question stringlengths 14 1.69M | answer stringlengths 1 40.5k | meat_tokens int64 1 8.18k |
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Wages with too few benefits or partly being paid in kind and not in cash, gender discrimination,ethnic discrimination, casual workers remaining permanently casual, workers applying pesticides without protective gear, sexual harassment, bad housing and hampered freedom of association and collective bargaining… These are some of the problems that affect tea workers on estates that have received certification from the sustainability standard system Rainforest Alliance (RA). In response to growing concerns voiced by civil society organisations regarding the precarious working conditions of the millions of tea workers worldwide, multinational tea packers, such as Unilever, who dominates this sector, are increasingly relying on sustainability standard systems, such as Rainforest Alliance, Utz Certified and Fairtrade, which are generally seen as best industry practice. This study wanted to find out whether working conditions on large tea estates that have achieved RA certification and supply Unilever are truly decent. To this end one hundred tea workers were interviewed on a total of eight tea plantation companies, all supplying tea to Unilever. Seven of these plantations are located in India and the remaining plantation concerns Unilevers own tea plantation in Kenya. The problematic working conditions that were found on these estates despite their RA certification indicate that RA does not seem capable of delivering any real guarantees on decent working conditions at least not with regards to the tea plantations sampled for this research. Possible<|fim_middle|> research and by addressing their causes. This might entail being open to working with others on solutions that could include dedicated training and capacity building programmes as well as sectoral or national approaches. | explanations for the apparent disconnect between the theory of RA standard system and the reality on the ground are that the social auditing is not sensitive enough or RA standards not being interpreted strictly enough, or a combination of the two. The study calls for more independentresearch on the impact of standard systems to get a better grip on how they areeffective or not, and why this is so. It also recommends that RA and the companies that areworking with RA should conduct more due diligence by properly investigating the problemareas flagged in this | 102 |
If you have considered chiropractic care you may have heard the term subluxation. This is a term that is rather unique to the chiropractic care field and can sound somewhat intimidating. When considering chiropractic care it is important to understand exactly what is involved in subluxation and how it affects your care.
First; however, prospective patients should understand a few basics regarding how the body works and therefore why subluxation may<|fim_middle|> is usually quick and relatively painless. In no time at all you could be back to enjoying the activities you enjoy. | be necessary to achieve optimal health. The human body is designed with intelligence that transmits information from your brain to every cell in your body. This information includes instructions regarding vital functions such as breathing, regulation of your heart rate, digestion, etc. As long as there are no problems the instructions are received and followed exactly as they should be. Your body is able to maintain peak health. If there is interference in the transmission of the instructions; however, there is naturally going to be resulting poor health. Because your body is no longer able to receive those necessary instructions it is no longer able to function normally.
The instructions are actually electrical impulses that travel along a rather complex route consisting of nerve fibers. The spinal cord is included in this system, extending from the base of the skull all the way to the center of the back. The spinal column, or backbone, protects this tunnel. Inside the tunnel, small bones that interlock are located; which are known as vertebrae. Spaces exist between the bones which allow nerves to branch off and travel to different parts of the body. The spinal column is quite strong; strong enough to protect the nerves from possible injury; however, it is also flexible enough to allow for free movement.
Throughout your body, there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 bones. The bones come together in various places to form a joint that allows for movement. Subluxation may occur in this area. This can be a change in the natural movement or position of the bones. When this occurs, there is interference of the nerve signals that transmit vital information to and from your brain.
Subluxation in the vertebrae can be caused by significant amounts of physical stress or chemical stress. These stressors might include accidents, falls, sports injuries, pollutants and even emotional stress. Basically, anything that causes the muscular system to tighten and experience strain can result in subluxation. In some cases, the problem could result even from a long car or airplane ride.
This is where the chiropractor comes in. It is his or her job to detect subluxations and correct them. Subluxation corrections are achieved through spinal adjustments. A chiropractor may utilize a wide variety of adjusting techniques to restore the joint to its normal position. This will allow the nerve flow to return to normal activity, transmitting those vital instructions. Some of the benefits of chiropractic adjustment include increased range of motion, improved body function and decreased pain.
While the term subluxation may sound complex and frightening, rest assured that chiropractors are highly trained in both locating and correcting subluxations. After the subluxation has been corrected and joints have been restored to their normal function you can feel free of the stress that resulted in the problem. In addition, you will be better able to enjoy a more improved quality of life.
If you have noticed that you are not able to move as freely as you once could, it may be time to speak to a chiropractor about a possible spinal adjustment. The exam | 604 |
Think the economy's bad now? Wait until 2012
Greg Ip 9:40 AM on October 25, 2010<|fim_middle|> Obama's fiscal record and promise a determined assault on the debt. Obama will respond by blaming George W. Bush and promising to unveil his own plan once he's reelected. Neither will commit political suicide by specifying which taxes they'll raise or which entitlements they'll cut.
Will investors trust them, or will they start to worry that the endgame is either inflation or default, two tried-and-true ways other countries have escaped their debts? If it's the latter, we'll face a vicious circle of rising interest rates and budget deficits, squeezing the economy and potentially forcing abrupt and painful austerity measures.
Read More From Greg Ip |
Economic crises have a habit of erupting just when politicians face the voters. The reason is simple: They are born of long-festering problems such as lax lending, excessive deficits or an overvalued currency, and these are precisely the sort of problems that politicians try to ignore, hide or even double down on during campaign season, hoping to delay the reckoning until after the polls close or a new government takes office. Perversely, this only worsens the underlying imbalances, making the mess worse and the cost to the economy — in lost income and jobs — much higher…
For now, there's enough risk of Japanese-style stagnation and deflation that U.S. interest rates could remain very low for a while yet. But if that risk fades, investors in U.S. Treasury bonds will want to know how we'll get our deficits and debt under control — and could demand higher interest rates to compensate for the uncertainty. By then, though, the 2012 campaign may be upon us. The Republican nominee will assail | 212 |
Web Applications: We develop bespoke web based business systems. These might run internal to your organisation, external (i.e. available over the web) or both. A web application being distinct from a website in that a web application uses a browser and associated web technology as an interface to a business system running behind the scenes. This is a very fuzzy distinction and we don't usually worry too much about what it's called rather we worry about it doing what you want.
Bespoke business software might be of interest to you if your current systems and staff are stretched to the limit. For example if you're using a large number of spreadsheets to manage your data then chances are that switching to a bespoke solution will save you time and<|fim_middle|> a common task e.g. generating invoices, generating client documentation, handling lots of client application forms then chances are that a bespoke solution will save you time and money.
Websites: We develop web sites. These come in 2 flavours, a static site which remains unchanging for the most part. And CMS sites where we provide the ability for you, the client, to maintain your site.
Windows Applications: We develop windows applications in .net.
Contract Programming: We can provide contract programmers on request.
Web Hosting: We can assist with web hosting. Depending on the circumstances we will either use our own servers or recommend a hosting company.
We are proficient in the following skill areas.
We are committed that you get an excellent solution which meets your needs.
We are committed that the process of obtaining the solution is one of ease.
We are committed to dealing with you from openness, clarity, integrity and a bit of fun if time allows.
We love what we do and we know you will too. | money. If you are manually duplicating | 8 |
Robert C. Kruger on December 31, 2018 of Port Jefferson Station, LI. Beloved husband of Debra. Loving father of Jason and Staci Matway. Cherished grandfather of Jenna, Ryan, Julianna and Lexi. Adored brother of Diane Muranyi (Late Al), Don Kruger (Lorraine) ,Richard Kruger and brother-in-law of Nancy Kasick (Greg). Dear uncle of Paige Kasick, Brian, Mark, Alexis, Sherry, Susie and Dylan. Arrangements entrusted to O.B. Davis Funeral Homes, 4839 Nesconset Highway, Port Jefferson Station, LI. Religious service on Friday, January 4th at 11<|fim_middle|> more than an ice cream truck in the summer, I came to understand he was a lot like my memories of those visits: dependable, joyous, and unforgettable.
May those strangers on the other end of life love and cherish him too. My condolences.
Bob was a wonderful & kind person. Mike , my children & I just loved him. He was a great & loyal friend. We will miss him always. The world has lost a terrific person. | :45 AM. Military Honors and Interment to follow at Calverton National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
When I tried to find a way to best describe Bob as a person to someone who hadn't had the joys of knowing him, what came out really felt like the best way I could sum up his character: "I always assumed that if we ever found out Santa Claus had actually been someone we knew in real life, it would have been him."
I can't remember or imagine him ever not smiling. His cheer and generosity were larger than life, he lit up any room he entered, and he gave excellently crushing hugs no matter how old you were. Some of my favorite summer memories were the inevitable end of the season when he would start unloading those blank cardboard boxes full of ice cream bars onto the window ledge of his truck with "I've got" and "here have some more" until one of our parents had to tell him that was all we could fit in our freezer. One of the first songs I learned on piano was because it was the one he played on his truck, and that and his voice were really the makings of the season. Even outside of the truck he always felt like the kind of person who should have had their own jingle when he came around. He was just the kind of person that music should follow. He was loving and exuberant and fun.
I'm over thirty now, and Bob is still the first person I think of whenever warm weather approaches. I think of Bob and I think of animated music and sunshine, not because of what he did but because of who he was. He was just that kind of person.
My memories of my formative summers are of Bob circling the block selling chocolate chip cookie sandwiches. As if by magic, without fail, he would appear at our annual pool party. It wasn't until I got older that what had been magic became more magical than magic. Bob was that kind of person who'd stop by the house and offer to help my dad with whichever car decided to stop working this time because he was in the neighborhood. He was the kind of person to briefly un-retire in order to take his ice cream truck to our pool party because he enjoyed the trip. And while he was much | 478 |
Awful Trailer for Netflix Comedy 'Father of the Year' with David Spade
"Some people say I'm unstable, and I snap." Netflix has debuted<|fim_middle|> & Nat Faxon), jobs are lost, relationships ruined, futures destroyed, and best friends come of age as they come to grips with who their fathers really are. Father of the Year is directed by American filmmaker Tyler Spindel, a former producer for "Chelsea Lately" who made his feature directorial debut with the film Deported in 2017. The screenplay is written by Brandon Cournoyer and Tyler Spindel. This is produced by Allen Covert and Kevin Grady for Happy Madison. Netflix will release Spindel's Father of the Year streaming exclusively starting July 20th.
Find more posts: Comedy, To Watch, Trailer | the trailer for a comedy titled Father of the Year, one of the latest cringe-worthy Happy Madison productions from Adam Sandler's deal with the streaming studio. Surprise surprise, this one looks just as bad. Father of the Year is about two fathers who get into an epic fight of sorts after their college graduate sons challenge them to a showdown. David Spade and Nat Faxon star as the dads, Joey Bragg and Matt Shively star as their kids, and the also includes Bridgit Mendler, Bill Kottkamp, Dean Winters, and Kevin Nealon. This really looks terrible. If you want to watch a better fight movie, Fist Fight is a good choice. And if you want to watch a much better film about a father, Bobcat Goldthwait's World's Greatest Dad is an underrated gem. Just skip this and move on.
Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Tyler Spindel's Father of the Year, from Netflix's YouTube:
When a drunken debate between two recent college graduates (Joey Bragg & Matt Shively) about whose father would win in a fight is taken seriously by their idiot dads (David Spade | 238 |
FIU's swim/dive teams are honored for academics
Florida International University's swimming and diving team has been recognized by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association (CSCAA) for student-athletes' stellar performance in the classrooms. Combined, the two teams sport a 3.58 GPA and have been named to the Scholar All-America team announced by the league last week.
"The ladies killed it in the classroom this year. They continue to raise the bar and exceed it,<|fim_middle|>0 GPA, while 23 achieved above a 3.5 GPA. Their cumulative Spring semester GPA of 3.62 sets a new program record.
CSCAA Executive Director Greg Earhart noted, "Coach Horner shows that winning titles and achieving academic success go hand-in-hand." | I could not be more proud of how we are getting the job done in the classroom," said head coach Randy Horner.
Coming off another successful season and their fifth-consecutive C-USA title the Panthers have proven their domination in the pool and in the classroom. Of the 32 members on the team, four student-athletes completed the spring semester with a 4. | 77 |
Try Going Back to School for Your Next Meeting
Not everyone walking around college campuses this month is a student, and some won't be leaving at<|fim_middle|> the result of a gift from an alum. It was renovated in 2013 thanks to another gift from the benefactor's daughter and is now a AAA Four Diamond Hotel.
Destination Spotlight – Melbourne, Australia
Unforgettable Events Await with Club Med's Exclusive Collection
Discover Puerto Rico | the end of the day. More universities than ever are including conference hotels on their grounds to accommodate meetings of the mind in academic settings. In fact, a cottage industry of campus hotel management companies has emerged.
Check out some of these properties and the opportunities they represent for creating smarter meetings.
Southern Management Corporation
The Hotel at the University of Maryland opened at the beginning of September and offers 297 guest rooms, four restaurants, a lobby bar, open-air Zen garden terrace and spa. Southern Management Corporation owns and operates the hotel and works in partnership with the university. Ten separate event spaces totaling 43,000 sq. ft. are named for notable figures, including the Wright brothers, who taught the first army pilots how to fly at the world's oldest continuously operating airport (located just around the corner); Harriet Tubman, who was born on Maryland's Eastern Shore; and Muppets creator and UMD graduate Jim Henson. The hotel also boasts a penthouse event space with views of the campus. The company already operates The Hotel at Arundel Preserve near BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, and Bear Creek Mountain Resort & Conference Center in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. "We wanted to spark economic growth along Baltimore Avenue and throughout the town of College Park," explained developer David H. Hillman.
Graduate Hotels
This Chicago-based company runs nine hotels on college campuses—Ann Arbor, Athens, Berkeley, Charlottesville, Lincoln, Madison, Oxford, Richmond and Tempe—and has plans for three new locations—Iowa City, Minneapolis and Seattle—in the next year. Graduate Berkeley (formerly Hotel Durant) was purchased and completely renovated in 2015. It offers 1,836 sq. ft. of meeting space in three areas, including a boardroom, dining room and conference space, popular with banquets. Like Graduate's other campus properties, the decor pulses with local art, academic memorabilia and free Wi-Fi.
LVX Preferred Hotels & Resorts
The Charles Hotel, Harvard Square, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, opened in 1985. The five-star property has welcomed celebrities, scholars, moguls, artists, philanthropists, politicians, opinion-makers and world leaders. Dignitaries making this campus tradition a temporary base include Barbra Streisand, former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton, Ben Affleck and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It includes 18,000 sq. ft. of indoor and outdoor meeting space, 295 guest rooms, the local culinary gem Henrietta's Table, the decadent nightlife of Noir and the world-famous jazz club Regattabar.
Students from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration have been working at The Statler Hotel at the heart of the campus in Ithaca, New York, since it was built in 1950 as an experiment in hotel education. The contemporary-style property includes 153 guest rooms, three restaurants and an Ivy League experience with every visit. Gatherings held in Statler's 16,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, including J. Willard Marriott Executive Education Center and Carrier Ballroom, get high marks from attendees for training a future generation of hospitality experts.
Morris Inn at Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame owns and operates its own hotel and conference center based on the motto "where scholarship and hospitality meet." Notre Dame Conference Center houses 20,000 sq. ft. of meeting space spread out over 12 seminar rooms and a 375-seat auditorium equipped with translation services for as many as 14 different languages all at once. The 150-guest-room Morris Inn was built in 1952 as | 767 |
MARKET WATCH LIST
Aerospace Plastics Industry
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©2016Copyright BECMaterials,LLC.All rights reserved. | global aerospace plastics market size was valued at USD 778.1 million in 2019 and is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period. Recent developments in the manufacturing of fuel-efficient aircrafts are likely to drive the demand for aerospace plastics in the years to come.
Increasing use of environment-friendly and energy saving products is also expected to influence the market growth positively. Growing popularity of aerospace plastics over aluminum and other conventional materials due to their durability, high strength, light weight, and high corrosion and chemical resistance is expected to drive the market in the years to come.
North America is expected to witness above-average growth over the forecast period, both in terms of volume and revenue. This can be attributed to the presence of a large number of aerospace parts manufacturing facilities in U.S.
Reduction in the overall weight directly impacts the efficiency and performance of an aircraft. A reduction of a kilogram in the weight is estimated to nullify substantial operating costs, especially fuel costs, in case of a commercial airplane. Furthermore, growing aviation industry is expected to boost the global demand for aerospace plastics over the coming years.
Aerostructure emerged as the prominent application segment in the market as of 2019. Other key applications of aerospace plastics include equipment, systems & support, cabin interiors, components, propulsion systems, and other aerospace applications. Aircraft frame consists of the maximum amount of carbon fiber reinforced plastics and composites, which make the frame lighter by up to 20% in comparison with the conventional aluminum designs.
Source | 308 |
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How did you learn about the Jim Ryun Running Camp?
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Submit your email below and we will email you a free pdf flyer!
This past summer we turned over a brand new page with the Camp<|fim_middle|>2011 World Champion at 1500m and 2016 Olympic bronze medallist at 1500m) and many other All-Americans.
The cost for camp is $825 per individual, $750 for individuals coming with their teams for every Five athletes from the same team, a coach comes for free. If a coach would like to come wIth less than 5 Athletes the fee is $350. scholarships will also be available.
Do you have a question not covered here? Contact us.
Each day is carefully scripted for maximum impact.
"I just want to reiterate again how much I appreciate the work you are doing. Not just with running but really serving as ministers of the Gospel. It's evident that you pray fervently and the Lord answers with the provisions He has granted to you. The counselors were a blessing. I wish more coaches could experience what I have been able to experience by being there. The only deficiency in your camp is that it's too extraordinary to put into words!! So I know these kids are going to have a tough time articulating what they have experienced. You are a blessing to these young people, and you are certainly a blessing to me!! If I can help in any way with your ministry, please let me know. I would love to see more coaches at the camps observing (and participating!) so they could take not only the training back but the missional philosophy as well. God bless both of you for your great service to His Kingdom!! | s in celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jim Ryun's World Record in the mile with new speakers and a new daily schedule. The week of Camp has been transformative for Camp alums such as Ryan Hall (2008 and 2012 Olympian in the marathon), Jenny Simpson ( | 63 |
Arts & Tourism Prominent Alberta Chefs Dish Out a Unique Indigenous Food Tourism Experience
The Alberta Culinary Tourism Alliance plans to run one cooking weekend inspired by indigenous food each year. Photo: Gabriel Hall
Imagine camping in a tipi under the stars in Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park, adjacent to beautiful Lac La Biche, while feasting on locally farmed, foraged and hunted delicacies, all prepared in traditional First Nations' gastronomic style.
This lakeside experience about 220 kilometres northeast of Edmonton is what was served up to adventurous foodies at the first Cook it Raw Alberta event and the model for a new food tourism culinary camping program in the province.
"My purpose is sharing the knowledge of where we come from and history around food," says Shane Mederic Chartrand, executive chef of Sage at River<|fim_middle|> Alberta and local food tourists. He teaches cooking classes to indigenous youth, and took part in the Cook It Raw Alberta event.
The Cook It Raw series was launched in 2009 and unites top chefs from around the world, so they can collaborate and learn together in different international locations. In 2015, the event made its way to Alberta and the Cook it Raw chefs embarked on a culinary journey to Lac La Biche. Fourteen of the province's top chefs descended upon Birch Island (or as the locals call it, cucumber island due to its shape) to hunt, forage, fish and participate in First Nations' traditions such as a Sweat Lodge and the breakdown of the sacred bison.
Chefs use everything from local wheat berries and faro to freshly caught bison. Photo: Gabriel Hall
Chefs used everything from local wheat berries, faro, rose hips and barley to freshly caught fish and bison. The pilot project resulted in a shared final meal with the people of Beaver Lake Cree Nation.
"We move so fast these days. We don't sit and talk, and share and listen to our own stories. Sharing food is a big part of that," Chartrand says. "We don't celebrate that nearly enough, and food makes those moments so much better; because food is medicine,
it changes who we are."
That Cook It Raw Alberta event was a collaboration between the Native Friendship Centre, Sir Winston Churchill Park and the Alberta Culinary Tourism Tourism Alliance (ACTA). Following the first event, ACTA realized they had a special opportunity to develop a culinary camping experience that would be unique to Alberta.
Two years after the initial collaboration, the culinary camping pilot program was born, featuring Alberta chefs, such Chartrand, Debra Poulin (Twisted Fork in St. Paul) and Bill Alexander (Little Chief Restaurant at Grey Eagle Casino in Calgary). ACTA plans to run one cooking weekend inspired by indigenous food each year, and create a culinary calendar of events that travels around the province.
"As a foodie destination, Alberta is up and coming. We have some wonderful world-class chefs, and we're starting to get some major international attention, in part due to programs like Cook it Raw which brings chefs together to collaborate and meet," says Tannis Baker, executive director of ACTA. "Our chefs are starting to get invited to international events and conferences, and put Alberta on the culinary map." | Cree Resort and Casino in Edmonton. "Each nation across Canada is so different in their history; there's not one type of indigenous food. I'm trying my best to shed light on all indigenous food and its connection to history, spirituality… There's not a whole lot of (recipe) traditions that have been written down."
Chartrand has indigenous Enoch Cree Nation roots, and the culinary tours give him an opportunity to share stories and history with travellers to | 91 |
Weather station consists of anemometer/wind vane for wind measurement, medium-range radio modem for data link, a little bit of electronics to control everything<|fim_middle|> to the receiver stations. Low-power transmitters are used to avoid disturbing HAM radio operators and to save the battery.
Microprocessor board controls everything. It keeps timing and sensor calibration data, takes care about the communication and power management.
Battery keeps the system running at night and in the poor weather conditions. It's large enough to provide about 2-3weeks worth of power without any sunshine.
Solar panel recharges the battery, so you don't have to take down the station every month for battery recharge. There's not enough test data available about the solar panel performance in the winter, but we expect the maintenance-free period of the weather station to be about 2-3years. | and large battery with solar panel to provide enough power. We chose a large battery, which can power the station for a few weeks of extremely bad weather without the sunshine.
Weather station checks the weather (wind speed/direction and temperature) every few minutes a reports the current conditions to the ground receivers. Also it's possible to implement humidity and barometric pressure measurements, but right now we try to keep it simple.
We buy these sensors from another maker. They are made from durable but flexible plastic, and supposed to work well in hot humid climate we have in Japan. The only change we make – replace the cable to the weatherproof thick one with the better and stronger connector.
Inside the box there are three important parts. Wireless data transmitter (1), microprocessor controller board (2) and large battery (3). The box has moisture-proof rubber seal to protect the electronics against the bad weather.
Wireless transmitter works in 430Mhz amateur radio range. It's silent most of the time, however about once a minute it sends a very short data message | 215 |
Kids: Don't trash our homes!
Vista volunteer Jennifer Simpson talks Friday to Devion Williams, 10, about ideas for a poster to stop dumping trash in the Blackmon Road community, while Jacolvin and Keyota Mccor work on their posters. The posters were created during summer camp at A Place for Hope Community Center.
Some young people in the Blackmon Road community have taken the neighborhood's littering problem into their own hands.
The children attending summer camp at A Place for Hope community center will hang signs Monday telling residents and passersby not to throw trash in their neighborhood. They also will pick up garbage and stand on the corner of Blackmon Road and Archer Drive with their homemade signs.
"We're teaching the kids that no matter what you have, you can give back to your community and<|fim_middle|> your community better," said Karen McKernan, executive director of the center.
This is the second year the center has offered summer camp, McKernan said. Throughout the eight-week program, speakers and field trips have helped teach the 18 campers about community activism.
Summer camp at the community center will wrap up Friday. | make | 1 |
Gold Daily Chart: $1<|fim_middle|> in the 2008 top are being setup now, except now it will take much longer and gold will crash along with all other assets, escpecially real estate! Facebook is just a little opening shot, as it is going to get much worse by the end of this year. This time we will get a huge relief rally that could send the gold price soaring $1000 back up to the $1700-$1900 price range. This is a $200 window which could happen by summer 2019. I'm short this market and the bearish forces will be the wind on my back when the $1047 price level gets breached. If your gold stock invesment is not doing what you "hoped", then chances are very good you are on the wrong side of the trade! | 120 Second Last Chance to Turn Into A Raging Gold Bull!
Gold's little rally didn't last to long as it seems gold has resumed its downward trend. From the 2011 peak the pattern I have been working is what I call a diagoanl 5 wave sequence, not a a 5 wave impulse sequence. Zigzags are king in the commodities world and gold is no exception in containing zigzags. Since I need a zigzag in this 5th wave, the choppy wave structure you see is a "triangle" inside a "B" wave correction. This triangle is extremely important as it forces me to have one higher degree position ready, when gold has finished crashing, by later this fall. Gold $1120 leaves only "one" support leg left before it to crumbles in the dust!
Majority of wavers have twisted a bear market rally into a bull market, which is completely wrong, and those bullish wavers are going to cause you to take massive losses. These wavers have never been certified by EWI, and it seems they can turn water into wine as well. The miracle of laying down smoke and mirror BS seems to be a speciality in modern wave analysis.
If you haven't figured it out yet (see the gold crash coming) then gold investors and gold bugs will suffer huge loses, and I won't shed a tear. Most wavers don't even recognize a gold mania bubble has burst back in 2011, they think its just an on going bull market correction. Gold finished a 30 year mania peak which will not get repeated until 2041.
The world is being setup for a massive deflationary crash of Cycle degree magnitude, which will take everything down and crush all rich investors to where they turn into shoeshine boys. I will not shed a single tear over the rich investors that think investing at the peak of a the bigest inflationary bubble of all time. Over and over the news will tell us how investors are suffering huge losses, and it is the main reason I will never become an investor but only a trader.
folks, the exact same setup as | 449 |
SAP discusses Importance of Data in Procurement
DigitalProcurement
digitaltransformation
SAP discusses the importance of data in procurement and what the future could look like for the supply chain industry, following the Covid-19 pandemic
Due to pressures of the pandemic, digital transformation has become an inevitable action to ensure future success for supply chain organisations. SAP, a leading company in the supply chain industry, spoke with Manufacturing Global magazine about the technologies that played a vital role during the pandemic.
Evolution of Industry
The Covid-19 pandemic has provoked many changes across all industries. Supply chain and procurement are two industry sectors where traditional methods have been overwritten by the demand for digital transformation. Procurement practices are now becoming more proactive via the means of data-driven<|fim_middle|> becomes more of a network, as opposed to a traditional, linear model, data will be a driving force for future procurement success.
The latest issue of Procurement magazine
You might also like these articles
How IBM Watson Orchestrate uses AI to automate procurement
Five Best Practices for Successful Procurement in 2021 | intelligence.
Sean Thompson, Executive Vice President, Network and Ecosystem, SAP Procurement Solutions, spoke with Manufacturing Global, about the changes happening in supply chain and procurement, as a result of Covid-19 pressures. "Breaking away from reactivity and focusing on proactivity will be essential in tackling new business challenges in a post-COVID-19 world. Network strategies, and making use of data-driven insights, will be important in avoiding repercussions from future shocks and shifts, replacing linearity with interconnectivity."
Chief Technology Officer, SAP Fieldglass Solutions, Vish Baliga, discusses which technologies will continue to play a vital role for the foreseeable future. "I foresee cloud-based solutions, particularly with regard to external workforce management, playing a vital role in lending businesses the flexibility they need to take steps toward recovery. Just as they always have, contingent labour and services providers deliver the depth of skills and expertise necessary to propel businesses forward."
Importance of Procurement Analytics
Data analytics is a far-reaching asset that is invaluable across all aspects of the supply chain. With developments like predictive analytics becoming widely available and easier to implement, the majority of organisations can understand the value of the technology. It's only a matter of time before it becomes a fundamental resource for all businesses.
According to Baber Farooq, Senior Vice President, Product Strategy, Procurement Solutions, SAP, "digitisation produces massive amounts of data to help procurement professionals make informed decisions that positively impact their organisation's financial outcomes. Utilising this data, procurement professionals can gain insights into how to drive benefits around cost savings, supplier consolidation and purchasing power."
He then went on to discuss the trends in procurement analytics. "With a strong analytic foundation, businesses can get the most out of their digital transformation and truly leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)," said Farooq. "When this data is captured consistently across procurement operations, and ideally across multiple customers, it becomes more accessible and meaningful."
The accessibility of data and ease of using data analytics is becoming more common across supply chains. As it | 418 |
WHY? It's better to have control over how the UI elements look than using browser defaults. You're most likely going to be asked to design them at some point anyways.
Boss: Sohpie,这个文件在哪?怎么给我? Sohpie:我已经放在网盘/共享文件夹了~ Boss:Good Job!
WHY? CSS excels at being easy to adjust positioning. Photoshop's workflow (Open --> Nudge --> Save for Web)? Not so much.
Designers overlook it. Developers demand it. There's<|fim_middle|>, and of course, expert Photoshoppery.
Photoshop tips, tricks and resources, 140 characters at a time: follow @psetiquette and @dblizzy on Twitter.
Have a suggestion for a guideline? A resource? Want Dan to speak at your conference/event or to your team? | always been a need for discernible web design in Photoshop. Nobody likes inheriting muddy PSDs, and Photoshop Etiquette's purpose is to help you improve the clarity of yours. Do so, and you'll have the requisite pride needed to be deemed a "Layer Mayor".
The first version of Photoshop Etiquette launched in early 2011. Creator and curator Dan Rose writes and speaks about design process, workflow efficiency | 87 |
One of the beauties of cruising is the opportunity it affords to visit the world's most scenic cities and islands, sometimes several of them in a single trip.
In the spirit of wanderlust, we've compiled a list of the 22 most beautiful cruise destinations offered on oceangoing ships' itineraries. See how many you've visited, and click the links for more info -- including which ships sail there and the best times to go.
Disclaimer: Viewing these photos might result in an unplanned cruise booking.
One of the best parts of cruising to Kotor is getting there. The Bay of Kotor, oft referred to as a fjord (although it's not), surrounds you with towering mountains all the way to the Old City. Once you set foot on its stone streets, you can gallivant past churches, squares and other buildings dating back to the Middle Ages -- or soak up the view from above, with a 90-minute hike up to the fortress.
Learn more about cruises to Kotor.
White-sand beaches, azure waters and thatched-roof overwater bungalows render this paradise perfect. It's no wonder American author James A. Michener described Bora Bora as the world's most beautiful island.
Learn more about cruises to Bora Bora.
Scotland's Hebrides Islands are proof that fairytales do exist. Perhaps none capture the islands' magical aura and rugged beauty more than Skye. The largest and northernmost of the archipelago's inner isles (closer<|fim_middle|> to offer. If you have time, head to the small, spiritual village of Ubud and follow the footsteps of "Eat, Pray, Love."
Learn more about cruises to Bali.
Aerial views of Rio de Janeiro have been made famous by Christ the Redeemer, a massive statue of Jesus Christ that overlooks the city. The statue, as well as the city's mountainous surroundings and Miami Beach-style shoreline, can be enjoyed from below or above from a cable car or the base of the statue itself.
Learn more about cruises to Rio de Janeiro.
Villefranche-sur-Mer epitomizes the French Riviera's glamourous aura and striking landscape -- only it's significantly smaller than its neighbors Nice and Cannes, which makes it even easier to soak in the scenery. Sip Provencal wines while overlooking the harbor and get lost in Villefranche's colorful old town. You'll see why this port city has been used as a filming location for various movies.
Learn more about cruises to Villefranche.
From afar, Akaroa could pass for an oil painting. Graced by rolling green hills and a shimmering bay, the Colonial village is like a little piece of France that's nestled in a valley surrounded by ancient volcanos.
Learn more about cruises to Akaroa.
Barcelona is one of Europe's most vibrant and beautiful cities, partially because of its architecture. (Antoni Gaudi's work on buildings throughout the Barcelona makes for great photo ops.) Also be sure to check out the buzzing pedestrian boulevard Las Ramblas and the Gothic Quarter.
Learn more about cruises to Barcelona.
From blooming springs to colorful autumns, Quebec City is picture-perfect whichever season you choose to cruise (though fall is hard to beat). Swoon over the Old Town district, filled with French-style cafes, street performers and horse-drawn carriages. You might start to feel like you're in Europe.
Learn more about cruises to Quebec City.
Norwegian fjords are magical. When surrounded by lush snow-capped mountains, waterfalls and little villages, you'll want to keep your camera handy at all times. Whatever the season, you'll find beautiful photos ops everywhere.
Learn more about cruises to Geiranger.
From stone forts along the harbor to historic buildings converted into new restaurants and boutique hotels, Valletta is a relic of the 16th century with modern flair -- and astounding beauty to boot. For more scenic views farther afield, take a boat from Valletta to the Blue Grotto, or bus to Marsaxlokk, where colorful fishing boats and markets abound.
Learn more about cruises to Valletta.
The capital of the United Arab Emirates is a modern architectural marvel, dominating the Persian Gulf. Flashy skyscrapers and five-star resorts along the coast draw eyes from every direction, while more traditionally designed features like the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Grand Mosque offer a breathtaking insight into the country's Islamic roots.
Learn more about cruises to Abu Dhabi.
Coined "Helen of the West Indies" for its two massive volcanic peaks, this Caribbean island creates a sense of awe for visitors with its unspoiled rainforests and idyllic beaches. Hike to enjoy the birdseye views, or snag a day pass to one of the island's lush resorts, where you can soak up the surroundings from an infinity pool with your favorite cocktail in hand.
Learn more about cruises to St. Lucia. | to the mainland), Skye is full of rolling green hills, medieval castles and charming fishing villages such as Portree, shown.
Learn more about cruises to the British Isles.
Unlike many port cities, in which you need to trek at least a few miles outside the terminal to get a true taste of its beauty and culture, San Juan hits you as soon as you get off the ship. Colorful Colonial-style buildings, alfresco cafes and lively little plazas are steps away, making it easy to make the most of a few hours' visit.
Learn more about cruises to San Juan.
Nature meets sophistication in South Africa's thriving capital. Mountains don't just serve as a backdrop; the city is built around them, while the peninsula on which it resides is surrounded by crashing Atlantic Ocean waves.
Learn more about cruises to Cape Town.
With architectural styles that include Romanesque, Byzantine and Moorish, Lisbon is sure to captivate you. The city's eclectic neighborhoods each have something unique to offer, whether it's a picture-perfect pastry shop, castle, or sweeping views of the Tagus River.
Learn more about cruises to Lisbon.
Sailing into Sydney, you'll immediately find yourself in the heart of the city. The iconic harbor, known as Circular Quay, is an exhilarating scene framed by the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The city is also home to an array of beaches (such as Bondi and Manly) and a stone's throw from national parks that offer a taste of Sydney's beautiful outdoors scene.
Learn more about cruises to Sydney.
If any city feels like a dream come true, it's Venice. Shimmering canals dotted with gondolas and bridges meander through the city in lieu of roadways, while picturesque maze-like streets lead you to a cluster of major sites such as Saint Mark's Basilica, Piazza San Marco and the Doge's Palace. It's easy to get lost, but that's the best way to experience Venice.
Learn more about cruises to Venice.
The city where East meets West is full of majestic places to explore and play around with your camera lenses. Istanbul spellbinds visitors with famous landmarks such as its church-turned-mosque (Hagia Sofia) and Grand Bazaar -- and its culture-rich streets are just as alluring.
Learn more about cruises to Istanbul.
Take a step back in time to the Gold Rush days. Skagway is an easily walkable, historic village with roots that have been preserved for more than 100 years. While the downtown area itself, which is backed by white-capped mountains, offers plenty of fun photo ops, many visitors take advantage of a train ride on the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad for unbeatable views.
Learn more about cruises to Skagway.
Take one look at Kauai's dramatic scenery, and you'll know why it has appeared as the backdrop to a number of movies like "Jurassic Park" and "Pirates of the Caribbean." The oldest Hawaiian island is a natural wonder all on its own, with lush rainforests, majestic mountains and abundant white-sand beaches. For the ultimate viewpoint, consider a helicopter ride over the Na Pali coast or hike through Waimea Canyon and Kokee State Park.
Learn more about cruises to Kauai.
Praised more for its natural beauty than beaches, Santorini is full of whitewashed buildings, multi-hued cliffs and charming bougainvillea-lined streets. It also has some of the best views of the Mediterranean Sea.
Learn more about cruises to Santorini.
Although a small island, Bali is a feast for the eyes -- no matter where you are. Secluded beaches, holy temples (such as Pura Besakih, shown) and rice paddies carved into hillsides only trace the surface of what this Southeast Asian country has | 797 |
From time to time, we'll spotlight an area church that has served its community long enough to celebrate a sesquicentennial. In some cases, the church is older than the community where it stands.
Notable moments in church history: Auburn Baptist Church had its beginnings as Sugar Creek Baptist Church. Ten members met in the barn of Louis Richardson until a place of worship could be built in 1851 along the east edge of the Sugar Creek timberline believed to be southeast of present-day Auburn. The current building was erected in<|fim_middle|> members, four claim kinship with George and Jacob Donner of the Donner Party that left from Sangamon County for California in April 1846. Susannah (Donner) Organ (George and Jacob's sister) and three of her 11 children were founders of the Sugar Creek Baptist congregation. | 1871. The name of the church was changed to Auburn Baptist Church in 1884.
Of the original 10 | 30 |
La Guajira, The Carribean Desert
The first question that arose was how I was going to get there. And above all, how the hell I was going to get back. La Guajira is the northernmost province in the country and sparsely populated. After a period of turbulence under the control of the paramilitaries, going to the region has not posed any security problem for several years, but transportation outside the provincial capital Riohacha has become an adventure. "Individually, you will certainly travel for less. But it sometimes takes three or four hours to find someone who wants to take you, "said the friendly employee of the travel agency in Santa Marta, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. "La Guajira is really isolated. And with a guided tour, spontaneous route changes are also possible ". This argument convinces me. The tour lasts three to five days, with a 4x4 Offroader, our small travel group heads north. Shortly after, a first stop at the local supermarket: in addition to the water, the driver and guide Manuel recommend that we buy enough sweets, we would need them later. Somewhat puzzled, we follow his advice.
Entering Warrulapalein
Through the Cactus Forests
The asphalt road ends shortly after Riohacha and in front of us is a seemingly endless plain of pebbles on which we draw a trail of dust. Manuel is a rather taciturn companion, he speaks softly and with weight - unlike the radio, which continuously tones up the vallenato, a kind of Colombian folk music.
The steppe landscape becomes progressively more arid: at the beginning, the many trees and bushes at the edge of the road are less and less numerous and are reduced to shrubs at knee height, we bump on hills and cross salt marshes and crater lakes. With the exception of a few cars crossing our road and rare earthen houses on the side of the road, there are no signs of civilization. My laptop has had no network for hours. Fortunately, the driver knows his way very well: sometimes he follows tracks that are barely recognizable on the ground, sometimes he sneaks with determination through cactus forests and skillfully maneuvers the jeep along banks of perilous sand.
Cactus Forest
From Rescuers to Addicts
Other drivers are less skil<|fim_middle|> huge 4x4 does not take long to pass and we witness the striking spectacle of the two other cars released from the sand under the howling of engines and clouds of dust. With a full smile on his face, Manuel asked us to get back into the car.
In the land of the Wayuu
La Guajira is mainly inhabited by the proud indigenous Wayuu people, which is made up of around 30 large families and lives on agriculture and handicrafts - the famous colorful and crocheted Wayuu bags are omnipresent here. The traditional clothes of women are amazing; they look like wide-cut nightshirts and thus help to better withstand the heat. Outside the urban centers of Riohacha and Uribia, the Wayuu clans live in small villages, largely independent of the Colombian state. By the way, we suddenly understand the purpose of the candies we bought: at regular intervals, ropes are stretched on both sides of the road and the children who run out of the houses demand tolls. Without payment in the form of candy or a little money, it is impossible to progress. It's a little strange. And a sign that tourism is still in its infancy here. There's also the lack of gas stations - because of Venezuela's proximity, everyone here seems to have their private contact to get cheap gas. In many places, it is also sold by canister by the roadside.
Guajira's Beach
The Spartan Idyll by the Sea
A must on every tour of Guajira is Cabo de la Vela: a small fishing village that offers ideal conditions for kitesurfing thanks to the constant wind. By a jump in the crystal clear water, we escape for a short time from the omnipresent and dry heat. Cabo de la Vela is a Spartan idyll by the sea, far from modern sensory overload. The atmosphere fascinates with its simplicity. Like everywhere else in the region, the airy inns are built with cactus, clay and wood hearts and you sleep in oversized and colorful chinchorros, hammocks. The generator stops at 11 p.m. and the gigantic starry sky becomes the only source of light. At the mesmerizing sound of the waves, the chinchorro cradles me gently towards sleep.
Chill out Area!
Golden Dunes and Turquoise Sea
It is the isolation combined with the strong scenic contrasts that make La Guajira so exceptional. Nature is rough and calm. You rarely hear animal voices. The terrain alternates between stony and sandy. Golden yellow dunes rise to the sky and then fall abruptly into the turquoise blue sea. Who would have thought, a desert in the Caribbean!
We stop in hidden oases with dozens of flamingos and swim on deserted beaches with crystal clear waters. Hungry for all these impressions, we stop at an inn, the only one in the middle of nowhere. The menu includes grilled fish, rice and some vegetables. Simple, but fresh and delicious. Fortified, we continue our journey of exploration at the upper end of the continent. In places, the continent ends in ocher cliffs, then again in green bays bordered by mangrove forests. The sea at Punta Gallinas, the most northerly point in South America, is wild and hectic. The waves whip and smash against the rocks of the beach. Here, only a dilapidated lighthouse bears witness to human civilization.
The Golden Dunes
The Shaman's Dream
On another night, I chat with Lorenis, who runs the Rancheria with his family. "Tourists have been coming here regularly for about five years. For us, it is a welcome source of income, there is not much else, "she explains, indicating the hinterland with a wave of the hand. Food and water are also limited when the already scarce rains are lacking, as has been the case in the past two years. And where does the water come from? "We owe it to our shaman. For a long time, we had to transport water from afar, but a few years ago, she dreamed that a source was nearby. The next day, digging in the place in question, the source of water appeared. With Manuel we want to visit this source: and indeed, about ten minutes by car from the Rancheria, a fountain is in the middle of nowhere around which several women fill their jugs. Fascinating. A living example of the spiritual life of the Wayuu, in harmony with the wilderness. On the return journey of several hours to Riohacha, that still lingers in my mind. | ful and we therefore encounter a deeply buried pickup truck whose help we offer to its owner. Apparently it has been blocked for quite some time. "No te preocupes", do not worry, Manuel calms his somewhat nervous compatriot and manipulates a rope while he fixes it to the all-terrain. But unfortunately, the rope breaks in a few fractions of a second. And unfortunately, Manuel's iron chain resists the second attempt, but the pickup does not move and our jeep is also stupidly buried. What to do ? Our guide remains relaxed: "Let's wait for the next car". Our travel group is no longer as relaxed and I too am beginning to accept the idea that we will have to face a painful action of digging up. And yet, we should copy Manuel's composure: indeed, a | 166 |
10th December,2019 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter
Scientists search the wild for food plant genes
Sunday 8 December 2019 - 1:00pm
Naturopath, herbalist and botanist Christophe de Hody holds a purslane during a workshop on edible and medicinal wild plants within an urban setting on August 25, 2017, in Paris.
PARIS - Scientists have been on a global search for the wild relatives of our food crops, hoping to bolster their defences against disease and climate change, a study showed Tuesday.
Humans have domesticated wild plants for some 10,000 years to provide food but in doing so they have bred out many of their natural defences, leaving them -- and us -- potentially exposed.
"We live in an interdependent world. No single country or region harbours all of the diversity that we need," said Chris Cockel, coordinator of the Crop Wild Relatives project at the Kew Gardens Millennium Seed Bank.
"A wild relative of one of these crops, in the Americas, Africa or Asia, cold be the source of say, pest resistance, which can benefit all of us in the future," Cockel said in the report.
The high yields sought by humans have come at the cost of less genetic diversity which typically makes plants more susceptible to pests, diseases and the sort of extreme climatic conditions brought about by global warming and development.
By going back to the original source plants of some 28 foods -- for example, of rice, potatoes, oats, groundnuts -- researchers collected as wide a variety of seeds as possible in 25 countries to fill in the gaps in existing gene banks.
"We are looking to capture as much diversity as possible... populations separated by even a few kilometres may be genetically quite different," said Luigi Guarino, Director of Science with the Crop Trust, a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting crop diversity.
The MSB at Kew Gardens, home to the Royal Botanic Society, has so far distributed nearly 3,300 samples of 165 species as a result of the project.
"Many countries have now realised how important crop wild relatives are -- and what an invaluable source they are for breeders," Cockel said.
The most well-known seed storage project is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault where nearly a million samples are now stored deep within the ice some 1,300 kilometres from the North Pole.
It aims to house a collection of as many seeds as possible as insurance against the loss of other seed banks around the world.
https://www.enca.com/life/scientists-search-wild-food-plant-genes
China's Theft of American Innovation
FBI Commentary
by Diane Upchurch, William Ryan Kennedy and Connor Hagan
Monday, Dec. 9, 2019 12:00 am 1 min read
Whether it is through high-tech means or simply grabbing a handful of proprietary grains, the People's Republic of China has consistently proven that what they lack in creativity and innovation, they make up for in outright theft. https://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/129230/chinas-theft-of-american-innovation-fbi-commentary
Shrew Rats Can Control Earthworms Destroying Cordi's Rice Terraces – OpEd
December 9, 2019 Dr. Michael A. Bengwayan 0 Comments
By Dr. Michael A. Bengwayan
Three rat species, found friendly to rice crops ,were discovered by a group of scientists from the Philippine Rice Institute (PhilRice) as effective control measures against giant earthworms destroying many rice terraces in the Cordillera region of the Phtlippines, partcularly the famed Banaue Rice Terraces
One of the rats, the lowland striped shrew rat (S. Chrotomys mindorensis) is believed the nemesis of the giant earthworm that has long been a problem and has even threatened to wash out one of the world's agriculture landmarks.
The other "friendly" rodent species is the common Philippine forest rat (S. Rattus everetti). As for the other friendly farm rat, the scientists are still doing further taxonomic research to know to which species it belongs.
In an article "The Mysterious Rats of the Banaue Rice Terraces" released recently by PhilRice, it was learned that not all rats are harmful to farm crops, particularly those planted in the Banaue area. The article is part of the mother paper "Rodents and Other Small Mammals in Banaue and Hungduan Rice Terraces, Philippines" by Dr. Ravindra Joshi and other scientists from PhilRice, Australia and local counterparts from Ifugao local government.
The researchers led by Joshi, include Alexander Stuart, a graduate student on wildlife management and conservation from Reading University in the United Kingdom; and Rachel Miller, Youth Ambassador for Development of Australia.
Joshi had been doing research on ecosystem preservation and pest management of the terraces. The most popular of his works was the Banaue rice earthworms.
Stuart, had previous involvements in forest farm ecosystems, including his participation in the project on mammal counts, reception work, mapping of burnt lands, culling and patrolling at the Mkuze Game Reserve, South Africa, besides another project, in connection with his Reading University graduate works, in Gibbon Rehabilitation Center, Thailand .
The team is now trying to determine the habitat distribution of the rat species in Banaue and Hungduan to establish a baseline data that might be useful in evaluating changes in the unique status of the rice terraces' ecosystem.
What prompted the rodent research was the recorded traditional rat-pest problem in the terraces. In an earlier study, Banaue and Hungduan farmers ranked rodents as first among the three most pre-harvest pests of their rice crops, besides the damages this pest had inflicted on local warehouses and households.
The study on a survey of rat species and their behaviors was followed by introducing trapping techniques in farm areas and residential communities, which yielded to capturing six rat species.
The early significant findings in the study included the food preferences of the rats. Stuart had initially found that the lowlands striped shrew rat feeds on insects, snails and the giant earthworms. The common Philippine forest rat eats fruits and wild plants.
Miller started studying the reproductive biology of the pest rats, and to find means to protect or separate the newly discovered friendly rats from the former.
One possible measure is controlling the pest rats without using pesticides. She said: It is important to find out [and understand] the habitat of the 'good rats' [Chrotomys mindorensis] to protect them when the control method is applied.
The researchers were glad they did not find the most notorious rat species, Rattus argentiventer, in the area. It is known as the major rodent pest in the rice-growing systems of mainland Southeast Asia and Indonesian archipelago. This rat species has been noted thriving in Laguna. Mindanao, Mindoro and Negros islands.
"Many believe that some of the good rats are also present in the lowlands, which we doubt, because they are mostly found, according to this study, in farmlands near forest areas," Miller said.
Joshi said this might be because of the unique biodiversity environment on the rice terraces that play hosts to abundant native mammal fauna, with "native species effectively holding back the competitively inferior invaders," apparently referring to the more destructive Rattus argentiventer.
"This is good indication that the rice terraces environment despite its very long history of human activities and interventions, nevertheless remains a relatively healthy one. This finding provides an important benchmark to which future developments can be composed [with]," Josh said.
Earthworms have been blamed as the culprits by Ifugao farmers for the collapse of the rice terraces.
Residents and local farmers in Ifugao believe that earthworms are alien species, intentionally introduced after the 1990s and are therefore the sole reason for the deterioration of the Ifugao Rice Terraces.
The earthworms are either be hermaphroditic, meaning they can reproduce asexually or sexually, where two individuals copulate and produce fertilized eggs enclosed in a cocoon. The giant earthworms are pigmented, local to the rice terraces and thrive in moist soil that are not water-logged. The other kind of earthworm, Pontoscolex, are unpigmented, introduced species, and can live in both dry and water-logged rice paddies.
The earthworms have inhabited Ifugao long before 1990s, but not in the terraces but rather in the muyong — the communal forests within the vicinity of the rice terraces. Because of the deteriorating forests of Ifugao, earthworms found sanctuary in the rice terraces to survive.
Unlike golden kuhol, earthworms are native to the area, and are not introduced from foreign places. In addition, Ifugao farmers' shift from traditional to modern farming is another cause of earthworm infestation in the rice paddies, including the use of pesticides since these decimate the predators of the earthworms.
Other triggers to the collapse of the rice terraces are environmental factors like earthquakes that alter irrigation lines, and climate changes like El Nino and La Nina.
https://www.eurasiareview.com/09122019-shrew-rats-can-control-earthworms-destroying-cordis-rice-terraces-oped/
NZ supporting future agriculture emission science leaders
Monday, 9 December 2019, 11:21 am
Press Release: Ministry For Primary Industries
New Zealand supporting future agriculture emission science leaders through prestigious scholarship programme
Thirty-one early-career scientists from 14 developing countries will each receive research scholarships to boost their scientific capability, with help from a New Zealand government-supported international PhD programme, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said today.
