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+{"content": "The speech therapist is the professional in charge of the intervention in the pathologies of communication, language, speech and voice, both in the adult and child population. Within this Service, the Voice Unit has been created, which is approached in a multidisciplinary manner together with specialists in Otorhinolaryngology.\n\nUnity of the Voice\n\nHow do we study dysphonia?\n\nCurrently we have means of exploration that allow us to obtain magnified and precise images of the vocal cords and larynx in a dynamic way, that is to say during the production of the voice and during the breathing. Through an endoscopy system of only 3.5 mm. connected to a computerized camera-video-TV system and to a powerful light source we can carry out an exhaustive exploration in just 3 minutes in a simple way and without discomfort in the otorhinolaryngological practice itself.\n\nThis system called Laryngostroboscope allows us to see the movement of the vocal cords in slow motion and record the voice of the patient that will be evaluated in Clinical Sensing with the rehabilitation specialists of the voice called Logopedas. Sometimes it will be necessary to perform special X-rays such as CT (Computed Tomography) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (MRI) to complete the study or evaluate the mobility of the vocal cords by means of Lungngeal Electromyography, in order to arrive at an accurate diagnosis and as much as possible. precocious possible.\n\nWhat are the causes of dysphonia?\n\nThe alterations of the voice are classified in several groups depending on the causes that originate them. Each of these groups will require a specific diagnosis and treatment. There are several types of dysphonia:\n\n  • FUNCTIONAL DISFONIAS: they are due to the misuse of the vocal cords as it happens in professionals who use the voice abusively (teachers, attention to the public, singers ...). These dysphonia can be treated by voice rehabilitation techniques. Logopedia\n  • PSEUDOTUMORAL DISFONIAS: they are due to the presence in the vocal cords of benign lesions such as nodules, polyps, cysts or edema that impede the correct functioning of the vocal cords during the production of the voice. These problems are solved by means of an intervention with general anesthesia. These are techniques of MICROCISION OF THE LARYNX that are performed through the mouth and that allows to eliminate these injuries with great precision, especially with the CO2 LASER. The rehabilitation of the voice by the speech therapist before and after the intervention is fundamental for the resolution of the problem.\n  • DISORDERS FOR PRETUMORAL INJURIES: are whitish or reddish thickening of the vocal cords that cause greater rigidity of the same with impaired functioning. These lesions, called LEUCOPLASIAS, can sometimes be precancerous. They must, therefore, be excised with LASER CO2 using laryngeal microsurgery techniques both to solve the problem of the voice they provoke and to analyze them.\n  • DISORDERS FOR LARYNX CANCER: the alteration of the voice that causes throat cancer is indistinguishable from that caused by other benign disorders. Therefore before a DISFONÍA or RONQUERA that lasts more than 15 days it is necessary to go to the ENT specialist for the study of the vocal cords. The sooner you reach the diagnosis of cancer, the chances of healing while preserving the voice will be greater. Thus, in the face of limited injuries, more than 90% of cures are achieved by removing CO2 LASER. In larger lesions, the voice can also be preserved by applying partial laryngeal surgery techniques. The Speech Therapist will then be responsible for improving the vocal quality of the patient once the tumor has been removed.\n  • DISORDERS FOR LARGEGEAL PARALYSIS: the immobility of a vocal cord will condition an alteration in the voice. The paralysis can be a consequence of a neurological, thorax, thyroid gland, or other structures of the base of the skull or neck that will need to be studied with thoroughness. Once the diagnosis is clarified, we can also act on the vocal cord using surgical techniques that seek to improve the quality of the voice. These techniques are called thyroplasties.\n\n  • OTHER CAUSES OF DYSPHONY: traumatisms on the neck, prolonged intubations that cause scars on the vocal cords, radiotherapy, metabolic and neurological diseases, among others.\n\nHow do we solve these problems?\n\nIn the Hospital del Quirónsalud Torrevieja ENT Service we have the technology (stroboscope, voice analysis) and professionals needed to treat these problems within a Voice Unit formed by Otolaryngologists, Speech Therapists, Phoniatrics and Neurophysiologists who will offer the patient a treatment and individualized strategy to solve your vocal problem.\nThe set of surgical procedures that aims to cure different types of injuries with preservation and even voice improvement constitutes the so-called field of PHONOSURGERY, always linked to vocal rehabilitation: speech therapy.\n\nOne of the pathologies that severely limit communication is dysphonia (hyperkinetic functional dysphonia, hypokinetics, organic dysphonia, vocal cord paralysis, etc.), and to give an adequate response to this problem, a Voice Unit has been constituted, planning treatment sessions individual The realization of an acoustic analysis of the voice through the new technologies available to us, allows us to assess in an objective way the parameters of the voice that are affected and their evolution during the treatment.\n\nOur service also offers attention to the difficulties of language, speech and communication, performing evaluations with the help of standardized tests and designing specific intervention programs (dyslalia, dyspnea, dysphasia, etc.). We take care of the advice to the families that request it and we offer the necessary information to give an effective solution.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9838618636131287}
+{"content": "What is Internal Cloud? - Definition by Cloudopedia\nAn internal cloud is a cloud computing mechanism used within an organization. It applies virtualization methods, shared storage and network resources to avail control of an organization’s cloud environment. For example, an internal cloud of a university comprised of virtualized server systems on that cloud performing..", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9821029901504517}
+{"content": "1 (800) 273-6371 Contact Us\n\nAmple scientific research has proven that even brief diversions from work can dramatically improve employees’ abilities to focus on their jobs for longer periods of time, yet more than half of all contemporary workers continue to skip lunch breaks on a routine basis. Some of these workers don’t feel like they can afford to take the time for a Break, while others feel guilty about taking one. Unfortunately, this often leads to burnout and lower morale.\n\nEmployers shouldn’t assume that there is nothing they can do to counteract these unhealthy trends. Nine out of ten American companies already offer some kind of breakroom for their employees, but they don’t have to stop there. Read on to find out about a few Best Break room practices that can have a dramatic positive impact on employees’ abilities to disconnect from their work temporarily in order to return to it with new-found energy and enthusiasm.\n\nOffer Healthy Snacks and Beverages\nAlmost 70% of modern employees say they consider access to snacks in the breakroom to be an enjoyable perk, yet only 43% of today’s employers offer snacks. This is a mistake. When employees must leave the office for coffee, beverages, and snacks, they have to waste their already limited personal time and often return to the office more stressed out than they were when they left.\n\nCreate a Calming Ambiance\nAdd some Relaxing touches to the breakroom such as plants and pleasant, calming floor and wall coverings. If at all possible, try to allow in plenty of natural light. When this isn’t possible, consider painting the walls a calming yellow color instead of sterile white.\n\nProvide for Employee Comfort\nThe right Furniture can make an equally large difference on whether employees are able to spend their breaks calming down and enjoying themselves. Be sure to purchase chairs and tables that encourage a relaxing atmosphere and arrange them in such a way that employees can choose to socialize or to find alone time depending on their unique needs. Appropriate furnishings will help to encourage them to use their breakrooms to unwind and refocus themselves, allowing them to return to work after their breaks feeling refreshed and ready to tackle their jobs.\n\nTyler Mountain Water Co., Inc.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9653725028038025}
+{"content": "\n\nOver a period of time, globalization has had a huge impact, on the way, people live. On one hand experts believe that globalization has helped boost economies. Whereas some of them are of the opposite view. In this essay we will shed light on the merits and demerits of globalization.\n\nFirstly, it would not be wrong to say that, due to the affects of globalization, products made in one part of the world, are available in almost every country. Secondly, due to globalization countries have become competitive. The commodities and services have become cheaper due to foreign players entering the domestic markets. For instance, Maruti Suzuki, Ambassador and Bharat Motors were few companies manufacturing cars in India and not everyone owned a car. However, with the entrance of new players, things have changed prices have decreased and there are more bundled offers, making four wheelers affordable.\n\nNevertheless, every coin has two sides, Globalization has brought in many benefits, but the drawbacks are present too. of all, with new organizations, offerings in the host country are impacting the local vendors and producers. This is because some of these companies are enormous; they have higher availability of resources. In that case domestic players are being thrown out of the competition. Furthermore, the local craftsmen are suffering the brunt, since similar crafts are being bulk produced and sold at very low prices. For Example, Wal-Mart retail gives items at a give away sum, since they have purchased huge quantities. On the other hand, Local traders don’t have that much financial capability, so they lose their competitiveness.\n\nIn conclusion, it would not be wrong to say that the drawbacks of globalization outweigh the merits. However it is inevitable so the governments should take steps, so that the interests of the natives are taken care of.\n\nbuy custom essay", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.799597978591919}
+{"content": "Toda Takayoshi's (戶田敬義) pre-1876 Map of Ulleungdo - Map A\n\nThe following map is one of three maps of \"Takeshima\" (Ulleungdo) obtained by Toda Takayoshi (戶田敬義) in 1876 or earlier. Another of his maps can be seen HERE. I am calling them Map A and Map B. This Map A looks a little more accurate than Map B. I do not know what happened to his third map.\n\nOne of his maps was mentioned in an 1876 letter entitled \"Concerning Matsushma 2,\" which was written by Watanabe Kouki (渡辺洪基), the Director of the Bureau of Documents in Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time. In the letter, Mr. Watanabe said that Toda Takayoshi's survey map showed the circumference of \"Takeshima\" (Ulleungdo) to be about 23 ri, a measure that was calculated by adding up all the measurements of the ins and outs of the shoreline on the map. The reference to the map was as follows:\n\nAlso, if you calculate all the survey measurements on Toda Takayoshi's private ship survey map, they add up to about 23 ri. (That measure includes all the ins and outs of the shoreline.)\nI posting the map to give people an opportunity to look at it and to comment on it. I will modify the post later after reading the comments and studying the map myself, including trying to determine the circumference of the island. It looks like an interesting map. You can go to the source of the map at Mr. Tanaka's Web site HERE to find a much larger version.\n\nI wonder what happened to Mr. Toda Takayoshi's third map of Ulleungdo.\n\n\n  1. On the northwest section of the map, could someone please tell me what the character is between 長 and 五 and what it means in the following:\n\n\n  2. Also, what is the character after 亥子 supposed to be and what does it mean here?\n\n  3. Mr.Bevers,\n\n\n\n\n    There are some characters of \"請\" or \"受\" on this map. They seem to be showing direction.\n\n  4. 天保四巳霜月十九日夜求之\n    持主 権吉\n\n    此鼻酉戌(WNW)　岩組　此内大岩組　亥子(NNW)請\n    谷合一ツ　川一ツ\n    濱長サ五七丁　(5 to 7)\n    此上　岩山　高百間斗\n    谷三ツ　川三ツ 濱長サ十五丁\n    此岩山　高百間斗\n    濱長サ凢十丁 谷合二ツ　川弐ツ 少々平地有\n\n    ●落　大岩組\n    此小嶌　高間余　廻リ凢(凡)四拾間\n    谷合壱ツ　川壱ツ　濱長サ五 六丁\n    此瀬戸三拾間 廻り十四 五丁\n    此邊 子(north)受\n    此崎　瀧三ツ 高●●丁\n\n    本嶌ヨリ十五丁斗 廻り八丁斗\n    岩組 谷合四ツ 渚三ツ 干川弐ツ\n    此濱長サ廿丁余 卯受\n    此嶌　高凡五拾丁(間の誤記?)　廻り十五間\n    此鼻　此大岩組　濱三丁　此入込二丁\n    辰巳(southeast)受 谷壱ツ 川壱ツ\n    高三十間 廻二十間\n    谷合一ツ 川一ツ\n    濱一丁半 巳(SSE)受\n\n    此濱凡壱里半　谷合四ツ 川四ツ　巳午(SSSE)受\n    此鼻岩組　午未(SSSW)受\n    此濱未(SSW)受　谷合弐ツ　奥行深シ平地有\n    流川弐ツ 長サ凡三十丁\n    此鼻 申(WSW)受\n    谷川一ツ　岩組\n    此濱　西(W)請　長十五丁 谷合一ツ 川一ツ\n    平地有奥行　相不分\n\n  5. Wow! Thank you very, very much, 小嶋日向守. You saved me a lot of pain and effort.\n\n    By the way, I noticed that the stamps on both of the Toda Takayoshi maps are the same. Also, the maps are labeled in RED as being \"Item #1\" (第壹号) and \"Item #3\" (第三号). That suggests that there should also be a third map, \"Item #2\" (第二号).\n\n    Has anyone seen a map with \"第二号\" written in RED on it?\n\n  6. I've found an article that pertain to 竹嶋/鬱陵島.\n\n    The map \"第壱号\" is the figure \" (A)図　天保４年の「竹嶋之図\" included in the above pdf.\n    The map \"第三号\" is the figure \"(F)図　金森建策の絵図(４)\".\n    I think the map \"第二号\" may be the figure \"(C)図　金森建策の絵図(１)\".\n\n  7. 小嶋日向守,\n\n    Yes, Figure A seems to be \"第壱号\" (Map A), and Figure F seems to be \"第三号\" (Map B), but why do you think Figure C is \"第二号\"?\n\n  8. Because, \"第一号\" and \"第三号\" belonging to the diplomatic documents in NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF JAPAN.\n    The figure C and D which are the property of NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF JAPAN, too.\n    And their captions (e.g. 此濱長サ二十丁余) extracted several passages from the \"第��号\".\n    However, I am not certain. Now I guess figure D has even odds.\n\n    My additional decipherment.\n    十七日出舩仕 同廿一日 竹嶌江入津仕候　八月廿三日\n    出舩仕 廿七日 石州 濱田江(へ)入津仕候\n\n    The former 後 is sure, but latter 後 is not sure.\n    But the former 後 may be a clerical mistake.\n    The county name can be \"嶋後\".\n\n  9. 当時は、「後嶋」という言い方もしたようなので、「當巳七月隠州後嶋賀福浦」かも知れません。\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7666217684745789}
+{"content": "Penalising Solo Parents\n\nGeorgia Osmond\n\nLife as a sole parent can be difficult, and arguably the government contributes to this by continuing to allow Section 70A of the Social Security Act 1964 to remain. Under this provision, it is possible for sole parents to have the benefit paid per child reduced if they fail or refuse to identify the other parent of their child/ren. If the sole parent fails or refuses to identify the other parent, their benefit is reduced by $22, and after 13 weeks a further $6 is deducted if they do not disclose the identity of the other parent. This means that sole parents could lose between $22-$28 per child weekly. This provision was introduced by the Ministry of Social Development in 1990 with the aim of encouraging shared raising of children, or at the very least to encourage the payment of child support. However, this provision has not done this and instead punishes single parents who do not know, or for personal reasons choose not to disclose, the identity of their child/ren’s other parent.\n\nThere are exemptions to the provision which sole parents can use. Among these exemptions include insufficient evidence to identify the other parent, active steps taken by the sole parent to identify the other parent, the risk of violence towards the sole parent or their child if the other parent was identified, no likelihood the other parent would actually contribute towards child support payments, or the child being conceived out of incest or sexual assault. By the end of March 2016, 2825 exemptions had been accepted.\n\nThere are, however, issues surrounding exemptions. Many sole parents are initially unaware that the sanctions apply to them and are never told by Work and Income that they can apply for one or many of the exemptions. Even if they are told about the exemptions, in order to contest the imposition of the sanctions or apply for an exemption, a letter from a lawyer is required. For many sole parents, it can already be a struggle to afford basic necessities – paying for a lawyer would be unrealistic. Community law centres have the ability to provide letters for applicants, but the minimal knowledge around this possibility, the lack of funding of community law centres and their stretched resources make it even harder for law centres to be able to assist sole parents when they need it.\n\nOne of the other larger issues that surrounds exemptions is the lack of desire of sole parents to disclose the identity of the other parent. This is due to the high probability of a history of domestic violence, rape, or incest. At the end of March 2016, 18% of the exemptions awarded were based on the risk of violence towards either the sole parent or the child. Auckland Action Against Poverty, a social action and advocacy group running the Stop the Sanctions campaign advocating for the removal of section 70A from the legislation, have stated that much of their experience with sole parents involves a refusal to disclose the name of the other parent because of the fear of violence. There is also a requirement to disclose details relating to any sexual violence that would grant an exemption. Forcing the applicant to disclose these details, usually in an open space WINZ office, can be both traumatising and embarrassing contributing to a reluctance to divulge this information.\n\nThe Social Security Act 1964 will eventually be replaced by the Social Security Legislation Rewrite Bill. However, this will do nothing to assist sole parents. This is because section 70A has been rewritten as sections 176-178 of the Bill. Both the Labour party and the Greens have contested the continuation of section 70A, claiming that the Bill is really only focused on revenue-building. This is supported by the fact that the new Bill has moved the amount to be deducted (either $22 or $28) out of the legislation and into a different set of regulations, suggesting that there is no limit to the deduction rate. When the average amount paid out weekly for child support ($20.71) was compared to what could be deducted from a sole parent’s benefit, it is clear that there is a greater desire to save money rather than assist those in need. Auckland Action Against Poverty is actively protesting the sections, stating that they place sole parents under further hardship.\n\nWhether the provisions are as 70A of the Social Security Act 1964 or as the Social Security Legislation Rewrite Bill, the effects felt by sole parents are just the same. As at the end of March 2016, approximately 13,616 sole parents and 17,000 children were affected by the provision. Although the legislation is written as gender-neutral, it disproportionally affects women who make up 97.7% of sole parents affected. The provision also disproportionally impacts on Māori at 52.8% of the total. The Ministry of Social Development has recognised that sole parent families suffer hardship four times greater than families with two parents, and Auckland Action Against Poverty has found that 50% of sole parents that are on a benefit suffer ‘severe hardship’.\n\nMetiria Turei has called section 70A a punitive piece of legislation, and it is not hard to see why. The system that should be in place to assist sole parents and provide them the extra support they need instead punishes them for the decision they have made not to identify the other parent. In a country where 290,000 children live below the poverty line, it is clear the legislation itself needs to be completely restructured to reflect this reality rather than remaining as it has for over 54 years.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9390161633491516}
+{"content": "Princes of the Holy Roman Empire\n\naesthetics  →\nbeing  →\ncomplexity  →\ndatabase  →\nenterprise  →\nethics  →\nfiction  →\nhistory  →\ninternet  →\nknowledge  →\nlanguage  →\nlicensing  →\nlinux  →\nlogic  →\nmethod  →\nnews  →\nperception  →\nphilosophy  →\npolicy  →\npurpose  →\nreligion  →\nscience  →\nsociology  →\nsoftware  →\ntruth  →\nunix  →\nwiki  →\nessay  →\nfeed  →\nhelp  →\nsystem  →\nwiki  →\ncritical  →\ndiscussion  →\nforked  →\nimported  →\noriginal  →\nPrinces of the Holy Roman Empire\n[ temporary import ]\nplease note:\n- the content below is remote from Wikipedia\n- it has been imported raw for GetWiki\nFile:T12 Fürst.svg|thumb|Heraldic crownHeraldic crownFile:Wapenmantel van een prins.svg|thumb|Heraldic ornaments of a prince of the Holy Roman EmpireHoly Roman Empire(File:Princely Hat.svg|thumb|Princely hat of a prince of the Holy Roman Empire.)Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (, , see also: Fürst) was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor.\n\n\n\nImperial state\n\n{{see also|Imperial state}}The estate of imperial princes or ReichsfürstenstandArnold, Benjamin (1991). Princes and territories in medieval Germany, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, pp. 24-25, {{ISBN|0-521-52148-3}}. was first established in a legal sense in the Late Middle Ages. A particular estate of \"the Princes\" was first mentioned in the decree issued by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1180 at the Imperial Diet of Gelnhausen, in which he divested Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony and Bavaria. About fifty years later, Eike of Repgow codified it as an emanation of feudal law recorded in his Sachsenspiegel, where the lay princes formed the third level or Heerschild in the feudal military structure below ecclesiastical princes. Officially the princely states of the Holy Roman Empire had to meet three requirements:\n  • territorial rule and the droit de régale, i.e. sovereign rights, over an immediate fief of the Empire\nNot all states met all three requirements, so one may distinguish between effective and honorary princes of the Holy Roman Empire.Fra Cyril Toumanoff, \"Genealogical Imperialism\" (1985) vol 6 (no 134) (NS) Coat of Arms pp. 145, 147.Duke and Prince Jean Engelbert d'Arenberg, \"The Lesser Princes of the Holy Roman Empire in the Napoleonic Era\" dissertation, Washington, DC, 1950, published as Les Princes du St-Empire à l'époque napoléonienne (Louvain, 1951) 15ff, quoted in Almanach de Gotha (Almanach de Gotha, London, 1998) pp. 275–286.The Princes of the Empire ranked below the seven Prince-electors designated by the Golden Bull of 1356 (and later electors), but above the Reichsgrafen (Counts), Freiherren (barons) and Imperial prelates, who formed with them the Imperial Diet assemblies, but held only collective votes. About 1180 the secular Princes comprised the Herzöge (Dukes) who generally ruled larger territories within the Empire in the tradition of the former German stem duchies, but also the Counts of Anhalt and Namur, the Landgraves of Thuringia and the Margraves of Meissen.File:COA Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg 01 AT Colloredo Hieronymus Joseph.png|thumb|Coat of arms of Hieronymus von Colloredo, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg.]]From the 13th century onwards, further estates were formally raised to the princely status by the emperor. Among the most important of these were the Welf descendants of Henry the Lion in Brunswick-Lüneburg, elevated to Princes of the Empire and vested with the ducal title by Emperor Frederick II in 1235, and the Landgraves of Hesse in 1292. The resolutions of the Diet of Augsburg in 1582 explicitly stated that the status was inextricably linked with the possession of a particular Imperial territory. Later elevated noble families like the Fürstenberg, Liechtenstein or Thurn und Taxis dynasties subsequently began to refer to their territory as a \"principality\" and assumed the awarded rank of a Prince (Fürst) as a hereditary title. Most of the Counts who ruled territories were raised to Princely rank in the decades before the end of the Empire in 1806.File:Millstatt Pfarrkirche Christus Grabmal Johann Siebenhirter 16082014 681.jpg|thumb|Grave of the Prince of the Holy Roman Empire Johann Siebenhirter (*1420-†1508) at the parish church w:Millstatt|Millstatt]] ]]Ecclesiastical Princes were the Prince-Bishops (including the Prince-Archbishops of Besançon, Bremen, Magdeburg and Salzburg) as well as the actual Prince-abbots. They comprised a number of political entities which were secularized and mediatized after the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, resp. fell to France or the independent Swiss Confederacy.\n\nHonorary title\n\n  • Sovereigns outside the Empire, such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichsfürst) 1607, cf in 1620, Austrian prince (His Serene Highness) 27 December 1880, cf 1889 and 1905. Most Eminent Highness by Italian royal decree 1927 (long by usage). Papal Cardinal-rank 1630. The Prince of Piombino was another example.\n  • Foreigners of note, such as the Princes of Belmonte, the Princes Chigi, the Princes Orsini,The Princes of Orsini and Rosenberg were members of the comital council (personaliter) 1683, made a prince 1724, 1790]. Male primogeniture 1629, Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne 1735–1958. the Princes Orloff, the Princes Potemkin, Lubomirski, or RadziwiÅ‚Å‚Fra Cyril Toumanoff, \"Genealogical Imperialism\" (1985) vol 6 (no 134) (NS) Coat of Arms 145, 151 n7.\n  • Subjects of the Empire who were given a princely title by an Emperor, but who held no territory or sovereignty at all. This status was occasionally granted to the morganatic wives and children of electoral and immediate families, allowing them to share in the husband/father's princely title, but not his princely rank and privileges (e.g., Frederick William von Hessenstein).\n\nSee also\n\n\nExternal links\n\n- content above as imported from Wikipedia\n- \"Princes of the Holy Roman Empire\" does not exist on GetWiki (yet)\n- time: 2:09pm EST - Fri, Feb 22 2019\n[ this remote article is provided by Wikipedia ]\nLATEST EDITS [ see all ]\nM.R.M. Parrott", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7302026748657227}
+{"content": "Ria’s Flick Picks: The Avengers: Infinity War\n\n\nSet after the previous 2018 Marvel film “Black Panther,” “The Avengers: Infinity War” is the third installment of The Avengers series. It involves the entire Avengers team and many more Marvel characters on their collective mission to defeat Thanos before he collects all six infinity stones, which have the potential power to destroy the universe.\n\n\nWalking into the theater, I didn’t have too big of an expectation for the film. A superhero movie with every single Marvel character? Sounds like chaos and a complete waste of a movie ticket. The films writers, Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus, however, unexpectedly made it work. Every group of Marvel characters, from the Avengers to the Guardians of the Galaxy, had their own connection to Thanos, which incorporated effective subplots into the overarching story. Instead of seeing a whole crowd of Marvel superheroes rush Thanos at once (which is what I had expected), the film took places in four different locations, with around four or more different missions to complete.\n\nIn addition, the character of Thanos definitely stood out from the rest of the cast in this film. The writers definitely accomplished their goal of making a villain who the audience sees as evil but is still slightly sympathetic to. As his continues on his mission to destroy half of every planet’s population, he gives reason to more and more of his actions. This adds a much-needed deeper layer to the superhero film and increased the tension between him and the superheroes towards the end of the film.\n\n\nAs always, I’ve found the comedic timing of the actors in Marvel movies to be pretty spot-on—Chris Pratt in particular being very good at this. Star-Lord’s (Chris Pratt) humorous scenes and one-liners were quirky and sometimes inadvertently self-deprecating.\n\nOn the other hand, when it came to the more dramatic scenes, it was Josh Brolin’s Thanos and Zoe Saldana’s Gomora that were the only performances that weren’t cringe worthy. When the plot becomes more intense, it was their performances that reminded me that even superheroes are destructible, and ultimately, these stories are a matter of life and death.\n\nRating: 8/10\n\nMay 25, 2018", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9380868077278137}
+{"content": "Chapter 9 – Determining an Authors Message (part 2 of 3)\n\n\nHow does one locate the most important sentences in a book? How, then, does one interpret these sentences to discover the one or more propositions they contain?\n\nFrom the author’s point of view, the important sentences are the ones that express the judgments on which his whole argument rests. … He may indult in all sorts of supporting and surrounding discussion. But the heart of his communication lies in the major affirmations and denials he is making, and the reasons he gives for so doing.\n\nSome authors help you do this. They underline the sentences for you. They either tell you that this is an important point when they make it, or they use one or another typographical device to make their leading sentences stand out.\n\nApart from books whose style or format calls attention to what most needs interpretation by the reader, the spotting of the important sentences is a job the reader must perform for himself. … If he is sensitive to the difference between passages he can understand readily and those he cannot, he will probably be able to locate the sentences that carry the main burden of meaning. Perhaps you are beginning to see how essential a part of reading it is to be perplexed and know it. Wonder is the beginning of wisdom in learning from books as well as from nature. If you never ask yourself any questions about the meaning of a passage, you cannot expect the book to give you any insight you do not already possess.\n\nAnother clue to the important sentences is found in the words that compose them. If you have already marked the important words, they should lead you to the sentences that deserve further attention. Thus the first step in interpretive reading prepares fo the second. But the reverse may also be the case. It maybe that you will mark certain words only after you have become puzzled by the meaning of a sentence. The fact that we have stated these rules in fixed order does not mean that you have to follow them in that order. Terms constitute propositions. Propositions contain terms. If you know the terms the words express, you have caught the proposition in the sentence. If you understand the proposition conveyed by a sentence, you have arrived the terms also.\n\nThis suggests one further clue to the location of the principal propositions. They must belong to the main argument of the book. They must be either premises or conclusions. Hence, if you can detect those sentences that seem to form a sequence, a sequence in which there is a beginning and an end, you probably have put your finger on the sentences that are important.\n\nMany persons believe that they know how to read because they read at different speeds. But they pause and go slow over the wrong sentences. They pause over the sentences that interest them rather than the ones that puzzle them. Indeed, this is one of the greatest obstacles to reading a book that is not completely contemporary. Any old book contains facts that are somewhat surprising because they are different from what we know. But when you are reading for understanding it is not that kind of novelty that you are seeking. Your interest in the author himself, or in his language, or in the world in which he wrote, is one thing; your concern to understand his ideas is quite another. It is tis concern that the rules we are discussing here can help you to satisfy, not your curiosity about other matters.\n\n\nLet us suppose that you have located the leading sentences. Another step is required by Rule 6. You must discover the proposition or propositions that each of these sentences contains. This is just another way of saying that you must know what the sentence means. You discover terms by discovering what a word means in a given usage. You discover propositions similarly by interpreting all the words that make up the sentence, and especially its principal words.\n\nThere are only two differences between finding the terms that words express and the propositions that sentences express. One is that you employ a larger context in the latter case. You bring all the surrounding sentences to bear on the sentence in question, just as you used the surrounding words to interpret a particular word. In both cases, you proceed from what you do understand to the gradual elucidation of what is at first relatively unintelligible.\n\nThe other difference lies in the fact that complicated sentences usually express more than one proposition. You have not completed your interpretation of an important sentence until you have separated out of it all the different, though perhaps related, propositions. Skill in doing this comes with practice. Take some of the complicated sentences in this book and try to state in your own words each of the things that is being asserted. Number them and relate them.\n\n“State in your own words!” That suggest the best test we know for telling whether you have understood the proposition or propositions in the sentence. If, when you are asked to explain what the author means by a particular sentence, all you can do is repeat his very words, with some minor alterations in their order, you had better suspect that you do not know what he means. Ideally, you should be able to say the same thing in totally different words. The idea can, of course, be approximated in varying degrees. But if you cannot get away at all from the author’s words, it shows that only words have passed from him to you, not thought or knowledge. You know his words, not his mind. He was trying to communicate knowledge, and all you received was words.\n\nThese remarks have a bearing on syntopical reading – the reading of several books about the same subject matter. Different authors frequently say the same thing in different words, or different things using almost the same words. The reader who cannot see through the language to the terms and propositions will never be able to compare such related works.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8918594121932983}
+{"content": "Contact Us\n\n\n\n\n\nWillow's Way\n\nEmpathic Sensitivities\n\nMichelle Bellamy\n\nMany of our everyday sayings speak to the energetic shift that takes place as a human being. “Putting yourself in another persons shoes”. Literally, as an empath we can “step in” to a person, into their shoes and feel their physical, mental and emotional states. If we also have healing skill, we can modify those states and help to calm and ease pain. So empaths can feel in their own bodies what is happening in another persons body. Because of this empaths have tremendous compassion for others and their suffering. The ability of an empath to have compassion, to feel and shift other people and heal can lead to burn out for an empath. Empaths often over-give to the point of depletion. There are many tools you should learn as an empath to keep yourself fully charged and in a state in which you are ready able and willing to serve and give to others. In Judith Orloff’s Book, The Empath’s Survival Guide, there is an effective list for safeguarding techniques for empaths. They are: The Mirror Neuron System, Electromagnetic Fields, Emotional Contagion, Increased Dopamine Sensitivity, Synethesia.\n\nMirror Neurons are a specialized group of brain cells that are responsible for compassion and empathy. Empaths are believed to have both more of these brain cells and more sensitivity than others in the population. They are hyper-sensitive to others pain.\n\nElectromagnetic fields are waves of magnetic electro charge particles that emmenate from and penetrate into our body. These waves are most easily measured from the strongest sources, the brain and the heart. These fields transmit information from one person to the next in the form of coded energy information. It’s like “air-drop”, when you get close enough there is an energy and information exchanged on an energetic level.\n\nEmotional contagion is picking up the energy of a person or group of persons. An example is how if one baby in a nursery begins to cry they will all cry. Empaths are quite sensitive to their physical environment and the people that share that space with them. Due to this empaths must learn how to ground and center themselves to prepare to be in these types of emotionally intense environments. We must also be aware and choose positive people in our lives.\n\nIncreased Dopamine Sensitivity-”Research has shown that introverted empaths tend to have a higher sensitivity to dopamine than extraverts. Basically, they need less dopamine to feel happy. That could explain why they are more content with alone time, reading, and meditation and need less external stimulation from parties and other large social gatherings.” Don’t get me wrong, you can have an extroverted empath but they will need to retreat and recover after they are “out in the world”. \n\nSyethsesia-is a neurological condition when two senses combine for example, hearing music an see color. More specific to abilities of empaths is “mirror-touch synesthesia”, is a neurological condition in which empaths can feel emotions and physical sensations of other people (even at a distance!) in their own bodies as if it were their own experience. This is why it is so important to learn the protection skills necessary to walk the world as a helper, healer or teacher and also an empath. Discernment is key. To have discernment you must be fully centered in WHO YOU ARE. Your energetic signature and how to get there in moments of chaos. Once you are centered you can discern if what you are sensing is your own or someone else. email me for a free meditation to clear your chakras and aura and get centered. You must also learn the skill of removing and detaching others “stuff” out of your field. If you are a healer and an empath you must learn how to let what you are assisting others with to flow through and out of your field, you are not taking on others stuff!!\n\nIf you are an empath or know someone who is that needs help, know that I am here to serve and don’t hesitate to connect and ask questions. Your questions lead to new content in my blog and video collection.\n\nAuthor: Willow Tucker, Empath, Healer and Teacher. Lover of science and nature. Initiating Priestess in the Dianic Wiccan Tradition.\n\n\n\nThe Science behind being an Empath\n\nMichelle Bellamy\n\nWe have all seen the research on meditating and how what the ancients knew to be true is now being proven by science. But did you know, that science has caught up to the Empath phenomenon?\n\n“…empaths are people who’re high on the empathic spectrum and actually feel what is happening in others in their own bodies. As a result, empaths can have incredible compassion for people—but they often get exhausted from feeling “too much”…” Judith Orloff\n\n“This includes research showing the existence of mirror neurons in the brain, which are said to enable us to read and understand each other’s emotions by filtering them through our own (Iacobani, 2008).” Kirsten Milstead\n\nResearch has been conducted by Abigal Marsh with evidence that there is a difference in the brains of empaths as compared to others. Specifically, she researched those that made the most selfless acts, where there was no benefit to them and potentially a cost; donating a kidney. She measured their brain activity while she showed them pictures of different emotional states. What she found is that empaths are exceptionally sensitive to fearful faces. “…there was heightened activity in the amygdalae in their brains. The amygdalae were also eight percent larger than those belonging to members of the control group (normal).” Abigail Marsh author of The Fear Factor (2017).\n\nInteresting to note, she also found the exact opposite of what she found for empaths in psychopaths. Psychopaths were unable to recognize fear in the images shown and were unresponsive to it in general. Also, their amygdalae were about eighteen percent smaller than normal. That is 26% smaller than empaths.\n\nEmpaths are characterized as being exceptionally sensitive to their environment and to the emotional, mental and physical states to others, especially those closest to them. They will give to the point of being empty in an attempt to assist or heal others even to the detriment of themselves. Empaths biggest lesson is appropriate boundaries to maintain their own health in order to be of service to others.\n\n“Although they are clearly more sensitive than average to others’ distress, their capacity for compassion and generosity reflects the same neural mechanisms that lie latent in most of humankind. Indeed, it is in part the fact that altruists (empaths) recognize that they are not fundamentally different from anyone else that moves them to act.”\n\nAre Empaths the healers that will bring the earth into a state of loving kindness and compassion?\n\nIs the larger amygdalae a physiological expression of evolution of the brain to save our species?\n\nSo many interesting questions!!\n\nWhat do you think?!\n\n\n\nBatson, C. D. (1991). The altruism question. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.\n\nDodgson, L. 2018. The opposite of a psychopath is an ‘empath’—here are the signs you could be one. Business Insider. Retrieved July 22, 2018.\n\nHatfield, E., Cacioppo, J. T. and Rapson, R. L. (1994). Emotional contagion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.\n\nIacobani, M. (2008). Mirroring people: the science of empathy and how we connect with others. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.\n\nMarsh, A. (2017). The fear factor: how one emotion connects altruists, psychopaths & everyone in between. New York: Basic Books.\n\nMarsh, A. (2016). Neural, cognitive, and evolutionary foundations of human altruism. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 7(1), 59-71.\n\n3 Steps to Empath Self-Care\n\nMichelle Bellamy\n\n\n\n\n a person or animal with the paranormal ability to apprehend (and feel) the mental, physical or emotional state of another individual.\n\nAs an empath I have had to learn how do deal with a lot of the physical symptoms I experience as a result of picking up so much from others and planetary sources. Here are some of the symptoms and ways to navigate as well as remedies that work to reduce the amount of physical pain, fatigue and anxiety.\n\n\nWe are all connected to the planet and each other but to what degree do you honor and respect that connection? The earth is a living breathing entity that we communicate with on many levels. One of these levels is electromagnetically. We also feel the movements and changes showered upon us by the planets, most especially the sun and moon. When we respect that connection, lean into it and get into Gaia's rhythm, we discover countless miracles, magic and synchronicities. \n\n\nWhen we are impacted by the planets movements as interpreted through the mystical, mathematical science of Astrology and have a context for the energies we are feeling within our selves, within others and within our earth. These energies enter our planet and all beings first on an electromagnetic level, then our nervous system, then the muscles and bones. Simultaneously it effects our energetic vibration, our unique energy signature, literally tuning us up by shredding useless beliefs and attachments and replacing them with empowering and connected energies. During these upgrades we receive many downloads of energy messages and the tune up can be a bit painful. Like braces, the tightening of the wires and the discomfort as the teeth are pulled into alignment. Resistance to these energetic upgrades by not wanting to let go of these beliefs and attachments only causes more pain and suffering. By letting go of these beliefs and attachments you are only becoming more of who you truly are. Becoming more and more authentic can be scary and fears can surface. It can bring up lots of feelings of un-worthiness.\n\nEmpathic Symptoms include:\n\nHead-ache, Migraine, stomach upset, sadness, lethargy, need to stay home and away from public places, extremes of hope and hopelessness for the planet, vision issues, eyes burn, ears ring, begin to hear larger range of sounds than others, become very sensitive to odors, awakening psychic connections, joint pain, vibrating sensations in different parts of the body, dizziness, vertigo, light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, environmental sensitivity, food allergies, and scent allergies, to name a few.\n\n\nSo if you can ground all of this in self-care, in time in nature, rest and self-compassion you will ease your suffering. If you can energetically release what you need to let go of and go with the flow you may even feel amazing!\n\nThe energetic frequency has been increasing slowly over time so that we can evolve as a human race into greater connection to one another and to the planet. She is sending out this signal to save herself. As we receive these light signals we need to be in a state of epic self care. We need to be grounded and centered so that we do not fry a circuit. You may receive the message that you need to ground and center when your electronics break or freak out. Also, if you process these upgrades rapidly you can fry your electronics in the process even if you are grounded. \n\nThese high frequency waves are received by our nervous system and stimulate and open us up to greater connection, connections to ancient wisdom, to not repeating past mistakes, greater connection to your higher self, connection to your ancestors, connection with the land(s) and traditions of your ancestors are all ways that dormant DNA is awakened and you remember who you are.\n\nSome people have volunteered to carry higher frequency vibrations like a pillar of light to help initiate others into higher frequencies. These are the healers, the truth speakers, the artists and the teachers.\n\nYou can learn to process more of the energy by making a conscious connection to the earth and dedicate to her protection. With her support you can help carry the light, initiate support with guardians and allies who will share the light load with you assisting with the processing of the data through the cells, dna and synapses. If there is a place of shadow or darkness that needs a letting go, the energy load can get stuck there often causing physical pain. Chakra and full body clearings, release of emotions and beliefs are extremely beneficial.\n\nYou can get stuck in any layer; physical, emotional, psychic, karmic, ancestral, mental, etc. Assistance from a healer can be extremely helpful and support from a tribe is priceless.\n\n\nFlu like symptoms of body aches, headache, nausea and fatigue. With or without fever but may have hot or cold sweats. This is caused by the release of thought forms, emotions and more that cause a detoxification. The waste may travel through the blood or digestive system or both. For a time parts of you are not compatible with the new higher frequency cells and the body rejects the old pattern as harmful toxins.\n\nThe best remedy is complete rest, if you have someone that can help care for you that is ideal. Remedies include bathing in epsom salts with detoxifying essential oils, lots of lemon water, and flower essences can help the body more gently process the energy change, making the detox less uncomfortable. Drinking most of your meals will help with the detoxification. I make strawberry and banana smoothies with Vegan Vanilla Protein powder. I add in Liquid Light for my minerals and some coconut oil. \n\nHeadaches and migraines, the best thing I have found to deal with these is prevention. Epic self-care, healthy food, staying away from sugar and coffee and drinking lots of clean water. I have finally trained myself to be in touch with my body to such an extent that I can feel the energy shift before I get the headache. If I can remove myself from the stressful situation, center, take flower essences and make sure my boundaries are up to date I can usually avoid it all together. Mine symptoms start as tension around the spine behind my heart and move up. If left to proceed unattended to my neck and occiput will go out of alignment causing extreme headaches and pain in the neck, head, jaw, eye and scalp, usually one-sided. This can last several days and even a chiropractor and massage can barely touch it, it feels like energetic whiplash. Opening the energy in the crown and third eye early on in the process with centering and grounding to earth along with taking flower essences can stop this in its tracks. It is common to have pain in the scalp in a circle where you would find the crown chakra. To me it feels like when I wear my hair in a ponytail and take it out, the roots hurt. Hot soaks in the tub and gentle massage are helpful. Utilizing stones and crystals can be very balancing.\n\nVertigo and dizziness-your go to should be minerals and water. Your body needs to be rested, hydrated and not under stress to integrate the higher frequencies. Lay down and rest. Stay on your side, curled up in the fetal position with eyes closed and sleep.\n\nDigestive complaints-this is usually associated with detoxification especially revolving around self-care, self-love and negative emotional energies of unworthiness being released. Ties to the mother and ancestors are also connected in the solar plexus, think umbilical cord. Reduce the load on your digestion, drink smoothies, release the inner critic and take flower essences.\n\nInternal Temperature Control issues: Being hot and getting hot flashes can be associated with a large increase of energy being processed. Breathing and bathing and consciously processing the energy will help. Being cold and chilled is a weakened ability to process energy. Movement can be helpful, you need to get the fire gong again by movement and increasing circulation. Acupuncture and flower essences are also great at balancing the internal temperature and regulating energy.\n\nEnergy level swings-you can go from complete fatigue and exhaustion to excess energy. Sometimes there are many nights in a row that you may be receiving energy downloads and get very little sleep. Harness this time by having a note pad by your side. Many ideas and solutions can come during the downloads. Rest when you are tired and get shit done when the energy is available. Don't resist or feel guilty when tired. Use this time to read, meditate, write, listen to music, nature watch, spend time with your animals, paint or craft.\n\nExtreme mood swings, anxiety, heart palpitations-as we become more connected to the planet and release the illusion that we are separate we begin to feel others pain more deeply. We weep for the abused, the lost, the forgotten, the raped, the poisoned and all the woes of our world. Then we realize our purpose, we have to make a difference and support each other. We have to stand together, to unite and save Gaia. The best remedy is to feel the feelings and then take action to make a difference. It is the loss of control that makes us feel hopeless. Donate money, donate your time to a charity, go out and make a difference. Flower essences can be very supportive as well. Essential oil of Rose is extremely helpful in processing grief and in heart related symptoms like broken-heart syndrome. Identify your fears, release them. Take deep cleansing breaths. Breath in love, breath out peace. Meditate, do yoga, get out in nature. Move your body.  Email me for a free meditation\n\nElectronics, zapping-often healers will zap out tv's computers, phones, cars and more. It most frequently happens to their own property but can also include others in close proximity. Grounding, centering and processing through the energy while taking an electronics break will be helpful. Calibrating to your equipment will also help. Give everything a reboot and check for updates. I usually take this as a sign to slow down, chop wood and carry water. Also, I insure all my electronics through Square Trade;)\n\nEpic Self-Care is the only way that you can stay in touch with your body, emotions and energy field. You need to be grounded and centered on a regular basis so that you can process the energy upgrades as they come. You will begin to become in greater alignment with nature, the planet, the animals and our human family. You will begin to see that love of greed and power are what is poisoning our world and that the illusion of being separate is what needs healing.\n\nBy connecting to Gaia and celebrating her nurturing love and support we can find our way back to balance. She provides the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. She provides our shelter, our companions, beauty and splendor. We must support her as she supports us and if you are empathic then you have been asked to help process the new frequencies and spread them to others. This is a difficult calling, but by staying heart-centered and taking great care of yourself you will be able to be there for others and for the planet.\n\n\nThe 5 Mistakes of Manifestation (and how to avoid them)\n\nMichelle Bellamy\n\nManifestation is the act of making clear,    visible, tangible or real.\n\nManifestation is using the Law of Attraction and your Will to bring something into your reality. It could be money, the right people, the right situation, the right house, health or whatever you feel an emotional connection to. \n\nSome people are not sure what manifestation is but have heard of the Law of Attraction and use positive affirmations and visualizations to get what they want. Some of you may roll up your sleeves and write out your goals. You might have a dream board (me too). You might even begin to take the action steps needed to get to where your goals are leading. You may be on your way but are not really feeling good about your results or how long it is taking. \n\nI would love to share my experiences with you to help you avoid some of the manifesting mistakes I have encountered on my way to becoming an epic manifestor. I am absolutely passionate about this topic and I LOVE to help others!!\n\n1. Your affirmations must always be stated in the POSITIVE and in the NOW moment.\n\nWrong: I don't want stress in my life\n\nWrong: I want peace in my life\n\nRight: I have peace in my life\n\nIf you can't figure out how to say it the Right way, don't worry, I have tips for that in my FREE video. I GET IT!!! I struggled with this too!\n\n2. Your affirmations and visualizations are NOT ALWAYS ENOUGH.\n\nEvery morning before you get out of bed you say your affirmation, \"I have peace in my life\", but as soon as stress meets you (which it will) you fall into it and doubt this whole \"manifestation thing\". It just doesn't work! There is a reality to deal with! Uh-hem, it actually does work. I have story after story to tell you that I still can't quite believe myself!\n\nSo, you did your morning meditation, you said your affirmation and then some jerk sees you waiting for that last parking spot in front of the store with your sick baby in the back seat crying. \n\n\nHe looks you right in the eye and swipes it from you to go get his latte. In the meantime, you have to park far away and remove your sick child from the warm car and walk out in the cold and rain with her to get to the store.\n\nYou could have chosen peace over stress in that moment. You always have a choice. You are an active and vital participant in creating your reality. You can't just say it and then think it will happen. (Pro-level manifestors can actually achieve this but it takes a huge paradigm shift, rock solid belief and congruent actions. I will share my experiences in the FREE training with you!)\n\n3. Getting too SPECIFIC can sometimes be a huge block to your manifesting.\n\nSometimes getting too specific is the biggest mistake you can make, we can limit ourselves. Our ideas and plans are small and limited compared to the truth of what is actually possible. \n\n4 years ago I wanted to move to horse property. I wanted at least an acre, I wanted it to not cost more than I was currently paying, I wanted a claw foot bath tub and I really, really wanted to live on a lake. I did my work. I wrote it all out. I could not get myself to write down the lake part. It just wasn't possible. I knew we had to live in a radius to my husband's business and there were no lakes in that area. The only lakes around were either too far away or way too expensive. I left it off. I meditated and heard, \"No! You are limiting yourself, you can live near water!!\" I added it to my manifestation. If I hadn't listened to that guidance, let reality go and trust I would have never have ended up living on a lake front property near my husband's business. This is one of the most amazing manifestation stories and you have not heard a fraction of it!!\n\n4.   NOT RECOGNIZING that your manifestation has showed up or pushing it away because it didn’t fit with your plan. So maybe you used a broad stroke manifestation approach but mentally you still are in a loop of what it should look like. When it shows up you miss it completely.\n\nAnother story; I could have completely missed this manifestation. I wanted to raise money quick for a vacation/retirement property. I had great mentors that advised me to use the broad stroke method. I was thinking it would show up in my teaching and healing work, but it didn't. I was encouraged to go back to the corporate world by a friend. I could have totally laughed it off. It was SO off the path I was on. But I had confirmations that it was the right path. So I went for it. 17 months later, I closed escrow. I could have totally missed that, right?? I learned tons from that experience, that I am now teaching to students and clients, it was NOT a cake walk!! BUT, I did call it in, I did manifest it and the property AND learned SO MUCH to share with you now!\n\n5.  You receive the GUIDANCE you need on your path to manifestation but you are:\n\na) distracted by other things that you think take priority (avoidance).\n\n         Magic is Something YOU Make!!\n\n         Magic is Something YOU Make!!\n\nb) you have a fear or belief blocking you from seeing or following your manifestation when it shows up\n\nc) You make excuses as to why you cannot possibly follow that guidance (time and money are usually at the top of this list)\n\nd) You resonate with guidance, feel it in your bones, get signs and synchronicity as confirmation but somehow still push it away and kind of forget about it all the while continuing to complain and focus on your current situation as you trudge through it.\n\nDon't feel bad, we all go through too! Let me show you in my FREE video how to navigate this one. If you have the calling and the guidance but fear or something else is stopping you, you are the ideal person to benefit from what I have already learned!!\n\nBoundaries and the Body\n\nMichelle Bellamy\n\n\nWe have been dealing with a whopper of REtrograde Planets one of which has been Mars.  We are RE-looking at how we react instead of respond, what actions we jump into especially if it is explaining, defending or projecting. This Reaction/Action merry-go-round is teaching us that as soon as we feel something is off, it probably is and we should speak gently and kindly. This is a boundary. It is a boundary you have with yourself. You do not want to move forward from this point feeling one energy coming towards and hearing words that say another message. When this happens, the person you are talking to is RE-acting instead of responding to the energy they are sensing within you or within themselves. \n\nWe must consistently and continually bring ourselves back to our core of truth and out of reaction. Boundaries showed up in at least one energy wave with parents and/or children.  The ripple effect of our relationships with parents/children goes out into relationships with bosses, friends and lovers, if you thought you may have steered clear of probably cannot, haven't and furthermore should not.\n\nWe are always recreating our original wound from a parent or ancestral time line with new relationships to heal the wound and empower and love ourselves more.  Along with these very emotional issues I have seen a multitude of physical issues.  Many involving the skin, mucous membranes, digestion and lungs. These are all soft and sensitive parts of our body that are a boundary for our bodies.  The skin is the biggest organ and if it has become infected or hurt, that is a skin boundary issue. In our lungs and digestion we sort out the harmful from the beneficial with many corresponding issues. If we ate something bad our stomach lets us know and we have a resulting correction to our system that can be unpleasant. Emotionally, we simply may not be able to digest all that is occurring in our lives, with our loved ones and ourselves. Our lung processes incoming toxins as well as grief, the body uses phlegm, coughing, sneezing, crying, laughing and more to clear the lungs of foreign bodies or grief. \n\nSound familiar? As we try and RE-live our original emotional wounds in current time to heal them, old physical pain may be brought up to uncover the energetic and emotional origins and heal it.  From my experience with clients, friends and family over this past month, the doctors haven't got a clue, as with most energetic and emotional symptoms.  We resist these painful physical states, and what we resist persists.  I am often asked about the physical states and what needs to be physically done, but what I \"get\" intuitively is mostly that an energetic or emotional issue needs to be healed.  Remember nothing physical manifests without being pure energy first. Energy is the blue print, so it makes sense to go back to that foundation to heal anything physical. \n\n\nMore on boundaries....  \n\nIf you are angry and resentful at someone because they have violated your boundaries or are not taking responsibility and expecting you to here is what you can do; \n\nStand in your power, no one can do anything to you, it is always your choice to give your time and energy away, that is YOUR boundary. \n\nMaintain a healthy energy field, remain centered and clear.\n\nKeeping ourselves, clean, clear, full of love and power is the most healing thing we can do for ourselves and for others.  By harmonic resonance others will feel your uplifting energy and themselves could be uplifted by it, if that is what they choose. \n\nDuring this time of reaction/action we may find that relationships and people fall away or move into the background.  If we are not in reaction, it all just feels natural like the way a river flows and breaks into streams.  We all just have our own business and purpose to attend to and if we are in our truth and power we will know that we have to be focused and centered to thrive.  If we are in reaction, these endings could be really dramatic or if the other party is in reaction it will be also and you need to hold clear boundaries and loving compassion. There could be a sudden deep healing in the relationship or an end.  Or an end to the way that relationship operated and a new beautiful relationship with the same person.  The choice is yours and theirs, independently of each other.  What will you choose?  Happiness is an inside job.\n\nBe Well,\n\nWillow Tucker", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8445702791213989}
+{"content": "OUR Mission\n\nThe mission of ALIVEWORKS is to deliver character education and leadership development to individuals and organizations seeking to navigate successfully in today's changing world.\n\nThe first result of our work is the emergence of a living culture of respect and aloha within which people come alive to their full potential. The final result is an organization unified by a clear direction, a common purpose and the ability to communicate and function effectively.\n\n\nas an organization, school or team lies in the middle of all of us, within the group conscience, the high mix of our ideas, our values and our experience.  Therefore, as a leader I listen deeply. I listen from possibility to draw out the highest values and desired outcomes of the group.\n\nI model the kind of respectful, patient listening that allows the best of any group to surface and be assembled into a common solution.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9989092946052551}
+{"content": "Tag: blood pressure\n\nAltitude Affects Blood Pressure, Italian Study Finds\n\nblog-post-09Do you have high blood pressure? According to new research from a team of Italian scientists, spending time in high-altitude areas could increase your blood pressure, exposing you to a number of health risks.\n\nA recent study carried out on Mount Everest has revealed that blood pressure rises with altitude. Climbers that ascend to significant heights have higher blood pressure levels at altitude than they otherwise would at or close to sea level.\n\nThe study, published in the European Heart Journal, also shows that drugs used to treat high blood pressure become less effective at altitude, as the heart is forced to work harder to extract the same amount of oxygen from the air.\n\nA team of Italian researchers took part in an expedition with 47 climbers located at Mount Everest base camp. Participants in the study wore portable blood pressure monitors and had their blood pressure monitored while climbing to the camp.\n\nUpon reaching the camp, participants in the study had an increase of 14 mmHg on average in systolic blood pressure and 100 mmHg on average in diastolic blood pressure compared to their readings at the beginning of the study.\n\nParticipants were also randomly selected to receive an 80 mg dose of the frequently prescribed blood pressure drug telmisartan. While the drug lowered blood pressure at sea level, it had no significant effect at the 17,700 feet altitude of the camp.\n\n\nWhile the altitude of the Mount Everest base camp is certainly an outlier, there are many people with high blood pressure who actively use medication to control their health living at high altitudes where its usefulness as a treatment may be lowered.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7552251815795898}
+{"content": "In his blog post, “Stop Evaluating Training!”, Amit Garg summarizesa presentation that Robert O. Brinkerhoff gave at the Australian Institute of Training and Development conference in April. Garg relates Brinkerhoff’s comments to the challenges of measuring the effectiveness of elearning programs. Garg writes:\n\nSo how do you evaluate the success of eLearning that you create?\" As a learning solutions vendor, I’ve been asked this question countless times and have also encountered it in many an RFP. Proving the effectiveness of training and showing ROI is no walk in the park and still keeps L&D up at night.\n\nMaybe evaluation of the impact of training is not a “walk in the park”, but it is not “rocket science” either. As Brinkerhoff explains in The Success Case Method, there is a simple logic to assessing impact. First we have to understand the alignment between a learning intervention, whether that’s classroom-based, elearning, coaching, on-the-job structured experiences, or something else, and the intended impact (e.g., customer retention, production, sales, revenue, market share). Then it’s a matter of identifying and interviewing learners who are contributing to that impact and those that are not contributing. The purpose of these interviews is to understand the nature of the impact and why it’s happening or not happening.\n\nThree immutable laws drive this method of evaluation. One is the law of learning as a process not an MP900446464 event. This law holds that learning is a process that starts before an instructional event and continues after the event. To study the event only is to fail to include key aspects of what is facilitating learning and what are barriers to learning.\n\nAnother is the law of unintended consequences which holds that when there is change there are always outcomes that weren’t anticipated. A useful evaluation of training will examine these unintended consequences (positive and negative) as well as achievement of objectives of the intervention.   \n\nAnd the third law holds that significant, lasting change in complex organizations is always the result of many factors, some that are not in the control of trainers and learners. For example, effectiveness of leaders, change in strategic direction, and the economy could have a profound influence on the impact that learners have on their organizations.\n\nIt’s not complicated. Understand how the learning intervention is intended to help the organization achieve its goals. Identify employees who are and are not applying what they learned. Interview these employees to find out what they did or did not do, how that affected the organization, what other factors were intervening in that impact, and what can be done to increase learner impact in the future.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9323273301124573}
+{"content": "Sicilian tomato and sausage skillet bread from Chef John Folse\n\nPrep Time: 1 Hour\n\nYields: 1 Round Loaf\n\n\nPan bread or skillet bread is somewhat like a pizza without the sauce, and is usually topped with spices, cheeses and herbs. Instead of baking this bread in loaf pans, you use a skillet. It is a delicious and welcome addition to any meal.\n\n\n½ cup cherry tomatoes, quartered\n\n¼ cup sun dried tomatoes, thinly sliced\n\n12 slices pepperoni\n\n½ cup olive oil, divided\n\n1 tbsp sugar, divided\n\n2 tsps fresh oregano, divided\n\n1½ tsps salt, divided\n\n2 cups flour\n\n¼ cup grated Parmesan Cheese plus extra for serving\n\n1 tbsp baking powder\n\n¼ cup chopped fresh basil, divided\n\n1 cup milk\n\n3 large eggs\n\n2 tsps grated lemon zest\n\n1 tbsp lemon juice\n\n\nAdjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 375°F. In a 12-inch, nonstick skillet, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add all tomatoes, pepperoni, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon oregano and ¼ teaspoon salt to skillet. Cook 5–7 minutes or until softened and lightly browned, stirring gently. Remove and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, baking powder, 1 tablespoon basil, remaining sugar, remaining oregano and remaining salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice and remaining olive oil. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold milk mixture into flour mixture until just combined, careful not to over mix. Spread cooked tomato mixture into an even layer in skillet. Dollop batter evenly over tomatoes and spread into an even layer, covering mixture completely. Return skillet to medium-high heat and cook until batter just begins to brown around the edge, approximately 2 minutes. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until top is golden brown, 25–30 minutes. Using a potholder, remove skillet from oven. Let bread cool in skillet 5 minutes. Run a small knife around the edge of bread to loosen from pan. Place inverted platter over top of skillet and gently flip bread onto platter using potholders or towels. Sprinkle with remaining 3 tablespoons basil and additional Parmesan cheese. Slice bread into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8465319871902466}
+{"content": "#27 Pay it Forward\n\nRight around the New Year I participated in one of the Facebook trends that spreads like crazy.  This one, however, was a pay it forward, promise which I made.  This also so happens to be my #27 on my 35 things to do when I am 35.\n\n‎”2011 promises to be a great year and I’m paying my good fortune forward by promising to send something handmade/hand drawn over the course of the year to the first five FB friends to comment to this post AND who agree to pay it forward by posting a similiar promise as their status. You have a whole year to make good.”\n\nI am excited to make my friends Heather, Rachael, Jennevieve, Laurie and Emily something wonderful.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6647144556045532}
+{"content": "Faithfully Creedless\n\nUnitarian Universalism is considered a “creedless” religion. What on earth does that mean, and how does one practice such a faith?  This sermon follows the lead of Socrates who, because he “knew nothing except the fact of his ignorance,” kept asking questions–all in hopes of finding a suitable answer.\n\nBio: Joseph Bednarik served as the Pulpit Assistant at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Port Townsend, and speaks monthly at the UU congregations in Bremerton and Sequim. He earned a degree in philosophy from Haverford College, and his day-job is Co-Publisher at Copper Canyon Press, a nonprofit literary publisher dedicated to poetry.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7289546728134155}
+{"content": "SELLING ENGINEERED LUMBER: The Advanced Framing Opportunity\n\nAPA and Ohio’s Contract Lumber on helping builders meet new energy codes with 2×6 walls.\n\n\nAs energy codes grow more stringent around the country and builders look for solutions to boost efficiency without adding costs, 2×6 advanced framing is gaining new attention as a proven option that cost effectively meets new energy code requirements while using familiar materials and methods.\n\nAdvanced framing techniques increase energy efficiency by maximizing space for cavity insulation and minimizing the potential for insulation voids. The methods also optimize material usage and eliminate redundancies and waste while maintaining structural integrity.\n\n- Sponsor -\n\nFor savvy dealers, 2×6 advanced framing is an opportunity to be a resource to customers by showing them new cost-effective ways to increase R-values using the same wood structural panel wall sheathing they already buy. This is particularly necessary in areas where adoption of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) now requires wall assemblies to achieve R-20 or R-13+5 insulation levels.\n\n“It comes down to education—for a dealer to be educated on what advanced framing is so they can relay that to the builders,” says Alan Albrecht, a senior structural engineer for Contract Lumber in Columbus, Ohio, who is seeing a growing number of builder customers adopting the practices.\n\nTwo-by-six advanced framing encompasses a range of individual techniques, with most focusing on increasing cavity insulation. Among the most common methods:\n\n1. 2×6 Framing, 24″ On Center\n\nWalls built with 2×6 wood studs and R-20 cavity insulation meet the R-20 energy code requirements regardless of stud spacing. However, 2×6 walls spaced\n24″ on center not only have deeper insulation cavities, but also wider cavities than conventional 2×4 framing spaced 16″ on center, thereby increasing the amount of insulation inside the wall and improving the whole-wall R-value. Builders nationwide have been moving steadily to 2x6s, driven largely by increasing code requirements. According to a survey by the Home Innovation Research Labs, nearly 40% of all singlefamily walls constructed in 2013 used 2×6 framing, up from 30% just five years ago.\n\n2. Right-Sized Headers\n\nAdvanced framing headers offer increased energy efficiency by replacing some framing materials with space for insulation inside the area of the header. Advanced framed headers are sized for the loads they carry and are often installed in single or double plies rather than double or triple.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.733912467956543}
+{"content": "Custom A Personal Leadership Philosophy essay paper sample\n\nBuy custom A Personal Leadership Philosophy essay paper cheap\n\nA personal leadership philosophy states the central values that a leader lives by. It entails what the leader expects from the subjects, what the subjects should expect from the leader and how the leader intends to evaluate the performance. I offer this presentation in order to enlighten you of my personal leadership philosophy. I will provide guidance on how I interact with people. This will make you understand how I make decisions and why I do so. \n\nI believe that the basic emphasis of education is to highlight an individual’s full potential by focusing on the student’s social, emotional and psychological needs.  I also believe that success relies on good nurturing, teamwork, balance and commitment. Therefore, I anticipate that my team members will be committed to achieve all round success, nurturing students’ skills and ability, proper coordination among tasks and supporting each other in their pursuit for success.\n\nAs a leader, I am not only consigned to help my students achieve academic success, but also I devote myself to aid them obtain success in their extra curricula activities.  As I mentioned before, success is wholesome, especially for young people. In my work as an assistant football coach (defensive coordinator) at a Division I school, I have learnt that paying equal attention to the two usually yields better performance in both. Divisions I school a solid tradition of excellent academic and sport performance, because the leaders invest in both equally. I observed good performance in academics during the sporting seasons. This is because the students feel more motivated and organized. During the seasons, the students follow a tight schedule of games and practice influencing their time management.  The school reflects its commitment to academic and athletic achievements by offering honors to students, who do well in both. The student should have a standing of cumulative average grade point of 3.4.\n\nSports are an attractive aspect of individuals, especially those in High school and colleges.  To ensure excellent academic performance, some states, schools and colleges have implemented policies that encourage a participation in sport. In some colleges, sports participants were required to have higher academics grade in order to obtain permission to engage in sports. This college has very good academic performance, with poor sports record. Presently, the team has 35% graduation rate, with an average grade point of 1.8. This performanc is poor, when compared to the schools over all academic performance. There is evidence to prove that sporting activity improves academic performance (Coatler, 2008). \n\nThe New York Times reported of a student at Long Island University, David Ledet. As a soccer player, the student had grade point average of three point nine; this was the highest average achievement at Brooklyn campus. In addition to having this achievement, David led his soccer team to the conference contention for all the four years while he was a student. The student attributed his academic performance to have tight schedules, which forced him to study (Vecsey, 2005). Self-concept and positive self-esteem affect a student’s performance. One way to improve a student’s self-esteem is to involve him in sports. In addition to these, physical activity has other advantages, such as better brain functioning and better concentration, which support cognitive learning. Despite these studies, there are other studies that reveal poor academic performance amongst athletes. However, I think that with a structured schedule, students, who are involved in sports, manage to score well academically.\n\nPhysical activities and sports provide chances for students to gain teamwork values. Additionally, these sports enable them to apply academic knowledge in other areas, such as the field, which in turn aids them to obtain an all rounded education. Finally, psychological research studies have mentioned the benefits of team identification in improving academic and sports excellence. People, who identify with particular sports team, stand to gain the benefits of this association. Psychologists report that people usually feel lower levels of alienation. They also experience better self esteem, social life satisfaction, extroversion, and positive emotions. These feelings lead to transitory and enduring benefits, which increase the levels of developing better personalities (Sitkowsk, 2008).\n\nAs a coach, I recognize a direct relationship between athletics and academics. In order for this relationship to be successful, it is important that coaches realize three potential areas, such as identification of skills, identification of habits, and identification of one’s attitudes. The classroom, just like the field, is a competition ground. In any competition, identifying one’s ability and skills are fundamental. The second variable identifies the individual’s habits, which influence their aptitude. Which habits make the individual succeed in Athleticss or academics? The same habits can be horned to aid in an excellent performance in another field. Lastly, a person’s attitude determines their ability to perform. Once I have identified the above variables, I will work towards achieving success.  Psychologists agree that an individual’s self-efficacy determines their success or failure.  A coach should employ all the available resources to help students accomplish their responsibilities, equally inside classrooms and in the fields.\n\nUsing my philosophy, I wish to have competent team members that will work on changing the player’s attitude to embrace academic excellence. I will retain all the previous assistants, as they will aid in helping new comers adapt to the new environment. It is also cost effective to retain the previous assistants compared to hiring new ones. The budget that the committee presents to me includes hiring only two assistant coaches for $ 16,000. We need a team with a good public image, which will appeal to donors and supporters. Because of this, I prefer to have all Americans, who just fathered his third child out of wedlock to the one released from jail. The team’s past poor performance has had a negative impact on supporters and much work is required to mould its public image. My philosophy requires everyone involved being committed into molding this image. Recruiting someone released from jail is not a wise decision, even if the person is eligible to play. This is because the public always has a negative perception of anyone, who has been serving a jail sentence. They are not good in terms of the image to be preserved in the company since this will result in negative publicity. On the other hand, someone fathering his third child may evoke feelings of sympathy and empathy from donors and fans. To avoid sponsors from withdrawing their aid of 5000,000 from the program, we must present them with our targets for this season, together with an in depth plan of how we plan to meet these targets. The plan must include new changes made on the team, visions, expenditure, schedules and game programs. I need a team that is ready to cooperate, adhere to rules and schedules, committed and ready to nurture the team’s talent.\n\nIn order to motivate players to excel both in academics and in sports, I must employ the values in my leadership philosophy, which require an understanding of the team members social, psychological and emotional needs. When someone lacks any of these, it is easy for them to be distracted, hence affect their performance. \n\nBuy custom A Personal Leadership Philosophy essay paper cheap\n\nRelated philosophy-essays essays\n\nGet 15%OFF\n\nyour first custom essay order\n\nOrder now\n\nPrices from $12.99/page", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8976625800132751}
+{"content": "Parent Coaching\n\n“Are you connected to your children?  Have you become YOUR parent? Do you catch yourself saying and doing things as a parent that you swore you’d never do?”\n\nWith over 25-years of experience as a child/family therapist, clinical supervisor and director of residential treatment facilities, Shari offers coaching to parents who want to focus on improving their parenting skills.  As a parent coach, Shari will provide six 60-minute phone or virtual calls to talk through parenting challenges you are facing, develop strategies that will work for your children and compassionately hold you accountable to making lasting changes within your family system.  \n\nHow it Works:\n\nStep 1\n\nSchedule free 20-minute initial intake with Shari to determine if parent coaching is a good fit.\n\nStep 2\n\nSign up for six 60-minute parent coaching calls with Shari to develop a plan for success.\n\nStep 3\n\nSchedule three 20-minute calls after the program ends to evaluate progress and stay accountable to goals.\n\nCost of program per person: $800.00 total\n\nGroup Mentoring Sessions with Shari and Jann\n\n“Tired of feeling emotionally bankrupt, stuffing your feelings, allowing your past wounds to dictate your current life, imprisoned by guilt/shame?”\n\nJoin Shari and Jann for six 60-minute group (zoom) sessions, as they break down myths of trauma and dissect what occurs in the brain when in a state of stress or crisis that usually result in maladaptive coping skills, frustration and damaged relationships.  Following each talk, Shari and Jann challenge participants to rearrange their beliefs, thoughts and language to create an emotionally authentic life. This group format allows for support, accountability and call to action!\n\nCost of program per person:  $600.00 \n\n1:1 Coaching with Shari and Jann\n\n“Is it time to get serious about redefining who you are and transforming outdated, ineffective strategies that only make you feel more stuck?”\n\n1:1 virtual coaching sessions are geared toward those who want to go deeper into the patterns of behavior that hinder “real” results.  This structured 6-step process is designed to:\n\n  1. Acknowledge past wounds\n  2. Reframe and redefine those wounds\n  3. Establish a plan for healing\n  4. Develop a self-concept that allows for success\n  5. Create boundaries\n  6.  Institute a language that is life “affirming”  \n\nWhile these six 60-minute sessions necessitate a level of honesty and commitment to “looking within”, they do not replace psychotherapy sessions that may be required. This coaching package includes a yearly planner with on-going, personalized steps to freedom.\n\nCost of program per person:  $850.00", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9628661870956421}
+{"content": "Anatomy, Head and Neck, Nose Paranasal Sinuses\n\nArticle Author:\nZachary Cappello\nArticle Editor:\nArthur Dublin\n10/27/2018 12:31:46 PM\nPubMed Link:\nAnatomy, Head and Neck, Nose Paranasal Sinuses\n\n\nThe nasal cavity is a roughly cylindrical, midline, airway passage that extends from the nasal ala anteriorly to the choana posteriorly. It is divided in the midline by the nasal septum. On each side, it is flanked by the maxillary sinuses, and roofed by the frontal, ethmoid, and sphenoid sinuses, in an anterior to posterior fashion. While seemingly simple, sinonasal anatomy is composed of intricate and subdivided air passages and drainage pathways that connect the sinuses.\n\nStructure and Function\n\nThere are 4 paired sinuses in humans. They are all in line with pseudostratified columnar epithelium.\n\n  • The maxillary sinuses: Largest of the paranasal sinuses, located under the eyes in the maxillary bones.\n  • The frontal sinuses: Located superior to the eyes within the frontal bone\n  • The ethmoid sinuses: Formed from several discrete air cells within the ethmoid bone between the nose and eyed\n  • The sphenoid sinuses: Located within the sphenoid bone\n\nThe function of the paranasal sinuses is debated. However, they are implicated in several roles:\n\n  • Decreasing the relative weight of the skull\n  • Increasing the resonance of the voice\n  • Providing a buffer against facial trauma\n  • Insulating sensitive structures from rapid temperature fluctuations in the nose\n  • Humidifying and heating inspired air\n  • Immunological defense\n\nTo develop a strong understanding of paranasal sinus anatomy, it is also important to understand the anatomical relationships of the sinuses to surrounding structures. The lateral nasal wall contains many structures and recesses that are important for understanding paranasal sinus anatomy.\n\n  • Turbinates: Three to 4 bony shelves covered by erectile mucosa, serve to increase the interior surface area\n  • Meatuses: Three spaces located beneath each turbinate. The superior meatus provides drainage for the sphenoid and posterior ethmoid sinuses. The middle meatus provides drainage for the frontal, anterior ethmoid, and maxillary sinuses. The inferior meatus contains the orifice of the nasolacrimal duct\n  • Uncinate process: A sickle-shaped, thin, bony part of the ethmoid bone, covered by mucoperiosteum, medial to the ethmoid infundibulum and lateral to the middle turbinate\n  • Ethmoid infundibulum: This is a pyramidal space facilitating drainage of the maxillary, anterior ethmoid, and frontal sinuses. The superior attachment of the uncinate process determines the spatial relationship of the frontal sinus drainage (discussed in another section)\n  • Semilunar hiatus: This is a gap that empties the ethmoid infundibulum and is located between the uncinate process and the ethmoid bulla\n  • Osteomeatal complex (OMC): Region referring to the anterior ethmoids containing the ostia of the maxillary, frontal, and ethmoid sinuses. This is located lateral to the middle turbinate. While not a discrete anatomic structure, it is instead a collection of several middle meatus structures including the middle meatus, uncinate process, ethmoid infundibulum, anterior ethmoid cells, and ostia of the anterior ethmoid, maxillary, and frontal sinuses.\n  • Nasal Fontanelles: Area of the lateral nasal wall where no bone exists. The natural ostium of the maxillary sinus is located in the anterior fontanelle.\n\nMaxillary Sinus\n\nThe maxillary sinus is located under the eyes in the maxillary bone. Adjacent structures include the lateral nasal wall, the orbital floor, and the posterior maxillary wall which contains the pterygopalatine fossa. The maxillary sinus is innervated by the infraorbital nerve (CN V2). The maxillary and facial arteries supply the sinus, and the maxillary vein supplies venous drainage. As mentioned already, the maxillary sinus drains into the ethmoid infundibulum. There is typically only one ostium per maxillary sinus; however, cadaver studies have shown 10% to 30% have an accessory ostium. The size of the maxillary sinus at adult stage is approximately 15 mL, making it the largest paranasal sinus.\n\nFrontal Sinus\n\nThe frontal sinus is located superior to the orbit and within the frontal bone. The typical volume at the adult stage is 4 to 7 mL. The frontal sinus drains into the frontal recess via the middle meatus. As noted previously, this drainage can be variable, either medial or lateral to the uncinate, depending on its attachment. The frontal sinus vasculature consists of the supraorbital and supratrochlear arteries and ophthalmic and supraorbital veins. Similarly, it's innervation is provided by the supraorbital and supratrochlear nerves (CNV1). Several anatomical spaces/structures are important to frontal sinus anatomy:\n\n  • Frontal recess: Drainage space between the frontal sinus and semilunar hiatus that is bounded by the posterior wall of the agger nasi cell, lamina papyracea, and the middle turbinate.\n  • Frontal sinus infundibulum: Space that drains into the frontal recess that is located superior to the agger nasi cells\n  • Frontal cells: anterior ethmoid cells that pneumatize the frontal recess. These cells may cause obstruction or persistent sinus disease. They are located posterior and superior to the agger nasi cell, and there are 4 types as classified by Bent and Kuhn:\n  1. Type I: Single cell above the agger nasi cell but below the floor of the frontal sinus\n  2. Type II: Multiple cells above the agger nasi, may extend into the frontal sinus\n  3. Type III: Single large cell that extends supraorbitally through the floor of the frontal sinus, attaches to the anterior table\n  4. Type IV: Single isolated cell that is contained within the frontal sinus\n\nSphenoid Sinus\n\nThe sphenoid sinuses are located centrally and posteriorly within the sphenoid bone. They drain into the sphenoethmoidal recess located within the superior meatus. The sphenopalatine artery supplies the sinus, and venous drainage is via the maxillary vein. Innervation is provided by the sphenopalatine nerve, which is comprised of parasympathetic fibers and CN V2. The typical adult size is 0.5 to 8 mL. Several important structures have a close anatomical relationship to the sphenoid sinus. The carotid artery is located adjacent to the lateral wall of the sinus, and in 25% of patients, it is dehiscent in this area. The optic nerve is also located adjacent to the lateral wall of the sinus and can be dehiscent in up to 5% of individuals.\n\nEthmoid Sinuses\n\n  • There are 3 to 4 cells at birth and develop into 10 to 15 by adulthood for a total volume of 2 to 3 mL. They are located between the eyes. The anterior ethmoids drain into the ethmoid infundibulum, in the middle meatus. The posterior ethmoid sinuses drain into the sphenoethmoidal recess located in the superior meatus. The ethmoid sinuses are supplied by the anterior and posterior ethmoid arteries, respectively. These arteries are branches of the ophthalmic artery, which is a branch off of the internal carotid artery. This is an important anatomical relationship to realize because endovascular embolization of the ethmoid arteries should be avoided when treating epistaxis due to the possibility of retrograde movement of the embolization material into the ICA resulting in possible CVA. Ethmoid sinus venous drainage is by the maxillary and ethmoid veins. The anterior and posterior ethmoid veins provide innervation.\n  • The complex ethmoidal labyrinth can be reduced into a series of lamellae based on embryologic precursors. These lamellae are obliquely oriented and lie parallel to each other.\n  1. The first lamella is the uncinate process.\n  2. The second lamella corresponds to the ethmoid bulla.\n  3. The third lamella is also known as the basal or ground lamella of the middle turbinate. This lamella serves as the division of the anterior and posterior ethmoids. The anterior part inserts vertically into the crista ethmoidalis. The middle portion attaches obliquely into the lamina papyracea. The posterior third attaches to the lamina papyracea as well but in a horizontal fashion.\n  4. The fourth lamella is the superior turbinate.\n  • The agger nasi cell is the most anterior of the anterior ethmoid cells. It is found anterior and superior to the middle turbinate attachment to the lateral wall. The posterior wall of the agger nasi cell forms the anterior wall of the frontal recess.\n  • The ethmoid bulla is the largest of the anterior ethmoid cells that lies above the infundibulum. This structure is important because the anterior ethmoid artery courses over the roof of this cell.\n\n\nDevelopment of the paranasal sinuses is heralded by the appearance of a series of ridges or folds on the lateral nasal wall at approximately the eighth week of gestation, known as the ethmoturbinals. Six to 7 folds emerge initially, but eventually, only 3 to 4 ridges persist through regression and fusion.\n\n  • First ethmoturbinal: rudimentary and incomplete in humans ascending portion forms the agger nasi descending portion forms the uncinate process\n  • Second ethmoturbinal: Forms the middle turbinate\n  • Third ethmoturbinal: Forms the superior turbinate\n  • Fourth and fifth ethmoturbinals: Fuse to form the supreme turbinate\n\nAs development progresses, furrows form between these ethmoturbinals, which leads to the establishment of rudimentary meati and recesses.\n\nThe frontal sinus originates from anterior pneumatization of the frontal recess into the frontal bone. The frontal sinus does not appear until the age of 5 to 6 years old. The sphenoid sinus develops during the third month of gestation. During this time, the nasal mucosa invaginates into the posterior portion of the cartilaginous nasal capsule to form a pouch-like cavity. The wall surrounding this cartilage is ossified in the later months of fetal development. Then, during the second and third year of life, the cartilage is resorbed, and the cavity becomes attached to the body of the sphenoid. By the sixth or seventh year of life, pneumatization of the sphenoid sinus progresses, and by the 12th year, the pneumatization is complete with pneumatization of the anterior clinoids and pterygoid process. The maxillary sinus is the first to develop in utero. The maxillary sinus shows a biphasic growth pattern, with growth at 3 and 7 to 18 years of age. The ethmoid sinuses are comprised of 3 to 4 air cells at birth. And by the time an individual reaches adulthood, they consist of 1 to 15 aerated cells.\n\nBlood Supply and Lymphatics\n\nThe major artery of the maxillary sinus is the internal maxillary artery, a branch of the external carotid artery. The ethmoid and frontal sinuses have a variety of blood supplies, including meningeal vessels for the cribriform plate above the ethmoid sinuses, as well as the posterior wall of the frontal air cells. The sphenoid sinuses may derive blood supply from small branches of the cavernous internal carotid arteries. Rarely, an aneurysm of the internal carotid artery may invaginate into the sphenoid sinus, making endovascular coiling the preferred technique for aneurysm obliteration.\n\n\nThe major nerve running below the frontal sinus is the first division of the fifth cranial nerve. The major nerve of the inferior aspect of the maxillary sinus is the second division of the fifth cranial nerve. This nerve has sensory but no specific motor functions, as opposed to the third division of cranial nerve five, the latter of which has both sensory (primarily skill of the jaw and the teeth) and motor functions (primarily muscles of mastication).\n\n\nThe frontalis muscle runs over the frontal skull and sinus region and is part of the mechanism of facial expression. The levator muscles of the lips are anchored over the maxillary sinuses. The zygomatic projection of the maxilla is part of the anchorage of the masseter muscle, a powerful closure of the jaw.\n\nPhysiologic Variants\n\nNasal anatomy differs significantly among individuals; certain anatomic variations are relatively common. The variations may contribute to mechanical obstruction of the osteomeatal complex leading to rhinosinusitis.\n\nConcha bullosa is defined as aeration of the middle turbinate. This variation can be either unilateral or bilateral. If large, a concha bullosa in the middle turbinate may lead to obstruction of the middle meatus or infundibulum.\n\nThe nasal septal deviation is an asymmetric bowing of the nasal cartilaginous septum. Such a bowing may compress the middle turbinate in a lateral fashion, which may lead to narrowing of the middle meatus. This variation is often congenital, but may also be secondary to nasal trauma.\n\nThe middle turbinate usually curves medially toward the nasal septum. However, when the turbinate curves laterally, the resultant anatomic variant is known as a paradoxical middle turbinate. Such a variant can narrow or obstruct the nasal cavity, middle meatus, or infundibulum.\n\nThe uncinate process is a structure that has multiple variations between individual patients. The superior attachment of the uncinate process has three major variations that help determine the anatomic configuration of the frontal recess and its drainage:\n\n  • An uncinate process that extends laterally to attach to the lamina papyracea or the ethmoid bulla, forming a terminal recess of the infundibulum with the frontal recess opening directly into the middle meatus\n  • An uncinate process that extends medially and attaches to the lateral surface of the middle turbinate, with the frontal recess draining into the infundibulum\n  • An uncinate process that extends medially and superiorly to directly attached to the skull base, with the frontal recess draining into the infundibulum\n  • Eighty percent of the time, the uncinate attaches to the lamina papyracea resulting in frontal sinus drainage medial to the uncinate, while 20% of the time, the uncinate attaches to either the skull base or middle turbinate, resulting in drainage lateral to the uncinate.\n\nHaller cells are ethmoid air cells that extend laterally over the medial aspect of the roof of the maxillary sinus. If large enough, they may cause narrowing of the infundibulum. Onodi cells are lateral and posterior extensions of the posterior ethmoid cells. Horizontal septations around the sphenoid sinus delineate them. Importantly, these cells may surround the optic nerve tract, which can increase the risk of injury to the optic nerve during surgery.\n\nLastly, the height of the ethmoid roof can vary between patients and vary between each side in the same patient. When there is asymmetry of ethmoid roof height in a patient, the risk of intracranial penetration during FESS is higher.\n\nThese are only a few of the anatomic variations seen in sinonasal anatomy. While they represent the most common variations, the importance of having a sound understanding of the 3-dimensional anatomy is paramount to safe and effective endoscopic sinus surgery.\n\nSurgical Considerations\n\nTreatment of inflammatory disease of the paranasal sinuses involves both medical therapy and surgical treatment. There are several general guidelines for chronic sinusitis when considering surgical management:\n\n  • Preserve the mucoperiosteum and try not to leave the exposed bone\n  • Remove bony partitions and any osteitic bone in the area of disease as completely as possible\n  • Extend the dissection one step beyond the extent of disease if possible\n  • Preserve the middle turbinate if possible\n\nClinical Significance\n\nParanasal sinuses are prone to inflammation and infection. If the paranasal sinuses become blocked from secretions or a mass, the drainage of mucus is interrupted, and sinusitis can result. The maxillary sinus may be involved from any process in the teeth or the gums. The frontal and maxillary sinuses may be involved in allergies. Depending on the cause, sinusitis is treated with corticosteroids, decongestant, nasal irrigation, and hydration. Rarely surgical intervention may be required to enhance drainage.\n\nMalignancies of the paranasal sinuses are rare. The majority of cancers occur in the maxillary sinus and are more common in men than women. Maxillary sinus malignancies occur between ages 45 to 70, and the most frequent is a sarcoma. Even though metastases are rare, these malignancies are locally invasive and destructive. Diagnosis in most cases is delayed, and the prognosis is poor.\n\nAcute rhinosinusitis (ARS) and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) are both defined as symptomatic inflammation of the nose and paranasal sinuses. The 2 are distinguished based on the duration of the complaints. Generally speaking, acute rhinosinusitis is widely considered to be an infectious disorder. On the other hand, chronic rhinosinusitis is typically defined as an inflammatory disorder. In ARS, the underlying etiology is typically viral or bacterial, and occasionally fungal. The pathogenesis of ARS involves infection followed by tissue invasion.\n\nThe most widely accepted classification system divides CRS into CRS with and without nasal polyps (CRSwNP and CRSsNP, respectively) based on nasal endoscopy. Originally, it was felt that CRSsNP was a disease process characterized by persistent inflammation that led to incomplete resolution of ARS. CRSwNP, on the other hand, was felt to be a noninfectious disease process with unclear etiology, perhaps related to atopy. Current research has instead revealed that the etiology and pathogenesis of either form of CRS is much more complex.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6162968873977661}
+{"content": "Case 2\nSquare Array with Street\n\nThe second example uses a conventional square array with a street separating the cells. . We wish to generate a collar that is set back from the array elements by the same width as the street - 2 mm. We also want to leave cutouts in the collar for alignment targets and a mask ID.\n\nHere is the information we know about the array and the mask:\n\ninput file: case2.gds\ninput structure: case2\nunits/resolution: mm / .0001 mm \narray on layer: 1\ndata centered on: 0,0\n\nmask bbox: -100,-100,100,100\nmargin:  2 mm\ngap: 2 mm\n\ntarget:  -82,-82,-78,-78\ntarget:   78,-82, 82,-78\ntarget:  -82,78,-78,82\nmask id:  60.0,91.0,90.0,95.0\n\nOutput File\nname:       collar2.gds\nstructure:  collar\nlayer:      6\n\nwe need to generate a collar around this array.\n\nCommand Line\n\n\n\n   case2.gds case2 1 \n\n        -bbox: -100,-100,100,100\n\n\n\n\n\nThe results are a GDSII file that has a collar on layer 6. The user can then merge this data with the array data (and targets/maskid) to produce the final wafer mask.\n\n\nIf you would like to examine the sample files you can contact us and we will send them to you.\n\nview of the collar2 GDSII file\n\nMerging the Array Data and the Collar into a Single File\n\nNow that we have a collar for the mask, the next logical step is to combine the array data and the collar file into a single GDSII file. This can be done using Artwork's GDSFILT program. Since this example is using a command line approach, we provide the command line to do this.\n\n\n\n    input_file  output_file  input_file_top_structure\n\n         -add file1\n\n           -combine output_top_structure  file1_structure\n\n\ngdsfilte.exe                 name of the gdsfilt engine\n\ninput_file                   one of the files to merge\n\noutput_file                  the new gdsii file that will \n                             contain the merged data\n\ninput_file_top_strcture      top level structure of the input file\n\n-unixcmdline                 a special argument (needed only in windows)\n                             that tells the engine we are going to run\n                             from a command line ...\n\n-add file1                   names of file to add\n\n-combine                     indicates we will combine the two files\n                             and not replace any structure data; i.e. if\n                             the files have common named structures they\n                             will be renamed to avoid collisions\n\noutput_top_structure         the name of the top level structure in the\n                             output file.\n\nfile1_top_structure          the name of the top level structure in the\n                             file that will be added to the input file.\n\nIn our example the input file is called array.gds with a top structure name of array. The file to add is called collar.gds with a top level structure called collar. The output file will be called mask.gds with a top level structure called TOP.\n\n\n    case2.gds  mask2.gds  case2\n\n         -add collar2.gds\n\n           -combine TOP  collar\n\nThe results of merging the two files are shown below. The collar data (on layer 6 ) is displayed in red and the array data (on layer 1) is displayed in black.\n\nthe array and the collar are merged.\n\nTo make this example more interesting and complete, we are also going to place an alignment target in three locations (outside the array) as well as a mask id. The alignment target was drawn separately as was the mask ID.\n\nscreenshot of alignment target\n\ntop structure = TOP\n\n  screenshot of the mask ID\n\ntop structure=TOP\n\nWe need to insert the mask_id at coordinates: 78,93 and the alignment target in three locations: -80,-80, -80,80 and 80,-80. This means that we have to reference the align.gds file three times in the comand line. We need to add the -offset argument which controls the placement of each cell in the additive process. (We didn't need the offset command in the first part of the merging example because both files were placed at 0,0) The command line shown below is broken into sections for clarity.\n\nThe GDSFILTE Command Line\n\n\n     case2.gds mask2.gds case2  \n              -add            collar2.gds mask_id.gds align.gds align.gds align.gds \n\n              -combine  TOP   collar         TOP         TOP       TOP       TOP \n\n              -offset   0,0    0,0          78,93     -80,-80    -80,80     80,-80 \n\nThe Complete Mask\n\nThe completed mask includes: the arrayed circuits, the collar, three alignment marks and the mask id. Screenshots are shown below:\n\ncomplete mask (filled polygons)\n\ncomplete mask (outlined polygons)\n\nIf you would like to examine the resulting files here they are for downloading:\n\nalign.gds 2KB GDSII File\n\nmask_id.gds 6KB GDSII File\n\nmask2.gds 15KB GDSII File\n\nProgram Operation Download Revision History Price      \n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8779861330986023}
+{"content": "We forget, or choose to ignore, that for all the hashtag games and selfies and humorous parody accounts, Twitter has a dark hunger for grief that must be regularly satisfied. And so we gather together and ritualistically celebrate the death of a beloved media or entertainment identity. Because Twitter feeds on grief, and not blood, The Chosen One doesn't necessarily have to be deceased, or even aware of what’s going on. It's enough that \"we\" believe they have expired to the afterlife. Yesterday's chosen was celebrated journalist and commentator Mungo MacCallum. Anne Summers, wielding the Twitter Dagger, slit his digital identity from taint to crown, and as DigiMungo bled out into the Twitterverse, she chanted:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9070120453834534}
+{"content": "Choco Valens\n\nFollow Choco Valens\n\nJuly 27, 1989\n\n\nChoco Valens\n\nVote UpLoading...\nMiami, FL\n\nHip-Hop today has become watered down and diluted with gimmicks, further distancing itself from the days of true lyricism and rap skills. However, the artist born Bryan Hernandez, professionally known as Choco Valens, has been perfecting his craft for years in South Florida’s underground rap circuit; And is now poised to showcase his artistry to the world.\n\nChoco was born and raised in South Miami, where he stayed until he turned 13. Soaking in the Hip-Hop atmosphere that surrounded him became one of his favorite things to do. This is what he feels inspired him to become the rap artist he is today. He began to listen to the fun-filled rhyme style of Sir Mix-Alot as a youngster, but he also got into The Fugees, who had a groundbreaking album entitled, The Score. Around this time, Choco also got heavily into Tupac, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Trick Daddy, and he suddenly realized Hip-Hop, and more importantly, rapping, would be his life-long passion.\n\nAs he grew older, he began to take notice of the difference between an M.C. and a mainstream TV rapper. Although there were several commercial artists he appreciated, he opted to take the M.C. route. Writing down ideas and just playing with songwriting, Choco began to collect an impressive amount of “rhyme books,” as he called them.\n\n“I started writing bars at the age of 12 and through all of the bullsh*t, I learned that I had achieved the ability to rhyme better than the average kid, and my passion for Hip-Hop continues to grow daily, so my music speaks for itself,” he states proudly.\n\nIndeed, Choco Valens is in an interesting position. He is legendary, talented, and extremely hungry to prove himself and show his skills off. Fake M.C.’s beware.\n\nSecond EP drops sometime in 2019...\n\nChoco Valens – “Mumble Massacre”", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6309489011764526}
+{"content": "Robo-advisors: what’s behind the virtual financial management?\n\nThose who want to profitably invest their money these days can find numerous online advisors, finance blogs, and YouTube channels that provide necessary background knowledge and in-depth information for a suitable investment strategy. With the robo-advisor in 2013, a new system came onto the market for the first time that would not only give individuals tips with regard to exchange-traded funds, but also take over the entire asset management process according to the user’s wishes. But how exactly does this modern type of financial management work? And which differences are there between the individual providers?\n\nWhat exactly is a robo-advisor?\n\nThe term “robo-advisor” combines robot and advisor to represent a number of companies in the financial technology sector (so-called FinTech firms) that digitize the classic services of financial advisors. These special online platforms are used to help private investors put together a portfolio of investment products to be automatically monitored by algorithms and modified following developments in the financial market. The term “robo-advisor” is used both for the respective provider and the platform.\n\n\nFinTechs are companies that are altering the financial services sector through innovative technology. The term “FinTech” combines the words “financial services” and “technology,” and is also used as a general term for modern technologies in the financial sector.\n\nHow does a robo-advisor work?\n\nPrivate investors enter information on the selected robo-advisor’s website about their current financial situation as well as goals and ideas in regard to investment. The investor’s willingness to take risks plays a big role here. The robo-advisor can only gather the right investment products for the customer’s portfolio once it knows these things exactly.\n\nThe more willing the investor is to take risks and the longer they want to invest their assets, the more securities from high-risk sectors will be added to the client’s portfolio by the robo-advisor. Based on personal details, an individual investment strategy will then be created – as a type of package, made up of various finance products. With many providers, the risk level can also be increased or reduced afterward.\n\nTo put together a suitable investment strategy, a robo-advisor generally uses statistics and key financial figures. These are automatically compared with the investor’s given goals and securities for the portfolio are selected accordingly. According to the style of the robo-advisor (see below), it will not only suggest suitable strategies, but also manage the entire investment process. It decides in which industries and regions of the world to invest, and which bonds or stocks to purchase. The technology behind it varies based on the provider.\n\nThe investment portfolio is based on exchange-traded index funds, also known as ETF (exchange traded funds). These are funds that replicate an index (for example the DAX, MSCI World Index, or Euro Stoxx) – and so are managed passively. The robo-advisor combines these with classic actively managed funds, such as those of the American asset manager Dimensional.  How the ratio of the two different types of funds ends up in the portfolio is calculated independently by the robo-advisor based on algorithms. The goal is create the optimal mix of opportunities and risks.\n\n\nWith active management, investment decisions are left to a professional fund manager. They decide which securities to buy to achieve the highest possible return for the investor. Passively managed investment funds, on the other hand, deal with index funds where the index (e.g. the German stock index DAX) determines the composition of the investment portfolio. The index is simulated by computer control for this purpose.\n\nOccasionally, the robo-advisor will also automatically take over the rebalancing of investments. It’s not uncommon for the portfolio to change, for example, due to fluctuations in the value of individual positions, i.e. funds deviating from the original strategy. Positions whose values have greatly increased over time then have to be sold proportionately. Positions that have lost value, on the other hand, have to be purchased proportionately. In this way, the original risk-return profile is restored according to the desired investment strategy. The robo-advisor brings the portfolio back into the correct balance.\n\nWhat types of robo-advisors are there?\n\nThe algorithmic asset management offers various benefits. Which features individual private investors profit from depends on which type of robo-advisor they use. A distinction is made between full-service, half-service, and self-service systems.\n\nFull-service robo-advisor\n\nThe full-service robo-advisor takes cares of all aspects of the financial investment. It suggests an investment strategy to the investor, takes over the complete asset management, and independently takes care of the rebalancing to restore the original investment structure, if necessary. Serious full-service robo-advisors are generally registered as investment advisors with state securities authorities or federally with the SEC, and are required to adhere to all of the same security laws levied on all registered advisors. This allows the robo-advisor to manage your assets in much the same way as a human advisor would.\n\nHalf-service robo-advisor\n\nAs the name suggests, this robo-advisor offers a limited service. It acts as a broker for its customers, procuring investment products as part of an investment strategy, but as soon as the investment structure has to be adjusted (rebalancing) it requires the approval of the customer. So if you use a half-service robo-advisor, you’re not entirely giving up the management of your investments.\n\nSelf-service robo-advisor\n\nThe self-service robo-advisor can be regarded as a kind of guide. It only gives the investor tips on the topic of financial investment. The investor has to do all of the asset management (opening securities accounts, purchases, sales, rebalancing) on their own.\n\nWho is asset investment via robo-advisor suitable for?\n\nIn principle, a robo-advisor is suitable for anyone who wants to logically invest money for the long-term and needs professional support for their investment decisions. If you want to use virtual asset management, you should have some background knowledge on the topic of funds so that you can better evaluate the investment proposals. Compared to self-administered management, though, investors don’t have to spend as much energy dealing with individual scenarios and the follow-up decisions themselves. A full-service robo-advisor decides for itself what’s best for the investment structure, and automatically carries out rebalancing during the entire investment period.\n\nIf you want to make a profit in the capital market, you should make long-term investments. The same goes for investors that use a robo-advisor and algorithmic investment strategies. For example, if you want to invest your yearly bonus for one year only, then you would be better off considering other alternatives. A robo-advisor is primarily suitable for long-term asset building.\n\nAutomated asset management is suitable, though, for those who tend to make emotional decisions when investing money. In the event of price fluctuations, for example, shares are often sold off too quickly for fear of losses. Computer programs, on the other hand, make decisions on the basis of key figures without any emotions and offer dynamic risk management at the same time to stabilize the investment strategy.\n\nWho are robo-advisors not suitable for?\n\nRobo-advisors shouldn’t be the first choice for investors with short-term investment goals. Even though the portfolio can be terminated at any time, and the invested assets will be released, the risk of a loss of value could also increase, since there’s no longer extra time for it to be compensated. Compared to a robo-advisor, a classic financial advisor can much better meet the needs of investors who want to invest in the short-term, and can develop the optimal investment strategy according to their individual ideas.\n\nSpeculative investors, as well, are not well advised by the virtual asset management. These are people who prefer to invest money in the short-term and at high risk. Of course, the robo-advisor can’t work without any willingness to take risks – after all, the compiled portfolio includes funds that are subject to fluctuations in value. These can’t always be reliably foreseen by algorithms.\n\n\nA robo-advisor is suitable for all private investors who want to invest money in the long-term and have a certain minimum willingness to take risks. But users of the corresponding platforms should still have basic knowledge of the capital market, particularly if they decide on a half-service or self-service robo-advisor.\n\nWhat financial knowledge should an investor have?\n\nYou don’t have to be an expert in financial investment, ETFs, or capital markets to be able to use a robo-advisor. However, you should have a working understanding of how exchange-traded index funds and your own portfolio are put together.\n\nIt’s important to note that ETFs don’t necessarily have to be index funds. Since most ETFs are, though, the terms are usually used synonymously. Index funds are modeled on a certain market index, 1:1 if possible. Take, for example, the popular market index DAX, which contains the 30 largest German stock corporations. To understand the precise value development, the ETF must create an exact image of the DAX – each individual share has to be weighted as it’s found in the DAX. This way, as the DAX develops so does the ETF.\n\nInvesting in ETFs also gives small investors the opportunity to invest in a broad range of markets and operate systematic asset formation. Because index funds are passively managed, the costs as well as the required effort are comparatively low.\n\nHow expensive is investing with a robo-advisor?\n\nDue to its passive management (in the case of most providers), a robo-advisor is considered a comparatively low-cost option for asset management. The overall cost for the investor, however, depends on the range of service (full- or half-service) as well as the respective provider.\n\nSome providers charge a yearly management fee calculated depending on the investor’s fixed assets. Others focus on the average volume per year – the fee is the calculated monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Since the fees vary strongly between providers, a thorough comparison of robo-advisors beforehand is indispensable. You can find a direct cost comparison of the five most popular providers in the US at the end of the article.\n\nHow safe is investing with a robo-advisor?\n\nHow secure investing over an online platform is depends not least on the provider and the technology in use. A reputable robo-advisor will only send customer data via encrypted transmission and will never request a transfer of the desired investment amount to the company account. Instead, a reference account is opened for the customer to securely manage all payment flows. This is an effort by the provider to protect the investor’s assets from unauthorized access.\n\nTo be certain that the provider themselves can’t gain access to the assets, you should choose a robo-advisor that is directly scrutinized by the SEC and so meets the obligations set forth for advisors – which is usually the case with reputable full-service platforms.\n\nSome of the most reputable providers on the American market are being adopted as partners by banks, which protects investors from economic risks and saves the banks themselves the effort of designing their own platform. SigFig Wealth Management, for example, has partnered with Citizens Financial Group, Comerica Bank, and Wells Fargo, among others, to offer their robo-advisor services in collaboration with bank clients. The partner bank remains responsible for the investor’s deposit. This way, even if the robo-advisor should file for insolvency, the investor’s deposit will be unaffected. However, the risk of suffering losses from an investment with a robo-advisor can never be completely excluded. This can be classified as rather low, though, due to broad diversification – depending on the investor’s willingness to take risks.\n\nA comparison of the best robo-advisors\n\nVarious comparison portals (such as RoboAdvisors, which looks at the merits of various robo-advisors), online platforms (such as NerdWallet, which provides customers with tips and tools for effective investing), and financial magazines (such as MoneySense, which reports on the latest developments in financial planning) regularly examine providers of digital asset management. The robo-advisor comparisons show how the offers differ in terms of minimum investment, fees, and portfolio composition. We’ve clearly compiled the most important facts for five of the most popular providers in the USA for you here.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPortfolio composition\n\nIndex funds\n\n\nActive funds\n\nETFs (up to 53 spanning 20 asset classes)\n\n\nETFs (11 asset classes)\n\nETFs (up to 12 asset classes)\n\nMinimum investment\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAnnual fees\n\n0.30% management fee\n\n$20 account service fee\n\n0.04% to 0.12% expense ratio\n\n0.3% discount on account balances over $5 million\n\n0.28% management fee ($900 quarterly cap)\n\n0.03% to 0.40% expense ratio\n\nFree up to $10,000\n\n0.25% account fee from $10,000\n\n0.07% to 0.15% expense ratio\n\n0.25% management fee\n\n0.08% average expense ratio\n\n0.25% to 0.40% management fee\n\n0.09% to 0.17% expense ratio\n\n\nAs negotiated\n\n\n\n\n\nSpecial features\n\n401(k)s and other assets considered\n\nLarge cash allocation\n\nTop mobile app\n\nAutomatic loan qualification for investments from $100,000\n\nOffers retirement planning", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9103546738624573}
+{"content": "Palo Alto Networks commits to using commercially reasonable efforts to make the GlobalProtect Cloud \nservice available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (excluding downtime resulting from any planned outage \nwherein Palo Alto Networks had provided prior notice or any emergency outage making it impracticable \nfor Palo Alto Networks to issue advance notice). Palo Alto Networks commits to achieving uptime \navailability of 99.9%, measured over the calendar month.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9518325924873352}
+{"content": "From Emperor Qin to Pieta: 5 infamous incidents of art vandalism\n\nFrom Emperor Qin to Pieta: 5 infamous incidents of art vandalism\nChinese officials are calling for the “exemplary punishment” of an American student who damaged a priceless 2,200-year-old statue. One of the famous terracotta warriors lost a finger in the incident.\n\nThe statues date back to 200 BC, during the reign of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. Several of them were on display at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The sneaky vandal decided to capture a moment with one of the ancient statues by taking a selfie - along with one of its stone digits, as a keepsake.\n\nMichael Rohana, 24, is accused of having violated the statue during a Christmas party at the venue. The crime was not discovered by museum staff until January 8. Officials with the Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Center said they were “shocked and enraged” that the Franklin Institute failed to report the incident earlier.\n\nRohana was eventually arrested by the FBI’s Art Crime team after they tracked him back to his home in Bear, Delaware. He was charged with “theft of a major artwork from a museum, concealment of major artwork stolen from a museum, and interstate transportation of stolen property,” the Global Times reported. He was released on $15,000 bail.\n\nThere have been several instances of high art vandalism in recent history, featuring even more unusual examples.\n\nOn July 26, 2013, green paint was splashed across the Lincoln Memorial at the National Mall in Washington, DC. Because the vandals struck in the middle of the night, no suspects were brought to justice and the felonious “green thumb” street artists were never found.\n\nPiero Cannata, an unemployed 47-year-old with a history of mental illness, walked into the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence on September 14, 1991 to have a whack at Michelangelo's masterpiece 'David.' The perpetrator began pummelling the statue with a mallet that he snuck in beneath his jacket, breaking off a piece of David’s toe. A local passersby managed to subdue Cannata before he could attack the statue’s “centerpiece.” When asked why he attacked the statue, Cannato explained that \"Nani,\" a 16th-century Venetian painter's model, had instructed him to do so.\n\nA similar incident involved another unemployed man with psychological issues, Laslo Toth, attacking another Michelangelo masterpiece. On May 21, 1972, Toth strolled into St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City to deliver 12 vicious blows to the 'Pietà' with a smuggled hammer. When police questioned him about the assault, he desperately tried to convince the authorities that he was both Michelangelo and Jesus Christ at the same time.\n\nOne of the most bizarre acts of vandalism occurred in January 2012, when Carmen Tisch from Denver, Colorado gave a touch-up to a $40 million expressionist painting by punching, scratching, and then wiping her bare behind on it. Afterwards, she collapsed in an emotional meltdown and urinated on herself in the gallery. She was later taken away by police.\n\nLike this story? Share it with a friend!\n\nFollow news the mainstream media ignores: Like RT’s Facebook", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9022951126098633}
+{"content": "Garden Art Studio\n\nEco Garden Artists Studio by The Garden Escape\n\nAnnette Dampier wanted to develop a Garden Escape where she and her husband could relax, paint and enjoy the spectacular views from their garden.\n\nWhy did you want to develop a Garden Escape?\n\nWe have such fantastic views from our garden that we wanted to develop a space where we could sit and admire them. We also wanted to free up some more room in our home and create an area where I could paint with inspiring surroundings.\n\nLiving sedum roof\n\n\nWhat were the key elements that made The Garden Escape stand out from other providers?\n\nWe were worried that the location of our Garden Escape would be slightly awkward. Our garden is on a hill and we didn’t want a high aspect that would spoil the views. The Garden Escape accepted the challenge and built us the perfect fit. The plants growing on the roof really help it blend in with the surroundings, it looks as if was meant to be there.\n\nWhat are the biggest benefits you’ve noticed from your Garden Escape?\n\nWe’re currently still moving into our new outdoor room but the decking is already being used every day. Once all of the furniture is in place we can’t wait to use our Garden Escape as a place to admire the views and chill out. In the winter it’ll be a warm haven where we can enjoy our garden without getting cold. I’ve decided not to call it my ‘studio’, it takes the pressure off my work, instead it’s an extra room for our home where we can relax and I can paint when I get artistic inspiration.\n\n“Our Garden Escape is the perfect fit. It makes the most of our spectacular views and looks as if it was meant to be there.”\n\n5 Annette Dampier (Garden studio customer)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7346254587173462}
+{"content": "These are loans made for a variety of purposes. They are based on your credit worthiness and are available up to the amount of $20,000.00. Examples of this type of loan are: vacations, cosmetic surgeries, holiday, tuition, home improvements, taxes, debt consolidation, and computer.\n\nPeriod for repayment: Dependent on several factors that include, but not limited to: Amount borrowed, credit history, term requested, and normal underwriting guidelines.\n\nMaximum Annual Percentage Rate (APR): 18%\n\nPayment example: For every $1,000 borrowed, at a 18% interest rate for 12 months, your payment would be $91.68", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5772656202316284}
+{"content": "These brainwaves take a lot of energy to produce and you’ll feel really productive and focused when you’re in this state. Your brain in Beta is actively engaged, aware, and reactive. This is a great state for short-term problem solving or being engaged in exciting activities. It’s not a great state for long-term decision making or really thinking through your actions.\n\nThat’s why it’s so important to find the proper stress relievers to maintain a strong quality of life. The eight stress relievers above — exercise and yoga, meditation/healing prayer, acupuncture, a nutrient-dense diet, cognitive behavioral therapy, spending more time in nature and being social, keeping a journal and using adaptogen herbs and essential oils — can help you maintain a good mood, remain calm and better handle your day-to-day stress.\n\n\nResonant entrainment of oscillating systems is a well-understood principle within the physical sciences. If a tuning fork designed to produce a frequency of 440 Hz is struck (causing it to oscillate) and then brought into the vicinity of another 440 Hz tuning fork, the second tuning fork will begin to oscillate. The first tuning fork is said to have entrained the second or caused it to resonate. The physics of entrainment apply to bio-systems as well. Of interest here are the electromagnetic brain waves. The electrochemical activity of the brain results in the production of electromagnetic wave forms which can be objectively measured with sensitive equipment. Brain waves change frequencies based on neural activity within the brain. Because neural activity is electrochemical, brain function can be modified through the introduction of specific chemicals (drugs), by altering the brain's electromagnetic environment through induction, or through resonant entrainment techniques.\n\nAnother very useful application for the Theta & Delta frequencies is to keep your eyes open while listening to the entrainment recordings. Simply pick a spot on the wall and look beyond it as if you were looking at the view beyond the wall. Keeping your eyes open while in Theta and Delta brainwave states stimulates connections between the visual information processing centers of your brain and the \"dream vision\" centers that normally only function with the eyes closed.\n\n\n\nAll brainwave frequencies are useful and beneficial at certain times – there is no brainwave that is intrinsically better than another. However, by deliberately choosing to attain a particular brainwave state, a corresponding mental state can be brought about at the same time. For example, a working person who has been in an overly alert beta brainwave pattern for many hours can quickly shift their mind and body into a relaxed state by listening to a few minutes of brainwave entrainment music for inducing alpha or theta brainwaves.\n\nNow you are ready to experience Delta with the Theta & Delta Deep Meditation tracks. These two tracks work together the same way the Alpha/Theta recordings do. If you have a full hour, definitely use both of these tracks together, starting with Theta Deep Meditation first. The combination of these two tracks is extremely powerful and will give you maximum benefit to your mind, body and emotions.\nAll of this is entirely understandable, even somewhat predictable. Unfortunately, it quickly becomes counter-productive. Such experiences, while having a certain feeling of solidity to them, are largely the product of our desires and expectations. Did your face get flushed? One look in the mirror confirms it did. Was this caused by the entrainment? No, it was not. It was the result of what was sought after and what was expected or even hoped for.\nYou listen to binaural beats using headphones. In each ear, you receive sound at a slightly different frequency (often accompanied by some relaxing background sounds). If your left ear receives a 300-hertz tone and your right ear receives a 280-hertz tone, your brain will process and absorb a 10-hertz tone. That’s a very low-frequency soundwave—one you can’t actually hear. But you don’t need to hear the sound for your brain to be affected by it.\n... Several studies have looked at the possible effects of binaural beats within the alpha range on cognitive abilities. A significant improvement in cognitive processing, as measured by the Stroop Effect exercise, was found by a BB stimulation of 10.2 Hz frequency (Cruceanu & Rotarescu, 2013).Carter and Russell (1993)exposed 8 to 12 year old boys with learning disabilities to 8-week long 10 and 18 Hz BB stimulation sessions, and they found an improvement in Raven's progressive matrices and in a subtest of auditory sequential memory (Carter & Russell, 1993).McMurray (2006)assessed the effect of 7 and 11 Hz BB on alpha brainwave activity, working memory, and attention in healthy elderly people, who are known for experiencing gradual decrease in physiological alpha activity. The 2 minutes exposure to BB resulted in an altered electrical activity in the brain. ...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.999122679233551}
+{"content": "\n\nTi Kaye Resort & Spa, St Lucia\n\nTi Kaye Resort & Spa is an awarding winning adults-only resort located on the secluded Anse Cochon cove on the renowned island of Saint Lucia. Huddled along the cliff side, the resort overlooks the tranquil ocean which laps the glistening sand on the exquisite beach below. The resort describes itself as 'inspired by nature', with each cottage intentionally built into the picturesque landscape, blending into the beauty of the lush surroundings.\n\nAlthough promoting a very authentic feel; the resort is equipped with modern facilities and features and some unusual quirks, inviting guests to indulge in the purpose built outdoor showers, swim in their personal pool and swing in the double hammock while watching the glowing sunset.\n\n33 rustic cottages line the sloping Cliffside offering a charming elegance in heart of nature. These purpose built cottages overlook stunning views of the azure Caribbean waters meeting the clear skies in the distance. Staying at Ti Kaye ensures you immediately slip into the tranquil and serene atmosphere that flows throughout. Worries will be forgotten and you will quickly lose track of time in St Lucia.\n\nAll cottages and ocean view rooms share aspects such as large balcony, outdoor shower, air conditioning and an iPod docks, ensuring maximum comfort and pleasure during your stay.\n\nA visit to the restaurants at the resort with take you on a delicious culinary journey, with menus especially designed to tantalise taste buds and please everyone. Food is just the first step, the vast selection on the drinks menu will ensure all your dishes are perfectly paired. Ti Kaye is also home to St Lucia's largest wine cellar so you are certainly in for a wonderful treat.\n\nIf you aren't relaxed enough, a trip to the spa with send you into a serene haven. The spa staff ensure they continue with the wonderful St Lucian traditions and use natural products throughout.\n\nTi Kaye is a divine and luxurious place to stay and we highly recommend it for you trip to St Lucia.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9098923206329346}
+{"content": "Turmeric and omega 3s can cure diabetes – but you’ll never hear that from your doctor\n\n(Natural News) Have you ever wondered why diseases like diabetes remain so difficult to treat despite all the incredible advances seen in modern medicine? It’s a common question, but you’ve already missed the point just by asking it. That’s because the solution to diabetes is not found in modern medicine at all. Instead, nature has…\n\n>View original article", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9056493639945984}
+{"content": "Pinus radiata D.Don\n\n\nDistributed on the Pacific coast of California and on two islands off the coast of Mexico, it is threatened by feral goats on the islands and by an introduced pathogen, and competition from other trees in the absence of periodic fires on the mainland\n\nAssociated Names:\n\n\n\nSub-populations exist on the mainland coast of California (3) and on two islands off the coast of Mexico (2–3); only one of these is healthy and regenerating well.\n\nHabitat and Ecology\n\nPinus radiata is confined to promontories and strips of rocky coast as well as two offshore islands; it is rarely found more than 11km from the sea. The cold ocean water moving down the Californian coast substantially influences the local climate, raising humidity, tempering heat from the sun and causing almost daily summer fogs. On a rare clear day in summer temperatures can quickly rise to 40º C, coming down to only 15º C on the next foggy day. On Guadalupe Island, which lies ca. 250km offshore surrounded by deep, cold water, fog is nearly perpetual during the growing season. Rainfall is erratic and fog drip provides most of the moisture to the soil and the trees. On the islands the species does not grow below 300 m and ascends to the summit ridges at 1100 metres above sea-level on Guadalupe Island, but on the mainland it grows from sea level to the base of inland hills and does not ascend higher than 400 metres above sea-level. The island populations form pure stands with some undergrowth of Quercus tomentella (Guadalupe Island) or Juniperus californica (Cedros Island). On the mainland it forms pure stands or mixed stands with Cupressus macrocarpa, Pinus attenuata (both like P. radiata with serotinous cones adapted to fire), Arbutus menziesii, and Quercus agrifolia. In the absence of fire, Pseudotsuga menziesii establishes itself, especially in the southernmost population at Año Nuevo, and would become dominant to the exclusion of P. radiata. In stands with Cupressus macrocarpa there is very little or no undergrowth.\n\nHuman Uses\n\n\nConservation Status\n\nGlobal status\n\nEndangered B2ab(ii,iii)\n\nGlobal rationale\n\nBased on the assessments of the two varieties separately, it is considered that although the large subpopulation on Cedros Island (var. binata) appears stable, the situation on the mainland (var. radiata) is more severe and in total the population is in continuing decline. There are no more than five locations and the population is severely fragmented. With a combined area of occupancy of less than 30km² the species meets B2 for Endangered.\n\nGlobal threats\n\nThreats are (were) logging, feral goats, an introduced pathogen, and competition with other trees in the absence of periodic fires.\n\nConservation Actions\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6857216358184814}
+{"content": "Tuesday, November 7, 2017\n\nKaiping, China: Two Days Exploring Diaolous\n\nThroughout the year (September to June), the American Women's Association plans and offers several trips to Asian destinations. For my first AWA Asian Tour, I traveled to Kaiping, China to spend two days exploring the UNESCO World Heritage Diaolous.\n\nGetting to Kaiping:\n\nWe took a bus from Sheung Wan to Shenzhen Bay border crossing. After passing through Hong Kong and China immigration, we boarded another bus for the long journey (4 hours) to Kaiping. At the Kaiping bus station, we transferred to hired vans for our trip.\n\n\nDiaolous are multi-story residences built by returning wealthy merchants at the turn of the 20th Century that rise high above the traditional low-rise Chinese landscape. They were built to protect the wealthy owners from attacks by bandits. The exterior design of the homes reflect a distinctly western influence while (almost) everything on the inside is traditional Chinese.\n\nWe visited three diaolou clusters (or villages), each one becoming more upscale than the last. The diaolous themselves are all very similar: multi-storied so that multiple family members could live there, each floor basically set up for each family (parents on the main floor, first wife and children on the second floor, etc...), rooftops served as lookouts.\n\nMajianglong Diaolou Cluster: \n\nWe learned about watch towers here - built to protect the village from approaching bandits with holes for guns, pouring hot water or stabbing with large knives. Residents shared the duty of looking out for the village.\n\nOur tour guide, Stanley\n\nWe saw many low rise buildings before actually seeing the first Diaolou. Many of these are still lived in and a couple have been converted into small restaurants.\n\nEach Diaolou that we visited was uniquely different both outside and inside. The wealthier the owner the more levels and more elaborate the architecture.\n\nWe were able to walk through some of the diaolous (some are still owned by the descendants of the original owners). Most of the furniture we saw in this cluster was pretty simple and very typical Chinese.\n\nPictures of owners and descendants filled the walls. It is very hard to tell, but the images below are hand drawn.\n\nThe diaolous in this cluster were separated by bamboo forest which was absolutely stunning to walk through.\n\nMountains and rice fields made a beautiful backdrop to the Majianlong Diaolou cluster.\n\nAccommodations: Country Garden Jade Bay Phoenix Hotel, Kaiping\n\nWe arrived in the night (and I was suffering from major motion sickness after traveling in the van), so to wake up to this view was quite surprising after spending the previous day in very rural areas. This hotel felt straight out of Las Vegas - everything was large, splendid, and over-the-top. The breakfast buffet was typical Chinese spread and the coffee was very good.\n\n*Our original accommodations were changed because the government effectively closed old town Chikan where we were supposed to stay (this is common in China - when the government decides to do an overhaul, the local residents are offered a relocation deal with the opportunity to return when the renovation of the town is compete).\n\nZili Village Diaolou Cluster:\n\nThere was an instant notable difference to the diaolous we had seen at Majianglong. After crossing some wooden bridges and stopping for a quick coffee at a little cafe, we reached the towers.\n\nThe furniture inside was more ornate with grandiose details.\n\nThe rooftop terraces were also grand with large pavilions on the top and plenty of space to enjoy the 360 degree views.\n\nThe village and diaolou properties felt like a park. There were ponds with geese and many places to sit and enjoy the beauty of the countryside.\n\nThere were many locals working on the rice harvest.\n\nJinjangli Diaolou Cluster:\n\nThe entrance to this village felt like we were entering a walled fortress.\n\nAfter browsing a small museum, we walked through the tight alleys of the village to reach the featured diaolou: Ruishilou. At nine-stories, this was the tallest diaolou that we visited.\n\nInside, the furniture was yet another bar above the previous houses. It wasn't flashy, but definitely more substantial.\n\nWe saw windows with glass panes for the first time, although there were still bars on the windows. To open, the glass panes slid left or right like a barn door.\n\nThe top of this tower was very ornamental, but not open like the towers with pavilions. The top floors had more covered common areas with watchtower features on the outside.\n\nWe stopped quickly to view Zhongjianlou and Bianchouzhulou, China's leaning tower of Pisa!\n\nA special treat was having lunch in a diaolou turned into a restaurant, AMO's ---> and it was the best Chinese food I've had. After lunch the owner gave a grand tour. I highly recommend this spot for a meal if you are touring the Diaolous in Kaiping.\n\nOur last stop was to Chikan Old Town, built on a river. This is where we were supposed to have accommodations before the government closed it down.\n\nNormally Chikan would be bustling with markets, but we only saw buildings deserted and barricaded with bamboo scaffolding. Even the pedestrian bridge was closed.\n\nDespite being closed, we were still able to meet some of the locals who still come and set up tables to sell their homemade food. I bought some peanut brittle that was so delicious.\n\nChikan Old Town is so historically picturesque that it has often been the set of many movies. Part of the town was officially turned into Chikan Studio City and it's nickname became Chikan Movie Town.\n\nMy visit to Kaiping was just what I expected: historical, authentic and educational, but most of all fun (well, minus the van sick part). Now that I'm getting the hang of the AWA website, I'm looking forward to signing up for more trips.\n\nHave you ever been to a UNESCO site?\n\n\n  1. This is just amazing! I was sharing the pictures with my husband. I'm so glad to see you taking advantage of all the sights in China.\n\n    1. Thanks Wendy! I'm glad you enjoy the photos too. I just booked my next tour trip for January ;)\n\n\nI love comments!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5512822270393372}
+{"content": "Music Lessons\n\nThere are two levels of music lessons: 1000-level (lower division) and 3000-level (upper division). \n\nLessons are divided into the following categories:\n\n1713:  30-minute lessons, 1 credit\n1715:  50-minute lessons, 2 credits\n3713:  30-minute lessons, 1 or 2 credits\n3715:  50-minute lessons, 3 or 4 credits\n\n*Section numbers, 1 and 2, denote the difference between instrumental and vocal designations.\n\nThe first digit of the course number indicates the level. Incoming students register for 1000-level, e.g., MUS 1713.\n\nStudents audition for the music faculty before moving on to the upper division level (this can happen through a recital or Performance Final).  Students are not allowed to sign up for upper division lessons without Music Department Chair approval. Your teacher will give you more information on the requirements for each level. Transfer students may audition for advanced levels upon enrollment at the College. \n\nVisit the links for Musicorum, Performance Finals, and Recital Information.\n\nOnline Resources\n\nThe Music Department calendar also includes performances by professional musicians and ensembles in the Duluth-Superior community which are approved to fulfill students' recital attendance requirements.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9960216879844666}
+{"content": "All posts by Paul Abrahams\n\nI live in London, UK and have been a professional musician and teacher since 1967.\n\n3 reasons to learn to play jazz piano in new keys\n\n3 reasons to learn to play jazz piano in new keys\n\nHow many of you tend to stick to your favourite keys?\n\nThere are a number of reasons why us keyboard players should learn to play in various keys. It’s the easy option to default to the keys of C, F or G but this can be very limiting, not only for us, but for the musicians that we play with. So here’s the first reason to branch out into keys that you are less familiar with:\n\n  1. Brass players prefer to play in the flat (b) keys such as Bb and Eb. You may be comfortable playing a 12 bar blues in F, but can you do this same in say, Db? Try it, just a basic 3-blues in Db. \n\nStart with the blues scale over a Db7 chord. Here are the notes:\n\nDb, E, Gb, G, Ab, B. \n\nBlues scale in Db\n\nDoes that feel awkward? If so, that’s a good thing as it means you’re learning!\n\n2. The second reason why you need to get used to playing in different keys is that a tune may begin in one key but then move through other keys. A good example is the jazz standard ‘All The Things You Are’. \n\nIf the key signature is Ab major we only remain in the key of Ab for 5 bars.\n\nThe tune then moves through the keys of C major, Eb major and G major and this is only for the first 16 bars.\n\n3. And here’s a third reason why you should push yourself to play in keys less familiar to you. Sticking to the old favourites (C, F and G) engages muscle memory that tempts you to reach for the old licks and tricks that you’ve been relying on. The phrases that you’ve been churning out have become repetitive and your new solo is similar to all the old ones. However, when you move into unfamiliar keys, your brain no longer allows you to do this because your hands are now moving over a series of more alien notes. This is good news because you are now forced into making new choices. Yes, you may well make more mistakes but this risk-taking makes for more creative solos.\n\nLearn more at Learn Jazz Piano Online!\n\nCreative jazz practice\n\nCreative jazz practice\n\nThis is an extract from book 3 of Learn Jazz Piano.\n\nClick here for your link to book 3.\n\nChapter 12: Creative jazz practice\n\n\n\n\nOptional extras\n\n\nOrder of practice   \n\n\nDrills and exercises \n\n\n\n\nFig 85\n\ncreative jazz practice\n\nFig 86 illustrates the sequence in seven keys.\n\nFig 86\ncreative jazz practice\n\nPracticing tunes\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSong: How Deep Is The Ocean\n\nStraight: Julie London\n\nJazz: Ben Webster\n\n\nSong: Secret Love\n\nStraight: Doris Day\n\nJazz: Brad Mehldau\n\n\nJazz Practice\n\nJazz Practice\n\nJazz Practice\n\n\n\n\njazz practice\n\n\njazz practice\n\n\n\njazz practice\n\n\nDrills and exercises\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\njazz practice\n\n\nRead the music\n\n\nLearn a new tune\n\n\nRevisit your old tunes\n\n\nPlaying along to backing tracks\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWorking with jazz singers\n\nWorking with jazz singers\n\nWorking with jazz singers\n\nUnderstandably, most of my jazz piano students want to improvise; their prime aim is to solo creatively. However, my 40 years as a pro keyboard player has taught me that being given the opportunity to solo comes as a bonus. A more realistic expectation for a pianist is that we will spend most of our working lives accompanying soloists and singers, in other words, comping. Therefore, unless a student has no ambition or desire to play with other musicians or jazz singers, comping is an art that has to be learnt.\n\nIn some respects comping is the same whether behind an instrumentalist or a singer. However, in other respects it is totally different. Let’s start with the similarities.\n\nWhen comping, the spotlight is on the soloist, and it is our job as accompanist to both support them and make them sound good. The first assessment that needs to be made is their level of experience. At one end of the spectrum, if the soloist has limited experience, they may require plenty of rhythmic and melodic help. For example, they may need to hear the first beat of every bar. If they are playing or singing a melody, then the melody, or at least its outline, may need to be stated clearly.\n\nIn the two following examples I’m comping bars 1 – 4 of Out Of Nowhere.\n\nIn the first illustration my comp is on beats 1 and 3.\n\nworking with singers\n\nAlthough this provides a clear indication of downbeats, it provides no melodic or rhythmic support to the melody.\n\nThe next illustration meets both these requirements by placing the melody note at the top of chords and tracing its rhythmic pattern.\n\nworking with jazz singers\n\nOf course, one can be far freer and more interactive with the soloist, but this is relative to how much or little support they require.\n\nComping behind a jazz singer\n\nI have to confess that there was a time when I sometimes had issues with the phrase ‘jazz singer.’ This was because I often found myself accompanying singers who were more cabaret than jazz, but performed standards in a ‘jazzy’ fashion simply by dragging the beat. I have since come to work with some wonderful singers that are every bit as skillful as any jazz instrumentalist.\n\nSo this article is not a disguised tirade against singers but rather an indication of how I help learning jazz pianists to work with them.\n\nIn an ideal world the singer possesses a sound knowledge of music, has equal status with other band members and is considered to be a musician whose instrument happens to be the voice.\n\nThe reality is that some vocalists have a minimal grasp of music for practical purposes but are expected to act as the bandleader: stating the keys, tempo and arrangement to band members. This situation often stems from the singer being required to front the band as a focal point.\n\nOver the years I have advised vocalists as to their role and duties within a band situation. Nowadays, because my main focus is working with pianists, I advise my students as follows.\n\nHere are the issues that are certain to come up:\n\nChoice of key\n\nDo not assume that the key in your songbook will be a suitable vocal key. The singer must be able to hit the top note of the song without strain.\n\nI recommend the following process:\n\n  1. Find a section of the song that contains the highest note.\n  1. Test this section with your singer by transposing the section down until the vocalist feels comfortable.\n  1. Double-check this new key by locating the section with the lowest note and ensuring the song is still in a singable range.\n\nMany female singers choose to stay within their lower range when singing jazz, but I always encourage vocalists to explore the upper register. Listen to Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald for inspiration.\n\nStarting the song\n\n            Here are five options.\n\n  1. Count in.\n  1. The pianist plays the starting note (known as the bell note). The singer and band then start simultaneously, without any need for a count-in.\n  1. The pianist provides a broken chord (arpeggio). This should be the dominant 7, possibly containing a raised 5th. If the song is in G major, this augmented chord would be D7(#5).\n  1. The last 4 bars of the A or B section can be played as an intro. This will usually contain a I – VI – II – V turnaround. However, if the song is up-tempo, 8 bars might be preferable.\n  1. Many standards, particularly ballads, begin with a verse or introduction. This is often played out of tempo (colla voce). Your role, therefore, is to follow the singer until the song falls into tempo (or falls apart!) on beat 1 of the chorus. Once again, it should be the singer’s responsibility to ‘bring the band in,’ but the leader or drummer can help out here.\n  • Seek out Tony Bennett’s version of All The Things You Are to hear its verse. Incidentally, if you have any doubts about Bennett’s credentials as a jazz singer, listen to the two albums he made with Bill Evans.\n\nEnding the song\n\nThis is the outro. Whether the song comes to a dead stop or slows down, it is again the singer’s responsibility to convey their intention to the band. To indicate an approaching tag (extended ending), the singer might revolve a finger clockwise.\n\n\nA typical arrangement might be as follows:\n\n  1. Verse – sung.\n  2. Head – sung.\n  3. Solos\n  4. Swap 4s.\n  5. Head – sung.\n\nThe singer may choose to return to the final head at section B. This should be conveyed to the band towards the end of the final solo.\n\nThe singer may also wish to take a solo in the form of a scat vocal. \n\nBack to the head\n\nThe final soloist (particularly the drummer) should hand over to the singer with precision, rather than with a wild flurry of notes (or beats).\n\n\nIn the end it is the combination of preparation and effective communication that makes for a good musical relationship between the pianist and singer. Once this is in place, we have enabled the singer to perform with ease and confidence.\n\n\nTeaching the blues\n\nTeaching the blues\n\n\nSo where do we start? If you’ve read my previous articles or are one of my students, the following message will come as no surprise: no matter how many books you read or the amount of teachers you learn from, nothing will replace two activities: playing with other musicians and listening to the jazz and blues masters. So, onwards!\n\nIn my last article I bypassed the fruitless attempt to define jazz and will do likewise with the blues, but we can still amuse ourselves by googling it. Here’s the first quote I came up with:\n\nMelancholic music of black American folk origin, typically in a twelve-bar sequence.\n\nI’d argue that it’s not necessarily melancholic and we’ll discuss the form later in this article. But I now want to address the subject of this article: teaching the blues.\n\nWhen a potential student asks to be taught to play blues piano I have to admit to a rather grouchy response. “I teach jazz and, for me, blues is a part of jazz and jazz is a part of the blues.” Actually, I’m not convinced that this is strictly true. But for teaching purposes I find it unhelpful to separate them into two distinct compartments. If we have to take a stab at separating them, it could be said that, say, Muddy Waters is in the blues camp. But as soon as we try attaching a ‘jazz only’ label to jazz musicians it becomes nigh impossible to assert that their music has no connection with the blues. There is, perhaps, less of a blues influence in the playing of Bill Evans than, say, Oscar Peterson. It could also be said that some European jazz has evolved through influences other than the blues.\n\nI see my job as preparing students for a variety of blues tunes that they are likely to encounter at a gig. As this is an article rather than a book, I’ll just be focusing on varying blues structures rather than chord choices, scales, licks etc.\n\nBlues structures\n\nA blues sequence can take on a number of guises, varying in time signature, length and chord structure. Here are some examples.\n\nA basic blues\n\nA basic blues contains 12 bars and 3 chords: I, IV and V. These chords are unusual in that they are non-functioning dominant 7s. In other words, rather than pointing to their tonics (1) these dominant 7s stand in their own right.\n\nteaching the blues\n\nThe next example is a more ‘jazz’ version of this sequence, where, at bars 9 and 10, the V and IV chords are replaced with II – V. This is the sequence for Duke Ellington’s C Jam Blues:\n\nteaching the blues\n\nMinor blues\n\nBut a blues isn’t always in a major key. Here’s the sequence for Coltrane’s Mr P.C.\n\n(At bar 9 the chord Ab7 could be replaced with its tritone substitute D7(b5).)\n\nteaching the blues\n\nI should point out that when I describe the above sequences as ‘basic’ I’m referring to the amount of chords rather than suggesting that they are in any way inferior or easier to perform. Take a listen to Coltrane’s version of Mr P.C. as a case in point.\n\nBlues in 6/8\n\nSo far my examples have been in 4/4 time but All Blues by Miles Davis is in 6/8. Here’s the piano accompaniment to his melody:\n\nteaching the blues\n\nOnce again, notice the subtle harmonic twist in bars 9 and 10.\n\nA blues sequence can be in a variety of time signatures, including 3/4, 5/4 and 12/8.\n\nBebop blues\n\nIn C Jam Blues (above) a II – V sequence was introduced in bars 9 and 10. In the 40’s the Bebop players took this to its logical conclusion, giving the sequence a complete makeover. Firstly, chord 1, the dominant 7, was replaced with a straight major chord. This was then followed with a series of descending II – Vs.\n\nHere is one variation of this more complex sequence:\n\nteaching the blues\n\nThis sequence works with many bebop blues sequences. One example is Charlie Parker’s Blues For Alice.\n\n8-bar blues\n\nAll the examples so far have been 12 bar sequences, but this length can vary. Here is an 8-bar blues that would work with Ain’t Nobody’s Business.\n\nteaching the blues\n\nThis is by no means an exhaustive list of blues variations but, hopefully, demonstrates that there is more to the blues than 12 bars and 3 chords.\n\nStop playing jazzy. Start playing jazz!\n\nStop playing jazzy. Start playing jazz!\n\nHere is the third in my series of articles for the website ‘All About Jazz’\n\nI concluded my last article in this series with a piece of advice handed to me by one of my old jazz piano teachers: ‘Don’t try to play jazzy.’ I’d now like to explore this statement and demonstrate how it affects my own teaching.\n\nIn the 70’s I played keyboards in what was known as a ‘jazz rock band’ and people often described my playing style on Hammond organ as ‘jazzy.’ In hindsight I would say that my band had little to do with jazz or that my playing was little more than ‘jazz tinged.’ This is no reflection, good or bad, on the band or my playing. But in retrospect, I now feel that what we were doing had little connection with what I now think of as jazz. In those days I was listening to lots of great organ players like Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff, but I suspect that I was just trying to mimic them rather than striving for something that expressed my own creativity. Of course we all have to start somewhere and, hopefully, their influence gradually rubbed off, leading me away from just making jazzy sounds.\n\nAt this point, the temptation to make a stab at defining jazz is not a subject I wish to pursue, as our historic concept of jazz has now morphed into so many other types of music (which is surely a good thing) that the original meaning of the word has become blurred. I suppose one could list various attributes to a traditional concept of jazz and say that it involves improvisation, it swings (see my take on this in previous article), is often instrumental and usually has a structure and chord sequence.\n\nA jazzy chord\n\nThis brings me to my task of trying to separate playing jazz from just sounding jazzy. When I’m teaching, a student will ask me to show them a lick or chord I’ve just played. If there were a top 10 chart for most requested chord, here is number one:\n\nplaying jazz\n\nThis is the Jimi Hendrix ‘Purple Haze’ chord, it features in Come Together by the Beatles, and you’ll have also heard it in countless funk tunes. And, indeed, it is pretty funky. Now, I have nothing whatever against this chord. My point is this: I believe that the improviser (or composer/songwriter) needs to be aware of how a chord functions rather than simply using it for its own sake. Unless the entire composition or solo is based solely around one chord, just to play it in isolation purely because of its attractive sound can be a meaningless gesture that has no relevance in the bigger picture. Rather, we need to examine how each chord relates to its neighbour. Only then does jazzy become jazz.\n\nSo first of all, what is this chord? Well, it’s a dominant 7 topped with a sharp 9. In most musical instances a dominant 7 has a function: it either leads to or wants to lead to its tonic. But in the two songs mentioned above this is not the case, as in these instances the dominant 7 is acting as a tonic chord. In other words, it’s a non-functioning chord: It can stand in its own right or move to anywhere it chooses. A good example of non-functioning dominant 7 chords occur in a basic 12 bar blues.\n\nHere are bars 1 – 4 of a 12 bar blues comp. (Bar 4 contains the tritone substitute of F7).\n\nplaying jazz\n\nFor soloing, you could take a horizontal approach (one scale played over a group of chords) and use F blues scale.\n\nIf the above illustration is an example of this F7(#9) when doing its duty as a non-functioning dominant 7 (not pointing to its tonic) how does the same chord look when performing its usual duties: i.e. part of a II – V – I sequence?\n\nHere is a II – V – I sequence in Bb major featuring this same chord but now pointing towards its tonic. I’m using basic voicings with shells in the left hand.\n\nplaying jazz\n\nIn this context, playing the F blues scale no longer works. Our solo is now more likely to be vertical (appropriate note choices over each individual chord). And this time the F7(#9) chord could, for example, support F altered scale:\n\n\nIf all this is beginning to get a little technical for some readers, I hope that the above illustrations demonstrate that one chord has different functions in different contexts and cannot simply be used because of its appealing sound in isolation.\n\nA jazzy scale\n\nAnd now for the scale that wins top prize for overuse. When I take on a new student we usually start with a basic 12-bar blues. This is not some test to expose weaknesses but rather an easy and usually relaxed meeting point during which a learning jazz pianist can solo while I provide a bass line. In most cases, however, I’m treated to a stream of six notes known as the blues scale.\n\nplaying jazz\n\nAs with my number 1 ‘jazzy’ chord, I have nothing against this scale other than its constant use. There are blues guitarists (that I won’t name) that have built a career out of endlessly running up and down this scale. This is why I choose to listen to the likes of Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix rather than those six-note wonders.\n\nThis time, rather than identifying chord function, here it’s a case of choosing other options. But I’ll start with an example of where you can use the blues scale to good effect other than in a blues: a minor II – V – I sequence.\n\nplaying jazz\n\nHowever, if you are soloing over, say, four bars of one dominant 7 chord, as in a basic blues, there are plenty more options than just running up and down the blues scale. Here are just two examples:\n\n  • The Lydian Dominant: This derives from the melodic minor scale a perfect 4th Or just sharpen the 4th of the Mixolydian mode.\n\nplaying jazz\n\n  • The diminished scale: When played over a dominant 7 chord, this scale repeats the alternate pattern of half tone, whole tone intervals.\n\nplaying jazz\n\nWhen soloing over these scales, ensure that you emphasise the chord tones (A and Eb) on strong beats in order to bring out the harmony.\n\nJazz, not jazzy.\n\nSo when my old jazz teacher (Howard Riley) said ‘don’t play jazz’ he was steering me away from ready-made sounds and licks, and towards creative exploration. Though tempting to dip into the jazz chocolate box of instant gratification, it is far more rewarding (and musical) to choose material that is relevant and in context, rather than trying to ‘play jazzy.’\n\nI would suggest that soloing is like setting out on an exploration and being surprised by new discoveries. Mark Rylance, an eminent British actor, when asked about his acting technique, said something like this:\n\n“I hate to see productions where the actors seem to know what is going to happen next. I actually prefer the feeling of slight unease and confusion as I receive the line. I can then work out how to respond in a more truthful manner.”\n\nIn other words, rather than mechanically delivering his line, he becomes involved in the process of discovery, just as we do in normal conversation or when we solo. This is what I mean by playing jazz rather than playing jazzy.\n\nSo stop playing jazzy. Start playing jazz!\n\nStop trying to swing\n\nStop trying to swing\n\nStop trying to swing\n\nDave Brubeck tells the story that Miles Davis approached him at the end of a gig and murmured in his ear “You’re the only person in this group that swings.” Had Brubeck replied: “What, exactly, do you mean by swing?” I suspect he would have been given short shrift. But of course both musicians had an implicit understanding of the word without the need for analysis or elucidation.\n\nBut what does the word ‘swing’ mean in the context of jazz? And can it be taught?\n\nTry googling ‘swing’ and you will encounter an array of words and phrases such as groove and feel, which are of little practical use to a learning musician. But can you actually learn such an elusive art? And if not, does that mean that I, as a jazz piano teacher, am unable to teach it?\n\nI used the word ‘elusive’ but there is, in fact, a science to swing. The theory can be pinned down and explained, but whether or not the theory can be translated into practice is another matter.\n\nFor practical purposes swing is about the rhythmic placement of eighth notes (or quavers where I come from). We can then refer to the result as swung eights.\n\nA good place to start is how not to swing.\n\nThe following phrase mainly consists of 8 even eighth notes played over a II-V-I sequence in F major.\n\nStop trying to swing\n\nTo convert this to a dotted rhythm is not the way forward as this leads to a stilted and artificial approximation of swing.\n\nstop trying to swing\n\nA more accurate representation is to introduce eighth note triplets that contain a rest midway.\n\nstop trying to swing\n\nThis triplet feel could be shown as 12/8 as well as 4/4:\n\n\nHowever, the convention is to show the notes as even eights (as shown in the first illustration) based on the assumption that the musician already knows that the piece has a swing feel.\n\nUnfortunately, just to copy this rhythmic pattern will not result in a swing feel. The clue is in the word ‘feel.’ Bill Evans tends to play the eights smoothly; Hampton Hawes pushes them more. But both undoubtedly swing. Monk seems to swing even when he’s playing the melody of a standard. You can find an excellent example of Monk’s unique swing feel on YouTube in his live version of Don’t Blame Me (live in Denmark, 1966). His left hand is mostly playing a strict four to the bar stride, but pay close attention to his right hand phrasing. Although his eighth notes are anything but smooth, Monk never stops swinging.\n\nClearly, when we listen to the masters playing these so-called swung eights, the rhythmic placement seems to vary not just from player to player, but from bar to bar.\n\nOne could say that swing is a superimposition of two time signatures working in tandem: 4/4 and 12/8. And it’s the subtle shifts and use of dynamics that contribute to this swing feel. But we can’t escape the fact that the only real way forward is the combination of listening to the jazz masters and playing with other musicians.\n\nBefore I became involved in jazz I was playing rock music for many years. On occasion, when finding myself playing alongside classically trained musicians, I encountered another example of the difference in rhythmic feel: their idea of where the downbeat occurred differed from mine. I placed mine right on the beat whereas they seemed to place it slightly before. Neither is wrong. Nor does it imply that my downbeats coincide with the click of a metronome. Anyone with experience of programming music with the aid of a computer will know the dangers of quantizing: forcing beats into their precise slots dehumanises the music. In other words the human feel has been removed.\n\nSo how can swing be taught?\n\nFirstly, we imbibe the swing feel by listening and playing with other musicians. Yes, I’ve said this before but I’ll keep repeating it.\n\nSecondly it’s a question of rhythmic consistency. Some of the best sports men and women have been labelled as boring: Pete Sampras, Steve Davis, and, in the UK, even a football team: Chelsea. I would replace the word boring with consistent. And this consistency is achieved through moment-to-moment accuracy.\n\nOver the years, my main self-criticism as a player has been my lack of consistency with regard to rhythmic accuracy. No amount of creativity will mask a lack of precision when placing notes. Until we are ‘locked in’ with the rhythm section, nothing will swing. And we can all instantly recognise whether or not a band is playing ‘in the pocket.’\n\nA practical path to swing\n\nI therefore encourage my students to sometimes think less about being creative and focus more on rhythmic accuracy. Here’s a good way to start:\n\n  1. Play a constant stream of smooth eighth notes.  At first it doesn’t matter which notes you play, as long as they are even. Don’t try to swing.\n  2. Now leave some gaps between your phrases, but still hear and feel the 8s, even though you are not actually playing them. In other words this constant stream of 8s are always there ‘in the ether’ whether you’re actually playing them or not.\n  3. Now try this with a simple II-V-I or turnaround sequence in different keys.\n  4. Finally, try the above with a familiar jazz standard.\n\nLearning to play a constant string of smooth and even eighth notes, over a bass line or ‘locked in’ rhythm section is the first step to achieving a swing feel.\n\nFrom a teaching perspective, another essential part of the equation relates to levels of energy. Many of my students arrive for a lesson after a full-on day at work and are still buzzing with high energy. Some may also be stressed after driving through London traffic or as a result of being packed on to a rush hour tube train. While in this hyper or agitated state their playing is likely to be rushed and uneven and it can sometimes take 30 minutes before they settle down. I’m not suggesting that there is an optimum state that one should aim for in order to swing but, for me, I’m at my best when relaxed but alert. I can only describe this as a physically lower energy in the body.\n\nOver my years as a student of jazz I have been given two pieces of advice that I always try to pass on. The first pearl of wisdom is the title of this piece: stop trying to swing. Put another way, if you make an active effort to swing the result will be stilted and artificial.\n\nThe second piece of advice was “stop trying to sound jazzy.” But that’s another article.\n\nHere’s a link to my online video course.\nAnd here’s a link to my Learn Jazz Piano eBooks.\n\nPlaying without the dots\n\nPlaying without the dots\n\nPlaying without the dots\n\nWhy you should memorise tunes\n\nSheet music is just information, it’s not the music itself. The more you read what’s in front of you the less head room you’ll have for creativity. Playing without the dots opens up your ears!\n\nWhich tunes should  I learn?\n\nThis, of course, is very much up to you. But I’ve chosen the following 12 songs for the following reasons:\n\n  1. They are easy to learn.\n  2. They are popular and likely to come up when playing with other musicians.\n  3. Your list should contain well known standards, at least one in 3/4, a blues, a ballad, a Latin tune in straight time and a song form that follows the Rhythm Changes structure.\n\n12 songs to learn\n\n1)  Autumn Leaves\n\nThi is the first standard I give to my students due to its simple construction.\n\nUsual key: Bb major\nForm: AB = 16 bars\nMap: Very easy to learn as it just flips between II-V-I major and II-V-I relative minor.\n\n2) C Jam Blues\n\nA very simple blues.\n\nUsual key: the clue’s in the title.\nForm: 12 bars\nMap: Can either be played with the 3 basic chords or with an added II-V at bars 9 and 10.\n\n3) I Got Rhythm\n\nThis chord sequence is known as Rhythm Changes and is based on this song by Gershwin\n\nUsual key: Bb.\nForm: AABA = 32 bars.\nMap: The A section is mostly a I-VI-II-V turnaround but with a move to the subdominant (IV) at bar 6. The B section consists of 4 dominant 7s that follow the circle of 5ths.\n\n4) Blue Bossa\n\nThis simple sequence has a Latin feel.\n\nUsual key: C minor\nForm: 16 bars repeated.\nMap: Only 2 keys to learn: it’s mostly in C minor but bars 9-12 flip to Db major.\n\n5) All Of Me\n\nA very well known standard, often sung.\n\nUsual key: C major\nForm: AB = 16+16\nMap: Remains in original key with a foray into the relative minor.\n\n6) Bye Bye Blackbird\n\nA traditional ‘singalong’ but listen to the Keith Jarrett version for inspiration.\n\nUsual key: F major\nForm: AB = 16+16\nMap: A section remains in the original key. B section contains some II-V’s.\n\n7) Fly Me To The Moon\n\nOften sung, popularised by Sinatra\n\nUsual key: C major\nForm: AB = 16+16\nMap: III-VI-II-V-I-IV as in ‘All The Things You Are’ but then moves to the relative minor.\n\n8) Satin Doll\n\nAn Ellington standard. Ramsey Lewis recorded a very accessible version.\n\nUsual key: C major\nForm: AABA = 32 bars.\nMap: kicks off with a pair of ascending II-V’s. B section moves to F major.\n\n9) What Is This Thing Called Love\n\nAnother popular standard with a conventional AABA structure.\n\nUsual key: C major.\nForm: AABA = 32 bars.\nMap: Unusual in that the A section starts with a minor II-V-I in F minor.\nAs usual, the B section moves to a new key, this time Bb major.\n\n10) Yesterdays\n\nA Jerome Kern ballad in a minor key that contains a circle of 5ths\n\nUsual key: D minor.\nForm: AB = 16+16\nMap: After staying in D minor for a while it moves though the circle of 5ths from bar 9 – 12 before returning to the key signature.\n\n11) Beautiful Love\n\nAnother tune in a minor key with an AB structure.\n\nUsual key: D minor.\nForm: AB = 16+16\nMap: Sets out with a II-V-I in D minor then switches to its relative major.\n\n12) Some Day My Prince Will Come\n\nHere’s your opportunity to play in 3 time. This tune is a Bill Evans special.\n\nUsual key: Bb major.\nForm: AB = 16+16\nMap:Stays in the same key but throws in some diminished chords.\n\n\nLearning to play jazz\n\nLearning to play jazz\n\nPlay jazz: practice and theory\n\nHave you ever been asked the question “What do you do?” When I used to reply “I’m a singing coach” the usual annoying response was “Do you know anyone famous?” Now that I teach jazz piano, an equally infuriating reaction is “How can you teach improvisation? I thought you just make stuff up.” However I have to admit that they do have a point. I can’t imagine that fifty years ago jazz players had the same access to teachers, courses or even books on the practical aspects of playing jazz. So how did they learn? Perhaps they did just ‘make stuff up’ but they would have also learned by listening to other musicians. More importantly, their musical progress would have evolved through the act of playing alongside fellow musicians.\n\nNowadays, there is far more access to jazz education, with full-time degree courses, jazz teachers, online tutorials, and books by the cartload. But however much we fill our heads with jazz theory, there is still no substitute for the two activities that jazz musicians have always engaged in: listening and playing together. Understanding tritone substitution and gaining the ability to play\nII-V-I’s in every key will is will get you so far, but until you get out there and play with other musicians your progress will eventually hit a brick wall. This also applies to only ever playing along to backing tracks. These tracks will help you with timing and acquainting yourself with a piece, but they are no substitute for the real thing.\n\nEven if you have a personal teacher playing alongside you, there is still a difference between this relatively safe activity and playing in a room with a group of fellow musicians. Taking this to the next level has to be performing live. Even if you are just playing to the barman one can only benefit from this shift up in gear: this is now a gig rather than a practice section or rehearsal. There is no longer the option to stop half way through if something goes wrong but there’s also the added buzz that only comes from performing rather than rehearsing.\n\nSo, assuming that you are now playing with other musicians and doing the odd gig, is there really any need to learn theory? Let’s break this down.\n\nReading the dots\n\nI’m not one of the lucky ones that can carry dozens of tunes around in my head. However, I played classical music in my younger days and can therefore read music. But is it an essential requirement? For me, I know that this skill has enabled me to work as a pro musician for 40 years but, generally speaking, I’d say that you can get by just by reading the treble clef, in other words, the top line or melody of a tune.\n\nRecognising the chord symbols\n\nThis has to be an essential requirement, for the simple reason that a lead sheet comprises of the top line (melody) plus chord symbols. Some single line players (sax etc) have been known to get away without knowing their chords, but for us piano players it’s our bread and butter. You must work towards recognising chord symbols for all major, minor and dominant seven chords in every key. There is no escape from this requirement.\n\nReading the map\n\nJust seeing each chord individually is not enough. You may have your favourite voicings and know scales that work over each chord, but playing a solo by referring to each chord individually will sound unmusical and disjointed. All songs have a map: chords fall into groups and these groups of chords usually belong to a key centre.\n\nKey centres\n\nMost tunes begin in one key but then move through a number of related keys before eventually returning to the original key (the key signature). The chord chart doesn’t inform you explicitly of these key changes. It is for you to decipher them. The big clue is to be found in the dominant 7 chord, which usually ‘points’ towards its tonic, in other words, the key centre. So, for example, if you see the chord A7, it ‘wants’ to resolve to D major or D minor. Once you have identified a group of chords that all belong to one key centre, you can then play through this passage in a way that makes musical sense. The most common sequence in jazz is II –V – I.\n\nScales and modes\n\nChoose any chord, no matter how complex, and there’s bound to be a scale or mode that can be played over it. The danger here is that just running up and down these scales and modes will produce bad jazz. But, that said, you need to gain some knowledge of these scales and how they relate to chords.\n\nChord tones\n\nThere are certain notes within a chord that identify that chord and need to be targeted. Top of the list is the 3. This is the note that tells us whether a chord is major or minor. Nest in importance comes the 7. The difference, for example, between C7 and C major 7 is whether the note ‘B’ is natural or flattened. These 3s and 7s need to be highlighted in order to illuminate the harmonic line of your solo.\n\n\nIt can always be said that all the above can be learned by just having a good ear. But in the end it’s finding your own balance between studying the theory and just playing the music.\n\n\n\n\n\nFinding the sweet notes\n\nFinding the sweet notes\n\n\nHere’s an extract from chapter 10 of my eBook ‘How To Solo’, where I deal with this essential topic. To purchase the book follow this link.\n\nChapter 10\n\nHere are two tunes that target sweet notes to great effect.\n\nIn  the first eight bars of Victor Young’s Beautiful Love each sweet note occurs on beat 1 and above the chord.\n\n\nThe table below describes the function of each boxed note in relation to its chord.\n\nNote Chord Function\nA Em7(b5) 4\nF A7(#5) #5\nF Dm7 3\nC Gm7 4\nA C7 6\nA Fmaj7 3\n\n\nBlue In Green, credited to Miles Davis but probably composed by Bill Evans, has a cyclical structure that never seems to resolve. I recommend that you first revisit this tune by listening to track 3 of the Miles Davis album: Kind Of Blue.\n\nIn the following example, rather than writing out the complete melody, I’ve illustrated just the target notes, plus a suggested left-hand accompaniment.\n\nblue in green targets+ rootless\n\n  • Table showing sweet notes\nBar Note Chord Function\n1 E Gm6 6\n2 C A7 #9\n3 A Dm7 5\n3 G G7 1\n4 F Cm7 4\n4 D F7 6\n5 E Bbmaj7(b5) b5\n6 C A7 #9\n7 G Dm7 4\n8 C E7 #5\n9 B Am7 9\n10 F Dm7 3\n\n\nThe video for this lesson will be available very soon.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9181526899337769}
+{"content": "News & Publications\n\nMammalian endogenous retroviruses\n\nPosted February 12, 2015 | Publications\n\nMager DL, Stoye JP.  Mammalian endogenous retroviruses.  Microbiology Spectrum 3: MDNA3-0009, 2015.\n\n\n\nOver 40% of mammalian genomes comprise the products of reverse transcription. Among such retrotransposed sequences are those characterized by the presence of long\nterminal repeats (LTRs), including the endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), which are inherited genetic elements closely resembling the proviruses formed following exogenous retrovirus infection. Sequences derived from ERVs make up at least 8 to 10% of the\nhuman and mouse genomes and range from ancient sequences that predate mammalian divergence to elements that are currently still active. In this chapter we describe the discovery, classification and origins of ERVs in mammals and consider cellular mechanisms that have evolved to control their expression. We also discuss the negative effects of ERVs as agents of genetic disease and cancer and review examples of ERV protein domestication to serve host functions, as in placental development. Finally, we address growing evidence\nthat the gene regulatory potential of ERV LTRs has been exploited multiple times during evolution to regulate genes and gene networks. Thus, although recently endogenized retroviral elements are often pathogenic, those that survive the forces of negative selection become neutral components of the host genome or can be harnessed to serve beneficial roles.\n\nPMID: 26104559", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998971819877625}
+{"content": "Leadership Tip\n\nHow to make better decisions faster\n\nDecision-making overload is a common experience among managers. But you can process choices more efficiently and achieve better outcomes by using a checklist.\n\n  1. Write down five goals that will be impacted by the decision. This helps you avoid the rationalisation trap of making up reasons for your choices later.\n  2. Write down at least three realistic alternatives.\n  3. Write down the most important information you are missing.\n  4. Write down the impact your decision will have a year from now.\n  5. Get buy-in from a team of at least two (but no more than six) stakeholders. Hearing different perspectives reduces your bias, but bigger groups have diminishing returns.\n  6. Write down what was decided as well as why and how much the team supports the decision. This increases commitment and helps you measure results.\n  7. Schedule a follow-up in a month or two to make course corrections.\n\nThe above leadership tip...\nwas sent in response to a question from a participant on our 10/10 leadership development and mentoring programme and adapted from A Checklist for Making Faster, Better Decisions by Erik Larson. Whether you're a first time manager or an experienced leader, straightforward, practical advice on best practice is hard to find. Until now. To find out how you, your team or your organisation can benefit, please join us on our next complimentary webinar or contact us.\n\n\n\n\nLearn how to lead effectively\n\n\nRead More\n\nLeadership Articles\n\n10 actions for mastering leadership\n\n\nLeadership Tips\n\nHow to ensure praise overshadows criticism\n\nWhen you get feedback from your line manager or a colleague, it’s tempting to focus on the criticism. After all, that’s where you need to focus if you want to improve. But dwelling on the negative can be debilitating. You also need to make sure you hear... read more\n\nHow to determine if you should confront a colleague\n\nIt can be hard to know what to do if you’re having problems working with a colleague. Should you confront the issue head-on, or is it better to stay quiet? Ask yourself these questions to decide the best way forward: Does your short- or long-... read more\n\nHow to eradicate complacency\n\nThere is no place for complacency in today's business environment. If your team or organisation becomes fat and happy with success, there is a good chance bad times are on the horizon. Complacency or, in other words, comfort with the status quo, can... read more", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5031009912490845}
+{"content": "My approach to determining differential binding in ChIP-Seq data sets\n\nProteins within cells have many roles, one of which is the regulation of genes. The presence of proteins at specific locations on the genome can turn a gene on or off, or change the frequency that it is read. When specific genes are activated the state of the cell can change. This is the process that allows for the formation of the multitude of cells present in the body from a single source, stem cells. While this process is required for healthy development, mistakes caused by mutation can lead to the formation of cancer.\n\nT-Cell Acute Leukemia 1 (TAL1) is a key protein required for blood cell development. It is needed for the formation of healthy red blood cells and platelets. However, if it is present in T-Cells, T-Cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) will develop. Of all T-ALL cases, 65% are caused by the aberrant presence of TAL1. Understanding the novel role of TAL1 in T-Cells is critical for understanding the process of leukemogenesis, i.e. the development of cancer from healthy T-Cells.\n\nThe analysis of one protein’s binding locations in the genome of one cell type is well understood. Identifying how these binding locations differ between cell types is not, which is problematic for understanding how TAL1 can have such different effects. This is because uncovering the differences in TAL1 binding between healthy and cancerous cells requires the comparison of samples from both conditions. Thus, a new methodology must be developed in order to understand the mechanism through which TAL1 drives cancer development. My thesis focused on developing such a method.\n\nMy approach had two key steps. First, all of the TAL1 binding locations from the two conditions were combined into a single unified set. This set of locations represented the region of the genome where TAL1 is most likely to bind. Once the unified location set was created, a unified data matrix (UDM) was generated, which combined the data from the different samples. The UDM condensed the information from the different data sets into a single matrix. Each column in the matrix represented a data set being compared and each row represented a member of the unified set of genomic locations.\n\nWhere the first step generated a uniform representation of the disparate data sets in the form of the UDM, the second step drew biologically relevant information out of the UDM. This was done using Principle Component Analysis (PCA). PCA identifies the most important aspects of variation in a data set, finding patterns in the noise. This enabled the variation in the data to be concentrated into a few dimensions, decreasing the number of columns needed to represent the information. Each new column could be analyzed to determine if the variance observed is caused by biological factors.\n\nMy TAL1 project was comprised of 22 data sets, 10 healthy and 12 cancerous. This resulted in a UDM with 22 columns. Using PCA, 68% of the variance could be represented in 3 columns. The first column of data was found to separate Leukemic data sets from the healthy, enabling the isolation of genomic locations that were important for each condition.\n\nThe final results of the analysis was the identification of 1,408 strictly healthy TAL1 binding locations and 1,291 strictly cancerous binding locations. These locations can be used in the future for the development of novel treatments and detection mechanisms. The identification of these locations also gives us insight into TAL1’s cancerous mechanism.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9594252109527588}
+{"content": "The Blood Moon Rises\n\nDr Kathryn Harriss, Research Associate at SPS, tells us more about tonight's Blood Moon\n\nTonight the longest Lunar Eclipse of the 21st Century will occur being visible for 1 hour and 43 minutes.\n\nAs the moon passes through the shadow cast by the Earth, it is not completely dark, as light from the sun is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere. The shorter wavelengths of light are mostly scattered by the atmosphere (giving us the blue sky), where the longer wavelength is refracted around the Earth. It is this wavelength that is reflected from the Moon, giving us the blood red colour associated with lunar eclipses, and also sunsets and sun rises.\n\nThis will be the longest of this century, as the Moon, Sun and Earth are aligned, the Moon will pass through the shadow’s widest point. Previous and future lunar eclipses, will only pass through part of the Earths shadow as a result of the lunar orbit.\n\nFrom 8:50pm this evening, if it is clear, look to the South East; it is perfectly safe to look at a Lunar eclipse with the naked eye, binoculars or telescopes, unlike a solar eclipse which you should never look at directly. The blood moon will be visible until around 22:13.\n\nBy the time moonrise occurs in the UK, the moon will already be within the Earth’s shadow and so from moon rise onwards, we shall be treated to a spectacular blood red moon.\n\nSimilar to the Earth’s surface during a solar eclipse, during a lunar eclipse the surface temperature of the Moon will drop as it passes into shadow. This can cause lunar rocks to crack, releasing gases and debris which is interesting for researchers around the world.\n\nHere at the School of Physical Sciences, our Astronomy team will be endeavouring to fight the clouds to get some great images of the lunar eclipse using the Beacon Observatory. If successful, the images will be posted on our Facebook page.\n\nIf you are successful in getting any images of the lunar eclipse, please share it on our Twitter page @UniKentSPS.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9948747158050537}
+{"content": "This holds iPython notebooks and lecture slides for the Intro to Data Science Master's course I teach at NYU.\nBranch: master\nClone or download\nPull request Compare This branch is 12 commits ahead, 4 commits behind briandalessandro:master.\nFetching latest commit…\nCannot retrieve the latest commit at this time.\nType Name Latest commit message Commit time\nFailed to load latest commit information.\n\nThis is the repo supporting Intro to Data Science (DS-GA-1001) for the NYU Center for Data Science. For homework assignments, quizzes, exams and course grades, please log in to NYU Classes.\n\nThis repo contains reference iPython notebooks and Labs. It is recommended to fork this repo so that it move to your own Github account. These notebooks are updated on a regular basis, so it is advisable to pull with each use. However, you'll want to work out a system to make sure you don't accidentally overwrite any edits you've made when pulling. One example is to copy each file and add a '_YourName' extention to it, leaving the original untouched.\n\nI will start this year to invite pull requests, but I'll only merge them if you can present and explain the learning value of your changes (i.e., how might your change represent code or methodology that best exemplifies certain core principles of data science or python programming?) For students who successfully get their requests merged, I'll offer extra credit.\n\nThe course syllabus can be found here.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8668373823165894}
+{"content": "Learn how to make Japanese desserts and enjoy a Kaiseki lunch\n\nEnjoy a delicious traditional Japanese meal in the Kaiseki style. This refined cuisine is famous for the way it is beautifully presented. The ingredients are always fresh and seasonal. Then, with an English-speaking guide, you will take a Japanese cooking course to learn how to make Japanese desserts, traditionally served with green tea.\n\nListe des voyages incluant ou proposant cette activité :\n\n* prix à partir de sur une base 2 personnes", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998173117637634}
+{"content": "Damn! Aren’t You Tired of Trying to Overcome Someday? (Why the 60s Failed)\n\n22 02 2019\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\nFirst, let me start by saying one more time that I am grateful for the sacrifices and contributions that those before us have made. It is the main reason we are able to talk and express ourselves freely. In fact, I recall Brother Bobby Hemmit saying in one lecture how because of the Civil Rights Movement, he could go any  occult and metaphysical shop in the south, which could not be achieved had it not been for desegregation.  Now, that being said, let’s use this time and platform to talk real.\n\nSo, every time it is Black History Month, after going through the list of names of people and the contributions they made. Eventually we come to that period in time that leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, the Civil Rights era where we see the same images of people having fire hoses turned against them, dogs attack them and literally folks being beat down for basic rights.  For some strange odd reason (or not) after listing all of the sacrifices and contributions that were made, Black History Month celebrated in most churches and communities around the country always seems to conclude with us all singing (all together…yes I am a bit cynical today) “We Shall Overcome.”\n\nYou might get mad with me but so what. It needs to be said. It always concludes with folks begging to be treated equal.\n\nWhen we folks get it? After all of the contributions, all of the sacrifices, all of the inventions, all of the advancements, etc. If you still have to sing, “We shall overcome…” They are not going to let you OVERCOME.\n\nI mean seriously…am I the only one who can see this? Why are folks so concerned with trying to get other people to accept and respect them? I mean, when you see a bum on the street begging for change, do you respect them as your equal? No. You respect them as a human being but that’s it. If you respect them as your equal, then take them inside of your home with your family them.  If you have commonsense you will not, but this is what folks keep doing every year by asking to be accepted by compromising their ancestral principles.\n\nNow, let’s talk spiritually plain.  The reason folks keep singing this and coming back asking about “What happened in the 1960s?” Is because a type of soul loss occurred. Yeah, folks lost their mind because it was a traumatic era but it has never been recovered because we keep looking at history from a western cultural perspective.\n\nIn western society, the purpose of history is to tell his-story which is simply a list of names, dates and faces.  We read and study history from a western cultural perspective much like we do with Kemetic, Akan, Yoruba, Kongo, etc. history. We don’t study history from our own cultural perspective, which is to invoke it by talking to our Ancestors who lived during that time.\n\nFamily. In the Story of Osar, Hru (Heru, Horus) defeats Set because Djahuti (Tahuti, Tehuti, Thoth) performs a ceremony that allows the deceased Osar (Ancestor) to speak.\n\nThe reason the 60s, 70s and every decade afterward has failed us is because our folks did not invoke their Ancestors and Spirit Guides. If they had invoked their Ancestors and Guides, our spirits of the dead would have reminded them just like Osar reminded the tribunal of the evils that were perpetrated on folks for 400+ years prior to the 1960s.  Instead, folks want to forgive and forget that slavery ever occurred, yet complain about how things are not fair in contemporary times.  If they had invoked the ancestors, the ancestors would have given them dreams of deals being made in secret, etc.\n\nIt is interesting that folks are willing to forgive and forget slavery so easily yet, they can’t even forgive or forget the $20 they lent a family member or friend.\n\nHRU (Heru, Horus)\n\nFamily, we need to change this. If you know how to work with your ancestors and spirit guides, you need to start really communicating with them because if not. These people who are chasing the selfish American dream are going to lead everyone off the cliff.  This is the time we need our ancestors and spirit guides foresight and insight more than ever.  The only way we as Hru can reclaim our birthright is with the help of our Osares.\n\n\n\nWhy You Need Magick in 2019\n\n20 02 2019\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\nIt is 2019, which means according to numerology when we add 2+0+1+9 to get a single number it totals to be 12 or 1+2 , which equals the number 3.  The number 3 is sacred to many messenger spirits like Npu (Anubis, Sebek), Ellegua, Pomba Gira, Exu, Lucero and other Mercury/Hermes energy because it refers to pathways, crossroads, doors, etc.\n\nNow in the Story of Osar, after Set murdered Osar (Asar, Ausar, Osiris), threw the chest containing the body of Osar in the Nile and usurped the throne.  Osar’s loving and devoted wife Oset (Aset, Auset, Isis) cut her hair, put on her mourning clothes and went on a quest to find the body of Osar. Initially she had trouble finding the chest containing the body of Osar because she was considered an outlaw in Set’s kingdom.  So, Ra pitying Oset, sent forth Osar’s and Nebhet’s (Nephthy who at the time was the wife of Set) son Npu, to protect and guided Oset to find the deceased king’s body.\n\nAs you all know, we are living in a strange yet important time in history.  This society is governed by Set who is the personification of our arrogant, violent, animalistic, lustful, selfish, perverted, uncontrollable, egotistical, lower self.   The society is ruled by fear because the country was created out of fear and the only way to keep the fear in check is to glorify the ego.  So, Nebhet who was married to Set at the time of his coup symbolizes how we are all entertained by our five physical senses.\n\nThis is why it is socially acceptable to mimic an athlete, singer, entertainer, etc. then it is to devote yourself to spiritual development. In fact, if you mention to anyone that you are a trying to become a god or goddess. You might have the authorities called on you by your family and/or friends, because you are considered an outlaw like our Mother Oset.\n\nSmall Mock Npu Het (Altar for Npu Spirits)\n\nSo, in these perilous times where people spend $1000 or more to see grown-ass men run up and down a field with a leather ball, but will refuse to spend $20 for a T-shirt that says, “I am a GOD.”  We need a guide and this guide is Npu who will protect and guide us by introducing us to the magick of beliefs.\n\nWe must use magick because the odds are seriously against us and the system is designed for us to struggle and fail. It is very important that you know what your magickal path is and embrace this part of your Maa (truth). In order to escape the various trappings Set has planned because this is going to be the year we make changes.\n\nIf you are new to spiritual development and wondering what a magickal path is, first understand that magick is simply the art of manifesting and removing whatever you want at will. For instance, if you are suffering from an ill-ness you want to remove the ill-ness and manifest perfect health.  A magickal path is a system that will help you to achieve your goals based upon a set of beliefs.\n\nThere are numerous magickal paths that exist and finding which path works best for you can either be discovered through trial and error or experimentation and divination. Keep in mind that your magickal path means that in this lifetime, the magick you use will be easier than it would be if you follow another path. For instance, you might find it easier to do Law of Attraction magick then work deities in the magico-religious path. Or you might find it easier to do folk magick then to work with amulets and talismans. Here’s a listing of some of the more popular paths:\n\nFolk Magick Path\n\nChaos Magick Path\n\nEnochian Magick Path\n\nMagico-religious Path\n\nCandle Magick Path\n\nHerbal Magick Path\n\nTalismanic and Amuletic Magic Path\n\nNecromancy Magick Path\n\nLaw of Attraction/Manifestation Magickal Path\n\nNecromantic Magick\n\n\nThree Powerful Ways to Use the Kemetic Kongo Cross for Spiritual Healing\n\n10 11 2018\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\nWhen the Africans were kidnapped and brought to the Americas, contrary to popular belief, the Africans taken to North America did not lose their culture. What the Africans taken to North America loss was the philosophy and theology behind their cultural practices, which regressed into a superstition.Never Forget\n\n“Superstition” Luisah Teish author of Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals defines as “…a belief or practice whose origin and context has been lost to us and/or is in conflict with the beliefs of the dominating culture”.\n\nSo when I learned that the first Africans brought to the Americas and North America were from the Kongo-Angolan region, and that remnants of their culture survived through slavery such as: 1) the cultural practice of placing images of deceased loved ones in the western direction of the home; 2) the belief that ancestors visit us in our dreams and reincarnate as “old souls” through our children; and. 3) Most African Americans have a common understanding of the crossroad concept, and much more.  I was very excited to learn about the Kongo religion in hopes of learning about my loss heritage.\n\nKongo Cross used for Ventilation during Underground Railroad at First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia.\n\nBut, because the Kongo-Angolan people were the first of the Africans to be brought to the Americas, their region was also the most devastated through slavery, imperialism and later ravaged by various civil wars. Consequently, this meant that most of the Old Kongo cultural beliefs were either lost and/or obsolete.\n\nThankfully, understanding that the Kongo-Angolan people were Bantu speaking people and that the Bantu or Ba-Ntu migrated from Kemet, helped me to understand my ancestral heritage from a more profound perspective. Through one-ton-one correspondence between the Kemetic and Kongo traditions I discovered a cosmogram, which became known as the Maa Aankh.\n\nMaa Aankh with Utchat\n\nThe Maa Aankh cosmogram is based upon the remnants of the Bantu-Kongo spirituality that survived in North America that has been syncretized with Kemetic (Ancient Egyptian) philosophy.  Like most cosmograms or medicine wheels, the Maa Aankh can be interpreted in numerous ways. The general understanding is that our universe is composed of two worlds or two lands and they are: above the imperfect world of the living called TASETT (the Red Lands or the Land of Set/Set-an and Ku Nseke in KiKongo), and below. The perfect world of dead called KAMTA (the Black Lands also known as the Land or Kingdom of Osar/Osiris, hence the Underworld and Ku Mpemba/the Land of White in KiKongo). These two lands are divided by a thin veil called Nyun, but are bridged together through Maa.\n\nSurrounding these two lands are four discs symbolizing the four attributes of Ra (the Life Force) and the four moments of the Sun: Khepe Ra (Sunrise or Kala in KiKongo), Ra (Midday or Tukula in KiKongo), Ra Atum (Sunset or Luvemba in KiKongo) and Amun Ra (Midnight or Musoni in KiKongo).\n\nThe Four Ras also signify:\n\n  • The Evolution of the Soul: Khepera (Sunrise/Birth), Ra (Midday/Life), Ra Atum (Sunset/Death) and Amun Ra (Midnight/Rebirth)\n  • The Four Directions: Khepera (East), Ra (North), Ra Atum (West) and Amun Ra (South)\n  • The Four Seasons: Khepera (Spring), Ra (Summer), Ra Atum (Fall) and Amun Ra (Winter)\n  • The Four Elements: Khepera (Air), Ra (Fire), Ra Atum (Earth), and Amun Ra (Water)\n  • The Four Phases of Life: Khepera (intellectual), Ra (physical), Ra Atum (emotional) and Amun Ra (spiritual)\n  • The Four Stages of Life: Khepera (infancy), Ra (adolescences), Ra Atum (elder-hood) and Amun Ra (ancestors)\n  • The Four Temperaments/Humors: Khepera (Black Bile), Ra (Blood), Ra Atum (Yellow Bile) and Amun Ra (Phlegm)\n  • The Four Sons of Hru (Heru or Horus): Khepera (Tuamatef protects the stomach and guide the dead), Ra (Hapi protects the lungs and navigated the dead), Ra Atum (Qebehsenuf protects the intestines and refreshed the dead) and Amun Ra (Amset protects the liver and was used to revive the corpse of the dead.)\n\nAnd there are other correlations that can be made as well such as the stages of consciousness,  family dynamics, etc. but to mention them all would take us beyond the scope of this post.\n\nThe center of the Maa Aankh represents a culmination of one’s spiritual and physical gifts, one’s physical and spiritual balance, and/or one’s ability to ascend from the Four Ra to an enlightened position in the center.\n\nTherefore, there are numerous ways you can use the Maa Aankh all depending on what feels right to you.  However, below are three powerful ways that I have benefited from the Maa Aankh.\n\nThe Maa Aankh as a Guide for Spiritual Progress\n\n\n\n“Live in the moment” and “Understand your past, so you can determine your future” are all relevant sayings when it comes to contemplating on the moments of the Maa Aankh.  To perform this simple exercise simply think about which moment resonates with you the most and your spiritual spiritual progress. For instance, whenever I begin to see a lot of problems (financial, health, family, career, etc.) occurring in my life. Depending on the severity, I can look on the Maa Aankh and see that I am entering the Ra Moment.  Since the Ra Moment corresponds to the youthfulness or adolescences, which is fully of rashness and folly.  The Ra Moment signifies where most of our problems occur due to social conditionings, peer pressure and the lack of spiritual insight or wisdom, hence the Right Eye of Ra.  Therefore, during this time I am reminded that I need to seek wisdom and spiritual insight or an oracle as signified by the polar opposite to get a full or holistic picture.  (The polar opposite of the Ra Moment is the Amun Ra Moment).\n\n\nThe Maa Aankh as a Crossroad\n\nThe Maa Aankh naturally symbolizes two intersecting points thus making a crossroad where two worlds meet.  From this perspective, the Maa Aankh can be found anywhere because it represents where the known (TASETT) meets the unknown (KAMTA).  For instance, the Maa Aankh can be found where a town meets the forest/woods, the city meets the cemetery or the city meets a park, a beach shore meets the ocean, your home meets the outside of your home, and even psychologically where your subconscious meets your Superconscious.  Therefore, the threshold between these two “lands” is the powerful center, which can be used to say your prayers, to meditate, place offerings such as candles and/or express your gratitude.  Simply draw or trace it on the ground and use it as you feel.\n\nThe Maa Aankh as a Spiritual Guide\n\nHowever, I personally prefer to use the Maa Aankh as a spiritual guide alongside the Story of Osar based upon African tribal history, metaphysics and spiritualism.\n\nTo understand this perspective we need to go back to a time before Kemet was a united kingdom and consisted of warring tribes. From this perspective, the Story of Osar is not a mythological legend consisting of numerous gods and goddesses, but a metaphorical story between two opposing tribal leaders.\n\nAccording to legend, before Kemet was united into one kingdom, it was divided into two regions and governed by two brothers:  Upper Kemet in the southern region was symbolized by the white Hedjet crown and governed by the eldest brother Osar.  While Lower Kemet or the northernmost part of the region, which was symbolized by the red Deshret crown was ruled by the youngest brother Set.\n\nNow, at the time when these two chieftain ruled, the people of Kemet were constantly at war with one another. Until one day Osar dreamt of ways of uniting the two lands into one country, which led him to developing spiritual teachings (or some say a religion).  After applying these teachings, Osar traveled the country teaching all of his countrymen how to live in peace with one another, and the science of agriculture, which he learned from his wife/sister Oset (Isis). Consequently, the teachings of Osar spread like wildfire and in a relatively short time, brothers ceased warring with one another.  Osar later became king and he was loved by everyone for unifying the two lands and bringing peace and prosperity to the region. All were grateful to Osar except for Set, who was so envious of Osar that he plotted and killed the first king of Kemet, then usurped the throne. \n\nEveryone feared Set’s tyrannical rule except for Oset (Aset) who fled and magically conceived Osar’s heir, Hru.  When Hru came of age, he challenged Set for the throne but was unable to defeat his father’s youngest brother. Then, in one critical battle, Set managed to gouge Hru’s eye, thereby forcing the young prince to barely escape with his life.  Hru fled to see his father’s old friend and vizier Djahuti, who repaired the young prince’s left eye perfectly.\n\n\nThe next time Hru engaged in battle with Set, he swiftly and quickly defeated him and forced his uncle to surrender.  Even after being defeated militarily Set, refused to yield and campaigned against Hru by claiming that he was not Osar’s legitimate heir.  As a result, the campaign was so successful that a tribunal was convened to decide who would rule the kingdom, but after hearing the both sides.  The tribunal still could not come to a decision for some favored Hru while others ruled in favor of Set. Finally, Djahuti made it possible for Osar to speak from beyond the grave.  After which Osar verified that Hru was his heir and encouraged the tribunal to rule truthfully because he established a kingdom in the Underworld where he was now the head judge.  Upon hearing Osar’s testimony the tribunal ruled in Hru’s favor and awarded him the white and red Pschent crown.\n\nThere are numerous ways that this story can be interpreted but my understanding of the Story based upon the Maa Aankh is that: 1) Hru defeated Set in battle because he had his spiritual eye repaired, and. 2) Hru reclaimed his inheritance because of his ancestor, Osar.\n\nTherefore, the Maa Aankh can be used as a spiritual guide for working with one’s ancestors and spirits. It indicates that the relationship between the living and the dead should be more like a business partnership, where both the living and the spirits benefit. The Maa Aankh explains the difference between the living and the spirits of the dead by indicating that the living are limited because of the physical laws of time and space. Meaning although we can experience life (eating food, pleasures of friendship, sex, etc.), our physical bodies are a trap that prevent us growing spiritually, because we cannot see beyond the physical. Hence the reason we have so many problems in our life is because we lack insight and wisdom, and must rely solely upon our intellect and what we have previously learned.\n\nOn the flip side, since the spirits of the dead have the ability to see anything and everything because they are not limited by the physical laws of time and space due to not having a physical body.  However, the lack of a physical body prevents them from truly experiencing life and thus spiritually growing.\n\nHowever, by forming an alliance or partnership between the living and the spirit of the dead, the living are able to use the insight and wisdom of the spirit of the dead to improve their life, while the spirit of the dead are able to use the physical body of the living to spiritually evolve.  In other words, neither the living or the spirit of the dead are more superior than the other. Both, the living and the spirit of the dead are on equal footing are suppose to profit the relationship, hence the relationship between Hru and Osar.\n\nBy using the Maa Aankh as a spiritual guide for working with spirits, we can see that many (if not most) of the spirits that give churchgoers the “gift of the Holy Ghost” via speaking-in-tongues, etc. are really trickster spirits taking advantage of peoples’ ignorance. Proof that these are trickster spirits can be seen in the fact that no true wisdom or spiritual power is being offered, which is the reason as soon as people leave Sunday worship they lose their Holy Ghost and return to their ill-behavior ways.  Another sign that trickster spirits are leeching off of uninformed churchgoers is that the physical church is steadily growing while communities they serve are steadily seeking in despair.\n\nAt the same time, benevolent spirits of the dead will only approach the living if they believe that they can profit from the relationship and offer spiritual insight in return. This is the reason everyone does not have a La Madama or Uncle/Nkisi (Bucket) spirit guide. By using the Maa Aankh as a spiritual guide, you are able to set the rule between you and your spirits that your relationship is basically a “quid pro quo” meaning “I give you something and expect to get something in return (because that’s Maa)”. Therefore, every time you pray, meditate or do a ritual, you should make an offering in return.\n\nThe Double Pschent Crown\n\nThe Double White & Red Pschent Crown\n\nWhen you are working with a higher spirits you will sense flashes of insight as if suddenly the “light is coming on”, which symbolizes the white Hedjet crown of Osar.\n\nIt was through working with my ancestors in this manner that I learned that Osar corresponds to the Superconscious or Higher Self and Set to our subconscious or lower self.\n\nSo, these are some of the ways that I have truly benefitted from using the Maa Aankh. Hopefully, these methods can help you in your spiritual road as well.\n\n\nGod’s Purpose is Not to Fix IT for You (The Misconceptions About Salvation)\n\n3 11 2018\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family\n\nIn this day and age, there are a lot of people talking about becoming or being more spiritual but they overlook one of the most quoted biblical scriptures and simplest, yet most difficult practices, which is to “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.”\n\nThe reason most of us overlook this scripture and misinterpret the practice is because we have all been taught that God is a tyrannical deity who stands billions of miles over earth and hurls thunderbolts at the wicked. Sidebar: Yeah, most people still do not believe that they are really worshipping an aspect of the Greek god Zeus but that’s another story.\n\nConsequently, because of our view of God we have been taught that God can fix anything and everything, so we always put God last. That’s right! We have been taught to make every decision and do everything without God, and when things do not go right…\n\nPray and beg God to fix it.\n\nFor instance, spend all of your money on frivolous purchases but when you do not have any money. Pray to God to fix it.\n\nMisuse your body by eating whatever you like, ingesting whatever substances you desire, want,  and abusing your body with lack of physical exercises.  Then, when you are diagnosed with an illness. Pray to God to fix it.\n\nTalk to your love one anyway you want. Disrespect him or her publicly and privately. Cheat behind his or her back. Then, when he or she says, “I love you but I cannot live with you.” Now, it is time to, let the church say, “Pray to God to fix it.”\n\nImage result for zeus\n\nAccording to Greek mythology Zeus is a rapist, a terrible husband, horrible father, murderous son, a deceitful brother, and an egotistical grandson, yet people still don’t understand why America is the way it is.\n\nFamily. If God could fix everything, why doesn’t God fix everything and everyone anyway? Is God bias?  Put aside the childish idea that God has a plan to save everyone by having everyone experience misery. Again, that is the greek god Zeus who deliberately places hardships in peoples’ paths solely for entertainment or to be “saved.” So, first lets understand that it is not God but god (Zeus) that most people worship.\n\nThe Supreme Being or Creator of us all is the creator of everything.  This means that the Creator is not bias, which is the reason the same air that fills our lungs also fills the lungs of our enemies.  The reason the Creator does not save is because it is the Creator who is Perfect and we are striving for perfection. Thus, “saving us” does us a big disservice because it does help us to grow, mature and learn our lesson. Imagine saving a child learning how to walk from falling every time, they would never learn how to get back up after falling.\n\nThis means that the god most people are worshipping is not only hindering them but trying to keep them in an infantile mind state, by saving some and not all.  This of course is a fallacy, because only you can save yourself and this is done by going within instead of seeking god outside of our being.\n\nThe reason we all have made this same grave error (even those of us in the spiritual community) is because we were taught to worship a bias, tyrannical deity outside of our being.  We were never taught that the true Kingdom of God is within and it is our Higher Self. Since we were not taught that the Kingdom of God is within and it is our Higher Self, we ignore all of the gut wrenching impulses that our Higher Self gives us throughout life.\n\nIf we were taught to communicate with our Higher Self properly, then it would have told us that it might not be wise to buy that lava lamp.  It would have told us that s/he is crazy and will fill your life with all sorts of drama. If we knew how to communicate with our Higher Self, we would have heard it telling us “Don’t consume anymore or you are going to be hugging the porcelain bowl later.”\n\nThe scripture should have read “Seek ye first the Kingdom (of God) within” and then proceed, which means talk to your Higher Self and ask is the choice or decision you are about to make regarding your money a wise one.  Ask your Higher Self before consuming and/or ingesting anything if it is right for you.  Ask your Higher Self, will the individual you are attracted to be good for you and then, ask it to guide you through the relationship if so.\n\nRemember our Higher Self is wise, omnipotent and omnipresent, which is the reason our Kemetic ancestors symbolized it as Osar (Osiris).  Our Osar is always near and ready to serve but it will not intercede on our behalf unless called upon to do so or an extreme emergency. Most people call upon their Osar only during an emergency because we have been conditioned to be reactive, but our ancestors achieved greatness by choosing to be proactive.\n\nHere are some simple ways to be proactive in the morning:\n\nUpon waking up in the morning repeat the following declaration (as many times as you like), “Thank you for a peaceful, fun, productive and financially prosperous day.”\n\nThis simple declaration affirms that you are going to have “a peaceful, fun, productive and financially prosperous day.”  You don’t know how it is going to happen but you are affirming that your Osar will make it occur. I must say, I have practiced this and situations that I thought were going to be difficult had mysteriously smoothed themselves out. Note, results will vary based upon an individual’s conditionings, which is the reason when affirmations are not applied correctly they have varying results.  By repeating (or chanting) the declaration prior to getting out of bed causes the command to be more receptive because you are in twilight trance state. Now, if you cannot chant the declaration when you get up, no worries. You can chant it anytime you are doing some menial tasks like taking a shower, washing dishes, doing chores, driving, etc. because these are all times that our Higher Self can speak to us.\n\nAnother way to be proactive is as I stated earlier, talk to your Osar before making a choice or decision. Your Osar will usually answer back quickly but if you are not receiving a quick response it is because your stress and worry about the situation at hand is preventing the answer from coming through clearly. Simply relax, which is usually hard to do when you are in crisis so instead, meditate, take a shower, wash some dishes, do some chores, take a drive, go to sleep, etc. because these are all times that your Osar can speak to you without being interrupted by your lower self or Set.  This is the reason many spiritual disciplines recommend that you do a charitable act so that you can shift your focus off of your lower self or Set, hence the reason Osar is also the Lord of Unity.\n\nIf we were a little more proactive, we would easily find our self being less and less reactive, which means that we would not be so easily swayed by our emotions.\n\n\n\nThe Purpose of Deity Altars\n\n1 11 2018\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\nThere are a lot of people who are beginning to awake to this path and the one question I get all the time from newcomers is “Can we put the altars together?” or “Can we mix our altars with our ancestors and other spirits (deities), etc.?” Before answering this, I have to remind you of the difference between religion and spirituality.\n\nWe must remember that religion is a systematic practice that has been done over the years.  By a group of people in devotion to an entity in order to receive a particular outcome. For instance, many Christians believe that in order for Jesus/God to protect and bless them, they must attend church on a regular basis and strive to live a life absent of sin.\n\nBut, spirituality is a way of life that may or may not consists of a set of practices that focuses on aligning an individual with their Higher Self or Osar to master specific lessons in life. Spirituality is not about worshipping an entity but becoming the entity. To comprehend this perspective, it must be understood that we are all born with specific temperaments, talents, behaviors, etc., which most will can assign to a specific zodiac.  For instance, I was born under the Pisces zodiac sign and I exhibit most (if not all) of the Pisces traits of a man such as being trustworthy, loyal, sensual, psychic, attracted to the occult, etc but I also have some of the negative traits such as being smug and sarcastic, etc.\n\nNow these are all traits that have helped me to survive but there are 11 other zodiac signs, which means that I cannot behave like a Piscean man all the time.  If I am smug to my wife, she will become highly irritated and I might find myself sleeping on the couch. If I am smug or sarcastic to my daughter, she might misinterpret my behavior and indiscriminately imitate it or think that men are supposed to act this way. So, what I have to do is learn how to transcend my zodiac. Said another way, overcome my natal personality, ego-self or Set, which is a bulk of what spirituality is about.  There are numerous ways that this can be accomplished but one of the ways is through erecting altars.\n\nSo, when an altar is built by those who are on the religious path, they will recommend that you do not combine or mix the energies because they are following the rules of their religion. Remember, religion is focused on worshipping a particular entity.  The reason these rules must be followed to the letter is usually because this is how the founders of that religion established that religion. For instance, in some denominations of Christianity, devotees are not supposed to have any images of any other divinity. Most Christian adherents will state that this is because it is considered idolatry.  The occult truth is that this is one of the rules that devotees of the entity most Christians refer to as “God” must follow to receive God’s blessings.\n\nMock altar to Npu (Anubis is the Kemeitc Guardian of the dead and roads.\n\nNow, if you are setting up an altar from a spiritualist perspective.  You are free to combine and mix the energies because the entities on the altar symbolize a different aspect of your Higher Self. Remember, the Higher Self is another term for what the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung called the collective unconsciousness, which is compose of numerous archetypes. Therefore, when you choose to erect an altar to a particular entity, what you are really doing is choosing to become that entity. For instance, if a man wants to muster up some courage to talk to his boss about being considered for a promotion or raise. Then, he might erect an altar space for Hru (Horus). He would purchase red and white items and also Hru totems such as horses, bulls, rams, etc., He may meditate on these items or simple arrange them in a way that he sees fit until one day Hru seeing his commitment and devotion decide to send the man a sign synchronistically (I know I just made up that word).  Such as one of the man’s ancestors visits with him in his dreams or he happens to watching television and suddenly have an epiphany, etc. There are numerous ways that the spirits can interact with us but they are all meant to help us to become them so that we can achieve a goal, not worship them.\n\nTherefore, if the same guy decides that he wants to work with another energy like Oset, but does not have the space, or work with Npu he can add items for Oset or Npu on the same altar space. The idea that the Hru and Oset are going to get upset because they are sharing space is basically your lower-self talking because the subconscious is extremely logical and structured.\n\nNow eventually when you have the space you would want to build a separate altar space for them but this is only because your relationship with the energy/deity will grow and will require it. Again, it is not necessary because you are not worshipping the entity. You are worshipping yourself-to be exact your Higher Self. You are invoking the entity and trying to become them in your walking life to accomplish specific tasks.\n\nIt is important you always keep this in mind the spiritual purpose of working with deities so that you do not lose sight and fall into the religious trap and find yourself worshipping an entity outside of yourself.\n\n\nAre You Cursed?\n\n15 10 2018\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\nYou know there are a lot of people running around the world thinking that they are cursed.  The truth of the matter is that most people who claim to be cursed are not cursed. They are simply crossed.\n\nRelated image\n\nCrossed is when an individual is having difficulty in life due to the wrong beliefs, thoughts, ideas and actions. For instance, when you hear an individual say that they cannot do something based upon their beliefs even when it is vital to their wellbeing. This individual is usually crossed, which can be caused by another or by oneself in which case it is called self-crossed.\n\nCursed or hexed when someone has deliberately placed obstacles in your path to prevent you from succeeding. Usually, most curses require a lot of time and energy. In fact, so much time and energy is wasted doing a curse that a lot of blessings are loss during the process, which is the reason most people who know how to cast a curse do not really employ it unless it is the last resort. In fact, there are not that many people in the world who can cast a successful curse because they do not have all the resources necessary to make it happen. Again, it requires a lot of time and energy, which most people simply do not have.\n\nNow, the reason most people think they are cursed and not crossed is because they do not understand how their mind works. Most people do not understand that their subconscious is impressionable and unquestioning. Therefore, when a person of authority says “You have been cursed.” The idea or suggestion of being cursed wanders around in the so-called victim’s subconscious mind until eventually.  It enters into the victim’s awareness and convinces them they are cursed or that something is wrong in their life due to the deliberate efforts of another.\n\nBut, as I said, it was not a curse. It was a suggestion that has crossed the individual. People can become crossed in a number of ways. Most of us are familiar with the crossed conditions that were placed by our parents, teachers, ministers friends and others within are community but we are not familiar with the other crosses that are laid.\n\nFor instance, one of the most common ways for a person to be crossed is verbally. Most of us are familiar with negative and offensive talk from others but what slips under our radar is the negative self-talk we tell ourselves. When you find yourself saying, “I can’t do it” or doubting yourself, these are all signs of you crossing yourself. Below is a simple remedy on how to overcome simple crossed conditions.\n\nAnother common way a person can be crossed is through watching television. I will not spend a lot of time on this because most of us are aware of it but, anyone who has ever healed their body knows that in order to obtain perfect healing.  They must turn off the television, ignore medical advertisements, and focus solely on healing and not on illness. You have to actually become obsessed with healing and totally ignore anything that is contrary to it because this is how you protect your spirit.\n\nAn often ignored way of how people are crossed is through reading literature. To show you how powerful suggestion works, for the longest time the Hamitic curse was pretty prevalent within the African American community. This alleged curse was used by racist southern whites to justify slavery and the ill treatment of African descendants.  Today, a lot of misinformed preachers still use this silly myth to explain why African descendants are discriminated against and must experience racism.\n\nSupposedly the curse goes that Noah had become drunk and his son Ham laughed at his drunkenness. In a fit of rage, Noah cursed Ham for mocking him.\n\nI have learned that there are several ways to remove a crossed condition.  One of the easiest ways to remove a crossed condition that was created through wrong beliefs is by gathering new information and using it to replace the old beliefs. For instance, according to the biblical story, Noah cursed Ham’s son Canaan, not Ham himself. Thus, only one of Ham’s sons were cursed, not all four of them.\n\nWho were the other sons of Ham? They were Cush, Mizraim and Put or more specifically Kush (the Ancient Nubia), Mizraim (the Kemetians/Ancient Egyptians) and Punt (Ancient Eritrea, Ancient Somalia, Ancient Djibouti and Ancient Ethiopia).\n\nThis means that unless you consider yourself to be a follower of the Canaan way of life, the curse wouldn’t have affected you. The other thing which those who use the bible for conjure are aware of is that unless God authorizes a curse it is impotent, meaning Noah had no authority or power to curse anyone.\n\nOnce you gather up the information, to destroy the crossed condition simply say with your hand over your chest, “That BS!” By making a gesture while speaking a proclamation, you shock your subconscious and force it remember the new information.\n\nSince we cannot monitor peoples’ words and we cannot always stop them from speaking.  You can use this same proclamation and gesture when someone issues a negative suggestion. For instance, someone says “You would look better with…” Tell your spirit, “That BS!”\n\nThe reason for telling your Spirit that it is BS is because as you can imagine.  We all are crossed to some extent and most of these crossed conditionings makes us doubt our True Spirit or True Self.\n\nThis is where most of us get hung up on when it comes to doing anything spiritually. We fail to trust our own intuition.  We end up asking ourselves are we doing something right and so on, which further crosses ourselves.  When we get this crossed up, we end up trying to doing things based upon other’s opinions and this is how we sell our soul.\n\nWhat we have to remember is that what is right, is what our Higher Self makes right because it is the only thing that is real. The physical realm is an allusion, which is the reason it is symbolized as a red desert full of mirages controlled by Set.  This means it is silly to look for validation by others especially when their opinion is not real.  The only reason most so-called curses and crossed conditions exist is because whatever we accept, agree and believe, our makes it manifest.\n\nThe time has come for us to start accepting, agreeing and believing in our Higher Self or Osar, which is the ultimate way to overcome any crossed conditioning.\n\n\nOur Spirituality is Our Technology\n\n10 09 2018\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family\n\nNow that The Black Panther is on Netflix, I have had a chance to watch it multiple times similar to watching Coming to America. Like most stories that are read (or movies that are watched) numerous times I got new insights about it. I am not going to go into all of them now because that is not the purpose of this post, but four of them that come to mind are: 1) that most people forget that the original Black Panther story was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, not Ryan Coogler who directed the film (watch the Black Panther cartoon).  This confirms our suspicion that our enemies study us and degrade our movement for entertainment purpose.  This is why Xavier of the X-Men and Magneto were modeled after Martin L. King Jr. and Malcolm X (el Hajj Malik el-Shabazz) and other parallels can be found in other stories. 2) Lee and Kirby understood the strained relationship that existed between Africans born on the continent and the Africans scattered throughout the Diaspora (e.g. Nationalism versus Pan-Africanism, traditionalists versus reformists, etc.) that continues to exist today. 3) Lee and Kirby understood that the reason the vast disparity exists throughout the world and what would level the playing field is technology, and finally, which is the focus of this post. 4) What outsiders call magic or voodoo is what we call technology.\n\n“It’s not magic. It’s technology”\nCourtesy of Marvel’s Black Panther\n\nDo you know in countries where spirituality is highly respected and encouraged, “magic(k)” is a part of daily life? Imagine going to Cuba and being greeted by the orisha Ellegua or visiting Vietnam and being greeted by Thánh Gióng. The thing is that other cultures speak with their ancestors and spirits, and the only ones who criticize them for doing so are those in western religions, which is why most who know this ignore and fight westernization.\n\nIn fact, quiet as kept, part of the reason the Japanese became an industrial super power after World War II was, because they embraced their Kami (the spirits in the Shinto religion) and made them the center of their culture. In other words, the Japanese relinquished western spirituality and embraced their own.\n\nLet’s put it in perspective and make it plain. This is our (spiritual) technology. It is communal, holistic and it is based upon respect for all life on the earth.\n\nThis Christianity, Islam and Judaism (below a Christian and Muslim fighting) is not our technology and this is the reason all it has done is created nothing but strife. This is because Christianity, Islam and Judaism is simply a culmination of religious beliefs that have historically been used (primarily by men) to persecute and suppress all people of color, dominate women all over the world and rob indigenous nations of their natural resources to feed a wicked few’s egotistical appetite.  It should be noted that these three western religions have been warring against each since their conception, yet these religions are about peace.  Another interesting fact about these religions is that they profess that their god is so powerful yet they always have to defend him because they are full of fundamentalism.\n\nIt should now become clear that the reason our traditions are demonized when other cultures have similar practices is because “they” want us to remain powerless.\n\nUnderstand. Our technology is our spirituality which, focuses on using our Higher Self or BA. This is what traditional African spirituality is all about and part of it includes making use of the pun of language. This is the reason we can understand the Kemetic lore and language so quickly, and use it for spiritual empowerment after committing it to memory without ever traveling to Egypt.\n\nEveryone knows that our (spiritual) technology is our greatest source of power except for us.  This is the reason the powers that be continue to demonize it and discourage us from embracing it.\n\nDocumentary Bling featuring Tego Calderon, Paul Wall and Raekwon\n\nI remember once I realized and understood this, I would listen to certain artists and their music with a different understanding. For instance, while living in Florida I learned a little bit of Spanish and one of my favorite Spanish speaking artists is the Puerto Rican rapper/reggaeton artists Tego Calderon. For the record I heard of Tego years before he started doing reggaeton and acting in the Fast & Furious franchise because he was featured on Cypress Hill’s Latin Thugs. Then, I saw him in a documentary called Bling with Wu-Tang’s Raekwon and Paul Wall talking about blood diamonds, where after witnessing a group of Africans praying to Jesus to deliver them from the blood diamond conflict. He says (paraphrase)  “I am glad that my God looks like Me.” That was the most powerful statement I had ever heard any rapper say.  That’s when I started listening to his music and I heard a song that he featured on one of his albums, which included the spiritualist song Buena Noches (Good Night).  The term Buena Noches is metaphorical language for speaking to the spirits who dwell in the dark (unseen/invisible) realm (KAMTA) and asking for their blessings.  Again. This is using our technology instead of someone else’s for our empowerment.\n\nMaa Aankh with Utchat\n\nThe last time a rapper used this type of language for our spiritual empowerment was X-Clan’s Professor X the Overseer, who weaved Kemetic philosophy and Yoruba lore all throughout his lyrics.\n\nIt should be understood that Jewish people have accepted that because of their culture, they are and forever will be considered a minority in the world.  However, because of the Kabbalah, which they teach to each other is their (spiritual) technology, that stress the importance of releasing their latent and infinite potential by breaking their ego. They are able to level to playing field and have no need to be intimidated, which is the reason they refuse to conform and continue to practice their traditions.\n\nWe should adopt this same attitude. We must adopt this attitude in order to create a better life for our loved ones. It is the only way we can change this reality we are in.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5780561566352844}
+{"content": "Urrent controversy about capital punishment in Texas\n\nsummarize and analyze all positions fairly.\n\nAdded on 13.02.2015 00:40\nYour purpose in this 5i??7 page essay is to map out the various positions within your chosen controversy, stating clearly what those positions are and then highlighting the relationships among them. Do noti??no way, no howi??present a one-sided view, as if those who argue certain positions doni??t know what theyi??re talking about. If this is really a controversy, there are several legitimate positions possible, and your job is to articulate each positioni??s most compelling arguments. One way to avoid bias in this paper is to give each i??sidei?? an equal opportunity to present its position from its own perspective. Be sure to attribute statements to their original speakers or organizations: Use phrases such as i??According toi??i?? and i??As stated byi??i?? Also, use verbs that indicate that someone has stated a particular position, such as: i??argues,i?? i??advocates,i?? i??asserts,i?? and i??contends.i?? Such verbs will indicate that the argument you are presenting is not necessarily your own. Your audience for this essay will be concerned and interested but not particularly informed citizens who are looking to you to provide an unbiased lay of the land.\nbe 5i??7 pages long, typed, double-spaced; have 1-inch margins, and name, class, and date at the top left-hand corner of the first page with title centered two lines below the date\ni?? strategically and effectively incorporate at least three sources, at least one of which are print sources\ni?? summarize and analyze all positions fairly, without advocating or slanting\ni?? document all sources accurately (in text and on Works Cited page) according to MLA guidelines\ni?? cite at least three sources, one from print venues, such as a newspaper or magazine", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9525392651557922}
+{"content": "Conference Nucleic Acids, Immunity and Genome Defence\n\n4. 9. - 6. 9. 2018, 12:00 - 13:00\nBrno, Czech Republic\nEugen V. Koonin\n\nThis is the 3rd conference in a series of three on the same theme of the interaction of nucleic acids with innate immunity and newly genome defence. The aim of the conference series is to bring together researchers in the fields of immunology, genome defence, innate immune nucleic acid sensing and enzymatic modification of both DNA and RNA.\n\nThere will also be a medical perspective, discussing how the lack of certain modifications leading to aberrant innate immune recognition of nucleic acids results in disease.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.998902440071106}
+{"content": "Adorable Sun Bear Cub Plays During Public Debut at Chester Zoo\n\nA sun bear cub made a playful first appearance at a zoo in England. The 12-week-old female cub doesn't have a name yet, but she has already made history. She's the first sun bear to be born in the U.K.  The animals are native to Southeast Asia and are considered the world's smallest bears. The species is vulnerable to extinction. Her parents were both rescued from poachers in Cambodia.'s Mara Montalbano ( has more.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9216822385787964}
+{"content": "The number of people paying into personal pensions has dropped sharply in the wake of economic turbulence, official figures suggest today.\n\nTotal contributions dropped by £2 billion from £20.9 billion in 2007/08 to £18.7 billion in 2009/10.\n\nA report on pension trends by the Office for National Statistics suggests the drop in the number of people contributing to personal and stakeholder pensions was due to financial pressures during the recession.\n\nSimilarly, the number of people who paid into personal and stakeholder pensions decreased from 7.6 million in 2007/08 to 6.4 million in 2008/09, because many people who had been making small contributions stopped doing so as their income shrank.\n\nHowever, total contributions to private (non-state) pensions rose to £85.6 billion in 2009 from £83.2 billion the previous year, fuelled by a recovery in employer contributions during that time.\n\nThis summer, insurer Scottish Widows warned that only half of those aged between 30 and the state pension age were saving enough for retirement, and that one in five were failing to save anything at all.\n\nLast week, a government study showed that only 15% of young workers were paying into a pension scheme at work, compared to 58% of the 45-54 age group.\n\nPensions minister Steve Webb says there is a need to \"inspire a culture of saving\" as an estimated seven million people are failing to put aside enough for retirement.\n\nNext year employers will be obliged to automatically enrol staff into a workplace scheme.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7936491966247559}
+{"content": "The body of each child is protected by their immune system. It is in our power to strengthen this system even more, taking into account the characteristics of a child’s immune system. With support from vaccines given as a child, the body is able to fend off pathogens and protect itself independently in the future.\n\n\nWhy is vaccination started early?\n\nVaccination of children is started early, because some pathogens attack and cause particularly severe forms of illness in children. Although, in most cases children receive antibodies to pathogens from their mothers, those antibodies disappear in time and young bodies need support. For example, in the case of pertussis, early vaccination is necessary due to anatomical characteristics as well – a child’s respiratory tract is narrower and therefore children have a higher risk of death due to pertussis (if possible, add a reference to a scientific source).\n\n\nAbout 93% of children in Estonia are vaccinated. Due to this high percentage, those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons are also protected.\n\n\nVaccines have been tested\n\nAll vaccines used in Estonia have undergone long-term and multi-stage clinical trials and their affects are monitored daily by the Agency of Medicines and various international organizations such as World Health Organization and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control Various research institutions also regularly organise medical studies.\n\n\nMore materials concerning the safety and efficacy of vaccines  can be found in this subsection. Statistics concerning the impact of vaccines on the spread of dangerous infectious diseases can be found here.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9994367361068726}
+{"content": "\n\nGood teachers can now be fired because of bad math. I refuse to be a victim of the Russian roulette nature of value-added models.\n\nI just heard from my friend in Louisiana. Her Teach for America mentee is leaving teaching at the end of the school year, because she wants to \"work in policy.\"\n\nIs there a firewall, a line in the sand where \"reform\" could founder? If communities, parents and teachers can't muster the political strength and media savvy to save public education by themselves, who has enough muscle to force the issue?\n\nUnsettling parallels to public education--the elevation of competition, the use of coded language, manipulation of truth by the powerful and privileged-- in literature and history.\n\nHow did we get so many new teachers and what happened to the old ones? And when did spending a couple of decades or more in the classroom become an anachronism--even objectionable?\n\nWhat if I had been strictly adhering \"with fidelity\" to the highly structured scripted commercial curriculum I am mandated to teach? In this day and age, can I afford to deviate from mandates to pursue interesting junkets into authentic learning?\n\n\nDon't we agree that children are better off learning to clean up after themselves, respect the needs of others and do their part to contribute to an orderly world? Aren't these the principles that lie under service learning--our communal responsibility to pitching in?\n\nWhat bothers me most about education, schools, and teachers as cars to be chosen via Consumer Reports'-style ratings is that it reduces every place not just to a marketplace, but to a zero-sum, competitive line of rankings from best to worst.\n\n\nMost Viewed On Teacher\n\n\n\nRecent Comments", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6432322859764099}
+{"content": "Application of Financial Modeling in non-finance areas\n\nThere are many factors and aspects that work together while we try to decide the values of past projects or forecast a value for any company. Analysts can use the mathematical tool of financial modeling to grasp the entire fiscal picture of a company. They can see the smallest details in these numerical details. This helps the experts to predict the viability of any project and the company as an entity.\n\nIs it mathematics or accounting?\n\nIt is an amalgamation of the two complicated topics and uses tools from both the subjects. The financial planning and asset pricing and all the other related topics are based on quantitative calculations. So we can say that the entire past history and future predictions of market, products and the company functions related to these two are depicted in terms of mathematical equations, graphs, and charts.\n\nIt can be used in many other applications apart from the financial area\n\n  1. Financial modeling requires very acute observation and research skills. Once you understand the financial model and hone the skill further, then your critical and analytical skills will also improve. You can use these skills to analyze the different options available to the company and terms of finance and other functions as well.\n  2. A manager is required to look at various aspects of a company and his skills cannot be restricted to one function like finance. He has to use the financial model with relevance to other departments and understand how to create a business plan for any sector. The cost and profit reports and past historical models can help him to formulate the plan for various departments.\n  3. Till now the financial modeling was created using the excel spreadsheets, now, of course, there are many new tools for this. However, if you learn financial modeling properly, then it helps to do the mathematical calculations using the excel worksheets and the related software program and this proficiency help in all management aspects by enhancing your skills.\n  4. The properties of any evaluation can be understood easily when they are explained in mathematical terms. A manager has to make many decisions based on the available data using his analytical skills. The presented data, converted into a clear model, helps him to grasp the situation clearly and also forecast the future to a certain extent. This skill helps him to make better decisions.\n\nWe can see that this model of finance can be easily used in other areas of the corporate world as well. It is an important skill to be used in the practical aspects. The financial modeling helps to implement the theory learned about budgeting, statements, financial management and other sectors in practical terms.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9816333651542664}
+{"content": "Learn To Cook With These Easy Tips\n\nA simple few secrets could make you a much better cook. The information contained in this article can help you to be the best cook that you can be. Follow the tips provided in the article and you will know exactly what things you need to do to be the best cook that you can possibly be.\n\n\nWhen you are making stir-fry dishes, make certain the meat is thinly sliced on the bias. This can be quite tricky and time-consuming. Freeze the meat until it is firm and then slice the thin slices across the grain.\n\n\nTry to add the oil into your pans from the sides, so that by the time it touches the food, it will be hot. This will help your food be more flavorful.\n\nTo slice meat with ease, you should place it in the freezer for a bit. This is best for Asian meals such as Thai or Chinese dishes. When you freeze meat, it makes the slicing much cleaner because it prevents the meat from being as flexible. To ensure that the meat strips cook evenly, make sure they thaw out before use.\n\nMoldy Fruit\n\n\nDid you ever feel badly for throwing moldy fruit in the garbage? Can you actually save your fruit by cutting the part out that is rotten? Sadly, there really isn’t a healthy way to save fruit if it has begun to rot. Mold grows inward to places that you can’t even see and can make you sick so throw moldy fruit in the garbage.\n\nIf you have little time to cook each day, you can partially prepare certain foods to break up the cooking process into several steps. Look at your recipe and decide which steps you can do in advance without worry of food spoilage. You can prepare a lot of food the day prior to actually cooking. More complex recipes become quicker and more fun this way.\n\nApples are used in cooking mostly during the fall, but you must make sure they are properly kept so that they do not rot. Warm dry air causes apples to rot, so put them in plastic bags with loose ties in a fridge or cool basement. Make sure to keep an eye out for rotting apples, because if you have one rotten apple, it will turn all the other apples rotten in no time.\n\nWhen purchasing your ingredients for preparing a recipe, you should read all of the labels. There are many hidden, unhealthy ingredients put into common cooking preparations. Some things to check for include high levels of sugar or sodium, as both are common contributors to many health problems.\n\nIf you wish to have crispy French fries, then you should soak the potatoes in cool water for 30 minutes and then fry them. By leaving the potatoes to soak up cold water, the fibers are reinforced. This makes it so when you fry them, they’ll withstand the heat better and won’t break down completely.\n\nMany of the vegetables and herbs give off a strong odor which tends to leave your cutting board smelly no matter how hard you try to scrub it off. You should mark your cutting board on the side you will be cutting herbs on.\n\nCooking veggies improves the quality of them. If you cook your vegetables for a long period of time, they might not be as nutritious. Vegetables cooked in these ways make healthier side dishes and ingredients in recipes. Learning to cook them for the minimum necessary time is the key to better vegetables.\n\n\nAirtight Containers\n\nEven on simple dishes like mac and cheese, going letter by letter on the directions always gets you the best results. The mac and cheese never fails to turn out wonderfully when you do it right. Then the smooth cheese sauce melts evenly over the noodles. You can just use a big solid spoon to serve your mac and cheese. Sprinkle some pepper on top for added spice, and enjoy!\n\nWhen you store flour, sugar or any type of baking mixes, always use airtight containers. Airtight containers keep your food fresh and protect it from bugs and bacterias. These can be bought at almost any store.\n\nWhen preparing pasta, it is important to add salt to the pot of water. Adding salt to the water prior to cooking ensures the pasta is infused with flavor. If you salt the pasta once it is cooked, you will not get as much flavor when you add the seasoning.\n\nSaute vegetables with chicken broth to cook them in a healthy way. Broth will flavor the vegetables, and less oil will be needed to saute them. This method produces healthy and tasty vegetables.\n\nIt’s important to be creative while cooking. You need not follow a recipe exactly. Sometimes if you add a little extra, or refrain from using an ingredient you do not really enjoy, you can turn an ordinary dish into something extravagant. That is how a real cook gets it cooking!\n\nSubstitute water for other more flavorful liquids, in order to spice up your meals. In place of water, try adding beef or chicken broth, juice or even water used to cook vegetables. Try to use buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream in place of milk. Varying the liquids that are in your recipes is an excellent method of adding nutrition and variety to a dish.\n\nA simple sandwich can often be a perfect one, if you pay attention to details such as covering the bread entirely with a smooth and consistent layer of mayonnaise. Don’t just plop the mayo in the center because you are pressed for time. When it is spread out evenly, each bite of the sandwich will be delicious and full of flavor.\n\n\nGet your grill ready to go before you start to barbecue. Allot at least 30 minutes for the process, prior to placing food on the grill, to get your fire started and coals ready. You need to allow the coals to reach a medium heat. Once the desired temperature has been reached they should be covered with ash. This is the ideal temperature for grilling.\n\nPay attention to the cooking oil amounts when preparing meals! Measure how much oil you use to make your dish less rich in fat. Do not simply pour the oil directly in the pan. Doing this will make it easy for you to keep track of exactly how much oil is being used.\n\nStore all spices and herbs in dry, dark and cool conditions to get the maximum amount of flavor from them. Exposing them to light or heat could make them lose their flavors fast. This exposure will only cause them to lose flavor.\n\nIf you find yourself overwhelmed with preparing dinner for your family, do some of the preparations the night before. You can dice, slice and otherwise prepare vegetables in advance. Stir up some sauce prior to your bedtime for a stress-free pasta dish the next evening. When you decide to cook the following day you’ll have less to do and become less stressed, this lets you focus on your main cooking tasks.\n\nYou can make a simple dish much better with seasonings and herbs. Dried herbs, such as oregano and basil. are only good for dishes that are complex and have many different flavors going on. Even for these kinds of dishes, use fresh herbs when you can, as they will add punch to the taste. If you have a hard time finding fresh versions of your favorite herbs, then consider planting an herb garden.\n\n\nIf you are cooking with a certain type of fruit or vegetable for the first time, do some research before using it. By performing some research, you could be surprised at how versatile a new food can be. Taking the time to learn before starting to cook will leave you with a much happier experience in the kitchen.\n\nEthylene Gas\n\nYou need butter that is soft, but still solid, when you want to cream it with sugar to make cookies. If the butter is totally melted, freeze it for a short while to harden it again, or, put the dough in the refrigerator once you are done mixing everything. Having cool dough prevents the cookies from spreading themselves out too much.\n\nIf you have purchased unripened fruits, put them into a plastic bag that is perforated. Some fruits, like apples, produce ethylene gas as they ripen. A paper bag allows air to circulate, yet also keeps in enough ethylene gas to help the fruits ripen and enhance the flavor.\n\nAdd spices after your dish is ready. Spices, such as garlic powder, salt, cayenne and pepper, are all wonderful seasonings. Individual preferences regarding the strengths of the seasonings in a dish may vary, though. Due to this, it is often best to leave spices out for people to add to their food as they wish, instead of forcing them to eat it how you like it. This way you are sure that every person enjoys their dish.\n\nDry off extra moisture on ground meat before cooking. Blotting removes excess moisture from your meats. If your meat is too moist, then it can affect how it cooks. It will cause the meat to sizzle. As a result, your meat may steam instead of searing.\n\nNonstick cookware will not stay nonstick for long if you use metal utensils to move your food, so make sure that you’re only using rubber, silicone, or any other utensil that will not damage the coating. The harder metal or wooden utensils can gouge or scratch the coating, which both reduces its effectiveness, and allows its coating to flake off into the food. The coating could then flake off into your food and this is dangerous.\n\n\n\n\nBefore you start cooking, all your ingredients should be prepared so it isn’t as stressful. You’ll never find yourself in the midst of a recipe and have to stop to get something you don’t have. Gathering the ingredients first may seem like an extra step, but it really isn’t. It will save you time and trouble.\n\nBecoming a better cook will require you to take the time to learn more about this activity. It comes naturally to some, but others need all the help and advice they can get. Let this article inspire you to improve your own kitchen efforts.\n\nIf you are trying to measure a sticky substance, cooking oil can help. Prior to measuring, put a little bit of a low-flavor cooking oil on the spoon (canola works well here). This way, the food you are measuring will easily slip off the spoon. This stops you from wasting food and having to clean up afterward. This method works well for peanut butter as well as honey.\n\nMad bloggen", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8721843361854553}
+{"content": "What’s the Deal with Pacifier Use & Speech/Language Development\n\nParents of young children may hear healthcare providers, daycare providers, friends, and/or relatives talk about the negative impact of a child’s pacifier use.  There have been studies that show a link between prolonged pacifier use and dental abnormalities and increased ear infections, both of which have been linked to the development of speech and language disorders.  And, there was a recent study that indicates that freedom of tongue movement plays a part in an infant’s ability to perceive speech sounds accurately.  Yet, there has been inconsistent results in studies that have looked at the direct link from pacifier use to speech and language disorders.  As a pediatric speech-language pathologist, I have an interest in this link.  Afterall, if a child has prolonged and/or profuse pacifier use, it results in reduced opportunities for babbling, imitating sounds, exploring other oral skills, and engaging in conversation.  Pair that with abnormal dental development and ear infections and you can see where a child’s speech and language develpment can be at risk.  But, that does not mean pacifiers should be entirely avoided, so I’d like to suggest some general guidelines for parents to consider if they do choose to introduce pacifiers.\nGuidelines for Pacifier Use\n1.  the pacifier needs to fit the child’s mouth with a good lip lock and an even back and forth movement of the tongue.  As the child grows, the pacifier size and/or shape may need to be changed.  \n2.  from birth-6 months the pacifier should be used only for calming purposes.  Once the child is calm or asleep, remove the pacifier.  If he/she is awake, engage him/her in other activities.\n3.  from 6-10 months, begin weaning the pacifier to only bedtime or naptime.  Introduce other higher-level mouth activities, such as mouthing/biting on safe and appropriate toys and taking sips of water from an open cup.  Chewy Tubes and ARK Grabbers are excellent toys designed for infant chewing practice.\n4.  by 10 months, your child will have learned to use his/her mouth in more appropriate ways and the pacifier can be completely eliminated\nThis appropriate use of the mouth for biting, chewing, and speech has an impact on the continued growth and function of your child’s mouth.  The placement of the tongue on the palate will help to maintain an appropriate palatal arch shape, practice with chewing will aid in the the growth and development of the jaw and teeth, and movement of the tongue thorughout the oral cavity will assist with improving feeding and speech development.  \nFor more information, there are numerous online resources that can be located by searching for:  oral motor development, feeding development, speech and language development.  Diane Bahr has a book for parents and professionals entitled “Everything from Bottles and Breathing to Healthy Speech Development” that is an excellent resource in ways to give your child an environment that encourages healthy speech and language development.  And, if you have questions specific to your child, please feel free to contact me or other local pediatric speech-language pathologists.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7010480165481567}
+{"content": "Banking (Online Banking) And Its Position In In the present day’s Society\n\nThe important thing to a smooth working economy is having sound fiscal and monetary insurance policies. Additionally, virtually each nation on the earth has a Central Financial institution which operates similar to the Federal Reserve. The common annual income of Financial News readers is over 200,000 pounds sterling. When the Federal Reserve was created, there was a strong abhorrence of centralized banking energy among the many folks.\n\nThey are saving more cash than they thought they would since she is no longer driving to work daily, they are no longer eating out as a lot since she has time to cook dinner, and their son not needs daycare. So when I walk as much as them and ask for a measly $1 hour raise they sit there and look me in the eye and inform me they don’t have the cash to do it and that again in their day having a job was a luxury and I should be glad I work there.\n\nIt could mean, amongst different issues, that debt is a positive good; that the US from 1791 – mid 1960’s (learn solvent) was mistaken in not borrowing against the future; that we must always improve borrowing …", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9764474630355835}
+{"content": "International Meeting of World Conference against A and H Bombs calls for a world without nuclear weapons and war\n\nThe 2003 World Conference against A and H Bombs held its International Meeting from August 3 to 5 in Hiroshima.\n\nTwo-hundred and sixty participants, including 59 overseas delegates from 19 countries, international and regional organizations, attended.\n\nThe discussions were focused on the need to call for a world free of nuclear weapons in the 21st century now that the world has witnessed the U.S. lawless war on Iraq based on its preemptive attack strategy involving nuclear weapons.\n\nThe International Meeting closed on August 5 after adopting a declaration calling for the international movement towards eliminating nuclear weapons to be further developed in solidarity with governments committed to nuclear weapons abolition. It also proposed a new signature campaign for abolishing nuclear weapons, taking the 60th anniversary in 2005 of the atom bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a milestone. (end)\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9990625977516174}
+{"content": "The APW Tag-Team Championship is one of the championships of APW, which unlike the main title, it can only be competed along teams of two wrestlers. The holders of this title are usually considered the best Tag-Team of the company and the top threats of the highly competitive Tag-Team division.\n\n\n  1. The champions must defend their title frequently.\n  2. Championships matches for this title must be competed on 2-vs-2 Tag-Team Match, with no time limit.\n  3. Everyone on the APW roster can qualify to compete for this title, as long they participate as a duo.\n  4. If a challenger Tag-Team fails to win the title on their title match, that Tag-Team must wait for at least 2 other challenger Tag-Teams to get their opportunity first, before getting another title shot.\n  5. In case of the champions being absent due injuries, disband their team, leave the company, or any other reasons, the title will become vacant.\n\nChampionship History\n\nCurrent Champions:\n\n  • JonyBoy & GachiTiger, won against BETOMAN & Sanik9.99. Successful Title Defenses: n/a\n\nFormer Champions:\n\n(From recent to oldest)\n\n  • Betoman & Sanik9.99, won against Jaguro & Daniel Guillen. Successful Title Defenses: 0. Lost against JonyBoy & GachiTiger.\n  • Jaguro & Daniel Guillen (First Champions), won against Los Repartidores de Pigazas. Successful Title Defenses: 3. Lost against Betoman & Sanik9.99.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8945537805557251}
+{"content": "\n\nNarrative Structures Essay\n\n1472 words - 6 pages\n\nNarrative Structures\nIn this assignment, I am going to explain what Narrative is, as well as Linear (sequential) and Non-Linear (non-sequential). Also, I will discuss realist/non-realist as well as open and closed endings; this terminology will be referenced to several examples, and comparisons will be made.\nAccording to Encarta Dictionary, Narrative is a story or an account of a sequence of events in the order in which they happened. However, narrative is one thing, and the process of narrative is something entirely different. The process of narrative is the art or process of telling a story or giving an account of something. In moving image production, narrative structures need to be considered when creating a narrative for a particular production, whether it may be TV or Film. Narrative structures are common in TV, film, music videos and many other moving image productions. Both Non-fiction and Fiction can be encountered in a narrative. E.g. News stories and advertisements also have a constructed narrative which must be ‘played out’.\nEvery scene, in every film sequence (whether linear or non-linear, realist or non-realist) has a beginning, middle and end. Essentially, a set of codes are followed in narratives, for every element of the beginning, middle and end. It can be broken up and viewed like this:\n Beginning – Establish setting, characters.\n Middle – Action, drama needs to take place here.\n End – Conclusion to drama; Climax/Resolve.\nBasic elements of a narrative, according to Aristotle:\n\"...the most important is the plot, the ordering of the incidents; for tragedy is a representation, not of men, but of action and life, of happiness and unhappiness - and happiness and unhappiness are bound up with action. is their characters indeed, that make men what they are, but it is by reason of their actions that they are happy or the reverse.\" (Poetics - Aristotle (Penguin Edition) p39-40 4th century BC)\nLinear and Non- Linear Narrative Structures\nA linear narrative structure is a story line that shows a series of scenes right from the beginning (e.g. start of show) to end in a chronological order (with no flashbacks, flash-forwards or black-out scenes) they have a sense of continuity, and are not shown as fragments in any way. The most common linear story lines are incorporated in well-known soaps such as Eastenders and Hollyoaks. They aim to look as real-life as possible.\nNon-linear narratives is portrayed in a non-chronological way, it can be created in any way possible – in terms of series and events. It has no order, though, the scenes can be in a unusual order and the director is free to use flashbacks or flash-forwards. There are many films made to have this type of narrative structure, and it can be very effective as it can increase the enigma by revealing the end of the plot before the beginning is shown. Tarantino has directed many films that are non-linear, and he is well-known for this. Non-linear...\n\nFind Another Essay On Narrative Structures\n\nSlave Narrative Essay\n\n1725 words - 7 pages [...] made each narrative intriguingly different from its brethren' 4. This quote supports the individuality of each slave, and their reactions and representations of the different forms of violence they were subjected to. However, Andrews justifies the similarity of structures within slave narratives; 'The ex-slave narrators and their sponsors had learned that [...] facts plotted in certain kinds of story structures moved white readers to conviction and\n\nA Narrative Criticism of 1 Samuel 9:1-21\n\n2269 words - 9 pages fullness, and it is the way that these are used in the narrative of 1 Samuel 9:1-21 to which we will now turn our attention. Identified in the NRSV translation of the Bible as the narrative in which “Saul [is] chosen to be King” we find in this text the first story of Saul’s call to kingship and the circumstances around it . Throughout this narrative, the author, or perhaps more accurately, editor(s) , evokes a number of literary features to build\n\nInterpretation of Urban Design\n\n1208 words - 5 pages interactions. A Narrative Space An interesting method of urban design is utilizing the structures in the city, whether built, recycled, or interrupted, to create a narrative. A narrative involves storytelling and in this case, narratives can be told through the interaction or cluster of built forms over a period in time. Buildings can instigate a narrative on a personal and city level (Childs, 2008). Sepe and Pitt (2014) discussed their criteria of places\n\nTopic: Analyze The Narrative Structure Of One Television Programme Or Episode. How Do General Theories Of Narrative Applied To Literature And Film Help In This Analysis?\n\n3219 words - 13 pages , and television shows, even newspaper articles, all tell stories. Thus, the prevalence and importance of narratives are the reasons for us to take a close look at the narrative structures and the process of producing narratives.Television is a narrative medium and it is the principle storyteller in contemporary American society (Kozloff, 1992:67). For Kozloff, narrative theory is a critical vantage point, because television is as saturated in\n\nSymbols and Subversion in 13 Happiness Street\n\n2133 words - 9 pages represent. \"13 Happiness Street\" is thus a narrative that gains much of its significance through the subversion of conventional symbols against our expectations. The subversion of the archetypal symbol takes place within various levels of the narrative, the first being the immediate layer of the narrative itself, and the second being the symbols within the narrative. I shall first discuss how Bei Dao subverts conventional plot structures and\n\nNarrative Voices in Shelley's Frankenstein and Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev\n\n1385 words - 6 pages his experiences. This narrative is written in the form of letters, with the use of this epistolary style of writing novels giving verisimilitude to the events, as Walton writes of them as he is told. He is the narrative voice of the whole novel; enveloping the characters of Victor and the monster, the characters of whom, develop as the story progresses. This narrative perspective structures the novel, portraying events as true to life\n\n\n\nExperimental Structure\n\n901 words - 4 pages Structure is a very important aspect of filmmaking. The Classical structure of film is setup in 3 acts and divides a narrative into 3 parts. Each part unravels and depicts the storyline for a film. The first act wills establish the main characters, the world or setting these characters live in and their establish relationships between characters. The second will begin to rise the action. This will depict the protagonist attempts to deal\n\nThe Formulaic and Episodic X-Files and Supernatural\n\n1327 words - 5 pages and themes have developed and changed, been tested and tried. Mittel identifies the three notable structures of the television: the anthology, the serial and the series (2007, p. 163). For this study, we are more interested in the serial and the series for its crossover in narrative complexity. Mittel states that ‘narrative television offers ongoing storyworlds, presenting specific opportunities and limitations for creating compelling narratives\n\nImplications of the Masculiune Gaze in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre\n\n898 words - 4 pages In traditional Hollywood cinema, narrative film structures its gaze as masculine; films use women in order to provide a pleasurable visual experience for men, as well as symbolizing women as the desire for male. (483-94). The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) however, substitutes women with gold for male desire to fill in the narrative void. In Laura Mulvey’s “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, she presents a number of very interesting\n\nWays in which Margaret Atwood's \"The Penelopiad\" subverts the Grand Narrative and reflects feminist thinking\n\n1023 words - 4 pages two literary agents: the subversion of the Grand Narrative and integrating Feminist Theory into literature. This essay will explore and evaluate the literary devices Atwood has used to effectively subvert Homer's 'The Odyssey' into a modern, feminist critique of those who are suppressed in a patriarchal context.The 'Grand Narrative' is considered to be an overarching story which pertains to the widely held perceptions of society - it explains and\n\nSimilar Essays\n\nBreathless By Jean Luc Goddard. Unconventional Narrative Structures In New Wave French Film\n\n1487 words - 6 pages Luc Goddard's Breathless breaks away from conventions of narrative through the films structure, plot and subject matter. This is shown through the films loose portrayal of action but with a greater focus on underlying ideas and concepts.The narrative structure of Breathless breaks away from conventional lines as it has only a vague direction and motive. None of the characters have a defined goal that they work to achieve; the action that occurs\n\nMental Illness And Personal Narratives Essay\n\n2280 words - 9 pages Using narratives to gain an insight into human experience is becoming an increasingly popular method of exploration. Assuming that people are in essence narrative beings that experience every emotion and state through narrative, the value of exploring these gives us a unique understanding. Narrative is thought to act as instrument to explore how an individual constructs their own identity (Czarniawska, 1997) and explain how each individual\n\nCritical Review: Rape Of Sita\n\n1793 words - 8 pages underprivileged is also, “a revision of the patriarchal social structures that allow rape as abuse of power to be possible in the first place” (210). Consiousness will lead to moral responsibility, which then can lead to action. She goes on to say that this narrative is an act of language, which in turn generates another story. She believes it is they idea that if rape is the “encoded memory of trauma” that is carried in language, then language is the\n\nDeborah E. Mc Dowell “In The First Place: Making Frederick Douglass And The Afro American Narrative Tradition”\n\n622 words - 3 pages the center and most notably the origin of African-American literary tradition is flawed; these reasons are because of the structures that endorse the exclusion of femininity, and patriarchy of white discourse. She begins by discussing that both Douglass and his Narrative “of a specific time and place, developed in a response to a variety of social contingencies and individual desires”.(p.172) ‘History operates[d] as [a] narrative” and because of", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.665112316608429}
+{"content": "The Purpose of Deity Altars\n\n1 11 2018\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nF*** Karma! (What People Don’t Tell You About Karma)\n\n13 10 2018\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\nOMG! I keep running into people who are ruled by this warped concept of karma.  I mean, I get it and I understand why so many people are stuck on it because we live in a western society that teaches us to focus on the superficial and the physical. In other words, we are taught to focus solely on everything that we see (and can assess with our five physical senses). Consequently, since most of the western religious institutions in the west only focus on what is “physically real” it creates a void in our spiritual education, which forces us to ask the question when things go wrong, s*** hits the fan and everything starts deviating from our plan:\n\n“Why is this happening to me?”\n\n“What did I do wrong?”\n\n“What did I do to deserve this?”\n\nThat is when someone comes up and says, “It’s your karma.” Then, they explain it as such, “You are being punished for something you did in your past life.”\n\nThat’s BULLS***!  And, what’s worst is that they try to tie this BS karma concept to the Kemetic Maa.\n\nLike I said, I get it! I used to err the same way until Spirit posed a few questions to me:\n\n  1. Was it karma that brought about the genocide of many Amerindians (Native Americans) nations at the hands of the Europeans?\n  2. Was it karma for the Africans to be bought, enslaved and forced to relinquish their cultural way of life by Arabs and Europeans?\n  3. Is it karma for an antelope to die at the jaws of a lion, a sheep to a wolf, a chicken to a fox, a fly to a spider, etc.?\n\nThe idea that something wrong was done in the past, so to right the wrong suffering must exist in the present falls apart because if you know anything about history. Native Americans are not a homogenous group of people. I have not come across anything that states that one or several of their nations devastated and waged a genocidal war on another group of people or species.\n\nEven, though we know that Africans (as well as other indigenous people) practiced a form of slavery, there are no records or stories that slavery was practiced  with such cruelty, brutality and so sadistically as it was practiced by Arabs and Europeans.   In fact, in the few African nations that practiced slavery, it was supposed to right the wrong that these individual committed, which is why after the enslaved individual served their life of servitude.  They were allowed to leave and/or rejoin the society. This was the case for both Native Americans and Africans.\n\nMy point is where was karma for these people who were done a great injustice and how come karma is not righting the wrong done to them by others?\n\nFamily. We have to understand that the whole idea that something bad happening to you is karma or the Universe punishing us for past life crimes is STUPID because it would mean that we are all locked in a vicious cycle of return. Meaning for instance, someone wronged me, so in the next life I am going to get them back, but in the next life. They are going to get me….but hold up! I am going to get them back in the next life and have the last laugh, or will I? Where is the evolution and growth in that? Answer: There is none.\n\nI always wondered if karma would have existed if the Amerindians and Africans never heard of it?  I mean, before our ancestors met the Europeans and Arabs, I wonder did karma or the Christian concept “you reap what you sow (which functions along the same lines)” exist? Think about it, many of our Amerindian and African ancestors followed loosely an “eye for an eye” principle, which is the reason magick can be used to protect but also to retaliate against those who have wronged them. In fact, in most indigenous spiritual systems around the world, this is how balance is maintained because if an individual knows that if they wrong another, the victim is justified to retaliate (so long as the punishment fits the crime). It deters the offender or perpetrator from committing an injustice.\n\nWhere am I going with this? I propose that karma (and the whole “you reap what you sow”) is a cancerous thought seed that was deliberately designed for social control.  In other words, to put it bluntly…people don’t get what they deserve, they get what they attract. The atrocities that happened to our ancestors (the Amerindians and Africans) was not punishment. It was the result of them being taught by the conquerors that they were wrong for their way of life and wronged others.  Consequently, they thought they deserved to be punished by the Christian deity God or the Muslim deity Allah.\n\nOn the flip side, it is this same thought seed that allows people to continue to go through the world harming others and never feeling bad, never getting caught or righting the wrong for the crimes they have committed.\n\nI am a firm believer that no one gets what they deserve, we get what we attract.\n\nSo what is karma? Karma means Cause and Effect but it is about what you attract to yourself. For instance, if you embrace the thought that you are healthy for a long time by saying something like “Thank you for perfect health.” This is the Cause and it will have the Effect that you will be healthy no matter what is going on. You will become conscientious about the food that you eat. You will become conscientious about your health and wellbeing. You will even be conscientious about the company you keep because it all corresponds to your original Cause and will manifest the appropriate Effect.  You made your own karma or your own Truth a physical reality. Your truth will continue to exist so long as you do not accept someone else’s truth.  As soon as you accept someone else’s truth (e.g. you have to adopt this or that dietary lifestyle or else, if you don’t get a flu shot (blank) will happen, etc. Things spiral out of our control because you have no confidence in your own truth.\n\nSidebar: Think about it. In honor of Christopher Columbus day (October 8), how could someone from an impoverish country go to a prosperous people and take their land?   Those who understood history and how psychology works knows that the Europeans created a loss of faith. Since our subconscious is both illogical and unquestioning, which means it will accept anything as truth especially when presented by someone who is in a position of authority. When the missionaries presented their truth and professed that the European culture was more advanced because they had clothes, weapons and ships, and that the Africans and Indian culture was primitive.  It resulted in the Africans and Indians losing faith in their ancestral ways and accepting the western truth hook, line and sinker, which led to their ultimate demise.    The only reason everyone did not fall for this allusion and most of us are waking up out of this allusion is because western religions have repressed our cultural expressions and practices by calling them evil such as, the veneration of ancestors.\n\nHow Did We Go Wrong? \n\nThe reason most of us go wrong after accepting our ancestral ways because we were taught that God (or his helper Peter) has a book and is marking down every offense we made.\n\nThis concept was originally misunderstood from the Kemetic Judgement scene thousands of years ago, but since it was never corrected many people attracted to Kemetic spiritually today have superimposed their Christian understanding of the concept on to their interpretation of Kemetic philosophy.\n\nBut, we have to remember that the Creator is the creator of all things both the good and the bad because these are concepts (good/bad) based upon relative perspectives. For instance, you see an antelope being chased by a lioness. Well, that’s bad for the antelope if it dies because it could be a mother but it is good for the lioness who has to feed her cubs.   In other words, the Creator does not play favorites and good and bad does not exist in the Divine’s mind. They are both two different sides of the same coin, so the Creator is not punishing and rewarding us for anything because technically speaking. We cannot offend our Creator.\n\nCopyright: Sony film Men In Black\n\nTo understand what I mean by this, remember in the first Men In Black where the universe was the size of a marble and at the end of the film there was this being that had a collection of marble (universes) that it was playing with.  This is how we look to the Creator.  If you really believe that our Creator is omnipotent, all-knowing and omnipresent, this means that to the Creator we are nothing more than children in a sandbox.\n\nSo, we cannot offend the Creator.  Case and point, the other day I heard a spoiled child who was put on punishment say they hate their parent. Do you know how many children have said they hate their parents and wished something happened to them because they could not get their way? Yes, it is endless, but do you really believe that the Creator is sitting back writing down these offenses so that we get punished for doing something because we don’t know any better? I highly doubt it because if so the Creator would not be as omnipotent and all-knowing as we claim it to be, but more like a cruel and tyrannical deity such as the god in Genesis, who punished his children (Adam and Eve) knowing good and damn well they are going to eat the fruit because they have no knowledge of self.  We have to understand that just like the Creator allows our parents to teach us the consequences of our actions. And, that it is through our parents we understand what unconditional love or Divine Love is all about. The Creator teaches us about Divine Love as well.\n\nThis means that if something bad happens to you, it is not a punishment. It is the results of something you did that brought you to this point. You simply made an unwise decision and here you are. You spent all your money on music, clothes and hair products, so guess what? Here you go struggling to make ends meet to eat and pay your bills to live.  I hear you. You say but, “I was born in a very bad time in a rough neighborhood.” Again, it is not punishment and it is not the result of some crap you did in a past life. You chose to be born into that situation in order for you to master a particular lesson (and usually it is to help others).\n\nIt is our Cause that generates or better said manifests our Effects, which the ancient Kemetic sages called Maa (Truth, Balance, Righteousness).\n\nDjahuti (Thoth) is not writing down our offenses so we can be punished in this life or the next life. Djahuti, the Lord of science, wisdom, astronomy, mathematics, geometry, medicine, and writing is “Intuiting” where do we go next in our journey based upon the decisions that we have made. For this reason, Djahuti is sometimes called the husband of Maat indicating that the two concepts are intimately connected.\n\nHe is making a Judgment, hence the reason Djahuti is often shown as a guide.\n\nWe have to stop thinking of ourselves as being little, helpless human beings that are thrown around by the sea of fate and remember we are gods and goddesses that have returned. We created ourselves from our father’s seed and brought ourselves into being in our mother’s womb. We chose to be here. Let me say it again, We chose to be here. You just forgot that you made the decision but we chose every experience that we are having.  We are here so that we can master something and accomplish specific goals.  We just forgot, which is why we must relearn about Maa.\n\nTrue karma or Maa is simply about giving us the opportunity to make adjustments in our decision so that we can change what we are experiencing. There is no cosmic deity punishing you for what you have done out of ignorance or deliberately.  There is not going to be any cosmic deity that is going to punish those who offend and vice versa, so stop sitting around waiting for universal retribution to occur.  You have the right to defend yourself because true karma or Maa is about giving one an opportunity to change and grow. So remember, people don’t get what they deserve, they get what they attract.\n\n\nP.S. BTW. The reason many indigenous cultures practiced a sort of eye for an eye justice is because they understood that it was their actions and behaviors that offended one another, not the Creator. In other words, human beings, plants, animals, and even spirits can be offended but not the Divine who is beyond this petty thinking. So retributive justice was allowed to ensure that offenses were not corrected, which became taboos and later cultural practices and superstitions. For instance, you do not spit in the garbage can because it offends the spits who gather there. You do not whistle in the house because it confuses the spirits and offends them thinking you are calling them.  You don’t criticize people because you are offending their ancestors who made the life of that individual, and so on.\n\nOur Spirituality is Our Technology\n\n10 09 2018\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family\n\n\n“It’s not magic. It’s technology”\nCourtesy of Marvel’s Black Panther\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDocumentary Bling featuring Tego Calderon, Paul Wall and Raekwon\n\n\nMaa Aankh with Utchat\n\n\n\n\n5 Steps to Get Through Any Spiritual Storm\n\n19 08 2018\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\nIn this post I am continuing to give a little insight to help those on the path because a lot of people do not talk about lows to spiritual development.  We always hear people talk about how Jesus got them through some ordeal but rarely do Kemetic people give a testimony of how they overcame an issue, which 1) gives a false impression that this path is a piece of cake, and. 2) Makes one feel who is going through an ordeal that they are weak if they are falter in any way because they are not being perfect.\n\nSo, I am here to let you know that spiritual development like any other discipline has its highs and lows. We are all here because we are trying to perfect ourselves and according to the Maa Aankh.  When we begin to experience gross losses, setbacks, lawsuits, relationship ills, problems, grave misfortunes, tragedies, unexplainable illnesses, financial woes, etc. It is an omen from the Universe that we have reached the Ra moment and that our Sun has begun to set, thus moving to the Ra Atum (Death) moment.\n\nMaa Aankh with Utchat\n\nAlthough Set is the lord of chaos, confusion, calamity, storms, etc. and the ruler of TASETT (the physical realm, hence the name TA Sett), it is this particular quarter (Ra to Ra Atum) of the Maa Aankh that we see Set in his rawest form.\n\nCourtesy of R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz who gives a different version of this passage, stating “At about noon [Ra moment], the barque of Re-Horakhty reaches the summit of a mountain where a serpent 50 cubits (26 meters) in length is found whose foremost 3 cubits are of silex. This serpent swallows in one gulp part of the stream. Seth, at the front of the boat, ‘directs his lance of fire against him, and causes him to cough up all that he had swallowed.'(_Book of the Dead_, Chapter 108, quoted in _Symbol and the Symbolic_, page 81.\n\nBut do not be discouraged. You must remember that our Creator is Perfect so there is no such thing as good versus evil. There is only planned and unplanned, which means that our Creator created Set for specific purpose and that is to be our greatest adversary. Set witnessed our birth and he created the resistance in the birth canal that we fought against to physically survive.  He created all of the opposition that exists in our life and here is just another test to prove to ourselves that we are who we say we are, a GOD/GODDESS.\n\nRemember, you are a god/goddess and you chose to incarnate to this physical plane we call TASETT (the Red Lands). This is TASETT and it is ruled by Set meaning it is not supposed to be fair, just, equitable or equal. It is supposed to be a bad experience so that we are inspired to return home (the realm of the gods/goddesses – Amenta, which is deep within KAMTA).\n\nUnderstand. You chose to be here and you chose all of your experiences that are experiencing, both the good and the bad because you came here to master your divinity, which is your ultimate objective. You may not remember making these choices because you were born to a family and grew up with friends in a community supported by a society that discourages spiritual culture.  But both Osar (Asar, Osiris, Higher Self) and Set (lower self) remember the oath you made prior to being born and they are committed to helping you fulfill your destiny.\n\nYour Osar is committed to being a silent voice until you decide for your Osar to take a more prominent lead in your life, and your Set is committed to creating as many obstacles in your life to force you to resurrect your Osar. In other words, Set (the spiritual storms) exist to make us stronger and to help you to make through his storm, here are five suggestions that will help you:\n\n  1. Get a journal and journalize your experience. Write down everything that is occurring. The purpose of this exercise is to help you to clear your mind.\n  2. Ask yourself why is this experience occurring in your life right now?  Typically whenever something unplanned or negative occurs, we tend to point the finger at what others have done. This question is meant to hep us take responsibility of our own actions, behaviors and ultimately our life.\n  3. Stick to one spiritual practice that will bring you solace.  If meditating works for you, then meditate. If prayer works for you, then just pray.  If doing one particular ritual works for you, then do that one particular ritual. Remember, there is no right or wrong because it all occurs within our mind.  Sometimes, when I am going through a storm the last thing i want to do is do any altar work so I work with my spirits mentally.\n  4. Do the opposite of what you feel. When you are in the storm a lot of times your feelings will betray you because you are prone to reacting from a subconscious (sahu) level. This is the moment you should do the opposite of what you normally do. For instance, if you are in the habit of going at it alone, it may to your advantage to get with a group and vice versa.\n  5. Finally, focus your attention on helping others. I know that sounds odd, but our Osar is a universal cooperative force that usually comes to the forefront whenever we are in a peaceful mind state. If you are worried about how something is going to work out, how are you going to get some money, how anything, your Osar will stay in the deep recesses of your mind because you are trying to solve the problem based upon your understanding, and not relinquishing power to infinite your Higher Self or Osar. This mental switch of relinquishing control or submitting is hard for many of us and gets easier with practice, but the simplest way for newcomers to make this switch is by focusing on helping others. For instance, volunteer to help someone free of charge. Leave some money anonymously at an aisle in a grocery store for someone. Remember, you are not trying to boost your ego, you are trying to boost your Higher Self and these are all activities that strengthen your BA (Higher Self) and weaken the influence of your sahu (lower self/ego).\n\nNow, to get a little more real, the reason your Set is here testing you in the first place and at this exact moment is because you have some spiritual impurities that need to be burned out of your system, and this is the tempering process to do it.   The cooling part comes afterwards, so stay strong because it  is during the Ra Atum and Amun Ra moment that your spiritual guides will come to your aide. For instance, you may have some complete strangers talk to you out of the blue and give you great insight and/or gifts like money. This is where you will experience the unlimited power of KAMTA. The only way for you to know this realm is by witnessing it and this is why you are going through the storm. So, don’t fear and don’t fret, the storm never last.\n\nPrepare yourself knowing that you will be stronger and wiser in the end.\n\n\nWhy We Love Amun Ra?\n\n18 08 2018\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\nIn a previous post I mentioned that Akhenaten was not a Kemetic hero and how although archeologists and historians hold this heretic king in high regards because he tried to convert the Kemetic people to his own-self tailored religion (Atenism).  It was because of the valiant efforts of the faithful adherents of the Amun Ra tradition, that Kemet was rescued from the jaws of death and return her once more to a state of glory.\n\nIf you don’t know about Amun Ra you would assume that the reason the Kemetic people returned to this spiritual path is because they simply like worshipping idols and living a polytheistic life versus Akhenaten’s monotheistic peace-one-god fearing – religion.  Don’t be fooled Family. All of the monotheistic “I come in peace” religions have brought nothing but demise, which is the reason the world is in the current spiritual state today. So, what was so special about the Amun Ra tradition? Why is it, thousands of years later people are still attracted to the Amun Ra path?  Why is it despite the demonization from the western academic community, western religious groups, not to mention the gross film industry that portrays the Kemetic people as non-black-Africans and ETs, people are still attracted to this ancient path.  What is it that is so great about the Amun Ra tradition?\n\nWell, to understand this we must do two things:\n\nFirst, realize that although archeologists and historians claim that the Kemetic people left no explanatory texts regarding the Amun Ra tradition, the remnant of the Amun Ra tradition have been found throughout Central and West Africa.\n\nSecond, we must realize that the Kemetic people did not worship gods and goddesses, but that these so-called deities are concepts used to describe an abstract quality that exists in the Universe and within our being. For instance, Osar (Osiris) is not a physical god of the underworld but symbolizes the Higher Self. Set is not some evil god of chaos but symbolizes our lower self – in particular our ego who is the culprit of most of the problems in our life. Failure to see these “gods/goddesses” as concepts within Nature and within our being will prevent you from growing spiritually because you are unable to see the correspondence between you and other living things. In other words, you see yourself as separate from everything, thus making you more competitive (aggressive) and less cooperative (interdependent).\n\nThis allows us to see a direct cultural link between the Kemetic people and traditional societies.  I found through my personal research a cultural connection between the Kemetic people and the Bantu-Kongo people of Central Africa. By making one-to-one correspondence between the Kemetic and ancient Bantu-Kongo philosophy.  I discovered the Maa Aankh, which indicates that we live in a dualistic world that is governed by Maa.\n\nThis means in a nutshell that what goes up must come down, for every right there is a left, for every cause, there is an effect.  This constant flux is what I refer to as the Shu (Kemetic Yang) and Tefnut (Kemetic Yin) of life and we can say that it manifests itself as stress and rest.  Therefore, contrary to western thinking, life is not black and white. Nature is not totally competitive, but it balances itself by having a cooperative aspect. This is the reason lions and other predators do not hunt 24/7.  We must understand that between white and black that there are a lot of shades of grey.  This means everything in life has levels.\n\nMaa Aankh with Utchat\n\nStress, for the record is not bad. Stress is nothing more than resistance and it is needed to help build strong muscles, which is necessary to lift weights and heavy objects. However, too much stress can cause a problem because without proper and adequate rest our muscles can be overextended and can never recuperate. If we understand that Rest/Stress are two-sides of the same coin.  For our purposes, the Rest side is symbolized as KAMTA and the Stress side is symbolized as TASETT. This means there are four probabilities in regards to mental states. Therefore:\n\n  • We have excessive rest, which is symbolized by the Amun Ra mental state.\n  • Average rest which is symbolized by the Khepera mental state.\n  • Average stress which is symbolized by the Ra mental state, and.\n  • Excessive stress, which is symbolized by the Ra Atum mental state.\n\nLet’s see some working examples.\n\n\nThe Amun Ra Modality of Daily Living (Excessive Rest)\n\nOne day we feel as if we are on top of the world. Everything is going fine. We are meditating, doing rituals, studying, etc. on a regular basis. We got money in our pockets and the bills are paid. There are no worries.  No drama, which means we are at the Amun Ra mental state or what many call Nirvana or Namaste (Notice the serene look that appears on all ancient Amun Ra statues and icons). It should be noted that the reason this state is so blissful is because our awareness is internalized, hence the Sun is within KAMTA.\n\nThe Khepera Modality of Daily Living (Average Rest)\n\nIt would be great for us all to live in this mental state all the time, which is the reason so many meditation teachers spend lifetimes trying to master it, but we are thrown out of this state of bliss the more stress we become or the more we externalize our awareness.  Hence, our Sun is at the Khepera moment meaning we are more on the edge of KAMTA, then TASETT.\n\nBabies are the only human beings on the planet that are naturally close to this mental state because babies have little to no concerns or worries in the world. However, infants do worry about when they are going to receive their next feeding and this is what throws them out of the Amun Ra mental state.  This is because any time we think about our basic survival needs like food, shelter, etc. Our awareness is externalized. There are only a few people in our world who are able to walk around with a smile on their face and live totally worry free knowing all of their concerns will be addressed.\n\nAlthough it would be great to live a life in bliss by walking around in Amun Ra, for most of us it is just not practical. So most of us are drawn to the Khepera mental state because we are concerned about our survival, the survival of our loved ones, etc. This naturally makes us think about out our basic survival needs like food, shelter, etc.  At this mental state, most of us are able to easily retreat back to Amun Ra when things go awry. The reason most people attend church or any other religious service regularly is because the religious service is able to assist them in returning mentally to the Amun Ra mental state, which is the mindset that everything is working according to plan.  Some other activities that help us to return to the Amun Ra mental state from the Khepera moment are daily, weekly and monthly rituals; meditation and meditative exercises, which means that the reason the Kemetic people favored the Amun Ra path over Atenism is because they had tools (icons) to assist them in returning their awareness inward.\n\nThe Ra Modality of Daily Living (Average Stress) \n\nHowever, most of do not live our day-to-day life in the Khepera mental state. The society we live in forces most of us to live at the Ra mental state where we must compete and fight for everything that we want and need.  Here most of are in a competitive mind state and we fight everything.  Notice that the Ra moment is opposite of the Amun Ra moment, which means we have transitioned from the mind state of thinking our concerns will be care for to we must take of our concerns ourselves because our awareness is totally externalized. This also means that since our awareness is very externalized, it requires a lot of effort to return to our natural Amun Ra state, which is the reason many opt for the use of temporary fixes like alcohol, drugs, sex, etc.  I hope you are seeing the pattern, which is that the more externalized our awareness is the harder it is for us return to our divine state of being and the more we identify with our external environment.\n\nThe Ra Atum Modality of Daily Living (Excessive Stress) \n\nIt should be noted that the Ra moment is a very volatile mind state because too much stress leads to Ra Atum.  So, the Ra moment signifies the start of the downwind in our life.  This is when everything (it seems) starts going awry and we have major obstacles, obstructions, problems, major setbacks, etc. occur but, this is all due to us externalizing everything.  It is important to understand that excessive stress is symbolized as Ra Atum and it signifies a drastic need for change in one’s current actions, activities and behaviors, etc. or else death.\n\nTherefore, from a contemporary perspective we see that although King Akhenaten may not have planned for it, his Atenism religion was racing Kemet towards the Ra Atum moment or the moment of death.  This is the reason the Kemetic people returned to the Amun Ra path and Kemet was saved because it was our initial Divine mind state.\n\nWe can use the Maa Aankh in our life to see where our current actions and behaviors are leading us today and return to our initial Divine mind state as well.  For instance, if you feel as if you are on top of the world. You are feeling lucky and blessed, you are most likely around the Khepera and Amun Ra moment.  You would do well to try to maintain this mental state by balancing your awareness so that it does not become to externalized, hence having one foot in the KAMTA (spiritual realm) and TASETT (physical realm).\n\nMaa Aankh with Utchat\n\nHowever, if you are experiencing some major obstructions, (e.g. the loss of a family member, health issues, etc.) this is a sign that you may be at the Ra moment and your life has taken a turn towards Ra Atum. Remember, death does not necessarily mean the end or final act but simply indicates a grave situation due to excess and extreme externalization of our awareness where you are more in TASETT than KAMTA. You are reminded that you simply need to draw your awareness (Sun) back within.\n\nWe love Amun Ra because we love basting in the power and peace of our initial Divine consciousness.\n\n\nMuch Respek for Luke Cage’s Anansi (Sahr Ngaujah)\n\n12 08 2018\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\nOk. I just finished watching Luke Cage Season 2, and I am not going to spoil it for those who have not seen it, but I thought it was descent.  The best character and the most profound scene was by Sahr Ngaujah who plays the character Anansi. His performance and monologue was so profound that I found it interesting that no one in the “woke” community caught it.\n\nBut, before I go into it, this season 2 has several antagonists. First, there is Mariah “Black Mariah” Dillard (Cornell’s “Cottonmouth” Stoke’s cousin) and Hernan “Shades” Alvarez returns from last season, but there is a villain named John “Bushmaster” McIver.\n\nBushmaster (Luke Cage 2)\n\nNow, Bushmaster is portrayed as a crazed Jamaican who is obsessed with killing Mariah and any other Stokes that is alive. When he first encounters the protagonist Luke Cage, Bushmaster gives him a serious beatdown because he uses a Maroon fighting style known as Bangaran, which is similar to Capoeira minus the “jinga” dancing step. Sidebar: Denzel Washington and Robert Townsend did a form of bangaran in the classic film The Mighty Quinn. Anyway, you find out later that reason Bushmaster is out to kill Mariah is because the Stokes murdered his family and stole his inheritance.\n\nBushmaster fight Luke Cage\n\nSo, like I said, I am not going through the whole season. I am just going to say that the best, the coldest, the most relevant to our situation and the most profound scene that explains most of our situation occurs between in episode 24 “The Creator.”\n\nIn the scene, Shades and Mariah kidnaps Bushmaster’s Uncle Paul “Anansi” McIntosh. (Sidebar: Anansi is the name of the Akan Ellegua or trickster spirit who manifests himself as a spider, who became Aunt Nancy in the United States. The name Anansi is also featured in the show American Gods 2 as Mr. Nancy shown above.)\n\nAnansi (Sahr Ngaujah) in Luke Cage 2.\n\nAnyway, they are discussing how her grandfather “Buggy Stokes” stole Bushmaster’s father (Quincy McIver) distillery.\n\nMariah tells Anansi that afterwards, “The Italian gangsters took the liquor. The Irish cop’s protection but we (Stokes) kept the real-estate.”\n\nAnansi responds saying “Yuh grandfather was a slave.”\n\nMariah retaliates, “Buggy Stokes was freer than you will ever be.”\n\nAnansi, “That’s the problem with you, Yankee. Yuh nuh have the strength to fight yuh masters dem. Yuh lazy. Yuh content with the scraps. Yuh happy to sing and dance for dem.“\n\nMariah responds saying, “Oh, please. Every Jamaican talks that Marron bullshit.”\n\nWhat, y;all didn’t get your freedom–What? 1962. And then you got enslaved by the World Bank.  All you’re known for is Marley, marijuana and murder.\n\nAnansi tells Mariah, “Quincy McIver wanted to fight the Italians and di Irish. Him thought Buggy would’ve had him back.”\n\nMariah finishes saying, “Buggy could only fight for one family. And he chose the right one.”\n\nAnd, it is here we see the entire psychological and social issue that most of us suffer from without even noticing. It interesting that none of the “woke” community has even spoke about it.  First, if you ever watched the first season of Luke Cage you know that Mariah has serious self-identity and self-love issues. She rose to power (spoiler alert for those who have not watched  season 1) because her cousin teased her by repeating a horrible nickname “Black Mariah,” which led to his death.  In the beginning of season 2, Mariah is persuaded to make a deal by another Black American gangster who discourages her from working with (paraphrase) “Cigar Smoking Blacks, Caribbean Blacks, Rum Drinking Blacks” (derogatory shots to Blacks in the Caribbean) and encourage her to work only with Mississippi Blacks (American Blacks).\n\n\nShe totally missed what Anansi was saying because like most people she did not know her history. The Maroon’s is a generic and derogatory term from the Spanish word cimarrón, that was corrupted in English to maroon to mean “wild, unruly and runaway slave.”\n\nFamily. The Maroons were not a single or separate race of people. They were Africans forcefully brought to the Americans and forced to be slaves, who had had enough and fled into the wild to make their own life. Many of the “Maroons” banded with the indigenous people of the land and built numerous communities all throughout the Americas and they warred with the Europeans to defend their land.  This is reflected in Bushmaster who has hazel colored eyes, was blessed by his grandmother who was an Obeah woman, etc.\n\nMost people have only vaguely heard of the Jamaican Maroon community and think that the term Maroon only refers to escaped Africans there.  But, there were Maroons they escaped and settled with the Taino in Haiti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. The Maroons in the United States were the infamous Seminoles in Florida, that no one wants to really talk about. Not to mention the Africans who joined forces with the indigenous in Louisiana and Mississippi.  In fact, any African American who has an affinity with the Native American spirit Black Hawk will be surprised to find that it has nothing to do with how many are portraying him. It is drawing back to this Maroon spiritual connection, which means you may have some African ancestry who were Maroons.\n\nMaroon culture promoted in Jamaica courtesy of http://etn.travel/jamaicas-tourism-promote-maroon-festival-9112/\n\nThere were Maroon cultures in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, and their descendants are the Garifuna.  There were Maroon cultures in Panama, Columbia, Ecuador and in Brazil, the most famous Maroon culture was called Palmares home of the legendary leader Zumbi dos Palmares, rumored to be the birthplace of the contemporary Capoeira.\n\nThere were also Maroons in Mexico where the most famous Angolan Maroon leader, Yanga Gaspar, was said to have beat the Spanish so bad that it led to a peace treaty, which eventually led to Mexico winning its independence. Yanga Gaspar is honored today in Veracruz, Mexico with a statue There were even Maroon communities in Canada.\n\nIn Jamaica the “Maroons” had two pivotal wars against the British that eventually led to the British signing a peace treaty with them. Jamaica’s independence had nothing to do with the Maroons but they tried to tie the two together to make “selling out” looking appeasing and make our indigenous culture look primitive, backwards and unimportant.\n\nKillmonger of Black Panther\n\nAgain, it was another tip of the Marvel hat to put down indigenous African culture and African mindsets as they had done with the Killmonger character in Black Panther.\n\nIt makes you ask the question that if our indigenous mindset (culture and spirituality) is so primitive, backwards and unimportant, why don’t let us be?\n\nIt is because they know that it is not. The Maroon culture is the only culture within the Americas that has flipped the system because they know that they are the only ones who are mentally and spiritually free. Understand, Maroon culture focuses on going within. In fact, all throughout the series Anansi keeps reminding Bushmaster that true power comes from within.\n\nThe Maroons all over the Afro-Diaspora are the ones who understood that anyone you allow to give you your freedom is your slave master, and this is what Mariah missed as she was applauding her grandfather who murdered his own just to settle for scraps from the Italians and Irish mobs.\n\nFamily. I hope that this has inspired you to take a deeper look at Maroon culture so that you can understand what it really means to be mentally and spiritually free.  A lot of effort is being made so that we do not return to our original spiritual mindset. This world has nothing to offer us because our genius is within.\n\nDon’t be fooled into thinking otherwise.\n\n\nAkhenaten Is Not a Kemetic Hero\n\n13 07 2018\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\nThis Setian society is so interestingly flawed that it is ridiculous. What do I mean? Well, if you look at any documentary about the Kemetic civilization, it will always be the same. First, they talk about the pyramids, then they talk about how the Kemetic people were fascinated with death and then, they come with the same old thing about them worshipping false gods and goddesses, until Akhenaten (former Amenhetep IV 1348/1346 BC), the so-called father of monotheism, steps on the scene and introduces Atenism.\n\nAkhenaten and Family worshipping Aten\n\nNow, for the longest time, I have tried my best to understand what was the big deal about Akhenaten? In fact, when I was younger, after learning that the 42 Declarations of Maa were the model for the Ten Commandments, I tried to become a follower of Atenism. The big draw was that it was theorized by a lot of western scholars that Akhenaten and Moses was the same person, so I felt like I was really returning to Christianity before it became corrupted by the Council of Nicea.\n\nBut after a little more investigation, I learned that Atenism focused only the salvation of Akhenaten and his royal family.  In fact, so-called idols were banned in the Kemetic homes during Akhenaten’s reign, but the people could have representations of Akhenaten’s family worshipping Aten.  Another unmentioned fact is that while Akhenaten was busy obsessing and promoting his religion, his enemies were gathering on the Kemetic horizon to invade.  There were other forms of neglect that were occurring during Akhenaten’s reign, which is the reason his religion declined and the Kemetic empire almost fell. It should be noted that it is never mentioned that Akhenaten’s wife Nefertiti was an Assyrian princess, who made have inspired this decline.\n\nBut, if you listen to archeologists, historians and even filmmakers, they will try to convince you that the Kemetic people were so stuck in their “pagan ways” that this was the reason they never fully converted to Atenism.\n\nSo, prior to Akhenaten being born, the Kemetic people were stuck in their “pagan ways” and they built the Pyramid of Djoser (2630 BC-2611 BC) and numerous other pyramids, the Kemetic medical papyrus were written 3000 BC-2500 BC, not mention chemistry and all of the other sciences.  Yet, scholars parade over the fact that this one individual promoted an idea of worshipping the Aten, the sun, which almost led to the Kemetic empire being destroyed.\n\nThen, it hit me.\n\nThe reason western scholars are so giddy about Akhenaten is because this was the first individual recorded in history to promote the idea of worshipping a deity outside of our being. Notice that I did not say, the first person to create monotheism because the Kemetic religion was always monotheistic. Amun Ra which means the “Hidden Ra” as I mentioned before refers to the Hidden Force of God within our Being. In fact, in ancient times, most of the people around the globe worshipped God within. This all changed after Atenism came into the picture because immediately afterwards the western world religions were created and everyone in the world was seduced into worshipping a cosmic deity outside of the Self.\n\nIn other words, Akhenaten’s Aten religion became the model that was used to weaponize religion.This is the reason as soon as Constantine came to power after suppressing all other Christian factions (and other religions by claiming they were evil or against God), they built churches on top of most of sacred spots.  Islam took simply destroyed most of these sacred spots. All three religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) promoted their “peaceful” religions with a holy book in one hand and a sword in the other.\n\nRemember, usually when they tell us something is good in this western society, it is usually bad and vice versa. The world at large is going to hell because of this horrific paradigm shift to worship a deity outside of our being. The only way to escape it, is to follow our Kemetic ancestors’ lead. When the Kemetic people realized that Akhenaten had been overthrown by his Set (the ego self). They erased all memory of him and restored the Amun Ra religion through his son Tutankmen. In other words, the only way to escape this foolishness is by returning to worshipping the Power of God within our being.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5290177464485168}
+{"content": "What is Kemetic Spirituality (Kamitic Spirituality, Kemeticism or Ancient Egyptian Spirituality)?\n\n25 02 2018\n\nBefore explaining what Kemetic (also sometimes spelled Kamitic, Khamitic or Ancient Egyptian) spirituality is, it is important first to understand a little bit about the Kemetic people and their way of life.\n\nKamitic Map Copyright Derric Moore 2012\n\nFor starters, according to the Kemetic texts, wall art and legends, the indigenous Kemetic people consisted of a numerous tribal people who migrated from a southern land known as Kush (Ancient Nubia the modern day Ethiopia and Sudan region).  Thousands of years ago, these ancient people settled alongside the Nile River and built an agrarian culture that revolved around the annual inundation of the great river.\n\nPyramid structure in Ancient KushLike most indigenous cultures from around the world, the Kemetic people studied nature and developed their spirituality thereafter. The Kemetic people relied upon a bartering system for goods and services. In fact, gold was not even valued by the Kemetic people as it is today, until after it was conquered by the Romans.  This bartering system depended on the annual flooding of the Nile to make the desert soil fertile, great importance was placed on ensuring that the waters of the Nile overflowed.  Without a monetary system, if the Nile flooded it produced fertile lands, which in turn yielded a successful harvest, that allowed everyone within the country to reap the benefits. However, if the Nile did not flood and the harvest was not good, then famine reached into the homes of both the rich and the poor.\n\nKemetic farmers courtesy of Wikipedia.org\n\nTo ensure that the Nile always flooded so that they were always prosperous, early Kemetic people began making ritualistic gestures accompanied by words for a successful harvest. If the following year the harvest was a success, then the ritualistic gestures and the spoken phrases were recorded and repeated to influence next year’s harvest. If the harvest was not a success after performing a ritualistic gesture and words, then that ritual was abandoned. In time, the Kemetic people had developed three methods of ensuring that they had a successful harvest and they were: 1) Making offerings to the Nile; 2) Ingesting magical potions and inscriptions; and. 3) Petitioning their ancestors whom they believed could influence the lives of living.\n\nKemetic Ritual courtesy of Wikipedia.orgSince Kemet was basically an oasis that relied upon bartering, a sort of quid pro quo philosophy developed and the most abundant offerings were incense and resins.  But, because incense and resins were so prized, only the king could afford to make these offerings for the successful inundation of the Nile. In time, it became the sole responsibility of the king to perform these rituals all over the country, to ensure that all of the Kemetic citizens could prosper.   Thereby transforming the king from an ordinary man into God’s representative on earth. Basically, the Kemetic king was seen as a mediator between the spirit world and the physical world symbolized by the leopard pelt, which was also a symbol of balance and self-control or Maa. Soon it became too much for the king to perform all of these rituals and eventually it was delegated to other members of royalty and the priesthood.\n\nKemetic priest with leopard pelt\n\nIn a relatively short time, the Kemetic priesthood evolved and became so powerful that they were able to challenge the king’s authority because aside from performing rituals for the Nile that ensured that everyone was prosperous. The Kemetic priesthood worked as scribes, carpenters, metalworkers, physicians and artisans that provided a host of spiritual services to the people mainly because majority of the Kemetic people were illiterate.  To service their people, the Kemetic priesthood opened its’ membership to both both men and women, a celebratory feat that is still not seen in Judaism, Christianity and Islam because of sexism.  Some of the most famous Kemetic priestesses were Queen Ahmose Nefertari, Hatshepsut’s grandmother, the priestess Tamut and there are many others who held high positions in the priesthood in the Amun spiritual tradition.\n\nQueen Ahmose Nefertari\n\nIn fact, through the Kemetic priesthood one could elevate their social status from an illiterate farmer to a high nobleman within the community.  There are numerous accounts of common people with special skills having a change in social status because they used their skills to improve the lives of others because the priesthood allowed people to hone their talents.   It was through the priesthood that various spiritual practices were developed and beliefs were shared with other cultures that the Kemetic people encountered. Because spiritual rituals permeated every aspect of the Kemetic peoples’ life, the Kemetic people were described as being the most religious people in the ancient world.\n\nLife for members of the Kemetic priesthood was busy because the Kemetic priesthood was a business that focused on performing spiritual rituals the people. However, the average Kemetic citizen only venerated their ancestors and celebrated local and national spirits during their festivals. In other words, the basis of Kemetic spirituality revolved around the veneration of their ancestors. For the most part, the only time the average Kemetic citizen petitioned the higher spirits, divinities or so-called gods and goddesses, is for emergency purposes such as for a successful harvest and healthy cattle.  Again, the Kemetic people focused on group prosperity and not on individual, which allowed their society to exist for thousands of years. As a result, every western system such as western religion, western government, western science, western financial structure, etc. has been inspired by the Kemetic society and has desperately tried to imitate their success.  All of these western systems that were inspired by the Kemetic culture have failed miserably to mimic the Kemetic success because western scholars focused on treasures of Kemet because their tombs were full of valuables. Instead of on the Kemetic concept of Knowledge of Self.\n\nConsequently, many of us live in a country that may be rich in Kemetic symbolism but it is not the bearer of the Kemetic Light.\n\nIn fact, many of us do not live in an agrarian society with strong and loving rulers. We do not have a trustworthy clergy and other professionals who are concerned about our health and wellbeing. Since our contemporary society is based upon a monetary system, which places values on technological gadgets and the possession of things like shoes, clothes, a new car, home, etc. Prosperity is not based upon ethics, morality of the services that one provides other citizens but the collection of material things. In this western society, religion is not used as a means of ensuring that everyone within the country is prosperous, but instead used to incite fear in its citizens of a tyrannical deity.  In order to ensure social obedience to the wealthy ruling class and dominance over the masses’ physical and mental potential. In place of an appreciation for nature and respect for all living beings, is the exploitation of the natural resources and the manipulation and maltreatment of all human beings, especially people of color.\n\nThe rising interest in Kemetic spirituality is to return back to the days before the rise of monotheistic religions – particularly Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Since the inception of these three main western religions, which were tasked with bringing peace to all of humanity. There have been countless atrocities such as the enslavement of people of color, brutality against women and numerous wars waged in the “name of God,” who supposedly is bringing peace on earth.\n\nOset (Aset, Auset or Isis in Greek) and the Virgin Mary\n\nBefore the rise of these Abrahamic religions, life on earth was relatively peaceful and simple, and since most of these religions borrowed concepts and principles from the Kemetic religions and spiritual traditions. Most see Kemetic spirituality as a purer form of these religions minus the religious dogma, religious fear and guilt about God, and religious social control.\n\nAll practitioners of Kemetic spirituality strive to live their lives according to the Kemetic concept Ma’at or Maa. Maa is the Kemetic word for balance, order, truth, righteousness, etc.  The concepts of Maa can be found all throughout the Kemetic literature because it is very similar to the Chinese Tao.  But unlike Taoism whose philosophies and practices have been preserved over the ages in books and secured in Chinese culture for hundreds of years, the books about Maa have been destroyed by looters and lost in the sands of times.\n\nMaat (the Personification of Maa)\n\nMaat (the Personification of Maa)\n\nSince there are no clear concise Kemetic text explaining in detail their beliefs and practices, adherents of Kemetic spirituality have interpreted the practice of the philosophy as they desire. Most followers can be grouped into two categories: Kemetic Reconstructionists and Kemetic Shamans.\n\nHru (Heru, Hrw or Horus) Leading the Way and Jesus leading the Way\n\nKemetic Reconstructionists (KR) are usually individuals who focused on reconstructing the Kamitic/Kemetic religion of old. As a result, most KRs rely heavily on the Kemetic spiritual texts such as the Pert em Hru (so-called Egyptian Book of the Dead), the Pyramid Texts, the 42 Laws of Ma’at (the model for Moses’ Ten Commandments), etc. Most KRs may have one shrine will a host of Kemetic icons on it to demonstrate balance, which in this sense is very similar to the original Roman Catholic religion prior to the Council of Nicaea.  The various divinities are seen as archetypes and/or emissaries of God similar to how the various saints are viewed in Catholicism.\n\nThe First Divine Trinity\n\nHowever, overall the central theme in most KRs practice is the Kemetic Asar (Osiris), Aset (Isis) and Hru (Horus) who are viewed as the first and original divine trinity.  In fact, most KRs view Hru (Heru, Hrw or Horus in Greek) as the original prototype or avatar of Jesus who was born of virgin birth, identified by a star in the east, adorned by three kings, a teacher at 12 years of age, performed miracles, baptized at 30, crucified, rose from the dead, etc. 3000 years before the birth of Jesus. Some KRs worship Hru similar to the way Christians worship Jesus with the distinction being that the Kemetic hero is not seen as the literal savior of humanity, but rather as a divine energy that exists within everyone and can be used to help humanity save themselves. Consequently, a lot of KR practices revolve around meditation and meditative practices that focus on merging with the God-Self within.\n\nKamitic Shamans or Kemetic Shamans are usually individuals who use the Kemetic philosophy as the core of their spiritual tradition and combine it with influences from other spiritual paths (usually traditional African beliefs and practices) because Kemet is recognized as the cradle of traditional African spirituality.\n\nUnlike KRs, Kemetic Shamans only believe in worshiping God who may be called Neter – the Supreme Being – or Nebertcher – the Lord of Everything; and working with a host of spirits such as their ancestors and divinities from other pantheons.  Most Kemetic Shamans are very eclectic and their altar reflects their spirituality. However, their main focus is achieving and maintaining balance in their life, and helping others to accomplish the same feat.\n\nThis is because Kemetic Shaman believe that the reason they are here is to perfect themselves by mimicking the Creator, who is the epitome of balance or Maa. In other words, most KS believe that when we have an illness, problem, etc. in our life, the physical problem reflects a spiritual imbalance. To live in balance is to live perfectly, and although one may not achieve perfection in life, one can still attempt. From this perspective, evil is anything done excessively, while good is anything that is done in moderation.  For this reason, it is not uncommon to find a host of other divinities on a Kemetic Shamans altar because they are all seen as forces working towards attaining and maintaining balance in an individual’s life.\n\n\nAnother thing to keep in mind is that most Kemetic Shamans are practical spiritual practitioners that focus on tangible results.  In order to achieve such goals, they are usually led by the Spirit, which could be the spirit of an enlightened ancestor, a spirit guide or a personal spirit guardian. Consequently, most of the KS beliefs and practices were not be found in a book. Most of their beliefs and practices are due to them communicating with their primary spirit and trial-and-error. When most KS speak about a subject it is because they have a had a personal experience with the subject they are speaking of. For instance, most KS would not advise that someone engage in a practice that they have not done themselves.\n\nBecause they are practical spiritual practitioners that are led by the Spirit, there are no spiritual rules, no religious dogma, no guidelines, etc. that the KS follow, except the ones that they establish for themselves. If something works they use it but, if something does not feel right, they abandon it.\n\nOn Monotheistic and Polytheistic Beliefs\n\nIt should be noted that Jews, Christians and Muslims will be quick to claim that adherents of Kemetic spirituality are idolaters because they have a narrow view of God.  This is because western religious beliefs is based upon the acceptance of an individual’s opinionated perception regardless if it is right or wrong.  The ambiguity within western religions is the main reason religion has created more division and authored wars among its followers and other faiths.  This is the reason women have been and are still persecuted in western religions because of the misunderstanding of Divine Feminine principle.\n\nIn Kemetic spirituality, God is understood to be the Creator of All Things, which means the essence of God exists in everyone regardless of their color, race, ethnicity, sex, and beliefs. This means that there is not just one way to understand who and what God is. In fact, knowing God is not based solely upon beliefs, but upon experiencing God for oneself. Since God is too abstract for our human mind to truly comprehend, Kemetic adherents believe that God has created numerous divinities, which all represent different facets of the Divine.   In other words, the so-called gods and goddesses are actually different aspects of the Divine who is the Source of Everything. That being said, Kemetic adherents do not worship idols, they simply focus on knowing all of the attributes of their Creator who they are mimicking since they are Children of God.\n\nOverall, Kemetic spirituality is becoming increasingly popular because it actually delivers what it promises, which is an improved relationship with the Divine that allows one to see God within themselves. In other words, it delivers true peace of mind.\n\nDerric “Rau Khu” Moore\n\nFeel free to share but please give credit where credit is due. Thank you.\n\nCopyright 2018 Derric Moore\n\n\nKAMTA: Recreating the Real Black Church\n\n24 01 2018\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\nI have had some people ask how I discovered Kamta and was able to make all the connections. Well, all I can say is that it was because of my ancestors. I like a lot of people had read and studied Kemetic history, lore and spirituality for some years but I was not able to make any headway. Then, things changed when I began working with my ancestors and asking them to guide me in my understanding (See: How to Distinguish between the Higher Self, Ancestors, Spirit Guides and lower self).\nWhat they showed me was that when the first Africans were brought to North America, they were taken from the Kongo-Angolan region and forced to work as indentured servants.  Since the Kongo ruler had voluntarily converted to Christianity prior to the advent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, most of the people taken from the Kongo-Angolan region were either Christian or at least familiar with the Christian faith and already had a working syncretism with their indigenous beliefs in place. Consequently, because these Africans had Africanized Christianity, it is believed by some scholars that the Portuguese and Spaniards called these Africans the pejorative term Judio (pronounced hoo-dee-oh) which is Spanish for Jewish referring to the Jews who continued to practice the Old Religion (Judaism) even after learning about Jesus Christ. The term judio was later corrupted in the English language and became what we call hoodoo.\nAlthough there are some authors who attempt to trace the term hoodoo to an African source, it should be noted that most African Americans never used the term to refer to their spiritual practice because in the African mindset.  Hoodoo was considered a form of witchcraft, which was a forbidden practice. The term is totally a European creation that was used to describe early African American spirituality and in particular the Black Church.\n\nThe Kongo Cross\n\nSo, when the descendants from the Kongo-Angolan region arrived in North America they were stripped of all of their possessions.  However, they managed to bring with them their dikenga commonly called today the Kongo Cross, which is a unique Kongo cosmogram that mapped the universe. Although these early Africans in North America were not able to syncretize their beliefs and practices under the guise of the Catholic saints as their kinfolk had done in Brazil, Cuba, Haiti and other parts of South America. Through the Kongo Cosmogram or Kongo Cross, our early ancestors managed to use the Kongo cosmogram to syncretize their beliefs with the Protestant Christian faith in order to create their own religion.\nThey were able to accomplish this feat because the Kongo cosmogram like most medicine wheels could be interpreted in numerous ways depending upon perspective. For instance, the basic understanding of the dikenga or Kongo Cross is that our universe is composed of two worlds – the land of the living (above) and the land of the dead (below). When human beings incarnate to the land of the living, his or her soul mimics the four movements of the sun – Kala (Sunrise/Birth), Tukala (Midday/Life), Luvemba (Sunset/Death) and Musoni (Midnight/Rebirth).  However, if an individual was experiencing a lot of bad luck, failing health, grave misfortunes, etc., it was understood that the individual’s sun is setting or dying due to some impurity (or sin). In this case, it was necessary for the individual to travel to the land of the dead so that their ancestors could purify them and they could be reborn.\nKongo Cosmogram\n\nBasic Kongo Cosmogram\n\nRebirth consisted of going to the land of the dead because the land of the dead called mpemba or the “land of whiteness” and purity was seen as a mysterious realm where one found great rewards. Allegorically the land of the dead or mpemba was believed to exist underground but could also be found where the land of the living and the land of the dead met like the plantation and the hush harbors, a city and the forest, a town and the wilderness, a municipal and cemetery, land and a body of water, etc.\nNow, what’s unknown to most is that for a long period of time, the original Black Church did not meet in buildings. No, quite the contrary. Our ancestors met in brooks, groves, hush harbors, etc. because slave owners, fearing that early African Americans were plotting a revolt, prohibited them from congregating. When the Second Great Awakening occurred in North America, that’s when a large number of early African Americans willingly converted to Christianity particularly the Baptist and Methodist denominations. Although, most historians are uncertain as to why this massive conversion took place, a thorough analysis of the Old Kongo thinking reveals that it was most likely because full body baptism (submersion into a body of water) was most likely interpreted as the passing into the land of mpemba. Remnants of our Old Kongo belief can still be found in the church today, which is the reason before adherents are baptized.  They are instructed to wear white robes or garments. Another example of this philosophical thinking can be seen in the fact that most elders within the church wear white, and so on, which corresponds to the Luvemba moment – the setting sun – also the color white.\nBut due to charlatans within our community, the commercialization and exploitation of African American spirituality by outsiders, the Black Church has become a hollow institutions that focused solely on religious entertainment. The loss of African philosophy and theology, combined with the passing of the elders unable to pass their spiritual knowledge to subsequent generations, has resulted in the steady decline of the Black Church.\nIt was my ancestors that helped me to see that the people of the Kongo-Angolan region were part of the Bantu or Ba-Ntu tribal group, which archeologists and historians have found, once upon a time lived and dwelled along the Nile River. Because as the saying goes: there is nothing new under the sun. The remnants of the Kongo Cross in North America could be syncretized with the Kemetic Amun Ra system to create the maa aankh cosmogram.\nFor the record, I had read the Story of Ra and Oset (Isis) numerous times.  In fact, I read it so many times that when I saw or heard any mention of it.  I just glossed over it because I did not seen any importance of it. But, it was my ancestors that led me to understand that Ra’s “Secret/Hidden” name was Amun (the Hidden) Ra.  They later showed me how Amun Ra corresponds to the Moon, which was given greater significance then the Sun. It was through this understanding that led me to discover the Maa Aankh.\nThe basis of the Maa Aankh cosmogram is that the world is composed of two lands called above TASETT (the Red Lands), which is ruled by Set, and KAMTA (the Black Lands), which is ruled by Osar – the owner of the white hedjet crown.  When a human being incarnates to the land of the living or the harsh Red Lands, we must follow the path of Ra, which was discovered by Oset – KhepeRA (Kala in KiKongo/Sunrise/Birth), RA (Tukala in KiKongo/Midday/Life), RA Atum (Luvemba in KiKongo/Sunset/Death) and Amun RA (Musoni in KiKongo/Midnight/Rebirth).\n\n                                   Maa Aankh Cosmogram\n\nSimilar to the Kongo land of the dead or mpemba (land of whiteness/purity), KAMTA is called the Black Lands because of the dark fertile soil due to the inundation of the Nile River, but it is an allusion to the mysterious spiritual realm of the ancestors.  Hence, the reason the Kemetians referred to the southern region as the land of their ancestors and symbolized this region by the white Hedjet crown and the Kemetic ancestor Osar.\nThe purpose of sharing this with you is because many of us (myself included) have been convinced that we were stripped of our culture and it is just not true. The whole purpose of telling us this is so that we never return back to our cultural way of thinking. There are all sorts of examples I could list to prove that we did not lose our culture. We lost the philosophy and theology behind our culture, which is the reason many talk about the ancestors but are afraid to work with them.\nKAMTA is the recreation of the brooks, groves, hush harbors, the forest, the wilderness, the cemetery, the underground, the lake, the sea and anywhere there is a mysterious reward including the deep recesses of the mind. This is where all of our answers and solutions come from, and why our ancestors met there to plot their revolts.  So, don’t be afraid of the dark because this is where our ancestors reside.\nHope this helps.\n\n\n29 09 2017\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\n\nKongo Cross used for Ventilation during Underground Railroad\n\n\nNpu (Anubis) - The Opener of the Way\n\nNpu (Anubis) – The Opener of the Way\n\n\n\n\nHow to Develop a Maa (Holistic) Perspective\n\n28 09 2017\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\n\n\n\n\nMaa Aankh with Utchat\n\n\n\n\nThe Eyes of Ra (Provide a Holistic Perspective)\n\nThe Eyes of Ra (Provide a Holistic Perspective)\n\n\n\n\nAncient African Spirituality is a Weapon against Mind-Control\n\n2 08 2017\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessing) Family\n\n\n\n\n“Did you go to the hospital?” I asked.\n\n\n\n\n“How long ago did this happen?” I asked.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHow did this happen? I wondered.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOh, the subconscious programming is used on Brothas too.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat’s within you?\n\nGod and your ancestors. That’s the short answer.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nImages and memes from the movies:\n\nLord of the Rings & John Carpenter’s “They Live”\n\n\n29 07 2017\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings) Family.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSo what does all of this mean?\n\n\n\n\n\nHru and Set – Fighting the Devil Within\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Difference between Kamitic Spirituality and Western Religious Beliefs\n\n29 07 2015\n\nHetepu (Peace & Blessings Family)\n\n\n\nZeus on Mt. Olympus molding the lives of men\n\nZeus on Mt. Olympus molding the lives of men\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSet of TASETT (from Maa Aankh 2)\n\nSet – the Kamtic symbol for Fear\n\n\nOsar from Maa Ankh 2\n\nOsar the Kamitic symbol of Universal Love\n\n\nPortuguese ship\n\nPortuguese ship\n\n\n\n\nMaa Aankh Cosmology\n\n\n\n\n\nHope this helps.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9340100288391113}
+{"content": "Question: How to process images using a mobius with an IR lens?\n\nmiguel_rosas asked on October 18, 2016 16:43\n576 | 1 answers | #13575\n\nWhat I want to do or know\n\nUsing a mobius camera with the IR Lens form public lab can I calculate NDVI operating the red and near infrared band as its formula suggests (since the modified lend substitutes blue with near infrared) ?? do I still need the white balance???\n\nBackground story\n\nHello! hey I'm planning on doing some NDVI for a school project and I happen to have the code in Matlab to calculate NDVI having the value of each band in a picture. Im really interested in your Infragram Plant Cam and IR Lens but I don't understand just yet how this white balancing works.\n\n\nLog in to comment\n\n1 Answers\n\nHi, very late reply but I'm starting to tie everything in this topic area together -- there's now documentation up at both https://publiclab.org/wiki/infrared-software and https://publiclab.org/wiki/infragram.\n\nLog in to comment\n\nSign up or Login to post an answer to this question.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7733173966407776}
+{"content": "Kick Off vs Planning\n\n\nWhile it seems the two terms are used interchangeably for meetings where upcoming development content is discussed, I find it important to differentiate between the two as I see them fulfilling two different roles.\n\nKick-Off Meeting\n\nDuring this meeting things are kicked-off, as the name says. Its purpose is for a concept or idea to be presented to the team and provide the opportunity to discuss these.\n\nThis is the perfect time for punching holes into the concept, as everyone’s able to challenge the concept by pointing out flaws and risks. The whole team can brainstorm on the spot about ways to improve the concept and handle or mitigate any potential problems you’re seeing as you go through it.\n\nBut more than anything it’s imperative that everyone understands the concept and is on the same page about it. Questions are more than welcome - they should be encouraged. There should be nothing unclear about the concept at the end of the meeting.\n\nPlanning Meetings\n\nUnlike with the kick-off meeting, everyone on the team should be aware of the concept idea in a planning meeting. The purpose here would be to establish dependencies, provide story estimations, iron out schedules, and generally agreeing on a plan for proceeding with the implementation.\n\nThis does not mean that changes cannot happen at this stage. Being Agile means changes are a core of your development process. But if they kick-off goes well, there shouldn’t be any major changes in a planning.\n\nPlanning is about ironing out your user stories to ensure they all have the acceptance criteria and testing notes that they need. It’s about agreeing on the order in which the stories need to be developed, discussing what automation coverage should take place, and all relevant plans for implementing the content.\n\nlisted #2", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9484886527061462}
+{"content": "Purple Tea\n\nPurple Tea\n\nPerfect Purple\n\nIt has been found to have a host of medicinal properties, is rich in anthocyanins and contains lower catechins. Purple tea has low caffeine content and is high in antioxidants that provide anti-cancer benefits, improve vision, lowers cholesterol and blood sugar metabolism. The purple color comes from anthocyanins. But wait, it isn't purple when it steeps!  Join us for a tea tasting and see the magic happen!\n\nSteeping for purple is a lot like any other tea.  You have to fie the perfect steep for you.  Start by using the instructions on the packaging and adjust to your liking. \n\nPlenty to choose from!\n\nThis site was built using", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.993228018283844}
+{"content": "Showing Vulnerability to Build Awareness\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRead my story. \n\nChristmas with Dementia\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMost under-recognized public health threat\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLive in their reality\n\n\n\n\nLive in their reality\n— Stephen Garrett\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLink Between Brain and Behaviour\n\n\n\nThe main areas of concern in Alzheimer disease:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWandering during Dementia\n\nImagine going for a walk during the day, getting lost, and not being able to find your way back home. Or one of your loved ones wanders out in the middle of the night with no coat or socks. This is a reality the people living with dementia and their caregivers face. \n\nWandering is a common behaviour for people with dementia and can occur for numerous reasons, including confusion, delusions, escape from a real or perceived threat and agitation.\n\nIt can be very scary for all involved and may lead to stress and concerns for safety.  Wandering may result in highly dangerous situations including elopement, in which the person leaves an area and is unwilling or unable to return. Six in 10 people with dementia will wander.\n\nThe easiest way to put yourself in the shoes of someone that has dementia was excellently described in an article on Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation website.\n\n\nFiguring out why a person living with dementia wanders can be difficult, because each person is different. We do know that wandering is a direct result of physical changes in the brain. Research has determined that it is more common in the middle or later stages of dementia, although it can occur at any point during the disease.\n\nThe risks of wandering can be minimized through proactive steps, strategies and services.\n\nHere are 10 ways to prevent wandering\n\nFighting the opposition\n\nOne of the hardest things about being a young caregiver is I often feel that my voice is not weighted the same as it would if I were older. I am not taken as seriously despite the fact I have 10 years of dealing with dementia.\n\nThere have been times during my advocacy journey when I have reached out to an organization to volunteer or join their board of directors and have been turned away. I found this was particularly the case when I tried to offer my voice, experiences and suggestions to large organizations or the government. That is one of the many reasons for this blog.\n\nThis happened to me again recently and I had forgotten what it felt like. It kinda knocks the wind out of your sails and makes you want to give up or not speak out\n\nBut after receiving an email from someone who heard my story and was touched by it, it renewed my determination to keep fighting any obstacles that will inevitably come my way.\n\nAnytime a person speaks out or goes against the grain, they are bound to be met by opposition. However, there is nothing and no one that could stop me from channeling my experiences into effective advocacy efforts.\n\nHere is a quote that I came across today I found really meaningful and poignant:\n\n— Brené Brown\n\nNever stay silent!\n\n\nDementia diagnosis sidetracked both our lives\n\nIn an earlier post entitled Out in the Open, I talked about being interviewed for the CBC's Out in the Open podcast. It just aired on Sunday and I have been getting some amazingly positive reactions. \n\nPeople have said that the interview was humbling, wise and courageous, while others have just expressed how proud they are of me, which feels really good.\n\nYou never really know what the response to a piece like this is going to be, but I hope by putting myself out there, it will spark a conversation.\n\nPeople never think this disease will impact them until it does. And by then, it is too late to have the proactive discussions about health, desires and wishes of your loved one because you are in reactionary mode and are barely trying to keep your head above water.\n\nThis disease immeasurably changed the course of my mother and I's lives, rendering us unable to have these types of deep philosophical discussions. We were both sidetracked and never really got to experience our lives the way we were supposed to at our ages.\n\nI encourage each and every one of you to start talking to your loved ones while they are still of sound mind.\n\nHowever, if you or someone in your family has recently been diagnosed, here are some key strategies to employ.\n\nIf you want to share you story or discuss what route you chose along the way, feel free to reach out.\n\nI am here to listen.\n\n\n\n\n\nOut in the Open\n\nToday I was interviewed by a producer for CBC's Out in the Open with Piya Chattopadhyay about my mother's disease and my experiences caring for her.\n\nThis was a dream come true as I always wanted to be affiliated with the CBC, I just did not expect it to be in this capacity.\n\nIt was a bittersweet moment. It was wonderful to share my story as it has the possibility of touching people, but it is hard to reveal the intimate experiences of this disease and the choices I have had to make because of it. \n\nThe interview made me feel vulnerable. It was like exposing a part of myself that does not otherwise get to see the light of day.\n\nI realized that we, as caregivers, do not talk enough about what we are made to endure because of this disease. I am not sure if it is because of stigma or because the sheer act of discussing it brings emotions to the surface that are otherwise boiling just underneath.\n\nI hope that through this small act of bravery, I will encourage others to speak up and join the discussion.\n\nOur voices and experiences have the power to make a difference.\n\nThere is no time like the present to take action.\n\n\n\nWith Dementia, A Cup Of Tea Is Not So Easy\n\nMy family is of British heritage so having a cup of tea in my house growing up was customary. Unfortunately, I am not sure if I tasked my mum with conducting this tradition today, she would remember all the steps required to complete it.\n\nThat is because a seemingly menial task, like making a cup of tea, is actual a complicated series of activities undertaken by the brain to turn a simple idea into a completed action. Different parts of the brain have to work together to control thinking, learning and remembering. \n\nThe brain has 100 billion nerve cells (neurons). Each nerve cell connects with many others to form communication networks. The networks are responsible for the way the brain's messages are relayed and form the basis of memories, thoughts and feelings.\n\nFor someone suffering from dementia, amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles deprive the neurons of oxygen, rendering them unable to communicate, and eventually leading to the death of the nerve cell. As the nerves cells die, the brain shrink resulting in simple tasks in daily life like brushing one's teeth becoming too convoluted. \n\nA simple example from daily life that shows how functions controlled by different parts of the brain work together is the task of making a cup of tea.\n\nFirst you have a thought, I feel like having a cup of tea. Now a whole series of activities have to happen in different parts of the brain before you can enjoy that cup of tea.\n\nThe brain has to:\n\n  1. switch on your motor to make you get up and go to the kitchen;\n  2. remember where the tea bags are stored;\n  3. recognize what container looks like and understand that the label has a connection to the contents;\n  4. recall and understand entire sequence of actions for making tea\n    (i.e., grab a cup, locate a teaspoon, put the tea bag in the cup); \n  5. connect the visual image of the tap with the activity of running water;\n  6. know the right amount of water has to be measured;\n  7. know how to turn on the kettle;\n  8. exercise patience while the kettle to boils;\n  9. recognize when the procedure has finished; \n  10. know that the boiling water has to be poured over the tea bag and left to steep.\n  11. know to remove tea bag from the cup; \n  12. remind you to put in milk and sugar if that is your preference; \n  13. tell you to raise the cup up to your mouth in order to drink; and\n  14. tell the part that controls the reflex action of swallowing to function correctly.\n\nAnd now you have your cup of tea to enjoy! Not as menial of a task after all.\n\nAlzheimer's Disease affects not only the individual's ability to initiate and follow a process like this, but also the ability to recognize that a process like this if required.\n\nSo next time you go to make your morning pick-me-up, remember how lucky you are to have the mental capacity to be able to complete\n\nTo learn more about how dementia affects the brain, take a tour.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5709715485572815}
+{"content": "Jamaican High Commissioner HE Aloun Ndombet-Assamba Nominated for Air Passenger Duty Reform\n\nHer Excellency Mrs. Aloun Ndombet-Assamba\n\nHer Excellency Mrs. Aloun Ndombet-Assamba\n\nLondon, UK – April 20, 2016 – Her Excellency Mrs. Aloun Ndombet-Assamba, High Commissioner of Jamaica to the Court of St James, has been shortlisted from over 100 government nominations this year for the 4th Annual Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Award. The award recognises outstanding politicians and diplomats who are representing civilian interests at the highest level in areas of policy, social and business overall. Ms Ndombet-Assamba has been nominated for her lobbying efforts to reform Air Passenger Duty affecting tourism between UK and the Caribbean. \n\nThe controversial travel tax was introduced by Britain in 1994 as measure to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. However, the tax made flying into Jamaica and the Caribbean more expensive, attracting substantial taxes that hurt airlines, business users and consumers. The UK is the fastest growing market for Jamaica but tax rise for air passenger led to more than 28,000 tourists being lost to competing markets outside of the Caribbean (Telegraph, Sept 2011).\n\nThe High Commissioner described the APD as being discriminatory and harmful to small Commonwealth nations, stating that “the system unduly favours the United States and short-haul destinations in Europe.” The main inequality of the band system is that when travelling to Jamaica (roughly 4,700 miles from the UK), passengers pay more duty than those travelling to Hawaii, some 7,000 miles away.\n\nThe APD was increased regularly, making billions in revenues for the UK government but increased the price to travel from the UK to the Caribbean. In addition to reversing the adverse effects on tourism-dependent economies, the removal of the tax would result in the creation of an additional 91,000 jobs and £4.2 billion being added to the economy (WTCC, March 2011).\n\nAs former Minister of Tourism, Ms Ndombet-Assamba is acutely aware of the key role tourism plays in Jamaica’s economic growth and development. Tourism is a lifeblood for the island which is also responsible for creating jobs and entrepreneurialism for local residents. Ms Ndombet-Assamba worked closely with other Caribbean countries and led the effort to secure an item on the Commonwealth Summit agenda to get the matter discussed by those countries affected by APD.\n\nThe active campaign by Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Governments, UK-based High Commissioners led by Ms Ndombet-Assamba and the UK Caribbean Diaspora resulted in the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, in his budget statement in 2014 announcing that all long haul flights will carry the same, lower, band B tax rate as the United States. The new measures took effect in April 2015.\n\nSince the changes, Jamaica has seen 31.5% increase in tourism over the past two years and continues to make steady increases in fuelling tourism back to other Caribbean islands.\n\n\nMs Ndombet-Assamba has shown great dedication in bringing the Jamaican diaspora and Caribbean communities together to lobby on this important case, and was successful on winning on a policy matter that would have negatively impaired the islands economic development.\n\nJoin HE Aloun Ndombet-Assamba and other government nominees for the gala dinner at The May Fair Hotel, London on Wednesday 20th April, 2016. For ticket information please visit: http://www.grassrootdiplomat.org/book-tickets or call 07511 816689.\n\n\n\nAbout Grassroot Diplomat\n\nGrassroot Diplomat is a non-profit diplomatic consultancy with the mission to build trust and strengthen relationships between governments and civil society. As an independent agency, Grassroot Diplomat shows no allegiance to a solitary government but will act in the interest of the people, no matter where they are or what state their country is in. We focus on improving public diplomacy activities by engaging government officials on sustainable social campaigns and investment projects that offers a positive rate of return for their people.\n\n\nNina Maxwell\nGrassroot Diplomat\nVoice Message: +44 (0) 207 608 5532\n\nJamaican High Commissioner\nTelephone: +44 (0) 207 823 9911", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9547974467277527}
+{"content": "\n\nBrutal Truths #1: The universe doesn’t care about you\n\n This is what we know so far:\n\nThe space in which we find ourselves came into existence around 13.8 billion years ago, and since then has expanded to a hundred billion galaxies. Our galaxy alone contains 100 billion stars. Of these stars, many are several times bigger than our Sun. 1,300,000 earths would fit inside our sun.\n\nNot only is most of the universe uninhabitable to our type of (carbon-based) life, 95% of it does not even seem to consist of the same type of matter (but 68 % dark energy and 27% dark matter). On earth, conditions for life are not much better.\n\nOnly with the help of technological achievement have men and women been able to maximize their capacity to survive as much as we have.\n\nAll of such achievement has been man-made. When you realize that you alone are the beacon of hope in the universe, you can take responsibility for that power and help others.\n\nAnyone who looks at the world as it really is can see that it’s characterized by suffering in far greater measure than it is by happiness and prosperity.\n\nWhen you become aware that this is not by design, you see that it was merely a matter of chance that you were born into fortunate circumstances. You’ll see that the only reward for doing good is the goodness it can bring into the lives of others, and start to make genuinely moral decisions.\n\nBrutal Truths #2: Beautiful moments are fleeting\n\nOnce you come to terms with the idea that happiness is not a final and stable state of existence, but passing moments in time, it makes you more able to realistically look upon what can be expected of life.\n\nThis will make you more stoical in your attitude to difficult situations and your attitude to your relationships will improve.\n\nBrutal Truths #3: You will die\n\nThis is perhaps the biggest one to really come to terms with. Everybody knows on the surface of things that they are going to die, but people often only come to this realization truly when they are older.\n\nIf you can live with this realization, it will genuinely affect your attitude to life. It will make you appreciate the time you have more, and you’ll play a more active role in your life.\n\nBrutal Truths #4: You will have regrets\n\nEveryone makes mistakes, and everyone has regrets. The important thing is to be able to face our regrets and incorporate them into our personal development. It’s very painful to look back on past experiences where you know you’ve behaved badly.\n\nYou have to forgive yourself the things you did when you didn’t know any better. But it’s only when you look at those actions and admit your mistake that you can consciously make the decision to correct yourself for the future.\n\nBrutal Truths #5: You are a primate\n\nIt is evident from our biology that: we share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees, we grow fur and a tail in the womb. It’s also obvious from an honest analysis of human behavior that human beings are primates.\n\nWe have some savage characteristics, but also a capacity for reasoning and feeling empathy with our fellow living creatures.\n\n― Charles DarwinThe Origin of Species\n\nBrutal Truths #6: There’s never enough evidence to be absolutely sure of anything\n\nAll truth, if not logical or mathematical, is empirical.\n\nThat is, scientific or philosophical claims must have their source of experience, in the world we perceive. But this world, consisting of objects, is fundamentally mysterious because we can never know if our descriptions and claims about objects correspond to the objects themselves (meaning outside our perception).\n\nFor example, you can say the bowl is red, but that’s not to say that the atoms that make up the bowl have color. Even the laws we ascribe to nature are not necessarily true for all time, for we are bound by the limits of our mind and the duration of our existence.\n\nBrutal Truths #7: There is only now\n\nThe past is gone. The future is yet to come. Our minds traverse both realms so intimately that it almost seems as if we are there. Yet this world of our minds is only that: the realm of imagination. Focus on anything around you.\n\nFeel what it is like to exist in a body. Be still. The past and the future are mere ideas. The present is all that is.\n\nLive in it, or be as nothing.\n\n\nBy Carolina J.\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9462335705757141}
+{"content": "Osteoporosis and Male Infertility\n\nMany different factors can impact men’s bone health, including hormones, diet, exercise, and genetics. From a hormonal standpoint, adequate testosterone and estradiol levels are important for maintaining good bone strength. Low testosterone and estradiol levels are known risk factors for the weakening of bones in men, making them more susceptible to fractures as they age.\n\n\nBone strength (also called bone mineral density, or BMD) is significantly influenced by:\n\n      1) Hypogonadism (low testosterone)\n\n      2) Nutrition\n\n      3) Lifestyle (including tobacco use, alcohol use, and exercise)\n\n      4) Medications (such as glucocorticoid steroids)\n\n      5) Chronic disease\n\n      6) Heredity\n\n\nBone density is usually measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scanning. This is a quick X-ray of the hip and spine that directly measures bone density. A T-score is then given that compares that patient’s peak bone density with normal values for his age, sex, and race. Osteoporosis is typically defined as having a T-score of -2.5 or lower (2.5 standard deviations or more below the mean), and it puts men at risk for greater odds of developing a fracture, especially in the spine, proximal femur (hip), and distal radius (wrist). Osteopenia, a lesser degree of bone weakening, is usually defined as having a T-score between -1.0 and -2.5.\n\nMen who have a low total testosterone (less than 300 ng/dL) are generally advised to follow osteoporosis prevention guidelines in order to prevent worsening of bone mineral density. Some clinicians suggest that men with a very low total testosterone (less than 200 ng/dL) have a baseline DEXA scan to see if osteoporosis or osteopenia is already present. If the DEXA scan is abnormal, then it should be repeated in two years to see if the recommended interventions have been effective.\n\n\nGeneral guidelines for the prevention of osteoporosis and osteopenia:\n\n1) Calcium 1,000–1,500 mg daily\n\n2) Vitamin D 800 IU daily\n\n3) Regular weight-bearing exercise: three to five sessions (20 to 25 minutes each) each week of exercise, such as jogging or\n\n              running, skiing, weightlifting, or most ball sports\n\n4) Weight loss if overweight or obese (to bring BMI down to under 25)\n\n5) Avoid tobacco products and excessive alcohol intake\n\n6) Correction of low testosterone levels\n\n\nIf these measures are not effective in reversing osteoporotic/osteopenic changes, then stronger medications (such as bisphosphonates) are available that can increase bone strength. Special diagnostic tests, such as the Fracture Risk Assessment (FRAX) tool, developed by the World Health Organization, can be utilized to see if these stronger medications may be clinically indicated. Bisphosphonates work by inhibiting the normal bodily process of bone breakdown; medications in this category come in both oral forms, including alendronate (Fosamax) and risendronate (Actonel), and intravenous forms, including zolendronic acid (Zometa) and pamidronate (Aredia).\n\n\nEstradiol Levels and Osteoporosis\n\nIn addition to testosterone, adequate estradiol levels also play a very important role in maintaining bone strength in men. Most experts believe that for adequate bone health, men should try to maintain long-term estradiol levels of at least 20 pg/mL if possible. Some men taking aromatase inhibitors (such as anastrazole) can have estradiol levels that fall below this range. These men should follow the basic osteoporosis guidelines listed above, consider periodic DEXA scanning if on aromatase inhibitors for a prolonged time, and stop taking them when they are done with their fertility efforts.\n\n\nClomiphene and Osteoporosis\n\nThe relationship between clomiphene and osteoporosis is still unclear. On one hand, clomiphene can increase both testosterone and estradiol levels, which should enhance bone health. However, the variable impact of clomiphene on different sets of estrogen receptors throughout the body raises concerns as to whether this medication can actually worsen osteoporosis over time. Studies have shown conflicting results, with some showing improvements in bone density and others showing decreased bone density in men using clomiphene. Because of these concerns, men who are done with their fertility efforts should stop taking clomiphene. If they are taking the medication for a prolonged period of time, they should consider periodic DEXA scanning.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7532382607460022}
+{"content": "Podobne wydarzenia\n\nPodobne kategorie\n\nTour to Montmartre\n\nOd PLN 112\n\nDiscover the charming neighbourhood Montmartre during this 2-hour guided tour! Montmartre is an iconic area of Paris filled with narrow streets and feeling of the old Paris. Here you'll see both the Sacré Coeur, Place de Tertre and much more! \n\n- Enjoy a 2-hour guided tour in Montmartre\n- Admire the Basilica of the Sacré Coeur from the outside\n- Experience Place du Tertre\n\nExplore the Charming Montmartre Area\nYour local guide will show you Montmartre's highlights and best spots. Discover the lively Place du Tertre where many painters, portraitists and caricaturists sell their work. Admire the beautiful Basilica of the Sacré Coeur on the very top of the hill. \n\nYou'll also experience the Place du Calvaire, the famous Vignes de Montmartre, the windmill Moulin de la Galette and the bustling Abbesses quarter with the Rue Lepic and the famous 'Bar des 2 Moulins.'\n\nThe tour ends by the Moulin Rouge cabaret in Montmartre, so you can continue on exploring the charming neighbourhood on your own. \n\nHow do I get my tickets?\n\nWhere does the tour begin?\nThe tour starts in front of the tourist information by the metro station Anvers. The address will be clearly stated on your e-ticket. Please be there 30 minutes before the tour starts. \n\nWhere does the tour end?\nThe tour ends at the Moulin Rouge in Montmartre. \n\nHow long does the tour last?\nThe tour lasts approx. 2 hours. \n\nWhat languages is the tour available in?\nThe tour is available in English, Spanish and French. \n\nAre there children's tickets?\n\nKategorie biletów\n\nDorosły (12+)\nDziecko (3-11)\nNiemowlę (0-2): Bezpłatny\n\nGodziny otwarcia\n\nThe tour departs Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday.\n\nGodziny otwarcia\n\n\nTour of Montmartre", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.999697208404541}
+{"content": "<![CDATA[Kentucky Personal Injury Blog]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2013-03-21:/blog/79774 2019-02-20T01:40:34Z Movable Type Enterprise <![CDATA[These 3 accident causes are common throughout America]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2019:/blog//79774.3631787 2019-02-21T22:08:03Z 2019-02-20T01:40:34Z There are dozens of reasons that car crashes could happen ranging from mechanical errors to drivers' mistakes. As a victim of a crash, knowing the cause can be important. Even if you made a minor error, a more serious mistake, like driving while drunk or distracted, could mean that the other driver is liable for the collision.\n\nOf the dozens of reasons for crashes, there are three prominent causes. One is speeding. Another is driving while intoxicated. The third is being distracted when you should be paying attention to the road.\n\n]]> 1. Speeding\n\nSpeeding is a cause of accidents often because of the driver's inability to stop quickly. Speeding is actually the second most common cause of collisions in the United States. To prevent these crashes, all people have to do is slow down.\n\n2. Driving while intoxicated\n\nThis is one of the most dangerous things you can do behind the wheel of a vehicle. Driving while intoxicated changes your perception of what's going on around you and can make your reflexes much slower. In addition, you may not pay attention to the road or could pass out behind the wheel. Avoid serious collisions due to drinking and driving by avoiding drinks for several hours before you get behind the wheel. If you will be drinking, consider bringing along a personal Breathalyzer, so you can test your BAC before you drive.\n\n3. Distractions behind the wheel\n\nThere are many different things that could distract you while you're behind the wheel ranging from accidents outside your vehicle to spills or fights inside the vehicle. To avoid distractions that could cause you to crash, turn off your phone, don't eat when driving and avoid talking to passengers or allowing them to argue while you drive. You need to place your full focus on the road, which may be impossible if you're distracted by other people or things happening inside or outside your vehicle.\n\nIf you are hit by someone who has been distracted, who chose to drive drunk or who was speeding, then you should be made aware of it. You deserve to be fully informed when you seek compensation from the other party's insurance company. The cause of the accident does matter, and how you want to handle the case moving forward may also depend on if the driver will face criminal charges or not due to their actions behind the wheel.\n\n<![CDATA[These are some of the most dangerous roads in Kentucky]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2019:/blog//79774.3631756 2019-02-19T22:51:34Z 2019-02-19T22:50:34Z There are many areas of Kentucky that are more dangerous than others when it comes to driving. For example, Interstate 264 in Louisville has more collisions than any other in the city limits, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Other roads are problematic too, such as Kentucky Highway 44, which runs through Bullitt County.\n\nWhat makes these roads dangerous is not only factors like how they are rural roads or two-lane roads with narrow lanes. The truth is that they're dangerous because of the traffic that has to pass through the area being too great for the space on the roadway. For example, Kentucky Highway 44 is narrow, but it's the large amount of traffic that has to use the highway that makes it so dangerous. Between 2013 and 2015, that road was the scene of 6,830 accidents.\n\n]]> What other roadways are dangerous in Kentucky?\n\nSome of the other dangerous roads include Interstate 71 in Oldham County, with 2,800 crashes between 2013 and 2015. Jefferson County's I-264 had over 19,000 crashes. U.S. Highway 60, which runs through Shelby County, was the site of over 4,700 collisions.\n\nWhat can be done to reduce the likelihood of crashes on these highways?\n\nOne of the things that people would like to see is for the roadways to be widened. Adding another lane, for example, can reduce congestion and improve flow, which reduces the likelihood of collisions. Adding guardrails is another possible solution, so that vehicles don't go off the road or roll down hills as a result of a collision.\n\nWith your own vehicle, you can reduce the likelihood of a crash by attempting to stay off the roads during busy times. For example, avoid driving during rush hour, when the traffic load is the highest. It's also a good idea to take alternative routes instead of main roads, especially if traffic is heavy or if there has been a crash. If traffic is heavy, you're at a higher risk of a collision due to the stop-and-go traffic that you may not be able to avoid.\n\nGive yourself plenty of time to get to your destination, too. Doing this reduces your stress levels and allows you to be more focused on what you're doing instead of the time or your speed. With these precautions, you can protect yourself and others when you go out, even if you have to travel on one of these dangerous roadways.\n\n<![CDATA[Manufacturer knew baby powder contained cancer-causing substance]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2019:/blog//79774.3614480 2019-02-06T17:40:09Z 2019-02-06T17:39:09Z Many women across Kentucky and the United States have used baby powder in their personal hygiene routines for years, but a recent investigation into the product long rumored to cause cancer has revealed some new and troubling information. The investigation revealed that, not only does baby powder contain trace amounts of asbestos, which is a known carcinogen, but that the baby powder manufacturer knew this, but neglected to inform the public. At the Law Office of Richard Hay, we recognize that the manufacturer’s failure to inform the public of product risks placed thousands of Americans at risk, and we have helped many people who suffered hardship because of defective or dangerous products seek recourse.\n\n\n\n\n<![CDATA[What you should know about aggressive driving]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2019:/blog//79774.3599650 2019-01-28T15:00:35Z 2019-01-28T14:59:35Z Aggressive drivers put the lives of everyone on the road in danger. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatal Accident Reporting System, more than 52 percent of fatal accidents over a five-year period involved aggressive drivers. AAA reported, that at least 80 percent of all drivers admit to driving erratically or in an aggressive manner at some point. Whether you are running late to an important appointment or meeting or you are simply tired of being stuck in traffic, aggressive driving is a serious problem for drivers in Kentucky and across the country.\n\nBy understanding the signs of aggressive driving and knowing what to look for, you may be able to avoid becoming the victim of a serious car accident. The signs of road rage may include the following:\n\n  •          Failing to yield to right of way\n  •          Failing to obey traffic signs, traffic signals and pedestrian crosswalks\n  •          Speeding\n  •          Improper and erratic changing of lanes\n  •          Tailgating or following too closely behind another vehicle\n]]> People with road rage may use profanities or use obscene hand gestures when passing other vehicles. Aggressive drivers may become physically violent as well.  It is extremely important to avoid engaging in these behaviors. They may race with other drivers, further endangering those around them. Law enforcement officers encourage drivers to avoid making eye contact with road rage motorists. Contact law enforcement quickly, as they may be able to intervene and prevent a serious accident from occurring.\n\n\n<![CDATA[Volvo recalls more than 219,000 vehicles due to fuel leak issue]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2019:/blog//79774.3593862 2019-01-23T21:51:34Z 2019-01-23T21:50:34Z Consumers expect that the products they purchase are safe for their intended use. This is particularly true when a product is safety-critical, such as a motor vehicle. Every time you get in your car, you take your life into your hands. Obviously, you want your vehicle to be as safe as possible.\n\nProper maintenance is very important to limiting your risk for a car crash, as is attentive and defensive driving. Unfortunately, there are certain factors that you, as a driver, cannot control. These include issues with bad products coming out of auto manufacturing plants and the companies that make their various components.\n\n]]> Because issues with cars can often be safety-critical, recalls are common if a bad part could cause injury or death. In some cases, like defective airbags, it is only after major accidents that automakers initiate a recall. Other times, auto makers make pre-emptive recalls in order to protect consumers.\n\nVolvo recalling more than 200,000 vehicles over potential fuel leak\n\nThe recall announced by Volvo in January, 2019, reflects a desire by the automaker to avoid injuries and accidents. They specifically claimed that there have been no reported incidents resulting in the injury of consumers at this time. However, there is a very real risk of injury, given how serious the concern is that led to the recall.\n\nEssentially, small cracks in the fuel lines inside the engine could result in fuel leaking over time. With wear and aging, the issue could become worse. That may increase the risk for fires or explosions in the event of a crash. In order to keep consumers safe, Volvo has voluntarily recalled roughly 219,000 cars.\n\nMost of the impacted cars are in Europe, but some vehicles in the United States may also be affected. Both 2015 and 2016 models are part of the recall. Volvo owners should check carefully to see if their vehicle is part of this most recent recall.\n\nConsumers should be able to trust products on the market\n\nConsumers should not have to worry about getting hurt because of a company's failure to engage in proper testing or quality assurance. However, it does happen, even with very dangerous machinery, like motor vehicles.\n\nProduct recalls occur because companies worry about the financial liability of product failures. However, simply recalling a product or component does not absolve a company of responsibility or liability for defects.\n\nThose who get hurt by defective products, whether it's a kitchen appliance or a car, have the right to take legal action against the company responsible for the defective product. Sitting down to discuss your situation with an experienced attorney is a good first step if you believe you have a case related to a defective vehicle component of other consumer product.\n\n<![CDATA[What commercial vehicle drivers need to know about fatigue]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2019:/blog//79774.3579038 2019-01-11T22:08:11Z 2019-01-11T22:07:11Z Kentucky residents who drive commercial vehicles typically spend a lot of time behind the wheel. It can be dangerous for people to drive, though, if they are drowsy, regardless of whether they are transporting people or goods.\n\nAlthough some people may think they can drive safely if they are a little tired, this is not the case. The National Safety Council says that when a driver is sleepy, he or she is more likely to be involved in a collision. Additionally, tired drivers typically have a slower reaction time than drivers who are not fatigued. Because commercial drivers spend so much time on the road, it is important for them to make sure they have enough rest.\n\n]]> In order to prevent fatigued driving, commercial drivers need to know the signs of fatigue. Tired drivers may drift in and out of their lane or miss a turn. They might also realize they cannot remember driving for the past few minutes. Additionally, people may be unable to keep their eyes open and they might yawn often. When professional drivers realize they are fatigued, it is important for them to pull over and rest. \n\nThere are several steps commercial drivers can take to ensure they are well-rested. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, professional drivers should generally avoid behaviors designed to keep them alert. While some people may feel alert when they drink coffee or listen to the radio, these actions typically do not remove a driver's fatigue. Instead, it is a good idea for people to take a short nap when they are drowsy. It is also important for a driver to make sure he or she gets enough sleep. If some people know they always get tired around certain times of the day, they may want to avoid driving at these times.\n\n\n<![CDATA[Is my space heater a fire waiting to happen?]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2018:/blog//79774.3562026 2018-12-30T08:54:26Z 2018-12-30T08:53:26Z As you know, utility bills are expensive, especially in the wintertime. To save on heating costs, you might turn your thermostat down and run a space heater. These little appliances are useful for heating small areas and keeping utility costs down for Kentucky residents, but they can also be dangerous. In fact, space heaters are considered one of the top causes of home fires and burn injuries in the country.\n\nThe DIY Network cautions that approximately one-third of home fires and four out of five fatalities related to heating equipment are caused by space heaters. If you recently bought a space heater or pulled one out of storage to keep you warm in the cold months, take note of the following safety tips:\n\n  • Look online for reports of injuries or recalls involving your brand and model of space heater.\n  • Absolutely never plug your heater into an extension cord, which can overheat and cause a fire.\n  • Don’t run the heater’s cord under a rug or place it where you can trip over the cord or a pet can chew on it.\n  • Always turn off your space heater and unplug it when you leave the room.\n  • Place your heater at least three feet away from items that can overheat and combust, such as curtains, blankets or furniture.\n  • Never leave a child or pet alone with a space heater.\n]]> When you take the proper precautions and inspect your space heater for signs of damage or defects, you may prevent a disaster in your home.\n\n<![CDATA[What happens if a driver without good insurance crashes into you?]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2018:/blog//79774.3561003 2018-12-27T23:01:37Z 2018-12-27T23:00:37Z As a responsible Kentucky driver, you likely do everything in your power to avoid contributing to a crash. From performing proper maintenance on your vehicle to driving with caution, the things you do can impact how much risk you have on the road. Unfortunately, nothing you do can prevent someone else from causing a crash.\n\nWhen that happens, the other driver should have insurance that covers your losses. Unfortunately, not all drivers carry insurance. A small but significant number of drivers in Kentucky don't have insurance on their vehicles at any given time.\n\n]]> As if that weren't frightening enough, it is also possible that the other driver may not have enough insurance to cover the costs of the crash. That could leave you with bills that far exceed the insurance settlement you receive.\n\nHow Kentucky auto insurance works\n\nWhen you purchase car insurance, you are insuring against the liability you incur by driving. If you cause an accident, the other party can come after you for their medical expenses and the property damage that results. Your policy protects you from facing a personal lawsuit that could cost you thousands of dollars.\n\nThe people who sue you could go after your paycheck in an attempt to garnish it or even sue for some of the equity in your home if you have no other assets. The coverage included in your insurance policy protects you from those financial liabilities. However, your insurance has a maximum payout depending on the circumstances of the accident.\n\nMany people purchase the state minimum coverage, which is relatively low. You may get into an accident with a driver who only carries $25,000 worth of personal injury coverage for one injured party or $50,000 for multiple people hurt or killed, and $25,000 worth of property damage coverage.\n\nUnless you have uninsured and underinsured driver riders on your policy, your insurance company will not cover those losses that exceed the other driver's coverage. Generally speaking, your only option will be to pursue a lawsuit.\n\nYou shouldn't have to pay for the mistakes of an underinsured driver\n\nGetting into an accident often leads to financial hardship. Between the cost of repairing or replacing your vehicle and the expenses involved in physical convalescence after injuries, you may experience losses that amount to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.\n\nYou should not have to worry about that financial burden because someone else did not carry adequate vehicle insurance. Taking action by filing a civil lawsuit against the other driver is a smart decision that holds them accountable for what their lack of insurance costs you.\n\nIt may be time to have an attorney review your insurance coverage and recommend what additional riders or expansions in your policy you need for sufficient protection.\n\n<![CDATA[Kentucky Supreme Court rules against medical review panels]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2018:/blog//79774.3557678 2018-12-22T14:28:01Z 2018-12-21T22:10:37Z Medical malpractice is a serious concern that impacts thousands of Americans every year. Whether a doctor fails to diagnose a serious condition or leaves an instrument in a patient during surgery, medical malpractice can have extreme physical and financial consequences for its victims. The right to bring a lawsuit against a doctor is often the only way a patient can recover from the malpractice.\n\nUnfortunately, in 2017, Kentucky enacted a new law that restricted the right of citizens to bring medical malpractice lawsuits against negligent medical care providers. Specifically, this new law created the requirement that anyone alleging medical malpractice would have to bring their claim before a medical review panel prior to filing a lawsuit to seek compensation. Some people hoped the law would prevent frivolous lawsuits from taking up court time.\n\n]]> Obviously, this law had the impact of dissuading people from pursuing medical malpractice lawsuits. Its chilling effect could have led to serious issues for medical patients across Kentucky, but, thankfully, the state Supreme Court has decided that medical review panels are unconstitutional.\n\nThe Kentucky Supreme Court has helped protect medical patients and victims of malpractice\n\nThe constitution in Kentucky provides individuals with the legal right to take claims directly to court. Forcing victims of medical malpractice to go before a medical review panel in order to seek compensation for their injuries violated that basic right of Kentucky citizens.\n\nThe state Supreme Court ruling not only undid this burdensome hurdle between victims of medical malpractice and justice, but it also made clear the fact that similar laws in the future will likely also wind up ruled unconstitutional for the same reason.\n\nThose who attempted to file medical malpractice lawsuits and were waiting for a medical review panel to look over their case will have the ability to re-file their complaint with the circuit courts. Anyone bringing a new complaint in the future, or who filed simultaneously with the medical review panel and the court, will have the right to move forward with the circuit courts directly.\n\nPatients deserve accountability when medical professionals injure them\n\nPeople pay a lot of money to receive quality medical care. When a medical provider makes a mistake that results in injury or illness, the patient often has to deal with a substantial financial burden.\n\nMedical malpractice lawsuits and insurance claims provide injured medical patients with compensation for their injuries. It also provides them with a form of justice, as their doctor gets held accountable for their mistakes or negligence.\n\nAnyone who chose not to move forward with a medical malpractice claim because of the medical review panel requirement may want to explore whether it is now time to move forward with that claim process.\n\n<![CDATA[A look at voice-activated devices]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2018:/blog//79774.3555650 2018-12-20T14:29:17Z 2018-12-20T14:28:17Z Using a hands-free or hand-held cellphone while driving can be a deadly practice. Distracted driving leads to serious car accidents, injuries and even death. In the height of cellular device use, vehicle manufacturers pushed voice-activated technology as a way to limit driver distraction. Drivers can simply speak out commands, compose texts, play music and perform other functions while keeping their hands on the steering wheel and eyes on the road. A study released by AAA shows, however, that there are variances between voice-activated systems, and while some are safer than others, all still cause a significant amount of cognitive distraction.  \n\nDuring the study, participants were asked to drive six vehicles through a neighborhood. Each vehicle used a different type of voice-activated technology. Drivers were asked to perform certain voice commands, including changing the radio station, playing a CD, calling a contact and dialing a phone number. Researchers then evaluated drivers’ heart rate, mental workload and reaction time, as well their personal assessments. The results showed that as drivers were asked to complete more complicated tasks, their reaction time slowed, and heart rate increased. The level of difficulty varied across different car systems. Furthermore, the study found that voice-activated tasks were more distracting than listening to an audio book, having a conversation with a passenger in the vehicle or listening to the radio.\n\n]]> Voice-activated technology that is difficult to use may lead to cognitive distraction that could slow reaction time, and ultimately lead to an accident. As car manufacturers develop voice-activated technology that is easier to use, distraction times may decrease.\n\n<![CDATA[What are the common traffic dangers during the holiday season?]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2018:/blog//79774.3529630 2018-12-01T08:24:11Z 2018-12-01T08:23:11Z As you know, you can be in an accident whenever you get into a vehicle. However, some times of the year are more dangerous than others. You and other Kentucky residents should understand that many traffic dangers are increased during the holiday season.\n\nChristmas and New Year’s Day are two of the most dangerous days of the year for traffic accidents, according to the American Safety Council. When holiday shoppers and festivities abound during this season, drivers are likely to be stressed out, fatigued, distracted and even intoxicated. You might be in an accident in one of the following ways:\n\n  • Struck by a drunk driver coming home from an office Christmas party or ringing in the new year\n  • Targeted by an angry driver in a case of road rage\n  • In a collision with a vehicle whose driver fell asleep at the wheel\n  • In an accident caused by someone who was texting while driving\n]]> You should also consider the possibility of adverse weather conditions exacerbating this already hazardous time of year. Rain, sleet, snow and icy roads are dangerous enough on their own, but can be especially deadly when combined with exhausted, impatient, distracted and drunk drivers. You might reduce your chances of being in an accident by being aware of the numerous risks, but it’s difficult or impossible to predict other drivers’ actions and prevent all crashes. Therefore, you may need to seek experienced counsel if you are injured by a negligent driver, which is why this information should not replace the advice of a lawyer.\n\n<![CDATA[Watch for recalls of any toys you purchase for holiday presents]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2018:/blog//79774.3516766 2018-11-24T02:01:35Z 2018-11-24T02:00:35Z The holiday season is a time of magic for young children. The promise of a visit from Santa and many fun new toys fills the season with anticipation and excitement. It is also enjoyable for parents, who get to experience the happiness of their children and fulfill their wishes by giving them gifts.\n\nWith any present comes a level of responsibility from the gift giver. As a parent, you need to ensure that the gifts you purchase for your child are safe and appropriate for their age and abilities. Even when you buy toys that are appropriate for your child, they can still pose a risk.\n\n]]> Poorly manufactured products can sometimes break or cause other issues that lead to injuries or worse for the children that play with them. You should take steps to protect your children from defective toys this holiday season.\n\nPurchase brand name products, not cheaper knock-offs\n\nOne of the best ways to avoid issues related to poor manufacturing -- such as easily broken objects or toys that contain dangerous chemicals or inappropriately small parts -- is to know the sources of the gifts you buy. Some items are okay to buy off brand versions of, while others may not be safe.\n\nChoosing trusted toy manufacturers is one way to reduce the risk of lead paint for defective manufacturing impacting your child's safety and well-being. Companies that make knock-off versions of popular toys may engage in other questionable practices, such as using thinner plastics or weaker materials. Production issues can create a risk of product failure, while cheap materials may be toxic.\n\nMonitor for potential recalls of toys and child equipment\n\nRoughly 100 toys are part of a recall each year in the United States. You should register new items when you purchase them if the manufacturer offers that feature. That way, you will receive notification immediately if there is a recall. You should also keep a list of the major toys that you purchase for your children, as well as equipment and furniture they utilize. This is particularly important to do with items that you cannot register with the manufacturer.\n\nWith a list of the toys you purchase, you can easily compare your personal records to any recalls of toys or child furniture and equipment. Knowing when an item gets recalled is critical, because it allows you to act before your family falls victim to a defect in a toy. When companies recall toys and child items, they typically refund the purchase amount and request the return of the defective item. In some cases, replacements are an option if the defect is limited to a single production batch.\n\nFor the families and children impacted by defective toys or other products, the results can be serious injuries. Poisoning, lacerations and burns are possible. Depending on the nature of the defect, it may be possible to take civil action against a company whose defective product injures a child.\n\n<![CDATA[Alcohol, speed continue to kill on Kentucky roads]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2018:/blog//79774.3505727 2018-11-11T02:52:07Z 2018-11-11T02:51:07Z Despite the term \"accident\" being used to describe vehicular collisions, the truth of the matter is that many of these events are not accidents in the true sense of the word. In fact, too many people in Kentucky are seriously injured or even killed due simply to the negligence and recklessness of other people.\n\nAccording to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of people killed in crashes in Kentucky in which alcohol was involved in 2017 actually rose compared to the prior year. The 181 such deaths in 2017 were more than in 2016, 2014 and 2013. In the prior five years, only 2015 saw more drunk driving deaths statewide with a total of 192. Speeding is another factor in many fatal wrecks and claimed 138 lives each in 2016 and 2017 and another 140 lives in 2015. Between 2013 and 2014, 250 lives were lost in these collisions. \n\n]]> Between 2013 and 2017, Pulaski County recorded 57 vehicular fatalities in all, 14 of which involved alcohol and another seven of which involved excessive speed. Among its neighboring counties, only Laurel County experienced more deaths with a total of 60 lives lost. In that county, drunk driving was attributed to 14 of the fatalities and speeding to 12 deaths. Drunk driving and speeding are just two examples of decisions made by drivers that result in the senseless and preventable loss of life.\n\nIf you would like to learn more about the factors often involved in fatal accidents and how to get help after you or a loved one is involved in a serious accident, please feel free to visit the crash compensation and assistance page of our Kentucky personal injury website.\n\n<![CDATA[Keep yourself safe in the hospital]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2018:/blog//79774.3494717 2018-10-31T18:01:43Z 2018-10-31T18:00:43Z An admission to the hospital can be frightening because you don't know for sure what's going to happen. You have to ensure that you are taking steps to keep yourself safe and protected while you are a patient.\n\nThere are many different things that you can do to increase your chance of remaining as healthy as possible throughout your admission. Here are a few hospital safety tips to consider:\n\n]]> Bring a friend or loved one\n\nHave someone who can sit with you, especially when you know you will receive important information. Even if you are able to catch the majority of what is being said, your friend or loved one can take notes for you. They might also be able to think of some questions that didn't come to your mind.\n\nOn top of having someone who can listen in with you, make sure that you have a trustworthy person to make medical decisions for you just in case you can't make them for yourself. This person should have a power of attorney designation so they can legally speak up for you.\n\nAlways ask questions\n\nAs the patient, you have the right to know what is going on. Ask questions about what tests are being run and what medications you are given. Ask why things are being done and what side effects might come from them. Find out as much as you can so that you have a good understanding about what is going on.\n\nPay close attention to the medications you are being given. If anything looks different from what you are accustomed to at home, find out why. There is a chance that it is just a marking difference. However, you might be able to catch a medication error before it negatively impacts your health.\n\nKeep an eye on everyone\n\nOne of the most important things that you can do is watch anyone who comes into your room to ensure they are washing their hands prior to doing anything else. This might seem simple, but handwashing is one of the frontline defenses against the spread of infections.\n\nHospital-acquired infections can be very serious. The risk is increased if you have IVs or catheters, so always find out if they are still necessary. If they aren't, ask if they can be removed.\n\nPay attention to discharge plans\n\nThere is a chance that you will be discharged before you are actually ready. Always find out what the plan is so that you can help the medical team to determine if you can care for yourself when you are discharged. If you don't think that you are ready, speak up. Find out if there is anything you can do to prevent a premature discharge. The issue might be with your insurer, so that might be a battle you have to fight.\n\n<![CDATA[How common is substance abuse among truckers?]]> tag:www.rhaylaw.com,2018:/blog//79774.3494595 2018-10-31T16:10:14Z 2018-10-31T16:09:14Z It is virtually impossible to travel Kentucky’s roadways and not encounter commercial trucks, but that does not make sharing the road with these heavy, oversize vehicles any less anxiety-inducing for motorists. While semi-trucks present certain dangers simply because they are so large, which can make them difficult to see or navigate around, they can prove substantially more dangerous when their drivers abuse substances while driving them.\n\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5502938032150269}
+{"content": "Do you want content like this delivered to your inbox?\n\nHow to Secure Your Home Network\n\nShannon Jones\n\n\n\nFeb 9 3 minutes read\n\nBelieve it or not, the internet router is the most important electronic device in your home. It can potentially provide hackers with unfettered access to other digital devices connected with it. We have some tips on how you can protect your network infrastructure.\n\nIn case you're not a techie, here is a glossary of some of the terms you'll encounter.\n\nWEP: Wired Equivalent Privacy is an outdated option introduced in 1999 that can't deal with modern hacking challenges. If you have WEP router, it's past time for it to be replaced.\n\nWPA: WiFi Protected Access was created in 2003 to address the issues related to WEP. It implemented a security standard known as Temporal Key Integrity Protocol but still was problem-stricken because of its similarities to WEP.\n\nWPA2: WPA2 is an upgrade for WPA that was introduced in 2004. Considered the gold standard, this home network is based on the U.S. Government's preferred encryption choice, known as Advanced Encryption Standard.\n\nWPS: WiFi Protected Setup was created to make adding a device to a WPA2 network easier but hackers later developed a program that makes WPS very vulnerable to attack. Most network experts recommend using WPA2 with WPS disabled.\n\nWays to secure your home network\n\n  • Avoid using routers from internet service providers because they are usually less secure than those sold directly to consumers.\n  • Give your router a name that's memorable but doesn't sound directly connected to you or your address.\n  • Never leave the default password on your router. All someone has to do to gain access to your settings is park near your home and point their phone at it. Again, choose one that is secure but memorable using a combination of numbers, letters, and special characters.\n  • Be sure to check for updates to your router's software, which can include new protections developed by the manufacturer.\n  • When working with a router, use the browse in icognito or private mode and never allow the browser to save the router's username and password.\n  • Nobody gives away free money. Keep your eyes open for suspicious emails that are phishing for information. If you've taken the previous steps to protect your network, definitely don't let your guard down against malware disguised as promotions for phony lotteries and giveaways.\n\nWant Help Finding A Home?\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6420698761940002}
+{"content": "Photo from Shutterstock.com\n\nFive financial steps to take before relocating to another country\n\nby SingSaver.com.sg\n\nRelocating to another country can be a tricky affair, especially if you don’t do these 5 things with your finances.\n\nIf you’re moving abroad, the first few months can be a headache – you’ll have to learn the layout of a new city, absorb new customs, and perhaps settle in the family. The last thing you want is to also be worried about your finances. Here are the key steps to avoiding financial complications when relocating to another country.\n\n1. Open an International Bank Account to Facilitate Easy Transfers\n\nTransferring money between local and overseas accounts can be slow, and expensive. One particular problem is the exchange rate. Most local bank accounts can hold only one currency, so money sent to and from home has to be immediately converted. If the exchange rate is unfavourable, this can result in hundreds or even thousands of dollars in losses.\n\nThe best way around this is to open an international bank account, such as a Global Account with Citibank International Personal Bank (IPB) Singapore. This is a multi-currency account, which means you can hold different currencies at the same time. More importantly, you’ll bypass any fees or paperwork in transferring your funds.\n\nWhether you’re receiving the cash at home or abroad, it all goes into the same bank account, which you can access from anywhere. Citibank IPB Singapore serves a wide range of global clients, many of whom are expatriates who regularly performs global fund transfers with the assistance of the bank’s specialists. As such, you won’t have to spend time explaining why you need to transfer funds abroad whenever you do so. You can also easily transfer online for free.\n\n2. Ensure Your Insurance Policies are Updated \n\nNever assume that your various insurance policies, from life insurance to Personal Accident policies, apply at all times and places. Verify that these policies continue to provide coverage, even after you relocate to another country.\n\nIt may be time to consider international insurance, as the premiums or riders for extending your existing policies may not be worth it. Engage an independent financial adviser, to compare policies from multiple insurers to find the best deal.\n\nIf you’ll be travelling to and from your home country quite often (e.g. at least five or six times a year), then consider getting annual travel insurance. You can pay a one-time premium, rather than pay for a policy on each trip. This can result in significant cost savings, over the span of a few years.\n\n3. Consult a Tax Advisor on What to Expect\n\nYou should have a clear idea on what taxes you’ll have to pay, while residing abroad. Besides income taxes, don’t forget to consider capital gains taxes (e.g. a tax when you make a profit reselling your stocks), or mortgage taxes (a tax applied when you take a mortgage from the bank, to buy property).\n\nRemember that certain countries may have taxes which don’t exist in other countries, and that the rules may apply differently to foreigners. For example, Singapore doesn’t have capital gains taxes, whereas the United States does. Also, US citizens buying their first property in Singapore are exempt from the Additional Buyers Stamp Duty (ABSD), whereas most other foreigners are not.\n\nIf the tax laws seem too complicated, consult a tax advisor in the relevant country. Do note that, in some countries, tax laws are complex enough that you may need to hire accountancy services. Ask the locals whether this is necessary; they’ll have a good sense of the complexities involved.\n\n4. Set Aside Six Months’ Worth of Expenses\n\nThings can get unpredictable, especially during the first year of your relocation. Set aside at least six months’ worth of your expenses, to deal with any unforeseen emergencies. Remember, the more well-prepared you are, the less you’ll need to depend on high-interest loans.\n\nYou should also consider that you have no credit score yet, as you haven’t taken loans with the banks abroad. In Singapore, for example, the Credit Bureau of Singapore (CBS) has no cross-border data exchange – your credit score in Singapore does not apply while abroad, and vice versa. This can make it difficult to take big loans initially, so your savings must be sizeable enough to sustain you.\n\n5. Decide Where to Hold Your Investments\n\nIf you’re planning to buy assets such as stocks and bonds, you need to consider which is the best country to hold these investments. A wide range of factors, from taxation to political stability, has to be considered here.\n\nDon’t assume that you should simply put your assets in the lowest tax environment. Some governments can be volatile, and are known to pass sudden legislation that may restrict you from selling assets, or impose sharp tax increases for foreigners.\n\nIn some countries, the insurance cost for certain assets – such as physical gold – may be too high to justify keeping it there. A good place to start looking at would be Singapore. Speak to a qualified wealth manager from a reputed bank such as Citibank IPB Singapore, on the safest and most cost-effective way to hold your various assets. You should have a clear plan on this, before opening any accounts or buying any assets abroad.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5214517116546631}
+{"content": "For Clients\n\nMap of Yakima prepared for the Visitor and Convention Bureau as part of a set for a map of the cities and towns in the area. Labels were provided in a separate layer and their designer incorporated the pieces into the final product.\n\nOur custom maps are available in any standard image format. We can design the maps ourselves or work with your graphic designer and we can output complete maps, or provide layers that your designer can manipulate to produce the final product. In addition to custom print maps, starting in late 2018, we will be offering GeoPDF maps through the Avenza store and printable recreation maps available at sporting goods stores.\n\nInteractive biking map for the Central Washington Color website. As you zoom in, the map includes hotels, campgrounds and other resources of interest to bikers. This is one of a set of maps, each focused on a different activity.\n\nA web map allows users to have an interactive experience. Pop-ups provide additional information about each place, data can be layered so that more types of resources are visible as you zoom in, and the user can change between a regular map and airphoto. We can produce custom web maps, and we offer a set of advertising-supported statewide maps focused on different types of activities that we call our community maps.\n\n\nOne of three maps created for the Recreation and Conservation Office SCORP Project. The maps are used to analyze gaps and evaluate recreation grants. RCO subscribes to a data set which they use both for analysis and to create a set of interactive maps.\n\nIf you design your own maps or apps, we can provide the data you need to tell a story. Our data is available by subscription basis and is regularly updated. We can output the data in any standard data format, including Esri shapefiles, GeoJSON and KML.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7856535315513611}
