
Like I said, this is not new advice but the way John wrote it, it sounds a lot more important than other times. We covered the importance of alt text back in 2017, 2018, and tens years before that, plus many other times. Back in May, Google even updated their image SEO guidelines which talks about the importance of alt text.
HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. — Three missing children from Helena-West Helena have been found, and police said their noncustodial father took them.
Police said Terry Houston, 30, took 8-year-old Xan’Terrian Houston, 7-year-old Xan’Naddy Houston and 4-year-old Xan’Trell Houston from a family member’s home around 6 p.m. Friday.
Police said Terry Houston is from Kankakee, Illinois, and traveled to Arkansas to take the kids. He does not have legal custody.
Saturday night, police said the kids had been found with Terry Houston. They are safe.
Police did not say whether Terry Houston will face charges.
Dell has just announced a refreshed XPS 15 laptop that still features the same gorgeous 15.6-inch 4K Ultra HD InfinityEdge display, and now the new model features refreshed internals.
The new XPS 15 features Intel processors with up to the Core i9 chip this time around, while the maximum internal GPU has been notched up to NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1050 Ti.
Dell includes a bunch of different storage options with a mix of HDDs and SSDs, or pure speed with super-fast M.2 NVMe drives. All in all we have up to 21.5 hours of battery life, Thunderbolt 3 with USB-C charging support, USB-A, HDMI, and an SD card reader.
A proposal to widen a road that slices through Ocala National Forest has been revived by a state agency that just last year promised to leave State Road 40 alone.
A 40-mile stretch of two-lane S.R. 40 is once again being eyed for widening to four lanes from Silver Springs in Marion County to U.S. Highway 17 in Volusia County, Mike Szunyog of the state Department of Transportation told Lake County commissioners Tuesday.
The about-face miffs Lake leaders, who oppose building a four-lane highway through an environmentally sensitive forest teeming with wildlife that is home to the protected Florida black bear.
"It seems that traffic is more important than the environment in which we live," Lake Commission Chairman Bill Good said. "It's a very bad precedent."
Protests from leaders in Lake, Volusia and Marion counties against four lanes on S.R. 40 led the state last year to announce it was shelving plans to widen the road for at least 25 years. Now Lake commissioners contend the state is reneging on that promise.
"This board indicated rather strongly we are not in favor of widening (S.R. 40), particularly in Lake County," Commissioner Richard Swartz said.
Commissioner Rhonda Gerber was more blunt: "We want it off the list" of proposed road projects. Commissioners intend to formally notify DOT of their objections to the project, which isn't yet financed or slated for construction.
The state has resuscitated the proposal because new traffic studies show the number of motorists traveling S.R. 40 is increasing, especially in Marion and Volusia counties, DOT project manager Nancy Connor said. State transportation officials have said a four-lane, east-west highway in the area is crucial for future transportation and commerce needs.
But Lake leaders are worried the widened highway will bring more traffic here.
"It is going to attract traffic from other roads," Swartz said. "If you build it, they will come, and that's why we're not in favor of having it four-laned."
The widened road likely wouldn't benefit Lake, but rather would serve beachgoers flocking to Volusia County's coast or folks traveling to Daytona Beach International Airport, Commissioner Catherine Hanson said.
A national forest isn't any place for a highway, Good says. The forest is one of the last habitats for the Florida black bear, which would have to dodge more cars and trucks zooming down the widened road. Several bears have been killed trying to cross the road.
To determine the project's potential impact on the forest, the state has begun a three-year environmental assessment study, Szunyog said.
Meanwhile, alternatives to widening S.R. 40 - such as building a turn lane instead or widening another east-west route - also will be explored, Connor and Szunyog said.
S.R. 40 wasn't the only road in Ocala National Forest discussed Tuesday by Lake leaders. At the request of 25 Paisley residents, Hanson asked commissioners to support a resolution stating the county won't widen County Road 42 from two to four lanes.
But other commissioners shot down Hanson's proposal, because the county currently doesn't have any plans to widen C.R. 42, which forms the forest's southern boundary.
A festival planned to run parallel with the Olympic sailing in Dorset has closed after dramatically lower than expected visitor numbers.
The Bayside Festival had advertised 17 days of live entertainment, display acts and over 100 retailers and exhibitors on the Esplanade in Weymouth.
A further statement on the festival's website said: ''We regret to confirm that Mainsail Ltd went into administration on Friday, August 3.
''Our priority now is naturally the welfare of our employees, who have worked tirelessly over many months to bring the vision for the Olympics in Weymouth alive.
The festival had attracted around 17,000 fewer visitors in the first three days than had been predicted.
Festival managing director Joe Hall said that at most they were only seeing 3,600 people on the 9,000 people capacity site during the Olympics.
In its statement, the company continued to urge people to head to the town - which is the largest Olympic venue outside of London.
''Please go to Weymouth and see the Olympics for yourselves,'' the statement added.
The main arena had a capacity of 3,000 and was due to host free-to-view activities and demonstrations throughout the day, before switching to concert mode each evening.
The festival had appearances from musicians including Chesney Hawkes and Folk award winners Show of Hands and had promised to be the ''most vibrant and largest open air venue in Weymouth''.
It also featured the history of Royal Yachting Association's Olympic sailing exhibit, MV Balmoral cruises, Natural England's Jurassic coast display, Royal Marines climbing wall and a Team Extreme skate park.