The successful scholarship recipients for 2020 are being announced to coincide with the latest United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid.
The scholarships are being provided by the Climate, Food and Farming Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Development Scholarships programme, or CLIFF-GRADS.
CLIFF-GRADS is a joint initiative between the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) – in which New Zealand has a leading role – and the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) programme of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR).
The CLIFF-GRADS programme forms part of New Zealand's international contribution towards building scientific capability in developing countries. Other funders include the CGIAR Trust Fund donors and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Hayden Montgomery, Special Representative of the GRA who is based at MPI, says CLIFF-GRADS enables early-career scientists to undertake research exchanges of up to six months at institutions and research centres run by GRA members and partners.
"Through CLIFF-GRADS, the successful students will be hosted by 20 research institutions in 15 countries," says Mr Montgomery.
"CLIFF-GRADS is becoming more and more competitive, with applications from nearly 300 students from 42 countries.
"The diversity in both the applicants and host supervisors is also growing, which clearly shows the value people are seeing in the programme towards boosting research expertise internationally."
CLIFF-GRADS gives scientists the opportunity to gain technical skills in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions management, and opens the door to an international network of experts that are working toward reducing greenhouse gases from food production.
"Through CLIFF-GRADS, the scientists will research rumen microbiology, rice production, soil science, rangeland management, and other topics," says Mr Montgomery.
"They'll gain important hands on experience with scientific equipment they would not normally have access to, and form global connections with valuable career-long mentors.
"We'd especially like to acknowledge the support of fellow GRA country members and international partners, particularly CCAFS, for supporting these technical training opportunities for students.
"CLIFF-GRADS is a valuable way of boosting scientific expertise around the world and helping in global efforts to drive action to address climate change."
The full list of awardees and their topics of research is available at: https://globalresearchalliance.org/library/cliff-grads-awardees-2020/
Further information about the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases is available at: https://globalresearchalliance.org/country/new-zealand/
Further information about CLIFF-GRADS is available at: https://ccafs.cgiar.org/CLIFF-GRADS#.XeR67WyP6Ag
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC1912/S00021/nz-supporting-future-agriculture-emission-science-leaders.htm\
Rice Production in Cuba – What do the Stats Say?
By Pedro Monreal (Progreso Semanal)
HAVANA TIMES – At a recent board meeting of governing bodies from every Cuban province, the important subject of rice supply was discussed. (1)
Two issues stood out:
§ The discrepancy that exists between the statement that the Rice Program "shows sustained growth in recent years" and the reality that available official statistics show.
§ Information about production estimates which are easily refuted.
What was said at the meeting
A news report describes what was discussed in this regard as follows:
"Talking about the evolution and sustainability of the rice program, the head of the sector, Gustavo Rodriguez Rollero, indicated that 14 companies from 13 provinces in the country take part, as well as the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud, and brings together 22,218 producers, 20,472 of whom belong to the cooperative and farming sector.
The Rice Program, closely linked to food for the population and replacing imports, shows steady growth in recent years, even when different infrastructures still need to be repaired and updated.
As a result of this program, some 450,000 tons of rice should be produced by 2023, and it is estimated than 600,000 tons will be produced by 2030, which represents 86% of national demand which currently stands at 700,000.
The Ministry of Agriculture explained that investments have essentially been made in agricultural machinery, implements, the drying and milling industry, and transport. Upgrading works are currently underway at 11 paddy dryers; 9 benefits, classification and seed treatment plants; 17 80-ton scales for weighing; and 14 storage centers for rice hulls with 38 silos.
1,720,700 tons of rice meant for popular consumption has been produced between 2012 and last year, which according to global market prices for rice approved by the Rice Development Project, represents over 849 million USD and means that the country has saved over 242 million USD in the last 7 years.
These statistics go far beyond the undeniable contribution to replacing imports and the country's economic development as they also have an impact on families' everyday lives and support much-needed national food production, where the most is made of our potential."
Before commenting on the subject, it's worth explaining that figures on national rice production can be expressed with indicators that aren't the same (although this isn't normally clarified in official statements made on the subject).
Statistics from reports and annual reports by Cuba's Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) uses the "paddy rice" performance indicator, but sometimes (like in the case of the aforementioned meeting) the production figure is expressed as rice ready for consumption, which is a dry product without the hull.
Naturally, a ton of rice ready for consumption ("husked rice") needs a greater mass of "paddy rice".
Taking the figure provided at the meeting of 1,720,700 tons of "husked rice" produced between 2012 and 2018, and comparing it with the 3,696,685 tons of "paddy rice" produced between 2012 and 2018 (ONEI statistics), we can calculate a quotient average of 2.15 tons of "paddy rice" for every ton of rice ready for consumption. (2)
"Stubborn" national rice production statistics in Cuba
Contrary to what was said at the meeting, the Rice Program does not "show steady growth in recent years", something which we can clearly see in the following graph.
The average annual growth rate of national rice production between 2010 and 2018 was 0.18%, that is to say, that in the long-run, there was a standstill in production.
In 2018, rice production was only 1.42% greater than the level recorded in 2010.
Cuba: rice production and imports 2010 – 2018. Paddy rice and rice ready for consumption (in tons). Source: ONEI. Cuba's Annual Statistical Report. 2018, 2016 and 2013 editions.
During the 2010-2018 period, growth in the first four years resulted in a "peak" in 2013, which then fell and has never fully recovered.
To tell you the truth, production has oscillated in such a way (negatively in more recent times) that it cannot in any way be shown as sustained growth.
In fact, recent news reports indicate that the estimated level of production in 2019 will be less than what it was in 2018, quoting "setbacks in different moments with [shortages of] fertilizers, other chemical products and, more recently, fuel." (3)
In some regions, such as Sancti Spiritus, there has also been poor water availability for rice production. (4)
It is estimated that 200,000 tons of "husked rice" will be produced in 2019, which would be the equivalent of 430,000 "paddy rice" in 2019. (5)
Imports (which close the wide gap between national production and total consumption) has also oscillated, although towards growth more generally, since 2013.
Recent instability in supplies reflect the way two factors have come together: a tendency towards a "undulating" reduction in the total area of rice cultivation and a tendency of decreasing yields ever since 2015.
With less land for sowing and lower yields, trying to project the image that we have a successful Rice Program is a risky business.
Cuba: land dedicated to rice production (hectares) and yield (tons / hectare). Source: ONEI. Cuba's Annual Statistical Report. 2018, 2016 and 2013 editions. Area – blue, Yield – orange.
In 2018, the average yield per hectare was 33.7% greater than it was in 2019, but the "area sown and for the production" of rice in 2018 was 24.2% less than it was in 2010.
Natura non facit saltum
Perhaps the most interesting moment in the meeting came when estimates for national rice production in the medium-term (up until 2023) and in the longer-term (2030), were discussed.
It is estimated that 450,000 tons of "husked rice" will be produced in 2023, which would be the equivalent of 967,500 "paddy rice" in 2019. (Green column on the graph). (6)
It is estimated that 600,000 tons of "husked rice" will be produced in 2030, which would be the equivalent of 1,290,000 tons of "paddy rice". (Red column on the graph).
Cuba: rice production and government estimates for the future (tons).
However, herein lies a problem. As we have mentioned before, the average annual growth rate of national rice production between 2010 and 2018 was 0.18%.
However, the estimate announced at the meeting implies an average annual growth rate of 16% between 2018 and 2023, and an average annual growth rate of 8% between 2018 and 2030.
In the first case (2018-2023), the average annual growth rate would have to be 89 times greater than the real average recorded between 2010 and 2018, and in the second case, the average annual rate would have to be 50 times greater.
The chances that these average annual growth rates are met are very slim, at least if we follow the principle of "Nature makes no leap".
Contrary to what was stated at the meeting, the Rice Program has not "grown sustainably in recent years":
§ In 2018, rice production was only 1.42% greater than the level recorded in 2010.
§ The average annual growth rate of national rice production between 2010 and 2018 was 0.18%, that is to say, that in the long-run, there was a standstill in production.
§ In 2018, the average yield per hectare was 33.7% greater than it was in 2019, but the "area sown and for the production" of rice in 2018 was 24.2% less than it was in 2010.
Estimates for national rice production in the medium-term (up until 2023) and in the longer-term (2030), seem to have very slim chances of materializing:
§ In order to reach estimated production levels for 2023, an average annual growth rate of 16% would have to be recorded between 2018 and 2023, that is to say, 89 times more than the real average growth rate recorded between 2010 and 2018.
§ In order to reach estimated production levels for 2030, an average annual growth rate of 9% would have to be recorded between 2018 and 2030, that is to say, 50 times more than the real average growth rate recorded between 2010 and 2018.
1. Leticia Martinez, Yaima Puig Meneses, "Díaz-Canel: Mantener el ahorro como premisa de trabajo", Cubadebate, November 27th 2019.
2. This calculation assumes that 1,720,700 tons of rice "dedicated to popular consumption" is the result of processing all of the tons of "paddy rice" produced between 2012 and 2018. The fragmented way that these statistics are thrown about at these meetings, makes it hard for us to identify how exact they are with available official statistics.
3. Jose Luis Camellon, "Sancti Spíritus: Arroceros cubanos encaran nuevos compromisos productivos", Escambray, November 16th 2019.
4. Jose Luis Camellón, "Limitada la siembra en arrocera Sur del Jíbaro por falta de agua", Escambray, November 23rd 2019.
6. Coversion applied to the 2.15 quotient calculated above.
https://havanatimes.org/opinion/rice-production-in-cuba-what-do-the-stats-say/
A/R: Asokwa MCE Woo Farmers Into Local Rice Farming
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Asokwa Municipal Assembly of the Ashanti region, Akwannuasah Gyimah has charged residents within his municipality to engage in rice farming to reduce dependence on foreign rice in the country.
He has charged farmers in the municipality to venture into rice farming as a measure to reduce importation of rice.
Speaking at this year's farmers' day celebration held in the municipality, he stated that Ghana imports over GHS 4 million worth of rice annually; a trend he believes can be changed when more Ghanaians engage in its cultivation to ensure regular supply.
"Each year, Ghana imports over 4 million Ghana cedis for rice alone. We can only change this when we engage in serious farming activities. This will significantly reduce the amount we spend on importation of rice. The government is, therefore, entreating small scale farmers especially to also engage in its production to help the economy grow", he said.
He further encouraged small scale farmers in the municipality to continue with their hard work. He explained that the government is aware of their challenges, hence the huge investment in the processing industry to make sure that farmers have a ready market for their produce.
The Municipal Director of Agriculture in the municipality, Martha Ashami Armah wants parliament to pass laws to guide the importation of rice into the country.
Speaking to Citi News on the sidelines of the farmers' day celebration, she posited that a deliberate plan through legislation will help promote the consumption of local rice nationwide and will contribute significantly in addressing the matter.
She has also urged the government to direct all school feeding coordinators to strictly use local rice as a measure to increase its patronage.
"I think the first step is for the government to cut down the importation of foreign rice so that we can eat what we grow. Also, with the school feeding programme. Please, there has to be a legislation on it that, they use local rice to feed the children. I once had a training with the school feeding cooks and their problem is, they bring them foreign rice. They have to stop. The children will have a taste for local rice. So if we can start feeding them with the local rice right from the basics, they will have the taste for it".
Asokwa, which is a new municipality carved out of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, joined in the celebration of farmers' day for the first time on Friday at Aprabo.
The 2019 edition of the farmer's day celebration was under the theme, 'Enhancing Small Scale Agriculture Towards Agribusiness Development '.
The occasion which was the 35th farmer's day celebration was used to award farmers who had worked hard to contribute to the growth of the Ghanaian economy.
The overall best farmer, Emelia Osei Wiredu, who is known for poultry farming in the Municipality, expressed her delight and encouraged her colleague farmers to work hard and hope for better days ahead.
---citinewsroom
https://www.modernghana.com/news/972397/ar-asokwa-mce-woo-farmers-into-local-rice-farmin.html
CRFFN, Agents Blame Customs for Border Closure
Eromosele Abiodun
The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) and customs agents in the country have attributed the decision of the federal government to shut Nigeria's land borders to incompetence by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in carrying out its statutory duties at the borders.
They stated this at a one-day interactive session tagged, "Federal Government Land Border Closure: Freight Forwarders Perspective," organised by the CRFFN Governing Council Committee on Monitoring, Enforcement and Compliance held in Lagos.
Speaking at the meeting, the Registrar/Chief Executive of the Council, Samuel Nwakohu, alleged that the cause of the problem leading to closure of the borders was a system failure especially on the part of Customs.
The CRFFN, however, appealed to the federal government to open land borders to legitimate goods.
Nwakohu, in a chat with newsmen on the sidelines of the meeting said the call was not intended to encourage criminality, saying that compliant goods should be allowed into the country to be traded across the borders.
He said the Council resolved, among other things, to call for better training and equipping of the NCS to meet global standard.
According to him, "The freight forwarders are not in any way encouraging criminalities but they are of the view that the ECOWAS Trade libralisation Scheme (ETLS) compliant goods should be allowed to go, they are of the view that what went wrong at the borders are as a result of system failure especially on the part of customs.
"They are of the view that the customs should be better equipped, better trained and adopt global best practice; they are of the view that compliance should be adhered to on the protocol of agreement in the West African region. These are some of the resolutions that we have reached during the interactive session."
Also speaking, the keynote speaker and Chairman, Port Consultative Council, Kunle Folarin, said the federal government was right to close the borders stressing that other countries were taking advantage of Nigeria.
He said Benin Republic has a population of 12 million people but is the world's fifth importer of rice.
"In 2018, it imported rice worth $996 million. How can they eat that amount of rice with the population they have? It is clear the rice are smuggled to Nigeria through the land borders.
"Benin is the world's largest importer of used cars and clothing with a population of 12 million people. It will interest you to know that 98.2 per cent of these imports into Benin are only on transit, the final destination is Nigeria."
He added that necessary framework should be put in place to forestall future occurrence of having to close the borders.
He said, "It is good to have an open discussion particularly for those who are either the beneficiaries or the victims of the policy.
"From the discussion today, it's clear that those who are affected feel that we should revisit the issue and the border should be opened and if not opened, there must be some framework to be done so that in future, we shall have no reason to close borders particularly the issue of customs administration.
"They have to reform, restructure all the treaties and the protocols."
On his part, Chairman, Monitoring and Enforcement, CRFFN, Timothy Awogbemi, said the programme was aimed at acquainting the federal government with the stance of Freight Forwarders on the border closure.
He said the resolution at the session include improving on the scanner as well as platforms so that Nigeria can compete with international standard.
"This is a programme called to make a presentation to the federal government the position of freight forwarders in Nigeria. The essence is to listen to critical stakeholders, hear their views, their opinions and what they feel about border closure and to make a joint communique to the federal government of Nigeria, "he said.
https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2019/12/09/crffn-agents-blame-customs-for-border-closure/
USA Rice Outlook Conference: If Rice is Your Business, This is Your Conference
LITTLE ROCK, AR -- The number one rice-producing state rolled out the red carpet for the more than 800 attendees at this year's USA Rice Outlook Conference with electronic welcome signs at Clinton National Airport and logo banners flying from street signs throughout the capital. And while this annual meeting is all about the rice business, the grand opening reception last night inside the Statehouse Convention Center had a laid-back atmosphere with a mixture of gaming tables such as ping-pong, air hockey, and foosball, for folks to loosen up and engage in some light-hearted competition.
The emphasis on play was a nod to today's keynote speaker, Dr. Shimi Kang, an expert on human motivation and neuroscience, who studies stress and the impact it has on our bodies and minds. Kang talked about stress-related illness as a major public health crisis, and then showed how our bodies have the ability to naturally de-stress through play, social interaction, and downtime. With Arkansas rice farmer Mike Sullivan as a willing subject, Kang did a live demonstration on the effectiveness of these biofeedback techniques for lowering stress, and alleviating anxiety and depression.
"There are few professions where uncertainty plays a greater role than farming," said USA Rice Chair and California rice farmer Charley Mathews, Jr. "The mental exercises Dr. Kang shared are good strategies to help us put things in perspective, and important tools to incorporate into our daily routines to remind us to slow down, reflect, and be grateful."
Mathews emceed the first General Session that included speakers from Indigo Ag, Frost PLLC, a local food and agriculture CPA firm, and a special appearance by Matthew Lohr, chief of USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.
In between videos about sustainability and the professional chefs' tour of Mississippi rice country, Brantley Farms received this year's USA Rice Conservation Award and the USA Rice Political Action Committee honored Nolen Canon for his commitment to the U.S. rice industry.
USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward also honored Gaby Carbajal and Marvin Lehrer of Mexpromos for their dedication to the promotion of U.S. rice. Over the past two decades consumption of rice in Mexico has increased 50 percent largely as a result of their efforts.
"Today's session was just the beginning," said Ward. "We've got another General Session tomorrow plus a full slate of programs on four stages, sponsored by FMC, Indigo Ag, Heritage Agriculture, and the Rice Foundation, set up in different parts of the Exhibit Hall. Attendees never have to leave the venue to hear information on topics ranging from conservation, eCommerce, farm safety, the importance of co-ops, and more."
The Outlook Conference continues Tuesday with sessions and speakers covering the world of agriculture, politics, statistics, and history.
Smart irrigation technology for sustainable agriculture
Polin Kumar Saha & Krishibid Khairul Kabir Mollah | Published: December 08, 2019 20:34:44
Photo source: Wikipedia
In the circumstance of global energy crisis and water insufficiency, rice production system is being changed with the policy to produce more with minimum amount of water. In Bangladesh, use of groundwater in a massive scale for Boro rice is the main cause of declining groundwater tables, especially in the Rangpur Division -- now a burning issue at the national level.
In order to protect sustainability of modern agricultural practices, many smart technologies are being used. The system of Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) is one, and can be introduced in saving water and energy, where both farmers and pump-owners are able to save around 30 to 35 per cent of their irrigation water requirements.
In Bangladesh around 2.36 million hectares of land (Yearbook of Agriculture Statistics-2016) are under irrigated Boro cultivation where AWD technology can be applied. With the introduction of AWD technology, saving on electricity cost equivalent to Tk 2.5 billion or fuel cost equivalent to Tk 3.5 billion annually is possible, according to experts.
WD is a water-effective technology that farmers can apply to reduce their irrigation water feeding in rice fields without decreasing the yield. In AWD, irrigation water is applied at intervals, a few days after the normally supplied water. Trials have shown that AWD method saves about 365 mm irrigation water (about 27 per cent) over the traditional irrigation practices. There is no noticeable negative effect of AWD irrigation system on crop yield.
The sustainability management system in agriculture demands that water consumption must be reduced to preserve water resources. But in reality, about 70 per cent of the fresh water is being used to irrigate rice lands in Bangladesh. It has been estimated that 3000-5000 litres of water are required to produce 1.0 kg of rice.
AWD also helps reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, mostly methane, by up to 50 per cent. Methane emissions are caused by flooding of rice fields. Rigorous research by scientists from International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and its partners have helped AWD system to progress into one of the most advanced GHG mitigation methods in the agriculture sector. AWD could thus become a key component for the mitigation of GHGs in many Asian countries. Farmers in Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Vietnam are now being trained on the use of AWD by the national agricultural research and extension organisations of respective countries.
In field experiment, a tube/pipe made of PVC is typically used in the AWD method. The tube monitors the water depth and measures water availability in the field below the soil surface. Here the normal practice is to use a pipe of 7-10 cm diameter and 30 cm long, with holes at the bottom. The bottom of the perforated portion remains underneath the soil surface and the non-perforated 10 cm above the surface. The perforations allow the water to come inside the tube from the soil, where a scale measures water depth below the soil surface.
Some factors (e.g. evapotranspiration, seepage, and percolation) may decrease the water level after the irrigation in the crop field. Precautions are required, especially at time of flowering stage of rice, when the field must be kept sufficiently wet. But after flowering, especially at the mid-season and late season (grain filling and ripening stages), the water level should drop down below the soil surface to 15 cm before re-irrigation. As regards application of fertiliser, nitrogen fertiliser may be applied preferably on dry soil just before re-irrigation.
AWD appears to be a promising sustainable technology and hence efforts are underway to popularise it in our ecosystems. Water productivity and reducing GHGs emissions are the key factors that are driving scientists to refine the technology for every ecosystem and make it more farmer-friendly. Studies, however, on diseases like blast and usage change in pesticides are much warranted. Further, nutrient management, particularly those of micronutrients and breeding varieties, especially suited for this system of rice cultivation, would take the technology to the next level.
Polin Kumar Saha & Krishibid Khairul Kabir Mollah are environmental professionalsin the private sector.
polin.msls2009@gmail.com; kabir@eecsbd.com
https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/views/smart-irrigation-technology-for-sustainable-agriculture-1575815684
Straw Baling | Four Straw Balers in the Same Rice Field | Tractor Video
Rice Farming TV
In this tractor video we'll learn all about how rice straw is baled. The baling operation featured is comprised of 4 MT635B Challenger tractors, each pulling a Claas 5300 RC Quadrant straw baler. Also included are additional tractors pulling behind 20' rakers that create the straw rows for the balers. Baling rice straw after harvest allows us to prepare the field for next years crop. Another straw management program in California, aside from baling rice straw, is tilling and flooding the fields before winter. This helps the straw to decompose. It's a four step process. In the video you'll see our Case IH 7240 chopping the straw, then our Case IH 260 Magnum plowing the field and finally our Case IH 245 putting in drains--all before flooding the field with water. Whether a farmer bales their rice straw after harvest, it's a lot of tractor work! Check out last week's episode of Rice Farming TV: "Yield Loss during the 2019 California Rice Harvest!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMrc3... Check out the California Rice Commission's latest wildlife video on their YouTube Channel: "Exhilaration" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkhQo... Thank you for watching and don't forget to subscribe! 🔴 Subscribe! Stay updated with California rice production: https://goo.gl/pOjVfO Please share this episode if you found it entertaining and/or educational. 🔴 Recommended Playlist "Rice Farming TV | Starting at Episode 1": https://goo.gl/j25ujs ✅ Please contact me with any questions or feedback. I will make an effort to respond within 24 hours.
Cutting-edge biochip to detect HIV within 1 week of infection
Written by Livingston Contributor on December 8, 2019
Cutting-edge biochip to detect HIV within 1 week of infection Scientists have patented a groundbreaking biosensor technology that can detect HIV within a week of infection, boosting expectations of large-scale early detection in developing countries with the highest transmission rates.
Researchers at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) created a rice-grain sized chip that can detect p24 antigen, a protein that is attached to the HIV virus, "at concentrations 100,000 times lower than in current techniques."
Presently, it takes three weeks to detect HIV. A more expensive test, which tests for the genetic material of HIV, can detect the virus' presence from 10-14 days.
The team's findings were published in scientific journal , and detail how, using existing technology, the new test makes "large-scale, low cost production possible," with the potential for the chips to be used in countries with the highest transmission rates.
Early detection of HIV is vital to prevent the disease being spread, and to improve the health of those infected through antiretroviral therapy.
"The potential for HIV infectivity in the first stage of infection is much higher than in the later stages," CSIC researcher Priscila Kosaka .
"Therefore, initiating antiretroviral therapy prior to seroconversion improves immune control and has been associated with benefits in CD4 cell count, a reduction in systemic inflammation, the preservation of cognitive function, and a reduction of the latent reservoir. Logically, its detection is critical to the prevention of HIV transmission."
The test works by taking 1mm of human serum on the biosensor and incubating it at 37 degrees for one hour, to allow the p24 antigen to bind to the capture antibodies on the sensor's surface.
The specimen is then incubated at 37 degrees for 15 minutes, this time with gold nanoparticles which mark the p24 proteins.
"The test takes a total of 4 hours 45 minutes, which is really rapid. In fact, to confirm the diagnosis you could even repeat the test and the clinical results could be back on the same day as the medical examination," CSIC researcher Javier Tamayo said. "The results are statistically significant and could be adapted to medical requirements."
The technology is also being used in early stage detection of some types of cancer. "The chip itself, the physical part, is identical for HIV tests and for cancer biomarker tests."
Tamayo said: "What changes is the chemical part – the solution we apply – so that it reacts accordingly to what we are looking for. That's why our fundamental work is focused on developing applications for this new technology."
According to , 2.1 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2015 and 36.7 million people were living with HIV in 2015.
https://livingstonledger.com/cutting-edge-biochip-to-detect-hiv-within-1-week-of-infection/
CCL Unanimously Selects Turmeric Powder as Best Spice for Both Keto and Paleo Diet
Posted: Dec 09, 2019 6:51 PM PST
CCL Has Awarded Turmeric Powder as Best Spice for Both Keto and Paleo Diet. In celebration of this yearly choice, it is giving away it's best seller Turmeric Secrets for Health & Beauty during its winter sale.
Coconut Country Living (CCL) has honored turmeric powder with its best spice award this year for showing its effectiveness for its ketogenic benefits, from its thermogenic nature to increase metabolic rate and raise core body temperature, and for its easy incorporation with other ketogenic foods, including coconut oil, black pepper, and avocado.
Once a year keto friendly superfoods company Coconut Country Living gives this special award to the stand out food that is helping its customers most. Those who have reported their results from CCL's Organic Turmeric powder have given raving testimonials about what this spice has done for their lives, and thus the staff at CCL have selected it as this year's winner.
The owner and staff has picked out turmeric as the true "super spice" because of its consistent performance with its many health benefits, including its natural anti-inflammatory effect against chronic conditions, its antioxidant capacity, brain boosting abilities, and help for the heart health. and its applications for beauty, including replacing toxic and polluting products containing microbeads and carcinogens, including toothpastes, face, skin and nail care. Its wide application made it a sure choice because even those who do not cook find important uses with their turmeric. These are all qualities Coconut Country Living holds in especially high regard when picking a preferred spice for customers.
Coconut Country Living selects its best spice for the keto or paleo diet because it believes the most important element in its business after it's customers is to give those customers the very highest quality ingredients that are good long term solutions to their health and beauty needs.
Michael DiSalvo, Owner of Coconut Country Living said: "Many companies overlook a spice like turmeric because it has been around so long. But with current developments and ongoing research, there is no doubt that turmeric is the preferred spice for those seeking health and beauty. However, here at Coconut Country Living we also realize that with so many possible chemicals used in processing and raising of turmeric, it's important that turmeric root is not only organically grown, but tested for heavy metals and pathogens. This is why we work to promote a healthy food supply and always test our turmeric so customers can take advantage of all it has to offer.
"This is a big reason we will continue to star our organic turmeric powder in many more promotions. It is a true superspice that adds warming flavor to food and drinks, but also accentuates beauty naturally while offering protective benefits. The hundreds of studies proving turmeric and curcumin's benefits are simply overwhelming. Consumers simply need to be certain they are getting a quality turmeric and that they activate its bioactive compounds. Rather than relying on dangerous drugs like ibuprofen and methadone and polluting our oceans and drinking water with microbeads, is a great fit for young and old, whether your children love their turmeric milk, cauliflower tots, hot chocolate, or even homemade chocolate itself, or you are fixing a more "mature" dish like chicken curry, basmati rice, or spiced yellow dal. and is always willing to go the extra mile."
"Coconut Country Living's Organic Turmeric powder displays exactly what we stand for at Coconut Country Living…continually looking for ways for our customers to experience the healing powers of delicious food, in simple enjoyable ways.. We're especially proud of Coconut Country Living's Organic Turmeric powder for that. He's a very deserving award winner."
More information about Coconut Country Living and the Best spice for keto or paleo diet and winners of this award are available at The Coconut Country Living Store. Those interested in trying CCL's award winning turmeric powder can get it until the New Year at a 30% discount during the "Celebrate Turmeric" promotion also get the free e-book of best selling turmeric hacks e-book either at the online store on Amazon.
Company Name: Coconut Country Living, LLC
Contact Person: Michael DiSalvo
Website: https://www.coconutcountryliving.com
http://www.wboc.com/story/41425337/ccl-unanimously-selects-turmeric-powder-as-best-spice-for-both-keto-and-paleo-diet
Myanmar earns US$150 M from two months of rice export
ZEYA NYEIN
Myanmar earned over US$150 million from over 520,000 tons of rice and broken rice export from October 1 to November 22 in this fiscal year and over 84 per cent of them are exported through maritime routes, according to figures from Myanmar Rice Federation (MRF).
It earned over US$108 million from over 360,000 tons of rice export to 40 countries and over US$42 million from over 160,000 tons of broken rice export to 33 countries.
Myanmar is exporting rice to EU and African markets via maritime routes and China through Muse border trade center.
Myanmar earned about US$130 million from about 442,000 tons of rice and broken rice export from maritime trade.
Moreover, it earned over US$21 million from over 81,000 tons of rice and broken rice export through border trade centers.
Myanmar earned US$709 million from more than 2 million tons of rice and broken rice export in 2018-19 FY, announced the MRF.
Myanmar exported about 3.6 million tons of rice and broken rice in 2017-18 which broke the record in over 50 years time.
The MRF is dealing with problems such as the decrease of paddy prices and the difficulties of the farmers. The MRF said they have difficulties to have warehouses to store rice, to dry paddy and to have more vehicles to transport rice.
Moreover rice export is declining and rice dealings in border trade centers are low. It will not be dealt with private sector alone.
Deputy Commerce Minister Aung Htoo said Myanmar had 11 companies officially recognized to export rice previously and now more than 40 companies have been selected to export rice to China. Myanmar sent the list of companies to China to resume the rice export.
https://elevenmyanmar.com/news/myanmar-earns-us150-m-from-two-months-of-rice-export
RDB set to distribute $50M to rice millers to sustain paddy market
Thou Vireak | Publication date 08 December 2019 | 23:28 ICT
A woman works in a rice processing factory in Battambang province. Heng Chivoan
The state-owned Rural Development Bank (RDB) has announced that it will distribute $50 million in loans to private rice millers to sustain the paddy market for farmers.
The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) said the funds will be used to purchase nearly 300,000 tonnes of paddy during the post-monsoon harvest season, which ends at the beginning of next year<|fim_middle|>1.
SAARC also suffers from the absence of cultural affinities. After all it was the cultural divide between the Muslims and the Hindus which led to the demand for partition and the establishment of Pakistan. Whereas Islam establishes a society based on the principles of human brotherhood and social equality, Hinduism establishes an oppressive system that divides the society into castes precluding vertical mobility. With the rise of Hindutva or extreme Hindu nationalism in India under the leadership of Narendra Modi, who has been a life-long member of RSS, a militant Hindu organization wedded to the concept of Hindutva, the civilizational and cultural tensions will increase not only within India carrying with them the seeds of India's disintegration in the long run, but also between Pakistan and India which represent two diametrically opposed ideologies.
It is extremely doubtful that the tidal wave of Hindutva sweeping across India will reverse itself in the foreseeable future. Therefore, coming decades will witness enduring tensions and even local conflicts between Pakistan and India. In such a state of affairs, how can anyone in Pakistan even think of economic integration in South Asia or a South Asian Economic Union, which would enable India to dominate the region through economic means and thus fulfill its hegemonic designs? Yet, till just a few years ago we were officially pursuing this impossible goal with India and other SAARC member states.
The regional climate in South Asia has been further vitiated by the presence of serious disputes such as Kashmir, Sir Creek, Siachen and the sharing of river waters between Pakistan and India. These disputes make the task of regional cooperation in South Asia that much more difficult. The current stalemate in SAARC which has prevented the holding of a SAARC Summit in Islamabad is the logical consequence of the Pakistan-India disputes which will continue to cast their shadow over the plans for South Asian regional cooperation.
SAARC also lacks economic complementarities which are necessary for a successful programme of regional cooperation. The economies of SAARC member states, by and large, are more in competition with one another instead of being complementary. For instance, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are all in competition with one another in exporting textiles. Similarly, both Pakistan and India are rice exporting countries. These factors restrict the possibilities of expanding intra-regional trade in the SAARC region. Further, the competition for export markets for the same commodities such as textiles and rice has negative repercussions on incentives for regional cooperation among the member states.
Above all, the danger is that in a SAARC free trade area or in a South Asian Economic Union, India because of the enormous size of its economy, the economies of large scale production, the advanced stage of its manufacturing sector and political clout because of the huge size of its population compared with other countries, will tend to have a dominant role in the regional economic decision making processes thus furthering its goal of regional hegemony and reduce Pakistan and other member states to the status of suppliers of raw materials for its industries thereby slowing down their economic progress. It is worth remembering that bigger and economically advanced member states tend to benefit more from the process of economic integration as compared with the smaller and less developed members if the matters are left to the market forces alone, in accordance with the principle of social and cumulative causation propounded by the famous Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal.
The foregoing analysis leads one to the inevitable conclusion that even if the SAARC cooperation process is resumed in right earnest at some time in the future, we should not attach high hopes and expectations to it. From Pakistan's point of view, the pursuit of the goal of a South Asian Customs Union and more so a South Asian Economic Union would unleash economic and political forces which would result in decisions about Pakistan's economy and ultimately even its foreign policy, as the two cannot be separated, being taken at dome regional forum dominated by India because of the sheer weight of its huge size. Instead we should use SAARC as a vehicle for regional cooperation on a selective basis in such areas as river water management, environment, transportation, cross-border crimes, communicable diseases and control of drug trafficking.
https://nation.com.pk/10-Dec-2019/dynamics-of-regional-integration | .
The additional loans come after the CRF asked the government to provide $200 million in loans to rice millers late last month.
On Wednesday, the RDB said in a statement that it had received the $50 million from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which was to be used as capital to buy paddy for additional stockpiles during the harvest season.
The funds will be released from Monday onwards to serve the agricultural sector – to stabilise prices, and for processing and export, it said.
"Rice millers and other buyers of paddy will continue to purchase the crop at reasonable prices for storage, which are to be used as collateral for the loan in accordance with the RDB's requirements," it said.
RDB CEO Kao Thach told The Post last week that capital shortage in the rice sector is between $200 million and $250 million. To help remedy the issue, he has called on commercial banks to lend more to the sector.
The CRF said in a statement that it hopes the loan will help rice millers and the agricultural community – especially CRF members – continue buying various types of paddy from farmers during the harvest season.
"It will help stabilise the paddy market for farmers and increase the demand from rice millers and farming communities for additional paddy to process and export to domestic and international markets," the CRF said.
CRF secretary-general Lun Yeng told The Post on Sunday that its members are ready for the RDB loans to be released.
Of the CRF's 100 rice millers, only 44 are currently able to purchase additional paddy for stockpiles, he said. "Most CRF members have already prepared their applications for the funding to buy paddy from farmers.
"These funds will urgently help address the private sector, which wants to buy more paddy, despite facing a shortage of working capital," Yeng said.
The CRF statement called on its members to work closely with the RDB and farmers. "All farmers and farmer communities that have either finished or will soon finish their harvest and do not have a market [for their paddy], please contact nearby rice millers," it said.
According to an official report, in the first 11 months of this year, rice exports to the international market totalled 514,149 tonnes. This was a 3.4 per cent increase compared to the same period last year, which stood at 497,240 tonnes.
China was the Kingdom's leading export market in the first 11 months of this year, with 195,242 tonnes. The EU imported 174,397 tonnes and the Asean region 69,239 tonnes. The balance was exported to Africa and other destinations.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rdb-set-distribute-50m-rice-millers-sustain-paddy-market
Gov't adds $50 million to rice fund
Sok Chan / Khmer Times
A worker moves sacks of rice inside a warehouse in Phnom Penh. KT/Chor Sokunthea
The Cambodia Rice Federation, together with millers and exporters, has hailed a recent government move to allocate an additional $50 million to rescue the rice sector and stabilise the price of premium varieties.
For in depth analysis of Cambodian Business, visit Capital Cambodia
"CRF thanks the government, through the Ministry of Economy and Finance, for allocating an additional $50 million to the Rural Development Bank (RDB) to expand the credit available to rice millers and rice exporters. This will stabilise the price of paddy and allow more of it to be stocked, milled, process and exported," CRF said in a statement.
CRF said it hopes the additional funds will help rice millers and agriculture communities members of CRF to continue collecting rice from farmers, particularly the varieties Phka Rumdoul and Phka Malis (premium fragrant rice) as well as Sen Kro Ob and Sen Pidor.
The harvest of these varieties begins this week, running until early 2020.
"We ask rice millers and agriculture cooperatives able to store more paddy to contact RDB to request a loan, using their current stock as collateral," it said.
Chan Pich, general manager of Signatures of Asia, one of the country's leading rice exporters, told Khmer Times he was happy to learn that the government was injecting another $50 million into the fund.
He said a lot of millers invested all their working capital to purchase paddy from August to November, so they are running short of cash now.
"The additional $50 million will help rice millers collect more paddy to store in their warehouse," he said. "We haven't applied for a loan yet but we will do it soon to collect more paddy in Banteay Meanchey province," he said.
"We are also happy that China allowed more Cambodian rice millers to begin shipping to the Chinese market. This is great news for farmers and exporters alike," Mr Pich added.
Last week, China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) approved the applications of 18 local rice millers that wanted to begin exporting to China. A total of 44 local rice millers can now export rice to the Chinese market.
The additional capital going into the fund will be available to all rice millers and exporters from today.
"RDB is pushing rice millers and rice collectors to continue buying rice at an affordable price and storing it in their warehouses so that it can be used for collateral to access credit from RDB," the bank said in a statement.
According to CRF, as of the end of November, a total of 350,000 tonnes of paddy had been stored by members of the association. This figure does not include new stock or milled rice for export.
During a board meeting last week, CRF agreed to consider the possibility of expanding to new markets based on the existing mechanism with China through the Ministry of Commerce, who is acting as the negotiator.
CRF noted that the price of premium fragrant rice has dropped by about 100 riel to reach 1,000 riel per kilogram.
"The slight drop in the price is the result of having poor quality. The Malis and Somaly varieties make up only a small percentage of all the rice. Also, the Somaly variety in some areas is not fragrant but hard-cooked rice, which is not in high demand.
"There have also been issues with the quality of the rice in Banteay Meanchey and Siem Reap."
He noted, however, that the paddy in Kampong Speu, Takeo, Kampot and Kandal provinces had good quality and was being sold at a higher price although supply was not enough to meet the demand.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50668176/govt-adds-50-million-to-rice-fund/
18 More Cambodia's Rice Traders to Export to Chinese Market
Phnom Penh (FN), Dec. 7 – China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) has decided to grant qualifications to an additional 18 Cambodian local rice traders to export to Chinese market, according to the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia.
"Thanks to the joint efforts by China and Cambodia, the kingdom's 18 rice trading enterprises have been granted qualifications to export to China, making it 44 in total," the Chinese Embassy wrote on Facebook on Friday.
"The entries of 18 rice companies will help Cambodia achieve its goal of fulfilling its rice export quota in Chinese market, which is 400,000 tons of rice per annum," it said.
According to the statement, "in the first 11 months of 2019, Cambodia has exported rice to 60 countries across the world. China remains the largest export destination for Cambodia, in which the kingdom has exported more than 200,000 tons of rice to China in 2019, increased by 53 percent compared to last year."
=FRESH NEWS
http://m.en.freshnewsasia.com/index.php/en/localnews/16153-2019-12-07-08-02-39.html
RIFAN urges Fed Govt to sustain border closure
Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) has urged Federal Government to sustain its current border closure.The association said it would boost the economy.
Its chairman in Niger State, Alhaji Idris Abini, spoke in Minna, the state capital, in an interview yesterday with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Abini noted that the closure had increased rice production in the state due to increased demand by marketers and consumers.
"Although we are yet to meet local demand for rice, we have started the journey to produce more rice due to the closure of our borders because efforts will be made by both government and farmers to produce enough food.
"The border closure is a right step in the right direction because it is already increasing wealth among farmers as consumers are beginning to patronise our local rice," he said.
Abini said Nigeria has different varieties of rice that can compete favourably with foreign brands.
The RIFAN chairman stressed that the closure would ensure security in the country as smuggling of illegal arms and ammunition would be curtailed.
"Those criticising the closure of the borders are not a true Nigerians because it is one of the best decisions of this administration," he said.
Abini expressed optimism that the policy would succeed as government was providing the enabling environment for agriculture to thrive by supporting farmers with inputs and implements.
"The Federal Government has demonstrated this through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers Scheme by allowing farmers to access more loans even when previous ones have not been fully repaid," he said.
https://thenationonlineng.net/rifan-urges-fed-govt-to-sustain-border-closure/
Climate Change Will Affect Rice Crops, Study Finds
Tuesday, 10 December, 2019 - 07:15
A farmer transplanting rice in a field near Khon Kaen, northeastern Thailand. (Reuters)
Cairo - Hazem Bader
Rice is the largest global staple crop, consumed by more than half the world's population -- but new experiments from Stanford University suggest that with climate change, production in major rice-growing regions with endemic soil arsenic will undergo a dramatic decline and jeopardize critical food supplies.
Arsenic is a chemical that is found naturally in the soil, and is not generally transmitted to plants, but according to the new study, climate changes can transfer it, especially to rice.
The experiments' findings, which are published in the Nature Communication journal, show that rice production in future climate conditions could drop about 40 percent by 2100, and that changes to soil processes due to increased temperatures will cause rice to contain a high level of arsenic.
The researchers specifically looked at rice because it is grown in flooded paddies that help loosen the arsenic from the soil and make it especially sensitive to arsenic uptake.
While many food crops today contain small amounts of arsenic, future changes in soil due to higher temperatures combined with flooded conditions cause arsenic to be taken up by rice plants at higher levels, and using irrigation water with naturally occurring high arsenic exacerbates the problem.
While these factors will not affect all global commodities in the same way, they do extend to other flood-grown crops.
The researchers created future climate conditions in greenhouses based on estimates of a possible 5 degree Celsius temperature increase and twice as much atmospheric carbon dioxide by 2100, as projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
While previous research examined the impacts of increasing temperature in the context of the global food crisis, this study was the first to account for soil conditions in combination with shifts in climate.
For the experiments, the group grew medium-grain rice. The greenhouses were controlled for temperature, carbon dioxide concentrations and soil arsenic levels, which will be higher in the future due to its buildup in soils from irrigating crops with arsenic-contaminated water, a problem that is worsened by over-pumping groundwater.
The researchers found that with increased temperatures, microorganisms destabilized more of the soil's inherent arsenic, leading to greater amounts of the toxin in the soil water that is available for uptake by the rice. Once taken up, arsenic inhibits nutrient absorption and decreases plant growth and development, factors that contributed to the 40 percent decrease in yield the scientists observed.
Scott Fendorf, co-author and professor at the University of Stanford said "The findings highlight a 'dangerous issue' that would lead to negative consequences on the global food security".
In a report published on the university's website, Fendorf said: "By the time we get to 2100, we're estimated to have approximately 10 billion people, so that would mean we have 5 billion people dependent on rice, and 2 billion who would not have access to the calories they would normally need. We have to be aware of these challenges that are coming so we can be ready to adapt."
Dr. Khaled Abdel Sattar, nutrition expert at the Egyptian Ministry of Health, sees that along the crop failure challenge, the high levels of arsenic highlighted in the study is concerning, not only because of rice's global significance, but also because it is a low-allergen food often introduced early to infants.
"Because infants are a lot smaller than we are, if they eat rice, that means that they take up more arsenic relative to their body weight," he added. Chronic exposure to arsenic leads to skin lesions, cancers, aggravation of lung diseases and ultimately death
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2029161/climate-change-will-affect-rice-crops-study-finds
With tantalizing aroma and taste, Pakistani Biryani hits Morocco big style
RABAT: Pakistan Embassy in the Kingdom of Morocco organised a Biryani festival in Rabat in order to promote Pakistani rice, spices and the soft image of the country as a tourist destination.
The event was organised in in collaboration with Pakistan Morocco Joint Business Council (PMJBC). Pakistan's Ambassador Hamid Asghar Khan hosted the festival and welcomed dignitaries and businessmen from both the countries at the glittering event.
Ishtiaq Baig, Honorary Consul General of Morocco and Chairman Pak Morocco Joint Business Council, headed a delegation of 25 leading businessmen from Karachi to grace the event.
The Vice Chairman of Moroccan Parliament, members of the National Assembly, Chamber Presidents and local notables were among the 300 guests. Famous Pakistani chef Gulzar Hussain was brought from Karachi with his team especially for the occasion to cook Biryani for the guests. Four trademark varieties of the specialty, including prawn biryani, mutton biryani, vegetable biryani and chicken biryani, were served and highly appreciated by the guests. The festival area was filled with the aroma of delicious Pakistani Basmati rice. Pakistani music was another attraction that added to the festive mood of the environment.
Hamid Asghar Khan and his wife Ayesha Hamid welcomed the guests at the imposing and fully decorated venue. Several stalls were set up to showcase Pakistani rice. A number of rice buyers, restaurant and hotel operators were among the guests.
The well-attended festival was the first event after the launch of 'Engage Africa Policy' announced by the Prime Minister at a conference in Islamabad last week.
The ambassador explained that the event was a perfect example of the government facilitating the private sector and engaging proactively in trade diplomacy as per the government vision and directions of the foreign minister. He explained that "Moroccans are not traditionally a rice-eating nation but there is a growing interest in rice. Several Asian restaurants have recently opened up."
"Pakistan needs to swiftly turn to Africa and tap the African regional markets. This festival is part of PM's vision of promoting trade and exports. Countries like Morocco offer huge opportunities of access to the common African market of 1.3 billion people, with the right kind of approach sky is the limit in these countries," he added.
The Biryani festival was the brainchild of Mirza Ishtiaq Baig who put in a lot of effort in organising it and arranging the logistics. He said that Biryani is now popular in India and Pakistan regions but Mughals and Arabs brought Biryani to the north and south of India, respectively and from there it branched out. He said that the historical perspective is important because there is a growing market of rice and Biryani has become the important component when it comes to the export of rice from Pakistan. He shared that in Pakistan more than 40 different types of Biryani are cooked and in Arab-African countries like Morocco the demand for it is growing due to expanding cultural and business ties.
Ishtiaq Baig said that the festival provided a great opportunity for the Karachi business delegates to meet businessmen from Morocco over the course of three days during which future business opportunities were explored. He said import of Pakistani rice and other products will help increase rice exports as well as other industries.
Ishtiaq Baig said that Morocco — which has a population of 35 million people — is an important market to expand into a gateway to Africa and the present govt is taking steps to reach out to the unexplored markets.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/580975-aroma-and-taste-of-pakistani-biryani-hits-morocco-big-style
Pakistan Biryani festival in Morocco goes down as big success
RABAT: Pakistan Embassy in the Kingdom of Morocco in association with Pakistan Morocco Joint Business Council (PMJBC) organised a Biryani festival in Rabat to promote Pakistani rice, spices and the soft image of Pakistan as a tourist destination.
Pakistan's Ambassador to Morocco Hamid Asghar Khan hosted the festival and welcomed dignitaries and businessmen from both Pakistan and Morocco at the glittering festival.
Ishtiaq Baig, Honorary Consul General of Morocco & Chairman Pak Morocco Joint Business Council, headed a delegation of 25 leading businessmen from Karachi for the festival. The Vice Chairman of Moroccan Parliament, a number of Members of the National Assembly, Chamber Presidents and local notables were among the 300 guests who attended the colourful festival.
Famous Pakistani chef Gulzar Hussain was brought from Karachi with his team especially for the occasion to cook Biryani for the guests. Four trademark Pakistani Biryanis including prawn biryani, mutton biryani, vegetable biryani and chicken biryani were served and we're deeply appreciated by the guests. The festival area was filled with the aroma of delicious Pakistani Basmiti rice. Pakistani music in the background added further to the festive environment.
Hamid Asghar Khan and his wife Ayesha Hamid welcomed the guests at the imposing venue which was decorated for the occasion. Several stalls were set up to showcase Pakistani rice. A number of rice buyers, restaurant and hotel operators were among the guests.
The well-attended festival was the first event after the launch of Engage Africa Policy announced by the PM at a conference in Islamabad last week.
Ambassador Hamid Asghar Khan explained that the event was a perfect example of the government facilitating the private sector and engaging proactively in trade diplomacy as per the government vision and directions of the Foreign Minister. He explained that "Moroccans are not traditionally a rice-eating nation but there is growing interest in rice. Several Asian restaurants have recently opened up.
"Pakistan needs to swiftly turn to Africa and tap the African regional markets. This festival is part of PM's vision of promoting trade and exports. Countries like Morocco offer huge opportunities if access to the common African market of 1.3 billion people, with the right kind of approach sky is the limit in these countries," he added.
The Biryani festival was the brainchild of Mirza Ishtiaq Baig who put in a lot of effort in organising it and arranging the logistics. He said that Biryani is now mainly popular in India and Pakistan regions but Mughals and Arabs brought Biryani to the north and south of India respectively and from there it branched out. He said the historical perspective is important because there is a growing market of rice and Biryani has become the important component when it comes to the export of rice from Pakistan.
He shared that in Pakistan more than 40 different types of Biryani are cooked and in Arab-African countries like Morocco the demand for it is growing due to expanding cultural and business ties.
Ishtiaq Baig said that Morocco — which has a population of 35 million people — is an important market to expand into as well as a gateway into Africa and the present govt is taking steps to reach out to the unexplored markets.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/581096-pakistan-biryani-festival-in-morocco-goes-down-as-big-success
Pakistan goes digital
Muhammad Omar Iftikhar
The capability of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to make promises and falling short has been witnessed several times. The Digital Pakistan initiative by the PTI must not take a U-turn. Perhaps to ensure that they stand true to their words, the government – upon the request of the Prime Minister – decided to bring in an experienced technology leader, Tania Aidrus. Her recent job was at Google as head of Payments and Next Billion Users. She joined Google in 2008 as the Country Manager, South Asia Emerging Markets. Completing her MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Tania brings with her a vast experience of digital media.
While the advancements of technology are being used by countries in all continents, they have not yet anchored in Pakistan. Digital technology has created opportunities for businesses in sub-Saharan Africa. For instance, in Ghana, digital technologies have impacted the agriculture sector. Farmerline and Farmable are agri-techs that have pursued the development of new farming businesses while renewing the existing ones. In Nigeria, Prime Wave supplies equipment to rice processing firms while Al-Wabel Trading Company Ltd is inventing new technological solutions. When Africa is capable to transform their agriculture through technology, Pakistan should have done so at least five years ago. Even then we would have been way off our schedule towards progress. One reason could be a lack of vision, which is a limitation facing all sectors. The gatekeepers and leaders of the many sectors are themselves naïve and unable to foresee the change that must come.