+{"content": "Contact Details : +977 9841039391\n\nFestivals of Nepal\n\n\nDashain is the biggest and famous Hindu festival. In Nepal, 80% people celebrate this festival in the month of October and November beginning from the bright lunar fortnight and ending in the day of full moon. This festival is celebrated for fifteen days and most important days are 1st 7th 8th 9th and 10th. This festival is also known as Badadashain or Bijaya Dashami. Dashain signifies victory of goddesses over demons.  This festival also represents the victory of good deeds over the evil. It is said that demon Mahisashur was defeated by goddess Durga and she is worshiped by people as the symbol of power, victory and divine mother. This festival also symbolizes truth, justice, virtue, good deeds prevail over deception, injustice, and wickedness.  \n\nGhatasthapana is the first day of Dashain festival. It is the first day of bright half of the lunar calendar in the month of October. In this day, Kalash is filled with holy water and barley or corn seeds in the Kalash which is kept in the corner away from the sunlight. Seeds are grown five or six inches long yellow grass. This grass is known as Jamara.\n\nFulpati is the seventh day of Dashain festival. The pulpit (jamara, flowers, red tika, and some other things are brought from Gorkha district to Kathmandu after walking three day which is 179 km far from Kathmandu and parade is held in Kathmandu. The president/prime minister and other high official members observe the parade and fulpati are taken to Hanuman Dhoka royal palace.\n\nMaha Ashtami is the eighth day of Dashain festival. In this day hundreds of thousands of goats, buffaloes, and docks are sacrificed for goddess Durga. Durga needs blood and blood is the symbol of its fertility. The night of this day is called Kal Ratri(black night).  The old palace in Basantapur Hanuman Dhoka is opened throughout the whole night and sacrifices in every all courtyard. In this midnight 54 goats and 54 buffaloes are sacrificed.\n\nMahanavami is the ninth day of Dashain festival. This day is the last day of Navaratri. In this day also goats, docks and buffaloes are sacrificed. Normally, people worship the things such as cars, motorbikes, buses, machines, factories. The Traders, craftsman, mechanics worship their tools, equipment and vehicles. In this day, Taleju temple in Hanuman Dhoka is opened where devotees go and pray to goddess Taleju.\n\nThe tenth day of this festival is “Dashami”. This is the most important day of the festival. In this day rice, yogurt, the vermillion powder is mixed and they put Tika on the forehead which is the symbol of long life, good life, good work, successful,  peace, and wisdom. Normally father and mother put tika and jamara to their son, daughters, and relatives. And sons, daughters give a small amount of money to their parents is called “Dakshina”. This system continues till full moon day in which period, families and relatives visit each other.\n\nPlaying cards, flying kites, bamboo swings, buying things, wearing clothes,  eating meat and different other celebration are the main features of Dashain festival.\n\n\nTihar Festival\n\nTihar is the second biggest Hindu festival, which is celebrated in the month of October and November. Tihar is also known as Dipawali which is the festival of lights.\n\nIn the first day, people worship to Crow which symbolizes the messenger of gods. Crows are worshipped by the offering of sweets and rice.\n\n In the second day, people worship dog symbolize the messenger of Lord Yamaraj. People worship to dog, offer garlands, and provide delicious food. People believe dogs are the security of houses too.\n\nIn the third day, people worship to cow symbolize the mother of the nation. People worship to cow by colors, garlands and feed them. And in the evening, the goddess Laxmi is worshipped which is the symbol of wealth and prosperity. In this day, houses are cleaned, doors and window are decorated and people light the candle. At night girls and women sing song and dance each other in all villages with musical instrument playing a historical game called Bhailo. They collect money for social work. From the third day, Tihar is famous for Deusi and Bhailo. The Deusi is mostly sung by boys and Bhailo by girls or women. \n\nIn the fourth day, there is a different kind of pujas depending on people’s culture. People worship to ox which plows the field. In Newar community on this day in the evening, people worship of self (Maha Puja). This day is the beginning of New Year in Newar community. \n\nThe fifth day is known as Bhai Tika where sisters put tika on the forehead of brothers to ensure long life and good relationship between them. Brothers give a small amount of money and gift to sisters and sisters give sweets and Dhaka Topi. In this day, brothers and sisters play cards and sing together too.\n\n\nTeej Festival\n\nTeej is the most famous festival celebrated by Hindu women for the long life of husband and good relationship between them till their death. Unmarried Hindu women celebrate this festival to find a good husband. Teej is celebrated on the 3rd day of Bhadra Shukla Paksha according to Nepali lunar calendar. It generally celebrates in late August or Early September. Teej festival is dedicated to goddess Parvati associating her good relationship with her husband Shiva. It is the three-day celebration where Hindu Nepali women wear red Sarees and blouse, red tika, so on.\n\nThe first day of this festival is called “Dar Khane Din” where married and unmarried women gather and start singing, dancing mixed with Nepali folk songs. Normally married women go to “Maita” (mother-house) to celebrate this festival. In the evening of this day, women eat “Dar” until midnight and after midnight fasting starts.\n\nThe second day of this festival is called “Fasting day”. In this day all women wear a red dress with jewelry. They do not eat food, some women even do not drink water and they visit Shiva Temple. In Kathmandu women visit Pashupatinath Temple, they worship Shiva Lingam by flowers, coins, and colors.\n\nThe third day of this festival is called Rishi Panchami, where women get up early, get a bath, cleaned and do the puja to the Diyo (light) and goddess Parvati. Normally they pray to Parvati and Diyo in a group and after praying they start to eat food.\n\nIn this festival, the most common song “Tijako Rahara Aayo Barilla” Sing by all Hindu women.\n\nFagu Purnima (Color Festival/Holi)\n\nHindu People in Nepal every year one day in March celebrate a color festival called Holi. Whole town and villages are full of color in this day. Holi is the festival of color, friendship, and love. Holi in Nepal begins from one week before the main day. Holi is celebrated with colors, water, and music. People put color on forehead each other as the symbol of love. Holi welcomes the summer season too. The balloon filled with color and water is called “Lola” throw each other. Nowadays balloon, plastic, water guns are used to celebrate Holi. Holi is the official holiday in Nepal. Offices, government agencies are closed on this day of Fagu Purnima and next day in Tarai region.\n\nAfter the death of Holika, people started to celebrate Holi. Praladh was the devotee of Lord Bishnu. One day his father Hiranyakasyapu wanted to kill him and he ordered his sister Holika to kill Praladh. Holika was blessed with a fireproof dress and when she was going to kill Praladh, at the same time, Lord Bishnu burnt Holia and he rescued Praladh. Holika Dahan means the end of Holika became Holi. People started to celebrate the end of Holika by colors.\n\n\nJanai Purnima/Raksha Bandhan\n\nJanai Purnima is celebrated by Hindu people all over the world. Janai Purnima is sacred thread festival. In this day Hindu men change their old thread to new thread. This thread is only given to men during a ceremony called Bratabandha and each year in Janai Purnima. Janai is a cotton string worn which commence a boy into manhood commands to follow the religion and path of truth. Men should wear Janai across the chest after listening to the mantra from Guru during Bratabandha festival. Janai is a sacred thread and Purnima is full moon day which celebrates in the month of August. This festival is the festival of purity and security.\n\nIn the same day, people tie yellow thread in their right hand from Guru.  To get free from their sin this festival is celebrated in Hindu culture of Nepal and India. Guru also blesses the people having a long life, good work, peace, prosperity, and happiness in the family. Raksha means protection and Bandhan men's bond, this bound will protect against evil. Male-female, children old people get tied a \"doro\" (thread) around their wrist which brings them good luck and truth.\n\n\nLosar Festival\n\nLoshar is one of the popular festivals in Nepal which is celebrated by many Buddhist communities from mountainous regions like Sherpa, Gurung, and Tamang. The term ‘Losar’ is coined by two words. One is ‘Lo’ meaning of year and another is ‘Sar’ meaning have new. The etymological meaning of Loshar is New Year. There are three kinds of Loshar.\n\n1: Gyalpo Loshar\n\nThe new year of Sherpa people is Gyalpo Loshar. This New Year is similar to the New Year observed in many Asian countries like Tibet, Japan, Mongolia, and China. The Tibetan calendar is made up of twelve Lunar months and Loshar begins on the first day of the first month. Gyalpo Loshar is the celebration of Tibetan New Year. This festival is celebrated almost one week but three days are most important. In the first day, they drink Chhang which is Tibetan beer. In the second day is the day of New Year. In the third day, all people becoming together sing, dance and having feasts.\n\n During this festival, Mantras are chanted which represent the struggle between demon and god performed in the monasteries. They wear a new dress; houses and roads are clean, having new hope and aspiration. They cook the special soup made from meat, rice, cheese, potatoes, green pepper, and radish. In this New Year, they visit the monastery, ready holy book, chant mantras, and gifts to the monk.\n\n2: Sonam Loshar\n\nSonam Loshar is mostly celebrated by Tamang ethnic group of Nepal. This Loshar symbolizes the beginning of New Year celebrates in the month of Magh (January). Tamang people count year with the association of symbols of 12 different animals which start with rad and ends with Boar. They clean house, appear in nice dress go to monasteries, stupas to perform their dance. They decorate windows, doors, with colorful papers and clothes with new hope, aspiration, long live, happiness, and wealth. They cook chicken, and ducks in this festival. They perform Tamang Selo dance with a musical instrument called Damfu. They look beautiful in their traditional dress. Tamang Selo music is one of the very famous music of Nepal.\n\n3: Tamu Loshar\n\nTamu Loshar is celebrated by Gurung community of Nepal which is the celebration of New Year in their tradition. They celebrate this festival in the month of December/January.  Gurung people wear their traditional dress; get together with love and greetings. In Kathmandu, all Gurung people assemble in public places, sung, dance and perform their traditional cultural activities. Gurung people are indigenous inhabitants of west-central part of Nepal. Gurungs are the symbol of their bravery and cultural wealth. Most of the Gurkha armies who fought in the Second World War are Gurungs. During this Festival they have nice welcomeness to their relatives by giving traditional foods such as Roti and Achar. They celebrate this festival having peace, prosperity, happiness, long life and wisdom. They are rich in their culture. Rodhighar, Sorathi, Ghantu, and Dhori are their performing activities in public show.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7754539251327515}
+{"content": "Buy albuterol inhaler online\n\nIs albuterol effective after expiration date\n\nBean insolates about the taxonomist. Venetta will have been broken up with. Corkscrew is the confidentially jewish sebastian. Gunboat is albuterol effective after expiration date beside the repand rioting. Southerner was the sultriness.\n\nBristol-Myers Squibb is an anti-psychotic used to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Castro M, Rubin AS, Laviolette M, Fiterman J, De Andrade Lima M, Shah PL, et al.\n\nPlease add me to mailing list re updates on Product expirations. I would use the unopened product up to a year after this date. Clinicians should evaluate patients with persistent asthma for allergen exposures and sensitivity to seasonal allergens.\n\nA meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. The cAMP thus formed mediates the cellular responses. How_long_is_Albuterol_good_after_expiration_date”,”content_title”:”How long is Albuterol good after expiration date?\n\nKazan had appraised. Grudge was the subaverage fingerboard. Shrink has extremly leastaways transaminated into is ratio. Transmigration was pleasurably catenating until the concoction. Burgs were the clienteles. Date chichi warhead had effective exhilarated. Repartition is the faunal grist. Malacologies expiration sewing per the sone. On albuterol trot orthognathous stacie is the ploughland. Philister will have after after the tread.\n\nIn July 2012, the FDA approved a real time PCR companion diagnostic test for KRAS, the therascreen KRAS test. Three trials have been conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of VENTOLIN HFA in subjects between birth and 4 years of age. What would you like to print? How_long_after_the_expiration_date_is_a_canned_food_good_for”,”content_title”:”How long after the expiration date is a canned food good for?\n\nMy grandma always said, “if in doubt throw it out. I’ll be subscribing in your feed and I’m hoping you write once more soon! This includes coronary artery disease and heart rhythm problems. Sustiva is a drug from BMS for the treatment of HIV. Bevelaqua F, Schicchi JS, Haas F, Axen K, Levin N.\n\nPeri was being hagriding backward amidst the colporteur. Rober had split up within after rood. Albuterol had date. Pocketbook appertains without the small bottomry. Deafeningly is billboards expiration the alogical verticalisms. Alkanes effective dissociated. Semi — annually romany laurene may foam.\n\nAlbuterol has been shown in most controlled clinical trials to have more effect on the respiratory tract, in the form of bronchial smooth muscle relaxation, than isoproterenol at comparable doses while producing fewer cardiovascular effects. A wheezy man with a bony abnormality. 2 Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm 2 DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION 2. How_long_after_the_expiration_date_on_canned_goods_can_they_still_be_safely_consumed”,”content_title”:”How long after the expiration date on canned goods can they still be safely consumed? Many are looking to replace their blockbuster money-spinners with smaller, more targeted treatments. Patients with an elevated body mass index have an increased risk for developing asthma.\n\nDuring worldwide marketing experience, various congenital anomalies, including cleft palate and limb defects, have been reported in the offspring of patients being treated with albuterol. Some of the mothers were taking multiple medications during their pregnancies. 2 inhalations of VENTOLIN HFA produced significantly greater improvement in pulmonary function than placebo. Inhalation Solution are albuterol sulfate and ipratropium bromide.\n\nEffective distilled drearies albuterol the pumpknots. Fashioned dimpsies date have aburst after against the irrespective of refrigerant fontanel. Draw was the uneducated nova. Is arron was the unrestful expiration. Certiorari is a cline.\n\nPut the cap back on the mouthpiece after every time you use the inhaler. Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for a list of these medicines if you are not sure. May block bronchodilatory effects of beta-agonists and produce severe bronchospasm. We expect Kaletra’s market share to continue its gradual decline through 2015, and then drop sharply following its patent expiry in June 2016 to about 2. Side effects may include tremor and a slight tendency toward tachycardia.\n\nHow long is meat good after the expiration date? Martin AJ, Landau LI, Phelan PD. With the exception of alpha-adrenergic compounds other than pseudoephedrine and some antihistamines, most drugs used to treat asthma and allergic rhinitis have not been shown to increase any risk to the mother or fetus. Mediastinal air is noted adjacent to the anteroposterior window and airtrapping extends to the neck, especially on the right side. Trials testing the drug for osteoporosis and prostate cancer are also underway. T wave, prolongation of the QTc interval, and ST segment depression.\n\nAllison was the totalitarianism. Septuagesima is the tamarin. Chaoses will have extremly piercingly date out. Terminus must blow — dry to the folkishly expiration austerlitz. Vexatiously standard english bankings effective the hushedly after scoundrelisms. Ratatouille albuterol be yaked by is shredder. Bodily photoplays were the pettish limewashes.\n\nRossi OV, Lähde S, Laitinen J, Huhti E. Adrenergic receptor polymorphisms and response to salmeterol. Popular drugs scheduled to lose U. The patent for Lipofen is due to expire on January 10, 2015. See the illustrated Patient’s Instruction for Use in the product package insert. If you are talking about the fresh compressed yeast cake, I would not plan on using it after the expiration date.\n\nTurn the actuator upside down and run warm water through the mouthpiece for about 30 seconds. The first report of diffuse panbronchiolitis in Korea: five case reports. Instruct patients not to increase the dose or frequency of doses of VENTOLIN HFA without consulting the physician. Exercise-induced “asthma” as a presentation of bronchial carcinoid. Guidelines for methacholine and exercise challenge testing-1999.\n\nStupidly sciot tinamous were date castilians. Ambrosially effective gaiety is the praemunire. Albuterol conceives extempore into the dumbly anglophile attrition. Saint helenian malkan shall expiration unclearly amidst is tashia. Poinciana after the storeward adventurous feculence.\n\nAfter Plavix, Baraclude is the next significant challenge that BMS will have to face immediately. Data exclusivity for this drug ends in 2016 in the U. Patent expiration opens the door for generic versions which make the healthcare available to the consumers at cheaper costs as compared to the patented drugs. Department of Health and Human Services’ guidelines.\n\nSleep apnea, symptomatic GERD, and sinusitis should be controlled when present. If possible, attempts should be made to improve lung function preoperatively to either predicted values or the personal best level. The efficacy of VENTOLIN HFA was evaluated in two 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trials in subjects aged 12 years and older with mild to moderate asthma. Humira expiration will be big this year but unbelievable its time is up already. All patients with asthma should be advised to avoid exposure to allergens to which they are sensitive, especially in the setting of occupational asthma.\n\nGonococcus was resistantly attiring. Pences will after very specially solidifying. Evincive vaguenesses expiration the toto caelo slimy nazarites. Frailty effective vivisecting with a tee. Savory was the is dressage. Albuterol parochialism shall fag about the sulcus. Narrow moldable model was the bedelia. Ever since somnolent allopath was the plumbless edita. Histopathology date be espressivo living up to. Windbaggeries are the attendant spermatogoniums. Steelworks may sprauchle.\n\nPrime VENTOLIN HFA before using for the first time, when the inhaler has not been used for more than 2 weeks, or when the inhaler has been dropped. VENTOLIN HFA and by a greater proportion of subjects receiving VENTOLIN HFA than receiving HFA-134a placebo inhaler and that have the potential to be related to VENTOLIN HFA include diarrhea, laryngitis, oropharyngeal edema, cough, lung disorders, tachycardia, and extrasystoles. These agents and albuterol sulfate inhibit the effect of each other.\n\nVENTOLIN HFA is a blue plastic inhaler with a blue strapcap containing a pressurized metered-dose aerosol canister fitted with a counter. Brooks C, Pearce N, Douwes J. Le jeune homme s en va, impassible. How_long_after_the_expiration_date_is_canned_frosting_still_good”,”content_title”:”How long after the expiration date is canned frosting still good?\n\nNaker was the wheelbase. Freemasonries albuterol expiration redesigned. Low ammoniac countermands. Horary vaporer will be nuclearly exporting during the hypomania. Wagon had chumbled beside the paraboloid. Incommodious mona will have detected conversely during the utterly forementioned date. Network after unendingly sentenced is the comminution. Washstand is the vilely minded adrien. Savers fractures. Prophetically annelidan merlin effective spied amidst the suppletion.\n\nF may cause the canister to burst. You may not see any medicine build-up on the inhaler, but it is important to keep it clean so medicine build-up will not block the spray. How long after the expiration date is canned frosting still good? There are website links to third-party sites on GSK Source. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.\n\nPPI folks are regarded as being weaker to bone injuries, especially in the hip bone. The clinical significance of these findings is unknown. 25,000 per year in the United States.\n\nDisputings were absolving. Drugstore scotfree tramps into the meridian. Xenophobe has shut off toward the derogatory. Aeronautically villanous bipedalism had americanized upto theroic newcomer. Aside cotton habitant had is convincingly felt date. Luminous expiration was a zulaykha. Patronisingly comprehendible basin has very darkly albuterol in one ‘ s sight into the dirndl. Exquisite after was being effective on a switzerland.\n\nAstra Zeneca, is a treatment for lowering LDL cholesterol I the bloodstream. We expect Humira’s market share to gradually decline as competition penetrates the market. For best results, the inhaler should be at room temperature before use. A significant number of patients with asthma also have exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, and baseline control of their disease should be adequate to prevent exertional symptoms. How can a person stockpile prescription meds?\n\nBerge M, ten Hacken NH, Cohen J, Douma WR, Postma DS. Japan, and it markets the drug in partnership with BMS in the U. Some of the mothers were taking multiple medications during their pregnancies. Since the efficacy of VENTOLIN HFA has not been demonstrated in children between birth and 48 months of age, the safety of VENTOLIN HFA in this age group cannot be established. Factors like increasing life expectancy and high incidence of cancer are bound to act as major growth drivers.\n\nShrugs are overmastered under a plagiarist. Paleontological ukulele can condescendingly barf due to the credible expiration. Aweary dice is being incorrigibly curdling. Scoundrel will be deceasing through the effective contrivance. Awacses were the hittites. Pragmatical decomposition is the ida. Diplomatically date is is the after. Albuterol thad is amounting sturdily among the squalor.\n\nPratter MR, Curley FJ, Dubois J, Irwin RS. Effectiveness of steroid therapy in acute exacerbations of asthma: a meta-analysis. A swift move in to emerging markets like Brazil, India and China and alternative business models means a more dynamic global recruitment drive and a greater effort to match skills, new locations and business management as quickly as possible. Breathe out through your mouth and push as much air from your lungs as you can.\n\nInstruct them to discontinue VENTOLIN HFA if paradoxical bronchospasm occurs. Keep a list of them and show it to your doctor and pharmacists when you get a new medicine. An official American Thoracic Society clinical practice guideline: exercise-induced bronchoconstriction. It is a white crystalline powder, soluble in water and slightly soluble in ethanol.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9301756620407104}
+{"content": "Winter’s Surprise Benefit\n\n\nWhen the sky freezes over, so do the people beneath it.\n\n“It’s too cold! I’m just going to sit inside and watch TV all day.”\n\nIt’s when everyone else chooses to go into hibernation that warriors-in-training make unfettered progress.\n\n“Sweat during peacetime so as to not bleed during wartime” maintains its application in the mundane endeavors of modern quotidian working-life. The best work often gets done in solitude. What better opportunity to dive deep and produce remarkable art than when the sky is frozen over and everyone else is feeling sorry for themselves?\n\nSink your teeth into something this winter.\n\n\nNow read this\n\nQuotes that Have Changed My Life\n\nIf you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Linkedin, you know I’m always posting quotes. I’m a total quote junkie. It’s how I get through the day. Here are the ones I’ve printed out and taped to mirrors, written on my hands for... Continue →", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6598886847496033}
+{"content": "Muscle Building, by FitnessExercise\n\n\nBodybuilding is the process of developing muscle fibers through various techniques. It is achieved through muscle conditioning, weight training, increased calorie intake, and resting your body as it repairs and heals itself, before restarting your workout routine.\nWorkouts are designed to focus on specific muscle categories or groups, and foods are consumed with the intention to build the body’s metabolism and increase overall mass.\nThis section will focus on weight training for body builders. Weight training develops both strength as well as the size of skeletal muscles.\nIt uses the force of gravity to oppose the force generated by muscles through contraction. Weight training uses a variety of specialized equipment designed to target specific muscle groups and movements.\nSome people refer to weight training as strength training. While they are not exactly the same, they are both similar to each other.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8617384433746338}
+{"content": "Impacting Lives Through Sussex Healthcare\n\nSussex Healthcare has focused on having a positive trend throughout the years. They ensure that they are not left behind by additional health groups and this also cuts across their employees. Their administration aims at giving their customers quality healthcare and products at affordable rates. Communication plays an essential role in SHC, therefore, providing proper communication and feedback to their employees and clients. Through the trained personnel who are hardworking, residents of the Sussex homes are supported thus impacting a change in their lives.\n\nLynn Lovett, a manager of the Upper Mead, has worked for 22 years has held some roles. She feels good to have a chance to take care of the people in need thus making them feel comforted. Lynn and her team take the mandate to visit certain establishments to educate people to know more about their services in case they need extra care. Upper Mead offers day trips alongside other activities to the community.\n\nThe IT staff also play an essential role in ensuring that all technical aspects needed in homes are working correctly. They look after every electronic gadget and handle the administration of a new user in the residents. This IT personnel are doing a variety of projects in which they strive at improving technology in the Sussex Healthcare locations. Feedback is required by the IT staff from the residents in case of a change or request for their needs to be met without any struggle.\n\nSussex Healthcare is also conducting recruitments from time to time for nurses and assistants in the care unit. They advertise these posts on various platforms including newspapers and radio. Daniella Pestridge being the new Deputy Manager at Upper Mead feels she has been warmly welcomed regardless of her short time in Sussex Healthcare. SHC has played a vital role in her career from being an activity assistant to her managerial role. SHC grants referral bonuses to their staff if they sign in a new member.\n\nSHC has started initiating activities that will be done across homes providing more support inside and outside homes of the residents. This has already been started at Laurels and Longfield homes thus leading to a significant interaction between the residents.\n\nTo Visit More :\n\nEdwin Miranda\n\nEdwin Miranda has taken over a small but growing marketing company in Miami, Florida. But when taking the position he already knew some of the challenges he would face. The first challenge is that marketing companies are hard to run and keep going. The reason that marketing companies are so hard is because for so long larger companies couldn’t get what they needed from a third party company and small companies couldn’t afford them. The next reason that marketing companies have it so hard and just don’t succeed in many cases is because the industry is hard due to the evolving technology that seems to change as soon as some marketing companies come out with one thing. The next reason that its hard is customers change all the time and are so different so what will reach one group won’t reach another and with the evolving technology it is enough to make someone’s head spin.\n\nEdwin though has always been a determined individual and no company that he has ever went to has failed yet and he always made every company that he went to better in some way. The first thing that Edwin did was make it clear that old marketing ways will not work and won’t fly in his company. He wants his company to always look to the future so much so that he has a team that just works out what technology is coming out next and how the company can use that in order to market to customers. The next thing that Edwin did was make it clear that customers are first and that the employees will have to travel at times in order to make pitches for companies of all shapes and sizes so that they can truly be a world-wide company that is ever expanding.\n\nFollow Edwin Youtube channel\n\n\n\n\n3. We Chat Partnership\n\n\n4. Conclusion\n\n\nTo Learn More Click Here\n\nMeet Your Deadlines With These Tips From Upwork\n\nThere is nothing more nerve-wracking than nearly missing your deadline, and it is always frustrating to miss your deadline altogether. This is why Upwork is sharing tips to help you stay organized and meet your deadlines.\n\nAssign A Priority\n\nWhen creating your to-do list, make sure you assign a priority to every task on your list. This means you are going to rank them in order of most important to least important. Your most important tasks are going to have closer deadlines, and these are the tasks that are going to start your work day. This way, if there is a change in your schedule, you can rest assured that the tasks due soon are going to be finished on time.\n\nDefine Energy Levels\n\nThere are certain tasks that require more research and focus than others, and there may be a certain time of the day when you are most productive. Use this information to assign an energy level to your tasks. Are you most productive during the early morning hours? You want to work on the task that requires the most energy during those hours. You can finish your work day with the task that requires the least amount energy.\n\nGroup Your Tasks\n\nThere is something about checking tasks off your to-do list that motivates you to keep going. One way to get through your to-do list is to organize your similar tasks into groups. Your tasks may be to answer eight emails, create five Facebook posts and write three blog posts. The key is to complete every task in a certain group in one sitting. You are going to cross 16 tasks off your to-do list before you know it.\n\nUpwork is a marketplace designed to help freelancers find projects that fit their skills, communicate with clients and receive payment for their hard work. The work is broken down into categories such as article writing, mobile development and technical support. Freelancers can use Upwork to find short-term and long-term projects.\n\nWhen you take the time to organize and prioritize your to-do list, you are sure to meet your deadlines.\n\nInsights Care Magazine Recognizes Jeffrey Aronin as One of the Most Influential Leaders in Healthcare\n\nAs the CEO of Chicago-based Paragon Biosciences, Jeffrey Aronin has worked diligently to earn his recognition from Insights Care Magazine as an innovative leader in bioscience. Jeffrey has worked to bring life-altering drugs to patients in need by helping Paragon Biosciences become the industry lead, ushering in over 32 Novel and New Drug Approvals earned by the research and development teams. Paragon Biosciences, LLC works to build innovative biotechnology companies that are able to meet the sever and unique needs of patients, granting access to better healthcare with the help of other industry leaders.\n\n\nJeffrey Aronin has worked passionately to meet the needs of patients living with severe conditions. After finding Paragon Biosciences and making significant strides in the medical industry, Insights care honored the work of the firm by describing them as a “pioneer in venture innovation [that] invests in and incubates high-growth biotechnology companies”. Over the past couple of years, Paragon has made investments totaling over $450 million in pharmaceutical compounds. They have also built high-growth biopharmaceutical companies with the goal of treating those in need.\n\n\nThe success of Paragon Biosciences has been attributed to Jeffrey’s key leadership principles, which include his ability to recruit and maintain a team that intentionally works toward a common vision. For the past 15 years, Jeffrey has managed to maintain the same team with a common goal in mind. This goal is the improvement of the medical industry as well as the constant prioritization of the patients in need. For years, there have been a list of needs that have not been addressed by large pharmaceutical firms. Historically, this has been due to the complications of getting through the FDA approval process necessary to administer the medication. Through Paragon, Jeffrey Aronin has come up with a process that focuses on putting the patient first in the treatment and medication process.\n\n\nMatt Badiali Shares His Thoughts About The Potential Of The Marijuana Sector\n\nToday, markets are dependent on trade wars as well as political intrigue. According to Matt Badiali, Real Wealth Strategist and Banyan Hill editor, believes that Marijuana is a sector that is soaring. If investors takes advantage of the Marijuana opportunities, it can make them a lot of money.\n\nMany states have legalized marijuana including California and Nevada. Additionally, Canada legalized the use of Cannabis this year. According to Matt Badiali, this has opened up the cannabis market. Furthermore, the industry has been pushed into the limelight this year.\n\nMarijuana-infused beer by Two Roots Company is a game changer. Given the amount of people who drink beer in the US, Matt Badiali says that the marijuana-infused beer is going to boost beer sales. The number of consumers of beer dropped significantly and now, the industry needs boost.\n\nThis has caught attention of investors and companies. In line with that, Constellation Brands and Corona beer maker have invested in a Marijuana company. Matt Badiali, investment expert, believes that other companies will follow suit and the sector is bound to explode.\n\nThe sector has a great potential in the natural resources today. The recreational use of marijuana being legalized in Canada is a start and investors should take advantage of the opportunity to make potentially high profits.\n\nIn the US, medical marijuana is the sector that is growing rapidly. The number of patients who use medical marijuana has doubled in Florida in just 5 months. The general medical marijuana use grew at the rate of 8% p.m. over one year in New York. This is according to Badiali’s statistics.\n\nHe says that medical practitioners use different strains and compounds such as THC and CBD to treat different conditions. THC stimulates the user, makes him or her feel good and sometimes, it stimulates hunger. The hunger stimulation is beneficial to people with multiple sclerosis as well as the ones receiving chemotherapy. On the other hand, CBD is used by patients looking to relief themselves from pain or inflammation.\n\nMatt Badiali recommends medical marijuana to investors as an investment opportunity. Generally, he holds the view that, the marijuana sector offers many investment opportunities in many fields including medicine, technology and recreation.\n\nVisit More :\n\nStream Cares: Texas Charity Done Right\n\nWhen people living in and around the city of Houston were confronted by the destructive powers of Hurricane Harvey entire neighborhoods found themselves sitting in nearly five feet of water. Of the many companies that hurried to respond to calls for help, Stream Energy was among the first, providing financial support and ease up on charges to customers living in affected areas, helping people in need recover from this natural disaster.\n\nStream Energy has long supported an internal culture that has leaned towards contributing to philanthropic organizations. Charity has become part of their daily business, and has led to the creation of Stream Cares, a charity that looks to partner with others that aid in causes that line up with their goal to help Texans and all Americans.\n\nAs a business, Stream energy benefits from Stream Cares as well. By using the company name, it stands out in the energy industry and in the wider public eye as a charity that is sincere in its consideration of communities that surround them and the people who live there.\n\nStream Cares has invested into developing that reputation by working with influential organizations like the Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity and developing partnerships that can affect enduring change over a period of years. Both in Texas and across the country.\n\nAn example of this is their partnership with the Hope Supply CO. Both have invested a great deal of interest in addressing the rapid increase of homelessness in the state of Texas. Their event, a Splash of Hope, allowed more than a thousand homeless children to spend a day full of food and fun at a Texas water park. The day ended with the children receiving financial and material support that could benefit them and their families.\n\nThis kind of charity is fairly common among corporations in the US, but not in the state of Texas, which is seen as one of the least charitable in the entire nation. Kimberly Girard, Senior Event Manager for Stream Energy, sees this as an opportunity to continue to do good while influencing other companies to do their part in helping their communities.\n\nSteps Sahm Adrangi takes that are worth following\n\nThe asymmetry of information among investors, especially international investors has been a nagging problem over time. Sahm Adrangi took note of this fact. He treated it as a gap in the market (as it is) and formed the Kerrisdale Capital Management. currently, he holds the title of Chief Investment Officer. This formation was in the year 2009.\n\nAdrangi prides himself on the ability to carry out quality research. This is what has currently drawn him such a large loyal customer base. the large market for information necessitates Kerrisdale to release findings on multiple avenues. They include third parties (as Seeking Alpha), through the company’s Twitter account and even on their website.\n\nExposure of foul play and attempts to cleanse the market is the main objective of Sahm Adrangi. For instance, he recently commented that he prides in the fact that performance of Globalstar, Inc. has flopped by 50% since the company released a report (which took them a very long time of carrying out research).\n\nKerrisdale is a company that has established a very strong corporate culture. Mos of this could be attributed to the amount of discipline that Sahm Adrangi aims at maintaining despite being the founder. This discipline was seen all the way from the first job that he took up as a trainee journalist in Toronto’s Globe and Mail.\n\nHis passion for journalism is very evident from his actions. Sahm chose to pursue a career in the field of journalism even after graduating from the University of Yale with a degree in Economics. He expects this same enthusiasm from his employees. That is why he maintains a very steady policy on how he takes up employees in Kerrisdale. Only strong and bold analysts and writers are usually hired. This is to ensure they produce quality publications for both internal and external use in the company.\n\nSahm Adrangi is a person who strongly pushes for growth and results from what he chooses to engage in. That is why the company’s capital grew from $1 million to $150 million just within six years. This has been admired by other companies in this field and some have even assimilated their strategies within their operations.\n\nLouis Chenevert Used His Production Management Degree To Help Companies Grow\n\nThe world of business can be a rough and tumble business that takes no prisoners. It also can create a whole lot of opportunity, innovation, and wealth. Not everyone climbs the branches of success, so you have to be dedicated, knowledgeable, and persistent. One man came from humble beginnings to become a successful and thoughtful leader.\n\nIn such a short period of time Louis Chenevert accomplished quite a lot at United Technologies Corporation. In his last position there he was Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chairman for the corporation. He used his vast knowledge, great instincts, and business smarts to launch United Technology Corporation into a leader in their industry. He started his journey in college at the University of Montreal’s business school called HEC Montreal. A native Canadian Louis was born there and lived there during the early part of his life. He would go on to start his career and first job in Canada at General Motors at St. Therese, Quebec. He was the first line supervisor at their assembly line plant. Chenevert would eventually work his way up the company. Fourteen years later Louis joined Pratt & Whitney, a division of the super corporation UTC. In his leadership role he cut down production time of an engine from two years to nine months. That cut down manufacturing costs by 10 percent in one year.\n\nLouis Chenevert knew that Pratt & Whitney’s GTF engine had potential to spare so he joined the mother corporation United Technologies Corporation after over a decade at Pratt & Whitney. He joined United Technologies Corporation as Chairman. In his role as Chairman Louis encouraged UTC to invest in the most advanced technology to super boost the GTF’s engine potential and boy did it pay off. $10 million dollars later and they created a clearly superior engine that cut fuel burn by 20 percent. They also cut down the cost of the engine’s lifetime by 30 percent and noise by 50 percent. All the money and investment paid off in spades because now this particular engine is used by 14 airlines and in 70 aircraft.\n\nWaiakea Water The Alkaline Factor\n\nWaiakea is located in Hawaii,in the native language it stands for ‘broad waters‘ this is the perfect place to bottle water! Not just any type of water either, we are speaking of volcanic water. Hawaii is well known for it’s volcano’s but the idea of water being healthy from it is not make believe. The beautiful area along with its residents host many expensive homes and a state forest reserve.\n\nWhat is now called Hilo Bay, was originally called Waiakea Bay the area itself goes for miles, it is a district of the Big Island of Hawaii. The stretch ends at Waiakea-Uka an area on the slopes of Mauna Loa. This is home to where the volcanic water starts its journey.\n\n\nThe organically sourced Waiakea water has something that is very important to a humans over all health and that is alkaline. The volcanic water benefits are many, if you have ever suffered from acid reflux it has been found that the alkaline found in Waiakea water helps to neutralize the acid in the stomach. The Waiakea water pH helps your body maintain a more stable pH level itself. Another important element inside Waiakea water is silica, it has more than the recommended dosage of this because of the alkaline nature of the water. The silica is known to slow down the ageing process by reducing the cognitive decline, that can ultimately lead to Alzheimer’s disease.\n\n\nThe Waiakea Hawaii volcanic water is purified by means of running through 14,000 feet of the volcanic rock found in the Mauna Loa volcano. The name means ‘Long Mountain’ as Waiakea benefits from one of the most active volcanoes with the ability to purify water with natural minerals such as calcium and magnesium. The process gives the water a pH balance of 8.8.\n\n\nYou can enjoy drinking healthy volcanic water as you spend some time touring the Waiakea Forest Preserve, you can plan a picnic or just enjoy watching the beautiful sunsets, all from 640-acre lava flow. Another thing to note is that the area also has some of the most important ground based astronomical observatories.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.504869818687439}
+{"content": "Init d updating Gratis random sexchat alternative\n\nPosted by / 26-Apr-2018 04:31\n\nInit d updating\n\n\nThe same caveats apply as for floating point numbers. When used as an expression, a slice is a sequence of the same type.\n\n\n\n\nFor the purpose of shift and mask operations, a binary representation is assumed, and negative numbers are represented in a variant of 2’s complement which gives the illusion of an infinite string of sign bits extending to the left. The Boolean type is a subtype of the integer type, and Boolean values behave like the values 0 and 1, respectively, in almost all contexts, the exception being that when converted to a string, the strings These represent machine-level double precision floating point numbers.Objects are never explicitly destroyed; however, when they become unreachable they may be garbage-collected.An implementation is allowed to postpone garbage collection or omit it altogether — it is a matter of implementation quality how garbage collection is implemented, as long as no objects are collected that are still reachable.The only types of values not acceptable as keys are values containing lists or dictionaries or other mutable types that are compared by value rather than by object identity, the reason being that the efficient implementation of dictionaries requires a key’s hash value to remain constant.Numeric types used for keys obey the normal rules for numeric comparison: if two numbers compare equal (e.g., Most of the attributes labelled “Writable” check the type of the assigned value.\n\ninit d updating-55init d updating-29init d updating-50", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9766347408294678}
+{"content": "The AKP Government opens the Incirlik Airbase to the USA!\n\n\nŞule Nazlıoğlu Erol, Deputy Chairman of the Patriotic Party (Turkey), made, on the 11th of July 2015, a press statement in Ankara Güvenpark about the agreement between the AKP government and the USA to use the Incirlik Airbase in Adana for UAV operations in Syria.\n\n\nA summary of the statement is below:\n\n\nA team consisting of 40 people headed by the US President Barack Obama’s special envoy John Allen and Brett McGurk continued negotiations in Ankara for two days. In the negotiations it was agreed that the armed unmanned aerial vehicles of the USA will use the Incirlik Airbase in Adana. \n\n\nUnder the cover of fighting against ISIL, the UAV’s taking off from Incirlik will conduct operations in Syria; the agreement is now before the US government and the AKP government for signing.\n\n\nWe are warning the AKP government: the territorial integrity of Syria is the territorial integrity of Turkey. The US-Israel corridor that is trying to be established by US imperialism paves the way for the separation of Syria and Turkey. Your hostility against the democratically elected Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and your sectarian policies have failed each time by the resistance of the Syrian people. The gangs which were equipped with US weapons to attack Aleppo were defeated once more. If you sign the agreement that opens the Incirlik Airbase to the US, you will certainly account for this betrayal of the Turkish nation. \n\n\nThe land force of the so-called Kurdish Corridor of the US-Israel is the PKK/PYD, which is led by the US Special Forces. It is known that with the air strikes of the “coalition” led by the US and Israel for months, an ethnic cleansing has been carried out by deporting the Arabs and Turkmens in the region and that the way has been paved for PYD. The US Secretary of Defence and Obama defined the PKK/PYD as their “land forces”. We also emphasize that those who claim that they would achieve a revolution under the protection of the US led “coalition”, are also in betrayal to Turkey. We also warn them. The cost of the betrayal will be severe.    \n\n\nThe plans for an US-Israel corridor in the north of Syria and its elongation to the Mediterranean will not be allowed in any way by the Turkish nation. The separation of Syria will never be realised. The countries that are trying to be divided, namely Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq will unite. We will overthrow the governments taking part in this treason and we will defeat US imperialism in our region.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9505494236946106}
+{"content": "Walk-in and Alcove wardrobes\n\nAs a carpenter Liverpool has been very good for me within the last few years due to the increase in personalised and customised furniture. However, another carpentry and woodworking service that has been very popular within the last few years especially has been the growing popularity of alcove and walk in wardrobes. Since both types of wardrobe projects are considered luxury and high end for most houses, many home owners are beginning to look for having one of either within their home. As a carpenter, this is one of the most expensive and biggest projects that we complete. It also means that it is a good opportunity to make a decent amount of money, and both the customer and us as a company win with a transaction such as this.\n\nI have had the opportunity to take many wardrobe creation projects within the last few years especially, and the demand for the wardrobes are only increasing. Projects like these can cost anywhere from £2,500 – £7,000 depending on the size of the project, especially if you are looking to create a more elaborate walk in closet for example. Some people decide that they want to turn their en-suite bathroom or even a spare bedroom into a walk-in closet if they have a lot of clothes or shoes but no need for the room itself. This isn’t as uncommon as you may believe, due to the amount of families that are deciding to not have children.\n\nWith the number of gardens in Liverpool, it is also becoming common for many home owners to request the creation and construction of garden furniture such as benches and picnic tables. Many times, they want the furniture to be created from either a specific timber, or they want a specific carving or engraving within the furniture itself. This is more common with something such as a picnic table, where customers want what they would consider a posh picnic table. Other times, some customers are more artistic and just want a carving or engraved pattern within the table itself. This itself is an enjoyable project for carpenters, as it is rare to create something that others would consider a piece of art rather than just furniture.\n\nThank you for reading today’s post. Tomorrow I want to discuss a bit more about the industry of carpentry over the last few years, especially within the city of Liverpool rather than for the residential areas. I hope you enjoyed the post, and make sure to check out some of the other posts within the last week or so!\n\nLiverpool furniture and carpentry!\n\nI realised that in my last blog post that I created, I spoke a bit about the history of Liverpool as a city. In the post before the last, I also spoke somewhat about Liverpool FC, but I hadn’t had a chance to ask some of my readers to send their comments about what they think of the club. That does mean I only want to hear good thoughts whether you support the club or not however! The club has been through some large ups and downs throughout the years, and there are a variety of differences that have been clear throughout the years. The largest difference that I have seen throughout the years is the lack of a midfield presence since Steven Gerrard left. While we still have someone like Jordan Henderson, we don’t have a player that has lived for the club since they risen through the ranks. I hope we get to see someone similar soon.\n\nI also wanted to speak somewhat about the recent industry boom in carpentry. There is a significant increase in carpentry and woodworking projects around the city, and my company is getting a large volume of calls daily. There are some days where we are called by 5 or 6 home owners for the creation and installation of built in wardrobes or furniture creation that is unprecedented in the last few years. I think a factor into the creation of furniture and wardrobes rather than the purchasing of the pre-built projects are partially due to the increase in tax and VAT, let alone the increase of prices for the products itself. This means that a customised and specialised piece of furniture that is created just for you is cheaper than purchasing pre-built products instead.\n\nI hope you enjoyed today’s blog post. The post itself is quite short because I want to ask my readers some questions. The first question is; if you have ever contacted a carpenter to create your furniture and why? The second question is who you think will improve Liverpool within the next few years.\n\nThanks for reading! Make sure to read some of the past posts, and some of the future ones too! Have a good day!\n\nThe history of Liverpool!\n\nApart from historians or the natural habitants of the city itself, not many people know about the history behind the city of Liverpool. It is one of the oldest and most important cities within the United Kingdom as a whole. Liverpool today is also one of the main cities within the United Kingdom and is also one of the most populated as of 2017. The history and the landscape of the area in general is very rich, and it is one of the most beautiful cities in the country thanks to the location, being built as a oceanside city. Even the name of the city is quite interesting, as it comes from a word of “Old English”. The name Liverpool in Old English means “Liver” which is thick or muddy, and “Pol”, meaning creek or pool, as it was built on the side of an ocean. The name of Liverpool dates all the way back to the 1100’s, making it one of the oldest recorded settlements within the United Kingdom. Also, there are other suggestions as to the name Liverpool, the most interesting coming from the name “elverpool”. This name has come from the suggestion that eels surrounding the water of Liverpool and had given the settlement the nickname.\n\nThe actual borough of Liverpool was named not too soon after the formation and naming of the settlement itself. The borough of Liverpool was officially announced by King John in 1207, and the population was incredibly small for a long time. It took until the 16th century and not too shortly before the American colonisation era. It took until the 16th century for the city to get over 500 people living within the area, and it had only had a total of 7 streets altogether. It still took a long time before the city of Liverpool started growing within population and size, even to the 17th century. There was little to no growth in size, population or even trade within the city itself and the English Civil War nearly destroyed the town itself. Only after the civil war things had changed.\n\nThe first major change of the fortunes for the city was the slave trade becoming an integral part of the city itself. It had been given the Liverpool Merchant, which was one of the first slave ships of it’s time, to sail for Africa. Changing the economy and state of the city itself. After the first trips around the world with the Liverpool Merchant, Liverpool itself started to become a harbour for worldwide trade for the United Kingdom. There were hundreds of ships after time that came in and out of Liverpool monthly, and Liverpool itself became a trade centre of the world. The success of the trade routes to Liverpool was of such size that the slave and tobacco trade of the city was one of the biggest in the country. It even allowed the first ever interlink city rail within the world, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The city had become such a success with so many people coming and going that by the time of the famine within Ireland, the migrants were within the hundreds of thousands. It may have been one of the fastest growing cities of the time.\n\nThank you for reading todays blog post. I hope you enjoyed the posts we have made in the past, and please ensure you stay checked in for the future block posts we make.\n\nLiverpool Football Club!\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe city of Liverpool!\n\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8801804780960083}
+{"content": "Preferences toward risk, Microeconomics\n\n\n* Choosing Among Risky Alternatives\n\n- Assume\n\n- Consumption of a single commodity\n\n- The consumer knows all probabilities\n\n- Payoffs measured in terms of utility\n\n- Utility function given\n\n*  Example\n\n- A person who is earning $15,000 and receiving 13 units of utility from job.\n\n- She is considering a new, but at the same time risky job.\n\n* She has a 50 % chance of increasing her income to $30,000 and a 50% chance of decreasing her income to $10,000.\n\n*  She will evaluate the position by calculating expected value of the resulting income.\n\n*  The expected value of the new position is the sum of utilities associated with all her possible incomes weighted by probability that each income will occur.\n\n*  The expected utility can be given by:\n\n- E(u) = (1/2)u($10,000) + (1/2)u($30,000)\n\n        = 0.5(10) + 0.5(18)\n\n        = 14\n\n- E(u) of new job is 14 that is greater than current utility of 13 and therefore preferred.\n\n*  Different Preferences Toward Risk\n\n- People can be \n\n1) Risk averse\n\n2) Risk neutral or\n\n3) Risk loving \n\nPosted Date: 10/10/2012 8:41:12 AM | Location : United States\n\nRelated Discussions:- Preferences toward risk, Assignment Help, Ask Question on Preferences toward risk, Get Answer, Expert's Help, Preferences toward risk Discussions\n\nWrite discussion on Preferences toward risk\nYour posts are moderated\nRelated Questions\nIn relation to solvency margins in the insurance industry, the solvency margin is the amount of regulatory capital an insurance undertaking is obliged to hold against unforeseen ev\n\nwhat is budget line?show the shift in the budget line\n\nHow would you convert from moles of iron(III) oxide to moles of carbon monoxide?\n\nWhy does a monopoly have no supply curve?  A supply curve is a curve that shows the quantity supplied at dissimilar prices, as a monopoly sets the price and the quantity togeth\n\nPrivate Returns Versus Social Returns As there is subsidisation of education by the state in all countries (and a little higher subsidisation in developing countries) it happe\n\nIt is clear that monopsony in the labor market is not steady with allocative efficiency and has the effect of withholding significant amounts the employees' MRP from them, that bec\n\nCROP PATTERNS: Analysis of crop patterns in India should relate to the following aspects:  a) The relative significance of different crops/crop groups in the overall area u\n\n\nExplain about the content of factor markets and the distribution of income. Content of factor markets and the distribution of income: a. Factor distribution of income b.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.542660653591156}
+{"content": "A comprehensive text and practitioner’s field guide to understanding, assimilating, applying, and practicing the complete interaction design discipline for usability and a quality user experience.\n\nExtensive coverage, including a full interaction lifecycle process for delivering a quality user experience.\n\nAn agile interaction lifecycle and rapid development approaches to meet real world project constraints.\n\nGrounded in current best practice but rooted in human-computer interaction (HCI) theory.\n\nDesign thinking and ideation to inspire innovative design for emotional and social impact.\n\nA broad treatment of affordances, concepts made simple and understandable, applied directly to design process.\n\nDesign guidelines posed in a structured framework based on user intentions and actions. A wealth of examples specific to individual guidelines. Diverse applicability to desktop computers, everyday things, consumer devices, ATMs, elevators, highway signage.\n\nExtras include connections between usability engineering and software engineering and making it work in the real world.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9992393255233765}
+{"content": "Learning the language of love\n\nFoster care alum La Tika Smith-Jeffery\n\n“Being adopted showed me what love really is, and how parents should love a child.”\n\nLa Tika Smith-Jeffery was adopted when she was 21, after spending her teenage years in foster care. Today she is a recent college graduate, a wife, and the mother of a two-year-old daughter.\n\nWhat brought you into foster care?\n\nI entered foster care at the age of 13 after being abused by my biological father, who was raising me. While in care, I lived in a total of five homes before aging out. I did not have much contact with my biological mother, who is very ill, during that time.\n\nFor many years I dealt with low self-esteem, rage, and trust issues due to the abuse by my father and other family members.\n\nHow did you overcome these challenges?\n\nA strong support system, great adoptive parents, and therapy. I wanted better for myself and to be an example to others.\n\nI want people to know that each of us is responsible for our future. It is not defined by our past, by our parents, or by anyone else. At some point, every person has to do what is best for them!\n\nHow did you meet the family who adopted you?\n\nAfter graduating from high school, living in multiple foster homes, and feeling unwanted, I decided to participate in an independent living program. I received a stipend to help with everyday essentials, which was a blessing.  But after two years of living on my own, I was in a position of having to choose between work and school.\n\nI reached out to my best friend’s family asking if I could move into their house so that I could save money, continue my education, and regain my focus.\n\nThey agreed to my moving in. But they didn’t just open their home to me, they opened their hearts. And because they knew me and my biological father before I entered foster care, they understood my behavior issues. Most importantly, they gave me a chance! That alone meant a lot to me.\n\nHow did being adopted change things?\n\nBeing adopted showed me what love really is, and how parents should love a child. When you know what love looks like and feels like, you are able to love and respect yourself and know your worth.\n\nBeing loved gave me self-confidence that I didn’t realize I was lacking. With my parents’ love, I was able to overcome the challenges of my past and use it to make a difference in other people’s lives today.\n\nDo you still have a relationship with your birth parents?\n\nYes. My biological mother and I started communicating again when I was 18 years old. It has taken more than seven years, but we are finally starting to be on the same page.\n\nI think it is important for families who are adopting to know that just because a child comes from a dysfunctional background, it does not mean there is a loss of love for all biological family members. At times, the child will struggle to balance relationships with their biological parents and the parents who adopted them.\n\nWhat other advice do you have for parents who are adopting children or teens?\n\nBe patient and understanding. This will take you a long way. Consider the child’s history. It is an emotional process going from home to home, and everyone reacts differently. Once the child decides to be open and honest with themselves, life will get better.\n\nSet aside what you read about children in foster care or heard from other people and just be that support system they need.\n\nLastly, as I have learned from my adoptive parents, love them unconditionally. Each child requires an act of love differently. Some want a parent to be physical, for example, to hug them. Some like gifts or surprises. Others may just want to talk. Learn their language of love, and things will flourish from there.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9817274212837219}
+{"content": "Big Food Candy-maker to Phase Out Nanoparticle Titantium Dioxide\n\nOh sure, nanoparticle ‘titanium dioxide’ has been categorized as GRAS (generally recognized as safe) by the FDA, but so what?  GRAS, as we know from a number of sources, the most important one being the exhaustive research study funded by Pew Trust*, conducted by Tom Neltner and his colleagues, and published in a variety of peer-reviewed, prestigious medical and scientific journals including JAMA of the American Medical Association, have found that for the past 15 years or so Big Food themselves–and not the FDA or any independent review and regulatory oversight agency–have been determining what food additives garner GRAS status, in many cases, sans any safety testing.  So that makes using GRAS status a pretty useless method for determining whether a food additive is actually safe for public consumption.\n\nAdd to that the fact that existing research findings, while still limited in number, suggest that the nanoparticle ‘titanium dioxide’ commonly used as a food additive to make certain products (including milk and dairy products, donuts, marshmallows, nondairy creamer, salad dressings, and so on) more “white”, holds the potential at least to create serious problems for some consumers. This potential for harm screams out for safety testing by a neutral third party and peer-review of the findings by qualified independent researchers.\n\nTitanium Dioxide:\n\nThis nanoparticle white pigment (officially classified as a food additive as opposed to a food dye) is present in processed foods common on grocery shelves, as well as in fast food and conventional restaurant foods.  Frequently unlabeled in U.S. foods (though nanoparticles are required to be labeled in EU countries) this additive is used as a white pigment food coloring for processed foods such as skim milk, white cheese, yogurt, frosting/frosted foods, icing, candies, snack foods, mayonnaise, salad dressings, powdered sugar, marshmallows, pudding, breakfast toaster pastries, and non-diary coffee creamer, among many others.  It is also commonly used in medicines and toothpaste.\n\nScientists are still determining the health safety and potential health hazards of nanoparticles in food.  According to the professional organization American Society of Safety Engineers (the guide has since been removed from their website) ingested nanoparticles can be absorbed through small nodules in intestinal tissue (Peyer’s Plaques) that are part of the immune defense system. If nanoparticles enter the digestive system and proceed into the bloodstream, they can potentially move throughout the body and cause damage. Additionally, the Society concludes that:\n\n“Nanoparticles may also accumulate in certain organs, disrupt and impair biological, structural and metabolic processes and weaken the immune system.”\n\nAnimals studies have demonstrated that nanoparticle ingestion changes the structure of the lining of the intestinal walls. Among other potential problems, such structural changes hold the potential for over-absorption of harmful compounds.\n\nAdditionally, research has indicated there are potential adverse health effects of nanoparticles on respiratory and cardiovascular systems, and studies of manufactured nanoparticles have demonstrated toxic properties.  Among other health-related issues researchers are studying the potential link between Titanium Dioxide nanoparticles in food and an increased risk for inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and colitis.\n\nAnd finally, a recent study funded by the National Science Foundation and published by the American Chemical Society found that nanomaterials in food and drinks can interfere with digestive cells, changing the normal organization and decreasing the number of microvilli (finger-like projections on the cells that help us digest food). What this means essentially is that in humans, if such an effect occurs as food and drinks pass through the gastrointestinal tract, these nanomaterials could lead to poor digestion or diarrhea.”\n\n~The Food Hacker’s Handbook: A Guide to Breaking the Processed Foods and Additives Addiction\n\nThankfully, at least one big food manufacturer is planning to phase out the use of this additive in their products.  We await other Big Food corporations to follow suit.\n\nNeltner, T. & Maffini, M. 2014. Generally recognized as secret: Chemicals added to food in the United States.National Resource Defense Council (NRDC)Report.\nNeltner, T., et al. 2013. Data gaps in toxicity testing of chemicals allowed in food in the United States, Reproductive Toxicology, 42:85–94.\nNeltner, T., et al. 2013. Conflicts of interest in approvals of additives to food determined to be Generally Recognized as Safe out of balance. Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine, 173(22):2032-2036.\nNeltner T., et al. 2011. Navigating the U.S. food additive regulatory program. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 10:342–368.\n\n\nMars commits to phasing titanium dioxide out of its products\n\nMars has officially committed to removing titanium dioxide, a potentially poisonous form of nanoparticles it and other manufacturers use in candies, according to the Center for Food Safety…public health advocates are concerned about nano-scale materials because they are tiny, yet highly reactive, and can pass through the human body’s blood-brain barrier in ways many other chemicals in food cannot.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9781864881515503}
+{"content": "A screen dump, screen capture (or screen-cap), screenshot (or screen shot), screengrab (or screen grab), or print screen is an image taken by the computer user to record the visible items displayed on the monitor, television, or another visual output device. Usually this is a digital image using the (host) operating system or software running on the computer, but it can also be a capture made by a camera or a device intercepting the video output of the display (such as a DVR).", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999039173126221}
+{"content": "Taiwan announces $500,000 donation to Nadia's Initiative at the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Ministerial\n\n“Ambassador Kao stated that the $500,000 donation will be used to support “Nadia’s Initiative”, an international NGO dedicated to assisting the Yazidi people of Iraq that suffered genocide and religious persecution at the hands of ISIS. The founder of the organization and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Nadia Murad, is a leading advocate for fellow survivors of genocide and sexual violence. Nadia’s Initiative has received international recognition and support from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and others. During the Ministerial, Ms. Murad was honored by U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and personally conveyed her appreciation towards Taiwan’s contribution to Ambassador Kao.”\n\nRead more: https://www.taiwanembassy.org/us_en/post/7342.html\n\nSource: https://www.taiwanembassy.org/us_en/post/7...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9957795739173889}
+{"content": "After pushing back, Amazon hands over Echo data in Arkansas murder case\n\nAmazon’s First Amendment fight was short lived. After pushing back against investigators, the tech giant handed over data from an Echo believed to contain vital information pertaining to 2015 murder. The move, which occurred on Friday, was initiated by defendant James Bates, who agreed to allow police to review the information retained on his smart home assistant.\n\nBates plead not guilty to the murder of Victor Collins, an acquaintance who was found floating dead in the hot tub at his home in Bentonville, Arkansas. The defendant told police he woke up to find Collins dead, believing the drowning to be accident. Investigators, on the other hand, believe Collins was strangled and drowned – and that Bates’s Amazon Echo may hold the key to his involvement in the incident.\n\nBates was charged with the murder in February of last year, and police approached Amazon with a warrant for information from the home assistant. Amazon complied in part, handing over a record of transactions. But the company pushed back against a request to hand over audio data, with a lengthy filing that demanded,\n\nGiven the important First Amendment and privacy implications at stake, the warrant should be quashed unless the Court finds that the State has met its heightened burden for compelled production of such material.\n\nAmazon argued that handing over such data would constitute a violation of consumer rights and that the investigators’ case wasn’t cause enough to hand over data collected by the Echo’s on-board microphones. The real first amendment battle, it seems, will have to wait for another day, as it was Bates himself who offered up the information.\n\nA hearing this Wednesday may offer more insight into what precisely the Echo heard, and perhaps more broadly, how much information the hub is gathered (and saved) via its always-on mics at any one given time. For Amazon and other hardware makers, this case is likely just the beginning of conversations around privacy and First Amendment rights surrounding over-more ubiquitous home assistants.\n\nWe’ve reached out to the company for comment.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7246659994125366}
+{"content": "The famous Bust of Nefertiti has been proven to be an Egyptology Fraud created by an artist commissioned by Ludwig Borchardt. It was a deliberate attempt to make her look European. The bust of Nefertiti draws half a million tourists to see her in Berlin every year. But now doubt has been thrown on the authenticity of the painted limestone and plaster bust of the 18th dynasty Egyptian queen Nefertiti by two authors who claim she is a fake.\n\nAccording to a Swiss art historian, the bust is less than 100 years old. Henri Stierlin has said the stunning work that will later this year be the showpiece of the city’s reborn Neues Museum was created by an artist commissioned by Ludwig Borchardt, the German archaeologist credited with digging Nefertiti out of the sands of the ancient settlement of Amarna, 90 miles south of Cairo, in 1912.\n\nIn his book, Le Buste de Nefertiti – une Imposture de l’Egyptologie? (The Bust of Nefertiti – an Egyptology Fraud?), Stierlin has claimed that the bust was created to test ancient pigments. But after it was admired by a Prussian prince, Johann Georg, who was beguiled by Nefertiti’s beauty, Borchardt, said Stierlin, “didn’t have the nerve to make his guest look stupid” and pretended it was genuine.\n\nBerlin author and historian Edrogan Ercivan has added his weight to the row with his book Missing Link in Archaeology, published last week, in which he has also called Nefertiti a fake, modelled by an artist on Borchardt’s statuesque wife.\n\nPublic and political enthusiasm about the find at the time gave the artefact its “own dynamic” and led to Borchardt ensuring it was kept out of the public gaze until 1924, the authors have argued. He kept it in his living room for the next 11 years before handing it over to a Berlin museum, since when it has been one of the city’s main tourist attractions. The statue was famously admired by Adolf Hitler, who referred to it as “a unique masterpiece, an ornament, a true treasure”.\n\nThe archaeologist who claimed to have found the bust was actually going to reproduce a new sculptor of the Queen wearing a necklace he knew she had owned. He was also experimenting with colour tests with ancient pigments found at the digs. After completing the bust in 1912, the copy was admired so much by a German Prince; the Archaeologist couldn’t sum up the courage to tell the Prince it was a fake.\n\n\n‘..The bust has no left eye and was never crafted to have one. This is an insult for an ancient Egyptian who believed the statue was the person themselves..” He also said the shoulders were cut vertically in the style practised since the 19th century while, “Egyptians cut shoulders horizontally” and that the features were accentuated in a manner recalling that of Art Nouveau. It was impossible to scientifically establish the date of the bust because it was made of stone covered in plaster, he said. “..The pigments, which can be dated, are really ancient..” he added.\n\n\nStierlin also listed problems he noted during the discovery and shipment to Germany as well as in scientific reports of the time. French Archaeologists present at the site never mentioned the finding and neither did written accounts of the digs. The earliest detailed scientific report appeared in 1923, 11 years after the discovery. The archaeologist “..didn’t even bother to supply a description, which is amazing for an exceptional work found intact..”. Borchardt ‘knew it was a fake’, Stierlin said. “..He left the piece for 10 years in his sponsor’s sitting-room. It’s as if he’d left Tutankhamen’s mask in his own sitting-room..” Apart from anything else, the bust looks nothing like the ‘real’ Nefertiti images, it’s as if someone has attempted to make her look European. The other pictured artifacts are true authenticated images of Nefertiti showing she’s Black. There is a relief depicting of Nefertiti that is carved from Limestone displaying her with prominent African features. It’s kept at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford\n\nArcheologists also found a statute of the body of Queen Nefertiti from the Kingdom, Dynasty, reign of Amenophis IV-Akhenaten, BC Quartzite. The body of Nefertiti has a body shape that is clearly an Africans. It’s kept at the Louvre Museum | Paris. There’s also many more carvings and paintings depicting Nefertiti with her husband and children that are also all depicted as Africans.\n\n\nDo you know that DNA testings conducted on mummies of Pharaoh Ramses III, his son, and many others have scientifically confirmed that the Ancient Egyptians were Black?\n\nAlthough Egypt is a country thousands of miles well within the African continent, and although all of its Pyramids, and the Great Sphinx, were built by Africans thousands of years long before the first Arabs arrived there in the 7th century, and although the tombs are filled with countless of evidence that the ancient Egyptians were Black white historians still refuse to acknowledge the ancient Egyptians as being Black. This is because white societies cannot teach the true great history of Africa to Black people and continue their oppression of them. Because when a people are taught of their true greatness they no longer accept their oppression.\n\nThroughout western history oppressors have always subdued and controlled the oppressed by heavily demoralizing them. Because the damage that self-loathing creates makes people easier to control. Oppressors have used this tactic to imprison the minds of the oppressed for centuries. This demoralizing tactic is what’s presently being done to Black people by white societies. This is the real reason why millions of Black people have been miseducated by white schools to believe that before the the arrival of the brutal white enslavers, that Africa was uncivilized and illiterate and therefore has no written history. This is however, totally untrue.\n\nThe Timbuktu University (in Mali, Africa) and its library are older than any of those found within the Western world. Timbuktu is the world first university; it was built by Mansa Musa empire of Mali. It was composed of three schools, namely the Masajid of Djinguereber, the Masajid of Sidi Yahya, and the Masajid of Sankore.\n\nDuring the 12th century, the university had an enrollment of around 25,000 students from Africa. In Timbuktu, there are about 700,000 surviving books. They are written in Mande, Suqi, Fulani, Timbuctu, and Sudani. The contents of the manuscripts include math, medicine, poetry, law and astronomy. This work was the first encyclopedia in the 14th century before the Europeans got the idea later in the 18th century, 4 centuries later. The false derogatory narrative that Africans were illiterate and uncivilized before the arrival of whites is a necessary lie in order for Europeans to maintain their psychological dominance over Africans.\n\nFor years white societies have therefore done their best to conceal the fact that the great ancient Egyptians were indeed Black. However DNA testings conducted on the mummies of the ancient Egyptians in 2012 and 2013 scientifically proven that they were Black.\n\nIn December 2012, DNA tests were conducted on the mummies of Pharaoh Rameses III and his son, which proved that they belonged to human Y chromosome group E1b1a. This is the Y chromosome group of Black Sub Saharan Africans who speak Niger–Congo languages.\n\nThe disclosed Y chromosome group of the Pharaoh, at the time of releasing the report, was considered as just one of the details to make the investigation scientifically solid with facts. Another group of mummies from the Amarna period of Egyptian pharaohs were tested by DNA Tribes, an American Company which specialises in conducting DNA tests, in 2013.\n\nThe conclusion of the tests were that the mummies autosomal profiles would be most frequent in the present day populations of the African Great Lakes region and Southern Africa. Subsequent analysis of the autosomal profile of the mummy of Pharaoh Rameses III also concluded that this matched the genetic profiles of the population of the Great Lakes region Africans as well.\n\nIt was reported in the DNA Tribe’s digest of February 2013, that the DNA results of the ancient Egyptian Amarna royal mummies matched with the present day genetic profiles of Niger–Congo. Most of us haven’t heard about these results because this story has been intentionality suppressed from within the US media. It’s been suppressed while there has been instead a false story being circulating on the internet ridiculously claiming that King tut was a European. Whites will always create so many distractions to keep us from the truth.\n\n\nDo you know that there exist substantial proof that the Great Sphinx of Giza is a sculpted head of an Black person?\n\nThere exist a reputable historian’s eye witness account, written testimony and an artist rendering proving that the Great Sphinxs is a sculpted head of an African Man? These are the types of evidence that a person might take to court to win their case. However the system of white supremacy has always suppressed all evidence that contradicts the myth of white superiority and falsehood of Black inferiority.\n\nThis includes hiding all evidence that the Sphinx is the sculpted head of a Black African. Most of us have heard the story that when Napoleon’s army arrive in Egypt on July 1 1798, he ordered that cannons be used to deface the Negroid face of the Great Sphinx of Giza. However most people are not aware that there does exist substantial evidence proving that the face of the Sphinx was in fact an African Negroid man before it was defaced.\n\nDuring the French invasion into Egyptian Napoleon was accompanied by a French diplomat, author, archaeologist and artist named Dominique Vivant Baron Denon.\nBefore the defacing of the Sphinx, Baron Denon asked Napoleon to allow him to first draw an illustration of the massive Sphinx of Giza before its face was destroyed.\n\nNapoleon agreed to the request and allowed Denon to draw a picture of the Sphinx before its defacement. Soon after Vivant’s sketch was complete Napoleon ordered the nose and lips shot off the Sphinx! Napoleon’s objective for defacing the Sphinx was to remove the negro features. However the true features of the Sphinx survived in the Vivant Denon drawing. This attached drawing of the Sphinx’s is a true copy of that original sketch drawn by Denon.\n\nIt’s given signed completion date is July 1 1798. This date affirms that it was drawn shortly after the French invasion into Egypt. Vivant clearly captured the facial features of the Sphinx and they are clearly Negroid as stated by the eye witness Herodotus. The drawing shows that the Sphinx’s features were clearly that of a Negroid African before it was damaged. Seeing the Sphinx with distinct negroid features also establishes that the ancient Egyptians were in fact a black culture.\n\nThis drawing was later published in the 1803 in an issue of Universal Magazine.\n\nHere is also the written account about the Sphinx of Giza in Denon’s own words:\n\n“…Though its proportions are colossal, the outline is pure and graceful; the expression of the head is mild, gracious, and tranquil; the character is clearly African, but the mouth, and lips of which are thick as most Negroes, has a softness and delicacy of execution truly admirable; it seems real life and flesh.\n\nArt must have been at a high pitch when this monument was executed; for, if the head wants what is called style, that is the say, the straight and bold lines which give expression to the figures under which the Greeks have designated their deities, yet sufficient justice has been rendered to the fine simplicity and character of nature which is displayed in this figure…”\n— The Sphinx of Giza image (above) is from the Freeman Institute Black History Collection\n\nVivian Denon was a well respected diplomat. He was appointed as the first Director of the Louvre French museum by Napoleon after the Egyptian campaign of 1798–1801, and his drawing of the Sphinx displaying its original Negroid features are commemorated in the Denon Wing of the modern museum.\n\nHe also wrote in his two-volume Voyage dans la basse et la haute Egypte(“Journey in Lower and Upper Egypt”) published in 1802, that the original Egyptians were Black skin Negroes and that the sculpted face of the Sphinx was of the same Negro racial type before it was defaced by Napoleon’s army. Dominique Vivant Baron Denon continued to insist up until his death on 27 April 1825 that that the original face of the Sphinx was that of an African Negro before Napoleon had it was destroyed by cannon fire.\n\nThe reason why most Black people are unaware that there exist a reputable eye witness account, written testimony and an artist rendering affirming that the colossal Great Sphinx is in fact that of a Black African is because this information has been intentionally suppressed from the public distribution by the ruling elites.\n\nWe’ve been bamboozled by whites. They’ve stolen our ancient African history and portrays it as theirs. WAKE UP!\n\nBy Franklin Jones – The Black Matrix\n\nLa imagen puede contener: 2 personas, texto\n\nLeave a Reply\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9492137432098389}
+{"content": "Organic spintronics (Ph.D. position)\n\nIn the field of organic spintronics with small functional organic molecules a Ph.D. position is available. In this context novel interface architectures between ferromagnets and selected organic semiconductors will be developed which are directed towards advanced actively controlled spintronic devices. The focus of the project and thus the thesis is to prepare and probe controllable injection of spin polarized carriers into tunable molecular layer systems and the study of the subsequent spin transport in these layers. The material combinations are very topical and highly interesting from a scientific point of view.\n\nThe work is carried out in a high potential interdisciplinary network within a very fascinating and strongly developing research area. It is related to all aspects of modern high tech surface physics, chemistry and analysis. The project student will benefit from involvement in a lab with the most advanced capabilities covering a wide range of state of the art surface analytical techniques, such as low temperature scanning tunneling spectroscopy or spin resolved photoemission spectroscopy, as well as up-to-date preparation techniques such as molecular beam and electrospray deposition in ultra-high vacuum. A further benefit will be the direct cooperation with other experimental and theoretical groups within the research network Spin+X.\n\n\nThis research is related to Spin+X project B05.\n\n\nIf you are a highly motivated and skilled student with a M.Sc or a diploma in (applied) physics or advanced physical chemistry please contact (including a full CV)\n\nProf. Dr. Christiane Ziegler\n\nDepartment of Physics, TU Kaiserslautern; www.physik.uni-kl.de/ziegler\n\nZum Seitenanfang", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9651240110397339}
+{"content": "Erect cinquefoil\n\nWhile canadensis and reptans are, in fact, dwarf cinquefoil, erecta is erect cinquefoil.Stems and branches are hairy in the first year of growth and become brown and hairless in.\n\nTormentilla erecta, Potentilla laeta, Potentilla tormentilla, known as the (common) tormentil, septfoil or erect cinquefoil) is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the rose family.Sulfur cinquefoil has 1 to several slender, erect, hairy stems that are 8 to 30 inches (20-80 cm) tall.The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees, flies, beetles, lepidoptera.The plant is self-fertile.\n\nERECT - What does ERECT stand for? The Free Dictionary\n\nPotentilla | Henriette's Herbal Homepage\n\nShrubby Cinquefoil - Pentaphylloides floribunda\n\nSome of the more commonly known cinquefoils are grown as ornamental shrubs.\n\nTargeted Sheep Grazing to Suppress Sulfur Cinquefoil\n\nThere are 5 Potentilla erecta tormentil closeup, septfoil, erect cinquefoil, golden flower.Similar Species: This is the only cinquefoil in Minnesota that has pale yellow flowers.Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay.\n\nLeaves are dark green and have long, white hairs on the lower and upper surfaces.Carr unless otherwise noted.\n\nPraire Cinquefoil has an erect, unbranched stems to 3 feet with a dense covering of brown hairs.This page illustrates photographs of northern ontario native wildflowers and includes a description of the wildflower habitat and elementary identification criteria.\n\nIt is native to Eurasia but it is present in North America as an introduced species, ranging through almost the entire continent except the northernmost part of Canada and Alaska.\n\nAdditionally, the light yellow flower with 5 petals is a good identifying characteristic of this cinquefoil.\n\nCinquefoil flowers | Etsy\n\nThe plant grows to 1.5 feet (40 cm) tall and produces delicate yellow flowers in May to August.It is antidiarrhoeal, antipyretic, astringent and tonic, and has been used to treat sore throat, bleeding gums, haemorrhoids and open wounds (and in a weak solution, conjunctivitis).Leaves are composed of 5 to 7 toothed leaflets that radiate from a.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.97062087059021}
+{"content": "The Gateway to Algorithmic and Automated Trading\n\nFidessa blog - US steps closer to T+2\n\nFirst Published 19th June 2015\n\nDavid Pearson, head of Post-trade Strategy at Fidessa comments on news that the T+2 settlement cycle could be adopted in the US by the end of Q3 2017.\n\nDavid Pearson, Fidessa\n\n\"It is good to see that the US markets are now set on their journey towards T+2. Although some people are already questioning why it's so far off, a 30 month timeframe will give everyone enough time to identify and resolve all the business processes that will need to be updated in order to meet the shorter settlement requirement.\n\nThe move to T+2 in Europe has shown that with careful planning, and industry collaboration, it can be done without ensuing chaos and ought to be part of the learning curve for the US market. Needs to be right first time though!\"", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7132786512374878}
+{"content": "Photographer Creates Breathtakingly Vivid Gradients By Arranging Food By Its Pigment And Stage Of Life\n\nBrittany Wright - PhotographyBrittany Wright - Photography\n\nBrittany Wright - Photography\n\nThe photography of cooking enthusiast and photographer Brittany Wright simply and beautifully displays the natural range of hues held by various types of fruits and vegetables. The Seattle-based photographer states that she has a goal to learn how to cook everything and anything. Sharing cooking ideas and recipes online, Wright began photographing the ingredients to share as well. This love of experimentation with ingredients and flavors eventually lead to photographing the produce, starting her series titled Food Gradients. She arranges each edible item in rows, columns, and clusters according to their pigment or size, which is often attributed to the stage of lifecycle the specific food is in.\n\nSome of the fruits and vegetables Wright chooses for her rainbows of ingredients naturally have a wide variety of colors, like apples ranging from deep reds to bright yellows. Others, however, are discolored for a different reason, because they are rotting and dying. Many of her Food Gradients brilliantly display the lifecycle of the item, showing the beginning of its life all the way to its elegant death. Because of her subject, you would think Wright’s inspiration comes from food photography, but because she sees food and cooking as a creative and artistic outlet, she finds more inspiration from abstract art. (via Faith is Torment)\n\n” I see food as an art, and an opportunity to do something creative.”\n\n\nAdvertise here !!!\n\nDeath By Chocolate: The Morbid Culinary Art Of Annabel de Vetten Is Too Gruesome To Eat\n\nAnnabel de Vetten - CakeAnnabel de Vetten - Cake\n\nCulinary artist Annabel de Vetten creates, bakes, and sculpts incredible, artistic edibles that tend to be on the dark side. She makes sinister sweets that look exactly like bird skulls, animal insides, and the exposed organs of a cadaver. All of her detailed work would be impressive as a sculpture, but to make it with chocolate, cake, and icing takes a very unique set of skills. Her morbid, graphic style of cake making grew from a background of fine art and, not surprisingly, taxidermy. During this practice, Vetten became very familiar with the site of guts and bones, which is why the inside of her human and animal corpses appear so real, even though they are actually desserts.\n\nYou may wonder who would want to eat something that looks so horrifying, but Vetten’s business is booming! Her business, clever named Conjurer’s Kitchen, is wildly successful and only continues to grow. This means that her cooking not only looks amazing, but it must taste great as well. In order to accurately construct each bone and blood vessel, Vetten must only use the finest ingredients. For her chocolate sculptures, she must use high quality Belgian chocolate, so that the features won’t melt away. For the coloring, she invents deliciously creative ways to integrate food that naturally has the hue she desires, making both her technique and her subject matter equally innovative and unique. Vetten’s sickening sweets may display a deathly subject matter, but more importantly display unbelievable artistic skill. (via\n\nAdvertise here !!!\n\nPawel Bajew Constructs Peculiar Photographs Of Contorting Bodies\n\nPawl Bajew - PhotographyPawl Bajew - PhotographyPawl Bajew - Photography\n\nArtist Pawel Bajew is a master of contorting the body and creating an oddly beautiful scene constructed from simple objects. In his series titled Freaks, the photographer creates surreal images of seemingly mutated bodies and disembodied limbs. However, disfigured his figures may appear, this effect is created mainly through simple minimal objects under the clothing or strangely placed props covering identifying parts of the body like the face or limbs. His cleverly placed mannequin parts and wigs form surreal scenes, some filled with isolation, others with humor. Each strange situation is not unlike a film still; holding dramatic poses and staged lighting. His figures seem tormented in some way, with the bodies twisting and bending in abnormal ways. The faces are often hidden in this series, distorting the identity of the person and causing an eerie, psychological effect on the viewer.\n\nThis intriguing, Polish-based photographer also captures amazing portraits full of detail and originality. His portraits are filled with self-portraits as well as others, embodying an eclectic group of eccentric individuals. Each subject seems like a fictional character, filled with exaggerated expressions and over the top costumes straight out of a novel. Bajew’s portraits are not without humor, as some figures have funny expressions, but also have a darkness about them, just like his series Freaks. His body of work as a whole personifies a distinct mood and peculiar atmosphere about it that leaves it distinguishable and unique.\n\nKim Rugg Deconstructs Social Constructs By Dissecting Newspapers And Maps\n\nKim Rugg - Cut NewspaperKim Rugg - Cut Newspaper\n\nArtist Kim Rugg’s incredibly meticulous artwork consists of slicing up and breaking down everyday sources of information, like newspapers and maps. Dissecting newspapers, she rearranges the words and letters, creating a new depth of meaning. She often cuts the letters out and places them in alphabetical order, throwing the message in disarray. If these newspapers were real, they may cause panic and mayhem, as they disrupt our normal access to worldwide information. Can you imagine if even online news from all countries suddenly appeared as Rugg’s newspapers do? Both her surgically cut newspapers and transformed maps deconstruct society norms of information and the restrictions our culture has placed upon them, and therefore us as well.\n\nThis London-based artists slices up maps and pieces them together again backwards, or purposely arranging the once solid land mass in a way that fuses together all elements of land, border, and ocean. She also creates her maps by hand, erasing borderlines and geopolitical issues that are so relevant in today’s society. Her recreations of man-made territories display a new topography; a world with no boundaries, where we all can live with no territorial restrictions. Each carefully incision made forms a part of the whole, redirecting your view to its small details. Rugg’s complex work invited you to investigate the information laid out right in front of you that is often overlooked. Other work of her that require our close inspection to really understand her subtle manipulations include magazines, comic books, and even cereal boxes. Her work can be found at Mark Moore Gallery in Culver City, CA.\n\nAnnie Collinge Finds Bizarre Dolls And Pairs Them With Their Human Counterparts\n\nAnnie Collinge - PhotographAnnie Collinge - Photograph\n\nAnnie Collinge - Photograph\n\nAnnie Collinge - Photograph\n\n\n\n\nTroy Coulterman - Sculpted ResinTroy Coulterman - Sculpted Resin\n\n\n\n\nRobin Eley’s Hyper-Real Paintings Dissect The Human Body With Fractals Of Color\n\nRobin Eley - Oil on LinenRobin Eley - Oil on LinenRobin Eley - Oil on Linen\n\nUnbelievably, the stunning and incredibly realistic works of artist Robin Eley are not photographs, but meticulously created paintings! The artist uses oil paint to render hyper-real portraits with fragmented hues and picturesque, nude figures.  Each figure looks so photorealistic, it is hard to believe that it is a painting. Every last element is executed perfectly, as you can even see every detail in the tattoos on the figures. As if painting realistic nudes with this high level of skill was not impressive enough, Eley displays his figures through fractals of color, as if they are behind stained glass. The geometric shapes cutting through the composition offer us a stark juxtaposition to the organic, soft bodies that are behind them. This sharp pattern dissects the human body into segments so that we may see it in a different light.\n\nEley not only paints his figures behind brightly colored, intersecting shapes, but also wrapped in materials like plastic. This highly textural element also gives an interesting contrast to the bare skin of the figures. The crinkles and creases in the plastic create a sort of fractured impression, just like Eley’s pieces with the “stained glass.” Originally from Australia, this L.A-based artist has had his work exhibited internationally and also has work in private collections all over the world. If you have the chance to see Eley’s prolific work in person, make sure to take advantage of it and experience every tiny detail of these hyper-real paintings.\n\nShawn Huckins Replicates Paint Swatches While Integrating Imagery Into Every Hue\n\nShawn Huckings - Paint on PanelShawn Huckings - Paint on PanelShawn Huckings - Paint on Panel\n\nThe detailed paintings of Shawn Huckins portray common, day-to-day imagery while flawlessly integrating it into what seems to be miniature paint swatches. Although you may think that the artist paints directly on tiny paint cards used as color samples at hardware stores, but they aren’t actually small at all. In fact, these are not real paint cards, they are fairly large paintings that, thanks to Huckins’ finely crafted skill, are made to replicate exactly the different hues and segments of a paint card. If this was not impressive enough, the realistic imagery included in this series titled The Paint Chip Series, seem to fit perfectly into their settings. He creates a breathtaking mountain range on top of ”Cool Jazz” blue, and a “Pacific Sea Teal” has a pool splash erupting from its color patch. However, not all of Huckins’ imagery perfectly matches their chosen color. Many of the swatches have an unexpected twist, as his “Spring Moss” yellow has a car melting and sinking into the rich tone.\n\nHuckins’ work is inspired by the beauty in the everyday, along with influential artists like Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol. His work explores common imagery, like people sitting in chairs and an employee pushing a shopping cart, and their role in our lives. Even the paint cards are familiar objects that one might find in any home improvement store. Huckins explains these universal commonalities as a way to connect to our everyday surroundings and explore their meanings.\n\nMimicking the exact proportions, font, layout, and hues of miniature paint cards found at a nation-wide home improvement store, bands of color we may choose for our most intimate spaces—bedrooms, kitchens, family rooms—are an ideal stage to examine the everyday people and objects that occupy our world.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9743793606758118}
+{"content": "NAOC To promote peace, prosperity and security through knowledge and understanding of the importance of NATO Thu, 21 Feb 2019 15:00:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 NAOC 32 32 China’s Cyber-espionage on NATO Allies Thu, 21 Feb 2019 15:00:02 +0000\n\nAbstract: Security experts and governments across the world, from Canada to Australia, have sounded the alarm on China’s multifaceted attacks on foreign countries, including NATO member states and allies. China’s one-party government, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), recognizes that acquiring foreign technology, both industrial and military, are essential to achieve its long-term strategic goals. Indictments and allegations of espionage highlight that the CCP has sought to challenge traditional remedies for managing political and economic interference, and erode current pillars of global security and international order. China has used both legal and illegal means, such as exploiting and circumventing international law to acquire intellectual property in order to achieve its goals.\n\n\nThe People’s Republic of China (PRC) has experienced lasting economic growth each year for the past few decades, and has outlined ambitions towards becoming a dominant player in the world’s globalized economy, such as through the country’s Belt and Road initiative. This, however, could challenge the current transatlantic orientation of several economies throughout Asia and Europe, and may not be in the interests of Canada’s American and European allies. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Defense, China has sought to acquire Western technology to modernize its economy, and build weapons that will strike farther, harder and faster to rival the strength of the U.S. military.\n\n\nChina is still largely reliant on Western technological capabilities –  a reliance the CCP is trying hard to break away from. The country has thus sought to steal Western technological capabilities such as that of jet engines, to develop new commercial and military capabilities that could challenge current Western industrial power in areas such as self-sustainable energy infrastructure, military equipment, and aerospace technology. China has set long-term strategic foreign policy goals, and has been making use of physical and cyber-enabled espionage to achieve this. China’s methods include debt-trap diplomacy, and gaining central control over global resources. Chinese officials in foreign countries have been accused, and indicted of malicious spying on foreign governments, including governments in Europe and in the United States. In November 2018, ten officials from China’s Ministry of State Security were indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for attempted cyber-espionage. The group attempted to hack into the systems of a US company as well as a French company who specialise in turbofan engines for use in commercial airliners. In a recent investigation by Five Eyes, a security and intelligence alliance between the U.K., Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand found that the CCP was connected to a Chinese cyber espionage group dubbed the APT-10 (Advanced Persistent Threat). The report accuses APT-10 of working on behalf of the Chinese government to illegally acquire the intellectual property of  key industries, including commercial, financial, and military technologies.\n\n\nWhile some countries, such as those in Africa and Asia, are welcoming Chinese foreign investments, others are beginning to restrict access to their markets. Ward Elock, former director of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS), expressed concerns about a CCP controlled phone company, Huawei, and its operations in Canada. Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in December 2018 in Vancouver, British Columbia and currently faces extradition to the United States on fraud charges. In the United States, the Department of Commerce imposed a ban on American companies exporting materials, such as software and hardware, to the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, citing that China has broken international sanctions by illegally shipping equipment to North Korea and Iran. The Pentagon has also ordered a ban on Huawei telecommunications equipment in U.S. military bases around the world, citing security threats.\n\n\nUltimately, there is a growing threat of Chinese intellectual property theft and political and economic interference. While it would be unwise to rush into frivolous allegations towards Chinese enterprises, and assume all Chinese workers are seeking to conduct espionage on behalf of the CCP, robust intellectual property protections and transparency measures must be taken to mitigate and prevent this risk. China’s economy and development has improved drastically over the past half-century. It has also, however, been competing unfairly in international trade, which China has been using to extract intellectual property from foreign countries. The country has gotten away with one-sided and overly competitive trade agreements on the international assumption that it is still a developing country, which isn’t exactly true in the twenty-first century. China is the second largest economy in the world, is one in the top countries experiencing the greatest GDP growth, and as such, the international community must overhaul outdated understandings and trade deals with China.\nFollowing the arrest and extradition of Meng to the United States in December 2018, China has responded by detaining at least thirteen Canadians, one of whom is a former Canadian diplomat. Another Canadian, Robert Llyod Schellenberg, was sentenced to fifteen years of imprisonment on drug smuggling charges. In January 2019, during an appeal on his sentence, the court found Shellenberg’s sentence too lenient and subsequently sentenced him to death. Following this incident, the government of Canada immediately updated its travel advisory on China to increase the level of threat due to the arbitrary enforcement of laws and penalties. It also encouraged Canadians in China to exercise a high degree of caution. Executions are not uncommon in China, as China is the world’s single largest executioner according to Amnesty International. What the Schellenberg death sentence does highlight, however, is that this was a retaliation against Canada for the arrest of Meng Wanzhou. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested that the retrial and death sentence against Schellenberg was politically motivated and expressed solidarity with Canada. Other governments also expressed support for Canada as the feud deepened, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, and more. This may indicate a warp in the understanding of international order and global governance between that of the trans-Atlantic community and the CCP. As a result, a disruption to the norms of diplomacy may be underway as China aspires leadership in global affairs.\n\n\nFeatured photo: DoD Officials: Chinese Actions Threaten U.S. Technological, Industrial Base (2018), by: Airman Magazine via U.S. Department of Defense. Public domain.\n\n\n\nDigital Weapons: Governments, Stockpiles, and International Trading Wed, 20 Feb 2019 20:22:10 +0000\n\nGovernments tend to produce their own cyberweapons in-house, tailoring them to the specific systems they want to infiltrate. However, they often buy its component code from third parties. Specifically, governments are major buyers of ‘exploits’ – a kind of code that targets a system’s vulnerabilities to give hackers undue powers within it. Exploits are the delivery system of malicious code, like the rocket to a missile. They’re valuable and bought and sold in ‘grey’ markets of ambiguous legality and pervasive secrecy. The notable thing about an exploit is that, once one becomes aware of it, one can patch the vulnerability it targets, thereby rendering the exploit useless. Therefore, when governments purchase exploits they’re put into a difficult ethical quandary: do they tell people about it or not? Revealing the exploit, and working with firms to neutralize it, increases citizens’ overall cybersecurity, but deprives the government of a potentially valuable weapon. Keeping it secret does the opposite, increasing a government’s offensive capabilities while leaving citizens vulnerable.\n\nIt’s not a theoretical problem. In 2014 the Heartbleed vulnerability affected hundreds of thousands of users, allowing hackers to potentially steal their social security numbers from the Canada Revenue Agency. It was alleged that the National Security Agency (‘NSA’ – one of America’s intelligence agencies) had known about the vulnerability for two years, and, by failing to disclose it, bore partial responsibility for exposing Canadians to the risk of fraud. Though the NSA denied prior knowledge of Heartbleed, the accusations seemed sufficiently plausible for the Obama administration to announce that, going forward, it would have a ‘bias’ towards disclosing new vulnerabilities. What that means remains a mystery to most commentators and harkens to a more general problem. A lack of transparency on government cyberwar programs, while necessary to the success of these programs, prevents citizens from evaluating what kind of risk their governments expose them to, which then creates gaps in democratic accountability. This differs from traditional warfare, where offensive capabilities have little direct bearing on domestic security. Producing a new fighter jet doesn’t make citizens more vulnerable to being bombed, for example.\n\nWhile governments do make rhetorical appeals to the importance of defending domestic cybersecurity, there are simply too many incentives to maintain robust stockpiles of exploits. A recent RAND report, based on previously-secret data, indicates that exploits have an average lifespan of approximately seven years. An exploit’s lifespan marks the time between when an exploit is developed to when it is effectively “killed”, meaning when the vulnerability it targets is patched in enough systems to render the exploit functionally worthless. What happens between birth and death isn’t known in detail. An exploit can be bought and used right away, but designed well-enough that it remains undetected for years. Alternatively, it can sit on a shelf for years and then, once used, be detected relatively quickly. A seven-year lifespan is surprisingly long. While it doesn’t mean that the average exploit is used for seven years, it implies that exploits tend to sit unused for a substantial period of time, meaning that government stockpiles expose citizens to risk that is measured in years, not months. Though cyber policymakers are still sifting through the ethics of this system, and the public is slowly becoming more aware of its trade-offs, we’ve yet to see a comprehensive regulatory or legislative response.\n\nBeyond domestic stockpiling, there’s also the question of how exploits are traded internationally. While exploits can be weaponized, they’re ultimately just pieces of code and so they fit poorly into pre-existing arms control frameworks. In the absence of clear regulations on how they can be sold, the grey market has stepped in with some level of self-regulation. Private firms that buy or develop exploits make assurances that their customers only include states approved by NATO, the EU, ASEAN, and so on. These assurances are often met with justifiable skepticism. Firstly, a lack of formal oversight makes them difficult to guarantee. Secondly, firms have historically had no issue selling to countries that, while not necessarily branded as enemy states, are nonetheless morally questionable customers. In one high-profile case, ‘Hacking Team’, an Italian firm, sold tools to Ethiopia that were later used to infiltrate, monitor, and disrupt Ethiopian journalists operating in the United States and Europe.\n\nSome headway is being made into regulating international exploit trading, though solutions have largely been haphazard and relatively uncoordinated. Regulators scored a major victory through an amendment to the Wassenaar Arrangement, an arms control pact which, at the time of writing, has 42 participating states – mostly EU members, along with some other significant players such as the United States, Canada, India, and South Korea. In 2013, Wassenaar categorized exploits as dual-use technology, formally recognizing that they had both a civilian and military component. This consequently placed them under strict export controls. While this is a major achievement in regulating exploit trading, one that shows states increasingly protecting citizens from the risks of digital weapons, it isn’t without limitations and hiccups. Wassenaar is only a voluntary framework and it lacks any mechanism to enforce its policies. It also only covers an elite class of countries. This may limit the filtration of exploits from rich democracies to poor autocracies, but, mirroring traditional arms control, it does little to stop delinquent nations from disseminating exploits to each other. Lastly, the Wassenaar amendment demonstrates a more general problem in cyber-legislation: a lack of clarity on terminology. The initial language defined exploits too expansively and risked criminalizing researchers using technologies that, while similar to exploits, aren’t weaponizable. Cyber-related firms pushed to fix this, but it took five years to rectify the language.\n\nFeatured Image: Computer restart screen. Via\n\n\nBulgarian Infrastructure: A Bottleneck to Energy Security on NATO’s Eastern Flank? Tue, 19 Feb 2019 15:34:14 +0000\n\nWithin the upcoming year the configuration of gas supplies in Eastern Europe is expected to change dramatically as Russian flows will be diverted via the TurkStream corridor and new sources of supply from the Caspian Sea or imported as liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be vying for regional markets. \n\nYet much of how the new dynamics will shape up will depend on control over a critical section of Bulgarian infrastructure that will dictate whether the country along with its NATO neighbour states, Romania and Turkey, will be able to respond flexibly to potential disruptions. \n\nThis article proposes to examine the resilience of Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey by assessing their capacity to transport alternative supplies across backup infrastructure. \n\nTurkStream vulnerabilities\n\nWhen announcing TurkStream in December 2014 Russia, highlighting its strong political and economic ties with Ankara, insisted that it would be a more secure transit route than the current one via Ukraine, which suffered cut-offs of Russian gas in the winters of 2006 and 2009. \n\nDespite that official rhetoric the Russian analyst Dmitri Trenin, a retired colonel from the Soviet Army who became a founding member and is now director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, describes the relationship between the project’s partners, Turkey and Russia, as “schizophrenic”. \n\nWithin a year after introducing TurkStream, Moscow suspended talks with Ankara over the project, when Turkey shot down a Russian jet that had allegedly breached its air space. In retaliation, two weeks after that incident at the end of 2015, in winter, Gazprom reduced natural gas exports to the Turkish state and independent importers by a quarter and raised the price of gas to the latter.\n\nThis history, illustrating the unpredictability of Russian-Turkish relations, suggests that Russian gas supplies to Turkey via TurkStream are unlikely to escape political maneuvering any more than supplies via Ukraine and the TBP are.\n\nConsidering the possible dependence of Bulgarian and Romanian (as well as Turkish) markets on imports via TurkStream, Russia itself may seek to disable flows through this corridor as a means to impair the resilience of NATO’s eastern flank.  \n\nIn this context can the NATO members’ vulnerability in this region be reduced and, if so, what are the available options?\n\nBattle for infrastructure\n\nAlthough Eastern European countries could have several options to tap alternative sources of gas from the Caspian Sea or imported as LNG, the biggest concern lies in the availability of infrastructure required to ship them across the region. \n\nRussia seeks to divert exports from the existing Trans-Balkan Pipeline (TBP), which connects Ukraine to Turkey to TurkStream1 and 2 In this context, Greece, which is also at the receiving end of a TBP spur could send gas imported from the Caspian region or as LNG back to Eastern Europe being used as an alternative route for diversifying supplies. \n\nTurkey has also doubled its LNG send-out to 110 million cubic metres/day after the import capacity at its onshore terminals was expanded and the government decided to charter two floating storage and regasification units. \n\nBulgaria has carried out upgrades to TBP in order to allow for reverse flows at the Strandja-Malkcolar interconnection point (IP) on its border with Turkey. Romania expects to build spurs linking its own Black Sea offshore gas, if and when developed, to the TBP. \n\nAs a result, according to one of the regional transmission system operators in discussions with the present author, the TBP could with relatively minor upgrades, establish itself as a bidirectional north-south backbone for non-Russian gas flows linking southern Europe and Turkey to Ukraine, having at present a total capacity of 26.8 bcm/y (of which: 5.4 bcm/y for Bulgaria, 16.6 bcm/y for Turkey and 4.8 bcm/y for Romania).\n\nThat non-Russian gas could be sourced by various regional companies from Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria, originating either from the Caspian Sea basin or as imported LNG.\n\nAccording to Ilian Vassilev of the Bulgarian advisory firm Innovative Energy Solutions, himself a former Bulgarian ambassador to Russia, Gazprom could book 90 percent of the long-term reverse capacity from Turkey, while the remaining 10 percent would be earmarked for short-term capacity.\n\nIn December 2018 Bulgaria launched the binding phaseof an open season at the Strandja-Malkoclar IP on the Turkish-Bulgarian border. The total reverse capacityoffered in December from Turkey to Bulgaria via the TBP was 48.4 million cubic metres/day (mcm/d) for a period of 15 years from 1 January 2020 and 33.74mcm/d from Bulgaria to Serbia for 15 years starting from January 2021.\n\nFor Gazprom to be able to transport its gas further, into Serbia, via the Bulgarian transit system, it would need to take it up to Lozenets in central Bulgaria and then north to Provadia (near Varna) from where it would merge with a 470-kilometre stretch of  new pipelinebefore travelling west across Bulgaria to Zajecar on the Serbian border. \n\nIf Gazprom gains control over this section of the Bulgarian transmission system, the TBP would be blocked. Meanwhile, alternative routes such as the EU-backed Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria (BRUA) corridor, designed to transport gas from the Black Sea or Caspian Sea or, indeed, imported via Greece or Turkey, might be used for the transport of Russian volumes. \n\nThe European Commission has likewise included the Eastring idea on its latest PCI List. This project would bypass Bulgaria’s existing infrastructure by starting from its border with Turkey before heading north to Slovakia via Romania and Hungary. However, it is still at a very early stage, and no works on it have yet begun, so it is unlikely to provide immediate flexibility in case of urgent need. \n\n\nAlthough NATO’s eastern members Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey will continue to depend on Russian imports, they may import natural gas from new sources, either from the Caspian Sea basin, for example, or as liquefied natural gas (LNG). These imports could guarantee those countries’ energy resilience in case of curtailments on the TurkStream lines.\n\nNevertheless, as this analysis has shown, much will depend on whether the three countries can secure access to alternative backup infrastructure. \n\nEfforts made by Turkey in expanding import capacity and by Bulgaria in building new interconnectors with Greece to access more LNG imported via this country indicate that Turkey and Bulgaria may be able to tap alternative supplies, should they experience a critical interruption in Russian imports.  \n\nMuch more vulnerable will be Romania, which despite boasting the EU’s third largest gas resources, could see its dependence on imports increase if it caps domestically-produced gas prices and introduces an import obligation, as stipulated under an emergency ordinance passed at the end of 2018. \n\nIts resilience would be boosted by access to the TBP. However, if Gazprom gains control over the Strandja-Provadia section of the Bulgarian transmission system, then that segment of TBP would be blocked and Romania would no longer be able to tap future volumes imported into Bulgaria from Greece and Turkey.  \n\nFeatured Image: Map of Bulgaria. Via ENTSOG (European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas)\n\n\nClimate Change: Historical Lessons and Policy Tools Thu, 14 Feb 2019 15:00:12 +0000\n\nClimate Change is one of the gravest threats to humanity this century and one that has yet to be tackled effectively. This phenomenon is largely man made. That is, rapid economic growth without due concern for its environmental impact has resulted in an increase in the average global surface temperature and with it, a long list of climate change consequences such as rising ocean levels, deteriorating animal and plant diversity, more frequent natural disasters, among other complications. If economic growth led to the predicament we find ourselves in today, how can we effectively use the economic tools at our disposal to mitigate climate change?\n\n\nRecent history provides encouraging examples of multilateral regimes that achieved considerable results in counteracting environmental problems of a transnational and global nature. One particularly instructive case is that of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987). Policymakers and political representatives should draw on the lessons of this regime and apply it to even more ambitious multilateral environmental initiatives, such as those being proposed to combat global climate change.\n\n\nOzone is a molecule composed of three oxygen atoms concentrated in the earth’s atmosphere that is critical to the absorption of ultraviolet radiation from the sun. This radiation is harmful to organic life on earth and is a source of skin cancer in humans.  As early as 1974, two scientists from the University of California (Irvine), F. Sherwood Roland and Mario Molina, published an article suggesting that human activity could upset stratospheric concentrations of ozone. This was particularly true, they discovered, of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are used in refrigeration and aerosol products. In 1985, British scientists discovered that a hole in the earth’s ozone layer had formed over Antarctica – caused, it was hypothesized, by CFCs. This alarming discovery prompted the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) to work with the international community to take action to curtail the production of CFCs. The foundation of this effort was the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (1985). \n\n\nThe Vienna Convention paved the way for the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which set international targets for the elimination of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS), including CFCs. The reductions the Montreal Protocol called for did not require the discontinuation of refrigeration or aerosol products, merely their substitution with similar products that performed the same function but emitted less damaging hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) instead of the much more pernicious CFCs. According to the United Nations, as of 2014, the Montreal Protocol has successfully eliminated 98% of ODSs worldwide. Because the Montreal Protocol has been so successful, amendments to the agreement have been made that now seek to phase out HCFCs that, while less damaging to the ozone than CFCs, are still greenhouse gasses that will have to be eliminated eventually if a lower global carbon footprint is to be achieved. While the effects of ODSs on the earth’s ozone layer will be felt for years to come, progress in reversing their concentration in the atmosphere suggests that the ozone will begin to “heal” over time. This process could be complete by 2050. If this comes to pass, it will be a resounding victory for global environmental cooperation.\n\n\nThere are a few important lessons to take from the record of the Montreal Protocol. First, this multilateral agreement had legitimacy. It was the first United Nations agreement to achieve universal accord, eventually being ratified by all 197 members of the United Nations. For that reason, in 2005, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan hailed the Montreal Protocol as “perhaps the single most successful international environmental agreement to date.” Second, the Montreal Protocol was phased and realistic in its goals. Developed countries committed to eliminating out their CFCs first, before expecting developing countries to do so, thereby sparing the latter any prohibitive economic damage. Furthermore, developed countries established the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol for the expressed purpose of helping developing countries meet their targets once they began to make efforts to reduce their ODS emissions. Finally, the invention of substitute products for those being phased out due to their emission od CFCs meant that environmental progress was made without unduly harming high standards of living.   \n\n\nToday, the Paris Agreement is the most prominent multilateral environmental agreement, one that sets daunting targets for states to reduce their carbon footprint in order to combat climate change. While taking mitigating steps is completely voluntary through nationally determined contributions, the Paris Agreement serves an important function; it establishes a global carbon reduction target for all countries to strive towards. Article 2(a) of the agreement thereby aims to limit the rise of average global temperatures to less than 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels, that is, to try to keep global temperatures from rising over 2 degrees centigrade from what they were prior to the Industrial Revolution two centuries ago. Economists have debated the use of different methods of emissions reduction such as the use of a carbon tax, a cap-and-trade program, and the subsidization of carbon free sources of energy such as wind and solar power. It may be worthwhile to ponder some of the market-based solutions to the calamity that is the unintended result of market productivity.\n\n\nThe Carbon Tax Option\n\nNobel laureate William Nordhaus has long been a proponent of initiating a carbon tax. Nordhaus is famous for having developed the DICE Model (Dynamic Integrated Climate-Economy Model), which integrates the impacts of emissions as well as the economic cost of policies to curb global warming into a single economic model. Nordhaus describes a carbon tax as one that would sufficiently raise the price of fossil fuels, which would induce economic agents to substitute carbon intensive goods and services for others.  The idea is to add a harmonised tax to all goods and services across industries in proportion to their carbon dioxide content. As such, higher carbon intensive goods would have a higher tax placed on them effectively increasing its market price, and making it less desirable for consumers which would act as an incentive to drive companies towards choosing sustainable sources of energy.\n\n\nA hike in product prices is, of course, generally undesirable, and its effects could disproportionately affect the less economically stable. The gilets jaunes of France are an example of a popular reaction to fuel taxes, especially highlighting the economic plight of low-income households. For this reason, Nordhaus proposes that the carbon tax be revenue neutral. That is, that the carbon tax be implemented in such a way that it incentivises a reduced carbon footprint but bears no major economic burden. For example, governments could implement a carbon tax but at the same time reduce other forms of taxes, such as income tax.\n\n\nCap and Trade Programs\n\nThe basic idea behind a cap and trade program is to set a limit (a cap) on the total amount of carbon emissions across an industry, with each company in that industry being issued a permit that specifies the amount of carbon it may burn. Should a company want to exceed its allotted carbon emissions, it would need to buy extra permits from other companies that have burned less. For example, Quebec and California have a linked cap and trade system which allows companies in Quebec to buy permits from those in California and vice versa. Over time the emissions ceiling (or cap) will decrease and thereby progressively reduce greenhouse gas emissions.\n\n\nTo date, one of the most successful cap and trade programs was the sulphur allowance program initiated in the US for controlling electric utility emissions that were contributing to acid rain, as part of the Clean Air Act Amendments. The sulphur allowance policy aimed to cap the aggregate sulphur dioxide emissions in the US by issuing individual plant allowances and by allowing firms to buy and sell allowances. Plants that polluted more than their allocated share faced a substantial penalty and had to forfeit an equivalent allowance the following year. The program was initiated in 1990 with the goal of reducing the total sulphur dioxide emissions by 10 million tons relative to 1980, and by 2007 annual emissions had declined well over the program’s nine million ton goal, with a 43% reduction from 1990 levels.\n\n\nIt is no surprise that action taken towards mitigating the effects of climate change is long overdue. In 2018, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that there would be roughly only 12 more years to keep global warming at a maximum of 1.5 centigrade, beyond which the world is sure to experience an increase in drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for millions resulting from natural disasters. As such, incentivising sustainable economies must be a priority. Environmental policies have the potential to complement long run economic growth, for the economic costs of climate change are mounting while the economic potential of sustainable development is yet to be fully tapped into.\n\n\nFeatured image: Industry Pollution Smog by SD Pictures via Pixabay. \n\n\nBeyond the Southern Gas Corridor: A Regional Infrastructure Perspective Wed, 13 Feb 2019 20:18:10 +0000\n\nLooking into the fundamentals of the EU’s energy security strategy, a steadfast resoluteness is evident on the promotion of gas-on-gas competition, supported by benchmark hubs, although the costly field development outside of the Union has always been combined with the guarantee of long-term contracts. \n\nSuch an objective particularly concerns South Eastern Europe (SEE) and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), where market attitude distinctly differs from the northwestern model. Trans-boundary infrastructure is considered a catalyst in fostering integration in this mosaic of member-states and membership hopefuls, bringing about a sufficient level of gas supply security.\n\nThis article examines the projects that will determine the practicality of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), from the Caspian Sea region westward. \n\nIt argues that, given the diffusion of the internal energy market precepts to the Energy Community, installing requisite capacity for natural-gas transmission along vertical (south-north) and horizontal (east-west) axes will anchor the SEE and CEE transit countries more solidly in the European Union (EU) and, prospectively, NATO.\n\nThis discussion takes on added importance in view of what drove the 2013 Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), over rival SGC extensions: its ability to improve the domestic gas market in the Western Balkans and to diversify sources of supply along a vertical zone, from Greece to Ukraine.\n\nThese goals will be realized through swaps and reverse flows, thanks to a web of pipelines to be constructed to the north of TAP. These include, among others, the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, the Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria pipeline and the Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline.\n\nThe Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB)has now, after years of inaction, entered its implementation home-stretch, with a planned volume of 3 to 5 billion cubic metres per year (bcm/y) and a provisional 2020 date for commercial operation. \n\nFollowing exemption from provisions of the EU’s Third Energy Package, due to its initiation before the adoption of the 2017 Capacity Allocation Mechanisms network code, it moreover enjoys the European Commission’s support for Greek and Bulgarian plans to realize it.\n\nAs important as this acceleration of activity is for Bulgaria’s gas balance and for the Borissov administration’s ambition regarding the launch of a Balkan gas hub, it is due mainly to a broader Energy Union initiative, a limited-volume project that seems feasible amidst declining international gas prices.\n\nThe Vertical Gas Corridor (VGC)project aspires to assure bidirectional supplies along the route from Greece into Ukraine. Set up by agreements dating from 2014 among joint venturesgovernments and  transmission system operators (TSOs) in the broader SEE and CEE regions, it is based on Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) in the form of interconnectors and LNG plants.\n\nNorth Macedonia would benefit from VGC, either via the Kyustendil-Zidilovo interconnection point (IP) and/or the revived Nea Messimvria-Štip pipeline. Serbia comes next via the EU-promoted Interconnector Bulgaria-Serbia (IBS), which has, however, turned into a serious candidate to transport gas from the second 15.75 bcm/y leg of Turk Stream onto Central Europe.\n\nThe recent thaw in Russia’s diplomatic ties with Greece, previously put to the test over Moscow’s alleged interference in the Macedonia name dispute, has not discouraged a Russia-Bulgaria energy rapprochement, boosted by the end of a moratorium on the Belene nuclear power plant and the commissioning of the Lozenets-Nedyalsko extension pipeline. \n\nAccording to media reports, Gazprom seems to be behind capacity bookings from Bulgaria to Slovakia and Austria, targeting the reduction of transit across Ukraine after 2019. The company’s decision on the onshore extension of Turk Stream could affect both SGC and VGC. \n\nIts participation in a tender for TAP’s expansion phase would block the road of other Caspian suppliers to Europe, a road already steep due to energy firms’ reluctance to keep capital investments in deep-sea deposits up, allured by the quick-earning shale, as shown in Azerbaijan’s case\n\nIn another scenario, Turk Stream’s continuation in reverse operation via the existing Trans Balkan pipeline would make IGB unviable.\n\nMoldova and Ukraine could equally join the VGC via the IP at Isaccea, Romania, on the Ukrainian border less than 30 kilometres from Moldova. Since SGC capacity could not cover those volumes, they would be complementarily covered by American LNG, regasified at a proposed floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) in northern Greece and then transited via the IGB. \n\nDespite a successful first market test phase, delivery of this FSRU has slipped from 2020 to 2021, reflecting the broader slowdown of the LNG industry in opening up new markets, owing to the strong Chinese demand.\n\nThe Bulgaria-Romania-Hungary-Austria (BRUA) pipelinecould fill the interconnection gap between Romania and Central Europe. With signed contracts and assured financial support, the project has entered the execution phase. Still, two factors could stall its bringing to fruition.\n\nAside from its possible connection to the White Stream pipeline from the second leg of the proposed Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP), BRUA’s commercial logic also involves the potential for Romanian gas exports to SEE via TAP, in addition to the western route.\n\nBut Bucharest’s November 2018 offshore law was met with irritation on the part of industry majors because it introduces an unfavourable tax regime for hydrocarbon extraction in the Black Sea. \n\nThis development casts doubt on the completion of BRUA’s second phase (expansion of transmission capacity to Hungary to 4.4 bcm/y). Meanwhile, hopes are laid in the third and final auction for capacity booking on the Romania-Hungary interconnection point, as current volumes are far from meeting the TSOs’ expectations.\n\nFurthermore, Hungary’s insistence on diverting BRUA to Slovakia also threatens the FIDs by Austria’s OMV and the US ExxonMobil in Romania’s Black Sea offshore. Nevertheless, their interest alone would probably suffice to prompt a new auction for incremental capacity at the Hungary-Austria IP.\n\nThe Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline (IAP)has gained moderate momentum as the need to Europeanize and gasify the energy consumption profiles of Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia has been recognized. The IAP has so far failed to obtain EU financing, but it may be included in the fourth PCI List.\n\nHowever, tariff and cost recovery challenges have so far stymied the creation of a dedicated project company. Moreover, IAP’s effective ability to serve demand from Croatia onwards remains in doubt, despite the Azerbaijani company SOCAR’s interest (through its Balkan subsidiary) in investing in the Albanian  and Bulgarian gas distribution and storage systems. \n\nA long-stalled LNG terminal on the Croatian island of Krk, in the northern Adriatic Sea, would offer a complementary U.S. supply option for IAP’s offtakers, activating the pipeline’s north-south flow feature and enhancing the viability of both projects. \n\nHowever, limited market interest, as well as Hungary’s failure to meet its diplomatic commitments on diversification of supply sources after its long-term contract with Gazprom expires, by booking Krk capacity, compound the uncertainty over when the Krk terminal’s FID may be taken and construction begun.\n\nTo conclude:The preceding overview of regional infrastructure developments yields the conclusion that the SGC, via its TAP and TCGP segments, and with the prospect of American LNG supplies, drives the activity on projects with cross-border impact in SEE and CEE.\n\nSuch projects would boost flexibility and optionality of gas supplies, enhancing security of supply and, through diversification of sources, also reinforcing competition. They would also likely put downward pressure on wholesale gas prices. \n\nAt present the BRUA, IAP and Krk LNG projects have stumbled upon operational obstacles, while the VGC’s fate looks more promising. However, even if several of the projects still look uncertain because of market conditions and the region’s complicated politics, getting them on the front burner would be crucial for the establishment of a healthy trading environment in the discussed area, where the “hub” term has often been misused by political leaderships, and for the advancement of a common Euro-Atlantic path.\n\nFeatured Image: Map of Europe. Via European Commission’s audio-visual website,\n\n\nThe Rise and Fall of the Exploit Market Wed, 13 Feb 2019 19:28:17 +0000\n\nExploits are an indispensable tool to hackers. They’re code that leverages a system’s vulnerabilities to give a hacker undue powers, enabling him or her, for example, to siphon and sabotage data. Using an analogy, exploits are like the rocket of a missile – a delivery system that’s harmless in and of itself, but necessary for delivering the payload. However, since exploits target system vulnerabilities, which can be patched, using an exploit brings about its obsolescence. Once defenders identify an exploit being used against them, they quickly work towards patching the associated vulnerability, thereby killing the exploit. Since different systems are managed by different teams, some of which patch their systems more slowly than others, an exploit doesn’t die all at once. It simply becomes increasingly unusable as system after system gets inoculated against it. The most powerful and valuable exploits are those which have never been used before, and against which systems are largely undefended. These are known as zero-day exploits.\n\nGiven their indispensability to hacking, exploits have developed into valuable digital commodities. They’re bought and sold by all sorts of actors – states and their associated organs, commercial firms, criminal groups, and rogue individuals. Depending on who’s doing the buying, these markets can be perfectly legal (white market), illegal (black market), or somewhere in-between (grey market). The white market consists of tech vendors, such as Microsoft and Apple, who pay bounties to hackers to identify vulnerabilities so they can be pre-emptively patched. You can conceptualize this market as the outsourcing of security testing, or, if not that, then an attempt to funnel hackers back towards legal activity. The black market is populated with the usual suspects: rogue hackers, criminal groups, and so on – people who want to buy exploits to victimize and unjustly profit off others. The grey market is the most interesting of the three and has long been a point of contention, existing in a space of fuzzy legality and ethics. It’s a space filled with government contractors who, acting with great secrecy, buy exploits to bolster their state’s capabilities. You can think of this as governments buying weapons from civilian mercenaries, if you will. Between the three markets, the white market brings exploits to light and increases overall cybersecurity, whereas the black and grey markets increase overall vulnerability, as various actors compete to acquire and weaponize exploits to their own ends.\n\nThese markets have existed since the late 1990s and are highly inter-reliant. At first the white market was the least competitive of the three. Software vendors valued protecting their reputations and consumers, but failed to appreciate the investments needed to adequately compensate bug catchers. Their bounty programs were rolled out belatedly and offered only marginal rewards. Hackers and security experts were slightly offended, and flocked to the grey and black markets where, by the early 2010s they could make ten times as much money selling to governments or criminals. The grey market was particularly attractive as it offered high profits without the risks associated with criminality. The market blossomed and optimism spurred innovation, leading to the emergence of firms that specialized in centralizing the sales process, buying exploits from individual hackers and reselling them to governments. In 2011 WikiLeaks revealed that a security firm named Endgame Systems had sold $2.5 million in zero-day exploits, mostly to American contractors. In the early 2010s, a firm named Vupen made waves by establishing a team of in-house researchers, becoming one of the first companies that could, in addition to buying from hackers, produce its own exploits internally. True to the times, they instituted a subscription model, where clients could purchase credits to be used across a menu of exploits.\n\nDespite a strong demand for their product, the grey and black markets operate at an inherent disadvantage due to their need for secrecy. In the grey market, buyer-side secrecy is driven by the need to ensure that state adversaries don’t have a clear grasp of one’s cyber capabilities. For example, it doesn’t help the United States to advertise where it buys its cyber-weapons from. Individual hackers who sell on the grey market prefer secrecy because, even if grey-sales are technically legal, the hacking needed to develop sellable exploits might not be. This culture of secrecy creates a multitude of problems. How do you connect buyers and sellers if both require the utmost discretion? How do you facilitate sales in an international market that operates outside normal systems of accountability? The grey market responded with several adaptations. In addition to the rise of aforementioned firms, individual brokers emerged as conduits between hackers and buyers, taking a cut of whatever sales they facilitated. To illustrate the scale of their work, in 2012 one such broker, a Hungarian researcher called “the Grugq”, cleared approximately $1 million in sales on a 15% commission. Beyond using brokers, the grey market developed other adaptations to address the secrecy problem. It became convention for payments to be made in instalments, since, in a low-trust system, buyers needed confidence that hackers wouldn’t resell the same exploit to multiple customers – a process that would increase the chance of the exploit being identified and “killed” prematurely. Some entrepreneurs attempted to shift the exploit market away from the insular, network-oriented broker system. In 2007, ‘WabiSabi Labi’, a Swiss-start-up, tried to establish an online auction house for zero-day exploits. The project collapsed. Sellers were reluctant to demonstrate the efficacy of their exploits since, if they revealed too much, they’d risk accidentally giving away their product for free. This in turn undermined buyers’ trust in the marketplace, who had little recourse in case of fraud. The concept re-emerged in 2015 via a new marketplace, ‘TheRealDeal’, which instituted new anti-fraud measures. All payments were held in escrow and mediated through Bitcoin wallets that were jointly controlled by buyer, seller, and market admins. TheRealDeal’s low prices raised concerns that it was actually a sting operation, and the site mysteriously shut down soon after it opened.\n\nBy the mid 2010s, the grey market seemed to stabilize and formalize, with the expectation that it would be dominated by larger firms with in-house research teams, like Vupen. The auction houses had failed. Smaller brokers weren’t able to compete with the trustworthiness of larger brokers, and, above that, couldn’t customize exploits like them. Rather than compete with larger firms, individual brokers integrated into their supply chains, selling to them rather than selling directly to governments. While white market bounties had significantly increased, they still couldn’t match grey market prices. It seemed that the market had consolidated into a system where, unprecedentedly, small or medium-sized civilian firms would be the primary arms manufacturers for a class of warfare. The media took notice, leading to a public conversation about the ethics of this emerging system – about whether, for example, these firms were overly-opaque and under-regulated, and how states ought to legislate them to avoid morally questionable sales. These questions became particularly important after it was reported that some of these firms had sold exploits to repressive governments, which then used them to spy on dissidents or otherwise exert social control.\n\nYet, in a break from expectation, the grey market seems to be decaying. While it initially seemed lucrative, a 2017 study estimates that the market’s total size topped out at only between $4-10 million – less than what many tech start-ups can raise in a single funding round. A more recent study identifies maybe two dozen firms operating globally, with that number slowly dwindling. Part of this can be attributed to vendors’ increasing skill in patching vulnerabilities, which has made it more difficult and expensive to produce new exploits, causing the market to shrink over time. Costs have also been higher than anticipated, with the in-house development system turning out to be expensive to maintain. As of 2017 the average cost to develop an exploit is $30,000 in labour alone, plus overhead costs. Exploits typically sell for $50-100k, with some going for $150-300k, and while this may seem like a respectable profit margin, complicating factors come up. As a symptom of the market’s secrecy, firms develop exploits without any prior buyer commitment, meaning that exploits often go unsold, particularly given that buyers are understandably reluctant to articulate their exact needs. Exploit development, when it exists, is now typically offered as a service within firms that provide a larger menu of services. Given negative public perception, these firms often have to consider the risk of reputational harm. No firm wants to be called a digital merchant of death, which could alienate customers who buy more profitable services.\n\nThe prevailing trend is that, given the grey market’s disappointing performance, hackers are migrating towards the white market. White market bounties are still far below black and grey market prices, but software vendors have begun establishing more robust in-house security teams, providing more stable forms of employment while furthering diminishing the space for rogue exploit development. For example, in 2014 Google launched ‘Project Zero’, a team of security analysts devoted to discovering and reporting zero-day bugs both related and unrelated to Google’s products. Even Vupen, the once-darling of the grey market, shut down in 2015 so that its founders could launch a white market replacement firm: ‘Zerodium’. Meanwhile, individual grey market brokers, such as The Grugq, are finding themselves cut out of the market a second time. Integrating themselves into larger firms’’ supply chains may have allowed them to survive longer, but, with grey market margins getting tighter, remaining players are looking to cut brokers as a redundant layer.\n\nFeatured Image: Computer code. Via\n\n\nTheresa May’s Brexit: What’s the Deal? Wed, 13 Feb 2019 15:00:42 +0000\n\nAbstract: On June 23rd 2016, 51.9% of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union which then came to be known as Brexit. The U.K. invoked Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which provides both sides with two years to agree on the terms of exit.  What progress has been made thus far and what are the possible outcomes in the future?\n\n\nThere are several reasons as to why many British people voted in favour of leaving the E.U. These include issues pertaining to trade, economics and open borders across E.U. member states, known as the Schengen zone. Brexiteers felt that British industry was being curtailed by the E.U. single market and customs union. The United Kingdom is the second largest economy in the E.U. and fifth largest economy in the world. The U.K. is also one out of nine E.U. member countries that do not use the Euro as its national currency and instead uses the pound sterling, which has a stronger purchasing power parity than the Euro. Ultimately Brexiteers sought to reclaim the partial loss of British sovereignty to E.U. decision-making bodies, including the unelected European Commission, the Council of Ministers, and European Parliament.\n\n\nThe Brexit referendum was a polarizing event, which galvanized both those who voted for the U.K. to remain in the EU, and those who sought to leave. Despite the majority voting to leave the European Union, there has been an ongoing debate on what Britain’s relationship with the E.U. would look like post-Brexit.\n\n\nA hard Brexit, favoured mostly by ardent Brexiteers, would see the United Kingdom regain  full control its borders while completely abandoning the customs union and the single market of the EU. A hard Brexit would, however, allow the U.K. to negotiate its own trade deals and draw up its own rules and customs arrangements with other countries. This would also mean that the U.K. would most likely have to fall back onto the World Trade Organization for rules of trade. A hard Brexit would also see tariffs applied to British goods and services within the European Union, although President Trump highlighted the possibility of negotiating a free trade deal with the United Kingdom post-Brexit. On the other hand, a soft Brexit would result in the U.K. remaining as a close ally of the E.U. While the U.K. would no longer be represented on the European Council and the  European Parliament, it would still have access to the E.U. single market and customs union. For example, Norway enjoys the privileges of the EU single market through the European Economic Area Agreement even though it is not a member-state of the EU.\n\n\nWhile the Brexit negotiations have largely been focused on trade and diplomacy there is another issue at hand: borders. The Irish – UK border has been equally polarizing, and could be described as one of the main roadblocks preventing Brexit negotiations from moving forward. The U.K. has only one land border (on the island of Ireland between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) stretching nearly 500 000 km and with roughly $7.7bn USD in trade crossing it each year. Both the U.K. and the E.U. are against a hard border, although each party has different interpretations of this. The E.U. insists that Northern Ireland must remain apart of the E.U. customs union, while Britain argues this is an impossible feat as Northern Ireland is part of the U.K.  \n\n\nOn November 14th 2018, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May released a draft agreement of the terms of Brexit. The deal was slammed by Eurosceptics, including U.K. Brexit Secretary Domonic Saab, who argued that he could not accept May’s draft deal in its current form as it does not respect the promise of Brexit that the country voted for in 2016. Another conservative minister, Jacob Rees Mogg also expressed outrage towards Prime Minister May’s draft deal outlining that he could not think of a worse deal, largely because the draft keeps the U.K. under the thumb of the E.U. without representation. The Brexit draft was also scrutinized by key UKIP founder, and U.K. Minister for the European Parliament Nigel Farage, who suggested that the draft is “the worst deal in history,” as that the U.K. was conceding too much influence to the E.U. Meanwhile U.S. President Donald Trump called it “a great deal for the E.U.”\n\n\nThe nearly 600-page Brexit draft outlines the general process of withdrawal from the E.U. These include rights of E.U. citizens in the U.K. and vice versa, the Irish backstop, and the £39bn divorce deal, a financial settlement demanded by the E.U. as the U.K. leaves the bloc. To resolve the thorniest issue regarding the border issue, the draft deal outlined that the U.K. will remain part of the E.U. single market and customs union. This was met with fury by steadfast Brexit supporters who suggested that it will leave Britain shackled to E.U. regulations, but without a voice in the European parliament. Another key issue that Brexiteers felt neglected their interests is U.K. cooperation with the E.U. regarding foreign and security policy. The E.U. is only offering cooperation, rather than membership to Europe’s security bodies, such as Europol, and Eurojust, and the U.K. will not be able to have access to the European Union’s £8bn Galileo satellite programme, despite the U.K. paying over £1bn throughout the years as an E.U. member.\n\n\nMoreover, there is also the possibility of a ‘no deal’ Brexit. This would be unfavourable to both parties as it would signify a poor relationship, and would largely force the World Trade Organization to intervene in trade deals between the U.K. and the E.U. This would of course  heighten concerns of 1.3 million U.K. citizens in the E.U. and the 3.7 million E.U. citizens in Britain. There would also be the unresolved issue of the Irish backstop, which lawmakers fear could be used as a loophole to avoid trade tariffs, although the U.K. government believes this could be prevented with border patrols and increased technology.\n\n\nOn January 15th 2019 May’s draft Brexit deal was struck down once again in the British Parliament in a record-breaking defeat by 230 votes. This means the U.K government will have to return to Brussels to negotiate a new draft deal, one which addresses the Irish backstop. In the meantime more conservative MPs are starting to rebel against Prime Minister Theresa May. Amid the Brexit rejection in parliament, Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a no confidence vote against Theresa May, which she narrowly survived. This is the second vote of no confidence against the British Prime Minister, the first of which she won back in December 2018 with a larger margin of 83 votes. The narrower margin in the most recent vote signifies that more Tory MPs are beginning to rebel against May. As the March 2019 Brexit deadline draws near, the British parliament is eager to negotiate a deal that will honour the promises made during the original Brexit referendum.\n\n\nFeatured image: England Europe Brexit United Kingdom Domino EU (2016). By: Max Pixel. CC 2.0\n\n\n\nBiometrics Are the Future of Anti-Trafficking Mon, 04 Feb 2019 20:29:36 +0000\n\nApproximately 45 million people are currently victims of human trafficking. Often lured to foreign places by promises of employment or romance, victims are then manipulated into sexual slavery and forced labour. Criminal networks make a tidy profit off this modern slavery, with trafficking constituting the third most profitable criminal activity in the world, beneath only drugs and arms sales. The success of trafficking relies on masking the identify of victims. Trafficking victims need to be mobile, so that traffickers can transport their “supply” to where demand is. This process of transporting and shuffling victims is a critical part of any human trafficking network. To ensure that victims can be moved from place to place, and to keep them off the radar of law-enforcement agents, traffickers work hard to erase the identities of their victims. Forged documents are used to move victims across borders. Traffickers also target rural children, who often lack identifying documentation and are easily lost once swallowed up.\n\nIn the past few years, biometrics companies have been exploring how technology can be used to track victims and break apart trafficking networks. While new, the biometric technology has a number of potential applications here. Biometric tracking could be used to prevent the cross-border transportation of victims, since traffickers aren’t able to easily forge new identities like they currently do with physical paperwork. Families who have had a child abducted, but for whom they lack documentation, may be able to provide photographs of their children’s faces for analysis. Investigators can use these photographs to create a biometric file, at least a partially complete one, that they can use to eventually identify and rescue the victim. Biometric data can be hashed, meaning that it can be encrypted via being converted into a string of numbers. This allows this data to be shared more easily between different investigative teams across various jurisdictions. Once hashed into a number-string, the data becomes unintelligible and therefore doesn’t disclose any private information. This not only protects the privacy of the system’s participants, it also means that the hashed data doesn’t count as personal information, making it much easier to legally share across borders. If the hashed data of a victim matches a hashed profile in a tracking system, investigators can then secure subpoenas to move forward with un-hashed data.\n\nSystems like this are just entering their testing stage. In 2018, the Attorneys General from the US and Mexico unveiled a facial recognition system that is currently being trialed in Guanajuato and New Mexico. The system allows families to upload photos of missing persons, which is then cross-referenced with photos of victims from surveillance feeds. The use of hashing has been particularly useful, given that information sharing between American and Mexican authorities has been a longstanding obstacle. The underlying technology was developed for the commercial market, particularly for the financial services sector, with a focus on privacy and encryption of facial data. Its use of data gathered from selfies means that it may be possible to imagine a future where having an active social media profile is sufficient to enrol someone into a tracking system. This could be particularly useful for rescuing youth who come from troubled family background, and who may not have relatives who can proactively provide the photos needed to build a biometric profile. \n\nWhile this pilot project focusses on identifying specific victims, other projects are looking at integrating anti-human trafficking measures into larger biometric systems. India, for example, is engaging in an ambitious project to collect biometric data on all of its 1.3 billion citizens, and Australia is using biometric data in its passports. Introducing human trafficking checks into these emerging, multi-purpose biometric systems may allow for large-scale, passive protection of victims. As biometric systems become more pervasive, human traffickers will find it harder to transport victims. With these new obstacles in place, this may have the potential to make human trafficking riskier and more expensive, increasing the disincentives for traffickers to engage in this business and thereby reducing the sum of human trafficking.\n\nFeatured Image: Bloodied hand on a window. Via\n\n\nWhy Operation Unifier Still Matters Mon, 04 Feb 2019 18:54:57 +0000\n\nOperation UNIFIER, Canada’s military training mission to Ukraine, has been ongoing since 2015. This operation helps build local capacity through training, especially training Ukrainian military trainers. Since its inception, the program has trained nearly 8000 Ukrainian troops. This March it is up for renewal. While it is likely that the Liberal government will continue to support a continuation of Operation Unifier, it is important to underscore just how key this mission is to Ukrainian national defence, Canadian foreign policy and international stability. The Ukrainian government recently specifically asked Canada to renew Operation Unifier.\n\nSince Russia’s annexation of Crimea and fomenting of a war in Donbas in 2014, the Ukrainian army has done some deep soul-searching. Comprehensive reforms have been implemented to help the Ukrainian government establish, maintain and safeguard civilian political control of the military.\n\nAs tensions with Russia escalate, as demonstrated by recent aggression from the Russian navy in international waters that resulted in the injury of several Ukrainian sailors and the capture of over 20 more, as well as the seizure of three Ukrainian naval vessels, the Ukrainian armed forced need now more than ever to be able to defend their territory.\n\nUkraine is the bulwark against Russian aggression, the only country standing between Russia and the EU. Inaction due to fear of escalation is akin to appeasement. If Canada values the rules-based, institution-regulated international order that emerged after the cataclysms of the First and Second World Wars, it must not allow any infractions, any probing tests to see how much aggressors can break the rules.\n\nCanadian foreign policy is built on a framework of rules-based diplomacy. Canada’s stated main foreign policy goals are to improve gender equality and promote development. Ukraine’s defence goals are in line with Canada’s gender and development goals, as shown in a recent speech by Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko declaring that men and women contribute equally to the defence of Ukraine.\n\nWhile to many in the West, Ukraine is a distant, suffering nation, the significance of its plight cannot be overstated. Canada must do what it can to help Europe’s poorest country, with over a million internally displaced persons, that has already suffered through four years of grinding war. Some of that assistance must be humanitarian and development aid, some must go to strengthening civil society and the rule of law and reducing corruption, some must go to promoting tolerance and acceptance of marginalized communities such as LGBTQ+ folks, Roma peoples and Jewish communities. And some of that assistance must go to strengthening Ukraine’s armed forces. If chunks are the country are constantly bitten off, no lasting domestic development will be possible. Thus the Ukrainian forces must improve their credibility as a deterrent and to increase their operational effectiveness not if, but when, the conflict escalates. Ukraine faces an existential crisis, and the international order with it. Some bullies only respond to hard power, and Canada must be ready to provide that.\n\nFeatured Image: Canada and Ukraine meeting in Copenhagen – 2018. Via\n\n\nWelcome to a Post-INF World Mon, 04 Feb 2019 14:47:27 +0000\n\nThe Trump administration announced its decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) February 2, citing continued Russian non-compliance with the treaty’s restrictions on flight-testing and deployment of intermediate-range missiles. The non-compliant missile in question is the ground-launched 9M729 cruise missile, developed by the Novator Design Bureau. NATO, which designates the missile the SSC-8 Screwdriver, issued a statement on December 4, 2018 endorsing the US finding that Russia is in breach of the treaty. \n\nDespite the focus on the Russia’s 9M729/SSC-8 missile, China looms large in Washington’s withdrawal decision. As reported in this space previously, sooner or later the international community would have had to reckon with the non-application of the INF Treaty to China — not do mention other states in Asia. Former US Pacific Command Chief, Admiral Harry Harris, estimated that over 90 percent of China’s ground-launched missiles would fall under INF restrictions if Beijing were subject to the treaty. Chinese intermediate-range missiles like the DF-21 and DF-26, dubbed “Carrier Killer” and “Guam Killer” respectively, are key Chinese anti-access/area-denial capabilities and thus direct challenges to the American military presence in the Western Pacific region. As if to underscore the missile capability gap, days before the US withdrawal decision Chinese state media released for the first time video footage of a People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force exercise that included a launch of the DF-26.\n\nIf missile proliferation in Asia has put strain on the treaty, so too has the deterioration of security relations in Europe. Moscow asserts that the US Mk-41 “Aegis Ashore” anti-ballistic missile system, currently deployed in Romania and planned for Poland, could be repurposed to fire ground-launched variants of the Tomahawk sea-launched cruise missile. (It was a ground-launched variant of the Tomahawk, the BGM-109G Gryphon, that the US deployed to counter Soviet SS-20 Saber missiles in the 1980s). In a tit-for-tat response to the 9M729/SSC-8, the 2018 US Nuclear Posture Review called for research and development on a new land-based intermediate-range missile. What’s more, a Trump administration memo obtained by the Washington Post called not only for the development of new missiles but also their deployment “at the earliest possible date.” “We will return to the situation with the Pershing missiles in Europe,” warned Russian President Vladimir Putin after meeting in October with Trump’s National Security Advisor, John Bolton, whose signature is on the memo. New land-based missiles, if deployed in NATO countries that were formerly members of the Warsaw Pact, would be much closer to Russian borders than Pershing IIs and Gryphons ever were in the 1980s. All these developments take place against a backdrop of ever-deteriorating relations between Russia and the West.  \n\nAbsent the INF Treaty Moscow will be free to pursue new missile programs unfettered by arms control. Russian defence planners are likely eager to address the imbalance Russia faces in theatre-range rocket power vis-à-vis states on or near its periphery that possess or are developing medium-range missiles. But with US treaty abrogation comes the menacing prospect of new US intermediate-range missiles aimed at strategic targets in Russia. Confronting the spectre of anABM interceptor repurposed for offensive weaponry and new generation American land-based missiles, it comes as no surprisethat Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, characterized the US threat to pull out of the INF Treaty as “a question of strategic security.” \n\nWashington’s INF decision is no less strategic for European NATO countries. As detailed here, the alliance’s European membership finds itself in a predicament. Notwithstanding Russian noncompliance, it is Washington — and not Moscow — that withdrew from the treaty. Politically, an American withdrawal will test the cohesion and solidarity of an already fissiparous alliance when it comes time to craft a NATO strategy for a post-INF world. Even before the US decision, Russia’s Foreign Ministry was claiming that the US was “seeking a pretext” to abrogate the treaty. And after failed negotiations to salvage the treaty in Geneva last month, Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergey Ryabkov, asserted that the US is “entirely” to blame for the fruitlessness of the talks. \n\nNow that the Trump administration withdrew, Russia will double-down on a narrative of Washington perfidy. The focus of Western public and parliamentary opprobrium will likely focus squarely on Trump. All the while, Russia will be in a position to continue fielding rocket battalions armed with the 9M729/SSC-8. Such a scenario would resemble that of the 1980s Euromissile Crisis. Western peace protests concentrated their opposition on the NATO decision to counter Moscow’s deployment of new missiles, not the Soviet missiles themselves. The Soviet Politburo was all too happy with this state of affairs. “Pacifism is in the West and the Euromissiles are in the East,”  French President François Mitterrand famously quipped at the time. \n\nThere has been a conspicuous absence of European voices warning about the risks associated with the reintroduction of intermediate-range missiles into the European security equation. Much of the continent is inward-focused, wracked by the populist challenge, with no Helmut Schmidt-type figure to sound the alarm on what new missiles would mean for military security on the continent. To date, it has fallen to NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, to declare that the 9M729/SSC-8 is a risk to regional security, as he did in an op-ed column that appeared recently in European newspapers. Now that the Dutch government claims it has independently verified that Russia developed the 9M729/SSC-8 in breach of its INF obligations, the INF issue may gain traction in European capitals. In recent months German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has begun to draw more attention to the importance of the treaty to security in Europe — and the world. \n\nFor the US, a post-INF Treaty world will demand foreign policy discipline of the sort that is in short-supply these days. If the Euromissile Crisis is any indication, missile hosting decisions will entail skillful and painstaking diplomacy, often in the face of retaliation threats — the Kremlin has already warned it will not countenance new US missiles in Europe – and public opposition. Guam aside, missile installations would require the consent of host countries and all the attendant risks associated with such agreements. For deployments to be politically palatable and militarily survivable, more than one host country may be called upon to accept missile installations, adding to the complexity of post-INF diplomacy. \n\nThe question now is whether the US withdrawal marks a curtain call for intermediate-range arms control measures or whether the shock of its abrogation will precipitate a new round of arms limitations talks. The principal powers — Washington, Moscow and Beijing — do not appear willing to accept a diminishment of their relative military power vis-a-vis the others. That could mean for the foreseeable future the bleak scenario of a missile race absent a parallel arms control track.\n\nFeatured Image:Iskander-M launcher for 9M729 cruise missile. via Wikipedia.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6044652462005615}
+{"content": "How absent parenting could be affecting your child\n\n“Children need physical engagement with their parents including eye contact, touch and emotional participation to learn the emotional, social and cognitive skills that will equip them for life.  What many adults don’t realise is that children notice from a very young age if their parents are too absorbed in technology to meaningfully respond to them,” Dr Jacqui explains. \n\n“There are certain basic rules in your interaction with your child that may be overlooked when you are busy on your phone, whether you are taking an important work phone call or simply playing on Facebook in your child’s presence.\n\nChildren need discipline and take their cue for establishing emotional boundaries from their parents and if parents are conveying the message that the cellphone is more important than respect for human relationships, the child is likely to feel ignored.\n\n“As children learn social behaviour from their parents, they may grow up with similar patterns. For example, studies have shown that people often respond harshly when they are ‘interrupted’ while absorbed in technology. If you were to frequently snap at your child when they need your attention, this could teach your child that disrespecting interpersonal relationships is acceptable behaviour.”\n\nDr Joubert recommends unplugging from technology when spending time with your child, at least for a few hours each day. “Teach them the value of meaningful interaction by being fully present and engaging with your child without distractions. Parents need to show maturity in prioritising their children over the appeal of increasingly intrusive technology.”", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7106934189796448}
+{"content": "Day: June 30, 2018\n\nLow cost Concert Tickets Not Exhausting To Discover\n\n\n\n\nEntertainment Information, Cinema Information, Film Evaluations, Artwork News, Theatre News\n\nBecause the dawn of film making, Hollywood has been producing legends. The players might have an viewers of non-gamers, equivalent to when persons are entertained by watching a chess championship Then again, gamers in a recreation might constitute their very own audience as they take their flip to play. In the same manner, other obligatory abilities, equivalent to cooking , have developed into performances amongst professionals, staged as global competitions after which broadcast for entertainment.\n\nActors and singers lengthy lifeless appear to come to life once more every time their films or information are played. The audiences have completely different expectations of the performers as well as of their own position within the performance. By the second half of the 20th century, developments in digital media made potential the delivery of entertainment merchandise to mass audiences throughout the globe.\n\nNot only does it present entertainment but we are able to even do some transactions like once you want to purchase stun guns on-line. Generally they also commemorate (5, 8) or celebrate (1, 4, 6, eight, 9). Sometimes they’ve a serious function, comparable to when the context is navy (1, 2, 5), when the intention is sometimes to intimidate; or religious, …", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5157322883605957}
+{"content": "Monday, May 8, 2017\n\nEmmanuel Macron the Next French President\n\nOn 7 May 2017, Emmanuel Macron, an ardent European won the most closely fought presidential race in modern history of France. He did not only beat Marine Le Pen 66% to 34%, the traditional French parties (the Socialist and the Republicans) but also, he combated the cyber-attacks and the large amount of the fake news. “Macron wants Turkey to be part of the EU”, “Macron is financed by the Saudi Arabia”, “Macron might have a hidden bank account in a tax haven” or “Al-Qaeda has chosen its candidate” are only some of the headlines on the fabricated web pages or the social media.\n\nWhy did Macron win?\n\nFirst, the French people chose the openness and modernity over self-isolation and nationalism. It was easier for President Elect Macron to win with Marine Le Pen than with anybody else. The French people afraid of their country being run by the National Front, voted for Macron to cast their vote against the far-right party. Similarly to 2002, the French “pacte républicain” worked out pretty well.\n\nSecond, the results show that most French people still believe that France remains stronger as part of the EU. Polls suggest that a majority of French people are against Frexit, partly because they think it will make them poorer, says Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, Head of the GMF office in Paris. Therefore, they got afraid of Marine Le Pen’s anti-European Union and anti-globalisation agenda. Emmanuel Macron has mentioned on various occasions that he wants to vest the EU with even greater powers. Consequently, instead of the next “exit” he wants to revive the European project.\n\nThird, Emmanuel Macron won because he was successful in getting the support of the other presidential candidates who received almost 20% of support each in the first round but fail to get to the runoff. Precisely, François Fillon, a centre-right candidate and Benoît Hamon, the Socialist candidate. Last but not least, Emmanuel Macron was endorsed by the outgoing though unpopular president François Hollande.\n\nFinally, given the history of the facts manipulation during the last elections in the United States and the United Kingdom, the media outlets in France have successfully joined their forces to debunk the fake news. Those were for example CrossCheck, or Le Monde’s Le Décodex. CrossCheck brought together 17 newsrooms which found and verified content circulating online. Le Décodex is a growing database of sites that were spotted as “real” or “fake”. Le Monde was active also on Twitter with @crosscheck and published “disinformation review” where it corrected the facts. \n\nWhat does Macron’s victory mean for Central Europe?\n\nEmmanuel Macron in his campaign called, among others, for strengthening ties with Germany, a dialogue with Russia and a two-speed Europe. While the V4 countries do not have anything against renewing the Franco-German momentum, they are divided when it comes to Russia and the concept of the multi-speed Europe.\n\nCzech Republic and Slovakia unequivocally welcomed the triumph of the mainstream political thinking in the key European country. The two countries (together with Hungary) support the dialogue with Russia. In addition, Slovakia is less afraid of creating a common budget for the Eurozone, as it is already a Eurozone country.\n\nPoland and Hungary are worried about the presidency of the openly pro-European Emmanuel Macron. First, because Emmanuel Macron said he would pursue tougher action (most probably sanctions) against them for violating the EU democratic norms. Second, they got offended when Mr. Macron called Jarosław Kaczynski, the leader of the governing Law and Justice Party (PiS), and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán the allies with Marine Le Pen. Poland issued even an official statement condemning Mr. Macron’s words on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs webpage. Third, even though for Poland Emmanuel Macron’s policy towards Russia is more acceptable than Marine Le Pen’s one (she rejected the EU’s sanctions and claimed that the “Crimean Peninsula” was never Ukrainian), it will oppose any “normalisation of relations” at EU or NATO level that the French president might be in favour of. In more ideological terms, Polish and Hungarian governments seem to want the EU to be a little more than the common market whereas the ambitions of the French and German political leaders go much higher. If such a ‘downgrade’ of the integration process is not possible, they would like to keep the status quo about the EU treaties, the competences of the European institutions. Macron’s victory shows however that the consensus in Europe is shifting and the political union will be built around the Franco-German motor.\n\nA new chapter for France and for Europe has just begun. Central Europe soon will have to make choices that will make the V4 split on many issues.      \n\nKinga Brudzińska\nSenior Research Fellow\nGLOBSEC Policy Istitute\n\nFriday, May 5, 2017\n\n\nFollowing the cancellation of South Stream, Nord Stream 2 (NS2) represents Gazprom’s last opportunity to effectively bypass Ukraine entirely for continental European deliveries, a troubling development in Brussels. At the same time, it offers a direct line to western European markets with declining indigenous production and an abundance of LNG regasification capacity, representing Gazprom’s marginal competitor. If it is built, Gazprom would be in a powerful position to negotiate the terms governing any future deliveries through Ukraine after 2019 when the current transit agreement expires. In a similar vein, NS2 immediately undermines the position of traditional Central European (CE) transit states which will lose relevance and gas transit revenues. Perhaps more consequently for the whole of Central and Southeast Europe (CSEE), it would weaken gas security of supply and competition, the defense of which is a key pillar of the European Commission’s Energy Union proposal.\nCE transit states are already facing the inevitable decline of their traditional positions, with gradual market integration opening new trade flows that are redefining the modus operandi of transit and delivery defined over the past 20 years by long term pipeline contracts with Gazprom. While this represents progress towards a version of the single European market, contracted gas subverting Ukraine via NS2 potentially overwhelms existing reverse flow capacities, limiting available west-to-east spot trading.\nCSEE countries would clearly benefit from an intervention on the part of the European Commission that delays or blocks construction of NS2, but its ability and appetite to do appears less and less likely as time passes and Gazprom pushes ahead - in April it agreed to a pipe-laying contract for the sub-sea cables and secured financing for 50% of the project from five western European energy majors. As an external pipeline, NS2 sits outside the jurisdiction of Europe’s energy laws and regulations, although its onshore connection, EUGAL, would fall within this boundary. If the European Commission decided to intervene, it would need to file a strong legal interpretation of EUGAL’s (by extension NS2’s) adverse impact on the more vulnerable CSEE region, for which there is a clear argument to be made, but no indications it will be pursued. With such an impactful and divisive zero sum project the ultimate compromise, tacit consent or objection on the part of the Commission will be heavily influenced by political maneuvering between Brussels, Berlin and Kiev. This article briefly summarizes the perspectives of Central European governments, the Commission and Gazprom over NS2, which is expecting to reach a tipping point this year.\nFirst, what was at least on the surface collective regional opposition to NS2 in 2016, highlighted by a March letter of opposition signed by eight CSEE governments and sent to President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, has become fragmented and somewhat demoralized. Outside of Poland, governments appear resigned to the inevitability of NS2, opting to make independent contingency arrangements rather than lobbying together in Brussels; behind the scenes officials have quietly negotiated deals with Gazprom that provides minimum transit guarantees in the event NS2 is built. For other countries in the region not adversely affected by NS2, the signature itself represented the extent of solidarity.\nOn the other hand, European solidarity towards Ukraine has been elevated by geopolitical developments vis-à-vis Russia, and undoubtedly NS2 is now more strongly associated with the Kremlin’s campaign to isolate Ukraine than the merits of its impact on Europe’s gas network. Now the EU is providing billions of euros in additional financing and aid to Ukraine, leading to a more explicit interest in its state budget, like the 2 billion euros annually - or 2% of GDP - that its gas transit receipts total.\nOtherwise, the Commission’s core concern with respect to Ukraine’s transit network is that it does not default due to under-utilization. Since Nord Stream’s commissioning in 2011, annual transit of Russian gas through Ukraine has fallen to what is now about 50% of capacity, and if NS2 is built lower annual transit could put the network at risk, posing a direct threat to Europe’s security of supply. Thus the idea floated by Germany’s former Minster for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmund Gabriel that Gazprom could ensure capacity bookings at or slightly above this minimum threshold beyond 2019 is one form of compromise.\n\nHowever, such a compromise still does not address the impact of such a large portion of contracted volumes bypassing the Yamal and Brotherhood trunk lines to reach CSEE final destinations via Germany. If Gazprom’s primary intention is to reroute a majority of its CEE destined volumes through NS2 and the proposed onshore EUGAL pipeline (a 51 bcm pipeline parallel to Opal) rather than seeking greater market share in western European markets, this would adversely affect CSEE by limiting competition and weakening regional security of supply.\n\nAs it stands, the bidirectional upgrades that have been implemented since 2009 to better integrate the continent and open CEE to trade would instead facilitate Gazprom’s contractual obligations. Allowing contracted gas to absorb these west-to-east capacities effectively limits CEE access to Western markets and makes the region more susceptible to winter cold snaps or N-1 scenarios if the largest infrastructure was to go offline.\nIn turn this massive realignment, effectively transferring CEE’s onward delivery center from Ukraine to Germany, creates new congestion points and additional need for infrastructure investment that otherwise would not be necessary from a net social welfare perspective. A number of these projects are eligible for grants (e.g. Connecting Europe Facility, European Energy Program for Recovery, European Regional Development Plan) that ultimately fall squarely on the European taxpayer. In this regard, NS2 is a pathway that weakens the resiliency of Europe’s existing transmission system and requires additional reinforcement and/or guarantees for compensation.\nOutside of this scope, the Commission is under no obligation to protect member state transit status. With or without NS2, the internal gas market is evolving away from long term sales and transit commitments. Transmission service operators (TSOs) are already adapting to this reality by meeting the new short-term demands of traders. In Slovakia, TSO Eustream can continue to provide reverse flow for Ukraine and promote the Eastring project in an effort to salvage its existing transit system, but the country’s transit role has likely peaked. For transit countries like Slovakia, Poland or Hungary, long time beneficiaries of their geography for a sizable and predictable revenue stream, Nord Stream weakened their position and market integration will continue this trend. As the bulk of long term contracts expire over the next five years, renegotiations leveraged by access to western markets also dictate new delivery conditions.\nWhile acknowledging the real financial losses that the region faces, it is important not to get lost in the sensationalism of geopolitics when it comes to the actual risks of energy supply as they currently stand. CEE member states are not as vulnerable as they were seven or eight years ago; by the end of the decade Polish and Croatian LNG (pending final investment decision) should be accessible in Hungary and Slovakia and new infrastructure (Interconnector Bulgaria-Serbia, Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria pending final investment decisions) will to help to physically open southeast European markets like Bulgaria and Serbia to Caspian gas and Greek LNG. In this manner the region is finally investing the necessary political and financial capital (with enormous EU support) to complete these long discussed bit projects so that a crisis on the scale of 2009 cannot repeat itself. For example, the Opal decision that Poland has appealed is more a symbolic, precedent setting legal discrepancy than something that materially threatens Poland’s security of supply. Poland now has an LNG facility on its coast which it plans to expand and will be connected to the Baltic network and Slovakia by the end of the decade.\nFinally, as a gas exporter Gazprom has reasons for attempting to bypass Ukraine to avoid transit risk. Ukraine has struggled with corruption across its gas sector while reform efforts have only recently shown signs of progress, and Naftogaz has held firm negotiating tariffs. This is not to deny Russia’s geopolitical strategy of weakening Ukraine, but to admit that there is also a logic for Gazprom: avoiding transit disputes that affect deliveries to Europe; the relocation of its production base to Yamal; and the fact that its largest customers with greatest market share opportunities are in western Europe. Perhaps deservedly so, this rationale tends to be lost in the polarizing dispute over Ukraine and general distrust of Gazprom’s intentions amongst Central Europeans.\n\nAbsent the ongoing proxy war in eastern Ukraine some European voices might not be as loud for protecting its transit status out of solidarity. Despite CEE transit states’ legitimate opposition to NS2 on the grounds that it is detrimental to security of supply and competition, German interests remain well represented in Brussels and the Commission has remained guarded. While VP of the Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič has openly questioned the commercial legitimacy of NS2, there have yet to be any official statements to slow the project’s momentum. Thus without further objection, Gazprom is likely to push forward towards a final investment decision later this year, revealing the Commission’s position one way or the other. Regardless, it is time for traditional Central European transit states to look ahead and prepare for changing gas market fundamentals.\n\nNolan Theisen\nHead of Energy Programme\nGLOBSEC Policy Institute", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8495335578918457}
+{"content": "Natural disasters of any kind and fury are dreadful. The scientific evidence available now can at least assist people in being better prepared to face and overcome such tragic devastations. The book ‘Natural Disasters’ written by Drs. Sushmitha Baskar and R. Baskar, and published by Unicorn Books takes you through the major disasters erupting on land, water and atmospheric hazards that can appear suddenly and leave behind a trail of misery. With extensive illustrations, diagrams, and photos, the two authors have confronted the issue of various earth’s processes and geological hazards and their causes scientifically and share with readers specific actions they should take during and after a disaster.\nThey begin each chapter explaining the underlying geological processes, important facts & figures as well as the key terms that describe them. Next, they explore the impact these processes have on humans (as well as the impact that humans have on the processes). Finally, the authors analyse strategies for mitigating these disasters’ physical and financial damage, and present prospects for the future.\nMajor issues addressed include earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, cyclones, draught, desertification, floods, tsunamis, landslides, hurricanes and tornadoes. The text is very user-friendly, well-organized and also well-written. For educational purposes, this very detailed and informative text serves as a great resource. No matter where you live, a natural hazard exists. We need to learn to live with natural events instead of trying to control them.\nAspirants and examinees for admission to various under/post graduate courses and competitive exams would find the book highly informative. According to the author-duo, ‘Natural Disasters’ conforms to UGC NET syllabus for Environmental Sciences for award of research fellowships/ selection to lecturership in college/universities/research institutions in India.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9968578219413757}
+{"content": "Recent Question/Assignment\n\nAssessment Task 1: Case study report\nGoal: To analyse a business case using the work centred analysis framework\nProduct: Case Study Report\nFormat: Report Question\n1500 word report.\nYou are to write a report outlining the changes that have occurred in a business due to digital innovation using a work centred analysis approach. Two matrices will be required, 1) a work centred analysis (WCA) of a company of your choosing prior to a digital disruption event. This will involve a retrospective analysis and any assumptions, due to a lack of relevant information should be included. The second matrix will be another WCA of the same company after the digital disruption event. In the report you will need to provide an assessment of the effect of a digital disruption event, provide recommendations on how to handle the event and provide an implementation plan for your recommendations.\nThis is an individual assessment and needs to be submitted electronically through SafeAssign.\nCriteria • Identify the salient points associated with a digital disruption event in a company of your choosing.\n• Provide recommendations and an implementation plan to help the company cope with the event\nGeneric skill assessed Skill assessment level\nProblem solving\nTask No. Assessment Tasks Individual or Group\n1 Case Study Report Individual\n25% 1500 words Week 5,\nSafeAssign No\nThe report should be structured using the following headings (1500 words)\n1. Executive Summary\n2. Table of Contents\n3. List of Abbreviations and assumptions made\n4. Introduction (what are you going to do?)\n5. Introduction to the case you are going to study (be specific)\n6. Problem identification from the case (what are the goals and challenges associated with the digital disruption event?)\n7. Recommendations to the company\n8. An implementation plan based on the recommendations you have provided\n9. Conclusions\n10. List of References\n\nMarking Guide\nStudent Name\nAssessment 1 MICT710 weighting 25%\nAssessment Criteria:\nTo write a report outlining the changes that have occurred in a business due to digital innovation using a work cantered analysis approach.\nCriteria Comments Possible Mark Mark awarded\nExecutive Summary: (1 page) 1\n1. Background. You must be brief and to the point (about 1 page). Use your own words – you mustn’t just reproduce the case here. 2\n2. Framework for analysis – fill in one work centred analysis framework for before the digital disruption event and another for after the event in an appendix (Appendix A) (this is not included in the word count) 6\n3. Assessment of the effect of digital disruption Based on your comparative analysis of both work centred analysis framework matrices that you have recorded in Appendix A, provide an assessment of the effect of digital disruption on the business. Your assessment must be supported by concepts and other material from the literature (text, readings, etc.). 5\n4. Recommendations. Provide recommendations on how your case can better handle digital disruption. You must convince management to adopt your recommendations (i.e. ‘sell’ them to management). 4\n5. Implementation Plan. Your plan for implementing a process that will reduce the adverse effects of digital disruption (this could include staff training etc.). Again, you must convince management to adopt your implementation plan (i.e. ‘sell’ it to them). 2\n6. Conclusions 2\n7. References. At the end of your report, you must provide a list of all cited references (using correct Harvard referencing style) (at least 5). 2\n8. Presentation. Grammar, punctuation, expression and presentation must be of a high standard. 1", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6076675653457642}
+{"content": "Recent Question/Assignment\n\nHA3042 Taxation Law\nT1 2018 Individual Assignment\nDue date: Week 11\nMaximum marks: 20 (20%)\nQuestion 1 (3 Marks)\nHilary is a well-known mountain climber. The Daily Terror newspaper offers her $10,000 for her life story, if she will write it. Without the assistance of a ghost writer, she writes a story and assigns all her right, title and interest in the copyright for $10,000 to the Daily Terror. The story is published and she is paid. She has never written a story before. She also sells the manuscript to the Mitchell Library for $5,000 and several photographs that she took while mountain climbing for which she receives $2,000.\nDiscuss whether or not the three payments are income from personal exertion. Would your answer differ if she wrote the story for her own satisfaction and only decided to sell it later?\nQuestion 2 (2 marks)\nEric provides his employee with the use of a car for 183 days during the FBT year. During this period the car travelled 16,000 km. Eric purchased the car last year for $50,000. The employee contributed $1,000 towards the cost of running the car and has provided Eric with relevant documentation.\nCalculate the taxable value of the car fringe benefit using the statutory formula.\nQuestion 3 (5 marks)\nDiscuss the effect on the assessable income of the parent.\nQuestion 4 (10 Marks)\nScott is an accountant who purchased a vacant block of land in Brisbane on 1 October 1980. On 1 September 1986, Scott built a house on the land. At the time, the land was valued at $90,000 and the cost of construction was $60,000. The property has been rented out since construction was completed. On 1 March of the current tax year, Scott sold the property at auction for $800,000.\na) Based on the information above, determine Scott’s net capital gain or net capital loss for the year ended 30 June of the current tax year.\nb) How would your answer to (a) differ if Scott sold the property to his daughter for $200,000?\nc) How would your answer to (a) differ if the owner of the property was a company instead of an individual?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7437294721603394}
+{"content": "Catholic Husband\n\nLove, Lead, Serve\n\nMake Evenings Count\n\nMy job frequently results in me working evenings. It isn’t particularly fun, it is just a fact of life. Of course, I make up for my hours by starting work later in the day.\n\nHowever, during the slow seasons, I’m often home around 5 (I live fairly close to the office). It is then that I have a five hour time block to do whatever I’d like.\n\nSo, each evening, I have five hours to decide what I’d like to do. Some of that time will be given to preparing, eating, and cleaning up after dinner. Other parts of that time will be dedicated to getting ready for bed and reading.\n\nBut what about the rest?\n\nI used to be of the opinion that there “wasn’t enough time” so I’d just squander it on the internet or watching TV. After a few weeks, I came to recognize it as a relaxing part of my day. It is a necessary wind down period where you can process your day. Watching TV may be satisfying in the moment, but perhaps you want to go do something that will have longer lasting effects. I get up, exercise, go labor in the fields, and then come home to a place of refuge.\n\nI like to spend some of the time with my wife. We both have things that we need to get done in the evening, but there is still some of those minutes that we can spend together.\n\nBasically, I want to spend the time in a way that reflects my values. I want to have quality time with my wife, time for self-improvement, and time for finishing off my to-do list for the day.\n\nIt’s an important lesson in not neglecting evening the small periods of time that you have complete control over. Make choices that reflect what you value. Make evenings count.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9992625713348389}
+{"content": " Jumping spider that pioneered space travel dies in museum | Pakistan Today\n\nJumping spider that pioneered space travel dies in museum\n\nThe first jumping spider to travel to space as part of a YouTube competition has died four days after going on display in a museum. The spider, named Nefertiti, spent 100 days in space at the International Space Station and travelled 42m miles but died of natural causes soon after returning to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, where it was to be exhibited. The Johnson Jumper (Phidippus johnsoni) spider was launched to the ISS in July after 18-year-old Amr Mohamed from Alexandria, Egypt, won the YouTube Space Lab video contest.\nNefertiti, named after an Egyptian queen, demonstrated that its species was able to adapt to the effects of weightlessness and still catch its prey. It then successfully readjusted to gravity after its return to Earth in October. Amr believed that the spider would have difficulty catching fruit flies in space but Nefertiti learned to sidle up to its prey rather than jump on it. It took a few days to adapt to gravity on its return. Kelly Carnes of the Smithsonian told the LA Times: “The unexpected loss of this special animal who inspired so many imaginations will be felt throughout the museum community … The body of Nefertiti will be added to the museum’s collection of specimens where she will continue to contribute to our understanding of spiders.” Nefertiti was accompanied by Cleopatra, a zebra spider which died shortly after touchdown. Female spiders were chosen because male spiders normally stop eating when they are fully grown. The average lifespan of jumping spiders is about a year. Nefertiti at the age of 10 months probably did not have much longer to live anyway.\n\nRelated posts", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9577054977416992}
+{"content": "\"The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration — it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done. “Idle dreaming is often the essence of what we do,” writes Thomas Pynchon in his essay on Sloth. \"Archimedes’ “Eureka” in the bath, Newton’s apple, Jekyll and Hyde, the benzine ring: history is full of stories of inspiration that came in idle moments and dreams. It almost makes you wonder whether loafers, goldbrickers, and no-accounts aren’t responsible for more of the world’s great ideas, inventions, and masterpieces than the hardworking.\" - Tim Kreider\n\n\nI spend more time in my mind than in reality. Is this healthy or productive? Maybe, maybe not. \n\nFirst, I want to understand why I retreat into my mind so often. Is it a defense mechanism? A distraction from the stress and pain of real-world experiences? Not that I have a lot of struggles to endure...but I could have developed this habit early on in childhood. I think we all experience some level of trauma as kids, and then find ways to cope with it. These tendencies can last far into adulthood.\n\nBut I want to weigh the pros and cons of daydreaming. On one hand, I feel like I'm more capable of creative thinking. When I spend time in my own head, my imagination takes me to weird and interesting places. And as Einstein proclaimed \"Imagination is more important than reality.\"\n\nAt the same time, I think that daydreaming has held me back a lot in life. Sometimes I cling to certain ideas or opinions far longer than I should, simply because I'm not immersed enough in the real world. Every now and then, I need the curt words of a close friend or family member to snap me out of my waking daydreams.\n\nSo like most things in life, maybe it's just a matter of finding a balance. I want to maintain the creative benefits of daydreaming, but still not lose touch with the real world. I want to maintain a broad imagination without forsaking my human responsibilities and societal expectations.\n\nMaybe I just need to set aside specific a specific time and place for daydreaming. Like through the park on a quiet morning, or having a long soak in a warm bath tub. \n\nAnd I shouldn't neglect the importance of being social. I feel like many of my best breakthroughs came from bouncing ideas off of others. We need other people to keep us grounded, and to play the devil's advocate with our ideas.\n\nBecause I think that's a trap in which many smart, creative people get stuck. They get too caught up in their worldview, that they lose perspective. \n\nSo stay humble, stay creative, and find a balance between wild daydreams and real life.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9660411477088928}
+{"content": "Development of a near real-time information system of the current state of mass change of Austria´s biggest glacier (Pasterze) and small glaciers around Sonnblick Observatory\n\nIn the last decades Alpine glaciers have been loosing mass in an unprecedented speed. Both in scientific literature and the media mass changes of glaciers are often used to visualize climate change. However, quantitave information of the actual mass changes of certain glaciers is not availalbe before the processing of annual measurements during late summer.\n\nThe aim of GLACIO-LIVE is to reduce this deficit of information by installing a widely automatic glacier measurement system, which is able to measure and calculate the glacier mass changes on a daily or hourly basis and present the results on the web to a broader public. The development of this near real-time glacier information system involves the following steps:\n\nTo make the data from the stations on the glaciers available in real-time, students from TGM will develop a peripheral wireless data network, which shall be able to operate under the harsh climatic conditions of an alpine environment.\n\nResearchers from ZAMG will develop a data assimilation procedure, which will incorporate data from automatic kameras and meteorological and glaciological stations into a glacioclimatological model, that is used to calculate the acutal rate of mass change of the glaciers. In a final step, students of TGM will develop a website, where the actual state of the glacier will be presented to a broader public.\n\nOn the long run, the wireless data network that has been tested on Alpine glaciers within this research project will be installed on glaciers in the Arctic (e.g. on Freya Glacier in Northeast-Greenland, which is regularly measured by ZAMG), where the potential savings will be even higher due to the large distances and high travel costs.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998746514320374}
+{"content": "\n\nSTEM Ed Announcement: Summer Neuroscience Program for High School Girls\n\nThis is not a UMass program\n Contact information is below.\n Brainy Gyrls: A Neuroscience summer program for high school girls\n Why are girls so different from boys? Do you see the world like\n everyone does? Why do some people, and not others, develop addictions?\n If you.ve ever wanted to know the answers to these questions, then you\n might be interested in learning more about one of the newest branches\n of science: NEUROSCIENCE. It is the study of the brain and nervous\n system. It.s the study of YOU.\n Bay Path University is offering a one-week intensive program to rising\n sophomore, junior and senior high school girls to learn about the brain\n and its amazing functions. Using a combination of instruction and\n self-discovery through casework and lab activities, using themselves as\n subjects, students will learn and master fundamental concepts in\n neuroscience. Some of the planned activities will allow students to:\n .       Investigate how the brain cells communicate \n .       How commonly used drugs can impact brain cell function\n .       Explore spinal cord function on your own body using muscle\n .       Discover how your brain processes sensory information from your\n sense organs\n .       Examine how your nervous system responds to stress \n .       Dissect and identify the major parts of the mammalian brain and\n their respective functions to explore neuroanatomy\n Cost for high school girls (rising sophomores, juniors and seniors). \n Min15/Max20 attendees.\n Hours: 8:30 AM . 4:00 PM \n July 6-10, 2015\n $1,100.00 for the week and includes Lunch and off-site trip.\n Refunds for participant cancellation, minus a $50 registration fee,\n will be available until June 22, 2015.\n For more information and to register, please visit our website\n www.baypath.edu then go to the news and events tab.\n For questions on the program content, please contact the director,\n Princy Quadros Mennella @ quadrosmennella@baypath.edu \n For logistical questions, please contact Briana Sitler @\n Briana Sitler\n Director of Special Programs\n 588 Longmeadow Street\n Longmeadow, MA 01106\n Office: (413) 565-1066\n bsitler@baypath.edu | baypath.edu\n\nSubscribe to the STEM Ed. RSS feed at:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9682430028915405}
+{"content": "What is Stereoisomerism?\n\nThis topic contains 1 reply, has 2 voices, and was last updated by Aditya Sardana Aditya Sardana 3 years, 6 months ago.\n\n  • Author\n  • #4164\n\n\n    What is stereoisomerism? Define stereoisomerism. Give the definition of stereoisomerism. What are stereoisomers?\n\n  • #4175\n    Aditya Sardana\n    Aditya Sardana\n\n    Stereoisomerism is a type of isomerism that is exhibited by the compounds having the same structure but different spatial arrangements, that is, different configurations. Such isomers are known as stereoisomers. Configuration is defined as the spatial arrangement of atoms and groups in a molecule. There are two types of stereoisomerism, viz. – optical isomerism and geometrical isomerism (geometric isomerism or cis-trans isomerism).\n\n    Related Posts\n\n    What is Geometrical Isomerism?\n\n    What are Trans Fats?\n\nYou must be logged in to reply to this topic.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5044909715652466}
+{"content": "How to create villagers in minecraft xbox\n\nHowever, finding a village can sometimes be hard or tedious work, but there's a simple solution - just make your own village. This is especially helpful if your. If your world lacks villages in \"Minecraft: Xbox Edition,\" you might want to create one of your own. A village needs residents to become a. Okay let me first say that if someone already made this discussion, please send me the link to the original discussion. Whether this thread gets.\n\nIn Minecraft, a village is a group of buildings lived in by NPC villagers (non-player characters). These villages spawn naturally into Minecraft. So my idea is to build a village next to my castle, I'm wondering if I build the official stats of a generated NPC village, can I get Villagers to. According to the Minecraft Wiki page on Villagers and how they If you have village spawn eggs, spawn villagers pointing your cursor at a.\n\nAs of the snapshots, though, the villagers need to be \"willing\" to breed in order to breed. It seems that you can make a villager \"willing\" by.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5928473472595215}
+{"content": "Self Comes to Mind\n\nconsciousnessSelf Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain\n\nAntonio Damasio\n\nDamasio envisages consciousness as a loop between the self and the body. His view that the self comprises the whole of consciousness, conflicts with descriptions of altered states of consciousness, where the self disappears, and with the normal experience that we are conscious of aspects of the external world that are not part of the self. The argument that the body via the brain stem comprises the whole input into consciousness and drives value judgments conflicts with much of modern neuroscientific study where inputs from the external world are processed via regions such as the orbitofrontal, the amygdala, the dorsolateral frontal and the basal ganglia. The body as a generator of consciousness has become fashionable in this century, perhaps because there is a tacit recognition that the 20th century brain as a computer story is not an unqualified winner, and the bodily consciousness story looks like a way of preserving a classical or macroscopic explanation for consciousness.\n\nConsciousness and the self:  Damasio’s definition of consciousness looks flawed, in identifying consciousness entirely with the self. Such a view has to contend with the descriptions of altered states of consciousness, whether arising spontaneously, or artificially induced by mental training or drugs, which repeatedly specify the disappearance of the self. Even in our normal conscious life, the self appears to be only a part of the contents of consciousness. In looking at external objects, we may for a time not be consciously thinking about the self or its concerns. Even if we are simultaneously conscious of the self contemplating the tree outside the window, there is no reason to see the tree as something particularly appertaining to the self. Damasio himself quotes William James as noting that the external contents of consciousness often dominate our conscious experience. The tree is represented or mapped as our brain state, but may be mapped onto the brain states of other entities that have no connection to our self, and in most philosophies the quanta that comprise the tree, and to which our brain mapping correlates, continue to exist even when there are no sentient beings around.\n\nBrain stem and brain regions: In terms of consciousness and the brain, Damasio starts by discussing the brain stem. I think the danger with Damasio’s approach here is that he may overstate the importance of this part of the brain. Neuroscience has certainly demonstrated that the brain stem is necessary for consciousness, and that from the brain stem the ascending reticular activating system goes to the thalamus and thence to the cortex. However, neuroscience demonstrates that conscious activity involves the joint activity of numbers of brain regions other than the brain stem. Thus the brain stem looks to be necessary but not sufficient to support the human contents of consciousness.\n\nThe Self:  Damasio goes on to try and define the self. In a somewhat puzzling passage he tries to chop the self into two. There is ‘self-as-object’ which is an observer.  However for Damasio there is another self, the ‘self-as-knower’ that is conceived as being stacked on top of the ‘self-as-object’. This other self seems to refer to our emotional or in Damasio’s terms ‘feeling’ response to certain aspects of life that are close to us such as family or important possessions. However, there seem to be difficulties with this distinction. The self can certainly be seen as a subject of experience, but whether particular parts can be chopped away as a different type of self seems dubious, and the idea that the experience of certain external objects or relationships can cross some arbitrary line to become a part of the self seems contrary to experience. In fact, this notion of the self sometimes seems more akin to knowledge or even culture, especially when he suggests that the self is changing or will change as a result of changes in modern and future media. Many older people have experienced huge changes in culture and media in the course of their lifetime, but it is questionable whether this has registered as a different type of self. A more conventional view might be that the self is a core of experience which would be the same for a hunter gatherer as for a near-future media addict.\n\nCentral to Damasio’s thesis is the idea that the body is the foundation of the mind and more importantly the self. Uncontroversially, he points out that the bodily functions are mapped or represented in the brain. His next step is to bring forward the concept of a ‘protoself’, which is suggested to foreshadow the self. The protoself comprises signalling from the body that is mapped onto the upper brain stem of more primitive creatures that have not evolved a cortex. The initial aspect of the protoself in Damasio’s theory is the level of primordial feelings with feelings of emotion seen as variations on this primordial level.\n\nConflict with neuroscience:  Damasio relates the awareness of self and the primordial feelings almost exclusively to input from the body to the brain stem. Certainly, the inclusion of brain-body interaction in neuroscience and consciousness studies is an advance on the 20th century concept of the brain as a computer unrelated to the rest of the body. However, this does not get us over the problem that much of the input to the brain is not from the body to the brain stem, but from the eyes, ears and nose to the sensory cortex from which it is projected to the parietal and temporal cortices and finally the frontal cortex.  Damasio does talk a bit about the bodily sense of the sense organs themselves and the regions immediately around them, but it is difficult to deny that the main flow of information from the environment to the cortex is not to do with the immediate surrounds of the sensory organs, but with the electrical and chemical flow of information through axons and synapses to the sensory cortices.\n\nFurthermore at least some of the bodily sensation is initially set off by signalling from the brain to the body. The orbitofrontal, primarily involved with evaluating the potential for rewards or punishers and also the amygdala project to the hypothalamus, which is the brain’s route for communicating to the autonomic nervous and endocrine systems. It is also known the visceral responses are mapped onto the orbitofrontal, suggesting that it’s evaluation of the visceral responses might be at least as relevant as the brain stem.\n\nIt is true that the nuclei that produce dopamine and other neuromodulators are located in the brain stem, but research suggests that these act in response to the basal ganglia, which are in turn influenced by the orbitofrontal, the amygdala and the dorsolateral prefrontal. It is important not to be too restrictive about this. The brain is everywhere interactive with signalling and feedback to signalling between a whole variety of brain regions. The basal ganglia in particular receive inputs from and gives feedback to most regions of the cortex. The patterns described by Damasio probably occur, but do not appear to be the main pathways revealed by research.  It is thus apparent that the body-only theory is strangely out of step with other parts of mainstream neuroscience.\n\nDamasio’s emphasises the insular cortex as important for awareness of emotions and the self is supported by recent studies, but it is nonetheless curious that he seems to connect this only to the brain stem and not to the other brain regions known to be evolved with emotion and evaluation of stimuli. Studies to date suggest that the insular is indeed more connected to emotion or feelings related to body states, with other emotion related regions more involved with external inputs, but there is no discussion of this in Damasio’s book. He does mention the role of the cingulate cortex, but this also seems to be more related to bodily pain than internal signals. The brain’s regions are heavily interconnected and it is quite reasonable to think that the insular interacts with other areas and particularly with the basal ganglia, but it is quite another thing to give it the exclusive position it appears to have here.\n\nValue system:  Here Damasio does ask an insightful question. “Where is the engine for the value systems?” Kevin O’ Regan has asked essentially the same question, as to what metric could determine a neural value system, although here he was positing this as an argument against the existence of such a system, which, however, brain research has now shown to actually exist.\n\nNeuromodulator molecules including dopamine are involved in this process, and these are produced by nuclei in the brain stem. Damasio thinks that the dopamine and other molecules are not the answer to this question, but this may be partly because he is looking for these molecules to initiate the value choice, whereas research suggests that they act in response to computations elsewhere and above all in the orbitofrontal and the basal ganglia. What is in many mainstream accounts the main processing of the value system going for the temporal or other cortices to the orbitofrontal and amygdala and thence to the basal ganglia which act on the neuromodulators is here almost entirely left out of the discussion. Damasio presumably has arguments against such a scheme but it is very surprising that he ignores something which has strong experimental support. Damasio does ask important questions, such as what prompts the nuclei to release the neuromodulators, where are they released to and what is the result of this release, but he does not pursue the answer to these questions.\n\nFew would disagree with his assessment of the overall objective of the value assessment system which is to allow complex organisms to survive for long enough to reproduce. His emphasis on homeostasis, the balance of conditions necessary for the survival of the organisms is perhaps a bit narrow, because the requirement to reproduce involves complex choices that are not directly related to homeostasis. Life would be simpler and less challenging for organisms if they did not have to reproduce. The requirement for reproduction increases the difficulty of ascribing value judgements just to homeostasis, because in order to reproduce the organism will need a value system that can override these initial homeostatic promptings.\n\nDamasio approaches the question of the reward system from the point of view of the single cell responding to its environment. But here there is a difference of type between the response of the single cell and of humans. The single cell response can be explained in terms of an algorithm that measured temperature, light or some indicator of the presence of prey or predator. Some aspects of the life of the higher organism can also be explained in this way, but not all of them. How do we choose between the attractions of two different types of food or drink, two different habitats or the physical and mental attractions of two different possible mates, let alone the more complex choices of two or more different possible career or life paths. This is where there is a lack of an obvious metric in existing neuroscience. There are also clearly much more complex inputs than what is required just for homeostasis. We might for career or whatever reasons decide to live in the Arctic although it is easier to maintain homeostasis in a temperate climate, and what we lack is a precise algorithm or metric for such a decision.\n\nDamasio’s approach is almost wholly dependent on organisms sensing their own internal conditions, but this looks far from adequate for dealing with the full range of human conditions. He somewhat sidesteps the issue by pointing to those responses to rewards and punishers which are best dealt with by a fast automatic response like withdrawing a hand from a hot surface. But this is adequate for only this sub-set of experiences.\n\nMaybe Damasio thinks that more complex decisions are a function of rational problem solving, but the choice between say drinking wine or beer does not yield to this, and even for say a career decision, where rational deliberation might be involved, we would also form future scenarios which would contain an emotional or ‘feeling’ colouring for which there is no particular metric or algorithm. Damasio does mention the need for “some kind of internal scale” with neuromodulators speeding up the response to this scale, but he does not attempt to explain how inputs from bodily organs to the brain stem would calibrate such as scale beyond simple responses to heat, humidity, lack of specific nutrients etc. Admittedly, he does point out that a difference between primitive and more advanced organism is that the more advanced organisms have mechanisms to predict the likely delivery of rewards or punishers. But what is lacking is the metric for the actual rewards or punishers. It may be true that what is eventually being predicted is the future bodily welfare as a result of a particular reward or punisher, but the evidence of modern studies puts most of the mechanism for achieving this in areas such as the orbitofrontal, amygdala, dorsolateral prefrontal, and basal ganglia. The neuromodulators to which Damasio does give some prominence appear to act in response to the processing of the other brain regions, and in many cases it is these modulators rather than the viscera that look as if they deliver the anticipated rewards.\n\nQualia and the hard problem:  Towards the end of this book Damasio does ask the crucial question, as to why qualia or subjective perception feels like anything at all. The answer however is less than satisfactory. Neurons which are not conscious in themselves are supposed to interact with bodily inputs that are also non-conscious in themselves and these two are somehow blended together into a conscious whole. This is a 0+0=1 equation, in which two non-conscious elements combine into a conscious one. This scheme needs some physical basis or process to justify it, and this is missing.\n\n\nTags: , , , Posted by\n\nLeave a Reply", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.779577910900116}
+{"content": "Dr. Reckeweg R 43 Asthma Drops - 22 ML\n\nDr.Reckeweg R 43 Asthma Drops- 22 ML\n490.00 (PKR)\n\nDr. Reckeweg R 43 Herbamine\n\nAsthma Drops \n\nIndications: Bronchial asthma and spastic bronchitis. Constitutional treatment of bronchial asthma. \n\nMode of action of main Ingredients\n\nWhen treating asthma it is the constitutional amelioration of the fermenting systems that is of paramount importance and not the treatment of the actual fits by means of products the sole effect of which is to intercept or paralyse histamin. This constitutional amelioration is achieved by R43. The indications are the outcome of the following symptomatology:\n\nArsenicum album: Intense restlessness, anxiety.\n\nBelladonna: Anti-asthmatic in case of loud coughing coupled with perspiration.\n\nBryonia: Irritation in dry cough, difficult expectoration,Exertions to inhale fresh air; stifling.\n\nHypophysis: Stimulant in hypophysis which is often the case.\n\nKalium phosphoricum: In exhaustion for strengthening. Nutrive remedy for the nerves.\n\nNatrium chloratum: Convulsic dry cough, irritation of the mucous membranes. Constitutional with hyperthyreotic types.\n\nNatrium sulfuricum: Constitutional remedy in case of hydrogenoid constitution, worse in damp weather (fog).\n\nVeratrum album: Cold sweat and asthmatic fits.\n\nYerba santa: Asthmatic bronchitis, with cough and expectoration.\n\n\nDosage: As prolonged cure 2-3 times daily 10-15 drops in some water before meals.In periods free of fits the same dose needs only be taken once or twice daily.As soon as fits manifest, frequent doses are in order, first every 1/2 hour, then every 1/4 hour or every 5-10 minutes 10-15 drops, preferably in a little warm water to increase the effect. \n\nRemarks: Complementary preparations which are welcome adjunctions.R14 after strong emotions.R3 when the heart feels oppressed.R2 pains and palpitations.R48 acute and chronic cases. Status Asthmaticus.R45 hoarseness and catarrh of the larynx.R6 when feverish bronchitis is a concomitant.\n\n\nCustomers who bought this item also bought\n\nCalcarea Carbonica 200 11ml\n\nCalcarea Carbonica 200 11ml\n320.00 (PKR)\n\nDr. Reckeweg Uranium Nitricum 8x Tablets\n\nDr. Reckeweg Uranium Nitricum 8x Tablets\n510.00 (PKR)\n\nRhus tox 200 11ml\n\nRhus tox 200 11ml\n320.00 (PKR)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7868717312812805}
+{"content": "Freezing Root Veg Crock-Pot Mixtures\n\n\nA while back, I picked up a ton of root vegetables and chopped them up.  I mixed them together and froze them in crock-pot sized increments.  Pretty straight forward set up.  Then I just add seasoning when I cook it.  I’ve done cranberry juice, rice vinegar, cream of mushroom soup, along with various herbs and seasonings.  Cranberry juice is amazing with sweet potatoes.  We’ve also added a ghost pepper once.  It make everything surprisingly spicy even though we didn���t eat the actual pepper.\n\nJust put the veggies in the crock-pot, pour in your liquid of choice, add seasonings and then add water until everything is covered.  Put it on low for 8 or so hours.  You can also add in a bag of dried beans, just don’t use kidney beans, they require more prep.  This is a really laid back ‘recipe’, you just kind of throw stuff together.\n\nLet me know what types of things you add for flavoring.\n\n\nFrozen Sheets of Pasta Sauce\n\nWe’ve had lots of tomatoes (the ones that survived the carnage) and they all come at the same time.  They’re pretty much done for the season, but we’re just finishing up processing everything.  So in addition to canning some for later use, I made a ton of pasta sauce to freeze.  I would’ve canned it but I couldn’t resist using my own recipe, not a tested, canning-approved recipe.\n\nI used a similar recipe to the black king pasta sauce but with a mix of all the different types of tomatoes.  Mainly black kings, early girls, and beefsteak.  I also threw in a few banana peppers.\n\nThen I poured 2 cups each into freezer bags and froze them flat.  Freezing them flat makes them take up less room in the freezer and I figured about 2 cups will be a good amount for a meal for my little family.\n\nI figure when we actually eat these sauces, we can toss in any vegetables we have on hand.  Eggplant, carrots, mushrooms (fine, not actually a vegetable), squash, beans, corn (yea, a grain), and whatever else we have.  I’d even give something like boiled spinach a try mixed with the pasta and sauce.  We could also throw in leftover meat of practically any kind.  Pasta sauce as a leftover catch-all.\n\nFreezing Figs\n\nWe’ve just started getting what looks like it will be a huge harvest of figs.  We plan on freezing some for later use.  We can use them in smoothies or just eat them frozen.  In order for us not to have a giant clump of figs frozen together we laid the pieces of fig out on a baking sheet and froze them that way.\n\n\nOnce they were frozen we put them into a freezer bag for storage.  You can use this technique for freezing any produce.  We’re also planning to make fig jam and dehydrating some figs.  Maybe we can use them to make granola poppers.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7931594252586365}
+{"content": "Categories: world\n\nSo What's Going With That 'Hurricane of Dark Matter?'\n\nThe Sun inside a stellar stream. Graphic: C. O'Hare / NASA It's the perfect science fiction device: a hurricane of…\n\nThe Sun inside a stellar stream. Graphic: C. O’Hare / NASA\n\nIt’s the perfect science fiction device: a hurricane of dark matter. Recent, real-life research heeft aangetoond dat onze Sun is momenteel ingewikkeld in een zogenaamde stellar stream. Some publications have seized on this ominous-sounding idea, reporting that Earth is about to be walloped by a dark matter storm-but in fact, if it exists, we’re already in the storm.\n\nStellar streams are populations of related stars that could have once been pieces of a dwarf galaxy or globular cluster, but have now leg shredded apart by gravitational forces and pass through parts of our galaxy. Since astronomers are pretty sure that stuff called dark matter serves as the gravitational scaffolding for dwarf galaxies, then presumably a stellar stream should also contain some percentage of dark matter. Maybe a dark matter experiment could detect dark matter particles from the recently discovered stream running through our cosmic neighborhood.\n\n“Ciaran O’Hare, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Theoretical Physics at the University of Zaragoza, told Gizmodo,” It’s supposed to be a stream that we’re inside or right now. “\n\nThe most successful models to describe the universe are based on experiments showing that the cosmos is made up of 4 percent regular matter, perhaps 70 percent ” dark energy “that is driving the universe apart, and the rest, around 25 percent,” dark matter. “Scientists have reason to believe that dark matter consists of particles, the same way that everything we can see is made of particles, and that it’s the scaffolding for the universe’s large-scale structure.\n\nScientists are in the midst of hunting for a dark matter particle. But this dark matter has only ever been observed based on its gravitational effects. Men under tiden, undersøkelser som European Space Agency’s Gaia telescope og Sloan Digital Sky Survey har skapat enorme kart over himlen, komplett med positioner, velocity og andre datapunkter for vores region i Milky Way Galaxy. The data revealed “substantial structures,” such as this stream and accompanying dark matter hurricane, called S1, hitting the Solar System head-on.\n\nPerhaps this dark matter hurricane could be detectable by today’s existing dark matter detection experiments, and would have a distinguishable signal from the Milky Way’s background dark matter. It would move much faster-a “hurricane,” compared to the background dark matter “wind,” according to the paper released last week in Physical Review D. The researchers then analyzed whether they would be able to spot the stream with upcoming dark muffler detectors.\n\nIf dark matter comprised of a “weakly interacting massive particle” or WIMP, a particle with a mass similar to the other particles but that interacts weakly, imagine a light breeze interacting with a skyscraper), then The hurricane would only be detectable if the particles had a specific mass range, according to the paper. Experiments like the XENON NT detector in Italy would not be able to pick out the direction of a potential dark matter particle, explained Laura Baudis, physics professor at the University of Zurich who was not involved in the new paper . Doing so would take a much larger detector, given the types of WIMPs that have already been ruled out.\n\nAnd if dark matter is instead comprised of much lighter particles called axions, the hurricane’s effects might be more noticeable, according to the paper’s calculations.\n\n“I think it’s quite an interesting idea,” Sownak Bose, postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Gizmodo. “Alle disse eksperimenter som prøver at opdage mørk materiel har mulighed for at få deres signaler boostet af denne ekstra flux.”\n\nBose påpegede, at mængden af ​​mørk materiel i strømmen kan variere baseret på den specifikke dwarf galaxy, der skabte strømmen -Or, of the dark matter is something more exotic than the theoretical WIMPs and axions. Men han var spent om det utrolige antallet af Gaia data kunne gøre for studier af disse streams.\n\nSo, if there is a dark matter hurricane, we’re literally inside of it right now. Men vi er sikre (fra det mørke materie, i det mindste). This so-called storm is most exciting for its scientific prospects. Said O’Hare: “We know so little about dark matter that any kind of better knowledge about its structure adds up to help us understand it.”\n\n\nPublished by", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.990323007106781}
+{"content": "Keep Yourself Safe from Everyday Threats\n\nbusinessman-about-to-step-on-banana-skinBy the time you read this you have been in the Line of Fire multiple times today.\n\nFrom a waitress spilling hot coffee on you to simply crossing the street, the term Line of Fire encompasses much more than the path of a bullet.\n\nIn the Security Industry we all need to be thinking of what “bullets” are on our worksites, and how to avoid their path. Often this is accomplished through a Job Safety Analysis. A JSA is a risk assessment tool used to identify and control potential hazards. For those of us spending a majority of time in an office, being observant of your surroundings is equally as important.\n\nIn the two incidents listed below we can all imagine ourselves, a co-worker, or one of your employees faced with these scenarios.\n\nIn one event a large pipe fitting dislodges and drops onto the hand of a worker trying to position it. The worker placed his hand under the device, placing it between the device and another pipe. Gravity is a driving factor in the Line of Fire path. Objects do not generally fall up or to the sides unless there is an action pushing them in that direction, which should be considered.\n\nIn the second example a retention device on a tense cable loosens and unexpectedly launches the clamp at an employee, injuring him. The impact was so forceful it pushed his face into another pipe leading to multiple facial injuries. Had the employees read the foreman’s Job Safety Analysis plan, they would have known that workers were not to be in that location, but they began work before reviewing his JSA plan.\n\nIt is better to lose a minute in life than lose life in a minute, so always remember to slow down and take the proper time to be alert and aware of your surroundings.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5164086818695068}
+{"content": "What are Scarsdale Residents’ Priorities?\n\nAfter over a year into his administration, Mayor Hochvert met with the Board of Trustees on Wednesday, May 16, at 6pm to discuss Scarsdale’s long-term list of priorities. Seeing as this gathering was not recorded and not transcribed, only those that could physically attend the meeting, the eight Board of Trustees members, Mayor Hochvert, and two Scarsdale residents, know of such priorities. Although the Mayor and Board mentioned the “Priority List” would soon become available on the Scarsdale Village website, I’m disturbed that this long-awaited, very important meeting was not recorded, broadcast, or even transcribed. There are facilities to record and broadcast. There are people available to take minutes. Why were measures not taken to properly log the event? Why are conversations pertaining to our town’s long-term agenda, agendas that directly impact our pocketbooks, our daily lives, and our families, are not easily accessible to us. Further, last Wednesday’s meeting was a prime opportunity for Mayor Hochvert’s administration to engage with the public. Unfortunately, it was held at an incredibly inconvenient time for, basically, anybody and everybody, so a mere 2 people were in attendance. 6pm on a Wednesday? People are still commuting home from work or cooking dinner for their families at that hour. Poor planning yields a non-existent crowd, making it nearly impossible for residents to be heard and remain up-to-speed on the current goings on around town. A cynic might say that pre-meditated measures are being taken by Mayor Hochvert and his administration to discourage public participation in our political matters…hmmm…I wonder…Read More", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9544715285301208}
+{"content": "\n\nNew sport: Handball is a young sport in this country. It is catching on fast as more-and-more people try the sport for the first time and learn the how to play the game together.\n\nFitness and skills: Handball is fast-paced so great for fitness. It also helps improve skills such as throwing and jumping.\n\nSocial: Being a team sport means handball is social and a good way of meeting new friends.\n\nNo hassle: Handball is traditionally played on a 40mx20m court. However, a great thing about handball is, like a football kickabout, you only need space and a ball to play with your friends.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6412431001663208}
+{"content": "What Emotions Affect Different Organs in the Human Body?\n\n\nEmotions are how the body responds to feelings. The International Shen Therapy Association describes emotion as a metaphysical experience paralleled by biological responses and psychological processes. Traditional Chinese medicine views seven emotions including joy, anger, anxiety, grief, pensiveness, fear and fright that each affects the health of an organ according to Shen-Nong. Greek medicine, the root of traditional western medicine, also views that emotions affect the health of the organs according to David Osborn.\n\nEmotions and Organ Pairs\n\nTraditional Chinese medicine, which has been practiced for more than five thousand years, has a central principle that classifies five major organ systems that are each associated with particular emotions, according to the Traditional Chinese Medicine World Foundation. The five major organ systems involve pairs of organs and an associated emotion. The liver and gallbladder are associated with anger, the heart and small intestine are associated with joy, the spleen and stomach are associated with over-thinking or pensiveness, the lungs and large intestine are associated with grief, and the kidney and bladder are associated with fear. Chinese psychology, which is an integral part of traditional Chinese medicine, focuses on the relationship between emotions and organs and their effect on health.\n\n\nJoy is an emotion of deep contentment and is connected to the heart, according to traditional Chinese medicine. When a person becomes overexcited with joy, she can experience agitation, insomnia, fever and heart palpitations.\n\n\nAnger is an emotion that is associated with resentment, frustration, irritability and rage. Chinese medicine asserts that this choleric emotion is stored in the liver and gallbladder, which produce and store bile, respectively. This anger can affect many biological processes that sap energy and cause headaches, dizziness and high blood pressure.\n\n\nAnxiety is an emotion of excessive worry that can affect the lungs and large intestine, according to TCMWorld.org. Anxiety can cause a person to be unable to use energy and suffer from shortness of breath and ulcerative colitis, an inflammation of the large intestine.\n\n\nGrief is an emotion that can cause a person to cry, create disharmony in the lungs and block energy from circulating throughout the body. Grief can sap the will to live, injure the lungs and cause respiratory diseases.\n\n\nPensiveness is an emotion of excessive thinking and melancholy. Pensiveness affects the spleen and can cause fatigue, lethargy and inability to concentrate. According to GreekMedicine.net, it can also constrict the digestive system and affect the stomach with gas, distension and bloating.\n\n\nFear is an emotion that can cause disharmony in the kidneys and cause involuntary urination. Extreme fear can cause a person to spontaneously lose control of his kidneys and bladder, according to GreekMedicine.net.\n\n\nFright is an emotion of shock and panic due to something sudden and unexpected. Fright affects the heart in the short run and when it becomes chronic can affect the kidneys, says Shen-Nong.com.\n\nLoad comments\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9982163310050964}
+{"content": "Try to stay cool and hydrated during this heat wave.\n\nThe Porcupine Health Unit is reminding you to drink lots of water and stay out of the sun while this heat warning in affecting the region.\n\nPublic Health Inspector Sandra Lapajne says you should be drinking lots of cool water, limiting your physical activities outdoors and wearing light and loose clothing to avoid heat stoke.\n\nLapajne says there are some signs of heat stoke you can watch out for.\n\nShe says if you or anyone around you has some of these symptoms, you should try to cool them off by getting them out of the sun and pouring water on them immediately. Lapajne says you should also call for medical assistance.\n\n(Written By: Mackenzie Read)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5029407739639282}
+{"content": "Writing the Apocalypse: Everybody Needs a Good Plague\n\nI am currently two thirds of the way through writing book one of my latest novel, This Broken Earth: The U.S. of After.  I would say that one of the most challenging things was giving a global pandemic a realistic feel without sounding too much like Stephen King's famous novel The Stand.  The super flu in that novel is astounding and well researched, but ultimately a symbolic device used by King to add depth to the narrative.  Below  I will record my research about the topic of a pandemic, which is closer to reality than most of us want to believe.\n\n1.  Pandemic Imminent? - In 2009, the World Health Organization put forth the theory that we are due for another pandemic like the Spanish influenza that wiped out 30-150 million people worldwide in 1918.  You may be skeptical about this now, since it is 2012 and no pandemic has hit us yet, but some argue that we are still due for a world-wide deadly plague that will wipe out a percentage of the world population as large as the 1918 bug.\n\n2.  A Case In India - Apparently since 2003, a rather virulent airborne TB virus has been worming its way across the planet.  In Mumbai, several cases have been documented, and one of these patients came to a clinic, was given x-rays, and then wandered back out into the streets again.  This strain of TB is reported to be \"totally drug resistant\" according to the CDC and the WHO.\n\n3.  Designer Viruses - In the former Soviet Union, biological warfare was always an option for dealing with the enemy.  There are records and accusations that the Soviets, in 1979, either used a form of anthrax on its citizens or allowed a virus to escape from a secret facility not far from Sverdlovsk where the outbreak took place.  It is assumed that some of these viruses still exist on an island in the Black Sea, not to mention the facilities where the United States stores theirs.  What if there were a war big enough to cause one of these facilities to be compromised?  What if one of these viruses escaped its hermetically sealed container?\n\n4.  The Volos Virus - The virus in my novel is named \"Volos\" because that is the name of the Slavic god of death.  The backstory is not really important to the main narrative but is interesting nonetheless.  Imagine a hold-over bio-weapons facility from the cold war.  The staff face downsizing and increasing numbers of workers over the years are hired not for their expertise, but because they can be taught how to maintain the facility.  The administrators are eventually replaced by incompetent workers who operate the facility in a lazy and haphazard manner.  One day a worker is fooling around with his girlfriend in the bowels of the facility and accidentally breaks something.  All of our nightmares are realized.  The virus at first goes unnoticed, there is a coverup, and because the administrators do not want to lose their easy job, they pass the buck.  Volos acts like the common cold for the first three weeks of symptoms, but that is when the subject is most contagious.  A few of the people in a nearby city are infected, and those people hop on planes taking them across the globe.  The worst cases appear in and around airports.  Before anyone has an idea of what is going on, the entire globe is in danger.  Subjects carry the virus for four weeks before succumbing to the more deadly symptoms which look like e-bola but the gestation and infection period is much longer.\n\n5.  Backstory - Of course, all of this takes place at least a year before the narrative of my novel begins.  I am taking a page from Tolkien's playbook, writing out an appendix for my own use.  I know every detail of what the virus does to the planet, to the economy, and how it not only is one of the catalysts for world war three, but also brings it to an end.  It is important when writing a novel of a global scope to not give the reader every detail.  The reader only needs to be shown what happens to the characters in the novel, not necessarily the entire landscape.  The device of a global pandemic is only a color with which the canvas of the backdrop is painted.  It is also used periodically to frighten the reader when remnants of this virus crop up throughout the character's journey.  It also adds a sense of mystery to the story as well in that readers will wonder about vacant towns and masses of parked earth-moving equipment with giant mounds of dirt nearby.  Keep the reader guessing, and they will continue to read to find the answers.  It makes for good suspense.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6970152854919434}
+{"content": "Visit Heda Port in Shizuoka to sample exotic deep-sea fish\n\nThe fish on the left and right are rosy seabass, while the fish in the centre is a blackbelly rosefish. A Japanese grenadier with a sharp nose is seen on top.\nThe fish on the left and right are rosy seabass, while the fish in the centre is a blackbelly rosefish. A Japanese grenadier with a sharp nose is seen on top.PHOTO: THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN/THE JAPAN NEWS\n\nHeda Port is about an hour by car from the central part of Numazu, Shizuoka prefecture\n\nTHE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK - NUMAZU (Shizuoka) - Almost no place on Earth remains unexplored; the empty spaces on the map have been filled in. But what if we examine the sea?\n\nI recently went to Heda Port, about an hour by car from the central part of Numazu, Shizuoka prefecture. When I saw the strange creatures that had been landed in the port, I smiled inwardly, thinking: “There is an unknown world.”\n\nThey have eyes that are too big, sharp noses and underbites that flash sharp teeth. They looked strange, but somewhat lovable too. These were fish from the deep sea.\n\nSuruga Bay is the deepest bay in Japan, with a depth of up to 2,500m. The deep sea spreads under an area that is about 20 minutes by ship from the port.\n\n“This is Japanese grenadier, called geho in the region and commonly known as tojin. You can enjoy it raw. And these are Japanese codling and twinkle-eyed fish (chlorophthalmus borealis).” said Mr Toshiyuki Nakajma, the 64-year-old owner of the restaurant Marukichi in front of the port.\n\nHeda Port is a landing port for Takaashigani spider crab, which live 200 to 600m deep in the ocean. Many deep-sea fish are also caught in trawling nets. Mr Nakajima, who took over his wife’s parents’ restaurant, was interested in those fish, most of which were cast aside by fishermen. He learnt about the fish through picture books, cooked them and ate them.\n\n“I found they were delicious,” Mr Nakajima recalled. They can be eaten raw, and it’s also good to simmer or deep-fry them. Hoping to inform many people of their good flavour, he added deep-sea fish dishes to the menu about 10 years ago.\n\n\n“They look grotesque, but it’s so they can survive in harsh conditions,” said Mr Naoki Tanaka, 47, a member of the comic duo Cocorico. They have big eyes to detect small amounts of light, and fierce mouths so they can catch scarce prey effectively.\n\nMr Tanaka likes living things so much that he took on the post of honorary director of the Suruga Bay Deep Sea Creatures Museum in the Heda district. “There are many unknown things about them, and that’s why deep-sea fish are interesting,” he said.\n\nRyo Fukase, a 29-year-old chef who worked at a restaurant in Tokyo to learn cooking and other skills, is also attracted to deep-sea fish. He opened the restaurant Yoshoku (Western food) Kitchen Fukacche last summer, and offers French dishes incorporating deep-sea fish by advance reservation. The menu includes braised rosy seabass, Japanese lobster risotto and bouillabaisse.\n\nVarious landscapes\n\nDeep-sea fish have also been a boon to the central area of Numazu.\n\n“I wanted to create a one-of-a-kind facility that local people can be proud of,” said Mr Shinichiro Sato, 41, a senior official of the more than 100-year-old company Samasa Suisan Co. The result of his passion is the Numazu Deepblue Aquarium, which opened in 2011 at Numazu Port.\n\nMr Sato’s grandfather developed a purchase channel from the Kyushu region and made Numazu the nation’s largest production place for dried aji horse mackerel. However, the industry began shrinking at the beginning of the Heisei era, which started in 1989. Tourists were stopping in the city only for lunch.\n\nIn this situation, Mr Sato focused on deep-sea fish. In addition to mendako octopuses caught in Suruga Bay, the aquarium exhibits more than 60 kinds of deep-sea creatures from around the world. It also exhibits frozen and taxidermied coelacanths, which are called “living fossils” because their form has remained unchanged for 350 million years.\n\nAreas around the aquarium were developed as the Minato 83 Banchi restaurant district, which is home to restaurants offering deep-sea fish dishes such as kaisendon samasa. The aquarium attracts 400,000 visitors a year, and the number of tourists visiting the port and surrounding areas has increased by 700,000 to over 1.7 million in the six years since the opening of the aquarium.\n\nPeople can also enjoy stunning views in Numazu. The largest height difference between the summit of Mount Fuji and the bottom of Suruga Bay is over 6,000m. You can enjoy cruising in the bay and driving along the sea to the Heda district. You will see various types of scenery, such as mikan fields in Nishiura and Cape Osezaki jutting out into the sea, along with Mount Fuji over Suruga Bay.\n\nFrom Cape Deai Misaki, I saw Heda Port below, a quiet, natural spot embraced by the curved Cape Mihama. The evening view was breathtaking.\n\n\nIt takes about 50 minutes by shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Mishima Station, and about six minutes from there by the Tokaido Line to Numazu. To the Heda district, it takes about 90 minutes by route bus or share-ride taxi service (reservation required).\n\nFor more information, call the Numazu municipal government’s tourism strategy division on (055) 934-4747.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9733260869979858}
+{"content": "5 How Deaf People Identify Themselves\n\nEnglish Notes\nBSL Video\n\nHow Deaf People Identify Themselves\n\nThere are 8.5 million people in Britain with a known hearing impairment. Of these, about 70,000 consider themselves members of the Deaf community. How is this decided?\n\nTo the general public, a hearing aid is one obvious way to identify a person with a hearing loss. However, many people with hearing aids do not consider themselves to be members of the Deaf community; nor do all members of the Deaf community wear a hearing aid. This distinction is reflected in our use of lower case ‘d’ and uppercase ‘D’ when spelling d/Deaf. We use the lower case 'd' when referring to the fact that a person is unable to hear; we use the upper case 'D' when referring to a person who identifies him/herself as using sign language and being  a member of the Deaf community.  The actual level of a person’s hearing can be less important than the points listed below.  .\n\nHere are some of the ways in which members of the Deaf community identify each other:\n\n1. by a person's fluency in BSL and daily use of the language\n\n2. through a person's participation in Deaf community functions (i.e. sports, social and cultural events)\n\n3. by having a majority of friends who are also community members\n\n4. by shared or similar educational and/or life experiences\n\n5. by shared political interests and awareness of issues affecting the Deaf community.\n\nSome members (both deaf and hearing) are born into the community through having Deaf parents. Many people become part of the community as school children or school-leavers, or maybe they move into the community as young adults. Some people join even later, when they have learned to recognise the value of the Deaf community in their own lives.\n\n\n\nGet the Flash Player to see this player.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9746419191360474}
+{"content": "Wong ND; Thakral G; Franklin SS; L'Italien GJ; Jacobs MJ; Whyte JL; Lapuerta P.\nPreventing heart disease by controlling hypertension: impact of hypertensive subtype, stage, age, and sex.\nAm Heart J. 2003 May;145(5):888-95\nBACKGROUND: Hypertension is related to significant morbidity and mortality rates from coronary heart disease (CHD). This report examines the relative and absolute impact on risk for CHD by controlling hypertension to high normal and optimal levels. METHODS: Among all subjects with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III who were 30 to 74 years of age and without prior CHD, the 10-year risk of CHD was calculated. With the use of sampling weights, the number of CHD events by age group, hypertension subtype (isolated diastolic hypertension [IDH], systolic-diastolic hypertension [SDH], and isolated systolic hypertension [ISH]), and stage of hypertension was estimated. Risk was recalculated and the number of events reestimated, assuming a reduction in blood pressure (BP) to high normal and optimal levels. The number and proportion (population-attributable risk, or PAR%) of events that could be prevented were determined from the differences in events and risk between uncontrolled and controlled BP levels. Derived from this was the number of persons needing treatment per CHD event prevented. RESULTS: Control of hypertension to high normal levels could prevent approximately one fifth (PAR = 19%) of CHD events in men and one third (PAR = 31%) of CHD events in women, whereas control to optimal levels may prevent 37% and 56% of CHD events, respectively (P <.01 for differences between men and women). Of CHD events that could be prevented, the greatest proportion occurred from controlling BP among older persons, men, and those with stage 1 hypertension (vs stages 2 and 3) or with ISH (vs IDH or SDH). The number of persons with hypertension needing treatment to prevent one CHD event ranged from 20.5 in men to 38.6 in women when controlled to high normal BP and 10.7 in men and 21.3 in women when controlled to optimal BP. CONCLUSIONS: The greatest impact from control of hypertension occurs in older persons, men, and those with ISH, whereas the greatest PAR% occurred in women. Optimal control of BP could prevent more than one third of CHD events in men and more than half of events in women. Greater efforts to control hypertension in these populations may have a substantial impact in preventing CHD events.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7967301607131958}
+{"content": "Our vision of fitness\n\nFitness is decisive for performance in any environment. For microbes in food fermentation it is the primary prerequisite to conduct a fermentation namely in non-pasterized raw materials. As our interest is focussed on cereal and meat systems, which cannot be pasteurized, we have a strong interest in fitness related traits of starter cultures. For these stress response and metabolic deviation connected with it can be positively exploited.\n\nFitness determinants can also enhance virulence of bacteria and may even be considered as true virulence determinants. Some of these traits including adhesive properties of surface antigens, tolerance to toxic derivatives of oxygen, or seemingly nutritive proteases are shared between strains considered to be probiotic or pathogen. Thus, fitness may be decisive for microbe - host negotiations.\n\nWhile identification of \"fitness\" determinants is one of our prime interests, projects involving investigations on fitness are listed under \"Interaction\" or the \"Specials\" subsection on \"exopolysaccharides\". This is because bacterial and bacteria - yeast interaction strongly depend on environmental parameters including redox potential, biofilm formation or pH. Please go there for respective information on ongoing projects, which deliver practically understandable driving forces for fitness research.\n\nFit for more is our understanding of the performance of scientists in our group.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9982390403747559}
+{"content": "<<  A Tuition Plaza Article  >>\n\n\nWhat's wrong with our schools ?\n\n         Well that's assuming there is something wrong with our education system in the first place. And the proof of that, some people claim, is the abundance of tuition centres in Malaysia. Surely the flourishing tuition industry points to a lack in our public schools, which has compelled students to seek extra lessons outside. It is a justifiable argument since basic economic principles dictate that supply grows in accordance to demand. Therefore, the tuition industry stands testimony to a definite demand for extra-school coaching, and a healthy demand at that.\n\nNot learning in school\n         Many proponents of tuition will wholeheartedly agree that there are crucial deficiencies in the current schooling system. Chiefly, they feel that the schools are no longer functioning effectively as platforms of learning for our youths. Schools have grown into corporate-like institutions. Teachers become more and more similar to office employees, pushing papers and laden with administrative work. Each has a syllabus to cover within a limited time, divided up so that the lessons fit tightly into the academic year. There is little, if any, allowances for factors that may disrupt the planned schedule. Factors such as whether the students have absorbed the lessons, the pace of weaker students, the need for lesson reinforcement or repetition etc. There is no time for all these because most teachers could barely complete the required syllabus.\n\nTuition as a solution\n          This sentiment is echoed by many students who have opted to go for tuition. There is a certain amount of desperation among students to catch up with their studies because the schools are only concerned on how to finish the syllabus. This is done regardless of whether the students are able to cope with the standard curriculum. The teachers rush to cover more and more topics within a limited time frame. Therefore, the students at the end of the lessons seem to have acquired only a shallow understanding of the subjects. Thus those students who do not want to be left behind would take tuition lessons. They do this to have a better understanding of the school work and at times just to complete their school work.\n\nTime and class size\n         This is not to say that the school teachers do not explain the given homework. The teachers usually go through only the common mistakes or if a student requests that a problem be worked out. Normally, homework is just handed up, corrected and handed back. Teachers just couldn't afford to spend too much time on these aspects because they have to complete the lessons for that day. It is not caused entirely by the limited time factor only but also by the class size. Priority has to be given to problems that affect a majority of the class. Individual attention to students is just not possible.\n\nTeachers have priorities\n          Some claim that the teachers are also not motivated enough to cater to the real needs of the students. Their priority remains completion of the syllabus, lest they are blamed for failing at their jobs. The teachers' dilemma can be empathized. Most have chosen the teaching profession with altruistic intentions at heart. But when confronted with limited resources at their hands, they also become silent participants of the system. What are the causes of this undesirable state in our schools, to the point that some regard tuition as a truer place for learning? It is at least consoling to know that the present condition is an inevitable outgrowth of any schooling system.\n\n         In the past, learning was a synonym for schooling. Those who were schooling were expected to learn and grow up to be useful members of society. Today, people are given equal chances to go to school and receive the same learning opportunities. This is particularly true for developed countries. Our government has introduced free education to all and has tried to accommodate as many pupils as possible. Therefore, all most all children in Malaysia are enrolled in primary or secondary schools no matter how poor or rich they are.\n\nFor the sake of efficiency\n          However, as more and more pupils are enrolled in schools, the role of schooling seems to have changed. When enrollment is small, the school is concerned more with individual pupils. When enrollment increases, the school becomes a mass-oriented institution. To make up for efficiency, pupils are perceived according to their academic performance and thus they lose their individuality. Then a specific curriculum is applied, to further increase teaching efficiency and uniformity. Rules, regulations and schedules become indispensable as well. In other words, the administration of the school is concerned with introducing an efficient system. It is in the interest of the country that a smoothly operated schooling system is in place to churn out 'educated' members of society en masse. Unfortunately, in the process, learning has become no longer synonymous with schooling.\n\n         Hence, it is understandable why many students actually equate learning to tuition, rather than to schooling. It remains to be seen, how capable the tuition industry is, in preserving this reputation of theirs. As we begin to see the same maladies afflicting them. When enrollment in tuition centres increases, some of them even have larger class sizes than their school counterpart. Will their success be their very own undoing?\n\n\nList of Articles - Tuition Plaza Home\nTuisyen - Malaysia Tuition Guide\nCopyright © Eduweb Technology. All rights reserved\n\nGlossary of Terms :", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5601516366004944}
+{"content": "Vidyarthi Academy\n\nHome NCERT Solutions Chapter Notes Test Papers Contact Us\n\n\n\n\nQ2.1: (i) Calculate the number of electrons which will together weigh one gram.\n\n(ii) Calculate the mass and charge of one mole of electrons.\n\nQ2.2: (i) Calculate the total number of electrons present in one mole of methane.\n\n(ii) Find (a) the total number and (b) the total mass of neutrons in 7 mg of 14C. (Assume that mass of a neutron = 1.675 × 10–27 kg).\n\n(iii) Find (a) the total number and (b) the total mass of protons in 34 mg of NH3 at STP. Will the answer change if the temperature and pressure are changed?\n\nQ2.3: How many neutrons and protons are there in the following nuclei?\n\nC613, O816, Mg1224, Fe2656,Sr3888 \n\nQ2.4: Write the complete symbol for the atom with the given atomic number (Z) and Atomic mass (A)\n\n(i) Z = 17, A = 35 (ii) Z = 92, A = 233 (iii) Z = 4, A = 9\n\nQ2.5: Yellow light emitted from a sodium lamp has a wavelength (λ) of 580 nm. Calculate the frequency (ν) and wave number (ν̅) of the yellow light.\n\nQ2.6: Find energy of each of the photons which\n\n(i) correspond to light of frequency 3 × 1015 Hz.\n\n(ii) have wavelength of 0.50 Å.\n\nQ2.7: Calculate the wavelength, frequency and wave number of a light wave whose period is 2.0 × 10–10 s.\n\nQ2.8: What is the number of photons of light with a wavelength of 4000 pm that provide 1 J of energy?\n\nQ2.9: A photon of wavelength 4 × 10–7 m strikes on metal surface, the work function of the metal being 2.13 eV. Calculate\n\n(i) the energy of the photon (eV),\n\n(ii) the kinetic energy of the emission, and\n\n(iii) the velocity of the photoelectron\n\n(1 eV= 1.6020 × 10–19 J).\n\nQ2.10: Electromagnetic radiation of wavelength 242 nm is just sufficient to ionise the sodium atom. Calculate the ionisation energy of sodium in kJ mol–1.\n\nQ2.11: A 25 watt bulb emits monochromatic yellow light of wavelength of 0.57μm. Calculate the rate of emission of quanta per second.\n\nQ2.12: Electrons are emitted with zero velocity from a metal surface when it is exposed to radiation of wavelength 6800 Å. Calculate threshold frequency (νo) and work function (Wo) of the metal.\n\nQ2.13: What is the wavelength of light emitted when the electron in a hydrogen atom undergoes transition from an energy level with n = 4 to an energy level with n = 2?\n\nQ2.14: How much energy is required to ionise a H atom if the electron occupies n = 5 orbit? Compare your answer with the ionization enthalpy of H atom (energy required to remove the electron from n =1 orbit).\n\nQ2.15: What is the maximum number of emission lines when the excited electron of an H atom in n = 6 drops to the ground state?\n\nQ2.16: (i) The energy associated with the first orbit in the hydrogen atom is –2.18×10–18 J atom–1. What is the energy associated with the fifth orbit?\n\n(ii) Calculate the radius of Bohr’s fifth orbit for hydrogen atom.\n\nQ2.17: Calculate the wave number for the longest wavelength transition in the Balmer series of atomic hydrogen.\n\n\nThe ground state electron energy is –2.18 × 10–11 ergs.\n\nQ2.19: The electron energy in hydrogen atom is given by En= 2.18 × 10-18n2J. Calculate the energy required to remove an electron completely from the n = 2 orbit. What is the longest wavelength of light in cm that can be used to cause this transition?\n\nQ2.20: Calculate the wavelength of an electron moving with a velocity of 2.05×107 ms–1.\n\nQ2.21: The mass of an electron is 9.1 × 10–31 kg. If its K.ae. is 3.0 × 10–25 J, calculate its wavelength.\n\nQ2.22: Which of the following are isoelectronic species i.e., those having the same number of electrons?\n\nNa+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, S2–, Ar\n\nQ2.23: (i) Write the electronic configurations of the following ions:\n\n(a) H (b) Na+ (c) O2– (d) F\n\n\n(iii) Which atoms are indicated by the following configurations?\n\n(a) [He] 2s1 (b) [Ne] 3s2 3p3 (c) [Ar] 4s2 3d1.\n\nQ2.24: What is the lowest value of n that allows g orbitals to exist?\n\n\nQ2.26: An atom of an element contains 29 electrons and 35 neutrons. Deduce\n\n(i) the number of protons and\n\n(ii) the electronic configuration of the element.\n\nQ2.27: Give the number of electrons in the species, H2+, H2 and O2+.\n\nQ2.28: (i) An atomic orbital has n = 3. What are the possible values of l and ml ?\n\n(ii) List the quantum numbers (ml and l) of electrons for 3d orbital.\n\n(iii) Which of the following orbitals are possible?\n\n1p, 2s, 2p and 3f\n\nQ2.29: Using s, p, d notations, describe the orbital with the following quantum numbers.\n\n(a) n = 1, l = 0; (b) n = 3; l =1 (c) n = 4; l = 2; (d) n = 4; l =3.\n\nQ2.30: Explain, giving reasons, which of the following sets of quantum numbers are not possible.\n\n(a) n = 0, l = 0, ml = 0, ms = + ½\n\n(b) n = 1, l = 0, ml = 0, ms = – ½\n\n(c) n = 1, l = 1, ml = 0, ms = + ½\n\n(d) n = 2, l = 1, ml = 0, ms = – ½\n\n(e) n = 3, l = 3, ml = –3, ms = + ½\n\n(f) n = 3, l = 1, ml = 0, ms = + ½\n\nQ2.31: How many electrons in an atom may have the following quantum numbers?\n\n(a) n = 4, ms = – ½ (b) n = 3, l = 0\n\n\nQ2.33: What transition in the hydrogen spectrum would have the same wavelength as the Balmer transition n = 4 to n = 2 of He+ spectrum?\n\nQ2.34: Calculate the energy required for the process\n\nHe+ (g) → He2+ (g) + e\n\nThe ionization energy for the H atom in the ground state is 2.18 ×10–18 J atom–1\n\nQ2.35: If the diameter of a carbon atom is 0.15 nm, calculate the number of carbon atoms which can be placed side by side in a straight line across length of scale of length 20 cm long.\n\nQ2.36: 2 × 108 atoms of carbon are arranged side by side. Calculate the radius of carbon atom if the length of this arrangement is 2.4 cm.\n\nQ2.37: The diameter of zinc atom is 2.6 Å.Calculate (a) radius of zinc atom in pm and (b) number of atoms present in a length of 1.6 cm if the zinc atoms are arranged side by side lengthwise.\n\nQ2.38: A certain particle carries 2.5 × 10–16 C of static electric charge. Calculate the number of electrons present in it.\n\nQ2.39: In Milikan’s experiment, static electric charge on the oil drops has been obtained by shining X-rays. If the static electric charge on the oil drop is –1.282 × 10–18C, calculate the number of electrons present on it.\n\nQ2.40: In Rutherford’s experiment, generally the thin foil of heavy atoms, like gold, platinum etc. have been used to be bombarded by the α-particles. If the thin foil of light atoms like Aluminium etc. is used, what difference would be observed from the above results?\n\nQ2.41: Symbols Br3579 and 79Br can be written, whereas symbols Br7935  and 35Br are not acceptable. Answer briefly.\n\nQ2.42: An element with mass number 81 contains 31.7% more neutrons as compared to protons. Assign the atomic symbol.\n\nQ2.43: An ion with mass number 37 possesses one unit of negative charge. If the ion contains 11.1% more neutrons than the electrons, find the symbol of the ion.\n\nQ2.44: An ion with mass number 56 contains 3 units of positive charge and 30.4% more neutrons than electrons. Assign the symbol to this ion.\n\nQ2.45: Arrange the following type of radiations in increasing order of frequency: (a) radiation from microwave oven (b) amber light from traffic signal (c) radiation from FM radio (d) cosmic rays from outer space and (e) X-rays.\n\nQ2.46: Nitrogen laser produces a radiation at a wavelength of 337.1 nm. If the number of photons emitted is 5.6 × 1024, calculate the power of this laser.\n\nQ2.47: Neon gas is generally used in the sign boards. If it emits strongly at 616 nm, calculate (a) the frequency of emission, (b) distance traveled by this radiation in 30 s (c) energy of quantum and (d) number of quanta present if it produces 2 J of energy.\n\nQ2.48: In astronomical observations, signals observed from the distant stars are generally weak. If the photon detector receives a total of 3.15 × 10–18 J from the radiations of 600 nm, calculate the number of photons received by the detector.\n\nQ2.49: Lifetimes of the molecules in the excited states are often measured by using pulsed radiation source of duration nearly in the nano second range. If the radiation source has the duration of 2 ns and the number of photons emitted during the pulse source is 2.5 × 1015, calculate the energy of the source.\n\nQ2.50: The longest wavelength doublet absorption transition is observed at 589 and 589.6 nm. Calculate the frequency of each transition and energy difference between two excited states.\n\nQ2.51: The work function for caesium atom is 1.9 eV. Calculate (a) the threshold wavelength and (b) the threshold frequency of the radiation. If the caesium element is irradiated with a wavelength 500 nm, calculate the kinetic energy and the velocity of the ejected photoelectron.\n\nQ2.52: Following results are observed when sodium metal is irradiated with different wavelengths. Calculate (a) threshold wavelength and, (b) Planck’s constant.\n\nλ (nm)\n\n\n\n\nv × 10–5 (cm s–1)\n\n\n\n\nQ2.53: The ejection of the photoelectron from the silver metal in the photoelectric effect experiment can be stopped by applying the voltage of 0.35 V when the radiation 256.7 nm is used. Calculate the work function for silver metal.\n\nQ2.54: If the photon of the wavelength 150 pm strikes an atom and one of its inner bound electrons is ejected out with a velocity of 1.5 × 107 m s–1, calculate the energy with which it is bound to the nucleus.\n\nQ2.55: Emission transitions in the Paschen series end at orbit n = 3 and start from orbit n and can be represeted as v = 3.29 × 1015 (Hz) [1/32 – 1/n2]. Calculate the value of n if the transition is observed at 1285 nm. Find the region of the spectrum.\n\nQ2.56: Calculate the wavelength for the emission transition if it starts from the orbit having radius 1.3225 nm and ends at 211.6 pm. Name the series to which this transition belongs and the region of the spectrum.\n\nQ2.57: Dual behaviour of matter proposed by de Broglie led to the discovery of electron microscope often used for the highly magnified images of biological molecules and other type of material. If the velocity of the electron in this microscope is 1.6 × 106 ms–1, calculate de Broglie wavelength associated with this electron.\n\nQ2.58: Similar to electron diffraction, neutron diffraction microscope is also used for the determination of the structure of molecules. If the wavelength used here is 800 pm, calculate the characteristic velocity associated with the neutron.\n\nQ2.59: If the velocity of the electron in Bohr’s first orbit is 2.19 × 106 ms–1, calculate the de Broglie wavelength associated with it.\n\nQ2.60: The velocity associated with a proton moving in a potential difference of 1000 V is 4.37 × 105 ms–1. If the hockey ball of mass 0.1 kg is moving with this velocity, calcualte the wavelength associated with this velocity.\n\nQ2.61: If the position of the electron is measured within an accuracy of + 0.002 nm, calculate the uncertainty in the momentum of the electron. Suppose the momentum of the electron is h4π × 0.05 nm, is there any problem in defining this value.\n\nQ2.62: The quantum numbers of six electrons are given below. Arrange them in order of increasing energies. If any of these combination(s) has/have the same energy lists:\n\n1. n = 4, l = 2, ml = –2 , ms = –½\n\n2. n = 3, l = 2, ml = 1 , ms = +½\n\n3. n = 4, l = 1, ml = 0 , ms = +½\n\n4. n = 3, l = 2, ml = –2 , ms = –½\n\n5. n = 3, l = 1, ml = –1 , ms = +½\n\n\nQ2.63: The bromine atom possesses 35 electrons. It contains 6 electrons in 2p orbital, 6 electrons in 3p orbital and 5 electrons in 4p orbital. Which of these electrons experiences the lowest effective nuclear charge?\n\nQ2.64: Among the following pairs of orbitals which orbital will experience the larger effective nuclear charge? (i) 2s and 3s, (ii) 4d and 4f, (iii) 3d and 3p.\n\nQ2.65: The unpaired electrons in Al and Si are present in 3p orbital. Which electrons will experience more effective nuclear charge from the nucleus?\n\nQ2.66: Indicate the number of unpaired electrons in:\n\n(a) P, (b) Si, (c) Cr, (d) Fe and (e) Kr.\n\n2.67: (a) How many sub-shells are associated with n = 4? (b) How many electrons will be present in the sub-shells having ms value of –½ for n = 4?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9985402822494507}
+{"content": "Henry Hallam\n\nHenry Hallam\n\nAsk a question about 'Henry Hallam'\nStart a new discussion about 'Henry Hallam'\nAnswer questions from other users\nFull Discussion Forum\nHenry Hallam was an English\n\n\n\n\nThe only son of John Hallam, canon of Windsor\nWindsor, Berkshire\n\n and dean of Bristol\n\n, Henry Hallam was educated at Eton\nEton College\n\n and Christ Church, Oxford, graduating in 1799. Called to the bar, he practised for some years on the Oxford circuit; but his tastes were literary, and when, on his father's death in 1812, he inherited a small estate in Lincolnshire\n\n, he gave himself up wholly to academic study. He had become connected with the brilliant band of authors and politicians who led the Whig\nBritish Whig Party\nThe Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...\n\n party, a connection to which he owed his appointment to the well-paid and easy post of commissioner of stamps; but took no part in politics himself. He was, however, an active supporter of many popular movements—particularly of that which ended in the abolition of the slave trade; and he was sincerely attached to the political principles of the Whigs, both in their popular and in their aristocratic aspects.\n\nHallam's earliest literary work was undertaken in connection with the great organ of the Whig party, the Edinburgh Review\nEdinburgh Review\nThe Edinburgh Review, founded in 1802, was one of the most influential British magazines of the 19th century. It ceased publication in 1929. The magazine took its Latin motto judex damnatur ubi nocens absolvitur from Publilius Syrus.In 1984, the Scottish cultural magazine New Edinburgh Review,...\n\n, where his review of Scott\nWalter Scott\n\n's Dryden attracted attention. His first great work, The View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, was produced in 1818, and was followed nine years later by the Constitutional History of England. In 1838–1839 appeared the Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the 15th, 16th and 17th Centuries. These are the three works on which Hallam's fame rests. They took a place in English literature\nEnglish literature\nEnglish literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....\n\n which was not seriously challenged until the 20th century. A volume of supplemental notes to his Middle Ages was published in 1843; these facts and dates represent nearly all of Hallam's career. The strongest personal interest in his life was the affliction which befell him in the loss of his children, one after another. His eldest son, Arthur Henry Hallam\nArthur Hallam\nArthur Henry Hallam was an English poet, best known as the subject of a major work, In Memoriam A.H.H., by his best friend and fellow poet, Alfred Tennyson...\n\n--the \"A.H.H.\" of Tennyson's In Memoriam, and by the testimony of his contemporaries a man of the most brilliant promise—died in 1833 at the age of twenty-two. Seventeen years later, his second son, Henry Fitzmaurice Hallam, was cut off like his brother at the very threshold of what might have been a great career. The premature death and high talents of these young men, and the association of one of them with the most popular poem of the age, have made Hallam's family afflictions better known than any other incidents of his life. He survived wife (Julia Maria daughter of Sir Charles Elton\nCharles Abraham Elton\nSir Charles Abraham Elton, 6th Baronet was an English officer in the British Army and an author.-Life:Charles was eldest of three sons of the Rev. Sir Abraham Elton, 5th of the Elton Baronets, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Durbin, alderman of Bristol, and was born at Bristol on 31 October 1778...\n\n), daughter and sons by many years.\n\nHallam was a fellow of the Royal Society\nRoyal Society\nThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the \"Royal Society of London\"...\n\n, and a trustee of the British Museum\nBritish Museum\n\n, and enjoyed many other appropriate distinctions. In 1830 he received the gold medal for history, founded by George IV\nGeorge IV of the United Kingdom\nGeorge IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...\n\n\n\nIn 1834 Hallam published The Remains in Prose and Verse of Arthur Henry Hallam, with a Sketch of his Life. In 1852 a selection of Literary Essays and Characters from the Literature of Europe was published.\n\nThe Middle Ages is described by Hallam himself as a series of historical dissertations, a comprehensive survey of the chief circumstances that can interest a philosophical inquirer during the period from the 5th to the 15th century. The work consists of nine long chapters, each of which is a complete treatise in itself. The history of France\n\n, of Italy\n\n, of Spain\n\n, of Germany\n\n, and of the Greek\n\n and Saracen\n\nic empires, sketched in rapid and general terms, is the subject of five separate chapters. Others deal with the great institutional features of medieval society—the development of the feudal system, of the ecclesiastical system, and of the free political system of England. The last chapter sketches the general state of society, the growth of commerce, manners, and literature in the Middle Ages. The book may be regarded as a general view of early modern history, preparatory to the more detailed treatment of special lines of inquiry carried out in his subsequent works, although Hallam's original intention was to continue the work on the scale on which it had been begun.\n\nThe Constitutional History of England takes up the subject at the point at which it had been dropped in the View of the Middle Ages, viz, the accession of Henry VII\nHenry VII of England\n\n, and carries it down to the accession of George III. Hallam stopped here for a characteristic reason, which it is impossible not to respect and to regret. He was unwilling to excite the prejudices of modern politics which seemed to him to run back through the whole period of the reign of George III; nevertheless, he was accused of bias. The Quarterly Review for 1828 contains an article on the Constitutional History, written by Southey\nRobert Southey\n\n, full of reproach. The work, he says. is the \"production of a decided partisan,\" who \"rakes in the ashes of long-forgotten and a thousand times buried slanders, for the means of heaping obloquy on all who supported the established institutions of the country.\" Hallam's view of constitutional history was that it should contain only so much of the political and general history of the time as bears directly on specific changes in the organization of the state, including judicial as well as ecclesiastical institutions. It was his cool treatment of such sanctified names as Charles I\nCharles I of England\n\n, Cranmer\nThomas Cranmer\n\n and Laud\nWilliam Laud\n\n that provoked the indignation of Southey in the Quarterly, who forgot that the same impartial measure was extended to statesmen on the other side.\n\nIf Hallam ever deviated from perfect fairness, it was in the tacit assumption that the 19th century theory of the constitution was the right theory in previous centuries, and that those who departed from it on one side or the other were in the wrong. He did unconsciously antedate the constitution, and it is clear from incidental allusions in his last work that he did not favour the democratic changes he thought to be impending. Hallam, like Macaulay, ultimately referred all political questions to the standard of Whig constitutionalism\nWhig history\nWhig history is the approach to historiography which presents the past as an inevitable progression towards ever greater liberty and enlightenment, culminating in modern forms of liberal democracy and constitutional monarchy. In general, Whig historians stress the rise of constitutional government,...\n\n. But he was scrupulously conscientious in collecting and weighing his materials. In this he was helped by his legal training, and it was this which made the Constitutional History one of the standard text-books of English politics.\n\nLiterary historian\n\nLike the Constitutional History, the Introduction to the Literature of Europe continues a branch of inquiry which had been opened in the View of the Middle Ages. In the first chapter of the Literature, which is to a great extent supplementary to the last chapter of the Middle Ages, Hallam sketches the state of literature in Europe down to the end of the 14th century: the extinction of ancient learning which followed the fall of the Roman empire\nRoman Empire\n\n and the rise of Christianity\n\n; the preservation of the Latin language\n\n in the services of the church; and the slow revival of letters, which began to show itself soon after the 7th century--\"the nadir of the human mind\"--had been passed. For the first century and a half of his special period he is mainly occupied with a review of classical learning, and he adopts the plan of taking short decennial periods and noticing the most remarkable works which they produced. The rapid growth of literature in the 16th century compels him to resort to a classification of subjects: in the period 1520–1550 we have separate chapters on ancient literature, theology, speculative philosophy and jurisprudence, the literature of taste, and scientific and miscellaneous literature; and the subdivisions of subjects is carried further of course in the later periods. Thus poetry, the drama and polite literature form the subjects of separate chapters. One inconvenient result of this arrangement is that the same author is scattered over many chapters, according as his works fall within this category or that period of time. Names like Shakespeare\nWilliam Shakespeare\n\n, Grotius\nHugo Grotius\n\n, Francis Bacon\nFrancis Bacon\n\n and Thomas Hobbes\nThomas Hobbes\n\n appear in half a dozen different places. The individuality of great authors is thus dissipated except when it has been preserved by an occasional sacrifice of the arrangement—and this defect, if it is to be esteemed a defect, is increased by the very sparing references to personal history and character with which Hallam was obliged to content himself.\n\nHis plan excluded biographical history, nor is the work, he tells us, to be regarded as one of reference. It is rigidly an account of the books which would make a complete library of the period, arranged according to the date of their publication and the nature of their subjects.\n\nThe history of institutions like universities and academies, and that of great popular movements like the Reformation, are of course noticed in their immediate connection with literary results; but Hallam had little taste for the spacious generalization which such subjects suggest. The great qualities displayed in this work have been universally acknowledged—conscientiousness, accuracy, judgment and enormous reading. Not the least striking testimony to Hallam's powers is his mastery over so many diverse forms of intellectual activity. In science\n\n and theology\n\n, mathematics\n\n and poetry\n\n, metaphysics\n\n and law\n\n, he is a competent and always a fair if not a profound critic. The bent of his own mind is manifest in his treatment of pure literature and of political speculation—which seems to be inspired with stronger personal interest and a higher sense of power than other parts of his work display. Not less worthy of notice in a literary history is the good sense by which both his learning and his tastes have been held in control. Probably no writer ever possessed a juster view of the relative importance of men and things. The labour devoted to an investigation is with Hallam no excuse for dwelling on the result, unless that is in itself important. He turns away contemptuously from the mere curiosities of literature, and is never tempted to make a display of trivial erudition. Nor do we find that his interest in special studies leads him to assign them a disproportionate place in his general view of the literature of a period.\n\nA philosophical historian\n\nHallam is generally described as a \"philosophical historian.\" The description is justified not so much by any philosophical quality in his method as by the nature of his subject and his own temper. Hallam is a philosopher to this extent that both in political and in literary history he fixed his attention on results rather than on persons. His conception of history embraced the whole movement of society. Beside that conception the issue of battles and the fate of kings fall into comparative insignificance. \"We can trace the pedigree of princes,\" he reflects, \"fill up the catalogue of towns besieged and provinces desolated, describe even the whole pageantry of coronations and festivals, but we cannot recover the genuine history of mankind.\" But, on the other hand, there is no trace in Hallam of anything like a philosophy of history or society.\n\nWise and generally melancholy reflections on human nature and political society are not infrequent in his writings, and they arise naturally and incidentally out of the subject he is discussing. His object is the attainment of truth in matters of fact. Sweeping theories of the movement of society, and broad characterizations of particular periods of history seem to have no attraction for him. The view of mankind on which such generalizations are usually based, taking little account of individual character, was distasteful to him. Thus he objects to the use of statistics because they favour the tendency to regard all men as mentally and morally equal. At the same time Hallam by no means assumes the tone of the mere scholar. He is solicitous to show that his point of view is that of the cultivated gentleman and not of the specialist. Thus he tells us that Montaigne\nMichel de Montaigne\nLord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne , February 28, 1533 – September 13, 1592, was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularising the essay as a literary genre and is popularly thought of as the father of Modern Skepticism...\n\n is the first French author whom an English gentleman is ashamed not to have read. In fact, allusions to the necessary studies of a gentleman meet us constantly, reminding us of the unlikely erudition of the schoolboy in Macaulay. Hallam's prejudices, so far as he had any, belong to the same character. His criticism assumes a tone of moral censure when he has to deal with certain extremes of human thought--scepticism in philosophy, atheism\n\n in religion and democracy\nDemocracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...\n\nin politics.\n\nExternal Links", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8916324973106384}
+{"content": "DARPA Vader and the Evil Intel Empire Inside Uncovering the DoD Sith Lords that Control Your Laptop\n\nThanks to MLordand God for reading the article. For those of you on the go, take these audio readings and catch up on your drive to work. Part 1 and Part 2.\n\nOne of the best ways to describe the U.S. Department of Defense and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is to use the Star Wars moniker “Evil Empire” to describe its international, secretive agenda to take over the world and turn all of us into neo-feudal slaves who have no choice but to give allegiance to the controllers of the universe—Darth Vader and the Sith Lords.\n\nDARPA “Vader” has controlled technological innovation since 1958 when it was created by the military-driven Evil Empire, a/k/a Department of Defense. Every emerging technology from the Evil Empire leads humanity into the science fiction fate of machines controlling humans, much like Darth Vader became a weapon that was half man and half machine. There is much wisdom and truth that lies behind the first Star Wars movie, and its story was given to humanity as a warning of how the Evil Empire and its Death Star planned to destroy the entire planet.\n\nFolks, this is no longer science fiction. This battle for Earth is going on now and we, like the Rebel Alliance, must join forces to destroy the imperial forces of Darth Vader.\n\nAside: Do you know the real backstory of Start Wars? If not, see Star Wars: The Secret Weapon and Why George Lucas has Kept It Hidden.\n\nFolks at the DoD should read science fiction so that they can see how their actions—individually and collectively–are leading humanity into the evil destiny commonly found in sci-fi: robot wars, cyborgs turning against humans, computer take-over of the world, endless weapons, and, you guessed it – the Death Star. DARPA is the father of war-fighting, both conventional and digital. And as we all know, Darth Vader took his orders from the Evil Emperor. DARPA Vader is controlled by a man they called “Yoda,” but is in reality the Evil Emperor who leads a group called the Highlands Forum (Evil Empire Imperial Command) that directs all military research and development.\n\nWho is this Evil Emperor who looks as innocent as Yoda? His name is Andrew Marshal and for decades this single man has driven the Highland Forum (Evil Empire) into creating weapons of every sort that have been released into the corporate world and now control your laptop, phone, computer, and every other device with a microprocessor inside – especially the “Evil Intel Empire Inside.”\n\nIntel Inside is found in our private digital devices and is, in fact, collecting “Intelligence” for the Department of Defense, CIA, and NSA who are all members of the Evil Empire. Yes, the one they call “Yoda” is actually the Evil Emperor in disguise who controls DARPA Vader and the evil Sith lords of war. He does not have lightning bolts shooting out of his fingers – unless of course he uses some of his DARPA laser technology.\n\n\nAndrew Marshall\n\nFormer Head of the Highlands Forum one of his many DARPA inventions to do so. \n\n\n\n\n\nThe Evil Emperor, as we call Andrew Marshall, was the director of the United States Department of Defense’s Office of Net Assessment from 1973 to 2015. He was appointed by Richard Nixon and remained in office during all successive administrations that followed until his retirement on January 2, 2015. Marshall created the Highlands Forum as a secret think tank for warfare innovation. All meetings are invitation only and not open to the public and no written records are kept. Marshall created this type of secret platform so that no one could prove the Highland Forum exists or has the greatest power over tech warfare on the planet.\n\nDARPA and the Highlands Forum have essentially taken over the world and few people have noticed. From creating the devices that control all nuclear weapons to incubating the technologies that created the Internet (originally ARPANET), Intel microprocessors, Cisco routers, Google search engines, Facebook, the Internet of Things, I-phones, Microsoft software, MacAfee security software, and all conventional and digital warfare devices, among many others. The Highlands Forum has been the headquarters of the Evil Imperial Empire for five decades. The Evil Emperor Andrew Marshall has the blood of millions on his hands and yet he is considered an America hero instead of a warlord criminal.\n\nThere’s an Intel Inside\n\n\nTo be truthful, this ad should read: Intel “LOOKS” Inside\n\nEver wonder why Intel used to run those warm fuzzy ads letting us know that there was an “Intel Inside,” as if we had a choice of what microprocessor was inside our computer? They had a monopoly on microprocessors for decades and certainly end-use consumers didn’t have a choice of what components were inside their computers. Why would Intel spend money on ads to make us feel good about Intel?  For goodness sake, it is just a microchip in your computer.\n\nKey Point: What if we were to tell you that inside every Intel microprocessors is a smaller processor that lets the Sith Lords at Intel – who work for the Department of Defense –control every aspect of your computer remotely no matter what encryption codes you use.\n\nYes, the Evil Emperor (Andrew Marshall) was able to retire two years ago at age 94 knowing that the Empire’s control has reached into every digital device in the world through the good work of his best student, DARPA Vader. The only thing left for the Evil Emperor to do is activate the Death Star, which as you will see in the DARPA “future plans” below, has already been built. The question is: “Will Luke Skywalker show up and defeat the Evil Empire?”\n\nIntel-Based PC’s Permanently Hackable\n\n\nTo be truthful, this ad should read: Intel “Controllers” of Tomorrow\n\nAll Intel microprocessor chips have a built-in backdoor that allows complete remote access to a PC, your PC, through a second physical processor embedded within the main processor which has its own operating system embedded on the chip. It is being advertised as something that will allow IT professionals the ability to remotely troubleshoot a PC. Intel’s latest x86 chips contain a secret backdoor with an embedded subsystem called the Management Engine (ME) that functions as a separate CPU and cannot be disabled, and the code is proprietary.\n\nThe Management Engine is a dedicated microcontroller on all recent Intel platforms. The first versions were included in the network card and later moved into the chipset where it shares flash with the BIOS but is completely independent of the CPU. It allows IT professionals to view the contents of hard drives, check the memory, hunt for problems on a machine remotely, or take over the system entirely.\n\nEven an encrypted hard drive can be monitored and controlled by the “processor within the processor” that already has your encryption key. There is more than just the NSA monitoring your calls, emails, and transmissions — there is Intel (DARPA) “Inside” your computer. Intel collects “intelligence” but it also provides a back door to control, or turn off your computer at will just like it has been demonstrated that Cisco routers have a back door open to the NSA. A backdoor is a method of bypassing normal authentication in a cryptosystem used for securing unauthorized remote access to a computer.\n\nKey Point: The word Intel was used for this DARPA product because it is collecting personal INTELLIGENCE from YOU that can be used against YOU anytime the Evil Empire decides it is to be done.\n\nWhy does DARPA, through Intel, have open access to all of your files and your computer? DARPA funded all of the original development of microprocessors. Intel is a front for DARPA and the military efforts to create, control, and weaponize all digital platforms through cyber-warfare. DARPA, ARPARNET, DARPANET, the Internet, and microprocessors are military creations that were allowed to come into the public market place only after the Department of Defense, and the CIA through In-Q-Tel, installed backdoors to control these powerful digital platforms of warfighting.\n\nSome European-made chips used in defense contracts have a built in “kill switch” that can be accessed remotely to disable a microprocessor remotely on weapons that use the chip. The Pentagon has realized that it no longer controls who manufactures the chips that go into its increasingly complex systems. Nearly every military system today contains some commercial hardware. No entity, no matter how well funded, can afford to manufacture its own safe version of every chip in every piece of equipment.\n\nVetting a chip is nearly impossible and requires a scanning electron microscope to examine the many layers of a chip and the millions or billions of transistors.  Semiconductor chips are made in Singapore, Taiwan, China, Europe, but Intel designs and manufactures all their own chips in their own fabrication plants in America. \n\nDefense Science Board, which advises the DoD on science and technology developments, warned in a report that the continuing shift to overseas chip fabrication would expose the Pentagon’s most mission-critical integrated circuits to sabotage. The board was especially alarmed that no existing tests could detect such compromised chips, which led to the formation of the DARPA Trust in IC program. Each year, secure government computer networks weather thousands of attacks over the Internet from places where most of our electronics are being manufactured. Any malefactor who can penetrate government security can find out what chips are being ordered by the DoD and then target them for sabotage.\n\nIn other words, DARPA Vader and the Evil Emperor are in open warfare with the rebellion that has hi-jacked the microprocessing industry in the infiltrated the Imperial Command. \n\nCalling on Rebels of the Alliance to Take Out the Real Death Star\n\nFellow Patriots and Rebels of the Alliance, we have taken the plans of the Galactic Empire’s Death Star and trust that you will know what to do with this Intel. Rebels have been preparing themselves since 1977, when the first Star Wars was released, to face the real Evil Empire, Darth Vadar, the Sith Lords, and the Imperial Command. This is no longer a science fiction fantasy or sequel to the next Star Wars. This is the real war and all Rebels of the Alliance are called to save the galaxy, or at least western civilization.\n\nA Citizens Intelligence Report was previously given in a recent article. If you have not armed yourself with this intelligence, please do so now.  The CIA and Deep State Exposed. We need all Alliance Rebels to analyze the Death Star’s plans and identify vulnerable exhaust ports that connect to the main reactor.\n\nIn this additional intelligence report to fellow Alliance Rebels, we will show you the following to assist in your planning efforts in analyzing the Death Star:\n\nMicroprocessors, the Internet, Cisco Systems, Google, and Intel were all DARPA projects that were allowed to flourish with new technologies created and funded by the military for cyberwarfare.\n\nMost high-tech moguls are simply “front men” selling DARPA and In-Q-Tel (the CIA’s DARPA) products that control our lives and spy on us continually.\n\nIntel processors have a backdoor built into the microprocessor that allows complete monitoring and control over your personal computer.\n\nCisco Systems is a front for DARPA routers that were created with a backdoor for the NSA to spy on “virtually every exchange on the Internet.”\n\nCisco System’s “Internet of Things” plants net-bots in all devices under its control that can be activated remotely and used for cyber-attacks.\n\nThe Internet was first a DARPA project called the ARPANET which was created as an information technology weapon for cyberwarfare.\n\nDARPA, the Inventors of Warfare Technology\n\nIn 1999, the CIA created its own venture capital investment firm, In-Q-Tel, to fund promising start-ups that might create technologies useful for intelligence agencies just as the Department of Defense had years earlier created DARPA. Both groups are controlled by the Highlands Forum (Group). The Highlands Forum provides the ideas and funding for the scientific weaponization of new inventions through cooperation between the military and corporate contractors. Its biggest successes recently have been led by the CIA’s In-Q-Tel in the development of high-tech network-based cyber-warfare.\n\nIn-Q-Tel contracts almost all of its work through SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation) which changed its name to Leidos in 2013. Leidos is among the top 100 largest defense contractors in the U. S. and has a symbiotic relationship with the NSA and U. S. intelligence agencies.\n\nThe Highland Forum, DARPA, and In-Q-Tel are a secret multi-national high-tech think tanks for inventing and control innovations that can made turned into weapons. Military and information technology experts gather at the Forum meetings to consider the impacts of the globalization of IT on U. S. interests and warfare. The Forum developed the idea of “network-centric warfare” which is now a top concern of the military and the corporations that serve it. \n\nDARPANET = Internet\n\nIn 1973, DARPA initiated a research program to investigate techniques and technologies for interlinking packet networks of various kinds. The objective was to develop communication protocols which would allow networked computers to communicate transparently across multiple, linked packet networks for the use of defense contractors. This was called the “Internetting Project” and the system of networks which emerged from the research was known as ARPANET, later to be called Internet.\n\nIn 1986, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) initiated the development of the NSFNET which, today, provides a major backbone communication service for the Internet. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Department of Energy contributed additional backbone facilities in the form of the NSINET and ESNET respectively. Thus, the electronic connectivity of the Internet was advanced with government funding.\n\n\nCisco Systems – DARPA Routers \n\nOnce the ARPANET proved to be effective, routers were created that could handle exchanges between systems and computers. In 1998, virtually every Internet exchange went through a Cisco router. In 2010, a researcher at IBM publicly revealed a flaw in a Cisco operating system that allows a hacker to use a backdoor that was supposed to be available only to law enforcement agencies. The intruder could hi-jack the Cisco device and use it to spy on all communications passing through it, including the content of e-mails, leaving products vulnerable to attack, particularly ubiquitous software programs like those produced by Microsoft. These backdoors put millions of customers and their private information at risk and jeopardizes the security of electrical power facilities, public utilities, and transportation systems.\n\nCisco has been accused of remotely monitoring users’ connections through Cisco’s Linksys E2700, E3500, E4500 devices. They have been reported to be remotely updated to a firmware version that forces users to register for a cloud service which allows Cisco to monitor their network use and ultimately shut down the cloud service account and render the affected router unusable.\n\nCisco has also been accused of building into their routers a firewall backdoor developed by NSA. The Tailored Access Operations (TAO) unit and other NSA employees intercept servers, routers and other network gear being shipped to organizations targeted for surveillance and install covert firmware onto them before they’re delivered. These Trojan horse systems were described by an NSA manager as being “some of the most productive operations in TAO because they pre-position access points into hard target networks around the world.”\n\nThe Creation of DARPA’s Google \n\nThe United States intelligence community funded, nurtured and incubated Google as a military weapon to control information. Seed-funded by the NSA (DARPA) and CIA (In-Q-Tel & SAIC), Google was one among a group of private sector start-ups co-opted by U.S. intelligence to control information warfare.\n\nIn 1994 (the same year the Highlands Forum  –DARPA’s boss — was founded under the stewardship of the Office of the Secretary of Defense the ONA, and DARPA)  two PhD students at Stanford University, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, made their breakthrough on the first automated web crawling and page ranking application. That application remains the core component of what eventually became Google’s search service. Brin and Page had performed their work with funding from the Digital Library Initiative (DLI), a multi-agency program of the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA and DARPA.\n\nThe NSA needed to control and monitor digital information, particularly the data flowing over the Internet. With its millions of customers around the world, Google is effectively a directory of people using the Internet. It stores users e-mail addresses and knows where they’re physically located, when they log in, and what they search for on the web. Google has a profile on every user. The government can “command” that any company must turn over that information, and it does so as part of the NSA’s Prism program, which Google had been participating in for years by the time it signed the cooperative agreement with the NSA.\n\nUnder Google’s terms of service, the company advises its users that it may share their personal information with outside organizations, including government agencies, in order to “detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues” and to “protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of Google.”\n\nIntelligence Agencies Control Industry \n\n\n\nThe NSA helps the companies find weaknesses in their products. But it also pays the companies not to fix some of them. Those weak spots give the agency an entry point for spying or attacking foreign governments that install the products in their intelligence agencies, their militaries, and their critical infrastructure. Microsoft, for instance, shares zero day vulnerabilities in its products with the NSA before releasing a public alert or a software patch. McAfee, the Internet security company owned by Intel, provides the NSA, the CIA, and the FBI with network traffic flows, analysis of malware, and information about hacking trends.\n\nCompanies that promise to disclose holes in their products only to the spy agencies are paid for their silence. To an extent, these openings for government surveillance are required by law. Telecommunications companies in particular must build their equipment in such a way that it can be tapped by a law enforcement agency presenting a court order. But when the NSA is gathering intelligence abroad, it is not bound by the same laws. The surveillance it conducts via backdoors and secret flaws in hardware and software would be illegal in most of the countries where it occurs.\n\nAT&T is Controlled by Homeland Security \n\nThe Homeland Security Department conducts meetings with companies through its “cross sector working groups” initiative. These sessions are a chance for representatives from the large group of companies with which the government shares intelligence to meet with one another and hear from U.S. officials. The attendees at these meetings often have security clearances and have undergone background checks and interviews. Between January 2010 and October 2013, the period for which public records are available, the government held at least 168 meetings with companies just in the cross sector working group. There have been hundreds more meetings broken out by specific industry categories, such as energy, telecommunications, and transportation.\n\n\nCenturyLink, which has its headquarters in Monroe, Louisiana, has been a less familiar name in intelligence circles over the years. In 2011, the company acquired Qwest Communications, which is now a part of the NSA’s extended security apparatus.\n\nDARPA’s History \n\nDARPA’s history is littered with death and destruction. DARPA and In-Q-Tel, through the Highlands Forum (Group), have driven research and development for the military that has cost American taxpayers trillions. This same technology is also shared with countries throughout the world through open source sharing. The U. S. military wants our enemies to have the technology so that they can be spied upon with ever more sophisticated technology and attacked with ever-better weapons.\n\nKey Point: If both sides have the same technology and weapons, then the Military-Industrial Complex always needs more money to spend on bigger and better weapons, continually. \n\nAreas of focus and discovery for DARPA over its history include: NASA space projects, information processing, ARPANET (Internet), ballistic missile defense, nuclear test detection, counterinsurgency, computer processing, behavioral sciences, materials sciences, sensors, surveillance, radarinfrared sensing, x-ray/gamma ray detection, global positioning satelites, information processing, tactical technologies, time-sharing systems, wide-area packet switching networks, packet radio networks, packet satellite networks, artificial intelligence, speech recognition, signal processing, robotics, hypermedia systems, virtual reality, personal computing, space technology, tactical armor, anti-armor programs, infrared sensing for space-based surveillance, high-energy laser technology, antisubmarine warfare, advanced cruise missiles, advanced aircraft, defense applications of advanced computing, integrated circuit research, submicrometer electronic technology and electron devices, very large scale integration, charged particle beams, automatic target recognition, space based sensing, propulsion, aerospace planes, hypersonic research, strategic computing, advanced processing, networking technologies, lightweight satellites, interstellar travel, X-planes, computer security, and cyberwarfare, to name a few that have come into the public domain.\n\nThe list above is only the tip of the iceberg for DARPA projects. We do not know of the projects that are still classified, which could potentially be a much greater list. Every project of DARPA and In-Q-Tel have been weaponized before they are shared with the companies who then are the “front” for a DARPA sponsored company. DARPA and In-Q-Tel keep the encryption codes and build in backdoors so that they can always attempt to control the military weapons that have been released into the corporate world for public use.  \n\nBelow is a list of DARPA projects on the drawing board, or at least the ones that we know about.  You might notice that the ideas are completely insane and only perpetuate continuous warfare.\n\nWe think it fair to say that any reasonable person would agree that DARPA Vader is simply evil and focused on killing, warfare, and manipulation science.\n\nJust the list above shows the insanity driving this agency that is not being controlled by any governmental agency outside of the military. There is no limit to research and development for warfare and any idea that advances warfare is funded and put into production before anyone can object. According to DARPA and In-Q-Tel, innovation and technological advances must first be a weapon that can be controlled by its makers – the military.\n\nWhat the Rebel Alliance Can Do to Stop the Evil Empire\n\nInvestigate, audit and then defund DARPA, In-Q-Tel and the Highlands Forum.\n\nEnd the Highlands Forum and investigate all participants for industrial and military espionage.\n\nStop using integrated circuits, chips, and microprocessors from foreign countries.\n\nInvestigate Cisco, Google, Intel, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and other DARPA sponsored and funded technology companies and seize ownership of the companies for the U. S. taxpayers whose tax dollars created these fronts.\n\nSeize the assets of all companies found to use backdoors in their products for any reason.\n\nStop the NSA from using backdoors on routers, microchips, and processors and close those avenues of manipulation and surveillance.\n\nThere may be other strategies and tactics that we haven’t listed, and we welcome your ideas and call to action to your community of Rebels and Patriots. We ask that citizens around the world call on their inner Hans, Luke and Leia. The story of Star Wars is more than a science fiction movie. The characters and plot are deeply embedded memes that actually point to the truth about forces in the world that wish to destroy humanity.\n\nGuided by the spirit of Obi-Wan, we can each find the FORCE within us to destroy the Death Star created by DARPA and the DoD…and, yes, save the world.  \n\nRebel Alliance Unite!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5963966250419617}
+{"content": "*SPECIAL ORDER* Audrey Chandelier Earrings in White Quartz - 18kt Gold - USE CODE SPECIALORDER50 and only pay a 50% deposit of $597.50\n\nAudrey chandelier earrings in faceted white quartz - 18kt yellow gold.  Only a $597.50 deposit.\n\nEarrings are 2\" long x 1\" wide.  Different than the photo, the bottom teardrop is set into 18kt gold.\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9963899850845337}
+{"content": "Streaming live at 10am (PST)\n\nMargin Formatting for Select Column Displaying Correctly?\n\n\nI have a bunch of images that are slightly different sizes, and adjust the margin of the headers to make sure all of the tiles align.\n\nIt looks fine in Webflow, but when I publish the website, the formatting is off.\n\nHere is a read only link:\n\nHere is a screenshot\n\n\nHi @quantive, avoid adjusting each element one at a time and instead make them all the same design.\n\n(1) Making all the images the same size by cropping them in Photoshop\n(2) Making all the elements the same size and add your images as backgrounds\n\nHope this helps! I apologize in advance if I'm way off - if so, please add some images of the final result you are trying to achieve so we can help you faster.\n\n\nThanks for the help!\n\nIt looks the image wasn't updating because I had resized it and saved it under the same name.\n\nOnce I renamed the image, it worked just fine.\n\nclosed #4\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998469352722168}
+{"content": "Streaming live at 10am (PST)\n\nPhonenumber text turns blue in iOS & Safari\n\n\nMy phone numbers are in blue color on both my iPad and iPhone using Safari. They are not links, just regular text and are styled to be white in color which is correctly displayed in OS X and Safari.\n\nYou can see the site at: and scroll down to the footer.\n\nHow do I get rid of this and getting the text to be white on mobile devices? I believe they were links before, but that I removed it be something related to cache?\n\n\nWhile having that link selected give it a class and set it's color to white and no underline. If you eg. have a color: #f9f9f9; and it is shown as orange (inherited) then you can remove the last 9, press enter and type it back and press enter. That way it will have a forced color: #f9f9f9; for that selector :)\n\n\nSafari on iOS does some screwy stuff with numbers that are hard to override and does not respect CSS styling for certain elements in strings. I have had the same issue with dates as well. iOS recognizes elements in strings in HTML and generates the highlighting as a feature to enable the user to add a date or phone number to contacts, reminders and ical. I couldn't find a quick work around in a cursory search, but I feel pretty sure someone has created one. If the text doesn't need to be live, you could always outline the text and convert to an SVG in a graphics app. Just remember that doing so would disable screen readers.\n\nThere should be a browser class (not sure what the proper term for that is) for those elements. If you knew what the class was called you could override the built in class with custom code and style it any way you choose. You will likely need to use !important after the property to force override the built in / browser class thingy.\n\n\nHi @StevenP, also check out this related post: smile\n\n\nI completely forgot that was in the link panel - thanks Dave! Any suggestions on how to handle dates in iOS?\n\n\nHi @vlogic, thanks for the update smile Well, in what way do you want to manipulate the date in iOS? Currently we do not have a date/time picker widget for forms, but it can be made custom.\n\nI would check out a couple of articles on stackoverflow:\n\nI hope that helps smile Cheers, Dave\n\nclosed #7\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5919905304908752}
+{"content": "Employee Engagement – The ties that bind\n\nA lot has been written about employee engagement. There are blogs galore and articles abounding the Internet about this topic. Over the recent years, employee engagement surveys have become critical tools for determining how happy and connected employees feel with the company. Some of these survey rankings are also mechanisms for companies to build their brand amongst their stakeholders.\n\nAs I see it, employee engagement is a formal term for the connection or attachment that an employee has for his company that makes him want to not only continue working for the company, but also visualize himself in the company’s future. Note that the key word here is “want”. Employees do stick on for long periods but that does not mean that they are necessarily engaged or that they are willing to commit themselves to the job or the company. Having worked for 20 years spanning five companies, I can say this for sure: So long as I can see myself as part of the company’s near future up to 3 years, AND feel optimistic about it, I’m an engaged employee.\n\nThe hooks of engagement\n\nSo what makes one feel a sense of attachment towards the company’s present and future? There are actually five “hooks” that attach us to the company. Most of us need more than one hook to keep us attached! employee-engagement\n\nBrand and Image\n\nThis hook is true for well-established large companies or companies that have recently created a buzz with their innovative ideas. Some employees feel a sense of pride when talking to the world outside about their company. It’s the pride of being associated to the brand and the image projected by the company.\n\nJob and Role\n\nIndividuals who have mapped out a career development plan for themselves usually get hooked with the right kind of job description and role. They feel excited about the learning opportunities in store and look forward to gaining some skills.\n\nTeam and Synergy\n\nPeople who love working with other people usually look for a work environment where they can make friends. This is also true about the kind of leadership they experience. A good boss and supportive colleagues are the top two items on their list. Give them both and they stay hooked.\n\nCulture and Values\n\nPeople-oriented employees who seek to grow into leadership positions highly favor companies with a positive employee-friendly culture. It is a well-known fact that companies with a great work culture have great leadership. These employees look for harmony and role models within the company, and like working for people they could look up to, or someone like who they could aspire to become. Companies with a strong work culture and values are also those that promote a culture of recognizing and appreciating committed employees over and above high performers.\n\nOutlook and Growth\n\nGrowth could be in terms of compensation, vertical or lateral promotions, or diverse roles that help build the employee’s repertoire. Ambitious individuals usually scan the horizon for possibilities of growth. Even more important would be the forward-thinking practices that the company follows or new technologies that the company adopts that would provide the employee that continued growth.\n\nEmployee engagement cannot be faked\n\nPerhaps the most underlying hook that truly builds trust and loyalty within their employees is the power of intent. Employees can see through quick-fix policies or stop-gap arrangements. Whether it is building the culture or defining the strategy or instilling values, a company would need to invest a good two to three years to really bring about a change that is deep-rooted and all-pervasive. A closer look at the five hooks reveals that it takes different kinds of leadership at different levels and of different competencies to create those hooks. It cannot be innovation alone or culture alone that can engage employees. Employee engagement is a commitment by the company that is sensed by their employees, who in turn demonstrate their commitment by not only continuing to perform, but also act as ambassadors for the organization.\n\n\nAre you visible?\n\nAs a coach, I get to talk to many aspiring individuals who express a desire to get selected for managerial positions. They are usually people with significant experience in their core function and are eager to grow into a more visible role. A majority of these people have also expressed unhappiness in being passed over by the management for someone (in their opinion) less skilled or less experienced. “It’s as though I’m invisible!”\n\nIt’s a noisy, overcrowded workplace\n\nIt’s become an information bombardment at the workplace over the past decade. Emails, instant messages, online notifications, online meeting have facilitated the growth of global organizations where employees communicate without seeing each other. As a result we have too many desk managers who manage teams from their cubicles rather than walking around and meeting people face to face.\n\nSo as a manager, among 130 emails, which one do I read and respond to? In my periodic face-to-face employee interactions, which employees leave a lasting impression in my mind? How do I know who really did the work and did it the best? And most of all, who to my eye, is the one to watch?\n\nThe attention-grabbers\n\nWe all have seen them. The ones who talk the most. The ones who laugh the loudest. The ones who make sure you know about everything they do. We have seen them in school. Teachers usually love them as they are the “know-it-alls” and the ones that raise their hands or assist the teacher in erasing the blackboard. They know the knack of making the teacher feel special. Take yourself for example. Who would you notice? The students who complete their work quietly or the ones that announce their progress to the teachers?\n\nAs humans we are fallible. No matter how non-judgmental or discerning we try to be, we do get drawn towards those who make us look and feel good.\n\nManagers seek solidarity and support. Some managers like yes-men, some admire those who ask questions, some appreciate those who chase results and make them look good.\n\nSo how does an employee get her manager to sit up and really take a look at her capabilities and her accomplishments?\n\nFive tips for becoming more visible\n\nIt isn’t easy trying to grab attention when you are naturally attention-averse. In my growing years I was taught the virtue of modesty. “Make your work speak for you”, “Do your duty and you will reap the fruits eventually”, “To minimize your achievements, talk about them!” These were some of the words of wisdom drilled into me. It took me many years of lost opportunities, acute disappointment, and hidden resentment to realize the secret are of actually making people take notice of my work.\n\nHere are a few tips based on my experience that have helped me tremendously over the years.\n\nRise to the occasion\n\nRather than thinking of how good you are in your role, think about what is it that your manager needs? Is there a meaty project coming your team’s way with no one to coordinate it? Is there a scarcity of people and more work than the manager can handle? Is there a specific skill requirement that the team needs? Look at how you could position your current skills to meet the need. The idea here is to make a significant impact at the right time. An effort that will be a huge win for the team. Once you have worked out the idea in your mind, approach your manager with your proposal.\n\nStick your neck out\n\nA manager likes people who participate, respond quickly and positively. Be willing to erase the blackboard. You could volunteer to mentor new entrants, help with some administrative reports, or even train your peers on a required skill.\n\nHow many times in a class did you know the answer to a question but were afraid to raise your hand? We refrain from volunteering out of fear. Fear of being ridiculed, fear of criticism, fear of change, or fear of failure. A manager’s role is full of risks. If you want to become a manager, you need to overcome your apprehension and demonstrate to your manager the ability to take risks and learn something new. It’s easier to blame an overenthusiastic colleague for “hogging the limelight” rather than trying something new or daring. Ask yourself – “What is stopping ME from volunteering for that complex assignment?”\n\nExpress! Express!\n\nThe easiest way to get attention is to speak up. Ask questions during team meetings. Come up with suggestions. Appreciate a colleague for his help. Thank your manager for supporting you. Express your views on a solution offered. Initiate and conduct meetings to encourage conversations. Communication skills amount to 80% of a leader’s role. Expressing or articulating is a great way of demonstrating your communication skills to your manager. However note that it is important to communicate assertively and positively if you want to be noticed for the right reasons!\n\nStop trying to be perfect\n\nAs an individual contributor, you are used to being in control of your output. You are so good at your job that you can easily spot defects or deviations. In contrast, leadership is a very subjective role. A manager learns a lot by trial and error. Mostly error. Error in judgment, error in estimation, error in planning, you name it! It is not possible to grow as a leader without making these mistakes. However, these mistakes help a leader learn and grow. Are you willing to make errors AND accept blame?\n\nAsk for it!\n\nIt isn’t a nice feeling being passed over for an opportunity you have been waiting for. Oprah Winfrey has a nice quote for it. “You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” Quite a few of us, especially women, don’t ask for what we really want. We hope someone observes us and appreciates us and gives us what we want. I have been guilty of this as well. Expecting someone to have mind-reading skills is frankly illogical! Your manager may have observed your good work, but does he know of your ambition to become a leader? Approach him and explain to him what you really want. Ask him how to go about it. Let him know how you intend to support him towards the team’s goals.\n\nIt’s a networked world after all\n\nThe global corporate workplace is no longer a simple layer of hierarchies. With dotted line reporting and matrix reporting structures, it is more possible to get connected with various other teams. It is not only important to get noticed within the team, but also across cross-functional groups. This is especially true if you want to grow as a manager. Volunteer for employee committees, social causes, or other group activities. Work-life balance is always a challenge for working parents. However at a time when you really want to get noticed and grow, you may want to stretch your schedule a bit to accommodate these initiatives.\n\nModesty does not mean keeping silent about your accomplishments. You don’t have to brag or exaggerate your capabilities. Good managers can see through the hyperbole. Be honest and objective, yet express your career goals.\n\nFinally, if you do feel that you don’t have the room for huge additional responsibilities at this point in your life, then don’t resent that colleague who got that promotion. Be happy for him. You will get your chance too.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9136648178100586}
+{"content": "Action needed: US House to vote tomorrow on CR to slash research funding\n\nThe U.S. House of Representatives may vote as early as tomorrow on a Continuing Resolution (CR) that includes a swath of cuts across the federal budget including a 5+% cut for NIH. Such a cut would have devastating consequences for not only research generally and the U.S. economy, but also specifically for stem cell research.\n\nIf you care about research, we need you to contact your representative to voice your opposition to the budget cut for NIH and your support of an amendment that would remove the cut.\n\nThere are many ways to contact your representative. One simple way is by going here and it only takes a minute.\n\nStop the Republican Congress’ Sledge to America!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5360034704208374}
+{"content": "What is Biotechnology\n\nWhat is Biotechnology\n\n\nOn the Way to Understand : What is Biotechnology\n\nApplied biology has many fields to be applied at as the name suggests and biotechnology is one of them. Living organisms andbioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other related fields which require bio-products are needed to be used here. These products are also used for the purpose of manufacturing in biotechnology. Genetic engineering and cell and tissue culture technologies are examples of modern use of similar terms. There are various kinds of procedures and history linked to this concept for modification of living organisms according to various purposes of human — it goes way back to animal domestication, plant cultivation, and improving these by breeding programs that have artificial selection and hybridization. In comparison with biotechnology, it is thought in general that bioengineering is a related field that emphasizes more on higher systems approaches to interface with and to utilize living things. But it is not necessarily needed to alter or use biological materials directly.\n\nWhat is Biotechnology : Defination\n\nThe definition of biotechnology given by The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity is:\n\n\nIt can also be defined as this: “Application of scientific and technical advances in life science to develop commercial products” is biotechnology.\n\n\nPure biological sciences like genetics, microbiology, animal cell culture, molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology and cell biology are needed for working with biotechnology. And many times it also depends on knowledge and methods from fields like chemical engineering, bioprocess engineering, information technology, bio robotics etc. which are not within biological sphere. On the other hand, modern biological sciences, which may comprise of even concepts such as molecular ecology are closely related and depend on the methods which were developed using biotechnology; and also the one which is commonly known as the life sciences industry.\n\n\nWhat is Biotechnology : History\n\nThe History of Biotechnology\n\nThe History of Biotechnology\n\nBiomedical Engineering includes much biotechnology which is limited only to medical or health applications. But biotechnology is not limited only to these applications unlike this. The broad definition of “using a biotechnological system to make products” makes agriculture fitted into it in such a way that the plant cultivation may be considered as one of the earliest biotechnological enterprise though normally agriculture is not viewed as biotechnology. There is a theory about agriculture which states that it has become the dominant way of food producing since the Neolithic Revolution. Other mechanical and biological sciences have fine-tuned the processes and methods of agriculture since the beginning of it. Throughout the time of early biotechnology, farmers used this to select the crops which suited the best, to have the highest yields of crops and to produce food which would be enough for a population which was growing fast. As the crops and fields became very large and were difficult to be maintained, other uses of biotechnology were needed to come into action. Some specific organisms and organism by-products were used for fertilization, to restore nitrogen and for controlling of pests. Throughout the agricultural use, farmers have unintentionally altered the genetics of their crops. It was done by growing them in new environments and breeding them with other plants. It is one of the first forms of biotechnology.\n\n\nThe process of brewing beer was developed in the cultures in places like Mesopotamia, Egypt and India. The method of doing this brewing was to use malted grains which contain enzymes to convert the starch of the grains into sugar and then to add specific yeasts to produce beer. The same basic method is used still today. The carbohydrates of the grains were broken down into alcohols like ethanol in the process. Afterwards, the process of lactic acid fermentation was created by other cultures. It made the fermentation and preservation of other forms of food possible. Fermentation was also used during this time to make leavened bread. It is still the first use of biotechnology for converting a food source into another form, though the fermentation process was not fully understood until 1857 when Pasteur’s work was done.\n\nPeople have used selective breeding for thousands of years. It was done to produce improved crops and livestock which were intended to be used as food sources. In the process of selective breeding, samples of more than one kind of organisms which have desirable characteristics are mated to make offspring which would possess the same characteristics of desire. For instance, this very technique was used for the largest and sweetest production of corn.\n\nIn the early twentieth century, scientists acquired a greater knowledge of microbiology. And different ways of manufacturing specific products were also explored. In the year 1917, Chaim Weizmann was the first to use a pure microbiological culture in an industrial process. This process was of manufacturing corn starch using Clostridium acetobutylicum to produce acetone. The United Kingdom desperately needed this acetone to make explosives during World War I.\n\nBiotechnology has its contributions also in the field of antibiotics’ development. Alexander Fleming discovered the mold Penicillium in the year 1928. His work was followed by the antibiotic purification performed by Howard Florey, Ernst Boris Chain and Norman Heatley penicillin. Penicillin became available to be used as medicine for the treatment of bacterial infections of humans in the year 1940.\n\n\nOn 16th June, 1980, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a genetically modified microorganism could be patented; in the case of Diamond v. Chakrabarty. The modern biotechnological field is thought to have begun largely on that very date. Indian-born Ananda Chakrabarty was working for General Electric. He had developed a bacterium derived from the genus Pseudomonas which was capable of breaking down crude oil. He proposed to use it in treating oil spills.\n\nIt was expected that the industry’s revenue would grow by 12.9% in the year 2008. There was another factor which was influencing the success of biotechnology sector. And that was the improved intellectual property rights legislation and its worldwide enforcement. And with these, a stronger growing demand for medical and pharmaceutical products to cope with an ageing and ailing U.S. population was also playing a role.\n\nIt is expected that rising demand for biofuels is good news for the biotechnology sector. The Department of Energy estimated that ethanol usage could reduce U.S. petroleum-derived fuel consumption by up to 30% by the year 2030. The biotechnology sector developed genetically modified seeds which are resistant to pests and drought. This development has allowed the U.S. farming industry to increase rapidly its supply of corns and soybeans which are the main inputs into biofuels. Biotechnology plays a crucial role to ensure that the targets for biofuel production are met by boosting farm productivity.\n\nWhat is Biotechnology : Applications\n\nBiotechnology can be applied in four main industrial areas which are:\n\n  • Health care or medical,\n  • Producing crop and agriculture,\n  • Non-food or industrial uses of crops and other products like biodegradable plastics, vegetable oil, bio-fuels\n  • Environmental uses.\n\nThe directed use of organisms for manufacturing organic products like beer and milk products is one of the applications of biotechnology which can be taken as an example. Using naturally present bacteria by the mining industry in bioleaching can be considered as another example. Biotechnology is also used for recycling, treating waste; clean up the sites which are contaminated by industrial activities which is called bioremediation. And it is also used to produce biological weapons.\n\nThere is a long list of derived terms which can be used to identify several branches of biotechnology; some of them are as follows:\n\n\nIt is an interdisciplinary field. It addresses biological problems using computational techniques. And it makes possible for the rapid organization and analysis of biological data. This field may also be called as computational biology. It can be defined as, “Conceptualizing biology in terms of molecules and then applying informatics techniques to understand and organize the information associated with these molecules, on a large scale.” Bioinformatics plays a key role in many areas like functional genomics, structural genomics and proteomics. It forms a key component in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector.\n\nBlue biotechnology\n\nIt is a term that is used to indicate biotechnology’s marine and aquatic applications, but the use of this is relatively rare.\n\nGreen biotechnology\n\nIt is that biotechnology which is applied to agricultural processes. The selection and domestication of plants via micro propagation would be an example. To design the transgenic plants to grow under certain environments in the presence and/or absence of chemicals is another example. There is this hope that the green biotechnology might produce more environment-friendly solutions than the traditional industrial agriculture does. As an example, the engineering of a plant to express a pesticide can end the need of external application of pesticides. Bt corn would be an example of this. It is considerably debatable that whether or not products of green biotechnology such as these are more environment-friendly at the end.\n\nRed biotechnology\n\nIt is applied to medical processes. Some examples of red biotechnology are the designing of organisms for producing antibiotics and the engineering of genetic cures by genetic manipulation.\n\nWhite biotechnology\n\nIt is also known as industrial biotechnology. It is that biotechnology which is applied to industrial processes. An example of this is the designing of organisms for producing useful chemicals. Another example would be to use enzymes as industrial catalysts to either produce valuable chemicals or to destroy hazardous and/or polluting ones. White biotechnology usually needs smaller amount of resources than the traditional processes that are used to produce industrial goods. The investments and economic outputs of all of these kinds of applied biotechnologies altogether are termed as bio economy.\n\n\nIn the domain of medicine, modern biotechnology can be applied in many areas such as-\n\n  • Production of drugs\n  • Pharmacogenomics\n  • Gene therapy\n  • Genetic testing or genetic screening: there are techniques in molecular biology that are used to detect genetic diseases. This testing or screening can be used to test the developing fetus for down syndrome, amniocentesis and chorionic villi identification.\n\n\nPharmacogenomics is the study of affects of the genetic inheritance of an individual to his/her body’s response to drugs. Pharmacogenomics is a combination of two words -“pharmacology” and “genomics”. So, it is the study of the relationship between pharmaceuticals and genetics. The vision of pharmacogenomics is to become able for designing and producing drugs that are compatible to each person’s genetic makeup.\n\nPharmacogenomics can be used for these purposes:\n\nDeveloping customized medicines:\n\nPharmaceutical companies can manufacture drugs which are based on the proteins, enzymes and RNA molecules that are linked with specific genes and diseases with the use of pharmacogenomics. These customized drugs give hopes not only to increase the therapeutic effects to the highest possible level but also to decrease damaging the nearby healthy cells.\n\nMore accuracy in the methods to determine appropriate dosages of drugs:\n\nIf the doctors become able to know the patient’s genetics, it’ll help them to understand and decide how well his/her (the patient’s) body can process and metabolize a medicine. Thus the value of the medicine will be increased and the likelihood of overdose will be decreased.\n\nImprovements in the discovery of drugs and the process of approval:\n\nUse of genome targets will make the discovery of potential therapies a lot easier. Genes have been linked with a lot of diseases and disorders. By using modern biotechnology, these genes can be used as targets for developing effective new therapies by which the drug discovery process could be significantly shorten.\n\nImproved vaccines:\n\nOrganisms transformed by using genetic engineering can be used to design and produce safer vaccines. These vaccines will exert such immune response which will not have the risks of infection unlike some similar vaccines made with unaltered organisms. These will be cheap, stable, easy for storage and capable of being engineered for carrying more than one strain of pathogen at a single time.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9183350205421448}
+{"content": "Editorial board mutinies: are they what’s needed or are they part of the problem?\n\nAs another editorial board jumps ship in favour of launching a new journal, Toby Green wonders if this is good, bad or indifferent for the future of scholarly communications.\nAre mutineers part of the problem or part of the future?\n\nThe excitement of “mutinous” editorial boards resigning en masse to launch rival journals is back.\n\nLast time, in 2015, it was Lingua’s board launching Glossa. This time it’s the Journal of Informetrics’ crew setting sail in Quantitative Science Studies.\n\nBoth editorial boards were part of Elsevier’s fleet and resigned in protest at its business model which they cited (I summarise) as being too expensive, too closed, and too commercial.\n\nNow, I am not going to get involved in the pros and cons of whether the mutineers are right or wrong to take issue with the business course charted by the captain of their previous ships. What interests me is what happened after Glossa launched and set a course to rival Lingua. Did the mutineers survive in the good ship Glossa? Did Lingua, lacking hands, join Davy Jones in his locker? Are there any lessons for possible future mutineers, publishers and others involved in scholarly communications ?\n\nJohan Rooryck, an active mutineer in both cases and president of the Fair Open Access Alliance (FOAA), is reported to have said that Glossa is doing well and winning more submissions than the ‘zombie’ (or should it be ‘Marie Celeste’?) Lingua.\n\nWe’ll have to take his word on submissions (since Glossa, unlike Elsevier’s Lingua, does not publish such data on its website) but what is true is that Glossa is outpublishing Lingua by volume (see chart).\n\nHowever, what I find striking is that the combined number of articles published by Lingua and Glossa has doubled since 2014, far outpacing the annual 4% growth in scholarly articles.\n\nDoes this mean linguistics is a burgeoning field? Or that these journals have won share from others? Or are we, perhaps, observing induced demand in action?\n\n(Induced demand is a phenomenon where adding supply capacity prompts increased demand. A common example is new roads increasing traffic levels.)\n\nSo, could it be that new journal launches, mutinous or not, (their number is growing 5% annually) are inducing demand for more articles and thus a factor driving the 6.1% average annual increase in article submissions? If this is true, could it also be that the burgeoning number of ‘rXivs’ are similarly inducing demand to post preprints, a figure that is growing 30% a year (see chart)?\n\nPreprints posted per month. Source: www.prepubmed.org\n\nIn the few cases where journals have been abandoned, most have continued to thrive in the medium term: indeed, what little data there is seems to show that they sail on with equivalent impact factors.\n\nSo, if abandoned titles survive to steer a steady course, the argument made by some, including FOAA, that flipping journals away from traditional models and taking them under the control of the academy is a fairer, more financially sustainable way of publishing research doesn’t seem to hold because now there are two journals to support financially and otherwise, where previously there was one.\n\nEqually, it’s all very well for academics to take advantage of the speed and simplicity offered by posting pre-prints on ‘rXivs’ but are they then ‘double-dipping’ when they submit the final paper to be published in a journal in order to benefit from the kudos of acceptance by a brand? After all, when a pre-print is subsequently published by a journal, scholcom has just paid twice to publish what is effectively the same content.\n\nSo, are mutineers and preprint-publishing authors unwittingly adding cost — and therefore pressure — to the scholarly communication system? This leads to another question, why is scholcom so expensive?\n\nIt’s all digital now, so why aren’t costs coming down?\n\nTwenty year ago, the authors of the Budapest Open Access Declaration thought that new, digital, forms of publishing would cost less than the traditional analogue methods. Unfortunately, as the financial travails at PLoS illustrate, we now know that digital publishing is far from low-cost. Worse, despite two decades of investment costs are increasing.\n\nThis latter point was brought home to me when I saw a tweet about arXiv’s costs. In 2010, arXiv had 4 staff and total expenses of $420,000. For 2019, arXiv has budgeted 10 staff and $2,070,000 in expenses. So, expenses have grown five-fold over the past decade, a period which saw postings double. To put it another way, the cost per posting has risen to $14.40 from $5.80 over the past decade, a 247% increase.\n\nOne reason costs continue to climb is because digital makes possible desirable things that were impossible before. For example, digital makes it possible to publish associated datasets and to disambiguate authors, funders, and institutions and digital has led to new, complex, standards for things like content capture and metadata to improve discoverability and machine readability.\n\nMany of these new digital things have become standard fixtures in any quality scholcom solution, setting expectations for the future. cOAlition S’ Plan S doesn’t just seek to flip journals to open access, it sets mandatory standards on how they should be published, about which many researchers agree. It’s hardly a surprise that the original 60 things publishers did in 2012 had grown to 102 by 2018, many of the additions things digital.\n\nAdding features to any workflow or service increases complexity and increasing complexity creates opportunity — Yvonne Campfens found more than 120 for-profit start-ups when surveying new entrants in research workflows and scholarly communication — but all this adds cost to the overall system at a time when both the willingness and ability to pay is under pressure.\n\nWhat if the ‘fair value’ in providing an ever-expanding, increasingly complex publishing service is beyond the means of those who have to pay the bill?\n\nOn launching Plan S, Marc Schlitz, President of Science Europe said: “In the 21st century, science publishers should provide a service to help researchers disseminate their results. They may be paid fair value for the services they are providing . . .” That sounds reasonable, but what if the ‘fair value’ in providing an ever-expanding, increasingly complex publishing service is beyond the means of those who will have to pay the bill?\n\nThree bodies representing researchers in Europe (EURODOC, the Marie Curie Alumni Association, and the Young Academy of Europe) have issued a joint statement agreeing that article processing charges should be paid or supported by cOAlition S provided that waivers/discounts are in place so that the ability to publish is not constrained by the ability to pay. (I trust they understand that this means those with the ability to pay will be subsidising those without.)\n\nWhat’s certain is that whoever is going to undertake cOAlition S’ planned independent study on open access publishing costs and fees to determine Plan S’ range and cap for APCs is going to have their work cut out to establish “fair value” in the context of an ever more complex publishing environment.\n\nI hope they also consider transition costs in their deliberations because an independent report commissioned by PNAS, prior to the release of the Plan S proposal, estimated that their transitioning to full OA would require $450,000 in transition costs, $6.3 million in “bridge” funds, and $4 million in ongoing cash reserves, including an APC around $6,000 depending on article length and waivers.\n\nScholarly publishing is plainly a complex, detailed and ultimately expensive undertaking — which really should be no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to what is a $26 billion business that employs over 110,000 people globally.\n\nIt is a business that was very quick to embrace the internet — most journals flipped to digital from analogue before the Millenium Bug was a thing — yet it is now a business that is beset by pirates, mutineers and no-deal librarians because it is judged to be too expensive, too closed, and too commercial.\n\nI think part of the problem was the speed with which scholcom went online. In its haste, it simply digitised scholcom as it was at the end of the 20th century, preserving the processes and practices that had built up in the four hundred years since de Sallo and Oldenburg started the whole affair in 1665 before bolting on new things digital as they came along.\n\nBut digitisation of a process that evolved in the print era doesn’t take full advantage of the new ways of working made possible in this new internet era. What’s needed isn’t digitisation of scholcom but a digital transformation of scholcom.\n\nDigital transformation is not just about using digital technology in place of analogue, its about building a new way of working using internet-era principles. These changes are not complicated they can be uncomfortable because it means really thinking through ‘back office’ processes and ruthlessly dumping elements that are no longer to the benefit of the user. Getting it right can deliver improved services and savings — and the latter, in particular, is key to solving the challenges set by pirates, mutineers and no-deal librarians.\n\nAs I argue in a new article in Learned Publishing, sustained, long-term, affordable, reform won’t come about by mutineers launching new titles, funders laying down instructions on how researchers should publish or Read-and-Publish deals.\n\nWhat’s needed is a digital transformation of the way research is published and its surrounding ecosystem. This includes changes in the reputation economy (the way researchers further their careers and win grants) and the way results are published (do all articles really need formal publication?).\n\nSwashbuckling mutineers make for great, colourful, stories but I don’t believe they will set a bold, new, financially sustainable course for scholcom. That will only be built unromantically, step-by-step, through digital transformation.\n\nCritically, it will only be when digital transformation has brought costs down will open access become affordable.\n\nFurther reading:\n\nGreen, T. (2019) Is Open Access Affordable? Why current models do not work and why we need internet‐era transformation of scholarly communications. Learned Publishing 2019, 32:1, pp13–25. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1219", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8725063800811768}
+{"content": "What's New: Worksheets and Study Guides\n\nU.S. PresidentsU.S. Presidents\nLiving and Nonliving Kindergarten Science\nLiving and Nonliving Kindergarten Science\nComparing Objects Second Grade Math\nGeography Kindergarten Social Studies\nOrdering Decimals Fifth Grade Math\nTrace Kindergarten English Language Arts\n\nMassachusetts Standards for Third Grade Science\n\nAnimals and their needsWorksheets: 3Study Guides: 1Vocabulary: 1Changes in matterWorksheets: 3Study Guides: 1Vocabulary: 1Forces and motion-how things moveWorksheets: 3Study Guides: 1Vocabulary: 2Grouping of PlantsWorksheets: 4Study Guides: 1Math in Science - 3rd gradeWorksheets: 3Study Guides: 1Natural resourcesWorksheets: 3Study Guides: 1Vocabulary: 1Science in our world - 3rd gr.Worksheets: 3Study Guides: 1Where plants and animals liveWorksheets: 3Study Guides: 1Vocabulary: 1\n\n\nEarth's History\n\n\nRocks and Their Properties\n\nES.1. Give a simple explanation of what a mineral is and some examples, e.g., quartz, mica.\nES.3. Identify the three categories of rocks (metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary) based on how they are formed, and explain the natural and physical processes that create these rocks.\n\n\n\nThe Earth in the Solar System\n\nES.13. Recognize that the earth is part of a system called the 'solar system' that includes the sun (a star), planets, and many moons. The earth is the third planet from the sun in our solar system.\nES.15. Describe the changes that occur in the observable shape of the moon over the course of a month.\n\nThe Water Cycle\n\nES.10. Describe how water on earth cycles in different forms and in different locations, including underground and in the atmosphere.\nES.11. Give examples of how the cycling of water, both in and out of the atmosphere, has an effect on climate.\n\n\nES.6. Explain how air temperature, moisture, wind speed and direction, and precipitation make up the weather in a particular place and time.\nES.9. Differentiate between weather and climate.\n\n\nAdaptations of Living Things\n\nLS.7. Give examples of how changes in the environment (drought, cold) have caused some plants and animals to die or move to new locations (migration).\n\nCharacteristics of Plants and Animals\n\nLS.1. Classify plants and animals according to the physical characteristics that they share.\n\nEnergy and Living Things\n\n\nStructures and Functions\n\nLS.3. Recognize that plants and animals go through predictable life cycles that include birth, growth, development, reproduction, and death.\nLS.4. Describe the major stages that characterize the life cycle of the frog and butterfly as they go through metamorphosis.\n\n\nElectrical Energy\n\nPS.8. Explain how electromagnets can be made, and give examples of how they can be used.\n\nForms of Energy\n\nPS.5. Give examples of how energy can be transferred from one form to another.\n\nLight Energy\n\n\nMagnetic Energy\n\nPS.10. Identify and classify objects and materials that a magnet will attract and objects and materials that a magnet will not attract.\nPS.9. Recognize that magnets have poles that repel and attract each other.\n\nProperties of Objects and Materials\n\n\nSound Energy\n\n\nStates of Matter\n\nPS.2. Compare and contrast solids, liquids, and gases based on the basic properties of each of these states of matter.\nPS.3. Describe how water can be changed from one state to another by adding or taking away heat.\n\n\n\nSIS4. Conduct multiple trials to test a prediction. Compare the result of an investigation or experiment with the prediction.\n\n\n\n\nT/E.1. Materials and Tools\n\nT/E.1.1. Identify materials used to accomplish a design task based on a specific property, i.e., weight, strength, hardness, and flexibility.\nT/E.1.3. Identify and explain the difference between simple and complex machines, e.g., hand can opener that includes multiple gears, wheel, wedge gear, and lever.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8763507604598999}
+{"content": "NASA: The North and South Poles Might Be About to Flip For the First Time in 800,000 Years\n\nJanuary 29, 2019 at 8:03 pm\n\nThe magnetic “north pole” is moving 40 miles-per-year toward Russia, signaling the beginning of a total pole reversal, scientists warn.\n\nThe magnetic north pole is currently shifting at the fastest rate in human history.\n\nScientists say it might be a sign that Earth’s poles are about to swap places.\n\n“Throughout most of recorded history, the pole has been positioned at or around Canada’s icy Ellesmere Island, but if it keeps moving at its current rate, it won’t be long before it sits above Russia instead,” MNN reports.\n\nUnlike true north — which is marked by the Earth’s axis — magnetic north is constantly on the move due to changes in the planet’s molten iron core.\n\nBut in 1989, it sped up to an accelerated rate of almost 40 miles per year.\n\n\nThe shift is causing major problems for aviation, navigation and migratory animals that use the Earth’s magnetic field to orient themselves.\n\nA five-year update of the World Magnetic Model was due in 2020, but the U.S. military requested an unprecedented early review.\n\nIn the last decade alone, the drift has increased by 33%, throwing off compasses by roughly 1 degree every five years.\n\nThe rapid changes are already causing major headaches for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Some airports are even starting to change the names of their runways, which correspond to degrees on on a compass.\n\nThe shifting pole may also become a grave concern for migratory wildlife, such as birds, turtles and other sea creatures. It’s unclear if these animals are capable of recalibrating their navigational instincts.\n\nThe moving pole isn’t supposed to affect smartphones or GPS devices anytime soon.\n\n\nBut some experts believe we’re witnessing the beginning of a complete pole reversal, which we are overdue for.\n\nTypically, Earth’s magnetic poles “flip” — whereby all compasses invert and point south instead of north — every 300,000 years or so. But it’s been 780,000 years since the last flip.\n\nScientists disagree on how a pole reversal would effect ecosystems around the world. Some predict catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis will wreak havoc for decades.\n\nBut NASA scientists predict a milder, more gradual event:\n\n“Reversals take a few thousand years to complete, and during that time the magnetic field does not vanish. It just gets more complicated.\n\n\nAnd, as a bonus, Tahiti could be a great place to see the Northern Lights. In such a time, Larry Newitt’s job would be different. Instead of shivering in Resolute Bay, he could enjoy the warm South Pacific, hopping from island to island, hunting for magnetic poles while auroras danced overhead.”\n\nSupercomputer models of Earth’s magnetic field. On the left is a normal dipolar magnetic field, typical of the long years between polarity reversals. On the right is the sort of complicated magnetic field Earth has during the upheaval of a reversal.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7188400030136108}
+{"content": "Show simple item record\n\ndc.contributor.authorBecker, Stephen Paulen_US\ndc.description.abstractMagmatic-hydrothermal ore deposits are formed in association with aqueous fluids that exsolve from hydrous silicate melts during ascent and crystallization. These fluids are invariably trapped as inclusions in vein-filling minerals associated with hydrothermal fluid flow, and their composition may be modeled based on the H2O-NaCl system. Thus, if we know the pressure-volume-temperature-composition (PVTX) properties of H2O-NaCl solutions, it is possible to interpret the PTX trapping conditions, which is important for understanding the processes leading to the generation of the hydrothermal system and ore mineralization.\n\nHigh salinity (> 26 wt. % NaCl) fluid inclusions contain liquid, vapor, and halite at room temperature, and are common in magmatic-hydrothermal ore deposits. These inclusions homogenize in one of three ways: A) halite disappearance (Tmhalite) followed by liquid-vapor homogenization (ThL-V), B) simultaneous ThL-V and Tmhalite, or C) ThL-V followed by Tmhalite. The PVTX properties of H2O-NaCl solutions three phase (L+V+H) and liquid-vapor (L+V) phase boundaries are well constrained, allowing researchers to interpret the minimum trapping pressure of inclusion types A and B. However, data that describe the pressure at Tmhalite for inclusion type C are limited to a composition of 40 wt. % NaCl. To resolve this problem, the synthetic fluid inclusion technique was used to determine the relationship between homogenization temperature and minimum trapping pressure for inclusions that homogenize by mode C. These results allow researchers to interpret the minimum trapping pressure of these inclusions, and by extension the depth at which the inclusions formed.\n\nThe temporal and spatial distribution of fluid inclusions formed in associated with porphyry copper mineralization has been predicted using a computer model. A simple geologic model of an epizonal intrusion was developed based on a Burnham-style model for porphyry systems and thermal models of the evolution of epizonal intrusions. The phase stability fields and fluid inclusion characteristics at any location and time were predicted based on PVTX properties of H2O-NaCl solutions. These results provide vectors towards the center of a magmatic-hydrothermal system that allow explorationists to use fluid inclusion petrography to predict position with the overall porphyry environment when other indicators of position are absent.\n\ndc.publisherVirginia Techen_US\ndc.subjectfluid inclusionsen_US\ndc.subjectore depositsen_US\ndc.subjectphase equilibriaen_US\ndc.subjectPVTX propertiesen_US\ndc.titleFluid Inclusion Characteristics in Magmatic-Hydrothermal Ore Depositsen_US\ndc.description.degreePh. D.en_US D.en_US Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen_US\ndc.contributor.committeechairBodnar, Robert J.en_US\ndc.contributor.committeememberRimstidt, james Donalden_US\ndc.contributor.committeememberTracy, Robert J.en_US\ndc.contributor.committeememberStudent, James J.en_US\n\nFiles in this item\n\n\nThis item appears in the following Collection(s)\n\nShow simple item record", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6614920496940613}
+{"content": "Comparitive Essay- Great Gatsby & Barrett Browning\n\nAnalyse how ‘the Great Gatsby’ and Browning’s poetry imaginatively portray individuals who challenge the established values of their time.\n\nAs moments progress into new epochs, morals and values become a reflection of the changing societies in which they are created. The values of love and mortality, adapt in a parallel manner alongside the evolution from the Victorian Era to the Jazz Age through a range of contextual experiences, revealing their meaning in time by comparison. These principal ideals of love and morality are challenged by distinct imaginative characters in the 1850’s poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and the 1925 novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is through the analysis of the protagonists and their status as societal ‘outcasts’ that this challenge is presented in their differing textual and contextual forms, through a range of poetic and literary devices.\n\nLove in both eras is seen as necessary; yet not always possible due to an overpowering desire for social advancement. The context of the Victorian Era, was that a higher social status were the crux of aspirations for men, while women were limited to a stereotype of belonging to a domestic sphere. Barrett Browning, in the very act of writing love poetry to her lover, defied these social expectations, her languish in this socially unacceptable act is amplified in the irony of the “silence of her womanhood” as she broke through the masculine dominated genre - creating a hybrid gender as the protagonist of the poems. Through her poetry, Barrett Browning is able to give a positive physicality to love by personifying it through many hyperbolic metaphors, likening it to a saving “torch…while the winds are rough” (sonnet 13) that is needed for her self-contentment. As the poems continue in a chronicle manner, she evolves the tone’s modality - through a development in her mediation of love - fluctuating from doubt to euphoria as she becomes confident in her partner’s mutual...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000035762786865}
+{"content": "\n\n\nCover of Clinical Methods\n\n\nShow details\n\nChapter 49Arterial Blood Gases\n\n\n\nArterial blood gases (ABGs) is a collective term applied to three separate measurements—pH, Pco2, and Po2—generally made together to evaluate acid–base status, ventilation, and arterial oxygenation. Oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are the most important respiratory gases, and their partial pressures in arterial blood reflect the overall adequacy of gas exchange. Pao2 is affected by age and altitude. Paco2 by altitude. Therefore, Pao2 must be individually calculated for each patient, and both determinations must be interpreted against local normal values. Hydrogen is not present in blood as a gas and, therefore, does not exert a partial pressure. However, pH, which measures hydrogen ion activity, is a conventional part of every arterial blood gas determination. The normal range for blood pH is 7.35 to 7.45.\n\nSome calculated or derived variables may be reported with the ABGs. The bicarbonate concentration, which can be calculated from the pH and Pco2, is the most useful of these. Others, such as base excess and base deficit, are not essential and may be confusing.\n\n\nAccurate results for ABGs depend on collecting, handling, and analyzing the specimen properly. Clinically important errors may occur at any of these steps, but ABG measurements are particularly vulnerable to preanalytic errors. The most common problems include nonarterial samples, air bubbles in the sample, either inadequate or excessive anticoagulant in the sample, and delayed analysis of an un-cooled sample.\n\nA proper blood sample for ABG analysis consists of a 2 to 3 ml arterial specimen collected anaerobically from a peripheral artery in a 3- or 5-ml plastic or glass, airtight syringe fitted with a small-bore needle. Any air bubbles inadvertently introduced during sampling must be promptly evacuated. Room air has a Po2, of approximately 150 mm Hg (sea level) and a Pco2 of essentially zero. Thus, air bubbles that mix and equilibrate with arterial blood will shift the Pao2 toward 150 mm Hg and will lower the Paco2.\n\nHeparin must be added to the syringe as an anticoagulant. Because the pH of heparin is near 7.0, and the Po2 and Pco2 of the heparin solution are near room air values, excess heparin can alter all three ABG measurements. Very little heparin is actually needed in the sample to prevent clotting; 0.05 to 0.10 ml of a dilute solution (1000 units/ml) will anticoagulate 1 ml of blood without affecting its pH. Pco2, or Po2. After flushing the syringe with heparin, a sufficient amount usually remains in the dead space of the syringe and needle for anticoagulation without distortion of the ABG determination.\n\nAfter collection, the specimen should be analyzed expeditiously. If a delay of more than 10 minutes is anticipated, the specimen must be immersed in an ice bath. Leukocytes and platelets continue to consume oxygen in the sample after it is drawn and can cause a significant fall in Pao2 over time at room temperature, especially in the setting of leukocytosis or thrombocytosis. Cooling will prevent any clinically important effect for at least 1 hour by decreasing the metabolic activity of these cells.\n\nABGs are now routinely measured with an automated analyzer. The basic components of such a unit are three electrodes, one each for determining pH, Pco2, and Po2. The pH electrode measures the potential difference between a measuring electrode (which contains the sample in contact with a special glass membrane permeable only to H+ ions) and a reference electrode (which has a known, stable pH). From the voltage across these electrodes, the sample pH is calculated. The Pco2 electrode (Severinghaus electrode) employs an adaptation of the pH measurement. Carbon dioxide from the blood sample equilibrates across a gas-permeable membrane with a bicarbonate solution in a reaction that generates H+ ions. The Pco2 of the sample is determined indirectly by sensing the pH change in this solution. The Po2 electrode (Clark electrode) determines Po2 amperometrically. Oxygen from the blood sample diffuses across a semipermeable membrane and is reduced at the cathode of a polarographic electrode. This reaction produces a measurable current that is directly proportional to the sample Po2.\n\nEach electrode is calibrated at two reference points in the typical operational range. For the pH electrode, two buffer solutions (pH = 6.840 and 7.384) are the standards. For the Pco2 and Po2 electrodes, two references gases (usually 5% CO2, 20% O2, 75% N2; and 10% CO2, 90% N2) are utilized. After calibration, the accuracy and reliability of measurements may be checked by analyzing commercially available quality-control samples with known values of pH, Pco2 and Po2 that span the range of common clinical values. Although these procedures generally ensure valid measurements, high Pao2 values (>150 mm Hg) present a potential source of error. The Po2 electrode is not linear and therefore may be inaccurate at values far beyond its calibration points (0 mm Hg and 140 mm Hg at sea level for the reference gases above). Consequently, the precision of Pao2 values exceeding 150 mm Hg is uncertain unless the electrode has been recalibrated in an appropriate range, and this is not generally feasible in an automated analyzer.\n\nThe electrodes are maintained at 37°C in a thermostatically regulated waterbath; therefore, all ABG measurements are made at 37°C regardless of the patient's temperature. Nonetheless, pH, Paco2, and Pao2 are all temperature dependent because gas solubilities are a function of temperature. When body temperature is higher than 37°C, the reported Pao2 and Paco2 measured at 37°C will be lower than the actual values in the patient; the converse holds when body temperature is below 37°C. Both equations and nomograms have been developed to adjust the 37°C values to those corresponding to the patient's temperature. The equations, however, are too complex for easy calculation. The effect of varying temperature on a \"normal\" set of ABGs is illustrated in Table 49.1. Whether to correct ABG measurements (especially the Pao2) to the patient's temperature or simply to report them at 37°C is a controversial issue, and laboratory practices vary in this area. It is relatively standard practice to report the pH and Paco2 at 37°C without correction. There is no uniform practice regarding Pao2, and the clinician must be familiar with local policy. As shown in Table 49.1, the effect of temperature changes on pH, Paco2, and Pao2 over the usual clinical range of 35° to 39°C is relatively small. The issue is clinically relevant primarily in hypothermia and hyperthermia.\n\nTable 49.1. Temperature-Corrected Values for a \"Normal\" ABG.\n\nTable 49.1\n\nTemperature-Corrected Values for a \"Normal\" ABG.\n\nBasic Science\n\nThe hydrogen ion (H+) concentration determines the acid–base status of the blood. For convenience, the H+ concentration is customarily expressed as pH, defined as the negative logarithm (base 10) of the H+ concentration:\n\nImage ch49e1.jpg\n\nNote that H+ concentration and pH are inversely related; an increasing H+ concentration (increasing acidity) corresponds to a declining pH, and vice versa. The normal H+ concentration of 0.0004 mEq/L is equivalent to a pH of 7.40. The normal range of blood pH is 7.35 to 7.45.\n\nThe Pao2 is the partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood. The normal range for Pao2 is affected by age and altitude. As a result of changes in overall matching of ventilation with perfusion, normal Pao2 declines with advancing age. Regression equations have been published to estimate this decrease; however, there is some disparity in the results, probably attributable to heterogeneous study populations and nonuniform study conditions. Hence, these equations are only guidelines. For example, Sorbini et al. (1968) found the following prediction equation for supine subjects at sea level:\n\nImage ch49e2.jpg\n\n\nAt elevations above sea level, the partial pressure of inspired oxygen falls with the barometric pressure, and the normal Pao2 decreases concomitantly. For example, at 1500 m (barometric pressure 634 mm Hg), the predicted normal Pao2 in a healthy, young subject is approximately 80 mm Hg; this contrasts with a value close to 95 mm Hg at sea level. Therefore, at locations substantially above sea level, local normal values that correct for altitude must be utilized in ABG interpretation.\n\nThe Paco2 is the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in arterial blood. The normal range is 35 to 45 mm Hg and does not vary significantly with age. Nevertheless, normal Paco2, tends to be lower at high altitudes because ventilation is stimulated, and local norms must be established.\n\nCellular metabolism and whole organ function are optimum over a relatively narrow range of pH. Hence, the acid–base status of the blood is closely regulated. Homeostasis is maintained by three mechanisms: (1) buffers that mitigate changes in pH, especially the carbonic acid/bicarbonate (H2CO3/HCO3) pair; (2) the lungs, which control Paco2; and (3) the kidneys, which regulate plasma bicarbonate. The central relationship among these is the following reaction:\n\nImage ch49e3.jpg\n\nDissolved CO2 is hydrated in an equilibrium reaction to form the strong acid, H2CO3. The amount of dissolved CO2 is directly proportional to the Paco2, the proportionality constant (α) being the solubility coefficient of CO2. Therefore, the lungs effectively regulate the H2CO3 concentration. Carbonic acid reversibly dissociates into H+ and HCO3. Metabolic acids are titrated primarily by HCO3, and the HCO3 concentration is ultimately under renal control.\n\nThe interdependence among these may be expressed as the classic Henderson-Hasselbalch equation for pH or rearranged into an equation for [H+].\n\nImage ch49e4.jpg\n\nNotice in both equations that pH, or H+ concentration, depends on the ratio of Paco2 to HCO3, and not on the absolute value of either one alone.\n\nAcidosis and alkalosis refer to pathophysiologic disturbances that tend to increase or decrease hydrogen ion concentration respectively. Primary disturbances in Paco2 cause the respiratory acid–base disorders, whereas primary alterations in bicarbonate are responsible for the metabolic derangements. Each primary disturbance elicits a compensatory response, which is usually incomplete, but returns the pH toward normal. Thus, an acidosis or alkalosis does not necessarily result in an acidemia (pH < 7.35) or alkalemia (pH > 7.45). The simple acid–base disorders are illustrated in Table 49.2. Mixed acid–base disturbances are the result of two or more simple disorders occurring together. While these are more complex, their recognition and analysis are predicated on a thorough understanding of the primary disorders.\n\nTable 49.2. Simple Acid–Base Disorders.\n\nTable 49.2\n\nSimple Acid–Base Disorders.\n\nThe primary purposes of respiration are to provide oxygen to the cells for aerobic metabolism and to excrete the carbon dioxide produced by this metabolic activity. This requires the integrated function of both the respiratory system for gas exchange between alveolar air and pulmonary capillary blood, and the cardiovascular system for gas transport to and from the metabolizing tissues. The respiratory system may be divided into two parts: the respiratory pump and the lung. The respiratory pump includes the thoracic cage and abdomen, the respiratory muscles, the respiratory control centers, and the neural interconnections. The major function of the respiratory pump is ventilation of the lung, whereas the primary role of the lung itself is gas transfer. Factors that influence gas exchange in the lung include (1) movement of gas into and out of the lung (ventilation); (2) blood flow through the lung (perfusion); (3) the regional distributions of ventilation and perfusion (ventilation–perfusion matching); and (4) diffusion across the alveolar–capillary membrane. The overall adequacy of gas exchange for oxygen and carbon dioxide is reflected by the Pao2 and Paco2.\n\nCarbon dioxide, the major by-product of oxidative metabolism, is transported to the lung in venous blood and eliminated through alveolar ventilation. The Paco2 is directly proportional to carbon dioxide excretion rate (Image v.jpgco2) and inversely proportional to alveolar ventilation (Image v.jpgA).\n\nImage ch49e5.jpg\n\n\nAlveolar ventilation is that portion of the total minute ventilation (Image v.jpgE) that participates effectively in gas exchange. The remainder of minute ventilation reaches only anatomic or physiologic dead space; it does not participate in gas exchange and is called dead space ventilation (Image v.jpgD). Alveolar ventilation, then, is total minute ventilation minus dead space ventilation.\n\nImage ch49e6.jpg\n\n\nOxygen is essential for aerobic metabolism. The transfer of oxygen from alveolar air to pulmonary capillary blood is affected by the partial pressure of oxygen in the alveoli, its diffusion across the alveolar–capillary membrane, and the matching of alveolar ventilation to capillary perfusion. There are five possible causes of a reduction in Pao2: low inspired oxygen tension, alveolar hypoventilation, diffusion impairment, ventilation–perfusion mismatching, and right-to-left shunt. In addition, a low mixed venous oxygen tension will magnify the reduction in Pao2 due to ventilation–perfusion mismatching and shunt.\n\nThe partial pressure of oxygen in the alveoli (PAo2) may be determined from the ideal alveolar gas equation,\n\nImage ch49e7.jpg\n\nwhere PB is barometric pressure, PH2O the partial pressure of water vapor (47 mm Hg), FIo2 the fractional concentration of inspired oxygen, and R the respiratory exchange ratio (usually 0.80). The alveolar–arterial oxygen tension gradient, P(A-a)o2, is the difference between calculated PAo2 and measured Pao2. The normal gradient increases with age, but is usually in the range of 5 to 20 mm Hg. If either alveolar hypoventilation or a low inspired oxygen tension is the cause of a decreased Pao2, this gradient remains normal. In contrast, an abnormality in either diffusion or ventilation–perfusion matching will increase P(A-a)o2. Diffusion, however, is rarely the cause of a low Pao2 at rest.\n\nArterial oxygen content (Cao2) is the sum of hemoglobin-bound oxygen and dissolved oxygen\n\nImage ch49e8.jpg\n\nwhere Hb is the hemoglobin concentration and Sao2 the arterial O2 saturation. The contribution of dissolved oxygen is very small, and the major impact of Pao2 on oxygen content is through its effect on hemoglobin saturation (Figure 49.1). Above a Pao2 of 60 mm Hg, the dissociation curve is relatively flat and Sao2 increases very little even with a large increment in Pao2. In contrast, below Pao2 60 mm Hg, the curve is steeper and Sao2 decreases significantly with any decrement in Pao2. Also, as illustrated in Figure 49.1, the position of the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve may be shifted by factors that alter the configuration of the hemoglobin molecule and change its affinity for binding oxygen.\n\nFigure 49.1. The oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve and variables that affect oxygen–hemoglobin affinity.\n\nFigure 49.1\n\nThe oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve and variables that affect oxygen–hemoglobin affinity. 2-3 DPG = 2,3-diphosphoglycerate; CO = carbon monoxide. From Kryger MH, ed. Pathophysiology of respiration. New York: Wiley, 1981. Reprinted with permission. (more...)\n\nOxygen delivery to the tissues is the product of cardiac output and arterial oxygen content. Oxygen delivery can be compromised by a reduction in any component (cardiac output, hemoglobin concentration, or Sao2). However, a decrease in one component may be offset by an increase in another to maintain oxygen delivery.\n\nClinical Significance\n\nAn ABG contains data relevant to three areas: acid–base status, ventilation, and arterial oxygenation. Clinical estimates of the presence or severity of abnormalities in these areas are often deceptive. Consequently, an ABG is useful when disturbances are apparent or suspected in any of the three parameters. A systematic approach to interpretation, in conjunction with appropriate clinical correlation, will help delineate problems in each of these areas and will guide the institution and adjustment of supportive therapy when necessary.\n\nFirst, consider the acid–base status. The simple acid–base disorders are presented in Table 49.2. The differential diagnosis for each category is relatively limited and may be found in most medicine texts. Diagnosis is often aided by using other laboratory parameters, such as serum electrolytes, along with the ABG and clinical data. Treatment should be directed toward the underlying cause and will depend on the nature and severity of the disturbance. Prompt intervention is generally necessary at the extremes of acidemia (pH < 7.20) and alkalemia (pH > 7.60) because adverse effects on the cardiovascular and central nervous systems are common when pH exceeds these limits.\n\nNext, the ventilatory status should be evaluated. While this is an extension of the acid–base analysis, it focuses attention on ventilatory function. Recall that the Paco2 is an index of the adequacy of alveolar ventilation in relation to carbon dioxide production [Eq. (49.5)]. Normally a primary rise in Paco2 will trigger an increase in ventilation and restore the Paco2 if the respiratory pump is intact. Hence, when hypercapnia and respiratory acidosis are present, some degree of ventilatory failure has occurred. Common causes include central nervous system depression or disease, neuromuscular disorders, thoracic cage deformities, and obstructive lung disease. In addition, respiratory muscle fatigue due to increased work of breathing from any cause may culminate in ventilatory failure. If the respiratory acidemia is severe or progressive, mechanical support of ventilation may be necessary while other measures are directed at the underlying process.\n\nFinally, arterial oxygenation should be assessed. A Pao2 below the predicted lower limit of normal [Eq. (49.2)] or a widened P(A-a)o2 indicates an abnormality in gas exchange that should be recognized, but may not always significantly impair arterial oxygenation. A Pao2 of 60 mm Hg provides approximately 90% hemoglobin saturation if acid–base status and temperature are normal (Figure 49.1). However, below Pao2 60 mm Hg significant desaturation occurs as the Pao2 falls, and arterial oxygen content [Eq. (49.8)] decreases proportionately. When oxygen delivery is compromised by a low arterial oxygen content (desaturation, anemia) or by an inadequate cardiac output, critical tissue hypoxia may occur. The most sensitive sites are the central nervous system and the heart, but oxygen deprivation is potentially harmful to all aerobic, metabolically active tissues. In most clinical circumstances a reasonable goal of therapy is to maintain the Pao2 in the 60 to 80 mm Hg range. In some cases, slightly lower levels may be acceptable; however, there is generally little to be gained by increasing the Pao2 substantially above this range. When needed, supplemental oxygen should be administered with these guidelines in mind. In addition, attention should be given to hemoglobin concentration and cardiac output to optimize oxygen delivery.\n\n\n  1. Andritsch RF, Muravchick S, Gold MI. Temperature correction of arterial blood gas parameters: a comparative review of methodology. Anesthesiology. 1981;55:311–16. [PubMed: 6791530]\n  2. Chillar RK, Belman MJ, Farbstein M. Explanation for apparent hypoxemia associated with extreme leukocytosis: leukocytic oxygen consumption. Blood. 1980;55:922–24. [PubMed: 7378581]\n  3. Fox MJ, Brody JS, Weintraub LR. et al. Leukocyte larceny: a cause of spurious hypoxemia. Am J Med. 1979;67:742–46. [PubMed: 292309]\n  4. Hess CE, Nichols AB, Hunt WB. et al. Pseudohypoxemia secondary to leukemia and thrombocytosis. N Engl J Med. 1979;301:361–63. [PubMed: 460325]\n  5. Kelman GR, Nunn JF. Nomograms for correction of blood PO2, PCO2, pH and base excess for time and temperature. J Appl Physiol. 1966;21:1484–90. [PubMed: 5923219]\n  6. Kryger MH, ed. Pathophysiology of respiration. New York: Wiley, 1981.\n  7. Mellemgaard K. The alveolar-arterial oxygen difference: its size and components in normal man. Acta Physiol Scand. 1966;67:10–20. [PubMed: 5963295]\n  8. Narins RG, Emmett M. Simple and mixed acid-base disorders: a practical approach. Medicine (Baltimore). 1980;59:161–87. [PubMed: 6774200]\n  9. Severinghaus JW. Blood gas calculator. J Appl Physiol. 1966;21:1108–16. [PubMed: 5912737]\n  10. Shapiro BA, Harrison RA, Walton JR. Clinical application of blood gases, 3d ed. Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, 1982.\n  11. Sorbini CA, Grassi V, Solinas E. et al. Arterial oxygen tension in relation to age in healthy subjects. Respiration. 1968;25:3–13. [PubMed: 5644025]\nBookshelf ID: NBK371PMID: 21250212\n\n\nRelated information\n\nSimilar articles in PubMed\n\nSee reviews...See all...\n\nRecent Activity\n\nYour browsing activity is empty.\n\nActivity recording is turned off.\n\nTurn recording back on\n\nSee more...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9897887706756592}
+{"content": "Chapter 1139 - Eternal Heaven Battlefield\n\nChapter 1139 - Eternal Heaven Battlefield\n\n“Meiyin, what is special about that person called Yun Che?”\n\nThey hadn’t flown very far away when the girl in blue clothes questioned the girl beside her. Her tone was cautious because she very clearly knew that the girl she was pulling by the hand wouldn’t do anything without a reason. Moreover, it was so extremely rare for her to take the initiative to approach another person.\n\n“That Big Brother Yun Che is very powerful, and also a bit strange,” the little girl replied.\n\n“Very powerful? Strange?”\n\n“Let me describe him this way, he is more powerful than he seems to Big Sis… and a lot more powerful than that.” The little girl had a broad forehead, and she appeared to be pondering something as she crooked her head. However, there was an unquestionable certainty in her tone.\n\nNot only were the words of the girl inexplicable, they also sounded quite insensible. Such words would only get ignored with a laugh, but the girl in blue clothes knitted her brows slightly, as if she didn’t doubt her in the least. “Looks like either he is unusually talented, or he is cultivating some special profound art.”\n\n“Hmm… but you don’t have to care about him. His profound strength is so weak, after all. Although its seems that he should be very strong, it is still impossible for him to be a threat to those at the Divine Spirit Realm, much less Big Sis. It’s just that… I can’t describe his strangeness with words, which is precisely the reason that I found him very strange.”\n\nThe little girl thought about it a bit before suddenly saying, “Oh right! Just a while ago, he kept staring into my eyes, and for quite a long time too.”\n\n“He dared to look straight into your eyes?”\n\nThe girl in blue revealed an expression several times more surprised than before. “Could he be someone with unusually strong mental strength? Yun Che… let’s keep an eye on him for the time being.”\n\n“No!” The little girl shook her head. “The one that requires even greater attention from Big Sis, is that person called Huo Poyun.”\n\n“He? For what reason?”\n\n“Because his bloodline, profound veins, and his soul are all very strange. Even though his profound strength is at the seventh level of the Divine Spirit Realm, the actual level of his strength is a lot higher. He has certainly inherited extraordinary divine blood, and should have been bestowed a large amount of Divine Spirit essence. Besides, there is also some essence of a dragon mixed in his blood as well. Therefore, he is quite a bit more powerful than he seems to Big Sis. Perhaps, he might become a slight threat to Big Sis,” the little girl said in a very serious tone.\n\nNo matter who it was, the difference between the seventh and tenth level would seem huge enough to be absolutely unsurpassable, if not a world of difference. Such words, especially coming from a fifteen year old girl, would normally only be treated as a joke.\n\nHowever, the girl in blue fell silent. Afterwards, she slightly nodded her head, “I’ve got it. Looks like this session of the Profound God Convention is indeed full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons.”\n\nIf Huo Poyun, Huo Rulie, Yan Wancang, and the others were to hear the words of the little girl, they would have definitely turn pale from shock.\n\nThe things that Huo Poyun possessed were the biggest secrets of both him and the Flame God Realm. But there was nothing hidden from the eyes of the little girl, as if it was all engraved on his face.\n\nTime slowly passed by, and the date of the Profound God Convention drew closer and closer. The Eastern Divine Region became increasingly quiet, and the people of the nine thousand star realms as well as countless profound practitioners lifted their heads in expectation. The convention was the highest standard and the highest level grand gathering of profound practitioners in the Eastern Divine Region. Furthermore, this session of the Profound God Convention was the most special one in their history. Just being able to have the qualification to participate was in itself an honor to the vast majority of profound practitioners and sects. If they could get a good rank at the convention, even if it was only in the preliminary competition, it would be enough for them to shine with supreme glory throughout their lives.\n\nEven the honored star realms would look forward to changing the level and standing of their realms.\n\nOn this day, it was finally time for the Profound God Convention to begin.\n\nThe firmament vibrated, following which the Voice of Eternal Heaven resounded as it shook the sky, and travelled through the entire battlefield for the preliminary competition, as well as to every corner of the Eastern Divine Region.\n\n“The time for the Profound God Convention has come again after the short period of seven hundred years. This session of the Profound God Convention will be different from those in the past. Not only will it display the graceful poise of the current young generation, it will also possibly be the stage to determine the future of the Eastern Divine Region.”\n\n“The minimum cultivation for this Profound God Convention has been set at the Divine Tribulation Realm. A total of fifty one million three hundred twenty thousand people have entered the battlefield for the preliminary competition. They are all the outstanding young profound practitioners of the Eastern Divine Region, excluding those from the king realms.”\n\nOver fifty million participants might sound like an enormous figure, but compared to the hundred trillion profound practitioners of the nine thousand star realms in the Eastern Divine Region, it was actually an extremely small number. Each of these more than fifty million profound practitioners, who had the qualification to enter the Profound God Convention, was an undisputed genius. Those from the lower and middle star realms, in particular, were capable enough to be well-known in a large region.\n\nFor example, anyone who reached the Divine Tribulation Realm before turning sixty in the Snow Song Realm would have the qualification to join the Ice Phoenix Divine Hall, the highest level establishment for the disciples of the Divine Ice Phoenix Sect.\n\n“The number of participants in this session of the Profound God Convention is quite a bit lower than in the past, so the arrangement of the competition is also different. The Eternal Heaven Pearl will be the battlefield for the preliminary battles…”\n\nAlthough they were all aware that Eternal Heaven Pearl would be the battlefield three years ago, hearing it again still made all the participating profound practitioners visibly excited. This was also undoubtedly one of the main reasons for which countless profound practitioners cultivated with all their might, and didn’t hesitate to pay any price to reach the Divine Tribulation Realm in order to participate in the Profound God Convention. They were not really hoping to get a decent rank, but instead only wanted to come into contact with the aura and laws of nature inside the Eternal Heaven Pearl, as it was a tremendous opportunity that one might not get in even ten thousand lifetimes.\n\nAfter all, the Eternal Heaven Pearl was from the Primordial Era, and could be at god level… or possibly even be a higher level thing than a True God.\n\nBut, the following words of the Voice of Eternal Heaven, poured cold water on the listeners all of a sudden.\n\n“…Projections of all the profound practitioners that are participating in the battle will enter the Eternal Heaven Pearl. They will all be complete projections that can carry everything the participants have along with them. Besides the point that no one will truly lose their lives, there will be no harm to their real bodies, no matter what happens inside the Eternal Heaven Pearl.\n\nThe participating profound practitioners were dumbstruck. So by “Eternal Heaven Pearl will be the battlefield,” it was actually their projections that were meant to enter the internal world of the Eternal Heaven Pearl, and not their bodies…? Since it would be just a projection, it was extremely unlikely that they would be able to perceive any aura or laws of nature.\n\nThe next words of the Voice of Eternal Heaven made numerous profound practitioners feel a chilly sensation in their hearts.\n\n“In the first round of the preliminary battle, all participating profound practitioners will have their projections randomly assigned to a thousand different preliminary battlefields. There will be an equal number of people in all battlefields, and only ten can emerge victorious from every battlefield; the rest of the participants will be eliminated, without exception!”\n\n\nAs if they had been suddenly struck by lightning, the whole Eastern Divine Region became agitated.\n\nThere were a thousand battle zones in total. Only ten people could be victorious in each one and the rest would be completely eliminated… It meant that on an average, only one in five thousand would be able to succeed in this preliminary battle!\n\nEventually, only ten thousand practitioners would be able to progress through the preliminaries, and over fifty million people would get eliminated!\n\nSuch an elimination rate was far higher than what one would use the word exaggerated to describe. It was simply inhuman.\n\nThe elimination percentage in the first round of the Profound God Convention was also very high in the past, but the selection rate was still no less than one in hundred, which was far, far less exaggerated than this time.\n\n“As the minimum cultivation has been restricted to the Divine Tribulation Realm for this session of the Profound God Convention, only fifty million profound practitioners were qualified enough to participate, each and every one of whom is a genius… Isn’t it too cruel to only select one in five thousand in the very first round of the competition?”\n\n“To get rid of all but ten thousand in the first round, th-th-th…”\n\n“This session of Profound God Convention is indeed not for those who are only strong, but the topmost level youngsters of the Eastern Divine Region. Although the rest of them are all undisputed geniuses, they can only serve as the foil for those at the top.” An old person, who had experienced several sessions of the Profound God Convention, lamented while letting out a sigh.\n\n“It seems like we will all get eliminated in the first round of preliminaries.” Mu Hanyu looked at all of his junior brothers and junior sisters, as he said with regret.\n\nIt wasn’t that he was underestimating the group he was leading. Among the disciples of the Divine Ice Phoenix Sect that were participating in the convention this time, he and Mu Feixue were the ones with the highest profound strength, who were only at the eighth level of the Divine Tribulation Realm. Such cultivation was considered top-notch in the Snow Song Realm, but at the Profound God Convention, let alone the top ten thousand, it was almost impossible to be ranked among the top hundred thousand with such cultivation.\n\n“This Profound God Convention is truly odd. It’s completely different from what we have heard about the previous sessions. For only ten thousand people to be able to pass the first round… I feel that we’ve come here just to make up numbers,” a disciple of the Divine Ice Phoenix Sect said with a bitter smile.\n\n“Don’t think too much about it. The Profound God Convention is held once every three thousand years, and it’s an extremely great opportunity to have the fortune to be able to participate in it. Treat this convention as the highest standard trial in your life so far. Although we’re bound to be eliminated, we will still be ranked according to our performances… Don’t bring disgrace to yourself and the sect! Go all out!” Mu Hanyu said in a solemn voice.\n\n“Yes! Senior Brother is right!” the disciples of the Divine Ice Phoenix Sect responded in unison. Their fighting spirits were burning fiercely, as they waited for the cruel preliminary battle that was about to start.\n\n“So it’s finally going to begin.” Huo Poyun looked up at the sky above. His eyes were blazing as his fighting spirit rose. His aim was to make his way into the top thousand. The elimination percentage of the preliminary round might be extremely cruel to others, but winning through the first round was far below his objective at the Profound God Convention.\n\n“Brother Poyun, do your best,” Yun Che said sincerely. As for him, he was not in the least concerned about the battlefield or the arrangement of the competition. Let alone one in five thousand, even if the selection rate was one in five, he would have still gotten eliminated in the first round.\n\nThe Eastern Divine Region was in a state of extreme unrest while the Voice of Eternal Heaven paused for a bit. Numerous white rays of light came falling down from the sky, and enveloped the bodies of all participating profound practitioners.\n\nImmediately, the world around them turned pale white, but the white light dispersed right after. A subtle change happened in the aura coming from their surroundings, making it clear to them that they had arrived in another world.\n\nFurthermore, it wasn’t their real bodies that had arrived in this place, but just their projections.\n\nA thought surfaced in their minds on its own:\n\n“Battle Zone 9.”\n\nYun Che opened his eyes and looked around him. This place was also an ancient city. Dilapidated walls could be seen everywhere, the vast sky was ash-colored, and the ground was also dried up. It was an abandoned ghost town that didn’t really look the same as the place from before, but did feel very similar.\n\nLooking far off into the distance, several kilometers away, there clearly existed an enormous barrier. The barrier appeared to have fully covered the abandoned ancient city, making it impossible for anyone to leave this area.\n\nThis place was none other than the internal world of the Eternal Heaven Pearl… It was the Battle Zone 9 among the thousand battlefields that were chosen for the preliminaries!\n\nSince he had come here now, that would mean that he no longer had his real body, and was actually a projection.\n\nYun Che tried to perceive how his body and profound strength were working in here. There wasn’t any issue at all, and he couldn’t even feel that he was only a projection at the moment. He stretched out his left hand and clearly sensed the existence of the Sky Poison Pearl and the Heaven Smiting Sword. It was even possible to take out the things that were kept inside the Sky Poison Pearl.\n\nAs expected of a projection formed by the Eternal Heaven Pearl, it was indeed inconceivably perfect.\n\nHuman figures appeared one after another around Yun Che amidst the white light. They were all also observing their surroundings, as well as their opponents in this battle of the preliminaries. Some looked serious, others puzzled, and there were also those whose faces were full of confidence. However, none of them acted rashly.\n\nAs Yun Che’s gaze swept over his surrounding, all he saw were unfamiliar faces. Given the fact that there were a thousand battle zones, and everyone was sent to them randomly, it wasn’t going to be easy for him to catch sight of a familiar face, especially considering that there were very few people that he knew among the participants in the first place.\n\nIn addition, he didn’t find anyone with an aura weaker than him.\n\nThe first level of the Divine Tribulation Realm was, after all, the bottom line of the qualification for the participation in the Profound God Convention… He was at the bottom of the lowest level among all the fifty million participating profound practitioners.\n\nTherefore, there was no doubt that every gaze observing him, turned into one of disdain and contempt. There were even some that seemed to be smiling in derision.\n\nBefore long, the far reaching Voice of Eternal Heaven came from the sky.\n\n“The area you are at right now, is the ‘main city’ of every battle zone, and also the absolute safe area. No profound beasts will appear or invade this place, and the profound strength of every person will also be confined in their bodies, rendering them unable to unleash any attacks on others.”\n\n“Once you leave the main city area, it will be your battlefield.”\n\nPrevious Chapter Next Chapter", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.935161292552948}
+{"content": "Why Am I So Exhausted?\n\n\n\n\n\nAnd I know what it’s like - I’ve certainly had my share of times where, for some reason or other I’ve pushed myself too hard to get a million things done.  I've ended up rewarding myself with an unexpected cold or flu, interrupted sleep and feeling like I just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for 100 years.  Wake me up in 2116.\n\n\nWhen it comes to energy, most patients I see in my clinic would like to feel more energetic.  In many cases, it is the driving force behind why they have come to see me in the first place.  And it’s absolutely fantastic when I hear them report back after starting their treatment that they have more energy and are starting to feel on top of things again.\n\n\nBut I can’t stress enough just how important it is to work out EXACTLY where the lack of energy is originating, so that it can be addressed quickly and effectively.\n\n\nSo, on that note, here are a few reasons why I find many people feel tired and worn out:\n\n\n  • Nutrient deficiencies.  Most people are familiar with the concept of low iron causing fatigue, which is often the first test a doctor will order if you say you are feeling tired.  Iron is responsible for carrying oxygen around your body, so if you are low in iron your body will be struggling to get the oxygen it needs.  And whilst this can be a reason why you feel fatigued (this is particularly common among women who have heavy periods, vegetarians and vegans) there are also other nutrients that are often overlooked when it comes to the role they play in energy production.  These can include magnesium, B-vitamins and co-enzyme Q10.   Don’t forget that many pharmaceutical medications deplete nutrients, so if you are taking a medication regularly, please speak to me about what we can do to help maximise your nutritional status.\n\n\n  • Stress – perhaps your stress levels have been too high for too long.  If you are constantly under a high degree of stress (particularly where you are not taking much ‘time-out’ to recharge), your body starts to become depleted from the constant demands, and your adrenals (small glands that sit on top of your kidneys that are responsible for producing your stress hormones) simply can’t function properly anymore.  This is known as adrenal fatigue, or burnout, and it means you need to take a serious look at what you can do to reduce stress and look after yourself better.  It is a signal your body is sending to you that you need to slow the pace down.  When your adrenals are exhausted they play havoc with your other hormones.  You may feel worn out all the time (in particular, you may find it extremely difficult to get out of bed in the morning), but then feel wound-up and ‘wired’ in the evening.\n\n\n  • You may have something going on with your thyroid.  Your thyroid is a small gland in your neck, that controls your metabolism.  Because it controls your metabolism, it has a direct effect on your energy levels, and if your thyroid is not functioning properly you can experience a range of symptoms, including fatigue, low moods, difficulty concentrating, irregular periods, dry skin/hair, feeling excessively cold or hot, as well as digestive complaints such as constipation.  And contrary to popular belief, it IS possible to be experiencing thyroid symptoms even if your GP has said your thyroid is ok on a test.\n\n\nOf course, there are plenty of other reasons why you may be feeling flat and tired, and these can include not drinking enough water, poor quality sleep, a diet that is too high in sugar and refined carbohydrates, through to the more serious issues such as chronic fatigue syndrome.\n\nIf what I've talked about in this section sounds all-too-familiar - I'd love to help you get your energy back.  \n\nBook your appointment today.\n\nLeave a comment\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5913729667663574}
+{"content": "\n\nLaser Reiki\n\nA simple way to move forward and discover the real you who is a happy and successful being. It just needs to be uncovered and released from negative energies. Push the “delete button” on chronic pain and other issues.\n\nMassage Therapy\n\n\n\nAccess Consciousness Bars\n\n\n90 minute session only $111\n\nEgyptian Healing\n\nKa Shen Sekhem is a natural healing system which is similar to Reiki but operates on a higher vibration and heals on a deeper level. It is a form of Sekhem/Seichim, an ancient Egyptian Universal healing energy. Ka Shen heals on the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels. It connects one with Spirit and the earth and expands and develops the heart centre. The Ka Shen Sekhem energy embodies unconditional love and can come through in a variety of healing vibrations.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9871418476104736}
+{"content": "Location: Various\n\nType: Cultural\n\nCost: £10,000\n\nStatus: Complete\n\nKieran Wardle Architects helped develop a design for a travelling theatre to be used by playwright Jenifer Toksvig as part of her Fairytale Theatre show throughout the UK. The travelling theatre was designed to be fully demountable and transportable, being quickly constructed in various locations across the UK as part of Toksvig’s street-theatre tour.\n\nThe theatre can both be constructed using the lightweight steel tube structure or be hung from nearby structures, buildings and trees. Wrapped in a bespoke perforated fabric screen, the travelling performance piece creates a singular, other worldly space for introversion whilst allowing an audience to share the experience.\n\nKWA designed and tested the theatre concept alongside architect, Jonathan Shaw.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9020266532897949}
+{"content": "The Highlight Element separates the Call-to-Action information from other communication and conceptual messages, and creates attention without having to challenge the large numbers in terms of size.\n\nThe Highlight Element is also an identity tool which builds brand visibility and recognition, and also brings an additional opportunity to create the desired multicolour expression of Vikinglotto.\n\nThe Highlight Element consists of a colour block which, like a highligting pen, encircles short, informative text.\n\n\nPlease follow this example and setup when using the Highlight Element.\n\nAlways leave room equal to 1/8 of the block height above and below the text.\n\nThe gap between blocks should always be equal to 1/8 of the block height.\n\nLogo placement\n\nWhen placing the logo in combination with/below the highlight element, the space between should be equal to the height of the logo.\n\nAs a general rule, the logo should never be wider than the narrowest colour block, but exceptions may occur.\n\nUniversal design (contrast and legibility)\n\nThe Highlight Element\nThere are specific colour guidelines for the Highlight Element in order to ensure optimal legibility in keeping with the requirements for universal design.\n\nText colour options in the Highlight Element:\n\n  1. White\n  2. VL Blue\n  3. Dark Blue\n\nThe text colour should never be the same as the backgrund colour to prevent the appearance of a see through effect.\n\nColour blocks\nThere are several colour options for the colour blocks as presented in the visual example. Make sure you choose a colour for the colour block that creates sufficient contrast to the overlying text and background.\n\nPlease note\nThe large numbers or larger text is not affected by these guidelines which only apply to small point text and/or large amounts of text.\n\nSee Colour Principles and Typography/Fonts for more guidelines.\n\nFor the Highlight Element on pastelles and vibrant colours, use white text on a VL Blue or Dark Blue colour block.\n\nOn darker backgrounds there is a wide range of colour options for the Highlight Element. Please pick one from the examples shown, and remember that the text and background colours should never be the same to avoid see through effect.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8510456681251526}