Big screens were also placed around the site to help visitors stay up to date with the news and action from all the Olympic venues.
Mainsail, a specialist marine event management company, was appointed by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council to run the Weymouth Bayside Festival.
The company had more than 12 years of event management experience, gleaned from involvement with Olympic sailing teams, America's Cup, Volvo Ocean Race and the World's largest regatta, Cowes Week.
Weymouth and Portland Borough Council chief executive David Clarke said: ''The borough council is very disappointed for the company behind the Bayside Festival.
''The decision to close this single part of what is on offer in Weymouth at the moment is entirely a matter for the commercial operator of that site.
''People still have 10 days to enjoy a once in a lifetime experience - the Olympics by the sea in Weymouth and Portland.
''Ben Ainslie and the most successful sailing team in Olympic history will be sailing for gold from this weekend and into next week.
''Our free live site on Weymouth's golden sands will be showing all the sailing and other Olympics action and the sports arena on the beach is getting rave reviews from people who are trying their hand at everything from rugby and kayaking to volleyball and sailing on Weymouth Beach.
But employees and stallholders complained about being left out-of-pocket.
Stallholder Molly Charlesworth said: ''Everyone in there has paid for a pitch and lost their deposit - that's obviously our takings.
Andrew Knowles added: ''It has certainly been quieter than anticipated.
The Obama administration’s 2015 fracking rule was never actually implemented, thanks to an ongoing court battle, and it apparently never will be.
The previous fracking rule was already moribund after a federal judge in Wyoming struck it down in June 2016 in response to a four-state lawsuit, holding that the Bureau of Land Management had overstepped its authority by acting without congressional approval.
Under Obama, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had been fighting the lower court ruling every step of the way. The 10th Circuit had given them until January 12th to file their next appeal and keep the case going. But now that the new rules have come out and the regulation under discussion has disappeared, the point is moot and the case has collapsed in upon itself.
That’s a sensible approach since each state already sets their own rules regarding fracking. If the residents of certain states (such as New York, sadly) wish to elect leaders who ban fracking and miss out on that sort of economic opportunity, that’s up to them. As the Trump administration is pointing out, that’s why it’s best left up to the states. Meanwhile, other states such as Pennsylvania are seeing an employment boom and rising personal wealth for people who lease out their land for energy development. And after many years of this, the Keystone State doesn’t seem to have fallen into a black hole.
Meanwhile, on a somewhat related note, do you recall how we finally got the Dakota Access Pipeline approved and finished? You might be wondering how that’s working out for the people of North Dakota. The Wall Street Journal looked into the question (subscription required) and found that things are coming up roses.
In just six months of service, the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline has boosted North Dakota’s economy and energy sector, helping lower transportation costs for energy companies and increase oil production by 78,000 barrels per day in October from September — the biggest-ever monthly rise. As a result, the state had an unemployment rate of 2.3% in November, while revenue climbed by about $43.5 million in the first five months since the pipeline came online.
That’s the result for a pipeline which only occupies space inside the United States. We’re still seeing too many delays on international pipeline work thanks to ongoing court challenges. And do you know what that means for shipping volumes? Environmentalists will probably cheer and tell you that less oil is being moved, but that’s not the case. It just means that more and more of it is moving by train. According to Reuters, Canadian crude-by-rail exports to the United States hit a six-month high of 137,000 barrels per day in October and it’s not slowing down. They’d better hope those trains are smarter than some of our recent passenger rail service lines or they’ll be wishing they had more pipelines in operation.
PRINCE Harry today unveiled a memorial arch and laid a wreath to commemorate the thousands of soldiers who marched through a port town on their way to war, only to never return.
The Prince, wearing No 1 dress of the Blues and Royals, visited Step Short in Folkestone, Kent, today, as part of the First World War centenary celebrations happening across the country.
Step Short is an educational charity which has worked to ensure that all those who passed through the port town on their way to the trenches are remembered.
Harry also took the salute of a military and civilian parade before walking down the Road of Remembrance to meet some of those who will have taken part in the parade.
A spokesman for Step Short said: "Folkestone played an integral part in the Great War as the port of embarkation and return, to and from, the Western Front for millions of men and women."
After the memorial arch was unveiled, both parades made their way along The Leas and down to the harbour.
The military parade was led by the Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas, followed by a group made up of 800 veterans and civilians led by Folkestone Pipes and Drums.
Both groups paused at the arch before continuing down to the harbour.
The spokesman said: "At the top of the Road of Remembrance, members of the parade will be given the 'Step Short' order, just as the servicemen were given during the First World War.
"The order was given to allow them to shorten their stride as they descended the steep slope of Folkestone's Road of Remembrance (then known as Slope Road) on their way to the harbour and a boat to the Western Front.
"Shortening their stride allowed those marching to negotiate the slope safely.
"For many it was their last time on British soil before heading to the battlefields of France and Belgium."
Later today the Prince will go on to join the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Belgium.
This evening they will attend a twilight ceremony at St Symphorien military cemetery near Mons.
Also among the event's 500 guests will be Prime Minister David Cameron, Irish president Michael D Higgins, the King and Queen of Belgium and German president Joachim Gauck.
A bad year will end on a stale note, and there’s not much reason to expect a rebound.
Shares of Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) have collapsed in dramatic fashion as 2018 draws to a close. The stock is down 44% on the year -- with half of those losses occurring in December after the last earnings report -- retracing years of advance and currently sitting at its lowest valuation since 2012.

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.