In Pakistan, however, slow internet bandwidth and speed with a limited broadband penetration has been hampering such growth. While the metropolitan cities including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Multan and even Hyderabad has internet connections, broadband connectivity has yet to reach the rural areas. The government did pursue digitization but could not make headways. The Digital Pakistan Initiative, however, has given some optimism in this regard. Pakistan is surely capable to apply digitization in all sectors. It will enhance and assist in education, health, justice, economy among other sectors. While such an initiative will bring good results, the government – under the leadership of Tania Aidrus – must follow protocols, practices and procedures to remain on track. They must also minimize all loopholes that might emerge as valuable data can be breached, manipulated and misused.
While the Digital Pakistan Initiative will assist the growth of all sectors, it will help two areas in particular. They are Pakistan's freelance industry and the e-commerce sector. Pakistan's young entrepreneurs will avail opportunities under this initiative to build their businesses and make an impact in their respective fields
While the Digital Pakistan Initiative will assist the growth of all sectors, it will help two areas in particular. They are Pakistan's freelance industry and the e-commerce sector. Pakistan's young entrepreneurs will avail opportunities under this initiative to build their businesses and make an impact in their respective fields. While talking at the inaugural ceremony, Tania mentioned the five pillars of the Digital Pakistan Initiative. They are Access and Connectivity, Digital Infrastructure, E-Government, Digital Skilling and Literacy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The first pillar, Access and Connectivity, will ensure that the internet is made available for all. Here, the challenge will be to penetrate internet services in rural areas. Digital Infrastructure is the second pillar. It will facilitate in completing all daily tasks using a smartphone. The development of applications will be an integral part of this phase. Moreover, the upgrading of smartphones can become a challenge. Because of rapid advancements in technology, users must keep themselves up-to-date or the mobile applications developed must be compatible with higher, current and lower Android/iOS versions. The third pillar is E-government. One can wonder how we will shift to a paperless environment that will ease away most of our troubles of managing data. Although there must a backup of data in some form, a paperless environment will save and access data through cloud computing. How will the government tackle corruption in a paperless environment and what loopholes must be minimized is yet to be seen.
Digital Skilling and Literacy, the fourth pillar, will guarantee that graduates having degrees in technology and computer-related fields will secure jobs. The curriculum taught at universities must be updated by including courses that are more practical rather than teaching through textbooks. The fifth and last pillar is Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The startup industry of Pakistan is evolving and it must be guided to enable aspiring entrepreneurs to launch their businesses. While these five pillars will require multiple phases to be completed in each, the change for a Digital Pakistan will not come overnight. It will be a gradual process allowing us to shift our activities from manual to digital. However, the concerned authorities must keep all processes leading to this digital transformation simple. The content used for marketing and promotion on social media must be both in English and Urdu to cater to the two main spoken and written languages. Furthermore, targeted content in regional languages must be made to facilitate people from all areas of Pakistan. We hope that Pakistan enters the digital era and that this time there are no U-turns. Otherwise, 'ctrl-alt-delete' will not be effective.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/516819/pakistan-goes-digital/
3 new businesses to check out in Downtown Berkeley
Taste of PakistanLucky BirdMilkbomb Ice Cream
Lucky Bird | Photo: Lara T./Yelp
Interested in getting intel on the freshest new spots in Downtown Berkeley? From an ice cream shop to an Asian fusion spot, read on for a rundown of the newest destinations to open their doors in this part of Berkeley.
PHOTO: SHAO-LON Y./YELP
Taste of Pakistan is a Pakistani and Indian spot, offering wraps and more.
The restaurant offers an array of South Asian fare, including lamb biryani, tandoori chicken and saag paneer.
Yelp users are excited about Taste of Pakistan, which currently holds four stars out of 16 reviews on the site.
Yelper Anwar H., who reviewed Taste Of Pakistan on October 2, wrote, "Very flavorful—varied and fresh buffet lunch. Nice assortment of meat curries, tandoori chicken, homemade tandoor nan bread, steamed white rice with cinnamon and more."
Taste of Pakistan is open from 11 a.m.–3 p.m. and 5 p.m.–10 p.m. on weekdays and 11:30 a.m.–4 p.m. and 5 p.m.–10 p.m. on weekends.
1926 Shattuck Ave.
PHOTO: IONA C./YELP
Lucky Bird is a Thai, Asian fusion and Korean spot.
Here, you'll find curries, noodles, fried rice dishes and stir fry, crispy Korean-style pork and various tofu dishes.
Yelp users are generally positive about Lucky Bird, which currently holds four stars out of 87 reviews on the site.
Yelper Sona T. wrote, "Went here for desserts a couple of weeks ago and it was yummy. Super sweet but not overwhelming. We got the mango sticky rice and bingsu and wild berry sweet toast."
Lucky Bird is open from 11 a.m.–9 p.m. daily.
Milkbomb Ice Cream
PHOTO: GEL Z./YELP
Milkbomb Ice Cream is a spot to score specialty ice cream and doughnuts.
The menu features ice cream flavors like creamy horchata, Thai tea, rocky road, ginger, ube, strawberry and more. You can get your ice cream in a cup, a flavored cone or even in a doughnut.
Yelp users are excited about Milkbomb Ice Cream, which currently holds 4.5 stars out of 49 reviews on the site.
Yelper Shayla B. wrote, "I love that you can add a variety of different toppings. They also have flavored waffle cones and you can get your ice cream 'toasted' too. They'll torch the top (I think it may be a marshmallow coating) and it's fun to watch them do it."
Milkbomb Ice Cream is open from 2:15 p.m.–9 p.m. on Tuesday-Thursday and 2:15 p.m.–10 p.m. on Friday-Sunday. (It's closed on Monday.)
by Hoodline
@Hoodline
https://hoodline.com/2019/12/3-new-businesses-to-check-out-in-downtown-berkeley
Group moves to create market window for rice farmers
ON DECEMBER 9, 20196:13 PM
The Nigeria Farmers Group and Cooperative Society (NFGCS), has moved to create a larger market window for farmers by aggregating rice paddy across Nigeria to meet increasing demand occasioned by borders closure. A rice paddy is an irrigated or flooded field where rice is grown. READ ALSO:Buhari's $30bn loan request: Rising debt profile, cause for concern — MAN DG(Opens in a new browser tab) The National Coordinator of the group, Mr Tedheke Retson, made this known in an interview with Newsmen in Abuja on Monday. Retson said the move, beyond meeting the increasing demand for rice, was meant to encourage more Nigerians to go into rice farming without being afraid of how to dispose of the commodity. According to him, the group's farm, sitting on more than 3, 000 hectares of land, is a farm settlement with state-of-the-art rice processing plants and a ready market to comfortably take off the burden of selling the commodity.
He said: "We are currently short by about five million metric tonnes of rice every year. "With the closure of borders, the Federal Government made it possible and easier for groups like ours to take that lead to get involved and make things happen. "We are currently producing about 2, 000 of 25 kg bags of rice in a day and we are moving from that to excess of about 10, 000 bags every day before the end of the first quarter of 2020. "As it stands, we cannot meet the demand. We are aggregating paddy rice across the country. So, opportunities are created for those who are farming rice, for processors and those who are selling. "We have brought in de-stoners with the capacity of de-stoning about three trailer loads of rice in a day, polishers with the capacity of polishing about three trailer loads a day. "There are also whiteners that will ensure that the rice is clean from all forms of particles without adding chemicals, and we have also brought in colour sorters to separate brown from white and white from black. "All of these upgrades have increased our capacity to about 100 tonnes of rice every day. We are working to get two processing mills with the capacity of 200 tonnes a day. So, in no distant time we will be doing about 300,000 tonnes of rice in a month." The coordinator hailed the border closure saying it was a blessing for small holder farmers, small rice producers and rice marketers in Nigeria, noting that it was only smugglers who were not happy with the development. He called for total support for local production to boost the revenue base of the country while improving Nigerians' standard of living.
"If we support local producers in Nigeria, there is absolutely no way we will not add more to our value process, job creation and making Nigeria a better place for the over 200 million people. "The boost in demand for local rice is occasioned by the shutting down of the borders. It has encouraged local farmers to see it as a profitable venture, he said. Retson, however, called for an enabling environment to encourage competition among local producers. "The farmer from Thailand, India, Pakistan and Singapore, sells his rice lower than what we are selling in Nigeria because the government subsidises it, and so ends up making more money and gets cheap loan also because policies favour him.
"We need those favourable working conditions for our processors to make money. It is good we are no longer importing rice, what is next is to make loan cheaper for farmers of rice and making the environment more conducive by providing power supply. "This farm operates on diesel every day, we spend on the average of N450, 000 to buy diesel every week. We do not need to bear that cost. If we have light on the farm and we are spending on the average of N400, 000 in a month we are okay.
"The point is most of these variables need to be solved so that we can maximise the potentials that are available in the closure of borders.
A farmer cannot construct road, provide power, employ labour and make money,'' he said. According to him, Nigeria with about 84 million hectares of arable land and more than 200 million people is battling to ensure food security. "More needs to be done to put Nigeria on the path of food security, job sustainability among others. " This farm is an eye opener that everything is possible with the potentials we have," he said. On funding, the national coordinator called for single digit loans that would make farmers break even and compete favourably with their counterparts globally.
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/12/group-moves-to-create-market-window-for-rice-farmers/
Dynamics of regional integration
Javid Husain
It is generally acknowledged now that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has failed to achieve most of its goals given in the SAARC Charter adopted in Dhaka in December 1985. In particular, the promise of regional economic integration, inspired by the experience of the European Union, remains unfulfilled. This is not surprising because SAARC does not meet the essential preconditions for the success of a regional economic cooperation organization with the ultimate aim of regional integration. Pakistan would be well advised instead to explore within the framework of SAARC opportunities for mutually beneficial regional cooperation on a level playing field in selected areas instead of seeing it as a vehicle for regional integration as implied by the goal of a South Asian Economic Union.
There are several prerequisites for the success of a regional economic cooperation organization in achieving the goal of regional economic integration or a regional economic union which implies not only free trade among the member states and a common external tariff but also harmonization of economic and monetary policies. To begin with, there must be a feeling of common destiny and a shared vision of the future or in other words shared goals and aspirations among the member states. The absence of such a feeling is likely to pull the member states in different directions politically, economically, and culturally, making the complicated task of regional integration difficult if not impossible to achieve. Secondly, cultural affinities are important for facilitating regional cooperation leading to integration through the development of a feeling of common identity among the member states. Thirdly, the absence of hegemonic designs on the part of member states is a necessary condition for the smooth progress of any scheme of regional economic integration. The quest for hegemony generates tensions and engenders disputes among the member states of a regional organization. It is unrealistic to expect that a climate of fear and tension would help promote the cause of regional integration.
Fourthly, the absence of serious disputes helps create a climate conducive to the promotion of regional cooperation. Conversely, the presence of serious disputes generates tensions, mistrust and hostility which act as serious obstacles in the way of the promotion of regional cooperation. Fifthly, it is worth noting that the economic benefits of regional cooperation are largely determined by complementarities among the economies of the member states. The greater the economic complementarities, the more would be the possibilities and benefits of regional economic and commercial cooperation.
A close look at the regional scene in South Asia and the state of relations between Pakistan and India reveals that other than the factor of geographical proximity, SAARC lacks all the other necessary prerequisites for the deepening of regional economic cooperation leading to regional economic integration. There is no community of interests among its member states, especially between Pakistan and India. India is more interested in establishing its hegemony in the region than in promoting regional cooperation on an equitable basis. While India looks at China as a rival in Asia, Pakistan considers it an important strategic partner. Pakistan has also legitimate security concerns relating to India which dismembered it in 197 | 7,816 |
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Memories and Confessions: On the Filmography of Terence Davies
James Slaymaker
Sunset Song (2015)
Davies – who can be described as a cultural conservative but never a simple nostalgist – wears his affection for his forgotten eras on his sleeve, generally eschewing close-ups in favour of wide, deep-focus compositions that place his characters within a meticulously recreated visual environment and draws the viewer's attention to the minor details of the mise-en-scene.
Shot one: a slow pan, left to right, of a doctor's waiting room, scanning the sullen faces of patients who looks toward the lens, framed frontally and in medium close-up, seated against a featureless white wall, a single key light throwing their shadows large behind them. The shot is silent, aside from the sounds of magazine pages turning and light coughing. The pan finally comes to rest on Robert Tucker, a balding, affectless young man sitting in the corner of the room, pushed just to the right of centre. Shot two: a static wide shot, a row of identical beach huts stretching into the background, a metal grate filling the top part of the screen. Robert, now seen as a young boy, enters the frame from one of the huts, a small figure dwarfed by his surroundings. The camera swivels on its axis to follow him as he walks to frame left, revealing rows more of the huts and a small showering area, which Robert enters. The soundscape suddenly becomes filled with the sounds of the pool: children laughing, running water. Shot three: we return to Robert in the present day, now in tight close-up, looking intently forward, the sounds of the pool spilling over; it's uncertain whether he's reflecting on this memory or whether his attention has been caught by something out of frame. Shot four: a medium shot of the shower area, as young Robert's gaze becomes fixed upon an older male swimmer, eroticized by Davies' camera, who enters and begins to wash his chest thoroughly.
Although his first film is rough in its execution, Terence Davies had already sketched most of the now familiar elements of his cinematic style in the opening shots of the 40-minute, BFI-funded Children (1976): the blending of social realism with impressionism; drab, working-class locations lent a sense of grandeur through the use of techniques rooted in cinematic classicism; a hazy sense of linear time and space; a disjunct between sound and image; expressionistic chiaroscuro lighting; mundane locations rendered expressionistic through framing and cutting; lengthy static wide shots; dead air and the foregrounding of minor ambient sounds; the experience of social exclusion made vivid through form. Children was shot on a shoestring budget, with nonprofessional actors and real locations. Despite bearing many of the trappings of social realist drama, however, Davies' film rejects immediacy and exudes evocations of classicism. "A lot of the time, people are lit directly by windows, which is an influence of Vermeer," explains Davies on the DVD commentary. He followed up what became known as the Terence Davies Trilogy (which included Madonna and Child, 1980, and Death and Transfiguration, 1983) with Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) and The Long Day Closes (1992), a series of impressionistic films drawing on his experiences growing up in the lower rungs of Liverpudlian society during the late 1940s and early '50s.
This phase in Davies' career reveals a filmmaker consistently seeking to expand and refine his style. In Distant Voices, Still Lives, Davies expands the singular focus of the trilogy into a collective protagonist of a family unit, which shifts and alters with the ebb and flow of time. Davies has abandoned the close-ups and static shots of his earlier work in favour of a more unique singular vision, capturing his characters in wide, painterly tableaux; a claustrophobic cityscape bathed in soot, lamplight, and steam. The figures that populate this world – pale, melancholy, monotone – strike iconographic poses and utter sparse dialogue with the studied minimalism of the characters in Straub/Huillet's films. Though these figures tend to be posed fixed in the frame, or else move slowly across carefully telegraphed and predetermined lines of motion, the camera tracks around them with the graceful ease of Raoul Ruiz's. The traces of linear plot progression that drive the trilogy disintegrate entirely, in favour of a free-associative succession of moments, rich in texture or psychodramatic affect.
Although the autobiographical element of Davies' cinema is pronounced, verisimilitude is not a primary concern of his. Memories are condensed, reimagined, fractured, and they are interspersed with dreams, fantasies, and allusions to other artworks, both cinematic and otherwise (Davies' claimed largest inspiration on his early work is the poetry T.S. Eliot), as well as events borrowed from the lives of friends and family members. Indeed, Distant Voices, Still Lives tells a story deeply inspired by Davies' childhood in which the Davies figure is himself removed, instead focusing solely on the tribulations of his older siblings. Davies, in the DVD commentary, explained that this was his way of making up for their omission from The Trilogy, which imagined his childhood from the perspective of a single child. Certain moments, associated with Davies' own biography, are repeatedly evoked across his films, but in various configurations. A young person watching silently, helplessly as their family members are abused by a stern patriarch (The Trilogy, Distant Voices, Still Lives, Sunset Song), suicide attempts (Sunset Song, The Deep Blue Sea), the lingering effects the painful efforts of former soldiers to re-adapt to civilian life (explicitly thematised in The Deep Blue Sea and Distant Voices, but repeatedly referenced in many others), the rigours of a Catholic institutional education (The Trilogy, The Long Day Closes, Sunset Song), the inaugural infidelity of the female partner (The Trilogy, The Deep Blue Sea, The House of Mirth), self-imposed chastity (The Trilogy, A Quiet Passion); the contradictory feelings of grief and relief that result from the death of an overbearing, abusive member of a family (Sunset Song, Distant Voices, The Trilogy). All of these leave the viewer a sensation of either intense trauma or ecstasy, as if it was the intensity of feeling left by them in Davies' mind that made their externalization in the form of fiction a necessity.
Davies has publicly rejected the categorization of his work by many critics into the genre of British social realist cinema. In a recent interview, he described the work of the "kitchen sink" realists as being "the product of someone from the middle class slumming it. There's never been any film which has really done it […] So it's seeing little bits of little films that you think, "Yes, that little scene captured just something, an echo of what it was like." But I can't think of any film that really captured what it felt like to be working class because working-class people didn't make movies." I'll leave Davies' criticisms of the subgenre as a whole an unopened can of words for the moment, but his rejection of linear plotting and straightforward characterization as a means to capture the nuances of a particular social milieu is revealing of his process. As in the late films of Ruiz (or, indeed, the other great cinematic Terrence – Malick), Davies' cinema is devoted to revealing the nuances of human memory and the abstract ebb and flow of reminisces – with memories being trigged by sounds, locations, patterns, colours, actions, or pieces of speech. Instead of building a linear structure based on traditional scenes and rising action, Davies compiles collages consisting of self-contained sketches – sometimes compressed, sometimes drawn out. The relationship of these moments to one another usually isn't immediately clear, but they form a loose shape in retrospect.
In a late sequence of The Long Day Closes, Bud's older brother and his girlfriend are speaking, framed by a wooden door. Their dialogue is inaudible. The door, with its obscuring glass windows, is slowly closed by an unseen force, coming to abstract them into silhouettes. Music overtakes the soundscape. The pale green walls are lit solely with flickering lamplight. The two kiss. It's at this point that Davies cut to a reaction shot, Bud, standing at the bottom of the steps, his back to the camera yet turning over his shoulder, his visage half-obscured by shadow. It's one of the few uses of reverse shot in Davies, yet, unusually, he connects the shots through 180-degree cutting, and places the subjects of both shots at the centre. This central idea of an alienated adolescent, attempting to reconcile his forbidden sexual urges with the values of an oppressive social system and a strict Catholic background, will occur repeatedly in Davies' cinema, which favours characters who experience particular cultures from the sidelines. This is why the image of a character gazing through a windowpane is such a common theme in Davies; the window is a frame that can both protect the individual and isolate him, at the edge of experience, again, like in Vermeer.
The Long Day Closes (1992)
In Davies' world, sing-alongs become a public glue, unifying characters amongst differing social classes, political spectrums, and personal temperaments, however briefly. Like the characters in Joyce's Dubliners, Davies' figures are united by their shared fascination with the consummation and performance of popular songs. The centrality of song is most explicit in Distant Voices, Still Lives, which has been described as a "social realist musical," a bipolar movie that swings back and forth between the ecstasy of song and searing emotional pain. Significant social rituals are marked and sanctified by a community (sometimes micro, sometimes macro) coming together in song: Agnes' Fordian wedding ceremony in Sunset Song; a crowd of terrified Londoners hiding in a subway platform from a blitz attack in The Deep Blue Sea, erupting into an impromptu performance of "Molly Malone"; an idyllic family Christmas over-layered with hymns in The Long Day Closes). Society, in Davies' view, is a double-edged sword; although its codes and conventions imprison his protagonists, instilling in them a sense of guilt and doubt that ensures their exclusion, it also provides a valuable sense of structure and belonging that creates the few moments of pleasure for his characters – public holidays such as birthdays, weddings, and Christmas celebrations are the locus points of familial warmth. These scenes tend to be shot frontally, with a sense of formal theatricality, emphasizing their status as predetermined social rituals. This paradoxical sense of closeness, which also reminds the protagonist of their own deeper alienation, is summed up in the sequence of The Deep Blue Sea that sees a bustling group sing-along to Jo Stafford's "You Belong to Me" in a local pub, which pans right to left before coming to fix on Hester, who is sitting silently with a half-smile. The shot ends on a somewhat sour note, as Freddie pushes her to join in. Davies then cross-fades to a frontal wide shot of the two slow-dancing in profile, with Stafford's recording now taking over the soundscape as the camera tracks in to frame them in a medium. Davies' planimetric framing and expressionistic lighting lends a sense of rigidity to private spaces, often giving living rooms and local pubs the appearance of theatre stages.
Davies' figures often appear deliberately arranged, a compositional factor made explicit in the opening scenes of Distant Voices, which introduces its central characters as they look directly toward the camera, posed for a family photograph – though the viewer isn't aware of this fact until the flash goes off. Violence is staged with a similar sense of distance, as in a sequence of Sunset Song in which Peter Mullen's patriarch John whip his son Will in a barn several times for blaspheming. Davies holds on a static medium-wide shot, placing the son just off centre of the foreground while his father stands in the background. Although the pain is deeply felt, both characters remain stone-faced; Will maintaining a straight expression in an effort to hide his anger and John appearing impassive as if simply carrying out a parental duty. The camera's placidity when faced with suffering takes on a kind of relentless stoicism, refusing to cut from or even register the shock and trauma. Even after the lashings have ended and John leaves the frame, Davies' camera lingers, watching as the cracks start to take hold of Will's façade. Although they often look at us directly, Davies' characters remain opaque – it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what a character is thinking at any moment, as in the films of Pedro Costa. Yet, because of their unknowability, Davies aestheticizes his characters' emotions through light, texture, and colour.
Sunset Song
Betraying his fascination with Ophüls, Welles, and late Ford, Davies tends to structure his compositions around wide-angle lenses, distant camera positions, large swaths of negative space, and weighty, methodical camera movements. Tracking shots and pans are a trademark of Davies' style, but he rarely moves his camera in tandem with his subjects; he either moves toward an empty space (e.g., the opening shot of Distant Voices, which involves the camera creeping forward across an empty hallway in a suburban home and then, upon reaching the far wall, rotating around and tracking back toward the front door), or moves in direct opposition to his characters' movements across the space. Davies – who can be described as a cultural conservative but never a simple nostalgist – wears his affection for his forgotten eras on his sleeve, generally eschewing close-ups in favour of wide, deep-focus compositions that place his characters within a meticulously recreated visual environment and draws the viewer's attention to the minor details of the mise-en-scene. Davies frames mostly in cramped, shadowy interiors, with staircases, windowpanes, and doorframes being prominent recurring visual elements. It's hard to think of a contemporary filmmaker, aside from Pedro Costa, who is so interested in the shapes different shades of light throw across a partly lit room – recall the radical sequence in The Long Day Closes in which Davies stops the action dead in its tracks to focus the camera, in a single, static shot, on the shifting light patterns on Bud's bedroom rug as the sun rises. As with the aforementioned filmmakers, this creates an aesthetic that feels untethered from the subjectivity of any particular character, but is instead guided by the invisible hand of an omniscient author.
The bare facts of Davies' biography and the key figures in his life – his strong sense of Catholic guilt, his nostalgia; his abusive paterfamilias, and his death early in Davies' childhood; his angelic mother; his supportive network of siblings – fill his films, to varying extents and in diverse ways, even within this period, which sees real-world figures and the protagonists of existing dramatic works become locus points of Davies' pet themes. Following his autobiographical trilogy, Davies would go on to his adaptation phase (with the notable exception of his sole documentary, Of Time and the City). His idiosyncratic takes on John Kennedy Toole's The Neon Bible, Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, Terence Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea and Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Sunset Song neglect fidelity to their source material in favour of using these texts as vehicles to explore his pet themes. The classicism of Davies' work during this period evokes Ford, De Oliveira, Von Sternberg, Renoir, Dreyer, Murnau, Borzage, and countless Baroque paintings. Yet Davies doesn't foreground his cinephilia – he crafts images that, though highly aestheticized, are charged with emotionality and the immediacy of the present moment. Previously adapted by Anatole Litvak, Davies' reworking of Terrence Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea compresses the play's first act into an elliptical, nearly silent montage, detailing Hester's failing marriage to her husband, Sir William, a wealthy judge several decades her senior, and the development of her affair with Freddie, an erratic RAF pilot clearly suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress following his involvement in the First World War. Davies begins the narrative, like Rattigan, with a sequence depicting Hester's failed suicide attempt, but where Rattigan is concerned with the dynamics of plot, structuring the action over the mystery of what led Hester to pursue such a desperate action. Davies flattens the action, jumbling the chronology and reducing the dramatic tension.
Most of Davies' films are about identity formation, either taking as their subject an adolescent desperate to determine what place they will hold in the world (The Trilogy, The Long Day Closes, Distant Voices, Still Lives) or adults who abruptly reject their established lives and must painfully navigate the fallout that follows (The House of Mirth, The Deep Blue Sea, A Quiet Passion, The Neon Bible). In The Deep Blue Sea, Hester falls for Freddie, abandons her social life; realizes that the relationship is one-sided, that to him she is little more than a conquest; and is ejected into a societal limbo, pitied by the two men, sympathized with by no one. Davies' films rarely end happily, and when they do, it's because Davies lingers on a fleeting moment of comfort, rather than because his narratives have come to a definitive, positive end. The solemnity of Davies' characters – even in moments of ostensible joy – suggests an awareness on their part that their culture, along with the costumes, music, and social mores Davies lingers on, will soon come to an end. Their social fabric is haunted by the wreckage – more emotional/existential than physical – of the Second World War – and informed by an awareness of its own obsolescence. Accordingly, Davies is muted and reverent, as though realising the enormous weight that comes with using cinema to make a dead era come alive, sing, and hurt. When Bud walks with his family through a luminous funfair, the artificial lights in the background abstracted by the low depth of field (a rarity in Davies) into an abstract wash of colour and shapes, the joy feels more sensuous, more immediate, because it is bookened by moments of pain. At the end of The Long Day Closes, Bud finds comfort in talking to another classmate about an astronomy lesson in which he learned that if a person were to shine a flashlight directly into the sky, it would go on forever. As they sit on Bud's roof, framed by two brick columns, their backs occupying the foreground, the background is filled with the otherworldly glow of the clouds shifting as the sun sets, a composition that recalls<|fim_middle|>004
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a Studio Hyperset expression · Design by Irina Beffa · Theme Art by Jim McDermott | Manuel De Oliveira. In a more conventional film, the camera would cut closer to emphasize this moment of connection. Davies, however, tracks beyond the human figures and focuses on the sky itself, holding on it for four full minutes, moves back to make room for this growing passion; energy expands, taking up more space, and so the camera tracks out. The mundanity of the everyday moment is lent a heightened sense of grandiosity when placed in a cosmic context.
The Long Day Closes
A passionate yet fragile woman's self-destructive attachment to abusive men is also at the centre of Sunset Song. Although seemingly more classical in its construction than Davies' previous films, the radical ellipses and low-key abstractions communicate a unique and deeply considered worldview, as in late Ford. Elegantly summed up in the words of Chris' school friend (in the type of plainspoken poetry that has come to define Davies' dialogue), "there are lovely things in the world. Lovely that don't endure. And they're lovelier for that." The circular nature of history and the ways in which a person is tied to his culture through language and environment are at the forefront of the narrative here. Davies' preoccupation with the transience of the present moment takes centre stage. All of society is a constant ebb and flow; fashions, habits, social structures are constantly shifting, but the essential human impulses these external markers express remain essentially the same. Though certain moments linger strong in one's memory, we are in actuality propelled forward by unknowable currents; all of creation is forever in motion. Irrational chaos can erupt at any instant, but will ultimately be quelled by the balance of time's passage. Sunset Song, his first to take place within a rural landscape, contrasts the relative pettiness of his character's concerns with the permanence of the land. Human connections are fleeting, and every negative feeling with be smoothed out by the relentless march of time, as, again, in late Ford. Chris is a bit of a masochist; her life is structured as a series of cycles of attraction and abuse; she is thus a perfect character to demonstrate a desire for stability amidst the relentless forward passage of time. Davies treats his heroine's life as being fairly ordinary, yet lends it the weight of myth by contextualizing it within the everlasting continuum of the shifting land of the northeastern Scotland countryside. Gibbon's novel begins with a brief description of the history of the area, compressing centuries worth of history into a few pages, skimming from the mid twelfth century to the early twentieth, before zeroing in on Chris' experience. Davies creates a similar sense of weight through a simple crane shot, overwhelming the screen with images of a wheat field, before locating Chris in the space and twirling around her, at once emphasizing her connection to the land and her comparative ephemerality.
Chris is a largely passive character. She spends most of the narrative being pushed into circumstances by the men around her with an attitude of quiet acceptance – her one defining action is in fact an omission, doing nothing when she could have offered help to her ailing father, resulting in his death. Chris narrates her story with bone-dry, storybook-simple voice-over narration. Davies is prodding at the distinction between lived experience and the recitation of stories about life, making a point of reminding us of these squabbling humans' smallness in relation to the land on which they work, love, reproduce, age, and die. She is a character that could be described through the maxim of Marty Mahr from Ford's The Long Gray Line – "persist, persist." If Davies finds a sense of tragic heroism in Chris' cultural sensitivity, sustenance, and strength of character – in this sense, Chris recalls the tyrannized earth mothers of Davies' early work – the authoritarian rigidness of her father John and, later, her husband Ewan represents the cyclical nature of patriarchal violence rampart in her community.
Davies' protagonists tend to be masochistic – they unconsciously relive the tragedies of their past through co-dependent cycles of abuse. In Sunset Song, Chris brings a tray of food into a barn to a male ranch worker. Failing to find him, she places the tray on the ground, and Davies' camera tracks down in tandem with her movements. Instead of panning back up as she does, the image remains focused on her ankles, and the worker enters the frame, crawling as though propelled by a primal pull, from the right, wrapping his arms around her legs, gently caressing and licking them, and pulling down her socks partway. As elsewhere in Davies, the erotic impulse is tied to guilt, self-hatred, uncertainty. The camera cuts to one of Davies' rare tight close-ups as Chris stands there completely still, ambiguous as to whether she is paralyzed in fear or enjoying the experience. She pulls away, leaving the worker cowering in the hay like a feral creature, watching her go before sliding back into the darkness. We see such paradoxical mixtures of sex and shame throughout Davies work: in Madonna and Child, Robert is in the confession booth, abstracted by Davies' camera into a blackened non-space, only faces visible, which triggers a memory of a homosexual encounter in an identical chamber – a space sanctified, now desecrated – as Robert performs fellatio on a large man whose face is similarly obscured – this time with an S&M mask. In The Long Day Closes, Bud prays at a chapel while having painful, vivid mental images of Jesus being hammered to the cross, his bare torso lingered on and eroticized until, at the end of the sequence, the man screams directly into the lens, jarring Bud out of his stupor. Following this, Davies then cuts to Chris standing before her bedroom mirror, naked, studying her own form as if in awe of her awakening sexuality and the power her body is able to hold over the men around her, as in Bresson's Four Nights of a Dreamer.
The final stretch of Sunset Song stands, to this writer's eyes, as one of the most profoundly metaphysical moments of twenty-first-century cinema. Davies' cinema has always been preoccupied with how material objects, particularly spaces, come to be material embodiments of memories, dreams, the remembrances of things past. Here, a simple shift in light in Chris' dining room seems to be the embodiment of Ewan's spirit, as if by replicating the material conditions he once occupied, he can be briefly resurrected; Davies cross-dissolves to a wide, richly textured landscape shot of the Scottish countryside at dusk, the horizon bisecting the frame, and then to a reverse shot of Chris, wrapped in a shawl, gazing outward at the point where land meets sky. A classical Scottish tune overwhelms the soundscape as Davies cuts to an abstract image of a man playing the bagpipes, perched atop a steep hill, framed in profile, transformed by the harsh background light into a silhouette, taking on an eternal, mythic quality. It recalls Mary Mahr's death in The Long Gray Line, wherein a single gesture sees the life drain from her body, as she moves from one existence to the next – not an afterlife (Davies and Ford are too secular in their filmmaking for an afterlife to be realized explicitly) but a new form of existence in the memories of those who knew them, as physical particles returning to the land, as the physical objects that carry echoes of their life, and their endurance in the larger culture.
— James Slaymaker
James Slaymaker is a filmmaker, author, and freelance critic from Dorset, England. In addition to being a staff writer for the online journal Alternate Takes, his work has appeared in MUBI Notebook, Film International, Popmatters, Senses of Cinema, McSweeney's, The Vulgar Cinema, and others. He's also a contributor to the upcoming book Hard to Get: The Films and Female Characters of Howard Hawks, and is working on a book about the life and cinema of Michael Mann.
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Addition of Scene Recognizer Feature: When the user points the camera in a specific direction the voiceover will tell them what is in front of them, helping them navigate unfamiliar environments.
Specialists in computer vision and Machine learning who are base at the University of Lincoln, UK and funded by a Google Faculty Research Award are looking to embed a smart vision system in mobile devices. This would be to help people with vision disabilities navigate unfamiliar indoor environments.
Their work is based on preliminary work done on assistive technologies at the Lincoln Center for Autonomous Systems. The plan is to use color and depth sensor technology inside new smartphones and tablets to enable 3D mapping and localization, navigation and object recognition. The team is working to develop the best interface to relate the information to users.
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Pushing a shopping cart in a wheelchair is a Sisyphean task. However, those with limited mobility shopping at Publix may encounter a much easier experience, thanks to the newly redesigned shopping carts that are designed to hook onto the front of a wheelchair. 9-year-old Amaria Borders, who gets around in her sporty pink wheelchair, was overjoyed with excitement at being able to shop like others she sees in the store. Her mother, Tiffany Borders, couldn't be happier, remarking "For a long time, I wouldn't let her push the buggy, because it was hard. Her wheelchair would always knock it around, so when we saw this buggy, it was like, 'Yes! Something just for her.'" The redesigned carts will gradually replace the existing assistive ones in store, and include lowered edges to make it easier for shoppers to deposit items and pick them out of the cart.
Android and iOS Gesture References
By Mark Miller on November 28, 2017
Need a little help working with gestures when you turn on Talkback and Explore by Touch on your Android device? How about using gestures with VoiceOver in iOS? Here are a couple of reference sheets to help you handle those gestures like a pro:
Talkback and Explore Gesture Reference
VoiceOver Gesture Reference
Google is requiring developers explain how their apps properly use Accessibility Service to help people with disabilities in order to keep their requests for Accessibility Services. Noncompliance will mean the removal of the app from the Play Store. This is separate from the effort to make an app conform to the WCAG 2.0 Level AA guidelines. Some sites, such as Android Police, have speculated that this initiative could largely be due to security.
Read more on Google's new requirement on 9TO5Google.
IAP 2017-E4: iPhoneX
By Mark Miller on October 9, 2017
Jeremy and Mark have a fund discussion about the accessibility of the iPhoneX especially as it relates to the facial recognition feature.
The Interactive Accessibility Podcast (IAP) is an entertaining approach to accessibility. We enjoy sharing our discussions on accessibility and how it relates to technology, real-life issues, information, businesses, and people with disabilities.
Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, played a video that focused on the accessibility features of Apple's products. Paulson, a woman with cerebral palsy, starred in the video. But that was just the beginning; using Switch Control to interact with her computer, Paulson edited the entire video, too.
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iOS & Android Screen Reader Gesture Reference Cheatsheet in French
By Mark Miller on July 1, 2015
In April Interactive Accessibility's CEO Kathy Wahlbin posted a blog with iOS and Android Screen Reader Gesture Reference Cheatsheets. The blog caught the attention of a French accessibility blog, Atalan Le Blog. We shared the Cheatsheets with them and they translated them to French. We've made the French versions available to you here:
The release of new features for the first smartwatch app for people with vision disabilities was announced by Novartis Pharmaceuticals. The smartwatch app call ViaOpta is a turn-by-turn navigation app that allows users to navigate daily life with greater ease and fits seamlessly into their existing routines.
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Find information about it
Set Navigation to it
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ViaOpta Daily:
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Breathing related sleep<|fim_middle|>. | disorders are often diagnosed in conjunction with TMJ disorders so many of our sleep specialists also treat patients with TMJ issues.
Bite splints are often used in patients who suffer from oral parafunctions, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction or temporomandibular disorders (TMD). The most common reason for prescribing a TMJ splint is to protect the teeth in patients with bruxism, to improve jaw muscle and TMJ function and to relieve pain. Symptoms in such patients include tension headaches, neck and shoulder pain. The goal of these splints is to protect the TMJ disks from dysfunctional forces that may lead to perforations or permanent displacements. They also aim to improve a patients jaw-muscle function and relieve associated pain.
This is a very popular splint which covers the posterior teeth allowing for increased tongue space.
In a very similar way to the Gelb MORA this device covers the lingual anterior teeth to avoid super eruption.
The device covers all the occlusal surfaces of the teeth to give a more balanced bite | 215 |
Appraising the "Merger Price" Appraisal Rule
Posted by Albert Choi, Virginia Law School, and Eric Talley, Columbia Law School, on
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Acquisitions, Agency costs, Appraisal rights, Arbitrage, Auctions, Boards of Directors, Delaware articles, Delaware law, Fair values, Firm valuation, Merger litigation, Mergers & acquisitions, Shareholder value, Shareholder voting
More from: Albert Choi, Eric Talley
Albert Choi is the Albert C. BeVier Research Professor of Law at the University of Virginia Law School; Eric Talley is the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. This post is based on their recent paper and<|fim_middle|> veto rights upon the elimination of unanimity voting rules for acquisitions in the early 1900s. See, e.g., Thompson, supra, at 3-4 (1995). The "fit" between the timing of appraisal's introduction and the elimination of unanimity mandates, however, casts significant doubt on that common narrative. See id. at 14-15. Moreover, the significant heterogeneity in statutes—both across jurisdictions and over time—appears inconsistent with a single, monolithic, consensus purpose. Levmore, Saul & Hideki Kanda, "The Appraisal Remedy and the Goals of Corporate Law." UCLA Law Review 32:429-73, 431-2 (1985). Regardless of appraisal's original intent, most believe that the liquidity preservation goal eventually faded, emancipating appraisal to be deployed for other (heterogeneous) aims. Thompson, for example, reports 11 years' worth of appraisal action data (1984-1994) reflecting a large set of circumstances, ranging from close corporations (13.1%) to public-company minority freeze-outs (35.7%) to cash acquisitions of widely-held public targets (25.0%). Thompson, supra, at 27.(go back) | is part of the Delaware law series; links to other posts in the series are available here.
In a new working paper, we consider the question of how best to measure "fair value" in a post-merger appraisal proceeding. Our inquiry spotlights an approach recently embraced by Delaware courts, which pegs fair value at the merger price itself (at least in certain situations). Using an economic framework that combines auction design, agency costs and shareholder voting, we assess how this "Merger Price" (MP) rule stacks up against alternative approaches (such as DCF) that are not benchmarked against the merger price.
Our analysis shows that as a general matter, the MP rule tends to depress both acquisition prices and target shareholders' expected welfare relative to both an optimal appraisal rule and several other plausible alternatives. In fact, we demonstrate that the MP rule is strategically equivalent to nullifying the appraisal right altogether. Although the MP rule may be warranted in certain circumstances, our analysis suggests that such conditions are unlikely to be widespread, and—consequently—the rule should be employed with caution. Our framework also helps explain why a majority of litigated appraisal cases using conventional fair-value measures result in valuation assessments exceeding the deal price—an equilibrium phenomenon that stems from rational, strategic behavior (and not from an institutional deficiency, as some commentators have suggested). Finally, our analysis illuminates the strategic and efficiency implications of a variety of appraisal-related related phenomena, such as Delaware's new "medium-form" merger statute, blow provisions, drag-alongs, and "naked no-vote" fees.
In mergers and acquisitions law, the appraisal right affords target-company shareholders an option of eschewing the terms of an acquisition in favor of receiving a judicially determined cash valuation for their shares. All states provide this statutory option in some form or another for many—but not all—transactions. In eligible cases, appraisal gives dissenting shareholders a potentially powerful tool to counter deal terms that they believe to be inadequate or under-compensatory. Although public company targets have historically faced appraisal actions only rarely, the procedure has grown significantly more popular and prevalent in recent years, driven substantially by sophisticated investors and hedge funds.
Appraisal proceedings are far less popular, by contrast, among judges who preside over them. Courts in appraisal cases face the vexing challenge of distilling mountains of financial and technical data into a single, equitable determination of "fair value." The judge usually cannot dodge this responsibility on procedural grounds, cannot hand the job off to a jury, and cannot take refuge in traditional jurisprudential heuristics—such as evidentiary burdens of proof. Rather, the typical appraisal proceeding allocates no explicit burden of proof and requires the court to deliver a single number at the end of the process. Testimony in such proceedings adds little comfort, dominated by prolix technical reports from litigant-retained experts whose valuation opinions can diverge by as much as an order of magnitude. Especially for judges who are unfamiliar with the minutiae of asset pricing, fair valuation can be a formidable beast to wrangle.
In a series of recent appraisal cases, [1] the Delaware Chancery Court has deployed a jurisprudential verónica of sorts—summoning a doctrine that sidesteps this valuation challenge substantially (if not altogether). Specifically, the Court has proven increasingly willing to use the merger price itself as evidence (and sometimes the decisive piece of evidence) of fair value. To date, the "Merger Price" (MP) rule has not been utilized categorically, but instead seems confined largely to settings where the transaction "resulted from a competitive and fair auction, which followed a more-than-adequate sales process and involved broad dissemination of confidential information to a large number of prospective buyers." Nevertheless, even in deals that engage a single bidder in bilateral negotiations, courts increasingly accord the merger price "substantial evidentiary weight" when the transaction "resulted from an arm's-length process between two independent parties, and…no structural impediments existed that might materially distort—the crucible of objective market reality." In fact, several advocates (and at least some academic commentators) have sought to impel the MP rule further in this direction, arguing that courts should defer "entirely" to the merger price when it is the product of a reasonable and disinterested process.
The concept underlying the MP rule is easy enough to articulate: it posits that "The Market" delivers the best indication of fair value, so long as the deal price is a product of reasonable arm's-length negotiations. Put differently, the MP rule grows out of the (seemingly intuitive) economic intuition that a fully shopped deal provides adequate pricing protection to target shareholders, and that in such cases market price is a better bellwether of value than a judge's often arbitrary, error-prone, and inaccurate accounting.
Sounds simple, right?
Not so fast. Our working paper demonstrates that the intuition underlying the MP rule—while sound in certain respects—is less general and more fragile than it first appears. Specifically, we show that the rule is defensible on economic grounds only in relatively narrow set of circumstances that can be demanding, in practice, to meet; and in any event, such circumstances are difficult to diagnose without the court going much of the way to value the firm using more conventional measures. Consequently, if the primary benefit of the MP approach is judicial cost savings, the approach may frequently be self-defeating.
Our argument begins by highlighting a critical flaw in the economic logic that purports to undergird the MP rule: the presumption that "The Market" operates separately and independently from the underlying legal environment. On first principles alone, this presumption is generally false; market outcomes and laws governing markets are fundamentally intertwined. Markets—and particularly robust markets—reflect participants' expectations about the future, related to earnings, costs, new business opportunities, and the like. But healthy markets also reflect participants' expectations about the very legal environment in which markets operate. Change that legal environment, and expectations will change; change expectations, and market prices soon follow. It is a fundamental economic misconception, therefore, to presume that a market price—even one produced by a seemingly robust market—is an autonomous oracle of worth, untethered to expectations related to (and affected by) law.
While the interdependency of market price and legal environment is known to implicate many fields of practice, it carries particular bite in the appraisal context: for a court's approach to assessing fair value in appraisal affects not only what dissenting shareholders receive ex post, but also how the merger is priced and approved (or not) ex ante. Indeed, the outside option of seeking post-merger appraisal alters shareholders' receptivity to an announced deal, effectively committing them to a "reserve price" of sorts for the sale, at an amount tied to the anticipated appraisal remedy. Under plausible conditions, this de facto reserve price can protect shareholders' interests better than either a shareholder approval requirement, or reliance on management's incentives to design a profit maximizing auction. Sophisticated buyers, moreover, anticipate this effect, and may well modify their bids in response, adjusting them upward to meet (or get close to) the appraisal reserve price, secure shareholder approval, and preempt widespread appraisal litigation. To the extent that appraisal value is pegged against independent factors (and not the merger price), a plausibly designed appraisal remedy can enhance value for all shareholders—even those who do not seek appraisal.
Under the MP rule, by contrast, this reserve-price effect collapses under its own weight. Indeed, the MP rule dictates that the value of shareholders' appraisal right floats up and down mechanically with the winning bid, regardless of the bid's evident adequacy under objective measures. Opting for appraisal, therefore, can never yield a dissenter any upside over the terms of the merger (and may introduce a downside in the form of legal costs). Consequently, prospective buyers need not fear that the winning bid will prove inadequate relative to the outside option of appraisal: for the winning bid is the outside option. Put simply, the MP rule functionally nullifies the appraisal right, and whatever value enhancing implications the reserve-price effect portends. So long as there exists some plausible alternative appraisal remedy that enhances shareholders' welfare ex ante—even if modestly—the MP rule cannot be optimal.
To demonstrate our claims, we analyze a canonical auction framework from game theory, involving a group of arm's-length buyers who may bid on a target firm. Our framework incorporates several features that are specific to the corporate acquisition process, including agency costs associated with the deal team's auction-design incentives, a shareholder voting requirement to close a signed deal, and a post-transaction appraisal remedy for dissenters. Using this framework, we compare equilibria under what we call "conventional" appraisal valuation approaches (where information unrelated to the winning bid is used to benchmark fair value) [2] to the MP rule (where appraisal value is pegged at the winning bid). Holding the number of bidders fixed, we show that the MP rule never generates a higher price than plausible conventional approaches, and more typically leads to a strictly lower price. Our results, moreover, extend beyond mere price, holding implications for expected shareholder welfare too: whenever any plausible conventional approach to valuation enhances ex ante shareholder value relative to no appraisal rights, the MP approach must necessarily be inferior. Although we identify some circumstances where the MP rule could conceivably be one of several optimal alternatives, these conditions appear difficult to satisfy in practice. Our analysis therefore counsels that the MP rule should be deployed—if at all—with caution.
Beyond this core contribution, our inquiry sheds light on a variety of debates among commentators and academics related to appraisal. Most notably, our model predicts that under a conventional appraisal rule, shareholders will—in equilibrium—seek appraisal only rarely, and typically only for mergers that offer relatively meager premiums. Moreover, in those instances where appraisal is sought, fair-value assessments will tend overwhelmingly to be skewed well above the deal price. Each of these predictions appears to have solid empirical support. Nevertheless, proponents of the MP rule frequently point to the upwards skew of appraisal awards over deal price as evidence of dysfunction in the process. Our analysis parts company with that conclusion: the upward skew we predict is nothing more than an artifact of rational, strategic decision making. When target shareholders expect the appraisal valuation to be lower than the merger consideration, they will simply decline to seek appraisal (even if they oppose the acquisition). We would therefore expect to see a qualitatively similar upward skew on appraisal awards regardless of whether the fair-value measure was set too high, too low, or just right by objective measures.
Our framework additionally illuminates the strategic and efficiency implications of several institutional devices that go beyond the MP rule, but which fundamentally bear on appraisal. For example, a popular deal structure for public-company targets in Delaware—and one where appraisal is usually available—involves a two-step acquisition that begins with a negotiated tender offer, followed immediately by an involuntary "squeeze out" merger of non-tendering shareholders at the same price. Historically, the second-step squeeze out functionally required at least 90-percent of target's shareholders to have tendered in the first stage. In 2013, however, Delaware amended its statutes to allow an alternative form of two-step merger, wherein the first step need only secure a bare 50-percent threshold before the squeeze out can commence. A central result of our analysis is that the MP rule can be optimal when the merger is conditioned on a strong super-majority approval of shareholders. This insight suggests that courts might similarly condition their valuation approach on the shareholder mandate sought. Traditional two-step, short-form deals requiring 90-percent support might receive the MP rule, while "medium-form" deals requiring a mere 50-percent might fall under more conventional approaches (such as DCF).
Moreover, our analysis facilitates the evaluation of several appraisal-related contractual provisions. For example, "drag-along" terms oblige shareholders to vote in favor of a merger when a sufficient fraction of shareholders favors the acquisition. "Naked no vote" terms require the target to pay a termination fee to the buyer should the deal be vetoed by shareholders. "Blow" provisions condition the buyer's duty to close a merger on a maximal threshold of shareholders seeking appraisal (frequently in the 10-20 percent range). Our analysis suggests that drag-alongs and naked no-vote provisions tend to dampen deal prices and target shareholder welfare, negating many of the beneficial attributes of appraisal. Blow provisions, in contrast, have more complex effects: Although a blow clearly rations appraisal's benefits to a select few target shareholders, it simultaneously establishes an implicit supermajority condition for the deal's consummation. As noted above, such supermajority conditions can often accomplish the same purpose as an optimal appraisal rule, pushing merger prices and shareholder welfare upwards. (In fact, the MP rule might even be optimal in the presence of an effective blow.)
There are several important caveats to our core argument that warrant explicit mention. First, although the price- and welfare-dampening attributes of the MP rule hold for auctions of any size, the quantitative magnitudes of these effects attenuate as the number of bidders grows. That is, the MP rule visits progressively smaller discounts on target share value as the bidder population expands. Consequently, when the number of bidders is endogenous to the seller's efforts to shop the deal, the appraisal rule can represent a compelling incentive device. For example, if the MP rule were available only after large and robust auctions, the seller's deal team may have a much stronger incentive to design an effective auction process. In such settings, shareholder welfare may well be higher when (a) numerous bidders participate but the MP rule nullifies appraisal rights, than when (b) relatively fewer bidders bid in the shadow of a bona fide appraisal right. Thus, were the MP rule strictly limited to "many-bidder" settings, its downside would be relatively modest (and its upside intriguing).