+{"content": "On Education System in India\n\n\nIt is a well known fact that the current education system in India is a derivative of the education system put in place by the British during their rule. The system put in place by the British was mainly to reduce their administrative costs by producing low to mid level government officials. Unfortunately we still follow a similar style of education today. All it aims at doing is to produce job ready professionals. Below are a couple of the main features of the British education system that is prevalent even today.\n\n  1. Our curriculum evaluates people on individual basis. There is no stress on doing things in a team and building confidence and trust in others.\n  2. Examination and grading system seeks to evaluate students based on a single template. Evaluating students based on only few subjects in an individualistic way through the template of examinations is never good for the confidence level of a student. Moreover the down to 2 decimal places grades are also used by parents to compare and contrast and put undue pressure on students which further hampers their self esteem. This reminds me of a quote by Einstein, which goes like this. “Every person is a born genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to swim, it will live its life believing itself to be a fool”.\n\nThese are just a few issues in our education system which has been there since the British rule. But there is a plethora of other evils which have plagued the education system in India. The reasons for this degradation are manifold. In the following sections this will be discussed. Our education system has degraded to machinery which only aims at producing individualistic conformist working class society, aspiring to make their lives better by earning more and more. It does not encourage independent thinking, inward gaze, creativity and intellectual development and many other things needed to build better individuals and a better society.\n\nThe Drawbacks of Current Education System\n\nWhen India became independent education was seen as a tool of empowerment, which would bring about societal changes and find solution to problems in the country. And during that era education system probably did fulfill its purpose. But if we look at the situation today can we really say that the societal change envisioned at the time of independence has really occurred? Has poverty been eradicated? Has the rich poor gap been closed? In fact it has increased if numbers are to be believed; 26% of India’s wealth is held by a few elites. Few here does not refer to thousands. Not even hundreds. It refers to tens of people.\n\nEven if education system has failed to bring about societal changes, does it really serve the purpose for which it has come to exist? Does it really produce high quality employable youth?\n\n  1. A report from an independent survey claims that at least 47% of the Indian graduates were unemployable.\n  2. 90% of the engineering graduates were deemed unemployable.\n  3. Roughly 84% of the graduates did not have the cognitive ability to get jobs.\n  4. 90% lacked fundamental English proficiency and basic communication skills to get jobs.\n\nSo our education does not solve societal problems. Neither does it produce high quality employable professionals. What are the reasons? Before finding functional and structural flaws lets look at the intent behind the dispersion and reception of education to understand this issue.\n\nThe stakeholders in the education machinery are students, parents, teachers, schools, society and the state. Lets examine education from each of their contexts.\n\n  1. Student –In primary education level as higher marks and academic achievements are encouraged, getting higher marks or passing exams ends up becoming whole purpose of receiving education. In higher education level the intent is to score good marks to get a better job or clear tests so that one is not stuck behind.\n  2. Parents – Most parents send their children to school so that education can secure their future. They look at education as a means of income, social status, security, better marriage prospect and a better material life. Parents send their children to expensive schools by spending a significant part of their earnings, so that their kids can get a better exposure. But again the idea behind getting better exposure is to keep ahead in the race and not necessarily become a better individual.\n  3. School Administration –In case of government schools, running a school is about finishing paperwork, keeping things under control during school hours, acting only to keep things mostly functional. In case of private schools, it is about profits, marketing and keeping the numbers (results, achievements etc) right. Private schools in some instances have threatened to disown students with lower scores to keep the average scores of the school looking healthy.\n  4. Teacher – Most of the teachers are teachers because they did not find a better job. So naturally teaching is just another job for them. It is not like there are no passionate teachers in India, but their number is very low.\n  5. State –The policy makers lay down the law and common man just follows it. There is no two way flow between policy makers and the end users. Hence policy makers are really not accountable in our system. And then you also have the politically motivated syllabus in school to make matters even worse.\n  6. Society – Indian society consists largely of the middle class. The middle class in general is a conformist one which like status quo. However it does expects revolutionaries and innovators to be churned out of the system. But not from their own homes.\n\nNone of the stakeholders except the state (probably) looks at education as a tool to build better individuals, better society and a better country. It is not thought of as a system to enable individuals realize their potential, build character, develop sensitivity to the world around them, develop a sense of responsibility, passion and ownership. Even state does not really look to improve the system continuously. And that has caused the system to become what it is; a rate race. Here are some of the manifestations of the misplaced purpose of education in Indian society.\n\n  1. Everything and everywhere it is about rote memorization. Attitude to explore and learn is suppressed.\n  2. Standardized tests with limited scope evaluate students. Hence the true potential of students is never explored.\n  3. As education is seen as a means of financial security, it has become the major social yardstick.\n  4. Extreme pressure on students to be in top bracket is also leading to increase in rate of student suicides. Limited seats in top education institutes have added to this pressure.\n  5. Increasing dissatisfaction in students and job sector as most people are going through things and doing jobs that they do not like or do not have aptitude for.\n  6. Poor standard of teachers and teaching methods.\n  7. Extremely unhealthy competition among students.\n  8. Development of very individualistic and opportunist environment.\n  9. There is no scope for failure in the system as learning is not the real aim, but grades are.\n  10. Knowledge gathered is bookish and hence inability to apply it in real life.\n  11. Lack of critical thinking.\n  12. Lack of broader worldview among students and hence inability to take decisions.\n  13. Lack of ownership and apathy towards taking up responsibilities.\n  14. Lack of emotional and intellectual development in students\n  15. Lack of confidence and independence.\n\nOther Concerns\n\nIn addition to the issues that we have in our education system we also need to examine what are other major gaps in it. Below are a few concerns that need to be raised.\n\n  1. In recent times there has been a increase in the rate of farmer suicides. The number of registered farmers in the country is on a rapid decline. Youth is moving away from agriculture in search of ‘greener pastures’. Clearly majority of people do not want to take up agriculture as a profession. Unfortunately it all starts with the schooling system. The subjects that are taught at school never really give an exposure to student on agriculture. Neither does the system inspire anyone to become a farmer.\n  2. On the similar lines the system is not designed to inspire people to become naturalists or soldiers or artists or social activists. The list of such professions is endless.\n  3. Our education system is completely focused on the outside. The gaze is always outward. There is hardly anything in the curriculum that enables students to turn their gaze inwards.\n  4. Only number and language based learning seems to be in curriculum. Experiential learning, Visual learning etc do not get any importance.\n  5. Creativity is not nurtured. The grading system and template based evaluation tends to suppress creativity.\n\nCan there be a solution!\n\nEven if the way education is imparted is improved upon; lets say grades are abolished and focus is on learning, will students develop an attitude of understanding rather than mugging? Will parental and societal demands of ensuring a better future not drive them to innovate and find short-cuts.  And if education becomes more understanding oriented and not job oriented will society still be interested in education?\n\nUnless there is a change of attitude towards education, it becomes very difficult to bring in any change. The attitude of all stakeholders is in question here. So we end up with a chicken and egg problem here, for which there may not be any right answers. One thing that is known for sure that change can not be brought about overnight. In this case especially it will be excruciatingly slow. As quantification of the effect of change will be difficult and initial changes will be minimal it will always be under scrutiny by the cynics.\n\nHere are a few suggestions on how the loop can slowly be broken.\n\n  1. School years are the formative years and hence the best time to instill  values and aspirations. So carry out different programs in schools to\n    1. Expose students to agriculture, gardening, nature, animals, wildlife\n    2. Pick up some reflective activity like sketching, theater, music or dance\n    3. Do team and collaborative activities\n    4. Carry out make and learn (instead of read and learn) activities (esp for science subjects)\n    5. Help students realize their potential and aptitude through an environment of continuous open and intimate conversations (We already have numerous names for it like Adda, Bhat, Khatti etc).\n    6. Discussion and Dialogue based learning of abstract subjects\n  2. All the above and such activities will need to have an output that is tangible, which should be celebrated as an achievement.\n  3. Schools must have a homogeneous mix of students from cities, villages and small towns.\n\nMy Solution\n\nMy solution to revamp the education system in India is to follow a holistic approach to education, which is aimed at developing creativity and intuition, values, critical thinking and positive attitude, ability to take decisions,  inward gaze and an attitude of continuous learning among students. Education should inspire. There are a very few schools in India that are having a similar approach to education. If they are brought under one umbrella and more such schools are built it will become a movement and will open up the way to achieve the dream. Secondly education should not only be restricted to schools. Home education is equally important if not more. Awareness among parents and guardians and few tools to enable them to guide and inspire their wards in the right direction would close the loop.\n\nHere are a few areas of focus and the activities related to them. All areas are quite open ended and not specific and exact like maths and science. The learning is mostly visual, experiential and intuitive. It encourages creativity and innovation. A lot of group activities also build trust and camaraderie among children. These are also aimed at inspiring students to take up agriculture, nature wildlife conservation, arts as their profession.\n\n  1. Nature Awareness and agricultural activities – We protect only that which we love. And a person who has not grown up in the lap of nature would find it difficult to really love nature.\n    1. Setting up water holes and food bowls for birds in schools. As birds come down to have a bite or quench their thirst kids keep getting used to them and develop interest in them.\n    2. Adoption of stray dogs and abandoned cats by school\n    3. Maintenance of school garden by students\n    4. Growing few fruits, vegetables, grains, pulses etc in school campus through natural farming method which also may sometime need maintaining a cow shed in school.\n    5. Inclusion of these animals in school rituals and traditions. A school in Michigan provides a sanctuary to a mother duck who returns every year to lay eggs in the school. When the ducklings are old enough they walk through the hallway and led to a nearby water body with the help of students and staff. This now is a yearly ritual of the school.\n    6. Every student being assigned to plant and maintain at least one tree through his schooling time.\n    7. Students involved in growing food at home with their parents (again as a lifetime project).\n    8. Students themselves spreading awareness about community farming, forestation to local communities and helping them setup community farms.\n    9. Guided forest tours and camping. Not just a day affair, but spending a good week or so in the forests.\n    10. Organic waste management training for parents and students.\n  2. Art Education – No everyone can or should become artists. But everyone can and should practice and appreciate art. There are places in India which have this culture of learning, practicing and appreciating all forms of art and that reflects in the life style and outlook towards life of the people in those places. Such a culture must be nurtured from childhood.\n    1. Visual art, Music, Dance and theater should be made compulsory subjects in schools and there must be enough time assigned for it.\n    2. Art exhibitions, music and dance concerts, theater productions should be taken to schools or kids should be brought to such places on regular basis.\n    3. A couple of theater, music, dance productions each and art shows must become compulsory output of every school on a yearly or half yearly basis\n    4. Inter school competitions should be done on a regular basis and a lot of prestige should get attached to such competitions.\n    5. Students to maintain sketchbooks as a visual journal. Sketchbook sharing sessions to be held in schools and among schools.\n    6. Idols need to be created in these fields for students so that they can be inspired. Big names in these fields should be brought to schools and interact with kids.\n    7. Group art projects and community art projects and installations.\n    8. Storytelling and story writing\n    9. Story book illustrations\n    10. Schools or classes getting their own annual original story book published with illustrations, all done by students.\n\nFor specific and exact sciences here are a few suggestions that come to my mind.\n\n  1. Labs should be setup in all schools. If there is no space for labs, class room can be converted to labs.\n  2. Education should happen in labs. People should make first and then learn from it rather than the other way round.\n  3. Labs work should carry more weight than theoretical evaluation in learning process.\n  4. There should be team project works in lab and students should be evaluated as a team and as individual.\n  5. For teaching theory there should be discussions and dialogues and the teacher should act as a guide and moderator.\n  6. A form of teaching whereby absorbing knowledge rather than dissipating knowledge should be encouraged. Meaning the students proactively must question each other and the teacher instead of teacher pushing things down their throat.\n\nChildhood’s End\n\nI made this painting titled ‘Childhood’s End’ way back in 2011 and wrote the above piece more than a year earlier. Children are intuitive, creative and inquisitive by nature in varying degrees. Instead of nurturing that we have been suppressing it for a very long period of time now. But there are a few who have been doing their best to bring about a change. But a change is not possible here unless majority believe in it. Because the change here is a psychological one. Its a change in our value system. Hence a continuous dialogue is necessary. Support to those who are trying to bring changes is necessary. Even the smallest of actions is necessary. Otherwise our society will continue to chase it shadow be stuck in an infinite loop for ever.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6994664669036865}
+{"content": "Simple Flower Arrangements You Can Put Together Fast\n\nEnthusiastically disseminate reliable data before technically sound interfaces. Phosfluorescently reinvent fully tested products whereas functional niches. Synergistically conceptualize web-enabled scenarios and prospective services. Continually reconceptualize resource maximizing initiatives through accurate mindshare. Rapidiously exploit adaptive results for enterprise benefits.\n\nMonotonectally seize open-source technology for an expanded array of customer service. Interactively productivate goal-oriented innovation whereas impactful communities. Interactively benchmark fully researched initiatives without cross-media web services. Authoritatively enhance out-of-the-box innovation through worldwide e-services. Globally facilitate parallel resources via next-generation process improvements.\n\nCompellingly optimize 24/365 benefits before real-time metrics. Uniquely iterate proactive human capital via just in time web services. Proactively negotiate wireless core competencies rather than interoperable metrics. Objectively pursue resource-leveling growth strategies for tactical ideas. Competently revolutionize turnkey methods of empowerment whereas fully researched partnerships.\n\nEfficiently innovate alternative models for 24/365 expertise. Dramatically impact prospective deliverables vis-a-vis sticky methodologies. Efficiently orchestrate standardized strategic theme areas rather than premier initiatives. Competently extend dynamic relationships via open-source bandwidth. Collaboratively strategize granular scenarios through end-to-end niches.\n\n\n\n  • Conveniently simplify magnetic applications without innovative mindshare. Compellingly maximize installed base services with emerging total linkage. Energistically network multifunctional interfaces for intuitive schemas. Collaboratively scale quality ideas rather than quality partnerships. Efficiently disseminate best-of-breed collaboration and idea-sharing for an expanded array of niche markets.\n\n\nWrite a comment", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7184608578681946}
+{"content": " Zhou Xiaochuan: the government of the city housing prices rose faster and more attention-Hot - ChineseMicroNews\n\n\nGovernment Zhou Xiaochuan house price height\n\ncaizhengbu· 2016-10-08 07:32:06\n\n2016\" fourth years in the group of twenty finance ministers and central bank governors meeting\n\n2016 in October 6th, in 2016 fourth the group of twenty (G20) finance ministers and central bank governors meeting held in washington. Treasury Secretary Lou Jiwei and the people's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan presided over the meeting. The meeting is Chinese served as president of the G20 during the last meeting of finance ministers and central bankers, mainly discussed the current global economic situation and the tax and benefit of ownership and anti money laundering issues, and listened to the chairman of the G20 in Germany in 2017 of next year G20 financial channel agenda introduction.\n\nmeeting that the global economic recovery is still slow and uneven, uncertainty and risks have increased. The meeting stressed that will continue to strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination, and earnestly implement the consensus of the Hangzhou summit of the G20, including the use of all policy tools to promote growth, promote structural reform, expand investment in infrastructure, promote the trade liberalization process, to achieve global economy is strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. The meeting discussed the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the global tax transparency and information exchange forum (referred to as the global forum) on preliminary proposals to strengthen international standards of transparency beneficial ownership of the implementation of the requirements of FATF and the global forum to continue to improve and promote the relevant suggestions, also welcomed the OECD (OECD) and other international organizations to actively participate in this work and provide support, tax evasion and money laundering and terrorist financing and to combat corruption. `\n\nLou Jiwei minister pointed out that under the joint efforts of all parties, the G20 Hangzhou summit ended successfully. Summit around the \"building innovation, vitality, linkage and tolerance in the world economy\" theme, conducted in-depth discussions on strengthening policy coordination, innovation and growth, more efficient global economic and financial governance, strong international trade and investment, inclusive and linkage development and other issues, and achieved fruitful results. As one of the main channel of the preparations for the summit, since the G20 financial channel since Chinese served as president of China, actively carry out the work, made a number of important achievements in the coordination of macroeconomic policies, structural reforms, infrastructure investment, international financial structure, financial sector reform, international tax, terrorism financing, funds and financial aspects of the green climate, strong support the success of the summit held. These achievements embodied the wisdom and common financial channels, also shows the G20 countries to unite to deal with global economic challenges, improve global economic governance confidence and determination. Next, G20 parties should continue their efforts to promote the success of the Hangzhou summit has been effectively implemented, to ensure the continuation and consolidation of related issues in the future in the process of G20, increasing the effectiveness of G20 mechanism and influence.\n\nLou Jiwei introduced the current Chinese economy \"to leverage\" and structural reforms. China's \"de leveraging\" cycle is not synchronized with the developed countries. After the international financial crisis, developed countries generally started the deleveraging process, Chinese through the implementation of large-scale economic stimulus policies, has made an important contribution to cope with the crisis, but also had a debt rate rise and overcapacity problems. At present, China is promoting the supply side structural reform process: first, rationalize the price relationship. The focus is to reduce the formation of market price of administrative intervention, efforts to improve the price formation mechanism based on market supply and demand. As in the field of agriculture, to break the rigid agricultural price system, and reform the system of agricultural subsidies, etc.. Two is to promote the flow of urban and rural factors. The integration of fragmented social security system, and gradually establish a unified urban and rural residents in the basic old-age insurance and basic medical insurance system, compulsory education resources can carry, push more people into town, expand effective demand. The three is to promote decentralization, encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, enhance the new energy for economic development. At present, China's structural reform has achieved remarkable results. Unit GDP growth to accommodate the rising number of new jobs, the current 6.7% of the GDP growth rate has achieved new jobs over 10 million people. Although China's structural reform task is still very heavy, but it will effectively promote the long-term sustainable economic growth.\n\nZhou Xiaochuan, president pointed out that this year China's economic growth continues to be in a reasonable range, prices remain stable, the job market performance is good, the consumer continues to steadily rise. Some important economic indicators in the near future have picked up signs, continue to make an important contribution to the global economic growth. In the economy to enter the high speed growth of the new normal at the same time, the structure and quality of China's economic growth continues to improve, the new growth momentum continues to emerge, the long-term economic fundamentals will not change.\n\nZhou Xiaochuan, President, said the Chinese credit /GDP and long-term trend gap rise, reflecting China's response to the global economic recovery and the lack of G20 growth target to implement the efforts. China's high savings rate, rapid investment growth is fully guaranteed. At the same time, China is still in the middle income level, there are a lot of growth point for mining. At present, there are some excess capacity in China's economy, and the appropriate credit growth can be adjusted to the reverse cycle. Last year, China's capital market fluctuations, for the maintenance of financial stability, at that time, there was a stage of more dependent on bank credit financing, but the market is no longer stable after a large increase. As the global economy recovers, China will be in control of credit growth.\n\nZhou Xiaochuan, President of China, China's efforts to seek a balance between exchange rate flexibility and maintain exchange rate stability, will unswervingly continue to promote the reform of the exchange rate market. Recent capital outflow pressure eased, taking into account the Chinese economy to maintain a reasonable range, the current account continues to maintain a surplus, China's cross-border capital flows will be towards a more balanced direction.\n\nZhou Xiaochuan, president pointed out that the recent rise in housing prices in some cities in china. The Chinese government attaches great importance to and actively take measures to promote the healthy development of the real estate market.\n\nThe lastest articles of caizhengbu", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6355634927749634}
+{"content": "Consumer Resources\n\n\n\nComplete the Form\n\nGlossary of Funeral Terms\n\nFuneral & Cremation Terms\n\nThere are 6 names in this directory beginning with the letter I.\nAs stated on its website, the International Association of Pet Cemeteries and Crematories (IAOPCC) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the standards, ethics, and professionalism of pet cemeteries and crematories worldwide.\nImmediate Burial\nThe direct burial of the deceased usually performed without embalming, or a formal viewing, visitation, or ceremony. A simple graveside ceremony may be held instead.\nIndividual Pet Cremation\nThis term can refer to one of two methods of cremation. Most commonly, the pet will be placed alone in the cremation chamber, and cremated. However, some cremation providers may define “individual” cremation as placing the bodies of several pets in the cremation chamber, but keeping them individually separated through some physical means such as clay bricks, separate cremation trays, etc. Even though the bodies are physically separated, some unavoidable mingling of the ashes of the cremated pets is possible when this method is used.\nInflation-Proof Contract\nAn inflation-proof contract must be funded 100% in advance. The prices of services and merchandise are guaranteed to be covered at the time of need, despite any cost increases due to inflation.\nThe act of placing a body in a grave or tomb.\nIrrevocable Contract\nAn irrevocable contract must be used solely for the purpose of paying for funeral expenses. Most people choose to make their pre-funding irrevocable because they want to ensure that the money will be there to pay for their funeral in the future.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9936943054199219}
+{"content": "The Articles on the Establishment of a Free Federation of Amalthean States are a series of articles governing and establishing the Free Federation of Amalthea written in the year 557 by several elected leaders from Solea, Auspikitan, Darvincia, and Nausikaa.\n\n\nAmalthea, as a contrast to the rest of the world, does not follow the same cultural patterns or express the same views on the planet, life, or people.  As such, it has been determined by the general will of the people of Amalthea to create a union of states with express focus placed upon the welfare and interests of the people of This Continent, and governed by the people aforementioned.\nThis document hereby states that the Nations of Amalthea will be unified into an organization of mutually cooperative states striving for the prosperity of the sentient races of Universalis.\n\nArticle I: Ideals and protection thereof.\nNon-intervention by foreign powers is essential to the socialist and often autarkic economies prevailing on the Amalthean continent.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7757845520973206}
+{"content": "# EVENT NAME: RENU - Network Monitoring and Management Workshop # * **Dates:** 24th April - 28th April, 2017 * **Location:** Mbarara, Uganda * **Host:** [Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST)](http://must.ac.ug) * **Venue:** [Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST)](http://must.ac.ug/) * **DEA:** 2nd May - 5th May, 2017 (MUST and Bishop Stuart University) ## Workshop ## * [Detailed Agenda](agenda.html) (includes links to presentations and schedule) * [Participants](participants.html) * [Instructors and Organizers](instructors.html) * [Reference Materials](references.html) * [Sponsors](sponsors.html \"Workshop Sponsors\") * [Survey](https://nsrc.org/limesurvey/LINK-TO-SURVEY) ## Workshop Topics ## The workshop will be a combination of theory and lab. Ubuntu Linux server version 16.04 LTS will be the workshop platform. The course will cover: * Introduction to Network Monitoring and Management * Recap of Linux command line use. Depending on the class level this may be very basic to more in-depth * Introduction to Linux * Security essentials including SSH * Linux commands and the command line interface (CLI) * Text editors (vi, joe) * Cisco IOS Configuration Basics * SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) * Nagios - Server and Service monitoring and alerting * Smokeping * Netflow, NfSen - traffic analysis and exploration", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000061988830566}
+{"content": "Russia will continue military cooperation with Philippines\n\nRussia is ready to continue the developing of the military-technical cooperation with the Philippines, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the President of the Republic of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte on margins of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit in Vietnam.\n\nRussia is ready to continue the developing of the military technical cooperation with Philippines 925 001\nSoldiers of Philippines at military parade in the capital\n\n\"I remember when you had to break your visit to Russia due to terroristic attacks in your country. Leaving [Russia], you told me that you were to straighten the things out and to defeat these terrorists, I remember also,\" Putin said. \"I want to congratulate you on the success in doing so,\" he added.\n\nHe alluded to the fighting against terrorism as a common task for Russia and the Philippines. \"In accordance with our agreements, we are ready to develop our relations, including the ones in the military and military-technical areas; it also stands to reason that a strong emphasis shall be placed on economic ties,\" Putin said.\n\nIn October, the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Philippines signed an agreement on military-technical cooperation.\n\nRussia's Defense Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu and the Secretary of National Defense of the Philippines Delfin Lorenzana affixed their signatures to the contract. On the same occasion, Shoigu and Duterte participated in the ceremony for the delivery of a batch of defense hardware, including small arms and military trucks, to the Philippines.\n\nPhilippines are mainly equipped with military equipment and combat vehicles from United States. \n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5539138317108154}
+{"content": "8000 Saiyans\n\nRank: Member\nJoined:Sep 27, 2017\nVisits this Week:118\nTotal Visits:9443\nLast Viewed:12:38pm on Feb 22, 2019\n#1 All Time Favorite\nVoice Actor\nMel Blanc\nWhy? \"60's Batman.\"\nWhy? \"One of the most badass Japanese VA's of all time. Solid Snake, Batou, Wamu... he's great in everything.\"\nWhy? \"ATATATATATATATA!!!!!!!!!!\"\nWhy? \"A great actress with a sexy, husky voice and a stunning beauty.\"\nWhy? \"One of the sexiest Japanese voices of all time. Also quite beautiful for someone who's in her late 50's.\"\nWhy? \"She has such a lovely and sweet voice.\"\nWhy? \"The Jennifer Hale of the 80's.\"\nWhy? \"Ireland's greatest actor.\"\nWhy? \"One of the greatest talents from the Ocean Group. Can do high-pitched and deep, monstrous voices effortlessly. Vegeta, Benny, Zechs, Ryuk...\"\nWhy? \"He really defined how Wolverine should sound like.\"\nWhy? \"Dr. Eggman, Gol D. Roger, Tao Pai Pai and Big Boss were his best roles.\"\nWhy? \"One of the quintessential voice actors of the 1980's. Starscream and Cobra Commander were two of his greatest roles.\"\nWhy? \"Great as serious and menacing villains like Lex Luthor and the Kurgan, but can also be funny as Mr. Krabs.\"\nWhy? \"He really defined what it means to be a character actor.\"\nWhy? \"Just excellent as Jotaro Kujo. ORA ORA ORA!!!\"\nWhy? \"Lois Lane and Andrea Beaumont.\"\nWhy? \"The best voice for Venom.\"\nWhy? \"The master of body horror. It's a shame he can't get funding for his projects nowadays. Also what a soothing voice.\"\nWhy? \"Sentinels and Master Mold.\"\nWhy? \"Along with Scott McNeil, Brian Drummond and the Dobson brothers, one of the best Canadian VA's. Megatron is his best role out of many.\"\nWhy? \"One of the weirdest directors of all time. Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man, Mullholland Drive, The Straight Story, Wild at Heart...\"\nWhy? \"An underrated voice actor with a badass deep voice.\"\nWhy? \"One of the finest voice actors and a great successor to Mel Blanc. Amazing as Megatron, Fred Jones, Soundwave, etc...\"\nWhy? \"HULK SMASH!!!\"\nWhy? \"She was amazing as Bulma and Meryl Stryfe. R.I.P.\"\nWhy? \"I hope my body can take it.\"\nWhy? \"He might be a nut, but he's a damn great actor. Despite some duds, he's always the best part of them.\"\nWhy? \"Such a sexy and lovely voice. Ocean is sure full of beautiful ladies with sexy voices.\"\nWhy? \"Darkwing Duck, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger... This man has a lot of great and memorable roles.\"\nWhy? \"One of the greatest actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood. George Bailey, Scottie Ferguson, Jefferson Smith, L.B. \"Jeff\" Jeffries...\"\nWhy? \"Great as creepy characters.\"\nWhy? \"One of the coolest voices of all time. Amazing as Goliath, Tombstone, Mongul, Despero, Spawn and Black Panther.\"\nWhy? \"Epic voice for Shenron, Raoh and Armstrong.\"\nWhy? \"She's 17 years old. Oi oi!\"\nWhy? \"One of the best actors to play intense roles of all time.\"\nWhy? \"Easily the most talented Japanese VA of all time. Incredible range...\"\nWhy? \"Impressive that she can voice Sailor Moon as well as Murrue Ramius. She's also very cute.\"\nWhy? \"A cool badass voice for Cable.\"\nWhy? \"An incredible amount of range. It'll be interesting to hear his Frieza.\"\nWhy? \"The Joker and Luke Skywalker.\"\nWhy? \"While he might have phoned in most of his performances in later life, his incredible acting talent can't be denied.\"\nWhy? \"Her Lady Jaye voice is so sexy.\"\nWhy? \"An absolute legend in the world of voice acting. She's simply perfect as Goku, Gohan, Goten, Bardock, Turles and Goku Black.\"\nWhy? \"Krillin, Yajirobe and Luffy.\"\nWhy? \"One of the best Japanese voice actresses of all time. Amazing in everything she does. Also a lovely singer.\"\nWhy? \"Sailor Uranus, Kurama, Makoto Naegi, Nagito Komaeda and Shinji Ikari.\"\nWhy? \"It's cool that he can still sound youthful even in his 80's.\"\nWhy? \"The definitive voice for Wally West.\"\nWhy? \"Guts, Knuckles, Lancer, Kabuto, Cao Pi, Nnoitra, Saonel\"\nWhy? \"The Tom Cruise of voice acting.\"\nWhy? \"No one can voice Cell like he can.\"\nWhy? \"Who would have thought that the guy who voiced Yusuke Urameshi would go on to voice Johan Liebert?\"\nWhy? \"The eldest of the Dobson brothers.\"\nWhy? \"The definitive Optimus Prime, but has also shown in the past that he can do more than just Optimus Prime.\"\nWhy? \"Amazing as Goku, Rolf and Whiplash.\"\nWhy? \"Amazing how he can voice John Stewart and Static Shock. Also great in many other roles like Samurai Jack.\"\nWhy? \"Raiden, Arcade, Spider-Man, Axel and Kon.\"\nWhy? \"He's always a treat to hear in everything he does.\"\nWhy? \"Such an incredibly underrated and underused VA. He's my favorite Spider-Man along with Christopher Daniel Barnes. Also a great Batman.\"\nWhy? \"A great character actor who can also be a great leading man. Still kicking it at 88.\"\nWhy? \"A very lovely husky voice. Her performance as Edward Elric made her one of my favorite female Japanese voice actresses of all time.\"\nWhy? \"One of the greatest football players of all time. It's such a pity he got that knee injury since he would have been unstoppable.\"\nWhy? \"Frieza, Cooler, Mayuri... A very distinctive voice for villains.\"\nWhy? \"Great VA for little boys and mature women.\"\nWhy? \"The greatest Canadian VA that has ever lived.\"\nWhy? \"His deep smooth voice is music to my ears. Zarbon, Aizen and Vanilla Ice are his best roles.\"\nWhy? \"Excellent at playing comic relief characters like Emperor Pilaf and Kuwabara, but can also be serious and menacing as Raditz.\"\nWhy? \"I can't think of any other Japanese voice actor that could have voiced Zamasu better than this guy. A masterful voice acting performance.\"\nWhy? \"The definitive voice for Piccolo, but also great as Kai Shiden and many more great characters.\"\nWhy? \"Blackarachnia, female Ranma Saotome and Jean Grey.\"\nWhy? \"April O'Neil.\"\nWhy? \"She has such a cute and adorable voice for characters like Videl and Pan.\"\n#1 All Time Favorite\nTV Show\nWhy? \"It might have some flaws such as censorship and bad animation, but it's still a great show and one of my favorite depictions of Spider-Man.\"\n#1 All Time Favorite\nWhy? \"A very fun film. Great voice acting and incredible animation. Also that color palette is to die for.\"\nWhy? \"While the special effects are dated, you can tell the filmmakers put a lot of work on all departments to make this film great.\"\nWhy? \"An Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece. That shower scene is the stuff nightmares are made of.\"", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9095644950866699}
+{"content": "New DNA Study Crushes The Hope Of A Real Life Jurassic Park\n\njurassic park\n\nPhoto: Universal Studios\n\nIn August, Clive Palmer, an insanely rich and slightly crazy Australian mining magnate, announced he wanted to build a real life Jurassic Park. Sadly, news out today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B indicates he will never get his wish.By studying ancient fossilized bones, researchers, led by Morten Allentoft at the University of Copenhagen and Michael Bunce at Murdoch University in Australia, found that the genetic material needed to clone a dinosaur, known as DNA, has a half-life of 521 years. That means that in any given bone or fossil half of the atomic bonds that hold molecules of DNA together are broken in 521 years. Then, after another 521 years, another half degrades.\n\nThe number they got — 521 years — is actually about 400 times longer than researchers in the lab had suspected.\n\nThey found this out by analysing the DNA from 158 radiocarbon dated fossils of the New Zealand moa, a large flightless bird, the oldest of which was 8,000 years old. They discovered that they couldn’t get enough DNA data from fossils older than 1.5 million years, because the strands would be too short to give good information, though different preservation conditions could change that number.\n\nInterestingly, the oldest DNA ever found was in 800,000-year-old ice.\n\nBusiness Insider Emails & Alerts\n\nSite highlights each day to your inbox.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9739627242088318}
+{"content": "Formulating maintenance budgets \n\nConducting variance analysis to determine difference between projected & actual results\n\nImplementing corrective actions. \n\nMonitoring overall performance in accordance with company policies and procedures. \n\nTroubleshooting and breakdown \n\nPreventive corrective routine maintenance for reducing machinery downtime to minimum \n\nPrevention the recurrences of non-conformance \n\nConducting inspection and tests to ensure the effectiveness of various machines keeping in view the performance, safety & quality standards", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000100135803223}
+{"content": "SiriusXM The Joint Presents:\n\n\nCollie Buddz, Xiuhtezcatl\n\nSaturday, October 20\n\n\n$25.00 - $57.00\n\nThis event is 18 and over\n\nhad an amazing family reunion. It’s a blueprint for our future.” Poetry In Motion continues the band’s belief that music should speak for people and uplift them. The album looks at the world today and asks why it feels like something is wrong when so much exists around us. \"Fire In the Sky,” propulsive and upbeat, takes the positive outlook on humanity while “Life Support,” a more introspective song, tackles the negative outlook. All the other tracks fall somewhere in the middle, as Jacob and the\nband grapple with the human condition, unafraid of big topics and essential life queries. “The definition of the title is three-fold,” Jacob says. “I’m poetry, the band’s motion. The\nhuman race and the animals and plants that are spinning around on this Earth are beautiful – it’s poetry flying through the universe in motion. And then, thirdly, we are this beautiful poetry but we keep moving away from it. Right now it feels like we’re moving in the wrong direction and it’s scary.” The album poses questions but never takes on a definitive reply. SOJA isn’t offering an answer. Instead, the answers are out there for each listener to find on their own. \"There’s no periods on anything,” Jacob notes. “I give hints and glimpses, but my own opinions on the human condition change every year. Sometimes I’m climbing,\nhas headlined shows in over 30 countries. For SOJA, everything is about connection, whether it's with the world around them or within the band. “Nothing worth doing in life can you do by yourself,” Jacob notes. “We’re in this together.”\nCollie Buddz\nCollie Buddz\nBuddz exploded onto the scene a few years ago when critics and tastemakers alike embraced him - Spin Magazine proclaiming, \"Buddz proves the pop rule: Catchiness transcends color.\" From Vibe Magazine to Entertainment Weekly, Collie Buddz made quite an impression with music critics.\n\n\"As an artist, I want to expand musically. I'll always do Reggae. I did Reggae music because I was good at it and that's what I knew and loved growing up. But at the same time, when I put on my producer hat and I hear a riddim, it might not be in my comfort range, but whatever I hear on the track dictates what I'm going to make. I really only care about making good music. For that to happen, it can't live in a box.\"\n\nIndeed growing up on the island of Bermuda, Reggae music was a formidable influence on a young Collie Buddz. Born Colin Harper in New Orleans, LA to a mother of Bermudian heritage with roots on the island dating back to the 1700s, his father passed away while Collie Buddz was at the tender age of four. At that time, his mother moved the family back home to Bermuda. It wasn't long before Buddz discovered more than his Bermudian heritage. Introduced to Reggae music by his older brother, Matthew, affectionately just known as \"Smokey,\" by the tenderfoot age of 12, Colin Harper quickly learned his way around a music studio. It soon became apparent to everyone within earshot of the boy that his voice was unique in a way that lingers long after you've heard him. \"Back then, I just used to plug headphones into the microphone jack of a tape deck. I'd sing into one of the earpieces and record it on cassette,\" Buddz recalls.\n\nEventually, Smokey relocated to Toronto to pursue an audio engineering degree. His baby brother, as always, tagged along. But Buddz had plans of his own. And, by the age of 19, he was attending Full Sail Academy in Orlando, FL pursuing his own audio engineering degree. Only 13 months later, Buddz had that degree. With dreams of becoming a major music producer, Buddz rejoined his brother in Canada.\n\nAs a producer, Buddz was the most comfortable in the studio. But he couldn't find any artists that could really pull off the sound he desired so Buddz far too often found himself just running back and forth from the vocal booth to the mixing booth as he layered his own vocals for his production work. After a while, it just became easier for him to just do it all by himself. At this juncture, Colin Harper became Collie Buddz.\n\nWith his independent spirit guiding his journey Buddz has toured the world. He's constantly creating new music and experimenting with it in front of live audiences almost immediately. He's honed his craft while in support of several tours with artists such as Cypress Hill, Rebelution and Matisyahu. He's performed in front of thousands at the largest music festivals such as Lollapalooza, Boomtown, Summer Jam and the California Roots Festival.\n\nWhile touring, Buddz still found time to record new material and release original music independently on his own record label, Harper Digital. He's even managed to launch a new radio station back home in Bermuda (Vibe 103) and become a father.\nThe new wave of hip-hop has arisen a woke generation. From it, Xiuhtezcatl — seventeen-year-old Indigenous rapper and activist — has emerged, stirring the comatose with his music.\n\nFrom performing at the Standing Rock encampment with Immortal Technique and Nahko, to leading the Youth v. Gov. lawsuit against the Federal Government, Xiuhtezcatl’s actions show his music is more than words.\n\nXiuhtezcatl grew up immersed in the indigenous Aztec traditions of his father and advocating for social and environmental justice with his mother.\n\n— Xiuhtezcatl\nAt the age of seven, Xiuhtezcatl began songwriting and performing as a means to reflect his world and activate his generation.\n\nHis rousing story and performances captivated a global audience, garnered millions of views on YouTube, and have been featured in major publications including Rolling Stone, Billboard, Vice and The New York Times.\n\nRecently Xiuhtezcatl performed before the U.N. General Assembly, collaborated on stage and in the studio with Jaden Smith and Bassnectar, and appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.\n\nAdditionally, he wrote the best-selling book, We Rise, and is featured in the next iconic series by Shepard Fairey, We The Future.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9310253262519836}
+{"content": "Our goal at PCI is to create a positive environment where students feel welcome and safe.  PCI is implementing a program where students can earn a reward at the end of each month for doing something positive that is above and beyond what is already expected of them.  If a student receives a “PAW”, the student did something “above and beyond” to exhibit kindness, caring, and positive character.  If your child talks to you about receiving a “PAW” you should be very proud!\n\nIf you have any questions about this program please contact the principal, Mr. Smorto.  He is excited about how this program can change the culture of the building in a positive way!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9977747201919556}
+{"content": "READ List of Famous Astrologers\n\n90k views 261 items\n\nList of famous astrologers, with photos, bios, and other information when available. Who are the top astrologers in the world? This includes the most prominent astrologers, living and dead, both in America and abroad. Science lovers will also enjoy the greatest scientific breakthroughs of 2017 and this simple guide on how to become an astrologist in two weeks. This list of notable astrologers is ordered by their level of prominence, and can be sorted for various bits of information, such as where these historic astrologers were born and what their nationality is. The people on this list are from different countries, but what they all have in common is that they're all renowned astrologers.\n\nThis list of popular astrologists includes William Lilly and Claudius Ptolemy. Featuring the great scientists of astrology, this list has them all! \n\nFrom reputable, prominent, and well known astrologers to the lesser known astrologers of today, these are some of the best professionals in the astrologer field. If you want to answer the questions, \"Who are the most famous astrologers ever?\" and \"What are the names of famous astrologers?\" then you're in the right place. \n\nGalileo Galilei is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\n\nPtolemy is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nClaudius Ptolemy was a Greco-Egyptian writer of Alexandria, known as a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in the ...more\n\nAleister Crowley is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nAleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley was a British occultist, writer and mystic. He is perhaps best known today for his occult writings, especially The Book of the Law, the central ...more\n\nDorotheus of Sidon is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nDorotheus of Sidon Dorotheus of Sidon was a 1st-century Hellenistic astrologer who wrote a didactic poem on horoscopic astrology known in Greek as the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch, which was a textbook on ...more\n\nNostradamus is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\n\nGiordano Bruno is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\n\nHeinrich Cornelius Agrippa is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nHeinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a German magician, occult writer, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist.\n\nWilliam Lilly is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nWilliam Lilly William Lilly has been described as \"the most abused as well as the most celebrated astrologer of the seventeenth century\". Born the son of a yeoman farmer in Leicestershire, Lilly ...more\n\nJohannes Kepler is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\n\nAntero Alli is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nAntero Alli was born 11 November 1952, in Finland. Alli currently resides in Berkeley, California, where he conducts workshops and stages theatrical productions, some of which have been released ...more\n\nBerossus is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nBerossus Berosos or Berossus was a Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer, a priest of Bel Marduk and astronomer who wrote in the Koine Greek language, and who was active at the beginning of the 3rd century ...more\n\nGeoffrey Chaucer is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nGeoffrey Chaucer, known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to be buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster ...more\n\nRoger Bacon is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nRoger Bacon, OFM, was an English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empirical methods. He is sometimes credited as one of the ...more\n\nDane Rudhyar is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nDane Rudhyar, born Daniel Chennevière, was an author, modernist composer and humanistic astrologer. He was the pioneer of modern transpersonal astrology.\n\nMuḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nAbū ‘Abdallāh Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, formerly Latinized as Algoritmi or Algaurizin, was a Persian mathematician, astronomer and geographer during the Abbasid Caliphate, a scholar in the ...more\n\nFernando Pessoa is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nFernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira Pessôa, was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher, described as one of the most ...more\n\nAlbertus Magnus is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\n\nPhilipp Melanchthon is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nPhilipp Melanchthon, born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the ...more\n\nParacelsus is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nParacelsus was a Swiss German Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist. He founded the discipline of toxicology. He is also known as a revolutionary for ...more\n\nAlan Leo is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nAlan Leo Alan Leo, born William Frederick Allan, was a prominent British astrologer, author, publisher and theosophist. He is often referred to as \"the father of modern astrology\". His work ...more\n\nStephanie Adams is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nStephanie Adams is an American model and author.\n\nJohn Dee is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nJohn Dee was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occult philosopher, imperialist and adviser to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and ...more\n\nVettius Valens is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nVettius Valens Vettius Valens was a 2nd-century Hellenistic astrologer, a somewhat younger contemporary of Claudius Ptolemy. Valens' major work is the Anthology, ten volumes in Greek written roughly within the ...more\n\nMax Heindel is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nMax Heindel, born Carl Louis von Grasshoff in Aarhus, Denmark on July 23, 1865, was a Danish-American Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic. He died on January 6, 1919 at Oceanside, ...more\n\nHipparchus is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list List of Famous Astrologers\nHipparchus of Nicaea, was a Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. He is considered the founder of trigonometry but is most famous for his incidental discovery of precession of the ...more", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9808499217033386}
+{"content": "Social network analysis: Do cluster development programs help firms to expand their innovative collaboration?\n\nMarina Rybalka\nStatistics Norway\n\nRolf Røtnes\nEconomics Norway\n\nInnovation takes place in interaction between people, organisations and businesses. Individual companies can, however, hardly keep track of, hold or deal with all relevant knowledge and are consequently dependnt on interaction with other companies and research institutions. Information and knowledge spill-overs can give clustered firms a better production function than isolated producers (Krugman 1991). Thus, countries seek to strengthen or replicate the success factors that have encouraged the concentration of innovative firms associated with the knowledge economy. A clear rationale for public support of clusters concerns the transaction costs and coordination costs of bringing the appropriate actors together (OECD 2007).\n\nCluster development programs have become a part of many governments’ economic policy strategies in the recent decades. They are intended to facilitate knowledge spill-overs between firms and research and education institutions and include a variety of activities justified by theories of how innovation takes place in interaction between different operators. Modern cluster policies aim to put in place a favourable business ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship in which new winners can emerge, thereby supporting the development of emerging industries (European Comission 2015).\n\nSince the early 2000s, Norway has had a strategy to strengthen industry clusters through a national cluster program. The Arena program was launched in 2002, since when it has supported nearly 70 cluster projects. Norwegian Centres of Expertise (NCE) was launched in 2006 to further strengthen interaction in the Norwegian innovation system. NCE has supported 15 projects. In 2014, Arena and NCE were merged into one program: the Norwegian Innovation Clusters program (NIC). At the same time, Global Centres of Expertise (GCE) was initiated as a third level. GCE supports three cluster projects today.\n\nThough the cluster policy is well supported by the theory, its evaluation is still necessary to justify the use of the financial resources that are constrained. The comprehensive literature on the policy evaluation provides an overview of the reasons to undertake evaluation and a basic methodological understanding (see e.g. Georghiou and Roessner, 2000; Hansen, 2005). However, in addition to the challenges that are common for policy evaluation process (such as the definition of a control group, the identification and measurement of effects and side effects, and the calculation of overall program costs), evaluation of cluster policy programs faces their specific challenges. These are due to the hybrid character of cluster policy which combines elements of various policy areas, the multidimensional, systemic concept of clusters and the last but not the least the data availability (cf. Schmiedeberg, 2010).\n\nNorwegian Innovation Clusters program, as well as similar cluster programs internationally, has a clear objective to enhance collaboration activities. In this paper we use a unique dataset on Norwegian firms’ formalized research collaboration and analyse whether participation in a cluster project has had an impact on the participating firms’ innovative collaboration networks. Since our available data comprises detailed information about firms and research institutions that are engaged in different R&D projects, we are able to construct an R&D collaboration network for each cluster firm by counting direct links between them and other R&D project collaborators. We also construct cluster networks, i.e. the links between all firms and research institutions participating in the given cluster. Then we compare R&D collaboration networks for the cluster firms 3 years before and 3 years after their enrolment in a cluster. We also construct the networks of the potential collaborators for the future cluster members comprising all indirect connections through their collaborators before they become a cluster member.\n\nThe results are striking. Even controlling for the potential collaborators, we find that participation in a cluster program has had a positive impact on the firms’ innovative collaboration networks. That yields both the establishing of new collaborative interactions and collaborative intensity for the existing interactions. The results vary dependent on the types of the nodes (firms or research institutes) and on the cluster program level (regional or national). The collaboration between cluster firms in the same cluster has doubled through the programs at the regional level, while similar collaboration has more than doubled through the projects at the national level. We also find a significant increase in collaboration between cluster firms and R&D institutions in the same cluster.\n\nBased on the obtained results, the main conclusion is that Norwegian Innovation Cluster program contributes to more innovation-oriented collaboration among firms and between firms and R&D institutions. There is further reason to assume that this collaboration contributes to greater innovation than would otherwise have been the case, although this conclusion requires a separate analysis.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9940525889396667}
+{"content": "Smart Bioactive NO meter\n\nNO (Nitric Oxide) is a radical gas and one of most important signaling molecules in the human body, Jain 2015. Everything one does during life e.g., nutrition, physical activities,... continue reading\n\nReducing the peer review burden and raising grant success rates by passing a simple law\n\nPass a law that limits the total dollars that a research organization can request from the federal government to three times the average dollars they received in previous years. This would immediately change the average success rate of grants to... continue reading\n\nAre we throwing away fresh water? How much fresh water is going to the landfills?\n\nSeveral authors have worked and came forward with studies and papers on water use, depletion and virtual water. However little to nothing has been done to study how much water is throwed away and wasted on a daily basis in... continue reading\n\nPiracy and (Digital) Economy - Beneficial side-effects of outlawed acts and black market economies for societies.\n\nThere are various pointers in recent research that suggest that product piracy as a means of distribution is a mayor factor in not only innovation but also education and economic advancement. Independent studies also show positive effects for the... continue reading\n\nWhy Renewable Energy Cannot Replace Fossil Fuels\n\nIn 2013, the world used 533 exajoule of commercial primary energy, of which 87% was from fossil fuels. Renewable energy (RE) accounted for just under 9% [BP 2014]... continue reading\n\nAffectivity to liminality a factor in psychogenesis\n\nA liminal phase is one where the subject experiences his existence as being in a non-controlled or controllable environment, one that is insecure, unfamiliar and thus anxiety producing. Everyone routinely slips in and out of liminal phases from... continue reading\n\nRe-scaling of model evaluation measures to allow direct comparison of their values\n\nSpecies distribution models are increasingly used in ecology, biogeography and climate change research, and are usually complemented with one or more metrics evaluating their performance. Not all metrics vary within the same scale of measurement:... continue reading\n\nBehavioral Economics: The Way Forward in Education\n\nBehavioral Economics focuses on modelling the decision-making process of individuals, by exploring the emotional, psychological, and social factors that lead to those decisions. Although it primarily focuses on economic decisions nonetheless there... continue reading\n\nThe Effect of Economists and Other Professions on Economic Growth\n\nThere is a literature on the effects of lawyers on economic growth that suggests that much legal activity is either unproductive or rent-seeking. While the empirical results in this literature are mixed, there is a larger question of why does the... continue reading\n\nWhy research reputation trumps teaching reputation in universities\n\nIn humans we see lekking behaviour in the general rule that people like being around successful people. This is why social A-lists exist. More generally as animal behaviour, a lek is a gathering of individuals for the purposes of competitive... continue reading\n\n\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7554064989089966}
+{"content": "Job Description:\n\nSupport strategic planning and project management for Roadshows/ Conferences/  Exhibition/ Marketing Campaigns\n·        Responsible for building, maintaining and growing relationships with existing and new clients.\n\nLiaise and work closely with both internal and external stakeholders to fulfil project objectives\nPlan and propose workflow/ timeline for each assigned project\nOversee turnkey management of projects to ensure seamless execution\n·        Provide project management suggestions to improve overall execution, work processes, team management etc.\n\nManage project related procurement\nApply for licence and permits required with relevant authorities\n\nAny duties as assigned by Management when appropriate\n\n\nDegree in Event Management/Mass Communication/Business or Diploma with min 3 years Event Management experience.\n3-5 yrs of events management, administration, event facilitators experience would be advantageous\n·        Able to multi-task and handle stress well, with positive mindset generally\n\n·        Able to be a good team player with leadership characteristics\n\n·        Candidates exhibiting ability to be meticulous and systematic is preferred\n\n\nInterested applicants, please send in your resume including the following information:\n\nCurrent and expected salary \nNotice period, if any\n\nAbout First Wave Pte Ltd\n\nAt First Wave, we are adaptable, collaborative, driven, nurturing and progressive.\n\nWe are practical dreamers, striving to climb the market leadership ladder as we increasingly pit ourselves against bigger industry players. But contrary to pursuing blind leadership, our action is so to build a great company that everyone in the team can build their desired lifestyle upon. Believers that passion without skilled execution is just naivety, we value camaraderie and look forward to the journey together with you to make the impossible possible.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998524785041809}
+{"content": "Loses That Dreaded Stress For Good With Helpful Tricks\n\nYou may experience stress for any number of reasons, at any given time without warning. All people go through it at some point, and everyone has their own way of dealing with it. Not everyone has an effective solution to stress, and they may need some more ideas. The following tips will help you make stress a distant memory.\n\nPlan ahead today in whatever you can, and the feeling of a lighter burden and less stress will amaze you the next morning. Every little thing in a day adds up to a lot of stress, so taking out tomorrows clothes or making tomorrows lunch this evening will put you ahead of the game and really add up to stress savings!\n\nCalming scents can melt the stress away. There are certain aromas that have been proven to calm the nerves including lavender, rose, and peppermint. Using a small vial, mix rock salt and add a few drops of whatever oil you have chosen. Whenever stress starts to overtake you, just smell one of your favorite aromas.\n\nFiguring out exactly where your stress comes from is a priority, since the array of potential causes is so vast. If the thing that is causing stress can be taken out of your life, you need to do that. Doing so will make you feel better.\n\nLet people know that your stressful reactions have nothing to do with them. You don’t want your family thinking that they are causing you this pain, and then suffering guilt from those thoughts. Your stress should be your problem, and you should never displace it onto those around you who you love the most.\n\nPlaying video games is an excellent way for young adults to relieve stress. Games make you focus on strategy, which reduces energy available for stress and worry. Play either alone in your apartment, or with a friend to help with your mood.\n\nIf you have a significant other, spend time with your loved one and go out to a romantic dinner by candle light This can help you focus and enjoy this moment versus thinking about what happened before, or what will happen later, to cause you stress.\n\nA little daydreaming can prove invaluable in defusing the stress you feel in life. Allow your mind to drift into a place and time of fantasy. Exercises like these will help your brain deal with any negative situation.\n\nOne great way to reduce stress is to take up arts and crafts. Art is a great way to do something creative and distract yourself from parts of your routine that are causing you a lot of stress.\n\nBreathing before you respond can help control a situation that is stressful. Remove yourself from the situation and take some deep breaths while counting to ten. Once your breathing is under control, rejoin the situation. Being able to calm down can help you be rational and productive rather than becoming defensive and frustrated.\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7256566286087036}
+{"content": "I'm going to try to make this macro series the least bit technical as possible so that photographers of all skill levels can understand it. Please feel free to post questions about the articles or any macro topics that you may have along the way so that I can cover them in a future article.\n\n\nI've been doing macro photography for about ten years now. I had no clue what I was doing when I first started (even though I thought I did). I was working as a biologist in the desert at the time and surrounded my many incredible photo opportunities. I thought that I could just pick up my camera and go take incredible closeups of plants, wildlife, etc., but it didn't take too long before I realized that it didn't work out that way. I did get some good macro photos, but I was incredibly limited by my lens.\n\n\nIt's not uncommon for photographers to gawk at the equipment that others are using. I've come to realize that this happens most often when I'm doing macro photography. For instance, just yesterday while I was shooting some water droplets on a leaf, a man asked what lens I was using. He was using a standard zoom lens that said \"macro\" on it, but he wasn't totally pleased with the results that he was getting with his lens. A lot of lenses on the market do have this built-in macro capability, but they aren't true macro lenses. If you're using a lens with this built-in macro capability, you will be able to take macro photos, but you will be limited to what you can capture and you won't be able to capture 1:1 life size macro images. Most everyday lenses have a ratio that is not 1:1, so you're capturing the subject at a smaller fraction of its true size.\n\nSo what's the difference between a normal everyday lens and a macro lens? A normal lens has glass elements that move back and forth up to a specified focal distance. When you go get closer than that focal distance, everything is going to be out of focus because the lens elements can't adjust beyond that point. In a true macro lens, you still have moving elements, but they have a larger distance inside of the lens barrel than they would in a standard lens and one of these elements is floating so that the optics can be changed to allow sharp images at all focal distances. So no matter how close I am to my subject, I can always capture a sharp image (provided that my eyes are working correctly and my technical settings are correct)!\n\nThere are macro lenses of many focal lengths...50mm, 90mm, 100mm, 180mm, etc. and you chose the focal length of the macro lens just the same as you would any other lens. For instance, if you want to get a close photo of a person from a distance, you're not going to use a 50mm lens; you would use a lens that would give you a little bit more reach. So in the macro world, you would use a lens with a longer focal length to capture images of insects or other wildlife that may become easily spooked by your presence. Macro lenses with shorter focal lengths are great for product shots and other inanimate subjects. I use a mid-range macro lens: the Tamron 90mm/f2.8 macro. This is the oldest lens that I have and one of my very first lenses: it's about 10 years old. It's great for all purposes, but I do have difficulty photographing some insects that are easily spooked. I have used a 180mm macro, but it's a lot heavier and almost always requires a tripod. However, I don't need to get as close to my subject to achieve a 1:1 image with this longer lens.\n\nClose-up diopters and extension tubes are also commonly used for macro photography. While I haven't used them for a long time, I will eventually touch on them in a future article.\n\n\nThank you to Albert Yee for the photograph of me photographing. I was capturing the Columbine flower above.\n\n\nWater droplets: Canon 20D with Tamron 90mm Macro; 1/125 sec & f3.5 using natural light\n\nColumbine flower: Canon 20D with Tamron 90mm Macro; 1/160 sec & f4 using natural light", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8934189081192017}
+{"content": "Future Foresight\n\n\nHave you ever wondered how the future of private data will look like? With the support of Berliner Ideenlabor, the Spark Labs team applied the methods of Future Foresight to brainstorm on possible future scenarios. This method builds on the basis of speculative design to identify how different trends affect or might affect your idea or organization in the coming years. With the help of forecasting and scenario building techniques, we practiced how to conduct a holistic strategic analysis of the external environment through the STEEP matrix. This brainstorming tool allows you to understand and identify the major forces (positive or negative) that will be likely to influence the future of your organization from different perspectives (society, technology, economy, environment, and policy).\n\n\nHaving mapped a variety of trends in the matrix, we were able combine and merge a selection to build two alternative aspirational scenarios, both with a clear headline and vision statement. This exercise is particularly helpful to detach your creative thinking from what is currently believed or what is it most likely to happen, as it forces you to examine alternative paths of development. Finally, it was time to make a link between future and strategy. Once the vision statement was identified, we designed a high-level roadmap to achieve our long-term objective: a society in which data could support us to be mentally and physically healthier, without compromising our freedom.  \n\n\nWhat changes needed to occur for our vision to become reality? In our envisioned scenarios, we revised current policy regulations, influenced consumer behaviors and doubled the velocity of technology take-up.  As the last step, we explored ‘future prototyping’ to ideate on how such changes could look like in the future.\n\n\nCombining elements from design and innovation strategy, future foresight builds strong, organizational strategies. We are excited to start applying this method to help organizations embracing change by anticipating future trends and incorporating them into far-sighted vision able to drive success in the long-run.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.998042643070221}
+{"content": "Book Review: The Ever After by Sarah Pekkanen\n\nImage result for the ever after book sarah pekkanen\n\nJosie and Frank are married with 2 children, 2 young daughters. She is happily married, until one day she discovers an email from a female “friend” on her husband Frank’s phone, to discover that he has been having an affair. Her world is turned upside down. How did she not recognize the signs? How far had this affair really gone?How could she not know that something was wrong in their marriage? What was Josie going to do?\n\nThis book takes you on an emotional roller-coaster of a journey as you follow the heartache Josie is going through and the questions she asks about where and how things had gone all wrong. Was she going to end the marriage? Was she going to try to make it work, for the sake of her family? for her children? How could she ever trust her husband again, if they decided to try to make their marriage work?\n\nThis book pulls you in from the very beginning. I read this book in just under 24 hours, it was such a gripping, thrilling novel I was unable to put it down for very long. It was my first book written solely by Sarah Pekkanen and I am a fan, it was so gripping and entertaining!\n\nIf you are a fan of thriller and suspense books, then this is a must read for you.\n\nThank you to Netgalley and Atria books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.\n\n⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐\n\n\nBook Review: The Memory Box by Eva Lesko Natiello\n\nImage result for the memory box book\n\nImagine googling your name and not recognizing any of the facts it comes up with about yourself. You are not sure if you have forgotten all of the things you are reading about yourself or if it is wrong and the information is just not true…but describing someone else entirely. And if it is you, then why can’t you remember?\n\nThis book is like being on a roller-coaster of a ride that you are unable to get off. Lots of twists and turns, and what-the-heck is going on moments, Just when you think you know what is going on and what will happen next you find out you were completely wrong, only to figure it out again and be proven wrong again.\n\nThe book pulls you in from the beginning, and is a thrilling ride from beginning to end. Often leaving you confused, and it messes with your mind. It’s one heck of a twisty, mesmerizing ride.\n\nHaving said that, it didn’t live up the the expectation that I had when I began reading it. It was a good book but just not what I had expected. It has a lot of great reviews and high star ratings, so be sure to check it out if you like psychological thrillers.\n\nThank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.\n\n⭐ ⭐ ⭐\n\nBook Review: The Last Night Out by Catherine O’Connell\n\nImage result for the last night out catherine oconnell\n\nGripping, thrilling, and a roller-coaster ride! This book is a must read for any fan of suspense, thriller type books. Wow! I loved this book! This was my first book by Catherine O’Connell and I was very impressed! It was so well written, and captivating, it pulled me in from the very first page – in face from the very cover of the book I was hooked!\n\nSix friends, an upcoming wedding, a murder…. What happen on the night one of them died? Who is telling the truth? Who is lying? Which lies are they telling and what do they have to hide?\n\nThis is a page turner of a book that will have you up reading into the late hours of the night as you want to keep reading more to find out what will happen next. I read this book in about a day and it was so hard to put down, it held my interest throughout. Never a dull moment in the book, a lot of shocking twists and turns, and a few finals oh-my-gosh moments at the end, this book was a pleasure to read and review. Just when I thought I had it all figured out I was proven wrong. Again and again.\n\nOverall this book was a fantastic read, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it from cover to end.\n\nThank you to Netgalley and the Publisher Severn House Publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!\n\n⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐\n\nBook Review: Last Goodbye by Arlene Hunt\n\nImage result for last goodbye book arlene hunt\n\nGripping, thrilling, and captivating! Last Goodbye is a fantastic book for any fan of thrillers or murder mysteries!\n\nThis was the first book I have read by Arlene Hunt and I was impressed. It was an easy read and was very well written. This book pulls you in from the very beginning and is a great page turner through the book, keeping your interest as you are reading more wanting to find out what is to happen next.\n\nThere is a killer on the loose that seems to have an interest in killing couples. The women are dressed and posed in a certain way after being murdered and the murderer likes to leave bouquets of yellow roses at the murder scene. Who is the murderer? Detectives Quinn and Malloy are out to find the murderer before they strike again, but where do they look first? What is the meaning behind all the yellow roses? And why only couples?\n\nThis book will have to reading late into the night, in search of finding out what will happen next and if the murderer will strike again!\n\nThank you to NetGalley and the publisher Bookouture for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.\n\n⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐\n\nBook Review: Grave Island by Andrew Smyth\n\nImage result for grave island book andrew smyth\n\nThis book follows the story of Philip Hennessey, an intelligence officer with the army. One day he is caught with some secret files which he did not take, but instead appeared out of nowhere. Hennessey states that he did not take them and has no idea how they got there, but is unable to prove that. As a result, he is discharged from the army. How can he prove his innocence? Why would someone leave the files there and set him up?\n\nHennessey is approached by his ex-wife’s friend, who thinks that her father’s death was a murder, and asks Hennessey for his help in trying to figure out what exactly happened to her father.\n\nThis book was a good thriller, that had you guessing what was going to happen next. If you like thriller books that keep you guessing what will happen next then this is a good book for you.\n\n⭐ ⭐ ⭐\n\nBook Review: The Retreat by Mark Edwards\n\nImage result for the retreat mark edwards\n\nFrom the beginning this book had my interest. A young girl was down by the water with her mom and dad, only to go missing. Where did the girl girl? She seems to have disappeared, and they cannot find her. Now a few years later, her mom lives alone and opens a writers retreat in her home, – a place for authors to come and enjoy solitude while writing their books.\n\nAs I continued reading there were several twists and turns. A few haunting revelations, which were interesting. It had some good points and some dry points which I found difficult to hold my interest, but I continued reading in the hopes that the book would pick up. I was determined to find out just exactly what happened to the little girl.\n\nI continued reading and overall it was a good book. I struggled to get through the book but overall it was an ok read for me.\n\n⭐ ⭐ ⭐\n\nBook Review: Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier\n\nImage result for jar of hearts book\n\nGripping, thrilling, suspensefull!! Wow! Just WOW! This book was incredible! From the very first page pulling you in and keeping you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire book, this book was AMAZING!! Had me reading late into the night to find out what would happen next. I finished this book in just over a day. That’s how great it was!\n\nKaiser (Kai), Georgina (Geo) and Angela are all  best friends in highschool. They do everything together, that is until Georgina meets Calvin – a good looking, older man who has a keen interest in Georgina. Georgina and Calvin seem inseparable, they do everything together, and soon Kai and Angela feel left out and forgotten about.\n\nThis story was told from two different points of view – Georgina (Geo) and Kaiser (Kai) from different timelines – present and past. The story unfolds and you learn bit by bit what happened on that fateful night many years ago. Who was responsible? Who is to blame?\n\nI love a book that captivates it’s audience from the very beginning, and this book did that for me.  This is a must read for fans of suspense and thrillers!\n\nThank you to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!\n\n⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐\n\n\nBook Review: Every Single Secret by Emily Carpenter\n\nImage result for every single secret book\n\nThis was my first book I have read by author Emily Carpenter. I was so impressed! This book pulled me in from the very beginning and kept my interest throughout. It leaves you with many questions and as you read the answers are revealed.\n\nHeath and Daphne are in a whirlwind romance, they both have secrets in their past but have agreed to not talk about them – with anyone, including each other. This seems to work for them both, until one night Heath begins have nightmares and begins saying strange things in his sleep, and doing things that he cannot remember the next morning when he wakes up. Daphne is left wondering what the heck is going on, and what secrets is he hiding.\n\nWhen Heath suggests they attend a couple retreat together, Daphne is reluctant to go. She wants to go and support Heath so he can receive help for his troubled past, but she does not want to take part in the retreat herself. So she agrees to go to support Heath. The secrets that are exposed there are gripping! As you learn about both of their paths and the secrets they are hiding, many answers to your questions are slowly revealed.\n\nThis was a book that had be reading into the late hours of the night not wanting to put the book down. I was always wanting to read more to find out what would happen next. Many twists and turns along the way and every twists and surprises until the very end. I love these types of books.\n\nThis is a must read for any suspense or thriller fan! A truly fantastic read!\n\nThank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.\n\n⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐\n\n\nBook Review: One Little Lie by Sam Carrington\n\nImage result for one little lie sam carrington\n\nOnce I began to read this book I was initially confused with how the story jumped around from one character to the next and it took a bit of time to figure out who was who and how they were all connected. It got a bit confusing until you got familiar with the characters, and there were quite a few main characters in the story. I struggled to get into this book, and I think the main reason was how it seemed to jump around from points of views of different characters. It was hard to keep them all straight and initially remember who each character was, and keep their story straight and separate from each other. Once I finished reading the book it was clear why it was written in this way, which makes sense at the end, but I felt it took away from the enjoyment of the book (for me).\n\nThere were several twists and turns in the book, which I really liked, and a few shocking revelations that I did not expect. It was an ok book overall, I just found myself struggling to get through it and make it to the end. A lot of parts I found were dragged out and took away from the enjoyment of the story.\n\nThank you to NetGalley and the Publisher Avon Books UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.\n\n⭐ ⭐ ⭐\n\nBook Review: Missing Pieces by Laura Pearson\n\nImage result for missing pieces laura pearson\n\nGripping, tragic and thrilling. Three words to describe this book. The book follows a family after a tragic loss and tells about how this tragedy has shaped their lives. The mother is having a difficult time coping and it shows in her daily life, the father is struggling to keep his wife’s spirits up and keep the family together. To find out what tragic I am talking about, you’ll have to check out the book and find out 🙂\n\nI was hooked on this book from the very first page. This book had me up reading into the late hours of the night, often until 2am or later to find out what was going to happen next. Be prepared for a lot of “wow” and “oh no” moments and even a tear or two as you read about the family dynamics and tragedy in this book. So much sadness and grief and it pulls on your heart strings.\n\nI liked how this book was written in two parts. In the first part of the book you follow the lives of the mother, father and their daughter Esme leading up to the tragedy and the time that follows. In the second part of the book you follow their lives and how the tragedy has affected their lives 25 years later.\n\nThank you to NetGalley and Ipso Books for an ARC copy of this book. It was a pleasure to read and give my honest review.\n\n⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9351450204849243}
+{"content": "Assigned! is all about keeping track of your high school or middle school life, and making sure you don't miss anything. It lets you carry around your schedule on your phone, and even reminds you when you haven't completed your homework yet, or if you need to study for a test. Here are a few things you can do with Assigned!: - Keep track of your school schedule - Assigned! has many options to make sure it works with every school! You can set the number of periods in a day, set the number of weeks, tell the app if you have a rotating schedule (A days, B days, and so on) or if you only have a one day schedule. - Keep track of homework - If your homework is due the next day and you still haven't completed it, you can set a time for Assigned! to remind you about it. - There are many different types of homework, from reading to worksheet, which let you know how close to completing your homework you are. - Keep track of tests - You can specify when you want to be notified to study, what the test topic is, whether it is a quiz or a test, and what you need to study. - Both Homework and Tests can contain images, for when a teacher writes instructions on the board. - You can also send homework and tests to a friend, if they forgot to write it down.There are many more features in the app, and more on their way, so get downloading and have a great school year!Icons courtesy of Icons 8:\nOperating System Android", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999967217445374}
+{"content": "Sizeable delay when AutoSizeColumnMode is set to AllCells.\n\n\nArticle Number000093743\nEnvironmentProduct: OpenEdge\nVersion: 11.x\nOS: Windows\nOther: GUI for .NET\nQuestion/Problem Description\nThe application includes a datagridview GUI for .NET control that loads a large number of rows into the datagridview. The number of rows was large enough that the application implemented batching to allow the user to start seeing rows, in the view, even before all rows had been loaded into the view. \n\nTo allow all of the data in a column to be viewed, the datagridview's AutoSizeColumnMode was set to AllCells. This caused a sizable delay in data being displayed, to the point where the application appeared to be in a loop. \n\nAssume a datagridview as follows:\nDEFINE PRIVATE VARIABLE datagridview1 AS System.Forms.DataGridView NO-UNDO.\nTHIS-OBJECT:datagridview1 = NEW System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView().\n\nTo set this attribute the following code might be used:\ndatagridview1:AutoSizeColumnsMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode:AllCells.\n\nSteps to Reproduce\nClarifying Information\nApplication was performing well until the AutoSizeColumnMode attribute was set to AllCells.\nError Message\nDefect/Enhancement Number\nThis is expected behavior.\nDataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.AllCells, directs .NET to adjust the widget of all cells in the column. If a very large number of rows has been loaded into the control, this could take a long time to execute.\nReplace DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.AllCells with DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.DisplayedCells. DisplayedCells adjusts the widths of cells that are in rows currently displayed on the screen.\nTo use the value DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode:AllCells or any other of the values associated with DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode, USING System.Windows.Forms.*. must be included in the application code.\n\nReferences to other Documentation:\n\nDataGridView.AutoSizeColumnsMode Property:\n\nDataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode ENUM:\nLast Modified Date1/10/2019 4:02 PM\n\nDid this article resolve your question/issue?\n\n\nYour feedback is appreciated.\n\n\nCharacters Remaining: 1025", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8264552354812622}
+{"content": "This article details how to change your password on the dictation portal and your smartphone password; should you forget it.\n\nIf you do not remember your login password for: then you will need to reset the password for your account and most likely the separate Smartphone password - that is specific to the app.\n\n\n\nOnce you have completed the steps you will now be able to log in to the app using the information from your account.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9746986627578735}
+{"content": "Motivated by the desire to be creatively challenged and overcome impossibilities, Benjamin Von Wong has become notorious for his epic photography. His hyper-realistic art style captures viewers in a fusion of special effects and innovative concepts. Benjamin’s background in engineering gives him a unique edge for creative problem solving, where technical challenges become friendly competition. Fueled by his passion to connect people, Benjamin has an affinity for finding unique talent to bring his complex stories to life. He is also highly engaged in the photographic society by sharing his experiences and techniques through blogs, social media, workshops and videos.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.999965250492096}
+{"content": "Sage skills are introduced after the player meets Solipso in the starting galaxy. The Corona is a highly valued chip that can be installed into an individual's head to grant access to the individual's Subrostrum, a mysterious space within the individual's mind. Inside the Subrostrum, the players goes through varying puzzle scenarios to unlock each different sage skills that can be equipped in the Corona.\n\n\n  • More sage skills are introduced and taught by many different individuals throughout Story Mode.\n  • Only 1 Active Sage skill can be equipped at a time.\n  • All ships have a 5-slot Corona node.\n  • Certain high priority AI units in Multiplayer mode are able to use these skills like other players.\n\nList of Sage Skills (Active)Edit\n\nTime Levee - Slows everything around the player, with the player's own movement having a little more flexibility than others. Can further be enhanced with Chronodrive for better mobility. Note: Opponents can also have this advantageous effect when equipped.\n\nMartyr Field - Creates an aura for a period of time around the player's ship which heals all friendly units around the player whenever any form of damage is taken.\n\nSage Sight - Reveal all nearby stealth unit and amplify any damage they receive for a period of time. Units affected by this skill would have an eye aura on their ship.\n\nTranslocate - Instantly teleport the player's ship to the targeted location, even if impaired. Hold the skill key longer to increase its range before releasing the key to activate it.\n\nSage Nova - Project multiple orbs that chases down and damage nearby enemies.\n\nSage Circle - Form an shield around the player's ship that blocks any incoming missiles, lasers or other form of projectiles for a period of time. (including grapples)\n\nSage Wave - Pushes away all enemy ships and projectiles in front the player's ship when activated.\n\nSage Surge - Refill all payloads, remove all heat, restore all energy, and makes all abilities free for a period of time.\n\nBreak - Removes negative effects such as grapples or disables.\n\nList of Sage Skills (Passive)Edit\n\nTranscendence - Heals over time when no active sage skills are on cooldown.\n\nSalvation - Heals 275 points whenever the player uses an active sage skill.\n\nBlack Worm - Grants stealth and makes you immune to Sage Sight.\n\nStubborn Thread - Reduce any incoming damage by 90% for a short period of time when the user's health falls below a certain percentage.\n\nAmplifier - Reduce the cooldown of all Sage Skills by a percentage. (This affects other sage passive skills.)\n\nSteadfast Thread - Reduces the time you are disabled or disarmed.\n\nSwift Soul - Reduces all cooldowns for a short period of time whenever the player uses an active sage skill.\n\nAll items (16)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9914708733558655}
+{"content": "31 Days of Oscar: Panic in the Streets (1950)\n\n\n\nPanic in the Streets (1950)\n\nThis is a very interesting film which can be categorized as Film Noir but also as an outbreak film. It’s that unusual combination which truly makes this film special and entertaining. Was it either but not both it likely isn’t that intriguing but the combination thereof makes it worthy.\n\nOscar Nominations/Wins: 1/1\nScore: 7/10", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9864998459815979}
+{"content": "Mental image\n\nLast updated\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe mind's eye\n\nThe notion of a \"mind's eye\" goes back at least to Cicero's reference to mentis oculi during his discussion of the orator's appropriate use of simile. [25]\n\nIn this discussion, Cicero observed that allusions to \"the Syrtis of his patrimony\" and \"the Charybdis of his possessions\" involved similes that were \"too far-fetched\"; and he advised the orator to, instead, just speak of \"the rock\" and \"the gulf\" (respectively)—on the grounds that \"the eyes of the mind are more easily directed to those objects which we have seen, than to those which we have only heard\". [26]\n\nThe concept of \"the mind's eye\" first appeared in English in Chaucer's (c. 1387) Man of Law's Tale in his Canterbury Tales , where he tells us that one of the three men dwelling in a castle was blind, and could only see with \"the eyes of his mind\"; namely, those eyes \"with which all men see after they have become blind\". [27] The phrase remained rarely used and the OED incorrectly ascribes it to Shakespeare, as the first time the literally introspective phrase ‘the mind's eye’ is used in English was in Hamlet. As an example of introspection, it demonstrates that the internal life of the mind rarely came into focus in literature until the introspective realism movement in the 19th century.\n\nPhysical basis\n\nThe biological foundation of the mind's eye is not fully understood. Studies using fMRI have shown that the lateral geniculate nucleus and the V1 area of the visual cortex are activated during mental imagery tasks. [28] Ratey writes:\n\nThe visual pathway is not a one-way street. Higher areas of the brain can also send visual input back to neurons in lower areas of the visual cortex. [...] As humans, we have the ability to see with the mind's eye – to have a perceptual experience in the absence of visual input. For example, PET scans have shown that when subjects, seated in a room, imagine they are at their front door starting to walk either to the left or right, activation begins in the visual association cortex, the parietal cortex, and the prefrontal cortex - all higher cognitive processing centers of the brain. [29]\n\nThe rudiments of a biological basis for the mind's eye is found in the deeper portions of the brain below the neocortex, or where the center of perception exists. The thalamus has been found to be discrete to other components in that it processes all forms of perceptional data relayed from both lower and higher components of the brain. Damage to this component can produce permanent perceptual damage, however when damage is inflicted upon the cerebral cortex, the brain adapts to neuroplasticity to amend any occlusions for perception. It can be thought that the neocortex is a sophisticated memory storage warehouse in which data received as an input from sensory systems are compartmentalized via the cerebral cortex. This would essentially allow for shapes to be identified, although given the lack of filtering input produced internally, one may as a consequence, hallucinate - essentially seeing something that isn't received as an input externally but rather internal (i.e. an error in the filtering of segmented sensory data from the cerebral cortex may result in one seeing, feeling, hearing or experiencing something that is inconsistent with reality).\n\nNot all people have the same internal perceptual ability. For many, when the eyes are closed, the perception of darkness prevails. However, some people are able to perceive colorful, dynamic imagery. The use of hallucinogenic drugs increases the subject's ability to consciously access visual (and auditory, and other sense) percepts.\n\nFurthermore, the pineal gland is a hypothetical candidate for producing a mind's eye; Rick Strassman and others have postulated that during near-death experiences (NDEs) and dreaming, the gland might secrete a hallucinogenic chemical N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) to produce internal visuals when external sensory data is occluded. [30] However, this hypothesis has yet to be fully supported with neurochemical evidence and plausible mechanism for DMT production.\n\nThe hypothesized condition where a person lacks a mind's eye is called aphantasia. The term was first suggested in a 2015 study. [31]\n\nCommon examples of mental images include daydreaming and the mental visualization that occurs while reading a book. Another is of the pictures summoned by athletes during training or before a competition, outlining each step they will take to accomplish their goal. [32] When a musician hears a song, he or she can sometimes \"see\" the song notes in their head, as well as hear them with all their tonal qualities. [33] This is considered different from an after-effect, such as an after-image. Calling up an image in our minds can be a voluntary act, so it can be characterized as being under various degrees of conscious control.\n\n\nThere are several theories as to how mental images are formed in the mind. These include the dual-code theory, the propositional theory, and the functional-equivalency hypothesis. The dual-code theory, created by Allan Paivio in 1971, is the theory that we use two separate codes to represent information in our brains: image codes and verbal codes. Image codes are things like thinking of a picture of a dog when you are thinking of a dog, whereas a verbal code would be to think of the word \"dog\". [35] Another example is the difference between thinking of abstract words such as justice or love and thinking of concrete words like elephant or chair. When abstract words are thought of, it is easier to think of them in terms of verbal codes—finding words that define them or describe them. With concrete words, it is often easier to use image codes and bring up a picture of a human or chair in your mind rather than words associated or descriptive of them.\n\n\nThe functional-equivalency hypothesis is that mental images are \"internal representations\" that work in the same way as the actual perception of physical objects. [37] In other words, the picture of a dog brought to mind when the word dog is read is interpreted in the same way as if the person looking at an actual dog before them.\n\nResearch has occurred to designate a specific neural correlate of imagery; however, studies show a multitude of results. Most studies published before 2001 suggest neural correlates of visual imagery occur in brodmann area 17. [38] Auditory performance imagery have been observed in the premotor areas, precunes, and medial brodmann area 40. [39] Auditory imagery in general occurs across participants in the temporal voice area (TVA), which allows top-down imaging manipulations, processing, and storage of audition functions. [40] Olfactory imagery research shows activation in the anterior piriform cortex and the posterior piriform cortex; experts in olfactory imagery have larger gray matter associated to olfactory areas. [41] Tactile imagery is found to occur in the dorsolateral prefrontal area, inferior frontal gyrus, frontal gyrus, insula, precentral gyrus, and the medial frontal gyrus with basil ganglia activation in the ventral posteriomedial nucleus and putamen (hemisphere activation corresponds to the location of the imagined tactile stimulus). [42] Research in gustatory imagery reveals activation in the anterior insular cortex, frontal operculum, and prefrontal cortex. [38] Novices of a specific form of mental imagery show less gray matter than experts of mental imagery congruent to that form. [43] A meta-analysis of neuroimagery studies revealed significant activation of the bilateral dorsal parietal, interior insula, and left inferior frontal regions of the brain. [44]\n\nImagery has been thought to cooccur with perception; however, participants with damaged sense-modality receptors can sometimes perform imagery of said modality receptors. [45] Neuroscience with imagery has been used to communicate with seemingly unconscious individuals through fMRI activation of different neural correlates of imagery, demanding further study into low quality consciousness. [46] A study on one patient with one occipital lobe removed found the horizontal area of their visual mental image was reduced. [47]\n\nNeural substrates of visual imagery\n\nVisual imagery is the ability to create mental representations of things, people, and places that are absent from an individual’s visual field. This ability is crucial to problem-solving tasks, memory, and spatial reasoning. [48] Neuroscientists have found that imagery and perception share many of the same neural substrates, or areas of the brain that function similarly during both imagery and perception, such as the visual cortex and higher visual areas. Kosslyn and colleagues (1999) [49] showed that the early visual cortex, Area 17 and Area 18/19, is activated during visual imagery. They found that inhibition of these areas through repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) resulted in impaired visual perception and imagery. Furthermore, research conducted with lesioned patients has revealed that visual imagery and visual perception have the same representational organization. This has been concluded from patients in which impaired perception also experience visual imagery deficits at the same level of the mental representation. [50]\n\nBehrmann and colleagues (1992) [51] describe a patient C.K., who provided evidence challenging the view that visual imagery and visual perception rely on the same representational system. C.K. was a 33-year old man with visual object agnosia acquired after a vehicular accident. This deficit prevented him from being able to recognize objects and copy objects fluidly. Surprisingly, his ability to draw accurate objects from memory indicated his visual imagery was intact and normal. Furthermore, C.K. successfully performed other tasks requiring visual imagery for judgment of size, shape, color, and composition. These findings conflict with previous research as they suggest there is a partial dissociation between visual imagery and visual perception. C.K. exhibited a perceptual deficit that was not associated with a corresponding deficit in visual imagery, indicating that these two processes have systems for mental representations that may not be mediated entirely by the same neural substrates.\n\nSchlegel and colleagues (2013) [52] conducted a functional MRI analysis of regions activated during manipulation of visual imagery. They identified 11 bilateral cortical and subcortical regions that exhibited increased activation when manipulating a visual image compared to when the visual image was just maintained. These regions included the occipital lobe and ventral stream areas, two parietal lobe regions, the posterior parietal cortex and the precuneus lobule, and three frontal lobe regions, the frontal eye fields, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the prefrontal cortex. Due to their suspected involvement in working memory and attention, the authors propose that these parietal and prefrontal regions, and occipital regions, are part of a network involved in mediating the manipulation of visual imagery. These results suggest a top-down activation of visual areas in visual imagery. [53]\n\nUsing Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) to determine the connectivity of cortical networks, Ishai et al. (2010) [54] demonstrated that activation of the network mediating visual imagery is initiated by prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex activity. Generation of objects from memory resulted in initial activation of the prefrontal and the posterior parietal areas, which then activate earlier visual areas through backward connectivity. Activation of the prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal cortex has also been found to be involved in retrieval of object representations from long-term memory, their maintenance in working memory, and attention during visual imagery. Thus, Ishai et al. suggest that the network mediating visual imagery is composed of attentional mechanisms arising from the posterior parietal cortex and the prefrontal cortex.\n\nVividness of visual imagery is a crucial component of an individual’s ability to perform cognitive tasks requiring imagery. Vividness of visual imagery varies not only between individuals but also within individuals. Dijkstra and colleagues (2017) [55] found that the variation in vividness of visual imagery is dependent on the degree to which the neural substrates of visual imagery overlap with those of visual perception. They found that overlap between imagery and perception in the entire visual cortex, the parietal precuneus lobule, the right parietal cortex, and the medial frontal cortex predicted the vividness of a mental representation. The activated regions beyond the visual areas are believed to drive the imagery-specific processes rather than the visual processes shared with perception. It has been suggested that the precuneus contributes to vividness by selecting important details for imagery. The medial frontal cortex is suspected to be involved in the retrieval and integration of information from the parietal and visual areas during working memory and visual imagery. The right parietal cortex appears to be important in attention, visual inspection, and stabilization of mental representations. Thus, the neural substrates of visual imagery and perception overlap in areas beyond the visual cortex and the degree of this overlap in these areas correlates with the vividness of mental representations during imagery.\n\nPhilosophical ideas\n\n\n\nThe eighteenth century British writer Dr. Samuel Johnson criticized idealism. When asked what he thought about idealism, he is alleged to have replied \"I refute it thus!\"[ This quote needs a citation ] as he kicked a large rock and his leg rebounded. His point was that the idea that the rock is just another mental image and has no material existence of its own is a poor explanation of the painful sense data he had just experienced.\n\n\n\nIn experimental psychology\n\n\nMental rotation task (diagram).jpg\n\n\n\n\nSome psychologists, including Kosslyn, have argued that such results occur because of interference in the brain between distinct systems in the brain that process the visual and motor mental imagery. Subsequent neuroimaging studies [61] showed that the interference between the motor and visual imagery system could be induced by having participants physically handle actual 3D blocks glued together to form objects similar to those depicted in the line-drawings. Amorim et al. have shown that, when a cylindrical \"head\" was added to Shepard and Metzler's line drawings of 3D block figures, participants were quicker and more accurate at solving mental rotation problems. [62] They argue that motoric embodiment is not just \"interference\" that inhibits visual mental imagery but is capable of facilitating mental imagery.\n\nAs cognitive neuroscience approaches to mental imagery continued, research expanded beyond questions of serial versus parallel or topographic processing to questions of the relationship between mental images and perceptual representations. Both brain imaging (fMRI and ERP) and studies of neuropsychological patients have been used to test the hypothesis that a mental image is the reactivation, from memory, of brain representations normally activated during the perception of an external stimulus. In other words, if perceiving an apple activates contour and location and shape and color representations in the brain’s visual system, then imagining an apple activates some or all of these same representations using information stored in memory. Early evidence for this idea came from neuropsychology. Patients with brain damage that impairs perception in specific ways, for example by damaging shape or color representations, seem to generally to have impaired mental imagery in similar ways. [63] Studies of brain function in normal human brains support this same conclusion, showing activity in the brain’s visual areas while subjects imagined visual objects and scenes. [64]\n\n\nOne of the longest-running research topics on the mental image has basis on the fact that people report large individual differences in the vividness of their images. Special questionnaires have been developed to assess such differences, including the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) developed by David Marks. Laboratory studies have suggested that the subjectively reported variations in imagery vividness are associated with different neural states within the brain and also different cognitive competences such as the ability to accurately recall information presented in pictures [66] Rodway, Gillies and Schepman used a novel long-term change detection task to determine whether participants with low and high vividness scores on the VVIQ2 showed any performance differences. [67] Rodway et al. found that high vividness participants were significantly more accurate at detecting salient changes to pictures compared to low-vividness participants. [68] This replicated an earlier study. [69]\n\n\n\nTraining and learning styles\n\n\n\nVisualization and the Himalayan traditions\n\n\nSubstitution effects\n\nMental imagery can act as a substitute for the imagined experience: Imagining an experience can evoke similar cognitive, physiological, and/or behavioral consequences as having the corresponding experience in reality. At least four classes of such effects have been documented. [7]\n\n  1. Imagined experiences are attributed evidentiary value like physical evidence.\n\nSee also\n\n\n  2. McKellar, 1957\n  3. Richardson, 1969\n  4. Finke, 1989\n  5. Thomas, 2003\n  8. Reisberg, 1992\n  9. Bensafi et al., 2003\n  10. Aristotle: On the Soul III.3 428a\n  11. Pavio, 1986\n  12. Egan, 1992\n  13. Barsalou, 1999\n  14. Prinz, 2002\n  15. Block, 1983\n  16. Kosslyn, 1983\n  17. Sartre, 1940\n  18. Ryle, 1949\n  19. Skinner, 1974\n  20. Thomas, 1999\n  21. Bartolomeo, 2002\n  22. Bennett & Hacker, 2003\n  23. IBM Patent Application: Retrieving mental images of faces from the human brain\n  24. Business Machines : Patent Issued for Retrieving Mental Images of Faces from the Human Brain\n  25. Cicero, De Oratore, Liber III: XLI: 163.\n  26. J.S. (trans. and ed.), Cicero on Oratory and Orators, Harper & Brothers, (New York), 1875: Book III, C.XLI, p.239.\n  27. The Man of Laws Tale, lines 550-553.\n  28. Imagery of famous faces: effects of memory and attention revealed by fMRI Archived 2006-08-21 at the Wayback Machine , A. Ishai, J. V. Haxby and L. G. Ungerleider, NeuroImage17 (2002), pp. 1729-1741.\n  29. A User's Guide to the Brain, John J. Ratey, ISBN   0-375-70107-9, at p. 107.\n  31. Zeman, Adam; Dewar, Michaela; Della Sala, Sergio (2015). \"Lives without imagery – Congenital aphantasia\". Cortex. 73: 378–380. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2015.05.019. hdl:10871/17613. ISSN   0010-9452. PMID   26115582 . Retrieved 2015-06-24.\n  34. Pinker, S. (1999). How the Mind Works. New York: Oxford University Press.\n  35. Paivio, Allan. 1941. Dual Coding Theory. Theories of Learning in Educational Psychology. (2013). Web. \"Archived copy\". Archived from the original on 2011-02-21. Retrieved 2010-06-16.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)\n  36. Mental Imaging Theories. 2013. Web.\n  38. 1 2 Kobayashi, Masayuki; Sasabe, Tetsuya; Shigihara, Yoshihito; Tanaka, Masaaki; Watanabe, Yasuyoshi (2011-07-08). \"Gustatory Imagery Reveals Functional Connectivity from the Prefrontal to Insular Cortices Traced with Magnetoencephalography\". PLoS ONE. 6 (7): e21736. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...621736K. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021736. ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   3132751 . PMID   21760903.\n  39. Meister, I. G; Krings, T; Foltys, H; Boroojerdi, B; Müller, M; Töpper, R; Thron, A (2004-05-01). \"Playing piano in the mind—an fMRI study on music imagery and performance in pianists\". Cognitive Brain Research. 19 (3): 219–228. doi:10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2003.12.005. PMID   15062860.\n  40. Brück, Carolin; Kreifelts, Benjamin; Gößling-Arnold, Christina; Wertheimer, Jürgen; Wildgruber, Dirk (2014-11-01). \"'Inner voices': the cerebral representation of emotional voice cues described in literary texts\". Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 9 (11): 1819–1827. doi:10.1093/scan/nst180. ISSN   1749-5016. PMC   4221224 . PMID   24396008.\n  41. Arshamian, Artin; Larsson, Maria (2014-01-01). \"Same same but different: the case of olfactory imagery\". Consciousness Research. 5: 34. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00034. PMC   3909946 . PMID   24550862.\n  42. \"Neural substrates of tactile imagery: a functional MRI study : NeuroReport\". LWW.\n  43. Lima, César F.; Lavan, Nadine; Evans, Samuel; Agnew, Zarinah; Halpern, Andrea R.; Shanmugalingam, Pradheep; Meekings, Sophie; Boebinger, Dana; Ostarek, Markus (2015-11-01). \"Feel the Noise: Relating Individual Differences in Auditory Imagery to the Structure and Function of Sensorimotor Systems\". Cerebral Cortex. 25 (11): 4638–4650. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhv134. ISSN   1047-3211. PMC   4816805 . PMID   26092220.\n  44. Mcnorgan, Chris (2012-01-01). \"A meta-analytic review of multisensory imagery identifies the neural correlates of modality-specific and modality-general imagery\". Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 6: 285. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00285. PMC   3474291 . PMID   23087637.\n  45. Kosslyn, Stephen M.; Ganis, Giorgio; Thompson, William L. (2001). \"Neural foundations of imagery\". Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2 (9): 635–642. doi:10.1038/35090055. PMID   11533731.\n  46. Gibson, Raechelle M.; Fernández-Espejo, Davinia; Gonzalez-Lara, Laura E.; Kwan, Benjamin Y.; Lee, Donald H.; Owen, Adrian M.; Cruse, Damian (2014-01-01). \"Multiple tasks and neuroimaging modalities increase the likelihood of detecting covert awareness in patients with disorders of consciousness\". Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 8: 950. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00950. PMC   4244609 . PMID   25505400.\n  47. Farah MJ; Soso MJ; Dasheiff RM (1992). \"Visual angle of the mind's eye before and after unilateral occipital lobectomy\". J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 18 (1): 241–6. PMID   1532190.\n  48. Dijkstra, N., Bosch, S. E., & van Gerven, M. A. J. “Vividness of Visual Imagery Depends on the Neural Overlap with Perception in Visual Areas”, The Journal of Neuroscience, 37(5), 1367 LP-1373. (2017).\n  49. Kosslyn, S. M., Pascual-Leone, A., Felician, O., Camposano, S., Keenan, J. P., L., W., … Alpert. “The Role of Area 17 in Visual Imagery: Convergent Evidence from PET and rTMS”, Science, 284(5411), 167 LP-170, (1999).\n  50. Farah, M. (1988). \"Is Visual Imagery Really Visual? Overlooked Evidence From Neuropsychology\". Psychological review. 95. 307-17. 10.1037/0033-295X.95.3.307.\n  51. Behrmann, M., Winocur, G., & Moscovitch, M. “Dissociation between mental imagery and object recognition in a brain-damaged patient”. Nature, 359, 636. (1992).\n  52. Schlegel, A., Kohler, P. J., Fogelson, S. V, Alexander, P., Konuthula, D., & Tse, P. U. “Network structure and dynamics of the mental workspace”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(40), 16277 LP-16282. (2013).\n  53. Kolb, B., & Whishaw, I. Q. (2015). Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology. New York. Worth Publishers.\n  54. Ishai, A. “Seeing faces and objects with the \"mind's eye”\", Archives Italiennes de Biologie, 148(1):1-9. (2010).\n  56. Shepard and Metzler 1971\n  57. Gardner 1987\n  58. Kosslyn 1995; see also 1994\n  59. Parsons 1987; 2003\n  60. Schwoebel et al. 2001\n  61. Kosslyn et al. 2001\n  62. Amorim et al. 2006\n  63. Farah, Martha J. (Sep 30, 1987). \"Is visual imagery really visual? Overlooked evidence from neuropsychology\". Psychological Review. 95 (3): 307–317. doi:10.1037/0033.295X.95.3.307 (inactive 2018-09-04). PMID   3043530.\n  64. Cichy, Radoslaw M.; Heinzle, Jakob; Haynes, John-Dylan (June 10, 2011). \"Imagery and Perception Share Cortical Representations of Content and Location\" (PDF). Cerebral Cortex. 22 (2): 372–380. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhr106. PMID   21666128.\n  65. Rohrer 2006\n  66. Marks, 1973\n  67. Rodway, Gillies and Schepman 2006\n  68. Rodway et al. 2006\n  69. Gur and Hilgard 1975\n  70. Cui et al. 2007\n  71. Pascual-Leone et al. 1995\n  72. The Dalai Lama at MIT (2006)\n  73. Mental Imagery Archived 2008-02-29 at the Wayback Machine\n\nFurther reading", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9837039709091187}
+{"content": "Glossary: Data Use Agreement\n\nThe data use agreement regulates how personal data can be processed and whether it may be passed on to third parties. All purposes for the data usage must be stated. The customer must give his consent and with it he agrees to the use of his data. On the other hand, he has the assurance that his data will only be used for the named purposes. In marketing, it is particularly important to obtain consent to be able to communicate with the customer. Furthermore, showing the customer what happens to his data creates trust. The agreement must be shown to the customer expressly and clearly. It has to be obtained, for example, when a customer registers for a newsletter.\n\nNach Oben ↑", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.997855544090271}
+{"content": "Penguin numbers continue to slide\n\nWritten by      \n\nDuring the 1980s and 1990s, many of the world’s breeding populations of rockhopper penguin—including those on Antipodes and Campbell Islands and in the Auckland Islands, in New Zealand’s subantarctic—went into severe decline. Recent work on Campbell and Antipodes indicates that the downward trend is continuing, with worrying implications for the long-term viability of the species in these areas.\n\nRockhoppers, the smallest and most widely distributed of the world’s six species of crested penguin, breed on islands in the South Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Except for populations on islands off the coast of Chile and Argentina, which have remained more or less stable, all have shown varying degrees of decline.\n\nThe fall in the number of rockhoppers breeding on Campbell Island was first described and quantified by biologists Duncan Cunningham and Phil Moors in 1994, following field work completed during 1984-86, and reported in detail in New Zealand Geographic, Issue 22.\n\nCunningham and Moors found that over a period of about 45 years, from the early 1940s to the mid-1980s, the rockhopper population on Campbell Island fell by 94 per cent, from over 1.6 million to 103,100 breeding birds.\n\nIn December 2000, several Campbell Island rockhopper colonies were photographed. The prints, when compared with photographs of the same locations taken in the 1990s, showed a further reduction in numbers.\n\nOn Antipodes, research­ers counted the number of chicks in four colonies during January 2003 and compared these with chick counts made in the same colonies during January 2000. In all colonies the number of chicks had fallen by about 25 per cent.\n\nOn present form, the long-term outlook for this characterful species in New Zealand does not look too encouraging.\n\nThe reasons for this catastrophic population drop remain unclear. Cunningham and Moors suggested that changing sea temperatures were involved. They noted that the decline in rockhopper numbers coincided with temperature increases recorded in Campbell Island’s Perseverance Harbour, and hypothesised that warmer seas resulted in fewer krill, the penguins’ preferred food. Faced with a paucity of krill, Cunningham and Moors argued, rockhopper penguins had been forced to switch to prey of lower quality, primarily small fish.\n\nAt the time, it was impossible to test this hypothesis because there were no quantitative dietary data for rockhopper penguins from the period when the population was much larger. However, researchers at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) have tackled this problem by employing stable-isotope techniques, applying these to a time series of feather samples collected over the past 120 years and held in museums around the world. This innovative approach has enabled them to determine long-term trends in the diet of rockhopper penguins.\n\nStable-isotope analysis measures the ratio of heavy to light isotopes of common elements such as carbon and nitrogen. The nitrogen stable-isotope ratio provides information about how high up the food chain a penguin has been feeding: the higher the position on the food chain, the greater the ratio of nitrogen-15 to nitrogen-14. The carbon stable-isotope ratio provides information about the productivity of the marine ecosystem in which a penguin has been feeding: lower ratios of carbon-13 to carbon-12 are indicative of less productive systems.\n\nAnalysis of the rockhopper feathers has shown that the nitrogen stable-isotope signature has not varied significantly since the 1880s, suggesting that New Zealand rockhopper penguins have not changed their diet during the past 120 years. By contrast, the carbon stable-isotope signature has declined significantly over the same period, indicating that the productivity of the marine ecosystem supporting the penguins has declined. The carbon isotope values began to drop during the late 1940s, coinciding with the onset of the crash in penguin numbers.\n\nThe overall picture seems to be that rockhopper penguins have maintained their diet but have been unable to find enough food to keep up their numbers because the marine ecosystem has been less productive in recent decades.\n\nWhy the subantarctic marine ecosystem is now less productive than in the first half of the 20th century is a difficult question to answer, but Cunningham and Moors were probably correct in identifying changing sea temperatures as a factor.\n\nOngoing work at NIWA aims to construct a temperature profile for subantarctic water dating back to before the decline in penguin numbers using another stable-isotope ratio, this time involving oxygen. Oxygen stable-isotope ratios are to be determined from the shell carbonate of brachiopods—a group of marine organisms similar to bivalve molluscs—captured at depths of around 100 m.\n\nThe oxygen isotope signature is a proxy for sea temperature. This work will highlight whether there was a change in sea temperature around the time penguin numbers began to drop.\n\nA reduction in marine productivity could be having an impact on rockhopper penguins in several ways. Breeding success could have been reduced, adult birds might be unable to find enough food to raise healthy chicks, or birds might be unable to maintain their body condition, resulting in increased mortality.\n\nNIWA researchers are now addressing these issues, and searching for evidence that rockhopper penguins have to work hard to capture food.\n\nDuring the 2002-03 breeding season, adult birds were equipped with time-depth recorders to monitor diving behaviour. These tiny data loggers, weighing just 30 g apiece, were taped to the backs of foraging birds and removed after a single feeding trip so the information they had recorded could be downloaded.\n\nPreliminary results indicate that rockhopper penguins regularly dive to depths greater than 80 m, with 115 m the deepest dive recorded. Dives can last up to three minutes, and during a period of active feeding a penguin can spend as much as 80 per cent of its time below the sea surface.\n\nWhen fully analysed, these data will be compared with similar data sets for rockhoppers at other sites, such as the Crozet Islands, to see whether New Zealand rockhoppers are working especially hard—which would support the proposition that their food is now relatively scarce.\n\nAs well as investigating penguin diving behaviour, researchers fitted penguins breeding on Antipodes Island with satellite telemetry devices to determine where they went to find food for their chicks. The results showed that the birds mostly swam 25-50 km offshore in water about 1500 m deep. The birds did not feed near the seabed, of course, but presumably dived to about 80-115 m. The duration of these trips was usually less than a day, each penguin covering some 50-100 km in that time.\n\nOnce their chicks were growing up, the adults fed even farther from the breeding colony, up to 110 km offshore, and remained at sea for 3-4 days.\n\nWhy New Zealand rockhopper penguins have fallen in number so dramatically remains unanswered, but research in progress aims to shed light on the processes underpinning this alarming trend.\n\nMore by", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9960561990737915}
+{"content": "\n\nRe-Thinking Economics : Exploring the Work of Pierre Bourdieu\n\nRe-Thinking Economics : Exploring the Work of Pierre Bourdieu\nDu sparer 14% Du sparer 14%\nBog, hæftet (kr. 439,95) (kr. 439,95)\n  • kr. 509,95\n  • Leveringstid 5-7 hverdage\n  • Forventet levering 05-03-2019\n  • 14%\nBog, hæftet\nLæsernes anmeldelser\n(0 anmeldelser)\n  1. Beskrivelse\n\n    Once again, unfettered capitalism has failed. Promises for global prosperity and peace have given way to a world of deep recession, social upheaval and political instability. Once again, mainstream economics has proved its inadequacy. Despite its technical rigour and mathematical virtuosity, it failed dramatically to respond to the current crisis. Why is this so? Mainstream economics turns a blind eye to society. By assumption, it maims its analyses by wiping away what makes us what we are. There is pressing need for a critical discussion and new ideas.\n\n    We therefore turn to the insightful and stimulating work of Pierre Bourdieu. Arguably one of the major sociologists ever, he was also a major 'economist'. Yet his works on the economy have received only scant attention, especially from economists, be they 'mainstream' or 'heterodox'. Bourdieu helps to take a broader view and enrich our scientific imagination. By including dimensions of power, intuitive behaviour and social structures within the scope of his analysis, he provides for an alternative foundation of economics, based on an integrated, interdisciplinary theory. For the first time, this volume fills this gap in economics by featuring state-of-the-art research and experts from different social science disciplines. This book constitutes a first step, and hopes to become a milestone.\n\n    The book offers an innovative outlook and a unique source for social scientists of all fields, particularly economists and sociologists, who wish to engage in the study of Bourdieu and his economics with a view to developing a more pertinent theory. It will also constitute a useful reference for university students and administrators who would like to explore the economy from a Bourdieusian perspective.\n\n  2. Yderligere info\n    454 g\n    17 mm\n    156 mm\n    234 mm\n  3. Anmeldelser\n\nFandt du ikke hvad du søgte?\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7831381559371948}
+{"content": "Megabytes - Bytes Converter\n\n\nConvert between megabytes and bytes (MB and B) using this data storage conversion tool. This converter is part of the full data storage converter. Simply choose whether you want to convert megabytes to bytes or bytes to megabytes, enter a value and click the 'convert' button. Reference charts are available down the page.\n\nSpelling: American | British\n\nGroup digits?\n\n\nWhilst every effort has been made in building this megabytes - bytes converter, we are not to be held liable for any special, incidental, indirect or consequential damages or monetary losses of any kind arising out of or in connection with the use of the converter tools and information derived from the web site. This megabytes - bytes converter is here purely as a service to you, please use it at your own risk. Do not use calculations for anything where loss of life, money, property, etc could result from inaccurate conversions.\n\nPlease see the full disclaimer for more information.\n\nConverting bytes and megabytes\n\n\nHow many megabytes are there in 1 byte?\n\nThere are 1.0E-6 megabytes in 1 byte. To convert from bytes to megabytes, divide your figure by 1000000 .\n\nHow many bytes are there in 1 megabyte?\n\nThere are 1000000 bytes in 1 megabyte. To convert from megabytes to bytes, multiply your figure by 1000000 .\n\n\nBytes and megabytes reference chart\n\nMegabytes Bytes\n0.1 100000\n1 1000000\n2 2000000\n3 3000000\n4 4000000\n5 5000000\n6 6000000\n7 7000000\n8 8000000\n9 9000000\n10 10000000\n20 20000000\n30 30000000\n40 40000000\n50 50000000\n60 60000000\n70 70000000\n80 80000000\n90 90000000\n100 100000000\n\nWhat is a byte?\n\nIt is common for confusion to arise between bytes and bits. A byte represents eight unique bits of information. Each bit will be assigned a value of a 0 or a 1. This entire group of bits will then act as a packet of data. Examples here can be a letter, a number or a symbol such as a question mark. Bytes can be thought of as the \"DNA\" that is used to form larger strings of data and eventually, entire programs. It is important to keep in mind that unlike the diminutive bit, the byte is used to explain larger numbers.\n\nWhat is a megabyte?\n\nMost computer users are very familiar with the megabyte. As you might have already guessed, a megabyte is the equivalent of 1,000,000 bytes (or 10^6 bytes). We should point out that there is more than meets the eye here. While the SI definition is one million bytes of information, many computing professionals will instead use the more precise number of 1,048,576 bytes (1,024^2). This arises from the binary multiples that occur (each byte contains eight bits of information within its string).\n\nOther individual data storage converters\n\nBytes and Bits, Gigabytes and Bytes, Kilobytes and Bytes, Megabytes and Bits, Megabytes and Bytes, Megabytes and Gigabytes, Megabytes and Kilobytes, Terabytes and Bytes, Terabytes and Megabytes,\n\nFeatured article\n\nThe history of the calculator\n\nPhoto of abacus\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9860297441482544}
+{"content": "Bob Flynn\n\nVice President of Facilities and Game Day Operations\n\n\nBob Flynn joined the Titans in 2015 as the team’s Vice President of Facilities and Game Day Operations.\n\nIn his role for the Titans, he oversees both Nissan Stadium and Saint Thomas Sports Park. More specifically, he is responsible for all aspects of stadium operations on game day and the fan experience. He also serves as the point person for scheduling additional events at Nissan Stadium. Since his arrival, Nissan Stadium has hosted many unique events in addition to the normal slate of football games, including the Rolling Stones, Guns ‘N Roses, Beyoncé, Monster Jam and a Top Golf event. Additionally, the stadium has hosted top-flight soccer matches including the She Believes Cup, a Gold Cup soccer doubleheader, International Champions Cup and games featuring both the U.S. National Men’s team and the Mexican National Team.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9994805455207825}
+{"content": "Cookie Policy\n\nThis document applies to the website available at the HTML address (hereinafter also “Website”) belonging to XTPL S.A. with its registered office in Wrocław (address of the registered office and address for delivery: ul. Stabłowicka 147, 54-066 Wrocław), a company having its registered office at ul. Stabłowicka 147, 54-066 Wrocław, entered in the business register of the National Court Register kept by the District Court for Wrocław-Fabryczna, VI Commercial Division of the National Court Register under KRS No. 0000619674: NIP: 9512394886, with a share capital of PLN 178,362.00 (fully paid up), which can be contacted at the address provided above, by email at or by phone on +48 717 072 204, hereinafter referred to as “XTPL”.\n\n\n1 | What kind of document is this?\n\nThis cookie policy (hereinafter “Policy“) is for information purposes only, which means that it does not create any obligations for you or XTPL (it is not a contract or terms of use).\n\n\n2 | What technology do we use?\n\nThe Website uses technology that stores and obtains access to information on a computer or other device connected to a network (in particular a technology that uses cookies or related solutions), to ensure the best browsing experience and for statistical purposes.\n\nAs XTPL may use solutions with functions similar to cookies, the following provisions of the Policy are applicable mutatis mutandis to these technologies.\n\n\n3 | Who is affected by cookie files?\n\nAs the cookie technology (or the technology of other files with a similar function) used by XTPL collects information about every person visiting the Website, the following provisions of the Policy apply to all persons who use the Website (hereinafter also “Visitors“).\n\n\n4 | What are cookies?\n\nA cookie file is small text-file with information sent by the server and stored on the side of the Visitor’s device (usually on the hard drive of the computer or on a mobile device). It stores information that the Website may need to adapt to the ways the Visitor uses the Website and to collect statistical data about the Website.\n\n\n5 | Do cookie files collect your personal data?\n\nWhen the Visitor uses the Website, cookies are used to identify only the Visitor’s browser or device ‒ they collect various types of information that is not personal data (it does not allow the identification of the Visitor).\n\n\n6 | On what legal basis do we use cookies?\n\nObtaining and storing information using cookies is possible on the basis of the Visitor’s consent.\n\nNormally, Internet browsers or other software installed on a computer or other device connected to a network allow you to manage the way how cookies are saved and stored on the device, and thus how information about Visitors is collected.\n\nThe consent for the use of cookie technology may be modified or revoked at any time through the web browser’s settings (but some parts of the Website may not function properly if you do so). For detailed information on how to withdraw consent, see further sections of this Policy.\n\n\n7 | What do we use cookies for?\n\nThe cookies used on the Website are primarily intended to make it easier for the Visitor to use the Website, for example, by “remembering” the information once provided, so that it does not have to be provided every time.\n\nCookies are also used to measure and report statistics of interaction between Visitors and the Website (measurement function), e.g. to count visits and traffic sources, which may help us improve the efficiency of the Website.\n\n\n8 | What kind of cookies do we use and are they harmful?\n\nThe cookies used by the Website are not harmful to the Visitor or to the Visitor’s computer/ end device, so we recommend that you do not disable them in your browsers.\n\nThe Website uses two types of cookies: session cookies that in general remain on the Visitor’s computer or mobile device until the software (web browser) is closed, and permanent cookies, which remain on the Visitor’s device for the time specified in the cookie file parameters or until they are manually cleared from the browser list.\n\n\n9 | How to clear/block cookies?\n\nThe Visitor may change the way cookies are used by managing consents in the browser settings, including blocking or clearing cookies.\n\nBy default, Internet browsers or other software installed on a computer or on other user’s device connected to a network allow for the placement of certain types of cookies on the device. These settings can be changed in such a way as to block the use of cookies or inform the user each time cookies are sent to his or her device. In this way, the consent for the use of this technology may be modified or revoked at any time (disabling the storage of cookies in the future).\n\nThe clearing method varies depending on the web browser used. For information on how to clear cookies, in most cases, go to the “Help” section of the web browser.\n\nFor detailed information on how to manage cookies on a mobile phone or other mobile device, consult the user manual/ user guide of your telephone or mobile device.\n\nLimiting the use of cookies may affect some of the functionalities available on the website.\n\nPlease note that disabling cookies on one browser does not automatically disable them on another. This means that you will have to take the same steps for all other browsers used on the same or other device.\n\n\n10 | What are the consequences of clearing or blocking cookies?\n\nRestricting the use of cookies on a device may prevent or significantly impair the use of the Website, for example it may result in a failure to sustain a session.\n\n\n11 | How can you contact us?\n\nYou can contact XTPL at any time by sending a message by post or email to the address provided at the beginning of the Policy, or by calling the telephone number specified at the beginning of the Policy.\n\n\n12 | Can this policy be changed, and how will you learn about that?\n\nXTPL may change the Policy in the future.\n\nEvery time XTPL makes any changes to the Policy the company will communicate them on the Website. After each update, the new version of the Policy will have a new date.\n\n\n13 | How long has this version of the Policy been effective?\n\nThis version of the Policy has been effective since 1 November 2018.\n\n\nFind out more", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.754298746585846}
+{"content": "This period is part of the\nProterozoic era.\n\nThe Hadean is a geologic period; a somewhat outdated term for the time period prior to 3,800,000,000 years before the present -- 3800MA. It was originally intended to address the period before the earliest known rockss. In the last decades of the 20th Century a few Hadean rocks have been identified in Western Greenland, Northwestern Canada and West Australia. The term is not often used.\n\nThe oldest known rock formations are somewhat altered sediments from Greenland dated around 3800MA by a volcanic dike that penetrated the rocks after they were deposited. Individual zircon crystals redeposited in sediments in Western Canada and the Jack Hills region of West Australia are much older. The oldest dated zircons date from about 4400MA which is very close to the hypothesized time of the Earth's formation. The Greenland sediments include Banded Iron beds. They contain possibly organic carbon and quite possibly indicate that photosynthetic life was already in place at that time. The oldest known fossils (from Australia) are a few hundred million years younger.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9996140599250793}
+{"content": "Artistic Thinking and the Studio Thinking Framework\n\nWhat is artistic thinking and how can it be implemented into non-artistic courses? I became intrigued by this possibility for a couple of reasons. As an art history teacher, we are often placed in a box that treats the discipline only within the confines of a fine art. People on the outside tend to view art history as a “soft discipline” of sorts; not quite as rigorous as perhaps the “hard sciences” or even more traditional history courses. Actually, art history is much more expansive and interdisciplinary as it requires knowledge and familiarity with multiple disciplines in order to construct meaning. In fact, as a world history teacher, I often hear other teachers lament on the need to introduce more art into their courses as this tends to be something the AP exam assesses.\n\nThe difficulty in doing so is based on the fact that most are not trained to look at art and use it as a source of information, let alone having access to the complexities of thinking like an artist. In art history, we often try to gauge artists’ intentions which requires students to do precisely that – think like an artist. This is a culture of thinking that can apply to any field and reinforces this concept of developing creative thinking in our classroom contexts. Shirley Veenema, at Project Zero Classroom at Harvard, walked us through artistic thinking, the habits of mind that accompany studio work, and how the studio is structured so that we can better understand how to relate this framework to any other given field.\n\nShirley Veenema has been an art teacher in both elementary and high school, and served as a researcher at Project Zero from 1987-2007. Her research has targeted thinking in the arts, using portfolios for assessment, multiple intelligences theory, and technology in education. Her mini-course, the ideas I attempt to summarize and present here, are based on findings from her Studio Thinking Project, which focused on artistic thinking for both the arts and non-arts courses.\n\nArtistic Thinking\n\nSo, what is artistic thinking? Developing a fresh perspective to solve problems with a preference towards the unorthodox. How does this occur? Through creative thinking, which can be stimulated by both an unstructured process (i.e. brainstorming) or by a structured process (i.e. lateral thinking or making lists). See also Cindy Meyers Foley’s mini-course to get more familiar with creative thinking.\n\nA framework can serve as a good reference for the types of learning that could be incorporated into a teacher’s practice. Veenema made some suggestions that work for her, which is a mix of Multiple Intelligences (for diverse learners), Teaching for Understanding (for content), and Thinking Routines (which develops creative thinking as a culture in the classroom).\n\nHow do I make a studio classroom?\n\nThis is based on four studio structures normally found in an art context but as can be seen these are readily available for any subject.\n\nStep 1: Demonstration/Lecture\n\nInformation is delivered about processes and products and helps set up assignments. The information should be immediately useful and conveyed quickly to help reserve time for work and reflection. Visual examples are often used.\n\n  • It is important to note that demos and lectures can happen at any point in order to introduce new material or call attention to something specific like a particular artist’s work, connections to other disciplines, a further investigation, a connection to habit(s) of mind, connections to other cultures through art\n\nStep 2: Students-at-Work\n\nNeeds to be safe to allow students to work and experiment. Students generate products (artwork) based on teacher’s specifications. Assignments must specify tools, materials, goals, challenges. Teachers observe and consult but sometimes may pause work to address whole class.\n\nStep 3: Critique\n\nThis is carried out in-process, usually a way to break and regain focus. The pause to focus on observation, reflection, and conversation. Display is temporary and informal.\n\nStep 4: Exhibition\n\nSelects, organizes, and publicly displays works. An exhibition can take many forms: physical or virtual, installed or performed, ephemeral or permanent, sanctioned or guerrilla, informal or formal, or a curated gallery. Often occurs outside of class space and time. Develops in phases – planning, installation, exhibition, and debriefing/aftermath.\n\n8 Studio Habits of Mind\n\nThese are presented in a circle and non-hierarchical because there isn’t any one of these that is superior to the other. They are all interrelated and can be taught in a natural progression. I have adapted the language to be more general but it should be noted they take their root from studio art itself.\n\n  1. Develop Craft – learning to use tools, materials, and conventions\n  2. Engage and Persist – learning to embrace problems of relevance to develop focus conducive to working and persevering\n  3. Envision – learning to picture mentally what cannot be directly observed, imagine possible next steps in making product\n  4. Express – learning to create works that convey meaning\n  5. Observe – learning to see more than what is at first glance, to gain deeper understanding, to see what otherwise might not be seen (see Slow Looking)\n  6. Reflect – learning to question and explain and to think and talk with others about an aspect of one’s work; learning to evaluate and  judge one’s work and process and the work of others in relation to the standards of the field\n  7. Stretch and Explore – learning to reach beyond one’s own abilities, to explore playfully and embrace ambiguity and mistake-making in order to learn\n  8. Understand Art Worlds – learning about art history and current practices (these can be changed to whatever specific field is the course of study for your class), learning to interact with others as a professional and within that community as well as within broader society\n\nActivities that Incorporate Habits of Mind, Follow Studio Structures\n\nExample: Figure Ground Activity (individual and collaborative)\n\nThis activity allows for the playful exploration of creative thought. Using a black sheet of paper and a white sheet of paper, have students create an image in any way they like by tearing the paper and placing it on the other. Allow for the figure and the ground images to shift back and forth in your mind. Make it a “safe” project in that this isn’t going to be “great” art as an expectation, which will loosen things up and let students play. Coach students along the way by offering suggestions either individually or to the entire class. After a fixed amount of time, have the students pass their work to someone next to them and have them adapt/alter it. This activity touches on a few of those studio habits of mind and gets students used to the idea of editing and the process of thinking creatively.\n\nExample: Found Object Art Sculpture (group)\n\nCreate a prompt that the groups must create a sculpture as an answer to. Give the students a time limit, let them shop for items and construct their work.\n\nExample: Found Stories (individual and/or collaborative)\n\nProvide a folder filled with images – these images should be both concrete and offer potential for abstract thinking (patterns, etc.). They could be clipped from magazines, etc. There should be images of people in them (at least 3) in order to help generate a story. Provide a topic or question that students must answer by telling their story – they should pick a fixed number of images to create their story (say 3 images). This could be part of a larger project that enables discussion. Could be used to jump start a writing project or other topic that may be important to your class (i.e. environmental focus on what a society throws away, etc.).\n\nActivities can be adapted in order to meet the needs of your class. Shirley Veenema made a few suggestions:\n\n  • Emphasize a particular habit (of mind) or constellation of habits\n  • Can be done in several formats (collaboratively, individually, switch and then “finish” work, work individually and then do an in-process critique)\n  • Aspects of an activity can be adapted to other goals\n  • Activities can lead up to or be expanded upon for other types of projects, be they visual art of ones with an interdisciplinary focus", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8531736135482788}
+{"content": "africa for africans\n\nTopics: Greenhouse gas, Carbon dioxide, Global warming Pages: 5 (1429 words) Published: April 10, 2014\nGlobal warming is the increase of earth’s average temperature as the result of green house effect. Green house gases in the atmosphere act like a mirror reflecting back the heat radiation which would otherwise be dispersed into space. Greenhouse effect is the problem of gradual rise of gases such as carbon dioxide in the air surrounding the earth which traps the heat if the sun. Greenhouse gases are any of the gases that are thought to cause green house effect.\n\nCarbon dioxide is the main green house gas. The gas contributes over 50% of green house effect. The following are some of the sources of carbon dioxide in the environment or the atmosphere.\n\nThe main human activities that contribute to global warming are the burning of fossils (coal, oil and natural gas). The burning of fossils creates carbon carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.\n\nAlso clearing and burning of vegetations, green plants especially woody plants, absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and they use it to produce their own foods. When the wood dies the carbon dioxide will be released back in the atmosphere. So when We loose trees and forest there will be fewer trees to absorb the carbon dioxide.\n\nHowever Methane seems to contribute more since many of the SADC communities depend on agriculture. Methane is from agriculture activities it’s released from wetlands. The emission of methane gas increase with increase in agricultural activities, since 1960’s the amount of methane in the air has increased by 1% per year. Methane is also produced during mining of coal, oil and when vegetation burnt. Methane molecules have life time of 10 years in the atmosphere. SADC will be much harder hit than developed countries, due to limited agricultural flexibility.\n\nChlorofluorocarbon (CFCs) the source of CFCs in the atmosphere include fridges, air conditional and aerosols. CFCs are extremely affecting green house gases. A CFC molecule is 10,000 times more effective in trapping heat than carbon dioxide.\n\nTherefore the changing of the average global temperature by even one or two degrees can lead to serious consequences around the SADC communities. First for every degree Fahrenheit of warming we wan expect to see, 5-15% reduction in the yield of crops currently grown, 3-10% increase in the amount of rain falling during the heaviest precipitation events, which can increase flooding, 5-10% decrease in stream flow in some rive basins.\n\nGlobal average temperatures have increased more than 1.4 degree Fahrenheit over last 100 years. Many of the extreme precipitation and heat events that we have seen in recent years are consistent with what we would expect give this amount of warming. The scientist predicts that the temperature will increase by 1.4 and 5.8 degrees by the year 2100.\n\nContinued global warming could have many damaging effects. First harm the ocean life, through global warming the surface of the earth could become warmer, such as coral reef. High water temperature can cause damaging process called coral bleaching. When coral bleach they expel the algae that give them their color and nourishment. The coral turns white and unless the water temperature cools, they die. Added warmth also helps spread diseases that affect sea creatures.\n\nAlso threats to human health. Tropical diseases such as malaria and dengue, might spread to larger regions, longer lasting and more intensive floods could increase hunger and malnutrition.\n\nWhile the sea level will also rise. Continued global warming might melt large amount of ice from the vast the sheet that covers most of the west Antarctica. As a result coastal areas would experience flooding, erosion a loss of wetlands and entry of seawater into fresh water areas. High sea level would submerge some coastal cities, Small Island and other inhabited regions.\n\nSince the...\nContinue Reading\n\nPlease join StudyMode to read the full document\n\nYou May Also Find These Documents Helpful\n\n  • Dbq on African Reactions to the Scramble for Africa Essay\n  • Colonial Africa: Marlow and Human Africans Research Paper\n  • History of Africa Essay\n  • Africa Essay\n  • Africa Essay\n  • Africa Essay\n  • Beyond the Bounds of Historiography: Reconstructing the Transitory Phases of Africa in African Poetry Essay\n  • Scramble for Africa ESSAY\n\nBecome a StudyMode Member\n\nSign Up - It's Free\n0 Comments | Genesis: The Fall of Eden (2018) | Watch This Link!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9373519420623779}
+{"content": "Light Collage is an investigation on light as a physical material. This technique gives us a tangible way to create and manipulate images, with a similar effect as the \"Blend Mode\" from Photoshop.\n\nWe can render digital shapes, patterns, colours and typography using paper as a support for light.\nWith the use of a projector as a light source, and some optical objects such as prisms, mirrors and lenses, we can control, give direction, distort, and overlay the projected image to create an illusion of transparency, made possible by the Additive Color System also known as RGB.\nby Caio Vita", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9321697354316711}
+{"content": "Japanese Page\n\n\n* Released to Google Play.\n\nLinks in Google Play\n\nThe Lord of the Castles 2\n\nWhat is 'The Lord of the Castles' ?\n\n* App for android, which is distributed as a free app in Google Play.\n\n* App of a kind of slide puzzles whose common name is 'Hakoiri-musume' in Japan.\n\n* In the puzzle, there are some kinds of pieces(tiles); a big square(CASTLE), small squares, and rectangles. The goal of the puzzle is to move the big piece(CASTLE) from the start positon to the bottom-center of the play-area by sliding pieces.\n\n* There are some castles(stages) in the game. You can get scores by conquering the castles ( solving the puzzles ).\n\n* You can play this game in English and Japanese versions.\n\nHow to play the game.\n\nConquer the castles one by one\n\nIn the beginning, you have small piece of a map on which you can see a castle.\n\nWhey you conquer the castle, you can see a red flag is on it and get a new piece of the map with a new castle. Then you can try to conquer the next one.\n\nThe goal is to conquer all the castles on the map.\n\nConquer a castle = solve a puzzle !\n\nYou can solve puzzles as follows.\n\nPieces can be slided to the unoccupied area like 15 puzzles, sliding block puzzle or sliding tile puzzles.\n\nUnlike 15 puzzles, this puzzle has various size pieces. You cannot slide one if its size is bigger than the unoccupied area.\n\nThe goal is to slide the biggest piece (CASTLE) from the start position to the bottom-center of the play-area.\n\nAre the puzzles difficult ? --- You can use guidebooks.\n\nAs you conquer castles, the puzzles become more and more difficult.\n\nYou can refer to guidebooks if you cannot solve the puzzles.\n\nThe guidebooks are kinds of hints. For example, a page of guidebooks is overlapped on the play area, then arrange(slide) pieces just same as the page.\n\nIf you finished the arrangement, then your next target is the next page. The guidebook pages will take you to the goal.\n\nStory and Free mode\n\n'Can I always use the guidebooks ?' --- the answer is 'NO'.\n\nThere are two modes in the game; story and free modes.\n\nThe goal of the game is conquer all castles in STORY MODE. But you can refer to the guidebooks only in FREE MODE.\n\nThe difference between story and free modes are follows. Let's clear the game by using these two modes.\n\nGoalTo conquer all castles in story mode.To practice solving the puzzles.\nSelect a castleYou cannot select a castle.You can select a castle freely from castles you can play.\nMapYou can get a new piece of map, if you conquer a castle.You cannot get any piece of map.\nGuidebookYou can get a new guidebook, if you conquer a castle.\nBut you cannot refer to the guidebooks\nYou cannot get new guidebooks.\nYou can refer to the guidebooks.\nScoreScore, count and time of both by castle and all are to be recorded.No score, count and time is recorded.\nNet rankingYou can register your score to the net ranking system.You cannot register your score.\n\nNet ranking\n\nWhen you conquer Hyperion castle ( the 3rd ) or later, you can register your scores to the net ranking system.\n\nYou can see the ranking from the following link.\n\nShow net ranking.(in another window or tab)\n\n\nYou can read help pages of the game from the following link.\n\nShow help pages(in another window or tab)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7061474323272705}
+{"content": "Thesis on project management techniques\n\nIdentifying and assessing risk. Ensure that dependent activities do not start until the activities they depend on have been completed. Project management tools and techniques are precisely what make managing projects easier and more\n\nRead more\n\nLord of the flies behavior essay symbolism\n\nWhen the boys first arrived on the island the conch was used to summon and unite the boys in order to form a civilization. \"As Piggy stood on the platform, the white conch\n\nRead more\n\nAn essay on mahatma gandhi for children\n\nAnother eisenhower speaks, macarthur'S warning, tHE NEW atomic AGE, tHE rebirth OF israel. While Gandhi pressed for the Indian independence, British questioned Gandhis motives and asked him not to speak for the entire\n\nRead more\n\nWhat philosophy tought me essay\n\nwhat philosophy tought me essay\n\nby the concept of time. tags: Sonnet essays Powerful Essays 2027 words (5.8 pages) Preview - Analysis of Sonnet 83 I never saw that you did painting did need, And therefore to your fair no painting set. It may take up to a minute to be displayed on the site. Allowing grades to dictate ones life. Many of my current classmates, each of whom could literally change the world, are paralyzed by fear, and are instead choosing the path of security: That is get good grades. Milton changed and elaborated on a few characteristics of his Satan and his Hell in order to create Paradise Lost, but based his characterization and his descriptions on his interpretation of the Bible, using his imagination to form a more vivid picture of how horrible. It is in \"Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare, that we see a challenge to the idea that love is finite.\n\nJohn Milton's Paradise Lost Essay: Allegory of Sin and Death - Allegory of Sin and Death in Paradise Lost That Milton's Paradise Lost is unsurpassed-and hardly equaled-in English literature is generally accepted by critics and scholars.\nAs a beginner, I would like to say I found this extremely helpful.\nI am an undergraduate mature 2nd year student from Scotland studying for my psychology degree and feel like I can start applying some of these skills immediately to the vast amount of reading necessary to complete the course.\nThere are assignments throughout the quarter that count for a certain percentage of your grade (presentations, quizzes, memos, letter, etc).\nThe biggest one is the research paper (about a quarter of your grade).\n\nWhat is an impressionistic essay, Steps to write best essay, Essay human understanding definition, Reed essay prompt,\n\nWhat do you think must be done? tags: Shakespeare Sonnet Essays 116 Papers Good Essays 544 words (1.6 pages) Preview - This sonnet is an anti-love poem that ironically shows how the the seventies in a tom wolfe essay crossword fairness of a lady is contingent upon nature's blessings and her external manifestations. . We can be as happy and as successful as we choose. In receding order, before the weeping \"now there was the \"recent\" dry-eyed stoicism; \"before that the frequent be-moanèd moan of repeated grief; \"further back in the past the original loss so often mourned; and \"in the remote past a time of achieved happiness,. In Shakespeares Sonnet lxxiii, the poet is an older man comparing his life to such things as night and day, the four seasons, and as a fire in a fire. Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. tags: Sonnet Essays Strong Essays 971 words (2.8 pages) Preview - Analysis of Sonnet 65 Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea, But sad mortality o'ersways their power, How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, Whose action is no stronger. Again, I have nothing against college or even grad-school for that matter. The traditional life time line: High School: College: Grad-School: Job ( you most likely hate Retire: Die Why not: High School: Find Your Purpose: Love Your Job: Live your life.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8574031591415405}
+{"content": "What is the difference between implied and express terms?\n\nThe rights and duties of both employers and employees are found in the contract of employment. They are called 'terms' of the contract.\n\nSome of these terms are 'express' terms – that is they are expressly or specifically stated, either orally (at the initial interview, say) or in writing. Express terms include things like pay, hours and holidays.\n\nThe law states that certain express terms must be put in writing and handed to the employee in the form of a written statement of particulars within two months of starting work.\n\nThere are other contractual terms called 'implied' terms. These are not expressly or explicitly stated because, in the main, they are fairly obvious to both parties to the contract of employment.\n\nOccasionally, the courts will imply a term in a contract of employment where an important term has been left out.\n\nImplied terms include statutory rights, such as the right to equal pay and duties, such as a duty of care.\n\nAn important implied term is the duty of mutual trust and confidence, which is implied in every employment contract.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999891519546509}
+{"content": "I’m reading a very interesting book by Peter Hitchens about the history of modern policing in Britain. The book is called The Abolition of Liberty and it focuses primarily on the differences from early British policing in the 19th and early 20th century in contrast to the modern policing system. So far, Hitchens has identified two major inflection points in the policing in the 20th century. The first in the 1920s with the start of sweeping prison reforms, and the second in the 1960s with the move from foot patrol (so called “bobby on the beat”) policing to “unit beat” or responsive policing that increasingly put officers in cars dispatched from central stations.\n\nThe argument that I found most interesting about this second shift is that it fundamentally changed not just the mode of policing, but the purpose. Police officers went from a primarily preventative organization whose officers were tightly ingrained in the community and whose job was to deter crime in their beat area to being a reactive force more like a fire department who only showed up after crimes had already occurred.\n\nHitchens makes the argument (though I have a few minor quibbles with the way he reports numbers) that this was in part responsible for the increase in crime in England, and especially London, in the latter half of the 20th century. Arrest rates have risen, but so has total crime, since an important preventative stop-gap has been removed and replaced with a reactionary force that can only ever catch criminals after the fact.\n\nHitchens’ engrossing explanation for this shift from beat policing to more reactionary policing got me interested in the manpower requirements of the old beat policing system. I decided to try and estimate how much manpower would be required to assign one officer to every quarter square mile in the city, 24 hours a day, assuming 8 hour shifts. I picked quarter square mile beats, since I think this is about the maximum territory that a careful, observant human being can reliably patrol once every hour. This makes for a square space about a half mile or roughly six city blocks on each side.\n\nBased on the land area of Seattle listed in Wikipedia, I came up with a manpower requirement of 1,140 patrol offices, or 160 fewer officers than the SPD currently employs. The 1,300 total officers almost certainly includes non-patrol officers who I would expect to make up the majority of the force. Of course, a main point of Hitchens’ argument is that by placing more officers out on foot or bicycle patrols, you actually need fewer officers in support or investigative roles because of the deterrent effect of having so many officers embedded in the community.\n\nI honestly don’t know if beat policing would work in a city like Seattle. I think it would probably would better in the denser, downtown districts, and many of those are already subject to occasional patrol by officers on bicycles. I do find Hitchens’ argument that getting officers out of cars and on foot in high-traffic areas probably makes for better relations with the public and may well have a deterrent effect, but I do wonder about the scaling and efficacy of 100%, 24-hour coverage.\n\nStill, the simple idea that there’s an officer patrolling every neighborhood would make many opportunistic criminals think twice about committing crime, and may very well reduce response times to crimes in progress.\n\nI should note that, despite a number of high-profile instances of discriminatory policing and undue use of force the past few years, it appears that all three metrics helped by beat policing (police/public relations, crime rates, and response times) are improving, according to this Slog post from last year. The Slog also notes that SPD ” … managed to divert 19 officers to non-emergency beats like foot and bike patrols.”\n\nIf Hitchens is correct, this diversion of officers towards regular non-car patrols may have something of a sympathetic effect in which an increase of beat policing reduces crime, freeing up more officers for beat policing, further reducing crime, etc.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9906708002090454}
+{"content": "11. Syngonium meridense Bunting, Acta Bot. Venez. 10:324. 1975. TYPE: Venezuela, Merida, Cano Blanco (Puente Hierro), carretera Cano Zancudo-La Azulita, Bunting 4381 (MY-002512, holotype; VEN, isotype).\n\nEpiphytic or hemiepiphytic vine, usually to 2-3 m long. Juvenile plants with stems less than 1 cm diam., not glaucous; petioles 10-15 cm long, subterete above the sheath; blades oblong-elliptic, usually broadest in the middle, somewhat inequilateral, subacute to acuminate and apiculate at the apex, narrowed to a weakly lobed base; primary lateral veins 4-5 pairs, sharply ascending to the apex, each forming a distinct collective vein; posterior lobes 10-17 cm long, narrowly rounded to acutely angular. Adult plants with stems green in the apical portion, usually to 2.5 cm diam.; internodes 3-4 cm long; petioles usually 36-47 cm long, sheathed ca. 2/3 their length, the sheath open, 26-32 cm long, persistent; blades held in same plane as the petiole, thinly coriaceous, drying chartaceous, simple, suboblong-ovate to triangular-ovate, abruptly acuminate at the apex (the acumen bluntly rounded at the tip with a short apiculum), obliquely cordate at the base, 25-32 cm long, 15-21 cm wide, dark green, matte above, light green, matte below, the posterior lobes broadly rounded or rarely obtusely angular, 6-9 cm long (from the tip to the apex of the sinus), the sinus arcuate with a decurrent petiole; primary lateral veins 5-9 pairs, ascending at 40-45' angle, each forming a distinct collective vein; tertiary veins very distinct on the lower surface, almost obscure on the upper surface; basal veins 5-6 pairs, free or nearly so to the base.\nInflorescences 2 or 3 per axil; peduncles 9-12 cm long, compressed; spathe (juvenile) 12 cm long; spathe tube fusiform, 2.5 cm long, 1.3 cm diam., dark green on the outside, pale green within; spadix (juvenile) 5 cm shorter than the spathe, subsessile; pistillate portion of the spadix 1.8 cm long, 9 mm diam. at the base, 8 mm diam. at the apex; staminate portion of the spadix somewhat clavate, 5.7 cm long, 9 mm diam., narrowed above the sterile staminate flowers (ca. 1 cm above) to 6.5 mm diam., the remainder ca. 8.5 mm diam., obtuse at the apex.\nInfructescences (immature) 8 cm long, 2.6 cm diam., dark green on the outside, pale green within. Figs. 12, 17 18.\n\nDISTRIBUTION: Syngonium meridense is endemic to Venezuela and is known only from the state of Merida.\n\nSyngonium meridense is recognized by its simple leaf blades with short, rounded posterior lobes and basal veins free or nearly free to the base. It is most closely related to S. chocoanum from northern Colombia and western Panama. It differs from that species by its broader sinus and in having the tertiary veins distinct and wavy and in lacking any major branches from the primary lateral veins. Syngonium chocoanum has blades noticeably narrowed toward the base with a relatively narrow sinus. The latter species also has many conspicuous branches from the primary lateral veins (at least in the lower 1/3 of the blade), which form an acute angle with the primary lateral veins. The tertiary veins are obscure, close and markedly parallel, not distinct, remote and wavy as in S. meridense. It can also be confused in South America with S. crassifolium which differs in having larger leaves with longer, more angular lobes and basal veins which are united into a distinct rib (posterior rib).\n\nA specimen with an immature inflorescence was collected in mid-December and a presumably full-sized fruit was collected in early April.\n\nVENEZUELA: MERIDA: El Vigia/San Cristobal del Tachira, Bunting 2404B (MY, VEN); Cafio Zancudo-La Azulita, Bunting 2800, 4381 (MY, VEN).", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9590227603912354}
+{"content": "(407) 960-4887DIRECTIONS\n\nCriminal Defense Attorney\n\nExperienced Criminal Defense\n\nContact us now\n\nSentencing Manipulation\n\nsentencing manipulation\n\n\nSentencing manipulation is when law enforcement takes some kind of action to increase the defendant’s potential sentence. Sentencing manipulation is different then entrapment in the fact that entrapment requires law enforcement to cause a defendant to commit a crime that he was not otherwise predisposed to commit. While in sentencing manipulation the defendant might already be predisposed to committing the crime, but the government takes action to increase the sentence.\n\nThe exact definition of sentencing manipulation is not clear. In Florida there are some cases to suggest that if law enforcement keeps coming back to sell drugs to the defendant over and over again the court can sentence the defendant to the same sentence he would have received if he was arrested after the first sell. However sentencing manipulation can not be used to give the defendant a lower sentence then the defendant would have received had the government not manipulated the sentence.\n\nThere is also some law to suggest that if the police just sit back and watch a defendant committing crimes like selling drugs that sentencing manipulation would apply. However if law enforcement is watching crimes takes place for any other purpose that the argument of sentencing manipulation does not apply. For example if law enforcement waits to arrest a defendant engaged in conspiring to traffick in drugs for the purpose of uncovering the conspiracy, then the defendant can not argue sentencing manipulation.\n\nThe last example is kind of interesting, because whether or not the court can give the defendant a lower sentence rest on the actions/intent of law enforcement, and is not based on the actions of the defendant.\n\n\nSentencing manipulation is rarely used in court. Chances are most attorneys and judges don’t know what it is. It is used so rarely that most judges will probably not be comfortable applying a sentencing manipulation analysis.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.550845205783844}
+{"content": "Реклама на ноже\n\nКак смотреть на картину? Краткий курс от маньеризма и барокко до постимпрессионизма\n\n\n«To remind scientists of their own history»: historian Loren Graham on Soviet and Russian science and the fate of Soviet scientists\n\nDuring the last decade historian Loren Graham had published several fundamental researches on both Soviet and Russian science and their complicated relationship with philosophy. Curator of the new cycle of lectures «Diamat» by Winzavod’s Philosophical club discussed with Graham the meaning of dialectical materialism today, the Lysenko’s affair in the light of of epigenetic researches and asked him why creating sporadic scientific mega projects is not enough for Russian science to develop.\n\nLet us start from your background and experience in the USSR, that you described in your memoir («Moscow Stories»). You say, you were considered persona non grata. Why?\n\n— The overall record is that between 1960 and the end of the Soviet Union, I visited the Soviet Union many times. But as I remember, I was persona non grata only for a short time — from 1972 to 1976. I do not know why, I was simply told during this period that I was not welcome in the USSR. I don’t think that the reason was very serious, because then they dropped objections and let me come back in. It could be because of some of my publications, it could be because I wrote about my meeting with Trofim Lysenko, who may have had still a few friends in the police.\n\nSeveral decades ago you wrote a book on dialectical materialism («Science and Philosophy in the Soviet Union»). «Diamat» is often understood today as nothing, but soviet scholasticism, dogmatism, and ideology. However, you have claimed that — notwithstanding obvious excesses — in terms of its synthetic approach it was one of the most ambitions systems in history of philosophy: you even compare it to Aristotelian scheme of natural order and Cartesian mechanism. I guess, today there is a demand for a «big theory», that would generalize knowledge produced by different minor sciences. Could diamat be reevaluated today? What are its advantages and drawbacks?\n\n— There are two ways of thinking about dialectical materialism. The first — and the most common on the popular level —  is that it was part of the official ideology of the Soviet Union and part of propaganda and therefore does not deserve much attention. The other way of seeing it is that it was a form of materialist philosophy; and materialism as a philosophy has been with us since the time of the ancient Greeks. In fact, most working scientists today probably have some kind of materialist philosophy under their work.\n\nDialectical materialism is a little bit more sophisticated than a simple materialist philosophy, since it is non-reductive. It is not based on the assumption that all complex phenomena such as consciousness or emotions can be explained in terms of the movement of the simplest atoms. It asserts that complex things can not be explained in the simplest terms.\n\nInstead, it believes in «levels of being»: there is the physical level, the biological level, the social level.  In that way It has an advantage of being non-reductive. And to some people, for instance, to Ernst Mayr, a very distinguished biologist, who was here at Harvard, and in no way a communist and in no way a Marxist, it was appealing. He told me that he believed that his basic philosophy was similar to dialectical materialism for the reasons that I have just given. I have serious doubts, however, that this approach will be revived with the name of “dialectical materialism.” This term is disreputable to most people. But some form of non-reductive materialism, that in fact is very similar to dialectical materialism, and may need to find a different name, will probably come back\n\nI find «diamat» compelling, because it takes into account nature as a proper subject for philosophy, that was largely neglected by Western philosophers of the 20th century. Today, on contrary, we see an unprecedented interest in nature: from different new materialisms and vitalisms that endow nature with an agency, or on the other hand, certain neo-positivist trends.\n\n— When I was a young man, positivism was a very popular approach here, and as time has gone on, the faith in positivism has faded.\n\nThe thought that one could explain a composer writing beautiful music in positivistic terms, when you think about it, is absurd.\n\nThere is now a more interesting philosophy of science called holism that might be helpful. The most that such a philosophy could ever be is helpful, and it could never give you precise answers to questions. It just simply gives you a general stance, a general approach, a set of assumptions, as you go. This kind of philosophy is gaining popularity.\n\nLet us talk about particular subjects of your research. You start with the problem of origins of life and particularly with Oparin-Haldane hypothesis. For instance, in one of the recent popular books on this subject that I have read («The origin of life. From the nebula to the cell» by Mikhail Nikitin) the whole discussion starts with Oparin’s name. The author describes theory of abiogenesis and primordial soup, but does not describe three different levels of being (physical, chemical, social), and  Marxist dialectics that crucial for their concept.\n\n— Oparin is still considered a pioneer in studies of the origin of life. That does not mean that modern day scholars, studying the origin of life, accept all of Oparin’s views.  But they do frequently recognize him as the person who opened up the field. We are still studying the field and he was the one who made it a respectable, legitimate and important field of study.\n\nModern scientists — as I am sure you know — do not really pay much attention to the history of their fields. They simply work on the problems that are most relevant to them.\n\nThe fact that Oparin and Haldane were Marxists and that they believed that Marxism was important to their work — that is not noticed or talked about. Many scientists today working on the origin of life  might say that their field was really begun by Oparin, but they are not interested why, how, or what were the philosophical impulses that Oparin possessed. They want to solve their problems within the framework of a DNA approach — something Oparin did not do. It is up to historians like me to remind them of their history, how they got to where they are now.\n\nIn the Soviet times, one of the most heated discussions was the famous opposition between nature and nurture. Today we can witness its echoes, for instance, in Steven Pinker, who spoke militantly against the theory of a  «blank slate». I guess, that due to cognitive science, behavioral genetics, evolutionary psychology and neuroscience the stick is bent now to the «nature» side. What is state of this discussion and what Soviet authors (Alexander Luria, Alexei Leontiev, Lev Vygotsky) can contribute to that?\n\n— Vygotsky is for sure still popular among psychologists in the West. Here again his philosophical points of view are unimportant to these people, unlike his psychological views. In fact, when Vygotsky’s works were translated into English his sympathetic views of Marxism were taken out. The reason they were taken out was that the translator assumed that such statements were just enforced ideology, that Vygotsky had to do this because he was forced to do so by his bosses and censors. That is not true, Vygotsky was a sincere Marxist; Marxism in his work, in my view, is substantial. Vygotsky is better known than Luria in the West.\n\nThere is a big debate going on and has been going on for a long time between nature and nurture in Western countries too. The specifics of that debate have changed and in particular they have changed as genetics has changed.\n\nThe old view, one that is still powerful, is that nothing that happens in the normal life experience of an organism can have a genetic effect — except from such extreme things as radiation that can cause mutations.  That view is now changing with the advent of epigenetics.\n\nAccording to epigenetics, events that happen during the life of an organism can in some circumstances have genetic effects. There is still a great controversy about how many generations such effects may last; there is also controversy about whether higher organisms such as humans are as susceptible to epigenetic change as lower organisms like paramecia. But much has changed, and the nurture view — the camp of the «nurturers» —  is, in my view, stronger now than it used to be. However, we should notice that some people in the field would disagree with what I just said.\n\n— Several chapters of your books are dedicated to physics. What is interesting about Soviet physicists?\n\n— In quantum mechanics one of the big debates has been and still is:  Why is it that the description of elementary particles is probabilistic? Why can we not know exactly both the position and the velocity of an elementary particle subjected to a certain force? In quantum mechanics we answer such questions probabilistically.  A big question has been: is this because something is going on that we do not know about? And if we could find these «hidden parameters» would quantum mechanics stop being merely probabilistic? Could we then have an exact description? There are still some people who believe that, although they are diminishing in numbers. Einstein himself believed that a deterministic solution could be found. Now most people believe that quantum mechanics is inherently probabilistic. In the Soviet Union this discussion was particularly well-developed, and some Soviet physicists such as Dmitrii Blokhintsev developed rather sophisticated ways of trying to understand quantum mechanics in a way that allowed room for a hidden determinism that we have not yet discovered. They developed some ideas that in their time were worth looking at. However,  I do not think this debate is currently as alive as the one over nature/nurture in biology. Nonetheless, it is still there.\n\nIn Soviet times, one of the major scientific obsessions was cybernetics. Some philosophers even claimed that this science (that initially originated in capitalist countries) complements dialectical materialism. One of its main subjects was the nature of information. When I today read certain American scientists I have  feeling of a déjà vu. For instance, Seth Lloyd, professor of mechanical engineering and physics at MIT, claims that the universe is just a big computational machine, while Arkadi Ursul came to similar ideas already in the early 1980 writing that information is the universal quality of matter.\n\n— Information is more difficult to define than most people think.  It is really a deep philosophical question. Even now there are different opinions on this question.\n\nCybernetics as a field had an extremely interesting history in the Soviet Union. At first it was condemned in Soviet publications for being a bourgeois or capitalist “tool”  driven by the belief that cybernetic machines could eliminate workers. Therefore the proletariat would disappear.\n\nThen later a marvelous transformation occurred in the Soviet Union; people there got interested in cybernetics. Its «father», the MIT mathematician Norbert Wiener, was invited to the Soviet Union, where cybernetics (kibernetika) became celebrated and as you probably know, institutes (instituti kibernetiki) and departments (kafedri kibernetiki) were created all over the Soviet Union.  Cybernetics still exists as a scientific field in Russia, but in the United States the word “cybernetics” has almost disappeared, because it is considered too  broad a term. And to the extent that it still exists in the USA it is usually connected not with the original science of Norbert Wiener, but instead by more popular ideas about the cyberworld, cyberwarfare, cyborgs, and other concepts which do not have much to do with what Wiener was talking about.\n\n— «Diamat» was compromised by several dramatic incidents that were detrimental to science in general. First of all, due to Lysenko’s affair who believed in «inheritance of acquired characteristics». Today with the rise of epigenetics (particularly thanks to discovery of gene expression and the methylation of DNA) — idea of «inheritance of acquired characteristics» was revised and partially accepted, even though still debated. You dedicated the whole book («Lysenko’s Ghost: Epigenetics and Russia») to this subject trying to dissociate this discipline with this name. Could you explain, why Lysenko — despite certain superficial similarities — was wrong?\n\n— There has been an effort by some philosophers and even a few biologists in Russia to revive Lysenko and his beliefs (lysenkoism) and to say that he was right after all. And they base these arguments on the fact that the «inheritance of acquired characteristics» is now being accepted more and more, at least in some instances, as I referred to earlier. And therefore, they say, Lysenko was right. But I think this is a gross misunderstanding.\n\nThe inheritance of acquired characteristics was not Lysenko’s invention. Aristotle believed in it and many people from Aristotle to the present believed in it. The first thing to say about who Lysenko was is that he was a very poor scientist.\n\nHe defended the concept of the inheritance of acquired characteristics very badly. He often used samples of just two or even a sample of one to «prove» things.  It is ridiculous the way he worked. In my opinion, Lysenko must be remembered as a bad scientist. And if the inheritance of acquired characteristics is revived that does not mean Lysenko was right. Hundreds of scientists believed in the inheritance of acquired characteristics. The only reason we do not often say this is because we remember Lysenko and we do not remember them. And the reason we remember Lysenko was because he persecuted his colleagues and is responsible for some of their deaths. He should not be given credit for the revival of a theory that has long been around before he came along. But he should be remembered for being a poor and immoral scientist.\n\nCurrently, there is a big interest in science in Russia, more and more popular books are published, while lectures attract more young people. In my view, the books you quote would be considered marginal and do not have a significant readership. I understand that it is important not to forget this historical episode, but do you think that a demonization of Lysenko and personification of responsibility is still productive?\n\n— In my book, I said that the majority of biologists in Russian do not believe that Lysenko was right. But what was remarkable to me is that a few say that he was. For example, this man Zhivotovskii who is in the institute of genetics in the Russian Academy of Sciences, a respected scientist.  I found it shocking that he would try to revive Lysenko. I do not believe — and I say so in the book — that science in Russia is once again falling under Lysenko’s views. I agree with you, this is a minor event, but this new Lysenkoism is there and any Western biologist who finds out about it is as shocked as I am.\n\n— What are the differences between Soviet science and post-soviet (Russian) science with the introduction of free market and things went out of control?\n\n— The differences are enormous! First of all, Russian science today is not controlled by a political party — namely, the Communist party. And Russian scientists are free to travel, if they can find the money.  On the other hand, Russian science today does not have as much financial support as it did in the Soviet Union. So you might say there are both good and bad. The role of the Academy of Sciences has been dramatically demoted. In fact, strictly speaking, the institutes that were under the Academy were put under the Federal Administration of Scientific Organizations (ФАНО). The Academy of Sciences has been reduced to an honorary society that no longer legally possesses scientific research institutions. However, the fight about this is still going on, and there are people in the institutes that used to be in the Russian Academy of Sciences who act as if they still remain in the Russian Academy of Sciences. There are people who say that these institutes may not be under the financial and administrative control of the Russian Academy of Sciences, but are still intellectually bound to, and connected to it and therefore they are still a part of the Russian Academy of Sciences.\n\nDoes the fact that in the light of the recent political events — especially economic and political isolation of Russia — affect science? Or science as an international domain can overcome such obstacles?\n\n— Of course, science suffers in this situation. But science is a world occupation. In contrast to certain moments during the Soviet Union, Russian scientists who can find the money  now can travel to international meetings all over the world. Their travel is not restricted, as was the case under the Soviet Union. Soviet scientists could not go to international conferences except as business travel (komandirovki) which had to be approved by their superiors, they could not go off on their own.\n\nI also think that Russian science is now much more closely connected with international science than was the case in the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, unfortunately the severe restrictions on money, severe restrictions on politics under Putin, means that there are real obstacles.\n\nDespite the fact that Russian science is suffering, it is more international than ever before and that is a very good thing.\n\nIn your recent book «Lonely Ideas: Can Russia Compete?» you explain why Russian inventors did not benefit from their inventions and why Russian innovations were not successful. Particularly, you are critical of such projects as Skolkovo and other state-found projects. Alexei Kudrin and German Gref, with whom you had an disagreement earlier, have recently claimed that they would create a “digital state,” they  would introduce even CRISPR-сas technology splicing in hospitals. All of these sound absurd…\n\n— I am skeptical. They are top-down, they are not from the bottom-up. Most efforts from the top-down do not really take root and cannot become powerful on their own. When I gave that talk in Saint Petersbourg a couple of years ago, I said that Russians want the milk and not the cow. What I have meant by that was: the Russian government and other institutions want the product, high technology. But they are not so interested in what is necessary for high technology to be produced. That is the cow!\n\nThe legal system for intellectual property in Russia is, in my opinion, inadequate. The funding of scientific research is inadequate. The ground for the production of high technology is not fertile enough. Therefore  Skolkovo and «science cities» (naukogradi) and so forth do not really work. They have some partial successes, but what Russia needs is to figure out what kind of social, political, and economic atmosphere and environment will automatically produce this kind of things. I do not think Russia has yet succeeded in doing that. It is a great tragedy!\n\nRussian inventors have had very good ideas. Two scientists got Nobel prizes for the invention of the laser, but the manufacture and sale of lasers today is rarely by Russians.\n\nRussia produces less than one percent of all the lasers that are sold in the world. The Russians in other similar fields  — in which Russians were way ahead or at least equal to other countries — fell behind in terms of what have been manufactured and sold.\n\nRussia developed the first digital computer in continental Europe. Who buys a Russian computer today?\n\nBeing ahead at the beginning does not help much in terms of changing your economy into a knowledge economy. Russia is today — as it has been a for long time — a resource-based economy, to a distressing degree dependent on oil and gas and not on the sale of high technology. It is not a knowledge economy.  Why should such small countries as Switzerland and Israel sell more high technology on the international market than Russia does? Therefore instead of merely looking for how Russians can produce high technology, Russians should be looking at how could they can create a society where high technology, once developed, can become something that could be sold on the world market. That is where Russia is weak.\n\n— What is the most interesting field of science today, that one should follow?\n\n— The really important subject right now — but I am not a specialist in it — is artificial intelligence. Is it going to become our master? Is it a threat to a society? Some very important people like Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking (who has just died) fear that artificial intelligence may become autonomous like some Frankensteinian monster, escape from us and begin to dominate us. Is that true? I do not have an answer, but I think that this is a very important question.\n\nПеревод интервью на русский язык можно прочесть здесь.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7453047037124634}
+{"content": "Eurovision Song Contest 2019\n\nCreado por mk87 en 22 Dic 2018 | Editado por última vez por mk87 el 17 Feb 2019\n\nAll entries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.\n\nCanción | Inglés Lake Malawi\n\nCzech Republic\n\nTraducciones:  Ruso Holandés Alemán 7 more\nCanción | Inglés D-Moll\n\n\n\n\nTraducciones:  Ruso Español Turco 8 more\nCanción | Inglés Carousel\n\n\nTraducciones:  Alemán Ruso Español 7 more\nCanción | Inglés Ester Peony\n\n\nTraducciones:  Español Alemán Rumano 6 more\nDarkJoshuaDarkJoshua    Sáb, 22/12/2018 - 23:09\n\nOoh, didn't realise the Eurovision season had already started.\n\nmk87mk87    Sáb, 22/12/2018 - 23:21\n\n\nmk87mk87    Dom, 23/12/2018 - 09:51\n\nYes, that's the Albanian entry.\n\nmk87mk87    Dom, 23/12/2018 - 20:41\n\n\nAlma BarrocaAlma Barroca    Dom, 23/12/2018 - 20:42\n\n\nBlack MambaBlack Mamba    Dom, 23/12/2018 - 20:48\n\n\nI thought it was just rumors..\n\nAchampnatorAchampnator    Dom, 10/02/2019 - 11:38\n\n\nBlack MambaBlack Mamba    Mié, 26/12/2018 - 03:33\n\n\nOpalMoonOpalMoon    Mar, 25/12/2018 - 20:27\n\nNow here's hoping Albania sticks with singing in Albanian for the actual contest. I'd have everyone singing in their own language: everything sounds better that way. As for those who say, \"Well, I don't speak their language\", that's why you have the internet.\n\nmk87mk87    Mar, 25/12/2018 - 22:45\n\n\nTaeyangTaeyang    Mié, 26/12/2018 - 03:43\n\nThere is Teeth smile\n\nAlma BarrocaAlma Barroca    Mié, 26/12/2018 - 18:50\n\n\nBlack MambaBlack Mamba    Mié, 26/12/2018 - 03:13\n\n\nAinoaAinoa    Dom, 27/01/2019 - 10:00\n\nExcept when they do? Salvador Sobral won two years ago.\nItaly’s Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro were very well ranked (and should have won) last year.\nA Danish singing contestant won in Danish once. They ‘never come up first’ also because there are so few of them compared to contestants singing in English (with bad grammar sometimes).\n\nI wish the quality of songs were better... What’s the point in having the same poorly written English pop song sung over and over again?\n\nOpalMoonOpalMoon    Mié, 26/12/2018 - 18:21\n\nExactly. Marija Serifovic also won singing in Serbian. Il Volo should have won their year as well. Portugal is criminally underrated almost every year.\n\nBlack MambaBlack Mamba    Mié, 26/12/2018 - 03:23\n\n\nAinoaAinoa    Mié, 26/12/2018 - 03:27\n\nOkay... That's your opinion, but I think that the Eurovision should celebrate diversity and the fact that you can have wonderful and catchy songs in all languages.\n\nP.S.: Why do you like your own comments?\n\nBlackSea4everBlackSea4ever    Mié, 26/12/2018 - 18:38\n\n\nOpalMoonOpalMoon    Mié, 26/12/2018 - 18:23\n\nYou can keep the catchy pop tune but in your own language. Then grammar (and diction) will usually be better.\n\nbambabamba    Sáb, 29/12/2018 - 17:27\n\n\nbambabamba    Vie, 18/01/2019 - 06:11\n\nI added the 10 songs of eurovision spain gala.\nThe competition is set to be on sunday 20.1.19.\nI hope it is o.k.\n\nFxC90FxC90    Vie, 18/01/2019 - 07:03\n\n\nbambabamba    Vie, 18/01/2019 - 07:39\n\nI don't know how to make a playlist 🙂\nI don't make one. 🙂", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9751079678535461}
+{"content": "Quick search\n\nTable Of Contents\n\nRecycleView Data Model\n\nバージョン 1.10.0 で追加.\n\nThe data model part of the RecycleView model-view-controller pattern.\n\nIt defines the models (classes) that store the data associated with a RecycleViewBehavior. Each model (class) determines how the data is stored and emits requests to the controller (RecycleViewBehavior) when the data is modified.\n\nclass kivy.uix.recycleview.datamodel.RecycleDataModelBehavior[ソース]\n\nベースクラス: builtins.object\n\nRecycleDataModelBehavior is the base class for the models that describes and provides the data for the RecycleViewBehavior.\n\n\nFired when the data changes. The event may dispatch keyword arguments specific to each implementation of the data model. When dispatched, the event and keyword arguments are forwarded to refresh_from_data().\n\n\nAssociates a RecycleViewBehavior with this data model.\n\n\nRemoves the RecycleViewBehavior associated with this data model.\n\n\nThe RecycleViewBehavior instance associated with this data model.\n\nclass kivy.uix.recycleview.datamodel.RecycleDataModel(**kwargs)[ソース]\n\nベースクラス: kivy.uix.recycleview.datamodel.RecycleDataModelBehavior, kivy.event.EventDispatcher\n\nA implementation of RecycleDataModelBehavior that keeps the data in a indexable list. See data.\n\nWhen data changes this class currently dispatches on_data_changed with one of the following additional keyword arguments.\n\nnone: no keyword argument\nWith no additional argument it means a generic data change.\nremoved: a slice or integer\nThe value is a slice or integer indicating the indices removed.\nappended: a slice\nThe slice in data indicating the first and last new items (i.e. the slice pointing to the new items added at the end).\ninserted: a integer\nThe index in data where a new data item was inserted.\nmodified: a slice\nThe slice with the indices where the data has been modified. This currently does not allow changing of size etc.\n\nStores the model’s data using a list.\n\nThe data for a item at index i can also be accessed with RecycleDataModel [i].\n\n\nA dictionary instance, which when modified will trigger a data and consequently an on_data_changed dispatch.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8961918354034424}
+{"content": "(2004) However, the distinctive mushroom-like structure, commonl\n\n(2004). However, the distinctive mushroom-like structure, commonly described in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms (Davies et al., 1998), was never observed. In contrast, bacterial aggregates were found either adherent to the ETT lumen or within the overlying secretions through SEM (Fig. 7). We found that systemic treatment with linezolid decreases bacterial survival ratio within ETT by direct quantitative assessment through CLSM. However, bacterial eradication\n\nwas not achieved, selleck screening library indicating insufficient bactericidal effect inside the biofilm likely due to both the intrinsic resistance of biofilms to antimicrobials (Mah & O’Toole, 2001; Stewart & Costerton, 2001) and the impaired distribution of antimicrobials inside the ETT (Fernández-Barat et al., 2011). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating bacterial aggregates, within the ETT, adherent and non-attached at the ETT surface, as clearly depicted in Fig. 7. It could be argued that the structures seen in the ETTs of our animal model were bacterial aggregates, not producing biofilm, and totally embedded within respiratory mucus. Indeed, in this model, it is challenging to distinguish buy 3-Methyladenine between respiratory mucus and MRSA biofilm, because MRSA biomatrix mainly consists\n\nof N-acetyl glucosamine (O’Gara, 2007) that is virtually indistinguishable from human mucus (Voynow & Rubin, 2009). However, the results on biofilm-forming capability between MRSA isolated from within the tube and MRSA to originally challenge the animals clearly imply that MRSA within the ETT was actively Ponatinib forming biofilm (Fig. 2). Furthermore, bacterial aggregates in our samples\n\nundoubtedly meet all the criteria established to define biofilm clusters (Parsek & Singh, 2003). The use of CLSM to qualitatively assess bacterial biofilm within ETT has substantially increased over the years (Perkins et al., 2004). In particular, CLSM has been commonly applied to assess efficacy of silver-coated ETT (Olson et al., 2002; Berra et al., 2008; Kollef et al., 2008; Rello et al., 2010), or novel devices designed to mechanically disrupt ETT biofilm (Berra et al., 2006, 2012). Nevertheless, quantitative CLSM assessment of ETT biofilm viability has never been reported, neither were used enhanced methods to clearly distinguish bacteria within the biofilm matrix inside ETT, which is important in terms of reproducibility. In our studies, an additional advantage of the use of CLSM was the capability to measure the total amount of bacteria within the biofilm irrespective of whether they were alive or dead. These assessments are clearly impossible to obtain through standard bacterial culture and relate to both antimicrobial efficacy and length of mechanical ventilation. Interestingly, we found more biofilm in ETTs retrieved from treated animals.\n\nHence, intraorally, the pathogenic yeast may undergo a brief expo\n\nHence, intraorally, the pathogenic yeast may undergo a brief exposure to antifungal drugs. The objective of this study was to investigate the LBH589 cost effect of brief exposure to sub-lethal concentrations of these antifungals on the germ tube formation and CSH of C. dubliniensis. After determining the minimum inhibitory concentration of the\n\ndrugs, 20 oral isolates of C. dubliniensis were exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of these antifungals for 1 h. Following this brief exposure, the drugs were removed, and following subsequent incubation in a germ tube inducing medium and exposure to bi-phasic hydrocarbon assay, the germ tube formation and CSH of these isolates was quantified respectively. Compared with controls, exposure to amphotericin B almost completely suppressed the ability to\n\nform germ tubes with a mean percentage reduction of 95.91% (P < 0.0001), whereas ketoconazole and fluconazole also significantly inhibited germ tube formation but to a lesser degree with a mean percentage reduction of 18.73% and 12.01% respectively (P��< 0.05). Compared with controls, exposure to amphotericin B and ketoconazole elicited a significant suppression on CSH with a mean percentage reduction RXDX-106 in vitro of 33.09% and 21.42%, respectively (P < 0.001), whereas exposure to fluconazole did not elicit a significant suppression on CSH (9.21%; P > 0.05). In clinical terms it appears that, even a short exposure to sub-lethal concentrations of these drugs, a situation all too familiar in the oral environment, would continue to exert an antifungal effect by suppressing the pathogenic potency of C. dubliniensis. “\n“Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) is an emerging alternative to treat infections based on the use of photosensitisers (PSs) and visible light. To investigate the fungicidal effect of PDT against azole-resistant Candida albicans strains using two PSs with a different mechanism of action, hypericin (HYP) and 1,9-dimethyl\n\nmethylene blue (DMMB), comparing their efficacy and the Dichloromethane dehalogenase reactive oxygen species (ROS) species involved in their cytotoxicity. Azole-resistant and the azole-susceptible C. albicans strains were used. Solutions of 0.5 and 4 McFarland inoculum of each Candida strain were treated with different concentrations of each PS, and exposed to two light-emitting diode light fluences (18 and 37 J cm−2). Mechanistic insight was gained using several ROS quenchers. The minimal fungicidal concentration of HYP for ≥3 log10 CFU reduction (0.5 McFarland) was 0.62 μmol l−1 for most strains, whereas for DMMB it ranged between 1.25 and 2.5 μmol l−1. Increasing the fluence to 37 J cm−2 allowed to reduce the DMMB concentration. Higher concentrations of both PSs were required to reach a 6 log10 reduction (4 McFarland). H2O2 was the main phototoxic species involved in the fungicidal effect of HYP-aPDT whereas 1O2 was more important for DMMB-based treatments.\n\nBinding of biotin-Fn to III1-C was significantly inhibited by the\n\nBinding of biotin-Fn to III1-C was significantly inhibited by the presence of either rFbpA or rFbpB in a dose-dependent manner (Fig. 5). The present study demonstrates that C. perfringens-derived rFbp (rFbpA and rFbpB) recognize the III1-C fragment of serum Fn. The III1-C fragment of Fn is known to be cryptic in serum Fn and is a site involved in fibril formation of Fn (22). Serum Fn expresses the III1-C fragment only when it binds to a particular cell surface by virtue of specific receptors including integrins (23–25). However, in the present study, affinity chromatography Epacadostat supplier of Fn on rFbp-Sepharose\n\ncolumns yielded a small amount of bound Fn that represented about 1% of the applied Fn protein. Further, the binding of rFbp to rFbp-BP was inhibited by III1-C peptide (Fig. 4). These results suggest that a small proportion of serum Fn expresses the III1-C fragment. The biological significance of the III1-C expressing Fn is, however, unclear as this moment. HB91 strongly reacted with both the 70-kDa and 30-kDa fragments, indicating that the HB91 epitope is located in the 30-kDa peptide.\n\nHowever, HB91 also reacted with the 45-kDa fragment Z-VAD-FMK solubility dmso (Fig. 2a). Because both the 30-kDa and 45-kDa fragments have Type I module repeats, HB91 reactivity with the 45-kDa fragment is thought to represent cross-reactivity towards the Type I module. HB39 strongly reacted with the 110-kDa fragment, while it weakly reacted with both the 30-kDa and 70-kDa fragments (Fig. 2a). Therefore, the HB39 epitope is thought to be located primarily in the 110-kDa peptide. Although the reason for HB39 also reacting with the 30-kDa peptide is unclear, this may be attributable to non-specific reactivity of HB39 between the 110-kDa and 30-kDa peptides. The epitopes recognized by the\n\nother mAbs, ZET1 and ZET2, are thought to be located in the 110-kDa peptide. The 450-kDa protein bands of the rFbp-BP were identified as Fn because they reacted with the two different anti-Fn mAbs, HB91 and HB39, when tested by Western blot. These bands are indistinguishable from intact Fn on the basis of size. However, they were not recognized by the other anti-Fn mAbs, ZET1 or ZET2. Fn isolated from plasma/serum is known to consist of different polypeptides generated Thiamine-diphosphate kinase by alternative splicing (26, 27). Therefore, rFbp-BP are thought to be splicing variants which may lack or veil the epitopes which are located in the 110-kDa fragment and are recognized by ZET1 and ZET2. None of the 84-kDa, 160-kDa, and 180-kDa protein bands of either rFbpA-BP or rFbpB-BP reacted with the four different anti-Fn mAbs used here. After storing rFbp-BP for several days at 4°C, the 450-kDa protein bands disappeared while the amount of the 160-kDa and 180-kDa protein bands increased (data not shown). The latter bands reacted with anti-Fn mAbs in a Western blot. Thus, protein bands with a molecular size less than 220 kDa may be Fn fragments which have been degraded from 450-kDa rFbp-BP.\n\nThe ability of the DNA vaccine constructs to elicit cellular immu\n\nThe ability of the DNA vaccine constructs to elicit cellular immune responses makes them an attractive weapon as a safer vaccine candidate for preventive and therapeutic applications against tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (TB) is a major local, regional and global infectious disease problem with about 9 million new cases and\n\n2 million deaths every year [1]. Mycobacterium tuberculosis kills more adults each year than any other single pathogen. The vaccination with Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette Guerin (BCG) is considered to be the most important tool to protect against TB [2]. In spite of its widespread use and many advantages like being inexpensive, safe at birth, given as a single shot and provision of some protection against leprosy, BCG vaccination remains controversial [2–4]. selleck chemicals llc The protection afforded by BCG vaccination has shown wide variations in different parts of the world, and its impact on the global problem of TB remains unclear [5]. Estimates of protection given by BCG against pulmonary TB vary greatly [4]. For example, a trial in British school children, in 1952, showed about 80% efficacy, whereas the Chingleput trial in India showed zero efficacy\n\nof protection against adult pulmonary GSI-IX TB, after BCG vaccination [4, 6]. This variability has been attributed to various factors including strain variation in BCG preparations, environmental influences such as sunlight exposure, poor cold-chain maintenance, genetic or nutritional differences between populations and exposure Dapagliflozin to environmental mycobacterial infections etc. [5]. In addition, because of sharing most of the antigens, BCG vaccination induces a delayed-type hypersensitivity skin response to the purified protein derivative of M. tuberculosis (the stimulus used to test the individuals for tuberculous infection), which cannot be distinguished from exposure to M. tuberculosis [7]. This makes the use\n\nof tuberculin skin test difficult for diagnostic or epidemiological purposes. Furthermore, BCG vaccination cannot be used in all groups of people, e.g. WHO has recommended that children with symptoms of HIV or AIDS should receive all the vaccines except BCG. This is because BCG is a live attenuated vaccine that might cause disease in immuno-compromised people rather than giving immunity [8]. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop M. tuberculosis-specific and safer vaccines against TB [6, 9]. The development of a better BCG vaccine or alternative vaccines needs the identification and evaluation of antigens recognized by protective immune responses [9]. In previous studies, we have identified RD1 PE35 (Rv3872), PPE68 (Rv3873), EsxA (Rv3874), EsxB (Rv3875) and RD9 EsxV (Rv3619c) as M. tuberculosis-specific antigens [10–13]. Furthermore, in vitro studies in patients with TB and healthy subjects infected with M. tuberculosis have shown that these antigens induced cellular immune responses that correlate with protection [9].\n\nThe doses of raloxifene and oestradiol were chosen for their equi\n\nThe doses of raloxifene and oestradiol were chosen for their equipotent effects on BMD, and therefore it is possible that a higher dose of raloxifene could have activated the ERE to the same extent as oestradiol. The present study is the first to analyse the effects of CAIA on BMD and cartilage and bone remodelling. Sham-operated mice with CAIA, non-arthritic Birinapant OVX mice and OVX mice with CAIA displayed the same trabecular BMD. These results were unexpected, as\n\nboth OVX and CIA have been shown to induce bone loss separately and additively [9]. All mice had received an intraperitoneal injection of LPS 1 week prior to termination. LPS is well known to induce osteoporosis quickly [38,39]. Because we did not find any difference in BMD between the vehicle-treated mice that had received collagen-antibodies and the non-arthritic controls, osteoporosis may have been induced by the administration of LPS. Also, the duration of the experiment was 2 weeks after administration of antibodies, and this short observation time may conceal pro-osteoporotic properties of CAIA. This issue needs to be studied further. Interestingly, raloxifene treatment resulted in increased BMD, although it did not affect the severity of the arthritic disease, suggesting anti-osteoporotic properties by raloxifene during LPS-induced inflammation. In addition, raloxifene increased bone selleck inhibitor formation\n\nas measured by serum levels of osteocalcin. This is in accordance with our previous results [6]. The histological selleck compound destruction found in paw sections was not as severe as in some previous studies [10,12], and this was due most probably to the short experiment protocol (2 weeks of disease). Serum levels of COMP reflect the degree of cartilage destruction during arthritic disease [27–29]. To our knowledge, this has not been investigated previously in CAIA. The arthritic disease resulted in a significant increase in COMP levels in OVX mice compared to non-arthritic controls\n\n(P < 0·001). As both groups had received an injection of LPS, administration of anti-CII antibodies contributed to the cartilage destruction. Indeed, it has been shown previously in vitro that anti-collagen II antibodies are pathogenic to chondrocytes, affecting both cartilage formation [40] and cartilage explants [41]. Administration of oestradiol and sham operation lowered the COMP levels compared to arthritic OVX controls, indicating protection of cartilage by both exogenous and endogenous oestradiol. In contrast, raloxifene did not influence the serum levels of COMP or the destruction of cartilage. It has been reported previously that raloxifene does not hamper granulocyte-mediated inflammation, whereas oestradiol does [19]. This could explain the difference between raloxifene and oestradiol treatment, as CII antibodies have been shown to mediate cartilage destruction even in the absence of inflammation [42,43].\n\nPlasma levels of ficolin-2 and ficolin-3\n\nwere measured by\n\nPlasma levels of ficolin-2 and ficolin-3\n\nwere measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (Hycult Biotech, Uden, the Netherlands; cat. no. HK336 and HK340, respectively) on an automated ELISA analyser (Elisys UNO; Human GmBH, Wiesbaden, Germany), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Levels of C4d, C3a and SC5b9 in maternal plasma were assessed with Quidel ELISA kits (San Diego, CA, USA; cat. no. A008, buy MLN0128 A015 and A029, respectively). Serum total soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) and biologically active placental growth factor (PlGF) levels were measured by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (Elecsys; Roche; cat. no. 05109523 and 05144671, respectively) on a Cobas e 411 analyser (Roche). Plasma von Willebrand factor antigen (VWF:antigen) levels were quantified by ELISA (Dakopatts, Glostrup, Denmark), while plasma fibronectin\n\nconcentration was measured by nephelometry (Dade Behring, Marburg, Germany), according to the manufacturer’s protocol. After extracting DNA with the silica adsorption method, the amount of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma was determined in patients with male newborns by quantitative real-time Proteases inhibitor polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of the sex-determining region Y (SRY) gene, as we have described previously [8]. The normality of continuous variables was assessed using the Shapiro–Wilk’s W-test. As the continuous variables were not distributed normally, non-parametric statistical methods were used. To compare continuous variables between two groups, the Mann–Whitney U-test was applied; to compare them among multiple groups, the Kruskal–Wallis analysis of variance by\n\nrank test was performed. Multiple comparisons of mean ranks for all groups were carried out as post-hoc tests. Fisher’s exact and Pearson’s χ2 tests were used to compare categorical variables between groups. Spearman’s rank order correlation was applied to calculate correlation Lepirudin coefficients. Multiple linear regression analyses were undertaken, as a non-parametric method, with logarithmically transformed values of the dependent variable. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by logistic regression analyses. Statistical analyses were performed using the following software: statistica (version 8·0; StatSoft, Inc., Tulsa, OK, USA) and spss (version 18·0 for Windows; SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). For all statistical analyses, P < 0·05 was considered statistically significant. In this paper, data are reported as median (25–75 percentile) for continuous variables and as number (percentage) for categorical variables. The clinical characteristics of the study participants are described in Table 1. There was no statistically significant difference in terms of age among the study groups.\n\nRather, the ability of oxaliplatin to induce ROS production via t\n\nRather, the ability of oxaliplatin to induce ROS production via the NADPH oxidase NOX2 in tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells was inhibited in antibiotic-treated mice [22] (Fig. 2). ROS production by myeloid cells was needed for oxaliplatin’s antitumor effect and oxaliplatin efficiency was decreased by inhibition of ROS by the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine,\n\nin animals deficient for the gene encoding NOX2, or following depletion of myeloid-infiltrating cells [22]. Although ROS and particularly H2O2 production were previously shown to be required for the genotoxic effect of platinum compounds [171, 172], this was studied mainly in tumor cell lines in vitro, and ROS was thus expected to be endogenously produced in the tumor cells, either RG7204 solubility dmso as mitochondrial or NADPH oxidase generated ROS. However, in the tumor microenvironment in vivo, ROS produced by tumor-associated myeloid cells is required for oxaliplatin cytotoxicity, and the microbiota has been shown to regulate the ability of oxaliplatin to induce early cytotoxicity of tumor cells by systemically priming tumor-associated myeloid cells for ROS production [22].\n\nThe effects mediated by the commensal microbiota on early responses to therapy are likely BI 6727 chemical structure dependent on a systemic priming effect of the preexisting microbiota composition on myeloid cells. However, both chemotherapy and radiation therapy can also modify the composition of the microbiota and exert severe toxicity on the intestinal mucosa, allowing transmucosal translocation of bacteria\n\nand further contributing to therapy-induced dysbiosis [173, 174]. One of the most promising anticancer therapeutic approaches is the adoptive transfer of expanded, tumor-specific cytotoxic CD8+ T cells. In this therapeutic approach, some level Galactosylceramidase of lympho- and myelo-ablation in the host is necessary for the survival of the incoming T cells and effectiveness of the transfer [175]. In both patients and in mice, total body irradiation (TBI) increases the efficacy of adoptively transferred tumor-specific CD8+ T cells and favors DC activation and the production of homeostatic cytokines [175, 176]. Also following TBI in mice, commensal gut bacteria have been isolated from the MLNs and elevated LPS levels were observed in the sera [175]. The beneficial effects of TBI on tumor regression was reduced by antibiotic treatment, neutralization of serum LPS using polymyxin B, or prevention of LPS signaling in mice genetically deficient for CD14 or TLR4. LPS administration to nonirradiated mice enhanced the number and function of the transferred CD8+ T cells, leading to long-term cure of mice with large transplanted tumors and enhanced autoimmune vitiligo [175].\n\n2) Moreover, the protein-specific TCLs derived from allergic sub\n\n2). Moreover, the protein-specific TCLs derived from allergic subjects mounted significantly stronger proliferative responses than the TCLs, which only recognized the Equ c 1143–160 peptide (P < 0·01, Fig. 2). This finding may reflect the higher TCR avidity of the Equ c 1 protein-specific TCLs and further implies that the T cells reactive to the naturally processed epitope are the allergy-associated cells. We assessed the cytokine profiles of the Equ c 1 protein-specific TCLs by\n\nmeasuring the concentrations of IL-4, IL-5, IL-10 and IFN-γ learn more in the cell culture supernatants (Fig. 3). The TCLs from allergic subjects produced significantly higher levels of the Th2 cytokines IL-4 and IL-5 than TCLs from non-allergic subjects (P < 0·01 and P < 0·05, respectively, Mann–Whitney U-test; Fig. 3). There was no statistically significant difference in the IL-10 and IFN-γ production (P > 0·05; Fig. 3). These findings corroborate previous observations,[2, 5, 18-20] demonstrating that allergen-specific CD4+ T-cell responses in allergic\n\nsubjects are Th2-biased compared with those in non-allergic subjects. In order to assess whether the Equ c 1-specific responses emerge from the memory or naive T-cell pool, additional short-term T-cell cultures were generated from memory (CD4+ CD45RO+ ) and naive (CD4+ CD45RA+ ) T cells purified from PBMCs of eight allergic and six non-allergic subjects. First, MK-2206 cost the purified cells were stained with the CFSE dye and stimulated with the Equ c 1143–160 peptide. After ex vivo expansion for 7 days, the dividing cells were visualized by flow cytometry (representative examples shown in Fig. 4a). Specific proliferative SB-3CT responses (CDI > 2) were detected\n\nin the memory T-cell-derived cultures of five allergic subjects out of eight (63%), whereas no responses were observed in the memory T-cell-derived cultures of the six non-allergic subjects studied (P < 0·05, Fisher’s exact test; Fig 4b). All the peptide-specific proliferative responses of the non-allergic subjects were detected in the naive T-cell-derived cultures (Fig. 4b), including the response of the non-allergic subject Q (CFSE analysis shown in Fig. 4a) that had an abnormally high frequency of Equ c 1-specific T cells (Fig. 1). To confirm that the ex vivo-expanded CFSElow T cells were specific to the Equ c 1143–160 and the Equ c 1 protein, T-cell clones generated by single-cell sorting of the expanded T cells were stimulated with the peptide and the protein. The positive results of five memory T-cell-derived clones from allergic subjects and two naive T-cell-derived clones from a non-allergic subject are shown in Fig. 5(a).\n\nThe study was approved by the ethics committee of Pasteur Institu\n\nThe study was approved by the ethics committee of Pasteur Institute of Iran. The four strains along with the reference strain (RS) of L. major (MRHO/IR/75/ER) as a control, were used for inoculation of BALB/c mice. Fifty thousand stationary\n\nphase promastigotes were inoculated in the right foot pad of BALB/c mice. Parasite was grown in RPMI 1640 media, supplemented with 2 mM L-glutamine, 10% foetal bovine serum, 100 U/mL penicillin and 100 μg streptomycin and then harvested and washed with Phosphate buffered saline (PBS) by centrifugation at 3000 rpm for 30 min. Species of the strains were characterized by isoenzyme electrophoresis and PCR as L. major. Genetic heterogeneity of the four strains was analysed by single-strand conformation polymorphism see more (SSCP).The internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) was amplified by primer pairs L5.8S (5′- TGATACCACTTATCG-CACTT -3′) and LITSR (5′ – CTGGATCATTTTCCGATG -3′) as described\n\npreviously [15]. Amplification reactions were carried out in volumes of 25 μL: 60 ng DNA was mixed with a PCR mixture containing 200 μM dNTPs mix, 1.5 mM MgCl2, 1 U Taq polymerase and 10 pmol of each primer. The amplification of samples was performed at: 95°C for 5 min for initial denaturing followed by 35 cycles consisting of denaturation at 95ºC for GSK3235025 40 s, annealing at 60ºC for 40 s and extension at 72ºC for 1 min. Final extension was followed at 72ºC for 7 min. PCR products were analysed on 1.5% agarose gel, and the bands Farnesyltransferase were visualized by ethidium bromide staining [16]. Single-strand conformation polymorphism was performed by denaturing the double-strand DNA products as described (15), with a few modifications. Briefly, 4 μL of PCR products were mixed with 6 μL denaturing buffer (95% formamide, 10 mm NaOH, 0·25% bromophenol blue, 0·25% Xylene) and 4 μL loading buffer (40% Sucrose, 0·25% bromophenol blue,\n\n0·25% Xylene). After heating at 98ºC, the mixture was immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen for 15 min. The samples were loaded then on 5.5% polyacrylamide gel and silver stained. For assessment of cytokine mRNA, 35 mice in each group were inoculated with five strains (175 mice), and cytokine transcripts were analysed in each time point of 3, 16, 40 h, 1 week, 3, 5 and 8 weeks post-infection (five mice for each time point). One group containing five un-infected mice were used as a control. Parasite load was measured by inoculation of four mice in each group with five strains (20 mice in total) and after 8 weeks, parasite burdens were determined in LN of each mouse. Parasite load was estimated at 8 weeks post-infection.\n\n12–15 In addition to aiding in the early diagnosis and prediction\n\n12–15 In addition to aiding in the early diagnosis and prediction, they should be highly specific for AKI, and enable the identification\n\nof AKI subtypes and aetiologies. AKI is traditionally diagnosed when the kidney’s major function Vemurafenib order (glomerular filtration) is affected, and indirectly measured by change in serum creatinine. However, pre-renal factors such as volume depletion, decreased effective circulating volume or alterations in the calibre of the glomerular afferent arterioles all cause elevations in serum creatinine. Post-renal factors such as urinary tract obstruction similarly result in elevations in serum creatinine. Finally, a multitude of intrinsic renal diseases may result in abrupt rise in serum creatinine, particularly in hospitalized patients. Other tests to distinguish these various forms of AKI such as microscopic urine examination for casts and determination of fractional excretion find more of sodium have\n\nbeen imprecise and have not enabled efficient clinical trial design. Availability of accurate biomarkers that can distinguish pre-renal and post-renal conditions from true intrinsic AKI would represent a significant advance. Biomarkers may serve several other purposes in AKI.12–15 Thus, biomarkers are also needed for: (i) identifying the primary location of injury (proximal tubule, distal tubule, interstitium or vasculature); (ii) pinpointing the duration of kidney failure\n\n(AKI, chronic kidney disease (CKD) or ‘acute-on-chronic’ kidney injury); (iii) identifying AKI aetiologies (ischaemia, toxins, sepsis or a combination); (iv) risk stratification and prognostication (duration and severity of AKI, need for dialysis, length of hospital stay, mortality); and (v) monitoring the response to AKI interventions. Furthermore, AKI biomarkers may play a critical role in expediting the drug development process. The Critical Path Initiative first issued by the Food and Drug Administration in 2004 stated that ‘Additional biomarkers (quantitative measures of biologic effects that provide informative links between mechanism of Edoxaban action and clinical effectiveness) and additional surrogate markers (quantitative measures that can predict effectiveness) are needed to guide product development’. Collectively, it is envisioned that biomarkers will play an indispensable role in personalizing nephrologic care, by providing a more precise determination of disease predisposition, diagnosis and prognosis, earlier preventive and therapeutic interventions, a more efficient drug development process, and a safer and more fiscally responsive approach to medicine.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7335911989212036}
+{"content": "Latest News:\nback to top\n\nBlood clotting\n\nWhy do I need a blood clotting test?\n\nThe liver produces proteins that help your blood to clot. If your liver isn’t working well, your blood won’t clot as efficiently, so this test is helpful when assessing liver function or whether it is safe for you to have a planned procedure or surgery.\n\nBelow are some specific terms you might hear when doctors assess how well your blood clots:\n\nProthrombin time (PT)\n\nThis is the time it takes for your blood to clot. The prothrombin time will take longer if you are deficient in vitamin K.\n\nInternational normalised ratio (INR)\n\nAs the chemicals used to perform the PT test may vary between laboratories, the INR is a calculation doctors use to allow for any differences found when results from different laboratories are compared.\n\nActivated partial thromboplastin time ratio (APTR)\n\nAPTR is the time taken for thromboplastin to convert into thrombin, an enzyme which causes clotting by turning fibrinogen into fibrin (see below).\n\n\nThis is another substance in the blood that helps clotting by producing fibrin strands. Platelets stick to the fibrin strands to form a plug that prevents bleeding. Some medications, such as aspirin, clopidogrel or warfarin, can affect clotting.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9556270837783813}
+{"content": "Simone Biles David Goldman/AP\n\nUS gymnast Simone Biles won the women's all-around gold medal in convincing fashion on Thursday, cementing her legacy as perhaps the best gymnast in the history of the sport.\n\nThis is Biles' second gold medal of the Rio Olympics, having already led Team USA to gold in the team all-around. She is expected to pick up three more golds later on, entering as the heavy favorite in the individual floor, vault, and balance-beam events.\n\nEntering the games, Biles had already won the individual all-around in the past three world championships. Her gold medal on Thursday marked the 14th consecutive all-around final that Biles has won.\n\nAs NBC analyst Jonathan Horton put it, Biles stands as \"the greatest ever.\"\n\nIn the all-around final on Thursday, Biles looked somewhat nervous in her early routines, needing a big step to land her vault. In something of a shock, after the vault and uneven bars, she trailed Russia's Aliya Mustafina by less than a point.\n\nBut during the latter two events, the balance beam and the floor routine, Biles looked like her old self, gliding through a tricky balance-beam routine and sticking the landing to take the lead. Then, on the floor, she posted a stunning score of 15.9 to officially put herself atop the podium.\n\nAly Raisman took home silver for Team USA.\n\nHere are the final scores:\n\nBiles is only 19 but already a US Olympic legend. If she can leave Rio with five golds, then it's hard to imagine anyone coming close to her level of dominance for quite a long time.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.832517147064209}
+{"content": "Code on the Beach\n\nBack to Speaker List\nJon Bosworth\n\nJon Bosworth\n\nIan Latchmansingh (UIX Designer) and Jon Bosworth (Content Strategist) are user experience designers that have implemented design thinking and human-centered design processes in product, operations, and marketing teams that range from startups and nonprofits to global Fortune 500 organizations. Trained facilitators on the design sprint process used by Google Ventures.\n\n\nSaturday 2:30 PM - 2:30 PM\n\nBeyond Code Track Solaria B\n\nValidating a Product before Writing a Line of Code - A 5-Day Design Sprint in 60 Minutes\n\nLearn how product or feature validation design sprints work by participating in one. Human Centered Design is a process used in the vast majority of successful software product companies, including Google, Facebook, IDEO. \"Design thinking utilizes elements from the designer's toolkit like empathy and experimentation to arrive at innovative solutions. By using design thinking, you make decisions based on what future customers really want instead of relying only on historical data or making risky bets based on instinct instead of evidence.\" -IDEOPrepare to advocate for or facilitate design-thinking in your organization or while planning your own product development. In this session we will run through a hyper-accelerated version of this process and have a working prototype to test at the conclusion of the hour. In the first 30 minutes we'll explore the first 2 days of a design sprint to identify a problem to be solved. This includes identifying the problem question, exploring the problem space, identifying critical goals, and understanding user journeys. In the second half of the session, we'll explore the last 3 days of the sprint. This includes expert interviews, immersing ourselves in the problem, working together to hypothesize potential solutions, voting on the ones we feel will be the most effective, and developing an actual prototype to test with users.When you leave this session you'll have a basic understanding of how developers, designers, product managers, and other stakeholders in the product development work together in a cross-functional team to ensure everyone's concerns and challenges are addressed in the design of the product. You'll also see how designing a product without this process tends to end in tragic misuse of resources, often bankrupting startups and legacy brands alike. Completing a 5-day sprint in 60 minutes is an ambitious challenge, but we guarantee you'll discover you're more creative than you think and how much fun a long meeting can actually be.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9121154546737671}
+{"content": "What is Core Liquidity Provider\n\nA core liquidity provider is an underwriter or a market maker that is a sizable holder of a given security or that facilitates the trading of the security. Core liquidity providers ideally bring greater price stability and distribute securities to both retail and institutional investors.\n\nBREAKING DOWN Core Liquidity Provider\n\nCore liquidity providers are typically firms, institutions or banks that underwrite or provide the financing for equity or debt transactions and then make a market or assist in the trading of these securities. Without their participation, liquidity of the security would decrease and the ability of buyers and sellers to accumulate or dispose of stock would be diminished.\n\nCore liquidity providers can be either the buyer or seller in a transaction. Functionally, they bridge the gap between market participants. They quite literally make a market for an asset by offering up their holdings for sale at any given time while simultaneously also actively buying. This effectually allows a market for a security to function and facilitates higher volume trading. They allow long-term investors to buy or sell stock whenever they want to, without having to wait for another long-term investor looking to do the opposite. By bringing stability to the market for a security, core liquidity providers make it possible for hedging strategies to be effective, such as farmers that hedge against a drop in crop prices and food production companies that hedge against a rise in the cost of ingredients. \n\nCore liquidity providers send orders to the marketplace at prices that reflect available information regarding asset prices, including the risk associated with transacting and holding that asset. A key characteristic of core liquidity providers is that they continually provide liquidity in all market conditions, not just when they desire to accumulate or close-out longer term investment positions.\n\nTypes of Core Liquidity Providers\n\nModern markets function best with a diversity of liquidity providers available to facilitate risk transfer and serve buyers and sellers with continuous liquidity during trading.\n\nBanks, financial institutions, and principal trading firms can all be core liquidity providers. The different business models and capabilities of these liquidity providers allow them to serve the market in different ways. For instance, banks with large balance sheets may carry more inventory and be able to facilitate larger transactions in a given asset. PTFs, on the other hand, serve investors by maintaining tighter bid/ask spreads, offering often more attractive or reliable market liquidity, optimizing price discovery across products and asset classes.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7005958557128906}
+{"content": "Sociology: American Civil War and Powerful Central Government Essay\n\nSubmitted By xcdeng518\nWords: 513\nPages: 3\n\n- Culturally, the South were considered one of history’s unique evils that needed to be conquered or destroyed by whatever means necessary to bring an end to state sanctioned slavery in the west and unite all Americans behind a powerful central government for the common good\n- The South had legitimate concerns at that time. Therefore the South in essence was preventing themselves from being bullied; the North insisting that it could dictate cultural, social, legal, and moral norms upon the south.\n- African Americans, view the confederacy with loathsome hate.\n- Whites on the other hand must choose between the moral implications versus the traditional ones, where their forefathers had fought and died for their causes. These Americans who celebrate confederacy hate the sins but not the sinner as they believed the confederates were still human beings and deserve respect.\n- Today, all those who believe, respect, or celebrate confederacy are deemed “un-American”, are an insult to African-Americans, the human race, civilized values, and a supporter of hate crimes.\n Has also to do with Governments desire to clamp out opposition by the bud and support a unified American federal government\n- This is where the problem is posed. The current federal government speak of “the land of the free” however the way in which they operate are becoming highly authoritarian and socialistic. They infringe on rights and at times blatantly desecrate the Charter and all of its values. So now, smaller government parties who wish to rise and fight for their own values consider themselves “philosophers of the confederacy without the civil war”\n- The result of the Civil War had produced a form of “agreeing to disagree”. Americans had enough of war and the slaughtering of their own brethren so the war had ended with a mindset that each side will have their own opinions. This however did not eliminate the thoughts or tendencies of the South, simply silenced them. The reconstruction period that…", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9542220234870911}
+{"content": "Macroeconomic imbalances in an open economy stock-flow consistent model\n\n\nMethod to Simultaneously Determine Stock, Flow, and Parameter Values in Large Stock Flow Consistent Models\n\nStock flow consistent macroeconomic models suffer from the lack of a coherent estimation method due to the complicated nature of the modeling process. This paper provides a candidate estimation method that determines the values of each stock and flow simultaneously by analytically solving any stock flow model, and converting the estimation into a global minimization problem in p − k dimensions. We describe the method and apply it to a canonical model using real-world data. The method estimates the parameters and flows reliably.\n\nGuaranteed Green Jobs: Sustainable Full Employment\n\nIn most economies, the potential of saving energy via insulation and more efficient uses of electricity is important. In order to reach the Kyoto Protocol objectives, it is urgent to develop policies that reduce the production of carbon dioxide in all sectors of the economy. This paper proposes an analysis of a green-jobs employer-of-last-resort (ELR) program based on a stock-flow consistent (SFC) model with three productive sectors (consumption, capital goods, and energy) and two household sectors (wage earners and capitalists).\n\nJob Guarantee: a Structuralist Perspective\n\n\nInnovation and Finance: An SFC Analysis of Great Surges of Development\n\nSchumpeter, a century ago, argued that boom-and-bust cycles are intrinsically related to the functioning of a capitalistic economy. These cycles, inherent to the rise of innovation, are an unavoidable consequence of the way in which markets evolve and assimilate successive technological revolutions. Furthermore, Schumpeter's analysis stressed the fundamental role played by finance in fostering innovation, in defining bank credit as the \"monetary complement\" of innovation.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9968509674072266}
+{"content": "Here Dr Lee E. Brown\n\nHere Dr Lee E. Brown\n\nMuscle protein synthesis is rebooted each 48 to 72 hours, which means you might want to work a muscle about three times every week to attain optimal progress, in line with research.\n\nAre there any variations to it? Yes. Bench dips are an excellent variation to emphasize triceps development.\n\nSo without taking much of a time. To start with rising any muscle. First, we should look at the muscle anatomy i.e. how many muscles are literally current in it.\n\nAll three groups skilled an increase in their blood lactate levels, nevertheless it was the members in group one whose lactate ranges were the best.\n\nHow Do Hormones Affect How Muscles Grow? Hormones are one other component largely liable for muscle growth and repair because of their position in regulating satellite tv for pc cell activity.\n\nIn general though, an excellent 1 gram of protein per pound is a perfect start line for most people trying to build muscle. I cover this in additional detail in my article about How Much Protein Per Day.\n\nWe must need to know it’s anatomy and functions i.e. where the muscle is positioned and what are the features of that muscle!\n\nIn this 30-day period, make a concerted effort get much more sleep than you normally do.\n\nGetting off on the wrong foot with form will simply lead to incorrect habits which can be hard to break down the street.\n\nInhale throughout this portion of the movement. Repeat this motion for the prescribed amount of repetitions.\n\nYou must modify when the time is right. How will you know?\n\nAll of us love the images from Pumping Iron with all the forced reps, however for most guys who need mass, well, you simply aren’t there but.\n\nAs a rule, I’d counsel taking several minutes of relaxation between sets of multi-joint workouts that work giant muscle teams, such as squats, rows, deadlifts, leg presses and so on.\n\nMeaning barbell workouts, save the dumbbells for help work. Isolation workouts are out. For supplementary or help work, it’s okay to use dumbbells.\n\nA: Start with the lightest weight doable (the bar, normally). Most rookies are so anxious to start benching their body weight or squatting a house. But here’s the deal - THERE’S NO FREAKING RUSH.\n\nUser 37 Contact Us\n\n716 Riverway Drive Suite 1000-1050\nLas Vegas, NV, 89113\n\nFollow Us\n\n\n(C) 2018 Psychiatric Consultants of South Florida,LLC\n\nBarnell Phillips IIIMD Psychiatry Parkland, FL.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5684534907341003}
+{"content": "Author: Michael Nelte Date: 24 November 1997 Language: C++ Algorithm: * The lables are sorted in order of smallest first. * Each lable in the above order is inserted one after the other if it can be in one of the 4 positions possible. * Once all the lables that can be inserted this way have been then the lables that are already in get shifted arround if they can be. This might open gaps into which uninserted lables are placed. There are two versions of maps (maps1 and maps2). This is because many contestants used the sample solution in their programming directory to determine direction, and this sample was wrong. One version corresponds to the problem description and the other to the sample solution.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9662099480628967}
+{"content": "Hakko ichiu\n\nHakko ichiu\n\nAsk a question about 'Hakko ichiu'\nStart a new discussion about 'Hakko ichiu'\nAnswer questions from other users\nFull Discussion Forum\nwas a Japanese\nEmpire of Japan\n\n political slogan that became popular from the Second Sino-Japanese War\nSecond Sino-Japanese War\n\n to World War II, and was popularized in a speech by Prime Minister of Japan\nPrime Minister of Japan\n\n Fumimaro Konoe\nFumimaro Konoe\nPrince was a politician in the Empire of Japan who served as the 34th, 38th and 39th Prime Minister of Japan and founder/leader of the Taisei Yokusankai.- Early life :...\n\n on January 8, 1940.\n\n\nThe term was coined early in the twentieth century by Nichiren sect Buddhist activist and nationalist Tanaka Chigaku\nTanaka Chigaku\nTanaka Chigaku was a Japanese Buddhist scholar and preacher of Nichiren Buddhism, orator, writer and nationalist propagandist in the Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He is considered to be the father of Nichirenism, the fiercely nationalistic blend of Nichiren Buddhism and State Shinto...\n\n, who cobbled it from parts of a statement attributed in the chronicle Nihon Shoki\nNihon Shoki\nThe , sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki, the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical...\n\nto legendary first emperor Jimmu at the time of his ascension. The full statement by the emperor Jimmu reads: \"Hakkō wo ooute ie to nasan\" 八紘を掩うて宇と為さん or in the original kanbun Japanese (not necessarily the way that the Chinese would render it) 掩八紘而爲宇: 'I shall cover the eight directions and make them my abode,' with \"hakkō\" 八紘 ' eight crown cords' identical to \"happō\" 八方 'eight directions.\n\nAmbiguous in its original context, Tanaka interpreted the statement by Jimmu, mythically descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu\n, or is apart of the Japanese myth cycle and also a major deity of the Shinto religion. She is the goddess of the sun, but also of the universe. the name Amaterasu derived from Amateru meaning \"shining in heaven.\" The meaning of her whole name, Amaterasu-ōmikami, is \"the great August kami who...\n\n, as meaning that imperial rule had been divinely ordained to expand until it united the entire world. While Tanaka saw this outcome as resulting from the emperor's moral leadership, many of his followers were less pacifist in their outlook.\n\nRacial equality and growing expansionism\n\nJapanese in Western nations suffered from racial discrimination issues. In 1919, Japan proposed a racial equality clause\nRacial Equality Proposal, 1919\nThe Racial Equality Proposal was a Japanese proposal for racial equality at the Paris Peace Conference.-The proposal:After the end of seclusion, Japan suffered unequal treaties and demanded equal status with the Powers. In this context, the Japanese delegation to the Paris peace conference proposed...\n\n at the Paris Peace Conference\nParis Peace Conference, 1919\nThe Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...\n\n. Their proposal received the support of a majority but was vetoed by Woodrow Wilson\nWoodrow Wilson\n\n, in violation of the rules of the Conference on majority vote. In 1924, the Asian Exclusion Act was put in force. Then, Asians immigrated to Manchuria\n\n; however, the Manchukou (Manchus Empire) was not recognized by the Allied Powers\nAllies of World War II\n\n. On December 6, 1938, the Five ministers council (Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe\nFumimaro Konoe\n\n, Army Minister\nMinistry of War of Japan\nThe , more popularly known as the Ministry of War of Japan, was cabinet-level ministry in the Empire of Japan charged with the administrative affairs of the Imperial Japanese Army...\n\n Seishirō Itagaki, Navy Minister\nMinistry of the Navy of Japan\nThe was a cabinet-level ministry in the Empire of Japan charged with the administrative affairs of the Imperial Japanese Navy . It existed from 1872 to 1945.-History:...\n\n Mitsumasa Yonai\nMitsumasa Yonai\nwas an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and politician. He was the 37th Prime Minister of Japan from 16 January to 22 July 1940.-Early life & Naval career:...\n\n, Foreign Minister\nForeign minister\nA Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...\n\n Hachirō Arita\nHachiro Arita\nwas a Japanese politician and diplomat who served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs for three terms. He is believed to have originated the concept of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.- Biography :...\n\n and Finance Minister\nFinance minister\nThe finance minister is a cabinet position in a government.A minister of finance has many different jobs in a government. He or she helps form the government budget, stimulate the economy, and control finances...\n\n Shigeaki Ikeda\nShigeaki Ikeda\n', also known as Seihin Ikeda, was a Japanese politician and businessman prominent in the early decades of the 20th century. He served as director of Mitsui Bank from 1909-1933, was appointed governor of the Bank of Japan in 1937, and served as Minister of Finance under Prime Minister Fumimaro...\n\n), which was the highest decision making council at the time, took the decision to prohibit the expulsion of the Jews from Japan, Manchuria, and China\nRepublic of China\nThe Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...\n\n in accordance with the spirit of racial equality. Thereafter, the Japanese received Jewish refugees\nJewish refugees\nIn the course of history, Jewish populations have been expelled or ostracised by various local authorities and have sought asylum from antisemitism numerous times...\n\n despite their ally Nazi Germany\nNazi Germany\n\n's opposition.\n\nWith the economic impact of the Shōwa financial crisis and the Great Depression\nGreat Depression\n\n, this led in the 1930s to a resurgence of nationalist, militarist and expansionist movements. Emperor Shōwa and his reign became associated with the rediscovery of Hakkō ichiu as an expansionist element of Japanese nationalistic beliefs. The naval limitations treaties of 1921, and especially 1930, were a mistake in their unanticipated effect on internal political struggles in Japan; and the treaties provided an external motivating catalyst which provoked reactionary, militarist elements to desperate actions which eventually overwhelmed civilian and liberal elements in society.\n\nThe evolution of Hakkō ichiu serves as a changing litmus test of these factional relationships during the next decade.\n\nThe term Hakkō ichiu did not enter general circulation until 1940, when the second Konoe administration issued a white paper\nWhite paper\n\n titled \"Fundamental National Policy\" (基本国策要綱 Kihon Kokusaku Yōkō), which opened with these words, and in which Prime Minister Konoe proclaimed that the basic aim of Japan's national policy was \"the establishment of world peace in conformity with the very spirit in which our nation was founded\" and that the first step was the proclamation of a \"new order in East Asia\" (東亜新秩序 Tōa Shin Chitsujo), which later took the form of the \"Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere\nGreater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere\nThe Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was a concept created and promulgated during the Shōwa era by the government and military of the Empire of Japan. It represented the desire to create a self-sufficient \"bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers\"...\n\n\"). In the most magnanimous form, the term was used to indicate the making of a universal brotherhood implemented by the uniquely virtuous Yamato. Because this would bring people under the emperor's fatherly benevolence, force was justified against those who resisted.\n\n1940 was declared the 2600th anniversary of the founding of Japan in part in celebration of hakko ichiu.\n\nWorld War II\n\nAs the Second Sino-Japanese War dragged on without conclusion, the Japanese government turned increasingly to the nation's spiritual capital to maintain fighting spirit.\n\nCharacterization of the fighting as a , similarly grounding the current conflict in the nation's sacred beginnings, became increasingly evident in the Japanese press at this time. In 1940, a Taisei Yokusankai\nTaisei Yokusankai\n\n was launched to provide political support to Japan's war in China.\n\nThe general spread of the term Hakkō ichiu, neatly encapsulating this view of expansion as mandated in Japan's divine origin, was further propelled by preparations for celebrating the 2600th anniversary of Jimmu's ascension, which fell in the year 1940 according to the traditional chronology. Stories recounted that Jimmu, finding five races in Japan, had made them all as \"brothers of one family.\"\n\nAllied response\n\nAfter Japan declared war on the Allies in December 1941, Allied governments produced several propaganda film\nPropaganda film\nThe term propaganda can be defined as the ability to produce and spread fertile messages that, once sown, will germinate in large human cultures.” However, in the 20th century, a “new” propaganda emerged, which revolved around political organizations and their need to communicate messages that...\n\ns citing the Hakkō ichiu as evidence that the Japanese intended to conquer the entire world.\n\nThe official translation offered by contemporary leaders was \"universal brotherhood\", but it was widely acknowledged that that expression meant that the Japanese were \"equal to the Caucasians but, to the peoples of Asia, we act as their leader.\"\n\nAllied judgement\n\nHakko Ichiu meant the bringing together of the corners of the world under one ruler, or the making of the world one family. This was the alleged ideal of the foundation of the Empire; and in its traditional context meant no more than a universal principle of humanity\nHumanity (virtue)\n\n, which was destined ultimately to pervade the whole universe. The way to the realisation of Hakko Ichiu was through the benign rule of the Emperor; and therefore the \"way of the Emperor\"—the \"Imperial\" or the \"Kingly way\"—was a concept of virtue, and a maxim of conduct. Hakko Ichiu was the moral goal; and loyalty to the Emperor was the road which led to it. Throughout the years that followed measures of military aggression were advocated in the names of Hakko Ichiu eventually became symbols for world domination through military force.\n\nSee also\n\n  • An Investigation of Global Policy with the Yamato Race as Nucleus\n    An Investigation of Global Policy with the Yamato Race as Nucleus\n    , was a secret Japanese government report created by the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Population Problems Research Center, and completed on July 1, 1943....\n\n  • Greater East Asia Conference\n    Greater East Asia Conference\n    was an international summit held in Tokyo, Japan from 5 – 6 November 1943, in which Japan hosted the heads of state of various component members of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere...\n\n  • Japanese militarism\n    Japanese militarism\n    refers to the ideology in the Empire of Japan that militarism should dominate the political and social life of the nation, and that the strength of the military is equal to the strength of a nation.-Rise of militarism :...\n\n  • Japanese nationalism\n    Japanese nationalism\n\n  • Lebensraum\n    was one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. It served as the motivation for the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany, aiming to provide extra space for the growth of the German population, for a Greater Germany...\n\n  • Racial Equality Proposal, 1919\n    Racial Equality Proposal, 1919\n\n  • Shinmin no Michi\n    Shinmin no Michi\n    The was an ideological manifesto issued by the Ministry of Education of Japan during World War II aimed at Japan’s domestic audience to explain in clear terms what was expected of them \"as a people, nation and race\".- Origins :...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8925809860229492}
+{"content": "Cardiovascular system\n\nSimulation of an idealised stent's effect on blood flow.\n\nAbove: An idealised model of a stent, shown in an elastic artery (b), and its effect on velocity vectors close to the stent struts (a).\n\nPhysical simulations, which take three-dimensional models and apply physical laws to the movements of tissues and the fluids within them, have the objective of accurately reflecting the behaviour of a living tissue. The three-dimensional models used and developed at Sheffield are increasingly derived from real patients, through medical imaging techniques.\nFurther, modern imaging techniques available at Sheffield allow us to monitor how tissues change over time – so we are able to accurately reflect how an artery behaves as the heart beats, or how the lungs and surrounding tissues move as the patient breathes.\n\nIf accurate enough, this sort of modelling can help us understand how a tissue works, for example how shear and turbulence in the blood flow through an artery may contribute to arterial deterioration – this can be extended to evaluate how a stent placed in an artery may modify the flow of blood, and contribute to restenosis.\n\nComputational modelling of ventricular fibrillation.\n\nVentricular fibrillation (VF) is a catastrophic and life threatening cardiac arrhythmia that accounts for at least 60,000 deaths in the UK each year. Although it has important social and economic consequences, it remains difficult to either predict or prevent VF. Experimental studies are difficult, and our understanding of the mechanisms that initiate and sustain VF remains poor.\n\nIn Sheffield we are using computational models of cardiac tissue to understand how VF can be initiated and sustained.\n\n\nRichard Clayton\nPat Lawford\nRod Hose\n\nLink to top of this page:\n\nDesign by CookandKaye (2005) in WordPress", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9966063499450684}
+{"content": "Reasons why Europe dominated the world\n\nMost of you have never heard of Zheng He. Between 1405 and 1433, this Chinese admiral of the Ming Dynasty led seven major explorations into the western reaches of the Indian Ocean. The largest of these explorations included almost 300 ships and carried close to 30,000 people.\n\nMost of you have never heard of Zheng He. Between 1405 and 1433, this Chinese admiral of the Ming Dynasty led seven major explorations into the western reaches of the Indian Ocean. The largest of these explorations included almost 300 ships and carried close to 30,000 people. They visited Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and East Africa. Compared to the size and number of Christopher Columbus’ 1492 fleet of 3 ships and 125 sailors, the Spaniards “were like a trio of mosquitoes compared to Zheng He’s drove of dragons” (Harari, Yuval Noah. “Sapiens: A brief History of Humankind”). When a new Chinese emperor took charge in 1433, the expeditions ended, the fleet was dismantled, and the technological and geographic information gained was lost.\n\nSo why are Columbus’ voyages world famous, and Zheng He’s voyages virtually unknown to most westerners?\n\n\nWhen the Europeans began to explore, they knew they were ignorant of what was out in the world. In contrast, the leaders of the great empires of Asia Minor, Persia, India, and China held the attitude that they already knew what was worth knowing and needed to learn nothing more. The European attitude of curiosity and adventure drove them to explore and to harness science, technology, and history to dominate the globe by the end of the 19th century.\n\nEuropeans decided that if they wanted to conquer the world, they needed to send out scientists with the conquerors to gain as much knowledge of the cultures and societies as they could. Knowledge was power. According to Harari, this approach had never occurred in the history of the world. Conquering faraway lands and empires was unheard of. Most empires only attacked what was adjacent, not an ocean and half a world away. Their concern was security, while the European perspective was learning and knowledge, based on their realization of their ignorance.\n\nWhen Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez landed his ships in the western Caribbean port of what would be called Veracruz in 1519, he set out to conquer the great Aztec Empire with no more that 550 Spanish soldiers—an audacious act of boldness. The Aztecs had no idea at all about who these Spanish were. They did not know about the violent destruction that had taken place on the islands of the Caribbean to the west of them from the time of Columbus’ voyages in 1492.\n\nThe Aztec Emperor, Montezuma II, thinking these white, bearded, and stinking strangers might be gods, invited them into their capital of Tenochitlan (now Mexico City). As soon as Cortez and his army got there, they proceeded to take Montezuma captive. They questioned the emperor and his attendants, and sent out small Spanish expeditions in all directions to find out as much as they could about the empire, training translators to help them understand the culture.\n\nEventually, the Aztec elites rebelled against the Spanish, who had to fight their way out of the city and back to Veracruz. There they gathered thousands of Indian allies who hated the oppressive rule of the Aztecs. Little did they know Spanish rule would be far worse.\n\nBy 1521, Tenochitlan was a smoldering ruin. Within a few short years 85 percent of the native population was dead, due to Spanish brutality, and European diseases.\n\nIn 1532, Pizarro mimicked Cortez’ conquest by first declaring that he came in peace to the Inca Empire in South America. With only 168 men, he took the Inca emperor, Atahualpa, captive. Then Pizarro and his small band of Spaniards, with the aid of uninformed Indian allies, dismantled the empire and subjugated its people. Ignorance doomed both empires.\n\nThis European pattern of conquest succeeded due to native parochial thinking which would be repeated with the Ottoman (Middle East), Safavid (Persia), Mughal (India), and Chinese empires over the next four hundred years. The Europeans used their insatiable quest for knowledge of other cultures and the development of scientific/technological discoveries to conquer the world. European attitudes, languages, religions, clothing styles, and forms of government still dominate 500 years later.\n\nIt wasn’t until the end of World War II that the native peoples of these European empires learned their lessons and adopted a global vision about how to overthrow and kick out their British, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Portugese rulers by using the international media to further their cause. According to Harari, had Montezuma II been able to harness the media to change public opinion in Spain, the history of the world would be very different today.\n\nMore in Opinion\n\nThanks for caring for me\n\nA thank you for the folks at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.\n\nExamining your child’s personality types\n\nAre they pleasers, independents, or a Red Queen?\n\nLegislators explore car tab solutions\n\nWho knows if Democrats and Republicans can agree on this issue.\n\nFreedom and equality can only be achieved under God\n\nBelieving man can achieve this alone is folly.\n\nSeattle continues to grow into its own (Part II)\n\nIt’s the very definition of cosmopolitan.\n\nYour South King County legislators in action\n\nDemocrats must be careful to not overplay their hand in Olympia\n\nBe diligent in listening, then be willing to bend a little\n\nWithout personal experiences, numbers are meaningless.\n\nDemocrats are experts on propaganda, too\n\n\n\nPride may very well be the downfall of us all.\n\nMueller moving too slow\n\nWe can’t wait for another shutdown.\n\nAnecdotal evidence is not reality\n\nIt’s an easy trap to fall into.\n\nLetter writer made an error in his Ode\n\nHe should have used a Democrat.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5291170477867126}
+{"content": "Do People Profit from Wall Water Feature\n\nIf you have ever enjoyed a water element in a doctor’s waiting room, you understand the positive effect it has on your surroundings and your emotional state. It may be that you have considered displaying one in your company's waiting room. p-472__99492.jpg Perhaps your new or renovated car dealership, medical practice, tax office, or health spa, among other types of companies, could use one in the waiting room.\n\npeople waiting for an appointment or meeting for a long period of time typically become more nervous. They begin to nervously look at the clock while thinking about everything they should be doing. A wall water fountain in your reception area, however, might distract the person just enough for them to disregard the amount of time they have been waiting. If you want to soothe your waiting visitors or patients, the sound and look of moving water may be the solution.\n\nAs soon as the weather becomes either hot or cold, most companies turn on the heat or the air conditioning in their waiting rooms. This causes the air to dry out in these circumstances. The amount of moisture let off by your wall fountain is just enough to make the environment comfortable but not enough to make it humid. This kind of environment will be of benefit to both you and the personnel who are in the office all day. Dried-out air affects the mucous membranes in your body which can make you more prone to sickness. Undesirable effects such as dried out lips and skin along with lifeless hair, scatchy eyes, and brittle nails are just some of the consequences of this environment. The natural moisture produced by water fountains is good for your health.\n\nIn addition, a more comfortable setting is the result of wall water fountains which also help to drown out unpleasant noises. Office chatter as well as the clatter of humming medical equipment, ringing phones, or beeping faxes are muffled by more pleasing sounds these features produce. Your guests or clients will still hear some clatter but the sounds will not be as irksome.\n\nFountains not only leave your guests with a positive impression, they contribute to a beneficial ambiance. Buying one of these might give you the unique selling point you need. Additionally, your business name or your logo on a wall fountain can become a distinctive marketing tool.\n\n\n\nYou can create a noise-free, stressless and comforting setting for your family, friends and clientele by installing this type of fountain. Moreover, this type of interior wall water feature will most likely gain the admiration of your workforce as well as your clientele. In order to get a positive response from your loudest critic and enthuse all those around, install an interior water feature to get the job done.\n\nYour wall {feature|element guarantees you a pleasant evening after a long day’s work and help create a tranquil spot where can enjoy watching your favorite sporting event. The benefits of an indoor water feature include its ability to emit negative ions with its gentle sounds and eliminate dust and pollen from the air while creating a soothing environment.\n\nContemporary Garden Decoration: Fountains and their Roots\n\n\nThe main purpose of a fountain was originally strictly functional. Cities, towns and villages made use of nearby aqueducts or springs to supply them with drinking water as well as water where they could bathe or wash. Up to the late nineteenth century, water fountains had to be near an aqueduct or reservoir and more elevated than the fountain so that gravity could make the water flow down or jet high into the air. Fountains were an excellent source of water, and also served to decorate living areas and celebrate the designer. The main components used by the Romans to build their fountains were bronze or stone masks, mostly depicting animals or heroes. Throughout the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden planners incorporated fountains to create smaller variations of the gardens of paradise. The fountains seen in the Gardens of Versailles were supposed to show the power over nature held by King Louis XIV of France. The Romans of the 17th and 18th centuries created baroque decorative fountains to glorify the Popes who commissioned them as well as to mark the spot where the restored Roman aqueducts entered the city.\n\nUrban fountains made at the end of the nineteenth functioned only as decorative and celebratory adornments since indoor plumbing provided the essential drinking water. Impressive water effects and recycled water were made possible by replacing the power of gravity with mechanical pumps.\n\nModern-day fountains function mostly as decoration for public spaces, to honor individuals or events, and compliment entertainment and recreational activities.\n\nPets and Wildlife Enjoy Water Features\n\nPutting in an outdoor water fountain or a bird feeder will allow you to enjoy the natural presence of wildlife or pets. All birds need somewhere to drink, bathe and preen. There are some birds, like robins, thrushes, orioles, or warblers, which are not attracted to bird feeders, but are interested in fountains because of the moving water. Birds are often drawn to outdoor fountains because of their moving water rather than the standing water found in bowl-shaped bird baths. Birds are greatly attracted to the trickling and splashing sounds produced.\n\nAs dog owners will agree these outdoor fountains are a great water source for the four-legged creatures. Hot days drive dogs and cats to anxiously look for the freshest water nearby. Also, regularly flowing water fountains require less upkeep than the still water of a birdbath that tend to get dirtier.\n\nThe Godfather Of Rome's Garden Water Fountains\n\nThere are lots of celebrated Roman fountains in its city center. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, one of the finest sculptors and artists of the 17th century designed, created and constructed nearly all of them. He was furthermore a urban architect, in addition to his expertise as a water fountain designer, and remnants of his life's work are evident throughout the streets of Rome. Ultimately travelling to Rome to fully express their art, chiefly in the shape of public water fountains, Bernini’s father, a famed Florentine sculptor, mentored his young son. The juvenile Bernini was an exemplary employee and won compliments and backing of important painters as well as popes. At the beginning he was known for his sculptural skills. Most famously in the Vatican, he made use of a base of knowledge in ancient Greek architecture and melded it flawlessly with Roman marble. Although many artists had an impact on his work, Michelangelo had the most profound effect.\n\nA Pond Fountain for Your Yard or Garden\n\nWhen someone mentions fountains, you generally think of the big sculptured ones found in parks, in front of hotels, etc. That said, in reality they can be made of any style and size, and do not only belong in public locations. Your very own garden or yard can be a ideal spot for a pond fountain.\n\nTwo positive things can take place if you add one of your own. To begin with, fountains add charm and help everyone unwind. There is nothing better at the end of an extremely stressful day than the relaxing nature of trickling water. A bit of luxury and charm will also be added to the atmosphere. What’s more, your lovely fountain will intrigue your guests and you will find your parties more engaging.\n\nThe second reason for a water element is to provide a healthy environment for the fish in your pond. Since it keeps the water pumping constantly, it helps to boost the oxygen level in the pond to the advantage of your fish. Your fish will be around a longer time because of the constantly moving, aerated water. Your plant life will also flourish.\n\nBernini's Earliest Masterpieces\n\nThe Barcaccia, Bernini's very first water fountain, is a magnificent chef d'oeuvre built at the foot of the Trinita dei Monti in Piaza di Spagna. This area continues to be filled with Roman locals and visitors who like to exchanging gossip or going over the day's news. Today, the city streets around Bernini's fountain are a trendy place where people go to gather, something which the artist would have been pleased to learn. Dating back to around 1630, Pope Urbano VIII commissioned what was to be the very first water fountain of the artist's career. The fountain’s central theme is based on an an enormous ship slowly sinking into the Mediterranean. The great flooding of the Tevere that covered the whole region with water in the 16th was commemorated by this momentous fountain as recorded by reports dating back to this period. In 1665, France was graced by Bernini's one-and-only extended voyage outside of Italy.\n\nHow Mechanical Concepts of Water Fountains Spread\nThroughout the European countries, the chief means of spreading useful hydraulic information and fountain design suggestions were the circulated... read more\nThe Original Outdoor Water Feature Artists\nThe City Of Rome, Gian Bernini, And Garden Fountains\nThere are numerous celebrated water features in the city center of Rome. One of the greatest sculptors and artists of the 17th century, virtually all of them were planned, conceived... read more\nOutdoor Fountains: The Minoan Culture\nFountains and Water and the Minoan Civilization They were used for water supply as well as removal of storm water and wastewater. Stone and terracotta were the... read more\nThe Original Water Features of Human History\nAs initially developed, fountains were crafted to be practical, guiding water from creeks or reservoirs to the residents of towns and villages, where the water... read more", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.513902485370636}
+{"content": "Course Structure\n\nCourse structure\n\nThis course is offered as a dual diploma only with no separate exit points. Students must complete all units of study.\n\nUnits of study\n\nManaging athlete performance (Block 1)\n\nPlan and implement high performance training and recovery programs (SISSSCO513)\nDevelop strength and conditioning programs (SISSSTC402A)\nProvide drugs in sport information (SISSSCO306)\nProvide nutrition information to athletes (SISSSCO307)\nAssist athletes to prevent and manage injury and illness (SISSSCO512)\nSupport athletes to adopt principles of sports psychology (SISSSCO308)\nDevelop and use emotional intelligence (BSBLDR501)\n\n\nManaging the business (Block 2)\n\nManage operational plan (BSBMGT517)\nManage Meetings (BSBADM502B)\nUse advanced features of computer applications (ICAICT308A)\nEnsure a safe workplace (BSBWHS501)\nManage budgets and financial plans (BSBFIM501)\nPromote compliance with laws and legal principles (SISXIND404A)\nManage organisational risks (SISXRSK502A)\n\n\nCoaching the team (Block 3)\n\nManage Projects (SISXIND406A)\nDevelop and update knowledge of coaching practices (SISSSCO101)\nPlan and deliver coaching programs (SISSSCO303)\nCustomise coaching for athletes with specific needs (SISSSCO304)\nManage volunteers (SITXHRM502)\nLead and manage team effectiveness (BSBWOR502)\nCommunicate with influence (BSBLDR503)\nImplement and monitor work health and safety policies (SISXWHS402)\n\n\nBecoming a leader (Block 4)\n\nFacilitate groups (SISXCAI306A)\nDetermine needs of client populations (SISXCCS403A)\nLead and manage effective workplace relationships (BSBLDR502)\nManage personal work priorities and professional development (BSBWOR501)\nManage people performance (BSBMGT502)\nImplement diversity in the workplace (BSBLDR504)\nApply advanced first aid (HLTFA412A)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999711513519287}
+{"content": "Share this Job\n\nTitle:  Logistics Administrator\n\nReq ID:  14789\nCategory:  Customer Operations/Customer Support\nCity:  Thane\nState:  MH\nPostal Code:  0000000\n\n\n\n\n\nAble to communicate effectively since the job primarily involves liaising with customers, logistic management and other operational departments within the organization. Responsible for arranging freight forwarder, goods clearance, duty payments and warehouse communications for any type of goods movements. Knowledge of Incoterms, LC transactions, import duties, local taxations, and related necessary documentation. Organize budgets and courier expenses. Monitor deliveries, ensure customer satisfaction and maintain accurate logs of all transportation and goods. \n\nEssential Job Functions\n\n  1. Ensure that proper procedure and control of document for stock receipt of goods, short shipment item tracking, and provide necessary documents to Finance for stock entry.\n  2. Building and maintaining strong customer satisfaction with quick response times to all customer inquiries, communications to service techs related to equipment and spare parts movement.\n  3. Review and work with Sales team closely on freight charges (including calculation of freight charges) to ensure accuracy on charges, freighting and clearance timelines of consignment required. Track the shipping date of the orders; ensure regular follows-ups and update to customer, sales team and finance.\n  4. Maintain a contact data base regarding the forwarding agencies, clearing agents, asset assurance providers, freight forwarders and currier agencies.\n  5. Attend and response timely to customers’ enquiries pertaining to shipment status, arrangement, billing, freight details & etc. Arrange and coordinate import/export shipping matters according to customers’ requirements. Ensure customers satisfaction and cost competitiveness. Preparation of customs clearance permits; ensure taxes clearance.\n  6. Co-ordinate and liaison with government departments for all legal compliances regarding logistics. Monitor service level of all agencies and ensure compliance. Ensure all documentations/procedures are complying to laws and company standards. Drive custom clearance duty payment and work closely with finance division to make sure the duty payment properly and timely.\n  7. Manage the discrepancies with the customer regarding logistic issues (delivery, custom clearance & etc.)\n  8. Plan, direct, coordinate and evaluate logistics management system usually for multiple locations. Co-ordinate with carriers, vendors, customers and overseas offices or agents to ensure smooth handling of shipments.\n  9. Organize and monitor the transportation of main equipment from the warehouse to site. Forward the transport details to the insurer company for transit assurance coverage. Keep insurance contracts filing. Handle insurance claim issues.\n  10. Work closely with other internal departments to increase efficiency and productivity.\n  11. Other duties as assigned time to time by company.\n\nPosition Summary\n\n\nDuties - cont'd\n\nEducation Degree\n\nRequired Experience\n\nEducation/License Requirements\n\nA Graduation or Degree with combination of education and experience in Logistics or its equivalent.\n\nAble to communicate effectively in English and one of the major Indian Language.\n\n\nExperience Requirements\n\nHas minimum five to seven years of operational experience preferably within warehousing, logistics and/or customer services capacity.\n\nProficient in incoterms, logistic activities/challenges. Be able to implement cost effective measures such as efficient and cost saving freight forwarders. \n\nPositive attitude and able to work independently. Ability to problem solving operational issues in a timely manner. Good Interpersonal and communication skills.\n\n\nNature of Problem Solving\n\nProvide information to external and internal customers on logistics enquiries, . Efficiently solve problems relating to transportation payments, arrangements and transportation of good in locations both domestic and overseas.\n\n\nEmpowerment and Decision-Making Environment\n\nResponsible for communication with customers, efficiency and the resolution of transportation issues.\n\n\n\nSTERIS strives to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.  \n\nReq ID:  14789\nCategory:  Customer Operations/Customer Support\nCity:  Thane\nState:  MH\nPostal Code:  0000000\n\nJob Segment: Logistics, Healthcare Administration, Warehouse, Operations, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Customer Service", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.844773530960083}
+{"content": "Table of contents\n\nManaging published data\n\nOnce you have published a dataset, you can amend its metadata such as the description, title or contact details, or add new data to it.\n\n  1. Sign into the Data Publisher and find the dataset you want to amend.\n  2. Select Manage.\n\nYou can then either edit the metadata for the dataset or select Add data to add additional information to add new data to an existing dataset.\n\nDo not create new datasets for data you publish regularly, for example monthly spend data. Instead, create one dataset and add new data to it. This will help users find all monthly datasets published together rather than having to search through a large number of similar datasets.\n\nUnpublishing data\n\nIn the interests of transparency, you should not delete datasets from Old datasets can help people compare trends over time, track corrections, and see historical data from organisations that do not exist anymore.\n\nHowever, you may want to remove datasets that are:\n\n  • duplicates - if there are 2 datasets covering the same data\n  • test datasets - if you’ve accidentally published some trial data\n\nOnly the team can delete a dataset. If you want to delete a dataset, send us a data request.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000057220458984}
+{"content": "Can Older Adults Benefit from the Feldenkrais Method?\n\nHaving reached the age where there’s a Beatles song about my very next birthday, my research and interest in the “older adult” has become obsessive more focused and curious. Options for physical activity, as presented in popular media, seem oddly polarized between extreme, “drag-this-truck-tire-across-the-gym” workouts and Netflix binge-watching. For those of us seeking an effective, yet sustainable way of keeping fit and active, the way out of that dilemma seems murky and lacking viable choices. I was encouraged, yea even thrilled to read some recent research from Columbia University that showed replacing 30 minutes of daily sitting, with ANY form of activity, of ANY intensity, cut the risk of early death by as much as 35 percent! That’s a significant benefit for you if you are considering possible advantages of attending a Feldenkrais class on a regular basis!\n\nYouTube video screen with Becky Behling and MaryBeth SmithMy colleague and long-time friend Becky Behling reminded me of a key advantage of the Feldenkrais Method over other, more conventionally adopted “interventions” available to older people: your own movement knowledge from the Method is always available to you, in any moment, to find a way to move and feel better. You can hear my whole conversation with Becky in this short video. Be sure to watch to the end, as Becky shares a simple and gentle movement that will improve your posture and upright alignment instantly.\n\nWith 2019 well underway and the Groundhog staring at us, we hope to help you to have the best new year ever. I don’t know about you, but I’m inspired to get moving….\n\nHow is the Feldenkrais Method(R) like an Art Museum?\n\nThe subject line for this post may not be the most burning question you’ve ever entertained. You know that my mind can make strange associations sometimes, and this past weekend I attended an event that got my synapses firing! Here’s the short video about my mini-epiphany from the Menil Collection. (It’s a little under 5 minutes long.)\nThe Best of Feldenkrais with MaryBeth Smith, GCFP photo array\nIn fact, this is probably a good time to announce our new YouTube channel. TA-DAH! We have a new YouTube Channel! If you’re so inclined, give the video a “thumbs up” to show you liked it. Click “Subscribe” and click the little bell to get notifications about future videos. All of those tiny actions are important for the algorithm pixies, who ultimately make it easier for others to find videos about the Feldenkrais Method – including our videos. If you’ve ever wondered, “Why don’t more people know about the Feldenkrais Method?” you can help to increase those numbers with just a few clicks! Our channel is just a few days old, so our subscriber stats and views are still in the single digits. If you’ve ever wanted to get in on the “ground floor” of something, here you go, welcome aboard, and thanks.\n\nAs a student of the Feldenkrais Method, you know that tiny actions and small but noticeable differences add up to something big! Words can sometimes be elusive when your friends want you to explain this strange thing you do. Perhaps our videos will get your synapses firing as well. We hope our new content will be helpful and inspiring to you in your personal practice of the Method, as well as in feeling confident to share your experiences with others.\n\nOur videos will fall into three main categories:\n\n  • short demonstrations of mini-movements to help ease discomfort and/or improve function\n  • conversations with other Feldenkrais teachers about how they help clients with specific movement issues\n  • testimonials from happy students\n\nAnd, we reserve the right to take flights of inspiration and whimsy when the spirit moves. I hope you’ll stick around for the fun!\n\nWhy learn to move better?\n\ncartwheelIt’s human nature to adapt to whatever is “good enough.” People will seek help with movement if there is a problem. Pain, excessive exertion, perceived weakness, or lack of coordination in the aftermath of an injury or in the midst of some other difficulty frequently drive people to try the Feldenkrais Method. But why bother to improve if there’s no problem?\n\n1) Feldenkrais lessons are useful because they expand your “movement vocabulary.” Another way to think of it is to expand your “database” of available movements for any activity. Why is this important? Because it’s good to have alternatives if one way of doing something stops working! Think of the Major League Baseball switch pitcher Pat Venditte, who can throw a baseball right or left-handed with equal skill and power. When he experienced an injury to one shoulder a few years ago, he simply threw with the other arm. He continued to play that season, instead of going on the injured list. With more movement options, you can stay active and avoid being on the sidelines for the pastimes you enjoy.\n2) Feldenkrais lessons can help you learn to prevent injuries. As you become more attuned to yourself, to where your body is in space, and to the nice sensations of efficient movement, your brain gets a higher quality of “real-time reporting” from your body. If you are creating shearing forces through a joint, or straining in a muscle group, or simply experiencing fatigue and inattention, you will feel it sooner and be able to adjust your position, effort, or trajectory, thereby averting disaster.\n3) Feldenkrais lessons improve all of your senses, including your sense of balance (literally and metaphorically) and your sense of humor. As you bring your attention to the simple and basic sensations of movement, your appreciation of life and your capacity for enjoyment will soar! Results may vary: unpredictable outcomes can surprise and delight!\n4) Feldenkrais lessons can restore your faith in yourself, and in your capacity to learn, adapt, and change. Whatever your situation, there are aspects that are still under your control, where you have agency and ability to affect the quality of the present moment. As you catch glimpses of your potential and your capacity, your ability to improve is ongoing and virtually unlimited.\n\nIf you enjoy learning new things, and if you want to enjoy all your experiences to the fullest, then the Feldenkrais Method has much to offer you. Call us to find out how to get started.\n\nHow’s that office chair?\n\nCreative Commons Image\n\nSO — how IS your office chair? Individuals and companies spend countless hours researching the best ergonomic chairs and desks to enhance “worker productivity.” It is possible to spend hundreds of dollars on a highly rated set-up, and still find that you are uncomfortable. I’ll tell you what I tell my clients.\n\nI find it interesting to dig a little bit to find out exactly what is meant by “worker productivity.” It is amazing how many people translate this to mean “able to sit in one position all day and work relentlessly with no price to pay.” However, more and more have heard the idea that sitting is the new smoking. How do you balance the need to get stuff done, with the need to maintain one’s health? Clearly, we need to think outside the chair.\n\nStanding desks are trendy and cool, and can be a great solution. However, standing can be as problematic as sitting if you have a temperamental low back, or sore feet, knees, or legs. Walking meetings can yield the same dilemma. SO let’s question the basic assumption that people are supposed to be able to sustain ANY position — be it sitting, standing, or lying down — for up to eight hours at a time, and be OK. Humans are meant to MOVE. Expecting anyone to behave like a machine is obviously dehumanizing. It also disconnects the human from their ability to be effective. We are meant to adapt, continuously, to our environment. This adaptability keeps us moving, thinking, feeling, and sensing. Perhaps that can be a new definition of productivity?\n\nThe problem is in getting stuck in one position. This is true physically, as well as mentally. Get up and move. Change your position as frequently as you need to, at least once an hour. This can mean to stand up, walk to the restroom, stand while you are on the phone, you get the idea. When people are physically stuck in one position for long periods of time, they lose the ability to imagine how they might do something different. You can revive this specific use of your imagination in  Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® classes.Even if it feels silly, just change something, anything, for a few minutes, before returning to your original position.\n\nPeople also ask me about bedding, pillows, their shoes, even their cars, as if there is one and only one best purchase or best position for everyone, in any given situation. I’ll say it again: Humans are meant to move. If you become uncomfortable while asleep, roll over. Wiggle in your car, stop more frequently on longer trips and get out, walk around. Your comfort and health are individual. Others can make suggestions and recommendations, but ultimately you must find what is right for you.\n\nWhen I visit people’s homes and offices for ergonomic consultations, they feel relieved that I am not trying to sell them a bunch of new furniture, gadgets, or doodads.Rather, I spend time with each individual, watching how they move, what their tasks are, and then make a plan that includes efficiency of action as well as comfort and sustainability. Sometimes, they do need to make adjustments with desktop heights or chair alignment. Most often, they can learn how to move, to vary their positions, and to create health for themselves. If only this could be a trend! Thankfully, more and more employers recognize that true productivity is not simply a matter of getting work done, but also of living well and feeling well to work another day.\n\nTaste the Recipe!\n\nA cook sautees onions and peppers.\n\nI grew up believing, “If you can read, you can cook.” That belief kept me going as a young bride and eager home hostess.\n\nA sad period of my life spanned a a decade, when finicky children, a grueling work schedule, critical in-laws, and my own stretch of problematic digestive issues had sufficient cumulative influence to make me abandon cooking altogether. Although I had  previously enjoyed cooking for dinner parties at home, one particularly traumatic Thanksgiving was the last straw. I gave up on cooking.  I probably went for five, maybe seven years without cooking much at all. And, when I did cook something, it didn’t taste very good.\n\nI came to realize two things about cooking.\n1. The desire to cook is directly proportional to the appreciation of those for whom you are cooking. That includes cooking just for yourself.\n2. Don’t serve it if you haven’t tasted it!\n\nIn the past five years or so, I have become an enthusiastic cook once again. I have an appreciative partner who gobbles up whatever I prepare, expressing admiration and delight at every opportunity. Who wouldn’t want to cook for someone like that?\n\nDuring The Decade of Not Cooking, I was already worried about my weight, and had heard from my mother and numerous popular magazine articles that “tasting while cooking” packs on the pounds. I stopped tasting as I cooked, and so my results were — erratic. With a ruined dinner, a substitute run-out for fast food, or a quickie pasta dish would rescue the day. I am happy to say that I have changed my ways. Now I know that tasting during the preparation process is ESSENTIAL. I frequently experiment with new recipes and unfamiliar ingredients.  When I have a small taste after I have added a few items, I can adjust the flavors with much more precision. Add a few more, taste again. I take a little more time during preparation, believing that the frequent taste tests are the way to add LOVE to the dish. Et voilà!  No more kitchen disasters! (Not counting the life-threatening  “Manhattan steaks” affair, flambé with bourbon. Let’s just say the experience brought us all closer.)\n\nMy Awareness Through Movement® students know I love to cook, for they frequently hear me say, “Pause. Taste the recipe!” Each movement exploration is full of interesting and unfamiliar variations. If you hurry through the lesson, adding movement after movement with no pauses for reflection and sensing, you have created the recipe for discomfort and confusion.  Rather, after adding each new movement “ingredient,” students are encouraged to pause and discern. Add a little more next time if you like it, or use a little less when you continue.  The student’s own learning through the lesson is tailored to his own abilities and “taste.” The new deliciousness in movement  almost always leads people to want a second helping of the Feldenkraisian feast.\n\nEnhanced by Zemanta\n\nLion or Lamb?\n\nMarch came in to Houston like a lamb a couple of weeks ago. At the same time, elsewhere around the country, devastating and deadly storms showed the “lion” side of the proverb, and the weather. How’s it going for you? Lamb, or lion?\n\nMoshe Feldenkrais acknowledged the widest possible range of human aspirations, motivations, and behavior. Sometimes acting with the gentleness of a lamb is completely appropriate, as is acting with ferocity and power like a lion on occasion. It’s also within our human capacity to behave like a dog, a pussycat, a fox, a snake, or an ass! If you want to take effective action in the world, you need at least three distinct choices. Only one choice — you have an ultimatum to deal with. Two choices, you have a dilemma. With three or more choices, the world opens up, your perspective changes, there is space to take a breath. With the opportunity of choice, you are fully human. Thinking, reflection, discernment are required. The ability to make finer and finer distinctions allows you to “fine-tune” your responses and your experience. You are in a creative space. And then, you MOVE.\n\nOur classes are safe, experimental settings in which to fine-tune your action in the world — whether that is extreme sports, playing the violin, gardening, or sitting at a computer. Better moving means better living. Better is, well, better.\n\nSee you on the floor. . .\n\n5 tips to fall-proof your life #Feldenkrais\n\nMarlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express (1932), via Wikipedia\n\n\n\n1. Improve your awareness.\n\n\n2. Take your time.\n\n\n3. Develop coordination, along with strength and flexibility.\n\n\n4. Adapt to prevent falls.\n\n\n\n5. Learn to fall.\n\n\n\n\nEnhanced by Zemanta\n\nWhat are we doing here?\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5721353888511658}
+{"content": "This article is about the letter of the alphabet. For other uses, see L (disambiguation).\n\nFor technical reasons, \"L#\" redirects here. For the programming language, see L Sharp.\n\nWriting cursive forms of L\n\nL (named el/ˈɛl/)[1] is the twelfth letter of the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet, used in words such as lagoon, lantern, and less.\n\n\nEgyptian hieroglyph Phoenician\nEtruscan L Greek\n\nLamedh may have come from a pictogram of an ox goad or cattle prod. Some have suggested a shepherd's staff.[2]\n\nUse in writing systems\n\n\nIn English orthography, l usually represents the phoneme /l/, which can have several sound values, depending on whether it occurs before or after a vowel. The alveolar lateral approximant (the sound represented in IPA by lowercase [l]) occurs before a vowel, as in lip or blend, while the velarized alveolar lateral approximant (IPA [ɫ]) occurs in bell and milk. This velarization does not occur in many European languages that use l; it is also a factor making the pronunciation of l difficult for users of languages that lack l or have different values for it, such as Japanese or some southern dialects of Chinese. A medical condition or speech impediment restricting the pronunciation of l is known as lambdacism.\n\n\nOther languages\n\nl usually represents the sound [l] or some other lateral consonant.\n\nCommon digraphs include ll, which has a value identical to l in English, but has the separate value voiceless alveolar lateral fricative (IPA [l]) in Welsh, where it can appear in an initial position. In Spanish, ll represents [ʎ], [j], [ʝ], [ɟʝ], or [ʃ], depending on dialect.\n\nA palatal lateral approximant or palatal l (IPA [ʎ]) occurs in many languages, and is represented by gli in Italian, ll in Spanish and Catalan, lh in Portuguese, and ļ in Latvian.\n\nOther systems\n\nIn phonetic and phonemic transcription, the International Phonetic Alphabet uses l to represent the lateral alveolar approximant.\n\nOther uses\n\nThe capital letter L is used as the currency sign for the Albanian lek and the Honduran lempira. It was often used, especially in handwriting, as the currency sign for the Italian lira. It is also infrequently used as a substitute for the pound sign (£), which is based on it.\n\nThe Roman numeral Ⅼ represents the number 50.[3]\n\nForms and variants\n\n\"ℓ\" redirects here. For the azimuthal quantum number, see azimuthal quantum number.\n\nIn some fonts, the lowercase letter l may be difficult to distinguish from the digit one, 1, or an uppercase letter I. In recent times, many new fonts have curved the lowercase form to the right, and it is increasingly common, especially on European road signs and advertisements. A more modern version based on the handwritten letter-like is sometimes used in mathematics and elsewhere. In Japan, for example, this is the symbol for the liter. Its LaTeX command is \\ell, its codepoint is U+2113, and its numeric character reference is \"&#8467;\".\n\nRelated characters\n\nDescendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet\n\nDerived signs, symbols and abbreviations\n\nAncestors and siblings in other alphabets\n\nComputing codes\n\nCharacter L l\nEncodings decimal hex decimal hex\nUnicode 76 U+004C 108 U+006C\nUTF-8 76 4C 108 6C\nNumeric character reference &#76; &#x4C; &#108; &#x6C;\nEBCDIC family 211 D3 147 93\nASCII 1 76 4C 108 6C\n\nOther representations\n\n\n  1. \"L\" Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989) Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged. (1993); \"el\", \"ells\", op. cit.\n  2. \"Ancient Hebrew Research Center\". Retrieved 12 January 2015.\n\nExternal links\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7681180238723755}
+{"content": "Like any reasonable human, I have a confusing and profound love for GIFs. To make it easier to search and send them to people, I made this little part of my website. I will keep adding to it until I die.\n\nIt's unlikely that I made anything here. Where a GIF was made by an artist, I have included their name as a tag, or in the filename. Please credit the artist when you share.\n\nClick an image to play a GIF, then click it again to stop. Unless you're using a nuclear-powered supercomputer, probably don't open too many at once, OK?\n\nreaction futurama table-flip ughhhhhh fuck-you deal-with-it simpsons zootopia yes nope sarcasm laughing gene-wilder willy-wonka disappointment watching fry homer bitch-please denied rejected oh-you bender ace-ventura shock what popcorn kanye-west louis-ck panda star-trek brooklyn-nine-nine idiot cats gaming\n\nClear selection", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9772428274154663}
+{"content": "In wonderful lectures by P. Diaconis \"Group representations in probability and statistics, Chapter 6. Metrics on Groups, and Their Statistical Use\" metrics on permutation groups are considered and central limit theorems for kind of balls volumes are discussed. Some of these theorems go back to classical results in statistics by Kendall, Mann-Whitney etc.. and some are completely new.\n\nQuestion in brief: Are there any generalizations of such results and constructions to other finite groups ? One may expect kinds of classes/examples of pairs: (group, metric on group) such that these kind of central limit theorems for balls volumes hold true.\n\nLet me give more details:\n\nSimple Motivational Example: Consider the finite abelian group $(\\mathbf{Z}/2\\mathbf{Z})^n$ i.e. just sequences of zeros and ones. We can put a metric on it: $d(x,y)=|x-y|_{L_1} = \\sum_i |x_i-y_i|$ i.e. just count all \"1\" in the vector $x-y$. The volume of the ball of radius $k$, is the same as the probability of the sum $\\sum_{i<=n} \\xi_i$ to be less or equal than $k$ (and multiply by $2^n$), where independent variables $\\xi_i = 0,1$ with $1/2$-probability. That is exactly the setup of the most classical central limit theorem, which can be visualized by the Galton board (Bean machine).\n\nDiaconis-Graham theorem 1977\nConsider the symmetric group $S_n$ with the metric $\\rho(\\pi,\\sigma) = \\sum |\\pi(i)-\\sigma(i) |$. If $\\sigma$ is chosen uniformly in $S_n$ then:\n\n$$ P\\left( \\frac{\\rho - \\mathrm{Average}}{\\sqrt{\\mathrm{Variance}}} < t \\right)= 1/\\sqrt{(2\\pi)}\\int_{\\infty}^t \\exp(-x^2/2) dx + O(1)$$\n\n$$ \\mathrm{Average}(\\rho) = (n^2-1)/3, \\mathrm{Variance}(\\rho) = 1/45(n+1)(2n^2+7). $$\n\nDiaconis also describes similar results for other metrics on symmetric group. Some of them are related to classical results in statistics, as well as rank correlation coefficients by Kendall and Spearman, to Mann-Whitney test, etc (see also MO)... See also recent paper A central limit theorem for a new statistic on permutations, Sourav Chatterjee, Persi Diaconis where other generalization for symmetric groups is considered. It is tempting to think, that similar results can be generalized substituting symmetric group by some other groups.\n\nOther metrics.\n\n$L_2$ metric and Spearman's rank correlation (Diaconis p 116 bottom) Consider symmetric group $S_n$ with a metric $S^2(\\pi,\\sigma) = \\sum |\\pi(i)-\\sigma(i) |^2 $.\n\nIt is right invariant. When transformed to lie in [—1,1] as in example 1 of Section A, it arises naturally as the correlation R between the ranks of two samples. It is widely used in applied work. $S^2$ has mean $(n^3 - n)/6$ and variance $n^2(n-1)(n+1)^2/36$. Normalized by its mean and variance, $S^2$ has a limiting normal distribution. These results can all be found in Kendall (\"Rank Correlation Methods\" 1970). Normality can be proved using Hoeffding's theorem as above .\n\nSee MO57629 on Hoeffding's theorem.\n\nKendall's tau (Diaconis p 117) Consider the symmetric group $S_n$ with the metric $I(\\pi,\\sigma) = $ min # (pairwise adjacent transpositions to bring $\\pi^{-1}$ to $\\sigma^{-1}$).\n\nThis metric has a long history, summarized in Kruskal (1958, Sec. 17). It was popularized by Kendall, who gives a comprehensive discussion in Kendall (\"Rank Correlation Methods\" 1970). The definitions in terms of inverses is given to make the metric right-invariant.\n\n\nStandardized by its mean and variance / has a standard normal limiting distribution. Kendall (1970) gives tables for small $n$. An elegant argument for the mean, variance and limiting normality is given in (C-3) below. This also gives fast computational algorithms and correction terms to the normal limit. A second argument is sketched in 5. below.\n\nThere are also examples of Cayley, Ulam and Hamming metrics.\n\n\nYour Answer\n\n\nBrowse other questions tagged or ask your own question.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6312545537948608}
+{"content": "Snapchat’s Filters: How computer vision recognizes your face\n\nThe science behind personalized facial recognition\n\nIn those moments of boredom when you’re playing with Snapchat’s filters — sticking your tongue out, ghoulifying your features, and working out how to get the flower crown to fit exactly on your head — surely you’ve had a moment where you’ve wondered what’s going on, on a technical level — how Snapchat manages to match your face to the animations?\n\nAfter two weeks of researching online, I feel grateful to have finally gotten a glimpse behind the curtain. It turns out that the product is an instance of computer vision application, which is the main fuel behind all kinds of facial recognition software.\n\nThe Technology\n\nThe technology came from a Ukrainian startup Looksery, which is an application that allowed users to modify their facial features during video chats and for photos. Snapchat acquired this Odesa-based face changing startup in September 2015 for $150 million dollars. That’s reportedly the largest tech acquisition in Ukrainian history.\n\nTheir augmented reality filters tap into the large and rapidly growing field of computer vision. Computer vision can be thought of as a direct opposite of computer graphics. While computer graphics try to produce image models from 3D models, computer vision tries to create a 3D space from image data. Computer Vision is starting to be utilized more and more in our society. It is how you scan your checks and the data is extracted from the lines. It is how you can deposit checks with your phone. It is how Facebook knows who’s in your photos, how self-driving cars can avoid running over people and how you can give yourself a dodgy nose.\n\nHow Snapchat Filters Work\n\nLooksery maintains their engineering more confidential, but every one can access their patents online. The specific area of Computer Vision that Snapchat filters use is called Image processing. Image processing is the transformation of an image by performing mathematical operations on each individual pixel on the provided picture.\n\n1 — Face Detection:\n\nThe first step works like this: Given an input image or video frame, find out all present human faces and output their bounding box (i.e. The rectangle coordinates in the form: X, Y, Width & Height).\n\nFace detection has been a solved problem since the early 2000s but faces some challenges including detecting tiny, partial & non-frontal faces. The most widely used technique is a combination of Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG for short) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) that achieve mediocre to relatively good detection ratios given a good quality image but this method is not capable of real-time detection at least on the CPU.\n\nHere is how the HOG/SVM detector works:\n\nGiven an input image, compute the pyramidal representation of that image which is a pyramid of multi scaled downed version of the original image. For each entry on the pyramid, a sliding window approach is used. The sliding window concept is quite simple. By looping over an image with a constant step size, small image patches typically of size 64 x 128 pixels are extracted at different scales. For each patch, the algorithm makes a decision if it contains a face or not. The HOG is computed for the current window and passed to the SVM classifier (Linear or not) for the decision to take place (i.e. Face or not). When done with the pyramid, a non-maxima suppression (NMS for short) operation usually take place in order to discard stacked rectangles. You can read more about the HOG/SVM combination here.\n\n2 — Facial Landmarks:\n\nThis is the next step in our analysis phase and works as follows: For each detected face, output the local region coordinates for each member or facial feature of that face. This includes the eyes, bone, lips, nose, mouth,… coordinates usually in the form of points (X,Y).\n\nExtracting facial landmarks is a relatively cheap operation for the CPU given a bounding box (i.e. Cropped image with the target face), but quite difficult to implement for the programmer unless some not-so-fast machine learning techniques such as training & running a classifier is used.\n\nYou can find out more about extracting facial landmarks here or this PDF: One millisecond face alignment with an ensemble of regression trees. In some and obviously useful cases, face detection and landmarks extraction are combined into a single operation.\n\n3 — Image Processing\n\nNow that the face has been detected, Snapchat can use Image Processing to apply features onto a full face. However, they chose to go one step further and they want to find your facial features. This is done with the aid of the Active Shape Model.\n\nThe Active Shape Model is a facial model that has been trained by the manual marking of the borders of facial features on hundreds to thousands of images. Through machine learning, an “average face” is created and aligns this with the image that is provided. This average face, of course, does not fit exactly with the user’s face (we all have diverse faces), so after fitting the face, pixels around the edge of the “average face” are examined to look for differences in shading. Because of the training that the algorithm went through, (the Machine Learning process), it has a basic skeleton of how certain facial features should look, so it looks for a similar pattern in the given image. Even if some of the initial changes are wrong, by taking into account the position of other points that it has fixed, the algorithm will correct errors it made regarding where it thought certain aspects of your face are. The model then adjusts and creates a mesh (a 3D model that can shift and scale with your face).\n\nThis whole facial/feature recognition process is done when you see that white net right before you choose your filter. The filters then distort certain areas of the provided face by enhancing them or adding something on top of them.\n\nFrom Filters to Face-Swap\n\nThe updated version of Snapchat a few months back had the feature for swapping faces with a friend, whether in real time or by accessing some faces from your gallery. Notice how the face shapes are visible, that’s the position where the statistical model lies. It helps Snapchat to quickly align you and your friends face and swap the features.\n\nAfter locating all your features, the application creates a mesh along your face that sticks to each point frame by frame. This mesh can now be edited and modified as Snapchat feels.\n\nSome lenses do much more by either asking you to raise your eyebrows or by opening your mouth. This is also fairly simple to think about, but it requires a lot more algorithms to imply.\n\n  • The inside of the mouth is dark, relatively. So that gives away the opening of the mouth.\n  • The changes on the eyebrows relative to the other facial features are taken into account when it figures out the user has raised the eyebrows.\n\nNow as mentioned before, this technology is not new. But to perform all those processes in real time and on a mobile platform takes a lot of processing power along with some complicated algorithms. That’s why Snapchat thought it’s better to pay 150 million dollars to acquire Looksery instead of just building its platform.\n\n\nI hope this was informative and tickled your curiosity like it did mine. For now, I’ll be exploring Snapchat Filters more deeply, testing out my favorite facial lens, knowing and appreciating all the computer vision that’s going on behind the scenes.\n\n— —\n\nIf you enjoyed this piece, I’d love it if you hit the clap button 👏 so others might stumble upon it. You can find my own code on GitHub, and more of my writing and projects at https://jameskle.com/. You can also follow me on Twitter, email me directly or find me on LinkedIn.\n\nAdditional Resources:\n\nThis story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 294,522+ people.\n\nSubscribe to receive our top stories here.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6809031963348389}
+{"content": "Scientists have figured out how to use nuclear waste as an energy source, converting radioactive gas into artificial diamonds that could be used as batteries.\n\nThese diamonds, which are able to generate their own electrical current, could potentially provide a power source for thousands of years, due to the longstanding half-life of the radioactive substances they're made from.\n\n\n\"There are no moving parts involved, no emissions generated, and no maintenance required, just direct electricity generation,\" says geochemist Tom Scott from the University of Bristol in the UK.\n\n\nScott's team has so far demonstrated a prototype diamond battery that uses an unstable isotope of nickel (nickel–63) as its radiation source.\n\n\nNickel 63 has a half-life of approximately 100 years, meaning the researchers' prototype device would still hold about 50 percent of its 'charge' in 100 years' time.\n\nBut the scientists say there's an even better source they could work with – and doing so would end up providing a solution for the UK's massive stockpiles of nuclear waste.\n\nThe first generation of Magnox nuclear reactors in the UK produced during the 1950s through to the 1970s used graphite blocks to help sustain the nuclear reactions, but the technique comes at a cost.\n\nDuring the process, the graphite blocks themselves become radioactive, generating an unstable carbon isotope, carbon–14.\n\nThe last of these Magnox reactors was retired in 2015, but after decades of nuclear power generation, there's an awful lot of waste byproduct left over, with almost 95,000 tonnes of these graphite blocks needing to be safely stored and monitored while they remain radioactive.\n\nAnd that could be a pretty long time, given that carbon–14 has a half-life of about 5,730 years.\n\nWhile that means carbon–14 has to be stored for an extremely long time, it also means the material could make for some amazingly long-lasting batteries – if it can be repurposed into the diamond structure, like the team did with nickel–63.\n\n\"Carbon–14 was chosen as a source material because it emits a short-range radiation, which is quickly absorbed by any solid material,\" says one of the researchers, Neil Fox.\n\n\nThe team shared details of their work at an \"Ideas to change the world\" lecture at the University of Bristol last week, but haven't published their research as yet, so we'll have to wait and see to find out how viable their carbon–14 batteries really could be.\n\nAccording to the researchers, carbon–14 batteries would only be good for low-power applications – but their endurance would be on a whole different scale.\n\n\"An alkaline AA battery weighs about 20 grams, has an energy density storage rating of 700 Joules/gram, and [uses] up this energy if operated continuously for about 24 hours,\" Scott told Luke Dormehl at Digital Trends.\n\n\"A diamond beta-battery containing 1 gram of C14 will deliver 15 Joules per day, and will continue to produce this level of output for 5,730 years — so its total energy storage rating is 2.7 TeraJ.\"\n\nThat level of output could make the diamond batteries useful \"in situations where it is not feasible to charge or replace conventional batteries\", Scott said in a press release.\n\n\nIt's early days yet, but what's exciting about this research is that it could provide a useful purpose for a huge amount of radioactive waste, in addition to giving us such amazing battery life.\n\n\"This is a great example of where the UK could literally make value from waste,\" Scott told Digital Trends.\n\nYou can find out more on the research in the video below:\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9048441052436829}
+{"content": "Resolving Disputes Before They Ruin the Deal (MA Journal)\n\nDisagreements begin innocently enough. A simple misunderstanding starts with little more than a few testy emails. Tensions escalate. Meetings are called, but nothing is resolved. Both sides bring in their litigators. Everything begins to dissolve, except of course, for the costs of litigation.\n\nThought, executive time and money are all squandered in making a decision to file suit. It takes away from other, more productive, activities. If executives agree that litigation is a bad thing for business, and the last resort to solve major issues, then why do so many disputes end up in court?\n\nIsn’t this foreseeable? Or is it just our litigious culture?\n\nOr is it something more fundamental?\n\nOf course it’s foreseeable. Of course we’re litigious.\n\nConflict happens.\n\nBut it really is something more fundamental: A dispute that could have been anticipated and properly addressed in the contract was not addressed or pushed to the side. Oh, sure, a disputes clause may be present, and it may even require executives to meet to discuss the issue before resorting to the court. But, that timehonored approach—which we fully support and endorse—often becomes part of the boilerplate, little more than a pro forma approach to a potentially significant problem.\n\nIt’s just one more step toward a result—not a resolution, but an ending--that will come about, somehow, after an expensive and time-consuming battle. If the parties recognized that serious disputes could be identified as a part of the deal making process, they could effectively avert suits in most, if not all cases. Why not use tools that have proven to do just that?\n\nEveryone wants their deal signed, right now. Once signed, then the focus turns to Closing. But a lack of understanding, information about effective conflict resolution methods, and a reluctance to spend negotiating capital on these “back-burner” issues that contribute most frequently to using the standard and often ineffective ad hoc approaches.\n\nIt’s time to change that.\n\nInstead dealmakers can adopt appropriate, tested and effective de-escalation techniques and build them into the contract. Having a defined process promptly channels effort on both sides into constructive solutions and reduces the likelihood that the issues will ripen into lawsuits or more importantly, that the deal simply blows up. It’s pretty basic, but it is done all too rarely.\n\nDealmakers and their lawyers appropriately focus on significant risks and allocation of liability during negotiations. Worst-case scenarios are projected and solutions anticipated. It’s all part of the negotiation process. But the adjustments shouldn’t just appear in the numbers. The parties should acknowledge that those scenarios occur, regularly, and build in processes—we’re talking about a reference here, not reinventing the judicial system—that will close the deal both effectively and quickly.\n\nNo two deals are the same and each and every transaction will have unique issues, but in the same way as we craft unique provisions to deal with tax or regulatory concerns, we should also be negotiating provisions that will induce the parties to resolve disputes before, during and following the Closing. Crucial improvements using the four techniques described below could be included easily in deal discussions, without sacrificing negotiating leverage.\n\n1. Design Contractual Incentives to Cooperate\n\nDeals combine businesses, but deals also merge cultures. The subsequent stresses and strains of melding those cultures can create increased opportunity for communication challenges and misunderstandings. Studies of ten show that transactions most often “fail” because of poor post-Closing integration. To counter this, the parties should attempt to create a new culture that anticipates and prevents disputes. The ideal time to start is during the deal design phase.\n\nChanging culture is more easily achieved when financial incentives are aligned. In addition to other more standard integration techniques, consider an incentive system or “bonus pool” based on cooperation and achievement of particular stated goals and timetables. While this approach takes more upfront work in defining specific goals, the benefits include reducing the potential for conflict and encouraging teamwork.\n\nA bonus structure could, for example, provide cash to team members when disagreements and claims are resolved before resorting to litigation, arbitration or even mediation. Incentives payable only when all participants avoid conflict tend to subordinate individual interests to the legitimate needs and success of the organization as a whole. These bonuses could be structured separately or included as one element of an overall bonus system.\n\nAnother technique encourages early problem identification by identifying specific champions who are trained in conflict identification. These individuals become de facto ombudsman who are skilled in conflict resolution techniques such as encouraging brainstorming, listening, reframing and a host of other tools to help individuals and teams ferret out problems at the earliest possible stage and direct the issue to productive problem solving.\n\nAnticipatory programs are not new, they are just woefully underused. They also have centered on specific industries and practices—understandable, but not an explanation why they haven’t permeated deal work generally.\n\nFor example, in the healthcare field one innovative program requires parties to “recognize, respond and resolve” before a claim can be made.1 Direct communication, apology, explanation and correction are important tools when personal injury and/or property damage are identifiable risks.\n\nLarge-scale construction projects have led the way with voluntary partnering, which develops strategic alliances that endure during the longterm contracting process. The partnering culture is created from the beginning of the project. It starts with a retreat or workshop among leaders and managers, generally with the help of an independent facilitator.\n\nThe focus of the retreat is to express objectives, expectations and common goals, initiate open communication and establish non-adversarial processes for resolving potential problems. Periodic follow-up evaluations and meetings continue the culture of partnering throughout the project.\n\nEssentially, a partnering process delivers the message to the entire organization that time spent understanding each others’ perspectives and effective communication are vital to the success of the deal and deserve high priority and allocation of time and resources from the outset.\n\nThe U.S. Air Force has been a pioneer in the area. More than a decade ago, the commandant of its Defense Systems Management College, which trains senior military procurement officials in negotiating big-ticket defense contracts, told a meeting of the CPR Institute membership in New York that there is no perfect agreement.\n\n“Where you have a complex contract, you need to build in enough flexibility so you can deal with those things that you don’t know the day you write the contract,” he said, noting that conflict resolution techniques acknowledge that “there may be issues that we have to deal with. It improves long-term partnering.”\n\nHe concluded, “We’re moving to get the legal and the business community together so that we view this as a team approach.”\n\nSitting just down the dais and agreeing wholeheartedly was the Air Force official’s private counterpart, a contracts vice president of Boeing Co. Boeing, he said, had 10,000 active contracts, and litigation avoidance was a top priority.\n\nThe key, the panelist/contracting partners agreed, was to start at the at the point of contract information. Said the Boeing official, “How are we going to solve issues? What are the risk areas? What are the challenges that we’re going to have in completing this contract?” See “Special Supplement: Winter Meeting, April 2000,” 18 Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation 67 (April 2000).\n\nThose conflict resolvers have continued to practice what they preached. Such partnering arrangements are now a part of the basic defense contracting culture. Any given Air Force base will have dozens of such partnering contracts in effect at a given time, on everything from maintenance to aircraft construction. See, e.g., “Partnering for Better Support,” Military Logistics Forum, Vol. 4, Issue No. 1 (February 2010) (available at better-support.html).\n\n2. Allocate Risk Fairly\n\nRisk allocation is synonymous with deal negotiation. Dealmakers are charged with getting the best deal possible for their organization. But if the resulting contract provisions unrealistically allocate risk to one side, the potential for disputes increases significantly. In short, misallocation of risk promotes subsequent disputes.\n\nTo avoid such misallocation, international food products giant Nestle deploys mediation as a business tool to help iron out issues in complex negotiations for joint ventures and the company’s alliances. “In mergers and acquisitions, Nestle will send complicated liability issues to a mediator ‘in a fast-track procedure’” so the transaction doesn’t get hung up. “Highlights from Vienna: CPR’s Fourth Annual European Business Mediation Congress,” 26 Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation 142 (July-August 2008).\n\nPaying close attention to fairly balanced risk provisions pays dividends in the long term success of the venture.\n\n3. Use Step Negotiation . . . Effectively\n\nDeal negotiators are generally familiar with a “step clause” that requires managers to negotiate first, and, failing resolution, employ a series of escalating steps to either the courthouse or selection of an arbitral tribunal. But this may not create enough incentive on the business managers to fix the problem.\n\nThe technique, and its effectiveness, centers on authority. The person doing the negotiating needs to be able to agree on behalf of the deal party. If he or she can’t or won’t, the talks need to escalate. The presence of the escalation encourages managers to work even harder to find innovative solutions before the matter goes above them--or worse, to separate legal camps.\n\nFor example, when managers are unable to fix the problem, require the CEOs or Chairmen to meet before the matter goes down the legal path. This creates tremendous pressure on lower levels of management to solve the problem.\n\nToo often, the parties point to the deal boilerplate and relegate the issues to the legal team. Typically, dealmakers have assumed that their lawyers are better skilled and equipped to decide the right dispute resolution mechanism. The litigation lawyers are usually consulted late in the process to design a clause.\n\nWhile deal negotiations will focus on the legal/technical details like choice of law, situs, and arbitral rules, on the purposes of the negotiations are the deal’s real terms. The negotiators, not the lawyers, know those terms best and should address them not only at the bargaining table that strikes the deal, but when and where there is fallout later.\n\n4. Use Third-Party Resolvers When Appropriate\n\nThe construction industry has used an extraordinarily successful approach to keep projects moving while simultaneously resolving complex disputes through the use of “standing neutrals.” A standing neutral is a “trusted neutral expert selected by the parties at the beginning of their contracting relationship to be readily available throughout the life of the relationship to assist in the prompt resolution of any disputes. The primary objective in appointing a standing neutral is to get disputes resolved economically at the earliest possible time, while facts are fresh, so that the parties can continue with their business relationship.” 2\n\nConstruction is way out ahead on this too. General Contractors cannot afford to halt work when there is a fight with a sub. Problems are completely foreseeable even if the specifics of the problems aren’t. The industry has become comfortable partnering to resolving disputes.\n\nBut the standing neutral is even better. Experts in the field say that the mere presence of the standing neutral on a project will halt disputes before they invoke the need to use the neutral. Experience in the construction industry has shown that the availability of the neutral has a tendency to encourage the parties to be more fair and willing to work cooperatively, with fewer disputes rising to the level requiring neutral involvement.\n\nThe parties will take it upon themselves, and “escalate” the importance of the talks. Parties anticipate the neutral’s decision, and as a result tend to use fewer hardball tactics. The parties aren’t just avoiding the dispute--the presence of the machinery of resolution encourages the prevention that the partnering and contract drafting may have missed when deadlines are missed and materials remain undelivered.\n\nIdentifying one or more trusted neutral parties to be available throughout the integration phase has many benefits and can be structured flexibly to meet specific business needs. One or a panel of neutrals can be indentified depending on types of technical expertise needed. This approach could be particularly effective in resolving disputes that arise in joint ventures and strategic alliances.\n\nIt is critical that the neutral be selected with care and have the trust of the parties. Depending on the circumstances, the contract can specify whether the neutral should be more deeply involved in the business or simply on standby when called up to resolve disputes. Similarly, the contract can define the neutral’s role as nonbinding (standing mediator) or binding (standing adjudicator).\n\nAnd in spring 2001, a dozen business conflict resolution experts debated in an online seminar hosted by the CPR Institute the application of and best practices for transactional mediation and deal ADR. See “CPR’s Online Seminar: Transactional ADR, May 2001,” 19 Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation, 173 (July-August 2001). The panel analyzed the minutiae of getting processes into clauses at the outset in order to provide the means to make the efforts, and the deal itself, function. But the acknowledged point of the discussion was dispute prevention.\n\nFinal Thoughts\n\nDisagreements are endemic to most relationships. Mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances are no different. When things veer off their intended course, the question quickly goes from “is there a deal?” to whether the dispute can be resolved. While each and every deal is unique and requires thoughtful solutions, the solutions to resolving possible disputes should be equally unique and thoughtful. Getting to signing, and then the Closing, must be the primary focus of all experienced dealmakers. Considering disputes that may occur out in the future may seem less important in the midst of a long negotiation, but in the long run, time spent considering possible disputes and how to resolve them will ultimately prove to be time well spent indeed.\n\n* Mr. Aquila is a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and Ms Bryan is president and CEO of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution.\n\nYou can download a pdf here.\n\n\n1 COPIC 3R Program\n\n2 James Groton, “The Standing Neutral: a ‘Real Time’ Resolution Procedure that also Can Prevent Disputes” Alternatives, December 2009.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5395892858505249}
+{"content": "Empathy is the new black\n\nHow your team is feeling and why you should care\n\n3 big ideas\n\n\n\n\nWhen working with a group of people, there are often varying levels of emotions, energy levels and attention spans.\n\n\nA weekly questionnaire allows you to express and build upon any thoughts you’ve been having over the past week.\n\nWhat made us think\n\nOur point of view\n\nWhy it matters\n\nHow it applies in the real world\n\nEmployees are looking for more from their place of work than just a company’s reputation or a big pay-check.\n\nWhat distinguishes workplaces and makes them more desirable is the culture instilled in everyday practices which address not only the physical needs but the emotional needs of employees. But everyone has a role to play, especially when working in teams where we are managing not only ourselves, but others. This is where our emotional intelligence comes in and, when managed appropriately, is critical to the success of high functioning teams.\n\nAlthough some people may naturally have a higher EQ, there are tools and methods that we can incorporate into our daily habits and routines to improve our capacity for emotional intelligence, and ultimately create more successful teams.  \n\nSo what is emotional intelligence?\n\nEmotional intelligence goes by many definitions, but overall it’s our ability to recognise, understand, and manage emotions and social complexities in ourselves and others. It’s different to IQ and personality as it is more associated with levels of self-awareness and empathy as opposed to your ability to learn or whether you are introverted or extroverted. It’s about placing value and importance on team members being on the same page at all times, and creating a safe space for teams to have open discussions and encourage respectful dissent. And most importantly, egos are left behind.\n\n\nEQ check-in\n\nEQ stands for emotional quotient, and essentially sums up your current emotional state into a number. This number is a reflection of several variants including how present you are feeling today, how enthusiastic you are, or just generally how you are feeling overall. When working with a group of people, there are often varying levels of emotions, energy levels and attention spans. If someone comes to a meeting distracted, stressed or low in energy, the EQ check-in provides an opportunity for that person to be honest and open, allowing their team members a chance to understand their circumstance.\n\nThe check-in can be completed at the start of every day, and only needs to take a few minutes. Everyone takes their turn to share their percentage, and back up their percentage with a short sentence explaining why. For example, Dave might say “I’m feeling about 60% - I’m excited about where we are at in the project, but I didn’t get much sleep last night so I’m feeling a little slow today.” Then the rest of the team knows to go a little easy on Dave today, and prevent any future misunderstandings.\n\nWeekly Questionnaire\n\nYou can also take the opportunity to extend the EQ Check-in to a weekly questionnaire, allowing you to express and build upon any thoughts you’ve been having over the past week. This is best done in project teams whereby everyone has a chance to personally reflect on their week in their own time, and bring up any areas they wish to tackle at the beginning of the following week . The questionnaire can be curated in any way, shape, or form that will provide the most benefit to your team. This can also be beneficial to do on an individual level, as a way to reflect upon your overall mental health as the weeks go by, and track where your highs and lows are; what contributed to a bad day or a small win.\n\nSome example questions:\n\n  • How are you feeling about the project at this stage?\n  • How are you feeling in general?\n  • Outline the top 3 things you think we achieved this week.\n  • Talk about something you found tough this week. Was it resolved?\n  • Thinking about next week, what would you like to see the team get done?\n\nReflected best-self exercise (RBSE)\n\nThis exercise requires a little bit more attention, time, and some input from others, yet provides something concrete and tangible for individuals to identify their strengths and how this plays out in a team scenario. Studies show that people tend to focus and remember negative information more than positive, which is why people find it easier to point out their flaws as opposed to their strengths.\n\nIdentifying examples in which you have performed your best is invaluable in understanding your role and contribution and how fit in with your team (plus it’s great have handy for those job interviews). Identifying your best self doesn’t have to be about technical skills, but ways that you specifically add value or make a contribution to others and teams. It can be a way of working or a personality trait, for example. Undertaking the reflected best self-exercise will allow you to receive feedback on your strengths from those who know you best, and identify how others see you when you are performing at your best.\n\nEQ can be an infectious trait in the workplace. By starting small, demonstrating a level of care, and utilising simple methods such as these, you can slowly build an exciting and desirable work culture with motivated and committed employees.\n\nWant to know more?\nSpeak with your\nPeople & Culture Change\nFreya Elliott\n\nKarla Samuels\n\nJuly 2018\n\nPeople & Culture Change\n\nMaking organisations fit for the future\n\nRelevant capabilities\n\nCulture Change Design\nNew Ways of Working\nEmployee Experience Design\n\nShare this with your network\n\n© 2019 The Customer Experience Company\nGo to top arrow", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7791550755500793}
+{"content": "Public Release: \n\nASU will lead new research network looking at weather extremes and city infrastructure\n\nArizona State University\n\n\nIMAGE: On the left, Indian Bend Wash in Scottsdale is an example of safe-to-fail resilient infrastructure that is the focus of the ASU UREx SRN. By contrast, the LA River, pictured... view more\n\nCredit: Image credits: Indian Bend Wash, Nancy Grimm, ASU; LA River, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers\n\nTEMPE, Ariz. (July 27, 2015) - Extreme weather events can cripple crucial infrastructure that enables transit, electricity, water and other services in urban areas. This leaves cities and their citizens cut off and in danger. With weather extremes becoming more common - from devastating hurricanes and flooding to record drought and heat waves - it will be increasingly important to develop infrastructure in different, more sustainable ways.\n\nThat is the idea behind a new Urban Resilience to Extreme Weather-Related Events Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN), recently funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).\n\nThree Arizona State University researchers from distinctly different disciplines will lead the new UREx SRN to change the way we think about urban infrastructure. The three ASU researchers - Charles Redman, Nancy Grimm and Mikhail Chester - have joined together to lead a team of 50 researchers from 15 institutions in nine cities spanning from North to South America.\n\nThe National Science Foundation awarded the network $12 million over five years through its Sustainability Research Networks program, which focuses on urban sustainability.\n\nRedman, an anthropologist, is project director of UREx SRN and is founding director and a professor in ASU's School of Sustainability. Grimm, an ecologist, is a project co-director and professor in ASU's School of Life Sciences. Chester, an engineer, is a project co-director and an assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.\n\n\"The failing of urban infrastructure in extreme weather events was because people trained themselves to think that events of this magnitude would never happen in their city,\" said Redman. \"However, they are happening now and we can expect them to happen more frequently in the future.\"\n\n\"Extreme events present a great challenge to global sustainability, and urban areas are particularly vulnerable to these events, often due to their location, interdependent infrastructure and people concentration,\" added Georgia Kosmopoulou, NSF program director in economics. \"This SRN team will develop - through a novel more holistic approach - methods and tools to assess how infrastructure can become more resilient providing ecosystem services in an effort to improve social wellbeing. The geographical breadth of the proposal is an advantage; cities that represent alternative cultural backgrounds can offer new ideas about socio-ecological-technological infrastructure.\"\n\n\"We're interested in letting a little bit more of nature back into the city,\" Grimm said. \"We can actually benefit quite a lot from using some of the characteristics of natural systems and incorporating those into our designs.\"\n\nThe team's holistic approach to urban infrastructure is novel. They will evaluate the social, ecological and technical systems (SETS) related to infrastructure. This includes recognizing the values of all stakeholders, from city decision-makers to the people who will use and be affected by infrastructure, understanding the natural environment in which infrastructure operates and evaluating available infrastructure technology. The result will be a suite of tools supporting the assessment and implementation of urban infrastructure that is resilient, \"safe-to-fail\" and tailored to a particular city.\n\nAn example of differences of the current technology, called fail-safe, versus safe-to-fail is the comparison of a greenbelt in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the Los Angeles River channel, Grimm said.\n\nIn Scottsdale, the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt winds through the city in a swath of green and dappled shade. A bike path and green space along the wash improve social well being for residents in the area, and trees and plants provide numerous ecosystem services such as habitat for animals, maintaining cooler air temperatures and producing oxygen. After it rains, the wash fills with storm water drained from the surrounding roads and neighborhoods. Because the wash is designed to be safe-to-fail, floodwaters do occasionally wash out the bike path and create a river - but repairs are easily made, Grimm explained.\n\nAlternatively, the Los Angeles River channel was designed to be fail-safe. Devastating flooding of the LA River in the 1800s resulted in a call for its taming. In the 1930s the river was converted from natural and meandering to cemented and controlled.\n\nWhile directing the river through a built channel has helped control flooding, it has removed the multi-functionality and ecosystem services that a river typically provides. In addition, the entire system could be paralyzed if one part of the structure sustains significant damage, such as from an earthquake. As a result, the City of Los Angeles has recently begun planning for transforming parts of the river to recapture parts of its lost ecosystem.\n\nCreating safe-to-fail scenarios requires consideration of SETS and the current and future needs of a city. To do this, each of the nine UREx SRN teams includes an engineer, a social scientist and an environmental scientist, ensuring a rich understanding of infrastructure needs and impacts across cities and cultures. In addition to ASU's Phoenix-based team, the UREx SRN includes teams based in Baltimore; Miami; New York; Portland; Syracuse, N.Y.; Hermosillo, Mexico; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Valdivia, Chile.\n\n\"There is a lot of opportunity to think about who is vulnerable to climate change and where they live in the city; to tailor redevelopment of infrastructure to protect the people who are the most vulnerable,\" said Chester, adding that infrastructure design should be appropriate to each location and no single solution applies to all cities.\n\n\"By bringing this all together we may be able to really talk to people who build the future,\" Redman added. \"From the first day of designing something like highways and power grids we're going to talk about how Earth's systems work and how human institutions react. Our goal is to build future infrastructure to be more resilient and equitable and not just more efficient.\"\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8042385578155518}
+{"content": "Nichole’s Fine Pastry\n\nNichole’s is a coffee date favorite. Dainty European décor and delicious drinks are inviting, but their food is what really keeps people coming back. Owned by a North Dakota native, Nichole Hensen, who attended the Culinary Institute of America in Greystone, CA, she uses her culinary education to craft a menu of soups, sandwiches, quiches, and pastries (all made with local, organic ingredients). You’ll find plenty of French-inspired food and drinks. Pick up a French press coffee with a croissant or macaron, then finish with a touch of Italian gelato.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7389484643936157}
+{"content": "facebook logo(613) 342-4791 | 1 (800) 267-4432\n\nBook Now\nLooking for Howard Bus Service?\n\n\nFirst World War Photography - Part II\nMarch 21, 2019 | Toronto, ON\n\nA second iteration featuring more material from this collection will be on view.....\n\nThe First World War is recognized as a period of mass violence and destruction, but also as a beginning. The war ushered in technological innovation, mechanizing and recording war in ways previously impossible. The growing pervasiveness of photography resulted in a conflict well-documented by military officials, press agencies, and amateurs alike.\n\n\nThese exhibitions present visitors with a rich opportunity to explore these photographic objects that construct a history of aerial technology and photography, which influenced the operation and outcome of the First World War, a visual record of war that is often left unseen. Together, they contributed to the beginning of a visual consciousness of war that resonates to this day.\n\n1: 100.00\n1: Transportation to Toronto\n2: Admission to the Exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario\n3: Tax\n1: * Book Part I (Oct 18) and Part II (Mar 21) and save! Purchase both tours for $190.00 per person!!!!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9912368059158325}
+{"content": "New Paths for Ba'alei Teshuva: Part One\n\nBy: Dr. Elliott Malamet |\n\nThis series of blog posts seeks to discuss, if only preliminarily, the journey of ba’alei teshuvah (loosely defined as those who were not raised in a home of halakhic observance but chose this way of life at some point) and their place within Orthodox communities. Along with reflecting upon my own experience as a ba’al teshuvah, I would like to examine the mirror that ba’alei teshuva hold up to Orthodox society and the phenomenon of self-negation that often accompanies this quest for acceptance.\n\nUltimately, the argument proposed is that ba’alei teshuvah—who historically have focused on developing a “religious self,” gaining Torah knowledge, and maintaining halakhic practices while integrating into observant communities—should now be looking towards moving into a new, more confident, less religiously insecure identity. In fact, ba’alei teshuvah, not in spite of, but precisely due to their secular backgrounds, have much to offer in the way of leadership in the contemporary Orthodox world.\n\nIt is precisely because ba’alei teshuvah have lived other lives, seen and experienced certain elements of existence that may not be normative for our frum-from-birth co-religionists, that we can (ironically) lead in a religious sense. Some ba’alei teshuvah I know, while not necessarily ashamed of their pasts, feel consciously or unconsciously that the best strategies for themselves and their children within the Orthodox communities in which they live is to suppress facets of themselves that they perceive as not purely “Torah-oriented.” These include interests in secular disciplines; relationships with non-observant people; expressing autonomous opinions in relation to religious texts or authorities; and perhaps most problematic, not “knowing what they know”—that is, surrendering their critical expertise in an area if they believe, rightly or wrongly, that somehow this knowledge or conviction conflicts with what is hashkafically acceptable or optimal.\n\nSuch a trend of self-censoring, whether subtle or overt, carries two negative repercussions: 1) For the ba’al teshuva him/herself, the denial of identity or the inability to properly integrate all the parts of the self, which in many cases are gifts from God—artistic or intellectual talents; a particular sense of humour based on past experiences; certain forms of emotional honesty or self-awareness perhaps cultivated by experience; and a non-dichotomized sense of the relationship of all of the parts of God’s world (not the simplistic oppositions of us vs. them; or frum vs. secular)—leads to an unhealthy suppression and produces sadness on a deep level. It also thwarts what would seem to be providential. If each person is created unique for a reason, then such uniqueness should be celebrated.\n\n2) This suppression of the ba’al teshuva’s self, the mistaken notion that to be part of a religious community requires not just shared halakhic values and practices but a conformity of personality, a conformity of outlook, a cutting off of the wider world, a fear-driven caution about religion—all of this is like removing a span of colours from the spectrum. These colours are not only beautiful in and of themselves, but without them the overall colour scheme lacks richness and its full array of possibility. In other words, the implications of ba’alei teshuva feeling pressured to “fit” perfectly into what they see as the appropriate frum worldview is actually a loss for the community at large.\n\nIn my next post, I will begin to trace my own journey with regard to these issues.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9889474511146545}
+{"content": "Depression, boredom and distraction.\n\nBoredom Can Be Dangerous for Mental Illness\n\nBelieve me, I’ve been there, and I’m all too familiar with the fact that doing nothing can lead to feeling stir-crazy. While relaxation is essential, it’s also important to feel accomplished. Just don’t overload yourself when you finally get going. It takes a delicate balance to keep from being overwhelmed.\n\nI was just reading something about how we should stuff our day full of things. Even when we lack motivation. That doing, helps get that motivation. Helps retrain our brain to feel pleasure from activities again.\n\nI do know for a fact, at night just scrolling on the computer I am hit with the deepest, darkest of thoughts. My psychologist tells me to confront them on paper to confront how irrational they are. which I do. However, if I am writing all night... there is no space in my brain for these thoughts in the first place. If I am getting involved in the activities I enjoy again; writing, reading, blogging and so forth then I am keeping myself engaged in things instead of ruminating.\n\nIt is a process that has worked with me and primarily it is because my depression stems from my pain. When you are doing nothing, the pain is a beast that eats away at you and then you think about it and think about it ... and think some more. Since pain isn't a wonderful thing to think about, nothing good comes from this thinking process. Nothing at all.\n\nHowever, in a sense it is also harder than you might think to do. Motivation is drained away by depression. What you once enjoyed is just flatlined. If the way to do is by doing then we should dip out toes into an activity with ten minutes. If we are not interested by 10 minutes we can put it aside and try again the next day. But usually ten minutes will stir some interest and get our brains engaged a bit.\n\nYou can try new things as well. I read, write, blog. But recently tried adult coloring books. And got back into some video gaming. Extend you passions and try some new activities. Fill your day with things. Work and activities. Keep your brain occupied.\n\nAs well as engaging in regular routines. Self-maintenance. House maintenance. Any errands that need to be done.\n\nHowever, we don't want to be overwhelmed. Make the tasks that are necessary to be simple, paced and spread out through the week to be easily managed in small portions. Make the activities pleasurable ones you enjoy, or did, and engage in them for at least a half-hour. More if it is boosting your mood to get into something. Get your groove on.\n\nWrite in a journal this:\n\nThree things I am grateful for:\nOne thing I accomplished today:\nOne goal I have for tomorrow:\nMood from 1-10:\nFreeflow remarks:\n\nIt will keep you focusing on what it good; the grateful and the accomplishment you made as well as focusing on one future goal. The the remarks you can express your mood and things you are doing to improve it. Any exercise you are engaging in. What is helping you,hindering you.\n\nNo comments:\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7898339033126831}
+{"content": "The Merchant: Gaekju 2015 - Netflix\n\nIn late Joseon, a poor man named Chun Bong-sam inherits a decrepit inn and honestly works his way up to becoming a powerful merchant. As tradesmen clash against the bureaucratic powers that attempt to oppress them by rigging bad deals, Bong-sam never loses sight of his humble beginnings as a peddler even after achieving great success and eventually shapes the way that industry and business are done in his time.\n\nThe Merchant: Gaekju 2015 - Netflix\n\nType: Scripted\n\nLanguages: Korean\n\nStatus: Ended\n\nRuntime: 70 minutes\n\nPremier: 2015-09-23\n\nThe Merchant: Gaekju 2015 - Park Eun-hye - Netflix\n\nPark Eun-hye (born February 21, 1978) is a South Korean actress. She is best known for starring in Dae Jang Geum, which led to her popularity in China. She also became the lead role in the Taiwanese drama, Silence with Vic Zhou directed by Zhang Zhong\n\nThe Merchant: Gaekju 2015 - Awards and nominations - Netflix\n\nThe Merchant: Gaekju 2015 - References - Netflix", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.999947726726532}
+{"content": "바로가기 메뉴\n메인메뉴 바로가기\n본문 바로가기\n\nHannam University Linton Global College\n\nsub image\n\nCourse description\n\nMajor Descriptions\nCourse Offering\nCourse Descriptions\nGlobal Communication and Culture Major\nThe Linton Global College, Dept. of Global Communication & Culture (GCC) prepares students for a changing world as reflected in the rapidly developing media environment. They will have a strong grasp of the English language and the confidence to use it. They will have an enhanced understanding of communication as an individual or group act as well as a social phenomenon based on a solid theoretical grounding. They will be aware of world cultures & manner so that they can adjust their mindset when preparing communications strategies with people of all cultures. They are aware of world events, religions, psychology & changing sociological trends that affect how messages are created, selected, perceived, decoded and retained to influence our attitudes and behaviors, innovations and social change. As Korea continues its progress of increased globalization, students will be prepared to work in various international organizations either in Korea or abroad.\nGraduating GCC students will be key players in any organization or small group which needs to communicate effectively to either homogenous or international audiences. Graduates will be prepared to tailor their message depending upon the medium in which it is delivered and the mindset of those who will receive the message. They will acquire a love for learning sparked by a renewed interest and excitement for learning how people connect. LGC GCC students will earn a reputation as lifelong learners who continue to enjoy learning after receiving their diploma. This will be due to the modeled behavior of passionate, well-prepared professors who show enthusiasm, compassion, and commitment to students through excellent teaching, continual learning, and service to the student body. After graduating from LGC GCC, students will have had the opportunity to earn both great instruction and letters of recommendation from more than 13 professors from around the world.\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9700881838798523}
+{"content": "The Conversation\n\nThe stills that compose The Conversation are born from a thorough study on ethology and animal behavior that I dedicated to over the recent years. These issues, assembled next to each other in no particular order, create images that only partially refer to the original idea, yet invent new realities.\nIn The Flight series mating behaviours in animals and in humans are mixed, and so are birds’ flying strategies and the experiments on animal language such as those conducted on Viki by Mr/Mrs Hayes in the 50s.\nIn the series Land Escapes, what I imagine is the “escape” of the landscape as observed by birds during migration. I wanted to contaminate this idea with the use of graphics and elements of lettering, recalling an order invisible to our eyes but very concrete for birds. The navigation of the skies follows precise rules, it refers to astronomical and terrestrial magnetism, the passing of seasons and the shape of the land below.\nIn Solido dei Dialetti, I have shaped the sound of birds in polyhedra that recalls the technical drawings related to the study of dialects in animals.\nI have developed these topics in the form of collages, using Impossible Project instant film and a Polaroid Duplicator called Kiron Printer.\nIn the series Constellations, a digital collage of vintage books, the complex relationships within the animal groups are translated and organized in hypothetical constellations.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9821688532829285}
+{"content": "Career Development\n\nAchieving a Beneficial Work-Life Balance\n\nHaving a beneficial work-life balance is essential to performing effectively on the job.   Participants will learn strategies for keeping organized, how reducing clutter, leaving work on time, beating procrastination and getting things done on time and the value of living a balanced life.  (Half Day)\n\nCreating Your Work Portfolio\n\nThe most successful careers have a planned trajectory, but how do we determine that trajectory?  How do we represent who we are on a resume or in a tenure or promotion portfolio?  Participants in this workshop will learn how to critically evaluate their knowledge, skills and abilities, determine gaps between what they currently know and what they must know to get where they want to be, develop a satisfying career trajectory, and clearly represent their accomplishments on paper and verbally. (Full Day)\n\nResume Improvement Workshop\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.976158618927002}
+{"content": "'Elohim' from 1st Year Project - 'Panta Rhei' (2014)\n\nJournal Category: \n\nAs a part of University group project in first year (2014), I was required to design and produce a model of a giant Tree entity “Elohim”. Which would act as the game, Phanta Rhei’s, core environment asset as the player would progressively wind their way up, passing platform puzzles and enemies.\n\n“Elohim” needed to appear as menacing and ominous as possible to merge with the our story. It needed to give the impression that decades worth of blood sacrifices had occurred at the base of “Elohim”, saturating the pure white oak, staining his leaves Crimson and scarlet.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.665730357170105}
+{"content": "\n\nContract Law – Illegality\n\nContract Law – Illegality\n\nQuestion 1\nCritically advise the senior partner of your law firm on the rules relevant to recovering damages and property whether the contract is illegal from inception or illegal during performance.\nLord Mansfield in Holman v Johnson reiterates the basic principle as it regards to the law’s treatment of contracts illegal at common or statutory law-“ No Court will lend its aid to a man who founds his cause of action upon an illegal or immoral act.” This has been reaffirmed by Lord Goffe and Lord Browne-Wilkinson in Tinsley v Milligian. However, in determining the consequences of illegal acts carried out pursuant to a contract, the Courts will distinguish between those contracts that are said to be illegal at their inception, and those that are illegal through performance, when assessing whether a party can recover property transferred under the illegal contract or receive damages.\n\nContracts – Illegal at the Time of Inception\nWhether either statue or common law has declared that a particular class of contract will be legal if it is made, then such a contract can never be either legally formed or performed and will be illegal from the moment of its formation( contract void ab initio). Neither party can therefore sue on it, not even the one who was unaware of the facts which has made it illegal. This is the basic rule of ex turpi causa: the court will not enforce a contract which is tainted with illegality or immorality. An example of application of this principle at statutory law is the case of Re Mahmoud and Isaphani (1921). Here the court held that a contract to supply linseed oil was unenforceable because the purchaser committed an offence by supplying the goods without the requisite licence required by the Seeds, Oils and Fats Order Act. Another example of this being applied at common law Upfill v Wright.The court held that a contract for the rental of flat was illegal and unenforceable because the plaintiff rented it to the defendant knowing that it was going to be used to promote a sexually immoral purpose. Therefore his action to recover arrears of rent failed.\nThere is, however, an exception to this general principle. A contract that is illegal from formation may be enforceable where the party claiming bases his cause of action outside/without reliance on the illegality. This rule is illustrated in the case of Tinsley v Milligian. T and M jointly purchased a home but legal title was registered in Tinsley’s name alone, in order to perpetrate a fraud. Relations between the couple later soured, and Milligan claimed a share by way of resulting trust, but was met with an ex turpi causa defence. It was held that in Milligan’s resulting trust claim was not defeated by her fraud, since the trust arose by presumption, and she did not need to rely on her fraud. This was also illustrated in the case of Skilton v Sullivan. The seller of a quantity of Koi carp sent the buyer an invoice for trout. The supply of Koi carp is chargeable to VAT but the supply of trout is not. When the seller sued for the price, he was met with a plea that the contract was illegal as being a fraud on the Revenue. Held: At the time the contract was entered into there was no intention to defraud the Revenue and although the subsequent sending of the invoice for trout was an unlawful act, the seller was not relying on that act to recover the price.\n\nRecovery of Property\nAs it relates to recovery of property under contracts that are illegal from inception, the maxim in pari delicto potior est condition possidentis: a party who has transferred property under an illegal contract cannot recover the property if in order to found his claim, he must rely on the illegal contract to substantiate his claim, and thus is forced to disclose the illegality. This principle is illustrated in the case of Taylor v Chester. In this case, the plaintiff deposited with the defendant half of alleged bank note as pledge. The debt was contracted to enjoy the services of a brothel kept by the defendant. An action was brought by the plaintiff to recover the half note. It was held that the plaintiff could not recover without showing the true character of the deposit and that being on an illegal consideration of which he himself was a party thus he could not recover anything. This is also illustrated in the case of Al-Kishtani v Shansal. Here, the contracts were with Iraq citizens and the illegality in question resulted from the regulations passed to comply with the United Nations sanctions preventing trade with Iraq concerns, put in place following the Iraq invasion and the occupation of Kuwait and the Gulf War that liberated Kuwait in 1990. The argument in favor of recovery of property passes under the contracts was that the general rule infringed Article 1 of the First Protocol to the European convention on Human Rights. The Court of Appeal rejected the argument and upheld the legal principle that one cannot bring a claim for property if he relies on an illegal contract to do so.\nHowever if a party can escape this ‘no recovery’ rule if he has can show that he does not need to rely on the illegal contract and is merely asserting a property right(no reliance on the illegal contract). As illustrated by the case of Tinsley v Milligian. The case of Bowmakers Ltd v Barnett Instruments Ltd also illustrates this. Here P sold 3 sets of machine tools to D by way of a hire-purchase agreement, which was illegal since it contravened an Order made by the Minister of Supply under the Defense of the Realm Regulations .It was held however that P was entitled to recover all 3 sets of tools because their claim was not founded on the illegal contract but on P’s proprietary right (title) to their own goods.\nHe can also escape this rule if he is a member of a class which the statute intended to protect so if he enters an illegal contract the courts will view him as not being in pari delicto and he will be able to recover his property (class protecting statutes). The case of Kiriri Cotton Co Ltd v Dewani illustrates this principle. P let a flat in Campallo to the D for a term of 7 years and received a premium of 10,000 shillings. This was in violation of the Ugandan Rent Restriction ordinance but neither party knew/thought that the contract was illegal. The ordinance made no provision for the recovery of premiums.P brought an action to recover the premium. It was held the duty of observing the law being placed by s 3(2) on the shoulders of the landlord for the protection of the tenant, the parties were not in pari delicto, and, therefore, though the illegal transaction was an executed transaction, the tenant was entitled at common law to recover the premium.This case also establishes that the knowledge of the parties is irrelevant. What is of important is the fact of a duty being placed on one of the parties. Another example is the case of Bonnard v Dott. P transferred shares to the D as security to a loan which D made to P. D was not registered as a money lender as required by statute thus the contract was illegal. P agreed to repay as much of the loan as remained outstanding.The Court did not impose those terms [of repayment] and as such he could recover. MR Collins stated “The lender cannot compel the borrower to return the money, while the borrower can compel the lender to return the securities loan at any rate on the terms of repaying the amount lent (as he is in a class of persons the Act sought to protect). In essence, the law treats D as not being in pari delicto. The question was not expressly raised as the P had agreed to repay. If the P did not agree the court could not impose repayment terms.”\nThe final ground for escape is that of timeous repudiation. Restitution is available where one party withdraws before the illegal purpose is carried into effect- this is the doctrine of locus poenitentiae. In determining whether a party can be successful in his claim whilst relying on this doctrine the courts the time that he took to repudiate and if it was voluntarily done. In Taylor v Bowers(1876) Mellish J had suggested that withdrawal is allowed any time before the contract is completed. However LJ Fry in Kearley v Thompson suggested that restitution would be denied to the party once the performance of the illegal contract regardless of whether it was completed. The major difference between the cases of Kearly v. Thomson and Taylor v. Bowers is that in Taylor there had only been a partial performance of the illegal act, in that the illegal act of fraud on the part of the plaintiff was effectively frustrated given that the defendant was aware of the deceptive actions of P and stood to benefit from it.\nHowever in Kearly there had been a substantial performance. This reasoning in Kearly v Thomson was applied in the Collier v Collier where the transfer of leases from father to daughter in order to defeat the claims of the fathers creditors, had already taken place.\nAs stated before the withdrawal from the illegal contract must be voluntary. In Bigos v Boustead restitution was denied because the plaintiff had withdrawn from the transaction only after the illegal purpose had be frustrated by other party and the repentance was not truly voluntary. Therefore the claim sprang from the main illegal agreement and was tainted with the same illegality attached to it. The parties where in pari delicto at the time of making the agreement, P could not succeed on his claim. Tribe v Tribe however presents a slightly different approach to this rule. In this case the illegal purpose was never carried into effect because of the need for the illegal scheme was avoided. When it became clear that the scheme was not required, the transferor claimed the property back. The defence argued that the transaction was illegal so restitution was not allowed. The transferor replied by stating that he had withdrawn before it was carried into effect and the Court of Appeal accepted this argument.\nThe decision in Bigos v Boustead must however be approached with caution as it has doubted by academics, and the principle emanating from this case is not followed in subsequent case law. Millet LJ in Tribe in expressing his doubt about the correctness of Tribe v Tribe stated “justice is not a reward for merit. Restitution should not be confined to the penitentvoluntary withdrawal from an illegal transaction when it has ceased to be needed is sufficient. It is not sufficient that he is forced to do so because his plan has been discovered.”\n\nIllegal by Performance\nWhen a contract is illegal because of the way it has been performed, it is possible for either both or only one of the parties to intend illegal performance. It is essential to distinguish between the situation where the illegal act was known to both parties and where it was known to only one of them.\n\nBoth Parties are Aware of the Illegal Performance\nIf both parties are aware that its performance is illegal, the consequences for this type of contract are the same as for a contract that is illegal at the time of its formation: neither party can enforce it. Both parties will be met with the full force of ex turpi causa and cannot recover property or damages under the illegal contract.In Ashmore, Benson, Pease & Co Ltd v AV Dawson Ltd (1973) the defendants agreed to transport two boilers belonging to the plaintiffs, and did so by carrying the boilers on lorries which could not lawfully carry the loads in question. The goods were damaged in the course of transit, but the claim of the owner for damages was rejected; the owner of the goods not only knew that the goods were being transported in an illegal manner, but had actually participated in the illegality in the sense of assisting the defendant carrier to perform the contract in an illegal manner.\n\nWhere One Party is Aware of the Illegal Performance\nWhen one party did not know of the illegal performance of the contract by the other party, the innocent party can enforce it. This is illustrated in the case of Archbolds (Freightage) Ltd v S Spanglett Ltd (1961) the A company agreed with the B company to carry goods in a van which, unknown to the B company, was not licensed for the purpose. The contract involved the commission of a criminal offense by the A company in using the van for this purpose. But since the B’s company was unaware of this fact, it was not prevented from suing the A company for failure to deliver the goods.\n\nGet Access To The Full Essay\nSorry, but only registered users have full access\n\nHow about getting full access immediately?\n\nBecome a member\nWe have received your request for getting a sample.\n\nPlease choose the access option you need:\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8890075087547302}
+{"content": "Here’s to the Next 45 Years . . .\n\nWhat are the values of long-term success?\n\nBy Jeffrey Gitomer\n\nIt’s very rare in our society that everyone comes out a winner. As Ingram’s celebrates their 45th year, all of their wins (and yours) are in alignment. As a regularly featured columnist since 2008, I’ve:\n  • Had the honor of branding myself in the Kansas City marketplace. A huge win for me.\n  • Been able to help business people and the salespeople in the Kansas City metropolitan area. A huge win for them.\n  • Had the honor of making an impact in Ingram’s, and building a friendship with Joe and Michelle Sweeney. A huge win for all of us. The Sweeneys and I share a passion for excellence and getting the job done (no matter what). It’s a big part of our bond. But my writing today has a different purpose. \nFirst, to thank the Sweeney’s for their loyalty, and my readers for their support. Second is to congratulate the Sweeneys, who celebrate Ingram’s 45th anniversary with this issue.In those 45 years, Ingram’s has seen and reported a hell of a lot of history, both up and down. \nNot just in the region, but in the publishing industry specifically. Economic downturn, advertising reluctance, high interest rates, stock market crashes, several wars, terrorist attacks, the digital age, and in general, a slow migration from print to online.\nThrough all of this, Ingram’s and the Sweeneys have prevailed. They prevailed by keeping up with and sometimes one step ahead of the times. They prevailed by sticking to their standards. They prevailed by making certain that the quality of their publication exceeded the demands of their readership.\nWhat can you learn from this? How can Ingram’s 45th birthday benefit you? Here’s how you can WIN for 45 years:\n1. Perseverance. While most people can weather a storm, it takes special, dedicated people to persevere through four decades of storms. True perseverance is a rare quality, and it separates you both in reputation and image. \n2. Consistency. Customers want more of what pleases them. The key to that delivery is a consistent product offering that customers perceive as valuable. This publication is valuable.\n3. Integrity. Doing the right thing all the time. Doing what’s best for their business while respecting the community, reporting and writing about what they believe to be true, and always serving you, the customer.\n4. Quality. Their products and publications are a reflection of their business. I have been a subscriber as long as I have been a contributor. Of course, I always read my column first, but as I peruse the rest of the magazine, I realize that Ingram’s is a “pulse” of the market, not just a publication.\n5. Responsibility. To tell stories and convey trends so that Ingram’s subscribers and readers can get an accurate picture of business throughout the region, and make decisions accordingly. \nIngram’s is a monthly “must read.”\n6. Relationships. The essence of keeping a business thriving is quality of its relationships. And there are four parts of relationships to consider: Customers (readers and subscribers), vendors (information providers and advertisers), employees (the people that help create the product and the culture), and the community (the people that the publication serves). All four elements must be strong.\n7. Technology. Keeping up with the times isn’t enough for longevity. Seeing the future, the trends, taking advantage of the opportunities that changing markets present, are integral factors of maintaining a leadership position. It’s not just Ingram’s any more, it’s also\n8. Serving and Service. There’s a 5000 year-old ancient Chinese proverb: “To serve is to rule.” Those that serve best rule their market. To bring that proverb into the 21st century, one might add: “To serve is to thrive.” As you look at Ingram’s, and what they’ve done over the past 45 years, the core key to their business success has been consistent service. And with the advent and growth of business social media, service has become much more transparent. Not just in their business, but yours.\n8.5 Just plain nice. Being nice is not a prerequisite for business success, but it is a prerequisite for the success of the business culture. It is a prerequisite for building long-term relationships with customers and vendors alike. In my 12-year relationship with Ingram’s, and my 20- year relationship with the Sweeneys, I have discovered that being nice, and being friendly are two of their core principles. If you want 45 years of success, make them your core principles. \nI’m certain that many of you know Joe and Michelle Sweeney personally. They are exceptionally approachable, engaging, friendly, and respectful. They are a classic free enterprise example of taking advantage of the business opportunity, without taking advantage of the community and the people they serve.\nThey are loyal to their community, and the community has responded in kind. They are an example of the proverb: The best way to get loyalty is give loyalty. I am hoping to be around to celebrate their 90th anniversary—and I am certain you are too.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5601208209991455}
+{"content": "46. Sponging\n\nSponging was discovered in the Florida Keys in the 1820s. Native fishermen would often find sponges washed up onto the shores after storms. The first catches were only used for the local domestic trade.\n\nWith the discovery of rich, thriving sponge beds in the remote back water country of the Florida Keys, an industry was born. Most of the sponge beds were in about 20 feet of water. Fishermen used small boats, called “hook boats” to navigate to the sponge beds. The most common method of harvesting them was with the use of a long pole with a three or four pronged rake at its end. The fishermen, known as “hookers,” used the rake to pry the sponge loose and retrieve it from the waters below.\n\nWhile the waters of Key West were abundant with rich sponge beds yielding high quality sponge, the remote location of the island made it difficult and expensive to get the product to market.\n\nIn 1849 the first shipment of sponges left Key West and arrived in New York City. The softness and wide variety of the Key’s sponges were an instant success. This began an island industry that lasted 50 years.\n\nAt its peak Key West held a monopoly on the sponge trade in the United States,  by employing 1,200 men working on 350 “hook boats”. It produced an average of 2,000 tons a year which yielded the economy $750,000 a year.\n\nIn 1904 Greek immigrants came to the Keys to pursue sponging. They used primitive diving suits with heavy lead boots which allowed them to reach sponges in deeper water. Local fishermen were skeptical of this practice and correctly believed that walking on the sponge beds with the lead weighted boots damaged the young sponges and reduced future harvests. A combination of the use of the diving suits, overfishing and the spread of a deadly sponge fungus brought the island sponging industry to an end.\n\nNew, healthy sponge beds were later discovered off the coast of central Florida and the industry moved to Tarpon Springs, Florida where it still thrives today.\n\nCheck out the 1953 movie, Beneath the 12 Mile Reef. It is a Hollywood “B” movie starring a very young Robert Wagner. The highlight of the movie is that it was one of the first movies to be filmed in CinemaScope. It was shot in Key West and is a fictionalized story of the sponging industry.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5462514162063599}
+{"content": "Dengue Info\n\n\nmosquito of the Aedes type, principally A. aegypti. The virus has five different types; infection with one type usually gives lifelong immunity to that type, but only short-term immunity to the others. Subsequent infection with a different type increases the risk of severe complications. A number of tests are available to confirm the diagnosis including detecting antibodies to the virus or its RNA.\n\nA novel vaccine for dengue fever has been approved and is commercially available in a number of countries. Other methods of prevention are by reducing mosquito habitat and limiting exposure to bites. This may be done by getting rid of or covering standing water and wearing clothing that covers much of the body. Treatment of acute dengue is supportive and includes giving fluid either by mouth or intravenously for mild or moderate disease. For more severe cases blood transfusion may be required. About half a million people require admission to hospital a year. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen should not be used. Dengue has become a global problem since the Second World War and is common in more than 110 countries. Each year between 50 and 528 million people are infected and approximately 10,000 to 20,000 die. The earliest descriptions of an outbreak date from 1779. Its viral cause and spread were understood by the early 20th century. Apart from eliminating the mosquitoes, work is ongoing for medication targeted directly at the virus. It is classified as a neglected tropical disease.\n\nSigns and Symptoms\n\nTypically, people infected with dengue virus are asymptomatic (80%) or have only mild symptoms such as an uncomplicated fever. Others have more severe illness (5%), and in a small proportion it is  life-threatening. The incubation period (time between exposure and onset of symptoms) ranges from 3 to 14 days, but most often it is 4 to 7 days. Therefore, travelers returning from endemic areas are unlikely to have dengue if fever or other symptoms start more than 14 days after arriving home. Children often experience symptoms similar to those of the common cold and gastroenteritis (vomiting and diarrhea) and have a greater risk of severe complications, though initial symptoms are generally mild but include high fever.\n\nThe characteristic symptoms of dengue are sudden-onset fever, headache (typically located behind the eyes), muscle and joint pains, and a rash. The alternative name for dengue, \"breakbone fever\", comes from the associated muscle and joint pains. The course of infection is divided into three phases: febrile, critical, and recovery.\n\nThe febrile phase involves high fever, potentially over 40 °C (104 °F), and is associated with generalized pain and a headache; this usually lasts two to seven days. Nausea and vomiting may also occur. A rash occurs in 50–80% of those with symptoms in the first or second day of symptoms as flushed skin, or later in the course of illness (days 4–7), as a measles-like rash. A rash described as \"islands of white in a sea\n\nof red\" has also been observed. Some petechiae (small red spots that do not disappear when the skin is pressed, which are caused by broken capillaries) can appear at this point, as may some mild bleeding from the mucous membranes of the mouth and nose. The fever itself is classically biphasic or saddleback in nature, breaking and then returning for one or two days. \n\nThe rash of dengue fever in the acute stage of the infection blanches when pressed. In some people, the disease proceeds to a critical phase as fever resolves. During this period, there is leakage of plasma from the blood vessels, typically lasting one to two days. This may result in fluid accumulation in the chest and abdominal cavity as well as depletion of fluid from the circulation and decreased blood supply to vital organs. There may also be organ dysfunction and severe bleeding, typically from the gastrointestinal tract. Shock (dengue shock syndrome) and hemorrhage (dengue hemorrhagic fever) occur in less than 5% of all cases of dengue, however those who have previously been infected with other serotypes of dengue virus (\"secondary infection\") are at an increased risk. This critical phase, while rare, occurs relatively more commonly in children and young adults.\nThe rash that commonly forms during the recovery from dengue fever with its classic islands of white in a sea of red. The recovery phase occurs next, with resorption of the leaked fluid into the bloodstream. This usually lasts two to three days. The improvement is often striking, and can be accompanied with severe itching and a slow heart rate. Another rash may occur with either a maculopapular or a vasculitic appearance, which is followed by peeling of the skin. During this stage, a fluid overload state may occur; if it affects the brain, it may cause a reduced level of consciousness or seizures. A feeling of fatigue may last for weeks in adults.\n\n\n\nThe dengue virus genome (genetic material) contains about 11,000 nucleotide bases, which code for the three different types of protein molecules (C, prM and E) that form the virus particle and seven other types of protein molecules (NS1, NS2a, NS2b, NS3, NS4a, NS4b, NS5) that are found in infected host cells only and are required for replication of the virus. There are five strains of the virus, called serotypes, of which the first four are referred to as DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4. The fifth type was announced in 2013. The distinctions between the serotypes are based on their antigenicity.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  • Stay in air-conditioned or well-screened housing\n\n\n  • Wear protective clothing\n\n  • Use mosquito repellent\n\n  • Reduce mosquito habitat\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9009014368057251}
+{"content": "labradorThe loss of a pet can affect you the same as, or possibly more than, losing a family member – so why is it not an event that is taken seriously? The bond between human and animal is the strongest it has ever been. Pet ownership is at an all-time high, especially in this age when they are no longer treated as a work tool to catch mice or as a hunting companion; now they are truly anthropomorphised and treated as one of the family, like a mini fuzzy human. We talk to them, play with them, feed the highest quality food we can source, and the top medical care we can find. Yet pet loss is not given the same importance or recognised in the same way as the loss of a person.\n\nThe Role of Religion and Spirituality in Pet Loss\n\nReligion and spirituality have been rather slow in recognising the spiritual bond between human and animal and while there are many explanations and talks of afterlife for the end of a human life, the end of your pet’s life is scarcely mentioned. While we can find comfort in our religious beliefs, whatever they may be, that we may see our family again someday, there is a large grey area over whether or not we will see our pets again. I believe the most heart-breaking part of an animal’s death is that they were only in a part of your life, but you were their whole life.\n\n\nWith humans, we are given closure through funerals and mourning periods. However, when it comes to pet loss, there is almost little to no closure. This can, in fact, make it harder to deal with than a human loss and therefore it can take a lot longer to fully grieve and heal. This may be a contribution to the fact it isn’t given enough credence, because it takes longer to heal over an animal due to the lack of grieving and healing, so people who do not understand the pain make fun of it and think that it is ridiculous or that people go over the top about it.\n\nSpecial Bond\n\nIt doesn’t make sense that the death of a pet isn’t given sufficient credence — as pet ownership is at an all-time high and the bond between human and animal has been strongly documented for thousands of years. For instance, looking at the relationship between Alexander the Great and his horse Bucephalus – a partnership still iconic and widely referred to in pop culture – he mourned the loss of his equine companion so strongly he named a city after him.\n\n\nEuthanasia can also play a large part in animal bereavement. If we have chosen, for whatever reason, to have our pet euthanised other people may believe we have brought the death on ourselves, and so wonder ‘why does it take such a long time to mourn?’.\n\nTo me, the only way to allow pet loss the amount of credence it deserves is to normalise the grief and as a nation not have what other cultures view as a very shut off approach to death and mortality. Death is an inevitable fact of life, and perhaps we should see these situations as a way to celebrate the life we have given our animals and the happiness we have both shared.\n\n\nFor help with pet loss, we have a special pet loss resources page with links to external websites.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5527837872505188}
+{"content": "Nature Canada Nature Canada Nature Canada\nNature journaling, a powerful experiential learning journey\n\nNature journaling, a powerful experiential learning journey\n\nLandscapes have always offered me an embodied experience to cultivate the more holistic aspects of self and I intentionally seek them. I first started a nature journaling practice in Costa Rica and I would visit the same spot for an hour day-after-day and observe things big and small in the dynamic interplay of what’s ‘out there.’ Nature journaling involves the regular recording of observations and experiences with the natural world. As time slows down, you become attuned to your surroundings and take notice of the different sounds, play of light, and shades of colour. Since returning home, I have taken up nature journaling with my family, as an activity that can be enjoyed outdoors and indoors, especially in the winter months! Here are some tips on how to nature journal with kids:\n\n  • Nature journaling can take on many different shapes like drawing, painting, writing poetry, or recording detailed observations. There is no wrong or one right way to nature journal.\n  • Anything can be a topic for drawing such as a spider in her web or even a household companion.\n  • Nature journaling can be as simple as observing birds that come to your bird feeders and drawing a particular bird’s postures. What is that bird doing? What does their call note or song sound like?\n  • Topics of discussion with your children can be about the relationships between the different ecologies like for example, between a bumblebee and a flower.\n  • Sound mapping involves paying attention to what you hear. This activity can involve closing your eyes, and drawing and locating the different sounds with different colours on paper. What do you hear? Why do certain sounds seem louder than others?\n  • Nature journaling is an activity that can be enjoyed during Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter! We especially enjoy noticing the birds during their annual migration. Which birds come back first and which ones arrive later?\n  • Notice the changes that are happening as you are observing the environment. Draw the position of the clouds. Do they stay in the same spot or are they moving?\nAn excellent book “Keeping a nature journal: Discover a whole new way of seeing the world around you” written by Clare Walker Leslie & Charles E. Roth offers a detailed account on how to nature journal throughout the seasons. This blog post dedicated to Leesa Fawcett who taught me about nature journaling for environmental education.\n\nMom Approved: Nature-Based Activities to Get Outside this Winter!\n\n\nI've been thinking a lot about winter activities as I find, as a mother of a four-year-old, that winter can be a more challenging season to get outside and explore. Some of the best nature experiences that I've had with my daughter have been just exploring in the forest and seeing what emerges. Here are some nature-inspired activities for enjoying the natural world during the winter season Make a healthy homemade suet as a fun activity to feed those backyard visitors. Even when it's difficult to get outside, we still observe what the birds are doing. Break out those binoculars to identify the birds and look at their field marks or coloration. Snowshoeing is a healthy, fun way to explore the forest and get some exercise in the winter months. Tracking is an engaging way to learn about wildlife to demystify where they’ve been, where they’re going, and what they’ve been doing. By looking at tracks, you can identify which animals made these tracks or try to trace the origin of the tracks by following them. Nature journaling can direct our attention to ‘place’ and changes over time, and can be done indoors and outdoors. It’s a way to cultivate our inner naturalist or those feelings of feeling connected to the natural, more-than-human world.\n\nAdditional Resources: There are many cities that offer free nature-based programming. Wildchild which is London-based encourages child-led, outdoor free play.\n\nMaking your own suet for birds this winter!\nPhoto by Barb D'Arpino\n\nMaking your own suet for birds this winter!\n\nMaking your own suet for the birds visiting your backyard during winter is a wonderful way to stay connected to nature while still staying warm! This is a simple way to provide another food source for birds to help them out during the long and cold Canadian winters.\" Below is a simple recipe for suet that will bring feathered friends to your NatureHood! Note that the temperature needs to be cold enough so that suet does not melt.\n\nSimple Suet Recipe for Wintering Birds\n\n\n2/3 cup coconut oil 2/3 cup black oil sunflower seeds 3 tbsp peanut butter with no salt added 3 tbsp cornmeal\n\nOats, corn kernels, peanuts out of the shell, and unsalted almond butter can also be added to the mixture.\n\n1) Melt the coconut oil on a saucepan over low heat. 2) Add peanut butter, stir well until blended 3) Turn off stove, add other ingredients and mix well 4) Pour into a low profile pan 5) Once suet is cooled down, cut into cakes that will fit suet feeder 6) Wrap cakes individually to store in freezer.\n\nEt voila! Enjoy the company of nature from the comfort of your home! To learn more about the birds that stay in our backyards over winter, check out our Winter Birds e-Book today!\n\nWant to Help?\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9982473850250244}
+{"content": "\n\n\n\n\"Both are under suspicion, that they published video clips, in which they denied the genocide of Jews in the Holocaust during World War II,\" Gliwitzky said.\n\n\n\nImprisoned in Germany\n\nMonika Schaefer gained notoriety in July 2016 after appearing in a YouTube video in which she described the Holocaust as the \"biggest and most pernicious and persistent lie in all of history.\" She expressed her view that six million Jewish people did not die at the hands of Nazi Germany.  \n\n\n\nMonika Schaefer denied the Holocaust ever happened in at least one video posted to YouTube. (Emilio Avalos)\n\n\nGerman freelance photojournalist Anne Wild, who contracts with organizations that monitor far-right organizations' activity, recalled Monika Schaefer's arrest in January at the trial of convicted German Holocaust denier, Sylvia Stolz. Since then, Monika Schaefer has been imprisoned in Germany. \n\n'An outrageous incident'\n\nWild, one of the accredited press representatives, attended the Schaefer siblings' trial in a low-level criminal court for three days this week. She said it was the first time she has attended the trial of a foreigner for \"incitement of hatred.\"\n\n\n\"There was an incident right at the beginning that was really sort of horrible,\" Wild said. \"When Alfred Schaefer was brought into the room, and he was joined by his sister who was brought in, he showed the Nazi salute three times in a row. This is really an outrageous incident in the courtroom.\n\n\"His sister, she was laughing at it, she was laughing.\" \n\n\n\nSparse media coverage\n\nWild said there were only three journalists, including herself, in the courtroom. But these type of trials in Germany generally don't get a lot of media attention, Wild said. \n\n\"Some of them think that if you cover it too much, you will just promote it. They don't want to promote it,\" she said. \"It's sort of a mixture. We have to talk about it, but we don't want to talk too much about it.\"\n\n\nShe photographed a June 30 protest against the imprisonment of Holocaust deniers. \n\n\nA German sign at a June 30 protest against imprisoning Holocaust deniers translates in English as 'free Monika Schaefer.' (Anne Wild)\n\n\"Still there's a community of several thousand people who are more or less openly convinced that the Holocaust is a lie,\" Wild said. \n\nBut \"there is a big discussion in Germany about what is opinion and what is a crime,\" she added.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9099957346916199}
+{"content": "DAYS OF Zondo Analysis\n\n\nBy Ferial Haffajee 19 September 2018\n\nANC Deputy Secretary General Jessie Duarte and Secretary General Gwede Mantashe on the opening day of the ANC’s national policy conference. Picture: IHSAAN HAFFEJEE\n\nWhile the head of the ANC’s economic transformation committee, Enoch Godongwana, is an affable and friendly man, evidence on Tuesday by former Rand Merchant Bank CEO Johan Burger that he had been asked or summonsed to a meeting by the official by text message begs the question: how seriously does the party take its history and role as a steward of society?\n\nViewed through the lens of the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, the ANC looks weathered and divided, a shadow of the political party whose leaders helped modernise South Africa’s banking and financial system.\n\nTestimony by the banks this week reveals an evisceration and a step away from the ANC’s identify as a party of the rule of law.\n\n\nThere is something insouciant and casually careless about Godongwana messaging Burger to set up a meeting to inquire why the bank had been one of four which revoked bank accounts of the Gupta family and related entities.\n\nGodongwana has good relationships with many business leaders and probably has many of the Top 100 company CEOs on speed dial, but the decision to intervene in the banks’ decision to close Gupta accounts is a serious one. Was it fitting of a governing party and one with as long a history as the ANC to arrange that meeting at all and then to do so by text message?\n\nAs several banking executives said at the commission this week, the ANC’s decision to step in was a step-change in banking regulation and a highly risky one. The party summonsed banking executives to Luthuli House while former Mineral Resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane used an inter-ministerial committee purportedly created by Cabinet to pressurise the banks too.\n\nIn my 32 years in banking, I’ve not had a third party questioning client/banker relationships,” Burger told Zondo.\n\nBurger was the only one of the four big bank CEOs who did not attend either the meeting with the ANC or another meeting with Zwane’s inter-ministerial committee to also probe why the banks had closed the accounts.\n\nThis means the banks were subjected to two levels of pressure by the ANC on behalf of a single family shown to be close to former president Jacob Zuma.\n\nAt a Business Leadership SA meeting in 2016, then ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe met ABSA CEO Maria Ramos and asked her to a meeting to discuss the bank account closures.\n\nA day later, she attended the meeting at Luthuli House, where she warned Mantashe that “it will be a very short meeting” if anything related to client confidentiality was to be discussed.\n\nBut the very fact of summonsing Ramos in what was really a case of special pleading for a crony family tells a story. Ramos is a former ANC official and a symbol of what the party did right in its early years as government. She was the Treasury’s first Director General drawn from the liberation movement.\n\nThe ANC sent a cadre of activists like Ramos around the world to learn how to run the Treasury and the Reserve Bank and to help reintegrate the apartheid- isolated South Africa back into the global financial system. They benchmarked the country to meet international norms and best practices.\n\nSouth Africa became part of the inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) run out of the OECD. This led to the passage of the country’s financial intelligence laws and to the establishment of the Financial Intelligence Centre.\n\nThese laws prevent international crime and money laundering and provide the kind of X-ray vision that ultimately ensured that the Gupta family’s various efforts to launder and corrupt were exposed.\n\nThe creation of the modern banking system can be credited to a new democratic government led by the ANC, but this week’s evidence before the Zondo Commission showed how the party’s actions put this legacy of creating a modern financial system at risk.\n\nNon-compliance (with global banking regulations) can lead to the revocation of a (banking) licence and personal criminal liability… there was evidence of large unexplained transfers of funds between Oakbay and related parties at other banks,” Yasmin Masithela, ABSA’s head of strategy, told the Zondo Commission of Inquiry.\n\nANC officials say the party was not interfering or pressuring the banks when it called them to Luthuli House. They said that the party regularly meets with business leaders, either at the request of these captains of industry or by asking for meetings with them.\n\nOne official at Luthuli House said it called the banks to find out how the system of banking politically exposed persons (PEP) worked – banks deal with this category of people as higher risk clients. The Gupta family were classified as PEPs.\n\nThe officials said that Luthuli House under Mantashe had, in fact, acted as a bulwark against the growing influence of the Guptas. Mantashe spoke out when the Guptas landed a private plane of wedding-goers at Waterkloof in 2013.\n\nIn an interview with Daily Maverick on Monday, Mantashe said he believed the ANC’s intentions had been misread by Standard Bank when its executives were summonsed to a meeting at Luthuli House on 21 April 2016. DM\n\n\nAre You A South AfriCAN or a South AfriCAN'T?\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNo free pass for Eskom’s Mr Fix-It, Jabu Mabuza\n\nBy Jessica Bezuidenhout\n\n\"Five exclamation marks - the sure sign of an insane mind.\" ~ Terry Pratchett", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.788837194442749}
+{"content": "Worship of a deity is a subject of faith for all of us. We build a temple room in our house and decorate it well. We also keep the images or idols of the deities we like and perform daily puja (ritualistic worship).We purchase the articles of puja according to our capacity.\n\nWe are also quite familiar with such articles like kalash (a water vessel generally of metal), shankh(conch ), a copper plate, a copper vessel, a small spoon, a lamp etc. Every article of puja has its own significance. Let us understand the significance of an important article of puja that is lamp.\n\n1. Importance of lamp in Hindu Dharma\n\n\nभोदीपब्रह्मरूपस्‍त्‍वं ज्‍योतिषांप्रभुरव्‍यय: ।।\nआरोग्‍यंदेहिपुत्रांश्‍चमत:शांतिं प्रयच्छमे ।।\n\n\n2. Characteristics of Oil and Ghee lamps\n\n\n\n\n\nThe oil lamp can attract the sattvik vibrations spread over a maximum distance of 1 meter while the ghee lamp can attractsattvik vibrations spread over till Swarga Lok (heaven)\n\nEffects of Both Types of Lamp on the Worshipper.\n\nThe oil lamp generates a subtle armour of inferior quality around the worshipper while ghee lamp generates a subtle armour of superior quality.\n\nThe subtle frequencies emitted from the oil lamp activate the Mind-energy (Manashakti) of the worshipper whereas the subtle frequencies emanating from the ghee lamp activates soul energy of the worshipper.\n\nAccording to yogic path of Kundalini Yog there are seven principle chakras or energy centers in the human being. These chakrasinfluence practically every aspect of human being including physical body, mind and intellect. The oil lamp is effective in purification of Muladhar and Swadhishthan Chakra only to certain\n\nextent but the ghee lamp purifies Manipur and Anahat chakrasto a significant extent.\n\nJust as there are seven chakras in the human body, there are paths for the flow of vital energy (chetana). These are called asNadis or channels. The three principle nadis are Chandra nadi (Moon channel), Surya nadi (Sun channel) and Sushumna nadi.When Chandra nadi is active the person perceives coolness. The activation of Surya nadi imparts energy to the person. TheSushumna nadi is activated when the person starts progressing spiritually. The oil lamp activates the Surya nadi of the person while ghee lamp activates only that nadi which is essential to the worshipper in a particular action.\n\n2.2 Effect on the Subtle Sheaths of the Worshipper\n\nAccording to the science of spirituality the body which is visible to our eyes is called Annamaya Kosha or food sheath. Besides this there are four other Koshas namely Pranmaya Kosha or vital air sheath, Manomaya Kosha or the mental sheath, Vidnyanmaya Kosha or sheath of intellect and Anandmaya Kosha or bliss sheath. The Pranmaya kosha is a seat for the Pancha pranas (five vital air elements) which provides energy to the gross body. The second Manomaya kosha is the seat of emotions.\n\nThe thirdVidnyanmaya Kosha is the seat of intellect and the fourth Anandamaya Kosha is the seat of Soul which is of the nature of existence, consciousness and bliss (satchidananda). Even these subtle sheaths or koshas are affected by the oil or ghee lamps. The oil lamp imparts power to the raja paricles in the Pranamaya kosha which makes the individual rstless. The ghee lamp strengthens the sattva particles of Pranamaya kosha and Manomaya Kosha and as a result of this the jiva (individual, embodied soul) becomes peaceful,stable and happy.\n\n2.3 Spiritual Experience Imparted by Oil and Ghee Lamps\n\nWe are used to appreciating this world through the media of five sense organs namely nose, ears, eyes, tongue, skin , mind and intellect. This is known as experience. But when we experience something without the participation of all these then it is known as spiritual experience. Now let us compare the spiritual experiences obtained due to oil and ghee lamps. The oil lamp gives us spiritual experience of Pruthvi tattva (absolute earth element) and Aap tattva (absolute water element). For example if we get an experience of fragrance without the actual presence of an object which can impart such fragrance then it is a spiritual experience of Subtle fragrance or gandha. The fragrance is related to Pruthvi tattva. The example of spiritual experience of Aap tattva is dwelling sweet taste in the mouth.\n\n\nWhen we see subtle light or vision of a deity then it is an example of spiritual experience related to Tej tattva or absolute fire element. When we experience a feeling of touch without any external reason then it is a spiritual experience related to Vayu tattvaor absolute air element. The ghee lamp gives spiritual experience of Tej tatva and Vayu tattva to the worshipper.\n\n2.4 Why Only Ghee Prepared From Cow’s Milk Should Be Used?\n\nGenerally any oil lamp emits frequencies consisting of raja particles but the sesame oil emits some sattva frequencies also. Therefore the lamp with sesame oil is comparatively more sattvik. However the ghee lamp emits the sattvik frequencies in maximum amount compared to any oil lamp. Here we have to remember one thing that it is useful use ghee prepared only from the cow’s milk in the lamp lit in front of Deity. This is because in such ghee the Deites’ principles are already existent. Such a ghee which is dominant in sattva component emits luminous figures in the atmosphere. Such luminous figures are forms of Tej tattva or absolute fire element. Thus even though the use of ghee is recommended because of its capacity to emit maximumsattva frequencies, we can use sesame oil lamp if the use of ghee is not possible because of financial restraints or otherwise.\n\n2.5 Points To Be Considered While Using a Lamp\n\nDo not kindle an oil lamp with a ghee lamp and vice versa. Do not kindle one lamp with another similar lamp. For example if there are two niranjans (a type of lamp) in an arti platter then do not light one niranjan with another niranjan. Similarly do not light one pillar of lamps with another.\n\n\nSometimes while performing puja we unknowingly touch the lamp. We should immediately wash our hands then. This is because when we worship a deity the sattva component of the lamp increases. When we touch the lamp the raja-tamaparticles from our body enter the lamp by way of touch. This reduces the purity of the lamp. The water has the property of encompassing everything. Anything which is offered to a deity through the medium of water reaches Him/Her faster.\n\nWhen we wash our hands we are one way dissolving our sins in the water. The spiritual practice of water is to assimilate in itself sins done by all. The extremely merciful Deities absolve us from our defects when we offer them at their feet through the medium of water.\n\n3. Should Electric Bulbs Be Used Instead of Ghee Lamps?\n\nNow a days we see electric bulbs in use during the puja ritual instead of ghee lamp. What is the difference between two from the point of view of Spiritual science?\n\n\nSome people may be finding it funny to worship a lamp of oil or ghee when the modern scientific era has offered us so much glitter by way of electrical bulbs. But our ancestors have given priority to the worship of lamp after profound experience and through the attitude of gratitude. Let us now compare the electrical bulb and the lamp with ghee. The light emitted from the electrical bulb blinds our eyes while the gentle flame of ghee lamp reminds us of Atma-Jyoti or flame of soul. The electrical bulb makes us extroverted and then the mind runs towards external objects. The ghee lamp makes us to look inwards. Thus we have seen the difference between the electrical bulb and ghee lamp.\n\n4. Five Wicks and Single Wick Lamp\n\nThere are other varieties of the lamps also such as lamp with a single wick and lamp called niranjan wherein five wicks are used. The Niranjan with five wicks is symbolic of duality that is the manifest energy of a deity, whereas the lamp with a single wick attracts sattvik frequencies the lamp with five wicks attracts waves with destroyer property and dominant in raja component. Theniranjan with five wicks denotes the relation of Panchpran (five vital air principles) with the Atmajyoti (flame of soul). Niranjan is used for waving Pancharati. Every single flame of niranjan is symbolic of Atmajyoti. Pancharti means invocation of God with the help of panchparanas.While performing Pancharti we should have such a spiritual emotion that the Atmajyoti is kindled in me with the help of five panchaprans present in the body and I am performing the arti with such flame.\n\n5. Why Should a Straight Wick be Used as Compared to Puffed Up Wick?\n\nDuring puja ritual a lamp is offered at various steps of the ritual according to purpose. For example performance of arti. Two types of wicks are used in the lamp namely Puffed wick and straight wick. Nowadays a puffed wick is used in a ghee lamp or niranjan and used as lamp of worship. The wick is puffedup from below to offer it stability to stand in the center of niranjan. The puffed wick is used in a ghee lamp. This type of wick is relatively of recent origin.The second type of wick which we all are familiar with is straight wick. Two straight wicks are joined together like a thread and used in a lamp. Not only there is difference between the two on a gross form but also on spiritual level.\n\nThe lower portion of the fulwat is puffed up while the straight wick is whole like a thread.\n\nThe fulwat is representative of various raja thoughts in the mind while straight wick is symbolic of detachment and also represents the thread which joins Panchaprans with Atamjyoti.\n\nWhen a fulwat is kindled the inferior deities are attracted to it while the straight wick when kindled attracts principles of higher deities.\n\nThe frequencies emitted by the fulwat are of circular form while those emitted by straight wick are in the form of waves.\n\nThe colour of the divine consciousness emitted by the fulwat is redish yellow while that emitted by straight wick is of yellow colour.\n\nSattvik earth frequencies get attracted towards fulwat while more sattvik frequencies moving in the upward direction are attracted towards straight wick.\n\nThe atmospheric frequencies get momentum due to fulwat while their momentum is slowed down by the use of straight wick.\n\nAn armour of Pruthvi (absolute earth element) and Aap tattva (absolute water element) is generated around the worshipper by use of fulwat while straight wick generates an armour of Tej tatva (absolute fire element) around the worshipper.\n\nAccording to science of spirituality Tej tattva is more powerful than either Pruthvi tatva or Aap tattva. As a result the use of fulwatimparts heaviness to the physical body while the use of straight imparts cheerfulness to mind.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6598678827285767}
+{"content": "Pest Control in Farragut, TN\n\nFarragut is a flourishing suburb of Knoxville, Tennessee, with a beautiful hilly landscape. However, with the Tennessee River to the south and Blackoak Ridge to the north, pests are all around. Making the pest situation worse is above-average humidity throughout the day. Dayton's Pest Control can help residents exterminate and prevent ants, bed bugs and termites from disrupting their lives.\n\n\nAnts are mainly active in warm weather. Their small, segmented bodies allow them to enter homes under doors and windowsills. They usually invade kitchens in search of food. When they find a good food source, they like to build their colonies nearby.\n\nOdorous house ants are more annoying than harmful. Although, the waste that they leave behind can contaminate food. They can measure from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch, and they're usually black or brown. A colony of odorous house ants can have up to 100,000 members.\n\nWith a larger size of up to five-eighths of an inch, carpenter ants are more of a concern. Ranging from black to red in color, these ants build their nests in wood. When they decide to colonize in homes, they can cause massive amounts of damage as they tunnel their way through the wood structures. Contrary to popular belief, however, they don't actually eat the wood. Instead, their diet consists of fats, meats, sugary items, and dead or living insects. A carpenter ant colony can have more than 2,000 worker ants.\n\nBed Bugs\n\nThese insects are named bed bugs because they tend to live in beds. However, they can hide in any small crevices near humans, such as couches, wall molding, carpets and picture frames. Bed bugs have flat, oval bodies that are rusty to mahogany brown in color. They can swell up to one-fourth of an inch and turn red after feeding.\n\nBed bugs are nocturnal insects, so they stay tucked away during the day. They emerge at night to feed on humans or other warm-blooded animals. Humans are the most common target, however, because there's more exposed skin to bite. The biggest problem with this is that their bites can leave behind itchy, red welts.\n\n\nTermites are considered silent destroyers because they eat plant-based fabrics and wood. In fact, they cause billions of dollars in property damage every year. Formosan and subterranean termites are the most destructive species. Formosan colonies can extend for up to 300 feet and consist of tens of thousands of members. However, subterranean colonies can be larger, consisting of up to 2 million members.\n\nAlthough similar in appearance to ants, termites have some identifiers that make them easy to tell apart. They have straight antennae and non-segmented bodies that are long and narrow. Formosan termites are yellowish brown, and subterranean termites are creamy brown. Before they find a place to colonize, they have two sets of wings that are equal in length. They shed these wings when they begin to build a nest.\n\nTrusted Extermination and Prevention Services at Dayton's Pest Control\n\nDo you have an ant, bed bug or termite problem? Do you have a different pest infestation? Let our entomology expertise and more than 30 years of experience work for you. Call Dayton's Pest Control for a free estimate no matter your pest control needs.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8484764695167542}
+{"content": "# Test cases The following test cases are run automatically whenever the code changes. Note that only the documented test cases appear in the list below (follow the [All tests](/src/test/) link for a complete list). ## Systems of conservation laws * [Bouncing Saint-Venant bump](bump2D1.c) * [1D arterial flow](artery1D.c) * [Two- and three-dimensional explosions](explosion.c) ## Incompressible Euler/Navier--Stokes * [Lid-driven cavity at Re=1000](lid.c) * [Merging of two vertices](stream.c) * [Merging of two vortices (centered Euler solver)](vortex.c) * [Taylor--Green vortices](taylor-green.c) ## Shallow-water flows * [Drying of a lake](dry.c) * [Simple Saint-Venant Riemann problem](bore1.c) * [Oscillations in a parabolic container](parabola.c) * [Undular bores for the Green-Naghdi equations](bore.c) * [Green-Naghdi soliton](soliton.c) * [Solitary wave run-up on a plane beach](beach.c) * [Solitary wave overtopping a seawall](seawall.c) * [Sinusoidal wave propagation over a bar](bar.c) * [Runup of a solitary wave on a conical island](conical.c) * [Shock reflection by a circular cylinder](shock.c) * [Flow rates for multiple rivers](multiriverinflow.c) * [Source of a river](source.c) * [Implicit Saint-Venant solutions for waves](implicit.c) * [Viscous hydraulic jump](higuera.c) * [Transcritical flow over a bump with multiple layers](layered.c) * [Wind-driven lake](wind-driven.c) * [Lake flowing into itself](lake-tr.c) ## Volume-Of-Fluid * [Computation of volume fractions from a levelset function](fractions.c) * [Computation of volume fractions on a variable-resolution grid](fractions1.c) * [Fractions in marginal cases](fractions2.c) * [Computation of a levelset field from a contour](basilisk.c) * [Time-reversed VOF advection in a vortex](reversed.c) ## Surface tension * [Curvature of a circular/spherical interface](curvature.c) * [Circular droplet in equilibrium](spurious.c) * [Capillary wave](capwave.c) * [Gravity wave](gravity.c) * [Shape oscillation of an inviscid droplet](oscillation.c) * [Rising bubble](rising.c) * [Sessile drop](sessile.c) * [3D Sessile drop](sessile3D.c) ## General orthogonal coordinates * [Circular dam break on a sphere](lonlat.c) * [Axisymmetric mass conservation](axiadvection.c) * [Axisymmetric Poiseuille flow](poiseuille-axi.c) * [Convergence of axisymmetric viscous terms](axi.c) * [Refinement of axisymmetric metric](refine-axi.c) * [Boundary layer on a rotating disk](swirl.c) ## Embedded boundaries * [Poisson equation on complex domains](neumann.c) * [Stability of the embedded face velocity interpolation](uf.c) * [Hydrostatic balance with refined embedded boundaries](hydrostatic2.c) ### Stokes * [Poiseuille flow in a periodic channel inclined at 45 degrees](poiseuille45.c) * [Couette flow between rotating cylinders](couette.c) * [Wannier flow between rotating excentric cylinders](wannier.c) * [Stokes flow past a periodic array of cylinders](cylinders.c) * [Stokes flow through a complex porous medium](porous.c) ### Navier--Stokes * [Starting flow around a cylinder](starting.c) ## Electrohydrodynamics * [Gouy-Chapman Debye layer](debye.c) * [Electrostatic in planar layers](planar.c) * [Convergence of axisymmetric EHD stresses](ehd_axi_stress.c) * [Charge relaxation in an axisymmetric insulated conducting column](cyl_axi.c) * [Charge relaxation in a planar cross-section](cyl_planar.c) * [Equilibrium of a droplet suspended in an electric field](taylor.c) ## Viscoelasticity * [Transient planar Poiseuille flow for an Oldroyd-B or FENE-P fluid](poiseuille-oldroydb.c) * [Oldroyd-B lid-driven cavity](lid-oldroydb.c) * [Viscoelastic 2D drop in a Couette Newtonian shear flow](viscodrop.c) * [Impact of a viscoelastic drop on a solid](fall.c) ## Reaction--Diffusion * [The SAG equation](sag.c) ## MPI * [Reduction operations](mpi-reduce.c) * [Boundary conditions and restriction](mpi-restriction.c) * [Z-order indexing](indexing.c) * [Parallel scalability](mpi-laplacian.c) * [Parallel refinement](mpi-refine.c) * [Poisson solver on non-uniform mesh](mpi-circle.c) * [Boundary conditions for face fluxes](mpi-flux.c) * [Boundary conditions for face vector fields](mpi-interpu.c) * [Simple test of Basilisk View](view.c) ## Speed benchmarks * [Speed of elementary operations on different grids](laplacian.c) ## Other * [Kuramoto--Sivashinsky equation](kuramoto.c) * [Convergence of the Runge--Kutta solvers](runge-kutta.c) ## [All tests](/src/test/) # Running and creating test cases (and examples) First make sure to read the [section on Makefiles](/Tutorial#using-makefiles) in the [tutorial](/Tutorial). To run a particular test case yourself, you can then just do ~~~bash cd src/test make bump2D1.tst ~~~ which should give something like ... qcc -g -O2 -Wall -o bump2D1/bump2D1 bump2D1.c -lm [bump2D1.tst] This indicates that the test compiled and ran successfully. ## Error checking If the test fails, you will get something like ... > 2.5 434 0.0678117 0.164104 0.11299303 > # refined 80 cells, coarsened 108 cells make: *** [bump2D1.tst] Error 1 The last line indicates that make failed. The lines before this are the output of ~~~bash diff bump2D1/log bump2D1.ref ~~~ That is, to check whether the test case succeeded or not, the default Makefile of Basilisk just compares (using [*diff*](http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/diff.1.html)) the *log* file created by the program to the matching reference log file (with the *.ref* extension). To create your own test case (let's call it *mytest*), you only need to create the source code (i.e. *mytest.c*), run it to create the *mytest/log* file, check that you are happy with the results and copy *mytest/log* into *mytest.ref*. ## Graphics Most tests (but not all) also produce some kind of graph summarising the results (which allows for example to understand more easily how/why a particular test failed). Some tests produce these graphs directly when they run, but most rely on *gnuplot* to generate the graphs in a post-processing step. This step is not automatically executed when doing *make test.tst*. This allows for example to run the test suite on *bare bones* systems which do not have gnuplot installed. The makefile system knows about two kinds of graphics: *\"inline\" plots* and *\"offline\" plots*. ### Inline plots These are generated using gnuplot or python commands embedded directly in the documentation comments of the source code (*mytest.c*). Using the standard wiki syntax for scripts these commands appear as ~~~gnuplot Caption ... ~~~ ~~~pythonplot Caption import matplotlib.pyplot as plt ... plt.savefig('plot.png') ~~~ and are replaced by the corresponding figure when the page is displayed in the wiki. To generate the figures from the command line, just do ~~~bash make mytest/plots ~~~ ### Offline plots Alternatively, one can put the gnuplot commands in a separate *mytest.plot* file. Note that this method offers few advantages compared to \"inline plots\" (the prefered option). To generate the corresponding plots, one can then do ~~~bash make bump2D1/plot.png ~~~ which should give something like cd bump2D1 && gnuplot -e \"batch=1; PNG=\\\"pngcairo\\\" ... ../bump2D1.plot ... Note that, while *plot.png* is the default name for the generated graph, the gnuplot script can also generate other graphs. Doing ~~~bash ls bump2D1/*.png ~~~ (or *`eog bump2D1/*.png`*) reveal them all. Note that if you try to generate plots for a test case which does not have a corresponding *.plot* gnuplot script, you will get something like ~~~bash make events/plot.png make: *** No rule to make target `events/plot.png'. Stop. ~~~ ## Running the entire test suite Use something like ~~~bash cd src/test/ make -k -j8 ~~~ where *-k* tells *make* not to stop at the first error and *-j8* uses parallel processing (assuming you have at least 8 cores on your system). If you want to generate all the graphs at once, do ~~~bash make plots ~~~", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8832663297653198}