Second, as noted above, a standard knock against conventional valuation measures (such as DCF) is that they are prone to measurement error when utilized by judges who are not financial experts. Our analysis allows for this possibility. In fact, virtually all our arguments remain intact even when appraisal proceedings are subject to potentially severe judicial inaccuracy, so long as courts remain unbiased overall—that is, if the distribution of appraisal valuations remains stable and roughly predictable (even if subject to uncertainty in each individual case). The reason is simple: Much of the reserve-price benefit of appraisal inures to shareholders by enhancing buyers' willingness to pay higher premiums ex ante, so as to win affirmative votes and avoid appraisal. In the presence of judicial error, both the buyer's and the prospective dissenters' calculi change, replacing a predictable appraisal value with its expected value. But so long as error-prone courts remain unbiased overall, the substitution of expected values will have only marginal effects, and bidding and dissenting behaviors will remain largely unchanged. [3]
Finally, our paper focuses on an economic analysis of appraisal, assessing how different valuation approaches fare in enhancing target shareholder welfare (or in some cases, social efficiency). For this approach to have practical traction, it must also presuppose both (a) that economic considerations "matter" for appraisal jurisprudence, and (b) that the judicial outcome is not over-determined by other factors (such as statutory inflexibility, rigid precedent, or historical path dependence). As to the former presupposition, no one today seriously challenges the utility of economic considerations in clarifying unsettled issues of corporate law (even if disagreement remains about what other considerations deserve equal billing). Indeed, many commentators argue that appraisal law in particular should embrace the tenets of financial economics as a central normative commitment. As to the second presupposition, it seems unlikely that non-economic factors pre-ordain the outcome of most modern appraisal cases. Although appraisal statutes certainly contain some hard-and-fast imperatives, they are conspicuous both in what they leave unattended (e.g., how to compute fair value) and in their famously tortured linguistic indeterminacy. [4] The common-law interpretations that have sprung up around appraisal rights, moreover, appear analogously pliant. In the last half century alone, courts have invented (and then reinvented) major components of appraisal time and again, seemingly undaunted by inelastic precedent or statutory compulsion. These dalliances include—inter alia—articulating what set of approaches are permissible for fair valuation, what do and do not constitute deal synergies in an appraisal, whether to adjust fair value for implicit minority discounts, whether mixed cash and stock deals trigger appraisal rights, whether beneficial owners purchasing after the record date are eligible to seek appraisal, and whether such late-purchasing owners must demonstrate that their specific shares were not voted in favor of the merger. Even the underlying policy rationale for appraisal appears to be a contingent product of uncertain provenance and peripatetic evolution—one that appears to be unfolding even still. [5]
If the recent upsurge in appraisal actions represents a transformation of doctrine that invites us collectively to re-imagine its normative commitments (as several commentators now assert), then bona fide economic considerations deserve to be present in the room where it happens.
The full paper is available for download here.
1See, e.g., Merion Capital v. Lender Processing Services, C.A. No. 9320-VCL (Del. Ch. Dec. 16, 2016); Dunmire v. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, C.A. No. 10589-CB (Del. Ch. 2016); Merion Capital v. BMC Software, C.A. No. 8900-VCG (2015); Huff Fund Inv. P'ship v. CKx, Inc., 2013 WL 5878807 (Del. Ch. Nov. 1, 2013); In re Appraisal of Ancestry.com, 2015 WL 399726 (Del. Ch. Jan. 30, 2015); LongPath Capital LLC v. Ramtron International Corp., C.A. No. 8094-VCP (Del. Ch. June 30, 2015); Merlin Partners LP v. AutoInfo Inc., C.A. No. 8509-VCN (Del. Ch. Apr. 30, 2015); The Union Illinois 1995 Investment Limited Partnership v. Union Financial Group, Ltd., 847 A.2d 340 (Del. Ch. 2004).(go back)
2Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis is the predominant conventional approach today, but the class of conventional methods includes all other methods that are independent of Merger Price, such as comparable companies/transactions approaches, and even the old Delaware "block" method for valuation.(go back)
3Although the argument in the text presumes risk neutrality of the buyer and target shareholders, risk aversion can cause our results to grow even stronger. See our working paper for details.(go back)
4For instance, the "market-out" exception to appraisal—and the various exceptions to the exception—under DGCL § 262(b) are widely considered to be a poster child for philological nihilism. Accord Thompson, Robert B. "Exit, Liquidity, and Majority Rule: Appraisal's Role in Corporate Law." Georgetown L. J. 84:1-54, 30 (1995) (characterizing § 262(b) as embodying "the kind of double negative that should make any legislator's grammar teacher cringe").(go back)
5It is commonly asserted that appraisal statutes were originally intended as liquidity-preserving substitutes for shareholder | 4,084 |
Homer clumsily attempts to build Marge a spice rack. While he is doing so, Maggie sneaks up behind Homer and hits him on the head with a mallet, similar to the famed stabbing scene in the movie Psycho. Marge is initially clueless as to what would motivate Maggie to do such a deed, but then notices that, when Maggie sees an episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show, a cartoon which is known for its violence, she mimics its content. As a result, Marge immediately blames the makers of the show for Maggie's actions and bans Bart and Lisa from watching the show, but the two still manage to watch Itchy & Scratchy at their friends' houses. Marge writes a letter to the producers of the show asking them to tone down their violence, but in response, Roger Meyers, Jr.—the chairman of Itchy & Scratchy International—writes a letter to Marge, telling her one-person can not make a difference and calls her a "screwball". In response, Marge decides to "show what one screwball can do".
Marge forms "Springfieldians for Nonviolence, Understanding, and Helping" (SNUH as acronym), and forces the family to picket outside the Itchy & Scratchy Studios. Marge's protest gains momentum and soon more people join the group and even start to picket The Krusty the Klown Show, on which Itchy & Scratchy is shown. Marge appears on Kent Brock<|fim_middle|>y cartoons. Homer and Marge go to see David and Marge expresses her disappointment that the kids are at home watching "a cat and mouse disembowel each other" rather than seeing the sculpture. She cheers up when Homer tells her that the school will be forcing them to see the sculpture on a school trip. | man's show, Smartline where she confronts Roger Meyers over the violence and suggests that concerned parents send letters to Meyers. Many angry letters are sent to the Studio and Roger Meyers concedes defeat, and agrees to eliminate violence in Itchy & Scratchy. Eventually, a new short in which Itchy & Scratchy sit on a porch drinking lemonade airs, but Bart, Lisa, and other kids across Springfield reject the cleaned-up show. A lengthy montage follows, in which the children of Springfield go outside and engage in various wholesome activities and that night Bart and Lisa brag about their various outdoor activities while Marge listens happily.
Meanwhile, Michelangelo's David goes on a coast-to-coast tour of the United States, and Springfield is one of its scheduled destinations. The members of SNUH try to urge Marge to protest the sculpture, insisting that it is offensive and unsuitable. However, Marge, being an artist herself, reveals that she believes that the sculpture is a masterpiece. While appearing on Smartline, Marge admits that it is wrong to censor one form of art but not another, and sadly concludes that while one person can make a difference, at the end of the day they probably should not. Freed from public protest, Itchy & Scratchy immediately returns to its old form and Springfield's children abandon their wholesome activities and return to spending every day indoors watching the violent Itchy & Scratch | 287 |
The city of St. Augustine will be celebrating its 450th anniversary on September 8, 2015. The St. Augustine Commemoration Commission was established by the passing of legislation crafted by Sen. Mel Martinez and introduced by Sen. Bill Nelson in March 2<|fim_middle|> to commemorate the diversity of our past and the long journey to become the nation we are today. The Department of the Interior will work closely with the commission to ensure an appropriate commemoration that celebrates the city and honors its history.
The City of St. Augustine has established a website for following the developments of the planning and events that will begin in 2012 and culminate in 2015 with the 450th celebration. Beach to River will be following the events and news closely as well. This is an exciting time to be proud residents of St. Augustine, Florida – the nation's oldest city!
Share with the nation and the world the important role St. Augustine played in the making of America.
Tell the story of St. Augustine's 450 years of rich multicultural history and an enduring people.
Create engaging programs that will draw national and international visitors to St. Augustine and St. Johns County.
Previous post St Augustine Style Thanksgiving Dessert – Baklava! | 009 as part of the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009. The commission is responsible for organizing state and local activities to commemorate the 450th anniversary of St. Augustine, the oldest European-established city in the United States of America.
The story of St. Augustine is an integral part of the story of America, and the 450th anniversary of the city's founding is an opportunity | 87 |
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Kitayama Brothers was founded in 1945 by brothers Tom and Ray Kitayama. Younger brothers Ted and Kee soon came on board and by the late 1950s Kitayama had grown to become the largest carnation grower in the United States. By the late 1970's, Kitayama Brothers was the largest greenhouse grower in the entire US with over 5 million square feet of greenhouse. They produced mainly roses.
In response to the current influx of cheap offshore-grown flowers (especially roses), Kitayama Brothers has had period of large overhaul, transition and re-invention. Market saturated flower crops such as carnations and roses, once their specialities and main bread winners, were abandoned, their roots literally pulled up out of precious greenhouse space. In their place came a new generation of novelty crops; lisianthus, bells of island, gerberas, gardenias, asiatic lilies. Kitayama brothers began to focus on their growing expertise and on flowers varieties that<|fim_middle|> hot days by opening vents in the roofs rather than with fans and forced air. Warm greenhouses have twin wall roofs and greenhouses with heat or shade curtains reducing the use of energy.
Plants are watered from on-site wells and, in collaboration with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, they are constructing a rain harvesting system. The goal will be to allowing rain run-off from several greenhouse to be collected in a lined pond and reused to irrigate the plants throughout the winter. | needed a level of excellence in quality to compete with downward price pressure.
And Kitayama Brothers also takes it upon themselves to be good stewards of the the land that they work. Their strict standards of sustainability and care for the environment include regular crop rotation, helping to replenish and nourish the soil, the use of soil microbes rather than chemical insecticides to keep pests and diseases down and even yellow sticky tape rather than spray for flying insects!
Minimizing energy use is also constantly taken into account with greenhouses being cooled on | 107 |
The 18th century was initiated with yet another war between Denmark and Sweden. For Denmark the war was brief, but for Sweden it was the beginning of the Great Nordic War, which Denmark became part of again from 1709. In 1720 Denmark and Sweden made peace, and the last war between the two countries was over. Sweden was now reduced to a power on a level with Denmark, but Denmark also had to give up hope of reconquering Scania.
During the reign of Frederik IV Pietism, a puritan religious movement, began to gain a footing in Denmark, and Denmark began missionary work in Greenland.
The beginning of the 18th century marked the beginning of another period with much Royal building activity. Frederiksberg Palace was inaugurated in 1703, and in 1722 the opening of Fredensborg Palace followed. Rosenborg, on the other hand, was abandoned as a Royal residence. Baroque was still the dominating style, but the influence came increasingly from Italy and France, and the new Rococo style was beginning to gain influence.
The bathroom was closed in 1705-1706 and converted into a room for Frederik IV and Queen Louise, in connection with their shared bedroom.
Magnus Berg, painter and ivory-cutter, was born in Romsdalen in Norway. He went to Copenhagen in 1690, where he was introduced to Christian V.
Small equestrian silver statuette of<|fim_middle|>. | Frederik IV, presented to the King as a New Year present by Queen Louise in 1701. It was made in Copenhagen by the King's goldsmith, Andreas Normand.
'The Water', centrepiece of ivory, gilt bronze, silver, and glass | 56 |
You won't see Stevenson senior Parker Nichols at the top of the scoring list for the top-ranked Patriots, and he is just fine with that.
Where you will typically find Nichols is under the basket, and even sometimes flat on his back on the defensive end. Of course, he does it for the betterment of the Patriots defense, but he has a hidden agenda as well<|fim_middle|> and finished with 15 boards and 6 assists.
"Jalen (Brunson), Matt -- all the starters really do a good job trusting each other and finding the hot hand," Cashaw said.
The Zee-Bees, who were led by Tennessee-bound senior Admiral Schofield's game best 23 points, kept the game within manageable margins in the third quarter, cutting the game to 12 -- but could not get any close than that.
"We built like a 12-, 13-point lead and put ourselves in control," Ambrose said. "In the second half we kind of coughed it up a few times, but in the end we were able to stay in control."
Brunson chipped in 18 points for the Patriots and Justin Smith added 11. Damarquis Henry added 13 points for Zion-Benton. | .
"Coach (Ambrose) said if I draw two charges in a game I get pizza," Nichols said.
So what does Nichols get after drawing 5 charges in an 81-56 win over Zion-Benton in a North Suburban Conference Lake division game at home Friday night?
"I don't know," Nichols said with a smile. "We might have to talk about that one."
Nichols' presence was felt on the very first possession for Zion-Benton. As Jaalen Ray drove the lane, Nichols was right there to draw the first charge of the night and give Stevenson possession.
"He easily could have had two or three more tonight," said Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose. "He is like an anchor back there for us."
Nichols earned high praise from Rice-bound senior Connor Cashaw.
"I've been stressing it all year," Cashaw said. "Parker is one of the greatest defenders I have played with. He does all the things that won't end up on the stat sheet but on the defensive end he does so many things."
Offensively, Stevenson (14-1, 5-0) relied heavily on the 3-point shot, and senior Matt Johnson got the offense going early. He hit three in the first quarter as the Patriots opened up a 21-13 advantage. Johnson finished with 20 points, including five 3s.
When the defense for Zion (9-4, 1-3) stepped out to the shooters, Cashaw took advantage inside. He scored 17 of his team best 21 points in the second half to break the game open | 333 |
Dorothy L. Sayers, detective novelist, poet, scholar, playwright, and Christian apologist, spent the last fourteen years of her life reading and translating Dante's 'Divine Comedy'. The first two volumes of her translation, 'Hell' and 'Purgatory', were published during her lifetime, but when she died in 1957<|fim_middle|> for her services to Italian studies. She also holds three honorary doctorates. She is now residing in Cambridge, England. | the third volume, 'Paradise', was unfinished. It was completed by her friend Barbara Reynolds.
Thirty years later Barbara Reynolds wrote this book, the first full-length study of this illuminating stage in the creative life of Dorothy Sayers. Drawing on personal reminiscences and unpublished letters, she tells a moving and compelling story. The work explores the dynamic impact of Dante upon a mature mind. New light is shed on Dorothy Sayers' personality, her relationship with her friends, her methods of work, and her intellectual and spiritual development. Readers of Dante, no less than readers of Sayers, will find this an exciting book.
"Dr. Reynolds has not told us merely about Sayers' Dante translations and lectures; she has told us about Sayers' radio broadcasts on Dante, her proposed Dante novel, her carefully planned study on the Beatrician vision; and she has discussed the part Charles Williams played in guiding Sayers in her Dante study. This book observes a brilliant mind meeting a Great Poet and becoming continuously awed, inspired, and energized by his verse and vision."
Barbara Reynolds is an Italian scholar and translator, known for her completion of Dorothy L. Sayers' translation of Dante's 'Divine Comedy' for Penguin Classics. She has also translated Dante's 'La Vita Nuova' of which a new edition has recently been issued. Her translation of Ariosto's 'Orlando Furioso', also for Penguin Classics, was distinguished by an international award.
She is also the author of a highly acclaimed biography, 'Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life and Soul' and is the editor of 'The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers' in four volumes, plus a supplementary volume of childhood memoirs. She has told the story of Sayers' commitment to Dante in 'The Passionate Intellect', now in its second edition.
The general editor of 'The Cambridge Italian Dictionary', she has been honored by the Italian Republic | 398 |
Hmm.. I'm eagerly waiting for the show to begin. I have been working on all the country G.K. books and very much confident of winning this year's contest for sure.
In regards to demonyms- I live in a small town in the Canadian Rockies, Canmore. That makes me a proud Canmoron!
Any chance you guys could post the artists and track names for those amazing foreign "cover" songs (for lack of a better word)? Those were awesome!
Hi guys, loved listening to this week's podcast on my way back to Nottingham UK from London. I loved the demonym info, but was I've never heard people from Newcastle being called whatever you called them.
In the UK people from Newcastle are famously called 'Geordies' and people from Birmingham are called 'Brummies'.
Another one you might like is people from the county or Yorkshire are called 'Tykes'.
Lovely the fabulous facts guys<|fim_middle|> Wifi Hot Spot with Virtual Router. | .
Love the show, and especially enjoyed the demonyms. I think I have one of the best demonyms out there. I live in the small town of Chemainus, on southern Vancouver Island. A resident of Chemainus is known as a Chemainiac. Always felt it suited me well.
I usually listen to GJB when I go for walks with my dog. Couple of pictures from a trip this summer.
Catching up on old episodes and caught the demonyms quiz. Unfortunately Edinburgh does not rhyme with Pittsburgh, but is pronounced "Edin-burrow" so the joke is kind of lost. A small but distracting error.
I finally finished Episode 75 and was surprised and delighted to hear my name (Jonathan of Fargo, ND) referenced by Karen! I am the registered patent agent from Fargo that Karen referenced! I didn't know she used my stuff to create a quiz! This is awesome!
Go to Google/patents and search for these patents.
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Turn any Windows 7 / Windows Server virtual router manager 2008 R2 computer into a | 493 |
Saturday December 17, 2022
FM Bilawal Says Existing World Economic System Unable to Help Poor Countries
NEW YORK:<|fim_middle|>," he stressed. "Over a hundred countries faced financial collapse. Over a billion people faced hunger and the destitute." Worst recession of the century is being faced by the poor nations, he said.
He also highlighted that poor countries were most vulnerable to the climate change as the recent flood crisis in Pakistan is an example of it. More than 17,00 people were killed in this year's deluges that overall affected one-third part of the country.
The post FM Bilawal Says Existing World Economic System Unable to Help Poor Countries appeared first on Abb Takk News. | Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Saturday pointed out flaws in the world economic system, saying it was unable to help developing countries cope with their problems.
The youngest foreign minister of the South Asian country came hard on the international system while speaking at the concluding session of the Group of 77 and China ministerial conference in New York.
"At least a hundred countries are reeling from the economic crises and millions of people in these countries are forced to face a life of hunger and poverty," Bilawal Bhutto highlighted
"The world, especially developing countries, faced a perfect storm of challenges. The deepest economic recession in a century is disproportionately affecting the poorest countries and reversing a decade of development."
"It also has become evident that the existing international economic system has been unable to respond to the plight of developing countries | 164 |
Last night Alison and I along with others were honored for environmental leadership by the California League of Conservation Voters. Here are the remarks I made.
Alison and I both grew up on the East Coast but we've been fortunate to live in California for 30 years. One of the things we love most about living here is how beautiful the natural landscapes are and how close nature is to urban areas. When we had kids, we began to think about our role in protecting these California landscapes for future generations.
Alison got a head start on me by joining the board of the State Parks Foundation. I soon followed by joining the board of Audubon, Peninsula Open Space<|fim_middle|> is because the Commission had an unreasonable leader, who refused the political allure of "compromise" and who managed to keep the commission independent despite enormous pressure. And we as commissioners had to stand up to those pressures and be at times unreasonable in order to not compromise the essence of the Coastal Act.
Unfortunately Peter Douglas is gone and his unbending vision to save the coast is fading. Some current commissioners seem to want the Commission to be reasonable, and understand the reality of politics. In fact, some may even want a new "reasonable" executive director who will turn the commission into just another regulatory organization driven by the people they are supposed to regulate.
Sadly, even today with the results of an independent commission in front of us, some of our appointing authorities haven't understood the gift that has been handed them – 100's of miles of Pacific coastline, much of it unspoiled and accessible to all. And unlike other regulatory agencies, the unspoiled California Coast is finite, and bad decisions are virtually impossible to turn back once a development decision is implemented.
Over the last few years I learned that unless there is a vigilant and engaged public, lobbyists and developers will take over the commission using "reasonableness" and "fair compromise" as their watch words. It is up to individuals and our environmental organizations to become more active on coastal issues.
As Peter Douglas used to say, the coast is never saved, rather it is being saved every day," as an ongoing process.
Today it was with a feeling of a mission yet to be accomplished, I let the governor know that I am resigning from the Coastal Commission. My work on innovation, job creation and entrepreneurship for the Federal Government is taking an increasing amount of my time.
I've had a great time at the Commission. I've learned a lot from my fellow commissioners and hope I've done my part for my fellow Californians. I'd like to thank my alternate Jim Wickett on the Commision who has also dedicated his time and uncompromising votes towards carrying out the Coastal Act.
Most of all, I'm proud to have been "unreasonable" and "uncompromising" in defense of the California Coast. To be anything less risks the loss of what the Coastal Act and Peter Douglas has uniquely brought to all Californians.
Thank you for this award, and I very much appreciate all the support you have provided to me to be able to make my contribution to the California Coast and the Environment.
This article in the NY Times about China's thinking strategically about electric cars was a poignant contrast to our struggles in the U.S. with the auto bailout. It reminded me about the adage, "when you're up to your neck in alligators, the last thing you remember is that you were supposed to drain the swamp." Memo to Washington – weren't we were to be the country innovating here?
I proposed that in exchange for the GM bailout we spin out the Chevy Volt into an open source electric car platform.
Any automaker who builds the car in the U.S. will be able to build on the Volt Platform, but all drivetrain improvements are open source.
The first 10,000 units would be royalty free. After that, other automakers would pay GM some per/car royalty.
Since it's in the government's interest to facilitate goals 1-4, they will subsidize the cost of the initial units so that they are affordable. Economies of scale will drop component costs (read batteries) over time.
The reality is that independent electric vehicle startups will win over time (closer to the customer, more agile, etc.) over a national platform. As part of this spin out I'd make sure the Government also supports the nascent U.S. electric car industry and ensures it gets its share of the bailout largesse. But the two together will kick start a new industry and save a dying one.
As I said, I am far from an expert in the auto industry, government bailouts or other related big "businesses". But I think it's time we take the out-of-the-box thinking that created new businesses in high tech – the concept of open source, for instance − and apply it in creative and powerful ways to reinvent floundering, older industries.
If anyone has a better idea, I would love to see it here.
I am going to post on Mondays and Thursdays – at least until I run out of war stories. Posts are going to be a mix of topics: entrepreneurship, secret history and conservation. I'll try to mix the topics up during the week. BTW, keep the comments coming, they're read and appreciated. | Trust and the California League of Conservation Voters. And 6 ½ years ago I was appointed to the California Coastal Commission.
As you know, for the last 35 years we've been running a science experiment on the California Coast: How would the Coastal Act affect California's coastal economy?
California has some of the most expensive land in the country and as we all know, our economy is organized to extract the maximum revenue and profits from any asset. Visitors are amazed that there aren't condos, hotels, houses, shopping centers and freeways, wall-to-wall, for most of the length of our state's coast.
It was the Coastal Act that saved California from looking like the coast of New Jersey.
In 1976 the voters of California wisely supported the Coastal Act and the creation of a California Coastal Commission with 2 goals.
Second, to assure priority for coastal-dependent and coastal-related development over other development on the coast.
For the last three decades, the Coastal Commission has upheld these directives while miraculously managing to avoid regulatory capture. It was able to do so because of three forces that sustained it: 1) an uncompromising executive director, 2) a majority of commissioners who looked past local parochial interests and voted for the interests of all Californians, and 3) an environmental community that acted as a tenacious watchdog.
The Commission has been able to stave off the tragedy of the commons for the California coast. Upholding the Coastal Act meant the Commission took unpopular positions upsetting developers who have fought with the agency over seaside projects, homeowners who strongly feel that private property rights unconditionally trump public access, and local governments who believe they should have the final say in what's right for their community, regardless of its impact on the rest of the state.
During the last three decades, Peter Douglas ran the Coastal Commission. Unlike Robert Moses who built modern New York City's or Baron Haussmann who built 19th century Paris in concrete and steel, the legacy of Peter Douglas is all the things you don't see in the 1,100 miles of the California coast: wetlands that have not been filled, public access that has not been lost, coastal views that have not been blocked by hotels or condominiums. Douglas did this by standing up to developers, speakers of the state assembly, governors, and others who wanted him to be "reasonable" and to come to a "compromised solution".
I was appointed to the Coastal Commission by a governor hoping to find a candidate with "green enough" credentials who would be "reasonable" and understand how "compromises" are made in California politics.
And for the first few years, I was reasonable. New development, sure –just avoid the wetland. More condos—OK but watch out for the Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas (ESHA).
I'm a slow learner but over the last few years, I realized that the coast of California exists as it | 600 |
It has been now nearly five months since little Nathalie joined our family. Our everyday life changed a lot ever since then when it comes to organizing daily tasks. We knew from the beginning that life would certainly not get any easier with a second child and many friends even "warned us". The thing is that each child is different and needs a different approach when growing up. In our case Nathalie proved to be the exact opposite of our first-born Nathan.
When Nathan was born we still lived in Finland in our tiny 40 sqm apartment (~430ft²). Our neighbours were surprised how quiet Nathan was as they never heard him cry. Sure he was crying sometimes but that was very rare. Friends of us with children were always wondering how calm Nathan was and how easy it seemed to take care of him. I am not saying that everything was golden with him but we were blessed with a pretty easy-going child. Later we moved to Germany and even had my parents to help taking care of him. First because I was working and my wife was going to a six month integration course and later because we both started our own business so my parents where taking care of Nathan in between.
We always wanted two children and in the case of my wife she always wanted a boy and a girl. Even though we were very busy starting our own business we decided to have a second child. The timing seemed perfect for us as Nathan would be by the time Nathalie is born over three years old and starting kindergarten, giving us more time to raise the baby girl. Though the timing was indeed perfect everything developed a bit different than hoped for. First of all Nathan started kindergarten half-year later than planned as the city had messed up some paperwork in between for his registration. Then our business suddenly developed a bit too well and gave us (especially my wife) extreme work load which had to be dealt with until Nathalie was born. In fact my wife worked until a few hours before Nathalie's birth and starting again three days later to finish some leftover orders.
Now I come again to the beginning when I mentioned that every child is different when growing up and needs a different approach. For us Nathalie was so very unlike her brother. Sure she looked very similar to him when born, to be precise she was more like copy paste of Nathan except of having more hair. Her temperament however was very different. By now she is going by the names "Demon", "Gewitterziege" (German for "Thunderstorm Goat" and according to dict.cc means sour old hag…) and "Devil". These are certainly not the nicest names to give to a baby but they are kind of accurate. Little Nathalie pretty much controls the family, not only us but also her grandparents. This all took time to get used to, especially when trying to combine taking care of her and starting work again.
Now five months after her birth we developed a more or less working daily schedule. Despite the many hardships when trying to balance raising two kids and running your own business we do not regret anything. We love our two kids, no matter what trouble our demon girl brings because in the end she brings us more happiness each day than exhausting crying time. We also love to have our own business as it allows us to work from home and gives us much more time with our kids. The downside of being your own boss are the unregulated working hours, no paid holidays, no maternity allowance (my wife still got 80% of her income when Nathan was born in Finland) and higher health insurance costs.
Life with two kids is very different to having just one child. It is nothing like "Oh I know by now how to take care of a baby and raising a kid, so it will be very easy". My cousin who has four children told me once "Having one child is very easy but when the second one comes the real challenge starts, it is a huge difference. After that it is not such a big difference anymore when you have a third or even a fourth child". I did not really believe her back then but now I agree at least with the part about the challenges when having a second child. I am also really thankful to my parents as they are tremendous help for us as they live so close by. Without them everything would have been much harder and I believe we would have never managed it without them past the initial stage when starting our business as they helped to take care of Nathan.
What is your take on having one child compared to have two (or even more!)?
Today our little girl was baptized in the very same church as her brother back in 2014. It is also the same church were I was baptized all those year ago in 1987. As I have written in the article "Our Son's Baptism" the church is called the Finnish Seamen's Church and was founded 1966 in Hamburg. We decided to have Nathalie's baptism in the same church as it just seems to be already a tradition in our family by now.
Unlike at our son's baptism the church was rather empty this time as we were to only people there. The only guests besides my parents were my brother and his girlfriend. Back in 2014 another family had their child's baptism and they were a big big family. This time it was for us much more relaxed and obviously much shorter. Only when it came to the singing part is sounded a bit weak as all of us are suffering under the common cold thanks to Nathan who brings back home all kind of craziness from kindergarten.
We expected the worst behaviour of our daughter as she just loves to complain and cry whenever she gets bored with something. However we were blessed with a little angel for this day as she smiled during the whole ceremony and was watching the reverend with big eyes when she was playing the piano and singing. Apparently our little Nathalie loves church songs as she never cared at all about my or my wife's music! After the ceremony we had just like three years ago some bread, coffee, Karelian Pirogs and Pulla. Nothing fancy but enough for us and in Finland everything is usually pretty low-key.
So what is now the complete name of our daughter? Her official name is Nathalie 逸诗 (Yishi) Amalia. The first name here again is something English and German speakers shouldn't have any problems with, the<|fim_middle|> to all kind of busy madness I totally missed my fourth Blogaversary in August! I can't believe that I have been blogging now already for so many years. Back in 2013 I had this first blog post (which was also very useless) after my in-laws had just left us after staying with us for a few weeks due to our wedding in Finland. In 2015 I wrote about my second Blogaversary, seems I kind of do this post every two years.
Now four years later we are certainly still married (going strong!) and have two wonderful children. Sure I had less blog posts this year than usual but that was due to being much more busy with our business and taking care of a second child. I do hope I will have more time from now on again for this little blog, especially as my parents are back from their four-month holiday in Finland and can help us during daytime with the kids.
Thank you all for reading the everyday stories of my life and I hope that they entertain you even though the happenings are sometimes a real pain with my dear Chinese mother-in-law.
To you keep track on your blogging anniversaries? | second name is obviously her Chinese name and the third one is her Finnish name which we took from her great-grandmother from my mother's side. In comparison our son's full name is Nathan 逸然(Yiran) Antti. You can see they are very similar and Antti was actually the name of my mother's Uncle.
What naming ceremonies/ traditions do you have?
Due | 77 |
HomeArticlesMeet The World's First Fully Wireless OLED TV
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Meet The World's First Fully Wireless OLED TV
The future is here. No more tangled cables, coiling<|fim_middle|> wall and resume your viewing if you're suddenly chased from your nest.
You know what that means? No more straining to hear your favourite show, or clambering for the volume controls, during those heated family debates.
Previous articleBritishvolt, a UK battery enterprise, goes into administration
Next articleThe Best Tycoon Games to Play in 2023 | your furniture like a boa constrictor. No more crowded plug sockets, overheated to the point of being warm to touch. The latest OLED TV has arrived and it's the world's first fully wireless TV ever to hit the market.
The Future Is Right Now
"So, It's Completely Wireless Then?"
More Futuristic Additions
Okay, so granted wireless TVs aren't entirely futuristic – before we all start tearing at the walls of our reality, convinced we're in an alternate sci-fi realm. Still, LG's 97-inch wireless OLED screen, set to be revealed at CES 2023, will surely set the standard for inventions to come. It's definitely one of the more exciting products we'll see on display in the branded booth.
The idea alone is enough to draw a crowd, especially for those who are used to homes with multiple devices, where cables crawl in all directions and tether everything with legs, including, sometimes, the cat. There's no denying many will come to the Las Vegas Convention Center's Central Hall, eager to get an early glimpse of the first fully wireless 4K OLED TV.
Yes, fully wireless means absolutely zero wires. Not a pesky wire in sight. Not even a power cable, which held back the full ground-breaking potential of LG's wireless 97-inch OLED TV. It was Displace TV who created a display, running on four lithium ion batteries, which are rechargeable. You're guaranteed about six hours viewing each day before you need a recharge. So, there is a charger and if you throw everything in together – TV, wireless base station, batteries and charger – you'll be paying roughly $3,000 for the bundle. There's even the option to create a mega-system, with four wireless Displace TVs fitted together for a neck-cranking 110-inch 8K TV. Each set has a camera mounted up top to track gestures and if you pinch-and-expand your hand, you can project an image to scale up onto all four displays at once.
Now we've entered that aforementioned sci-fi realm.
If all this isn't giving you excitable heart palpitations, the high tech possibility of a 110-inch viewing experience is supported by the Displace TV wireless base station. From there, you can stream to multiple displays via Wi-Fi 6E. You'll have several video inputs to control simultaneous connections from various sources, as well as an intuitive smart TV interface. You'll find battery slots at the top and bottom. Side handles to enable a relatively easy mount and dismount. It's the pitch-and-expand ability that really impresses though – this function will surely draw a room full of gasps at upcoming demonstrations.
Finally, let us address any grievances that might've already surfaced in your mind. Rest assured the Displace TV uses active loop vacuum tech to draw a low amount of power from the batteries. You can also affix the set to a surface without any mountable hardware – just clench the latches on the sides, pull and the panel's vacuum seal will be released. It's a pretty lightweight TV as well, contrary to what you might be thinking (weighing in at about 16 pounds). So, there's the option to switch rooms, push to mount the TV on another | 672 |
Anchor Cottage in Minehead is a 17th Century, 2 bedroom, fisherman's<|fim_middle|>Visit England accredited) with all the comforts of home. Located at the start of the South West Coast Path, close to Minehead Harbour and Beach and within easy level walking distance of pubs, restaurants and shops.
The South West Coastpath starts just on the doorstep of the cottage, with breathtaking cliff walks to Bossington, Porlock and beyond.
Minehead station is a short stroll along the seafront where you can catch a steam train along the West Somerset Railway to Blue Anchor, Watchet, Williton and Bishops Lydeard.
Minehead has long been known as the 'Gateway to Exmoor' and some of the most beautiful scenery in Devon and Somerset is within minutes from this self catering holiday cottage.
Enjoyed my short break in this cosy and characterful cottage. Ideal for lots of walks on the hills and coast.
What a lovely cottage ! Loved sitting up on the terrace with a glass of wine.
What can I say ! Absolutely lovely stay, cottage was warm, comfortable and homely. Everything (and more) was here.
The views form upstairs front windows are amazing. We will come back one day.
Our fourth visit here, still as perfect even though we had the one bad week of weather! Can't wait to return.
Lovely cottage – definitely the best equipped we've stayed in. Brilliant location – we've all enjoyed the views from the window seat and patio. Thankyou !
Our second visit. Our mountain bikes have been put through their paces – Horner Woods, North Hill, Grabbist Hill to name a few. Wonderful walks too. Looking forward to visit number 3 !
What's going on this Spring ? | cottage which has been sympathetically updated to give warm and relaxing 4 star accommodation ( | 17 |
New Years Eve is a time of champagne and glittered party hats, so naturally, the day after – a.k.a. the calm after the storm – is the ultimate brunch day: hearty meals and hangover cures galore! These hot spots around New York City offer some of the best new brunch specials around, with Bloody Mary happy hours and fresh organic burgers, these venues' meals are a must to start the new year off right.
Maite in Bushwick, a seasonal New American restaurant with Colombian, Basque and Italian influences, will celebrate New Year's Day by serving their first ever brunch (11 am – 5 pm), complete with strong Colombian beer, sparkling<|fim_middle|>y melted gouda and surrounded by manteca, a Spanish sauce made from butter, lard and smoked paprika, which gives the sauce a bright orange color.
Can you find any reason not to visit Maite? We didn't think so. The New Year's Day Brunch Celebration in Williamsburg's Grand Ferry Tavern begins January 1st with an exclusive Oyster Happy Hour offering three rare varietiesof oysters as well as half-priced wine bottles until close. In typical post-New-Years-Eve manner, Grand Ferry Tavern also serves a terrific hangover cure including All-Day Bloody Mary with Solveig Gin made by Far North Spirits in Minnesota – a spirits company known for its hands-on 'field to glass' distilling model – with tomato juice, fresh citrus, pickles, Worcestershire sauce and spices. If that doesn't cure you we don't know what will! The Richardson, Grand Ferry Tavern's sister bar will also celebrate New Year's Day with a noon to four am brunch offering half-priced wine bottles all day and night. In addition, both The Richardson and Grand Ferry Tavern will serve the Pork Loin & Sauerkraut "Good Luck" Special, a New Year's Day tradition in co-owner Joel Lee Kulp's native land, Pennsylvania.
The Irvington, a Mediterranean inspired menu of New American cuisine located in NYC's Union Square, brings us a glorious New Year's Day Brunch from 8am to 3pm serving diner-style classics with an eclectic kick. Some options are Baked Eggs with tomato braised chickpeas, merguez and avocado, Irvington Burger with crispy onions, beecher's flagship cheddar and potato bun. Additionally, the restaurant/bar offers a wine variety of brewed craft beers, intricate cocktails, fine wines as well as cold-pressed juices, in case you have given up on drinking after the holiday celebrations. Mr. Purple, a vibrant rooftop bar and restaurant located on the 15th floor of Hotel Indigo in the Lower East Side, offers a New Year's Day Brunch from 11am to 3pm with Manhattan-style entrées like Lox & Bagel with cream cheese, tomato & capers and LES Street Tacos with options of mushroom, chicken or steak. With indoor and outdoor spaces designed in modern New York fashion by renowned design firm Crème Design, the space includes a swimming pool, bar and a variety of seating options such as chaise lounges, banquettes, and high top communal tables. The cocktail menu by Gerber Group is a refined twist on the classics, and will perfectly compliment your Manhattan post-NYE brunch. | Spanish holiday cider, and a side of typical Latin American Cumbia music. Maite will also be serving their innovative specials made by Chef/Partner Ella Schmidt (formerly of well-known restaurant Il Buco as well as of Craft and Al Di La). This American restaurant with strong Latin influences is a brand new addition to the streets of Brooklyn, yet it has already earned a series of raves, including one from New York Magazine's Underground Gourmet. The restaurant which until now has only served dinner, will be revealing their brunch menu this New Years Day, boasting holiday hangover cure dishes from Chef Ella's native Colombia, like Puchero, a classic soup made with potatoes, yucca and green plantains in a savory broth with delicious meats like beef, pork and chicken.
Other dishes include Maite's beloved Burger made with an organic rib patty and topped with locally sourced mozzarella and a soft-boiled egg that's lightly battered and fried, served on a bun slathered in an aioli spiked with mustard seeds and pickles. As if that wasn't enough there is also the Duck Egg atop a thick Colombian-style arepa filled with tang | 234 |
Hidden in the underground of the Madrilenian neighborhood "Barrio de Las Letras" (today a neuralgic point of the city), under a refurbished palace of the eighteenth century where Hotel Axel Madrid is located, we find two vaulted spaces built in brick. It is in this provocative and secret location, where the Bala Perdida (Lost Bullet) Club is located.
EL EQUIPO CREATIVO had two main design premises. On one hand the singularity of the existing space, with two subterranean dark vaults built in brick, as antique caves or cellars. On the other hand, the proposed venue, a night club that should have the versatility to work as a snack and cocktail bar, where a<|fim_middle|> the optical illusions.
The key aspect of the project was the use of two protagonist elements. The mirrors, which were placed on both ends of each vault, produce an optical illusion known as the "endless mirror". When facing two mirrors, the reflection of one on the other makes the reflected image, the image of the vault, become infinite. These effects make the vaults turn into endless tunnels.
Another highlight is the changing lighting. Therefore, being light and color protagonists to the project. At the axis of the two vaults, two longitudinal dynamic led lamps cast were proposed among the suspended acoustic panels that change speed and color depending on the different scenes at the venue. Also, the drink-bar works as a lamp itself, providing a warm fire toned light that serves as a basis for the playful lights in the surfaces of the vaults. | fast mutation would happen at some point of the night and the general scenery would quickly switch from a warm atmosphere into a lysergic dance floor.
This need for transformation and that kind of clandestine atmosphere made the design team think of a space with a close relation to the mystery where they could not omit the magic and | 64 |
The mime path is a concatenation of one or more mime types. The purpose of a mime path is to describe the fact that a document of a certain mime type can contain fragments of another document with a different mime type. The fragment and its mime type is refered to as an embedded document and an embedded mime type respectively.
In order to fully understand the scale of the problem the mime path is trying to describe you should consider two things. First a document can contain several different embedded fragments each of a different mime type. Second, each embeded fragment itself can possibly contain one or more other embedded fragments and this nesting can in theory go indefinitely deep.
In reality the nesting probably will not be very deep. As an example of a document containing an embedded fragment of another document of the different mime type you could imagine a JSP page containing a Java scriplet. The main document is the JSP page of the 'text/x-jsp' mime type, which includes a fragment of Java source code of the 'text/x-java' mime type.
The mime path comes handy when we want to distinguish between the ordinary 'text/x-java' mime type and the 'text/x-java' mime type embedded in the JSP page, because both of those 'text/x-java' mime types will have a different mime path. The ordinary 'text/x-java' mime type has a mime path consisting of just one mime type - 'text/x-java'. The 'text/x-java' mime type embeded in the JSP page, however, has a mime path comprised from two mime types 'text/x-jsp' and 'text/x-java'. The order of mime types in a mime path is obviously very important, because it describes how the mime types are embedded.
The mime path can be represented as a String simply by concatenating all its mime types separated by the '/' character. Since mime types always contain one and only one '/' character it is clear which '/' character belongs to a mime type and which is the mime path separator.
In the above example the mime path of the 'text/x-java' mime type embedded in the 'text/x-jsp' mime type can be<|fim_middle|> in the EMPTY mime path will be returned.
The MimePath for the given mime type or MimePath.EMPTY if the mime type is null or empty string.
Gets the mime path corresponding to a mime type embedded in another mime type. The embedding mime type is described in form of a mime path passed in as the prefix parameter.
For example for a java scriplet embedded in a jsp page the prefix would be the mime path 'text/x-jsp' and mimeType would be 'text/x-java'. The method will return the 'text/x-jsp/text/x-java' mime path.
prefix - The mime path determining the mime type that embedds the mime type passed in in the second parameter. It can be EMPTY in which case the call will be equivalent to calling get(mimeType) method.
mimeType - The mime type that is embedded in the mime type determined by the prefix mime path.
The mime path representing the embedded mime type.
The format of a mime path string representation is a string of mime type components comprising the mime path separated by the '/' character. For example a mime path representing the 'text/x-java' mime type embedded in the 'text/x-jsp' mime type can be represented as the following string - 'text/x-jsp/text/x-java'.
The mime path string can be an empty string, which represents the EMPTY mime path. By definition all valid mime paths except of the empty one have to contain odd number of '/' characters.
path - The mime path string representation.
non-null mime-path corresponding to the given string path.
Validates components of a mime type. Each mime types is compound from two components - type and subtype. There are rules that both components must obey. For details see RFC 4288.
type - The type component of a mime type to validate. If null the type component will not be validated.
subtype - The subtype component of a mime type to validate. If null the subtype component will not be validated.
true if non-null components passed in are valid mime type components, otherwise false.
Validates a path to check if it's a valid mime path. If this method returns true the path is a valid mime path string and can be used in the MimePath.parse() method.
path - The path string to validate.
true if the path string is a valid mime path.
EMPTY mime-path has zero size.
>=0 number of mime-types contained in this mime-path.
Index zero corresponds to the root mime-type.
For "text/x-jsp/text/x-java" getMimeType(0) returns "text/x-jsp" and getMimeType(1) returns "text/x-java".
index - >=0 && < size().
non-null mime-type at the given index.
IndexOutOfBoundsException - in case the index is not within required bounds.
size - >=0 && <= size().
For zero size the EMPTY will be returned.
For size() this will be returned.
non-null mime-type of the given size.
Returns the inherited Mime type. For EMPTY, returns null. For most other mime types, returns "". If the mime type derives from another one, such as text/ant+xml derives from xml, the return value will be the base mime type (text/xml in the example case).
For all but EMPTY MimePaths, the list contains at least one entry, and the last entry is the EMPTY. Note also, that the complete MimePath is always returned as the 1st member of the list.
The returned sequence of MimePaths is suitable for searching settings or services for the (embedded) content whose type is described by MimePath as it is ordered from the most specific to the least specific paths (including generalization) and always contains the mime type of the identified contents. The last component ("") represents default settings (services).
Note that for MimePaths created from a mime type (not empty!) string, the getInheritedPaths().get(1) is a parent mime type. Either empty, or the generalized MIME.
The caller should not modify the returned List. | represented as 'text/x-jsp/text/x-java'.
For some languages it is not uncommon to allow embedding of itself. For example in Ruby it is allowed to use Ruby code within strings and Ruby will evaluate this code when evaluating the value of the strings. Depending on the implementation of a lexer there can be tokens with MimePath that contains several consecutive mime types that are the same.
The format of a valid mime type string is described in RFC 4288. MimePath performs internall checks according to this specification.
Identity: By definition two MimePath instances are equal if they represent the same string mime path. The implementation guarantees that by caching and reusing instances of the MimePath that it creates. The MimePath instances can be used as keys in maps.
Lifecycle: Although the instances of MimePath are internally cached and should survive for certain time without being referenced from outside of the MimePath API, clients are strongly encouraged to hold a reference to the MimePath they obtained throughout the whole lifecycle of their component. For example an opened java editor with a document should keep its instance of the 'text/x-java' MimePath for the whole time the editor is open.
The root of all mime paths.
Gets the mime path corresponding to a mime type embedded in another mime type.
Gets the mime path for the given mime type.
Returns the included Mime paths.
Returns the inherited Mime type.
Get mime type of this mime-path at the given index.
Get string path represented by this mime-path.
Return prefix mime-path with the given number of mime-type components ranging from zero till the size of this mime-path.
Parses a mime path string and returns its MimePath representation.
Get total number of mime-types in the mime-path.
Validates a path to check if it's a valid mime path.
Validates components of a mime type.
The root of all mime paths. The empty mime path does not refer to any mime type.
Gets the mime path for the given mime type. The returned MimePath will contain exactly one element and it will be the mime type passed in as the parameter.
mimeType - The mime type to get the mime path for. If null or empty string is passed | 441 |
West Clare Railway.
Rail Museum
West Clare Railway has been restored to provide a fun day out for families and school tours.
The importance, magnitude and impact of the birth of the West Clare Railway on the local transport system of County Clare cannot be measured. The story has been well documented over the years, in book and song. However, it is extraordinary that it was not until the mid 1990's that a local committee attempted to revive this treasured historical railway.
Jackie Whelan became involved when a committee for the Restoration of the<|fim_middle|> Junction. It now provides visitors and enthusiasts alike with a look into, and experience of, the fascinating railway history of Ireland, and is a fitting tribute to our heritage and to the hard work and efforts of all involved in bringing a steam locomotive back to Moyasta.
For more details click "A Short History" on the left column.
West Clare Railway. Tel(Mob): +353 87 791 9289 or Tel(Mob): +353 86 805 2614 Email: info@westclarerailway.ie
Copyright 2009 West Clare Railways All Rights Reserved.
Design by acton|web | West Clare Railway was created in the mid 1990's. He initially carried out all the preparatory works for the tracks of this railway line, including all excavation works, track laying & fencing on a voluntary basis for this committee.
One objective of the committee was to include the "Slieve Callan" steam engine as part of the proposed West Clare Railway restoration project. At that time this steam engine lay dormant and on display at Ennis Railway Station. This project presented an excellent opportunity to preserve and restore this unique locomotive.
A proposal was made to C.I.E. to remove the engine from its plinth in Ennis. For any proposal to be considered it required proving a commitment to the West Clare Railway restoration, and this was obvious by the substantial preparatory work carried out in Moyasta. An agreement for the removal of the "Slieve Callan" steam engine from Ennis to Moyasta was granted to the West Clare Railway company, amid much consternation in Ennis at the time.
Unsurprisingly, the agreement had conditions, including that the engine be substantially improved or rebuilt within 3 years. This would require enormous funding. At this stage the committee involvement ceased. Jackie then became directly responsible for carrying forward and persevering with raising funds to continually update and improve this unique venture to bring to where it is today.
In 2009 the "Slieve Callan" returned, rebuilt and running smoothly, to Moyasta | 296 |
Oxford Casino sale awaiting state approval
The casino won't be required to apply for a new operator's license if the<|fim_middle|>, the parent company of Churchill Downs Racetrack.
Oxford Casino vice president and general manager Jack Sours told the Sun Journal after Tuesday's board meeting that the sale process is still under way.
Director Patrick Fleming says the board is currently running a background investigation on Louisville, Ky.-based Churchill Downs.
Churchill Downs is expected to present its plans to the board in July.
The western Maine casino has 814 slot machines and 22 table games and employs 420 people. | sale is approved.
AUGUSTA — Maine's Gambling Control Board has ruled that the Oxford Casino won't be asked to apply for a new operator's license if a sale to the company that owns the home of the Kentucky Derby is approved.
Oxford Casino owners announced the $160 million sale in March to Churchill Downs Incorporated Properties | 68 |
Is there one food that shows up on your dinner menu more than anything else?
I'd have to say that chicken is the hands-down winner at our house.
I'd serve<|fim_middle|>I'm always on the look-out for new ways to prepare it.
practically jumped out and grabbed me.
I heard figs and rosemary calling my name.
only to discover that you've forgotten your phone, too?
Happens to me more often than I'd like to admit).
so I used dried, and the little bit of fresh I had left in the fridge.
The fig jam I used was Bon Maman's Fig Preserves (affil. link).
so I got some breasts thighs, too (ahem).
(that is the extent of my attempt at adult humor, heh-heh).
and use your hands to get that chicken nice and coated.
You can watch the video here -- it's all of 36 seconds.
but the longer the better.
Although this recipe is simple, it does need some advance planning.
so the jam mixture gets all crispy and sticky, and finger-lickin' good.
and that's not easy to come by.
Combine rosemary, jam, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper in large bowl.
Add chicken and toss to coat chicken pieces.
Refrigerate 2-6 hours (the longer, the better).
Place chicken on oven rack over baking tray lined with foil or parchment paper.
Roast 30-45 minutes, until chicken is golden brown.
Five ingredients (not counting S&P).
It will be making a regular appearance at our dinner table.
After Sunday, things should be a little more calm, and hopefully, I'll be back to a more regular schedule. Thanks for understanding!
Best of the Weekend and Happy Easter! | pasta every other night.
steak would make more than just a "rare" appearance.
I'd dish up some fish at least twice a week.
I'd be cooking up a lot of exotic meals.
But, that's not my reality.
Chicken is often my go-to protein.
| 58 |
A select group of JU students and faculty recently got an insider's view of both the athletic and business sides of the Florida Cup held at ESPN's Wide World of Sports in Orlando. an annual event that features an international soccer tournament with professional clubs from around the globe<|fim_middle|> and Sport Business club has hosted a number of executive panels in a variety of sports, including golf, tennis and NASCAR, and has taken students to a variety of academic conferences, served on the volunteer staff for the NCAA Basketball Tournament, and has allowed tremendous local networking opportunities.
"The opportunity to be able to network with executives in the sporting industry, as well as the experience which comes along with it, is massive and I am very appreciative," said Burns. | .
The JU attendees included Davis College of Business students Jack Burns, Joe Amico, Luiza Olivieri, and Ignazio Muccili. Marc Meny, a Kinesiology major, was also in attendance. Two DCOB faculty, Dr. Todd Hall, Assistant Professor of Sport Business, and Dr. Carol Dole, Department Chair of Sport Business, along with representatives from Kinesiology and the President's Office, accompanied the students.
Those in attendance at the mid-January event were able to listen to a number of speakers throughout the world of sports, including Carlos Alberto Parreira, who led five different teams to the World Cup during his soccer coaching career; the captain of the Brazilian soccer club and two-time World Cup Champion Cafu; and several new players in the technology side of the sport.
This serves as another opportunity for Sport Business students to be exposed to a varying level of sporting knowledge. In the past year, the Sport Business program | 194 |
July 1, 2019 / 4425<|fim_middle|>Features Slider
G20 global economy Japan Rapport
The Queen's Birthday Party 2019 in Jordan
Innovative France, Attractiveness Recognized! | views
The 2019 G20 Osaka summit was the fourteenth meeting of the G20, a forum of 19 countries and the EU that together represent most of the world economy. It was held on 28–29 June 2019 at the International Exhibition Center in Osaka and was the first G20 summit to be hosted by Japan.
The 2019 summit, discussed eight themes to ensure global sustainable development. The eight themes were "Global Economy", "Trade and Investment", "Innovation", "Environment and Energy", "Employment", "Women's empowerment", "Development" and "Health". The Leaders of the G20 declared that they will work together to foster global economic growth, while harnessing the power of technological innovation, in particular digitalization, and its application for the benefit of all. They had also declared that global growth appears to be stabilizing, and is generally projected to pick up moderately later this year and into 2020.
"This recovery is supported by the continuation of accommodative financial conditions and stimulus measures taking effect in some countries. However, growth remains low and risks remain tilted to the downside. Most importantly, trade and geopolitical tensions have intensified. We will continue to address these risks, and stand ready to take further action. We reaffirm our commitment to use all policy tools to achieve strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth, and safeguard against downside risks, by stepping up our dialogue and actions to enhance confidence. Fiscal policy should be flexible and growth-friendly while rebuilding buffers where needed and ensuring debt as a share of GDP is on a sustainable path.
Monetary policy will continue to support economic activity and ensure price stability, consistent with central banks' mandates. Central bank decisions need to remain well communicated. Continued implementation of structural reforms will enhance our growth potential. Global current account imbalances have narrowed in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, notably in emerging and developing economies and they have become increasingly concentrated in advanced economies.
However, they remain large and persistent, and stock positions continue to diverge. In assessing external balances, we note the importance of monitoring all components of the current account, including services trade and income balances. In the spirit of enhancing cooperation, we affirm that carefully calibrated macroeconomic and structural policies tailored to country-specific circumstances are necessary to address excessive imbalances and mitigate the risks to achieving the G20 goal of strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth."
G20 Leaders Official Declaration
Full text – G20_Osaka_Leaders_DeclarationDownload
Be that as it may, below are the key takeaways from the 2019 G20 summit:
Trump stands by Saudi Arabia despite outrage over Khashoggi murder. US President held a friendly breakfast meeting on Saturday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. "It's an honor to be with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, a friend of mine – a man who has really done things in the last five years in terms of opening up Saudi Arabia," Trump said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, agreed to restart economic and trade consultations between their countries on the basis of equality and mutual respect. "We're right back on track and we'll see what happens," Trump told reporters after an 80-minute meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
It was supposed to be an event showcasing Group of 20 leaders' commitment to better empowering women in employment, economy and education. But only two of the world leaders on stage were women. Titled the Special Event on Women's Empowerment, the only female world leaders in attendance were outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Still, G20 leaders on Saturday reiterated their shared recognition that "gender equality and women's empowerment are essential for achieving inclusive and sustainable society and economic growth," according to their joint statement.Also addressing the gathering were senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, both of whom have been lauded for their steadfast advocacy of improved women's rights. Trump commended the world leaders for accelerating efforts to elevate the talent of women, "one of the most undervalued resources in the world," as she put it. She said female empowerment is not only a social justice issue but an "economic and defense policy" issue, citing an estimate that women's participation in the labor force at a level equal to men's would increase the global annual gross domestic product by an additional $20 trillion to $28 trillion by 2025.
President Donald Trump dryly told Russia's Vladimir Putin "Don't meddle in the election" in their first meeting since the special counsel concluded that Moscow extensively interfered with the 2016 campaign. Trump and Putin traded brief remarks on Friday, the first time they sat together since Helsinki, about issues they planned to discuss when a reporter asked Trump if he would warn Putin not to meddle in the 2020 election. "Of course," the president replied. Then he turned to Putin and facetiously said, "Don't meddle in the election." He playfully repeated the request while pointing at Putin, who laughed.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman welcomed hosting the G20 summit in the Kingdom in 2020 during his speech at the closing session of the 2019 G20 summit. The Crown Prince stressed that the Kingdom is determined to work together with all countries "to find a consensus to crises in the world." "The empowerment of women and youth is key to global growth," he added. "In the G20, we have a responsibility to create an environment in which the world thrives," the Crown Prince said.
About G20: The G20 (or Group of Twenty) is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 19 countries and the European Union (EU). Founded in 1999 with the aim to discuss policy pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability. It brings together the members of the G7 (France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada and the European Union), as well as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Turkey. The participating nations represent 80% of global gross domestic product. Designated as the "premier forum for international economic cooperation" at the Pittsburgh meeting in 2009, in recent years the G20 Summit has dealt with a wide range of issues facing the global community, including development, climate and energy, digital economy, and employment in addition to the world economy.
| 1,381 |
Summer for me has to be about the scent and taste of ripe peaches, the hum of bees and chasing butterflies. I don't chase them so much now I am no longer 7 years old but these are the memories of my childhood summers.
I can even remember the first time I tasted<|fim_middle|> jpegs but if you have any problems getting them off then email me and I will send it to you as a pdf. Because I will be away from Monday 26th, I am starting the virtual retreat a little earlier, to ensure you all get a suitable working copy of the chart.
There will also be some tasks to do that we will be doing on the real retreat here in Ireland. All you have to do is email me a photo 1. of your finished stitching (no time limit) and 2. Photos of you and the tasks. Then I will add them all to a page on this blog (so you don't need to worry if you dont have a blog) under your name and we can all be part of something together. Please send photos when you have finished your stitching. My memory isn't getting any better and I will forget who sent what unless it is in one email per person.
You are a crafty and creative lot so it is fine to interpret the tasks and their themes however you like!
Sound good? One photo per task/subject and your finished stitching! All together on the one page with everyone else!
Oh this is interesting! When I lived abroad (Germany)as a child when my parents were in the Army I have similar memories with fresh peaches! We used to travel most weekends all around Europe for holidays and I recall stopping buying fresh peaches and nectarines at the road sides... ooh the smell of them and how juicy they were.. lovely memories.
Great new chart, Gaynor Ann.
Wonderful memories. Thanks for sharing.
Love the colors of M'lady. Very sweet.
Thank you for visiting me, I appreciate your encouraging words on my new venture.
I think she's my favourite the colours are so pretty.
That's a lovely new design! | a peach. My dad had just come out of the RAF and we were living in a caravan on a residential site while our house was being built. It was nothing like a holiday caravan park! The caravans were specially lined and ours have a solid fuel fire, several bedrooms and all the mod cons. The site was enclosed so we had total freedom as children. I loved it!
A couple of actors came to stay in the caravan next to us as they were performing in theatres in Manchester and one of them promised a little six year old me a taste of fresh peach. We'd only had tinned peaches up till now and I was so excited! To read this now you probably think I'm talking post-war Britain! Not at all: just 1976 Northern England!
Anyway, I must have been a right pain because I pestered them and pestered them and eventually they brought me a peach. Oh lordy, it was amazing. I can remember now how good it tasted. Nothing like tinned ones at all! And that memory has always stayed with me as has a love of peaches and nectarines!
As I was organising my threads, I started to sort out the oranges and pinks and it made me think of peaches and fresh apricots. And that led to my new Victorian Maid. Well, who said where inspiration had to come from? Fruit is as good as anywhere! And it is nearly summer though it is hard to think it as I look out at the grey skies and clouds.
An updated photo because Sarah Paine from Pain Free Crafts sent me details about a camera tent. I cant afford to buy one so made one out of a cardboard box, some cartridge paper and the trusty pva glue!
I am so pleased...I have to play around with the lighting but yay!!!
Stitched and then taken two hours to get a halfway decent photo in a country where the sun is as rare as an albino hippopotomus!
I hope you like her. She is truly beautiful in person and if you use a sand coloured material, I promise you will not be disappointed.
I won't be posting again until the weekend when THE GRAND VIRTUAL STITCHING RETREAT will begin!
You do NOT need to have a blog to take part, but it is no good being anon. If you are anon and would like to take part please leave your name (first name and initial will be fine) in your reply to this post. It isnt too late to take part!
When I release the post there will be two free charts. One in Gaelic and one in English. You chose whichever one you want and stitch it. I will put them up as | 554 |
Home WOMEN Secret Wicked
Secret Wicked
By: Victoria's Secret
pa_size: 3.3 oz Eau De Parfum<|fim_middle|> to review "Secret Wicked" Cancel reply
Get Ready For Him | Spray
Choose an option3.3 oz Eau De Parfum Spray
− Secret Wicked quantity +
Victoria's Secret Wicked Perfume by Victoria's Secret, Victoria's Secret Wicked is a perfume meant to offer a level of intrigue and allure to even the most sophisticated woman. This fragrance combines a top note of freesia, a middle note of brown sugar and a Tahitian vanilla base. This combination produces a scent that could be described as innocent by day, and naughty at night.
This unique blend of these fragrances produces an irresistible warmth and sweetness. As a result, this perfume can be worn at any hour, preferably during the colder months of the year. The sweet vanilla accords give the perfume a subtle but sensuous scent, which produces a moderate sillage. It also has a moderate longevity, so one application will last for most of the day.
Like their lingerie, accessories and cosmetic product lines, Victoria's Secret's perfumes are designed to entice its audience and capture the world's imagination. In 2017, Wicked was launched to do just that.
All products are original, authentic name brands. We do not sell knockoffs or imitations.
3.3 oz Eau De Parfum Spray
Be the first | 258 |
The CAO Bookings<|fim_middle|> note that during the winter months, the CAO is not accessible by car or 4x4 vehicle. Members must approach from the east (winter driving directions, map & parking pass will be emailed to you when your booking is confirmed), park at the side of the road and walk approximately 700 m down a steep snowmobile trail with all your gear.
Bed Availability: "Beds Full" means all regular beds are occupied but portable beds can be set up in the Great Room. | Calendar shows when a Supervisor is scheduled to be in attendance and overall availability of the CAO for any weekend. A Supervisor will not be assigned on full moon weekends with the exception of Public Tours or Work Parties. To make a reservation, please complete this form (members only). Look for an automated email response regarding your pending reservation. Later, you will receive a confirmation of your reservation from the CAO bookings co-ordinator.
Please | 86 |
Bayne makes his fourth career NASCAR Sprint Cup<|fim_middle|>ne makes his fourth career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) start at Pocono Raceway on Sunday afternoon.
Bayne recorded a best finish of 13th in the June 2016 NSCS event.
Puccia will be atop the box for his 11th NSCS event at Pocono on Sunday. In 10 previous races, Puccia has recorded three top-fives and five top-10s, with a best finish of second coming in June 2013 with Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle.
Bayne was involved in a late-race incident that damaged the right-rear of the AdvoCare Ford and ultimately led to a 30th-place finish in the NSCS event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Bayne trails the 16th and final position in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship standings by 14 points. | Series (NSCS) start at Pocono Raceway on Sunday afternoon. Bayne recorded a best finish of 13th in the June 2016 NSCS event. The driver of the No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion also earned a victory in the June 2015 ARCA Racing Series event at the triangular track after starting from the pole position and leading 42 laps.
Bay | 86 |
The first rule of Parmesan Club is (obviously) that you don't talk about Parmesan Club. However, I have special dispensation to mention it this once. For a number of years I have been a member. My friends George and Tina a few times a year buy a magnificent 40kg Parmesan direct from the producer. This one here is 36-months old. It is the best Parmesan I have ever eaten – much better than even the best you can get from a shop over here. I often eat it just in chunks or slivers – grating it almost seems wasteful – but not quite.
Anyway the Parmesan is cut and we all take large chunks of it home with us. Luckily I was there last week when the Parmesan was cut – this is not an easy task. Seeing and smelling a freshly cut Parmesan is something really quite special though.
But not as special as this.
George made steamed asparagus in melted butter with shaved Parmesan and the most perfectly cooked free-range Pekin duck eggs (wonder where they came<|fim_middle|> taste. Salt and gobble it up. Would probably pair well with your cheese!! | from?). It was utterly delicious and definitely worth just a tiny, little smug moment.
N.B. My asparagus bed is officially dead – it is now underneath the currant section of the fruit cage. Next spring I will plant a new one and this time (surprise operations not withstanding) I will keep it weedfree by mulching it with straw – mulching is the way ahead.
You could set your own club up – just get some friends or neighbours who want to buy Parmesan and get in touch with a cheese maker and buy direct – community buying is great!
Claire. I've recently discovered how to saute asparagus in olive oil, with fresh pressed garlic, then add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and allow to cook at low heat until done to your | 160 |
The next big startup may just help venture back more startups
Welcome to Startups Weekly, a fresh human-first take on this week's startup news and trends. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.
Oper8r, built by Winter Mead and Welly Sculley, wants to help new entrants in the VC world scale. The accelerator launched last year as a "Y Combinator for emerging fund managers," built to help solo capitalists and people launching rolling funds grow up.
The idea was that a well-networked, smart individual may be able to raise their first $10 million in a debut fund off of connections, but when it comes time to scale to a $50 million or $200 million fund, managers need to have a sophisticated understanding of how the LP world works.
Now, Mead claims that all 18 graduates within his first cohort, which include Stellation capital, Maple VC, Interlace Ventures and Supply Change Capital, have successfully closed funds. Its second cohort is still in the fundraising process, but across both cohorts, over $500 million has been closed. Oper8r<|fim_middle|> teachers with no understanding of true pedagogy, while others think that the true democratization of education requires a disruption of who is considered a teacher.
Edtech extras:
Quizlet plans for IPO over a year after hitting unicorn status
Microsoft acquires TakeLessons, an online and in-person tutoring platform, to ramp up its edtech play
The Education Revolt: 7 key drivers and 4 industry shifts
TTYL, BNPL
This week on Equity, Mary Ann and I made sense of what felt like international BNPL week: PayPal acquired Japan's Paidy for $2.7 billion, Zip bought Africa's Payflex and Addi raised $75 million to prove BNPL's power in LatAm.
Here's what to know: The global boom is partly in response to e-commerce trends, partly in response to consumer demand for more flexibility when it comes to financing. The market isn't a winner-takes-all, so expect more well-capitalized startups buying their way into consumer markets outside of their geography.
Other news of note:
As BNPL startups raise, a look at Klarna, Affirm and Afterpay earnings
Wisetack closes on $45M to bring 'buy now, pay later' to in-person services
Why Square is shelling out $29B to snag BNPL player Afterpay
Fintech is transforming the world's oldest asset class: Farmland
Reid Hoffman on the hot seat
Image Credits: Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images for LinkedIn
I read Reid Hoffman's podcast-turned-new-book "Masters of Scale" over the past few days. The entire time, I felt like a well-networked mentor was giving me a pep talk, with name-drops that turned into generalist advice and a behind-the-scenes look at humanity's decisions.
Here's what to know: While the book gave me a needed boost of optimism, I still had some critiques. I felt like the book's choice to not talk much about the ugly within startupland creates an imbalance of sorts. It would have benefitted from talking directly about divisive dynamics, ranging from how WeWork's Adam Neumann impacted the way we talk about visionary founders, Brian Armstrong's Coinbase memo and what it means for startup culture, or even the role of the tech press today.
So, I have an idea. Let's balance out the cheerfulness with the cynical, and let's do it live. I'm interviewing Hoffman at TechCrunch Disrupt this year, where I'll put him on the hot seat and push him to explain some of the choices he made in the book. Other people I'm excited to see at the show include Peloton's CEO and chief content officer and Ryan Reynolds.
Buy your tickets to TechCrunch Disrupt using this link, or use promo code "MASCARENHAS20" for a little discount from me.
Around TC
I'll be honest, all we're talking about internally these days is one thing: Disrupt, Disrupt, Disrupt. Here's the agenda for the Disrupt Stage, which includes three virtual days of nonstop chatter on disruptive innovation.
Across the week
Seen on TechCrunch
The time Animoto almost brought AWS to its knees
Facebook debuts its Ray-Ban Stories smart sunglasses
Twitter wants you to tweet to interest-based communities, not just followers
Apple prohibited from blocking outside payment in Epic ruling
Google Workspace opens up spaces for all users
Seen on Extra Crunch
What China's new data privacy law means for US tech firms
Anatomy of a SPAC: Inside Better.com's ambitious plans
Debt versus equity: When do non-traditional funding strategies make sense?
Advanced rider assistance systems: Tech spawned by the politics of micromobility
And that's it! Didn't feel like a short week at all, huh?
$70 off the Samsung 43-inch M7 4K UHD smart monitor, and more monitor deals
Philo TV: Everything you need to know about the budget live TV service
5 Android apps you shouldn't miss this week – Android Apps Weekly
Daily Crunch: One-click checkout company Bolt ushered into decacorn territory on $355M Series E | is launching its third cohort next week and soon will announce the launch of Cr8r, an early-stage program to help talented angel investors grow their investment cadence.
Oper8r's expansion comes as the rate of first-time venture fundraising grows as well. The Wall Street Journal's Yuliya Chernova wrote a story this week about how, after years of being on the decline, the rate of first-time venture fundraising in the United States is "on track to reverse course." The story, pulling analysis from advisory firm Different Funds, states that "in the second quarter of this year, some 40% of venture-fund announcements, which includes funds just setting out to raise capital, were made by debut funds, whereas they represented between roughly 20% and 30% of fund announcements in each quarter over the past two years."
This data screams that the rise of a solo GP, or an ambitious rolling-fund-turned-venture firm, isn't a one-off, it's an actual trend. This means there's more pressure for venture firms to go beyond a scout program when it comes to supporting the next big investors — and there's more of a market for formal efforts to scale operations.
Mead, meanwhile, is cooking up ways to add validation and signal to Oper8r. Many accelerators write checks to further validate their choices, but also to tap into the access they're getting by helping budding entrepreneurs before top-tier LPs and VCs notice them. He hinted that Oper8r may pursue a similar strategy as it seeks to be the go-to for emerging managers.
"I think capital speaks louder than educational programs," he said. "If you're putting money into the opportunities you're engaged with, I think it serves as a greater signal than someone just coming through the program."
In the rest of this newsletter, we'll discuss the creator economy's latest dance, international BNPL week, and why I'm putting Reid Hoffman in the hot seat. As always, you can find me on Twitter @nmasc_ and listen to my podcast, Equity.
Edtech wants to have its creator economy moment, and it's complicated
Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch
Edtech and the creator economy certainly differ in the problems they try to solve: Finding a VR solution to make online STEM classes more realistic is a different nut to crack than streamlining all of a creator's different monetization strategies into one platform. Still, the two sectors have found common ground in the past year — as encapsulated by the rise of cohort-based class platforms.
Here's what to know: I wrote about how the overlap of both sectors is leading to some complications during the rise of cohort-based classes. Some fear that turning creators into educators could bring in a rush of unqualified | 563 |
How This Mom Loved Her Body After Giving Birth
Story from Mothership
A Skirt Helped This Mom Love Her Body After Giving Birth
Suzannah Weiss
Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you're thinking about or passing on kids, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a big if — not when — and it's time we talked about it that way.
The media bombards us with messages about "post-baby bodies" that suggest we should "bounce back" immediately after giving birth. But not everyone's body does that — nor should it. The changes we undergo in order to carry and birth another human being are beautiful and should be celebrated. Appreciating the amazing things your body can do rather than criticizing the way it looks is easier said than done, of course, but one woman recently shared how she's learning to do just that, Cosmopolitan reports.
After Mia Redworth had her first child, she felt insecure about going up a few clothing sizes. She hit the gym thinking it might help recover her former physique. But soon, she realized she didn't want to. Since Redworth was lifting weights and doing other strength-building workouts, she gained muscle, which also meant some parts of her body got bigger, and she didn't return to her old size. But she felt<|fim_middle|> congrats on being very delicious. It's normal to get bug bites in the summertime,
Demi Lovato Responds To A Commenter Who Suggested She "Discuss A ...
Demi Lovato knows how to respond to body shaming or problematic content about eating disorders on social media, and today she gave a masterclass in
What Happens If You Accidentally Eat Undercooked Meat?
They say that the most important device a home chef can have in their kitchen is the meat thermometer. Not just because temperature makes the difference
The Uncomfortable GI Problem That No One Talks About
While we're arguably more aware of female pain than ever, there are still some unchartered health topics that have yet to be explored: like bowel movement
How To Relieve Gas Besides, You Know, Releasing It
If you've ever had particularly bad gas before, you know that it can sometimes feel like you're sitting on a pile of balloon animals that are going to | strong and healthy, so she stopped weighing herself.
"My fitness goals have never been to get back to my body before a baby," she wrote on Instagram. "I'm going to be bigger, I'm building muscle and THAT'S OKAY!"
When Redworth tried on a denim skirt she used to wear before she became a mom, she realized it fit her again — even though she had never returned to her pre-pregnancy weight. Here, once again, is proof that weight isn't a good measure of health. Furthermore, Redworth realized, she didn't care about clothing size, either. The skirt fit more tightly than it used to, but she still felt just as great in it — and healthier than ever.
"Clothing size isn't everything, and although this shows my waist is getting small, because of building my bum+thighs, they're always going to make me go up a few sizes," she explained. And she's perfectly fine with that.
The takeaway? You don't have to wait until you're a particular weight or size to feel good about your body. You can choose to do that right now.
"Don't focus so much on sizes. It's all about if you're happy with the way your body looks," Redworth wrote. "You could fit into any size clothing and find issues with your body. Focus more on loving yourself for you, getting rid of the negativity, and challenge yourself on why a clothing size is so important to you. Fitness becomes much more enjoyable if you aren't constantly putting yourself down."
Trying on my pre baby clothes 😂 I used to be a 4-6 (UK size) before having a baby and around 8st. I was obsessed with my weight and hated my body 🙄 After I had my 9lb baby at 42+weeks and could go back to the gym after recovering from a c section, I was 10-11st. It got me so down even though I thought I looked amazing for the time so I vowed to never weigh myself again. F**k the scales. My fitness goals have never been to get back to my body before a baby because I had no booty and no muscle and with weight lighting I'm going to be bigger, I'm building muscle and THATS OKAY! I tried on a old skirt for fun a few months ago and I couldn't get close to closing it but yesterday I could do up almost every button! I love keeping track of progress like this. Clothing size isn't everything and although this shows my waist is getting small, because of building my bum+thighs theyre always going to make me go up a few sizes just look at how short this skirt is now 😭😂 don't focus so much on sizes it's all about if you're happy with the way your body looks. I was so unfit at a size 4. Don't get so obsessed with numbers they mean nothing, you could fit into any size clothing and find issues with your body. Focus more on loving yourself for you, getting rid of the negativity and challenge yourself on why a clothing size is so important to you. Fitness becomes much more enjoyable if you aren't constantly putting yourself down. Reward even the smallest victories 💕❤️ #postpartumfitness #postpartum #fitmum #realitycheck #csection
A post shared by MIA ELIZABETHMAY REDWORTH (@miaredworth) on Mar 14, 2017 at 8:20am PDT
Post Baby Body Positive Skirt Mia Redworth Instagram
Best of Instagram • Body • Entertainment News • Fashion • Mind • Mothership • News • Self Image • Skirts • Wellness
written by Suzannah Weiss
Photo: Getty Images.
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We keep your sensitive information private.
CommonKey's cryptography was developed to secure sensitive data and enable our users to share account credentials with trusted individuals.
To support the distribution of shared account information<|fim_middle|> can negate the security of SSL connections.
We also feel it's important to share the Microsoft TechNet Essay, "Ten Immutable Laws of Security" by Scott Culp (link), regarding some generalities with regards to online security and anticipated vulnerabilities based on user's computer uesage and interactions.
Law #1: If a bad guy can persuade you to run his program on your computer, it's not solely your computer anymore.
Law #2: If a bad guy can alter the operating system on your computer, it's not your computer anymore.
Law #3: If a bad guy has unrestricted physical access to your computer, it's not your computer anymore.
Law #4: If you allow a bad guy to run active content in your website, it's not your website any more.
Law #5: Weak passwords trump strong security.
Law #6: A computer is only as secure as the administrator is trustworthy.
Law #7: Encrypted data is only as secure as its decryption key.
Law #8: An out-of-date antimalware scanner is only marginally better than no scanner at all.
Law #9: Absolute anonymity isn't practically achievable, online or offline.
Law #10: Technology is not a panacea.
Based on the Rijndael cipher, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) was announced by the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001 as US Federal Information Processing Standard Publication (FIPS PUB) 197, and has been validated through FIPS PUB 140-2. It currently serves as a federal government standard (approved by the Secretary of Commerce) and is included in the ISO/IEC 18033-3 standard. It is used by the National Security Agency (NSA) for top secret information. AES currently holds AES winner, CRYPTREC, NESSIE, and NSA certifications.
RSA (named after Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman) is where a user creates and then publishes the product of two large prime numbers, along with an auxiliary value, as their public key. The prime numbers are kept secret. Messages can be encrypted with the public key, only decrypted with knowledge of the two prime factors. RSA currently holds PKCS#1, ANSI X9.31, and IEEE 1363 certifications.
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the predecessor to Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) that provides communication security over the Internet through the use of asymmetric cryptography for authentication of key exchange, symmetric encryption for confidentiality and message authentication codes for message integrity. TLS protocol allows client-server applications to communicate across a network in a way designed to prevent eavesdropping and tampering.
Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2 (PBKDF2) is a key derivation function that is part of RSA Labs' Public-Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS) series, which applies a pseudorandom function to the input password along with a salt value and runs iterations to produce a derived key.
Secure Hash Algorithm 2 (SHA-2) is a set of cryptographic hash functions designed by the US NSA and published by NIST as a US FIPS.
CommonKey
Password Estimator
© 2021 CommonKey Inc. | to trusted individuals, we implement a combination of 256-bit AES and 2048-bit RSA encryption, paired with TLS 1.2 cryptographic protocols for data transport, 5000 round PBKDF2 for symmetric key generation, and SHA cryptographic hash functions for message hashing.
When our users create a CommonKey account, a unique "key" is created that serves as the only means to decrypt their data. The data at rest on our cloud server, in transit, and at rest on their local machine stays encrypted at all times (host proof hosting). Data is decrypted on the local machine only when requested by the user through either the dashboard or browser extension interface. Once the user's call for data is complete, it returns to its fully encrypted state.
Sharing of data (e.g. accounts) is accomplished by establishing secure "relationships" between two users through an invitation process. The construct of these "relationships" enables our users to only share a specific set of data. Once the user who controls the data no longer desires to share with the other user, terminating the relationship removes the ability to access the specific data.
Anyone (including the CommonKey team) does not have access to a user's encrypted data as we believe our user's private information should be just that, private. This methodology has proven to be the optimal approach in ensuring our users and their companies are protected with the highest level of security possible, while still being able to share private information with trusted individuals.
Our cryptography approach protects our users' sensitive information from brute force attacks and intractability of mathematical problems (e.g. integer factorization), while still allowing for sharing with trusted individuals and access from multiple locations and machines.
Have more questions? Contact us at info@commonkey.com.
Known Vectors
We built CommonKey to provide a critical missing solution for small businesses, team password sharing and management. We've gone through extensive measures to verify our security protocols to ensure your data is secure when it's transmitted and stored with us. However, in the security world, there will always be known vectors intruders could use to capture your sensitive information. The following list are some of the known vectors that could lead to a compromise for individual CommonKey accounts and countermeasure recommendations to help you safeguard against such attacks.
BruteForce Attack: Brute-force attacks try every possible combinations of numbers, letters and special characters until it matches the password. Brute-force attacks can take a very long time depending upon the complexity of the password. The time required to brute-force attack a password is determined by the speed of computer and complexity of the password. Countermeasure: Use long and complex (strong) passwords. Use a combination of upper and lowercase letters along with numbers along with special characters and non-dictionary sourced letter combinations.
Rats and Keyloggers: In keylogging or RATing the hacker sends a keylogger or rat to the victim, which is installed on a user's local machine. This allows hacker to monitor every thing the victim does on his computer. Every keystroke is logged including passwords. In some cases, hackers can even control the victims computer. Countermeasure: Never login to your bank account from cyber cafes or someone elses computer. If its important, use on-screen or a virtual keyboard while typing the login. Use the latest anti-virus software and keep them updated.
Man in the Middle: The attacker puts himself between the target and some resource that she is trying to reach. The attacker's presence must remain unknown to both the victim and the legitimate resource he is impersonating in order for the attack to be successful. The most common MITM attack involves an attacker using a WiFi router as the mechanism with which to intercept user communications. Countermeasures: Users can protect themselves against some kinds of MITM attacks by never connecting to open WiFi routers or by employing a browser plug-in such as HTTPS Everywhere or ForceTLS that always establishes a secure connection whenever the option is available. However, these defenses have limitations and there have been demonstrations of practical attacks such as SSLStrip or SSLSniff that | 826 |
'Daddy' is a film starring Arjun Rampal and is directed by arthouse director Ashim Ahluwalia. This political crime drama is based on the life of Arun Gawli, a Mumbai based gangster who later entered politics to form his own political party. The film also explores the transformation of the Mumbai Underworld over the span of 4 decades. Aishwarya Rajesh makes her Bollywood debut with this film opposite<|fim_middle|>al has also co-written the script of the film because he did not want anything to wrong with this project.
'Daddy' is a film that dwells into the dark side of Mumbai, it's Underworld, the place where many infamous gangsters and terrorists came from and is a biography of Arun Gawli who was also a gangster who later turned into a politician and formed his own political party. | Arjun Rampal.
Arjun Rampal proves himself as a fine actor and saves the film with his performance as he completely gets into the role of Arun Gawli both physically and mentally. Aishwarya Rajesh has a good screen presence and has a good scope with this movie. Farhan Akhtar appears briefly in the film but his character causes a lot of consequences and Nishikant Kamat who plays a cop is one of the finest performances of this film.
The director of the film, Ashim Ahluwalia captures the essence of life in the underbelly of Mumbai and shows us the transformation and rise of the Mumbai Underworld along with capturing the streets and alleys of the city. The music of the film is minimal and is used to add to the intensity of the story and there is no song that feels rushed or out of its place.
Verdict: The film 'Daddy' is not for everyone to watch as it is far away from mainstream cinema. It is a dark and gritty story that has its consequences. The actors have done an amazing job and the director has captured this tone as best as he could. Watch this film if you like realistic gangster films.
Daddy is a crime drama which is based on the life of Arun Gawli, a real life gangster who turned into a politician. Arjun Rampal plays Gawli in this biographical drama and south Indian actress Aishwarya Rajesh plays the role of Asha Gawli. The film also features Nishikant Kamat, Rajesh Shringarpure and Mir Sarwar in supporting roles. It is directed by art house director Ashim Ahluwalia who has also written the film alongside Arjun Rampal. The music has been composed by Sajid-Wajid.
The film spans over a period of four decades and along with Gawli's rise and fall, showcases the transformation of the Mumbai Underworld. The director, who comes from Mumbai, has captured the unemployment and crime that took place in the city during that era along with the essence of life in the streets of Parel, Nagpada and Mumbai Central.
Arjun Rampal plays the real life gangster and politician Arun Gawli in this film which shows us his rise and fall in the Mumbai Underworld. Arjun Ramp | 473 |
NFL 2020: Who really knows what to expect on field and off?
Associated Press | American Football | 08/29/2020
In this Aug. 19, 2020, file photo, Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller takes part in drills during an NFL football practice Photo: AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File
By Barry Wilner
Never has the NFL doubted it would open its season on time. For months, it has steadfastly stuck to its plans, even as the coronavirus pandemic has altered the course of every other sport — on all levels.
With its kickoff game of Super Bowl champion Kansas City hosting Houston rapidly approaching, possibly with fans in the stands, America's most popular sport must recognize the challenges off the<|fim_middle|> to | field could be more daunting than those on it. Particularly after 77 false positive COVID-19 tests last weekend.
"We're going to have to be flexible and adaptable," says Dr. Allen Sills, the league's chief medical officer and, in 2020, for good reason, its most visible executive. "I think that's something we'll continue to track and monitor. If this taught us anything, projecting three, four weeks down the road is a hazardous business."
Many would say playing a collision sport not only is hazardous but foolhardy. The NFL did have 67 players opt out of the season. But it seems the vast majority of players, coaches, executives and, for certain, owners, want to stick to the script. Even with the risk COVID-19 presents.
"I just really thought about all the things that could happen," says Broncos star linebacker Von Miller, who has recovered from the coronavirus. "This season is different from any other season. I weighed the positives and the negatives, and I came to my own decision that I can play. I thought about me having asthma. I went over everything that I possibly could with my agent, and we just thought about it.
"I feel like every player should do that. Every player should think about everything they could do."
The NFL believes it has thought of everything it can do to provide the safest environment for its games. Still, some clubs are planning to open the gates to fans, with the Dolphins announcing plans for about 13,000 folks in the stands on Sept. 20.
Yes, there are competitive imbalance issues there, but if one municipality allows fans and another doesn't, is it up to the league to step in?
"It's very hard," Vikings coach Mike Zimmer says. "Some stadiums, they're allowing people in, and it looks like we're not going to have any fans there early, which really stinks because we have such unbelievable fans, and they make that place rocking every Sunday. But the best way to have home-field advantage is to play really good: execute, make tackles, don't make mistakes, don't commit penalties, turnovers, all those things."
Some teams have huge advantages heading into a season like no other, with or without anyone in the seats.
Read the original Associated Press story by Barry Wilner
The Associated Press is an independent, non-for-profit news cooperative headquartered in New York City. Our teams in over 100 countries tell the world's stories, from breaking news to investigative reporting. We provide content and services | 524 |
FDR and Trump: Rock stars in tune with power of tech
By Susan Whigham
My Word columnist |
Franklin Delano Roosevelt during a radio speech. (Associated Press)
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For Trump's inaugural, basically only Ted Nugent and Kid Rock are willing to play. It will probably be a cold day in rock and roll hell when these two Republican rock renegades are considered worthy of the Hall of Fame. I'll tweet to that.
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Controversial water council heading toward being abolished | Commentary | in, who is snubbed.
If there were a similar hall of fame for great communicators, Franklin Roosevelt would be a shoe-in for his ability to reach people and get his message out. I would like to add Donald Trump to that list.
Now this may set off a debate not seen since the nominees included a round of '70s rockers and no women. But whether you agree with their respective positions, both Trump and Roosevelt earn points for their skillful use of orchestrating their message with technology. Just how did they touch the hearts and minds of their supporters? Consider the following:
•Radio was the revolutionary technology in the early 20th century. By 1940, 80 percent of U.S. households had a radio. Roosevelt tapped into the growing audience with his Fireside Chats, about 30 between 1933-1944. He delivered a message of hope and confidence to a nation reeling from the Great Depression.
Twitter (Leon Neal / Getty-AFP)
Think about it: There was no internet or television. Everything revolved around the radio. That person inside the box was talking directly to you and your family, whether you gathered in a penthouse living room or a farmhouse kitchen. According to the Roosevelt Library, 60 million people listened to Roosevelt's first Fireside Chat prompted by the nation's banking crisis. Even today, those figures would make Justin Bieber jealous.
Susan Whigham, a technical editor, lives in Orlando.
Roosevelt kept his language inclusive. From that first broadcast, he set the tone: "My friends, I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking." Simple, concise, inspiring words struck a chord with the public.
•Today, Trump and Twitter are grabbing the headlines. He is using the internet in much the same way that Roosevelt used radio: talking directly to his followers and building a sense of community. That is powerful stuff when it comes to politics.
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In an article from December 2015, The Washington Post points out what now is apparent to all: Trump "has become an expert at letting media — TV, radio and social media" get his message out.
Trump has bashed everything and everyone from "Saturday Night Live" to a union leader in his tweets. There is no question that Trump's use of Twitter is "unpresidented" — Twitter users had a field day with Trump's misspelling in a tweet about | 544 |
As technology and innovation expand the number of channels through which consumers can interact with businesses, the days of associating the customer service experience solely with the contact center are slowly coming to an end, according to a new report from Aberdeen Group. In fact, the research firm says, barely half of all customer service requests -- 52 percent -- now have their origin in the contact center, and the figure is shrinking.
The Aberdeen study, "Delivering Customer Service via the Contact Center and the Web: Covering All Points of Attack," emphasizes the importance of seamless integration of communication modes to ensure a quality experience -- something many companies still grapple with today.
Sumair Dutta, research analyst at Aberdeen and author of the report, says he was surprised that the share of contact center–based customer service requests was only 52 percent, but adds that his forecast for 2010 includes a further drop, to 44 percent. "I thought going in that the contact center would be a lot higher than where it was," he admits. "The trending doesn't surprise me, but the initial proportion did."
short message service ......... 1 percent.
With the exception of the email channel, which is forecasted to trend downward to 15 percent in 2010, the remaining channels are all poised to grow next year. Dutta says this is due to customer demand for faster service and issue resolution, in addition to a growing emphasis on the contact center to cross-sell and upsell consumers to generate more revenue.
While the study found 70 percent of respondents believing faster service to be the top market pressure for improved customer service, and 34 percent reporting revenue reigned supreme, Dutta says this is also starting to evolve. "In our latest Chief Service Officer event last month, the attendees were polled as to what<|fim_middle|> train customer service agents to also be sales professionals at the same time. In many cases, this is not what reps believed their role would be. "You have service professionals who just don't want to sell," Dutta says. "There's a big change management element here, because you need to get tools to help agents sell effectively and train them well. That's where companies are struggling right now; training and hiring the right workforce to do this."
The top pressure for customer service organizations, though, is how to integrate these disparate channels in order to provide optimum customer satisfaction. According to the study, from an ascending scale of importance from one to five, customer satisfaction rated 4.6 out of 5 with regard to the vitality of effective customer request handling. "From an overall customer management point of view, processes obviously need to come into place before you're building in additional channels like self-service," he says. "There needs to be a fluidity of data...self-service is useless if you just have to end up calling back into the contact center, for example." | their top goal for 2010 was, and it was revenue," he says.
Along with this goal comes a challenge -- not a new one -- to convince and | 35 |
<<<|fim_middle|> / CHAPTER 126 / SUBCHAPTER I Next >>
42 USC CHAPTER 126, SUBCHAPTER I: EMPLOYMENT
From Title 42—THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARECHAPTER 126—EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES
SUBCHAPTER I—EMPLOYMENT
§12111. Definitions
(1) Commission
The term "Commission" means the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission established by section 2000e–4 of this title.
(2) Covered entity
The term "covered entity" means an employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee.
(3) Direct threat
The term "direct threat" means a significant risk to the health or safety of others that cannot be eliminated by reasonable accommodation.
(4) Employee
The term "employee" means an individual employed by an employer. With respect to employment in a foreign country, such term includes an individual who is a citizen of the United States.
(5) Employer
(A) In general
The term "employer" means a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has 15 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and any agent of such person, except that, for two years following the effective date of this subchapter, an employer means a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has 25 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding year, and any agent of such person.
(B) Exceptions
The term "employer" does not include—
(i) the United States, a corporation wholly owned by the government of the United States, or an Indian tribe; or
(ii) a bona fide private membership club (other than a labor organization) that is exempt from taxation under section 501(c) of title 26.
(6) Illegal use of drugs
The term "illegal use of drugs" means the use of drugs, the possession or distribution of which is unlawful under the Controlled Substances Act [21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.]. Such term does not include the use of a drug taken under supervision by a licensed health care professional, or other uses authorized by the Controlled Substances Act or other provisions of Federal law.
(B) Drugs
The term "drug" means a controlled substance, as defined in schedules I through V of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act [21 U.S.C. 812].
(7) Person, etc.
The terms "person", "labor organization", "employment agency", "commerce", and "industry affecting commerce", shall have the same meaning given such terms in section 2000e of this title.
(8) Qualified individual
The term "qualified individual" means an individual who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the employment position that such individual holds or desires. For the purposes of this subchapter, consideration shall be given to the employer's judgment as to what functions of a job are essential, and if an employer has prepared a written description before advertising or interviewing applicants for the job, this description shall be considered evidence of the essential functions of the job.
(9) Reasonable accommodation
The term "reasonable accommodation" may include—
(A) making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities; and
(B) job restructuring, part-time or modified work schedules, reassignment to a vacant position, acquisition or modification of equipment or devices, appropriate adjustment or modifications of examinations, training materials or policies, the provision of qualified readers or interpreters, and other similar accommodations for individuals with disabilities.
(10) Undue hardship
The term "undue hardship" means an action requiring significant difficulty or expense, when considered in light of the factors set forth in subparagraph (B).
(B) Factors to be considered
In determining whether an accommodation would impose an undue hardship on a covered entity, factors to be considered include—
(i) the nature and cost of the accommodation needed under this chapter;
(ii) the overall financial resources of the facility or facilities involved in the provision of the reasonable accommodation; the number of persons employed at such facility; the effect on expenses and resources, or the impact otherwise of such accommodation upon the operation of the facility;
(iii) the overall financial resources of the covered entity; the overall size of the business of a covered entity with respect to the number of its employees; the number, type, and location of its facilities; and
(iv) the type of operation or operations of the covered entity, including the composition, structure, and functions of the workforce of such entity; the geographic separateness, administrative, or fiscal relationship of the facility or facilities in question to the covered entity.
(Pub. L. 101–336, title I, §101, July 26, 1990, 104 Stat. 330; Pub. L. 102–166, title I, §109(a), Nov. 21, 1991, 105 Stat. 1077; Pub. L. 110–325, §5(c)(1), Sept. 25, 2008, 122 Stat. 3557.)
The effective date of this subchapter, referred to in par. (5)(A), is 24 months after July 26, 1990, see section 108 of Pub. L. 101–336, set out as an Effective Date note below.
The Controlled Substances Act, referred to in par. (6)(A), is title II of Pub. L. 91–513, Oct. 27, 1970, 84 Stat. 1242, as amended, which is classified principally to subchapter I (§801 et seq.) of chapter 13 of Title 21, Food and Drugs. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 801 of Title 21 and Tables.
This chapter, referred to in par. (10)(B)(i), was in the original "this Act", meaning Pub. L. 101–336, July 26, 1990, 104 Stat. 327, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 12101 of this title and Tables.
For constitutionality of section 101 of Pub. L. 101–336, see Congressional Research Service, The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, Appendix 1, Acts of Congress Held Unconstitutional in Whole or in Part by the Supreme Court of the United States.
2008—Par. (8). Pub. L. 110–325 struck out "with a disability" after "individual" in heading and the first two places appearing in text.
1991—Par. (4). Pub. L. 102–166 inserted at end "With respect to employment in a foreign country, such term includes an individual who is a citizen of the United States."
Amendment by Pub. L. 110–325 effective Jan. 1, 2009, see section 8 of Pub. L. 110–325, set out as a note under section 705 of Title 29, Labor.
Amendment by Pub. L. 102–166 inapplicable to conduct occurring before Nov. 21, 1991, see section 109(c) of Pub. L. 102–166, set out as a note under section 2000e of this title.
Pub. L. 101–336, title I, §108, July 26, 1990, 104 Stat. 337, provided that: "This title [enacting this subchapter] shall become effective 24 months after the date of enactment [July 26, 1990]."
§12112. Discrimination
(a) General rule
No covered entity shall discriminate against a qualified individual on the basis of disability in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.
(b) Construction
As used in subsection (a), the term "discriminate against a qualified individual on the basis of disability" includes—
(1) limiting, segregating, or classifying a job applicant or employee in a way that adversely affects the opportunities or status of such applicant or employee because of the disability of such applicant or employee;
(2) participating in a contractual or other arrangement or relationship that has the effect of subjecting a covered entity's qualified applicant or employee with a disability to the discrimination prohibited by this subchapter (such relationship includes a relationship with an employment or referral agency, labor union, an organization providing fringe benefits to an employee of the covered entity, or an organization providing training and apprenticeship programs);
(3) utilizing standards, criteria, or methods of administration—
(A) that have the effect of discrimination on the basis of disability; or
(B) that perpetuate the discrimination of others who are subject to common administrative control;
(4) excluding or otherwise denying equal jobs or benefits to a qualified individual because of the known disability of an individual with whom the qualified individual is known to have a relationship or association;
(5)(A) not making reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is an applicant or employee, unless such covered entity can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business of such covered entity; or
(B) denying employment opportunities to a job applicant or employee who is an otherwise qualified individual with a disability, if such denial is based on the need of such covered entity to make reasonable accommodation to the physical or mental impairments of the employee or applicant;
(6) using qualification standards, employment tests or other selection criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability or a class of individuals with disabilities unless the standard, test or other selection criteria, as used by the covered entity, is shown to be job-related for the position in question and is consistent with business necessity; and
(7) failing to select and administer tests concerning employment in the most effective manner to ensure that, when such test is administered to a job applicant or employee who has a disability that impairs sensory, manual, or speaking skills, such test results accurately reflect the skills, aptitude, or whatever other factor of such applicant or employee that such test purports to measure, rather than reflecting the impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills of such employee or applicant (except where such skills are the factors that the test purports to measure).
(c) Covered entities in foreign countries
It shall not be unlawful under this section for a covered entity to take any action that constitutes discrimination under this section with respect to an employee in a workplace in a foreign country if compliance with this section would cause such covered entity to violate the law of the foreign country in which such workplace is located.
(2) Control of corporation
(A) Presumption
If an employer controls a corporation whose place of incorporation is a foreign country, any practice that constitutes discrimination under this section and is engaged in by such corporation shall be presumed to be engaged in by such employer.
(B) Exception
This section shall not apply with respect to the foreign operations of an employer that is a foreign person not controlled by an American employer.
(C) Determination
For purposes of this paragraph, the determination of whether an employer controls a corporation shall be based on—
(i) the interrelation of operations;
(ii) the common management;
(iii) the centralized control of labor relations; and
(iv) the common ownership or financial control,
of the employer and the corporation.
(d) Medical examinations and inquiries
The prohibition against discrimination as referred to in subsection (a) shall include medical examinations and inquiries.
(2) Preemployment
(A) Prohibited examination or inquiry
Except as provided in paragraph (3), a covered entity shall not conduct a medical examination or make inquiries of a job applicant as to whether such applicant is an individual with a disability or as to the nature or severity of such disability.
(B) Acceptable inquiry
A covered entity may make preemployment inquiries into the ability of an applicant to perform job-related functions.
(3) Employment entrance examination
A covered entity may require a medical examination after an offer of employment has been made to a job applicant and prior to the commencement of the employment duties of such applicant, and may condition an offer of employment on the results of such examination, if—
(A) all entering employees are subjected to such an examination regardless of disability;
(B) information obtained regarding the medical condition or history of the applicant is collected and maintained on separate forms and in separate medical files and is treated as a confidential medical record, except that—
(i) supervisors and managers may be informed regarding necessary restrictions on the work or duties of the employee and necessary accommodations;
(ii) first aid and safety personnel may be informed, when appropriate, if the disability might require emergency treatment; and
(iii) government officials investigating compliance with this chapter shall be provided relevant information on request; and
(C) the results of such examination are used only in accordance with this subchapter.
(4) Examination and inquiry
(A) Prohibited examinations and inquiries
A covered entity shall not require a medical examination and shall not make inquiries of an employee as to whether such employee is an individual with a disability or as to the nature or severity of the disability, unless such examination or inquiry is shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity.
(B) Acceptable examinations and inquiries
A covered entity may conduct voluntary medical examinations, including voluntary medical histories, which are part of an employee health program available to employees at that work site. A covered entity may make inquiries into the ability of an employee to perform job-related functions.
(C) Requirement
Information obtained under subparagraph (B) regarding the medical condition or history of any employee are subject to the requirements of subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (3).
(Pub. L. 101–336, title I, §102, July 26, 1990, 104 Stat. 331; Pub. L. 102–166, title I, §109(b)(2), Nov. 21, 1991, 105 Stat. 1077; Pub. L. 110–325, §5(a), Sept. 25, 2008, 122 Stat. 3557.)
This chapter, referred to in subsec. (d)(3)(B)(iii), was in the original "this Act", meaning Pub. L. 101–336, July 26, 1990, 104 Stat. 327, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 12101 of this title and Tables.
2008—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 110–325, §5(a)(1), substituted "on the basis of disability" for "with a disability because of the disability of such individual".
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 110–325, §5(a)(2), substituted "discriminate against a qualified individual on the basis of disability" for "discriminate" in introductory provisions.
1991—Subsecs. (c), (d). Pub. L. 102–166 added subsec. (c) and redesignated former subsec. (c) as (d).
Section effective 24 months after July 26, 1990, see section 108 of Pub. L. 101–336, set out as a note under section 12111 of this title.
§12113. Defenses
It may be a defense to a charge of discrimination under this chapter that an alleged application of qualification standards, tests, or selection criteria that screen out or tend to screen out or otherwise deny a job or benefit to an individual with a disability has been shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity, and such performance cannot be accomplished by reasonable accommodation, as required under this subchapter.
(b) Qualification standards
The term "qualification standards" may include a requirement that an individual shall not pose a direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals in the workplace.
(c) Qualification standards and tests related to uncorrected vision
Notwithstanding section 12102(4)(E)(ii) of this title, a covered entity shall not use qualification standards, employment tests, or other selection criteria based on an individual's uncorrected vision unless the standard, test, or other selection criteria, as used by the covered entity, is shown to be job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity.
(d) Religious entities
This subchapter shall not prohibit a religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society from giving preference in employment to individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by such corporation, association, educational institution, or society of its activities.
(2) Religious tenets requirement
Under this subchapter, a religious organization may require that all applicants and employees conform to the religious tenets of such organization.
(e) List of infectious and communicable diseases
The Secretary of Health and Human Services, not later than 6 months after July 26, 1990, shall—
(A) review all infectious and communicable diseases which may be transmitted through handling the food supply;
(B) publish a list of infectious and communicable diseases which are transmitted through handling the food supply;
(C) publish the methods by which such diseases are transmitted; and
(D) widely disseminate such information regarding the list of diseases and their modes of transmissability 1 to the general public.
Such list shall be updated annually.
(2) Applications
In any case in which an individual has an infectious or communicable disease that is transmitted to others through the handling of food, that is included on the list developed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under paragraph (1), and which cannot be eliminated by reasonable accommodation, a covered entity may refuse to assign or continue to assign such individual to a job involving food handling.
(3) Construction
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to preempt, modify, or amend any State, county, or local law, ordinance, or regulation applicable to food handling which is designed to protect the public health from individuals who pose a significant risk to the health or safety of others, which cannot be eliminated by reasonable accommodation, pursuant to the list of infectious or communicable diseases and the modes of transmissability 1 published by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
(Pub. L. 101–336, title I, §103, July 26, 1990, 104 Stat. 333; Pub. L. 110–325, §5(b), Sept. 25, 2008, 122 Stat. 3557.)