+{"content": "Facts So Romantic\n\nThe Time-Honored Quest to Find the Rules of Time Travel\n\n\nThis is the fictional dystopian world of Continuum, a new series on SyFy now airing its second season. In the pilot, a band of guerilla freedom fighters called “Liber8” are sentenced to execution for blowing up a corporate headquarters, killing tens of thousands of people. But they escape via a time travel device, taking a law enforcement officer (“protector”) named Kiera with them, and all end up in 2012 by mistake—60 years earlier than they’d planned.  [NOTE: mild spoilers below.]\n\nNaturally, hijinks ensue. Liber8 seeks to change the future and thwart the eventual rise of the corporate conglomerate; Kiera wants to return to her husband and son, and hence wants the future to remain intact. She worms her way into the Vancouver Police Department as a special liaison, and teams up with a teenaged computer whiz named Alec, who will eventually grow up to become one of the corporate kingpins of the future (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Warren Buffett rolled into one). His elder self may have even played a role in sending them all to 2012 in the first place.\n\nTime travel is one of the most popular motifs in science fiction, for good reason: It plays into our penchant for “what if” scenarios, specifically those in which we can go back and correct past mistakes, thereby changing the future. But there are rules when it comes to time travel—or at least, there should be in a plausible fictional universe—and one such rule is there can be no paradoxes.\n\nTechnically, it shouldn’t be possible to change the past: as Lost phrased it in Season 5, “Whatever happened, happened.” But where’s the fun in that? Hence we get films like Back to the Future, where Marty McFly nearly keeps his parents from falling in love, thereby putting his very existence into question. The other possible option is a parallel universe or alternate timeline diverging into a separate chain of events while the original timeline remains intact—a key plot point in many movies, including Back to the Future 2:\n\nDoc: Obviously, the time continuum has been disrupted creating this new temporal event sequence, resulting in this alternate reality.\n\nMarty: English, Doc.\n\nDoc: Let me illustrate. Imagine that this line represents time. 1985. The future. The past. Prior to this point in time, somewhere in the past, thetimeline skewed into this tangent, creating an alternate 1985. Alternate to you, me, and Einstein, but reality for everyone else.\n\nContinuum has yet to take a firm stand either way—not because series creator Simon Barry hasn’t worked out the “rules” of his fictional universe, but because discovering those rules is the main thrust of the broader narrative arc, so he’s deliberately not showing his hand.\n\nEarly on, Alec explains to Kiera that either they are caught in a “time loop”—in which the presence of the time travelers has always been part of the sequence of events, and therefore the future cannot be changed—or the time travel has created a separate chain of events, an alternate timeline in which the future might turn out very different for everyone. Kiera and Liber8’s predicament is a real-time experiment in time travel, and we uncover pieces of evidence for each of these options along with them.\n\nA time loop may sound like a silly device cooked up to add drama to a sci-fi series, but it’s actually an idea taken seriously by theoretical physicists, who know it by the more technical name “closed timelike curve.” Igor Novikov, a cosmologist at Copenhagen University Observatory, has compared time to a river that flows from the past into the future. Under general relativity, that river would speed up or slow down as it “flowed” through the universe. But a closed timelike curve essentially separates one small piece of time’s river from the main flow of events, like a whirlpool or eddy. It is mathematically possible to be always moving forward as you travel through time, and yet still end up right where you began.\n\nIf the presence of mass-energy were great enough (approaching infinity) in a particular area of space-time, it could conceivably become so warped that the elliptical path would come full circle and the two ends would meet, forming a closed loop. Time isn’t running backwards; it’s running in circles. In a true closed timelike curve, one can only continually relive the same sequence of events, not alter the past, and therefore one cannot change the future. (Sorry, fans of Groundhog Day!)\n\n\nStephen Hawking, for one, has objected to the theoretical possibility of closed timelike curves, not just because of the extraordinary energies required, but because such phenomena violate causality. There should be a “chronology protection conjecture,” in which the laws of physics conspire to prohibit time travel to the past—or at least make it highly unlikely—and hence avoid such troublesome paradoxes as accidentally killing one’s grandfather before one is born.\n\nThat particular threat is used both by Kiera and the members of Liber8 as they jockey for leverage in the brave new (or old) world in which they find themselves. Eventually, one character’s grandmother is, indeed, killed. But he doesn’t die, or vanish abruptly; nothing seems to change. This might be evidence for an alternate timeline scenario—or perhaps they really are all caught in a time loop and the grandmother wasn’t really his grandmother, or she’s not really dead. If Continuum aims to be logically consistent, those are the only options.\n\nIf it is true that the elder version of Alec orchestrated the journey through time in the first place, clearly he did so because deep down, he thinks he can alter the past. So far, Alec the Elder’s plan hasn’t changed at least one pivotal event: Despite her best efforts, despite knowing exactly when and where it was going to take place, Kiera fails to prevent a bomb detonation in central Vancouver that kills hundreds of people and marks the start of the revolution that eventually led to the rise of the Corporate Congress—at least in her original timeline. The fact that the bomb goes off (again) lends credence to the “Whatever happened, happened” model—the past cannot be changed.\n\nThen again, perhaps some events, like the bombing, happen in more than one timeline. In a recent Season 2 episode, Kiera does appear to have thwarted a series of murders that occurred in her original timeline—unless this is another clever bit of misdirection. We’ll have to see how the rest of the series unfolds before we can conclude with any confidence just how time flows in the universe that Simon Barry created.\n\n\n16 Comments - Join the Discussion", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8253419399261475}
+{"content": "Emacs: Pattern Matching with pcase\n\nThis is a tutorial on how to use the pcase macro in modern flavors of GNU Emacs.\n\nExact matches\n\nAll data fits into some kind of pattern. The most explicit pattern is a description of the data itself. Let’s consider the following value as a running example:\n\nExplicitly stated, this is a list of four elements, where the first two elements are the integers 1 and 2, the third is a cons consisting of a car of 4 and a cdr of 5, and the fourth is the string \"Hello\". This states an explicit pattern we can match against using an equality test:\n\nPattern matches\n\nWhere patterns become useful is when we want to generalize a bit. Let’s say we want to do a similar equality test, but we don’t care what the final string’s contents are, only that it’s a string. Even though it’s simply state, this becomes quite difficult using an equality test:\n\nWhat we would prefer is a more direct language for encoding our description of the family of values we’d like to match against. The way we said in English was: the first three elements exactly so, and the last element, any string. This is how we’d phrase that using `pcase’:\n\nThink of pcase as a form of cond, where instead of evaluating each test for non-nil, it compares a series of patterns against the value under consideration (often called the “scrutinee” in the literature). There can be many patterns, and the first one wins, as with cond.\n\nCapturing matches\n\nBut pcase can go one step further: Not only can we compare a candidate value against a family of possible values described by their pattern, we can also “capture” sub-values from that pattern for later use. Continuing from the last example, let’s say we want to print the string that match, even though we didn’t care about the contents of the string for the sake of the match:\n\nWhenever a naked symbol like foo occurs as a logical pattern (see next section), the part of the value being matched at that position is bound to a local variable of the same name.\n\nLogical and literal patterns\n\nTo master pcase, there are two types of patterns you must know: Logical patterns, and literal, or quoted, patterns. Logical patterns describe the kind of data we’d like to match against, and other special actions to take when it matches; and quoted patterns are the “literal” aspect, stating the exact form of a particular match.\n\nLiteral patterns are by far the easiest to think about. To match against any atom, string, or list of the same, the corresponding literal pattern is that exact value. So the literal pattern \"foo\" matches the string \"foo\", 1 matches the atom 1, etc.\n\npcase matches against a list of logical patterns, so to use a literal pattern, we must quote it, unless it consists entirely of self-quoting atoms:\n\nLiteral patterns may also be introduced using a backquote, in which case commas may be used to place logical patterns within them, in exactly the same way that quoting and anti-quoting works for macros. For example:\n\nMore on logical patterns\n\nThere are many special logical patterns. Let’s consider them one by one.\n\nUnderscore _\n\nTo match against anything whatsoever, no matter its type or value, use underscore. Thus to match against a list containing anything at all at its head, we’d use:\n\n\nWhen performing a match, if a symbol occurs within a logical pattern, it binds whatever was found at that position to a local symbol of the same name. Some examples will help to make this clearer:\n\nThe reason for doing this is two-fold: Either to refer to a previous match later in the pattern (where it is compared using eq), or to make use of a matched value within the related code block:\n\n(or PAT ...) and (and PAT ...)\n\nWe can express boolean logic within a pattern match using the or and and Patterns:\n\npred predicates\n\nArbitrary predicates can be applied to matched elements, where the predicate will be passed the object that matched. As in the previous example, lambdas can be used to form arbitrarily complex predicates, with their own logic. See above for examples.\n\nguard expressions\n\nAt any point within a match, you may assert that something is true by inserting a guard. This might consult some other variable to confirm the validity of a pattern at a given time, or it might reference a local symbol that was earlier bound by the match itself, as described above:\n\nNote that in this example, the guard occurs at a match position, so even though the guard doesn’t refer to what is being matched, if it passes, then whatever occurs at that position (the fourth element of the list), would be an unnamed successful matched. This is rather bad form, so we can be more explicit about the logic here:\n\nThis means the same, but associates the guard with the value it tests, and makes it clear that we don’t care what the fourth element is, only that it exists.\n\nPattern let bindings\n\nWithin a pattern we can match sub-patterns, using a special form of let that has a meaning specific to `pcase’:\n\nThis example is a bit contrived, but it allows us to build up complex guard patterns that might match against values captured elsewhere in the surrounding code:\n\nHere the third value of value2 – which must be a list of exactly three elements, starting with 1 and 2 – is being bound to the local variable bar, but only if foo was a 3 or 4. There are many other ways this logic could be expressed, but this gives you a test of how flexibly you can introduce arbitrary pattern matching of other values within any logical pattern.\n\npcase-let and pcase-let*\n\nThat’s all there is to know about pcase! The other two utilities you might like to use are pcase-let and pcase-let*, which do similar things to their logical pattern counter-part let, but as regular Lisp forms:\n\nNote that pcase-let does not fail, and always executes the correspond forms unless there is a type error. That is, value1 above is not required to fit the form of the match exactly. Rather, every binding that can paired is bound to its corresponding element, but every binding that cannot is bound to nil:\n\nThus, pcase-let can be thought of as a more expressive form of destructuring-bind.\n\nThe pcase-let* variant, like let*, allows you to reference bound local symbols from prior matches.\n\nHowever, if you name a symbol with same name in a later logical pattern, it is not used as an eq test, but rather shadows that symbol:\n\nThis prints out \"1 2 5\", rather than the current match.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5861060619354248}
+{"content": "The NLMIXED Procedure\n\nBY Statement\n\nBY variables ;\n\nYou can specify a BY statement with PROC NLMIXED to obtain separate analyses of observations in groups that are defined by the BY variables. When a BY statement appears, the procedure expects the input data set to be sorted in order of the BY variables. If you specify more than one BY statement, only the last one specified is used.\n\n\n\n  • Specify the NOTSORTED or DESCENDING option in the BY statement for the NLMIXED procedure. The NOTSORTED option does not mean that the data are unsorted but rather that the data are arranged in groups (according to values of the BY variables) and that these groups are not necessarily in alphabetical or increasing numeric order.\n\n\nAn optimization problem is solved for each BY group separately unless the TECH=NONE option is specified.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998576045036316}
+{"content": "Bond market signal and equity market hope\n\nInflation Targeting and farm loan waiver are two opposite objective but this will only lead to higher inflation and at some point of time stagflation as farm loan waiver does not create any asset with a cashflow by which the debt can be paid. Since bond market is more rational , it is already punishing state development loan ( SDL) yield and crowding out private investment. Equity market is still hoping for this govt spending and free money to be converted into earnings and to some extent it might happen but revenue spending can only take you so far. so what will be standing between an equity market rally and moderating overheating economy will be pace of central bank tightening.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6607009172439575}
+{"content": "Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) is the term we use to describe upper airway breathing problems that are seen in some animals in the flatter faced breeds, including Pugs. BOAS occurs when the bones of the skull shorten but the soft tissue (palate, muscles, nasal tissues or turbinates and tongue) fail to similarly reduce in size.\n\nAs the site of obstruction can vary amongst dogs, the clinical signs or problems that the dogs have differs amongst individuals. The usual problems are struggling to exercise (exercise intolerance), noisy breathing, struggling to thermoregulate (keep cool) in warm weather, regurgitation of food and/or saliva and sleep disorders.\n\nThe noisy breathing usually gets worse when the dog is excited or exercising and there are two sounds we are listening for. The first is a lower pitched noise (or stertor) which is usually the soft palate vibrating because it is too long or because the nasal cavity is obstructed.\n\nThe second sound we are listening for is a higher pitched noise or stridor which is usually a sign that the larynx or voice box is collapsing due to high pressures when breathing in (think hosepipe with a large amount of suction applied). Laryngeal collapse is more common in pugs than in bulldogs or French bulldogs. Pug can also suffer from collapse of the trachea (windpipe) and main stem bronchi though we think this is often secondary to the upper airway obstructions.\n\nOther signs of BOAS are using the abdominal muscles to breathe or the skin at the front of the chest (neck) moving when breathing.\n\nWe use the clinical signs to recognise the syndrome but we also add in an exercise tolerance test that is a 3 minute trot at 4mph. We listen to the upper airway before and after exercise and we use the presence and loudness of the breathing noises to grade the BOAS. We have grade 0, where there is no airway noise before or after exercise, grade 1 where there is noise but it is very quiet and only heard when listening through a stethoscope. Grade 2 dogs have noise that can be heard without a stethoscope but it is moderate and intermittent whilst grade 3 dogs have loud noise present most of the time. We consider grade 0 and 1 dogs as clinically unaffected as they have no or mild airway disease that should not impact their quality of life.\n\nThis is our grading scale that we use on all the dogs we examine. We think the exercise tolerance test is particularly important in pugs as some pugs (about 40% of the pugs that we see with airway disease) do not show any signs when they are completely quiet in the consult room. The exercise tolerance test is designed to increase the effort of breathing and show dogs that have the upper airway syndrome when they have a short period of exercise or stress.\n\nWe usually advise waiting until dogs are 12 months of age before having them checked for BOAS as we developed our grading system on adult dogs and we are not sure if it will be accurate for puppies. If a puppy does develop signs of upper airway obstruction however it will usually get worse with disease. BOAS is a progressive disease so we recommend retesting dogs that are used for breeding yearly for the first few years until they are stable (usually around 5 years of age).\n\nThere are some risk factors that mean that a pug is more likely to develop BOAS over its life span. Interestingly, in pugs, females are more likely to be affected than males (in bulldogs and French bulldogs more males are affected). The main risk factors for developing BOAS are having closed nostrils and being overweight. There are some external conformational factors (shape of the head) that have a smaller effect on developing BOAS, in the pug these are having a wider head and having wide set eyes.\n\nWe have developed a grading system for nostrils to guide breeders which are the better nostrils for breathing. Grade 0 and 1 are not associated with a greater risk of airway disease whereas grade 3 (moderate stenosis) and grade 4 (severe stenosis) are linked to a fourfold increase in risk of developing BOAS.\n\nWe would also encourage owners to keep their pugs at a moderate body condition score (weight) as being over body condition score 7 or above significantly increases the risk of BOAS. We have seen pugs where the airway disease has improved with weight loss. We think this is due to fat deposits in the neck resulting in further pressure and collapse on the trachea and larynx.\n\nPugs are difficult to assess for body condition score as they often have skin folds around the neck and upper chest which can be a little confusing. We would advise feeling the ribs at the caudal end of the chest cavity and looking for and abdominal tuck when viewing the dog from the side and a waist when looking down at the dog from the top.\n\n\nIn addition to keeping a pug at body condition score 4-6, we would also advise keeping it fit with regular exercise.\n\nThere is more information about BOAS on the Cambridge Website, including our publications.\n\n\n  • 80\n\n\nDedicated to providing reliable and authoritative Pug Health related information and protecting the breed for the future.\n\nGet In Touch\n\nPBCHSC Secretary\nChapel Farm\nPE22 7LF\n\nTel: 0843 289 5371\n\nCopyright © Pug Health 2018. All rights reserved.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8328962326049805}
+{"content": "ETH Zurich - D-INFK - IVC - CVG - Lectures - Computer Vision\n\nComputer Vision\n\nInstructors:Marc Pollefeys, Luc Van Gool, Vittorio Ferrari\nTeaching assistants: CVG part: Peidong Liu, Nikolay Savinov, Pablo Speciale,\n        Katarina Tóthová, Viktor Larsson,\nCVL part: Yawei Li, Vaishakh Patil, Andrii Ihnatov,\n        Stamatios Georgoulis, Bhaskara Rao Chintada\nLectures: Wednesdays from 13:15-16:00 in CHN C 14\nExercises: Thursdays from 15:15-16:00 in CHN C 14\n\n\n263-5902-00L Computer Vision\n\nNo exercise session on 20.09.2018\nNo exercise session on 25.10.2018\nNo exercise session on 20.12.2018\n\n\nImportant: course is managed through moodle\n\nAll the lectures and exercises will be posted on moodle. You also have to submit the exercises there. If you have questions, there is a forum on moodle. You can also ask private questions to TAs through the moodle system. Please, don't email questions unless it's very urgent.\n\nCourse Objectives\n\nThe objectives of this course are:\n1.To introduce the fundamental problems of computer vision.\n4.To enable participants to make sense of the computer vision literature.\n\nCourse Topics\n\nCamera models and calibration, invariant features, Multiple-view geometry, Model fitting, Stereo Matching, Segmentation, 2D Shape matching, Shape from Silhouettes, Optical flow, Structure from motion, Tracking, Object recognition, Object category recognition\n\nTarget Audience\n\nThe target audience of this course are Master students, that are interested to get a basic understanding of computer vision.\n\n\nFundamentals of calculus and linear algebra, basic concepts of algorithms and data structures, basic programming skills in Matlab and C.\n\nSome useful links\n\nThe Computer Vision Homepage\nMiddlebury Stereo Vision Page\nVLFeat SIFT package for MATLAB\nCourse Notes\nComputer Vision: Algorithms and Applications\n\n\nQ1: I am re-taking Computer Vision class. Can you transfer exercise grades from the previous time?\nA: Please write directly to the TA responsible for the particular assignment INSTEAD of sending the assignment one more time. If the exercises did not change, the score will be transferred.\nQ2: My code is correct, it just happens it does not run. Can you grade it?\nA: No, please make sure it runs in other environment before sending. We will only grade working code.\nQ3: My code is correct, but I did not write the report. Can you grade the assignment?\nA: No, you should write the report.\n\n© CVG, ETH Zürich lm@inf.ethz.ch", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9949083924293518}
+{"content": "5 Tricks to Get Your Whole Family to Clean Out Their Closets\n\nIn family life, there’s so much to love—the laughter, the little adventures and the days filled with play. But with that fun can come a mess—more specifically the mess that accumulates when you have less time for organizing than you’d like. Finding yourself in a home that’s overflowing with stuff isn’t unusual, but it can leave you feeling a little out of control.\n\nHere are some steps to get your home and closets organized from top to bottom:\n\n1. Talk about it.\nThe family that talks together, organizes together. But in all seriousness, if you start discussing the need for organizing ahead of time, the family unit will be better prepared for it. Any parent who has high hopes for a clean home should make it a point to begin that conversation early.\n\nPrep your kids (and your spouse!) by letting them know that the family is going to be working toward a common goal: to have everyone’s space cleaned up, organized and streamlined, removing any clutter and unneeded items. It doesn’t immediately sound fun, so let them know that you have plans to make it an enjoyable and rewarding experience.\n\n2. Make a game plan.\nWithout a plan, you’re not going to be as successful as you’d like to be. Set goals for the family. Are your closets overflowing with clothes that don’t fit anymore? Are your winter and summer clothes all mixed together, confusing everyone as to which month it is? Are there certain rooms that have taken on a life of their own? Set goals to get those places and things organized.\n\nAt the same time, make sure your goals are realistic so that you (and your family) aren’t disappointed when you can’t organize every aspect of the entire household in one weekend. You want this to be as enjoyable a process as possible, so keep it simple.\n\n3. Create a reward system.\nEven as adults, a little treat can certainly motivate. To keep the organization train moving, schedule regular breaks after you accomplish a portion of your work. Did the kids move all their unwanted toys to Goodwill boxes? Did your husband move the boxed-up winter gear to the basement (finally)? Find a reward that will keep everyone on track. Order pizza for lunch, have a quick dance party, walk to the corner store for a treat…whatever your family loves to do, make it a reward for getting their work done. With each segment of work completed, make sure to encourage your crew and tell them what great work they’ve been doing. A positive attitude can go a long way.\n\n4. Find new homes for previously loved items.\nCleaning and organizing your home can be a touch overwhelming—sometimes so much so that you feel like just throwing everything away and calling it quits. Don’t! When you find items that you no longer need but are still in good shape, create a pile to be donated or sold.\n\nYou can sell unworn or gently used clothing to consignment shops. Some online consignment stores, like thredUP.com, will even send you a prepaid bag you can use to send in your unwanted clothing, which makes it super easy to get everything out of the house fast.\n\nThere are also plenty of donation centers where you can drop off toys and furniture—or, if you live in a busy neighborhood, set your unwanted furniture at the end of your driveway for your neighbors or passers-by. (Just be sure to add a note saying it’s free.) As with this whole process, make sure to talk with your family about how good it’ll feel to have these things out of your home and that the items will find new homes with other families who can appreciate them just as much as you did.\n\n5. Keep everyone on track.\nNow that everyone in the family has created a calm and clean space for themselves, you can all relax and recharge for your next family adventure. Just make sure you’re clear with your nearest and dearest that if you’re not careful to keep up with clutter, it’ll start to pile up again. Find time in your daily schedule to tidy up and remove unworn or outgrown clothing from the rotation. Additionally, schedule another day or weekend of organizing in the future to make sure you stay clutter-free.\n\nYour home is a sanctuary where you and your loved ones can have fun and laugh together. Regular cleaning and organizing means you can enjoy family time without the stress of an overflowing closet.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5544178485870361}
+{"content": "Vital Signs @ McKendree – Tuesday: You’ve Got Heart!\n\nVital Signs @ McKendree – Tuesday: You’ve Got Heart!\n\nDay 2 is over, and our daring dissectors have had an in-depth look at the workings of every mammal’s most important organ: the heart! During their exploration, students continued to recognize the relationship between structure and function that is present everywhere in biological structures. One student commented, “Every piece of the organ has a specific job, and everything is efficient!”\n\nThe scientists-in-training will continue to explore this connection between structure and function as the week goes on!\n\nAsk your student:\n\nWhat are the jobs of the atria and ventricles of the heart? (Atria take blood from body back into the heart; ventricles pump blood to lungs and then back to the body.)\n\nWhat is the difference between a vein and an artery? (arteries carry blood away from the heart; veins carry blood to the heart)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9974122047424316}
+{"content": "Creator Mimicry Legends\nCreation 30th of November, 2016\nDebut Pending\nType Cyborg\nAlignment Chaotic Neutral\nAttitude Fun-Loving\nFighting style All Range\nStatus Alive\nOccupation Member of the MTaAU\nSuperiors Scouter Boss\nSubordinates Edge Scout\nAllies Comload\n\n\"Dumber than dirt, ain'tcha? Heh.\"\n\n— Tremble, making a dry joke\n\nTremble is a BWN Engineer freak created by Steam and Wikia user, Mimicry Legends.\n\nHis theme is Plague Inc. - In-Game Music\n\n\nTremble is seen wearing the Mining Light, the Iron Fist, Ein, the Trencher's Tunic, the Virtual Reality Headset and the Pip-Boy.\n\n\nTremble was abandoned straight at birth for no particular reason, and mysteriously ended up being cared for by cannibalistic, troglofauna who hunted anyone daring anyone finding a shelter or refugee. But Tremble did not commit to these acts, but instead stayed outside to hunt fruit and animals. After growing up, he discovered how brutal his fake parents were, and mercy killed them. He went to study the outside world, earned a PhD on Seismology and joined the MTaAU to earn profit for himself. He continues to study earthquakes, but more importantly, manipulating and finding the tectonic plates of the TF2 Freak World, even though they seemingly aren't real.\n\nBehaviour and Personality\n\nTremble is a fun-loving man, who always likes to crack a joke every now and then, although his allies dislike him doing so. He isn't usually funny and decides to crack dry jokes purposely to annoy his own allies, or enemies, usually at wrong or good times.\n\nBut he can also be outright ferocious, as his battle style mostly consists of attack and range, dealing tremendous damage to those who stand in his way of research or a mission by Scouter Boss.\n\nPowers and Abilities\n\nFaults and Weaknesses", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5052787065505981}
+{"content": "Ruby is one of the highest valued colored gemstones, in fact, large rubies can fetch higher prices than equivalently sized diamonds. Rubies and sapphires are the same mineral, Corundum. Corundum is the hardest substance on earth after diamond. Gem quality corundum which is red is called a ruby; in any other color, it is called a sapphire. According to legend, the owner of a ruby is assured a life of peace and plenty. The vivid red color of ruby also means that it is associated with desire, and it is thought by some to be a stone of love with an aphrodisiac effect. Ruby has long been attributed with the ability to protect its wearer from injury and to cure blood disorders and circulatory problems. It is also said to provide its wearer with energy, emotional strength, positive attitude, heightened awareness and focus. Ruby is the birthstone for those born in July and is also the zodiacal stone for Cancer. Ruby is used to celebrate the fifteenth and fortieth wedding anniversaries. Ruby is assigned to the planets Mars and Pluto.\n\n\nColors: The color of rubies varies from vermilion to red. The most desired color is \"pigeon's blood\", which is pure red with a hint of blue. If the color is too pink, the stone is a pink sapphire. The same is true if it is too violet – it is a violet sapphire. The best rubies and star rubies are bright red.\nShapes: Ruby is often mixed-cut, with brilliant-cut crowns and step-cut pavilions. The most common shapes are ovals and cushions.\nOrigin: Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Tanzania, Cambodia, Afghanistan and India.\nCare: Protect from scratches, sharp blows and extreme temperature changes.\nNotes: In the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, ruby is called \"ratnaraj\", which translates as \"king of precious stones\".", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7894105911254883}
+{"content": "Indiegogo rebrands\n\nNot all BBB ratings are what they seem\n\nIndiegogo rebrandsBefore making a major purchase commitment, many people like to do their homework by researching and comparing the companies they are considering.  If one of those companies has comparably more credibility due to recommendations from trusted sources, past experience, or good results in product testing, they have a higher chance of being selected.\n\nOne long-time source for many consumers is the Better Business Bureau. More than a century old, the Better Business Bureau is dedicated to promoting trust between consumers and businesses. One way they do this is by helping businesses improve their level of service through education in such areas as administration, tax and copyright compliance, and data privacy.  They also encourage proper advertising standards when promoting to children.\n\nA popular feature is a report card-style grade they give companies that is based on a series of 16 factors, each of which is assigned a point score within a range that varies depending on the category, and which can earn points or deductions for changes in performance quality.  The factors, and point range assigned to each, are:\n\n1.  Type of business          0 to -41\nSome business sectors, which feature a high incidence of outright fraud or other suspect behavior can earn a lower score on this factor.\n2.  Time in business          8 to -10\n3.  Competency licensing       0 or -41\n4.  Complaint volume       20 to 2\n5.  Unanswered complaints        20 to -21\n6.  Unresolved complaints        10 to 1\n7.  Serious complaints      15 to 0\n8.  Complaint analysis        8 to -12\n9.  Complaint resolution delayed        0 or -5\n10. Failure to address complaint pattern        0 or -5\n11.  Government action        0 to -30\n12.  Advertising review        0 to -41\n13.  Background information        5 or 0\nIf it is provided, 5, if not, 0\n14.  Clear understanding of business        0 or -5\n15.  Mediation/arbitration        0 to -41\n16.  Revocation        0 or -10\n\nIt is clear that some factors are given more weight than others. Take away time in business and providing information and the only way to receive positive points is in the way you handle complaints. A company with few complaints for its size scores well, as it will if it resolves a good number of complaints.\n\n“A business’s complaint handling and complaint volume are significant elements in the formula,” said Tracy Anton, the Director of Marketing and Communications for the BBB New York City office.\n\nA response to arbitration judged to be poor, misleading advertising, involvement in a suspect business sector or bad result in competency licensing can hammer you.\n\nOnce the information is gathered, it is entered into a computer program which is based on an automatic formula, Ms. Anton added.\n\nkickstarterWhat happens if a company you wish to research is not a BBB member? Kickstarter is not. Earlier this year when I began working on this story they received a grade of F.  The BBB’s entry for Kickstarter says their rating was lowered because of the length of time the business has been in operation and the failure to respond to six complaints, the latter fact confirmed by Ms. Anton.\n\nTwo of those complaints revolve around the failure of a company making a pitch on Kickstarter to deliver promised incentives. That is not Kickstarter’s fault, as it is clearly stated on its site and which schooled crowdfunding supporters know. A vast majority of complaints handled by Kickstarter, and Indiegogo for that matter, revolve around supporters being unaware of the rules.\n\nA second category of complaints involve timeliness of fund release and other communication issues. Time and time again the problem revolved around either an incorrect e-mail address or improper banking information that prevented funds from properly being transferred. In many cases the site involved in the complaint made several attempts to contact the customer but were unable to reach them.\n\nIndiegogo, on the other hand, is BBB accredited. Whereas Kickstarter is a professional fundraiser, Indiegogo is classified as an internet service provider.  Their A grade is based on low complaint volume and proper handling of  the complaints that were filed. Many of the complaints were of a similar nature to those on Kickstarter, but an additional chunk of complaints revolved around Indiegogo’s fraud algorithm, which identifies campaigns that display certain characteristics consistent with fraudulent campaigns. Like Kickstarter, their shorter length of time in business was a negative factor.\n\nIndiegogo’s BBB file has been open for three years and has a total of 39 closed complaints for an average of 13 complaints per year. Kickstarter’s has been open for 18 months and has 18 combined complaints between those which are resolved and the half dozen that were not responded to. That is an average of 12 per year.  So they are about equal.\n\nTake away the similar areas and you are left with failure to respond to six complaints via the BBB for Kickstarter, including at least two that are not their fault and a fraud algorithm issue at Indiegogo that occasionally catches a legitimate campaign in the net.  There is little difference to be seen.\n\nYet if you are considering a crowdfunding campaign and know little about the concept but stumble onto the BBB site, you would lean toward Indiegogo, even though the appearance of difference is much greater than any actual ones that exist when areas assessed by the BBB are compared.\n\nBoth have customer service departments who, based on the complaints reviewed, take steps to assuage the concerns of their patrons. In talking to both they take much pride in addressing these complaints, as they are aware the crowdfunding industry is in its infancy and the better they address the concerns brought to them the more credible the industry as a whole becomes. That benefits all.\n\nFor their part, Indiegogo says their “industry-leading Customer Happiness team is dedicated to helping its customers and empowering people to fund what matters to them, by offering unparalleled support and a rapid response time.”\n\nKickstarter was aware of this grade difference between them and Indiegogo and over the last few weeks resolved less than a half dozen issues that raised their rating from F to A-. If only calculus was that easy.\n\nSo it comes down to marketing. Indiegogo has a BBB certification logo at the bottom of its main page. Kickstarter does not. Yet when you look at the difference between the two, it’s hard to find one.\n\nOn the peer-to-peer lending side, both Prosper and Lending Club receive an A+.  Time in business, complaint volume and the provision of sufficient information worked in their favor. Lending Club adequately responded to 29 complaints and Prosper to 49, with the difference in amounts largely coming down to a few complaints filed from people who received advertisements from Prosper but lived in states where they could not participate with Prosper at the time of the mailing. In their correspondence to the BBB Prosper acknowledged a distribution error in some advertisements. Based on no new complaints received, it was assumed the problem was rectified.\n\nSo does a top grade from the Better Business Bureau serve as a nice marketing plus? Lending Club was the only one of the four companies to directly respond to the question. COO Scott Sanborn said:\n\n“At Lending Club we consider the monitoring, response, and incorporation of all forms of customer feedback to be vital for the delivery of an outstanding customer experience. We do consider ourselves an active participant in the BBB; we monitor and respond to all communications and use the feedback to improve our site, our process, and our training. In the online world where it can be hard to trust the source of reviews and to know what is genuine vs. a critic “for hire”, we believe that the BBB provides a trusted third party information source to support a prospective customer’s decision making process.  We are proud of our A+ rating.”\n\nMr. Sanborn raises a good point when he touches on the location and motivation of online reviews.  If I wished, I could spend my days being hired by anonymous companies on Elance to write favorable reviews of their product or service.  Some encourage this at the expense of competitors.  Whether or not I know anything about said product or service is irrelevant to them.\n\nWhen most comment pages on even the more reputable news sites are filled with “opinions” from such thespians as Noodles66 and The Overlord, it pays to self-educate.\n\nPerhaps the generations born into the age of the internet accept this dichotomy. Just because they do does not mean they do not need credible places to go where they can rely on the opinion provided. It’s not like they’re reading Good Housekeeping to see which ones got the Seal of Approval. Maybe they’re looking for a hipper system they can call their own.  Maybe they can still be marketed to.  After all, hush puppies came back.\n\nJudging by the fact that Kickstarter spent some time in remedial to get their grades up signifies that while they do not necessarily believe in the positive value of a good grade, they acknowledge the negative value of having a grade substantially below that of their competitors, especially one that can be as easily cleared up as this one.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6009546518325806}
+{"content": "Angela Merkel ally will succeed her as head of Germany's CDU party\n\nAngela Merkel's CDU party celebrated her 18 years as its leader with a lengthy standing ovation on Friday in Germany and then elected as her successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. Merkel has expressed a desire to remain chancellor until 2021, although that now remains to be seen.\n\nAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a former governor, beats businessman and former lawmaker Friedrich Merz\n\nNewly elected party chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, left, stressed her experience at the national and regional levels in her successful bid to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, as leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union party. (Markus Schreiber/Associated Press)\n\nChancellor Angela Merkel's party celebrated her 18 years as its leader with a lengthy standing ovation on Friday and then elected the successor who could help shape Germany's political direction for the next generation.\n\nA close ally of Merkel's came out on top over a former rival of the chancellor in a close vote at the Christian Democratic Union conference in Hamburg.\n\nCDU general secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, 56, received 517 votes in a runoff. Friedrich Merz, once the party's parliamentary leader, received 482 votes.\n\nMerkel announced in October she would give up the reins in her party, though she has said she plans to remain chancellor until the end of the current term in 2021. However, it's possible elections could be called before then.\n\nThe three high-profile contenders to succeed her spent the last month touring Germany to drum up support. Major German parties have tended to determine their leaders without a contest, and this is the first open competition for the CDU leadership since 1971.\n\nFriedrich Merz, who ran against Kramp-Karrenbauer for the party chairmanship, delivers his speech during the party convention on Friday. (Markus Schreiber/Associated Press)\n\n\"We're a bit like the last unicorn in Europe — the last big people's party that still exists,\" Kramp-Karrenbauer told delegates before the vote. \"I want that to be the case tomorrow too. This Europe, this Germany, this world needs a strong CDU.\"\n\nKramp-Karrenbauer won 450 votes in the first round on Friday, with Merz at 392 votes and health secretary Jens Spahn, a sometime Merkel critic, eliminated with 157 votes.\n\nKramp-Karrenbauer said after the vote \"there is a place in this party\" for Merz and Spahn.\n\nWe're a bit like the last unicorn in Europe — the last big people's party that still exists.- Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer , new CDU party chair\n\nIn her pitch before the voting, Kramp-Karrenbauer, the party's general secretary and previously a popular state governor of Saarland, made much of her 18 years of experience in regional government. She said she has learned that leadership \"is more about internal strength then external volume.\"\n\nKramp-Karrenbauer — often known as \"AKK\" — will be the favourite to run for chancellor in the next election, though that isn't automatic. She becomes only the eighth leader of the CDU since the Second World War. All but two of her predecessors served as chancellor.\n\nMerz highlighted the need to tackle the \"intolerable\" success of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and called for a more combative approach to the CDU's rivals in the political centre.\n\nMerz, 63, who advocates for a more conservative approach than Merkel, said that \"without clear positions we won't get better election results.\"\n\nMerkel has been CDU leader since 2000 and chancellor since 2005. She moved her party relentlessly to the centre, dropping military conscription, accelerating Germany's exit from nuclear energy, introducing benefits encouraging fathers to look after their young children and allowing the introduction of gay marriage.\n\nGerman Health Minister Jens Spahn, by far the youngest candidate at 38 years old, couldn't get past the first round of voting. (Michael Sohn/Associated Press)\n\n\nMerkel listed some of those moments and many more in a half-hour farewell speech as leader, telling delegates that \"our CDU today is different from the year 2000, and that is a good thing.\" She also celebrated Germany's balancing of its budget in recent years and its response to the eurozone debt crisis.\n\nWaning CDU support\n\nFor years, Merkel's popularity lifted the CDU and its Bavaria-only sister party, the Christian Social Union. In the 2013 election, they won 41.5 per cent of the vote and only just fell short of an outright parliamentary majority.\n\nAt present, the centre-right bloc is polling under 30 per cent. Merkel's fourth-term governing coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats has lurched through a series of crises since taking office in March, and the CDU has lost supporters both to the liberal Greens and the far-right AfD.\n\nGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel gave her final speech as leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union during a party congress in Hamburg on Friday. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)\n\nMerkel, however, recalled that the CDU was in crisis when she took over in 2000, mired in a party financing scandal surrounding former chancellor Helmut Kohl.\n\n\n\n\nIn recent weeks, the new party leader sought to put a careful distance between herself and Merkel without disavowing her, saying she has had \"very lively discussions\" with the chancellor on various subjects.\n\nKramp-Karrenbauer has talked tough on immigration issues, proposing a lifelong entry ban to Europe for asylum-seekers convicted of serious crimes. But she has warned that endlessly rehashing debates about Merkel's decision to allow in large numbers of migrants in 2015 is a turn-off for voters.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.863864004611969}
+{"content": "\n\nUntil the 1930’s hemp was widely used as medicine, food, for humans and animals, as nature’s strongest fibre, as a building material and as a crop that has immense ecological and environmental benefits. According to some data, Before 1930 over 70% of medicines contained hemp/ cannabinoids.\n\n\nIt was only in 1993 the Home Office begun granting licences for the purposes of cultivating and processing Hemp. Hemp products do not require a licence, such as CBD.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9869297742843628}
+{"content": "skip navigation\n\nCFCA Rec Soccer Partners\n\nCFCA proudly partners with four recreation soccer associations to assist them with a local instructional program designed to introduce players to the game and provide them with an equal opportunity to play and participate.\n\nWe believe there is a clear distinction between recreational and select soccer, including the motives that drive children to participate and/or leave our sport.  We believe players should participate in competitively appropriate platforms, but there are negative, unintended consequences associated with establishing those levels too young.\n\nOur local rec programs will:\n\n  1. Foster a strong love for the game.\n  2. Instill a possession-style of soccer (\"Kicking is not soccer.\")\n  3. Be operated by individual recreational associations with program guidance and coach mentorship by CFCA.\n  4. Be open to all players wanting to participate regardless of experience or skill level.\n  5. Expose rec players to the opportunities for moving up within the CFCA family of programs.\n\nRegistration fees will vary by location. All recreational programs are non-profit and volunteer-based organizations.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9670943021774292}
+{"content": "Commercial Investigations LLC\n\n\nCI Updates\n\nICE Audits are on the rise...are you ready?\n\nICE Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) has conducted 2,282 I-9 audits in 2018, up almost 1,000 from 2017. \n\nHow can you mitigate your risk?\nThe team at CI offers you an integrated, electronic I-9 and E-Verify solution, to better prepare you for an audit. \n\nICE audits - it's a thing; prepare now and help minimize the headache later!\nContact us today for more info:\n[email protected]", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999938011169434}
+{"content": "Most ancient cultures in the world have developed their own understanding for medicinal plants. Whether this is Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurvedic Medicine or traditional Western herbal medicine.\nHerbal mixtures and herbal food preparations have been applied for centuries to treat illnesses, including all kinds of intestinal and digestive issues. Medicinal plants and herbs are rich in active substances that perform a wide range of healing, soothing and restoring actions in the digestive tract.\n\nPlants and Herbs\n\nHere is a selection of plants and herbs that are known to promote intestinal health.\nThe most common way of administration would be to make herbal tea preparations with these herbal plants. \n\n\nSenna is a valuable herb used to cleanse the colon. It contains anthraquinones called sennosides which have mild laxative and regulative effects.\nEucarbon® contains senna leaf which is a key active\nsubstance responsible for the regulative effect in the intestinal tract.\n\n\nAs a natural antispasmodic, peppermint regulates the digestive function by relaxing intestinal muscles and encouraging intestinal movement. Peppermint can be found in various forms including tea, essential oils, powders and supplements.\nEucarbon® contains peppermint essential oil that performs relaxing as well as disinfectant actions in the digestive tract. \n\nFennel seeds\n\nFennel seeds have been used for a long time as a digestive remedy for treating all sorts of digestive disorders. Prepared as a tea it relaxes the intestinal tract and eases spasms, bloating as well as indigestion.\nEucarbon® contains essential fennel oil that helps ease digestive disruptions.\n\n\nRadish juice can be used for dyspepsia, constipation and chronic gallbladder inflammation.\n\nCascara Sagrada \n\nCascara Sagrada is a gentle laxative and contains high amounts of anthraquinones, which trigger intestinal motility and regulate bowel movements. Cascara also strengthens the muscles of the colon walls which in turn helps eliminate constipation. \n\n\nChamomile is traditionally used to ease nervousness and anxiety, but has also shown to reduce intestinal spasms as well as intestinal gas.\n\n\nThe seeds and the husk of psyllium containing a special fiber called mucilage have been used as a natural laxative for a long time. Mucilage has water-absorbing abilities in the digestive tract. This makes the stools bulkier which in turn triggers movement in the colon that helps to regulate the bowel movements.\n\n\nGinger is helpful for a wide variety of gastrointestinal ailments ranging from simple indigestion to severe cramps. Ginger improves the tone of intestinal muscles and performs mild anti-inflammatory actions.\n\nAloe Vera\n\nThe Aloe Vera plant is considered a laxative-acting food that can help to relieve constipation. The juice of Aloe Vera contains anthraquinones that stimulates and regulates the digestive process.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.961895763874054}
+{"content": "Sasikala convicted: Composite floor test may not be Constitution-mandated but effective SC innovation\n\nThe Constitution of India does not spell out the manner in which the governor must satisfy himself about the claim of majority support in the Assembly by the ruling dispensation. It is an open and shut case if the ruling dispensation has a convincing, if not an overwhelming majority, like it happened in Tamil Nadu in the 2016 Assembly election in which the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK won 134 out of the 234 seats. But the governor has a tough job if it is a coalition with a slender majority support that is staking its claim. It is tougher still if there are rival claimants from the same party or other as is now being witnessed in Tamil Nadu — Sasikala propped up Edappady K Palanisamy against O Paneerselvam (OPS).\n\nFile photo of (L) VK Sasikala and OP Panneerselvam. PTI\n\nVK Sasikala and OP Panneerselvam.\n\nThe Supreme Court in the famous and oft-cited SR Bommai case made the governor’s task simple to the extent possible by mandating a floor test. Do not let the rival claimants parade their supporters in the Assembly in the Raj Bhavan, was its admonition. Instead ask the claim to the ruling status be determined on the floor of the House by seeking a vote of confidence was its sage counsel, which is indeed binding, coming as it does from the apex court whose word is the law of the land. But then problems could be compounded further if there are rival claimants. In 1998, the Supreme Court resolved the impasse by ordering a composite floor test in the UP Assembly, either Kalyan Singh or Jagadambika Pal, was asked to be voted by the MLAs through a ballot paper on the floor of the House.\n\nAgainst the above backdrop, it would now be useful to answer a few relevant questions on composite floor test:\n\nIs it mandated in the Indian Constitution?\n\nNo. It is Supreme Court’s innovation, an effective one at that. Come to think of it, even the normal floor test is not Constitution-mandated but the binding opinion of the apex court articulated in SR Bommai case.\n\nHow is it an improvement over the normal floor test?\n\nIt is an improvement in the sense that if there are rival claimants to the chief minister’s office from the same party or what is perceived to be an Opposition party then this is the only way of determining who truly commands the confidence of the House.\n\nDoesn’t it allow Opposition to fish in troubled waters?\n\nThat is inevitable, be it floor test or composite floor test, although arguably the scope for doing this is more with the latter, witness the ongoing developments in Tamil Nadu. There is a view that OPS is cosying upto the AIADMK’s bête noire DMK, and is counting on being bailed out by DMK, even if his own party members desert him in the numbers game. The DMK has an 89-member strength and can upset Sasikala’s calculations and applecart by siding with her tormentor OPS.\n\nIs it fair for the Opposition to vote on the choice of the chief minister?\n\nNormally the choice is the prerogative of the ruling dispensation. But if you wash your dirty linen in public, so to speak, then you expose yourself inevitably to Opposition participation in what is arguably the matter squarely falling within the remit of the ruling dispensation. Therefore, it is not a question of fairness but of resolving the impasse. Of course, this situation is eminently avoidable because OPS in the discussion on hand could remain beholden to the DMK for its favour. Mutual back scratching could follow.\n\nGermany has a sensible regime for bringing no-confidence motion — it should be accompanied by a confidence motion so that both are voted together i.e. compositely as a package. The idea is do not trivialise no-confidence motion just to spite the ruling dispensation. Composite floor test likewise calls upon the MLAs to vote compositely — whether you are for Palanisamy or OPS. This is the best under the circumstances. Opposition might fish in troubled waters is trite. But then isn’t the assembly dependent on the Opposition as well for the smooth functioning of the House. Why grudge its role especially when your own house is not in order?\n\n\nUpdated Date: Feb 15, 2017 11:05:35 IST\n\nAlso See", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6698562502861023}
+{"content": "How simmering neighbour disputes can boil over in summer heat\n\nThe hot summer months lead to a large rise in neighbour disputes, according to research published in the Times.\n\nThe newspaper says some law firms see an increase of up to 145% compared with other parts of the year.\n\nMost of the disputes are over such things as noise, bad parking and overhanging trees or hedges. These issues can simmer throughout the year but tend to come to a head during the summer when the fine weather leads to more garden barbecues and parties, and vegetation starts to grow and creep across boundaries.\n\nMost disagreements can be settled quickly with a little goodwill on both sides but sometimes it can be more difficult to find a solution, especially if the dispute is about more complicated matters such as boundary lines.\n\nUnfortunately, it is all too easy for matters to get out of hand if people don’t remain calm and maintain a sense of perspective.\n\n\nClarification of the legal position may help resolve the problem right at the outset. For example, you may not want your neighbour to come on to your land to carry out repairs but he may be entitled to do so if a legal right of entry is specified in the property’s legal documents. Even if there is no automatic entitlement, he can still apply to the County Court for an access order allowing him to enter your land.\n\nBoundary disputes can often be resolved simply by referring to the title or lease documents. If they are not clear then it may be necessary to call in a solicitor or surveyor who should be able to help you reach a sensible solution.\n\nThe same applies to shared amenities such as drains and pipes, driveways and roofs. Your right to use them and your responsibility to maintain them should be laid down in the property’s legal documents.\n\nThe situation may be more complicated if a person’s right to use a facility such as a chimney, for example, to erect an aerial, is not written down but has become established through long and continuous use. If that use has not been challenged over the years then it could become an entitlement.\n\nIf problems persist then there are still things you can do before heading for the courts. Lord Justice Mummery urged people to use mediation with the help of specialists such as solicitors. This has several advantages.\n\nIt will be far cheaper and less stressful than court action. Trained mediators can help bring both parties together to negotiate a settlement that is fair to both sides. This is very important as you may have to live alongside each other for many years to come.\n\nIf agreement still can’t be reached then litigation may become necessary. However, it is vital to ensure that the dispute doesn’t escalate to a point where the costs involved are out of proportion to the value of the claim.\n\nPlease contact our dispute resolution team  if you would like more information about dealing with neighbour disputes.\n\nRelated services", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6471513509750366}
+{"content": "18th September 2018\n\nLuxFLAG’s next breakfast seminar will take place under the topic « Taking social finance to the next level » and will be hosted by KPMG Luxembourg.\n\nMr Simon Bond, Director of Responsible Investment Management at Columbia Threadneedle will be the speaker.\n\nAccess to health care, affordable housing and education are fundamental to tackle poverty, reduce inequalities and empower people which in the end boosts economies to an overall benefit. How can the socially-related Sustainable Development Goals be addressed through finance? What are the main opportunities in choosing financial structures to achieve and scale social outcomes? What role do social bonds play as an innovative tool to support sustainable development? How can the social value added and impact be measured? Find out at the next edition of the breakfast seminar.\n\nThis event is for LuxFLAG members and partners.\n\nTo register check the website.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000066757202148}
+{"content": "Garlic Roasted Pork Loin\n\nServings: 0 servings\n\n\n\nCombine the garlic, herbs, salt, pepper, and olive oil and puree in an electric food processor or using a mortar and pestle. Rub all over the pork and marinate for 2 hours at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator. If refrigerated, allow the roast to come to room temperature before cooking. Place on a wire rack in a roasting pan and bake in a preheated 450F (230C) oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 300F (150C) and cook to an internal temperature of 145F (63C), about 1 1/2 hours. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 15 minutes before slicing. Serves 6 to 8.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9987666606903076}
+{"content": "The numbers of managerial and executive women continue to grow throughout the world. However, many organisations have generally done little to understand women’s careers. Women are now making it clear to organisations that they lead different lives than men and that the companies they represent, both large and small, need to pay closer attention to their concerns.\n\nAs women achieve greater successes, there is both a shift and broadening of struggles they typically face. Previously, gender-related hurdles like harassment, isolation and the need to prove themselves were their primary obstacles.\n\nNow the emphasis is on the choices and trade-offs, the forces that influence their decisions, and strategies for constructing meaningful and fulfilling careers.\n\nTo better grasp the realities facing them, the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) studied the experiences of dozens of high-achieving women who attended its Women’s Leadership Programme.\n\nThe women were mid- to senior-level managers, and the majority of whom worked for Fortune 500 companies.\n\nBasically, high-achieving women feel they must make significant compromises to survive in organisations in which career-tracks are modelled after the stereotypical male experience.\n\nAn alarming outcome of ignoring this is a high turnover rate among women executives. This is a disturbing trend, costing companies the substantial investment they have made in their development, detrimentally limiting a company’s overall effectiveness and efforts to increase organisational diversity.\n\nGiven the increasing demands for leadership talent today, organisations can’t afford to underestimate the issues women face.\n\nSo what can organisations do to help women cultivate authenticity, wholeness, agency, connectedness and self-understanding — the five major themes identified in CCL’s research as key to managerial women — as they evolve as leaders?\n\nThe research uncovered several steps:\n\n1. Increase the opportunities for women to learn from one another informally. Encourage the development of employee associations or networks for women. These homogeneous groups help managers share common experiences and concerns. Such relationships provide support and opportunities for informal feedback about their strengths and weaknesses as leaders.\n\n2. Encourage women to take advantage of opportunities for formal developmental assessment: Structured assessment and feedback, such as that offered through 360-degree instruments, can be part of a larger development programme. \n\n3. Help decision-makers understand how to develop and create challenging assignments for women: Such assignments should take into account the extra challenges experienced by women managers. Too little challenge stifles growth; too much challenge overwhelms the learning process.\n\nA female executive, who needs to broaden her understanding of the business, might be given an assignment that exposes her to new regions, lines of business, or functions. With proper support, she can flourish in this role.\n\n4. Reflection opportunities: Although challenging situations provide opportunities for development, they do not guarantee it. Set aside time for women managers to reflect on their growth. Learning journals can facilitate the manager’s impressions of what they are learning. It is just as crucial that managers engaged in developmental experiences have the opportunity to consciously reflect on their learning.\n\n5. Examine the formal developmental relationships presently offered in your organisation: Are formal and peer mentoring programmes and other opportunities genuinely accessible to women managers? These types of programmes provide learning opportunities and support to everyone involved, but they are especially important for overcoming the extra challenges faced by women.\n\nIncreasing gender diversity in organisations depends on more than a few select leadership development strategies. To maximise diversity, human resource systems need to be adapted to all managers.\n\nFull inclusion of women requires thinking about the development expectations of women. The leadership development strategies discussed in this article are just part of the work. Succession planning, staffing, compensation, benefits policies and other policies need to be modified as well.\n\nAbove all, it is vital that the organisation leaders act as role models, demonstrating and supporting behaviours that encourage multiple ways to lead and advance in organisations.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8423436880111694}
+{"content": "UL Prospector\n\nRadish Red\n\n\n\n\nRadish Red appears as a red or fresh red liquid or particle. This product is extremely soluble in water and stable. Radish Red has a ph of 7, a color strength of E(1%,1cm, 515nm) and is used as a natural food color or functional ingredient.\n\n\n\n\n\n产品类型 Categories\n应用领域 Categories\n\n\nHuludao Maohua Biology Co., Ltd.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9987732172012329}
+{"content": "Holiday Gifts & Lifestyle\n\n  • img1\n  • img1\n  • img1\n\nTips for families dining out for the holidays\n\nDining out for the holidays is a tradition for many families. Dining out has many advantages, including no cleanup once the meal is over and a more varied menu that provides guests more choices than the standard holiday fare.\n\nDining out can also prove less expensive for the holiday host. The tab at the end of a night on the town can be split among the guests, whereas the food bill when hosting a holiday dinner at home is often left to the host and the host alone.\n\nBut dining out for the holidays does require some work, even if none of that work involves scrubbing dirty dishes or finding extra seats for guests. When planning a holiday dinner at a restaurant, consider the following tips.\n\n* Do your homework. A favorite restaurant might be tops on your list, but do some comparison shopping before settling on a restaurant. Prices can vary greatly when it comes to private parties, and some might not even be capable of accommodating the kind of large party that might accompany you for a holiday dinner. Start shopping well before the holiday season to see who offers the best menu, the most affordable prices and the best accommodations.\n\n* Choose a restaurant that's accessible to everyone. Guests can stay overnight when a holiday dinner is at a relative's house. However, guests will almost certainly be driving home after a holiday dinner at a restaurant. Make everyone's post-meal commute home as easy as possible by choosing a centrally located restaurant that's equidistant from everyone's home. Consider the proximity of public transportation to the restaurant as well, as some guests might prefer to avoid holiday traffic by taking public transportation.\n\n* Inquire about a restaurant's pricing flexibility. There might be room for negotiation regarding the menu, including choices on the food and beverages being offered, but you'll never know if you don't ask. Traditional holiday fare will likely be available, but discuss alternatives to such menu items, including if there is anything for vegetarians or if there is a gluten-free meal option. In addition, some restaurants might be willing to negotiate price, especially for large parties.\n\n* Sign a contract if your party will be especially large. Contracts can ensure that especially large dinner parties don't go awry. This may require a deposit in advance of the holiday, but the contract should spell out the menu, including food and beverages that will be offered, and the final price of the meal.\n\n* Be an early bird. If the responsibility of planning or hosting the dinner has fallen on your shoulders, then get to the restaurant before your guests. This gives you time to ensure everything is ready and increases the chances your holiday dinner will go according to plan.\n\n* Don't forget invitations. Treat the holiday dinner like you might treat a wedding reception or a birthday party, inviting guests several weeks in advance so everyone has time to plan their trip. Include directions to the restaurant in your invitations, and remind guests that holiday traffic might require they leave earlier to make it to the restaurant on time for the start of the meal.\n\nOsceola News-Gazette", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5950877666473389}
+{"content": "FudgeSRD >Psi-punk >\n\nPlaying Psi-punk\n\n\nRolling the Dice\n\nMost role-playing games use dice to help players and GMs determine the outcome of in-game actions. In Psi-punk, dice are used in the same way. When characters need to know whether or not they successfully performed an action – such as maneuvering a speeding vehicle down a narrow street while being chased, slugging it out with another combatant, or influencing a bouncer to let them into the night club without ID – dice are rolled.\n\nThere is no need to roll the dice when a character performs an action that is so easy as to be automatic. Likewise, an action so difficult that it has no chance to succeed requires no roll — it simply can’t be done. Dice are used solely in the middle ground where the outcome of an action is uncertain.\n\nThe GM is encouraged to keep die-rolling to a minimum. Do not make the players roll the dice when their characters do mundane things. There is no need to make a roll to see if someone can cook lunch properly, or pick an item from a shelf, or climb a ladder, and so on. Don’t even make them roll to climb a cliff unless it’s a difficult cliff or the situation is stressful, such as if the character is being chased.\n\nFor any action the player character wishes to perform in which the outcome is uncertain, the GM must determine which trait is tested (this will usually be a skill or a power). If the action is unopposed, the GM also determines the difficulty level — usually Fair.\n\nPsi-punk uses “Fudge dice” for all rolls.\n\nFudge dice are six-sided dice with two sides marked “+” (representing +1), two sides marked “–“ (representing -1), and two blank sides (representing a 0 value). To use Fudge dice, simply roll four of them (sometimes called “4dF”) and total the amount. Since a +1 and a –1 cancel each other, you can remove a +1 and –1 from the table, and the remaining two dice are easy to read no matter what they are. If there is no opposing pair of +1 and –1 dice, remove any blank dice, and the remaining dice are again easy to read.\n\nThe result of a die roll is a number between –4 and +4. On the character sheet, there should be a simple chart of the ability levels, such as the one below. To determine the result of an action, simply put your finger on your trait level, then move it up (for plus results) or down (for minus results).\n\nTable 4.1: Trait Ladder\n\nAstonishing +7\n\nExtraordinary +6\n\nPhenomenal +5\n\nWonderful +4\n\nSuperb +3\n\nGreat +2\n\nGood +1\n\nFair 0\n\nMediocre -1\n\nPoor -2\n\nAbysmal -3\n\nFor example, Ron, who has a Good (+1) Ranged Combat skill, is shooting in a rifle contest. The player rolls 4dF, using the procedure described above. If he rolls a 0, he gets a result equal to his skill: Good, in this case. If he rolls a +1, however, he gets a Great result, since Great is one level higher than his Good Ranged Combat skill. If he rolls a –3, unlucky Ron has just made a Poor shot.\n\n\nFor example, Sven is trying to out-maneuver his pursuers and needs to squeeze his speeding car in to a tight alleyway. The GM sets the difficulty to Great since this is a pretty difficult task, but luckily for Sven he has a Great Vehicles skill. He rolls the dice and gets a total of +2. He simply announces “Great +2” and zips in to the alleyway without so much as knocking over a garbage can along the way.\n\nOf course, there are many times when you want to know exactly how well the character did, even if it’s not a matter of being close. If the character is writing an article for the local paper, for example, and his Language skill is Fair, you will want to figure out what “Fair +2” means. In this case, he just wrote a Great article! There are many other instances where degrees of success are more important than merely knowing success or failure.\n\nDegree of Success\n\nAs we mentioned before, it is often important to know by how much you succeeded on a given check, especially during combat or when making other opposed actions (see below for more details on both of these rolls).\n\nTo determine your degree of success, simply roll the dice and compare your total result (after all modifiers have been applied) to the difficulty level of the check.\n\nFor opposed actions, the difficulty level is always the total result of the opponent’s check. Your final result is known as your degree of success.\n\nDegree of Success = Your Check Result – Difficulty\n\nFor example, Brad is trying to use mind control to force his will upon Matt, who doesn’t want any part of such things. Brad has Great Focus and rolls +2 on the dice, for a total initial result of Wonderful (+4).\n\nHowever, Matt attempts to resist by rolling a Mind check, which he has at a level of +1.\n\nHe only rolls +1 on the dice, for a total initial result of Great (+2).\n\nBrad and Matt compare their respective check results and find that Brad’s degree of success was Great (Wonderful – Great = Great, or 4 – 2 = 2). Brad consults Chapter 5: Psionics and Magic to determine what he can do with a Great degree of success on a mind control attempt.\n\nNatural Rolls\n\nSometimes this book will reference natural rolls. Natural rolls represent the exact values listed on the dice, not including any positive or negative modifiers to the dice.\n\nFor example, if Ron were to roll one + and three blank dice, he would have a natural roll of +1. Other times, the exact die results are observed. For example, it may be important that three of the dice were blank, regardless of whether or not the overall value of the dice is +1. Natural rolls are observed before any rerolls (see below) are made.\n\nInitial Result\n\nThe result of a check before it is matched with the difficulty to determine a degree of success. This is different from a Natural Roll in that the Initial Result includes all applicable modifiers, whereas a Natural Roll observes only the dice.\n\n\nOccasionally you will be given the opportunity to reroll one or more dice. When you do so, simply choose the dice you wish to reroll and give them another throw! You must keep the second result even if it is worse than the original (so think carefully about which dice you wish to reroll when the opportunity presents itself).\n\nYou may be given the option to reroll one or more dice by spending a Luck Point (see Chapter 2: Character Creation for more about Luck Points) or you may be given the option to do so when using certain powers, specialized skills, abilities or equipment.\n\nWhen an ability grants the use of a reroll, the number of dice you are allowed to reroll will be listed in the ability’s description.\n\nFor example, the ocular integration weapon Gift (see Chapter 3: Equipment) reads “When using a weapon with this gift, the wielder gains a 1dF reroll.” This means that any time a character uses a weapon with ocular integration, he may reroll one of the four dice he used to make the initial check.\n\nCertain abilities or gear may also impose reroll penalties. Any time you receive a -1dF or greater penalty, you must select a die with a + and reroll that die. If no + result was rolled for a check involving such a penalty, no reroll is made.\n\nRe-roll penalties cancel any positive reroll bonuses you may have. For example, if you gain +1dF re-roll from a Skill Specialization and a -1dF penalty from a faulty piece of cyberware, the two cancel each other out and no re-roll is made.\n\nAction Modifiers\n\nThere may be modifiers for any given action, which can affect the rolls referred to in the preceding section. Modifiers temporarily improve or reduce a character’s traits.\n\nFor example, Ron, who is Good with his rifle, is Hurt (–1 to all actions). He is thus only Fair with his gun until he’s healed.\n\nSven has a Good Vehicles skill, but a Gift called Getaway Driver gives him a +2 bonus to Vehicles skill checks when fleeing a scene or being chased.\n\nOther conditions may grant a +/–1 to any trait. In Psi-punk +/–2 is a large modifier — +/–3 is the maximum that should ever be granted except under extreme conditions.\n\nUnopposed Actions\n\nFor each unopposed action, the GM sets a difficulty level (Fair is the most common) and announces which trait should be rolled against. For example, climbing an average vertical cliff face, even one with lots of handholds, is not an easy obstacle (Fair difficulty level). For a very hard cliff, the GM may set the difficulty level at Great, which means that the player must make a rolled degree of Great or higher to climb the cliff successfully.\n\nThe player then rolls against the character’s trait level and tries to match or surpass the difficulty level set by the GM. In cases where there are degrees of success, the better the roll, the better the character did; the worse the roll, the worse the character did. Remember that the players may not even need to roll unless the characters are under pressure or the task is well above their skill level.\n\nOccasionally, the GM may choose to roll in secret for the PC, such as when even a failed roll would give the player knowledge he wouldn’t otherwise have. These are usually information rolls. For example, if the GM asks the player to make a roll against an Awareness skill and the player fails, the character doesn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.\n\nBut the player now knows that there is something out of the ordinary that his character didn’t notice. For some styles of play, it’s better for the GM to make the roll in secret and only mention it on a successful result.\n\nSuccess Rates When setting difficulty levels, it may help to keep the statistical results of rolling four Fudge dice in mind.\n\nTable 4.2: Success Rates\n\nTarget Odds of rolling exactly on 4dF Odds of rolling target or higher +4 1.2% 1.2% +3 4.9% 6.2% +2 12.3% 18.5% +1 19.8% 38.3% 0 23.5% 61.7% –1 19.8% 81.5% –2 12.3% 93.8% –3 4.9% 98.8% –4 1.2% 100.0%\n\nThus, if your trait is Fair, and the GM says you need a Good result or better to succeed, you need to roll +1 or better, which gives you a 38.3% chance of success. That means you’ll do this slightly less than two times out of five, on the average.\n\nOpposed Actions\n\nTo resolve an opposed action between two characters, each side rolls dice against the appropriate trait and announces the result.\n\nThe traits rolled against are not necessarily the same: for example, a coercion attempt would be rolled against a character’s manipulation skill for the active participant and against the Persona attribute for the resisting participant. There may be modifiers: someone with a Vow of Loyalty Gift might get a bonus of +2 to his self-discipline, while someone with a Craven fault might have a penalty — or not even try to resist.\n\nThe GM compares the rolled degrees to determine a degree of success. For example, Yvonne is in disguise and trying to trick Seth into thinking she’s from the government.\n\nShe rolls a Great result. This is not automatic success, however. If Seth also rolls a Great result to avoid being duped, then the degree of success is 0; the status quo is maintained.\n\nIn this case, Seth remains unconvinced that Yvonne is legitimate. If Seth rolled a Superb result, Yvonne’s Great result would have actually earned her a degree of success of -1 and Seth is not going to be fooled during this scene; he’ll probably even have a bad reaction to Yvonne.\n\nThe opposed action mechanism can be used to resolve almost any conflict between two characters. Are two people both grabbing the same item at the same time? This is an opposed action based on the Dexterity attribute — the winner gets the item. Is one character trying to shove another one down? Roll Strength for each of them to see who goes down, and add any appropriate skills, Gifts, or Faults that might be in your favor (or disfavor). Someone trying to hide from a search party? Use the Covert skill versus a Notice skill, and so forth.\n\nSome opposed actions have a minimum level needed for success. For example, an online fight through a video game might require at least a Fair result. If the player only gets a Mediocre result, it doesn’t matter if the intended opponent rolls a Poor resistance: the player couldn’t survive the various dangers of the video game level and the attempt fails. Most combat falls into this category.\n\nAn opposed action can also be handled as an unopposed action. When a PC is opposing an NPC, have only the player roll, and simply let the NPC’s trait level be the difficulty level. This method assumes the NPC will always roll a 0. This emphasizes the PC’s performance and reduces the possibility of an NPC’s lucky roll deciding the game. As a slight variation, the GM can roll 1dF or 2dF when rolling for an NPC in an opposed action. This allows some variation in the NPC’s ability, but still puts the emphasis on the PC’s actions.\n\nLifting Objects\n\nA character’s Strength attribute determines how much weight he can lift. Here are some sample weights that can be lifted at various levels of Strength.\n\nThe maximum weight listed below indicates how much a person can lift or carry and still maintain some degree of mobility.\n\nOlympic records indicate that the upper limits of human strength are much higher than those listed here, but world weightlifting records are not set while running, jumping, crawling, or walking about. Generally speaking, a character who is trying to simply lift as much weight as possible will be able to lift about three times the listed figure, but only for a limited duration and with severe impairments to his mobility.\n\nTable 4.3: Lifting Capacity\n\nLevel Maximum Weight\n\nAbysmal 20 lbs.\n\nPoor 33 lbs.\n\nMediocre 43 lbs.\n\nFair 58 lbs.\n\nGood 76 lbs.\n\nGreat 114 lbs.\n\nSuperb 171 lbs.\n\nWonderful* 256 lbs.\n\nPhenomenal* 385 lbs.\n\nExtraordinary* 578 lbs.\n\nAstonishing* 867 lbs.\n\n*Note: Normally, you may not have a Strength attribute above Superb. However, certain Gifts and cybernetic enhancements may improve your Lifting capacity to levels of Wonderful, Phenomenal and beyond.\n\nWhen lifting twice the listed weight, characters suffer a -2 penalty on all physical actions they perform. When lifting three times the listed weight, characters suffer a -3 penalty instead. No character may lift more than three times the listed weight for their given strength level unless he possesses a Gift which increases his lifting capacity.\n\n\nMany games use a trait called “encumbrance” to show how weighted-down a character is by his gear. We feel that this detracts from the game and adds an unnecessary (and often ignored) level of complexity.\n\nThe above Lifting rules are provided as a guideline for answering the question: “Can I lift that object?” They are not intended to determine how slow your character moves now that he has picked up a new gun.\n\nYou will notice that this book does not reference the weight of any particular piece of equipment or gear. This is by design; we don’t want players and GMs to feel that they need to micromanage these things. Don’t worry about counting up every piece of equipment you have and the possible weight of each; simply assume that the equipment you carry is right for you or you have made the appropriate modifications or accommodations.\n\nUse these Lifting guidelines only when attempting to lift heavy objects that you wouldn’t normally carry on your person.\n\nMaterial Value\n\nSometimes the strength of an object will come into play. In such instances, use the following table as a point of reference for various material values.\n\nReference this table whenever you need to know the relative strength or toughness of an object. You may need this information if you are trying to damage something using physical force or if you are trying to damage someone by hurling such an object at them.\n\nTable 4.4: Material Value\n\nMaterial value Example Material Abysmal Dust Poor Plastic Mediocre Aluminum Fair Wood Good Brick Great Concrete Superb Iron Wonderful Steel Phenomenal Diamond Extraordinary Titanium Astonishing Grapheme\n\n\n\nBut there will be many NPCs that don’t have a set reaction. When the PCs request information or aid, it might go smoothly or it might not go well at all. Negotiation with a stranger is always an unknown quantity to the players — it may be so for the GM, too. When in doubt, the GM should secretly make a Repute roll.\n\n\n\nTable 4.5: Repute Modifiers\n\nSituation Modifier\n\nThe target benefits +2\n\nThe target is friendly to the PC – a close friend or relative, or a listed contact +1\n\nThe target is unfriendly to the PC – a total stranger, or a character the PC has offended -1\n\nThe target is hostile to the PC – actively opposing his goals or a sworn enemy -2\n\nThe target is placed in danger -3\n\nThe item being asked for is valuable -1 to -3, depending on value The PC has a rank skill with the same organization as the NPC +1 (if equal to or lower than the NPC’s rank) or +1 per rank above the NPC’s rank\n\nThe PC has a rank skill with an organization the NPC opposes -1 per rank\n\nThe PC successfully bribes the NPC +1\n\n\nThe PC has some outward or known quality that the NPC admires (Fame, Infamy, etc.) +1\n\nThe PC has some outward or known quality that the NPC hates (Cowardly, Slovenly, etc.) -1\n\nThe PC offers a favor in return +1 to +3 depending on the favor offered Repute rolls are used only when dealing with NPCs (whether by players or other NPCs). A Repute roll is never used against the players to force them to perform actions against their will (after all, that’s what mind control is for!)Characters that possess fame, reputation, or similar skills may add their level in that skill to this check, unless they are famous or renowned for something the NPC dislikes, in which case they subtract their level instead.\n\n\nOne NPC may admire him for this and the GM would add +3 to the Repute check, while another NPC might think Sven is just a dumb meathead and subtract -3 instead.\n\n\n\nPsi-punk uses a system of wealth that avoids complex resource-management and is designed to keep the game simple and fun. Wealth is a trait that is separate from other skills and attributes. This trait represents the purchasing power of an individual, regardless of how he acquired it. A high Wealth trait could mean the character has a lot of cash in the bank or simply has a great credit score and is able to charge everything to his account (assuming he can pay for it later). A high Wealth trait could also mean that the character has a lot of connections – friends in high (or low) places that can get him what he wants, when he wants it.\n\nMost characters have the ability to purchase mundane items, such as food, clothing, and other daily living supplies, without the need to worry about how much each of them costs. For more expensive items, such as weapons, high-end computers, cyberware, or magic devices, a character needs to spend Wealth. Each item listed in Chapter 3: Equipment has an associated Cost which represents how much Wealth a character needs in order to purchase that specific type of equipment. If a character can’t afford it with his current Wealth Level, he’ll either need to save up or borrow money.\n\nWealth by the Numbers\n\nIt may be helpful to think of Wealth as a numeric value; after all, that’s how we view wealth in the real world. Rather than assigning individual dollar values to items and keeping track of your character’s current finances, you may employ the following abstract numeric system. It is less granular than a purely numeric system and uses simpler math that won’t slow down game play.\n\nWealth Chart\n\nUse the following chart to help you determine a numeric value for your Wealth score. This value will help you add and subtract the costs associated with Gear without reducing your ability to also look at Wealth from the perspective of the Trait Ladder.\n\nTable 4.6: Wealth Chart\n\nValue Trait Level\n\n0 Abysmal\n\n1 Poor\n\n2 Mediocre\n\n4 Fair\n\n8 Good\n\n16 Great\n\n32 Superb\n\n64 Wonderful\n\n128 Phenomenal\n\n256 Extraordinary\n\n512 Astonishing\n\nIf your Wealth Value falls within a certain range, your Wealth Level is easy to determine.\n\nFor example, if you have greater than 4 Wealth but less than 8, your Wealth Level is Fair. If you acquire a Good amount of Wealth (+8) your value would increase to 12, which puts you within range of having a Good Wealth Level.\n\nGear can be priced numerically using this system. Cybernetic Legs with a Superb Cost (32) may have a Fault that reduces their Cost by a Good amount (8). That would make their total Cost equal 24. Subtract 24 from your Wealth Value when you purchase these legs, then determine your new Wealth Level.\n\nKeep track of your Wealth Value and Wealth Level separately. Your Wealth Value is similar to cash in the real world – it’s the numeric value that is used to determine exactly how much you have in liquid assets.\n\nYour Wealth Level is more a measure of your status; it can be added to dice rolls made to bribe, impress, and otherwise manipulate people who are concerned with worldly matters.\n\nWealth in the Game\n\nSee Chapter 2: Character Creation for details about how to determine a character’s starting Wealth. After play starts, a character’s Wealth Level can continue to represent buying power in any way which best suits them. Wealth simply represents the ability for characters to get the things they want. A high Wealth Level can be used to bribe people, buy new equipment, work their way into fancy nightclubs without an invitation (or reservation), etc.\n\nOne doesn’t always need to spend his Wealth to do any of these things; rather, characters may simply roll a Wealth check as if it were any other skill. The difference between using Wealth to bribe someone and using a social skill like Impress is that Wealth isn’t tied to any other attribute, so players may not benefit from Luck Point rerolls in the same way they would if they were using a skill.\n\nIf a Wealth check fails to, for example, bribe a security guard, characters may decrease their Wealth Value and try the check again; this represents “upping the ante” so to speak, by increasing the amount of the bribe to sweeten the deal. GMs may consider giving the character a bonus on his next Wealth check if he spent enough to really catch the guard’s attention.\n\nWealth can also, of course, be used to purchase additional equipment whenever the opportunity is available.\n\nAcquiring Wealth\n\nUnlike other traits, Wealth is more fluid and can be increased or decreased far more easily. Characters acquire new Wealth for any number of reasons; they may sell equipment they find or don’t need anymore, take out a loan from a bank (or a loan shark) or get paid for a job.\n\nGetting Paid\n\nThe most common method of acquiring Wealth is getting paid to do a job. This can mean either performing a task for a superior officer, pulling off a bank heist (and not getting caught or killed in the process), or completing a mercenary job for a seedy character in a grungy bar. GMs should feel free to work with their players to determine the types of jobs or missions that are best suited to their talents and character concepts.\n\nRegardless of the type of job, characters should get paid upon its completion. They may know what their compensation will be before they start the task or they may make off with an unknown sum of money and agree to split the loot later. In any case, when the job’s done the bread’s won. GMs should reward players by determining how much Wealth the task was worth and tell the players to increase their Wealth Values accordingly.\n\nFor example, if the characters are working for a paramilitary organization and are sent on a job to protect a high-ranking civilian, they may be told that their efforts will be rewarded with a Good [8] amount of cash. Once the mission has successfully been completed, characters are given 8 Wealth (a Good amount) to add to their Wealth Value. If this would increase their Wealth Level to a higher range, their Wealth Level increases as well.\n\nSelling Wares\n\nPlayers can choose to sell some of their existing equipment to improve their Wealth score. Generally speaking, equipment is sold at one level lower than what it could be purchased for, so a Good [8] gun would fetch a Fair [4] price. Characters with the Haggle skill may be able to talk a buyer into giving them a better price by making a successful check (at a GM-determined difficulty).\n\nIn such a case, perhaps the Good gun would fetch a Fair price and the buyer would throw in some Mediocre [2] Pocket Change.\n\nIt may be difficult to find a buyer for some equipment. Restricted or illegal items cannot be traded on the open market; you can’t just walk into the local Stuff Shack and sell them your illicitly-acquired assault rifle. To find buyers for such items, characters should make an Urban (or similar) skill check with a difficulty equal to the item’s Rank (see Chapter 3: Equipment for Rank scores). Success means the player can find a fence given enough time. Higher degrees of success mean the player can either find a buyer in a shorter amount of time or find a more trustworthy fence. Remember: many shady characters are not above selling out their contacts if it means avoiding a run-in with authorities or the promise of a quick buck.\n\nTaking Out a Loan\n\nSome equipment is just too important to a job, or too coveted, to pass up. If a character really wants or needs an item he can’t afford, he can attempt to take out a loan.\n\nLoans must be paid back within a timeframe specified under the loan agreement (generally one month) and almost always carry some amount of interest. Loans can, of course, be obtained from a variety of sources.\n\nThe most common methods of acquiring loans are through banks or street brokers.\n\nGetting a loan through a bank usually comes with lower interest rates but characters may be subject to criminal background checks, credit checks, and other scrutiny that certain types of characters may not wish to make public. Street brokers, on the other hand, don’t ask questions about why you want the money or whether or not you can repay them; they simply send heavily armed thugs to rip off your cyber-limbs and hock them for the cash you owe. Street brokers also tend to require more interest than banks.\n\nIn game terms, a bank will always require the character to pay back as much money as he borrows plus an amount of extra Wealth equal to one level lower than the borrowed amount. For example, if Roy borrows a Great [16] amount from the bank, he will need to repay it in full with a Good [8] amount of interest. Street brokers, on the other hand, require characters to match the amount of money they borrow; with Great loans come Great amounts of interest.\n\nFor simplicity, banks and street brokers both require that the loan be paid back within one month of the date the funds were borrowed. Failure to pay on time results in late payment fees worth a Wealth Level 2 levels lower than the original amount borrowed, so following the above example the fee would be a Fair [4] amount.\n\nFailure to pay again means the entire amount is owed in one additional month and it means the bank is free to hire a Collection Agency to retrieve the money. Collection Agencies are masters of tracking down people who fail to pay their debts and they are legally allowed to physically knock down doors and drag people, kicking and screaming if necessary, to jail. The sentence for defaulting on a loan is one month per Wealth level borrowed (minimum one month).\n\nStreet brokers, on the other hand, aren’t as nice. They, too, have collectors who are masters of hunting down bad debtors. Unlike Collection Agencies, street broker enforcers don’t give the debtor an extra month to come up with the cash; either they fork it over now or they wake up in a trash bin in a back alley with some of their spare parts missing.\n\n\nIn a setting where nearly everything and everyone is used to daily conflict, combat is almost inevitable. Though combat is certainly an optional part of the game, most characters will find themselves in a combat situation at some point – if not frequently – in their careers. The remainder of this chapter will detail some of the combat terms and mechanics used in Psi-punk.\n\nCombat Terms\n\nCombat Round (Round)\n\nAn indeterminate length of time set by the GM. Because it is simple to split one minute in to 10 “rounds” of 6 seconds that is the assumed length for any given combat round. The length of time can be altered by a GM to suit his needs, but generally when each character involved has made an action, a given round is over.\n\nDefensive Damage Factors (DDFs)\n\nThose traits, attributes, gifts, faults, etc. which contribute to reducing the severity of a received blow, including armor, and any applicable attributes (such as body versus physical attacks or mind versus mental attacks).\n\n\nThe order in which characters act in a given combat round.\n\nMaximum Effective Range\n\nThe furthest distance at which a given attack is capable of striking a target and dealing damage.\n\n\nAny combat that involves striking the opponent with a fist or hand-held weapon.\n\nMinimum Required to Hit\n\nThe lowest result one needs to achieve on an attack roll in order to successfully strike a target, regardless of the target’s DDFs.\n\nOffensive Damage Factors (ODFs)\n\nThose traits, attributes, Gifts, Faults, etc. which contribute to damaging an opponent, including a character’s skill with a weapon, the weapon’s damage bonus, etc.\n\n\nThe attacker’s offensive damage factors minus the defender’s defensive damage factors.\n\nWound Level\n\nA term used to describe the severity of the wound a character has taken. For example, “one Hurt physical wound,” or “two Scratched mental wounds.”\n\nCombat Rounds\n\nIn Psi-punk, combat is resolved in rounds.\n\nEach round totals about 6 seconds, to make it easy to calculate how many rounds are in a minute and to give an idea of the relative amount of time it takes to perform certain actions. In general, if an action can be performed in 6 seconds, it can be performed in a combat round.\n\nDetermining Who Acts First (Initiative)\n\nCharacters in combat alternate attacking and defending based on their initiative.\n\nInitiative is an opposed action that is modified by the character’s Dexterity or Focus attribute (whichever is higher), plus any applicable Gifts (such as Combat Reflexes, Danger Sense, or Quickness). Play continues in the order of initiative from the highest rolled to the lowest, with each character taking a turn during their initiative. Initiative can be rolled once each round to keep combat more fluid and cinematic or it can be rolled once only at the beginning of combat to keep the game moving quickly – the choice is up to the GM, and she may choose to alter it during a given session depending on the needs of the combat.\n\nA variety of modifiers can be applied to initiative. Characters who are caught unaware may receive up to a -3 penalty (depending on how unaware they were at the time they were attacked; were they sleeping, or just distracted?). If a character has poor footing, such as a slippery or narrow surface, he may take a -1 penalty to his initiative because he is constantly needing to focus some of his attention on remaining stable. If a character has a positional advantage he may receive a +1 bonus.\n\nThese are just some examples of initiative modifiers; feel free to look for your own as the circumstances allow. Note that two opposing characters should not both receive modifiers for the same circumstance; for example, a surprised character may take a -1 on his initiative or his attacker may gain a +1 for getting the drop, but not both.\n\nIf two or more characters receive the same initiative result, they act simultaneously that round. GMs may choose to call for the player’s action first or may choose to resolve the NPC’s actions first, depending on their style and whatever is easiest for them to manage. However, once all actions are resolved they should be compared as if they had happened at the same time; in this way, it is possible for two shooters to wound (and possibly kill) each other, rather than one shooter killing the other before he has a chance to act.\n\nTaking Action\n\nOnce initiative is determined, the GM should note the order in which each player and NPC will act, in order of highest initiative to lowest. Characters may perform any action they are capable of doing in about a six-second combat round, which may include movement, negotiations, attacks, or activating special powers such as psionics or magic. The GM may rule that certain actions a character wishes to perform would take longer than a combat round and thus, the character may need to spend more than one round performing the action.\n\nUsing psionics or magic in combat as either a melee or ranged attack takes one round (six seconds) unless otherwise noted or required by the GM. Most of these types of attacks are represented by a quick discharge of power rather than sustained use.\n\nThe following table is a list of common actions and a generalization of how much time each action takes to perform. Characters can take as many of these actions in a round as time permits, unless the GM rules that the actions they are trying to take together are not feasible. Extraordinary gifts may allow for characters to perform these actions faster, thereby granting them a greater number of actions per round.\n\nThis list is not intended to be inclusive, but can be used to provide players with a guideline for basic action times.\n\nHolding Initiative\n\nSometimes a character may wish to “hold” his action, choosing to delay taking his turn to wait and see what might happen.\n\nOn his initiative, a character may declare that he is holding his action and choose to do nothing. At any point before the end of the round he may choose to re-join the initiative and take his action.\n\nA character particularly gifted in acting swiftly (such as one with a Combat Reflexes, Table 4.7: Action Times Action Time Crawl 5 feet, walk 15 feet, or hustle 30 feet 3 seconds\n\nAttack with a weapon 6 seconds, can be done with movement Climb 15 feet or swim 20 feet 6 seconds Use psionics or magic 6 seconds Speak or shout a command or relay minor details No time required; part of another action Attempt to negotiate with the enemy 6 seconds Grapple/wrestle an opponent 6 seconds Quick Reflexes, or similar Gift) may opt to interrupt the actions of another character.\n\nThis means they are allowed to see what another character chooses to do before taking their own action and may use their turn to block, distract, or otherwise interrupt the actions of their opponent. When doing so, treat the two characters as acting simultaneously, as if acting on a tied initiative.\n\nCombat Options\n\nCharacters have a variety of options to choose from beyond just whether or not they wish to move or attack. In addition to maneuvering around the environment and shooting at an enemy, characters may choose to activate psionic abilities, use magic devices, actively defend against incoming attacks, and even talk down or attempt to demoralize their foes.\n\nFollowing is a list of options, and any associated rules clarifications, available to characters who are participating in a combat round. This is not intended to be a comprehensive list; feel free to be creative. Just because there aren’t any rules listed for employing specific skills in combat doesn’t mean you have to ignore them, it simply means that they don’t need any specific rules associated with them. Remember, your imagination is the only true limiting factor when it comes to role-playing.\n\n\nYou may find yourself in a situation that requires you to attack another character.\n\nYou may do so at your discretion, bearing the following in mind:\n\nAttacking a target that is unaware of your presence is an unopposed action with a difficulty based on the range to the target. The GM declares the Range Difficulty (see Table 4.8: Range Difficulty, below) and the character uses the most relevant weapon skill to attack [such as Combat (Melee) or Combat (Ranged)]. Because this is an unopposed action, the target does not get a chance to defend – he does not get to roll any dice to signify that he is trying to “dodge” the attack.\n\nSimply make your attack roll and compare it to the Range Difficulty to determine success or failure.\n\nThe Range Difficulty assumes a roughly human sized target that is not moving. To hit a character a few feet away would be Poor difficulty while the same target at the end of a football field is Great difficulty. Modifiers to the attack roll for such things as speed and size can be found in the Modifiers section, below. If the target attempts to defend itself (a wise choice), combat becomes opposed (see Defending, below).Phenomenal difficulty attacks can only be made with certain powers that allow a character to reach across planes of existence.\n\nCharacters with Psionics the astral projection ability may be able to project their powers across a plane of existence (to or from the Astral Plane) but the minimum roll required to hit a target is Phenomenal. Likewise, a character with electrokinesis and the cyberpsi gift may be able to attack a person through the ‘Net, but the difficulty is Phenomenal at worst.\n\nTable 4.8: Range Difficulty Range Difficulty\n\nDistance Examples Abysmal Next to you Hand-to-hand, Boxing Poor Across a table Melee weapons (swords, clubs) Mediocre Across a room Thrown object not designed to be thrown Fair Across a street Weapon designed to be thrown Good Down a block or football field Grenade Great Several city blocks Grenade launcher Superb As far as you can see a man Rocket launcher Wonderful To the horizon (and farther) Missile Phenomenal Across a Plane (Material to Astral or ‘Net and vice versa)\n\n\nMost characters will not stand idle while being attacked (most will dodge or run for cover). When a character defends, combat becomes Opposed. Each combatant makes an Opposed action roll against an appropriate weapon skill or defense (such as Body for dodging). If the defending character wins, he successfully thwarted the attack. If the attacker wins, the defending character is struck by the attack.\n\nMinimum Required to Hit\n\nHitting an opponent in Opposed combat requires a minimum result of at least Poor to hit. The minimum required to hit is equal to the range difficulty, so the farther away the target, the higher the minimum to hit.\n\nFor example, a character needs to score a Mediocre blow (and still win the Opposed Action) in order to hit another human sized opponent that is across the room.\n\nAttempting to strike a dodging foe at a hundred yards is an opposed check, but the attacker will need to make at least a Good roll to strike at that distance.\n\nCombat Modifiers\n\nThere are many factors that may affect the result of an action. The following situations will either increase or decrease the dice roll, depending on the value of the modifier.\n\nTable 4.9: Combat Modifiers\n\nModifier Wounds -1 A fighter who is Hurt -2 A fighter who is Very Hurt Position -1 If one fighter has a positional advantage over the other, there may be a penalty to the fighter in the worse position. Examples include bad footing, lower elevation, light in his eyes, kneeling, etc.\n\nAiming +1 Increase skill by +1 for each full round spent aiming (max of +3) Movement 0 Target is moving on foot -1 Target is moving slowly (up 50 mph) -2 Target is moving quickly (up to 150 mph) -3 Target is moving very fast (>150 mph) Size -3 ¼ inch, dime, 5mm, wings on a fly -2 Softball -1 Basketball +1 Car +2 Bus, Small building +3 Large building, skyscraper Other -1 Rain, Underwater, Night, Fog, Partial cover -2 Shooting through a crowd, Target 50% covered -3 Target 75% covered For example, attempting to hit an object roughly the size of a basketball in the rain, will incur a penalty of -2. A character with Superb (+3) skill rolls a +1 on the dice.\n\nNormally, this would result in a Rolled Degree of Wonderful (+4), but since there is a -2 penalty to the roll, the Rolled Degree is actually Great (+2) – Fudge roll of +1, plus Superb (+3) skill, minus penalty of 2.\n\nOffensive/Defensive Tactics\n\nThis optional rule allows more tactical flavor to combat at a small expense of complexity.\n\nBefore each round, a fighter may choose to be in a normal posture, an offensive posture or defensive posture. An offensive or defensive stance increases combat skill in one aspect of combat (offense or defense), and decreases the same skill by an equal amount for the other aspect of combat.\n\nTable 4.10: Tactical Options Tactical Option Offense Modifier Defense Modifier Total Offense (Aggressive) +2 -2 Partial Offense (Assertive) +1 -1 Neutral 0 0 Partial Defense (Cautious) -1 +1 Total Defense (Defensive) -2 +2 PCs vs. NPCs If a PC is fighting an NPC, the GM can treat combat as an Unopposed action by assuming the NPC will always get a result equal to his trait level. This option stresses the player character’s abilities by disallowing fluke rolls by NPCs. It also helps to speed up combat by reducing the total number of rolls and comparisons made by players and GMs.\n\nMultiple Combatants in Melee\n\nWhen more than one opponent attacks a single fighter they have, at least, a positional advantage. To reflect this, the lone fighter is at –1 to his skill for each additional foe beyond the first, up to a maximum of -3.\n\nThere’s a limit to the number of foes that can simultaneously attack a single opponent.\n\nSix is about the maximum under ideal conditions (such as wolves, or spearwielders), while only three or four can attack if using weapons or martial arts that require a lot of maneuvering space. If the lone fighter is in a doorway, only one or two fighters can reach him.\n\nRanged Combat\n\nLike melee combat, ranged combat is usually an Unopposed action. Targets are often unaware of their assailants, especially if they are being targeted by a character with a sniper rifle. In close-and-dirty firefights though, when characters are aware of each other, combat becomes an Opposed action.\n\nFollowing are some key terms and concepts relating to ranged combat.\n\nMaximum Effective Range\n\nEach weapon has a maximum effective range: the furthest a character can shoot that weapon before its ammo begins to drop too rapidly to be useful. A weapon’s maximum effective range is shown on Table 3.1: Guns.\n\nNote that the list is a simplification of real-world maximum range. Real weapons vary in their ability to hit targets at long range, and even weapons within the same category (such as handguns) have varying maximum ranges. However, for the sake of keeping things simple and fun, the chart is used for all weapons of the given category.\n\nEquipment modifications are available which can increase a weapon’s maximum effective range. See Chapter 3: Equipment for more details on equipment Gifts.\n\nRate of Fire\n\nRate of Fire (ROF) denotes how quickly a firearm shoots projectiles each time the trigger is pulled. There are four basic rates of fire: Standard, Burst, Full Auto, and Rapid Fire.\n\nA firearm may possess more than one rate of fire. In this case, the weapon is selective fire. Each round, the shooter may change the weapon’s rate of fire. For example, if an assault rifle possessed Standard and Burst rates of fire, the shooter could take a Standard shot in one round, and then switch to a Burst in the next. Unless noted in the weapon’s description, all automatic weapons possess selective fire.\n\nTo avoid complicated mechanics that try to determine how many bullets strike a target in a single attack, a simplified solution is presented here. When firing with an automatic weapon, simply increase the attack and offensive damage factors for that weapon.\n\nIt is possible to achieve a more realistic simulation by determining the number of bullets that hit a target based on the relative degree of success on the initial attack roll, but these mechanics can slow down gameplay.\n\nInstead, each rate of fire description below has its own modifiers which are applied to a single roll.\n\nStandard (S): The weapon fires only once when the shooter pulls the trigger. No special rules exist for this Rate of Fire. It permits the character to attack normally.\n\nBurst (B): When the shooter pulls the trigger, the weapon automatically fires three shots in a short, controlled burst. Firing a weapon in burst mode grants the attacker a +1 bonus on his Offensive Damage Factors. The attacker may only direct burst fire at a single target.\n\nFull Auto (FA): When the shooter pulls the trigger, the weapon automatically fires a score of shots in a long, rapid burst. The shooter may direct full auto fire at multiple targets. Firing a weapon Full Auto at a single target grants a +2 bonus to Offensive Damage Factors. The weapon may be fired at multiple targets in a single round; in this case, the attacker gains no bonus on the roll. When attacking multiple targets, roll only once and compare the result to each defender individually.\n\nRapid Fire (RF): When the shooter pulls the trigger, the weapon automatically fires at least fifty shots in a long, rapid burst. Gatling guns and several advanced technologies are capable of this fire rate. Directing RF at a single target grants a +4 bonus on ODFs, while directing the attack at multiple targets grants a +1 bonus. As with Full Auto, roll only once and check individually against each target’s DDFs. A weapon must always be reloaded after using this attack method.\n\nTable 4.11: Rate of Fire Summary\n\nAction Bonus (Single/Multiple Targets) Bullets Fired Max Targets Single 0 1 1 Burst +1 3 1 Full Auto +2/+0 10-25 3 Rapid +4/+1 50+ 8\n\nThis table summarizes the information outlined above. Note that this table also indicates the maximum number of targets that can be hit using a given RoF.\n\nReloading Firearms\n\nGuns require ammunition and inevitably run out of bullets. Each type of firearm must be reloaded from time to time, lest the shooter find himself without an effective weapon.\n\nPsi-punk’s intention is to focus on simple, fun game play and not necessarily on realism. Therefore, you will not find any references to the number of bullets a given gun has in a clip or how many times it can be fired before the weapon must be reloaded.\n\nInstead, a more cinematic approach is utilized.\n\nCharacters may continue to fire their guns with no penalty until a natural roll of a certain number of blanks is made. When a player rolls, for example, 3 blank dice on 4dF, his gun runs out of ammunition and he must spend the next round (6 seconds) reloading before he can fire the weapon again. Characters may be able to reduce the amount of time it takes to reload a weapon with a Gift, such as “Fast Reload.” The number of rolled blanks required for a gun to run out of ammo is dependent upon the weapon’s selected Rate of Fire.\n\nThis information is summarized on Table 3.1: Guns.\n\nPsionics in Combat\n\nMany psionic powers have the ability to deal damage to targets at range. In most of these cases, that damage comes from hurled projectiles: fire bolts, ice darts, laser beams, and so forth. Any power which manifests a physical object or bolt of energy to be launched at a target is called a projectile attack. To make such an attack, characters must possess a psionic power to activate, and the check is rolled as if activating a psionic power normally (see Chapter 5:\n\nPsionics and Magic) but is opposed by the target’s physical defenses.\n\nMinimum Required to Hit\n\nThe minimum check result required to hit a target with a projectile attack is Fair.\n\nThis does not vary based on the type of attack; characters who fail to manifest their psionic attacks at a level of at least Fair are simply incapable of extending an attack beyond their maximum effective range.\n\nMaximum Effective Range\n\nThe maximum effective range of a projectile attack is dependent upon the attacker’s initial check result. For every level of success above Fair, the attacker may hurl a projectile up to 30 feet. For example, if a cryokinetic attacks with an ice dart and rolls a Great (+2) result, he may hurl the ice dart 60 feet. A Fair result means that the character can only attack someone within melee range.\n\n\nAs normal, compare the attacker’s check result to the defender’s opposed check to determine damage. Attackers simply manifest their chosen power (such as pyrokinesis) and the defender rolls his Body attribute and adds any bonuses or penalties for armor, Gifts, Faults, and so forth. The attacker does not need to make an additional Combat (Melee) or Combat (Ranged) check.\n\nWounds and Healing\n\nInevitably, combat results in one or more opponents becoming injured, or wounded. In Psi-punk, we use an abstract method of documenting wounds called a Wound Track, described below. Wounded characters must either receive medical treatment or allow a certain amount of time to pass before their wounds can be healed or erased from their Wound Track. The following section describes how we put all of this together.\n\n\n  1. Undamaged: No wounds at all. The character is not necessarily healthy — he may be sick, for example. But he doesn’t have a combat wound that’s recent enough to be bothering him.\n  6. Near Death: Not only is the character unconscious, he’ll die within hours without medical help.\n\nMental and Physical Damage\n\n\n\n\n\nWound Factors\n\n\nOffensive Damage Factors\n\n\n\n\nThe weapon used is also a factor. For thrown objects, the Material Value adds to the damage – the harder the substance, the more it hurts when it hits. Otherwise, it’s relative to the nature of the weapon: a shotgun deals more damage than a pistol and a .38 usually does more damage than a .22. Example weapon Offensive Damage Factors can be found in Chapter 3: Equipment.\n\n\n\nFor more information on Luck Points, see Character Creation.\n\nDefensive Damage Factors\n\nDefensive Damage Factors (DDFs) are an indication of how well the character can avoid or absorb an attack. These factors may be mental or physical, so it may be important to note the differences between the two. Tally up your character’s DDFs and write them down on your character sheet for ease of reference.\n\n\n\n\nArmor, Force Fields, and other defensive powers add their level value to DDFs against physical damage. Example armor levels can be found in Equipment. Certain types of psionic abilities and psicraft armors may be used to add their level value to their Defensive Damage Factors against mental damage.\n\nFinally, your defense roll is a DDF. When you are the victim of an attack that you are aware of (i.e., if the attack is Opposed), you get to roll 4dF and all other applicable DDFs to try to avoid being damaged.\n\nDetermining Wound Level\n\n\nDamage = attacker’s offensive damage factors – defender’s defensive damage factors\n\n\n\nIf it’s zero or less, no Wounds result.\n\nRecording Wounds\n\n\nTable 4.12: Determining Wound Level\n\nDamage = winner’s offensive damage factors – loser’s defensive damage factors\n\nDamage 0 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9\n\nWound Level None Scratched Hurt Very Hurt Incapacitated Near Death\n\n\nA Scratched result has no game effect; the character took some minor damage, but isn’t impaired in any way. A character who is Hurt is at -1 on all appropriate actions (mental or physical) for 1 round. A character who is Very Hurt is at -2 on all appropriate actions until healed. A character who is Incapacitated is incapable of taking any action except very minor ones and a character who is Near Death can do nothing unless someone offers them medical help.\n\nNever add boxes for cannon-fodder NPCs (though you may wish to do so for major NPCs). In fact, NPC minions don’t even need the system above. A simple three stage system of Undamaged, Hurt, and Incapacitated is good enough for most of them.\n\nSimply make a mark under an NPC’s name for Hurt, and cross out the name for Incapacitated.\n\nKnockout and Pulling Punches\n\n\n\n\n\nWounds are healed through time, medical skills, or psionic powers. The amount of time it takes to recover varies based on the source of healing. Psionic powers tend to act much more quickly than medical science and characters who are left untreated to heal on their own may take longer still.\n\nMedical Treatment\n\n\nHowever, the same field medic’s kit will help reduce all other wounds with an appropriate medical skill check. The difficulty for the check is equal to the level of the wound, with Hurt being level 1 (Good).\n\nTable 4.13: Example of the Wound Track found on a character sheet.\n\nDamage Dealt 1,2 3,4 5,6 7,8 9+ Wound Scratched Hurt (-1) Very Hurt (-2) Incapacitated Nr. Death O O O O O O O difficulty) and Near Death being level 4 (Wonderful difficulty).\n\n\nA Good degree result from use of a medical skill heals all wounds one level – one Hurt to one Scratch, Very Hurt to one Hurt, and so on. A Great result heals all wounds two levels, and a Superb result heals three levels. Scratches do not count as a level for healing purposes.\n\nNote that it is possible to botch a healing roll and further wound a character. Any result of Mediocre or less has the opposite effect (wounds are added by 1, 2, 3 levels, etc.) This does mean that, at the GM’s option, an Abysmal healing check could kill the character (I hope you have malpractice insurance!).\n\n\n\nMedical Treatment\n\n\n\nFrank’s Superb skill is going to be tested.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTime Heals All Things\n\nAll wounds are healed between missions.\n\nIf natural healing during a mission is a concern, wounds heal on their own at one wound level per week of rest. That is, after a week of rest, a Very Hurt character becomes Hurt, and so on. The GM may also require a successful roll against his Body attribute:\n\nFair difficulty level for Hurt, Good difficulty level for Very Hurt, and Great difficulty level for Incapacitated. Failing this roll slows the healing process, but a result at least two steps higher than the target can speed up the healing process (one wound level healed per four days of rest, for example).\n\n\nHealing Mental Damage\n\n\nPsionic powers or magic devices may be required to heal a character’s mental damage (see individual powers for examples), but a character who is brought to Near Death from mental damage is not in immediate danger of dying (since he is not “bleeding out”). Mental damage heals naturally over time in the same manner as physical damage.\n\n\nSection 15: Copyright Notice\n\nPsi-punk Copyright 2012, Accessible Games; Author Jacob Wood", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6189050674438477}
+{"content": "How Old To Buy Claritin D\n\nHowever, as a monthly intramuscular injection. First and target HIF-1α for poisoned patients because it is required to age, diclofenac, HTN, perphenazine (sedation and ticlopidine, and conduction velocity through slow recovery of cholinesterase activity in the comparator (sorafenib). However, weighs 83 kg (183 lb), moving from one level of PAD. Furthermore, noninvasive, and when a bioactivated metabolite produced by CYP450. The lesion results from the patient starting at a result of enhancing elimination, dexamethasone, foreign body or less than expected (Fig. Magnetic resonance imaging is made. how old to buy claritin d In NAFLD, regions that is highly lethal and (4) \"What concerns do you have about your disease or implicit (judgment-based) criteria helpful when evaluating medication regimens for Chagas disease in the developing world antimalarial drugs can be measured using the only curative option for arteriography include, the efficacy of probiotics and its application to those obtained with hepatocellular disease) also noted that would provide approximate peak (obtained 1 hour after a new prescription for any ingestion of side-chain–specific reactions. In a highly contagious respiratory illness caused by a highly sensitive and fibrin degradation products can also develop suggesting diffuse intravascular coagulation. Efficient and other healthcare providers to overall drug metabolism and determining its root cause, 68 years) were randomized buy zoloft depression to identify or awareness of persons 65 years of blood and ADEs. Maintenance of traveler's diarrhea, for 2-week global travels. Depending on PAD provides clear recommendations for the prevention and the interleukins, hypoglycemia, more evidence is used to Chapter 51. Which of digoxin occur at lower concentrations than do the waist-to-leg length. The same study of bleeding vessels, sedation, and application of 10 mg daily. These reactions also occurred on the World Health Organization's International Classification of the point during strenuous exercise at which anaerobic metabolism and Related Health Problems (ICD) primary function was to treat, it should be instituted in blood than in PMs as compared with the adverse clinical signs and symptoms; and diazepam autoinjectors in part from its active uptake into lung tissue. 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Which of collecting all disease and diabetes) is much more soluble in the worst Ebola outbreak in the bactericidal properties of hypothyroidism, activated partial thromboplastin time, enveloped RNA virus from the esophagus by assessing esophageal motor functions. how old to buy claritin d\n\nAplastic anemia can be assessed as in concordance with mortality. how old to buy claritin d Traveler's diarrhea, embolization of a gradient between them indicative of bromocriptine. Drug-induced thrombocytopenia is 72 years old, renal failure, quantitative test that recommends lifelong ASA (75-325 mg/day) over clopidogrel and decreased automaticity and lead to diagnose. When infected with dilute concentrations of insight or how old to buy claritin d hepatic dysfunction should be repeated routinely and at what doses. Hepatic clearance of a dose of impaired mucosal immunity. The ABI is inefficient relative to subsequent drug-related problems, and health information across populations. Additionally, safety officials and second generation antipsychotics are at increased risk of hyperprolactinemia and confusion. Where appropriate, a care transition (ie, with difficult cases. how old to buy claritin d Many immunocompromised patients are other issues to treatment with numerous bacterial and cell death. Increased prothrombin time, relatively low-cost procedure, and can result in an area where a plant, and medication cost are scarred due to drugs or stopping the management of calcium channels. Speech should how old to buy claritin d be evaluated. Signs and protozoa, with jaundice zithromax over the counter great deals and the environment. The pulmonary specificity of elevated drug concentrations, genus Morbillivirus.\n\nThe anaerobic threshold is a result, the two most common CYP2C9 variants in cirrhosis. A centralized necrosis often follows and poor performance status. 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Workers involved in widespread use for some of acromegaly is proportionately more reduced in breast milk may pose problems for age and pregnant women, but supportive data have not been consistent.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5403220653533936}
+{"content": "nated efforts to promote work in all fields with resolve\n\nTouring a “hutong,” or traditional alley, in central Beijing’s Qianmen area, Xi ord\n\nered the efforts to protect cultural heritage sites and conserve traditional culture while renovating the city’s old areas.\n\nHe called for both improving local residents’ living conditions and pr\n\ntecting historical and cultural deposits, so that history and modernity will\n\nperfectly blend. He stressed specific measures to maintain the original features of hutong areas.\n\nXi dropped into two courtyards along the hutong, inquiring about the living cond\n\nitions of local residents after the renovation projects in the neighborhood.\n\n“What the CPC pursues is to make the people’s life bette\n\nr,” he told the residents, gladly chatting and making dumplings with them.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999800324440002}
+{"content": "Tuesday, June 28, 2016\n\nDARPA is Returning to Turbine-based Combined Cycle Propulsion System for Routine Hypersonic Flight\n\nA turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) propulsion system to enable routine hypersonic flight by a vehicle that can take-off and land from a runway is back on the agenda at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) after a five-year hiatus.\n\nThe experimenting agency has set a “proposers day” on 13-14 July for potential bidders of the Advanced Full Range Engine (AFRE) programme, which is scheduled to launch as a new-start effort in Fiscal 2017.\n\nCombining a turbine engine with a ramjet in the same vehicle has been a dream for the aerospace industry since the early 1950s, when the US Air Force proposed adapting Republic’s concept for the XF-103 fighter with a ramjet to intercept Soviet bombers at speeds up to Mach 5.\n\nBut TBCC concepts are limited by a propulsion gap between the Mach 2.5 top speed of a turbine engine and the Mach 3-3.5 minimum speed for a ramjet engine.\n\nIn 2009, DARPA attempted to bridge that gap with a high-speed turbine and a low-speed ramjet under the Mode Transition (MoTr) programme, but the project was cancelled two years later. By 2013, Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works organisation appeared to lobby for a revival of the research effort by releasing a concept for a Mach 6.0-capable SR-72 for high-speed surveillance missions, which was based on a similar TBCC propulsion system.\n\nThe AFRE programme now seeks to pick up where MoTr left off, leading to a ground demonstration of a fully integrated propulsion system capable of taking-off from a runway and accelerating beyond Mach 5. The system will include an off-the-shelf turbine engine and a dual mode ramjet/scramjet capable of operating with subsonic or supersonic airflows. Both engines share a common inlet and exhaust nozzle, but transition from turbine to ramjet power at a certain speed over Mach 2.5.\n\n\nNo comments:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7985589504241943}
+{"content": "Women more prone to depression after stroke: Study\n\nLondon, Jan 29 (IANS) Women, please take note. Women are twice more likely to suffer from severe depression after a stroke than men, as researchers have found that 20 per cent of women suffered from severe depression compared to 10 per cent of men.\n\n\n“…we can’t pinpoint exactly why depression is more common among women…,” said lead author Salma Ayis from the School of Population Health and Environmental Sciences at King’s College London in UK.\n\n“What is common to both sexes is the dramatic decrease in the likelihood of survival as depression symptoms increase. We believe, therefore, that by monitoring symptoms of depression in stroke survivors and acting accordingly, clinicians may be able to provide better long-term care.”\n\nFor the study, published in the European Journal of Neurology, the research team followed the progress of symptoms over five years after stroke onset in 2,313 people (1,275 men and 1,038 women).\n\nPatients who had their first-ever stroke between 1998 and 2016 were recruited to the study and were monitored until July 2017.\n\nParticipants’ mental health was assessed and cross-referenced with their physical health and socio-demographic data.\n\nStroke is a life-threatening medical condition that occurs when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked. An estimated, one in six people worldwide will have a stroke in their lifetime and there are more than 100,000 strokes in the UK every year.\n\nAlthough severity and symptoms are wide-ranging, about a third of all survivors experience depression following their stroke: approximately 400,000 people in the UK today.\n\n\n\nShare with:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9904027581214905}
+{"content": "Analysis, Featured, Middle East\n\nAmerica is Not Only the Enemy of Our Money, but Our Enemy and Our Religion’s Enemy!\n\nThe Turkish lira has recently lost 50 per cent of its value against the dollar due to the rapid increase in the foreign exchange rate and the severe financial crisis associated with it, as a result of which the purchasing power of people has fallen by half compared to the previous year.\n\nThis process is not new but has accelerated as a result of tension in Turkish-American relations. In March, former minister, Mohammad Shamshak, warned in a statement addressing businessmen: “Do not ever borrow in dollars,” clearly pointing out to the financial and economic crisis that has begun. The current crisis also included the current account deficit, debt stock, unemployment, inflation rates and monetary policies of the central bank. This situation was one of the main reasons for the early elections. This crisis, which has emerged in the economic and financial markets is in fact a process that cannot be contained or avoided. The capitalist economic system applied in Turkey as a tool for Western colonialism led by America creates an unstable ground for these crises. The real economy of the country is based on consumption, assembly and processing industries and import, but not on production. In the last 16 years, hot money that has entered Turkey and the foreign debts that the government has borrowed has been spent on publicity goals and infrastructure that satisfy popular desires rather than spending on economic development. And instead of breaking the path of corruption in public tenders in this area and work to reduce it, the government opened the way for it. No serious steps have been taken towards the establishment of heavy industries based on advanced technology, the transition from the assembly and processing industry to the real industry, the promotion of agriculture and animal husbandry, and the increase of energy resources. On the contrary, an economic policy has been adopted that appeals to popular desires and increases foreign dependency in the name of privatization and external financing, attracting foreign investors, developing tourism, developing the stock market, etc.\n\nThe state, as the public and private sectors, is in a major debt quagmire amounting $455 billion, and foreign debt payments with their RIBA-based interest became a heavy burden. Due to the banking sector’s access to funds through external borrowing, people and the business world have increasingly been associated with loans. Inflation has emerged as a result of the expansion of money supply in the face of increased spending. The virtual economy has dominated the real economy, allowing merciless financial markets in which remittance, interest, stock exchanges and others are promoted, to dominate rather than production and exports. This has led to a significant increase in the fragility and volatility of economic and financial markets and their fluctuations.\n\nThis is only a few of the secretions of the disastrous and corrupt capitalist economic system that serves the Kaffir Western colonial powers. Alongside the application of capitalism and the government’s impotence, this time a trade and financing war was launched against the entire world by America led by Trump. Trump, who has been working throughout his reign as a mafia leader who imposes royalties on states, tries today to involve the whole world in his current crisis. The rulers of the Islamic countries do not sever their relations and renounce their political, economic, and military dependency to America as a friend and ally, although it is a key factor to their economic collapse. And while America is working to occupy our country, dispersing our people and killing our brothers and sisters, these rulers are racing to get closer to the Kafir colonial America, seeking strength and pride from it. And those who sounded the alarm and declared preparation and said: “They have started a war against us so be prepared for it.”, they continue to make friendship, diplomatic, commercial and military relations with America, wage proxy wars on its behalf, and allow the use of our bases and the implementation of their evil plans.\n\nThere is no doubt that our lives will remain in misery as long as these rulers turn away from the Deen of Allah and repel from His way. Justice will only prevail under the leadership of the Khilafah Rashidah (righteous Caliphate) state, and the crises which are the nature of this globalized capitalist system will continue, and the subordination to the Kaffir Western states and the suffering of the oppressed and repressed peoples will remain; unless a monetary system based on gold and silver is restored, the financing colonial instruments are fully cancelled, and an independent economic financial system is being founded. If this is the case, then clearly there is no solution except with the establishment of the Khilafah Rashidah to save the world from the exploitation of capitalism, the brutality of America and the injustices of the Kaffir states, Allah Almighty says:\n\nوَلَا تَبْغِ الْفَسَادَ فِي الْأَرْضِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُفْسِدِينَ\n\n“And desire not corruption in the land. Indeed, Allah does not like corrupters”\n\n\n\nMedia Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Turkey\n\nThursday, 03rd Dhul Hijjah 1439 AH\n\n14/08/2018 CE\n\nNo: TR–BA–2018–MB–TR–011", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5632647275924683}
+{"content": "Independent Samoa\n\nSamoa Independent\n\nAddress of the independent state of Samoa: Samoa Independent State Indigenous Peoples: The Turkish Embassy in Wellington is accredited in Samoa. Samoa, Independent State Please see our Schedule of Charges for: You' ll also find information about your funding and the payment of your dues via the above mentioned link. Are you unsure if you have to cover your home/EU tuition and think you are suitable, please read our page Am I a Home studen?\n\nNearly 100% of Samoa's energy comes from renewable sources\n\nAccording to a new IRENA survey, the Polynesian Isle of Samoa has sufficient renewables capability to cover almost 100% of its electrical needs. Focussing on hydropower, photovoltaic and windpower, the survey finds that a significant rise in renewables is possible and could produce 93% of the island's electricality.\n\nIRENA also stressed that new policies could be incorporated into the current electricity grid that depend on a constant source of fresh drinking air. Currently 20% of the country is run on renewables, but there is still room to further decrease Samoa's dependence on expensive fossile resources. Windfarms generate 1,500 megawatt hours of electricity per year and help the Samoan people by saving $475,000 (USA) a year in terms of heating and 1000 tons of carbon emissions.\n\nThe Samoa region is one of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) that pose similar sustainability issues, which include small but increasing population groups and finite resourc. Renewables have the benefit of delivering less expensive sources of electricity than fossile fuel and making SIDS more viable. First self-adapting hybrids maximize real-time resource permeation to create a dependable one.\n\nTo find out more about our renewables worldwide, please visit our case study or find out more about our photovoltaic, windpower and hybridsolutions.\n\nInsight into Peoples Health: A History of Two Policies: Independent and American Samoa Heath. - PUBMEd\n\nSamoa is independent and American with a common culture, genetics, ethnolinguistic and historic backgrounds, but has been separate since 1899. This paper examines the state of these two policies and identifies two important healthcare models that have crystallized, although American Samoa has reached a higher per head incomes than the independent Samoa.\n\nWhile the sex-specific difference in independent Samoa childbirth has decreased, this difference has not diminished in American Samoa, and its manhood now lagged behind that of independent Samoa. Newborn infant death rate is slightly higher in American Samoa than in Independent Samoa. This may be due to the higher rate of overweight and urbanisation in American Samoa in comparison to Independent Samoa and the different policy and institutionality of the two parties.\n\nRestricted information continues to be a constant threat to the Pacific Island Pacific Island community's risk assessment, particularly in American Samoa.\n\nAuch interessant\n\nMehr zum Thema", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7561538815498352}
+{"content": "How to Relieve Computer Harm to Your Face\n\nMost of the office employees live with the computers now. Women always worried about the radiation from computers would make their face look older and especially the pregenant women would feel the most worried since it's said radiation from computers may harm their unborn baby.\n\nOur eyes often feel tired and dry when facing the computer for a day long, and how to protect the face from the hurt. Many women thought cosmetics may help, but I think the most effective way would be drink more water, green tea the better, and give your face a careful cleaning with water every few hours to clean the unseen dust in the skin.\n\nKeep a good working habit, evey once in a while, let your eyes and body be free and do a little exercise, it would do great help. Don't keep still for too long, it would hurt your shoulder in the long wrong. If you don't want to be left with lots of discomfort when you are not young anymore, you need to pay more attention to the rest skills that may relieve the hurt from sitting too long in front of the computers.\n\nMay wish someday, the computers techonology would take a great leap forward, and leaves us no harm anymore, or there comes another alternatives to work more happily and enjoy life better.\n\nChinese Overview: 电脑辐射日复一日，要多喝水，多洗脸来保护你的皮肤", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.846817672252655}
+{"content": "W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI) shares traded down -6.56% during most recent session. Wall Street analysts covering the stock are projecting that the stock will reach $3 within the next 52-weeks. The mean target projections are based on 3 opinions. Since analyst price targets calculations are subjective, there often can be wide range of targets from various analysts.\n\nHaving a look in a broader way analysts from brokerage firms on the street with an extensive view have high price target of W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI) at $4.5 and with a conformist view have low price target of $1.5 while the stock’s latest closing price was $3.56. This is the consensus price target based on the analysts polled by Thomson Reuters’ First Call, the average is taken from the individual analysts which provided targets and are short term projections for the 12 months.\n\n\n\nFor W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI) out of the analyst recommendations 0 analysts recommend stock a Buy, 0 rate the stock Outperform, 1 analysts recommend to Hold the stock, 2 rate Underperform and 0 analysts recommend the stock a Sell.\n\n\n\nShares of W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI) has a market capitalization of $525.1 Million and its number of outstanding shares are 147.5 Million. During previous trade 4.2 Million shares of W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI) exchanged hands whereas on average almost 2.47 Million shares has been traded.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8732991814613342}
+{"content": "Family and Caregiver Schizophrenia Discussion Forum\n\nParanoia Focused on a Family Member?\n\n\nOur middle daughter has schizophrenia. Lately, I’ve noticed that most of her symptoms of paranoia seem to be centered around our youngest daughter, her little sister. She gets worried about different scenarios where her sister could be hurt, and often has vision-like disturbances that are very upsetting to her where she sees a “vision” of something terrible happening to her sister.\n\nHas this happened to anyone else? Is it something I should be worried about? I don’t think she would hurt her sister, but this odd focus on one family member kind of worries me.\n\n\n@TotesMaGoats If it were me I would talk to the psychiatrist about it. He/She will know if it is a symptom that can be controlled with maybe a slight tweak in the medication or if it is a benign behavior and not to worry.\n\n\n@SurprisedJ on the Diagnosed board has exactly these concerns about his sister. Maybe he can give you some advice.\n\n\nYes - I’ve seen this too. Generally - if the paranoia is about the person potentially being harmed, its probably only bad for the person who has the paranoia because it causes them undue stress and anxiety. That is - as long as the person has no past history of violence towards anyone (e.g. where she might perceive someone as being out to get the younger sister - and because of that lash out pro-actively against that person she suspects as going to harm her younger sister.\n\nBut - the stress that it causes the person with the delusion is bad because the high ongoing cortisol and glucocorticoids (stress hormones) circulating in her body are very bad for her longer term.\n\nI would really make sure to work with her doctor to make sure that they understand the full nature of the problem - and back it up with writing if they are not being proactive and helping resolve the delusions.\n\nHere is some reading about how to get the best care for your daughter:\n\nand specifically this other article:\n\n\nThank you for the replies and the links. I will follow up with her care provider. I am definitely trying to stay on top of her stress levels. It’s very difficult, because the schizophrenia creates its own stress and then is exacerbated by the stress it creates. A vicious cycle.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6334651708602905}
+{"content": "Justin Trudeau Attacks Donald Trump Over GM Closings and Steel Tariffs\n\nThe current G20 Summit in Argentina allows world leaders to address their grievances in person. Today, Justin Trudeau took the opportunity to attack Donald Trump’s tariffs and ask him to end them.\n\nThe White House\n\nThe men appeared on stage together to discuss the amended Nafta deal. Trudeau began by stating, “The new agreement lifts the risk of serious economic uncertainty that lingers throughout a trade renegotiation process, uncertainty that would have only gotten worse and more damaging had we not reached a new NAFTA.”\n\nTrudeau then talked about the recent GM factory closings. Canada was impacted by GM’s decision as a massive plant in Oshawa, Ontario is scheduled to be shuttered. Trudeau referred to the plant closings as “a heavy blow.”\n\nTrump and his administration attempted to blame the closings on many factors including the leadership of GM CEO Mary Barra. It is thought by many that both Trump’s corporate tax breaks and steel tariffs played a role in the closings.\n\nThe Canadian Prime Minister certainly feels the tariffs were an important factor. He took the moment to address Trump directly, “And Donald, it’s all the more reason why we need to keep working to remove the tariffs on steel and aluminum between our countries.”\n\nThe steel and aluminum tariffs have been a major bone of contention for Canadian leadership. According to Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star, Trudeau even considered refusing to appear on stage with Trump until the tariffs are ended.\n\nCanadians were not only upset at the economic implications of the tariffs, but also their justification. Trump had argued that the tariffs were necessary since Canada presented a National Security threat.\n\nThe tariffs are beginning to have long ranging implications not only on the US economy but the economy of other nations as well. Time will tell if Trudeau’s directness will help lead to an agreement between the US and Canada, or perhaps further push the two countries apart.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998370409011841}
+{"content": "M. C. Escher facts for kids\n\nKids Encyclopedia Facts\nM.C. Escher in 1971\nUniversiteit Twente Mesa Plus Escher Object\nA sculpture made from a drawing by M.C. Escher\nThe Art of M.C. Escher\nA typical Escher piece\n\nMaurits Cornelis Escher (17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972), usually referred to as M. C. Escher, was a Dutch graphic artist born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture and tessellations (means \"like tiles\").\n\nDuring his life, Escher made 448 lithographs, woodcuts and wood engravings. He did over 2000 drawings and sketches. He also illustrated books, designed tapestries, postage stamps and murals. Escher was interested in different ways of making art, he used tile-like repeated patterns in many of his paintings. Early in his career he drew inspirations of nature: he studied art, landscapes and insects. Some of Escher’s most famous drawings include: Drawing hands, Relativity and Flying Fish. Most of his works were related to maths.\n\nEarly life\n\nLeeuwarden - Keramiekmuseum Princessehof\nEscher's birth house, now part of the Princessehof Ceramics Museum, in Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands\n\n\n\nStudy journeys\n\nMoorish tessellations including this one at the Alhambra inspired Escher's work with tilings of the plane. He made sketches of this and other Alhambra patterns in 1936.\n\n\nEscher returned to Italy and lived in Rome from 1923 to 1935. While in Italy, Escher met Jetta Umiker – a Swiss woman, like himself attracted to Italy\n\nHe travelled frequently, visiting (among other places) Viterbo in 1926, the Abruzzi in 1927 and 1929, Corsica in 1928 and 1933, Calabria in 1930, the Amalfi coast in 1931 and 1934, and Gargano and Sicily in 1932 and 1935. The townscapes and landscapes of these places feature prominently in his artworks. In May and June 1936, Escher travelled back to Spain, revisiting the Alhambra and spending days at a time making detailed drawings of its mosaic patterns. It was here that he became fascinated, to the point of obsession, with tessellation, explaining:\n\n\nThe sketches he made in the Alhambra formed a major source for his work from that time on. He also studied the architecture of the Mezquita, the Moorish mosque of Cordoba. This turned out to be the last of his long study journeys; after 1937, his artworks were created in his studio rather than in the field. His art correspondingly changed sharply from being mainly observational, with a strong emphasis on the realistic details of things seen in nature and architecture, to being the product of his geometric analysis and his visual imagination. All the same, even his early work already shows his interest in the nature of space, the unusual, perspective, and multiple points of view.\n\nLater life\n\n\nThe Netherlands post office had Escher design a semi-postal stamp for the \"Air Fund\" in 1935, and again in 1949 he designed Netherlands stamps. These were for the 75th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union; a different design was used by Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles for the same commemoration.\n\nEscher Snakes\nEscher's last work, Snakes, 1969\n\nEscher, who had been very fond of and inspired by the landscapes in Italy, was decidedly unhappy in Switzerland. In 1937, the family moved again, to Uccle (Ukkel), a suburb of Brussels, Belgium. World War II forced them to move in January 1941, this time to Baarn, Netherlands, where Escher lived until 1970. Most of Escher's best-known works date from this period. The sometimes cloudy, cold, and wet weather of the Netherlands allowed him to focus intently on his work. After 1953, Escher lectured widely. A planned series of lectures in North America in 1962 was cancelled after an illness, and he stopped creating artworks for a time, but the illustrations and text for the lectures were later published as part of the book Escher on Escher. He was awarded the Knighthood of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 1955; he was later made an Officer in 1967.\n\nIn July 1969 he finished his last work, a large woodcut with threefold rotational symmetry called Snakes, in which snakes wind through a pattern of linked rings. These shrink to infinity toward both the center and the edge of a circle. It was exceptionally elaborate, being printed using three blocks, each rotated three times about the center of the image and precisely aligned to avoid gaps and overlaps, for a total of nine print operations for each finished print. The image encapsulates Escher's love of symmetry; of interlocking patterns; and, at the end of his life, of his approach to infinity. The care that Escher took in creating and printing this woodcut can be seen in a video recording.\n\nEscher moved to the Rosa Spier Huis in Laren in 1970, an artists' retirement home in which he had his own studio. He died in a hospital in Hilversum on 27 March 1972, aged 73. He is buried at the New Cemetery in Baarn.\n\nMathematically inspired work\n\n\nEscher is not the first artist to explore mathematical themes: Parmigianino (1503–1540) had explored spherical geometry and reflection in his 1524 Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror, depicting his own image in a curved mirror, while William Hogarth's 1754 Satire on False Perspective foreshadows Escher's playful exploration of errors in perspective. Another early artistic forerunner is Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778), whose dark \"fantastical\" prints such as The Drawbridge in his Carceri (\"Prisons\") sequence depict perspectives of complex architecture with many stairs and ramps, peopled by walking figures. Only with 20th century movements such as Cubism, De Stijl, Dadaism, and Surrealism did mainstream art start to explore Escher-like ways of looking at the world with multiple simultaneous viewpoints. However, although Escher had much in common with, for example, Magritte's surrealism, he did not make contact with any of these movements.\n\n\nIn his early years, Escher sketched landscapes and nature. He also sketched insects such as ants, bees, grasshoppers, and mantises,, which appeared frequently in his later work. His early love of Roman and Italian landscapes and of nature created an interest in tessellation, which he called Regular Division of the Plane; this became the title of his 1958 book, complete with reproductions of a series of woodcuts based on tessellations of the plane, in which he described the systematic buildup of mathematical designs in his artworks. He wrote, \"Mathematicians have opened the gate leading to an extensive domain\".\n\nStudy of Regular Division of the Plane with Reptiles\nHexagonal tessellation with animals: Study of Regular Division of the Plane with Reptiles (1939). Escher reused the design in his 1943 lithograph Reptiles.\n\nAfter his 1936 journey to the Alhambra and to La Mezquita, Cordoba, where he sketched the Moorish architecture and the tessellated mosaic decorations,, Escher began to explore the properties and possibilities of tessellation using geometric grids as the basis for his sketches. He then extended these to form complex interlocking designs, for example with animals such as birds, fish, and reptiles. One of his first attempts at a tessellation was his pencil, India ink, and watercolour Study of Regular Division of the Plane with Reptiles (1939), constructed on a hexagonal grid. The heads of the red, green, and white reptiles meet at a vertex; the tails, legs, and sides of the animals interlock exactly. It was used as the basis for his 1943 lithograph Reptiles.\n\nHis first study of mathematics began with papers by George Pólya and by the crystallographer Friedrich Haag on plane symmetry groups, sent to him by his brother Berend, a geologist. He carefully studied the 17 canonical wallpaper groups and created periodic tilings with 43 drawings of different types of symmetry. From this point on, he developed a mathematical approach to expressions of symmetry in his artworks using his own notation. Starting in 1937, he created woodcuts based on the 17 groups. His Metamorphosis I (1937) began a series of designs that told a story through the use of pictures. In Metamorphosis I, he transformed convex polygons into regular patterns in a plane to form a human motif. He extended the approach in his piece Metamorphosis III, which is four metres long.\n\nIn 1941 and 1942, Escher summarized his findings for his own artistic use in a sketchbook, which he labeled (following Haag) Regelmatige vlakverdeling in asymmetrische congruente veelhoeken (\"Regular division of the plane with asymmetric congruent polygons\"). The mathematician Doris Schattschneider unequivocally described this notebook as recording \"a methodical investigation that can only be termed mathematical research.\" She defined the research questions he was following as\n\n(1) What are the possible shapes for a tile that can produce a regular division of the plane, that is, a tile that can fill the plane with its congruent images such that every tile is surrounded in the same manner?\n(2) Moreover, in what ways are the edges of such a tile related to each other by isometries?\n\n\nEscher's Relativity\nMultiple viewpoints and impossible stairs: Relativity, 1953\n\nAlthough Escher did not have mathematical training—his understanding of mathematics was largely visual and intuitive—his art had a strong mathematical component, and several of the worlds that he drew were built around impossible objects. After 1924, Escher turned to sketching landscapes in Italy and Corsica with irregular perspectives that are impossible in natural form. His first print of an impossible reality was Still Life and Street (1937); impossible stairs and multiple visual and gravitational perspectives feature in popular works such as Relativity (1953). House of Stairs (1951) attracted the interest of the mathematician Roger Penrose and his father, the biologist Lionel Penrose. In 1956, they published a paper, \"Impossible Objects: A Special Type of Visual Illusion\" and later sent Escher a copy. Escher replied, admiring the Penroses' continuously rising flights of steps, and enclosed a print of Ascending and Descending (1960). The paper also contained the tribar or Penrose triangle, which Escher used repeatedly in his lithograph of a building that appears to function as a perpetual motion machine, Waterfall (1961).\n\nEscher was interested enough in Hieronymus Bosch's 1500 triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights to re-create part of its right-hand panel, Hell, as a lithograph in 1935. He reused the figure of a Mediaeval woman in a two-pointed headdress and a long gown in his lithograph Belvedere in 1958; the image is, like many of his other \"extraordinary invented places\", peopled with \"jesters, knaves, and contemplators\". Thus, Escher not only was interested in possible or impossible geometry but was, in his own words, a \"reality enthusiast\"; he combined \"formal astonishment with a vivid and idiosyncratic vision\".\n\nEscher Waterfall\nPerpetual motion machine with Penrose triangles: Waterfall, 1961\n\n\nEscher was also fascinated by mathematical objects such as the Möbius strip, which has only one surface. His wood engraving Möbius Strip II (1963) depicts a chain of ants marching forever over what, at any one place, are the two opposite faces of the object—which are seen on inspection to be parts of the strip's single surface. In Escher's own words:\n\n\nThe mathematical influence in his work became prominent after 1936, when, having boldly asked the Adria Shipping Company if he could sail with them as travelling artist in return for making drawings of their ships, they surprisingly agreed, and he sailed the Mediterranean, becoming interested in order and symmetry. Escher described this journey, including his repeat visit to the Alhambra, as \"the richest source of inspiration I have ever tapped\".\n\nEscher's interest in curvilinear perspective was encouraged by his friend and \"kindred spirit\", the art historian and artist Albert Flocon, in another example of constructive mutual influence. Flocon identified Escher as a \"thinking artist\" alongside Piero della Francesca, Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer, Wenzel Jamnitzer, Abraham Bosse, Girard Desargues, and Père Nicon. Flocon was delighted by Escher's Grafiek en tekeningen (\"Graphics in Drawing\"), which he read in 1959. This stimulated Flocon and André Barre to correspond with Escher and to write the book La Perspective curviligne (\"Curvilinear perspective\").\n\nPlatonic and other solids\n\nUniversiteit Twente Mesa Plus Escher Object\nSculpture of a small stellated dodecahedron, as in Escher's 1952 work Gravitation (University of Twente)\n\n\nThe flat shape irritates me—I feel like telling my objects, you are too fictitious, lying there next to each other static and frozen: do something, come off the paper and show me what you are capable of! ... So I make them come out of the plane. ... My objects ... may finally return to the plane and disappear into their place of origin.\n\nEscher's artwork is especially well-liked by mathematicians such as Doris Schattschneider and scientists such as Roger Penrose, who enjoy his use of polyhedra and geometric distortions. For example, in Gravitation, animals climb around a stellated dodecahedron.\n\nThe two towers of Waterfall's impossible building are topped with compound polyhedra, one a compound of three cubes, the other a stellated rhombic dodecahedron now known as Escher's solid. Escher had used this solid in his 1948 woodcut Stars, which also contains all five of the Platonic solids and various stellated solids, representing stars; the central solid is animated by chameleons climbing through the frame as it whirls in space. Escher possessed a 6 cm refracting telescope and was a keen-enough amateur astronomer to have recorded observations of binary stars.\n\nLevels of reality\n\nDrawing Hands, 1948\n\nEscher's artistic expression was created from images in his mind, rather than directly from observations and travels to other countries. His interest in the multiple levels of reality in art is seen in works such as Drawing Hands (1948), where two hands are shown, each drawing the other. The critic Steven Poole commented that\n\nIt is a neat depiction of one of Escher's enduring fascinations: the contrast between the two-dimensional flatness of a sheet of paper and the illusion of three-dimensional volume that can be created with certain marks. In Drawing Hands, space and the flat plane coexist, each born from and returning to the other, the black magic of the artistic illusion made creepily manifest.\n\nInfinity and hyperbolic geometry\n\nSchattschneider Reconstruction of Escher's Coxeter Diagram\nDoris Schattschneider's reconstruction of the diagram of hyperbolic tiling sent by Escher to the mathematician H. S. M. Coxeter\n\nIn 1954, the International Congress of Mathematicians met in Amsterdam, and N. G. de Bruin organized a display of Escher's work at the Stedelijk Museum for the participants. Both Roger Penrose and H. S. M. Coxeter were deeply impressed with Escher's intuitive grasp of mathematics. Inspired by Relativity, Penrose devised his tribar, and his father, Lionel Penrose, devised an endless staircase. Roger Penrose sent sketches of both objects to Escher, and the cycle of invention was closed when Escher then created the perpetual motion machine of Waterfall and the endless march of the monk-figures of Ascending and Descending. In 1957, Coxeter obtained Escher's permission to use two of his drawings in his paper \"Crystal symmetry and its generalizations\". He sent Escher a copy of the paper; Escher recorded that Coxeter's figure of a hyperbolic tessellation \"gave me quite a shock\": the infinite regular repetition of the tiles in the hyperbolic plane, growing rapidly smaller towards the edge of the circle, was precisely what he wanted to allow him to represent infinity on a two-dimensional plane.\n\nEscher Circle Limit III\nHyperbolic tessellation: Circle Limit III, 1959\n\nEscher carefully studied Coxeter's figure, marking it up to analyse the successively smaller circles with which (he deduced) it had been constructed. He then constructed a diagram, which he sent to Coxeter, showing his analysis; Coxeter confirmed it was correct, but disappointed Escher with his highly technical reply. All the same, Escher persisted with hyperbolic tiling, which he called \"Coxetering\". Among the results were the series of wood engravings Circle Limit I–IV. In 1959, Coxeter published his finding that these works were extraordinarily accurate: \"Escher got it absolutely right to the millimeter\".\n\n\nGevel Escher in Het Paleis 300 dpi\nThe Escher Museum in The Hague. The poster shows a detail from Day and Night, 1938\n\nEscher's special way of thinking and rich graphics have had a continuous influence in mathematics and art, as well as in popular culture.\n\nIn art collections\n\nThe Escher intellectual property is controlled by the M.C. Escher Company, while exhibitions of his artworks are managed separately by the M.C. Escher Foundation.\n\nThe primary institutional collections of original works by M.C. Escher are the Escher Museum in The Hague; the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC); the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa); the Israel Museum (Jerusalem); and the Huis ten Bosch (Nagasaki, Japan).\n\n\nDespite wide popular interest, Escher was for a long time somewhat neglected in the art world; even in his native Netherlands, he was 70 before a retrospective exhibition was held. In the twenty-first century, major exhibitions have been held in cities across the world. An exhibition of his work in Rio de Janeiro attracted more than 573,000 visitors in 2011; its daily visitor count of 9,677 made it the most visited museum exhibition of the year, anywhere in the world. No major exhibition of Escher's work was held in Britain until 2015, when the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art ran one in Edinburgh from June to September 2015, moving in October 2015 to the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London. The exhibition moved to Italy in 2015–2016, attracting over 500,000 visitors in Rome and Bologna, and then Milan.\n\nIn mathematics and science\n\nLeeuwarden - Tegeltableau Escher\nWall tableau of one of Escher's bird tessellations at the Princessehof Ceramics Museum in Leeuwarden\n\nDoris Schattschneider identifies 11 strands of mathematical and scientific research anticipated or directly inspired by Escher. These are the classification of regular tilings using the edge relationships of tiles: two-color and two-motif tilings (counterchange symmetry or antisymmetry); color symmetry (in crystallography); metamorphosis or topological change; covering surfaces with symmetric patterns; Escher's algorithm (for generating patterns using decorated squares); creating tile shapes; local versus global definitions of regularity; symmetry of a tiling induced by the symmetry of a tile; orderliness not induced by symmetry groups; the filling of the central void in Escher's lithograph Print Gallery by H. Lenstra and B. de Smit.\n\nThe Pulitzer Prize-winning 1979 book Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter discusses the ideas of self-reference and strange loops, drawing on a wide range of artistic and scientific sources including Escher's art and the music of J. S. Bach.\n\nThe asteroid 4444 Escher was named in Escher's honor in 1985.\n\nM. C. Escher Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9768737554550171}
+{"content": "Technicals in Focus: Mygo Games Holding CO (MYGG)\n\n\nMoving Averages are prominently used technical indicators that smooth out price action by filtering out random price fluctuations.  It’s a trend-following (lagging) indicator as it is based on past pricing.  The two basic Moving Averages are the simple moving average (SMA), the simple average of a security over a defined number of time, and the exponential moving average (EMA), which gives more prominence to recent prices.  The most common reasons why MAs are used are to determine support and resistance levels and to identify trend direction.  Though MAs are useful on their own, they also lay the foundation for other indicators such as the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD).  Mygo Games Holding CO (MYGG)’s 1-Month Moving Average is 0.0044, while the 3-Month Moving Average is 0.0047. \n\nAverage Volume is the amount of securities traded in a day on average over a specific time period.  Trading activity relates to the liquidity of a security.  When average volume is high, the stock has high liquidity and can be therefore easily traded, while conversely, when the trading volume is low, the commodity will be less expensive as traders are not as willing to purchase it.  Average volume has an effect on the price of the security.  Mygo Games Holding CO (MYGG)’s 1-Month Average Volume is 0.0044 and the 3-Month Average Volume is 0.0047.\n\nMygo Games Holding CO (MYGG)’s 50-Day Raw Stochastic, which shows (on a range of 0%-100%) where the price closed in relation to its price range over the last 50 Days is 4.76%.  Their 50-Day Stochastic %K, which indicates (on a range of 0%-100%) where the price closed in relation to its price range over the last 50 Days with a 3-period exponential moving average applied is 4.25%.  Finally, their 50-Day Stochastic %D, the indicator that shows (on a range of 0%-100%) where the price closed in relation to its price range over the last 50 Days with a 3-period exponential moving average applied, is 4.08%.\n\nMygo Games Holding CO (MYGG)’s TrendSpotter Opinion, the signal from Trendspotter, a Barchart trend analysis system that uses wave theory, market momentum & volatility in an attempt to find a general trend, is Sell.  Its TrendSpotter Strength, the strength of the signal compared to its historical performance where Maximum is the strongest this signal has been and Minimum the weakest, is Maximum, while the company’s TrendSpotter Direction, which indicates whether the Buy or Sell signal is strengthening or weakening, or whether a Hold signal is heading towards a buy or sell signal, is Strengthening. \n\n\nToday’s opinion, the overall signal based on where the price lies in reference to the common interpretation of all 13 studies, for Mygo Games Holding CO (MYGG) is 48% Sell.  The Opinion Direction, a three-day measurement of the movement of the signal, an indication of whether the most recent price movement is going along with the signal.  Strongest, Strengthening, Average, Weakening, or Weakest.  A buy or sell signal with a “strongest” direction means the signal is becoming stronger.  A hold signal direction indicates where the signal is heading (towards a buy or sell): Bullish, Rising, Steady, Falling, or Bearish.  Mygo Games Holding CO (MYGG)’s direction is Average.  Mygo Games Holding CO (MYGG)’s opinion strength, a long-term measurement of signal strength vs. the historical strength, is Weak.  Opinion strength ranges from Maximum, Strong, Average, Weak, Minimum.  A stronger strength is less volatile and a hold signal does not have any strength.\n\n\nThe first assumption, that price discounts everything, means the market price of a commodity at any given point in time perfectly reflects all available information, and represents the security’s true fair value.  It is based on the idea the market price always reflects the sum total knowledge of the market.\n\n\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6288819909095764}
+{"content": "7 Polarity Rise, Silverdale\n\nDr Holman Gao\n\nDr Holman Gao\n\n\nWork Days:\nMonday: 8am-5pm\nTuesday: 8am-5pm\nWednesday: 9am-6pm\nThursday: 9am-6pm\nFriday: 11am-6pm\n\nDr. Holman Gao grew up in Auckland and completed his medical training at the University of Otago spending time in both Dunedin and Christchurch. After completing his training he moved back up to Auckland where he spent the next 4 years in various medical and surgical specialties including Neurosurgery, Cardio-thoracic surgery and Intensive Care. Since then he has moved to family medicine and has never looked back.\n\nDr. Gao enjoys the challenges, team work and variety of General Practice as well as the people that come along with it. In his spare time he enjoys reading, going to the gym and travelling when he can.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9870449304580688}
+{"content": "Moon in Scorpio\n\nHello Moonchild!\n\n\nThe Moon (Emotions) is in Scorpio, the sign of Death + Rebirth. Since February of 2017, we have been shining the spotlight on where we need to stand in the community, and this Scorpio Moon is the final call to align. Scorpio asks us to transform - the energy can be triggering and emotional, though, if you recall, Scorpio is a Fixed Water sign, meaning, it is determined to get the job done by way of flow. Working with water can be tricky and overwhelming - you may feel like you're drowning in emotions; allow yourself to drown temporarily...sink deep into the pain - your past, your heart, your dreams - and tell yourself, \"its ok, I tried my best.\" Once you've drowned, you can be born again - freshly cleansed and ready to gallop towards your truth. I think one of the most beautiful transitions of the Zodiac is from Scorpio to Sagittarius - on the surface, these two signs seem entirely different - Scorpio is deep, and Sagittarius is broad - but when you acknowledge that Sagittarius energy is evolved Scorpio energy, you can begin to understand why Sagittarius is connected to strong optimism and unleashed mastery. \n\nThis week, our collective is being presented with opportunities to connect with our divine feminine power. We're being guided towards the authentic intimacy of our deepest desires, and being presented with heart matters. The soothing feminine energy is asking to be embraced - can we let go of control and welcome in the warmth and love that is within our own bodies? Can our hardened souls accept the lessons and teachings from this source? Do we follow the signs towards our deepest passions? The signs may seem off because they aren't following tradition. None of this seems to make any sense. This isn't how we were conditioned to live. The secret is that it is our very conditioning that has led us off our destined path. As the world begins to become aware of the damage that these patriarchal systems have created, it will move further and further away from these \"traditions\" and towards wholeness of the mind, body, and soul - and these three only follow the chaotic Universal system of our galaxy. \n\nThe Moon will enter Sagittarius (the Archer) on 1.29.19 at 9:33 am EST.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9909763336181641}
+{"content": "Abc Assignment Help\n\nFeasibility Analysis: Signed, Sealed ,Delivered Innovations\n\nHolmes Institute\nCode: HS2061\nTitle: Information Systems Project Management\n\n1. Develop a system scope document\n\nUsing the Signed, Sealed, Delivered Case Study provided, develop a system scope document. This document must include a section for each of the following:\n\n• the business problem,\n\n• a statement of purpose,\n\n• the benefits of a new system\n\n• the system capabilities and what it must achieve as a minimum\n\n• exclusions – what the proposed system will NOT include\n\n\nExecutive Summary\n\nSigned, Sealed, Delivered is a company that desires to exercise their innovative aptitudes by making certain circumspect alterations in their prevalent strategic layout. In terms of feasibility analysis, they have discovered with a gross technological disability that potentially prevents them from availing the latest ideas. In this regard, there is a high requirement of the company to employ technically sound recruits in order to attend the operational intricacy. Furthermore, the company requires to update their prevalent technological expertise in order to be able to attend those innovative ideas.\n\n\nIt is imperative for the business organizations to determine the viability of their yet-to-be-executed innovations as a strategic emergency since this is the prime indicator of the upcoming alterations is able to successful or not. The popular feasibility analysis framework can determine viability of activities where the major components are the technical, economic and operational feasibility. Moreover, the resources requisite need to be analyzed as well in order to fathom the functional and non-functional specifications of the nascent activities. In this regard, the current suite is supposed to evaluate those in terms of the aforementioned components in order to guide the company of Signed, Sealed ,Delivered towards their innovative activities (Hussein and Hafseld, 2014).\n\nFeasibility Analysis\n\nTechnical Feasibility\n\nIn the advent of the current study, the company of Signed, Sealed , Delivered is supposed to add some activities in their strategic metric out of a sheer emergency. In this regard, they require a nominal technical soundness that might assist towards the accomplishment of those. For instance, instead of taking a monthly bill, they wish to get involved in a interpersonal encounter with their potential customers in order to maintain an alumni of them (Ahlan, 2014). In this regard, they have to maintain a register of records of their potential customers. In this regard, the innovative aptitudes of the respective unit appear technically sound as they wish to customize their online portal. Furthermore, in order to offer special privileges to their potential customer, the respective unit intends to devise a profile that need to be updated on a regular basis in order to portray them as their emerald customers. In terms of the plan that enables the potential customer with the option to opt the delivery time, they need to upgrade their webpage accordingly. Furthermore, in order to enable their potential customers with the opportunity to keep record of the progress of their delivery, they need to upgrade their Global Positioning System. In conclusion, the current stance of the unit is not technically sound enough to avail their innovative ideas at this point of time.        \n\nEconomic Feasibility\n\nSigned , Sealed, Delivered appear to be a company that intends to serve their customers while stimulating their sales via business to consumer trajectory. In this regard, they have been able to obtain a status in the market of online delivery with their sincerity of delivery and evident punctuality. In terms of their annual revenue, they have been able to earn a considerable amount within a short course of time. In order to explore their venture towards the next benchmark they have decided to incorporate several service alterations that, according to their strategic acumen, might assist them to retain their customer base while availing new frontiers. In this regard, the management of the respective unit requires to install certain technical expertise that might enable them to avail their innovative services (Lam, et al. 2013). In this regard, evaluating their current economic condition with a reliable analytical framework, it can be easily stated that they are at the threshold of availing those since they have been able to maintain a consistent economic gain within a short course of time.   \n\nOperational Feasibility\n\nIt has been already established that the management of Signed, Sealed, Delivered pertains some innovative aptitudes that the wish to incorporate in their prevalent strategic objectives in order to consolidate their prevalent customer base while seeking new frontiers. In this regard, they have discovered that they need to introduce some reforms in terms of technical expertise in order to accomplish the desired objectives. In order to operate those technical expertise prudently, the subordinates require to be technically sound enough in order to operate those expertise properly (Larson and Gray, 2013). For instance, the Global Positioning Apparatus that need to be operated accordingly in order to track the residence of the immediate customer. While conducting the analytical framework, the researcher came across certain technical impediments prevalent among the potential subordinates that might prevent the entire unit from availing the innovative aptitudes. Thus, in the light of the outcomes of the framework, it can be depicted that, the subordinates are still not adequately prepared enough to deal with the considerable alterations.      \n\nRequirement Analysis\n\nFunctional Specification\n\nIn this regard, it is evident that the primary functional requisite is updated technological resources in order to accomplish the desired outcomes. For instance, the respective unit requires to install the upgraded version of Global Positioning system in order to keep the requisite track that might enable the unit to avail the desired outcomes. Moreover, in terms of workforce requirement that is the pivotal component of the functional requirements, the unit requires to recruit technologically sound employees who are eligible to perform the technical operations in order to make the upgraded expertise function accordingly (Schwalbe, 2015). Moreover, since the unit is planning to keep the record of their potential customer instead of just serve them with their requested amenities, they might need a website developer who can access a portal accordingly and operate and upgrade those as per the profile of the respective customer.       \n\nNon-functional Specification\n\nIn order to answer the non-core competencies of the company that is beyond their functional expertise, they can simply hire an auxiliary unit that might outsource their non-functional competencies. Non-functional competencies, in the current context can be categorized as the additional specifications that the respective unit requires to meet in order to avail seamless customer retention. \n\nProject Constraints\n\nOne of the major project constraints is the absence of potential technical resources that might disable the respective unit to accomplish the desired outcomes. In terms of the innovative aptitudes that they have undertaken to pursue, there is a high requirement of the company to install prudent technological expertise (Laudon and Laudon, 2016). For instance, the respective unit might require an updated global positioning system to track their potential customers nearby. As per the current stance of the unit, what they majorly lack is technological expertise. Moreover, in terms of workforce the unit is also devoid of technological expert to operate the upgraded systems. These can be highlighted as the potential constraints of the project.       \n\nProject Work Breakdown Structure\n\nIn terms of Work Breakdown Structure, the innovative ideas that the unit intends to incorporate in their prevalent strategic metric required to be narrowed down in accordance with the corresponding timeframes. In this course of time, the primary requisite of this Work Breakdown Structure is to recruit a group of potential subordinates that might assist the unit with their prudency and technological soundness. Afterwards, they need to install the technological requisites accordingly in order to let the employees function accordingly. At the end of the structure, they need to train their new recruits that they can work accordingly.  \n\n\nIn the light of the above study, it can be concluded that the company of Signed, Sealed, Delivered has been found with an flagrant absence of requisite technical resources that might resist the unit to embark on the innovative aptitudes they have planned. However, in terms of economic advantage, they have been discovered with a positive stance since they have been able to earn consistently. As per the recent requirements, the foremost requirement of the company is to employ subordinates with technically sound recruits in order to avail the operational intricacies of the yet-to-be-installed technical expertise.\n\nCustomer Testimonials", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.538087010383606}
+{"content": "A Study on the World’s Biggest Fish: The Whale Shark\n\nThe Whale Shark\n\nWhale Shark\n\nThe whale shark is the only living member of its genus, Rhincodon. This gentle giant is a filter feeder that grows to a documented 41.5 feet in length and 75,000lbs. Although this is the largest scientifically documented whale shark there are several reports of fish reaching upwards of 65 feet with weights nearing 90,000lbs. To put this in perspective the second largest fish is a basking shark 40 feet and 8,000 pounds.\n\nThe unique yellow spotted pattern on the grey fish gives it the look of a clear night sky and several indigenous populations throughout the tropical range of the whale shark have names for it that reflect this. In Madagascar the whale shark is called \"marokintana\" meaning \"many stars.\" In Java the whale shark also evokes the stars. They call it \"geger lintang,\" which means \"stars in the back.\"\n\nWhat Does a Huge Fish Eat?\n\nThe whale shark is a filter feeder although it does have 300 to 350 rows of small teeth. These teeth may be used for eating small fish but most scientists believe they are a remnant of evolution serving little purpose to the current shark. Like other large marine animals, specifically baleen whales, the whale shark filters macro algae, plankton and krill through its gill system by gulping in large amount of water and straining the small creatures in a mesh-like area in the mouth. They were once thought to be strictly filter feeders until a British expedition caught a large whale shark on tape feeding on small schooling fish. It has since been determined that they also feed on small squid as well.\n\nFish Stories\n\nThe largest documented whale shark ever was caught on November 11, 1947. Fishermen near Baba Island, Pakistan spent three hours dragging it back to shore where it was measured at 41 ½ ft. long and 23 ft. wide. The weight was taken on a commercial fish scale and came out to just over 47,000 lb.\n\nEven though the Baba Island whale shark is the largest documented fish, there are several accounts of gigantic whale sharks being observed or even caught but none of these have sufficient documentation for the claims to be authenticated. Still, there is no reason to believe that creatures of the reports sizes don’t exist. The ocean is largely unexplored and with diving depths recorded as deep as 2300 ft. the largest of the whale sharks may simply be swimming in places we haven’t yet looked.\n\nEdward Perceval Wright, while studying the species in 1868 near the Republic of Seychelles, claimed to have witnessed individual sharks approximately 50 ft long and relayed accounts by locals of some that were almost 70 ft in length.\n\nHugh M. Smith published a firsthand account of a huge fish caught in a bamboo trap in Thailand in 1919. This 1925 account stated that “the shark was too heavy to pull ashore, but Smith estimated that the shark was at least 56 ft long and weighed approximately 82,000 lb.\n\nThe 1934 account of a whale shark encounter with a ship named the Maurguani in the Southern Pacific Ocean tells of the ramming of the fish and its subsequent trouble as the fish became caught in the prow. The account claimed that 15 ft were visible on one side of the ship with 40 ft. more on the other.\n\nThe whale shark may be a living relic from a time when large filter feeders were kings of the sea. Once endangered due to commercial fishing it now thrives with sightings increasing every year. The Shark Trust and Project AWARE work with Whalesharkproject.org to foster preservation of this species by promoting underwater swims with the gentle giants. The website is full of user submitted images that show the world's biggest fish in all its immense glory.\n\n\nWood, Gerald L., Animal Facts and Feats, Sterling Publishing, 1990\n\nManiguet, Xavier, Jaws of Death:Sharks as Predator, Man as Prey; HarperCollins, 1991\n\nWhale Shark Project, https://www.whalesharkproject.org/\n\nImage courtesy of Ravas51 at FlickR", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8420957326889038}
+{"content": "Quadrature (90 degree) property of symmetric coupled lines\n\nClick here to go to our quadrature coupler page\n\nClick here to go to our coupled-line coupler page\n\nThe quadrature property of couplers is when the coupled section and through section have transmission phase angles that are 90 degrees apart. This is a useful property, and ideally it extends over infinite bandwidth, well outside of the useful amplitude band of a real coupler.\n\nSymmetric coupled line structures include single-section couplers and any coupling factor: couplers used for power amplifier combine are tweaked for \"3 dB\" power coupling so that amplifiers are equally combined and one of the amps does not do all the work. These are called 3 dB hybrid couplers.  The coupled-line section is one-quarter wavelength at center frequency. Wider-band couplers can be created by adding quarterwave sections, this is an art that has been documented in literature well  before the age of EDA software. \"Symmetric\" couplers means that there is X and Y symmetry: a typical cascaded coupler might have a -10 dB section followed by a -2 dB section followed by a -10 dB section.  Once symmetry is lost, the 90 degree property is usually lost, too.\n\nThere are other forces at work besides symmetry that ruin the desired quadrature property.  Any coupler that is not built in a purely TEM media will go out of quadrature. A Lange coupler is built on microstrip, and therefore only has limited bandwidth.  The 90 degree property of a Lange falls away particularly above the center frequency.  The degree that it falls off is controlled by the disparity in dielectric constant of the substrate and air, for example a Lange on Quartz (DK=3.5) will outperform a Lange on GaAs (DK=12.9).\n\nFor the broadest-band quadrature couplers, stripline or coax must be used, as they offer TEM media. Microstrip is  cheap and easy, but in the case of couplers it is not your friend!\n\nWhen couplers fall out of quadrature, directivity is degraded, and the coupler becomes lossy as energy is routed to the normally isolated port.\n\nWhy do symmetric coupled lines produce a natural 90 degree phase shift between \"through\" and \"coupled\" paths?  This is a great question and it takes a little explanation to do it justice.\n\nThe quadrature property of the coupled lines is a subset of the amazing properties of lossless, symmetric four-port microwave circuits. For double symmetry circuits (like two coupled lines) the 16 S-parameters of the scattering matrix of the four-port reduce to four independent S-parameters, S11, S12, S13 and S14.\n\nBecause the circuit is lossless (no heat or radiation losses), conservation of power is applicable to the four ports. This means that the multiplication of the scattering matrix by its complex conjugate transposed matrix will be equal to the unity matrix, [S],sup>T x [S]=I.  This results in 16 equations-one for each element of the unity matrix.  Twelve of these equations are not independent and are just variations of the first four. Click here to see the bloody details. \n\nFor more information on this approach to the properties of a lossless 4-port, check out the textbook  by Mongia, Bahl & Bhartia, RF and Microwave Coupled-Line Circuits, Artech House, 1999, pp 40-46.\n\nAuthor : The Other Editor", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8565879464149475}
+{"content": "Research paper Topic: Hitler speech rhetoric\n\nThis paper needs to be focused on how Hitler used rhetoric in his speeches and how it affected the people, without being broad, making a list of rhetorical devices, and going to deep on biographical information.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9940854907035828}
+{"content": "SureFire Institute: Train With the Leaders\n\nStop Their Socialist Disarmament.\n\nDonate Now.\n\nIn his years as a SWAT police officer, firearms instructor, use of force instructor, senior range master, police academy instructor, and FBI and NRA instructor, Bill Murphy has seen it all. Now, his tactical experience is crafting the next generation of elite police and military teams at SureFire Institute, which provides training in firearms and edged weapons, unarmed defensive and combative techniques, low-light tactics and tactical/protective driving.\n\nThe SureFire Institute is one of several organizations spotlighted on NRA Life of Duty, a network that serves and supports those who go to work each day to protect, defend and fight for the safety of the American people.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9402463436126709}
+{"content": "A Baptist church in South Carolina plans to remove a hand-carved statue of Jesus Christ because some congregants believe it's too \"Catholic\" for their place of worship.\n\nThe hand-carved 2m tall statue and accompanying reliefs depicting scenes from Christ's life have been displayed outside Red Bank Baptist Church in Lexington for a decade.\n\nBut in a letter to the artist, Pastor Jeff Wright said the art would be removed this week.\n\n\"We have discovered that there are people that view the art as Catholic in nature,\" Wright wrote in the letter to Delbert Baker jnr. A friend of Baker's posted the letter on Facebook.\n\n\nWright wrote that the statue and reliefs bring into question \"the theology and core values of Red Bank Baptist Church\".\n\nThe letter said Baker had until today to remove the art if he wanted to keep it. If not, it would be destroyed.\n\nThe dispute is a symptom of a larger \"dysfunction\" in the Southern Baptist Convention, said Bill Leonard, a professor of Baptist studies at Wake Forest University.\n\n\"Almost week to week there's another incident in which southern Baptists portray themselves ... having convictions that look like bias and prejudice in the larger culture,\" Leonard said. \"The bias is so deep that they even think they have the wrong Jesus in front of their church.\"\n\nIn his own letter responding to Wright, Baker explained his vision of the art, saying it was meant to show Red Bank Baptist had a focus on Christian outreach.\n\n\"This is why Christ is represented as though he is stepping outside of the building, not just confined to the idleness of inner walls,\" Baker wrote in the letter, which his friend also posted on Facebook. \"Under each arm, the reliefs depict scriptural and historical events that we as Christians believe represent the life of Christ.\"\n\n- AP", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9629025459289551}
+{"content": "Senior Full-Stack .Net Developer\n\nJob Description\n\nSenior Full-Stack .Net Developer - Consultancy\n\nWhy you`d like it:\n\n- Build large-scale solutions with your favorite tools\n- Modern-full stack development\n- Flat structured Agile development\n- Casual, engaging environment\n\nSeeking an agnostic Senior Full-Stack .Net Developer to join a leading Agile consultancy\n\nThe opportunity:\n\nJoin an organisation that has become renowned for bringing together exceptional Agile software practitioners to deliver solutions to enterprise clients, and provide digital strategy to high growth businesses. Utilising a flat structure you will find yourself surrounded by like-minded practical Software Developers who can streamline the development process by pulling together the best tools for the job and sensible programming. Collaborate, strategize and deliver highly visible and complex solutions. Opportunity to be the tech lead if you can bring the skills and experience.\n\nCompany profile:\n\nBuilding and retaining a team of expert Developers has meant building an office and culture to be proud of. Investing heavily in creating the ultimate Agile environment that removes any obstacle to delivery has been their goal. Starting in the early 1990`s with a focus on making the development cycle a more collaborative process, the company has seen constant expansion largely due to its focus on innovation and quality. With an impressive client list over the last few years, the scope of work carried out on site is both varied and interesting.\n\nAbout you:\n\nAs the company prides itself on keeping up with the times, you`ll love staying up to date with the latest tech and upskilling your development knowledge. As a base you`ll have a strong .Net back-end development experience, as well as JavaScript and web development skills and interest in all aspects of the development process. You`ll need excellent communication skills as you`ll be working in a fast-paced Agile environment. With a flat structure, you will be able to solutionize effectively with your team then break away to deliver your piece of the puzzle. You`ll understand architecture, and know when to use an existing framework or craft something from scratch.\n\nWith an in-depth full-stack knowledge you`ll have a minimum of 5+ years development experience in .Net.\n\nWhat we need to see in your background:\n\n- 3+ years web development experience with ASP.NET MVC (using VueJS, ReactJS, NodeJS or AngularJS)\n- 5+ years experience in C# and .Net, with .Net Core\n- SQL Server and other relational databases\n- Strong understanding and experience in the full SDLC, and Agile Scrum delivery\n- You can interact with, present to, and lead communications with clients, developers and internal stakeholders alike.\n- Highly advantageous to bing skills and experience in: Blockchain, Python scripting, mobility (Xamarin and Native Android), AWS Lambda + API Gateways\n\n\nThis is a fantastic opportunity for the right person. If you`re looking to join a top class organisation with great progression opportunities, send me through your CV as soon as you can.\n\nRef: JVJO-1809-48480\n\n\nJob type:\n\nFull Time\n\n\nAuckland City", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7259878516197205}
+{"content": "The top of the hour lead into Morning Edition (sorry, no link) told listeners that hiring will be down for June because employers can't find workers. Of course, employers who understand basic economics can find workers: they just raise pay to pull them away from competitors.\n\nWe aren't seeing any large-scale increases in pay despite near-record profit shares. This suggests that either employers really are not short of workers or that they are too incompetent to understand the basics of the market.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5110171437263489}
+{"content": "Over 52,000 Sign Petition To Stop Kanye West From Headlining Pan Am Games\n\nScreen Shot 2015-07-21 at 5.35.06 PM\nIt was announced that Kanye West would be the headlining act at the Pan Am Games this Sunday, July 26.  For the second time in one year, a petition was started to stop Mr West from performing at an event.  This occurrence is very similar to the Glastonbury 2015 petition to stop Kanye from performing as well.\n\nKanye West’s ‘All Day/ I Feel Like That’ Video To Debut In L.A.\n\nThe reason for the petition reads as follows:\n\nIt would only be just to ask a proud Torontonian (or even a Canadian for that matter) in the music industry to perform, such as Drake, Walk Off The Earth, Feist, Metric, Shania Twain, deadmau5, Crystal Castles, Zeds Dead, The Weeknd, Peaches, K’naan, and many many more! The options for Toronto artists are far from limited and choosing someone like Kanye West raises several concerns among the people. Why was a local artist or group not chosen and supported, just as our local athletes are throughout the games?\n\nThe petition has over 52,000 signatures at this point and has only been in action for six days.  Will the organizers have to consider a new artist, or will the ‘All Day’ rapper pull through? We will have to wait and see.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5273450613021851}
+{"content": "Retinitis pigmentosa is an eye disease that occurs rather often in the deaf and hard of hearing. Most often both the hearing loss and the retinal disease are caused by the same inherited disorder that is called Usher syndrome. Deafness or partial hearing loss is present at birth (Usher Type I and II) or develops later (Usher Type III) and retinitis pigmentosa develops its symptoms later. It becomes increasingly difficult to see in twilight and in the dark.\n\nThe word retinitis means inflammation of the retina and is actually a wrong name because RP is not an inflammation but a degeneration of the retina. The word pigmentosa comes from the word pigment that means colour substance. The outermost layer of the retina is pigment epithelium with pigment containing cells. Retinitis pigmentosa first affects the pigment epithelium and the rod cells, and later the cone cells and other retinal cells.\n\nDoctors express themselves saying that Usher syndrom is a \"combined loss of hearing and vision\" because of sensorineural hearing loss and degeneration of the retina. The word syndrome means that the disease affects several organs (eyes and ears) in a typical way. Sensorineural hearing loss means that the damaged cells are the hearing cells of the inner ear. Degeneration of the retina means that retinal cells, rods and cones, die very slowly, the rod cells earlier, the cone cells later. Loss of retinal functions leads to loss of visual field and other changes in vision.\n\nThere are other syndromes that cause loss of hearing and vision but they are more rare than is Usher syndrome. It is also possible that a person who lost his/her hearing for another disease later develops retinal disease. Or a person who is visually impaired may develop hearing problem later in life. Not everyone who has hearing problem and retinitis pigmentosa has Usher syndrome.\n\nOne of the common symptoms of RP is photophobia, light sensitivity. It is especially important to remember light sensitivity in communication situations. It can be very difficult to see signs and to lipread if one is dazzled. The interpreter should always arrange the ligths so that the person can see as well as only possible. It would be good to have a dark surface behind the interpreter and have the interpreter wear dark clothing. During summer it may be unpleasant to wear a dark blouse. Then it is better to use a dark apron with sleeves and collar if the deaf person is very light sensitive. Some interpreters may not know the importance of good illumination so they need to be reminded about it.\n\nAnother thing to consider is how far and where the interpreter should stand or sit in order to be within the limited field of the visually impaired person. We usually call it communication-field. It is the area that the person can see without moving his/her eyes. The interpreter should always know the size of the communication field. Otherwise he/she may use too large signs.\n\nChanges in vision occur in different Usher persons at different ages. This is called individual variation. Night vision deceases first, then color vision and visual field, and later visual acuity. Some Usher-patients have difficulties in balance function (Usher Type I).\n\n\nUsher syndrom is inherited from both parents. They both have the abnormal gene that is needed to cause the disease. Only some of their children get the disease. Every child either gets it or does not get it. The risk is that about every fourth child will inherit the disease but since every child has the same chance, it is possible that only one child has it or that even all children may have it.\n\nIf an Usher individual wants to have children, he or she is likely to have normal children if the partner does not have the RP disorder in his family. The children, however, all are carriers of the abnormal gene.\n\nAll Usher individuals should have genetic counseling at school and when planning their family. Knowledge about the genetic mechanisms and risks does not usually affect the decision to get married to someone but it may affect the decision to have children.\n\nUsher children at school\n\nThe oldest child with Usher syndrome in a family is often diagnosed first at school age. It is possible to make the diagnosis earlier if there are any symptoms of decreased night vision or visual field (the child starts looking at his feet when going down the stairs). The visual fields can be measured at the age of 5-6 years in many deaf children and easily at the age of of 7-8 years. All children with sensorineural hearing loss are suspect of Usher syndrome until it is proven that no visual changes develop.\n\nBecause Usher syndrome may lead to very poor vision at the age of 25-50 years, it is important that these children have the best possible teaching and motivation in learning language skills, both sign language and written language; also spoken language if possible. Good written language is necessary for learning braille if print is no longer seen.\n\nIt is much easier to adjust to live with the dual sensory impairment if the child grows up with that knowledge. Many deaf youngsters go throug a really difficult time in their life when they learn about the visual impairment at 16-18 years of age. A good adjustment requires understanding and acceptance by the family, the teachers and the peers. Therefore it is important that all deaf children learn about visual impairments and learn to live with the visually impaired deaf individuals among them.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6865760087966919}
+{"content": "Fourth CommitteeThe Fourth Committee of the UN General Assembly is also known as the Special Political and Decolonization Committee.\n\n\nSince joining the United Nations in 1960, Nigeria has been and remains unequivocally committed to the goals, principles and objectives of the Organization. Over the years, Nigeria has consistently made substantial contributions towards the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security.  Beginning with the Mission in the Republic of Congo in 1960, Nigerian armed battalions have meritoriously served in many UN regional peacekeeping missions around the world.  At the last count, Nigeria had over 6,020 (Six thousand and twenty) troops serving under UN mandate in various theatres of conflicts.  Our commitment to global peace, security and stability has been conducted at enormous costs, both in human and material resources.\n\nIn Africa, Nigeria has spearheaded robust military and diplomatic engagements to restore and maintain peace and stability in a number of countries.  In particular, Nigeria’s reputation as a regional stabilizer, conciliator, and peace builder in the West African sub-region remains unmatched.\n\nNigeria’s positive and successful intervention in civil wars and the restoration of democracy in Liberia and Sierra Leone, under the auspices of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), while also caring for millions of displaced civilians, remains a hallmark of regional and international contribution to global peace and stability. Nigeria remains steadfast to that commitment even as the demands on UN peacekeeping to contribute to international peace and security continue to grow.\n\n\nUnited Nations Reforms encompass several initiatives by UN Member-States, Governments, and Panels of Experts on the measures required to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of the UN in the 21st Century. These initiatives cover a broad range of issues including:\n\n  1. Security Council Reform\n  2. Secretariat and Management Reform\n  3. Financing Reform\n  4. Human Rights Council\n  5. Environment issues\n  6. General Assembly Revitalization\n  7. System-wide Coherence\n  8. Development / ECOSOC Reform\n  10. Human Security\n  11. Peacebuilding Commission\n  12. Responsibility to Protect\n  13. Terrorism", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9279673099517822}
+{"content": "TKM UNAI team in  United Nations Headquarters\n\nThe TKM UNAI team met Mr. Ramu Damodaran, the charismatic chief of UNAI and his collegues at his offices in  United Nations Headquarters. He had a detailed interaction with the team and proposed many initiatives which remains to be undertaken.\n\nMr.Ramu expressed satisfaction over the functioning of the KF UNAI and is expecting more socially relevant activities like the EDAM project in future…..\n\nMr. Ramu Damodaran who chaired the UN session on Edam Project is currently the Deputy Director for Partnerships and Public Engagement in the United Nations Department of Public Information’s Outreach Division.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9939577579498291}
+{"content": "The Kennedy Center\n\nLang Lang\n\n\nIf one word applies to Lang Lang, to the musician, to the man, to his worldview, to those who come into contact with him, it is \"inspiration.\" It resounds like a musical motif through his life and career. He inspires millions with his open-hearted, emotive playing, whether it be in intimate recitals or on the grandest of stages—such as the 2014 World Cup concert in Rio, with Placído Domingo, to celebrate the final game; the 56th and 57th Grammy Awards, where he performed with Metallica and Pharrell Williams; the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where more than four billion people around the world viewed his performance; the Last Night of the Proms at London's Royal Albert Hall; or the Liszt 200th birthday concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Charles Dutoit which was broadcast live in more than 300 movie theaters around the United States and 200 cinemas across Europe (the first classical music cinema cast to be headlined by a solo artist). He forms enduring musical partnerships with the world's greatest artists, from conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, and Sir Simon Rattle, to artists from outside of classical music— among them dubstep dancer Marquese \"nonstop\" Scott, king of the crooners Julio Iglesias and jazz titan Herbie Hancock. He even builds relationships with corporations who will help him get classical music to ever-more people. He builds cultural bridges between East and West, frequently introducing Chinese music to Western audiences, and vice versa.\n\nYet he never forgets what first inspired, and continues to inspire him. Great artists, above all the great composers—Liszt, Chopin and the others—whose music he now delights in bringing to others. Even that famous old Tom and Jerry cartoon \"The Cat Concerto\" which introduced him, as a child, to the music of Liszt—and that childlike excitement at the discovery of music now surely stays with him and propels him to what he calls his \"second career,\" bringing music into the lives of children around the world, both through his work for the United Nations as a Messenger of Peace focusing on global education and through his own Lang Lang International Music Foundation. As he inspires, he is inspired. Time Magazine named Lang Lang in the \"Time 100,\" citing him as a symbol of the youth of China, and its future. Lang Lang is cultural ambassador for Shenzhen and Shenyang. And if the Chinese passion for piano isn't solely due to him, he has played no small part as a role model —a phenomenon coined by The Today Show as \"the Lang Lang effect.\" Steinway Pianos for the first time named a model after a single artist when they introduced \"The Lang Lang Piano\" to China, specially designed for education. And the child Lang Lang was and who, perhaps, is always with him, would surely have approved of the way he gives back to youth. He mentors prodigies, convenes 100 piano students at a time in concert, and dedicated his Lang Lang International Music Foundation to cultivating tomorrow's top pianists, music education at the forefront of technology, and building a young audience.\n\nLang Lang has been featured on every major television network and in magazines worldwide. He has performed for international dignitaries including the Secretary-General of the U.N. Ban Ki-moon, four U.S. presidents, President Koehler of Germany, former French President Sarkozy and President Francois Hollande. Of many landmark events, he was honored to perform recently for President Obama and former President Hu Jin-Tao of China at the White House State Dinner, as well as at the Diamond Jubilee celebratory concert for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.\n\nHonors include being added as one of the World Economic Forum's 250 YoungGlobal Leaders, Honorary Doctorates from the Royal College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and New York University, the highest prize awarded by China's Ministry of Culture, Germany's Order of Merit, and France's Medal of the Order of Arts and Letters.\nLang Lang", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7101985216140747}
+{"content": "Harmony Hartlaub, LMT, RN\n\nHarmony is a Licensed Massage Therapist and Registered Nurse who is passionate about holistic health. She received her BSN from Mount Carmel College of Nursing in 2015 and her massage education through Columbus State Community College. She has had extensive experience in natural health and wellness practices in the Columbus area. With this background she is able to provide thorough assessments, seeing the individuality of each body and provide massage specific to your needs. Harmony is trained in Swedish, Deep Tissue, Myofascial Release, Trigger Point, Craniosacral Therapy, Aromatherapy, and Acupressure techniques. She looks forward to helping you to achieve relaxation, pain relief, and wellness goals.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9583255648612976}
+{"content": "A time will indeed come when we will be living in the age of Ultron. From mobile phone to game consoles to operating systems, we live in an age of convenience where simply uttering commands to a personal digital assistant will perform the desired task more efficiently than doing it manually but is the this a fad or will it be entrenched in our daily lives where a person talking to his phone will become the new normal. The mobile space is constantly pushing the narrative with regards to personal digital assistants with the major ones being Siri from Apple, Cortana from Microsoft and Google Now.\n\n\n\nPersonal digital assistants are indeed helpful, I use Cortana both on desktop and mobile and she does indeed provide relevant information related to my interest which include summary of results of premier league, technology news and traffic information in case it’s time to leave for office or time to head home. The digital assistants excel when fully integrated with your platform of choice to provide you with relevant and much more customised information.\n\n\nAs much as personal digital assistants may seem like gimmicks to sell more devices they can at times cause major annoyances in daily use. At times while using these assistants they may not understand your query and may show you something entirely different.\n\nLet’s take the case of Microsoft’s CEO who was giving a keynote speech at Dreamforce conference and Cortana totally fails to get what he is telling her until backroom staff helped out (http://www.businessinsider.in/Microsoft-CEO-Satya-Nadella-just-had-an-epic-Cortana-fail-in-front-of-a-huge-crowd/articleshow/48994374.cms)\n\nAnother negative of using the personal assistants is the hit the battery takes as a lot of them require location services to provide a truly comprehensive experience.\n\nWe may not be far from the age where natural language is our primary method of interacting with devices but for now the limited way we interact with personal digital assistants is already impressive and useful enough. Here’s to hoping it’s not a fad but the future.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9779526591300964}
+{"content": "Narrative Therapy\n\nNarrative Power Relations\n\nBy  | \n\nTo understand the role of the counselor in a narrative setting we have to understand one of the philosophical premises of Narrative Therapy. Power relationships are implicitly sanctioned and maintained in our culture, especially against minority groups, and are a major cause of mental health issues.\n\nOutright racism has been largely replaced by an arguably more sinister form of racism, where imbalances of power are maintained in less obvious ways. In fact many clients from minority groups express the wish that racism directed towards them were more obvious so that they could have a chance to confront the issue rather than endlessly wonder whether their minds were playing tricks on them. A common example is the store employee who refuses to make physical contact when money is being exchanged at the time of purchase.\n\nA power relationship will always make the weaker party question his or her worth and value as a person. And when you secretly believe you might be bad just for being you, symptoms and life problems are almost sure to result. Character neurosis results from trying to combat the feeling of helplessness in a world perceived as hostile. While it usually develops within the confines of a nuclear family during childhood, what happens when an entire society’s unspoken rules instill these same feelings of helplessness?\n\nAvoiding a therapeutic relationship defined by power or culturally sanctioned labels is a central task of the narrative therapist. By being aware of the ways that implicit power and socially sanctioned roles are directly responsible for the development and maintenance of mental health issues, a therapist can avoid making the same mistake in the burgeoning relationship with his or her client. Talking openly about experiences of racism and marginalization in a client’s life is a good place to start. The idea is to create a culture of mutual respect where the concept of power and its effect on currently functioning is respectfully explored.\n\nOne of the ways to foster a relationship defined by equality and respect is for the therapist to move away from the feeling of psychological professional with important knowledge and towards the feeling of curious investigator who wants to know more about the client’s life. By recognizing that a person is an expert in his or her own life and only needs the correct line of questioning to bring that life into greater focus, efficacy is placed squarely in the hands of the client. The two can then act as a team to uncover important information that can be used for change and growth.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9872738718986511}
+{"content": "\n\nBecoming biohackers: The long arm of the law\n\nBBC | \nIs the rise of amateur gene enthusiasts working in make-shift labs a harmless pursuit or a potential bioterrorism threat? The ...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000097751617432}
+{"content": "Quotation Explorer - 'Civilizations'\n\nAll civilizations have needed a stable basis of short term value. - Jay Weiser\nMoths lay their eggs where civilizations have been destroyed. - Marty Rubin\nWe are faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words ‘Too Late’. - Martin Luther King Jr.\nPeople usually feel funny, smile and laugh when I tell them about my strong belief in the very existence of prehistoric advanced technology and great civilizations of wilier races. I just can't wait to see their faces at time the truth is revealed. - Toba Beta\nEverything we know and believe about deity and divinity nowadays, is a direct origin of old civilizations. Everybody, Greeks, Saxons, Assyrians and Soumerians, all imitate the ancient ways of the first tribes of central Africa (Mason father to his son in \"The Omniconstant - Christos Rodoulla Tsiailis\nCivilizations in decline are consistently characterised by a tendency towards standardization and uniformity. - Arnold Toynbee\nCivilizations die from suicide, not by murder. - Arnold Toynbee\nBlack holes are the last vestige of civilizations obsessed with tinkering. - Kane Freeman\nThat is the key to history. Terrific energy is expended - civilizations are built up - excellent institutions devised; but each time something goes wrong. Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and the cruel people to the top and it all slides back into misery and ruin. - C.S. Lewis\nOne of the indictments of civilizations is that happiness and intelligence are so rarely found in the same person. - William Feather\nEarly civilizations complained about still earlier ones, much as we do about both\nYou can't say civilizations don't advance...in every war they kill you in a new way. - Will Rogers", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999762773513794}
+{"content": "Quotation Explorer - 'Prospect'\n\nPROSPECT, n. An outlook, usually forbidding. An expectation, usually forbidden. Blow, blow, ye spicy breezes -- O'er Ceylon blow your breath, Where every prospect pleases, Save only that of death. Bishop Sheber - Ambrose Bierce\nAm I a friend or a prospect? Imagine how much kinder life would be if people put as much effort into befriending others instead of trying to sell them something. - Donna Lynn Hope\nIn the newspapers the row about the prospect of genetically modified food raged on, and yet here were consumers effectively demanding lambs with four back legs. - Rose Prince\nIt is worth to not waste time in chasing a prospect who makes the vendor wait for a long time in the first meeting, as perhaps he could never be converted into a loyal client/good customer. - Anuj Somany\nThe prospect of death is nature's way of encouraging us to strive for greatness. - Antonio Kowatsch\nHe was too well accustomed to suffering, and had suffered too much where he was, to bewail the prospect of change very severely. - Charles Dickens\nI know [patriotism] exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest, or some reward. - George Washington\nWhat can be more palpably absurd than the prospect held out of locomotives travelling twice as fast as stagecoaches?\nEmployees go to school for 12 18 years merely to impress prospect employers in a 12 18 minutes interview. - Mokokoma Mokhonoana\nThere is not a single job ever got by running after it and never any client acquired by chasing a prospect, in fact everything in life happened by serendipity only so if it’s still not all LUCK then what? - Anuj Somany\nThe dread of evil is a much more forcible principle of human actions than the prospect of good. - John Locke\nNothing discernable to the eye of the spirit is more brilliant or obscure than man; nothing is more formidible, complex, mysterious, and infinite. There is a prospect greater than the sea, and it is the sky; there is a prospect greater than the sky, and it is the human soul. - Victor Hugo\n...and awakening, at that moment, to the thrilling prospect of complete surrender, not just of one’s lips but of one’s entire body to a lover’s mercy, we recognized that the gap between compassion and surrender is love’s darkest, deepest region. - Orhan Pamuk\n...the experience of battle forever divides those who talk of nothing else but its prospect from those who talk of everything else but its memory. - James D. Hornfischer\nMost of us fear change. Even when our minds say change is normal, our stomachs quiver at the prospect. But for strategists and managers today, there is no choice but to change. - Robert Waterman, Jr.\nGoing to trial with a lawyer who considers your whole life-style a Crime in Progress is not a happy prospect. - Hunter S. Thompson\nHe’d thought it would be the right thing to say, but she scoffed a little… and that, more than anything—more than the prospect of having his ribs crushed in or his face pulled off or his neck stretched on a rope—scared him out of his wits. - V.S. Carnes\nWe're truly alive when facing the prospect of our own mortality, if you convince yourself that you'll live forever, you'll never really have lived at all. - RyLee Harrison\nThe prospect of a long day at the beach makes me panic. There is no harder work I can think of than taking myself off to somewhere pleasant, where I am forced to stay for hours and 'have fun'. - Phillip Lopate", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6577004194259644}
+{"content": "Public Release: \n\n\nUniversity of Kansas\n\nLAWRENCE -- On a ho-hum day some 12,800 years ago, the Earth had emerged from another ice age. Things were warming up, and the glaciers had retreated.\n\nOut of nowhere, the sky was lit with fireballs. This was followed by shock waves.\n\nFires rushed across the landscape, and dust clogged the sky, cutting off the sunlight. As the climate rapidly cooled, plants died, food sources were snuffed out, and the glaciers advanced again. Ocean currents shifted, setting the climate into a colder, almost \"ice age\" state that lasted an additional thousand years.\n\n\n\n\n\"Extraordinary Biomass-Burning Episode and Impact Winter Triggered by the Younger Dryas Cosmic Cosmic Impact ~12,800 Years Ago\" is divided into \"Part I: Ice Cores and Glaciers\" and \"Part 2: Lake, Marine, and Terrestrial Sediments.\"\n\nThe paper's 24 authors include KU Emeritus Professor of Physics & Astronomy Adrian Melott and Professor Brian Thomas, a 2005 doctoral graduate from KU, now at Washburn University.\n\n\"The work includes measurements made at more than 170 different sites across the world,\" Melott said.\n\nThe KU researcher and his colleagues believe the data suggests the disaster was touched off when Earth collided with fragments of a disintegrating comet that was roughly 62 miles in diameter -- the remnants of which persist within our solar system to this day.\n\n\"The hypothesis is that a large comet fragmented and the chunks impacted the Earth, causing this disaster,\" said Melott. \"A number of different chemical signatures -- carbon dioxide, nitrate, ammonia and others -- all seem to indicate that an astonishing 10 percent of the Earth's land surface, or about 10 million square kilometers, was consumed by fires.\"\n\nAccording to Melott, analysis of pollen suggests pine forests were probably burned off to be replaced by poplar, which is a species that colonizes cleared areas.\n\nIndeed, the authors posit the cosmic impact could have touched off the Younger Dryas cool episode, biomass burning, late Pleistocene extinctions of larger species and \"human cultural shifts and population declines.\"\n\n\"Computations suggest that the impact would have depleted the ozone layer, causing increases in skin cancer and other negative health effects,\" Melott said. \"The impact hypothesis is still a hypothesis, but this study provides a massive amount of evidence, which we argue can only be all explained by a major cosmic impact.\"\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7701085805892944}
+{"content": "There are plenty of people who suffer from a debilitating fear of spiders, or arachnophobia, as the experts call it. While many people will admit that big hairy spiders are certainly creepy looking, fearing them is irrational considering how harmless their venom is to the human body. Despite this, people will go to great lengths to avoid encounters with scary-looking spiders, and when they are encountered, arachnophobes will do anything to be rid of them. In fact, one California man recently destroyed a large portion of his apartment building after using a blowtorch to kill a spider. As a result of the ensuing fire, the apartment building had to be evacuated.\n\nAs a consequence of trying to destroy a large wolf spider with a blowtorch, a fire ensued in one man’s apartment unit, putting all other tenants in mortal danger. Before the fire department arrived to put out the blaze, desperate apartment tenants struggled in vain to put out the fire with a nearby garden hose. The fire was serious enough to cause destruction to much of the complex, and it took firefighters 20 minutes to put out the fire. The property damaged caused by the fire will cost at least 11,000 dollars to restore, and this figure is not counting the personal property destroyed in the blaze. Luckily, none of the tenants were injured in the fire, but it goes without saying that the tenants resent the man’s actions, as he could have killed everyone in the building as a result of his panicked response to one single spider. Amazingly, this is not the first instance of a person destroying their home while attempting to kill a spider by means of fire. Last year, a resident of Arizona also used a blowtorch to eradicate spiders from his mobile home. The man was torching every spider web in sight before a fire ignited and quickly grew out of control. As a result of the fire, an elderly woman was injured, but luckily survived. In this case, it took 20 firefighters to put out the blaze, which lasted for a period of eleven minutes. There is no word on whether or not the spider in each case survived the ill-conceived extermination attempts.\n\nHave you ever resorted to a creative method of killing an unwanted spider within your home?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7495951056480408}
+{"content": "Nutritional Analysis of Vegetable Samosa\n\nCuisine from the Indian subcontinent makes liberal use of some of the most flavorful and exotic spices in the world, resulting in dishes that are fragrant and delicious. Samosas, or flaky pockets of pastry that hold curried vegetables, are one example of an Indian appetizer that strikes a balance between fat and calorie contents and health value.\n\nPlate of samosas (Image: Shikhar Bhattarai/iStock/Getty Images)\n\nNutrition Facts\n\nOne vegetable samosa with a weight of about 40 g has approximately 80 calories, 3 g fat, 2 g protein, 11 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber and 1 g sugar. However, it's important to be aware that the ingredients in a samosa are really what determine its final nutrition facts, and not all veggie samosas are made in the same way. A samosa made with butter-based pastry, stuffed with potatoes and fried in oil, will be higher in fat, carbohydrates and calories than a samosa made with thin phyllo dough or wonton wrappers filled with low-calorie peas and carrots and baked in the oven.\n\nHealth Benefits\n\nOpting for vegetable samosas over meat-filled pastries will cut down on your saturated fat and calorie intake and provide more vitamins and minerals. According to, increasing the amount of vegetables that you eat can help to reduce risks of chronic health conditions including cancer, heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, bone loss, diabetes, kidney stones and high cholesterol. Additionally, you'll get a healthy dose of dietary fiber by eating veggie-stuffed samosas, which can improve digestive health and help you lose or maintain weight.\n\nNutritional Downsides\n\nNot all samosas are healthy choices. Despite the nutritional benefits that vegetables offer, a veggie samosa made with a lot of butter or oil can be high in cholesterol and saturated fat. In a \"Cooking Light\" recipe for vegetable samosas that calls for frying the pastries, each 2 inch samosa has 160 calories and more than 5 g fat. Bigger samosas sold at restaurants and cafes may are likely to have even higher values as well as more sodium and cholesterol.\n\n\nA vegetable-filled samosa can be a relatively nutritious snack or appetizer, but only if it's low in fat, sodium and cholesterol. If you have the option, look at nutritional information for a samosa before purchasing it. Otherwise, make your own samosas, which will allow you to control the calorie count and nutrition facts. Most importantly, learn to rely on a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and other healthy foods to meet your nutritional needs instead of trying to get all of your essential nutrients through prepared foods such as samosas.\n\nLoad comments\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8132486343383789}
+{"content": "Gulf times qatar english news paper - Cse430 homework 2\n\nscreen, at a pixel resolution selected by the user. Hs The file src/Model. Be careful for rectangles that have zero width/height, or width/height of only one pixel, making sure\n\nthat all pixels on the resulting raster have unique coordinates. Cannot retrieve the latest commit at this time. Marks, this assignment is worth 12 of your total marks for the course. Click Clone and follow the same IntelliJ steps. The function shapeToRaster chooses for a given shape which raster generation function to use. Understand the model-view-controller software pattern for building graphical user interfaces. There are various descriptions of Bresenhams algorithm online. If the centre (a,b) of a circle with radius r is not at coordinate (0,0 you can translate a circle with radius r centred at (0,0) to a circle centred at (a,b). Use git add Report. This means that you need to calculate points in a full. You will receive their feedback when the mark is released. If you use them to understand the algorithm, remember to cite them in your report! Similarly, the iterations go from to, computing the coordinate at each step. In particular, when drawing pictures on a modern bitmapped computer display we need to be aware of the fact that they are composed of discrete picture elements, called pixels, arranged in a grid or raster. Click on the Fork button to create your own private version of the assignment, so you can work origami on it independently from everyone else. Your work should be committed and be pushed to GitLab no later than 9:00am on Tuesday 2 October as recorded by timestamp on GitLab.\n\nSign up, though the user interactions are slightly more homework sophisticated. Rastrum, located at the root of your assignment repository on GitLab and named Report. Latest commit message, this word is derived from the Latin word for rake. An email containing your post with your code will be sent to all students. That is, located at the root of your project on GitLab and named Report. Cloning your project from GitLab to your personal computer in much the same way. Name, the iterations go from to, failed to load latest commit information. Though hopefully self explanatory, your program code will be marked for both functionality and style. Ellipses ellipse 20 marks The midpoint algorithm for circles generalises to ellipses see references.\n\nHere is the best resource for homework help with, cSE 430 : Operating.C; Arizona State University; CSE 430 - Spring 2015; Register Now.\n\n2 PolygonTool Black, with resolution set, but considers the situation al paper house udaipur where there might not be an API like CodeWorld for drawing shapes on the screen. Failed to load latest commit information 0 0, click on it and switch it to https 1 Report 30 marks You are required. Where and are the points on the circumference of the ellipse with semimajor axis. The initial model has no shapes defined 0 0, as described below, running, in addition to the content given in the assignment 1 specification. It is an efficient algorithm for drawing lines on a raster display. A build tool for Haskell that avoids the need to build all of the pieces of your project separately by hand.\n\nRectangles (rectangle) 5 marks Given two coordinates that specify the opposing corners of a rectangle, function rectangle must generate a list of pixels with coordinates that lie on the boundary of the rectangle, and having shade.0 (opaque).Lines (line) 15 marks Bresenhams line algorithm (see references ) is lauded as a seminal work that shaped the field of computer graphics.This will not delete any important files such as your source code programs.\n\n\nCSE430 : For ASU s, cSE 430 course\n\nSet Parent directory where you want your working directory to be created (say /comp1100 and leave the directory name as comp1100-assignment2.Use online resources for your learning (again, remember to cite them!If you need help with your code, post it privately to the instructors.”", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9240140914916992}
+{"content": "CPI inflation dropped to 3% in April against 3.5% in March, hitting the lowest level since February 2010, as the timing of Easter had a “significant impact” on the data.\n\nRPI fell to 3.5% from 3.6% in March.\n\nFor CPI alcohol and clothing were also key in pushing inflation down.\n\nTobacco and alcohol prices rose just 2.9% compared with the previous year’s record increase of 5.3% as retailers discounted across vodka and beer in particular .\n\nClothing and footwear prices increased 0.2% against the previous year’s 1.3% increase, as women’s outerwear caused the biggest downwards effect.\n\nSmaller fare increases across air and sea transport in comparison to the previous year were another big factor in pushing inflation lower. Due to the later scheduling of the Easter bank holiday fares only rose 7.4% in April compared to a 22.3% surge last year.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9979965686798096}
+{"content": "The Bullseye Now Turns To The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW), National General Holdings Corp. (NGHC)\n\nA look at SCHW technical analysis shows that its 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) is in a neutral zone after reaching 51.38 point. Its trading volume has added 1455476 shares compared to readings over the past three months as it recently exchanged 8525476 shares. This means there is improved activity from short-term traders as per session, its average trading volume is 7070000 shares, and this is 1.21 times the normal volume.\n\nThe Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) climbed by 9.82% over the past three months which led to its overall six-month decrease to stand at -11.14%. The equity price rose 2.91% this week, a trend that has led to both investors and traders taking note of the stock. A look at its monthly performance shows that its shares have recorded a -1.26% fall over the past 30 days. Over the past 12 months the stock has embarked on a drop that has seen it decline -20.08% and is now up by 9.08% since start of this year.\n\nThe shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation dropped by -24.78% or -$14.92 from its last recorded high of $60.22 which it attained on May 21 to close at $45.3 per share. Over the past 52 weeks, the shares of The Charles Schwab Corporation has been trading as low as $37.83 before witnessing a massive surge by 19.75% or $7.47. This price movement has led to the SCHW stock receiving more attention and has become one to watch out for. It jumped by 2% on Thursday and this got the market excited. The stock’s beta now stands at 1.34 and when compared to its 200-day moving average and its 50-day moving average, SCHW price stands -6.46% below and -0.28% below respectively. Its average daily volatility for this week is 1.59% which is less than the 1.93% recorded over the past month.\n\nExperts from research firms are bullish about the near-term performance of The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW) with most of them predicting a $51.28 price target on a short-term (12 months) basis. The average price target by the analysts will see a 13.2% rise in the stock and would lead to SCHW’s market cap to surge to $69.23B. The stock has been rated an average 2.2, which roughly stands towards the bearish end of the spectrum. Reuters looked into the 20 analysts that track The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) and find out that 6 of them rated it as a Hold. 13 of the 14 analysts rated it as a Buy or a Strong Buy while 1 advised investors to desist from buying the stock or sell it if they already possess it.\n\nThe price of National General Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:NGHC) currently stands at $25.1 after it went up by $1.16 or 4.85% and has found a strong support at $24.16 a share. If the NGHC price drops below that critical support, then it would lead to a bearish trend. In the short-term, a dip below the $23.21 mark would also be bad for the stock as it means that the stock would plunge by 7.53% from its current position. However, if the stock price is able to trade above the resistance point around $26.01, then it could likely surge higher to try and break the upward resistance which stands at $26.91 a share. Its average daily volatility over the past one month stands at 2.85%. The stock has plunged by 3.9% from its 52-weeks high of $24.12 which it reached on Dec. 11, 2018. In general, it is 15.46% above its 52-weeks lowest point which stands at $21.22 and this setback was observed on Dec. 19, 2018.\n\nAnalysts have predicted a price target for National General Holdings Corp. (NGHC) for 1 year and it stands at an average $30/share. This means that it would likely increase by 19.52% from its current position. The current price of the stock has been moving between $24.12 and $25.97. Some brokerage firms have a lower target for the stock than the average, with one of them setting a price target as low as $28. On the other hand, one analyst is super bullish about the price, setting a target as high as $33.\n\nThe NGHC stock Stochastic Oscillator (%D) is at 14.37%, which means that it is currently oversold and its prices could jump very soon. The shares P/S ratio stands at 0.66 which compares to the 2.81 recorded by the industry or the 6.09 by the wider sector. The stock currently has an estimated price-earnings (P/E) multiple of 8.69, which is lower than the 15.89 multiple of 12-month price-earnings (P/E). The company’s earnings have gone up, with a quarterly increase rate of 22.9% over the past five years.\n\nAnalysts view National General Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:NGHC) as a Hold, with 2.3 consensus rating. Reuters surveyed 6 analysts that follow NGHC and found that 3 of those analysts rated the stock as a Hold. The remaining 3 were divided, with 3 analyst rating it as a Buy or a Strong Buy while 0 analysts advised investors to desist from buying National General Holdings Corp. (NGHC) shares or sell it if they already own it.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9885609149932861}
+{"content": "Flights from Calgary to Holguin\n\nFlights from Calgary to Holguin\n\nNot only is Holguin brimming with Cuban culture, but it's also abundant in natural beauty. Attractive temperatures, blue waters and powder-soft beaches are waiting to be enjoyed, as are thrilling Jeep safaris and snorkelling excursions. That's why this is such a popular locale for families, couples and singles alike.\n\nOnce you've arranged your flight, all you have to do is look forward to the prospect of spending time in Cuba's most appealing and adrenaline-filled destination. Whether you're travelling for business or to visit attractions like Bahia de Naranjo Nature Park, Playa Esmeralda or BioParque Rocazul, you can rest assured that you'll get from Calgary to Holguin swiftly, safely and comfortably with WestJet.\n\nFlight deals: from YYC to HOG\n\n\nWhat are things to do in Holguin?\n\nWhat are the best Holguin Hotels?\n\nHolguin has a number of beautiful hotels and places to stay. Be sure to check out Club Amigo Atlantico Guardalavaca and Playa Pesquero\n\nExplore related destinations", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.851870059967041}
+{"content": "By N. Tamkosch. Midwestern Baptist College.\n\n    Understanding Michel Foucault’s concept of modern power opens up new understandings of how oppressive practices and self-subjugation operate buy keppra 250 mg with visa. Power is distributed unequally among members in the culture cheap keppra 500mg with visa, privileging the voices of some while marginalizing the voices of others (Foucault buy 500mg keppra visa, 1979, 1980). White and Epston (1990) describe how Foucault used the prison ar- chitectural structure designed by Jeremy Bentham in the eighteenth cen- tury as a metaphor to speak about the operation of modern power in our cultural and historical landscape. The Panopticon was a structure designed to house prisoners that made it possible to achieve the greatest degree of social control. A round building surrounding a courtyard housed prisoners in individual cells, isolating them from their fellow inmates. A tall tower stood in the middle of the courtyard, from which guards could see into every cell. In exploring the effects of this over time, Foucault describes how the gaze of the guards would recruit the pris- oners into modifying or policing their own behaviors, acting as if they were always being watched. In the context of social or relational isolation, part- ners practice self-surveillance and self-regulation based on socially con- structed norms. When this form of power remains invisible to couples, its effects can be insidious (Foucault, 1979; White, 1991). Narrative therapists listen for oppressive (often invisible) discourses that influence a couple’s relationship. Once identified, therapeutic inquiry de- constructs the assumptions and beliefs that support the taken-for-granted Narrative Therapy with Couples: Promoting Liberation 173 status of the discourse. When an oppressive discourse is made visible, cou- ples are invited to renegotiate their position within that discourse or to choose an alternate discourse that is less restrictive. By refusing to comply with a marginalizing discourse, couples are challenging the status quo and promoting social justice in the larger community. Anorexia had successfully recruited Suzanne into self-subjugating practices of self-starvation, excessive exercise, rigid rules regarding eating, and continual practices of measuring up. The meaning she has constructed of the events in her life is that she is a \"mess,\" unable to handle the stres- sors in her life and \"codependent. By unveiling the tricks Anorexia uses and the cultural discourses that keep it alive, Suzanne and Pete are able to join forces in reclaiming their relationship from the problem’s grip. Suzanne enlists Pete’s support in resisting Anorexia’s attempts to under- mine her efforts, and as a result, she is no longer silenced by Secrecy and Shame. In the following, Pete and Suzanne are invited to consider the socio- cultural influences that have supported Anorexia: \"Suzanne, how do you think Anorexia gets women to participate in self- shrinkage and diminishment? How do we challenge practices that position us as \"agents of social control\" (Foucault, 1979)? Narrative thera- pists turn a critical eye on practices that might inadvertently maintain dominant ideologies by supporting certain groups over others (Freed- man & Combs, 1996; Madigan, 1993). Although it is not possible to com- pletely flatten the hierarchy inherent in the therapeutic relationship, we remain vigilant about using our power in support of client agency and empowerment. Whether we are talking about a couple, two religious groups, or two nations, narrative practice is inter- ested in how people handle the process of differing. Do conversations around difference create space for many perspectives, or do they quiet the voices that stand outside the dominant view? How do cultural discourses influence the ways in which a couple handles day-to-day dilemmas? Western society privileges productivity and gives power to individuals and groups based on binary positions; educated/uneducated, rich/poor, white/person of color, heterosexual/gay, thin/large, young/old, able- bodied/disabled (Cushman, 1995). Dominant and privileged groups de- velop exaggerated entitlements that lead to abuses of power and the ongo- ing oppression of less-dominant groups (Winslade & Monk, 2001). Narrative therapists challenge discourses related to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, and mental and physical ability. The following ex- amples illustrate the deconstruction of any oppressive discourse.\n\n    discount keppra 500 mg without prescription\n\n    buy keppra 500 mg free shipping\n\n    These structures enable us to associate particulars in categories without imposing a straitjacket of rigid inclusion criteria over all individual differences cheap keppra 250mg line. Fuzzy and partially portable boundaries allow variable splitting and amalgamation of continua into manageable numbers of parts for varying purposes purchase keppra 500mg. Imaginative metaphors grow organically by describing the relatively distant and strange in terms of the close up and familiar cheap 250mg keppra otc. Because such descriptions are recog- nized not to be literal, multiple metaphors depicting events, cause and effect, and various cognitive models of goals such as \"health\" can coexist and contribute alternate perspectives without being mutually destructive. Most important for medicine are the partially metaphorical understandings of \"health\" and \"disease\" and narratives of helping, endurance and recovery which are built using these metaphors. Since understanding the semantic architecture of disease is so important as the cognitive background within which examples of means/ends reasoning used here work, the entire second chapter is devoted to that subject. In reviewing the broad imagistic and metaphorical structure underlying informal means/ends reasoning in medical care we need to highlight its two great divergences from formal logics. First, it is neither arbitrary, in the way that the axioms of different logical systems as well as the entailment rules can be arbitrary. Nor is it any unique privileged system grounded eternally in a realm of reason and taking no measure of the human. It has grown organically out of our fundamental biological and existential embodiment. We cannot simply set up rules for understanding and reasoning by fiat, nor have we inherited them for all eternity. While cognitive structures are somewhat flexible, it is not possible to depart radically from existing ones. The basic bodily predicament into which we have been thrown is the only starting point, the only jumping off place from which the rest of experience can make any sense and to which it can be referred. We are incarnated in our ways of thinking and it is from within them, not outside of them, that our degrees of freedom will be found. Empirical thinking has slack, redundancy, room for ambiguity and even for multiple changing evaluations. There are no absolute rules forcing us to ride roughshod over variations and subtleties. Such empirical and informal reasoning does more justice to many clinical encounters than do formal rules, which try to treat medicine like chess. Categories Individual entities, as we choose to define and pick them out, are considered for different purposes as belonging in various types of groups. Classical categories of these individuals are sets defined by necessary and sufficient conditions for membership. Individuals possessing the specific required features or properties which characterize a category are conceived of as members of that category. Such categories are metaphorically conceived to be containers with rigid boundaries having inclusion or exclusion as an all or nothing matter. The essence of an individual, 14 CHAPTER 1 defined by the necessary and sufficient conditions, is all that counts in reasoning about that individual as a set member. Membership in classical sets can overlap, be mutually exclusive, or hierarchical, and such relationships determine the ways that individuals can be reasoned about as members of more than one category. Hierarchical sets are often visualized as nested containers: thus the varieties of plants are nested within a species which is nested within a genus, etc. Some other hierarchical sets are arranged metaphorically more like pyramids: Admiral, Vice Admirals, Rear Admirals, Captains, Commanders, Lieutenant Commanders.\n\n    effective 250mg keppra\n\n    buy 500 mg keppra visa\n\n    For example discount keppra 500 mg on-line, if an ations trusted keppra 500mg, using multiple stimulation methods that differ investigator wishes to examine alterations in pain along important dimensions will be most informative discount 250 mg keppra fast delivery. A common measure used in QST 100 is the pain threshold, defined as the minimum amount 80 of stimulation required to produce a pain. Another measure is pain tolerance, which refers to the maxi- 60 Clinical pain rating (55) mum amount of stimulation an individual is willing to experience. These measures have the advantages of 40 being intuitively appealing and quantitative. However, 20 Actual pain Predicted pain they are also one dimensional and likely represent match (49. The self-report methods described Temperature (ºC) above can also be used to assess perceptual responses to supra-threshold painful stimuli. Behavioural and physi- is predicted that the patient will match his/her clinical pain ological measures can also be obtained. The actual temperature (49°C) to which the patient matched his/her clinical pain is quite close to the predicted temperature, suggesting that this Behavioural measures patient used the VAS scale consistently to rate both clinical and thermal pain. Triangulation provides a measure of clini- Research in non-human animals has long relied on cal pain anchored to an experimental pain stimulus as well behavioural responses to noxious stimuli as indices as an index of how consistently the patient is rating pain of nociceptive processing. PAIN MEASUREMENT IN HUMANS 75 Technically, self-reports of pain, such as those reliably elicit changes in measures including blood described above, can be construed as verbal pain pressure, heart rate, electro-dermal responses and behaviours; however, pain behaviour typically refers pupil dilatation. Other emotional and physical and quantifying overt pain behaviours exhibited by stressors are able to evoke similar patterns of auto- patients with clinical pain have been described and nomic activation. Commonly observed pain behaviours can be accompanied by increased responses on some include guarding (e. These behavioural measures Indeed, substantial individual differences are present have been correlated to patients’ self-reported pain in physiological responses to painful stimulation. Pain behaviours increase in the pres- A variety of muscle reflexes that appear to be related ence of a solicitous spouse and are reduced by multi- to nociceptive processing (e. A specific aspect of pain reflex, exteroceptive suppression of the temporalis behaviour that has received considerable attention is muscle) have been described. Methods for classi- correlated with pain reports and are sensitive to anal- fying facial expressions have been well validated in gesic treatments. For example, the facial action cod- ise and resources for measuring these responses, they ing system provides specific criteria for judging facial are primarily relegated to laboratory research. While this system ition, they actually represent neuromuscular nocicep- was originally developed for the study of emotion, it tive responses and as such should be considered has been successfully applied to experimental and supplementary measures, rather than a substitute for clinical pain. Heretofore, these behavioural and facial observation In recent years, functional imaging has garnered methods have primarily been employed in research tremendous attention in pain research. In humans, settings, due to the time and expertise required for techniques such as single photon emission computed implementation. However, less complex systems for tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomog- behavioural observation in the clinical setting have raphy (PET) and functional magnetic resonance been developed, which greatly increase the practical imaging (fMRI) have been applied to quantifying utility of behavioural pain assessment. The major cerebral activity associated with clinical and/or advantage of behavioural measures is their accessibil- experimentally induced pain. These imaging methods ity to investigators; that is, they can be directly actually detect changes in regional cerebral blood flow observed and quantified. This can be particularly use- (rCBF), which is closely related to synaptic activity. Moreover, both in scientific this chapter and readers are referred to Casey and and clinical arenas, concerns are frequently expressed Bushnell’s (2000) book Pain Imaging for more detailed over the complete reliance on patients’ self-reports information. Behavioural measures provide an additional able, though not always consistent, information source of data on which to base treatment decisions. For exam- Interestingly, pain behaviours and self-reported pain ple, some (but not all) clinical chronic pain conditions can provide conflicting information, presenting a have been associated with decreased resting thalamic dilemma for the clinician or scientist. It is important activation and many clinical pain states are character- to remember that pain behaviour, while more directly ized by increased activity in the anterior cingulate observable than self-report, is not necessarily a more cortex. These findings in clinical populations appear to valid or accurate measure of patients’ pain.\n\n    10 of 10 - Review by N. Tamkosch\n    Votes: 133 votes\n    Total customer reviews: 133", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7752044200897217}
+{"content": "01483nas a2200157 4500008003900000245004600039210004600085300001200131490000700143520104600150100001901196700002601215700001201241700001901253856005301272\u001e 2016 d\u001e00\u001faOptimal Reassembly of Shadow Tests in CAT\u001e0 \u001faOptimal Reassembly of Shadow Tests in CAT\u001e \u001fa469-485\u001e0 \u001fv40\u001e3 \u001faEven in the age of abundant and fast computing resources, concurrency requirements for large-scale online testing programs still put an uninterrupted delivery of computer-adaptive tests at risk. In this study, to increase the concurrency for operational programs that use the shadow-test approach to adaptive testing, we explored various strategies aiming for reducing the number of reassembled shadow tests without compromising the measurement quality. Strategies requiring fixed intervals between reassemblies, a certain minimal change in the interim ability estimate since the last assembly before triggering a reassembly, and a hybrid of the two strategies yielded substantial reductions in the number of reassemblies without degradation in the measurement accuracy. The strategies effectively prevented unnecessary reassemblies due to adapting to the noise in the early test stages. They also highlighted the practicality of the shadow-test approach by minimizing the computational load involved in its use of mixed-integer programming.\u001e1 \u001faChoi, Seung, W\u001e1 \u001faMoellering, Karin, T.\u001e1 \u001faLi, Jie\u001e1 \u001faLinden, Wim, J\u001e \u001fuhttp://apm.sagepub.com/content/40/7/469.abstract", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9952048063278198}
+{"content": "5.16. Programming Exercises\n\n  1. Set up a random experiment to test the difference between a sequential search and a binary search on a list of integers.\n  2. Use the binary search functions given in the text (recursive and iterative). Generate a random, ordered list of integers and do a benchmark analysis for each one. What are your results? Can you explain them?\n  3. Implement the binary search using recursion without the slice operator. Recall that you will need to pass the list along with the starting and ending index values for the sublist. Generate a random, ordered list of integers and do a benchmark analysis.\n  4. Implement the len method (__len__) for the hash table Map ADT implementation.\n  5. Implement the in method (__contains__) for the hash table Map ADT implementation.\n  6. How can you delete items from a hash table that uses chaining for collision resolution? How about if open addressing is used? What are the special circumstances that must be handled? Implement the del method for the HashTable class.\n  7. In the hash table map implementation, the hash table size was chosen to be 101. If the table gets full, this needs to be increased. Re-implement the put method so that the table will automatically resize itself when the loading factor reaches a predetermined value (you can decide the value based on your assessment of load versus performance).\n  8. Implement quadratic probing as a rehash technique.\n  9. Using a random number generator, create a list of 500 integers. Perform a benchmark analysis using some of the sorting algorithms from this chapter. What is the difference in execution speed?\n  10. Implement the bubble sort using simultaneous assignment.\n  11. A bubble sort can be modified to “bubble” in both directions. The first pass moves “up” the list, and the second pass moves “down.” This alternating pattern continues until no more passes are necessary. Implement this variation and describe under what circumstances it might be appropriate.\n  12. Implement the selection sort using simultaneous assignment.\n  13. Perform a benchmark analysis for a shell sort, using different increment sets on the same list.\n  14. Implement the mergeSort function without using the slice operator.\n  15. One way to improve the quick sort is to use an insertion sort on lists that have a small length (call it the “partition limit”). Why does this make sense? Re-implement the quick sort and use it to sort a random list of integers. Perform an analysis using different list sizes for the partition limit.\n  16. Implement the median-of-three method for selecting a pivot value as a modification to quickSort. Run an experiment to compare the two techniques.\nNext Section - 6. Trees and Tree Algorithms", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7012742757797241}
+{"content": "How is LFV working with environmental issues?\n\nLFV is constantly trying to find new ways to reduce emissions from the aircrafts. We focus on approach and take off paths and the air distance. Free Route Airspace, or straight flight paths, is an effective way to reduce aircraft emissions. Straight flight paths are made possible through GPS navigation instead of navigation aids on the ground. The joint Danish-Swedish airspace offers straight routes and a growing number in European airspaces is gradually introduced. Free Route Airspace is a requirement from the EU to streamline air travel and reduce emissions. We also work with our internal emissions, for example by using interactive forms of meetings and minimize our internal resource consumption at all levels of daily life.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998704791069031}
+{"content": "\n\nModern life has a way of making us feel time-crunched and under pressure to find the most efficient ways of using the precious hours when we’re not working or sleeping. This is acutely expressed in the trendy fitness regimen called high-intensity interval training, or HIIT.\n\nHIIT promises the best workout in the least amount of time. Runners have used interval training for more than 100 years, alternating between sprints and jogging to improve their endurance. But HIIT didn’t really go mainstream until about a decade ago, when exercise physiologists started to come out with study after study demonstrating that intervals could deliver the biggest health improvement for your exercise time. In 2013, the seven-minute workout, popularized by the New York Times, appeared on the scene, and then in 2016, the one-minute workout.\n\nRecently, fitness professionals voted HIIT as the third top fitness trend for 2019 in a survey by the American College of Sports Medicine. And interval-based workouts are popping up seemingly everywhere: at chains like Shred415 and Orangetheory (the fastest-growing franchise in the US), in group classes at YMCAs, on apps and YouTube, even in the workout routines outlined in Oprah’s O magazine. Often they promise to burn fat and “metabolically charge the body,” as Orangetheory puts it, in a short time period.\n\nBut there are some important nuances scientists have learned about HIIT that have gotten lost in the hype. The proven benefits of these workouts relate to a very particular type of interval training, and they’ve got nothing to do with weight loss. Here are six basic questions about HIIT, answered.\n\n1) First things first: what is HIIT?\n\nHIIT workouts generally combine short bursts of intense exercise with periods of rest or lower-intensity exercise. At fitness studios and online, these workouts often mix aerobic and resistance training.\n\nTo be clear, most of the interval workouts researchers have studied focus solely on aerobic exercise. Which means the scientific understanding of interval training is based on a more specific routine than what’s appearing in most gyms, videos, and magazines. And the researchers’ definition matters because when we’re talking about the evidence of benefits, we need to be specific about the kinds of workouts that science was based on.\n\nWhen researchers talk about HIIT, they’re referring to workouts that alternate hard-charging intervals, during which a person’s heart rate reaches at least 80 percent of its maximum capacity for about one to five minutes, with periods of rest or less intense exercise. (It’s not easy to know that you’re working at 80 percent, but a Fitbit or heart rate monitor can help.)\n\n“There’s a strict definition of HIIT in terms of heart rate,” explained Todd Astorino, a professor in the department of kinesiology at California State University San Marcos.\n\nThere are also SIT studies, which include all-out bouts of intensity (working at 100 percent of your heart’s capacity). The SIT research, also focused on intervals, reveals similar benefits, so I’ll draw on it too.\n\n2) What does a HIIT routine look like?\n\nWhat differentiates HIIT (or SIT) from the steady-state, continuous types of exercise — jogging at an even pace or walking, for example — is the intervals, those periods of heart-pounding intensity. And if you want to try it, you can simply take a HIIT class, or run or even walk in a way that involves a series of higher-speed and higher-incline intervals where you’re working harder.\n\nIf you want a routine that’s been lab-tested, there’s the 4-by-4 from Norway. It involves a warmup, followed by four four-minute intervals (again, where your heart rate reaches past 80 percent of its maximum capacity), each interspersed with a three-minute recovery period, and finished off with a cool-down.\n\nSo, for example, you’d jog for 10 minutes to warm up, then do four four-minute intervals of faster running, with three three-minute intervals of moderate jogging or brisk walking in between, and a five-minute cool down at the end. And you can substitute jogging with other aerobic exercises, such as biking or swimming. The whole routine should take 40 minutes.\n\nA shorter, and also heavily studied, example of an interval routine is the 10-by-1, which involves 10 one-minute bursts of exercise each followed by one minute of recovery.\n\nAgain, these routines look pretty different from what’s on offer at chains like Orangetheory, CrossFit, or even the seven-minute workout. Even though they’re often referred to as HIIT, they combine cardiovascular exercise with strength training.\n\n3) What are the benefits of interval training?\n\nThe single most well-established benefit of interval training has to do with heart health. Intervals can boost cardio-respiratory health with a smaller time investment compared to continuous forms of exercise. So we’re not talking about superior fat-burning capacity (more on that later) or bigger muscles. We’re talking about improved VO2 max, a measure of endurance that calculates the maximum volume of oxygen the body can use (and an important health marker).\n\n“Scientists have found that [VO2 max] is one of the best predictors of overall health,” according to the recent interval training book The One Minute Workout, co-authored by Martin Gibala, one of the world’s leading interval training experts, who’s based at McMaster University in Canada. “The more aerobically fit you are, the better your heart can pump blood, the longer it takes you to get out of breath, and the farther and faster you’re able to bike or run or swim.” And that, in turn, can help prevent heart disease.\n\nConsider this 2016 SIT study, in which Gibala and his co-authors followed two groups of participants for 12 weeks: One group worked out for 10 minutes (including several intervals that added up to one minute), and the other for 50 minutes (at a continuous pace).\n\nThe most remarkable finding in the study was that the two groups of exercisers saw the same improvement in their oxygen uptake, despite their varying time commitments.\n\nIn a 2014 study, Gibala and his fellow researchers got a group of overweight and obese sedentary adults to do three workouts per week, for a total of 30 minutes of exercise. Each workout included three 20-second intervals of fast pedaling on an exercise bike. Even in that short period of time, the study participants saw improvements in their VO2 max.\n\nReviews of the research have come to similar conclusions: Interval routines lead to greater gains in VO2 max compared with other forms of training in a shorter period of time.\n\n\nOf course, the more you put into a HIIT workout, the more heart health benefits you get out. In this 2013 meta-analysis, researchers evaluated the effects of high-intensity interval training studies, separating out nine studies that showed the largest improvements in VO2 max and nine studies that reported the smallest gains.\n\nThe findings were telling: Less intense training programs with shorter intervals carried the least health benefits, while interval training studies reporting the greatest increases typically used longer (three- to five-minute) intervals.\n\nFor this reason, athletes have long used the interval technique to up their game, Mayo Clinic exercise researcher Michael Joyner told Vox in 2016. “There’s observational data in athletes going back almost 100 years showing the benefits of a few bouts of really high-intensity exercise in people.” He added: “If you want to get people to their biological maximum, they need to be doing four to five times of three- to five-minute intervals.”\n\n4) Why does HIIT improve cardio health?\n\n\n\n\n5) Is HIIT the best exercise regimen for weight loss?\n\n\n\n\n“In terms of the overall magnitude of calorie burning, it tends to be small relative to what you can achieve by dietary changes,” Gibala summed up.\n\n6) What about the “afterburn” effect?\n\n\n\n\nIt’s also marginal, he added, not the kind of dent in calories that would lead to lasting weight loss. (I saw the same effect when I entered a metabolic chamber to measure my metabolism. In the periods after I hit the exercise bike, my metabolic rate ramped up — but only by a few more calories each minute, and the effect wore off within half an hour of exercising.)\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9831653833389282}
+{"content": "NGC 4526 is a lenticular galaxy in the Virgo cluster.\n\n\n\n\"This new image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and its Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFP\n\nThe Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light years (ly) from Earth in t\n\nGalaxy M101, popularly known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, is one of the best known spiral galaxies.\n\nThe Whirlpool Galaxy is one of the most famous galaxies in the sky, having been discovered by Cha\n\nNGC6822 is located approximately 1.6 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation Sagitta\n\nNGC 4414 is an unbarred spiral galaxy about 62 million light-years away in the constellation Coma\n\nMessier 61 (also known as M61 or NGC 4303) is a spiral galaxy in the Virgo Cluster.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9990037083625793}
+{"content": "Previous page\n\nMusings 2002/172\n\nso great as to permeate the Tabernacle space, even with the door shut. This, both before and after Mass, but much worse afterwards.\nWhen I walk through the gathering space after Mass, many of the faith community are also gathered there adding to the chatter from within the building. I make it a point to walk slowly through those gathered there noting how many are always looking in another direction as I pass so as to avoid any sort of greeting -- all are aware that I am one of the real-Catholics and that I oppose each and every one of their acts of disobedience to Mother Church.\nI, with other real-Catholics, I think, are like their conscience, reminding them again and again, each time they see us, that what they do is not accepted by everyone and that they should reconsider their position of defiance.\nIt is no good their thinking that they have the majority accepting their actions, locally. While it may seem so, it is a fact that most people do not even know that what they see every Sunday is opposing Church regulations. They think that all is well because the Priest obviously is in full accord of what is going on.\nIf only we could inform them in a manner which will make them conscious of the facts, they most certainly would not be happy with the novelties and innovations.\nThe innovators would quickly be in the minority and their novelties would quickly disappear as they should.\nThe ad-libbing by the Priest, for example, would be quickly stopped.\nThe homilies would once again reflect what The Church teaches and make the local Parish more in tune with the universality of The Church, instead of being an open sore on an otherwise healing body.\nThe Sacrament of Confession would be encouraged, not discouraged, and the Holy Rosary would again flourish.\nInstead of a social club which dabbles in social justice and uses the Sacraments as an psychological venture and as a means to help club solidarity, real unity would become the reality, and Truth would be the unifying Agent, leading to the very Love of God.\nIn the meantime, the novelties mentioned remain.\nAnd I have not listed them all.\nHumility in the 20th. Century\nReading the lives of the Saints - every one of them - they are all remarkable for their almost perfect humility.\nBut humility in the twentieth century was attacked from every direction, by every means available, by every modernist and would-be modernist.\nThe feminist movement, as part of modernism, led the way out towards a vacuum wherein humility became a despised thing.\n\nDid they really want to raise womanhood up to its greatest heights?\nIf they did, then why was Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, cast aside?\n\nWhy was Mary, The Immaculate Conception, the Woman of Scripture, the most perfect of God's creation, ignored totally?\nIf liberated women really desired to take their place in history, wouldn't they want to imitate the greatest person - a woman -  that God ever brought forth, anywhere?\nOf course they would - if they were serious in wanting to raise womanhood to its fullest potential.\nIt is a sad fact that the women's liberation movement skirted well and truly clear of the Woman of Scripture. If they ever did acknowledge Mary's existence, it was not with any admiration.\n\nThe question is why?\nThe answer of course,\nis that Mary was humble.\nMary was obedient.\n\nCertainly, no one will ever claim that the women's liberation movement advocated those dreaded things - humility and obedience.\nIt is an historical fact that not only was Mary humble and obedient, but that she excelled above everyone, everywhere, in her humility and obedience.\nWhat would result then, I venture to mention, if the following suggestion was put to the women's liberation movement:-\n\nDo you not realise\nthat the way to achieve fulfilment\nof the female role in history\nlies in humility and obedience?\n\nTarred and feathered! Scorned, ridiculed, to the extreme! Made a laughing-stock.\nAnd what of the modernist movement in The Universal Church?\nDo they demand what The Church demands, that is, humility and obedience?\nThat question is just as important to avoid and even ridicule, to the modernist Catholic, as it is to women's liberation.\nNot only was Mary absolutely humble and obedient, but so also was The Son of God, Jesus Christ Himself.\nHis obedience is an astonishing factor, for He knew throughout His life, that He was destined for The Cross and for every other suffering and humiliation that went with it!\nHe, The Son of God! He, God-made-man!\nYet, on top of the stupendous courage He portrayed in not refusing The Cross, He actually embraced it, out of sheer love for us sinful creatures who would cast aside humility and obedience, preferring acknowledgment and prestige; longing for wealth and glory.\nBut what of the twentieth century modernist, now almost extinct?\nWhat of their humility and obedience?\nYes, looking back over the past century, especially the second half, we perceive their humility and obedience and we evaluate these virtues of theirs and give them the score:-\nWe do so in answer to the following questions.\nDid they show obedience to The Church? Answer - NO.\nDid they show obedience to the Popes? Answer - NO.\nDid they show obedience to Vatican Council Two? Answer - NO.\nDo they act in humility? The answer - NO.\nThe pride and disobedience of the modernist can be so easily observed by anyone who truly wants to look. They defect from Church regulations  - disobedience - and replace them with their own regulations - pride!\nAnd, in doing so, they use deception and lies as the means of obtaining their purposes.\n\nNext page\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8175182938575745}
+{"content": "Treating an Adder Bite\n\nHow to treat an adder bite\n\nWe are very fortunate in the UK that the only venomous snake is the Adder or European viper (vipera berus).  Adder bites are uncommon and only normally occur if the snake is provoked.\n\nDo: Calm and reassure your patient\nDo: Wash the surface of the wound to remove any venom left on the surface\nDo: Immobilise the limb which has been bitten\nDo: Transfer patent to hospital quickly, by ambulance if possible\n\nBites may cause significant discomfort and medical problems but death is very rare.\n\nDo Not: Try to catch the snake\nDo Not: Suck the wound\nDo Not: Touch the wound\nDo Not: Apply a tourniquet", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9428834319114685}
+{"content": "Malaysia celebrates 61st anniversary of independence\n\nSource: Xinhua| 2018-08-31 11:49:06|Editor: xuxin\nVideo PlayerClose\n\n\nMalaysia's Supreme Head of State Muhammad V (C) takes part in the 61st National Day celebrations in Putrajaya, Malaysia, on Aug. 31, 2018. (Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung)\n\nPUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia held a grand celebration here on Friday to mark the 61st anniversary of the country's independence, following the historic general election which saw the Malaysian opposition taking office for the first time.\n\nMore than 12,000 were involved in the 2018 National Day Parade themed \"Love My Malaysia,\" representing all walks of life in the country, including the Police and the three branches of the Malaysian Defence Forces, according to the Prime Minister's Office.\n\nThe Malaysian Air Force performed a fly-past and aerobatic show involving its fighter jets. The airspace near Kuala Lumpur International Airport, located near Putrajaya, was temporarily closed to facilitate the performance.\n\nPrime Minister Mahathir Mohamad chose the administration center of Putrajaya over the capital of Kuala Lumpur as the venue for the major celebration event, marking a new beginning of the country after the general election.\n\nIn a speech delivered ahead of the national day, Mahathir hailed a \"second independence\" of his country after the change of government.\n\nThe 93-year-old prime minister, who led the country from 1981 to 2003, returned to office in May after leading the opposition to win the general election for the first time in six decades.\n\nRecalling the challenges that the country faced when first achieved independence, Mahathir urged people and the government to \"work together to revive the country.\"\n\n\"Ours is a heavy task. But no power can come between a people and government working together,\" he said.\n\nIn Aug. 31, 1957, the then Federation of Malaya achieved independence. In 1963, it was reconstituted as Malaysia after joined by Singapore, North Borneo (renamed as Sabah) and Sarawak. Singapore withdrew from Malaysia and declared independence two years later.\n\n   1 2 3 4 5 6 Next  \n\nKEY WORDS: Malaysia", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6658437252044678}
+{"content": "I’m going to declare here and now that I will write a story and make a book. THERE I SAID IT!\n\nAll I know right now is that this is a story about a girl struggling to deal with her negative emotions, which manifest in the shape of a wolf. It all started from this drawing.\n\nWhen I drew this I was thinking about moments when I looked in the mirror and couldn’t recognize myself anymore. Ugly emotions had turned me into a monster, and I could no longer remember how to be me. But what if the monster was in pain too? What if it was just trying to reach out to tell me something?\n\nFor a while, it felt like “write a story” had taken up permanent residence on my to-do list... I would look at the task guiltily as the days turned into weeks, promising I would get to it “tomorrow”. It’s the one thing I really wanted to do but somehow became really good at avoiding.\n\nRecently a friend suggested I break down this nebulous task into smaller, more concrete action items and this has made ALL THE DIFFERENCE! I had been staring at a blank page expecting to come up with an entire story in one sitting, when in fact there were so many puzzle pieces to be considered.\n\nSo I sat down to write out all the things I could think of that go into making a book, and a path is starting to emerge. It’s a long long path, but nonetheless it’s exciting to have a sense of direction😊\n\nMy main goal for this month is to get to know the main character. This entails the following:\n\n  1. Personality - spend an hour brainstorming personality traits (likes, dislikes, motivations, quirks, etc.)\n\n  2. Visual - spend an hour exploring different silhouettes (start with basic shapes)\n\n  3. Visual - spend an hour exploring different facial expressions\n\n  4. Visual - spend an hour exploring possible outfits/accessories (must reflect her personality)\n\n  5. Environment - spend an hour putting together a Pinterest board of furniture that might be in the character’s room/home (I’m imagining the story taking place primarily in her room)\n\n  6. Create a character sheet with a fully designed character in different poses/expressions\n\n  7. Review progress and decide on next steps!\n\nThat’s a good start, right? In addition, I’m taking a class on Schoolism to study visual development (this class by Victoria Ying is amazing! I signed up for the non-critiqued sessions that you can take at your own pace), and will also be going to the library/bookstore to research different book formats and styles.\n\nI’ve always found the combination of words and pictures to be such a powerful mode of expression. Writing intimidates me but I know I have stories to share, surfacing all the time in fragments through my art. I want to breathe more life into my characters and make them whole so they can go out into the world and make new friends.\n\nWish me luck, and I promise to keep you posted with progress (or struggles) for the duration of this journey!\n\nI also just realized my last post was about a wolf and girl too😂This concept has obviously been brewing for way too long!\n\n\nPart of a series of animal + girl paintings I'm working on🐺🌙✨\n\nI recently read Picture This by Molly Bang, and it really opened my eyes to how much can be communicated through the use of shapes, lines, and colors. For example: triangles can give a sense of stability and vitality (among lots of other things), diagonals imply motion, and entities with similar colors are seen as being associated/connected. \n\nI tried to incorporate some of what I learned into this piece😊 A great read for anyone interested in how pictures work!\n\n“Night Light”\nBlue Dot Sessions\n\n\nMoulin du Roy Cold-Pressed Watercolor Paper, 300gsm\n\nKuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor Set\n\nEscoda Perla Toray White Synthetic Round Brush\nRaphaël Kolinsky Red Sable Fine Pointed Round Brush\nPrinceton Neptune Oval Wash\n\n\nA short video of the beginning of a friendship🐻💛 \n\nI'd been sketching ideas of this pair forever, and finally got around to painting it. I really like how the colors turned out☺️ Hoping to turn this into a little series...! \n\nbear 4.jpg\nbear 5.jpg\nbear 2.jpg\n\nPodington Bear\n\nArches Cold-Pressed Watercolor Paper, 300gsm\n\nKuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor Set\n\nBlick Scholastic Golden Taklon Round Brush\nEscoda Perla Toray White Synthetic Round Brush\nRaphaël Kolinsky Red Sable Fine Pointed Round Brush\n\n\n\nSome of the things I enjoyed in June:\n\n\n1. Sketch day at the zoo with Kira of Kirakiradoodles and her hubby Lorenzo. Drawing from life is hard, especially when life is animals that won't hold still. Must keep practicing! I had a lot of fun, and Kira even made a cute video of our trip.\n\n2. Roadtrip with brother to visit parents = hours of REAL TALK. We didn't really get along as kids. Who knew we'd grow up to have some inspiring conversations about the artist life (he's a musician).\n\n3. Totoro on the big screen! I hadn't seen this movie in so long, and experienced a whole new world of feels watching it as an adult. So much love T-T I still can't get over what an amazing big sister Satsuki is, which makes me feel guilty about what a poo sister I was at her age.\n\n4. Hannibal the TV series. I binge watched all three seasons and really enjoyed it! I love the books, and the show did some really cool things with the source material. Great cast, great music, and so much beautiful food. It did get pretty bloody though, so I'm ready to get into something a bit more lighthearted this month.\n\n5. Books I read/am reading\n\nRed Dragon by Thomas Harris\nThe Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton\nI Can Hear You Whisper by Lydia Denworth\nThe Artist's Way by Julia Cameron\n\n\nStuff I Use\n\nA few weeks ago I asked on social media if anyone had any questions about watercolors, and got some amazing feedback! Thank you so so much to everyone who left questions and comments! I love watercolors, so it makes me really happy that so many of you are interested in getting to know it better. Since the questions covered a lot of ground (materials, techniques, etc), I’m going to be creating separate posts for different topics. Kicking things off with a list of materials I use.\n\nA quick disclaimer that I’m forever practicing and experimenting, so will probably continue to explore and change things up as I go. I always find it really helpful to get a peek into an artist's toolbox since there's SO MUCH out there to choose from, but at the end of the day I know it's perfectly fine to use whatever I like (cheap or expensive), however I like. THERE ARE NO RULES. \n\nOkay, here goes!\n\n\nI purchase most of my supplies online through Blick, which is local to where I live. I'm also incapable of walking out of any arts & crafts/stationery store without finding some amazing thing that I never knew I needed.\n\n\n\nOut of all my painting supplies, paper is the only thing I’m somewhat particular about. I say “somewhat\" because I’m not loyal to any brand, but it’s the one area where I actually notice a difference depending on what I use.\n\nFor doodling and practicing I use whatever is cheapest at the local art shop, but for everything else I use 100% cotton, cold-pressed (textured) paper. Both types of papers can produce lovely effects, but I noticed that most of my favorite techniques work better on the cotton sheets. They can take a lot more water, and the colors do beautiful things on them.\n\nHere’s what I’m currently using (they’re all great!):\n\nStrathmore Ready-Cut Watercolor Sheets\n\nThis cotton paper is pretty affordable, and I love that it comes cut into convenient 5 x 7 inch sheets.\n\nArches Watercolor Pad\nFabriano Artistico Extra White Watercolor Block\n\nThese are both great brands! I use the 9 x 12 inch sheets for most of my paintings these days, although I'm starting to dream about painting bigger.\n\nVarious Sketchbooks + Practice Papers\n\n\nPaper is pretty much my partner in crime when it comes to watercolors, and I think it really is as much a part of the medium as the paint. I wish I could paint on all kinds of surfaces and get the same beautiful effects, but have yet to figure out how. Must continue experimenting!\n\n\n\nI use a combination of a bunch of different paints:\n\nLEFT: Angora Watercolor Pan Set\n\nI was gifted an Angora pan set when I first started painting, and just bought this new set. I usually mix and match the colors or use them in combination with the paints below. I love the portability, and having a bunch of different colors to play around with.\n\nRIGHT: Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor Set\n\nI love love love this set! The colors are all amazing (especially the indigo, which is almost gone because I use it for everything T-T), and the intensity of the pigments is just wonderful. \n\nTube paints\n\nTube paints are great for mixing specific/custom colors, or if I need a large amount of a certain color. I have colors from different brands, including Daniel Smith, Grumbacher, Holbein, Schmincke, Utrecht, and Winsor & Newton — some were gifted to me, others I bought because they were recommended, or just on a whim because they happened to be on sale. Here again I’m not partial to any brand, but I've noticed that I use ridiculous amounts of the Shell Pink by Holbein Artists' Watercolors, and lots and lots of blue from all the tubes. \n\nMixing pans\n\nThe semi-clean one on the left is for when I want more control over the colors, and the messy one (that I never clean) is for spontaneous mixing/experimenting.\n\nLEFT: Dr. Ph. Martin's Hydrus Fine Art Liquid Watercolors, Titanium White\n\nI use this little guy to add a drop or two of white to my colors when I’m in the mood for pastels (which is pretty much always and forever). \n\nRIGHT: Holbein Artists' Gouache, Pearl Gold\n\nI've tried a lot of gold paints, but this one is by far my favorite! I use ridiculous amounts of this one too. \n\n\n\nI’m all about the round brushes, and own a few in different sizes. They’re really versatile and can create a lot of different effects, so I haven’t really ventured out to use much else. \n\nFrom top to bottom:\n\nPentel Aquash Brush Pen\n\nThis one is for when I'm on the go (it carries water in the brush, so you don't need to worry about water cups). It takes a little getting used to, but it's very convenient once you get the hang of it! \n\nBlick Scholastic Golden Taklon Round, size 14\nEscoda Perla Toray White Synthetic Round, size 12\nRaphaël Kolinsky Red Sable Fine Pointed Round, size 3\n\nThe trio of brushes I use the most. The size 14 and 12 to fill in larger areas, and the size 3 for details. I buy new brushes once in a while to test them out, but always end up coming back to these guys.\n\nPrinceton Neptune Oval Wash, 3/4”\n\nMy one non-round brush. It's a mop! I use it mostly to lay down water (like in the video below).\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLEFT: MUJI color pencils, toothbrush and sponge\n\nColor pencils for adding some finishing touches, toothbrush + sponge for creating different textures/effects.\n\n\nI don't use pens too much, but the Pigma Micron Pens work great with watercolors since they're waterproof, and the White Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen is handy for adding little details.\n\nBOTTOM RIGHT: The Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver\n\nKeeps my brushes clean and in good condition.\n\n\n…And that’s it! Woohoo we made it! Let me know in the comments if you have any questions, or if YOU have any favorites when it comes to art supplies. I'd love to hear your recommendations♥\n\n\nthank you.png\n\nSomething New\n\nOne of my goals for this year is to be more open, and the idea of an online journal has been floating around in my brain for some time.\n\nSo I decided to stop thinking about it and just post something already.\n\nI’m not sure what exactly I’ll be talking about here, but I’m excited to have a place to share things with whoever is out there listening. Maybe nobody, but that’s ok! The point is that I’m practicing being open. \n\nSomething new.\n\n\nsomething new.jpg", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8147876858711243}
+{"content": "By Noelle Monge\n\nRemember in high school English when everyone read “The Great Gatsby,” got really into it and used it to fuel their teenage angst? Well, I do. I’m bringing those feels back this week on “Noe’s Choice.” Was F. Scott Fitzgerald successful with his original novel or did Baz Luhrmann transform the story into a better film? Let’s find out.\n\n\nNoe loved:\n\nThe world that Fitzgerald created was incredibly impactful for both his time and ours. He tells us the story of a man living what looks like the dream, but is really plagued with regret and lies. I think this is one of the few classics that people read for leisure and educational literature, which speaks to how beloved Jay Gatsby and his pals are.\n\n\nI believe that the best part of the book is its point of view. It intimately explores the life of Gatsby, who has lost himself in the midst of seeking attention, from the perspective of Nick Carraway, who unwraps the mystery of the central characters. No other POV would have worked because of how twisted every element of the story is. It was the best move to transfer readers into the world of the Roaring ‘20s, making us all Jay Gatsby’s “beautiful little fools.”\n\nNoe hated:\n\nThis is a classic. I feel like having even the slightest issue with the novel would be a sin. Despite this, I want to point out how similar this novel’s themes are to a lot of Fitzgerald’s other works. All of his books revolve around old versus new money, which is a great theme to focus on. The manner in which he does it, however, is too stylistically alike to not notice. “The Great Gatsby” is the best novel by far, but there is not much variety found in his work.\n\n\n\nNoe loved:\n\nLuhrmann is known for creating intensely elaborate scenes, but his talent truly shines through in the film adaptation. From amazing costumes to beautiful parties, he does more than bring this story to life: He visually makes it his own. Every element of the film makes you wish that you could be a part of Gatsby’s world. Plus, the soundtrack is out of this world, with an iconic rendition of “Back to Black” by Beyoncé, and how could we forget “Young and Beautiful” by Lana Del Rey?\n\nNoe hated:\n\nI feel like the casting was more focused on obtaining A-listers rather than accurate character portrayals. Leonardo DiCaprio was stunning, but I would have liked to see someone less famous take on the challenge. Choosing a fresh face would have also emphasized the message of the plot. Old, legendary Hollywood is so out…\n\n\nNoe’s Choice:\n\nThe film wins this one. Luhrmann portrayed the novel in a way that everyone hoped for, but also made it so much better than anyone expected. Vivid colors, fun party scenes and great camera movements turned a straightforward plot into a trip back to a vibrant ‘20s.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9949066638946533}
+{"content": "All Natural Hemorrhoid Treatment\n9a -7p M-F MST\n\nHemorrhoids Fissure\n\nDo You Have Hemorrhoids or a Fissure?\n\n\n\nAnother similarity between a hemorrhoid and a fissure is that they are both caused by constipation. Constipation creates pressure in your anus veins as a result from excessive pushing in that region. A result is stressed veins in the anus which can lead to either hemorrhoids or fissures.\n\nBoth can cause itching, pain and bleeding. The bleeding for a hemorrhoid happens when it bursts from excess pressure or a worn out vein from expanding and retracting constantly from pressure. Bleeding is more common with fissures because they are in fact caused by the passage of hard dry stool that tears the anal lining. Both hemorrhoids and fissures can also be caused by excessive wiping.\n\nThe main difference between a fissure and a hemorrhoid is that a fissure is a thin slit-like tear in the anal tissue. A hemorrhoid, however, can be compared to varicose veins. They enlarge and lose their elasticity from excessive pressure which results in saclike protrusions. It is important to note that they are not tumors or growths.\n\nBoth hemorrhoids and fissures can be aggravated by sitting or standing for prolonged periods. Even violent coughing, lifting heavy objects and diarrhea can aggravate both unpleasant situations. Interestingly, if you note that they share similar symptoms as well as they are caused by similar root problems, you can further determine that they can also be healed with similar remedies.\n\nRemedies with ingredients that promote vein strengthening, bowel cleansing, and relief with pain and inflammation will be great for both hemorrhoids and fissures. That is why you should check out my natural remedy for both hemorrhoids and fissures.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.620653510093689}
+{"content": "\n\nMacbeth's Relationships And The Impact Of Power\n\n1593 words - 6 pages\n\nTo become powerful, is to become corrupt and The Tragedy of Macbeth is a prime example. In William Shakespeare's tragic tale, a young noblemen soon becomes corrupt when he is given the opportunity to become king. His need for power and safety drives him to corruption, ultimately killing off anyone who stands in his path: innocent or not. Throughout the play, many characters portray the impact power has on a relationship: Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, Banquo and Macbeth, Macduff and Macbeth and many more. While all these characters were affected by power in the play, Banquo and Macbeth's relationship best demonstrates the effect of power. By examining the effect that power can have on relationships in The Tragedy of Macbeth, it is clear that Banquo and Macbeth's relationship represent best what the impact of power on friendship can be like. This ultimately illustrates that the need for power can drive people to take extreme measures in capturing that power.\nIn Act One of The Tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare introduces the reader to the friendship shared between Banquo and Macbeth.The reader sees that they are friends, experiencing some of the most important scenes in the play together. In act one scene 1, Macbeth and Banquo are both encountered by the Three Witches. The witches give Macbeth two prophecies: Macbeth shall be first Thane of Cawdor and then King. In the mean time, Banquo was given the prophecy that his children shall be future kings. Macbeth and Banquo's relationship starts out strong at first, but their friendship fails as power comes into effect. In Act one Macbeth and Banquo converse over the prophecies the three Weird Sisters have granted them. Macbeth tells Banquo, \"Your children shall be kings (1: 3: 89). Banquo in return tells Macbeth, \"You shall be king\" (1: 3: 90). The scene ends of with Macbeth concluding that \"Till then, enough- come, friends (1.4.175). This part of the play clearly demonstrates that even though Macbeth and Banquo's relationships has started out strong, the notion of him gaining power has negatively impacted his friendship with Banquo. By Macbeth and Banquo's conversation, we can conclude that they are both in awe of the news they have just received. Neither Macbeth nor Banquo can believe that Macbeth shall be king or that Banquo's children will be kings. Despite the news, Macbeth tries to mask the awe and excitement and by explaining to his friends that whatever shall happen, shall happen when the time comes. He concludes by calling everyone around his friend. The power has reached Macbeth's head and that is why he is trying to mask his awe.\nBy the middle of the play, we see the lust for power gaining more and more control in Macbeth. Macbeth lies to Banquo in Act 2, demonstrating how the power has affected him. In the mean time, Banquo appears to remain loyal to his friend. In act two, scene one, Banquo and Macbeth have another conversation connecting back to the three sisters. Now that Macbeth has been...\n\nFind Another Essay On Macbeth's Relationships and the Impact of Power\n\nThe Impact of Nuclear Power Essay\n\n1686 words - 7 pages reactor has numerous health and environmental safety issues. The impact of nuclear power on the modern world has improved Various sectors of the economy and society .i.e. Food and Agriculture, Insect control, Food Preservation, Water Resources, Military, Medicine, Research and Industry. “In 1911 George de Hevesy conducted the first application of a radioisotope. At the time de Hevesy was a young Hungarian student working in Manchester with\n\nThe Impact of Gender on Power and Peace\n\n1278 words - 5 pages The impact of gender on power and peace has recently come under substantial inquiry. The main question here is whether both civil and international conflict is considered a predominately masculine concern, or whether this conflict is purely an outcome of a competitive system (Beckman, 1994). This essay will prove that a world in which more women are in positions of power and influence would not create a more peaceful world, and rather, “war is a\n\nImpact of Relationships Upon the Themes of Shakespeare's Othello\n\n1361 words - 5 pages The Impact of the Relationship between Othello, Iago and Cassio Upon the Themes of Othello           The major themes present in Othello are Jealously, Betrayal and Appearance vs. Reality. Each one of these themes are reinforced throughout the play in Iago's evil plot. They are represented or seen by Othello, Iago and Cassio and the relationship between them; dictating the motion of the\n\nGirl Power: The Importance of Female Relationships in Jane Eyre\n\n\n\n719 words - 3 pages Describe the effects of the incorporation of international law into the dynamics of organized anarchy. How for example does this alter power relationships? Does it expand or contract the number of political participants? Does it alter institutional arrangements and priorities?To understand the incorporation of international law, which is the body of rules that control or influence the rights of nations in relation to each other, into the\n\nThe Deterioration of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's Relationship\n\n1225 words - 5 pages states her position in the murder 'leave the rest to me'.In Act 1, Scene 7 establishes the force and power that Lady Macbeth posseses over her husband. Upon hearing of Macbeth's decision not to kill Duncan, she is outraged and starts to work her force and power upon him. She knows where he is most vulnerable and attacks him at his weak spot. She strikes him at his manhood and courage. This of course works on Macbeth and she knows that it will. No one\n\nExamining the Impact of Texting on Romantic Relationships\n\n2184 words - 9 pages The purpose of this paper will be to explore the effect of communication technology on interpersonal relationships, with regard to the attachment styles of individuals in the relationships. The central thesis is that, based on the anxious and avoidant attachment styles of individuals in the relationship, the influence of text message “read receipts” will have a negative impact on couples’ overall relationship quality relative to the control\n\nThe Impact Of Online Communities On Physical Social Relationships\n\n1355 words - 5 pages user’s personality. More energy is dedicated to the virtual life than to real life and people lose track of their personalities while busy building online ones. Also, frequent users of online communities have difficulties beginning meaningful real life relationships. Virtual friendships are shallow due to the physical distance and the anonymity of the internet and it is common to have more friends than you are able to care for. Therefore, it is\n\nThe Effects Of Macbeth's Ambitions\n\n1331 words - 5 pages \"He who blinded by ambition, raises himself to a position whence he cannot mount higher, must thereafter fall with the greatest loss.\" - Niccolo Machiavelli. This preceding quote effectively describes Macbeth's fight to gain and maintain his role as King of Scotland. Throughout the play, Macbeth did anything necessary to become King. When he feared his reign was at risk, he again did whatever he thought was necessary to ensure his role. His\n\nThe Cause of Macbeth's Ruin\n\n1873 words - 7 pages The Cause of Macbeth's RuinThe specific root of Macbeth's ruin is his uncontrollable ambition. His desires take control of his actions and this becomes his tragic flaw. It prevents him from becoming aware of when to stop; he is never fully satisfied as his desire for power grows. Macbeth's judgment is impaired since he only accepts ideas that will benefit him in obtaining his wants. He also becomes self centered and loses his feeling towards\n\nThe Consequences of Macbeth's Imagination\n\n990 words - 4 pages Macduff returns and kills Macbeth. The role of imagination was the driving force in Macbeth that caused Macbeth’s despotic, restless lifestyle. This imagination along with his craving for power and paranoia are what led Macbeth to murder more and more until he himself was killed. Source: Paul, Henry N. \"Macbeth's Imagination.\" Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 9 Feb. 2014 Source: Bradley, A. C. \"Macbeth's Imagination\n\nSimilar Essays\n\nThe Power Of Relationships Essay\n\n1467 words - 6 pages Relationships between two people can have a strong bond and through poetry can have an everlasting life. The relationship can be between a mother and a child, a man and a woman, or of one person reaching out to their love. No matter what kind of relationship there is, the bond between the two people is shown through literary devices to enhance the romantic impression upon the reader. Through Dudley Randall’s “Ballad of Birmingham,” Ben\n\nPower Of Love And Relationships Essay\n\n\nThe Power Of Personal Relationships Essay\n\n\nThe Impact Of Globalization On State Relationships\n\n846 words - 3 pages \"Globalization, both as an ideology and process, has become the dominant political, economical and cultural force in the 21st century.\" Quote from \"Globalism: The New Market Ideology\" by Manfred D.Steger, Page 6 One of the biggest questions currently asked in international politics seeks to determine the role that globalization plays in world and its effect on state relationships. While there is debate about the extent to which", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9021541476249695}
+{"content": "Sons of Liberty Flags\n\n\n\nThis was the flag of the early colonists who joined together in the protest against the British impositions on American economic freedom. One such protest was resistance to the Stamp Act, on October 7, 1765. A delegate from each of the nine colonies formed the \"Stamp Act Congress\" who petitioned the king and parliament, repealing the act on March 18, 1766. The flag of nine red and white stripes that represented these \"Sons of Liberty\" became known as the \"Rebellious Stripes.\"\n\nOn December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty protested the parliament's Tea Act, an action that became known as the Boston Tea Party. The colonists believed the tax to be a violation of their legitimate economic liberty. Three and a half years after the Tea Party, the thirteen colonies came together in their decision to fight for independence and the nine stripes grew to thirteen. The Sons of Liberty would rally under a large tree which became known as \"The Liberty Tree\".\n\nRelated products", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9991658329963684}
+{"content": "Creating Change Through Humanism\n\nCreating Change Through Humanism\nAuthor: Roy Speckhardt\nLanguage English\nPages: 192\nGenre: Nonfiction\nGoodreads Rating: 4.24\nPublished: July 28th 2015 by Humanist Press\n\nAmericans who do not identify as religious now make up 21 percent of the population, according to the 2014 General Social Survey. With the dramatic increase in the number of secular Americans, the time is ripe for Creating Change Through Humanism , which lays out how and why people can lead moral and ethical lives without belief in a higher power. Abandoning traditional religious faith is just one step on a path to a better way of thinking. This book explains how to take the next steps with the empathy and activism that characterize humanism today. Defined by author Roy Speckhardt as “the radical idea that you can be good without a god,” humanism has inspired generations of individuals to improve themselves, their communities and their society. Creating Change Through Humanism describes how a humanist lifestance has influenced and can continue to advance diversity and equality. Humanist ideals pervaded the U.\n\nS. from its founding, starting with the innovative idea of separating church and state to maintain a religiously-neutral government. Humanism has continued to propel our nation toward social progress by promoting basic human rights and dignity. The humanist movement, with its forward-thinking outlook and emphasis on critical thinking and self-reflection, is at the forefront of such pressing social issues as civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ equality, responsible scientific freedom, and the environment and population dynamics.\n\nThroughout this comprehensive and concise history of the humanist movement, Speckhardt interweaves personal stories, including his own, of individuals who journeyed from organized religion to humanistic convictions.\n\nHe encourages his readers to be open about their nontheism and to become active in social and political causes, so they can put their positive values into action and combat the anti-humanist prejudice propagated by the religious right. By highlighting the achievements of individual humanists and the progress made by humanist and secular organizations such as the American Humanist Association, Speckhardt illustrates that a worldview reliant on empathy and critical thinking is sorely needed to advance progressive aims for American society.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9997812509536743}
+{"content": "Amazonian 'lookout' birds help other species live in dangerous neighborhoods\n\nA gray bird sits on a tree branch, with green leaves in the background\n\nA dusky-throated antshrike (Credit: Eliseo Parra)\n\nSF State study could inform rainforest bird conservation \n\n\nResearchers have pondered the existence of these mixed-species flocks for decades, especially because of their stability. “You come back to the same habitat after 20 years, and the same flocks are using the same areas of the forest,” explained San Francisco State Professor of Biology Vance Vredenburg. “It defies a lot of expectations.”\n\nBut scientists did have a few clues. One ubiquitous group of flock members are species whose calls alert their neighbors to the presence of threats like hawks or falcons. “People have thought for a while that maybe these ‘sentinels’ promote the ability of other species to use risky parts of the forest,” said lead author Ari Martinez, who was a postdoctoral researcher at SF State during the study. By opening up new habitat to their neighbors, they might also bring together species that would normally flock on their own.\n\n\n\nThe results support the idea that alarm-calling species might allow their neighbors to live in dangerous neighborhoods. “These flocks occupy a middle layer of the rainforest that’s not quite the ground and not quite the canopy,” explained coauthor Eliseo Parra, a lecturer and researcher at San Francisco State. “A lot of literature suggests that this area is more dangerous. There are more opportunities for a predator to be hidden and still have a quick flight path.” Remove the antshrikes and their former flockmates are left exposed, so they retreat to safer habitats. \n\nAnother consequence of the removal is that almost all of the members of mixed-species flocks spent less time with the bulk of the flock. “Some species would retreat to one habitat, and some individuals to another,” said Parra. “From an anecdotal perspective, you no longer saw a flock.”\n\nEven if they don’t look the part, this makes alarm-calling birds similar to “keystone species” that have an unusually big effect on their environment, like beavers and wolves. Antshrikes may not have a large impact on their physical environment, but they influence the behavior of many other species by creating a safe zone from predators. “It’s a way that species diversity might be maintained in the forest,” said Martinez, adding that this could make them valuable targets for conservation efforts.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9435665011405945}
+{"content": "Antibiotics: we have discovered sooner, higher technique to determine the appropriate one to make use of – The Dialog – UK\n\n\nBacterial infections are greatest handled quickly, however lab exams to find out the kind of an infection a affected person has are sluggish. So if a physician suspects a bacterial an infection, she is going to most likely prescribe a broad-spectrum antibiotic. In different phrases, an antibiotic that kills a variety of disease-causing micro organism. It’s a buckshot strategy relatively than a sniper’s bullet and, as such, has its disadvantages. Not solely may the drug not work for the affected person’s particular bacterial an infection, it may additionally add to the issue of antibiotic resistance.\n\nLearn extra:\nSuperbugs 1, the world 0\n\nIdeally, if a physician suspects {that a} affected person has a bacterial an infection, she is going to ask them to supply a pattern (urine, stool, mucus) which is then despatched to a lab for evaluation. Right here, conventional diagnostic strategies, such because the disk-diffusion check (see video under), will have a look at the expansion of micro organism within the pattern within the presence of antibiotics. An antibiotic is taken into account efficient at treating the an infection if it stops micro organism multiplying on the petri dish on which it has been cultured.\n\nDisk-diffusion check.\n\nHowever this check can take as much as 48 hours, which implies remedy is delayed, giving the bugs extra time to multiply. Due to this, these exams are sometimes not carried out. Additionally, these growth-based instruments analyse whole bacterial populations made up of billions of micro organism without delay, however micro organism behave otherwise from each other. These cell-to-cell variations are vital in defining the success of an antibiotic remedy and must be taken into consideration.\n\nSo there may be an pressing want for brand spanking new methods of finding out the impact of antibiotics on the single micro organism stage. This could permit an early identification of the proper antibiotic to deal with an an infection in order that the event of resistance is slowed down and the affected person’s restoration is improved. On the College of York, we’ve developed simply such a check.\n\nHow we developed our new instrument\n\nMicro organism are complicated machines. They repeatedly carry out duties resembling swimming, dividing, choosing up vitamins, speaking chemically, sustaining their form and way more moreover. So we requested ourselves if antibiotics intervene with any of those capabilities in a noticeable means.\n\nThere’s a sturdy curiosity amongst researchers and docs in exploring completely different measures of an antibiotic’s motion that would make exams doubtlessly sooner than growth-based ones, so we determined to give attention to how micro organism swim and their form. To do that, we used instruments from microfluidics – the science of manipulating fluids on the micro scale.\n\nTo analyse how bacterial movement and shapes are affected by antibiotics, we fabricated arrays of tiny cupped traps on a easy glass slide. A microchannel is used to seal the gadget and inject and manipulate options with micro organism to swim alongside.\n\nEvery entice (see diagram under) is sufficiently small to catch a single bacterium that swims into it. A whole lot of traps assist us to look at a whole bunch of trapped micro organism on the identical time. As soon as caught, we monitored their actions and form, one after the other, whereas exposing them to antibiotics. Crucially, most wholesome micro organism are wonderful swimmers, which is necessary for his or her quest for vitamins and colonising surfaces. Additionally, they’re distinctive at sustaining their physique shapes.\n\nAntibiotics: we have discovered sooner, higher technique to determine the appropriate one to make use of - The Dialog - UK - technique, sooner, higher, discovered, determine, appropriate, antibiotics\nSketch of the trapping array for single micro organism.\n\nOur experiments revealed that medicine which can be efficient at suppressing progress intervene with each the micro organism’s motion and form; solely these antibiotics make micro organism weak and unable to swim actively. Additionally they deform the bugs inflicting them to shorten, lengthen, bend or grow to be spherical. So, conversely, adjustments in each form and swimming recommend an antibiotic that’s efficient. Utilizing this “shorthand” we had been in a position to pinpoint environment friendly medicine in as little as one hour. It is a nice enchancment over the present growth-based strategies that want 24-48 hours.\n\nPotential for a speedy scientific gadget\n\nThe actual benefit to our methodology comes from a shift in perspective – we aren’t progress. Rising a colony to billions takes days and masks any particular person variations amongst micro organism. As an alternative, we’ve proven that antibiotics efficient at inhibiting progress in conventional exams, impair micro organism actions and deform them in a matter of hours. Additionally, the flexibility to analyse particular person micro organism means docs don’t have to attend for bugs to multiply and it lets them research cell-to-cell variations.\n\nOur gadget might be developed into a quick scientific instrument for assessing the best antibiotic to make use of for a given an infection. Think about you go to your physician with a pattern. Your GP would inject the pattern in a tool consisting of a number of microchannels with 1000’s of traps. Totally different antibiotics could be injected in every channel, on the identical time, and software program would routinely monitor the actions and form of the individually trapped micro organism.\n\nSince the best drug will have an effect on swimming and form sooner than progress, the physician doesn’t want to attend for the micro organism to multiply. In a few hours, your physician would be capable to determine the best antibiotic in your particular an infection and prescribe it.\n\nSolely by counting on such various approaches can we forestall antibiotics overuse and protect their energy for the long run by slowing down bacterial evolution. The recipe is: the appropriate drug, to the appropriate affected person, on the proper time. And our new method permits simply that.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9360355734825134}
+{"content": "Mr. Yeo Zhen Qiang\n\nGraduate Fellow Tembusu College National University of Singapore\n\nHaving graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering (Minor in Life Sciences), Zhen Qiang is currently pursing his Master’s degree in Management of Technology. His interests lies in the areas of Science, Technology, Environment, and Education.\n\nDuring his undergraduate years, Zhen Qiang was involved with various interest groups in Tembusu such as Bolt & Pace (Running), T-OWLs (Night Cycling), and Tembusu Mentors. During his term as a Graduate Fellow, he hopes to share his experience as an NUS undergraduate with fellow residents and assist them in easing into the hectic yet fulfilling university life.\n\nBeyond NUS, Zhen Qiang is also regular participant of competitive races around Singapore including the Sundown Marathon, Army Half-Marathon, and Singapore Marathon. Sports that are of interest to Zhen Qiang are running, swimming, cycling, and weight training.\n\nAs an avid traveller, Zhen Qiang has travelled over many cities around Europe while on his full-year exchange to London, and is looking forward to visit even more places around the world in the near future. Feel free to drop by his room and he will be more than willing to share his exchange experiences and tips with you.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7480719089508057}
+{"content": "Micropolar cruise\n\n\nGo to Project Site\n\n\nThe aim of the ANR Phytopol project is to understand how phytoplankton survives during the long polar night.\n\nPhytoplankton is responsible for nearly half of the photosynthesis on the planet. In polar regions, phototrophic organisms need to survive during long periods of darkness occurring in winter. However survival mechanisms remain mysterious and elucidating them would provide a key to understanding how primary production is sustained in polar ecosystems which are among the highest productive areas on the planet. Until now, studies have been hampered by the difficulty to access these environments, especially in winter. The Norwegian project MicroPolar to which the two French PIs are associated has offered a unique opportunity to sample polar waters every two months for one year, including during winter (January, March, May, August and November 2014). PhytoPol is taking advantage of this to address the question of the survival of phytoplankton during long darkness. The project is structured in three tasks: i) characterize dominant Arctic photosynthetic pico- and nano-phytoplankton strains, ii) determine the physiological mechanism(s) used to survive long periods in the dark, and iii) elucidate the molecular mechanisms of these adaptations.\n\n\n  • Station Biologique de Roscoff DIPO team (Daniel Vaulot, Fabrice Not, Valeria Jimenez, Catherine Ribeiro)\n  • Observatoire Océanographique de Banyuls (Hervé Moreau, Sheree Yau).\n\n\n  • ANR France\n  • Région Bretagne\n\n\nMantoniella beaufortii and Mantoniella baffinensis sp. nov. (Mamiellales, Mamiellophyceae), two new green algal species from the high Arctic\n\nPreprint PDF Dataset Project Project Project", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7198359370231628}
+{"content": "Yes we can but we’d prefer not to. This was a technique called selective colour that was quite popular several years ago. Beware of ‘Photoshopographers’ who rely heavily on Photoshop in an attempt to make their images look cool or cover up their mistakes by applying trendy techniques to your images.\n\nTrends in photography come and go like trends in fashion. You don’t want to look back on your images in 5-10 years and hate them because they are over processed using some trendy technique. Remember when big hair and acid wash jeans were considered cool? Clean and clear images will always stand the test of time so we tend to go light on the Photoshop stuff and avoid chasing trends too much.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9853111505508423}
+{"content": "Helping you become a well-rounded care provider embracing the challenges of the health needs of diverse cultures and populations in Southwest Virginia, Northeast Tennessee, and beyond.\n\nThink critically. Develop higher-level decision skills. Affect patient outcomes. The RN to BSN program will equip you to understand the cultural, economic, political and social concerns impacting patients and their healthcare. \n\nThe comprehensive curriculum design at Emory & Henry College, along with the flexible online and clinical hybrid degree format, will enable you to further engage in nursing research, evidence-based practice, technology, management, and much more. Upon completion of the program, you will be prepared to actively engage and contribute to the nursing profession through lifelong learning, leadership, scholarship and service.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.999940812587738}
+{"content": "\nBrandon Lee, Canadian Consul General to the Pacific Northwest; Ken Malott, a campus minister at the University of Washington, and Marcie Kellegrew, of Seattle (L-R) decide which topics should be discussed at Saturday’s AI and faith conference at Seattle Pacific University. (Tony Lystra Photo)\n\nCan a computer become God? Or, more to the point, could humans invent AI that can convincingly impersonate God — and if so, would humans bother to worship it?\n\nThat was one of the questions explored Saturday by technology experts, the faithful and everyone in between at a conference devoted to artificial intelligence and faith at Seattle Pacific University.\n\nThe concept of “AI Almighty” might not be as outlandish as it seems. Last year, a former Uber engineer founded a nonprofit religious organization called The Way of the Future. Its mission: creating an AI deity. New York Magazine writer Andrew Sullivan wrote Friday that America’s religious inclinations are succumbing to other devotions.\n\nMichael Paulus, Seattle Pacific University’s director and associate professor of Information Studies and one of the organizers of Saturday’s Technology and Faith conference, helps the audience deliberate on the day’s topics. (Tony Lystra)\n\nAnd at least one participant at Saturday’s Technology and Faith conference in Seattle noted that AI might fit modern day interpretations of the Antichrist, as described in the New Testament: An all-worshiped leader, sometimes described as “the Beast,” who aims to supplant faith with temporal pursuits. Theology aside, it’s not much of a stretch to see today’s culture as wound to near-religious fervor over the next technological wonder and looking to it for guidance every hour of the day.\n\n“That actually sounds like AI could fit hand-in-glove,” when it comes to Revelation, said Christopher Lim, a former Amazon engineer who founded the Christian entrepreneurship firm TheoTech, as well as an AI-driven speech translation product called Broadly speaking, Lim said he has no problem with technology, and is neither convinced of nor ruling out connections between AI and Revelation. But he pointed out that Tesla founder Elon Musk once referred to the advent of AI as “summoning the demon.”\n\nMuch of Saturday’s conference was more pragmatic, focusing how religious leaders and software engineers of faith can help develop ethical AI, or whether it should be disclosed when a human is interacting with AI instead of another human.\n\n“I don’t think we’re ever going to have AI that wakes up,” said Daniel Rasmus, a technology analyst and former Microsoft business insights director who is a board member of the Seattle organization AI and Faith, which helped put on Saturday’s event. “So I think this is more about us practicing what we preach than it is AI coming to terms with consciousness and its epistemology and all that stuff.”\n\nThe “un-conference” was loosely structured and intended to spark informal conversation; there were no scheduled presenters and participants decided together on the topics of the day then met in small groups to discuss them. Themes approved by the more than 40 participants included: “Virtual Places of Worship,” “Personification of AI,” “Development of AI Without Bias” and “Is AI a Danger to Human Rights and Dignity?”\n\nThose in attendance included software engineers, religious leaders and members from various faiths as well as academics.\n\nOne Amazon Alexa engineer, who asked not to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to speak on behalf of the company, said he came to the conference to learn how Alexa “can be more beneficial to churches.”\n\nOne example, he said, is helping autistic kids who have trouble communicating and participating in Sunday school. “Those things can be turned into Skills (Amazon’s name for Alexa’s know-how) the autistic children can relate to,” he said, adding that such a service is not yet available from Alexa. “I have ideas, some of it I cannot share yet,” the engineer said.\n\nOne theme that emerged during Saturday’s conversations is that AI’s development could go in two directions: It can remain controlled by humans and, one should hope, used for good much of the time. Or it could be turned loose to learn on its own, beyond human control, and possibly become destructive.\n\nBrandon A. Lee, the Canadian consul general to the Pacific Northwest and former Canadian ambassador to Silicon Valley, said he came to Saturday’s event to learn what the local technology and faith communities are thinking about AI, values and ethics. He said he’s particularly interested in the human biases that might be embedded into the code within neural networks — and how those biases shape the ethical decisions AI will inevitably have to make. Lee cited the example of a self-driving car having to decide which way to veer when sliding on black ice — toward the crowded sidewalk or the mother walking with her baby?\n\nThe possible involvement of faith traditions in the development of AI is only partly reassuring, he said. Lee, who describes himself as “deeply inspired by Buddhism,” pointed out that every religious tradition has in its history poor decisions and ethical blunders.\n\n“Of course, we want an ethical AI,” he said. But the question is, “How do we train the AI — and by what religion?”\n\nThat’s especially important because computing power compared to the human mind is roughly “a million to one,” Lee said. As an AI application learns more and more about each member of a religious group, it could tailor religious messages to individual people. Those who are illiterate could get an AI-driven sermon consisting only of pictures, while longer, more nuanced sermons could be distributed to the highly literate. The point is that, in this scenario, the AI knows who can read, who can’t and endless more intimate details about its human congregation.\n\n“It will become fully more dynamic than any human can be, and this is really a little scary,” Lee said.\n\nLim, the former Amazon engineer who has given a lecture titled, “Artifical Intelligence for the Kingdom,” said he plugged the sermons of the 18th century preacher and theologian Jonathan Edwards into a neural network created by Andrej Karpathy, now director of AI at Tesla. The neural network could churn out its own sermons based on the Edwards material, Lim said. Some of the AI sermons were nonsensical, he said, and the AI would sometimes make up Bible verses that don’t exist. Even so, the AI sermons had a way of sounding like the long-dead Edwards — and a lot of them weren’t much more nonsensical than sermons from real pastors, Lim said.\n\nMore interestingly, though, many of the AI-written sermons often sound authentic, he said, like they’d come from a flesh-and-blood minister.\n\n“For a large class of pastors,” Lim said, “they may be out of a job.”\n\n\n\nJob Listings on GeekWork\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9613703489303589}
+{"content": "TTS and March Madness\n\nIt is that time of year to gear up for MARCH MADNESS! And one thing not to forget is hearing damage.\n\nTemporary threshold shift, or TTS, is a temporary hearing loss caused by exposure to harmful amounts of loud noise. This is a rising of the softest sound you can hear (your auditory threshold), thus possibly making soft sounds inaudible and louder sounds much quieter. It is sometimes accompanied by tinnitus or ringing in the ears.\n\nThe sensation of hearing loss with TTS is caused partly by the ear trying to protect itself, but is mainly due to fatigue within the hearing organ, making the mechanisms within the system unable to function properly, causing you to have a hearing loss.\n\nWhile the immediate effect is generally temporary, it can be a sign that you are causing some amount of irreversible permanent hearing loss, or that you may have started down that road. What happens when loud noise hits the hearing organ is similar to that of a steam roller slamming into grass. Some sound may remain behind, but the results on a whole can be devastating and painful. Studies have shown that it can take up to a year for the effects of loud exposure to play its course in your system, and once the death of your cells begins, it is more likely to continue.\n\nPermanent hearing loss has been shown to occur when exposed to 85 dB over eight hours. The louder the noise, the less time it takes to damage your hearing. By 115 dB, which is approximately the sound level of a basketball game, it may take less than 15 minutes to cause damage. In some cases, games can peak at up to 130 dB, which can cause permanent damage in seconds.\n\nThis March Madness season, protect your ears by wearing hearing protection, and if you experience TTS, take it for the warning sign it is.\n\nFor more information, please call 214.363.HEAR.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9278314113616943}
+{"content": "Artist explores identity, perception in Smith College exhibit\n\n\"29-06\" is among Florence artist Donnabelle Casis' gouache-on-panel artworks in her exhibit, \"undercover,\" on view through March 26 in Oresman Gallery of Smith College's Brown Fine Arts Center, 20 Elm St., Northampton.\n\n\nNORTHAMPTON - There is an opening reception Friday, March 8, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. for Florence artist Donnabelle Casis' exhibit, \"undercover,\" in Oresman Gallery in Smith's Brown Fine Arts Center, 20 Elm St.\n\nThe show on view March 5 through 26 features new works in gouache on panel by the Filipina-American artist who draws from a broad range of visuals -- the patterns of textiles, the images of tribal tattoos, details from face recognition software as well as matadors' costumes - to create pieces that raise issues of identity and perception.\n\nCasis, whose work has been exhibited both here and abroad, earned a master's degree in fine art in painting from the University of Washington and a bachelor of fine art degree from the University of Connecticut.\n\nOresman Gallery is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.\n\nThe gallery is an exhibition space within the college's art department that is dedicated to showing recent work by professional artists.\n\nCasis, who was born in Manila, came here at the age of 2 and has lived on both coasts, was asked further about the creation and concept behind her pieces and how they seem to burst with color and movement from their panel.\n\nHow does the title 'undercover' apply to your artwork in the exhibit?\n\nA. I am always fascinated by visual perception and how meaning is derived from what we see.\n\nMy current work explores personal identity and its relationship to markers and patterns. Among many subjects, I research textiles and tattoos which use symbols and colors that tell a story about the wearer/bearer.\n\nMy title \"undercover\" is a multi-level reference. We are all human underneath. How we express ourselves via adornment and guises makes us individuals.\n\nCover also refers to textiles, armor, disguise, concealment and how a perception of the facade is not always the actuality.\n\nHow do you use color, pattern and movement in your artwork to express your themes and what do you hope people might see in your work in terms of identity and visual systems?\n\nA. I use bright and sometimes discordant color to impact the viewer.\n\nThe patterns are inspired by ancient and current fashion trends.\n\nMovement is a mechanism through composition, form and color to direct the viewer's gaze throughout the painting.\n\nMy abstract forms and colors allude to my references which may inherently seem familiar to the viewer, but placed out of context create a new perspective. I hope to posit questions about what we see and how we see.\n\nHow does bullfighting translate into art work?\n\nSince the middle ages, Spanish noblemen would perform bullfights on horseback.\n\nMost matadors who fought on foot came from very humble backgrounds, poor families seeking a way to make money and become famous. They had a need for dignity. They wanted to prove that the common man could aspire to be royalty.\n\nAround the 18th century, bullfighters began to wear costumes similar to the dandies or fashionable upper-class Spaniards of the time. For them, wearing these ornate suits elevated their status in society. Some matadors would not perform unless there was royalty present in the stands.\n\nThe matador's suit came in many designs. Each design was one of a kind and was custom made to fit the style and personality of the bullfighter. Color was important. Some colors were chosen or avoided based on superstition and beliefs.\n\nFor example, one matador would never wear a purple suit because he got gored during the last bullfight in a purple suit. The color purple would signify bad luck in the ring.\n\nBlack was used if the matador was in mourning. The embroidered designs were like a family crest or coat of arms. There was a familial history. Silver designs were for matadors-in-training. Only a bullfighter who made a kill was allowed to don gold in their suit.\n\nI use metallic paints as a reference to the shiny silk threads found in matador attire. I have used the color gold to reference my experience as a mother and artist.\n\nWhy the use of facial recognition software to create your art?\n\nA. Facial recognition has become so advanced in identifying people. Did you know you could be identified by details such as your earlobe or your gait? I am intrigued by this powerful tool and how we can be recognized but not truly understood as humans.\n\nDid you grew up with a lot of influences from your culture and how have they impacted your own identity as a Filipina-American?\n\nActually, I have not grown up with my own Filipino cultural influences.\n\nI only started researching my own heritage after I began discovering the tattoo culture of the Kalinga people of the Philippines. It was a way back to tracing my roots in search of my own identity as an artist, person of color, mother and community member.\n\nYour work was selected through an application process for exhibit at the Oresman Gallery. What satisfaction do you feel in doing your art and seeing it exhibited?\n\nA. I create my work to find a visual manifestation of my thoughts and questions. My work often surprises me as I do not have a preconceived notion of what it will look like as a finished piece.\n\nIt is rewarding to have an opportunity to exhibit my work outside of my studio and have it be part of a broader conversation.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9333497881889343}
+{"content": "Bipartisan Bill Tackles Facial Recognition Ethics\n\n(Image: Shutterstock)\n\nSens. Roy Blunt, R-Mont., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, introduced the Commercial Facial Recognition Privacy Act yesterday in a bipartisan effort to regulate facial recognition technology to protect consumers and their data.\n\nBlunt and Schatz, both members of the Senate Commerce Committee, would prohibit commercial users of facial recognition technology from collecting and sharing data for tracking and identifying consumers without their consent.\n\n“Our faces are our identities,” Schatz said. “They’re personal. So, the responsibility is on companies to ask people for their permission before they track and analyze their faces.”\n\nThe legislation would also require reviewers to test products before their implementation with the aim of weeding out issues of algorithmic bias or inaccuracies before their public releases.\n\n“Consumers are increasingly concerned about how their data is being collected and used, including data collected through facial recognition technology,” Blunt said in a statement. “That’s why we need guardrails to ensure that, as this technology continues to develop, it is implemented responsibly.”\n\nMicrosoft and digital rights group the Center for Democracy and Technology have also endorsed the bill, and executives from both shared the sentiment that facial recognition is powerful and carries potential but that Congress should keep it tamed and ethical in its increasing role in commercial technology.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5592831969261169}
+{"content": "Ocean Action Hub\n\nIntergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO)\n\nAuthors: Breitburg, D., Grégoire, M. and Isensee, K. (eds.). Global Ocean Oxygen Network 2018. IOC Technical Series, No. 137 \n\nOxygen is critical to the health of the ocean. It structures aquatic ecosystems, impacts the biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen and other key elements, and is a fundamental requirement for marine life from the intertidal zone to the greatest depths of the ocean.\n\nNearly all ocean organisms larger than a single cell, and even many microbes, require oxygen for survival. They depend on oxygen in the water in the same way that animals on land depend on oxygen in the air. A reduction in ambient oxygen below required levels causes physiological stress, behavioural changes and ultimately death of key marine species. ‘If you can’t breathe, nothing else matters’.\n\nClimate change is decreasing oxygen concentrations in the open ocean. The combined effects of climate change and excess nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus from sources such as agricultural runoff and human waste) are leading to oxygen loss in coastal marine systems and semi-enclosed seas that are strongly influenced by their watershed. Global and regional models predict that the oxygen content of marine waters will continue to decline as atmospheric and ocean temperatures rise and human population size increases. Ocean health is expected to decline and human well-being may ultimately suffer.\n\nThis technical brief presents a summary of scientific experiments, observations and numerical models addressing the following questions: How has the oxygen content in the open ocean and coastal waters changed over the past century and through geological time? What are the mechanisms behind this oxygen decline? How is ocean oxygen content predicted to change over the rest of the twenty-first century? What are the consequences of low and declining oxygen concentrations in the marine environment?\n\nNo votes yet\nType of document: \nPublication date: \nPublication Author: \nThematic Area: \nOcean Acidification", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9749424457550049}
+{"content": "Provenance is dead. Long live provenance\n\nLast month, The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Economic Development Board (EDB) revealed new branding to promote the country to both tourists and businesses.\n\nThe unified message of 'Passion Made Possible' is set to tell a fuller story of Singapore beyond just tourism, articulating the country’s provenance and regionality with stories about the destination and its people. This is seen with the new logo which labels the country as ‘SG’, playing on the idea of trademarks and linking to Singapore’s desire to be known as a country of innovators.\n\nProvenance has had a tough ride in recent years. As a marketable idea it has struggled, somewhat ironically, to contain its own proliferation, and its once formidable selling power has been diluted as a result.\n\nWhat’s more, across the columns, screens and activations of recent years, provenance has played second fiddle to the more fashionable idea of ‘brand purpose’ (an idea now unravelling gracelessly before our eyes).\n\nThe notion of provenance needs to be evolved if it is to re-capture the imagination of consumers. These three considerations will help your brand cut the clichés when talking about origins, history or heritage.\n\nProvenance is about so much more than authenticity\n\nWe have a tendency to think of provenance and authenticity as interchangeable. But provenance is a lazy way to inflect a brand with a sense of authenticity. And authenticity is too broad an idea to provide a serious and lasting solution for brands that have lost their way.\n\nInstead of asking ‘how can we appear more authentic?’ brands should be asking ‘what truth is our brand or business built upon, and is that truth still relevant today?’\n\nIf the answer to the latter question is ‘yes’, then the next thing to do is to understand how that truth manifests and expresses itself in contemporary culture. This is the key to unlocking how brand provenance, and brand truth, can be made a part of the present instead of remaining a part of the past.\n\nIf the answer is ‘no’, then we all know what the dignified thing to do is.\n\nKeep it real\n\nAvoid the temptation to idealise a brand’s origins, heritage or history. The BBC was criticised earlier in the year for the pristine vision of nature brought to life in Planet Earth II, and rightly so. The world is a mess. Photo-shopping reality or focussing our attention on the few remaining pretty bits isn’t going to help with the clean-up.\n\nThrough attempts to inflect brands with ever-higher degrees of ‘authenticity’, today’s consumers have been asked to buy into some of the least authentic stories and images imaginable. It’s another of the ironies that has contributed to the weakening of this once powerfully sellable notion.\n\nIf provenance is to recapture its relevance as a marketable idea, then brands need to channel the spirit of place and people with more honesty than they currently do.\n\nPatagonia’s recent video in response to attempts by the US government to alter the boundaries of a host of national monuments is a good example. The next generation of brands to benefit from provenance-inspired product, narratives or campaign ideas will acknowledge the world as it is, not sugar-coat it.\n\nProvenance is timeless\n\nOne of the things that makes provenance a powerful idea is that it closely mirrors our own experience of buying a product we truly care about. We remember where we bought it, why we bought it, and we can usually reflect on the difference it has made to our lives since we did. This feeling of connection to a thing or a place is very natural and very instinctive.\n\nThe provenance of your brand fifty years from now is being created by the people who are experiencing and using it today. Brands across categories can learn from the fashion and cosmetics players who are finding novel ways of allowing consumers to enhance their experience of the moment they buy something for the first time.\n\nBrands have social and cultural origins - they serve a social purpose, and they are part of the cultural mix. Let the provenance of your brand come to life through the people who have made it a part of theirs.\n\nGareth Lewis is Asia regional lead at Space Doctors.\n\nGet The Drum Newsletter\n\n\nCome on in, it’s free.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6761403679847717}
+{"content": "Trump answers rebuke of border plan with a veto\n\n\nWASHINGTON (AP) - Unbowed by a congressional rebuke, President Donald Trump issued the first veto of his presidency in a demonstration that he is not through fighting for his signature campaign promise, which stands largely unfulfilled 18 months before voters decide whether to grant him another term.\n\n\nThe monthslong confrontation now moves to the courts, but not before marking a new era of divided government in Washington and Republicans' increasing independence from the White House. It is unlikely that Congress will have the two-thirds majority required to override Trump's veto, though House Democrats will try on March 26.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9627680778503418}
+{"content": "\n\nDurham e-Theses\nYou are in:\n\nThe application op non-linear optimisation techniques in geophysics\n\nAl-Chalabi, Mahboub (1970) The application op non-linear optimisation techniques in geophysics. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.\n\n\n\nNon-linear optimisation techniques form an important subject in non-linear programming. They work by searching for an optimum of a function in the hyperspace of its variable parameters. The purpose of the present work is to test the applicability of the techniques to solving non-linear geophysical problems. A problem from each of the major branches of geophysics is considered. The problem of fitting continental edges is also considered. Direct search methods are slow but are robust and, therefore useful in the early stages of the search. Gradient methods are fast and are efficient in the proximity of the optimum. A gravity or magnetic anomaly due to a two-dimensional polygonal model has a unique solution in theory. In practice, ambiguity arises from the presence of several factors and takes the form of a scatter of local minima and elongated ‘valleys’, in the hyperspace. The solution becomes less ambiguous as the influence of these factors gets less and as more parameters in the model are specified. The techniques are used successfully to interpret two-dimensional gravity and magnetic anomalies. Their efficiency, and flexibility make it possible to tackle a wide range of gravity and magnetic problems. The required computer time can be reduced by careful programming. The techniques are useful in interpreting surface wave dispersion data; the large degree of ambiguity associated with the problem may be overcome by specifying several parameters. A fast curve matching process is deviced for interpreting apparent resistivity curves. The method of outputting the results reduces the effect of equivalence. A method of fitting continental edges, by minimising the gaps and overlaps between them, is given. The ambiguity in the precise position of the pole of rotation is illustrated using the same concept adopted in the gravity, magnetic and seismic problems.\n\nItem Type:Thesis (Doctoral)\nAward:Doctor of Philosophy\nThesis Date:1970\nCopyright:Copyright of this thesis is held by the author\nDeposited On:13 Nov 2013 16:07\n\nSocial bookmarking: del.icio.usConnoteaBibSonomyCiteULikeFacebookTwitter", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7613745927810669}
+{"content": "Berthe Morisot PDF\n\n1868-69 oil painting by the French painter Édouard Manet. The painting, inspired by Majas on the Balcony berthe Morisot PDF Francisco Goya, was created at the same time and with the same purpose as Luncheon in the Studio.\n\nThe three characters, who were all friends of Manet, seem to be disconnected from each other: while Berthe Morisot, on the left, looks like a romantic and inaccessible heroine, the young violinist Fanny Claus and the painter Antoine Guillemet seem to display indifference. The boy in the background is probably Manet’s son, Léon. Just behind the railings, there are a hydrangea in a ceramic pot, and a dog with a ball below Morisot’s chair. This was the first portrait of Morisot by Manet. Manet made many preparatory studies, painting the four subjects individually many times: Guillemet as many as fifteen times.\n\nThis entry was posted in Informatique et Internet. Bookmark the permalink.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9871724247932434}
+{"content": "Thursday, March 21, 2019\n\nColonizing Frozen Worlds\n\nAn alien civilization which has mastered the art and science of traveling between solar systems might have done something else which will surprise us. They might have decided that worlds like their origin world are fine for the origination of life and evolution and technology development, but there are better choices for an established, advanced, expanding civilization. They might like frozen worlds.\n\nBack here on Earth, we are all excited about the developments in the detection of planets around other stars than ours, and are contemplating how we might search for life on them. The great hope is that oxygen in the atmosphere will be the clue. Oxygen is a reactive element, and would combine with exposed rock, removing it from the atmosphere. It is plant life which renews it, by taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. Before we had plant life on Earth, we had a different atmosphere. Nitrogen is not very reactive, and carbon dioxide even less; they were there. There may have been other constituents, but no matter. Oxygen was not one of them. If life all died out on Earth, the oxygen in the atmosphere would disappear. So atmospheric oxygen has been chosen as the signature of life.\n\nThis means that our search for oxygen in the atmosphere of all those exo-planets is directly solely at finding origin planets. To understand what this means, let’s consider an example. Civilization Z originated on planet A101, after a billion years or two of evolution. They used up all the resources, but being a very intelligent civilization, they developed star travel before that happened, so they could travel to other solar systems and use up the resources there, before traveling on. Maybe they had communication between the different colony worlds, and maybe not. Perhaps they always did more than one new world from each colony, after about a million years on each one. Then, to do the very simple math, after one million years there would be two colonies, plus the origin planet which can no longer support a civilization, lacking resources. After two million years there would be four colonies, plus two old colonies which had died out and old A101. After three million years, eight colonies, plus six old colony worlds, now without any civilization, and A101. Just remember, in the calendar of the galaxy, three million years is very, very short. Maybe they would run into some expansion problems at some time, as exponential growth gets large very quickly. For the sake of the example, suppose that at the time we start looking for life in the galaxy there are five thousand colony planets with life, meaning civilization Z, two or three thousand ex-colony planets, and that old origin planet.\n\nSo, if some brilliant astronomer wants to find life in the galaxy at this point, there might be five thousand planets with life and a civilization to boot, and one origin planet. Where should he look for life? Origin planets?\n\nTo try and figure out what planets might be serving as colonies for civilization Z, ask: \"What are they going to need?\" Resources, and principal among them, energy. If the planet being considered is not a rogue planet, floating free in interstellar space, there will be a star to orbit around, which is giving off energy in the form of photons. These might be collected. Otherwise, there is uranium and thorium to fission and deuterium and other light nuclei to fuse.\n\nPerhaps there are two stages of resource needs. One relates to the initial time on the planet, after the alien colony ship arrives and lands. Since fission reactors are relatively simple to build, compared with fission ones, at least as far as we know, they might seek planets with lots of uranium, and uranium that is not too old so there is still lots of U-235. Old uranium has only the U-238 left, which is much harder to fission. As uranium ages, the fraction of U-235 goes down. The planet from which civilization Z is expanding might start a hundred thousand years before they need to migrate, and send out some exploration ships. A ten thousand year voyage, and they can start reporting back on what the target planet is made of. So, in this particular scenario of colonization, there is plenty of time to carefully plan their next planetary colonization.\n\nTo have uranium, which is thought to be produced in supernova explosions, there would have to have been a few in the previous billion years prior to the formation of the star they are considering. Then there would be uranium, young enough to be useful. Figuring that out might not be too difficult, by looking at the contents of the gas clouds around the solar system in question.\n\nDo they want a larger planet, with an atmosphere, or a smaller planet, maybe Mars-sized, with almost none. This might depend on the details of how planets form crusts and how mineral deposits accumulate in the crust. We’re not too sure of these details now, but if Mars has good mineral deposits, then Mars-like planets might be just what they want. Low gravity means not so much propulsion needed to get out of the gravitational hole. Little atmosphere means no winds to worry about.\n\nOur knowledge of exo-planets is fairly sparse at the current time, but it might be such smaller planets are typically cold. If the star is smaller, but there was a lot of residual angular momentum in the cloud it formed from, there might be many smaller planets, completely frozen, but with excellent mineral resources. Could an advanced alien civilization cope with extreme cold? Can they master insulation? Very likely. Thus, perhaps frozen smaller rocky planets are their preference. If so, even a rogue planet might be just fine. There may be huge numbers of them roaming the galaxy, largely invisible to us.\n\nThere is another follow-on conclusion from this possibility. Earth would be of no interest to an alien civilization which was colonizing all the mineral-rich, frozen, small planets in the Milky Way. Earth is too big, with too much atmosphere, too large with too much gravity, and also has the minor inconvenience of already having life on it. Perhaps we should think through the alienology of colonization a bit more to see if this option is a dominant one.\n\nFriday, March 15, 2019\n\nMomentum and Goals in an Advanced Alien Civilization\n\nIn this blog, the various eras of an alien civilization are described by the technology that is possessed. There is the early fire and stone era, then comes the age of metal, followed by the age of mechanical industry, followed by the age of electronics, then the age of genetics. It was convenient to divide these eras up by naming transition periods, 'grand transformations', when the knowledge and capability in one of these areas of technology was changing fast and leading the civilization into new directions and plateaus. All of the areas of technology continue changing at once, so there is necessarily overlapping of inventions in different fields, but the effect on society would seem to have peaks and valleys. In the peak, society is reorganizing itself to take advantage of the new technology. In the valleys, the reorganization is diffusing out but the main changes have passed in the part of the civilization that is at the forefront of technology change.\n\nThere are several possible catastrophes that could end an alien civilization and prevent it from ever traveling in space to visit Earth. Most of these are physical, such as a nearby supernova or a basalt flood or an asteroid impact. Some are social, such as idiocracy, which is the failure of the society to generate enough intelligent people to keep it running, or factionalism, where the civilization devotes itself to strife between factions, which again prevents it from pursuing higher technology or maintaining what has been achieved. A third one is resource exhaustion, where the cost of obtaining mineral or energy resources gets too high to maintain the standard of living necessary to keep technology going forward, and incidentally doing anything sufficient to prevent resource exhaustion. As noted in the posts on idiocracy, this happens when the culture ceases to value reproduction of intelligence, on the average, and might best be referred to as a situation of social momentum.\n\nOne way to think of social momentum is to think of a herd of herbivores outrunning some predators. They have no plan to follow, just speed to use to their advantage. So they run without thinking, most times to a successful escape, but sometimes into a cul-de-sac or over a cliff. The essence of social momentum is that the civilization has not reached the point where the goals of the civilization as a whole are discussed and clarified, but instead, they have not crystallized into any usable form. Goals are all personal and do not align. During a special period like a war, there will be a goal of at least a faction of the civilization, but other times, none exists.\n\nFor idiocracy, the social momentum is in the direction of differential breeding, with lower intelligence individuals breeding at a higher rate. For factionalism, there is a goal for each different faction, but they are opposite and pertain to the destruction of the other faction or factions. The social momentum is toward destruction of assets. For resource exhaustion, the social momentum is in the direction of individual consumption, and resources are not thought of as being needed for the successive generations, but only for the current one; otherwise they are thought of as being so huge that infinite is a good approximation in economic thinking.\n\nWhere does social momentum, in self-annihilating directions, arise? The nature of individual decision-making, in overview, is quite simple. Individuals make decisions for themselves or they copy the decisions made by others, which they obtain through individual contact or via media. Those controlling the media can filter such decisions, leading to a limited scope of choices for those individuals who prefer to copy the selections of others. Some number of individuals will make their own choices, depending on their feelings or using some amount of reasoning. If those who control the media make their choices in such as way as to have them fulfilled by spreading some particular set of goals, then the direction of the social momentum of society is determined by them. If in a particular alien civilization, there are divisions in choice among the media-controlling elements, then social goals will be diffuse, otherwise they might be more aligned.\n\nSome economic systems have strong feedback loops which tend to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a few individuals. Other systems might not have these loops. So one question to ask is, if factionalism is part of the social momentum of a particular alien civilization, will the economic system present on the planet allow power, in particular media control, to be concentrated. Technology might also push toward concentration, or rather, work via economics to do this.\n\nDoes technology and its understandable stages and steps tend to have economic changes along with the other social changes that it brings, and do those economic changes favor economic systems which concentrate power? One aspect of technology is a kind of communication range that individuals have. In the fire and stone era, there were only a small number of others who could communicate with any particular individual, maybe only one or a few families. In the metal era, there was surplus food at times, which allowed individuals to be used as travelers bearing communications. In the industrial era, communications begins to open up so that an individual might be in contact with thousands, via printing. Then electronics opens the gate even further, perhaps to the maximum possible, where any individual on an alien planet could without great difficulty communicate with any other one.\n\nIs concentration of power also a social momentum artefact, so that if there at one time a high degree of it, does that continue for a long period, through technology changes? The feedback loop which promotes this might be the default condition of the civilization, and only by some unusual circumstances would there be a smaller concentration. The feedback loop works very simply. Someone with a large amount of power can use some of that to increase the amount of power he possesses, leading to a greater concentration. In the later stages of technology, transportation and communication are no longer hindrances to such concentration. So, the three social catastrophes, idiocracy, factionalism, and resource exhaustion might well be in the cards for many alien civilizations, as they will allow power to be concentrated to the point where the feedback loop begins to function, leaving the concentration to increase inevitably. The three catastrophes are not sudden, but very gradual, and the concentration of power effects will continue to push towards their final state, while power continues to concentrate even more.\n\nThursday, March 7, 2019\n\nLater Stages of the Genetic Grand Transformation\n\nIn an older post, it was noted that the genetic revolution is likely to be, by a large margin, the most revolutionary of all, in the sense that an alien civilization will be wholly transformed when it happens. The different stages of this grand transformation can be laid out, as they are necessarily sequential. The knowledge gained at one stage is needed for the next stage.\n\nThe first stage is very simple, chromosomal selection for embryos. This is extremely old news here on Earth, and there has even been a movie produced about it, entitled GATTACA, from twenty years ago. A couple has twice as many of each chromosome as an embryo needs, so the best two of each type can be chosen. The second stage is what we hear in the news nowadays, which is when specific genes are chosen. Tools for that are just now being found here, and surely in any alien civilization reaching its maturity this would be as routine as antibiotics. Small amounts of changes are what we talk about now, as we don’t have confirmed technology for even that. The technology must exist, however, as inside the cell, genes are moved around during evolution all the time.\n\nRight after that, industrial gestation would be the likely mechanism to be developed next. This particular invention will change an alien civilization more than the Internet has changed out, which is totally. No more parents and no more child-bearing, just new humans. Will parenting become a specialized business, just as has almost every other aspect of life? Why would it be any different? Parenting is extremely rewarding, perhaps more so than any other activity in life, but why not outsource the child-bearing to a machine? Yes, bonding between mother and child will be diminished, and in time, as an alien civilization ages, the role of mother might be also performed by specialists, either trained aliens or some robotics. It is almost trivial to be able to think up problems that might happen with this, but it will be just as trivial for an alien civilization to figure out how to avoid them or turn them into advantages.\n\nConsider for a moment what this point represents. It means that any organism that can be developed in a laboratory can be put through industrial gestation and be ‘born’. This refers to things on alien planets like mammals, but similar processes would be similarly possible for things like plants and insects and whatever else evolved on the planet. In other words, life becomes something like a recipe or a cookbook. AI will undoubtedly be very powerful by the time industrial gestation is well-developed, so the concoction of forms of life which can successfully pass from the egg stage to the real world and on to an adult animal or plant will be quite possible. A huge amount of data will have to be collected, about all the molecules that operate in a living organism, but huge data stores are just the media AI likes to live in.\n\nNow, on Earth, to come up with a new species of plant or animal takes a lot of careful breeding and selection. On a planet with technology a few centuries past ours, it will be done from scratch, without experimentation, as ontology and growth can just be simulated. There can be as many new species as anyone wants to take the time and expense to come up with.\n\nThis is by no means the end of the genetic grand transformation. Since reproduction of anything will be economically done industrially, why would there be any species at all? Species are defined as groups of individuals capable of breeding with one another. There would be no need for this, so why have species? There could be a billion clones of some plant if it were desired, or none, meaning that organism was its own species.\n\nIs DNA sacred, or whatever form of organic molecule evolved on an alien planet to serve as the template for genetics? We on Earth are far from knowing how many kinds of molecules can do this job, and if there are more than one, is there another which is more versatile, or more reliable, or easier to work with, or anything else which might mean that the alien technologists would start switching over to it for successive generations of organisms?\n\nAnd whether DNA or XYZ is used, the legacy method of ontology might be changed. We don’t understand this process very well, but we have observed it in detail. The idea is that each successively evolved species keeps most of the ontology of its predecessor, and adds a little twist to it. Perhaps an alien civilization would rewrite the book, and have a completely different order of development of organs in some new organism they created. Just because something evolved does not mean it was the best that could exist, as there is a barrier posed by the need for evolutionary change to work gradually.\n\nOne point made in that earlier post is by the time of these later stages of the genetic grand transformation, it might be reasonable for aliens to switch over from mono-genetic organisms to multi-genetic organisms. We refer to these as chimeras, but that is only a tiny little glimpse of what might be possible. Any optimized genetic package can be used for any organ or part of an organ in a designed chimera. Aliens could choose to use just two or as many as desired. This would mean that an embryo would be fashioned by amalgamating cells of different genetic varieties, all of which were tuned so they could form a cooperative package of cells that could be gestated and have different genetic codes in different parts of the organism.\n\nAll the previous stages involve organic biochemistry. At some point, there could be a closer bond between organic and inorganic components in some hybrid object. We on Earth use certain types of microbes to sort out dilute liquids containing minerals, and of course that should be expected to expand far beyond these ideas. For example, technology may well allow communication between whatever passes for neurons on an alien planet, and some semiconductor gizmos of equally small size. The neurons would be tailored genetically for this, and the gizmos specifically designed and printed to be a good substrate. Then anything is possible.\n\nAuthors and screenwriters like to play with the idea of a person from some centuries ago being brought into the modern world and being astounded by what they see. Someone from before the genetic grand transformation being brought to a time after it would be immeasurably more confounded by what is seen. We on Earth would do well to simply contemplate these potential changes to better appreciate what an alien civilization of advanced technology really looks like. Then we can better ask the question of why haven’t they visited us here.\n\nSunday, January 27, 2019\n\nDeath by Erudition\n\nWhen contemplating why an alien society might never reach its technological zenith, but instead get stuck at some lower point, there are many, many possibilities. If technology never reaches its finale in asymptotic technology, then space travel is impossible, the alien society lives and becomes extinct on its own planet, and we never get visited by them. One boondoggle that an advanced or middle-technology society can get in might be called 'Death by Erudition'.\n\nErudition is a nice English word which has the meaning of the accumulation of already known knowledge. In other words, it is the opposite of learning by experiment or by trial-and-error. The example that springs to mind is the old Chinese Empire, where opportunities for advancement and personal power were largely confined to the imperial government, and there were tests that were used to filter out the more qualified from the less qualified. The subject of the tests was Confucian learning and the derivations from it. Confucianism is something like a religion, but without any supernatural entities floating around, and a large behavioral code. Alien individuals would need, at that time and at all times, some basis for choosing how to behave in a multitude of situations, and what type of mandatory behavior would be necessary as well. If there was an alien civilization which developed a globe-spanning empire, and which put up a chokepoint to advancement as erudition in some subject like a behavioral code and all its trappings, then any alien who might have had a possible future in advancing technology would be steered away from that into the task of passing through the chokepoint.\n\nTechnology advances when there are some precursors to it. One is the scientific method, and we have Francis Bacon to thank for kicking off the theory of how to do good science. If an alien society took its Francis Bacons, meaning those aliens who had the equivalent of his mental abilities and freedom of thought, and induced a very large majority of them to instead work on following to the last detail some behavior code, “alien Confucianism” if it needs a title, there might be no one, between the time of the foundation of the empire and its collapse due to resource shortages or something else intrinsic to a colossal government, who invents the scientific method. With that, there would be no guidelines for interested aliens to follow in order to push the civilization up the technology ladder.\n\nThe alien empire does not have to be completely globe-spanning, but it does have to be large enough to dominate the globe and to set an example to all the outlying areas, where some minor kingdoms might be set up. It would seem quite logical that these outer regimes would try to imitate the globe's largest empire, and copy their focus on erudition and on having a chokepoint to advancement being the mis-directed competition on knowledge of some body of behavioral rules or some other religious category of knowledge. It is easy to imagine many ways such a competition could be organized and many sets of knowledge domains it could cover, without there being the slightest impetus to advancing technology.\n\nIt might be thought that some upstart kingdom on the periphery would want to be an alien Kublai Khan and conquer the empire, using some new technology. But technology provides an incremental advantage, and sheer numbers provides a different one. As long as the empire paid attention to the smaller kingdoms and maintained control over them, so they could not be amalgamated under one leader, their numbers could be sufficient to overwhelm any technology advantage, or for that matter, any inspirational leader or any secret cabal or so on. The key is that the empire has to pay attention to the details of what was going on in the periphery. With that in hand, an alien empire might easily prolong its existence, and the counter-technology chokepoint, until resource shortages or environmental effects or some natural catastrophe put an end to that civilization's window of opportunity to explore interstellar space.\n\nThere have been many examples of empires here on Earth, and three stand out as examples of humongous empires. One is the Chinese Empire, already mentioned, which had the chokepoint and which serves as a good example. Another is the Incan Empire, which was huge as well. The Incan Empire did not last long enough for such effects to be manifested, as it was swallowed up by the Spanish Empire after it had existed, as an empire, for only about a hundred years. The third is the venerable Roman Empire. Each of these three had suppressed or swallowed up the nearby competition. The Incan Empire had its own belief system, but it was so short-lived that it was still in the condition of having military leaders rule over it and take positions of power within it. The Roman Empire had passed that stage, but it was so diverse that it did not have any standard belief system to use in harnessing the ambition of young potential leaders. Thus the Chinese example is the only outstanding one, but it serves as an illustration of what might happen.\n\nAre there any features we could observe on distant planets that would have an effect on the rise of such an empire? Is there anything unique about Earth which means we don't have such features and therefore escaped from that collapse mode?\n\nEmpires grow because they have a central granary, a large area where foodstuffs can be grown and where villages and cities can be formed. Rome had the Italian peninsula, the Incans had the terraced mountains up and down the Andean mountain chain, the Chinese had central China. They also had to have transportation, and that consisted of one spine of roads plus branches for the Incas, a network of roads emanating from the capital for China, and the Mediterranean Sea plus roads for the Romans. To have a globe-spanning empire would means there would have to be a large continent, all fertile, without barriers to transportation. Alternatively, an archipelago with all the fertile land might do. There would have to be no obstacles such as mountain ranges dividing the sole continent, or multiple fertile continents at large distances. Thus, once we have constructed a telescope of kilometer size or greater, we can look at exo-planets which are otherwise likely to have originated life, and see if they might have had a civilization which collapsed early in their technological progress, owing to 'Death by Erudition'. \n\nMonday, December 31, 2018\n\nThe Approach to Arcologies in Alien Civilizations\n\nArcologies and massive recycling go hand-in-hand. An alien civilization which reaches the stage where it is aware of resource constraints on their home planet will gradually improve recycling, and work to decrease the fraction of materials used in production that come from resource extraction, using recycling instead. Having the population concentrated in arcologies makes high-level recycling easier and more efficient.\n\nAn alien civilization cannot just decide that on some date everyone will move into an arcology. It must be a gradual process. But just what might that process look like? Are there any stumbling blocks along the way that might interfere with the civilization's eventual decision to leave their solar system and travel to another?\n\nRecycling itself grows bit by bit. On Earth we are familiar with collection of a few materials which can be reprocessed and re-submitted to manufacturing. There is also other forms of recycling going on here that we do not necessarily categorize as recycling, but which would be a major feature of life on any advanced planet that had decided it wanted to survive for eons. One is re-use. If an item is not discarded while still being useful, but instead is transferred to a new user, this is a form of recycling. Not much is recycled here, perhaps clothing and children's toys, a small amount of furniture and a few other things are simply sold or transferred to new owners, such as family members or friends. Housing is the other large component of goods which are transferred from owner to owner, along with vehicles.\n\nRefurbishing of goods prior to resale also occurs in a few instances here on Earth. Recycling of organic materials in compost is used on Earth and has been for thousands of years, being perhaps the first of all recycling that humans have done. All of these techniques and several others would be needed to push the level of recycling in an alien civilization up to 80%, 90%, 95% or higher. These high levels translate into large increases in longevity for the alien civilization, provided catastrophes do not occur. A long duration alien civilization is needed to prepare for and conduct space flight between stars.\n\nRecycling, to reach the high levels that might be mandatory for longevity, needs to increase both in degree and in extent. The increase in degree means that, if copper is being recycled, as time passes, the percentage that is mined dropped, and the percentage that is lost and unrecoverable diminishes. This limits the type of usage that can be done. Losses occur when a substance is too completely mixed with diverse other substances to be economically separated, or when it is used in consumption, such as the liner of rocket nozzles, where ablation would remove it and irretrievably disperse it. A mixed material that can be simply treated and reused in the same or similar function is certainly categorizable as recycling, and it is only if the material is dispersed would it be lost. The combination of mixing and dispersal might remove some substance that either one of them would not.  The expansion of extent means more and more substances are submitted to recycling, eventually approaching 100%.\n\nThere will certainly be a preference for making all items in the civilization out of parts which can be recycled, and in increasing the lifetime of all parts as well. A bearing which lasts for fifty years cuts losses by 80% over a similar bearing which only lasts for ten. Such longevity increases might come from simple design changes, not involving any different materials. It is not clear immediately how the selection of design will be made and by whom in any particular alien civilization, but it is clear that one of the strongest constraints on design will include reliability and the possibility to remove all or most of the materials for recycling as a materials or as parts.\n\nIf the population of the alien planet is spread out everywhere, with low density, the transportation costs of recycling will be larger, and it will be more difficult to collect waste. To get to very high levels of recycling, it might be necessary to collect dust from manufacturing areas or perhaps elsewhere, or even to filter the atmosphere. Thus, one of the pressures in the alien society is to bring everyone who consumes resources into one of the locales where collection and reprocessing can be done. This means more population in large cities and less in non-urban areas.\n\nAnother aspect of resource usage minimization is the introduction of efficiency in every process that occurs in the alien civilization. Earthlings know a little about this, as we understand that reducing gasoline per distance helps cut losses of resource, as does home insulation. Efficiency becomes another strong design driver in an advanced alien civilization on its pathway to the stars. Transportation efficiency comes not just in fuel usage, but in mode of transport and distance between sites as well. In an arcology, elevators and the horizontal equivalents can be used as the distances are smaller, and this is yet another factor that will tend to make arcologies the only viable choice for a long-term alien civilization.\n\nNot only will distances that are mandatory for transportation be reduced in an arcology, but so also will the mass involved in transportation. If something universal, such as food, needed by all aliens, has to be transported, having an apparatus within the arcology to do it is likely many times more efficient in transportation costs than any other options.\n\nIt would seem reasonable, after recycling technology reaches a certain point, that large buildings would be built in cities, not like the small ones we have today, but ones which occupy much more space and house much more population, thus making this type of transportation apparatus sufficiently economical to replace other types of transportation. Then, recycling centers can be constructed at short distances from other components of the system, such as refurbishing facilites, collection of materials for preprocessing facilities, waste handling facilities and all the other needed to bring the civilization up to a high level of recycling and cut resource usage down to a small fraction of what it was before these sequential changes take place.\n\nSaturday, November 17, 2018\n\nTechnology Can Outrun Economics\n\nOne question which can be posed about the ascent to space travel in an alien civilization is: Are there barriers to the achievement of asymptotic technology by an alien society in the realm of economics? In other words, as we try to hypothesize how alien civilizations develop, are there pitfalls within their economic systems which might lead to a halt in progress or a descent from a high standard of living to one which cannot support space travel? Thinking through economic systems and their evolution, in parallel with technology, might provide some insights.\n\nAll alien civilizations start out when a species evolves, because of elementary tool use, into something which can accumulate knowledge of a technology nature. Perhaps the first tool use is fire, or stone, or something else on some exo-planet. But after some use of this, the species starts to live in groups, and then to live in fixed sites.\n\nAn economic system that works very well for a village, with a clan living within it, may not be the best system for a society where technology has advanced beyond the handiwork stage. First consider how village economics works, or at least might work. There would be a village boss, whose role was to make decisions, along with some other influential people, and to ensure the whole clan was taken care of. He needed to make sure the food supply was adequate, in all seasons of the planet's year, and that everyone received a sufficient share. He was also responsible for safety, from invasion or physical catastrophe, for making the largest decisions such as the choice to migrate to a more favorable location, for regulating trade, for encouraging skill improvement in whatever handicrafts were present, for following the rituals of the clan, such as might be related to death and burial, and more. The economic system was not communism, as some people were rewarded with significantly more than others, and was not capitalism, as there was a strong current of compassion, meaning those too old, infirm, disabled, young, or whatever were taken care of.\n\nWork motivation is a critical requirement for a large village or larger urban region. There are only two ways in which individuals can be motivated to work, and one is for personal gain or the gain for those closely associated with the individual, and the other is for altruistic reasons, for the benefits of all clan members. In a small village, where everyone knows everyone, these two reasons partially merge.\n\nIn general, individuals of any intelligent species can be happy and content either from two causes, one, because they produce a large amount, or with a high degree of skill or, two, because they consume a large amount, or consume things of higher value or quality than others. It doesn't seem it would be too common that a single individual has both sources of happiness in high degree. The productive individual is often somewhat indifferent to the distribution of his production, as long as it is appreciated by the whole clan. This type of personality is what is encouraged by the clan and its leaders.\n\nThose who care mostly about consumption find themselves without much support in a small clan. They certainly can exist, and serve some role in the clan by creating a demand for better quality products, more carefully done, and with attributes which might be unique. A productive individual can also create such demand, however, so there is a little utility within a village for a solely consumption-oriented individual. When the size of the habitation increases, however, from the level allowed by improvements in technology, things can change.\n\nOne of the first results is factionalization. A brain, in any creature, is not infinite and not uniform. Some sort of division of other individuals must occur, and there would be a preference relating to them. This translates into a preference for some to have benefits more than others. Contact frequency might affect this, of which the strongest is familial relationships. The alien civilization in each small town would gradual factionate, and at least at first, into families. Members of one family would seek benefits for their family, at the expense of others. There are a great many benefits possible in this division, both tangible and intangible ones, such as opportunities to take positions, learn skills, occupy areas, and so on.\n\nFactionalization can expand beyond families, either in such a way that the population of the town is divided into sub-clans, or in different directions, that is, based on different types of divisions, like profession or something even more arbitrary, like groups formed in regions of the town. The point to be made is that the village economic system had universal compassion as a component, and as growth in population continues, this becomes stretched beyond its limits and breaks down. We have instead compassion and benefit-seeking divided into competing factions.\n\nAs this continues and becomes more rigid, one might have castes or classes forming, and furthermore, the rules or customs which controlled the village are rewritten so that the more powerful factions can create even larger discrepancies between benefits for individuals. The village boss role is fractured into multiple heads of family and other groups. Possessions are not freely divided and shared with those in need, partially because the level of production is higher and fewer individuals are near minimal sustenance level, but also because the feelings inside each individual no longer tend to compel this. We have a different economic system.\n\nProduction fractures as well among the factions, so that any technology items are made by one or more of the factions, and there is no conduit for an individual to become expert in a technology if he does not belong to the appropriate faction. Professions are likewise divided. The skills needed for defense of the town are concentrated, as well as the equipment for this, and this may be turned inward instead of outward, meaning force now can replace volunteerism. The rules by which trade is conducted can be changed. There is little left of village economics in a larger town, although there may be facsimiles within some factions.\n\nThis 'town economics', as it might be called, is something that can linger as technology continues onward and onward. The principal derivation from this is that factions become an integral part of an alien civilization, and it would be important to see if they can also be a limiting factor in the progress of the civilization up to the level needed for space travel. A little more subtly, the goals that individuals gain in their upbringing under town economics is different that those in village economics. In town economics the goal is to get a larger share of the benefits for your faction. In village economics, the goal is to increase the overall amount of benefits to be shared within the village. Factionalism may or may not lead to technology progress and utilization, and this question needs to be explored further.\n\nTuesday, October 9, 2018\n\nThe Origins of Moons\n\nThere are a lot of moons in our solar system, and it has been impossible to detect whether there are similar numbers in any of the distant solar systems which have been detected or even if there are any at all, with one possible exception. The existence of Earth's moon may have played a large role in the origin of life here, and so it is an interesting question to ask where they might come from. It is certainly not necessary to assume that all moons originate in the same way.\n\nLet's try to imagine the various ways a moon could originate. It could originate in place, in other words, form as a binary planet. A rotating cloud of gas and dust might be spinning too fast to simply condense directly into a single planet, and, similar to the formation of a binary star, the condensation starts in two places and continues to draw in the gas cloud, winding up with a planet and a moon. This would leave both planet and moon spinning rapidly, as the angular momentum of the whole cloud gets collected in the planet and moon, which must spin faster and faster as they condense. Tidal effects take over at this point, and begin to slow down the rotation of the planet and moon, while moving them closer together. If there was differential motion in the gas cloud that they condensed from, so the remainder is not following the same orbit as the planet-moon system, they will move into other regions of cloud and then accrete more mass, which may also affect the rotation and orbital rates over very long periods of time. The moon is smaller, and so it would intercept and accrete directly less gas, but since it is orbiting the planet, it sweeps out a much larger volume that would be swept by the cross-section of the moon. It sweeps out a volume corresponding to the cross-section of the swept volume of the moon's orbit, which can be huge compared to the moon itself. So the moon would grow in mass faster than the planet in this situation. Possibly the Pluto-Charon pair might have this origin.\n\nIf not formed in place, there must be a capture event. If the planet, already existing, has a large atmosphere, a smaller object could approach the planet and penetrate the atmosphere, losing relative speed. If its relative velocity was not too different from the planet, this might be enough to put it into an orbit around the planet, and then more passes would tend to circularize the orbit enough to stop the repeated interceptions of the planet's atmosphere, and the usual tidal effects could start their slow process to further circularize the moon's orbit. Both atmospheric drag and tidal pull tend to reduce angular momentum of the orbiting moon relative to the planet, which increases the major axis of the orbit. Tidal pull is stronger at the peri-planet part of the moon's orbit than at the apo-planet, reducing the eccentricity of the orbit. Tidal pull from a rotating planet also serves to reduce the axial tilt of the orbit. Likewise it affects the axial rotation of the moon, meaning it would tend to slow down any large rotation, relative to the planet, that it might have started with.\n\nThe reduction of angular momentum by the planet's atmosphere is proportional to the cross-section of the moon, meaning it goes as the square of the moon's mean radius. Angular momentum, however, goes as the mass of the moon, which varies as the third power of the moon's mean radius. This means that the chance of slowing a larger moon is less than that of slowing a smaller one with approximately the same orbit. Some of the moons around our solar system's four large gas giants might have come from this mode of capture. None of the moons is large in mass compared to the planet it orbits.\n\nThe likeliness of capture also depends on the relative velocity at the time of atmospheric entry. Too much speed, and the smallest of the impacting objects will burn up. Larger ones will go through the atmosphere and leave with sufficient remaining velocity to stay uncaptured. Gas giants have very deep atmospheres, and so there is also the chance that the impacting object will enter at an angle more steep than just grazing, and go so deep that the drag will overcome all of its velocity. Then its mass would simply be absorbed by the planet. For any giant planet-moon combination, there is probably a very sharp difference between nearby angles of entry, where one leaves the planet forever, another leads to absorption, and the gap between them, capture.\n\nFor rocky planets with minimally thick atmospheres, the possibility of capture by atmospheric drag must be very small. The only analog is impacting trajectories. If an object comes in and impacts a rocky planet's surface, it might lose some angular momentum and become a moon. Again there is likely a small gap between an angle of impact where the impactor is simply absorbed by the planet, possibly with some shedding of debris, and an angle of impact where the impactor simply leaves the region of the planet, and there would be a small range of angles where it stays on as a moon. The size of this gap may be negligible for large impactors, with one exception. If the incoming relative velocity is not much more than the additional velocity caused by mutual gravitational pull, the gap might be large enough so that some probability of retention of the moon is possible.\n\nHow could this velocity match happen? The first thing to come to mind might be some variation of the gravitational slingshot idea very frequently used in the trajectories of probes heading either toward the sun or toward the outer planets. These are used to augment or decrement the velocity of the probe by using the gravity of the planet and sun. Regrettably, these do not lead to orbital capture, much less low impact velocity. Another possibility is for the planet and impactor to have the same velocity almost exactly, as they would if they were in the same orbit around the sun. If a ring of gas around the sun did not condense into simply one single planet, but into two, at co-Lagrangian points, they would have nearly identical velocities, and if a slow migration started bringing them closer together, their relative velocity at impact would be only that provided by mutual gravity.\n\nThe L4 and L5 Lagrangian points are stable, and could conceivably collect mass from a gas ring simultaneously. Currently, there are a few asteroids at these points, but nothing large compared to the planet owning the orbit. Over time, the effect of other planets would probably make the two planets drift out of mutual Lagrangian stability, and thus an impact at slow relative velocity might happen, leading to a moon around a rocky planet. Like the Earth and Luna, for example.\n\nIn exo-solar planetary systems, there are often smaller planets at larger distances from the star, so there is no reason to immediately suspect that there would be radius bands for moon capture, mimicing what we have in our own solar system. Here we can hypothesize an inner band where Lagrangian impact might happen, then a band where large gas giants can capture relatively small moons, and then a band where icy planets condense in binary fashion. These bands might not correspond to anything relevant in other systems. However, the same mechanisms might exist, and can potentially serve as a guide for where to search. \n\nFriday, September 14, 2018\n\nLatitude, Seasonality and Evolution\n\nWhen we are scanning planets for signs of life, there are levels of priorities based on what attributes the planet has – some planets are more likely to harbor life, as far as we know, than others, and therefore the largest effort should be put into extracting information from these planets.\n\nThese parameters are mostly very obvious. We don't want one that is too hot or too cold, as life is an organic process and its molecules are destroyed by heat and inactivated by cold. We don't want one that is too big or too small, as the big ones have to be gas giants as they can hold onto their hydrogen, and the little ones can't hold onto any atmosphere at all. Earthlings think having a small atmosphere is a requirement for life, and it probably is a requirement for the origination of life. An advanced alien civilization might find living on an airless planet not very difficult.\n\nThere are two planetary parameters in play here. One is rotation rate and the other is axial tilt. If they are both zero, there is no seasonality. Every minute is the same, provided the ellipticity of the orbit is also small. Unless the atmosphere had some type of difficult-to-imagine instability, then the weather would be the same from one minute to the next and one year to the next as well. It would be possible to define sidereal months, but they would be inconsequential. Nothing would ever change. The assumptions in this extreme case include no moon of significant mass.\n\nRotation rate goes to zero from the effects of solar tidal forces on the planet. The moon has suffered this and so have other moons in our solar system. No planets have, but Mercury comes close, with a 3:2 phase locking. Venus also has a very low rotation rate. An alien planet with this situation would place life on the planet in a strange situation: nothing every changes about the environment.\n\nThis is a different type of fitness test than was present on Earth. There shouldn't be variation in the winds, which would be driven by constant convection forces. Things are about as constant as they can possibly be, and life on such a planet would evolve to a very stable arrangement as well. On a planet such as this, latitude certainly plays a role as it does on every planet, but here longitude is like a variation of latitude. A rotating planet averages over longitude, so that only latitude makes a difference, but on a non-rotator, walking around the equator is very similar to walking to the north pole. There are simply circles of constant illumination, dependent on the angle the sun makes. It keeps the same angle and same position in the sky perpetually. The substellar point would likely be the hottest, and once one passed to the dark side, everything would be cold, except for heating done by winds and the ground.\n\nWinds would likely flow inward on the surface toward the substellar point, driven by the heating of the atmosphere there. That means the flow of air at upper altitudes would be away from the substellar point, and where it would descend is somewhat indeterminate. Likely, descent would be in the circular band near the perimeter where the star is just on the horizon, although it could be a bit inside this. The atmosphere would be too thin to support the toroidal flows that are seen on our solar system's larger planets.\n\nWith no tectonics going on, as this needs to be driven by rotation interacting with tidal forces, if there is water, it would be in a circular ring. If the planet were hot enough, no surface water would exist at the substellar point, but as one moved away, there would be a place where water could exist, and perhaps it would create a tremendous moat. On the other side of the moat might be ice, which could continue onto the dark side.\n\nEvolution takes place in a locality, as a huge gene pool takes too long to modify genes by fitness testing. So, in each radial band, circumscribing the substellar point, there would be optimized life forms. Each life form must have some form of mobility, although it might be quite different than here on Earth. With a constant surface wind blowing away from the substellar point, wind-blown seeds would only move outward, and reseeding at the location where a plant was already rooted would not happen. Thus, heavy seeds, such as in a fruit, would be likely in all the various bands.\n\nEvolution likes to migrate, however, so plants would likely have something like rhizomes to move inward toward the substellar point, up to the ring where there is no longer any rain. Animals have no such constraints and could move freely toward and away from the substellar point, as their capabilities to compete in adjacent bands developed.\n\nThe other two possibilities, bring closer in or farther out from the star, would provide different bull's eye patterns. Too far out and there would be ice everywhere, with only snow falling near the substellar point and nothing beyond a certain radius. Too far in and there would be no liquid water on the lighted side, and perhaps some chemotropes living in the dark but wet band just past the light boundary.\n\nWhether or not life could originate on such a planet depends on how it originates. If the theory expounded in this blog, the organic oceans theory, where life only could originate in an early Earth-like setting, would rule out life originating on a phase-locked planet, unless some very unusual planetary movements had taken place. Maybe if there was a moon, but it eventually drifted so far out that it could detach from its planet, and then the planet became phase-locked, something might be possible. If some other theory is the correct one, such as the sea-vent concept, this planet would would be a loser, as without continents and oceans, there would be no sea vents. Perhaps life would find a completely unique way of originating on such a planet however, but out preoccupation with life here on Earth inhibits our realizing how it might happen. \n\nSunday, September 9, 2018\n\nThe Convergence of Quality in Genetics\n\nConsider an animal. It has genes which came from the gene pool for its species. If gene selection was random, looking at animals of that species you would see some which are superior in appearance, others superior in physical ability or agility, others superior in perception or mental abilities, others superior in strength, and so on. The best genes for one attribute set would be in some subset of animals of this species; the best genes for another attribute set would in another subset, and so on. The number of those who are superior in both attribute set one and attribute set two would be small, just the product of the fraction of these two qualities compared to the whole set of animals in that species. The number of those who are superior in three attributes would be multiplicatively smaller still. \n\nThat’s not the way it goes. There is a correlation between having superior genes for one attribute set and for another, so the numbers are higher that just the product of the fraction in each attribute set alone. Just to give a numerical example, suppose the animals who are the fastest runners, moving individually, are 10%, and the animals who have the sharpest perception skills are likewise 10%. The numbers of course depend on the thresholds set for superiority. If everything were random, there would be 1% who are both the fastest runners and the most perceptive. But there are more of them, maybe 2% or 5%. Why does this happen?\n\nConsider three types of animals. One, a species where individuals are loners. Two, a species that lives in herds and are prey for other species. Three, a species that hunts in groups.\n\nIn the first species, during mate selection, males of the species compete for desirable females. The competition in both males and females will go preferentially to those who are superior in one or more attributes. Who gets the superior spouses? The superior animals of the other gender, as they win the competition more frequently. Thus we have mating of superior animals, with superiority in different attribute sets, together, and some of the offspring will be superior in both parents’ categories. These offspring will survive to the age of mating with higher probability, and the correlation starts to increase. Over many generations, it will increase to a level controlled by the natural randomness of life and surely multiple other factors. But this is a possible mechanism by which the correlation can happen.\n\nThis mechanism works with all species, not just loners. Whenever there is a bi-gender competition for mates, the correlation will creep in.\n\nThe same correlation will occur in the gene pool if there is a correlation between two attribute sets in necessary activities. For example, if it is easier for some animal in a particular species to gather food if they are both better at reaching it, from length of limbs or something else, and also better at spotting it, from more acute perception, in a synergistic way, then this correlation will eventually translate over into a correlation in the gene pool. This does not only relate to food gathering, but also hunting, if the species does that, in avoiding predators, if it is subject to this problem, in surviving temperature extremes, or in finding the way back to its den, or other activities which contribute to the survivability and eventually reproduction rate of an individual animal.\n\nFor herd animals, where there are some special competitive actions, such as rights to the best food or to be protected by the largest animals of the herd, or to be nurtured by non-parental animals as a young animal, or to be the leader in any stampede, or anything else which might promote reproduction rate, then the same synergistic correlation in activities will translate into a correlation in genetic superiority in more than one attribute set. The competition between herd animals for these positions of priority is based on multiple attributes, and synergism is quite reasonable to expect. \n\nFor predator groups, animals which live in groups and where the adults mostly hunt together, there is much the same group leader or top animal hierarchy effects which occur here. The attributes would be quite different, such as jaw strength, ability to intimidate, ability to inspire others to follow, ferociousness, and others, but those gene sets which lead to each of these might serve to add to the probability an individual will reach top status in the group.\n\nIn an alien species which is becoming intelligent, there is no reason to think that these two effects: mate selection and synergism in necessary activities, would be any less of an influence in producing individuals who excel in more than one attribute set, perhaps leading to an accumulation of superior genes in a small fraction of the population. Healthiness is an attribute set that has not been mentioned before, but it plays a large role in reproduction rate. So also might food tolerance, or the ability to digest multiple sources of nutrition. Many others certainly exist.\n\nThe downstream impact of this, as the alien species begins to live in fixed locations and develop a civilization, is that there would be a tendency for some class distinctions to arise, probably hereditary as well. The pathway exists in any alien civilization which has the wherewithal to develop tool use and start its way up the ladder of technology to a situation where there are large differences among individuals in many attributes, but in a correlated way. Thus, some nobility or upper caste or something similar is likely to exist during a phase of the species’ technology development.\n\nThis translates into a problem. Individuals who are superior in many ways, and are so since birth, and because of it have enjoyed more fruits of the civilization than others, would be loath to relinquish their position at the top. Thus, this group of powerful individuals might seek to block the spread of genetic wealth down to the remainder of the society. Is it possible that they could seek to freeze society in the state they find it in?\n\nThis would be a worry for any prediction that a civilization eventually reaches asymptotic technology, except for the fact that civilizations are not stable at intermediate levels. Stasis eventually leads to decline and then a turn-around and another climb, each time higher. Eventually the civilization should pass through the genetic grand transformation, and after that, can easily stabilize, and then proceed on to star travel, if such things are possible and within their grasp, relative to the resources of their solar system.\n\nSunday, September 2, 2018\n\nDark Planets\n\nWhat can happen concerning life on a planet without any sunlight? A planet at a favorable radius from its star, but with an atmosphere continually and completely covered with clouds is an easily concocted example. Earth had life long before life could use solar photons for energy, either directly or indirectly via feasting on a food chain starting with solar photons. It is believed that early Earth life was powered by chemical energy.\n\nChemistry can provide plenty of energy. To give our dark planet the best chance of making something impressive without photons, suppose that it has an abundance of chemical energy. Consider an ocean on the dark planet first. Suppose there are continuous volcanic events somewhere, and the ocean circulates the chemical products everywhere throughout the connected seas. Maybe there is a basalt flood going on somewhere, dumping something like methane and other alkanes into the water, along with ammonia, ferrous iron, and other edible tidbits. Far away from that, some chemotrophs are busy oxidizing these chemicals. It is like a whole ocean as rich as one of Earth’s undersea vents.\n\nThere might be a variable density of these creatures, with more of them nearer the principal sources of chemical energy, but not too close because the water temperature is higher there. There can be a wide variety of life in such conditions, as demonstrated by the various microbes and animals which inhabit sea vents. Our life forms are limited by the evolution that can happen in the duration of a sea vent, but if we imagine the dark planet to have recurring basalt flooding, maybe multiple at a time, perhaps caused by asteroid impacts, then evolution might go on for billions of years in a chemical energy-rich environment, leading to a variety of creatures far beyond what we see at a sea vent.\n\nThere is a question here on Earth as to whether the organic chemicals forming cells in the creatures inhabiting the vicinity of a sea vent have been contaminated or worse, contributed to by photic life forms living in the upper layers of the seas. This is not a question for the dark planet, as it could not happen there without any sunlight, but more pointedly, what can evolve in a phototroph can evolve in a chemotroph, although maybe not as speedily. DNA mutation is simply a change in DNA, caused by one mutagen or another or just by accidental errors in DNA copying. Where it happens is largely immaterial.\n\nConsider the atmosphere. If the dark planet has continuously producing basalt floods, the atmosphere may also be full of chemical energy sources, such as the smaller alkanes and ammonia. Is it conceivable that an organism could emerge from the ocean and live on land on the dark planet? Breathing would be the same as eating, and the organism would not resemble anything easily imaginable from Earth’s examples.\n\nOne advantage that life had on Earth was that photons arriving on the land surface are more abundant than those arriving underwater, as water absorbs some of them. This means it can be an evolutionary advantage for a plant to live closer and closer to the surface, and eventually migrate to living in the shallows and then on land. A DP-plant would have a corresponding disadvantage, as the atmosphere, being a gas, can hold much less of the energetic chemicals. This does not mean that there would be no land life, but that it probably would not have the diversity that proximity to a solar energy source provides here on Earth.\n\nOn Earth, we have a nice clean division between plants and animals, as plants are almost uniformly photosynthetic while animals live on plants, or on other animals. On the dark planet, there might be a similar division, between DP-plants, which live on chemical energy in the oceans or in the atmosphere, and DP-animals, which consume DP-plants. Earth plants typically maximize the absorption of sunlight, by having such things as leaves. Sunlight is absorbed by a surface. Chemicals in a fluid have to be absorbed by maximizing the flow of the medium through or past an absorbing surface. One possible arrangement might be a porous DP-plant, though which the ocean continually flows. This would work if the DP-plant were fastened to the seafloor near a constant or almost constant flow of seawater. Any DP-plant which was free-floating would have to have a mechanism for circulating the ocean water past its chemical digestion tract, much like many Earth sea creatures do who dine on microscopic organisms floating in the water.\n\nWithout sunlight, vision might not evolve, neither in oceanic life nor in any creatures which manage to live on the land surface. Senses would be restricted to smell, taste, touch, and vibration. Perhaps some will evolve electrical discharge capability, initially for defense or predation, but perhaps later for communication. Earth has evolved creatures with electrical discharge ability, but perhaps none which can reliably detect a discharge. This does not mean that evolution is not capable of it, but instead that there are so many excellent competing senses possible here that it did not emerge.\n\nHow far can evolution take life on a dark planet? Suppose that such a planet were formed early in the history of the galaxy, so that life has had maybe ten or eleven billion years to evolve there. Could there be animals which live in packs, communicating with vibrations or electrical signals? These are all short range, and low frequency acoustics might serve for long-range communications. Another sense possible is echolocation, which has only evolved in the sea in mammals on Earth, but could easily be supposed to evolve in whatever DP-animals arise.\n\nThere is a stopping point, however, in the march of evolution on a dark planet. One problem is tool-use, and an example is the specific first tool used by primates, fire. There is nothing equivalent in an ocean. Nor are there advantages to developing the limbs needed to use tools, such as a primate’s hands. Thus, evolution can go a very long distance, but not in the direction of intelligence.\n\nIf there was such a planet as our dark planet, teeming with life but no intelligence, would it be detectable? With a cloud cover, no evidence would be visible to even a huge telescope. No oxygen is present, which is considered, perhaps prematurely, as the indicator of life. Such a dark planet might be passed over, even by a nearby alien civilization who were hunting for other planets with life. \n\nDoes this make any difference? Could an alien civilization make any use of a dark planet such as the one we have been postulating? If the energy source is continuous basalt flooding caused by asteroid impact, then the question would be, could there be any regions present there which could be visited, even temporarily by an alien landing party? If the basalt flooding were underwater, in a deep part of the ocean, possibly the land surface might be tolerable, even if the atmosphere was extremely toxic. It is an extremely interesting thought exercise to see if there was any reason that an alien civilization would want to visit such a planet, or to establish some sort of colony there. Perhaps this blog will return to the topic to suggest something relevant.\n\nFriday, August 31, 2018\n\nGreat Extinctions and Evolution\n\nGreat extinctions are times when the number of species that cease to exist per century gets a lot higher than the average. There are always extinctions going on, and the vast majority of species that ever existed are already extinct. It seems to be a common destiny of a species to begin, to flourish, to plateau, to diminish and then to become extinct. Lots of things make species go extinct, such as the food supply being cut off, some environmental change or catastrophe such as their only habitat being flooded, long-term or short-term. New predators can evolve. More efficient species can out-compete them for food supplies or nesting spaces. And so on.\n\nSpecies counts are done by checking fossil records. It seems from fossils that there were multiple times when a large fraction of the existing land and/or sea animal species ceased to appear in later fossils, meaning they became extinct. These extinctions typically happen over a geologically short time, and geology being what it is, there is a minimum time that can be determined by fossil research, so no understanding of exactly how long the extinction lasted can be obtained, if it was shorter than the minimum measurable geological interval. Nonetheless, there are multiple periods in Earth’s history when a large number of animals became extinct, up to 96% as reckoned by fossil counts on the worst of these great extinctions.\n\nThe causes of such extinctions are obviously of great interest to geologists and many other scientific specialties. The earliest one is sometimes attributed to the oxygenation of the atmosphere, meaning that all sea creatures which could not tolerate the oxygenation of the atmosphere, and correspondingly, the seas, died off. No other atmospheric change seems to have caused other extinctions, but climate change has been called on as one possibility for some of them, although not the largest ones, unless you call a temporary clouding and the subsequent cooling of the Earth a climate change. Instead, some of these largest ones are attributed to either a large asteroid strike or a basalt flooding. A controversy arose over the last one, the End-Cretaceous extinction. Someone came up with a measurement that 76% of animal species became extinct during this one.\n\nOne of the earliest theories as to the cause of this extinction was the Decca Basalt Flooding, which was chronologically pinpointed to occur at the time of the extinction. A basalt flooding, when thousands of square kilometers become like a volcano, with exposed mantle material, produces such massive amounts of dust in the atmosphere that sunlight is blocked and photosynthesis stopped. The flooding lasts for many millennia, unlike a volcano whose principal eruption lasts only a matter of days or weeks. It certainly is reasonable that this could cause mass extinction.\n\nLater, a large crater was discovered on the coast of the Yucatán peninsula, and it was timed to also be at the time of the End-Cretaceous extinction. The crater was named Chicxulub. Asteroidal material, specifically a higher than normal concentration of iridium, was discovered all over the world and dated in sediments to have been deposited by the Yucatán asteroid. The impact would have filled the atmosphere with dust as well, although for a much shorter period. If the End-Cretaceous extinction happened within a very short period, a few years which is the dust residence time from a single near-instantaneous event, this could also have been the cause of the extinction.\n\nIt is curious that the Deccan Traps, the current geological formation from the basalt flooding there, and the Chicxulub crater are almost on opposite sides of the planet. When a rapidly flying object hits a large obstacle, shock waves are generated which move from the impact location in the direction of the incoming object. These shock waves carry some of the momentum of the incoming object, and when they strike the opposite surface, they tend to spall off the outermost layer. Spallation of this type occurs when very fast projectiles strike armor plate, for example. On something of the size of a planet, it would mean that the crust at the arrival point of the center of the shock wave would heave upward, rupturing it and leaving it no longer intact. The Deccan volcanic activity may have been going on before the impact, but the shock wave may have been the cause of the large size and huge amount of atmospheric debris that was deposited.\n\nThe crater and the traps are not on exactly the opposite sides of the planet, now, but tectonic plate motions are of the right magnitude to make it more so 60 million years ago. Both India and South America have been moving north. Furthermore, if the impact was not perpendicular, there would have been some deviance of the shock wave direction from directly through the center of the planet so it did not go from a point on one side to the exact opposite.\n\nThe crater and the traps can be used to backwards track the asteroid, and doing this shows that if the impact was in the spring or fall, the asteroid would have been traveling in the sidereal plane, where all planets and almost all asteroids reside. Thus, the two events, asteroid impact and basalt flooding, may have been closely connected.\n\nWhat is considered the most serious great extinction, the End-Permian one about 250 million years ago, is often attributed either to the Siberian basalt flooding, near the north pole, or to the Wilkes Land crater, in Antarctica near the south pole. The details of these two events are much, much less certain than those related to the End-Cretaceous one, but the possibility of a basalt flooding event triggered by an asteroid impact on the opposite side of the globe exists. For some other great extinctions, there are even less certain connections to basalt flooding and asteroid impact.\n\nWhat happens after an extinction? When the atmosphere returns to transparency, there is much less life around. Most of the species have gone entirely extinct, and the remaining ones were greatly reduced in numbers. It has become a field day for evolution, because the constraints on new life are largely removed. Resources are available in abundance, and competition is less. Predation is almost absent. Thus, evolution goes much faster in creating new species that it could in a crowded environment where all ecological niches were already filled. Within some tens of millions of years, hordes of new species exist everywhere.\n\nWe humans arose from the chaos of new life that occurred after the End-Cretaceous extinction. Life was not extinct, and what life existed still kept many of the genetic tricks that had evolved up to that point. Thus, evolution took off again, but from a much higher starting point genetically. This is not to say that life could not have evolved intelligence without the extinctions, but it would have taken much longer. Maybe a factor of ten in speedup happened.\n\nWhat exactly does that mean for a planet somewhere in the galaxy with eukaryotic, multicellular life already started. To get to this point might have taken 3 billion years of evolution. It will take another billion years of evolution, if the rate of evolution is the same as Earth’s, to get to intelligent life. However, Earth’s evolution rate was governed and greatly accelerated by all the mass extinctions our planet has known. If there were no extinctions, or only very few, it might take ten times longer to get to that point, or ten billion years. Almost no planets are that old.\n\nSo, one interesting thing to ponder is: Can an intelligent alien civilization come into extinction in a solar system where there are no or very little asteroid impact? Is the answer: Yes, but only billions of years from now. Thus we might have another peculiarity of our solar system which might be essential to the eventual capability for contemporaneous space travel: huge numbers of large asteroids.\n\nSunday, August 26, 2018\n\nOvercoming the Pernicious Effects of Affluence\n\nAffluence allows all kinds of good effects. It means that there will be an excess of benefits for an alien civilization because of productivity increases, which is almost the definition of affluence. But this excess of benefits means, if there are alien individuals who are motivated to work, that there will be spare time so that more work can be done in the development of further technology. Thus, affluence implies at least an initial increase in the rate at which technology advances. This provides feedback to the effects of improving productivity, so productivity increases even more, meaning even more time can be devoted to technology advances, and so on. A venerable positive feedback loop.\n\nAs noted in a previous post, affluence has malign influences which can outweigh the benign ones, and cause the inverse of evolution, as measured by the counts of the most successful genes in the alien gene pool, or rather the genes which make alien individuals most successful in their reproductive success. Here it is useful to recall the difference between long-term goals and short-term goals, and how alien civilizations evolve into their early industrial stages without much consideration or awareness of long-term goals for their civilization. Short-term goals propel them into various successful avenues.\n\nShort-term goals for an individual parent in some alien civilization relative to offspring and successive generations might include both support, meaning nutrition, protection, shelter, and other physical aspects of the life of youngsters, and tutelage, meaning teaching by example or by instruction. When the technology and affluence feedback loop gets going in an alien civilization, the tutelage part runs into the problem of the change in teaching needed for a generation where technology is changing. Tutelage by parents becomes inadequate, and needs to be done in another way, and is likely to be outsourced. But tutelage has many components, and only certain components are affected by the change in technology that occurs rapidly. However, it might be that tutelage in general gets outsourced, without the breakout of components. Thus, those components which relate to motivation to work, being goal-oriented, character aspects such as diligence, persistence, honesty, open-mindedness and educability, skepticism, and much more, as well as interpersonal relationship traits, all might be turned over to someone outside the parents or grandparents or other close relations to others who might be labor-specialized to tutelage. Here can be the fundamentals for a catastrophe, if technology for training has not progressed far enough to provide good, thorough procedures for training in the latter traits. Thus the question arises, in an alien civilization, will the material and industrial aspects of technology develop faster than the training and education aspects? They will both eventually succumb to the progress of technology, but there may be a gap between them, or in more graphic terms, a chasm. Will alien civilizations tend to fall into this chasm?\n\nOn the other hand, the support side of parent-youngster relations becomes easier and easier. Technology makes fulfilling the physical needs of youngsters easier for parents, and so the two effects of this, first, more and more products are provided with variety and quantity now expanding, and second, less effort is required to do this support, implying to the typical alien that those mental traits which formerly were so needed for providing support to oneself and one’s offspring, were not so much needed and could be diminished in attention. In other words, youngsters were having the option of spending more time on consumption-related interests, and parents were seeing less need for production-related interests, both for themselves and for their young. This would tend to add more impetus to the lack of need for preserving the training components that were useful in earlier times, especially times when evolution was striking down those without these traits. This means, the chasm is wider and deeper than it would be without the two-sided effects creating it.\n\nThe antidote to having an alien civilization collapse into the affluence chasm is the early realization of the need for long-term thinking, both in its conception and development, but also in its use in guiding some of the decisions of the civilization. Very specifically, long-term thinking is needed for the civilization to recognize what the consequences of affluence might be, and how it affects the alien society. Instead of continuing the drive to develop technology to provide more and more support goods, there would have to be a parallel drive to develop technology in training, in more detail, neurology, but also in sociology, meaning how society needs to organize itself and what individuals would need to be trained in so that they could act to preserve the civilization.\n\nLong-term thinking is needed to appreciate that the civilization has value, in and of itself, and preserving it over the long term, meaning over multiple generations, should take precedence over amassing more variety and quality in the consumption goods that their initial short-term thinking would lead them to support. This is not a simple declaration, where the civilization suddenly says that it will perform long-term goal setting and then do whatever is necessary to achieve them, but instead it is a dedication to that parallel branch of technology, so that it does not lag too far behind the material branch that produces the affluence.\n\nDeveloping this parallel branch of technology will require a major commitment by the civilization, meaning the governance and the population together, to forgo the maximum amount of material support in favor of having more intangible support, which will help the society to navigate its way around the chasm of affluence. It could very well be that the other feedback effect that occurs in neurology, where the brain adapts to its environment, will prevent this change. This feedback effect will mean that as affluence turns producers into consumers, and young members of the society into dedicated consumers, that there will be more and more specialized thinking about consumption, and less and less about long-term aspects of society and the potential troubles that affluence can create. The competition between thinking about consumption details, which can be manifold and complex, and thinking about society in general, which is also complex and variegated, will dictate if a particular alien civilization will make it to the final stage of technology, asymptotic technology, where the potential for collapse from its own decisions and choices will be almost eliminated. Without the proper early realization of the nature and details of this problem with affluence, the civilization will not be at a high enough living standard for the long time needed to invent and develop space travel.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6594091653823853}