This chapter, referred to in subsecs. (a) and (e)(3), was in the original "this Act", meaning Pub. L. 101–336, July 26, 1990, 104 Stat. 327, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 12101 of this title and Tables.
2008—Subsecs. (c) to (e). Pub. L. 110–325 added subsec. (c) and redesignated former subsecs. (c) and (d) as (d) and (e), respectively.
1 So in original. Probably should be "transmissibility".
§12114. Illegal use of drugs and alcohol
(a) Qualified individual with a disability
For purposes of this subchapter, a qualified individual with a disability shall not include any employee or applicant who is currently engaging in the illegal use of drugs, when the covered entity acts on the basis of such use.
(b) Rules of construction
Nothing in subsection (a) shall be construed to exclude as a qualified individual with a disability an individual who—
(1) has successfully completed a supervised drug rehabilitation program and is no longer engaging in the illegal use of drugs, or has otherwise been rehabilitated successfully and is no longer engaging in such use;
(2) is participating in a supervised rehabilitation program and is no longer engaging in such use; or
(3) is erroneously regarded as engaging in such use, but is not engaging in such use;
except that it shall not be a violation of this chapter for a covered entity to adopt or administer reasonable policies or procedures, including but not limited to drug testing, designed to ensure that an individual described in paragraph (1) or (2) is no longer engaging in the illegal use of drugs.
(c) Authority of covered entity
A covered entity—
(1) may prohibit the illegal use of drugs and the use of alcohol at the workplace by all employees;
(2) may require that employees shall not be under the influence of alcohol or be engaging in the illegal use of drugs at the workplace;
(3) may require that employees behave in conformance with the requirements established under chapter 81 of title 41;
(4) may hold an employee who engages in the illegal use of drugs or who is an alcoholic to the same qualification standards for employment or job performance and behavior that such entity holds other employees, even if any unsatisfactory performance or behavior is related to the drug use or alcoholism of such employee; and
(5) may, with respect to Federal regulations regarding alcohol and the illegal use of drugs, require that—
(A) employees comply with the standards established in such regulations of the Department of Defense, if the employees of the covered entity are employed in an industry subject to such regulations, including complying with regulations (if any) that apply to employment in sensitive positions in such an industry, in the case of employees of the covered entity who are employed in such positions (as defined in the regulations of the Department of Defense);
(B) employees comply with the standards established in such regulations of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, if the employees of the covered entity are employed in an industry subject to such regulations, including complying with regulations (if any) that apply to employment in sensitive positions in such an industry, in the case of employees of the covered entity who are employed in such positions (as defined in the regulations of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission); and
(C) employees comply with the standards established in such regulations of the Department of Transportation, if the employees of the covered entity are employed in a transportation industry subject to such regulations, including complying with such regulations (if any) that apply to employment in sensitive positions in such an industry, in the case of employees of the covered entity who are employed in such positions (as defined in the regulations of the Department of Transportation).
(d) Drug testing
For purposes of this subchapter, a test to determine the illegal use of drugs shall not be considered a medical examination.
Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to encourage, prohibit, or authorize the conducting of drug testing for the illegal use of drugs by job applicants or employees or making employment decisions based on such test results.
(e) Transportation employees
Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to encourage, prohibit, restrict, or authorize the otherwise lawful exercise by entities subject to the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation of authority to—
(1) test employees of such entities in, and applicants for, positions involving safety-sensitive duties for the illegal use of drugs and for on-duty impairment by alcohol; and
(2) remove such persons who test positive for illegal use of drugs and on-duty impairment by alcohol pursuant to paragraph (1) from safety-sensitive duties in implementing subsection (c).
(Pub. L. 101–336, title I, §104, July 26, 1990, 104 Stat. 334; Pub. L. 110–325, §5(c)(2), Sept. 25, 2008, 122 Stat. 3557.)
This chapter, referred to in subsec. (b), was in the original "this Act", meaning Pub. L. 101–336, July 26, 1990, 104 Stat. 327, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 12101 of this title and Tables.
In subsec. (c)(3), "chapter 81 of title 41" substituted for "the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 (41 U.S.C. 701 et seq.)" on authority of Pub. L. 111–350, §6(c), Jan. 4, 2011, 124 Stat. 3854, which Act enacted Title 41, Public Contracts.
2008—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 110–325 substituted "a qualified individual with a disability shall" for "the term 'qualified individual with a disability' shall".
§12115. Posting notices
Every employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee covered under this subchapter shall post notices in an accessible format to applicants, employees, and members describing the applicable provisions of this chapter, in the manner prescribed by section 2000e–10 of this title.
(Pub. L. 101–336, title I, §105, July 26, 1990, 104 Stat. 336.)
This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original "this Act", meaning Pub. L. 101–336, July 26, 1990, 104 Stat. 327, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 12101 of this title and Tables.
§12116. Regulations
Not later than 1 year after July 26, 1990, the Commission shall issue regulations in an accessible format to carry out this subchapter in accordance with subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5.
§12117. Enforcement
(a) Powers, remedies, and procedures
The powers, remedies, and procedures set forth in sections 2000e–4, 2000e–5, 2000e–6, 2000e–8, and 2000e–9 of this title shall be the powers, remedies, and procedures this subchapter provides to the Commission, to the Attorney General, or to any person alleging discrimination on the basis of disability in violation of any provision of this chapter, or regulations promulgated under section 12116 of this title, concerning employment.
(b) Coordination
The agencies with enforcement authority for actions which allege employment discrimination under this subchapter and under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 [29 U.S.C. 701 et seq.] shall develop procedures to ensure that administrative complaints filed under this subchapter and under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 are dealt with in a manner that avoids duplication of effort and prevents imposition of inconsistent or conflicting standards for the same requirements under this subchapter and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The Commission, the Attorney General, and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs shall establish such coordinating mechanisms (similar to provisions contained in the joint regulations promulgated by the Commission and the Attorney General at part 42 of title 28 and part 1691 of title 29, Code of Federal Regulations, and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Commission and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs dated January 16, 1981 (46 Fed. Reg. 7435, January 23, 1981)) in regulations implementing this subchapter and Rehabilitation Act of 1973 not later than 18 months after July 26, 1990.
This chapter, referred to in subsec. (a), was in the original "this Act", meaning Pub. L. 101–336, July 26, 1990, 104 Stat. 327, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 12101 of this title and Tables.
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, referred to in subsec. (b), is Pub. L. 93–112, Sept. 26, 1973, 87 Stat. 355, as amended, which is classified generally to chapter 16 (§701 et seq.) of Title 29, Labor. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 701 of Title 29 and Tables. | Previous TITLE 42 | 5 |
Google's globetrotting broadband balloons work with the wind
by John Kennedy
Rather than being hampered by the weather Google's broadband balloons actually work in collaboration with the wind and a single balloon can serve broadband to locations at opposite ends of the world within days.
Google said that Project Loon fleets can be harnessed to work with the wind so that when a balloon leaves a location and moves onto the next location to provide connectivity another one takes its place.
"In theory,<|fim_middle|>) to provide over two hours of Internet connection. That level of precision is like hitting a hole-in-one in golf from over 4km away," Google said.
Related: Google, Project Loon, broadband, Chile, Australia, MWC, mobile networks
John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years
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More from Technology | this means that any individual balloon would provide connection in one place and then, days later, provide connection at another location at the opposite end of the world," Google said in a blog post on Google+.
At the recent Mobile World Congress Google products chief Sundar Pichai said that Google plans to launch constellations of broadband-transmitting balloons and airplanes to provide broadband to rural areas and disaster zones.
Last year, Google launched Project Loon in New Zealand and Australia in collaboration with telecoms company Telstra, but the plan is to expand with fully working Loon balloon clouds working in tandem with Google's Project Titan project to transmit broadband via airplane to underserved areas.
Google's Loon balloons can travel 1,000km in a day
In the latest long distance LTE test a balloon was launched from New Zealand and made the first leg of its journey travelling 9,000km over the Pacific Ocean.
It approached its test location in Chile at a speed of 80kmph and a command was sent for the balloon to rise into a wind pattern that slowed it down to a quarter of its speed, allowing it to drift overhead members of the Loon operations team who were able to connect to the balloon via smartphones on our test-partner mobile network.
"Hanging around for half an hour to complete the connection testing, the balloon was then sent off on the winds over the South Atlantic ocean towards its next test location, over 10,000 km away in Australia," Google said.
"Our balloon completed this second leg of the journey in just eight days, travelling over 1,000km per day and reaching a top speed of 140 km/h while whizzing over the ocean south of Africa. Once at the east coast of Australia the Loon Mission Control team implemented a series of altitude maneuvers to catch different winds and reverse the balloon path, lining it up to directly overfly our test location.
"Having travelled over 20,000km around the world the balloon flew overhead at a ground distance of less than 500 meters away from our target (well within the 40,000 meter radius required for connection | 448 |
For 11 years,<|fim_middle|> | I have been encouraging and preparing students to participate in the Scholastic Art Awards. This competition is a great opportunity for students to see how they fair beyond the walls and halls of our school as they go through a blind adjudication of distinguished judges who evaluate their work. Work is juried based on originality, artistic skill, and artist's voice or vision.
To be honest, I was unsure of how we would fair this year, as the competition is very tough. Students are not really competing against anyone other than the standard set by the judges. Sometimes we do really well and this year has proven to be one of them.
BCWMS students will be walking away with 32 awards, and the nine gold key winners will move onto the National competition. We have been very fortunate to have had at least one national winner since 2015 and can hope to keep the streak alive when we find out results later this Spring.
Our high school also did very well and students earned 47 awards. You can see the full list of regional winners here.
This is an awesome kick off to 2019 and I look forward to seeing how students use this accomplishment to swing back into creative exploration as we return to class.
All works receiving awards will be exhibited at KCAD from February 12 - March 2, 2019. The Awards Ceremony and Reception is on Saturday, March 2, 2019. The Awards Ceremony will be held at Fountain Street Church at 3:00pm. Doors will open at 2:00pm and award recipients must check-in by 2:45pm. The Reception will follow immediately after at the Woodbridge N. Ferris Building at 17 Pearl St NW.
When first transitioning the Art and Design curriculum at my school towards a more student-centered and choice-based approach, I struggled with how to best approach teaching media-specific methods that didn't take too much time away from students getting to work on their own creations.
I recently wrote an article for SchoolArts Magazine about how using stations around the room, with short introduction of materials and timed sessions can help students experience each media before deciding whether or not they would like to use it for their work. In the article, I highlight a series of 2D media that students used like watercolor, collage, and ink.
This past week, I tried it with printmaking.
In the one-day demo, students had the opportunity to try collagraphs, block printing, dry point (with cereal boxes), monoprints (with Gelli Arts printing plates), and silk screens (using Mayco Designer silkscreens). During the five minute sessions at each station, students worked in teams of 3 to create at least one usable print. This was a great way to promote experimentation and help with understanding as they walked each other through the process (using the introduction cards as a guide).
During the rotations, students also took notes in their sketchbooks about how each print method worked, the materials needed to accomplish the effect, and whether or not they liked doing it. Once done, students had a chance to reflect on the process as a whole group and discuss which prints worked and which didn't and why that was.
The next day, students spent 10 minutes transforming their prints into a collaborative collage before uploading it to Artsonia. In addition to deconstructing and reassembling their prints in this collaborative effort, students added other collage elements to complete their creations. Because they were working in groups of three, students had one student be the scissor-handler, one worked the glue, and one acted as a director for the composition.
My goal is to give students the understanding and skills needed to make informed choices about what they want to create. Although some students may never use printmaking again outside of this hands-on demonstration, I know that they and the ones who immediately changed their project idea as a result of this experience benefit from the chance to manipulate media and make informed choices based on what they hope for their own work.
When teaching techniques, it is great to do demonstrations and show students how to use materials and the different things they can do. I have found it is best, however, if I can engage them in an activity that they do and then can decide if they would like to adapt independently to another situation.
That is what mini-challenges, like this line and watercolor portrait, is all about in my classroom.
To start, students take a set of notes that define line, various line directions (and we even do a little dance for this part), and then put those lines into action through a series of portraits.
In their sketchbooks, they create a bilateral continuous contour line portrait, a dominant hand-directed contour line portrait, and a non-dominant hand-directed contour line portrait using various classmates from around the room as subjects that switched for each of the drawings.
After these drawings are complete, students were given a 6x9 inch sheet of watercolor and a white oil pastel to translate their sketches onto, creating a composition on the page with the lines.
The following day, students used their watercolor paper with the oil pastel drawings on them to experiment with a variety of watercolor painting techniques. We went over wet on wet, wet on dry, salt, sponge, resist, and a couple of ways you can use the air from your mouth to get a splatter effect on the page.
Once the watercolors were dry, students went back in with sharpie and made choices about where to add emphasis. This was a fun way to talk about materials, abstraction, and how artists can adapt ideas for future projects.
I know students will use these concepts in different ways throughout the term and I look forward to seeing their results.
Getting to know students is the most important thing when starting out the school year. Knowing their interests can be key to developing classroom culture and helping students when they are stuck on a design challenge and not sure where to go with it.
One way to draw out those ideas visually is through a design challenge that also helps decorate the front of student portfolios: The Personal Logo Challenge. In this challenge, students are asked to create their own logo based on who they are.
To start out student are asked to make a list of four to five of their favorite things in their sketchbook and then draw a symbol or sketch that represents what they wrote.
We then look at a variety of logos. From fast-food to clothing companies and cars, we look at a wide variety of logos and examine how color, font, and overall composition can help offer the viewer ideas and insight about what the company sells or what core values the company is trying to portray. After looking at large company logos, we then turn to logos associated with specific people and compare the way they look.
After that, students are asked to review their lists and symbols from earlier and find ways they might be able to combine ideas, use select font styles, or other visual cues to create potential sketches of their logo.
Once they have three sketches of possible designs, they select one to apply to their portfolio. After sketching it out on their portfolio they are asked to use colored pencil and/or marker to complete their work.
This opening project is a great way for me to get to know my students better and it also helps me teach concepts about composition as well as colored pencil and marker techniques.
For many years now, I have opened the school year with the story "The Dot," by Peter H. Reynolds. It is an inspirational story that so many young (and old) artists can relate to when trying to overcome self-doubt while making art. It is something I need reminding of, too, in my own work and when promoting my students to push themselves more than they think they can go.
To start, we watched the story as a class and had a group discussion about the meaning of the project. This was a great way to get everyone's defenses down about being creative and approaching our own dot activity.
To start, students received their materials as pairs. As pairs, students used dowels, cups, and other circular objects to apply the resist material to their scarves (the scarves were folded in half so they would end up being symmetrical).
After a day of drying, students selected three colors to use for dying their scarves. They used bamboo brushes to apply the dye to the work. This was done until the scarves were filled with color.
After a day of letting the dye set, students rinsed out the resist in a series of three buckets. I released students by table to do this. Once dry, we were able to marvel at the beauty of the white dotted marks littering the gradations of color dyed into the material.
I hope everyone had an awesome Dot Day! I am very excited that these scarves are now going to be for sale during Parent Teacher Conferences and the BCFAB craft fair to benefit our Art and STEM program.
If you are interested in learning more, please ask!
For this week's share, take a moment and be amazed with the collaborative powers of the Byron Center Public School Visual art and Design program. We are so excited to showcase the skills and hard work of our students in our entry for the Youth Collaboration Award at ArtPrize10. This piece is on view in the Downtown Market's second floor through ArtPrize in hopes we might win the $2500 grant for our program!
We hope to see you at the Downtown Market for ArtPrize10!
It is a new school year, and with new year anything comes resolutions and aspirational goals that may or may not be met. One goal I have for this school year is to freshen up this space and reorganize it. Since 2011, I have been blogging here. It has taken a few different forms over the years and we are able to try something new once again. Instead of the weekly posts that have been going on for the last few years, I am going to start posting by assignment. This will mean less posts, but it will also mean more complete thoughts and processes on what we are creating from the BCWMS Visual Art and Design classroom.
For the first posts in this new endeavor, I am sharing something I tried for the first time during the first week of school: Photoshop! I was nervous going into it because many of my 7th graders have not used this program, let alone a MacBook before, so I knew it was going to be a challenge. I decided to do it anyway, because I have tried things like clay on the first day of school without missing a beat, so I thought this could be like that, right? Well, not exactly.
It was interesting to see how students were able to try something new, fail, try again, struggle, ask for help from each other, and finally get where they needed to go in the end. I can think of a lot of things I will do differently when I get this chance again next semester - some of which I put into place mid-way through this creation.
I am very fortunate to have a cart of MacBook Airs with Photoshop on them in my classroom. I assign students a number on the first day of school and that is how they know which computer to check out as well as where to store their Chromebooks when we are painting and their 3D work on a different rack in the room. Giving students a number is a great way to help keep things organized when you may be dealing with a set number of materials or devices to create.
Besides the fact that my last name is Campbell and I have a certain fondness towards Andy Warhol's work because of that, it was also important to me that students started the year thinking about what impact art can have in their lives and what it empowers them to do. In addition to using the Warhol imagery of the soup can, we also mimicked his pop-art style portraits by using the stamp filter in Photoshop.
As you will hear in the video, I talk about class colors. It is another trick I have to help me keep organized. By having things numbered and color coded, it saves students and me time when something goes missing or needs to be put away.
Reading the goals of my students helped me focus on what they see in the power of art. You can view more on our Artsonia class gallery.
I hope this was a helpful post and that you will keep coming back to check out the other creations we share as we work through the year.
Good luck to all of the hard-working, paint-slinging, photoshopping, clay squishing, material dispensing Visual Art and Design teachers out there! This year is going to be amazing because of your work and efforts in sharing your love of art and design with others! Thank you for your work and I look forward to sharing more of ours! | 2,630 |
"Q is for Quarries" is an A-Z trail that allows people to discover the red skeleton of Exeter. Heavitree Stone, sourced from the quarries in St Loyes, was particularly important during the mediaeval period, and it was used in many of Exeter's most distinctive buildings.
Since June 2017 I have been working with the Heavitree Squilometre Quarry Pod on ways of engaging with<|fim_middle|>, etc. And there are examples that illustrate different stone qualities and finishing, how it has been re-used, and how it weathers.
Later I came across TiCL, who were really enthusiastic about adding "Q is for Quarries" to their portfolio of Exeter trails. The two tools complement each other. Placeify isn't actually an app, but a website designed for mobile devices. It presents an ordered trail, and allows for text and audio about each site, and allows you to comment on them and upload your own photos. TiCL is an app using geolocation to find and direct the user to the nearest trail location. Each site on TiCL links to a website with more information. | and celebrating the quarries and the stone. When Steven Bramble suggested designing an alphabet of Heavitree Stone, I immediately thought of its potential use in an A-Z. I came across Placeify some years ago, powering Exeter University's Sculpture Tour, and the two things came together in the idea for a trail.
I assigned a Heavitree Stone site to each letter of the alphabet. Each site needed to tell its own story about the use of the material. So the sites I chose present a good spread across the city and the centuries. They are not just the 'pretty' buildings, but a mix of types of structures – churches, houses, infrastructure | 135 |
ALVAND KŪH
ALVAND KŪH, mountain range near Hamadān, an isolated massif at a point of junction between the Zagros folds and the central Iranian plateau. It consists mainly of intrusive granites and diorites, which were thrust through geosynclinal sediments in tectonic processes connected with the orogenesis of the Zagros in late Jurassic and early Cretaceous times, with several peaks over<|fim_middle|>amia right up to the 20th century; it is still a zone of transition between Turkish, Kurdish, Lori, and Persian-speaking peoples.
J. Black-Michaud, "An Ethnographic and Ecological Survey of Luristan, Western Persia," Middle Eastern Studies 10, 1974, pp. 210-28.
E. Ehlers, "Bauern-Hirten-Bergnomaden am Alvand Kuh Westiran. Junge Wandlungen bäuerlich-nomadischer Wirtschaft und Sozialstruktur in iranischen Hochgebirgen," 40. Deutscher Geographentag Innsbruck 1975, Tagungsbericht und wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, Wiesbaden, 1976, pp. 775-94.
Idem, "Der Alvand Kuh. Zur Kulturgeographie eines iranischen Hochgebirges und seines Vorlandes," Innsbrucker Geographische Studien, 5 (A. Leidlmair-Festschrift), 1979, pp. 483-500.
E. Ehlers, Iran: Grundzüge einer geographischen Landeskunde, Darmstadt, 1980, pp. 119, 210, 263, 269, 379-81, 383.
(E. Ehlers)
Last Updated: August 2, 2011
Vol. I, Fasc. 9, pp. 915-916
Cite this entry:
E. Ehlers, "ALVAND KŪH," Encyclopædia Iranica, I/9, pp. 915-916, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/alvand-kuh-mountain-range (accessed on 30 December 2012).
0 COMMENTS on ALVAND KŪH | 3,500 m and a summit of 3,580 m. An important watershed, it has always acted as a geographical and cultural barrier. About 50 km long, its maximum north-south breadth is 30 km. It is deeply gashed by valleys and falls steeply to its forelands on all sides. The original vegetation was probably a sparse oak forest, but this is now largely destroyed, and trees no longer regenerate naturally; the higher levels have a thin grass cover, while dense growths of grass are found only in the proximity of springs and streams.
The highlands are the traditional grazing grounds of various nomadic groups. The Torkešvand, Lors who speak the Lak dialect, use the western flank of the range as their yeylāq (summer pasture); their qešlāq (winter pasture) is in the district of Gīlān-e Ḡarb near the Iraqi frontier. The eastern flank is used for summer pasture by the Yarīmtoḡlū, who have their winter quarters north of Dezfūl in the foothill zone between the Zagros and the plain of Ḵūzestān and Mesopotamia. A third group, said to belong to the Šāhsevan, also comes to the east side of the Alvand Kūh, but has only a small number of tents. The range is devoid of permanent settlements, but is encircled by villages in the valleys and forelands whose economy is based on intensive exploitation of the irrigable valley bottoms and on wheat-growing and stockbreeding (sheep, goats, and cattle) on the forelands. As a result of the land reform, both agriculture and stockbreeding have extended far into traditional nomad territory, greatly restricting resources for nomadic subsistence.
On the margins of the Alvand Kūh lie many urban settlements, including Hamadān, Malāyer, and Serkān or Tūyserkān. Their ecological and economic bases were the ample water supply provided by Alvand Kūh, the good climate due to the high altitude, and the resultant agricultural potentiality. The trilingual (Old Persian, Neo-Elamite, and Neo-Babylonian) inscriptions called the Ganǰ-nāma, 10 km south of Hamadān at the foot of the Alvand range, bear witness to the area's historic importance. The range was a vital strategic point on the Median royal road and subsequent lines of communication between the Iranian plateau and Mesopot | 539 |
Before you embark upon your first cruise it can be really hard to know what exactly you'll need to take and what<|fim_middle|> For example earth tones and monochrome. If you stick to one or two colours running through all your clothes then it's easy to mix and match and create lots of different outfits from just a few different pieces.
If you're planning to be active on your cruise holiday and visit the gym or take part in some exciting activities on board or whilst you are ashore then be sure to pack some trainers and suitable leisure wear. Also, don't forget to take your swimsuit so that you can enjoy a relaxing dip in the pool on board, or some much needed chill out time in the Jacuzzi.
No matter where in the world you are travelling to you'll want to protect your skin. The sun is much stronger at sea, because it reflects off the water and increases your exposure. Be sure to have strong sunscreen to keep you protected, and a hat to cover your scalp. Nobody wants to spend their holiday looking like a lobster after too much sun!
You'll definitely want to make sure you take your camera and your charger so that you're able to capture all those wonderful memories from your trip. There's a line between taking too many pictures and living in the moment though. Make sure you don't see every moment of your trip through the lens of your camera!
So, now that you know the essentials for your trip what's stopping you from getting out there!
This entry was posted in General and tagged Dress Code, Formal Cruise, Formal Nights by admin. Bookmark the permalink. | you won't. It's best to plan ahead and know exactly what you'll require whilst you're away to save precious space in your luggage.
Before you begin packing check out your chosen cruise line's website for what type of plug sockets they have. All cruise ships are different and it is likely you will have to take an adaptor to allow you to use your electronics on board. What could be worse than beginning your holiday with the realisation you won't be able to recharge your camera to take all those precious holiday photos!
One of the first things you should do is check the suggested dress code that will be listed on your cruise lines website. Make sure you know if there are formal nights on board and, if so, how many. Pack according to the dress code for evening wear, and for daytime stick to layers which are wonderfully versatile in case of changing weather.
Try to stick to one or two different colour palettes with your clothes. | 189 |
Pete Hoiniotes called to otder the April 10 Streator Kiwanis Club meeting; Jim Gohs gave the opening prayer.
The Inter-Club meeting will be 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 18, at Streator High School. Adopt-A-Highway will be Saturday, May 19. Kim Donner had the program. Streator Post Office is doing a pictorial postmark to celebrate Streator's Sesquicentennial celebration. Donner went to Streator and Woodland art classes for drafts and had a contest voted on by art teachers and administration. They will be voted on by using stamps. There are boxes available at the post office for both schools to vote by purchasing stamps and placing stamps in either box. At the end of the contest the stamps in each box will be donated back to each<|fim_middle|>.
The next meeting will be at noon Tuesday, April 17, at The Eastwood Restaurant. | school. The boxes are available at the post office for 30 days. The postmark will be available this summer | 24 |
Compare pricing for limo service in Deerfield Beach, FL. Car service<|fim_middle|>. Celebrate any occasion such as a birthday, wedding, corporate event, divorce party, night on the town, or bachelor party. Deerfield Beach limo rental will have you riding in style as our limos will get you to your location. | , transportation and limo rentals near Deerfield Beach. Price4Limo has over 12,000 vehicles in our inventory with photos and prices for you to choose for your transportation needs. Getting a free quote takes less than 30 seconds and no email is required!
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Limo service in Deerfield Beach provides you with a variety of limousines to select from. The library of limos that are available through our website will help you decide which is the right vehicle for your celebration. Reserve a Deerfield Beach limousine and arrive in our luxurious limos no matter where you're going to be celebrating. From a wedding, quinceanera, sweet sixteen, anniversary, bachelorette party, bachelor party, night on the town, bar crawling, or divorce party we have you covered. When you make a reservation with Deerfield Beach limo service you can choose from a one way trip, three hour, or twelve hour rental just to enjoy the ride.
Deerfield Beach limousine service has a fleet of vehicles for hire that will fit your event and have everyone enjoy the evening. The Deerfield Beach Zebra Hummer Limo is great for bachelor party, wedding, night on the town, prom, homecoming, or bar crawling just to name a few. Take a ride in one of the ladies favorite Deerfield Beach Pink Hummer Limousine and celebrate a bachelorette party, divorce party, wedding, birthday, sweet sixteen, and for those about to turn 15 a quinceanera. When you reserve any of our luxury Hummer vehicles you can have between 14 to 22 passengers riding inside and with the matching interior colors. Another popular limousine with the ladies is the Pink Chrysler 300 limo in Deerfield Beach, FL. Sit back and watch the large screen in the vehicle as you ride with a group of 10-12 passengers. Whether you are looking to celebrate a bachelor party, night on the town, bachelorette party, or bar crawling all of our limos will have everyone enjoying the ride. One of our attention grabbing vehicles is the Deerfield Beach Black Excursion Limousine which sits around 20 passengers with a spacious leather interior seating and a large 42" plasma television with additional monitors located throughout the vehicle so you and your guests can watch the screen from anywhere throughout the limousine.
Enjoy the night on the town and make your way to some of the most popular clubs around Deerfield Beach, FL such as Blue Martini, Club Boca, or Kahuna 'Awa Kava Bar just to name a few. As you pull up everyone will be checking out the exotic limo and won't help but look and even take a few pictures. Make a splash in a Deerfield Beach Escalade Limousine that sits up to 12 passengers, with a lighted bar area where you can start the party even before you head out to have some fun. Our Deerfield Beach Navigator Limo can sit up to 16 passengers and can provide you transportation throughout Broward County, FL. Arrive in our Deerfield Beach Rolls Royce Limo that sits up to 10 passengers and everyone will be wanting to know who is inside the vehicle.
All of our Deerfield Beach limo services will make it a memorable night out and you will definitely want to take some pictures before you step inside the Deerfield Beach Lincoln Stretch and Cadillac limousine which sits up to 10 passengers. If you are looking to celebrate a special occasion, need a ride to the airport, transportation to a hotel, or corporate event off the Atlantic Ocean Deerfield Beach limo service provides you with a limousine solution whether it is for business or personal use.
Deerfield Beach limos provides you with an airport transfer service to Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Boca Raton Airport. No matter where in Deerfield Beach you may be residing our Deerfield Beach airport limo service will drive you up and down Interstate 95. If your flight is landing or planning on going on a cruise in Port Everglades our limousine service can provide you with your transportation needs. Get a Ft Lauderdale Airport transfer to Port Everglades to make sure you arrive on time and can enjoy your cruise. Deerfield Beach limousine service also picks you up upon arrival from a long flight and takes you straight home, hotel near Ft Lauderdale Airport, or Port Everglades.
Deerfield Beach Limo Service provides you with a variety of limousines to select from on Price for Limo where you can get a quote within seconds. Select from our fleet of limos to help you find the right vehicle in photo gallery section. When selecting the day and time on our website you will get a range of vehicles and their pricing | 1,252 |
Healthy protein cookies, or smaller servings of indulgent treats?
Innovation in the all day breakfast category does not need to be groundbreaking. Small changes can make a big difference. Rebekah Schouten via BakingBusiness.com describes, "When the two trends of breakfast and snacking collide, a 'tremendous' opportunity for food service operators appears — one that could drive traffic and pique consumer interest, according to a collaborative report indicating operators are learning that marrying breakfast with snacks is a recipe for success.
"Further, breakfast snacks fit into consumers' demanding on-the-go lifestyles that leave little time for traditional sit-down meals. Larger industry trends,<|fim_middle|> option against oversized muffins and danishes. Smaller items often resonate as snack food, such as muffin tops, pancake balls, and French toast sticks are all examples of how to turn well-loved breakfast foods into smaller bites.
Finding the right balance of healthy and indulgent doesn't have to be challenge. With consumers' snacking demands, flexible eating occasions and the rise of the all-day- breakfast, there is ample opportunity for bakers and bakeries to make small changes to their current line-up and innovate with trending ingredients into 2019. | such as the growth of all-day and second breakfasts, also showcase the need for more breakfast snacks at restaurants. Not only do consumers react favourably to the breakfast snacks concept, but 54 per cent said they would like to see more of them on restaurant menus.
Miniaturizing indulgent breakfast mainstays such as muffins, danishes and quiches may allow bakers to position these items as snacks even for the health conscious consumer. We have seen at McDonald's with their Mini Chocolatine as an | 107 |
I went exploring today and found an art exhibit by Salvador Dali that I hadn't known about. And it had all sorts of crazy pieces I'd never seen before. That made my day.
Dali was such an eccentric. It makes me feel inadequately normal. I am not really normal, but put me up next to someone like that and my approach to life and art is so…pedestrian. I think there's something to be said for going to extremes. I'm just not capable of it myself.
And I found a place nearby that carries mini cans of Coke so I can feed my addiction, but in limited amounts. And I found these yummy chocolate covered wafers (called Minonky).
So, I may be no closer to getting published, (it would help to sit down and write some…), but all in all it's a good day.
And…oh, seriously. Just go read it already. I'm still a newbie<|fim_middle|> it, and getting that experience takes time and effort, and there will be disasters. Some of the things you try won't work the first time, or the second, or the eighth. Some of the things you are quite sure will never work turn out to be brilliant. You will hardly ever be able to tell in advance which is going to be which.
So, go write. Like I'm about to.
This entry was posted in Advice, Life, Writing and tagged being a writer, eating/cooking analogy, patricia c. wrede blog, reasons to be happy, Salvador Dali, writing. Bookmark the permalink. | at writing, but I can certainly agree with what she says about cooking. It really is an art not a science.
"You can learn a lot about writing by reading how-to books and blogs and analyzing other people's work, but if that's all you do, you're not a writer. You need actual, on-the-ground experience to get good at | 71 |
This has to be the most esoteric part of Ban-y-Gor yet still has a few worthwhile pitches. Take care when crossing 'the terrace' and take even more care when belaying. A falling leader could unhinge the most alert of belayers.
It can be gained in two ways: Either climb the lower section of Perfect kiss and traverse left to a large ledge complete with cave or, alternatively, walk left below the crag and as the path rises gain the terrace below the face and walk back right to gain the routes.
5. Some Chance (6c+) another desperate sequence.
The next two routes begin on the ledge at a lower level. This can be gained by descending carefully down or using one of the many trees as an abseil point.
7. Pocket Tarantula E2 5c again pleasant climbing to the left.
The terrace to the left is a little awkward to gain from the right except by a careful traverse. From the left is easier.
8. Goebbals, Mosley, God and Ingrams E4 5c serious start from behind tree. Take a belay!
9. There You Go Again (6c+) * immaculate little wall.
12. Mouchette E<|fim_middle|> further information on any of these areas contact. | 3 6a strong arm tactics over the bulge.
Welcome to the end of the crag!
NB. BMC Participation Statement: The BMC recognize that climbing, hillwalking and mountaineering are activities with a danger of personal injury or death. Participants in these activities should be aware of, and accept, these risks, and be responsible for their own actions and involvement. For | 76 |
Following the Carlton Complex fires, many people have been wondering what they should do to address fuel loading and fire mitigation in their riparian areas. Some riparian zones experienced intensive burning last summer and were corridors for fire spread. It is important to understand that the character of the Carlton Complex was very different from what our community has experienced in past decades. The combination of the extremely dry weather and above average temperatures prior to the fires, and then the intense wind during the event, manifested itself in a fire with unpredictable behavior that didn't follow most models.
A<|fim_middle|> populations). If, however, there is a lot of dead material in a particular area, be it branches, standing dead or fallen dead trees, land owners should consider removing some of the dead material -- piling it and ultimately burning it in a safe place under safe conditions. To the degree that this can be done by hand, it is much preferable. Utilizing machinery in riparian zones can compact soils, create erosion and damage healthy vegetation. Thinning, pruning, or trimming of coniferous trees in riparian areas may also be desired if they are competing with deciduous trees or creating ladder fuels that could contribute to a crown fire.
Remove weeds to the degree possible. Weeds can outcompete the native species that retain moisture. Although weed management should be conducted throughout the riparian areas, methods of removal should be minimally invasive and not harmful to surrounding vegetation or water bodies. If any herbicides are used in the riparian zone, they should be approved for use in and around water bodies.
Leave any dead wood in streams or rivers unless it creates a risk for flooding or blocks the path of migratory fish.
Refrain from removing dead wood and snags from within 25 feet of the water's edge, unless there is immediate risk to homes or infrastructure.
Try to keep a balance between live trees, snags, and dead fall or woody debris. Keeping at least three snags and a similar number of fallen or downed trees per acre is recommended. Provide a variety of species and sizes of these remaining woody elements, and leave any downed or standing dead over 24" dbh in place. The ecological benefits of both snags and dead fall are very important to the health of the forest stand and the species that inhabit them.
Minimize the site disturbance and footprint by using the least intrusive tools and avoiding steep slopes.
Do not remove live deciduous riparian vegetation. These plants help to retain moisture in the stand and minimize erosion and sedimentation.
Maintain waterside shade. This can be largely accomplished by maintaining a 25 foot zone of unmanaged vegetation.
Maintain habitat diversity through leaving a variety of structural elements, species, and age classes.
For additional information about restoration of riparian areas, please contact the Methow Conservancy at 509.996.2870. | newly burned riparian forest.
A riparian forest a few months after it burned.
Healthy riparian forest with live trees of various ages and standing and down dead trees.
Riparian areas by definition are in and around water sources, and riparian vegetation is dependent on moisture. Live trees, such as aspen, cottonwood and willows that are found in these ecosystems have high levels of moisture in their leaves and branches. Although live deciduous shrubs and trees may be top-killed by even low-intensity surface fires, they do not generally add to the actual flaming, or energy of the fire. Historically riparian areas experienced fires on the same frequency as upland areas, but they were quick to recover because of the availability of moisture. With the exclusion of fire to these areas, dead fuels accumulate and can contribute to fire hazard.
Landowners may wonder how this translates into their stewardship of riparian areas on their property. The Methow Conservancy recommends that landowners should leave all live aspen, cottonwood and willow trees on their property and NOT cut them down to reduce fire hazards. These riparian zones provide critical wildlife habitat, support a high level of biodiversity in our valley, and shade the rivers and streams (thereby reducing water temperatures for salmon and other aquatic | 261 |
Tandberg launches specialisation channel program
Revamped program allow partners to specialise in skills
Matthew Sainsbury (ARN) 24 February, 2010 11:54
Bluechip Infotech
Westcon – Comstor
Tandberg claims its revamped channel program has been developed to provide partners with a greater degree of flexibility.
Called enVision, the new program categorises partners into one of four areas of specialisation – audio/visual specialists, visual communications specialists, systems integrators and services providers. The vendor has also increased the size of its marketing funds and support resources to help key partners accelerate their businesses.
The transition to the new structure will not adversely affect existing partners, Tandberg Asia-Pacific channel director, Adam Britten, said. Partners already had most of the qualifications for their ideal specialisations, although future investments will need to be tailored to the enVision program.
"Overall, the investment costs will move to become more relevant to each partner, but the levels of investment required will be similar to previously," Britten said.
The enVision program was in part a result of channel feedback, he said. The vendor is not looking to use the new program as a platform to rapidly expand its partner base, however.
"We're always looking for new partners, but we are still selective over out distribution strategies," Britten said.
He was recently promoted to the Asia-Pacific role, having previously been Tandberg's local channel head.
Britten took up the position just before Cisco won over 90 per cent of the vendor's shares.
He said<|fim_middle|> insurers' IT security | it was unclear what impact Cisco ownership would have on Tandberg's new enVision strategy, but expected it would fit well inside an integrated program.
Tags ciscotandbergenVision
APRA flags concerns over 'gaps' in health | 50 |
Wednesday's indictments are the first major cyber crime prosecutions of the 2-month-old Trump administration, even though the majority of the investigation occurred during the Obama era. | AP Photo
DOJ indicts Russian spies in massive Yahoo breach
The indictments are part of the largest hacking case the Justice Department has ever pursued.
By ERIC GELLER
In a landmark move, the Justice Department on Wednesday indicted four men, including two Russian spies, for hacking into Yahoo and stealing data on 500 million users.
The indictments mark the first time the U.S. has ever filed criminal cyber charges against Russian government officials.
Officials described a plot in which Russian intelligence agents hired, and then protected, notorious criminal hackers in order to pull off one of the largest breaches ever. Moscow allegedly used the pilfered information to build dossiers on local journalists, dissidents and U.S. officials, while the criminals leveraged it to steal identities and launch email spam schemes.
Mary McCord, the acting assistant attorney general for national security, called the actions "beyond the pale."
Wednesday's move will likely further strain Washington's tense relationship with Moscow, which has already been strained over recent allegations of hacking and failed joint efforts to fight terrorist groups in Syria.
The charges come less than three months after the Obama administration slapped Moscow with sanctions for dispatching its hackers to help President Donald Trump win the election. Wednesday's indictments are not related to the election cyberattacks, however.
The two Russian government officials charged on Wednesday, Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin, are agents of Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB. They work within the FSB's cyber intelligence wing, which collects digital evidence for the Russian government and serves as the FBI's point of contact in Moscow on cyber crime, McCord said.
The two FSB officials are unlikely to face prison time because Russia does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. But Justice Department officials have long argued that being named in an American indictment is enough to complicate hackers' lives.
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"It impedes those people's liberty to travel," McCord said Wednesday morning at a Financial Times event, speaking generally of cyber criminals. "Frankly, they're thieves, and it exposes them as not being very successful if, in fact, they're caught and they're named."
A third hacker charged in the case, Karim Baratov, was arrested in Canada on Tuesday. Baratov<|fim_middle|> its offer by $350 million, to $4.4 billion.
Wednesday's indictments are the first major cyber crime prosecutions of the two-month-old Trump administration, even though the majority of the investigation occurred during the Obama era.
The charges bolster the long-standing belief that America's digital adversaries are covertly supporting cyber criminals, said Megan Stifel, a director for international cyber policy at the National Security Council from 2013 to 2014.
DOJ officials said the FSB helped Belan, the hacker on the FBI's most-wanted list, evade authorities by passing him sensitive law enforcement and intelligence information.
"For years we've been talking about collaboration and collusion among government hackers and criminal hacking groups," Stifel, the founder and CEO of Silicon Harbor Consultants, said in an email. "These charges bring those claims even greater legitimacy."
Overall, the charges are the third time the Justice Department has indicted members of another government for hacking U.S. targets.
In 2014, the government indicted five Chinese military hackers for infiltrating various U.S. companies. And in 2016, DOJ charged Iranian government-backed hackers for attacks on American banks and a small dam in upstate New York.
At the press conference, McCord implored other American companies fighting off foreign government-backed hackers to bring in U.S. investigators.
"You do not have to go it alone," she said. "We can put the full capabilities of the United States behind you to make cases like this."
Yahoo, which faced skepticism when it initially claimed its 2014 breach was the act of a foreign government, said Wednesday's indictments vindicated its assessment.
"The indictment unequivocally shows the attacks on Yahoo were state-sponsored," Chris Madsen, the company's assistant general counsel and head of global law enforcement, said in a blog post. | is a Canadian citizen born in Kazakhstan.
The fourth person named in the indictments, Alexsey Belan, is in Russia, where officials said local authorities are protecting him. McCord said he used his access to Yahoo's systems to steal users' financial information, including gift cards in their inboxes, and to collect users' contacts for an email scam.
Belan, who is on the FBI's most-wanted cyber list, was named in the round of sanctions the Obama administration levied in December in response to a wide-ranging campaign to meddle in the U.S. election.
In addition to punishing the FSB and Russia's main intelligence directorate, the GRU, the U.S. ejected several dozen diplomats and sanctioned two criminal hackers, including Belan, who weren't tied to the election-year hacks.
Belan and the other hackers linked to the Yahoo breach appear to have been on U.S. authorities' radar long before Moscow allegedly launched its digital interference campaign on the U.S. presidential race.
The Washington Post reported that the indictments resulted from nearly two years of investigation by the FBI's San Francisco bureau and international partners.
On Wednesday, DOJ prosecutors officially charged the hackers with economic espionage, the theft of trade secrets, wire fraud and "aggravated identity theft," among other charges.
Michael Daniel, former President Barack Obama's top cyber adviser, said government prosecutors would not have made formal charges against Russian officials unless they were highly confident in their findings.
"It means that they must have a very strong case with substantial evidence to back it up," said Daniel, now the president of the Cyber Threat Alliance, via email.
The Yahoo breach didn't become public until this past September, when the tech giant announced a 2014 data breach that had exposed personal information on 500 million users, possibly giving hackers and spies access to email accounts and other Yahoo-linked applications.
Two months later, Yahoo announced a second breach from 2013 that it said affected one billion users. In announcing the second infiltration, Yahoo revealed that hackers had figured out how to forge the company's tracking cookies, potentially allowing them to simulate a successful login without knowing the target's password.
The two hacks prompted telecommunications giant Verizon, which is in the process of buying Yahoo, to reduce | 461 |
HometeamAdam Bryant
Adam Bryant
Managing Director, Americas Management, Client Service & Operations
Adam Bryant is a respected and noted expert on executive leadership, whose work includes 525 Corner Office columns for the New York Times. He joins Merryck as Managing Director and Partner after a distinguished career as an editor and journalist. Bryant has a proven ability to distill real-world lessons and insights from his hundreds of interviews and turn them into practical tools, presentations and exercises to help Merryck clients deepen their leadership benches and strengthen their teams. He works with executive leadership teams and organizations to foster a culture of innovation, based on a best-practices framework he developed for his widely praised book, "Quick and Nimble."
Prior to joining Merryck, Adam worked for 30 years as a journalist, including 18 years as a reporter, editor and columnist at The New York Times.
Bryant interviewed more than 500 CEOs for "Corner Office," a weekly series on leadership and management in The Times that he created in 2009. He is the author of two books based on themes that emerged from the interviews: "Quick and Nimble; Lessons from Leading CEOs on How to Create a Culture of Innovation," and "The Corner Office; Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed."
Bryant was also a member of the team that produced the Innovation Report at The New York Times, which is widely considered a key inflection point in The Times' transition to a digital-first company. He was also the lead editor of a series on the dangers of distracted driving that won a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 20<|fim_middle|>ck.com
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Bryant's work on leadership is used widely on college campuses, and he is a frequent speaker at business schools across the country. In addition to his consulting work on leadership development and mentoring, he is the senior advisor to the Reuben Mark Initiative for Organizational Character and Leadership at Columbia University.
Bryant earned his Bachelors degree from York University in Toronto and his Masters from Columbia University in New York. He and his wife have two children and live in New York City.
"I found my mentor very practical, with deep executive experience coupled with a great approach to problem solving. The mentoring process has helped me to achieve greater clarity, has challenged my thinking and broadened my views in many areas."
— CEO, Energy Company
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<A HREF="help_main.html">Contents</A>
<BR><A HREF="help_general.html">General</A>
<BR><A HREF="help_num.html">Numerical Expressions</A>
<BR>Boolean Expressions
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<IMAGE src="images/spacer.gif"<|fim_middle|> expressions (including the comparison boolean expressions) as there arguments, those currently available are and (\&), or (|), not (!), and the booleans true, and false. These expressions can be constructed, and then edited in much the same way as the numerical expressions above. (including the use of brackets)
<BR>
<b>Comparison Boolean Expressions</b>
<BR>
What i have called comparison boolen expressions are boolean expressions themselves, but whose arguments are numerical expressions. The boolean value of these expressions depends on some sort of comparison between the two numerical expressions. The available operators are currently equals (=), not equals (!=), greater than (>), less than (<), at least (>=), and at most (<=). These expressions are also created and edited in much the same way as the other types of expression above.
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Boolean Expressions
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The Boolean Expression components are all expressions that have a boolean value when evaluated.
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<b>Standard Boolean Expressions</b>
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The Standard Boolean Expression components all take other boolean | 62 |
As you may have noticed, APIs are all the rage these days. Twitter attracts 15 billion API calls per day, Google and Facebook were pulling in 5 billion per day as of last year, Amazon currently stores over 260 billion objects in S3, and Saleforce.com receives 50 percent of its traffic through its API. You get the picture. Mashape, which is going into private beta today, hopes to ride this API surge to victory through a marketplace makes it simple for developers to discover, distribute, and consume all things API.
Mashape, which was founded in November by Augusto Marietti, Marco Palladino and Mike Zonca, aims to be a little bit Etsy, a little bit Github by building a unified, all-in-one marketplace where users can find, sell, distribute, and hack on APIs. The platform makes it easy to list any JSON API using its simple wizard and provide<|fim_middle|> few coupons, go to Mashape signup on the homepage and insert your email address. You will be asked a question to which the answer is "var x". Add the TC coupon, and voila! | it to a community of developers just waiting to get hackin'. Plus, there are 5 auto-generated client libraries, including PHP, Ruby, Python, Object C and Java.
API consumers can use any API listed on Mashape via a single Developer Key and a standard interface, so that once you've learned how to consume an API on Mashape, you know how to consume then all. Developers can even test their APIs by using Mashape's online Test Console.
At this point, Mashape is supplying more than 110 APIs, both published and private, and has tallied more than 22K API searches. The APIs in stock range from stuff that helps you get your homework done to music services and photo filters — and even more obscure APIs like "DNA manipulation" or a "Nitro accelerator".
"We believe that APIs have no limits", said Mashape Co-founder Augusto Marietti, "though I still have to figure out exactly what kind of API a 'Nitro Accelerator' is". The APIs listed on Mashape are both free and for charge, and today the startup is launching a simple (and free) tool that enables users to monetize JSON APIs. Once a user has listed an API, they can set up billing with a single click. Users can choose monthly charges, give API call limits, and give a price per additional call. Pretty cool.
For a market consisting mainly of enterprise solutions, the startup's addition of social layers to its marketplace will strengthen its API community and come in handy for startups and independent developers. By building a social layer on top of APIs, Mashape also hopes to address the discoverability and trust issue through the ability to see what your friends are using.
For all TechCrunch readers looking for a | 357 |
« Judges 9 | Judges 10 | Judges 11 »
Tola and Jair
10:1 After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. 2 And he judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir.
3 After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years. 4 And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. 5 And Jair died and was buried in Kamon. Further Disobedience and Oppression
6 The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of<|fim_middle|> Worthless
34 "Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." | Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lord and did not serve him. 7 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, 8 and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9 And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.
10 And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, "We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals." 11 And the Lord said to the people of Israel, "Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines? 12 The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand. 13 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. 14 Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress." 15 And the people of Israel said to the Lord, "We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day." 16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel.
17 Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped at Mizpah. 18 And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, "Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead."
« Luke 13 | Luke 14 | Luke 15 »
Healing of a Man on the Sabbath
14:1 One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. 2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?" 4 But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. 5 And he said to them, "Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?" 6 And they could not reply to these things. The Parable of the Wedding Feast
7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this person,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." The Parable of the Great Banquet
12 He said also to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."
15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!" 16 But he said to him, "A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.' 19 And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.' 20 And another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.' 22 And the servant said, 'Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.' 23 And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.'" The Cost of Discipleship
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Salt Without Taste Is | 1,505 |
You are here: Home > Things to Do > Ballintoy to Bushmills
Ballintoy to Bushmills
Co Antrim
Discover the wonders that lie along the Causeway Coast, including Portballintrae, Portbradden, Dunseverick Harbour and the Giant's Causeway. The route includes walking on beaches, across rocks and along cliff top paths following the Causeway Coast Way, one of the most spectacular cliff top paths in the UK!
Start Point:
Finish Point:
From Ballintoy harbour car park, follow the Causeway Coast Way path in a westerly direction, passing low dunes and damp pastures. Cross a stile leading past rock stacks to access the narrow end of White Park Bay Beach. The beach offers easy walking along its length. Continue across uneven rocks and chalk boulders to access Portbradden. Care is needed when crossing these rocks. During high tide, Portbradden can be accessed by joining the main coast road via the track at the youth hostel, and taking the winding road down to Portbradden. Continue along the coast, passing through the arch at Gid Point. Continue along the path passing a series of rocky bays to Dunseverick Harbour. From the lay-by at Dunseverick, follow the path in a w<|fim_middle|>
Stunning coastal views from this headland in this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,…
Giant's Causeway - National Trust
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Bonamargy Friary
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The walk starts at Ballintoy Harbour car park. To get here follow the Main Street west out of Ballintoy for 500m, and turn right. Ballintoy Harbour car park is 1.6km away at the end of the Harbour Road.
Public Transport Directions
Translink - journeyplanner.translink.co.uk | esterly direction passing by Portmoon Salmon Fishery, Contham Head and Benbane and Bengore Head. Between Benbane and Bengore is Hamiltons Seat, the highest point on the walk which offers superb views. Continue along the path passing the Bays of Port na Tober, Port na Spaniagh and the Ampitheatre. An optional detour is to take the 'Shepherd's steps' down to the waters edge to experience the hexagonal basalt formations that make the Giant's Causeway a World Heritage Site. From here follow the tarmac path to the visitors centre or follow the cliff top path to the visitors centre. Continue through the car park to the junction of the Causeway Road and the Runkerry Road. Follow the Runkerry Road for 300 meters to arrive at the Giant's Causeway and Bushmills Railway. Follow the path along side the railway track along its length until arrival at the Bushmills Station on the Ballaghmore Road, Bushmills.
Single file track, beaches, unev
Point of interest:
Ballintoy Harbour, White Park Bay, Dunseverick Castle, Benbane Head, the Giant's Causeway.
Free car parking available at Ballintoy Harbour and Bushmills town centre, or at Bushmills Train Station for a £5 fee.
Nearest town:
Bushmills/Ballintoy
OS map:
Provider Preferences
Free (parking charges may apply)
Ballintoy Harbour can be discovered in the picturesque village of Ballintoy. Known as a…
Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge
The Rope Bridge remains closed at this time. See website for more details www…
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The spectacular beach forms a white arc between two headlands on the North Antrim coast.…
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North Coast Smokehouse Économusée
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Folk and social history of the Glens in the town's 18th century courthouse. Exhibits…
Loughareema (The Vanishing Lake)
A lonely and mysterious Moorland Lake, sometimes called the 'Vanishing Lake'.
Ballycastle Visitor Information Centre
A range of free tourism literature covering the Causeway Coast and Glens and Northern…
Torr Head | 524 |
Master the art of video editing with DaVinci Resolve 16
Online learning to the rescue.
By StackCommerce on June 21, 2020
Products featured here are selected by our partners at StackCommerce. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
No need to break the bank with an Adobe program. Credit: pexels
> Life > Education > Online Learning
TL;DR: Learn how to play around with transitions, music, and more with The Comprehensive Video Editing in DaVinci Resolve 16 Bundle for $30.99, a 95%<|fim_middle|> half-off deal
Lego has no age limit.
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This sewing table is great for small spaces, and it's on sale
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Many of us have fallen prey to the cost/quality conundrum. The pricier a product or service is, the better we think it is. But this kind of thinking is often a load of bull, especially when it comes to video editing software.
Why pay for Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro when Davinci Resolve 16 is right there? It's free for you to download. It has quality functionalities. It won't overdraft your checking account. And even if you do pay for the premium version, it only costs $299, which is still cheaper than the cost of the heavyweights.
If you decide to give it a try, you can get hands-on training with the Comprehensive Video Editing in DaVinci Resolve 16 Bundle. Comprised of 10 hours of video content, it will fill you in on many of the skills, features, and tricks that you need to produce amazing videos using the highly-rated software.
You'll start by getting a thorough understanding of how the app works, along with its core functionalities. Once you've got that all down, you'll jump right into learning all the editing techniques you'll need to execute. Not only will you learn how to add audio and video fades and insert transitions and effects, but you'll also master designing clean and professional titles, color correcting and color grading, and incorporating all sorts of video effects. Plus, you'll get to learn how to do a quality check, so you can render your video in its best shape possible.
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Be more than tech-savvy — be social media-savvy.
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Snag a pack of Lego and get creative with this | 531 |
1. Vary the fabrics and textures. MY #OOTD combines black denim, leather (shirt) , wool (vest). Tip : do not wear all black cotton it is almost impossible to pull off.
2. Fabrics: ensure it is appropriate for the season. A black linen dress will not work for fall or winter it is generally relegated to late spring and/or summer. However, you can purchase "seasonless" fabrics such as microfiber as shown in this previous blog …Tip : great CPW for garments that are made with a "seasonless" fabric.
3. When putting together a black-on-black, fit becomes even more important. Take advantage of the fact that black is slimming and have the clothes be more fitted and flattering. Tip: camouflage less flattering areas using longer pieces over more fitted garments I.e: my vest which elongates ,therefore de-emphasising my hip area.
4. Add interest with accessories. Bold, colorful jewelry becomes the statement piece of your outfit. Tip: have the eye move upward by framing your face with accessories. I love wearing silver accessories, especially this silver statement choker & pair of silver/onyx earrings.
<|fim_middle|>'re told not to wear all black, or black near the face, but nearly all women love wearing black.
Thanks Gail….lots of flattering ways to wear black even close to our faces. | 5. Make your outfit more dressy or casual with the simple change of lipstick color. Tip: you can wear red lipstick day or night but change the hue and transparency..lighter for the day and darker for the evening.
Great tips. Too often we | 52 |
2014 was the hottest year ever recorded, Nasa and NOAA confirm
By Hannah Osborne
An art installation called Desert of Cantareira by Brazilian artist and activist Mundano is seen at Atibainha dam, part of the Cantareira reservoir, during a drought in Nazare Paulista, Sao Paulo Nacho Doce/Reuters
Last year was the hottest on record, with surface temperatures reaching their highest levels since 1880, when records began.
Scientists at Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) both found 2014 to have had higher temperatures than 2010 – the last record-holding high.
Experts at Nasa's Earth Observatory say there are a number of reasons why 2014 was so warm despite the lack of El Niño, which can push up temperatures.
"This is the latest in a series of warm years in a series of warm decades," said GISS director Gavin Schmidt. "While the ranking of individual years can be affected by chaotic weather patterns, the long-term trends are attributable to drivers of climate change that right now are dominated by human emissions of greenhouse gases."
Temperatures seen in 2014 are expected to continue along the planet's long-term warming trend, but with yearly fluctuations from phenomenon like El Niño.
"These phenomena warm or cool the tropical Pacific and are thought to have played a role in the flattening of the long-term warming trend over the past 15 years. However, 2014's record warmth occurred during a Niño-neutral year," Nasa said in a statement.
Richard Spinrad, NOAA chief<|fim_middle|> for Talks as Global Temperatures are Set to Break More Records
Anthropocene era: Humans changed the Earth\'s geology by setting off atomic bombs in 1945
Climate change: Social cost of carbon six times higher than current estimates
Related topics : Climate Change | scientist, said the US government agencies will continue to monitor temperature changes to best prepare for future climates.
The 10 warmest years on record, except for 1998, have now taken place since 2000.
"As we monitor changes in our climate, demand for the environmental intelligence NOAA provides is only growing. It's critical that we continue to work with our partners, like Nasa, to observe these changes and to provide the information communities need to build resiliency."
Global warming: Every degree rise could see a drop in wheat yield by quarter of present production
Ed Davey: We must act urgently to prevent dangerous climate change
Climate change: 2014 set to be UK\'s hottest year since 18th century
Climate Change: Nations Meet in Bonn | 165 |
La cinetica di Michaelis-Menten descrive l'andamento della velocità di una reazione catalizzata da enzimi, al variare della concentrazione del substrato e dell'enzima. Questo modello, valido per enzimi non allosterici, fu proposto da Leonor Michaelis e Maud Menten nel 1913. Inibitori e induttori enzimatici sono sostanze in grado di alterare la cinetica enzimatica.
Descrizione
Il modello cinetico spiega come all'aumentare anche di poco della concentrazione del substrato disponibile all'enzima (di concentrazione supposta costante), la velocità della reazione aumenti fino al raggiungimento di un massimo, chiamato . In questo punto la reazione ha raggiunto la velocità massima possibile semplicemente perché è presente tanto substrato da saturare tutto l'enzima presente in soluzione, perciò un'ulteriore aggiunta di substrato non servirebbe in quanto non verrebbe più attaccato da enzimi. Ciò avviene perché non sono più presenti enzimi liberi, ma solo forme enzimatiche legate al substrato.
L'enzima libero, indicato dalla lettera maiuscola , reagisce dapprima con il substrato dando il complesso enzima-substrato , il quale si scomporrà originando il prodotto della reazione enzimatica, , e riformando l'enzima libero.
Riassumendo schematicamente:
dove i termini indicati con rappresentano le costanti specifiche di velocità di reazione. ES è un intermedio di reazione il cui basso valore di energia di attivazione permette di fare avvenire una specifica reazione, catalizzata da una specifica classe di enzimi, in modo molto favorevole (effetto catalitico). Quando , in seguito al raggiungimento di uno stato di equilibrio dinamico, assume un valore di concentrazione che si mantiene costante nel tempo, si dice che è stato raggiunto lo stato stazionario (steady state).
Equazione di Michaelis-Menten
In condizioni di equilibrio la velocità di formazione del complesso enzima-substrato eguaglia la velocità di scomposizione:
dove le parentesi quadre indicano la concentrazione molare.
La concentrazione totale dell'enzima, è eguale alla somma della concentrazione dell'enzima legato con la concentrazione dell'enzima libero:
Ricavando la concentrazione dell'enzima libero, , da questa relazione e sostituendola nella espressione cinetica dello stato stazionario, precedentemente descritta, si ricava:
dalla quale, eseguendo i prodotti, è possibile ottenere la concentrazione del complesso enzima-substrato , in funzione delle concentrazioni di substrato ed enzima totale:
La velocità di formazione del prodotto è data dalla quantità di complesso enzima-substrato che si scompone in enzima libero<|fim_middle|>iore aumento della concentrazione di substrato (non è presente più enzima disponibile). Una tale cinetica di reazione è di ordine zero e in questo caso risulta .
Riportando l'equazione di Michaelis-Menten nella forma:
è possibile ottenere il grafico dei doppi reciproci (o di Lineweaver-Burk), rappresentando graficamente l'andamento di 1/V in funzione di 1/[S]. In tal modo si ottiene una retta con intercetta sull'asse delle ascisse nel punto - 1/KM, sull'asse delle ordinate nel punto 1/Vmax e con coefficiente angolare pari al rapporto KM/Vmax.
Quello dei doppi reciproci non è però l'unico grafico utile per interpretare la cinetica enzimatica, altri sono:
grafico lineare diretto (o di Eisental-Cornish Bowden): V sulle ordinate e [S] sulle ascisse;
grafico di Eadie-Hofstee: V sulle ordinate e V/[S] sulle ascisse;
grafico di Hanes-Woolf: [S]/V sulle ordinate e [S] sulle ascisse.
Note
Bibliografia
David L. Nelson e Michael M. Cox. I principi di biochimica di Lehninger. IV edizione. Bologna, Zanichelli, 2006. ISBN 978-88-08-19774-0
Voci correlate
Catalisi enzimatica
Costante di Michaelis-Menten
IC50
Inibitore enzimatico
Diagramma di Lineweaver-Burk
Altri progetti
Collegamenti esterni
Cinetica chimica
Enzimologia | e prodotto nell'unità di tempo:
Dividendo numeratore e denominatore del rapporto, per il termine k1, si ottiene la nota equazione di Michaelis-Menten:
dove è la costante di Michaelis-Menten e rappresenta un termine che ingloba altri valori costanti.
Inoltre, visto che - una volta raggiunto lo stato stazionario - il valore della velocità massima è dato dal prodotto , l'equazione di Michaelis-Menten può anche essere espressa nella forma alternativa:
L'equazione di Michaelis e Menten mette quindi in relazione la velocità di formazione del prodotto con la concentrazione del substrato .
Costante di Michaelis-Menten
La costante di Michaelis-Menten, , è una grandezza caratteristica di ciascun enzima.
Per un'equazione a due tappe del tipo , essa equivale al seguente rapporto
In questa condizione, essendo la tappa che limita la velocità, troviamo che <<
si ridurrà a rappresentando quindi, a livello quantitativo l'affinità tra l'enzima e il substrato: più basso è il valore di KM e più bassa sarà la concentrazione di substrato che permette di raggiungere un valore di velocità di reazione pari alla metà della velocità massima, il che indica una alta affinità dell'enzima per il substrato. Viceversa un alto valore di KM indica che sarà necessario più substrato per raggiungere una velocità di reazione pari alla metà della velocità massima, il che significa una minore affinità dell'enzima per il substrato.
Per un'equazione a più di due tappe in cui alla formazione del complesso seguono svariate reazioni, la diventa una funzione molto complessa di numerose costanti di velocità e non può quindi essere considerata una misura dell'affinità enzima-substrato.
Ragionando sull'equazione di Michaelis-Menten si ricava che la rappresenta, numericamente, la concentrazione di substrato necessaria affinché la reazione abbia velocità pari a metà della velocità massima:
Per
; ;
risolvendo per
Interpretazione grafica
Riportando su un diagramma cartesiano l'andamento della velocità di reazione, dedotta secondo la cinetica di Michaelis-Menten, in funzione della concentrazione di substrato si ottiene graficamente un ramo di iperbole.
Risultano di ovvia deduzione le seguenti considerazioni:
a basse concentrazioni di substrato la reazione è praticamente del primo ordine, crescendo la velocità proporzionalmente a [S] (essendo l'enzima in forte eccesso rispetto al substrato, la sua concentrazione può considerarsi costante);
ad alte concentrazioni di substrato la velocità tende ad assumere un valore massimo che diviene costante. Ciò è dovuto alla completa saturazione dell'enzima che annulla l'effetto dovuto all'ulter | 715 |
Definition - What<|fim_middle|> Source License, FreeBSD License and the Mozilla Public License. | does Open Source mean?
Open source is a philosophy that promotes the free access and distribution of an end product, usually software or a program, although it may extend to the implementation and design of other objects. The term open source gained traction with the growth of the Internet because of the need to rework massive amounts of program source code. When source code is opened to the public it allows for the creation of different communication paths and interactive technical communities; it also leads to a diverse array of new models.
Open source revolves around the concept of freely sharing technological information so that it may be improved through multiple insights and viewpoints. Since the technology is open source, the amount of work that needs to be done is reduced because multiple contributions are added by many individuals. This concept existed way before the age of computers and even before the industrial age when people shared and improved recipes for food and medicine, for example.
In terms of open source software, the code is often freely downloadable and changeable as long as the user sticks to what is agreed upon in the software license agreement. Open-source software is usually under the General Public License (GNU), but there are other free licenses like the Intel Open | 235 |
Print off and cut out the circle pictures provided.
Attach the circle pictures to the board using adhesive velcro squares on the back of each picture and on the cardboard so that your display looks like the display board picture shown.
Note: You may wish to have all of the pictures on the board for the lesson or put the pictures up one at a time as you present so that you have a completed board at the end.
Includes lessons, free materials, tree facts and info on the paper-making process. Provides kids and teachers with info on wood products, forest health, tree cookies showing the parts of a tree, a forest glossary and links to other resources.
Find information on careers, videos of mill tours, tree ID info, History of Forestry in Northern BC and teacher resources.<|fim_middle|>. | Look under "Links" for specific topics and their websites.
Online field trips, career info, a glossary of forest terms and tree product info are some of the topics at the KET site | 39 |
There's no lack of emergencies — medical, supernatural, and otherwise — at a rural hospital in this horror opus.
Aaron Poole, Kenneth Welsh, Daniel Fathers, Kathleen Munroe, Ellen Wong, Mik Byskov, Art Hindle, Stephanie Belding, James Millington, Evan Stern, Grace Munro, Matt Kennedy, Trish Rainone.
Writer-directors Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski started out in Winnipeg film collective Astron-6, whose first features "Manborg" and "Father's Day" were subversively funny low-budget genre send-ups of dystopian-future action cheese and bad-taste gore horror, respectively. There's nothing spoofy about their latest, however. "The Void" plays its tale of one hectic night's bloody peril at a rural hospital relatively straight, which is not to say there<|fim_middle|> Directors, writers: Jeremy Gillespie, Steven Kostanski. Camera (color, widescreen, HD): Samy Inayeh. Editor: Cam McLauchlin. Music: Blitz//Berlin, Menalon, Brian Wiacek, Jeremy Gillespie, Lustmord.
With: Aaron Poole, Kenneth Welsh, Daniel Fathers, Kathleen Munroe, Ellen Wong, Mik Byskov, Art Hindle, Stephanie Belding, James Millington, Evan Stern, Grace Munro, Matt Kennedy, Trish Rainone. | 's anything straightforward about the story these Canadians have cooked up. Indeed, after a promising start, this enterprising but overstuffed endeavor drifts increasingly into a muddled sci-fi mystical horror hybrid that only gets more confusing as it grows more thematically ambitious.
At least its failings aren't formulaic ones — or perhaps they're the fault of jamming in more fantastic-cinema formula than one modestly scaled film can support. "The Void," which Screen Media opens on thirty-odd U.S. screens April 7 after a successful festival-circuit run, is a bit of a mess. But in an era when stab-by-numbers remakes and sequels dominate big-screen horror, this resourceful, polished indie merits some admiration simply for trying to do more than it can pull off — not to mention more than most undiscriminating horror fans ask for these days.
The opening finds a couple terrified youths fleeing an isolated house, pursued by two men. The girl never makes it past the lawn, as the latter duo dole her out a nasty, fiery death. The wounded boy manages to escape into the surrounding forest. He's soon found by the side of the road by local cop Dan Carter (Aaron Poole), who at first assumes James (Evan Stern) is just some drunk kid, then realizes he requires serious medical attention.
Unfortunately, nearest facility March County Hospital is barely open, with just a skeleton crew packing things up for a move to a new building in the wake of a damaging fire. In addition to senior staffer Dr. Powell (Kenneth Walsh), there's a couple nurses (including Kathleen Munroe as the wife Dan has been separated from since their child died), a hapless intern (Ellen Wong's Kim), and very few patients, including a nearly-due pregnant woman (Grace Munro).
It doesn't take long after Dan and James' arrival for all hell to break loose. Initial stages include violent psychotic episodes and creature mutations, as well as the re-surfacing of the initial homicidal duo (Daniel Fathers, Mik Byskov), who it turns out are actually trying to stop further outbreaks of psychosis, mutation, and who knows what else. With so many terrors within, the logical recourse would be to get as far as way as possible. Alas, the hospital is now surrounded by silent figures clad in what looks like a compromise between KKK robes and hazmat suits. They're a presence quite ominous enough to dissuade the protagonists' thoughts of escape, even before they all pull out giant kitchen knives.
Things escalate so quickly and effectively in this early progress that, for at least its first half hour, "The Void" is not only exciting, but has the excitement of a movie whose next moves are anyone's guess. Too bad that the direction it eventually heads is farther and farther into the imaginative ozone, even as characters wade deeper into the hospital's bowels. There they discover Dr. Powell has been "defying God," as well as death and nature, via nightmarish "experiments" that have opened a portal into another dimension.
These sequences retain some atmospheric expertise, as well as providing a few nice climactic cosmic-psychedelic effects. But as it lurches into more Lovecraftian territory, the screenplay becomes an increasingly muddled mix of sci-fi mystical horror whose too many underdeveloped ideas reduce one another's potency. Perhaps Kostanski and Gillespie got carried away piling on ways to showcase their separate additional skill sets — which include prosthetic makeup and digital FX design, art direction, even music composing. Whatever the reason, somewhere they lost track of the basic cogency required to keep suspense taut and the audience reasonably oriented.
While conceptual clutter has a diminishing effect on the whole, "The Void" is still comprised of a lot of good parts — including a handsome overall look (the nocturnal palate of Samy Inayeh's widescreen framing vaguely recalls classic John Carpenter), committed performances, sharp editing by Cam McLachlin, and an original soundtrack that's consistent in its eeriness despite being credited to five separate composing individuals and groups.
Reviewed online, San Francisco, March 24, 2017. Running time: 90 MIN.
Production: (Canada) A Screen Media Films release of a Cave Painting Pictures, JoBro Productions presentation, in association with 120dB Films, XYZ Films. Producers: Casey Walker, Jonathan Bronfman. Executive producers: Todd Brown, David Watson, Jeremy Platt, Stephan Hayes, Peter Graham, Ross M. Dinerstein, James Norrie, Mic Forsey, Lon Molnar, Jeremy Gillespie, Steven Kostanski. Co-producers: Jenifer Pun, Peter Kuplowsky, Racheal Forbes, Colin Geddes, Katarina Gligorijevic, Rosalie Chilelli.
Crew: | 999 |
Our People | psKINETIC - Transformation & automation<|fim_middle|> and improve processes with major software companies Appian, OpenText, Captiva and Northgate. My goal now is to scale psKINETIC and develop a large presence in Europe, building a solid Business Development and Account Management team who are focused on understanding our customers' needs and ensuring complete satisfaction at all times.
I am married with one son (Thomas) and 3 dogs (Dexter, Diesel and Drake). I love to travel. One of my biggest achievements outside work is totally renovating a 1860 Norfolk Cottage.
My favourite thing about working for psKINETIC is the focus that's put on the people and our development. The environment is also challenging and innovative, two things that I really love being a part of. I'm Dave. I run the Engineering team here and we're a great bunch, I personally really enjoy thinking of new and quirky ideas to improve the team, whether it's considering more efficient ways to collaborate within our design sessions or fun team bonding days out, the goal is always to improve.
I grew up in a small countryside village called Norton Lindsey, while I enjoyed the tranquillity from time to time I soon realised that a bustling, fast paced world was more for me. I eventually ended up in Waterloo. When I'm not in the office I like to think of myself as a bit of an adventurer, always finding new areas to explore with my flatmates. Either that or I'm geeking it up on my PlayStation.
From the wilds of Northumberland, I went on to study Computer Science at Durham University before succumbing to the idea that I would have to head south. Before starting with psKINETIC I worked in education assessment for a couple of years, gaining a good understanding of the sector and learning a lot of transferable skills that I still use today. I love working closely with our clients and partners to develop the best solutions for them. Working for psKINETIC really does seem unique in many ways, from very early on you are put in a position of real responsibility, it challenges you but in turn accelerates your personal development. Outside of work I really enjoy baking and experimenting with various arts and crafts.
I'm Linda and I look after our people agenda here at psKINETIC. My role is all about making sure that we have the right capability in place to achieve our ambitious growth plans. That means making sure that we hire the best people to join our business and then providing them with the right development and coaching so that we can really accelerate their learning.
Prior to joining psKINETIC, I worked in a number of different senior HR roles in retail, FMCG, banking and private equity. I joined psKINETIC because my professional passion is all about helping people to achieve their full potential and that's something that there is a real commitment to here. psKINETIC people are exceptionally talented and committed – we have super high expectations of our people but it's also a supportive and fun place to work.
Outside of work, I love to run so I am usually trying to fit in training for a 10k or a half marathon around the busy social lives of my young children! I also love reading – a throwback to my degree in English Literature from Durham.
I am responsible for the success of delivering customer projects at psKINETIC. From understanding our customers' businesses and defining their requirements, to ensuring the solution gets delivered with the quality expected.
I joined in 2018 after six years with a national provider in the further education sector. Initially in strategic research and analysis but I found my passion in technology, progressing to manage the business analysis team.
I graduated from the University of Bath with a degree in mathematics. Outside of work I spend my time cycling on the North and South Downs when I'm not running after my kids.
I've worked in the healthcare industry for nearly ten years and have experience in both Operations and Account Management. I was first introduced to psKINETIC as a customer and had an excellent experience using the software and working with the psKINETIC team from the other side. Now working for psKINETIC, I'm committed to ensuring our customers continue to receive the same high-level of service and gain the maximum potential from our solutions. I've continuously studied part-time alongside my career and have a BA in Business Studies from The Open University. In my spare time I love playing roller derby – a full contact sport on roller skates. I spend a lot of time training, competing and hopefully winning , with my team Croydon Roller Derby.
I'm Helen and I look after finance at psKINETIC. I came to psKINETIC from a background in financial control and management consultancy. That in turn now seems a long way from my languages degree at Cambridge. psKINETIC has ambitious growth plans and we therefore have an extensive and full finance agenda which keeps my team busy and very much at the sharp end of the business. It's an impressive, challenging and enjoyable environment in which to work where everyone has a total commitment and passion to design and build the best solutions for our clients. Outside the office? I'm a big fan of the water as an ex rower now keen sailor. I run when I can, but nowadays am equally happy on the sidelines, cheering on the kids. | . Intelligently Delivered.
We're a diverse bunch of people, dedicated to finding great solutions for our clients. We believe the team is stronger than the individual.
There are two aspects of psKINETIC of which I am incredibly proud; our intelligent process automation solutions and our awesome people. We love innovation, but what is most important for the team here are successful implementations that deliver real value – we call it return on automation. Our customers are living through the most exciting of times; technology provides new opportunities at a pace never seen before. We at psKINETIC are incredibly fortunate to be working with great organisations as both customers and partners to leverage new technologies and, learning together to solve new problems.
I'm a Norwegian who studied in Switzerland and then went on to work at Goldman Sachs in London, Frankfurt and New York. After a decade in finance, I became interested in how software was changing the world. In 2002, I started my first health tech business, Active Health Partners. My experience here helped me refine the two principles on which I went on to found this company in 2008; we want to be known for pushing process automation and for cultivating an exciting environment in which our awesome people can grow, learn and achieve great things.
I've been at the company since 2013 as Operations Director; it has been exciting to be part of a fast growing business delivering world class software solutions to our customers. Every day I enjoy being part of a creative team that is focused on working with our customers to design and deliver solutions that give them tangible value. Another important part of my job, and one of which I am very passionate, is guiding the professional development of the team, giving them opportunities to enhance and extend the breadth and depth of their skills. Prior to psKINETIC, I worked at Accenture and Ernst & Young shaping and delivering large scale transformations for FTSE 100 companies across industries such as healthcare, telecoms and utilities. I've worked in 20 countries with roles in project management, solution architecture, application development and service management for both packaged and customised solutions. I graduated from King's College London with a Masters in Computer Science.
I have watched psKINETIC go from strength to strength. Before joining the business I spent 11 years at Appian and had the chance to work closely with Ingolv (Founder) and Deepak (Operations Director) as psKINETIC grew to become a leading Appian Partner in Europe. What is special about psKINETIC? We are obsessed about delivering value to our customers – Return on Automation – is what we call it and we also have amazing talent and expertise in our people. During the past 25 years, I have been helping customers leverage software | 566 |
On Saturday 22 February a total of 60 students and staff at NTU donned their funkiest socks and pivoted around a court with a ball in support of the "Sock-It" Netball Tournament to raise awareness for B-Eat charity.
The "Sock-it" campaign headed by B-Eat aims to raise awareness of eating disorders, and this year Katie Wright (VP Welfare & Community), and Jennifer Castle (Sport Activator for nu2sport) took the opportunity to team up and deliver the tournament to help drive the movement. The Eating Disorders Awareness Week that took place 24 February – 2 March 2014, was a chance to raise awareness and understanding of eating disorders, challenge stereotypes and stigmas, and raise funds for B-Eat.
On the day Jessica Northfield, the University Netball Officer, and the volunteer umpires from the NTU Netball team provided a professional and exciting schedule which saw the reigning champions from a similar event last year, 'Hiten Patel's NTU Select', return to defend their title and be successful in their pursuit.
Hiten commented: "It was a fantastic<|fim_middle|> how you do not have to be playing Netball or have any previous experience to get involved in the tournament or nu2sport sessions. Even the most reserved of students on Saturday found their competitive side which was great fun to be involved with! The nu2sport sessions are a great way for people to get fit and healthy and we are always keen to offer a helping hand to support anyone with an eating disorder."
Katie continued: "We had 60 people come down and help raise money for B-Eat and they should all be very proud they have contributed to the campaign. Between the cake sale and entry fee we also raised over £100. Hopefully this can become an annual event and we can continue supporting B-Eat."
Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses affecting 1.6 million people in the UK – they claim more lives than any other mental illness but are treatable and recovery is possible. Please visit the B-Eat website for more information on eating disorders. | event which was very well organised. The turnout was also excellent and overall a great day. I am running for VP education this year so hopefully I will be back next year playing for an exec team!"
Jess added, "I was so happy with the turn-out. It was great to see people of all abilities joining on and enjoying the day!"
Eight teams turned up on the day, and amongst those were Rowers, Rugby, Lacrosse and American football players with a team also made up of executives from NTU. The final was nail-bitingly close with the CBC team (made up of NTU Rowers) leaving nothing in the changing room.
The Netball tournament was chosen to promote how you can stay fit and healthy by having an active lifestyle. Jennifer added, "It was great to see so many non-netballer's turn out for the tournament. I think it demonstrates | 179 |
Investing in Diverse Suppliers
We create opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses to grow and thrive.
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion extends to our procurement activities. Initiatives within our Supply Chain Procurement function help to support our commitments to the economic vitality of the communities we serve. In 2021, we purchased $362 million from women- and minority-owned businesses, and we purchased $582 million from small businesses. Our increases in small business spending categories such as disadvantaged, veteran, and women-owned were achieved in spite of challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and a weakened economy. Our Supplier Diversity Program supported diverse businesses while also supporting our transition to a clean energy company.
Con Edison's clean energy vision sees a future in which all our residents not only benefit as recipients of our energy efficiency programs, but also have the opportunity to participate in the implementation of these programs as vendors and employees. Our Supply Chain organization supported this commitment through<|fim_middle|>2022. Projects completed through this program also help Con Edison achieve its goals to reduce energy use and associated costs for customers. | its Green Energy Opportunities Program and Clean Energy Academy. The Clean Energy Academy is a partnership between our Energy Efficiency Program, Willdan Energy, the state of New York, and non-profit organizations, including the Fortune Society, Green City Force, and Non-traditional Employment for Women.
Through these collaborations we are leveraging energy efficiency projects subsidized by Con Edison to create contract opportunities for Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) subcontractors and jobs for low-income New York City housing residents. So far, this program has yielded over $15 million in contract opportunities for MWBE subcontractors. It has also provided training to over 250 low-income New Yorkers in electrical mechanical building systems, including lighting, HVAC, and refrigeration. We will continue to expand this program; in fact, we have already secured $2.1 million to train more than 900 students in | 180 |
Presbia to Participate in the XXXVI Congress of the European Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons and in the German Ophthalmological Society Congress
DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 13, 2018-- Presbia PLC (NASDAQ:LENS), an ophthalmic device company and leader in near-vision restoration, will<|fim_middle|>6
Monica Yamada, 323-860-4903 | participate in the XXXVI Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS), Europe's leading organization for cataract and refractive surgeons, to be held in Vienna, Austria from September 22-26, 2018.
"We have made significant progress in 2018, including our submission in the second quarter of 2018 to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of our Premarket approval containing 24-month data on our Investigational Device Exemption subjects," said Mark Yung, Chairman and CEO of Presbia. "Participating in ESCRS supports the commercialization efforts of our Microlens in Germany."
Mr. Yung will be available for one-on-one meetings at booth number B200 during the ESCRS.
Presbia will also participate in the German Ophthalmological Society Congress to be held in Bonn, Germany from September 27-29, 2018. The German Ophthalmological Society is the medical scientific association of ophthalmology in Germany, uniting physicians and scientists in treatment and research in ophthalmology.
Presbia representatives will be available at booth number K.54 during the German Ophthalmological Society Congress to answer any questions.
Presbia PLC (NASDAQ:LENS) is an ophthalmic device company that has developed and is currently marketing the presbyopia-correcting Presbia Flexivue Microlens™, a miniature lens that is implanted in a corneal pocket created by a femtosecond laser. The Presbia Flexivue Microlens™ has received a CE mark for the European Economic Area, allowing the lens to be marketed in over 30 countries across Europe. A staged pivotal U.S. clinical trial for the Presbia Flexivue Microlens™ commenced in 2014.
Presbia PLC
Richard T. Fogarty, 949-502-703 | 410 |
U.S.-affiliated scientists who participate<|fim_middle|> sections
Material costs for certain projects
Instrument time such as SEM or microprobe
Chemical analyses that are not routinely available through IODP
Shipping costs, for samples sent to other labs/facilities/colleagues for PEA-related analyses or for return shipping large samples to an IODP core repository
Reduction and analysis of underway and drill site geophysical data
Technician, research assistant, or student costs, to the extent that these services are required to complete work for proposed PEA research
Travel (domestic) to access other facilities/instruments and generate new data, if necessary to complete the proposed PEA research
Publication costs
Unacceptable examples include:
Support for any activity extending beyond completion of the PI's PEA obligations
Purchase of computer or other major/minor equipment
General (non-project-specific) software subscription costs (Adobe, Dropbox, etc.)
Annual professional dues
Travel to regularly scheduled IODP post-expedition meetings
Travel to collect additional shipboard science party data (e.g., to XRF scanning party)
Travel to major meetings such as AGU, GSA, etc.
Travel on a PEA advance
Note that USSSP will administer all approved travel funds directly; hence, the total costs specified on the cover sheet and administered by the investigator's institution should not include any requested travel funding. Applicants should specify requested travel funds separately on the budget page. PEA advances cannot be used for travel.
If an applicant has already requested and received a post-expedition activity (PEA) award advance, the budget justification should include a statement to that effect. If travel expenses are included in the PEA budget, the statement should include a break-out of those expenses, as travel funds are administered by the USSSP Office separately from the rest of the PEA award. An example statement:
"The total budget for the proposed work is $17,500. $1,500 will be used for travel expenses, which will be administered directly by USSSP. I received a $3,000 advance on a post-expedition activity (PEA) award and am now requesting $13,000 in funding to complete the proposed work. "
6. Prior and Current Funding: A brief abstract, including references, describing results of any prior post-expedition research funded by USSSP and a brief summary of other relevant current support.
7. Demographic Information Form: This is a required online form. Information will not be disclosed to external peer reviewers. If you do not wish to fill out any of the information (excluding your name), please check the appropriate box.
If for administrative reasons an eligible science party member, such as a graduate student, must submit his or her proposal through a surrogate staff member, they should explain these circumstances in a brief statement at the beginning of the proposal. Two or more applicants from different institutions may submit a joint proposal when a combined effort seems appropriate. Such proposals must clearly indicate what parts of the proposed project each applicant will conduct, and the budget must show the costs ascribed to each participating institution as well as the total cost of the proposed project. If approved for funding, USSSP will issue separate awards to each institution to minimize indirect costs.
Once complete, a proposal package goes forward to a review panel familiar with the expedition's scientific goals. The package will also contain additional supporting information from the expedition to help reviewers evaluate the proposed research. USSSP anticipates announcing the awards within six to eight weeks after the proposal submission deadline.
Final Reports: A final report summarizing the post-cruise research conducted under a PEA award, including any results and publications (abstracts, manuscripts), should be submitted to the USSSP Office when the award funds are 90% spent or at the completion of the PEA award period. Final reports may be brief (1-2 paragraphs) and should be emailed to Angela Slagle.
Previous Shipboard Scientists and Funded Post-Expedition Awards
You may review a list of previous Shipboard Scientists for each IODP Expedition, as well as a list of funded post-expedition awards.
Contact usssp@ldeo.columbia.edu for more information. | in the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) may receive limited supplemental funding for post-expedition activities through the U.S. Science Support Program (USSSP). Post-expedition activity (PEA) awards are intended to help participants defray the costs associated with fulfilling their obligation to submit and publish the scientific results of their expedition-related research in the open literature or in IODP publications. PEA awards typically provide modest resources for short-term core characterization efforts or for pilot studies aimed at identifying promising avenues for future research. Funds are awarded on a competitive basis, and each eligible scientist may receive up to $18,000 (as of 1/1/18).
Eligibility for PEA awards extends only to those who participated on an IODP expedition as a U.S. science party member and who remain formally and primarily affiliated with a U.S. organization as an employee or student (not as a short-term visitor or self-employed contractor). Proposals from shore-based members of the science party require strong written endorsement from one of the co-chief scientists explaining the critical importance of the proposed work to the expedition objectives and why none of the shipboard scientists can do such work. Schlanger Fellowship recipients may apply for post-expedition activity funds only if their proposal differs significantly from the work proposed for the fellowship, and they must explicitly state their fellowship status in the proposal and briefly describe the fellowship research. USSSP will not consider proposals from scientists who participated as members of the scientific party from other IODP member countries.
Required Materials
Please review the following list of required materials, then go to the USSSP Application Portal to submit a proposal.
1. PEA Proposal Cover Sheet: A completed, signed cover sheet is required for proposal submission. Official institutional approvals must be included on all PEA proposal cover sheets. The cover sheet can be downloaded here or from the USSSP Application Portal and filled in offline; then, the completed, signed document can be uploaded during the online submission process. Click here for an example cover sheet.
2. Application: A one-page online form requesting basic contact information for the lead proponent on the proposal.
3. Curriculum Vitae: Two-page CV, should include educational history (degrees and dates awarded), employment experience (including any internships), and any authored or co-authored journal articles, abstracts, or other publications related to the proposed research.
4. Statement of Work: Maximum of three pages (including text, figures, and references) explaining the science rationale, proposed post-expedition workplan, and how the work relates to the scientific objectives of the expedition and to studies proposed by other members of the scientific party. Do not propose to analyze more samples/data than can be completed with the PEA funds available. Identify access to facilities/instruments needed to conduct proposed analyses.
5. Budget and Budget Justification: A budget (table) and an explanatory justification statement are required. The total budget must not exceed $18,000 (as of 1/1/18), including institutional overhead. As the nature and extent of the proposed work may vary widely, USSSP will decide on allowable costs. Click here for an example budget and justification.
Acceptable examples include:
Investigator salary
Preparation of thin | 661 |
This is the most important thing to consider in setting a peaceful and perfect study environment because your concentration on your studies highly depends on the place you choose as your study area. If you sit in a disturbing place, you will not be able to focus on your studies and do your work, whereas if you choose a peaceful corner where there is no noise, then you find it easy to concentrate more on your studies and finish your work perfectly on time. So, choose a peaceful place, it can be a library, your bedroom or any other place in your home.
In order to study peacefully and without wasting any time, it is essential for you to keep yourself away from the distractions. So before you start studying or do your homework, eliminate all those things that can cause distraction such as the television, computer, mobile, etc. Also tell your family members not to disturb you while you are studying because only then you will be able to concentrate on your work and finish it on time. Make sure there<|fim_middle|> On Sale. She has got expertise in writing all kinds of essays, assignments and dissertation papers. | is no noise or disturbance where you have set your study area. It is seen that most of the students don't take this thing seriously and choose a place which is crowded with distractions and as a result, they end up wasting their time. So, to set a peaceful study environment, it is a must for you to diminish all the distractions.
It is seen that most of the students waste their time in looking for the required notes or completing them because of which they waste a lot of time that they could use in a productive manner. It also creates panic and they fail to focus on their studies. So, it is very important for you to organize and complete your notes before you start studying. You can take help from your friends or teachers if you have missed any lectures or notes. Also, be attentive in the classroom and note all the important things your teachers tell you so that you don't find any problem while studying.
A timetable makes things easier to do and maintains discipline. So to create a peaceful and perfect study environment, it is essential for you to do everything in a disciplined and timely manner. Prepare a timetable for you, list down all the subjects and tasks that you have to study or complete. Set a specific time for each subject and also for short breaks in order to keep yourself fresh and active. When you prepare a timetable, make sure you follow it properly.
Oceana Saylor is one of the top writers in the academic industry. She works at Essays | 296 |
Muletone Audio has released Brazilian Series: Repique and Afoxé for Kontakt 5.6+.
The Repique de Mão was created by percussionist Ubirani, musician of Fundo de Quintal, a legendary samba group in Brazil. The instrument was frequently used by other samba groups all around the country. Born from a drum Tom, the Rep<|fim_middle|>573 and one Grace 501 routed in a Symphony Apogee were used in the audio capture. | ique de Mão allows the player to "swing" over the beat of the song.
The Afoxé is a percussive instrument that is constructed with loops of a steel ball chain wrapped around a wide cylinder. The cylinder is fixed to a long, narrow, wooden or plastic handle.
The Repique and Afoxé was recorded at João Francisco's studio in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, by the percussionist Robson Batata, in a room with 4 microphones. A Neumann KM 184, a Shure SM 57, a Neumann U 87 and a Bock Audio 250 were used for the room. Two preamps – API 512c, one Vintech Audio | 156 |
Hewlett Foundation-Supported Commission Focuses on Global Economic Growth<|fim_middle|>ewlett.org/grants. | and Development
A new high-level, independent commission will help inform policymakers about the linkages between economic growth, development, and poverty reduction around the world.
Funded by a partnership of the World Bank, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the governments of Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, the Commission on Growth and Development is comprised of leading policymakers from the developing world and international institutions. The Commission will be chaired by Nobel laureate Michael Spence, former Dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Danny Leipziger, World Bank Vice President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, will be the Commission's Vice-Chair.
The Commission was established with the support of World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz: "The members of this Commission are all distinguished practitioners who are committed to our shared goal of closing the income gap between rich and poor countries," Wolfowitz said. "We hope the wealth of experience and the diversity of views represented will bring a fresh and practical perspective to our work on economic growth and reveal new tools for helping countries to achieve and sustain future growth."
The goal of the Commission is to draw on the latest research and experience to analyze the drivers of, and impediments to, economic growth. The Commission is expected to shed light on the long-run forces underlying growth experiences, and highlight the policy options most likely to improve developing countries' growth prospects and the well being of the poor. The Commission's final report will be released by the end of 2007.
"The Hewlett Foundation is committed to finding ways to generate global development that helps the poor, and this distinguished independent commission brings to this task both academic knowledge and a wealth of policymaking experience in developing countries," said Paul Brest, President of the Hewlett Foundation. "We are pleased to partner with the World Bank, and the Swedish, Dutch and UK governments to create strategies to help millions of people in developing countries rise out of poverty."
More information about the Commission on Growth and Development, including a list of its members is available at: http://www.worldbank.org/prem/growthcommission/
About the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has been making grants since 1966 to help solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. The Foundation concentrates its resources on activities in education, environment, global development, performing arts, philanthropy, population, and makes grants to support disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. A full list of all the Hewlett Foundation's grants can be found at http://www.h | 521 |
Historians of the Constitutional Convention have agreed that there were divisions among the delegates, but have disagreed as to what those divisions were and what underlays them. It was long believed that the only significant line of division was between small states and large. Delegates from the small states, according to this view, were less nationalistic and less far-sighted than those from the large; they thought the "exigencies of the Union" could be provided for simply by vesting a few additional powers in the unicameral Congress of the Articles of Confederation, in which each state had one vote. Delegates from the large states, by contrast, saw the need for a thorough overhaul of the existing system so as to establish separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches; to divide the legislative branch into two houses, representation in both of which should be made proportional to the population of the states; and to vest the national government with coercive power in all matters of national concern. The intransigence of the small states made necessary the famous Connecticut Compromise, whereby the states were given equal representation in one house and seats were made proportional to population in the other; but otherwise the large-states nationalists, led by James Madison, James Wilson, and Gouverneur Morris, pretty much had their way.
Variations of that scenario still prevail in textbook accounts of the framing of the Constitution—and, one may add, in the official line hewed by the Bicentennial Commission—though scholars have long since demonstrated its lack of resemblance to what happened in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787. For openers, the split over representation was not one between the more populous and the less populous states. If the extremes (Virginia, the mammoth, and Delaware, the midget) are omitted, the average population of the states voting for equal representation was roughly 278,000, and that of the states favoring proportional representation was about 307,000—a difference of ten percent. Again, the alignment on the question was sectional (states south of the Potomac 4:0 in one camp, those to the north 6:2 in the other), and it also reflected the division between states that had claims to western lands and those that did not. Yet again, the compromise did not originate with the Connecticut delegates (the first to propose it was William Pierce of Georgia on May 31, the second John Dickinson of Delaware on June 2), and the traditional view leaves out of account the realignments that took place after the compromise regarding representation was agreed to on July 16. Finally, and most important, the delegates in the early "large-states" bloc proved not to be appreciably more nationalistic than those in the opposite bloc, nor did the likes of Madison, Wilson, and Morris have their way on many issues that they themselves considered significant.
The alignments in the Convention—notice the plural—can be and have been fruitfully studied by analysis of the shifting patterns of voting behavior as the Convention unfolded. Probably the most sophisticated such study is that by Calvin C. Jillson (1981), who found that coalitions realigned themselves during each of four phases of the Convention. The traditional "small vs. large" alignment prevailed until the adoption of the compromise on representation. A different coalition, pitting the two northernmost and the three southernmost states against the six states in between, then arose and held until August 28. The raising of certain issues concerning states' rights and states' powers brought about a short-lived (August 29 to September 3) return to a large vs. small alignment. From September 4 to the end of the Convention on September 17, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas formed one bloc in opposition to the seven other states present.
Despite its significant contributions, however, Jillson's analysis is marked by certain weaknesses. Some are inherent in any quantitative study of voting patterns—the tendencies to confuse numbers with reality and to obscure motivation, tactics, qualitative differences among issues, and other subtle considerations. Another is that certain blocs remained constant throughout the four phases: Pennsylvania and Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Connecticut-Maryland-New Jersey. Moreover, Delaware stayed with the last of these blocs except during the six days of the third phase, and New Hampshire, whose delegation arrived only after the end of the first phase, sided with Massachusetts to the end. Finally, study of voting patterns tells us nothing of the attitudes and behavior of the individual delegates, since votes were cast by states.
A better understanding of the alignments in the Convention can be reached, I believe, by approaching the delegates as human beings rather than as abstract representatives of positions or interest groups. We have, after all, fairly abundant (though far from complete) records of the debates, and the private correspondence and political writings of many of the delegates are available. From these sources it is possible to obtain a firm grip on the beliefs, attitudes, prejudices, and values of the principal characters among the Framers. It is also possible to gain a feeling for such intangible qualities as temperament, personality, and ability—qualities not susceptible to measurement but arguably of critical importance in determining whether the Convention would succeed or fail.
Let me illustrate this last point by reference to Alexander Hamilton and Elbridge Gerry, both of whom went into the Convention convinced that it was necessary to strengthen and thoroughly reorganize the national authority. Hamilton was a man of towering genius, flexible and creative imagination, and superb gifts as a speaker; but, in the words of William Pierce, "his manners are tinctured with stiffness, and sometimes with a degree of vanity that is highly disagreeable." Gerry, by contrast, was a plodding sort, well-educated but dull, a republican ideologue and protege of Samuel Adams who had been jarred from his jealousy of national power by the trauma of Shays' Rebellion; he was also a "hesitating and laborious speaker" who got on people's nerves and was himself extremely thin-skinned. It was almost inevitable that if Hamilton and Gerry should occupy the same room for any considerable length of time, they would clash resoundingly. And it was as likely that Hamilton would have supported any constitution produced by the Convention as it was that Gerry would disapprove it. A wide assortment of similar comparisons could be made.
On such personal bases, I would suggest that it is possible to group the delegates into three general camps. The first would include those whose nationalism was unreserved or nearly so, but would have two subdivisions: ideologues, whose attitudes were grounded in abstract philosophy and political theory (Madison, Wilson, and Charles Pinckney, for example), and nonideologues, whose attitudes were grounded in experience (Robert Morris, Gouverneur Morris, and Washington, for example). The second, opposite group would include those whose nationalism was reserved or virtually nonexistent, and it also had two subdivisions: country-party ideologues, who were willing to strengthen the national authority only if its powers seemed to them to be distributed in accordance with theoretical doctrines laid down be the likes of Harrington, Trenchard, Gordon, Bolingbroke, and Montesquieu (George Mason, Edmund Randolph; and William Livingston, for example), and state particularists who were scarcely willing to strengthen the national authority at all (John Lansing, Robert Yates, and Luther Martin, for example).
The third group comprised those who might be described as the "middle delegates," who took a stance that was partly national, partly federal. The major figures in this group were Roger Sherman, Oliver Ellsworth, and William Samuel Johnson of Connecticut; John Dickinson of Delaware; John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and Pierce Butler of South Carolina; and Hugh Williamson of North Carolina. These men did not see eye to eye on every issue, and on some matters they were strongly opposed to one another. What they shared were wisdom, a Burkean kind of conservatism, practicality, and a belief that, as Dickinson put it, "Experience must be our only guide," for "Reason may mislead us." Or, in the words of Petronius, "Ne philosophos audiamus:" let us not listen to philosophers.
In most descriptions of the work of the Convention, the nationalists are depicted as having dominated the proceedings and as being the Constitution's principal architects. In the pages that follow, I shall attempt to demonstrate that the middle delegates were far more effective than the nationalists in bringing about the kind of constitution they sought.
Before essaying an account of what the middle delegates did during the Convention, it will be useful to the reader to be introduced to them, since most are not at all well-known even to scholars who specialize in the period. Proceeding in alphabetical order permits us to begin with the most obscure of the lot, Major Pierce Butler. Mr. Butler was born into a noble Anglo-Irish family (that of the Dukes of Ormandy) who bought him a commission in the British army when he was eleven years old. He was among the troops sent to Boston in 1770; the next year he married a daughter of one of the wealthiest South Carolina plantation families, resigned his commission, and moved to his wife's native colony. Little is known of his education, though it can be assumed that he was steeped in the classics (his friend Weedon was master of a classical school in Chelsea, where Pierce sent his son for education). A superficial reading of the records of the Convention would make it seem that he had little on his mind beyond protecting the institution of slavery. More careful scrutiny makes it possible to place him fairly precisely in the eighteenth-century political spectrum. His endorsement of landed property qualifications for voting and officeholding (Madison's Journal, August 7 and elsewhere), his vehement speech regarding corruption and patronage under George II and his warm approval of " the great Montesquieu" (Yates, June 23), his diatribe against "the Bloodsuckers who had speculated on the distresses of others" by buying depreciated public securities (Madison, August 23), and his reference to "the Constitution of Britain, when in its purity" (italics added) as a model (letter to Weedon Butler, October 8) together establish him as a firm, though non-ideological, adherent of the English country-party values associated with Viscount Bolingbroke and his Tory circle.
John Dickinson's speeches in the Convention mark him as being in the same camp as Butler (though he opposed slavery and had a stronger touch of classical republicanism in his make-up). Dickinson was, of course, far better known; indeed, he ranked behind only Washington and Franklin in national and international prestige among the delegates. He was born in Maryland in 1732, received a thorough classical education, and was trained in law in the Middle Temple of the Inns of Court. Returning to America in 1757, he soon became an extremely successful lawyer in Pennsylvania. His first venture into public life brought him into direct conflict with Franklin, who with his cohort Joseph Galloway was stirring up popular opposition to the Penn family and seeking to have the proprietary charter annulled. Dickinson, a temperamental conservative to the marrow of his bones, almost instinctively opposed any sudden or radical break with the past. That same temperament prompted him to lead the opposition to the Stamp Act in 1765; and conservatism, as well as his awesome knowledge of English legal and constitutional history, inspired and guided his celebrated Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, published in opposition to the Townshend Duties of 1767. These letters established him as the preeminent leader of the resistance to parliamentary encroachments, a position he retained until the eve of independence. His conservatism prevented him from endorsing independence, but not from fighting for the American cause as a colonel in the Pennsylvania militia, and not from continuing to serve in Congress as the author of the first version of the Articles of Confederation. He had, in 1786, joined Madison and Hamilton in drafting the resolution of the Annapolis Convention calling for the Philadelphia Convention of 1787.