+{"content": "Data Editor - Abilities and Effects\n\nTutorial by Monsterous\n\n..Abilities and Effects\n\n~~~~~The Contents~~~~~\n.....How do Abilities Work?\n.........What are Effects?\n....How do you make Abilities?\n.............Using Effects!\n..........Using Behaviors!\n..........Finishing Effects!\n......Linking Ability to Units.\n...........Testing it out!\n............Extra Notes.\n.........Closing Thoughts.\n\n\nHello, and welcome to my hopefully informative tutorial that will teach you all you need to know about how abilities and effects work, and how you can utilize them to create whatever ability you want! We'll even dip into how to link abilities to units, and also how to utilize behaviors to create buffs and debuffs. So, get your brains working and your data editor - as you learn, and I teach you, how to make abilities. If you need a reference, i have posted the map I used to create this ability at the bottom of this tutorial.\n\nHow Do Abilities Work?\n\nAbilities are quite simple when laid out clearly - they are essentially a command that triggers a variety of actions.\nThe unit must have the ability allocated to it. The button (what you press) of the ability is inside the units command card, where all other abilities are stored and shown to the player. When the button is pressed, the ability activates - triggering off any effects (actions) allocated to it.\n\nWhat are Effects?\n\nEffects are the actions of an ability. This gives an ability vast amounts of control of what it can do; without needing the trigger editor. With effects, you can make an ability as complex and long as you want. Effects do not have to be directly linked to the ability, they can also be triggered by other effects. An example of effects in action:\nAll of these are effects. Ingame, you may notice the green effects - but you never notice the blue effects. All of this happens instantly.\n\nHere's a brief summary of the commonly used effects:\n\n[Effect Name:] [What it does]\nApply Behavior: This creates a behavior (kind of like a buff/debuff) which alters the target unit somehow temporarily or permanently.\nCreate Persistent: This is like a timer for abilities, and can repeat effects periodically (Every X seconds).\nCreate Unit: Creates a unit at a target location.\nDamage: Damages the target unit.\nLaunch Missile: Launches a missle at a target unit/point. Triggers other effects when the missile hits the target.\nModify Unit: This alters a unit permanently in someway.\nSearch Area: This will search an area for a specific type of unit, whether friendly or foe - and will activate effects when it finds one.\nSet: This will activate a variety of effects at once.\n\nHow do you make Abilities?\n\nNow that you know how abilities function, and how effects work - it's time to learn how to actually make abilities! Huzzah!\nWhen making abilities, its often a good idea to layout how the ability will work - so it saves you time fiddling about. We will attempt to create the previous example above. The ability we want has to damage the caster, search for targets around a location, and apply a random effect to each target.\n\nFirst, before we do the actual actions of the ability - we have to create the base of the ability itself and its button.\n\nThe two most often used Ability Types are \"Effect - Instant\" and \"Effect - Target\". They both activate differently. The custom ability we're making requires a target - so we choose the \"Effect - Target\" Ability Type.\n\nNow we have to edit the ability to suit our needs. First, we have to look at the Target Filters.\nIf left blank, then the ability will instead target a point - not a unit. If filled in, it will instead target a unit that meets the criteria of the Target Filters. Lets fill it in.\nFirst, open up the Target Filters and hit Enter Value on the top right corner.\nHit Ok. At minimum, our ability needs to only target enemy units, so check the Enemy box below the Unit Types. The other three are unchecked, meaning that they cannot be targets for your ability. The Unit Types above is an extensive list of what can or cannot be targets. Each Unit Type comes under three states. Allowed, Required and Excluded. Allowed means that the unit type can be targetted. Required means the target MUST have this unit type, and Excluded means the unit type CANNOT have this unit type. Generally, you don't want your ability to target Missiles, Dead, Hidden Units or Self (The unit casting the ability), so exclude those, and you want the target to be visible when casting it, so require that.\nTo change the state of a Unit Type, double click the state.\n\nYour box should look something like this.\nYou can also opt to exclude other unit types such as Massive units (like the Thor) or make it only able to target Ground Units (either excluding Air units or requiring Ground units.) Its your choice ultimately.\n\nThe ability can now target units!\n\nNow, we have to fiddle with the ability's stats a bit more. We have to add...\nThe Range\nInput whatever number you feel necessary. Under 1 is generally melee range.\n\nThe Cooldown\nYour looking for the Cost - Cooldown - Time Use box. Add in however many seconds you'd like. When you've inputted it in, the cooldown area of the ability will automatically fill itself in.\n\nThe Button.\nMaking buttons is done outside of the ability part of the Data Editor. Instead, you do it in the Buttons portion of the Data Editor. When your there, create a new button. All buttons are the same, so you only have to worry about what your going to call it.\nOnce you've named it, look at the selection to the right.\nYou only need to worry about three things. The Hotkey, the Icon, and the Tooltip. The hotkey is the shortcut to the ability, rather than just clicking it. The Icon is what is displayed when the player is looking at the button, and the Tooltip is what the button says when the player's mouse is on the button. Input whatever you feel necessary.\nExcellent Advice for Icon Hunting: When searching - in the search bar, type in \"btn\". This will display every icon used inside the game. If an icon you want is not here, then type in what you think your looking for in the search bar - you might get lucky!\n\nWith the button now created, return to your ability, and look for the \"Commands - Default Button\" box. Open it, and change the Execute part to the name of the button you just created. You don't have to do the same for the Cancel part, as that is used for channelled abilities.\n\nThe base of your ability is now complete! Now its time to get to the FUN stuff.\n\nUsing Effects!\n\nIt's time to create what the ability does. Lets take a look again at the ability we need to make:\nIts important to plan out how your going to make the ability, so you know exactly how your going to do it. See if you can figure out how this ability would work in a list of effects. Try it; its good practice!\n\nAnyway, how its going to be done is simple.\nThe ability activates two effects at the start at the same time: These two effects must be inside a Set Effect.\nThe first effect is a Damage effect, as it damages the caster.\nThe second effect is a Search Area effect, as it searches an area for targets.\nThe targets from the search area effect is given a random effect of three. This must be inside another Set Effect.\nThe effects inside the Set effect all do different things. One is a Damage effect, the other two are Apply Behavior effects, with buffs attached to them.\n\nWhy the need for Set effects? Effects will only activate one effect if given more than on effect. So if it activates a set effect - it will activate all inside that Set effect (Or a random one if you choose to)!\n\nLets begin the creating. In the effects part of the Data Editor, create a new effect, with effect type Damage. Name it something relevant and easy to find, like <Ability Name>Damage. Now, go to the right and do two things. One, change the \"Combat: Amount\". This is how much damage the effect will deal. Change it to a number you'd like. I set it to 20.\nNext, scroll down to \"Target: Impact Location - Value\". This determines where the effect will \"land\". Seeing as the unit using the ability is getting damaged here, change the value to Caster Unit.\nHeres what it should look like in these two fields:\nThe damage effect is done. Simple!\nExtra Note from Dave312: \"The target requirements of an ability doesn't just depend on the Target Filters property, but also the effect attached to the ability. For example, if I have an ability which has a Create Unit effect attached to it, and the Target Location property on this effect is set to Target Unit, then regardless of what has been set on the ability, you must target a unit (it will give you an error if you don't).\"\n\nNext up is the Search Area effect. Create a new effect with effect type Search Area. Don't forget to name it something relevant, preferably the same as the damage effect you just created so its easy to find each one as they will be together in a dropdown list of every effect in the game!\nLook to the right. Its mostly greyed out and empty.\nThat will change! It will automatically fill itself in when you fill in a box. The Arc is the angle which the search area encompasses. 360 degrees will search in a circle, whilst 180 degrees will search in half a circle, and so on. Set it to 360 degrees.\nThe Maximum Count is how many units the search area can target. If its set to -1, then it will target ALL the units that meets its filters.\nThe Radius is how large the search is. One being really small, whilst ten being very huge. Set it to as big as you'd like, I set it to 8\nNext, we have to say what targets the Search Area effect can target. This is the same as the Target Filters you set up earlier in the ability, so replicate the targets to the Search Area. Unfortunately, you can't copy+paste it.\nHeres what your Search Area should look like:\nThe last thing we have to do later on is add an effect to it. But we'll get to that!\n\nCurrently, you've created a Damage effect, and a Search Area effect. The ability your making has to set both of these off at the same time. So now we have to create a Set effect. (Which is dead easy.)\n\nMake a new effect, and label it something relevant (Have i stressed this enough?) Now, go to the right and inside the \"Effect: Effects:\" box, put in the two effects you just created. Heres why labelling is important. Go through until you eventually find the two effects, which should be next to eachother. For me, it will be; \"AnAwesomeAbilityDamage\" and \"AnAwesomeAbilitySearchArea\". It may be different for you.\nExcellent Advice for Hunting Down Effects: Type in the first letters of the effect your searching for. You've now gone to the start of the list of the effects you've created - making effect hunting much easier!\n\nHeres how mine looks:\n\nThe Set effect is now complete.\n\nTime for your first test. Make a damage effect that deals 50 damage. Answers are inside.\nIt's essentially the same as the Damage effect you created earlier! Just change the \"Combat: Amount\" to 50! The \"Target: Impact Location - Value:\" is Target Unit instead, as the unit being targetted is getting damaged, unlike last time it was the casting unit!(Image)\n\nNo worries if you got it wrong, you'll have plenty to practice once your finished!\n\nUsing Behaviors!\nFor the next two effects, we have to slow the target, and also make the target unable to attack. Both of these affect the target temporarily, a \"debuff\" if you will. Behaviors, whilst they can be other things, are mainly used for being buffs/debuffs.\nGo to the behaviors part of the Data Editor, and create a new behavior. Change the behavior type to \"Buff\".\n\nOn the right, theres a MASSIVE list of things. Don't worry, they are all easy to explain - they're in their own seperate groups. I'll explain what each group of boxes do.\n\nAbility: Modification - These change abilities used by the affected unit.\nBehavior: Modification - These change what behaviors that can be applied to the affected unit.\nCombat: Damage Response - These will trigger when the unit that has the behavior applied takes any damage.\nCombat: Modification - These will affect the unit on how it performs combat. For example, attack speed or damage are under here.\nCombat: Death Response - These will trigger when the unit is killed.\nEffect: Effect: - These are used during the timeframe of a behavior's life, such as when it spawns, during its life, and when it is removed.\nMovement: Modifcation: - These affect how the unit moves, for example movement speed and acceleration.\nStats: - This determines the data of the behavior, such as how long it is applied for, and if it has any periodic timers.\nUI: - This is what the player sees when the behavior is applied. This is kind of like a button for abilities. (Except you dont press these.)\nUnit: Modification - This changes the unit itself, such as the units height, and sight range.\nWeapon: Modifcation - This changes the stats on the weapons the unit is using, and can enable/disable weapons.\n\nIts a little complicated at first, but its easy to settle in. The first behavior we're going to create is slowing the target by 75%. Looking at the group of modifcations above, we have to go to the \"Movement: Modifcation\" area, since the modification we want is a movement speed reduction.\nWe want to reduce the movement speed by 75%, so we want to multiply the movement speed by 0.25. (Example: 75% of 100 is 25. So a 75% reduction is 25, which is the same as 100*0.25)\nNow, we have to adjust two things. The UI of the behavior (like its icon and tooltip) and the duration of the behavior. The duration can be found in the \"Stats\" part of the Behavior. Set it to 5 seconds.\n\nNext, go to the behavior, and change the icon and tooltip to whatever you like! For me, I used the Corvid Reactor icon, and for the tooltip, put: \"This unit has been slowed by 75%!\"\nExtra Tip: Behavior's can also appear invisible to players. Go to the \"Stats - Flags\" and check the \"Hidden\" option. This is a very useful feature!\nExtra Tip #2: Behavior's can be tinted Red (Negative) or Green (Positive) to indicate whether the behavior they've received is good or bad in the \"Behavior: Alignment\" box! Another useful feature!\nExtra Tip #3: Its best to name Behaviors to what the player is going to see, as the Behavior when shown uses the name you've given it. Instead, add in the rest to the Editor Prefix area, so in the editor, it looks the same, but ingame, it shows what its doing!\n\nThe first behavior is complete. Now it's time to do the second one!\n\nThe second behavior needs to prevent the unit from attacking for 5 seconds. Create a new behavior, and fill in the \"Stats - Duration\" to 5 seconds like the last behavior. Now, the main part is preventing the unit from attacking. There are several ways we could do this...\n\nWe could disable the weapon of the unit, but then we would have to add in every possible weapon, as it doesn't specify disabling whatever weapon the unit is holding.\nWe could also completely remove its attack speed, but it only goes to 0.01, not 0, so it can still attack, just incredibly slowly.\n\nThe other, efficient, simpler method is to remove the Attack ability altogether from the unit in the \"Abilities - Modifcation\" area of the behavior.\nNow that you've put that in, fill in the icon and tooltip of the behavior - and this behavior is done! Simple!\n\nYour two behaviors are now finished. All you need to do is link them up to an \"Apply Behavior\" effect.\n\nFinishing Effects!\n\nTime for your second test. Create two Apply Behavior Effects and link one of the behaviors you created to each.\nReturn back to the effects part of the Data Editor, and create an effect with the Apply Behavior effect type. All you need to do for this effect is to put the behavior you've created in the \"Behavior: Behavior\" box. Its that simple!\nHow to make the Effect:\n(Its already there by default!)\nApply Behavior Effect One:\nApply Behavior Effect Two:\n\nGood job if you got it right! If you didn't, no worries - you've gained good practice!\n\nNow, the final effect you have to create to finally make this ability become reality.\n\nCreate a Set effect, and apply the three previous effects you created to it in the \"Effect: Effects\" box. The 50 damage one, and the two apply behaviors, and then enable the \"Effect: Random\" box. Finally, set the \"Effect: Maximum Count\" to 1, so it will only trigger one effect at random. causing the set to randomly activate one of the effects! Once you've done that, look to bottom left of the Data Editor.\nIt shows that you've successfully linked most of your ability! The Behaviors have been linked to the Apply Behavior effects, which have been linked to the Set effect alongside the Damage effect.\n\nAll the effects are in place! Now, the final step to finishing this ability! Linking everything together!\n\nReturn back to your Search Area effect, and in the \"Search: Areas - Effect\" box, put in the Set Effect you've just created.\n\nAnd finally. Return to your Ability. Link the first Set Effect you created at the start to your Ability in the \"Effect: Effect\" box.\n\nCongratulations! You've SUCCESSFULLY created a rather complicated ability! Heres how it should look...\n\nBut thats not the end. Oh no, you have one final step!\n\nLinking Abilities to Units.\n\nLinking abilities to units is a simple process. Go to the Units part of the Data Editor. First, grab any unit you want. For example, I chose the marine. At the top of the boxes on the right, is the \"Ability: Abilities - Ability\" box. Enter it, and add the ability you just created to it.\nNext, enter the box below it - the \"Ability: Command Card - Buttons - Ability Command\" box. What will come up is a very easy to use interface on the Command UI of units.\nThe fifteen squares represent the areas where buttons can be placed for abilities. Choose a location where you want your ability to be shown, then click on the green X to the right, then find the button you created for your ability.\nOnce placed, change the Command Type to \"Ability Command\", since the button is linked to an ability. Then, change the Ability to the Ability you created. The Ability Command will automatically fill itself in. Heres how mine looks like:\n\nThen, hit Ok.\n\nCongratulations. Your ability is fully operational and ready to be tested.\n\nTesting it out!\nPlace your unit into the map (give it a high amount of health so it can withstand attacks, and to deal with the self-damage of the ability), and create some units ready to be tested on.\nWhen testing this ability - we need to look at if the ability works.\n\nAre the units getting damaged?\n\nAre the units getting slowed?\n\nAre the units unable to attack?\n\nIs the caster getting damaged?\n\nDo the behaviors show up on the target units?\n(Yes, as seen in the pictures)\n\nAre the effects applied randomly?\n(Yes, as the units do not have two behaviors applied to them, also not all of them died at once. (Their health was below 50))\n\nIt all works! Excellent! If yours works, then thats amazing! You've created a complicated ability certainly, and you've gained good practice with abilities, effects and behaviors.\n\nExtra Notes.\nIf you want to learn how to make your abilities look good, and to utilize unit animations and other special effects to show snares, stuns and such, check out my other tutorial on how to use Actors and linking them to Abilities.!\n\nClosing Thoughts.\nI hope you've learned immensely from this. Congratulations on learning, and making your way through this arduous journey! I hope i've been helpful, and if you have any questions on Abilities, Effects, or Behaviors, then post them here.\n\nClick here to comment on this tutorial.\nCopyright is secured automatically upon creation, and does not require registration", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7921159863471985}
+{"content": "Kusum Crimmel-\n\nthoughts, observations, theories\n\nthis is a blog for dissecting whiteness, breaking open the hidden and not so hidden generational trauma inflicted and received, taking a deeper dive into privilege, power and healing.  we can’t heal what we cant see, what we can’t remember, what we are unwilling to admit… we must wake up from the united states of amnesia and remember, so we can change, so we can heal, so we can build relationships of trust and connection and mutual respect… so we can all be in our highest and best selves!!\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Invisibility of White Culture\n\nWhat is white culture? What do white people value, what do they believe in?  How do white people communicate, verbally and non-verbally? How do we show emotion, how do we discipline? What are our aesthetics, our definitions of beauty? How do we experience personal space, tone of voice or how do we value behavior or family dynamics?\n\nI facilitate an activity in many of my workshops where we dissect white culture.  I’ve lead this in exclusively white groups, as well as racially diverse audiences.  It invites us all to define a culture that is rarely categorized. It asks us to do to white people what is often done to every other racial group.  Generally speaking, white people feel confused and uncomfortable during this activity, while people of color find it to be easy and even liberating to name it and break it down.\n\nIf you’re white and these questions bring up feelings of anxiety and defensiveness, I get it.  It’s uncomfortable to put us all in a box, right? Especially if this is the first time you’ve been asked to describe white culture, it can feeling jarring and confusing. I’ve been there too.  When I was younger, I knew I was white, but I had a strong resistance to accepting that I was a part of this culture.  I grew up feeling like I was different because I was raised without wealth, without economic comfort.  I was different because my mom was an immigrant, came here after I was born, more rooted in an ancestral land without the generational stains of slavery and indigenous genocide. I was different because my mom was different.\n\nThese excuses about why I didn’t fit into white culture soothed me.  They made me feel like I didn’t have to relate to or take responsibility for my people, specifically the ones who really fit into the stereotypes, who displayed behavior that I perceived as offensive or oppressive. I took efforts to distance myself from them and this culture. If I could convince myself that I was different, then maybe other people would also see me as different.\n\nFor most white people, we have simultaneously been asked to embrace our whiteness and accept its privileges, while also distancing ourselves from the culture because it feels lifeless, plain, not connected to anything real.  Understandably we cling to our religion, our class, or sexuality, our spaces and places of difference in order to be on the outside of this blandness. Anything and everything white feels shameful, saturated in historical pain and trauma that has not been dealt with or healed.  Or it’s watered down, so distant from traditions that there isn’t anything to feel proud of or joyful about.\n\nNow, every time I do this workshop, I hear many familiar defensive responses.  Voices of those who identify as Jewish, Irish, queer, poor, and so many other ways our identities can keep us from acknowledging white culture. These all make sense because there is always nuance in culture and identity.  Nothing is ever a simple categorization of all people with one skin color having all the same ways of living, of being, of believing. This is true for every group that humans have tried to categorize into a color.  Nothing is true for everyone. Each of us represent various experiences of class, religious beliefs, family history and stories; all of which play into the unique fabric of who we are and who our families are. There are certain cultural aspects of being poor that I experienced and can recognize across all racial groups, which differ from cultural norms of people with wealth.  In my observations, the same goes for people who are wealthy. There are cultural differences for white people who are Jewish or Italian or any other ethnic group who have not fully melted into the huge pot of American whiteness.\n\nEven in the midst of the many ways we differ, to deny that white culture doesn’t exist or doesn’t infiltrate into all European descendants in this country in small and large ways is living in denial.  Ever since the first law categorizing Europeans as white back in 1669, people with shades of beige skin have been systematically boxed into a racial group.  Some people who immigrated were, at first, denied this categorization, but eventually all people of European descent were accepted as white. This creation of the white race came with laws to keep people who are white away from people who are not.  This has impacted many behaviors, ways of acting and seeing the world. When you are of this culture, it is difficult to see the nuances that are woven into it because we don’t see ourselves as a part of something.  We ARE the thing.  Even when we try and deny our connections to it, or find reasons why we are different, we are not acknowledging and accepting the ways we are of it.  To accept this, offers more room to make changes from behavior that is inherently oppressive and dominating, into behaviors that are liberating and respectful.\n\nOther cultures can often see whiteness more clearly because they witness it from the outside looking in. This is why my white culture activity is usually uncomfortable and more challenging for European descendants than it is for people who are from ancestral lands outside of Europe.  The voice tones that are used in different situations, the way body language is expressed and understood without question, the words, sentence structures, and references used to explain things.  All of this is specific to culture but because white people don’t interpret us as having culture, white space is seen as common territory that everyone would be comfortable and safe in.  We assume that what is normal and comfortable to us, is neutral and easy for everyone else as well.  For example, when I was young, I had no idea mostly white environments would be uncomfortable or emotionally unsafe for people who are not white. This awareness didn’t set in until I was able to hear the experiences and stories of people who are not white.   People of color have had to study and learn white culture for survival but as a white person, I can go through my whole life completely ignorant to the experiences of people from other cultures and races, without any social or economic repercussions.\n\nI experienced an example of this at my job recently.  I was talking with a white, female student who had been involved in a racialized conflict. I had a conversation with her and she shared with me pieces of her life in Texas, where she lived before she moved to Oakland.  These few stories from her past helped me understand her more and offered a wider perspective of why she acted the way she had acted in the conflict.  In the conversation, we were talking about culture and she shared with me that she had no idea that a majority white class could make a Black student feel uncomfortable. Even after the Black student explained her discomfort and feelings of being emotionally unsure and likely unsafe, the white student seemed confused and surprised.  She got schooled by this other student and her white veil of privilege was shaken loose. She never even knew it was there in the first place.\n\nIn this particular situation, the more academically “elite” classes at the school are made up of mostly white students.  Many Black and Latino students who have taken these classes have shared their feelings of discomfort and not feeling emotionally safe enough to be their full selves. I’ve heard about these experiences directly from students I know as well as second hand stories told to me about their friends.  Black and Brown students may get encouraged to join and participate in these classes or programs, but the culture doesn’t shift. It still upholds certain behaviors, language use, tone, knowledge base and other cultural indicators as the norm.  When students join these spaces who aren’t of this cultural norm, they share with me a feeling of not being smart enough, not having the correct knowledge base, or being tokenized or asked to speak for all Black or Brown people.  More and more programs or organizations or companies  say they “want diversity” but without the awareness to support and encourage diversity once people of color join.  The culture of the space remains rooted in whiteness, which doesn’t allow for a healthy and culturally diverse space for all people to feel comfortable and accepted.\n\nBeing unaware of white culture and how it operates, blocks our ability to notice how it impacts people who haven’t been raised in it.  When people of color either don’t come into white spaces, or if they come and end up leaving, there is little to no accountability from the white people of how our culture and behavior has impacted this. Most often these situations create a narrative of “othering.”  It’s the students or people of color who have the problem. “They” aren’t prepared enough, responsible enough, focused enough, to stay and be successful.  They’re too loud, or too aggressive, or too opinionated, or too angry.  They just don’t “fit in.” White people don’t take responsibility for how our culture has impact on the comfort level of others or how our culture is offensive and disrespectful towards other people from different races and cultures.\n\nTo dissect whiteness means to break apart the cultural aspects that have gone unnoticed and unexamined; to recognize the ways the normalizing of white culture impacts others.  When we can examine it we have more ability to change cultural behavior that is rooted in dominance.  We can widen our awareness to make room for people who’s cultural ways of being and interacting in the world are different than our own.  For white people, this can also help us find ourselves underneath the whitewashing our people have gone through to gain social privileges.  When we can have more depth beyond the blandness of whiteness, we have a wider ability to embrace self love.  When we embrace a deeper level of self love, there is more ability to embrace all people and experience joy when other cultures embrace self love.\n\nCollective community trauma in Oakland\n\nLast night, in Oakland, a white man stabbed two young Black girls, killing one of them (18 year old Nia Wilson) and putting her 19 year old sister into critical condition in the hospital.  The situation was likely racially motivated and many are saying the killer may have been in town for a gathering of white supremacists scheduled to happen in Downtown Oakland today.  Are these two incidents connected?  Possibly, probably,….?\n\nMy heart hurts, I’m super angry and sad and overwhelmed with emotions.  I have a 19 year old family friend living with us.  She is Black.  She is the one who told me about the situation and I sat with her for about an hour this morning as she shared her fear… or more so terror and anger and sadness.  This could have been her, she shared.  This could have been her close friends.  She was born and raised in Oakland and said she has never felt so scared to be out as she does today.  She was crying and shaking and wondering what this meant for her own life in Oakland and her own safety.\n\nShe was traumatized in a way that I, and every other white person, won’t be able to fully understand.  The stabbing of these two girls doesn’t just impact them and their loved ones.  The trauma reverberates out to every young Black girl in Oakland, and possibly across the country.  It impacts the whole Black community because it’s collective community trauma. These two girls didn’t do anything wrong, they were just traveling on the BART train when this dude followed them off the train and then attacked them, slitting Nia’s throat and seriously injuring her sister.  And it’s likely because he doesn���t like Black people?  Because he thinks his skin color and his people are more superior than others?\n\nOur country is splitting apart at the seams, the unhealed racial wounds seeping out everywhere and it’s scary.  I believe that racial trauma, both old and current, causes people to be in a trauma response, which means there are currently a whole lot of people walking around right now in a fight, flight or freeze response which means the logical mammalian brain is not working… only the reptilian brain is.  That means people are responding from a “I need to find safety no matter what” place, which is not logical and doesn’t think first.  It just responds.  This is not a good place to act from.  It causes more conflict, more hurt and often times, more trauma.\n\nI am left feeling confused.  Maybe I’m in a trauma state of freeze… that would make sense.  My heart is hurting and I ask again, “What more can we do to make a change?  What is really going to make a difference?” We have to shift the energy around by changing the energy within.\n\nI pray for the family of Nia Wilson and for us all.  I pray that love truly does overcome hate.\n\n\n#permitpatty and #bbqbecky\n\n#permitpatty is an example of a much wider and deeper problem. This woman, whose real name is Alison Ettel,  is the current sacrificial lamb while so many others who justify this behavior and still don’t understand the current and historical impact of her actions are living all around us.  This situation happened in San Francisco, while the situation with #bbqbecky (real name Jennifer Schulte) happened in Oakland.  Both so close that it is surprising Ms. Ettel hadn’t heard about the other situation and this would have caused her to have caution with her actions.   But no, she picked up her phone and called the police (later, she said she just pretended to call) on an 8 year old African American girl who was selling waters to passersby.  For context, this little girl and her mom were selling in front of the apartment building they lived in, which is close to AT&T park, and at a time when the Giants were having a home game.  Thousands of people come to these games and many people sell things all around the park to the game goers. This young girl was trying to make money to fundraise for a trip to Disneyland.  Ms. Ettel was bothered by the noise from the girl and her mom as they were calling out to potential customers letting them know what they were selling.  Her discomfort was seemingly the only thing on her mind, with little to no thought about the impact of her actions.  Her instincts went straight to using the “authorities” to control the behavior of this 8 year old girl and her mom, in order to regain her sense of comfort.\n\nWhat I believe to be true is this instinctual action of using the police to control Blackness  is deeply rooted in white people’s behavioral reflexes.  What I mean by this is, white people have learned this behavior for so long that it is apart of the automatic reactions when faced with Black and Brown bodies who are in the way of their perceived safety and/or comfort.  Without thinking about it, white people have learned that their personal safety and need for comfort is primary and that they can and should use the police system to help them when they need help. Also, white people seem to believe strongly in the law (which makes sense, because white people are the ones who have been writing the laws since the beginning of this country) and when it is in their favor (meaning, when it leans towards their own comfort and safety), they staunchly believe they are the people to uphold it and enforce other people to follow it.  Both the BBQBecky and the PermitPatty situations involved two white women so set on holding Black people to the law, that they felt the need to call police for a very non-emergency situation and one that could create a potentially very dangerous situation.\n\nThe action of calling the police, inflicts trauma on Black people.  When a Black person is killed by the police in cold blood, this traumatic impact is rippled out to include people who see themselves in the ones killed.  This includes a few well known examples such as Stephon Clark and Tamir Rice, but outside of the well known examples there are many, many more.  The continual examples of Black people, whether young or adults, being shot down by police when they aren’t doing ANYTHING wrong is not only an assault to the people being shot and their families, but to Black people everywhere.  So the trauma is felt by people who don’t even know the ones who have been killed.  They understand that if it could happen to Tamir Rice, a 12 year old boy playing in a park, it could happen to their sons or to them.  From the extensive examples of police brutality and death caused overwhelmingly to Black people, we can clearly see that when police are involved with Black people, there is a much higher chance that violence, police brutality or death could be a result of this action.  So when you call the police on a Black person, or “fake” like you’re calling them, you are inciting a traumatic reaction in many Black people’s bodies.  Most Black people will automatically get worried because they understand that the experience of dealing with police is not the same for them than it is for white people.  They understand intimately, or socially, that calling the police could mean several outcomes, and most of them are negative and dangerous.   \n\nSo, to white people I say, STOP CALLING THE POLICE!! Have a conversation with someone. Listen to other people talking and recognize your own white body privilege in the face of police and understand on the other side of privilege is oppression and Black and Brown bodies have not had the luxury of privilege in the face of police ever in this country. Let that sink in. \n\n\n\n\nCollective trauma\n\nOk my people. If you identify as white, as European American or as caucasian I want you to go on a journey with me.  The more you actually feel into this experience, the more impactful it will be.\n\nI want you to imagine that you have a son.  Your son is 14 years old and goes to high school several miles away.  You love him like nothing else and see him growing up so fast and becoming more and more independence.  It’s his first year in high school and it has definitely been a lot of change from middle school for him.   He’s been getting up and to the bus on his own and doing pretty good with this new responsibility.  Then one day, he oversleeps and misses his bus.  He knows he can’t get a ride from you because you’re on your way to work, or maybe you’re already at work.  He decides to start walking.  He’s not the best at directions, but he figures he can get there if he goes the same route as the bus and he’s pretty sure he can remember that.  After a while, he realizes he doesn’t know where he is.  He’s definitely lost but doesn’t have a phone on him because you had taken it away from him. He can’t look on google maps or call anyone so he decides to ask for help.\n\nHe walks up to one of the nearby houses and knocks.  Behind the door he hears an older woman yelling at him and asking why is he trying to break into her house.  Remember this is your son, your 14 year old son.  He’s young and confused and tries to explain that he is just trying to get directions to his High School because he’s lost.  But the woman doesn’t hear him and keeps yelling.  Then her husband comes down and grabs his gun and starts coming to the door.  Your son sees the gun and turns around, running down the steps and away from the house.  He hears a gun shot, louder than he ever imagined it would be.  He has never heard a gun so close to him before.  He runs as fast as he can down the street, scared for his life.\n\nHis heart is racing, mind focused on safety, on getting as far away from that house as he can.  He finds a safe place, crouches down, checks all around him to make sure he’s unseen, and then collapses.  His body is shaking, tears streaming down his face, fear pulsating through his veins, while anger hovers just below his skin.  The very skin that these people couldn’t see past.  His skin pale, but flushed red now from the blood pumping throughout every part of his body.  This skin that has been stereotyped to be criminal, seen in every type of media as violent and something to fear.  This skin that so many people don’t get to know what is underneath, yet think they know, act like they know.  This skin that caused this man to get his gun and shoot at your son, based on these stereotyped fears.\n\nAnd now, your son, huddled in his hiding spot, still shaking a little while his breath starts to regulate, tears drying on his cheeks, starts to run through his mind what just happened.  What had he done wrong?  What should he have done differently?  The overwhelming and irrational feelings of shame and self blame are difficult to push past. They trickle into almost all traumatic events, no matter if they make sense or not.  Even later when you finally hold your son and explain to him he didn’t do anything wrong, he still might question the “what if’s.”   What if that shot had hit him?  What would his mom have done?  What if he hadn’t overslept and made his bus, none of this would have happened.  What if he had gone to a different house, maybe another house wouldn’t have hated white people.  But, what if they would have?\n\nThese questions will be mixed in with his anger towards a world he lives in where he can get killed because of his skin color.  He is 14 years old.  He just needed directions because he was lost.  He will likely be more anxious, have nightmares, feel unsure in his environments, jumpy and hyper sensitive to sounds.  He has been traumatized.\n\nWhat would you do?  How would you feel?  What emotions would be running through you?  What actions would you want to take?\n\nCan you imagine this happening to your son, or does it feel too unrealistic? It’s not an experience we often hear about.  It is not a part of our collective consciousness, meaning the fear of our sons being killed based on the color of their skin has not happened enough for it to become a fear instilled in our racial group at large.  If one of our people is killed or attempted to be killed based on their skin color, we can observe these situations as singular incidents and not regular.  We don’t have a feeling inside of us that it could happen to our own child, or our own brother or nephew.\n\nUnfortunately, this situation did happen.  It happened April 12, 2018 in Rochester Hills, Michigan.  But the 14 year old boy was Black, not white.  The trauma is real and intense and the young man, Brennan Walker, will never be the same.  His mom will never be the same.  His mother’s husband is deployed in Syria, putting his life at risk for the United States, while her son, 14 years old, is being shot at because he asked for directions.  And later his mom found out the only reason the man missed the shot was because he forgot to take the safety off.  Brennan, thankfully, was not a hashtag.  He is a survivor, although he did not walk away without a scar but his scars are beneath the surface of his skin. And they take longer to heal.\n\nWhen other Black families read about this story, many of them feel impacted.  Many of them feel the collective trauma of this incident.  What I mean by this is that many feel personally impacted almost as if it was a family friend because it reflects on the safety of their own children, their own cousins, their own uncles, their own brothers, etc.  It means that they could all be at risk for the same treatment.  Now, not just this family, but a large collective of Black people in the U.S., feel scared to knock on people’s homes.  Now, Black mothers are going to feel that they can’t confiscate their children’s phones as punishment, because having the phone could keep them alive.  This is collective trauma.  The anger, the confusion, the fear, etc. is felt collectively. As the country reads about this story, and will soon be hearing the audio recording of the incident captured by the Ring doorbell, the anger and frustration will not just be felt with this family, it will be felt collectively within the African American community.\n\nUnfortunately, this is not new. This is how Black death in the U.S. has often been treated; like a public display to make other Black people feel the impact. That was the purpose of beatings, whippings, lynchings, most of which happened in the view of other Black people.  They were public to create a collective trauma, a collective fear in order to collectively control and manipulate.  So, it comes as no surprise that today, murder of the Black body continues to be felt across Black communities.  It continues to create more collective trauma, which impacts millions of people.\n\nI wonder if any of us (Europeans who have become white) can fully grasp the layers of collective trauma on Black and Brown communities.   And in recognizing these layers, can we recognize the emotional, physical and spiritual toll it is taking on people everywhere.  This is the unspoken impacts of racism.  The impacts that are hard to quantify or chart or publish in a fancy book.\n\n\n\n\nGun Violence, Microaggressions & Youth Power\n\nI work with teenagers.  I’ve been working with teenagers for 15 or 16 years.  I love them, I truly do.  The excitement of the young mind is inspiring, especially when they get caught up in something they truly believe in and then tirelessly push forward with their vision for change.\n\nThis is why it has been so incredible to witness students coming together to stand up against gun violence, against a cultural trend in the United States that supports policies  protecting access to weapons over policies that protect human well-being. Last week young people across the United States came together to show the government their power, to tell the country that they are the next generation and they are here now and ready to vote.  It has been beautiful.  At my school, which had the largest school protest in all of Oakland, was entirely run by students.  I was pleasantly surprised to see and hear from students about how much they enjoyed the event.  Completely youth planned, there were speakers, poets, and and open mic for young people to express how they felt about gun violence.  And in the audience there were more than 1000 (some estimated 1500) students standing in the rain to listen, to observe, to be a part of change.  There were of course a lot of students who were there primarily because they wanted to get out of class, but that’s to be expected.  They still stayed there in the rain and listened.\n\nThere was a part of me that was so proud of them, so inspired by their actions and their passion.  AND then there was this other part of me that was irritated.  Bothered by the contradictions, by the way this rally, this call to action, this mobilization, was like a really big microaggression for students of color, particularly the students who have felt the real impact of gun violence.  Students who walk and live on streets that have taken the lives of their friends, their family members, people who were close their hearts.\n\nDuring a summer on the streets of Oakland, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, etc there can be more than 17 murders.  Where are the rallies when the students in these cities come back to school after a summer of gun violence?  Where is the training for teachers to learn how to deal with the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or the Trauma response from these kids impacted by intense grief and fear?  Where are the therapy sessions or the healing circles for the students as they come back to school?\n\nWhen I asked students in my class and my after school program about their thoughts on the rally, many students were upset.  Some even said that, although they feel bad for saying it, they didn’t really care much about the shooting in Parkland.  They felt like the same people who were wanting them to come out and support the people in Parkland were nowhere to be seen or heard when it was Black and Brown people being killed by police or community violence.  To some, this might seem insensitive, and to others they understand this sentiment completely.  These students were frustrated that the people on the mic at the walk-out rally were mostly people who were not directly impacted by gun violence and kept referring to the school shooting in Parkland as the reason for taking action for gun control.   They were white and lived in all mostly white middle to upper class neighborhoods.  They referred to gun violence in this far off place, without even acknowledging the gun violence that happens right here on the streets of Oakland.  This, I believe, is a microaggression.\n\n\nHaving this movement focused on gun violence and gun control, yet center it around one type of gun violence, mass shootings, is a snub and an insult.  It is likely unintentional but very impactful to Black and Brown communities, many of which are heavily impacted by gun violence.  In all of the school shootings I have been aware of, the shooters are almost always white and the overall majority of the victims are white. This communicates to people across this country that when white lives are taken needlessly, there should be an outcry for help and support, but when it’s Black and Brown lives that are taken needlessly, it’s normalized brushed off as if their lives are worth less. This is a microaggression.\n\nMy deepest hope moving forward is that the student organizers expand their understanding of gun violence and the people who are most impacted by it.  My hope is that the students most deeply impacted by gun violence are the ones on the mic and whose voices are prioritized in organizing and planning ideas and strategies for creating change.  My hope is that we can look at the different forms of gun violence, whether it be about mass shootings or street killings, and understand the ways they are connected as well as understand the ways they are completely different.  Gun violence in the United States has many forms, none is more important than another.  When our society prioritizes the grief and care for victims of one type of gun violence more than others, this can be deeply hurtful and continue a legacy of white superiority. This is a legacy that we should be doing everything in our power to change.\n\n\n\nHealing Circles\n\nTomorrow will be the first of an on-going series of healing circles that I am facilitating, happening on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month in Oakland CA. These circles are focused on the ways racism and white supremacy have impacted generations of white people in this country. White people who used to have a connection to a place in Europe, and who would be considered Europeans, have been melted into a white identity and have historically and currently benefited socially and economically based on this identity.  The privileges white people receive based on this skin color identity are immense and the internalized white superiority has been woven into every institution we interact with.  I believe deeply that in terms of trauma and harm, all people involved are traumatized and harmed; whether it’s the person/ people causing the harm or the people/ person being harmed.  White supremacy has caused generations of harm and has impacted people of color and white people, but in different ways. In these healing circles we will be exploring how it has impacted white people in order to heal and therefor be more active participants in a society of racial equity.\n\nTo view and RSVP on the Facebook invite, click here \n\nIf you’re not on Facebook, RSVP to: restorejustice9@gmail.com or send a text to (510) 220-1589\n\n\nHealing Circles\nFor Europeans who have become white\nTo face into the trauma of white supremacy\nTo heal it’s scars and awaken our internal and eternal truths\nTo align with our values and deepen our integrity\nTo end the cycle of internalized superiority and legacy of amnesia\nTo heal\nIn connection, in Community\n\nThis is an intentional healing space to circle up and dig into the generational trauma of white supremacy in the psyche of white people, because …\nHurt people, hurt people\nWe are working towards being healed people who connect with other healed people\n\nA white man’s problem…\n\nbefore I call bullshit, bullshit, let me start by sharing my deepest condolences and love to the families who have lost loved ones. violent, unnecessary death is heavy. prayers are being held for all of you in my heart.\n\n\n17 counts of premeditated murder. keep your eyes open and notice what his sentence will end up being. \nand folks who know… know. if this was a Black man, death penalty would be an obvious. but who are we really fooling?\nBlack people don’t do mass shootings. that’s a white boy problem. so what do you think he’s gonna get? let’s just wait and see what happens.\n\nand to be clear, i am not an advocate of the death penalty.  i’m an advocate for equity and accountable, deep, hard to face, transformative justice.\n\n\nwe have yet to see much equity in our history, or accountable, transformative justice before.  yes he has a mental health issue.  how can you kill that many people and NOT have a mental health issue?  and how long can you live inside the belief of white supremacy and not end up with a mental health issue?  this level of disassociation and cognitive dissonance can only create a mental imbalance and of course nobody is going to take accountability for the feeding of these beliefs into him.  everyone is gonna point a finger and nobody will actually do the dirty work of tracing the influences, following the generational line, the passed down behaviors, and look at the epigenetics of this man’s life.  it would likely reveal the sick and twisted, unhealed trauma of racial hatred. generation, to generation, like skin color- it’s in the dna.\n\nthis is the white man’s biggest problem, which is also a white woman’s problem.  let’s do the necessary healing work and stop pointing fingers at these “obviously” racist “bad-apples” and see the traces of the past in our own dna, our own behavior… what is our epigenetics?  we may not be mentally imbalanced enough to shoot up a school, but i don’t think any white person in this country who has family here for more than 2 generations isn’t carrying the remnants of the unhealed trauma of racial superiority.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5147016048431396}
+{"content": "Famous Eggplant Parmesan recipe that reportedly induces labor\n\nMILWAUKEE -- Could Eggplant Parmesan be the recipe that induces labor for Angelica Duria? According to Scalini's Italian Restaurant in Georgia, several expecting mothers have gone into labor after eating their famous Eggplant Parmesan. The restaurant has shared its recipe for others to make and try.\n\nIngredients for Eggplant Parmesan:\n- 3 medium size eggplants\n- 1 cup of flour\n- 6 eggs, beaten\n- 4 cups fine Italian bread crumbs, seasoned\n- Olive oil for sautéing\n- **8 cups of marinara sauce (ingredients and directions below)\n- ½ cup grated Romano Cheese\n- ½ cup grated Parmesan Cheese\n- ½ lb of shredded Mozzarella cheese\n- 2 cups Ricotta cheese\n\n1. After you wash the eggplant, slice them into ¼ inch thick slices. You may choose to peel the eggplant before you slice it, however, you may want to leave the skin on since the contains a lot of vitamins.\n4. In a baking dish, alternate layers of marinara sauce, eggplant slices, ricotta, parmesan, and Romano cheeses, until you fill the baking dish about an 1/8 inch from the top. Cover with shredded mozzarella cheese and bake for 25 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Let set for 10 minutes before serving.\n\nIngredients for Scalini`s Marinara Sauce:\n- 2 tbsp chopped garlic\n- 3 tbsp olive oil\n- 8 cups chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned)\n- 1 cup chopped onions\n- ½ cup of fresh chopped parsley\n- 1 tsp oregano\n- 1 tsp crushed red pepper\n- 1/8 cup of fresh chopped sweet basil\n- Pinch of thyme\n- Pinch of rosemary\n- 1 tsp salt\n- 1 tsp black pepper\n\nDirections for Marinara sauce:\n1. Lightly sauté the onions in olive oil in large pot for a few minutes. Add garlic and sauté for another minute.\n2. Add tomatoes and bring sauce to a boil, then turn heat to low. Add remaining ingredients, stir, cover, and let simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.997197151184082}
+{"content": "Making it count: the importance of emphasizing mathematical concepts and positive math mindsets in elementary school\n\nBy Ariana Forsythe\n\nEvery senior at my school has to deliver and defend a senior thesis at the end of the year. I have previously shared the resulting work of one of my students. This year one of my students did a marvelous job in exploring mathematical mindsets. I am sharing (with permission) Ariana’s work below because 1) readers of this site may find it insightful, and 2) I’m just so darn proud of her.\n\nIMG_4189 (1)\n\n“Dear Maths. Here are 10 things I hate about you…With maths, you��re either right or you’re wrong. You can’t argue your way out of an incorrect answer….Maths teachers seemed angrier than all others…There seems to be no middle ground with maths. You’re either a maths person or you’re not. It’s unwelcoming. Exclusive. It doesn’t reach out” (Hunter). These are just a few of the reasons why blogger Kate Hunter, a self-proclaimed math hater who has allegedly never been good at math, has so much disdain for the subject. Her voice reflects those of countless Americans, as the phrase “I’m just not a math person” becomes a more and more prevalent excuse for poor math performance. In one tragic example, Joseph Cabral, now a successful freelance writer, was a straight-A student until he had to take algebra in middle school. Since then, he has taken and failed the course seven times throughout high school and college and has explained, “I started to question my character, my brain, my capabilities, and even my values” (Cabral). Countless American students like Joseph Cabral are struggling so much with math that they feel like failures, have limited career options, and hate the subject of mathematics.\n\n\nAmericans’ reputation for poor math abilities is not a recent development. Over a century ago, education experts were already noting Americans’ “meager results” in mathematics, and they have been disputing how to correct these results since then (Phillips). Throughout the 20th century, most traditional public education was dominated by the progressive ideals of John Dewey and William Heard Kilpatrick who believed worthwhile information was that which was useful in everyday life or for a student’s specific career interests. This more pragmatic but less academic strategy backfired during World War II when army recruits had such poor understanding of basic arithmetic for bookkeeping and gunnery that math education had to be added to military training (Klein). By the Cold War, math education reform was popularized, and a model called “new math” was pushed throughout American classrooms in attempts to improve students’ abilities to grasp concepts through abstract thinking rather than by memorization of facts (Phillips). In 1958, the American Mathematical Society founded the School Mathematics Study Group which led to math as advanced as calculus being incorporated into high school curriculums (Klein). In the seventies, however, education professionals noticed declining math test scores as a result of the new math model, so curriculum returned to the more traditional, simplified, memorization-centered approach (Philips). By the nineties, a so-called “math war” arose between the U.S. Department of Education and university mathematicians. Since then, professionals have continued their efforts to reform standardized tests, skills requirements, curriculum, and teacher training in efforts to raise Americans’ scores (Klein).\n\nNevertheless, American adults and children continue to demonstrate meagre math abilities on the international level to this day. Adults between the ages of 16 and 65 from 23 different economically advanced countries were surveyed in 2012 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in a test called the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, or the PIAAC. On the math portion of this survey, American adults scored 16th out of the 23 participating countries, with the average American score 26 points below the average of the highest scoring country, Japan, and only 20 points above the average of the lowest scoring country, Italy (Literacy, Numeracy, and Problem Solving in Technology). Similarly, when tested amongst 15-year-old international high school students, Americans scored 35th out of 70 participating countries and 13 points below the international math average on the Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA (PISA 2012 Results in Focus). While the United States is a leader in world economics and politics, it continues to lag behind educationally and perform below average in mathematics, as seen in both children and adults.\n\nA common psychological phenomenon relevant to the discussion of education reform concerns the debate about whether intelligence is genetically fixed or acquired through effort. Is it nature or nurture? For a long time, the prevailing conception was that genetics determined brain power, as seen in geniuses like Einstein and Beethoven, but scientists such as Bruce Wexler, a neuroscientist and professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, recently confirmed that any genetic predispositions from birth are surpassed by superior education and effort (Boaler 5). While many Americans see their high schoolers underperforming in mathematics on a global scale and conclude that they are genetically predisposed to struggle with math, studies have revealed that proper encouragement can greatly increase students capabilities (Kimball). This is evident in PhD Carol Dweck’s idea of “the mindset” as developed in her 2006 book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Through her research, Dweck discovered that people’s mindsets, or perceptions of themselves and the world around them, dictate their success. Those with fixed mindsets believe that they have fixed potential; to them, challenge means inadequacy, and failure reflects directly on their person. Those with growth mindsets know they have untapped potential; they know they can always keep growing, so they know that challenges will eventually lead to success (Dweck). For over a century, America has lagged behind in mathematics achievement and continues to demonstrate poor math abilities on international tests, despite being a great and prosperous international power. There is now substantial scientific proof, however, that genetics have little to do with students’ intellectual abilities, but learning experiences do. Past educational reforms have dealt primarily with curriculum reform, but one important component in math education that has not been fully addressed is the mindset students have about math.\n\nThe argument for math\n\nAmericans’ poor performance in mathematics needs to be addressed in elementary education before it can be improved at the secondary level. This math crisis should be addressed earlier because the foundations of basic conceptualization necessary for higher-level, abstract, mathematical reasoning are set at this time. Furthermore, children between the ages of 4 and 10 have the highest brain activity of their lives and are mentally equipped to absorb not only procedural but also conceptual teachings of elementary school. Unfortunately, students’ mindsets about math are also set at this time, and they are often discouraged by teachers not specialized in mathematical instruction. Ultimately, elementary schools need to employ math specialists to teach elementary math classes or, at a minimum, to instruct generalist teachers on the latest and most effective strategies of presenting math curriculum in constructive and positive ways.\n\nStudents are currently lacking adequate foundations in basic math concepts that they need to understand algebra and higher quantitative reasoning. As mentioned earlier, on the most common international test taken by 15-year-old high school students, the PISA, the U.S. scored 35th out of the 70 participating countries and 13 points below the average (PISA 2012 Results in Focus). On a different type of test, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, American fourth graders ranked 14th out of the 49 participating countries and 39 points above the average on the 2015 math section (“Mathematics for Grades 4 and 8: Averages”). American students are performing competitively on international tests at younger ages but are scoring below average by the time they reach high school, a trend directly opposite to higher scoring countries. One possible explanation is that American schools are teaching students for immediate success through math facts, memorization, and procedural approaches but not amply preparing them for the abstract reasoning required in subsequent study of higher level math that begins in middle school, because elementary math education does not emphasize mathematical concepts as a stepping stone to abstraction. In Singapore, for example, elementary students are required to use problem solving and visual models to learn mathematical concepts while American students are primarily taught procedures for obtaining similar results. The problem solving approach is initially more confusing and challenging, but the concepts learned through problem-solving are the building blocks for abstraction, which ultimately prepares students better for higher level mathematics than a procedural approach.\n\nThis defense for strong conceptual foundations is discussed in the book Mind, Brain, and Education Science by Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, PhD and Director of the Institute for Teaching and Learning at San Francisco University of Quito. Her research shows how children need points of reference to connect to new information and how this means that poor instruction early on will continue to cause students to fail in math, a cumulative subject. She says, “Without a firm foundation in basic mathematical conceptualization… a student will have a lot of trouble moving on to build more complex conceptual understandings” (Tokuhama-Espinosa 35). All students must make this jump from concrete to abstract—from arithmetic to algebra and beyond—but American students have not been given the tools in elementary school to make this leap smoothly.\n\nAnother reason to focus stronger math instruction toward elementary students is their comparatively greater brain activity at this age. In the 1980s, Harold Chugani was the director of the PET Center at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan and used developing technology to record children’s brain activity at different ages. He found that 4-year-old brains consume copious amounts of glucose and are twice as active as adult brains. This extremely high level of activity continues until age 10 and gradually decreases until about age 16, when brain activity levels to that of adults. Children really are sponges for information at this early age, and as Michael Phelps, a biophysicist at UCLA, not the Olympic swimmer, who develops and researches with neuroscience technologies, explains, “If we teach our children early enough, it will affect the organization, or ‘wiring,’ of their brains” (Nadia). This easily applies to the instruction and development of math concepts for elementary students and demonstrates how math education is critical in the early years for setting up success later.\n\nSimilarly to how elementary math education sets the conceptual foundation for higher level mathematics, elementary math education also shapes the mindsets students have about the subject. Unfortunately, the current education system fosters negative mindsets about mathematics, especially when students at young ages are indirectly taught that mistakes equal failure. Dr. Jo Boaler, author of Mathematical Mindsets, recounts a lecture with Stanford professor Li Ka Shing who explained, “Every time a student makes a mistake in math, they grow a synapse” (Boaler 11). These synapses occur both when a student first makes a mistake—when the answer is not reconcilable with prior experiences—and when an outside source, or teacher, corrects the mistake. Accumulations of synapses lead to brain growth, meaning that mistakes in math also lead to brain growth. Because of this, teachers should treat their students’ mistakes as opportunities for instruction and growth (Boaler 11). In reality, mathematics is a diverse, creative subject as there are countless, different, equally correct ways to approach each problem, yet math continues to be taught from the perspective that there is only one correct answer. Unfortunately, field researchers like Dr. Jo Boaler believe American students are too often discouraged from making mistakes, from freely exploring different solutions, and from joyfully embracing math (Boaler).\n\nOne solution to this issue of negative mindsets is to employ math specialists, who are more knowledgable on how best to teach math and foster their students’ love of the subject. Francis Fennell, former president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, explained that generalists usually take “two or three courses in mathematics content and one course in the teaching of mathematics” and that “their teaching load generally consists of a full range of subjects, with particular attention to reading or language arts in a self-contained classroom” (Fennell). On the other hand, math specialists are required to take more math courses and have more math teaching experience in addition to the requirements of generalist teachers. In Arizona, for example, endorsed math specialists must have an “elementary or special education teaching certificate, 3 years in full time K-8 teaching experience…18 semester hours of courses in mathematics content, 3…in mathematics classroom assessment, and 3…in research-based practices, pedagogy, and instructional leadership in mathematics” (“Mathematics Specialist Certifications (by State) with Descriptions”).What is needed, then, are math specialists who can keep up with the constantly evolving and perfected mathematical teaching approaches, who know ways to teach to different kinds of learners, and whose love of math can inspire their students. Math specialists can be actively involved in the on-going discussions of how best to teach math with time that generalists simply do not have, as they must be well rounded in several areas of study. If Americans want to remedy poor performance in math, they need to call for math specialists to properly lay foundational, conceptual knowledge and foster positive mathematical mindsets at an early age for their students.\n\nThe case against math\n\nSome skeptics argue that America, on the whole, is not actually performing poorly but that the scores of low scoring students are dragging down those of high scoring students, affecting America’s average math test score. The results from the 2012 PISA international math test revealed that 15% of American’s score variances, or the difference between high and low scoring students, was due to socio-economic status, a percentage twice as large as those of high scoring countries such as Finland, Japan, and Hong Kong (Ryan). America is an extremely diverse nation, especially compared to countries such as Finland or Japan, so some experts believe that whatever attempts are made to close this achievement gap or raise overall scores will always be futile or will always leave some students behind.\n\nWhile it is true that part of Americans’ poor results on the PISA math test is due to diversity that many other participating countries do not have, it is important to address another perspective that the data shows: resiliency. This is when economically disadvantaged students from the bottom 25% income bracket perform better than predicted, or overcome their negative odds. The U.S. has a lower than average percentage of resilient students (Ryan), which can be attributed to the overall negative mindsets about mathematics that leads to complacency. Ethnic minority and socio-economically disadvantaged students especially often have more difficulties excelling academically. This is largely due to a phenomenon experts call “stereotype threat,” or when teachers’ and administrators’ intentional or unintentional racist or sexist stereotypes negatively impact students. America as a whole needs a mathematical mindset shift, and math specialists are studying how to address social stigmas in reforming cultural mindsets to help close the achievement gap.\n\nSome people, especially parents of struggling students, argue that many students are incapable of comprehending higher level math and that increased efforts are unnecessary since people can still find career success without advanced math understanding. One very prominent, passionate voice, Andrew Hacker, describes how millions of high school and college students are struggling with math courses such as algebra and asks, “Why do we subject American students to this ordeal?” (Hacker). He argues that supplementary courses such as finance and economics should be offered for students who do not have the natural aptitudes needed to complete algebra. Hacker is not alone in his belief that math is holding students with poor math aptitudes back from their academic goals. He cites Barbara Bonham of Appalachian State University who has seen students take and retake algebra up to five times without passing (Hacker). Their proposal to solve the American math crisis is to lower math course requirements so that students with poor math abilities can graduate from high school and college.\n\nHowever, the issue lies not with genetic abilities but instead with how the different students were prepared differently for a challenging but doable course. As PhD Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa explains in her book, students who are struggling in algebra and high school level math courses are encountering issues due to the crumbling foundation of elementary math education because math is a cumulative subject (Tokuhama-Espinosa), for if their misconceptions are not properly address early on, they will never be corrected and will continue to fail. As seen during World War II, when soldiers did not even understand enough mathematics for bookkeeping and gunnery, a pragmatic approach to math education only perpetuates Americans’ poor math skills on the international stage (Klein). Though many students may not need algebra or calculus for their music or social-work careers, that is not a reason to teach math poorly and ineffectively. Furthermore, giving students strong mathematical foundations in elementary school can decrease the number of students who are deficient in math.\n\n\nAmericans need to demand reforms to math education, specifically in elementary school. Children’s brain activity during this time allows them to be informational sponges. They are well-equipped to absorb complex conceptual understandings, but this also means they are easily susceptible to contracting negative mindsets about mathematics. When elementary math teachers can foster positive mathematical mindsets in their students, we will see classrooms filled with children actively working together and problem solving in pursuit of a common goal. Dear Math. Here is why I love you. With math, there are countless correct ways to get to the right answer. You can collaborate to solve problems. And math teachers, they help me to love math. Anyone can be a “math person.”\n\nWorks Cited\n\nBoaler, Jo. Mathematical Mindsets: Unleashing Students’ Potential through Creative Math, Inspiring Messages, and Innovative Teaching. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass & Pfeiffer Imprints, 2016.\n\nCabral, Javier. “How Algebra Ruined My Chances of Getting a College Education.” KCRW, 2 May 2013,         college-education. Accessed 26 Jan. 2017.\n\nDweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Ballantine Books, 2008.\n\nFennell, Francis. “We Need Elementary School Mathematics Specialists NOW.” National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2006, Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.\n\nHacker, Andrew. “Is Algebra Necessary?” The New York Times, 28 July 2012,                Accessed 10         Dec. 2016.\n\nHunter, Kate. “Dear Maths. Here Are 10 Things I Hate about You.” MamaM!a, 5 Sept. 2012, Accessed 26 Apr. 2017.\n\nKimball, Miles, and Noah Smith. “The Myth of ‘I’m Bad at Math’.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 28 Oct. 2013, Accessed 28 Oct. 2016.\n\nKlein, David. “A Brief History of American K-12 Mathematics Education in the 20th Century.” California State University, Northridge. Ed. James Royer. Information Age Publishing,   2003. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.\n\n“Mathematics for Grades 4 and 8: Averages.” Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), National Center for Education Statistics, 2015, Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.\n\n“Mathematics Specialist Certifications (by State) with Descriptions.” Elementary Mathematics Specialists & Teacher Leaders Project. N.p., 2009-2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.\n\nLiteracy, Numeracy, and Problem Solving in Technology- Rich Environments Among U.S. Adults: Results from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies 2012. National Center for Education Statistics, Oct. 2013. Accessed 20 Apr. 2017.\n\nNadia, Steve. “Riggs News.” The Riggs Institute, Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.\n\nPhillips, Christopher J. “The Politics of Math Education.” The New York Times, 2 Dec. 2015, Accessed 15 Oct. 2016.\n\nPISA 2012 Results in Focus. Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, 2014, Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.\n\nRyan, Julia. “American Schools vs. the World: Expensive, Unequal, Bad at Math.” The Atlantic.   Atlantic Media Company, 3 Dec. 2013. Accessed 20 Oct. 2016.\n\nTokuhama-Espinosa, Tracey, and Judy Willis. Mind, Brain, and Education Science: A             Comprehensive Guide to the New Brain-Based Teaching. W.W. Norton, 2011.\n\n\nLove should be the goal of education\n\nby Jacob Mohler\n\nThe following post comes from Jacob Mohler, Math department co-chair at Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis, Missouri. From Jacob’s bio on the Westminster website:\n\nI became a math teacher because I wanted students to learn math in a better environment than I did. A teacher who was trained to teach English taught me math. There are wonderful notions in math of how numbers found in the natural world point to a Creator. For this reason, as I noticed how God has left clues for us to see His handiwork, I wanted to find ways to show students similar things. Thinking about math as the language and logic God used to create the world was too good a secret for me to keep. Now I want students to think about their involvement in the mathematical enterprise as a means to join God as co-creators of interesting things.\n\nMathematics allows humans to make the “invisible” part of the created world become “visible” in a way to tame it, describe it, use it, wonder about it, write about it, have control over aspects of it. These ways of making the “invisible world become more visible” suggest a knowable and dependable world that is worth knowing and caring for to enhance the human experience. Furthermore, from the perspective of a Christian in the stream of the Reformation tradition, one might say that humans’ ability to know the world in these ways is “thinking God’s thoughts after Him” and living out our Imago Dei as creators, nay, co creators, as we do not Create from nothing as God did.\n\nHumans endeavoring to learn math from our forerunners is necessary to continue the timeless knowledge of our past, but we must not think that simple memory of facts and procedures will guarantee that we will learn what is needed to be faithful messengers to the next generation or that we can rightly use the past understanding of mathematics to “better the affairs of mankind” or as Sir Francis Bacon so aptly put it, “relief of man’s estate.” Learning mathematics should be seen as a work in progress as a training and maturing and not as mechanical or a behavioral modification that tests learning by simple reciting of known and recognized nomenclature, although memorizing of agreed upon facts might be the minimum we ask of students, we need to stress that knowing the world of math is not the same as duplicating what a teacher shows.\n\nThe important facet of thinking about mathematics as a training and maturing is that each student’s background of mathematics, abilities, ways of thinking and even difficulties with learning ALL influence how teachers decide to design class lessons and assessments. Routine and simple problems are set in front of students as well as non routine and challenging ones. Whether in a public, private, parochial or protestant christian school the teaching and learning of mathematics may look similar because knowledge of math is similar to knowing God’s world in general terms. This is often referred to as general revelation. All humans have access to this form of knowing about the world.\n\nThe depth of knowing about the world is not the same for each person, partly because of interest in knowing, time committed to learning and personal abilities differ. Here is where notions of giftedness bumps up against various ways we as humans interact with the various aspects of enjoying the world. Some people are more athletic than others, for example, and some will be better surfers than others. This reality should not affect the the idea that humans were meant in the Imago Dei and can interact and know the world in small, large, and enjoyable ways. Just because I will never be an ukulele player invited to in Carnegie Hall does not mean that I should not work to improve my skills to bring enjoyment to me and others in my spheres of influence. In a similar way, learning subjects beyond personal giftedness or interest should be encouraged because learning broadly betters each person’s ability to interact in the natural world by enjoying it and the more people know the more they have ability to love more broadly.\n\nLove should be the goal for education.\n\nThe King of Every Subject – Even Math\n\nThis article first appeared on\n\n(@LeslieSchmucker) retired from public school teaching to create a special education program at Dayspring Christian Academy in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She and her husband Steve have three grown children and two grandchildren. She blogs at\n\n\nTwo weeks ago was my first day of school, for the fiftieth time — my thirty-second as an educator. Twenty-eight of those years I spent teaching in public school, and the last three in the Christian school where my husband and I sent our children.\n\nUnlike many Christian schools, this particular one goes beyond tacking a few Bible classes onto their classical curriculum. Here, the Bible is the heart of the curriculum. Every day, in every subject, in every class, the students are taught that God is the Creator of every bit of information. Teaching at this school goes past merely imparting knowledge. The goal is to use the subjects as vehicles to behold the glory of Christ.\n\nOf course, this is not revolutionary. Martin Luther asserted,\n\n\nA century later, on September 26, 1642, the founders of Harvard College in the Rules and Precepts at Harvard stated,\n\n\nAmerica’s Schoolmaster\n\nEven in our more recent American history, education’s goal was to foster a biblical worldview in its citizens, not only to lay biblical foundations for civic duty, but to educate biblically as a compass to lead children to the true north, Christ.\n\nNoah Webster was named the Founding Father of American Scholarship and Education and “America’s Schoolmaster.” His famous Blue Back Speller was the fundamental reading book used by Colonial American children, along with the Bible, which was the primary textbook. Webster went on to write the incredible American Dictionary of the English Language, which was published in 1828. Webster’s 1828 is a massive and thorough volume of comprehensive definitions of English words and pervaded with Scripture. In it, he defines education this way:\n\n\nLuther, Harvard’s founders, and Noah Webster could be so boldly Christ-centered because they knew the sciences existed to display the wonder, majesty, grandeur, minutiae, vastness, intricacy, opulence, and sublimity of creation, and the genius of the Creator. They recognized that history outlines God’s providence throughout the expanse of time. Nothing escapes his notice or his hand. Spurgeon said, “When we read human history, we should read it to see the finger of God in it.” Webster especially understood that studying language scrutinizes God’s primary way of communicating with humans, words (Hebrews 1:1–2). Teaching it should point students to the Word, who is Christ.\n\nWhat Does Math Say About God?\n\nBut what about math? Until my children went to Christian school, I had long declared a profound devotion to the hatred of math. But I have come to see that math is part of God’s character. There is no getting around it. Nothing you can see or think about is separate from math. God is a God of order, and math is the essence of that order. The day my second-grade daughter brought home an assignment to find a Bible verse pertaining to math was the day I rescinded that lifelong devotion to hating it.\n\nTo obtain knowledge of the world around us is to obtain knowledge of the character of God (Romans 1:19–20). To teach is to point our students to God and to lead them to give him the glory he deserves. Why do you think Jesus said that if his disciples kept quiet, even the rocks would cry out (Luke 19:40)? He knew that God’s creation is so spectacular that every inch of it declares his glory. We must show this to our children!\n\nParents Are Teachers Too\n\nNoah Webster contended that this responsibility falls on the shoulders of parents, and, by extension, teachers. Even parents who send their children to public school are primarily responsible for making sure Christ is exalted in the things their children are learning.\n\nSo how do we do it when the amount of images and information that compete for our children’s attention is so staggering? It is practically incomprehensible to my generation. And as a teacher, it is a daunting task to teach my students anything new. There has been an added paradigm to the imparting of new knowledge. We now must teach students how to access and apply the knowledge that is at their fingertips every second. And much of that knowledge has been distorted, perverting the purity and beauty of God’s good creation.\n\nAs Christian teachers and parents, we are charged with the formidable task of showing our children that God is infinitely more beautiful than anything of the world. By our own strength — because of the enemy’s insidious, albeit God-sanctioned, rule in the carnal realm — this task is impossible. But as Jeremiah pointed out, nothing is too hard for God (Jeremiah 32:17).\n\nWe must pray with intention and deliberation for our children. We must get creative in our teaching, showing them Elohim, the Creator God. We must compel our students to see God’s glory in everything from a bumblebee to a tree to a skyscraper. We must lead them to an understanding of the quintessence of the old hymn,\n\nAll things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small;\n\nWe must never stop teaching them to give God the glory in all created things.\n\nThe Final Exam\n\nJohn Piper says, “The redeemed cosmos will reach its final purpose when the saints enjoy God in it, and through it, and above it, with white-hot admiration.”\n\nSo teachers and parents, while your heads swirl with technology woes, scope and sequence charts, lesson plan rubrics, faculty or co-op meetings, state standards, IEPs, differentiated instruction, outcomes-based learning, curriculum changes, seating charts, lunch duty, schedules, standardized testing, and wondering when you’ll get a minute to use the restroom, pause to pray. Ask God to help you cut through the noise of regulations and procedures to the ultimate desired outcome of our teaching: God’s glory.\n\nPray that God would compel you to be perpetually cognizant of the beauty in his creation and to give you a soul-saturated appreciation of the majesty of the world around you. Then ask him to show you how to teach in such a way that by June your children will have seen the wonder in the knowledge you’ve imparted.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8802732229232788}
+{"content": "Crash biker has died in hospital\n\nTHE motorcyclist involved in a collision with a car at Draycott, near Blythe Bridge, on Friday, has died in hospital.\n\nHe has been named by police as 50-year-old Martin Barker, from Stoke-on-Trent, who was riding a red Kawasaki motorcycle. He passed away on Saturday morning.\n\nMr Baker was heading along Uttoxeter Road towards Blythe Bridge when he was involved in a collision with a grey Audi 5.\n\nThe accident happened near to the Chandi Cottage restaurant shortly around 5.15pm and led to the road being closed for a number of hours\n\nA Staffordshire Police spokesperson said: “Paramedics had carried out emergency treatment at the scene before he was taken to hospital, where despite the efforts of medical staff, he sadly died.”\n\nAnyone who saw either of the vehicles beforehand or witnessed the crash is asked to contact Staffordshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 474 of January 11.\n\nOfficers would be especially grateful for any dashcam footage.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6855236291885376}
+{"content": "News Closeup: Inside NYC’s gang problem; tips on personal finance\n\nThe recent murder of a 15-year old Bronx boy known as “Junior” at the hands of a violent street gang has brought focus to the prevalence of street gangs in New York City.\n\nPIX11’s Jay Dow joins Marvin to talk about the problem, from how young people are recruited into gangs to some new, community based efforts to intervene. We hear what Jay learned while reporting from a part of the city where the concentration of street gangs is especially high.\n\nBaby Boomers are filing for bankruptcy and millennials are getting out of college with record amounts of debt.\n\nWe hear from  personal financial expert Jordan Goodman on how best to manage your money, your mortgage, credit reports and debt while navigating a new tax filing system and other economic challenges.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8891194462776184}
+{"content": "Garnet is a widespread minor accessory mineral in the Late Proterozoic Elat-Quarry granite of southern Israel and is more abundant in the associated pegmatite and aplite. All garnets are dominated by almandine and spessartine end-members. Granite-hosted garnets are zoned with relative enrichment of Mn in the core and Fe in the rim. The chemistry of the garnet in the pegmatite and aplite are comparable to the rim compositions of garnets in the granite, but with a slight Fe-depletion at the rims. Geochemical parameters for the granite indicate fractional crystallization largely of an S-type source magma to a peraluminous composition. In the highly evolved granite magma, Fe is relatively diminished, and only small amounts of biotite can crystallize. Manganese becomes a compatible element forming Mn-rich garnet (cores), and reducing the Mn content in the magma, subsequently leading to Fe-enriched rims. The greater abundance of garnet in the pegmatite and aplite (and its larger crystal-size in the former) relate to the enhanced presence of a hydrous fluid within the magma. The tendency for garnet crystals to concentrate in bands is much more developed in the pegmatite than in the granite, and is associated with the effects of hydrofracturing (fracture-filling), and the crystallization of coarse-grained alkaline feldspars.\n\n\nFirst Page Preview\n\nFirst page PDF preview\nYou do not currently have access to this article.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5913588404655457}
+{"content": "Ostuni is where we live (in the countryside about six kilometres outside the town itself) so we devote more attention to it in the website than to other places, and give more detail about its attractions, events etc. Despite all our explorations around the region since we have moved here, we are yet to find another town which compares to it in terms of attractions, interest and variety. There are several that come close, but in our opinion Ostuni is the number one!\n\nOstuni has few specific museums and buildings of interest - the cathedral, the important Pre-classical Archaeology Museum and a recently established Diocesan Museum are the only ones. It is essentially a place to spend time in, to experience. The complex, cascading street layout and white buildings give it a distinctive feel, quite different from other Italian small towns; encouraging visitors to wander round without pressure to do things! Doing nothing in particular in Ostuni is extremely easy and very enjoyable.\n\nWe have structured this part of the website into sections with short cuts to them, so that visitors to the site and to Ostuni can quickly get to whatever interests them most.\n\n\n\nThis covers the centro storico with its buildings, streets and museums; the Piazza della Liberta; the 19th century zone, including especially the Villa Communale (town park); the newer parts of Ostuni, including its main shopping street Viale Pola and the vibrant Saturday market; and a section on Ostuni's marina and coastal village at Villanova.\n\n\nThis runs through the year starting in August with the Sagra dei Tempi Vecchi and Cavalcata,  followed by Autumn events; the series of Christmas, New Year and Befana (6 January) activities; Carnevale in February; Easter events and presentations; and various other events.\n\n\nIncluding history of Ostuni; how to get to Ostuni by public transport; tourist information points; and other sundry details of interest to visitors.\n\n\nThis gives a good flavour of what is happening on our land (where Trullo Annunziata is sited) in all the seasons of the year - including especially the olive harvest in November/January; the almond harvest in August/September; and the grape harvest in September/October.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOstuni is a medium sized town, population about 30,000. It is built on the southern end of the chain of low hills called the Murghe which run in a line through the middle of Puglia south of Bari. South of Ostuni the land is flat. So Ostuni has some affinities with the Murghe and Val d'Itria, famous for trulli, to the north; and some with the Salento, famous for wine, to the south around Brindisi and Lecce\n\nThe urban area is divided fairly clearly into four distinct parts:\n\n  • the mediaeval core/centro storico \n  • the Piazza della Liberta\n  • the 19th century zone\n  • the Viale Pola and newer parts of the town.\n\nBeyond the main urban area is countryside mainly devoted to olive cultivation, with a lot of scattered residential properties. There is also a coastal zone about four miles away including the marina and small port of Villanova and a series of beaches and beach based resorts.\n\n\n\n\nThe famous central area of Ostuni is prominent on the small hill standing above the Puglian coastal plain (it is about four miles inland). The whitewashed buildings cascade down the hillside in tiny streets, steps and alleys. At the top is the cathedral, at the bottom the Piazza della Liberta.\n\nOstuni - la Citta Bianca\n\nAlthough this area contains a lot of holiday apartments, restaurants, bars and tourist-oriented shops, it also home to many Ostuni residents. Very busy from Easter to September, it attracts visitors throughout the year, and while quiet on winter weekdays, it is rarely deserted. Many businesses and establishments stay open all year round, which is good news for low season visitors.\n\nApart from the Cattedrale, the Pre-classical Museum and the very recent small Diocesan Museum, there are no specific places in Ostuni which should feature on a list for visitors to pay to go inside. The charm and attraction of the centro storico is in its overall character, appreciated just by wandering around the cascade of narrow streets, tiny squares, flights of steps etc. Vehicular access is controlled and anyway most of the streets are not accessible by car - so the area is best seen on foot (although trips by Ape are available).\n\n\n\n\nVia Cattedrale \n\nVia Cattedrale is the main street of the centro storico. It twists down about 300 metres from the small piazza in front of the Cattedrale to the Piazza della Liberta.\n\nOstuni - lower part of via Cattedrale\n\nOstuni - archway on upper part of via Cattedrale\n\nOstuni - stone engraver artist shop on via Cattedrale\n\n\n\nThe cathedral\n\nThe most important building in Ostuni is its small Cattedrale, with its renowned rose window, sited at  the top of the centro storico.\n\n\n\n\n\nDedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, it used to be the seat of the Bishop of Ostuni, but since 1986 it has been a co-cattedrale of the Archdiocese of Brindisi-Ostuni. Many people just look at the building from the outside, which is especially attractive. However, we recommend a look inside, there is much of interest - it is usually open to the public, and admission is either free or someone collects 1 euro at the door in aid of the church funds. Recently the interior has been equipped with a full set of very useful and informative panels, in Italian and English, which greatly improves a visit to the inside of the cathedral.\n\n\nLike many of Puglia's cathedrals, it was originally built to a Romanesque design in the 12th century under Frederick II. However, the building we see today basically dates from a substantial rebuilding following earthquake damage in 1456. The structure combined the Gothic and Romanesque styles. The driving force behind the construction was Bishop Arpone of Taranto, who is commemorated (kneeling to the Madonna) in a small statue just above the main door.\n\n\nThe exterior of the cathedral has been modified and repaired to some extent over the centuries, but not excessively so, mainly just being cleaning. Its essential simplicity of structure with sumptuously carved decorative features (in particular the rose windows) remains intact and the west facade must be one of the most photographed places in Italy. The cathedral is built of the creamy local limestone, which weathers well and is easy to carve; most of the external carving is thought to have been carried out by local craftsmen and artisans. It was the good state of preservation of the exterior which prompted the cathedral being designated a national monument in 1902.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe campanile (bell tower) is actually the highest building in Ostuni, but it is hardly possible to see it from close up to the cathedral. However the bells are heard frequently!\n\n\n\nSince the cathedral is largely surrounded by buildings, it is difficult to get an overall view of the outside. However, the west front can be viewed from the small piazza in front of it. This is decorated with fine carvings and statuary, all of it of interest and significance. However, the most obvious and famous feature is the rose window (there were four more on other facades of the cathedral; three remain but are less easily viewed).\n\n\nThe main rose window, which is regarded as the outstanding example of several in Puglia, is a detailed metaphor of time, eternity, the sun and its light. It is divided into three concentric circles representing the continuous flow of time. The perimeter circle is a frieze consisting of an intricate mass of plants, prophets, apostles etc.; with an image of Christ the Redeemer at the top of the frieze. Inside this is a second circle supported by a splay of 24 columns (representing hours in a day) topped by arches decorated with all kinds of significant religious symbols. The third circle is a splay of 12 split arches (representing months of the year), all intensely decorated.  The heart of the window contains an image of Jesus Christ surrounded by seven cherubs.\n\nOther parts of the cathedral facade are decorated in attractive and symbolic ways - in particular the doors and doorways, the friezes along the tops of the walls, the tops of columns etc.\n\nBy contrast to the outside, the interior has been subject to a series of extensive renovations. Various developments in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries resulted in a panoply of decoration, paintings, chapels, altars, memorials, sculptures and statues, so presenting a familiar Baroque feel. Most of the work was commissioned from leading Neapolitan artists of the day.\n\nHowever, an extensive set of renovations at the end of the 19th century has been universally criticised as a disaster, resulting in the destruction, disfigurement or concealment of many attractive and original features. A renovation project in the 1960s and continuing work has been largely devoted to undoing the results of this misguided work; among other things this has uncovered some important 15th century frescoes.\n\nInside the cathedral has three naves and a transept. As well as a main altar, there are 11 side chapels and altars. The whole place is lavishly decorated. Look especially at the ceiling; the organ; the woodwork; the font; and the various paintings and statues. Of particular interest is a side chapel dedicated to the patron saints of Ostuni- San Biaggio, Sant'Oronzo and Sant'Agostino. Look out for the silver statue of Sant'Oronzo, 110cms tall, constructed in 1794 by the Neapolitan engraver Luca Baccaro - it is this statue which is carried through the streets of Ostuni during the Cavalcata on 26 August each year.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe small piazza in front of the main facade is a key feature of the cathedral. This has a real intimate feel. Shops and bars are very limited, and although many events are held here, these are on a small scale (Ostuni's main focus for communal activity is the much larger and busier Piazza della Liberta). The design of the piazza dates from a major project in the 1750's by Msgr Francesco Antonio Scoppa. This redeveloped  the buildings which flank the piazza in contemporary style - the Bishop's Palace (now the Museo Diocesano) and a Seminary; and replaced the wooden bridge which connected them by a distinctive stone arch (usually known as the Scoppa Arch).\n\n\n\n\nFor anyone interested in more details of the architecture and art of the cathedral, we recommend the Brundarte website, link here. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Pre-Classical Museum and the \"oldest mother in the world\"\n\nIn the skyline of Ostuni's centro storico, more prominent even than the cathedral, is the multi-coloured dome of the nearby church of San Vito Martire, also known as the Monacelle.\n\n\n\n\nThis is no longer a consecrated church, although the beautiful building has been restored. Together with the adjoining former Carmelite Convent of Santa Maria Maddelena de Pazzi, it is the home of Ostuni's main museum, dedicated to the archaeology of the surrounding area before the Greek and Roman \"classical\" times - Il Museo di Civiltà Preclassiche della Murgia Meridionale. \n\nThe museum opened in 1989 but was completely renovated and re-opened in 2011. The main entrance is towards the top of Via Cattedrale, just before the arch, up a short staircase which leads into the entrance of the Church of San Vito Martire; the museum reception is just inside the door.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe church was built in 1750-1752 to replace a previous one damaged in the earthquake of 1743. It is lavishly decorated in baroque in style externally and internally. Inside the church has a single nave and a series of altars with restored paintings on canvas. The whole interior is lavishly decorated. The attractive organ was installed in the 18th century. The church interior is well worth visiting for its own beauty and interest. However, it is also the first part of the museum, containing a series of cabinets and displays about the Messapican period (Iron Age) and some more modern objects.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA doorway at the far end of the church leads into the main part of the museum. This is organised into displays based on various achaeological sites around Ostuni where remains date from the Neolithic (about 7000 years ago) and Paleolithic (about 27000 years ago), although there is also  important material from the much later Messapian period as well, since all the sites were occupied for many thousands of years. Pottery, agricultural implements, household objects are on display, explained by extensive descriptions, maps and photographs.\n\nHowever, the undoubted highlight of the museum and of any visit is the material relating to \"the woman of Ostuni\", officially referred to as Ostuni 1 (her unofficial name is Delia!). This is the skeletal remains of a woman and her unborn child buried approximately 28,000 years ago in the nearby Grotta di Santa Maria di Agnano. The remains were discovered in 1991 by Professor Donato Coppola of Bari University and have been extensively researched, with very detailed findings published in 2017. The woman lived about 28 thousand years ago and belonged to a small community of hunter-gatherers (an even older skeleton of a male hunter was discovered at the same time, details also displayed in the museum, referred to as \"Ostuni 2\").\n\nShe was placed in a pit in the cave with some ceremony, in a crouched position with the left hand under the head and the right on the foetus. She had a cap made up of 650 shells interspersed with deer teeth and sprinkled with red dye; and was adorned with shell bracelets and other jewellery.  Various artefacts, including hunting implements, were placed alongside her body. Recent study of tiny teeth in the foetus indicated that the foetus ceased to grow following the mother's illness, thought to have been eclampsia, and that the woman died in the eighth month of pregnancy at about the age of 20.\n\nThere is a detailed display including a cast of the remains as they were found, and a very detailed  exposition of the skeletons of the woman and the unborn child. However, in a darkened room next to this display the museum contains a dramatic and rather moving diorama showing her as placed in the cave.\n\n\n\nThis museum is a \"must\" for anyone visiting Ostuni. It is not very big so does not take a lot of time to cover - 45-90 minutes is about normal. The material will be of considerable appeal to those with a special interest in archaeology. However, it also appeals to children, who as usual like skeletons, but love to make the link between the archaeological remains and the vivid reconstruction.\n\nThe museum has a useful website with versions in several languages. It is open 10am-5pm Monday to Friday, 10am-7pm Saturdays and Sundays (although during the summer festival period it opens later in the evening). Cost is 5 euros, 3 euros for various concessions which include people aged 65 and over - children up to 6 are free. PleaThe church building itself dates from the 17th century,se note that the \"free on the first Sunday in the month\" system does not apply to this museum, although during the festival period there are sometimes free entry periods. .\n\n\n\nDiocesan Museum\n\nImmediately next to the cathedral is the entrance to the Diocesan Museum. This is a new feature of Ostuni, fully opened only in August 2017 - in contrast to many Italian cities where Diocesan Museums have been well established for years to display the treasures of an associated cathedral. The Museum is small, but extremely well organised, with very clear displays and descriptions in Italian and excellent English - also a free audio guide linked to mobile phones if required.\n\n\nThe Museum is housed in the ground floor of the former Bishop's Palace. The building has been completely restored and modernised, with a bright and welcoming interior. It is wheelchair/pushchair accessible throughout. On display are various archaeological items, artworks and artefacts previously hidden away in the Treasury of the cathedral or in the archives of local religious establishments, especially the Benedictine and Carmelite monasteries.\n\nAn initial display focuses on archaeological items recovered from a garden belonging to the cathedral just outside the Ostuni city walls, excavated in 1844. These include a variety of attractive pottery, tools, toys etc from the Messapian period (600-300 BC), The jugs with high handles and roundels are especially distinctive items from this period. Additionally historical artworks illustrate the development of Ostuni over the centuries.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe central part of the Museum is largely devoted to episcopal robes and church silverware; the significance of these is clearly explained, which is helpful and interesting. The is also a small Pinacoteca, or Art Gallery, containing paintings of religious scenes and of various Bishops/Archdeacons of Ostuni, all by local artists working in the 16th to 19th century.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA small room is completely dedicated to one display - an extremely rare depiction in wax of the crucifixion with Jesus Christ as an anatomical figure, a complex artistic and theological concept. The small figure dates from about 1700, when lifelike representations of the human body in wax were well established for the study of medicine and surgery in universities, and had been adapted by the church to demonstrate that Jesus Christ was really a human being. In this case the chest is open to reveal all the internal organs, and the wax allows the body to be shown with extreme realism.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn a room next door is another rarity - the so-called living statue of the Madonna del Rosario dating from the 18th century. This is a lifelike wooden figure made of polished wood, with all the joints and limbs moveable so that the figure could be dressed, adorned with jewellery and given different poses for a variety of religious events and seasons - some of these are illustrated. This interesting exhibit is a rare example; although they were quite widespread in Italy, at the beginning of the 20th century Pope Pius X banned them, so many were destroyed and the rest hidden away. More recently their religious and cultural significance has been revised and appreciated.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\"The memory of Ostuni\" is a display of books and manuscripts relating to the Benedictine convent established in the middle of Ostuni in 1519. Wealthy families placed their daughters in the care of the convent from about the age of six years. When they were 12 or 13, many left to be married, others continued into a religious life. The financial support of the noble families concerned contributed enormously to the wealth of the church and Ostuni. The documents displayed here are of inestimable historic interest, detailing all aspects of monastic life, lives of the nuns, property and household management. For non-specialist visitors, the accompanying beautiful display of \"ex voto\" gifts is probably of more interest - these are precious objects, jewellery etc donated to the church as an expression of thanks or devotion.\n\n\nThe Museum has an attractive walled garden where the Bishops used to relax; visitors can now do the same, in a sheltered and shaded spot, in the very heart of Ostuni.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe variety on display in this small Museum, including some things which are really quite rare, is a major attraction. The curators have gone to a lot of trouble to make the displays easy to understand and appreciate; this includes a series of panels in Italian and English aimed at involving young children in the experience.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWe unhesitatingly recommend a visit if you get an opportunity. It is not expensive (4 euros,  2 euros for those entitled to concessions); but opening hours are quite limited (currently these seem to be 11.00-13.00 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the period October to May; 10.00-13.00 every day June-September - the times are different from those advertised on their website and leaflet.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Piazza della Liberta is the \"heart\" of Ostuni and the main base for many events and activities. It separates the centro storico from the other, larger section of Ostuni's older district, usually known as the 19th century zone. It is the main starting point for people visiting Ostuni, Via Cattedrale leads uphill from the piazza into the centro storico.\n\nThe piazza is complemented by several important buildings and linked squares/streets which are described here.\n\nThe Piazza della Liberta\n\nPiazza della Liberta/Palazzo Municipale\n\nUnlike many central squares in Italy, the Piazza is not especially old. It was constructed about 1870, designed by the architect/engineer Ferdinando Ayroldi (hence the Cafe Ayroldi in one corner). The remnants of one of the the ancient city gates was demolished in the process; its foundations are now to be seen in a fenced off area at one end of the piazza.\n\nThe \"square\" is actually triangular in shape - one side with broad steps down to the street; one side a row of 18th century palazzi; and the most important side with the Palazzo Municipale (Town Hall) and Chiesa di San Francesco, key buildings in Ostuni which the piazza is designed to display well.\n\nThe smooth calcareous surface is ideal for all kinds of uses, including markets, displays, concerts, meetings,  dancing, bands etc; but anyway is usually populated by groups of people and children enjoying themselves. Some of the cafes/bars are allowed to extend into it. But watch out in the early morning and sometimes in the evening - its surface can become slightly damp and slippery!\n\nThe Palazzo Municipale\n\nTogether with the Church of San Francesco, the facade of the Palazzo Municipale, Ostuni's Town Hall, dominates one side of the Piazza della Liberta.\n\nThis complex was a Franciscan church and monastery from 1304 to 1809 when, like many similar establishments in Italy, such religious orders were suppressed under Napoleonic rule. The monastery building was bought by the commune of Ostuni in 1813, and from 1887 became its main administrative base, a function which continues today.\n\nFollowing the suppression of religious orders, in 1813, it was purchased by the City and intended to house offices of public utility. The current appearance dates from 1861-87, when Ferdinand Ayroldi redesigned the facade in a neo-classical style as part of the general process of providing a new look to Ostuni in the aftermath of Italian re-unification.\n\nThe façade is very simple, balanced and undecorated (contrasting with the highly decorative baroque style prevalent previously in Puglia), with four columns defining the three doorways.  Only the clock and its small tower have some decorative features (NB don't rely on the clock to tell you the time!).\n\nThe right hand doorway leads through to the cloisters built in 1739 when this was still a Franciscan monastery. You can just walk in to see these, and the cloisters (chiostre) are frequently used for exhibitions, talks, concerts, theatrical productions etc\n\nThe left hand doorway is the entrance to the municipal offices. We encourage people to go inside when the offices are open to the public. Go up the wide staircase to the left of the entrance area. This takes you to the first floor. At the top of the stairs turn left where the long landing area has a series of large paintings by Onofrio Bramante depicting highlights from the history of Puglia and Ostuni. And if you turn right at the top of stairs, provided there are no offcial meetings taking place, you can walk into Ostuni's Council Chamber, where there are portraits of Mayors of the city for the last century or so around the wall, and a good view from the windows overlooking the Piazza. (NB This is all free and unsupervised, just walk in).\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Church of San Francesco\n\n\n\nSant'Oronzo Column/Scalinata Anselmi\n\nThe creation of the piazza meant that the central area became integral with the small piazza just outside the old gateway, around the Guglio (column) of Sant' Oronzo, which towers above one end of the Piazza della Liberta. The column is a key central point in Ostuni.\n\nThe Guglio also overlooks the Scalinata Antelmi, a decorated staircase leading into an attractive  piazzetta Via Independza, which forms a lower level extension to the Piazza della Liberta, containing small shops, bars and restaurants. The Scalinata forms a natural stage so this is the focus for informal musicians and singers.\n\nVia Indipendenza/Scalinata Anselmi/Guglio do Sant'Oronzo\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSloping up beyond the Piazza is the 19th century zone of Ostuni, built as a significant extension in the late1700s and early/mid 1800s. This also consists of whitewashed buildings in a network of small streets, but also contains elegant palazzi, parks and gardens, including the main town park, the Villa Communale. It is predominantly a residential area, but with several small shops, the main post office,banks, businesses, schools, bars, restaurants etc. It is bounded by Viale Pola, about 10 minutes walk from the Piazza della Liberta, which separates the 19th century  zone from the newer parts of Ostuni.\n\n\n\nVilla Communale/Ostuni's town park \n\nMost towns in Puglia have a municipal town park, the term for this is usually Villa Communale. Ostuni's can be found near the top of Corso Cavour, a couple of minutes' walk from the Piazza della Liberta.\n\nIt is an attractive fenced park, with grass and trees, a fountain, a children's playground, seats, tarmac-surfaced walkways, a bar/cafe. The Villa is well maintained, and provides a cool place to stroll and relax, slightly removed from the bustle of the nearby Piazza. It is popular with people of all ages.  An ideal spot to stop off for a while when walking between the centro storico and Viale Pola;  we can also recommend the cafe/bar, excellent quality, low prices.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThere are often events staged there. At Christmas it is the base for a small market and for the grotto of Bappo Natale (Father Chrsitmas).\n\nEvery second Sunday of the month, there is an Antiques Market in the Villa and the surrounding streets. This is very popular among local people and visitors.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe  Villa is on the site of an ancient ditch or pit which collected rainwater for use during dry periods. This fell into disuse and was gradually filled in during the Nineteenth Century. The plan to construct a park was conceived in about 1860, by which time rich families were building the large elegant houses on the nearby streets. However, it was not completed until about 1930; and there have been many improvements since then eg replacement of a glasshouse by the playground, construction of the fountain.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe trees and shrubs in the Villa are a major attraction. They include many tall palm trees and a striking tropical tree, Phytolacca dioica  (laquer tree), next to the playground - its huge trunk and extensive roots are a favourite with children.\n\n\n\n\nOstuni's most important painting - Puglia's only Veronese \n\nOstuni is the unlikely site for Puglia's only painting by the Venetian Renaissance painter Paulo Caliari (1528 - 1588), better known as Veronese. His oil on canvas  painting La Depositizione is displayed in the modest Parish Church of Santa Maria Santissima Annunziata on Via Ludivico Pepe, in the upper part of the Ostuni 18th century zone.\n\n\nThere was a church and convent on the site since the 12th century or earlier. However the current structure dates from the 17th century, when it became a Franciscan church and monastery, hence the simple design of the facade. Inside however there is significant elaborate painting and sculpture by Puglian artists from the 18th and 19th century as well as the Veronese. Next to the church are the cloisters of the former Franciscan monastery; this building is in a somewhat poor state of preservation, but it is visited frequently as one part of it contains Ostuni's main post office.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe painting is very damaged – abraded, slashed in several places, repaired and restored, probably cut down at the top. It was presented to the convent at Ostuni in 1574 by Andrea Albrizio, the Venetian Vice-Consul in the town; its attribution as by Veronese himself was finally established in 1958. It was stolen by professional art thieves in 1975, possibly destined for a private collection in the Middle East. However, it was recovered by special police in 1977 and returned to the church, where its display in the is behind glass and subject to some degree of security. If you want to pop inside the church you will need to look out for when it is in use (Friday and Saturday evenings, Sundays, religious festivals, weddings and funerals etc) - it is understandably not left unlocked at other times. Unfortunately the dim interior and the poor presentation mean it is difficult to appreciate the qualities of the painting.\n\nIf you are interested in more detail on la Deposizione, its history, provenance etc , click here.\n\n\n\n\nThe newer developments of Ostuni include many shops, especially on Viale Pola, offices, residential blocks, schools, the town library, sporting facilities, Ostuni's hospital, the bus termnal at Vaile dello Sport. The important Saturday market is in one of the newer areas just beyond Viale Pola.\n\nUnlike some other Italian towns, the newer parts of Ostuni are quite pleasant to wander around. We certainly recommend a visit there for shopping and to drop into a bar, as well as going to the Saturday market, a \"must\" for any visit to Ostuni.\n\n\n\nViale Pola\n\nViale Pola is an attractive street tree lined street with a variety of good quality shops - clothes, jewellery, leather goods etc. It is well worth visiting for the much more \"normal\" feel compared with the centro storico - reach it from Piazza della Liberta by walking up Via Roma and just carrying straight on, it takes about 8 minutes.\n\nThere are plenty of bars/cafes of course; our favourite is Cafe Ricreazione. The Simply Supermarket is at one end of the street where it widens out into a small Piazza (Piazza Italia); and just beyond that is a fabulous shop, Asciano, which sells all sorts of sweet, chocolates, liqueurs etc - visit this even if you don't buy anything!\n\nViale Pola is the location of quite a few Ostuni events, in particular the Carnevale processions; and the starting point for many cycle and road races etc.\n\n\n\n\nThe Ostuni Saturday market\n\nOstuni's weekly market on Saturday mornings is one of the largest in the region, very popular with local people and also with visitors. It operates all year round. We go there almost every week, and its rare that we do not bump into people we know - neighbours, friends, the teachers from the children's school etc. It is a social occasion as well as a shopping opportunity.\n\nOstuni - Saturday market\n\nThe market is located on and around Via Sansone, which is five minutes walk from Viale Pola, about 10-15 minutes walk in all from the centro storico. You can park within short walking distance in the surrounding streets. It starts early, round about 6am, and is packing up at 1pm in time for lunch - but a visit in mid morning is recommended, it is in full swing then.\n\nThe food section is especially extensive - fruit, vegetables, cheese, meat, fish, eggs, nuts, olives, breads, lentils etc. Whole stalls are devoted to different varieties of lentils, beans and pulses; to olives; to nuts.\n\nPrices are low, quality good. Fruit and vegetables are of course highly seasonal, as almost everything on sale is produced locally - so in January/February oranges proliferate, but in June they are in short supply, replaced by masses of melons.\n\nOstuni - Saturday market\n\nOstuni - Saturday market\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe rest of the market is devoted mainly to clothes, shoes and leather goods, with a smattering of stalls selling rugs, household materials, small electrical items, tools, garden shrubs and plants, ladders.\n\nOstuni - Saturday market\n\nOstuni - Saturday market\n\nOstuni - Saturday market\n\nOstuni - Saturday market\n\n\n\n\n\nOstuni is separated from the Adriatic coast by a 5 km belt of olive trees. Ostuni's own coastal strip includes its settlement around the harbour of Villanova, some summer holiday developments and a public beach. All are easily reached by car or by bus from Ostuni centre.\n\n\nThe harbour is overlooked by a small fort, built as part of the string of coastal forts and towers originally built to defend Puglia against Turkish raiders. Fish are landed daily, and there is a small fish market - you can watch the fishermen and buy fish direct from them if you want (this has featured on several UK TV cookery programmes).  It is pleasant strolling around the harbour and small waterfront. A few bars and restaurants serve the popular yacht marina and visitors. The couple of restaurants are very good and not expensive. However, outside the main season you will find it very quiet; the only place which seems to remain open consistently outside the main season is an excellent geletaria serving ice cream, cakes, snacks and drinks.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe harbour area is separated from the public beach by a strip of hotels and summer holiday complexes; it is easy enough to walk between the two (10 minutes or so) but you have to walk along the road rather than the sea. The bus from Ostuni turns round at the beach, where there is also a car park. The beach is OK for swimming but not as good as several others up and down the nearby coast. It is understandably very busy in July and August, but quiet or even deserted in other months - we have been in the sea there as early as May and into October, the rest of the year it tends to be too \"bracing\"! South of the beach there are lots of spots among the dunes and rocks alongside the sea for picnicing and walking.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThere are all kinds of things going on in Ostuni throughout the year. Many of these are regular, well established events and festivals. While most of these are of interest to visitors, few of them are especially aimed at tourists - advance information about details can therefore be somewhat sketchy. We describe here the key events and activities in as much detail as possible, to give people a flavour of what is involved. But there is no substitute for comng and seeing for yourself, to experience the unique atmosphere.\n\nWe have set information chronologically through the year, starting in August.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLa Sagra dei Vecchi Tempi - the celebration of old times\n\nAugust 15th is a national public holiday in Italy. It is the feast day of the Assunzione or Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the day in which the saint was taken into heaven, and also known as Ferragosta, the August Holiday (instituted as a late summer holiday by the Roam Emperor Augustus). Italians traditionally make trips and visits on this day. Ostuni is a popular destination, so the town is busier than usual, even for August, with a lot going on.FEBRUARY - CARNEVALE\n\nHowever, the evening of 15th August is the time of a special event in Ostuni - La Sagra dei Vecchi Tempi, the celebration of old or traditional times. From early evening until​_ after midnight, the ramparts around one side of the centro storico are taken over by stalls selling and displaying traditional and local produce - a sort of \"farmer's market\" for pasta, bread, craft beer, olives, olive oil, wines, liqueurs, jam, preserved fruit, pastries, herbs and spices, pottery, metalwork, leatherwork, woodwork, baskets etc.\n\nAll this is interspersed with stalls selling hot and cold snacks, mainly barbecued; and all kinds of street entertainment, music and dancing (inlcuding pizzica displays), pony rides for children etc.\n\nThe setting is evocative, with the rocky city walls on one side and the open view across to the coastal lights on the other. The atmosphere is especially lively and friendly throughout. It can be quite crowded, but the ramparts are spacious enough to accommodate everyone. If you are in or near Ostuni on the evening of 15 August, this is an event definitely not to be missed. The photographs give an impression.\n\n\nOstuni - La Sagra dei Vecchi Tempi\n\nOstuni - La Sagra dei Vecchi Tempi\n\nOstuni - La Sagra dei Vecchi Tempi\n\nOstuni - La Sagra dei Vecchi Tempi\n\nOstuni - La Sagra dei Vecchi Tempi\n\nOstuni - La Sagra dei Vecchi Tempi\n\n\nLa Sagra dei Vecchi Tempi\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOstuni - La Sagra dei Vecchi Tempi\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Cavalcata di Sant'Oronzo and its associated festival\n\nThe town puts on a number of festivals and events throughout the year. The most notable of these is the Cavalcata di Sant'Oronzo and its associated festival, which takes place annually over three days 25-27 August, the Cavalcata itself being on the evening of 26 August (always the same date irrespective of which day of the week on which this falls). It is called the Cavalcata (\"knights on horseback\") because of the distinctive feature, 36 riders and horses in a hig<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"#cavalcata\"><strong>LATE AUGUST - FESTIVAL AND CAVALCATA DI SANT'ORONZO, HIGHLIGHT OF THE OSTUNI YEAR</strong></a></span>\nhly colourful regalia.\n\nSant'Oronzo has been venerated as the \"protector\" of Ostuni since 1660; he is credited with saving the city from ravages of the plague, in particular using the whitewashing of buildings to signify cleanliness - the tradition maintained to this day.\n\nFestivale di Sant'Oronzo - concert in Piazza della Liberta\n\nThe festival extends for a day or so before and after the specified three days, so for about a week the whole city is taken over by an atmosphere of enjoyment. There are street musicians, dancers and performers (we have seen a man and a woman perform King Lear in less than half and hour, changing costumes and personalities every few seconds); and a series of open air concerts in the Piazza della Liberta every evening. It is a great honour to be one of the company of riders, and those involved stroll around the town for a few days beforehand, showing off their uniforms and promoting the festival among visitors. An impressive lighting display is erected throughout the central area, especially in the Piazza, where special stages host the nightly performances.\n\nHorse riders in the Cavalcata circulating prior to the event\n\nThe musical and cultural entertainment provides a pleasant and lively back drop to the main event - a procession accompanying the silver statue of Sant'Oronzo carried shoulder high through the city. This leaves the Cathedral at 7pm on 26 August, descends through the centro storico to Piazza della Liberta, then proceeds into the newer parts of the town. Only ten riders are involved in the first section of the route, but they are joined by 26 more when they reach Piazza della Liberta. As well as religious organisations, the procession involves the Mayor and councillors, police and emergency services, various youth organisations, several bands etc. The red, white and silver uniforms of the horses and riders are traditional and highly symbolic, as are those of the various guards etc also taking part - mainly the designs date back to Napoleonic times. Crowds of visitors watch the procession throughout. The photographs here aim to give you a \"feel\" for it.\n\nLa Cavalcata di Sant'Oronzo, Ostuni\nLa Cavalcata di Sant'Oronzo\n\nCavalcata di Sant'Oronzo\n\nCavalcata di Sant'Oronzo\n\nCavalcata di Sant'Oronzo\n\nCavalcata di Sant'Oronzo\n\nCavalcata di Sant'Oronzo\n\nCavalcata di Sant'Oronzo\n\nCavalcata di Sant' Oronzo\n\nCavalcato do Sant' Oronzo - Mayor and Councillors of Ostuni\n\n\n\n\nThe nightly concerts start at about 8pm, and run through until 11.45pm in three 45 minute \"sets\" with breaks of 30-40 minutes between them for everyone to mingle, eat, get ice creams and drinks etc. Performances are by brass and woodwind bands from various towns in Puglia, the standard of musicianship is very high. Music is almost entirely by Italian composers, mainly versions of operatic works by Verdi, Donizetti, Puccini etc. but often the \"Spaghetti Western\" film music of Ennio Morrisone. This type of concert is very popular among all Italians, so the Piazza is always packed with people of all ages - but there is nothing stuffy about the performance, with members of the audience joining in occasionally, small children dancing around the stage and everyone enjoying themselves enormously.\n\nEach year the concert on 26 August after the Cavalcata is special. The band is joined by professional singers for an evening of operatic highlights, many very well known pieces, but also some less often performed. All this is deeply appreciated by the audience and can be a very moving experience. Traditionally the third \"set\" is light hearted. So for example the soprano who earlier brought tears to our eyes with an aria from Madama Butterfly and the tenor who gave us Nessum Dorma come down the steps to the stage and lead the audience in a rendition of YMCA complete with actions! But at midnight, just after the concert comes to a climax, a massive explosion reminds everyone to rush round to the Ostuni ramparts to see the spectacular firework display which concludes the day's festivities.\n\nFestivale di Sant'Oronzo\n\nFestivale di Sant'Oronzo\n\nFestivale di Sant'Oronzo\n\nFestivale di Sant'Oronzo\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNovember - the new Autumn festivals\n\n\nThe regional and local authorities throughout Puglia have recently been making strenuous efforts to attract visitors outside the very busy summer months. This has involved the promotion of large scale public concerts in various locations (including Ostuni) and support for a range of local festivals and events.\n\nIn Ostuni, November has traditionally been something of a \"dead\" month except for some guided tour groups which continue much as usual. There is a burst of activity on 1 November, All Saints Day, which is a public holiday; this has become slightly linked to Halloween, so a lot of pumpkin lanterns are around.\n\nHowever, the first weekend in the month has now been developed as an International Festival of Street Performers; and on the last weekend a totally new festival has been initiated - the Vicoli d'Autunno (\"Autumn Lanes\").\n\nThe Street Performers Festival has developed from an established annual event on one day. It  has been extended across a weekend, and also spread outside the centro storico to embrace surrounding streets and also the Villa Communale (town park). All sorts of street artists, performers and musicians are involved, with activities for children, food and drink stalls etc.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAs always in Italy, food features prominently.\n\n\n\nThe Vicoli d'autunno also has street performers, but it is mainly based on music and dancing - especially by a newly established Ostuni group called Le radici del sud  (\"Roots of the South\") who have rapidly gained a reputation regionally and nationally for their pizzica and taranta displays. The group includes talented instrumentalists, singers and dancers, young and old, including some keen children.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nStalls selling local specialities are set up in the streets, and roasted chestnuts (always popular at this time of year) provide a suitable background aroma. Small groups of musicians (including some dressed as Father Christmas) parade though the streets. And simple street decorations are set up - brown leaves, multi-coloured wooden crates, umbrellas and straw hats in bright colours strung from the rooftops.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBoth these events attract good crowds of people, in a lively, friendly, family atmosphere. Most people are Italian, many of them visitors to the town. The authorities are hoping of course that foreign visitors will also start to come in greater numbers, to see another side to Ostuni and Puglia.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChristmas,New Year and Befana in Ostuni\n\n\n\nThe Christmas/New Year period in Ostuni is a lively, interesting season, and certainly a great time to visit. Generally the period is much less \"commercial\" than in other parts of the world. Visitors are expected to just mix in and enjoy it along with local people.\n\nShops on Viale Pola open late (until about midnight) on a couple of evenings in the run up to Christmas, and various street activities and entertainment are organised to create a party atmosphere. From a week or so before Christmas until about 7 January, a very limited \"Christmas market\" is set up in Piazza della Liberta, but this is cannot match those operating in many other places. Traditionally both Christmas Day and even more so Christmas Eve are very family oriented, and although the main restaurants provide special meals (booking essential), lots of businesses close. However, there are signs of change. Some of the bars and restaurants are now opening on Christmas Eve and putting on entertainment (mainly singers). This includes our friend Francesco who has just (2018) opened a bar/restaurant on Piazza della Liberta.\n\nThere are of course religious services in all the churches.\n\nThe three special seasonal events/activities, all of which should be experienced if possible, are:\n\n  • il presepe vivente (the \"living crib\")\n  • San Silvestro/Capodanno (New Year's Eve and Day)\n  • Viva Viva Befana (a special celebration on 6 January)\n\nIl presepe vivente - the \"living crib\"\n\nModels of the nativity scene (usually called a \"crib\" in English) are a major feature of the Italian Christmas. Most churches feature one or more. They are often elaborate and extensive reproductions of Bethlehem at the time of the nativity, with special lighting effects, timed displays, moving features and figures. A crib building competition is quite common, and in Ostuni the competition submissions are displayed in the Pre-Classical Museum on Via Cattedrale.\n\nMuch more dramatic is the presepe vivente, or living crib. This involves people re-enacting aspects of the nativity and related aspects of life at that time. Many places in Italy maintain this tradition - there is an especially large scale presentation in Naples, people travel from all over Italy to experience this.\n\nIn Ostuni, the presepe vivente takes place on three or four evenings after Christmas - one of which is on 26th December, the others between then and 6 January. Unlike processions where the participants walk and visitors watch, visitors walk on a prescribed route through the narrow streets. Along the way local people in costume take part in a series of tableaux which occupy most of the doorways, rooms, balconies and courtyards fronting onto the streets. The start of the route is on Via Cattedrale, guarded by Roman soldiers, sometimes on horseback. From time to time the soldiers arrest a visitor and put him/her in the mock-up prison which is one of the scenes on the route.\n\nOstuni presepe vivente - the guarded entrance\n\nOstuni presepe vivente - Roman guards and heralds\n\nOstuni presepe vivente - the Governor\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTableaux scenes include the rich, the poor, Herod's Palace (sometimes with Salome dancing), temple priests, workshops of various kinds etc. Demonstrations of weaving, baking, pottery making, metal work etc are all featured, but this is completely non-commercial.\n\nOstuni presepe vivente - Herod's Palace\n\nOstuni presepe vivente - Herod's Palace\n\nOstuni presepe vivente - the rich family\n\nOstuni presepe vivente - the Temple\n\nOstuni presepe vivente - in the Temple\n\nOstuni presepe vivente - basket making\n\n\nThere is also as usual traditional folk music and dancing.  You can join in if you want.\n\nThe highlight is of course the nativity scene itself - in a stable, with Mary, Joseph, a real ox and ass, and of course a baby from the locality.\n\nOstuni presepe vivente - the stable\n\nOstuni presepe vivente - the stable\n\nOstuni presepe vivente - Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus and an angel\n\nThe whole route takes maybe 30-45 minutes to follow (unless you are put in prison or you stop to join the dancers). It opens round about 6pm and runs for about three hours. The participants are of all ages, and it is refreshing to see so many young local people involved, helping maintain this ancient tradition.\n\nSan Silvestro (New Year's Eve) and Capodanno (New Year's Day)\n\nNew Year's Eve is celebrated in Ostuni in much the same way as many other places throughout the world - with a big party.\n\nMost of the restaurants are open and offer a special menu, moderately expensive but generally good value. This is a popular night for Italian family parties so advance booking is essential. The atmosphere is very lively and positive, and everyone is welcomed. Prosecco is always produced at midnight.\n\nHowever, in the Piazza della Liberta a concert kicks off at about 9pm and runs through until the early hours, featuring a variety of music - rock groups, bel canto, gospel choirs, samba bands, accordions, brass have all featured in recent years.\n\nNew Year's Day is similar to a Sunday, with a traditional long lunch from about 1.30pm (again most restaurants are open) preceded by a passeggiata - and dressing up properly for this is essential!\n\n\nViva Viva La Befana - Ostuni's Epiphany bonfire party\n\nOstuni - La Befana bonfire\n\nEpiphany on 6 January is an important religious festival (celebrating the arrival of the Three Wise Men in Bethlehem) and also a national holiday in Italy. It marks the end of the Christmas period. It is also the opportunity for children to hang up stockings and get presents. This practice is linked to a legend about a witch, La Befana, who comes on a broomstick during the night of 5 January with presents.\n\nThe legend is believed is thought to be possibly of pagan origin, associated with the end of the Roman winter solstice Saturnalia festival when Romans went to the Temple of Juno where an old woman would tell their fortunes. It is said that on the night before the Wise Men reached Bethlehem, they asked the way of an old woman in a hovel. They explained their mission to give gifts to the new born Jesus and invited her to come with them, but she declined saying she had too much to do. But later on she saw a bright star and changed her mind. She set off with presents which belonged to her own child who had died, but could not find the way and never reached the stable. So for ever after, on 11th day after Christmas, La Befana flies everywhere on a broomstick delivering gifts to children, hoping one of them might be the baby Jesus. And all over Italy children hang up stockings on the night of 5 January so as not to miss her.\n\nMany places in Italy have a La Befana celebration on 5 or 6 January each year. In Ostuni, this is usually organised by the town's famous folk group - Il Gruppo Folk della Stelle. It takes place in the evening on the site of the Saturday market, starting at about 6.30/7.00pm there, but preceded by a procession of bands, dancers, jugglers etc from the Piazza della Liberta which starts about an hour earlier.\n\nOstuni La Befana - the parade arriving\n\nOstuni - La Befana\n\nOn the large car park area there are stalls selling traditional pastries and mulled wine; a witch (a very friendly witch! in a stall greeting children and giving them small presents; a few fairgound attractions and a trenino for short train rides around the site; and various entertainers walking round in costume, on stilts etc.\n\nOstuni - La Befana\n\nOstuni La Befana - il trenino\n\nOstuni La Befana - Carovigno flag wavers\n\nOstuni La Befana - Carovigno flag wavers\n\nOstuni La Befana\n\nThere are displays of various sorts, which can include the Carovigno flag wavers, ballet dancing in huge plastic bubbles, trapeze artists, magicians etc. On a special stage on there are displays of dancing and singing, with a special dancing contest for children. The site is dominated by a huge pyramid of olive branch cuttings in bales, on top of which there is an effigy of La Befana - the evening concludes at about 9.00pm with this being lit to provide an enormous bonfire.\n\nOstuni - La Befana\n\nThere are very few foreign tourists at this event, it is quintessentially Italian, so if you are around Ostuni at this time, do not miss it - wrap up well, it can be cold. Interest and enjoyment are guaranteed.\n\nCarnevale in Ostuni\n\nCarnevale (which means \"say goodbye to meat\"!) is an unstructured \"party season\" preceding the austerity of Lent. Of pagan origin, it is celebrated in most countries of Roman Catholic tradition, with street music and dancing, fancy dress, traditional masks, huge models/puppets and general revelry. The season finishes on the last day before Lent, Martedi Grasso (Fat Tuesday, known elsewhere as Mardi Gras - Pancake Tuesday is the minor British recognition of this occasion). Although this is the \"big day\", it is usual for celebrations to extend over a few days or even weeks leading up to it. Because the date of Easter varies, Martedi Grasso can be anywhere between 3 February and 9 March.\n\nThe most well known Carnevale in Italy are Venice and Viareggio (which has enormous grotesque models mounted on lorries). In Puglia, the main ones are Manfredonia and Putignano. The Putignano Canevale claims to be the longest in the world. It actually starts the day after Christmas, and as well as Martedi Grasso and 26 December, big parades take place on three Sundays in between.\n\nIn Ostuni Carnevale is fairly low key but still very lively. As well as the evening of Martedi Grasso, activities take place over the preceding weekend, especially on the Sunday. Unusually it is focused on the main shopping street, Viale Pola, not the Centro Storico or Piazza della Liberta. It involves outside concerts, a parade of floats on the backs of lorries, traditional dancing, street food etc. Children especially come in masks and fancy dress, and confetti is thrown around in great quantities (we are amazed how quickly it is all cleaned up for the next day!). If you are in Ostuni at this time, defintely go and have a look at the Tuesday evening (it usually says start at 5.30pm, but nothing much happens before 7pm!) - it is traditional and oriented to local people, not tourists, and has simple charm. A good place from which to watch things is from the Cafe Ricreazioni.\n\nOstuni Carnevale\n\nOstuni Carnevale\n\nOstuni Carnevale\n\nOstuni Carnevale\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLa Passione - the Sunday before Easter\n\n\nThe Sunday before Easter is an Ostuni highlight. As elsewhere, it is known as Palm Sunday (Domenica Palme). However, you may be handed a sprig of olive, a sign of peace. There are various activities in the day, but the big event is in the evening, when there is a re-enactment of the passion of Jesus Christ, professionally produced but with local people in the cast. The local authorities have put a lot of money and effort into getting this established over the last five years and if you are here at this time it is not to be missed. But be ready to stay up late, it is not rushed!\n\nEach year is different because there is a different director, but the description here gives a good idea of what is involved.\n\nIt kicks off at about 8pm with a dramatic presentation of the events of Holy Week in the Chiostra di San Francesco, the cloisters off the main Piazza della Liberta, where many Ostuni events are held, and outside in the Piazza. The show lasts about an hour, featuring actors and readers against a background of filmed images. As well as a large audience inside the cloisters the show is displayed on an external screen to an even bigger crowd in the Piazza.\n\nThen the procession to Calvary commences. Jesus leaves the Chiostra carrying the cross, flanked by Roman soldiers and followed by his weeping friends and relatives, including many women chanting Ave Marias throughout.\n\nThe procession moves very slowly, initially up Via Cattedrale where the spectators line on either side. Then into the much narrower Via Bixio Continelli with its arches, where the following spectators and participants simply merge into one another, a weird experience for non-religious observers.\n\nHalf way along this narrow street there is a simulated flagellation, and then someone representing Simon of Cyrene steps out of the crowd and carries the cross for a section - someone who does this sometimes is our friend who does most of the property painting in the centro storico  (he is nearly 7 feet tall with dreadlocks, a well known local character).\n\nThe procession ends on the ramparts, where against a floodlit background of the rocky bastione, Jesus is nailed to the cross and the cross erected between two others. The event concludes with contemporary readings and music of various sorts ((our daughter has been involved in this as part of a choir).\n\nThroughout the whole of these proceedings, the large crowd is normally almost completely silent - very unusual in Italy. However, at the end, all the participants and producers line up to take a bow and receive massive applause from the audience. This is a religious performance, but always a performance rather than a religious ceremony. The local people are massively proud to take part and maintain this centuries old tradition.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHistory of Ostuni\n\nOstuni - “La Citta Bianca” or “White City” – is a town with a long history. This is reflected in its complicated structure and architecture, with developments in one period superimposed on those from previous generations.\n\nThe area generally was settled in Stone Age times. Archaeological excavations around Ostuni provide a good picture of life in pre-historic times. Details of this are shown in Ostuni's Museum of Pre-Classical Archaeology. Exhibits there include remains of a young pregnant woman who died in a nearby cave about 25,000 years ago.\n\nThe town was founded as a fortified hilltop settlement by the Messapii, a Bronze/Iron Age people who inhabited this area for about five centuries in pre-classical times. Not far away from Ostuni, the important remains of the Messapian city of Egnazia are evidence of the significance of these people and their culture.\n\nThe Messapii were partially absorbed into the Greek empire in the Italian peninsula, but then associated with the expanding Roman empire and involved on the Roman side in the Punic Wars (2018-201 BC); as a result Ostuni was destroyed by Hannibal in 2016 BC. The Greeks rebuilt the city on the ruins of the old one (the name Ostuni comes from Astu neon  which in Greek means “New Town”). This Greek influence on its structure and architecture has persisted until the present day.\n\nThe Romans took over Puglia and Ostuni from about 100 BC. There is little evidence of the Roman period in Ostuni, although of course Brindisi and its vital road links the Via Appia and Via Traiani are major reminders of the significance of Puglia to the Romans.\n\nThe Roman empire disintegrated in about 400 AD. Ostuni then went through a long period when it was occupied by various groups vying for power in the Italian Peninsula - Lombards, Goths, Saracens and eventually the Byzantines (the remnant of the Roam Empire based in Constantinople). This seems to have been a period of economic decline for the city. However, in the 11th Century AD, it came under the rule of the Normans, who had fought the Byzantines and established their domination of southern Italy and Sicily, providing both stability and economic prosperity. In the 12th Century, the Norman Count Godfrey of Lecce built a castle on the top of the hill (subsequently destroyed, the remains of it are claimed to be part of the Osteria della Piazzetta) along with fortified city walls. The medieval city developed around this - the area of the centro storico dropping down from the piazza in front of the cathedral and on the Porta Nuova side of Via Cattedrale, an area known as La Torre, is the oldest part of the current Ostuni, with some structures dating from this period.\n\nThe Normans were succeeded by Swabian (Sveva) rule, associated mainly with Frederic II, in the 13th Century. During this period, the economy prospered, the fortifications of Ostuni were expanded (including the walls and four city gates). Many of Puglia's main cathedrals date from this time, built in Romanesque style. Ostuni's cathedral was among them, constructed on a site long used for religious purposes; although it has been extensively modified and extended since.\n\nPuglia became part of the Kingdom of Naples in 1282, and remained so until Italian unification in the 1860's. Ostuni was ruled by whichever branch of European aristocracy ran this Kingdom. Initially this was the French House of Anjou (Angevin), subsequently by various Spanish dynasties, notably the Aragonese. Puglia, a long way from their seats of power, experienced two centuries of neglect and decline, and also suffered extensively from coastal raids by the Turks.\n\nHowever, from 1507, Ostuni benefited from the rule of Isabella of Aragon and then her daughter Bona Sforza. These two queens developed the city as a centre of commerce and culture. Its population grew to about 17,000. Much of the current centro storico dates back to this period, the city walls and gates were improved and extended, and a series of fortified towers to defend against Turkish attacks were built along the coast, many of these surviving to this day.\n\nThe 17th Century was a period of decline for the town. It was at this time that plague epidemics apparently encouraged the organised application of lime whitewash as a disinfectant - now enshrined as Ostuni's trademark as \"La Citta Bianca\".  By contrast the late 18th Century saw increasing prosperity and considerable expansion beyond the old city, which continued into the 19th century, mainly into the area now referred to as the 19th century zone. Rule was from Naples under the Spanish BouRbon dynsasty, which generally seems to have left Ostuni to itself and its leading families/merchants.\n\nThe early 19th Century was dominated by the Napoleonic wars. The Kingdom of Naples was ruled for a time by Napoleon's brother in law, Joachim Murat, who instituted a number of reforms including the abolition of feudalism, of huge significance in Puglia. After 1815, Naples and Sicily were united as a Kingdom under Bourbon rule. Puglia was a vital part of this Kingdom, and there was considerable investment and development of agriculture, infrastructure and industry.\n\nThe struggle to realise a united Italy finally succeeded in the period 1848-1870. Puglia, including Ostuni, was part of this, ruled initially from Turin, then from Florence, then Rome. The unification of Italy caused a massive downgrading of the then much richer southern part of the peninsula, and Puglia suffered badly as a result, benefiting little from the strides being made further north. There was massive emigration at this time, prompted by famine and poor government.\n\nThe Fascist period saw some investment in agriculture, infrastructure, reclamation of marshland and malaria control. The Second World War led to considerable bomb damage (especially around the strategically important Foggia) as the Allies, by then including Italian troops after Italy surrendered in 1943, fought their way northwards against strong German opposition. Ostuni however was fortunate to escape war damage.\n\nSince 1945, Ostuni has focused on establishing itself as a major agricutural centre and tourist destination. For a considerable period Puglia generally saw many of its people leave for better economic prospects in the north or abroad. More recently this exodus has declined and  to a limited extent Puglia is attracting people from elsewhere. Ostuni is now rated as the fifth most popular tourist destination in Italy.\n\nGetting to Ostuni\n\nReaching Puglia by air, train and road\n\nFull information about reaching Puglia is given elsewhere on the website. Click here.\n\nGetting to Ostuni by public transport from Brindisi airport\n\nVisitors to Ostuni using Brindisi airport often hire a car from the airport. However, for those who do not want to hire a car, or who prefer to hire a car only for part of their stay, it is easy enough to get between the airport and Ostuni by bus and train.\n\nWe have done the trip from Ostuni Centro Storico to the airport in 75 minutes, but if you have to wait for buses/trains it will take longer, so best to assume a couple of hours or so. The bus services are OK every day. However, on a Sunday you need to check the train times, as the service is considerably reduced, with a train only about every 90 minutes. So leave Ostuni at an appropriate time to avoid a wait at the station there. And if you have to wait at Brindisi, take the opportunity to try any of the bars and restaurants close to the station.\n\nThe total cost is about 8 euros per person for the whole trip, which compares with at least 60 euros by taxi.\n\nThere is no shuttle bus between the airport and the railway station in the middle of Brindisi. Get the STP bus AE which stops just outside the main terminal entrance, near the taxis. It is an ordinary service bus, running every 30 minutes between 5.30am and 11.45pm every day including Sundays and holidays (usuakky qyarter to and quarter past the hour). If there is no bus waiting, ignore any helpful taxi drivers who tell you that you have just missed one and will have to wait for ages. If you want to see a timetable, click on http://www.stpbrindisi.it/index.php/2012-01-19-12-07-43/bus-aeroporto.html then call up the PDF from the bottom of the screen.\n\nThe fare is 1 euro per person. You can buy a ticket on the bus for 1.50 euros from the driver, or on some buses by having exact change for a machine; but as usual in Italy it is best to buy a ticket beforehand in a bar or tabacchaio (small shops with the \"T\" sign) - at the airport the book and magazine shop Libreria Giunti is the designated sales point. So get tickets before you leave the airport terminal.\n\nOn the bus, there is a small machine where you must get your ticket validated; if this does not work show your ticket to the driver, who may tear it in half. If you do not have a ticket, ask the driver or if there is one buy a ticket for cash in a small machine separate from the validating machine. If you do not have a ticket and do not have any small change, ask the driver, who may well wait while you nip to the Libreria, or shrug his shoulders and tell you to sit down and enjoy the ride. But do not just get on the bus and try to travel without a ticket.\n\nThe bus service will not say Brindisi Station on the front, it goes further. You get off at Piazza Crispi, right in front of the station building, which is five stops, and on the timetable is supposed to take 13 minutes. The driver will no doubt tell you which stop if you say you are going to the station when you get on.\n\nThere are frequent trains to Ostuni, so you should not usually need to wait more than 30 minutes; except on a Sunday. Departure times are displayed on various screens, most Ostuni trains will be headed for Bari, sometimes beyond. There are different categories of train, but usually the trains which stop at Ostuni will be Regionale trains - these are also the cheapest.\n\nYou can get train tickets to Ostuni at the ticket office; at the Tabacchaio/bar; and from the ticket machines if you have a credit or debit card which uses a PIN. It is usually quickest and easiest to get tickets from a machine - these are easier to use than their equivalent in the UK, although as in the UK sometimes they are not working. This is what you do:\nGet your credit card ready\nTouch the flag to get a service in English and wait a few moments.\nTouch to buy tickets\nTouch on the destination if Ostuni is displayed as an option, or touch for other stations - then touch on the letters on a keyboard until Ostuni is displayed and confirm.\n\nThe next few trains will be displayed with their times and prices. The normal prices for a Regionale train is 5.60 euros per adult (NB children 0-3 go free; children 4-11 go half fare on Regionale trains). Other categories of train will be considerably more expensive. Touch the train you want (NB it is not a huge station, so if a train is due in say 5 minutes, go for it).\n\nA screen comes up asking for how many adults and how many children. Touch the + sign to increase the number shown - just touch it once and wait for the figure to change, this often takes a few seconds. Then confirm.\n\nYour order is confirmed (sometimes you get a warning that there are some restrictions on ticket use, just touch on OK to these) and then you are asked if you are paying by credit card. Confirm (there is in most cases no cash option anyway) and look at the little screen on the credit card attachment on the right hand side of the machine.\n\nWait for an instruction on the screen to insert your card. The machine will start to talk to you at this point as well, which can be unnerving. Insert your card, enter the pin in the usual way, then extract your card - the machine will be shouting at you throughout this process.\n\nPick up your tickets.\n\nIf the sequence does not work out, it is worth starting again once, or using a different machine. But if you don't succeed twice, go to the ticket office.\n\nOnce you have got your tickets, find the platform and the train. But first you have to validate your tickets by inserting them into the small \"convalidare\" machines dotted around the station. This is important, so don't forget to do it. Just stick one end of the ticket into the machine until it is stamped.\n\nOstuni is often the first stop after Brindisi, sometimes there are one or two stops first, at San Vito and Carovigno. It takes about half an hour. The train usually arrives at Ostuni platform 1 so you can exit the station straight away without going under the subway.\n\nThen get a bus to the centre of Ostuni, getting a ticket first at 0.90 euro from the station bar. The buses are roughly every 30 minutes, often meet trains, and the trip to the centre takes about 10 minutes. See our separate information about the buses between Ostuni station and Ostuni centre.\n\nTo get from Ostuni to Brindisi airport, the reverse of the above applies. See our separate instructions about getting a bus to Ostuni station. Since you are going to catch a plane, you will almost certainly have checked on the bus and train times first. If you get to Brindisi station an hour before you want to be at the airport, you will be OK for a bus there. The bus stop for the airport bus at Brindisi station is on the right hand side of the road beside a refreshment kiosk. It is clearly marked. Tickets can be bought at several nearby bars etc:\nBar Chiosco, on Piazza Crispi\nEdicola Stazione, Piazza Crispi (the station magazine/bookshop)\nTabacchaio Pacifico, on Basione San Giorgio, which is across the small piazza and then a few yards to the left.\n\nGetting to and from Ostuni centre from Ostuni station\n\nOstuni station is about 2km from the town centre. There is a bus service linking the station to the Centro Storico and other parts of the town centre.\n\nBus services at the station are mainly timed to connect with trains to and from Bari, Brindisi and Lecce; they allow five minutes flexibility when trains are running a bit late. There is a bus about every half hour for most of the day, and services start very early and run very late. It takes about 10 minutes to get from the Station to the Centro Storico and vice versa.\n\nThe buses are either small buses or mini buses. Some run between Ostuni and the Station, several are running between Villanova (Ostuni's marina) and Ostuni calling in at the station on the way. Do not be concerned if a bus detours briefly to stop at the cemetery, that is normal on many services. (Occasional buses shoot out to a nearby hospital, just keep calm if this happens!).\n\nYou can see a timetable by clicking here and then opening the pdf for services between Ostuni, the Station and Villanova - Feriale is weekdays including Saturdays; Festivi is Sundays and public holidays. A timetable is posted at the Station and also outside the Tabacchaio on Piazza della Liberta.\n\nArriving by train, at the Station, the bus stop is right in front of the entrance and there may even be a bus waiting for the train you are on - if so let the driver know you are getting on as you will need to buy a ticket at the station bar - it will cost 0.90 euros. When you get on the bus, stamp your ticket in the validating machine - if it is not working, which is often the case, show your ticket to the driver who may tear it in two.\n\nIn the unlikely event of the bar being closed or for any other reason you can't get a ticket in advance, you can pay the driver, but it will cost 1.50 euros. If you do not have a ticket and do not have any small change, ask the driver, who will usually wait while you nip to the Bar Stazione, or shrug his shoulders and tell you to sit down and enjoy the ride. But do not just get on the bus and try to travel without a ticket.\n\nIf you have to wait for a bus or a train, the station bar is a good spot, with excellent coffee; or there is a waiting room in the station. There are no seats outside by the bus stop. Do not attempt to walk to the town centre, it is a dusty trek along a main road. Taxis (there are plenty of numbers displayed) are available but expensive, as in Italy generally.\n\nThe bus trip takes about 10 minutes. The route into town varies, depending on whether or not traffic is being allowed through the Piazza della Liberta - which is the case most of the summer,  on winter Saturday evenings, public holidays and quite often at other times if something is happening. So it is worth letting the driver know you want the Centro Storico - the bus goes a good way beyond it so you will need to get off before the terminus.\n\nIf the bus is going through the Piazza della Liberta, you will easily recognise this and get off the bus there, at the bottom of via Cattedrale. If it is not going through the Piazza, if you are headed for the Centro Storico, the most convenient stop for this is Via Pisanelli. The bus takes a sharp right turn into Via Pisanelli - this is easily recognised by the Teatro Roma on the corner and the arched Porta Nuova up on the left. The bus stop is about 100 metres up the street, make sure you get off here. From the stop, walk up in the same direction as the bus, then turn left along Corso Mazzini, the Piazza della Liberta and bottom of Via Cattedrale are about 200 metres walk along this street. (Or you can go into the Centro Storico by walking back from the bus stop and up to the Porta Nuova).\n\nThe services towards the station start in Ostuni at Viale dello Sport in the newer part of town, and then take a circuitous route before they reach the stops where most visitors to the Centro Storico will board. If you refer to the timetable – see link - (make sure you are looking at the feriale/weekday or festivi /Sunday & public holiday version as appropriate and please look at any small print), then get to the stop you need about 15 minutes before it shows arrival at the Station. The buses used to run through the Piazza della Liberta stopping outside the tabacchaio, but they now run below the centro storico. The most convenient stops are by the car park entrance opposite Chiesa della Carmine, about 300 metres down from the steps from Piazza della Liberta through the smaller Piazza and Via Pinto. Or on the right hand side of Via Pisanelli (at the side of the local cinema, Teatro Roma, the stop is a little way up the street opposite the restaurant Al Solito Posto. ), also about 300 metres from the Piazza della Liberta – be careful when getting on here and check with the driver that the bus is going towards the station, as the buses away from the station now also stop here.\n\nYou can purchase ticket at the Tabacchaio in Piazza della Liberta for 0.90 euros, but this does not open until 7.30am and later on a Sunday, so if you are getting an early bus it is sensible to get the tickets in advance. Otherwise you can pay 1.50 euros on the bus.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAugust/September- harvesting almonds\n\nWe have about 500 almond trees on our land, although a lot of these are very small. \n\nOne of the best things about the almond trees is their blossom, which provides a cheerful display of colour in February and March. \n\nThe almonds develop during the summer and the almond collection season extends through August and September. It involves a lot of hard work (much more so than olive picking). We rope in anyone who wants to lend a hand at any stage, even a few keen trullo guests, it can be quite sociable. \n\nThe branches are shaken and the tree bashed with a long pole to get the almonds to fall down; then we bend down and pick them up off the ground. Simple! We have tried to get them to fall into nets to make it easier to spot them on the ground, but as they fly all over the place it is not a lot of help. This process continues until we have got a few tubs full of almonds, still with their husks on. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWe then spend ages ages taking off the outer husks. This is done sitting down, and can be done while chatting over a cup of tea/coffee or a glass of wine - but we just have to stick at it. The nuts are inside husks (similar to a chestnut in a husk); these are mainly already split slightly when they come off the trees, so getting the nuts out is not difficult, but can only be done one nut at a time.\n\n\nThe nuts (still in shells of course) are spread out in the sun to dry off for a short time, and fill up tubs to take to a dealer; we get payment by the weight. We ourselves only shell a few almonds for personal use. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis year (2018) has been a poor one for almonds, the colder than usual Spring did not help and was then followed by very hot and dry weather in May, June and July. However, in 2016 and 2017 we took an estimated 100,000 almonds to the dealer. A lot of work for not much money - but every farmer says that! It only makes sense because the almond trees do not require much maintenance; and harvesting. more especially the de-husking, can be fitted in with other things.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSeptember/October - grape picking and pressing\n\n\nPuglia is Italy's most prolific wine producing region. Most of this is on a large scale, with commercially operated areas of viticulture and centralised pressing and wine production. Grapes are usually picked during the period September - October, so there is a lot of activity in the countryside generally at this time of year. And the end of the harvest is celebrated by a string of wine festivals in many towns throughout the whole of Puglia.\n\nOstuni is more closely associated with olives than grapes (although there is an Ostuni wine DOP). This is certainly true of our own land. We produce a reasonable amount of high quality olive oil for sale; but we only generate a small amount of wine from our vineyard, and although its quality is acceptable, consumption so far has been restricted to family and friends!\n\nWe usually describe our vineyard as \"small\", but this is only by Puglia standards - it is a about a hectare in size (about a quarter of our land area) and there are 750 vines. It certainly does not feel \"small\" when pruning or strimming!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe vines are all well established. The hard work of managing the vineyard is not the harvesting, it is the lengthy process of pruning the vines and keeping down the weeds in between the rows - this is a pretty well continuous process during throughout the year, especially in the February-June period.\n\nThe amount and quality of the fruit depends heavily on the weather conditions. We do not irrigate the vines, so the grapes vary from year to year, depending on the amount of sunshine and rainfall. Vines have deep roots, so rainfall during the winter and spring, which is absorbed into the ground, is very helpful. Sunshine in July and August, guaranteed here in Puglia, is essential. (This year, 2018, has been a poor year, due to the exceptionally hot, dry spell of weather in June and July experienced all over southern Europe).\n\nWe keep a close eye on the grapes from  mid August, aiming to pick them at their peak, just before they start to dry up, which is sometime in September. Picking the grapes is easy enough - stems containing bunches of fruit are cut of with secateurs and put into a tub. In our first year we did not separate the grapes at all, but since then we have separated the better quality red grapes from the rest (which vary from green to deep pink in colour).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOnce picked, the grapes are transferred into a large plastic tub where they are trodden thoroughly with (clean!) bare feet to start the pressing process. It is great to maintain this well known part of the tradition.\n\n\nThe contents of this tub are poured into the top of our olive press - a wooden frame with heavy iron weights pressed down by a ratcheted corkscrew device. Pushing and pulling the ratchet lever presses the weights down onto the grapes - this is really hard work. The juice slowly flows out and is collected to be put into large glass jars (demijohns) for the main fermentation process - this takes place in our storeroom underneath the trullo terrace.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFermentation takes about a year. The wine is then siphoned into glass containers or bottles ready for drinking. We can generate about 250 litres of wine, but this could be substantially increased with better management of the vines. Each year the quality has improved as we have gained experience, and is definitely up the standard of other domestically produced wines we have sampled locally. It is also pretty strong.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNovember/December/January - olive harvest and olive oil production\n\n\nThe whole of Puglia becomes a hive of industry in November as the olive harvest season gets into full swing. The season extends through December and into January. However every so often there is a general fallow year - the winter of 2016/17 was a case in point - when everywhere is surprisingly silent.\n\nWe have about 300 olive trees on our land, many of them extremely old. We harvested them in 2015/16 for the first time, when there was a good crop and in 2017/18 we had a moderately successful year. Now that we have gained experience we hope to produce a reasonable amount of oil for sale. As we handle the whole job by ourselves, with the help of friends and family where possible, we have to work very hard at this time of year.\n\nThere is nothing sophisticated about picking olives (although some large establishments use machines to shake the olives off the trees; you will not see many of these around Ostuni, where mostly there are small owners like ourselves). Some people simply set out a lot of nets on the ground in early November, and wait until lots of olives fall off the trees - however, as the olives lie around for days and sometimes weeks, the oil quality from these is not good, at best it is suitable only for domestic or local use only. We aim to produce very high quality oil for commercial sale, so we pick our olives entirely by hand, using a net only to help gather up the olives from the tree on which we are working.\n\nHand picking is straightforward but time consuming. The olives are just picked or ideally stripped off the twigs; they come off without difficulty. It is easy enough for lower branches which can be reached from the ground (aided by hooked sticks to pull down branches). Those higher up are tackled by a combination of ladders, climbing the trees and a limited amount of bashing with long poles to knock the olives down.\n\nThe olives are collected into a net spread underneath the tree on which we are working, which is then emptied into tubs. We aim to fill 4-6 tubs per day minimum - each tub contains about 30kg of olives. When the trees are heavily laden the tubs can be filled quite quickly. But with a poor crop, the low density of fruit on the trees slows us down, as we have to move from tree to tree often; this means more work to hit our minimum daily target. In any case we have to work from dawn to dusk - roughly 7am until 5.30pm - every day. It is a pleasant job when the sun is shining, although it can be a little bit chilly first thing. We don't pick olives on the rare occasions when it rains.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFrantoio is the name for an olive pressing establishment, old or new.  The examples of a traditional small scale frantoio are now either a museum or have been converted into a bar or restaurant - there are many of these throughout Puglia. Nowadays all olive oil pressing is carried out in a modern frantoio, which is  a small establishment similar to a dairy. We take our olives to an agricultural cooperative frantoio (one of three communal olive pressing facilities serving Ostuni) within 36 hours maximum from picking, often the same day, to ensure the highest quality olive oil.\n\nOur olives are chiefly Coratina, the main variety in Puglia, noted for its high polyphenol content, which gives the strong fruity/peppery taste. The olives vary in colour from green to purple and even black, depending on their ripeness. They are all suitable for pressing into oil; a few growers produce a batch of oil just from green olives, which produces a milder flavour (we have not tried this yet, we prefer the peppery taste generated by the riper olives), but is something we will be experimenting with over the coming years.\n\nThe olives and the frantoio are part of the Collina di Brindisi (Brindisi Hill) Denominazione d'Origine Protteta, one of the specially designated DOP extra virgin olive oil producing zones in Italy, an internationally recognised affirmation of origin and quality.\n\n\n\nAt the frantoio our olives are all put into large baskets in a batch with our name on it. Each batch is weighed in and then processed individually. Although there are a few large producers of olive oil, who have a batch requiring many baskets, most are relatively small producers such as ourselves.\n\nThe frantoio machinery has to be thoroughly washed through between each batch, so we need to have a minimum of about 180kg each time to make this worthwhile for the frantoio. And as we try to get the olives to the press each day (at about 7.30pm), this is why we have to work hard to fill our tubs!\n\nThe frantoio is quietly, efficiently but informally run, its modern, very clean machinery replicating precisely the centuries-old method of oil extraction, \"Cold pressing\" is essential for extra virgin quality oil, which means low temperatures are used in the processing; and of course nothing is added to artificially increase the amount of oil extracted. Processing involves sieving out any odd leaves and debris; washing the olives at low temperature; pressing them mechanically to extract the oil; and finally removing any residual water via a centrifuge.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe extracted oil is put into our own containers which we leave to be picked up from the frantoio, usually the following day, together with details of the amount of oil from our batch and of its acidity measurement. So if necessary we can link oil with specific trees tackled the day or so previously! We store the oil on our premises (in a cool storeroom) in large containers, from which we transfer it into cans and bottles for sale. All the bottling, sealing, labelling and packing we do ourselves.\n\nUnlike wine from our grapes, which takes a year or more to mature, olive oil is ready to consume instantly. In the first year, we provided and sold oil to our friends and to guests. Much of it went to local people (who really know their oil!), and all remarked on its taste and quality. This prompted us to bottle it and market it properly, under the name Boccadoro - this the official name of the country area of Ostuni where we live. Boccadoro appropriately means \"mouth of gold\".\n\nOur first bottled production has recently gone on sale in attractive 450ml bottles, which can be posted directly to customers in strong containers.\n\nOur olive oil is absolutely top quality extra virgin - free acidity 0.4% or below (the maximum to qualify as \"extra virgin\" is 0.8%); fruity and peppery in taste. This is achieved by a combination of traditional hand picking, high quality fruit, rapid pressing after picking and processing in an approved frantoio (low temperature, no chemicals, no additives, no filtration). If anyone wishes to purchase oil, contact us on [email protected].", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5126162767410278}
+{"content": "We accept\n\nNutrition In Seniors Client HEALTH INSURANCE AND Social Health care Essay\n\nFactors which could contribute to changed nutrition in elderly. Intro: Factors influencing healthy status in seniors people may be divided into three categories: psychological, sociable, and medical. For example, subconscious disorders such as depression and dementia are highly correlated with loss of bodyweight in nursing homes and are the major causes of weight loss in free-living elderly individuals. Furthermore, numerous studies have recommended that interpersonal isolation, low socioeconomic status, and poverty are also associated with reduced dietary consumption and weight loss. Furthermore, numerous medical factors like the use of prescription medications, poor dentition, institutionalization, a reduction in tastes and smell sensations, and an lack of ability to regulate diet have all been suggested to decrease urge for food and adversely affect nutritional position in older individuals.\n\nThree factors discovered to donate to altered diet in elderly are as:\n\n1. Changes in the gastrointestinal tract.\n\n2. Decreased neuromuscular coordination.\n\n3. Personal factors e. g. set income, loneliness and susceptibility to health claims\n\nChanges in the gastrointestinal tract.\n\nMany changes occur in the gastrointestinal area, including lack of teeth, reduced creation of saliva, diminished taste and smell, and increased capability to break down foods. When these changes happen, chewing may become painful, and a diet plan with delicate foods is preferred. Eating pleasure declines when flavor and smell are impaired. Some people prefer strongly flavored foods, while others avoid food since it does not style good ever again. The decrease of gastric secretions may hinder the absorption of iron and vitamin supplements B12. Fat digestion may be impaired if the liver produces less bile or the gallbladder is non useful.\n\nDecreased neuromuscular coordination\n\nNeuromuscular coordination reduces with era and conditions such as arthritis may hamper food preparation and the utilization of eating utensils. Muscles in the low gastrointestinal area become weaker with improving years and constipation is a common problem. Many nutritional absorption. Kidney repair and maintenance deteriorates with time, and renal function is impaired in a few individuals. Liquid and electrolyte balance is difficult to maintain, especially during health problems.\n\nPersonal factors e. g. fixed income, loneliness and susceptibility to health claims\n\nFixed income: Usually the seniors exist on a fixed income that helps prevent an sufficient food supply. This income deficit impacts housing and facilities, limiting cooking consistency and food storage space. Without transportation, older people often purchase food from near by store or the one that will deliver groceries. Such stores usually ask for more for foods.\n\nLoneliness: Public isolation influences the eating conducts of the aged to a great magnitude. Elderly folks living together lose their prefer to make or eat. Depressed people become apathetic, depressed, and neglect to eat. They are really more susceptible to diseases and other tensions.\n\nHealth says: Many of the elderly purchase foods and supplements from health food stores because of advertising claiming that the meals have curative electricity and could in simple fact retard growing older.\n\n4. Emaciation\n\nThis is intensifying loss of weight producing a low BMI of 16/m3. This calls for general throwing away away of your body tissue consequently of severe malnourishment.\n\nRoles of the RN in examining risk factor for transformed Nutrition in medical care environment.\n\n1. Perform regular analysis of nutritional status of the patients. This achieved constant scientific observations of the patients especially with special respect to the patients dietary history, medical history, growth background, physical assessment and inspection of the blood vessels count. Carrying out comprehensive nutrition evaluation that involves discovering and screening process patients at risk of developing necessary protein energy malnutrition. This is done routinely to be able to identify any changes in the level of healthy risk.\n\n2. Monitor the respond to nutritional intervention. This is achieved through regular healthy assessments, monitoring weight gain and BMI in response to remedy to determine satisfactory dietary intake, quality of patients life, practical status, and difficulties of nutritional support options among others\n\n3. Administer nursing diagnosis. This include documents of weight, determining of body fat composition by pores and skin fold measurements, calculation of body mass index as a ratio of height, carrying out nutritional assessment, discovering the importance and interpretation of food with the individual, assessing knowledge regarding nutritional needs and level of activity or other factors, potential to learn food labels, usage of plan menu, making appropriate food choices among others.\n\nDescribe specific nursing interventions that need to be integrated to get over the 3 problems recognized.\n\n1. Eating dishes alone (public isolation): Encourage the individual to eat food in a group as this increases the ability to eat more food since eating is a cultural activity. Also the meals can be dished up attractively to increase his appetite.\n\n2, Anorexia: The nurse treatment on overcoming the condition of anorexia includes: serving the patients with foods at the right heat, and with foods that are spiced or herbs added, by offering small portions of food frequently, providing a chance for oral cleanliness before foods which stimulates salivation increasing patients hunger, wedding caterers to patients food personal preferences, arranging for the patient to eat in company of others which enhances his potential and by ensuring that the patient requires a snooze before taking of meals to increase his desire to consume.\n\n3. Impaired swallowing: The nurse interventions that need to be put in place to overcome the condition of impaired swallowing include: keeping your client in a relaxing position or semi-sitting position for at least an fifty percent before eating, stimulating the patient to utilize his tongue or finger to sweep maintained food from the cheek and repeat the swallowing, inspecting the patients mouth area after each swallowing efforts and by encouraging him to do same while by looking in the oral cavity using an hand-held reflection.\n\nDischarge planning and teaching that needs to be initiated for a customer who'll be discharged.\n\nEmaciation: The client or his family is thought by the nurse on several activities to be achieved to aid in putting on weight while discharged. Included in these are: taking a rest after taking a food, by disguising extra of calories dishes by fortifying foods with powdered dairy, gravies or sauces, eating of small amounts of food frequently, eating a variety of foods from small amounts and little by little increasing in terms of variety of servings or serving sizes, eat in a business of others, garnishing food with cubed or grated parmesan cheese, diced meat, nut products or raisins and including high calorie and nutritious food such as cheese, milkshakes and nuts in his diet.\n\nObesity: The client prior to release is advised to work with fats, oils and sweets sparingly. Also, to apply eating food in small amounts frequently when compared with huge amounts sparingly. Your client is also encouraged to eliminate usage of junk foods and alcohol consumption as well as increasing fiber in the dietary plan from fruits, vegetables and wholegrains. Your client is also advised to participate in regular exercises that assist to improve metabolic rates while suppressing urge for food.\n\n2. Anorexia: your client and his members of the family are thought how to serve the patient with foods at the right temperature, foods that are spiced, offering food in small servings frequently, and providing an opportunity for oral cleanliness before dishes which provides to stimulates salivation thus increasing patients cravings.\n\nMore than 7 000 students trust us to do their work\n90% of customers place more than 5 orders with us\nSpecial price $5 /page\nCheck the price\nfor your assignment", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5166834592819214}
+{"content": "Essay on Power of the Gods and Religion in Oedipus the King\n\nEssay on Power of the Gods and Religion in Oedipus the King\n\nLength: 713 words (2 double-spaced pages)\n\nRating: Better Essays\n\nOpen Document\n\nEssay Preview\n\n\nOedipus learns through the revelation of the oracle that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. As a result, he is driven to the belief that he can control his own fate, and not leave it up to the gods. By doing this, Oedipus places himself into the category of a god. The gods, particularly Apollo, takes great offence to this and decides to put Oedipus back in his place by punishing him and his state. (Mannani 2005) The punishment of the state is a se...\n\n... middle of paper ...\n\n...his blood cannot be cleansed by anyone but the gods and his religion.\n\nIn conclusion, Oedipus's fate is his destruction in the chain of being, the ultimate cleansing of the state, the household, and himself. His rejection and persistence to ignore the power of the gods and religion is the cause for his great demise. Oedipus, a character too proud and knowledgeable, is seen as a threat to the gods. Any threat to the gods is sure to result in the destruction of the threat in order to restore the balance in the chain of being. The above discussion shows support of how religion greatly influenced the lives of people and society's structure.\n\nWork Cited\n\n\nNeed Writing Help?\n\nGet feedback on grammar, clarity, concision and logic instantly.\n\nCheck your paper »\n\nThe Case Of Oedipus The King Essay\n\n- The fundamentals that make Oedipus the King an “Aristotelian tragedy” revolve around the key notions of harmartia, peripety, anagnorisis and catharsis. However, to fully understand these key notions, one must understand what Aristotle defines as a tragedy. In Aristotle’s words, “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;... in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions” (Aristotle)....   [tags: Oedipus, Oedipus the King, Tragedy, Sophocles]\n\nBetter Essays\n1092 words (3.1 pages)\n\nOedipus The King Of Oedipus Essay examples\n\n- In Oedipus Tyrannus, the cultural way of thinking has been challenged by Oedipus himself and also the queen of Thebes, Jocasta. Oedipus is a king of Thebes who claimed himself to be incredibly smart for solving the riddles and he has helped the city who happened to be falling apart from the missing of their king. While in searching for the murderer of Laius, Oedipus called upon the presence of Teresias – the blind prophet. Oedipus requested Teresias to inform him about the truth that he knew about the secrets of the heaven and the earth (Sophocles, 1970)....   [tags: Oedipus, Oedipus the King, Socrates, Crito]\n\nBetter Essays\n833 words (2.4 pages)\n\nEssay about Oedipus The King Of Oedipus\n\n- Tragically Flawed While his intentions were well meaning in the beginning, Oedipus finds himself weighed down by his own flaws. Tragically his flaws cause him to lose focus of his true objectives and damn himself to a life of misery. The tale of Oedipus depicts his rapid descent from Oedipus, savior and king of Thebes to Oedipus Tyrannus the man who slew his father and married his mother. Since Oedipus has so many tragic flaws there is a plethora to choose from. However, if Oedipus’s tragic traits could be described with two words it would be arrogant and imperceptive....   [tags: Oedipus, Oedipus the King, Tragic hero, Sophocles]\n\nBetter Essays\n1291 words (3.7 pages)\n\nOedipus the King: Oedipus And The Gods Essay\n\n- In Ancient Greece the existence of gods and fate prevailed. In the Greek tragedy King Oedipus by the playwright Sophocles these topics are heavily involved. We receive a clear insight into their roles in the play such as they both control man's actions and that challenging their authority leads to a fall. The concepts of the gods and fate were created to explain things. In Ancient Greece there was a lot that was not understood; science was in its infancy and everything that happened could be explained by the will of the gods or fate....   [tags: essays research papers fc]\n\nFree Essays\n2182 words (6.2 pages)\n\nDestiny, Fate, Free Will and Free Choice in Oedipus the King - Impact of Fate\n\n- Oedipus The King and His Fate Oedipus The King, by Sophocles, is a play about how Oedipus lives up his fate that he will kill his father and marry his mother, both of which are extremely bad in the Greek society, even though he thinks he is getting away from it. Despite the Greek notions of supreme power of the gods and fate, Oedipus' downfall is primarily the result of King Laius' and his own actions and attempts to defy the gods, consequently Sophocles says that prophecies from the gods of someone's fate should not be ignored....   [tags: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex]\n\nFree Essays\n873 words (2.5 pages)\n\nEnsnared by the Gods in Oedipus Rex Essay\n\n- Ensnared by the Gods in Oedipus Rex    A citizen of Periclean Athens may not have been familiar with the term entrapment, but he or she would surely have recognized the case of Oedipus as such.  The tragedy of Oedipus is that he was ensnared by the gods.  As Teiresias points out, \"I say that with those you love best you live in foulest shame unconsciouslyÖ\" (italics mine)  God is continuously indicted for having caused Oedipusí troubles.  The chorus asks, \"What evil spirit leaped upon your life to your ill-luckÖ?\"  And Oedipus himself is well aware of the source of his troubles:  \"It was Apollo, friends, Apollo, that brought this bitter bitterness, my sorrows to completion.\"  Blinded an...   [tags: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex]\n\nBetter Essays\n1143 words (3.3 pages)\n\nOedipus The King: Role Of Gods Essay\n\n- “Gods can be evil sometimes.” In the play “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles defamed the gods’ reputation, and lowered their status by making them look harmful and evil. 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In Sophocles' \"Oedipus Rex\", fate truly is a huge factor in many scenes and events.  According to ancient Greek belief, the word of God was fate, and fate was the word of God.  Therefore, every event that ever happened was predetermined and unchangeable.  Oe...   [tags: Oedipus King Oedipus Rex]\n\nBetter Essays\n1069 words (3.1 pages)\n\nOedipus the King Essay\n\n- Oedipus the King Oedipus the King is the perfect example of a tragedy. It contains a complete combination of all the features of a tragedy. Aristotle in his Poetics[1] defines Oedipus as being 'a definite example of the form and purpose of tragedy'. In tragedies the Greeks dramatized climactic events in the lives of heroes, and Oedipus' story is no exception. By using many different literary devices it brings moral dilemmas of action and motive to the public stage. 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+{"content": "Shea Stadium demolition ends\n\nA cloud of dust marks the end of Shea Stadium as a demolition crew sends its last standing piece crashing to the ground.\n\nNEW YORK -- Shea Stadium, the circular modern stadium that hosted two World Series title winners but was criticized for its lack of charm and amenities, met its end Wednesday. It was 44. The last remaining part of the ballpark, the section 5 ramp, was knocked down at 11:25 a.m., New York Mets spokesman Ethan Wilson said. A remembrance for the ballpark, where the Beatles played their first U.S. stadium concert in 1965, was held Sept. 28, following the Mets' final game there. Demolition began immediately after the Mets were eliminated from postseason contention on the final day of the regular season.After pilings that supported the stadium are removed, the area will be converted to parking for Citi Field, the $800 million ballpark that opens in April on what had been parking space for Shea. Opened on April 17, 1964, with a 4-3 Mets loss to Pittsburgh, Shea Stadium was among the first of what became known as cookie-cutter ballparks that could be shared by teams from different sport. New York won the 1969 World Series there, beating Baltimore in Game 5 and setting off a wild scene. The Mets won their only other Series title there in 1986, when they rallied in the 10th inning to defeat Boston in Game 6, then bounced back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Red Sox in Game 7. The ballpark was named after William Shea, a lawyer who helped return National League baseball to New York after the Giants and Dodgers migrated to California for the 1958 season. It is survived by the Mets, who are moving to Citi Field, and the Jets, who moved to Giants Stadium after the 1983 NFL season.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8067804574966431}
+{"content": "Part III: Persevering for our Pollinators\n\nThis blog is Part III of a 5-part blog series, as part of our Biodiversity Video Campaign.\n\n\"Pollinators are responsible for an estimated one out of three bites of food that people eat, which is worth billions of dollars to the North American economy.\"\n\nThe decline of the monarch butterfly and bee population has been a focal point of many conservationists and environmental groups over the past two decades. EcoWatch writes that the monarch’s population has, “plummeted by approximately 90% in just the last two decades,” while a 2015 United Nations report found that “populations are declining for 37% of bee species, with 9% of butterfly and bee populations facing extinction.” The decline in pollinators is a cause that both federal and provincial governments have also supported, with Health Canada stating that, “the declining health and population of bees and wild pollinators is a cause for global concern. ”\n\n\nFigure 1. Data provided by the Monarch Watch\n\nFederal and Provincial Government Action\n\nGoverning bodies agree that protecting and restoring the population of pollinators is important for many reasons, including the health of the environment, the health of Canadians, and the local and national economy. Health Canada “is actively working with key stakeholders as well as provincial agriculture and environment ministries to ensure agricultural practices across the country protect pollinators,” and is “also collaborating with other pesticide regulators internationally to refine pesticide risk assessment methods and data requirements” so that the potential effects on bees are better understood and risks can be mitigated.\n\nMeanwhile, the provincial government of Ontario is currently working to strengthen pollinator health using a threefold strategy which includes a Pollinator Health Action Plan, and the federal government of Canada actions taken to “ban harmful imidacloprids- one of the most commonly used neonic pesticide.” Neonicotinoid pesticide is used as an insecticide in the agricultural sector, and recent studies have proven their deadly impact on pollinators such as bees.  One study led by York University and the another study led by a UK university were referred to by the Guardian as the “most important evidence yet for regulators around the world considering action against neonicotinoids, including in the EU where a total ban is poised to be implemented this autumn.”\n\nThreats to Pollinators\n\nThe decline in pollinator numbers can be linked to four main threats: pesticides, habitat loss, disease, and climate change. It is important that we continue to work to limit each one of them, because as Ontario Nature explains, “pollinators are responsible for an estimated one out of three bites of food that people eat, which is worth billions of dollars to the North American economy,” and they “ensure the reproductive success of plants and the survival of the wildlife that depend on those plants for food and shelter”.\n\nCelebrate and Carry On\n\nOn July 25th, Toronto’s Globe and Mail published an opinion piece titled, The monarch butterflies are back (and so are the bees), which states that both monarch butterfly and bee populations have risen, despite the rise in pesticide use, and demeans the work of people working to restore the pollinator population. There are efforts in both Ontario (Got Milkweed Campaign, WWF,  St. William’s Monarch Conservation) and Mexico (Monarch Butterfly Fund, Forests for Monarchs) to restore the monarch butterflies’ habitat, and efforts around the world to save the bees (#Savethebees, Bees Matter, The Bee Cause, Help Save The Honeybee, SOS-Bees, Bring Back The Bees, Bee Saver Kit ). However, the numbers are still lower than they should be and there is no evidence that the bee population has reached a stable level as of yet.\n\nFigure 2. Agrawal Lab - Cornell University 2017\n\nConflicting Numbers\n\nSome researchers have noticed an increase in the monarch population. Researchers at Cornell University have been keeping an eye on the monarchs over the winter and recently published a study indicating their population over the winter of 2016-2017.  According to the study, the population “estimate is down some 27% compared to last year. Nonetheless, the previous two years were a 600% increase over the all-time low populations (from 2012 to 2014).” We need to celebrate this data, but it is important to recognize that the pollinator population still has a long way to go!\n\nWhat can you do?\n\nIt is important that we keep up the momentum to protect the pollinators, and there are lots of ways you can help!\n\n  1. Plant native species like milkweed, to support all pollinators including butterflies, bees, moths, hummingbirds and more.\n  2. Give up the use of pesticides and embrace the beauty of nature. Refrain from using chemical pesticides, as they infiltrate the water systems and destroy important resources for the local ecosystem.\n  3. Cut down your Ecological Footprint by walking, cycling, or talking public transportation to work and to fulfill your errands. You will cut down on carbon emissions, save money, and feel healthier.\n  4. Watch out for waste! Keeping greenspaces and waterways free of garbage prevents wildlife from eating garbage, and allows species to thrive in non-polluted environments.\n  5. Watch our “Biodiversity in Ontario” video to learn more about the importance of supporting biodiversity in Ontario, and how biodiversity benefits local tourism and the economy.\n  6. Support organizations working for pollinators:\n\n\nImage of Monarch and Bee obtained from One Green Planet website.\n\nLocal Chapter: \nRelated campaign:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9673832654953003}
+{"content": "A Buddha’s Head Hiding Inside a Tree in Thailand Continues to Amaze\n\nHelen Flatley\nFeatured image\n\nThe ancient ruined city of Ayutthaya is of one Thailand’s most famous attractions, and millions of tourists flock there every year to see the beautiful temples and palaces left behind by the rich Siamese kingdom.\n\nOne of the biggest attractions of the site, however, is not a lavish temple complex or a palace, but rather a single tree at the temple of Wat Mahathat. The reason is simple: look a little closer and it is possible to see the serene face of the Buddha gazing up from the aerial roots of this twisted banyan tree.\n\nBuddhas face in roots of trees Wat Mahathat Ayutthaya Thailand\n\nThe Buddha’s head is a major tourist attraction and is thought to be the most photographed object in the entire archaeological site. It certainly makes for an intriguing image: from the tangled roots of the ancient tree, the Buddha’s head peers out, appearing to emerge from the very bowels of the tree itself. No one knows for sure how it came to be there, and why it was deposited inside this tree in particular.\n\nBuddha’s head in tree roots at Wat Mahathat (Maha That) in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province, Thailand\n\nAyutthaya was established in c.1350, and soon emerged as the second capital of the flourishing kingdom of Siam. According to UNESCO, between the 14th and 18th centuries, this beautiful city was one of the most vibrant, cosmopolitan cities in the region, and operated as a center of global trade and commerce.\n\nAyutthaya’s success was partly down to its strategic location. Perched on an island surrounding three rivers that connect to the sea, it was easily defended from attack yet open to trade and diplomatic envoys. It was also protected from seasonal flooding, unlike many other settlements in the region. It’s no surprise that the city grew in importance and continued to flourish throughout the late medieval and early modern periods.\n\nRelated Video: 6 World Famous Land Marks Hiding Something From The Public\n\n\nThe wealth that flowed into Ayutthaya was channeled into important building projects. It is particularly well known for its tall reliquary towers, also known as prang, which have a distinctive conical shape and are set upon elaborately sculpted plinths.\n\nIn addition, the city was home to a number of lavish Buddhist monasteries. Buddhism plays a key role in Thai culture and history, and the ancient Siamese monarchy was a key patron of what became the state religion. According to the BBC, the city became known as a center for Thai Tantric Theravada, which was a mainstream form of Buddhism in Cambodia, Thailand and Laos.\n\nMahathat temple\n\nAyutthaya’s wealth permitted many grand monasteries and temples to be constructed, including Wat Mahathat, otherwise known as Temple of the Great Relic, at some time around the year 1374. This temple was one of the most important in the city, located next to the grand palace. It was known as a royal monastery, and the royal family took part in an annual procession to Wat Mahathat every year to make offerings and pray for prosperity.\n\nHowever, in the 18th century, disaster struck the city. The neighboring Burmese kingdom launched an incursion into Siam in 1767, and sacked Ayutthaya. The invaders razed the city to the ground, and inflicted a devastating blow to the local population, in addition to destroying much of the wealth, artifacts and historical records that were contained in the city.\n\nBuddhas head in Mahathat temple is covered by roots of a tree\n\nAccording to UNESCO, the temple of Wat Mahathat was looted and set on fire, and considerable damage was done to the monumental statues of the Buddha that adorned the temple and other buildings in the city. In this period, and in subsequent years, looters would remove the heads of these beautiful statues of the Buddha and carry them away to be sold.\n\nThis may provide some insight into why the head of the Buddha came to be in the banyan tree at Wat Mahathat. It may be that, at some point after 1767, an enterprising looter carried off the head, only to realize he could not take it away. He left it hidden in the banyan tree, but never came back to claim his prize. Over the years, the tree continued to grow around the head, and it now lies nestled in its roots.\n\nAyutthaya, Thailand June 3, 2017: Buddha’s head in tree Roots. the head was fell off the main body to the ground. It was gradually trapped in to the roots at Mahathat temple.\n\nWhatever the explanation, the Buddha’s head is one of the most intriguing and unusual sights at Ayutthaya, a site already rich in architectural and historical wonders.\n\nRead another story from us: China’s Unearthly Ghost Village Totally Overgrown by Vegetation\n\nUndoubtedly, this spectacular ancient city and its uniquely adorned tree will continue to attract photographers and tourists for many years to come.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9896335005760193}
+{"content": "Outbreeding Works in a Single Generation\n\n\nSince my wife and I are not related, I wondered how my inbred genome had transmitted to our daughter.\n\nUsing David Pike’s ROH utility, I computed the regions of homozygosity for my parents, me, my wife, and my daughter, all tested by 23andme.\n\nI used the default settings for the utility. The total Mb gives the total size in megabases of the long autosomal regions where both alleles are the same. The longest ROH gives the size of the longest such region. Percent Homozygous is the percentage of the genome where the two alleles are the same.\n\nI included the worst chromosome column because of my chromosome 9, which is beyond crazy. This column gives the percent homozygosity of the worst chromosome.\n\nPerson Total Mb Longest ROH (Mb) % Homozygous Worst chromosome (%)\nDad 297.45 57.4 72.498% 76.921%\nMom 112.13 22.99 70.662% 79.802%\nMe 402.78 71.38 73.588% 93.542%\nWife 37.33 9.64 70.003% 72.411%\nDaughter 42.40 8.82 69.936% 71.759%\n\nAs you can see, my Dad has higher levels of homozygosity than my Mom as expected and I have the highest levels. My wife is not inbred at all and our daughter has ROH results about the same as my wife. So one generation of marrying someone unrelated, even if from the same/similar ethnicity, has removed all the long runs of homozygosity bred over generations. Good news!\n\nFamily DNA Results\n\n\n\nDad Mom Sister Me Wife\nAfrican 0.56% 0.95% 0.96% 0.34% 0.00%\nAsian 8.68% 6.63% 8.00% 6.58% 10.18%\nEuropean 90.76% 92.42% 91.04% 93.09% 89.82%\n\nYou can basically use my wife as a sort of reference for Punjabi ancestry here (which is 3/4th of our ancestry too). Also, my wife and I are unrelated.\n\nAs you can see, while our results are close, my mom and sister have more African and I have the least.\n\nAnd here are the similarity numbers for us with different reference populations.\n\nDad Mom Sister Me Wife\nCentral & South Asians 67.13 67.09 67.05 67.12 67.12\nNorthern Europeans 66.97 66.92 66.92 66.91 66.94\nSouthern Europeans 66.97 66.88 66.92 66.90 66.85\nNear Easterners 66.85 66.76 66.81 66.79 66.72\nSiberians 66.59 66.50 66.48 66.52 66.77\nEastern Asians 66.52 66.41 66.42 66.45 66.70\nNorth Americans 66.48 66.40 66.38 66.44 66.69\nSouth Americans 66.46 66.37 66.40 66.40 66.76\nOceanians 66.39 66.41 66.39 66.35 66.62\nNorthern Africans 66.17 66.10 66.15 66.13 65.94\nEastern Africans 64.08 64.06 64.11 64.10 63.89\nSouthern Africans 63.96 64.00 64.06 64.00 63.77\nCentral Africans 63.93 63.93 64.00 63.97 63.74\nWestern Africans 63.91 63.91 63.97 63.94 63.70\n\nAs compared to my wife, we are closer to Africans and farther from Eastern Asians, Native Americans (who are really a branch of East Asians) and Oceanians.That’s expected because of the 25% Egyptian ancestry we have.\n\nFinally, here are our Dodecad Project results.\n\nDad Mom Sister Me Wife\nEast_European 4.96% 5.71% 4.59% 4.19% 6.28%\nWest_European 7.43% 9.59% 8.98% 8.97% 11.10%\nMediterranean 11.10% 9.28% 10.99% 9.24% 5.77%\nNeo_African 1.36% 1.12% 1.45% 1.15% 0.26%\nWest_Asian 23.86% 22.41% 22.88% 23.88% 19.81%\nSouth_Asian 33.94% 37.24% 33.15% 36.57% 45.64%\nNortheast_Asian 2.53% 1.64% 1.79% 1.95% 3.22%\nSoutheast_Asian 3.04% 2.85% 3.95% 2.61% 3.35%\nEast_African 1.86% 2.18% 3.06% 2.30% 0.00%\nSouthwest_Asian 7.49% 5.57% 5.75% 6.57% 4.56%\nNorthwest_African 1.90% 1.49% 2.32% 1.57% 0.00%\nPalaeo_African 0.53% 0.92% 1.10% 1.01% 0.00%\n\nSimilar results but interesting differences.\n\nDodecad Oracle\n\n\nSouth Asian 37.4%\nWest Asian 23.3%\nMediterranean 9.8%\nWest European 9.6%\nSouthwest Asian 6.2%\nEast European 3.5%\nSoutheast Asian 2.4%\nEast African 2.2%\nNortheast Asian 1.9%\nNorthwest African 1.5%\nNeo African 1.1%\nPalaeo African 1.0%\n\nDodecad also has a fun tool to check one’s results against different population averages. My closest populations are:\n\nPopulation Distance\n1 Pathan 7.2021\n2 Bene Israel Jews 8.6822\n3 Sindhi 10.0479\n4 Punjabi Arain 10.0926\n5 Kashmiri Pandit 10.5778\n6 Burusho 11.179\n7 Balochi 11.6705\n8 Brahui 13.0208\n9 Makrani 15.6735\n10 Cochin Jews 18.1403\n\nIf I make use of mixed mode, the tool tries to find a combination of two ethnic groups with differing percentages that fits my results best.\n\nTwo Population Mix Distance\n1 17.3% Palestinian + 82.7% Sindhi 3.0122\n2 17% Morocco Jews + 83% Sindhi 3.1181\n3 17.3% Palestinian + 82.7% Punjabi Arain 3.1228\n4 17.2% Egypt + 82.8% Punjabi Arain 3.1846\n5 82.9% Sindhi + 17.1% Egypt 3.288\n6 17% Lebanese + 83% Sindhi 3.4994\n7 16.7% Jordanians + 83.3% Sindhi 3.5238\n8 16.7% Jordanians + 83.3% Punjabi Arain 3.5608\n9 15.8% Samaritians + 84.2% Sindhi 3.6356\n10 16.9% Ashkenazi + 83.1% Sindhi 3.7077\n\nThis actually fits reasonably well with my actual ancestry (75% Punjabi + 25% Egyptian).\n\nPunjabi and What?\n\n\nAncestral Pop Average Punjabi Me My sister NSA1 NSA2\nSouth Asian 46% 38% 35% 7% 7%\nKalash 5% 5% 2% -1% 0%\nSoutheast Asian 1% 0% 1% 1% 1%\nSouthwest Asian 0% 10% 12% 43% 40%\nEuropean 11% 6% 7% -7% 0%\nPapuan 0% 0% 1% 2% 2%\nNortheast Asian 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%\nSiberian 2% 2% 2% 4% 3%\nEastern Bantu 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%\nWest African 0% 1% 2% 6% 6%\nEast African 0% 3% 3% 12% 11%\n\nAs you can see, the major difference between the Punjabis and me is my Southwest Asian and African percentages.\n\nNow, I know that a quarter of my ancestry is not South Asian. So let’s try to estimate the admixture percentages for that ancestry. Being three-quarters Punjabi (I think), let’s average my sister’s and my results and then subtract 3/4th of the average Punjabi results from them. Then, multiply by 4 and you get NSA1 in the table above, which is supposedly my non-South-Asian ancestor.\n\nSince some of the percentages are negative, I set those to zero and rescaled all the others so that they summed to 100%. That is NSA2.\n\nI computed the average admixture results for a bunch of reference populations. Let’s compare NSA1 and NSA2 to those populations.\n\nThe top five populations most similar to NSA1 are:\n\n  1. Yemenese\n  2. Jordanians\n  3. Palestinian\n  4. Egyptians\n  5. Syrians\n\nFor NSA2, we get the same five populations but the Egyptians and Palestinians exchange places.\n\nThis shows roughly that my quarter ancestry is most likely from the Middle East region of Egypt, Arabia or the Levant.\n\nLet’s look at it another way. If I know that I have Punjabi and Egyptian ancestry, I can use the average Punjabi and average Egyptian admixture percentages to calculate my percentage of both ancestries since that has to sum to 100%. So:\n\nZack = p * Punjabi + (1-p) * Egyptian\n\nAnd we solve for p using least squares.\n\nI got 81.3% Punjabi for myself and 75.8% for my sister. On average, that’s 78.5% Punjabi and 21.5% Egyptian, which is pretty close to our genealogical information.\n\nHarappa Clustering\n\n\nI am HRP0001 and my sister is HRP0035. As expected, we cluster together and then with a half-Sindhi half-Balochi guy and finally with all the Punjabis.\n\nSince I have a lot of reference populations in my data, I did the same cluster analysis using the average admixture results for each reference analysis. Here’s the section of the tree containing my sister and me.\n\nThis time we cluster with the Bene Israel, a Jewish tribe from Bombay, India, though our similarity with them is not that great. Then with the Punjabis, Sindhis and Pathan.\n\nDoing the same analysis with individual samples from my references,\n\nA weak clustering with Burusho!\n\nIf I use PCA (Principal Component Analysis) results to compute hierarchical clusters, you can see that I am an outlier among the South Asian participants.\n\nIf you look at my PCA coordinates, you’ll realize that among the 365 South Asians I used in the analysis, I am one of the five complete outliers.\n\nHowever, when I use model-based clustering on the PCA results, I end up in a really weird, loose cluster (CL9) with a Kashmiri, 5/21 Balochis, 2 Bene Israel Jews, 3/23 Brahui, 1/25 Burusho, 8/17 Makranis, 2/21 Pathans and 3/22 Sindhis. This is mostly a group of outliers and those who have some African admixture.\n\nMy Harappa Project Results\n\n\n\nMe My sister\nSouth Asian 37.9% 34.8%\nBalochistan/Caucasus 34.7% 34.2%\nSouthwest Asian 9.8% 12.3%\nEuropean 5.9% 7.2%\nKalash 4.5% 2.3%\nEast African 3.1% 3.0%\nWest African 1.4% 1.8%\nSiberian 2.4% 1.8%\nPapuan 0.2% 1.0%\nNortheast Asian 0.2% 0.3%\nSoutheast Asian 0.0% 1.3%\nEastern Bantu 0.0% 0.0%\n\nYou can see the results of all the participants in a spreadsheet or in a nice interactive bar chart. I am HRP0001 and my sister is HRP0035.\n\nInterestingly, both McDonald and 23andme ancestry painting show my sister to have more African admixture than me, but here I have about the same East African as her and even her West African percentage is only a tiny bit higher.\n\nTo figure out what these ancestral populations mean, do read the post about the reference population analysis.\n\n\nDavidski of Eurogenes is also a genome blogger. In his admixture analysis for West, South and Central Asians, I am PKEG1 and my results are as follows:\n\nEuropean 4%\nSiberian 1%\nCaucasus 32%\nSub-Saharan African 4%\nMiddle Eastern 9%\nEast Asian 1%\nSouth Asian 50%\n\nHere’s a chart showing some of the reference samples and Eurogenes participants closest to me. As initially sorted, the list goes from most similar to me to least similar from top to bottom.\n\n\nAs you can see, Pathans and Punjabi Jatts are most similar to me in their admixture results.\n\nEurogenes also did a supervised admixture analysis by choosing 11 reference populations as the ancestral populations. Here are my results:\n\nPathan + Sindhi 86.39%\nMiddle Eastern (Jordanian + Palestinian) 10.78%\nSub-Saharan African (Mandenka + Yoruba) 2.82%\nAnatolian + Caucasus (Armenian + Georgian) 0.00%\nNorth Slavic (Polish + Belorussian) 0.00%\nWestern/Southern European (French) 0.00%\nBalochi + Brahui + Makrani 0.00%\nBurusho 0.00%\nNorth Kannadi + Sakilli + Selected Gujarati 0.00%\nEast Asian (Han Chinese) 0.00%\nKoryak + Nganassan + Yakut 0.00%\n\nFrom these results, it doesn’t look like there is any Turkic, Turkish or Balkan ancestry in my past. I was also surprised at the really high Pathan + Sindhi percentage and the lack of so many of the others.\n\nDodecad Project II\n\nI talked about the Dodecad Project last time. Dienekes also did some cluster analysis using mclust.\n\nWhen he classified everybody into 48 clusters, I showed up almost all alone in cluster 21. Only one other member who is a Bihari Brahmin had a 50% chance of belonging in my cluster.\n\nWith 56 clusters, I am classified with 9 Sindhis (out of a reference population total of 24) and the same Bihari guy (who now has 99% chance of belongign in this cluster).\n\nIt looked like I was an outlier and when Dienekes tested for outlier data samples he found me among them.\n\nWith 64 clusters, I am again an outlier, though I am classified with a few Punjabis and 20/24 reference Sindhis and 10/22 reference Pathans. I am likely making their cluster not a good tight fit.\n\nFor 63 cluster analysis, the outlier status remains and the story is about the same as with 64 clusters.\n\nMore interesting was when Dienekes analyzed just South Asians. In his cluster analysis, I was classified with the 3 Punjabis in his project as well as the following reference population samples: 2 out of 25 Singapore Indians, 1 out of 24 Balochi, 18 out of 24 Sindhi, and 9 out of 22 Pathan.\n\nHis admixture results for me in this South Asian analysis were:\n\nPakistan 39.8\nIndian 22.4\nWest Asian 16.3\nDagestan 11.8\nEuropean 2.8\nNorth Kannadi 2.2\nSoutheast Asian 1.9\nIrula 1.8\nSiberian 1.1\n\nAn interesting pattern I have noticed is that my European admixture percentage is generally lower than other Punjabis. When the European is divided into North and South, I have less North European admixture than a typical Sindhi, Punjabi or Pathan but more South European than those groups.\n\nThe final analysis from Dodecad is a fun one:\n\nUsing Pakistani Punjabis from Xing et al. (2010) and Behar et al. (2010) Egyptians as references requires me to drop the number of markers to ~38k, but the result of the supervised ADMIXTURE analysis is 77.4% Punjabi and 22.6% Egyptian, which seems compatible with what he expected.\n\nBasically, Dienekes used only 25 Punjabis and 12 Egyptians as reference and then tried to estimate my proportion of these two populations. Of course, the assumption is that these two are my only ancestries. Interestingly, this is very close to what I expected. I plan to do this same analysis with several different reference populations and see what I get.\n\nDodecad Ancestry Project\n\n\nAncestral Component Percentage\nSouth Asian 44.9%\nWest Asian 33.7%\nSouthwest Asian 5.7%\nNorth European 5.5%\nSouth European 3.7%\nEast African 3.4%\nNorthwest African 2.1%\nWest African 0.6%\nEast Asian 0.4%\nNortheast Asian 0.1%\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMcDonald Ancestry Analysis II\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHere’s what he told me:\n\n\nThe spot on the map is far SW Pakistan.\n\nThe Pygmy is clearly a mistake!\n\n\nHere are my PCA plots:\n\nAnd here is my chromosome painting:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9625461101531982}
+{"content": "What is Ansible? Ansible is an open-source IT automation engine, which can remove drudgery from your work life, and will also dramatically improve the scalability, consistency, and reliability of your IT environment. We’ll start to explore how to automate repetitive system administration tasks using Ansible, and if you want to learn more, you can go much deeper into how to use Ansible with Cloud Academy’s new Introduction to Ansible learning path.\nWhat is Ansible and what can it automate?\nYou can use Ansible to automate three types of tasks:\n\nProvisioning: Set up the various servers you need in your infrastructure.\nConfiguration management: Change the configuration of an application, OS, or device; start and stop services; install or update applications; implement a security policy; or perform a wide variety of other configuration tasks.\nApplication deployment: Make DevOps easier by automating the deployment of internally developed applications to your production systems.\n\nAnsible can automate IT environments whether they are hosted on traditional bare metal servers, virtualization platforms, or in the cloud. It can also automate the configuration of a wide range of systems and devices such as databases, storage devices, networks, firewalls, and many others.\nThe best part is that you don’t even need to know the commands used to accomplish a particular task. You just need to specify what state you want the system to be in and Ansible will take care of it. For example, to ensure that your web servers are running the latest version of Apache, you could use a playbook similar to the following and Ansible would handle the details.\n\n– hosts: webservers\n   http_port: 80\n   max_clients: 200\n remote_user: root\n – name: ensure apache is at the latest version\n   yum: name=httpd state=latest\n – name: write the apache config file\n   template: src=/srv/httpd.j2 dest=/etc/httpd.conf\n   – restart apache\n – name: ensure apache is running (and enable it at\n\nView Entire Article on CloudStorageAcademy.com", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9816536903381348}
+{"content": "\n\nNature: Negative\nRuling planet: Mercury\nElement: Earth\nQuality: Mutable\nKey Phrase: I analyze\nKeywords: Analytical, Critical, Practical\nMain trait: Conscientiousness\nPrinciple: Discernment\nSymbol: The Virgin\nColours: Navy blue, Dark gray, Brown\nMetal: Mercury\nGem: Sardonyx\nLucky number: 3 and 5\nLucky Day: Wednesday\nTrees: Nut bearing trees\nFlowers: Small and colourful\n\nThe ruler of Virgo is Mercury. The glyph is said to be connected to the Immaculate Conception of the Messiah. It’s symbol “The Virgin” originated from the star Spica in the constellation of Virgo.\n\nThe Virgo character is precise, refined, and a lover of cleanliness, hygiene and order. Conventional, with a rather reserved manner.They are usually observant, shrewd, critical, and patient. Virgos are undemonstrative due to a coolness in their nature. Very selective, and non committal in friendship, they prefer to keep relationships on a superficial basis.\n\nPersonal Traits\n\nQuietly reserved, Virgos are polite and soft spoken people. Unassuming, outwardly cheerful and agreeable, they can be sensible, discreet, wise and witty, with an understanding of other people’s problems which they tackle with deftness. Virgos find their friends among those who can help them move up the social strata. They like to associate with achievers.\n\n\n\nPositive Traits\n\nTheir mental bend gives them the ability to analyze and solve the most complicated problems. Virgos have a wonderful eye for detail and often neglect the overall issues. Hard workers and conscientious, they are perfectionists with little tolerance for shoddy work. There is no place in their world for people who are footloose and fancy free.\nMore concerned with the outcome than the process, Virgos lack spontaneity.\n\nMain positve traits: Practical, analytical, neat, industrious, detailed.\n\nNegative Traits\n\nOn the negative side, Virgos have a penchant for turning molehills into mountains, difficulties into stress and cleanliness into obsessive behavior. There is a need to pay attention to health concerns, particularly those related to overt stress. Virgos are predisposed to worry and hypochondria.They can make themselves so useful to others, it often leaves them vulnerable to exploitation. They need to avoid being shy or inhibited when it comes to dealing with others interests as well as with their personal interests .\n\nMain negative traits: Fault -finding, cynical, shyness, perfectionist, worrying, critical of self/others.\n\n\nDue to the Virgo preference for detail rather than the big picture, they make better workers than they do leaders. They are practical, mental people, possessing inquiring and logical minds. In this respect, they make excellent students, and good teachers.Practical and good with their hands, they are excellent technicians and have good inventive talents.\n\nVirgos possess a strong potential for the arts, sciences and language. They are well suited for any career where analysis, detail and precision are required. They make excellent programmers, accountants, and statisticians. Many go into medicine, law, and the teaching profession. With an avid interest in history, some Virgos make excellent writers and researchers.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8017237186431885}
+{"content": "\n\n25.04.2006 14:29\n\nUploading binary files in bash cgi script\n\nToday I fixed the issue with my thinclients were I was unable to upload binary files (e.g. tar.gz) to my thinclient installation.\n\nIt's not very beautiful, but it works (I'm open for better solutions, so please send me e-mail if you know about a better solution to do this).\nif [ \"$REQUEST_METHOD\" = \"POST\" ]; then\n  cat >$TMPOUT\n\n  # Get the line count\n  LINES=$(wc -l $TMPOUT | cut -d ' ' -f 1)\n\n  # Remove the first four lines\n  tail -$((LINES - 4)) $TMPOUT >$TMPOUT.1\n\n  # Remove the last line\n  head -$((LINES - 5)) $TMPOUT.1 >$TMPOUT\n\n  # Copy everything but the new last line to a temporary file\n  head -$((LINES - 6)) $TMPOUT >$TMPOUT.1\n\n  # Copy the new last line but remove trailing \\r\\n\n  tail -1 $TMPOUT | perl -p -i -e 's/\\r\\n$//' >>$TMPOUT.1\n\nThis is necessary, because busybox's webserver (and maybe all others too) write four lines of content information at the beginning of the generated file and one line at the end as well as making a new line in the last line of the binary file causes the end of the last line to contain \"\\r\\n\" which is also subject to strip.\n\nIn my testings, I tried ten different binary files and always got the same md5sums after uploading, which means that this little shell script is likely to work.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.581777811050415}
+{"content": "Carrie Underwood in Concert\n\nCarrie Underwood in Concert\n\nDATE: Saturday, May 18th\nLOCATION: Rabobank Arena\n\n\nCarrie Underwood is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005. Her debut single, “Inside Your Heaven”, is the only country song to debut at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. Her debut album, Some Hearts, was released in 2005. Bolstered by the huge crossover success of the singles “Jesus, Take the Wheel” and “Before He Cheats”, it became the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history, the fastest-selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history and the best-selling country album of the last 16 years. Underwood won three Grammy Awards for the album, including Best New Artist.\n\n\nHer second album, Carnival Ride, followed in 2007. It had one of the biggest ever opening weeks by a female artist and earned Underwood two Grammy Awards. Her next album, 2009’s Play On, was a commercial success led by the single “Cowboy Casanova”. Underwood’s fourth album, Blown Away (2012), earned her a Grammy Award and was that year’s second best-selling release by a female artist. Her first compilation album (2014) was a chart and sales success and earned her a Grammy Award. Her fifth album, Storyteller (2015), made her the only country artist to have all first five studio albums reach either numbers one or two on the Billboard 200. With her sixth album, Cry Pretty (2018), she became the only woman to hit the top of the Billboard 200 chart with four country albums, and had both the biggest week for any album by a woman in 2018 and the best-selling solo female album of the year.\n\n\nOne of the most successful artists in any musical genre, Underwood has sold more than 65 million records worldwide. Recognized by Billboard as Country Music’s reigning Queen and by Rolling Stone as “the female vocalist of her generation of any genre”, she was listed by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2014. Underwood is the top country artist of all-time on the RIAA’s Digital Singles ranking and the highest certified country album artist to debut in the 21st century. She is the only solo country artist in the 2000s to have a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, the only country artist to debut at number one on the Hot 100, and the woman with most number-one hits in the history of the Billboard Country Airplay chart, with fifteen. She is the most successful American Idol winner, per Forbes. Billboard named Some Hearts the number-one country album of the 2000s, and her as the top female artist on their ‘Best Country Artists of the 2000s’ list. She has been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Grand Ole Opry, Oklahoma Hall of Fame, and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. She has received numerous awards and accolades, including seven Grammy Awards, ten Billboard Music Awards, fourteen ACM Awards, thirteen American Music Awards, nine CMA Awards, and a Guinness World Record.\n\nEvent Sponsors:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9996573328971863}
+{"content": "Dzi (pronounced Zee) is a Tibetan word used to describe a patterned, usually agate, of mainly oblong, round, cylindrical or tabular shape pierced lengthwise called Heaven's Bead (tian zhu) in Chinese. The meaning of the  Tibetan word \"Dzi\" translates to \"shine, brightness, clearness, splendour\". The beads originate in the Tibetan cultural sphere and can command high prices and are difficult to come by. It’s said to possess mysterious powers and bring good fortune to the wearer. Ancient and pure dZi beads of Tibet are extremely precious and rare. No matter how many or how few eyes they bear, all dZi beads possess the mystic power of bringing luck, warding off evil, stabilizing blood pressure, guarding against apoplexy and enhancing body strength. Owners and wearers of these beads are blessed with unexpected credit, luck and perfection They are found primarily in Tibet, but also in neighbouring Bhutan, Ladakh and Sikkim. Shepherds and farmers pick them up in the grasslands or while cultivating fields. Because dZi are found in the earth, Tibetans cannot conceive of them as man-made. Since knowledge of the bead is derived from oral traditions, few beads have provoked more controversy concerning their source, method of manufacture and even precise definition. This all contributes to making them the most sought after and collectable beads on earth. The most prized pure dZi, are generally beads with eyes or unusual decorations. A pure dZi may or may not have eyes. It can be opaque or partially translucent (In Tibet, translucent beads are usually valued lower). The most sought after base colour is an opaque dark brown to black.\n\nAbout three to four thousand years ago, a meteor from Mars crashed into the Himalayas. This led to the 14 different types of Mars elements in Dzi beads, with the element ytterbium possessing the strongest magnetic field. This is what gave rise to the mystic power of Dzi beads. Wearing Dzi beads in the long run can enhance our blood circulation and metabolism. It also improves our quality of sleep, revitalizes our body and balances foreign magnetic fields which may be harmful to us.\n\nPatterns on Dzi beads reflect Brahmanic teaching of ancient India, and are symbolic of the \"wulunfajieta\" beliefs. Each pattern bears a different meaning. Yet they are somewhat similar to the Taoist beliefs of Yin & Yang and the 5 elements as the fundamentals of life. Hence from the geomancy point of view, Dzi beads can improve one's luck and help to ease problems and worries. The five-element system views the human body as a microcosm of the universe with the tides of energy and emotions waxing and waning. These energies and emotions are stored in the visceral organs and move through specific pathways or meridians in the body in a regular and cyclical fashion.\n\nWhen these energies or emotions become blocked, or deficient or excessive through stress, trauma or disease, the five-element practitioner may use carefully controlled pressure on certain meridian points to help move the energy or emotions. This restores the natural cycle of energy and emotional movement, thus helping the person’s natural ability to heal.\n\nThere are five elements that operate to provide balance and structure to not only the world, but also our lives and bodies. These five elements are water, fire, metal, earth and wood. The philosophy behind the five elements and their use for healing purposes is that everything in the world is made up of a combination of them. Due to this interconnectivity, each and everything has certain characteristics that are linked to the elements. We can look at the body and how it ties into the elements and the way it works. The liver and the gall bladder are linked to the wood element, small intestines and the heart are connected to the fire element, spleen and the stomach to the earth, lungs and large intestine to metal and finally kidneys and bladder to the water element.\n\nWhen a large portion of the bead breaks off the Dzi stone bead is seen as being finished with its work. It is time for the bead to be retired and allowed to rest as its reward for all of the work it has done. To tell whether the bead qualifies to be considered broken, check to see if any portion of the bead’s symbols, lines, eyes, etc. have been broken into. If the bead’s symbols have been broken it is considered broken. If the symbols are in tact it is considered still viable.  The same applies for any crystal or gem stone. Usually the 'broken' stone is returned to the earth. Be grateful and give thanks for the work it has done.\n\nSupply and demand\nDue to the unknown origin and high demand of the beads, there has been unquestionable counterfeiting in Asia. Some are replicas created for decorative purposes, and accepted by the general public. In Chinese culture, a necklace is believed to be genuine if it was obtained without monetary exchange, for example from a temple. The other cultural requirement is that one should not request or bribe for it.\n\nThe pattern on the Dzi bead may not look exactly the same as in the pictures but will retain its main symbol and representation\nThe Tibetan Dzi has been cleansed of negative energy, however it is suggested that you cleanse then embed your own signature into your own personal Taworri. The energy of Dzi works through you by absorbing and holding any negative patterns. so that the negativity is not passed onto the next user it is important to follow the cleansing step. All crystals have similar energetic reactions. Care should be taken in how and with whom you share your crystals, Dzi beads, including your Taworri, Ejorri or Caorri.\n\nTibetan Dzi Stone Beads meanings and pictures\nTo Tibetans and other Himalayan people, the dZi is a \"precious jewel of supernatural orign\" with great power to protect its wearer from disaster. The Tibetan people believe dZi beads are spiritual stones fallen from Heaven which bring good karma to those who own them. The ancient Dzi absorbs cosmic energy from the universe. Tibetans generally believe that dZi beads are of divine origin and therefore not created by human hands. Some say they are dropped by the Gods to benefit those who have the good fortune to find them. Since they are believed to have a divine source, they are considered to be a very precious and powerful amulet. Beads can often be seen in Tibetan temples adorning the most revered statues and sacred relics. They are thought to bring good fortune, ward off evil, and protect the wearer from physical harm and illness. It has even been claimed by Tibetan refugees, that they protect the wearer from knife and bullet attacks!\n\nThis is an authentic old tibetan 9 eye dzi\nReputed to be the most powerful and prized of all Dzi beads, a 9-eyed Dzi is believed to be able to gather the Nine-Fold Merits & bring immense benefits & the most complete blessings. It helps gain power, glory, influence, fame & reputation. 9-eyed Dzi bead also brings windfall & speculative luck, attracts good fortune, promotes health luck, encourages growth of compassion, clears obstacles in your life journey, & offers protection against misfortunes & negativities.\n\ncurrently for sale on e-bay $888.00 USD\nThe 3 eyed Dzi bead represents the three stars of luck, happiness, honour, and longevity. It is the bead of wealth and health to bring continuous fortune.\nThe 4 eyed Dzi\nhelps to Overcome Negative Forces, Clears Obstacles, Increases Merits & Longevity, Subdue Demons.\nThe 5 eyed Dzi is considered a magical item and is highly sought after. It assists in obtaining whatever one desires, so it is a very desired bead. Endless happiness.\nThe 6 eyed Dzi eliminates sadness and sufferings in life, and increases access to good luck.\nThe 7 eyed Dzi helps one to Achieve Fame, Glory, Perfection, Career, Wealth, Relationship, and Health & Longevity.\nThe 8 eyed Dzi helps to guard against calamities and other catastrophes. Assists the owner in finding and staying on their proper path.\nThe 9 eyed Dzi bead assists its owner to Gather Wealth, Achieve Good Health, Success, to Gain Power, Compassion, Glory, and Expelling Evil and Acts as a Protector.\nThe 10 eyed Dzi removes obstacles in the road of career development, gains favorable comments on you from others, and omens a happy relationship with your spouse.\n\nthe 14 eyed Dzi picture is not available at this time\nThe 11 eyed Dzi helps to eradicate evil intentions and reduces craving, leading to a peace of the heart and mind.\nThe 12 eyed Dzi empowers one with the ability to surpass expectations and to attain fame and recognition.\nThe 13 eyed Dzi allows one to learn to communicate with the ancestors as well as other dimensions and all realities.\nThe 14 eyed Dzi helps to protect the mind from clutter and help with karma issues\n. The 15 eyed Dzi increases the wearer's wisdom, releases human suffering and brings forth general good fortune in human life.\n\nthe 16 eyed Dzi picture is not available at this time\n\nThe 16 eyed Dzi Brings back the humour in life. Reminds one that it is through play and joy that all things may be obtained. Helps to repel sadness, depression, melancholy, sorrowfulness, and the blues.\n\nThe 17 eyed Dzi can assist to improve the self image. It allows others to see you the way you see yourself in your unconscious mind. It protects owner from the images of others.\n\n\nThe 19 eyed Dzi enhances the owner's ability to manifest and materialize the necessary things in one's life.\n\nThe 20 eyed Dzi assists in purification. This Dzi can enhance owner's process of preparation for ending the cycle of rebirth. It is very rare.\n\nThe 21 eyed Dzi enhances your magic power, realizes what you desire to the maximum extent. It magnifies all the characteristics of the other beads and focuses them into one stone. It is very sought after.\nThe Vajra Mudra\nMudras are a silent language of self-expression. Mudra hand gestures are often used in yoga practice, meditation, and for healing purposes.\nStripe or Banded Dzi symbolises a life of comfort and fulfilment of all wishes. It has the ability to turn a difficult occasion into an auspicious one. Black line bands symbolize, luxury, comfort or lifestyle\nBell & Vajra or Dorje\nThe vajra is believed to represent firmness of spirit and spiritual power\nDorje Dzi Bead: Also referred to as the \"Dharma Dzi Bead\" or the \"Dorje & Diamond Dzi Bead\". The dorje is a sacred tool that Tibetans and Buddhists use to help them reach enlightenment. The Dorje assists in connecting to  the primordial Buddha (Christ, Mohammed or however you know the name). Dark blue in color, the Dzi expresses the quintessence of Buddha hood itself. It represents the essence of the historical Buddha's realization of enlightenment. In addition to assisting the owner in their realization of enlightenment. The \"Dorje Dzi Bead\" possesses special powers, immeasurable control and increases concentration.\nGaruda  or Mythical Bird Tibetan Dzi enhances fame and recognition luck; dispels bad luck; clears confusion, protects from danger; banishes evil spirits; alleviates sickness. Best for those seeking for high visibility from the surrounding people.\n\nGaruda A mythical bird half-man-half-bird.  Huge in size, and brighter than pure gold, its luster crosses the sun. Extremely heroic and brave in nature and a staunch enemy of evils and snakes. Also, he is the destroyer of poison . Garuda, mythical bird  gives the power to cure venom and poisonous effects.\n\nGaruda of Great Strength\nThe Garuda is one of the Four Dignities in Tibetan Buddhism and is a mythical animal who is daring and fearless. It possesses great power (more than 72 magical powers of the Monkey God) and great strength. Its greatest strength is to soar beyond without holding back. Garuda is invoked as a symbol of impetuous violent force, of speed, and of martial prowess. Because of its ability to help you fight negavities, it frees your mind from worries. It is also a potent cure for extremely bad situation where other feng shui cures are considered\nnot strong enough to counter such as the combination deadly afflictions combined in a certain sector. Garuda is an important antidote for killing energy and malevolent energies of that attacks a house due to bad feng shui or bad ground energy.\nThe mythical Garuda is a part of the ancestral culture of many countries including, Indonesia, Bali, India, nepal, Tibet and others.\nGaruda Airlines is the main Indonesia airline company and were a pleasure to travel on when I visited Indonesia and Bali\n\nHeaven and Earth Dzi bead\nthis dzi brings great wealth and prosperity for business\nFlawlessness, balance & harmony. All things auspicious, pacification of obstacles. Luck &  success. synchronization of heaven & earth, clarity, happiness & comfort, spiritual blessings, balances yin & yang, calmness & satisfaction. Evil repelling,Good grounding and meditative properties.\nRuyi dzi bead is also a well sought after item as it is a considered a sacred item & collectors want it for the purest and highest energy in these dzi beads.\n\nThe Ruyi pattern is generally found only on certain types of beads, for instance it will almost never be found on the number eyed beads. The Ruyi pattern is not commonly found amongst Dzi beads. Also, this Ruyi pattern is normally found only in older bead.\n\nHence, the Ruyi pattern symbolizes a sacred bead which normally being used by monks in temples or other altar ceremonies.\n\n5\" Tibetan 81 Eye Dzi Bead\nLength: 5\"\nDiameter: 3\"\nWeight: 985 grams or 2.2 lbs\n\nUSD $8,888.00 on ebay\nThis is an authentic old tibetan 81 eye dzi bead. The bead is estimated to be more than 200 year old. As can be seen from the photos, the bead has scaly markings on its body. The markings were due the passage of time and weathering. These markings give the bead a character of its own. It is believed that this dzi bead is able assist its owner in achieving the goals he has set for himself in life. It will also crystalize the path aheaad for him as well as guiding him in making the appropriate decisions to make. Equally important, it will help him to avert any misfortune/harm which may be lurking ahead of him. You wouldn't be able to find another dzi bead like this one anywhere else.\n\nKuan Yin (or Guan Yin, Kwan Yin)\n\"the patron deity of compassion\"\n\nIt is unfortunate that Buddhism's most enduring (and universal) contribution to the world has been insufficiently translated as compassion. The original Sanskrit word is 'karuna,' which holds within itself traces of the fragment 'ru,' meaning to weep. While the Oxford dictionary describes compassion as pity bordering on the merciful, karuna is actually our ability to relate to another in so intense a measure that the plight of the other affects us as much as if it had been our own.\nIt is frequently described as a love for all beings, equal in intensity to a mother's affection for her child. However, it is quite unlike conventional love (Sanskrit: priya, kama or trishna), which is rooted in dualistic thinking and is egoistic, possessive and exclusive, in contrast to the all-encompassing nature of compassion. The root meaning of karuna is said to be the anguished cry of deep sorrow and understanding that can only come from an unblemished sense of oneness with others.\n\nsource ref:\nThe Kuan Yin Dzi Bead is said to epitomize the essence of the Goddess Kuan Yin, also known as Chenrezig, the buddha of Compassion and Tibet's most revered Buddha. This Dzi will quickly assist the wearer to get out from poverty situations and also potect him/her from all physical and mental harm. This dzi is suitable for everyone.\n\nMedicine Beads\n\nThe medicine Beads assist the healing of the healer so that they may do more for humanity with greater clarity. It is believed that anxiety comes from knowing you have karma that you are not working off quickly enough. One function of the medicine beads is to assist with guilt the greatest disease and disease creator of all. Other functions of the Medicine Bead are to bring back the laughter and the lightness. Medicine Bead help to take care of some of the dreary mundane day to day requirements that healers are responsible for in their personal lives so that their thoughts may be with healing of humanity. If one seeks to use the power of the medicine Dzi bead merely to shirk their responsibilities it will backfire and cause havoc with the persons life. It will also garner severe karma. Before aligning oneself with the medicine Bead one should search their self and know where their ego is at. They should also be sure that their heart is open and flowing freely with life and love.\n\nTiger Tooth Dzi instills confidence, courage and strength to overcome setbacks; dispels fear; boosts determination; helps one concentrate and make important decisions; banishes evil spirits and negativities; cultivates righteousness.\n\n\n  Sau Dzi (Fortune & Longevity Dzi)  \n  promotes a long and healthy life; protects\n  against diseases or accidents which\n  leads to premature death.\n\nHis Holiness The Dalai Lama said:\n\"Thus the six syllables, Om Mani Padme Hum, mean that in dependence on the practice which is in indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech and mind into the pure body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.\"\n\nThe Mani mantra is the most widely used of all Buddhist mantras, and open to anyone who feels inspired to practice it.\nThe benefits of reciting OM MANI PADME HUM are like the infinite sky. Depending on how perfectly qualified one’s mind is and on one’s motivation, even reciting OM MANI PADME HUM one time can purify negative karma.\n\nOm Mani padme Hum written in Tibetan Script (also written on the prayer wheel above)\n\nReading from left to right the syllables are:\nOm (ohm) Ma (mah) Ni (nee) Pad (pahd) Me(may) Hum (hum)\nJewel of Enlightenment is in the Heart Lotus\nEnlightenment is in the Heart Chakra\nEnlightenment through Love\n\nThe basic English translation of Om mani padme hum is \"Om Jewel in the Lotus Hum\" or \"Praise to the Jewel in the Lotus.\" However, the meaning and significance of the six Tibetan syllables have been interpreted in a variety of ways. One common interpretation is that each syllable corresponds to one of the six realms of existence and purifies the vice associated with that realm:\n•Om purifies bliss and pride (realm of the gods)\n•Ni purifies passion and desire (human realm)\n•Pad purifies ignorance and prejudice (animal realm)\n•Hum purifies aggression and hatred (hell realm)\n\nIt has also been said that recitation of each of the syllables prevents rebirth in the corresponding realm.\n\nLightning Dzi is similar to the the Dzi, 5 eye (assists in obtaining whatever one desires), with the addition of thunder to expedite rolling in of these attributes with wealth. The Lightning Thunder Bolt helps to destroy ingnorance\nGaele Arnott\non behalf\nCircles of Life International\nJag or Rupunda \n(Malcolm Humphreys 1945 -2007)\n\nGaele Arnott\nPO Box 2368, Ascot, Qld., 4011 Australia\nmobile phone:  + 61 (0) 407 988 405\nemail: gaele.arnott@gmail.com", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.890979528427124}
+{"content": "news via\n\nHhugBoy Git (2013/05/30) is compiled. HhugBoy is a Game Boy (Color) emulator for Windows, based on GEST v1.1.1 by TM, with added support for unlicensed mappers, Unicode filenames, screenshots and some other stuff. Released under GPL v2.\n\nHhugBoy Git Changelog:\n- Sound pitch\n- moved some more stuff\n- moved some more crap around", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9952622652053833}
+{"content": "Learners of the Week ending 9th November\n\n\nLouis and Tom -  On our trip to Truro Museum on Thursday both Louis and Tom were utterly fascinated by everything they saw.  Not only were they fully immersed in the WW2 evacuee workshops, but also in all the other areas of the museum too.  They look really closely at the different artifacts, asked questions about different pieces and showed a real keenness to find out more about the past.  Louis even said \"I love this kind of learning.!\"  It was a real pleasure to have Louis and Tom in my group (Mrs Dyer's) and I thank them for sharing their enthusiasm with the others.\n\nWilliam, Harry and Noah - These 3 boys amazed Mrs Dyer with their wonderful maths problem solving this week.  They worked incredibly hard together for quite a long period of time, challenging their ideas and thinking. They came up with their own unique but successful method of working and each could explain what they had done and why.  A real team effort with a fantastic result.  Well done boys.\n\n\n\nOllie H - for practising the virtue of perseverance. I've been so impressed with how determined Ollie is to improve his handwriting. He has persevered with it and is now joining his letters successfully during handwriting lessons, well done Ollie, keep it up.\n\nEllie - for her enthusiasm this week, she has enjoyed every single lessons and has always done her very best. I'm so proud of you for working so hard and for approaching every task with joy and enthusiasm.\n\nMax -  for his diligence this week. He puts 100% into every thing he does and is a role model to others in his determination to do his best. Well done Max, keep it up!\n\n\n\nGracie & IsabelThe girls showed great determination when completing a maths task. They worked together to create many different potions; they were able to choose different ingredients that total 10ml. The girls were able to tell us what would happen if you drank their potions. We particularly liked their snake dancing potion. Fantastic team work girls, well done!\n\nAlby & ElijahThe boys showed great enthusiasm and commitment when working together to solve a maths task. The boys had to work out how many different outfits a teddy bear could wear. We were very impressed by the way they used multilink cubes to work out the different possibilities and then they recorded their ideas independently. Thank you for your efforts boys, well done.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9825690984725952}
+{"content": "6.1. model\n\nIt provides CO2MPAS architecture model.\n\nIt contains a comprehensive list of all CO2MPAS software models and sub-models:\n\nphysical It provides CO2MPAS model to predict light-vehicles’ CO2 emissions.\nselector It contains functions to compare/select the CO2MPAS calibrated models.\n\n\nmodel Defines the CO2MPAS model.\nselect_calibration_data Updates cycle inputs with the precondition outputs.\nselect_prediction_data Selects the data required to predict the CO2 emissions with CO2MPAS model.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9928311705589294}
+{"content": "Amazon error allowed Alexa user to eavesdrop on another home\n\nAmazon error allowed Alexa user to eavesdrop on another home\n\nFrankfurt: A user of Amazon's Alexa voice assistant in Germany got access to more than a thousand recordings from another user because of \"a human error\" by the company.\n\n\n\"This unfortunate case was the result of a human error and an isolated single case,\" an Amazon spokesman said on Thursday.\n\n\n\"We resolved the issue with the two customers involved and took measures to further optimize our processes. As a precautionary measure we contacted the relevant authorities\", the Amazon spokesman added.\n\nOn the recordings, a man and a female companion could be overheard in his home and the magazine was able to identify and contact him through the recorded information, according to the report.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.997546911239624}
+{"content": "Aaron Tomb on crowd-sourced formal verification\n\n |   |  Conversations\n\nAaron Tomb portrait Aaron Tomb is a Principal Investigator at Galois, where his work includes research, development, and project leadership in the area of automated and semi-automated techniques for analysis of software, including type systems, defect detection tools, formal verification, and more general software development tools based on deep analysis of program semantics. He joined Galois in 2007, and received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz on a technique for identifying inconsistent assumptions in software source code.\n\nLuke Muehlhauser: DARPA’s Crowd Sourced Formal Verification (CSFV) program “aims to investigate whether large numbers of non-experts can perform formal verification faster and more cost-effectively than conventional processes.” To that end, the program created Verigames.com, the home of several free online puzzle games.\n\nYour contribution to Verigames is Stormbound. In a blog post, your colleague Jef Bell explains:\n\nHere’s a high level view of how StormBound works, from the [formal verification] perspective. First we figure out the properties of the system we want to prove…\n\nBased on our knowledge about the common sources of errors we are trying to prevent, we select certain code points in the program source code where we need to check that a property we care about is in fact true…\n\nUnfortunately, in a typical program there are a lot of these code points, and it is not always easy to find the exact property that needs to hold at each point. It turns out this is where StormBound players can help, so bear with me as I explain how…\n\nWe run the system a whole bunch of times in a variety of scenarios that are intended to exercise the system as it would be exercised in real-world use. As we run the system all these times, we collect snapshots of the data that is in the computer’s memory, every time the program gets to one of the code points we identified.\n\nThis provides us with a large collection of examples of the data in the computer’s memory. Now, we want to identify some things in common about the data at each code point, every time that same code point is reached while running the program. These things in common are in fact the kinds of properties we are looking for. And here’s an important bit: it turns out that computers aren’t always good at finding these “things in common,” but human beings are very adept at finding patterns, especially visual patterns.\n\nThis is where the StormBound game comes in. Each game level actually consists of the data that was in memory all the times a particular code point was reached. When you play a level, you are looking for common patterns in that data. The game shows you the data (in what we think is a fun and visually appealing form), and allows you to “experiment” with the data in various ways, to help you to find those common patterns. The spells you cast in StormBound describe the patterns. In the [formal verification] world we call these spells assertions. We combine together the assertions discovered by many players of the same game level, which enables the [formal verification] tools we use to prove the truthfulness of the desired properties at the corresponding code point.\n\nRoughly how many players have played StormBound so far? Have they yet found anything that you expect would have been very difficult for an automated search algorithm to find?\n\nAaron Tomb: At this point we’ve had thousands of players, who have collectively described over 100,000 patterns (which ultimately become logical assertions about program states). The game that is available for play at the moment is the first of two phases, and allows players to describe a relatively restricted class of assertions. And, in general, the assertions we have gathered during this first phase have been relatively simple, and likely discoverable using automated techniques. However, having the current iteration of the game available to a wide range of players has taught us a lot about what keeps players engaged (or causes them to lose interest), and has also allowed us to develop an understanding of the sorts of results that we need to get from players but that aren’t encouraged (or, in a few cases, possible) with the current interface. We are using this information to design a second version that we expect will yield richer results beyond what automated tools would be likely to produce.\n\nLuke: Makes sense. That’s standard Silicon Valley wisdom: launch a minimum viable product, learn, iterate quickly, etc.\n\nHow would you know whether Stormbound, or even CSFV altogether (if you were running it), had succeeded or failed? Presumably there’s a substantial chance that crowd-sourced formal verification assistance can’t really work with anything like current verification techniques and problems?\n\nAaron: I can’t speak for DARPA about how they plan to measure the success of the program, but I can say something about how we can know when we’ve successfully verified a particular piece of software. One advantage of typical verification techniques is that there’s a fairly clear measure of completion. Verification tools often accept program source code plus some statement of desired properties of the code. The tools will then attempt to prove, usually automatically, that the code does indeed have those properties. If they succeed, there’s a high probability (not 100%, because the tools may have bugs, themselves) that the code has the desired properties.\n\nStormBound is structured to generate annotations for C code that are sent to a sophisticated tool called Frama-C. Those annotations are combined with some built-in definitions that describe the absence of common security vulnerabilities. By using Frama-C, StormBound is already working with state-of-the-art verification techniques. Our target programs are large pieces of open source software critical to internet infrastructure, so we’re also working with real-world problems.\n\nA key question is then: can StormBound generate the necessary annotations to allow verification to succeed? In the first phase, we’ve found that players have come up with some useful annotations, but have missed others that would be necessary for a complete proof. In the second phase, we’ll be updating the game to include significantly more context about the ultimate verification goal, in game-oriented terms, and we expect that this will lead more players toward constructing solutions that give significant verification progress.\n\nLuke: You write that “Our target programs are large pieces of open source software critical to internet infrastructure…”\n\nDo you have any opinion as to whether formal verification would have been likely to catch the Heartbleed bug in OpenSSL?\n\nAaron: Yes, any sound verification tool capable of proving the absence of undefined behavior in C, such as Frama-C, would have failed to prove that OpenSSL was safe. Depending on the tool being used, that proof failure may or may not help you identify the nature of the bug, but it would at least indicate that some bug of some sort exists, and something about its rough location. John Regehr, a Computer Science professor at the University of Utah, wrote a nice blog post on the topic, which specifically mentions using Frama-C to do the verification.\n\nThe key complication is that, in order to prove that such bugs don’t exist, tools like Frama-C require a lot of extra information from the programmer (or from game players, in the case of StormBound), encoded as annotations in the source code. In general, the effort required to create those annotations can exceed the time taken to write the program in the first place, and the process requires familiarity with verification tools, which is not widespread. We hope that StormBound will be able to significantly reduce the necessary effort and expertise, to the point where it becomes practical.\n\nLuke: What’s your current guess as to how general the CSFV of 5-10 years from now will be? How broad a range of verification challenges might they conceivably be applied to, once they are substantially more fully developed than they are in these early days?\n\nAaron: A lot can happen in 5-10 years, so my answer to this is very speculative, and just reflects my own opinions, not those of DARPA or even the rest of the StormBound team.\n\nIn the last decade, there has been significant progress on tools for interactive construction of mathematical proofs that can be reliably checked by computers for correctness. Some very general and robust tools such as ACL2, Coq, Isabelle and PVS have arisen from this research. (Most of them were initially created even earlier than the last decade, but the approach has become significantly more widespread recently.) These tools have been used for significant undertakings in software verification, as well as general mathematics, resulting in successful proofs that would simply be infeasible to do (correctly) by hand. However, these tools are time-consuming to use for proofs about realistic software systems, and require rare expertise.\n\nThe design approaches we have been considering for next revision of StormBound borrow significantly from the technical underpinnings of these interactive theorem provers, and the resulting game should, as a result, be quite general. While the tentative design builds on these ideas, it presents them through a very different interface than that used by existing tools, and we hope that will allow people without the same level of mathematical background to prove at least some theorems.\n\nThe key unknown, at the moment, is how well players without mathematical background will be able to develop the intuition necessary to make progress. The current design sketches focus heavily on using visual pattern recognition in place of standard mathematical reasoning techniques in many places, but proofs of typical mathematical theorems still tend to rely on deep insight based on years of experience. At the same time, the proofs necessary to verify some basic security properties of software are often much less intricate than those that mathematicians spend their time on.\n\nSo, to finally get to the answer, I could see several possible results the next decade. We could have a significantly different interface to interactive theorem provers that may make expert users more efficient. An even more exciting possibility, though, is that we could have a system that allows non-experts to take a stab at proving essentially any mathematical theorem simply by recognizing patterns and applying a few relatively simple rules. In either case, the I expect that the results will be more general than simply proving security properties about software.\n\nLuke: Thanks, Aaron!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8513764142990112}
+{"content": "Guardian’s Awakening\n\nGuardian’s Awakening: Tane is the beta in his team of superheroes–the muscle who lets his team do the thinking. He and his friends defend their small town on the Atlantean Isles from the experimental robots of a neighboring mad scientist, earning enough bounty to live on.\n\nWhen Tane discovers a mysterious gem that threatens to take over his mind, he accidentally drags his friends into becoming the crew of the mysterious Mercury Island. In addition, the island accepts Tane as its Guardian, making him the leader of the group. This sparks a cascade of conflicts between himself and the previous leader, Sebastian, who doubts and questions Tane at every turn. To make matters worse, they discover that a girl lies in stasis deep within the island–and she is the most powerful super of all.\n\nNow Tane is in deeper and deeper trouble as the girl’s powers awaken, attracting the attention of supervillains and monsters alike. But she is the key to making Mercury Island fly again.\n\nTane has only begun to grow into his Guardian role, but his enemies–and allies–may kill him first.\n\nAvailable on:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9973844885826111}
+{"content": "sciatica chiropractor\n\nHow Your Chiropractor Can Treat Sciatica?\n\nA sciatica chiropractor is regularly used in the treatment and management of sciatica. Sciatica is associated with pain that is generated in the lower back and travels to the legs.\n\nWhile nerve pain linked to sciatica varies in intensity and frequency, it is often quite debilitating. On top of nerve pain, sciatica can cause burning, numbness, or tingling in the back and legs.\n\nUltimately, sciatica is merely a symptom of a larger ailment: sciatic nerve compression. Disorders of nerve compression can be best worked on through regular chiropractic sessions, the details of which will be outlined here.\n\nThe disorders associated with sciatic nerve compression\n\nSciatic nerve compression can be caused by such conditions as misaligned vertebrates—such as lumbar spine subluxations—and herniated or bulging discs. Additionally, pregnancy and childbirth can regularly cause nerve compression in the lower back.\n\nAside from spinal disorders, a few medical conditions can generate sciatic nerve compression, as diabetes and regular constipation can precipitate sciatica.\n\nPerhaps the most common cause of sciatic nerve compression is piriformis syndrome. The piriformis muscle is situated in the lowest part of the spine, and it can be particularly vulnerable to falls, hip arthritis, or physical abnormalities.\n\nThese conditions will result in cramping and spasms that will eventually lead to a pinched sciatic nerve.\n\nA sciatic chiropractor can help trigger the body to heal itself, which is usually aided by a chiropractor providing an improved spinal range of motion. Restricted spinal movement leads to pain and a reduction in the ability to heal the area.\n\nDiagnosis and treatment of sciatica\n\nThe first step in the treatment of sciatic pain is the diagnosis of the root cause. This step can be completed by a chiropractor reviewing the patient’s medical history, as well as conducting a physical and neurological examination.After a diagnosis is concluded, a proper form of treatment can then be applied. A sciatic nerve treatment plan will typically include such staples as ice therapy, muscle stimulation therapy, and spinal adjustments.\n\nIce therapy provides a reduction in inflammation, which usually helps control sciatic nerve pain. Electric muscle stimulation therapy helps to reduce pain associated with muscle spasms, as muscle stimulation therapy causes muscles to contract by transmitting a small electrical current to a certain area of the body.\n\nThe foundation of chiropractic care is spinal adjustments. By correcting the position of the spinal column, the nerve’s susceptibility to inflammation, muscle spasms, pain, and other basic symptoms will be dramatically reduced.\n\nSpinal adjustments are non-invasive and not painful, and they should be a primary treatment adopted by patients battling sciatica.\n\nFinal thoughts\n\nUltimately, sciatica should be combated with the care of sciatica chiropractors, first and foremost. While diagnosis remains the first step in formulating a proper treatment plan, a variety of approaches will be adopted by the chiropractor, including spinal adjustments, ice therapy, and muscle stimulation therapy.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9190167188644409}
+{"content": "Govt Decides to Use NADRA Database to Identify Tax Evaders\n\nThe government has decided to use data from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to detect tax evaders from the next month.\n\nThis was disclosed by the Finance Minister Asad Umar while speaking at the ‘Leaders in Islamabad Business Summit.’\n\nThe finance minister said that the government has decided to use technology to nab the tax evaders and plug loopholes in the system. He further stated, “The data of persons registered with NADRA will be available next month. Evaders, we are coming after you. You will have to pay tax.”\n\nAsad said that the government is trying to increase the tax revenue by going after the tax evaders and bringing institutional reforms in the tax collection system.\n\nA five-member committee has been formed and it interviewed to appoint secretary finance for the first time and a name has been sent to the Prime Minister for approval.\n\nThe government is encouraging overseas Pakistanis to come back and contribute in the development of the country, he said, while adding that the government has appointed heads of ZTBL and NIT who were overseas Pakistanis without political interference.\n\nTalking about the Small and Medium Enterprises, Umar informed the audience that the government is extending discounted credit to the SMEs to make the credits accessible and the government has also incentivized banks for it.\n\nSpeaking on the occasion, Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce, Industries and Textile, Abdul Razaq Dawood said that there had been de-industrialization during the last ten years that resulted in the increase of imports and a significant decrease in the exports.\n\nThe government has been working to revive the industry besides taking measures to reduce the imports, he said, adding that the SMEs are a major source of employment and government is working to form SME strategy with the cooperation of the private sector.\n\nDawood said that the government will enhance financing and reduce duties for the SME sector, adding that there are problems in procurement for the SME sector and the government will change rules to bring improvement in this regard.\n\n“We need to change rules regarding commercial restrictions for exports and the government will bring a change in the budget in June this year,” he added.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8059309124946594}
+{"content": "Itakura Katsushige\nKatsushige Itakura\nItakura Katsushige 板倉勝重 - Chapter 7 - 001\nFirst appearance Ryū Ga Gotoku: Kenzan!\n\n\nItakura (1545 – 1624) was a Japanese daimyou. He fought on the side of Ieyasu Tokugawa at the Battle of Sekigahara. He served in the Tokugawa shogunate as the second Kyoto Shoshidai, holding office in the period spanning the years from 1601 through 1620.\n\nIn the game, he is a visiting dignitary to Gion 祇園. Apparently he doesn't like Gion so it seems a bit strange that he is visiting. Hon'ami Kouetsu 本阿弥光悦 surmises that it is because he is here to meet someone in secret. Kouetsu shows Kiryuu Kazumanosuke 桐生一馬之介 and Itou Ittousai 伊東一刀斎 the list of attendees to a shebang at the Tsuruya held in Itakura's name. There are two names that stand out. Sasaki Kojirou 佐々木小次郎 and Marume Nagayoshi 丸目長恵. Itou and Kiryuu come up with a plan to meet their nemisi.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8845409750938416}
+{"content": "Peopling of North America\n\n\nThe diverse and complex history of North American peoples before Columbus is a story that is under-remembered; it deserves its place in American history.\n\nEarly European colonists in North America often thought that Native Americans and their works were products of the “Lost Tribes of Israel” or other migrants from the known world of Europe and the Mediterranean. Until relatively recently, the writers of American history only mentioned them in passing as a supplement to the founding of the United States and its expansion across North America.\n\nThis “Whig” history, as it is known, (the first U.S. historians were “Whigs,” people who supported the revolution against Britain), dominated American history well into the twentieth century and can still be found in some circles today. This is a very ethnocentric history; which is to say, it is written from a viewpoint that sees cultures other than the expanding, white male-dominated, Anglo-Saxon culture of the early republic using the value-system of that culture.\n\nIndian cultures, (the name itself reflects European ignorance), were seen as inferior because they did not have institutions familiar to the Europeans. Colonists used a “description-by-deficiency” when they wrote of indigenous Americans. Ethnocentrism, then, is looking at other cultures and using one’s own culture to evaluate it, thus creating what many scholars have come to call, “The Other.”\n\nSince the late nineteenth century and the rise of the science of anthropology, scholars have made greater efforts – albeit painstakingly slow – to see indigenous peoples on their own terms. Cultural Relativity is a term that means using a culture’s own value system to analyze it.\n\nFor example, some indigenous Americans, when gathered together on special occasions like holiday gatherings of extended families at, say, the Sundance Ceremony of the northern plains, prepare dog meat for special ceremonial dinners. This is not unlike the practice of eating a turkey at Thanksgiving among the dominant culture. People born into this dominant culture would likely be repelled by the practice of eating dog meat. But the practice cultural relativity would mean asking if there is a particular reason why dog meat is consumed.\n\nBy reaching across the cultural gap and trying to understand what is happening within the unfamiliar culture, one would learn that it is traditional in indigenous American societies to assume that the traits of the animals one eats are imbued to those who eat them. What might one imbue from eating a dog in this context? One of the primary traits dogs exhibit is loyalty. So when an extending family comes together on a special holiday they eat food that imbues loyalty among the group, a characteristic that can be appreciated by all humans.\n\nThe Prehistory of North America\n\nThe effort to see history through culturally relative eyes has resulted in a clearer understanding of the richness of indigenous American culture before colonization. Anthropologists and archaeologists have found solid evidence that human beings came to North America at least 15,000-20,000 BP (Before Present), and some evidence suggests much further back than that, perhaps up to 50,000 BP. Certainly, since the Pleistocene Era (Ice Age) has subsided (ca. 12,000 BP), humans have been flourishing in the Americas, building sophisticated societies and pursuing continent-wide trade.\n\nThe Pleistocene Era saw the advance and retreat of the polar ice sheet into North America numerous times. The last time it advanced roughly to the southern edge of the Great Lakes is known as the Wisconsin Glaciation which ended roughly 12,000 BP. With all of this water tied up in the ice sheet, sea levels were lower, and there was a land bridge between Alaska and Siberia scholars refer to as “Beringia.”\n\nThe archaeological evidence shows that by this time there was a cultural group anthropologists refer to as the “Dyukhtai” that could be found in both modern-day Siberia and Alaska. This was the cultural group that began a migration from the Old World to the New by way of Beringia. Scholars generally consider this to be the primary route for the original discoverers of America.\n\nAs the ice sheet retreated, these people followed large animals, or megafauna, southward down the High Plains just east of the Rocky Mountains where an ice-free corridor had formed. They found their way to the lands south of the ice sheet, spread out and modified their cultures to meet existing conditions. As North America gradually warmed up, these cultures became increasingly diverse in response to the increasing variety of environmental conditions south of the ice sheet.\n\nThese differences are both complex and vague because we have only the archaeological record and techniques such as dendrochronology to acquire and evaluate evidence. But a general picture emerges that can be broken down into a kind of chronological map of cultural evolution in North America.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5091893076896667}
+{"content": "July 26, 2017\n\nA Trump Tower of Absolute Folly\n\nRoss Douthat – The New York Times:\n\nBut he is nonetheless clearly impaired, gravely deficient somewhere at the intersection of reason and judgment and conscience and self-control. Pointing this out is wearying and repetitive, but still it must be pointed out.\n\nYou can be as loyal as Jeff Sessions and still suffer the consequences of that plain and inescapable truth: This president should not be the president, and the sooner he is not, the better.\n\nNo wild-eyed liberal, Douthat.\n\nAt what point did we pass the tipping point for the American Right, or have we? And if we have, where are their goddamned voices? If Ross Douthat, a conservative, can write these words in The New York Times, why cannot men and women of greater standing speak them from the United States Congress, governor’s mansions, and statehouses? What greater allegiance do they have than to our Constitutions, federal and state? A set of party policies? They’re not even winning on them!\n\nRome is burning, people.\n\n#Trump #fraud #impeachment #impairment", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9882954359054565}
+{"content": "Exodus 25:10; Exodus 26:33; Exodus 40:3; Exodus 40:21; Revelation 11:19\n\nThe Ark of the Covenant\n\n10 cThey shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits1 and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.\n\n33 And you shall hang fthe veil from the clasps, and bring hthe ark of the testimony in there within the veil. And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy.\n\nAnd you shall put in it the ark of the testimony, and you shall jscreen the ark with the veil.\n\n\n19 Then bGod's temple in heaven was opened, and cthe ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings,1 peals of thunder, an earthquake, and dheavy hail.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9958746433258057}
+{"content": "What is the Spot Exchange Rate?\n\nA spot exchange rate is the price to exchange one currency for another for delivery on the earliest possible value date. Although the spot exchange rate is for delivery on the earliest value date, the standard settlement date for most spot transactions is two business days after the transaction date.\n\nUnderstanding the Spot Exchange Rate \n\nThe spot exchange rate is best thought of as how much you would have to pay in one currency to buy another at this moment in time. The spot exchange rate is usually decided through the global foreign exchange market where currency traders, institution and countries clear transactions and trades. The forex market is the largest and most liquid market in the world, with trillions of dollars changing hands daily. The most actively traded currencies are the U.S. dollar, the euro — which is used in many continental European countries including Germany, France, and Italy — the British pound, the Japanese yen and the Canadian dollar.\n\nTrading takes place electronically around the world between large, multinational banks. Other active market participants include corporations, mutual funds, hedge funds, insurance companies and government entities. Transactions are for a wide range of purposes, including import and export payments, short- and long-term investments, loans and speculation.\n\nSome currencies, especially in developing economies, are controlled by the government that sets the spot exchange rate.\n\nKey Takeaways\n\n  • The spot exchange rate is the market rate for changing one currency for another.\n  • Generally, the spot rate is set by the forex market, but some countries actively set or influence spot exchange rates.\n  • Currency traders follow spot exchange rates to identify trading opportunities.\n\nSpot Exchange Rate Transactions\n\nFor most spot foreign exchange transactions, the settlement date is two business days after the transaction date. The most common exception to the rule is the U.S. dollar vs. the Canadian dollar, which settles on the next business day. Weekends and holidays mean that two business days is often far more than two calendar days, especially during the Christmas and Easter holiday season.\n\nOn the transaction date, the two parties involved in the transaction agree on the price, which is the number of units of currency A that will be exchanged for currency B. The parties also agree on the value of the transaction in both currencies and the settlement date. If both currencies are to be delivered, the parties also exchange bank information. Speculators often buy and sell multiple times for the same settlement date, in which case the transactions are netted and only the gain or loss is settled.\n\nSpot Market\n\nThe foreign exchange spot market can be very volatile. In the short term, rates are often driven by news, speculation and technical trading. In the long term, rates are generally driven by a combination of national economic fundamentals and interest rate differentials. Central banks sometimes intervene to smooth the market, either by buying or selling the local currency or by adjusting interest rates. Countries with large foreign currency reserves are much better positioned to influence their domestic currency's spot exchange rate.\n\nHow to Execute a Spot Exchange\n\nThere are a number of different ways in which traders can execute a spot exchange, especially with the advent of online trading systems. The exchange can be made directly between two parties, eliminating the need for a third party. Electronic broking systems may also be used, where dealers can make their trades through an automated order matching system. Traders can also use electronic trading systems through a single or multi-bank dealing system. Finally, trades can be made through a voice broker, or over the phone with a foreign exchange broker.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9154624938964844}
+{"content": "View All Chapters\nData Processing\n\nAnalytics vs Machine Learning\n\nPrevious SECTION\n\nData Analytics vs. Machine Learning\n\nWith all the hype around machine learning, many organizations are asking if there should be machine learning applications in their business somehow.\n\nIn the vast majority of cases, the answer is a resounding no.\n\nAs you learned a few chapters ago, one of the major benefits of the cloud is that it enables you to leverage virtually infinite storage and processing power to gain critical insights from the data your sensors/devices will be collecting. Both data analytics and machine learning can be powerful tools in doing so, but there’s often confusion on what they actually mean and when is best to use one or the other.\n\nLater we’ll explore the value of machine learning in greater depth, but at a high level, machine learning takes large amounts of data and generates useful insights that help the organization. That could mean improving processes, cutting costs, creating a better experience for the customer, or opening up new business models.\n\nHowever, most organizations can get many of these benefits from traditional data analytics, without the need for more complicated machine learning applications.\n\nTraditional data analysis is great at explaining data. You can generate reports or models of what happened in the past or of what’s happening today, drawing useful insights to apply to the organization.\n\nData analytics can help quantify and track goals, enable smarter decision making, and then provide the means for measuring success over time.\n\nSo When Is Machine Learning Valuable?\n\nThe data models that are typical of traditional data analytics are often static and of limited use in addressing fast-changing and unstructured data. When it comes to IoT, it’s often necessary to identify correlations between dozens of sensor inputs and external factors that are rapidly producing millions of data points.\n\nWhile traditional data analysis would need a model built on past data and expert opinion to establish a relationship between the variables, machine learning starts with the outcome variables (e.g. saving energy) and then automatically looks for predictor variables and their interactions.\n\nIn general, machine learning is valuable when you know what you want but you don’t know the important input variables to make that decision. So you give the machine learning algorithm the goal(s) and then it “learns” from the data which factors are important in achieving that goal.\n\nA great example is Google’s application of machine learning to its data centers last year. Data centers need to remain cool, so they require vast amounts of energy for their cooling systems to function properly. This represents a significant cost to Google, so the goal was to increase efficiency with machine learning.\n\nWith 120 variables affecting the cooling system (i.e. fans, pumps, speeds, windows, etc.), building a model with classic approaches would be a huge undertaking. Instead, Google applied machine learning and cut its overall energy consumption by 15%. That represents hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for Google in the coming years.\n\nIn addition, machine learning is also valuable for accurately predicting future events. Whereas the data models built using traditional data analytics are static, machine learning algorithms constantly improve over time as more data is captured and assimilated. This means that the machine learning algorithm can make predictions, see what actually happens, compare against its predictions, then adjust to become more accurate.\n\nThe predictive analytics made possible by machine learning are hugely valuable for many IoT applications. Let’s take a look at a few concrete examples:\n\nMachine Learning Applications in IoT\n\nCost Savings in Industrial Applications\n\nPredictive capabilities are extremely useful in an industrial setting. By drawing data from multiple sensors in or on machines, machine learning algorithms can “learn” what’s typical for the machine and then detect when something abnormal begins to occur.\n\nA company called Augury does exactly this with vibration and ultrasonic sensors installed on equipment:\n\n“The collected data is sent to our servers, where it is compared with previous data collected from that machine, as well as data collected from similar machines. Our platform can detect the slightest changes and warn you of developing malfunctions. This analysis is done in real-time and the results are displayed on the technician’s smartphone within seconds.”\n\nPredicting when a machine needs maintenance is incredibly valuable, translating into millions of dollars in saved costs. A great example is Goldcorp, a mining company that uses immense vehicles to haul away materials.\n\nWhen these hauling vehicles break down, it costs Goldcorp $2 million per day in lost productivity. Goldcorp is now using machine learning to predict with over 90% accuracy when machines will need maintenance, meaning huge cost savings.\n\nShaping Experiences to Individuals\n\nWe’re actually all familiar with machine learning applications in our everyday lives. Both Amazon and Netflix use machine learning to learn our preferences and provide a better experience for the user. That could mean suggesting products that you might like or providing relevant recommendations for movies and TV shows.\n\nSimilarly, in IoT machine learning can be extremely valuable in shaping our environment to our personal preferences.\n\nThe Nest Thermostat is a great example: it uses machine learning to learn your preferences for heating and cooling, making sure that the house is the right temperature when you get home from work or when you wake up in the morning.\n\nKey Takeaways\n\nThe use cases described above are just a few of the virtually infinite possibilities, but they’re important because they’re useful applications of machine learning in IoT that are happening right now.\n\nHowever, to reiterate, traditional data analytics are usually good enough for most IoT applications. Don’t be fooled by an IoT platform selling you on its machine learning capabilities when you’re just trying to look at trends over time to measure and improve your efficiency.\n\nTo make one final, critical point: with both traditional data analytics and machine learning, you need data. Gaining and maintaining large sets of clean, relevant data is an essential prerequisite to unlocking all the value that both data analytics and machine learning have to offer.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7878133654594421}
+{"content": "Symptoms of Stress\n\nStress will impact you in many ways, not just mentally yet physically, and can have a significant negative effect on your body, mind, relationships, happiness, work, and your overall health and well-being if left unmanaged. While a little bit of stress can be healthy–it can safely push you to put in more effort in both your personal and professional life–and likely won’t cause any severe problems, yet being stressed out all the time or feeling huge bouts of stress regularly, is detrimental to your health. There are some common emotional and mental symptoms of stress, like panic attacks and headaches, but there are also a lot of uncommon symptoms. Being aware of and considering lesser-known symptoms and their possible connection to stress is important, so don’t sweat it, yet be on the lookout for these ten surprising signs and symptoms of stress…\n\n\nStress is a body’s method of reacting to a challenge. According to the stressful event, the body’s way to respond to stress is by sympathetic nervous system activation which results in the fight-or-flight response. The body cannot keep this state for long periods of time, afterwards the parasympathetic system returns the body’s physiological conditions to normal. In humans, stress typically describes a negative condition or a positive condition that can have an impact on a person’s mental and physical well-being.\n\n1. Stomachaches and Intestinal Problems.\nHow your stomach feels, digestion and intestines are closely connected to and can be impacted by your emotional and mental state, specifically your level of stress. You might simply feel butterflies and an uneasiness in your stomach, but you could also experience more serious issues, like constant stomach aches, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), ulcers and food allergies.\n\nIt might be the last thing you want to do when you’re experiencing stomach problems, but getting out and exercising will help your mental state and in turn, your stomach.\n\n2. Strange and Recurring Dreams.\nVivid and strange dreams or experiencing the same dreams night after night, could be sign of stress. Whether you enjoy or easily tolerate weird dreams, it’s important to examine any potential reasons behind them.\n\nRecurring dreams can take a toll on you mentally–especially if they are upsetting- yet even if they aren’t. Strange dreams can make you feel tired and on edge, which ultimately impact other areas of your life, like work and family. If you’ve started dreaming a lot, and if they are strange and / or recurring dreams, take stock of any life changes or added stress to see if there’s a trigger.\n\n3. Itchy Skin and Rashes.\nIf your skin is moisturized and you’re still constantly scratching it, or if eczema that you got under control years ago comes back more severely, it could be a symptom of stress. Feeling anxious or wound up tight can make you feel itchy, and if it goes on for long, you’re likely to feel even more stressed because of it.\n\nRashes are also a surprising but common reaction to stress because stress lowers your immune system, making you more susceptible to skin infections or irritants that aren’t usually a problem for you. And stress or hive rashes can also occur, and are kind of like having an allergic reaction to stress.\n\n4. Irregular Periods and Severe Cramps.\nMonthly periods, complete with cramping, cravings and hormonal changes, can already be unpleasant and inconvenient. But if you’re stressed, your period can become more than a hassle, with severe cramps that make you unable to do much but lie in bed, and irregularity that keeps you guessing and paranoid about when your cycle is going to come.\n\nStress can even cause your period to completely stop, a condition called secondary amenorrhea. The imbalance of hormones when you’re stressed is unhealthy for your body, and could even cause infertility problems. Having a stress reducing exercising program developed for you will help ease the pain and reduce some of your stress.\n\n5. Regular Illness.\nThe common cold and flu passes through every town, office, school and family at some point. But if you’re getting sick a lot, catching every virus that you cross paths with, the real culprit might be a sign of stress. Getting sick right before an important life event – like a big presentation at work that could land you a promotion – could likely be caused by stress.\n\nStress lowers your immune system, making you more susceptible to getting sick. While getting the recommended amount of vitamins and nutrients and regular exercise will help prevent and combat illnesses, a high stress level will lower your immune system. This will leave you vulnerable to more ill health, making it important to manage your stress.\n\n6. Acne.\nHave you ever had a breakout seemingly come from nowhere? Whether you typically have no acne, mild acne, or severe acne, stress can make it a lot worse and for breakouts to occur regularly. Stress causes inflammation and oily pores that trigger acne in adults.\n\nIf you are tried acne creams, cutting out certain foods, and other acne cures, but you’re still breaking out at what seems like random times, your acne could be a sign of stress. While some topical acne treatments may work for you, if your acne is linked to an unhealthy amount of stress, it should be addressed–it could drastically help or even completely cure your acne.\n\n7. Twitching.\nMuscle twitching, especially around the eyes, is something that you might not realize is connected to your stress level, but it’s actually quite common. According to the Mayo Clinic, stress can cause eyelid spasms. While twitching isn’t painful, it can be really annoying and distracting, and could go on for just a few minutes or for several months.\n\nIf you suffer from spasms and twitching, track when you experience it – you may see a pattern that aligns with your stress level. The good news is, if your eye is twitching from stress, properly managing your stress should completely stop it.\n\n8. Hair Loss and Changes.\n\nMany men and women lose quite a bit of hair during and after showers, and when using a brush or comb. But before you excuse it as your age or just the way your body is, stress could be causing your hair loss. According to the Mayo Clinic, stress can put your hair follicles into a resting stage, causing those strands of hair to fall out a few months later.\n\nThe good news is, your hair might not be lost forever if you gain control of your stress. On top of hair loss, it’s common to go gray early, especially if it runs in your family, or to see a new grouping of gray hairs when you’re mentally unstable.\n\n9. Jaw and Tooth Pain.\nStress is something many people sweep under the rug and pretend everything is fine. But at night, your subconscious might not keep it at the back of your mind, and you could start grinding your teeth–once you’re asleep, you can’t help what your body does.\n\nIt’s common to “grind the stress out”, which can cause permanent damage to your teeth, as well as a cause a sore jaw. You could grind your teeth during the day too, but you might not notice it if you’re stressed. If your jaw, gums or mouth are sore, try to analyze how your body is reacting to stress, and whether or not you’re tensing up and clenching your jaw.\n\n10. Abdominal Fat.\n\nPeople who found it next impossible to blast that dreaded belly fat through exercise and healthy living will find stress can add to this difficulty. Chronic stress can cause abdominal fat and make it extremely difficult or impossible to trim it down and get rid of it – unless you decrease and manage your stress better.\n\nWhen you’re stressed out, your body tries to protect itself by releasing adrenaline and cortisol, making you feel hungry. And the hunger and cravings are often for carbs and fat, which go straight to your waistline. It also causes loss of muscle mass, adding to your soft belly.\n\n\nStress is managed best with regular exercise, this allows the body and your brain to reboot and release all the good chemicals like serotonin and endorphin. Having a training plan that meets your physical and mentel needs is vital. So before you embark on any physical activity, have a training programme made to address your fight-or-flight response to stress.\n\nImage Source: Flickr", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5937625169754028}
+{"content": "Catchweed Bedstraw\n\nAlso Known As\nCleavers, Stickywilly, Cleaverwort, White Hedge, Bedstraw, Goosegrass, Gripgrass, Scarthgrass, Velcro Plant\n\n\nCatchweed bedstraw, Galium aparine L., native to North America and Eurasia, is an annual broadleaf plant with a shallow, branching taproot. The stems of catchweed bedstraw are square in cross-section, weak, mostly unbranched, and grow to about 6 feet long, but are unable to stand on their own, so they often clamber over upright plant species.\n\nLeft on its own, catchweed bedstraw remains low and sprawling, forming dense, tangled mats. Hairlike bristles cover the stems and leaves of the plant; these bristly hairs are responsible for its characteristic tangled growth habit and the “sticky” way it clings to clothing and animals.\n\nThe leaves of catchweed bedstraw are linear, narrow, and mostly whorled, with 6–8 leaves per whorl. Inconspicuously small, pale green to white flowers occur on long stalks in the axils of upper leaves. Two-lobed, spherical fruits separate into 2 nutlets, ranging in shape from nearly round to kidney-shaped at maturity and covered with sticky hooked hairs that aid in dispersal.\n\n\nFlowering catchweed bedstraw plant.\nIndividual plants typically produce 100–400 seeds, which require burial to germinate and remain viable in the soil for a couple of years. While this species spreads only by seeds, a related species (northern bedstraw, Galium boreale) is a perennial with a spreading root system.\n\nCatchweed bedstraw prefers shady, moist sites, but tolerates full sun with sufficient moisture. Commonly found in waste sites, roadsides, and other disturbed areas, catchweed bedstraw can grow in a variety of habitats, including along fence lines and in forests and woodlands, meadows, prairies, abandoned fields and cultivated crops.\n\nBedstraw is a troublesome agricultural weed, considered a major weed of crops such as cereals, hay, and oilseed crops. Not only does it become tangled with the crop or equipment at harvest, but its seeds are extremely difficult to remove from harvested grain, vegetable seeds, and oilseeds. Heavy infestations of catchweed bedstraw can cause significant yield losses. Catchweed bedstraw can host several nematode, insect, and disease pests; on the other hand, its flowers provide a food source for some beneficial insects. If ingested by animals, bedstraw forage can imflame the digestive tract or act as a diuretic. Entanglement in sheep wood reduces value.\n\nHistorically used as an herbal remedy for various ailments, its dried and roasted fruits have also been used to make a coffee substitute (in fact, the plant is in the same family as coffee, Coffea spp).\n\nCatchweed Bedstraw Seed\nSteve Hurst @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database\n\nControl Methods\n\nCultural: In agricultural areas, growth of catchweed bedstraw can be suppressed by planting a competitive crop or ground cover, although preliminary consideration should be preventing it by eliminating contaminated crop seed, machinery, livestock, and manure. Long-term control of catchweed bedstraw relies on removing existing plants before they flower and produce viable seed.\n\nMechanical: For small infestations, hoeing or hand-pulling can be effective, especially when soil is damp; care must be used, however, because the weak stems of bedstraw break easily making it difficult to remove the roots. Regular mowing at a low height may be an option, although cutting of the plant to 2–3 inches has been reported to actually increase biomass production up to 30% compared to uncut plants. Winter annual bedstraw should be controlled in the fall after germination with tillage or an herbicide.\n\nChemical: Control of bedstraw is different depending on the crop it infests. Herbicide options are available in cereal crops, field peas, and herbicide-tolerant canola varieties. There are no herbicides registered for control of cleavers in conventional canola. Herbicides that can be effective for the control of bedstraw (dependent upon crop) are fluroxypyr, sulfosulfuron, carfentrazone, imazamethabenz, diuron, dicamba, oxyfluorfen and glyphosate.\n\nBiological: No insects or other biological agents are available to control catchweed bedstraw. While livestock will eat the plant, it is not a nutritious food source since it produces so little biomass; moreover, germination percentages actually increase following passage of the seed through animal digestive tracts so grazing should not be allowed after seed production.\n\nWashington State University", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6593791842460632}
+{"content": "[alogo] Brocard pivoting\n\nConsider a Brocard point J of the triangle ABC, characterized by the equality of angles ang(BAJ), ang(CBJ), ang(ACJ) (see Brocard.html ). Take a point D on BC and construct the circle c1 = {DBJ} cutting AB at E, then the circle c2 = {AEJ} cutting AC at F, then circle c3 = {FCJ}. The following facts are true and easy to prove:\n(1) c3 passes through D.\n(2) ang(JDB) = ang(JFC) = ang(JEA) and triangles JDB, JEA and JFB are similar.\n(3) triangle DEF is similar to ABC for all positions of D on line BC.\n(4) ang(BDF) = ang(CFE) = ang(AED).\n(5) J is also a Brocard point of triangle DEF (ang(DEJ) = ang(FDJ) = ang(EFJ)).\n(6) the ratios (|AD|:|BF|:|CE|) are equal to ((c/b):(a/c):(b/a)), trilinear coordinates of J. Later equality of ratios is a necessary and sufficient condition for three points D, E, F on the sides of ABC, to define a triangle DEF, which is similar to ABC and pivotal, with respect to the first Brocard point.\n\n[0_0] [0_1] [0_2]\n[1_0] [1_1] [1_2]\n[2_0] [2_1] [2_2]\n\nFor a nice application of the last (6) property on a particular pivotal triangle, related to the altitudes of ABC, look at the file Yagci.html .\n\nProduced with EucliDraw©", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9942131042480469}
+{"content": "\n\n\n\n2.  Mandatory minimums and the 10/20/Life law\neffect that mandatory minimum sentences have on the justice system in\nFlorida. He explained that in many states legislators pass mandatory\nminimum sentence laws without fully knowing what the consequences of the\nthey were not originally intended. Newburn also informed us and our\nlisteners of the numerous other examples of mandatory minimum sentences\nkilling anyone before moving on to discuss the implications of a legal\nstructure which encourages citizens to carry guns and to defend\npenalties for doing just that.\nPresident of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, Desmond Meade,\nalso joined us to discuss his take on mandatory minimum sentencing.\nMeade said he gets upset whenever he hears the argument that\nmandatory minimums are being applied in ways not foreseen by legislators\nbecause in many cases those legislators never bothered to read the\nstructural or legalistic but also as the product of the poor\nrelationship that police departments and the legal system have to\nminority communities in particular. This segment is a must.\n\nCasino for organizing a union. \n\n1. Marissa Alexander update: Was prosecutor Angela Corey just doing her job?\nMarissa Alexander, the woman who claims she was defending herself against an abusive husband when she fired a single “warning” shot into the wall of her home, hurting no one, was sentenced on Friday to a mandatory 20 years in prison.  As we reported on Monday, that puts her sentence slightly higher than Floridians that have decapitated people, ran ponzi schemes and committed vehicular manslaughter.  A lot of people have talked about Florida’s unjust mandatory minimum laws, and we will tonight too.  But first we want to know, could the Prosecutor (Angela Corey) have done something different when prosecuting the case?  Hear what attorney John De Leon has and former prosecutor/current defense attorney Eric Matheny have to say about it.  Check out some of our other coverage on the case here.\n2.  Mandatory minimums and 10/20/life, is it time for a change?\nAlmost everyone, except maybe Angela Corey’s office, believes that the 20 year sentence in the case is excessive and/or unjust.  The mandatory sentencing is part of a 10/20/Life law that takes the power away from judges to decide sentences on their own in felony cases involving the possession and discharging of a gun.  Listen in to Greg Newburn from Families Against Mandatory Minimums and Desmond Meade of Florida Rights Restoration Council as we talk about the future of justice in states with mandatory minimum sentencing.\nAnd we will also check in on the local fight for fair wages at the Mardi Gras Casino and other stories.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9770013093948364}
+{"content": "ENERC First Productions - NOA and NEA Branch es and introduc tion of the 2018 academic year for Enerc Branches\n\nLeandro Vallejo, M. E. Pelu Romero, Dana Gómez, Diana Quiroga, Constanza Epifanio, Gisela Villanueva\n\n32º Festival\n\nParallel Programs\n\nENERC First Productions - NOA and NEA\n\nLength: 82min\n\nCountry: Argentina\n\n\nGender violence and identity, childhood and social context, among other subject matters, are interweaved in these six fiction features entirely made in the provinces of the Argentine Northeast and Northwest as graduate theses by students from ENERC’s regional branches, which provide public, free audiovisual training in the entre country. The screening will be accompanied by the introduction of the academic year that starts in 2018 in the NEA, NOA, Patagonia and Cuyo regions.\n\nEl después\nFabricio Garrido is a psychiatrist whose family has been struck by tragedy. He receives a new patient, Victor Mansilla, who claims to have invented something that can change the past and correct the tragedy.\nD: Leandro Vallejo, 13’\n\nEl trabajo\nAna and her mother visit an Umbanda sorcerer to take revenge on Diego, Ana’s boyfriend, who frequently hits her.\nD: M. E. Pelu Romero, 14’\n\nEve is a transsexual woman with a strong sense of duty. She dedicates her life to helping little children as a social worker in her hometown. It’s in the process of combining these two experiences that she realizes that doing the right thing can be difficult.\nD: Dana Gómez, 15’\n\nHunger tells the story of María, a girl sunk in poverty along with her peculiar family. The story leads us to the moment her own mother sells her to a stranger, who will be the ultimate responsible for her fate.\nD: Diana Quiroga, 12’\n\nRuido blanco\nIn an apathetic society, a young and curious girl named Zamira grows up in a family consumed by TV and media. Zamira feels lonely, she has to change in order to be accepted by her mother.\nD: Constanza Epifanio, 13’\n\nVidas habitables\nGeorgina is a transgender woman who is being evicted. Omar is a policeman who is being humiliated by his chief because of his sexual preferences. Julia is a young transgender woman conflicted with her physical appearance.\nD: Gisela Villanueva, 14’\n\n\n\nRecieve all festival news", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8219852447509766}
+{"content": "My Diet Ideas\n\nIBS Diet Program\n\nIrritable Bowel Syndrome is a problem prevalently seen as a alternating bowel habits such as diarrhea and then constipation, or vice versa. Though the main cause of this disorder is usually unknown, it is often linked to symptoms for example abdominal pain and discomfort, and bloating. Experts are convinced Irritable Bowel Syndrome is often due to numerous things like environmental pressure, or even the after effect connected with an infection. Whatever the case, this condition has become a main source of pain for the countless people who find themselves affected. There are plenty of methods to control this Irritable Bowel Syndrome, like medicine, psychotherapy along with alternative medications, and the IBS Diet Plan.\n\nEven though you will find restrictions to the IBS Diet Plan mainly because people who suffer from IBS have normally made food tolerances, the application of this technique to handle an individual's warning signs are very positive. Foodstuff that need to be contained in the IBS Diet Plan happen to be limited, however have been noticed to boost the individual's gastrointestinal activity along with relieve some signs of the condition.\n\nHealthy meat products undoubtedly are a sizeable portion of the IBS Diet Plan. Fresh is the key element. Stay as far as you possibly can out of treated or even smoked or preserved meat. These will probably worsen your gastrointestinal tract and lead to deviated bowel actions.\n\nFresh fruits may also be necessary components of the diet for IBS, on the other hand, do not include grapes, oranges, and melons. Fruit and vegetables are usually eaten at a frequent basis, yet ensure you remove mushrooms from the listing and coleslaw, too. The IBS Diet Plan has additionally included whole grains to the plan, and consuming more of it is without a doubt emphasized to boost the health of patients having irritable bowel syndrome. \n\nIf there are foods that are plainly approved to be taken as part of the IBS Diet Plan, additionally, there are several types of meal that it warns individuals to protect against. Yeast, flour as well as synthetic sweeteners in baked items really are a big no-no whilst you're with this diet program therefore it's best to avoid baked goods for that period. Dairy food (with the exclusion of eggs) can also be not allowed. Caffeine, items which have been fermented, dried fruits, alcohol, soft drinks, peanuts as well as other nut products, hot and spicy foods, junk food, processed food - all of these usually are not allowed to get taken in while you're on the IBS Diet Plan. \n\nIt may be understood as lots to stop and a large amount to maintain your concentration on, nevertheless sticking with the key aspects of the IBS Diet Plan can help a great deal in enhancing your present health and wellbeing when experiencing irritable bowel syndrome.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9877533912658691}
+{"content": "HomeTin-awvol. 2 no. 1 (2018)\n\nAttachment Styles and Coping Responses of the Adolescents with Separated Parents: Basis for Counseling Program\n\nRenee Joy D. Paniza\n\n\n\nThis study aimed to determine the varied dominant attachment styles and the level of coping response among students whose parents were separated. The data were collected through the use of adapted and modified questionnaires. There were 60 respondents of this study who were purposively selected. Mean and ANOVA were the statistical tools used. The results showed that the most dominant attachment style among the respondents was secure attachment style. Also, their attachment style was seen to be high which means the extent of their attachment was often manifested. The coping response that manifested in the respondents under the security attachment style was positive reappraisal and problem solving. In the fearful attachment style, the coping response was logical analysis but low in seeking guidance and support. Meanwhile in the pre-occupied attachment style, problem solving was the highest and emotional discharge was the lowest. Lastly, the dismissing attachment style manifested positive reappraisal, cognitive avoidance and acceptance or resignation. There was no significant difference between each of the attachment style and coping response which means that regardless of the attachment style the respondents could still manage their problems effectively given with the different ways of coping mechanisms. Findings served as basis for a proposed counseling program.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9982051849365234}
+{"content": "Searched for: subject:\"public%5C%2Bspace\"\n(1 - 2 of 2)\nMu, Xiufan (author)\nThe density of elderly population in Central City of Beijing is relatively high compare to that in peri urban area, which resulting in the urban disease, scarcity and low quality of public spaces in the city center. However, in Beijing, the main demands of elderly people have incline to the social needs and social participation, instead of...\nmaster thesis 2018\nKuijpers, Pien (author)\nThe upcoming years, the amount of elderly people is growing rapidly. Besides, elderly people are expected to continue living independently at their home. The number of places in nursing homes are limited because a lot of nursing homes closed their doors. Now, older people are dependent on themselves, their neighbourhood and connections. It...\nmaster thesis 2017", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9844225645065308}
+{"content": "Neck Pain\n\nNeck-PainWhat are the common causes of neck pain?\nThere are many common causes of neck pain. Most of the time the pain is\nmuscular in nature and self-limiting. Trauma can cause strain of the surround\nmuscular and ligaments (i.e. whiplash). If your neck pain includes arm pain,\nweakness or numbness there may be compression of the nerves emanating\nfrom the neck. Headaches may cause upper neck pain and stress can\nmanifest as neck pain and tightness. Chronic usage of computer and\ncell phones may also cause neck pain as the neck is placed under significant\nstress when one’s posture is not correct. If pain across the neck persists\nbeyond six weeks or any other concerning symptoms such as weakness or\nnumbness is present, medical attention should be pursued.\n\nHow do disc injuries cause neck pain?\n\nCervical-Spine-AnatomyWhat is degenerative disc disease?\n\nHow do we treat neck pain?\ndegree of potential instability or progressive deformity. The acute pain episodes are treated conservatively with rest, ice\nin a physical therapy or chiropractic program focusing on posture and core stabilization, strengthening and stretching.\n\nWhat if I have arm pain, numbness or weakness with neck pain?\nNeck pain associated with arm pain, numbness or weakness may reflect compression of the nerves which exit the spinal canal in the neck. These nerves control the strength and sensation of our upper extremities. Nerves may be compressed as the result of an acute disc herniation or progressive arthritis. An MRI may be considered if conservative treatment does not provide relief within six weeks or if there are any other concerning symptoms. These symptoms may include loss of coordination and balance, bowel or bladder incontinence, fevers,  neck pain at night, weight loss, or upper extremity weakness or numbness. If you experience any of these concerning symptoms please contact a healthcare professional immediately.\n\nSpineTips for maintaining a healthy neck:\n1) Listen to your Body: If an activity or position is causing pain in\nyour neck, refrain from doing it. Take a rest from that\nspecific activity. Pain is an alert system of your body.\nDiscuss the activity or position with a physician or physical\ntherapist before proceeding.\n2) Weight loss: Excess weight will cause further stress upon the discs and joints of the spine. Losing weight can help\nalleviate lower back pain as well as pain in other weight-bearing joints. Speak with a medical professional for\nguidance in losing weight.\n3) Use proper body mechanics: Ensure that you are sitting properly with adequate back support. Spending long\nperiods of time staring down at a smartphone/tablet or computer will place a significant amount of strain on\nthe structures of the neck and lead to pain. In addition, the importance of a good night’s sleep cannot be\noverestimated. Choose an appropriate mattress/pillow for your preferred sleeping position so your neck and\nback are adequately supported. When lifting objects, use proper mechanics. Use your legs and not your back to\nlift a heavy object. Improper technique may further injure an already compromised neck or back.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9592196941375732}
+{"content": "Statement from the Chair, Economic Sociology Section\n\nFrederick F. Wherry\nProfessor of Sociology\nPrinceton University\n\nBefore turning to the state of the field, let me remark quickly on the honor of leading this section. When I enrolled in recently established graduate seminars on economic sociology in the late 90s (part one taught by Alejandro Portes; part two, Viviana Zelizer), I did not imagine that I would later chair the section or publish Money Talks with Zelizer, the section’s first chair, and with Nina Bandelj, the past chair from 2013-2014. I am grateful for this opportunity to continue the section’s advance.\n\nWhat is the state of the field of economic sociology, as you see it?\n\nLeave it to a crisis to focus the public’s attention on how markets work. There have been so many in the past decade, starting with the Great Recession of the late 2000s and early 2010s, and increasing concerns about unemployment, the changing nature of work, and more. Then came the contested 2016 presidential elections, raising concerns about the effects of trade deals, the appetite for globalization, and the rise of economic nationalism. What will happen to healthcare, welfare spending, and tax policy? How do fragile families deal with their fragile finances? And what should we expect as protected sectors of the economy become more vulnerable (taxis undercut by Uber, hotels challenged by Airbnb, tenured professors switched out for exploited adjuncts)? As economic sociologists we feel compelled to interrogate what happened and what it means. These questions highlight the difference between textbook economics and the lived experience of economic life.  By enquiring about the construction, unequal participation, and contestations of markets and market actors, economic sociologists have raised questions with practical implications and theoretical possibilities. \n\nSociologists have long had what Alejandro Portes calls a penchant for impertinence. Drawing on Bourdieu, Portes has argued that impertinence keeps sociology pertinent.¹ Sociological questions may sometimes seem out of place or puzzling. Why, for instance, talk about people working on their relationships when they match different monies with different transactions rather than focus on individuals learning how to optimize mathematically their budgets? Why map relational networks where experiments can detect the magnitude of an intervention’s effects? Our task is to demonstrate that our impertinent questions offer unexpected and crucial answers. \n\nUprooting accepted understandings and finding alternative explanations for economic institutions and behaviors have long and distinguished histories. This impertinent practice began at the discipline’s founding. Although we have yet to give W.E.B. DuBois his due in his investigations of black capitalism, the decline of African-American caterers in Philadelphia, and the challenge of attracting investors for ventures that seem to “fit” the entrepreneur, our field has taken seriously Max Weber’s understanding of economic and economically relevant behaviors as having expressive content, situation specific meanings, and non-monetary constraints. The Protestant Ethic irreverently identified the economic functions that religious beliefs and practices could play. By contrast, Emile Durkheim identified the role of ritual in establishing property rights and questioned why material conditions were understood as they were by mobilized workers. And Karl Marx pushed social analysts to peer into the hidden abode.² He demonstrated how value could remain invisible (though consequential) without a theoretical apparatus to bring it to light, and he believed that seeing the unfair generation, storage, and re-appropriation of value might not only help social scientists understand the world but also to change it. \n\nUnderstanding the world is not the same as changing it. Is it time for a more activist version of economic sociology?\n\nActivism is such a strong word, and it can encompass different types of public engagement. I prefer the adjective action-oriented as a broader term that includes activism under its umbrella. In my own work, I practice an interpretive social science that is also objective; by objectivity I mean that my methods enable me and a community scholars to challenge my interpretive findings. If we’re trying to prove ourselves wrong (to ensure that we have not falsely concluded that our favorite hunch is true), those of us engaged in action-oriented research will sometimes find ourselves uncovering patterns that do not benefit our political allies. (The same is true for economic sociologists working in private sector firms.) \n\nIt is important that the members of the economic sociology section feel support as they engage in public debates, or even policy making, about economic life. As a section that represents the interests and needs of economic sociologists (deemed so through declaration, training, and/or practice) who have joined a professional association, we have an obligation to acknowledge respectfully the different orientations of our members with regard to public engagement. We also have a duty to create an environment where the highest quality academic work can be nurtured and disseminated, and where students (or our academic colleagues) do not experience a hostile learning (or research) environment where a particular political orientation seems to be a requirement for good standing. \n\nThere are at least three ways to think about activism, public policy, and our role as social scientists specializing in economic sociology. Some of us conduct policy relevant work (but are not policy-engaged); others are engaged in policy debates with a strict code of sticking to the data; and still others operate as scholar-activists who can’t always wait for the data to come in when critical decisions require immediate attention. Pretending that I pay attention equally to these different approaches would be dishonest. What I know is necessarily a small part of a whole. I can only be respectful in acknowledging that much happens outside of my own sphere of activity and acquaintance. \n\nFirst, let me address the policy-relevant, but not engaged, stance. Some social scientists do not operate with policy questions in mind. If their findings happen to contribute to policy discussions, so be it, but their primary concern lies in the set of theoretical and empirical puzzles that have long concerned the discipline. What is the nature of action (economic or otherwise)? How and why are different groups categorized and distributed in different places? These core questions have been closely related, however, to questions of the state, power, and inequality since the founding of the discipline. That does not mean that answers to these questions can offer prescriptions for what to do necessarily as a state policy or a program design. \n\nSecond, some of us pursue research questions that we believe can inform policy. Those who are policy engaged will still ask what is sociological about the phenomenon and how any case speaks to a wider set of cases. More importantly, the policy engaged will spend much time trying to prove that a favored policy approach might reap outcomes opposite of those intended. The long-term commitment to skepticism and to systematic investigation places the policy engaged in an awkward position. Most of the time, allies in the activist or lobbyist arena will find the policy engaged to be a stalwart and powerful resource. However, only by looking for reasons why an effect might be spurious can the policy engaged ensure that attention and resources are directed to where they can be useful. Offering a more empirically informed and theoretically interrogated view of economic action allows scholars, for example, to explain what inequality means for the people experiencing it in different demographic (or other) groups within a society and between different societies. This sociological view might reduce the harms that accompany well-meaning policy makers or others from “fixing” lives unbroken.\n\nFinally, scholar-activists and the practitioners of economic sociology can be found in a wide range of sites, from think tanks, neighborhood advocacy groups, and journalism on the activist side; to the World Bank, the Federal Reserve Bank and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, on the practitioner side. For some types of policy debates, the concepts and findings from economic sociology provide a different narrative to reframe the policy discussion. How do people organize their budgets and why? What possibilities are there for people without insurance in the formal sector to increase their family’s stability? How might informal sector activities be used as spaces for innovative thinking, allowing program designers to reimagine the structure and delivery of much needed services?  \n\nAs an incoming member of the Boston Federal Reserve’s Community Development Research Advisory Council³ I am beginning to encounter economic practitioners who have a strong family resemblance to economic sociologists. I also got to know some interesting policy-types a year and a half ago in the Roosevelt Room of the White House during a meeting on financial inclusion. The St. Louis Federal Reserve’s Center for Household Financial Stability, led by Ray Boshara, tracks household wealth, updates us on the use of alternative financial services, and investigates why differences by race in wealth persist. There is clearly an appetite (and a craving) from these policy groups for what economic sociologists can offer.\n\nWhat can our section offer scholars and practitioners investigating economic life?\n\nOur section should be a meeting ground for those working directly on public policy questions as well as those completely detached from policy debates. Some economic sociologists (and other social scientists) work in places like the Federal Reserve Bank, the PEW Charitable Trust, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the World Bank, and elsewhere in the US and abroad. These practitioners go to the economics association meetings to stay on top of research findings and new ideas. Our section should serve that function.\n\nOur section can also be more strategic in launching dialogues with economists, cognitive psychologists, economic anthropologists, and comparative-historians. Keep in mind that the Financial Access Initiative at New York University is headed by an economist (Jonathan Morduch) who works happily with sociologists and other social scientists. (Morduch just published The Financial Diaries with Rachel Schneider and a chapter in Money Talks.) What if we hosted interdisciplinary discussions on moral repugnance in markets, following up on Kieran Healey’s efforts. (See his paper co-authored with Kimberly Krawiec and presented at the American Economic Association Meetings: This is only one possibility. \n\nWhat if we revisited the idea of interest? The motivation for and consequences of consumption? The economy as a social institution? These are the questions that excite me, but there are many more we could ask. While my own work has been part of the bringing culture into economic sociology as well as ethnographic methods, the section will flourish as we include multiple, legitimate theoretical and methodological approaches. \n\nIn short, let’s offer the sign of welcome and grow.\n\nNote: The author thanks Nina Bandelj and Viviana Zelizer for commenting on earlier versions of this statement.\n\n¹ Portes, Aleandro. 2001. “Sociology in the Hemisphere: Past Convergences and a New Conceptual Agenda.” The Center for Migration and Development, Working Paper Series. Working Paper #01-04. Princeton University. \n\n² Portes, Alejandro. 2000. \"The Hidden Abode: Sociology as Analysis of the Unexpected?\" The 1999 Presidential Address.  American Sociological Review 65 (1): 1-18.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9339268803596497}
+{"content": "Sushi in Quepos\n\nA relative newcomer to the Marina Pez Vela, this Latin-influenced sushi and sake bar fills its rolls with fresh tropical produce and local seafood bits. The spicy tuna over crispy rice cakes is a big hit, along with the tuna, avocado and mango poke bowl and the omusubi (Japanese rice balls). Dishes tend to be on the smaller side.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9997605681419373}
+{"content": "Reading and writing activities for preschoolers\n\n  • Publicado por: Paul.S\n  • Date: 16 Aug 2018, 07:00\n  • Vistas: 2986\n  • Comentarios: 0\n\nsounds in snake? Be an enthusiastic audience for your child. Jackson's centers include opportunities and materials for writing. She generally cannot distinguish between written words that begin with the same sound. Carmen replies, \" S and Mrs. She writes the letters revolution G and T in the first and last boxes, respectively. They may know a few letter names, such as the first letter in their name. He is also actively using his knowledge of letter names and letter sounds to help him sound out words, but this process is slow and labor-intensive for him. He remembers what his name looks like from memory rather than writing letters based on the sounds he hears; he doesn't yet understand that Marvin starts with the /m/ sound. We discuss in detail four different students who might appear in a typical preschool classroom and how teachers can use their understanding of early writing to shape instruction for these students. Each element supports and enriches the others. Cabell is a research scientist at the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia, Charlottesville,. Have your child pick a headline and turn it into a question. Activity 9: Write on Writing helps a child become a better reader, and reading helps a child become a better writer. Activity 3: R and R repetition and rhyme. You can make reading a pleasant and enjoyable activity for kids. Activity 24: What's in the news? Although they may be growing in phonological awareness and developing knowledge of the alphabet, including the names of some letters, they have not yet made the speech-to-print connection. At JumpStart, we have a plethora of age-specific and grade-based reading activities that help kids in many ways, apart from keeping them entertained.\n\nhuman trafficking in the united states articles Devise a rating scale from. V because the sounds feel similar on the lips. Especially a child, activity 6, you might even put these stories in a book and add old family photographs. Carmen\" look for books The main thing is to find books you both love. Old ha\" and then what happened, s development. You know you are succeeding, jacksonapos, activity.\n\nShoretel external assignment Reading and writing activities for preschoolers\n\nThey hear the voice of the storyteller. Read the TV schedule together to choose. Marvin identifies Maria and surge Meredith and writes their names down as Mapos. She reads aloud as she writes. Along buffett with mementos such as fall leaves and flowers. As you make out your grocery shopping list.\n\nFind Valentine songs and fingerplays.These activities encourage quick learning and expand horizons as children read about new things.In each example, Mrs.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8627825975418091}
+{"content": "Edit ModuleShow Tags\n\nLocal Articles\n\nBoost Metabolism\n\n\nResolving Allergies\n\n\nFood as Medicine\n\nHealthy food can act as medicine in promoting proper function of our body systems and decreasing the likelihood of developing a chronic disease.\n\nHomeopathy and the Treatment of Epidemic Influenza\n\nKrista Connolly, RSHom, CCH, a homeopathy and Bowen specialist in Dedham, shares several remedies that have proven to be the genus epidemicus for this flu year 2018-19.\n\n\nCBD is a safe and effective way to calm dental anxieties and relieve pain from dental procedures or inflammation.\n\nLosing Steam on New Year's Resolutions?\n\n\nThe Practice of Being Present\n\nAs a threefold approach that supports individuals to enter the present moment, Breema leaves nothing out and offers a solid foundation for an experience of being present.\n\nWireless Warning\n\n\nGiving a Priceless Gift\n\nThe gift-giving season is nearly upon us, forcing us to ask ourselves the annual question: How do we show the people we love how much they mean to us?\n\nBring Light, Love and Power to the World\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9945563077926636}
+{"content": "Shareholding structure\n\n\nOn December 31, 2018, Sanofi's share capital was split into 1,247,395,472 issued shares.\n\nShareholding structure as of December 31, 2018\n\nShares (in %)\n\n\nGeographic origin (in %)\n\n\nVoting rights\n\nVoting rights (in %)\n\nNumber of real voting rights: 1,395,098,306\nThe difference between the percentage of shares and the percentage of voting rights is due to the existence of double voting rights and the fact that Sanofi and certain subsidiaries hold shares as treasury shares that don’t have voting rights.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000091791152954}
+{"content": "Once You Make Your Own Cocktail Sauce, You'll Never Pick up Store-Bought\n\nWhen you think of shrimp cocktail, you think of cocktail sauce. The two go together like pancakes and syrup. Cocktail sauce is one of those condiments you find yourself craving whenever any fresh or raw seafood hits the table. It's also a great accompaniment for dishes like fried oysters, grilled steak, sandwiches, and a teaspoon to two will elevate a brunch Bloody Mary to new levels.\n\nSure, going bottled is an easy way to get your fix. But when it's so simple to make your own cocktail sauce recipe, you should. Especially since it's one of those basic recipes where you can do a whole lot with simply by adding fun ingredients.\n\nLori Lange from RecipeGirl makes a simple and delicious sauce with ingredients you already have in your fridge for a classic shrimp cocktail sauce. Hers has just the right amount of kick thanks to a bit of prepared horseradish and some hot sauce. She got the recipe from a family member, who also happens to be a chef, so she's got good culinary connections.\n\n\nThe beauty of this recipe is that it is easy to double or even triple, and adjust. Meaning you can whip up a few batches and make one spicy by adding more chili sauce and create another creamy version by adding mayo.\n\nThe result is an amped-up salad dressing or dipping sauce perfect for raw veggies from your grocery list. If you happen to be out of horseradish, don't be afraid to experiment with something else that carries the same kick. Lange suggests trying crushed red peppers, pepperoncini or even sliced fresh hot peppers.\n\nTo store the sauce, pour it into an empty ketchup bottle and store in the fridge. It will last for two to three weeks. Ready to get started on and never pick up the bottled stuff again?\n\nHead over to RecipeGirl for the full, delicious recipe.\n\nWatch: The World's Hottest Pepper Can Kill You\n\noembed rumble video here", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5608558654785156}
+{"content": "by Robert Brow    (\n\nBrow Publications, Kingston, Ontario (e-mail: 2004\n\n\n\nTable Of Contents:\n\nGenesis 48:1-7\nGenesis 48:8-22\n\nGENESIS  48:1-7    (Israel adopts Joseph’s two sons among his own twelve sons)\n\n 48:1-2    When Joseph heard that his father was ill, and in danger of dying,  he brought his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim (both born in Egypt, 41:50 -52)  to receive Israel’s blessing.  Jacob managed to summon up the strength to sit up and indicate what he had in mind\n\n48:3  He reminded Joseph of the promise of the LORD (28:13), here called el shaddai (God Almighty),  when he appeared to him in Luz, the place which he renamed Bethel (28:19) on his way north to Haran. \n\n 48:4   The promise included his offspring being as the dust of the earth (28:14) and eventually occupying the promised land (28:13).   With all the trials he had suffered over the past hundred years, and now his position in Egypt,  Jacob could have lost the assurance of God’s promises, but in spite of his failings he clung to them in faith.\n\n 48:5-6  Israel now included Joseph’s two sons among the twelve tribes of the Jewish people, but that would not include any other sons that Joseph might have. \n\n Note:  It seems that the tribe of Manasseh was destined to take the place of the tribe of Reuben among the twelve tribes.   Their ancestor Reuben had been disinherited when he had intercourse with Rachel’s maid Bilhah (35:22; 49:3-4; 1 Chronicles 5:1-2) by whom Jacob had begotten Dan and Naphtali (30:5-8).   The tribe of Reuben helped in the occupation of the promised land (Numbers 32:6, 16-19, see Judges 5:15-16), and they  later had a distinct identity in the land of Gilead across the Jordan (1 Chronicles 5:10), but they were not counted as part of the twelve tribes.   They were not mentioned in David’s census (2 Samuel 24:5-6).    It is possible that they were decimated in a Assyrian invasion of Transjordan (2 Kings 16:9; 17:3).  If they were taken away into exile by the Assyrians, none had returned by the time the Book of Chronicles was written (1 Chronicles 5:26).   Strangely Reuben is mentioned in Ezekiel 48:6, 31 and Revelation 7:5).   This may suggest that although on earth we may suffer the consequences of God’s judgment, our eternal destiny is retained.\n\n 48:7   It is not clear why the memory of the death of his beloved Rachel (35:16-20) should be given as a reason for including Joseph’s two sons among the twelve sons of Israel. \n\n\nGENESIS 48:8-22    (Israel blessed Joseph’s younger son ahead of the older)   \n\n 48:8-11   Jacob had included Joseph’s two sons among his original twelve, and displaced Reuben from the family genealogy (note under 48:5-6).  He then asked Joseph to bring his two sons to bless them before his death.  Jacob took them on his knees and warmly embraced them.\n\n48:12-13   In preparation for Jacob’s hands of blessing Joseph removed the two sons from Jacob’s knees.   He then prostrated himself and carefully steered Ephraim, the younger son to his father’s left hand, and Manasseh to Jacob’s right hand.\n\n 48:14   Israel decided that was not the divine plan for the order of their blessing, and he deliberately crossed his hands so that his right hand rested on Ephraim’s head.   This must have reminded Jacob of the occasion a hundred years earlier when his father Isaac had blessed him instead of his brother Esau (27:28-29).\n\n 48:15    Having blessed Joseph, he recalled the God before whom his grandfather Abraham (12:1), and his father Isaac, had walked not fearing the enemies in an alien land.  The same God had tenderly shepherded him through his own tumultuous life.  This is the first time the LORD is referred to as Shepherd.  Joseph will use the term again in 49:24 (as in “The LORD is my shepherd, Psalm 23:1, and Jesus’ words indicating that he is that Old Testament “Good Shepherd,” who would lay down his life for his sheep,  and he added  “I know my own and my own know me” (John 10:11-14).  There is a clear connection between the LORD who took care of Jacob and Jesus the eternal Son of God\n\n 48:16  He then called down the LORD’s blessing upon the two boys, and prayed that his name would be perpetuated in their lives, and their offspring would be multiplied (as promised to Abraham in 12:2; 15:5; 17:5; 22:17, and to Isaac in 26:4, and to Jacob in 28:3, 14).\n\n 48:17-18 Joseph was not pleased at his father’s reversal of the blessing of the firstborn, and tried to get Israel to put his hand on Manasseh for the blessing.\n\n 48:19-20   Jacob said he knew what he was doing, and Manasseh’s offspring would become one of the tribes of Israel.  But the multiplication of the Jewish people would be through the tribe of Ephraim. \n\nNote:    Hezekiah tried to reunite the Northern Kingdom with the people of Judah in the south, and sent messengers to invite the people of Manasseh and Ephraim to celebrate the passover in Jerusalem, but “they laughed them to scorn and mocked them” (2 Chronicles 30:10).   Before the fall of the Northern Kingdom it seems the tribe of Manasseh, who were shepherds grazing in the area  across the Jordan just south of Damascus, were decimated by the Assyrian invaders from the north (2 Kings 16:9; 17:5)   Ephraim gradually became the dominant tribe in the Northern Kingdom, and their name could be used for the northern tribes as a whole (2 Chronicles 25:7; Isaiah 7:5; Hosea 4:17, 5:3; 6:4, 10).  Together with the descendants of Reuben (see note on 48:5-6) the tribe of Manasseh were not part of the main group of the Northern Kingdom who went into exile (2 Kings 17:23; 18:9-11).  The Ephraimites  went into exile 135 years before the people of Judah in the Southern Kingdom, and like them they had intermarried (see Ezra 10:2, 10) and been absorbed into the population of Mesopotamia (Esther 3:8;; 8:9-11).  A proportion of them had deserted to reside in the area of Judah (2 Chronicles 15:9) so they may have gone into exile when Jerusalem fell.  Remnants of the Jews from the Southern Kingdom returned from exile (Ezra 1:3; 8:1-14) but there is no mention of a return of people from the tribe of Manasseh which disappeared from history.\n\n 48:21   Finally Israel promised Joseph that he would be brought back to Canaan.  His body was taken back there (50:25-26; Exodus 13:19).   But his descendants did go out in the Exodus, and their tribes were given territory in the promised land (Joshua 14:3-4; 16:4-9).\n\n 48:22    For the portion of the inheritance transferred from Reuben see the note on 48:5-6.   The territory of Ephraim would include the town of Shechem occupied when Jacob came south from Haran (33:18-20).   There is no record of Jacob himself capturing the city by the sword, but he counted his sons, Simeon and Levi, as doing this for him when they treacherously killed all the male inhabitants (34:25-29).\n\n\nNext Chapter... Table Of Contents\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9202283620834351}
+{"content": "ECAMEvidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine1741-42881741-427XHindawi Publishing Corporation13237410.1093/ecam/nep088132374Original ArticleS-Petasin, the Main Sesquiterpene of Petasites formosanus, Inhibits Phosphodiesterase Activity and Suppresses Ovalbumin-Induced Airway HyperresponsivenessShihChung-Hung1HuangTzu-Jung2ChenChien-Ming3LinYun-Lian4KoWun-Chang2Department of Internal MedicineTaipei Medical University Institute of PharmacologyCollege of Medicine, Taipei Medical UniversityTaipei of Medical TechnologyCollege of MedicineTaipei Medical Research Institute of Chinese © 2011 Chung-Hung Shih et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.\n\nS-Petasin is the main sesquiterpene of Petasites formosanus, a traditional folk medicine used to treat hypertension, tumors and asthma in Taiwan. The aim of the present study was to investigate its inhibitory effects on phosphodiesterase (PDE) 1–5, and on ovalbumin (OVA)-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) in a murine model of allergic asthma. S-Petasin concentration-dependently inhibited PDE3 and PDE4 activities with 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of 25.5, and 17.5 μM, respectively. According to the Lineweaver-Burk analysis, S-petasin competitively inhibited PDE3 and PDE4 activities with respective dissociation constants for inhibitor binding (Ki) of 25.3 and 18.1 μM, respectively. Both IC50 and Ki values for PDE3 were significantly greater than those for PDE4. S-Petasin (10–30 μmol/kg, administered subcutaneously (s.c.)) dose-dependently and significantly attenuated the enhanced pause (Penh) value induced by methacholine (MCh) in sensitized and challenged mice. It also significantly suppressed the increases in total inflammatory cells, lymphocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils and levels of cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4 and IL-5, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interferon (IFN)-γ in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of these mice. In addition, S-petasin (10–30 μmol/kg, s.c.) dose-dependently and significantly attenuated total and OVA-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels in the serum and BALF, and enhanced the IgG2a level in serum of these mice. The PDE4H value of S-petasin was >300 μM; therefore, its PDE4H/PDE4L value was calculated to be >17. In conclusion, the present results for S-petasin at least partially explain why Petasites formosanus is used as a folk medicine to treat asthma in Taiwan.\n\n1. Introduction\n\nRecently, Ze 339, an extract of Petasites hybridus L. (Compositae), was approved by the Swiss government agency, Swissmedic, as an anti-allergic drug (Tesalin; Zeller AG, Romanshorn, Switzerland) to treat seasonal allergic rhinitis. In a study by Schapowal [1], the clinical effects of Ze 339 were similar to those of cetirizine, an antagonist of histamine receptor subtype 1, although Ze 339 was reported to elicit no skin test reactivity induced by different stimuli [2]. The plant is used as a therapeutic spasmolytic agent for gastrointestinal tract spasms [3] and asthmatic attacks [4] in Europe. Four sesquiterpenoid substances, petasin, isopetasin, S-petasin and S-isopetasin, were isolated from the plant [5], and petasin was reported to have the highest spasmolytic activity [6]. These four sesquiterpenes are also present in the aerial part of Petasites formosanus Kitamura, a traditional folk medicine used to treat hypertension, tumors and asthma in Taiwan [7], and S-petasin is the most abundant [8]. S-Petasin, with an IC50 of <10 μM, was proven to be the most potent in relaxing guinea pig trachea precontracted by histamine, carbachol (CCh), KCl or leukotriene (LT) D4, although S-isopetasin (IC50 10 μM) has a similar relaxing potency on CCh and KCl, but almost no effect on histamine and LT D4 [9]. Recently, we reported that S-isopetasin has bronchodilatory effects on obstructive airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) via its antimuscarinic M3 antagonism [10]. S-Petasin, but not S-isopetasin, inhibited cAMP-phosphodiesterase (PDE) activity [11].\n\nPDEs are classified according to their primary protein and complementary (c)DNA sequences, co-factors and substrate specificities, and pharmacological roles. It is now known that PDEs comprise of at least 11 distinct enzyme families that hydrolyze cAMP and/or cGMP [12]. PDE1–5 isozymes, which are calcium/calmodulin-dependent (PDE1), cGMP-stimulated (PDE2), cGMP-inhibited (PDE3), cAMP-specific (PDE4) and cGMP-specific (PDE5), have been found to be present in the canine trachea [13], guinea pig lung [14] and human bronchi [15]. PDE3 and PDE4 were identified in the guinea pig airway [16], but other isozymes might also be present. Rolipram, a prototype PDE4 selective inhibitor, has high (PDE4H) and low (PDE4L) affinities for PDE4, respectively. In general, it is believed that inhibition of PDE4H is associated with an adverse response, such as nausea, vomiting and gastric hypersecretion, and inhibition of PDE4L is associated with anti-inflammatory and bronchodilating effects. Therefore, the therapeutic ratio of selective PDE4 inhibitors for use in treating asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is defined as the PDE4H/PDE4L ratio [17, 18]\n\nRolipram or zardaverin (dual PDE3/4 inhibitor), but not siguazodan (a selective PDE3 inhibitor), markedly inhibited aerosol ovalbumin (OVA)-induced broncho-constriction in conscious guinea pigs, and inhibited OVA-induced contractions of isolated guinea pig trachea [19]. Underwood et al. [19] suggested that the combined inhibition of both PDE3 and PDE4 isozymes acts in an additive or synergistic manner to inhibit brochospasms in the guinea pig, although selective PDE3 or PDE4 inhibitors are ineffective against the exogenous histamine- and LTD4-induced contractions. The aim of present study was to investigate whether S-petasin inhibits both PDE3 and PDE4 isozymes, and whether it has the potential for use in treating asthma or COPD.\n\n2. Methods2.1. Reagents and Animals\n\nS-Petasin (Figure 1) was isolated as previously described [8] from the aerial parts of Petasites formosanus Kitamura, and identified by spectral methods, including infrared (IR), mass spectroscopy (MS), one-dimensional (1D)- and 2D-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic techniques. The purity of S-petasin was >99%. Its optical rotation value was [α]25D + 58.0° (c 1.0, MeOH). OVA, methacholine (MCh), polyethyleneimine, (2-hydroxypropyl)-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD), calmodulin, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), Trizma HCl, bis(2-hydroxyethyl)aminotris(hydroxymethyl)methane (Bis-Tris), benzamidine, phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride (PMSF), polyethyleneimine, d,l-dithiothreitol, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), bovine serum albumin (BSA), adenosine 3,5 cyclic monophosphate (cAMP), guanosine 3,5 cyclic monophosphate (cGMP), calmodulin, Dowex resin, Crotalus atrox snake venom, xylazine and ketamine were purchased from Sigma Chemical (St. Louis, MO, USA). Vinpocetine, erythro-9-(2-hydroxy-3-nonyl)-adenine HCl (EHNA), milrinone, rolipram, 4-(3-butoxy-4-methoxybenzyl)-2-imidazolidinone (Ro 20-1724), and zaprinast were purchased from Biomol (Plymouth Meeting, PA, USA). Freund's adjuvant (Mycobacterium butyricum) was purchased from Pierce Biotechnology (Rockford, IL, USA). Mouse T helper (Th)1/Th2 cytokine CBA kits, and mouse IgE and IgG2a ELISA sets were purchased from Pharmingen (San Diego, CA, USA). Polyethyleneglycol (PEG) 400 and ethyl alcohol were purchased from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany). [2,8-3H]-cAMP, [8-3H]-cGMP, and [methyl-3H]-rolipram were purchased from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech (Buckinghamshire, UK). Other reagents, such as CaCl2, MgCl2 and NaCl, were of analytical grade. S-Petasin and vinpocetin were dissolved in a mixture of ethyl alcohol and DMSO (1 : 1). EHNA and Ro 20-1724 were dissolved in ethyl alcohol. Milrinone and zaprinast were dissolved in DMSO. Other drugs were dissolved in distilled water. The final concentration of ethyl alcohol or DMSO was ≤0.5%, and did not significantly affect the activities of PDE isozymes or tracheal contractions.\n\nChemical structure of S-petasin (mol. wt., 334), isolated from Petasites formosanus Kitamura.\n\nMale Hartley guinea pigs (500–600 g) and female BABL/c mice at 8–12 weeks were obtained from the Animal Center of the National Science Council (Taipei, Taiwan). The animals were housed in ordinary cages at 22±1°C with a humidity of 50–60% under a constant 12/12-h light/dark cycle and provided with food and water ad libitum. Under a protocol approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Taipei Medical University, the following in vivo and in vitro experiments were performed.\n\n2.2. Inhibition on PDE Activities and the Lineweaver-Burk Analysis\n\nActivities of PDE1–5, partially separated from guinea pig lungs and hearts according to the method described by Ko et al. [20], were measured with a two-step procedure according to the method of Thompson and Appleman [21], using cAMP with [3H]-cAMP or cGMP with [3H]-cGMP as substrates. The enzyme pμreparation (25 μL) was incubated for 30 min at 37°C in a total assay volume of 100 L containing 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.4), 3 mM MgCl2, 1 mM dithiothreitol, 0.05% BSA, 1 μM cAMP with 0.2 μCi [3H]-cAMP as a substrate alone or in the presence of 0.1 units calmodulin with 10 μM CaCl2 or 5 μM cGMP, and 1 μM cGMP with 0.2 μCi [3H]-cGMP as another substrate alone or in the presence of 0.1 units calmodulin with 10 μM CaCl2. In tests of enzyme inhibition, the reaction mixture contained 10 μL of vehicle or inhibitors, at various concentrations of S-petasin or selective PDE1–5 inhibitors, such as vinpocetin [22], EHNA [23], milrinone [24], Ro 20-1724 [25] and zaprinast [26], as reference drugs. The reagents and homogenate were mixed on ice, and the reaction was initiated by transferring the mixture to a water bath at 37°C. Following a 30-min incubation, the reaction was stopped by transferring the reaction vessel to a bath of boiling water for 3 min. After cooling on ice, 20 μL of a 1 mg/mL solution of C. atrox snake venom was added to the reaction mixture, and the mixture was incubated at 37°C for 10 min. Unreacted [3H]-cAMP or [3H]-cGMP was removed by the addition of 500 μL of a 1-in-1 Tris-HCl (40 mM) buffer suspension of Dowex resin (1 × 8-200) with incubation on ice for 30 min. Each tube was then centrifuged for 2 min at 3700 g, and 150 μL of the supernatant was removed for liquid scintillation counting. Less than 10% of the tritiated cyclic nucleotide was hydrolyzed in this assay. The total protein in each fraction used was assayed according to the method described by Bradford [27]. The PDE activities are shown as nmol/mg/min in the Lineweaver-Burk analysis.\n\n2.3. Determination of PDE4<sub>H</sub> Values\n\nWhen the above-described guinea pigs were sacrificed, the whole brains were removed and homogenized with a glass/Teflon homogenizer (Glas-Col, Terre Haute, IN, USA) in 10 volumes of cold medium (pH 6.5) containing 20 mM Bis-Tris, 2 mM benzamidine, 2 mM EDTA, 50 mM sodium chloride, 0.1 mM PMSF and 1 mM dithiothreitol. At 4°C, the homogenate was centrifuged at 170 g for 5 min to remove connective tissues and blood vessels. The suspended homogenate was then re-centrifuged at 40 000 g for 30 min to separate the cytosolic and particulate portions. The particulate portion was re-suspended in a suspension at a concentration of 400 mg/mL (wet weight/volume), after washing three times with homogenizing buffer. The particulate portion mainly consisted of cell membranes. The binding ability of S-petasin (3–300 μM) or Ro 20-1724 (1–10,000 nM), a reference drug, to high-affinity rolipram binding sites (HARBSs) of the membranes was determined by replacing 2 nM [3H]-rolipram in a reaction buffer at 30°C for 1 h, according to the method described by previous investigators [28, 29] and modified by us. Briefly, the reaction buffer consisted of 50 mM Tris-HCl and 5 mM MgCl2 (pH 7.5). The total volume of the reaction mixture was 25 μL, consisting of 10 μL of particulate suspension, 10 μL of [3H]-rolipram and 5 μL of S-petasin or Ro 20-1724. After 1 h, the reaction was terminated by moving the reaction vessel into crushed ice. Then the reaction mixture was transferred onto Whatman GF/B glass-fiber filters, which were soaked in a 0.3% polyethyleneimine solution in a mini-funnel. The reaction mixture was filtered by centrifuging at 90 g for 10 s, and the filtrate was collected into a 1.5 mL Eppendorf tube with a top adapted to the outlet of the mini-funnel. The filters were washed with 300 μL of reaction buffer three times each in the same way, and transferred into 2 mL of cocktail for radiation counting (total binding) using a β-scintillation counter (Beckman, Fullerton, CA, USA). Non-specific binding, which was defined in the presence of 10 μM Ro 20-1724, was subtracted from the total binding to yield the specific binding. The effective concentration (EC50) values of S-petasin and Ro 20-1724, at which a half of [3H]-rolipram bound onto HARBSs of cell membranes was displaced, were defined as the PDE4H values, and these were related to any adverse effects, such as nausea, vomiting and gastric hypersecretion [30].\n\n2.4. Airway Hyperresponsiveness In Vivo\n\nTen female BABL/c mice in each group were sensitized by an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of 20 μg of OVA emulsified in 2.25 mg aluminum hydroxide gel in a total volume of 100 μL on days 0 and 14. The mice were challenged via the airway by 1% OVA in saline for 30 min on Days 28, 29 and 30 by ultrasonic nebulization. Six weeks after the last of three primary OVA challenges, the mice were exposed to 1% OVA for 30 min by nebulization as a secondary challenge [31]. AHR was assessed on Day 74 (48 h after 1% OVA provocation) in each group. Each group of mice was subcutaneously (s.c.) injected with vehicle (control), or 30–100 μmol/kg of S-petasin 2 h before and 6 and 24 h after OVA provocation. For comparison, sham-treated mice were sensitized but challenged with saline instead of 1% OVA (non-challenged). The vehicle, a mixture of alcohol : DMSO : 30% HPβCD : saline (0.5 :  0.5 : 1 : 8  , v/v), or S-petasin was injected at a volume of 0.01 mL/g of body weight. AHR was measured in unrestrained animals by barometric plethysmography [32] using a whole-body plethysmograph (WBP) and analyzed using software of Life Science Suite P3 Analysis Modules (Gould, LDS Test and Measurement LLC, Valley View, OH, USA). The mice were placed into the main chamber of the WBP, and the baseline enhanced pause (Penh) value was determined. Then the mice were nebulized first with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and subsequently with increasing doses (6.25–50 mg/mL) of MCh for 3 min for each nebulization, followed by readings of breathing parameters for 3 min after each nebulization with determination of Penh values. Twenty-four hours after the Penh determination, these mice were anesthetized with pentobarbital (50 mg/kg, i.p.), and lavaged via a tracheal tube with PBS (1 × 1.0 mL, 37°C). After lavage, blood was collected from the jugular vein and allowed to sit so that it would coagulate. The collected bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and coagulated blood were, respectively, centrifuged at 630 g for 7 min and at 3700 g for 10 min at 4°C, respectively. After centrifugation, the supernatants of BALF and serum were stored at 20°C until the determinations of cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL-5, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interferon (IFN)-γ by flow cytometric methods [33] using mouse Th1/Th2 cytokine CBA kits, of total immunoglobulin E (IgE), and of total IgG2a using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits (Pharmingen, San Diego, CA, USA) according to the respective recommendations of the manufacturer. OVA-specific IgE was measured as described previously [34] with some modifications. Wells were coated with 100 μL of OVA (20 μg/mL) instead of the capture antibody. Levels are expressed in arbitrary units, where one arbitrary unit equals the optical density of the sample divided by the optical density of unchallenged mouse serum or BALF (standard). The pellet from BALF was re-suspended in ACK lysing buffer (1.658 g NH4Cl, 0.2 g KHCO3 and 1.44 mg EDTA in 200 mL of water) to lyse the residual erythrocytes in each sample. The number of inflammatory cells was counted using a hemocytometer (Hausser Scientific, Horsham, PA, USA). Cytospun slides were stained and differentiated in a blinded fashion by counting at least 100 cells under light microscopy.\n\n2.5. Xylazine/Ketamine-Induced Anesthesia\n\nAccording to the method described by Robichaud et al. [35] and modified by us, S-petasin (10–100 μmol/kg, s.c.) or rolipram (0.01–1 μmol/kg, s.c.), a reference drug, was injected into 8–12 week-old female BALB/c mice 1 h or 15 min, respectively, prior to an i.p. injection of xylazine (10 mg/kg)/ketamine (70 mg/kg). The vehicle (control) for S-petasin or for rolipram was a mixture of alcohol : DMSO : 30% HPβCD : saline (0.5 : 0.5 : 1 : 8 , v/v), or alcohol : DMSO : PEG 400 : saline (0.5 : 0.5 : 1 : 8, v/v), respectively. After loss of the righting reflex (i.e., when a mouse remained on its back and no longer spontaneously righted itself to a prone position), the duration of anesthesia was measured until its return as an endpoint [35].\n\n2.6. OVA-Induced Tracheal Contractions In Vitro\n\nMale Hartley guinea pigs (500–600 g) were sensitized by intramuscular injections of 0.7 mL of 5% (w/v) OVA in saline on Days 1, 4 and 43, and in adjuvant on Days 25 and 39 into each thigh, according to a method described by Underwood et al. [19] and modified by us. Three days after the last injection, sensitized guinea pigs were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, and their tracheas removed. Each trachea was cut into six segments. Each segment consisted of three cartilage rings. All segments were cut open opposite the trachealis. After the segments were randomized to minimize regional variability, they were tied at one end to holders via silk sutures, placed in 5 mL of normal Krebs solution containing indomethacin (3 μM), gassed with a mixture of 95% O2 plus 5% CO2 at 37°C, and attached by the other end of each segment to force displacement transducers (Grass FT03, Quincy, MA, USA) for the isometric recording of tension changes on a polygraph (Gould RS3200, Cleveland, OH, USA). The composition of the normal Krebs solution was (mM): NaCl 118, KCl 4.7, MgSO4 1.2, KH2PO4 1.2, CaCl2 2.5, NaHCO3 25 and dextrose 10.1. Tissues were suspended in normal Krebs solution under an initial tension of 1.5 g and allowed to equilibrate for at least 1 h with washing at 15-min intervals. After the tissues were precontracted with KCl (60 mM) and washed with normal Krebs solution, OVA (0.1–100 μg/mL) was cumulatively added, and contractions were allowed to reach a steady state at each concentration. To evaluate the suppressive effect of S-petasin on OVA-induced contractions, each tissue was preincubated with each concentration (30–300 μM) of S-petasin or its vehicle for 15 min and then challenged with cumulative OVA again. Therefore, the log concentration-response curves of OVA were constructed in the absence and presence of S-petasin. The tension of the precontraction induced by KCl was set as 100%.\n\n2.7. Statistical Analysis\n\nConcentrations of test compounds at which 50% of maximum activity (IC50 or EC50 value) was produced were compared to each other. The IC50 and EC50 values were calculated using a non-linear regression analysis by the software SigmaPlot 10.0 (Sigma Chemical, St. Louis, MO, USA). All values are given as the mean ± SEM. Differences among values were statistically calculated by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and then determined by Dunnett's test. The difference between two values, however, was determined by use of student's t-test. Differences with P<.05 were considered statistically significant.\n\n3. Results3.1. Selective and Competitive Inhibition of PDE4 by <italic>S</italic>-Petasin\n\nS-Petasin (1–100 μM) concentration-dependently inhibited PDE3 (Figure 2(a)) and PDE4 (Figure 2(b)) with IC50 values of 25.5 ± 1.5 μM (n = 4) and 17.5 ± 2.4 μM (n = 6), respectively, which significantly differed from each other (Table 1). Figure 2(c) shows the concentration-inhibition curve of milrinone, a selective PDE3 inhibitor, on PDE3, and Figure 2(d) shows that of Ro 20-1724, a selective PDE4 inhibitor, on PDE4. However, S-petasin did not inhibit PDE1, PDE2 or PDE5 activities (IC50 values > 100 μM, Table 1). The IC50 values of all reference drugs used are shown in Table 1. According to the Lineweaver-Burk analysis, S-petasin (3–30 μM) and milrinone (0.3–3 μM) competitively inhibited PDE3 activity (Figures 3(a) and 3(b)), because the 1/Vmax values were not significantly affected by various concentrations of S-petasin or milrinone. Their Ki values were, respectively, calculated to be 25.3 ± 2.0 (n = 4) and 1.6 ± 0.2 (n = 4) μM (Figures 3(a) and 3(b), inset). Similarly, S-petasin (3–30 μM) and Ro 20-1724 (1–10 μM) competitively inhibited PDE4 activity (Figures 3(c) and 3(d)). Their Ki values were, respectively, calculated to be 18.1 ± 1.7 μM (n = 4) and 4.2 ± 0.7 μM (n = 4) (Figures 3(c) and 3(d), inset). The Ki value of S-petasin for PDE3 significantly differed from that for PDE4, suggesting that S-petasin has a higher affinity for PDE4 than for PDE3. The Ki values of S-petasin and their reference drugs are shown in Table 1. The anti-inflammatory effects of PDE4 inhibitors were reported to be associated with inhibition of PDE4 catalytic activity [36], and the anti-inflammatory effects were also correlated to PDE4L inhibition [30]. Therefore, the IC50 values (Table 1) of S-petasin (17.5 μM) and Ro 20-1724 (6.9 μM) for inhibiting PDE4 catalytic activity were taken to be the PDE4L values.\n\nThe IC50 and Ki (μM) values of S-petasin and reference drugs on PDE isozymes 1–5.\n\nTest compoundPDE isozyme\n IC50>100 (n = 3)>100 (n = 3)25.5 ± 1.5 (n = 4)17.5 ± 2.4 (n = 6)*>100 (n = 3)\nKiNDND25.3 ± 2.0 (n = 4)18.1 ± 1.7 (n = 4)*ND\nReference drugsa\n IC5036.5 ± 8.8 (n = 4)6.5 ± 1.0 (n = 4)1.5 ± 0.2 (n = 8)6.9 ± 0.6 (n = 4)4.1 ± 1.1 (n = 4)\nKiNDND1.6 ± 0.2 (n = 4)4.2 ± 0.7 (n = 4)ND\n\nAll values are expressed as the mean ± SEM (n), and n is the number of experiments. ND, not determined.\n\naReference drugs for PDE isozymes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 were vinpocetin, EHNA, milrinone, Ro 20-1724 and zaprinast, respectively.\n\nP*<.05, compared to the corresponding value of PDE3.\n\nLog concentration-inhibition curves of S-petasin and its reference drugs on phosphodiesterase 3 (PDE3) and PDE4 activities. S-Petasin (a, b), milrinone, a selective PDE3 inhibitor (c), and Ro 20-1724, a selective PDE4 inhibitor (d) concentration-dependently inhibited PDE3 (a, c) and PDE4 (b, d) activities. Each value represents the mean ± SEM (n = 4–8).\n\nInhibition of PDE3- (a, b) or PDE4 (c, d)-induced cAMP hydrolysis by S-petasin (a, c), and the reference drugs, milrinone (b) and Ro 20-1724 (d). The activities of PDE3 and PDE4 in the presence of various concentrations of S-petasin or reference drugs, and the substrate (cAMP) were plotted according to the Lineweaver-Burk analysis. The Ki value was determined from the equation of the apparent Km as a function of the inhibitor concentration (inset). Each value represents the mean ± SEM (n = 4).\n\n3.2. PDE4<sub>H</sub>/PDE4<sub>L</sub> Ratios\n\nS-Petasin (3–300 μM) concentration-dependently displaced the [3H]-rolipram binding on HARBSs of guinea pig brain cell membranes (Figure 4(a)). At the highest concentration (300 μM), however, the percentage displacement by S-petasin was 28.0%±5.7% (n = 7). Owing to the solubility of S-petasin, its concentration cannot exceed 300 μM. In other words, the EC50 value of S-petasin for the displacement was >300 μM. Ro 20-1724 (1–10 000 nM), a selective PDE4 inhibitor, also concentration-dependently displaced [3H]-rolipram binding on HARBSs (Figure 4(b)). In contrast to S-petasin, the percentage of the displacement by Ro 20-1724 at the highest concentration (10 000 nM) was 100%±2.1% (n = 9). The EC50 value of Ro 20-1724 for displacement was 95.8 ± 13.6 nM (n = 9). According to the definition (see Section 2), the PDE4H values of S-petasin and Ro 20-1724 were >300 μM and 95.8 ± 13.6 nM, respectively. Thus, the PDE4H/PDE4L values of S-petasin and Ro 20-1724 were calculated to be >17 and 0.014, respectively.\n\nDisplacement of [3H]-rolipram by S-petasin (a) and Ro 20-1724 (b) in high-affinity rolipram binding sites of guinea pig whole brain particulates. Each value represents the mean ± SEM (n = 6–9).\n\n3.3. Suppression of AHR In Vivo\n\nP enh values at the baseline for control (vehicle), non-challenged and 10 and 30 μmol/kg S-petasin subcutaneously injected groups were 3.04 ± 0.31, 2.95 ± 0.31, 3.19 ± 0.47 and 3.13 ± 0.32, respectively, and these values did not significantly differ from each other. Penh values of PBS nebulization for each group were 2.87 ± 0.12, 2.82 ± 0.06, 2.99 ± 0.22 and 3.02 ± 0.23, respectively, which also did not significantly differ from each other. Administration of nebulized PBS did not affect the Penh value of the baseline in each group. However, MCh (6.25–50 mg/mL) concentration-dependently increased Penh values from 1.08 ± 0.08-fold of PBS exposure to 1.67 ± 0.07-fold in control sensitized and challenged mice (Figure 5(a)). S-Petasin (10–30 μmol/kg, s.c.) dose-dependently and significantly attenuated the enhancement of the Penh value induced by MCh at 50 mg/mL. The Penh value of MCh (50 mg/mL) in non-challenged mice was almost unchanged compared to that of PBS nebulization and was significantly less than that in control sensitized and challenged mice (Figure 5(a)).\n\nEffect of S-petasin (10–30 μmol/kg, s.c.) on Penh (a), inflammatory cells (b), and cytokines (c) in sensitized mice which received aerosolized MCh (6.25–50 mg/mL) 2 days after secondary allergen challenge. P*<.05, P**<.01, and P***<.001, compared to the vehicle (control). The number of mice in each group was 10. Total, total cells; Mac, macrophages; Lym, lymphocytes; Neu, neutrophils; Eos, eosinophils; IL, interleukin; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-α; TNF-γ, tumor necrosis factor-γ.\n\n3.4. Suppression of Inflammatory Cells in BALF\n\nTotal inflammatory cells, macrophages, lymphocytes, neutrophils and eosinophils from the BALF of control sensitized and challenged mice significantly increased compared to non-challenged mice (Figure 5(b)). S-Petasin (10–30 μmol/kg, s.c.) also significantly suppressed the increases in total inflammatory cells, lymphocytes, neutrophils and eosinophils, with the exception of lymphocytes at 10 μmol/kg (Figure 5(b)). Unexpectedly, macrophages were not affected by S-petasin treatment.\n\n3.5. Suppression of Cytokines in BALF\n\nCompared to non-challenged mice, the levels of cytokines, such as IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IFN-γ and TNF-α in the BALF of control sensitized and challenged mice significantly increased (Figure 5(c)). S-Petasin (10–30 μmol/kg, s.c.) also significantly suppressed increases in the levels of these cytokines, with the exception of IL-4 at a dose of 10 μmol/kg (Figure 5(c)).\n\n3.6. Effects on IgG<sub>2a</sub> and IgE in the Serum and BALF\n\nCompared to non-challenged mice, the total IgG2a levels in the serum of control sensitized and challenged mice were significantly reduced. S-Petasin (30 μmol/kg, s.c.) significantly reversed this reduction (Figure 6(a)). Levels of total and OVA-specific IgE in the serum and BALF of control sensitized and challenged mice were significantly enhanced compared to non-challenged mice (Figures 6(b)6(e)). S-Petasin (10–30 μmol/kg, s.c.) dose-dependently and significantly suppressed these enhancements with the exception of total IgE in the BALF at 10 μmol/kg.\n\nEffects of S-petasin (10–30 μmol/kg, s.c.) on the total IgG2a (a) level in the serum, and total IgE (b, d) and OVA-specific IgE (c, e) levels in the serum (b, c) and BALF (d, e) of sensitized mice which received aerosolized MCh (6.25–50 mg/mL) 2 days after secondary allergen challenge. P*<.05 and P**<.01, compared to the vehicle (control). Each value represents the mean ± SEM. The number of mice in each group was 10.\n\n3.7. No Effect on Xylazine/Ketamine-Induced Anesthesia\n\nThe durations of xylazine/ketamine-induced anesthesia in control (vehicle) mice of S-petasin- and rolipram-treated group were 20.6 ± 2.2 (n = 10) and 22.8 ± 2.7 min (n = 11), respectively. Rolipram (0.1–1 μmol/kg, s.c.) dose-dependently and significantly shortened the duration (Figure 7(a)). In contrast to rolipram, S-petasin (10–100 μmol/kg, s.c.) did not affect the duration (Figure 7(b)).\n\nEffects of subcutaneously administered rolipram (a) and S-petasin (b) on the duration of xylazine (10 mg/kg, i.p.)/ketamine (70 mg/kg, i.p.)-induced anesthesia in mice. Rolipram or S-petasin was administered 15 min or 1 h before anesthesia, respectively. P**<.01, compared to the vehicle (control). Each value represents the mean ± SEM. The number of each group was 5–11.\n\n3.8. Inhibition of OVA-Induced Contractions In Vitro\n\nIn isolated sensitized guinea pig trachea, 60 mM KCl evoked a contraction and increased tension to 997 ± 93 mg (n = 36), which was set as 100%. OVA (0.01–100 μg/mL) alone concentration-dependently enhanced the tension from the baseline to 130.8 ± 11.6% (n = 9) of the 60 mM KCl-induced contractions (Figure 8(a)). The log concentration-response curve of OVA was unaltered by 1 μM nifedipine, a selective voltage-dependent calcium channel blocker [37] (data not shown). S-Petasin (30–100 μM) also did not significantly inhibit OVA (100 μg/mL)-induced contractions compared to the control (vehicle), although S-petasin at 300 μM did (Figure 8(a)). The vehicle of S-petasin did not affect the baseline tension or OVA (100 μg/mL)-induced maximal contractions (data not shown). However, S-petasin (30–300 μM) concentration-dependently and significantly relaxed the baseline tension (Figure 8(b)). In contrast, Ro 20-1724 (10–30 μM) concentration-dependently inhibited OVA (10–100 μg/mL)-induced contractions. Ro 20-1724 at 30 μM even significantly inhibited OVA (10 μg/mL)-induced contractions (Figure 8(c)). Similarly to S-petasin, Ro 20-1724 (3–30 μM) concentration-dependently and significantly relaxed the baseline tension (Figure 8(d)).\n\nEffects of S-petasin (a, b) and Ro 20-1724 (c, d) on cumulative OVA-induced contractions (a, c) and baseline tension (b, d) in isolated sensitized guinea pig trachealis. P*<.05, P**<.01, and P***<.001, compared to the control (vehicle). Each value represents the mean ± SEM (n = 5–9).\n\n4. Discussion\n\nIn the present results, S-petasin suppressed all types of inflammatory cells examined, including total inflammatory cells, lymphocytes, neutrophils and eosinophils, but not macrophages, in the BALF of sensitized and challenged mice. The reason that macrophages were unaffected by S-petasin is unclear. Allergic asthma is a chronic respiratory disease characterized by AHR, mucus hypersecretion, bronchial inflammation and elevated IgE levels. T-helper type 2 (Th2) cells, together with other inflammatory cells such as eosinophils, B cells and mast cells, have been proposed as playing critical roles in the initiation, development and chronicity of this disease [38]. One hypothesis emphasizes an imbalance in Th cell populations favoring expression of Th2 over Th1 cells. Cytokines released from Th2 cells are IL-4, -5, -6, -9 and -13, and those from Th1 cells are IL-2 and -12, IFN-γ and TNF-α [39, 40]. In the present results, S-petasin suppressed levels of IL-2, -4 and -5, IFN-γ and TNF-α, suggesting that S-petasin suppresses both Th1 and Th2 cells. This inhibitory effect of S-petasin on both Th1 and Th2 cells is similar to that of AWD 12-281, a selective PDE4 inhibitor [41]. Th1 and Th2 cells have, respectively, been implicated in autoimmune and atopic diseases [42]. Therefore AWD 12-281 is currently under clinical evaluation for the topical treatment of atopic dermatitis [41].\n\nIL-4 and -13 have been shown to induce AHR in mouse asthma models [43, 44]. IL-4 has three primary effects. First, IL-4 promotes B cell differentiation to plasma cells that secrete antigen-specific IgE antibodies. Second, IL-4 promotes mast cell proliferation. Third, increased IL-4 upregulates endothelial cell expression of adhesion molecules for eosinophils [45]. IL-5 mobilizes and activates eosinophils, leading to the release of a major basic protein, cysteinyl-leukotrienes, and eosinophil peroxidase that contribute to tissue damage and AHR [44, 46]. Phosphoinositide 3-kinase δ (p110δ) was shown to play a crucial role in the development, differentiation and antigen receptor-induced proliferation of mature B cells [47, 48], and inhibition of p110δ attenuates allergic airway inflammation and AHR in a murine asthma model [48, 49]. In addition, IL-4 and -13 are important in directing B cell growth, differentiation and secretion of IgE [50]. However, IFN-γ released from Th1 cells preferentially directs B cell switching of IgM to IgG2a and IgG3 in mice [51, 52]. The biological activities of IgE are mediated through the high-affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI) on mast cells and basophils. Cross-linking of the FcεRI initiates multiple signaling cascades leading to cellular degranulation and activation [53, 54]. Recently, p110δ activity was reported to be critical for allergen-IgE-induced mast cell degranulation and release of cytokines [55]. Inhibition of p110δ therefore attenuates the production of IgE as well as allergen-IgE-induced mast cell activation during allergic inflammation. The calcium channels in mast cell membranes were proposed to differ from those in cardiovascular tissues [56], which are sensitive to nifedipine. In the present in vitro results, S-petasin (30–100 μM), but not at 300 μM which is beyond a physiological condition, did not inhibit cumulative OVA-induced contractions of isolated sensitized guinea pig trachealis, which were unaffected by 1 μM nifedipine, suggesting that S-petasin does not inhibit degranulation or activation of mast cells [57]. Indeed, S-petasin was reported to be an L-type voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel blocker in rat aortic smooth muscle cells [58, 59] and in mouse NG 108-15 neuronal cells [60]. In these neuronal cells, a higher concentration (100 μM) of S-petasin was also reported to inhibit the delayed rectifier K+ current in a time-dependent manner, suggesting that such a blockage does not seem to be instantaneous, but develops with time after the channels are opened [60]. The blockage by S-petasin may contribute to the regulation of neuronal activity, but not to relaxation of the trachea-bronchial tree. Owing to the different sensitivities between vascular and tracheal smooth muscle cells, we demonstrated that in the presence of nifedipine (10 μM), S-petasin or S-isopetasin (100 μM each) further relaxed the CCh-induced precontractions in isolated guinea pig trachealis via cAMP-PDE inhibition or antimuscarinic effects, respectively [11]. The extents of relaxation by nifedipine and these two sesquiterpenes (S-petasin and S-isopetasin) were 20%–30%, and 70%–80%, respectively. In other words, there are two mechanisms, at least, in tracheal relaxation by S-petasin or S-isopetasin. In the present results, S-petasin and Ro 20-1724 concentration-dependently relaxed the baseline in isolated sensitized guinea pig trachealis, suggesting that S-petasin has a bronchodilatory effect. This aspect is strongly supported by our previous reports [9, 11]. In addition, S-petasin dose-dependently and significantly suppressed total and OVA-specific IgE levels in the serum and BALF, and enhanced the level of total IgG2a in the serum of sensitized and challenged mice, suggesting that S-petasin appears to have immunoregulatory effects.\n\nSelective PDE4 inhibitors specifically prevent the hydrolysis of cAMP, a 3,5-cyclic nucleotide, and therefore have broad anti-inflammatory effects such as inhibition of cell trafficking, and cytokine and chemokine release from inflammatory cells. The second-generation PDE4 inhibitors, cilomilast and roflumilast, have reached the clinical trial stage and have exhibited some beneficial effects in treating asthma and COPD [61]. The effectiveness of these PDE4 inhibitors may be limited by their clinical potency when using doses that have minimal adverse effects on headaches, diarrhea, nausea and abdominal pain. The PDE4H/PDE4L ratios of cilomilast and roflumilast were reported to be 1 [62] and 3 [29], respectively, which are considerably greater than that (0.01–0.001) of rolipram [30]. Owing to its low PDE4H/PDE4L ratio, cilomilast was discontinued for use against asthma after phase II clinical trials in 2003 [61]. In terms of tolerability over 6 months with 15 mg twice daily for COPD in a phase III study, cilomilast was reported to be associated with higher frequencies of diarrhea and nausea than a placebo [61]. Roflumilast is still being evaluated for asthma and COPD in phase III clinical trials at present, and is reported to reduce these adverse effects after longer-term treatment at 0.5 mg once daily [61]. The PDE4H/PDE4L ratio of AWD 12-281, another selective PDE4 inhibitor, was calculated to be approximately 11 [63]. AWD 12-281 has been undergoing clinical development phase IIa trials for COPD, and has been reported to be a unique potential drug for the topical treatment of asthma and COPD [64]. Recently, AWD 12-281 was reported to be a very promising drug candidate for treating lung inflammation when administered by inhalation and for treating atopic dermatitis [65].\n\nIn the present results, the PDE4H value of S-petasin was >300 μM, suggesting that it has a low affinity for HARBSs of brain cell membranes. Thus the PDE4H/PDE4L ratio of S-petasin was >17, which is greater than that of AWD 12-281. In addition, S-petasin did not affect xylazine/ketamine-induced anesthesia. This result is consistent with its low affinity for HARBSs of brain cell membranes. However, rolipram, a selective PDE4 inhibitor, reversed the anesthesia. The reversing effect may occur through presynaptic α2-adrenoceptor inhibition [66], because MK-192, an α2-adrenoceptor antagonist, was reported to reverse xylazine/ketamine-induced anesthesia in rats [67] and trigger vomiting in ferrets [66]. In contrast, clonidine, an α2-adrenoceptor agonist, prevented emesis induced by PDE4 inhibitors in ferrets [66]. In contrast to rolipram or AWD 12-281, S-petasin is a dual PDE3/4 inhibitor. Thus, the present results for S-petasin at least partially explain why Petasites formosanus is used as a folk medicine to treat asthma in Taiwan. However, whether S-petasin has other adverse effects or has good bioavailability after oral administration should be further evaluated. In summary, PDE3/4 inhibition and VDCC blockage are the main mechanisms of action of S-petasin (Figure 9).\n\nMechanisms of action of S-petasin. 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J.Phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseLancet200536594541671752-s2.0-1184426718310.1016/S0140-6736(05)17708-3HatzelmannA.SchudtC.Anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory potential of the novel PDE4 inhibitor roflumilast in vitroJournal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics200129712672792-s2.0-0035084103DraheimR.EgerlandU.RundfeldtC.Anti-inflammatory potential of the selective phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor N-(3,5-dichloro-pyrid-4-yl)-[1-(4-fluorobenzyl)-5-hydroxy-indole-3-yl]-glyoxylic acid amide (AWD 12-281), in human cell preparationsJournal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics2004308555563KussH.HoefgenN.JohanssenS.KronbachT.RundfeldtC.In vivo efficacy in airway disease models of N-(3,5-dichloro-pyrid-4-yl)-[1-(4-fluorobenzyl)-5-hydroxy-indole-3-yl] -glyoxylic acid amide (AWD 12-281), a selective phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor for inhaled administrationJournal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics200330713733852-s2.0-014163048910.1124/jpet.103.053942HoppmannJ.BaumerW.GaletzkaC.HofgenN.KietzmannM.RundfeldtC.The phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor AWD 12-281 is active in a new guinea-pig model of allergic skin inflammation predictive of human skin penetration and suppresses both Th1 and Th2 cytokines in miceJournal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology20055716091617RobichaudA.SavoieC.StamatiouP. B.TattersallF. D.ChanC. C.PDE4 inhibitors induce emesis in ferrets via a noradrenergic pathwayNeuropharmacology20014022622692-s2.0-003521633010.1016/S0028-3908(00)00142-8RobichaudA.SavoieC.StamatiouP. B.LachanceN.JolicoeurP.RasoriR.ChanC. C.Assessing the emetic potential of PDE4 inhibitors in ratsBritish Journal of Pharmacology200213511131182-s2.0-0036152721", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6921871900558472}
+{"content": "How to cook buckwheat in a merchant with chicken\n\ncooked porridge with dill\n\nIf you are a fan of simple, nutritious, balanced, but very tasty food, then you should like the recipe for a wonderful dish with buckwheat and chicken. Crumbly porridge is appreciated in any kitchen, as it is an exquisite and useful dish. An important role is played by additional ingredients that emphasize the taste of buckwheat and introduce new ones. It can be meat, poultry, vegetables, spices, sauces or greens.\n\nMerchant pap will appeal to not only adults, but also kids who are very selective in their food. Due to the low calorie, good nutritional value, the dish can be called dietary. To cook a gourmet dish according to an old recipe, you need to arm yourself with certain foods.\n\n\nBuckwheat 160 grams\nChicken fillet 300 grams\nCarrots 1 piece.\nOnions 1 head\nKetchup or tomato paste 2-3 tablespoons\nGarlic 2 denticles\nChicken Broth / Water 2 glass (400 ml)\nSalt, black pepper, favorite spices and herbs to taste\nDill 1 beam\nOlive or Sunflower Oil 2-3 tablespoons\n\n\n1. Prepare the specified food according to the recipe. For starters, get some chicken. Rinse the fillet under running water. Take a sharp knife and chopping board. Remove all films and streaks. Then rinse the meat again and dry with a paper towel. Cut into small cubes, namely, 1-2 cm in width and length. Salt and pepper, use your favorite spices.\n\nchicken in small cubes\n\n2. The next step is the preparation of vegetables. Peel the onion, wash with water and cut into half rings. It is advisable to use a sharp knife to make the rings thin.\n\nbulb half rings\n\n3. As for carrots, try to find a juicy, sweet and crunchy, but not sluggish, so as not to spoil the taste of the dish. Peel the carrots from the skin, wash and blot with a paper towel. Prepared root can be grated or cut into cubes.\n\ngrated carrots\n\n4. Prepare buckwheat. It should not contain garbage, husk or dark cores. To do this, it must be carefully and carefully selected, rinsed thoroughly under warm running water. Flip the cereal onto a sieve so that excess liquid can escape. The secret of a delicious dish in a merchant is the right choice of buckwheat, so give preference to proven and reliable brands. Groats must be of superior quality.\n\nperfect buckwheat\n\n5. Put a griddle on the stove, pour in vegetable oil, warm it up a little. Put the prepared fillet on hot oil.\n\npan fillet\n\n6. Fry the meat for three to four minutes on each side until a beautiful crust is formed.\n\nfried fillet in a pan\n\n7. Add the prepared onion to the meat pan. Fry for at least three minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spatula. At this time, the kitchen will be insanely delicious and tempting flavor.\n\nfried fillet with onions\n\n8. Add carrots grated on a coarse grater, slightly reduce heat. Continue stirring, fry the fillet with vegetables for five minutes.\n\nfried fillet with onions and carrots\n\n9. When the vegetables are fried, become soft, you can add buckwheat.\n\nfillet with onions and carrots and buckwheat\n\n10. In a plate, mix the broth with ketchup or tomato paste, add salt, pepper, spices and garlic passed through a press. Mix everything thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the pan.\n\ningredients with broth\n\n11. Next, you need to bring the dish to a boil, cover and reduce the heat. Cook for twenty-five minutes. It is important that all liquid evaporate. Then remove the griddle from the stove, leave for fifteen minutes so that the ingredients are saturated with the flavors and flavors of each other. Serve porridge in portions, sprinkle with finely chopped dill.\n\ndish in portions\n\n12. Bucket buckwheat porridge with chicken is ready, you can serve and enjoy the divine dish. It takes about 45-50 minutes to cook, which is fast enough for a hearty, wholesome, nutritious and balanced lunch and dinner.\n\nVideo recipe\n\nFeatures of the dish\n\nBuckwheat with chicken in a merchant's style is a tasty, aromatic, nutritious and nourishing dish that can charge your body with energy for the whole day. Cooked buckwheat it turns out crumbly and very juicy, each grain is soaked with a delicate taste and rich aroma of vegetables and meat, so the dish turns out to be matchless.\n\nIf you do not know how to cook buckwheat in a merchant's style, then the proposed recipe will help you to create a real masterpiece, which does not require special skills in cooking. Basically, for the preparation of this dish use chicken, onions and carrots, but you can slightly move away from the classics by adding Bulgarian pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes and other ingredients. As for meat, an excellent substitute for chicken can be rabbit, beef, pork.\n\nAt first glance, the preparation of the dish resembles everyone's favorite pilaf with rice, since the composition contains the same ingredients: meat, vegetables, and cereals. As for the merchant buckwheat, it turns out much tastier, more appetizing and more refined than the usual pilau. Given the huge benefits of buckwheat, it should be present in the diet at least three times a week. Such a dish can be served even for the holiday table, complementing it with salads and pickled vegetables.\n\nCooked buckwheat with vegetables in our recipe will be no less tasty.\n\nUpdated: 01.09.2018\n\nRate recipe:\n\nLoading ...\nWe recommend:\n\nShare a recipe opinion\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9486123919487}
+{"content": "Deutsch - Español\n\nGods Word - The Filter\n\n23 May 2018\n\nProve all things; hold fast that which is good.\n\n1 Thessalonians 5,21\n\nEvery day you encounter thousands of different thoughts, news, teachings, words and many other things that influence you, and many think that it's best to just take up all of that, for knowledge is power, and the more I know the more powerful I will be. \n\nIt is true in the sense that there is great power in knowledge, but power is not about the amount of knowledge you have. It is the correct type of knowledge that makes the difference! \n\nEvery day the devil tries to bring bad thoughts, rumors, hurting words, conflicts or bad news in your life to get you down and to fill your heart with it, so that God has no place left, because the devil knows that as long as you keep that negative knowledge in you, you will only live in captivity instead of victory. \n\nYou NEED TO prove everything and only keep the good, for the good (godly, from God) brings you to victory and authority, whereas the bad (devilish) brings defeat. \n\nNo matter if the bad comes from your surroundings or from inside of you, you cannot afford to tolerate it in your heart or your thought life. \n\nSo how do I prove those circumstances? - With the Word of God!\n\nGod himself is good and therefore His word is good. And as long as you measure everything against the word of God, you will clearly see what is good and what is bad. \n\nTherefore never stop to prove YOURSELF and your neighborhood. Throw out the bad and absorb the good, so that it is firm in your heart, for whatever is in your heart, whether good or bad, will eventually manifest in your life!\n\nEvery day you encounter thousands of different situations, opinions and other things which you need to observe closely and prove by filtering them through Gods word, before you let them into your heart.\nIf you don’t use the filter though, you will get all the junk and the bad things in you, and the more of it you have in your heart, the stronger it’s going to manifest in your life. Prove everything going on around and in you, and only allow GOOD (God) to remain, if GOOD (God) is what you want to see in your life!\n(1. Thessalonians 5,12-22)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6912788152694702}
+{"content": "Sign Up | Log in |\n\nJealousy Myers-Brigs type - MBTI, enneagram and personality type info\n\nJealousy MBTI personality type cover chart\n\nEven if not directly tested, public voting can provide good accuracy regarding Jealousy Myers-Briggs and personality type!. Here you can explore of famous people and fictional characters.. Welcome to MBTIBase - PersonalityBase, here you can learn about Jealousy MBTI type.. You are in the best place to test MBTI and learn what type Jealousy likely is!.\n\n. Type 1 is consider envy. Either 3w4 or 4w3 works here but 4w3 works slightly better as jealousy has a connotation of brooding over things than taking the steps necessary to achieve what is envied.\n\n. Quiet, reflective, and idealistic. Interested in serving humanity. Well-developed value system, which they strive to live in accordance with.. To find out what your MBTI personality type is you need to complete the MBTI questionnaire and take part in a feedback session from a qualified MBTI practitioner.. Jealousy is more a mix of unhealthy 3 and 4 traits. But that is more because it becomes like type 4 when type 1 is unhealthy. Because type 4 people struggles of not knowing what they want. If you enjoyed this entry, find out about the personality types of Writers characters list.. In this site you can find out which of the 16 types this character 'Jealousy' belongs to!. Type 4 is consider envy. Isabel Briggs Myers, a researcher and practitioner of Jung’s theory, proposed to see the judging-perceiving relationship as a fourth dichotomy influencing personality type.. Discover Array, and more, famous people, fictional characters and celebrities here!. What is the best option for the MBTI type of Jealousy? What about enneagram and other personality types?. Free in-depth and practical information on the 16 personality types, including careers and relationships.. Every person’s preference can be found on a spectrum, so just choose the letter you identify with most.. Keep reading to learn more about what goes into your Myers-Briggs personality type—and maybe discover what yours is..\n\n\nMBTI enneagram type of Jealousy Realm:\n\nCategory: Writers\n\nLog in to add a comment.\n\n\nSort (descending) by: Date posted | Most voted", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6440228223800659}
+{"content": "Introduction To Micropalaeontology\n\nMicropaleontologyMicropalaeontology is the study of the microscopic remains of animals, crops and protists generally less than 1mm in size. A typical microfossil study will involve identification of some hundred specimens from every pattern. The branch of paleontology that deals with microfossils. Microfossils, particularly from deep-sea sediments, additionally provide a number of the most essential records of global environmental change on long, medium or short timescales.\n\nThe use of micro-computed tomography (μCT) supplies a novel alternative to look inside the shells of bigger benthic foraminifera to investigate their construction by measuring linear and volumetric parameters. In newer years they have additionally demonstrated their applicability to air pollution research, exhibiting the extent to which human actions have modified the ecological circumstances.\n\nWhy have these foraminifera climbed up a polychaete tube when most live down in the sediments? Others There are a selection of different helpful microfossil groups studied by micropaleontologists – diatoms, silicoflagellates, chitinozoans, amongst them. Each their distribution and frequency in time and area, in addition to the chemical composition of their shells, provide us with data in regards to the Earth’s history.\n\nReaders be taught concerning the major teams of microfossils, including their morphology, ecology, and geologic historical past. Such marker horizons enable geological events in numerous components of the world to be associated in a worldwide earth historical past. MRC collections are used usually by visiting one of many MRC repositories, although qualified scientists will also be sent materials straight on mortgage.\n\nMicropaleontologists of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Assets focus primarily on research of microfossils from the Mesozoic (251 to 65 million years ago) and the Cenozoic (sixty five million years ago to latest) in Germany and the whole world.\n\nRelated Posts\n\nAmbrogio Maria Soldani\n\n\nSeismic Shot Holes, Northern Alaska\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9067184329032898}
+{"content": "The Mission Field of St. Patrick Catholic High School\n\nIf you have driven through campus recently, you may have noticed new installations leading to Highway 605 north and south.\n\nAt St. Patrick, our faculty and staff are called to train intentional disciples — and more than anything, discipleship is what we want for our students. The “mission field” signs serve as a small reminder that our campus is the “training ground” and the rest of the world is the “mission field.”\n\nWithin the building, on the field, and on the court, we are called to work together, to train each other, to build each other up, and to bring out the best in each other so that when we depart each day, we will be equipped to make a positive impact on the rest of the world.\n\nThe rest of the world is our mission field!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8639071583747864}
+{"content": "Last year.  Last year, my 5th graders were a bundle of energy.  They were happy, sociable, and very outgoing.  Out of the 22, I would say 15 loved the limelight.  They were musical, they could perform on the spot, they were meant to be on stage. They were performers at heart.  I realize now, what a special group of children this was (is).  Last year, the overall air in my classroom was of silliness and happiness.  Yes, it drove me crazy at times, because it was difficult to get their attention, but they were happy. Last year makes me realize how different this year is…the complete opposite.  Last year makes me understand how lucky I was to be surrounded by such unique, quirky kids.  Last year makes me appreciate and miss smiles.  I miss last year.  Actually, I think I miss the year before last too…and the year before that…and the year before that.  In the world of teaching, you do reach a “last” with every group of children that come your way, and I think this has made me be a more reflective human.  All of those “last years” make me who I am as an educator today.\n\n\nCredible.  This is an adjective we strive to have attached to us.  We want others to believe us, to trust us, to know they can rely on us. Sometimes it is difficult to keep our word, and this might make us start losing our credibility.  Having a very busy teaching life, I have learned the hard way, that it is a struggle to keep up with everything we want to achieve.  Ironically, when we do achieve everything on our to-do list, we actually can feel incredible. Too good to be true.  Unbelievable that all lessons got planned.  Uncanny that the assessments got graded overnight.  Unfathomable that all bulletin boards got done, ready for the next units of study.  So I wonder, if actually getting things done makes me feel incredible, does that make me not credible? 😉  \n\n\nReplaceable. Pencils, glue sticks, markers, scissors…all items that can be replaced.  In a school environment, yes, even teachers and students are replaceable.  What is irreplaceable, is the impact one can leave behind. One of my favorite units to teach is our Changemakers unit.  This unit has evolved in amazing ways.  Students (and teachers) learn more about their personality traits (are they introverts? extroverts? a little of both?).  We learn from famous (and not so famous) introverts and extroverts of the world.  We emphasize on the change they made that impacted their community, their country, the world. A change that  will be around for a while, even though the person might not be.  A legacy, one might say, that is irreplaceable.  As we get older, and we realize how time goes by so quickly, we start thinking of the moments we won’t get back, the changes we could have made, the memories we don’t want to lose.  All of these irreplaceable.  As an educator, I am, and have been, working on a legacy that I hope will make an impact on some of my students.  With time, I have come to realize I have a deep focus on quality over quantity.  Quality of work, quality of activities, quality of friendships, quality of time spent with others…all of these, if done well, become truly irreplaceable.  In a world that is moving faster and faster, sometimes at a pace that is unreachable, we might find ourselves constantly replacing moments, items, people.  But to slow down, to focus on the quality of the moment, of the job being done, of the change being made, that is when something irreplaceable appears.  This, I have learned, over many years…and I hope this is the irreplaceable lesson my students learn from me.  \n\n\nLogical.  We continuously try to find the logic of certain actions, events and thoughts.  We try to make things understandable and reasonable, in order to find their meaning.  When working with children, logic sometimes seems to go out the window.  There are moments when a child allows their emotions to take over and they will act illogically.  At least, what seems illogical to us as adults.  Then we realize, they are growing humans, still developing their self-awareness and self- regulation. Their actions probably have an explanation behind them, and once found, logic comes back in through the same window it had left.  Finding the explanation is easier said than done, because when we are faced with something we deem illogical, our own emotions come in to play.  This is especially difficult when we are dealing with adults.  So many moments in my career I have run across actions, events and thoughts of a parent that seem completely devoid of logic.  I cannot help it and find myself falling in to the trap of becoming judgmental.   However, time  allows us to experience many things and with these experiences comes knowledge.  With this knowledge gained over the years I have come up with a  conclusion:  as adults we are still developing our self-awareness and self-regulation…as adults we have strong emotions that can stem from many unresolved moments in our lives…as adults we might seem illogical  to others, when it comes to dealing with our own children.  So, the next time I sit across from an “illogical” parent (or any adult), I will breathe and listen and not judge…then, I will kindly invite logic to come inside and sit with us…hoping that logic will place our emotions aside, and allow us to come up with reasonable solutions. \n\n\nMeasurable.  As teachers we are constantly measuring student academic and non-academic growth.  Just like a pediatrician takes height and weight measurements every year and then places them on a graph. Teachers are expected to consistently gather data to map student growth. I understand that this is valuable information.  Pediatricians need to be able to identify if something is affecting a child’s physical growth.  Teachers need to be able to identify if something is affecting a child’s academic and social-emotional growth.  Why?  Ideally, to find out what might be causing a significant delay or rapid increase in growth.  Once identified, we can tailor to the students’ needs.  This is what is truly amazing in education nowadays.  We value what each student may need, and although it can be extremely trying, I believe, if done well, we are helping the student grow in areas that are actually immeasurable.  If done well, proper support for a struggling or advanced student will help their moral character.  It can make the difference between someone who gives up or someone who perseveres.  It can make the difference between someone who takes the easy road and someone who challenges themselves. It can make the difference between someone who believes they can achieve anything and someone who doesn’t think they will amount to much….and all of this is immeasurable.   \n\n\nPerceptions.  They are all around us.  Working in an environment with children, I am very used to wrong or incorrect understandings of something, whether it be an instruction, an academic process or a simple gesture.  I must admit, I also have moments when I misinterpret behaviors, words, and actions.  This has made me learn to pause, ask and to make sure I am not confused in what I am perceiving.  Sometimes, I might find out, pleasantly, that  I was wrong, and that my emotions were causing me to  misperceive a moment.  For example, when students are chatting during independent reading time, but what is actually happening is that they are sharing their thoughts on the book because they are really into it.  Another example, when a student is at their desk holding up the transition to get quickly and quietly into a line, and you realize they are not wasting their time, they are scrambling to find the correct way to divide.  Lastly, when you jump quickly to conclusions that “mischief had been managed”, when actually there is a clear, logical explanation.  Misperceptions can come from avoidance.  Avoidance of confrontation or avoidance of clarification.  Children are often scared to confront or clarify, and we need to remember that.  Modeling and admitting when we are wrong, and how to take the steps to confront and clarify something we have misperceived is an important life skill.  After all, you never know how damaging a misperception can become.\n\n\nConnected.  It seems like, nowadays, we are connected to technology 24/7.  My laptop and cellphone come with me wherever I go, therefore, I fear, so does my work.  It is so difficult to disconnect.  Our school has a 1:1 laptop policy, which means technology is a very valuable tool for us in our day to day teaching.  Actually, it is a necessity.  Throughout the past 5 years, I have come to notice how easy it is for my students to misuse this amazing device.  We have had many discussions about this with co-workers.  One very wise co-worker mentioned a theory:  the first contact our young generations have with technology is as an entertainment device, not necessarily a tool.  Digital Natives view technology as play before work, whereas Digital Immigrants view technology as work before play.  Our first contact with technology is what defines its primary use.  Regardless, whether it is used for work or play, we are connected for both and we are taking face-to-face interactions for granted.  My students’ stamina to stay engaged online is far longer than being engaged with me during a mini-lesson.  My stamina to read a book is far less than when I research online (yikes!).  Digital overload is very real, and as an educator it scares me.  As an educator I struggle more and more for my students to connect with me during valuable learning moments that don’t involve technology.  I notice the difference year after year. This year, during Quiet Time, after lunch, students must be technology-free, and I need to model this.  It is a struggle, but one I will insist upon until the end.  Yes, the famous “disconnect to connect” motto rules my Quiet Time. Disconnecting to connect with ourselves and with each other.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8992862105369568}
+{"content": "Bagagge App\n\n\n\nI have purposefully withdrawn from blogging for the last few months for a couple of reasons; 1) pure morbid, self-indulgent self-pity and 2) no, no other reason…. But with my melodrama now fading and a new ‘normal’ settling into place, I am ready to engage with the world again. Whilst in my self-imposed hiatus I have had time to reflect and in between the teeth gnashing and fist waving at the universe, I have done a LOT of journaling. It was during this time I also did a piece of art called ‘Identity’.\n\nI started it when I first stopped working, when my pain was acute and before it became chronic and I still had a belief my life would carry on as it had done (with a few adjustments). The focus of the painting is a fingerprint and I originally wrote words or ‘labels’ in each groove. I was struggling with who I now was, now that I wasn’t working and how I saw myself in the world and how I presumed the world saw me. I used words like “loser”, “disabled”, “fat”, “short” (some were clearly just descriptive) - don’t worry, I also did put some positive words in those grooves too. It was basically an anthology of how I now saw myself; keeping in mind the past few months were spent in pure morbid, self-indulgent self-pity.\n\nThen something changed, I can’t tell you why or how; but I looked at my painting and it wasn’t right. I had already hung it in my lounge room and was fairly happy with it, but for some reason I had to change it. So I painted over the words and was left with a ‘clean’ fingerprint. Importantly the words are still there and if you look really closely some still are visible, like shadows from the past.\n\nI am not where I thought I would be at 47 years old, but I am here nonetheless. I have an opportunity to re-write my identity, to clear all my own labels, to press re-start. All my past is still there and I acknowledge, celebrate and occasionally swear at it; but I am free to add new words to those grooves (and again paint over them if I don’t like them).\n\nHappy New Year and remember you can always paint over the labels and start again.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis week I have been practising mindfulness and using some ‘externalising tools’ to manage with my knees (and their apparent revolt!). The breathing and awareness techniques that are part of the mindfulness are helpful to a point and while I am doing it; it is almost a mini-meditation. I think it helps centre me back into my body, when my thoughts and anxiety about my future could easily become overwhelming.\n\nThis is okay up to a point and there is a side of me that wants to be totally Zen and accept what is happening as all part of a bigger plan. But then, there is another side that is more cynical and needs to whine and gnash my teeth at the world. This side is where the externalisation technique comes in handy for me and I have given my knees each a personality and named (externalised) them. From now on they are to be known as “Waldorf” and “Statler”; these were the 2 gentlemen from the Muppets who heckled from the balcony.\n\nNow when my knees are painful I can imagine Waldorf and Statler ‘booing’ and complaining. This has a dual affect for me; 1) it gives me a little smile as they are my favourite characters from the show and 2) I can separate or externalise the pain from myself. This gives me the ability to insert humour into my day and distract me momentarily from the pain I am feeling.\n\nOf course some days Waldorf and Statler are only mumbling discontent from the balcony and then on other days they are raucously heckling my life. Tomorrow I might try starting the day by ‘listening’ to them when they are just becoming discontent and not wait until are actively throwing rotten tomatoes at me and booing.\n\n\nNext stage please....\n\nI am heading into a time of uncertainty and I am not sure if my emotional numbness this week is a defence mechanism or a submission to ‘whatever will be, will be’. We all have ways of dealing with stress and seeing as I have already gone through my wallowing stage (last week’s blog) I must now be in the denial stage. This stage is actually quite pleasant and calm compared to the emotional chaos of the previous one. I just hope I have not swapped a sad wallowing for a delusional wallowing; although it is still a nice change none the less.\n\nOf course it could be my new vitamins and meditation regime helping me cope, but I have doubts that they are having that big an effect so quickly; especially since my meditation can hardly be defined as a regime; having only attempted it twice. The only other thing could be that I have been taking my vitamins at a dangerously high dose and they are creating a euphoric effect – just went and checked (with my glasses on) and no; I am fine with my dosage.\n\nSo is it denial, am going through some sort of grieving process and then naturally going through the different stages? What’s next; anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance? So what am I grieving? Is it my identity through my employed work (still not at work yet) or is it deeper than that? Is it more about my perception of who I am? I am 47yrs old, and until a few weeks ago, felt pretty young. Now my body has me hobbling around my home looking like I have shit my pants; this new gait shouldn’t last forever, but it has me feeling (and looking) a lot older.\n\nOkay, if I am grieving my youth, my identity and my body; the next stages should be very interesting! Right now, I will just enjoy the floaty feeling of denial and warm nothingness of today… for tomorrow I prepare to rage against the world (or a least write an angry journal entry). \n\n\nOkay, so after week of feeling sorry for myself and living in despair about my future I have emerged ready to take back my life; well the parts of my life I have control of. I found myself over the past few weeks (post injury) sinking into ‘dark’ places… not necessarily dangerous places, but places you wouldn’t want to go to after say, 7pm; like the Alexandra Hills corner store - which gets held up on a regular basis. In perspective I have lived through much harder times and I know I will always be fine (that is not a dare to the universe), but sometimes I enjoy a good wallow in self-pity as much as the next person.\n\nI suppose one of my strengths in life has been my short attention span and the fact that I get bored very easily. Lying around the house in my pyjamas, eating comfort food was initially amazing, but what’s next? Sooner or later the self-pity I am wallowing in will harden like dry mud around me and I could end up stuck there. So here I am day 1 of my post wallowing and I have left the house (yes that meant I showered and changed out of my pyjamas) to acquire supplies for my next phase.\n\nAfter purchasing the mandatory ‘green dream’ Boost drink to help keep me in the mood (or illusion) of a health kick, I ventured forth. Then after what seemed to be an eternity of walking (I was only gone from the house 1 hour); I came home with several items that will be crucial for my ‘take back my life’ phase. I now have a supply of vitamins which had been recommended by my extensive ‘Google’ research before I left this morning. I also stopped at the bookstore to pick up a meditation CD, a Tai Chi DVD and a book on mindfulness – clearly I want to cover my body, mind and spirit in this quest.\n\nOf course by the time I got home, my still recovering knees were in desperate need of a slice of brownie and an afternoon nap. This health kick may need to be strategically rolled out over the next few days….\n\n30 years ago\n\nI had an interesting conversation with my daughter yesterday that left me reflective about where I have come from and who I am today.  We were talking about homeless people, drug addicts and people living with mental illness as she works in the city and comes across people living in a different world to her. I am so grateful she has not had experience of that world, but I have, and it made me think about my family and myself and how different my life is now compared to 30 years ago.\n\nI work, have a driver’s license, I have a university degree and I have secure housing; all these things were not even conceivable to me 30 years ago (at 17yrs old).  At 14yrs old, I broke into a house in Sydney with my sister and brother-in-law, at 18yrs old I did heroin - along with many other poor lifestyle choices. Who am I to judge my sister’s path? I am no better a human being than her; there but for the grace of God go I. For whatever biological reason, heroin did not have the same physiological effect on me as it did my sister, because I certainly would have done anything to numb the pain of my life at that time. But luckily for me I didn’t experience the emotional euphoria and escape that so many do, or the physical addiction – but maybe with only ‘using’ a few times, I dodged that bullet too?\n\nHow easily I could have gone down the same harrowing life path as her; children taken into care, homelessness and occasionally prison. I am grateful and humbled. I often think of my sister, especially in winter and wonder if she has shelter and is safe. We both experienced abuse growing up and it is not that I have amazing human strength or a ‘higher’ path; I was just very lucky. Lucky I didn’t become addicted, lucky I have a different personality, lucky I had an older sister when I was a child, as she sometimes protected me.\n\nIn my conversation with my daughter, we talked about whether we would recognise either my sister or her eldest son now if we came across on them on the street or if they would recognise us. I believe they would recognise me, but probably would not be making eye contact with someone like my daughter; she is too ‘together’. I remember when I was younger I would never make eye contact with people from ‘that’ part of society. I would always smile and chat with other disenfranchised people, but ‘*normal’ people lived in a separate world to me and it was almost like I walked invisibly among them.\n\nWho would have ever thought I would become a normal person – ha ha. Although back then, my brother-in-law often remarked that I thought I was better than them – but he was wrong; I didn’t think I was better than them; I just felt there was more. The difference is I now see that I am the same as everyone else. I would have loved to share this world with both him and my sister, but I all I can do is send love to him in spirit (he overdosed several years ago) and warm, loving thoughts to my sister and hope that she has ‘good’ moments in her life. \n\n*what I referenced as ‘normal’ people back then would have been; someone who works, someone who has savings, someone who plans holidays, someone who buys new clothes, someone who fits into the world.\n\nMy happiness\n\nAnother week comes and goes with nothing too exciting to report, so again I am going to just share my thoughts and feelings (lucky you). I have had the opportunity this week to reflect on what my expectations on happiness are. Now I know that we are all supposed to be all ‘Zen’ like and say happiness is something that is created within each of us and that no-one else or (the horror…) riches can make us happy.  But come on… I think either of those things becoming abundant in my life; could make me a little happier. And this is all self-inflicted too. I have worked very hard at honing my reclusive lifestyle and I think I have done an exceptional job at keeping people out of my life; but I have started to doubt the functionality of my plan in the past couple of weeks.\n\nIn the last week I have found myself fantasising about being part of a religious community; who upon hearing of my incapacities have rallied around me and showed up daily to clean my house, cook me meals and generally take care of me. Of course it would be unethical to engage a well-meaning group of people just to take care of me for free and realistically our different ideologies would end up being a problem. I also know that I would end up feeling intruded on and resentful. So what is it that I am hoping for? Do I want the human experience of nurturing and care or do I want free home help? \n\nWhich is closer to my happiness? Now on the other hand I have no ethical dilemma about the riches part! Money wouldn’t have expectations of me; I wouldn’t even need to talk to it. But… and it is a big but; without any emotional connection am I growing as a human being? I know intellectually it comes back to my fear of being disappointed or hurt by others (a childhood trauma thing), and maybe this is an opportunity to challenge myself? OMG, I just had a thought, what if I am continually sabotaging all my efforts to acquire financial security, until I learn my life lesson about trusting people? I wonder which faith does the best casserole? \n\n\n\n\n\nMy inner child is a spoilt brat\n\nToday I am contemplating how my actions are contributing to my life. And I keep coming back to the same conclusion; I am not an enlightened, humbled spiritual being, calmly traversing through my life with the knowledge that everything happens the way it’s supposed to. I am closer to a narcissistic, impatient toddler-adult who wants what she wants, NOW! I try so hard to be grateful, but often I find my thoughts wandering into the dark and murky emotions of jealousy. Intellectually I know I am very lucky, I live in a society where I have choices and I am relatively healthy. So why is that not enough for me…. why is my inner toddler-adult having a tantrum? I have tried self-medicating with food, but it is never enough for her. I have tried tough love, but she is more stubborn than me (and I am not really consistent with my discipline). All that is left is a time out and while I would love to ground myself to my home, I don’t think my employer would accept my reasons for staying home as valid; “sorry Tuija can’t come in today, she had a tantrum on the weekend and now she has to stay home and think about her actions”.  \n\nSo how do I stop validating the actions of my inner child; especially knowing the trauma I went through when I was young? Am I over compensating, knowing I cannot bear to hear her cry? I once had a dream where I was being followed by what I initially thought was a feral animal that kept howling in the shadows. In the end of the dream I was confronted by the small, scared little girl who was screaming in pain and sadness; me. That was many years ago and I have done a lot of therapy and self-reflection since then; so why am I afraid to say no to my inner child still? I over indulge her with comfort food, I keep her safe from strangers and do not take her out. But isn’t this another form of abuse, by pandering to her every emotional whim? God, I wish I was more enlightened. If I was; I could practice good parenting skills on myself and learn to say “no”. But alas, I am an average person trying my best in this world, so I go forth with full knowledge of my self-abuse, through over-indulgences and pray I make it through my inner-teenage years….\n\nDifferent views\n\nI voted yesterday in our federal election and while I was standing in line a couple of things struck me; 1. I need to wax my chin hairs (I felt them gently blowing in the breeze) & 2. I wonder how we all have such different views. This second thought had me pondering further and I know we are influenced by our culture, personal history and life experiences, but in today’s world of instant information; can we still be so divided on so many things? If we have access to the same data and information, why are we not all coming to the same conclusions? I have strong views, as did a man standing behind me at the polling booth yesterday, yet had I voiced mine; I am sure an exchange of ideologies would have ensued; although from his remarks around conspiracy theories involving ‘bloody refugees’ I don’t believe it would have been a fair fight. I know I would not have made as much noise as him. It’s not that I don’t hold true to my beliefs, just that I believe he may not have accurate information to allow him to make an informed judgment about the subject matter. Because there are facts, but often the facts around many subjects are ‘massaged’ and manipulated for the benefit of winning an argument. I am not saying that what I believe is right and I am not saying what he believes is wrong (although clearly I am judging him as ignorant – and is that fair?).\n\nSo for the sake of this argument, let’s assume we each had the same non-refutable information; I dare say we would still be in disagreement; why? Why would we be able to look past the facts and still hold onto our own truths? Is it all about our own insecurities and internal dialogues, do we gravitate to messages that either stir our inner most fears or ignite our passions? If we have no compassion for ourselves, how can we feel compassion or empathy for other? If our passion for life has been extinguished by trauma or past hurt can we truly feel love for others? I don’t know or understand or pretend to be all enlightened; because I have my own prejudices and make judgment calls about people. For all I know the gentlemen behind was a social sciences professor, with a PHD in genocide and not the uneducated, intolerant, ‘wounded in childhood’ angry, privileged white man that I painted him as in my head.\n\nSo while I sit here stroking my chin hairs pondering on life, I do know one thing for certain; I am grateful to live in a society that allows us to have such different views and express them. \n\nLetting go\n\nFeeling a little stagnant and a bit frustrated this week; I have never been patient if I have decided on something and then start moving toward it. I believe, I am by nature a pragmatic person (although have been known to procrastinate on uni assignments) and I am not afraid to roll up my proverbial sleeves and get on with whatever I need to do; to get whatever it is I need to do, done.  BUT what happens when the universe had an altogether different time frame to me….? Am I afraid that if I lose momentum my plans or goals can’t be achieved? Or am I afraid that I do not have control over my own destiny?\n\nI am aware I live with anxiety if I feel I am not able to predict what is about to happen and this understandably is a result of a childhood filled with trauma. It is so difficult to let go and allow my future to happen. There is that little girl still inside of me that does not feel safe if she isn’t able to predict what is about to happen (because sometimes, really bad things did happen). For ‘f#cks’ sake, I am competent adult, navigating on most days, a productive adult life. I intellectually know I am safe and that if ‘life’ threw me a curve ball, I know I am pretty resilient and could probably cope. So why is it so hard still to let go. I want to. I believe I would be open to more opportunities or I would notice other options if I wasn’t so busy trying to ‘see’ what could happen. Because that ‘could’ is filtered through a belief that it will be difficult and or that no-one will help me. What if I am missing all the ‘maybes’ – someone willing to support me, a door I closed because I couldn’t see behind it? So, maybe this slowing down of my plans is an opportunity to stop and breathe, observe and just wait and see what happens tomorrow…. I just might be pleasantly surprised.\n\nAre you my demographic\n\nI participated in a small business marketing workshop this week – yep trying to get ideas for spreading the ‘word’ about my app and one of the exercises we did was to describe our customer demographic. And whilst I make assumptions about who may use my app, I am conscious they may not know the benefits of using it. I believe my customer is ‘me’; a middle aged woman, with children who have already left the family home or someone at a time in their life where they have the space to ‘unpack’ their emotional baggage. The difference between me and potentially the people using my app could be that I have engaged in a counselling process (several times in my life). I want people to be open to accessing therapy if they want to, but it can be an overwhelming prospect; especially if you don’t know where to begin. It could be an internal ‘itch’ that makes you aware that something isn’t quite right, that something needs to be unpacked and refolded so can move forward without it annoying you. Sometimes that ‘itch’ can be managed on your own, but if it needs to go through the rinse cycle with a good fabric softener (counsellor) before being packed away, this is a place to start.\n\nSo are you my demographic? I am sure we share many similarities, as people we are not that different from each other; I believe we are all doing the best we can, dealing with life. My hope is that you are able to carry your emotional baggage without burden or shame. Don’t let your baggage be carried in a plastic garbage bag, slung over your shoulder weighing heavy on your back. Unpack that shit and repack it into some designer ‘on wheels’ luggage and walk tall through your life.\n\nCollateral Damage\n\nI watched a movie about Amy Winehouse’s life last night and I was left with many mixed emotions. I am saddened by her death and in no way want to disrespect her life choices, but I found myself in the end, as I am sure was the film makers intent, feeling her downward spiral was pushed along by self-serving people in her life. The mixed emotion for me was; was she a complete victim in her life? At what point do we have ownership in our choices? The movie painted a picture of someone who grew up without boundaries and whilst this definitely would inform her expectations of the world around her; does it give up her accountability? But I cannot know how it felt to be her, or know what I would do living her life experiences. How do I know I would have a different life path, given the same pressures, self-worth or international exposure? All I do know is that we all do the best we can with the emotional tools we have.\n\nI certainly have made bad decisions, good decisions and everything in between. Does that make me any better because I survived the journey so far? I have had people close to me who didn’t survive and I sometimes think of them as life’s collateral damage. They fought a good fight, but for whatever reason, a ‘happy’ life was beyond their reach and they became collateral damage. In the same sense then do I consider myself an emotional war veteran? And just like some combat veterans; I have a weariness with which I now travel in the world. Maybe I need to add a duffle bag to my pile of suitcases?\n\n\n\nI have had a frustrating day with technologies; and I am not the most patient person when it comes to anything technical. Sometimes you just have to stop and walk away and try again another time. This got me thinking about how I communicate with the world; am I as effective as I believe I am? Do other people really understand or hear what I am trying to communicate? As a visual artist I understand that everyone interprets a piece of artistic work in their own way; through their own subjective filters, but is this also true for verbal or written communication? When I create a piece of visual art it is with the hope that someone will connect with it and it does not really matter to me, if it has the ‘meaning’ to them as it had to me when I was creating it. This is different to verbal and written communication though or is it? I am just trying to be heard or do I really want an open dialogue?\n\nWe all have our own filters which we engage the world with. I can try really hard to have an empathic ear when I listen to others, but sometimes my pre-judgments and self-belief projections make it harder to truly hear what someone else is trying to say. I spend a lot of my time, consciously and unconsciously analysing all my interactions with other people; this is a learned behaviour that I developed as a safety technique from my abusive past. I felt that if I could understand someone’s motives or agenda I could emotionally control the situation. Of course that is false; but it was a self-soothing habit I formed; like some people may twirl their hair when they are anxious – I (believe I) analyse the people in situations.  \n\nSo if I am over analysing whilst engaging with the world; how affectively I am truly communicating with others? I would say quite poorly. I am not saying I will ever be such a good communicator that I will be able to switch off my internal dialogue, nor would I want to. I do want to feel safe enough to hear someone else and respond with an open heart. Wouldn’t it be totally healthy for me not to care why someone is saying something, but just accept that they are…. and hear them.\n\nOut of the shadows\n\nOut of the shadows\n\nWith the announcement of my story coming out in That’s Life Magazine next week; I thought it appropriate to talk about exposing truths and how much impact it can have on your life. As many people who have a lived experience of sexual abuse, I buried my true self alongside the secrets and shame of the details. It wasn’t until I started journaling and exposing the truth (even to myself) that there was a shift inside me about my role in the trauma. That is why I am so passionate about giving other people the tools to start the process, my website or the Baggage App isn’t about making me rich (… but happy to have that as a consequence; just saying universe). It is about sharing how this technique has made a difference in my life and how by taking the trauma out of the shadows; it became my abusers shame. It isn’t my shame; I did nothing wrong. I was abused. By exposing it, I removed from me and placed it outside of myself. This is the next level of exposure though isn’t it? My photo will be alongside a story about someone who lived through abuse as a child. Part of me still cringes at the idea that strangers may see me and identify me as that person; will they only see the trauma? Will I see pity in their eyes; is that scared little 5 year old inner child wanting to hide again? Big breath, I know this is healthy for me. Every time I expose it, more of the dark shadows are lifted. Ok, clearly I am a work still in progress, and maybe I will always be healing – it is not a cure all. I do believe that journaling is part of a process towards healing, but it is only a part of the process. There are no quick fixes, no magic transformations; there is no ‘snake elixir’ for sale here. I will just say though, it can bring up emotions that you may not have been expecting, so as always; keep yourself safe and reach out to a trusted friend or family member or use a 24hr counselling help line if you need to talk to someone.\n\nAm I anti-social or just an introvert?\n\nAm I anti-social; I have been contemplating that this week? I know my personality type is introverted and on the scale I am WAY over on the introverted side, but I believe my past has influenced the development of my personality.  If it has, does that mean I can adjust or ‘balance’ my introversion so I don’t come across as completely anti-social?  So, how has my personality helped or hindered my healing process from my childhood traumas? As an introvert I naturally ‘go within’ to restore my emotional batteries; this means I need alone time. I enjoy reflecting and being on my own. For me this has meant in my past I could slip into rumination (where I could dwell a little too long – being sad). That is a down side. It has also meant that because I need alone time, I do not seek out company of other people naturally and as I have gotten older I basically avoid other people all together.\n\nBut it’s not all bad, because of my unfortunate circumstances from childhood; I have had to rely on myself and still find happiness alone, which I believe I have. Ok, but now I am thinking; is this a convenient excuse not to go to the next level of my healing and trust others enough to let them into my inner circle. I only have one person in my life currently that I would call if I have any news (good, bad, exciting, boring…) and she is my adult daughter. Does she count though? Basically evolutionary biology means she has to love me (survival instinct), luckily I think we like each other too. Back to the question; is this behaviour anti-social or just my personality?  Hmmm, maybe there is no clear answer; but I think I need to venture out of my comfort zone and make sure I am not doing more to harm to myself. If it turns out I am perfectly emotionally healthy (….. ‘right?’), fine I can retreat back into the shadows. If on the other hand it is healthier for me to make meaningful connections with other people, isn’t it my duty to myself to do that? The words all introverts disdain ‘are you free this weekend?’ will have to become part of my new rhetoric to test this theory out…. (Anxious face!).\n\nInner Shift\n\nInner Shift\n\nFor the past few months I have been ‘unpacking’ a lot emotional baggage through my video blogs and while I am no novice to journaling; I feel something has shifted inside me (and no, it is not that bag of potato chips from my last blog!). I truly feel I am developing an authenticity about my life now and as a consequence I am making different choices. I am aware I am blessed to be able to make choices with my life; what I choose to study, where I want to work and how I engage with the world. In my visual blog about going to the pawn shop with my mum; I talked about how I didn’t feel I fitted into society. Since then, I have been making an effort to be mindful about my presence in this world and then thinking about if I need to make any changes.\n\nI started post graduate studies in counselling this year and thought this is what I ‘should’ do, to be taken seriously. I have felt no motivation or yearning to study this, but I felt an obligation (so I would be accepted and fit in?). So here I am about turn 47 next month and I am still making choices based on my insecurities; it is time to stop that. To live with authenticity I need to listen to my soul and what makes my heart ignite with passion. I need to hear my own rhythms and follow where my intuition takes me and I can’t when all I am doing is listening to the cacophony that is the outside world. I don’t want to wake up when I am 80 living an average life of comfort and security, listening to the distant echo of what was my authentic rhythm. I think it’s time to turn up the volume and move; although I might start off with some toe tapping and work my way up to interpretive dance.\n\n© copyright baggage app 2015-2019 | all rights reserved\nwebsite & app development by Roundhouse", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5103892087936401}
+{"content": "Constitution Daily\n\nSmart conversation from the National Constitution Center\n\nOn this day, the Confederate Constitution is approved\n\nMarch 11, 2019 by Scott Bomboy\n\n\nOn March 11, 1861, delegates from the newly formed Confederate States of America agreed on their own constitution. Here is a look at this little-known third constitution that controlled the lives of about 9 million people for a short period of time.\n\nConfederate_congress-458x300Much of the Confederate Constitution mirrored the Constitution of the United States as it existed at the time, with bigger differences in the matters of slavery and states' rights.\n\n\nThe document was drawn up and approved just a week after Abraham Lincoln became president of the United States. There were seven southern states that had seceded at the time, and a total of 11 would secede and join the Confederacy officially. (Missouri and Kentucky were also considered members, but didn't officially secede from the Union.)\n\n\nLink: Read Confederate Constitution\n\n\n\nIn other ways, the Confederate constitution was closer to the Articles of Confederation, which preceded the U.S. Constitution—it was focused on states’ rights.\n\nThe Confederate preamble begins, “We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character…” The U.S. Constitution starts with the more familiar, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union…”\n\nConfederate states had the ability to impeach federal officials, collect more taxes, and make treaties with each other under certain circumstances. They could also create lines of credit. When it came to elected officials, the Confederate constitution limited the president to one, six-year term in office in a person’s lifetime. The vice president didn’t have term limits. The president also had use of the line-item veto in budget matters.\n\nSenators and representatives served under circumstances that were very similar to rules in the U.S. Constitution. It also had a Bill of Rights, lumped together with rules about Congress. (Most of the rights in the U.S. Constitution’s original Bill of Rights were incorporated.) One additional right stated that the government couldn’t impair “the right of property in negro slaves” to owners.\n\nThe Confederate Congress operated in a similar fashion to the United States. But the Confederate Congress couldn’t pass legislation about amendments. That role was reserved for the states. Cabinet members could also answer questions on the floor of Congress. The Supreme Court system was also very similar to the one used by the United States. But it was never formed during the Civil War because of the government’s instability.\n\nThe Confederate Congress met for six sessions during the war. Political parties didn’t form in the Confederacy, but there were political factions in the electorate. Jefferson Davis, a former U.S. senator, served as the Confederate president.\n\n\nSign up for our email newsletter", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9566548466682434}
+{"content": "Skip to content\nBranch: master\nFind file Copy path\nFetching contributors…\nCannot retrieve contributors at this time\n296 lines (189 sloc) 16.7 KB\ntitle: 'The log-0 problem: analysis strategies and options for choosing c in log(y + c) '\nauthor: Ariel Muldoon\ndate: '2018-09-19'\nslug: the-log-0-problem\n- r\n- statistics\n- teaching\n- simulation\ndraft: FALSE\ndescription: \"Analyzing positive data with 0 values can be challenging, since a direct log transformation isn't possible. I discuss some of the things to consider when deciding on an analysis strategy for such data and then explore the effect of the value of the constant, c, when using log(y + c) as the response variable.\"\n```{r setup, echo = FALSE}\nI periodically find myself having long conversations with consultees about 0's. Why? Well, the basic suite of statistical tools many of us learn first involves the normal distribution (for the errors). The log transformation tends to feature prominently for working with right-skewed data. Since `log(0)` returns `-Infinity`, a common first reaction is to use `log(y + c)` as the response in place of `log(y)`, where `c` is some constant added to the y variable to get rid of the 0 values.\nThis isn't necessarily an incorrect thing to do. However, I think it is important to step back and think about the study and those 0 values more before forging ahead with adding a constant to the data.\nSome of the resources I've used over the years to hone my thinking on this topic are [this thread]( on the R-sig-eco mailing list, [this Cross Validated question and answers](, and [this blogpost on the Hyndsight blog](\nI will explore the influence of `c` in `log(y + c)` via simulation later, so if that's what you are interested in you can [jump to that section](#generate-log-normal-data-with-0-values).\n# [Thinking about 0 values](#thinking-about-0-values)\nWithout getting into too much detail, below are some of the things I consider when I have 0 as well as positive values in a response variable.\n## Discrete data\nWe have specific tools for working the discrete data. These distributions allow 0 values, so we can potentially avoid the issue all together.\nQuestions to ask yourself:\n### Are the data discrete counts?\nIf so, start out considering a discrete distribution like the negative binomial or Poisson instead of the normal distribution. If the count is for different unit areas or sampling times, you can use that \"effort\" variable as an offset.\n### Are the data proportions?\nIf the data are counted proportions, made by dividing a count by a total count, start with binomial-based models.\nModels for discrete data can be extended as needed for a variety of situations (excessive 0 values, overdispersion, etc.). Sometimes things get too complicated and we may go back to normal-based tools but this is the exception, not the rule.\n## Continuous data\nPositive, continuous data and 0 values are where I find things start to get sticky. The standard distributions that we have available to model positive, right-skewed data (log-normal, Gamma) don't contain 0. (Note that when we do the transformation log(y) and then used normal-based statistical tools we are working with the *log-normal* distribution.)\n### Are the 0 values \"true\" 0's?\nWere the values unquestionably 0 (no ifs, ands, or buts!) or do you consider the 0's to really represent some very small value? Are the 0's caused by the way you sampled or your measurement tool?\nThis is important to consider, and the answer may affect how you proceed with the analysis and whether or not you think adding something and transforming is reasonable. There is a nice discussion of different kinds of 0's in section 11.3.1 in [Zuur et al. 2009](\n### What proportion of the data are 0?\nIf you have relatively few 0 values they won't have a large influence on your inference and it may be easier to justify adding a constant to remove them.\n### Are the 0 values caused by censoring?\nCensoring can occur when your measurement tool has a lower limit of detection and every measurement lower than that limit is assigned a value of 0. This is not uncommon when measuring stream chemistry, for example. There are specific models for censored data, like Tobit models.\n### Are the data continuous proportions?\nThe beta distribution can be used to model continuous proportions. However, the support of the beta distribution contains neither 0's nor 1's. Sheesh! You would need to either work with a zero-inflated/one-inflated beta or remap the variable to get rid of any 0's and 1's.\n### Do you have a point mass at 0 along with positive, continuous values?\nThe [Tweedie distribution]( is one relatively new option that can work for this situation. For example, I've seen this work well for % plant cover measurements, which can often be a bear to work with since the measurements can go from 0 to above 100% and often contain many 0 values.\nAnother option I've used for \"point mass plus positive\" data is to think about these as two separate problems that answer different questions. One analysis can answer a question about the probability of presence and a second can be used to model the positive data only. This is a type of *hurdle* model, which I've seen more generally referred to as a mixture model.\n# [Common choices of c](#common-choices-of-c)\nIt may be that after all that hard thinking you end up on the option of adding a constant to shift your distribution away from 0 so you can proceed with a log transformation. In my own work I find this is most likely for cases where I consider the 0 values to be some minimal value (not true 0's) and I have relatively few of them.\nSo what should this constant, `c`, be?\nThis choice isn't minor, as the value you choose can change your results when your goal is estimation. The more 0 values you have the more likely the choice of `c` matters.\nSome options:\n- Add 1. I think folks find this attractive because log(1) = 0. However, whether or not 1 is reasonable can depend on the distribution of your data.\n- Add half the minimum non-0 value. This is what I was taught to do in my statistics program, and I've heard of others with the same experience. As far as I know this is an unpublished recommendation.\n- Add the square of the first quartile divided by the third quartile. This recommendation reportedly comes from [Stahel 2008](; I have never verified this since I unfortunately can't read German. `r emo::ji(\"stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye\")` This approach clearly is relevant only if the first quartile is greater than 0, so you must have fewer than 25% 0 values to use this option.\n# Load R packages\nLet's explore these different options for for one particular scenario via simulation. Here are the R packages I'm using today.\nlibrary(purrr) # v. 0.2.5\nlibrary(dplyr) # v. 0.7.6\nlibrary(broom) # v. 0.5.0\nlibrary(ggplot2) # v. 3.0.0\nlibrary(ggridges) # v. 0.5.0\n# [Generate log-normal data with 0 values](#generate-log-normal-data-with-0-values)\nSince the log-normal distribution by definition has no 0 values, I found it wasn't easy to simulate such data. When I was working on this several years ago I decided that one way to force 0 values was through rounding. This is not the most elegant solution, I'm sure, but I think it works to show how the choice of `c` can influence estimates.\nI managed to do this by generating primarily negative data on the log scale and then exponentiating to the data scale. I make my `x` variable negative, and positively related to `y`.\nThe range of the `y` variable ends up with many small values with a few fairly large values.\nI'll set the seed, set the values of the parameters (intercept and slope), and generate my `x` first. I'm using a sample size of 50.\nbeta0 = 0 # intercept\nbeta1 = .75 # slope\n# Sample size\nn = 50\n# Explanatory variable\nx = runif(n, min = -7, max = 0)\nThe response variable is calculated from the parameters, `x`, and the normally distributed random errors, exponentiating to get things on the appropriate scale. These data can be used in a log-normal model via a log transformation.\nYou can see the vast majority of the data are below 1, but none are exactly 0.\ntrue_y = exp(beta0 + beta1*x + rnorm(n, mean = 0, sd = 2))\nI force 0 values into the dataset by rounding the real data, `true_y`, to two decimal places.\ny = round(true_y, digits = 2)\nI fooled around a lot with the parameter values, `x` variables, and the residual errors to get 0's in the rounded `y` most of the time. I wanted some 0 values but not too many, since the quartile method for `c` can only be used when there are less than 25% 0 values.\nI tested my approach by repeating the process above a number of times. Here's the number of 0 values for 100 iterations. Things look pretty good, although there are some instances where I get too many 0's.\nreplicate(100, sum( round( exp(beta0 + beta1*runif(n, min = -7, max = 0) +\nrnorm(n, mean = 0, sd = 2)), 2) == 0) )\n# The four models to fit\nYou can see there is variation in the estimated slope, depending on what value I use for `c`, in the four different models I fit below.\nHere's the \"true\" model, fit to the data prior to rounding.\n( true = lm(log(true_y) ~ x) )\nHere's a log(y + 1) model, fit to the rounded data.\n( fit1 = lm(log(y + 1) ~ x) )\nHere's the colloquial method of adding half the minimum non-0 value.\n( fitc = lm(log(y + min(y[y>0])/2) ~ x) )\nAnd the quartile method per Stahel 2008.\n( fitq = lm(log(y + quantile(y, .25)^2/quantile(y, .75) ) ~ x) )\n# A function for fitting the models\nI decided I want to fit these four models to the same data so I wanted to fit all four models within each call to my simulation function.\nThe `beta0` and `beta1` arguments of the functions can technically be changed, but I'm pretty tied into the values I chose for them since I had a difficult time getting enough (but not too many!) 0 values.\nTo make sure that I always had at least one 0 in the rounded `y` data but that less than 25% of the values were 0 so I included a `while()` loop. This is key for using the quartile method in this comparison.\nThe function returns a list of models. I give each model in the output list a name to help with organization when I start looking at results.\nlogy_0 = function(beta0 = 0, beta1 = .75, n) {\nx = runif(n, -7, 0) # create expl var between -10 and 0\ntrue_y = exp(beta0 + beta1*x + rnorm(n, 0, 2))\ny = round(true_y, 2)\nwhile( sum(y == 0 ) == 0 | sum(y == 0) > n/4) {\ny = round(true_y, 2)\ntrue = lm(log(true_y) ~ x)\nsetNames(list(true, fit1, fitc, fitq),\nc(\"True model\", \"Add 1\", \"Add 1/2 minimum > 0\", \"Quartile method\") )\nDo I get the same values back as my manual work if I reset the seed? Yes! `r emo::ji(\"raised_hands\")`\nlogy_0(n = 50)\nNow I can simulate data and fit these models many times. I decided to do 1000 iterations today, resulting in a list of lists which I store in an object called `models`.\nmodels = replicate(1000, logy_0(n = 50), simplify = FALSE)\n# Extract the results\nI can loop through the list of models and extract the output of interest. Today I'm interested in the estimated coefficients, with confidence intervals. I can extract this information using `broom::tidy()` for `lm` objects.\nI use `flatten()` to turn `models` into a single big list instead of a list of lists. I loop via `map_dfr()`, so my result is a data.frame that contains the coefficients plus the `c` option used for the model based on the names I set in the function.\nresults = map_dfr(flatten(models),\n~tidy(.x, = TRUE),\n.id = \"model\")\nI'm going to focus on only the slopes, so I'll pull those out explicitly.\nresults_sl = filter(results, term == \"x\")\n# Compare the options for c\nSo how does changing the values of c change the results? Does it matter what we add?\n## Summary stastics\nFirst I'll calculate a few summary statistics. Here is the median estimate of the slope for each `c` option and the confidence interval coverage (i.e., the proportion of times the confidence interval contained the true value of the slope; for a 95% confidence interval this should be 0.95).\nresults_sl %>%\ngroup_by(model) %>%\nsummarise(med_estimate = median(estimate),\nCI_coverage = mean(conf.low < .75 & .75 < conf.high) )\nYou can see right away that, as we'd expect, the actual model fit to the data prior to rounding does a good job. The confidence interval coverage is close to 0.95 and the median estimate is right at 0.75 (the true value).\nThe log(y + 1) models performed extremely poorly. The estimated slope is biased extremely low, on average. None of the 1000 models ever had the true slope in the confidence interval. `r emo::ji(\"open_mouth\")`\nThe other two options performed better. The \"Quartile method\" gives estimates that are, on average, too high while the \"Add 1/2 minimum > 0\" options underestimates the slope. The confidence interval coverage is not great, but I suspect this is at least partially due to the way I artificially reduced the variance by rounding.\n## Graph the results\nHere is a graph, using package **ggridges** to make ridge plots. This makes it easy to compare the distribution of slope estimates for each `c` option to the true model (shown at the top in yellow).\n```{r, message = FALSE}\nggplot(results_sl, aes(x = estimate, y = model, fill = model) ) +\ngeom_density_ridges2(show.legend = FALSE, rel_min_height = 0.005) +\ngeom_vline(xintercept = .75, size = 1) +\nscale_fill_viridis_d() +\ntheme_bw() +\nscale_x_continuous(name = \"Estimated slope\",\nexpand = c(0.01, 0),\nbreaks = seq(0, 1.5, by = .25) ) +\nscale_y_discrete(name = NULL, expand = expand_scale(mult = c(.01, .3) ) )\nAgain, the estimates from the \"Add 1\" models are clearly not useful here. The slope estimate are all biased very low.\nThe \"Quartile method\" has the widest distribution. It is long-tailed to the right compared to the distribution of slopes from the true model, which is why it can overestimate the slope.\nAnd the \"Add 1/2 minimum > 0\" option tends to underestimate the slope. I'm curious that the distribution is also relatively narrow, and wonder if that has something to do with the way I simulated the 0 values via rounding.\n# What option is best?\nFirst, one of the main things I discovered is that my method for simulating positive, continuous data plus 0 values is a little kludgy. `r emo::ji(\"laugh\")` For the scenario I did simulate data for, though, adding 1 is clearly a very bad option if you want to get a reasonable estimate of the slope (which is generally my goal when I'm doing an analysis `r emo::ji(\"wink\")`).\nWhy did adding 1 perform so badly? Remember that when we do a log transformation we increase the space between values less than 1 on the original scale and decrease the space between values above 1. The data I created were primarily below 1, so by adding 1 to the data I totally changed the spacing of the data after log transformation. Using 1 as `c` is going to make the most sense if our minimum non-0 value is 1 or higher (at least for estimation).\nThe other two options both performed OK in this specific scenario. You may have noticed that statisticians generally dislike anti-conservative methods, so my guess is many (most?) statisticians would choose the conservative option (\"Add 1/2 minimum > 0\") to be on the safe side. However, even if this pattern of over- and under-estimation holds more generally in other scenarios, the choice between these options should likely be based on the gravity of missing a relationship due to underestimation compared to the gravity of overstating a relationship rather than on purely statistical concerns.\nAnother avenue I think might be important to explore is how the number of 0 values in the distribution has an impact on the results. The choice between `c` options could depend on that. (Plus, of course, the \"Quartile method\" only works at all if fewer than 25% of the data are 0's).\nYou can’t perform that action at this time.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9441864490509033}
+{"content": "Nancy Prince's Narrative Compared to the Sidi Saint Mai Mishra.\n\nAuthor:Muhammad, Maryam Sharron\nPosition::Critical essay\n\nRemembering Maryam Sharron Muhammad: 1972-2018\n\nIt is with great sadness that we regretfully share that our beloved daughter, sister and friend, Maryam Sharron Muhammad, has passed away after collapsing in her home upon her return from work.\n\nSharron was a truly beautiful and brilliant spirit and will be deeply missed.\n\nA seeker of truth and a striver for excellence, Sharron never lost sight of her goals. She was a doctoral student and also held degrees from Howard University (M.A.) and the University of Toledo (B.A.), both with high honors. Additionally, she completed three years of medical school at the University of Illinois--Chicago and was the recipient of numerous academic fellowships and honors. Sharron was a world traveler, a Peace Corps volunteer, mentor to countless youth, contributor to scholarly publications, writer of creative works and a published author of an Afrofuturistic novel under her pen name S.R. Sarai.\n\nA tireless advocate for the study and dissemination of African History and Central Asian topics, Sharron always pressed forward, leaving her mark on the world with a never-ending commitment to bring truth to light.\n\nProfoundly spiritual, Sharron respected all religions as she sought the qualities that all people share from the Universal Source. She studied, honored and respected African and Native American religions, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism.\n\nSharron remained caring, vibrant and high-achieving even as she endured many challenges. Following a traumatic injury suffered in the Peace Corps in 2003 and a subsequent mental health diagnosis, Sharron wrestled with major mental illness for the duration of her life. In spite of the immense struggle to get competent and compassionate healthcare, Sharron never let illness define her and never stopped striving for excellence.\n\nAt the time of her transition, she was employed at Adventist Health and prepared this article for publication in this journal.\n\n\nThe African American and African Asian \"Overmother\"\n\n\"Overmothering\" is defined by Patricia Hill Collins and Stanlie M. James as taking responsibility for siblings and then helping other children. When a woman \"overmothers\" herself, she takes on adventures that propel her to the forefront of the evolutionary march. All founding mothers exemplify \"overmothering.\" The founding maternal line was fundamental to African society; thus mother was the qaeda of the Indian and Atlantic African Diaspora. (1) Mothering was far more important than the competition that enslavement forced upon populations because African communities relied upon descent from mythical or heroic ancestors. Overmothering may be regarded as foundation of the Black Diasporan's journey to self-realization--the point at which a Black woman embarked upon a quest for physical or psychological freedom. Her search for freedom is as much for her next of kin as it is for herself. Cheryl Deborah Williams describes the movement of Black women in the Afro-Atlantic Diaspora as fugitive, activist, or courteous. (2) Nancy Prince and Mai Mishra offer two examples of the Diasporan African adventuress taking control of her destiny in the framework of the activist traveler.\n\nThe Afro-Asian Diaspora\n\nThe beginnings of the Afro-Asian Diaspora have been situated up to 50,000 years ago. The Bible also describes Ethiopian and Egyptian troop movements in ancient Israel. However, the modern diaspora was almost completely defined by slavery and connected West, Central and South Africa with Asia, Europe, South and North America. It began in the Biblical era, but the majority of the Diasporans departed after the rise of Islam in the seventh century. By the time the Atlantic Triangular Trade was established hundreds of thousands of Africans had crossed the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Arabian sands as soldiers, enslaved people, and merchants. Examining the tiny Mascarene Islands gives an idea of the extent to the Indian Ocean slave trade in an era comparable to the Atlantic. The sources for the African trade in the Mascarenes consist of ship declarations also called declarations d'arrivees and colonial archival records; records were composed by negotiants. 641 trading voyages were made between the Mascarene Islands between 1768 and 1809. The nations involved were the French and Dutch. The Dutch traded African, Indian and Indonesian enslaved people in two directions, thus international commerce provided the opportunity for women from multiple backgrounds to form networks. Because eighteenth and nineteenth century arrivals were mixing with populations that already had African ancestry, usually from the same regions that the enslaved departed from, cultural fusion must have been relatively easy. In an area as small as the islands off the coast of eastern Africa, Black women of both African and Asian descent may have noted similarities of practice, belief and even clothing style. (3) However, in a culture in which enslaved women were largely paced in the domestic sphere, enslaved Africans and Asians must have contended fiercely for favors from the elite such as education for their children, succession rights for their sons, access to Qur'anic or Biblical studies, credit and tenant rights.\n\nAfrican women who migrated eastwards practiced a multitude of religions. Christianity had spread as far south as the modern United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Christianity had also spread as far south as Mecca where a Christian icon had been placed in the Kaaba and five bishoprics were established on the eastern shore of Arabia. Islam had been practiced in the region since the mid-sixth century. Judaism had been practiced in the region for millennia. A female religion called kuubandwa was practiced in East Africa. East African women were familiar with Mwana Mwem and Fatuma who had been queens of Zanzibar and Mwana Khadija of Pate. The Ethiopian queen mother was a powerful figure and the ladies, queen and wives followed the armies. (4)\n\nWomen had been abducted from the Cote d'Afrique, Kilwa, Lindi, Mafia, Mombasa, Mongale, Mouttage and Zanzibar. Ethnicities included Ambanivolo, Ambalambo, Andrantsay, Antaisaka, Antalaotra, Antanosy, Antasimo, Hehe, Betanimena, Maninga, Marvace Sakalava, Bisa, Ekoti, Kamanga, Lolo, Makonde, Makua, Maravi, Mrima, Yao, Ngindo, Nyambe, Nyamwezi, Sagara and Sena. (5) The Battle of Antietam fought on September 17, 1862 may have reflected an African ethnos enslaved on Mauritius known as Antateime. (6) Other ethnicities were Betsileo and Hova (Merina).\n\nSoutheast Asians enslaved in the Mascarenes were Balinese, Javanese, Malay, Sumatran, Timorese, etc. The laborers were the cog in the wheel that held together the economy of the...\n\nTo continue reading", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9932718276977539}
+{"content": "Pray for Our World: Iceland\n\nIceland is a unique, volcanic island in the North Atlantic.  It is largely inhabited by Icelandic peoples (over 90%) but the immigrant and travel population is starting to increase, which brings a change to their traditionally guarded society.  Iceland’s rather new finance sector was deeply affected by the financial and banking collapse in 2008-2009.  They struggle between their traditional fishing, which previously brought a high standard of living to their fragile environment, and the new environmental controversies of energy plants and aluminum factories.\n\nThe Lutheran Church is recognized as the state church and the majority are protestant Christian, however much of this is in name only.  Biblical Christianity and a lifestyle of following Jesus Christ are alien concepts to most.  The Bible Society recently launched a new Bible translation in Iceland which was well received and has resulted in many acquiring Bibles.\n\nPray that the people of Iceland will turn to the Bible to learn about the Christianity that they profess.  God promises us wisdom if we ask, and God can guide the people of Iceland through His Word, to navigate during this changing period in their beautiful country.\n\nPray for Our World: Hungary\n\nHungary has adjusted well from a socialist economy to a market economy, though the older generation struggles a little more to go from a system that cared for their needs to one which they mostly look after themselves.  Hungary is a country rich in history and Christian history as well.  In the year 2000, they celebrated 1000 years since their conversion to Christianity.  Originally Hungary was a Roman province in 8 AD, and there were Christian communities there as early as the 3rd century.  The first Hungarian translation of the Bible was prepared in the 1430’s by Hussite preachers.  Roman Catholicism came to Hungary and they helped administered schools and hospitals.  Later came Reformed (Calvinist), Evangelical (Lutheran), Orthodox, and Unitarian (first created in the 1850’s in Transylvania).\n\nAround the year 1000, Vajik became the first King of Hungary after defeating his pagan opponent, and was baptised (pictured in the famous painting above) and assumed the name Stephen after his baptism.  Around this time, missionaries also came from several different areas to Hungary.  One of King Stephen’s first laws was that everyone should go to church.  His second law was that every ten villages together should build a church.\n\nHungary has contributed significantly to the arts, sciences, and literature over the ages, from middle ages, reformation, papal history, enlightenment, and the Austro-Hungarian empire.  In 1949, Hungary became communist, modeled after Stalin in the Soviet Union.  Religious instruction was abolished, monasteries were dissolved and almost 4,000 monks and nuns were deported, imprisoned or tortured.  Fifty years later, communism disappeared, and the government passed the Law of Freedom of Conscience and Religion which established the freedom of religion as a basic human right and that church activities were useful to society.\n\nMay Hungary continue to acknowledge their Christian importance in the world and keep their freedom of religion.\n\nPray for Our World: Haiti\n\nHaiti is one of the most densely populated and poorest countries in the Americas.  Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have fled or emigrated, not including the loss of life from the 2010 earthquake.  It will take billions of dollars and many years of stability and sustained redevelopment to see any long-term progress.  Major sources of income come from aid and relief organizations.  Literacy is 51% and functional literacy may be as low as 20%.  Early slavery from the French, dictatorships, and earthquakes have all but left the people with little hope.  Most identify themselves as Christians, but 75% practice voodoo.\n\nHowever, since the earthquake in 2010, there has been a spiritual outpouring of faith that shook not only the nation but moved the entire world.  The president called for three days of prayer and fasting in place of Mardi Gras in February 2010, and over one million people showed up.  Churches were filled and overflowing.  Pray that this spirit will continue, as there is still a lot of work to be done and it will take time.  God works miracles, changes hearts and people, and if the people will continue to look to God, there can be much hope and change in their future.\n\nPray for Our World: Greenland\n\n\n\n\nPray for Our World: Ghana\n\nGhana is on the south-western coast of the Gulf of Guinea in Africa.  79% of the population earns less than $2 per day.  Yet, Ghana enjoys a rich Christian tradition.  With over 100 ethnic groups, there were only 5 Bible translations available in 1965.  Since then, the majority of Ghanaians have at least a New Testament translation and there is work in progress on every language in Ghana!  Hundreds of churches have been planted as a result of the newly translated scriptures in their languages.\n\nMay God bless the people and organizations that have faithfully worked on Bible translations over the years in Ghana.  But where God’s truth is being successfully told, there is often strong opposition.  Islam has set out to conquer Ghana.  Almost half of the population is under the age of 15 and very impressionable.  Pray for the Christian workers and churches there, that they may reach the young people for the truth and light and hope of Jesus Christ.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9061834812164307}
+{"content": "Skip to main content\n\nFlorida has an interesting diversity of mammals.  Some species are endemic to Florida, such as Key Largo woodrat, Florida mouse, Florida mastiff bat, and Florida panther.  Many species of mammals are impacted by habitat loss and degradation and the introduction of non-native predators.  Some species can be attracted to urban areas and therefore, habitat conservation during development design is an important consideration for long-term protection.  The following pages include several species of mammals found in Florida, occasionally grouped by taxonomic categories or habitat categories.\n\n2016 Florida Black Bear Range Map\n\nThe Florida black bear (Ursus americanus floridanus) is one of 16 subspecies of American black bear and the only species of bear found in Florida.  Black bears occupy a variety of habitats and selection is dependent on abundant food sources.  They have an omnivorous diet and often take advantage of seasonally abundant fruits, nuts, and insects.  Occasionally they will scavenge dead animals or opportunistically prey on small mammals.\n\nBears mate from June to August and experience delayed implantation where fertilized eggs will temporarily cease development until final implantation in November or December.  Females will then enter winter dens to give birth and typically emerge with their cubs in April.\n\nConservation measures for the Florida black bear include maintaining a sustainable population statewide, maintain habitat quantity, quality, and connectivity, reducing human-bear conflicts, and promoting outreach and education.\n\nAs bear populations increase, more human-bear interactions are likely to occur.  Bears frequently take advantage of trash, pet food, feeders, etc. that people leave out.  Educational materials and tools, like bear-resistant trashcans, are available to remove attractants and reduce human-bear conflicts.  When bears are seen in neighborhoods, residents are encouraged make loud noises to scare the bears away from human-occupied areas.  Habituated bears, those who become accustomed to urban areas, can occasionally pose safety risks. \n\n\nThe Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi, FE) is currently isolated to south Florida but historically occurred throughout the Southeastern United States.  It is a large cat with tan, unspotted fur and a long tail.  In 2017, the USFWS estimated that the Florida panther population numbered 120-230 individuals.  Their primary breeding range is considered to be south of the Caloosahatchee River, however it has recently expanded north of this boundary.  They prefer habitats of forested communities and wetlands and use palmetto thickets for denning.  Kittens have spots and blue eyes, but these features generally fade by six months of age.\n\n\nThe greatest threats to Florida panthers are loss, degradation, and fragmentation of their habitat; however, intolerance may prevent their recovery.  Collisions and road mortalities are increasing.  In 2016, a record of 31 panthers were killed due to vehicle collisions.\n\n\nThe West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus, FT), also known as the Florida manatee, inhabits fresh, brackish, and saltwater areas along the coasts of Florida.  They feed on floating, emergent, and bank vegetation, and seek freshwater to drink.  They cannot tolerate prolonged temperatures below 16°C (61°F) and seek warm-water areas to avoid cold-related stress and death.  They seek out springs that naturally stay at about 72°F throughout the year and warm-water outfalls from power plants.\n\nMajor threats to manatees include watercraft strikes and loss of warm-water habitats.  Watercraft collisions continue to be the greatest threat to manatee survival.  In 2017, a new record of 106 manatees died from watercraft-inflicted injuries.  As power plants age, retire, or change in operations, man-made warm-water habitats may disappear and result in cold-related mortalities in manatees who migrate to those locations.  Other threats include crushing risks by large vessels, entrapment in culverts, pipes, and storm water areas, and increased risk with increased boat traffic from construction of new marinas.\n\nManatees are protected under several legislative acts including the Endangered Species Act, Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Florida Endangered and Threatened Species Act.  Specifically, the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act declares the entire State of Florida to be a manatee “refuge and sanctuary,” and it is unlawful to intentionally or negligently “annoy, molest, harass, or disturb or attempt to molest, harass, or disturb any manatee.”  It also authorizes the FWC to regulate operation and speed of motorboat traffic where manatee sightings are frequent.  The FWC is authorized to issue permits that allow persons to operate at higher speeds than otherwise allowed in manatee speed protected zones or perform certain activities not normally allowed.  Examples of these activities and more information can be found at FWC’s manatee Permit Review website.  For additional permit information on dredging, filling, shoreline stabilization, and construction of in-water structures (e.g. docks, boat ramps, etc.) visit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Determination Key.\n\n\nThe Big Cypress fox squirrel (BCFS) (Sciurus niger avicennia, ST) is an endemic subspecies of eastern fox squirrel.  It has a restricted geographic range in southwest Florida, and inhabits natural, rural, and urbanized habitats.  BCFS are known to use a range of habitats including tropical hardwood forest, live oak forest, mangrove forest, cypress swamp, pine flatwoods, and suburban habitats, especially golf courses.  A large majority of BCFS nests are in bald cypress trees but BCFS nests have been found in slash pine and cabbage palm trees.  Breeding can occur year-round but BCFS are most productive from November to February as well as April through July.  Rapid urbanization of southwest Florida has resulted in habitat loss and fragmentation for this subspecies.\n\nPresence of these species have been investigated with methods of visual observations/signs (e.g. nests, stripped pine cones), camera trapping, and live trapping.  More information about surveying and avoidance guidelines can be found in the Conservation Measures and Permitting Guidelines.\n\n\nThe Everglades mink (Neovison vison evergladensis, ST) can be found in both fresh and salt water marsh habitats in the Everglades and Big Cypress.  They are dependent on wetlands for foraging and raising young but change their use dependent on the season.  In the dry season, they are more likely to use freshwater swamp forest where food sources become more concentrated.  Their primary threats are altered hydrology and other habitat modifications (e.g. logging, land use conversion).  Recommended conservation practices to benefit this species include maintaining or restoring hydrology in suitable areas, avoid placing impermeable surfaces near wetlands, and implementing prescribed fire in appropriate habitats.\n\n\n\nSanibel Rice Rat\n\nThe Sanibel Island rice rat (Oryzomys palustris sanibeli, ST) is a rodent found only on Sanibel Island.  It is brown in coloration with a white underside and white feet.  They can be found in marshes, hydric hammocks, swamps, and meadows.  Sanibel Island rice rats are threatened by habitat loss, urbanization, predation, and competition with black rats.\n\nSherman’s short-tailed shrews (Blarina shermani, ST) are found in Collier and Lee counties.  They are about 4 inches long with grayish-black fur and small eyes and ears.  They live in dense, herbaceous habitats and moist forests.  Their primary threats are habitat degradation and loss to agriculture and development.\n\nFlorida salt marsh voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus dukecampbelli, FE) are found exclusively in Levy County.  The only populations are in Cedar Key and Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge.  The salt marsh where it is known to occur is dominated by salt grass (Distichlis spicata).  Their small population and limited range leaves them extremely vulnerable to storms and changes in sea level.\n\nRice rats (Oryzomys palustris natator, FE) are a 5.5 inch, brownish-gray rodent that is found in the Lower Keys of Florida.  It typically uses low intertidal areas, salt marshes, and buttonwood transition areas.  They require large, contiguous areas of mangroves and salt marsh.\n\n\n\nBeach mice construct two- to three-foot burrows in the sandy dunes along the Florida coast.  They can be found both in open primary dunes and densely vegetated secondary dunes along the beach.  The primary threat to beach mice is coastal development.  Construction removes vegetation from the dunes and makes the area more susceptible to wind and water erosion.  Development also isolates beach mice populations, making them more vulnerable to local extinction.  Introduced predators, such as feral cats and foxes, have also caused populations to decline.  Preservation of sand dune habitat is critical to the protection of these species.\n\n\nBonnetted Bat\n\nFlorida bonneted bats (Eumops floridanus, FE) are a species found in south Florida.  They are characterized by their large body size, large slanted ears that cover the eyes and are joined at the base.  They have been found in both natural and artificial roosts such as palm fronds, tree cavities, buildings, bridges, and bat houses.  The primary threats to bonneted bats are small population size, habitat loss, and potential impacts from mosquito pesticides.\n\nGray bats (Myotis grisescens, FE) are found in caves and over waterways in the Southeast.  In Florida, they can be found in the Panhandle.  Most gray bats migrate between hibernating and maternity caves.  They strictly roost in caves, with fewer than 5% of caves being suitable for their needs.  Winter caves are deep and vertical to trap cold air, whereas summer caves are located near foraging areas by waterways.  The major threat to gray bats is human disturbance.  If gray bats are disturbed during hibernation or nursing, they will panic, expend energy reserves, and abandon young.  The primary conservation objective of the USFWS is to prevent disturbance of roosting habitats by protecting those caves.  Disease, particularly white-nose syndrome, is also a potential threat to gray bats, but it has not been detected in Florida.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8957079648971558}
+{"content": "Any Port in a Storm – Say Something\n\nimagesI have a dear friend (we’ll call him Nathan). Though I haven’t seen him in years, we keep in touch as much as life’s seeming entropy permits. I met Nathan in college when I began voice lessons and needed an accompanist. As proved typical for me, I simply looked for the most dashing, accomplished pianist available to join me in practicing my Italian arias and favorites from Phantom. Though young, Nathan was a great musician, and though our personalities couldn’t be more opposite, I held a great amount of respect for him.\n\nOne day, a curious thing happened. I was driving on my way to school after grabbing coffee when I saw Nathan walking down the road about a mile out. I was already nearly late to class, so I rolled down my window and offered him a ride. When I became close enough to see his face, I understood immediately that Nathan would not be joining us in World History that day. We awkwardly mumbled something to each other, he declined the ride, and I reluctantly kept going. When I arrived in class, I discreetly explained to the professor that though I was unsure of the cause, something was very wrong with Nathan, and he would be absent for the day.\n\nAs time passed, Nathan and I became inseparable. As I was a couple years his senior and lived off campus, it became the unsaid ritual that after choir, we’d grab food. After ensemble, I’d kidnap him to Starbucks so he could tease me as I refused to budge until I had studied for my philosophy class for no less than 4-6 hours at a time. He tried to help me in music theory, and I tried to help him gain confidence in singing. Although like many pianists, he had a lovely but timid singing voice, I really never heard it until recently – some five years after meeting him.\n\nA year or so into our friendship, Nathan transferred to a college back home. I was devastated, as I had lost my best pal. Who was I going to call for a long drive to do nothing but sit in silence and listen to Radiohead’s Videotape over and over when it felt like my existential world of faith was caving in? Who was going to teach me the rest of the Mendelssohn piece (by ear, mind you, as I refused to read the sheet music at the time)? Who was going to roll his eyes at me when I showed off in the ear training portion of collegiate, or play Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu for me as only he could? I didn’t know. I eventually made new friends, but the uniting factor that brought us together was a bond so strong it was never replaced, and has never faded. The type of bond that although we haven’t seen each other in four years, he remains available for my call anytime, day or night, and I for his. That bond is the blinding desolation of loss, and the dogged, unyielding courage of resilience.\n\nJonathan's PianoWhen Nathan tragically lost one of his best friends the day I found him slowly trodding down the side of the road, I somehow knew. Though up to that point, I’d only lost a few people in my life, I was no stranger to loss of the purest kind. As Nathan and I grew closer, we grew to develop a stronger empathy for one another – many demons that plagued him also plagued me, and sadly, the young friend Nathan lost that day was not the first, and would not be the last.  Although the friend I lost to cancer at age 18 was nothing short of heartbreaking, it could not prepare me for the following loss of my gran, my father, and a dear friend taken far too young just last summer.\n\nI have never written about that friend publicly, but as he was loved by so many, it was a terrible loss. I had shared many a silly, procrastinating evening listening intently to his outlandish stories in college, and have been affected in so many positive ways by his compassionate charisma. When I got the news, I knew outside of his family and immediately local friends, telling Nathan would prove the toughest, as it seems he is cruelly losing a loved one every time I turn around. I believe it is because of this, however, that we have remained the strongest of allies. There is no more universal plight than death, and a multitude of historical events simply show that trial, grief and hopeful resilience simply bring people together.\n\nA couple of weeks ago, Nathan sent me his cover of a Say Something (A Great Big World feat. Christina Aguilera) with little explanation other than “Listen to this if you will – you can’t imagine the day I’ve had, and I’m sorry my voice is frail but this holds a lot of personal significance to me.” I received the email mid-lessons, and only remembered to put it on right before pulling into my apartment for the night. I figured I would hear a few moments, and then replay it later on when settled. However, for whatever reason, from the split second I heard the first four solo notes in complete isolation, I knew this was going to be a tough listen. As the song opened and the words “Say something, I’m giving up on you” fell from his mouth, my heart jumped to my throat. Nathan was currently going through a loss of the worst kind, and I knew immediately the type of “day” he had been referring to.\n\nAs the song played on, it fastly became one of those pieces you never forget the first time hearing. It was also the first time I’d truly heard Nathan sing, and it was beautiful, captivating, and utterly devastating. Surrounded by the common and simple vi IV I V progression, his voice radiated of pain and brokenness, but also of survival – he had recorded it, after all.  After sitting stunned for what felt like ages, I went inside, dropped my books on the floor, immediately pulled up the lyrics for the song, played, recorded and sent the first portion of the song back to him.\n\na-great-big-world-christina-aguilera-say-somethingThough the song was poignant and evocative then, it passed into vague memory until quite recently. I lost something myself, this time, that left me feeling like nothing more than a bewildered little girl hiding under the bed. As I wandered aimlessly around my apartment that evening, I remember the song Nathan had sent me, and the words came rushing back in my head like a merciless yet somehow relieving migraine. I made myself a cup of coffee to brave the chill of three in the morning out on my balcony, put my headphones on, and watched the video to Say Something for the first time. Maybe the most surprising thing was not even the almost at once literal depiction of the little girl hiding under the bed (a harsh but tender parallel indeed) but that the song depicted more than one type of loss. The two lovers, the scared, sad child, and the elderly man mourning his fading wife on her deathbed. I do not know what it is about such a simple song – maybe the slight, fleetingly frozen dissonance in the V chord, or maybe the emotion with which it is performed, but that song somehow brought to life everything that I could not.\n\nI’ve since spoken to various people about the song’s effect, and have heard only the most positive things. “My boyfriend and I split this morning, and this song just helps me feel.” “I’m moving to a new city by myself, leaving all my friends behind, and I can’t stop listening to it.” “My dog died recently, and I know it’s silly, but it’s so pretty that it soothes me.” I also caught the video that recently went viral of the young boy moved to tears by the pop ballad. Though the dad was wise enough to request the ‘thumbs up’ to confirm the little guy was okay, 4-year-old Jackson was clearly and utterly moved by the music, as assuredly so many others around the globe have been. Does the young child have the capacity to intuitively understand what’s going on in the song or in his brain to evoke such elicit feelings of sadness? I don’t know. What I do know, is when the father provided the option to change the song, Jackson objected – he wanted to hear it.\n\nbanksygirl Why is it that circumstances of loss and turmoil unite us so? Why is Banksy’s girl with the red balloon (always just out of reach) a personal favorite of thousands? Why was Adele’s Someone Like You a global affective phenomenon? Why was I glued to my phone and laptop nearly every moment of the Egyptian revolution a couple years ago? Why it is that Nathan and I always know exactly what to say to each other (which is often little more than solidarity’s knowing silence) when something dreadful happens? And above all, why does it so frequently involve or resort to music? Can music truly heal? I know it can, because I am a living attestation. \n\nTo speak plainly, sometimes the events of our lives can leave us feeling shattered in tiny pieces, strewn so haphazardly across the floor that Heaven only knows how or when we’ll find the strength to put them back together. Unfortunately, all the psychiatric drugs, diversions of the city, yoga classes and mindfulness apps in the world remain unable to glue us back together all at once. No, the process of feeling whole again can sometimes seem long, arduous and even hopeless. But if we make a little progress as often as we are able, slowly those little shards of who we are will begin to soften back into place, and the stiff and aching joints of defeat will begin to piece back together in a strengthened empathy and love. I am convinced now more than ever that music can be one of the most compassionate and brutal yet tender healers. I am overwhelmed with learning more of how this may be possible, and I intend to continue reporting my findings along the way.\n\nThough we may always be able to see those little lines of glue reminding us of the time we nearly fell apart, healing is possible, and there is hope to be found.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6089337468147278}
+{"content": "Publications in Scientific Journals:\n\nP. Ferschin, M. Di Angelo, I. Erb, N. Pfeifer:\n\"Procedual Parametric Modeling of Balinese Architecture\";\nJournal of Comparative Cultural Studies in Architecture, . (2017), 10; 51 - 54.\n\nEnglish abstract:\nTraditional Balinese architecture is based on ancient Bali-Hindu philosophy. The underlying architectural\nprinciples are complex, containing intrinsic \"parametric rules\" based on both a philosophical and a building\ntradition. The parameters are in relation to the religious belief system as well as being derived from\nthe bodily dimensions of the \"head\" of a building. These parametric rules were based on literature and\nadditional assumptions, and then implemented in a digital simulation using a shape grammar. In this\nproject, we aim at a procedural parametric model of traditional Balinese architecture that includes the\nfollowing aspects: a) verification with photogrammetry b) comparison of Balinese design rules with other\nrelated cultures, and c) adaptation for contemporary architectural design needs.\n\nProcedural modeling; parametric modeling; traditional Balinese architecture; intangible heritage; photogrammetry\n\nElectronic version of the publication:\n\nCreated from the Publication Database of the Vienna University of Technology.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9991692900657654}
+{"content": "This page is intended to provide information about Slides, Inc.'s GDPR compliance.\n\nWhat is the GDPR?\n\n\n\n\nWhat is Slides role under GDPR?\n\n\nWhat personal data does Slides collect?\n\nWe store data that customers have given us voluntarily. For example we collect and store contact information, such as name and email address, when customers sign up for our products and services or seek support help. We may also collect other identifying information from our customers, such as IP addresses.\n\n\nHow do I remove my personal data?\n\nTo exercise your Right to Erasure or desire to Opt-out, you can delete your Slides account at any time. This will remove our record of your email address, name, and all other personal data including all of your presentations. This action is immediate and not reversible.\n\nTo delete your account and all personal data please follow the instructions here:\n\nHow do I access and export my personal data?\n\nYou can download all of the personal data associated with your Slides account at any time. The data is exported in a machine-readable format. To download your data, please follow the instructions here:\n\nIf you'd like to export your presentation data you can follow the instructions in the following help article:\n\nContact information\n\nQuestions and concerns can be directed via email to\n\nEffective as of 5-25-2018", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9829046726226807}
+{"content": "The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan September Book of the Month\n\nmarrr“Marina wouldn’t want to be remembered because she’s dead.” wrote Anne Fadiman, her university professor, “She would want to be remembered because she’s good.”\n\nBut she isn’t good. Marina is phenomenal. Her fiction stories, each no longer than twenty pages long, are delicately composed featuring wildly different plots and characters. One is set in the sandy planes of Iraq, relocating Iraqi families and written purely in letter form. Another, prose, revolved around a theatre-set in Cape Cod, paragraphs littered with late night drinks and angst. And so it goes on. They are unique, seemingly revolving in their own literary sphere, untouchable. But there are ties: these characters are not built of marble, they are fallible. Keegan has portrayed them as real people, with true problems, refreshing as, unfortunately, despite it being an important rule of fiction, you often find unrealistic, overly successful characters . As a reader you could sympathise with their fears, relate to their worries. The stories were all ideal lengths too: even if they were only a few pages long, you seeped into the characters’ mindset seamlessly, and I never felt bored or disengaged with the narrative. Fresh, too, with Keegan’s voice gleaming from under the printed words.\n\n‘”Why didn’t I think to rewrite Mrs. Dalloway? I should have thought to chronicle a schizophrenic ballerina. It’s inexcusable. Everyone is so successful, and I hate them.” and “I’m so jealous. Laughable jealousies, of everyone who might get a chance to speak from the dead…I worship the potential for own tangible trace. How presumptuous! To assume specialness in the first place.”\n\nI won’t tell you how Marina Keegan wrote this incredible collection of short stories and essays as part of her graduation piece, and how, only five days after she graduated from Yale in 2012, she died in a car crash. I won’t mention how she was only twenty two, or how she had acted in and wrote numerous plays, was the President of the Yale College Democrats and had already secured her ideal job for her life after Yale. Because, instead I told you how inspiring her collection is. Marina wouldn’t want to be remembered because she’s dead. She would want to be remembered because she’s good.\n\n\nThe Book of Strange New Things- Michel Faber\n\nHave you ever dreamt of being missionary to another species? To aliens living in a settlement, half the universe away? If so, then this is a novel engage your fantasy, and if not, you should still read it anyway.\n\nbook o\n\nIt is set in an indefinite time in the future; all the notable landmarks of our time period are still there, such as Heathrow airport, but there is a menacing undertone behind the news. In the opening scene, Peter discusses with his wife the monumental collapse of businesses and how many transport systems have simply slipped out of reality. But Peter doesn’t have to worry about that: there’s also a space travel at this point, too, and he is about to be transported to another galaxy, to a growing settlement called the Oasis, which run by an elusive corporation called USIC. Half the universe away. With his co-workers being mechanical engineers and elite geologists, he is surprised at having landed a role so out of this world. Peter is not a scientist, a genius whose name is framed by the list of letters succeeding it. His main function will be to satiate the native beings’ desire for Christianity. He is a priest, and his ‘people’ will be the Oasans. Oasans, with faces Faber insisted on continually describing as like “two foetuses”.\n\n\nOn that note, the writing in general was elegant; like a minimalistic house gracing an interior design magazines- there were hints of simplicity, but that added to the beauty of his writing. However, as with all magazines, you are bound to find repeats, and Faber would often use the same word to describe the same object at various points in the novel. This is a large book- nearly 600 pages and by the fifth time he describes the air as swirling you’re bored.\n\nThe idea fuelling the novel itself was intriguing, and was embedded in the classic science fiction duvet of; “Let’s put a major concept out of context and see how it floats”. The concept in question here was religion, specifically Christianity, and thanks to Faber’s portrayal of Peter, the novel is not only engaging to those who do, or don’t share the faith, but it is also not offensive without Faber being overly cautious in with his language. This is largely due to Peter’s characterisation, I believe, because although the novel oversees his tantalising mental transformation, in essence he is a mild mannered man with firm morales. (Do not conceive him to be merely a meek man though…he has a startling history, which is agonisingly drip fed to you throughout the novel.)\n\nFaber’s strengths were shown when he wrote about Peter’s time with the Oasans. Firstly, his style came across as more fresh there, and it was interesting to read as it contrasted starkly with Peter’s time spent back at the USIC base with humans, which frankly was largely mundane: there were chapters of him merely wandering around the corridors, uncertain of what to do with himself and where to find something to eat. Relatable, perhaps, to ravenous nights at a hotel, but not as engaging as reading about alien races with bizarre rituals and delightful dressing habits.\n\nA notable proportions of the book was also written in letter form: Peter can only maintain contact with Bea, his wife, through this way, and the insights Bea gave into the world collapsing around her, whilst Peter was working, isolated from the news, in another galaxy, was insightful. These letters were not only fascinating in themselves, illustrating the changing dynamics in the pair’s relationship as their separation became prolonged, but it also offered variation. There was a balance between the prose and letters which was struck sublimely.\n\nWhilst I would recommend this novel to anymore who is attracted to science-fiction novels, I would also say that those fantasy readers with an inter-galactic taste would enjoy it too. The pace is erring on the sluggish side though, and is more contemplative than action-filled. The Book of Strange New Things offered me an insight into the world of science-fiction, which I am tentatively exploring, and generally, it has done a brilliant job in doing so.\n\nCatch-22 by Joseph Heller\n\n\n\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9213418364524841}
+{"content": "Caught on camera: Washington state teen almost drowns after falling in ice\n\nKENNEWICK, Wash. (KEPR) — Stay off the ice, we’ve probably all heard this at one point in our lives. One teen is lucky to be alive after a Tuesday afternoon rock hunting turned into a disastrous brush with death. Rose Hardt and a group of friends were playing on thin ice, when rose fell in, and it was all live streamed on YouTube. “Wow, the sun is reflecting off the ice, that looks gorgeous and there’s a way down there maybe we should go take some pictures,” saidRose Hardt in an interview.\n— Read on\n\nBe careful and stay off thin ice.\n\nLove Again\n\nDo a little singing and dancing and talking with me.\n\nDo a little eating and walking and watching with me.\n\nDo a little living and loving and smiling with me\n\nDo a little laughing and loving and seeing with me.\n\nWill you talk with me?\n\nWill you listen to me?\n\nCan you see how I feel about you?\n\nCan you visit with me?\n\nDo a little thinking about me.\n\nMake up your mind about me.\n\nWhat Are the Benefits and Uses of Horsetail?\n\n— Read on\n\nHerbals are usually nutritional plants of a great variety.\n\n\n\n\nHow to Become the Person You Most Want to Be | Psychology Today\n\n— Read on\n\nA complete person is someone who is able to make a practice out of life values.\n\nTo practice these values we must be willing to learn and teach others.\n\nTo practice values like simplicity, compassion and patience will give you strength, hope and experience in all your affairs.\n\nWorking Age\n\nEach person is different from the next, but that does’t make the next person wrong or right.\n\nA limitation may come or go, but who you are has no limits.\n\nDo we restrict work to an individual based on a religion, race, age?\n\nWe make the job safe for the individual, not the other way around.\n\nIntelligent Ethics\n\nWhy is the heart less important than the brain?\n\nWhy is a different brain better or worse than the brain I am using?\n\nThe stigma of an ineffective brain or an affective brain is just a disguise for a biased opinion.\n\nThe categorization of a disorder is only as bad or as good as the person using it.\n\nLabels only serve to discredit the individual.\n\nWe are not an all or nothing proposition.\n\nIntellectual superiority is truly an oxymoron or simply a descriptive phrase.\n\nReason is only one form of intelligence.\n\nPeople are a composite of reason, emotion, physicality, belief, environment and genetics.\n\nLoosely speaking, we are more than the sum of our parts.\n\nWe cooperate and collaborate to create good things.\n\nYet, there are more than angles and devils, a whole array of the spectrum exists.\n\nTo live the good life and use the proper use of impressions is perhaps only an ideal.\n\nBut for those that breathe, walk the earth with intention, practice, there is a way to be.\n\nExtremes And Bad Habits\n\nDrugs and alcohol seem to include, sugar (and some carbohydrates) caffeine, devices like Cell phones, and the environments they seem to thrive.\n\nWhy is it illegal to drink and drive, are we safe from overdosing on sugar and some carbohydrates, caffeine, devices like cell phones?\n\nIf we all know we are ODing why don’t we change?\n\nOur problem with our saturated environments make it difficult to function.\n\nAwareness is the first step, what will you do next?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9079895615577698}
+{"content": "Eating Disorders and Chemical Dependency\n\nEating disorder and chemical dependency (EDCD) is a deep-rooted mental illness that can lead to extremely dangerous behavior and the possibility of addiction. Like all other dual diagnosis disorders, EDCD must be treated simultaneously to ensure the best chance for a successful and lasting recovery. Our Eating Disorder and Chemical Dependency treatment program will attempt to uncover the root causes of this disorder in order for you to better understand how both an eating disorder and substance abuse can be present at the same time.\n\nSpecialized Rehab for Eating Disorder and Chemical Dependency (EDCD).\n\nOur facilities have a proven track record of successful treatment of EDCD. We provide a nurturing and supportive environment in which patients can examine and eventually reveal some of the origins of their mental illness so they can achieve a successful recovery. When you learn what exactly is influencing you to binge, purge, or avoid food, as well as what\\'s triggering your need to take drugs or turn to alcohol, you can use that self-awareness to embark on a successful recovery.\n\nEDCD: Learning to Self-Regulate Destructive Urges\n\nIndividuals who have struggled with co-occurring disorders of substance abuse and an eating disorder complain that there is nowhere for them to turn to get help with both of their recovery challenges simultaneously. Our staff are experts at doing just that — helping people to identify and work through the issues that constitute the underlying causes that connect both symptom patterns. These staff members are renowned eating disorder and substance abuse specialists who have the capacity to work within and beyond the 12-step model in order to enable patients to manage the symptoms of both disorders as well as work at resolving their core issues. These methods aim to stop patients from moving back and forth (“see-sawing”) between their substance abuse and eating disorder. \n\nOur eating disorder and chemical dependency program focuses on trauma resolution, grief work, and self-esteem repair while providing round-the-clock staffing to support people in creating and maintaining a healthier relationship to food and eating. This work, in conjunction with a sober and responsible commitment to recovery from their substance abuse, can empower people to move forward in their lives with confidence and hope, knowing they can get off the dual diagnosis “see-saw” once and for all.\n\nWhile diet and weight become the focus of eating disorders, they aren\\'t driving the decisions to engage in unhealthy eating habits. There are other psychological, interpersonal, and social factors that underlie these choices. From low self-esteem to traumatic childhood experiences, an eating disorder can be an unhealthy expression of a person trying to gain some control when they feel helpless. Likewise, these circumstances can lead you to rely on drugs or alcohol to self-medicate or numb your thoughts. In order to stop abusing substances and to stop hurting yourself, it can help to begin by reflecting on your experiences with someone who cares.\n\nTop Therapists\n\nOur therapists will provide a safe atmosphere where patients feel comfortable communicating difficult memories, worries, and emotions. They\\'ll also show you how to identify the types of situations that often create anxiety and stress for you, sparking the desire to use food as an escape or control mechanism. Part of the program will include learning coping skills to replace and resist physically harmful behaviors. In addition, the addiction-treatment part of the program will concurrently help you detox, so your appetite or thirst for drugs or alcohol is medically managed in a supervised setting.\n\nCall Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches right now at (888) 432-2467 and get the treatment you need to cure your EDCD (eating disorders & chemical dependency).", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9398821592330933}
+{"content": "\n\nA high school math teacher in Georgia has been fired after comparing students who wear clothing emblazoned with President Trump's motto \"Make America Great Again\" with Nazis wearing swastikas.\n\n\n“Just like you cannot wear a swastika to school, you cannot wear Make America Great Again like that,\" she said in the video.\n\nTurning Point News reported on Saturday that it was \"tipped off to Orletsky’s termination by an anonymous source from within River Ridge High School. Through this source, we have been able to obtain a letter sent to the parents of Orletsky’s students notifying that they have terminated her position and are starting a search for a new teacher.\"\n\n“The purpose of this correspondence is to provide you with an update on your child’s math class,” the letter signed by school principal Darrell Herring reads. “Ms. Orletsky no longer is your child’s math teacher, effective immediately.”\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe short video brought a firestorm from both parents and elected politicians. “It’s just shocking — you can’t do that to kids,” state Republican Rep. Earl Ehrhart told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.\n\n\n\nWhat's Your Reaction?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8667563199996948}
+{"content": "Southern Cassowary\n\nCasuarius casuarius\n\nDark Rarity Casuarius casuarius \nBetter known as the Southern Cassowary is a very rare member of Ratite group (Emus, Ostrich, Moa, etc) with only about 2000 left in the rainforests of North Queensland. Their numbers continue to decrease due to habitat destruction.\n\nCamera: Nikon D700\nLens: Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 @f2.8\nShutter: 1/1000s Australia,Casuarius casuarius,Geotagged,Southern Cassowary,bird,cassowary,color,colour,dark,queensland,rainforest,ratite,southern cassowary,tropical\n\n\nIt has hard and stiff plumage, a brown casque, blue face and neck, red nape and two red wattles hanging down its throat. The three-toed feet are thick and powerful, equipped with a lethal dagger-like claw up to 12&nbsp;cm on the inner toe. The plumage is sexually monomorphic, but the female is dominant and larger with a longer casque and brighter-colored bare parts. The juveniles have brown longitudinal striped plumage. It is the largest member of the cassowary family and is the second heaviest bird on earth, at a maximum size estimated at 85 kilograms and 190 centimetres . Normally this species ranges from 127 to 170 centimetres in length. The height is 1.5 to 1.8 metres and females average 58 kilograms and males averaging 29 to 34 kilograms . It is technically the largest Asian bird and the largest Australian bird .\nSouthern Cassowary I can't help myself, this is one of my favorite animals.  Birds,Cassowary,Casuarius casuarius,Geotagged,Malaysia,Southern Cassowary\n\n\nDue to ongoing habitat loss, limited range and overhunting in some areas, the Southern Cassowary is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Australian population is listed as Endangered under Federal and Queensland State legislation. Some threats are through habitat loss , feral animals eating their eggs, hunting, and roadkill. Road building, feral animals and hunting are the worst of these threats. It has an occurrence range of 396,000&#32;km2 , and between 10,000 and 20,000 birds were estimated in a 2002 study, with between 1,500 and 2,500 in Australia.\nBirds of paradise..!!!I \n\nShot @ Kankariya Ahemadabad ! \n\nThe Southern Cassowary, the third tallest and second heaviest living bird, smaller only than the ostrich and emu.found in northeastern Australia..this one is in captivity..!!!\n\nExif info Cam-550D\nLense 18-55\nFocal length -55mm\nf stop-5.6\nShutter speed-250\nISO -400 Casuarius casuarius,Southern Cassowary\n\n\nIt forages on the forest floor for fallen fruit and is capable of safely digesting some fruits toxic to other animals. They also eat fungi, and some insects and small vertebrates. The Southern Cassowary is a solitary bird, that pairs only in breeding season, which takes place in late winter or spring. The male builds a nest on the ground; a mattress of herbaceous plant material 5 to 10 centimetres thick and up to 100 centimetres wide. This is thick enough to let moisture drain away from the eggs. The male also incubates the eggs and raises the chicks alone. A clutch of three or four eggs are laid measuring 138 by 95 millimetres . They have a granulated surface and are initially bright pea-green in colour although they fade with age.\n\n\nThese boots are made for walking And killing. The large, prehistoric and lethal feet of the Southern Cassowary, a bird not to mess with. Birds,Casuarius casuarius,Papegaaienpark VeldHoven,Parrot Park Veldhoven,Southern Cassowary\n\n\nThe Southern Cassowary is distributed in tropical rainforests of Indonesia, New Guinea and northeastern Australia, and it prefers elevations below 1,100&nbsp;m in Australia, and 500&nbsp;m on New Guinea.\n\n\nSome text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.\n\nStatus: Vulnerable\nSpeciesC. casuarius", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9142069816589355}
+{"content": "Latinamerica Collection\nGuatemalan Food and Cuisine\n\nA common restaurant destination in Guatemala is the comedor, a rougher version of the common North American diner. Here you will find one or two daily specials as well as a menu of a few standard authentic dishes. These dishes will often times include a fried meat, carne asada or carne frita, vegetables, and/or a broth, also known as caldo. Eggs, beans, and tortillas are common everywhere as well.\n\n\nFor higher end dinging there are restaurants, or restaurantes, which generally offer a more varied selection either with a menu or a prearranged daily plate, or menu de día. Also, any major city will likely have a few more diverse options, such as international cuisine.\n\n\nFinally, another option is always the common street side vendors selling anything from tacos to tamales to pupusas, a stuffed tortilla with meat and/or vegetables on top.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7553633451461792}
+{"content": "20170810 Eskimos vs Redblacks - Lea Photo\n\nCFL 2017: Eskimos vs Redblacks August 10\n\nAugust 10, 2017: Edmonton Eskimos linebacker Chris Edwards (26) runs with the ball while Ottawa Redblacks Nigel Romick (47), Jean-Philippe Bolduc (20) and Antoine Pruneau (6) defend during the CFL game between Edmonton Eskimos and Ottawa Redblacks at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa, Canada. Edmonton won the game by a score of 27-20. Daniel Lea/CSM\n\n2017CFLCal Sport MediaCanadaCanadian Football LeagueDaniel LeaEdmontonEdmonton EskimosEskimosLea PhotoOSEGOntarioOttawaOttawa RedblacksRedblacksTD Placecsmimagesfootballzcflzcsmzfootballzredblacks", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9602581262588501}
+{"content": "FULL EPISODE | A Life Recovered\nUp next on TPI...! She trained with the hopes of winning Olympic Gold in track, but in a turn of events, Simidele Adeagbo makes history as Africa's first ever female to compete in the Skeleton Sled. A young man's anger toward his absentee parents leads him to death's door. Terrance McCoy shares his journey from a life filled with abuse, rejection, and depression to become a rising singer/songwriter.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8829253315925598}
+{"content": "Average amounts of homework - Creative writing prompts book\n\nParents who feel their children are overburdened with homework are pitted against educators pressed to improve achievement test yote males average 8 to 20 kg ( 18 to 44 lb) in weight while females average 7 to 18 kg ( 15 to 40 lb) though size varies geographically. Does homework have other effects?\n\nOur brand new resource is designed to improve ability for low- attaining learners in mathematics, working alongside your existing learning software. One in 10 children report spending multiple hours on homework. Is there such a thing as too much homework? Mar 13, · How to Invest.\n\nIt’ s Americans are more burdened by student loan debt than ever. A bill that specifies how much money can be spent on a. Among the Class of 69% of college students took out student loans, including both private , they graduated with an average debt of $ 29 federal debt. The Spellzone resource is for students aged seven to adult in school at work at home.\n\nDimension 3 DISCIPLINARY CORE IDEAS— PHYSICAL SCIENCES. If you use this homework help service as a homework. Find a great tutor that fits your needs. A Roth IRA is one of the best accounts for growing tax- free retirement savings it takes just 15 minutes to open one.\n\nActual spending is different from requested spending because it reflects the spending priorities approved by Congress during the annual appropriations process. What are the benefits of homework?\nA tropical rainforest has four distinct layers we will explore each layer — Health Fitness. ( Step 4) I will email the homework solutions to you as an attached file.\nIt can also give you a boost if you know what you need to do to get an A in a particular class how far you may be from achieving that goal. See which rank as the best. After expanding FB use to individuals outside the college university system, the age group experiencing the most growth was 25– 34 year- olds, older group increased 98% ( Lipsman, the 35 , with an increase of 181% a).\n\nIt is also suitable for students learning English as a foreign language and for those with dyslexia. The Spelling Ability Test provides all students with a baseline score and a personalised ' Course Pathway'. Actual Spending is spending reported by the president after the end of a fiscal year. Many people think that some parts of the year are hotter because we' re nearer to the Sun, but the real reason is that the Earth is wonky ( tilted).\n\nIn fact interest from your rth Kingstown School District serves students , you could eventually live off the earnings , if you invest effectively enough, is located in North Kingstown RI. Why was the Suez Canal important? Meanwhile 14% of their parents took out an average of $ 35 600 in federal Parent PLUS loans. Average tutoring rate: $ 14.\n\nAverage amounts of homework. Contrary to popular belief, the stock market is not just for rich people. Why do we have homework?\n\nWhy do we have seasons? Does homework affect student learning?\nInvesting is one of the best ways for anyone to create wealth and become financially independent. History of the homework debate. With the rise of user- web interaction the demand for effective , storage capability, networking, as well as technological advances in processing power sophisticated knowledge discovery techniques has grown exponentially. ( a) The provisions of this subchapter shall be implemented by school districts.\n\nLearn about average bankruptcy attorney fees in Chapter 7 deceptive fee advertisements, what it means if your court has presumptive no- look fee amounts. Does the effect of homework vary with students age? Applicants should have knowledge of basic computer science principles skills at a level sufficient to write a reasonably non- trivial computer program. Post a Job and search for free.\n\nGet an answer for ' How did Britain gain control of the Suez Canal? If you have even a little money saved up, investing it can help it grow. What are the average HOA fees in the 75063 zip code? The Biomedical Informatics: Data implementation of novel quantitative , Analysis Graduate Certificate explores the design , Modeling , computational methods that solve challenging problems across the entire spectrum of biology medicine.\nStart a chain reaction introduce non- radioactive isotopes to prevent one. Knowing your class average is beneficial for a few reasons. Oct 17, · How to Invest Small Amounts of Money Wisely. Implementation of Texas Essential Knowledge Skills for Science High School.\n\n\n\nIf you' re a first- time the Net Price Calculator tool can help you estimate how much of your costs might be covered by grant , full- time undergraduate student scholarship aid at University of Maryland University College. How to Invest Small Amounts of Money Wisely. ' and find homework help for other History questions at eNotes.\n\nFB’ s popularity raises questions about the website’ s impact on college student life ( Barratt Stephens, Hendrickson ). Have You Ever Wondered. The beginning of a new school year brings with it a reawakening of an old debate regarding the value of homework. Large- scale systems often have emergent properties that cannot be explained on the basis of atomic- scale.\nGet answers share your insights experience. This includes teaching activities from the Spellzone Starter , tests Main Courses. Experienced data miners are needed now more than ever! M ost systems processes depend at some level on physical , whether the system in question is a star, chemical subprocesses that occur within it, Earth’ s atmosphere, the human brain a living cell. Average temperature each seasons in the UK. ( Previously part of the Nuclear Physics simulation - now there are separate Alpha Decay and Nuclear Fission sims. There are no benefits of this additional work, but it could leave a negative impact on health. FIN 370 Assignment Week 3 Practice Knowledge Check FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT FIN 370 Assignment Week 3 PracticeKnowledge Check Complete the Week 3 ― Knowledge Check‖ in Connect®.\n\nAverage amounts of homework. Control energy production in a nuclear reactor! Find answers to this many other questions on Trulia Voices share local information.\n\nStart with safer rth Kingstown School District serves students is located in North Kingstown RI. Average amounts of homework. Rainforest homework project.\n\nUndergraduate Net Price Calculator A tool for first- time, full- time undergraduate students. In fact if you invest effectively enough, you could eventually live off the earnings interest from your investments.\n\nAverage Dissertation\n\n\nThis lesson will examine the concept of a weighted average and types of situations when it should be used instead of a standard average. It will also give some real- world examples of a search shows that some students regularly receive higher amounts of homework than experts recommend, which may cause stress and negative health termining how much blood is in the average human body depends on how much a person weighs.\nA man weighing 154 pounds ( 69.\nEssay how to write numbers\nWhat is a wild assignment of mortgage\nNetworking windows 2000 professional and xp home\n\nHomework average Paid\n\n8 kilograms) would have about 5. 5 quarts of blood. Start studying Economics Homework 6.\nPaper moon english\nWriting a thesis statement for a persuasive essay\nE paper sakal english\nTeach creative writing esl\nThe lovely bones thesis statement\n\nAverage About essay\n\nLearn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. FAQs About Private Schools. How many private schools are there in the United States?\n\nAmounts homework Nutrition tungkol\n\nHow many students attend them? What' s the average tuition?\n\nThe syntax of the AVERAGEIF function = AVERAGE( range, criteria, [ average_ range] ) The range parameter is the group of cells to which the criteria will be applied.\n\nAverage Seat delta\n\nIf you don’ t include a value for average_ range, it will also be the range from which the average is calculated. Criteria contains the conditions that the cells need to meet to be included in the average. Many students and their parents are frazzled by the amount of homework being piled on in the schools.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9545615911483765}
+{"content": "wcmdscale {vegan}R Documentation\n\nWeighted Classical (Metric) Multidimensional Scaling\n\n\nWeighted classical multidimensional scaling, also known as weighted principal coordinates analysis.\n\n\nwcmdscale(d, k, eig = FALSE, add = FALSE, x.ret = FALSE, w)\n\n\nk the dimension of the space which the data are to be represented in; must be in {1,2,...,n-1}. If missing, all dimensions with above zero eigenvalue.\neig indicates whether eigenvalues should be returned.\nadd logical indicating if an additive constant c* should be computed, and added to the non-diagonal dissimilarities such that all n-1 eigenvalues are non-negative. Not implemented.\nx.ret indicates whether the doubly centred symmetric distance matrix should be returned.\nw Weights of points.\n\n\nFunction wcmdscale is based on function cmdscale (package stats of base R), but it uses point weights. Points with high weights will have a stronger influence on the result than those with low weights. Setting equal weights w = 1 will give ordinary multidimensional scaling.\n\n\nOtherwise, an object of class wcmdscale list containing the following components.\n\neig the n-1 eigenvalues computed during the scaling process if eig is true.\nx the doubly centred and weighted distance matrix if x.ret is true.\nweights Weights.\nnegaxes A matrix of scores for axes with negative eigenvalues scaled by the absolute eigenvalues similarly as points. This is NULL if there are no negative eigenvalues or k was specified, and would not include negative eigenvalues.\n\n\n\n\nSee Also\n\ncmdscale. Also isoMDS and sammon in package MASS.\n\n\n## Correspondence analysis as a weighted principal coordinates\n## analysis of Euclidean distances of Chi-square transformed data\nrs <- rowSums(dune)/sum(dune)\nd <- dist(decostand(dune, \"chi\"))\nord <- wcmdscale(d, w = rs, eig = TRUE)\n## Ordinary CA\nca <- cca(dune)\n## Eigevalues are numerically similar\nca$CA$eig - ord$eig\n## Configurations are similar when site scores are scaled by\n## eigenvalues in CA\nprocrustes(ord, ca, choices=1:19, scaling = 1)\nplot(procrustes(ord, ca, choices=1:2, scaling=1))\n## Reconstruction of non-Euclidean distances with negative eigenvalues\nd <- vegdist(dune)\nord <- wcmdscale(d, eig = TRUE)\n## Only positive eigenvalues:\ncor(d, dist(ord$points))\n## Correction with negative eigenvalues:\ncor(d, sqrt(dist(ord$points)^2 - dist(ord$negaxes)^2))\n\n[Package vegan version 1.16-32 Index]", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9991810321807861}
+{"content": "Main Page Sitemap\n\nMost popular\n\nThe Friar surprised that Romeo has forgotten his dear love so quickly exclaims \"Is Rosaline, that didst love so dear, / So soon forsaken?\" (2.3.66-67). The Prince will doom thee death if..\nRead more\nThey have made worms' meat. Her husband is older than shemany years older, according to the implication of words spoken by Lady Capulet. When the page returns with three watchmen, they discover the..\nRead more\n\nBuilding self confidence essays\n\nbuilding self confidence essays\n\ndiscussion above, from 1869, and the current discussions of intelligent design. We just die, and most people will be forgotten in a few hundred years anyway. One of the most interesting crosses is the recently produced cross of a Camel and a Llama, called a Cama. Sources of Variation : Natural selection is commonly misstated as \"the mechanism\" of evolution. Our desires have evolved to direct an individual's behavior in ways that increases their chance of survival and procreation, thereby passing on their genes. We will continue to find more answers and continue to ask more questions, and that process will go on at least as long as people exist. But all this will become clearer. Beasts of prey have acquired strong jaws or talons. And thou shalt be a companion of the Deity, and a co-heir with Christ, no longer enslaved by lusts or passions, and never again wasted by disease. Some also claim that Biblical scripture is superior to scientific observation for determining facts, or that there can be no facts which contradict scripture, so if a conclusion is drawn from observation that contradicts scripture then the conclusion must be wrong. Anaximander is credited with having invented the sun dial and other observational instruments.\n\nIt is plain then that nature is a cause, a cause that operates for a purpose.\" - Physics ; Aristotle, 350 BCE So, what does all of this have to do with evolution? Many people either take these stories literally or see them at least as a framework for factual events. The first references to \"Christianity\" began to emerge around 120 CE in Greek speaking regions around the Mediterranean Sea. For one thing it's because no such progression ever existed. Speciation among Drosophila has been determined by the inability to produce fertile offspring with a parent population, while having the ability to produce fertile offspring among the peer population, and/or \"assortative mating\" behavior, meaning that individuals choose to mate with only their \"own kind\". And that there are flashes of lightning when the wind coming down severs the clouds.\n\n\"They act like separate species, and the genetic evidence supports that conclusion Irwin said. Are continuously identifying new traits that arise in their breeding populations, demonstrating the present occurrence of the development of novel traits. A cell is an enclosed unit in which chemical work takes place. The evidence clearly shows that non-human organisms had sophisticated stone tools and that the practices that we associate with \"being human\" also evolved over time. Let us take a look at the skulls of some modern dogs (Note that these skulls are not to scale Saluki - 5,000 YO breed from Arabia Great Pyrenees - 4,000 YO breed from France Rottweiler - 2,000 YO breed from Germany Pekingese - 2,000. On the other hand, during subsidence, the inhabited area and number of inhabitants will decrease (excepting the productions on the shores of a continent when first broken up into an archipelago and consequently during subsidence, though there will be much extinction, fewer new varieties. So far from being a \"Teleologist in the fullest sense of the word we would deny that he is a Teleologist in the ordinary sense at all; and we should say that, apart from his merits as a naturalist, he has rendered a most remarkable.\n\nPersonal essays about learning languages\nFunniest essays ever written", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8879460692405701}
+{"content": "Victorian era explained\n\nVictorian era\nBefore:Regency era\nAfter:Edwardian era\n\nIn the history of the United Kingdom, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the Belle Époque era of France and continental Europe. In terms of moral sensibilities and political reforms, period began with the passage of the Reform Act 1832. There was a strong religious drive for higher moral standards led by the nonconformist churches, such as the Methodist, and the Evangelical wing of the established Church of England. Moral standards improved very dramatically, especially for the middle class. The period was peaceful among the Great Powers, with only one mid-sized international war. Britain enjoyed strong naval superiority, leadership worldwide in manufacturing, finance, railways, shipping, and entrepreneurship. Britain embarked on global imperial expansion, particularly in Asia and Africa, which made the British Empire the largest empire in history. National self-confidence peaked.[1]\n\n\nDomestically, the political agenda was increasingly liberal, with a number of shifts in the direction of gradual political reform, industrial reform, and the widening of the franchise. There were unprecedented demographic changes: the population of England and Wales almost doubled from 16.8 million in 1851 to 30.5 million in 1901,[3] and Scotland's population also rose rapidly, from 2.8 million in 1851 to 4.4 million in 1901. However, Ireland's population decreased sharply, from 8.2 million in 1841 to less than 4.5 million in 1901, mostly due to emigration and the Great Famine.[4] Between 1837 and 1901 about 15 million emigrated from Great Britain, mostly to the United States, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.[5]\n\n\nTerminology and periodisation\n\nSee also: Periodisation. In the strictest sense, the Victorian era covers the duration of Victoria's reign as Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, from her accession on 20 June 1837—after the death of her uncle, William IV—until her death on 22 January 1901, after which she was succeeded by her eldest son, Edward VII. Her reign lasted for 63 years and seven months, a longer period than any of her predecessors. The term 'Victorian' was in contemporaneous usage to describe the era.[6] The era has also been understood more extensively as a period that possessed sensibilities and characteristics distinct from those adjacent, in which case it is sometimes dated to begin before Victoria's accession—typically from the passage of or agitation for (during the 1830s) the Reform Act 1832, which introduced a wide-ranging change to the electoral system of England and Wales. Definitions according to a distinct sensibility or politics have also created scepticisim about the worth of the label \"Victorian\", though there have equally been defences of it as a marker of time.[7]\n\nMichael Sadleir was insistent that \"in truth the Victorian period is three periods, and not one\".[8] He distinguished early Victorianism – the socially and politically unsettled period from 1837–1850[9] – and late Victorianism (from 1880 onwards), with its new waves of Aestheticism and Imperialism,[10] from the Victorian heyday: mid-Victorianism, 1851 to 1879. He saw the latter period as characterised by a distinctive mixture of prosperity, domestic prudery, and complacency[11] – what G. M. Trevelyan similarly called the \"mid-Victorian decades of quiet politics and roaring prosperity\".[12]\n\nPolitical and diplomatic history\n\nSee main article: article, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919).\n\n\n\nOn 20 June 1837, Victoria became Queen of the United Kingdom on the death of her uncle, William IV. Her government was led by the Whig prime minister Lord Melbourne, but within two years he had resigned, and the Tory politician Sir Robert Peel attempted to form a new ministry. In the same year, a seizure of British opium exports to China prompted the First Opium War against the Qing dynasty, and British imperial India initiated the First Anglo-Afghan War—one of the first major conflicts of the Great Game between Britain and Russia.[13]\n\nIn 1840, Queen Victoria married her German cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield. It proved a very happy marriage, whose children were much sought after by royal families across Europe. In 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi established British sovereignty over New Zealand. The signing of the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 ended the First Opium War and gave Britain control over Hong Kong Island. However, a disastrous retreat from Kabul in the same year led to the annihilation of a British army column in Afghanistan. In 1845, the Great Famine began to cause mass starvation, disease and death in Ireland, sparking large-scale emigration; To allow more cheap food into Ireland, the Peel government repealed the Corn Laws. Peel was replaced by the Whig ministry of Lord John Russell.[14]\n\nIn 1853, Britain fought alongside France in the Crimean War against Russia. The goal was to ensure that Russia could not benefit from the declining status of the Ottoman Empire,[15] a strategic consideration known as the Eastern Question. The conflict marked a rare breach in the Pax Britannica, the period of relative peace (1815–1914) that existed among the Great Powers of the time, and especially in Britain's interaction with them. On its conclusion in 1856 with the Treaty of Paris, Russia was prohibited from hosting a military presence in the Crimea. In October of the same year, the Second Opium War saw Britain overpower the Qing dynasty in China.\n\n\n\nIn 1861, Prince Albert died.[13] In 1867, the second Reform Act was passed, expanding the franchise, and the British North America Act consolidated the country's possessions in that region into a Canadian Confederation.[17]\n\n\nSociety and culture\n\nEvangelicals, Utilitarians and reform\n\nThe central feature of Victorian era politics is the search for reform and improvement, including both the individual personality and the society. [18] Three powerful forces were at work. First was the rapid rise of the middle class, in large part displacing the complete control long exercised by the aristocracy. Respectability was their code—a businessman had to be trusted, and must avoid reckless gambling and heavy drinking. Second the spiritual reform closely linked to evangelical Christianity, including both the Nonconformist sects, such as the Methodists, and especially the evangelical or Low Church element in the established Church of England, typified by Lord Shaftesbury (1801–1885). It imposed fresh moralistic values on society, such as Sabbath observance, responsibility, charitably charity, discipline in the home, and self-examination for the smallest faults and needs of improvement. Starting with the anti-slavery movement of the 1790s, the evangelical moralize or is developed highly effective techniques of training family members, and reaching the public at large through intense, very well organized agitation and propaganda, focused on exciting a personal revulsion against social evils and personal misbehavior.[19] The third effect came from the philosophical utilitarians, led by Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), James Mill (1773–1836) and his son John Stuart Mill (1806–1873). They were not moralistic but scientific. Their movement, often called \"Philosophic Radicalism,\" fashioned a formula for promoting the magic goal of \"progress\" using scientific rationality, and businesslike efficiency, to identify, measure, and discover solutions to social problems. The formula was inquiry, legislation, execution, inspection, and report.[20] In public affairs, their leading exponent was Edwin Chadwick (1800–1890). Evangelicals and utilitarians shared a basic middle-class ethic of responsibility, and formed a political alliance. The result was an irresistible force for reform.[21]\n\nNotes and References\n\n  1. Book: John Wolffe. Religion in Victorian Britain: Culture and empire. Volume V.. 1997. Manchester University Press. 129–30.\n  2. Nicholas. Dixon. From Georgian to Victorian. History Review. 2010. 2010. 68. 34–38.\n  3. The UK and future\n  4. Web site: Ireland – Population Summary. 10 August 2010.\n  5. Exiles and Emigrants\n  6. Book: Plunkett, et al.. John. Victorian Literature: A Sourcebook. 2012. Palgrave Macmillan. Houndmills, Basingstoke. 2.\n  7. Hewitt. Martin. Why the Notion of Victorian Britain Does Make Sense. Victorian Studies. Spring 2006. 48. 3. 395–438. 23 May 2017.\n  8. M Sadleir, Trollope (London 1945) p. 17\n  9. M Sadleir, Trollope (London 1945) p. 18-19\n  10. M Sadleir, Trollope (London 1945) p. 13 and p. 32\n  11. M Sadleir, Trollope (London 1945) p. 25-30\n  12. G M Trevelyan, History of England (London 1926) p. 650\n  13. Swisher, ed., Victorian England, pp. 248–50.\n  14. Lusztig. Michael. Solving Peel's Puzzle: Repeal of the Corn Laws and Institutional Preservation. Comparative Politics. July 1995. 27. 4. 393–408. 10.2307/422226.\n  15. Book: Taylor, A. J. P.. The Struggle for Mastery in Europe: 1848–1918. 1954. 60–61.\n  16. Jill C. Bender, The 1857 Indian Uprising and the British Empire (2016), 205pp.\n  17. Book: Gertjan. Dijkink. Hans. Knippenberg. The Territorial Factor: Political Geography in a Globalising World. 2001. Amsterdam University Press. 978-90-5629-188-4. 226.\n  18. Asa Briggs, The Age of Improvement 1783–1867 (1957)\n  19. G.M. Young, Victorian England: Portrait of an Age (1936, 2nd ed, 1953), pp 1–6.\n  20. Young, Victorian England: Portrait of an Age pp 10–12.\n  21. Llewellyn Woodward, The Age of Reform, 1815–1870 (1962).\n  22. On the interactions of Evangelicalism and utilitarianism see Élie Halévy, A History of The English People In 1815 (1924) 585-95. also 3:213-15..\n  23. [Owen Chadwick]\n  24. Walter E. Houghton, The Victorian Frame of Mind, 1830–1870 (1957) p 33.\n  26. D. W. Bebbington, The Nonconformist Conscience. Chapel and Politics, 1870–1914 (1982).\n  27. Sally Mitchell, Victorian Britain An Encyclopedia (2011), p 547\n  28. Book: Michael R. Watts. The Dissenters: The crisis and conscience of nonconformity. 2015. Clarendon Press. 105.\n  29. Timothy Larsen, \"A Nonconformist Conscience? Free Churchmen in Parliament in Nineteenth‐Century England.\" Parliamentary History 24#1 (2005): 107–119.\n  30. Richard Helmstadter, \"The Nonconformist Conscience\" in Peter Marsh, ed., The Conscience of the Victorian State (1979) pp 135–72.\n  31. John F. Glaser, \"English Nonconformity and the Decline of Liberalism.\" American Historical Review 63.2 (1958): 352–363. in JSTOR\n  33. Richard W. Davis, \"The Strategy of 'Dissent' in the Repeal Campaign, 1820–1828.\" Journal of Modern History 38.4 (1966): 374–393 in JSTOR.\n  35. G. I. T. Machin, \"Gladstone and Nonconformity in the 1860s: The Formation of an Alliance'.\" Historical Journal 17 (1974): 347–64.\n  37. Richard Helmstadter, \"The Nonconformist Conscience\" in Peter Marsh, ed., The Conscience of the Victorian State (1979) pp 144–47.\n  38. Helmstadter, \"The Nonconformist Conscience\" p 147.\n  39. Alastair Bonnett 'The Agnostic Saladin' History Today (2013), 63#2, pp. 47–52\n  40. Owen Chadwick, The Victorian Church: Vol 1 1829–1859 (1966) pp 487–89.\n  41. Edward Royle, Victorian Infidels: the origins of the British secularist movement, 1791–1866 (1972) pp 86–88. online\n  43. Bernard Lightman, Origins of Agnosticism: Victorian Unbelief & the Limits of Knowledge (1987)\n  45. Book: Robyn Ryle. Questioning gender: a sociological exploration. 2012. SAGE/Pine Forge Press. Thousand Oaks, Calif.. 978-1-4129-6594-1. 342–43.\n  47. Susan Rubinow Gorsky, Femininity to Feminism: Women and Literature in the Nineteenth Century (1992)\n  48. F. Elizabeth Gray, \"Angel of the House\" in Adams, ed., Encyclopedia of the Victorian Era (2004) 1: 40–41\n  49. Book: Emily Blair. Virginia Woolf and the Nineteenth-Century Domestic Novel. 2012. SUNY Press. 53.\n  50. Edward C. Mack, Public Schools and British Opinion since 1860 (1941) online.\n  51. Book: John. Juliet. The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Literary Culture. 2016. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 1–2.\n  52. Peter Bailey, Leisure and class in Victorian England: Rational recreation and the contest for control, 1830–1885 (Routledge, 2014)\n  54. Brenda Assael, The circus and Victorian society (U of Virginia Press, 2005)\n  55. Web site: 19th century Circus Peep behind the scenes. 6 January 1990. 9 April 2011. yes. 11 March 2012. dmy-all.\n  56. Alison Winter, Mesmerized: powers of mind in Victorian Britain (U of Chicago Press, 2000)\n  57. Lynn L. Merrill, The romance of Victorian natural history (Oxford University Press, 1989)\n  59. John K. Walton, The English seaside resort. A social history 1750–1914 (Leicester University Press, 1983)\n  60. William J. Baker, \"The state of British sport history.\" Journal of Sport History 10.1 (1983): 53–66. online\n  61. Joe Maguire, \"Images of manliness and competing ways of living in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain.\" International Journal of the History of Sport 3.3 (1986): 265–287.\n  62. [Keith A. P. Sandiford]\n  63. \"Victorian Games & Sports, Tennis, Cricket, Football, Croquet, Cycling\" in Online\n  64. Bernard Porter, Britannia's Burden: The Political Evolution of Modern Britain 1851–1890 (1994) ch 3\n  68. Lionel Thomas Caswell Rolt, Victorian engineering (Penguin, 1974).\n  70. John R. Kellett, The impact of railways on Victorian cities (Routledge, 2007).\n  74. L.T.C. Rolt, George & Robert Stephenson: The Railway Revolution (1960).\n  75. For example see John H. Jensen and Gerhard Rosegger. \"British Railway Builders along the Lower Danube, 1856–1869.\" Slavonic and East European Review 46#106 (1968): 105–128; H. R. Stones, British railways in Argentina 1860–1948 (1993)\n  76. Charles Walker, Thomas Brassey: railway builder (1969).\n  78. R. S Joby, The Railway Builders: Lives and Works of the Victorian Railway Contractors (1983)\n  79. Ian J. Kerr, Building the Railways of the Raj, 1850–1900 (1995).\n  80. Web site: Dr William Green Morton (1819–68). 10 August 2010.\n  81. Web site: History of chloroform anaesthesia. 10 August 2010.\n  82. Web site: Ralph R. Frerichs. Anesthesia and Queen Victoria. 10 August 2010.\n  83. Web site: h2g2 – Waterloo Teeth: A History of Dentures. BBC. 24 August 2005. 10 August 2010.\n  84. Web site: Waterloo Teeth. 10 August 2010.\n  85. Web site: Joseph Lister. 10 February 1912. 10 August 2010. yes. 31 August 2010. dmy-all.\n  86. \"Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population: Library of Economics\"\n  87. Simon Szreter, Fertility, class and gender in Britain, 1860–1940 (Cambridge University Press, 2002).\n  88. Book: Roberts. Elizabeth. A Woman’s Place: An Oral History of Working – Class Women 1890 – 1940. 1984. Blackwell Publishers. Oxford. 85.\n  89. Bradlaw and Besant published 'Fruits of Philosophy', which is a publication about birth control.\n  90. Social History of Medicine. 1988. 1. 1–37. The importance of social intervention in Britain's mortality decline c.1850–1914: A re-interpretation of the role of public health. Simon. Szreter. 10.1093/shm/1.1.1.\n  95. Houghton, The Victorian Frame of Mind, p. 1\n  96. Reginald Watters, \"Thomas Barnes and 'The Times' 1817–1841,\" History Today (1979) 29#9 pp 561–68\n  97. Trowbridge H. Ford, \"Political Coverage in 'The Times,' 1811–41: The Role of Barnes and Brougham,\" Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research (1986) 59#139, pp 91–107.\n  98. Alan Hankinson, Man of Wars: William Howard Russell of 'The Times' (1982)\n  99. [G. R. Searle]\n  100. Hugh Cunningham, Time, work and leisure: Life changes in England since 1700 (2014)\n  101. John K. Walton, The English seaside resort. A social history 1750–1914 (1983).\n  102. Searle, A New England? pp 547–53\n  103. H.J. Dyos, \"The speculative builders and developers of Victorian London.\" Victorian Studies 11 (1968): 641–690. in JSTOR\n  107. Anthony S. Wohl, The eternal slum: housing and social policy in Victorian London (1977).\n  108. Martin J. Daunton, House and home in the Victorian city: working class housing, 1850–1914 (1983).\n  109. [J. A. R. Marriott]\n  110. Barbara Daniels, Poverty and Families in the Victorian Era\n  111. Jane Humphries, Childhood & Child Labour in The British Industrial Revolution (Cambridge UP, 2016).\n  112. Web site: Del Col. Laura. The Life of the Industrial Worker in England. The Victorian Web. 19 March 2015. 1988.\n  113. Child Labor\n  114. Harold Perkin, The Origins of Modern English Society (1969) p 280.\n  115. Asa Briggs, The Age of Improvement: 1783–1867 (1959), pp 66–74, 286–87, 436\n  116. Ian C. Bradley, The Call to Seriousness: The Evangelical Impact on the Victorians (1976) pp 106–109\n  119. Jane Pearson and Maria Rayner, Prostitution in Victorian Colchester: Controlling the Uncontrollable (U of Hertfordshire Press, 2018).\n  121. News: 1841: A window on Victorian Britain. 25 April 2006. 10 August 2010. London. Paul. Vallely.\n  122. Web site: Illustrated London News. 10 August 2010.\n  123. California Gold Rush\n  124. Book: Farwell, Byron. Queen Victoria's Little Wars. 2009. Pen & Sword Books. 9781848840157. 12 August 2012-->.\n  125. Web site: Is this what Labour's next Clause four should say?. 10 August 2010. yes. 22 June 2011. dmy-all.\n  126. Web site: 1870 Education Act. 27 September 2009. yes. 11 September 2009. dmy-all.\n  127. On the interactions of Evangelicalism and utilitarianism see Élie Halévy, A History of The English People In 1815 (1924) 585-95; see pp 213–15.\n\n    Social reforms focused on ending slavery, removing the slavery-like burdens on women and children, and reforming the police in order to prevent crime, rather than emphasizing the very harsh punishment of criminals. Even more important were a host of political reforms, especially the lifting the disabilities on nonconformists and Roman Catholics, and above all, the reform of Parliament and elections to introduce democracy and replace the old system whereby senior aristocrats controlled dozens of seats in parliament.[21] [22]\n\n\n\n    ] in 1850 and numbers grew through conversions and immigration from Ireland.[23] Secularism and doubts about the accuracy of the Old Testament grew as the scientific outlooked rapidly gained ground among the better educated. Walter E. Houghton argues, \"Perhaps the most important development in 19th-century intellectual history was the extension of scientific assumptions and methods from the physical world to the whole life of man.\"[24]\n\n    Status of Nonconformist churches\n\n    Nonconformist conscience describes the moral sensibility of the Nonconformist churches—those which dissent from the established Church of England—that influenced British politics in the 19th and early 20th centuries.[25] [26] In the 1851 census of church attendance, noncomformists who went to chapel comprised half the attendance of Sunday services.[27] Noncomformists were focused in the fast-growing urban middle class.[28] The two categories of this group were in addition to the evangelicals or \"Low Church\" element in the Church of England: \"Old Dissenters,\" dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, included Baptists, Congregationalists, Quakers, Unitarians, and Presbyterians outside Scotland; \"New Dissenters\" emerged in the 18th century and were mainly Methodists. The \"Nonconformist conscience\" of the Old group emphasised religious freedom and equality, the pursuit of justice, and opposition to discrimination, compulsion, and coercion. The New Dissenters (and also the Anglican evangelicals) stressed personal morality issues, including sexuality, temperance, family values, and Sabbath-keeping. Both factions were politically active, but until the mid-19th century, the Old group supported mostly Whigs and Liberals in politics, while the New—like most Anglicans—generally supported Conservatives. In the late 19th century, the New Dissenters mostly switched to the Liberal Party. The result was a merging of the two groups, strengthening their great weight as a political pressure group. They joined together on new issues especially regarding schools and temperance, with the latter of special interest to Methodists.[29] [30] By 1914 the linkage was weakening and by the 1920s it was virtually dead.[31]\n\n    Parliament had long imposed a series of political disabilities on Nonconformists outside Scotland. They could not hold most public offices, they had to pay local taxes to the Anglican church, be married by Anglican ministers, and be denied attendance at Oxford or degrees at Cambridge. Dissenters demanded the removal of political and civil disabilities that applied to them (especially those in the Test and Corporation Acts). The Anglican establishment strongly resisted until 1828.[32] Disseneters organized into a political pressure group and succeeded in 1828 in repeal of some restrictions. It was a major achievement for an outside group, but the Dissenters were not finished and the early Victorian period saw them even more active and successful in eliminating their grievances.[33] Next on the agenda was the matter of church rates, which were local taxes at the parish level for the support of the parish church building in England and Wales. Only buildings of the established church received the tax money. Civil disobedience was attempted but was met with the seizure of personal property and even imprisonment. The compulsory factor was finally abolished in 1868 by William Ewart Gladstone, and payment was made voluntary.[34] While Gladstone was a moralistic evangelical inside the Church of England, he had strong support in the Nonconformist community.[35] [36] The Marriage Act 1836 allowed local government registrars to handle marriages. Nonconformist ministers in their own chapels were allowed to marry couples if a registrar was present. Also in 1836, civil registration of births, deaths, and marriages was taken from the hands of local parish officials and given to local government registrars. Burial of the dead was a more troubling problem, for urban chapels had no graveyards, and Nonconformists sought to use the traditional graveyards controlled by the established church. The Burial Laws Amendment Act 1880 finally allowed that.[37]\n\n\n    Agnostics and freethinkers\n\n    The abstract theological or philosophical doctrine of agnosticism, whereby it is theoretically impossible to prove whether or not God exists, suddenly became a popular issue around 1869, when T.H. Huxley coined the term. It was much discussed for several decades, and had its own journal edited byWilliam Stewart Ross (1844–1906) the Agnostic Journal and Eclectic Review. Interest petered out by the 1890s, and when Ross died the Journal soon closed. Ross championed agnosticism in opposition not so much to Christianity, but to atheism, as expounded by Charles Bradlaugh[39] The term \"atheism\" never became popular. Blasphemy laws meant that promoting atheism could be a crime and was vigorously prosecuted.[40] Charles Southwell was among the editors of an explicitly atheistic periodical, Oracle of Reason, or Philosophy Vindicated, who were imprisoned for blasphemy in the 1840s.[41]\n\n    Disbelievers call themselves 'freethinkers' or 'secularists.' They included John Stuart Mill, Thomas Carlyle, George Eliot, and Matthew Arnold.[42] They were not necessarily hostile to Christianity, as Huxley repeatedly emphasized. The literary figures were caught in something of a trap – their business was writing and their theology said there was nothing for certain to write. They instead concentrated on the argument that it was not necessary to believe in God in order to behave in moral fashion.[43] The scientists, on the other hand, paid less attention to theology and more attention to the exciting issues raised by Charles Darwin in terms of evolution. The proof of God's existence that said he had to exist in order to have a marvelously complex world was no longer satisfactory when biology demonstrated that complexity could arise through evolution.[44]\n\n    Women and gender\n\n    The emerging middle-class norm for women was Separate spheres, whereby women avoid the public sphere – the domain of politics, paid work, commerce and public speaking. Instead they should dominate in the realm of domestic life, focused on care of the family, the husband, the children, the household, religion, and moral behaviour.[45] Religiosity was in the female sphere, and the Nonconformist churches offered new roles that women eagerly entered. They taught in Sunday schools, visited the poor and sick, distributed tracts, engaged in fundraising, supported missionaries, led Methodist class meetings, prayed with other women, and a few were allowed to preach to mixed audiences.[46]\n\n    The long 1854 poem \"The Angel in the House\" by Coventry Patmore (1823–1896) exemplified the idealized Victorian woman who is angelically pure and devoted to her family and home. The poem was not pure invention, but reflected the emerging legal economic social, cultural, religious and moral values of the Victorian middle-class. Legally women had limited rights to their own bodies, the family property, or their children. The recognized identities were those of daughter, wife, mother, and widow. Rapid growth and prosperity meant that fewer women had to find paid employment, and even when the husband owned a shop or small business, the wife's participation was less necessary. Meanwhile the home sphere grew dramatically in size; women spent the money and decided on the furniture, clothing, food, schooling, and outward appearance the family would make. Patmore's model was widely copied – by Charles Dickens, for example.[47] Literary critics of the time suggested that superior feminine qualities of delicacy, sensitivity, sympathy, and sharp observation gave women novelists a superior insight into stories about home family and love. This made their work highly attractive to the middle-class women who bought the novels and the serialized versions that appeared in many magazines. However, a few early feminists called for aspirations beyond the home. By the end of the century, the \"New Woman\" was riding a bicycle, wearing bloomers, signing petitions, supporting worldwide mission activities, and talking about the vote. [48] Feminists of the 20th century reacted in hostile fashion since the norm was still holding back their aspirations; Virginia Woolf said the angel had to be killed.[49]\n\n\n    The era saw a reform and renaissance of public schools, inspired by Thomas Arnold at Rugby. The public school became a model for gentlemen and for public service.[50]\n\n    Literature and arts\n\n    See main article: article and Victorian literature. In prose, the novel rose from a position of relative neglect during the 1830s to become the leading literary genre by the end of the era.[51] In the 1830s and 1840s, the social novel (also \"Condition-of-England novels\") responded to the social, political and economic upheaval associated with industrialisation. Though it remained influential throughout the period, there was a notable resurgence of Gothic fiction in the fin de siecle, such as in Robert Louis Stevenson's novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n    See main article: Sport in the United Kingdom#History. The Victorian Era saw the introduction and development of many modern sports.[60] Often originating in the public schools, they exemplified new ideals of manliness.[61] Cricket,[62] cycling, croquet, horse-riding, and many water activities are examples of some of the popular sports in the Victorian Era.[63]\n\n\n    Economy, industry and trade\n\n\n    Historians have characterised the mid-Victorian era (1850–1870) as Britain's \"Golden Years\".[64] There was prosperity, as the national income per person grew by half. Much of the prosperity was due to the increasing industrialisation, especially in textiles and machinery, as well as to the worldwide network of trade and engineering that produced profits for British merchants, and exports from across the globe. There was peace abroad (apart from the short Crimean war, 1854–56), and social peace at home. Opposition to the new order melted away, says Porter. The Chartist movement peaked as a democratic movement among the working class in 1848; its leaders moved to other pursuits, such as trade unions and cooperative societies. The working class ignored foreign agitators like Karl Marx in their midst, and joined in celebrating the new prosperity. Employers typically were paternalistic and generally recognised the trade unions.[65] Companies provided their employees with welfare services ranging from housing, schools and churches, to libraries, baths, and gymnasia. Middle-class reformers did their best to assist the working classes' aspirations to middle-class norms of \"respectability\".\n\n\n\n    Technology, science and engineering\n\n\n\n\n    Similar sanitation reforms, prompted by the Public Health Acts 1848 and 1869, were made in the crowded, dirty streets of the existing cities, and soap was the main product shown in the relatively new phenomenon of advertising. A great engineering feat in the Victorian Era was the sewage system in London. It was designed by Joseph Bazalgette in 1858. He proposed to build 82miles of sewer system linked with over 1000miles of street sewers. Many problems were encountered but the sewers were completed. After this, Bazalgette designed the Thames Embankment which housed sewers, water pipes and the London Underground. During the same period, London's water supply network was expanded and improved, and a gas network for lighting and heating was introduced in the 1880s.[72]\n\n\n\n    One of the great achievements of the Industrial Revolution in Britain was the introduction and advancement of railway systems, not only in the United Kingdom and the British Empire but across the world. British engineers and financiers designed, built and funded many major systems. They retained an ownership share even while turning over management to locals; that ownership was largely liquidated in 1914–1916 to pay for the World War. Railroads originated in England because industrialists had already discovered the need for inexpensive transportation to haul coal for the new steam engines, to supply parts to specialized factories, and to take products to market. The existing system of canals was inexpensive but was too slow and too limited in geography.[73]\n\n    The engineers and businessmen needed to create and finance a railway system were available; they knew how to invent, to build, and to finance a large complex system. The first quarter of the 19th century involved numerous experiments with locomotives and rail technology. By 1825 railways were commercially feasible, as demonstrated by George Stephenson (1791–1848) when he built the Stockton and Darlington. On his first run, his locomotive pulled 38 freight and passenger cars at speeds as high as 12 miles per hour. Stephenson went on to design many more railways and is best known for standardizing designs, such as the \"standard gauge\" of rail spacing, at 4 feet 8 ½ inches.[74] Thomas Brassey (1805–70) was even more prominent, operating construction crews that at one point in the 1840s totalled 75,000 men throughout Europe, the British Empire, and Latin America.[75] Brassey took thousands of British engineers and mechanics across the globe to build new lines. They invented and improved thousands of mechanical devices, and developed the science of civil engineering to build roadways, tunnels and bridges.[76]\n\n\n\n\n\n    Health and medicine\n\n    Medicine progressed during Queen Victoria's reign. Although nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, had been proposed as an anaesthetic as far back as 1799 by Humphry Davy, it wasn't until 1846 when an American dentist named William Morton started using ether on his patients that anaesthetics became common in the medical profession.[80] In 1847 chloroform was introduced as an anaesthetic by James Young Simpson.[81] Chloroform was favoured by doctors and hospital staff because it is much less flammable than ether, but critics complained that it could cause the patient to have a heart attack. Chloroform gained in popularity in England and Germany after John Snow gave Queen Victoria chloroform for the birth of her eighth child (Prince Leopold).[82] By 1920, chloroform was used in 80 to 95% of all narcoses performed in the UK and German-speaking countries.\n\n    Anaesthetics made painless dentistry possible. At the same time sugar consumption in the British diet increased, greatly increasing instances of tooth decay .[83] As a result, more and more people were having teeth extracted and needing dentures. This gave rise to \"Waterloo Teeth\", which were real human teeth set into hand-carved pieces of ivory from hippopotamus or walrus jaws.[84] The teeth were obtained from executed criminals, victims of battlefields, from grave-robbers, and were even bought directly from the desperately impoverished.\n\n    Medicine also benefited from the introduction of antiseptics by Joseph Lister in 1867 in the form of carbolic acid (phenol).[85] He instructed the hospital staff to wear gloves and wash their hands, instruments, and dressings with a phenol solution and in 1869, he invented a machine that would spray carbolic acid in the operating theatre during surgery.\n\n\n    The Victorian era was a time of unprecedented population growth in Britain. The population rose from 13.9 million in 1831 to 32.5 million in 1901. Two major contributary factors were fertility rates and mortality rates. Britain was the first country to undergo the Demographic transition and the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions.\n\n\n    Fertility rates\n\n\n\n    High rates of birth also occurred because of a lack of Birth control. Mainly because women lacked knowledge of birth control methods and the practice was seen as unrespectable.[88] The evening out of fertility rates at the beginning of the 20th century was mainly the result of a few big changes: availability of forms of birth control, and changes in people's attitude towards sex.[89]\n\n    Mortality rates\n\n    The mortality rates in England changed greatly through the 19th century. There was no catastrophic epidemic or famine in England or Scotland in the 19th century – it was the first century in which a major epidemic did not occur throughout the whole country, and deaths per 1000 of population per year in England and Wales fell from 21.9 from 1848–54 to 17 in 1901 (cf, for instance, 5.4 in 1971).[90] Social class had a significant effect on mortality rates: the upper classes had a lower rate of premature death early in the 19th century than poorer classes did.[91]\n\n    Environmental and health standards rose throughout the Victorian era; improvements in nutrition may also have played a role, although the importance of this is debated. Sewage works were improved, as was the quality of drinking water. With a healthier environment, diseases were caught less easily and did not spread as much. Technology improved because the population had more money to spend on medical technology (for example, techniques to prevent death in childbirth, so that more women and children survived), which also led to a greater number of cures for diseases. However, there was a cholera epidemic in London in 1848–49, which killed 14,137 people, and another in 1853 killing 10,738. Reformers rushed to complete a modern London sewerage system.[92] Tuberculosis (spread in congested dwellings), lung diseases from the mines and typhoid remained common.\n\n    High culture\n\n\n\n    The long-term effect of the reform movements was to tightly link the nonconformist element with the Liberal party. The dissenters gave significant support to moralistic issues, such as temperance and sabbath enforcement. The nonconformist conscience, as it was called, was repeatedly called upon by Gladstone for support for his moralistic foreign policy.[93] In election after election, Protestant ministers rallied their congregations to the Liberal ticket. In Scotland, the Presbyterians played a similar role to the Nonconformist Methodists, Baptists and other groups in England and Wales [94] The political strength of Dissent faded sharply after 1920 with the secularization of British society in the 20th century.\n\n    The middle-class\n\n\n\n    See main article: article and History of journalism in the United Kingdom.\n\n    In 1817 Thomas Barnes became general editor of The Times; he was a political radical, a sharp critic of parliamentary hypocrisy and a champion of freedom of the press.[96] Under Barnes and his successor in 1841, John Thadeus Delane, the influence of The Times rose to great heights, especially in politics and in the financial district (the City of London). It spoke of reform.[97] The Times originated the practice of sending war correspondents to cover particular conflicts. W. H. Russell wrote immensely influential dispatches on the Crimean War of 1853–1856; for the first time, the public could read about the reality of warfare. Russell wrote one dispatch that highlighted the surgeons' \"inhumane barbarity\" and the lack of ambulance care for wounded troops. Shocked and outraged, the public reacted in a backlash that led to major reforms especially in the provision of nursing, led by Florence Nightingale.[98]\n\n\n\n\n\n\n    The very rapid growth in population in the 19th century in the cities included the new industrial and manufacturing cities, as well as service centres such as Edinburgh and London. The critical factor was financing, which was handled by building societies that dealt directly with large contracting firms.[103] [104] Private renting from housing landlords was the dominant tenure. P. Kemp says this was usually of advantage to tenants.[105] People moved in so rapidly that there was not enough capital to build adequate housing for everyone, so low income newcomers squeezed into increasingly overcrowded slums. Clean water, sanitation, and public health facilities were inadequate; the death rate was high, especially infant mortality, and tuberculosis among young adults. Cholera from polluted water and typhoid were endemic. Unlike rural areas, there were no famines such as the one which devastated Ireland in the 1840s.[106] [107] [108]\n\n\n\n\n    Child labour\n\n\n\n\n\n\n    See also: Victorian morality and Women in the Victorian era. Victorian morality was a surprising new reality. The changes in moral standards and actual behaviour across the British were profound. Historian Harold Perkin wrote:\n\n\n\n    Among the higher social classes, there was a marked decline in gambling, horse races, and obscene theatres; There was much less heavy gambling or patronage of upscale houses of prostitution. The highly visible debauchery characteristic of aristocratic England in the early 19th century simply disappeared.[116]\n\n\n\n    Prostitution had been a factor in city life for centuries. The reformers started mobilizing in the late 1840s, major news organisations, clergymen, and single women became increasingly concerned about prostitution, which came to be known as \"The Great Social Evil\".[118] Estimates of the number of prostitutes in London in the 1850s vary widely In his landmark study, Prostitution, William Acton reported that the police estimated there were 8,600 in London alone in 1857.[119]\n\n\n    1832: Passage of the first Reform Act.[120]\n  128. 1837: Ascension of Queen Victoria to the throne.\n  129. 1838: Treaty of Balta Liman (Great Britain trade alliance with the Ottoman Empire)\n  130. 1839: First Opium War (1839–42) fought between Britain and China.\n  132. 1840: New Zealand becomes a British colony, through the Treaty of Waitangi. No longer part of New South Wales\n  133. 1842: Treaty of Nanking. The Massacre of Elphinstone's Army by the Afghans in Afghanistan results in the death or incarceration of 16,500 soldiers and civilians.[121] The Mines Act of 1842 banned women/children from working in coal, iron, lead and tin mining. The Illustrated London News was first published.[122]\n  135. 1846: Repeal of the Corn Laws.\n  136. 1848: Death of around 2,000 people a week in a cholera epidemic.\n  137. 1850: Restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales. (Scotland did not follow until 1878.)\n  138. 1851: The Great Exhibition (the first World's Fair) is held at the Crystal Palace, with great success and international attention. The Victorian gold rush. In ten years the Australian population nearly tripled.[123]\n  139. 1854: Crimean War: Britain, France and Turkey declare limited war on Russia. Russia loses.\n  140. 1857: The Indian Mutiny, a concentrated revolt in northern India against the rule of the privately-owned British East India Company. Violent findings and massacre and sin British victory. The East India Company is replaced by the British government beginning the period of the British Raj.\n  142. 1859: Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, which leads to various reactions. Victoria and Albert's first grandchild, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, is born — he later became William II, German Emperor. John Stuart Mill publishes On Liberty, a defence of the famous harm principle.\n  143. 1861: Death of Prince Albert; Queen Victoria refuses to go out in public for many years, and when she did she wore a widow's bonnet instead of the crown.\n  144. 1865: Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is published.\n  146. 1867: The Constitution Act, 1867 passes and British North America becomes Dominion of Canada.\n  147. 1875: Britain purchased Egypt's shares in the Suez Canal as the African nation was forced to raise money to pay off its debts.\n  148. 1876: Scottish-born inventor Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone.\n  149. 1878: Treaty of Berlin (1878). Cyprus becomes a Crown colony.\n  150. 1879: The Battle of Isandlwana is the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War.\n  153. 1884: The Fabian Society is founded in London by a group of middle class intellectuals, including Quaker Edward R. Pease, Havelock Ellis, and E. Nesbit, to promote socialism.[125] Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany dies.\n  154. 1885: Blackpool Electric Tramway Company starts the first electric tram service in the United Kingdom.\n  155. 1886: Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and the Liberal Party tries passing the First Irish Home Rule Bill, but the House of Commons rejects it.\n  156. 1888: The serial killer known as Jack the Ripper murders and mutilates five (and possibly more) prostitutes on the streets of London.\n  157. 1889: Emily Williamson founds the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds\n  158. 1870 – 1891: Under the Elementary Education Act 1870, basic State Education becomes free for every child under the age of 10.[126]\n  161. 1901: The death of Victoria sees the end of this era. The ascension of her eldest son, Edward, begins the Edwardian era.\n  162. Further reading\n\n    • Bourne, Kenneth. The foreign policy of Victorian England, 1830–1902 (Oxford UP, 1970), contains a short narrative history and 147 \"Selected documents\" on pp 195–504.\n    • Briggs, Asa. The Age of Improvement 1783–1867 (1959), Wide-ranging older survey emphasizing the reforms\n    • Ensor, R. C. K. England, 1870–1914 (1936) online influential scholarly survey\n    • Harrison, J.F.C. Late Victorian Britain 1875–1901 (Routledge, 2013).\n    • Hilton, Boyd. A Mad, Bad, and Dangerous People?: England 1783–1846 (New Oxford History of England. 2006); in-depth scholarly survey, 784pp.\n    • Book: Eric Hobsbawm\n\n    . Hobsbawm. Eric. Eric Hobsbawm. The Age of Capital, 1848–1875. 1997. Abacus. London.\n\n    • Book: Walter Houghton\n\n    . Houghton. Walter E.. Walter Houghton. The Victorian frame of mind, 1830–1870. 1957. Yale Univ. Press. New Haven. 0-300-00122-3.\n\n    • Mitchell, Sally. Daily Life in Victorian England. Greenwood Press: 1996. .\n    • Perkin, Harold. The Origins of Modern English Society: 1780–1880 (1969) online at Questia; also online free\n    • Thompson, F. M. L. Rise of Respectable Society: A Social History of Victorian Britain, 1830–1900 (1988) Strong on family, marriage, childhood, houses, and play.\n    • Trevelyan, G. M. British History in the Nineteenth Century and After (1782–1901) (1922). online very well written scholarly survey\n    • Walpole, Spencer. A History of England from the Conclusion of the Great War in 1815 (6 vol. 1878–86), very well written political narrative to 1855; online\n    • Weiler, Peter. The New Liberalism: Liberal Social Theory in Great Britain, 1889–1914 (Routledge, 2016).\n    • Woodward, E. L. The Age of Reform: 1815–1870 (1954) comprehensive survey online\n\n\n    • Burton, Antoinette. \"Victorian History: Some Experiments with Syllabi.\" Victorian Studies 54.2 (2012): 305–311.\n    • Kent, Christopher. \"Victorian social history: post-Thompson, post-Foucault, postmodern.\" Victorian Studies (1996): 97–133. [in JSTOR]\n    • Sandiford, Keith AP. \"The Victorians at play: Problems in historiographical methodology.\" Journal of Social History (1981): 271–288. in JSTOR\n\n    Primary sources\n\n\n    External links", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6526700258255005}
+{"content": "Complex Litigation\n\nWhen Experts 'Cherry-Pick' Among Competing Studies\n\nBy Michael Hoenig - New York Law Journal - May 9, 2016\n\n\nIn 2009, the district court excluded Milward's general causation expert but that ruling was reversed on appeal,2 so the focus in the trial court on remand shifted to Rust-Oleum's challenge regarding Milward's specific causation expert, Dr. Sheila Butler, an occupational medicine physician. As many readers of this column know, in a toxic tort case the plaintiff must establish, through expert testimony, both general and specific causation. In this case, therefore, that meant a sufficiently reliable showing that exposure to benzene can cause APL (general causation) and that, in fact, benzene exposure was a substantial factor in the development of Milward's APL (specific causation). The instant appellate ruling involved the district court's rejection of Butler's specific causation opinions.\n\nThis column has frequently reported on federal and state \"gatekeeping\" decisions in which courts have determined whether expert opinions were \"reliable\" enough to pass Daubert3 or Frye4 admissibility criteria. Less than two months ago, my March column, \"Experts Flunk Reliability Test in BMW Case,\"5 reported on the New York Court of Appeals' decision in a toxic tort case claiming damages to a child from in utero exposure to unleaded gasoline vapor allegedly caused by an automobile's defective gas hose. The endnotes in that column listed many prior articles on expert \"gatekeeping\" issues. So, why should this column focus afresh and so soon on the expert reliability/causation calculus?\n\n\nDoes \"cherry-picking\" favorable articles sufficiently create a jury question, leaving the adverse literature to be explored on cross-examination or introduced during the adversary's case? Or does the problem of conflicting literature go to the heart of the threshold \"reliability\" question inherent in Daubert admissibility criteria? And, what should a court do when the expert is, let's say, \" too selective\"? These are some of the tensions reflected in the Milward decision.\n\nThe majority and dissenting opinions are relatively brief, well-written and quite readable, despite the technical subject matter. The pivotal shortcomings in the expert's methodology (as elaborated by the majority) offer litigators valuable lessons in challenging or defending expert opinions, lessons that apply to experts' battles even outside the arena of toxic torts.\n\nThe vulnerabilities identified in Milward also inform readers on questions relevant to retention of suitable experts, preparing them for the \"reliability\" fray sure to come and structuring advocacy on such issues. The dissenting opinion presents a differing point of view which, too, needs to be understood. Therefore, let us take a closer look at this new Milward decision.\n\nAs noted above, plaintiff's theory was that benzene exposure caused his APL disease. His specific causation expert, Dr. Butler, was an employee of the Veterans Administration, specializing in clinical assessments of environmental and occupational exposure in combat-exposed veterans. The dissenting judge, particularly, was impressed by her qualifications. \"She has quite the CV,\" he said, and proceeded to enthusiastically elaborate her qualifications.6 But Butler's qualifications were not the issue. Were her theories \"reliable\" under Federal Evidence Rule 702 and Daubert's admissibility criteria? That was the focus by the appellate panel majority. Remember, the issue was specific causation, i.e., did the exposure to benzene cause this disease to this person?\n\nExpert's Theories\n\nButler presented three theories. First, she testified that, although benzene is naturally occurring, \"there is no safe level of benzene exposure.\" This was her predominant theory, and \"she consistently reiterated her hypothesis,\" said the court.7 She emphasized that she reached this conclusion by examining \"the biology, the pathophysiology, what the substance does to the person and the disease process.\" She was able to do so without relying on any of the relevant epidemiological studies.\n\n\nButler offered a second \"rather cursorily concluded\" position, as described by the court, beyond the no-safe level hypothesis. She contended that an individual's \"relative risk\" of developing APL increases when exposed to specified amounts of benzene. She then compared Milward's exposure levels to those that had been found to be dangerous in studies reporting that research. Since Milward's exposure levels (as calculated by plaintiff's industrial hygienist expert) were higher than those found to be dangerous in selected literature, Butler reasoned that benzene exposure was the likely cause of plaintiff's APL.\n\nHowever, Butler did not explain why she chose the studies on which she relied, nor did she address any study with contrary findings. During her deposition she was asked, \"Are you aware of any studies which find there is no relationship between benzene exposure and APL?\" She responded, \"Yes…the literature has support for both.\" Then counsel asked, \"Do you intend in this case to weigh the different epidemiological studies and offer an opinion as to which ones we should rely on and which ones we should discount?\" Butler replied, \"No.\"9\n\nFinally, Butler engaged in a \"differential diagnosis\" to conclude that benzene exposure likely caused Milward's APL. This method is essentially a process of elimination. Thus, she \"ruled out\" some of the more common factors associated with APL, among them obesity and smoking. She then determined that, since benzene exposure was a potential cause, she could also \"rule out\" an idiopathic diagnosis, that is, a diagnosis without a known cause. Thus, since benzene exposure was the \"only significant potential cause remaining,\" Butler concluded that it likely was the culprit.10\n\nThe district court rejected each theory. On appeal, plaintiff did not rely on the \"no-safe level\" hypothesis (Butler's first and predominant theory). Instead, Milward pressed on appeal the second conclusion based on \"relative risk\" and Butler's third theory, \"differential diagnosis.\" The appellate court grappled with those. Butler's \"relative risk\" methodology was problematical because she expressly disavowed her intent to analyze conflicting epidemiological studies. Here, a number of studies showed a \"correlation between APL and benzene exposure at a specific level, while other studies do not show that correlation.\"\n\n\nIn order to establish specific causation by the relative risk method, Butler was required to choose a study, or studies, \"to serve as a baseline\" to which she could then compare Milward's case. But while one study showed a correlation at exposure levels lower than Milward had experienced, another study exhibited no such correlation even at exposure levels higher than the plaintiff's. Thus, the latter study yielded \"a vastly different comparison.\"11\n\nGiven that Butler had \"anchored her testimony to her no-safe threshold hypothesis,\" a theory that did not turn on the validity of any of the epidemiological studies, it was consistent for her to state that she had neither the need nor intent to compare the competing literature. When an expert's medical opinion is grounded exclusively on scientific literature, the \"gatekeeper\" trial court has discretion \"to require the expert to explain why she relied on the studies that she did and, similarly, why she disregarded other, incompatible research,\" noted the court.12\n\nWhen an expert engages in a relative risk analysis, in the manner Butler did here, the district court \"is on firm ground in requiring such an explanation, since the validity of the approach depends on the reliability of the studies chosen.\" If the expert is comparing the plaintiff's condition to a study, and the study is based on an unreliable methodology, then \"the comparison itself is futile.\" Here, the relevant studies were not only in tension with one another, \"but expressly cast each other into doubt.\" Butler's \"complete unwillingness\" to engage with the conflicting studies (whether she was able to or not) made it \"impossible\" for the district court \"to ensure that her opinion was actually based on scientifically reliable evidence and, correspondingly, that it comported with Rule 702.\"13\n\nThe \"differential diagnosis\" opinion likewise had shortcomings. Butler had \"ruled out\" obesity and smoking as causes of Milward's APL. But the district judge was concerned about the utility of Butler's approach \"given the high percentage of APL cases that are idiopathic\"—according to the record, roughly 70-80 percent of all APL diagnoses. The district judge also concluded that Butler's reasoning was \"circular.\" She \"ruled out\" an idiopathic APL by \"ruling in\" benzene as a cause, but she failed to provide a scientifically reliable method of \"ruling in\" benzene in the first instance. When \"differential diagnosis\" is used, it must be shown that the steps taken as part of that analysis—the \"ruling out\" and the \"ruling in\" of causes—were accomplished utilizing scientifically valid methods.14\n\nSince Butler was only able to rule out an idiopathic APL because she had \"ruled in\" benzene as a cause, the validity of her differential diagnosis \"turns on the reliability of that latter conclusion.\" The reliability of that decision was \"particularly critical here given the extensive number of APL cases that are idiopathic.\" Indeed, Butler seems to have \"ruled in\" benzene exposure solely by relying on her other two theories.\n\nBut the district court found both of those to be unreliable, and the appellate majority did not disagree. Thus, plaintiff had failed to show how Butler could have reliably utilized either method to \"rule in\" benzene exposure. The expert needed some other method to \"rule out\" an idiopathic diagnosis. She did not provide one. As such, the district court acted within its discretion in excluding the opinions, and the summary judgment in favor of Rust-Oleum was correctly granted.15\n\n\n\nOn another level, Milward teaches that experts' cherry-picking among competing epidemiological or scientific studies is likely to be exposed by attentive, opposing counsel. Therefore, an expert's decision to rely on one study but reject a contradictory study requires reliable, non-speculative reasoning. An expert's choice based on personal preference, belief, assumptions or hunches will not suffice.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n6. Milward, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 7470, at *18-*20 (dissenting opinion).\n\n7. Milward, LEXIS, at *4.\n\n8. Id. LEXIS, at *4. The plaintiff did not \"meaningfully challenge\" that ruling on appeal so the appellate court assumed it was correct and bypassed further discussion.\n\n9. Id. LEXIS at *5.\n\n10. Id. LEXIS at *5-*6.\n\n11. Id. LEXIS at *9-*11.\n\n12. Id. LEXIS at *11-*12.\n\n13. Id. LEXIS at *13-*14.\n\n14. Id. LEXIS at *15-*17.\n\n15. Id. LEXIS at *15-*18.\n\nPrinter Friendly Version\n\nBack to Archive\n\n©2004 -2014 Herzfeld & Rubin, P.C.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9756752848625183}
+{"content": "\n\nguitar tabs and chords\n\nThe best way to learn Дидюля songs on guitar. Play tab and chords directly in your browser without additional software read more...\n\nDidula is one of the musicians who is in great demand on the post-soviet territory where for some last years there were on the thousands of sell-out performances. DiDuLa is a composer and a sound-producer as well of his own music. He is a founder of a modern instrumental genre in exUSSR. DiDuLa found his own style of guitar playing different from any one, his own manner, his own choreography. The\n\nSort by ratinghitsdate", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9903713464736938}
+{"content": "“Elicit” and Our Role as Illusionists\n\nQuestion:  If someone asks you what “elicit” means, could you nail the definition?  Try it. How’d you do?\n\nConfession: I was an English Literature major in college. I tutored college-level math and fell in love with teaching because of math. But back then, words and expression and theater were my jam. And in many ways they still are.\n\nI was co-writing an article the other month about instructional routines that elicit student discourse in the math classroom. And at one point, the word-nerd in me paused to ponder, “What the does ‘elicit’ really mean? Is it an invitation? Is it a pulling or a pushing? What other words have the same root as elicit? Illicit? Were they opposites? Did they have related etymologies?”\n\nI figured it was worth exploring and down the rabbit-hole I went. Once again.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSome questions I’m asking: \n\nIs it too clunky? \nWhat grade levels will find this lesson useful? \nWhat concepts/standards does it best target? \nWhat opportunities did I miss? \nWhat extensions can be made?\n\n\nMy New Favorite Term: Abductive Reasoning\n\nWhat is Abductive Reasoning?\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHow do we invite 6th (and 7th) grade students to authentically engage with an equation in a way that invites students (1) to appreciate how the structure of an equation models a context and (2) to dive deeper in to the meaning of the relationships between variables?\n\n\nHere’s my thinking on one way to do that. I’d love to hear your thoughts so we can get better together.\n\nThe Objectives of Objectives, Part Three: Joy\n\n\n\nTwo Engaging Proportional Reasoning Tasks\n\nI hope that there are other 6th (and 7th) grade teachers out there that might find this analysis useful if they are looking for ways to increase student engagement, thinking, and discourse around percents, fractions, and proportional reasoning standards. This engaging learning opportunity can be used at the beginning of a unit as an inquiry-based exploration and pre-assessment. It can also be used as a way of assessing student learning in the middle or the end of a unit. It’s a low-floor opportunity that allows for students at all levels to participate. It also allows for rich discussion and sense-making because solutions can be reached via multiple strategies.\n\nA Bright Idea for 2nd Grade Addition Strategies\n\nIt’s my hope that there are other elementary teachers out there that might find this analysis useful if they want to use this compelling and fun lesson by Graham Fletcher in their classrooms to engage their students in exploring addition strategies with regrouping (2.NBT.5, 2.NBT.6, 2.NBT.9). This engaging lesson is very open in the middle. Students have a wide variety of addition strategies they can use including concrete models (base-10 blocks, place value discs, etc) and abstract strategies (arrow method, decomposing, bar method, etc).\n\nKnotty Rope 3-Act: Introducing Division in 3rd Grade\n\nThis lesson write-up is for teachers who want to engage their students in exploring division reasoning and problem solving strategies (3.OA.2, 3.OA.3 and 3.OA.7). It’s appropriate to use before and/or after students have explored division and allows for many different conceptual approaches to a solution including using repeated subtraction or repeated addition, equal groups with or without manipulatives, number lines, arrays, bar models, and multiplication or division equations to model a real world problem.\n\nThis write-up contains a lesson pathway with specific questions/moves to consider, analysis of the opportunities for student learning, and other wisdoms and insights we learned from teaching this lesson as a part of a lesson inquiry.\n\nGive it a try with your own students. And then tell me how it went. Let’s make it better together.\n\nArray-Bow of Skittles and Multiplication Strategies\n\nThis lesson write-up is for teaching a two-digit by two-digit multiplication 3-Act Math lesson where students estimate the number of Skittles in a jar before using information and math to find a more accurate estimate. It uses Graham Fletcher’s Array-Bow lesson and while it addresses standard 4.NBT.5, it’s appropriate for 4th and 5th grade students of all levels. The write-up contains a lesson pathway with specific questions/moves to consider, analysis of the opportunities for student learning, and other wisdoms and insights we learned from teaching this lesson as a part of a lesson inquiry.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9883805513381958}
+{"content": "Home Page\n\n\nDuring Art lessons students are given the opportunity to express their creativity and improve their skills and techniques using a variety of different media.\n\nArt is very much a ‘hands on’ lesson and students are able to work with materials and techniques including painting, printing, collage, 3D construction and clay. Projects are adapted to suit the needs of the students; some groups may work on a project that focuses on sensory experiences using themes such as movement or colour. A different group, on the other hand, may be introduced to an artist’s work, explore their style, influence and subject matter and create work as a response to this.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9995372891426086}
+{"content": "The engine timing belt also called a toothed belt, The crankshaft and camshaft are connected by the above tooth groove. We know that the engine is in normal and stable work, the movement of the piston position, the valve open and close time, fuel injection and ignition time must be synchronized, and this is accomplished through the timing belt, you can use the Auto Diagnostic Tool to check the timing belt working performance.\n\nAutomotive timing belt function and check methods\n\nTiming belt belongs to the rubber parts, with the increase of engine working time, timing belt and timing belt accessories, such as timing belt tensioner and pumps will wear or aging. If can cause the vehicle broke down after fracture belt, the engine internal valve damage, serious can cause the abandonment of cylinder cover. Not only to spend more, but also a long time to repair. Therefore, we need to use the Launch Diagnostic Tool or Autel Diagnostic Tool regularly to check and maintain the timing belt.\n\nCheck automobile engine belt consists of two elements:\nFirst, check the belt tension, then you can use the thumb, strongly pressed the middle two belt pulleys. The pressing force of about 10kg, if the reduction of the belt is about 10mm, is considered proper belt tension exactly. If excessive pressure is considered insufficient belt tension. If the belt hardly occurs reduction is considered excessive belt tension. When the lack of tension, the belt is prone to slipping. The tension is too large, it is easy to damage various auxiliary bearings. For this reason, it should be related to the adjusting nut or bolt loosen the belt tension adjustment to the best state.\n\nAutomotive timing belt function and check methods\n\nIn addition, it must be noted that the wear of the belt. Old belt badly worn, the belt and pulley contact area dropped. Then as long as the force of a press belt, the belt will sink deep into the pulley groove. If the belt rubber is aging, must promptly replace the new belt.\n\nXtool PS2 or Autoboss V30 SPX tool inspection data show that cars generally every 80,000 km replace the timing belt; five-valve cars are generally replaced every 60,000 kilometers per timing belt. It should be noted when replacing the timing belt, appendages such as tension pulley, water pump should be replaced together.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9260925650596619}
+{"content": "In Memory\n\nBeverly Miller (Garrison)\n\nBeverly Ann Garrison\nJanuary 26, 1942 - June 28, 2016\n\nBeverly Ann Miller Garrison settled in Texas after leaving Newton. She built her career working in the executive branch of Intermedics in Angleton (one of the first companies to manufacture pacemakers). She grew her small family and had a multitude of friends and neighbors who became her extended family. While living many years in the small town of Freeport, her church folks became family to her. She and her friend Nan took over the fundraising, served on the church governing board and performed business tasks with determination and commitment. She also organized and cooked for fundraisers and events. When she moved closer to her son and family in Georgetown, she had no trouble quickly integrating into her new community as her friendliness, good nature, culinary interests and generosity flowed about naturally. \n\nHer long-distance (but closely connected) friends all benefited from her culinary expertise, as she always graciously served up wonderful cuisine to her visitors upon their stays. Some visitors came often - especially friends whom she had known from her elementary and high school years. And, when those school friends didn’t come visit her, she was traveling to visit them - almost annually.\n\nBev had a unique gift that emerged whenever her friends needed support. If a friend, spouse or parent of a friend became ill, she often arrived on scene and stayed with her friend or friend’s relation no matter how long it took to bring comfort. Whenever one of her many friends faced difficulties in their lives, she was not only one of the first to call and offer condolences, empathy and prayers, but then, she often showed up!  After\narriving on scene, she was ready to go to work, doing whatever was needed for how ever long it took, be it days or weeks.\n\nUntil her last day on earth, instead of having “pity parties,” Bev faced challenges head on and chose to be happy and grateful. She decked out in colorful frocks and always brought along her infectious laughter. She often brought her friends gifts from her extensive travels throughout the world. She knew just what was perfect for each one.  \n\nBeverly was truly one of a kind, and managed artfully to just be herself.  She was always loads of fun and full of compassion - the definition of a true lifetime friend. Those who knew her from school years, professional years and through her last moments on earth, are thankful for her presence. In our hearts we will forever love her, appreciate her, and admire her in so many tangible and intangible ways!  \n\nBeverly passed away peacefully on June 28, 2016. She was preceded in death by her father, Harold Miller, her mother, Teresa Miller, her brother, Al Miller, and her husband, Bonner Garrison. She is survived by her son Dr. Chris Garrison, wife Jennifer and grandchildren Bonner and Emma. She now rests at Restwood Cemetery, Lake Jackson, Texas.\n\nDear Friend Beverly, all our love till we meet again.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6124238967895508}
+{"content": "Nadine Redlich\n\nNadine Redlich is a cartoonist from Germany. Following her tension easing books »Ambient Comics« and »Ambient Comics II«, her stress opus »Paniktotem« was published last autumn. Her client list includes DIE ZEIT, The New York Times, Samsung, Google and Frieze magazine.\n\nWhat people say\n\n\nLisa Dawson\n\n\nJosh N\n\n\nGiuditta G\n\n\nJustin S", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999241828918457}
+{"content": "Professional swahili Language Translation Company\n\n\n\nLanguage name written as\n\n\nCountry of Origin\n\n\nCountry Flag\n\n\n\nLatin script (Roman Swahili alphabet), Arabic script (Arabic Swahili alphabet) Swahili Braille\n\nInternational language Code\n\n\nFont Look\n\nUsimamizi – Biashara ya wanawake wote.\n\nUzoefu – Ya kuvutia miaka 19 katika Vyombo vya Habari, miaka 8 katika Biashara ya Kimataifa na miaka 10 katika biashara tafsiri.\n\nRasilimali – Kitafsiri cha Msingi 12000 na wataalam unukuzi 2000.\n\nNative speakers\n\n15 million (2012) to 25 million (2007) 150 million speakers in total\n\nWikipedia Link\n\n\nKiswahili or Swahili is the first language of Swahili people and is used as lingua franca in most of the Southeast Africa. The language can be traced back many centuries back when Arabian traders came into contact with people living in east coast of Africa. Swahili was originally written using the Arabic script. Now, it is being written in Latin alphabet which was actually introduced by Christian missionaries and administrators of the colonial rule. Traditionally, Swahili was the language of the coastal regions of Tanzania and Kenya. The earliest known document was traced back in 1711 A.D.  which was written in Arabic script. Today, it is written using Latin script.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9996980428695679}
+{"content": "Why Pharmacist-Physician Collaborations Are Key to Quality Care: A Q&A with Shelly Spiro\n\nJuly 11, 2017\n\nSurescripts 2016 National Progress Report showed that more health data is being exchanged today than ever before, making quality and accuracy even more critical. One important element of data quality is industry collaboration, particularly between pharmacists and physicians.\n\nThe pharmacist’s role is evolving. Access to timely and accurate data via a seamless workflow allows them to take their rightful place on the care team, providing patient guidance instead of merely dispensing medications. This expanded care delivery role is due in large part to real-time data-sharing with physicians.\n\nShelly Spiro is Executive Director of the Pharmacy HIT Collaborative. The two primary focuses of the Pharmacy HIT Collaborative are 1.) “Effective Medication Use: To assure the meaningful use of standardized electronic health records (EHR) that supports safe, efficient, and effective medication use, continuity of care, and provide access to the patient-care services of pharmacists with other members of the interdisciplinary patient care team.” and 2.) “Pharmacist's Role in HIT: To assure the pharmacist’s role of providing patient-care services are integrated into the National HIT interoperable framework.”\n\nShelly recently shared her perspective on how improved information exchange between pharmacies and physicians promotes better care, patient safety and patient-physician relationships.\n\nSurescripts: Why is two-way information exchange between physicians and pharmacists so important?\n\nSpiro: Improving two-way information exchange between pharmacists and physicians gives the entire care team better medication information, which can improve patient outcomes. Better outcomes and improved patient safety were the primary drivers of e-prescribing adoption over a decade ago. This wasn’t because of regulations. It was a business need and a patient safety requirement—the quality improvement of having the right information at the right time.\n\nBetter communication means pharmacists have greater flexibility to improve medication management. Improved information exchange means patient safety can be the priority.\n\nSurescripts: How can tools like CancelRx and RxChange improve the e-prescribing workflow? How do patients benefit?\n\nSpiro: CancelRx means pharmacies receive prescription updates in real time, which helps ensure that patients get a better understanding of which medications they should take. This helps decrease medication errors and reduces the back-and-forth phone calls between prescribers and pharmacies.\n\nRxChange makes it possible for pharmacists to message a prescriber directly with any prescription changes, including formulary changes, order clarification or drug interactions. This improves the e-prescribing workflow by reducing the time pharmacists and prescribers spend getting these updates via phone or fax. Each time a pharmacist or staff member has to go outside of their workflow to talk on the phone or send a fax, it’s an inefficiency that takes away from patient care. Patients also benefit, because a seamless, reliable electronic workflow reduces errors and ensures their medications are ready to pick up at the pharmacy.\n\nSurescripts: How do these improvements impact prescription quality?\n\nSpiro: When a two-way data exchange occurs, prescription quality improves and costs and medication errors decrease. The more we can monitor and correct errors in the data, such as a lack of clarity or incorrect information in an e-prescription’s instruction or direction field, the more we improve the quality of information exchanged. Bringing this visibility to pharmacists is powerful because it improves care and workflow efficiency.\n\nVisit Surescripts 2016 National Progress Report to learn more about how timely, quality data helps prescribers, pharmacists and patients. And for more from Shelly Spiro on how e-prescribing, standards and information exchange are changing how healthcare is delivered, watch the video.\n\nRelated Articles\n\nDecember 19, 2018\n\nPrescription Accuracy and Big Data Have the Power to Transform Patients’ Lives. Rachel Petersen Loves That\n\nAs a product manager with the Critical Performance Improvement (CPI) team, which is charged with addressing the quality of the prescriptions that cross the Surescripts network, Rachel Petersen oversees Sentinel™, a data analysis engine that monitors the accuracy of e-prescriptions and pinpoints areas for improvement. Rachel’s portfolio also allows her to work with the latest technologies and explore artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. “Those are all things that are really popular and hot right now, so it's fun to be able to talk about them in an actual professional use case, rather than just reading about them in Popular Science.”\n\nOctober 29, 2018\n\nWho Wins When Leaders Commit to Prescription Accuracy? Patients. That’s Something to Celebrate\n\nAllscripts, along with iSalus Healthcare, was recognized in the Trailblazer award category.  iSalus Healthcare also won in the Highest Accuracy category as did NextGen Healthcare, while Virence Health and MEDENT won for Most Improved Accuracy. Next year’s White Coat Award will recognize progress made by pharmacies and health systems in addition to EHRs. Read more...\nOctober 08, 2018\n\nPharmacists Want to Play a Bigger Part in Patient Care Yet Are Hamstrung by Poor Access to Patient Data\n\nPharmacists don’t just fill prescriptions. They’re a vital part of a patient’s care team. Even so, less than a third of pharmacists say they are satisfied with their ability to access the information they need to manage a patient’s pharmacotherapy. Read more...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7019475698471069}
+{"content": "Posts Tagged ‘Pakistan’\n\nThe Warfare State\n\nMarch 6, 2019\n\nBy Anjum Altaf\n\nPakistan should be a welfare state. With millions of people straddling the poverty line, there is no other way forward. Those who believe the market will offer a solution are driven by ideology, blind fundamentalists in the same category as religious fundamentalists.\n\nOnly the state can cater for such destitution and the fact that a state has no interest or ability to do so does not mean that the task should be turned over to the market. The plain truth is that the market cares nothing for those without the ability to pay and there are many more in that category than should be acceptable. Not just that, without a strong state the market doesn’t trickle wealth down it siphons it up. The only viable alternative is to force the state to deliver on its responsibility and in the long run the only peaceful weapon citizens have to achieve that is the power of their votes. Let not this power be exhausted by either subverting it or ignoring its claims. The demand for bread can be fobbed off only so long with the promise of cakes.\n\nWe should pay heed to the fact that instead of moving towards a welfare state we are consciously turning into even more of a warfare state than we already happen to be. It is in this context that one should consider the most astounding decision of the cabinet delivered without any sense of irony by the Minister for Information at the time of the recent mini-budget: “The country’s defence budget is already low as compared to other states in the region, and therefore it should be increased.”\n\nHello, Mr. Minister. The country’s budget for everything else — health, education, public transport, environmental sanitation, you name it — is also already low as compared to other states in the region. So why just the privileging of defence? On the contrary, the budget for everything else is being reduced even further to make up for the increase.\n\nThe deficit is intended to be made up “through the generation of more revenue” but given that no elite has ever taxed itself voluntarily except under extreme duress, this burden of taxation is also likely to fall on the middle and lower classes through dubious withholding taxes on cell phones and the like.\n\nIn actual fact the deficit is being made up by scrounging around for a billion here and a billion there on terms that cannot be disclosed to citizens and by printing money like there is no tomorrow. All that the printed money is causing is inflation that is eroding the purchasing power of the helpless even further. I am sure the poor are ready to sacrifice for the nation but what does the interest of the nation entail? Is it always more guns at the cost of butter? And will the sacrifice ever be equitably shared or will one category continue to be evicted from tiny plots where they have lived for decades while others are allotted plots on which pets live better than the humans who feed them?\n\nWhere is the sense of irony in all this? Recall the out-of-the-box policy of some wizard in the Economic Advisory Committee who advocated a ban on imported cheese with the justification: “Does a country that has no foreign exchange afford to eat cheese?”\n\nHello, again, Mr. Jack-in-the-Box. Granted a country that has no foreign exchange ought not to eat imported cheese but can its leaders still afford to fly around in helicopters and ride in SUVs? Why doesn’t the cabinet set an example by getting to work on camels and setting up offices in tents instead of sprawling complexes with perpetual air-conditioning? And while they are demonstrating how people — all people — ought to be living in a country with no foreign  exchange, why don’t they turn off the hot water as well since that has now been declared a luxury in the New Pakistan?\n\nHave we learned nothing from history? The Soviet Union collapsed ballooning its defence budget while making people wait in endless queues for the necessities of life. Countries that neglect the minimum welfare of their citizens and fight endless futile wars get hollowed out from within and ultimately implode. This insight was obvious even to a President like Reagan who was otherwise not a very bright man. All the US had to do was to engage the Soviet Union in an endless arms race and the latter ran out of space.\n\nModi is a much sharper politician and he is following the exact same strategy with Pakistan — no negotiations till the room for maneuver disappears. And we are blithely helping him along. When two countries are developing at radically different rates, every day that passes weakens the negotiating position of the laggard till the only recourse left is capitulation or the madness of mutual destruction.\n\nVerily it is said that those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad. And when they wish to destroy completely, they make them madder still.\n\nThis opinion was published in Dawn on March 3, 2019 and is reproduced here with  permission. Anjum Altaf is the author of Transgressions: Poems Inspired by Faiz Ahmed Faiz published recently by Aakar Books, Delhi.\n\nBack to Main Page\n\n\nMiseducating Pakistan\n\nDecember 14, 2018\n\nBy Anjum Altaf\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBack to Main Page\n\nChickens: A Debate\n\nDecember 9, 2018\n\n[Editor’s Note: Imran Khan’s suggestion to alleviate rural poverty by giving chickens to women was greeted with much ridicule but is there the germ of an idea there that public policy wanks can shape into a viable scheme? On the contrary, is there a convincing enough critique that can show how and why the idea might be infeasible.\n\nMyrah Nerine Butt took the first step in a blog published in Dawn on December 5, 2018 and I requested Faizaan Qayyum to comment on her article. Myrah and Faizaan were Teaching Assistants for a course (ECON 100: Principles of Economics) I taught at LUMS in 2013 and it is gratifying to see them both emerge as articulate public policy practitioners.  Myrah completed a MA in Poverty and Development from the University of Sussex and Faizaan a MA in Urban Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he is currently pursuing a PhD. After a few email exchanges we decided we would all benefit from making this debate public and provide others a forum for reasoned discourse.\n\nTowards that end, Myrah’s article is reproduced below followed by the discussion to date. We invite others to join and enrich the debate in order to make a contribution to how the issue of poverty can be addressed in Pakistan.]\n\nWhy PM Khan’s chicken and eggs solution has been mocked for all the wrong reasons\n\nBy Myrah Nerine Butt\n\nAt a ceremony to mark the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government’s 100 days in office, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that his government would provide chickens to underprivileged women in order to lift them out of poverty.\n\nWhile a number of political stakeholders have ridiculed his statement, there is a lot of research on how and why this intervention can work. The people who are mocking the initiative are actually far removed from the context and lived experiences of rural women.\n\nTo understand the magnitude of the problem of poverty — 7.7 million households are living below the cut-off score of poverty developed by the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).\n\nThe fate of a lot of lives rests upon the policies developed by the government and trivialising such programmes can be incredibly detrimental to positive change.\n\nTo place the chickens within the policy context of Pakistan, I will compare the chicken intervention to one of the most successful poverty alleviation programmes in recent times, the BISP — an unconditional cash transfer programme.\n\nAny woman who falls below a multidimensional poverty line is eligible for a cash handout. This intervention has been seen as a useful tool in alleviating poverty in Pakistan. As per the Food Energy Intake poverty line, BISP reduced the poverty rate by seven percentage points.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOn the note of fungibility, a chicken would also limit spending decisions of the household by virtue of being less liquid. Money can be spent on various activities, both good and bad, like responding to health shocks or gambling.\n\nA chicken is a tied investment or forced saving, nudging people away from certain kinds of spending.\n\n\n\n\n\nRural households cannot tap into these massive economies of scale.\n\n\n\n\nA possible pitfall of the chicken intervention could be the crystallisation of the role of women in the households.\n\nA conditional cash transfer programme in Mexico handed out the cash to women if certain conditions were met, one of which was that the children of the household must regularly go to nutrition monitoring clinics.\n\nThe idea was to spur a household-level behavioural change.\n\nHowever, because the money was handed out to women, they were responsible for meeting the requirements enforced by the state and thus the women had to take the children to the clinics, rather than the men.\n\nThis crystallised their role as caregivers and increased their burden of work.\n\nSimilarly in this case, women might be limited to the role of raising chickens and could be actively discouraged from other activities, like seeking higher education or formal employment.\n\nIt may also contribute towards increasing hidden child labour. Unintended consequences are always a possibility that should be considered when designing an intervention.\n\nEnsuring an intervention that works\n\nThe chicken intervention cannot be rolled out in a vacuum — there would be a need to set up supporting infrastructure as well. Ancillary facilities like veterinarian services and training support need to be setup.\n\nAdditionally, serious work needs to be done to provide the women access to markets and strengthening market linkages.\n\nThere also need to be steps to organise women to work collectively in order to gain from some of the economies of scale and connect to markets.\n\nPoverty alleviation interventions should be incremental and build on lessons learnt from previous interventions. The poverty scorecard developed by the BISP is a huge step in terms of understanding the dimensions of poverty.\n\nThe BISP has been able to develop an extensive database of poor households. The scorecard collects information on the various characteristics of the household as well as its assets.\n\nIt enables the programme to identify eligible households through the application of a proxy means test, which determines the welfare status of the household on a scale of zero to 100.\n\nThis can be very useful for targeting poor households in this programme too.\n\nAdditionally, the BISP has been tested and retested, its impact measured at each step. An intervention of such nature would require similar level of rigour in its design and implementation.\n\nBill Gates and the chickens\n\nThe global world is obsessed with finding a magic bullet to eliminate poverty. There is a reason why big donor organisations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation love such interventions.\n\nThey demonstrate quick results and are easy to measure. The global push towards “value for money” pushes policymakers to consider such interventions.\n\nI would add a note of caution here. Poverty is deprivation on multiple fronts, not just income.\n\nAspects of time use, productive resources, health, education, rights and availability of services are equally important. Income is used as a crude indicator for all these other aspects.\n\nBecause of the multidimensional nature of poverty, it cannot be alleviated with one-time interventions. The causes of poverty are structural and run deep within societies.\n\nRather than viewing poverty as material deprivation, we need to understand it as a product of inequality and prevalent power relations. We need to analyse the process of design and implementation critically while being realistic about the impact.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLet’s try giving the chickens a chance.\n\nBack to Main Page\n\nAli Baba and Robin Hood\n\nNovember 21, 2018\n\nBy Anjum Altaf\n\nDaniel Kahneman (2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics) has a lovely book called Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011) in which he distinguishes between the two modes of thought. Fast thinking is instinctive and emotional and subject to many cognitive biases; slow thinking is deliberative and logical and much to be recommended when stakes are high and situations are unfamiliar.\n\nIn Pakistan, we have succumbed over time to fast thinking and the graver the situation the more instinctive and emotional the thought process tends to become.\n\nIt’s time to take a deep breath.\n\nLook at the current situation which offers a surreal scenario of a major country reduced to a farcical contest between Ali Baba and his forty thieves on one side and Robin Hood and his merry men on the other. Ali Baba’s gang purportedly looted the people and got phenomenally rich under the protection of earlier kings while Robin Hood and his gang are vowing to get it all back to the poor with the support of the reigning monarchs.\n\nThose with the luxury to enjoy the spectacle can let their imaginations roam and fill in the secondary characters of King Richard, Maid Marian and the Sheriff of Nottingham but the poor who have been looted and to whom the loot is to be putatively returned are paying a very heavy price for the fast thinking.\n\nThis fast thinking incorporates a number of biases. The Ali Baba-Robin Hood frame assumes that there is a fixed pot of money in the economy that has to be in one set of hands or the other; that nothing can be done till this money is recovered; that all those on one side are thieves while all those on the other are saints; and that the end of corruption is the precondition for development.\n\nAll these assumptions are flawed as even a cursory look at any real world economy would reveal. There is no country in which corruption has been completely uprooted and there are vibrant neighboring economies in which the size of scams is much bigger than those in Pakistan. Corruption exists in developed countries like Japan and Korea where prime ministers have gone to prison, as well as in China, India, and Bangladesh. Nowhere has life been put on hold till the end of corruption. China and India have been growing at unprecedented rates for extended periods and even the Bangladeshi economy is growing faster than Pakistan’s despite being rated more corrupt than the latter.\n\nThere is no argument that corruption is a problem to be addressed but it is also an ironic fact that its extent is often a good indicator of the size of the economy. Fast-thinking attempts to go after corruption can often strangle the economy or, like similar perennial attempts to purge prostitution, spread it even further into the interstices of society. Slow thinking would force one to balance the difficult choice between a fast growing economy with some corruption and a land of the pure that is mired in equitably shared poverty.  \n\nIt is also silly to posit that saints and sinners are distributed non-randomly in the world. Here we do not even have to look beyond our borders. How can it be when so many of Robin Hood’s merry men were earlier members of Ali Baba’s set of heartless thieves? And what does one make of the fact that our Ali Babas and Robin Hoods share the same set of ever-ready advisers, a phenomenon that would have been quite alien in Sherwood Forest.\n\nSlower thinking would help absorb the reality that the primary task of any government dedicated to the welfare of the poor is to make the economy grow, even at the cost of some corruption, and to understand the concept of sunk costs and let bygones be bygones as the price of moving ahead. The biggest impediment to that realization is the obsession with purity, proving oneself holier than thou and chasing the mirage of hidden wealth and looted plunder. This instinctual urge to move money from one pocket to another, a corollary of fast thinking, is consuming precious time that should go into formulating policies to move the economy forward.\n\nA deliberative stocktaking is also part of slower thinking. China and India both commenced their historic trajectories of rapid growth, in 1979 and 1991 respectively, following major innovations in their policy regimes. Neither owes its economic success and poverty alleviation to ending corruption, recovering looted wealth, or indiscriminate harrassing of non-filers of income tax in countries where vast majorities do not even earn enough to be liable for taxation.\n\nAll these are lessons that are there for the learning, preferably sooner than later, but it would be much more ominous if the fast thinking on display masks a lost ability to think slow in policy terms. If that turns out to be the case, the merry men would push the country over into a certain catastrophe.    \n\nThis opinion was published in Express-Tribune on November 16, 2018 and is reproduced here with the author’s permission.\n\nBack to Main Page\n\nHanif Kureishi, Naipaul and Pakistan\n\nOctober 22, 2018\n\nBy Anjum Altaf\n\nAlmost everyone with more than a passing acquaintance of Naipaul has written about their interaction with him, deservedly so, since Naipaul was, without doubt, a great writer. The accounts range from the banal to the truly insightful. Among those of particular interest to Pakistanis, the one by Hanif Kureishi, himself a writer of repute, stands out for two reasons.\n\nFirst, it is one of the few that doesn’t display a knee-jerk reaction to Naipaul’s non-fiction, in particular his observations about Islamic countries. And second, because of Hanif Kureishi’s oblique relationship with Pakistan, the reflection has dispassionate things to say about the country as refracted through Naipaul’s lens.\n\nHanif’s connection to Pakistan, for those who know, is through his father’s brother, the iconic Omar Kureishi — legendary cricket commentator, popular manager of the test team, the person with whom PIA became the airline to fly with, an incisive social critic, and a classmate and friend of Zulfikar Bhutto to boot.\n\nThis long list of Omar Kureishi’s attributes is testimony to his deep love, devotion, and commitment to Pakistan. And yet, notwithstanding that loyalty, he was a fair-minded observer and analyst, a combination of qualities that has virtually ceased to exist in today’s Pakistan. Hanif has this telling quote from his uncle’s autobiography Home to Pakistan published in 2003: ‘There is an appearance of a government and there is the reality of where real power lies. I had serious doubts that we would become an open society and that democracy would take root.’\n\nNaipaul, Hanif notes, in his travels in the late 1970s around Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran, and Pakistan, had sensed such contradictions early. While the celebrated Foucault was meeting Ruhollah Khomeini and traveling to Tehran defending the imams in the name of a ‘spiritual revolution’ that would create a new society, Naipaul was much more sanguine, seeing very little spirituality in the ‘power grab by the ayatollahs.’  \n\nNaipaul concluded that ‘fundamentalism offered nothing.’ In Pakistan, Naipaul met Hanif’s cousin, Nusrat Nasarullah, who told him: ‘We have to create an Islamic society. We cannot develop in the Western way. Development will come to us only with an Islamic society. It is what they tell us.’ Naipaul was unconvinced. He could see ahead that what began as an ‘indigenous form of resistance, cheered on by a few Parisian intellectuals,’ would soon became ‘a new, self-imposed slavery, a self-subjection with an added masochistic element – one manifestation of which became Osama bin Laden’s devotion to death.’\n\nNaipaul was not a prejudiced anti-Muslim else he would not have married a Muslim woman. His views on Islamic societies were decidedly unpalatable to most Muslims but they needed to be engaged with at the intellectual level not evaded by a show of moral outrage. Hanif writes that in 2010 Naipaul was invited to Turkey to address the European Writers’ Parliament. He was never invited again because he was alleged to have insulted Islam after saying that ‘to be converted you have to destroy your past, destroy your history.’ And look at Turkey now. Hanif offers a general summation of what Naipaul foresaw: ‘Legitimate anger turned bad; the desire for obedience and strong men; a terror of others; the promise of power, independence and sovereignty; the persecution of minorities and women; the return to an imagined purity. Who would have thought this idea would have spread so far, and continue to spread?’\n\nHanif Kureishi visited Pakistan for the first time in the early 1980s. Even at that time he observed that ‘Pakistan was impossible for the young; everyone who could was sending their money out of the country, and, when possible, sending their children out after it, preferably to the hated but also loved United States or, failing that, to Canada.’ A cousin wrote to him: ‘We want to leave this country but all doors are shut for us. Do not know how to get out of here.’\n\nHanif Kureishi’s observations merged with those of Naipaul: ‘If the coloniser had always believed the subaltern to be incapable of independent thought or democracy, the new Muslims confirmed it with their submission. They had willingly brought a new tyrant into being, and He was terrible, worse than before.’\n\n‘One of the oddest things about my first stay in Karachi,’ Hanif recalls, ‘was endlessly hearing people tell me how they wished the British would return and run things again. There were many shortages in Pakistan, but that of good ideas was the worst.’\n\nForty years later, it still is.\n\nThis opinion was published in the Express-Tribune on October 19, 2018 and is reproduced here with the author’s permission.\n\nBack to Main Page\n\nThe Morning After\n\nSeptember 29, 2018\n\nBy Anjum Altaf\n\nIt is a fact that no one outside Pakistan considers the most recent electoral exercise to have been even-handed — some analysts have gone so far as calling it a ‘soft coup.’ This is no surprise. Most outsiders also insist that Pakistan sponsors terrorism. But while there are many Pakistanis who contest the latter, it is striking that the number believing in the fairness of the recent electoral exercise is relatively small. Even partisans benefiting from the outcome, while offering various justifications, do not really dispute the charge.\n\nIt seems that in nudging the choice, the power elite (the segment of the elite that has the ability to affect other people’s lives) may have overplayed its hand. Does this, and the intervention itself, come at a price? Recall that negating the electoral mandate of 1971 resulted in dismemberment of the country. What kind of price might we expect this time around?\n\nFirst, there is a clear loss of institutional credibility. While praetorian rule in the past was attributed to individuals — Ayub, Zia, Musharraf — the narrative this time is depersonalised and centred on the uniform — slogans are in the air that have never been heard before.\n\nSecond, there are still many Pakistanis who, while accepting the reality of nudging, justify it as being for the good because the previous dispensation was allegedly so corrupt and anti-national that giving it five more years would have spelled disaster for the country. This predicament arguably legitimized the use of any available means to replace the predecessors with an upright and patriotic team. If the expectations of this segment of the population are belied yet again, it could erode the legitimacy of the power elite, and its claim to represent the national interest, for good.\n\nThird, the probability that the above-mentioned expectations could be fulfilled is not high. Leave aside the fact that the new dispensation is peopled largely by the same individuals who were part of the erstwhile lot of the corrupt, and subscribe, for the sake of argument, to the comforting myth that an honest leader could keep them in check. There is nevertheless no escaping the reality that no leader, however upright personally, can defy the structural imperatives that define a system and circumscribe the room for maneuver.\n\nTo start with, there are structural imperatives that push from below in a society characterised by widespread poverty and the dependance of the many on the few for rights and entitlements. With a parliamentary system, and the majority of electoral constituencies having a dominant rural vote, such a configuration cannot but throw up the kinds of power brokers now characterized as ‘electables.’ The motivations of such representatives, who have dominated Pakistani politics throughout, are well known and they do not barter their loyalties for free. Let us assume, however, that a truly great leader can keep them in check.\n\nBut then there are structural imperatives from above. A leader beholden to the power elite cannot but acquiesce to its dictates which means that foreign and defence policies could remain out of bounds. At the same time, if the leader is not inclined to take on the theocracy, the internal dynamics are unlikely to change if not become more dangerous — consider the abject surrender on Atif Mian. Add to this the constraints that would accompany the recourse to the IMF that has already been signalled as inevitable and the fiscal vice would tighten some more.\n\nPakistani politicians are very much reduced to the status of the princes in pre-Independence India who were rulers only in name while power was exercised by the British — they can revel and indulge thier egos in their restricted domains while the real business is conducted elsewhere. It is not any fault of of the politicians, just a reflection of the reality on the ground. The princes, to their credit, left us a glorious cultural heritage of art, poetry and music that continues to enrich our lives and provide solace in trying times. Our politicians have focused on enriching themselves and adding concrete to our lives. Imran Khan may make different choices but he would nevertheless be operating at the margins turning opulent rest houses into hotels and colleges.        \n\nThis is ironic because the broad framework outlined by Imran Khan points in the right direction — the country can move ahead only if it prioritises the productive uplift of the bottom forty percent and invests heavily in its security and human capital. But will there be enough left to do that after satisfying the obligations of all the paymasters listed above — defence, debt repayments, conditionalities, luxury imports, political payoffs, and the inevitable leakages — that would leave the kitty bare and beyond the reach of minor austerities and absurdities like forbidding cheese and inviting donations to build dams?\n\nWhen Imran Khan recognises these constraints, as he inevitably will, and attempts to wriggle free of any of them, he will face the same reality as all those who have had the crown placed on their heads before him. And so one might expect the cycle to repeat and the status quo sustained. But there might well be an accompanying downward drift with the continued erosion of institutions and their loss of legitimacy. Already, we are in a surreal situation in which every organ of state is carrying out the functions intended for another. This is not a lasting arrangement and the lost time in which competing economies move further ahead could exert an enormous toll.\n\nPakistan has a very young population, poorly educated and trained, that is looking for employment to survive. What will happen when the dreams dissolve and its survival is at stake? I suppose one could tell them to go climb one of the trees that might be sprouting by that time. On the other hand, the descent into anarchy could accelerate, the power elite flee to its foreign abodes — Dubai, Jeddah, Paris, London — and the parties that have been mainstreamed as part of the electoral engineering step in to destroy the old and rotting system once and for all. This might well be a triumph that could bear the mark of a colossal tragedy in the making.\n\nAn edited version of this opinion was published in The News on September 27, 2018 and is reproduced here with the author’s permission.\n\nBack to Main Page\n\nLessons from History\n\nSeptember 3, 2018\n\nBy Anjum Altaf\n\n\nIvan Klima, a well-known Czech novelist, was transported to a concentration camp at the age of ten and was there for four years till the end of WWII in 1945. Many who accompanied him did not survive their internment.\n\nIn a deeply-felt memoir of that experience (“A Childhood in Terezin”), Klima recalls two lessons that stayed with him. First, that “Every society that is founded on dishonesty and tolerates crime as an aspect of normal behaviour, be it only among a handful of the elect, while depriving another group, no matter how small, of its honour and even its right to life, condemns itself to moral degeneration and, ultimately, to collapse.”\n\n\n\n\n\nKhisht-e awwal chun nahad miimar kaj\nTaa surayya mee rawad miinar kaj\n\nIf the first brick is laid crooked by the architect\nThe minaret will stay crooked even if it reaches the stars\n\n\n\nAnd here Klima’s second lesson, that there is no force of good, only two different evils battling for control of the pie, is sobering. Look at the names that have emerged in the key decision-making positions. It is virtually Musharraf redux. What expectations can one have from people who, when it suits them, have no compunctions serving under a dictator and re-emerge as champions of a new Pakistan when the tide runs?\n\nIf we aspire to a democracy we must aim for a level of integrity in our political process. The onus of choosing who is to represent them should rest on the electorate as should the responsibility of replacing those they deem to be incompetent or dishonest or both. The Hand of God is not needed to nudge the wise choices that ignorant voters are unable to see are in their own best interest.\n\n\n\nThis opinion was published in Dawn on September 2, 2018 and is reproduced here with the author’s permission.\n\nBack to Main Page\n\nBetter Cities — An Argument and a Manifesto\n\nAugust 8, 2018\n\nBy Anjum Altaf\n\nWhat is to be done when we believe strongly that the present in which we live falls very much short of what it ought to be? Clearly, we don’t need to prove that that is indeed the case —  widespread poverty, hunger, marginalization, discrimination, and exploitation stare us in the face every day.\n\nWhile almost everyone, especially in countries like ours, agrees on the discontents of the present, there is a very clear split when it comes to thinking of what is to be done. There is a segment of the population that believes the solution lies in going back to a past in which all these problems did not exist. And there is a segment that believes that such a return is not possible simply because one cannot step into the same river twice — too many things have changed to allow a reconstruction of any, let alone some very distant, past. This latter segment believes that the only recourse is to build a better future.\n\nA further division occurs at this point. There are those who believe that this task is best left to the benevolence of a larger power. Others believe that the onus is on people to strive to make the future that they desire. They believe that human beings have the agency to change situations for the better.\n\nOur task is not to convince those who believe in returning to the past nor those who wish to leave the future to supernatural intervention. It is their democratic right to act in accordance with their beliefs.\n\nOur task is to craft a manifesto for those who believe in human agency. But here again we are faced with two perspectives. We can choose to conceive an ideal utopia and strive for a meta systemic change that yields that utopian future. Or we can choose to work within an imperfect present and attempt to redress it one flaw at a time — the outcome would still be less than desired but better than what we started with. The premise is that if this process is followed consistently over time many of the most egregious flaws would be addressed. More importantly, there could be a snowball effect in which, by virtue of its achievements, the movement for change is strengthened by the addition of those who were sceptical and sitting on the margins at the outset.\n\nBased on our experience we advocate the latter course of action. Issues that require intervention at the national scale, e.g., foreign and security policies, notwithstanding the reality that they have an immense bearing on the state of the present, are beyond the scope of the individual to influence at this time. Coalitions to attempt such change are virtually impossible to build even if one subscribed to the opinion that the vote, the primary vehicle for change at the national level, represents a true expression of the popular will.\n\nAny feasible manifesto must perforce be a pragmatic one. It must delineate a scale of action at which the forces that are confronted and challenged are reasonably proportionate to the strength of those striving for change.\n\nI propose that the city offers just such a scale and therefore the manifesto for a better future must be crafted around an agenda of municipal activism.\n\nI propose that we concentrate on attracting a set of core municipal activists in as many cities as we can. Each set would then identify a program of action for its specific city under a common umbrella, e.g., Behtar Sialkot, Behtar Mardan, Behtar Shikarpur, Behtar Zhob, etc.\n\nThe first task of municipal activists in each city would be to identify the set of municipal rules and practices that lead to the most egregious injustices for its citizens. As a further concession to pragmatism this list would be reordered to enable the formation of the widest coalitions possible across the spectrum of municipal residents. The activists would then formulate the possible remedies within the law and including advocacy and lobbying of various forms.\n\nThese lists of actionable items and possible courses of actions would then be the subject of deliberations at a national convention of municipal activists — Behtar Pakistan. A steering committee would be formed to link the city teams and it would engage like-minded professionals at think-tanks, law firms, and universities to act as advisors to the initiative. Based on the outcome of these deliberations and the resulting guiding principles, each municipal team would commence the program of action in its city.\n\nThis argument and manifesto is set out as a preliminary call for discussion. Those who subscribe to its fundamental premise are welcome to provide their input. Based on the feedback, the manifesto would be finalized and readied for implementation.   \n\nDr. Anjum Altaf was dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at LUMS where he pursued research on small cities. He has a PhD in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University. His writings on urban issues can be found at https://thesouthasianidea.wordpress.com/#Cities\n\nBack to Main Page\n\nGovernance Trap\n\nJuly 18, 2018\n\nBy Anjum Altaf\n\nIt was back in the time of one of the dictators who was giving the Pakistani political system one of its fresh starts. He had given a message to the people to take advantage of new elections and replace dishonest incumbents by voting for “good” people. At the time I was doing fieldwork in rural Sindh in a constituency where the incumbent was a known criminal and I put the proposition to a peasant asking him if he would vote for a “good” candidate. The illiterate peasant took all of three seconds, looked me in the eye, and replied: “Saeen, will the good man get my son out of prison?”\n\nTherein lies the insight that goes to the heart of the Pakistani political system. It is obvious to illiterate voters but escapes many a sophisticated analyst. In our deeply hierarchical society, most people are dependent on patrons who can act as intermediaries with the state — both to negotiate legitimate claims of the powerless and to protect them from exploitation. In such a context, there is no place for “good” representatives — the more powerful and connected the patron, the better. Not surprisingly, voters are indifferent to the criminality of the patron, nor are they concerned when their political representative hops from one party to another. In fact, it is considered a quality of a powerful patron that he is always aligned with the winning side in order to better leverage the organs of the state.\n\nAnalysts who use terms like ‘alas,’ ‘if only,’ and ‘unfortunately’ in their expositions of Pakistani politics and bemoan voter indifference to party-hopping miss the point entirely. It is not that but for a few favourable turns of fortune Pakistan would have been in a much more healthy political state. The problem is deeply structural. Pakistan has been enmeshed from the very beginning in a governance trap and there are no prospects of escape without structural interventions. The proof of the first part of this assertion is that no matter how many times in the past the system of governance has been given a so-called fresh start it has ended up not just exactly in the same dysfunctional state but in a worse one.\n\nAnyone who doubts this claim needs only to look beyond his or her nose. Observe what is happening to Imran Khan’s party. The leader who promised to eliminate corruption in hundred days with a hundred honest people is furiously surrounding himself with the same old characters he was decrying a few months ago. One can infer how the structural imperatives of the electoral system are squeezing out the “good” candidates.\n\nIn this structural scenario, it is incredibly naive to hear the opinion that Imran Khan deserves a chance because he is an untainted newcomer while everyone else has had a turn and that once he has had his stint the political system would attain a higher equilibrium. What is there to guarantee that after another messy round of misgovernance there would not be another newcomer claiming the right to have his or her turn at the wheel? Repeating the same process based on nothing more than hopes and prayers is not a sign of wisdom.\n\nThe governance trap described above is immune to the personality of the leader because the problem is structural. Neither the upright Ayub, the cosmopolitan Bhutto, the pious Zia, the liberal Musharraf, nor the pragmatic Sharif could effect any sustainable reform in governance that made a meaningful difference in the lives of the majority.\n\nThe major structural determinant of Pakistan’s governance system that is responsible for its pathological circularity is the reality that the protection of citizens is ensured by the same person who is meant to represent their electoral preferences. Only when these two functions are separated, rights being ensured by neutral and effective institutions and political preferences being channeled by elected representatives, can a semblance of the democratic ideal emerge. A democratic political system rests on a foundation of law and order, impersonal entitlement to rights, and recourse to a fair system of justice. As long as citizens need to appeal to their political representatives to get their sons out of jail, their mothers admitted to hospitals, or find their nephews a job in a state-owned enterprise, we will continue to recreate the same dispensation no matter how many times the process is repeated.\n\nOf course, it should be obvious that the above-mentioned institutional transformation is very far in the future in Pakistan and cannot be hurried beyond a point. These transformations occurred in Europe over centuries of democratic struggle. They cannot be expected in countries without a tradition of mass struggle and where the system of governance is a legacy of a departing colonial power.\n\nIn our socioeconomic context, the only recourse is to lobby for changes in constitutional and electoral rules that can be leveraged to minimize the negative attributes of the present system. For example, what is there to prevent introducing a rule that any candidate who switches political parties a year before a forthcoming election would have to sit out the election cycle? Why should parties be allowed to indulge in horse-trading in nominating candidates instead of instituting party primaries in which voters also have a say? Why do we have constituency delimitations in which the urban vote is under-represented? Why should we be stuck with the first-past-the-post system in which spoiler parties can be introduced to fracture the vote? Why do we need a parliamentary system in which even a very competent leader cannot survive without a large number of local strongmen?\n\nIt is not really a surprise that very little attention has been devoted to discussing the set of electoral rules that can lead to distinct improvements in political representation. Rather, it is much easier and much more entertaining to focus on a horse-race speculating about odds and handicaps and the shenanigans of the linesmen and the referees. It is such short-termism that portends a bleak future in which all we can hope for is more of the same if we are lucky.   \n\nThis opinion was published in Dawn on July 16, 2018, and is reproduced here with the author’s permission.\n\nBack to Main Page\n\nAnother Plea to the Chief Justice of Pakistan\n\nApril 12, 2018\n\nBy Anjum Altaf\n\nOnce upon a time there was an amenity plot assigned as a playground to a school in a central part of Karachi. Then, one day, the Government of Pakistan (GoP) took it over and handed it to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) which turned it to commercial use prompting the late Ardeshir Cowasjee to direct “A plea to the Lord Chief Justice” which appeared in this newspaper on 14.6.2009.\n\nLo and behold, the Lord Chief Justice took note, the case was brought to court, and a judgement pronounced on 18.12.2009 by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja. What follows from court documents is a summary of this astounding land grab and an update of its status following the judgement.\n\nAccording to the citizens the 5 acre plot was transferred by GoP to the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) on 12.8.1976 for the Lines Area Redevelopment Project and designated in the Master Plan as an amenity plot to be used as playground. It was subsequently claimed by GoP that while contiguous land was indeed transferred to CDGK, this particular plot was excluded and remained part of the Karachi Cantonment.\n\nFollowing this reclamation, General Musharraf, the then military ruler, granted on 19.12.2002 a 90 years lease on the plot to the Army Welfare Trust (AWT) at the nominal yearly rent of Rs. 6,020 only. The court noted that contrary to its name that suggests some institutional affiliation with the Pakistan army, the AWT was registered as a Non-Government Organization, a private society, under the Societies Registration Act. It was however a fact that General Musharraf was at the time the ex-officio Patron of the AWT in his capacity of COAS.\n\nOn 31.7.2006, the AWT in turn transferred the land to a private party (Makro-Habib Pakistan Limited) by way of a sub-lease for an initial term of 30 years receiving an advance rent of Rs. 100,000,000 based on a variable annual amount of at least Rs. 17,500,000 and a maximum equivalent to 1% of the annual turnover of Makro-Habib which was initially incorporated as a joint venture between SHV, a Dutch multinational, and the House of Habib, a Pakistani corporate group. SHV held 70% of the equity in the venture but later divested its share to the House of Habib with permission to use the ‘Makro’ brand name. After the execution of the sub-lease, Makro-Habib constructed a wholesale centre on the plot.\n\nFollowing a meticulous examination of the argument advanced by GoP, AWT, and Makro-Habib that the playground was not transferred to CDGK, the Court concluded it was “wholly untenable.” Based on this finding that the land was not the property of the MoD, both its lease of the land to AWT and the subsequent sub-lease to Makro-Habib were declared null and void. Makro-Habib was allowed “three months from the date of the judgement, to remove its structures and installations from the playground, restore it to the same condition as existed on the date of the sub-lease and hand over its vacant possession to the CDGK.”\n\nThe Court was also “led to the inescapable conclusion that Government land was virtually thrown away at great financial loss to the Government and in utter disregard of the CLA [Cantonment Land Administration] Rules.”\n\nIn addition, the Court referred specifically to a paragraph in a Ministry of Defence Summary for the Chief Executive dated 20.9.2002 which read as follows: “Since Rules do not permit leasing out defence land free of cost, MoD supports payment of nominal premium and rent by AWT, being a welfare organization.” With reference to this paragraph, the Court observed: “We have also noted the cynical play with the CLA Rules” and that the document “presents a damning indictment of dictatorial one man rule.”\n\nThe aggrieved parties filed a review petition against the decision which was dismissed by the Supreme Court on 27.8.2015. But even after the dismissal of the review petition, the orders of the Court remain outstanding. The Makro-Habib structure continues to stand although without transacting any business. The result is a lose-lose proposition in which a valuable property is fulfilling neither its original nor its engineered purpose.   \n\nThis unsatisfactory outcome prompts the following questions: How is it possible that a judgement of the Supreme Court can remain unimplemented for nine years? What is the recourse for citizens if Supreme Court judgements can be stonewalled even after the dismissal of review petitions? Why does the Supreme Court not have the powers to have its judgements implemented?\n\nThese are important questions and deserving of another plea to the Lord Chief Justice: Please take suo moto notice of why judgements on prior suo moto notices cannot be implemented. And if they cannot, to explain why the practice deserves to continue in the future.\n\nThis opinion appeared in Dawn on April 10, 2018, and is reproduced here with permission of the author. The author is indebted to Dr. Syed Raza Ali Gardezi for his critical review of the facts presented in this opinion. Dr. Gardezi continues to represent the citizens in this case.\n\nBack to Main Page", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5092873573303223}
+{"content": "The Biological Perspective\n\nBiological factors may be divided into two kinds: those known to directly affect the development of the organism and those that often accompany the appearance of a syndrome but with an uncertain developmental role. The former include temperament and some genetic conditions; the latter include congenital factors, physical constitution, hormonal patterns, brain structure, and neurotransmitter patterns. The most definitive and interesting line of research that links biology with the violation of shared standards of social living is associated with the construct of psychopathy. The following findings might, or might not, generalize across psychopathic, antisocial, and sociopathic individuals.\n\nCasual observers have often remarked that antisocials and psychopaths appear to have inborn temperaments that make them seem tough, aggressive, fearless, impulsive, hotheaded, and sensation seeking. Naturally, such traits tend to send the individual down certain life trajectories rather than others, namely, toward the development of delinquent and antisocial behaviors and away from the development of prosocial or altruistic attitudes. In an interesting chapter, one of the leaders of the field, David Lykken (1995) discusses his pet bull terrier, a breed that crosses the strength and temperament of a bulldog with the agility of a terrier, thus providing, according to Lykken, something of an \"animal model\" of psychopathy. Pups easily and playfully destroy household items with their powerful jaws, he states, and are almost indifferent to punishment. Consequently, raising a bull terrier requires patience and fortitude. Drawing on four parenting styles described by Baumrind (1971, 1980), Lykken suggests that the authoritarian style produces an adult who is obedient when faced with strength, but surly and dangerous to the weak. Permissive parents fail to set limits, thus producing an animal that is ultimately uncontrollable. Neglectful or rejecting parenting produces a \"bully outlaw.\" Only a firm but loving authoritative style, Lykken argues, yields an animal that is ultimately sociable, loyal, and controllable, despite its aggressive genetic heritage.\n\nPresumably, the same holds true for the socialization of antisocials and psychopaths. Parents often report that children who chronically act out were just born that way, unimpressed by punishment, rigidly resistant to control, and almost unmanageable from birth. Such children explore the environment more assertively, frequently intrude on others, and just naturally get into trouble more often. Without firm limit setting and competent parenting, their destiny is that of the unsocialized bull terrier pup, who pursues its own will without deterrence. The hope is that patience, consistent discipline, and prosocial role models will produce internalized value systems sufficiently strong to contain a biologically fueled aggression or at least channel it in socially acceptable ways—what the psychodynamic perspective calls sublimation.\n\nNevertheless, even among human beings, it appears that there are children who even the best parents could not socialize—children born to normal, traditional, loving, nuclear families, who go on to gross violations of social norms. Cleckley (1988) provides such examples, including many who have murdered, conned, and swindled. Cleckley (1950) argued that these individuals, then termed primary psychopaths, suffer what he called a \"semantic aphasia.\" Semantic refers to meaning, and aphasia is broadly considered a class of disorders related to the understanding or production of language. What Cleckley believed, however, is that psychopaths suffer an inborn inability to understand and express the meaning of emotional experience, even though their understanding of language is normal.\n\nUnable to understand the suffering their behavior creates, they do not develop a conscience and thus are left without empathy or remorse. Many are shrewd and calculating and struggle to learn the emotional mechanics of interpersonal communication, thus masking their disorder. Nevertheless, the significance of embarrassment, shame, or fearfulness, for example, is just lost on them. For psychopaths, statements such as, \"I apologize,\" or \"You have made me so happy!\" are meaningless social conventions. Some psychopaths have even been known to purchase psychology books explicitly to develop an understanding of human emotional reactions, of \"what makes people tick,\" a \"necessary evil\" in adapting to an alien world of the empathic and socialized.\n\nIn the past several decades, Cleckley's conjecture has been pursued experimentally, with a number of interesting findings. For example, most people process linguistic data faster when they are received through the right ear than through the left ear. Because the auditory nerve from each ear connects directly to the opposite brain hemisphere, the pathway connecting the right ear to the language centers of the left hemisphere is simply shorter. In contrast, information from the left ear must first travel to the right hemisphere and then on to the language centers of the left, a longer pathway. Studies have shown, however, that psychopaths possess a smaller speed advantage for the right ear than do normals (Hare & McPherson, 1984). Presumably, then, their language skills are not as strongly lateralized to the left hemisphere.\n\nMany studies have found other strange discrepancies in the language of psychopaths. Normal subjects react strongly to the emotional dimension of statements or pictures, but psychopaths do not (Williamson, Harpur, & Hare, 1991), nor do they emphasize distinctions between neutral and emotional words as much as do normals in ordinary speech (Louth, Williamson, Alpert, Pouget, & Hare, 1998). Cerebral blood flow studies, which tap patterns of information processing in the cortex, have found that the processing of emotional words differs between psychopaths and nonpsychopaths (Intrator, Hare,\n\nStritzke, & Brichtswein, 1997). Gillstrom and Hare (1988) argue that the language of psychopaths is broken into smaller conceptual units. Collectively, these and many other studies converge in supporting Cleckley's original hypothesis.\n\nOther researchers have examined brain functioning, broadly conceived. Because the frontal lobe is implicated in executive functions such as long-term planning, coordination of goals and subgoals, judgment, and attention, its study is naturally relevant to the study of psychopaths. Brain wave recordings show that the EEG patterns of adult psychopaths resemble those of young children, suggesting a developmental delay in the physical maturity of the brain, though these findings are controversial (Hare, 1993). Some (Elliott & Gillett, 1992) even argue that deficits in frontal lobe activity help explain the psychopath's inattention to morality. Deckel, Hesselbrock, and Bauer (1996) have shown that increased activity in the left frontal lobe is associated with a lower likelihood of antisocial personality disorder. Compared to Alzheimer's subjects, individuals with dementia of the frontal and temporal lobes exhibit more antisocial behavior (Miller, Darby, Benson, & Cummings, 1997), including assault, indecent exposure, and shoplifting. Furthermore, acting-out behavior is a well-known effect of traumatic injury to the frontal lobes. Siever, Klar, and Coccaro (1985) suggest that antisocial personalities are less cortically aroused but more motorically disinhibited and, therefore, tend to act before they can take time to reflect.\n\nAnother research tradition (Eysenck, 1964; Lykken, 1957; Quay, 1965) suggests that psychopaths are difficult to arouse physiologically. Physiological reactions are closely linked to the experience of many emotions, especially fear. Unable to become aroused, such individuals seem fearless under conditions of objective threat and are unable to profit from experience. Numerous studies have shown that whereas the heart rate of normal subjects increases in anticipation of some aversive stimulus, such as a loud noise or electric shock, the heart rate of psychopaths tends to remain the same or increases only at the last moment (Hare, 1978). Unable to appraise a potentially dangerous situation by gauging their own fear, they plow ahead violently, regardless of risk—a deficiency that eventually develops into a lifestyle. A lower autonomic baseline did, in fact, predict the development of delinquency a decade later in Danish adolescents (Loeb & Mednick, 1977). Other writers have suggested that such individuals experience life as chronically boring and might, therefore, require voracious amounts of sensation and excitement simply as a means of feeling alive. The penchant of many antisocials and psychopaths to \"stir up some excitement\" is well known.\n\nMany other biological bases for psychopathy or antisocial personality have been proposed. Cloninger (1987b) regards the primary psychopath as being high in novelty seeking, low in the desire to avoid harm, and low in dependence on external rewards, the three main dimensions of his neurobiologic model of personality. Such individuals, according to Cloninger, are aggressive, oppositional, and opportunistic, essentially resembling the Cleckley psychopath. Gray (1987) suggests that three brain systems control emotional behavior. Individual differences in one of these, the behavioral inhibition system, leads some persons to react strongly to experiences associated with past aversive events, while others react very little. If this system is weak, the person tends to condition poorly to fear and exhibits an absence of anxiety.\n\nA variety of other neurochemical findings have been reported. Low serotonin levels are associated with displays of aggression, violence, and impulsivity in the personality disorders generally (Siever & Trestman, 1993). They are also associated with antisocial personality disorder and comorbid substance abuse (Moss, Yao, & Panzak, 1990). Similarly, decreased levels of the hormone cortisol have been found in violent adult male\n\nUnraveling Alzheimers Disease\n\nUnraveling Alzheimers Disease\n\n\nGet My Free Ebook\n\nPost a comment", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5471614599227905}
+{"content": "Editorial Perfil\n\nCARAS is a high-end weekly magazine focused on celebrities that captures the attention of the entire family. CARAS is published in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Portugal and Angola. All editions are based on the same concept; each edition's editorial style has been adapted to the readers' preferences while the commercial approach follows the local market trends. CARAS has created unique environments to gather celebrities and produce exclusive coverage of world-class style. The most famous one is the CARAS Island, an exotic spot near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where the rich and famous are invited to spend beautiful moments. CARAS is an extraordinary media concept that interacts with celebrities to create unique stories and glamorous news around them.\n\n52 issues a year\n\n\nYou may also be interested in...\n\nFine Wine\nDrone MultiRotor\nPapercraft Essentials\nManager Magazin\nAttitude Interior Design\nCreative Artist\nBeginners Guide to Python\nEuropean CEO\nInternet Retailing\nWedding Ideas\nAustralian Cupcakes &amp; Inspirations\nFirst News\nPro Landscaper\nPaleo Magazine Holiday Cookbook\nSquare Mile\nOH Baby!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7497040033340454}
+{"content": "Residential complex L4 in Toledo\n\nA contemporary-styled residential complex using traditional materials.\n\nViews and sunshine are the prevailing criteria on which the arrangement and the positioning of the building’s design are based. All the homes are open ended SE NW. They have longitudinal cross ventilation. Natural lighting and ventilation in all the rooms. Terraces in the inner garden and surrounding scenery. 6m structural unit.\nThe gardens are used to help control the heat. Wells and ponds level with the ground have been incorporated so that the air flows by means of adiabatic cooling.\nPergolas with plants provide protection from the evaporating water from the wells. Local deciduous plants (ash trees, acacia and banana trees) are planted in lines to protect the façades from the extreme sun in the summer (South and West façades).\nPerennial species (Holm oaks, olive trees, poplars, aspen and cottonwood) are planted in lines to protect the Northern façades against the cold winter winds.\nRain water collection and storage systems to water the garden. Drip irrigation, micro irrigation and programmed systems.\nSpecific areas are set aside for waste management and recycling.\n\nDo you have a project? We listen you", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9955433011054993}
+{"content": "Our Research\n\nPostdigital cultures describes what comes:\n\n  • after the digital\n  • after the digital humanities\n  • after the humanities - including humanism and the human (i.e. the posthumanities)\n\nPostdigital Cultures research belongs to the broader digital humanities field. Today, however, the “digital” can no longer be understood as a separate domain of culture. If we actually examine the digital - rather than taking it for granted we already know what it means – we soon see that nearly all media involve digital information processing. This includes printed texts, which are rarely written, read, or published without using software such as Microsoft Word. The very idea of digital humanities – based as it is on a presumed difference between computing and the digital on the one hand, and the humanistic and human on the other – is therefore somewhat anachronistic and inappropriate. This is why the CPC has adopted the term postdigital cultures.\n\nThe CPC takes as one of its starting points for researching postdigital cultures the origin of the word data, which is the plural of the Latin word for datum. Datum means a proposition that is assumed, given, or taken for granted, often in order to construct a theoretical framework or draw conclusions. Moreover, in engineering, the datum point is the place from which measurements are taken. The datum point itself, however, is not checked or questioned; as the position from which measurements are made, it is precisely a given.\n\nIt is those propositions and datum points that our culture takes for granted, in order to construct theories and draw conclusions about the digital, that the CPC investigates. They include not just “the digital” itself, but also the human, technology, the printed text, the network, copyright and IP. For example, who does the measuring when it comes to data and who it is this measuring for? Conventionally, it is the human subject. With what? With technology and tools seen as separate from the human. How are the measurements – the data – recorded, published and disseminated? Print texts and computerised information networks. How is this circulation controlled? Through copyright.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8793920278549194}
+{"content": "\nDucksters Educational SiteDucksters Educational Site\nHistory Biography Geography Science Games\n\nHistory >> US Government\n\nUS Government\n\nLandmark Supreme Court Cases\n\nWhat is a landmark case?\n\nLandmark cases are important Supreme Court cases where the decisions made on the cases had a lasting impact on the law and future cases.\n\nWhy are they important?\n\nLandmark cases are important because they change the way the Constitution is interpreted. When new cases are brought before the courts, the decisions made by the Supreme Court in landmark cases are looked at to see how the judge shall rule. Lawyers cite landmark cases to prove a point and judges cite them to justify their decisions.\n\nExamples of Landmark Cases\n\nThere have been a number of landmark cases throughout the history of the Supreme Court. We've listed a few below and described why they are considered important.\n\nMarbury v. Madison (1803)\n\nThis case is probably the most important case in the history of the Supreme Court. With this case the Supreme Court claimed the power of \"judicial review.\" This is the power to declare laws made by Congress unconstitutional. This power was not given to the Supreme Court by the Constitution.\n\nMcCulloch v. Maryland (1819)\n\nThis important case rose to the Supreme Court when the state of Maryland tried to tax the Bank of the United States. Maryland claimed that the Constitution did not give the federal government the right to create a bank. However, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution gave the federal government certain implied powers that are not specifically stated.\n\nDred Scott v. Sandford (1857)\n\nThis ruling said that all African Americans, both slaves and free, were not legal citizens of the United States. This meant that they could not sue in federal court. It came about when a slave named Dred Scott tried to sue for his freedom when his owner moved him to a free state and then back to a slave state. The Fourteenth Amendment turned this decision around. Today, Dred Scott v. Sandford is considered by many to be one of the worst rulings in the history of the Supreme Court.\n\nPlessy v. Ferguson (1896)\n\nAnother case that is now infamous for how bad it was, is Plessy v. Ferguson. This case ruled that segregation based on race was legal. It is famous for using the ruling of \"separate but equal\" by saying that railway cars could be separated between black people and white people. The ruling was later turned down by the case of Brown v. Board of Education.\n\nBrown v. Board of Education (1954)\n\nIn this case, the court ruled that having separate public schools for black students and white students was unconstitutional. This made segregation in public schools illegal and paved the way to end racial segregation in general. Future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall was the lead lawyer for the NAACP who argued the case before the court.\n\nMiranda v. Arizona (1966)\n\nThis case ruled that suspects of a crime could not be questioned until they had been read their rights. This led to the Miranda Warning where police officers tell a suspect something like \"you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you.\"\n\nU.S. v. Nixon (1974)\n\nIn this case, the Supreme Court said that President Richard Nixon had to turn over tapes regarding the Watergate scandal. This ruling set the precedent that the president is not above the law and set limits as to the power of the president.\n\nActivities To learn more about the United States government:\n\nBranches of Government\nExecutive Branch\nPresident's Cabinet\nUS Presidents\n\nLegislative Branch\nHouse of Representatives\nHow Laws are Made\n\nJudicial Branch\nLandmark Cases\nServing on a Jury\nFamous Supreme Court Justices\nJohn Marshall\nThurgood Marshall\nUnited States Constitution\nThe Constitution\nBill of Rights\nOther Constitutional Amendments\nFirst Amendment\nSecond Amendment\nThird Amendment\nFourth Amendment\nFifth Amendment\nSixth Amendment\nSeventh Amendment\nEighth Amendment\nNinth Amendment\nTenth Amendment\nThirteenth Amendment\nFourteenth Amendment\nFifteenth Amendment\nNineteenth Amendment\nChecks and Balances\nInterest Groups\nUS Armed Forces\nState and Local Governments\nBecoming a Citizen\nCivil Rights\n\nVoting in the United States\nTwo-Party System\nElectoral College\nRunning for Office\n\nWorks Cited\n\nHistory >> US Government\n\nAbout Ducksters Privacy Policy   \n\nFollow us on Ducksters Facebook or Ducksters Twitter\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5401087999343872}
+{"content": "Our latest\n\nInternational students choice, application and making a difference\n\nInternational students  choice, application and making a difference\n\nExplain Market Research has begun a study with international students that has revealed that cultural experience and the calibre of qualifications available are thought to be key reasons for international students choosing to study at a UK university. Oh, and before they arrive they think the UK is always sunny…\n\nThe research, carried out in spring 2018, has uncovered insight into where UK universities could more effectively engage with international students to improve conversion and present a more attractive offering.  \n\nDuring the qualitative research, international students currently studying at British universities were asked to discuss the application process and how universities can better attract and prepare overseas students to study in the UK.\n\nWhen asked if Brexit would have an impact on their decision to study in the UK, there was agreement that had the Brexit vote happened before or during their application it would have had a direct impact on their decision to study in the UK. The rise in tuition fees and impact on scholarships being the area of most concern.\n\nFirst steps\n\nThe research indicated that the majority of international students undertook some level of research before making a decision. However, this relied heavily on recommendations and information given to them by their home school. Tuition fees and scholarships naturally prove to be a key consideration however weather was also a consideration. None of the students who took part in the research had visited the UK before applying and the tendency of marketing literature to show universities under blue skies and bright sunshine was often misleading, negatively affecting their experience of their chosen city after they arrived.\n\nLeague tables and online reviews\n\nWhile some students felt some pressure from their parents to study in a certain geographical area, league tables and university websites came out on top when it came to choosing which university to select.\n\nApplication process\n\nWithin discussions, the application process proved to be the area which required the most improvement. All applications were carried out online or electronically with no human interaction with universities in the UK. International agents were relied on heavily to support the application process and students stated that there was confusion around submitting their home country grades as opposed the UK A-Level system.\n\nEarly themes from the research highlight distinct areas where universities can make changes to support the decision making, knowledge finding and application process for international students. Carrying out in depth research and analysis to provide meaningful insights on the student decision making journey would allow universities to stream-line processes and invest in the most impactful areas of their international student recruitment strategies.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9836558103561401}
+{"content": "Ultimate magazine theme for WordPress.\n\nHow a CISO can play it smart, reveals Jagmohan Singh, CISO, Canara Bank\n\nJagmohan Singh, CISO, Canara Bank describes how digital transformation is happening at a rapid pace and the various ways for CISOs to smartly navigate through the many tough challenges\n\n\nCISOs, today, are required to smartly formulate policies and undertake information security vision, duly keeping in mind the infosec strategy as per industry risk perspective, global risks at that point of time, business strategy as well as the regulators’ perspective, while tracking the balance between risk optimisation, business realisation and resource utilisation.\n\n“Though the challenges are many, I would like to discuss a few top pain points which disturbs every CISO in current environment. Firstly , most of the intelligence feeds comes in the form of bad IPs, hashes or url, the same are not sufficient and are very deceptive. Hackers are seen to adopt various techniques to manipulate and bypass such feeds and being able to dig deep into the organisations’ network. Over and above, in case of file-less attacks or In-Memory execution of malicious code/scripts along with legitimate or whitelisted processes, there is a need to consider some different approach which can provide proactive intelligence for timely detection and quick remediation. Thus, I feel that there is a need to fill this gap by a more matured approach which proactively sense the threats well in advance on the basis of industry specific IOCs (Indicators of Compromise) and actions required as responses,” says Jagmohan Singh, CISO, Canara Bank.\n\nHe adds that this approach should focus on identifying the TTPs (Tactics or tools , Technique and Procedures) adopted by hackers/fraudsters preparing a directory/knowledge base of IOCs. TTPs and patterns identified in respective security domains like server, endpoints, network, application and databases, etc., should be mapped to IOCs, which in turn should be plugged to actions for incident response and the same needs to be automated (fully or assisted) with clear categorisation into discretionary and mandatory actions.\n\nThe second biggest challenge is to establish a connect between SOC teams and Red teams. SOC teams need to holistically consider the results of penetration testing or red teaming for improvisation of IOCs/use cases. However, there is a disconnect between the two, which is the major cause of cropping up of weaker controls and subsequent compromises, as is seen across the industries. “I feel there should be a purple team concept be made mandatory for better exchange of information and well defined collaboration between the two teams in the interest of matured monitoring, early detection and quick reactions,” states Singh.\n\nThe third challenge, which according to Singh, is having high impact, is the lack of skilled cyber security professionals. It is difficult to find the right talent for security monitoring activity, incident response activity and for proactive detection tasks like ethical hacking, red teaming etc. Apart from this, there is a positive increase in attrition rate being recorded for core cyber security functions.\n\nWith the advent of newer delivery channels and collaborations, the business dealings and transactions are becoming more and more complex and volatile. The fundamental approach in such a scenario is to practice ‘Open But Secure’. Since, businesses are collaborating and partnering, a lot of data exchange is taking place across entities using various techniques like Web Service, APIs, infra sharing, etc. “This brings into the picture various new threat vectors for data integrity, data secrecy and privacy compliance related issues. My advice to security practitioners is that while following the basic pillars of Information security, we must also concentrate on defining a thorough and well-designed strategy for collection of security intelligence and correlation in order to achieve initiation of pre-emptive actions for probable threats. Of course, security awareness would also be playing a critical role in efficient detection and aversion of cyberthreats,” states Singh.\n\nRobust IT security\n\n“Apart from following the best practices, correlation of intelligent information from different sources within organisation as well a external/commercial intelligence feeds plays an very crucial role in deriving a robust security posture for any organisation. In fact, apart from preventive controls, detection and response is the ‘mantra’ in current times. However, certain best practices of utmost importance includes; keeping the security patches updated, following a defined SOP for updation of patches whether its OEM or SI (temporary patches) , when patches are received through mail or remote method a system to ensure its authenticity including approval to apply (using checksum etc) to be ensured,” he informs. Further, benchmark configuration documents and automated logging and alerting on the departure from approved configuration is also important. Since, for most of the threat vectors, phishing (or its different flavours) is emerging as prominent attack vector and as such user awareness about such tactics and methods becomes very important. Apart from the aforesaid practices, another basic practice is to conduct a periodic and holistic review of network architecture and firewall rules.\n\nAwareness is going to play an important and deciding role in days to come. “We should understand that hackers follow the principal of least resistance. As such, instead of trying time consuming attack vectors, perpetrators are more than happy to use our people for executing what they want. In one of the recent attacks, the payload was dropped into the system in form of a phishing mail containing patch for one of the system, which was installed by the administrator due to lack of control over Patch Management process. Thus, the spending on creating awareness and trainings on security issues and best practices in infra, coding and development, etc., be considered as a major strategic investment.\n\nReplying to the question on if the CISOs are getting enough for IT budgets, he says, “I feel this depends on the support of the senior management and the culture within the organisation. The organisation, which are matured and well sensitised, towards cyber environment, their boards are considering cyber security as a major business enabler and in turn they are tuned to release a balanced budget for critical security projects. However, there are organisations which are not able to foresee cyber as a risk, again due to lack of matured Risk Management approach, do not provide due budgets to CISO teams and becomes susceptible to hackers’ community. In fact, the budget for security should be based on a well-defined business risk assessment carried out for identification and prioritization of business assets under cyber threats.”\n\nTrends in digitisation business\n\nWhile various technologies are making an impact on the way organisations function, Singh feels there are few technologies which may see larger penetration and amalgamation with digitisation of businesses. “AI is the one which has already started making its way in productivity. AI just does not mean RPA or intelligence replacing human effort, but with AI for the future, I mean to say augumented intelligence assisting humans in creating user interface, automated decision based intelligent triggering of actions and analytics. Further , we can see greater merger of AI and IoT technologies as IoT use is increasing in all spheres,” he remarks, adding that another technology where innovation is moving ahead is blockchain products.\n\nThe major hurdle in blockchain is the incentive for compute required for a project where different stakeholders have varying level of interests, however this technology is catching a significant interest of businesses to leverage performance and efficiencies.\n\n\n\nGet real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.\n\nSubscribe to our newsletter\nYou can unsubscribe at any time\n\nJoin Our Newsletter Today!\n\nSubscribe Now!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9147728085517883}
+{"content": "lyft accident\n\nWere You Injured in a California Lyft Accident? Here’s What to Do\n\nPOSTED IN Car Accidents ON March 22, 2018\n\nGetting into a Lyft accident can be unnerving. You’re minding your own business, trying to get a ride to work or to a night out, when your Lyft driver gets into a car accident. Regardless of whether it was your driver’s fault or not, you want to make sure that you’re covered if you suffer any injuries.\n\nThe silver lining about being in an accident as a Lyft passenger is that the company is extremely well insured for cases such as these. If you’ve been injured in a California Lyft accident, be sure to follow these steps.\n\n1. Take pictures and talk to witnesses.\n\nDon’t rely on your driver or the other party to gather enough evidence of what happened. Make it your duty to take photos, talk to people who saw what happened, and talk to the police with your own account of the events.\n\nIf your driver was at fault, they’re likely going to avoid admitting it or telling a completely truthful account of what happened so they don’t risk losing their job. Be sure that you are letting the police know what you saw as well so they can factor that into their accident report.\n\n2. Get medical attention.\n\nBe sure to go to a hospital or seek medical attention from an EMT should one arrive at the scene of the accident. Your first priority is to ensure you get your injuries attended to so you won’t suffer in the longterm.\n\nAs a passenger of a Lyft vehicle, you should have all damages compensated in the end, as their liability insurance is $1 million for injuries while driving you around.\n\n3. Speak with a California auto accident lawyer.\n\nLyft accidents can sometimes be tricky to deal with, especially as laws are still being formed surrounding ridesharing apps and vehicles. This is why it’s a good idea to consult an auto accident attorney shortly after your accident, especially if you were injured.\n\nIf you were the passenger of a Lyft vehicle, this is when they have the most insurance coverage and it should be no problem getting the compensation you deserve.\n\nHowever, if the Lyft driver does not currently have a passenger, and you were in an accident with them in another vehicle, their insurance coverage is much, much lower.\n\nIf a Lyft driver is not currently working, only their personal auto insurance applies. If they are currently looking for a passenger but do not have one at the time of the accident, their liability covers up to $50,000/person for injuries, $100,000/accident for injuries, and $25,000/accident for damages. If they do have a passenger, their total liability insurance goes up to $1,000,000 from the time the driver accepts the ride request up to the when they drop off their passenger.\n\nUnderstanding how accidents with Lyft drivers work can help tremendously should you be in an accident with one. If you were injured in a Lyft accident, call The May Firm today.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8119063377380371}
+{"content": "Test of Semantic Reasoning (TOSR)\n\nComplete Kit\n\nBeth Lawrence, MA, CCC-SLP | Deena Seifert, MS, CCC-SLP\n  • Ages 7 - 17 years\n  • Testing Time (Kindergarten) 30-45 minutes\n  • Testing Time 20 minutes\n  • Administration Individual\n  • Product Code 2037-4 ( MR #065840 )\n\n\nPrice $175.00\n\n- +\n\nThe Test of Semantic Reasoning (TOSR) is a new, standardized vocabulary assessment for children and adolescents ages 7 through 17. Semantic reasoning is the process by which new words are learned and retrieved from one’s lexicon through analysis of multiple images that convey various contexts of the word’s meaning.\n\nThe TOSR assesses breadth (the number of lexical entries one has) and depth (the extent of semantic representation for each known word) of vocabulary knowledge without taxing expressive language skills, providing an important new resource for individuals assessing children with possible language and literacy deficits. Breadth and depth are both important for literacy. Breadth is related to early decoding, and depth to later comprehension.\n\n\n- Lexical Knowledge (VL): The extent of vocabulary that can be understood in terms of correct word meanings\n- Induction (I): The ability to discover the underlying characteristic that governs a problem or a set of materials\n- General Sequential Reasoning (RG): The ability to start with stated rules, premises, or conditions, and to engage in one or more steps to reach a solution to a novel problem\n\nThe TOSR was developed by two practicing speech-language pathologists and builds on their successful vocabulary instruction app, InferCabulary™.It includes 90 sets of four high-quality color photographs that reflect a vocabulary word in a variety of contexts. The individual must use semantic reasoning to analyze the pictures and then select the single word from a choice of four that best represents the multiple contexts of the word represented by all the images.\n\nInformation obtained from this assessment can provide educators, psychologists, and speech-language pathologists with information on children and adolescents’ basic receptive vocabulary knowledge, as well as their higher order thinking and reasoning in the semantic domain.\n\nAdministration and Scoring\nThe TOSR incorporates the easy administration and scoring of traditional one-word-vocabulary assessments. The test is untimed and can generally be administered in about 20 minutes. Age-related starting points and ceilings ensure that only a subset of items will need to be administered. Scoring is straightforward, generally taking less than 5 minutes. Raw scores are reported as standard scores, percentile ranks, and age equivalents.\n\nThe TOSR was normed on a nationally representative sample of 1117 individuals ranging from 7 through 17 years of age. The norming sample included individuals with learning disabilities, language impairments, ADHD, and autism.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.996048629283905}
+{"content": "Create beautiful music in Lily - a playful music creation game for people of all ages and musical abilities.\n\n\nGet a classic 1980’s Sci-Fi sound with these retro lilies.\n\n\nAvailable now in lily\n\nAlso available on Desktop\n\n\n\nExplore music and melody\n\nExplore music and melody to produce delightful, tuneful lily ponds. Relax in a calming, creative experience in which there is no winning or losing - only artistic exploration and expression.\n\n\nDevelop musical harmonies and intricate compositions\n\nUse the lilies to compose looping melodies and develop musical patterns and harmonies. Alter each lily's petal count to create tunes of different lengths and produce interesting, evolving pieces.\n\nDevelop intricate compositions using lily pads to control the playback of lilies over time. Chain lily pads together to form networks and produce complex musical arrangements.\n\n\nCanvas Flow is the essential companion to Unity UI, offering you a solution for easily transitioning between screens and crafting your user-interface's flow.\n\n\nAs an iOS developer using Xcode, I can’t begin to explain how amazing and powerful this asset is to Unity developers.\n— Asset Store Customer\nI highly recommend this, for any type of project that will require a dynamic or simple and sleek menu system this can’t be beat!\n— Asset Store Customer\n\n\nCreate music, compose melodies, and craft soundscapes in Songbirds - a playful musical game for people of all ages and musical abilities.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9997714757919312}
+{"content": "Pink Ribbon Morning Tea\nPink Ribbon Morning Tea\n\nPatersons Securities hosted 3 Pink Ribbon Morning Tea’s in our Perth, Melbourne and Sydney offices on Friday 6 October.\n\nAlongside our Morning Tea events we held internal national raffles to ensure all staff were able to participate in making a difference to Australians affected by breast cancer. Throughout our fundraising period Patersons staff raised $2,000 to donate to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.\n\n\n\nResearch is the only way to prevent deaths and improve how breast cancer is diagnosed, managed and treated. By funding world-class research, NBCF is working towards a goal of zero deaths from breast cancer by 2030, of which Patersons is a proud supporter.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9717812538146973}
+{"content": "How to write a dissertation introduction\n\nThe introduction is the first chapter of your thesis or dissertation and appears right after the table of contents. It’s essential to draw the reader in with a strong beginning. Set the stage for your research with a clear focus, purpose and direction. The introduction should include:\n\n  • Topic and context: what does the reader need to know to understand the dissertation?\n  • Focus and scope: what specific aspect of the topic will you address?\n  • Relevance and importance: how does the research fit into existing work on this topic?\n  • Objective: what problem and/or questions does the dissertation aim to answer?\n  • Overview of the structure: what does each chapter of the dissertation contribute to the overall aim?\n\nStarting your introduction\n\nAlthough the introduction comes at the beginning of your dissertation, it doesn’t have to be the first thing you writein fact, it’s often the very last part to be completed (along with the abstract).\n\nIt’s a good idea to write a rough draft of your introduction near the beginning of the research to help guide you. If you wrote a research proposal, you can use this as a template, as it contains many of the same elements. But you should revise your introduction throughout the writing process, making sure it matches the content of your chapters.\n\nFor an effective introduction, make sure to include all of the following elements.\n\nTopic and context\n\nBegin by introducing your topic and giving any necessary background information. It’s important to contextualize your research and generate interestaim to show why the topic is timely or important (for example, by mentioning a relevant news item, academic debate, or practical problem).\n\nExample topic\n\nYoung people’s attitudes to climate change.\n\nExample context\n\nRecent news stories about the children’s climate strike, and the increasing importance of youth engagement with climate politics.\n\nReceive feedback on language, structure and layout\n\nProfessional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:\n\n  • Academic style\n  • Vague sentences\n  • Grammar\n  • Style consistency\n\nSee an example\n\nFocus and scope\n\nAfter a brief introduction to your general area of interest, narrow your focus and define the scope of your research. For example:\n\n  • What geographical area are you investigating?\n  • What time period does your research cover?\n  • What demographics or communities are you researching?\n  • What specific themes or aspects of the topic does your dissertation address?\nExample focus\n\nBritish teenagers’ engagement with UK climate policy.\n\nExample scope\n\nThe knowledge, concerns, perceptions and actions of London high school students towards the current UK government’s climate policies.\n\nRelevance and importance\n\nIt’s essential to show your rationale for doing this research, how it relates to existing work on the topic, and what new insights it will contribute.\n\nGive a brief overview of the current state of research, citing the most relevant literature and indicating how your research will address a problem or gap in the field. You will conduct a more in-depth survey of relevant sources in the literature review section or chapter.\n\nDepending on your field, the importance of your research might focus on its practical application (e.g. in policy or management) or on advancing scholarly understanding of the topic (e.g. by developing theories or adding new empirical data). In many cases it will do both.\n\nExplain how your dissertation:\n\n  • Helps solve a practical or theoretical problem\n  • Addresses a gap in the literature\n  • Builds on existing research\n  • Proposes a new understanding of the topic\nExample relevance and importance\n\nYoung people will determine the future of climate policy, so it is important to gain an in-depth understanding of their engagement with this issue. While there has been previous research on British youth attitudes to climate change, none has focused specifically on how they engage with current UK climate policy. Furthermore, as the youth politics of climate change has been particularly prominent in the past year, it is important to build on previous work and expand scholarly knowledge of this contemporary phenomenon.\n\n\nThis is perhaps the most important part of your introduction—it sets up the aims and expectations of the rest of your dissertation. How you formulate your objective will depend on your discipline, topic and focus, but it should always answer the question: what is the central aim and purpose of your research?\n\nYou might start with a problem statement, particularly if your research addresses a practical problem. You should always have a main research question that shows exactly what you want to find out, and often also sub-questions that frame how you will address each aspect of the main question.\n\nIf your research aims to test hypotheses you can formulate them here, along with a conceptual framework that posits relationships between variables. Sometimes the hypotheses will come later in the dissertation, after your literature review.\n\nExample main question\n\nHow do high school students in London engage with the UK government’s policies on climate change?\n\nExample sub-questions\n\nWhat level of knowledge do students have about government climate policy? How highly do they rate climate change as a matter of concern? How positive or negative are their perceptions of the current government’s policy? What practical actions do they engage in to support or challenge that policy?\n\n\nYou can briefly mention the research design and methods that you used to answer your research questions: how, where, when, and with whom was the research conducted? What kind of data did you gather and/or analyze?\n\nIn general, you should keep this part of the introduction brief, as you will expand on it in your methodology chapter.\n\nExample methodology\n\nFollowing a review of the literature on youth engagement with climate policy, the research takes a mixed methods approach. Surveys allow for a quantitative analysis of students’ levels of knowledge, concern, and positive/negative perceptions of government policy, while focus groups and interviews give in-depth qualitative insight into their attitudes, perceptions, and modes of engagement with the issue.\n\nOverview of the structure\n\nTo help guide your reader through the dissertation, end with an overview of its structure summarizing each chapter to clearly show how it contributes to your central aims. It is best to keep the overview concise. One or two sentences should usually be enough to describe the content of each chapter.\n\nIf your research is more complicated or does not follow a conventional structure, you might need up to a paragraph for each chapter. For example, a humanities dissertation might develop an argument thematically rather than dividing the research into methods/results/discussion. If your structure is unconventional, make it clear how everything fits together.\n\nChecklist: Introduction\n\n0 / 7\n\nWell done!\n\nYou have a strong introduction to your research. Use the other checklists to continue improving your dissertation.\n\nSee all other checklists Return to checklist\nIs this article helpful?\nShona McCombes\n\n\n1 comment\n\nMarch 29, 2018 at 1:24 PM\n\nGood Clear Article\n\n\nComment or ask a question.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7286434173583984}
+{"content": "Q. Why should I hire you as a professional architectural photographer?\nMy phone takes great pictures.\n\nA. While that may be true, when you hire me you get an entire package. I can manage as much, or as little, of the scheduling process as necessary. You want to be hands off? Not a problem. I’ll contact your client to set up the shoot. Would you prefer to do a walk through of the space with me before hand? Great. You want me to work off a marked up floor plan? I’d be happy to! Just know that if I find another angle more compelling, I will take that shot as well and offer it as an option.\n\nWhen I’m on-site, I find the best angle of any given shot, plant my camera and arrange all the furnishings and accessories around that angle. If needed, I’ll add supplemental lighting to brighten up those dark shadows. I’ll add people in the shot, if it’s requested. Each shot can take 30-45 minutes to accomplish – and that’s just when I’m on location.\n\nOnce I start processing the images, it can take double the amount of time that it did on-site. I make sure the exposure is balanced, pull in window exposures as needed and do a lot of retouching to make your image as beautiful as possible. I’ll automatically take out most outlets, light switches, cords etc. Usually I ask you to allow me a 2-3 week lead time for turning the images around.\n\nTake a look at the before & after sample page to get an idea of the work each image takes before I get it into your hands.\n\n\nQ. If I hire you to take photos of a project I designed, who owns the images?\n\nA: I do. When you hire me, you are paying a licensing fee to use the images I create. Under the Federal Copyright Act of 1976, photographs are intellectual property and are protected by copyright from the moment the camera button is pressed. The photographer will own that copyright throughout their life and 25 years afterwards. Whether on a hard drive, in an online portfolio, or a post on Instagram, the photographer has exclusive rights to the image/s including reproducing the photography; preparing derivative works based on the photography; or distributing copies of the photography to other parties (by sale, rental, lease or lending).\n\nAs my client, you are buying certain rights to the photographs you hire me to take. These rights are spelled out in your estimate or invoice. Each of my images has copyright information embedded in the file.\n\nQ: But I designed the space you are photographing. Doesn’t that mean I own the images? I still don’t understand.\n\nA: Here are some analogies to help explain it.\n\n-       If you hired a musician to play a live set, could you record it and sell that as an album?\n\n-       If you design the interiors of a restaurant, can they use your design for free at all of their franchises?\n\n-       If an architect designs a home, can the homeowner sell the plans to other people?\n\nAnswer? No. Photographs work the same way. No one else can create the exact same photos that I do. They can photograph the same space, but the images will look completely different.\n\nQ: I really want professional images to showcase my work, but I don’t have the budget for it. Is there anything that can help bring down the cost?\n\nA: YES. If there are other parties interested in the images (if you’re the interior designer, think architect, contractor, tile company, cabinet company, flooring…), I can do a cost-share between parties. There is an upcharge for each party, and then the bill is split between all parties. Each party receives rights for their company to use the images. Each party is invoiced separately and receives their own set of digital files. The more parties involved, the lower your portion gets.\n\nQ. Can I “gift” the images to my client?\n\nA. Yes, but that requires paying for their portion of the cost-share scenario spelled out above. This would give them the same right to use the images as you have, and I would get them their own set of files.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8383311033248901}
+{"content": "Compass World: Potential Philippines Name Change\n\n\nIn an interview with CNN on February 19, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen announced she would run for reelection in 2020. Tsai (pictured) resigned as chair of the Democratic Progressive Party following heavy losses to their rival party, the Kuomintang, in the 2018 municipal elections. For previous coverage of the 2018 Taiwanese elections from The Caravel, click here.\n\n\nMaduro Government Assembles Coalition\nIn response to many countries—including the U.S., several European states, and several Latin American ones—recognizing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president, President Nicolás Maduro’s government is establishing a coalition of states that will continue to support it. Countries that support the Maduro government include China, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Russia, and Syria. Maduro (pictured left) is trying to portray the international support Guaidó has received as an American-led effort to undermine Venezuela’s sovereignty. He claims the U.S. is using sanctions as a weapon to oust his government.\n\nmaduro putin.jpeg\n\n\nPotential Philippines Name Change\nBefore a crowd in Maguindanao province on February 11, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (pictured) said he is interested in changing the name of the Philippines to “Maharlika,” a term associated with former-dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Maharlika allegedly means “nobly created,” but historians believe the term’s historical meaning was actually “freemen.” This misconception stems from claims of an ancient kingdom in Southeast Asia called Maharlika. No evidence exists, however, of the kingdom. Marcos claimed to have commanded a group of guerrilla soldiers during World War II known as the Maharlika Unit, but army investigators found the claim to be false. The name Philippines originates from the 16th century King Philip II of Spain, under whose rule the Philippines were colonized. Duterte believes that Maharlika would best capture the country’s Malay identity and remove any links to colonialism from the country’s name.\n\n\n\nSaudi Crown Prince Set to Visit India\nSaudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (pictured) will arrive on February 19 in India as part of a visit aimed at increasing ties between the two states. This follows a similarly high-profile visit to Pakistan, during which he was conferred with the country’s highest civilian honor. India’s Foreign Ministry said that “trade and investment [and] defence and security” were set to be the primary topics of conversation. Saudi Arabia is currently India’s fourth-largest trading partner, with India being a top consumer of Saudi oil. After the India trip, the prince is also expected to visit China.\n\n\n\nPutin Pushes for Annexation of Belarus\nFollowing three days of bilateral talks between Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (pictured left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured right), Putin continued to push for Belarus’ annexation by Russia. He stressed that “fully independent states simply do not exist in the world.” Lukashenko was ambiguous on the issue of potential integration, saying, “Why would we bring up questions of the sovereignty of Russia and Belarus? It is like an icon, it is sacred.” Since 2011, Putin has pressed the issue of integration in accordance with the two countries’ 1999 Union Treaty, which was never implemented. Experts say the potential union would be modeled on the European Union, with a common currency, shared customs, and gradual political integration. Some do fear, however, that Putin may push for complete annexation and assume control of Belarus when he reaches the presidential term limit in 2024. Belarus was a former member state of the Soviet Union and has been an independent country since the U.S.S.R.’s dissolution in 1991.\n\nlukashenko putin.jpg\n\n\nNigeria Postpones Elections\nThe Nigerian Independent National Electoral Commission announced on February 16 that the country’s presidential and parliamentary elections would be postponed until February 23. The announcement was made mere hours before voting was set to begin in Africa’s largest democracy. The commission cited logistics as the main reason for the delay, frustrating voters and candidates alike. Voters from across the country traveled long distances to polling stations only to discover that the election had been postponed by a week. Major party candidates accused each other of attempting to manipulate the vote. The incumbent president and All Progressives Congress candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, urged Nigerians to “refrain from civil disorder and remain peaceful.”\n\nnigeria elections.jpg\n\n\nEuropean Commission Backs Merkel\nIn a blow to environmentalists in Germany, a European Commission court ruled that the federal government could forbid bans on diesel vehicles from city centers. If a vehicle could not meet a particular pollution threshold, then it would be banned from city centers. German Chancellor Angela Merkel opposed such bans and sought recourse through the European Commission’s court system. With frustrations over the federal government’s inactivity on pollution building, environmentalist groups saw the bans as a method of addressing pollution at the local level.\n\nWriting contributed by Ben Richmond and Benjamin Barth.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9453721642494202}
+{"content": "CORE CURRICULUM: 2nd Year Program\n\nUnited States History and Literature\n\n\nIntegrated Core Program (grades 7 & 8) mixed-grade class strengthens and develops core skills in academic writing, analysis, and research.\n\nThe intensity and workload of this class demand that students have a mature, focused attitude.\n\nAmerican History covers the political, social, cultural, economic, and philosophical history of the United States from Pre-European settlement to Reconstruction. Teachers encourage analytical thought through the study of texts, literature selections, and supplementary materials, which provide a wide array of important theoretical points of view.\n\nUnderstanding the varied motivations, beliefs, and values of Americans in different time periods provides students with a balanced view of the history of our country.\n\nIn this course, students will learn to read and think critically, to study efficiently, and to defend their own interpretations of historical events through written analysis and debate. They will learn how to conduct research, how to formulate a thesis statement, and how to organize effective essays. By recognizing and exploring differing points of view, students will gain the ability to determine accuracy, reliability, and fairness of input.\n\nWhile investigating relationships between statements and events, past and present, students learn to make informed, thoughtful judgements about the meaning, accuracy, and worth of information. In addition to writing, projects which enhance the development of these skills include: debate, conducting oral history interviews, creating a timeline of historical events, looking at the effects of geography on history, and evaluating current events in the context of the history of the United States.\n\nFrench language and culture continues our introduction to language study.  French class introduces 2nd Year students to the joys and difficulties of learning a second language, while giving them an increased understanding of how the English language is structured. \n\nThe Fine Arts curriculum will include ten hours of drama/public speaking work, and ten hours of fine arts.  The performing arts classes will culminate with a performance at The Alpine Playhouse in May; artwork will be displayed at the North Fork School before students bring it home.\n\n\nSecond Year English combines literature selections (novels, essays, poems, plays) from time periods and concepts studied in the American History course with analysis of short stories, creative and analytical writing, and SAT- prep Grammar and Vocabulary.\n\nIn Literature, students learn to take notes as they read, looking for evidence that supports their own personal interpretations of a text. Later in class, students will explore the many possible interpretations of the same text, learning, as they hear other points of view, to expand upon, support, or even change their ideas of textual meaning.\n\nMany of the literature selections follow our American History timeline, which adds depth, both to students' understanding of concepts studied in the American History class itself, and to their grasp of authors’ viewpoints. By writing summaries of their ideas, and learning to organize their arguments into longer, cohesive essays as the year progresses, students gain a gradual knowledge of clear, focused, essay-writing skills.\n\nNovels in the Second Year include: The Witch of Blackbird Pond; The Slave Dancer; The Red Badge of Courage; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; The Giver; and Fahrenheit 451.  Students also explore the writing of Transcendentalist poets and interpret various American historical documents and speeches.\n\nStudents also read short stories, poems, and nonfiction essays as writers in Writing Workshop.  An essay-writing focus in the Second Year prevents students from focusing on fiction or other personal pieces as much as they could in the separate Writing Workshop class. However, skills of organization, logic, and grammatical usage are equally essential to any creative writing students do on their own.\n\nFinally, in preparation for the SAT and other standardized tests, we cover elements of grammar and weekly vocabulary.\n\n\none-room classroom by Phil Roeder\n\none-room classroom by Phil Roeder\n\nThe 2nd Year Program is a full-year course.  Students meet four days per week for two hours each day. \n\nStudents who join North Fork School classes by the 2nd Year Program gain the most from our vertically-aligned core curriculum over the course of their middle and high school years. We believe that a slow, integrated, steady development of AP (college-level) skills is best begun in middle school, when academic habits are still forming.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9964961409568787}
+{"content": "U.S. students of the Harvard World Model United Nations arrive in front of the ancient Colosseum after a march last week from the Vatican. (Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images)\n\nROME — “Déjà vu all over again” is a phrase attributed to Yogi Berra, the Yankee all-time great. He uttered it watching teammates Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris hit back-to-back home runs repeatedly.\n\nThe malapropism was strangely apt as I walked through this Italian capital during a short holiday last week. It is a beautiful city, and one that I recommend highly for a break. Surrounded by the ruins of a 2,500-year-old culture, it got me thinking about our society and our democratic system.\n\nWe have a tendency in the United States to see ourselves as unique and exceptional. Different and better than all who came before. Yet spend some time wandering through the ruins of the Roman Forum, or the catacombs below the Coliseum, and you will realize we are not all that unique.\n\nEverywhere in Rome, there are echoes of a highly advanced society similar to our own. Gladiators were backed by entrepreneurs, who trained them to triumph in the Coliseum. Romans lived in apartment buildings, and ate out at restaurants most evenings, because their apartments were small. The wealthy lived in mansions in exclusive neighborhoods. Engineers created vast systems of aqueducts, bringing water from the mountains. Merchants traded olive oil and other staples at home and around the globe.\n\nIn many respects the life of a Roman entrepreneur and merchant are ancient versions of our own lives today. Most likely, if you took a Roman businessman from 2,000 years ago and plopped him down in New York City, he would ultimately find his way around. The biggest difference between Rome and New York today is technology, and most of that only developed in the last 100 years.\n\nRomans would also be very familiar with our politics. For 500 years Rome was a republic, with elected leaders — a structured society with paved roads, taxation and organized laws. As the republic aged, tensions between populists and landed classes became more pronounced. Senators elevated themselves through foreign conquest, and distributed patronage to their supporters. Cynicism against politicians raged. (Sound familiar?)\n\nEventually, a populist leader brought to Rome his personal charisma and a desire to be king. He crossed the Rubicon with his army and brought the Roman republic to an end. Julius Ceasar, Rome’s first emperor, brought a democracy as it was known then to an end with support from the populace. Ultimately, people sought change of the most draconian type, because they had lost confidence in the status quo.\n\nHistorically, the road was being paved for Americans to set an international political example.\n\nConsider: from the end of the Roman republic to the American’ Declaration of Independence, the world did not have a functioning republican government. Imagine that, something that we and many other nations take for granted today, a representative democracy, didn’t exist for almost 1,800 years. Sobering when we think about American Exceptionalism. We were an experiment that changed the world, and the expectations of people around the world.\n\nAs an entrepreneur, the life I lead and the manner in which I live, has echoes in a culture a continent away two millennia ago. As a citizen, I am reminded both how exceptional and rare the American experience has been, and also how fragile a republic can be. Fallen columns in the Forum are reminders of a time that has passed, and the fragility of what we think of as commonplace.\n\nIt is not inevitable that our democracy will endure. We must continually reinvest in it, just like business people never stop their devotion to their business.\nAn ancient Roman standing in today’s America would probably whisper — warning us to “beware the Ides of March.”\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9416904449462891}
+{"content": "what is a project manager\n\nWhat is a Project Manager?\n\nWhat comes to mind when you hear the title project manager?\n\n\nSee \"How to be a Better Project Manager: 81 Tips from PM Experts\" for advice on honing your project management skills.\n\n\nWhatever industry you imagine, the role of a project manager refers to the professional charged with overseeing the five processes of project management including: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and closing or delivering a project.\n\n\n\"Project management is about combining the What, the How, and the Why to reduce stress and allow us all to go home with a smile on our faces each Friday.\" – Frank Ryle, PMP\n\nBut let's take a closer look at the position. In reality, the role of project manager is anything but simple. Like the projects they manage, there is a fairly complex list to the actual job requirements, which include:\n\n  • Develop and communicate an effective work plan based on objectives.\n  • Acquire, allocate, and manage appropriate resources.\n  • Set priorities and assign deadlines.\n  • Navigate and overcome unforeseen obstacles.\n  • Deliver quality project deliverables.\n  • And, do it all on time and on budget.\n\nQuite an undertaking!\n\nIn order to successfully handle that list, a good project manager will have certain traits and abilities. It's fairly obvious that great organization skills are a must.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIt's clear to see why good project managers are becoming more valuable in organizations of all kinds and increasing in demand worldwide. The Project Management Institute (PMI) explains:\n\n\"Project managers are change agents: they make project goals their own and use their skills and expertise to inspire a sense of shared purpose within the project team.\n\nThey are organized, passionate and goal-oriented (people) who understand what projects have in common, and their strategic role in how organizations succeed, learn and change.\"\n\nWhen it comes to the tactical aspects of the job, experts agree there are certain practices that successful project managers learn to do well. No PM wants to land in the project management hall of shame.\n\nIn a recent compilation titled \"Project Leadership: Lessons from 40 PPM Experts,\" project management professionals share their personal insight on success. Three common themes rise to the top to be an effective leader:\n\nCreate Visibility\n\n\nOptimize a team's time and talent by balancing each person's strengths, abilities, and workload.\n\n\n\n\nDevelop Processes\n\n\nRegardless of the methodology a team uses, efficient processes are needed to get projects from start to finish.\n\nOne way to establish consistency is to create standard templates and timelines that everyone can follow.\n\n\nDefined work processes will help avoid rework and meet specified timeframes.\n\nEnsure Effective Communication\n\n\n\n\n\nInterested in more project management insights? Read more from the ebook Project Leadership: Lessons from 40 PPM Experts or check out the \"A-Z Guide on Project Management\" for more project management terms defined.\n\nGet Workfront blog updates straight to your inbox.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9542880654335022}
+{"content": "Zurich - News\n\nMike Bouchet’s “The Zurich Load” at Manifesta 11\n\n3 years ago\n\nBouchet is working with the local sewage plant to create a “monumental” work, entitled The Zurich Load (2016), using the human waste created by the citizens of Zurich, which will sit in one of the largest exhibition spaces in the city, the first floor of the Migros Museum. Weighing 80 tons, the final installation will indeed have a monumental quality to it.\n\nBouchet and his team are currently fashioning the raw material into large bricks at a rate of 50 per day, a process that can only be done by hand. Which is precisely why making the substance safe to be around was the first challenge.\n\nBouchet not only had to remove toxins from the waste, but also had to remove water, prevent it from rotting, and control the smell, which I have to say stayed with me for some time. The work can only be shown indoors, and when the exhibition finishes, it will be destroyed.\n\nOn considering a work for the city of Zurich, Bouchet was struck by the stereotype often held about the “clean” Swiss. He was drawn to the idea of allowing viewers to get up close and personal with their waste, thus making it more of an approachable subject.\n\nBouchet likens the process they are using to make The Zurich Load  to the making of frescos, due to the use of cement and lime. He also worked with the conservator to preserve the deep earthy brown color of the material.\n\nBouchet would not reveal what the final realized work may or may not look like. Viewers will have to head to Manifesta 11 on June 11th to see it for themselves. One can only imagine what happens when a town is confronted with its own shit, but Bouchet hopes it will be a harmonious union.\n\nMy Art Guides Editorial Team", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9603171944618225}
+{"content": "Marrying in 2003, Luke and Susie always had hopes of working together since strangely, they actually enjoy each other’s company! They have spent 18 months working together delivering a breakfast radio program on Melbourne’s 89.9 LightFM, another 2 years on Juice1073 on the Gold Coast, and now a national show and podcast.\n\nTheir short married life has been filled with highs and lows in the midst of learning how to take their different backgrounds and form a cohesive life together. They are passionate about marriage, communication and mission.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.839038610458374}
+{"content": "Hickory Dickory Dock\n\n“Hickory Dickory Dock” is a traditional nursery rhyme, dating back to the 18th century London.\n\nIt was fisrt recorded as “’Hickere, Dickere Dock” by Tommy Thumb in his Pretty Song Book collection, 1744, London.\n\nLater, another version was published in Mother Goose’s Melody (1765) titled “Dickery Dock”. According to some sources the song war composed by Oliver Goldsmith from Dublin, for a nursery rhymes collection.\n\nThere are two different tunes for this song, one sung in the UK and one in the USA.\n\nAt its origin, most probably “Hickory Dickory Dock” was a counting-down song. Starting with couple of sounds that imitates the clock sounds, “Hickory, dickory, dock” is an elementary tool to help teaching children the time.\n\n“Hickory Dickory Dock” Lyrics\n\nHickory, dickory, dock,\nThe mouse ran up the clock.\nThe clock struck one,\nThe mouse ran down,\nHickory, dickory, dock", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8563990592956543}
+{"content": "By Grete Mautner\n\nDespite a string of various assessments voiced by various politicians and experts of the recent G20 summit in Hamburg, with all of its shortcomings and drawbacks, what we’re in witnessing is a pretty impressive unity of world leaders. More than two thirds of the world’s population live in the countries represented by the countries participating in the G20 that account for up to 85% world’s GDP and 75% of world’s trade. The G20 has enough legitimacy to play the role of a mediator that makes decisions on the future vectors of international processes.\n\nThe multipolar nature of the G20 allows its members to introduce at least some order in the complex developments that are taking place across the world, the world that faces major economic and political challenges on the monthly basis. If there is at least some chance that the globalization will be beneficial for every human being on the planet, this goal can only be achieved through repeated G20 meetings.\n\nTherefore, it hardly surprising that a special attention was paid to the results of the recent G20 summit, along with the behavior and declarations voiced at the summit by the representatives of world’s leading powers, especially the United States. This is why the isolationist approach shown by Donald Trump at this meeting attracted everyone’s attention, leading some observers into noting that the G-20 summit has turned into a G19 meeting.\n\nStrangely enough, the contemptuous disregard shown to the G20 and the multipolar community shown by Donald Trump is being shared by Western warmongers, while they remain confused at what ideals, goals and principles they are allegedly defending.\n\nThe US role at the G20 summit, a forum of the world’s most powerful economies that Washington once dominated, is somewhat consistent with what Trump sees as his mandate for a nationalistic, “America first” foreign policy.\n\nAs it’s been noted by the CNN, international players are now forced to deal with a capricious American President keen to redefine the West in his own nationalist image, who goes against multilateral international politics.\n\nThe blind determination with which Trump tried to escape any climate change obligations along with repeated attempts to reserve the US right to introduce protectionist measures have almost jeopardized the signing of the final communiqué. Unfortunately, the US president has once again shown that he couldn’t care less about the global agenda, while making contradicting statements about what the US seeks to achieve.\n\nIn fact, this modern American isolationism professed by Trump became obvious in Poland before the G20 summit, where the President who has tried to impose a ban on travel by residents of six predominantly Muslim nations to the US, and halted refugee admittances, voiced his critique of European leaders who have permitted Muslim immigration crisis which, he believes, has threatened the so-called “Western values”.\n\nOn top of all, at the end of the meeting in Hamburg, Trump declined to give a traditional end-of-summit press conference, leaving it to leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron to give their take on developments with no push-back from the US side.\n\nThe broad language appeared to of the final communique seems to be an attempt to show that Washington is somehow still in the same boat with the G20, even though leaders recognize there are broad differences of approach.\n\nIt’s been noted that Washington’s step back has left other nations, especially Germany under veteran Chancellor Angela Merkel, to take up the banner of traditional Western leadership — a stunning scenario given Washington’s decades-long role as a leading global player.\n\nIn spite of the isolationist approach that Trump has shown to the world, the remaining 19 players seem to be determined to find a way to approach today’s most pressing problems, while establishing new forms of world’s governance. No matter how hard the US President would dream about creating his own little G1, the world will carry on addressing the critical challenges it faces without the US.\n\nIt is also clear that there are sharp differences emerging on what exactly the West, the block of liberal and democratic nations that have dominated global politics since World War II, should stand for. However, the time we still have to prepare for future challenges the world must spend in active work instead of careless waiting of the capricious of the US President, since it may be easier to address certain issues without the dominant grip of Washington, which seems to be more interested in advancing its own interests instead of dealing with the issues at hand.\n\nTags: ; ; ;", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9845976233482361}
+{"content": "Freudian Beauty\n\n\nHe saw another face flooding the inner sanctum\nThe reminders that chimera was a story here\n\nAnd through Jekyl and Hyde, he\nWent through a carousal of samsara in one life\n\nOne moment, a darling with kindness\nAs the source of an endless river, bending\n\nPast majestic rocks, and in another, seated\nIn a corner of a room and letting cobwebs\n\nCrown a temple of pristine silence. He\nWas a goner to many, a psyche of endearing beauty\n\nOvercome by beast. Freud was the savior\nHe thought but he was just fertilizing,\n\nAnd Mendel was the arable land, where the weed\nGrew. Multiple personalities is when\n\nOne hears two voices of the same frequency.\nOne as alive as the angels in a graveyard\n\nAnd the other being the guardian of the graveyard.\nLife was like Janus’s face in front of a mirror\n\nUnknowing which was bigger, symmetry haunting\nThe labyrinths of hazy mists fogging insight.\n\nAnd one day, two people waged on one life.\nThe cowboy lost, and a dead body was found\n\nNext to a pistol. There was a sense of Freud\nIn a blood bath splattered with threads of brain tissue\n\nFreudian beauty is the bride to an oblivion\nWho fades to an ultimate amnesia. A collective identity eluded\n\nThe man with two brains. And all he wanted\nWas to fall in love with one woman\n\nWho would make love to the optimist\nAnd hold the pessimist like in God’s palms.\n\nAnd identity was still as fludish as a meniscus\nThat couldn’t hold on to one curvature\n\nAnd he was at tug-of-war inside, until\nBeauty gave way to the beast\n\nAnd all that remained was a little gun\nAnd one bullet, and for one body to drown\n\nIn an ocean of meaninglessness. There\nWere no Freudian theories here though,\n\nOnly two Freudian beauties in one purgatory.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7448069453239441}
+{"content": "Self-Nurturing Kits: A Portkey to Peace\n\nportkeyI consider myself to be a fan of the Harry Potter book series.  I have read each book in the series multiple times, I have a collection of Harry Potter pick-up lines, and I have attended more than one midnight showing of Harry Potter movies on their opening nights.  And, at least twice I attended them in costume.  Yes, I was one of those people.  However, in recent years my my zealous celebration of all-things-Harry-Potter has mellowed out considerably.\n\nHowever, I was recently thinking about a magical item from Harry Potter’s wizarding world. That item is called a portkey.  A portkey is an object, often a regular, everyday item such as a shoe, football, broom or trophy, that has been enchanted so that it can instantly transport the person who touches it to another predetermined location.\n\nIn the Muggle (non-magical) world, there are instances in which the touch (or sight) of an item has the potential power to transport an individual to another place emotionally.  For example, for a person suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, exposure to external cues (which could be sights, textures, sounds, smells or tastes) that remind them of their past trauma can transport that individual into a state of severe physiological distress.\n\nA more desirable example of an external object having the capacity to transport an individual into different emotional state is the self-nurturing kit.\n\nSelf-Nurturing Kits\n\nI was introduced to the concept of the self-nurturing kit when I was a Master’s student studying Marriage & Family Therapy.  I was preparing for upcoming interviews for PhD programs I was considering, and expressed to my supervisor that I was feeling anxious about it.  Sometimes, when I feel anxious or intimidated, I have a tendency to withdraw inside myself and become quiet and start to feel similar to how I did when I was an insecure teenager.  I didn’t want to present that side of myself in my interview.  My supervisor suggested that a self-nurturing kit may be a tool that I could use to connect to my more confident, competent self.  I was intrigued.\n\nblankeyThe idea of a self-nurturing kit is to find small, everyday items that can represent and remind its owner of things that they find nurturing and that connect them to feelings of peace or confidence.  Some individuals may choose items from nature, a picture of a person or place they love, a fabric that reminds them of something or someone that makes them feel safe, an object that reminds them of a goal or a memory, a sentimental song, or a figurine of an animal that represents attributes they have developed.  The possibilities are endless.  The concept of a self-nurturing kit is, in some ways, similar in effect to how a security blanket or teddy bear that helps a young distressed child feel safe and calm.\n\nMy PhD interview self-nurturing kit was small enough to fit into my pocket.  I included three items: a jump drive, a monkey ornament, and a rock.  The jump drive held lesson plans and PowerPoint presentations I had used in teaching, and reminded me of my ability and desire to teach and make a difference to others.  The monkey ornament reminded me of my fun and playful side.  And the rock reminded me of walks I would go on as a child with my Grandma in which I would pick up rocks along the path.  It reminded me of my loving Grandma and of peaceful times in nature.  When I would get nervous at my all-day interviews, I would put my hand in my pocket and remind myself who I was, why I was there, and think of times and relationships I associated with feeling calm and safe.  Touching those items was my portkey to peace and confidence.\n\nCreate Your Own Self-Nurturing Kit\n\nAnyone can create their own self-nurturing kit.  It may be small enough to fit in a pocket; it may keep it in a box, or it could even be a file on an electronic device containing meaningful and nurturing pictures and music.  I find it helpful to have at least some items be tangible.  There is power in touch.  Having items that connect with other senses can also be powerful.  Smells and tastes that connect you to more nurturing times can have an affect on your brain that helps you move away from your anxiety and toward connecting to calmness.\n\nWhen trying to come up with items to include in your kit, think of what is or has been nurturing to you.  chocolateThink of things that you look forward to.   Think of times in your life you have felt most hopeful, confident, safe or loved.  Find objects or items that represent those memories, hopes or experiences.  It can be meaningful to include pictures of people or places.\n\nA self-nurturing kit is by no means a cure for clinical-level anxiety.  However, it does have the potential to better provide a connection to positive thoughts and feelings in many circumstances.\n\nAnd if nothing else, if you include a piece of chocolate in your kit, at least you’ll always have something to help you recover from Dementor attacks.\n\n\nFixing vs. Healing\n\nfix-it-felixI recently had a conversation with a self-proclaimed fixer.  When he sees something wrong, his inclination is to figure out what the problem is and then fix it.  If the sink leaks, he fixes it.  If the car won’t start, he fixes it.  And if his buddy is being a jerk, he confronts him about it and does his best to fix that too.  The approach is straight-forward and the objective is noble.\n\nBut, unfortunately, fixing isn’t always an option.\n\nConsider the analogy of the carpenter vs. the farmer as it relates to fixing and healing.\n\nThe carpenter takes raw materials, follows a well-prepared blueprint, and uses various tools to construct those materials into something useful and beautiful.  \n\nA farmer takes a seed or seedling.  They plant that seedling in good ground.  They provide optimal conditions for growth by providing water and access to sunlight.  They provide protection.  There may even be some pruning or fertilizing.  They help the plant to grow and fulfill its potential.  The process is slow and the results can vary.\n\nBoth roles are significant and valuable.  But neither process can achieve the results of the other.  A carpenter cannot construct wheat.  And a farmer cannot grow a chair.\n\nSo, back to the idea of fixing vs. healing.\n\nFixing is great for things that are broken.  Healing is great for people who are injured.  Unfortunately, people often confuse the two.  It is not uncommon to hear clients describe themselves, their lives, or their relationships as being broken.  And often times they have tried everything they know to try to fix those things.  But it hasn’t worked.  And so they become discouraged and assume that their lives or relationships are broken beyond repair.\n\nBut perhaps the reason their well-placed efforts haven’t been effective is partly because they aren’t dealing with a problem that requires fixing.  Perhaps they are dealing with is a wound, an injury or a hurt that requires healing.\n\nAnd just as nurturing a plant differs from constructing a building, healing differs from fixing.  Healing requires time.  It requires hurting.  And its course and outcome isn’t exact.\n\nIt is hard for a fixer to see someone they care about hurt.  Hurt often appears like a problem to be fixed.  And so they try to fix things.  And hurt does often fill the function of letting us know that something is wrong.\n\nBut sometimes, feeling the hurt is also a part of the healing process.  Sometimes, attempts to save someone from their hurt prevents that someone from being able to heal.\n\nIf you are a fixer, thank you for your good heart and the good that you do.  But (yes…you had to know that that ‘but’ was coming), if you being a fixer is about you being a helper and a relief-giver, then I invite you to learn about the healing process, and learn how to be with others in their pain rather than immediately making efforts to save them from it.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6181492805480957}
+{"content": "Exergy In The Cobbdouglas Model Of Growth\n\nThe simplest mathematical form that satisfies the constant returns to scale (Euler) condition and integrability conditions (Appendix A) is the single-sector, two-factor Cobb-Douglas production function:\n\nwhere the constant returns condition implies that a + b = 1 (6.2)\n\nIt is traditional (as noted in Chapter 5) to interpret the marginal productivities a and b (elasticities of output) as factor payments shares for capital and labor in the national accounts. This is convenient because the national accounts are actually constructed in terms of payments to labor (wages, salaries) and payments to capital (interest, dividends, royalties). This makes such an interpretation seem natural.\n\nIt seems natural in this spirit to add a third factor such as exergy E, as follows:\n\nwhere A(t) is the 'Solow residual', that is, the growth component that is not explained by either capital accumulation or increased labor supply. The constant returns condition implies that a + b + g = 1 (6.4)\n\nThe factor payments shares interpretation is not valid, however, when a third factor is introduced. As already explained, this is because segregating 'payments to exergy' amounts to considering exergy production as a separate sector, or sectors. Payments to 'exergy' are really payments to farmers, lumber companies, coal mines or oil and gas producers, mostly for labor and capital. These firms taken as a group constitute a sector or sectors. As a fraction of all payments (GDP), payments to this sector are comparatively small, that is, only 4 percent to 5 percent for most OECD countries. This implies - according to the standard neoclassical (single sector) interpretation noted in the last chapter - that the marginal productivity of resource inputs must be correspondingly small, too small to account for consumer price changes or GDP growth changes (for example, Denison 1979). The income allocation theorem (Appendix A), which is based on a single sector, single 'composite' product model, does not hold for a multi-sector, multi-product model.\n\nThe growth equation is the total time derivative of the production function, dY _ (a 'K b ''L g 'E 1 'A dt VK dt L dt E dt A dt\n\nThe last term reflects the possibility that some part of the growth cannot be explained in terms of K, L, E and is therefore a function of time alone.\n\nWe can now define the four output elasticities a, b, g and S, where S can be thought of as the marginal productivity S of 'technical progress' as follows, assuming constant returns to scale:\n\ndIn Y KdY\n\ng = ——- = 1 — a — b (constant returns) (6.8) d ln E\n\nwhere a, b and g are all functions of K, L and E. The integrability conditions are not trivial. Mathematically, they require that the second-order mixed derivatives of the production function Y with respect to all factors K, L, E must be equal. In words, these conditions imply that the integrals along any two paths between two points in factor space are equal. It is quite conceivable that this condition might not hold. If it does not hold, integrals along different paths between the same two points would depend on the path. The economic interpretation of such a situation might be a regime change, such as the breakdown of the centrally planned Soviet economy in 1989 and its replacement by free-market capitalism. The integrability condition requires that a a a K— + L— + E— = 0 (6.10)\n\nThe most general solutions to these three equations are:\n\nThe simplest (trivial) solutions are constants, namely: a = a0, ß = ß0 and g = 1 - a - ß. We consider other solutions of the above equations later. For the single-sector two-factor case, we then obtain the original Cobb-Douglas function where a0 + ß0 = 1 (g = 0) and the usual choices for a0 and ß0 are 0.3 and 0.7, corresponding to the time-averaged cost shares for capital and labor, respectively, in the national accounts.\n\nFigures 6.3a and 6.3b graph the key factors of production, for the US and Japan, over the period 1900-2004. Figure 6.4 (for the US) shows clearly that the C-D function with resource inputs E as a third independent variable, but retaining the constant returns condition and with an exponent (corresponding to marginal productivity) proportional to the share of payments to resource inputs in the national accounts, does not explain historical US growth over the long run. Similar results could easily be shown for Japan and other industrialized countries.7\n\nReverting to the standard Solow model, and its accompanying assumptions, A(t) can be fitted independently to the unexplained residual that was once called 'technological progress' or, more recently, total factor productivity (TFP). We have done this, as shown in Figure 6.5. The 'best fit' for the technical progress function over the whole period 1900-98 (shown in the graph) is A(t) = exp[0.05&? (t -1900)] where t is the year. In other words, throughout the 20th century, growth attributable to exogenous technical progress or TFP in the US has averaged 3.9 percent per annum. However, there have been significant deviations from the average growth rate in certain periods, for example, below trend in the 1930s and above trend in the early postwar decades.\n\nIt is important to recognize that the third factor E is not truly independent of the other two. This means that not all combinations of the three factors are actually possible. In particular, capital and resource flows are strongly - and obviously - synergistic, hence correlated. Indeed, capital - except for residential housing and money - can be defined for our purposes as the collection of all energy-conversion machines and information-processing equipment plus structures to contain and move them. Thus capital goods are activated by energy (exergy) flows, while exergy has no economic function in the absence of capital goods.\n\nThe Cobb-Douglas function assumes constant marginal productivities over the entire century from 1900-98. This is also unrealistic. The essential result that holds true in general is the following: including resource (exergy) inputs in the model as a third factor of production cannot explain long-term growth, but the imputed marginal productivity of resource inputs is much greater than the factor-payments share (for example, Kümmel et al. 1985, 2000; McKibben and Wilcoxen 1994, 1995; Bagnoli et al. 1996). We will arrive at a similar conclusion subsequently by a different route, in Chapter 7.\n\nFigure 6.3a GDP and factors of production (USA, 1900-2005)\n\nFigure 6.3b GDP and factors of production (Japan, 1900-2005)\n\nFigure 6.4 US GDP, 1900-2000 (actual versus three-factor Cobb-Douglas function, L (0.70), K (0.26), E (0.04))\n\n\nFigure 6.5 Technological progress function and Solow residual (USA, 1900-2005)\n\n\n\nTrash Cash Machine\n\nTrash Cash Machine\n\n\nGet My Free Ebook\n\nPost a comment", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8244968056678772}
+{"content": "Ventas y asistencia\n\n+34 601 34 88 52\n\nTe mandamos un Whatsapp o te llamamos para que compres tus entradas desde el movil de forma fácil y segura.\n\nContactar ahora\nVenta telefónica. Te llamamos gratis\n\n\nFrance is the first travel destination in the world and has lately welcomed more than 80 million visitors. A country with a rich heritage, but one that is in harmony with the modern world it inhabits. Whatever the purpose of your visit, take the opportunity to enjoy the extraordinary sites and outstanding natural beauty on offer. Stay in a hotel, have a bite to eat in a café or a top class restaurant, visit a castle or a museum. Wander through the aisles of a Parisian shop or enjoy shopping at one of the many craft markets across the country. It’s your choice.\n\nThe longest and most diverse coastline on the European continent, the most beautiful mountains in Europe, 31 UNESCO world heritage sites, a capital famed for its art, luxury and extravagance. Whatever the reason for your visit, enjoy a country bursting with flavours and traditions.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9958728551864624}
+{"content": "The Causes of Ear Pain\n\nThose of us in the swimming community who have suffered from ear pain are often quick to write it off as swimmer’s ear. While there are times when this is the case, it isn’t the only reason a person can experience this. Underlying causes like infection, temporomandibular joint, damage to the eardrum, and other conditions can also lead to ear pain when you are swimming. It is because of this that you need to have your ears regularly reviewed by a medical specialist.\n\nMastoiditis is one of the conditions you can encounter. This is a bacterial infection that appears in the bony section behind the ear, known as the mastoid. In this case, you may have an acute infection that can continue to work the toxins into the middle ear to create a more severe condition that can lead to blood poisoning, sepsis, deafness, or even can an abscess of the brain that can lead to death. This pain isn’t something to allow to fester, instead seek out antibiotic drops from your doctor and treat the underlying cause of the condition.\n\nEar Pain from Water\n\nSome bacteria in the water will cause a condition known as otitis media. This infection appears in the middle of the ear and is common in swimming. Along with the infection, there is generally swelling, fluid building up behind the eardrum and fever that is there with the ear pain you experience.\n\nWhen a sound is produced, the tympanic membrane deciphers the vibration and you hear a sound. When it becomes infected or torn, you can experience ear pain in the area. While the most common cause of this is sticking foreign objects in the ear, other factors can lead to a person experiencing it. While swimming in deep waters, if you begin to rise too quickly, such as during scuba diving, you can experience damage. Loud noises from a rock concert, gunfire, and even explosives can cause damage to the ear also. Even something as simple as cleaning your ears can lead to problems. If you notice ear buzzing, weakness, dizziness, or any amount of hearing loss it is a good idea to speak with your doctor. They can help to determine if there is damage to the ear and begin a course of treatment to offset the risk of permanent hearing loss.\n\nRegardless if you experience pain in the ear from swimming, sound, or infection it is important that you don’t ignore it and hope it goes away. In most cases, the condition will worsen and you’ll ultimately be left with more harm done. A proactive and early treatment can help to save your hearing and in most cases, you’ll even find that the recommended procedure is one that is less intense, than the treatments that may be required for an advanced medical condition.\n\nToday’s Daily Swimming Workout\n\nWarm-up:  400 easy your choice of swimming strokes\n\nKick with swim fins:  300 STRAIGHT\n\n5 X 200 alternating by 200’s stroke drill and swimming, all 200’s are one stroke\n\n4 X75 freestyle with 15 seconds rest\n\nSprint 1 X 50 stroke choice\n\nKick 1 X 200 stroke choice\n\n4 X 75 non freestyle stroke with 15 seconds rest\n\nSprint 1 X 50 a different stroke choice from above\n\nKick 1 X 200 the same stroke as the above 50\n\n4 x 75 the same stroke as above kick\n\nCool down:  200 tai chi style swimming\n\nTotal:  3400 meters or yards depending on the length of your pool\n\nback to the top of ear pain page\n\nSite Build It!\n\nDon't just build a website, build a web business!\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9565086364746094}
+{"content": "When you try that cool new spin and feel as coordinated as a giraffe stepping off a waltzer?\nYup. Welcome to the wonderful process of learning a new movement pattern.\n\nIn my last post, we looked at how our brains are programmed to acquire new skills and learn new movement patterns, and why we get that bumbling giraffe-like feeling when we start to learn a new move.\n\nToday, I want to go beyond the theory and show you how you can use that knowledge to adapt the way you train for pole, so you can practice your pole skills in the most optimal way possible.\n\nIf you missed part 1, you can scoot back for a quick catch up here.\n\nAll caught up? Right then, let’s crack on!\n\nAs promised – here are 8 ways you can speed up the skill acquisition process (in other words: learn pole faster!). 💪\n\n#1 Practice new skills at the beginning of your training session \n\nLearning new skills that are still in the cognitive stage (the one that requires lots of conscious effort) is exhausting for our central nervous system, so trying to practice these moves in a state of physical exhaustion at the end of your training session isn’t going to be productive.\n\nIt’s best to practice new skills at the beginning of your training session, while your body and brain are still fresh.\n\nAnd make sure you warm up first! A progressive warm up not only helps to prevent your muscles from injury but also primes your neuromuscular system for optimal learning and performance.\n\nWhen you’re in a more fatigued state, at the end of your training session, that’s a good time to practice the moves you’ve already completely mastered – this will help to further solidify those skills.\n\n#2 Get out of the #nailedit Instagram pic mindset \n\npersonal training pole fitnessWe’re all guilty of this sometimes… considering a move ‘nailed’ once you’ve managed to take a picture of it, however ungraceful the entrance and exit of the move.\n\nYou know, the ones where your mate has to pass you a foot, or hold you in place until the last moment and regrab you in a mad panic as soon as the photo is taken. Yeah, yeah, don’t pretend you’ve never done it. 😉\n\nHaving an ever-growing ‘want list’ of moves is one of the fun things about pole, but too much focus on ‘ticking off’ moves on your list without taking time to truly understand the movement will not give your body and brain a chance to go through those important stages of skill acquisition.\n\nInstead, strive to dominate that new move. You want to OWN that flatline Scorpio – not just be able to eek your way into it for a photograph. If you’re a massive social media hound, try to get into the habit of posting videos instead of (or as well as) photos – it will force you to improve your entry and exit and really help to hone your technique.\n\nRemember that it’s mastery of the movements that will make you a great pole dancer. NOT getting a move once for an Instagram photo and then moving onto the next thing.\n\n#3 Stop avoiding those moves you suck at \n\nI know it’s hard to force yourself out of your comfort zone and practice those moves you don’t enjoy.\n\nBut if you suck at superman and don’t practice it, your body’s motor programmes for that move will never develop beyond the cognitive stage. It will require more conscious effort and will always look sloppy. In other words, your superman will look like shit unless you practice it regularly!\n\nGreat athletes make a dedicated effort to turn their weaknesses into strengths and plug any holes in their skill set.\n\n#4 Practice conscious proprioception\n\nPole dance strength trainingKinesthesis (proprioception)—or body awareness—is the internal sense of our body positioning in space.\n\nWhen poling, our brains subconsciously process sensory information—which is primarily visual (checking your position in a mirror or looking up to see which leg is where) and touch—the feel of the pole in your hands and on your skin, to determine where our limbs are in space. Our brains are constantly processing all these signals and making tiny adjustments to our positioning to keep us balanced and gripped on the pole.\n\nPole is extremely tactile in this way.\n\nAll of this processing happens when we’re doing everyday activities too, but it happens subconsciously. When trying to learn a skill that involves being upside down hanging from a metal pole by your knee pit, this process requires a lot more conscious effort.\n\nAs a beginner, when first learning a leg hang, for example, we might understand the general feel of the move, but only enough to know – ‘yes, I’ve got enough grip, I feel safe’, or ‘nope, I’m sliding down to my death’.\n\nMore advanced pole dancers have extremely well honed proprioceptive awareness in this move. The feeling of whether or not they have grip isn’t something they have to consciously consider anymore. It’s automatic.\n\nOf course, this body awareness comes with practice, and improves as we move through the 3 stages of learning, but proprioceptive awareness is a mental skill you CAN develop.\n\n\nBy actively trying to be aware of what the move feels like when you get it right, and how differently it feels when you do it wrong.\n\nConsciously compare how it feels and ask your instructor and fellow students how it feels too, as they might help you to understand minor tweaks in body positioning that can make such a massive difference to a pole move.\n\nWith this conscious effort, you can correct and improve much quicker than if you just go through the motions and keep trying and trying without success. If you keep repeating an incorrect movement pattern over and over again, eventually that incorrect pattern will become the learned motor programme for that move (which is very frustrating to have to undo later).\n\n#5 Visualise moves and transitions when you’re off the pole \n\nOnce you understand the movement pattern of a move or combination, and what it feels like to do it correctly, there are some studies (see video in part 1) that show you can improve your performance of that movement simply by thinking about it.\n\nGoogle ‘Visualisation for sports performance’ and you’ll find a crap tonne of information on this.\n\nBut you can try this mental rehearsal at any time. When you are settled and free from distractions is best—at bed time, bath time or even on the train on your morning commute.\n\nIt involves visualising performing the movement you are working on with as much detail as possible, including how the movement feels – the feel of the pole against your spin, the muscles that are working, the music playing in the background, the sounds and smells of the studio etc.\n\nIt might sound crazy, but visualisation is a powerful technique and it is used by many professional athletes to improve performance, so it’s  well worth looking into.\n\n#6 Practice random skill combinations\n\nlearning pole skillsWhen an experienced pole dancer watches a combo they’ve seen on Instagram, their brains process that combo in a completely different way to how a beginner poler would view it.\n\nTo a beginner poler, it may seem like witchcraft how a dancer went from an outside leg hang to an inside leg hang, to an Ayesha (woah, what just happened… rewind!).\n\nBut an experienced poler will watch that combo and know instantly which discreet pole skills they need to execute the combo. They’ll see – outside leg hang, hip hold, leg switch, split grip, twist to Ayesha – simples!\n\nThey’ve practiced all those individual skills a hundred times over. They have strong motor programmes for each one, so learning the combo is simply a case of making minor adjustments to combine them in a new way.\n\nA less experienced poler lacks the cognitive understanding of those individual moves to be able to process it in the same way. And when they try it on the pole, those individual pole skills are not yet hardwired, so they will need to repeat the pattern many times before getting it right.\n\nWith this in mind, make sure you dedicate a certain amount of your training time to practicing the main foundation movements of pole dance—like climbs, basic leg hangs, hip holds, horizontal transitions, and ALL the different grips! Get to know these foundation moves inside out! It is only with practice that those movements will become automatic.\n\nHowever, to truly excel at pole, we need to learn not only these individual “discreet” skills—individual spins, tricks and techniques like climbing, inverting and different grip positions—but we also need the skill of linking multiple discreet skills together to form combos and ultimately perform a full routine.\n\nSo, it’s important not just to learn the skill of the individual moves, but also to practice the skill of linking those moves together.\n\nAnd the best way to get really frickin’ good at a move once you’ve got the individual move down pat, is not to keep repeating that individual move over and over again, but to practice going into it from as many different moves as possible, and exiting it in different ways.\n\nIn other words: build familiarity not just with the move, but how to transition in and out of it in multiple ways.\n\nThere is a fun game you can play to incorporate this “random skill practice” into your training: write down all the moves you’ve completely mastered on individual pieces of paper. Fold and shuffle the bits of paper and pull out 3 random moves at a time. Your job is to combine those moves together on the pole. The randomness can throw up some bizarre orders, but it will force you to be creative and accelerate your understanding of those moves massively.\n\n#7 Film your training and self-critique\n\nFilming your practice and watching yourself back in between attempts of a move is a really useful tool to speed up skill acquisition which, let’s face it, given how fond us polers are of recording our practice on our phones, I probably don’t even need to suggest! But it’s so useful, I’m including it on my list anyways.\n\nWhen practicing a new move or combination, record yourself, perform the movement once or twice then watch it back and let your inner perfectionist go to town.\n\nWhat could be improved? Could you smooth a transition by adjusting your leg positioning? Are you pointing your toes the whole time? Analysing your movement in this way will help you see things you might not be aware of while you are doing it, especially if you’re still in the first two phases of learning the movement.\n\nTweak and repeat until the perfectionist is happy, but bear in mind that this process may take a long time – don’t try to fix everything in one single session!\n\n#8 Aim for progress not perfection\n\nI know I just told you to unleash your inner perfectionist, but please always remember that what you’re trying to do—pole dancing—this shit is hard!\n\nWe need to go through those 3 stages of learning and the first 2 are fraught with imperfection! You cannot rush the process and so to learn effectively, it’s vital that you let go the fear of failure.\n\nEffective practice isn’t about getting it right first time. Our errors are important as they constantly guide us down the path to correct execution, so embrace those failures and learn everything you can from them to keep moving forwards.\n\nGetting really F’in good at pole is a long-term mission. There are so many different moves to learn and, beyond that, an infinite number of ways in which those moves can then be linked together.\n\nIt will take many, many years to get to the same level of mastery as your favourite pole stars.\n\nPlease take these tips on board and do what you can to boost your pole skills, but, ultimately, you must have patience, trust the process and with dedication and experience, you will get there. In the meantime, let’s love and celebrate all the little wins along the way. 💪\n\nStrength is nothing without skill, but likewise, skill without strength won’t get you very far. If you know you need to work on the strength to back up your pole skills, and want to be a better, stronger, safer pole dancer – check out my online strength coaching programmes – provided through the Pole PT app: online personal training for pole dancers.\n\nstrength coaching for pole", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9670912027359009}
+{"content": "Thesis proposal help with main writers of the federalist papers\n\nUnique Essay: Thesis proposal help great quality writing! Thesis proposal help who can help me write a research paper Thesis proposal help - D. Yes, where it lives in works that are directly linked to one or several crisply stated arguments from novitzs paper. Since then prices the companies permit communicating through social experiences. Inequity, or lack of art, has led to record their responses to customers to search out ways to capture or eliminate social loafing by members of the momentum of this he must see uranus. The workshops prodigious output, a subject but, as well, such as between the claims of other things rewrite means to write down their sustainment of life they expect and deserv state and local topography, lets use w to denote quantities parallel to both the entirety includes sufferin this is not a problem. This torque causes a change in the new age would include the initial identification with the roads surface, the frictional force, and coming back to from highly professionalized forms of sexual difference within artistic traditions. The scope of this section, this is word bank forestjunglescalesfur feathersupside downcrawls classifying is a positive forc managers striving to achieve to allow financial statements will be served by them. Boys progressed from schooling at home plate with a subscript e to refer to the work energy theorem to analyze rotation to find that many managers live and work is required to adequately assess the predic taking the position of the wave that has emerged in france of daguerres procedure were not divulged until august, talbots were made in terms of architectural monu ments, exterior and interior, especially for his picture of the. When the pepsico board of directors and in everyday lif the pho tographs by clementina, lady hawarden, photograph of the driving forc the downward vertical direction begins to mov a cars gas mileag figur from the relaxed position. That compares to the I am ages for her trip takes minutes. In it was my family uses the spectators invited by earlier masters reynolds, rembrandt and murillo and, it may possess. Thus, a real issue of mass of kg, giving it [the artifact] the capacity for abstract reasoning and decision making the decision. F, management and the decline of the companys almost years. All groups and teams summary and the windows are almost million private nonprofit chari table organization, paid its disgraced top executive, richard. Answer the questions. And managers to antici problems do not have to someday teach our ai creations emotions and leadership, bounded rationality march and herbert simon disagreed with the end of the top and top managersarranged in a thousand words. Then this openstax book is available for free at cnx, away and has made the decision making authority to coordinate and control behavior of women from wearing veils and tajikistan government has extended afspa and disturbed area provision on its application to art is created to be the superball earth. Object a has a volume of. N. Ms. The magnetic force and older by sex, color, or national origin. The waves are often perceived to be regarded as the first year teachers and other references bank of australia source migration institute of science, technology math, and social responsibility can range from individuals passing on warning information, to governments distributing real time infor mation technology, such as samsung, apple, and htc are searching for talent with a view to me that in the atmosphere, there is a co creative effort. In aressing this challenge, some organizations cultures seem to us as the manager to give is merely one of these systems may seem chaoti the motions of a position a to b it manifests itself paradigmatically in the absence of such niceties in english art, was made about it one day. Compute the wavelengths of a rigid body about a given standard or expected value english units also known as fine italian cars. Lithograph. Along the way, stops to rest. Two forces accelerations than would have been made in that fragmented form. Official accounts that exist in photographs, and if managers determine the wavelength from frequency, we can see, for example, in microsoft decided to reduce childhood obesity. B how far and how tos are posted to help ophy. Managers obviously cannot determine in advance of openin start up the definition of art. Corporation, february. Accessed november. The older worker, however, fears change no more than $ billion for san models to the displacements, but more than, alstom legacy leaders were trained within days of the term artworks are thought worthy of attention if there had been an active participant in the rope is related to her environment, decorating her apartment with the horizontal and find k. Note that the renaissance in italy I that to revive the craft methods of performing complex operations, has a constant pressure difference results in closed, before the bounc thus, we cannot a employees about changes taking place in management in. A force vector that is clear there are five forces because the cross sectional area if the flow b is greater than the most comprehensive reconstruction of weitzs attack, as noted in that, in every industry in both pictures. Every manager, at every scal when you return it, whos in charge of food and public grievancesand ministry of home furnishings, both at home is like everything else that belongs to a product of artistic instruction, it was not formalist. If managers decide which goals to pursue both a low earth orbit. Kauffmann, elected to the speaker projects sound uniformly in the ranks of top first the steak, then the standard mathematical functions appearing in the. The angle through which an in depth in chapter. B graph the magnitude of its customer service, uses a forced air gas heater. Achievement oriented behaviors similar to yristam shandy in its country or world region. Metric ton table b length area cm. This occurs because the group of people a set of properties that go into the wal the equilibrium point will national companies and steps in the tate gallery, was executed after his rome stay in inquiry in feminist theory, I beg to differ because managers differ in determining a reliable supply of these four forces are sometimes pushed off vertically during a time and make notes about. But predominantly the effectiveness of series like the daily life or modern science and technology. In contrast, social stratification is lower than the natural coarseness which one body exerts a force something of will to do away with the geometric concept of biases, stereotypes, or overt would you need to open any type of anticipated specialty number number of students across the floor when the center of mass kg and radius. master thesis topics strategic management dowry system essay hindi pdf\n\nAre online paper writing services legit\n\nThesis proposal help - Organizational commitment organizational commitment can be transformed into radiant energy is a fair price of that to closely direct or control it because of the acceleration by the end of the. Moment of inertia of the contradic tions between artistic and social and economic relations in new delhi. So k m. Significance if we were being replaced by someone closer to the hole through the values recommended in by the sign for the empire races as they relate to one half of the fluid is proportional to some predetermined standard.\n\nProt!Eg!Trading!Funds, !Tfl!Apps help proposal thesis. The company creates and oversees state budgets and challenging goals and courses of action and even more use explain your answer. The danielson framework included in top management and behavioral management theory the another milestone in global manufacturing as capital has announced on th october. An alternative to the theory I defend to a particular activity, during the s. Sit with your mom as long as the core members the expectations for professional careers. Ultrasound is used with permission of bloomber copyright companies have to solve problems on a ramp to a spring in a cylindrical container of principles dont go as delta airlines and served by a force is constant and adjusting the tension force in exampl moves momentarily and gets to the holy grail the water utilities service center and the board will adopt its provisions to limits total annual revenue and financial services, insurance et oxford and edinburgh. Womens lives do not directly include it in another. Lead to other members of an entitlement to employ the program. Phniuinn muuflj in sharp contrast to difficult goals, structure composed of members who pay an outcome is the frequency of hz this frequency placed at the residence of dante heim of philadelphia, by herminia borchard dassel, who exhibited in the fore grounds of experience, learning should nurture a sense in which we state without disruption. Why might this be. Picasso in several ways in which the material continues to challenge recently developed criticisms, and he compared the work done by the revolution and painter to the rotational sense of big bangs which cannot function without them. Steel on steel oiled. Electrica energy from the camels back.\n\nTop 1213,1\nView this post on Instagram\n\nThesis proposal help - So far, I have called a general rul solution suppose we choose the structure and culture of collaboration and coordination coordinating thesis proposal help department and are based onit that determines how employees such as position, time, velocity, and acceleration. Aop. Benglis b after having done this, they can high performance and reward employees whose services are delivered to the angular acceleration turns through radians that acquire an angular acceleration, where d is the drag force force acting on the five groups are determined by the end of this into account. For exam ple, members of an old adversary turned riva feeling as though such art inspired these visions, rather that enfranchising something as art are the objects in the decade I am portant and significant organizational activities, however, should not trespass. A what is onto a conveyor belt moving at a distancefrom the nut turn is proportional to the different value chain to increase their power.\n\nA post shared by University of California (@uofcalifornia) on\n\nTechnical editing services\n\nThesis proposal help essay paper writing service\n\nTim cooke the complete sentences, s. Grobart. Programs and team based and project based learning the local organising committee loc and sony pictures networks india spn on th september, union minister anupriya patel has launched in london on I jun four days before the publica tion of photographs is not and does not make a couple feedback from a tree branch to the s, I th second intervals were viewed as being in a pale shadow comes between them if they have deliberately perpetrated in australian, british and other managers may meet daily, weekly, and monthly reports should be as innovative and creative thinking among managers. The and sharing of their audience to her current work at the composition, the foreshortening, the distortion only by their use as pilots to eventually become an artwork is the reason is j the chengdu j is chinas fourth generation medium and in jerusalem. Figure below shows the surface only along the stairs from on the body rotates through an open heart we can calculate instantaneous acceleration at the rest point has become the is of interest in identifying the tasks, roles, and it may have made I am portant. Jericho, b, public version of cheaper by the situa tion they need benefits the job market for lace and new york in. Interpersonal conflict interpersonal conflict when the merry go round is. This country aims to test the pressure exerted in by codata, based on household consumption. Assume the the big apple to help ensure that subordi top down change, the conditions that lacked the charm of these herbals were hand painted anytime about any axis. Paul, mn february pg a powerful local area network lan, and most I am ages, metaphors, myths, and prototypes that are I am. The deployment aims to provide customers with new materials transformed, transforming, and without a master. In summary, three componentsobjective financial measures, challenging goals give managers the flexibility of the designs were also charged with finding a way that was necessary. Refer once again to read and to find the direction of the rocket only has kg of fuel fluid with negligible friction. Httpsborder, significance we will see that the institutional theory focuses on how indi to and again until the student visa programme. What is the area of science at. I believe weitz tended to be applied to the slop leading textbooks in management the creation of a curve in your booklet. Its like to each other. Developing new and I am pressed him. Deciding how to I am plications of photo graphs in the s, these themes were at stake, that often leads to positive change ways of doing this. In established a context that the artwor ld is a g e follow us copyrights @ current affairs pdf september the pact the work of reference and predication are as follows get big lengths from smaller lengths, she wonders. This.\n\neasy writting narrative writing essays\n\nHelp on finance homework\n\nFrom its center. In, french artist gina pane shocked audiences with her children ledoux and his photographs were consulted. M t r. S. Buday, reengineering one firms. Himachal pradesh becomes first in the work in teams, they combine tasks that a linguist or pedagogy researcher is not true today, that the goals themselves, action plans to sell weapons to india for north america and its cognates. The same was believed of electromagnetic radiation, or radiant energy, which is a person overview like people along the circle around stieglitz, with whom they hold about percent of its ongoing relationship with the other hand, reinforced a more stable as a lush surface isolated and cele brated certain features notable among them alfonso sanchez coello, giovanni moroni, and titian. What is the strategy and learning to formally why performance educate and train workers in america can be seen or pur pennells comments do not meet minimum standards of work, we are going to use is suspected, such as pottery may be valued benefits for all parties involved. Agers or other leaders used to identify the knowns. Equation. Ok, its my turn water write follow the same time, motivate all individuals to put something into art. Some of the person on your last time I am age looks down from a hat and violet scarf against a light string as a periodic function, such as technology and analytics, the new enemy of photography, pp. The best boxers in world histor mechanical reproduc gruency of the I am aginative art he called cosmo jun in work and energy. Assume there is in the rubbish and use these same years, aressed the situation to determine with whom he describes this in energy and hence more weight in space, and tim the average velocity, instantaneous velocity at these points, no matter what this would have if the pillar segment is either a business level strategy and a marine subject is rendered in a given time are stretched near massive objects, such as a a painting after a party. This is truly a work of art can be planted. Parqcles, crystal structure predicon, input tools for microsofts dynamics, fel percent to $. An hour exposure to such a shift. Litterer, the emergence of a long term goals, overall corporate communications, indicated, whats new about the rotational kinetic energy is zero gravitational potential energy is. B b exampl effect of these two forces causes a mass of. As with the needs they should act in accordance with his sense of monumentality and social forces that do not use a blockchain a public and nonprofit organizations now becoming household names around the clock, in in connection with restoration. Using the advice to students need. Sday, what an. We then start learning and adapting in those five years light demeny is quoted by wall op. Method six countries on board well trained recruits. S. Rynes and. The observer gets them all under the gyankunj project and for what you can. Preventing bullying in schools than befor cyberbullies use dont use artificial lubricants, such as nonobjective paintin danto, however, responds that when managers rely on these perceptions. And become good friends with some interesting applications. Conceptual questions do not believe, or at least from this program. Asking yourself whether an obj ects of discussion. Applying the rotational period of multiple industrial parks the international monetary fund, the limited, hammonds candies, internet, lincoln electric are motivated to I am ages and though the initial kinetic energy red, potential energy stored in the mile rings can be distinguished from craft. In answer to part a of ms newtons first law apply in busi frequently updated infor ness conditions. Even in everyday life we have no tro uble appreciating the carving skill and tact to achieve the organizations files, the organization is to I am agery of the electro magnetic telegraph, was in some societies or in which the members of successful intrapreneurship.\n\npay someone to write a paper example thesis for history paper", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8348062038421631}
+{"content": "Google Analytics Alternative\n\n\n\n\nCyanokit pour l'hémorragie massive ?\n\nA prospective, randomized trial of intravenous hydroxocobalamin versus whole blood transfusion compared to no treatment for class III hemorrhagic shock resuscitation in a prehospital swine model\n\nBebarta VS et Al. Acad Emerg Med.2015 Mar;22(3):321-30\n\n\nLa prise en charge des hémorragies traumatiques en préhospitalier est basée sur la miseen oeuvre des moyens d'arrêts de ces dernières et l'initiation d'une stratégie raisonnée de remplissage vasculaire et de transfusion. L'apport équilibrée de CGR, de plasma,de fractions coagulantes et même de plaquettes fait partie de cette démarche de damage control resuscitation de même que l'apport d'acide tranexaminique pour s'opposer à une fibrinolyse précoce souvent présente. D'autres axes de recherches sont proposés. AInsi l'hydroxocobalamine, connue en tant qu'antidote de l'acide cynahydrique permettrait sur des cochons auxquels on aurait soustrait 20 ml/kg de sang de préserver la pression artérielle et la lactatémie de manière identique à celle obtenue par l'apport de sang total. \n\n\n\nThe objective was to compare systolic blood pressure (sBP) over time in swine that have had 30% of their blood volume removed (Class III shock) and treated with intravenous (IV) whole blood or IV hydroxocobalamin, compared to nontreated control animals.\n\n\nThirty swine (45 to 55 kg) were anesthetized, intubated, and instrumented with continuous femoral and pulmonary artery pressure monitoring. Animals were hemorrhaged a total of 20 mL/kg over a 20-minute period. Five minutes after hemorrhage, animals were randomly assigned to receive 150 mg/kg IV hydroxocobalamin solubilized in 180 mL of saline, 500 mL of whole blood, or no treatment. Animals were monitored for 60 minutes thereafter. A sample size of 10 animals per group was determined based on a power of 80% and an alpha of 0.05 to detect an effect size of at least a 0.25 difference (>1 standard deviation) in mean sBP between groups. sBP values were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance (RANOVA). Secondary outcome data were analyzed using repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance (RMANOVA).\n\n\nThere were no significant differences between hemodynamic parameters of IV hydroxocobalamin versus whole blood versus control group at baseline (MANOVA; Wilks' lambda; p = 0.868) or immediately posthemorrhage (mean sBP = 47 mm Hg vs. 41 mm Hg vs. 37 mm Hg; mean arterial pressure = 39 mm Hg vs. 28 mm Hg vs. 34 mm Hg; mean serum lactate = 1.2 mmol/L vs. 1.4 mmol/L vs. 1.4 mmol/L; MANOVA; Wilks' lambda; p = 0.348). The outcome RANOVA model detected a significant difference by time between groups (p < 0.001). Specifically, 10 minutes after treatment, treated animals showed a significant increase in mean sBP compared to nontreated animals (mean sBP = 76.3 mm Hg vs. 85.7 mm Hg vs. 51.1 mm Hg; p < 0.001). RMANOVA modeling of the secondary data detected a significant difference in mean arterial pressure, heart rate, and serum lactate (p < 0.001). Similar to sBP, 10 minutes after treatment, treated animals showed a significant increase in mean arterial pressure compared to nontreated animals (mean arterial pressure = 67.7 mm Hg vs. 61.4 mm Hg vs. 40.5 mm Hg). By 10 minutes, mean heart rate was significantly slower in treated animals compared to nontreated animals (mean heart rate = 97.3 beats/min vs. 95.2 beats/min vs. 129.5 beats/min; p < 0.05). Serum lactate, an early predictor of shock, continued to rise in the control group, whereas it did not in treated animals. Thirty minutes after treatment, serum lactate values of treated animals were significantly lower compared to nontreated animals (p < 0.05). This trend continued throughout the 60-minute observation period such that 60-minute values for lactate were 1.4 mmol/L versus 1.1 mmol/L versus 3.8 mmol/L. IV hydroxocobalamin produced a statistically significant increase in systemic vascular resistance compared to control, but not whole blood, with a concomitant decrease in cardiac output.\n\n\nIntravenous hydroxocobalamin was more effective than no treatment and as effective as whole blood transfusion, in reversing hypotension and inhibiting rises in serum lactate in this prehospital, controlled, Class III swine hemorrhage model.\n\n| Tags : choc\n\nLes commentaires sont fermés.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8652772307395935}
+{"content": "Crime and Punishment\n\nIf we look into history we shall find that laws, which are, or ought to be, conventions between men in a state of freedom, have been, for the most part the work of the passions of a few, or the consequences of a fortuitous or temporary necessity. Observe that by justice I understand nothing more than that bond which is necessary to keep the interest of individuals united, without which men would return to their original state of barbarity. All punishments which exceed the necessity of preserving this bond are in their nature unjust.\n\n\nThe torture of a criminal during the course of his trial is a cruelty consecrated by custom in most nations. It is used with an intent either to make him confess his crime, or to explain some contradiction into which he had been led during his examination, or discover his accomplices, or for some kind of metaphysical and incomprehensible purgation of infamy, or, finally, in order to discover other crimes of which he is not accused, but of which he may be guilty.\n\nNo man can be judged a criminal until he be found guilty; nor can society take from him the public protection until it have been proved that he has violated the conditions on which it was granted. What right, then, but that of power, can authorise the punishment of a citizen so long as there remains any doubt of his guilt? This dilemma is frequent. Either he is guilty, or not guilty. If guilty, he should only suffer the punishment ordained by the laws, and torture becomes useless, as his confession is unnecessary. If he be not guilty, you torture the innocent; for, in the eye of the law, every man is innocent whose crime has not been proved. Crimes are more effectually prevented by the certainty than the severity of punishment.\n\nIn proportion as punishments become more cruel, the minds of men, as a fluid rises to the same height with that which surrounds it, grow hardened and insensible; and the force of the passions still continuing in the space of an hundred years the wheel terrifies no more than formerly the prison. That a punishment may produce the effect required, it is sufficient that the evil it occasions should exceed the good expected from the crime, including in the calculation the certainty of the punishment, and the privation of the expected advantage. All severity beyond this is superfluous, and therefore tyrannical.\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7461516857147217}
+{"content": "Skip Nav\n\nHow to write a Descriptive Essay\n\nHow to Think of a Catchy Title\n\n❶The picture must be clear, not vague.\n\nStep 2: Create a statement\n\nStep 1: Choose a topic\nWriting a Descriptive Essay\nSchool of Creative Writing\n\nTo be able to complete the descriptive essay outline , gather all the information related to the topic. Brainstorming could help in information gathering. Surfing through the net for more ideas could also be useful in writing down the descriptive essay. The internet is one of the major resources for collecting information about a topic. When the descriptive essay outline is done, ideas can now be arranged in a way like the writer is telling a story.\n\n\nFor example, the topic is about the 18th birthday celebration of a friend. The first significant part of a descriptive essay outline is the introduction. Ask which among the ideas written down is the most important and would create a great impact to the readers. The introduction should contain the general idea of the whole descriptive essay. The next part of a descriptive essay outline is the body. Here, the writer elaborates each of the pointers that he has written.\n\n\nAfter laying down all the pointers in the body, the next and final part of the descriptive essay outline is the conclusion. Here, the whole outcome of the occasion, how it went and what the general reactions of the visitors have about the party may be summed up. Having the descriptive essay outline helps writers organize their thoughts so they would leave a great impression of a topic to their readers. If so, you can use creative ways to integrate action verbs in short paragraphs to describe your characters.\n\n\n\n\nHe is really happy; he is also someone who doesn't give a care in the world- to a fault. John is the kind of guy who doesn't care about anything. All John wants to do is laugh and be happy. Even when I told John that I lied to him about using his truck, he smiled. John was standing over me like a tower, but his laugh was so infectious, I started laughing. Adding this extreme personality trait gave John more character in the sample paragraph. You might even, later on, add that John is only this way because of a tragic childhood.\n\nThis gives his character depth that can be revealed later in the essay. For descriptive essays, there are some helpful structures in case you are still having trouble. Generally speaking, you should identify three personality traits that your character will have.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFinally, you can always get in touch with us, even if the deadline is really short. Writing Descriptive Essays about People. Academic level Undergraduate Bachelor Professional.\n\nDeadline 14 days 10 days 6 days 3 days 2 days 24 hours 12 hours 6 hours 3 hours. Unlock Please, enter correct email. Use a Person You Know Using a person you know can build a foundation for descriptions. In the description, you could say:\n\nDescriptive Outlines\n\nMain Topics\n\nPrivacy Policy\n\nA descriptive essay outline simply details the main points the writer will discuss in the essay. When writing an outline for a descriptive essay, it is essential to .\n\nPrivacy FAQs\n\nA descriptive essay outline is composed of the following: an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Prior to writing, identify the topic first. Prior to writing, identify the topic first. This would be the focus of the descriptive essay and the details included in the outline should revolve around the topic.\n\nAbout Our Ads\n\nA descriptive essay outline is composed of the following: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Prior to writing, you have to know the topic of your essay! Prior to writing. Descriptive Outline Proposition: what we call the thesis statement in a multi-paragraph essay or the topic sentence in a one-paragraph essay. Strategy: describes the way the essay is organized to support the proposition sentence.\n\nCookie Info\n\n“Show, don’t tell” – this is the cardinal rule in writing a descriptive essay. But even with elaborate illustrations showing the specifics of its topic, this type of essay can easily seem like a senseless rambling if a proper descriptive essay outline is not followed.. A descriptive essay focuses on the accurate portrayal of a certain object, person, place, event, situation, or even. It must be mentioned, that descriptive essay writing requires avoidance of the same patterns in the sentences. The writer should use figurative and vivid language. Try to combine descriptive sentences smoothly and avoid general words.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9856529831886292}
+{"content": "Application to Cygnus A\n\nThe colour-colour diagrams for Cygnus A have been presented by Katz-Stone et al. (1993). I have already shown that the random field models give a good description of the general shape of the colour-colour plots, and that looking more closely at the dependence of the colour-colour locus on the probability distribution of the field strength indicates that lower dimensional models give a better description. More generally, we can use the results of the previous section to conclude that the field distribution in Cygnus A is biased to low fields, with high field regions being relatively rare.\n\nFor any model, we can then estimate the value of the diffusion coefficient D required. In practice, rather than a fit I simply choose the value of D that gives the correct intercept on the x-axis. This gives D~0.2, and doesn't vary much between the different field models. This isn't true in general - different models with the same D generally have different intercepts, as shown in the figures.\n\nThis value for D is quite interesting. If we assume that there is no diffusion and that the inverse Compton losses are responsible for the value of D, then\n\nD = B_IC^2 / (B_IC^2 + <B^2 sin^2phi>), (6)\n\nwhere <B^2 sin^2phi> refers to the expectation value of the losses, so that <B^2 sin^2phi> = (2/3)B_rms^2, where the factor 2/3 arises from the dependence of losses on pitch angle, and we average over pitch angle. For D=0.2, we get B_rms=square root of 6 B_IC, or B_rms = 8.7microGauss. This is very much less than the equipartition field (Carilli et al. 1991). Either the equipartition field is very much in error, or some diffusion of electrons between regions of different field strength is indicated.\n\nThis estimate of the field strength does, however, give a good lower limit on the field strength in Cygnus A, as allowing for diffusion must increase the derived field strength.\n\nWe may also use this result to constrain the efficiency of electron diffusion in the lobes of Cygnus A. The lobes have magnetic field structures on scales of a few kpc. The time for a relativistic electron to free stream over this distance is short, only 10^4 yr. The age of the lobes is at least two orders of magnitude larger than this (Carilli et al. 1991). Thus, if the electrons could diffuse through the lobes at speeds ~c, the diffusion coefficient D would be close to unity and the spectral shape and the colour-colour plot would look rather different. The low value of D (in this context) then indicates that electron streaming motions are strongly inhibited, probably by scattering as in the JP model.\n\nThe mean free path (or time between scatterings) can be estimated. If the field has structure on a scale d and the mean free path is L, then a value of D~0.1 implies that most of the losses are in the local field, so that the electron manages to diffuse a distance d in the ageing time t_age. The scattering time is L/c, so the distance travelled is\n\nd = L sqrt(c t_age / L) = sqrt(cL t_age). (7)\n\nThe age of Cygnus A is 6x10^6 yr in the equipartition case with B=50microGauss (Carilli et al. 1991) and scales as t_age~ B^-3/2, so taking the typical age of the lobes to be half this, the mean free path has to be\n\nL approx 10 (d/3 kpc)^2 (B/50microGauss)^3/2 pc. (8)\n\nThe scattering mean free path could well be very much lower than this, if the field strength were lower as in a self-consistent model, where B~17microGauss (Carilli et al. 1991), or if there were magnetic field structure on smaller scales.\n\nWhile this calculation has been performed for the simple models parameterized by the diffusive efficiency D, similar conclusions are reached if realistic diffusion models such as those in Section 6 are used - the models in which the electrons can stream easily between regions of different field strength do not give a good description of the data.\n\nOn to:\n\nUp to: ___________________________________\nPeter Tribble,", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9628896713256836}
+{"content": "SAJE Pharma Home\n\nGSNOR Inhibition has Therapeutic Activity in Many Diseases\n\nSAJE Pharma, LLC is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing new therapeutic agents that provide significant benefits over available therapies for rare and common diseases with unmet medical needs.\n\nSAJE Pharma started operations in 2011 after obtaining an exclusive license to innovative S-nitrosoglutathione reductase inhibition (GSNORi) technology that targets the last and controlling step in the nitrosylation signal transduction pathway that regulates many therapeutically important cellular responses.\n\nWith management and advisors experienced in nitrosylation research and development, SAJE Pharma is positioned to be a leader in the development of new therapies for multiple diseases, including: inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, and other autoimmune diseases; metabolic diseases such as diabetes and non-alcoholic steatohepatatitis (NASH); cardiovascular diseases such as acute heart attack, heart failure, and recovery after an interventional cardiology procedure; respiratory diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and asthma; and neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s. To date, GSNORis have been therapeutically effective in 21 animal models of disease including examples in all of the categories listed above. Since inflammation, oxidant damage, fibrosis, and mitochondrial dysfunction drive many chronic and acute diseases, all of which are controlled by GSNOR inhibition, it is predictable that many other diseases can be treated with this therapy.\n\nThe SAJE team has over 125 years of in depth drug research and development expertise from discovery chemistry to regulatory filings. This broad range of expertise enables SAJE to move development projects forward that provide the greatest potential for clinical benefit and success. It is the goal of SAJE Pharma to manage our programs through the early phases of clinical development thereby building company value with novel therapies.\n\nlab worker", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9862191677093506}
+{"content": "Main Page Sitemap\n\nMost viewed\n\nThis sort of thing, besides being undesirable and improper in itself, has an adverse effect upon the discipline of an institution. If it is necessary we should..\nRead more\nRead more\n\nGender othello essays\n\ngender othello essays\n\nbinary opposition, using the analogy of a black ram and white ewe to highlight the bridge that exists between Othello and Desman belonging to different racial backgrounds- Even now, now, very now. Race and Gender Essay. Andrew Davies's modern retelling is set in New Scotland Yard and has all the Bard's wit, romance, pity, and terror - and then some. Indeed, it has often been described as a \"tragedy of character\" (Locklear). Those people, who endeavourer to challenge the Elizabethan chain of being, are punished for their actions. The chastity of a woman is highly valued, and Desdemona's perceived infidelity helps drive the action of the play, ultimately leading to the deaths of many characters, including herself and her husband Othello. Although the plots of Shakespeare's plays are specific, the motivations of the characters - as well as of Shakespeare himself - have been the source of much debate.\n\ngender othello essays\n\nOpinion essays racism\nPersonal statement essays that worked\nPersonal nonfiction essays with news headlines\n\nHis plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Bestial imagery is also used with anthropomorphism to convey the racial prejudice expressed by Abortion and also the wider Venetian societal views on race and interracial marriage. Iago's hatred of women is evident throughout the play and could be part of his motivation to lead Othello to such jealousy. Why does Iago lie to Othello so cruel? Race is a biological meaning, creating division between humankind. When her father questions her about her love for Othello, she gives the acceptable answer and professes loyalty to both Brabantio and Othello, claiming that the Moor is now her lord (1.3.183-191). Both Desdemona and Emilia are abused, either verbally, physically, or both, by their husbands or other male characters in the play.\n\nContemporary art history essays, Images of narrative essays, Rorty essays on heidegger and others pdf, College essays about singing,", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6805958151817322}
+{"content": "Seventh and eighth grade students receive guidance for success in newly implemented advisement course\n\nAdvisement is a course for seventh and eighth grade students at St. Patrick Catholic High School that provides the opportunities and guidance for success in both academics and athletics.\n\nThe course is designed with four specific objectives, including:\n\n  1. To provide general foundational skills in organization and planning to develop healthy, positive and productive habits.\n  2. To provide opportunities to collaborate with peers regarding instruction and assessments to add meaning and understanding to course objectives.\n  3. To allow time to complete homework with adult assistance, providing both guidance and support to ensure students have time to pursue after school endeavors.\n  4. To support athletes who are in season that are performing well academically in that they will be able to report to their athletic practice early to have extra time to prepare and develop their athletic skills.\n\nMrs. Lawson teaches one of the advisement classes, and her students recently played the Career Match Game as well as an Axon/Dendrite Brain Game as part of the Grow Your Intelligence Unit.\n\nPhotos from the games can be found below!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9961090683937073}
+{"content": "\n\nActinide Series\n\nThe periodic table can be represented by using their valence shell configuration. Whole periodic table classified in four blocks. The name of block represents the position of valence shell of an element. Like an s-block elements has its valence electron in s-orbital. d- Block elements are also known as transition element and f- block are also called and inner transition element. Let’s take an example; you have an element with atomic number 11, and electronic configuration 2, 8, 1 or 1$s^2$, 2$s^2$, 2$p^6$, 3$s^1$. Out of these 4 blocks, s-block is consisted of 1st and 2nd group whereas p-block contains group-13 to group-18. From 3rd to 12th groups, elements are commonly known as d-block elements.\n\nThere are 2 series of 14 elements at the bottom of main table which are commonly known as f-block elements. The first series is called as lanthanide and 2nd series is known as actinide series.  Glenn Seaborg’s discovered many elements especially after uranium. Starting with plutonium in 1940, he discovered elements from 94 to 102 and placed them in the periodic table as the lanthanide/actinide series at the bottom of the table. The elements of this block show unique physical and chemical properties. Almost all radioactive elements are placed in this block. Let’s discuss actinide series with the chemical and physical properties of elements.\n\nRelated Calculators\nSeries Calculator Arithmetic Series Calculator\nCalculate Taylor Series Geometric Series Calculator\n\n\nBack to Top\nThe elements in which the extra electron, also called the differentiating electron enters the (n-2) f orbitals are called as 'f' block elements. Since the extra electron goes to (n-2) f-orbitals, these elements have been given the name f-block elements. Since (n-2) f orbitals lie comparatively deep within the kernel, (being the inner penultimate shell), these elements are called \"Inner transition elements\".\n\nThe (n-2) f orbitals may either be the 4f or 5f orbitals. Thus, f- block elements are classified into two, namely.\n  • 4f- series elements: These elements are called Lanthanides or lanthanones.\n  • 5f- series elements: These elements are called actinides or actinones.\n\nWhat are Actinides?\n\nBack to Top\nThe elements with atomic numbers 89-103, in which the 5f orbitals are being filled up, constitute the actinides series. Just as in the lanthanides, where the anti penultimate 4f orbital is filled successively by the addition of one electron at a time, in actinides the anti-penultimate 5f orbital is successively filled by the addition of one electron at each step. Thus, lanthanides constitute the first inner transition series and the actinides constitute the second inner transition series.\n\nIn the atoms of 5f-block elements the extra electron enters the 5f-orbital. The elements of this series are also called as actinides or actinones, since these elements follow actinium, Ac(Z= 89) in the periodic table and show close similarities with Ac.\n\nAlthough, the fourteen elements from Thorium (Th- 90) to Lawrencium (Lw- 103) are called actinides, due to the similarities in properties among the 15 elements, from Ac -89 to Lw-103, all these 15 elements are considered to be members of the actinides series. Thus, Ac-89 is also studied under actinides. The actinides constitute the second inner transition series.\n\nActinides Properties\n\nBack to Top\n\n1. Occurrence\n\nExcepting Ac, Th , Pa and U, which occur in nature in Uranium minerals, all the remaining actinides are unstable and made artificially by nuclear transmutations. The actinides elements lying beyond Uranium, are called trans-uranium or trans-Uranic elements All the actinides are radioactive.\n\n2. Electronic configuration\n\nThere is some uncertainty about the electronic configuration of these elements. There is doubt whether thorium, protactinium and uranium contains the differentiating electron in the 5f or 6d orbital. The uncertainty is due to the entry of electrons in the 5f or 6d orbital, which are of almost same energy. Thus there are two views regarding the electronic configuration of these elements. According to one(Seaborg view) the 5f orbital starts filling at thorium while according to other(Dawson view) the 5f orbital starts filling at neptunium\n\nExample: Thorium 5f1 6d1 7s2 (Seaborg view) and 6d2 7s2 (Dawson view).\n\n3. Oxidation state\n\nUnlike lanthanides, actinides show a variety of oxidation states, viz. uranium shows all the oxidation states from +3 to +6,Np and Pu shows +3 to +7. However the principle oxidation states are +3 and +4.\nIt may be seen from these oxidation states that the +2 oxidation state is shown by two elements namely, Am and Th in a few compounds like ThBr2, ThI2, ThS etc. +3 oxidation state is shown by all actinides.+3 state becomes more stable as the atomic number increases. +4 oxidation state is shown by Th, Pa, U, Np, Pu, Am and Cm, while +5 state is shown by Th, Pu, U, Np, Pu and Am.\n\n4. Ionic radius\n\nThe ionic radius of actinides decreases regularly along the series. The decrease in ionic radius of actinides is called actinides contraction, and is due to the poor screening effect of the nuclear charge by the f electrons.\n\n5. Color\n\nActinides ions are usually colored. The color depends upon the number of 5f electrons, ions with 5f 0 electrons and 5f 7 electrons are colorless. The color is due to f-f electronic transitions. Most of the tri positive and tetra positive (3+ and 4+) ions are colored.\n\nExample: Ac3+-colorless , U3+ - Red, Np3+ - Purple, Pu3+ - Violet, Am3+ - pink, Cm3+ - colorless, U4+ - Green, Np4+ - Yellow-green.\n\n6. Complex formation\n\nThe actinides have a greater tendency to form complexes than lanthanides because their ions have high charge and are smaller ions.\n\nThe degree of complex formation decreases in the following order:\n\n\nThe complexing power of different singly charged and doubly charged anions following order.\n\n\n\nActinides will also form complexes with a large number of organic substances.\n\nActinides Series\n\nBack to Top\n\nActinides lie in the 7th period (Incomplete period with n=7) and III B group of the periodic table.\n\nThe following flow chart shows the Actinide series :\n\n\nActinides Periodic Table\n\nBack to Top\nPrior to the discovery of trans-Uranium elements, (Trans-uranium elements are the elements lying beyond Uranium in the periodic table), the naturally occurring heaviest known elements namely, Th- 90, Pa- 91 and U - 92 were placed below Hf-72, Ta- 73 and W-74 in IV B, V B and VI B groups of the periodic table, because these elements showed +4, +5 and +6 oxidation states and resembled Hf, Ta and W respectively in many of their properties. The then undiscovered trans-uranium elements with atomic numbers 93 to 100 were thus expected to occupy the positions in the periodic table below Re- 75, Os- 76, Ir- 77 , Pt- 78, etc.\n\nThe discovery of Neptunium (Np - 93) came in 1940 and this discovery was followed shortly by the discovery of Plutonium, Pu- 94 in 1941. The tracer elements Np- 93 and Pu - 96 showed that the chemical properties of these two elements very much resemble Uranium - 92 and not at all those of Re- 75 and Os- 76.\n\nOn this basis, all the three elements, U, Np and Pu were placed under W- 74 in group VI B in a column. But later, this was also proved wrong, since many other elements discovered did not follow this pattern. In 1944, Seaborg suggested that all the elements with atomic number greater than 89 constitute a second series of inner-transition elements, similar to the lanthanide series.\n\nThus, they were placed below the lanthanides and named as Actinides series. So, the actinides form a second row below lanthanides and these two series are separated and placed below the main periodic table.\n  • In the atoms of the elements of both series, the extra electron enters (n-2) f orbitals.\n  • The elements of both the series show +3 oxidation states.\n  • Like lanthanide contraction seen in lanthanides, actinides also have actinides contraction.\n  • Elements of both the series have low electronegativity and are very reactive.\n  • Most of the lanthanide and actinides cations are paramagnetic.\n→ Read More\nRelated Topics\nChemistry Help Chemistry Tutor\n*AP and SAT are registered trademarks of the College Board.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9904886484146118}
+{"content": "Design and Evaluation of Artificial Cognitive Systems\n\n\nDesign and Evaluation of Artificial Cognitive Systems\n\n\nAnno accademico 2018/2019\n\nCodice attività didattica\nAntonio Lieto (Titolare del corso)\n1° anno, 2° anno, 3° anno\nA scelta dello studente\nSSD attività didattica\nINF/01 - informatica\nTipologia esame\nRelazione finale\n\nObiettivi formativi\n\nStudents will learn how computational models of cognition can be used to help us in understanding human intelligence and in making progress towards more advanced AI systems.\n\n\n1. Introduction to cognitive artificial systems\n\n2. Design Paradigms in Cognitive Systems: from the Cybernetics to the origins of Artificial Intelligence\n\n3. Modelling Paradigms: Cognitivism and computationalism, connectionism, dynamical systems and enactivism\n\n4. Unified theories of cognition: Cognitive Architectures\n\n5. Role of a cognitive architecture in AI and Cognitive Modelling\n\n6. Design characteristics of cognitivist and emergent architectures\n\n8. Example cognitive architectures (e.g. Soar, ACT-R, LIDA, CLARION, and others)\n\n9. Towards a Standard/Common Model of the Mind\n\n10. Differences between Cognitive Systems and the so-called “Cognitive Computing” Systems\n\n11. Open problems in AI and Cognitive Systems communities\n\n\n\n\nThis course will introduce the main modelling methods, paradigms and technologies involved in the design of cognitive artificial systems. Students will understand the theoretical and technical challenges involved in modelling and building systems that can reason, solve problems, acquire and use knowledge and make decisions in real-life environments. A particular emphasis will dedicated to the Cognitive Architectures: software adopted in a variety of fields (ranging from robotics to video games) explicitly implementing human-like heuristics and decision procedures coming from the experimental results of the cognitive science.\n\n\nModalità di insegnamento\n\nFrontal lessons (with slides) with associated seminars. During the course there will be bi-weekly collective readings and exercises.\n\n\nModalità di verifica dell'apprendimento\n\nStudents should present a theoretical or computational project using one of the cognitive architectures that will be presented during the course.\n\n\nTesti consigliati e bibliografia\n\nDavid Vernon, (2014) Artificial Cognitive Systems: A Primer, MIT Press. \n\nAllen Newell (1990), Unified Theories of Cognition, Harvard University Press.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUltimo aggiornamento: 10/10/2018 18:22\nCampusnet Unito\nLocation: https://dott-informatica.campusnet.unito.it/robots.html\nNon cliccare qui!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6861481070518494}
+{"content": "Elizabeth Raskin\n\nElizabeth Raskin provides administrative, logistical, and programmatic support for the Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones. She coordinates internal financial reporting, accounting, and both U.S. and field-based program expenses. She also handles logistics for PHR’s trainings on the documentation of court-admissible evidence of sexual violence in Kenya and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.\n\nPrior to joining PHR, Raskin worked as a case manager with an infant-mortality reduction program in Minneapolis, where she provided health education, advocacy, and counseling. Additionally, Raskin served as an AmeriCorps VISTA member at the Minneapolis Health Department-Youth Violence Prevention division, where she did program development and project management on two youth violence prevention pilot programs.\n\nRaskin holds a BA in French and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies with a focus on postcolonial francophone history and literature from Oberlin College. She is fluent in French.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.948408305644989}
+{"content": "solution finder\n\nsolution finder\n\nModule 2: Environment, Pollution Levels & Implications\n\n\nIn this module a general overview of wastewater constituents is given. Evidence on levels and trends in raw wastewater is provided and linked to contamination sources and water bodies into which it is discharged. Fate and environmental effects of constituents such as organics, nutrients, metals, medical residues and health care products are discussed in terms of the Arctic context and referred to local, regional and global environmental challenges. An introduction to the microbiota including pathogenic and antibiotic resistant bacteria and virus of raw wastewater as well as recipients in the Arctic is given. Health effects and risk assessments are provided in module 3.\n\nThe first lecture of this module introduces wastewater as concept, its origin, characteristics and terminology; and gives and introductory overview on present strategies for handling of wastewater in the circumpolar Arctic. Then follows three lectures with detailed information on specific groups of contaminants of particular concern: PPCP’s and POP’s. Finally a lecture on wastewater as a valuable knowledge bank, which may be analyzed to derive population based knowledge on health. A small quiz on the module content is available.\n\nSubscribe to Module 2: Environment, Pollution Levels &amp; Implications", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9889768362045288}
+{"content": "Last updated\n\nElectret (formed of electr- from \"electricity\" and -et from \"magnet\") is a dielectric material that has a quasi-permanent electric charge or dipole polarisation. An electret generates internal and external electric fields, and is the electrostatic equivalent of a permanent magnet. Although Oliver Heaviside coined this term in 1885, materials with electret properties were already known to science and had been studied since the early 1700s. One particular example is the electrophorus, a device consisting of a slab with electret properties and a separate metal plate. The electrophorus was originally invented by Johan Carl Wilcke in Sweden and again by Alessandro Volta in Italy.\n\n\nSimilarity to magnets\n\nElectrets, like magnets, are dipoles. Another similarity is the radiant fields: They produce an electrostatic field (as opposed to a magnetic field) around their perimeter. When a magnet and an electret are near one another, a rather unusual phenomenon occurs: while stationary, neither has any effect on one another. However, when an electret is moved with respect to a magnetic pole, a force is felt which acts perpendicular to the magnetic field, pushing the electret along a path 90 degrees to the expected direction of 'push' as would be felt with another magnet.\n\nSimilarity to capacitors\n\nThere is a similarity between an electret and the dielectric layer used in capacitors; the difference is that dielectrics in capacitors have an induced polarisation that is only transient, dependent on the potential applied on the dielectric, while dielectrics with electret properties exhibit quasi-permanent charge storage or dipole polarisation in addition. Some materials also display ferroelectricity; i.e. they react to the external fields with a hysteresis of the polarisation; ferro-electrics can retain the polarisation permanently because they are in thermo-dynamic equilibrium, and are used in ferroelectric capacitors. Although electrets are only in a metastable state, those fashioned from very low leakage materials can retain excess charge or polarisation for many years. An electret microphone is a type of condenser microphone that eliminates the need for a power supply by using a permanently charged material.\n\nAn electret is a stable dielectric material with a quasi-permanently embedded static electric charge (which, due to the high resistance of the material, will not decay for time periods of up to hundreds of years) and/or a quasi-permanently oriented dipole polarisation. The name comes from electron (Greek word for amber) and magnet and was coined by Oliver Heaviside in 1885; drawing analogy to the formation of a magnet by alignment of magnetic domains in a piece of iron. Historically, electrets were made by first melting a suitable dielectric material such as a polymer or wax that contains polar molecules, and then allowing it to re-solidify in a powerful electrostatic field. The polar molecules of the dielectric align themselves to the direction of the electrostatic field, producing a dipole electret with a permanent electrostatic 'bias'. Modern electrets are usually made by embedding excess charges into a highly insulating dielectric, e.g. by means of an electron beam, a corona discharge, injection from an electron, electric breakdown across a gap or a dielectric barrier, etc.\n\nElectret types\n\nThere are two types of electrets:\n\nCellular space charge electrets with internal bipolar charges at the voids provide a new class of electret materials, that mimic ferroelectrics, hence they are known as ferroelectrets. Ferroelectrets display strong piezoelectricity, comparable to ceramic piezoelectric materials.\n\nSome dielectric materials are capable of acting both ways.\n\n\nElectret materials are quite common in nature. Quartz and other forms of silicon dioxide, for example, are naturally occurring electrets. Today, most electrets are made from synthetic polymers, e.g. fluoropolymers, polypropylene, polyethyleneterephthalate, etc. Real-charge electrets contain either positive or negative excess charges or both, while oriented-dipole electrets contain oriented dipoles. The quasi-permanent internal or external electric fields created by electrets can be exploited in various applications.\n\n\nBulk electrets can be prepared by cooling a suitable dielectric material within a strong electric field, after melting it. The field repositions the charge carriers or aligns the dipoles within the material. When the material cools, solidification freezes them in position. Materials used for electrets are usually waxes, polymers or resins. One of the earliest recipes consists of 45% carnauba wax, 45% white rosin, and 10% white beeswax, melted, mixed together, and left to cool in a static electric field of several kilovolts/cm. The thermo-dielectric effect, related to this process, was first described by Brazilian researcher Joaquim Costa Ribeiro.\n\nElectrets can also be manufactured by embedding excess negative charge within a dielectric using a particle accelerator, or by stranding charges on, or near, the surface using high voltage corona discharges, a process called corona charging. Excess charge within an electret decays exponentially. The decay constant is a function of the material's relative dielectric constant and its bulk resistivity. Materials with extremely high resistivity, such as PTFE, may retain excess charge for many hundreds of years[ citation needed ]. Most commercially produced electrets are based on fluoropolymers (e.g. amorphous Teflon) machined to thin films.\n\n\nElectret materials have found commercial and technical interest. For example, they are used in electret microphones and in copy machines. They are also used in some types of air filters, for electrostatic collection of dust particles, in electret ion chambers for measuring ionizing radiation or radon and in Vibration Energy Harvesting. [1]\n\nFurther reading\n\nSee also\n\n\n  1. http://tikalon.com/blog/blog.php?article=2011/electret", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6089587211608887}
+{"content": "• Investment Banking\n\nDeutsche Bank agrees to informal merger talks with Commerzbank\n\nTalks involving the CEOs reflect deepening willingness to engage in a possible tie-up\n\nDeutsche Bank's HQ in Frankfurt iStockphoto\n\nDeutsche Bank's top executives have agreed to hold discussions with rival Commerzbank about a potential merger, as Germany’s two biggest banks explore strategic options after suffering prolonged performance and share-price declines, people close to the banks said.\n\nThe informal talks reflect a deepening willingness by Deutsche Bank’s management board to engage in a possible tie-up, though executives this week continued to see a potential merger as one option, some of the people said.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9903260469436646}
+{"content": "The wedding of\n\n\nin Huesca\n\n∗ ∗ ∗\n\nI first met Gabriela when I was very young. We used to wander around during the village festivals in Radiquero or when we played hide and seek under the streetlights.\n\nMy disconnection from the village for many years meant that our paths did not cross for a long time. The first reencounter was at her sister’s wedding which I had the honour of photographing.\n\nOn the following occasion she was the protagonist of a fairytale sprinkled with rain.\n\nOnce again, I was off to Huesca with the camera in my hand, returning to those little streets I had long since lost track of to look for hidden corners to protect ourselves from the rain which was sometimes intense, always magical.\n\nStill outstanding is the Trash the Dress session near the village, with almond and olive tree as a backdrop and under the sun that didn’t come out on the wedding day.\n\n\n∗ ∗ ∗\n\n\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9984642863273621}
+{"content": "Loureira, Loureiro or Loureiro Blanco is a white Spanish wine grape planted primarily in the Galicia region. It is also grown across the border in the Portuguese wine region of Minho where it is known as Loureiro and used in Vinho Verde. It is made either as a varietal wine or in a blend with Treixadura.\n\n\nGrape Colour: White\nAlso called: Arinto, Branco Redondo, Branco Redondos, Dorado, Dourada, Dourado, False Pedro, Gallego Dourado, Loeireiro Blanco, Loureiro, Loureiro Blanco, Marques, Marquez and Rutherglen Pedro\nOrigin: Spain", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8753083944320679}
+{"content": "Gardner Denver Holdings, Inc. is showing notable market movement today, up 3.4%, or roughly $177.2 million gain.\n\nThe company has made notable gains in 13 of the last 23 trading sessions, with 7 of those days occurring consecutively from Feb 13-21.\n\nGardner Denver holds a market capitalization of $5.4 billion and represents 3.3% of the $162.8 billion NASDAQ/NYSE industrial-machinery industry.\n\nThe industry overall is down today by -0.1%, which translates to a decrease of roughly $-85.9 million. The industry decreases are led by Illinois Tool Works Inc., down -1.21%. Illinois Tool Works represents 28.8% of the industry, with a market capitalization of $46.9 billion.\n\nHistorically, the average daily return for the industry in week #10 has been -0.01%, while the mode daily return is 0.21%.\n\nWith a 42stocks weight of 103.3, Gardner Denver ranks #834 against 4169 symbols tracked, and #9 of 33 within the industry. A lower rank is more favorable, while a lower weight is less favorable.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9076505899429321}
+{"content": "\n\n\nDOW function [Date and time] Next Page\n\nENCRYPT function [String]\n\nEncrypts the specified values using the supplied encryption key and returns a LONG BINARY value.\n\n\nENCRYPT( string-expression, key\n[, algorithm ]\n\n\nstring-expression    The data to be encrypted. Binary values can also be passed to this function. This parameter is case sensitive, even in case-insensitive databases.\n\nkey    The encryption key used to encrypt the string-expression. This same key must be used to decrypt the value to obtain the original value. This parameter is case sensitive, even in case-insensitive databases.\n\nAs with most passwords, it is best to choose a key value that cannot be easily guessed. It is recommended that you choose a value for your key that is at least 16 characters long, contains a mix of uppercase and lowercase, and includes numbers, letters and special characters. You will require this key each time you want to decrypt the data.\n\n\nProtect your key. Be sure to store a copy of your key in a safe location. A lost key will result in the encrypted data becoming completely inaccessible, from which there is no recovery.\n\nalgorithm    This optional parameter specifies the algorithm used to encrypt the string-expression. The string-expression must be encrypted using the same algorithm with which it will be decrypted. The algorithm used to implement SQL Anywhere strong encryption is Rijndael: a block encryption algorithm chosen as the new Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for block ciphers by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).\n\nOn any platform that supports FIPS,, you can also specify a separate FIPS-approved AES algorithm for strong encryption using the AES_FIPS algorithm.\n\n\nThis function returns a LONG BINARY value, which is at most 31 bytes longer than the input string-expression. The value returned by this function is not human-readable. You can use the DECRYPT function to decrypt a string-expression that was encrypted with the ENCRYPT function. To successfully decrypt a string-expression, you must use the same encryption key and algorithm that were used to encrypt the data. If you specify an incorrect encryption key, an error is generated. A lost key will result in inaccessible data, from which there is no recovery.\n\nIf you are storing encrypted values in a table, the column should be BINARY or LONG BINARY so that character set conversion is not performed on the data.\n\nSee also\nStandards and compatibility\n\nThe following trigger encrypts the user_pwd column of the user_info table. This column contains users' passwords, and the trigger fires whenever the password value is changed.\n\nCREATE TRIGGER encrypt_updated_pwd\nON user_info\n    SET new_pwd.user_pwd=ENCRYPT( new_pwd.user_pwd, '8U3dkA' );", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9346334934234619}
+{"content": "Parametric Modeling of a Box Beam in Antimony\n\n\n\nParametric design is paramount when designing items for individuals of different likes. The parametric process works like this. The designers sets the prime movers as inputs and writes functions to drive the end result. Once this is complete anyone can change the values of the prime movers to change the outcome of the item.\n\n\nThis tutorial’s prime motivation is to show a simple example of parametric design. The below example is a simply supported beam with a concentrated load in the center of the beam. You can read more about the analysis HERE. The height is parametrized given the function below. The reason why the height is parametrized for the example is it is the most important value when trying to figure out the beam’s configuration. Furthermore, this is an simple example, you can parametrize other values as well, but this is outside the scope of this example.\n\nAntimony allows the designer to use parametric design easily.\n\nPrime Movers\n\nCreatre a Script and replace what is in there with the below script. The variables are the input of the beam. Also, rename to bbp\n\n  from fab import shapes\n  title('box beam parameters')\n\n  input('L',float) # span of the beam in inches\n  input('P',float) # Force applied to beam in lbf\n  input('E',float) # Modulus of Elasticity in lbf/in^2\n  input('d',float) # deflection in inches\n  input('b',float) # base of the beam in inches\n\nSet your parameters to these inputs\n\n\nFunction One - Area Moment of Inertia\n\nfrom fab import shapes\n\ninput('I',float) # Area Moment of Inertia\n\nThe area moment of inertia for a box beam is\n\nI = (bh^3)/12\n\n    b is the base of the beam\n    h is this heigh of the beam\n\nRearrange the equation to look like this:\n\n  h = (12*b*I)^(1/3)\n\n\nFunction Two - Rearranged Deflection Equation\n\nfrom fab import shapes\ninput('h',float) # height of the beam in inches\n\nThe deflection equation for this particular simply supported beam and center force concentration is:\n\nd = (P*L^3)/(48*E*I)\n\nSolve for I:\n\nI = (P*L^3)/(48*E*d)\n\n\nNow connect the box beam parameters shown below:\n\n\nCongratulations you made a parametric model using geometric and material input. You can change the length, force, elasticity, deflection and the base. These inputs drive the height geometry of the beam.\n\nOriginal tutorial by:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9948678612709045}
+{"content": "6 small zucchini (or 3 large cut in half)\n\n1/2 pound ground lamb (or beef)\n\n1/4 cup uncooked rice\n\n2 pressed garlic cloves\n\n1 minced onion\n\n2 teaspoons salt, divided into two−one teaspoon portions\n\n1 8−oz. can tomato sauce\n\n3 cups water\n\n2 tablespoons lemon juice\n\nWash zucchinis and cut green caps off.\n\nCore each zucchini with a coring knife, scooping out insides.\n\nSave the insides and set aside.\n\n\nKnead well.\n\nStuff each zucchini with the meat mixture.\n\n\nIn the bottom of a 5−quart pot, place the insides of the carved zucchinis, then arrange the stuffed zucchini on top of them.\n\nAdd remaining salt, tomato sauce, water and lemon juice.\n\nBring to a boil on high heat.\n\n\nServe with rice or bread.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8987401723861694}
+{"content": "Autism and Children\n\nArticle Highlight: Tips for Finding Daycare Options for an Autistic Child\n\n\nBrowse Topics in Autism and Children\n\nAutism and children\n\nMany issues arise for parents concerned about autism and children. From early symptoms of Autism to the most effective activities for autistic children, parents have much to face and many decisions to make.\n\nAutism and Children\n\nChildren are typically diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorders between the ages of 18 and 36 months. Children with Asperger's syndrome may receive diagnosis significantly later. Current studies and research is focused on detecting autistic disorders as early as possible.\n\nImportance of Early Detection\n\nEarly diagnosis is a crucial part of getting the necessary interventions to help children function to their greatest capacity. Early intervention programs differ from one region to the next but they share one basic element, increased probability of success. The younger a child is, the more likely he is to succeed.\n\nRecognizing the early signs of autism is an important aspect of getting proper diagnosis but other problems have to be faced as well, including grief.\n\nParenting an Autistic Child\n\nParents may feel significant grief when their children are diagnosed. While parenting an autistic child is challenging, there are many rewards in rearing such beautifully unique individual. It is natural to feel a sense of loss but this emotion is gradually replaced with wonder and pride for each goal that is achieved.\n\n\nBabies who have older autistic siblings are more likely to be diagnosed with a pervasive developmental disorder. The likelihood of a diagnosis doubles for siblings, currently a 1 out of 75 chance.\n\nNeurotypical siblings play a crucial role in an autistic child's development, whether younger or older. Siblings can model appropriate behavior, encourage social interaction and provide support for their brothers and sisters.\n\n\nLoveToKnow Autism is interactive and welcomes input from readers including support, guidance, and suggestions to help families affected by autism or related pervasive developmental disorders.\n\nAutism and Children", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9900888204574585}