Oliver Ellsworth, born in Connecticut in 1745, was educated at Princeton and subsequently studied theology and law. He struggled as a lawyer at first, but had built up a solid practice and a considerable statewide reputation by the time he first served in the Continental Congress in 1778, and in 1787 he was a judge on the Connecticut Superior Court. Though a man of learning, he disdained all affectation and ornament: both his speeches and his political writings were marked by a blunt, hard-nosed, common-sense style. Nor was there a trace of ideology or speculative theory in his make-up. He knew what he wanted for himself, for his state, and for his country, and he knew how to go about getting it. What is most important to understand about Ellsworth is that he was a shrewd bargainer and a tough, skillful, and (when he found it necessary) unscrupulous political operator.
If Ellsworth was self-consciously a self-made man, his colleague, William Samuel Johnson, was born to a station of quality. He was among the best educated of all the delegates, having degrees from Yale and Harvard and having considerable reputation as a classical scholar; he served as president of Columbia from 1787 to 1800. He had been Connecticut's agent in London from 1766 to 1771, and his standing in the state was so high that, though he was a Loyalist sympathizer if not actually a Tory during the war, he was unharmed despite the violence with which his fellow citizens treated most Tories, and as soon as the war was over he was made a member of Congress for his state. He was one with Ellsworth and Sherman in regard to all major subjects that arose before the Convention, and he lent the delegation a great deal of prestige and dignity. At almost sixty, he was the second-oldest of the middle delegates.
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, at forty-one, was the junior member of the group, but he was far from junior in his qualifications, either as to education or as to experience. As a child he had been in England with his parents and his younger brother Thomas (later celebrated for the Pinckney Treaty with Spain in 1796), when his father suddenly died. His mother returned to South Carolina but left her two boys to be educated in England. They received rigorous training in classical studies before entering and earning degrees at Oxford and then returning home. At Oxford, C.C. heard the lectures that were subsequently published as Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. The Pinckney brothers' Anglicization reduced their American patriotism not at all, and when they were back in South Carolina they embraced the American cause ardently. Charles Cotesworth (who had undergone advanced study in chemistry, botany, and military science in France) became a captain in the South Carolina line in 1775. He served on active duty until the end of the war, retiring as a brigadier general. Like the other delegates from his state, he favored a greatly strengthened national authority but regarded protection of the slave trade and exemption of exports from taxation as sine qua non.
Heading the South Carolina delegation, by virtue of seniority—he was forty-eight—as well as by experience, ability, and force of personality, was John Rutledge. Like Dickinson and C.C. Pinckney, Rutledge had studied law at the Middle Temple. He was the leading member of a high-ranking family in the rice-plantation aristocracy and an extremely wealthy man, netting £40,000 sterling annually from his law practice before the Revolution, over and above the income from plantations employing more than 200 slaves. Neither status nor wealth inhibited him from embracing the American revolutionary cause; like Dickinson, he was a member of the Stamp Act Congress in 1765 and attended the first and second Continental Congresses. So patriotic that he named one of his sons "States," he nonetheless managed to tend to the interests of South Carolina, seeing to it, for example, that rice exports were exempted from the various trade boycotts adopted by Congress. The same attention to both national interests and those of his state governed his conduct in the Convention. He was an accomplished orator, though he spoke too rapidly—reflecting the quickness of his mind—for some tastes. He was also a shrewd, realistic bargainer (a man of "Design and Cunning," John Adams called him), which made it easy for him to collaborate with Sherman and Ellsworth despite their differences in background.
Sherman was a truly professional politician. Self-made and self-taught, he had been a shoemaker and surveyor in his youth, had held at least one public office (and usually two or three) for forty-two consecutive years, and had been a judge of the Connecticut Superior Court for twenty-one. William Pierce's sketch of him is penetrating. "Mr. Sherman," Pierce wrote, "exhibits the oddest shaped character I ever remember to have met with. He is awkward, un-meaning, and unaccountably strange in his manner." His thinking was deep and comprehensive, but "the oddity of his address, the vulgarisms that accompany his public speaking, and that strange New England cant" in which he spoke made "everything that is connected with him grotesque and laughable." Yet, Pierce added, "no Man has a better Heart or a clearer Head." Most tellingly, "He is an able politician, and extremely artful in accomplishing any particular object;—it is remarked that he seldom fails." Pierce did not say so, but Sherman's "particular object" was clear to everyone who had seen him operate during his many years in Congress. Connecticut was greatly overpopulated, given the quality of its land and the state of agricultural technology, and Sherman was seeking for his state a claim to lands elsewhere, either in north-central Pennsylvania or in Congress's Northwest Territory.
Hugh Williamson, the last of the important members of the middle group, was a man of such broad experience and such diversified learning that he may almost be regarded as a younger (he was fifty-one) Benjamin Franklin. He had taken a B.A. at the College of Philadelphia in1757, became a Presbyterian clergyman, and took an M.A. in 1760, after which he was a professor of mathematics for four years. Then he went abroad to study science and medicine at Edinburgh and Utrecht, returning after eight years to settle in North Carolina and practice medicine. During the war, he was Surgeon General in the North Carolina line and afterward he served three years in Congress. Like the other middle delegates, he favored a stronger national government provided that there was something special in the arrangement that would be favorable to his state. He was amenable to any such special favors as might arise, and his prestige among his fellows from North Carolina put him in a good bargaining position because he could "deliver" his state's vote on almost any issue. Several general remarks can be made about these delegates. They were older and more mature than most of the delegates (their average age was fifty-one, their mean age fifty, as compared, for example, with an average of thirty-nine and a mean of thirty-five for the seven most outspoken nationalists in the Convention—Madison, Gouverneur Morris, Charles Pinckney, Wilson, Nathaniel Gorham, Hamilton, and Rufus King). They were experienced in public affairs, having served a combined total of 165 years in a wide range of public offices, military, legislative, executive, and judicial. With the exceptions of Ellsworth and Sherman, they were cosmopolitan, all the others having spent several years abroad. Except for Sherman, all had received extensive formal education and were men of great learning. All had particular axes to grind, different but compatible; none was bound by ideological fetters; and all were highly skilled in the political arts. If they could get together—and they did—these eight would form a multitude.
During the opening days of the Convention the middle delegates were in opposite camps. On May 30, the first day after Randolph had "opened the main business" by introducing the Virginia Plan (or "large-states plan") calling for an enlarged and reorganized national authority, the Connecticut and Delaware delegates insisted on preserving the existing Confederation, whereas—though C.C. Pinckney expressed doubts as to the legality of departing from the Articles both Carolina delegations supported the Virginia Plan. Moreover, the Carolinians favored proportional representation in both houses of Congress throughout the early debate on that subject, and the Connecticut men and Dickinson (along with the rest of the Delaware delegation) were for equal representation.
But the possibility that there were grounds for accommodation soon became evident. Almost at the beginning, advocates of equal representation recognized that they could not have their way in regard to both houses; thus, they conceded the lower house and directed their efforts toward equality in the Senate. In this context, Dickinson gave a pair of speeches (June 2 and June 6) that provided a powerful conceptual breakthrough. Many delegates wanted the American constitution to be patterned after the British Constitution but, thinking that impossible because of the absence of hereditary baronies, groped for some kind of structural substitute based upon wealth or some other standard (such thinking was in fact implicit in the Virginia Plan and in the very idea of bicameralism). Dickinson alone perceived that the United States already had structural substitutes in the form of the individual states—which, in a sense, were both permanent and hereditary. Accordingly, he said, though the lower house should be "drawn immediately from the people," the upper should be elected by the state legislatures "through such a refining process as will assimilate it as near as may be to the House of Lords in England." It quickly came to light that the aristocratic South Carolinians, distrusting all popular elections (and having effectively closed the rabble out of their own legislature), wanted both houses of Congress to be chosen by and dependent on the state legislatures. When Wilson and Madison attacked Dickinson's proposal by pointing out that it implied at least relative equality in the Senate, since that branch was to have few members, others from the "small states" (including Sherman and Ellsworth, who at first were opposed to it) reversed positions and promptly endorsed the idea. Dickinson's depiction of the states as substitutes for baronies also appealed to many in the large-states bloc as well, and thus, though the Convention had previously (May 31) rejected such a motion, on June 7 Dickinson's proposal was approved by a unanimous vote of the delegations present.
During the next week, two more ingredients of a possible deal became evident. One was that the South Carolinians wanted representation in Congress to be based not on numbers of people but on the wealth of the individual states, or on a combination of numbers and wealth. The other was that George Read, Dickinson's Delaware colleague, let it be known that his insistence upon equal representation was based upon a desire to obtain for his state a share in the "common lands" that "the great states have appropriated to themselves" (June 11 and especially Yates, June 25). Delegates from New Jersey and Maryland would reveal the same motivation, indicating that they all shared the same tangible goal as Connecticut.
Exactly who agreed privately with whom to do what, and when, cannot be known for certain; backstage maneuvers are by nature secret and are normally undocumented. But from the recorded proceedings of the Convention, the identity of the participants and the general outlines of their agreements can be unmistakably inferred. The Connecticut delegates supported the South Carolinians in regard to slavery, exports, and—after a fashion—basing representation on wealth, though they had no direct interest in doing so. The South Carolinians, in turn, supported Connecticut in regard to lands and, indirectly, through the agency of Williamson and the North Carolina delegation, equal representation in the Senate, though it was not in the direct interest of either of the Carolinas to do so. What North Carolina received from the trading will become evident below.
The first portent that machinations were in the offing came when Rutledge and Butler suggested (June 11) that representation be based not on population, but on the quotas of direct taxation levied by Congress against the several states—the quotas themselves were based upon the estimated value of lands. Dickinson countered that the rule should be based upon the sums actually contributed, not assessments, which would make it in the interest of the states to pay their quotas. Rufus King effectively closed that approach to apportioning representation by pointing out that much of the federal revenues would in future be derived from import duties, which might preclude the "non-importing" states (Connecticut, Delaware, and New Jersey) from having any representatives at all.
Resolution of the question of the basis of representation began three weeks later when, after a tie vote indicated that the Convention was hopelessly deadlocked, a committee of all the states was chosen to try to find an acceptable compromise (July 2). The committee reported three days later with its proposal that representation in the Senate be equal by states but that all "money bills" must originate in the" popular branch" and could not be amended by the Senate. During the next few days, while "large-states" delegates grumbled that the money power was of<|fim_middle|> after the Convention adjourned, was a real bonanza for their state. It meant not only that slaves would not be taxed fully even if Congress should resort to head taxes, but also that taxes on land would be the same in southern states as in the "Eastern States," even though "we certainly have, one with another, land of twice the value that they Possess." In other words, North Carolina and other southern states would obtain more than a fair share of representatives and carry less than a fair share of the burden of taxes.
Now it was time for Williamson to repay the eastern states, namely Connecticut, for the favor, and he did so. On July 16 the final vote on equal representation in the Senate was taken, and for the first time North Carolina abandoned the "large-states" camp. Its vote, when coupled with Massachusetts's divided vote, tipped the outcome in favor of equality. What Ellsworth called a "partly national, partly federal" system—which all the middle delegates approved in principle, and all the nationalists opposed in principle—would become a reality.
Some mysteries about the private trading remain, but they do not seem especially difficult to unravel. Williamson later claimed (August 9) that North Carolina "had agreed to an equality in the Senate merely in consideration that money bills should be confined to the other House;" but that claim is in direct contradiction to his statement on July 5 that the compromise proposal was "the most objectionable of any he had yet heard" and his comment on July 7 that if power over money bills should be limited, it should be confined to the Senate, not the House. It is almost certain that he was being less than candid on the later occasion; and in light of the support Connecticut had given North Carolina regarding the three-fifths clause, and also in light of the close cooperation among Ellsworth, Sherman, Rutledge, and Williamson regarding the interests of their states that would be manifest in August, it likewise appears almost certain that a three-way deal regarding representation had been worked out late in June or early in July.
One more point wants clearing up: What Connecticut got out of the arrangement apart from equal representation. As indicated, Connecticut wanted land. It already had a claim to the Western Reserve in the Ohio Country and a tenuous claim to the Susquehanna lands in Pennsylvania, but the former, conceded by the Confederation Congress, could be taken away if equality of representation were abolished, and the latter had no prospect of being successfully prosecuted since it could be adjudicated only in the courts of Pennsylvania. Shortly after equality in the Senate was agreed to, the Convention adjourned for ten days (July 26 to August 4), turning its resolutions over to a five-man Committee of Detail—which included Rutledge and Ellsworth—for the drafting of an outline of a constitution. Article II of the committee's draft entrusted to the supervision of the Senate all territorial and jurisdictional disputes between states. Had that provision stood, equality of votes in the Senate would have offered Connecticut protection to the Western Reserve, for the landless states were in a majority and had a common interest in supporting one another's claims.
But the question became more complex during the recess. Sherman went home to New Haven to attend the funeral of a friend, and as he was passing through New York he learned of the consummation of an agreement between Congress and the Ohio Company (a Connecticut-dominated company in which other New Englanders had also invested), whereby the Company acquired a million acres of western land. That made it seem that Connecticut's ability to protect its interests in the Senate, where it would have weighted chances of success; would now be less than in the federal courts, where the subject would be removed from politics altogether. This idea was reinforced on August 25, when the Convention adopted a proposed clause that all "debts contracted & engagements entered into, by or under the authority of Congs. shall be as valid agst. the U. States under this constitution as under the Confederation." The resolution was designed to apply to public debts, but the words "& engagements entered into" would make it apply to the Western Reserve and the Ohio Company purchase as well. Accordingly, Rutledge and Sherman saw to it that the settlement of land claims was transferred from the Senate to the federal courts (August 24).
Members of the middle bloc of delegates had a decisive influence upon the make-up of the executive branch as well as the legislative, but in this matter their contributions derived from creativity and intelligence rather than from connivance and intrigue. They shared a general attitude toward executive power; namely, a distrust of it tempered by a recognition that it was necessary, but at first they (like the rest of the delegates) could not agree on a means of constituting an executive branch that would at once be adequately energetic and not dangerous. To that end, Sherman, Dickinson, and Williamson favored a plural executive as being safest; the others thought a plural executive would be neither energetic nor responsible. Connecticut and South Carolina supported a motion to make the executive removable by Congress, which would have opened the way for a ministerial system, and Delaware supported Dickinson's motion that Congress remove the executive on application of a majority of the state legislatures (June 2).
The make-up of the executive branch was debated vigorously between the adoption of the compromise on representation and the recess on July 26. The general sense of the Convention was that Congress should elect the executive; but all recognized flaws in such a scheme of things. Elections would be vulnerable to intrigue and corruption, especially by foreign powers; and everyone remembered how such intrigue had led to the dismemberment of Poland. Moreover, if the executive were eligible for reelection, he would be a dependent of Congress, and if he were not he would have to be elected for a dangerously long term. Exploring the alternative of a decentralized election, either by popular vote or by electors, the delegates encountered what appeared to be an insuperable obstacle: The electors would be likely to vote for someone from their own states, no candidate would receive a majority, and the choice would fall upon Congress. Williamson offered a way around that barrier, one that ultimately became part of the system that was adopted. Electors, he suggested, should vote for three candidates, in which case they probably would cast only one for a person from their own state. Gouverneur Morris immediately seized upon the idea and improved it, proposing that the electors vote for two persons, one of whom at least should not be of his own State." But Gerry and Mason, suddenly frightened by the prospect that an aristocratic junto "of men dispersed through the Union & acting in Concert"—the Society of the Cincinnati, for example—would dominate any decentralized election, objected strongly (July 25). Moreover, delegates from the extreme northern and southern states, assuming that electors, however chosen, would meet in one place to vote, protested that their states would thereby be effectively disfranchised (July 26). Thus decentralized election was dropped, and the Convention voted once again that the executive be chosen by Congress for a seven-year term and not be eligible for reelection.
That was the way matters stood when the Committee of Detail began its labors, and since no one on the Committee trusted an executive thus elected, they were loath to vest the branch with substantive power. Accordingly, in their draft they proposed that most of the traditional executive power be vested in Congress, except that the power to appoint judges and ambassadors and the treaty-making power would be lodged exclusively in the Senate (Articles VII, IX, X). That would have made the presidency little more than a titular office.
It was Pierce Butler who devised the solution. Butler was a member of a committee of one delegate from each state, appointed on August 31 to resolve a number of unsettled questions, and there he proposed a method of electing the president that overcame all the objections to other methods. His proposal provided for a president and vice president, which satisfied those who had been concerned about the succession in the event of the death or disability of the president. It provided that electors be chosen as the individual state legislatures should determine, which assuaged those who feared popular election by permitting the legislatures themselves to choose the electors. Each state was allotted a number of electors equal to its combined seats in both houses of Congress, which reflected the earlier compromise on representation. The plan provided that electors would meet in their own states, which overcame the problem of distance and minimized the probability of intrigue. Since a president so chosen would be sufficiently independent of Congress, he could now be safely entrusted—this was part of the proposal—with power to appoint ambassadors, judges, and other officers with the concurrence of the Senate, and the power to make treaties with the consent of two-thirds of the Senate (September 4; Butler to Weedon Butler, May 5, 1788).
Only one significant change was made in Butler's scheme, and it was proposed by Williamson and Sherman. The Butler plan provided that if no candidate received a majority of the electoral votes—which most assumed would normally be the case—the Senate would make the decision. If that were the way things worked out, the state legislatures would be choosing, directly or indirectly, three of the four branches of the government. Nationalists protested that this would make the Senate a dangerous aristocracy, and heated debate ensued. Williamson suggested that both houses decide, each state having one vote, and then Sherman proposed the compromise that was adopted: that in the event of a tie or the lack of a majority, the election would be settled in the House of Representatives, each state delegation having one vote for the purpose (September 4-6).
Despite that compromise, the constitution of the executive branch, like that of the legislative, gave the states as states a disproportionate share of power in the partly national, partly federal government again in keeping with the desires of the middle delegates and contrary to those of the nationalists.
The evolution of the judiciary—and the role of the middle delegates in its formation—cannot be traced in so clear-cut a fashion as the development of the other branches. Early on, the Connecticut and South Carolina delegations urged that Congress appoint the judges, against the insistence of Madison, Wilson, and others that the executive appoint them (June 5). They later agreed that the Senate should have the power (June 13, July 21), a position they held until after Butler's electoral college plan was adopted. Rutledge and Sherman opposed the establishment of inferior federal courts, and they were supported by their delegations and by North Carolina but opposed by Dickinson (June 5). The Committee of Detail provided for "such inferior Courts as shall, when necessary, from time to time," be established by Congress—meaning that such courts were not mandatory, and implying that they were to be temporary, ad hoc bodies (Article XI).
But Morris had only the penultimate word. The open-ended language he employed in Article III left it up to Congress to determine the constitution of the judicial branch, and the Judiciary Act of 1789 became for practical purposes a part of the Constitution. That act was authored by Senator Oliver Ellsworth and steered through the House by Representative Roger Sherman.
The contribution of the middle delegates in regard to several specific clauses of the Constitution could also be cited. For example, it was apparently Williamson's argument that tipped the balance in favor of the prohibition against ex post facto laws, which the lawyers present thought unnecessary (August 22). Dickinson, supported by Johnson, Ellsworth, and Sherman, was the author of the Constitution's narrow definition of treason (August 20). Charles Pinckney and Rutledge were the strongest advocates of the protection of the writ of habeas corpus (August 28). Other middle delegates were responsible for other specific powers and prohibitions.
But none of these was as important as the structural design of the Constitution. In developing that design, the work of the middle delegates was crucial. It would be going too far, perhaps, to insist that without these eight men the Grand Convention could not have succeeded in its undertaking, though a strong argument could be made for such a proposition. More modestly, it can be said that without the middle delegates the Constitution would have been something quite different—and that it is questionable whether that different constitution would have been ratified.
Books by Forrest McDonald may be found in The Imaginative Conservative Bookstore. Reprinted with the gracious permission of the Political Science Reviewer, Fall 1987. | no consequence, the South Carolinians insisted that representation in the House be based at least partly on wealth (July 5, 9). In that context Williamson proposed (July 11) that representation be based upon the number of free inhabitants and three-fifths of the number of slaves, which from a southern point of view did in fact combine numbers and wealth. The South Carolinians held out for fully counting slaves-almost certainly as a ploy, designed to make counting three-fifths of the slaves seem like a compromise to those many northerners who opposed counting them at all. Williamson's motion was rejected, but the next day, after it was decided to interconnect direct taxes and representation, Ellsworth moved the three-fifths clause again, and over some northern opposition the motion passed.
That, as the North Carolina delegates wrote their governor the day | 178 |
Brandon University to welcome Dr. David Docherty as new Pres…
Brandon University to welcome Dr. David Doch<|fim_middle|>-President, Academic, among other roles.
At Wilfrid Laurier, Dr. Docherty led the introduction of seven new graduate programs and was a founding member of the university's Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion, among other successes.
Derrick Stewart
Chair, BU Board of Governors
Board@BrandonU.ca
Grant Hamilton
Director, Marketing and Communications
HamiltonG@BrandonU.ca
To receive any BU publication in an alternate format: Communications@BrandonU.ca | erty as new President and Vice-Chancellor
Dr. David Docherty
Brandon University will welcome as its next President and Vice-Chancellor an accomplished academic and administrator who has a distinguished history of leading institutions through growth and transformative change. Dr. David Docherty will commence a five-year term on May 1, 2019.
"The success of any university is measured by the success of our students, our faculty and our staff, and by that measure I am privileged to be joining an extremely successful institution," said Dr. Docherty. "I am eager to contribute as President to Brandon University's continuing success, to meeting the challenges and opportunities of growth, and to celebrating and deepening BU's collaborative and collegial campus culture."
Dr. Docherty will be coming to BU from Mount Royal University in Calgary, where he is concluding an extended term as President. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto as well as degrees from McMaster University and Wilfrid Laurier University.
The BU Board of Governors confirmed Dr. Docherty's selection at a special meeting last week.
"This is an exciting time for Brandon University, rich with opportunity as we grow in size and in ambition. Dr. Docherty brings the right mix of experience and enthusiasm to be a visionary and effective leader for BU," said Derrick Stewart, chair of the BU Board of Governors. "Perhaps most importantly, Dr. Docherty has demonstrated commitments — to diversity, to transparency, to personal accessibility, to community-building, and more — that make him a perfect fit for our closely-knit campus."
Dr. Steven Robinson will remain as Interim President until April 30, 2019.
"We are pleased that Dr. Robinson will continue to serve the University for a few more months in this demanding role. His guidance and hard work have been essential over the past year," Stewart said. "Brandon University will continue to benefit from his leadership both through the coming academic year and as he returns to his ongoing duties as Vice-President (Academic)."
The appointment of Dr. Docherty is the result of an extensive national search by the BU Presidential Search Committee, supported by executive search firm Perret Laver, who are specialists in educational leadership.
Since 2011, Dr. Docherty has led the completion of Mount Royal's transition to a university, including building new degree programs, forging national partnerships with other Canadian universities, introducing a 10-year strategic plan, and completing Phase Two of the University Campus Master Plan. He also oversaw the completion of the largest fundraising campaign in Mount Royal's history, which raised over $250 million for capital projects, scholarships and learning opportunities, as well as completing other major capital projects.
Prior to his time at Mount Royal, Dr. Docherty spent more than 17 years at Wilfrid Laurier University, serving as a Professor of Political Science, as Dean of Arts, and as a Senior Advisor on Multi-Campus Initiatives in the Office of the Vice | 610 |
Fujifilm X-S10 Camera Review
« Fujifilm X-H2S Camera Review
Fujifilm X Mirrorless Camera Reviews
The X-S10 is Fujifilm's new entrant at the US$1000 price point (body). It's a 26mp APS-C sensor camera with sensor-based stabilization with a fairly reasonable set of features.
Let's start inside with the sensor. Once again it's the current 26mp X-Trans BSI sensor, with its unique color matrix. This image sensor has been used throughout the Fujifilm line for awhile, and is generally regarded as a strong performer. Base ISO is 160, and you can set up to 12800 in numbered ISO (also down to 80 and up to 51200 in non-numbered ISO values).
While I'm still "cool" to X-Trans, advancements to raw processing with X-Trans files today make it arguably a good choice compared to the 24mp Bayer cameras. I still don't buy all of Fujifilm's assertions about how superior X-Trans is to Bayer, but it's a state-of-the-art image sensor, no doubt.
The image sensor is basically Sony Exmor technology with Fujifilm's unique color filtration layer. As such, the sensor features copper wiring and dual gain (triggers at ISO 800). Personally, I don't try to distinguish the small differences between cameras with the Sony 24mp APS-C sensor and the Fujifilm cameras with the 26mp APS-C sensor. The X-Trans filtration coupled with slightly smaller pixels is very close to a wash in terms of basic image quality tendencies.
The image sensor is mounted to a five-axis image stabilization system that has been reduced in size from the one in the X-T4. That resulted in the loss of a half stop in CIPA ratings for the IS (now 5 to 6 stops depending upon lens), but I don't imagine (or detect) and meaningful difference in practice. The miniaturization was necessary to keep the body slimmer, so it's a reasonable tradeoff.
The lens mount in front of the image sensor is Fujifilm's XF mount, for which a wide range of lenses are available. Personally, I tested the X-S10 mostly with the 16-80mm f/4, which makes for a pretty practical combination (24-120mm equivalent). My favorite Fujifilm lenses continue to be a small handful of primes, though.
Autofocus is via on-sensor phase detect coupled with contrast detection, what Fujifilm calls Intelligent Hybrid AF. You might see a claim of -7EV for low light focus, but that's with an f/1.0 lens and only if contrast detect is not being used. Face and Eye detect is supported.
In terms of mechanical shutter, Fujifilm allows 900 second to 1/4000 settings (4 second in program and aperture modes). The electronic shutter will max out at 1/32000, but has some rolling attribute to it. Fastest possible burst is 20 fps, but this is electronic shutter and cropped (1.25x) and somewhat limited in terms of buffer (as little as 17 frames with uncompressed RAW, 79 frames with lossless compressed). With the mechanical shutter you drop to 8 fps, still with a tight raw buffer (18-23 frames; JPEG reaches 105 frames).
The X-S10 uses a fully articulating 3" 1.04m dot LCD, which has some touchscreen functionality. The internet is full of debate about whether a tilting or articulating rear LCD is better. Both have their pluses and minuses, but if you're traveling with the X-S10 and can't completely keep it protected at all times, being able to reverse the LCD on the back of the camera so that it doesn't get damaged is something I consider useful.
The electronic viewfinder (EVF) uses the 2.36m dot version we see in a lot of lower cost cameras, though it's a little smaller in presentation than some of the others in this class (.62x magnification, though I can easily see the whole frame with my glasses on). The EVF can boost to 100 fps, but this uses more power.
Up top of the EVF is a small low-power flash that can be popped up. That flash has a GN of 23 ft (7m) at ISO 200, so isn't overly powerful, but still quite useful. Flash sync is 1/180.
Video is reasonably flexible, with both UHD and DCI 4K settings from 23.98P to 30P, including a "real" 24P (a bit unusual these days). Internally that's recorded as H.264 at up to 200Mbps. Fujifilm uses Long-GOP compression, if you're wondering. 1080P goes all the way to 240P, for an excellent slow motion capability, but has a 3-minute time limit. F-log is available, but is 8-bit 4:2:0 internally. The camera does support 10-bit 4:2:2 over the HDMI connector.
The camera<|fim_middle|> Fujifilm's marketing and messaging tends to exaggerate differences from Bayer-sensors of the same size,
If you're a JPEG shooter, then one thing that does come into play is Fujifilm's Film Simulations. While I don't find these to be truly faithful to the films they say they emulate, I would agree with Fujifilm that they provide excellent straight-out-of-camera JPEG results. I would also say this, though: take the time to understand the customizations that you can apply to the Film Simulations. In particular, the Color Chrome Effects manage to do some things that some people struggle with in post processing. JPEG shooters will want to apply those while photographing, but it's not 100% intuitive what you should set. You have an overall setting (weak, strong, off) and a blue setting (also weak, strong, off). In some cases, you'll want to use one, in other cases you might use both. But you'll need to experiment and validate what it is you're really interested in so that you can quickly manage these settings while shooting.
The current state of my old office and the adjacent Rodale photo studios. I spent some time photographing the demolition with the X-S10 as it provided a wide range of dynamic range and detail to see how that was rendered (besides, who doesn't like to watch heavy equipment in action? ;~). In general, the results were excellent. Most of the JPEG film simulations showed more contrast and color pushes/pulls than this raw image rendering. But one thing I noticed was that the old Fujifilm cyan sky of the earliest X models was gone. I was able to get color accurate results from the X-S10. Detail can get a little mushy at the extremes with the Adobe raw converter, but I was able to use the new Super Resolution ability and was able to get massively detailed results that would stand up to most lower-end full frame cameras.
This is the full frame. The orange crane is reaching up to where my office was.
And here's the detail. We're at 24mm, but note the fact that the bricks in the background buildings are being resolved. I'd judge we're near the limits of the lens I was using.
Like most APS-C cameras, ISO 3200 is where I really want to stop if I can, because above that noise reduction (for JPEGs) really needs to be used, and that starts to rob acuity. That said, ISO 12800 is usable. I'm not sure I'd go further than that.
My recommendation for ISO setting is this: 160 and 800. Both are very good and clean for their value (the latter because of the dual gain approach used at the sensor). Above 800, test and verify what you're comfortable with for the exposures you're setting. As I noted, I'm okay with ISO 3200, but try not to go above that if I can with the 26mp X-Tran sensor cameras.
I didn't do a lot of video testing with the camera. The X-S10 oversamples 4K, so I found it quite good in casual testing. Not the best I've seen, but really quite competitive. Unfortunately, you can only record 8-bit 4:2:0 internally, so if you're really trying to eek out everything the X-S10 can do in video, you'll need to invest in an external video recorder that can handle 10-bit 4:2:2. F-log recorded that way looked very gradable and extremely good on my quick test. Curiously, the 1080P video seemed less good to me, which means that Fujifilm's downsizing method either needs improvement or they're sampling the sensor differently at 1080P.
Nice camera. Very nice camera. The Fujifilm X-S10 is likely as much camera as most people really need, though it's not a top-ender in anything. The build feels robust and the feature set is reasonably deep. Image performance packs in Fujifilm's excellent JPEG rendering, though I don't think this sensor is quite as good in really low light as some people suggest.
Thing is, you can find a lot of cameras at or near the US$1000 price point these days, ranging from m4/3 bodies (the E-M5 Mark III often hits that price point) to even full frame cameras on sale (e.g. Canon RP). Thus, making a decision isn't quite as simple as trying to figure out if the X-S10 is the best US$1000 APS-C camera for you (I'd tend to also suggest the Sony A6400 or Nikon D7500 DSLR at or near this price point if you want APS-C; both are very different takes on APS-C that have other strengths compared to the X-S10).
But again, the X-S10 is very nice, and a lot of you will find its feature mix and performance is the right combo for this price point. A solid single up the gap.
Recommended (2021, 2022)
Support this site by purchasing from the following advertiser: | has a 3.5mm mic socket, and the camera comes with a headphone dongle that plugs into the USB port (but you can't power the camera via USB when that is active).
Images are stored on an SD card that mounts in the battery chamber. The X-S10 uses UHS-I cards and is limited to 2TB card size.
Connectivity is Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n with Bluetooth 4.2 LE doing the hand-holding. The USB connection is 3.2 Gen 1 (a USB-C connector). The HDMI is a Type D connector.
Battery is the usual Fujifilm NP-126S found on the lower and mid-range cameras. CIPA rates this at 325 shots per charge. You can charge the battery in the camera via a USB-C cable and USB Power Delivery source.
All of this is protected by a magnesium alloy front and top frame. Fujifilm doesn't make specific claims about weather protection.
The Fujifilm X-S10 is made in China and sells for US$999.
Fujifilm's Web page for the camera
source of reviewed camera: B&H 45-day loan.
How's it Handle?
The X-S10 reverts more to the old Mode-dial approach. In many ways, the user experience (UX) is much like the old Nikon mid-level DSLR approach: dual command dials, on/off switch around the shutter release, a few buttons behind the shutter release and on the back plate where your thumb can find them. Indeed, Fujifilm's marketing at times seems to indicate that they're targeting Canon and Nikon DSLR users with this camera.
This is not the X-Pro#/X-T#/X-E# UX, which features ISO and shutter speed and other dedicated dials.
While the Mode dial style is one that is common among many cameras, it's not one that Fujifilm is mostly known for; the X-E4 Fujifilm recently released appears to be much the same internals as the X-S10 in a different, more traditional Fujifilm control style.
The Mode dial has user customization positions (C1 to C4, akin to Nikon's U1 to U3), an SP (the awkwardly named Scene Position mode), and a FILTER position (with special effects). Again, this is very mid-level Nikon-ish, much like was found on the D5xxx to D7xxx cameras for a long time.
The SP and FILTER positions are further controlled by another dial on the top left of the camera, though when in the other exposure modes that dial provides quick access to the Film Emulations, a nice and handy touch (makes it very easy to flip between color and monochrome work).
Since I'm a Nikon user, the X-S10 felt fairly natural to me in terms of handling, at least once I got use to the missing Direction pad (movement of focus sensors, image scrolling, etc., is handled via a thumb stick, which is actually more conveniently located than where Fujifilm used to put their Direction pads).
For a smallish APS-C camera, the X-S10 is at the hefty end of the scale, with substantive weight (about a pound) and a reasonably deep hand grip. Some with big hands using the bigger lenses may find the space between the lens and grip confining, but I was comfortable with it.
The fully positionable LCD is usually my preferred design, but in bright outdoor environments I found it to be very difficult to see clearly.
Customization felt particularly limiting. I really wanted more in that department, because dropping down into the quick menus or the full menu system just slows me down. The buttons the X-S10 does have are small and difficult to distinguish and find by feel, particularly in damp conditions or if you have (even) thin gloves on. If you try to find the Q button by feel, you're going to trip the Record Movie button from time to time.
One annoying aspect of the camera is that if you don't set up wireless communication to a mobile device, the camera will nag you every time you turn it on, forcing you to press two buttons before you can start to use it.
A curious aspect of the camera: with the camera defaults in place, during Interval shooting, the camera does a sensor clean between every interval if the interval is long enough for the camera to sleep.
But overall, the X-S10 handled much like a consumer DSLR, with a few nice touches and a few rough touches.
How's it Perform?
Battery life: I didn't have time to fully torture test the battery in the time I had the camera. Overall, it didn't seem like it lagged or exceeded the competition. If you leave the camera with the power switch in the on position, the X-S10 does better than many of the other competitor products, because the only thing that will reawaken it from sleep is a press on the shutter release (and then you might be nagged to set up wireless communications!). The net effect of that is that the camera doesn't accidentally activate, and thus conserves its power for when you're using it.
Given that, I exceeded the CIPA rating in the photography I did with the X-S10, getting into the 400-500 shot range on a full battery cycle.
Buffer: Even with my fastest SD card the raw buffer just isn't going to impress you, topping out at around two seconds in most cases. Moreover, the camera was slow to fully clear a full buffer. At the price point I would have hoped for a little better, but Fujifilm does tend to emphasize JPEG shooting with this camera, and there I have no real buffer issues (though if you fill it, prepare to wait for it to clear).
Autofocus: you'll hear the beep before the focus sensor illuminates. But, yes, Fujifilm is now in the right league with their autofocus performance, though not quite caught up with the leaders. Canon, Nikon, and Sony still have clearly better focus tracking performance, in my opinion, but Fujifilm's is now in an acceptable range for casual work, and should suit most folk who'd be buying this level of camera. My Z50 tracked better in bright daylight than the Fujifilm, worse in really low light. I also got a lot of near misses when following subjects with the Fujifilm that I wasn't getting with the Nikon. The X-S10 isn't a sports or BIF camera, for sure.
One thing I found with an all-automatic focus mode on static non-human subjects is that the X-S10 was not picking the same subject as my Nikon Z50 or Sony A6000 (nor always the same subject I would have picked). Indeed, in some circumstances, I had difficulty in getting the X-S10 to ignore the subject it wanted to focus on; even resetting and reframing would tend to produce the same result. This wasn't a terrible thing, but I'd tend to say the X-S10 had more of tendency to pick into the mid-range of the scene rather the nearest subject.
With human subjects, the X-S10 did fine, and the face/eye detect works quite well as long as the subject isn't moving fast and erratically.
Image Quality: Yes, the X-Trans sensor tends to be less likely to produce color fringing and moire in fine detail. No, it doesn't eliminate that completely. No, the 26mp X-Trans doesn't provide a substantive dynamic range boost in low light and at high ISO values. Fujifilm's normal JPEG rendering also is a bit more noise reduced than their competitors, too.
This isn't a knock on the X-S10's image quality. I'm just trying to point that | 1,617 |
The first few days of classes are behind me. I can do this. Lesson planning, interacting with students, and marking are hesitant rhythms yet, with the awkwardness that reflects a lost ease. Slowly, it will return.
The slant of sunlight illuminating trees with hints of gold is a sure sign that autumn is finding her rhythm, too. Misty mornings heavy with dew burn into deep blue skies. Morning's light jackets are shed as the sun rises higher and stronger. The sun fades behind the hills and I reach for a sweater.
Sunflowers hold autumn's colours - almost navy blue centers circled by specks of tawny yellow and fringed with bright, shining petals. They make me smile, standing there on my mantel.
I knew I could count on you. Thank you for your encouraging comment and your constancy. You continue to amaze me with your beautiful photographs and eloquent expression. I thank God for the gift of your friendship through the internet-compressed miles. Have a lovely last-days-of-summer weekend.
Beautiful images! Yes I can see the navy blue. You will get the rhythm back probably in no time. Enjoy the weekend!
September is a funny month for teachers...like the first row of knitting, it floats,it doesn't<|fim_middle|> well.
Your sunflowers are very pretty and that beautiful ray of light(?) is amazing. I'm sure there is a better description for it, but hopefully you know what I mean.
Sunflowers are so beautiful this time of year. Happy beginnings of school.
Your light sparkle in the corner is delightful! | seem to hang quite right until other'rows' are chunkily sitting on top. You must have relaxed so much in the summer vacation, which is great. Plenty of time for catching up... a whole year!
Sunflowers always make me smile! Glad you are finding your teaching rhythm.
"hesitant rhythms yet, with the awkwardness that reflects a lost ease. Slowly, it will return."
I loved this description.. how aptly worded to encompass and describe so many situations!
I agree with Deb...that's a lovely and evocative phrase.
Lovely images and words ... it must be hard "going back to school" and you described it beautifully.
Lovely description of the new season! We too enter autumn before it's ever on the calendar and I LOVE it:) Blessings for a good school year.
PS: Did I say I LOVE those sunflowers? I never tire of seeing them!
I love sunflowers and the navy centers are amazing!
You will find your rhythm, and I know you'll be an encouragement to the students you teach this year.
Lovely images and words, Lorrie! Your description of the beginning of the new academic year is beautiful and I also like how Alex compares it to the first row of knitting. Of course you can do it!
It's down to 3C here tonight-yikes!
Are you teaching this year?
that must have been a wonderful way to end your summer!
I love the detail in the sunflower photos. I hope you enjoy your teaching year.
Lovely post - thought provoking. I can feel the seasons changing in your words - and the sunflowers are gorgeous - they are certain to bring smiles.
You are brave to face a new school year once more, but I know you will be respected and loved for just the way you are. May God bless you with all you need for each day.
The sunflowers are so awesome - I should go buy some this weekend before it's too late.
Hope this is a great school year - both for you Lorrie, and the lucky students who get you as their teacher and wonderful role model.
The coming and going of the seasons always amazes me. They come slowly, but come they do...always. I can also relate to the changes in our own seasons. When we are on a break from homeschool, I wonder how I ever had time, or will have time, to fit it in. And then we begin and somehow it all works and flows together. Yes, you'll have a rhythm before you know it.
Beautiful photos! The first macro shot of the sunflower is stunning!
It's noontime, 108 degrees and lately always humid which makes it even harder to be outside. Your sunflowers are so lovely as are the thoughts you share. :) Have a great day.
We will miss the sunflowers, won't we? They certainly a favorite. Your photos are beautiful. I finally have me feet back on the ground in my own return to teaching. Reality of my decision has finally set in as I have 49 personal narrative essays to grade by Tuesday and lots of other things to do in between, too. You will get back into the routine easily, especially when the grading begins. Have a good week.
We need jackets here today! Happy Sunday!
Always adjusting and finding balance. Your photos are beautiful, Lorrie!
Thank you so very much for your beautiful words over at my little blog. I feel so much love and support coming from my dear blogging friends.
So, it's just like riding a bike is it? LOL Our daughter that teaches nursing was finding it hard to get back into the groove, all summer she works at the hospital delivering babies.
I would think it would be a bit of an adjustment to step back into teacher mode after the summer break. It sounds like you're making that transition rather | 787 |
Biteabout Arts
Anna Turnbull
Biteabout
See me at...
Recreating the Community Artists Commission, Durham Cathedral.
Written by Anna Turnbull
I am very excited to be one of four artists commissioned for Durham Cathedral's Open Treasure Project, Recreating The Community. I am to produce a piece inspired by the 'Cuthbert Silks' and the coffin of St Cuthbert. This is to be a felt cloak. I shall be updating you on it's progress.
So how has my commission been developing?
Well today I have been on my knees in my waterproof trousers and latterly also knee pads laying out a very fine layer of wool from our Shetland Sheep, covering an area of just over 8 square metres. It has to be gently teased out, creating the finest of layers so as not to impinge too much on the final design.
In one version of his life story, Cuthbert was shepherd at Dodd Law, so his flock would have grazed the fields just to the south of us. This makes a fitting link to our wool, used in the lining of the cloak, reflecting his shepherding life and his constant yearning for simplicity and purity over opulence and the excesses of his time.
Over the last few months, around other projects I have been working on the imagery for the external surface.
First there is the wildlife on Lindisfarne and Inner Farne, the birds and mammals that live in this watery place.
Curlews, cormorants,sandpipers,redshanks, seals, to name a few.
Then there has been the imagery from the Gospels, the illuminated manuscript dedicated to Cuthbert that travelled with him in his coffin. Some are laid out in wool, others are painted onto silk.
His body was wrapped within layers of woven silks, some depicting the prophets, popes, attendant deacons, John<|fim_middle|> by signing up to our newsletter...
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Copyright © 2019 Biteabout Arts. All Rights Reserved. | the Baptist and John the Evangelist.
So my imagery include some of these, painted and drawn onto fragments of silk, which will be felted within the layers of fibres in the cloak.
The hood is the clear night sky with its stars in the heavens.
I hope to complete it in the next couple of weeks, so I will keep you updated.
https://www.biteabout.co.uk/news/recreating-the-community-artists-commission-durham-cathedral#sigProId182986a6dd
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Home > Articles > Explore India > Visit Dausa<|fim_middle|> passing through from various places in Rajasthan and other cities of the country. | To Explore Its Rich And Varied Culture In Rajasthan
Dausa is an important district of Rajasthan and is fast emerging as a key tourist destination of the state. The district was constituted by four tehsils – Karodi, Baswa, Dausa and Sikrai of the Jaipur district in 1991. The Mahwah tehsil was added to the district later. Situated in the north-east region of the state, it is enclosed by Alwar, Bharatpur, Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur, Tonk and Karauli.
Dausa was ruled during the 9th century by the Bargujars. It was a place of key political activity for the Dhundhar region. The region was ruled by Chauhan Raja Soodh Dev from AD 996 to 1006 and later by Raja Dule Rai.
Dausa district comes under the Indus plains and is one of the key floristic regions of India. The district is blessed with abundance of habitats and has rich biological diversity. Dausa district has a significant number of dams with the major ones being Madhosagar, Sainthal Sagar, Kalakho and Moral dams. The major rivers which contribute to the irrigation needs of the district are Banganga and Morel. The main crop produced here is bajra in Kharif season and wheat is Rabi season.
Dausa is known for its glorious traditions and rich cultural heritage. The region still preserves its local identity and flavor. One of the most popular and renowned art forms of the region is Hela-Khayal. It is a local way of song rendition that captures the attention of the audience in a very unique way. The region is also known for its intricate stone carving works, pottery expertise and Pital (an alloy of copper and tin) works.
Some of the Key Tourist Destinations In and Around Dausa
Bhandarej, located just 10 km from the headquarter Sikandra is famous for its sculptures, lattice works, terracotta utensils and other items that were discovered during excavation. The Step Well known locally as Baori is a brilliant work of amazing architecture. It has 150 wide steps of approximately 70 feet in width.
Another popular place in Dausa is Khawaraoji, the place of the erstwhile ruler. The fort like residence is now transformed as known as the Khawaraoji Heritage Hotel. The locale is very serene as it has hills on three sides. The Amol Ghati, a valley with picturesque beauty is also worth a visit.
Jhajhirampura is the place known for its natural water tank and the famous Rudra temple which has idols of Lord Shiva and Hanuman among other Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
Dausa is also known as Dev Nagari or the abode of Gods. The temple of Neelkanth reflects the glory of the historical past in its construction and the spiritual presence in the idols kept inside. Another major attraction of this temple is the ropeway which devotees have to use to access the temple. A church built in typical Roman style is situated about 35 km from Dausa. It was constructed during the British rule and is a major point of tourist attraction.
Dausa can be reached via road from almost all districts in Rajasthan. It is 55 km away from Jaipur on the way to Agra.
The nearest airport from Dausa is Jaipur's Sanganer Airport which is about 70 km from this place.
Dausa railway station situated in the center of Dausa city and has many trains | 759 |
A 'Swedish Phantom' on Broadway
Starting at the end of April a Swedish musical artist takes the stage at the Majestic Theatre, New York.
Watch out for Swedish singer and musical artist Peter Jöback, who will star in "The Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway, starting at the end of April. "I'm very proud and this feels like a huge acknowledgement," Jö<|fim_middle|> London, and when asked what he'd be interested in doing next, he'd said that it would be nice to play the Phantom on Broadway. A day later, Mackintosh called back and asked what Jöback's schedule looked like for four months next year. Says Jöback: "It's like winning an Olympic gold medal. I also feel like I worked hard for it. It's especially nice, since few make their debut with such an adult, male character part (as the Phantom)."
Jöback has spent the past few days in New York looking for a place to live When asked if his husband Oscar will join him in moving to the Big Apple temporarily, he is unsure: "We haven't really talked about how to solve it. It's clearly not too bad to be in New York." "The Phantom of the Opera" is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel with the same name by Gaston Leroux. It premiered at London's West End in 1986 and on Broadway in 1988. It is by many considered the most successful musical of all time and also the longest running show in Broadway history. Lyrics were written by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe.
The Phantom celebrates 25 years on Broadway this year. More info see "The Phantom of the Opera" New York
Swedish musical artist and singer Peter Jöback will star as the Phantom in "The Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway come April. Jöback did the role in London some time ago. Photo: Carl-Johan Söder/SVT
Peter Jöback, presently in the title role of The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Photo: Andreas Hillergren / SVT | back, who was presented in New York at a huge gala performance just recently, said.
Last spring Jöback did the Phantom at London's West End. This is just a further step for the talented Swede. "I am about to make my Broadway debut, it's amazing," he says.
Jöback explained to daily Expressen that he met producer Cameron Mackintosh when he was in | 80 |
By Nate Chinen
Photography by Candace diCarlo
On almost any night of the year, a quiet figure leans over the dichromatic grid of a piano keyboard and plays. His instrument could be a gleaming nine-foot B�sendorfer, or a Steinway, or some funky relic with several busted keys. He might be onstage alone, or joined by bass and drums; he could also be up there with a violinist, a couple of horn players, a DJ and a choir. He might be dramatically spotlighted on the stage of a German concert hall; perched atop a temporary platform in an outdoor plaza; or wedged into a corner of a poorly ventilated Lower East Side dive. His audience could be quite large, very small or any size in between. What never changes is the act itself: sitting and playing, hands on the keys. That act is a theme on which there are countless, ceaseless variations.
Lately it seems as if Uri Caine C'81 is never home. He's off in Munich, or Perugia or Taipei. So it's nice to catch him here, a stone's throw from Central Park, on the Upper West Side. In his apartment building, Caine converses good-naturedly with a silver-haired woman at the reception desk. He stops to talk briefly with a young musician in the lobby. In the kosher restaurant next door, he greets one of the waitresses by name. The manager stops by his table with a handshake and an invitation to stay "as long as<|fim_middle|> to somebody else.
Jan/Feb Contents | Gazette Home
Copyright 2001 The Pennsylvania Gazette Last modified 1/2/01 | you want."
But as usual, he won't be staying long. This past summer, Caine spent nearly the entire month of July and the first part of August on the European summer festival circuit. Home for a few days, he was leaving for China at the end of the week. His bold appropriations of European classical music—work by Mahler, Wagner, Schumann, and now J.S. Bach—have met with surprisingly widespread enthusiasm, along with the anticipated consternation. Encompassing an encyclopedic range of styles and traditions, his still-developing oeuvre holds much promise and poses many questions.
Such big issues—expectation, promise—may lurk in the periphery during a conversation with Uri Caine, but they seldom come into focus. The pianist is not only laid-back but also wholly unpretentious. His basso voice rolls along in a measured cadence. His face—an owl-like, elliptical shape—wears an alert but studiously vague expression. He talks about his success in a tone that's disarmingly matter-of-fact, as if it's happening | 227 |
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Tamdhu 10 year old - A classic sherry-matured Scotch, shortlisted for "Whisky of the Year "in 2013 by The Whisky exchange (The UK's biggest online retailer of whisky).
Tomintoul 12 year old - Soft, sweet and creamy; a lovely Oloroso cask matured Scotch. This is an award-winning limited edition from Tomintoul, whose whiskies are known by the moniker "the gentle dram".
English Whisky Co. Chapter 10 - Oloroso cask - This out-of-production expression from the St George distillery is hard to come by, and matured in sherry casks they import from Spain themselves.
Kilchoman Loch Gorm - A smoky, chocolatey limited-release sherry bomb from this farm distillery on the island of Islay, where the end-to-end production process is done entirely on site, as was traditional in years gone by.
Glengoyne 18 year old - A very well-aged premium dram that is a classic of the sherry-matured genre. A mix of refill and first-fill sherry casks means this explodes with rich spice and festive fruit influences.
Balblair 1999 - Our premium sixth dram sampler is an exclusive bottling by "The Whisky Exchange", the UK's biggest online | 359 |
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