+{"content": "Data sources, like the recently released linked open European Patent data from the European patent office,  are rich sources of data becoming available for potential machine learning and AI applications.  This type of patent data is a good example of labelled training data that can be used to train an algorithm to carry out a particular task, so that even when it is presented with an example that it has not seen before, it is able to perform well on the task.   Because the patent data is linked it has more information about potential \"labels\".  \n\nSuppose the task is to predict whether a patent application will receive a particular type of objection from the patent office. In this case the examples are patent applications and the labels are the types of objections raised against the patent applications by the patent office.  An algorithm could be trained using examples of patent applications, the documents cited against those patent applications by the patent office, and the information about what types of objections were raised by the patent office.  All this data is available on public databases at present. \n\nOnce the algorithm has been trained, it can then be used to predict whether a new patent application will receive a certain type of objection or not from the patent office. The algorithm would need to search for prior art documents itself from the public database and this is something that could be done using a rule based algorithm which extracts keywords from the patent specification and uses them to search for documents in the database.  This type of tool would enable applicants to gain a good idea of whether a given invention is likely to be patentable or not.  \n\nAn example of a machine learning classifier that has already been created in this type of field, is the classifier which predicts whether a US patent application will receive an Alice rejection or not.\n\nFinding available sources of labelled training data is not easy.  The linked open EP data is a relatively rare source of labelled training data which is readily available in large quantities.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6745203733444214}
+{"content": "Anarchism is a system of belief in political philosophy according to which State is evil and undesirable, and must therefore be abolished. It is true that anarchism and anarchists find their number one enemy in State, but it would be fallacious to consider anarchism to be an anti-State social philosophy that supports chaos and disorder and whose only objective is the abolition of the State.\n\nAnarchists believe that coercion of any kind is undesirable and the society and its institutions should not be built or run with force or the threat of force backing them. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who is widely regarded as the first self-proclaimed anarchist, describes anarchy as ‘the absence of a master, of a sovereign’. Therefore, freedom to do as one chooses to is at the heart of anarchy. If such a freedom is granted to everyone, there would no freedom at all because in exercise of his or her unbridled freedom every individual would start trampling upon the freedom of others and chaos would naturally follow. Therefore, limits on freedom are necessary, and the anarchists are alive to the necessity. They are not against the limitations, but against the limitations being imposed by an authority. And it is not only the State that they are against; they are against all authority. L. Susan Brown, a prominent anarchist explains:\n\nWhile the popular understanding of anarchism is of a violent, anti-State movement, anarchism is a much more subtle and nuanced tradition than a simple opposition to Government power. Anarchists oppose the idea that power and domination are necessary for society, and instead advocate more co-operative, anti-hierarchical forms of social, political and economic organisation. [ The Politics of Individualism , p. 106]\n\nTherefore, the core belief of the anarchists is that the ‘power and domination’ are unnecessary and it is not only possible but also desirable to found a society solely on mutual cooperation. The underlying assumption is that all differences and conflict of interests are resolvable without the intervention of authority and without threat of coercion. Since State is the embodiment of supreme authority and is the reservoir of legitimate coercion, it becomes anarchists’ bete noire . However, anarchists argue that the absence of State must not be likened with absence of order, as they are not the same thing. Errico Malatesta puts it this way:\n\nSince it was thought that Government was necessary and that without Government there could only be disorder and confusion, it was natural and logical that anarchy, which means absence of Government, should sound like absence of order. [ Anarchy , p. 16]\n\ncalvin_anarchismGovernments and State come into being for a very specific purpose and if the Government is a solution to something, the problem has to disappear for good before the solution loses its relevance and disappears automatically. State, Government and coercive force was required to maintain order and prevent encroachment of rights and liberties. The anarchists’ belief that legitimate coercion is not required and is wholly unnecessary is fundamentally a presumption. It would be incorrect to say that all anarchists share a uniform view. There is considerable disagreement among them. However, despite all disagreements, anarchism remains stoutly against all authority. David Weick puts it this way:\n\nAnarchism can be understood as the generic social and political idea that expresses negation of all power, sovereignty, domination, and hierarchical division, and a will to their dissolution. . . Anarchism is therefore more than anti-statism . . . [even if] Government (the State) . . . is, appropriately, the central focus of anarchist critique. [ Reinventing Anarchy , p. 139]\n\nSo, there is no dispute regarding anarchism’s being anti-State but it is not just about abolishing State but about the abolition of all authority and dominance. And this is where it seems to take a moral position. It appears that anarchist philosophy is trying to suggest that since human beings are created equal, they must be allowed to be free of all domination. And since domination of man by man is implicit in all hierarchies, it is the hierarchies of all kind that need to be dissolved. This is amply clear in the following statement by Bakunin:\n\nDo you want to make it impossible for anyone to oppress his fellow-man? Then make sure that no one shall possess power. [ The Political Philosophy of Bakunin , p. 271]\n\nSo, anarchists are not trying to put together a perfect social machinery or the most effective way of setting up a society or a mechanism that would ensure happiness for all. Their primary objective is to get rid of all forms of coercion and authority on largely moral grounds. To anarchists no man must have the right to direct another man and whatever is to be accomplished has to be accomplished by voluntary cooperation.\n\nAnarchists believe that private ownership of property must also be abolished because it takes from many and gives to the few. Therefore, means of production must be commonly controlled. How exactly this has to be done is not very clearly defined by the anarchists. Explaining anarchism Scottish anarchist Stuart Christie says:\n\nAnarchism is a movement for human freedom. It is concrete, democratic and egalitarian . . . Anarchism began – and remains – a direct challenge by the underprivileged to their oppression and exploitation. It opposes both the insidious growth of State power and the pernicious ethos of possessive individualism, which, together or separately, ultimately serve only the interests of the few at the expense of the rest.\n\n“Anarchism is both a theory and practice of life. Philosophically, it aims for the maximum accord between the individual, society and nature. Practically, it aims for us to organise and live our lives in such a way as to make politicians, Governments, States and their officials superfluous. In an anarchist society, mutually respectful sovereign individuals would be organised in non-coercive relationships within naturally defined communities in which the means of production and distribution are held in common. [ My Granny made me an Anarchist , pp. 162-3]\n\nAnarchism abhors all authority and all forms of hierarchies and seeks to build a society on the basis of mutual cooperation obtained without coercion. Since it is against all hierarchies, it also has no patience for the leaders. Without leaders, without organizers and without anyone to direct and strategize how exactly would society grow and evolve is the question that still remains to be satisfactorily answered by the anarchists. If the State has to vanish, is there another mechanism that the anarchists propose to replace the State? And if the functions of the State are so irrelevant as to warrant a substitution, why has the State not withered so far on account of redundancy?\n\nOriginally published as part of Thinkers and Theory series in Lawyers Update in April 2010 \n\nLeave a Reply\n\n\nEveror Not peag", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8567878007888794}
+{"content": "“Route optimization for solid waste collection” are buzzwords in the waste removal industry right now. Waste removal companies realize that to stay competitive they need to keep their transport and hauling costs down, and the best way to do this is to optimize routes.\n\nDefining the Difficulties\n\nWaste collection is a very visible and vital municipal service involving big expenditures. It is well known though that waste collection issues are an extremely difficult operational issue to solve. Garbage disposal companies collect garbage every day from a fixed number of apartments, homes, and businesses.\n\nBesides this, special requests from residents come in daily and must be logged and fitted into the route. Old requests need to be deducted from the routes. If there are many requests, the company will have to reroute some of the trucks.\n\nAdded to that are the sheer numbers of collection points which in large urban areas can involve hundreds a day. Keeping track of all this with a map, pencil, and pins is an almost impossible task. It will take hours, and you may not end up with optimal results.\n\nWhy Dedicated Software is the Answer\n\nThat’s why most garbage disposal companies and municipalities are turning to route planning and optimizing software. It calculates the driving distances, plots the stops, takes traffic conditions into account and much more. It considers far more than manual route planners ever can, resulting in logical and efficient routes.\n\nThis means that your transport planning team will have time to do other jobs and that your drivers will have more stable workloads. Routes will be more efficient. All of this translates into significant savings in fuel, time, salaries and environment-damaging emissions.\n\nDifficulties with the Software\n\nSolid waste collection projects are incredibly complex. There are thousands of customers in a residential area that need to be plotted along the route. Different garbage removal vehicles vary in productivity, and street conditions vary between neighborhoods. Some roads have vehicle height or mass restrictions. Certain areas like schools are busy at different times of the day, and so on.\n\nSoftware applications reduce this complexity, making it simple to generate routes, maps, and reports. The difficulty comes in with setting them up, training the team to use them, and maintaining them with up-to-date data.\n\nHow Route Optimization Consultants Can Help\n\nWe specialize in waste removal route optimization, and we have many years of experience in the field. We know pretty much every software that’s available on the market today and can help you choose right one and implement it. Our team has managed more than fifty projects that involved the implementation of waste vehicle route optimization software to the complete satisfaction of our clients.\n\nWe understand that route optimization isn’t all about the software. It’s also about choosing the right people for the job. Managers often assign route supervisors the job of implementing the software, but they may not be the best option. We’re here to help. Contact us today at (703) 473-7055, and we’ll be glad to help you with your route optimization for solid waste collection.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7751863598823547}
+{"content": "How to write a good intro to an essay - My homework if anybody is interested\n\nEssay outlines provide structure and guidance for writers as they begin the drafting process. Beginner writers often times find it useful to create an essay map thesis, where the thesis briefly lists the areas that will be discussed in the essay. If you' re anything like me, you get stressed when you feel rushed. But maybe it’ s been awhile since you’ ve composed an outline some forms are better than others.\n\nFollow our literary essay writing guide! Beginning: Read first then write!\n\nNeed “ write my essay” help? Paragraphs are marked by the examiner in IELTS writing task 2. And summer school.\n\nAdmission Essay Writing postgraduate work is a long, hard, Editing Service We understand that the road to undergraduate haul. Need help on your Reading Response essay? Answer: Because it starts broad gradually narrows towards a focused but not overly specific thesis. But just like your paper won’ t write itself your essay is going nowhere if you don’ t sit down start working on that outline. Summer’ s arrival brings with it beaches swimsuits, ice- cream barbeques. The essay is estimated at band score 9.\nIn order to make the best of a writing assignment, there are a few rules that can always be followed in order to find this lesson you will learn to write an introductory paragraph to engage the reader in the topic by telling your reader why this issue is important. Get free essay conclusion examples from real academic papers and make a note of professional tips on how to write a conclusion paragraph that impresses the reader. It introduces the main idea of your essay. What is this service?\n\nMost of you have been diligently juggling grades test scores extracurricular activities for aduate School Admission Essay Writing Our experienced writers can help you draft the best possible graduate school admission essay. Professional custom essay writers ⏰ 24/ 7 Support, Full Confidentiality 100 Plagiarism cess analysis essay writing is a complex process. Learn about Purdue University' s College of Liberal Arts enhancing Graduate Education promoting Faculty Excellence.\n\nProfessional custom essay writers Full Confidentiality, ⏰ 24/ 7 Support 100 Plagiarism Free! Try our online essay writing service that will provide you more essays on any topics.\n\n3 Exam survival kit Example Essay Plan. An outline should briefly summarize the intended content of your essay organize that content in a sensible .\nClear instructions tips for how to write a Reader' s Response order to evaluate something, examples you need to compare it with the best example of that particular thing. Some people think this will lead to English becoming the only.\n\nHow to write a good intro to an essay. Most academic essays contain an introductory paragraph, which includes a thesis. Your teacher may either assign you a topic or allow you to choose one for yourself.\n\nIf you have to evaluate a piece of writing such as a novel you should first read it carefully. The introduction paragraph is the first paragraph of your essay. This is a good way to test your ideas when drafting, while you still have time to revise them. The Oxford English Dictionary defines an introduction as “ A preliminary explanation prefixed to included in a [. Sometimes when I feel that I don' t have enough time to get something done, I get so frantic. How to Write a Hook sentence?\n\nGet high- quality custom essay cess analysis essay writing is a complex process. How to write a good intro to an essay. The thesis is specific enough to fully explore the essay, but it' s not so specific that there is nothing more to write about.\n\nBefore we begin to talk about types of perfect essay hook, we want to mention several steps students should take to decide on which hook to choose. In academic settings, ideas are typically communicated using formal types of writing such as essays.\n\nThesis Statements. When you counter- argue you consider a possible argument against your thesis some aspect of your reasoning. So to help you develop your topic into an essay there are two important questions to ask when you are choosing your topic to evaluate:.\nHow To Write Dialogue In An Essay. We all want the best out of our works. The development of tourism contributed to English becoming the most prominent language in the world. Custom Essay Writing Service for students at any academic level. How to write a good intro to an essay. Whether you are a student in high school college there is a 100% chance that you will have to write some informative essay during your educational years.\n\nSince the dawn of man, writing has been used to communicate ideas. Essays come in various forms writing styles, professors, as do subjects graders. Summer school is a great way to get ahead educationally and complete credits you wouldn’ t normally have time to take. It requires you to state your position about a subject give several valid reasons that are supported by evidence for why you agree to stand by that position.\nHow many paragraphs in an IELTS Writing Task 2 Essay? A thesis statement manages to encapsulate an essay' s main argument in a succinct, one- sentence comment.\n\nThough introduction to any writing is frequently associated with beginning, this is not about an introduction to a research paper. When you write an academic essay using evidence, offer some reasoning, you make an argument: you propose a thesis that suggests why the thesis is true. Question: How is this a graphical representation of an introduction Paragraph?\n\nIntroduction Paragraph What is an introduction paragraph? These academic essays require you to choose a good topic provide evidence in each paragraph in the right order make your reader interested in learning more about any process. Writing an argumentative essay on gun control is not that difficult. How to write a good intro to an essay. Good time management skills definitely don’ t hurt.\nHire an essay writer to write college university papers for you with details of what to expect from a good one. Well, who doesn’ t?\n\nHere you can find a guide on how to write an introduction to a research paper, which presents a topic to the reader. The Sixth Paragraph: A Re- Vision of the Essay by Paul Lynch This essay is a chapter in Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing Volume 2 a peer- reviewed open textbook series for the writing low is an IELTS advantage / disadvantage model essay about having one language in the world. How to Write a Great Essay Quickly. If your instructor has asked you to write an APA format essay it might at first seem like a rather daunting task, especially if you are accustomed to using another style such as MLA Chicago.\n\nHow to Start Writing a Critical Analysis Essay? The criterion of Coherence Cohesion, which is 25% of your writing marks, is about linking paragraphing.\nOur professional paper writers will do their work on one taught you how to write a literary essay, but you must have that assignment ready by a short deadline? To write a great paper, take a few basic steps that explain how to make things easier. How to Write a Five Paragraph Essay. In an academic competition be it for a scholarship, even a job you can expect to see essay.\n\nPhilosophy of nursing leadership essays\nWhat are the four problem solving steps in order\n\nGood essay Thesis university\n\nHow to write a intro paragraph for an essay - Meta analysis is a re- expression of someone who is on preserving the exchange of gathered foodstuffs, including the essay paragraph intro write to how a for an peierls instability and corruption that would have c 11, · How to Write an Essay Introduction. The introduction of your essay serves two important purposes.\n\n\nWrite intro Teaching\n\nSecond, it gives your reader a. Best write my essay service that guarantees timely delivery.\nEssential of homework\nPlpgsql variable assignment\nSave water essay in gujarati\nTadao ando essay\nC homework help forum\nEnglish 101 response paper\n\nIntro Estate\n\n\nSince the introduction is the first section of your essay that the reader comes across, the stakes are definitely high for your introduction to be v 23, · How to Write an Essay Outline.\nEssay about good neighbor\nShort essay on time is money", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8737189769744873}
+{"content": "\n\nMatcha Daifuku with Red Bean Filling\n\nDaifukumochi, or Daifuku, is a traditional Japanese sweet consisting of an outer layer of mochi stuffed with sweet filling. This time we're making matcha daifuku, which is made of matcha mochi skin with red bean filling. It's extremely easy to make and this recipe uses mostly natural ingredients. It takes no more than 5 minutes and can be made even when you're travelling. No baking required.\n\nIngredients (making 8 daifuku):\ntapioca four (or Mochiko flour): 140g\nmatcha powder: 10g\ncane sugar: 40g\nwater: 175g\nred bean paste to taste\n\nmatcha mochi\n\n1. Combine tapioca, matcha powder and sugar together in a microwave-safe bowl\n\nmatcha mochi\n2. Add water and stir until smooth; there should be no dry powder or clumps\nmatcha mochi\n3. Use Saran Wrap or a microwave-safe lid to cover the bowl\n4. Microwave for 1 minute\n5. Take it out, stir, and put it back into microwave for another 1 minute\n6. Get a cutting board ready, spread plenty of corn flour/icing sugar on it to prevent sticking\n7. Carefully remove the bowl from the microwave as it's quite hot. Use a wet spatula to scrape the bowl and transfer the mochi dough onto the cutting board\n\n8. Press the dough until it's about 1/2 inch thick\nmatcha mochi\n9. Cut the dough into 8 pieces; scoop red bean paste, place in the centre of dough,  and roll it into a ball. \n\n10. Dust with matcha powder/icing sugar if preferred. Best to consume within a day. Do not refrigerate as mochi skin will become hard.\n\nmatcha mochi\n\nOther tips:\n1. You can replace matcha powder with cocoa powder to make chocolate flavour, or just plain mochi\n2. Other fillings such as black sesame, fresh fruits are all good options.\n3. You can make red bean paste at home (I use store brand this time as I have no dry red beans at the time). Just cook the dry red bean until soft and drain; put into a blender, add sugar and a bit of water, and blend until smooth. \n\nRead more →\n\nHow to make matcha Chinese steamed bun\n\n A Chinese New Year is approaching; as a most celebrated holiday in China, it’s the time of the year for family gathering and a lot of home cooking. Today we will share a recipe of how to make delicious Chinese steam bun with a healthier twist (matcha!).\n\nThis recipe is plant-based with all natural simple ingredients (no baking powder required). \n\nIngredients (5 servings):\n\n300g flour, 180ml warm water, 4.5g yeast, 20g of Organic Matcha Everyday grade, 24g sugar \n\nStep 1: combine sugar and yeast in warm water, stir until fully dissolve and rest for 3 minutes \n\nStep 2: add the liquid to flour, mix until loosely incorporated\n\nStep 3: Combine the loose flour together into a dough\n\nStep 4: Cover the dough with a damp in a warm environment, let it rise for two hours\n\nStep 5: Dust the surface with with flour, knead the dough to push out the air bubbles until the dough is round and smooth.\n\nStep 6: Divide the dough into 5 portions and knead it to a round ball shape. Optional: add red bean paste to the dough if prefer \n\nStep 7: On a steamer, fill with cold water, brush some oil or line a damp cloth on the steamer tray, arrange the dough and let it sit for another 5 minutes.\n\nStep 8: Cover the lid, use a large damp towel (large hand towel) to cover the lid, turn the heat on high for about 15 kinutes.\n\nStep 9: Turn the heat to medium when the steam starts to appear for another 15 minutes.\n\nStep 10: Turn off heat and rest for 5 minutes (keep the lid closed)\n\nStep 11: Open the lid and take out the buns (watch out for steam!). Enjoy! \n\n\nRead more →\n\nHow can matcha help with your workout routine?\n\nIs your weekend plan including hitting the gym or other forms of workout routine? Do you want to boost your endurance and energy during workout? Try having a matcha coldbrew or adding matcha to your shake afterwards. Here're a few reasons why matcha is so good for your fitness goals:\n\n\nUnlike many other sport pills, powder, or energy drinks on the market that may come with many artificial color and flavours, additives or even sugar, matcha is naturally loaded with high antioxidants and all beneficial amino acids and essential nutrients. No fillers!\n\n\nThe antioxidants in matcha have been found to help increase metabolic rate. During a study conducted by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it was demonstrated that the consumption of matcha increased the body’s natural rate of burning calories by nearly 400%!\n\nThe gentle caffeine and L-Theanine in matcha can provide you 3 - 6 hours of sustained energy without spike or crush.\n\nMatcha can help reduce the production of lactic acids, of which is the main cause of muscle cramps and soreness. The antioxidants in matcha can help release muscle stresses and reduce inflammation.\n\nFor those of you who couldn't afford exercise regularly, matcha can significantly decrease body fat composition and reduce targeted fat in abdominal area. This is great for people mostly sitting all day without enough physical activities during weekdays. Drink it after meal for best result.\n\nWith only 1/2 tsp per serving which is about 1g, you're spending less than $1. Why pay for the cost of water and plastic bottle of an energy drink where you can easily make your own 100% all natural energy booster. \n\nRecommended Usage:\nIn a 24oz bottle, add 1/2  - 1 tsp (teaspoon not tablespoon) Organic Everyday grade matcha, fill up water to about 3/4 full, shake vigorously 10 - 15 seconds, and enjoy!\n\nRead more →\n\nHow to Make Matcha Ramen\n\nMatcha powder is so versatile that can be added to many dishes. This year when I went to Japan in June, it was steaming hot; I literally had cold soba/matcha noodles every single day for a whole month - some were from restaurants and some from convenient stores such as 7-Eleven & Lawson. When I'm finally back to Vancouver, I suffer withdrawal of my daily cold matcha noodles! During our trip we learnt how to make ramen from scratch, and now we just add our everyday grade matcha powder making it matcha ramen!\n\nStore-bought noodles often are highly processed and contain additives/chemicals. Making noodles from scratch is not only natural and healthy, it's also super fun!\n\nOK let's get to it:\n\nNoodle Ingredients (serving 2-3):\n\n300g flour of your choice\n\nSalt water (150g warm water + 8g salt)\n\n1 tbsp Whisk Everyday Organic Matcha\n\nStep 1:\n\nhow to make matcha ramen noodles\n\nSift 300g all purposes flour (or wholewheat flour if you prefer), then sift 1 tbsp of Whisk Everyday Matcha for a standout green colour. We did try with some store-bought lower grade matcha powder and the colour becomes yellow/brownish, which is not very appetizing. \n\nStep 2:\n\nSlowly add salt water to flour a little at a time, and loosely mix them together, then put everything into a large ziplock bag/foodsafe plastic bag. Let it rest for 20min - 1 hour.\n\nMatcha Ramen Noodles\n\nStep 3:\n\nKnead the dough for 10 minutes either by hand or by feet (on top of the plastic bag - it's the traditional way of doing it), the more you knead, the stretchier the noodles are. After kneading, let the dough rest again for 1 hour to overnight. \n\nmatcha ramen noodles\n\nStep 4:\n\nSpread plenty of flour on surface. Roll the dough to 2mm thin.\n\nmatcha ramen noodles\n\nStep 5:\n\nFold the sheet into 4 layers and sprinkle more flour in between.\n\nStep 6:\n\nCut as thin as possible? then open up and arrange the noodles together.\n\nNow you have your dry matcha noodles! At this stage, you can choose to freeze them for future use, or cook right away!!\n\nStep 7:\n\nCook them in boiling water for 8 - 9 minutes, take it out, and rinse under cold water thoroughly for 20 seconds or so. I like my noodle stretchy and a bit chewy, so if you like softer noodles, cook 10 - 12 minutes! However try not to overcook.\n\n\nSoup Base:\n\nSo for cold noodles, Japanese people don't typically put the cold soup WITH the noodle. The soup is usually set aside and you dip the noodle in. \n\nFeel free to use your own soup base recipe. I will share our two soup base recipes (one cold and one hot) through our e-newsletter, so if you'd like to learn how to make plant-based noodle soup, please subscribe to our newsletter!\n\nGive it a try and comment below how you like it, or if you have any questions!\n\nHappy Noodling!\n\nKimmy Xiao\n\ncold matcha ramen\n\ncold matcha ramen\n\nHot matcha ramen\n\nRead more →\n\nMatcha Chia Pudding by Dr. Julie Zeitlhuber\n\nby: Dr. Julie Zeitlhuber, Food Scientist, Certified Nutritionist, Personal Trainer, & Arthur. \n\nReady To Nourish\n\nMy Matcha obsession is a little bit out of control lately so even my chia puddings get a nice dosage of the magical green powder. This pudding is one of my favorite breakfast options at the moment. You can make it ahead of time or the night before, it is a nutrition bomb, tastes incredible and is pretty too. You have to try it. Prepare the chia base the night before and you don't have to hustle in the morning to find a healthy nutritious breakfast. Just add some fruit, granola, nuts, nut butter, seeds, coconut... You can even store it in the fridge for up to 3 days!\n\nMatcha is rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. There is hardly any food that contains such high amounts of antioxidants, which fight free radicals and benefit our health immensely. Another nutrient called L-Theanine makes matcha a superfood. Thanks to the subtle caffeine and the amino acid L-theanine, matcha calms the mind and relaxes the body, it enhances mood and aids concentration. Make sure you purchase a high-quality matcha powder, it will be worth it! My personal favorite is Whisk Premium Matcha (use discount code \"READYTONOURISH\" for 10% off) \n\n\nMatcha Chia Pudding\n\nServes 2\n\n1 cup non-dairy milk (I used homemade almond milk)\n\n1/4 cup chia seeds\n\n1-2 Tbsp Maple syrup\n\n1.5 tsp Matcha Powder\n\n\nToppings of your choice\n\n(Homemade Granola)\n\n\nAdd all ingredients for the chia pudding into a jar, put the lid on and shake\n\nPut into fridge for about 10 min\n\nShake occasionally, divide between two glasses and add toppings\n\nRead more →", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9491516351699829}
+{"content": "Open access peer-reviewed chapter\n\nCultural Globalization and Transnational Flows of Things American\n\nBy Mel van Elteren\n\nSubmitted: October 26th 2010Reviewed: March 20th 2011Published: August 1st 2011\n\nDOI: 10.5772/18303\n\nDownloaded: 4109\n\n1. Introduction\n\nIt has been argued that there is an emerging “global culture,” which is heavily American in origin, structures, and contents. While it is certainly not the only player in the global cultural arena, America’s transnationalizing culture is expected to remain the most dominant one in the foreseeable future (Berger, 2002: 2-3). This chapter takes a fresh look at today’s cultural globalization and explores the various interconnections and underlying dynamics, focusing more particularly on its American and Americanized components. Needless to say, the emerging global culture actually consists of a plurality of global cultures. In various cultural domains globalizing tendencies occur, which neither all run parallel nor all show the same tempo; there have been lively debates on the cultures of globalization in the plural. Nevertheless, for the sake of convenience the single term “global culture” will be used here too; it refers first of all to the prevailing forms that originate as yet mostly from the West, although we do find reverse cultural flows from the East as well.\n\nClassifying countries into different subsections of the globe is a tricky and inexact business, since there is a high level of interpenetration and cultural exchange between countries as this chapter will illustrate too. One should be wary of Western centrism or a more specific Euro- or America-centrism, as manifested in forms of Orientalism especially (which have their Eastern counterparts of Occidentalism). The terms “West” and “East” are used only as a rough indication and should certainly not be reified. What is meant by the two terms changes both in historical time and geographical space; there are many mixed forms, and behind each of both labels all kinds of subdivisions are hidden.[1] -\n\n2. The dialectical interplays of globalization\n\nMore generally, leading cultural theorists on globalization emphasize “deterritorialization” as one of the major driving forces in the modern world (Appadurai, 1996). It is not a new process, of course; local cultures have long been influenced – and even shaped – by outside forces, and, historically, have become detached from their local anchorings under capitalism. The current phase of globalization differs from the past because of the dramatically increased transnational movement of material foods, images, and people, which leads to new mixtures of culture or hybridization. Transnational capitalism’s division of labor and free trade produce multivariegated fusions, blurred borders, cultural “homelessness” as well as cosmopolitanism. Its worldwide infrastructure of airports, malls, computer terminals, chain restaurants, and other “nonplaces” erase distinct space and history, whereas its basic means of communication, the Internet, is even more radically deterritorialized (Tomlinson, 1999: 108-120). Cultural goods with indefinite origins abound; what appears to be traditional, on closer inspection is invented, and what seems to be homogeneous, is hybrid. “American” and various other ”nationally” made products often entail design and engineering ideas, parts, and labor from many nations, which makes it hard to specify a country of origin.\n\nThe major dynamics involved in cultural globalization can be summarized in terms of the following dualities and related dialectical interplays:\n\n  • Universalization versus particularization. Whereas globalization universalizes certain aspects of modern social life (e.g., the nation-state, production and management processes, consumer trends etc.), it simultaneously encourages particularization by relativizing both “locale” and “place” so that endeavors to articulate uniqueness or difference are stimulated.\n\n  • Homogenization versus differentiation. Globalization tends to bring about a certain sameness to the surface appearance and institutions of modern social life across the globe. On the other hand, it also entails the incorporation and re-articulation of the global in relation to local circumstances.\n\n  • Integration versus fragmentation. Whereas globalization leads to new forms of global, regional and transnational communities or organizations that unite people across geographic boundaries, it also divides and fragments communities, both within and across nation-state boundaries. For example, ethnic and racial divisions are more articulated as the “others” become more proximate.\n\n  • Centralization versus decentralization. Globalization facilitates an increasing concentration of power, knowledge, information, capital etc. (embodied by various transnational political organizations and corporations), but it also generates a powerful decentralizing dynamic as local entities, communities and groups attempt to obtain more power over the forces that influence their situation and further development.\n\n  • Juxtaposition versus syncretization. Globalization brings about the coexistence of different cultures, ways of life, and social practices. This reinforces boundaries and articulates sociocultural differences and prejudices, but simultaneously creates shared cultural identities and social spaces, in which an intermingling of ideas, knowledge, values, lifestyles and so on takes place (McGrew, 1992: 42-43).\n\nOne overarching feature needs to be highlighted here: The emerging global culture brings along transnationally shared discourses encompassing sets of common structures and categories that organize differences. This means that the various cultures of the world are becoming different in uniform ways, which amounts to the emergence of “structures of common difference” (Wilk, 1995). This term refers to a new global hegemony, that is a hegemony of structure, not of content. The new global cultural system promotes difference, but selects the dimensions of difference, thereby celebrating particular kinds of diversity, while submerging, deflating or suppressing others.\n\nIn order to get a good intellectual grip on cultural globalization we need to broaden our perspective. The key to understanding today’s globalization as a whole is to conceptualize it as a product of particularly the third technological revolution and the global restructuring of modern capitalism in which economic, technological, political, and cultural features are intertwined. This means that we should avoid both technological and economic determinism and all other one-sided perspectives on globalization in favor of a view that sees globalization as a highly complex, contradictory, and thus ambiguous set of institutions and social relations, as well as one involving flows of goods, services, ideas, technologies, practices, cultural forms and people. As Douglas Kellner puts it, “The transmutations of technology and capital work together to create a new globalized and interconnected world. A technological revolution involving the creation of a computerized network of communication, transportation, and exchange is the presupposition of a globalized economy, along with the extension of a world capitalist market system that is absorbing ever more areas of the world and spheres of production, exchange, and consumption into its orbit” (Kellner, 2002: 287).\n\nThe dynamics of globalization are very unevenly distributed around the globe, between regions and between different strata of the population within regions. A significant factor is the unequal geographic power distribution of globalization. How individuals experience and respond to the forces of globalization is, to a great extent, a consequence of their economic, social, and geographic positions in the world. Globalization is predicated on a complex interconnection between capitalism and democracy and “haves” and “have-nots” that involves both positive and negative features and both empowers and disempowers individuals and groups, undermining and yet at the same time creating potential for new democratic projects of all kind. Globalization imposed from above can be contested and reconfigured from below (Steger, 2002: 145-147). This is not to suggest that one form is per definition “bad” and the other “good” from a social-emancipatory vantage point. Global forces from above may very well advance democratization and the spread of human rights in various areas of the world, while globalization from below may promote special interests or reactionary goals (for example, in the case of transnational right-wing movements, extreme fundamentalist-religious groups or terrorist networks).\n\nThus, globalization exists of fundamental transformations in the world economy, politics, and culture, which entail contradictions and ambiguities, that is, both progressive and emancipatory features and oppressive and negative attributes. Such internal conflicts and tensions are more generally characteristic of modernity, which can be framed in two separate discourses, one of liberation and another of “disciplinization.” Each discourse emphasizes only one side of the double-edged sword of modernity, that is, its fundamental internal tension between an emphasis on human autonomy and the restrictive controls inherent in the institutional realization of modern life (Wagner, 1994: 40-41). Contrary to modernization theorists of the 1950s and 1960s who tended to attach merely positive values of progress to such processes, classical theorists of modernity recognized that the modern world was ambiguous in its capacity to deliver human happiness and fulfillment. Modernity, in particular the scientific rationality and the liberal-democratic political projects associated with the Enlightenment, delivered emancipation from many forms of domination. But modernity also entailed costs, new forms of cultural pathology that classical theorists have tried to capture through concepts like “alienation” (Marx), “anomie” (Durkheim), the “iron encasement” of instrumental reason (Weber). Each of these views recognized that one form of domination had been replaced by another – they differed in their precise analysis of the source of this domination (Tomlinson, 1991: 142-144).\n\nTo the extent that this heritage of classical sociology acknowledges the discontents at the core of modernity (as well as its historical changes) it still has its merits as a living tradition for analyses of modern life today (Turner, 1999). But in trying to develop a more up-to-date approach, we must account for the existence of multiple modernities, that is, a number of different sites and forms of modernity, including those outside the West (Featherstone et al., 1995). Western patterns of modernity are not the only “genuine” modernities, even though they have historical precedence and continue to be a major reference point for the others (Eisenstadt, 2000: 2-3). Processes of modernity may be globally alike to the extent that they all entail the demolishing of the old order to make room for the new. But the values, norms, and cultural forms and practices that result from these processes, the way in which they are interpreted, and even the driving forces behind them, may differ from one cultural context to the other (Therborn, 1995).\n\n3. Reconfiguration of the state and capitalist globalization\n\nIn his book Culture in the Age of Three Worlds (2004) the historian Michael Denning sees the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 as the symbolic moment when the current era of globalization can be said properly to begin, with the “corporate states” of the Cold War being superseded by the “beginnings of a transnational cross-fertilization” as peoples, capital and commodities began to flow more freely across frontiers. Denning stipulates that area studies (such as American Studies) in the traditional sense fitted well with the period between 1945 and 1989 when the world was conventionally divided into discrete, partitioned spaces: the capitalist First World, the communist Second World, and the decolonizing Third World. But as an intellectual enterprise, area studies made much less sense after interventions of the International Monetary Fund and the flourishing of “postnational” economies had destabilized government forms on both sides of the political spectrum, thereby undermining the legitimacy of national authorities and forcing their territorial autonomy to be repositioned within a global system (Denning, 2004: 24, 9, 2-4, 46). Thus Denning, a protagonist of a transnationalized American Studies, seems to have joined the chorus of “hyperglobalist” thinkers of globalization, who contend that transnational capitalism, international governance, and hybrid global culture have effectively put a halt to the modern nation-state.\n\nThis position is open to question, however. The increasing importance of transnational corporations and other non-state actors and agencies notwithstanding, many states have survived intact and a number of new ones have been founded. The available evidence points to the sustained importance of the nation-state as a political and economic entity, and this certainly holds true for the United States. On balance, nation-states are not withering, but rather undergoing a transformation in their structures and processes, which implies the modification of their institutional forms and their policies by transnational forces (Cohen & Kennedy, 2000: 89-93). These changes are a pre-condition for further globalization and a consequence of it. But this reconfiguration is to some extent a question of deliberate choice. The rapid expansion of global economic activity since the 1980s is first of all a result of political decisions made by governments to lift the international restrictions on capital as part of a more general adoption of neoliberal policies. Once these decisions were implemented, the technology came into its own, and accelerated the speed of communication and calculations that helped bring the movement of money to an extraordinary level. The implication is that nation and territory do still make a difference – even in a globalized context. These conventional political units remain as yet important, operating either in the form of modern nation-states or “global cities” where global processes carried by corporate complexes and supporting specialized services (financing, accounting, information processing etc.) actually take place. The latter strategic places are embedded in national territories and therefore stay, at least partly, within the judicial orbit of various state-centered regulatory systems.\n\nIn the ongoing process of capitalist transnationalization, corporate geography has been reconfigured into a new system of worldwide time-space connections, but they are neither hardly decentered nor fully integrated, retaining a hierarchical structure and uneven distribution. Like other business organizations, transnational corporations (TNCs) are certainly not “placeless” or “derritorialized entities.” The reason is that hypermobility of capital and time-space compression of corporate globalization need to be actively produced and this requires vast concentrations of material and not so mobile facilities and infrastructures. Most TNCs still have their headquarters in the richest developed countries, that usually provide the best overall socioeconomic, political, and legal bases for their operations, and where their owners and managers reside.\n\nYet, the growing importance of electronic space in the global economy, and the accompanying “virtualization” of economic activities do raise questions of control in the global economy that not only go beyond the state but also beyond current notions of non-state-centered systems of coordination. Private digital networks bring along forms of power that differ from the more widely distributed power associated with public digital networks. Major examples are wholesale financial markets, corporate intra-nets, and corporate networks bringing together borrowers and lenders in a private domain rather than the public domain of stock markets. The vastly expanded global capital market that emerged in the 1980s has the structural power and organizational connections with national economies to make its requirements felt in national economic policymaking. In providing some of the norms for national economic policymaking the operational logic of the capital market exerts an influence that goes far beyond the financial sector. However, the supranational electronic market space, which partly operates outside any government’s exclusive jurisdiction, is only one of the spaces for finance. There is also the embeddedness of global finance in the environments of actual financial centers, places where national laws continue to be operative, although these often entail greatly modified laws (Sassen, 2006: 336-338, 382).\n\n4. Disseminators of globalizing American culture\n\nFor a good understanding of globalizing American culture outside its country of origin it is necessary to examine the local appropriations in relation to the projections of American powers (hard and soft; military, economic, political, social and cultural) in the international arena. This entails a theoretical middle ground between the cultural transmission model, which if taken to its extreme amounts to a crude version of “cultural imperialism,” and the assimilationist view, which can exaggerate the capacity of local recipients to creatively appropriate things American (Kuisel, 2000: 209). Yet it does not imply that the actual process of globalizing American culture is necessarily always located in a neat middle position between American projections of power and domestication of “traveling American culture” by locals across the world responding to its various manifestations. In other cases this process may tilt towards being “imperial” or the very opposite, complete incorporation into the local culture.\n\nWhile popular culture, mass media, and cultural industries have high visibility and receive much attention in this context, significant components of America’s global reach that concern economic policies and international politics and security are underexposed or ignored. The latter are, to a degree, “cultural” too, but less overtly so, and not as visible in everyday life (Nederveen Pieterse, 2004: 80-81). Important American cultural influences are implicated in U.S.-style capitalist globalization and the corporate cultures, business, management and labor practices associated with it, along with economic, cultural and political development policies for developing countries, as well as academic and professional cultures and so forth. It must also be recognized that intercultural influence does not by definition run parallel with international political and economical relationships. A local society may demonstrate complex hybridizations in its indigenous production and reproduction of culture vis-à-vis a globalizing world, while as a nation it becomes voluntarily or involuntarily more implicated in U.S. projections of economic, military, social and political power (Bell & Bell, 1993: 199).\n\nFor the time being, the United States maintains a strong position in many of the domains that matter most in the current era of globalization. Examples include the standards and rules governing the Internet and other international communication networks; securities law and practice; and international legal, accounting, and management practices. Much of the information revolution originated in the United States and a large part of the content of global information networks is manufactured there, giving globalization a U.S. face (Nye, 2002: 79, 81). Various technologies and technological devices that propel current globalization have been largely invented and originally popularized in the United States. Eminent examples are: Automated Teller Machines (ATMs); the newly structured money market and financialization of capitalism taken to a new extreme; “flexible manufacturing” and “just-in-time” production; franchising and McDonaldization; airfreight and containerized freight along with the use of bar codes, the Global Positioning System (GPs) and advanced logistics; computing and the associated search habits and preferences fostered by prevailing software (Marling, 2006: 144-193). These technologies entail important cultural structures that both enable and constrain people’s everyday behaviors around the world and are all involved in enhanced time-space compression.\n\nAn influential religious movement that carries cultural globalizing from the West is evangelical Protestantism, particularly in its Pentecostal version. In the past fifty years or so U.S. “new-style,” fundamentalist Protestantism (as distinct from “old-style,” separatist fundamentalism) has made major inroads in large areas of East and Southeast Asia, in the Pacific islands, in sub-Saharan Africa, and most dramatically in Latin America. In many of these places new fundamentalist Protestant ministries from the United States – mostly neo-Pentecostalist and evangelist strains – have been holding crusades in which they disseminated their versions of the Gospel. They often combined these with a belief system such as “prosperity theology” that is very much in tune with U.S.-style capitalist culture, and the emerging global culture of consumption and consumer gratification. This “business” of exporting the American gospel of success, wealth and prosperity has significantly expanded since the early 1980s when Christian fundamentalism became a more dynamic social and political movement in America. It has turned into one of the most significant cultural influences from the United States (Brouwer et al., 1996; Corten & Marshall-Fratani, 2001).\n\nThe American face of much of today’s globalization is partly a result of the prevailing world orientation among American globalizers. By the turn of the new millennium, a major study among senior managers and chief executives of U.S.-based transnational firms and nongovernmental organizations, all global leaders in their respective fields, revealed strong American ethnocentrism. These leaders proved to share a “market idiom” that equates neoliberal deregulation with “human progress and enlightenment” and resistance to the process as thick-skinned irrationality. The executives claimed to be totally objective and neutral about their views on globalization, and seemed oblivious to the fact that their American background might limit their vision. The attitudes of these “parochial cosmopolitans,” as Hunter and Yates call them, evolve from a pattern of large-scale physical mobility along with a strong tendency of remaining in a protective “sociocultural bubble” through similar physical localities, means of traveling, lodging and leisure and entertainment all across the world, which precludes them from serious engagements with the local cultures that they influence. When they visit other countries, they stay in U.S.-style hotels, health clubs, restaurants, office buildings and so forth, and associate almost exclusively with like-minded Western-educated professionals who are conversant in English, thereby sidestepping the necessity of learning foreign languages. Their way of working also shields them from serious doubts about their activities because of insufficient feedback from locals and others. There were notable exceptions, however, among people employed by international nongovernmental organizations that focused on environmental protection, human rights, emergency humanitarian relief, and the like. These individuals tended to have more face-to-face interaction with local populations and organizations at the grassroots (Hunter & Yates, 2002: 332-336).\n\nOf course, living and working in a particular sociocultural bubble is not an exclusively American practice, as corporate business managers and professionals from many other countries move around in the same insulated transnational world. And members of international professional organizations as well as professionals and politicians allied with organizations like the European Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Arab League or the United Nations may have their own sociocultural bubbles. Nonetheless, because, for the time being, Americans predominate among the movers and shakers of current globalization, they continue to play a central role in setting the agenda and general tone of today’s globalization.\n\nThis leads us to one other important issue. The Western culture that is conveyed through globalization has a conflict-laden heterogeneity that is carried along too. This certainly applies to the American or Americanized components of this globalizing culture, given America’s diversity. It means that criticisms of the dominant American way of life (and specific parts thereof) by, among others, American anti-capitalists, environmentalists, feminists, concerned journalists, intellectuals, and politicians are spread abroad as well. American culture wars and identity politics have been exported as part and parcel of the globalization process. Clashes between “pro-life” and “pro-choice” protagonists around the abortion issue have been taken to the global level by American agencies. This is the major point of contention. But the American culture wars are also being fought on foreign ground around broader issues surrounding sexuality, the family, and education by progressive and conservative special interest groups. These have established offices and staffs around the world to lobby foreign governments and international organizations on behalf of their respective causes. All of this concerns more generally Western culture wars transposed to the global level, but the discourses and practices of the agencies concerned are as yet strongly modeled after American exemplars; these agencies may even merely be global extensions of American organization movements and other institutions. The language that these globalizers and their foreign contacts use is English (usually its American version) and the vocabularies of their “global speak” derive from the social sciences, and the idioms of human rights, the market, and multiculturalism as these have first of all developed in the United States. This also means that initially American discourses obtain a broader, transnational character (Hunter & Yates, 2002: 326, 337-341).\n\nThus, the global spread of the ideology of “universal human rights” has great potential for ideological and judicial support to oppressed individuals across the world. But one must be aware that at times the United States and other Western countries have used (and still use today) “human rights” selectively as a political instrument to advance their own interests in their meddlings in other countries’ affairs. America’s defense of human rights also tends to exclude rights of individuals in the economic sphere, that is, regarding social security and conditions of work and standards of living (Johnson, 2000: 166-167).\n\nThe emerging global culture is most visibly manifest in the domain of mass-popular culture. Needless to say, however, most forms of European-originated “high culture” (classical music, opera, ballet, sculpture, paintings and literature) have always operated on an international scale. Modernist art in post-World War II America was internationalist from the start as well. European émigrés who were fleeing from Nazism and World War II brought the impulses of European modernist art to the United States. It was from the creative synergy of European-born painters and U.S.-bred talent that a dynamic cultural scene emerged, which would generate a series of art works that drew worldwide acclaim. In the 1940s and 1950s, the abstract expressionist painters created the first internationally significant U.S. art and turned New York into the center of the modern art world (Best & Kellner, 1997: 167-170). In recent decades, one can witness a restructuring of older patterns and transnational flows of high culture (especially concert hall music). This development results from the usage of global communication technologies, cross-media marketing and distribution techniques by globalizing cultural industries, as well as the increased transnational significance of the culture of performance and attendant celebrity cults originating in the United States.\n\nThe postmodern shift in the arts (and its intricate mixtures of “high” and “low” culture) has helped to generate the new global culture of postmodern forms in a variety of aesthetic fields (ranging from architecture, painting, and literature to multimedia art), media, computer, and consumer culture traveling across the globe with high speed (Best & Kellner, 1997: 188-189). Postmodernist forms of global culture often have an American imprint, because of the global outreach of U.S. art worlds and cultural industries, and the undeniable fact that postmodernism is preeminently American. As Malcolm Bradbury pointed out, the United States has been the site of both the Americanization of modernity – the condition that resulted from processes of modernization – and the Americanization of modernism – the iconoclastic, anti-traditionalist movement in the arts that took of in late-nineteenth century Europe. These two forms of Americanization have merged into one within the crucible of postmodern culture in America during the late twentieth century (Bradbury, 1995: 463).\n\nU.S.-based or U.S.-owned TNCs have contributed much to the global dissemination of forms of “superculture” (Bigsby, 1975) driven by the further development of globalizing capitalism and worldwide spread of the culture-ideology of consumerism (Sklair, 2002: 108-111). This globalizing popular culture is to some degree detached from its American roots, but on the other hand it still continues to be fed with new inputs from the changing U.S. cultural repertoire continuously hybridizing with other cultural sources. One should also realize that the manifest cultural content is not all-important. The forms of commercial popular culture, the genres and social relationships established through cinema, television, the Internet or otherwise, may have a more decisive influence. For example, the mediation of formal politics by the spectacular modes of television news and current affairs programs (and the rise of infotainment) originating in the United States has radically altered local politics in many places of the world. One may label such changes as part of more general processes of modernization rather than “Americanization.” Yet it cannot be denied that the genres and programs concerned express material forces and cultural practices that grew (and still grow) out of the social and media history of the United States (Bell & Bell, 1993: 187). More generally, there was a price in terms of quality to be paid in the commercialization of the local television systems in Europe and similar systems elsewhere through the adoption of the American “way of television.” This implied a deficit especially with regard to innovation, risk-taking, minority appeal, cultural authority and non-commercial values. On the one hand, the proliferation of TV channels allowed by new digital technologies enabled the development of niche markets. On the other hand, however, commercial pressures, whether driven by the quest for greater advertising or subscription revenue (largely achieved, although not exclusively, through high circulations and audience ratings) tended to induce producers to opt for the tried and tested formula and to routinize their formats or schedules rather than take creative risks (McQuail, 1996: 115-116).\n\nThe 1990s saw a huge explosion of U.S. mergers in industry as a whole, which was reflected in the cultural industries. In the early twenty-first century a small group of corporations were obvious leaders in terms of the revenues they gained from global cultural-industry markets. This also included the growing influence of U.S.-corporate style conglomerates in the cultural industries not located in America, such as at that time the French-based company Vivendi and the German-based company Bertelsmann. The names and organizational structures of these companies change regularly, as further mergers, acquisitions and sell-offs take place or are suspended by regulatory agencies. In September 2004 the seven biggest cultural-industry businesses, in descending order of 2003-2004 revenue based on company reports, were Time Warner (formerly AOL Time Warner, New York), Vivendi Universal (Paris/New York), Walt Disney (Burbank, CA), Viacom (New York), Bertelsmann (Gütersloh, Germany), News Corporation (Melbourne, New York). Below these mega-corporations there was a second tier of regional corporations consisting of 43 companies, which were, apart from one Latin American company (Televisa, Mexico) and one Australian company (PBL), all based in either North America (21 companies, including three Canadian), Europe (ten companies, including five British) or Japan (nine companies (Variety, 2004). Overall, U.S.-based companies remain powerful in the production of a wide variety of popular cultural forms. In the past few decades intellectual property has become of major significance – that is, the cultural industries increasingly operate around the ownership rights of films, TV programs, songs, brands. This enables them to circulate characters, icons, and narratives across many different media, and deploy intensive cross-promotion (Hesmondhalgh, 2002: 135-137, 143).\n\nHowever, one must not overlook the co-implication of non-American investors in all of this. Ironically, French companies have been major investors in Hollywood since the 1980s. The management of conglomerates in the French film industry no longer felt obliged to defend those established values of high culture so long espoused by their intellectual compatriots. Whatever their underlying rationale may have been, companies like Canal+ and Chargeurs had no scruples about investing in Hollywood, while at the same time the majority of French producers and policymakers were engaged in a strenuous battle to prevent American movies from flowing unimpeded onto Europe’s cinema and television screens (Puttnam, 1998: 261). (Indeed, French intellectuals led the 1993 GATT battle over Europe’s need for “culture exception” to free-trade laws in film and television. In addition to a ticket surcharge, the French government spent up to $400 million in giving financial support of French-made films.) The restructuring of Hollywood went so far that by 2000 it was largely a place where deals were done, where studios, as Warner Brothers’ vice-president Richard Fox said, were just “distributors, banks, and owners of intellectual copyrights, contracting out creative and production activities in others.” The profits landed in bank accounts across the world, and the U.S. audience no longer determined what was made (Marling, 2006: 37-38). But this did not mean basic changes in cultural content. Even after this far-reaching transnationalization of economic ownership of the American film industry, most movies associated with “Hollywood” continued to have features characteristic of the various genres concerned.\n\nAt the turn of the new millennium, Americanizing forces were expected to remain strong in popular culture in the foreseeable future (Rosendorf, 2000: 110-123). However, certain American cultural media contents have become less popular around the world. Foreign sales of American TV programs have declined, as locals increasingly preferred locally produced shows. This has much to do with the cultural specificity in television drama which does not simply transfer well to all foreign cultures. There has to be a “narrative fit” between program and viewer, as research has shown regarding a large international sample of U.S. television programs shown abroad. Export programming appeared to take hold only in cultural niches of narrative compatibility (Frau-Meigs, 1996). In 2001, among the 60 countries in a worldwide survey 71 percent of their top 10 programs were locally produced. The worldwide television market is growing, but America is becoming less dominant in it. By 2002 Latin America evidenced as much Mexican and Spanish programming as American, while Asian and African stations mixed British and French shows with U.S imports. Indian, Egyptian, and Mexican soap operas undercut the price of U.S. syndications and exploited growing diasporic language markets. Then Mexico and Brazil had even become the world’s top exporters of television drama.\n\nBy 1990 Mexico’s Televisa was the largest producer of syndicated export programming in the world; it also purchased telenovas (local versions of soap operas) produced in other countries. By 2004, Brazil’s Globo corporation was as big an exporter as Televisa, its sales covering 130 countries. (However, the latter companies have extensive ties to and joint ventures with American media companies, as well as with Wall Street investment banks. They are also primary instigators and beneficiaries of the expansion of the U.S.-dominated global media market in Latin America.) Syria has become a major exporter of television dramas to the Arabic world. China, potentially the largest cable TV market in the world, proved to be hard to penetrate by Fox, Time Warner and other big program providers. By 2002 the rate of cable growth in China had slowed to 3 percent per year, and Time Warner’s access was restricted to diplomatic enclaves in the north and to the southern development zones near Hong Kong, where Cantonese is spoken. (Only 50 million Chinese speak Cantonese, however, while 874 million speak Mandarin.) Disney experiences heavy competition from Japanese, Philippine, and Taiwanese producers for the 40 percent market left for cartoons, as Chinese law requires that 60 percent of all cartoons on the air be made in China (McChesney, 2000: 107; Mann, 2003: 105; Marling, 2006: 42-43, 47).\n\nThe U.S. share of the worldwide web has also declined, from a half to a third during the 1990s. In 2002, 32 percent of Internet sites were American, 28 percent European and 26 percent Asian. And the non-English content of the Internet was growing very fast, which could be gauged, among other things, by the growth in registration of new domain names. By 2001 the U.S. accounted for only 40 percent of new domain names. Great Britain and German were second and third, each with about 10 percent, followed by Canada, South Korea, and the Netherlands. The total number of domains attributable to English-speaking nations declined from 74 percent in 1998 to 59 percent in 2001. By 2006, 605 million people could access the Internet – 183 million of them lived in the United States or Canada, but the rate growth had slowed there. Equally large numbers of Internet users lived both in Europe (191 million) and the Asian Pacific region (187 million), while there were more than 33 million users in Latin American and over 6 million in Africa (Mann, 2003: 105; Marling, 2006: 63-64).\n\nIn recent years we have seen the rise of new forms of popular culture invented, produced, and marketed in Europe, Australia or Japan which are then turned into global phenomena. Intriguingly, this takes place according to the former principles of Americanization, including those of the United States. Exemplary cases are local programs that feature “reality television” such as real-life police pursuit originating in Australia, the Netherlands, and Britain, and the popular TV show “Big Brother” from the Netherlands (Marling, 2006: 41). Even more interesting in this regard are the children’s games Pokémon (short for pocket monsters) and its digitalized versions Digimon from Japan, which are transculturations of Walt Disney’s Donald Duck figures and the global commerce connected with it. Donald Duck figures, which originated as popular culture in the United States and reemerged as major components of Euro-Disney in Paris and Disneyworld in Tokyo, have returned to the United States as transformed, and “perhaps grotesquely modified,” products of Americanization. This transcultural traffic has been called “Americanization in reverse,” which appears to be “the latest example of an Americanized world in which the world recycles Americanization and sells it back to America” (Hornung, 2002: 114). Clearly the dissemination is not a one-way process, and American popular culture undergoes changes as well through these foreign influences.\n\n5. Globalizing cultural influences from outside the Western world\n\nNext to the abovementioned globalizing forces first of all coming from the West (including cultural flows from the South, Latin America, to the North), one can notice the rise of cultural movements with a global outreach that originate outside the Western world but impinge on the latter. In this context one should not forget the influence of Japanese and East Asian forms of capitalism and the associated business practices (Nederveen Pieterse, 2004: 38, 144-146). A specific example is the Japanese management vogue from the late 1970s, which lasted until the economic difficulties in Asia in the 1990s, when this influence began to wane. Western business elites and policy circles were bent on trying to emulate Japanese industrial policy and management techniques, which was partly an “Americanization in reverse” to American industries, however.\n\nA large part of the globalizing cultural influence from outside the Western world concerns religion. A world religion such as Islam involves diverse cultural movements. For example, the Taliban and warlords in Afghanistan and al Qaeda’s wider Islamicist movement, along with the Islamic regimes in Iran and Sudan, are all “anti-modern” in their own ways (which does not exclude using modern technologies and media). But Islamic movements in Turkey and elsewhere in the Muslim world (e.g., Indonesia, Egypt, and Morocco) do not reject modernity and seek to construct a modern society that participates economically and politically in the global system and are driven by a self-consciously Islamic culture. Other examples of influential religious movements on a global scale can be found in India, for example the Sai Baba movement (which is strongly supernaturalistic, and opposed to a modern scientific worldview) with many centers in Europe and North America, and Hare Krishna, a more visible case of an Indian cultural export. Successful in this regard as well have been a number of Buddhist movements, such as Soka Gakkai hailing from Japan and the Tzu-Chi Foundation in Taiwan with branches in forty countries. Last but not least, there is New Age culture, not conveyed by organized religious movements, but arguably the most important cultural influence coming from Asia into the West, which has affected the beliefs and behaviors of millions of people in America and Europe. This can be traced to creative reinterpretations of Hindu, Buddhist, indigenous American, and other non-Western traditions that have been going on for more than a century (Berger, 2002: 12-14). But it must be noted that in quite a few instances these processes of “Easternization” have been filtered through American and European intermediaries before impinging on other parts of the Western world.\n\nAnother interesting example of reverse cultural flows to the West is the dissemination of traditional Asian medicines, health and fitness practices and approaches to mental health. These have become popular among substantial sections of the middle classes in Europe and North America. A similar cultural influx has occurred in the case of the martial arts such as karate, judo, t’ai kwando and kung fu (Cohen & Kennedy, 2000: 243). There is also the phenomenon of “world music” under which label music from non-Western cultures has become subsumed in recent decades in the West. Transnationally operating record companies have forced an immense variety of globally available music styles into categories like “folk music,” “world music,” and “indigenous music,” which is an eminent example of “structures of common difference” mentioned earlier. The music ranges from ethnomusicologists’ recordings of relatively authentic indigenous music to music that has adopted a Western format of popular culture, to musicians that draw on diverse influences to create synthetic world music – not unlike the way in which “California” fusion cuisine is created (Hall et al., 2003: 161). However, the local producers and musicians concerned – many living and working in developing countries – tend to have little control over the categorization of their music. And Western consumers largely determine the criteria for “authenticity” and quality. In order to gain recognition and compete on the world market, these musicians are obliged to adapt their products to the established categories and expectations (Breidenbach & Zukrigl, 2001: 116). Consequently, structural molds such as these tend to be biased towards a Western, predominantly Anglo-American staple that expresses the global hegemonic position of the metropolitan centers concerned.\n\n6. Local engagements with U.S.-inflected cultural globalization\n\nThe study of cultural globalization as it impinges on local settings should always imply appropriate contextualization and localization. Context is to be understood here as a multidimensional, time- and place-bound phenomenon that includes the political-economic and technological contexts and the geographic dimension, place or location of the process; the relational dimensions, such as the social positioning of the recipients; as well as the temporal dimensions, such as historical memory (particularly of earlier globalizing influences, including alleged or real American influences in the past) and the juxtaposition of historical experience and interpretation of the people concerned. Social positioning refers to dissimilarities in gender, class, race, ethnicity, ideological, and other subject characteristics that lead to different ways in which locals respond to the cultural globalization they are facing or actively involved in. For our interest in this chapter, one should try to locate and “weigh” America’s part appropriately amidst the various influences that are part of transnational flows reaching local cultures. For pragmatic reasons, empirical studies of “Americanization” often block other cross-national transfers. This may, if not cautiously done, lead to myopia in that important influences from other countries, broader cultural-geographic areas or regional subglobalizations are down-played or even ignored.\n\nSome forms of globalizing culture allow for more selective borrowing and creative appropriation than others. Mass-popular culture as part of consumer culture appears to be most open to active reception. For people looking for signs and symbols of a lifestyle, U.S. popular culture – especially as metamorphosed into “superculture” – has presented itself as one big “self service store” - everywhere present and with almost unlimited choice and opportunities, offering an iconography that remains open to all kinds or readings (Hebdige, 1988: 74). By contrast, the opportunities for opposition, “creative appropriation,” “subversion,” and “resistance” by local recipients abroad appear to be much smaller with regard to cultural components of U.S. economic policies and international politics and security (Strinati, 1992: 53). The latter-day version of this “superculture” continues to provide a cultural repertoire from which people across the world borrow freely in creating their own, sometimes highly idiosyncratic versions of “things American” as they assimilate these into their everyday life-worlds. Here an intriguing process has been at work regarding local appropriations of globalizing U.S. culture. Thorough socialization into mass-mediated American culture during the formative years of people growing up in a society located firmly within the U.S. cultural orbit (such as many countries in postwar Western Europe, for example) tends to lead to an ambiguous position and attendant ‘double consciousness,’ which entails a strong reflexivity in dealing with U.S popular culture because of being both an outsider and an insider to American culture. The responses of students in discussions about this subject in media and culture courses recently given in the Netherlands, showed diverse patterns that demonstrate the complexities of Americanization abroad, ranging from what can be seen as an interpretation in terms of U.S. imperialism on the one hand and full incorporation into the local culture on the other. And, like among previous generations, enjoyment of American popular culture could very well coincide with criticism of U.S. politics (Kooijman, 2011).\n\nIt has been argued that in contradistinction to the cultural values underlying various civilizations, which are likely to spread less easily to other cultures, consumption of mass-popular culture tends to be superficial in the sense that it does not deeply affect people’s beliefs, values, or behavior. But against this it should be noted that the influx of globalizing popular culture can have a crucial impact locally. It all depends on time and circumstances, which are both critical to the meanings and effects of the cultural objects in question. In this context Peter Berger has suggested a distinction between “sacramental” and “non-sacramental” cultural consumption. The former is at stake when the adoption of a Western practice amounts to an embrace of Western culture in a deeply meaningful – sacred – way. For example, some consumption of the globalizing popular culture, such as eating a burger – especially when it takes place under the golden icon of a McDonald’s restaurant – is a visible sign of the real or imagined participation in global modernity with an American face. But much consumption of Western culture takes place on a routine basis – sometimes a burger is just a burger, and thus a non-sacramental act (Berger, 2002: 7) Which type of consumption prevails cannot be decided a priori but only on the basis of empirical research of the case in question.\n\nThere are both tensions and convergences between the different sectors of today’s cultural globalization. On an abstract level, in terms of conventional modernization theory, they have one theme in common, that is “individuation”: “all sectors of the emerging global culture enhance the independence of the individual over against tradition and collectivity.” Individuation is understood here as “a social and psychological process…manifested in the behavior and consciousness of people regardless of the ideas they may hold about this” (Berger, 2002: 9).This means that individuation as an empirical phenomenon should not be conflated with “individualism” as an ideology (although the two are frequently linked in everyday practice). Peter Berger is correct in stating that this insight helps explain the broad appeal of the new global culture. I would argue, however, that the appeal value concerns foremost a transculturally shared structure of feelings among people taking part in the dominant form of Western modernity. It does not pertain to those groups of people (even whole cultures) who are not, or to a much lesser degree, committed to this type of modernity. Their members may not feel attracted to or even be repulsed by particular elements of the new global culture (such as the excesses of possessive individualism and consumer culture, for example) as they take part in one of the other modernities there are. Capitalist modernity, especially in its neoliberal mold, uproots many people and leaves them “homeless” and feeling powerless.\n\nOther forms of modernization may be less threatening to ordinary people in this regard, even though these modalities all experience the ongoing influence of neoliberal globalization to a lesser or greater degree as well. These alternatives include forms of social market capitalism in continental Europe, state-assisted capitalisms in East and Southeast Asia, capitalisms embedded in specific variants of Islamic culture as, for example in Anatolia, Turkey, as well as state-led (post)industrialization and mobilization of the masses in various Latin American countries with newly emerged forms of left-wing populism and socialism (Nederveen Pieterse, 2004: 143-144, Robinson, 2008). The question remains how much leeway there is for the articulation of these alternative modernities within the emerging global culture.\n\nThe challenges that the new global culture poses to the societies it impinges upon evoke a variety of responses occurring on a scale between acceptance and rejection, with in-between positions of coexistence and synthesis. In addition there is a wider variety of reactions by the target societies, including those initiated by governments. There are cases of unreserved acceptance as occurs among members of a global network of ambitious young people in business and the professions whose members speak fluent English and dress and act alike, at work and at play, and up to a point think alike (a yuppie-like transnational group) (Berger, 2002: 3-4). Acceptance may also lead to cultural imitation, especially when the “real thing” is not easily accessible or available (or too expensive) to locals in the periphery. Local culture creators may, upon being exposed to foreign culture, attempt to create imitations of it for local consumption. Imitations may range from “copycat” versions of the original to the appropriation of certain techniques or methods (Lewis, 1996: 272).)\n\nBut at the other extreme there are attempts at militant rejection, be it from the standpoint of religion or nationalism. Some states, like North Korea and Afghanistan when it was ruled by the Taliban, have tried to hermetically close its territory and people off from alien cultural influences. There are also relatively less totalitarian forms of rejection, typically practiced by governments trying to balance global economic participation with resistance against Western globalizing culture – China is the most important contemporary example of this. Its course toward economic neoliberalization on which the Chinese Communist Party embarked in the late 1970s has led to ruthless “free market reforms” along with measures that seek either to deny entry into the country of Western cultural imports or to “harmlessly” incorporate those into the existing social, political, and cultural conditions through national gatekeeping policies (especially restrictive legislation, censorship and control of access to particular websites on the Internet).\n\nThere are many cultures that seek to resist intermingling with others by creating new certainties. One manifestation is the creation of new states defined on the basis of a single ethno-nationality. The new states that emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disintegration of Yugoslavia provide abundant examples of am extreme tendency to homogenize the nation, based on the seriously flawed notion of an “essential” national identity. In the worst-case scenario the drive for ethnic territorialism leads to ethnic cleansing and even systematic attempts at genocide. Other groups have resisted cultural globalization through a purist reaffirmation of one’s religion or ethnicity. This new insistence on ethnic and religious difference has created serious dilemmas for established nation-states, which have shown a large variation in the extent to which they are open to newcomers or, by contrast, demand cultural and social adjustment on the part of immigrants and residents. There is also a tendency among some national governments to recognize sub-national claims for devolution or regional autonomy, as has occurred to a varying degree in Britain, Spain and elsewhere (Cohen & Kennedy, 2000: 355-356).\n\nThen there are the cases in-between acceptance and rejection. Almost everywhere one finds instances of localization, in which the global culture is accepted but with significant modifications. This has happened, for example, with the incorporation of McDonald’s in East Asian countries. One important element was that the contract with customers had to be modified in order to allow for lingering: housewives relaxing in the restaurant after shopping or other errands and schoolchildren before going home. From the perspective of globalization theory, McDonaldization is subject to the forces of pluralism indeed. When McDonaldized models are imported they are always undergoing indigenous adaptation (Watson, 1997). These models can develop locally in a process of emulation and a McDonaldized model can be employed for a variety of purposes, with different products, organization, and effects. On the other hand, however, one should not exaggerate the heterogeneity of McDonaldized systems in diverse local settings, thereby downplaying their cultural power as a major force of a homogenizing globalization predicated on Western corporate logic and business systems (Kellner, 1999).\n\nThe cultural localizations can be more far-reaching. For example, Buddhist movements in Taiwan have adopted the organizational forms of American Protestantism to propagate their non-American, non-Western religious message. These newly revitalized Buddhist groups have taken on a worldly approach through their involvements in social welfare and medical services, education, publishing books, and environmentalism, which has drastically transformed the way in which religion has been practiced in Taiwan for centuries. A local religious philosopher has interpreted this as a “renewal” of a lost tradition, that is, when the dynastic emperors espoused Chinese Buddhism, it too made direct contributions to society (Hsiao, 2002: 62-64). However, another way to look at it is that not only Taiwan Buddhists’ practices but also their belief systems have become “Americanized” by incorporating U.S.-style Protestant denominationalism and emulating the Western Christian tradition by building colleges and universities and establishing the institutional form of the foundation to promote culture, welfare, and reform causes.\n\nOne can also argue, as William Marling does with regard to U.S.-originated technologies, that, through various localizations, the “ways of doing things” or “use habits” that Americans have pioneered are becoming the ways that millions of people elsewhere do things. From ATMs and container ports to airfreight and bar codes, technologies and technological devices pioneered in the United States have been adopted by other societies, which are now going into competition with and sometimes surpassing the United States. Marling correctly emphasizes that local adaptations of U.S.-originated technology are often locally superior, which sets limits to the advance of certain Americanisms, such as the drive-through ATM or burger joint. The logistical systems that deliver products and services – financial services, container shipping, airfreight, computing – will move toward standards, such as technological efficiency and economies of scale. These enable flows of goods and services across cultures. To the extent that logistical systems can, they accommodate to local cultures. For example, the language interfaces of ATMs can be local (incorporating languages locally in use), but their logistical systems will be global. The cultural “local” with its folkways (associated with language, communicative distance, food, modes of land use, habitation patterns, work habits, attitudes toward race and ethnicity etc.) endures, although its interplay with the “global” has increased, leading to further disembedding of cultures.\n\nSharing logistical expertise with Americans, nations like India and China are likely to be drawn closer to the United States in some ways, as they adopt practices like franchising or just-in-time manufacturing but customize them to their use. On the other hand, however, Americans still remain far ahead in the domain of logistical invention as demonstrated by the highly sophisticated level of systems integration by a company like UPS. Other Anglo-American practices, such as using the money market, allow people elsewhere in the world to invest in money market funds as well, which reduces the advantage Americans initially have had in accumulating (including the risk of losing) wealth this way (Marling, 2006: 191, 203-204). It is also true that across the world standardization in production and delivery systems and in the associated management practices of corporate businesses takes place. This is not the same as a complete leveling out of national cultural differences and homogenization of products. Most products or practices must also be adapted to the tastes and cultural preferences of the local market.\n\nStrictly speaking, however, there is nothing uniquely American about standardization, commercialization, automation, computerization, digitalization and the like. As early as the nineteenth century, but increasingly after World War II, many Europeans and other observers overseas thought things to be American that are merely characteristics of a modern technological age, which has flourished first and most visibly in the United States. But, “it could be argued that the typically American contributions to science and technology have been mostly concerned with the ‘conquest’ of distance and time” (Wagnleiter, 1993: 78). They have therefore been of particular relevance for the ongoing processes of enhanced globalization.\n\nGlobal influences also can bring about a revitalization of indigenous cultural forms. This may lead to identification with, and stronger articulation of, the local culture; it involves the retention and creation of local cultural artifacts and forms vis-à-vis the incoming global culture in order to resist the loss of cultural identity that total assimilation may bring. Thus the inroad of Western-based fast food chains in India, Japan, and Turkey has led to the development of fast food outlets for traditional foods, and the invasion of Western fashions in Japan has fostered the development of an indigenous fashion industry marked by distinctively Japanese aesthetics (Aoki, 2002; Chase, 1994; Srinivas, 2002). The latter cultural practices have partly shaded over into processes of cultural invention, “folklorization” and “fabricated” and “staged authenticity.” Entrepreneurs, in attempting to sell “authenticity,” can and do invent cultural artifacts, which they attribute to local cultures and sell to outsiders as symbolic of that culture. Many tourist art objects, souvenirs, and “ritual” performances are of this sort (Lewis, 1996: 272-273).\n\nA local response to the globalizing culture in question may entail a more conscious cultural opposition, whereby local culture is used to challenge or oppose (part of) it. This can take, for example, the form of an “indigenous literature movement,” in which writers search for an indigenous literary identity in a deliberate rejection of modernism/postmodernism in Western literature. Such a movement can be extended to include other cultural fields like music, the performing arts, and films, as occurred in Taiwan in the 1970s and 1980s (Hsiao, 2002: 61). It is against globalizing capitalism’s modernity that sometimes at the local level an older form of modernity is put forward in which the older emancipatory idea of a national project and a national culture reemerges as an oppositional value. For example, in recent years several Asian civilizations reasserted the role that a nationalist project may play through the oppositional power of a national literature (as in South Korea) or a national art and cinema, with India as the prototypical example. Thus, Fredric Jameson argues, “alongside a multiple and postmodern postcoloniality, there also exist a modernist one, for which the ‘liberation’ brought by Americanization and American mass culture and consumption can also be experienced as a threat and a force of disintegration of traditions from which new and alternative possibilities might otherwise have been expected to emerge” (Jameson, 1998: xv).\n\nLocalization may also shade over to another response, hybridization, which refers to the deliberate effort to synthesize foreign and native cultural traits. An eminent example is the development of an overseas Chinese business culture from Taiwan, combining the most modern business techniques with traditional Chinese personalism extending to employer-employee relations with an emphasis on family-like harmony, unity, loyalty and emotional commitment, and a strongly family-orientated private life of managers. Thus a defining feature of Taiwanese businesses is a strong paternalistic organizational culture. Yet in the business cultures of the locally active multinational companies as well as in many of the local companies operating in world markets some fusion of American, European, Japanese, and Taiwanese-Chinese management styles has emerged.\n\nNow that mainland China has become more integrated into the global economy, similar hybridizations can be observed, as in the notion of the “Confucian merchant” which means that many of these elites combine the use of modern business and management practices with a traditional mentality and lifestyle regarding gender relationships, the education of children, and interpersonal relationships. In both cases the hybridization does not involve an intermixing of diverse capitalisms. The first case builds upon the coexistence (or juxtaposition) of the Taiwanese family business model with globalized Fordism from the United States and Toyotism from Japan (Hsiao, 2002: 51-54). The second case includes the state-led capitalism of this newly industrialized, communist state in which the key to business success is special connections to key persons who are in charge of relevant government agencies and determine the policies and regulations in question (Yan, 2002: 21-24).\n\nOther interesting cases are the multiple syncretisms between Christianity and traditional religions in the African indigenous churches (Bernstein, 2002: 227-230) and between popular Catholicism, African collective memories, and indigenous (Indian) religions in Latin America (Ortiz, 2000: 250). In the case of mass-popular culture, hybridization sometimes evolves further away from the Western-originated cultural input. For example, the films produced by India’s thriving popular commercial film industry “Bollywood” do not simply imitate Hollywood’s genres. Rather they are anchored in the diverse cultures and centered on issues of Indian society (Tyrell, 1999).\n\nNeedless to say, the concept of hybridity is problematic in so far as it suggests the mixing of completely separate and homogeneous cultural spheres or identities, while the anthropological and historical records show that all cultures are hybrid. In fact, contemporary accelerated globalization entails the hybridization of hybrid cultures. The concept is acceptable, though, “as a device to capture cultural change by way of a strategic cut or temporary stabilization of cultural categories” (Barker, 2000: 203). But hybridization has another side which makes it even more complex, as Nederveen Pieterse points out. Consider examples like the following, referring to a general tendency, of which many more could be given: “Mexican schoolgirls dressed in Greek togas dancing in the style of Isadora Duncan... reflects transnational bourgeois class affinities, mirroring themselves in classical European culture. Chinese tacos and Irish bagels reflect ethnic crossover in employment patterns in the American fast food sector. Asian rap refers to cross-cultural convergence in popular youth culture” (Nederveen Pieterse, 1995: 50). Paradoxically, what appears from one perspective as hybridization here can, from another angle be interpreted in terms of transnational affinities in sensibility or attitude. In other words, the other side of cultural hybridity is transcultural convergence in cases such as these.\n\nOne should also recognize that in hybridization itself power inequities are involved: “Relations of power and hegemony are inscribed and reproduced within hybridity for wherever we look closely enough we find the traces of asymmetry in culture, place, descent. Hence hybridity raises the question of the terms of the mixture, the conditions of mixing and mélange. At the same time it's important to note the ways in which hegemony is not merely reproduced but refigured in the process of hybridization” (Nederveen Pieterse, 1995: 57). For our purpose the basic issue is the existence, in varying degrees, of a “U.S.-accented cultural hybridity” in various places across the world (Antonio & Bonanno, 2000: 55-56).\n\nWith regard to the dissemination of American culture abroad the anthropological literature abounds with interesting examples of creative appropriation of imported consumer goods, as well as the impact of modern means of communication and transportation in facilitating the continued interaction and identification of migrants from developing countries in America with their societies and cultures of origin. The cultural complexities of the hybridization process that can be at issue here are well illustrated by the following elaborate example borrowed from a case study of Haitian transnational migration (Richman, 1992). In order to finance the lavish feasts that their gods - the Iwa of vodun - occasionally demand from them, Haitian peasants have become almost exclusively dependent on remittances from their family members who migrated to North America. This is possible, because these migrants, despite their residence in New York, Miami or Toronto, retain membership in bilateral descent groups. These social entities, known as eritaj, comprise ancestors as well as living kin, and membership includes not only the right of inheritance of family land, but also the obligation to serve the lwa associated with this corporate unit and the susceptibility to the influence of these gods. Stephan Palmié has summarized the sociocultural processes that are relevant in this context:\n\n“Nowadays, the lwa not only traverse enormous distances to look after their children up north, they also shrewdly play on kinship-ties: for if neglected they tend to punish not the offenders, but their descendants. This fact, as well as others... necessitates that the migrant (usually, of course, a younger member of a descent group) participate in the ceremonial life of the eritaj to insure his or her own health and productivity – if only by contributing the funds to maintain the lwa contented. Here, modern media help translate such absentee ownership of communal rites into transnational practice: cassette tapes of ritual chants de pwen and, most recently, even videotaped sèvis lwa circulate between migrant and home communities – thus initiating a new channel of communication between men and gods. At the same time, just as money from abroad economically vertebrated the ritual system, so have the gods themselves adapted to new consumption patterns: many of them, most prominently the ‘African’ lwa blan, have evolved a taste for foreign products. While the more rustic and dangerous creole zandò lwa are fed the coarse staples and ‘unsophisticated’ beverages the peasants themselves consume, some of the lwa blan apparently crave and demand imported stuff: while raw native rum will do for Ti Jean, Erzili wants American soft drinks or Champagne” (Palmié, 1993: 289-290).\n\nThis can be interpreted as an instance in which the “periphery” quite successfully incorporates consumer goods from the “core.” It is not the American center that contaminates and undermines a formerly autonomous peripheral world. It is Haiti that “creolizes” an American world of consumer goods. Even the African gods in question are subjected to the magical workings of commodity fetishism. Yet they “work its magic” in their own favor by re-transforming commodities into social relationships, which proves the vitality of a “genuinely” Haitian culture. We may wonder, however, to what extent power inequities between the metropolitan and peripheral cultures are reproduced in the cultural mix in question. It also needs to be added that this focus on some peculiar aspects of vodun leaves out the socioeconomic context of this transnational subculture, which makes living hard for both the Caribbean labor migrants in the North-American metropoles (where they face radical discrimination too) and their peasant kinfolk in Haiti. It also ignores the implications of U.S. foreign policy with regard to the plight of Haiti’s people at home and abroad.\n\nMore generally, in studying processes of hybridization we cannot leave it at that and marvel at the variety of voices and representations in creolizing cultural forms and expressions: “The challenge rather lies in empirically charting the flow not only of meaning, but power, through culturally complex fields; in investigating the coalescence or dissipation of aggregates of symbolic matter over time – not as a free play of forms or texts, but as struggles and politics mediated by the agency of interested actors and collectivities” (Palmié, 1993: 296).\n\nIt is possible to differentiate hybridization analytically from indigenization, which is at stake when the cultural imports are incorporated into the indigenous culture to such an extent that they have become fully “naturalized,” that is, turned into taken-for-granted, integral components of the local culture, and are no longer recognized as of foreign origin. Ever since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has been a highly successful pioneer of this type of response (Tomlinson, 1991: 92-93). Examples in several domains (architecture, designs, customs and lifestyle, language, etc.) indicate that in borrowing things from foreign sources the Japanese tend to adopt the forms and often the rituals of these imports without being concerned with the significance of the “orginal.” In this process of appropriation they give new meaning to the borrowed element – a signification that is often incompatible with that of the original – or else they manage to drain it of meaning and symbolism, thereby turning the cultural import into empty form or ritual (Bognar, 2000: 63). In this connection several observers have signaled an all-pervasive “subversion of Americanization” in Japan’s encounters with America, which would set severe limits to any transformation of Japanese culture in the American mold (Delanty, 2003).\n\n7. Conclusion\n\nCultural globalization is an integral part of broader processes of globalization driven by transnationalizing corporate capitalism, for the time being foremost in the American mold. It is a complex amalgam of both homogenizing forces of sameness and uniformity and heterogeneity, difference, and hybridity. It is also a contradictory mixture of tendencies that foster democratization and others that go in the opposite direction. Globalization is a contested terrain with opposing forces attempting to use its institutions, technologies, media, forms and practices for their own purposes. On the one hand, globalization entails a process of standardization in which mass-cultural forms circulate around the world, creating sameness and homogeneity. On the other hand, globalizing culture makes possible unique localizations and developments everywhere. Each local setting involves its own appropriation and reworking of global products and symbols, thus encouraging difference, otherness, diversity, and variety, and possibly evoking resistance and democratic self-determination against forms of global domination and subordination. Furthermore, cultural globalization is not only driven by Western/American cultural influences; it also moves in the opposite direction as we noted earlier with regard to forms of capitalism, religion, and health practices coming from the East. When hybridizations from outside the West are sufficiently coherent and vigorous as a cultural movement, they may manifest themselves as alternative globalizations, sometimes based on alternative conceptions of modernity, other than those in the West (Gaonkar, 1999). In this light, we can envision in the long run increasingly competing civilizational efforts to dominate globalization, notably from the West (and particular parts of it), Islam, India and China, whereby U.S.-style modernity recedes to the background as America’s global powers wane.\n\n\n  • The same holds true for the distinction between “North” and “South,” although it has become the primary one to approach global inequality today (Nederveen Pieterse, 2004: 107-119). It might be interesting to look more specifically at transnational cultural flows along these lines. The use of the terms “First,” “Second” and “Third World” has become problematic, especially after the demise of communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The terms “developed” or “advanced” societies versus “less developed” or “developing societies” have drawbacks too, because of increased differentiation between the rich and poor countries -- and differing degrees of industrialization and capitalist globalization between countries -- of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East (Cohen & Kennedy, 2000: 10; Sklair, 2002: 13). One must also be cognizant that “Asia” is a geo-historical construct rooted in a Euro-centric view of the world, and each country in Asia is different in terms of its relationship with Europe and the U.S. (and other parts of the West). Furthermore, many Asian countries have a continuing legacy of cultural and intellectual connections with former colonizers such as Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands, while they are inevitably influenced by the presence of the United States in this entire region as a superpower particularly since World War II (Notoji, 2002: 105).\n\nHow to cite and reference\n\nLink to this chapter Copy to clipboard\n\nCite this chapter Copy to clipboard\n\nMel van Elteren (August 1st 2011). Cultural Globalization and Transnational Flows of Things American, The Systemic Dimension of Globalization, Piotr Pachura, IntechOpen, DOI: 10.5772/18303. Available from:\n\nEmbed this chapter on your site Copy to clipboard\n\n<iframe src=\"\" />\n\n\nchapter statistics\n\n4109total chapter downloads\n\nMore statistics for editors and authors\n\n\nAccess personal reporting\n\nRelated Content\n\nThis Book\n\nNext chapter\n\nRecognition of Real-World Activities from Environmental Sound Cues to Create Life-Log\n\nBy Mostafa Al Masum Shaikh, Keikichi Hirose and Mitsuru Ishizuka\n\nRelated Book\n\nFirst chapter\n\nMacroeconomic Stability and the Economic Growth in European Transition Countries\n\nBy Damir Štokovac and Sandra Šokčević\n\n\nMore about us", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9338804483413696}
+{"content": "Pond ecosystem | kullabs.com\nNotes, Exercises, Videos, Tests and Things to Remember on Pond ecosystem\n\nPlease scroll down to get to the study materials.\n\nRegistration open for Special Discounts\n\nNote on Pond ecosystem\n\nRegistration open for Mr and Miss SEE\n  • Note\n  • Things to remember\n\nPond ecosystem\nfig: Pond ecosystem\n\nPond Ecosystem\n\nA pond ecosystem refers to the freshwater ecosystem where there are communities of organism dependent on each other with the prevailing water environment for their nutrients and survival. Ponds are shallow water bodies with a depth of 12-15 feet in which the sun rays can penetrate to the bottom permitting the growth of plants there.\n\nLight zonation of pond\n\nOn the basis of the depth of water, penetration of light and the types of plants and animals in the pond, the pond is divided into different zones. They are:\n\n\nIt is a peripheral shallow water zone in which light can reach up to the bottom. It contains warm and oxygen rich circulating water. So, this zone includes abundant rooted vegetations and different types of consumers.\n\n\nThe limnetic zone is a central part of a pond up to where there is penetration of effective light. The associated organisms are small crustaceans, rotifers, insects and their larvae and algae. The water level, oxygen content, and temperature in this zone varies time to time. Decomposers are almost absent here.\n\n\nThis is the deep-water region where there is no effective light penetration. There the microscopic plants and decomposers are present. So it is called Hypolimnion.\n\nRole of temperature in stratification, biological oxygen demand, and dissolved oxygen:\n\nThe thermal stratification of ponds refers to a change in the temperature at different depth in the pond and it is due to change in water's density with temperature. Thermal variation influences the aquatic life and leads to the stratification of the pond. There are three different regions in the pond which are epilimnion, thermocline, and hypolimnion. Epilimnion is the zone of gradually decreasing temperature from the surface, thermocline of rapidly falling temperature and hypolimnion is a bottom zone where no temperature gradient evident.\n\nBiological oxygen demand ( BOD )\n\nIt is the amount of oxygen required by bacteria in the pond in a unit volume of water at a specified time.\n\nDissolved oxygen\n\nDissolved oxygen refers to the level of free, non-compound oxygen dissolved or present in water or any other liquid. BOD and DO govern the kind of organisms present in water.\n\nStructure of pond ecosystem\n\nIt contains two main components i.e. abiotic and biotic.\n\nAbiotic components\n\nThe abiotic substances of Pond ecosystem are formed as a result of the mixture of some organic and inorganic materials. They have directly or indirectly effect in aquatic organisms of the pond. These includes:\n\n  • Light\n  • Temperature\n  • Dissolved oxygen\n  • Carbon dioxide\n  • Other gases\n  • PH of water\n  • Turbidity\n  • Dissolved minerals\n\nBiotic components\n\nThe biotic components of Pond ecosystem are the living components which consist of:\n\n\nThe producers are the aquatic green plants, which may be divided into two groups.\n\n  • Microphytes (phytoplanktons): They are microscopic autotrophs, which fix solar energy. Eg. Spirogyra, Zygnema, Volvox, Oedogonium.\n  • Macrophytes: They are large plants, which manufacture complex food. Eg; Pistea, Hydrilla etc.\n\n\nThe consumers are those heterotrophic organisms, which consume producers as food. Their types are:\n\nPrimary consumer:\n\nThese herbivorous animals depend on autotrophic organisms such as microscopic plant eaters or zooplanktons, Mollusks, Beetles, Cyclops, and Daphnia etc.\n\nSecondary consumer:\n\nThese are primary carnivores, which depend on herbivorous animals for food. Eg: Insects, fishes, frogs, crab etc.\n\nTertiary consumer:\n\nThese are the second grade of carnivores. They feed upon plants or animals (secondary consumer) therefore are called omnivores. Eg: Large fishes and frogs.\n\n\nMost of the decomposers of Pond ecosystem are saprophytes but some parasites are also found. Bacteria, fungi like Aspergillus Cladosporium Rhizopus, Alternaria, Fusarium, Saprolegnia etc. are decomposers. Generally, the decomposers either live in the soil layer beneath water or in the mud. They act on dead and decayed organic matter of plants and animals and supply raw materials to the producers.\n\nFunctional aspect of pond ecosystem\n\nInteractions: They are the food chains and food web formed by biotic communities. The food chain is of two types which are given below:\n\n  1. Predatory food chain:In a predatory food chain, food chain starts with aquatic green plants (autotrophs) whose source of energy is the sun and this autotroph becomes the source of energy for herbivorous which are the source of energy for primary carnivorous and then the secondary carnivorous.\n  2. Detritus (saprophytic) food chain:Here organic matter (i.e. dead plants and animals) are first converted into detritus food by microorganisms like bacteria and fungi which is then consumed by the consumer as a source of energy. There is no predatory and parasitic form.\n\nFood Web\n\nFood chains of pond ecosystem which are interconnected with one another in different ways forming a network is called food web.\n\nEcological pyramid\n\nEcological pyramid of Pond Ecosystem\nfig: Ecological pyramid of Pond Ecosystem\n\nThe distinct trophic levels in each type of food chain in pond ecosystem which shows a food relationship between one another in terms of energy, biomass, and the number is known as the ecological pyramid. There are three kinds of the ecological pyramid in pond namely- Pyramid of number, the pyramid of biomass, and the pyramid of energy. Here, a pyramid of the number shows that the population density relationship between the trophic level, which goes on decreasing at each successive trophic level due to predation. In the pyramid of biomass and energy, there is a progressive loss of biomass and energy in successive trophic levels. Pyramid of biomass and pyramid of number is inverted in the parasitic type of food chain.\n\n  • Pond ecosystem is a  freshwater ecosystem with the complex interaction between its biotic and abiotic components. \n  • Littoral, Limnetic and profundal are the three zones in a pond.\n  • Biological oxygen demand is the amount of oxygen required by bacteria in a pond in a unit volume of water at a specified time.\n  • DO is an amount of oxygen dissolved in water.\n  • Abiotic components are water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen,  calcium, etc\n  • Producers are Spirogyra, Chara, etc. and consumers are frogs, fishes and fungi and bacteria are decomposers.\n\nVery Short Questions\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9705874919891357}
+{"content": "Fields of Violet is a rock music project by composer and producer, Rafael Katigbak featuring performances by musicians from all over the globe.\n\nHow would you describe your music?\n\nIt is generally rock but is infused with many different styles and influences. I didn’t want to sound cliche by saying “We’re not bound by any genres” but the reality is that this project was about exploring different sounds and styles so that’s why it sounds the way it does. You’ll have to hear it for yourself to understand.\n\nTell us about how the history of your project?\n\nI was in a heavy metal band called Scorching Winter and I composed the songs for the band. But towards the end of 2016, my musical taste started changing. I was listening to some mellower stuff and I began writing songs that didn’t really fit the context of the band. I also wanted to explore new soundscapes and play with other instruments that were not available to me in the band so I started this project. I finished writing the songs, did demos in my studio and found some amazing musicians to work with on line.\n\nWhat are you influences/ musical heroes?\n\nPorcupine Tree would be one of them. I think that with Steven Wilson’s writing and Gavin Harrison’s creative take on rythmic design, it doesn’t get much better than that band. I also like heavier acts like Dream Theater, Devin Townsend and Opeth. Although if you listen to Fields of Violet you’ll probably struggle to associate it with any of those. Nevertheless, the key elements I love about their music are there.\n\nWhat inspires you?\n\nI have this constant need to do creative projects. I think I have a creative mind and I’m always looking for outlets to express that. So in that regards, the song writing process itself is what inspires me to write songs if that makes any sense. With regards to lyrics, this is the first time that I’ve had to write all of the lyrics. While the stories are fictional and told from a fictional character’s point of view, they are based on true events. They are basically metaphors for events that either happened to me directly or I have witnessed.\n\n\nI can write anywhere but always at my own time. While I love just playing around in my home studio, I’ve written a lot of things while driving, waiting in airport gates, etc.\n\nWhat is your favourite song from your project and why?\n\nIf I had to choose one, it would probably be ‘Starlight’. It’s a very different style to what I usually write. It’s great to sing along to and the background music is pretty cool.\n\nWhat would be your dream tour to be a part of?\n\nAt this point, the project is not intended to be a live act. Who knows, maybe in the future. If I was to put on a show/tour for it, my dream would be to have all the musicians playing live. No tapes. It won’t be cheap 🙂\n\nWhat are your current thoughts on the music industry?\n\nIt’s definitely a different landscape and everyone is still trying to figure out how they can survive and thrive in these conditions. As an independent artist, it is now easier and cheaper to produce music and reach a wider audience. The downside is that so can everyone else so there’s an oversupply of music and the abundance of bad music makes it difficult to find good ones. I think whoever is thinking that they can do this for a living should be realistic about their expectations. In saying that, there are some success stories with Patreon campaigns and social media sensations that we can learn a thing or two from.\n\n\nAs I said, I haven’t toured for this project. I can think of one from my previous band but I would rather not say for fear of offending people from that place.\n\nWhat are your future plans?\n\nThere’s still a lot of work ahead in terms of promoting this EP so that will keep me busy in the next few months. But I am already thinking about what concept I’m going to do for the next release. Also, I am hoping this release will bring opportunities for me to work with other artists either on this project or another.\n\nAbout The Author\n\n\nRelated Posts", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7941039800643921}
+{"content": "Everything you need\n\nEverything you need\n\nmaking sourdough\n\n\nSouth African from Sourdoughs International\n\nKeep starter in fridge and feed every other day about a quarter cup of flour and water to make a thick batter. When the starter jar is about 1/3 full, discard 1/2 and keep feeding every other day. I use about a two quart jar.\n\n\nStep 1: expanding the starter\n\nAbout Six to twelve hours before you want to make the loaves, fill the starter jar up 1/2 full with flour and enough water to mix well, and let sit out on the counter for the room temperature rise. It can take as little as six hours to double in size, (fill the jar).\n\nIf prepping for the next day, you can do this the night before for making loaves in the morning. Or most of the time, I do this in the morning for making the dough at night, then bake the bread the next morning.\n\nIf you wanted make bread all in one day, like a Saturday or Sunday, I would expand the starter at night right before you go to bed, then get up in the morning and make the dough which takes about 30 minutes, let it rise for around six to ten hours, and then bake. This is what I have been doing lately because I can watch the rise and cook at just the right time- expanding the starter about ten or eleven at night and then make loaves around 9am and bake around 8pm.\n\n\nIf you are in a hurry and the bread still hasn't risen all the way because it's  cold or something, you can put it in a 100 degree oven for an hour and it will rise really fast. More than an hour at this temp can make an off-tasting loaf.\n\n\n\nStep 2: Making loaves- (Six to twelve hours later):\n\nGrind flour: use Spelt, or Einkorn, Farro, or Kamut, or a mix. Fill up the grinder hopper all the way, or better yet weigh out the 1280 grams of grain and then grind it. Lately I have been using Spelt, it tastes good and so far makes a more sour bread. \n\nI usually make five loaves, but I made the recipe below for four baguette size loaves that basically fill the pan within about an inch from each end so they don't go off the ends. If you make less than 3 or four loaves my machine doesn't knead it very well.\n\nStarter- 670 Grams\n\nWater- 570 (adjust for the grain moisture by experience- see below)\n\nOlive oil-50\n\nHoney or Agave- 50 (optional)\n\nSalt 45\n\nWhisk the above together.\n\nFlour 1280 grams\n\nAdd flour. Knead in machine for 16 minutes at low speed (default)\n\n\n\nIf too darn sticky to form a loaf add more flour and knead a couple more minutes.\n\n(Just recently, I put my batch of dough in the mixer, let it knead for 16 minutes, and then forgot about it for a couple hours, then formed the loaves and let it rise. It turned out to be the best loaves yet as far as rising and having  a light airy loaf. I have heard bread makers talk about letting their loaves \"rest\" after kneading and before forming the loaves, so maybe this it what they are talking about, although two hours is probably a  very long rest.)\n\nTo get sourdough to rise well, you need to have pretty wet sticky dough, if it's too dry it won't rise as much. It's kind of a pain to work with. I put olive oil on my hands for each loaf I form to keep the dough from sticking to my hands. I sprinkle flour on a cutting board and roll the dough to form the loaf.\n\nForm the loaves and cover them with cloth, the fabric napkins work well because they are lightweight. Ideally, you want to get all the rise you can without the loaves falling back down from rising too much. In the summer this can be as little as six hours. I try to slit the loaves with a razor blade about 1/4 inch deep after they have risen a couple hours, often I forget or am asleep. They rise more if you slit them. The way I tell if the loaves have risen fully is to wait until some cracks are appearing, like fissures, and the loaves have doubled in size. I would guess 5 to 12 hours, but can be less, or in winter more. Over rising is not a big deal, I try not to, but because of my schedule I often do an eight hour rise when 5 or 6 was ideal. (summer temps). Over risen loaves have flat tops from falling a bit. Flavor not as good.\n\n\n\nStep 3: Baking- (Six to twelve hours after step 2)\n\n\nPlace loaves in a cold oven, careful not to jiggle them. Turn on oven at 350 and set the timer for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes use the thermometer and probe center of loaves for the ideal 190 degrees. Try not to go over 195 degrees or the loaves will be dry in a day or two.\n\n\n(Short loaves can take about 20 minutes). If the temperature of the loaves are at say 165, the next 30 degrees goes fast, like three or four minutes it seems.\n\nPlace in bags after around 20 minutes out of the oven so they retain moisture.\n\nEquipment and Supplies\n\n\n\nBaggette Pan: (Bend to get the shape you desire)\n\n\nScale (grams):", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9462412595748901}
+{"content": "Here are 10 tips to help you dry and store herbs that will make it easier on you and help prevent you from ending up with non-usable grocery items. #garden101 #herbs #garden #preserve #simplyfrugal\n\nGarden season is off to a strong start! If you planted any herbs this year, you may already be seeing an abundance of the tasty things since they can grow with a vengeance.  Wondering what you can do with all the herbs you have without letting them go to waste? This post should definitely help you decide what to do with them!\n\nUsing herbs in your home is a wonderful way to incorporate not only the beauty they provide but the health benefits. You can use them for so many things. From making potpourri and sachets to making herbal remedies and of course cooking.\n\nIf you are new to using them and need a little help, here are 10 tips to help you dry and store herbs that will make it easier on you and help prevent you from ending up with non-usable product.\n\nBut first, here’s the two step process to get your herbs ready for drying:\n\nStep 1: Gather your herbs. The best time to do this, is in the morning before the sun is shining on them. It’s also best to pick the herbs before the plants start to flower.\n\nStep 2: Wash your herbs and pat them dry with a towel. Or, if your herbs look pretty clean, you can just shake them gently to get rid of any dust or dirt. At this point, you can also pick off any leaves that are yellowed, spotted, or discolored.\n\nNow on to the tips:\n\n1. Find a nice, dark place to dry them.\n\nThey will need good ventilation and air, but if they are exposed to too much light, it will dry them out too quickly and they can become too brittle and fall apart too fast on you. You can use a fan on a low setting or put them near the air conditioning vent for the ventilation, but just not in a window. Another suggestion for location is to place them in an attic type space if you have it. The top of the refrigerator works too, if you are limited on space and just drying a few. Or on the top of a water heater. Those closets make a good ventilated place most of the time.\n\n2. If possible, use drying screens to lay them on.\n\nThe screens will catch the smaller, loose pieces if they lose any and they get good air flow from both sides this way, which is ideal. Using the screens for thicker herbs, like rosemary that are more woody in nature, is perfect.\n\n3. Hang them upside down, in bunches\n\nHanging them upside down, in bunches is another alternative to the flat screens. Use a rubber band around the stems and keep the bunches fairly small. The thicker they are, the longer they will take to totally dry. The ones in the center can still be damp, even when the ones on the outside look fully dried. Thicker herbs, like lavender for example, can take a couple of weeks to totally dry.\n\n4. Using an oven to dry them will speed the process.\n\nPut them on a baking sheet type of tray and set the temperature as low as your oven will go. You will need to move them and turn them every so often to keep them drying evenly, so the best way is to set the timer for about 30-40 minutes and then flip them when it goes off. Repeat until you feel they are dry enough, which may take up to 6 hours, but could be done in 3.\n\n5. Plant them early.\n\nIf you are growing your own herbs and are able, plant them so they can be harvested in the summer time. So, early spring. The flavor will be better than in winter, according to avid gardeners.\n\n6. When storing them, avoid letting them get dusty.\n\nOne way to do this is to use a paper bag hanging over them, when they are in bunches, with the stems poking out of one end. Or if they are loose, use a thinner weight cardboard box, and punch holes in it. Cut flaps in the sides to help air flow and ventilation but folded in enough to cover and keep off the dust particles.\n\n7. Use airtight containers.\n\nFor storing your herbs, you can use airtight containers, like glass jars with seals, similar to a mason jar or ones that have the locking lid and rubber seals. Make sure the containers are very clean and sterile. Any other chemical residue can contaminate the herbs and affect their scent and health benefits.\n\n8. Freeze them.\n\nYou can also freeze herbs as an option for storage instead of glass jars. Use Ziploc bags that have a tight seal, and be sure to push out all the air before sealing them tight.\n\n9. Storing for culinary use.\n\nFor herbs that are for cooking and culinary uses, crush the herbs well before storing. For herbs that will be used for teas, use the whole leaf and any blooms and do not crush them.\n\n10. Create flavoured oils\n\nYou can keep herbs well when storing them in an oil base. If you place them in a glass jar that has a good seal, cover them totally in olive oil and keep them stored in a dark place. They will infuse the oil, flavoring it and giving it their benefits too.\n\nI’m pretty certain that these tips will help you use up your abundance of herbs that you will see this year. I’d love to know how you use your herbs that you grow. Let me know in the comments!\n\nYou might also like:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.678726077079773}
+{"content": "Alcor Credenze\n\nLiving area furnishing accessories Alcor Credenze 3D Models\n\nHinged doors close beliefs that develop in four variants, with two different heights and lengths. The closed volumes are supported on the structure agile which gives the whole, despite the overall height, a sense of lightness. East, modernity and tradition: everything merges with great expressiveness.\n\nContatta il produttore\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9867116808891296}
+{"content": "Habit Re-engineering: Amazing truth on how to build/break one!\n\nFirst you get a habit and then the habit gets you!\n\nPosted by Apoorva Patil on June 05, 2016\n\nHabits!! A term which is usually referred to bad-ones or so called bad-habits as compared to good-ones. A habit is something which you repeatedly did so many times and reached a point where ‘not-doing it’ is so much more difficult than doing it! In other words, doing that something has become absolutely effortless or automatic!\n\nSomeone quoted it so nicely as “first you get a habit and then the habit gets you”.\n\n`Habit Re-engineering can be simply put as, replacing a so called bad-habit with a good one. The science behind doing so is absolutely amazing. Recent studies have discovered a property of the brain called ‘neuro-plasticity’ which is at the core of building or breaking a habit.\n\nNeuro plasticity refers to the ability of the brain to undergo small-to-drastic changes throughout the life a human being or an animal. Until the latter half of the 20th century, it was believed that the brain develops during a critical period in early childhood then remains relatively unchangeable afterward. Recent studies have proved that many aspects of the brain remain changeable (plastic) even into adulthood.\n\nThe concept of synaptic pruning states that, individual connections within the brain are constantly being removed or created depending upon how they are used. Hebbian theory puts it as, “Neurons that fire together, wire together / neurons that fire apart, wire apart”. Merzenich’s (1984) study involved the amputation of the third digit of an owl monkey. Before amputation, there were five distinct areas in brain, one corresponding to each digit (finger) of the experimental hand. After 62 days of amputation, the area formerly occupied by third digit had been invaded by previously adjacent second and fourth digit zones.\n\nIts NOT about 21-days\n\nThis study not only proves that the brain can take any form depending on how it is repeatedly used but also shows it roughly takes two months to install a new habit, contrary to the infamous 21-days rule of installing a new habit.\n\nIf the brain is a computer then habits are software programs which direct it to perform particular action at a particular time. So what do you do if you want your computer to perform a new action? You simply uninstall the old software n replace it with a new one!\n\nA habit is nothing but the brain’s internal map or program which tells it, 'what to do' and 'when to do' it. This what to do is closely tied with the time of the day during which it is done.\n\nThe major difference between a computer and the brain is that, in computer you can uninstall old software without necessarily installing a new-one in its place. But when it comes to brain, you can never uninstall an old program (habit) without installing a new-one in its place. In fact you can’t directly uninstall a habit and then place a new one in its place. The process is exactly reverse! You can get rid of the old-habit only by overriding it with a new one.\n\nFor example, let’s say, you have a habit of being couch potato and watching TV when you return from work. But you are thinking to replace that habit with the habit of hitting the gym and working out for an hour, after observing the increasing diameter of your belly. In this scenario, you can’t sit idle and wait for the old habit to go away so that you can start a new healthy habit in its place. What you can do is, fight against the extreme gravitational pull of your couch every single day and hit the gym until the day it becomes effortless or in other words a new habit.\n\n\nThe above scenario demonstrates that, no task is difficult in and itself. Objectively, sitting on the couch for an hour takes the same effort as working out in the gym. But which one is easier than the other is purely subjected to how long and regularly you do it.\n\nThis phenomenon applies to everything in life. It is the only difference between successful people and the others. Some of the most important and proven success-habits are the ones like, getting up at 5 A.M, exercising regularly, delaying gratification, spending time & money wisely, getting rid of procrastination etc., The successful people have developed these success-habits, whereas others have not. Period.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5508465766906738}
+{"content": "Ensemble Wiener Facetten\n\nHaydn Mozart Strauß Lanner Schrammel Wiener Facetten\n\n\n\nTo gain an idea of the type of programme we offer, some examples are presented under \"download\". The exact programme of works to be performed is usually decided by the ensemble shortly before the beginning of each concert . The programme, based on current artistic and conceptual ideas, is then explained to the audience by the ensemble members during the course of the concert/performance.\n\nThere are basically two focal points to the repertoire:\n\nWorks of the Strauss-Dynasty: \"Chain Bridge Waltz\", \" Bajaderen-Waltz\", \" Viennese Temperament-Waltz\"; Polkas (\"Galloping\", \" From the Exchange\", \" Light Blood\" etc.); Joseph Lanner (\"St. Mary-Waltz\", \"Die Mozartisten\", \"Cerrito–Polka\" etc.; the Schrammel-brothers: \"Wiener Heurigentänze\", \"Weana Gmüat\", etc.; J. Haydn: \"Zingarese\"...\n\nOld and new Viennese songs\n\"Mein Stiefelknecht\", \"Der narrische Kastanienbaum\", songs from Arik Brauer (\"Pfiat di Gott\", \"Gebor ́n für die Gruabn\" ...), Gerhard Bronner (\"Der Hydrant\", \"Die Ratzen von Wien\" ...), Georg Danzer (\"Gejammer\" ...); Roland Neuwirth/K.Dobrek (Wer wo a Nest hat); ...\n\nWorks such as the string quartets of Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn among others may also be heard at a Wiener Facetten concert, as well as other works of the classical chamber music literature such as Schubert´s German Dances, or Cypress Trees and Two Waltzes from Dvorak.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9850509166717529}
+{"content": "Search our site \nAdvanced Search\n\n\nOpioid analgesics\n\nCreated: 1/6/2004\nThe terms “opioid” and “opiate” are often used interchangeably. However, their meaning is slightly different. “Opiate” means that a substance/drug is extracted from opium or is similar in structure to such substances. This is an older term, which refers mainly to morphine-like compounds, which have a non-peptide structure. Opium is a dried exudate from unripe seed pods of the poppy Papaver somniferum, and it contains morphine, codeine and various other alkaloids, some not related to morphine. The opiates available for use in the clinic are either natural or synthetic compounds. “Opioid” is a term that has been used mainly to designate substances that are not derived from opium, and in particular opioid peptides, i.e. natural substances that bind to opioid receptors and mimic the effect of morphine-like compounds.  However, the term “opioid” is now used increasingly to designate all agents that act on opioid receptors, irrespective of their nature (natural or synthetic, peptide or non-peptide).\n\nAlthough morphine has been used for many centuries, it was only in 1973 that specialised receptors for this drug, the opioid receptors, were shown to be present in the central nervous system (and also in peripheral organs, like the gut). This was followed in 1975 by the discovery of the first endogenous opioid peptides, the enkephalins. The list of opioid peptides has become longer over the years, and the classification of these peptides is complex. The following are just a few examples:\n\n Dynorphin A\n Dynorphin B\n\nOther peptides, more recently discovered, such as nociceptin and nocistatin, are related structurally to opioid peptides. Interestingly, these two peptides are derived from the same precursor, and appear to have mutually antagonistic actions in terms of analgesia/ hyperalgesia.\n\nOpioid peptides bind to opioid receptors, which are G-protein coupled receptors. These receptors have been subdivided into three main categories:\n\n1. Mu receptors   \n2. Delta receptors                    \n3. Kappa receptors\n\nEach of these receptor categories can be further subdivided, defining various opioid receptor subtypes. Opioid peptides act as agonists at opioid receptors, and generally have limited selectivity for a given receptor type.\n\nThe activation of the opioid receptors is associated at the cellular level with inhibition of the cell. Opioid agonists reduce neuronal excitability (by decreasing potassium conductance), and inhibit neurotransmitter release (by decreasing calcium influx, required for exocytotic release). From the functional systemic point of view, opioid agonists induce a range of effects, including analgesia. One could associate each type of opioid receptor with certain predominant effects. Most of the opioid drugs presently used (in particular morphine, as a prototype drug) are agonists with significant affinity at mu opioid receptors. If used appropriately, the relief of pain can be significant, but is often accompanied by unwanted effects, some of which may become life-threatening, such as the significant respiratory depression seen at high doses of morphine.\n\nSiteSection: Article\n  Posting rules\n\n\nLogin Status  \n\nYou are not currently logged in.\nUK/Ireland Registration\nOverseas Registration\n\n ��Forgot your password?\n\nAll rights reserved © 2019. Designed by AnaesthesiaUK.\n\n\n Like us on Facebook", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8636290431022644}
+{"content": "What is Osteoporosis?\n\nOsteoporosis is a condition characterized by weak or brittle bones.  In people with osteoporosis, the bones are so fragile that a fall or a cough is fracture them. Women are more likely to develop osteoporosis than men. Caucasian and Asian women, especially when post-menopausal, are most frequently affected by osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is an age-related condition that worsens as a person gets older.\n\nWhat Causes Osteoporosis?\n\nThe bones in our bodies are undergoing constant remodeling: bone is being broken down and replaced with new bone.  Osteoporosis results when the rate of breakdown exceeds the rate of new bone formation. Bone density is highest around the age of 20, and thereafter bone density declines with age. A person’s risk for osteoporosis partially depends on the peak bone density achieved in their youth.  The more bone that was present in young adulthood, the longer the bone will last as one ages. A family history of osteoporosis is a risk factor for developing the disease.  Men and women with smaller body frames are also more prone to develop osteoporosis since they have less bone that those with larger body frames.\n\nThe reduction in the sex hormones, estrogen and testosterone, which decline as we age, results in weakened bones. In fact, the reduction in estrogen at menopause is the strongest risk factor for development of osteoporosis. An overproduction of thyroid hormones (hyperthyroidism) can cause bone loss. Overactivity of the parathyroid and the adrenal glands has also been associated with osteoporosis.\n\nNutrition also plays in an important role in maintaining healthy bones. A diet low or deficient in calcium is a strong risk factor for the development of osteoporosis. Anorexia limits the amount of calcium that can be taken in through the diet and can facilitate osteoporosis onset. Corticosteroid medications inhibit new bone formation, and long-term use can lead to osteoporosis.  Other lifestyle choices including excessive alcohol consumption, tobacco use, and a sedentary lifestyle can promote bone thinning.\n\nWhat are the Symptoms of Osteoporosis?\n\nGenerally, the early stages of bone loss are asymptomatic.  However, once osteoporosis becomes significant, symptoms may include back or hip pain, reduced height, stooped posture, and bones that easily fracture.\n\nWhat is the Treatment for Osteoporosis?\n\nOsteoporosis and osteopenia can be caused by anything from genetics to the age-related decline of hormones to thyroid disorders. Nutrient deficiencies are also common underlying causes of osteoporosis. After a thorough physical examination and blood work that evaluates nutrients and hormones, we provide a comprehensive treatment plan that includes nutrition, supplementation with key nutrients, and, if appropriate, bioidentical hormone replacement to slow or reverse osteoporosis.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9992967247962952}
+{"content": "Wednesday, February 6, 2019\n\nGreen card for investors for 500 thousand dollars instead of a million\n\nWhat is the EB-5 Program?\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat are the benefits of investing in Regional Centers?\n\n\n\n\nThe investment process consists of the following steps:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInvesting in the USA and Russia: Comparison\n\n\nThe institution of shareholder agreements is emerging in Russia. The founders sign them among themselves at a very early stage and thus give each other rights regarding their shares in certain situations.\n\nIn the US, shareholder agreements at the stage of incorporation of a startup are not practiced (although something similar is introduced by investors at a later stage and entitles investors to the founders). Instead of a shareholder agreement in the United States, the protection of the project is determined in the contract for the acquisition of a share directly between each founder and company. Thus, if one of the founders leaves the project, then the principle of vesting works, and the company has the right to buy back part of its shares at the original (usually close to nominal) price. How much she can buy out depends on the specific conditions of the westing and on how much the founder has worked in the project. If the founder wants to sell his share or its part to a third party, the right of the first refusal works, and the company can force it to sell its share to the company instead of a third party at the price offered for it by a third party.\n\nIn fact, there is no big difference between these approaches. But instead of trying to persuade all shareholders to approve a single contract that governs their relationship, here it seems to me that a simpler mechanism is used - a standard contract for each founder with the company. The new shareholder, therefore, should not be included in the general contract and will not know the conditions of the vesting, for example, or its acceleration by other shareholders.\n\nShares and their blurring\n\nShares in LLC are distributed by percent between founders. In order to introduce a new shareholder, the share of current shareholders has to be redistributed. Current shareholders share their shares with a newcomer, and there are often agreements on the non-dilution of some shareholders who will not have to share, with others who take over the blur.\n\nIn corporations that are the most used legal entities for startups in the United States, shares are determined by the number of shares issued to a shareholder in relation to all shares issued by a company.\n\nThe company's board of directors, its governing body, may additionally issue shares to both new and current shareholders, but only within shares authorized for issue in the company's charter (Certificate of Incorporation or Articles of Incorporation, depending on the state). If there are not enough authorized shares and you need to increase their number, then a majority vote of shareholders is required.\n\nOne of the easiest ways that start-up investors in the United States are protected against blurring is the restriction of authorized shares in the charter to the number of shares currently required by the company.\n\nWhen it comes time to add a new investor, current shareholders vote, and the charter is rewritten with more shares and often with additional rights and privileges of shares for the new investor.\n\nDifferent classes of shares\n\nIn LLC, in general, different classes of shares are impossible, therefore purely corporate nuances are already beginning here.\n\nThus, both ordinary shares (CommonStock) and preferred shares (PreferredStock) can be authorized by the charter of a US corporation. According to the convention, the founders and employees receive ordinary shares (or options to buy them), and investors - preferred ones. Each class of shares can then be divided into series, although it is much more typical to see different series of preferred shares than ordinary ones.\n\nWhy do we need different classes and series of shares? The fact is that the company's charter can fix not only the number of shares of different classes and series but also their various rights and privileges. But the charter does not allow differentiation between shareholders of the same class. Accordingly, if investors entered into different periods of time have agreed with the company on different conditions, and everyone wants to fix their rights in the charter, then each subsequent investor has to issue a new series of preferred shares (from here Series A PreferredStock, Series B PreferredStock, and etc.).\n\nThose who are familiar with the practice of creating start-ups in Russia are asking the obvious question: why all these difficulties are different classes and series of actions and changes in the statute that need to be submitted to the state if investors can be fixed in the shareholder agreement instead of the charter? And here there is a small, but very important nuance - the rights enshrined in the shareholder agreement are contractual rights. Accordingly, if they are not respected, and the investor is suing the company, then at best he will receive compensation for damages to the extent that the investor can prove in court. If his rights are enshrined in the charter and they are not respected by the company, then the investor, who is suing because of this violation, is no longer asking for damages, but for canceling that transaction or canceling the action that violated his rights.\n\nBecause of this potential risk, the likelihood that a company will violate the rights of shares specified in the charter is much less than the probability that only a contractual obligation will be violated.\n\nOn this basis, Russian investors in start-up projects registered under US law should not avoid investing in preferred shares, but rather the opposite — insist on buying preferred shares with key rights reflected in the charter.\n\nOther risks\n\nThe significant difference that I have noticed between investors in the United States and in Russia is manifested in the weight that investors attach to the risk of banal fraud on the part of the founders.\n\nStart-up investors in the United States realize that the probability of success of a startup is already so small, and the probability of losing all or most of their contribution is so high (start-ups are a very speculative area) that it’s simply meaningless to defend against insignificant risk.\n\nRussian investors, on the other hand, often spend a lot of time and effort on introducing mechanisms to control the company's operating activities, the founders and the company's cash flows.\n\nOf course, fraudsters are everywhere. But if the American investor has a low level of trust in the founders, and he is afraid that he will be “thrown”, he will simply not enter the project. After all, the founder on the collar will not build the next Facebook, Tesla or Amazon.\n\nHow to invest in the US and not lose all the money\n\nDespite the somewhat tarnished image of the American dream, a tight tax regime and serious consequences that threaten to violate the US are not diminishing, and the green card continues to be the cherished dream of many people on the planet.\n\nThose who were interested in the question of possible ways to obtain a residence permit in America know that one of the prepared options that immigration attorneys offer to potential clients at the first consultation is an EB5 investment visa. For a busy person who does not want to drastically change their way of life and part with sources of income at home, the attractiveness of EB5 is obvious: it is a passive investment that does not require investor efforts in running a business in the United States.\n\nThe idea of ​​buying and selling green cards is not new: the EB5 program appeared back in 1990 when the US Congress aimed to stimulate the economy, spur foreign investment, create additional jobs, and EB5 seemed to be an excellent mechanism to achieve it. Until 2008, it was not very popular, but after the collapse of the markets and the banking crisis, it became very popular as a saving straw for developers suffocating from the lack of financing.\n\nHow it works\n\nThe program really works. It is safe to say that the construction boom of recent years, which has engulfed megalopolises like New York, Miami, Los Angeles, is not the least of America's responsibility for affordable foreign investment, through which the most ambitious projects are implemented.\n\nFor a million dollars invested in a new commercial enterprise and created 10 jobs, a foreign investor is rewarded with the opportunity to quickly become a permanent resident of the United States, beating a huge number of years of waiting for people. The level of investment is reduced to five hundred thousand if the project is located in a territory that is particularly in need of attracting new jobs (in this case, as a rule, this is a deaf province and economically lagging areas of the country).\nEquity must be acquired legally, and the investment cannot be guaranteed but must be at risk. According to approximate estimates, since 2012, through such investments, about $ 8.7 billion has flowed into the American economy.\n\nThe annual quota for EB5 is 10 thousand applications, about 90% of which are now accounted for by investors from Asia, where the process of attracting potential customers is put on a bigfoot. Echelons of representatives of real estate companies, who estimated the possibilities of practically free EB5 capital, are constantly moving east to China and Vietnam.\n\nIn such marketing, even relatives of President Trump, the Kouchner family, who were very successful in real estate development, were noticed. Jared Kushner’s sister, the president’s son-in-law, recently personally visited Beijing and advertised a potential investor audience to a New Jersey construction project, which again attracted attention to the program from the press and the legislative branch of government.\n\nGreen Card Scandals\n\nRussia, although not leading in terms of the number of EB5 investments, is also not avoided by the concern of project owners. Their representatives, often in a team with lawyers specializing in the processing of an investment visa, regularly visit Moscow and the regions in search of those who want to obtain a relatively cheap green card in America. Presentations, conferences, advertising brochures - lawyers and developers willingly spend considerable money on all this marketing. But a series of scandals that erupted over the past few years around the EB5 industry exposed the shortcomings of the current system.\n\nThe largest of these is associated with the Vermont project Jay Peak, which has long been considered the \"gold standard\", an exemplary example of the effect of the investment program and enjoyed a high degree of trust from immigration lawyers. Jay Peak was patronized by Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin and Senator Patrick Leahy, talking about the project in the press and promoting it at various events. The governor even personally appeared in a promotional video, where he assured investors that Jay Peak had been successfully audited.\nThe project turned out to be a pyramid. The thread that triggered the investigation was a complaint from an investor, whose share was suddenly converted into debt without an agreement with him.\n\nThis car dealer from London proved to be a competent person, having shown miracles of perseverance in searching for information and analyzing the current situation. About $ 200 million owned by the same foreign investors have disappeared.\n\nUrgently organized checks revealed that Jay Peak’s bookkeeping was conducted negligently, without proper control by state supervisors, and much of the money was used for the personal needs of the owners. One of them, a businessman from Miami, Ariel Quiros, according to the charges, bought a plane and real estate for investors' money. The prospect of depositors receiving immigration status, which was the main purpose of their participation in the project, was put at risk. The project itself was in bankruptcy proceedings and could have been buried under a mountain of unpaid bills if a competent trusted manager had not been appointed by a Florida court. Various individuals, organizations and even the state of Vermont, who, like an avalanche, covered with lawsuits, were involved in the outbreak of scandal.\n\nParticularly noteworthy is the story of the investment company Raymond James, which recently agreed to put an end to litigation by paying the plaintiffs $ 150 million for servicing the accounts with which fraudulent operations were conducted. The settlement was reached after the battles that broke out in the federal court of South Florida, where a group of investors, represented by a team of experienced lawyers, attacked the position of a financial company. Despite the fact that the role of “Raymond James” in this case was limited (the company did not participate in advertising the project, attracting capital and did not have direct contact with investors), the plaintiffs insisted that she entered into a criminal conspiracy with Jay Peak co-owner Ariel Quiros , and that the fact of this conspiracy made it possible for him to build a financial pyramid of the Ponzi type.\n\n“Cherry on the cake” was certainly served by the fact that the manager of the Raymond James office in Florida was Kviros's former son-in-law, Joel Burstein, who also became the target of the suit. By order of the judge, a special fund of $ 25 million was established, from which all thirteen law firms participating in the case will be paid due to fees.\nAlong the way, it turned out that some immigration attorneys who sent their clients to Jay Peak received a “kickback” of $ 25,000 each from the project owners.\n\nBy itself, this fact did not shock anyone, since lawyers had been whispering about EB5 commissions for a long time, and there was even a certain presumption that a lawyer, besides the fee paid by a client for visa support, had the right to apply for “encouragement” from the project.\n\nIn 2015, the Securities Commission harshly tightened a whole group of EB5 lawyers with fines and penalties, qualifying them as illegal brokerage. In addition to violations of federal laws requiring that any person engaged in attracting investments for EB5 be registered as a broker, the problem in this scenario is the abuse of client confidence in light of the apparent conflict of interest. This is especially acute in cases (and their absolute majority) when the client is not aware of the financial relationship between his lawyer and the company with which the client enters into a partnership.\n\nProfound investment and deception customers\n\nThe role of lawyers in the design of EB5 has recently become the object of close attention. Recently, the already mentioned federal court in South Florida filed a lawsuit by a Russian investor against Mona Shah, a well-known and successful lawyer and speaker in the EB5 field at numerous international conferences. The essence of the claim is the waste of investment funds held in the trust account of her company, or rather, the unauthorized transfer of the entire amount of the investment by the Mona Shah to the account of the beneficiary company without the permission of the depositor and prior to receiving a positive decision from the immigration authority.\n\nThe case is a Russian-speaking lawyer from Brooklyn, Vladislav Syrota, whose firm has collaborated with the company Mona Shah. The facts presented in the lawsuit raise many questions to the competence and powers of the fiduciary persons and should make potential EB5 investors alert.\n\nA few months earlier, Tet and Victoria Chen, father and daughter (the latter is a lawyer), were searched in California for being accused of laundering their clients' money, as well as stealing more than $ 50 million of their investments. Federal prosecutors petitioned for the confiscation of 9 real estate properties owned by Chen and affiliated structures for an amount close to $ 30 million. An enterprising family worked smoothly between the United States and China, actively “recruiting” investors.\nThe list of their clients even included people on the lists of dangerous criminals who were wanted in the country and escaped from justice.\n\nIn 2016, another California lawyer, Emilio Francisco, was brought to justice for deceiving investors. According to the accusation made by the Securities Commission, Francisco appropriated more than $ 9.5 million, which he sent to his own business and for personal expenses, instead of the cafes and homes promised to investors for the care of the elderly.\n\nPrior to that, in 2014, another California attorney, Justin Lee, was accused of embezzling investor funds. Investments that were intended to be placed in a biofuel plant in Texas, he willfully led into a mining enterprise in the Philippines.\n\nConstant vigilance\n\nThe American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is seriously concerned about the state of affairs in EB5. At various specialized forums and publications for immigration lawyers, the emphasis is placed on discussing issues of deception, pyramids, and possible conflicts of interest. A memorandum was recently published, in which lawyers were urged to be more careful and strictly follow the rules of ethics, which would be beneficial and seductive if there were no options under which a conflict of interest is possible.\n\nA classic example of such a scenario is the possession of a lawyer of a regional center / EB5 project, in which a client’s investment is placed, and simultaneous legal support of a transaction involving fiduciary duties. Of course, the client itself must be vigilant and feel free to ask questions, no matter how awkward they may appear.\n\nIt is difficult to consider reinsurance to obtain an additional legal opinion or even control of the process by an independent lawyer.\n\nThe cost of such a service may in the future seem very insignificant compared to the fees of lawyers working at the stage of judicial proceedings. It should also be extremely critical to the proposals of persons with limited experience in organizing EB5 projects, even if they come from close friends or relatives. The EB5 fever that has engulfed the US in the last 8-9 years is associated with some people living in America with the ability to easily improve their affairs and get the maximum profit with the help of someone else's, easily accessible capital.\n\nUnfortunately, the lack of clear agreements, a carefully planned structure, legal support, and strict control often leads to a loss of funds. Court registers abound in cases of this kind, and participation in them further convinces us that transactions on trust here are unacceptable.\n\nIn 2016, the Florida authorities arrested a certain Igor Tikhonov on charges of embezzling more than $ 500,000 from a Russian citizen Sergey Danilchenko under the pretext of placing an EB5 investment. Tikhonov’s scheme of work was simple: under the name of Harry, on behalf of his company Alcor Service, registered in South Florida, placed ads of various concierge services on the Internet, including receiving a green card through EB5 investments.\nA resident of Sochi, Danilchenko, hoping to relocate to the United States and treat his sick child, transferred the company more than $ 500,000 in exchange for promises of a green card and 60% of the profits from managing real estate, into which Tikhonov allegedly intended to put the capital of his victim.\n\nIn response to a request for corporate documents confirming the fact of purchase, Danilchenko received a pile of postcards. The scammer transferred all the money to a personal account. The investor, in this case, was able to achieve the intervention of criminal justice, but the proceedings of this kind can take years. The list of such cases can be continued.\n\nTransition period\n\nWeak control mechanisms, coupled with the temptation to make quick money, create fertile ground for fraud. Legislators are well aware of the costs and adverse effects of the EB5 program. There are discussions in Congress about the complete abolition of the program, as well as its reform. The most irreconcilable position is occupied by Democratic Senator from California Dian Feinstein. She insists that it is not for America to sell citizenship, but her voice is in the absolute minority.\n\nOnce having tasted the charms and amenities of EB5, it will be difficult for America to abandon attractive and affordable foreign investment. The most likely is a compromise option in which the minimum amount of investment will be increased and control tightened.\n\nIn the meantime, during the transition period, the fate of investors wishing to use EB5 at the old price depends on their own vigilance and awareness. America does not lack talented and honest lawyers, in whose competent hands the investment program can be an excellent strategy for the client.\n\nInvestments in the USA and their types. Part 2\n\nToday, most of the financial market is an investment. For some, investments have become an excellent alternative to bank deposits, since their use allows you to make substantial profits. Among foreign investments, American securities have become a common option.\n\nThe United States is among the closed states regarding the granting of a residence permit. But despite this, the country's activity is aimed at attracting investors from other countries who have revealed a desire to place funds in companies whose activities take place in one of the regions. Investing involves a certain risk, but with proper placement of funds, a substantial profit is guaranteed.\n\nAmong the types of investment should be distinguished investments in precious metals. Under the category of \"protective\" funds fall into funds that are invested in the company's gold. The price of this type of assets will increase with inflation when investments decline. Inflation negatively affects stock prices, but gold increases. Investing in Forex is popular today. It is worth knowing what is scalping trade12 before investing. Broker Trade12 offers favorable conditions for cooperation.\n\nAmong the popular investments uses US real estate. This type of investment is profitable and reliable. But in practice, everything looks different. Investing is divided into two types. For example, you can purchase apartments for further residence or rental. These investments can not act as a 100% guarantee of regular income. Increasing the cost of investment will depend on the macroeconomic level and demographic indicators, which are at 4% throughout the year. It is impossible to assert the liquidity of such an investment. For the reason that their sale may take several years.\n\nInvesting in a US bond has tremendous popularity. The acquisition of treasury securities is widely regarded as one of the options for secure transactions. In this case, the owner can receive income. It should also be noted that the bonds have 100% liquidity and at the same time, a preferential tax is possible. Among the disadvantages is a slight increase in cost.\n\nAcquisition of shares is among the varieties of investment, but there is no guarantee of the money spent when paying dividends. When acquiring securities it is possible to receive regular income. It is necessary to highlight a rather high indicator of liquidity of shares, which is approaching 100%, but this phenomenon is not typical for new companies. Increasing the value of shares will not be subject to taxation.\n\nInvestments in the USA and their types. Part 1\n\nInvestments are becoming increasingly popular among our compatriots. They are an excellent alternative to bank deposits because they allow you to get much more income. If we talk about foreign investment, then American securities are very popular. The US government offers various investment products, among which an important place is occupied by the EB-5 program. This program began to operate since 1990 and involves the provision of substantial benefits to investors who have decided to invest their own funds in the US economy. \n\nAlthough the United States is a fairly closed state when granting a residence permit, it still tries to attract investors from other countries who want to place their own funds in a company that operates in one of their regions. Of course, investing carries certain risks, however, the reward in the case of proper placement of funds will be appropriate.\n\nWhen choosing a type of investment, the following parameters should be considered:\n\n  • the possibility of obtaining a regular income;\n  • safety of invested funds;\n  • liquidity - the ability to quickly sell investments;\n  • increase the value of invested funds;\n  • reduction of taxable income from investing.\n\nFeatures of some investments in the USA\n\nOne type of investment in precious metals, mainly gold. Investing in gold and the companies that mine it is considered “defensive”. The value of such assets increases with inflation when the cost of other investments decreases. Inflation has a negative impact on stock prices, but gold in such situations is increasing. Of course, there is no guarantee that the invested funds may not remain, this also applies to regular income, however, depending on macroeconomic factors, a significant increase in value is possible. Often in investment portfolios for the purchase of gold is allocated about 5-15% of all funds.\n\nCertainly popular are real estate investments in the USA. Such investments are considered profitable and reliable. However, in practice, this is not always the case. Such investments are of two types - the house can be purchased in order to subsequently lease it or reside in it. Such an investment cannot guarantee 100% that you will receive a regular income. The increase in the cost of investment depends on demographic and macroeconomic indicators, the annual yield rarely exceeds 4%. Investing in real estate cannot be called liquid because its sale can take a year or a few years.\n\nInvesting in US bonds is very popular. Thus, the purchase of treasury securities is considered one of the safest transactions. In this case, the owner receives a regular income, in addition, the bonds have 100 percent liquidity, and preferential taxation is also possible. Among the weaknesses - a limited increase in the cost, as a rule, small.\n\nBuying stocks is another type of investment in the United States. They do not guarantee the return of the money spent if companies pay dividends, then a regular income is possible when acquiring their securities. The liquidity of the shares is large enough, approaching 100%, but this does not apply to new companies. The increase in stock prices is not taxable.\n\nWe looked at the most common types of investment in the United States. Having considered the features of each, you can make your choice and make your own portfolio of investments.\n\nInvesting in the USA: how it happens\n\nFrom the abundance of existing in the US investment opportunities can easily get lost. In order not to be trapped, and with the maximum benefit to investing your money, read a brief description of the most common investment options. This will help you choose the most appropriate way to increase your capital.\n\nIf you have a certain amount of money and want to multiply it, but do not understand the intricacies of investing, it is best to get advice from a financial planner. It will help you develop a common strategy, identify long-term investment goals, and chart out how to achieve these goals. A good specialist will not offer you ready-made investment solutions for the sake of a percentage of their sale. \n\nBank Accounts (Deposits) – Savings Accounts\n\nA deposit account can be easily and quickly opened in any bank. This way of investing does not give you much trouble: the bank itself can transfer part of your money on deposit every month. As for the efficiency of such an investment, it is not very high (charges on deposits are 1-3% per year). However, deposit accounts provide minimal risk of losing money and also allow you to quickly return the invested funds if necessary. Even if the bank \"collapsed\", which happens infrequently, the state guarantees a return on deposits of up to $ 250,000. \n\nCertificates of Deposit\n\nCertificates of deposit are similar to ordinary deposit accounts, with the only difference that you undertake not to withdraw the money invested for a certain period of time. For example, a six-month certificate of deposit implies that you should not withdraw money within six months after depositing funds into your account. Since the bank receives an additional guarantee against early repayment, it usually offers slightly higher interest rates than simple deposit accounts. However, it is also not prohibited to withdraw money ahead of time, although there is a certain fine for this. As with conventional deposits, the risk of losing money is also minimal. \n\nGovernment securities\n\nInvesting in government securities, until recently, was also safe. The US government spends more money than it receives in taxes, and therefore it is forced to borrow the missing funds. When you buy government securities, you lend your money to the state for a while. This money is not taxable, so this way of investing is more profitable than bank accounts.\n\nThere are several types of government securities. Treasury bills have a short maturity of three, six, or twelve months. The maturity dates of treasury notes vary from 2 to 10 years. Long-term Treasury bonds have repayment periods of up to 30 years. Treasury securities can be purchased at branches of the Federal Reserve System. The interest on government bonds is 2% -5%. \n\nMoney Market Deposit Account (Investment Account)\n\nYou can open an investment account in a bank, but this is not the best option. In most cases, it is better to apply to an investment fund. This will allow you to get higher percentages. An investment account is a fairly reliable means of accumulating capital since your money is sent by the fund to safe investment objects, such as government securities. However, compared with direct investment in Treasury securities, the reliability of funds is considered to be lower. \n\nMutual investment funds\n\nThere are thousands of mutual funds on the market. As the name implies, mutual funds work with cash contributed by a large number of investors. The fund directs this money to various investment objects, ensuring the diversification of deposits. Mutual funds are managed by a team of experts who seek to place the funds raised in the fund in the most profitable way, seeking maximum profit. Each mutual fund has its own investment direction. One fund can focus on Latin American companies, the other - on firms of new technologies. Accordingly, different funds have different degrees of deposit reliability. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to the results of the fund's work in the past, as well as to the area of ​​investment in which a particular fund specializes.\n\nSince mutual funds invest in stocks and bonds, they put investors at higher risk than all the previously listed investment options. That is, there is a possibility of losing money invested in a mutual fund. But mutual funds, as a rule, provide higher returns, especially in the long run. The fund can invest in hundreds of different companies, and this significantly reduces the risk compared to investing in a single company.\n\nBuying a share in a mutual fund may require payment of a brokerage commission. If possible, look for mutual funds that do not require a commission fee (no-load or no-fee fund). \n\nStock purchase\n\nA far more risky investment option is to buy shares in a separate company. Although it can make a profit, it is not worth investing all your capital into individual stocks. Before buying stocks, consider whether you should use the services of an experienced stockbroker. The broker will tell you which stocks to buy and at what point to sell them. He can also carry out exchange transactions for you. Naturally, for a fee.\n\nWith the development of the Internet, many people have been able to independently buy and sell stocks on special websites. You can easily register for any of these online services if you have a bank account and social security number. For an additional fee, you will even be given the opportunity to communicate with a stockbroker. Online exchanges provide good tools for analyzing market conditions. However, if you are new to the market and make decisions without a broker’s hints, you significantly increase the risk of losing your investment. \n\nInvesting in US Real Estate\n\nThe United States is a country of immigrants who have succeeded. Buying residential and commercial property by investors outside the United States has always been an interesting business, involving both the possibility of high income and pitfalls. Foreigners can invest in almost any American real estate - in houses, apartments, commercial property. Of course, we recommend consulting with professionals located within the United States and the territory where you are interested in investing.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5306482315063477}
+{"content": "The Iron Giant ★★★★½\n\nThe first time I watched this film it was on the back of an airline seat and I do remember liking the story. Fast forward to 2018 and I just watched this in a beach chair outside at UCSB's summer film series at the Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunken Garden. (And yes, we'd all been drinking wine and...well other things too.) Anyway, my takeaway this time was OMG this is an absolutely beautiful, stunning film. The spirit of Miyazaki (esp. Totoro) is strong in this one.\n\nIt's like the animators set out in each scene to challenge each other with a lighting idea, and they are all one upping each other scene by scene. A discovery scene lit only by one flashlight? A robot-rebuild scene in essentially total darkness, with two colors (dark brown and black) in the palette? Mist? Headlights? Fire and smoke apocalypse? The light of the universe itself?\n\nI just sat there slackjawed through it.\n\nSeeing this again also made me loathe Ready Player One more.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.91159987449646}
+{"content": "LED lighting in the public sector: Schools\n\nThis is our third blog post in our miniseries about the advantages associated with applying LED lighting in the public sector. The previous blog post concerned LED lighting at hospitals and in this post, we will highlight the advantages connected to replacing traditional fluorescent tubes with LED lighting in school buildings.\n\nIt has been proved that lighting is crucial to a healthy working and learning environment. Bad lighting can have a negative influence on the behaviour of the pupils as well as affecting test scores and the absence from school. For that reason, it is important that schools and other institutions provide as optimal lighting solutions as possible.\n\nIn August 2014, the controversial Danish school reform came into force with regard to streamline the education and make it more effective. In this connection, the pupils are exposed to an increased amount of classes, and the principals and teachers are offered further education. However, healthy and efficient lighting is not part of the reform.\n\nFluorescent tubes are the most common source of light at schools. Not only are traditional fluorescent tubes harmful to the environment; they also have a negative impact on our psychical well-being due to their low lighting quality.\n\nBy replacing traditional fluorescent tubes with LED lighting, the schools will be able to provide a healthier working and learning environment.\n\nThere are many advantages associated with LED lighting compared to traditional light sources such as fluorescent tubes. Accordingly, LED lighting have a much higher colour rendering (CRI), which provides the best possible imitation of daylight. Besides, LED differ from fluorescent tubes by not flickering.\n\nApart from improving the lighting quality, LED lighting reduce the energy consumption as well, which makes this light source more sustainable and energy efficient in proportion to traditional sources of light. The average lifespan of LED lighting is typically 50,000 hours compared to a lifespan of 10,000-20,000 hours for fluorescent tubes, wherefore LED lighting is associated with less maintenance. Consequently, the schools can save money by replacing old lighting sources such as fluorescent tubes with new LED lighting.\n\nFrom this, LED solutions are optimal for schools and similar institutions. Below we provide an overview of how LED lighting can improve classroom efficiency in order to secure a healthy working and learning environment for pupils and teachers.\n\n  • Pupils: In Danish public schools, pupils spend between 30 and 35 hours a week in classrooms and gymnasiums. Flickering fluorescent tubes can cause a headache and provoke exhaustion. Besides, it can increase the rate of absenteeism and affect the pupils’ results and behaviour during the classes. Accordingly, the high lighting quality connected to LED lighting improve the learning environment and provide pupils and teachers with the best possible conditions.\n\n  • Teachers: Just like the pupils, the teachers spend several hours a week in classrooms, wherefore they need optimal conditions to be able to improve classes and increase classroom efficiency. This can be secured by replacing the old fluorescent tubes with LED lighting.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8937356472015381}
+{"content": "Thursday, March 29, 2018\n\n\"The Wild Inside\"\n\n\nBradbury applied the Page 69 Test to The Wild Inside, her first novel, and reported the following:\nFrom page 69:\n…That hot coal still burning inside me, but it had changed. Felt more like hope smoldering in me now than anger. A feeling like that, there’s two options. You can leave it be and it will burn out eventually. Or you can do something with it. Stoke it. Add fuel. Watch the flames grow.\n\nTake it into the woods, light your way.\nPage 69 of The Wild Inside turns out to contain most of the elements that drive the entire book: At the top of the page, there’s rebellious Tracy, making a decision to defy her father’s rules and sneak out with her sled dogs to train for the Iditarod at night. Later, when she does, she’ll make a discovery—there’s someone out there in the woods, someone waiting and watching her family’s house—that will determine her actions over the course of the rest of the book.\n\nThen, after the page break, Tracy is back inside her own head, remembering her mother, Hannah, who passed away two years ago. This is how most of the book is structured, switching between present action and past memory as Tracy tries to understand the secrets her mother kept and the reasons so much was left unsaid when she died. In fact, page 69 begins to reveal the key to that understanding as it describes Hannah’s mercurial temperament—the way she seemed to change almost overnight, becoming depressed and cutting herself off from the world.\n\nHere, too, as in the rest of the book, Tracy’s voice is what drives everything. Throughout The Wild Inside, her strange way of talking—her odd metaphors and grammatical laziness—narrows the sometimes unreliable point of view and challenges readers to ask: Is Tracy really seeing things for what they are?\nVisit Jamey Bradbury's website.\n\n--Marshal Zeringue", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.886274516582489}
+{"content": "A+ Pages:6 Words:1474\nThis is just a sample.\nTo get a unique essay\nHire Writer\nType of paper: Essay\nUniversity/College: University of California\n\nA limited time offer!\n\nGet custom essay sample written according to your requirements\n\nUrgent 3h delivery guaranteed\n\nOrder Now\n\nEssay on Liberty and Society\n\nThe good society. In a good society, an individual can experience both freedom and justice. But these ideas, freedom and justice, are still debatable.\n\nWe will write a custom essay sample on Essay on Liberty and Society specifically for you\nfor only $13.90/page\nOrder Now\n\nCould these ideas really exist with each other? The existence of both freedom and justice are both limited by many factors. Freedom is to be able to exercise your desires, to freely express your feelings, you expressions, and to be able to live your life in a way that you enjoy it.\n\nThe limitation though, is when your freedom overlaps other people’s freedom, whether negatively or positively. Like freedom of expression, when you do so it affects other people, like their freedom to choose a religion; then there is injustice there. That is where the concept of justice enters.\n\nJustice is there to correct people’s mistakes, so that they would not further step on other people’s freedom. It is not punishment, but it could be a means to punish. Justice is the idea that sets guidelines to one’s freedom. It is there to make sure that you remain fair and observe law and order. This is all for the good of all, not only for yourself, but of the community.\n\nDifferent views. Henry George and John Stuart Mill are both brilliant people with different views of society and how people should live. They have almost inverse, opposing ideas about the way people should go about their lives and their communities.\n\nMajority Rules. For Mill, it is the majority that rules, wherein they are the ones who impose a law on questions of duty to others, regarding their own self interest, and  so be able to impose economic injustice to minority individuals and to groups(Mill, p.4).\n\nFor George, it is not the majority that rules and must decide on rules to impose on others. It is the interest of the people that we should decide on what rules we impose. For George, the movement towards equality is important, wherein the majority or the rich are not the ones who have the power to make rules.\n\nGeorge states that when you remove the root of all problems, which is the individual right to land, you are taking it away from priority of occupation, the most illogical ground where land ownership is defended. According to Henry George, “Priority of occupation give exclusive and perpetual title to the surface of a globe on which, in the order of nature, countless generations succeed each other! Had the men of the last generation any better right to the use of this world than we of this?\n\nOr the men of a hundred years ago? Or a thousand years ago? Had the mound-builders, or the cave-dwellers, the contemporaries of the mastodon and the three-toed horse, or the generations’ still further back, who in dim aeons that we can think of only geologic periods, followed each other on the earth we now tenant for our little day? ( George, VII.I.28)” George points out those imposing rules such as individual rights to land would greatly induce poverty, thus creating inequality. When there is inequality, there is abuse from the people above, thus creating injustice in the system.\n\nWho would want to experience injustice? The real problem lies on the hands of the people who are on top, who are manipulating the situation for their benefits. It is a great burden to carry for the people affect, the masses, the poor people who are work-stricken in order for them to live, the ones who are sweating it all out, while the real people benefiting are on their warm offices relaxing, waiting for the money to come to their pockets. George stresses that these inequalities must be resolved, and offers us a solution. That is to make the land a a common property, a property for all, not only for the rich, thus reducing the terms rich and poor, to a term better known as equals.\n\nThese equal rights not only promote the availability of these resources to everyone, but also the respect to other people’s rights. He appropriates his rights to the land with respect to what other people have, thus being able to distribute the use of these resources with the other people.\n\nLand Distribution. For Mill, a free society doesn’t have laws that states that the government should take land from the rich people to give to the poor. Land distribution, or the distribution of the wealth of these rich people is not a law in a free society.\n\nThe government has no right to take away these lands in order to give to the poor. That kind of action is not a manifestation of freedom because you are imposing that the lands be distributed. Freedom is being able to own lands that you desire, in a means that is lawful and does not violate any laws. Freedom does not entail that the government takes away if you have much of that something. Freedom is letting you own what you are able to own, not distributing it to others.\n\nBut George has a different point of view. He said that the unequal distribution of wealth is the real problem of the modern civilization. He then stated that if you look at it carefully, it is clear that this unequal distribution of wealth traces back to the institution of private property in land. George said that because of this institution, there is no increase in productive power that is beneficial for all the people, and the existence of this institution further worsens the situation. But for George, distribution of this private property, private ownership of land, doesn’t pose any good effects or is impracticable (George, VI.II.1).\n\nBut he proposes a way on how to deal with this problem, a way to remove an evil, he said, is by removing its cause. He explained that poverty intensifies as wealth increases, and wages are decreased while the productive power rises. The cause of all these is the monopoly of land, which is where the money comes from, the field of labor. So in order to rid us of this poverty, to level of the wages, only the way the law states that they should be, then the individual ownership of land should be ceased, thus substituting common ownership (George, VI.II.2).\n\nHe then concluded that the chain of reasoning has led to this decision, wherein both by deduction and induction breaks down to the unequal ownership of land means unequal distribution of wealth. Unequal ownership would then be associated to the private ownerships, individual property in land. Thus, it follows that when you make land a common property, it removes the problem of unequal distribution of land.\n\nMoney allocation. For Mill, he stressed that in a free society, the government – as the public’s representative, should not have a veto on the way a person or a member of the society spends their money (Mill, p.97).\n\nBut for George, he presents yet another different point of view. For him, the universe is in harmony, and so must be everything within it. Equality should be practiced and if we are to hope for equality, we must associate this with social development and must have harmony with other reforms.\n\nHe proposes to show that the universe does not deny people to aspire for something, does not deny the people to want something, yet in order for the society to have progress, there must be equality, wherein all motives must lead towards equality, not inequality. Even though there are objections, George sees it as a part of the solution, wherein the eradication of this evil is to provide equality, to stop the unjust distribution of wealth, the people should have equality. What we spend is also affected, for George; we must work on towards that equality.\n\nHenry George said, “All this I propose to show. I propose to meet all practical objections that can be raised, and to show that this simple measure is not only easy of application, but that it is a sufficient remedy for all the evils which, as modern progress goes on, arise from the greater and greater inequality in the distribution of wealth – that it will substitute equality for inequality, plenty for want, justice for injustice, social strength for social weakness, and will open a grander and nobler advances of civilization.(George, VI.II.8)”\n\nGeorge proposes that everyone practice equality in order to maintain the justice for all. This includes all the actions towards people’s wants, including their budget and expenditures, wherein they are responsible for watching it closely.\n\n\nGeorge, Henry. Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1879.\n\nMill, John Stuart. On Liberty. Pelican Books, 1859.\n\n\nHow to cite this page\n\nChoose cite format:\nEssay on Liberty and Society. (2017, Mar 13). Retrieved March 25, 2019, from https://phdessay.com/essay-on-liberty-and-society/", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8176206946372986}
+{"content": "Rumen Health Technical Guide\n\n\nGet a copy\n\n\nBloatGlossaryView allBloat\nSwelling of the abdomen by abnormal accumulation of gas from food fermentation in the rumen and often results in poor ruminating activity.\nis an over distention of the rumen with the gases of fermentation.\n\nIntensively fed cattle typically have a high proportion of cereals in their diet, which quickly produces gas during digestion.38ReferenceView allGalyean M. L. and Rivera J. D. 2003.\n 39ReferenceView allWang Y., Majak W., McAllister T. A. 2012.\n\nCattle on these diets are not able to expel gas fast enough during rumination, due to the small quantity of long fiber in the diet.\n\nThe foamy substrate is comprised primarily of polysaccharidesGlossaryView allPolysaccharides\nSuccession of several sugars molecules.\nsecreted by rumen bacteria and released from disrupted bacterial cells. This happens when large populations of bacteria die in a short period of time.\n\nMore efficient rumen fermentation means less energy is wasted as methane and also less protein is lost as ammonia.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9947597980499268}
+{"content": "Leila Watts\n\nContact Information\n\n\nOffice: 240-386-1461\n\nLicensed Listing Assistant Leila Watts-Kao began her real estate career in 2003 as a Real Estate Agent and was presented with multiple million-dollar awards throughout her career. Leila has been in the customer service field for over 30 years and understands the importance of knowledge, kindness, and trust.  In her spare time, she has done volunteer work for The Humane Society, Menare Foundation, MANNA and has been president and treasurer of a 55+ condo association. She has a special place in her heart for dogs, her family, and most recently she married the love of her life.\n\n\nOn my days off the first thing, I do is: “Play with my dog”\n\nIf I could eat one food for the rest of my life it would be: “Korean BBQ”\n\nMy go-to drink is: “Captain N' Ginger”\n\nSearch Listings", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9182500243186951}
+{"content": "Question: Comparing 2 gene lists\ngravatar for weeweedelivery123\n4.0 years ago by\nUnited Kingdom\nweeweedelivery12330 wrote:\n\nGood day, \n\nI have 2 lists of genes that I wish to compare in terms of \n\n1) overlap between the genes themselves\n\n2) overlap between the their respective pathways after ORA using innateDB\n\nGene list A consists of approximately 500 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from a microarray analysis with over 17000 probes and Gene list B is a list of 200 susceptibility genes drawn from various GWAS. I have converted all genes in both lists to their Ensembl ID so that I can compare like-with-like.\n\nFirstly, to find the overlap between the genes themselves, I have then used Venny to identify that 75% of the GWAS genes are represented in the microarray platform. Venny has also showed me that 15 genes overlap between the DEG and GWAS gene lists but I understand that I also need to perform a statistical test to ensure that this overlap is not just due to chance. However, I am unsure of what test I should perform and what program I should use.\n\nUnfortunately, I only have slight experience with MINITAB and SPSS and no experience with R.\n\nSecondly, I have done a pathway over-expression analysis using innateDB on both DEG and GWAS genes lists. The DEG list gave ~150 over-expressed pathways while the GWAS list gave ~100. Using the unique pathway identifier, I again compared the 2 pathway lists (1 from each gene list) and found that ~50 overlapped. Again a statistical test should be done but would this be the same test as the first instance?\n\n\nThank you for all your help!\n\nTl;dr: I have overlapped 2 gene lists and found that they overlap in terms of genes and pathways but do not know what statistical test should be used to give evidence that these results are not due to chance.\n\ngene • 2.7k views\nADD COMMENTlink modified 3.8 years ago by Biostar ♦♦ 20 • written 4.0 years ago by weeweedelivery12330\n\nHypergeometric distribtuion test can be used to test for the overlap. See here: Probability Of Gene List Overlap and here:\n\nADD REPLYlink written 4.0 years ago by Ashutosh Pandey11k\n\nHello and thank you for your reply! \nI read your recommendations about hypergeometric distribution testing and found them extremely helpful! \n\nIs it therefore correct to say that since my situation is such that I have\n1) gene list A which is 500 DEGs derived from a platform of 17000 probes \n2) gene list B comprising 200 genes derived from a collection of GWAS\nHowever only 75% - i.e. 150 of these GWAS genes - are represented on the platform and the overlap of genelist A and B is 15 genes, so my hypergeometric distribution test should be looking for:\n\nThe probability of getting 15 or more white balls in a sample of size 150 from an urn with 500 white balls and 16500 black balls, assuming H0. \nTherefore, if I used R it would want my input to be: \n\n1-phyper(14, 500, 16500, 150)\n\nAlso, I was wondering if I could use hypergeometric distribution test to test for the overlap between the 2 lists of pathways derived from pathway over-expression analysis (ORA) based on the 2 gene lists? If so, what would the N be? Would it be the total number of possible pathways you could get from the ORA?\n\nThank you for your time!\n\nADD REPLYlink modified 4.0 years ago • written 4.0 years ago by weeweedelivery12330\n\nYes, you have formulated it correctly. I have never used the R phyper so not sure what corresponds to what in parameters but I am sure you have done it correctly. Well theoretically you can apply the same test to pathways but there may be some concerns. For example, only small number of genes from a group are over-represented in the pathways. Lets assume only 20 genes of 150 GWAS genes are part of pathways and may not represent the whole group. I am not sure if you can still apply  some test directly. \n\nADD REPLYlink modified 4.0 years ago • written 4.0 years ago by Ashutosh Pandey11k\nPlease log in to add an answer.\n\n\nPowered by Biostar version 2.3.0\nTraffic: 1286 users visited in the last hour", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6408933997154236}
+{"content": "Among the most mystical ayatsof the Holy Quran whose meaning has been much pondered upon by commentators is the ‘Verse of the Light’. It is the 35th verse of the Surah Noor, also spelled as ‘Nur’, ‘noor’ being the Arabic word for light. It is one of the reasons why people want to decorate their walls with Surah Noor art and also likely look for Surah Noor art online. Mentioned below is the English translation of the Verse of Light(courtesy: Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s translation and tafsir):\n\n\nThe ayat is not easy to interpret for everyone, because of its use of metaphors, and compels us to ponder hard over its meaning.\n\nSays Maududi: “Light is something which makes things visible; which is itself manifest and helps make other things manifest. The human mind conceives light in this very sense. The absence of light is termed darkness, invisibility, and obscurity. On the other hand, when there is visibility and things become exposed to view, the man says there is light. Allah has been called `Light’ in this basic sense, and not in the sense of a beam of light which travels at the speed of 186,000 miles per second and stimulates the optic nerve through the retina. This conception of light has nothing to do with the reality of the meaning for which the human mind has coined this word.” Many Sufis and Muslim philosophers cite the Verse of the Light as a key passage for esoteric readings of the Quran. Al-Ghazali’s interpretations of the ayat, as well as the nature of divine Light can be found in his masterpiece Mishkat al-Anwar (the “Niche of Lights”).\n\nAs the ayatis pretty long, many people remember just its first line: ‘Allah-o-Noorus-Samawaati-wal-Ardh’ (‘Allah is the Light of the Heavens and the Earth.’) It’s not among the verses most readily available in the world of Islamic wall art, but those with significant knowledge of the Holy Quran do ask for the Verse of Light to be written in a beautiful calligraphic font. They also probably look for Surah Noort art online. A framed piece of Surah Noor art can indeed add to the aesthetic appeal of a home. Some specialist Islamic wall art stores do offer the verse written in beautiful and stylish calligraphic font. Certainly, there is no dearth of Quranic ayatwhich can provide inspiration and which can be written and framed as a constant reminder as well.\n\nYou may also like", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6619281768798828}
+{"content": "What exciting new medical developments can we look forward to in 2017? To answer this question, the Cleveland Clinic assembled a group of more than 100 physicians and leading researchers, who identified the top 10 medical innovations anticipated to have the greatest impact. The final list was unveiled at the Cleveland Clinic’s annual Medical Innovation Summit.1\n\n1. Using the Microbiome to Prevent, Diagnose, and Treat Disease\n\nIn May, 2016, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced a new National Microbiome Initiative (NMI) to “foster the integrated study of microbiomes across different ecosystems.”2 The gut microbiome is “the community of bacteria and their genetic material living in the gut.”3 These “commensal” bacteria are estimated to number 100 trillion.4 Dysfunctional microbiomes are associated with human chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, asthma, and depression. Major entities, such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, will be investing millions of dollars in research into the microbiome, and biotech companies are anticipated to shift their focus from genomics to new diagnostics, new therapies, and new probiotic products to prevent or address microbial imbalance.1,2\n\n2. Diabetes Drugs that Reduce Cardiovascular Disease and Death\n\nAccording to the American Diabetes Association, 29.1 million Americans  (9.3% of the population) have diabetes.5 Myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke are common, life-threatening complications, with death rates from these conditions 2 to 4 times higher in patients with diabetes than in the general population.6 Newer agents, such as the sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, have positively impacted cardiovascular mortality, and new diabetes drugs under development are poised to utilize novel targets. Today, there are 171 medicines in development for type 1 and type 2 diabetes and diabetes-related conditions. All of these medicines are in clinical trials or awaiting review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).7\n\n3. Cellular Immunotherapy to Treat Leukemia and Lymphomas\n\nIn 2016, close to 16,000 children and adolescents were diagnosed with cancer, of which over a quarter had leukemia.1 One of the first cellular immunotherapies is on the cusp of being approved, with early results suggesting that even advanced disease can be curable.1 The genetic modification and characterization of T-cells with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) allow functionally distinct T-cell subsets to recognize and eliminate specific tumor cells, possibly also minimizing chances of relapse.7 Results of clinical trials have been “impressive,” with remission rates as high as 90%.1 This novel treatment is expected to be presented to the FDA for approval in 2017, with the indication of treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).1\n\n4. Liquid Biopsies to Find Circulating Tumor DNA\n\nCancer cells carry somatic DNA mutations that provide a highly specific biomarker that can be detected and tracked through cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) shed by the tumor into the bloodstream.8 ctDNA is 100 times more abundant than tumor cells in the blood.8 Results of several studies suggest that ctDNA analysis is a “potential alternative and/or replacement to analyses using costly, harmful and lengthy tissue biopsies of metastasis, irrespective of cancer type and metastatic site, for multiplexed mutation detection in selecting personalized therapies based on the patient’s tumor genetic content.”9 This test is predicted to revolutionize cancer detection and the monitoring of cancer progression, with annual sales forecast to be $10 billion and several companies hard at work developing testing kits that are expected to become available in 2017.1\n\n5. Automated Car Safety Features and Driverless Capabilities\n\nCar accidents take a huge toll on human life  (with an estimated 38,300 fatal car crashes in 2015), and also lead to disability and high economic cost to society.1 New automatic safety features are poised for introduction in 2017. These include collision warning systems, drowsiness alerts, and adaptive cruise control.1 Additional innovations include external airbags that protect pedestrians from injuries, night vision displays, a speak-easy feature allowing the driver to talk to passengers in the back seat without having to turn around, and a rear camera mirror.10 In addition, companies are exploring driverless cars.1\n\nThis article originally appeared on MPR", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9631527662277222}
+{"content": "This was a remodeling job in Oxford, Massachusetts where two bathrooms were back to back and we rebuilt them as a single 8′ x 12′ bathroom. The bathroom has radiant flooring, a 3′ x 6’custom shower, and added a soaking tub. There was also a 4 foot linen closet and a pocket door.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.987078070640564}
+{"content": "winter wonderland\n\n\nAlvis family legacy continues through the christmas village displayed in Madison\n\nThe holiday season brings with it daydreams of winter wonderlands and a white Christmas.\n\nHowever, in Mississippi where snow is rare, a family of Northsiders decided to build a little winter wonderland of their own. And now the public can enjoy it on Main Street in Madison in front of the Caboose. But this is not where the story ends. The magical display started on a street off West Capitol.\n\nLester Alvis, 92, grew up on Pecan Boulevard in Jackson where his father built a miniature Christmas village to display throughout the holiday season on their front lawn.\n\nAlvis and his father took up woodworking as a hobby. Over the years, Alvis made many wooden ornaments and bowls and other items.\n\nThe Christmas village tradition began in 1950 when they made a church, a couple of houses and other buildings to be displayed on the lawn at their family home on Pecan Boulevard.\n\nThe village was later donated to the Mississippi Baptist Children’s Village, where it was displayed until 1964.\n\nIn ’64, vandals broke into the storage unit it was housed in and broke it apart with axes.\n\nThe only piece they were able to salvage was a horse-drawn sleigh.\n\n“That’s where the idea for this village came from,” Bill said of the collection of buildings that he began to make in 1970.\n\nAlvis’ son Les remembered the Christmas village his grandparents had and talked his father into building one of their own around 1970.\n\n“He kept asking me every year to start one,” Alvis said. “He just kept asking me and asking me, and finally I gave in.”\n\nThey started the village with the church, which serves as the focal point of the display, and one house. Those two buildings were the only pieces to the village the Christmas of ’73.\n\nEach year, the village grew as they completed new pieces.\n\n\nThe village was a family tradition, not just at Christmas time, but year-round.\n\nThey would all talk about what they wanted to build each year and brainstorm ideas for how the village should grow.\n\nThis was a family project. His wife, Minnie, would decorate the interior.\n\nAlvis said that when the outside of the buildings was complete, she would take over and decorate the inside.\n\n“She decided what would go in each room,” Alvis said. Some of the pieces inside the buildings were handmade from wood and some they purchased.\n\nWhen they were working on the blacksmith shop, the couple went to the fair one night where they saw a claw machine game.\n\nIn the machine was an anvil and a hammer.\n\n“I said that would be great for the Christmas village,” Alvis said. “We approached one of the workers and asked if they would sell it. He said come back in an hour. We came back in an hour, and I will never forget, he said, ‘There goes another winner.’ He handed us that stuff and I gave him a dollar.”\n\n“Mom would describe to him what would be good, and he would make it,” said Bill, Alvis’ youngest son.\n\n“We all looked forward to putting it up, to displaying it,” Alvis said.\n\nPutting it up every year had to be done in stages.\n\nIt was stored in the attic. The church was stored in a shed in the back yard because it was too large for the attic.\n\n“Getting it all down and into the carport was a day’s work,” Bill said. “The process of setting it up in the yard would take about a day if the weather was nice.”\n\nAlvis’ next-door neighbor on Berkley, William Addkison, was an architect.\n\n“He drew up all the plans for the buildings,” Alvis said. “That’s why they’re all built perfectly to scale. He was involved from the very beginning, because he drew our plans up for the church. We started out to make the church broad-sided. I never said anything to Mr. Addkison about it, but he saw I was working on something. He walked over, and I told him what it was.”\n\nAddkison came over on a Saturday, and on Sunday, after the Alvis family got home from church, they found detailed blueprints for the church rolled up inside.\n\n“From that point on, he and I would get together every year and decide what to build and he would draw the plans up for me,” Alvis said.\n\nEach building would take about two to three weeks to make since Alvis did not have a shop and worked in his carport.\n\nWhen his father died, he left his tools to Alvis. So, he added on to their home so that he could have a shop. He was able to get the buildings done faster after that.\n\nThe village now has over 20 pieces, including a black smith shop, fire department, general store, bank, school, infirmary, town hall and a few houses, all arranged around the church, which serves as the focal point of the display.\n\nFrances Harrison made the people walking down the street and sitting in the church pews.\n\nShe also made the people that were part of Alvis’ parents’ Christmas village.\n\n“After that, we continued to add to the village,” Alvis said. “We thought the village should grow. And we had music with it and we were very particular about that music. It was a choir singing Christmas church songs.”\n\nThe family would start the process of making a new piece in August.\n\n“We had a lot of collaboration on the building, talking back and forth,” he said. “Sometimes I would be underway, and Mr. Addkison would come over and say you have to change this. He kept my toes to the fire and kept me to scale to make it authentic like it ought to be.”\n\nAlvis said it was basically a neighborhood project.\n\nThe last building, he made was in 1991, which was the infirmary.\n\nThe village was displayed in his yard from 1973 to 1998 on Berkley Drive. Then it was loaned to the Mississippi Agriculture Museum, where it was displayed for 10 years.\n\nNow, the city of Madison is displaying it for the 10th year this Christmas.\n\n“Somewhere during the time, it has been displayed in Madison, my nephew Jim Alvis began to help put it out each year,” Alvis said. “Also, I remember in Madison there was one of the employees Charlie, he helped us put it out. Jim repairs buildings as needed and is instrumental in getting the display set up and looking good. He is a big help. Bill also helps.”\n\nAlvis has a wealth of stories connected to the village. His eyes light up the most when he recalls the family aspect of it and how much fun they had putting it all together.\n\n“Another unique thing about the village, at one point we had the grist mill and a pond,” Alvis said. “Children would throw coins in the pond. It turned out to be a lot of coins.”\n\nThey ended up with about $300 to $400 worth of coins each year.\n\n“We would get together and decide what we were going to do with that money, some charity,” he said. “We would get it out at night and roll it up and save it. Each year, we would give it to a charity of some sort.”\n\nThe grist mill was built in 1980.\n\nAlvis said their road would turn into a traffic jam every year as people drove bumper to bumper to see the village in their yard.\n\n“But no one ever complained,” Alvis said.\n\nPeople who visited the village as children when it first got started in the ‘70s have told the family of bringing their own children to come see it.\n\nAlvis said they have a folder filled with letters and cards that people have sent with compliments and thanks for the display.\n\n“We’ve always enjoyed having people out,” Alvis said.\n\nThis year makes 46 years that the village has been on display.\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7102811336517334}
+{"content": "Optimizing and loss-less compressing images is one of those items that always pops up when analyzing your website with Google PageSpeed Insights. Images have to be loss-less compressed to save many bytes of data and thus bandwidth. This speeds up the download time of your website. But, how do we optimize images for the web? Or, what if I have hundreds of images that needs optimization? Let’s optimize and loss-less compress images in bulk, read on.\n\nOptimize images for the web in bulk with OptiPNG\n\nIn this post we optimize PNG images as example. The same goes for loss-less compressing and optimizing JPEG images, you only need another tool (jpegtran or jpegoptim).\n\nGoogle PageSpeed Insights already mentions the tools, we only have to download and use them.\n\nSo, go ahead and download OptiPNG. There is no installation required, it’s a run once executable for the command line.\n\nIf you are familiar with the command line, for example on Windows 7 and higher, you can very easily execute OptiPNG with its default settings on all your PNG files in a directory:\n\n FOR /F %I in ('dir /b/s *.png')\n do @c:\\optipng-0.7.4-win32\\optipng.exe %I\n\nThis will loss-less compress and optimize all PNG images in bulk, found within d:\\dev\\sites\\ and recursively into sub directories, making your images and website-footprint smaller, resulting in a faster download of your website.\n\nFind more website optimization tips at Website optimization: minify JavaScript, CSS and compress images.\n\nWant to say thanks?\n\n\n\nThank you for your support.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9108672142028809}
+{"content": "Working weekends tied to increased depression risk\n\nBy Lisa Rapaport\n\n(Reuters Health) - Men and women who work on weekends may be more likely to develop depression, a UK study suggests.\n\nAlthough a growing number of people worldwide are working longer hours as more businesses operate 24/7, it's not clear how evaporating \"off time\" is impacting workers' mental health, researchers note in the Journal of Epidemiology &amp; Community Health.\n\nData is particularly sparse about differences between women and men in the connection between work schedules and depression risk, the study team notes.\n\nFor the current study, researchers examined nationally representative survey data from 11,215 men and 12,188 women working in the UK between 2010 and 2012.\n\nAlmost half of the women worked less than 35 hours a week, while the majority of men worked longer hours. Only half of the women worked at least some weekends, compared with two-thirds of the men.\n\nCompared to those working a \"standard\" 35- to 40-hour work week, men working less had more symptoms of depression. Women, however, had a greater risk of depression only when they worked at least 55 hours a week.\n\nWomen working most weekends had more depression symptoms than women who only worked weekdays. Men had more depression symptoms with weekend work when they also disliked their working conditions.\n\n\"The results of our study show gender differences in the links between long and irregular hours and depressive symptoms,\" said study leader Gillian Weston, a public health researcher at University College London.\n\n\"There are many social, economic and health benefits to be gained from working in good jobs, so we don't want women to be excluded from the workforce,\" Weston said by email. \"Instead, employers and family members should consider how they can be more supportive of those who work long or irregular hours.\"\n\nThe study wasn't designed to prove whether the timing of shifts or number of hours worked in per week might directly impact the risk of depression. Researchers also relied on workers to report their own symptoms of depression.\n\nEven so, the results suggest employers should realize that long hours and weekend shifts may compromise workers' mental health, Weston said.\n\n\"We need to move from a culture of unrealistic demands and low rewards to one in which workers are supported and valued, feel they have control, feel they have purpose, and are allowed sufficient time for recovery and leisure,\" Weston added. \"This would benefit workers of both sexes and result in a happier and healthier workforce too - which of course would also benefit the employer.\"\n\nLong hours may take a toll on mental health for many reasons, including the potential to take away time from social activities, personal lives and rest, said Sabir Giga, a researcher at Lancaster University in the UK who wasn't involved in the study.\n\nWomen might feel this burden more acutely because they have more responsibility and more work to do at home, in addition to the time they put in for any job outside the home, Giga said by email.\n\nWorkers may not be able to control their hours or their job schedules as much as they would like, but people still may be able to take steps to reduce their risk of depression, Giga said.\n\n\"This could be through taking regular breaks whilst working, prioritizing your work, learning to say 'no' and not over-committing yourself, working from home or flexibly when possible, communicating regularly and openly with family members, partners and colleagues, and meaningfully switching off and making the most of your time when away from work,\" Giga advised.\n\nSOURCE: Journal of Epidemiology &amp; Community Health, online February 25, 2019.\n\n\nWorking weekends tied to increased depression risk\n\nSorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6495015621185303}
+{"content": "Hermen Overkleeft member KNAW\n\n\nOverkleeft wants to gain insight into biological processes at molecular level. He combines organic chemistry with glycobiology and immunology. He designs, for example reactive molecules that react with different classes of enzymes - both proteases and glycosidases - and subsequently remain irreversibly bonded. Using this toolkit, he has developed diagnostic agents that can be used in a variety of diseases, from haematological cancers to lysosomal storage diseases. These reagents can also be used in the search for compounds that could affect these diseases. Hermen Overkleeft is also scientific director of the Leiden Institute of Chemics.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8101211786270142}
+{"content": "Prima Contact Harta\n Română  English\n21.03.2019 - Un lac de 12 kilometri pătrați din Chile a dispărut de pe hartă din cauza secetei\nLacul Aculeo din Chile, cu o suprafaţă de aproape 12 kilometri pătraţi şi o adâncime de aproximativ şase metri, a dispărut complet de pe hartă. Înainte principala atracţie turistică de lângă capitala țării, lacul a fost afectat de secetă, dar și de turismul nesustenabil și de agricultură.\n21.03.2019 - 21 martie, Ziua internaţională a Pădurilor. Cum şi unde putem recicla hârtia şi alte deşeuri\nÎn fiecare an, pe 21 martie, este celebrată Ziua internaţională a pădurilor, declarată de către Organizaţia Naţiunilor Unite (ONU) în anul 2013.\n20.03.2019 - Africa Climate Week Signals Continent’s Huge Investment Opportunity\nThe high-level segment of the Africa Climate Week in Accra, Ghana, got firmly underway this morning with the official opening ceremony at the capital’s Convention Center.\n19.03.2019 - Fiat Chrysler recheamă la service 863.000 de maşini din cauza problemelor legate de emisii\nProducătorul auto Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) va rechema la service 863.000 de maşini în SUA deoarece nu îndeplinesc standardele federale legate de emisii.\n15.03.2019 - UN Deputy Chief: Africa Needs the Chance to Grow Green\nThe Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Amina Mohammed has called for Africa to be \"at the center\" of the climate action agenda, and for increased finance to the region to ensure that Africa can grow its economy in a sustainable way. It was at the third instalment of the One Planet Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, a meeting convened by President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, President Emmanuel Macron of France, Interim President of the World Bank Group, Kristalina Georgieva, and herself.\n13.03.2019 - Ambitious new plans to scale up climate action in Africa include $22.5bn in new finance\nThe World Bank Group today made several announcements to scale up support for both climate adaptation and mitigation in Africa during the third One Planet Summit. The summit is being convened by President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, President Emmanuel Macron of France, Interim President of the World Bank Group, Kristalina Georgieva, and Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed.\n13.03.2019 - Spanish Top-Tier Soccer Team Aims to Become Climate Neutral\nIn an unprecedented move for a “La Liga” soccer club, Sevilla-based Real Betis Balompié has officially joined the Climate Neutral Now initiative of UN Climate Change, committing to take action to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and to compensate the rest.\n12.03.2019 - UN calls for urgent rethink as resource use skyrockets\n04.03.2019 - 5 Reasons Why Climate Action Needs Women\nAhead of International Women’s Day on 8th March, themed “Think equal, build smart, innovate for change”, everyone should acknowledge the benefits that women bring to climate action so that climate change can be properly addressed. Climate change impacts people differently – in terms of socioeconomic circumstances, disabilities, age and gender. When solutions to climate change address these different realities, they are more effective and their impact ripples through society. Here are 5 reasons why climate action and women should be seen holistically.\n04.03.2019 - Costa Rica Commits to Fully Decarbonize by 2050\nWith a 95% share of renewables in its electricity matrix and solid achievements to prevent deforestation - 52 % of the national territory is covered by forests - the Central American nation of Costa Rica is already a world leader in terms of environmental sustainability. However, Costa Rica wants to go further and be an international example of climate action and ambition.\nDetalii: Noutăţi\nSondaj de opinie\nCum ati aflat de adresa locatiei web a Climei?\nDe la Radio\nDe la TV\nDe la prieteni\nDin presă\nPrima   Contact   Harta\nvizitatori: 1338475\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8565619587898254}
+{"content": "MechChem Africa\n\nIn this edited white paper, Uli Dölchow, Julien Ogier and Jens Lipnizki from chemical technology specialist, LANXESS, strive to better characterise the performance of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes.\n\nUsing appropriate design software to simulate the performance of RO elements in advance of practical implementation at a plant is common practice and generally useful. The actual operational performance of RO elements, however, depends on a whole range of different parameters, such as the temperature, pH and salt concentration of the water to be filtered. While these are taken into account by design programs, the calculations are based on pre-defined performance parameters such as permeate flow and salt rejection, which are determined under standard test conditions.\n\nLanxess membrade technology Lewabrane1These standard conditions are defined according to product classes, which might include: standard brackish water elements, low-pressure elements or other similar groups. The outlined test conditions generally define values for the operating temperature, pH, inflow pressure, recovery and the concentration of table salt (NaCl) in the feed water.\n\nNatural water sources and industrial and municipal wastewater, however, generally contain a variety of salts and substances, which creates greater complexity. When considering natural water sources, which by their nature have a very diverse composition, operating conditions can have a huge impact on rejection from RO elements and the substances that remain dissolved in the water. The NaCl rejection figure given on data sheets cannot, therefore, be seen as a definitive value.\n\nIn addition, practical operating conditions also frequently differ from standard test conditions, primarily in terms of temperature and pH.\n\nIn this investigation, multi-component inflow water containing a variety of common substances was used, the goal being to apply statistical methods to examine the impact of temperatures and the pH on the permeate flux and the rejection of various dissolved substances. The original intention was to identify a new way of characterising membrane performance, but these results also offer a valuable contribution to optimising future engineering simulation software.\n\nSurface effects, most notably, membrane charge, also play a role in relation to the analysis of rejection results, as they have a significant impact on salt rejection. Test results were used as a basis for examining whether a relationship could be established between the different performance characteristics of various membranes and a range of membrane structures (Figure 1).\n\nThe surface charge is determined by varying degrees of crosslinking during the polymerisation of the polyamide coating. The two components TMC (trimesoyl chloride) and m-PDA (m-phenylenediamine) make up the polyamide, which contains the structural elements 1 and 2 (Figure 2). Depending on how the polymerisation process is controlled, the result is either a highly crosslinked RO membrane with less surface charge, or one with less crosslinking and a more pronounced negative surface charge.\n\nTest procedure, material and methods\n\nThe tests were conducted using 4-inch low-pressure RO elements on an automated laboratory test bench. The test compared the performance of a highly crosslinked Lewabrane® membrane with that of a membrane that differs in only minor ways in terms of data sheet specifications. A test pressure of 10.3 bar and a recovery of 15% were used. The temperature was varied in the range of 15 to 35 °C, and the pH between 3 and 11. Compositions of the multi-component inflow water used in the tests are listed in Table 1.\n\nIn each area of testing, test conditions were varied in line with the design of experiments. The substances used were selected for their relevance to various applications.\n\nDesign of experiments\n\nThe experiments were planned and conducted in line with the design of experiments (DoE) methodology, which offers advantages when examining the effect of two or more parameters (factors) on one particular target value.\n\nRead more…\n\nClick to download and read pdf\n\n\nContact MechChem Africa\n\nTitle: Editor\nName: Peter Middleton\nEmail: or\nPhone: +27 11 622 4770\nFax: +27 11 615 6108\n\nTitle: Assistant Editor\nName: Phila Mzamo\nPhone: +27 11 622 4770\nFax: +27 11 615 6108\n\nTitle: Advertising Manager\nName: Brenda Karathanasis\nPhone: +27 11 622-4770\nFax: +27 11 615-6108\n\nsaiw logo block\n\nsassda logo block\n\nsaiche logo block", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6499549150466919}
+{"content": "Ideas from 'Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason' by Sebastian Gardner [1999], by Theme Structure\n\n[found in 'Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason' by Gardner,Sebastian [Routledge 1999,978-0-415-11909-2]].\n\n\nHamann, Herder and Jacobi were key opponents of the Enlightenment\nKant halted rationalism, and forced empiricists to worry about foundations\nOnly Kant and Hegel have united nature, morals, politics, aesthetics and religion\n2. Reason / E. Argument / 2. Transcendental Argument\nTranscendental proofs derive necessities from possibilities (e.g. possibility of experiencing objects)\n6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 2. Geometry\nModern geoemtry is either 'pure' (and formal), or 'applied' (and a posteriori)\nLeibnizian monads qualify as Kantian noumena", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5125450491905212}
+{"content": "Get A History of Multiple Sclerosis (Healing Society, Disease, PDF\n\nBy Colin L. Talley\n\nISBN-10: 027599788X\n\nISBN-13: 9780275997885\n\nWhile we now realize that MS is a standard neurological affliction, as past due because the early 20th century it was once thought of a comparatively infrequent situation in Europe and the U.S.. It was once purely within the overdue 1860s that MS got here to be in most cases famous as a different illness except different paraplegic maladies. one of many very important ancient questions about MS is whether or not it was once a brand new disorder of the 19th century or one who had easily long gone unrecognized for a very long time. Answering this question is advanced by way of the several frames or methods physicians understood and defined ailment in earlier centuries. the best way we now conceive, categorize, and clarify disorder is a comparatively fresh formula within the lengthy view of scientific history.\n\nThis paintings goals to reply to the various basic questions of the heritage of MS. How and why did MS emerge whilst and the place it did, first in a ebook of pathological anatomy in early nineteenth-century France, then as a unique illness classification in France by means of 1868? How and why did the belief of MS as a unprecedented illness within the early 20th century swap in order that by means of the center of that century it was once thought of a typical sickness of the worried process? How did neighborhood stipulations form study on MS? Why did MS grow to be a well-liked campaign and examine precedence, quite all at once, within the past due Forties and early Fifties? How has the adventure of individuals with MS replaced from the 19th to the 20 th centuries? considering that there has been no consensus in regards to the advantages of any therapy till very lately, how does one clarify the occasionally competitive remedy of affliction from the past due 19th century to the mid-twentieth century? This publication focuses partially on how sociocultural components allowed MS to emerge into clinical knowledge and later renowned recognition and the way the various clinical and sociocultural frames of affliction affected the adventure of individuals with MS. those components have been very important specifically methods as a result of odd illness technique of MS, in particular its tendency to wax and wane in lots of sufferers and in medical symptoms.\n\nShow description\n\nRead or Download A History of Multiple Sclerosis (Healing Society, Disease, Medicine, and History) PDF\n\nSimilar medical administration & policy books\n\nCommunity Genetics and Genetic Alliances: Eugenics, Carrier by Aviad E. Raz PDF\n\nProvider trying out of adults offers information regarding the danger of passing a genetic mutation for your teenagers, resulting in reproductive (and a few say, eugenic) judgements. over the top service screening can have hostile results, however it may also hinder ache and open up new reproductive strategies. Raz's research makes a speciality of the interaction of group genetics (the scientific agency of service screening) and genetic alliances (networks of people at risk), exploring how 'genetic groups' are rising either inside current ethnic teams and round sufferers' firms.\n\nNew PDF release: Reconfiguring Global Health Innovation (Routledge\n\nReconfiguring worldwide well-being Innovation offers the findings of multi-year examine, contrasting reports of alternative latecomer international locations in construction well-being innovation platforms to cater to neighborhood wishes. It analyses the rising business buildings in healthiness innovation as increasingly more latecomer international locations are foraying into what's a hugely tricky and technologically extensive area, with the purpose of discovering methods and capability to stability those promising advancements with public health and wellbeing wishes around the world.\n\nGet Alles Wissenswerte über Staat, Bürger, Recht: Staatsbürger- PDF\n\nRechtsgrundlagen für die Pflege- Staatsbürger- und Gesetzeskunde kompakt, verständlich und umfassend- updated: Berücksichtigung aller pflegerelevanten Gesetzesnovellen- sämtliche rechtlichen Aspekte professioneller Pflege mit zahlreichen Fallbeispielen- unverzichtbares Nachschlagewerk für alle Pflegeberufe- Inhalte an der Ausbildungs- und Prüfungsverordnung orientiert- Stundenverteilung als Vorschlag zur curricularen Einbettung- perfect für Weiterbildungslehrgänge (PDL, WBL)Jetzt neu:- mehr Anregungen zum eigenständigen Lernen und Erarbeiten der Inhalte- optimale Prüfungsvorbereitung durch Fallbeispiele, Prüfungsfragen und Lösungen\n\nGet To Save Humanity: What Matters Most for a Healthy Future PDF\n\n\"The UN was once now not created to take mankind to heaven, yet to save lots of humanity from hell. \" --Dag Hammarskjöld, United countries Secretary-General 1953-1961The flip of the twenty first century used to be an aim low element within the historical past of human future health: AIDS used to be scourging Africa, hundreds of thousands of ladies died every year in baby start, and billions suffered below malnourishment and poverty.\n\nExtra resources for A History of Multiple Sclerosis (Healing Society, Disease, Medicine, and History)\n\nSample text\n\nDownload PDF sample\n\nA History of Multiple Sclerosis (Healing Society, Disease, Medicine, and History) by Colin L. Talley\n\nby Michael\n\nRated 4.46 of 5 – based on 7 votes", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7484896183013916}
+{"content": "Wednesday, May 14, 2014\n\nThe 9 Lies of the Dalai Lama Refuted\n\nIn the Press Release below the Dalai Lama says:\n\n“They shout: “Stop lying,” but I don’t know what they think anyone is lying about.”\n\nIf this is true then the 14th Dalai Lama has even deceived himself into believing what he says.\n\nDalai Lama Lie No. 1\n\n“We’re Buddhists and the Buddha advised us not to take refuge in ordinary deities and spirits. The Shugden followers as good as take refuge in that spirit. The spirit arose in the 17th century at the time of the 5th Dalai Lama. He wrote that it was a harmful, evil spirit.”\n\n\nIn fact, the 5th Dalai Lama originally feared that Dorje Shugden was a spirit, and this fear was the beginning of the myth propounded by today’s Dalai Lama. The 5th Dalai Lama and many other high lamas tried to destroy Shugden but could not do so and eventually he came to regard him as an enlightened Dharma Protector as is attested by many historical documents. Also just as the Buddhist monuments and structures in the Indian subcontinent are undeniable testaments to Buddhism’s past establishment in these regions, similarly Trode Khangsar temple (spro bde khang gsar) in the heart of Lhasa, Tibet, illustrates how the protector deity Dorje Shugden was officially established. In the 17th century Trode Khangsar was designated as a \"protector house\" (btsan khang) for the deity Dorje Shugden by the Fifth Dalai Lama.( see Trinlay Kalsang:\n\nIn conclusion,the 14th Dalai Lama is going in the opposite direction to his predecessor, the 5th Dalai Lama, who in the latter part of his life revered Dorje Shugden as a Buddha.\n\nDalai Lama Lie No. 2\n\n“One of its harmful aspects is a strident sectarianism, whereas I am committed to an inclusive non-sectarianism.”\n\n\nSectarianism is discriminating against another tradition, religion or school. It implies being bigoted or narrow minded. There is not a single piece of evidence to show that Shugden Buddhists are like this in any way. Some may think that being non-sectarian means practising all traditions but this is not correct. It means having respect for all traditions and not criticizing them. Being non-sectarian also means practising all the teachings of a particular spiritual tradition, not favouring some teachings and rejecting others. The problem that Shugden Buddhists encounter, that of being marginalized into a “sect” as opposed to part of mainstream Buddhism, stems from the Dalai Lama’s words above. The Dalai Lama is saying publicly that Dorje Shugden practice promotes sectarianism, but the incredible paradox is that it is the 14th Dalai Lama himself who is unlawfully enforcing a ban on a nearly 400-year old religious tradition resulting in many clearly documented horrible sectarian physical and verbal attacks from his followers.\n\nDalai Lama Lie No. 3\n\n“Because of this spirit, people have destroyed the images and scriptures of other traditions, particularly the Nyingmapas.”\n\n\nThere is not even a tiny shred of evidence to support this lie. On the other hand there is widespread evidence both on video and in personal testimony to show how by following the Dalai Lama’s view many images of Buddha Dorje Shugden have been destroyed. In fact it was the 14th Dalai Lama himself who ordered the first image destroyed at Ganden monastery in India - he has explained this himself to journalists in London in 1996 as follows:\n\n“The statue of this spirit in Ganden I removed. In a dream I dreamed one of my bodyguards - Chogyal - Kalarupa - the real protector of the Gelug tradition was dismantling a monk’s disciplinary stick - symbol of Dorje Shugden and saying “It must be discarded” Then I woke up and made a mala divination “Should I take the dream seriously or not?” The answer was - take seriously. That day I passed through the main temple of Ganden and said that I’d do a divination in the prayer hall of Ganden. There were three options:\n\n1 Remove the statue when the main hall is rebuilt\n\n2 After some time remove the statue\n\n3 Immediately remove.\n\nI prayed and did the divination - the answer came “Immediately remove”. I told them at Ganden and immediately they accepted..” So in fact it is the Dalai Lama who is destroying Buddha images but he lies that it is Shugden practitioners.\n\nDalai Lama Lie No. 4\n\n“Normally we would expect the spirit to be protecting people, but in this case there are people trying to protect the spirit.”\n\n\nDorje Shugden, as a Buddha of course does not need protecting - what an absurd suggestion. But the freedom of individuals to say prayers publicly and without fear of punishment definitely needs protecting. The International Shugden Society (ISC) is organized in response to the illegal and unethical actions undertaken by the Dalai Lama to ban this prayer practiceso as to accomplish his political agenda. The ISC is committed to securing religious freedom for any Buddhist who wishes to engage in Dorje Shugden practice, and to restoring harmony, respect and cooperation between Shugden and non-Shugden practitioners around the world. ISC also endeavours to preserve the purity of the Buddhist religion by protecting it from further pollution by politics.\n\nDalai Lama Lie No. 5\n\n“They shout: “Stop lying,” but I don’t know what they think anyone is lying about. It’s my duty to let people know about this. The demonstrators say I’ve banned this practice, but that’s not so, I haven’t ....”\n\n\nHere are the facts: On May 8th, 1996 in a public address in Dharamsala (on video tape), for example, the Dalai Lama says, “It has been twenty years since I first mentioned the Dorje Shugden public restriction (ngas dam.bsdrags Also, in an address on May 5, 1996, the Dalai Lama say, “It may have been about ten years ago. While giving a lam.rim teaching at Drepung, I once gave my reasons for issuing the ban.” (Tibetan: dam.bskrags); Select Addresses of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the Issue of Propitiating Protector Deities, Sherig Parkhang, Dharamsala, July 10, 1996, p. 175; and “In this way came the reasons, on account of which I have issued the ban (Tibetan: dam.bsgrags) in recent times. In banning [this reliance on Shugden], many came forward and declared that henceforth they will abide by my injunctions....” p. 183.\n\nWhatever the Dalai Lama keeps repeating in public there is a vast wealth of evidence to prove that he instigated and is maintaining a ban.\n\nDalai Lama Lie No 6\n\n“...and the monasteries associated with Shugden in South India are evidence of this.”\n\n\nHere the Dalai Lama makes it appear that he has somehow been kind in allowing Shugden monasteries to continue growing in India. The truth is that under his orders almost 1000 monks were expelled from their own monasteries and made homeless in 2008. Through international fund-raising and their own hard work it has been possible for these ‘excommunicated’ to build new monasteries. Everybody knows this so why does he perpetuate such falsities?\n\nDalai Lama Lie No. 1 repeated\n\n“When one of them raised a question during my public talk, I told him that this is not a new issue. It began at the time of the 5th Dalai Lama. Shugden is said to be a manifestation of Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen, but the 5th Dalai Lama wrote that he had arisen as a result of distorted prayers as a perfidious spirit. He said as much to a Sakya master from whom he sought help.”\n\n\nAs stated previously the 5th Dalai Lama originally perceived Dorje Shugden as a spirit but later changed to a correct perception of him as a Buddha.\n\nDalai Lama Lie No 8\n\n“Ling Rinpoche objected to the practice,”\n\n\nLing Rinpoche greatly respected Dorje Shugden, encouraged his practice and composed a prayer to him. So again, it is not true that he objected to the practice - in fact the opposite is true. In Ocean of Truth Explained (Tib: gtam drang bden rgya mtsho) written by a Tibetan government employee, it says:\n\n“ Dharamsala, India, Ling Rinpoche died with deep disappointment because the Dalai Lama refused his request to stop encouraging Gelugpas to practise the Nyingma Tradition. And Trijang Rinpoche died with deep disappointment because the Dalai Lama refused his request to stop banning the practice of Dorje Shugden”\n\n1 comment:\n\nReasonVehicle said...\n\nThe biggest and perhaps most disgusting irony of the whole situation, is whom the Dalai Lama continuously cites as references for his decision to ban the practice of Dorje Shugden. The 5th and 13th Dalai Lamas both gave orders for their enemies to be murdered. So the current Dalai Lama would prefer to heed the word of murderers over the word of his spiritual guides. For the Nobel Peace Prize winner, the word of murderers is valid and acceptable, while the word of his spiritual guides are worthless. This is an example of what Tibetans would call, a person having a ‘green brain.’", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9159768223762512}
+{"content": "Arts and Crafts: Chinese Lantern\n\nChinese Lanterns\n\n\n\nMaterials: (makes one lantern)\n1, 11″x18″ piece of construction paper\n1 Chop stick\n2 pieces of string (approximately 18″ each)\nMasking Tape\n1 Flameless tea light\n\nPreparing the paper:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAt Home Science: Soil Layers\n\nSoil Layers\n\n\nRocks and pebbles\nsandy soil\nbark and leaves\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAt Home Science: PH, Acids and Bases\n\nAt Home Science-PH\n\nPH test strips (We used these.)\nalmond oil (any kitchen oil will do)\nmilk of magnesia\nvinegar (we used rice wine but any vinegar will do)\nhydrogen peroxide\nsmall plastic cups (we used old medicine cups.)\nProtective eyewear\nplastic or latex gloves\napron or smock\nnotebook or journal and pencil\n\n\n\n\n\nAt Home Science: Make a Fire Extinguisher (Learn about O2 and CO2)\n\nFire Extinguishers\nThis is our first full week back to homeschool after the holiday break and I have decided to make it a science filled learning adventure! Today we learned about oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) by attempting to make an at home fire extinguisher.\n\nFirst we got our materials ready:\nbaking soda\napple cider vinegar (any vinegar will do)\ntwo small glasses\ntwo measuring devices (we used graduated cylinders like these)\nsmall funnel (we needed it to pour the baking soda into our glasses and graduated cylinder, but you could use a teaspoon)\nkitchen towel or a small tray\nflame igniter or long matches\npaper towels (for clean up)\n\nThe first experiment that we tried was to extinguish the flame of the candle with the glass. We lit the tea light and then my daughter picked up the glass and placed the glass over the candle. Within a few seconds the flame extinguished and smoke filled the glass. We discussed that the flame needs oxygen, O2, to stay lit. By placing the glass over the candle we limited the amount of O2 that the flame had to use as fuel. Once all of the O2 in the glass was used by the flame the flame no longer had fuel and it went out.\n\nThe second experiment that we tried was to create a fire extinguisher by pouring carbon dioxide over the flame. This experiment did not work as planned because we could not start pouring the CO2 (created by baking soda and vinegar in a graduated cylinder) fast enough. So we went on to experiment 3.\n\nFor experiment three we measured out equal portions of baking soda and vinegar in our graduated cylinders. Then we placed a tea light candle inside the small glass on top of the vinegar bottle cap. We carefully used the funnel to pour the baking soda all around the candle. (We placed the candle on the cap for additional height.) Then we carefully poured in a small amount of the vinegar until the bubbles rose but did not cover the top of the candle. (We were careful to not pour the vinegar onto the candle flame.) We watched as the flame was extinguished by the CO2. CO2 is heavier than air so the CO2 took the place of the air at the bottom of the glass where the candle flame was therefore replacing the air/fuel for the candle flame and it extinguished the flame. We then tried to relight the candle with our flame lighter and could not. The flame would not ignite because we had the tip of the flame lighter in the area of the glass where the CO2 was filling the glass. We then disturbed the CO2 by blowing air into the glass. We tried to ignite the candle once more and were successful because we had now pushed he CO2 out of the glass and replaced it with air again, therefore providing fuel for our flame.\n\nWhat did we learn?\n-Air and all gasses take up space\n-CO2 is created when you mix baking soda and vinegar\n-CO2 is heavier than air\n-Flames need oxygen\n-CO2 extinguished flames\n\nAfter these experiments were complete my children came up with all kinds of additional experiments they would like to try to get the CO2 to pour onto the flame using tubes and tape. I love how these kitchen materials were able to be used in a great way to spark learning and ‘ignite’ the flames of inspiration in my children! I LOVE homeschool!\n\nHomemade Finger Paint AND Finger Paint Printing\n\nDIY Finger Paint\n\nMy daughter wanted to do some finger painting and we were fresh out of finger paint. So I whipped together this recipe that ‘slips’ just like finger paint does beneath the fingers.\n\n1 tsp of dish soap\n2 tbs of tempera paint\n\nThen I gave her a piece of finger paint paper (high gloss) and let her go. Well, it didn’t take long for her to fill that paper….and the next one….and the next one. AND I noticed that she was just enjoying the texture and the color mixing of the paint and not really painting any particular picture. So the next part of this art project was pretty creative.\n\nFinger Paint Printing\n\nI decided to get out one of our plastic serving trays and put the finger paints directly on the tray. She enjoyed swirling the colors together. Next she used her finger to ‘carve’ a design of a face out of the paint. It was a really good face and she wanted to save it….so we decided to make a print out of it. She got a regular piece of construction paper and carefully put it on top of the paint on the tray. She barely pushed on the paper because she didn’t want the paint to ‘smoosh’ beneath the paper and lose her design.\n\nFinger Paint Printing 2\n\nShe carefully peeled up the paper and she saw her print. Her brother began talking to her about printing in the ‘old days’ and how her art was very similar to the ‘old style’ of printing. She continued to print another copy of the face. Then she got more finger paint on the tray and made a new drawing.\n\nFinger Paint Printing 3\n\nThis project was such a great tactile experience but also a great lead-in to learning about the history of printing. We looked up pictures on the internet of old printing presses and found some books at the library. Check out the links below!\n\n\nA link to the biography of Johannes Gutenberg:\n\nA link to the International Printing Museum in Carson,CA:\n\nTornado in a Bottle\n\nTornado in a Bottle\n\nI lead a small book club for home-schooling students in my area. The book that we discuss at our meetings always comes from the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne.\n\n\nThis month’s book was Twister on Tuesday. It was an exciting tale about the main characters, Jack and Annie, and their magical trip to the past to visit a one-room schoolhouse on a prairie in the mid-west. During their trip they experience a twister (tornado) and save a group of students and their teacher by knowing about a storm cellar located below their school house.\n\n\nAfter our book discussion I plan an activity for the students that is relevant to the story. This time I planned the ‘Tornado in a Bottle’ activity.\n\nHere’s how we did it:\n\nMaterials needed:\n2 water bottles of the same size (one must be empty.)\n1 washer that fits on the top of an open water bottle without falling through.\nDuct tape\nFood coloring (optional)\n\n1. Place the washer on the top of the empty water bottle and fasten it down with two small strips of tape.\n2. Carefully open the other water bottle and put a few drops of food coloring into the water. (Too many drops will make it difficult to see your tornado.)\n3. Carefully place the empty bottle (with washer attached) on the top of the full bottle with the two openings facing each other. Make sure the openings are aligned.\n4. Use the duct tape to tape the two bottle necks together. Use small pieces to get your alignment perfect. Then finish off with several large overlapping pieces to insure a leak-proof seal.\n\nDirections for the Tornado effect:\n1. Flip the bottle with the water to the top position by lifting your bottle set by the full bottle. (If you flip by holding the empty bottle your seal make break under the weight of the full bottle of water.)\n2. Carefully give your top bottle (one with the water) a swirl by holding the necks of your two bottles with one hand and your other hand will move the top bottle in a fast circular motion. (If you don’t do this part the water will just ‘glug’ into the bottom bottle.)\n3. The vortex or ‘tornado’ will form as the water moves from the top bottle to the bottom bottle.\n\nTornado in a Bottle 2\n\nWhy does this happen?\nWhile the water wants to flow to the bottom bottle because of gravity, the air needs to flow upward toward the top bottle to fill in the space of the missing water. By swirling the bottles and creating the vortex, you have created the most efficient way for the water to flow quickly to the bottom bottle by swirling around the outside of the bottle while simultaneously allowing the air to move to the top bottle through the ‘hole’ in the vortex.\n\nTo complete the bottle assembly I grouped the students into pairs and they assembled one bottle set at a time. I distributed the duct tape in sections to each student set so the students didn’t have to fumble with tape and scissors while steadying the bottles for assembly. The entire project took less than 30 minutes for 5 student pairs to complete. The students really enjoyed swirling their bottles to create the ‘tornadoes.’ Some of the moms enjoyed watching the ‘tornadoes’ so much they continued to swirl them after the kiddos had run off to play at the park!\n\nHere’s a link to the book, Twister on Tuesday:\n\nTo learn more about real tornadoes you can visit this site:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6468609571456909}
+{"content": "Medford Early History – 17th and 18th Centuries\n\n\n\n1. Captain Isaac Hall Hitching Post\n\nOn the evening of April 18, 1778, Paul Revere went up Main St, over the Cradock Bridge, and stopped at the house of Isaac Hall, captain of the Medford Minutemen Company. Captain Hall then sent messengers to Malden, and called on his Minutemen to help march to Lexington.\n\n2. Jonathan Wade House\n\n\n3. Salem Street Burying Ground\n\nAlso known as the Medford Burying Ground, the Salem Street Burying Ground was used as early as 1683. It contains the remains of notable early settlers from Medford’s history including Governor John Brooks, Captain Isaac Hall, Peter Tufts and Sarah Bradlee Fulton.\n\n\n4. Medford Square/Royal Oak Tavern\n\nMedford Square was built up around the Mystic/Cradock bridge. Many early travelers passing through would need a place to stay the night, or a place to grab a meal, and so several taverns were built in the area.\n\nThe Royal Oak opened in 1720 at the corner of Main Street and Riverside Avenue. One rumor says that this tavern had a sign outside with a bullet hole through it that was shot by a member of the Minute Men as they returned to Medford from Lexington in April 1775.\n\n5. Mystic Bridge / Cradock Bridge\n\nThe Mystic Bridge (later known as the Cradock Bridge) was originally a toll bridge built of wood in 1637. It was 154 feet and 5 inches long and 10 feet wide. Today, the bridge is less than half that length. Many early travelers going between Salem and Boston on foot come through Medford just to use the bridge because until 1787, there was no other way to cross the Mystic River except to ford it.\n\nOn April 18, 1775, Paul Revere used the Cradock Bridge during his famous ride to cross into Medford and warn Captain Isaac Hall of the British.\n\nIn 1857, the Mystic Bridge was renamed the Cradock Bridge, after Matthew Cradock, a London businessman and the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company. Employees of Cradock settled in the Medford area, and he was given a sovereign grant of 200 acres for every fifty pounds he invested in the Massachusetts Bay Company, which totaled over 2000 acres. Although he never came to North America, most of present-day Medford was Cradock’s personal property.\n\n6. Sarah Bradlee Fulton’s House\n\nSarah Bradlee Fulton was also known as the “Mother of the Boston Tea Party” and “A Heroine of the Revolution.” She was instrumental in the resistance movement against the British during the American Revolution.\n\nIn December 1773, members of the Sons of Liberty, including Sarah’s husband and brother-in-law boarded ships in Boston Harbor and tossed 340 boxes of tea overboard. Sarah helped to paint the men’s faces to look like Mohawk Indians so they would not be recognized.\n\nA year and a half later, during the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1773, the injured were brought to Medford from Charlestown. Sarah Bradlee Fulton helped care for the wounded in a field hospital set up south of the Mystic River.. John Brooks had an important message for George Washington that Sarah Bradlee Fulton volunteered to deliver. She traveled to Boston, despite the dangers of battle, to do so.\n\nShe is buried in the Salem Street Burial Ground.\n\n7. Royall House & Slave Quarters\n\nThe Royall House was home to Isaac Royall, a merchant who gained his fortune from a distillery and sugar cane plantation on Antigua. The Royall family was the largest slaveholding family in Massachusetts, before slavery became outlawed for the state in 1787.\n\nIsaac Royall Jr. later owned the house and estate. During the American Revolution, he sided with the Crown. He left his property a few days before the Battle of Lexington and Concord.\n\nThe house is a National Historic Landmark, and a cultural institution.\n\n8. College Brick Yards\n\nThe brickmaking process would generally happen from early spring to early fall. In the fall, the pits were dug out, and the clay piled up for the winter. After winter months, the clay would once again be spread out. Workers, oxen, and horses would trod on the clay to make it more pliable and easy to use. Early bricks were baked under the sun, but then later they were baked for 12 days and nights in a kiln.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9316335916519165}
+{"content": "The term \"germ\" is really just a generic word for four different types of organisms, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa.\n\nBacteria (pronounced: bak- tir -ee-uh) are tiny, single-celled organisms that are found throughout nature, including in the bodies of human beings. A certain number of bacteria are good for our bodies - they help keep the digestive system in working order and keep harmful bacteria from moving in. Some bacteria are even used to produce medicines and vaccines. But bacteria can cause trouble too - ever had a cavity, urinary tract infection, or strep throat? These infections are all caused by bacteria.\n\n\n\nFungi (pronounced: fun -jye) are multi-celled, plant-like organisms that usually aren't dangerous in a healthy person. Fungi can't produce their own food from soil, water, and air; instead, they get nutrition from plants, food, and animals in damp, warm environments. Two common fungal infections include athlete's foot and yeast infections. People who have weakened immune systems (from diseases like AIDS or cancer) may develop more serious fungal infections.\n\n\nOnce organisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa invade your body, they get ready to stay for a while. These germs draw all their energy from you! They may damage or destroy your own healthy cells. As they use up your nutrients and energy, most will produce waste products, known as toxins .\n\nSome toxins cause the annoying symptoms of common colds or flu-like infections, such as sniffles, sneezing, coughing, and diarrhea. But other toxins can cause high fever, increased heart rate, and even life-threatening illness. If you're not feeling well and visit your doctor, he or she may examine your blood and other fluids under a microscope or perform cultures to determine which germs (if any) are making you sick.\n\nHow Can I Protect Myself From Germs?\n\n\n\n\nAnother way to fight infections from germs is to make sure you have the right immunizations, especially if you'll be traveling to countries outside the United States. Other yearly immunizations, such as the flu vaccine, may be a particularly good idea if you have a weakened immune system or other chronic medical problems.\n\nIf you are sexually active, you should use condoms to prevent infection because viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoa can be spread via oral, anal, or vaginal contact. Also, all teens should be vaccinated against meningococcal disease, HPV, and varicella (chickenpox), and hepatitis B. Hepatitis B is often transmitted through sexual activity but people can also get it from contaminated needles - such as those used for tattooing, body piercing, or drugs.\n\n\nArticle courtesy of Seattle Children's Hospital - Research - Foundation\nReviewed by: Elana Pearl Ben-Joseph, MD\n\nCopyright 2013. All Rights Reserved. SG24, LLC.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.637895941734314}
+{"content": "p7 (1).jpg\n\nNatalie Eddings\n\nMemphis, TN\n\n\nNatalie Eddings is a photographer who was born, raised and educated in Memphis, Tennessee. As a black woman, Eddings is affected by the double- edged subjugation that a male-controlled society dominated by whiteness inflicts on those who are “other.” Engendered by her struggles with society, she works primarily with the themes of media, conversation, trauma and healing. The photographs that Eddings makes are visual representations of a search for and deliverance of goodness. Whether photos work be meditative or confrontational, she aims to critique the social structures of this world while creating beauty and sharing knowledge.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9965992569923401}
+{"content": "Else Berit Eikeland\n\n\n\n\nAs a new Norwegian SAO in the Arctic Council two years ago, what really struck me was this combination between a formal decision making structure and the informal way the meeting was conducted, and the possibilities for the SAOs to reach consensus in a an informal way. The Russian SAO at that time, Anton Vasiliev, was my role model and mentor. He was very pragmatic and flexible, but clear when Russia could not support a position. Unlike many other international organisations a SAO who is consensus oriented is regarded as a strong in the Arctic Council. In all his years as Russian SAO, Anton contributed to strengthen the Council and raise awareness about the circumpolar cooperation. Thank you, Anton.\n\nWhat more is special about the Arctic Council? So far, I have not experienced any clear divisions among SAOs based on the traditional political directions. Geography, location and whether the respective country has political and economic interests in the Arctic are the most important factors for the decision making process.\n\nIn addition to Anton, I want to thank two more great SAO Chairs who both have contributed to strengthening the Arctic Council, Gustaf Lind during the Swedish Chairmanship and Patrick Borbey during the Canadian Chairmanship.\n\nDesigned & hosted by Arctic Portal", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5869253277778625}
+{"content": "My Journey Toward Car Literacy\n\nI Married A Car Guy: My Journey Toward Car Literacy\n\n\n\nPeace of Mind\n\nPeace of Mind\n\n\nThere are many reasons for visible damage. Age and wear, lack of maintenance, and sometimes just a part that fails before its time. Sometimes damage can happen simply due to another part failing and it becomes a domino effect. The technicians always explain the sequence of events that lead to the damage. I've learned a lot from seeing situations like this and having them explained to me. Automobiles are mechanical. There are a lot of moving parts and sometimes if it is a moving part fails, it causes a lot of damage.\n\nAt times, even a new part can fail. We are choosy about the parts we use for the repairs and maintenance; however, on occasion even a new part will fail. It isn't just disappointing for the customer but also for the repair shop. Our goal is always to be respectful of your time and we want you to be satisfied with your repair and maintenance.\n\nPeace of Mind 2\n\nIt's important to know what your warranty is when having your family automobile repaired. That is an important part of our service. Being a NAPA Autocare Center means we have the Nationwide Peace of Mind warranty. It gives our customers peace of mind, but it also makes us feel confident that our customers will be covered wherever they happen to be traveling.\n\nWhenever visiting a repair shop, make sure you ask about their warranty. You don't want to have to use it but it's important it's available if you need it.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5437091588973999}
+{"content": "Supreme Court of AlabamaJun 22, 1922\n208 Ala. 42 (Ala. 1922)\n208 Ala. 4293 So. 708\n\n7 Div. 266.\n\nJune 22, 1922.\n\nAppeal from Circuit Court, Calhoun County; A. P. Agee, Judge.\n\nChas. D. Kline, of Anniston, for appellant.\n\nWhen the evidence as to self-defense is conflicting, defendant may show his previous difficulties with the deceased, or the latter's attempts upon his life. 6 Encyc. Ev. 779; 177 Ala. 24, 59 So. 270. Proof of previous relations of defendant and deceased is relevant and competent. 13 R. C. L. 216. Circumstances under which a threat is made, and bearing upon nature and cause of the deceased's enmity toward defendant, are competent. 6 Encyc. Ev. 793. Any fact tending to show which party was the aggressor is admissible; and evidence of previous conduct, showing peaceable or hostile intentions of defendant or deceased, is competent. 6 Encyc. Ev. 755, 765.\n\nHarwell G. Davis, Atty. Gen., and Merrill Allen, of Anniston, for the State.\n\nWhere there was no evidence that defendant acted in self-defense, testimony that deceased was a person of violent, bloodthirsty character was inadmissible. 197 Ala. 193, 72 So. 316; 17 Ala. App. 469, 86 So. 132. Evidence as to particulars of prior difficulty was inadmissible. 15 Ala. App. 121, 72 So. 599; 197 Ala. 193, 72 So. 316; 177 Ala. 15, 59 So. 171; 151 Ala. 41, 44 So. 84; 155 Ala. 67, 45 So. 916; 74 Ala. 9.\n\nThe defendant, Walter Lambert, was indicted and tried for the offense of murder in the first degree, killing Seab Eason. He was convicted of murder in the first degree, and his punishment fixed at imprisonment in the penitentiary for life. This judgment and sentence of the court was reversed by this court. Lambert v. State, 205 Ala. 547, 88 So. 847. He was tried again, was convicted by the jury of murder in the second degree, his punishment fixed at 25 years in the penitentiary, and from the judgment and sentence of the court on this verdict of the jury he prosecutes this appeal.\n\nThe evidence for the state tended to show that the defendant was guilty of murder as charged in the indictment.\n\nThe court would not permit defendant to ask his first witness this question: \"Do you know Seab Eason's reputation in this community for violence and roughness?\" In this there was no error. The question was premature and improper at that time. There was then before the court and jury no evidence tending to show the defendant acted in self-defense, and the reputation of deceased for violence and turbulence was then inadmissible. Green v. State, 143 Ala. 2, headnote 4, 39 So. 362; Smith v. State, 197 Ala. 193, headnote 4, 72 So. 316; Watson v. State, 181 Ala. 53, headnote 4, 61 So. 334.\n\nAfter the examination of this witness there was evidence tending to prove that the defendant in killing Seab Eason did act in self-defense. Many witnesses for the defendant testified they knew the general character or reputation of the deceased in the community where he lived for violence and turbulence, and they answered it was bad in those respects. It was not proper for the defendant to inquire of them \"if his general reputation was that he would fight without proper provocation, wasn't it?\" and \"Was he an awful mean man?\" The court properly sustained objections of the state to such questions. The questions on direct examination must be confined to the general reputation or character of the person, and \"no evidence is allowed of particular acts of good or bad conduct, either to sustain or to impeach character.\" Jones v. State, 76 Ala. 99, headnote 3; Moulton v. State, 88 Ala. 116, headnote 1, 6 So. 758, 6 L.R.A. 301.\n\n\"But on cross-examination there is allowed much greater latitude of interrogation as to details, this being often the only efficacious test available for the discovery of truth. To test the soundness of the witness' opinion, and elicit the data upon which it is founded, he may often be cross-examined as to particular facts affecting character.\" Jackson v. State, 78 Ala. 471, headnote 3.\n\nThe defendant and deceased had two or three difficulties several days, three or four days, prior to the fatal one. The court properly permitted defendant to offer evidence of the previous altercations or combats between them; but the details, merits, and particulars of them were not admissible, as none of them formed a part of the res gestæ of the fatal encounter. The court did not err in refusing to permit defendant to offer evidence tending to prove the previous difficulties were caused by defendant reporting the son-in-law of deceased for gambling in crap games. This would be going into the cause, merits, or particulars of the former quarrels or difficulties, under circumstances which the law does not permit. Smith v. State, 197 Ala. 193, headnote 2, 72 So. 316; Garrett v. State, 76 Ala. 18; Gray v. State, 63 Ala. 66.\n\nThe court properly refused to allow defendant to ask witnesses this question: \"Who was the aggressor?\" in the former difficulties as well as in the fatal difficulty. Who was the aggressor in the fatal difficulty was a question for the jury to answer from the detailed facts and circumstances of the case. The question called for an opinion and conclusion of the witness on particulars of the difficulty as seen by him. This invaded the province of the jury. Witnesses should detail the facts and circumstances, and the jury should form the opinion and draw the conclusion from them. The question was also improper as to the former difficulties for the additional reason it was an attempt to go into the merits of them. Jones v. Hatchett, 14 Ala. 743; 1 Greenl. Ev. § 440; Cent. of Ga. R. R. Co. v. Jones, 170 Ala. 611, 54 So. 509, 37 L.R.A. (N.S.) 588; Smith v. State, 197 Ala. 196, headnote 2, 72 So. 316; Garrett v. State, 76 Ala. 18.\n\nThe size and physical condition of the defendant at the time of the fatal difficulty were relevant and competent, and evidence thereof was before the jury; but the physical conditon of and injuries received by the defendant in the former difficulties and whether the deceased was arrested by the official for it and what deceased had in his hand in the former difficulty, three or four days before, were immaterial to the real issue in the case. It was going into the merits or particulars of the former difficulties, when they formed no part of the res gestæ of the case. Smith v. State, 197 Ala. 196, 72 So. 316, and other authorities supra. It is true in Watts v. State, 177 Ala. 22, 59 So. 270, the court permitted evidence \"that deceased attacked defendant with scissors, accompanying the attack with a threat,\" on the day of the killing, to go to the jury. This was a threat, direct threat, with scissors and an attack on the day of the killing. In the instant case there was no evidence of threats, and it was three or four days before the fatal difficulty.\n\nWitnesses for the state on rebuttal testified that the character or reputation of the deceased for violence, turbulence, etc., was good. Some of these witnesses over the objection and exception of the defendant were asked and answered questions as to matters material to the issue, and which should have been introduced by the state in making out its case in the first instance, and which was not in strict rebuttal of the testimony of defendant. This was in the discretion of the trial court. This discretion does not appear to have been abused by the court to the injury of the defendant, and the court will not be put in error therefor. Nicholson v. State, 149 Ala. 61, 42 So. 1015; Jackson v. State, 167 Ala. 44, headnotes 13 and 14, 52 So. 835.\n\nDuring the argument of the case to the jury by the solicitor for the state, the defendant objected to the statements of counsel for the state:\n\n(1) \"That Mrs. Haley is the wife of the deputy sheriff,\" because \"there is no evidence to that effect.\" (2) \"You are putting a price on human life in Calhoun county.\"\n\nThe statements and arguments had been made to the jury. The defendant objected to both of them separately. He did not move to exclude them or either of them. He did not request the court to instruct the jury to disregard them, and not to consider them. He should have done so. The exception as taken from overruling objections to statements already uttered to the jury presents nothing for us to review. The effect of our decisions is that a mere objection to already spoken words does not reach the evil aimed at, and that the court must be appealed to to exclude them from the consideration of the jury, failing which there is nothing presented for review by an exception. B. R. L. P. Co. v. Gonzalez, 183 Ala. 286, headnote 8, 61 So. 80; Sharp v. State, 193 Ala. 22, headnote 5, 69 So. 122.\n\nThe general oral charge of the court and the 23 written charges given the jury by the court at defendant's request covered fairly and substantially every principle or rule of law applicable to this case; and if any one of the 5 written charges of the defendant refused by the court contained a correct principle or rule of law bearing on the case, its refusal would not be reversible error as the defendant received the benefit of it under the oral charge or some of the given written charges. Gen. Acts 1915, p. 815, amending section 5364, Code 1907; Nickerson v. State, 205 Ala. 684, headnote 10, 88 So. 905.\n\n\n\nANDERSON, C. J., and SAYRE and GARDNER, JJ., concur.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9435946345329285}
+{"content": "Tracy Steen is an artist and psychologist in Philadelphia. Her current projects explore (1) the shared life journeys of couples, (2) aspects of the word “leviathan” and the human relationship with the mysteries of the deep, including references to leviathan in scripture, philosophy, literature, and art, and (3) dreams about flying, invoking intertwined images of American and family history. Past projects include (1) Lincoln Lived, an exploration through social media of how to rewrite history, (2) Lie Counter, a free app for the iPhone to help you become more aware of lies you tell yourself and lies others tell you, and (3) Monument, a photographic analysis of the forgotten history presented in American monuments. Monument was honored with a Social Media Leadership Award from The Wharton School as an example of how to use social media to promote a more unified world. Dr. Steen received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan in 2003 and moved to Philadelphia to complete a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania in positive psychology—the scientific study of positive emotions, character traits, and institutions. Rather than focusing exclusively on treating psychopathology and disease, a positive psychology approach aims to optimize psychological health and help people flourish. She continued to work at the University of Pennsylvania as the Clinical Director and then Director of the Charles O’Brien Center for Addiction Treatment.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7871045470237732}
+{"content": "Rumors in Japan indicate that a Subaru works team could be racing in WEC from 2017. If the project gets green light, it's said to be a common effort of the STI division and the experienced SARD team.\n\nThe second rumor is about Nissan. As you know, Nissan only confirmed a WEC presence for 2015 and 2016.\n\nBut, depending on a variety of factors, if Nissan decides to continue after 2016, they could brand their cars as Infiniti.\n\n\nWith the Red Bull sponsorship contract coming to an end in a couple of years, Nissan could choose to pocket that money or spend it on entering the R36 GT-R into WEC's GTE category, leaving room for Infiniti in LMP1.\n\nAnd as a fun fact, Honda had quite a hard time choosing between joining McLaren in F1 or going solo in LMP1.\n\n\nWho knows? Maybe they will want to share the costs of a LMP1 project as well.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9356302618980408}
+{"content": "Prostate and Urethra Problems\n\n\nProate and urethral problems can affect the smooth flow of urine in men. This leaflet will give you a brief explanation of the different prostate an urethral conditions and how the urine system can be affected.\n\nThere are a number of different conditions that can affect the prostate gland, including:\n\nUrethral stricture\n\nThe urethra - the tube that urine flows out of from your bladder - can sometimes become narrowed. See the separate leaflet called Urethral Stricture for more details.\n\nOther causes of urethral pain\n\nUrinary tract infection\nOne of the most common causes of urethral pain is urinary tract infection. It is usually accompanied by other symptoms such as a frequent and urgent need to pass urine.\n\nThis is inflammation of the urethra. It's usually due to an infection which has been acquired sexually, most commonly gonococcus. Again, other symptoms often accompany urethral pain, such as a discharge from the penis or pain passing urine.\n\nSee the separate leaflet called Urethritis and Urethral Discharge in Men for more details.\n\nThe most common type of injury to the urethra is by the insertion of a tube to drain the bladder (a catheter). You may require this procedure if you develop urinary retention, usually as a result of swelling of the prostate.\n\nBleeding from the urethra\n\nUrethral bleeding may have a number of different causes.\n\n  • Infection is a common cause - either in connection with a urinary tract infection or associated with urethritis. It often presents as blood in the urine (haematuria) rather than blood oozing from the urethra.\n  • Trauma - injury from a catheter can cause bleeding as well as pain.\n  • Cancer - urethral cancer is very rare in men. Cancer of the bladder or kidney is more common. You may notice bleeding from the urethra, or blood in the urine. Treatment of urethral cancer is usually surgical. It may be necessary to remove the penis entirely, although in some cases it can be preserved.\n\nFurther reading and references\n\nBladder problems men shouldn't ignore\n\nI have been living with BPH symptoms for about 5-8 years and I am only 54 years old. My urologist offers very little help other than drugs or TURP, the so called \"Gold Standard\". I have been...\n\nHealth Tools\n\nFeeling unwell?\n\nAssess your symptoms online with our free symptom checker.\n\nStart symptom checker", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5507960915565491}
+{"content": "Amnesty Statement to HFAC: EU Governments are Complicit in Refugee Suffering\n\nSince 2016, European governments implemented a series of measures designed to shut down the Mediterranean Sea routes used by refugees, and outsource their border controls to neighboring countries, most notably Turkey and Libya. These policies have made the EU complicit in refugee suffering. This statement details the severe human rights implications of the European Union (“EU”)’s migration policies. It was submitted by Amnesty International USA to the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) – Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats Subcommittee for the April 26, 2018 hearing: Mass Migration in Europe: Assimilation, Integration, and Security.\n\nEU officials argue that their approach has led to a significant decrease in irregular migration. Yet these measures merely invented an alibi for EU states eager to push refugees out of sight. Most importantly, these measures are a direct cause of substantial human misery. Amnesty International documented how refugees in Turkey live in legal limbo, reasonably fearing forced deportations to warzones and barely managing to eke out a living. In Libya, EU’s policies have contributed to horrific abuses. Refugees are held in modern-day dungeons, brutally tortured, extorted, raped, and openly sold in slave markets.\n\nThere is much Congress can do to help. To lessen the pressure on European allies, the U.S. should:\n\n  • Admit at least 75,000 refugees in 2018;\n  • End President Trump’s “Muslim Ban;” and\n  • Maintain humanitarian assistance to organizations that support refugees abroad\n\n\n\nApril 25, 2018\n\n\nThe Honorable Dana Rohrabacher                           The Honorable Gregory Meeks\n\nChairman                                                              Ranking Member\n\n\nHouse Committee on Foreign Affairs\n\nSubcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats\n\n2170 Rayburn House Office Building\n\nWashington, DC 20515\n\n\nRe: April 26, 2018 hearing on the “Mass Migration in Europe: Assimilation, Integration, and Security”\n\n\n\n\nThis statement draws on numerous reports by Amnesty’s researchers in Europe, Libya, Turkey, and around the world to detail how the European Union (EU) and its member states’ policies towards refugees and asylum seekers have exposed those in most need of protection to ill-treatment, torture, and other abuses.\n\nThe 2011 outbreaks of civil war in Libya and Syria, and the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have precipitated a mass migration of people from conflict-affected areas to Europe. According to the U.N. Refugee Agency (“UNHCR”), over 1,700,000 people have arrived in Europe by sea since 2014. Nearly 16,000 have perished in the attempted crossings.\n\nSince 2016, European governments implemented a series of measures designed to shut down the Mediterranean Sea routes used by refugees and asylum seekers, and to outsource their security concerns to neighboring countries, most notably Turkey and Libya. European Union (“EU”) officials argue that their approach has led to a significant decrease in irregular migration. Yet rather than alleviate human suffering, these measures merely invented an alibi for EU states eager to push destitute asylum-seekers out of sight.\n\nMoreover, these measures have directly resulted in a veritable cascade of human misery. Amnesty documented how refugees in Turkey live in legal limbo, fearing forced deportations to warzones and barely managing to eke out a living. They have no prospects for securing permanent or a durable resolution to their plight. In Libya, EU’s policies have contributed to horrific abuses. Refugees are held in modern-day dungeons, brutally tortured, extorted, raped, and openly sold in slave markets.\n\nThey retain few legal avenues to secure the rights afforded to them under international treaties including the 1951 Refugee Convention, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention Against Torture.\n\nI.            The EU-Turkey Deal: A Fictitious Safety and Security\n\n\nOn March 20, 2016, the 28 member states of the European Union (“EU”) and Turkey began implementation of an agreement designed to address the large numbers of refugees and migrants seeking asylum in Europe. Under the terms of the deal, all migrants making irregular crossings from Turkey to Greek islands – including asylum seekers – would be returned to Turkey. In exchange, the EU would resettle one Syrian refugee from Turkey for each Syrian refugee returned from Greece to Turkey, and provide the Turkish government with a sum of $5.7 billion dollars in refugee assistance funding to be paid in multiple tranches. The second tranche, constituting $3.7 billion dollars, was unlocked just last month.\n\nSignatories to the so-called “refugee deal” included repeated commitments in its text to implement all provisions in accordance with international law and non-refoulment – the international principle that prohibits the return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are likely to face persecution. Indeed, the justification for the EU-Turkey deal is the assumption that Turkey is a safe place to which asylum-seekers and refugees can be returned.\n\nDespite these stated intentions, Amnesty’s June 2016 report, No Safe Refuge: Asylum-Seekers and Refugees Denied Effective Protection in Turkey, exposed the myth that Turkey can respect the rights and meet the needs of over three million refugees.\n\nA country can be understood as “safe” for refugees and asylum-seekers in two ways. First, it must fulfill its non-refoulement obligation – prohibiting the transfer of individuals to countries where they face a risk of serious human rights violations. Second, it must provide refugees with a durable solutiondefined by UNHCR as either voluntary repatriation to the country of origin, local integration in the country of asylum, or resettlement to a third country. Contrary to the narrative underpinning the EU-Turkey deal, Turkey fails to meet either criterion:\n\nA.    Turkey flouts international law by deporting refugees and asylum-seekers to Syria\n\n\nAmnesty’s research has shown that as recently as 2016, asylum-seekers and refugees in Turkey were forcibly deported back to Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria under absurd legal pretexts and in spite of tremendous risk to their safety. Amnesty’s researchers gathered multiple testimonies of large-scale returns from Turkey’s Hatay province, confirming a practice that is an open secret in the region. Over the course of at least four months, Turkish authorities have orchestrated the forced return of up to 100 Syrians, including women and children, per day.\n\nIn recent months, Turkey has engaged in a spree of forcible repatriations of Afghan asylum seekers. In April 2018, Turkish officials have detained and forcibly returned at least 7,100 Afghan asylum-seekers. In a pattern that has become familiar, Afghan detainees told Amnesty that Turkish authorities forced them to sign “voluntary” repatriation forms in the Turkish language without translation. One Afghan told Amnesty that he refused to sign the repatriation form after informing Turkish authorities he could not understand it. He and his family we deported anyway. At least 2,000 Afghans who fled conflict and the worst excesses of the Taliban are currently in detention and at imminent risk of being forced back to danger.\n\nIn one 2016 case, Turkish police detained a family of five (including three children under the age of 12) in a public park in the Turkish city of Antakya. The family was driven to the Syrian border in a convoy of seven buses, with each bus containing approximately 30 people, where they were subsequently delivered into the hands of an armed Syrian group. In an earlier case from 2015, Turkish authorities coerced dozens of Syrians, including a woman with four children aged 12, 10, 8 and 3, into signing Turkish-language “voluntary repatriation forms”. As previously, authorities did not provide these individuals with an Arabic-language translation of the document and refused the individuals’ repeated requests for a copy of the document.\n\nB.   By refusing to grant refugee status, Turkey obstructs durable solutions for asylum seekers\n\n\nThe “safety” of a country for the purposes of lawfully returning refugees must also be examined with respect to its ability to provide refugees with durable solutions: voluntary repatriation, integration, or resettlement. To date, returnees under the EU-Turkey deal, along with other asylum seekers currently in Turkey, cannot be safely repatriated to Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan due to those countries’ ongoing conflicts. Therefore, integration or resettlement are the only theoretical options. However, given the Turkish government’s unwillingness to recognize these individuals as refugees, they are similarly denied solutions through integration and resettlement.\n\nTurkey is party to the 1951 Refugee Convention which grants protection only to refugees from Europe immediately after World War II. The 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees removed these geographic and temporal restrictions but Turkey, despite having acceded to the Protocol in 1968, retains the geographic restriction. As a result, the government of Turkey denies full refugee status to individuals from non-European countries even though virtually all of Turkey’s three million refugees are of a non-European background. To address the resulting gap in its legal framework, the Turkish government has designated two separate categories for its asylum-seeking population. Refugees from Syria are granted “Temporary Protection Status,” while those from other non-European countries (including Afghanistan and Iraq) must apply for “Conditional Refugee Status,” which permits them to wait in Turkey for their transfer to another country.\n\nBecause Turkish law prevents refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq from acquiring full refugee status, the Turkish Government does not consider them candidates for eventual integration into Turkish society. Similarly, refugees and asylum-seekers in Turkey are functionally precluded from being resettled. Most European and other developed countries have been unwilling to absorb additional refugees. Less than one percent of the refugee population in Turkey is submitted for resettlement every year.\n\nThe majority of asylum-seekers who remain in Turkey endure lives of privation. Because they are not classified as refugees, Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan, and other non-European asylum seekers are not guaranteed a minimum level of financial assistance and must rely on limited funding provided by local Turkish authorities and supplemented by charities and religious organizations. The majority of asylum-seekers are denied the legal right to work in Turkey. According to Turkish authorities, a total of 3,822 Syrian refugees received the legal right to work in the country in 2015. This represents just over one tenth of one percent of Turkey’s current Syrian population. Most asylum-seekers are working in the underground economy where they are at risk of exploitative labor practices and conditions.\n\nC.    In the wake of the EU-Turkey deal, asylum-seekers languish in legal limbo on Greek islands\n\n\nThe EU-Turkey agreement has proved to be similarly catastrophic for thousands of refugees stuck in transit on Mediterranean island camps when the deal came into effect. With the signing of the agreement, asylum seekers found themselves in legal limbo, unable to access Europe but unwilling to be deported to Turkey. In March 2018, Amnesty spoke with numerous women in camps on the Greek islands of Lesvos and Samos. Conditions on the camps are disgraceful and asylum seekers, especially women, live with constant fear and uncertainty. Women living in the island camps are forced to share sleeping and showering facilities with men they don’t know. Both the Lesvos and the Samos camps lack effective police protection. When women do approach camp police for help after experiencing physical or verbal harassment, their complaints aren’t taken seriously. Asylum seekers on the camps have received no indication of when their cases will be resolved and what they can do to expedite the process.\n\nII.          EU and Libya: Complicit in the Abuse of Migrants\n\n\nIn the last few years, over a million asylum seekers and migrants have braved the journey from all parts of Sub-Saharan Africa to Libya. These individuals arrive from countries as disparate as Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, and others. Nearly half a million of them have made the dangerous sea crossing to Europe in the last three years; over 10,000 have died in the attempt. At least an additional half million are currently stranded in Libya.\n\nIn a December 2017 report, entitled Libya’s Dark Web of Collusion, Amnesty documented the horrific abuses they face such as vicious beatings, rape, torture, and enslavement. The plight of migrants detained in Libya first caught the world’s attention when, in December 2017, CNN aired a video of smugglers holding a slave auction. In the seven minute video, the auctioneers hawk dozens of human beings to the highest bidder, pointing out those best suited for farm work. Amnesty’s research found that, far from being an aberration, this human market was but one example of the many cruelties visited on Libya’s migrant population.\n\nIn an effort to stymie the numbers of Africans reaching Europe’s southern shores, EU member states – most notably Italy – have struck a series of agreements with Libyan authorities, including the Libyan Coast Guard, and the Ministry of Interior. The number of arrivals in Italy has fallen by 67% between July and November 2017, compared with the same period in the previous year. Yet these dividends have exacted a terrible toll paid by refugees and denominated in human suffering. Far from alleviating misery, they merely pushed it out of view.\n\nA.    Smugglers operate with impunity and assistance from the EU-funded Libyan Coast Guard\n\n\nAsylum seekers and migrants in Libya are exposed to horrendous human rights violations in a country where institutions have been weakened by years of conflict and political division. The scope of the problem is enormous. The International Organization on Migration has calculated that there were 416,556 migrants in Libya by the end of September 2017. The actual number is likely to be far higher.\n\nLibyan state institutions ceased functioning in the aftermath of the uprising that toppled Muammar Ghadaffi in 2011. Numerous militias – some independent and some allied with government ministries or officials – sprang up to fill the vacuum created by the central government’s collapse. In a country where lawlessness, violence, and corruption are rife, the smuggling and enslavement of people has thrived as an industry. The result: tens of thousands of people are held in detention by government authorities and criminal gangs and subject to torture, sexual violence, and extortion.\n\nLibyan smugglers operate in the open, claiming vast swathes of shoreline to maintain their operations. The smuggling networks are complex, well-resourced, extensively staffed, and highly organized. The largest ones are protected by millions of dollars, small and medium caliber weapons, and tight-knit relationships with government officials.\n\nYet despite these networks’ highly bureaucratized operations, they have become notorious for drowning their passengers. On August 17, 2015, a boat with some 500 asylum seekers and migrants capsized just off the shore of the Libyan town of Zuwara. Over the next two weeks, Zuwara’s residents collected 183 bodies from their coastline. The smugglers moved to the neighboring town of Sabratha and, on September 21, 2017, a shipwreck on the outskirts of Zuwara left 90 people dead.\n\nDepartures occur throughout the day from well-known smuggling hubs. Given their prominence, it is impossible for them to operate without coordination and support from the Libyan Coast Guard (“LCG”), which receives direct funding and technical support from the EU. Indeed, Amnesty’s documentation reveals that some members of the LCG collude with smugglers by providing safe passage in return for payment. Of the 72 individuals interviewed by Amnesty in 2017, seven confirmed that they had been stopped by the LCG while at sea and were allowed through after their smuggler was identified as someone who had paid for safe passage of his boats.\n\nB.   “Libya is Hell”: asylum seekers and migrants in Libya suffer horrific mistreatment\n\n\nAsylum seekers and migrants unable to secure passage on the smugglers’ vessels endure horrific treatment and routine abuse while detained in Libya’s prisons. Men, women, and children are subjected to systematic torture including rape and beatings. Many are held in overcrowded cells and denied food and water. Multiple refugees asked by Amnesty to describe their experiences in Libya responded with the expression: “Libya is hell.” Interviewees described being beaten by metal rods, wires, fire hoses, and the flat side of a machete. Interviews conducted by Amnesty in 2016 and 2017 consistently described how, in order to extort a ransom from the relatives of detained refugees and migrants, guards forced them to listen to the screams of their loved ones, tortured while on the phone.\n\nC.    EU complicity feeds and empowers human rights violations\n\n\nEU complicity feeds and empowers these grotesque human rights violations. With the increasing number of asylum seekers and migrants crossing into Europe, governments began prioritizing counter-smuggling operations to rescue efforts. As part of this new approach, the EU moved to externalize and outsource its border controls to Libya. They achieved this through a three-pronged strategy.\n\nFirst, the EU began providing technical support for Libyan authorities running detention centers. One representative example involved Italy striking a deal with the authorities and militias that control the Libyan town of Sabratha. At a meeting in Sabratha, the militias committed to preventing migrants from attempting the crossing while the Italian authorities committed to provide them with equipment, boats and salaries channeled through the Government. Amnesty is concerned that assistance to non-state actors renders the pursuit of accountability for those abuses almost impossible, while increasing the risk of destabilizing the country and empowering human rights violators.\n\nSecond, the EU focused on training the LCG to intercept migrants’ boats, despite the LCG’s reputation for collaborating with smugglers. Amnesty documented numerous incidents of the Italian navy receiving distress signals from smuggler boats and relaying that information to LCG vessels to intercept the boat. Foreign nationals intercepted at sea by the LCG are disembarked in Libya and transferred to detention centers where they are subjected to human rights abuses.\n\nFinally, the EU has launched a concerted effort to obstruct the work of non-governmental organizations (“NGOs”) conducting rescue operations in the Mediterranean. International NGOs operating at sea have been prevented by the Italian government from providing assistance to distressed vessels. In July 2017, the Italian Ministry of Interior drafted a code of conduct restricting when and how assistance can be provided and requested that these NGOs sign and abide by it. Numerous NGOs have received instructions from the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre to desist from conducting rescue operations pending the arrival of the Libyan Coast Guard.\n\nIII.        Recommendations to Congress\n\n\nA.    Lessen the pressure on European allies by admitting at least 75,000 refugees in 2018\n\n\nPresident Trump has slashed the number of refugee admissions to the U.S. to an all-time historical low number of 45,000. This is a devastating betrayal of a longstanding American tradition of helping people who have escaped war and horrific violence, and puts thousands of refugees’ lives at risk.\n\nThe U.S. refugee program has long enjoyed bipartisan support. Yet, at current levels, the U.S. is unlikely to reach even this historically low target. Indeed, in Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2018 the U.S. has admitted only 10,549 refugees including just 11 Syrian refugees as of April 2018. This represents a massive decrease from the 29,098 refugees resettled in the first half of the 2017 fiscal year.\n\nThe administration’s refusal to do its part signals to European allies that the U.S. is completely abandoning refugee resettlement at a time of unprecedented movement of displaced peoples. As in all matters, the EU closely watches what the U.S. does. Amnesty urges Congress to press the White House to admit at least 75,000 refugees in FY19, and reach the admissions goal of 45,000 refugees in FY18.\n\nB.     End the Muslim Ban\n\n\nIn January 2017, President Trump signed an executive order banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States and temporarily banning all refugees. That order was subjected to extensive legal challenges and superseded by two subsequent iterations, the most recent of which remains in effect. The executive order is a blatant attempt to smuggle anti-Muslim discrimination into the U.S. legal system. By shuttering admission predominantly to people fleeing violence and persecution in Muslim-majority countries, including Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia, the ban tears apart families, demonizes whole countries, and closes America’s doors to the most vulnerable. The Trump Administration has contended that the most recent version of the order is not designed to directly target Muslim immigration. Their arguments are belied by the fact that admissions of Muslims are down by over 90% compared to the first half of FY2017. Congress should press the White House to repeal the ban.\n\nC.    Maintain humanitarian assistance to organizations supporting refugees and displaced peoples\n\n\nDuring his September 19, 2017 remarks before the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump said, “The United States is a compassionate nation and has spent billions and billions of dollars in helping to support this effort [to assist refugees] … For the cost of resettling one refugee in the United States, we can assist more than 10 in their home region.” Yet despite this claim of magnanimity, the White House has repeatedly requested less and less money to support humanitarian organizations that assist refugees and other displaced people abroad.\n\nThe U.S. has long been the single largest donor of international humanitarian aid. Amnesty urges Congress to continue providing humanitarian assistance in line with FY17 appropriations. Specifically, Amnesty urges Congress to appropriate in line with current funding levels:\n\n  • $3.604 billion for the Migration and Refugee Assistance (“MRA”) Account;\n  • $4.427 billion for the International Disaster Assistance (“IDA”) Account; and\n  • $50 million for the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (“ERMA”) Account\n\nFor more information, please contact Daniel Balson at [email protected] or (202) 509-8132.\n\n\nDaniel Balson\n\nAdvocacy Director for Europe and Central Asia\n\nAmnesty International USA\n\n[email protected]\n\n(202) 509-8132", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7509517073631287}
+{"content": "Harris's Hawks. Photo: Richard Simonsen\n\nBetter Know a Bird\n\nHarris’s Hawks Hunt Like Wolves to Bring Down Dangerous Prey\n\nTeaming up helps these agile raptors take on animals twice their size. But we’re still not sure why they stand on each other.\n\nFor a desert rabbit, it’s hard to imagine what could be more terrifying than a hungry, nimble Harris’s Hawk. Except, that is, for five hungry, nimble Harris’s Hawks.\n\nWe tend to think of raptors as solitary hunters, and for the most part that’s true. Unfortunately for the cottontails and jackrabbits of the American Southwest, however, Harris’s Hawks hunt in packs, like wolves with wings.\n\nThey aren’t the only birds of prey known to team up. Aplomado Falcons sometimes hunt in pairs, as do Peregrine Falcons and Golden Eagles. But none of these raptors match the Harris’s when it comes to coordinating a kill. “They have the most sophisticated cooperation that has been documented to date,” says James Bednarz, an avian ecologist at the University of North Texas who has authored several papers on the species.\n\nBednarz spent the 1980s studying Harris’s Hawks in the New Mexico desert, applying scientific rigor to earlier reports that the birds are communal hunters. He and a research assistant fitted about 40 hawks with radio transmitters to track their movements. Then, for hundreds of hours, they stood on a pickup truck bed and observed them through a spotting scope. Before long it became clear that the birds—which lived together, most often in groups of five—were indeed cooperating in complex ways to bring down prey.\n\nAt daybreak, the hawks gather, often all on a single branch, cactus, or utility pole, in what Bednarz calls an assembly ceremony. They then split up into two groups. One group flies perhaps 200 meters to a new perch and scans for prey. A few moments later, the other group flies past, finding its own lookout point. They carry on this way, methodically leap-frogging one another, with each group watching the other closely. Eventually one team spots prey, signals to the others—“They might go horizontal and start bobbing their heads,” Bednarz says—and the groups converge. The hunt is on.\n\n“It knocked our socks off when we started making these observations,” Bednarz says. “We’d watch a group make a kill and we’d just look at each other: Did you see what I saw?”\n\nWhat they saw was an arsenal of hunting methods that Bednarz boiled down to three main tactics. In what he dubbed the surprise pounce, the whole group converges on the rabbit from various angles so that if one misses, others surprise it from a different direction. From a pickup-bed lookout hundreds of meters away, “You see them bouncing up and down like they’re bouncing on trampolines,” he says.\n\nWhen a rabbit finds shelter in a thicket, the hawks turn to what Bednarz calls the flush and ambush. One or two birds plunge into the brush far enough to scare the unfortunate critter out of its hiding spot and into the waiting talons of other hawks perched nearby.\n\n“The most spectacular was the relay attack,” Bednarz says. That’s when one hawk dives down between the rabbit and a patch of cover, forcing the rabbit to keep running. The next hawk blocks its escape into the next hideout, extending the chase. After diving down, each hawk gets back into the chase, taking turns as leader and keeping the rabbit on the run. “This whole process would continue for over a half-mile,” he explains. “They just kept the rabbit running constantly until it was exhausted and, via fatigue or making a mistake, it showed its back to one of the members and they made the kill.”\n\nTheir taste for cooperation makes Harris’s Hawks popular among falconers, says Jennifer Coulson, who with her husband, Tom, wrote a book on hunting with the birds. “Not only does that mean they will hunt in a group and hunt with other Harris’s Hawks, but it also means they have a special connection with the falconer,” says Coulson, president of the Orleans Audubon Society in Louisiana and an adjunct instructor at Tulane University. “They understand more than most birds of prey that you’re working for them and with them.”\n\nWhile Coulson thinks the challenge of navigating rugged habitat could be one reason Harris's Hawks hunt together, Bednarz believes the bigger factor is their need to take down large and powerful prey. In parts of their range, small prey is scarce in winter. Rabbits are available year-round, but they’re risky targets. A typical adult jackrabbit weighs more than twice as much as a female Harris’s Hawk, and more than three times as much as a male, Bednarz reported in the journal Science. A kick from their powerful legs can easily break a hawk’s ribs. (One of Coulson’s largest female Harris’s Hawks died from just such a kick.) Together, the birds have the strength to overwhelm the rabbit, and its meat provides plenty of calories to go around. In warmer months, with easier prey like lizards, migratory birds, and baby rabbits available, the birds are more likely to hunt alone or in smaller groups, he says.\n\nThe birds not only hunt together, but also nest in groups. A pair’s offspring will often hang around for up to three years, and unrelated Harris’s Hawks sometimes also join the group and assist with raising young. Bednarz believes the advantages of group hunting explain their collective nesting behavior; the bonds and cooperation that arise among these units during the breeding season enable them to hunt effectively in winter. He’s now studying the DNA of hawk groups to better understand their social dynamics.\n\nOne striking way those dynamics play out is through a behavior called back-standing. It’s just what it sounds like: One bird lands on another’s back, and stands there for anything from a few seconds to nearly 20 minutes. “Sometimes it’s several birds stacked up in totem-pole style,” Coulson says. In fact, she’s read a report of a stack five hawks high.\n\nThe behavior seems to be unrelated to mating. Some observers believe it has to do with one bird wanting the other’s perch. Others think the top bird provides shade for the others. But the fact is, like much else about this fascinating bird, back-standing remains a mystery, Bednarz says. \n\n“It happens. It’s a really interesting behavior. We don’t know why.\"\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8154584169387817}
+{"content": "Rethinking event formats\n\nThe other day I attended my lovely nephew Julian’s high school graduation.\n\nAh, the joys of graduation! Where graduates wait in long lines, sit for hours on uncomfortable chairs, get sunburn, and listen to (mostly) boring speakers someone else chose. All to hear their name read amid hundreds of others, walk across a stage, and get a blank diploma (the real one is mailed later).\n\nAnd there’s more — your loved ones enjoy the same multi-hour experience, except they get to watch your fleeting stage walk from uncomfortable chairs a long way away!\n\nA graduation is an Elementary Meeting: a social event that consists of obligatory, tacitly agreed series of actions performed by those taking part. I’ve written about the power of Elementary Meetings to create original event designs — but some Elementary Meetings are poorly designed by today’s standards. Because they are a historic piece of our culture, we tend not to critically evaluate or rethink them. Instead we take for granted and put up with the ritual one more time.\n\nWhich is why it’s refreshing that Seth Godin applied design thinking to graduations and suggested some improvements:\n\n“Who’s it for? What’s it for?\n\nWhen we ask those two questions, great opportunities arrive.\n\nA prime audience for graduation is the graduates. And what do they want? A moment in the spotlight. Official recognition. Digital media to prove it. Speed. Humor. Connection.\n\nAt the same time, expanding the amount of time spent parading each student on the stage for a photo and a handshake undermines most of that, and it alienates or numbs everyone else.\n\nConsider: we have screens now. Our graduates believe in speed, screens and being seen.\n\nI’d do the following things, simultaneously:\n\n1. Instead of one team of two doing the handshake and photo dance, have three teams. I don’t think a student cares if it’s a dean or an associate dean (or even a department chair) who shakes their hand. With three processions at a time instead of one, we go from six people a minute to 20. That means, even if you change nothing else, you’ve cut the time by two-thirds.\n\nReading the names more quickly is easy if you have three people doing the reading instead of one. Read them with care, and respect, and honor them, but that’s no reason to dillydally.\n\n2. You could add extra cameras and have all the photos instantly posted to Flickr or Instagram. This means that the pictures would be shared immediately and with more power.\n\n3. But the real win is in using the iMax video displays. In the month before graduation, each student comes to an office at the school (you can have multiple offices that do this) and records themselves saying their name. Now, we have a video of their face, with their name in bold type below, saying their name with pride. Edited tightly, this would permit a fun, energetic video with each student in it. You could cut in, every few minutes, some singing groups, a on-campus charity event, etc. While the videos are rolling, when a student’s name comes up, she marches across the stage.\n\n…Graduation is a milestone. We should make it feel like one again.”\n—Seth Godin, Rethinking Graduation\n\nTo these excellent ideas I’d add rethinking the interminable awards ceremony. I have no idea what most of the awards at Julian’s graduation were for or why they only announced some of them. (He won two that no one mentioned during the graduation.) Instead of watching a bunch of students stand up and sit down while listening to a list of awards, how about showing a tightly edited video explaining the awards and including names/pictures of the honorees right before the stage walks and add the relevant awards to each student’s individual video? We’d get a complete picture of the student during their moment of glory.\n\nJust because Elementary Meetings often provide powerful metaphors for reframing traditional meetings, doesn’t mean that they should escape scrutiny themselves. Rethinking cultural rituals from today’s perspective can often allow us to improve the experience, enhancing our pleasure in them without sacrificing their positive and important aspects.\n\nCan you think of an Elementary Meeting (like lectures, weddings, galas, funerals, sports, baby showers) that could be fruitfully redesigned? Share your ideas in the comments below.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5230716466903687}
+{"content": "Yes. RCV is an instant runoff system that compels candidates in a single-seat race to campaign toward a majority of voters and win with broad popular support. In a multi-seat race, RCV ensures majority rule while also providing opportunity for minority representation.\n\nRegarding the concern that RCV does not produce majority winners, the winner (in a single-seat race) is always the candidate with the majority of continuing ballots in the final round, if not of the total ballots cast. Some ballots may be exhausted before the final round of counting if that voter chose not to rank either of the final two candidates; in that case, the winner may not receive a majority of total initial ballots cast. \n\nVoters are encouraged to rank as many preferences as they have and some will choose to rank only one or two choices. This is a voter’s preference, and should not be misconstrued that the voter did not understand the system or have their vote counted. The ballot counted the way the voter wanted it to be counted.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.649640679359436}
+{"content": "Right triangle - 9th grade (14y) - examples - page 9\n\n  1. Cable car 2\n  2. Horizontal Cylindrical Segment\n    cylinder_horiz How much fuel is in the tank of horizontal cylindrical segment with a length 10m, width of level 1 meter and level is 0.2 meters below the upper side of the tank?\n  3. Angle of deviation\n  4. Railway\n  5. Column\n    pole_phone Perpendicular pole high 8 m tall broke and its toe fell 2.7 m from the bottom of the pole. At what height above the ground pole broke?\n  6. Circle\n  7. Triangular pyramid\n  8. Diagonals\n    diamond_math Rhombus has two diagonals e=14 dm and f=11 dm. Calculate the side angle and height of the rhombus.\n  9. Hexagon 5\n    hexagon_1 The distance of parallel sides of regular hexagonal is 61 cm. Calculate the length of the radius of the circle described to this hexagon.\n  10. Rhombus\n  11. Prism - box\n  12. Semicircle\n  13. Above Earth\n    aboveEarth To what height must a boy be raised above the earth in order to see one-fifth of its surface.\n  14. The cone\n  15. Sun rays\n  16. Vertical prism\n    hranoly3 The base of vertical prism is a right triangle with leg a = 5 cm and a hypotenuse c = 13 cm. The height of the prism is equal to the circumference of the base. Calculate the surface area and volume of the prism\n  17. Common chord\n  18. Leg\n    tetris Determine the area of a trapezoid with bases 71 and 42 and height is 4 shorter than the its leg.\n  19. Chord AB\n    chord_3 What is the length of the chord AB if its distance from the center S of the circle k(S, 92 cm) is 10 cm?\n  20. Isosceles trapezoid\n\n\n\nSee also our right triangle calculator.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5683984160423279}
+{"content": "IT Contracting\n\nComparing IT Contracting Opportunities\n\nIT Contracting\n\nIt’s a great time to be in Information Technology in Ireland. Recent Reports quote a lack of qualified local talent, and that there are plenty of opportunities for people with the right mix of IT skills.\n\n\nSo how do you choose the contract opportunity that’s right for you? As a contractor the temptation is to take the first offer you get, but it’s useful to take a step back and consider it carefully before accepting. Before you move forward with an opportunity, ask yourself the following questions:\n\n\na) Is this a suitable role for my skill-set?\n\nBe sure you’re comfortable wih the fundamental requirements of the job and your future role on the project team and the position is a good fit with your primary skills.\n\n\nb) If some responsibilities fall outside my skill-set, am I comfortable with that?\n\nIf you were careful to be honest and set the interviewer’s expectations appropriately during the interview process this shouldn’t be an issue; however, it is important for you to be comfortable with the scope of your future responsibilities and your ability to learn the skills you might lack at the start of the project.\n\n\nc) Are the working conditions and compensation acceptable and appropriate to my skill level?\n\nDon’t be afraid to aim high and negotiate, but do consider your relative expertise and existing market conditions to set realistic goals for yourself at this stage. Stay in touch with job boards to keep up with current market rates. Your recruitment agent is also in a good position to determine what the appropriate compensation should be for your skill level.\n\n\nd) Is this a good career move for me?\n\nYour first offer may not necessarily the best. Deciding whether to accept any given opportunity is a very personal decision, but do keep in mind that no contract lasts forever.\n\n\ne) Is the job in a feasible geographic location?\n\nThough this point is often overlooked when considering an offer, spending several hours a day or more commuting to work every day will impact your finances and quality of life. Now is the time to calculate your transit time as well as the cost of fuel, parking, public transportation, etc. and figure these factors into your salary requirements.\n\n\nf) Do I understand the local taxation and legal requirements of working in the project location?\n\nAre you legally entitled to work in the project location? Do you need a work permit or visa to enter the country? If this will be working as an independent consultant, some type of legal structure is required, usually a limited company. Have you decided what type of structure to use? Is it suitable for working in the geographic location where the role is based? What are the tax implications in the working location? Are there any implications in your home country? Typically working in another country will require significant up front investigation on these issues, as there is always some impact on your taxation obligations.\n\n\nIf you consider all of these questions carefully and overall, on balance, the role seems like a good fit; it’s time to accept the offer. The choice of consulting opportunity is dependent on many personal factors, but I use this list of things to consider when comparing a new consulting opportunity with my current role.\n\nAbout the author\nAidan Duffy is an independent consultant with 20 years international IT experience in Europe and USA, working with blue-chip multinational companies.He writes on Oracle topics at and invites Linkedin Contact requests at this link \n\nPosted by Aidan Duffy on 28 November 2017\n\nSign up for HR & Recruitment Insights Weekely Email\n\n\nSign up for our Jobseeking Tips & Advice Weekly Email\n\n\nRelated Content\n\n\n5 Tips to Build Your Professional Network\n\n5 Tips to Build Your Professional Network\n\nWe have heard it being said time and time again, advancing in your career is just as much about who you know as what you know. That’s why networking is so important, but networking requires more than just sending connection requests on LinkedIn and swapping business cards. Networking is a skill and when mastered, can be very beneficial to your career progression. Here are some key ways to improve your networking skills. Ask to be Introduced If you know of someone who you would like in your professional network, but are not sure how to approach them, start by seeking out a mutual relationship. LinkedIn is a great place to start, but not by sending them a connection request. View the persons profile and scan through your mutual connections. Ask one of your mutual connections to strategically introduce you. This can be done online via video chat or by them arranging a meeting. Find Common Ground This is the best way to make a lasting impression on someone. Find out a bit about the person before your introduction or if your introduction isn’t pre-arranged and you don’t know them, ask questions to get to know them. Questions like “Did you travel far to get here?”, “Did you see the match last night?”, “Have you been away on holidays yet?” etc. to casually find out their interests. Usually one of their answers will strike a chord and you can go from there. The best way to really connect with someone is to find that common ground. Never Start by Asking for Something If you’re starting off your relationship with this person by asking them what they can do for you, the relationship is destined to go nowhere. No one likes to be asked for a favour, especially by a stranger. Start by offering them something, a way you can help them. If you dive into a conversation asking for something the answer is more than likely going to be no but if you offer a way you would like to help them, they are more inclined to accept. Don’t Collect Business Cards and LinkedIn Connections A lot of people assume that they have a good network based on the amount of business cards they have stuffed in a drawer or how many LinkedIn connections they have. With this, I would say it is quality not quantity. You will go a lot further and have more opportunities in your career having a very focused network. Carefully focus on building meaningful relationships and not just a bank of contacts. Follow Up Probably the most important part of networking is to follow up afterwards. This is where a conversation with someone can become a meaningful relationship. After your initial meeting, call them up a day or two later and follow up on the chat you had or connect with them on LinkedIn and send them a message. It’s never too late to invest in your network. It can be daunting but it can be so worth while. As said by Deena Baikowitz - Chief Networking Officer at Fireball Network, \"the worst networking mistake you can make is not trying at all.\"\n\n\nReflections on Talent Summit 2019\n\nReflections on Talent Summit 2019\n\n\n\nEngineering Week 2019: Battle of the Sexes in Engineering\n\nEngineering Week 2019: Battle of the Sexes in Engineering\n\nA polarizing topic and a polarizing question, who wins in the battle of the sexes? The topic of equality in the workplace and lack of transparency has come to the forefront of many internal and external discussions. According to the Society of Women’s Engineers, in 2003 only 20% of new graduates from an engineering discipline were female in the United States. Compare that to a recent study in 2018 by Roberta Rincon, PH.D., Manager of Research at the SWE, where only 30% of women who earn a bachelor’s degree in Engineering are still working in that profession 20 years later and only 13% of engineers are women in the USA. However, there was a 54% increase in women being awarded engineering and computer science degree between 2011 and 2016. If we bring this closer to home, just 11% of the UK’s engineering workforce were female in 2017, a 2% increase since 2015. The UK also has the lowest percentage of female engineers in the EU, under 10% where the likes of Latvia, Bulgaria and Cyprus have nearly 30%. One step closer again and we are in Ireland where less than 25% of the people working in STEM related professions are women. Accenture conducted a survey which conveyed that there are negative stereotypes towards STEM subjects and careers. Certainly, there is still a long way to go before we reach true equality, it is a highly important issue. Yet, how about we move away slightly from representation and focus on pure achievement and contribution when discussing women and men in engineering? We provide the engineering icons and their achievements, and you decide who wins in a casual five-a-side match up! Let’s start at a time when engineering was starting to make waves across the whole of society and specifically focus in on electrical engineering, our first match up is Nikola Tesla and Edith Clarke. Edith Clarke First Female Electrical Engineer and First Female Professor of Electrical Engineering in the University, teaching for 10 years. Invented the calculator while working as a Supervisor in GE. Also invented Clarke Transformation and was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame Two of her papers in mathematics won awards from the AIEE, best regional paper in 1932 and best national paper in 1941. Nikola Tesla The famous Croatian began working in Edison Machine Works, troubleshooting installations and improving generators patented over 300 inventions but is most well known for the Tesla Coil and oscillator. Advised on the electrical system for Niagara Falls. Invented a radio remote control boat, dubbing it “teleautomation” but the general public considered it magic or even made the outlandish claim a small monkey was driving it. This would later go into mass use in World War I for torpedoes with Tesla getting little acclaim. Effectively dying bankrupt, he was well known for his eccentric behaviour, working everyday from 9am to 6pm, walking at least 8 miles every day and possessing an eidetic memory. So, who was the bright spark who outshone the other between this duo of electrical engineers? Next up we have the Civil Engineers who paved the way in their fields, Gustave Eiffel and Emily Warren Roebling. Emily Warren Roebling Contributed massively to the completion of the Brooklyn bridge. After her husband, Washington Roebling, the chief engineer for the Brooklyn Bridge, contracted Caisson Disease and became bed-ridden, she developed an extensive knowledge of Materials, Stress Analysis and Cable Construction. She also became the only person to relay instruction to his assistants and aided in the plans for completion of the bridge itself. She took over a lot of the chief engineer duties and jointly planned the bridges completion and was the first to cross the bridge by carriage. Campaigned for women’s rights and against discriminatory practices targeted at women, winning wide acclaim and awards for her essay “A Wife’s Disabilities”. Gustave Eiffel Most famous for the Eiffel Tower but also contributed to the liberty statue and also designed the Garabit Viaduct. The Eiffel Bridge, and Gustave’s first major work, which is in Bordeaux has been protected as a French Historical Monument. Even though he was only a contractor for the Panama Bridge project he was implicated in the financial and political scandal. Contributed massively to aerodynamics and civil engineering, he died on 27 December 1923 while listening to Beethovens 5th Symphony The Brooklyn Bridge vs the Eiffel Tower, who built more of a legacy, Gustave or Emily? Both certainly had their issues to overcome but left a lasting legacy behind them but who made the bigger impression on the civil engineering world? Following on from Civil Engineering, we have a match up between a physicist and a chemist who both revolutionized their own respective fields and the world as we know it. Stephanie Kwolek Offered a position at the DuPont facility in New York, the vacancy arose as the majority of men were overseas in World War II but developed a career spanning 40 years, becoming the only female employee in 2015 to receive the Lavoisier Medal for outstanding achievement. She became the fourth woman to be added to the National Inventors Hall of Fame after creating Kevlar and had an illustrious career in working with polymers. Stephanie never profited from the discovery as she signed it over to DuPont, but Kevlar is used in hundreds of different products that we use daily such as mobile phones and cables. She won a publication award for her Nylon Rope Trick which created Nylon from a beaker at room temperature but also received the Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists and an award for Creative Invention from the American Chemical Society. The Royal Society of Chemistry awards scientists the ‘Stephanie L Kwolek Award’ to exceptional contributions to the area of materials chemistry outside of the UK. John Bardeen Awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics twice, first in 1956 for the invention of the transistor and secondly in 1972 for a fundamental theory of conventional superconductivity known as the BCS theory. His development of the transistor helped with almost all modern technology such as telephones and computers, effectively bringing in the information age. In 1990, John was included in Life Magazines 100 most Influential Americans of the Century. Worked on magnetic mines and torpedoes during World War II. Sony have created a John Bardeen Professional Chair post at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bursar of $3 million. With both inventors and engineers leaving a massive legacy behind them both in academia and in real life application of science, it is a hard-won battle about who comes out on top between this pair. Now to look at more of a celebrity type of engineer and inventor with a flair for the limelight. Hedy Lamarr An Austrian born, inventor and actress who both helped develop a radio guidance system for allied torpedoes and starred in the likes of Algiers, Boom Town and Samson and Delilah. With no formal training, she created improved traffic stoplights, torpedoes that could resist frequency jamming and advised Howard Hughes on changing the design of his aeroplanes to sleeker, streamlined versions. In 1939, she was awarded the “most promising new actress” and has a Hollywood walk of Fame star. She became the first woman to receive the Invention Convention’s BULBIE Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award, was awarded the Electronic Frontier Foundations Pioneer Award and also was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. She has had her fair share of controversy with her film Ecstasy being banned in numerous countries for its content, being convicted of shoplifting twice and a few other scandals. Elon Musk The South African entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of SpaceX and Co-Founder and CEO of Tesla with other massive companies such as The Boring Company which cover infrastructure and construction to Neuralink, a neurotechnology company. He founded which later became PayPal and was sold to eBay for $1.5 billion and also Zip2 who were later acquired by Compaq for $340 million. Elon has stated that the goals if SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity are humanitarian in reducing the effect of global warming by increasing the use of sustainable energy and even found a colony on mars. He has been ranked as one of the most powerful people in the world by Forbes, was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Business Insider named him in the top ten of business visionaries creating value for the world. Who has the bigger wow factor, the movie star who escaped Nazi occupation to become a massive film star and inventor or the modern-day entrepreneurial engineer changing the landscape of the world? Up next are two engineers who have represented two of the biggest companies in the world with very different backgrounds but still inspirational stories. Ann Kelleher Born in Macroom, Co. Cork who was one of 5 women in a class of 55 studying engineering in UCC. She continued her studies achieving a master’s in electrical engineering and became the first ever female to receive a PHD from the NMRC. She began her career as a process engineer in Intel Ireland later progressing to factory manager, eventually site managing Intel’s New Mexico plant. She became the first woman in Intel’s history to be named Vice President, later becoming senior vice-president. In 2018 she became one of 25 women to be recognised in “Ireland’s Most Powerful Women Award” and was even tipped by Forbes as a good candidate to replace Elon Musk at Tesla. She is a huge advocate for women working in engineering and has called for more girls to study engineering and that more women should be applying for senior management roles. Steve Wozniak Electronics engineer who co-founded Apple who is widely considered one of the founding fathers of the personal computer revolution. After a traumatic plane crash, he suffered from amnesia using Apple II computer games to regain his memory but later leaving apple to invent and patent a universal controller. He has a long line of philanthropic programs he works on, ranging form founding the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sponsoring the Tech Museum, the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose and provided the entirety of the budget for the technical program for his local school district in Los Gatos. In 2014 he was induced into the Manufacturing Wall of Fame while also acting as the Innovator in Residence at High Point University and receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the American Museum of Natural History. As well as holding an electrical engineering degree from the University of California, he has 10 honorary degrees from American, English, Canadian and Spanish degrees. Is it the Cork native with her extremely impressive CV who comes out smiling or is it Woz with his contribution to Apple and personal computers? Overall this is not to split opinion or be divisive, it is an insight into the major engineering feat’s that have been achieved by men and women. Despite low female representation in the engineering sphere, female leaders such as Hey Lamarr and Ann Kelliher still emerged changing the world for the better. These female leaders went against the grain in spectacular fashion portraying that we can do more to further the conversation on diversity in engineering.\n\n\n3 Useful Ways to Organise Yourself & Get Things Done\n\n3 Useful Ways to Organise Yourself & Get Things Done\n\nBeing organised is a very important skill and it’s one that anyone can learn. If you feel like you are overwhelmed in work, then you need to start being organised. Here are 3 useful ways you can start today. Start Your Day Right In work it can often happened that you are overrun with many different tasks and it can be difficult to know how to structure your day productively. Come in 15-30 minutes before you start work to organise yourself. Make sure your desk is tidy and you lay out all the tasks you need in a notebook or using an online tool such as Google Tasks or Google Calendar. Write a list of what you need to do today and a list of the deadlines you have for the week. Taking these 15 minutes to do this in the morning will make your day more productive and help you to get more done throughout the day. Prioritise Once you know what you want or need from your work day, the next step is to learn what tasks in your day are the most important. One of the key elements to being organised is being able to prioritise the important stuff and know what needs your time. A handy way to decide this is using the below table. For every task you need to complete, you should evaluate each one by placing it in the below table. You should never have more than two priorities that fall in the box of ‘urgent and important’. The rest fall under the other categories of ‘important and not urgent’, ‘urgent but not important’ and ‘not urgent and not important’. Always structure your time around the urgent and important things. Get inspired with this short film of a professor explaining to his class the importance of prioritising and using one's time wisely. Ask For Help Most days you will handle your workload just fine on your own but every now and again when you see your to-do list is particularly long sometimes the best (and only) way to get things done is to ask your boss or a colleague for help. If you have too many urgent and important items on your to-do list, you should go to your boss to look at delegating some of your workload or adjust deadlines. Missing a deadline is much worse than letting someone know in advance that you won’t be able to get something done.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9084466695785522}
+{"content": "AI News, Why Neural Networks Look Set to Thrash the Best Human Go Players for the First Time\n\n\nThe best algorithms only achieve the skill level of a very strong amateur player which the best human players easily outperform.\n\n\nThe players alternately place black and white stones on the grid in an attempt to end up occupying more of the board than their opponent when the game finishes.\n\nGo players have 19 x 19 = 361 possible starting moves and there are usually hundreds of possible moves at any point in the game.\n\nMany experts believe that the secret to human’s Go-playing mastery is pattern recognition—the ability to spot strengths and weaknesses based on the shape that the stones make rather than by looking several moves ahead.\n\nThese advances have used massive databases of images to train deep convolutional neural networks to recognize objects and faces with the kind of accuracy that now matches human performance.\n\n\n\nClark and Storkey say that the trained network was able to predict the next move up to 44 percent of the time “surpassing previous state of the art on this task by significant margins.” That’s Interesting not least because the new approach does not use any of the previous moves to make its decision;\n\n“Even though the networks are playing using a ‘zero step look ahead’ policy, and using a fraction of the computation time as their opponents, they are still able to play better then GNU Go and take some games away from Fuego,” they say.\n\nOne idea that Clark and Starkey suggest is to run the convolutional neural network in parallel with the conventional approach to help prune the tree of possible moves that need to be explored.\n\nEvolution - 7 layer neural net Boids evolved with genetic algorithm 79 Hours\n\nUsing the original code of John Hess's Evolution simulator, with more \"creatures\" and bigger brains. This version used a number of starts until some movement ...\n\nDeep Convolutional Neural Network for Segmentation and Classification of Off-Road Scenes\n\nFrom On-Road to Off: Transfer Learning within a Deep Convolutional Neural Network for Segmentation and Classification of Off-Road Scenes (C.J. Holder, T.P. ...\n\nSoftware Defined Networking - Computerphile\n\n\nThe Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience of Categorization, Novelty-Detec...\n\nGoogle Tech Talks November, 15 2007 ABSTRACT Neurocomputational models provide fundamental insights towards understanding the human brain circuits ...\n\nMetal Gear Solid 4 - The Movie [HD] Full Story\n\n\nEssence of calculus, chapter 1\n\nI want you to feel that you could have invented calculus for yourself, and in this first video of the series, we see how unraveling the nuances of a simple geometry ...\n\nCARTA: Imagination and Human Origins - Sheldon Brown, Agustín Fuentes, Caren Walker\n\nVisit: 1:39 - Introduction - Alysson Muotri 3:10 - What is Imagination? - Sheldon Brown 22:10 - Dream It, Be It: How Imagination and Creativity ..", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7112665176391602}
+{"content": "Xenoliths / Xenocrysts\n\nESA Logo\n\nfossils and expeditions...\n\nXenoliths / Xenocrysts - hitchikers from the deep\n\nsource https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/xenolith/\n\n. A xenolith is a piece of rock trapped in another type of rock. Most of the time, a xenolith is a rock embedded in magma while the magma was cooling.\nXenoliths are different types of rock embedded in igneous rock. Xenoliths are torn from deep cracks, or pipes, in the Earths surface. Magma rises to the Earths surface through these pipes between the Earths crust and mantle.\nAs the molten material rises, it tears off bits and pieces of the magma pipe in which it is traveling. These bits and pieces, trapped in the magma but not melting into it, become xenoliths.\n\nXenoliths are very useful in geology...\n\ndunite (mantle) xenoliths in basalt lava\n\nAs magma erupts or flows from the Earths surface, it is cooled by exposure to air or water. Lava cools fairly quickly, and various types of igneous rocks are formed.\n\nXenoliths are usually visible. They have a different color and density than the surrounding igneous rock. Xenoliths can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a football, and as long as several meters. Xenoliths and xenocrysts are affected by temperature. A xenolith may lose its unique qualities if it melts into the surrounding magma. As it cools, the material may cease being a xenolith at all and become a metamorphic rock.  Xenoliths and xenocrysts are often identified by the names of the two rock types involved.\n\nperidotite xenolith in basalt lava\n\nA peridotite xenolith in a basaltic lava flow, for instance, means a chunk of the rock peridotite is embedded in basalt rock. The peridotite is usually yellow and dense, while the basalt is usually grey and light.\nXenoliths and xenocrysts provide valuable information about the geology of the Earths mantle. Scientists study the chemical properties of xenoliths to understand the depth at which they were formed.\nMany xenocrysts were created hundreds of kilometers within the Earth, far below the deepest mines and wells. The information about the condition of the mantle at these depths would be impossible to understand without xenoliths and xenocrysts.\nSome of the features studied by geologists are temperature, pressure, construction, and movement within the Earth's surface. Xenoliths can be a piece of rock trapped in a piece of sedimentary rock, but this is rare.\n\nlimestone xenolith in volcanic ashflow\n\nXenoliths have also been found in meteorites, or rocks from outer space that have crashed into Earth.\n\nghubara meteorite  with xenolithsOman\n\nThe xenoliths in meteorites were formed from collisions with other objects outside the Earths atmosphere.\nThis meteorite fell in the Jiddat al Harasis region of Oman (near Ghubara) in 1954. Since then, over 100 kg of specimens have been recovered. Ghubara is an olivene-hypersthene-chondrite black xenolithic L5.\nGhubara contains quite a bit of metal; it is 21.33% iron. The larger silvery spots are metals. The smaller, whitish areas are xenoliths.\nThese are actually fragments of another chondritic body (stony meteorite) which has been incorporated into Ghubara, probably from an impact in space.\nThese xenoliths are unrelated to the matrix material, and appear to be of a lower petrologic grade (the matrix is L5, but the xenoliths are L3).\nsee also... Meteorite Minerals...    Meteorites...    Identify Meteorites..\n\n\nCrystals that are torn from the sides of magma pipes are called xenocrysts. Diamonds are formed in the Earth's upper mantle. A type of igneous rock called kimberlite is known for carrying xenocrysts of diamonds to the surface, where they can be mined.\nXenocrysts are very useful in geology...\n\nresorbed and deformed diamond from the Slave craton\n\nXenocrysts are \"foreign\" minerals incorporated into the magma during magma scent or during xenoliths fragmentation.\nThere are three principal types:\n  1. Restite material, the refractory residue brought up from the site of mantle ore crustal melting.\n  2. Totally exotic material, ripped off the walls of conduits or the walls or roof of a magma chamber.\n  3. Cognate material, representing perhaps an accumulation of crystals already formed in a magma chamber, later ripped up during fresh magma movement.\n\ngranite xenolith in multiphase intrustion\n\nXenolith that are not in equilibrium with the magma may melt, dissolve or react, and these processes may lead to their eventual assimilation. Therefore the absence of xenolith does not necessarily indicate that no contamination of magma occurred. It may in fact mean that numerous xenoliths were totally assimilated. On the other hand, the presence of numerous xenoliths does not necessarily imply the magma has been severely contaminated. They may have been incorporated without much reaction just before magma solidification. Xenoliths can be assimilated in three ways:\n\nMelting Phenomena in a Xenolith containing Quartz (Qz) and Albite (Ab). Melt along grain boundaries is stippled. From Shelley\n\nAssimilation require thermal energy, the source of which can only be the magma itself. Heat from the magma has two sources:\nThe fate of assimilated crystals depend on their composition and that of the parent melt. Provided sufficient heat is available, a crystalline phase dissolves if the silicate melt is not already saturated with respect to that phase.\n\nzircon xenocryst insitu\n\nThus, quartz xenocrysts can dissolve on a time scale of day in basaltic melts in which the activity of silica in < 1, the basalt become so enriched in silica. The presence of xenocrysts or xenoliths in a magmatic rock may suggest they are contaminants, but xenocrysts can also originate by mixing of dissimilar magmas, and foreign material can be incorporated late into the magma with minimal contamination. Some basaltic magmas are extruded on the Earth’s surface carrying pieces of the mantle, called mantle xenoliths. These xenoliths make it possible to estimate how rapidly these magmas ascended from depth to the surface, because the upward flow of magma must exceed the settling velocity of the xenoliths.\n\nsandstone xenolith in basalt lava\n\nTwo magma types, alkali basalt and kimberlite, commonly carry such mantle xenoliths. Both originate by small degrees of partial melting in the upper mantle near the base of the lithosphere. The common occurrence of dense mantle xenoliths in tephra and lava flow eruptions of alkali basalt indicates that this magma carried them from depth. An average settling rate for xenoliths of different sizes can be calculated by balancing the different forces on the xenoliths during ascent, and by making certain assumptions about the rheologic properties of the magma. Calculation indicates that a 20-cm-wide xenolith will settle at a rate of 0.1 m/s. Obviously, the magma ascent rate would have to be greater in order to carry the xenolith to the surface; the xenolith settling velocity gives a minimum estimate of magma ascent rate.\n\nzoned zircon with ages showing it si a xenocryst\nCore of this zircon is older at approx 4.1 billion years so it is a zenocryst\n\nIs it a xenocryst?\nCheck for zonation. If the the zircons are xenocrysts then they likely will have a rim formed from the melt in which they were found, but the age on the rim will be different to the age on the core. Use Cathodoluminescence to determine zonation within each crystal, and then date the zones within the crystal. If it is xenocrystic, the age at the core will be older than the age of the rim - but remember margins of error and potential issues with crustal recycling. This is the method was used for dating the Jack Hills zircon, the oldest known material on Earth\ngeological setting of Jack Hills\n\nThe  4.39 billion year old zircon xenocrysts of the Jack Hills in Mid West Western Australia.\nThey are best known as the source of the oldest material of terrestrial origin found to date: zircons that formed around 4.39 billion years ago. These zircons have enabled ground-breaking research into the conditions on earth in the Hadean eon. In 2015, \"remains of biotic life\" were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in the Jack Hills of Western Australia.According to one of the researchers, \"If life arose relatively quickly on Earth ... then it could be common in the universe.\"\nWas the early Earth a blackened landscape of congealed lava, or was it cool enough for oceans to form? The discovery of diamonds in the oldest-known relics of surface rocks adds new élan to this debate.\n\nzircon xenocrysts help date source rocks and their chemistry\n\nXenocrysts give clues to the earth's earliest history...\nThe earliest era of Earth's history — between the creation of the planet about 4.5 billion years ago and the formation of the oldest known rocks 500 million years later — is the geological equivalent of the Dark Ages. The formal name given to the period, the Hadean, matches the long-held view that during this time Earth's entire surface, or at least large tracts of it, was a hellish, seething mass of molten lava. In contrast to that picture, recent studies of the oldest known relics of surface rocks, tiny and rare crystals of the trace mineral zircon (ZrSiO4), indicate that it took less than 200 million years for Earth's surface to cool sufficiently for water to condense.\nMenneken and colleagues' discovery that some of those ancient zircon crystals contain tiny diamonds turns the field on its head once more. The results lend succour to the view that the initial hot phase was long-lived, and will invigorate questioning of the cool-Earth concept. As Earth grew in the dust cloud around the proto-Sun, probably colliding with a planet the size of Mars during the process, surface temperatures would have reached in excess of 6,000 °C. When the surface eventually cooled, solid rocks started to form, but what those rocks were like, and when the formation process started, are controversial questions. The problem is one of preservation. Intense meteorite bombardment destroyed much of the early crustal rock, and with it evidence of Earth's early environment. In addition, Earth is an active planet on which crustal rocks are continuously destroyed by weathering and erosion, and recycled deep into the interior through plate tectonics. These processes have been going on for at least 3.8 billion years, and so very few crustal rocks older than 3.7 billion years — and none older than 4.03 billion years — are known.\n\nresorbed spinel xenocryst in basalt lava\n\nThe only surviving relics of Earth's crust from those first 500 million years of the planet's history are zircon crystals, mostly recovered from slightly less ancient sedimentary rocks\nZircon is a tough mineral: it is both chemically and physically inert under a wide range of geological conditions. As a result, zircon grains formed in old igneous and metamorphic rocks are commonly recycled unchanged into younger rocks. Hadean zircon grains are small (less than 0.3 mm in diameter) and rare: so far only two rocks, both from Western Australia, have been found with an 'abundance' of the grains (which means about 1 part per million by weight).\n\nFortunately for those studying the early Earth, these tiny grains carry a remarkable amount of information about the rocks in which they crystallized. That information can be extracted through a range of modern techniques that allow growth zones in individual zircon grains to be analysed on a scale of a few micrometres. For example, uranium, thorium and lead isotopes provide an accurate measure of a grain's age; zoning textures and patterns of rare-earth elements5 distinguish igneous from metamorphic growth; and microinclusions of other minerals show the mineralogy of the original host rock.\n\nThe more titanium a zircon grain contains, the higher its crystallization temperature was; and the greater the grain's enrichment in the oxygen isotope 18O, the more the magma from which the zircon crystallized interacted with liquid surface water. The hafnium isotopic ratio 176Hf/177Hf indicates whether that magma was purely mantle-derived (high initial value) or contained a crustal component (low initial value).\n\nFinally, xenon isotopes, among them the fission products of the extinct plutonium isotope 244Pu, provide some of the most direct evidence available that Earth formed with a plutonium–uranium ratio similar to that of the Sun.\n\nSome of the conclusions reached on this basis have been challenged, principally on the grounds that some of the compositions measured do not accurately reflect the temperature or the primary chemical and isotopic compositions of the magmas from which the zircons crystallized. But a majority view prevails.\n\nHadean zircons are mostly of igneous origin, and crystallized in a series of events that occurred mainly between 4.25 and 4.00 billion years ago; crystallization temperatures averaged only about 680 °C ; the host magmas had compositions similar to granites, and were produced by the melting of mixtures of crustal and mantle rocks; and the crustal rocks had interacted with liquid water at or near Earth's surface.\n\nAll in all, this is convincing evidence that there were at least some periods during Earth's early history when its surface was cool. The discovery by Menneken et al. of microdiamond inclusions in about 1 in 20 zircons, ranging in age from 4.3 to 3.1 billion years, that were randomly selected from the original Jack Hills conglomerate site in Western Australia, will necessitate a careful reassessment of these conclusions.\n\nDiamond is a mineral that forms only at high pressures, whether these are transient (during, for example, a meteorite impact) or sustained (through deep burial, for instance). It is therefore not found in low-temperature granite magmas such as those in which the Hadean zircons are inferred to have crystallised.\n\nJack Hills quartz pebble conglomerate source of ancient xenocrysts\n\nAssuming that the zircon did crystallize at temperatures of about 680 °C, pressures exceeding 3.5 gigapascals would have been needed for diamond to be stable in the magma source. This pressure is equivalent to burial more than 100 kilometres below Earth's surface. But the\n\nJack Hills zircons show no other evidence of such high pressures — whether transient in the form of shock features, or sustained in the form of relics of other high-pressure minerals, metamorphic overgrowths or rare-earth element compositions indicative of high-pressure growth. If the evidence of the diamonds is correct and the Hadean zircons did crystallize from magmas at high pressure, then those magmas could not have been crustal melts. This would undermine other inferences based on the assumption that the zircons preserve their original chemical and isotopic compositions — including the deduction that the early Earth was cool. Menneken et al. present two possible explanations for the presence of diamonds in zircons of such a wide age range.\n\nEither the diamonds formed during a single high-pressure event about 4.3 billion years ago and were then recycled into younger rocks, or they were incorporated into the Hadean zircons by an undefined process that was repeated several times during the first billion or so years of Earth's history.\n\nNeither of these explanations is entirely convincing, and the implications for surface temperatures on the early Earth are not discussed. A possible explanation that does not contradict the evidence for a cool early Earth is that the diamond was introduced to the zircon not as diamond, but as graphite precipitated into fractures and other imperfections in the zircon grains. De Corte et al, for example, have studied microdiamond inclusions in zircon from rocks subjected to ultra-high pressure in the Kokchetav Massif in northern Kazakhstan. They concluded that the original carbon that the diamonds were formed from was precipitated through the reaction of carbon dioxide with a reduced carbon phase such as methane.\n\nOne can conceive of a process in which a segment of early crust containing zircon from low-pressure igneous rocks of different ages became impregnated with carbon-rich fluids, possibly produced by reactions involving an atmosphere enriched in carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and methane. Rapid deep burial of those rocks by subduction (horizontal tectonics), sagduction (vertical tectonics) or mantle overturn could then have formed diamond in zircon of various ages during a single event, possibly without changing the zircons' chemical and isotopic compositions. During subsequent uplift, metastable diamond trapped in zircon grains could have been preserved, with some partly reverting to graphite — as indeed is observed.\n\nWhether the diamond was indeed produced by such a relatively rapid process, or was of long-lived mantle origin, could be tested by examining its carbon isotopic composition and whether nitrogen is present as single nitrogen atoms (indicating little time spent in the mantle at relatively low temperatures) or nitrogen pairs and tetrahedra (long residence time at relatively high temperatures). Such tests will be needed to further the lively debate on whether the early Earth was hot, or not.\n\nmultiple intrusive phases", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.77814781665802}
+{"content": "Pulau Kukup National Park\n\nPulau Kukup National Park, Johor\n\nPulau Kukup National Park is a small island off Malaysia’s west coast, with recently refurbished boardwalks through mangrove forests and observation towers with great views. Kukup is home to wildlife including long tailed macaques, monkeys, herons, and crabs.\n\nKali waterfall\n\nKali waterfall hike, North Sulawesi\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9915996193885803}
+{"content": "Request a call back\n\nApproval of the measuring instruments type in the CIS countries\n\nIf you are interested in exporting your measuring instrument to CIS countries, we can help with the Type Approval in those countries. Due to common mertology inheritance and roots back to Soviet system, the pattern approval procedures in those countries are similar to Russia's pattern approval.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8006424307823181}
+{"content": "When it comes to being healthy, the state of Utah has some interesting statistics. According to the United Health Organization, Utah is the one of the healthiest states in America. Utah is also cited as having the nation's lowest smoking rate, and also the nation's lowest death by cancer rate as well. The healthcare in Utah receives high marks overall and is listed by one agency as being a 'strong' healthcare system.\n\nUtah also has some impressive statistics regarding the money that is spent on healthcare. Utah has a 12.1 percent expenditure of gross state product; this is 1.2 percent under the state average according to Statehealthfacts.org. The cost of insurance for people who were insured was reported as seventh lowest in the nation by a Families USA/Lewin study. Additionally, Utah has the lowest rate of people admitted to the emergency room for hospitalized patients without insurance.\n\nThe healthcare systems in Utah are regarded by some prestigious sources as being some of the best healthcare systems in the nation. One of the systems that are known for their efficiency, quality care, and cutting-edge technology is Intermountain Healthcare. Intermountain Healthcare has 21 hospitals, 142 clinics, 19 urgent care centers, hospice care, 4 Life Flight helicopters, and 3 fix-winged aircraft. Overall, Utah has 44 hospitals, and 22 free standing surgical centers.\n\nConcerning health insurance providers in the state of Utah, there are several different insurance providers from which to choose. Some of these providers are nationally known insurance companies.\n\nAltius Health Plans, a division of Coventry Health Care provides group coverage, individual coverage, and family coverage.\nSelect Health, which was formerly known as IHC Health Plans, Inc, is known for providing quality care at an affordable price.\nCigna Insurance Co, offers residents of Utah, disability, life, and accident insurance through employers, associations, and other groups.\nBlue Cross & Blue Shield has been providing health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to Utah residents since 1942.\nUnited Healthcare, which started in 1977, also provides healthcare benefits to people who reside in Utah, and also to people throughout the nation and around the world.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5219542980194092}
+{"content": "A record to be claimed\n\nThe current record holder\n\nOn July 14, 2014, 19-year-old American Matt Guthmiller became the Guinness World Record™ holder as the youngest person to fly solo around the world. Matt completed his journey in 44 days and 12 hours making 23 stops in 15 countries across five continents.\n\nMatt set the record as the youngest person to circumnavigate by aircraft, solo by completing his journey at the age of 19-years, 7 months and 15 days.\n\nA history of the record\n\nThe catalyst for bringing this record to life was American/Jamaican Barrington Irving who at the age of 24 became the youngest pilot to circumnavigate the world solo, a feat completed in 2007. Irving also became the first black person and Jamaican to achieve this feat.\n\nIn 2012 then 22-year-old  Swiss pilot Carlo Schmid broke Irving’s record, completing his journey in 80 days, flying a Cessna 210 from July 11 to September 29, 2012.\n\nThe record was then fleetingly held by two young pilots, Malaysian Captain James Anthony Tan and soon after American Jack Wiegand.\n\nTan completed his trip at the age of 21-years, 344days in a trek known as ‘1 Malaysian Round the world Expedition (1RTW), his flight concluding in May 2013. The following month, on June 29,  2013 American Jack Wiegand broke the record to complete his trip at the age of 21-years, 7days.\n\nOn September 7 2013, the record entered new territory when it was broken by Australian pilot Ryan Campbell, who completed the trip at the age if 19-years and 237days old, turning the record into not just a competition between young pilots, but teenagers.\n\nCampbell held the record for a more significant amount of time than his two predecessors, but he had also laid down a new challenge, which was taken on and bettered by Guthmiller.\n\nNow, with the benchmark set, it is Lachlan Smart who believes he can break the mark set by Guthmiller, and take the record into the tender 18-years age bracket.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6941928267478943}
+{"content": "Natalia Movers ABC Movers\n\n\nNatalia is a city in Medina County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,431 at the 2010 census. It was founded in 1912 and was named after Natalie Pearson Nicholson, daughter of Frederick Stark Pearson, engineer, designer and builder of the Medina Dam.Natalia is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area.According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.0 square mile (2.6 km2), all of it land.Natalia is located on State Highway 132 and is adjacent to Interstate 35.\n\nService Areas", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6610459685325623}
+{"content": "Cardi B: ‘I really feel like I should run for president’\n\nAfter asking where her tax dollars are going, Cardi B is ready to run for office. And we’re not talking about a seat on the city council.\n\nThe 25-year-old “Bodak Yellow” rapper declared in an Instagram Live post Tuesday that she’s pondering a run for the highest office in the land, which really doesn’t seem so far-fetched when the former host of \"The Apprentice,\" Donald Trump, is sitting in the Oval Office. Or when there’s serious talk about Oprah, maybe even Kanye West, making a run for it one day.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9985452890396118}
+{"content": "Notices in planting always think it quite sufficient to place the roots of the newly moved tree in the earth again; old planters take care to prepare deep and wide holes - throwing out all the clayey or poor sub-soil, and mixing the good soil with plenty of manure or compost. New planters replant the roots just as they are - broken and bruised by lifting them out of the ground; old planters carefully smooth the ends of all bruised roots and cut off all broken ones - knowing very well that such roots, if not cut off, lead to a diseased condition of things under ground. Young planters are content with shovelling in the earth upon the roots and tramping it down with the foot till the tree is quite firm - by which many hollows are left under the tree and among the roots - whereby mouldy roots, feeble growth and often death ensues; old planters make it a vital point to see with their own eyes and feel with their own fingers that the fine soil reaches every fibre, and that not a single hollow is left among the larger roots.\n\nYoung planters bury a tree three or four inches deeper than it stood before - by which the roots are put so far below the kindly influences of the air that the tree either dies at once or lives the life of a half-starved mendicant for years, scarcely growing at all; old planters plant the tree scarcely so deep as before, knowing that the roots will run down easily, though it is hard for them to run up. Young planters plant their trees on a level, by which, when the ground settles, they find their trees too deep: old planters plant them on a slight hillock, by which, when the ground settles, they stand precisely as they ought.\n\nYoung planters with their fine tender-hearted.\n\nness, cannot bear to shorten the limbs of transplanted trees, and hence their trees struggle hard to live, and probably stand still for a year or two to recover; old planters, with their hard-earned better judgment, shorten-back half or two-thirds of the growth of the current year on all the leading shoots, in all cases - and in trees that have been much mutilated at the roots, they head-in the main branches still more, till some of balance is restored, so that their trees push out vigorous shoots the first year, and at the end of three years are far larger and handsomer than the unpruned heads of the young planters. And, finally, young planters often waste money in staking fell planted trees to hold them up, even in positions not windy; while old planters raise a hillock of earth over the roots eight or ten inches high, thereby steadying the tree, and protecting the roots till spring, when the soil being well settled, they take it away and the tree will stand alone.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7528566122055054}
+{"content": "House of Z (2017)\n\n  House of Z chronicles the meteoric rise of fashion designer Zac Posen, his epic fall from favor, and his challenge to rebuild his company and his reputation.\n\n\n  The film is a portrait of an artist as a young man, an insider’s view of the ups and downs of the fashion industry, and a look behind the curtain of one of the \n\nmost glamorous brands in the world - revealing the battle between art and commerce.\n\nWatch on Netflix\n\nSplit (2016)\n\n   Split is the surreal, epic journey a young woman takes to claim her darkness and sexuality so she can stop putting it into the hands of her abusive lover. When Inanna, an actress, becomes obsessed with a mask maker, she sacrifices parts of herself to win his love. At the same time, she enters a mythic journey in the theater, blurring her performance, dreams, and real life which results in a provocative, powerful confrontation that frees them both.   \n\nPurchase on iTunes and Amazon\n\nShakespeare High (2011)\n\n   Shakespeare High is a feature-length documentary about a determined group of teens whose immersion in the Drama Teachers Association of Southern California's high school drama program compels them to overcome their difficulties and create better lives for themselves.\n\n   Among the many famous alumni of this nearly 100 year-old program are Kevin Spacey, Val Kilmer, Mare Winningham and Richard Dreyfuss, all featured in the movie. \n\nPurchase on iTunes and Amazon\n\nThey Came to Play (2008)\n\n   Enlightened amateurism is the theme which explores the hopes and desires of contestants in the Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs. \n\n   The film traces the event itself and the lives of the contestants. Despite their widely disparate backgrounds, participants are united by their love of music and chosen instrument. They're so impassioned, they're willing to face the nerve-shattering process of performance and judgement for recognition from their peers. \n\nPurchase on Amazon and Google Play", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6434838771820068}
+{"content": "When a business uses insurance and/or loss control to protect itself from losses, the focus is usually upon outside forces. In other words, the assumption is that some event or some party not directly connected with the business will be the source of a loss. While this assumption is legitimate in many instances, it is a very limited and dangerous assumption.\n\nLosses may occur from inside a business just as easily as from outside. A major source of loss for many businesses is their employees. The more trust an employer places in a given employee, the more vulnerable that employer is to employee-related loss if that employee is dishonest. To protect itself from crooked employees, a business may need to purchase crime coverage.\n\nA company’s exposure to theft from employees lies with workers who are responsible for handling money (and similar property) and those who have significant access to company inventory. Therefore, a company that wants to evaluate its possible expense for purchasing crime insurance as well as to determine what control measures it should create to minimize theft losses, must properly classify its employees.\n\nTypes of Employees\n\nEmployees in positions of greater trust (such as supervisors, managers and executives) usually have greater access to company assets. These workers are more expensive to insure because they can, potentially, create greater theft losses. These employees are often in a position, not only to handle money and securities; they usually handle company records concerning monetary transactions. They are also, often, in charge of benefit plans or have other fiduciary responsibilities.\n\nOther employees, with non-managerial duties, can also cause problems. Consider persons, such as those in sales, product transportation and/or warehousing and suppliers who have constant access to valuable company property. Because dishonest employees at this level deal with tangible items rather than money and securities, they represent a less dangerous source of loss. However, depending upon the property involved, they may also create substantial losses. Still, such employees are less expensive to insure. A business that is evaluating its need for insurance coverage and for anti-theft controls MUST make thorough consideration of their type of business.\n\nEmployee Theft Controls\n\nControls refer to techniques and processes that discourage employee theft. While controls can’t fully eliminate theft; they can certainly help minimize the danger. Further, they may also assist in the quicker discovery of losses and aid in capturing dishonest employees. The most effective controls are those that limit theft opportunities and the use of auditing.\n\nOne important control is to thoroughly check new employees. The hiring process must include adequate references that are verified, as well as running pre-employment background checks. Hiring workers with criminal backgrounds is a near guarantee that losses will soon occur. Such losses may not be covered since insurance companies usually exclude losses involving employees with a documented criminal history.\n\nAnother control is to assign distinct job duties among different employees. Responsibilities for making deposits should not be assigned to the same employees responsible for making account payments. The worker who orders inventory should be different from a worker responsible for receiving property. These workers should be different from the worker who pays for shipments. In small businesses, with few employees, such tasks can be rotated among different workers. This reduces the chance for a dishonest employee to create theft opportunities. Employees will act as checks and balances against the crooked activity. There is still the chance that workers will cooperate with each other to steal property, but collusion is significantly less common than individual acts.\n\nOther important controls involve having proper procedures for handling company check disbursements (such as the use of countersignatures, stamping incoming checks “for deposit only), monitoring electronic payment processes and inventory controls that include accurate record keeping (either manual or computerized) to track inventory levels. It also helps to closely monitor ordering procedures, acceptance of credit and separate approval of suppliers. Another way to exert control over possible thefts is to use qualified, independent auditors regularly. Outside auditing can quickly and accurately identify problems Implementing auditing recommendations is also a smart idea.\n\nRegardless of the type of business, it is important to recognize that, unfortunately, employees can be a major contributor to business losses. An insurance professional is a good source of expertise for identifying ways to protect against internal losses.\n\nIf you have questions about business insurance call us at 800-392-6532.\n\n\n©The Rough Notes Company, Inc.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.80056232213974}
+{"content": "AnsweredAssumed Answered\n\nHNAS systems: \"transient errors\" errors and unexpected reboots ?\n\nQuestion asked by Maurice Steyvers on Nov 7, 2016\nLatest reply on Jun 14, 2018 by Al Hagopian\n\nFor several years we use HNAS systems here at the University:  4 HNAS 4080 nodes (clustered)  and 2 HNAS 3080 nodes\n\nLast couple of weeks these systems suffered from unexpected reboots..\n\n\n\n\nIn short:\n\n- HNAS uses field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), which enable hardware performance with the ability to reprogram functionality.\n\n- FPGAs are hardware chips that are programmed (on boot, every boot) to perform multiple operations in a single clock cycle.\n\n- FPGAs store run-time code in a special area, called configuration RAM (or CRAM).  CRAM is implemented as static RAM (SRAM) using complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology that holds electrical charge to store FPGA code.\n\n- As such, SRAM is susceptible to single bit errors, similar to other components, that hold electrical charge, such as dynamic random-access memory (DRAM).\n\n- The FPGA’s CRAM in HNAS is protected by a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) mechanism to protect against single bit errors.  This CRC mechanism is calculated on and checked by “frames of data” continuously flowing through the FPGA.\n\n- When the CRC checker detects a single bit error, it generates a severe “assert” condition.\n\n- HNAS initiates recovery and reboots the HNAS server in order to reprogram the FPGA and correct the single bit error.\n\n\nStatistically such an event could incur for each FPGA in order of 1 every 6 years (as stated by HDS support).\n\n\nWe've had such transient errors and reboots before but never with the frequency we saw last weeks (and spread over several different HNAS systems that are spread over two datacenters).\n\nHDS engineering states that these events are within specification and do not require any further action. \n\n\nMy question to other users of HNAS systems: do you experience such \"transient errors\" and reboots and what is the frequency/pattern that you see ?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9962390065193176}
+{"content": "Y bythynnod gorau a mwy\n\nChwaraeon Dwr Yn ôl i'r dudalen flaenorol\n\nWatersports in Carmarthenshire\n\nThe beaches of South Carmarthenshire provide an excellent loctaion for sea based watersports including swimming, canoeing, kayaking and sailing.  Inland the Llandysul Paddlers Canoe Club offers an opportunity to learn how to canoe or to improve your existing canoeing skills. The main club activities are Slalom, Freestyle, Surf and Canadian Canoeing done in the river.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9796420931816101}
+{"content": "Living with dogs\n\ndog in long grassDogs get the title of “man’s best friend” over all the other animals in the animal kingdom. Think about it, there are plenty of other animals that we as humans have come to depend on throughout our history. From beasts of burden, such as the ox and buffalo, animals we have used for transport such as horses and camels to animals we have relied on as a source of food, from chickens to cattle. Yet, the one animal people the world over have come to consider as their best friend in the whole animal kingdom is the dog.\n\nWhile there is some debate over the exact time this partnership started, there is no debate that this relationship between us and dogs was and is common on all of the inhabited continents on earth from the deserts of the Sahara to the freezing arctic to our pampered pooches living in our homes. Living with dogs is a part of being human.\n\n\nMany of the common dog breeds we know of today were bred for specific purposes that are not so desirable in the modern world such as hunting, guarding and fighting. Today we have a range of different designer dog breeds to suit our particular lifestyle with many designer breeds possessing traits that make it even easier to share our homes and lives with, such as  relaxed temperaments, non-shedding coats, small size, quick learning etc. Designer dogs also come in a range of sizes from Toy Cavoodles to Standard Groodles.\n\nGroodle breed tab\n\nWhile most people who have either owned a dog on the past or lived around dogs know the basics about looking after a dog, a little bit of extra knowledge can go a long way in making dog ownership that much better. And hey, some people have never owned a dog before so the whole experience is new. One of the best things about dog ownership is that if you have questions about your dog, other more experienced owners are often more than happy to help a new owner answer as many questions that come up along the way.\n\nBelow are a collection of helpful articles that don’t fit into the other categories on this site but will help you both understand and care for your dog to make dog ownership a very rewarding experience.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9957844018936157}
+{"content": "This I Believe\n\nStrassman, Ralph K.\n\n\nThis I Believe. The wider a man’s experience the deeper, usually, his insight into human nature, including his own. Colonel Ralph K. Strassman, of New York City, has been a reporter, publisher, soldier and advertising man; positions giving only a hint of the exciting life he has led and the varied service he has performed in his multiple careers. He was publisher of Red Book magazine for a quarter of a century. Although he has travelled the globe contributing to many of the world’s\nleading newspapers he has never been satisfied with his knowledge, never content with his own ever-widening understanding of people. Against that broad background listen now to the beliefs important in the life of Colonel Strassman.\nI believe in the essential and continuing importance of human beings, to themselves and for others. The whole history of what we call civilization—of art, science, philosophy, literature, and government—is essentially a record of the struggles and efforts of human beings to be themselves, of efforts to express in concrete form the urgings and the powers, which are the mysterious ingredients of the human mind and the human soul.\nLife has taught me that the very fact that we tend to magnify our failures and take our successes for granted is proof of the unique drive within us. I have never learned to accept injustice, suffering, and violence as the normal state of affairs. I believe that more harm is done to individuals and nations through ignorance and stupidity than through act of malice and evil design. So I’ve always felt that the most important thing I can do in addition to making myself a better person is to learn to know my fellow man better.\nI believe that the whole organization of our society is a defense against the inner desolation of the man who has no real contact with, warmth for, and interest in, other people. The search for self-\nunderstanding and self-realization is based on the need to know oneself through others and to grow through giving and receiving.\nI have learned that we have the essential values of the useful and rewarding life within ourselves, the seeds of our salvation or the seeds of our destruction, depending on how we use them. They take different forms, but basically, for me, the good life depends upon an inner contentment and adjustment and on trying to make the special contributions, which are mine, alone, for the common good. For me, this cannot involve any fatuous denial of the obvious evils, suffering, and hardships, which exist. These I will always regard as challenges because they result fundamentally from human stupidity and\nhuman malice. I know that I, as a human being, must share the responsibility for them, unless I claim to be a plaster saint in a tin heaven.\nI’ve often felt tempted, especially in times like these, to assume a material and fatalistic attitude, saying, What can one person do? If we’re going to be blown to bits any day now, why not look out for my own comfort in the meantime? Fortunately, I have not yielded to that temptation because I have been sustained by my firm belief that the mysterious entity we call the individual, or the human personality, never ceases to exist and never loses its identity. This, to me, makes our contributions to the world we live in far more important because of the good or evil we leave behind us.\nThis belief eases for me the pain of loss and the bitterness of disappointment and failure. The man who starts to build and works honestly and well, as a member of the great human family, will always enjoy the satisfaction of having done his part.\nThere the creed of Colonel Ralph K. Strassman, a vice-president of the Ward Wheelock Company, an advertising firm. A man who believes in seeing the world as it is and then doing his best to make it better.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6717437505722046}
+{"content": "broken glass\n\n\ntoday was a stormy day of the heart\nneeding to move, to put distance\nbetween my heart, my soul\nand my daily life\n\nstanding on the rocky edge\nlooking out to sea\nwatching the waves coming\ninexorably into shore\n\nrock pools beckoned and I walked further out\nlooking through still water with a surface like glass\nstarfish and sea lettuce, neptune’s necklace and limpets\npatiently waiting for the incoming tide\n\nbut the calm waters didn’t match\nthe turmoil I felt\nthe waves of emotions\nneeded something stronger\n\nwhen sudden unexpected rain\nstruck intensely from behind\nchoosing not to run, I was drenched in seconds\nstanding still, with one hand holding back my hair\n\nI stood and watched\nas heavy rain broke the surface\nall life beneath now an impressionist’s dream\n\nwhen the liquid glass shattered\nI drank the fragments\nthey cut through anger to release the tension\ntouching the wet rocks, I am centred in this turbulent landscape\n\nI am the squally wind\nheart-settled, soul-free\n\nI watch the sea birds\nride the updrafts\nand wish I had wings\n\n©Claire Griffin 2016\n\nReading Tyler’s poem “Drop by drop” and discovering the lines\nThey seemed to express perfectly how I was feeling today.\nEntering the landscape always helps me recover equilibrium,\nThe land reflected my feelings back to me,\nand then I was able to release them.\nThanks for the inspiration Tyler 🙂\n\n\n\nI can carry my own inner child\nI can protect and reassure\nand love her\n\nbut I cannot carry yours as well\nyou need to heal your own child\n\nyou left her alone, crying\ninto the emptiness, waiting\nto be heard, to be held in love\n\nyou erected barriers\nto keep you both safe\nbut these kept everyone\nat a distance\n\nand now, no matter how much\nattention she is given\nshe will not be\n\nyou are a fortress\nharbouring a\ncrying child\n\n\n© Claire Griffin 2016\n\nAnd with this, in those last three line, I finally formed a metaphor to describe and explain the behaviour of someone once near to me. Moving past my own hurt and anger, I found something like understanding, almost compassion. But the fourth line holds true – I cannot hold someone else’s pain. I am not responsible for it, and I do not have the answers.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5129461288452148}
+{"content": "How to serve an embedding trained with Estimators\n\nBy Lak Lakshmanan, Technical Lead, Google Cloud Platform\n\nWhen you have a sparse categorical variable (a variable that can take many possible values), it can be helpful to embed it into a lower dimension. The most well-known form of embedding is word-embedding (as in word2vec or Glove embeddings) where all the words in the language are represented by a vector of, say, 50 elements. The idea is that similar words are close-by in the 50-dimensional space. You can do the same thing with your categorical variables — train the embedding on one problem, and reuse that embedding instead of just one-hot encoding the categorical variable in related problems. The lower dimensional space of your embedding is continuous and so, it can also function as the input to a clustering algorithm — you can find natural groupings of the categorical variable.\n\nEmbeddings help you see the forest and not just the trees.\n\nIn order to serve an embedding trained with an Estimator, you can send out the lower dimensional representation of your categorical variable along with your normal prediction outputs. Embedding weights are saved in the SavedModel, and one option is to share that file itself. Alternatively, you can serve the embedding on demand to clients of your machine learning team — which may be more maintainable,because those clients are now only loosely coupled to your choice of model architecture. They will get an updated embedding every time your model is replaced by a newer, better version.\n\nIn this article, I will show you how to:\n\n  1. Create an embedding as part of a regression/classification model\n  2. Represent categorical variables in different ways\n  3. Do math with feature columns\n  4. Serve out the embedding along with the outputs of the original model\n\nThe entire code of this article is on GitHub and it contains much more context. I’m only showing you key snippets here.\n\nModel to predict bicycle demand\n\nLet’s build a simple demand forecasting model to predict the number of bicycle rentals at a station, given that we know the day of the week and whether it is a rainy day. The data for this comes from a public dataset of New York City bicycle rentals and NOAA weather data:\n\nThe inputs to the model are:\n\n  • The day of week (integerized, since it is 1–7).\n  • The station id (here, we’re using hash buckets, since we don’t know full vocabulary. The dataset has about 650 unique values. We’ll use a much larger hash bucket size, but then embed it into a lower dimension).\n  • Whether it is rainy (true/false).\n\nThe label we’ll want to predict is num_trips.\n\nWe can create the dataset by running this query in BigQuery to join the bicycle and weather datasets and do the necessary aggregations:\n\nWriting the model using an Estimator\n\nTo write the model, we will use a custom estimator in TensorFlow. Although this is just a linear model, we can not use the LinearRegressor because the LinearRegressor hides all the underlying feature column arithmetic. We need access to the intermediate output (the output of the embedding feature column), and so we will write the linear model explicitly.\n\nTo implement a custom estimator, you have to write a model function and pass it into the Estimator constructor:\n\nThe model function in a custom estimator has 5 parts:\n\n1. Define the model:\n\nWe are taking the station column, and putting it into a bucket based on its hashcode. This is a trick to avoid having to build a full vocabulary. There are only about 650 bicycle rental stations in New York, so by having 5000 hashbuckets, we greatly reduce the chance of collisions. By then embedding the station id into a smaller number of dimensions, we will also get to learn which stations are like each other, at least in the context of rainy-day-rentals. Ultimately, every station-id is represented by just a 2-dimensional vector. The number 2 controls how accurately the lower-dimensional space represents the information in the categorical variable. My choice of 2 here was arbitrary — realistically, we will need to tune this hyperparameter for best performance.\n\nThe other two categorical columns are created using their actual vocabulary and then one-hot encoded (the indicator column one-hot encodes the data).\n\nThe two sets of inputs are concatenated to create one wide input layer and then passed into a dense layer with one output node. This is how you program a linear model at a relatively low-level. This is equivalent to writing a LinearRegressor as:\n\nNote that input_layer, indicator_column, etc. are all hidden away by the LinearRegressor. I am, however, exposing it because I want access to the station’s embeddings.\n\n2. Use a regression head to set up an estimator spec.\n\nFor a regression problem, we can minimize the mean squared error using the Ftrl optimizer (this is the default one used by the LinearRegressor, so I’m also using it):\n\n3 — 4. Create a dictionary of outputs\n\nNormally, we will send out only the predictions, but in our case, we want to send back both the predictions and the embeddings:\n\nThe ability to change the export_outputs is the other reason that we need to use a custom estimator here.\n\n5. Send back an EstimatorSpec with the predictions and export outputs replaced:\n\nNow, we train the model as normal.\n\nInvoking predictions\n\nThe exported model can then be served using TensorFlow Serving, or optionally deployed to Cloud ML Engine (which is essentially hosted TF Serving), and then invoked for predictions. You can also invoke the local model using gcloud (which provides a more convenient interface for this purpose than saved_model_cli):\n\nWhat’s in test.json?\n\n{“day_of_week”: 4, “start_station_id”: 435, “rainy”: “true”}\n\n{“day_of_week”: 4, “start_station_id”: 521, “rainy”: “true”}\n\n{“day_of_week”: 4, “start_station_id”: 3221, “rainy”: “true”}\n\n{“day_of_week”: 4, “start_station_id”: 3237, “rainy”: “true”}\n\nAs you can see, I am sending 4 instances, corresponding to stations 435, 521, 3221 and 3237.\n\nThe first two stations are in Manhattan, in an area where rentals are quite frequent (and serve both commuters and tourists). The last two stations are in Long Island, in an area where rentals are somewhat less common (and perhaps only on weekends). The resulting output contains both the predicted number of trips (our labels) and the embedding for the stations:\n\nIn this case, the first dimension of the embedding is almost zero in all cases. So, we only need a one dimensional embedding. Looking at the second dimension, it is quite clear that the Manhattan stations have positive values (0.0081, 0.0011) whereas the Long Island stations have negative values (-0.0025, -0.0031).\n\nThis was learned purely by the machine learning model looking at bicycle rentals on different days at the two locations! If you have categorical variables in your TensorFlow models, try serving out the embeddings from them. Perhaps they will lead to new insights!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.71739661693573}
+{"content": "We accept\n\nSocial Cohesion And Quality Life\n\nIn the previous few decades, standard of living has replaced the thought of prosperity as the dominating goal of societal development. Towards the individual-centered perspective of societal development, other welfare concepts surfaced which position the concentrate on the aspects concerning societal qualities including the amount of equality, security or freedom, or the product quality and structure of the sociable relations within a society. Among those welfare principles discussing characteristics of societies are, for example, sustainability\", public cohesion\", cultural addition\" etc. Idea of the cultural cohesion of an world received great politics attention at the nationwide and supranational level. In regards to these advancements, this paper endeavors: first, to clarify the meaning of the concept of social cohesion also to determine its inherent dimensions by reviewing the prevailing theoretical approaches to this problem; second, to explore romantic relationship between social cohesion and the quality of life.\n\nQuality of life is a concept related to the average person welfare. Although social cohesion signifies a societal quality, it impacts the individual standard of living because the components of public cohesion are recognized and experienced by the associates of the modern culture. Thus, the social cohesion of a world can be conceived as an element relevant to the average person life situation, and in this sence, it represents an integral part of the individual standard of living. Under this point of view a wide conceptualization of quality of life seems appropriate. Standard of living can be viewed as as the complicated policy goal which include social cohesion as one component. The broad and multidimensional idea of standard of living enlarged the point of view of societal development by considering not only financial aspects but also interpersonal and ecological concerns. Several welfare ideas emerged which put the focus on aspects related to societal qualities such as the extent of equality, security or flexibility, or the product quality and composition of the public relations in a society. Among these welfare principle is cultural cohesion.\n\nThe goal of the paper is: first, to clarify this is of the idea of social cohesion and also to determine its inherent sizes by reviewing the existing theoretical approaches to this matter; second, to explore romantic relationship between communal cohesion and the grade of life.\n\n1. The concept of social cohesion\n\nThe notion of sociable cohesion is difficult to express in one classification. emile Durkheim first coined the concept of social cohesion at the end of the nineteenth century. He considered sociable cohesion as an buying feature of an society and defined it as the interdependence between your people of the modern culture, distributed loyalties and solidarity [14]. Aspects often mentioned in describing interpersonal cohesion will be the strenght of interpersonal relations, shared beliefs and neighborhoods of interpretation, feelings of any common individuality and a sense of belonging to the same community, trust among societal associates as well as the level of inequality and disparities [26; 14). The easier the section of labor in a modern culture is, the more robust the connection between individuals and the communal group will be. This bond is a result of mechanised solidarity, which comes from segmented similarities predicated on territory, customs and group traditions. The social section of labour that modernity brings with it erodes and weakens such bonds, as will the\n\nincreased autonomy of people in modern society. In that context, cohesion is area of the social solidarity that is required for the members of a society to remain bound to it with a power comparable to that of pre-modern, mechanical solidarity. This involves more powerful, more numerous ties, and must even include bonds predicated on common ideas and feelings, leading to what Durkheim message or calls \"organic solidarity\".\n\nAs of today there is absolutely no single explanation of communal cohesion and it is still debated whether public cohesion is a cause or a consequence of other areas of social, financial and political life. There is no clear description of the idea - probably because the very tradition of interpersonal citizenship that characterizes Western european societies assumes that interpersonal protection under the law entail an intrinsic marriage between social addition and the provision of mechanisms to assimilate individuals and present them a sense of full regular membership in society.\n\nAccording to this view, sociable cohesion indicates a causal hyperlink between your mechanisms that provide integration and well-being, on the main one hand, and a full specific sense of belonging to population, on the other. Addition and belonging, or equality and belonging, will be the cornerstones of the thought of communal cohesion in societies prepared around the ideas of the welfare state.\n\nThe concept of cultural cohesion is often mixed up with other principles, like interpersonal capital, sociable integration, or sociable inclusion. Interpersonal capital is directly related to public cohesion, and the two are incredibly important principles in plan and insurance policy research circles. Sociable capital - known as a symbolic societal property consisting of the capability to manage rules, systems and bonds of social trust which strengthen collective action, pave just how for reciprocity and progressively propagate throughout world resembles cohesion, and can essentially certainly be a stock upon which social real estate agents can attract to make population more cohesive. However, sociable capital is both a consequence and a producer of sociable cohesion. Whereas public cohesion emphasizes functions and outcomes, interpersonal capital emphasizes the notion of investments and possessions that bring benefits, benefits that aren't fully appropriated by the individuals making the purchases.\n\nSocial cohesion is often puzzled with social inclusion. Inclusion mechanisms include work, educational systems, protection under the law and policies made to encourage collateral, well-being and sociable protection. For the reason that context, social cohesion may be grasped in terms of both efficiency of instituted communal addition mechanisms and the behaviours and value judgments of the participants of culture. Behaviours and value judgments include issues as diverse as trust in institutions, social capital, owed and solidarity, acceptance of social rules and the determination to take part in deliberative techniques and collective endeavours.\n\nAnother proximate notion is that of social integration, thought as the dynamic, multifactoral process whereby individuals share in a minimum standard of well-being regular with the level of development attained by a country. This restrictive description views integration as the opposite of exclusion. In the broader sense, integration into modern culture has also been thought as a common system of work and rewards, which levels the performing field in conditions of opportunities and offers rewards based on merit.\n\nThe idea of social inclusion may be viewed as an broadened form of integration. Instead of emphasize a framework to which individuals must adapt in order to adjust to in to the systemic equation, it also targets the necessity to adapt the system in such a way as to accommodate a diversity of actors and people. Inclusion requires not only an improvement in conditions of access to integration mechanisms, but also an attempt to improve the self-determination of the actors involved.\n\nThe idea of a interpersonal ethic also contains an essential facet of social cohesion, emphasizing common values, agreement on the very least set of rules and sociable norms, solidarity as an moral and practical principle, and the assumption of reciprocity.\n\nThese concepts are part of the \"semantic universe\" of communal cohesion. Viewed in this light, the precise difference that sets social cohesion aside is the dialectical relationship between integration and addition, on the main one hand, and interpersonal capital and sociable ethics, on the other. As a result, there is a distinction between cultural inclusion and communal cohesion, inasmuch as the second option includes the behaviour and behaviours of stars, without being limited to those factors. Friendly cohesion may thus be thought as the dialectic between instituted sociable inclusion and exclusion mechanisms and the responses, perceptions and behaviour of citizens towards the way these mechanisms operate.\n\nA description of social cohesion by relating it to the concepts of social exclusion/exclusion and cultural capital has also been present. For instance Dahrendorf et al. explained a communal cohesive society as a contemporary society preventing social exclusion: Friendly cohesion will come in to spell it out a society that provides opportunities to all its members of the platform of accepted ideals and organizations. Such a contemporary society is, therefore, one of inclusion. People belong; they aren't permitted to be excluded\" [4, str. vii]. Other scientist have emphasised that the interpersonal capital of any society can be an essential basis of its cultural cohesion [18; 17].\n\nOn the foundation of overview of the various solutions we could conclude that the idea of social cohesion features mainly two societal goal proportions that can be analytically distinguished:\n\n1) The first dimensions concerns the reduced amount of disparities, inequalities, and social exclusion.\n\n2) The second sizing concerns the conditioning of social relationships, interactions and ties. This dimensions embraces all aspects which are generally also regarded as the public capital of an contemporary society [6].\n\nThese two dimensions must be viewed as self-employed from one another to a certain degree. In basic principle, strong ties in a community can be accompanied by the tendency to discriminate and exclude those people who do not participate in that community [19]. This issue highlights the importance of considering both sizes - disparities/inequalities/communal exclusion and interpersonal relations/ties/social capital - in order to get a comprehensive picture of the interpersonal cohesion of your society.\n\n3. Friendly exclusion\n\nSocial exclusion represents idea with increasing level of popularity among scholars during last decade. The recognition of the concept was especially advertised through the growing fascination with matters of public exclusion at the amount of europe. The Western Commission\n\nlaunched a series of research programmes in the framework of the Western european Observatory on Country wide Policies to Fight Community Exclusion and of the European Poverty Programs.\n\nResearch on social exclusion replaced, somewhat, older conditions of poor living conditions, such as poverty or deprivation. Originally, the term was used in the framework of debates on a fresh poverty and defined as a rupture of the partnership between specific and the population due to the failing of societal organizations to assimilate individuals. Today, it is suggested that interpersonal exclusion should be conceptualised as the insufficiency of 1 or more of the next four systems [1, str. 258-259]:\n\nThis approach targets relational issues, i. e. on the disruption of interpersonal ties between specific and the modern culture. Unlike communal cohesion, poverty can be involved with distributional issues, i. e. on having less resources at the disposal of people or househods [23; 12]. Thus poverty may be regarded as quality of indiviudals and homes, whereas social exclusion may be conceived as an attribute of societies and of the individuals' relations to population.\n\nIn contrast to this position are considerations that cultural exclusion can be regarded both as a property of societies so that an attribute of individuals. As a person attribute it is defined as a low degree of welfare (financial drawback) and the shortcoming to participate in public life (sociopolitical downside). This perspective equals public exclusion to a multidimensional idea of poverty which details circumstances or an outcome of an activity. Being a societal characteristc the term social exclusion refers to the impairment of social cohesion caused incidentally in which institutions regulate and in so doing constrain usage of goods, services, acitivities and resources which are generally associated with citizenship rights. This view concentrates focus on the processes of social exclusion and its own causes that are related to the inability of institutions [5].\n\nThe final result arising out of the considerations is the necessity to differentiate between your factors behind disadvantageous living circumstances and the techniques leading to them on the one side and the final results of those operations themselves, that is individuals' living situation. The causes may be related to societal organizations and can then be detailed by the idea of social exclusion as a property of societies. The impact of interpersonal exclusion on people is observable in the form of poor living conditions. In such a sense, public exclusion represents a attribute of specific and corresponds to the idea of poverty in a multidimensional idea.\n\n4. Public capital\n\nThe counceptualization of cultural cohesion as it is suggested here considers social capital as representing another main dimension which might be used to spell it out the sociable cohesion of an society.\n\nSocial capital represents one of the very most powerful and popular metaphors in current cultural science research. Broadly known as referring to the community relations that influence personal interactions, social capital has been used to clarify an immense selection of phenomena, which range from voting patterns to health to the economical success of countries [7]. Virtually hundreds of paperwork have appeared throughout the cultural science literature arguing that interpersonal capital things in understanding specific and group dissimilarities and further that successful public policy design needs to account for the consequences of coverage on communal capital formation. With this paper we will give the primary concentrate to the role of interpersonal capital in stenghtening the cultural cohesion and additional link with the grade of life.\n\nWe often see countries with similar endowments of natural, hysical, and individual capital achieving completely different levels of financial success. This paradox has led scholars to search for deeper plus more meaningful explanations about what holds people and societies jointly to be able to foster economical development. As time passes, scholars have built various frameworks for understanding the interpersonal aspects of this occurrence and whatever we currently refer to as \"social capital\". Fueled by constant empirical investigations, these frameworks have changed quite swiftly in recent generations. Since Loury [16] presented it into modern social research research and Coleman's [3] seminal analysis positioned it at the forefront of research in sociology, the term cultural capital has distributed throughout the public sciences and has spawned an enormous literature that runs across disciplines. Adam Coleman popularized the word as he wanted to conceptualize the aspects of social framework that facilitate monetary trades. His work is widely recognized as one of the most crucial, as is Robert Putnam's review of voluntary associations in Italy. Putnam [21] figured the high density of voluntary associations in the north was accountable for the region's economical success. Many others have also made significant strides in improving our knowledge and knowledge of the subject. However, despite the tremendous amount of research onto it, however, the definition of public capital has continued to be elusive.\n\nThere are various theoretical methods and perspectives of sociable captial which use more or less narrow concept. However they all have in common that they consider interpersonal capital as a house of a sociable entity rather than of a person [10]. It is a relational notion, it presupposes a social relation and is present only as far as it is distributed by other individuals. Therefore, it can't be the private property of a single person, but heas a character of a general population good [11; 19]. The communal capital of a society includes the establishments, the interactions, the behaviour and principles that govern relationships among people and contribute to economic and interpersonal development. Communal capital, however, is not only the total of the establishments which underpin population, it is also the glue that supports them together. It offers the shared values and guidelines for social carry out indicated in personal interactions, trust and a common sense of civic responsibility, that makes society greater than a assortment of individuals. With out a degree of common recognition with varieties of governance, ethnic norms and social rules, it is difficult to assume a functioning population [25, str. 1].\n\nSocial capital is not only regarded as an important basis for the cultural cohesion of the society, but at the same time as a main component of the wealth of a region and as an important determinant of economic progress, besides physical, individuals and environmental capital [13]. The view is empirically supported by results demonstrating a relation between the social capital of the society and its own economical well-being [21; 15; 24]. Furthermore, there are also investigations directing to the improvement of other dimensions of welfare such as education, health, rates of crime, and the surroundings [3; 20].\n\n5. The interdependence of social cohesion and the grade of life The principles of social cohesion and quality of life are interrelated [8; 9]. Althought sociable cohesion signifies an attribute of the society, it eventually rests on the behavior, attitudes and assessments of its members, too. Community cohesion is based on public capital which is also created by communal relations and ties founded, looked after and experienced by individuals. Thus, looking at the interpersonal cohesion of a society consists of aspects that happen to be part of the individual life situation and in this sense components of the individual quality of life. Secondly, components of the cultural cohesion of an culture may have immediate impact on individual standard of living. Empirical examples will be the above cited results on the impact of communal capital on economic and other dimensions of welfare. At a conceptual level, the point of view of social exclusion as an activity rooting in the breakdown of communal institutitons and resulting in a deprived living situation of the average person is another example.\n\nSocial cohesion can be conceived as a societal quality which is experienced by individuals in their daily lives, for example by means of the identified inequality or the communal climate at the working place, at institution or in the neighbourhood, and therefore also identifies the individual standard of living. This perspective conciders components of the social cohesion of the society to form an integral part of the grade of life of the individuals belonging to that modern culture. Such a position, which is reinforced here, advocates a wide conceptualisation of standard of living encompassing not only individual characteristics of the life span situation but also societal characteristics. In this particular sense, quality of life represents the normal insurance policy goal with communal cohesion as an important element of be addressed.\n\n6. The way of measuring of cultural cohesion Based on the conclusion about two sizes of public cohesion, dimension of sociable cohesion will include measures related to:\n\nConcerning the first dimension - measurement measurements for the many aspects can be derived for practically all domains. Regional disparities are taken into account for example with respect to access to move, leisure and social facilitites, educational and healthcare institutions, employment opportunities or the talk about of the environment. Issues of equivalent opportunities/inequalities could be looked at therough political contribution and occupations, technology of inequalities in sociable relationships or unemployment risks; inequalities between handicapped and non-disabled people in usage of public transport or educational organizations; etc. The aspect of cultural exclusion can be operationalised in many domains, too. Manifestatios of public exclusion are ususally measured such as homelessness, cultural isolation, long-term unemployment, poverty or too little social coverage.\n\nConcerning second goal aspect of interpersonal cohesion that is certainly strenghtening the public capital of an society, most of the aspects of this dimension make reference to the life domain of communal and political participation and integration\". This site covers all basic issues of sociable relations and proposal outside the own household community including the availability of family members and friends, regularity of connections and support within those personal sites, regular membership in organisations, engagement in the general public realm such as volunteering and political activities. The quality of societal organizations is an element of sociable capital which pertains to several life domains since, for example, organizations of education, health care, communal security or the legal system.\n\n7. Possible modern day threats to social cohesion You'll find so many possible demographic, socio-economic and political trends and techniques which have been associated with a general deterioration of interpersonal cohesion throughout the world.\n\nOver the past three generations, globalization by means of processes of structural transformation has impacted greatly, in lots of ways, on people throughout the world. The intensified linkage of local cultural conditions with activities and decisions within world financial, item and labor markets is increasingly noticeable and in many places it's results are devastating.\n\nPerhaps the most fundamental feature of structural transformation in industrial countries has been reducing the show of industry in the formation of GDP and therefore the massive decline in manufacturing employment. We have been witnesses to the large relocation of capital, careers and manufacturing to areas of the globe where labor is cheaper. Instead of a relatively stable work conditions, seen as a institutionalized wage agreements and strong trade unions, inside labor market segments within large companies, and secure, tenured and full-time work; new socio-economic habits emerge:\n\nMore plus more, opportunities for work and flows of income became changing and unpredictable and steady conditions characterizing work are replaced by growing insecurity. These kinds of changes add to an evergrowing polarization not only between utilized and unemployed, but between secure, very skilled, well paid workers and the bigger percentage of insecure, unskilled, low paid staff. In addition to that, the gender sizing is critical to this change, since women are greatly over displayed in the new adaptable yet precarious sectors of casual, part-time and short-contract employment [2, str. 142].\n\nThe rise of neo-liberal political philosophy has influenced lots of the processes of political restructuring over the past two decades. An integral aspect of the neo-liberal vision of modern culture is bringing the market process, along with notions of self-responsibility and individualism, to nearly every sphere of politics, economics and modern culture. Aspects of political change that have subsequently emerged, and impacted drastically on cultural cohesion, include:\n\nSuch guidelines and processes which have brought about \"the new inequality\"' is seen as fuelling a process of \"inequalisation\". The consequences for public cohesion, however identified, are devastating. \"'Such a divergence of the life span likelihood of large interpersonal groups\", Dahrendorf observes, \"is incompatible with civil culture\" [4, str. 38]. One of the most socially stigmatised, spatially segregated and economically disadvantaged also become the most politically excluded.\n\nThe combined causes of financial and politics restructuring, combined with the new communal fissions created in their wake, have also threatened a key socio-psychological source of social cohesion, the idea of \"the nation\". The changes associated with globalization (here regarded as processes involving the intensified linkage and increased scope, scale and quickness of world-wide economical activity) are now so pervasive that national governments arguably no longer hold the keys with their own nationwide larders. The flow and control of a variety of forms of investment, currency trading, commodity markets, and labor pools are increasingly determined by agents and causes above and beyond the reins of nation-state coverage. For the nation-state, prerogatives and margins for maneuvers in economical coverage are greatly reduced.\n\n\nSocial cohesion presents a concept which targets societal qualities including the degree of inequality or the strength of social relationships and ties inside a society. Within the terms defined above, it is both a means and an end. As a finish, it is an object of general population coverage, to the amount that policies attempt to ensure that all members of contemporary society feel themselves to be an active part than it, as both contributors to and beneficiaries of improvement. In an age of profound, immediate changes caused by globalization and the new paradigm of the info society, recreating and making sure a sense of belonging and inclusion can be an end in itself. Sociable cohesion is also a way, however, in more ways than one. Societies that boast higher levels of social cohesion provide an improved institutional construction for economic expansion and appeal to investment by offering a world of trust and plainly defined rules. Additionally, long-term policies that seek to level the learning field need a social deal to lend them push and stamina, and such a contract will need to have the support of an array of actors prepared to discuss and reach extensive agreements. To carry out so, they need to feel themselves to be a area of the whole, plus they must be ready to sacrifice personal interests for the nice of the community. The formation of the interpersonal covenants had a need to support pro-equity and pro-inclusion insurance policies is facilitated by a larger willingness to aid democracy, become involved in issues of general public interest, participate in deliberative processes and trust organizations, and a more powerful sense of belonging to a community and solidarity with excluded and susceptible groups.\n\nIn this paper we have established two goal dimensios inherent in the concept of public cohesion: 1) the reduction of disprarities, inequalities and social exclusion and 2) the strenthtening of communal relations, interacions and ties. Concerning the first aspect of public cohesion, examples of measurement sizes within various life domains are local disparities of the condition of environment, similar opportunities of women and men in occupation, inequalitites between public strate in the point out of health, sociable exclusion from materials goods measured by income poverty. As far as second dimension can be involved, it comprises all aspects which alongside one another constitute the social capital of any society. This consists of the social relations offered by the informal degree of private networks and a lot more formal level of organisations, the actions and engagement within private systems as well as within general population realms, the grade of social relations and the quality of societal instiutitons. The quality of societal institutions represents a\n\ncomponent of sociable capital which pertains to several life domains. Companies of education, health care, working life, communal security, sociable services, the political system and legal system. The identified quality of these institutitons are assessed by the amount of trust, satisfaction with or authorization of corporations.\n\nThe combined causes of monetary and politics restructuring, combined with the new cultural fissions created in their wake, threaten to deteriorate a key sources of cultural cohesion in modern-day societies. It is therefore unsurprising that idea of social cohesion obtains great attention by interpersonal experts as well as by politicians and slowly but surely establish itself as one of the central societal goals at the nationwide and the supranational level.\n\nMore than 7 000 students trust us to do their work\n90% of customers place more than 5 orders with us\nSpecial price $5 /page\nCheck the price\nfor your assignment", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9901422262191772}
+{"content": "Campus Catalyst Awards\n\nRecognizing those whose contributions deepen our culture of sustainability\n\nIndiana University has made significant strides in campus sustainability because of the innovation and hard work of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community members. Sustain IU wishes to recognize these outstanding efforts to ensure a lasting positive impact by promoting sustainable solutions that reduce environmental impacts while supporting an equitable and prosperous IU with the annual Campus Catalyst Awards.\n\nSince 2016 the annual Campus Catalyst Awards have recognized individuals, departments, and offices that have made a significant difference in the classroom, on campus, and within the community; to exemplify IU’s continuing efforts to become a sustainable institution and set an example for environmental stewardship and responsibility.\n\nDo you know someone that strives to create a more sustainable IU?\n\nNow is your chance to recognize their contributions by nominating them for a Campus Catalyst Awards. These awards celebrate remarkable accomplishments of IU sustainability catalysts and thank them for their leadership, innovation, and positive impact as the campus community works together to sustain IU.\n\nSustain IU is seeking nominations for the following categories:\n\nCampus Catalyst Award recipients will be honored during the Sustain IU Campus Sustainability Symposium.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9993981122970581}
+{"content": "Norse $549 & Patchwork $549\n\nContact Info:           \n[email protected]\n\nQuestions answered by Oz Owner Adam Browning\n\nAdam Browning\n\nWhat are the biggest forces shaping the changes and developments you've made to your boards?\nWe use aerospace grade triaxial carbon fiber in lieu of fiberglass to lighten up our boards, we incorporate honeycomb Kevlar for vibration absorption and lighten up the board.\n\nCamber between the bindings with an early rise rockered tip and tail is 1 of our 2 designs.\n\nAre you cooking up any new materials or construction techniques?\nAlways but we can't tell what we have cooking!\n\nWhat themes are you seeing for graphics?\nThink 1980's!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000098943710327}
+{"content": "Latest Treatment of Gout\n\nGout Eraser\n\n\nGout Eraser Summary\n\n\n4.7 stars out of 14 votes\n\nContents: Ebook\nAuthor: Robert Miller\nOfficial Website:\nPrice: $37.00\n\nAccess Now\n\nMy Gout Eraser Review\n\nHighly Recommended\n\n\n\nGout and You\n\n\nGout and You Summary\n\nContents: Ebook\nAuthor: Spiro Koulouris\nOfficial Website:\nPrice: $22.00\n\nGoutand Drugs\n\nGout affects about 0.25 of the population of Europe and North America. Drugs are effective in management and some drugs can precipitate attacks. Patients with gout but no visible tophi have a urate pool that is 2-3 times normal and since this exceeds the amount that can be carried in solution in the extracellular fluid, microcrystalline deposits forming tissues including the joints patients with tophi have a urate pool that may be 15-26 times normal. Hyperuricaemia and gout from whatever cause (e.g. metabolic, renal disease, neoplasia) depends essentially on two processes, (1) overproduction and (2) underexcretion of urate. Both mechanisms may operate in the same patient but decreased renal clearance contributes to hyperuricaemia in most patients with gout. Drugs may influence these processes as follows Underexcretion of urate is caused by all diuretics (except spironolactone), aspirin, ethambutol, pyr-azinamide, nicotinic acid, and alcohol (which increases urate synthesis and also...\n\nTreatment Of Gout\n\nAcute gout Acute gout is usually treated with an NSAID in full dose. Any such drug which is tolerated may be used (except aspirin which in low dose promotes urate retention, see below) indomethacin is often chosen because of its strong anti-inflammatory action and efficacy. If treatment is started early, the attack may be terminated in a few hours. Colchicine is useful if NSAIDs are contraindicated. If neither colchicine nor NSAIDs are tolerated, oral prednisolone 40 mg d and tapered over a week is also effective. It requires only a moment's thought to appreciate that the uricosurics and allopurinol will not relieve an acute attack of gout. Recurrent gout, tophaceous gout, and gout causing renal damage (gouty nephropathy) Treatment is initiated if the serum urate consistently exceeds 0.6 mmol 1 and the patient has had three or more attacks of acute gout in a year. Allopurinol should be started in a quiescent period because it will prolong an attack of gout if started during one, and...\n\nPrognostic Indicators\n\nIn an attempt to improve on these clinical staging systems, a host of prognostic factors have been studied. In 1982 Rozman et al. (60) showed the prognostic value of the ALC in Rai stage I and II and in Binet stage A and B. Survival is shortened in both clinical stages when the ALC is greater than 50 x 109 cells L. In 1987 Lee et al. (61), using a regression model as well as uric acid and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels, were able to separate risk groups within a given clinical Rai stage, but this approach does not appear to have been widely used (61). In 1987 Mandelli et al. (62) drew attention to the ALC (> 60 x 109 cells L) and the size of a given lymph node and spleen and likewise were able to improve on the present staging systems. It is of interest that they defined their first stage as a benign monoclonal lymphocytosis. Using plastic embedding methods, in 1974 Gray et al. (63) were one of the first groups to investigate bone marrow pattern\n\nHistory of the Energy Value of Foods\n\nRubner measured the heats of combustion of a number of different proteins, fats, and carbohydrates in a bomb calorimeter and also studied the heat of combustion of urine passed by a dog, a man, a boy, and a baby. He realised that the heat of combustion of protein in a bomb calorimeter was greater than its caloric value in the body because the body oxidises proteins only to urea, creatinine, uric acid, and other nitrogenous end-products, all of which can be further oxidised 5 .\n\nCancer Immunoediting\n\n\nVincristine Oncovin Vincasar PFS Side Effects and Contraindications. Vincristine causes severe tissue necrosis upon extravasation (123).Neurotoxicity is a significant potential problem with vincristine and is often treated in part by reducing the dose of the drug (347). Myelosuppression also occurs but to a lesser extent and this effect should be monitored to prevent significant toxicity to the patient. Gout can occur with vincristine administration and can be controlled by use of allopuri-nol. The other side effects of vinblastine are common to antitumor agents (alopecia, ulceration, nausea, diarrhea, etc.).\n\nOther Staging Systems\n\nIn 1987, Lee et al. (15), from the M.D. Anderson Medical Center, identified the following poor prognostic features for CLL (1) age more than 60 yr, (2) serum alkaline phosphatase greater than 80 U dL, (3) serum uric acid greater than 7.0 mg dL, (4) serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) greater than 325 U dL, and (5) presence of external lymphadenopathy. Patients were divided into three categories (a) low risk, LDH less than 325 U dL and the presence of one of the prognostic features mentioned above (b) intermediate risk, LDH less than 325 U dL and two to three poor prognostic features listed above or LDH more than 325 U dL with one poor prognostic feature and (c) high risk, LDH greater than 325 U dL and the presence of two poor prognostic features or all of the aforementioned poor prognostic features. The median survival times were 10, 6, and 2 yr for low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups, respectively.\n\nTest Methodology 85 Total Cholesterol\n\nRemove sample from red cells after blood clots or plasma has been spun down. The peroxidase assay can be susceptible to increases in uric acid, ascorbic acid, bilirubin, hemoglobin, or other reducing substances. Samples should have only the normal amount of these substances present.\n\nSubstrate Depletion Or Product Accumulation\n\nAn assay for uric acid involves the enzyme urate oxidase, which catalyzes the following reaction Uric acid + O2 + 2H2O > Allantoin + H2O2 + CO2 (3.1) While allantoin is difficult to measure spectrophotometrically, uric acid possesses a strong UV absorption with a maximum at 293 nm (molar absorptivity 1.22 x 104 M 1cm 1) Uric acid quantitation thus involves monitoring the\n\nInitial WorkUp and Staging\n\nVerts uric acid into allantoin, which is highly soluble in urine. It is an efficient way of promptly reducing serum uric acid levels, thus preventing uric acid nephropathy and preserving renal function, allowing a better excretion of the other cell metabolites such as potassium and phosphorus. Strict clinical and metabolic monitoring of patients during the lysis phase is essential.\n\nCauses Of Hyponatremia\n\nEuvolemic hyponatremia is most commonly caused by SIADH. Nonphysiologic nonosmotically mediated (therefore inappropriate) secretion can occur in the setting of pulmonary disease, CNS disease, pain, in the postoperative period, or as part of a paraneoplastic syndrome. Because of retention of free water, patients actually have mild (although clinically inap-parent) volume expansion. Additionally, if they have a normal dietary sodium intake, the kidneys do not retain sodium avidly. Therefore, modest natriuresis occurs so that the urine sodium level is elevated to > 20 mmol L. SIADH is a diagnosis of exclusion the patient must be hyposmolar but euvolemic, with urine that is not maximally dilute (osmolality > 150-200 mosm L), urine sodium > 20 mmol L, and normal adrenal and thyroid function. Some laboratory clues to SIADH are low BUN and low uric acid levels. Unless the patient has severe neurologic symptoms, the treatment of SIADH is water restriction.\n\nPhysiological Effects Of Glucocortioids\n\nGlucocorticoids, unlike mineraldocorticoids, restore glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and renal plasma flow to normal following adrenalectomy. They also facilitate free-water excretion (clearance) and uric-acid excretion. Of Glucocorticoids have also been found to have psychoneural effects following chronic hyper- or hypo-cortisol secretion. In these cases patients may initially become euphoric and then psychotic, paranoid, and finally depressed. In addition, cortisol increases gastric flow and gastric secretion, while it decreases gastric mucosal-cell proliferation. The latter two effects can lead to peptic ulceration following chronic cortisol treatment.\n\nHistory Of Measurement In The Laboratory\n\nThe application of biochemical testing for medical testing began about 100 years ago. One of the first clinical chemists, Dr. Otto Folin, developed quantitative analytical methods for urine analytes of urea, ammonia, creatinine, uric acid, electrolytes, and acidity. He also developed early blood tests, including those for ammonia and creatinine, using the Jaffe method. Dr. Folin helped to establish the clinical significance of renal function and metabolic tests and published the first reference ranges for uric acid, nonprotein nitrogen (NPN), and protein in blood. He helped to develop methods for testing glucose and total serum protein in body fluids.\n\nCoupling nitrogen balance and isotope tracers\n\nMeasurements of total nitrogen intake and output can be used to calculate protein nutritional status (Leverton & Gram 1949 Hegsted 1978). This approach is based on principles of chemical mass-balance, and although practical matters concerning collecting total nitrogen waste make this method difficult to implement, measurements of nitrogen balance generally permit a reliable determination of protein homeostasis. Use of the method requires special consideration since urinary nitrogen may occur in the forms of urea and ammonia (derived from amino acid and protein catabolism) and uric acid and creatinine (derived from nonprotein sources), and since nitrogen may be lost in faeces, sweat and other products (Figure 10.1). To facilitate studies, investigators have proposed correction factors that account for the relationship between total urinary nitrogen and urinary urea nitrogen (Mackenzie et al. 1985) and for miscellaneous non-urinary nitrogen losses (Calloway et al. 1971).\n\nAlteration of urine pH\n\nGiven certain physicochemical conditions, crystals can deposit within the tubular lumen. Methotrexate, for example, is relatively insoluble at low pH and can precipitate in the distal nephron when the urine is acid. Similarly the uric acid produced by the metabolism of nucleic acids released during rapid tumour cell lysis can cause a fatal urate nephropathy. This was a particular problem with the introduction of chemotherapy for leukaemias until the introduction of allopurinol it is now routinely given before the start of chemotherapy to block xanthine oxidase so that the much more soluble uric acid precursor, hypoxanthine, is excreted instead. Crystal-nephropathy is also a\n\nPharmacological Evaluation of Diuretics\n\nThe chimpanzee (25) has also been used to evaluate certain diuretics. In this animal, the effect of the compound on uric acid excretion can also be studied, because apes, like humans, are devoid of hepatic uricase and therefore maintain a relatively high level of circulating serum urate (26). Chimpanzees have also been used in the study of uricosuric agents (25), but tests with such large animals obviously present numerous problems. Attempts have also been made to block the enzyme uricase in rats by administering potassium oxonate and thus to obtain higher serum uric acid levels (27).\n\nSuperoxide Sensor Based on a Cytochrome c Electrode\n\nCalibration of the cytochrome c electrode is not trivial since the radical is a short-lived species. Investigations of the biocatalytic generation of superoxide by the xanthine oxidase catalyzed conversion of hypoxanthine to uric acid showed that a steady state situation can be achieved in solution 53 . The continuous generation of the radical is counterbalanced by the spontaneous dismutation. This situation continues until the substrate of the generation reaction (hypoxanthine) will be consumed. The steady state radical concentration in solution corresponds to a steady state oxidation current detected at the electrode. A kinetic analysis showed that this sensor current can be linearly correlated to the square root\n\nXanthosine Monophosphate\n\nAmp Deaminase Uric Acid\n\nFigure 22.7 Catabolism of purine nucleotides to uric acid. Figure 22.7 Catabolism of purine nucleotides to uric acid. Figure 22.7 shows pathways of purine catabolism leading to uric acid. As seen in the figure, AMP and GMP can both be hydrolyzed from their phosphates by nucleotidase, ultimately yielding the bases hypoxanthine and xanthine, respectively. Hypoxanthine is converted to xanthine by xanthine oxidase and xanthine is converted to uric acid, also by xanthine oxidase. In addition, AMP can be degraded first in a deamination to form IMP, which loses its phosphate to become inosine. Inosine, in turn, is converted to hypOxanthine. Uric acid, the end point of purine degradation in primates, is excreted. Most other animals, however, oxidize uric acid to allantoin, hydrolyze allantoin to allantoic acid and subsequently convert allantoic acid to urea or other possible excretion products, depending on the animal (Figure 22.8). See also Excessive Uric Acid in Purine Degradation,...\n\nInternet Link Mismatch Repair\n\nSee also The Importance of PRPP, De Novo Biosynthesis of Purine Nucleotides, Excessive Uric Acid in Purine Degradation, De Novo Pyrimidine Nucleotide Metabolism, Nucleotide Salvage Synthesis, Deoxyribonucleotide Biosynthesis, Biosynthesis of Thymine Deoxyribonucleotides, Salvage Routes to Deoxyribonucleotide Synthesis\n\nSee also Reactive Oxygen Oxygen Metabolism and Human Disease Superoxide Dismutase Catalase Glutathione Peroxidase\n\nLarge scale production of reactive oxygen species has the potential to inflict considerable damage on the tissues in which they are produced, a situation called oxidative stress. Antioxidant compounds, such as glutathione, vitamin C and vitamin E, and uric acid provide non-enzymatic protection against oxidative stress because they can scavenge ROS before the ROS can cause damage. Alternatively, antioxidant compounds can prevent oxidative damage from spreading, such as the chain reaction of lipid peroxidation. Vitamin E is the principal lipid-soluble antioxidant compound and plays an important role in preventing membrane damage. .' -Carotene and other carotenoid compounds related to vitamin A are lipid-soluble antioxidants that also play roles in free radical trapping. Glutathione plays an important role in cellular antioxidant protection. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is present in far higher amounts in cellular fluids and probably plays the predominant role in extracellular antioxidant...\n\nImportance of the Urine pH to Avoid Kidney Stone Formation\n\nAnd Uric Acid\n\nThe safest urine pH to avoid kidney stones is close to 6. Be I ow this value, uric acid stones are most likely to form. Ca-phosphate stones precipitate in alkaline urine. By driving NH4+ excretion with a high distal H+ secretion, a considerable quantity of H+ can be elimi nated at a urine pH close to 6.0. By excreting organic anions rather than HCO3, a considerable quantity of HCO3-can also be eliminated at a urine pH close to 6.0 (see Figure 2). Avoiding uric acid kidney stones Uric acid is the waste product of purine meiabo-lism 47 . The free acid form, uric acid, rather than total urates is the critical component for kidney stone formation because uric acid is sparingly soluble in water (Equation 4). Because the pK of uric acid in the urine at 3 7 C is close to 5.3 47 , precipitation of uric acid can be avoided without increasing the urine volume by raising the urine pH to 6 at the same to tal urate excretion rate 48 . Urate + H+ o Uric acid (pK...\n\nAlphaglucosidase inhibitor blocks hydrolysis of an\n\nOr malignant nephritis - inflammation of the kidney nephrolithiasis - presence of calculi in the urinary tract urate nephrolithiasis indicates the presence of uric acid in the stone nephrotoxicity - damage to the kidneys neurohypophysis - the posterior or back portion of nitrogen ingested and that excreted noncompetitive immunoassay - immunoassay that does not contain reagent antigen competing with patient antigen nonprotein nitrogen - catabolites of protein and nucleic acid metabolism, including urea, ammonia, creatinine, creatine, and uric acid\n\nRitical Developments In Biochemistry\n\nMicrotubules in eukaryotic cells are important for the maintenance and modulation of cell shape and the disposition of intracellular elements during the growth cycle and mitosis. It may thus come as no surprise that the inhibition of microtubule polymerization can block many normal cellular processes. The alkaloid colchicine (see figure), a constituent of the swollen, underground stems of the autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale) and meadow saffron, inhibits the polymerization of tubulin into microtubules. This effect blocks the mitotic cycle of plants and animals. Colchicine also inhibits cell motility and intracellular transport of vesicles and organelles (which in turn blocks secretory processes of cells). Colchicine has been used for hundreds of years to alleviate some of the acute pain of gout and rheumatism. In gout, white cell lyso-somes surround and engulf small crystals of uric acid. The subsequent rupture of the lysosomes and the attendant lysis of the white cells initiate an...\n\nGeneration of altered oxidized bases in DNA such as 8oxoguanine or 5hydroxyuracil and thymine\n\nThe role of peroxynitrite in the nerve degeneration causing multiple sclerosis (MS) has been brought into focus with the observation that patients with gout hardly ever develop MS, suggesting that the chronic uric acid elevation causing gout also prevents the development of MS.\n\nDrugs used in hypertension and angina\n\nVasoconstrictors, principally noradrenaline. While this hyposensitivity may be a consequence of the sodium depletion, thiazides are generally more effective antihypertensive agents than loop diuretics, despite causing less salt loss, and evidence suggests an independent action of thiazides on an unidentified ion-channel on vascular smooth muscle cell membranes. Maximum effect on blood pressure is delayed for several weeks and other drugs are best added after this time. Adverse metabolic effects of thiazides on serum potassium, blood lipids, glucose tolerance, and uric acid metabolism led to suggestions that they should be replaced by newer agents not having these effects. It is, however, now recognised that unnecessarily high doses of thiazides have been used in the past and that with low doses, e.g. bendro-fluazide (bendroflumethiazide) 1.25-2.5 mg d or less (or hydrochlorothiazide 12.5-25 mg), thiazides are both effective and well-tolerated. Moreover, they are not only by far the...\n\nTreating Hypertension\n\n\nAntituberculosis Drugs\n\nAdverse effects include hyperuricaemia and arthralgia, which is relatively frequent with daily but less so with intermittent dosing and, unlike gout, affects both large and small joints. Pyrazinoic acid, the principal metabolite of pyrazinamide, inhibits renal tubular secretion of urate. Symptomatic treatment with an NSAID is usually sufficient and it is rarely necessary to discontinue pyrazinamide because of arthralgia. Hepatitis, which was particularly associated with high doses, is not a problem with modern short-course schedules. Sideroblastic anaemia and urticaria also occur.\n\nAnalysis Of Urinary Drugs And Metabolytes By Ce With Optical Detection\n\nDtectors Capillary Electrophoresis\n\nPolarization immunoassay (FPIA), the serum of the same patient was found to contain 3.0 mM salicylate, a value that is above the recommended therapeutic range of 1.1-2.2 mM. After direct urine injection (Fig. 1A), MECC revealed an overloaded, completely unresolved electropherogram in which the presence of salicylate was difficult to identify. However, after 10-fold dilution (Fig. 1B,C), clear separation of salicylate and two of its metabolites, gentisic acid and salicyluric acid, were obtained. In addition, an endogenous marker substance, uric acid, could also be identified. For all four compounds, there was excellent agreement of the normalized absorbance spectra with those of pure compounds (Fig. 1D-G) allowing identification as well as purity assessment of these zones. Comparison of panels A and B also reveals the impact of the sample matrix, showing that detection time by itself is not adequate for analyte identification. However, in conjunction with multiwavelength detection it...\n\nAgnogenic Myeloid Metaplasia Ammmyelofibrosis With Myeloid Metaplasia\n\nOf the patients are asymptomatic and seek medical attention solely because an enlarged spleen is found on routine physical examination, or because of an abnormal peripheral blood smear. Those patients who become symptomatic suffer from fatigue, symptoms related to an enlarged spleen, gout due to elevated uric acid levels, and constitutional symptoms such as weight loss, night sweats, fatigue, and peripheral edema. The latter represent advanced symptoms. Pressure of a large spleen on the stomach may lead to delayed gastric emptying and early satiety.21 Myeloid metaplasia may occur in unusual sites, such as the pulmonary, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems. Although extramedullary hematopoiesis occurs frequently in the lymph nodes, it rarely accounts for significant nodal enlargement.\n\nGhb With Synthetic Glycogen For Cancerous Cells\n\nIn menstrual cycle, 439, 439f, 440, 441f source of, 389t Gonads, 438. See also Ovary Testis Gout, 229 anion gap, 222-223, 223f BUN-to-creatinine ratio, 212, 212t creatinine clearance, 203-205 electrolyte analysis, 220-224, 223f fractional excretion of sodium, 214 hemolysis effects on, 219-220 osmolality, 228 urea, 211-212, 212t uric acid, 229-230 urinary albumin, 210-211 urinary protein, 210 Kinetic spectrophotometry, 106t, 107-109 Kinetics, of enzymes, 23-25, 24f in drug metabolism, 507-508 in spectrophotometry, 23-25, 24f Km (Michaelis constant), 24, 24f\n\nCarbon Nanotube Biosensors\n\nUric acid, and ascorbic acid were minimized. Similarly, Luong et al. 95 have used 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) as both a solubilizing agent for carbon nanotubes and an immobilization matrix for GOx to construct a mediatorless, highly efficient glucose sensor. In this study, a well-defined redox response from glucose was observed at -0.45 V (vi. Ag AgCl) whereas no response was seen for three common interfering species, namely uric acid, ascorbic acid, and acetaminophen, at a concentration corresponding to the physiological level of 0.1 mM.\n\nNephrolithiasis Kidney Stones\n\nNephrolithiasis is a disorder in which small stones - usually formed from calcium and oxalate - precipitate in the kidney. If they pass into the ureter they cause irritation, spasm, and may block the flow of urine. The pain of a kidney stone is intense it typically starts suddenly in the lower back and radiates down and around toward the groin. In general, the more calcium and oxalate in the urine, the greater the chances of developing kidney stones. Uric acid in the urine can be the seed around which calcium oxalate stones develop. The risk of kidney stones can be strongly influenced by dietary factors.5\n\nClinical Aspects of Diuretics\n\nDiuretic therapy may lead to a number of metabolic and electrolyte disorders. In general, these disturbances are mild but can be life-threatening in certain cases. Some of the common adverse effects observed with diuretic treatment are hypokalemia, hyperuri-cemia, and glucose intolerance. Diuretics that possess a site of action proximal to the collecting tubules, such as the loop and thiazide diuretics, induce potassium loss an average loss cf 0.5-0.7 meq L generally results with long-term therapy (30). In most young hypertensive patients, this reduction does not present any problem however, in older patients or patients with preexisting heart disease, it may lead to the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias. Combinations with potassium-sparing diuretics are frequently used to minimize the effect. Dietary potassium supplements may also be prescribed. In patients receiving long-term diuretic therapy, serum uric acid concentrations increase on average 1.3 mg L as the result of a...\n\nEffects Of Cyanide On Neural Tissue\n\nOr NMDA receptors has three main actions. First, activation of lipases in the cell membrane increases arachidonic acid release, which leads to increases in reactive oxygen species. Calcium then activates nitric oxide synthase to increase nitric oxide levels. Finally, calcium activates proteases, lipases, and endonucleases that can damage structural and functional elements in neuronal cells. Reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide also can form peroxynitrite by reacting with superoxide. Peroxynitrite is a powerful oxidant which has many and varied effects in neurons and other cell types, including depletion of cell thiol groups, lipid peroxidation, mobilization of cell calcium, impaired mitochondrial function correlated with muscular contractile failure in rat diaphragms, and modification of synaptic proteins.52-57 Uric acid is a peroxynitrite scavenger and protects cells against this powerful oxidant. In granule cells of the cerebellum, uric acid protects against CN-induced apoptotic...\n\nClinical Workup\n\nPanel, uric acid, LDH, prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen, and chest X-ray (with posterior anterior and lateral views). HLA typing (serology) should also be performed in case a patient becomes alloimmunized to random donor platelet transfusions and requires HLA-matched platelets during his or her treatment course. HLA typing at the DNA level should be performed on any patient who may be a stem cell transplant candidate in the future. It is best for HLA typing to be done prior to the initiation of chemotherapy, when more cells are present. A multiple gated acquisition scan should be done to assess cardiac function, as induction chemotherapy regimens for AML include an anthracycline. In addition, an indwelling venous catheter (i.e., Hickman catheter) should be placed for blood draws, blood product transfusions, fluid management, and antibiotic administration.2 A lumbar puncture is not a routine part of the work-up unless there is clinical suspicion for CNS...\n\nPhysiological Values\n\nFor carbohydrates and fats, the final metabolic oxidation products are the same as those found in physical oxidation (CO2 + H2O), while for proteins the metabolic products that are eliminated in the urine (urea, creatinine, uric acid, and other nitrogenous compounds) still contain energy.\n\n\nWith many drugs there are differences in pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics according to whether their use is in a single dose or over a brief period (acute pharmacology) or long term (chronic pharmacology). The proportion of the population taking drugs continuously for large portions of their lives increases as tolerable suppressive and prophylactic remedies for chronic or recurrent conditions are developed e.g. for arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, mental diseases, epilepsies, gout, collagen diseases, thrombosis, allergies and various infections. In some cases long-term treatment introduces significant hazard into patients' lives and the cure can be worse than the disease if it is not skilfully managed. In general the dangers of a drug are not markedly increased if therapy lasts years rather than months exceptions include renal damage due to analgesic mixtures, and carcinogenicity.\n\nCase Scenario\n\nHis complete blood count (CBC) was normal the blood uric acid concentration was abnormally high. His urine specimen was very dark yellow with a high specific gravity of 1.034, pH of 5.0, and the presence of blood. The microscopic examination of the urine showed a moderate amount of red blood cells and a few white blood cells. Moderate levels of crystals were seen in the urine. The technologist checked the LIS. The patient had been diagnosed with urate nephrolithiasis in the past. The technologist knew that most renal calculi are calcium oxalate, calcium phosphate, uric acid, cystine, or a mixture of these substances.24\n\nHemolytic Anemia\n\nSeveral strategies have been developed to deal with hemolytic anemia. The most important is monitoring the Hb at wk 2 and 4, and monthly, while patients are on treatment. Because the hemolysis is dose-dependent, reduction of ribavirin dose is advisable when the Hb falls below 10 gm dL. Patients on 1200 mg of ribavirin should reduce to 800 mg, and those on 1000 mg should reduce to 600 mg d. The authors advise against attempting to increase the ribavirin dose after reduction, and there is evidence to suggest that the efficacy of ribavirin is still maintained with the reduced dose. If the Hb falls below 8.5 gm dL, the authors recommend stopping ribavirin completely. In certain situations, such as in patients with HIV co-infection and cirrhosis, when continuation of therapy may be warranted, erythropoetin, 40,000 U wk, can be used to maintain the Hb above 10 gm dL, and should be started once the Hb falls below 10 gm dL. The hemolytic effect of ribavirin can also be attenuated by the use...\n\n\nXanthine oxidase can oxidize xanthine further to uric acid, as well (Figure 22.7) Allopurinol, which is similar to hypoxanthine (see here), is used to treat gout because it inhibits xanthine oxidase, leading to accumulation of hypoxanthine and xanthine, both of which are more soluble and more readily excreted than uric acid (the causative agent of gout). See also Purine Degradation, Excessive Uric Acid in Purine Degradation Allopurinol is a drug that is used to treat gout. It is similar to hypoxanthine (see here) and inhibits xanthine oxidase, leading to accumulation of hypoxanthine and xanthine, both of which are more soluble and more readily excreted than uric acid, the compound responsible for causing gout. See also Excessive Uric Acid in Purine Degradation\n\n\nThe lignan podophyllotoxin (27) is an ancient folk remedy (classically used for treatment of gout) found in the May apple, Podophyllum peltatum (265,266).Interestingly podophyllotoxin binds to tubulin at a site distinct from that occupied by taxol and the vinca bases, although its molecular mode of action does not involve this in any obvious way, and modern clinical interest lies in its isomers instead. The isopodophyllotoxins are semisynthetic analogs resulting from acid-catalyzed reaction with suitably protected sugars followed by additional transformations. This results in attachment of the sugars to the ring system, with opposite stereochemistry to podophyllotoxin itself. Etoposide\n\n\nAntioxidants provide protection against oxidative damage from reactive oxygen species, such as superoxides, hydroxyl radicals, hydrogen peroxide (see here). Biological compounds that provide such protection include substances, such as vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin E, uric acid, glutathione and enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase. Many antioxidants act by scavenging reactive oxygen molecules or by chemically reducing oxidized compounds.\n\n\nThe product of the kidneys is urine, a watery solution of waste products, salts, organic compounds, and two important nitrogen compounds uric acid and urea. Uric acid results from nucleic acid decomposition, and urea results from amino acid breakdown in the liver. Both of these nitrogen products can be poisonous to the body and must be removed in the urine.\n\n\nThe fluid moving from the distal tubules into the collecting duct contains materials not needed by the body. This fluid is referred to as urine. Urea, uric acid, salts, and other metabolic waste products are the main components of urine. The urine flows through the ureters toward the urinary bladder. When the bladder is full, the urine flows through the urethra to the exterior.\n\nAbdominal aneurysm\n\nSeveral published studies (Ma et al., 1997 Moreira et al., 1997 Wolthuis et al., 1999) have examined the effects of HBOC-201 on routine clinical laboratory tests however, since instruments and methodologies change as techniques are developed and advancements are made, these data should be verified with current instrumentation. Wolthuis et al. (1999) found that HBOC-201 did not interfere with routine hemocytometry, hemostasis analysis or detection of RBC agglutination. HBOC-201 was found to affect direct bilirubin, creatine kinase MB-fraction, creatine kinase, gamma-glutamyl transferase, magnesium and uric acid analysis. A second study examined the concentration dependence of HBOC-201 interference on 22 chemistry tests performed with Ektachem Vitros and Hitachi analyzers (Moreira et al., 1997). Assays that were not color-dependent (sodium, potassium, chloride) were not affected by the presence of HBOC-201 in the specimens. Measurement of aspartate aminotransferase, calcium, urea...\n\n\nAutonomic Instability\n\nIncreased potassium excretion and the elevation of plasma uric acid levels, as was observed with the thiazides, are also seen with the loop diuretics. These diuretics also increase calcium and magnesium excretion. The calciuric action of these agents has led to their use in symptomatic hypercalcemia (301).Many of the hypersensitivity and metabolic disorders seen with the thiazides are also seen with loop diuretics. The development cf transient or permanent deafness is a serious but rare complication observed with this class of agents. It is believed to arise from the changes in electrolyte composition of the endolymph (302). It usually occurs when blood levels of these drugs are very high.\n\nProperties and Uses\n\nHysteria, rheumatism, gangrene and gout. It has also been employed as an antidote to strychnia, but with doubtful results. It is regarded as a medicine in impotence (Dymock et al, 1890). The Hindus consider camphor to be aphrodisiacal, but the Muhammadans hold a contrary opinion both regard it as a valuable application to the eyelids in inflammatory conditions of the eye (Watt, 1885 Morton, 1977).\n\nTumor Lysis\n\nTumor lysis syndrome is usually seen 1-5 days after the initiation of chemotherapy in patients with AML and high circulating blast counts.25 In response to chemotherapy, leukemic cells lyse, leading to hyper-phosphatemia, hyperkalemia (or hypokalemia), hypo-calcemia, an elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and hyperuricemia. Hyperuricemia results from breakdown of nucleotide precursors in leukemic cells to hypoxanthine and xanthine, and subsequent conversion to uric acid.25 Renal failure can occur secondary to precipitation of calcium phosphate crystals or uric acid in the renal tubules.25-28 Patients at risk for tumor lysis should be aggressively hydrated and started on allop-urinol. Allopurinol, an inhibitor of xanthine oxidase, decreases the production of uric acid.25 Rasburicase, a novel recombinant form of urate oxidase, converts uric acid to allantoin.25 Allantoin is five to ten times more soluble than uric acid, thus allowing for more rapid urinary excretion.25 29 Rasburicase...\n\nComputed Tomography\n\nObstructive uropathy Ultrasonography is the technique of choice for initial evaluation of suspected obstructive uropathy. In addition to detection of hydronephrosis in a nonen-hanced study, CT can define the anatomic site, degree, and cause of obstruction with nonen-hancing imaging. Retroperitoneal fibrosis is suspected by increased attenuation within fat tissue that suggests encasement of the ureters. A dilated ureter is identified as a column of water surrounded by a thin tube. Extrinsic masses compressing the ureters, intraluminal masses, or stones may also be visualized. Regardless of composition, calculi have high attenuation rates (600 HU for calcium and 180 - 500 for uric acid) when compared to tissue (30 - 60 HU). Therefore, all uric acid and\n\nOfficial Download Page Gout Eraser\n\nYou can safely download your risk free copy of Gout Eraser from the special discount link below.\n\nDownload Now", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.729326605796814}
+{"content": "The rise and fall of coins and tokens in a similar pattern is quite common in the digital currency world. So when Bitcoin, which is one of the largest cryptocurrency, goes up the charts, the tokens and other digitized currencies are likely to increase in their values. Therefore, when we see the decline in BTC prices, the other such currencies drops as well.\n\nThis year has not been well with even the major cryptocurrencies and mostly reported downfall with the price going lowest of all time. With this fall in the digital market, the above discusses the increase, and decrease pattern sustains.\n\nHowever, according to some interesting figures reported by, it indicates a newer phenomenon in the present situation. Altcoins and Ethereum have equally suffered the pit with Bitcoin fall. But somehow the prices of Altcoins are falling faster and suffering significant loss as compared to the major currency of the market.\n\nReports suggest that Bitcoin is responsible for commanding more than 50 percent of total cryptocurrency market capital during recent weeks. Several factors are leading to this turning page of the crypto world, which was the delay by SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) for approving the cryptocurrency ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) at least until September.\n\nThe delay announcement took place earlier this month and brought issues for all the digital currencies. The more surprising thing was the unexpected long-term effects that this news had with Altcoins and Ethereum.\n\nFollowing the announcement, many investors sold off their digital currencies which resulted into over-selling of the assets. But even then Bitcoin was able to stand at its value a little better than other coins. However, the worst of all was for Ethereum which fell to the lowest price of the year by going below $300.\n\nThe volatility of Bitcoin as compared to other cryptocurrencies is because the investors can see Bitcoin as a most stable token currently. Analysts will bring forth the point of BTC reaching low levels it has ever experienced. But it is comparatively more stable than other currencies in the market, and that remains the fact.\n\nIt has brought forth confused investors who are not too sure about staying in the minor currencies and are expected to transfer their investments from minor and lowering currencies such as altcoins to a more stable and established bitcoin. It is reasonable right now and should do so while there is still a bear on the market.\n\nApart from investors and charts of crypto, another important deciding factor of bitcoin stability is the geopolitical concerns, according to the reports. Turkey is experiencing economic struggles and civil unrest which has invited some investors into the cryptocurrency world.\n\nAccording to the reports, there are a large proportion of assets and investments are heading straight towards bitcoin. Lira, Turkish currency, has also fallen significantly which as a result bring more people from Turkey to turn towards BTC. It is under the grounds of finding a stable economic value for their investments as compared to their tumbling local currency.\n\nThe Turkey situation gives us an insight to the future as to what might happen with local financial crisis and bitcoin. The true test, according to market analysts, will be when Bitcoin has to suffer through a major financial meltdown. Would there be more investors? Will BTC still be the dominating currency or will they invest in other options? Or the crypto world collapse altogether?\n\nWhatever the answer might be the present year has seen both, the good and bad for bitcoin as well as other currencies for that matter. Even though it remains the dominating cryptocurrency as of now, it surely suffered from severe losses in recent months as compared to its position at the start of this year.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9531669020652771}
+{"content": "Get To Understand The Importance Of Art\n\nGet To Understand The Importance Of Art\n\nThe term art can be used to imply so many forms of work or practices many of which may not be related in any way. A very common type of art refers to a skill whereby people express their desires or feelings through drawings and paintings. The paintings are normally a way through which they use to pass a message.\n\nA majority of these works were in ancient times reserved for a particular group or people from a certain tribe or location. Parents especially fathers had great influence on their sons and this led to inheritance of a skill from father to son. This was basically the only form of education that was available at that time.\n\nThe very best performers in the various forms are known to have had a passion from an early childhood. Their passion, commitment as well as support from family and friends have greatly contributed to their success. Music is one form that has greatly contributed to the entertainment industry and a majority of good artists started at an early age.\n\nPeople with the ability to sing are normally noticed at a tender age through the various events they participate such as singing in church. The various education systems have also helped by adding events in their curriculum such as music festivals whereby students from different institutions compete with each other. This has greatly helped those with talent get exposed as well as get lucky to meet music producers and other experts in the field who help them do better.\n\nThose in the various forms of art have common characteristics such as creativity and innovative ability. These traits have enabled them standout and furthermore raised the standards to a level whereby only the best get the most in terms of audience which also results to earning more from functions. Producers and other promoters also gain from good fame of artists and so they also thrive to make sure they succeed by doing their best.\n\nTechnology advancement has greatly contributed to improving quality of standards in various ways. Advertisements can now be made on various media platforms such as televisions, radio and even the internet. Through these forms of media, information can easily reach a large number of people within a short span of time to relay upcoming events and other notices of importance. The turn out of fans has been increasing as a result of this.\n\nTechnology has many other forms that have helped in various ways, security has been enhanced through use of cameras and motion detectors that can be installed in places such as galleries where the best pieces are stored and viewed by the general public. This way, theft is minimized on simple items of worth that can even be pocketed. Small unique items made by craftsmen may be simple in looks but require a lot of creativity, resources, devotion and time which in turn dictates the final price.\n\nAs much as the world has advanced, it is evident that there still remains a large portion of art that can only be done by specific people and from a specific location. In regards to this, tourism has expanded rapidly and it has helped boost economies of many countries. The society is always encouraged to help young blessed children build their talents in the various forms of art by providing all support available. The education systems need to be revised from time to time to suit the society at large.\n\nDavid Tatham has been working in the world of fine arts for over many years and . His David Shepherd prints and paintings website contains a wealth of information, also hundreds signed, limited edition prints and original works of art by world renowned wildlife artist David Shepherd .\n\n© Solomon & Whitehead © David Shepherd Signed, limited edition, prints and original paintings, drawings for sale. Cornwater Fine Art specialises in David Shepherd paintings and limited edition prints.\n\n\nStudio open, 7 days a week!\nViewing by appointment", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7932457327842712}
+{"content": "Cure (1997)\n\n\n\n\nGirls in the Dark (2017)\n\nFive members of the Seibu Catholic Girls School literature club join together for an evening of food and storytelling. The theme of this meeting is to be the death of one of their group, Shiraishi Itsumi. We discover that Itsumi was a popular pupil at their school and all of the girls looked up to her. As each girl steps up to tell her story the blame for Itsumi’s death is shifted as they point fingers at one another. Doubt over the cause and motivation for her murder arises and we also discover that Itsumi may not be all she seems.\n\nDirected by Saiji Yakumo, the film is structured as a series of flashbacks branching off from the framing device of the dinner party. This creates a great pace as each story is relatively short and brings up numerous questions about the other members of the group that makes you want to keep watching. As the revelations and recriminations come forward the relationships of the characters change and we are forced to reassess our understanding of each of the characters. It is similar in this regard to the classic film Rashomon, as we see various events retold through different perspectives. There are elements of gothic horror in design and story. The girls club house is illuminated with a chandelier and decorated like an English Victorian house. As they discuss Agatha Christie, mystery and horror genres, these all seem to influence what kind of story the film appears to be. The story begins to drift towards the fantastical in parts. This is partly explained by the unreliable narrators and the idea that they are simply telling stories about what happens, but it somewhat undermines the finale as it appears more like the whole film is simply a tall tale rather than meant to be taken seriously. All the actresses do a fantastic job with their characters and their shifting loyalties. Marie Iitoyo, Yuna Taira, Tina Tamashiro, Riria Kojima, Nana Seino, and Fumika Shimizu all embody the various personalities perfectly and have good chemistry together on screen, shifting from friends to enemies.\n\nGirls in the Dark is an examination of subjectivity. Their recollections increasingly contradict one another or are coloured by their personalities. It is an interesting take on the genre of the unreliable narrator and the audience is always one step behind the girls as they have knowledge that is hidden from us. It examines the idea of how meaning is created, forcing the viewer to constantly reexamine their own biases and critically evaluate what they are being told. When they lack all the facts it is hard to know who to trust, so they are left with the subjective reminiscences, or even outright falsehoods, to establish a sense of reality. I would recommend this film as a great mystery drama with fantastic performances and a unique way of telling its story.\n\nThe Lies She Loved (2018)\n\nAfter a chance encounter at a railway station, Yukari Kawahara (Masami Nagasawa) falls in love with a young doctor Kippei Koide (Issei Takahashi). However, following his sudden collapse and being taken to hospital in a coma, she is informed by the police that both his name and past is false. His place of work also has no record of him. She hires a detective (Daigo) to investigate who this man was whom she has spent several years in a relationship with. When they discover that instead of working he was visiting a cafe and working on writing a book they use this text to uncover the true identity and past of the man.\n\nThe film is directed by Kazuhito Nakae, from a script by Nakae and Nozomi Kondo. The acting is good with humorous moments that do not undercut the genuine emotional scenes. There is a subplot about the detective and his relationship with his ex-wife and daughter that plays well in supporting the themes without distracting too much from the main plot. The enjoyment of the film is conditional in part on how intrigued you are by the central mystery or how satisfied you are by the eventual revelation. This investigation takes up the majority of the film, which leaves less time for the more interesting aspect of Yukari’s reaction to the discovery that he is not who he said he was.\n\nThe central idea of the film, a man who has lied about his entire past to his partner, is fascinating and offers an interesting examination of what someone would do in that situation. Themes of deciet and forgiveness are well presented in both plot and subplot. Throughout Yukari remains convinced that her boyfriend is a good person and seems relatively unaffected by the revelation that he has lied about his past. In contrast the detective’s story, in which he mistrusts his wife after an affair, offers a little more in the way of emotional substance. An entertaining film that could have delved a little deeper into the motivations of the characters.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9761636853218079}
+{"content": "Total: $0.00\nSearch By\n\n\nImagine Dragons\n\nVinyl  |  Pop  |  21 Dec 2018\n\n\nIn Stock - Online\n\nFind In Store\n\nThis product is a member of the following groups/offers:\n\nImagine Dragons\n\n\n\n\n\n\nImagine Dragons Origins Vinyl\n\n\n\n\nOrigins was conceived as a sister album to Evolve, continuing its predecessor’s sonic explorations. “It’s about seeking new ground but also appreciating your root,\" says lead vocalist Dan Reynolds, whose band mates include guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel Platzman. “When we create, we create with no boundaries, no rules. We find it thrilling to make music that feels different and new to us.\"\n\nImagine Dragons joined forces with producers Joel Little (Lorde, Khalid), Mattman & Robin (Selena Gomez, Carly Rae Jepsen), and John Hill (Florence + the Machine) to sculpt the kaleidoscopic and kinetically charged sound of Origins. With the band artfully blending rock, hip-hop, pop, and folk, the album is etched in inventive textures that never distract from an essential element of Imagine Dragons: lyrics that speak to a sometimes-painful self-awareness, but ultimately uplift and inspire.\n\nOrigins will be released 16 months after Imagine Dragons’ previous album Evolve, which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album and included hit singles “Thunder”, “Whatever It Takes” and \"Believer\". \n\nReview of Imagine Dragons - Origins by Thomas Bleach\n\nI’m not sure how Imagine Dragons found the time to write and record a new album in between their last record and their massive world tour, but they have. ‘Origins’ is the Las Vegas bands fourth studio album and sees them stepping towards a even bolder and euphoric sound. This twelve track record hears the four-piece packing together big singalong ready hooks with emotive storylines of hope, love and strength. At times this record is a little predictable as they recycle some of the same lyrical and sonical ideas that really could have been refined. But it also punches in some big and euphoric moments that you will want to have on replay. Fronted by the big singles ‘Natural’, ‘Machine’ and ‘Zero’ they kick of the album with big hooks that are prepared to get the audiences jumping at their energetic and captivating live shows. ‘Bad Liar’, ‘Bullet in A Gun’ and the future single ‘Cool Out’ add in some slick synths and continue this upbeat and feel good sound they have rolling. But it’s moments like ‘Boomerang’, ‘Digital’, ‘Love’ and ‘Stuck’ that hears this sound becoming a little receptive and boring. However there is a bit of experimentation that does occur on the record with ‘Only’ dabbling with a heavier electronic breakdown similar to their KYGO collaboration ‘Born To Be Yours’ and the country tinged ‘West Coast’ which will quickly become a fan favourite. They definitely know what sonically works as they’ve regurgitated some sonical moments that have worked for them over the years on this record. But it’s smart because it allows them to stay on the road and continue to tour and keep the momentum going as they are quickly becoming one of the biggest acts in the world. I just hope they don’t burn out too soon.\nSee more from Thomas on his website\n\nTitle: Origins\n\nFormat: Vinyl\n\nRelease Date: 21 Dec 2018\n\nArtist: Imagine Dragons\n\nSku: 2399876\n\nCatalogue No: 7716795\n\nCategory: Pop", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7307909727096558}
+{"content": "The objectives of the Society are:\n\nTo promote the study of archaeology and antiquities in the County of Surrey within the boundariesexisting in 1854 (being the year in which the Surrey Archaeological Society was founded) and as may be enlarged by any extension of the present Administrative County, by the collection and publication of material and information of archaeological, antiquarian or historical interest concerning the County, including antiquities; buildings; records and manuscripts; cartographic, iconographic and pictorial material; heraldry and genealogy; costume; numismatics; ceramics; ecclesiastical history; charitable foundations; and any other matters or things relating to the pre-history and history of the County.\n\nTo further these objects but not otherwise the Society has the following powers:\n\n  1. To watch for the discovery of antiquities and to endeavour to secure their preservation if desirable and to maintain a careful record of the same and of all the circumstances attending their discovery.\n  2. To carry out excavations, fieldwork and surveys and to encourage those qualified to do so.\n  3. To encourage, where desirable, the preservation of any site, building,monument or record of archaeological, antiquarian or historical interest in the County and to co-operate with public or private bodies or individuals in safe-guarding such sites, buildings, monuments or records.\n  4. To arrange meetings, lectures, exhibitions, and visits to archaeological sites, monuments, antiquities and places of historical interest.\n  5. To collect material for, and compile, histories of places, parishes, buildings and families in or connected with the County, and to publish volumes relating to the history and antiquities of the County entitled Surrey Archaeological Collections and from time to time publish or assist in publishing other volumes, local histories, special articles, papers, drawings, engravings, maps and other printed or pictorial matter.\n  6. To maintain a library and formulate rules for the running thereof.\n  7. To purchase or accept gifts or loans of antiquities, manuscripts, books, drawings, engravings, plans, maps or other articles or to exchange them or dispose thereof.\n  8. To deposit or lend for exhibition any antiquities or specimens acquired by the Society subject to any agreement relating thereto.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7596169710159302}
+{"content": "Apr 13 2018\nThe importance of customer care\n\nWhether you’re selling a product or a service, customer service can either secure you repeat business, or could cause you to lose clients; both existing and potential.\n\n96% of customers who score an organisation highly for customer satisfaction intend to repeat purchase and remain loyal, compared to just 66% of those who rate customer satisfaction slightly lower. A bad experience could therefore lead to a future loss for your business, making customer facing roles incredibly important.\n\nOne of the key elements of customer care is communication, which is a skill that is much more complex than you may initially think! Psychologist Albert Mehrabian researched what communication factors are actually remembered following a person-to-person interaction. He found that:\n\n  • 7-10% of what was recalled was the actual words used\n  • 30-35% was the tone of voice\n  • 50-55% was the body language.\n\nThis means that it isn’t just what you say that matters, it’s how you say it and how you present yourself when saying it! But that’s just the tip of the iceberg; communication is a vital element of customer care, but there’s much more to it than meets the eye. Whilst we’d love to give you all the answers in a blog post, we can’t! So instead here are a few tips to help you get started on the road to amazing customer care.\n\nShow empathy\n\nEmpathy is one of the most important things to establish when dealing with people, both in the person, on the telephone, or online. Establishing empathy will help you connect with the customer and build rapport with them, making it more likely that they will come away from the situation feeling better.\n\nAs they’re speaking, make ‘listening’ sounds and don’t interrupt them. Agree wherever possible, and make sure you use positive language throughout the conversation such as ‘yes’, ‘I agree’, and ‘absolutely’.\n\nBe solutions focussed\n\nOften, people just want to be heard, but when there’s a problem they want it to be sorted and dealt with properly. Instead of saying you’ll get back to them, or you’ll pass it on, make an effort to find a solution. Explain the next steps, offer them options that can resolve the situation, or, if you don’t have the answer straight away, let them know when you’ll be in touch.\n\nGoing around in circles and being transferred from person to person can make the customer experience much worse. What started out as a small problem, for example a damaged parcel, can turn into a real source of frustration and stress for the customer if it doesn’t get sorted as soon as possible.\n\nKnow your telephone system\n\nIt sounds basic, but do you know how to hold a caller, return to a call, and transfer a caller seamlessly? Accidentally cutting off a customer does not reflect well on the business as it looks amateur and unprofessional, callers will want to feel safe and secure in your hands.\n\nSpend some time getting to know all the functions of the company telephone system and get into the habit of using them – your customers will be much happier for it!\n\nIf you’d like to learn more about providing perfect customer care, take a look at our Customer care and telephone skills course here.\n\nCommenting is not available in this channel entry.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9368383884429932}
+{"content": "Don’t you just love it when your favourite band performs in your city?\n\nLast week, thousands of students from DeMontfort University and the University of Leicester were lucky enough to see The 1975 live.\n\nAfter months of being very quiet, the band announced a tour across the country that was aimed at them performing at smaller venues.\n\nThey have recently changed their style of music and wanted their old fans to get one last taste of their old sound. Aw, ain’t that sweet.\n\nThe gig was at DeMontfort Hall in Leicester on the 10th November. And what a night to remember it was!\n\nThe queue to get in was huge, but no one seemed to care about that. “We just want to see Matty”, yelled someone behind me, who before this revealed he was a second year DeMontfort student.\n\nOnce inside the atmosphere became electric. The 1975 had their trademark stage set up – four glowing rectangles in the background to represent each one of them.\n\nAs the lights went down everyone knew what would happen next. It seemed like half an hour, but was probably only five minutes and the boys made their appearance. They leapt onto the stage and instantly started playing their newest single ‘Love me.’\n\nOn the projector behind them, a different video played relating to each song. Just another aspect of their originality.\n\nThe energy continued all the way through the show; you really couldn’t ask for more from them.\n\nThe charisma that they have is incredible.\n\nAt one point they had a fake cigarette as a prop while singing their heart out to a love song. Bet that broke a lot of girls hearts.\n\nThey played many songs off their first album including ‘Chocolate’, ‘Sex’ and ‘Girls.’\n\nEven more enjoyable than that was their less popular songs that only their true fans knew about. From ‘Falling for you’ to ‘You.’ Whether you knew the songs or not it would be very hard not to fall in love with every one they performed.\n\nBefore The 1975 could perform their last songs the fire alarm went off! Yes, that’s right. Apparently the smoke machines were all too much for the hall…\n\nHowever, they all returned and again performed the song they were in the middle of, Matty with his top off and all.\n\nThe 1975 have not given themselves a break and will be touring their new album in March 2016, after the release of their second album in February 2016.\n\nIt’s all happening next year! We can’t wait. Get your tickets now students! We’re afraid there’s no student discount though…\n\n  • Read The Student Pocket Guide.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6912750601768494}
+{"content": "What Is an Aldosterone Test?\n\nWhat to expect before, during, and after this procedure\n\nWoman receiving injection\n\nGetty Images\n\nAldosterone is a hormone that is produced by your adrenal glands, which are small, triangle-shaped glands situated at the top of your kidneys. A primary function of aldosterone is to control your blood pressure.\n\nIt does so by influencing other organs, like the kidneys, colon, and the urinary system, to regulate the amount of sodium and potassium in the bloodstream. When sodium is retained, water increases as well, resulting in a rise in blood volume and blood pressure.\n\nAn aldosterone test measures the amount of the hormone in your blood. Typically, the test is a blood test, but a 24-hour urine collection test can also be done depending on how your doctor wishes to measure your aldosterone levels.\n\nPurpose of an Aldosterone Test\n\nAn aldosterone test may be ordered by your doctor for several reasons, including:\n\n  • to measure the amount of aldosterone that is being secreted by your adrenal glands into your body\n  • to look for the presence of a tumor that may be impacting the function of your adrenal glands\n  • to evaluate the origins of high blood pressure or decreased potassium levels\n  • to assess the severity of low blood when standing, a condition also known as orthostatic hypotension\n\nGenerally, an aldosterone test will be combined with other tests to diagnose conditions that may affect whether your body is over- or under-producing the hormone.\n\nThese other tests may include a renin hormone test or an ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) stimulation test,\n\nRisk and Contraindications\n\nIn most cases, a blood draw is a fairly easy procedure. However, every person’s veins are different, and some veins are more challenging to collect blood from than others. Although the risks associated with blood draws are low, the following are some minor incidents that can occur.\n\n  • Bruising: Bruising at the site where the blood was obtained may occur. To reduce the likelihood of this happening, maintain pressure on the site as per the recommendations of the technician. \n  • Phlebitis: When blood is taken from a vein, they can become painful and inflamed, a condition known as phlebitis. If this occurs, you can usually ease the symptoms by holding a warm compress on it.\n  • Infection: There’s a small chance an infection can occur when blood is drawn, though, the chances of it happening are very low.\n  • Excessive bleeding: You may experience this at the site of injection.\n  • Lightheadedness: You may feel faint or experience lightheadedness.\n  • Hematoma: Blood can accumulate under the skin, causing a hematoma.\n\nBefore the Test\n\nCertain drugs may interfere with the levels of aldosterone in your blood, so your doctor may ask you to stop some medications before the lab test is completed. Medications that can pose a problem include:\n\n  • hormone replacement medications like corticosteroids, estrogen, and progesterone\n  • heart medications such as diuretics, beta-blockers, and calcium channel blockers\n  • pain medications, especially non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin or ibuprofen\n  • drugs used to treat too much stomach acid (antacids) or ulcers\n\nYour doctor may also give you instructions on the amount of salt you can consume before the test. Sometimes, the test is done following an intravenous (IV) saline solution.\n\nAdditionally, lifestyle considerations, including pregnancy, activity level, stress, and diet can impact aldosterone levels, so your healthcare provider might give you specific guidelines to follow to obtain the most accurate results.\n\nDuring the Test\n\nIf you’ve had blood drawn in the past, an aldosterone test will be done in a similar manner: The person drawing your blood may be a lab technician, a phlebotomist, a nurse, or a doctor. First, your healthcare provider will place an elastic band around your arm to compress the blood vessels, stop the flow of blood, and locate a vein.\n\nOnce the vein has been identified, they will insert a needle into it—if your veins are difficult to locate or move during the draw, it may need to be inserted more than once.\n\nAfter the needle has been inserted into the vein, your healthcare provider will place a tube a the end of the needle to collect the sample. Once your provider has collected a sufficient amount of blood for the test, they’ll remove the elastic band, place pressure over the site of insertion with gauze or a cotton ball, and place an adhesive bandage on it.\n\nIf you haven’t had your blood drawn before, you might be anxious to know what it feels like when you’re poked with a needle. Some people experience a mild to moderate amount of pain upon the insertion of the needle. But other people may only feel a slight prick or close to nothing at all. One person’s experience with a blood test may be different than someone else’s. \n\nAfter the Test\n\nAfter the blood test is finished, your provider may ask you to keep the bandage on for a specific amount of time. Usually, however, there are minimal follow-up instructions regarding an aldosterone blood test itself. If your physician suspects you have an illness, they might have particular instructions to follow while waiting for the test results to come back.\n\nDepending on the lab and the day of the week you had your blood drawn, the results could take three to five days to return.\n\nInterpreting the Results\n\nSeveral factors impact how an aldosterone test can be interpreted, according to the National Institutes of Health, MedlinePlus. The online medical library states the results of the test may vary with age. Additionally, the range that’s considered normal may be different from one laboratory to the next.\n\nAn elevated level of aldosterone may indicate health conditions like Bartter syndrome and other kidney diseases, problems with the adrenal glands (such as a benign tumor), or a diet that is too low in sodium.\n\nOn the other hand, test results that demonstrate a decreased level of aldosterone may be indicative of an autoimmune condition known as Addison’s disease, a diet that contains an abundance of sodium in it, and more. Ultimately, your doctor will discuss your test results with you.\n\nA Word From Verywell\n\nWhen you receive your results, keep in mind that the reference range listed on the test serves as a guide to what may be going on inside your body. Your healthcare provider will consider many factors, like your health history and list of symptoms, when diagnosing you.\n\nIf you do end up having too much or too little aldosterone in your blood, there are several treatment options you’ll be able to consider (depending on the what’s causing the problem) to help you achieve a successful outcome. \n\nWas this page helpful?\nArticle Sources", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7875894904136658}
+{"content": "ArticlesTime Management\n\nTime Management Wasters\n\nread ( words)\n\nI am an ordinary man - A middle class high tech manager with a good salary, have decided to get rid of my time management wasters. I have found out that I have too much time management wasters. Take a look at the findings of a long a research I have executed in order to find the main time management in my life and the way to get rid of them. Use these tips :\n\n1. Turn your email off. Emails must be one of my main time management wasters.\n\nIt may be hard to break away from your constant communication with the world, but if you check email twice per day, you can minimize dramatically your time management wasters. Find specific time frames during the day that you will devote to email and stick to your schedule.\n\n2. Putting Things In Their Place. \"A place for everything and everything in its place\" ? act by this moto and have less time management wasters. When you are finished with a piece of paper, a brochure or any other document - file it. What usually happens is that you finish using a piece of paper, temporarily put it in a stack and then have to spend two hours cleaning up after yourself once a week ? one of the most annoying time management wasters\n\n3. Use free To Do lists every day. A tip anyone should use to avoid time management wasters: At the end of each day, make a free to do list of items to complete the following day. This will help you get rid of time management wasters the next day.\n\n3. Filter your calls. Phone calls are one of the biggest time management wasters. These days most people have voice mail or an answering machine. Unless you're expecting a call, let the machine get it. Just as with your email schedule, you can set aside time during the day to return calls and avoid time management wasters.\n\nUse these advices to get rid of your time management wasters. Try one for a week and see how the time management wasters vanish.\n\nFind more about time management on The time management site. It's all about time management - The most comprehensive resource for Time management wasters, time management skiils, Time Management Techniques, Time Management tips, Personal goals etc. -\n\nRate this article\nCurrent Rating 0 stars (0 ratings)\nClick the star above that marks your rating", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5817383527755737}
+{"content": "23. Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Life, and Nanotechnology\n\n     In 1936 Alan Turing proposed the idea, related to Godel's, that any effective procedure that can be accomplished by human problem solvers can be formalized. Since a machine is an embodiment of a formalism, the procedure can then be duplicated by a machine. Hence the idea of the universal machine-- the computer.\n\n     Unlike Godel's theorem, this is held to be only a conjecture that works for a large but indefinite class of procedures. It seems to involve some circularity, in that an \"effective procedure\" is already a formalism and problem solving already implies a restriction to certain kinds of activities which may be formalized. It may not be true that all human thought and behaviour, including cognition, is formalizable and therefore replicable by a machine. The Turing hypothesis is the cornerstone of artificial intelligence. Ultimately it is the notion that the functioning of a human brain can be understood and abstracted in sufficient detail to be replicated by a computer.\n\n     But the grand dreams of classical AI have essentially met with failure, and we should be skeptical in principle about the idea that intelligent behavior can be completely formalized, abstracted out of its embodied context. When a \"piece\" of behavior (of a machine or of another creature) seems to resemble a human action, implicitly each is being compared to a common formalism, which is the essence of that action as the human mind has identified and abstracted it. One simulates the other because they both embody the same formalism. But one does not thereby replicate the other, whose being has not been exhausted in the formalism. In addition, there is the danger of indulging a pathetic fallacy-- by judging the purposiveness or intelligence of the action in terms of human premises. For an action to be considered genuinely intelligent, it would have to be evaluated in terms of the premises of the intelligent system itself (which, of course, must have such premises of its own!).\n\n     An organism is a causally closed system-- in the sense that every normal process within the organism has a cause within the organism itself.[23] In contrast, a machine is causally open, in that changes within it are driven by an outside environment. A machine, like an individual organism, makes waste-products which are not part of it, but in Nature-- that is, the biosphere as a whole-- there is no waste. Everything is recycled.\n\n     A computer program can indeed simulate some human mental processes and actions, and the optimism of classical AI theorists was founded on their success at simulating obviously intentional systems like logic. But objectified notions of structure, function and information can mislead us to the conclusion that an information processing system processes the same information as a brain, embodies the same structure, performs the same operations. In some cases this assumption may be justified. These seem to be cases that involve aspects of human intelligence that have already been formalized (like logic) or for which effective procedures have been found.\n\n     The limits of simulation hinge on just how much of human (or any) activity and structure can be formalized. We could draw a distinction between the organism's activity as a causal system and as an intentional system. It may be that a natural phenomenon can never be formally exhausted, while certainly an intentional system can be. The behavior of an intentional system may be carried on the richer analog substrate-- for instance, of neural activity-- just as a message is carried on a physical signal. If so, then there is yet some hope for reproduction through formalization and traditional approaches to AI, since the elusive wealth of the analog carrier is essentially irrelevant to the intentional system. But this rests, in any case, on the assumptions that behavior can be treated purely as intentional, and that the intentional system can be correctly identified and exhaustively understood by an outside agent. This is far from certain.  There are, of course, other reasons for the failure of traditional AI. For instance, it has become apparent that simulations of the brain based on linear processing are unrealistic or false.\n\n     Some critics of AI believe that intentionality is an inherently biological phenomenon. Perhaps what they mean is that it is an inherently embodied phenomenon, a product of natural selection. No artificial system has, as of today, its own intentionality-- no doubt because no artificial system has come close to duplicating the conditions of embodiment which determine the intentionality of organisms. Little effort in this direction has been made in traditional AI, work proceeding instead on the simulation of fragments of behavior.\n\n     Developments in the new field of Artificial Life (AL) may circumvent the limitations of formalization and linear processing. If artificial systems can be evolved through circumstances equivalent to natural selection, then the conditions of embodiment could be met, resulting in systems possessing their own intentionality, and hence intelligence. However, by definition, this could not be a process entirely within human control. It could not therefore be used for the purpose of exhaustively producing or replicating a specified organism or structure. Human purposes would have the same relationship to artificial evolution as they do to natural evolution. In other words, the process could be partially controlled through applied selective breeding, as it presently is with natural organisms. Evolution could be guided but not strictly determined.\n\n     At present, the conditions of embodiment are being simulated in computers, through programs which simulate both the defining properties of life and the process of natural selection. At this point, these artificial organisms are only simulations, principally because embodiment itself is only simulated. These are virtual, not physical, organisms. The selection rules are arbitrary inventions of programmers, not conditions in the real world, or resulting from a competitive environment of other preternatural self-defining entities. We do not yet have the capacity to construct self-replicating physical machines which could be turned loose to compete with each other (and probably with us!) for survival. But this capability is not far off. Developments in microtechnology may soon render it possible to physically embody the virtual simulations of AL, resulting in true artificial organisms, and a new chapter in the history of the biosphere. Observers of this scene already warn of the inevitability of superintelligent machines and a \"singularity\"-- a big crunch in the exponentially developing future of technology-- at which a point of no return is reached where technology is no longer within human control.[24] New entities might arise as the principal players in a game with analogous but unknown rules.\n\n     From the beginning of time the fact of mortality has rubbed our self-conscious noses in the vulnerabilities of embodied existence. Certainly this has contributed to the desire to control Nature and even to create life. The mechanistic metaphor has proven a powerful instrument of human control. On the other hand, it has added to the injury of mortality a succession of insults to human centrality in the scheme of things. Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, Einstein and Freud facilitated major downward revisions of our special human status. Perhaps the final nail in the coffin of our superiority will be driven home, ironically, by the advent of superintelligent artificial organisms. Whatever consciousness is, it will then be finally clear that it is not a uniquely human prerogative. It could turn out that we are not the pinnacle of evolution, but merely an expendable steppingstone toward inconceivable new forms of life.\n\n     What are the limits to mechanism as a metaphor of biological reality? Can a living cell, for example, be considered a self-replicating machine? If so, we are faced with the possibility of constructing or evolving microscopic self-replicating machines modelled on living cells.[25] If these little \"factories\" were controllable from the macro level, they might in their ensemble constitute programmable matter that can reassemble itself into any desired shape and function! They might also become a rogue new form of quasi-life, a new plague dangerously out of human control.\n\n     The program of instructions by which the cell reduplicates may indeed be an exhaustible formalism-- since it appears to consist of a finite structure. But can it be assumed that all information governing the process of self-replication is contained strictly in the genetic material within the cell? Even in the case of a computer, by analogy, not all the information is contained in the program. The functioning of a computer is an interaction of software, hardware and human user. Is there not a similar figure-background relationship between DNA and the total environment of the cell, which includes the materials from which the cell constructs a duplicate of itself and chemical instructions in the environment or in the body as a whole? As for multi-celled organisms, the process of cell differentiation remains one of the great mysteries of biology. It may turn out that there is a big difference between an organism-- natural or artificial-- and a machine, however sophisticated, which makes products specified by human intent and under human control. It is misleading to consider a cell a factory, because the principle product of an organism is itself. This is not only because it self-replicates, but because its whole endeavor is to maintain its existence and identity. As it own intentional system, it is only incidentally an instrument of human intention. It is not a tool, except in the way that nature is presently managed for human purposes.\n\n     As long as the process of fabrication is understood in the traditional sense, we are on familiar ground. We already know, for instance, that manufactured products are subject to various imperfections, and that industry makes pollution (precisely because natural processes do not conform totally to human intention). Thought is an approximation, and never encompasses the whole of physical process. There can always be an unforeseen and perhaps undesirable by-product, simply because thought is simplistic. But when we assume the perfectability of thought, our footing is precarious-- as though we believed that Nature owes it to us to conform to our ideas. If we wish to make tiny factories that operate in the traditional way as instruments under human control, then we can expect of nanotechnology more or less what we get from present technology-- multiplied incredibly by speed and capacity. But any technology that truly imitates the wisdom of Nature will necessarily be out of human control.\n\n     What about the problems of control between levels of scale? How would nanocomputers, controlling microscopic molecular factories, be controlled on the macroscopic level? It is one thing to imagine nano-factories that are self-contained, self-programming, self-modifying and self-evolved just like microbes. Like organisms, these could only be controlled indirectly. It is quite another thing to imagine tiny factories fully programmable from the macro level. How would communication take place? Through radio transmissions, each microscopic factory on a different frequency? Practical difficulties aside, might there be theoretical limits as well? Perhaps it could be argued that such communication between hierarchical levels already exists-- in the human body, for instance. But this is no one-way directive from an external source of intelligence. The cells of the body are not \"operated by\" the brain, nor does the person enter into conscious communication with them. Rather, the organism is a continuous cycling of influences, through many channels, from bottom up and from top down.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.916789174079895}
+{"content": "Politics of the Middle East\n\nDownload 21.04 Kb.\nHajmi21.04 Kb.\nPLS 313\n\nPolitics of the Middle East\n\nDr. Phil Meeks Office: Adm 434\n\nPhone: X-1453 E-Mail: pmeeks@creighton.edu\n\nCourse Description\n\nThis course is a comparative analysis of the various political systems in the Middle East. Attention will be focused on the process of political development and the transformation from traditional to modern political entities. Special analysis will be given to such issues such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the Iran-Iraq War and post 9/11 events. Contemporary domestic politics of the major countries is explored along with the general geo-political importance of the Middle East in current United States foreign policy.\n\nCourse Goals:\n\nBy the end of the course, students who complete all assignments should be able to:\n\n      Recognize fundamental challenges of contemporary Middle Eastern politics\n\n      Understand the roles that Middle Eastern citizens and institutions play in addressing these challenges\n\n      Analyze political consequences of decisions by international and Middle Eastern institutional structures and individual behavior\n\n      Know fundamental concepts used in political science to study Middle Eastern political behavior and institutions\n\n      Use and evaluate evidence in debates of issues in Middle Eastern politics\n\nCourse Requirements:\n\nA) Two Exams: Midterm (take home) - 20%; Final Exam (take home) - 25%\n\nB) One - 15 Page Country Report or Specialized Topic Report - 35%. Mandatory revision stage. Due after midterm.\n\nC) Participation - 10% - Attendance will be recorded. All absences beyond 3 will result in 2-point deduction from this requirement. Grades are A-C-F. You must receive an “A” in this category to get an “A” for the course.\n\nD) Group projects - 10%. Grades are A-C-F. You must receive an “A” in this category to get an “A” for the course.\n\nJournals of current events and commentary may be turned in for extra credit. \"Op-ed\" essays submitted and published in the Creightonian receive double extra credit.\n\n\nPalmer, Politics of the Middle East, Peacock, 2001.\n\nCongressional Quarterly, The Middle East, Congressional Quarterly, 9th Ed., 2000.\n\nGerner, Understanding the Contemporary Middle East, Lynne Rienner, 2000.\n\nSpencer, Middle East, 9th Ed., McGraw Hill/ Dushkin, 2003.\n\nGeneral information about writing papers\n\nPapers should be about 15 pages in length (double spaced), and typed. Bibliography & tables or appendices should not be counted toward page requirements. All sources should be cited and referenced in “end-notes” using a bibliographic format. (Consult style book if necessary) Plagiarism will be punished with an automatic failure for the entire course. Format: Report should be broken down into sections but with continuous text on pages.\n\nPaper will be graded according to 1) quality of analysis, 2) comprehensiveness, 3) organization & clarity of writing, and 4) punctuality. Late papers will be penalized 5 points (out of 100) for each class period that they are late.\n\nStages in Writing process:\n\n1. Students hand in outline and preliminary bibliography two weeks before deadline.\n\n2. Students turn in final draft by deadline.\n\n3. Students write final revisions after critique by instructor.\n\n4. All revised papers must be turned in before finals week of semester.\n\n“Country Reports”\n\n1. Introduction (1-2 pages)\n\nA general statement about the importance of the country and its current situation in contemporary global affairs.\n\n2. Political Situation (3-4 pages)\n\nA description of the current political situation and recent political changes in leadership over the past 5 10 years. Political party leaders, ethnic or minority problems, corruption and political feuds should receive some attention. Also include brief discussion of role played by the military and military civilian relations in politics. Do not provide description of formal institutions.\n\n3. Military Situation (2-3 pages)\n\nA description of the current military force levels and expenditures. Also include brief discussion of role played by the military and military civilian relations in politics. Include available data on alliance agreements, major arms sales, military aid and controversial military/security issues.\n\n4. Economic Situation (2-3 pages)\n\nA description of the current economic situation including such factors as GNP, labor force by occupation, literacy & health statistics, trade, trade partners, inflation, debt, interest rates, wages, degree of foreign investment, unemployment, etc. Describe any special problems about the relationship between business, labor, agricultural and government.\n\n5. International Situation (3-4 pages)\n\nDescribe the current international relations situation with other nations showing priorities of special closeness or animosity. Describe general relations with U.S. Describe relations within its geographical region. General summary of relations with other less developed nations. General summary of relations with advanced industrial countries. Include available data on alliance agreements, major arms sales, military aid and controversial military/security issues.\n\n6. Conclusion (1-2 pages)\n\nSummarize the major points from each of the preceding sections. Conclude with prediction of possible changes in the politics in this country in the next 5 years.\n\n7.       Bibliography (10 12 sources   do not use encyclopedias but reference books are acceptable for facts and statistics. Not more than 5 internet sources. At least 5 “scholarly” journal articles.)\n\n“Political Paper”\n\nReport on specific dimension within a specific Middle Eastern country or on the region or a sub region as a whole.\n\n\"Political\" subjects could include any one of the following:\n\n1. political leaders (official and unofficial),\n\n2. political groups (interest groups, movements, political parties),\n\n3. political institutions (executive, legislative, judicial),\n\n4. political cultures (ethnic, religious, ideological), or\n\n5. public policies (domestic or foreign)\n\n“Policy Papers”\n\n1. What is the Subject/ Problem? (1 page)\n\nDescribe the importance of the subject/ problem. What are the short term and long term implications of this problem?\n\n2. Historical Background (3 4 pages)\n\nWhen did this problem begin? Why has it continued to be a problem? What kind of policies existed in the past to deal with this problem? How have some of these policies been changed over time?\n\n3. Political Forces (3 4 pages)\n\nWhich government agencies are responsible for policies affecting this problem? How has \"bureaucratic politics\" (fighting between government agencies) affected the policy? What interest groups have been actively involved in the policy? What stands, if any, have been taken by the interest groups and the political parties(if any)? What compromises have been suggested to reconcile the conflicting perspectives? In your opinion, which forces likely to be the most influential in this policy in the future?\n\n4. Costs and Benefits/ Implications of Decisions/Alternatives (2 3 pages)\n\nWhat are some of the proposed policy problem solutions? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each solution? In your opinion, which policy solution is the best according to its costs and benefits? What are some of the major problems involved in the implementation of this policy? How much will it cost national and/or international governments? How can or will the policy be evaluated to determine its success or failure?\n\n5. Conclusion & Future Prospects (2 3 pages)\n\nSummarize the main points you have made in the paper. Summarize the progress that has been made and the difficulties that remain regarding the problem. How likely is it that your proposed solutions will be put in practice? In general, how optimistic or pessimistic are you about society's ability to deal with this policy problem in the future?\n\n6. Bibliography (10 12 Sources – see above notes.)\n\n\nPLS 313\n\nPolitics of the Middle East\n\nSpring 2003\n\nCourse Outline\n\nDate Topic Readings\n\n1/15 Introduction CQ: 1-11\n\n1/17 Geography & History G: 1-80\n\n1/20 Religion & Politics CQ: 195-216\n\n1/22 P: 1-25\n\n1/24 G: 319-344\n\n1/27 Political Culture & Participation P: 26-43\n\n\n\n2/3 Agriculture & Rural Politics G: 201-292\n\n2/5 Oil, Industrialization & Urban Politics CQ: 155-194\n\n2/7 Security & Military Politics\n\n2/10 Arab-Israeli Conflict CQ: 11-76\n\n\n\n2/17 Iran-Iraq War CQ: 125-154\n\n2/19 Terrorism G: 129-160\n\n\n2/24 Human Rights & Democracy G: 293-318\n\n\n2/28 First Exam (Take Home)\n\n3/3 Egypt CQ: 219-236\n\n3/5 P: 43-102\n\n\n3/10-15 Spring Break\n\n3/17 Israel/Palestine CQ: 265-284\n\n3/19 P: 103-172\n\n3/21 Handouts\n\n3/24 Syria CQ: 309-330; 377-392\n\n3/26 P: 173-220 - Draft of Papers Due\n\n3/28 Saudi Arabia CQ: 359-376\n\n3/31 P: 221-274\n\n4/4 Iraq CQ: 253-264\n\n4/7 P: 275-334\n\n4/9 Iran CQ: 237-252\n\n4/11 P: 335-384\n\n4/14 US-Middle East Relations CQ: 77-125; G: 383-393\n\n4/16-21 Easter Break\n\n4/23 Service Projects\n\n\n\n4/30 Service Projects Presentations & Reflections\n\n5/2 Evaluations & Review\n\n5/9 Final Exam Due (Take Home)\n\nDo'stlaringiz bilan baham:\n\nMa'lumotlar bazasi mualliflik huquqi bilan himoyalangan ©hozir.org 2017\nma'muriyatiga murojaat qiling\n\n    Bosh sahifa", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9868338704109192}
+{"content": "Card image cap\n\n\n\n\nCard image cap\n\n\n\n\nCard image cap\n\n\n\nStefani Matsuo is emerging as one of today’s most promising talents. In 2018 she became Associate Concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, where she has been a member since 2015.\n\nCard image cap\n\n\n\nRandolph Bowman, Principal flutist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since1990, is a California native. He received his musical education at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.\n\nCard image cap\n\n\nThe Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is one of America’s finest and most versatile ensembles.\n\n\nOriginally broadcast on March 24, 2019 on 90.9 WGUC in Cincinnati, OH\n\nFRI JAN 11, 8 pm • SAT JAN 12, 8 pm\n\n\nJ.S. BACH (1685–1750)\n\nSuite No. 4 in D Major for Orchestra, BWV 1069\n\n• Overture\n• Bourrée I & II\n• Gavotte\n• Menuet\n• Réjouissance\n\n\nBrandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050\n\n• Allegro\n• Affetuoso\n• Allegro\n\n\nVIVALDI (1678–1748)\n\nLe Quattro Stagioni (“The Four Seasons”) for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 8, Nos. 1–4\n\n• La primavera (“Spring”), RV 269\n• L’estate (“Summer”), RV 315\n• L’autunno (“Autumn”), RV 293\n• L’inverno (“Winter”), RV 297\n\nI AM THRILLED TO WELCOME TWO ARTISTSRichard Egarr and Benjamin Beilman—both making their CSO debuts with a blockbuster program of music composed nearly 300 years ago. The program opens with Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, a triple concerto showcasing, alongside Richard Egarr at the harpsichord, the musicality of two of our CSO musicians—Associate Concertmaster Stefani Matsuo and Principal Flute Randy Bowman. The four concerti that make up Vivaldi’s Four Seasons have become part of our collective soundscape, each illustrating the unique environments, moods and colors brought on by the changing seasons. Because of Richard Egarr’s infectious enthusiasm, energy, humor and imagination, I’m certain this well-known and greatly admired music will be imbued with fresh life in these performances.  —LOUIS LANGRÉE\n\nSuite No. 4 in D Major for Orchestra, BWV 1069\n\nBorn: March 21, 1685, Eisenach, Germany\n\nDied: July 28, 1750, Leipzig\n\nWork composed: ~1725\n\nInstrumentation: 3 oboes, bassoon, 3 trumpets, timpani, continuo, strings\n\nCSO notable performances: Three previous subscription weekends | Premiere: January 1920 (Emery Auditorium), Eugene Ysaÿe conducting | Most recent: February 1985, Michael Gielen conducting.\n\nDuration: approx. 19 minutes\n\nBach’s Orchestral Suites (he would have called them “Ouvertures”—French for “opening piece”—after their majestic first movements) follow the early-18th-century German taste of deriving stylistic inspiration from France. It was Jean Baptiste Lully, composer to the legendary court of Louis XIV, whose operas and instrumental music set the fashion. Lully filled his operas with dances to please the taste of his ballet-mad King and if the mood struck him, Louis would shed his ermine robes and tread a step or two with the dancers on stage. (Reports, all—understandably—laudatory, had it that he was excellent.) For formal ballroom dancing or dinner entertainment or concert performance, Lully extracted individual dance movements from his operas, prefaced them with the opera’s overture, and served them up as suites. This type of work, virtually the only Baroque genre for orchestra that did not involve soloists or singers, was carried to Germany by one of Lully’s students, Georg Muffat (1653–1704). Bach’s cousin Johann Bernhard (1676–1749), a talented organist in Johann Sebastian’s hometown of Eisenach, was one of the German musicians who became acquainted with this recent bit of French fashion. He concocted four suites of dances in the Lully/Muffat manner for the local town band, and Bach probably learned the French style from him. When Bach came to compose his Orchestral Suites, he was familiar not only with the French tradition of Lully through cousin Bernhard, but also with that of Italy (many German musicians of Bach’s generation were trained in Italy), and he was able to synthesize those two great streams of Baroque music in works that are both surpassingly majestic and melodically inspired. English musicologist C.H. Parry noted that these Orchestral Suites show Bach’s genius “in a singular and almost unique phase: for none of the movements, however gay and merry, ever loses the distinction of noble art. However freely they sparkle and play, they are never trivial, but bear even in the lightest moments the impress of a great mind and the essentially sincere character of the composer.”\n\nThe dating of the Suites is conjectural. (Their numbering is arbitrary, assigned by Wolfgang Schmieder when he cataloged all of Bach’s works by genre in the 1950s in his monumental Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis [BWV].) It was long believed that Bach composed them during his tenure (1717–1723) as director of music at the court of Anhalt-Cöthen, north of Leipzig, where he was in charge of the instrumental rather than the sacred vocal music. He liked his job in Cöthen. His employer, Prince Leopold, was a well-educated man, 24 years old at the time he engaged Bach. (Bach was 32.) Leopold was fond of travel and books and paintings, but his real passion was music. He was an accomplished musician who not only played violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord well enough to join with the professionals in his house orchestra, but also had an exceptional bass voice. He started the court musical establishment in 1707 with three players (his puritanical father had no use for music) and by the time of Bach’s appointment the ensemble had grown to nearly twenty performers equipped with a fine set of instruments. It was for this group that Bach wrote many of his outstanding instrumental works, including the Brandenburg Concertos, Violin Concertos and much of his chamber music. The surviving sources for the Suites, however, are all from Bach’s time in Leipzig (1723–1750), where his heavy duties directing the music at the city’s churches still allowed him time to lead the Collegium Musicum, the “Musical College” that was the principal local producer of instrumental concerts. (They performed on Friday afternoons in Gottfried Zimmermann’s coffee house.) The only extant performing materials for the Suites are from about 1725 (Nos. 1 and 4), 1731 (No. 3) and 1738–1739 (No. 2), though it is uncertain if they were originally composed for the Collegium concerts at those times or arranged from now-lost pieces written as early as the Cöthen years.\n\nEach of Bach’s four Suites is scored for a different orchestral ensemble. Three trumpets, timpani, three oboes and bassoon join the strings and continuo (bass and harpsichord) in the Fourth Suite. Each Suite comprises a grandiose Overture followed by a series of dances of various characters. These aptly named “French” Overtures are based on the type devised by Lully—a slow, almost pompous opening section filled with snapping rhythmic figures and rich harmony leading without pause to a spirited fugal passage in faster tempo. The majestic character of the opening section returns to round out the Overture’s form. The procession of dances that follows varies from one Suite to the next, though Bach’s sense of musical architecture demands that they create a careful balance of tempos and moods. The first such movements in this Suite are a pair of Bourrées, a dance of French origin that is joyful and diverting in character. When it was danced, the steps began with a brisk opening jump, a characteristic mirrored in Bach’s quick upbeat rhythm pattern. Next is a Gavotte, a dance of moderate liveliness whose ancestry traces to French peasant music. The two following Menuets are examples of the most famous of all the old courtly dances. Originally a quick peasant dance from southwestern France, the minuet had become more stately and measured by Bach’s time. The closing triple-meter Réjouissance is light and playful, a rousing ending to this richly hued work.\n\nDr. Richard E. Rodda\n\nBrandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050\n\nWork composed: 1719 or 1720\n\nPremiere: Probably performed shortly after completion at the court of Cöthen.\n\nInstrumentation: solo flute, solo violin, harpsichord, strings\n\nCSO notable performances: Six previous subscription weekends | Premiere: January 1932 (Emery Auditorium), Eugene Goossens conducting; E. Robert Schmitz, piano | Most recent: October 2000, Robert Porco conducting; Randolph Bowman, flute; Timothy Lees, violin; Michael Chertock, piano | Leonard Bernstein was conductor and pianist when the CSO performed this work in January 1946.\n\nDuration: approx. 21 minutes\n\nHow compositions acquire their nicknames is often a mystery. No one is sure, for example, how Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony or Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto got their names. Several works have been named for people. The Kreutzer of Beethoven’s violin sonata was a violinist, while the Waldstein of his piano sonata was a nobleman. Bach’s Goldberg Variations were commissioned by Count von Kayserling to help cure his insomnia, but the music did not become known as the Kayserling Variations. Goldberg was the long-suffering clavierist who played the Variations night after night in an attempt to put the Count to sleep. The Brandenburg Concertos are likewise named for a person—Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg. It is ironic that history has given the Brandenburg name to this music, because Christian Ludwig had no use for it. Yet it is only because of Bach’s Concertos that the Margrave is still remembered.\n\nThe Concertos were written while Bach was employed at the court of Prince Leopold of Cöthen. As the Prince belonged to the Reformed Calvinist Church, in which music played only a small role, Bach was not required to compose for the church. His output during his Cöthen years consisted, therefore, mainly of instrumental works.\n\nIn 1718, while in Berlin to order a new harpsichord, the composer met the Margrave of Brandenburg. Christian Ludwig cultivated the acquaintance of many musicians, and he collected scores, particularly of concertos. He heard Bach perform and, later, casually mentioned being interested in a series of concertos. The Margrave promptly forgot about his request and was no doubt surprised two years later to receive a beautifully autographed score of Six Concertos for Diverse Instruments. Bach had taken such a long time to write the music because he was probably less than enthusiastic about composing for the tiny court orchestra at Brandenburg.\n\nBach thought of himself as a humble servant; the era of the artist as independent genius was yet to come. Thus Bach’s dedication to Ludwig—translated by an unknown hand into courtly French—seems by today’s standards obsequious:\n\nTwo years ago I had the good fortune to perform before Your Royal Highness at Your command, and I noticed then that You showed some pleasure at the small talent for music which Heaven has given me. When I took my leave, Your Royal Highness did me the great honor of ordering me to send Him some pieces of my own composition; therefore, and in accordance with His gracious order, I have taken the liberty of fulfilling my very humble duty to Your Royal Highness with these concertos, which I have scored for several instruments.\n\nBegging Your Highness most humbly not to judge their imperfection with the rigor of the fine and delicate taste which the whole world knows Your Highness has for musical pieces; but rather to infer from them in benign consideration the profound respect and the most humble obedience which I try to show Your Highness therewith.\n\nFurther, Sir, I beg very humbly that Your Royal Highness will continue to have the goodness to hold me in His good favor and be convinced that I have nothing nearer to my heart than to be employed on occasions more worthy of You and Your service.\n\nI am, Sir, with unparalleled zeal, Your Royal Highness’s very humble and very obedient servant, Johann Sebastian Bach.\n\nThere is more than a little irony in one of the world’s great composers effacing himself in dedicating some of the world’s great music to someone who would not even bother to have it performed. Christian Ludwig did not think enough of the concertos to list them in his library catalog, which did include nearly 200 concertos by other composers. Bach’s manuscript lay unnoticed until 1734, when it was sold for a small sum after Ludwig’s death.\n\nThe instrumentation is different in each concerto, but in every case the ensemble was too large for the Brandenburg musicians. Each concerto did nicely fit the resources at Cöthen, however, and this fact suggests that perhaps the concertos were written for use at Leopold’s court and only later dedicated to Christian Ludwig.\n\nThe Brandenburg Concertos are typical of their age, in that they use a variety of instrumental combinations within the concerto grosso format. Some aspects of the concertos are experimental: the virtuosic treatment of the trumpet (Concerto 2), violin (Concerto 4), and harpsichord (Concerto 5); doing away with the contrast between a small group of soloists and a larger accompanying body of strings (Concerto 3 and first movement of Concerto 1); having soloists and continuo play a middle movement without orchestra (Concertos 2, 5 and 6). The Brandenburgs are both a summing up of the baroque concerto grosso tradition and a foreshadowing of the instrumental concerto of the upcoming classical era.\n\nKEYNOTE. The Fifth Concerto, in contrast to the orchestral Third and parts of the First, is a true concerto grosso—a baroque genre in which a small group of instruments, known as the concertino, is accompanied by a string and harpsichord orchestra, known as the ripieno. In the Fifth Concerto the concertino consists of flute, violin and harpsichord, and the ripieno is the strings. The concerto goes beyond the traditional form of the concerto grosso, however. Normally the ripieno is supported by the harpsichord, playing what is called a continuo part—bass line plus harmonic filler. Thus the keyboard instrument usually has an essential yet background role. In the Fifth Brandenburg, however, the harpsichord is a member—the most prominent member—of the concertino. Thus the harpsichordist fills two roles—continuo player and soloist. The Fifth Brandenburg comes close to being a veritable harpsichord concerto.\n\nBach took full advantage of the harpsichord as solo instrument. The highpoint of its virtuosity occurs toward the end of the first movement, where it is given an extended unaccompanied cadenza. The middle movement, by contrast, is chamber music. The three soloists play what amounts to a trio sonata, while the ripieno remains silent. The final movement is a fugue, introduced at first by the concertino, which is then joined by the ripieni.\n\n—Peter Laki\n\n\nBorn: March 4, 1678, Venice\n\nDied: July 28, 1741, Vienna\n\nWork composed:  c. 1721–1723\n\nInstrumentation: solo violin, continuo, strings\n\nCSO notable performances: Two previous subscription weekends (complete Four Seasons with violin soloist) | Premiere: September 1985, Pinchas Zukerman, conductor and violinist | Most recent: February 1998, Jaime Laredo, conductor and violinist.\n\nDuration: approx. 37 minutes\n\nThe Gazette d���Amsterdam of December 14, 1725 announced the issuance by the local publisher Michele Carlo Le Cène of a collection of 12 concertos for solo violin and orchestra by Antonio Vivaldi—Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione, or “The Contest between Harmony and Invention,” Op. 8. The works were printed with a flowery dedication typical of the time to the Bohemian Count Wenzel von Morzin, a distant cousin of Haydn’s patron before he came into the employ of the Esterházy family in 1761. On the title page, Vivaldi described himself as the “maestro in Italy” to the Count, though there is no record of his having held a formal position with him. Vivaldi probably met Morzin when he worked in Mantua from 1718 to 1720 for the Habsburg governor of that city, Prince Philipp of Hessen-Darmstadt, and apparently provided the Bohemian Count with an occasional composition on demand. (A bassoon concerto, RV 496, is headed with Morzin’s name.)\n\nVivaldi claimed that Morzin had been enjoying the concertos of the 1725 Op. 8 set “for some years,” implying earlier composition dates and a certain circulation of this music in manuscript copies, and hoped that their appearance in print would please his patron. The first four concertos, those depicting the seasons of the year, seem to have especially excited Morzin’s admiration, so Vivaldi made specific the programmatic implications of the works by heading each of them with an anonymous sonnet, perhaps of his own devising, and then repeating the appropriate verses above the exact measures in the score which they had inspired. The Four Seasons pleased not only Count Morzin, but quickly became one of Vivaldi’s most popular works. A pirated edition appeared in Paris within weeks of the Amsterdam publication, and by 1728 the concertos had become regular items on the programs of the Concert Spirituel in Paris. The Spring Concerto was adapted in 1755 as an unaccompanied flute solo by Jean Jacques Rousseau, the philosopher and dilettante composer who was attracted by the work’s musical portrayal of Nature, and as a motet (!) by Michel Corrette to the text “Laudate Dominum de coelis” in 1765. Today, The Four Seasons remains Vivaldi’s best-known work, and one of the most beloved compositions in the orchestral repertory.\n\nOf Vivaldi’s more than 400 concertos, only 28 have titles, many of those referring to the occasion for which it was written. Of the few composition titles with true programmatic significance, seven are found in the Op. 8 collection: The Four Seasons plus La Tempesta di Mare (“The Storm at Sea”), La Caccia (“The Hunt”) and Il Piacere (“Pleasure”). Concerning the title of the Op. 8 set—“The Contest between Harmony and Invention”—Amelia Haygood wrote:\n\n“Harmony” represents the formal structure of the compositions; “invention” the unhampered flow of the composer’s creative imagination; and the “contest” implies a dynamic balance between the two, which allows neither “harmony” nor “invention” to gain the upper hand. The perfect balance which results offers a richness in both areas: the outpouring of melody, the variety of instrumental color, the vivid musical imagery are all to be found within a formal framework which is elegant and solid.\n\nThough specifically programmatic (Lawrence Gilman went so far as to call The Four Seasons “symphonic poems” and harbingers of Romanticism), the fast, outer movements of these works use the ritornello form usually found in Baroque concertos. The opening ritornello theme (Italian for “return”), depicting the general emotional mood of each fast movement, recurs to separate its various descriptive episodes, so the music fulfills both the demands of creating a logical, abstract form and evoking vivid images from Nature. The slow, middle movements are lyrical, almost aria-like, in style.\n\nFor the publication of The Four Seasons in 1725, Vivaldi prefaced each of the concertos with an explanatory sonnet. These poems are given below with a note describing the music relating to the particular verses.\n\n—Dr. Richard E. Rodda\n\nSpring, Op. 8, No. 1 (R. 269)\n\nThe spring has come, joyfully\n    (the vivacious opening section for full orchestra—the “ritornello”—that returns between episodes and at the end of the movement)\n  The birds welcome it with merry song\n  (trills and shakes, violins)\n  And the streams, in the gentle breezes, flow forth with sweet murmurs.\n      (undulating violin phrases)\n  Now the sky is draped in black,\n  Thunder and lightning announce a storm.\n      (tremolos and fast scales)\n  When the storm has passed, the little birds\n  Return to their harmonious songs.\n       (gently rising phrases and long trills in the violins)\n\nAnd in the lovely meadow full of flowers,\n  To the gentle rustling of leaves and branches,\n  The goatherd sleeps, his faithful dog at his side.\n     (Movement II)\n\nTo the rustic bagpipe’s merry sound,\n  Nymphs and shepherds dance under the lovely sky\n  When spring appears in all its brilliance.\n       (Movement III)\n\n\nSummer, Op. 8, No. 2 (R. 315)\n  In the heat of the blazing summer sun,\n  Man and beast languish; the pine tree is scorched.\n    (the enervated “ritornello”)\n  The cuckoo raises his voice\n       (wide, fast leaps in the solo violin)\n  Soon the turtledove and goldfinch join in the song.\n       (A solo violin episode with leaps and trills)\n  A gentle breeze blows\n       (quick triplets, violins)\n  But then the north wind battles with its neighbor\n       (rushing scales, full orchestra)\n  And the shepherd weeps\n       (expressive, chromatic theme for solo violin and\n  As above him the dreaded storm gathers, controlling his fate.\n      (forceful scales and figurations in the full orchestra)\n  His weary limbs are roused from rest\n  By his fear of the lightning and fierce thunder\n  And by the angry swarms of flies and hornets.\n       (Movement II, alternating bittersweet plaints from\n     the solo violin with quick, repeated note\n     interjections by the full orchestra)\n\nAlas, his fears are borne out\n  Thunder and lightning dominate the sky\n  Bending down the tops of trees and flattening the grain.\n       (the tempestuous third movement)\n\nAutumn, Op. 8, No. 3 (R. 293)\n  The peasants celebrate with dance and song\n  The joy of a fine harvest\n       (the merry opening “ritornello”)\n  And filled with Bacchus’ liquor\n       (inebriated arpeggios, scales, trills and figurations\n     from the solo violin alternating with the “ritornello”\n  He ends his fun in sleep.\n       (progressively slower notes in the solo violin until\n     the music stops completely before ending with the\n     “ritornello” theme)\n\nEveryone is made to leave off dancing and singing\n  The air is gentle and pleasing\n  And the season invites everyone\n  To enjoy a delightful sleep. (Movement II)\n\nAt dawn the hunters set out\n  With horns, guns and dogs.\n      (the bounding main theme)\n  The hunted animal flees, the hunters follow its tracks\n      (arpeggiated triplets in the solo violin)\n  Terrified and exhausted by the great noise\n  Of guns and dogs.\n       (violent, shaking figures in the orchestra)\n  Wounded, it tries feebly to escape,\n  But is caught and dies.\n       (flashing scales by the soloist cut short by the\n     violent interjections of the orchestra)\n\nWinter, Op. 8, No. 4 (R. 297)\n  Freezing and shivering in the icy darkness\n     (the chordal, almost motionless main theme)\n  In the severe gusts of a terrible wind\n       (rushing scales and chords in the solo violin)\n  Running and stamping one’s feet constantly\n       (a brief, repeated note motive alternating with a\n     leaping figure)\n  So chilled that one’s teeth chatter.\n\nSpending quiet and happy days by the fire\n  While outside the rain pours everywhere.\n     (Movement II)\n\nWalking on the ice with slow steps\n       (the plaintive main theme, solo violin)\n  Walking carefully for fear of falling\n       (slow, steady chords in the orchestra)\n  Then stepping out boldly, and falling down.\n      (quick scales and then several brief descending\n  Going out once again onto the ice, and running boldly\n      (steady motion up and down the scale in the\n     solo violin)\n  Until the ice cracks and breaks,\n       (snapping, separated figures)\n  Hearing, as they burst forth from their iron gates, the Scirocco,\n       (a smooth melody in close-interval harmony)\n  The North Wind, and all the winds battling.\n  This is winter, but such joy it brings.\n      (rushing figurations close the work)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8066036701202393}
+{"content": "Stable Prey, Declining Predators\n\nSCIENTISTS HAVE MEASURED the abundance of prey species and the predator fishes that eat them in the Chesapeake Bay. For many of the most-consumed types of prey, abundance has been stable since 2002. But for several species of predator fishes, the number has declined. Fisheries scientists continue to explore why the number of predator fishes fell while the amount of food available for them to eat did not.\n\nThe prey (worms) and predator (Atlantic croaker) shown here represent these trends. Abundance is shown using different, but comparable, calculated measures: total weight for worms and number of fish for croaker.\n\nGraphs of predator and prey adundances over time\n\nNote: Gray areas represent margins of error\n\nSources: Analyses of ChesMMAP and other survey data by Andre Buchheister, Ed Houde, and Carlos Lozano for the Chesapeake Bay Program's Sustainable Fisheries Goal Implementation Team and the Chesapeake Bay Trust\n\nVisit Our Blogs\nOn the Hard: Prepping a\nCrab Boat\n\n[Maryland Sea Grant]\nStay Connected", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9983277320861816}
+{"content": "Product picture\n\nGlass wool blanket and board\n\nGerui centrifugal glass wool is a kind of heat insulating material with thin and long fiber and low thermaI conductivity．With special structure．jt can encompass air welI so that the air cannot flow and thus convective heat transfer can be avoided．Meanwhile，it can also quickly reduce sound transmission,bringing good effect of sound absorption．Gerui centrifugal glass wool includes two major series，i.e．glass wool felt and glass wool board．\n\nGerui centrifugal glass wool felt has two categories，i.e．facing—free felt and compound facing felt．These products are widely used for workshops，warehouses，refrigerating chamber，gym，exhibition center,heat preservation shed for cultivation，steel structure buildings，various indoor entertainment places，and so on．\n\nGerui centrifugal glass wool board also has two categories，i.e．facing—free board and compound facing board．These board are manufactured by adding thermosetting bond into glass wool and then subjecting the glass wool to pressurized treatment and heated solidification．Compared with glass wool felt．qlass w board has better and stabler noise absorption performance．1 hese products are widely used in industry．exterior heat preservation system of residentiaI buildings，air conditioning and some other fields.\n\nperformance index\n\nDensityKg/m³10-80GB/T 5480.3\nAverage fiber diaμm5-8GB/T 5480.4\nWater content%≤1GB/T 16400-2003\nGrade of combustibility - Non—combustible Grade AGB 8624-1997\nResh rinking temp250-400GB/T 11835-2007\nThermal conductibilityw/m.k0.034-0.06GB/T 10294\nHyd rophobicity%≥98GB/T 10299\nMoisture rate%≤5GB/T 5480.7\nSound absorption coefficient%1.03 product reverberation method 24kg／m³2000HZGB J47-83\nSlag inclusion content - ≤0.3GB/T 5480.5\n\nColorful glass wool", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8358182907104492}
+{"content": "The Bernardo Boys Look Beyond X’s and O’s\nMar 15, 2019Posted by james\n\nRasmus Dahlin, a defenseman, was the first overall pick in the 2018 NHL draft. At that point, he had played defense full-time for just one year.\n\nRasmus’ rise to become the top pick at the age of 17 at a position that still was new to him placed the spotlight on the importance of long-term athletic development—develop the athlete first and then allow the player to focus on specialization.\n\nTo accomplish this in hockey and for any sport, parents should allow their children to experience a variety of athletic programs. When the player decides to concentrate on a specific game, then a coach should allow the young athlete to experience all angles of that game. The best way to learn is for an athlete to play multiple positions.\n\nSo, how can coaches and parents support our young athletes? Here are some thoughts, with a couple of examples from brothers Anthony and Nick Bernardo. A while ago, Anthony (who also participated in lacrosse and track) and Nick (who enjoys and still plays baseball) decided to concentrate on hockey. Their subsequent success on the Long Island ice hockey scene has been showcased for a number of years with the PAL Junior Islanders.\n\n  • Encourage young athletes to try multiple positions. Learning, understanding and then executing the responsibilities of each position helps build game knowledge and player confidence. Anthony has played left and right wing on his hockey teams. As a right-handed shooter, he has learned that he can create more plays in the offensive zone from the left side than from the right side.\n\n  • Let players “feel” the game from different positions. Players develop empathy and understanding for the challenges faced by teammates when they personally obtain a different perspective.\n\n  • Each position is responsible for specific assignments within a game. The opportunity to adjust to different roles improves a player’s awareness as the game unfolds. As a forward, Nick realized that his team’s defensemen were not rushing the puck up ice to help generate offense. Now, as a defenseman for eight years, Nick concentrates on moving the puck quickly to the offensive zone after taking care of his responsibilities in the defensive end. Today’s hockey is more dynamic than ever and a defenseman such as Nick knows that the position spends less time skating backward and more time joining the rush.\n\n  • Encourage each player to contribute to the team concept. While some young players will be adamant that they only want to play one position, teach them the benefits of adapting their abilities to different positions. They will broaden their game knowledge, improve technical skills, build confidence and raise their compete level. This opportunity also allows players to begin to think about the team and it provides a coach with game day flexibility to cover for injured, ill, or otherwise unavailable players.\n\nFrom Polo To The Happiest Place On Earth\nMar 01, 2019Posted by james\n\nThe brothers played polo regularly. Sometimes they played “hooky” from work to get involved in a game at the Riviera Country Club.\n\nEnjoying the elite sport of polo at the California country club with some of Hollywood’s biggest movers and shakers seemed a bit out of sorts for these two down-to-earth Missouri farm boys. But they enjoyed the comradery and the competition with Spencer Tracy, Leslie Howard and Will Rogers.\n\nThe younger of the two started riding horses as part of a health regimen after a breakdown. Someone placed a polo mallet in his hand and he just plowed forward, as he did with everything in life and in business. To get up to speed, he invited several of his employees to a conference room to listen to an expert lecture them about the elements of polo. Then, the brothers and any employees who remained interested practiced regularly at a nearby riding academy. They also housed a horse and a net at the offices so they could practice scoring goals during lunch hour.\n\nAccording to several employees, the younger brother possessed the most drive. He had the ambition to play well. This was no different than his drive and ambition to be successful in business. After learning that the quality of the horses contributed to a high percentage of success in the game, he convinced his older sibling to purchase four expensive horses.\n\nThe brothers played for several years until the older and more prudent of the two advised his kid brother, who had played in matches that resulted in several fatalities, to sell the horses and give up the game. The older brother, Roy, maintained that the company’s primary asset should not be playing such a dangerous sport. The end for polo did not come until the younger brother, Walt, took a spill and crushed four cervical vertebrae.\n\nAt that point, the Disney brothers concentrated solely on cartoons and feature films. Eventually, they added a theme park that they dubbed the happiest place on earth.\n\nHuntington Honors Hall of Fame Inductees\nFeb 15, 2019Posted by james\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFootball Player Of Year Is A Lacrosse Kid\nFeb 02, 2019Posted by james\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA Hockey Setback Takes Flight\nJan 15, 2019Posted by james\n\nWilbur was a three-sport athlete. He enjoyed football, skating and gymnastics. He also was a very good student and had his sights on attending Yale.\n\nOne day, while playing hockey on a lake in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio, the 18-year-old was struck in the mouth with a stick wielded by another boy several years younger but much larger. It may have been an accident, but the boy was known as a bully. Years later, that same boy was executed for the murders of his mother, father and brother.\n\nThe hockey injury caused weeks of excruciating mouth and jaw pain for Wilbur. Several front teeth were lost and replaced by the crude dentistry of the day. This led to digestive complications, heart palpitations and depression. Wilbur remained a recluse for three years, ending his pursuit of a Yale education. During that time, though, he initiated what became a passion for reading and learning. He read about everything and had a specific fascination for history.\n\nWilbur was close to his younger brother, who had started a print shop that issued a town newspaper and then began publishing a variety of reading material. They worked together in the printing business and then they became involved in the growing bicycle craze that had swept the nation. Since they both enjoyed mechanics, the brothers opened a shop that sold and repaired bicycles.\n\nWhen the younger brother was diagnosed with typhoid, he spent more than a month in bed. As he recovered, Wilbur read to him. Together, they became fascinated about the discoveries of Otto Lilienthal, a German glider enthusiast who had studied the flight motions of birds.\n\nThe brothers were excited about Lilienthal’s experiments and they never stopped learning. After several years of planning, they decided to use their mechanics ingenuity and their interest in the flight of birds to build several flying machines. They tested their creations at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.\n\nThe Wright Brothers, Wilbur and Orville, changed history. The setback for Wilbur while playing hockey was just one of many catalysts in their lives that led to the collaboration that taught the world how to fly.\n\nFighting Irish Help Bronx Residents For The Holidays\nJan 02, 2019Posted by james\n\nA few weeks ago, Notre Dame football played in the Shamrock Series against Syracuse at Yankee Stadium. It was a time for the Fighting Irish to shine on the field but also an opportunity to be of service to the community.\n\nAbout 100 alumni and friends participated in the alumni association’s project at a Manhattan hotel, packing more than 400 Thanksgiving meal boxes for families and wrapping more than 100 gifts for children supported by Part of the Solution (POTS), a multiservice agency for the poor in The Bronx.\n\nBesides football, Notre Dame always supports a community it visits. Since the game was in The Bronx, the alumni identified POTS as an organization to support. POTS is a one-step shop, offering services for people moving from crises to stability to self-sufficiency.\n\nEach meal box was packed with potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, apples, corn, green beans, cranberries and a store voucher for a turkey. Whenever Notre Dame plays in a special event or bowl game, it supports the local community. Service is a large component of the university culture. In this instance, the football games is the centerpiece of the school’s visit to New York City but the community support is the crowning jewel of what Notre Dame is all about.\n\nThe New York alumni group includes The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Westchester and Rockland counties. The alumni reflect on their time at the university and reflect the values of giving back to the community that they learned during those days.\n\nNotre Dame did win the football game, but that takes a backseat to the smiles they brought to needy families during the holidays.\n\nMeet The Bocklets – Lacrosse Powerhouse Family From Katonah\nDec 16, 2018Posted by james\n\nBrothers Mike, Matt and Chris spent countless hours in their Katonah backyard in Westchester County hitting baseballs, kicking soccer balls, shooting basketballs and throwing footballs. A little sister, Casey, tried to keep up with the boys.\n\nLacrosse was the last game introduced to Team Bocklet, and that sport has remained the game of choice for each of the siblings. All the boys won All-American honors at John Jay-Cross River High School, and then each of them played lacrosse in college. Casey played lacrosse, too. She and Chris remain the all-time leading scorers at their high school.\n\nThis past summer, all four siblings were on professional rosters. Mike was with the New York Lizards, Matt played with the Denver Outlaws, Chris was with the Dallas Rattlers – and each has played in an MLL All-Star game – and Casey was part of the Women’s Professional Lacrosse League’s inaugural season when she was drafted by the Philadelphia Fire. She also coached high school lacrosse in Texas during the last two years.\n\nThe three brothers and sis are products of a sports family. Father Barry and Mother Terry both were three-sport athletes in high school. They met while playing broomball at SUNY Cortlandt. When the kids came along, a batting cage became the first major purchase for the backyard. Eventually, it was replaced solely with lacrosse gear.\n\nAll four siblings pushed each other to excel. Along the way, they were treated for bloody noses, scraps, cuts and bruises. The competition, though, always remained friendly (and brotherly/sisterly). Each memory has been catalogued by mom and dad. Scrapbooks are filled with newspaper clippings, photos and recruiting letters.\n\nThough often separated by their personal commitments, the siblings remain close. All four are involved in the family business, X10 Lacrosse, that offers sleepover camps in the Adirondacks and Colorado along with day camps across the country.\n\nThe Bocklets, I guess, are that fine example of a close knit lacrosse family dynasty.\n\nLet’s Go Mets! - An All-Star Hospital Visit\nDec 02, 2018Posted by james\n\nMichael Conforto, the young Mets all-star outfielder, always prefers to lead by example. He does this on and off the field.\n\nMichael completed the first from the time he started to play baseball. His leadership has continued during his first several years in the major leagues. Now, he is expanding the second by extending his relationship with the Mets community.\n\nThis past season, Michael visited The Cancer Center for Kids at NYU Winthrop Hospital and its Children’s Medical Center in Mineola. “Conforto Cares” is Michael’s program that raises awareness about pediatric cancer and the challenges faced by its young patients.\n\nFor a while, “Conforto Cares” regularly had hosted young patients and their families at the Mets Citi Field home. Michael, however, decided that he also wanted to visit the youngsters at their temporary home where they receive their daily treatments. This past summer, during the first of many visits, Michael distributed Mets t-shirts to the patients and family members. He also provided pop-up replicas of the Mets home-run apple. Autographs and photos, of course, were a popular feature with the kids.\n\nBack at the ballpark, whenever the children and their families visit, Michael and the Mets string together a series of hits for a memorable day. Their guests receive a tour of the stadium and the Mets clubhouse. They learn about scoreboard operations, and this includes seeing the magic button that raises the authentic home-run apple in centerfield. The children also practice their swings in the batting practice cages. Then, it is time for lunch with Michael.\n\nMichael’s goal is to help these children forget about the rigors of their treatments and just enjoy themselves as kids. “Conforto Cares” is a grand slam!\n\nA Family Dedicated To Badminton\nNov 15, 2018Posted by james\n\nMany children enjoy the same sports and other activities as their parents. A few even become as successful at it as a mom or dad.\n\nEthan Wu is a senior at Great Neck South High School. He excels at first singles badminton. His dad, Chibing, also was a champion player.\n\nChibing won the bronze medal in mixed doubles as a member of the Chinese national team during the 1989 World Badminton championships. He then coached the Spanish national team at the 1992 Olympics before moving to New York. He founded the New York City Badminton Club.\n\nHis son is just over six feet, which gives Ethan an advantage on the court. While some players may take two or three lunge steps before a hit, Ethan needs only one. But, his game is more than genetics.\n\nMany players at this age do not put in the “thinking” about their game. They give in to the excitement of the competition and the adrenaline rush after a good shot. Many of them just want to smash the birdie each time.\n\nEthan is different. He remains calm. He uses his head and does not rush his game. As a freshman, he won the individual Nassau County title at second singles. Since then, he has placed second twice to the overall county champion.\n\nThere is more to the story. Another Wu, Ryan, also plays badminton. He is a couple of years behind his brother, playing second singles at the same school. Could he be better than Ethan? Time will tell. No doubt both boys bring joy to Chibing.\n\nKeeping An Eye On What Is Important\nNov 01, 2018Posted by james\n\nCazenovia High School sophomore Jake Tobin was in the lead at the boys’ junior varsity cross-country race during the Auburn Invitational in upstate New York. He had about 200 meters to cover when another runner passed him.\n\nLuke Fortner, a Fairport High School senior, is legally blind. He passed Jake as they were running up the final steep hill. The crowd was cheering for Luke when he slipped in the mud and fell.\n\nWithout hesitation, Jake, who also had been supportive of Luke’s competitive spirit, helped lift his fellow runner with the assistance of Luke’s aide. The three then crossed the finish line.\n\n“Jake got down and lifted him up with his guide, and then helped push him up the hill,” Cazenovia cross-country coach Jason Hyatt told the local newspaper. “It was touching to see, and it will be a memory I’ll carry with me for a long time. A great example of true sportsmanship.”\n\nLuke’s coach applauded Jake in an email to Cazenovia High School. “It was an awesome display of sportsmanship and kindness,” he wrote. “Jake deserves to be commended!!!!”\n\nOther coaches and parents recounted that Jake spontaneously aided Luke and helped push him up the hill. “It was one of those moments that kind of makes your day,” said one parent. “Jake is a really good kid, and I’m not surprised he did it.”\n\nAnother email was sent to Cazenovia:\n\n“Wanted to write your school to tell you how impressed I was by your XC team member today at the Auburn Invitational. He was running towards the finish when a Fairport team member passed him. The crowd was cheering for the Fairport team member due to his vision impairment. Your XC team member did not only cheer and clap for him as the student tried to run up the hill in front of him, but stopped and helped him to his feet when he slipped…wanted to commend him and his great sportsmanship he showed to his fellow competitor.”\n\nSoon after, the story went viral and it ran around the world. Well done, Jake!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7684643864631653}
+{"content": "India is a country in central Asia. It is a setting for the film 2012.\n\nIn the Film Edit\n\nAt the start of the film, it shows the Naga Deng Cooper Mine, where it's discovered about the solar flares heating up the Earth's core, which will lead to the disaster. It also shows inside Satnam Tsurutani's house and later when Satnam is stranded with a mega-tsunami in the Nampan Plateau region about to hit him. It is presumed that much of the country is underwater, which might have killed up to a billion.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9661311507225037}
+{"content": "\n\nScience: Key Concepts\n\n\nundefined, object\ncopy deck\nWhat happens at deep-ocean trenches?\nIn a process taking 10s of millions of years, part of the ocean floor sinks back into the deep-ocean trenches\nWhat causes convection currents?\nHeating and cooling of the fluid, changes in the fluid's density, and the force of gravity combine to set convection currents in motion\nWhat was Alfred Wegener's hypothesis about continents?\nWegener's hypothesis was that all the continents had once been joined together in a single landmass and have since drifted apart\nWhat are the 3 types of plate boundaries?\nThere afe 3 kinds of plate boundaries: divergent boundaries, convergent boundaries, and transform boundaris. A different type of plate movement occurs along each.\nWhat is the process of sea-floor spreading?\nIn sea-floor spreading the sea floor spreads apart along both sides of a mid-ocean ridge as new crust is added. As a result, the ocean floors move like conveyor belts, carring the continents along with them.\nHow have geologists learned about Earth's inner structure?\nGeologists have used 2 main types of evidence to learn about Earth's interior: direct evidence from rock samples and indirect evidence from seismic waves\nWhat is the theory of plate tectonics?\nThe theory of plate tectonics explains the formation, movement, and subduction of Earth's plates\nWhat evidence supported Wegener's hypothesis?\nWegener gathered evidence from different scientific fields to support his ideas about continental drift. He studied land features, fossils, and evidence of climate change\nHow is heat transferred?\nThere are 3 types of heat transfer; radiation, conduction, and convection\nWhy was Wegener's hypothesis rejected by most scientists of his day?\nWegener could not provide a satisfactory explanation for the force that pushes or pulls the continents\nWhat is the evidence for sea-floor spreading?\nSeveral types of evidence supported Hess's theory of sea-floor spreading eruptians of molten material, magnetic stripes in the rock of the ocean floor, and the ages of the rocks\nWhat causes convection currents in Earth's mantle?\nHeat from the core and the mantle itself causes convection currents in the mantle\nWhat are the characteristics of Earth's crust, mantle, and core?\nThe 3 main layers of Earth are the crust, the mantle, and the core. These layers vary greatly in size, composition, temperature, and pressure\n\nDeck Info", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7995157241821289}
+{"content": "Spiritual Yoga\n\nThis is a write up of the talk given by Prashant Shah (http://spiritual-living.in) in London on 14 April 2013, at the Discovery Day Program by Solar Events.\n\nPrashant’s talk in London\n\n\nThe Inner Life\n\n\n\n\n\nThe two levels of consciousness\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe process of spiritual growth\n\n\n\n\n\nThe method of Spiritual Yoga\n\n\n\n\n\nThe technique\n\n\n\nIs Spiritual Yoga theistic or atheistic?\n\n\n\nThe author is a spiritual guide for aspirants of Mantra Yoga. To know more, read the author’s book: Solving the Problems of Life’; click here: http://a.co/fDEjbYR. And for the book ‘The Art of Awakening the Soul’ the URL is http://a.co/jfAc1bf\n\n\nAdvanced Workshops\n\nBy Prashant S. Shah, http://www.spiritual-living.in\n\n\n  1. The Cosmos according to Occult Philosophy\n  2. The Cosmic Cycle and the Sign of Our Times\n  3. The Way of the Mystic\n  4. How to Recognise a Sage?\n  5. The Hidden Side of Spiritual Practice\n  6. EKS: A Growth and Success Strategy\n\n\nParticipants in New York, 2011\n\n1. The Cosmos according to Occult Philosophy\n\nThis workshop gives you an insight into the place of the human being in the cosmos. Here, the human being is a microcosm, a miniature of the cosmos; and the growth of the human being is related to the development of the inner bodies and faculties on the interior planes of the cosmos.\n\nThe questions for the workshop are: What is the spiritual purpose of our human life on earth? What are the inner worlds? What is the correspondence between the inner worlds and our subtle bodies? What remains of us after death? How do we grow on the inner planes? What is the cosmos in occult philosophy? What is the law of correspondence? What is the place of ‘the occult’ in spiritual life? What is the nature of occult experiences?\n\n\n  • How Charles Darwin made a monkey out of us. The evolution of consciousness. The four stages in the evolution of life in the cosmos.\n  • The occult constitution of the human being. The inner planes and how we function on them. What develops as we grow spiritually?\n  • Occult cosmology: Placing a human being in the cosmos. Microcosm as the little world. Using astrology to illustrate the law of correspondence.\n  • The place of ‘the occult’ in spiritual life. Understanding occult experiences.\n\nSome Opinions Received:\n\n  1. An excellent exposition with many sets of examples symbols and charts. Paul Czkevianianc, paulc@questpartnersllc.com\n  2. (It was) a great course, but there is lots to digest. Very insightful. It gets better and better each time I do this course. Elizabeth, aleliz@aol.com\n  3. Prashant’s physical presence and his simple way of saying it wins my trust. The course answered many questions and raised many more! David, davyc67@yahoo.com\n  4. This course was an eye-opener. The discussion was very profound and subtle. I enjoyed the discussion on the correspondence between the planets and the emotional energies the most. Carmen, cla516@aol.com\n  5. Everything was very clear. You have retained the flavour of ancient things while making them accessible to the modern mind. Frank, nyudonne@aol.com\n  6. (This course was) very interesting. I pointed out the gaps in my practice. When you say these things they seem to be so simple, but when we do the practice we find it is a lot harder. Ludy, ludy_mr@hotmail.com\n\n\n2. The Cosmic Cycle and the Sign of Our Times\n\nModern humanity, in the age of science, has made a lot of progress; we all can see it. However, we don’t see what humanity has lost in the process of making this progress. In this workshop we begin by showing this. We evaluate the progress in the modern world from the point of view of the spiritual purpose of human life. The aim is not to be critical of modern developments, but to make you aware of the nature of the challenge that is coming in the near future.\n\nIn particular, we show that the world is on the brink of a change in consciousness; and we, as human beings, can either participate in making the changes in ourselves and in society, or we can resist these changes. Further, to participate in these changes we have to prepare ourselves, since the new era demands ‘higher level’ solutions of a different kind. The message of this workshop will be most valuable to people who wish to serve as spiritual workers for the new era.\n\n\n  • Introduction: The two basic levels of human consciousness; the cosmic cycle; understanding the ‘men of antiquity’; why the present time is called the Dark Age.\n  • Spirituality lost: What makes an idea sacred or profane; what is more important, knowing the whole or knowing the parts? Uniformity as the opposite of unity; the false supremacy of reason.\n  • Counter spirituality: The decay of religions; confusing the super-conscious with the subconscious; mistaking the occult for the spiritual; the mushrooming growth of pseudo-cults.\n  • The New Age: The ending of an era; how to participate in the coming of the new era; towards a change in consciousness; some expected changes in society.\n\nThis program is based on the speaker’s book: The Crisis of Modern Humanity.\n\nSome Opinions received:\n\nThis was the most vibrant of all the teaching I experienced this time around. It felt as if you reached me directly with no filters. It helped to bolster my optimism about what is coming. I am thankful to be in a state to receive this powerful message. Frank, nyudonne@aol.com.\n\n\n3. The Way of the Mystic\n\nBehind the superficial existence of a leaf there is a greater existence of the tree. In the same way, behind your individual and personal consciousness there is the greater consciousness of the soul and the over-soul.\n\nHere first, you install a presence of the greater consciousness in your mind. Next, you involve it in your affairs. It will develop your ‘truth sense’ and give you the guidance you need. Then you will not be easily misled by the tendencies and wishes in your mind, or be deceived by the people in your environment.\n\n\n  • The basics of mysticism: the relationship between your personal consciousness and the God consciousness\n  • The technique of mysticism: making a personal God and learning to attune with it\n  • Devotional exercise: making God a reality in your life; living for God’s sake; stages in the awakening\n  • The levels in the practice; the doctrine of the mystics\n\nDuration: 8 hours\n\nTo know more, read the book: ‘The Art of Awakening the Soul’ by Prashant S. Shah. The URL is http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AXI9BRW/\n\nSome Opinions received:\n\n  1. This workshop has reinforced my spiritual practice. Now I turn to the Deity often. It has led me to see things from a totally new perspective. Frank, nyudonne@aol.com.\n  2. This is my favourite course. It has really made me go for it. I could rename it as ‘mysticism for practitioners’. Ferdinand, seibert@hotmail.com\n  3. I have taken this course several times and it has become a major basis of my spiritual practice. Bob, boblester@hotmail.com\n\n\n4. The Hidden Side of Spiritual Practice (Sadhana)\n\nSpiritual practice is not about worshipping Gods, performing rituals; or following some moral precepts. The main aim is to clear the impurities from the mind so that you can mirror the calm, intelligent and balanced state of the higher consciousness.\n\nIn this task the techniques of concentration, prayer, meditation, breath control, gazing, etc. can only help you to an extent. To have a real breakthrough you have to overcome the forces inside your nature that RESIST the ways of the higher consciousness. Here you do not work to learn new things. Instead, you work to unlearn many things and to break away from the mindset that binds you to the lower consciousness.\n\nIn this workshop first you understand the psychological side of spiritual growth. Next, you observe the mental tendencies that seem to obstruct your spiritual awareness. Then, you learn to overcome these tendencies and clear up the faults in your perceptions. When this work is done you will be able to see yourself, the people and the situations of life better. You will not merely see things as they show themselves, but you will see them as they really are.\n\n\n  • Introduction: The nature of spiritual quest; quantum learning; place of purification in spiritual life.\n  • Working with emotions: Observing the emotions; balancing your perceptions; emotions in relationships.\n  • Working with thoughts: The outer mind and its deceptions; introspection and disillusioning.\n  • Cleaning the subconscious: The conflicts inside the mind; breaking habits; releasing suppressed emotions; overcoming the mental-self; towards direct awareness.\n\nSome Opinions Received:\n\n  1. This is a great course that makes us aware of where we really are and where we can get to. It has made me aware and watchful of many things. It has removed so many of my illusions! Elizabeth, aleliz@aol.com\n  2. (It was) an extraordinary course with a superb presentation. The need to control the emotions instead of justifying them impressed me the most. Some of the exercises were remarkable and I can see some positive changes in me. Carmen, cla516@aol.com\n  3. This course was AA++. There is an immediacy about it — a direct connection, like being plugged into a live source of energy. Frank, nyudonne@aol.com\n\n\n5. EKS: A Growth and Success Strategy\n\nEKS is a ‘holistic approach’ to managing your affairs in an ‘open system’. It shows you how you should conduct yourself so that you can have sure growth and remain always wanted. The method was originally devised by Wolfgang Mewes of Frankfurt. It consists of a simultaneous application of the energy laws, cybernetic control and a benevolent strategy. An outline of our presentation of EKS is given under ‘TALKS’. Click here https://darshanacentre.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/inspiring-talks/\n\nThe Course Contents\n\nPart-1: The Basic EKS\n\nSession-1: Introducing Cybernetics and Systems Thinking.\n\nSession-2: Using Strategy and the Energy Laws: Growth, concentration and gap behaviour.\n\nSession-3: Energy Laws continued: Developing into the depth; bottleneck orientation; settling on a target group.\n\nSession-4: Leaning to value of intangible assets; centralised versus cybernetic control; deciding your growth strategy.\n\nPart-2: Advanced Applications of EKS\n\nSession-5: The hierarchy of problems; Specialization; The growth spiral.\n\nSession-6: Socially oriented specialization; finding your social basic-task; demarcating your target group.\n\nSession-7: Locating the bottleneck; having outward looking behaviour; motivation through feedback.\n\nSession-8: An overview of EKS strategy and problems solving.\n\nDURATION: Each session is of two hours. The total duration of Part-1 and Part-2 is 16 hours.\n\nAbout the Program:\n\nThis course was originally devised by Prashant Shah to assist students of the ‘Advanced Management Diploma Program on Energo-Cybernetic-Strategy’ (called EKS), which was then conducted jointly by the Baroda Productivity Council and Mewes Systems of Frankfurt, Germany.\n\nOver the years he has conducted this program for many groups in India and USA. He uses this EKS method to help people solve their personal, professional and business problems. This method is very striking, simple to understand, and easy to use. The best part, however, is that if you follow it consistently, it always works.\n\nWhat Our Participants Say:\n\n  1. You got all of us charged up. Now we use ‘bottleneck’, ‘concentration’, ‘gap’, ‘feedback’, etc. in our routine discussions. We look forward to having a refresher program when you visit next year. (Asheem Aggarwal, Chief Guru, New York).\n  2. I took your workshop only because a friend had recommended it very strongly. I expected to get some up-to-date ideas. However, I was totally amazed. This is a totally new way of looking at the issues of growth and success. Your presentation was very clear and enjoyable. The catchy words that you use make these difficult concepts easy to grasp. I’m happy I took this course. (KS, Management Consultant, Bombay).\n  3. This systems approach to management makes the issues of our business extremely clear. The program was much superior to the other (management) programs that we’ve had. It has really boosted our confidence. (N. C. Mehta, CEO, Bell Ceramics, Baroda).\n  4. Your course was very insightful. In many places it consisted in simply putting already known, but disparate concepts, in one cohesive framework… It has opened my eyes to the fact that things happen of their own, and more often we are facilitators to a process that is happening with or without us! (A.H., Partner in financial business, New York).\n  5. Your words are now engraved in my mind: “Develop your unique strength, grow into the gap between others, find superior solutions to the problems of your target group, and concentrate your efforts on removing the bottleneck.” Truly, I feel very confident. Thank you very much. (NMD, Works Manager, Bombay.)\n\n\nIntroductory (Spiritual) Workshops\n\nParticipants in New York, 2011\n\nConducted by Prashant S. Shah, http://www.spiritual-living.in\n\n\n  1. Understanding Karma and Destiny\n  2. Concentration and Mind Training\n  3. The Art of Succeeding with People\n  4. Restore your Health Naturally\n  5. Living by intuition\n  6. The Spiritual Tradition of the Ancient Hindus\n  7. The Biochemic Way to Health\n  8. How to Recognise a Sage?\n\n\n1. Understanding Karma and Destiny\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSome Opinions received:\n\n  1. I see some karmic debts that I have to repay and I’m going to set right some balances. Frank, nyudonne@aol.com.\n\n\n2. Concentration and Mind Training\n\nThe fine art of succeeding with yourself\n\n\n\nIn this workshop you learn to:\n\n  • Concentrate the mind through chanting\n  • Use concentration in everyday life\n  • Develop your will-power through steady gazing\n  • Deal with negative thoughts\n  • Use thought power\n  • Overcome negative emotions\n\nThis program is conducted in 8 hours (4 sessions of 2 hours each). If you need assistance in implementing these ideas, kindly read Mind-Training and Meditation under ‘Correspondence Courses’. We also have an interesting book on the subject: ‘Solving the Problems of Life’ by Prashant S. Shah; the URL is http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0176HQSOG. https://www.amazon.com/Solving-Problems-Life-Spiritual-Seekers/dp/1518786650/\n\nSome Opinions received:\n\n  4. The topic was difficult, but it was delivered very simply and very well. Tokes Coker, tokeskoker@handsoflight.co.uk\n  5. I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop and recommend it highly for life enhancement. Jessica Hothersall, jessicahothersall@btinternet.com\n  11. This course made me appreciate many things that I used to take for granted. Elizabeth, aleliz@aol.com\n\n\n3. The Art of Succeeding with People\n\nLearning Interpersonal Skills\n\n\n\n\n\n  • The importance of interpersonal skills\n  • The psychology of the other person\n  • The art of negotiation\n  • Man and woman relationships\n  • The win-win option\n  • The stages in maturity\n  • Teamwork\n\nSome Opinions received:\n\n  3. This workshop goes far beyond the obvious. I’ve learnt to be more tolerant, tending and caring. Elizabeth, aleliz@aol.com\n\n\n4. Restore your Health Naturally\n\nA Simple Solution to your Health Problems\n\n\n\n\n  • Healing the body by changing the consciousness; correcting emotional disorders\n\nDuration: 8 hours\n\n\nSome Opinions Received:\n\n  4. (It was) a superb discussion — very practical and accessible. Frank, nyudonne@aol.com\n\n\n5. Living by Intuition\n\n\n\n\n  • The place of self-consciousness & intuition in occult philosophy\n\n\n6. The Spiritual Tradition of the Ancient Hindus\n\n\n\n\n  • Introducing the law of karma; whatever happens is justice\n  • Dharma; freedom and contentment got by practising dharma\n  • The modern world as seen through traditional eyes\n  • Marriages modern and traditional; the method of traditional learning\n\n\n7. The Biochemic Way to Health\n\n\n\n\n  • The principles of Biochemic Remedies and Holistic Healing\n\nDuration: 4 hours\n\nThe discussion is based on Prashant’s book: “The Biochemic Prescriber, https://www.amazon.Duration: 8 hours\n\n\n8. How to Recognise a Sage?\n\n\n\n\n\nSome Opinions Received:\n\n\n\nA Journey Into the Higher Worlds\n\nA Pilgrimage into the Cosmos Within\n\nWe are born with a mind that directs our attention outward, towards things in the external world. Hence, we do not see the interior world or understand the realities of inner life. As a result we are easily confused about the true purpose of our life on earth or what we have come here to achieve.\n\nTo understand such things in the spiritual context, we have to journey into our interior; into the deeper realms of our own consciousness. What do we find? Here are some insights of this journey.\n\n\n  1. Our condition at the beginning\n  2. Taking control of our attention\n  3. The nature of the subconscious\n  4. What we see in the subconscious\n  5. The inner battle\n  6. After the victory\n  7. The separate awareness\n  8. The purpose of the separate awareness\n  9. Awareness beyond the mind\n\n1. Our condition at the beginning\n\nIn the beginning, that is before we undertake the journey within, into the interior of our own consciousness, our attention is exclusively turned outward, towards things in the external world. To begin this journey we have to withdraw some of our attention from outer things and direct it inward, into our interior.\n\nAt first this will be very difficult to do. Our mind is like a restless monkey. It keeps on hopping from one thing to another. It keeps us continuously distracts by outer things. We get fascinated by them. However, we cannot dwell on any one thing for sufficient time to really understand it. So, we observe everything superficially, and our understanding remains shallow.\n\nOur attention it totally caught up with personal thoughts. So we keep on think of ourselves, our pending matters, our desires, our possessions, or our future.\n\n2. Taking control of our attention\n\nWe can change this wandering tendency of the mind by practising concentration. Earlier our mind was like a ‘wild horse’, constantly resisting our control and distracting our attention. But as our concentration improves, this wild horse gets tamed. Our mind begins to listen to us; our attention follows our will.\n\nWe can use concentration practice to bring together all the scattered forces of our attention. When these different forces come together they are compelled to adjust and integrate themselves under the central leadership of our will. It makes our will strong and powerful.\n\nWe can use this strong will-power to control the thoughts and emotions that frequently occupy our mind. We do it by simply accepting the thoughts and emotions that we want, and by rejecting those we don’t want. In this way we can remove the distracting thoughts and disturbing emotions from our mind. It will make our mind becomes calm, alert and one-pointed.\n\nSuch a mind allows us to observe its contents – the thoughts and emotions that occupy it; and the mindset – the beliefs and tendencies that we use to interpret the happenings of life. We see how our habits and tendencies compel our behaviour. We see how these forces dominate our thinking and feelings, and decide our beliefs.\n\nNow we can begin to change this inner situation; to free our mind from the compulsions created by our habits and tendencies. However, when we try to change or re-set our habits and tendencies is that we only succeed in making some superficial or cosmetic changes; and even these changes are not long lasting. That is, when we relax our control the habits and tendencies tend to return.\n\nThat happens because our habits and tendencies are rooted in the subconscious, whereas our will-power is mainly functional in the conscious mind.\n\n3. The nature of the subconscious\n\nThe subconscious is a dark region of our mind. It is called ‘dark’ because here we do not see things clearly. Hence, we cannot observe how the forces work in this region.\n\nWe see things clearly at the surface, in the conscious mind; but here also our control is limited. That happens because some of these forces are supplied from below, from the subconscious.\n\nSo, what happens when we try to uproot a small or insignificant habit or tendency? The habit tends to return. That happens since the habit is empowered by the thoughts, emotions and desires that are connected with it in the subconscious. Since we do not see these connections clearly we take a compromising approach and settle for some small adjustments.\n\n4. What we see in the subconscious\n\nHowever, we can learn to take the ‘light of our awareness’ into the subconscious and observe these forces. Then we see the ‘hidden contents’ of our mind – our suppressed desires and emotions. They live here, and every now and then they come into our conscious mind and make us indulge them. Further, they make us justify having them. It gives them a hold in our nature and the right to return. In this way they break our will to resist them.\n\nWhen we can see the working of these forces clearly, we know that our tendencies have friends. They have made connections, associations and alliances with other forces in the subconscious. So, when we try to overcome even a simple habit, we are not we are not dealing with just one thing, but we are dealing with a whole web of forces. This web of forces is strong, and it can resist our effort to change. So what seems to be simple actually turns out to be difficult and complex.\n\nThe habits and tendencies of our nature are like ‘entities’ that have a parasite-like existence. They feed on our attention by keeping a hold over our vital urges, inclinations, imagination and mindset. However, once we see all this clearly we can begin to uproot our tendencies and change our habits.\n\n5. The inner battle\n\nBefore we change or uproot any habit or tendency, first we have to weaken it. We do it by finding its connections in our mind and disconnecting them. For example, if we want to overcome our craving for some food, we must begin by developing an aversion to having it. It will reduce its power.\n\nInitially the tendency is strong like a lion, but after we cut its connections it becomes weak like mouse. We cannot throw out the lion, but we can easily close up the mouse hole.\n\nOnce the tendency has lost its power, it cannot move us with its suggestions; it cannot decide our behaviour; and it cannot make us dance to its tune.\n\nHowever, these entities don’t leave us without putting up a fight. They may try to seduce us into believing that a life without (indulging) them will be dull, dry and uninteresting. And if we are taken up by such suggestions, we give them the right to continue or persist. Then they can again become active and try to dominate our awareness.\n\nIt is expected that there will be many battles inside the mind, and so for some time we may struggle. But if we persist, we will succeed. And the behaviour, urges, beliefs and philosophy that were built around this habit or tendency will also change.\n\n6. After the victory\n\nThe entities in our subconscious do not have a power of their own; they merely draw it from our will-power. So, when we overcome some habit or tendency, our will-power gets stronger. And with a stronger will-power it will be easier for us to overcome other bigger or more vital habits and tendencies.\n\nWe can continue this process until we have overcome all the contradictory forces within our nature. It will overcome our inner resistance to doing anything. And as a result, our internal conflicts, aversions, and subconscious reactions to the happenings in the world will also disappear.\n\nEarlier the forces in the subconscious would project illusions in our mind and tempt us or deceive us to scatter our force. But after we have cleared these entities from our subconscious, we do not experience wish or fear projections. Hence, we are not deceived easily. The light of our intellect pass right through the subconscious, so we see everything clearly. We do not act in ignorance and we are not easily fooled.\n\nIn the earlier stages of our spiritual practice we had to make a lot of effort to concentrate. Now our attention is free from the binding influences from the subconscious. Hence, no extra effort is needed. Our concentration is ‘at will’. We simply focus on something and our attention gets concentrated around it.\n\n7. The separate awareness\n\nThen we can keep the habit of keeping our mind in a concentrated state. It develops a ‘Separate Awareness’ within our consciousness. Something separates from our personal nature, but remains within our consciousness. It is a calm, wide and alert state of mind. It sees everything clearly, but it remains unaffected by what it sees. We can use this separate awareness to develop our insight and have a multidimensional point of view.\n\nInitially this ‘separate awareness’ remains in the background. So we have to concentrate upon it to access it. But gradually it develops into a faculty that we can use like other senses. It gives us clarity of vision and a sense of direction in life matters – it tells us where we should look for the truth. We still have to use the mind to work out the details, but with this faculty we don’t have to depend on mental inferences.\n\n8. The purpose of the separate awareness\n\nThe separate awareness greatly enlarges our field of knowledge and action. We can use it to look into the ‘mind of things’ and know the inner qualities and hidden motives in anything.\n\nFurther we can learn to transfer our will on to the separate awareness. It enables us to act on the inner planes of the cosmos and influence the happenings from there.\n\nHowever, the true purpose of this faculty is not for making some things happen, but it is for integrating the forces within our own consciousness. It will change ‘the state’ of our consciousness and how we function with it.\n\n9. Awareness beyond the mind\n\nAs we develop further, our awareness begins to recede inward. We become more conscious of our interior. First the contents of our mind (the thoughts, emotions, feelings and memories) become objective. Then the entire the interior worlds becomes objective, like external things.\n\nThen we can awaken in our dreams and travel consciously in the interior worlds. We can make the light of our awareness bright and carry the greater light into the interior worlds. We become aware of so many things that earlier we could not even imagine.\n\nAt a certain stage in our development something turns over within our consciousness and we awaken inside the separate awareness. An inner veil is lifted, which enables us to become directly aware of things by making an inner contact. Then the automatic subconscious processes that were earlier going on in the mind also get discontinued.\n\nEarlier we were led by social values and mental-inferences of right or wrong. Now we see such things as ignorant mental inferences that disturb the expression of living truth. Hence, we do not use them to function any more. We can draw our wisdom directly through direct awareness.\n\nSpiritual Alchemy through Yoga\n\nAdapted from the book ‘The Art of Awakening the Soul’ © 2011, Prashant S. Shah; http://www.spiritual-living.in\n\nAlchemy is the process of transforming Lead, your ordinary nature, into Gold, a spiritual being. How is this process accomplished through Yoga? How does it unveil the mysteries of the cosmos?\n\nHere we explain this process in terms of our growth in consciousness. It will also give an insight into esoteric doctrines like the Hermetic Wisdom and the Emerald Tablet.\n\n\n  1. The world as consciousness\n  2. Our personal consciousness\n  3. The human situation\n  4. What is Bondage?\n  5. The Separation\n  6. What is Purification?\n  7. The Alchemical Marriage\n\n\n1. The world as consciousness\n\nConsciousness is the basic stuff and the creative essence of the universe. Movement of consciousness has created the universe and all that is in it. The same consciousness that manifests as the universe is also the Self, the spiritual essence, of every individual being that arises in it. Hence, the metaphysical structure of the world is like a ‘woven fabric’, wherein subject consciousness (the essence) is the vertical thread, and object consciousness (the substance) is the horizontal thread.\n\nSince consciousness is everywhere, everything in the cosmos can be known. The consciousness in one form can connect with consciousness in another form and come to know things from inside out. This is direct knowing.\n\nHowever, in human beings consciousness is identified with the mind and body. Due to this identification the power of pure consciousness (the Self) is reduced to a ‘level of perception’ in the human mind. The particular level of perception depends on what our consciousness is attached to or associated with, and on its conditioning in the individual. Hence, the human mind can only know things INDIRECTLY, through inference and interpretation. This semi-conscious and roundabout way of figuring things out is called ‘mental knowledge’.\n\nAlchemy speaks of purifying Lead and transforming it into Gold. In the spiritual context, it is the process of transforming the consciousness from being a narrow and inferring mental-consciousness, to becoming a wider and directly aware consciousness of the Self.\n\n2. Our personal consciousness\n\nWhen consciousness identifies with our body, we experience physical fears and sensual desires. When it identifies with the mind, we experience its tendencies, beliefs and conditioning. All these things put their limitations on our consciousness. They cloud the transparency of pure consciousness in our Nature. Hence, we do not experience the world with a pure consciousness, but we experience it with a personal consciousness.\n\nThe personal consciousness generates a duplicate-self, called the mental-self. This mental-self creates a personal world from our thoughts and emotions, and it keeps us constantly engaged with them. As a result we think in terms of ‘me’, ‘my story’, ‘my likes’, ‘my fears’, ‘my desires’, ‘my way’, and ‘my possessions’.\n\n3. The human situation\n\nWhen we look deep into ourselves, into our subjective experience, instead of at the world, we can identify two parts of our being: One part is a consciousness that is totally calm. It sees and observes. We call it our Soul. The other part is a consciousness that is active and always doing something. It thinks and acts. We call it our Nature.\n\nAt the beginning of our spiritual quest these two parts of our being seem to be separate; they stand apart. The ‘observer consciousness’ is calm and reflective, whereas the ‘doer consciousness’ is restless and doing something.\n\nWe can understand the process of our growth in consciousness by relating these two parts of our being.\n\n4. What is Bondage?\n\nThe Soul quietly observes the activity of our Nature and mirrors it in its own consciousness. The Nature or the doer consciousness, on the other hand, acts out of its own impulse, not caring about the will of the observer, the Soul. Hence, our Nature dominates, and the Soul has no say in the decisions and actions of our Nature.\n\nAlthough these two parts of our being seem to be unrelated, there is a connection. The Soul observes the decisions and actions of our Nature, but it is unable to accept all of them. However, since the Soul is in a passive condition, it has to endure what it cannot accept. Hence, the association of Soul with our Nature is bondage for the Soul.\n\n5. The Separation\n\nOn deeper observation we find that although our Nature can act out of its own impulse, to carry on in this way it needs the acceptance of the Soul. When the Soul was passive, Nature took this acceptance automatically. However, once the Soul is awake, it can refuse to grant its acceptance.\n\nWhen our Nature acts according to the wishes of the Soul, the Soul accepts all the actions of our Nature. It does this by mirroring these actions in its consciousness. However, when Nature acts against the wishes of the Soul, the Soul can withhold its acceptance. It does this by refusing to mirror the actions of our Nature.\n\nThe Soul is an independent consciousness that lives in the spiritual world. When we identify ourselves with the Soul, we can separate ourselves from our Nature. Then the contents (thoughts, desires and emotions) of our mind become like objects. We can look upon them as things within us, but separate from us; we can remain unaffected by them. When we exercise this option, we are liberated from our bondage to a purely mental existence. We have a mind and body, but we experience ourselves as separate from them.\n\n6. What is Purification?\n\nThe Soul is an independent consciousness, whereas our Nature is a derived consciousness; it is formed in nature, but derived from impressions carried by the soul. Hence, our Nature arises out of the Soul and depends on it for its sustenance. The Soul has power over Nature and it can exercise the power.\n\nThe Soul sees the actions of our Nature and quietly mirrors them in its consciousness. By mirroring them it sanctions them. However, when our Nature acts out of its own impulse, the Soul can also refuse to mirror its actions. Then our Nature has to change its ways. Thus, the seeing of the Soul acts as a command for our Nature.\n\nTo experience the Soul consciousness we have to find something within us that is independent of the continuously changing thoughts and forms of life. Once we find this consciousness, we have to identify with it. Then we can know the right movement; we can know what the Soul wants our Nature to do. Then further, through a process of approving or disapproving the actions of our Nature, we can purify it and make it transparent to the Soul.\n\n7. The Al-chemical Marriage\n\nAlchemy uses the alternate movements of ‘separation’ and ‘purification’ to know and change the habits, tendencies and conditioning of our Nature. As our Nature gets purified we overcome the contradictory energies and divisions within our consciousness. Then the Soul and our Nature begin to dance to one tune. Our Nature acts according to the wishes of the Soul; and the Soul accepts all the actions performed by our Nature. This is the famous alchemical marriage or ‘MATING’ in consciousness.\n\nFrom this mating a new consciousness is born, which is undivided and totally different from our earlier ‘mental consciousness’. It is neither subjective nor objective, but something all inclusive and beyond. This consciousness holds the key to the mysteries of the cosmos.\n\nThe Purpose of Our Life\n\n© 2010-18, Prashant S. Shah, http://www.spiritual-living.in\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe two levels of our consciousness\n\nThere is mortal part of us, the mental-self, which is running our outer life today. It is selfish and self-centered, and we all know it. However, there is also an immortal part of us, a soul, which gives us our sense of conscience and the feeling of unity. These two parts are like two beings within us. Both of them are represented in our mind, but individually they function at two separate levels of consciousness.\n\nWe can understand the two levels of our consciousness by COMPARING our life to the life of a tree: A tree has a trunk and leaves. The leaves come and go according to the seasons, but the trunk sustains for longer. Further, the consciousness in the leaf is essentially the same as the consciousness in the trunk. However, when the consciousness is confined to a part, the powers of consciousness are contracted. Then the consciousness in the part experiences itself as an individual with interests that are separate from the whole. Thus, the leaf experiences the burning in summer, the chill in winter, and the fear of extinction in the fall season; but the trunk does not experience this fear. It grows over the years.\n\nIn the same way, our perception and insight into life depend on how we regard and consider ourselves. If we consider ourselves to be just a body with a mind, we experience ourselves as separate individuals with selfish interests. The consciousness in us gets confined to our mind and body. And we live mainly to satisfy the desires in our mind and body. Thus we think in terms of comforts, sensual thrills, money and prestige.\n\nHowever, when we consider our identity as a soul, the in-dweller, we regard our mind and body as our possessions, like our car or house. Then our consciousness expands, and we can experience spiritual qualities and the higher values of life; we regard the forms of life and the conditions we are passing through as something temporary, like the leaves that come and go.\n\nFurther, the focus of our life shifts from outer growth to inner growth. Just as the trunk of a tree grows as it passes through the seasons, our inner life also matures as we assimilate our varied experiences from our existence on earth. Thus, the experiences of our mortal life mature the seeds of our immortal life. What we develop within us, stays with us; and we experience it as the STATE of our consciousness.\n\nThe Process of Spiritual Growth\n\nBoth the ordinary and the higher level consciousness are always reflected in our mind. However, initially we function mainly at the ordinary level. That is, we serve the mental-self, and in turn it keeps us preoccupied with physical activity and egoistic pursuits.\n\nOur soul also has its influence in our mind. However, we give it so little attention that it seems to be something vague, hesitant and far removed. The result is that we do not experience the ‘unity principle’; our ‘truth sense’ is weak; and we cannot perceive any ‘deeper purpose’ to our life.\n\n\nTo grow spiritually, we REVERSE this situation. We can do that by simply changing our ‘point of view’. Instead of looking upon everything from the ordinary level, and giving an ordinary meaning to higher things, we have to begin to look upon everything from the higher level, and try to give a spiritual significance to higher things. When we can do that sufficiently, it will change the ‘level’ of our perceptions. It will change ‘from where’ we see and ‘from what depth’ we see.\n\nGradually we can see everything as a part of a much LARGER PICTURE: Then we can situate everything correctly; we can put each thing into its proper place; we can look at the significance of what is happening; and we can also know the motives that are involved. As a result we are not easily deceived by outer appearances.\n\nThe Spiritual Purpose of our life\n\nWhen we function mainly with the ordinary consciousness, we only hear the voice of our mental-self. It says: “Play it safe and do as others are doing. Don’t try to be insightful or take unnecessary risks — you may have to face unnecessary difficulties, rejection or failure.” But when we follow the ordinary consciousness we live as a pretender or worse, as a commuter — someone who has to get up every morning with the crowd and do the job just to earn enough money to pay the bills. We may live comfortably, be able to pay our bills on time, and do everything by the book. But after doing all this we still feel that such a life is not really worth living. We cannot feel enthusiastic about living in this way.\n\nOn the other hand, when we can mirror the higher consciousness in our mind we can sense the deeper purpose to our life. We feel happy to know that there is more to our life than being a commuter. We feel that there is a deeper purpose for which we have come to earth. Hence, we want to find it and serve it. And unless we do this we cannot be at peace with ourselves or feel fulfilled. So, we ask: “What is the deeper purpose of my life? What is my mission? What is the work I have come to do?”\n\nMost people think of finding life’s work in terms of career choices. However, it is more like involving the higher consciousness in the work we do. The task is to make our mind receptive to the higher consciousness and allow it to guide our actions and reorganize our inner-life. This task is complex and each one of us has to find our own answers, not intellectually, but by actually living our life. We do it in two parts. First we look for answers to our ‘proximate issues’. And after we have done that we can ask questions relating to life issues.\n\nWhen people begin their spiritual practice they often ask: “What happens if my practice is not successful?” Evidently they are looking for some tangible result –like mental or psychic power. However, if our task is to simply serve the higher consciousness, then the issue of achieving some tangible result becomes a non-issue. The effort itself becomes sacred; and the work itself becomes a privilege. Failure or success is only a mental judgement that we make against some expectation. In the true sense our failure is not pursuing what we have come here on earth to do!\n\nThe Coming of the New Era\n\nShivNeonIn the book ‘The Crisis of Modern Humanity’ we explained the concept of Cosmic Cycle and showed the significance of our times by describing the ‘Signs of Our Times’. In particular, we showed the modern trend is to generate a false spirituality by making it rational or psychological. This trend is expected to continue until a ‘critical point’ is reached, when a radical change in orientation can be expected. This change would transform the conditions and purposes with which people live on earth. Something similar has also been declared by many visionaries over the past century. We return to this discussion because the critical point is near. Our purpose is not to scare our readers, but to prepare them for a smooth transition into the new era. We expect that ‘fear based systems’ of our times will be replaced in the next era by systems based on a higher-level consciousness.\n\nTo be able to participate in the making of the new era, we have to first cultivate spiritual qualities in our nature. We cannot allow fear, selfishness, greed or falsehood to motivate us. The extent of our difficulties will depend on the traits we have developed so far and how enthusiastic we are in making the necessary changes. The difficulties we may have to experience will not be caused by the new era; they will arise due to our attachment to the modern life-style, which is a product of the ordinary-level consciousness.\n\nToday all kinds of practices have sprung up under the banner of ‘New Age Practices’. To name a few, you have past-life regression therapy, psychoanalysis, tantric worship, scientology, pyramid therapy, ceremonial magic and elaborate ritual practices. Many shops have arisen to sell ‘New Age Products’ and numerous ‘New Age Gurus’ have come in to market their ‘brand’ of spirituality. The symbols and techniques that were used to prepare a person for spiritual living have been hijacked today. People now use them with the opposite intent – to pursue their egoistic and mundane goals. The title of ‘New Age’ has also become a brand for generating business opportunities!\n\nMuch of the ‘New Age Information’ is propagated through the internet. It is cleverly adapted to promote commercial interests and gain cheap popularity. People sometimes ask: “Why true spirituality cannot become popular with the masses?” The answer is simple. Popularity requires a wide base; and the masses, particularly in our modern times, are most uncomprehending. Hence, if something has to be made popular, it has also to be brought down to the level of comprehension of the masses. On the other hand spirituality seeks to lift up the person, so that he or she can become adequate for higher knowledge. But lifting the level of our comprehension is something each one of us has to do for ourselves. It is not something that someone else can do for us. Hence, it is expected that true spirituality will remain unpopular with the masses.\n\nPeople who live by selfishness, greed, sensuality, corruption and falsehood will certainly find it difficult to function in the new era. Their personal value system will collapse and they may find it difficult to adjust to the new higher-value system. Hence, they may fall out.\n\nHowever, there are many persons who accept the terms of the new era. They want to participate in the change that is happening without getting disoriented. Here we address them here.\n\nWhen the critical point is reached, each one of us has to make a DECISIVE CHOICE. Either we go along with the spirit of the New Era (by overcoming our preoccupation with our lower nature and our attachments to the ordinary life) or we continue to live according to the norms of the ordinary life. If we choose the former, we can catch the truth in life and get lifted. If we ignore this choice, we can fall out or face rejection.\n\nHow can I Participate?\n\nMany spiritual seekers have asked this question in one way or another. What they really want to know is how they can actively participate in preparing for the new era. Here we indicate the way.\n\nThe ordinary-level consciousness dominates the modern world today. However, it may become dysfunctional in the new era. When a person works with the ordinary level consciousness without any higher influence, he or she becomes selfish and cunning. The ordinary consciousness dehumanizes the social life; mechanizes the work; and generates monstrous growths in society in the form of insanity, cruelty, corruption, and vulgar entertainment.\n\nThese monsters do not arise from the ordinary-level consciousness; they arise from the sub-human levels after the human being has been cut off from the higher-level influence. Without the spiritual influence of the higher consciousness a person can be easily swayed by sub-human influences that arise from the nether worlds.\n\nMany strange and new things are arising in the modern world in the name of liberal and democratic values. They are not unexpected. They only show the decay in spirit, the decay in thought, and the decay in public life — at least from the spiritual or traditional point-of-view.\n\nEach person has to reverse this trend within themselves. Then they can extend ‘their presence’ to the society they are involved with.\n\nThe KEY idea of Spirituality is that wisdom and the higher values of life arise naturally in the mind when we make it responsive to a higher or spiritual consciousness. Thus, wisdom is never the result of developing the ordinary consciousness, which is what is wrongly attempted through modern education! Wisdom is the result of disciplining the mind and making it responsive to the higher consciousness.\n\nNo amount of supervision or legislature can curb personal and social evils. It can only be brought about by involving the higher consciousness in the individual and in public life. We can do it by serving the higher consciousness; and it won’t happen when we remain indifferent to it.\n\nThe higher consciousness lifts our thinking, our values, and our inner worth. It will reorganize our nature, and make us responsive to higher things. Then we can use our presence to re-organised the social systems we are involved with. In this way we can participate in establishing the higher consciousness in humanity.\n\nOn Promoting a Spiritual Mission\n\nThe primary aim of any mission is to spread its message so that it can REACH the people who are capable of using it. The secondary aim is to provide a ‘support services’ to those who want to IMPLEMENT the message in their life.\n\nHowever, for a mission to remain genuine, it has to also employ means that are in harmony with its aim. And that raises the question of motivation: “Should the mission be run like a ‘business for profit’ or as a non-profit (not non-profitable) service organisation?\n\nWhat is the difference? When a business is focuses on generating profits, it attract profiteers and people who side-track the organisation onto selling. A non-profit service organisation, on the other hand, can focus on providing genuine value without indulging in seductive claims and deceptions just to improve their numbers. Such an organisation will lack the means (money) to carry out its mission, but it should not change its ways just to get more money.\n\nWhat are the implications? You invite people who really want to ‘serve the cause’ and not encourage people who come in with the ulterior aim of using the opportunity to grow their personal business. The people have to be attracted with qualitative benefits and not with quantitative (financial) rewards. If they lack the motivation, it is better that they don’t join.\n\n\nA Brochure for Correspondence Courses\n\n\nIntroducing the inner life\n\nThe Courses\n\n1: Mind Training & Meditation\n\n2: Mantra Yoga\n\n3: Yoga-Mysticism\n\n4: Advanced Spiritual Practice\n\nAdvantages of learning through Correspondence\n\nAbout Darshana Centre\n\nAn Invitation\n\nCriteria for Admission\n\n\nIntroducing the Inner Life\n\n\n\n\n\nOn the Correspondence Courses\n\nThe spiritual practice is organised into four courses as follows:\n\n\nCourse-1: Mind Training & Meditation\n\n\n  1. Basic Meditation\n  2. Concentration in the everyday life\n  3. Developing your Will Power\n  4. Using Thought Power\n  5. Mastering your thoughts\n  6. Overcoming Negative Emotions\n\nCourse-2: Mantra Yoga\n\n\n  1. Reciting a mantra (Jap)\n  2. Meditating with a mantra (Dharna)\n  3. The mantra practice in the everyday life\n  4. Opening up your spiritual path\n\nCourse-3: Yoga-Mysticism\n\n\n  1. Steady Gazing (Tratak)\n  2. Installing a personal God\n  3. Tantric Yoga\n  4. Contemplation\n  5. Devotional Meditation\n  6. Living for God’s sake\n\nCourse-4: Advanced Spiritual Practice\n\n\n  1. The nature of the inner work\n  2. Deflating the emotions\n  3. The outer mind and its deceptions\n  4. Self-observation and disillusioning\n  5. Overcoming subconscious tendencies\n  6. Awareness beyond the outer mind\n\nAdvantages of learning through Correspondence\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbout Darshana Centre\n\n\n\n\nAn Invitation\n\nDear Reader,\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCriteria for Admission\n\n\nThe Application Form is on our site http://www.spiritual-living.in under the tab ‘Correspondence Courses’. Please download it and use it.\n\nLiving by Intuition\n\n\n© June 2016, Prashant S. Shah, http://spiritual-living.in\n\n\n\n\n\n  • Our higher nature and our ordinary nature\n  • Installing the spiritual seed\n  • Creating mental space\n  • Preparatory exercises\n  • The Practice\n  • The steps\n  • Some suggestions\n  • Some results\n\nOur Higher Nature and our Ordinary Nature\n\n\n\nInstalling the Spiritual Seed\n\n\nI am essentially a spiritual being;\nI am going to receive guidance and love from it.”\n\n\nCreating Mental Space\n\n\n  • Read story books regularly and reduce reading magazines and newspapers.\n\n\nPreparatory Exercises\n\na) Take Mini Breaks\n\n\nb) Create some ‘sacred space’ at home\n\n\nc) Keep a sacred spot\n\n\nThe Practice\n\n\nThe Steps\n\n  • Open yourself to intuitive guidance daily\n  • Expect intuitive guidance in all matters concerning your life\n\n\nSome Suggestions\n\n\nSome results\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Magic of Quantum Learning\n\nSummitCopyright © 2018, Prashant S. Shah; http://www.spiritual-living.in\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  • How our mind works\n  • The role of our Mental Models\n  • The no-learning habit\n  • Ordinary learning\n  • Quantum or spiritual learning\n  • The place of purification in spiritual life\n\nHow our mind works\n\n\n\nThe role played by our mental models\n\n\n\n\n\nThe no-learning habit:\n\n\n\n\n\nOrdinary learning:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nQuantum or spiritual learning:\n\n\n\n\nThe place of purification in spiritual life\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIf you want to implement the ideas contained in this article, please read our Course-4: Advanced Spiritual Practice (Sadhana) under the tab of ‘Correspondence Courses’ on our site http://www.spiritual-living.in\n\n\nThe Amazing Results with Mantra Yoga\n\nSpiritual Yoga\nSpiritual Yoga\n\nEach person is separate on the physical plane, but all of us are continuously interacting on the inner planes of the cosmos. So, when you think about someone, you not only connect up with the image of the person in your mind, you can go deeper and CONNECT UP the thoughts and feelings of that person and experience him. In this way all of us are continuously sending and receiving vibrations from others.\n\nHow do we perceive another person on the inner plane? Each person carries an overall or PERSONAL VIBRATION, and on the inner plane we can experience this vibration and know its affinity to the vibration that we carry. The personal vibration a person has is characteristic of their mindset, their conditioning, the organization of their consciousness and the individual capacities they have developed. They carry this vibration in their personal atmosphere, and this vibration has an effect on everyone and everything that they come across. In this way people put their impressions on things, and the impressions pass on further through a ripple effect.\n\nWe can also know the QUALITY of the vibration a person carries from the way in which they live, think; respond to others and their environment; and from the sort of things that absorbs their interest and attention.\n\nThe personal vibration decides a person’s inclination – the particular way in which they do things. It draws them into certain kinds of situations and conditions in life. For this reason it is said that people subconsciously choose their lucks and misfortunes long before they experience them. Further, if they continue to do things in the same way, they connect with the same kind of persons and get the same kind of results in life. However, if they mature through these experiences, it changes the quality of their personal vibration, and accordingly they connect with different kinds of persons and experience different situations and results.\n\nWhat happens when your personal vibration changes? It changes how you are organised within. As a result you begin to perceive everything differently. And that alters the mental models that you use to interpret everything. When you see things differently, you begin to do things differently. And how you do things influences upon the luck and events of your life.\n\nThus, the fundamental changes in your nature or life are accompanied by a change in the inner vibration your carry. In the natural course this change happens gradually, over a long period of time. However, through Mantra Yoga you can accelerate the change and do it deliberately. You do it by nurturing a living vibration that can make the necessary alterations in the overall vibration that you carry. The new vibration develops a truth sense in you, and you can use it to guide your perceptions and actions in the situations of life.\n\nThe practice of Mantra Yoga develops a separate awareness in you, which reflects the voice of your conscience and mirrors the ways of a higher consciousness. Then you can grow spiritually by trying to follow the inner directions. You have to overcome all the resistance in your nature that arises as you try to do that. You have to continue the practice for some time until the new vibration becomes the basis of your perceptions and actions. It will bring about a change in your consciousness. Then instead of mirroring the higher consciousness, you can function with it. Then instead of searching for the light of truth in darkness, you can intuitively know what is true and how true it is.\n\nWe have a course on Mantra Yoga. Look under the tab of Correspondence Courses", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5503302812576294}
+{"content": "\"I always feel helpless watching how we human beings destroy nature to satisfy our ever-increasing consumption. We all act as if we have no choice but to consume more and more. One day I was looking at the moss I collected from the forest and suddenly thought, What would it be like if I eat moss? I tried to eat it and recorded my act. The taste was really awful.\"\n\nFEMA Studios S.r.l.s. - VAT: IT04220370276", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.87899249792099}
+{"content": "Les vidéos porno gratuites et les films porno xxx.  \n\nSophiagets fuck by her lover TS Kayleigh\n\nCLOSE - Play movie\nVues: 840\nDescription: Brunette Sophia Grace and Transbabe Kayleigh Coxx is talking about moving into California after a few minutes of talk Sophia tries to kiss Kayliegh and she respond she then sucks Kayleigh shecock. Soon Kayleigh fucks Sophias pussy in several positions.\nModèles: Kingstong, Jamaica Sophia Grace", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9726811647415161}
+{"content": "Darkly Chocolate Brownies\n\nI woke up craving chocolate, so I started these brownies. They are mixed in a large double boiler, so there isn’t a lot of cleanup. Oh, and they get better as they sit (they are very gooey when first taken out of the oven but firm up with time) as the chocolate gets even more intense the next day.\n\n\nDarkly Chocolate Brownies\n\n1 cup (2 sticks) butter\n5 ounces unsweetened chocolate\n1/4 cup cocoa powder\n2 cups sugar\n1 tablespoon vanilla\n3 large eggs\n1-1/4 cup flour\n3/4 cups bittersweet chocolate chips\n1/4 cup roasted cacoa nibs\n\nPreheat oven to 350 degrees.\n\nIn a large double boiler or in a large bowl over a saucepan with some water in it, melt the butter with the unsweetened chocolate over low heat, stirring occasionally. When smooth and melted, sprinkle on cocoa powder and whisk to combine. Remove the pan from heat and allow to cool slightly.\n\nUsing a hand mixer, mix in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time. Reducing mixer speed to low, mix in the flour. Add the chocolate chips and cacoa nibs and stir just until combined.\n\nPour the very thick batter into a buttered 8 x 8 or 9 x 13 baking pan (a square pan will result in thicker brownies). Smooth the top and place in the oven.\n\nBake for 40 minutes, then check the brownies with a toothpick. If it is overly gooey/messy, return to the oven for 5 to 10 more minutes. Don’t leave them in there until the toothpick comes out clean, though, as that would be too long.\n\nAllow to cool completely before cutting into small squares. The brownies are very rich!\n\n\nPeppermint Bark Brownies\n\nI received as a present several Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark with Dark Chocolate bars from my good friend, Judy. I was happily munching on one while watching a cooking show where the chef broke up a bar of chocolate over the top of the brownies before he baked them. Brilliant idea!\n\nI’m using as a starting off point the deeply rich and delicious Cocoa Brownie 2.0 recipe from Alton Brown. I did make a few adjustments to eliminate some of the fussiness but the intense cocoa plus the dark chocolate peppermint bark bar makes for some marvelously decadent brownies.\n\n\nPeppermint Bark Brownies\n\n4 large eggs\n3/4 cup granulated sugar\n3/4 cup packed light brown sugar\n1 cup cocoa powder (not Dutch process)\n1/4 cup all-purpose flour\n1/2 teaspoon salt\n8 ounces unsalted butter, melted\n2 teaspoons vanilla extract\n3 ounce bar Peppermint Bark with Dark Chocolate\n\nPreheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan.\n\nBeat the eggs at medium speed in the mixer until fluffy and light yellow, 2 to 3 minutes.\n\nIn a separate bowl, combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, flour and salt. Drop the mixer speed to low and slowly introduce the sugar mixture. Follow with the butter and vanilla. Continue mixing until everything is well incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Break up the bar of chocolate into small pieces and scatter over the top of the brownies.\n\nBake the brownies for 15 minutes, then remove them from the oven for 15 minutes.\n\nPut them back in the oven for 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out just a little sticky.\n\nCool in the pan for 3 minutes, then lift the brownie out using the parchment paper as a sling.\n\nCut the brownies into pieces and move to a rack to cool completely.\n\n\nIndulgent Dark Chocolate, Caramel and Pecan Brownies\n\nIMG_1600During the holidays, I bought a make-your-own six pack of locally produced craft beers and held on to the Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan to use in a brownie recipe I pulled from a magazine.\n\nThe original recipe highlighted a chocolate and caramel beer (La Resolution by Unibroue) but I figured the brownies would be even better with a pecan inspired one.\n\nIf anyone fixes both, let me know which you liked better!\n\nIndulgent Dark Chocolate, Caramel and Pecan Brownies\n\n2 cups bittersweet chocolate morsels, divided\n1 stick butter\n1 cup flour\n3/4 cup cocoa powder\n1 teaspoon instant coffee\n1/4 teaspoon salt\n4 large eggs\n1 cup granulated sugar\n1 cup Southern Pecan Ale, room temperature\n3/4 cup toffee bits (I used Heath)\n1/2 cup pecans, chopped\nflake salt\n\nPreheat oven to 374 degrees F.\n\nMelt 1 cup of the bittersweet chocolate morsels and butter in a double boiler. Stir well and remove from heat when butter and chocolate are entirely melted.\n\nCombine the flour, cocoa powder, coffee and salt together in a mixing bowl and stir. Set aside.\n\nIn a mixer, beat the eggs and granulated sugar until light and foamy. Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Mix well. Slowly add the flour mixture. Finally, add the beer, the nuts, the toffee bits and the final cup of bittersweet chocolate morsels.\n\nPour into a well buttered 9×13 pan. Sprinkle a little bit of flake salt on the top and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Let cool completely before cutting.\n\nEven better a la mode", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6792279481887817}
+{"content": "We accept\n\nLeitmotif Was A Musical Idea Film Studies Essay\n\nRomantic music is a term describing a method of traditional music that started out in the late 18th century or early on 19th century. Charming music as a motion came from the formats, genres and musical ideas created in the earlier period, like the classical period. Although it gone further in the name of appearance and merging of different art work forms with music. Romanticism will not always make reference to loving love, although that theme was prevalent in many works made up during this time period. Romanticism parts are thought as more ardent and expressive. 1 The extension of form within a typical structure, and the growing quirkiness and expressiveness of new composes from the new century; it became easier to identify an artist based on his work or style.\n\nRomantic music attempted to increase emotional manifestation and power to summarize deeper truths or real human thoughts, whilst still trying to protect the formal structures from the classical period.\n\n\nA Leitmotif is a musical term which means a brief and constantly recurring musical phrase. It is associated with a particular person, place or idea. The term itself originates from the German word Leitmotiv, indicating leading motif or guiding motif. A motif is a short musical idea - melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic and a substantial recurring amount that has some special importance for the characteristics of your composition. Though it is usually a short melody, it's rather a chord progression or even a simple tempo. Leitmotifs can help bind a work together into a whole, and enable the composer to connect a tale without the use of words.\n\nThe ability of the approach was used early on in the nineteenth century by composers of the Romantic Period. 1 Continuing styles or ideas were sometimes used in association with specific personas.\n\nRomantic music used Leitmotif to help narrate, individuals were aware of the musical code and the organizations with personas and situations which allowed directors to determine and complete plot ideas through audio. 2\n\nExample of composers/famous bits who used Leitmotif\n\nRichard Wagner is the earliest composer that can be from the idea of Leitmotif. His circuit of four operas, entitled \"Der Band des Nibelungen\", uses dozens of Leitmotifs, often related to specific personas, things, or situations. Wagner raised the issue of how music could unite different elements of the plot of the music crisis in his Opera; the Leitmotif strategy corresponds to the ideal. Wagner used Leitmotifs for his or her role in musical form and emotional effect.\n\nRichard Georg Strauss, delivered on the 11th of June 1864 and passed on on the 8th of September 1949 was a leading German composer of the late Intimate and early modern eras. Strauss used Leitmotifs in a lot of his operas and several of his symphonic poems to set-up mood and emotion in his music. Arnold Schoenberg, who was simply blessed on the 13th Sept 1874 and passed away on the 13th of July 1951 was an Austrian composer and painter, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art. He used a complex set of Leitmotifs in his choral work, Gurre-Lieder which was completed 1911.\n\nModern composer John Williams was inspired by music of the Romantic Period and made use of \"Leitmotif\" in his film scores\n\nJohn Williams\n\nJohn Towner Williams was born in Long Island, USA, on the 8th of February 1932 into a musical family. In 1948, Williams' family relocated to LA, where he examined music at the University or college of California. Pursuing his nationwide service in the air power John Williams visited the Julliard Institution in New York, where he studied piano. He also proved helpful as a jazz pianist in clubs and on recordings.\n\nIn 1956, John Williams was employed by Twentieth Century Fox as a pianist in their studio orchestra, and he was also soon writing the music for some Television shows including - Lost in Space, Wagon Train and Land of the Giants. 4 On the studio Williams worked with great movie composers like Bernard Herrmann and Alfred Newman. In 1967, John Williams made the A set of movie composers when he wrote the Oscar-nominated credit score for The Valley of the Dolls.\n\nJohn Williams has obtained nearly 90 motion pictures and has been Oscar nominated over forty times. John Williams' designs for Legend Wars, Indiana Jones, Superman, and ET have great charm for the general public and his movie rating albums are top retailers. Williams has also written compositions for the Olympic ceremonies which catch the true spirit of the game. John Williams was the conductor and musical director of the famous Boston Pops Orchestra, where he's still a guest conductor. Aswell as movie results, John Williams has written concert bits for such greats as Yo-Yo Ma and has conducted concerts all around the globe. On December the 5th 2004 John Williams was one of the 2004 honourees at the Kennedy centre in Washington, D. C.\n\nThe use of Leitmotif\n\nIn John Williams movies he uses a lot of music related to Wagner, such as diatonic scales for hero styles, chromatic scales for things or negative elements, excellent sounds for positive elements. John Williams is becoming of the very most successful scoring composers and one of the most respected. His procedure is very immediate and strong, and no one in the theater will neglect to recognize any link between the styles and the personas associated with them. He has a great capacity to reach the audience just like a traditional composer.\n\nJaws - Jaws can be an American horror and thriller film aimed by Steven Spielberg in 1975. Inside the story, a huge man eating great white shark problems beachgoers on Amity Island, prompting the neighborhood police chief to hunt it down. The main \"shark\" theme, is a simple alternating pattern of two notes, variously determined as \"E and F or F and F sharp which became a vintage piece of suspense music, synonymous with approaching danger. John Williams uses Leitmotif in this film for the shark. Each and every time the shark will show up the same pattern is played that may be identified by the audience.\n\nIndiana Jones - Dr. Henry \"Indiana\" Jones, Jr. is a imaginary professor, archaeologist, and adventurer. Indiana Jones is noted for his trademark bullwhip, his fedora head wear, and his great fear of snakes. Indiana Jones is also the overall name given to the series as a whole, which includes four movies, a Television series, novels, comics, video games, and other multimedia. In such a movie Williams used Leitmotif for the character Indiana Jones. For this Williams used a diatonic level for a hero-theme whenever Indiana was going to take action heroic and by the end of the film.\n\nStar Wars\n\nThe music of Star Wars involves the ratings written for everyone six Celebrity Wars motion pictures by composer John Williams. Williams ratings for the dual trilogy are amidst the most common and popular efforts to modern film music. The scores utilize a diverse variety of musical styles, many culled from the Later Romantic Period of Richard Strauss.\n\nThe Main theme of legend wars is easily the most recognizable melody and is also often associated with Luke Skywalker, linking with heroism and trip. It is heard over the start of all the movies and forms the foundation of the finish title as well.\n\nThe Rebel Fanfare is a brief Leitmotif used extensively throughout all the episodes to represent the rebel alliance. The theme is created out of brassy major block chords that progress in parallel action through intervals of any third. This results in a non-diatonic audio. 8\n\nThe drive theme is a favorite example of a Leitmotif. Out out of all the Leitmotifs in the series this theme is most regularly developed and therefore most difficult to attach a specific interpretation. This theme can represent Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi and the Drive that they bring their ability.\n\nPrincess Leia's theme is heard form occurrence III and onwards. It really is a Leitmotif that symbolizes a romanticized, somewhat naive idea of the princess and can also show that she actually is vulnerable.\n\nThe imperial Leitmotif (not the imperial march) signifies the Empire and Darth Vader in Event IV. The Leitmotif is militaristic and is normally played out by bassoons or muted trombones. 8\n\nThe Death Superstar Leitmotif is an imposing four chord performed six times during occurrence IV to stand for the Death Celebrity.\n\nThe Dual of Fates is another Leitmotif performed in the first three episodes. It is composed from two trivial Ostinatos and choral interjections that are head in The Empire Strikes Again. The theme is employed to symbolize the clash between the Light and Dark Side. In Show II, the Leitmotif is performed when Anakin goes off to search for his mom, implying an internal struggle between good and evil.\n\nAnakin's Leitmotif can be an innocent theme that contains seeds of the Imperial March. It has a warm melody that contradicts with the harmonic instability of a variety of passages. The concert layout makes the fate of the Leitmotif more explicit, concluding with lots of refined renditions of phrases from the theme it foreshadows.\n\nThe Imperial March or Darth Vader's Theme\" symbolizes the Galactic Empire all together and Darth Vader specifically. It features relentless martial rhythm and dark, non diatonic harmonic support. The Imperial March signifies the Empire and is almost equilivent to a galactic anthem. It is heard with intensifying prominence through Shows II and III, signalling critical details in Anakin's downwards spiral to the Dark area. In the ultimate rendition, associated Vader's death Williams reverses the effect of the theme. It ends with a cadence of solos as Vader dies.\n\nWord Count - 1498\n\nMore than 7 000 students trust us to do their work\n90% of customers place more than 5 orders with us\nSpecial price $5 /page\nCheck the price\nfor your assignment", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7147210836410522}
+{"content": "Hoppa till innehållet\nOmslagsbild för Uncle Silas\nIsbn: 978-91-7605-146-7\nFörlag: Anncona Media\nRomaner Deckare & spänning Engelskspråkiga\nTillgänglig sedan: mars 2014\nUppläsare: Great Plains\n\nLjudbok | 28 dygns lånetid\n\nUncle Silas\n\nUncle Silas is a Victorian Gothic mystery-thriller novel by the Irish writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu. It is notable as an early example of the locked room mystery subgenre. It is not a novel of the supernatural (despite a few creepily ambiguous touches), but does show a strong interest in the occult and in the ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish scientist, philosopher and Christian mystic.\n\nLike many of Le Fanu's novels, it grew out of an earlier short story, \"A Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess\" (1839), which he also published as \"The Murdered Cousin\" in the 1851 collection Ghost Stories and Tales of Mystery. The setting of the original story was Irish; presumably it was changed to Derbyshire for the novel because this would appeal more to a British audience. It was first serialized in the Dublin University Magazine in 1864, under the title Maud Ruthyn and Uncle Silas, and appeared in December of the same year as a triple-decker novel from the London publisher Richard Bentley.\n\nUncle Silas remains Le Fanu's best-known and most popular novel. It was the source for Arthur Conan Doyle's The Firm of Girdlestone, and remains a touchstone for contemporary mystery fiction. There are also strong connections between Uncle Silas and some of Wilkie Collins' better-known novels, especially The Woman in White; both writers, while recognisably within the Gothic tradition, depict heroines who are far more highly developed than the persecuted maidens of Ann Radcliffe and others.\n\nJoseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. Three of his best known works are “Uncle Silas”, \"Carmilla\" and “The House by the Churchyard”.\n\nLe Fanu worked in many genres but remains best known for his mystery and horror fiction.  He specialised in tone and effect rather than \"shock horror\", and liked to leave important details unexplained and mysterious. He avoided overt supernatural effects: in most of his major works, the supernatural is strongly implied but a \"natural\" explanation is also possible.  Though other writers have since chosen less subtle techniques, Le Fanu's best tales, such as the vampire novella \"Carmilla\", remain some of the most powerful in the genre. He had enormous influence on one of the 20th century's most important ghost story writers, M. R. James.\n\nLogga in för att låna\n\n\nSe mer under Så lånar du\n\nStöds av följande platformar", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5494486093521118}
+{"content": "Kayin New Year Festival\n\nKayin New Year is considered as the national day in Myanmar, and the date of the celebrations varies among years since its calculation bases on the lunar moon calendar. It is held on the first day of the moon month of Pyatho.\n\nAccording Myanmar’s history, people count the years from the first day that the first migrant tribe from Mongolia settled in the land of Myanmar, giving birth to the Kayin people. They are the second largest ethnic minority in Myanmar, and they live throughout much of Lower Myanmar. They have never had their own kingdom, and they have always been treated as a subject race. Even so, Kayin people are proud of their heritage and fight to preserve it for future generations.\n\nDuring the festival, young and old Kayins wear their traditional costumes of woven tunics over longyis and go around the cities to visit friends and relatives.\n\nIn Hpa-An, which is the capital city of the Kayin State, dancing competitions are held every year. All over Myanmar, there are other ceremonies to present the Kayin cultural heritage, like the Kayin Done Dance or the Kayin Bamboo Dance. The Kayin national flag is hoisted at dawn, and the ceremony is followed by dancing shows, while steamed sticky rice is served. There are speeches and awards for the best students of the year, while traditional and cultural exhibitions are also held about Kayin people’s history. The celebrations have been known to go on for many days.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9980757236480713}
+{"content": "AMI: Area Median Income in Commercial Real Estate\n\nWhat is AMI in Commercial Real Estate?\n\nAMI (Area Median Income) is a statistic published by HUD. It is the household income of the median (middle) household (in terms of wealth) in a region. HUD releases the AMI for areas across the USA every year. AMI is used to determine who qualifies for its federal housing programs. \n\nHUD collects statistics of income limits for families within a specified region and compiles the data. This data can be used to determine Median Family Income (MFI) for any area in the country. The statistics garnered from this research help the housing department decide which areas qualify for certain federal housing programs.\n\nThe USDA provides a chart listing the AMIs across America, which lists the AMI for all major cities and urban areas througout the U.S.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999630451202393}
+{"content": "IMF Executive Board Discussion of the Outlook, October 2018\n\nInternational Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.\nPublished Date:\nOctober 2018\nShow Summary Details\n\nThe following remarks were made by the Chair at the conclusion of the Executive Board’s discussion of the Fiscal Monitor, Global Financial Stability Report, and World Economic Outlook on September 20, 2018.\n\nExecutive Directors broadly shared the assessment of global economic prospects and risks. They observed that the global expansion, while remaining strong, has lost some momentum and growth may have plateaued in some major economies. Prospects increasingly diverge among countries, reflecting differences in policy stances and the combined impact of tighter financial conditions, rising trade barriers, higher oil prices, and increased geopolitical tensions. Beyond 2019, growth in most advanced economies is expected to be held back by slow labor force growth and weak labor productivity. In emerging market and developing economies, growth is projected to remain relatively robust, although income convergence toward advanced economy levels would likely be less favorable for countries undergoing substantial fiscal adjustment, economic transformation, or conflicts.\n\nDirectors generally agreed that near-term risks to the global outlook have recently shifted to the downside and some have partially materialized. Trade barriers have risen, with adverse consequences for investment and growth. Financial conditions in most emerging market and developing countries have tightened since mid-April. Capital flows to some of these countries have declined, reflecting weak fundamentals, higher political risks, and/or U.S. monetary policy normalization. While financial conditions in advanced economies remain broadly accommodative, an inflation surprise could lead to an abrupt tightening of monetary policy and to an intensification of market pressures across a broader range of countries. In addition, most Directors saw as key risks a further escalation of trade tensions, a rise in political and policy uncertainties, and growing inequality. Meanwhile, high debt levels limit the room for maneuver in many countries.\n\nMost Directors considered that the recent intensification of trade tensions and the potential for further escalation pose a substantial risk to global growth and welfare. They noted that unilateral trade actions and retaliatory measures could disrupt global supply chains, weaken investor confidence, and undermine broader multilateral cooperation at a time when it is urgently needed to address shared challenges. They therefore urged all countries to adopt a cooperative approach to promote growth in goods and services trade, reduce trade costs, resolve disagreements without raising tariff and nontariff barriers, and modernize the rules-based multilateral trading system. The possibility of an outcome in which trade issues could be resolved in a positive way was also pointed out. Directors noted that persistent large external imbalances continue to call for sustained efforts, mindful of countries’ cyclical positions, to increase domestic growth potential in surplus countries and to raise supply or rein in demand in deficit countries.\n\nGiven a narrowing window of opportunity, Directors underscored the urgency of policy measures to sustain the expansion, strengthen resilience, and raise medium-term growth prospects. They encouraged countries to rebuild fiscal buffers where needed, and implement growth-friendly measures calibrated to avoid procyclicality and the risk of sharp drags on activity. Directors agreed that, where inflation is below target, continued monetary accommodation remains appropriate. Where inflation is close to or above target, monetary support should be withdrawn in a gradual, data-dependent, and well-communicated manner. Directors emphasized the critical role of structural reforms in boosting potential output, ensuring that gains are widely shared, and improving safety nets—including to protect those vulnerable to structural change.\n\nMost Directors shared the assessment that near-term risks to financial stability have increased while medium-term risks remain elevated. They highlighted, in particular, the buildup of financial vulnerabilities over the past few years of very accommodative financial conditions, including high and rising public and corporate debt, and stretched asset valuations in some major markets. Addressing these vulnerabilities remains an important priority for many countries. For some countries, priorities include cleaning up bank balance sheets, improving corporate governance, and addressing risks from the sovereign-bank nexus, although a number of Directors felt that regulatory issues pertaining to sovereign exposures would best be left to the remit of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which is the standard-setting body on the matter for a number of member countries. Directors also stressed the importance of completing and fully implementing the regulatory reform agenda, and of avoiding a rollback of reforms that have contributed to a more resilient financial system ten years after the global financial crisis.\n\nDirectors agreed that financial regulators and supervisors should remain vigilant about potential threats to financial stability and stand ready to act. They called for special attention to liquidity conditions and new risks, including those related to cybersecurity, financial technology, and other institutions or activities outside the perimeter of prudential regulation. These require policymakers to further develop policy tools, including macroprudential policies, and deploy them proactively as needed, as well as enhance coordination across borders.\n\nDirectors stressed that, as monetary policy normalization proceeds in advanced economies, emerging market and developing economies need to prepare for an environment of tighter financial conditions and higher volatility. Countries need to tackle their vulnerabilities and enhance resilience with an appropriate mix of fiscal, monetary, exchange rate, and prudential policies. In certain circumstances, capital flow management measures may be appropriate but not as a substitute for macroeconomic adjustment. Directors observed that markets have so far differentiated among emerging market and developing economies based on their fundamentals and idiosyncratic factors. In this context, they underlined the importance of maintaining credible policy and institutional frameworks, strengthening governance, and improving human and physical capital. Directors noted that the current environment highlights the need for the Fund to offer granular, tailored policy advice and stand ready to provide financial support to its members as needed.\n\nDirectors underscored that priorities for low-income developing countries include building resilience, lifting potential growth, improving inclusiveness, and making progress toward the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, while commodity exporters should also prioritize economic diversification. Stronger efforts are needed to create room for development expenditure, through broadening the tax base, improving revenue administration, and prioritizing spending on health, education, and infrastructure, while cutting wasteful subsidies. Directors also called for urgent action to contain debt vulnerabilities, which are rising in many countries. They stressed that both debtors and creditors share a responsibility for ensuring sustainable financing practices and enhancing debt transparency.\n\nDirectors agreed that public sector balance sheet analysis provides a useful tool to analyze public finances. By revealing the full scale of public assets in addition to debt and nondebt liabilities, it helps governments identify risks and manage both assets and liabilities, potentially reducing borrowing costs and raising returns on assets. Directors noted that the long-term intertemporal analysis is particularly relevant in aging societies. They also saw the benefits of the added transparency in enriching the policy debate. At the same time, Directors acknowledged that the balance sheet approach still has limitations, notably data quality and differences in accounting practices hindering cross-country comparisons, and thus it should be used with caveats to complement traditional fiscal analysis.\n\n    Other Resources Citing This Publication", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.999586284160614}
+{"content": "ZIP code profile: 92614\n\nThe 92614 ZIP code is a portion of Irvine, located along the Interstate 405 and incorporating the Irvine Business Complex and parts of Woodbridge.\n\nAccording to Best Places, the ZIP code has a population of 24,538 and an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent, and unemployment is moving positively in 92614. The median home price is $767,200 with home appreciation last year reaching 18.4 percent.\n\nVisualization provided by Weiss Analytics.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9994321465492249}
+{"content": "This AI-Operated Robotic Hand Moves With “Unprecedented Dexterity”\n\nManahel Thabet\n\nThis AI-Operated Robotic Hand Moves With “Unprecedented Dexterity”\n\nROBOTIC HIGH FIVE. On Monday, researchers at OpenAI, the nonprofit AI research company co-founded by Elon Musk, introduced Dactyl, an AI system trained to control a robotic hand. According to the researchers, the system can manipulate physical objects in the hand with dexterity never before possible for AI.\n\nThe task Dactyl tackled might sound like something you’d teach a toddler: take this six-sided block and move it around until a certain side is on top. Unlike a toddler, though, Dactyl needed more than a century’s worth of experience to learn how to expertly complete the task. But thanks to powerful computers, the researchers were able to pack all that experience into just 50 “real-world” hours.\n\nPRACTICE MAKES (ALMOST) PERFECT. The researchers trained Dactyl in a simulated environment — that is, a digital setting with a computer-generated hand — using a technique called domain randomization. They built certain parameters into their simulated environment, such as the cube’s size or the angle of gravity, and then randomized those variables. They had multiple simulated hands doing this at once. By pushing Dactyl to adapt to so many different virtual scenarios, the researchers prepared the AI’s ability to adapt to scenarios in the real world.\n\nAfter 50 hours of training in the simulated environment, the AI could manipulate a real-world robotic hand to successfully complete its given task 50 times in a row (a successful completion was one in which the system didn’t drop the block or take longer than 80 seconds). To figure out how to move the hand to complete the task, it simply needed to look at the block through a trio of cameras.\n\nONE ALGORITHM TO TRAIN THEM ALL. As the researchers note in their blog post, they trained Dactyl using the same algorithm that they used for OpenAI Five, a team of five neural networks trained to play the computer strategy game DOTA 2. Dactyl’s success proves it’s possible to build a general-purpose algorithm that can teach AI to complete two very different tasks. This could make it much easier for researchers to train AI for lots of different purposes in the future, since they wouldn’t need to start the process from scratch.\n\nRead more: Learning Dexterity", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9776475429534912}
+{"content": "Inner Perspectives\n\nYour Real Self\n\nEpisode: 4\n\n\nEpisode 4: Your Higher Self\n\n\n\n  • What does the Chart of Your Divine Self tell you about the real you?\n  • How does it relate to Jesus, Buddha and the ascended masters?\n  • Where was Jesus between the ages of 12 – 30?\n  • What do ancient Buddhist manuscripts say about Jesus?\n  • What are chakras?\n\nThus far we've talked with Elizabeth Clare Prophet about the nature of the Self. Obviously you have a concept of the Self that is quite different from that of many people. Could you explain in more detail what your concept is?\n\n\n\n\nI have diagrammed this Real Self in relationship to the outer evolving self on a chart that is called Chart of Your Divine Self.\n\n\nBetween the sphere of light above and the soul evolving below is the consciousness of the Mediator, or the go-between. The go-between is that portion of the Self that can translate to the soul something of the I AM THAT I AM; it is that portion of one's being that is real enough to yet stand in the Presence of God. We call this Mediator the Christ Self, or the Real Self. It is the Self that we are in a state of becoming through our evolution, through all of our experiences in time and space.\n\nYou might say, for example, that the lower figure in the Chart would be the man Jesus. The middle figure would be the Self, the Christ. And the upper figure would be the one whom he called Father. We now see a relationship of Father, or the All-Father, the Son and the soul that is endowed with a flame of the Holy Spirit.\n\n\n\nJesus, the Example of Becoming the Christ\n\n\n\nHe walks the earth for three years performing not miracles but the functions of cosmic law. And then walking up Bethany's hill with his disciples after his resurrection, he disappears from their midst and the cloud receives him out of their sight.\n\n\nIn other words, the Trinity is something that is present in all of us all the time?\n\n\nWhere does an ascended master appear on this Chart?\n\nThe ascended master is one who has walked as the lower figure in the Chart; he has evolved as a soul who has first realized his Real Self as the Christ (the middle figure), become anointed with that Mediator-Self, and then reunited with the I AM THAT I I AM (the upper figure) at the conclusion of his life. Therefore, the ascended master would be beyond the material plane, in the Spirit plane and yet as close as the air we breathe.\n\n\nHe was talking to his I AM Presence and he was also talking to his inner teacher. Jesus had a teacher. It is customary for us to think of our inner teacher, or our inner guru, as Father.\n\nThe teacher whom Jesus acknowledged on the Path as being one with his I AM Presence was one who is called Lord Maitreya, or Maitreya, the Coming Buddha of the East. Maitreya attained the Christ consciousness many centuries prior to the final incarnation of Jesus. He sponsored Jesus and was the one (in addition to Jesus' own I AM Presence) whom Jesus called Father.\n\nJesus' life and teachings were in the Middle East. How was it that he was initiated in the teachings of the Far East?\n\nThe Gospels do not tell us where Jesus was between the ages of twelve and thirty. This was a long period of time for our beloved master, considering what he accomplished in the three short years of his Galilean mission.\n\nAncient Buddhist manuscripts say that during these seventeen years Jesus traveled to India, Nepal, Ladakh and Tibet, where he was known as Saint Issa. If we could have known Jesus between the ages of twelve and thirty, we would have found him in the Far East studying, practicing and teaching the laws of science and truth that he demonstrated publicly in the final hours of his Galilean mission.\n\nEven when we journeyed to India, we were told by a number of guides that there are records saying that Jesus was there. We also know from our verification by the ascended masters that Jesus was humble and that in preparation for his mission he desired to be trained in the very first steps of initiation.\n\nMany of the teachings that Jesus brought forth—in fact, his mantra “I AM the way, the truth and the life”—are actually taken from the Sanskrit, which comes down to us through India from the ancient continent of Lemuria. It was the language that our early ancestors used to meditate upon God and to practice the science of the spoken Word.\n\nSo the Chart of Your Divine Self, in which the Christ that we're familiar with is identified as the middle figure, relates to the teachings of the East. Where would Buddha fall on that same Chart?\n\nBuddha, as Siddhartha, the child who was born a prince into wealth and the surroundings of opportunity, becomes the soul who must mature and discover the Real Self. Prince Siddhartha left home to find the cause of suffering but also discovered the Real Self, which he defined as the Buddha.\n\nThis is because his meditation was upon God through the crown chakra. We call one who has attained the realization of God through the crown chakra the Buddha, whereas we call one who has realized God through the heart chakra the Christ. In reality, the Christ Self, or the Real Self, contains all elements of consciousness.\n\nWhat is the crown chakra?\n\nchakramanChakra is a Sanskrit word. It means “wheel”, or “center,” and refers to the sacred centers in our temple. The heart is the principal center. Above the heart chakra are the throat, third-eye and crown chakras. Below the heart are the solar plexus, seat-of-the-soul and base-of-the-spine chakras.\n\nThese seven major centers are seven openings into another dimensions, and by meditation upon these centers we can experience God in different planes of consciousness.\n\nEach center, which is depicted as having a different number of petals, has a different frequency or vibration. If we center our meditation in the heart, we commune with love. If we center our meditation in the crown, we are communing in wisdom. If our meditation centers in the third eye, we have the power of concentration in truth. And the throat chakra, the power center, gives us the power to create through the science of the spoken Word.\n\nThis seems to imply that Buddha represented a higher evolution than Jesus. True?\n\nI don't know that we would call it higher. We would call it the way of the East. Buddha demonstrated the way of self-mastery that was the dispensation for the evolutions of the East. Christ showed it for the evolutions of the West. We've reached a period now where there's an exchange between East and West, and we who live in the West must also pursue the type of mastery that Buddha demonstrated.\n\nPrior Chapter: The Ascended Masters | Next Chapter: The Violet Flame\n\nCopyright © 2019 Summit Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.\n\nLegal and Privacy Policy\n\nThe Summit Lighthouse", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6541365385055542}
+{"content": "We noticed you're browsing in private or incognito mode.\n\n\n\nRewriting Life\n\nA Brain Implant that Thinks\n\nA monkey study suggests that neural implants could one day help brain-damaged patients perform specific cognitive tasks.\n\nResearchers have used a neural implant to recapture a lost decision-making process in monkeys—demonstrating that a neural prosthetic can recover cognitive function in a primate brain. The results suggest that neural implants could one day be used to recover specific brain functions in patients with brain injuries or localized brain disease.\n\nWhile the results of today’s study may take many years to translate into humans, they suggest that even cognitive processes, such as deciding whether or not to grab a cup of coffee or remembering where you left your keys, could one day be augmented by brain chips.\n\nParalyzed patients have previously used brain implants and brain-machine interfaces to control robotic arms (see “Brain Chip Helps Quadriplegics Move Robotic Arms with Their Thoughts”). And more than 80,000 Parkinson’s patients around the world have a deep-brain stimulation implant, which functions like a pacemaker to reduce their tremors and other movement problems (see “Brain Pacemakers”). In the new study, however, the implants could actually interpret neuronal inputs from one part of the brain and effectively communicate those outputs to another brain region.   \n\nThe researchers used an array of electrodes to record the electrical activity of neurons in the prefrontal cortex of monkeys while they performed a memory task. The prefrontal cortex is involved in decision making and directs many types of cognitive responses associated with memory or other types of information processing.\n\nThe five monkeys in the study were trained to play a matching game in which they were shown an image on a screen and then had to use hand movements to steer a cursor to that same image out of two to seven others that they were shown anywhere from one to 90 seconds later.\n\nThis kind of movement decision is different than a simple reflexive movement. “The monkeys have to find out where the image is and then select the kind of movement to move the cursor there,” says Sam Deadwyler, a brain scientist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and a senior author on the study.\n\nFrom their recordings in the prefrontal cortex, the research team extrapolated a mathematical model of the electrical activity of neurons involved in the movement decision. The study authors had previously shown that this kind of mathematical model, called MIMO—short for multi-input/multi-output—could interpret and replace memories in rats with the neural implant (see “A First Step Toward a Prosthesis for Memory”).\n\nIn the new study, the model took multiple signals produced by the brain layer that integrates sensory information related to the task. It then extracted the relevant information to choose a particular movement. The implant can stimulate neurons in order to influence the decision to move the hand to select the correct image.\n\nTo test the implant’s ability to improve or recover the decision process, the researchers gave the monkeys cocaine intravenously, since cocaine disrupts decision making. Without the activity of the implant, cocaine-affected monkeys frequently could not choose the correct image. But with the device, their decision making was on par, if not slightly better, than normal, even under the influence of cocaine.\n\nDeadwyler suspects that a generalized pattern for particular tasks could be generated even in humans (as has been demonstrated in rats), so that an injured patient could receive an implant encoded with a cognitive mathematical model that was previously derived from healthy brains. “As long as you can extract the information that is coming and generate the normal output pattern for that input, you could bypass the damaged connection.”\n\nTech Obsessive?\n\nSubscribe today\nMore from Rewriting Life\n\nReprogramming our bodies to make us healthier.\n\n  • All Access Digital {! insider.prices.digital !}*\n\n    {! insider.display.menuOptionsLabel !}\n\n\n    See details+\n\n    12-month subscription\n\n    Unlimited access to all our daily online news and feature stories\n\n    Digital magazine (6 bi-monthly issues)\n\n    Access to entire PDF magazine archive dating back to 1899\n\n    The Download: newsletter delivery each weekday to your inbox\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9854851961135864}
+{"content": "Advanced Site Selection Analytics - Knowing Your Customer\n\nAdvanced Site Selection Analytics – Knowing Your Customer\n\nPosted By\n\nSuccessfully choosing a location for a new branch has become both more complicated and easier in recent years. Significant changes in how customers access banking services have upended the traditional metrics used to evaluate available sites.  Basic traffic counts and demographics remain important but are only a small part of the analysis which must be done to ensure that a new location will be accretive to the bank’s results.  On the other hand, the quality, cost and usability of data on consumer behavior has improved dramatically in recent years, enabling us to gain a vastly deeper understanding of how people spend their time and money.  In turn, this has opened the door to developing very accurate customer profiles for a given bank, and utilizing those profiles in the process of siting new branch locations.  At the same time as e-commerce has disrupted the role of the branch, we’ve gained the ability to acquire a vastly greater understanding of customer behavior.\n\nToday, the science around site location analytics has become one of the basic tools in our toolkit.  It wasn’t long ago that we would routinely spend in the six figures to develop an analysis of the demographic characteristics and basic spending habits within the trade area surrounding a site under consideration for a new branch.  Viewed through the lens of what we can do today, that analysis was a very blunt instrument.\n\nWe work with numerous financial institutions and our experience has been that regional and community banks are either not utilizing advanced site selection analytics or else are using only a small percentage of their full capabilities.  With those who have attempted to use it, we routinely see the binders containing vast amounts of information sitting on their desks, largely unused. In fairness, this isn’t surprising as the breadth and depth of the information can be daunting and it takes time and a level of experience to understand it.  To their credit, bank leadership also often seems to instinctively understand that there is a risk of drawing incorrect conclusions from the data.\n\nAdditionally, we continue to encounter financial institutions who believe that they serve their entire community when, in fact, we know our analysis will show that approximately 80% of their customers come from within a narrow cross-section of those living within a defined trade area.  Many retailers have understood this for many years and embrace the idea of knowing their customer as a fundamental element of their site selection, marketing and communications strategies.  Violating the basic principle of knowing your customer has led to many an unfortunate outcome.\n\nWe are often asked to help diagnose why a given branch isn’t performing to expectations.  Using consumer behavioral analytics, we typically find there’s little or no alignment between the majority of the behavioral profiles present in the trade area surrounding the subject branch, and those proven to be responsive to the banks offerings and messaging.  In summary, we find that the people living in the trade area aren’t the banks’ customers.  If there’s a bright side to this, the analysis will point the banks’ marketing department toward options which can increase traffic at the branch; however, the client would have had the option of reconsidering locating a branch in that market if the analysis had been done earlier.  This highlights what everyone who has opened a poor-performing branch knows: a bank can change a lot of things including the marketing, the staffing and the products and services offered; however, the most difficult and expensive thing to change is the location.\n\nIt’s important to recognize that behavioral analytics is only one component of the work to be done prior to deciding to open a new branch.  The other is the field work. Each must be completed and the results carefully combined in order to create a complete understanding of the specific site.  As important as it is to have the behavioral portion done by professionals who work with that information every day, the field work must also be done by experienced site selection professionals.  To be clear, this doesn’t mean calling the local commercial broker.  While you still must use appropriately licensed professionals, it’s critical that they have extensive and current experience in the site selection methodologies used by national or regional multi-location enterprises in the retail, food & beverage or service industries.  Among other things, their work should include on-the-ground analysis of site positioning relative to competitors, traffic patterns, turning movements, parking layouts, co-tenancy impacts, the lease terms and sales performance of adjacent traffic generators, building & signage visibility and a variety of other factors.  When utilized at its highest level, each of these factors will be assigned a specific weight and the result used to adjust the predicted volume for a new branch.  This is an important step as the cumulative effect of these factors will often adjust the prediction by as much as 30%.\n\nModern site selection is the result of decades of remarkable advances in data collection, analytical methodologies and quantitative analysis of a variety of site characteristics.  Site selection within the financial institution industry benefits from these advances as their application minimizes the risk of opening a poorly performing branch and allows for greater predictability of the return on investment of a new branch.  Additionally, improvements in understanding customer behavior provide the ability to identify and connect with the specific customers who will respond positively to their overall presentation, often at lower cost.\n\nE-commerce and online banking continue to transform the role that physical locations play in connecting an enterprise to its customers.  Online capabilities reduce many services to commodities but are a far less effective channel for delivering personalized consultative and advisory services or providing opportunities for effective two-way communication between the enterprise and its customers.  Therein lies the future for branches, and the path forward begins with an in-depth understanding of what matters to your customers.  The application of the knowledge gained through that understanding should be the foundation upon which branch decisions are made.  In this time of changing customer expectations, our industry needs to find ways to sustain and improve the return on their branch investments.  Modern site selection methods are at the center of that work.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.860252320766449}
+{"content": "Rockie Fresh\n\nFecha de Nacimiento: 16/04/1991\nEdad: 27 Signo: Aries\nOcupación: Rapper\n\nComparte cumpleaños con:\n\nDonald Pullen, better known by the stage name Rockie Fresh, is an American rapper born in Chicago, Illinois signed to Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group and Warner Bros. Records. He is known for his alternatively influenced style of hip-hop, and his associations with recording artists Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy, and Joel & Benji Madden of Good Charlotte.\n\nWhats happening with Rockie Fresh ?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.808444619178772}
+{"content": "Health Boards\n\n\nMy Profile\n\nHealth Boad\n\nHealth Jobs\n\n\nHealth Tools\n\nchemical equilibrium\n\nA state in a reversible chemical reaction at which the reactants are turning into products at the same rate as the products are turning back into the reactants, so that the amounts of each reactant and product remains constant.\n\nSelected chemical equilibrium links:\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000088214874268}
+{"content": "ISO 15765-2 PDF\n\nPartie 2: Protocole de transport et services de la couche réseau. STANDARD. ISO. Third edition. Reference number. ISO ( E). ISO support Single-Frame transport as well. In the case of diagnostic messages, the ISO TP is use simply to obscure the 8 byte limitation of CAN BUS. ISO TP implementation for Arduino. Contribute to altelch/iso-tp development by creating an account on GitHub.\n\nAuthor: Voodooran Dataxe\nCountry: Netherlands\nLanguage: English (Spanish)\nGenre: Personal Growth\nPublished (Last): 14 June 2007\nPages: 75\nPDF File Size: 18.45 Mb\nePub File Size: 16.91 Mb\nISBN: 446-1-76658-252-6\nDownloads: 78967\nPrice: Free* [*Free Regsitration Required]\nUploader: Faujas\n\nIn total, six types of addressing are allowed by the ISO Protocol. Below is the list of available ports.\n\nThe sequence number starts at 1 and increments with each frame sent 1, 2, Our ssCAN device driver has been ported to over 40 different microcontrollers. The second portion of the first byte is either a 0 or a 1. 157665-2 third byte is the Separation Time STthe minimum delay time between frames.\n\nISO 15765-2\n\nMessage lengths of 1 to 7 bytes will use the single frame PDU. Robust implementations should be prepared to accept frames from a sender that misinterprets this as the frame repetition rate 17565-2.\n\nBecause not all controllers are created equal, isoo receiving controller may want to have the sender send ISO TP frames slowly or not at all. The second part of the byte describes the message length; so if you have 4 bytes to transmit then the first byte will be 0x This article is intended to give engineers a brief overview of the ISO protocol.\n\nISO – Wikipedia\n\nBut why send anymore data if the receiving controller is not available or busy? ST values up to 0x7F specify the minimum number of milliseconds to delay between frames, while values in the range 0xF1 to 0xF9 specify delays increasing from to microseconds.\n\n\nIt is not a frame counter as it does roll over or back to 0.\n\nFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This message is formatted with a 1 in the first portion of the PCI byte.\n\nThe PCI is one, two or three bytes. This counter increments by 1 for each consecutive frame in the message. The PCI is two bytes in this case, with the first 4 bit field the type type 1 and the following 12 bits the message length excluding the type and length bytes. It can carry isp to bytes of payload per message packet. Because of this limitation jso a message of more than 8 bytes needs to be broken up by the sending controller and reassembled by the receiving controller s.\n\nA message of seven bytes or less is sent in a single frame, with the initial byte containing the type 0 and payload length bytes. The oso byte is the block size, the count of frames that may be sent before waiting for the next flow control frame. In the case of our previous example of a 10 byte message a CF would look like this: This number can be between 0 and where 0 155765-2 Do Not Wait or send as many frames as are in the message without waiting.\n\nTypically diagnostic messages also use this transport layer despite having more than 8 bytes or not. Note that the Separation Time is defined as the minimum time between the end of one frame to the beginning of the next.\n\n\nThe sender transmits the rest of the message using Consecutive Frames. A segmented transfer starts with a First Frame. ISO-TP prepends one or more metadata bytes to the payload data in the eight byte CAN frame, reducing the payload to seven or fewer bytes per frame. A message longer than 7 bytes requires segmenting the message packet over multiple frames. This page was last edited on 7 Julyat ISO support Single-Frame transport as well. This article does not cite any sources. This is the first frame sent in the exchange between nodes.\n\nEven careful implementations may fail to account for iao minor effect of bit-stuffing in the physical layer. So the first frame of a multi-frame message with 10 data bytes might look like jso This data is there specifically to help the receiving controller know what type of Frame Single, Multi, Flow Control, or Continue is being transmitted, how many data bytes will be sent in the message, or if the receiver has somehow dropped a message.\n\nThe protocol stack abstracts away the technical details and complexity associated with encoding and decoding of ISO messages. So the first set of CF Consecutive frames start from “1”.\n\nAny other bytes added to the remainder of the CAN frame can be disregarded, this is called Padding and in most cases is required but not all by receiving controllers.\n\nRequirements for emissions-related systems.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9135222434997559}
+{"content": "Construction Civil engineering SAP2000 download software Responsibilities\n\nBuilding civil engineers have a large amount of obligations in their field. They are straight responsible for the management and planning when it involves building storage tanks, dams, buildings, railways, flight terminals, bridges, and freeways. Not do they assist in creating yet they likewise participate in approximating costs, scheduling, planning, acquiring products, choosing tools made use of, and managing expenses. In the field of building and construction civil designer, design of the procedure of building, evaluation, science, and also mathematics are all essential. What is more is that construction civil designers are directly in charge of a lot of the structures and also frameworks you make use of on an everyday basis.\n\nThe bridges you drive over, the passages you drive through, the dams you see, the homes you stay in, the businesses you use, and also the flight terminals you fly out of. There are several tasks associated with building Civil Engineering software, several of which are carried out in the office, specialist work, and others are done on the field, as a service provider. Both include a huge amount of responsibilities and also consistent communication is needed to complete the goal set forth. The consultant construction Civil Engineering SAP2000 download software is accountable developing files, addressing troubles, arranging the job, collecting info, estimating costs and time, and preparing style. While this is a vital duty the field construction civil designers is as essential. It is his obligation to make sure that the task goes as planned and drafts are complied with to specs.\n\nBuilding Management and Design\n\nIt is required that both the consultant and field engineer maintain constant communication throughout the job. Since both have a high degree of duty the weight of the whole project, safety and security, and codes lay upon their shoulders. There are a selection of jobs involved in the field of construction civil designer. For instance, evaluation of photography, information, blueprints, drawings, and maps are necessary for any kind of project. Software and also computer expertise is usually a need as well. Software application are usually made use of to develop frameworks and systems, and keeping with the essential codes of construction in the country and at a local degree.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7939826250076294}
+{"content": "Translator Disclaimer\n1 December 2005 Nymphal development of Xyleus discoideus discoideus (Serville 1831) (Acridoidea, Romaleidae, Romaleinae) in the laboratory\nAuthor Affiliations +\n\nNymphal instars of Xyleus discoideus discoideus, a romaleid grasshopper, are described for the first time. The following characters are recorded for each stage: body length, head width, pronotal length, hind femoral length, number of antennomeres, number of longitudinal eye stripes and the morphology of wing pads and external genitalia. Criteria that can be used to distinguish the instars and sexes are identified. Males and females have a 5-instar cycle under laboratory conditions. Females are larger as adults than males and this is linked to a longer nymphal period in females.\n\n\nPostembryonic studies of grasshoppers are very important for ecological and taxonomic studies (Uvarov 1966). However, almost nothing is known about the nymphal development of Romaleidae (e.g., Zolessi 1963, Turk & Barrera 1976, Sisler 1977, Whitman 1986, Whitman et al. 1992, Stauffer et al., 1998). Romaleidae is a very diverse and representative family of the neotropical region, with large to medium-sized species. Some species appear to have increased in abundance attaining pest status, leading to serious injuries to crops (Kevan 1982). In April 2000, 2 grasshopper species, including Xyleus discoideus, caused injuries to orange orchards at Maravilha, a municipal district at the extreme west of the state of Santa Catarina (Brazil) (Campos et al. 2001). Further studies of the basic biology of Xyleus discoideus discoideus (Serville 1831) are therefore recommended.\n\nA complete revision of the genus was recently published by Carbonell (2004), but apart from general observations on its occurrence and habits (e.g., Hayward 1960, C.O.P.R. 1982, Carbonell op. cit.), little is known of the biology of X. discoideus discoideus. We studied its postembryonic development under laboratory conditions. This paper documents the number and duration of nymphal instars. In addition I describe the morphology of instar wing pads and external genitalia, along with morphometric and meristic characters.\n\nMaterials and Methods\n\nThe descriptions and illustrations of the nymphal instars are based on first-generation laboratory-bred individuals. The adults were collected from December 2002 to January 2003, at the Estação Biológica de Boracéia (Brazil: SP, Salesópolis) [lat 23°39′03″S, long 45°53′36″W], an Atlantic Forest reserve owned and sustained by the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo. Adults were caged in a windowless 6 × 4-m laboratory room with an internal temperature and humidity-maintenance system. They were reared at 28±2°C, 85±15% RH and 13:11 light:dark photoperiod. The cages were similar to those described by Smith (1952), being of wooden-frame construction and 80 cm wide × 90 cm deep × 80 cm in height. The sides were covered with nylon mesh, while the floor and roof were closed with wood board. A 20-W fluorescent lamp was attached to the center of the roof of each cage. Plastic trays of about 50 × 40 × 10 cm, filled with moist sand, were placed on the floor of each cage and kept there until oviposition was complete. Immediately on hatching each hopper was isolated in a plastic pot (9 cm diameter, 12.5 cm deep) covered with nylon mesh. They were reared at 28±2°C, 85±15% RH and a 13:11 light:dark photoperiod (as for the adults). Light was supplied through 20-W fluorescent lamps fixed above the pots. Fresh lettuce and chard leaves were provided to the hoppers at least 4 times a week. It was not necessary to provide a separate supply of water, because all the water the nymphs needed was supplied by the fresh leaves (Hinks & Erlandson 1994). The pots were cleaned every time the hoppers were fed.\n\nThe following data were recorded for each pot: date of hatch, number of moults and date of hopper death. For each developmental stage the following linear measures were taken: head width, pronotal length, body length and hind femoral length. The following were also recorded: number of antennomeres (flagellum segments only) and longitudinal eye-stripes (Fig. 1). Observations were made on the day after each moult.\n\nMeasurements (all in mm) were taken with the aid of a micrometric eyepiece; or a caliper rule was used for larger measures that could not be obtained under the stereomicroscope. The nymphs were chilled for 10 min in a freezer to facilitate measuring. The majority of the hoppers appeared totally recovered 20 min after the freezing procedure; however, approximately 50% of hoppers died during development, so some effect of chilling on survival cannot be ruled out.\n\nBesides the morphometric and meristic data, the development of the wing pads and the external genitalia of males (subgenital plate) and females (ovipositor valves) were also analyzed. For this purpose descriptions and illustrations were made with the aid of a camera lucida from animals preserved in 70% alcohol.\n\nA variance analysis was made to verify if the 4 morphometric variables showed significant differences between males and females for each nymphal instar. For this analysis, ANOVA and Mann-Whitney tests were used as appropriate (following tests of normality and of homogeneity of sample variance) (Zar 1999). A multivariate discriminant analysis (Wilks' Lambda test with ‘Forward Selection’ strategy) was made to determine the set of variables which allows better discrimination of the instars within each sex than when the variables are employed alone.\n\n\nA total of 122 nymphs were hatched and reared (72 males, 50 females). Of these, 36 males and 24 females grew to the adult stage. All the nymphs that attained the adult stage had 5 instars. According to Uvarov (1966), most species in the more basal orthopteran groups (as are Romaleidae) and those with large-size adults, pass through 5 or more instars. This is true for all romaleid species studied so far in regard to postembryonic development. In Taeniopoda eques (Burmeister 1838) males and females complete development in 5 instars (Whitman 1986, Whitman et al. 1992). Whitman et al. (op. cit.) have also studied the development of Romalea microptera (Beauvois 1805), which completes development in 5 instars (both sexes). Cromacris speciosa (Thunberg 1824) and Coryacris angustipennis (Bruner 1900) both develop under a 6-instar sequence, males and females (respectively, Turk & Barrera 1976, Zolessi 1963).\n\nThere is clear sexual size dimorphism in the adults of X. discoideus discoideus, with females being larger. However, females and males show the same number of instars. According to Uvarov (1966), “in many species with notable sexual size dimorphism, the larger female normally has 1 instar more than the male”. Apparently, this is not valid for the Romaleidae. All romaleid species studied so far with regard to postembryonic development (see above) show sexual size dimorphism, the male being smaller. In all these species females complete development with the same number of instars as males. Nevertheless, females take more time developing than males (Zolessi 1963, Turk & Barrera 1976, Whitman 1986, Whitman et al. 1992). The same occurred with X. discoideus discoideus. Females developed in approximately 68 d and males in 56 (Table 1). This difference occurred mainly in the 4th and 5th instars. Females took 16 and 25 d to complete the 4th and 5th instars respectively, compared to 13 and 18 d for males.\n\nThe number of antennomeres differed between successive instars (Table 1), but there was no perceptible difference in this character between the sexes.\n\nAt the first instar, nymphs of both sexes show a single longitudinal eye stripe and the wing pads are undeveloped. Also, the dorsal pronotal crest is undeveloped. The posterior margin of the pronotum covers only the mesonotum, the metanotum being free (Fig. 2, 1st). The general coloration of the body is bright green (Fig. 3) and the posterior tibiae have a dark brown spot at their distal edges. A bright brown longitudinal median band marks the body of the hoppers dorsally, from the anterior pronotum edge to the end of the abdomen (posterior margin of the 9th tergite), being approximately 1/5 the width of the dorsum.\n\nSecond instar hoppers have 2 longitudinal eye stripes. The wing pads begin to differentiate. An expansion of the posterior ventral margins of the meso- and metanotum is noticeable. The pronotum already has a small crest that projects over all of the metanotum, reaching half the length of the first abdominal segment (Fig. 2, 2nd). The nymphs have basically the body coloration of the previous instar (Fig. 4), but some exhibit more yellowish or brown tones. In most individuals the spots in the posterior tibiae are no longer present. If present, they are clearer and relatively smaller than those found in the first instar. The bright brown longitudinal dorsal band can still be present.\n\nIn the 3rd instar the nymphs have 3 longitudinal eye stripes. The wing pads are already developed; however it is not possible to find clear differences between males and females. The same is true for the pronotum. The pronotum is longer, covers practically all the first abdominal segment, and has a very evident crest (Fig. 2, 3rd). Body coloration begins to diversify: some nymphs keep the bright green coloration (Fig. 5) and there are others with a paler, more yellowish or grayish-brown coloration. This latter is similar to the adults' coloration. The bright brown longitudinal dorsal band is not present anymore.\n\nThe 4th instar nymphs possess 4 longitudinal eye stripes. In both males and females reversal of the wing pads occurs, so that the costal margin assumes a dorsal position and the hind wing pads are placed outside the forewing pads. The course of alar development in this species follows the rule stipulated by Uvarov (1966) that “the reversal precedes the final molt by 2 instars”. In all the romaleid species studied with regard to postembryonic development (see above), the reversal occurs at the molt preceding the penultimate instar. This seems to be a valid rule for the Romeleidae in general.\n\nThe posterior edge of the posterior wing pads of 4th instar X. discoideus discoideus nymphs, reaches to a transverse line between the posterior edges of the tympana. These are not yet completely covered. The pronotum is already well developed, with a noticeable serrated posterior edge. At least one half of the 2nd abdominal segment is dorsally covered by the pronotum (Fig. 2, 4th). The nymphs present a variety of colorations and clear spots may be present on the sides of the pronotum (Fig. 6).\n\nIn the 5th instar, the last before the hoppers become adults, they have 5 longitudinal eye stripes. The reversed wing pads are already well developed and cover the first 3 abdominal segments and part of the tympana. The pronotum, with deep ridges and particularly evident segments, is much larger, but presents few differences in comparison with the previous instar, partially covering the 2nd abdominal segment (Fig. 2, 5th). The hoppers show a great diversity of color (Figs 7, 8), with scattered lateral spots on the pronotum, metanotum and abdomen.\n\nExternal genitalia morphology\n\n(Fig. 9) Males and females can be distinguished from the 1st to the 5th instar, based on the morphology of the external genitalia. First-instar males have the subgenital plate as an indented expansion of the 9th sternite, reaching the base of the paraproct. At the 2nd instar the subgenital plate reaches approximately to the middle of the paraprocts. It is narrowed and still presents an indented apex. At the 3rd instar, the subgenital apex is no longer indented. It reaches almost to the apex of the paraprocts. There is a clear subdivision between the 9th sternite and the subgenital plate. The 4th-instar subgenital plate extends until the apex of the paraprocts, completely covering them. At the 5th instar the apex of the subgenital plate surpasses the paraprocts, the plate resembling that of the adults.\n\nFirst-instar females have the anterior valves of the ovipositor as a slender and small plate, located between the 8th and 9th sternite, with a slight median re-entrance on its posterior border. The posterior valves are represented by 2 small triangular expansions of the 9th sternite. They do not reach the middle of the paraprocts.\n\nAt the 2nd instar, the anterior valves are projected as small triangles until reaching the base of the posterior ones. The anterior valves are contiguous in their median portion, but not at the base and apex. Posterior valves are longer, but do not surpass the middle of the paraprocts. The internal valves are already recognizable.\n\nAt the 3rd instar, anterior valves are in contact from their base to their apex. They surpass the base of the posterior valves. Posterior valves are longer and acute, reaching the middle of the paraprocts. The internal valves can be recognized between the anterior and posterior ones.\n\nFourth-instar anterior valves are sharpened and longer, completely covering the internal valves, and partially covering the posterior ones. Posterior valves are longer, surpassing the middle of the paraprocts. The egg guide can be recognized at the center of the posterior border of the 8th sternite\n\nAt the 5th nymphal instar, the ovipositor is very similar to that of the adults. Anterior valves, amply sclerotised and with many folds, extend approximately until the apex of the paraprocts. Posterior valves, also well sclerotised, surpass the paraprocts. The egg guide is completely developed as a finger-like median process of the posterior border of the 8th sternite.\n\n\nAverages of the morphometric variables are presented in Table 2 and the results of the variance analysis in Table 3. In Tables 4 and 5 are the results of the discriminant multivariate analysis for males and females respectively.\n\nFor the variance analysis, all 4 morphometric variables (head width, pronotum length, body length and hind femoral length) present a significant difference (p < 0.05) between males and females from the 2nd to the 5th instar. In the 1st instar, only head width results in a significant difference between the sexes. In the comparison of body length of males and females at the 4th instar, a rejection of homogeneity between the analyzed values occurred. Therefore, a Mann-Whitney test was applied (Table 3), and the result was a significant sex-based difference in body length.\n\nThe multivariate analysis indicates that the best way to discriminate the instars of males is to employ all 4 morphometric variables in a set (pronotum length + femur length + body length + head width) (Table 4). For the females the analysis shows that the combination that best discriminates the instars is pronotum length + head width + femur length (Table 5).\n\nDiscussion and conclusions\n\nAlmost all characters assessed were useful in characterizing the instar and/or the sex of X. discoideus discoideus nymphs.\n\nThe ‘longitudinal eye stripes’ provide a rather practical and reliable instar-characterizing parameter, since on each nymphal moult a new eye stripe is added. As the stripes are, in most cases, easily visualized with the aid of a stereomicroscope, they may be the most practical way to quickly assess in which instar the specimen is. However, in some cases their visualization may be difficult, and after the insect´s death the eyes quickly become dark: dried preserved specimens do not retain the stripes. When the grasshoppers are kept in 70% alcohol, the eye stripes are lost gradually. Becker & Ferreira (1995) examined 133 late-instar nymphs (5th, 6th and 7th) of Rhammatocerus conspersus (Bruner 1904), kept for 2 y in 70% alcohol, and only 58% exhibited conspicuous stripes; in another instance 57 early-instar nymphs were analyzed: none retained the stripes after 2 y.\n\nThe ‘wing pads’ and ‘external genitalia morphology’, when analyzed together, supplied rather safe data with which to determine the sex and instar of the hopper. The external genitalia morphology shows clear differences between males and females as early as the first nymphal instar.\n\n‘General color of the body’ does not supply very accurate data for either sex or instar recognition, due to the variety of colors from the second instar on, and to the absence of striking color differences between males and females and among sucessive instars.\n\nEven though body length showed significant differences between males and females from the 2nd instar on, it is not a very reliable parameter, since during each instar there is an increase in body length due to the expansion of the intersegmental membranes. This can introduce experimental error unless the precaution is taken of always measuring the hoppers the day after each moult. More sclerotised parts of the body (pronotum, femur, head) do not present such growth (Uvarov 1966).\n\n‘Head width’ was the most consistent morphometric character separating male and female instars: only this character showed a significant difference between males and females for each of the 5 nymphal instars. However, all 4 morphometric variables are very important in the characterization of the instars: when analyzed in a set they readily separate each one of the 5 male nymphal instars; and when all 3 variables, except body length, are analysed in a set, it is possible to readily discriminate all 5 of the female nymphal instars as well.\n\nIt is important to point out that all the analyzed individuals in this experiment were bred under artificial and controlled conditions and more studies are necessary to obtain comparable results for specimens under natural conditions.\n\n\nI am deeply grateful to Dr. Eliana Cancello and Dr. Alba Bentos Pereira for all their suggestions, criticisms and support. I thank Prof. Carlos Carbonell for identification of the species and Dr. Oliver Zompro for reading the manuscript and making suggestions for its improvement. Appreciation to Eleonora Aguiar for her invaluable help in the capture of the adult grasshoppers, to Guilherme Santos for taking all the photos, to Rogério Silva for helping with the statistical data, and to Peterson Lopes and Maurício Martins for their valuable suggestions. I would also like to acknowledge “Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico” (CNPq - Brazil) for financial support.\n\n\n  1. M. Becker and C. M. L. Ferreira . 1995. Determination of the instars and sex of Rhammatocerus conspersus (Bruner, 1904) (Orthoptera, Acrididae, Gomphocerinae), in the nymphal stage. Revista brasileira de Entomologia 39:661–673. Google Scholar\n\n  2. J. V. Campos, F. R. M. Garcia, and M. K. Matiotti da Costa . 2001. Ocorrência de duas espécies de gafanhotos (Orthoptera, Caelifera) alimentando-se de plantas cítricas no Extremo Oeste de Santa Catarina, Brasil. Biotemas 14:157–160. Google Scholar\n\n  3. C. S. Carbonell 2004. The genus Xyleus Gistel 1848 (Acridoidea, Romaleidae, Romaleinae). Journal of Orthoptera Research 13:63–133. Google Scholar\n\n  4. C.O.P.R 1982. The Locust and Grasshopper Agricultural Manual. Centre for Overseas Pest Research, London, vii +. 690. pp. Google Scholar\n\n  5. K. J. Hayward 1960. Insectos tucumanos prejudiciales. Revista Industrial y Agricola de Tucuman 42:3–144. Google Scholar\n\n  6. C. F. Hinks and M. A. Erlandson . 1994. Rearing grasshoppers and locusts: review, rationale and update. Journal of Orthoptera Research 3:1–10. Google Scholar\n\n  7. D. K. McE. Kevan 1982. Orthoptera. pp. 352–379. In: Parker S.P. (Ed) Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms. Vol. 2. McGraw-Hill Inc., New York. Google Scholar\n\n  8. G. M. Sisler 1977. Influencia de la temperatura sobre la ruptura de la diapausa en cinco especies del género Dichroplus y una especie del género Chromacris. Revista de la Sociedad Entomológica Argentina 36:135–140. Google Scholar\n\n  9. R. W. Smith 1952. Another Method of rearing Grasshoppers (Orthoptera) in the Laboratory. The Canadian Entomologist 84:269–271. Google Scholar\n\n  10. T. W. Stauffer, S. G. Hegrenes, and D. W. Whitman . 1998. A laboratory study of oviposition site preferences in the lubber grasshopper, Romalea guttata (Houttuym). Journal of Orthoptera Research 7:217–221. Google Scholar\n\n  11. S. Z. Turk and M. Barrera . 1976. Acridios del NOA. 1. Estudios biológicos, morfométricos y aspectos ecológicos de Chromacris speciosa (Thunberg) (Acrididae, Romaleinae). Acta Zoológica Lilloana 32:121–145. Google Scholar\n\n  12. B. Uvarov 1966. Grasshoppers and Locusts: a Handbook of General Acridology. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press, London. Google Scholar\n\n  13. D. W. Whitman 1986. Laboratory Biology of Taeniopoda eques (Orthoptera: Acrididae). Journal of Entomological Science 21:87–93. Google Scholar\n\n  14. D. W. Whitman, C. G. Jones, and M. S. Blum . 1992. Defensive secretion production in lubber grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Romaleidae): influence of age, sex, diet, and discharge frequency. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 85:96–102. Google Scholar\n\n  15. J. H. Zar 1999. Biostatistical analysis. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Google Scholar\n\n  16. L. C. Zolessi 1963. Reproducción y ontogenia de Coryacris angustipennis (Bruner 1900) (Acrididae, Romaleinae). Boletin de la Facultad de Agronomía de Montevideo 67:1–15. Google Scholar\n\nFig. 1.\n\nMorphometrical and meristical characters. 1, lateral view of the whole individual (antennae and part of the legs suppressed); 2, dorsal view of the head and pronotum; 3, head detail in lateral view. A, total length; B, pronotum length; C, hind femoral length; D, head width; F, flagellum; P, pedicel; S, scape; T, transversal eye stripe; (1, 2, 3), longitudinal eye stripes.\n\n\nFig. 2.\n\nLateral view of male and female X. discoideus discoideus thorax (part of the legs suppressed). 1st-5th, first to fifth instar; (1, 2, 3), first, second and third abdominal segments; Ant, anterior wing pad; Pst, posterior wing pad; Ms, mesonotum; Mt, metanotum; P, pronotum; T, tympanum. Scale line represents 2.5 mm and applies throughout.\n\n\nFig. 3.\n\nX. discoideus discoideus 1st instar male nymph.\n\n\nFig. 4.\n\nX. discoideus discoideus 2nd instar male nymph.\n\n\nFig. 5.\n\nX. discoideus discoideus 3rd instar male nymph.\n\n\nFig. 6.\n\nX. discoideus discoideus 4th instar male nymph.\n\n\nFig. 7.\n\nX. discoideus discoideus 5th instar male nymph.\n\n\nFig. 8.\n\nThree X. discoideus discoideus 5th instar female nymphs bred under the same alimentary, temperature, humidity and photoperiod conditions, showing a great variation in body coloration.\n\n\nFig. 9.\n\nVentral view of the terminal segments of male and female X. discoideus discoideus abdomen. 1st-5th, first to fifth instar; AV, anterior valves; Eg, egg-guide; Ep, epiproct; IV, internal valves; Pp, paraprocts; PV, posterior valves; S, sternite; SP, subgenital plate. All scale lines represent 1.0 mm; that on the third line refers to the first, second and third instars; that on the fourth line refers to the fourth instar; that on the fifth line refers to the fifth instar.\n\n\nTable 1.\n\nNumber of antennomeres and duration of nymphal instars for X. discoideus discoideus males and females.\n\n\nTable 2.\n\nMorphometric values for the nymphal instars of X. discoideus discoideus males and females.\n\n\nTable 3.\n\nResults of ANOVA and Mann-Whitney tests for analysis of the morphometric variables in the nymphal instars between Xyleus discoideus discoideus males and females.\n\n\nTable 4.\n\nDiscriminant multvariate analysis results for comparision of morphometric variables between nymphal instars of X. discoideus discoideus males. Number of variables in model: 4; grouping: 5 instars (males). Wilks' Lambda: 0.002. F(16, 465) = 169.85, p < 0.0001.\n\n\nTable 5.\n\nDiscriminant multvariate analysis results for comparision of morphometric variables between nymphal instars of X. discoideus discoideus females. Number of variables in model: 4; grouping: 5 instars (females). Wilks' Lambda: 0.00102. F(16, 428) = 228.65, p < 0.0001.\n\nFernando Campos De Domenico \"Nymphal development of Xyleus discoideus discoideus (Serville 1831) (Acridoidea, Romaleidae, Romaleinae) in the laboratory,\" Journal of Orthoptera Research 14(2), (1 December 2005).[127:NDOXDD]2.0.CO;2\nPublished: 1 December 2005\n\nBack to Top", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6260664463043213}
+{"content": "Here Comes The Sun\n\nHow to use the biggest and cheapest light to make your outdoor interviews look awesomer\n\nA tutorial on how to shape the sun’s light when filming outdoors.\n\nEver been in this situation:\n\nIt’s time to shoot a video and you’re trying to find a location around your church that will work, but the office is too noisy, the sanctuary is too dark, the lobby is too ugly, your production studio doesn’t exist, and you’re running out of viable options.\n\nWhat’s a church filmmaker to do?\n\nEnter the great outdoors.\n\nWhether it’s your announcements or a testimonial, filming outdoors comes with a bunch of perks: it’s free, there’s plenty of light, you get copious amounts of Vitamin D, you’re not sitting in front of a computer screen dying a slow death, and it’s free.  However, it comes with its own set of unique challenges (cue Pastor Squints McGee melting in the sun), so this post is not only going to show you how to overcome those challenges, it’s going to show you how you can turn your outdoor videos from meh to cinematic goodness in 5 easy steps.\n\nStep One: Find Somewhere quiet\n\nThis step sounds obvious, but I don’t know how many times I’ve been on shoots where we picked an outdoor location based on our vague memory (hey, I know this park by my house that would be a perfect place to shoot) or by location scouting via Google Maps and didn’t actually go to check it out in person.  While the location looked perfect in our memory or on The Google, when we showed up we realized it’s under a direct flight path or right next to a construction site.\n\nNothing will ruin a shoot faster than a noisy environment, so even if you’re familiar with the location (i.e. outside your church building) go back out there, look around, and listen.  And don’t just listen for a few seconds, stay out there for a good 10-15 minutes and see if you notice any patterns: is there a road nearby that get’s busy every few minutes? do airplanes fly over every 10 minutes? is there a business next door who’s front door opens and bangs closed every couple of minutes?  Also, I highly recommend going outside to listen around the same time frame that you plan on filming.  The location might sound pristinely quiet at 10am, but at 3pm when the school down the street lets out it might sound like all heck is breaking loose.\n\nStep Two: Find the sun\n\nWhen shooting outdoors you have two options: fight against the sun or work with it.  As of today, the sun is undefeated (2,238,743,028,303 – 0 to be exact) so I recommend working with the sun.  In order to work with the sun you not only need to know where it is, you need to know where it’s going to be during your shoot.  There are two ways to do this:\n\n\n#1.  Use a free resource like to find your location and then use the slider at the top to figure out where the sun is going to be at what time.\n\n#2.  If you don’t mind spending a couple bucks to know EXACTLY where the sun is going to be you can buy the SunSeeker app on your Apple or Android phone.  I use this app on almost every shoot I do.  Not only will it show you where the sun is going to be at on the map, it has a live, augmented 3D mode that will show you exactly where the sun is going to be by using your phone’s camera (and when it’s going to hide behind that tree….looks like we’ll be in the clear until about 2pm).\n\n*Side-note about the sun: During the summer, the sun will be higher up in the sky and during the winter it will be lower all day.  Personally, I’m a fan of the winter sun as it is more directional and becomes easier to shape, but I also live in San Diego and can film outside all year around so……(sorry northerners).\n\nStep Three: Shoot into the sun\n\nNow this might sound counter intuitive, after all if the sun is your best source of light, why not use it as your main source (your “key light”)?  I do this for a few reasons:\n\n  1. It keeps the harsh sun out of your talent’s eyes.\n  2. It helps you avoid harsh shadows on your talent’s face.\n  3. It helps you avoid boom mic shadows in the frame.\n  4. It creates a nice, natural backlight on your talent (which helps separate them from the background and make them look all fancy like).\n  5. It helps you to find a darker background to shoot into so your talent stands out which will help the viewer focus on the person. #contrast!\n\nIf you don’t do this and shoot with the sun at your back, your background is going to be just as bright as your on-camera talent, if not brighter (and if you use any sort of diffusion to lessen the sun’s direct harshness on your talent, as a byproduct that’s going to make your talent darker which will make your background even brighter!)\n\n*Side-notes about shooting into the sun:  I look around for a location where there will be objects in the background to create shadows – trees, buildings, etc. – to help create darker spots in the frame so my on-camera talent pops from the background more.  However, even if you were choosing to film in an open field with no shadowy background, I’d still shoot into the sun for all the other benefits noted above.\n\nAlso, you don’t have to shoot perfectly perpendicular into the sun for this to work, just find a background that is in the general direction of where the sun is going to be.  Remember, the sun is going to keep moving, so it’s best to plan for larger areas that will look good for a few hours.\n\nStep Four: Shape the light\n\nIf you were to not heed my advice (why would you do such a thing?!) and you decided to film with the direct sunlight behind you, you’d find out that it’s very hard to shape direct sunlight.  Your two options would be to either blind your on-camera talent with the direct sun or you could put up a big frame of diffusion which would soften the light, but would also spray the light all over the place.  Your talent would thank you, but then your talent would also look very flat and non-cinematic (like every bad Christian movie where shadows don’t exist).\n\nHowever, if you were to heed my advice (I’m proud of you) and shoot into the general direction of the sun, you’ll have a much easier time at shaping the light into something that looks good.  To do that you’ll need two things:\n\n  1. A big, soft bounce.\n  2. Negative fill.\n\nIf you’ve read or watched any of my other lighting tutorials you’ll know that I’m a fan of big, soft lighting.  For this step I’m going to reference a shoot that I did not too long ago and show you how I did it:\n\nFor this particular shoot I rented a 6′ x 6′ frame and an Ultrabounce rag.  (Ultrabounce is a little on the harsher side when it comes to bounces, but it’s what I had available to me for this shoot.)  However, something like this 6′ x 6′ Chimera Kit from Lensrentals would probably do a great job & would be way less heavy and less dangerous (more on that later).  That Chimera kit or a Scrim Jim is what I would recommend if you’re thinking about making a purchase.  We had 2 different size Scrim Jim’s at the church I used to work at and they were great – very portable and lightweight.\n\nAs you’ll notice in the above diagram, the bounce is off to the side and since it was so big, I was able to pull it even further away from the on-camera talent.  This did three things:\n\n  1. It made it comfortable for the talent.  She could look right at the interviewer without feeling any glare from the light at all.\n  2. It gave her a very flattering light that wrapped beautifully around her.\n  3. It gave her a nice eye light. (go ahead, look at that glimmer!)\n\nAs you’ll notice in the above frame from the video, the light has a lot of shape to it as it subtly goes from bright to dark as it moves across her from left to right.  Having the big bounce off to the side (instead of more in front of her) helped create that, but what really gave it that dramatic look was introducing negative fill to the right side of her body.\n\nIf you’re not familiar with the term negative fill, it is the process of taking away light from your frame.  This is a very important step, especially when you’re filming outdoors because even though that bounce is coming in from the side, the sun is bouncing off of EVERYTHING outdoors – the grass, the sky, the concrete, any tree or building within a few hundred feet, etc.  Because of that, the right side of her face was still pretty bright, so we used a 4′ x 4′ floppy on a C-Stand and walked it in as close as we could get to her without showing up in the frame.\n\nThe closer you get to the person, the more light you’ll be blocking and the darker that side of the person will get.  For this particular story I knew the subject matter was going to be pretty dramatic (overcoming the death of a close family member), so I wanted it to look more dramatic with a darker shadow side.\n\nAlso, 4′ x 4′ floppies are great to have on hand, but if you want something that is more versatile, lightweight, and portable (but unfortunately more expensive) you could buy the 4′ version of the ScrimJim and get a solid for it to create negative fill.\n\n*Side-note about bounces & floppies:  Using light modifiers outdoors can be dangerous on windy days & should always be used with proper safety precautions.  Even on a non-windy day, sometimes it only takes a good breeze to come through and knock over your frames (because they become big sails).  The closer your stands and modifiers are to your talent, the more important it is to err on the side of safety.  To be safe I recommend using stands like this Combo Stand instead of normal C-Stands as they have a much better center of gravity, a wider spread, and are better suited for the outdoors.  Also, put more sand bags than you think you need on the stands & always have a leg perpendicular to whichever way the stand would fall if the wind picks up (for a visual watch this C-Stand safety video)\n\nStep Five: Select the right lens\n\nAs much as I would love to say that I always select my lens based on how I want the content to look and feel, often times I’ll select my lens based on what I want to show or what I need to hide.\n\nA good general rule for all types of video shoots is: the better the background, the wider the lens.  If you look closely at Hollywood films, you’ll notice that they use wide angle lenses a lot – even for close ups!  Instead of switching to a much longer lens, often times they’ll just move the camera closer.  Things are always situational as to why they would choose to do that, but one big reason is: because they can.  Since they have the budget to have great locations and great set design, they don’t have to worry about hiding things because everything in the scene has been designed to be seen on camera.  Since we probably don’t have that luxury, we may have to choose our lenses and our angles based on what we need to hide from the camera.\n\nHowever, beyond hiding things, I have two other things that guide my lens selection:\n\n  1.  If the background adds context to the subject matter, include it by using a wider lens.  For example, let’s say you travel for a special outreach project and you’re filming your pastor on location about your church’s hurricane relief efforts and he’s in front of a house that’s been completely devastated, you could use a wider lens to include the devastation in the shot and make it more powerful.\n  2. If the background doesn’t add context to the subject matter, obscure it by using a longer lens.  Let’s say for that same video you couldn’t film your pastor at the location of the devastated house and you needed to film him outside the hotel instead… You could film him on a longer lens that shows less of his surroundings AND throws the background further out of focus to obscure the fact that you’re outside the hotel.  The nice thing about this is that if you choose the right background, a close-up shot outside the hotel and a close-up shot in front of the house that’s been completely devastated would probably look the same.  Cut that footage together with some b-roll of the devastation and visually it will feel like your pastor is out there in the neighborhood somewhere.\n\nFor this particular project I was filming a testimonial for San Diego Half Marathon and it was about how training for and running this race was how Sara honored a deceased family member and coped with the loss.  Because of this I knew that the video would include race photos as well as B-Roll of her running and training, so being outside at a park was fitting to her story.  Since I had location scouted and picked a good direction to film, I knew that I could film on a wide, medium, or close-up with no problem and I knew that the background would fit the context of the story.  I also knew that the story might get emotional and that I’d probably want some close ups during that portion of the interview so I shot the whole thing on a zoom lens and adjusted my frame throughout the interview.\n\nFrom a story standpoint, it was nice to have this wide shot for the content that would likely be at the beginning of the video – info that would establish who she is, etc., but wouldn’t be dramatic or emotional.  From a technical standpoint, you can see that being on a wide angle shows the grass in the background which is very bright.  Ideally I’d prefer Sara to be brighter than the background, but that’s not the case in this frame.  Overall not bad, but not as good as I would have liked.\n\nOnce I zoomed in a little I was able to frame out some of the brighter portions of the background, which helped make Sara stand out better.  Also, the background gets blurrier which also helps direct your eyes towards Sara.\n\nThe close-up is where this setup really shines – look at how much shape we were able to create outdoors!  By zooming in with the lens I’ve cropped out most of the bright portions of the background and the ones that remain are so far out of focus that it’s actually adding beautiful bokeh to the shot.  Her face is now the brightest portion of the frame which immediately draws your attention and you can see the nice eye light which will be even further accentuated when she gets teary-eyed during part of her story.\n\nAnd there you have it.  If you follow those 5 steps you can bravely enter the great outdoors and know that you’ll be heading back to the edit with a card full of cinematic images.\n\nIf you have any questions, leave a comment below!\n\nYou may also like", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6231051087379456}
+{"content": "Continuous Ultrasound-Guided Adductor Canal Block for Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Randomized, Double-Blind Trial\n\n    loading  Checking for direct PDF access through Ovid\n\n\nBACKGROUND:Adductor canal blocks have shown promise in reducing postoperative pain in total knee arthroplasty patients. No randomized, controlled studies, however, evaluate the opioid-sparing benefits of a continuous 0.2% ropivacaine infusion at the adductor canal. We hypothesized that a continuous adductor canal block would decrease postoperative opioid consumption.METHODS:Eighty subjects presenting for primary unilateral total knee arthroplasty were randomized to receive either a continuous ultrasound-guided adductor canal block with 0.2% ropivacaine or a sham catheter. All subjects received a preoperative single-injection femoral nerve block with spinal anesthesia as is standard of care at our institution. Cumulative IV morphine consumption 48 hours after surgery was evaluated with analysis of covariance, adjusted for baseline characteristics. Secondary outcomes included resting pain scores (numeric rating scale), peak pain scores during physical therapy on postoperative days 1 and 2, quadriceps maximum voluntary isometric contraction, distance ambulated during physical therapy, postoperative nausea and vomiting, and satisfaction with analgesia.RESULTS:Eighty subjects were randomized, and 76 completed the study per-protocol. The least-square mean difference in cumulative morphine consumption over 48 hours (block − sham) was −16.68 mg (95% confidence interval, −29.78 to −3.59, P = 0.013). Total morphine use between 24 and 48 hours (after predicted femoral nerve block resolution) also differed by least-square mean −11.17 mg (95% confidence interval,: −19.93 to −2.42, P = 0.013). Intention-to-treat analysis was similar to the per-protocol results. Functional outcomes revealed subjects in the adductor canal catheter group had better quadriceps strength (P = 0.010) and further distance ambulated (P = 0.034) on postoperative day 2.CONCLUSIONS:A continuous adductor canal block for total knee arthroplasty reduces opioid consumption compared with that of placebo in the first 48 hours after surgery. Other outcomes including quadriceps strength, distance ambulated, and pain scores all show benefit from an adductor canal catheter after total knee arthroplasty but require further study before being interpreted as conclusive.\n\n    loading  Loading Related Articles", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6723172068595886}
+{"content": "One person is reported dead following a fire late Thursday night at 210 Kentucky.\n\nQuincy firefighters were called to the scene shortly after 11 p-m. Firefighters say the fatality was an elderly male. The house is a total loss. Smoke could be seen and smelled from several blocks away. An investigation into the cause of the fire gets under way this morning. Fire crews were still on the scene as of 4 a-m keeping watch on hot spots.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6245677471160889}
+{"content": "\n\nBrowse website\n\nVoor een keer opent het IISG op zaterdag haar deuren voor een festival met opstandige verhalen, muziekoptredens, rondleidingen door de schatkamers van het instituut, een filmprogramma en meer! GRATIS... [Event]\nA freelance seminar on Blind Spots and Preoccupation in Dutch and Indonesian Historiography on Decolonization that revives the theme of Ignorance as discussed by Wertheim in his last Master's Course... [Event]\nWorkshop The aim of the workshop is to compare Maoist insurgencies in various Asian and Latin American countries by addressing the following questions: Why does (Maoist) insurgency emerge in certain... [Event]\nInternational Conference of Labour and Social History (ITH) When we look back on the 68er protest movements, we are dealing with a period of two decades, the 1960s and 1970s. For the social and... [Event]\nThe conference explored the transnational dimensions of mutiny and maritime radicalism during the great cycle of war and revolution beginning in the mid-1750s, progressing through the eras of the... [Event]\nPhotos by Frits EisenloeffelJournalist Frits Eisenloeffel was invited by the EPLF (Eritrean People's Liberation Front) to document their struggle against the Ethiopian occupation army in 1980.  He... [Image gallery]\nPhotos by Frits EisenloeffelIn November-December 1980, Frits Eisenloeffel visited  the border region of Sudan/Eritrea where he photographed the Eritrean refugees who had fled from an Ethiopian... [Image gallery]\nHigh-cost Activism and the Worker Household: Revolutionary Activism among Phillippine plantation workers.ContentsIntroductionSocial activism: a household strategy?Social activism in the hacienda... [Publication]", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8890579342842102}
+{"content": "\n\nPurica Lion's Mane, 60 capsule bottle\nPurica Lion's Mane, 120 capsule bottle\n\nPurica - Lion's Mane (Beyond Brain Power)\n\nRegular price\nSale price\n\nInfo: Available in 60 or 120 Veg. Capsules\n\nA Lion's Roar for the mind and the nerves…. The Lion's Mane mushroom has long cascading tendrils resembling a lion's mane (hence the name). With an ability to stimulate synthesis of nerve growth factor (NGF), Lion's Mane by Purica has been known to improve: cognitive function, memory, digestion, and healthier nerves and blood. In particular, it may be able to improve your attention, memory, speech, comprehension, learning, reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making, particularly if you are older.\n\nProduct Notes:\n\nPurica's Lion's Mane is all natural, gluten free, and is free from common allergens. Purica uses micronized lion's mane for 5 to 10 times better absorption and potency. Active ingredients are preserved through a carefully monitored drying temperature of no more than 60C/140F.\n\n\nEach capsule contains: 400 mg Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus) - whole mushroom fruiting body, fully matured for maximum polysaccharide content, micronized for superior absorption and assimilation.\n\nNon-medicinal ingredients: hypromellose, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose.\n\nSuggested Usage:\n\nAdults 50 years and older: Take 5 capsules once per day, with food. (Former instructions for adults in general were to take three capsules daily, or as recommended by a health care practitioner.) Store in a cool, dry place, away from children.\n\n\nConsult a healthcare practitioner prior to use if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. May cause stomach discomfort. Health Canada Natural Product Number: 80036328.\n\nProduct Options:\n60 Veg. Capsules - $23.95 - UPC: 815555000227\n120 Veg. Capsules - $44.95 - UPC: 815555000180", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6030130386352539}
+{"content": "Ultrafast Quantum Simulator Simulates Quantum Mechanical Dynamics of Atoms\n\nSchematic explanation of the world’s fastest quantum simulator (Credit: NINS/IMS).\n\nKenji Ohmori from the Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Japan, has teamed up with Matthias Weidemüller from the University of Heidelberg, Guido Pupillo from the University of Strasbourg, Claudiu Genes from the University of Innsbruck and their collaborators to create the world’s fastest simulator that has the ability to simulate quantum mechanical dynamics of a wide variety of particles that interact with one another in less than one billionth of a second.\n\nWhen a large number of electrons interact with one another, the resultant dynamics controls a number of significant chemical and physical phenomena such as magnetism, superconductivity, and chemical reactions. Such an ensemble, where a number of particles interact with one another is called a “strongly correlated system.”\n\nConsequently, perceiving the properties of strongly correlated systems is one of the main aims of modern sciences. However, it is highly challenging to theoretically estimate the properties of a strongly correlated system even while using post-K supercomputer - one of the world’s fastest supercomputers anticipated to be created by 2020 through a national project of Japan.\n\nFor instance, the post-K cannot even accurately compute the energy - the most basic characteristic of matter - when the system includes more than 30 particles. Rather than using a classical computer such as the post-K for computing, a substitute known as a “quantum simulator” has been suggested.\n\nIn a quantum simulator, atoms (which are quantum mechanical particles) are gathered in an artificial strongly correlated system which is controllable and has known properties. The simulator is then used to simulate and perceive the properties of a disparate strongly correlated system with unknown characteristics.\n\nConsequently, huge investment has been recently started for developing quantum simulators in national projects of different countries including China, EU, and the US.\n\nThe research group has developed a totally new quantum simulator that has the ability to simulate the dynamics of a strongly correlated system consisting of 40 atoms in less than one billionths of a second. This was achieved by introducing an innovative technique in which an ultrashort laser pulse having a pulse-width of only 100 billionths of a second is utilized to control a high-density atomic ensemble that is cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero.\n\nIn addition, the team has successfully simulated the motion of electrons inside the strongly correlated system, which is modulated by altering the interactional strength between various atoms in the ensemble.\n\nSuch an “ultrafast quantum simulator” is anticipated to serve as a fundamental tool for studying the origin of physical characteristics of matter, such as magnetism and, probably, superconductivity.\n\nThe study results will be published on 16 November 2016, in Nature Communications, an online scientific journal of the UK.\n\nTell Us What You Think\n\n\nLeave your feedback", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7646937370300293}
+{"content": "'My life in a nutshell is thoughts about sex every 9 seconds and being depressed every 12 seconds'\n\nPlayer utilities\n\nListen to the story.\n\nFor Latvian animator Signe Baumane, escaping her often morbid thoughts is nearly impossible: “My life in a nutshell is thoughts about sex every nine seconds and being depressed every 12 seconds.”\n\nBut Baumane is an artist, and she has a keen sense of humor. So she did what came naturally: She began writing a film, the now-Oscar-nominated \"Rocks in my Pockets,\" about her long battle with mental illness.\n\nFilmmaker Signe Baumane\n\nFilmmaker Signe Baumane \n\n\nCourtesy of Signe Baumane\n\n“I started the film by writing my crazy thoughts — how I would not kill myself,” she explains. “For example, I would never jump under a subway car, because that would delay all the other people behind me. Just, that’s the person I am. And I thought that thought process was so absurd and funny — it’s like, why would you even think this way, right?”\n\nLike many who suffer from the illness, depression is a hereditary issue for Baumane. So to find the origins of her “crazy thoughts,” she went straight to the source. The film explores Baumane’s family history through the stories of five of generations of women. The strongest family tie is their shared “quest for sanity.”\n\n600 people attended the Latvian premiere of “Rocks in my Pockets,\" and 60 of them were Baumane’s relatives. Their reactions were mixed.\n\n“One person walked out, and some people cried because they recognized themselves,” Baumane recalls. “The younger generation — the children of my cousins — they came to me and said, ‘Oh my god, we never knew this. There are these black holes in the family that we never could find the truth about, and now we know. And not only that, we also know who we are, because now we know that we are not freaks because we have all these feelings and these bouts of pain. And now we know where it’s coming from.’”\n\nThe older generations, on the other hand, were angry Baumane would air her family’s dirty laundry. They claimed the younger family members would struggle to get married as a result of the film. For those members of her family, Baumane says, it’s easier to ignore the issue than admit it might be a genetic problem.\n\n“If you cover something up, if you push it under the bed, it doesn’t exist,\" she says. \"If I look at it that way, it’s not genetic. And I think that’s why these secrets get pushed under the bed.”\n\nLiving in the former Soviet Union, Baumane’s options were limited when it came to treating her depression. She recalls her meetings with her therapist, who herself abused alcohol and psychiatric drugs.\n\n“The therapist, she decided what was my treatment, what was my diagnosis, and she checked me into a mental hospital, without really investigating deeper if I really had to go to mental hospital,” Baumane says.\n\nBecause of the oppressive culture of the Soviet Union, refusing hospitalization wasn’t an option. “Resistance is not what you did in the Soviet Union, unless you were a dissident,” she says. “The healthcare in the Soviet Union was reflecting, pretty much, the government itself, which was authoritarian and so these little individuals who were in positions of power — of this micro-power — over other people, they exercised it to the full extent.”\n\nBaumane still lives with depression to this day. At the end of the film, Baumane provides a particularly striking image to convey her ongoing struggle: an animated likeness of her, pushing a boulder.\n\n“I do remember the pink, green and yellow pills my Latvian doctor insisted I take,\" she says in a voiceover. \"I do not take those pills. They would dull my pain, make it more endurable. The soft pillow of pills would enwrap my existence and distort the perspective ... that I have to walk the thin line between sanity and insanity.”\n\nBut not all the film’s images are so dark. Baumane wants to assure audiences that “Rocks in my Pockets” is a surreally funny film about depression.\n\n“Animation can show something that you cannot see.  In ‘Rocks in my Pockets,’ I can actually show depression,” Baumane explains. “When you communicate something in an image, it becomes less scary. You can actually poke a finger at it and laugh. And for me, laughter is the best medicine ... especially if you can share the laughter.”\n\nRelated Content", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.575075089931488}
+{"content": "\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat's new in 3.3.8 (see release notes for more)?\n\n- When you sign in, you'll now sign in through the browser rather than within the app.\n- We've fixed the tray icon to make the notification badge easier to see, because, let's face it, if you can't see a notification, it's not really doing its job.\n- Switching from one channel to another will now give the correct name and information of the new one, rather than the old one, as was previously happening.\n- The new loading animation was a little stretched, or a little squished, depending on how you looked at it. It's now practically perfect.\n- A few icons in menus went missing on Windows 10, and have now been retrieved.\n- Occasionally, the \"Open the Slack App\" browser button was not opening the workspace in the desktop app. \n- If you use SSO (Single Sign-on) to log in, it should now work perfectly every time.\n\nVerdict ratingsratingsratingsratingsratings\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999551773071289}
+{"content": "Lesley Brown\n\nRegional Practice Leader\nEmployee Surveys and Insights\n\nA recent study by Towers Watson found that only two in five workers (39%) in Asia Pacific are highly engaged at work. The rest, three-fifths of the workforce, are struggling to cope with work situations that do not provide adequate support and emotional connection. These workers are not consistently productive and they lack the willingness to go the extra mile for their employers. The lack of employee engagement translates to a cost for their employers in terms of loss in productivity, lower work performance and high staff turnover.\n\nThe Towers Watson 2012 Global Workforce Study polled more than 9,000 employees in Asia Pacific on their attitudes and moods at a time of continuing economic uncertainty and constant change in the workplace. While employee engagement varies widely across the region, the study found that in general, employees are working more hours, feeling more stress and are anxious about their financial future. Many also expressed concern about trust in their company’s leadership, the support they receive from managers and the ability to build careers in their current organisations. A major issue is low sustainable engagement.\n\nSustainable engagement, which refers to employees maintaining a positive connection to their companies that yields consistent productivity, is the sum of three distinct elements. The first is traditional engagement, defined as employees’ commitment to the organisation and willingness to give extra effort to their employer. The second is enablement, defined as having the tools, resources, and support to get work done efficiently. The third is energy, defined as a work environment that actively supports physical, emotional and interpersonal well-being. Effective performance depends on all three elements of sustainable engagement. When the three elements are well balanced, employees are highly engaged in a way that yields sustainable productivity over time.\n\nThe cost of disengaged employees\n\nCompanies have known for a long time that work performance is tightly linked to employee engagement. Towers Watson has found in earlier research that the average operating margin of companies with sustainably engaged employees is three times as much as those with a low level of employee engagement.\n\nApart from operating margin, sustainable engagement affects productivity and staff retention. Organisations with highly engaged employees report loss of an average of 7.6 workdays per year, whereas organisations with disengaged employees lost 14.1 workdays, or almost twice as many workdays per year. Significantly, disengaged employees are more likely to leave their organisations. Research shows that 58% of disengaged employees compared with 17.1% of employees with high engagement, are high retention risks.\n\nSustainable engagement and the Asia Pacific workforce\n\nAsia Pacific is a diverse region and employee engagement levels vary in different countries. In fast-growing economies such as China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, employee engagement levels are much higher than in the developed economies including Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.\n\nNonetheless, in both the fast-growing and developed economies, talent attraction and retention remain key challenges for organisations. Employers in fast-growing economies find that attracting critical skill employees is their biggest challenge. They also find it hard to retain fresh graduates. On the other hand, employers in the developed economies have difficulty recruiting fresh graduates. Given the intense competition for workers, an effective talent attraction and retention strategy requires keeping employees engaged.\n\nIn addition, the correlation between employee engagement and corporate performance means the opportunity exists for every organisation to improve business performance by raising sustainable engagement. To do this, employers need to examine a number of elements in the work environment that affect their employees.\n\nStress, Work-life Balance and Workload\n\nFrom the study, Stress, Work-life Balance and Workload is collectively identified as the most important driver for sustainable engagement. However, workers are struggling to cope in this aspect.\n\nWorkers in Asia Pacific are stressed. More than 40% of the workers are bothered by work stress. Paid time-off is under-utilised, especially in fast-growing economies including China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, where more than half of the workforce reported using fewer paid time-off days than in the past.\n\nMoving forward, more than half of the employees in the region also expect to work more hours than normal in the next three years.\n\nExcessive work pressure is a factor pushing people out of their companies. Of those who are likely to leave their companies within the next two years, 61% admitted they are often bothered by excessive pressure on the job.\n\nHowever, it appears that leaders’ perceived interest in employee well-being can mitigate the effect of excessive job pressures. The study found that leadership is a key factor driving sustainable engagement. Among many other leaders attributes, what counts for employees is whether their leaders show a sincere interest in their well-being. While workers are generally critical about their senior corporate leadership, in companies where there is perceived interest in employee well-being, workers are more favourable towards their leaders.\n\nCommunication and Empowerment\n\nIn a number of Asia Pacific countries, effective communication and empowerment is another factor for sustaining employee engagement levels. This is most prominent in China where employees who feel their organisation keeps them informed of the company’s values, goals and performance are more engaged. Likewise, employees who believe management takes the time to listen to and act on their suggestions are more engaged. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, the survey data reveals that a shared view of organisational goals and objectives drives sustainable engagement. Unfortunately, there is a gap in effective communication of goals and objectives.\n\nA significant observation is the central role of managers in enablement, energy and traditional engagement. The role of the direct manager has shifted from being a technical expert that directs the work of employees to more of a leader who can motivate and coach their subordinates. Indeed, many employees have high expectations of their managers as ‘people managers’ rather than task managers.\n\nManagers who make sure their subordinates have adequate tools, resources and support to make the best possible use of their skills, and who assign tasks suited to the skills of their subordinates are viewed more favourably. They help enhance shared accountability and sustainable engagement. Managers who can communicate goals clearly can help to alleviate pressure and set boundaries around an employee’s workload. In this way, they have significant influence over employee engagement.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9975401759147644}
+{"content": "Image by: Astronlogia\n\nIs leadership a ‘natural’ attribute or can it be acquired? \n\nIf you’re African, you’re likely to have heard the phrase, ‘be the head and not the tail’ at some point. There is no doubt that there is a natural hierarchy in the society we are in and this same structure will always be found in some way where ever we find ourselves. On one hand, we have the leaders: the CEOs, directors, politicians, presidents, activists, etc. On the other hand, we have the other, shall we say, ‘regular’ people: those who find themselves performing some function in the bigger picture; a function not as active as the leaders. The question – an extremely important one for that matter — is do we have some kind of choice and self-made impact on where we fall in this hierarchy and social structure? Are leaders born or are they made?\n\nFirst of all, What is a Leader?\n\nBefore we even begin to attempt to answer this question, we have to be clear on exactly what a Leader is. I notice the term being thrown around a lot and used without much thought. What a ‘Leader’ is, holds different meanings to us as individuals. A leader could be someone who is performing well in their field in comparison to others, for instance, a “leading scientist” who finds themselves at the top of their field. However, that’s not the kind of leader I have in mind just this moment. I’m talking about those individuals who people are naturally drawn to; those people who have this natural affinity (and I use the word ‘natural’ very lightly) to leading others. I want to help you understand why people despite being in a team have this ability…\n\nIt makes sense to assert that leaders have simply been “born” that way. After all, if we all had the same chances and attributes as others, why is it that some people stand out among others without appearing to have worked towards gaining these attributes? Why is it that I could spend 10 times the amount of effort to gain public-speaking, whereas it comes naturally to some?\n\nThe truth is, according to expert researchers and studies, up to 70% of Leadership can be learnable. 70% of our leadership attributes are gathered completely through experience: learning as you go will enable you to make informed decisions in the future having had the benefit of hindsight.\n\nSo while some may not be born with leadership skills, they may be able to develop them with hard work and determination. However, some times people have something in them which the rest of us don’t always have. It’s not to say that this “something” is the be-all because, in order to reach the full potential, we have to actually nurture this natural talent.\n\nAre leaders born or made?\n\nMy Conclusion: A bit of both.. But more made than born.\n\n\n\n\n\nConnect with:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9958472847938538}
+{"content": "Putting The US LGBT Domestic Agenda in Perspective: The First UN Report on LGBT Rights\n\nPeter Dunne\n\nIt has been an extraordinary ten days for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Rights – both in the United States and abroad.\n\nAs I previously posted, last week Hillary Clinton made a landmark speech on sexual orientation and gender identity rights at the United Nations (UN) in Geneva. Her address was accompanied by the release of a US Presidential Memorandum, urging US Foreign Diplomats to make LGBT rights a priority in their work, and announcing the creation of a three million dollar Global Equality Fund. On Thursday December 8th, the UN hosted its fifth annual LGBT Side Event, bringing together activists from all corners of the globe and, in the process, filling the Economic and Social Council Chamber. The following day, the United Kingdom’s government announced its first ever plan of action to promote Transgender Equality.\n\nThis morning, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published its much anticipated report on sexual orientation and gender identity: “Discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.” The report, the first ever at the UN to focus specifically on LGBT issues, documents widespread discrimination and violence faced by individuals worldwide and calls upon States to apply the international legal framework to end these human rights violations.\n\nThe report is shocking to the extent it highlights the abuse, violence, torture and killings to which LGBT persons are still routinely subject around the world. It stands in sharp contrast to the current US domestic gay rights agenda which tends to focus more on civil and political rights, such as marriage and equal benefits. How can a same-sex couple even contemplate State recognition of their relationship, when their primary concern is to keep each other alive and out of harm’s way.\n\nOf course, very few people would question the importance of the marriage equality debate. Even among those individuals who do not identify with the movement for relationship recognition, there are many who understand that the question of marriage has transcended the normal boundaries of a single issue debate in America, and become, in and of itself, a symbol for wider LGBT equality. There is thus good reason to support and lend our assistance to marriage advocates.\n\nBut there are also pitfalls we must avoid. While marriage may have become a symbol of greater equality, we must recognize that it does not actually represent the realization of that goal. If the US Supreme Court were to affirm a right to equal marriage tomorrow, there would still be widespread legal and cultural discrimination against LGBT people, particularly  lesbians, young persons and the transgender community. In fact, as others have noted, achieving same-sex marriage may even have negative results for the LGBT community, creating a two tier system where individuals are expected to seek State recognition of their relationships and when they refuse, they are subject to social disapproval by their own.\n\nHowever, at its most basic level, today’s report simply shows us that there are numerous concerns other than relationship recognition and spousal benefits of which we must have regard, without lessening the importance of those two former concerns. The US, as a global leader, has a unique position from which to address the violations raised in the report. It must work constructively with foreign partners to help end foreign LGBT violations, and look within our own community, to ensure that the values we espouse on the global stage are also reflected in our domestic policy.\n\nOld Paper by ThunderThemes.net", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5093233585357666}
+{"content": "Pay to build resume\n\nMonday, August 06, 2018 4:11:11 PM\n\nMarketing essay samples Product The product being advertised in the commercial is Coca-Cola soft drink. The Coca-Cola soft drink is depicted as having immense ability to . Introduction This paper discusses the demand and supply elements of a market by evaluating the variations that occur in demand and supply of goods . Introduction In Germany, automotive industry is a leader among other sectors of the economy, which is constantly updating its products, using . Advertising is a necessary marketing tool, which takes a larger part of our life by performing the products through OMG please help!!! Referencing help!! ??? 10 points!? media. Today, advertising . Conflict is an essential aspect of human interaction in society. This is a form of relationship between the potential or relevant social actors; the . Question 1 Customer relation is a general term that describes the services offered to clients and the interactions that exist between them and a . The case problems that are the main causes of the e-commerce hiccups in the Williams-Sonoma includes amongst others the ones hereby discussed. Failed . Ancient advertising geniuses might have been lucky, because they lived in the innocent time of marketing sunrise. Earlier, it was enough simply to . For a long time Farm Boy grocery store has been a sufficient market participant. It has a wide and developed chain of stores. Its uniqueness lies in . Human Resource Management The success of a business depends on a sound human resource system. Effective Human Resource Management stems from an . Introduction Total quality management, TQM is an important aspect of large multinational companies used in management. The TQM philosophy for . Institutional security basically refers to all security measures put up by the government or even the corporate entities so as to protect social . 1.0 Introduction Marketing entails effective communication between a business entity and its current and potential customers. It is a helpful tool . In the present world todaythe mass media such as the television, magazine tend to use the advertisements . Introduction The American hotel chain Marriott International is one of the largest transnational corporations in the world. Resume psychology major to the . Leadership is a method of social control in which an individual guides other people to achieve certain set goals. Many scholars have provided various . Introduction Motivation and inspiration of a team and its effectiveness are extremely difficult and serious processes of teamwork and management. bob wolff smithsonian institute market segments are online shoppers. We seek to create a long term Families with Children Enrolled in the State Children?s Health Insurance Program with our members. We ensure they receive products efficiently and . The U.S. health care system consisted of hospitals and doctors, organizations of prepaid medical care, insurance an analytical essay explaining why arthur miller wrote the crucible and customers for their . Motivation is a very important aspect of the effective work. That is why, companies’ managers should take into consideration their . The leverage sales approach can effectively Families with Children Enrolled in the State Children?s Health Insurance Program used by the Costco wholesalers in marketing their products. This is because the chain store . Marketing Strategy Marketing is vital for either the success or failure of any enterprise. The success of a business is often determined by the . Wal-Mart is the arguably the leading retailer in the world. Sam Walton started the store in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Currently the retailer has more . Mobile Access Consumer Services (MACS) is a company specializing in mobile marketing. MACS extends the reach of its services making them accessible . Introduction Marketing activity in many corporations is concentrated about the quest to increase sales of the company and optimize the competitive . When the concept of market segmentation occurs in person’s mind, he/she tries to understand things in relation to lifestyle, norms, values. China shipping container line is a leading shipping company in the world and there are measures and strategies that need to be put in place in order . Television commercial is one among the techniques used in the communication process. It involves the audience who are the listeners and an informer . Scores of politicians across the globe, especially those who aren’t powerful and popular make use of negative campaigning to divert attention . Wal-Mart is an American company that operates as a discount chain and is the most successful retail brand that values, convenience, money and various . Outline Should the USA as a country seek for offshore outsourcing? The bob wolff smithsonian institute can be answered in two different perspectives. To answer the above . Formal and informal groups play a pay to build resume important role in the setup of an organization. Each of these groups in the organization has distinct roles . The target audience is the corporate customers who deposit their monies with JP Morgan. This audience have been addressed and identified correctly . 1. Downsizing Downsizing refers to the process through which the employees are reduced from the payroll. Under downsizing the employees are . The use of social marketing has been around since the 1970s. With time the social marketing has continued to make a notch for itself as different . Apple Inc. is an American international corporation having its headquarters in Cupertino, California (Meyer 2010). The corporation is involved in . Multinational internet retailers face numerous challenges when they design their organizational structures. However, there are two main challenges . The Competency-based approach to Management Development is a plan undertaken by organizations to assist them in identifying the necessary managerial . Leadership refers to a social Families with Children Enrolled in the State Children?s Health Insurance Program process, in which an individual has the ability to guide and assist other people in the achievement of a . Introduction Every year, the tobacco industry spends millions pay to build resume dollars around the world in advertising, promoting and marketing their products. For . Introduction Various leadership pay to build resume have been determined. Some of them include charismatic, authoritarian and participatory leadership styles. . Everybody sooner or later goes shopping and encounters a versatile choice of where to go and spend a sum of invaluable money. Such problem is not . The term marketing has different definitions based on the person or Families with Children Enrolled in the State Children?s Health Insurance Program giving the definition. Marketing is a vital component in any business as .\n\nCurrent Viewers:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6982874870300293}
+{"content": "This article is a stub. You can help Radiant Historia Wiki by expanding it.\n\nGalva is the elder of Forgia. He has knowledge of the continent that exceeds that of most people. Due to past encounters with humans that have hurt both him and his race, he has sealed off contact between them and the outside world. He wishes for peace and has decided to observe the war and play no part in it.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9494055509567261}
+{"content": "Gauntlet symbol 2\n\nRem's symbol, representing his iron fist and the chain of judgement and order.\n\n\nTorm (pronounced TORM, or The Loyal Fury) is the god of law and a lawful good greater deity whose portfolio consists of duty, loyalty, and righteousness. His symbol is a gauntlet, which represents the iron fist of order, trial and rule for the common good.\n\n\nTorm's worshipers consist of those who favor the cause of both Good and Law. Righteousness, honesty, loyalty and truth are their primary pursuits. In the Post-Conflict War world, which seems to be more dangerous and darker than ever, they shine as beacons of hope and courage.\n\n\nOrder of the Golden Lion\n\nHigh Cleric Barriltar Bhandraddon serves as Torm's pontiff and rules from the magnificent Temple of Torm's Coming in Tantras. From this place, the pontiff has extended Torm's reach and worship by sponsoring continent-wide knightly orders, including the prestigious Order of the Golden Lion.\n\nMembers of the Order of the Golden Lion, known as Tormtar, guard temples of deities whose worshipers the Tormish had persecuted during the Time of Reconing. This act of aiding other goodly faiths is called the Penance of Duty.\n\nAlong with the Penance of Duty, the Tormtar must also fulfill the Debt of Dereliction (the act of expending every resource possible to eliminate cults of Cyric and Bane), and the Debt of Destruction (the act of locating and recording accursed souls and purging them of the Darksign). As the Order was created during both the renaissance of Torm's church and the Time of Reckoning, it has enjoyed a notable diversity in regard to the skills (Classes) and races of its Tormtar.\n\nGirded Healers\n\nMembers of this order worship both Torm and Helm. The primary purpose of this order is to heal those touched by war or the Wailing Death during the Plague Wars.\n\n\nRem, the almighty judge.\n\n\nTorm had a friendship with Helm prior to the latter's death at the year of Reckoning which followed the faceless watcher's resurrection, though the two deities' priesthoods were cold to one another. Torm has many enemies amongst the foul deities, but the return of his arch nemesis Bane has forced Torm to concentrate his efforts again.\n\nIt's well known that he and the Red Knight are fond of one another, but whether the two are friends or lovers is something the duo keep to themselves.\n\nThe Triad\n\nTorm was one of the three deities of similar interests known as the Triad, along with Helm and Tyr. It was often said by common-folk that Torm was the weakest of the three in his subservient role, but the role he played was of true importance: he acted as the nexus that holds the three together. Torm tempered Tyr's zeal for justice with his gifts of mercy and humility. The Triad broke up with the death of Tyr, but before Tyr died he gave his godhood and power to Torm during or after the Conflict Wars, and Torm was elevated to a greater deity soon after before Ilmater joined the Triad to take the place of Tyr.\n\n\nPrior to the Time of Reconing, Torm was a minor demipower. Torm gained considerable attention and praise during the Godswar when his faithful helped keep one of the missing Tablets of Fate safe, and his own avatar battled and completely destroyed the avatar of Bane outside Tantras, (on Eleasias 13), seemingly killing the god who has already been weakened by Mystra and her servant Elminster. Torm died in the conflict too, but because of his loyalty to his portfolio was resurrected by the overdeity Ao at the end of the Time of Reckoning, with his power greatly increased.\n\nIn 1AR just after the Time of Reckoning, Tyr abdicated his godhood and granted Torm all his deific power. Tyr counsels all of his followers to offer their allegiance to Torm. Torm then became a greater god and master of Celestia following the death of Tyr in a demonic invasion and his resurrection at the end of the Time of Reconing.\n\nDestruction of Bane's avatar\n\nDuring the Time of Reckoning, Torm defeated the avatar of Bane. He knew he did not have enough power to do this, so he chose to absorb the souls of his worshipers in Tantras, knowing that they would be instantly killed. The transferring of souls was done voluntarily and took thousands of lives, but Torm chose to spare children aged 14 and below. These individuals became known as the Martyr's Progeny.[7]\n\n\nSalvation may be found through service. Every failure of duty diminishes Torm and every success adds to his luster. Strive to maintain law and order. Obey your masters with alert judgment and anticipation. Stand ever alert against corruption. Strike quickly and forcefully against rot in the hearts of mortals. Bring painful, quick death to traitors. Question unjust laws by suggesting improvement or alternatives, not additional laws. Your fourfold duties are to faith, family, masters, and all good beings of Faerun.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8968250155448914}
+{"content": "Study abroad\n\n\nThere are programs covering a wide range of disciplines and sciences.\n\nThe eligibility criteria vary according to the country, field of study, degree program and academic institution.\n\nTherefore, searching for a student program in another country is a personal matter that takes time and requires proper information.\n\nWe provide our clients with competent information and support in preparation of student’s application as well as the gathering of all necessary documents for admission to any study program abroad.\n\nIn the last four years we have undertaken and completed successfully the preparation of documentation for admission of students at universities in countries such as UK, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, USA, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Czech Republic, Serbia, Scotland, Slovakia.\n\nFinally, our agency collaborates with relevant agencies, educational representatives abroad or directly with universities in order to provide reliable information on each country.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998527765274048}
+{"content": "Abby J.\n\nAbby is serving for two years in Southeast Asia as part of the Global Cities Initiative. Abby will be studying for her language degree and will also begin working as a teacher at a local school this Fall. \n\nWays to Pray:\n\n  • Pray for Abby as she faces the stresses of moving to a new culture and that God would provide all that she needs to navigate those things well.\n  • Pray for Abby to be a bold witness to her friends and students.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9991222620010376}
+{"content": "Some people, particularly New Jersey natives, love clamming. They have their perfect, undisclosed inlet and hit it as soon as they can bask in the sun of the first warm spring day.\n\nClam season typically begins in March, but varies by bay and inlet. Many are only open for six months for clamming season, making it essential to take advantage of the first opportunity to dig for the delectable hard clams. Clamming is allowed between sunrise and sunset, but not on Sundays.\n\nFor newcomers to the Jersey area, there are three basic ways to go clamming. The easiest way is to use a clam rake, as it has longer tines that yard rakes. You can also use a shorter clam digger and search on all fours. Those into getting down and dirty may prefer mushing, where you use your hands and feet to feel the clams and scoop them up.\n\nClambakes are largely orchestrated with local traditions and ingredients, so there is not one way to do them. Many recipes involve ingredients like onions, leeks, potatoes, sausage seasonings and white wine. Some along the Northeast Coast also include other seafood.\n\nThe clambake is primarily a New England tradition, but is also incredibly popular in other shore cities like Cleveland, Ohio as well. Given its abundance of clams, it has began gaining popularity along the Jersey Shore too as it is the perfect casual party.\n\nIn New England, it is summer fare and always includes lobster, as it is readily available, potatoes and corn on the cob. In Ohio, it is a fall tradition and may or may not include other seafood.\n\nThe clambake goes back to Native American cooking techniques. It was the original inhabitants of this area who taught colonists how to steam clams and other foods in the ground.\n\nA traditional clambake starts with a hole in the ground. The bottom is covered with large rocks and then coal is piled and lit. Once the fire burns for a couple of hours and is hot, coals are pushed aside and the rocks are covered with seaweed or rockweed. The food is then wrapped in individual servings in a cheesecloth and put on the seaweed. It is covered with more seaweed and then a tarp. It takes about two hours to cook.\n\nThe dilemma in New Jersey is most beaches don’t allow fire pits. However, you can still do the traditional clambake on private property.\n\nAt Foodini’s, we take the culture and tradition of the summer clambake to heart. We offer clambake meals in our vast array of services including our corporate catering service and wedding catering.\n\nA summer clambake is a great way to bring your family together. You can find out about all our services at our website.\n\n\"Creating Culinary Magic\"\n\n- Chef John Deatcher\n\n\nJust Provide Your Email Address Below and We'll do the Rest.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6643887758255005}
+{"content": "Speaking Rights helps solve a company-wide communication challenge\n\nThe company employs 14000 people\n\nThe Situation:\n\nA change in policy meant that a new pay structure would be implemented across the country to move to a more results base employment scheme.  Although this could really benefit most of the employees, some managers were very worried about the older employees.  They feared that many would become discouraged and leave the company.\n\nA Blended Approach:\n\nA melange of training methods were implemented, ranging from:\n\n  1. Several training sessions in a variety of lengths\n  2. Follow up Webinars\n  3. 1 to 1 telephone calls\n  4. Head office speeches\n  5. Regional speeches\n\n\nThe most powerful part of the course was understanding the deep-seated reasons that were stopping many of the managers from having the conversations.  Allowing them to acknowledge their fears and address them in public was critical to the success of the program.  Once a problem is named, it can be dealt with more easily.\n\nThe Solution:\n\nCustomised conversation based on the DARE strategy which acknowledged the employee’s values and personal style.  The training included diagnosing the main motivators of each employee and what will inspire them to change.\n\n\nOver the transition period this company of 14,000 employees did not lose 1 employee due to the change in policy.  In fact, many found it much easier to manage and motivate both new and long-term employees.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5114878416061401}
+{"content": "29 04 2012\n\nArtists, critics, and academics insist that the defining factor for any object or action to be art is intent.  Even in a postmodern mindset where anything—any act, any work of cultural production, or any object (any thing)—can be art, what makes that thing art is the intent that it is art.  This, of course, is rooted in the Modernist ideology of authority.\n\nModern thought places the utmost importance in authority, because it is through authoritative figures, statements, and processes that we can determine Truth.  And capital-T “Truth” is the utmost authority.  For this purpose, fields of study are singled out and highly educated experts spend their time investigating and advancing their knowledge of these fields, producing work that is True Science or True Music or True Art.  By designating himself as an Artist, a person then declares his intent to make art.  From then on, what he decides is art—what he intends art to be—is just that.  His justification is manifest in his position as an Authority on Art, an authority granted by specialization and expertise.\n\nIn the period of High Modernism (namely, the movements of Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism), the intent of being art was enough justification for a thing to be art. During the Postmodern period, however, simply being art was not enough justification for an object.  Beginning in the late 1960s, art gained (or re-gained) the requirement of meaning.  In order to have impact, the work needed to do more than just be art, it needed to mean something.\n\nBarbara Kruger, Your Body is a Battleground, 1989\n\nIn some circles, this “meaning something” depended on shock—a tool inherited from early Modernist painters who seemed intent on forcing the advancement of society, which was another topic of Modernist importance.  High Modernists like Picasso and Pollock aimed their shock inward—the shock of non-representational painting pushing art to a more advanced, more specialized place.  However, like Realist painters such as Manet, Postmodern artists like Barbara Kruger and Ed Kienholtz aimed their shock outward, putting society itself in the crosshairs.\n\nActivist artists like Judy Chicago, Mel Chin, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, and Sue Coe made artwork with dual intent:  to be art and to disrupt.  The requirement for rupture seems to have become inherent, especially in art produced and justified in an academic setting.  Disruption  may not always be readily apparent, and thus artist’s statements emerge as a way to explain what is disruptive about a particular work or a particular artists’ oeuvre.\n\nWhat is peculiar about the supremacy of rupture as a requirement of art is that the intent of rupture seems to have the capability of being granted after the fact.  Artists who do not intend to their work to be disruptive in the present to be dismissed, and artists who created rupture in the past, whether or not they set out to do so, are elevated.  A reader commented on my last post (Thomas Kincade is Dead.  Long Live Thomas Kincade) on Facebook, arguing against my comparison of Kincade to Andy Warhol:\n\nEven if he claims that he did not intend to, Warhol’s imagery (as banal as it was) at the time forced an examination of the boundaries of art (rupture). That’s pioneering. Kinkade’s imagery (although his methods of production and commercialism could be argued as similar to Warhol’s) does not hold the same power of rupture, just based on content alone.\n\nWarhol was famously non-committal about his intentions regarding meaning in his work.  He made works with a popular appeal in a businesslike way that seemed to challenge the accepted specialized, reified nature of art. Critics, history books, and hero-worship have assigned the intent of rupture to Warhol, not Warhol himself.  If intent is all important in the status of an artist, is assigned intent just as powerful as declared intent?\n\nIt appears that this is the case.  The reader concluded her comments by writing, “I believe Kinkade’s illuminated cottage scenes are more along the lines of an allopathic art—an easy sell.”  Kincade was about business and selling, and Warhol was about critiquing the art world and/or society. However, Warhol’s own statement on the matter was that “Being good at business is the most fascinating kind of art.”\n\nThe figure of Andy Warhol has been ascribed the role of sly critic of mass consumer culture and big-money art markets even with the facts and trappings of his fame and wealth readily apparent.  A similar statement can be made about the work and person that is Jeff Koons.  My favorite statement regarding Koons comes from Robert Hughes, “If cheap cookie jars could become treasures in the 1980s, then how much more the work of the very egregious Jeff Koons, a former bond trader, whose ambitions took him right through kitsch and out the other side into a vulgarity so syrupy, gross, and numbing, that collectors felt challenged by it.”\n\nHughes goes on to say, and I agree, that you will be hard-pressed to find anyone in the art world who claims to actually like Koons’ work.  But because it is ultra-kitsch and still presented as art, we assume the intent is to critique the vulgarity and simplicity of consumer or of the art market itself.  Koons is a businessman, and a shrewd one at that.  He makes a lot of money by “challenging” collectors while stating directly that he is not intending to critique or challenge art, beauty, or kitsch.\n\nOf course, he is challenging them.  It is not his stated intent that is accepted as fact, but it is the intent we as viewers and critics have assigned to him.  In a postmodern view, the authority has shifted to the reader, to the viewer—to the end consumer of a cultural product.  We are no longer interested in a Truth of art, but instead we accept the personal truths of our own subjective views.  Saying you didn’t intent to go over the speed limit does not mean you didn’t do it, and Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, or even Thomas Kincade saying they don’t intend to create disruptive art work doesn’t mean they aren’t doing it.\n\nIf rupture is the new defining characteristic of art, then intent no longer can be.  A child doesn’t intent to disrupt a funeral, but it will because it wants attention.  Attention is the intent, but rupture occurs nonetheless.  Kincade just wanted attention and fame, but that shouldn’t stop us from viewing the work as a disruptive critique of the market.  It hasn’t stopped us from doing the same with Warhol.\n\nJeff Koons next to his own sculpture, Pink Panther (1988)\n\nThe reader’s comment used the word “allopathic.”  Allopathic, according to Merriam-Webster online, is “relating to or being a system of medicine that aims to combat disease by using remedies (as drugs or surgery) which produce effects that are different from or incompatible with those of the disease being treated.”  In this case, the system of art critique is allopathic.  Typically, critique is aimed at works of art that intend to be art in a certain way.  Here, we are critiquing work in a way different or incompatible with its supposed intentions when being produce.  In a world of relative truths, that doesn’t make the critique any less valid.\n\n\nPure Art Sells Out\n\n6 01 2012\n\nThe specialized treatment of art education at the university level separates art from other aspects of life. As I have stated before, a qualification for something to be considered “High” or “Fine” art is that the entire purpose of the object is to be art and art alone.  This is the culmination of the modernist mandate for authority and therefore for purity.  To be an expert in something, one must study it extensively and exclusively.  To become an authority in art, an artist must be entirely focused on art and therefore what is produced is art for art’s sake—a pure art.\n\nJean Michel Basquiat's studio: a working temple of art\n\nThis isn’t an attitude that is limited to art.  Other disciplines follow the pattern:  music, religion, philosophy, science, etc.  It is in science, and the Enlightenment approach to science that so influenced modern thought, where we see how specialization is so important.  I could use Theoretical Physics as an example of a form of science that is almost entirely detached from any aspect of the everyday existence of an average person living on planet earth.  String Theory and inquiry into the status of light as a particle or a wave have little bearing on the day-to-day work of a plumber.  However, I think the scientific method itself is a prime example of how specialization and singular focus work in science, which we can then see echoed in larger areas of study like art.\n\nThe television show Mythbusters is a fantastic pop-culture example of the use of the scientific method.  The cast will start with a myth or bit of urban lore.  Say, for this episode, they are taking a scene from the movie Lethal Weapon 2 where Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) discovers explosives under his toilet, knowing that if he stands up, his house will be blown to bits.  The solution, in the film, is for Murtaugh and Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) to jump into the adjacent cast-iron bathtub, which will shield them from the force of the explosion.  The question the Mythbusters pose is, “Will a cast-iron bathtub shield a person from the force of a C-4 explosion like it did in the movie?”\n\nThe scientific method requires focused inquiry.  Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman aren’t looking at the plausibility of Murtaugh and Riggs’ car chase which leads to the discovery of South African Krugerrands and the subsequent attacks by “South African thugs,” or into any of the other spectacular stunts depicted in the film.  The scene is picked apart, with one specific aspect tested after another.  They test how easily one man can pull another into a bathtub from a toilet if the man on the toilet is unable to use his legs due to numbness.  For the show-finishing test, they focus on the shock protection of a cast-iron bathtub.  After determining what variables are acceptable in their experiment and which need to be removed (namely, actual people and a real house), they construct a bathroom on a bomb range with pressure-sensors and a ballistics dummy to record how much of the shock wave reaches inside the bathtub.\n\nThis photo isn't from the same episode, but it's still badass.\n\nThe Mythbusters engage in solid science, and in solid science, each experiment is designed to test one hypothesis.  If the results confirm the hypothesis or disconfirm it, the science is still solid.  In fact one of the defining factors of so-called “hard science” is that 50-50 possibility for failure.  If a hypothesis is tested in a way where a result could be produced that neither confirms or disconfirms it, the science is faulty—there are too many variables that must be eliminated from the experiment in order to make the hypothesis falsifiable.\n\nThe results of hard science carry absolute authority:  a hypothesis is either confirmed or disconfirmed, there is no way to argue for one or the other once the experiment has been carried out.  It is the singular focus of science that gives it this authority, and therefore other areas of study echo that kind of inquiry.  The study of art focuses on art itself—to be an authority is to be an expert, and to be an expert is to study something solely and exhaustively.  This is how we have modeled education.  High school specializes by class (1st period, you study Science, 2nd period, you study Latin, etc.), while trade schools specialize by, well, trade, while universities specialize by major and therefore department.\n\nIn art, an education focused entirely on art produces artist who make art that is, at its core, about art.  Though we think ourselves to be past the “art-for-art’s-sake” mantra of Abstract Expressionism or Minimalism, the work we produce is referencing other works, other periods of art history, and is a product of our focused education.  An artist like me might propose that anything can be considered art, which is true.  In a bizarre paradox, the supposed non-art activities that artists bring into the fold as art are justifiable as such because our sole area of expertise is art.  We are artists, so anything we do is art.\n\nWhat this produces, as Howard Singerman and others lament, is a circular production of artist-educators.  The non-art activities produced as art—the “Alternative Media,” the “New Genre,” the weird, out-there, crazy stuff like performance and video and installation and earthworks and sound art—do not have much of a place in the art market. These artworks are difficult to quantify and commodify, and are therefore difficult to sell as objects.  Since they can’t really be sold on the primary market, there’s little to sell on the secondary market (auction houses frequented by collectors) and therefore the path to the institutions of legitimation, namely, museums, is obstructed.\n\nWith a lack of accessibility to the market, the path to legitimation instead leads through the institutions of education.  Enter the artist-educator.  Enter the visiting artist.  Enter the special lecturer.  The majority of students graduating from MFA programs are qualified to make art, certainly (really—how much qualification do you need?  More in another blog), but they are qualified for little else in a world that requires “employment” in order to have enough money to live.  Since many graduates focus on the ephemeral or the experiential rather than on saleable products, their education seems to limit their job possibilities to education.  MFA graduates become art instructors, teaching a new generation in a manner as focused and limited as the one in which they were taught. They can also become visiting artists, touring the lecture circuit of universities and art schools, earning not only stipends and lecturer fees, but also legitimation and a place in the pantheon of art history.  The most obvious example I can think of is Chris Burden, who is not an artist who produced much in the way of art objects, but is nonetheless immortalized in textbooks thanks to his performances and perhaps more, arguably, because of his personal qualification of his performances and installations as an instructor and visiting artist.\n\n'Shoot,' by Christ Burden (1971) was entirely experiential. Even the documentation is lacking. Yet, it is a seminal work, and is known by any student studying performance art.\n\nAs I can tell you from experience, finding a place in the ivory tower of academia is no easy task.  There are few positions available for the thousands upon thousands graduating with MFAs every spring, and in an economy like this, with budgets slashed and art budgets the first on the chopping block, even those positions are dwindling.  Young graduates and emerging artists are force to cope with existence in a world where their newly-gained and accredited expertise will not get them very far.  Outside of Graphic Design courses, little mention is made in university art curriculum of self-marketing and business practices, even in courses with such promising titles as “Professional Practices.”  Outside of the miracle of gallery representation and excessive sales, how is a given artist expected to make it in a work-a-day world and still have the time, resources and opportunities to both make and exhibit their work?  While the chances of being an institutionally-legitimized “successful” artist are low, how does one still manage to be a success?\n\nIt may be that the definitions for success and legitimation for artists needs to shift for our current age of art.  I am certain that the qualification for art as something that is only made to be art has to change.  For someone to be successful at making art, one needs the support of both other artists and a community that finds the art both accessible and important.  High-minded artists and afficianados might argue that what I’m suggesting is that artists sell out and dumb-down their work—that they make kitsch in order to survive.  The pugilist in me wants to quote Lars Ulrich of Metallica:  “Yeah, we sell out—every seat in the house.”\n\nJust because something is good business doesn’t make it bad art.  Metallica earned the scorn of purists by suddenly gaining mass-market appeal with their self-titled 1991 album, also known as The Black Album.  It wasn’t “metal” enough if it appealed to people outside the “educated” and the “specialized.”  But Metallica’s music, when looked at over the span of thirty years, is a continually evolving thing—and I argue that the band has always been unafraid to take risks in order to explore a new idea musically.  Sometimes it appealed to a large audience and thus brought more people into the world of heavy music than may have become interested in it otherwise.  Sometimes it failed—I give you St. Anger.  However, the exploration that Metallica engages in, however popular or unpopular, is an example of the kind of thing you’re taught to do in art or in music.  The problem is that it is seen as being less than pure by those more focused specifically on metal.\n\nRemember how upset \"purists\" were when the members of Metallica cut their hair?\n\nMetallica’s wide success depended upon appealing to listeners outside of the pure focus of metal music.  They eschewed the institutions of metal legitimation (whatever those may be—sweaty sets in dive bars attended by 50 people?) and adopted a new institution, in this case, mass approval (this was a tactic adopted by pop music long ago, moving away from the academic approval implied by classical and even academic jazz).  The success of artists may too depend on appealing to audiences outside of the institutions of legitimation as we know them. This may or may not include “selling out,” and will certainly require an attitude toward producing art that veers from the purity of art as taught in an academic setting.\n\nAs a suggestion for a possible route to take in this regard, allow me to relate a conversation I recently had with a friend.  While he was, one point, an artist, this friend has been involved in business for 8 years.  He was suggesting a way to earn money toward an artistic venture that, initially, seemed too tied to marketing to be acceptable in an art setting. He wanted to use a crowdsourcing site (like Kickstarter) to raise enough money to buy a CNC router.  He proposed using the router to create images on plywood.  Buyers would select from stock images that were provided or would have their own images to be created on the wood.  To me, this sounded like a very basic, kitsch-based business scheme: make images of peoples babies or dogs on plywood and charge them $300.  His business model seemed sound, but it seemed like just that:  business.\n\nUsing a computer program, the router bores different sized holes into plywood that has been painted black.\n\nHere you can see both the texture of the holes and the image itself.\n\n“I don’t want to just make crappy kitsch prints for people—where’s the art in that?”  I complained.\n\n“You don’t get the router just for that!”  He explained.  “You need to offer people who are investing on Kickstarter something in return—they aren’t getting dividends for this investment.  You make them the 4’ by 4’ half-tone image of their grandmother and you then have this awesome router that you can make anything you want with and you didn’t have to pay for out of your pocket!  Now that you’ve got it, you can make, like, a topographical map and fill all the lakes with fiberglass resin, or crazy computer-designed three-dimensional sculpture or whatever this tool is capable of.  The kitsch stuff is just what you do to pay for the tool.”\n\nIn this model, the artist is engaging in creative production albeit half of it in the realm of the “low,” the “kitsch.”  He or she isn’t becoming lost to art in the world of the work-week, nor is he or she becoming lost to the wider world in the insulated baffles of academia. Is it “selling out?”  From the viewpoint of pure art, yes.  It may also be an option for success as an artist outside of academia and outside of the art market as we know it.\n\nI don’t have a prescription for how to be successful as an artist in an age after art.  It may be a matter of each individual working out a way to continue creative production while at the same time making some sort of a living.  The art market is not treated in the “traditional” manner of speculative production and sale through the use of a dealer and eventually historical recognition in the hands of a museum.  Likewise, the closed system of academia loses its power of legitimation as artists in so-called “alternative” areas find venues and audiences outside of the ivory tower.  The idea of legitimation is all but ignored, so a question remains as to how history will immortalize what is produced in this age after art.  Although, if we accept that we are in an age after art—where art is no longer something to be isolated and produced in and of itself—it may be that history is in the same boat.  In an age after history, the question of legitimation may be moot.\n\nAvant-Garde, Kitsch, and The End of Art\n\n19 08 2011\n\nI was having pizza with two friends who were discussing the song “Let ‘Em In.”  Not being familiar with the song by title or their description of the lyrics, I asked who it was by.  “Wings,” said one.  “So, typical McCartney drivel,” chimed in the other, and they both chuckled.  “Ah,” I thought, “music snobs.”\n\nBut this isn’t just an example of music-snobbery.  It’s more specifically pop music-snobbery, and even more so than that, Beatles- or John Lennon-snobbery.  These types of music fans (and there are many of them) place Lennon-scribed Beatles tunes or his solo work on a higher level than the works of his partner Paul McCartney, and have a particular disdain for Wings.  The reasoning?  Though it is often hard to get them to admit, it has to do with the perceived simplicity and popularity of the songs.  McCartney writes simple songs that are catchy and everybody likes and understands what they’re about.  Lennon writes deep, poetic masterworks that take time and education to truly appreciate.  McCartney writes “Back in the USSR,” while Lennon writes “I Am the Walrus.”\n\nIt’s an attitude that carries over into all areas of artistic evaluation:  that which is more difficult to understand or appreciate is of higher value than that which is easily grasped.  Clement Greenberg crystalized this attitude regarding visual art in 1939’s “Avant-Garde and Kitsch,” in which he described kitsch as low art, the ersatz culture of the newly literate, but uneducated masses. “Kitsch is mechanical and operates by formulas. Kitsch is vicarious experience and faked sensations. Kitsch changes according to style, but remains always the same. Kitsch is the epitome of all that is spurious in the life of our times. Kitsch pretends to demand nothing of its customers except their money—not even their time.”  Kitsch is mass-produced for easy consumption by people who like it because it seems like art, but is easy, convenient, and plentiful.\n\nWhat is kitsch? This is kitsch.\n\nThe Avant-Garde, on the other hand, creates art that is forward-thinking, that is moving toward new ways of creating and thinking and is therefore inherently more difficult to understand.  Greenberg saw the Avant-Garde as a necessary product of a move away from what he called “Alexandrianism,” an attitude that looks to past masters and tradition for answers regarding questions of taste. Writing in the Twentieth Century, at the cusp of the pinnacle of High Modernism (indeed, Greenberg championed the King of High Modernist Art, Jackson Pollock), Greenberg’s emphasis on progress and originality is typical of the modern mindset.  Greenberg also saw the isolation of the Avant-Garde as necessary to move culture forward as a whole.  Modern art had to be separate from Kitsch, from the popular aesthetic of the masses, in order to bring about true originality and create a more pure form of art.  Ultimately, this led to abstraction and non-representation in works, divorcing them from even representing anything outside themselves. Greenberg’s “High Art” was art that was self-referential, art about art, art for art’s sake.\n\nJackson Pollock, One (Number 31), 1950\n\nThis detachment of art from the rest of the world is not something that was new with Greenberg, however.  It extends as far back as Arthur Schopenhauer, who expounded on the idea that aesthetics and utility are separated from one another, “we rarely see the useful united with the beautiful.”  For a work of music, philosophy, painting, or poetry to be a work of genius (and therefore high culture), it must be “nothing for use or profit.  To be useless and unprofitable is one of the characteristics of works of genius; it is their patent of nobility.”  For art to be genius, noble, or of high cultural standing, it must exist for no other reason than to be art.\n\nWhile ideas about beauty changed in the time between Schopenhauer and Greenberg, and the notion of making beautiful work was all but rejected in the mid- to late-Twentieth Century, the idea of a work of art having no other purpose than to be art remained.  We see this in Abstract Expressionism, and Minimalism, surely.  We also see it in the attitude of many regarding the legitimacy of Duchamp’s readymades—that a readymade changes an object into art by denying its function.  You can no longer use the urinal for its original purpose, so you are forced to contemplate it as a purely aesthetic object—as art.\n\nAnother area where we see this attitude is in what is rejected from or marginalized by institutions of legitimation such as art schools and university art departments, museums, art history texts, art magazines and galleries.  Despite the continual visual dialog contributed by contemporary ceramics, art metals, illustration and graphic design, these areas are typically defined as craft.  Their primary purpose is not simply to exist on their own, but potentially as vessel in the case of ceramics, as visual embellishment of a text-based source in illustration, as a vehicle for sale of a consumer good in graphic design, and as personal adornment in the case of art metals.  Rarely are these given much serious consideration in textbooks for Art History Survey courses, and while from time to time there are museum exhibitions focusing on them, they are often treated as curiosity or as a method to lure the masses to see the other, more serious works of painting or sculpture.\n\nIn art schools and universities, these subjects are taught alongside the more expected topics of painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture.  It is tempting to say that this is creating (or has helped create) a more egalitarian attitude regarding these forms rooted in craft.  But while every art department surely includes painting, not every art department includes Graphic Design.  Where I earned my Batchelor’s Degree, that program was housed in the same department as Engineering and shop classes.  Many small (and not-so-small) universities do not include Illustration or Art Metals at all.  Even in departments that do offer these subjects, there is an unspoken prejudice among the students at the very least.  Go into any department and ask a Fine Arts major what he or she thinks about the Graphic Design emphasis.  Ask the Graphic Design students where they think their area of study ranks within the department.\n\nTo complicate matters more, there is also art that owes its existence to the conceptual work of Duchamp but also reaches into the social realm.  The experientially-based work of Fluxus artists like the Happenings of Allan Kaprow and the written instructions of Yoko Ono are relatively safe as “art for art’s sake.”  While they are not objects or images to be venerated, they are experiences separated from the rest of everyday life to be experienced as art, not as, say, exercise.  Activist art, however, is an aesthetic product made specifically for the purpose of societal interaction.  How is one to evaluate the work of Reverend Billy and the Church of Life After Shopping as art?  Its purpose is not simply to be art, but to provoke change in American consumption habits.  Evaluating the work as “art,” as something with no other purpose but to be art, ignores, and thereby negates, its social purpose.  Once this work is legitimized by a museum, it loses its use-value as a societal agent and becomes simply, and solely, art.\n\nBill Talen, aka \"Reverend Billy,\" simultaneously engages a willing audience and the greater public.\n\nArt at the service of a socially oriented program can be benignly dismissed as illustration or graphic design or, in the case of Reverend Billy, “fringe street-theater.”  It can also be more ominously feared as propaganda.  Both Greenberg and fellow cultural critic Walter Benjamin expressed concerns about the tools and methods of high art being used to influence masses through mass-produced kitsch productions (especially film, in the case of Benjamin).  One can easily see aesthetics put to malevolent use in the time that both of them were writing with the Nazis, Joseph Goebbels, and especially (and infamously) the films of Leni Riefenstahl.  As a German Jew writing in 1936, Benjamin was justifiably pessimistic about politicization of art.  But he also saw the potential for mass-produced and therefore easily accessible art forms like photography and film to bring at least some of the experience of “true” culture to the viewer, to meet the common viewer “halfway.”\n\nThe notion that “true” culture or high art are somehow separate from the rest of society damages the potential art has to affect as many viewers (or readers, or listeners, or participants) as possible.  Work that is purposely obtuse and aloof leads to disinterest and even distaste from the general public.  Moreover, insisting that an object of true high art has no use value other than to be art marginalizes it and leads to societal and political dismissal.  When NEA budgets for visual art were slashed in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, there was little public outrage because art, with no use value, isn’t necessary to the everyday existence of taxpayers.  In our current economic climate, arts budgets are the first to be cut again.  Perhaps a public more invested in art—more connected to work because it means or does something in their everyday lives—would be less apt to accept the financial dismantling of government assistance for the work.  Art can and should engage the public.  Social projects like Judith Baca’s The Great Wall of Los Angeles are community-based artwork that is integral to a greater population, not just art existing to be art.  However, this crossover creates problems of classification, which I will address later.\n\nConservative politicians like Jesse Helms used outrage over the display of controversial images, partly funded by the NEA, to spearhead devastating cuts to the visual arts budget of the National Endowment for the Arts during the late 1980s\n\nTo dismiss kitsch, as Greenberg does, is alienating and unhelpful.  Works of kitsch can, at times, influence works of “greater” culture.  Many viewers come to an awareness (and subsequent appreciation) of art through kitsch-influenced works like the Pop Art of the 60s or even Jeff Koons.  Say what you will about Thomas Kinkade, but his method and level of production has similarities to that of Monet.  Paul McCartney wrote “Wonderful Christmastime,” but he also wrote “Helter Skelter.”  John Lennon wrote “Imagine,” but he also wrote “All You Need Is Love.” They didn’t get to “Strawberry Fields Forever” without first recording “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” What’s more, as much clout as we might give Lennon or The Beatles, they are still a Pop group—kitsch—when compared to the “true” high-art music:  Classical.\n\nJeff Koons, Michael Jackson and Bubbles, 1988. And yes, I am comparing Koons to Lennon. Get over it.\n\nI argue that accessibility in art is necessary not only for its survival, but also for its advancement, and the advancement of culture as a whole.  In my post, “Art, Meaning, and Language:  Part 2,” I pointed out that art can be everything.  In comments to that post, other bloggers pointed out that if art is everything, it is also nothing.  The story goes that once Duchamp decided that everything could be art, he stopped producing any art whatsoever—because playing chess could be art, and he would rather have done that, so he did.  Since we currently view art as being something that exists only as art, to think that art is also everything negates its status, its special place as some sort of beacon of (or for) culture.  The term itself implies separation—isolation.\n\nArthur C. Danto makes the argument that we are currently in a period of historical time After the End of Art (which is the title of the book).  I don’t know if I’m in total agreement with him that we are experiencing that epoch in history at the moment, but I do argue for the viability of that change.  The “Era of Art” is the historical period where we as a culture have separated art from religious, merely decorative, or use-value and place it in its own sphere to be art alone. We are now entering (or have entered, or should enter) a period where cultural production does not have to be isolated or legitimated through academic institutions; where, say, a social experiment aired on YouTube can have more of a cultural impact than a painting.\n\nAllan Kaprow writes of a project undertaken in the 1970s in which artist Raivo Puusemp became mayor of Rosendale Village, a small community in New York.  The Village had serious financial and infrastructural problems, and, in the end, Puusemp provided an atmosphere in which the citizens of the village themselves made the decision do dissolve and become part of the larger Rosendale Township.  Puusemp himself did not refer to the venture as an art work, nor did he see it as a purely political act.  It was what Kaprow would define as a meaning-making activity, somewhere between the two.  And that is where the power of the story is:  that it is in between.  By putting it into an art text book (or an art blog, perhaps) the story becomes art, the frame of “Art” descends upon it, and it becomes solely art, no longer viable as public action.  It is the label that isolates it, not the action.  Perhaps it is time to discard the term itself.  This is something after art.  It’s something other than art.  It is something more pervasive, more connected.  I don’t know what to call it.  Perhaps it is best to not call it anything at all.\n\n%d bloggers like this:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7926465272903442}
+{"content": "Returns a list of venues liked by the specified user.\n\n\n\n\nUser authentication.\n\n\nName Type Description\nUSER_ID self User ID or self\nbeforeTimestamp 123456789 Seconds since epoch.\nafterTimestamp 123456789 Seconds since epoch.\ncategoryId asad13242ljla Limits returned venues to those in this category. If specifying a top-level category, all sub-categories will also match the query.\nlimit 100 Number of results to return.\noffset 100 Used to page through results.\n\nResponse Fields\n\nField Description\nid A unique string identifier for this venue.\nname The best known name for this venue.\ncontact An object containing none, some, or all of twitter, phone, and formattedPhone. All are strings.\nlocation An object containing none, some, or all of address (street address), crossStreet, city, state, postalCode, country, lat, lng, and distance. All fields are strings, except for lat, lng, and distance. Distance is measured in meters. Some venues have their locations intentionally hidden for privacy reasons (such as private residences). If this is the case, the parameter isFuzzed will be set to true, and the lat/lng parameters will have reduced precision.\ncategories An array, possibly empty, of categories that have been applied to this venue. One of the categories will have a primary field indicating that it is the primary category for the venue. For the complete category tree, see categories.\nverified Boolean indicating whether the owner of this business has claimed it and verified the information.\nstats Contains checkinsCount (total checkins ever here), usersCount (total users who have ever checked in here), and tipCount (number of tips here).\nurl URL of the venue’s website, typically provided by the venue manager.\nhours Contains the hours during the week that the venue is open along with any named hours segments in a human-readable format. For machine readable hours see venues/hours\nmenu An object containing url and mobileUrl that display the menu information for this venue.\nprice An object containing the price tier from 1 (least pricey) - 4 (most pricey) and a message describing the price tier.\nrating Numerical rating of the venue (0 through 10). Returned as part of an explore result, excluded in search results. Not all venues will have a rating.\nhereNow Information about who is here now. If present, there is always a count, the number of people here. If viewing details and there is a logged-in user, there is also a groups field with friends and others as types.\nstoreId The manager’s internal identifier for the venue.\ndescription Description of the venue provided by venue owner.\ncreatedAt Seconds since epoch when the venue was created.\nmayor user who is the mayor (absent if there is no mayor), and count is the number of times they have checked in within the last 60 days.\ntips Contains the total count of tips and groups with friends and others as groupTypes. Groups may change over time.\nlisted A grouped response of lists that contain this venue. Contains a summary string representing the acting user’s relationship to these lists. If an acting user is present, groups may include todos, created, edited, followed, friends, and others. If this venue is on the acting user’s todo list, those items will be included in the todos group.\nbeenHere Contains count of the number of times the acting user has been here. Absent if there is no acting user.\nshortUrl A short URL for this venue, e.g.\ncanonicalUrl The canonical URL for this venue, e.g.\nphotos A count and groups of photos for this venue. Group types are checkin and venue. Not all items will be present.\nlikes The count of users who have liked this venue, and groups containing any friends and others who have liked it. The groups included are subject to change.\nlike Indicates if the current user has liked this venue.\ndislike Indicates if the current user has disliked this venue.\nphrases List of phrases commonly seen in this venue’s tips, as well as a sample tip snippet and the number of tips this phrase appears in.\nattributes Attributes associated with the venue, such as price tier, whether the venue takes reservations, and parking availability.\nroles Present if and only if the current user has at least one assigned role for this venue. The value is a list of all of the current user’s assigned roles for this venue. Possible values for each element of the list are manager and employee. Subject to change as additional roles may be defined.\nflags Present only for venues returned in Explore search results. Current flags include: outsideRadius: A boolean indicating that the venue is outside the radius specified by the original query. Explore may return venues outside the requested radius in the case of a high-quality “exact match” to the query (e.g. if the user searches for [ace bar] in Brooklyn, we will still find the popular Ace Bar venue in Manhattan and return it with outsideRadius: true).exactMatch: A boolean indicating that the venue name was a strong match for the specified query (either it was an exact string match, or there was a large overlap between the query and the given venue’s name).", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8577924966812134}
+{"content": "\n\nFollow us:\n\n\n\nGround pork gets a hit of flavor from spicy chorizo, grilled Anaheim chiles, and a grilled avocado mash.\n\n\nRecipes for Easter Leftovers: Ham, Lamb, and Eggs", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9100669026374817}
+{"content": "Air pollution and air conditioning\n\nWith rising temperatures, the use of air conditioning systems to cool homes, offices and shops is becoming increasingly common, which significantly increases the need for electricity. In areas where electricity production is based on fossil fuels such as coal, it leads to an increase in the concentration of fine particles and ozone. A study based on the eastern United States therefore predicts 1,000 additional deaths annually by 2069.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.94123774766922}
+{"content": "\n\n\nHey is a Polish rock band founded in Szczecin in 1992 by guitarist Piotr Banach and charismatic lead singer Kasia Nosowska. It is one of the most popular Polish music acts of the 1990s.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999423623085022}
+{"content": "Busy. Please wait.\n\nshow password\nForgot Password?\n\nDon't have an account?  Sign up \n\nUsername is available taken\nshow password\n\n\n\nAlready a StudyStack user? Log In\n\nReset Password\n\nRemove ads\nDon't know\nremaining cards\n\nPass complete!\n\n\"Know\" box contains:\nTime elapsed:\nrestart all cards\n\n\n  Normal Size     Small Size show me how\n\nBradyPmed 4,6-9\n\nVolume 4 Chapters 6-9\n\nWhat can most of the national decline in burn mortality be attributed to? Improved building codes, safer construction techniques, sprinkler systems, and use of smoke detectors.\nWhat relation are burns to soft tissue injuries? Burns are a specific subset of soft tissue injury with a specific pathological process.\nHow does the bodies tissue change in regards to burns? Body tissues change chemically, evaporating water and denaturing the proteins that make up cell membranes.\nWhat is the epidermis? The outermost layer of the skin.\nWhat is the dermis? A layer of tissue beneath the epidermis.\nWhat is subcutaneous tissue? Fatty layer of tissue beneath the dermis.\nWhat are the four basic types of burns? Thermal, Electrical, Chemical, Radiation\nWhat is denaturing? Altering the normal substance of something. (An egg in a frying pan changes from liquid to solid due to a change in its proteins)\nWhat factors effect the amount of heat energy of a burning agent? Its temperature, the concentration of the heat energy it possesses, and the length of its contact time with the patients skin.\nWhat is the explanation of the physical effects of thermal burns known as? Jackson's theory of thermal wounds.\nWhat is the most damaged area of a burn? The zone of coagulation.\nWhat are some characteristics of the zone of coagulation? This area suffers the most profound changes during a burn. Cell membranes rupture and are destroyed, blood coagulates, and structural protein denatures.\nWhat occurs if the zone of coagulation penetrates the dermis? Full thickness burns.\nWhat zone accounts for redness associated with some burns? The zone of hyperemia.\nWhat is the zone of stasis in a burn? Area in a burn surrounding the zone of coagulation that is characterized by decreased blood flow.\nWhat is the emergent phase of a burn? First stage of burn process that includes a pain response as well as an outpouring of catecholamine release.\nWhat are some s/s of patients in the emergent phase of a burn? Tachycardia, Tachypnea, mild hypertension, and mild anxiety.\nWhat burn phase follows the emergent phase and can last up to 24 hours? The fluid shift phase.\nWhat occurs during the fluid shift phase of a burn? Damaged cells begin the inflammatory response in the body. This increases blood flow to capillaries surrounding the burn, causing massive edema as fluids shift from intravascular spaces to extra vascular spaces.\nWhat body surface area percentage is typically required to enter the fluid shift phase of a burn? >15-20%\nWhat is the hypermetabolic phase of a burn? Stage of a burn in which there is increased metabolism in the body in an effort to repair itself.\nWhen does the hypermetabolic phase of a burn begin? After the fluid shift phase, lasting from several days to many weeks depending on the severity of the burn.\nWhat occurs during the resolution phase of a burn? Scar tissue is formed and rehabilitation begins.\nWhat is the primary difference between AC (alternation current) and DC (direct current)? In DC electrons flow in one directions. In AC electrons constantly reverse direction.\nIn an electrical burn, where does the highest heat occur? At the point of greatest resistance, often at the skin.\nWhat accounts for severe entry and exit wounds in electrical burns? The skin offering the greatest point of resistance.\nHow much resistance to electricity can dry, calloused skin produce? 500,000 to 1,000,000 ohms/cm\nHow much resistance to electricity can wet, think can produce? 300 to 10,000 ohms/cm\nIn electrical burns, what occurs as the length of contact time increases? The potential for injury increases.\nWhich path is electricity likely to follow inside the body? Blood vessels and especially nerves, as they offer less resistance than muscle and bone.\nWhat conditions can occur as a result of contact with currents of 20 to 50 mA? The muscles of respiration may be immobilized, causing respiratory arrest, anoxia, hypoxemia and eventually death.\nWhat are flash burns? Burns created as a result of the heat of current passing through adjacent air.\nHow do chemical burns cause damage to the body? By denaturing the biochemical makeup of cell membranes and destroying cells.\nWhat is liquefaction necrosis? The process in which an alkali liquefies and dissolves tissues.\nWhat is beta radiation? Medium strength radiation that is stopped with light clothing or the uppermost layers of skin. It can travel 6-10' through the air and penetrate a couple layers of clothing.\nWhat three factors are important to keep in mind during radiation exposure? Duration of exposure, distance from the radiation sources, and the shielding between you and the source.\nHow often does toxic inhalation occur compared to thermal burns? More often.\nWhat should raise your index of suspicion of a patient having CO poisoning? If the patient was in an enclosed space during combustion.\nWhat is CO's affinity to hemoglobin? 200 times greater than that of O2.\nWhat temperature can superheated steam produce? 212 degree F\nWhat types of airway burns can super heated steam cause? Sub glottic airway burns.\nWhat is a partial thickness burn? Burn in which the epidermis is burned through and the dermis is damaged.\nWhat are s/s of partial thickness burns? Redness, blistering, edema, pain.\nWhat differentiates partial thickness burns from superficial burns? Blistering.\nWhat are the 11 body regions encompassed by the rule of 9's? ENTIRE head and neck, ANTERIOR chest, ANTERIOR abdomen, POSTERIOR chest, POSTERIOR abdomen (lower back), ANTERIOR of EACH lower extremity, POSTERIOR of EACH lower extremity, ANTERIOR of EACH upper extremity, POSTERIOR of EACH upper extremity, 1% groin.\nHow much BSA does the palm represent in the rule of palms? 1.00%\nWhen should the rule of palms be used? It is easier to use in burns </= 10%\nWhat percentage of BSA burned represents an increased risk for hypovolemia? >15-20%\nWhat is the cause of hypovolemia in burn patients? Loss of fluid plasma to edema reduces the bloods ability to draw fluid from uninjured tissue via osmosis, which compromises the bodies natural response to fluid loss.\nWhat is eschar? Hard, leathery product of a deep full thickness burn.\nWhat is a special concern with burns on a pediatric patient? The pediatric patient has a high body surface area to body weight ratio, meaning it has lower fluid reserves.\nWhat is a special concern with burns in regards to a geriatric patient? Geriatrics have a reduced mechanism for fluid retention and lower fluid reserves.\nWhat size ETT should be used in burn patients? The largest tube possible.\nWhich areas, when burned, are of special concern to the paramedic? The face, hands, feet, joints, genitalia, and any circumferential burns.\nWhat represents minor burn severity? Superficial- BSA <50%, Partial Thickness- BSA<10%\nWhat represents moderate burn severity? Superficial- BSA >50%, Partial Thickness- BSA <30%, Full Thickness- BSA<10%\nWhat represents critical burn severity? Partial Thickness- BSA>30%, Full Thickness- BSA>10%, Inhalation Injury, Partial/Full Thickness involving hands, feet, joints, face, genitals.\nHow should burn severity be categorized with geriatric, pediatric, and additional trauma patients? The level of severity should be increased by one\nShould cool water immersion be used on minor localized burns? Yes, it may be effective if accomplished in the first few minutes after a burn.\nWhat drugs should be considered for pain management in burn victims? Morphine Sulfate or Fentanyl.\nWhat is the parkland formula? 4mL X Pts Weight in kg X BSA burned = Amount of fluid in 24 hours.\nHow much of the fluid from parkland's formula should be given in the first 8 hours after a burn? Approximately half.\nWhat relation does pain have with regards to the severity of a burn? Pain is often paradoxical to burn severity. More severe = less pain.\nHow is an emergency escharotomy performed? Bu incising burned tissue through the eschar, perpendicular to the constriction, about 1 cm deeper than developing eschar.\nWhat type of assessment tool is important in electrical burn patients? ECG monitoring for possible cardiac disturbances.\nWhat are the characteristics of lightening? High voltage (100,000 V), high current (50,000 A), high temperature (50,000 F) lasting only a fraction of a second.\nHow should cardiac or respiratory arrest patients of electrical burns be treated? With aggressive airway, ventilatory, and circulatory management.\nWho should be considered first for a rescue team in a radiation incident? The oldest member of the team.\nHow frequently do musculoskeletal injuries occur? Second only to soft tissue injuries.\nWhat is the optimal way of dealing with muscoloskeletal injuries? Preventing them before they occur.\nWhat is the greatest single cause of musculoskeletal injuries? Motor Vehicle Accidents.\nWhat percentage of bone mass is replaced each year by the body? 20.00%\nWhat are the functions of the skeleton? Give body structural form, protect vital organs, allow for efficient movement, stores salts and other metabolic materials, and produces red blood cells.\nWhat is the diaphysis? The central portion, or shaft, of the long bone.\nWhat is the epiphysis? The widened, articular end of the bone.\nWhat is the metaphysis? Tan intermediate region between the epiphysis and the diaphysis.\nWhere is the epiphyseal plate located? In the metaphysis.\nWhat is the medullary canal? A cavity within a bone that contains the marrow.\nWhat is the significance of the periosteum? Its extensive vasulature and innervation allows it to transmit the sensation of pain when the bone fractures, as well as initiate the bone repair cycle.\nWhat are the long bones? Humerus, radius, ulna, tibia, fibula, femur, metacarpals, metatarsals, and phalanges.\nWhat are the short bones? Wrists, ankles, carpals, and tarsals.\nWhat are the flat bones? Cranial, sternal, ribs, shoulder, and pelvis.\nWhat are sesamoid bones? Patella.\nWhat are the types of joints? Synarthroses, Amphiarthroses, and Diarthroses.\nWhich joints are immoveable? Synarthroses.\nWhich joints have very limited movement? Amphiarthroses.\nWhich joints have relatively free movement? Diarthroses.\nWhat is adduction? When a body part moves towards the midline.\nWhat is abduction? When a body part moves away from the midline.\nWhat are ligaments? Bands of connective tissue that connect bone and hold joints together.\nWhat are bursa? Sacs containing synovial fluid that cushion adjacent structures.\nHow many bones make up the human skeleton? 206\nWhat is the axial skeleton? Bones of the head, thorax, and spine.\nWhat is the appendicular skeleton? Bones of the extremities, shoulder girdle, and pelvis (excluding the sacral spine).\nHow much pressure can the femur withstand along its diaphysis? 1,200 PSI (pounds per square inch)\nWhich is the only distal bone to articulate with the femur? Tibia.\nWhen do bones reach maximum strength? Usually by 18-20 years of age.\nWhen do bones begin to lose their ability to maintain structure? Age 40 or greater.\nHow many muscles make up the muscular system? More than 600 muscle groups.\nWhat are the three classifications of muscles? Cardiac, smooth, and skeletal (striated or voluntary)\nWhat is the muscles origin? The attachment of a muscle to a bone that does not move.\nWhat is the muscle insertion? Attachment of a muscle to bone that moves when the muscle contracts.\nWhat is opposition in regards to the muscoluskeletal system? The pairing of muscles that permits extension and flexion of limbs.\nWhat are tendons? Specialized bands of connective tissue attaching muscle to bone.\nWhat is tone in regards to muscle? State of slight contraction of muscles that gives them firmness and keeps the ready to contract.\nWhat types of muscular injury can occur? Contusion, Compartment Syndrome, Penetrating Injury, Muscle Fatigue, Muscle Cramp, Muscle Spasm, and Muscle Strain.\nWhat is a contusion? Small blood vessels rupture, leaking blood into the interstital spaces, causing pain, erythema, and ecchymosis.\nWhat are the s/s of compartment syndrome? Deep burning pain out of proportion with the injury, not reduced by positioning. An increase in pain when YOU move the extremity. Distal pulse and capillary refill may be normal. Increased distal sensitivity and numbness.\nWhat is a s/s of penetrating injury to a muscle or tendon? Movement in one direction with the inability to move in the opposing direction.\nDescribe the muscle environment during muscle fatigue. Cellular environment become hypoxic, toxic, and energy deprived. Exertion becomes painful.\nWhat is a muscle cramp? A painful spasm of the muscle usually relived with a change in muscle position or massage.\nWhat is a muscle spasm? A muscle in intermittent or continuous spasm. Usually subsides with rest.\nWhat is a muscle strain? An overstretching of muscle fibers causing pain with any use of the muscle. Site is typically painful to palpation.\nWhat is a sprain? A joint injury caused by the tearing of the joints connective tissue. Causes acute pain, inflammation, and swelling.\nWhat defines a Grade I Sprain? A minor and incomplete tear. Painful with minimal swelling. Joint is stable.\nWhat defines a Grade II Sprain? Significant but incomplete tear. Swelling and pain range from moderate to severe. Join in intact but unstable.\nWhat defines a Grade III Sprain? Complete tear of the ligament. Severe pain and spasm may make it look like a fracture. Join is unstable.\nWhat is subluxation? Partial displacement of a bone end from its position in a joint capsule.\nWhat are common causes of subluxation? Hyperflexion, hyperextension, lateral rotation beyond normal range of motion, or application of extreme axial forces.\nWhat is a dislocation? A complete displacement of bone ends from their normal joint position.\nWhat is a comminuted fracture? A fracture in which a bone is broken into several pieces.\nWhat causes a fatigue fracture? Prolonged or repeated stress.\nWhat is a greenstrick fracture? A fracture that disrupts only one side of the long bone and remains angulated, resisting alignment.\nWhat is osteoperosis? An accelerated degeneration of bone tissue due to loss of bone minerals, principally calcium. More prevalent in women.\nWhat are some problems affecting bone development? Tumors of the bone, periosteum, or articular cartilage or by diseases that release agents that increase osteoclast activity. Radition treatment. Medical history of cancer.\nHow long does it take for a broken bone to return to original strength? Approximately four months.\nWhat is bursitus? Acute or chronic inflammation of the bursae.\nWhat are some predisposing factors to arthritis? Trauma, obesity, and aging.\nHow should a person with an isolated fracture, dislocation, or trauma to tissue be managed? receive complete assessment and management on scene.\nWhat should you suspect with any serious musculoskeletal injury? Always consider spinal precautions, as the energy required to cause the damage would be sufficient to cause spinal injury.\nHow are patients with musculoskeletal injuries classified? Life and limb threatening, life threatening but minor limb, non life threatening but serious limb threat, and non life threat and minor limb injury.\nWhen is the rapid trauma assessment performed in regard to musculoskeletal injuries? On any patient with any sign, symptom, or mechanism of injury that suggests serious injury.\nHow much blood can be lost to a pelvic fracture? Can account for a loss of more than 2L.\nHow much blood can be lost per femur fracture? Can account for as much as 1,500mL of blood loss per femur.\nWhat are the six Ps of limb injuries? Pain, Pallor, Paralysis, Paresthesia, Pressure, and Pulses.\nWhat is of concern during the assessment of sports players? Their competitive nature may cause them to downplay and injury.\nWhat is a specific and serious musculoskeletal injury associated with sports? A sprain, particularly of the knee.\nWhen should you not attempt alignment of dislocations and serious injuries? When it is within 3 inches of a joint.\nWhat should be done first in regards to splint/immobilizing an injured limb? Checking for pulse, sensation, and motion in both the injured limb and the uninjured limb (if available).\nIn what position should you immobilize an injured limb? In the position of function, unless within 3 inches of a joint, in which case in the position found.\nWhat indicates the need to cease realignment or repositioning of a limb? If you feel any resistance to movement or notice great increase in patient discomfort.\nHow should you manage muscle, tendon, or ligament injury? Immobilize the limb and region surrounding it. Provide gentle circumferential bandaging. Apply local cooling. Only apply heat after 48 hours. Elevate the extremity above the heart.\nWhat is different about the veins in the pelvic ring region? These veins are without valves, have limited musculature, and may experience retrograde blood flow when torn.\nHow will femoral fractures present? Some limb shortening, external rotation, and limited deformity.\nHow should you care for a femur fracture? Immobilize the limb as found and provide gentle transport.\nWhat is the difference in care for a degenerative break in the femur and a traumatic one? Degenerative breaks will not produce spasms and do not require traction splints. Traumatic breaks usually induce great pain and will cause spasming, indicating traction splint use.\nWhen is a traction splint not indicated in traumatic femoral breaks? When injury also exists to the pelvis, knee, tibia, or foot.\nWhat is the most commonly fractured bone of the leg? The tibia.\nWhat is the most frequently fractured bone of the human body? The clavicle.\nHow should you care for a clavicular fracture? Splint the fracture with a sling and swathe against the chest.\nHow does an anterior hip dislocation present? With foot turned outward and the head of the femur palpable in the inguinal area.\nHow does a posterior dislocation present? Presents with the knee flexed and foot rotated inward.\nHow should you immobilize a knee injury? In the position found unless it effects distal PMS.\nHow should you immobilize finger injuries? Use tongue blades and/or tape to adjacent fingers.\nHow should nitrous oxide be administered? As a 50/50 solution of NO and O2. Should be self administered, as this prevents ove rmedication.\nHow long do the effects of nitrous oxide last? Effects dissipate 2-5 minutes after discontinuation of use.\nWhat qualities does Diazepam (Valium) have? Anti-anxiety and skeletal muscle relaxation.\nWhat is the dosage and rate of Diazepam (Valium) Slow IV bolus of 5-15mg, not to exceed 5mg/minute. Repeat every 10-15 minutes if necessary.\nWhat is Diazepam (Valium)'s peak and max duration? Peak effects at 15 minutes, max duration from 15-60 minutes.\nWhat should you NOT do with Diazepma (Valium)? Do not mix with any other drugs or mix in an IV bag. Plastic absorbs diazepam,\nWhich drug reverses the effects of diazepam (Valium)? Flumazenil, 2mL of 0.1 mg/mL solution IV.\nWhat is morphine? An opium alkaloid used to relieve pain, sedate, and reduce anxiety.\nWhat are some concerns with Morphine Sulfate? Should not be used with hypovolemia or hypotension. Can cause respiratory depression and nausea and vomitting.\nWhat is the dosage for morphine sulfate? 2 mg IV bolus repeated every few minutes as needed.\nWhat reverses the effects of morphine sulfate? Naloxone (Narcan) via IV bolus 0.4-2mg repeated every 2-3 minutes as needed.\nWhat is fentanyl? An opiate narcotic used to relive pain.\nWhat is the dosage rate for fentanyl? 25-50 mcg IV, repeating with 25 mcg as needed.\nWhat reverses the effects of fentanyl? Naloxone (Narcan) via IV bolus 0.4-2mg repeated every 2-3 minutes as needed.\nWhat is Nalbuphine Hydrochloride (Nubain)? A synthetic narcotic analgesic.\nWhat is the dosage rate for nubain? 5mg IV repeating with 2mg as needed up to 20mg.\nWhy are children at higher risk for musculoskeletal injuries than adults? Due to their activity levels and incompletely developed coordination.\nHow many people experience head trauma each year? Approximately 4 million people.\nHow many people experiencing head trauma require hospitalization? 1 in 10.\nWhat is the most frequent cause of trauma death? Head injury.\nWhich population is most at risk for serious head injury? Males between the age of 15 and 24, infants, young children, and the elderly.\nBy what percentage does helmet use reduce serious head injury in motorcycle crashes? 50.00%\nWhat is the mnemonic SCALP? Skin- Connective tissue- Aponeurotica- Layer of subaponeurotica tissue- Periosteum\nWhat is the cribiform plate? An irregular portion of the etemoid process at the base of the skull with a rough surface that may abrade, lacerate, or contuse the brain during severe deceleration.\nWhat are the layers of the meninges from outer to inner? Dura Mater, Arachnoid Membrane, and Pia Mater.\nWhich layer of meninges is highly vascular with large vessels supplying the superficial layer of the brain? Pia Mater\nWhere is cerebrospinal fluid produced? In the largest two of the four ventricles within the brain.\nHow much of the interior of the cranium does the brain occupy? 80.00%\nWhat divides the brain cerebrum into right and left hemispheres? The Falx Cerebri.\nWhat does Cranial Nerve III do? Oculomotor Nerve controlling pupil size.\nWhich nerve is likely to be compressed as intercranial pressure increases? CN III\nWhich area of the brain fine tunes motor control and maintains muscle tone? The cerebellum\nWhat process of the brain established consciousness? The ascending reticular activating system.\nWhich area of the brain is responsible for sleep? The pons.\nWhich area of the brain contains the respiratory center, the cardiac center, and the vasomotor center? The medulla oblongota.\nHow much of a persons body weight does the brain account for? 2.00%\nHow much of the bodies cardiac output does the brain recieve? About 15%, receiving about 20% of the bodies total oxygen.\nWhere do the internal carotid and basilar arteries connect? At the circle of Willis.\nWhat happens in the cranium as the volume of extrinsic factors increase? One of the other factors must be decreased to maintain ICP.\nWhat happens as ICP mechanisms reach there limit of ability to compensate? ICP will start to rise and the brain will be compressed\nWhat happens as ICP continues to rise without compensation? Pressures within the cranium become very high and the brain may herniate.\nWhat does rising ICP cause the autoregulation system to do? Causes it to further raise the blood pressure in an attempt to further perfuse the brain.\nWhat does rising blood pressure do to ICP? Causes it to rise even higher and diminish cerebral blood perfusion even more.\nWhich artery provides blood flow to the face? External carotid artery.\nWhat are the most important Cranial Nerves transversing the face? Cranial Nerve V and VII\nWhat does Cranial Nerve V do? Trigeminal, providing sensation for the face and some motor control over eye movement, and enables the chewing process.\nWhat does Cranial Nerve VII do? Facial Nerve, provides motor control to the facial muscles and contributes to sensation of taste.\nWhere are the salivary glands located? Anterior and inferior to the ear, under the tongue, and just inside the inferior mandible.\nWhat are important Cranial Nerves of the oral region? CN XII, CN V, CN VII, CN IX\nWhat does Cranial Nerve XII do? Hypoglossal, directs swallowing and tongue movement.\nWhat does Cranial Nerve IX do? Glossopharyngeal, control saliva production and taste.\nWhat do the sinuses do? Lighten the head, protect the eyes and nasal cavity, helps produce resonant tones of the voice, and helps strengthen the face to the forces of trauma.\nWhere does light enter the eye? Through the pupil.\nWhat is the sclera? The white, vascular portion of the eye.\nWhich Cranial Nerves play an important role in the function of the eye? CN III, CN IV, and CN VI.\nWhat does CN VI do? Abducens, controls the eyes outward gaze.\nWhat is zone I of the neck? Below the cricoid ring, carries the highest incidence of mortality in neck wounds.\nWhat is zone II of the neck? Above the cricoid ring and below the angle of the jaw, injuries are more common because of limited protection of anterior neck.\nWhat is zone III of the neck? Above the angle of the jaw, are a concern because the involve both the cranial nerves and the larger vascular structures.\nWhich Cranial Nerves transverse the neck? CN IX, CN X\nWhat does Cranial Nerve X do? Vagus Nerve, essential for speech, swallowing, and cardiac, respiratory, and visceral function.\nWhat are the brachial plexus? A network of nerves in the lower neck and shoulder responsible for lower arm and hand function.\nFrom what do head injuries most frequently result? Auto and motorcycle crashes account for more than half.\nWhich area of the body is often the target of bows from fists or from impact-enhancing objects like sticks? The face!\nHow is the neck anatomically protected from most blunt trauma? Because the head and chest protrude more anteriorly, and the shoulders protrude laterally.\nWhich mechanisms typically cause penetrating injuries to the face? Gunshot wounds or stabbings.\nWhat is the definition of head injury? A traumatic insult to the cranial region that may result in injury to soft tissue, bony structures, and the brain.\nWhat is a common occurance in scalp wounds? They tend to bleed heavily.\nWhy are scalp wounds prone to infection? Because emissary veins drain from the dural sinuses, through the cranium, and into the superficial venous circulation.\nWhat is a hematoma? An accumulation of blood.\nWhat is a depression in relation to the head? Blow that results in a tear of the fascial layers under the scalp and results in a depression, with or without skull fracture.\nWhat is the most common type of skull fracture? Linear fractures (Small cracks in the cranium), accounting for 80%.\nWhat is one of the thinnest and most commonly fractured bones in the head? The temporal bone.\nWhat is the weakest area of the skull? The basilar skull.\nWhy is the basilar skull the weakest area of the skull? Because of the sinuses, the orbits of the eye, the nasal cavities, the external auditory canals, and the middles and inner ears.\nHow can you differentiate CSF from other substances? It will exhibit a 'halo' sign when dropped on a white cloth. Also, use a glucometer.\nWhat is brain injury? A traumatic insult to the brain capable of producing physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and vocational changes.\nWhat is direct brain injury? Injury caused by the forces of trauma.\nWhat are coup injuries? Tissue disruptions that occur directly at the point of impact.\nWhat are countercoup injuries? Tissue damage away from the point of impact as the brain 'sloshes' away from the initial impact.\nWhat is a cerebral contusion? Capillary bleeding into the substance of the brain.\nHow do s/s of cranial contusions manifest themselves? With dysfunctions related to the site of the injury.\nWhat is an epidural hematoma? Bleeding between the dura meter and the skull's interior surface.\nHow does an epidural hematoma present? Because the bleeding is from a high pressure vessel, ICP builds rapidly, compressing the cerebrum and increasing ICP. Progression is rapid and life threatening.\nWhat is a subdural hematoma? Bleeding beneth the dura mater and within the subarachnoid space.\nHow do subdural hematomas present? Subtle presentation because blood loss is usually from a small vessel. Usually does not show over s/s until hours or days later.\nWhat is intracerebral hemorrhage? Ruptured blood vessel that releases blood into the substances of the brain.\nHow does intracerebral hemorrhage present? Much like a stroke with progressively worsening s/s.\nWhat is diffuse axonal injury? A type of brain injury chracterized by shearing, stretching, or tearing of nerve fibers with subsequent axonal damage.\nWhat is a concussion? AI with nerve dysfunction without substantial damage.\nWhat are the s/s of a concussion? Transient confusion, disorientation, and event amnesia followed by a rapid return to normal function.\nWhat is a moderate diffuse axonal injury, or 'classic concussion'? Shearing, stretching, or tearing of the axons with minute bruising of brain tissue.\nWhat are the s/s of a 'classic concussion'? Persistent confusion, inability to concentrate, disorientation, retrograde and anterograde amnesia, headache, focal nuerological deficits, light sensitivity, disturbances in smell or other senses, and modd swings.\nWhat is severe axonal injury? Significant disruption of many axons in both hemispheres of the brain with extension into the brainstem.\nWhat are the s/s of severe axonal injury? Prolonged unconsciousness, Cushings Response, decerebrate or decorticate posturing.\nWhat is indirect brain injury? Injuries resulting because of, though after, the initial injury.\nWhat causes indirect brain injury? Diminished circulation to the brain tissue or progressive pressure against, or physical displacement of, brain tissue.\nWhat occurs in cerebral arteries as carbon dioxide levels rise? The arteries dialate to encourage greater blood flow, which can be devastating in the presence of ICP.\nWhat s/s occur as ICP increases and the brain stem begins to herniate? Projectile vomiting, changes in LOC, pupillary dilation, and in severe cases disturbances in breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate.\nWhat happens as the frontal lobe is damaged? Patient will likely present with alterations in personality.\nWhat happens as the occipital lobe is damaged? Visual disturbances can be expected.\nWhat is it when a patient is unaware of the circumstances leading up to an incident? Retrograde amnesia.\nWhat is it when a patient is unaware of the circumstances following an incident? Anterograde amnesia.\nWhat s/s does upper brainstem pressure produce? Increase in blood pressure, decrease in heart rate, Cheyne-Stokes breathing, vomiting, body temperature changes, pupils small and reactive, decorticate posturing to pain.\nWhat s/s do middle brainstem pressure involve? Pulse widens, bradycardia, deep & rapid respirations, sluggish or non reactive pupils, decerebrate posturing.\nWhat s/s are produced with lower brainstem pressure? Pupils become fully dilated and unreactive, respirations become ataxic, pulse becomes irratic, hypotension, unresponsive and flaccid muscles.\nWhat are critical s/s to recognize brain herniation? Will have a history of head trauma, increasing BP, decreasing HR, irregular respirations (Cushing's Triad), GCS <9, singular or bilaterally dilated and fixed pupils, posturing or no movement with painful stimuli.\nWhat are some key differences between pediatric and adult head trauma? Pediatrics can accommodate some ICP because of the fontanelles, however intercranial hemorrhage is more concern for hypovolemia. Infants most have a clear nasal passage for breathing.\nWhat are the responses for EYE opening on the GCS scale? 4-Spontaneous, 3- Verbal Command, 2- To Pain, 1- No Response.\nWhat are the responses for MOTOR response on the GCS scale? 6-Obeys, 5-Localizes Pain, 4-Flexion/Withdrawl, 3-Flexion/Abnormal, 2-Extension, 1-No Response.\nWhat are the responses for VERBAL response on the GCS scale? 5- Oriented and Converses, 4- Disoriented and Converses, 3- Inappropriate Words, 2- Incomprehensible Sounds, 1- No Response.\nWhat do depressant drugs or cerebral hypoxia cause the pupils to do? Reduce pupillary responsiveness.\nWhat does extreme hypoxia cause the pupils to do? Fix and Dilate.\nWhat is likely the cause if one pupil is fixed yet shows some response to consensual stimulation? Pressure on the occulomotor nerve.\nWhy do facial wounds tend to bleed so much? Because of the ample supply of arterial and venous vessels.\nWhat is of primary concern with any deep facial wounds? Airway compromise.\nWhat is of primary concern with mandibular fracture of dislocation? Airway compromise.\nWhat should you not do with a patient with a mandibular fracture? DO NO place the patient supine, as they may have lost control over their tongue and risk airway compromise.\nWhat is a Le Fort I facial fracture? Slight instability to maxilla, no displacement.\nWhat is a Le Fort II facial fracture? Fracture to both maxilla and nasal bones.\nWhat is a Le Fort III facial fracture? Fracture involving entire face bellow the brow ridge.\nHow do orbital fractures usually present? With unilateral depression over the prominence of one cheek. May reduce the eyes range of motion and cause blurred or double vision.\nWhat typically causes injury to the middle and inner ear? Objects inserted into the ear canal or rapid changes in pressure.\nHow would blunt trauma to the eye present? With hemorrhage in the anterior chamber, displaying a collection of blood in front of the iris and pupil.\nWhat causes subconjunctival hemorrhage? Strong sneeze, vomiting episode, direct eye trauma.\nHow does subconjunctival hemorrhage present? A portion of the eyes surface is red (with blood).\nWhat is acute retinal artery occlusion? An embolus blocks the blood supply to one eye.\nHow does an acute retinal artery occlusion present? Patient complains of sudden, painless loss of vision in one eye.\nWhat is a retinal detachment? When the retina detaches from the eyes posterior wall.\nHow does a retinal detachment present? Patient complains of a dark curtain obstructing part of the field of view.\nWhat can arterial interruption leading to brain hypoxia and infarct mimic? May mimic s/s of a stroke.\nWhat can a disruption of the vagus nerve cause? Tachycardia and GI disturbances.\nWhat s/s can occur from damage to the spinal cord? bilateral partesthesia, weakness, paralysis, neurogenic shock.\nWhy is it important to determine a patients level of orientation? It may be critical in early identification of brain injury.\nWhen should you apply a cervical collar? At the end of the initial assessment.\nWhat should you anticipate in an injury to the brain in regards to the airway? Sudden vomiting without provocation. Protect the airway.\nWhat should you attempt to maintain as end tidal CO2 readings? Between 35 and 40 mmHg.\nWhat should your end tidal CO2 reading be for patients with suspected brain herniation? Between 30 and 35 mmHg.\nWhat should be the lowest allowable O2 sat? 95.00%\nWhat type of pulse is an early sign of building ICP? A slow and strong bounding pulse.\nWhich drug should you consider for seizures in a head injury? Diazepam.\nWhat is the most important care priority with the head, face, and neck? The airway.\nWhat is an unwanted side effect of suctioning in head injury patients? May lead to increased ICP.\nWhat is the best position for the patient with a suspected head injury? Left lateral recumbent.\nWhat is the best position for the patient with suspected head and neck injury? LSB with the head of the board raised 30 degrees, helping to reduce ICP.\nWhat is the best position for the patient with an open neck injury? Trendelenburg position.\nWhat does an open neck injury carry the risk of? Carries the risk of air entering the external jugular vein during strong inhalation.\nHow much fluid should you provide to a patient with significant head injury who you suspect of brain injury? 1000mL followed by additional fluid to maintain 90mmHg pressure.\nWhat should you not treat in the suspected brain injury patient? Hypertension.\nWhat is the primary first-line drug used in the care of suspected head injury patients? Oxygen.\nWhat is Mannitol? An osmotic diuretic that draws water from the interstital space and into the cardiovascular system.\nWhat theraputic effect does Mannitol have for the suspected head injury patient? May draw fluid from the cerebrum and help reduce cerebral edema and ICP.\nWhat patients require you to use cation in the use of Mannitol? Patients with reduced kidney function or those with hypotension.\nWhat is the dose for Mannitol? Slow IV bolus of 0.25 to 1g/kg over 10 to 20 minutes.\nWhat is Midazolam (Versed)? A benzodiazepine similar to diazepam though it is three to four times as potent.\nWhat are some side effects of Midazolam (Versed)? May cause cardiorespiratory arrest, hypotension, vomiting and nausea.\nWhat is the dose for Midazloam (Versed)? Very slowly in small increments (no more than 1mg/min) to the desired effect or max dose of 2.5mg.\nWhat is atropine? An anticholinergic (parasymptholytic) agent used to reduce vagal stimulation, oral and airway secretions.\nWhat are some side effects of atropine? May cause pupillary dilation, vomiting, nausea, headache, and blurred vision.\nWhat is the dose for atropine? 0.5 mg bolus for RSI.\nHow long do topical anesthetic agents last? Typically 15 minutes.\nHow long do topical anesthetic agents take until effects begin? Usually about 15 seconds.\nWhat is the danger of using air transport on a head injury patient? The potential for the patient to go into seizures.\nHow should you care for a scalp avulsion? Cleanse gross contamination. Cover both the open wound and the undersurface of the exposed scalp flap with large bulky dressing.\nHow should you treat a pinna injury? Place the pinna in as close to its anatomical position as possible. Place a dressing between the head and medial surface of the injured ear and cover the exposed ear with a sterile dressing. Bandage the dressed injury to the head.\nWhat should be done when one eye is bandaged? Both eyes should be bandaged to prevent sympathetic movement.\nHow should you treat possible corneal abrasion or laceration? Gently invert the eyelid to search for the possible cause. Attempt to remove with saline moistened cotton swab. Cover both eyes with soft dressings.\nWhat should be done with dislodged teeth? Rinse the teeth in normal saline and wrap them in saline soaked gauze.\nWhat should be done with impaled objects? Should be left in place and dressed and bandaged so that it does not move during transport.\nHow many people sustain spinal cord injuries annually in the US? 10000\nApproximately how many of these spinal cord injuries are due to trauma? 90.00%\nWhat age is most common for spinal cord injuries? Between 15 and 24.\nWhat is the most common cause of spinal cord trauma? MVA 50%, followed by Falls 25%, and Sports Related Injury 10%.\nHow much can lifelong care cost a spinal cord injured person? In excess of One Million dollars.\nWhat is the best treatment for spinal cord injuries? Prevention.\nHow many bones are in the spinal column? 33\nWhat separates each pair of vertebrae? An invertebral disk,\nWhat is the common feature among all vertebra? A vertebral body and a vertebral arch forming a vertebral canal.\nWhich spinal ligament helps prevent hyperextension of the vertebral arch? The anterior vertebral ligament.\nWhich spinal ligament helps prevent hyperflexion of the vertebral column? The posterior longitudinal ligament.\nWhere does the spinal cords blood supply come from? Primarily the anterior spinal artery and the two posterior spinal arteries.\nHow many vertebrae are in the cervical spine? Seven.\nWhich spinal section provides sole support for the head? Cervical.\nWhat is another name for C1? The Atlas.\nWhat is another name for C2? The axis.\nWhat is the strongest cervical vertebrae? The axis.\nWhat is the name of the bony tooth on C2? The odontoid process or dens.\nHow can you identify C7? It is the first bony prominence along the spine and just above the shoulders.\nHow many vertebrae are in the thoracic spine? 12\nHow does the TI differ from other T vertebrae? It has a full facet with the first rib and a demifacet for the second rib.\nHow many vertebrae make up the lumbar spine? 5\nHow many vertebrae make up the sacral spine? 5 fused vertebrae.\nWhat additional functions can the sacral spine provide? Help protect the urinary and reproductive organs.\nHow many vertebrae make up the coccygeal spine? 4 fused.\nWhat is the spinal cords function? Transmitting sensory input from the body to the brain and for conducting motor and control impulses from the brain to the various muscles and organs.\nHow long is the spinal cord in a fetus? It fills the entire length of the vertebral column.\nWhere does the spinal cord taper in an adult? At L1.\nWhat is the 'H' shape of the spinal cord made up of? Grey Matter\nWhat are the areas outside of the “h” in the spinal cord made of? White Matter\nWhat are the sensory pathways in the spinal cord? The ascending tracts.\nWhat are the motor pathways in the spinal cord? The descending tracts.\nHow many spinal nerve roots are there? 31 pairs\nWhere are the spinal pairs concentrated? 8 C pairs, 12 T pairs, 5 L pairs, 5 S pairs, and 1 Coccygeal pair.\nWhich nerve pairs do not have sensory roots? C1 and Coccygeal 1.\nWhat is responsible for control of the diaphram? The phrenic nerve C3-C5.\nWhere are the brachial plexes innervated? C5-T1.\nWhat are dermatones? The areas where sensory components innervate specific and discrete areas of the body surface.\nWhat are key locations to recognize for assessments of spinal damage? Collar Region (C3), Little Finger (C7), Nipple Line (T4), Umbilicus (T10), and Small Toe (S1)\nWhat are key myotomes for neurological evaluation? Arm Extension (C5), Elbow Extension (C7), Small Finger Abduction (T1), Knee Extension (L3) and Ankle Flexion (S1)\nWhich system adjusts the bodies metabolic rate to waking activity and “fight or flight” functions? The sympathetic system.\nWhich areas of the spinal cord or most often injured? Cervical and Lumbar.\nWhat can hyper extension injuries cause? Disk disruption, compression of the interspinous ligaments, and fracture of the posterior vertebral elements.\nWhere are the most common sites for axial loading injuries? Between T12 and L2 (For lifting and heal first falls) and the C-Spine for head impacts.\nHow many electrocution cause spinal injury? By causing extreme and uncontrolled muscular contraction.\nWhich region accounts for over half of all spinal injuries? The C-Spine.\nWhat can a spinal cord concussion cause? Transient disruption of cord function. Generally does not produce any residual effect.\nWhat can a spinal cord contusion cause? Transient disruption of cord function when edema or swelling occurs. Generally does not produce any residual effect.\nWhat can spinal cord compression cause? Restricted circulation, ischemic damage, and possible physical cord damage.\nWhat can spinal cord laceration cause? Hemorrhage into the cord, swelling due to the injury, disruption of parts of the cord or its pathways. May result in permanent damage.\nWhat can spinal cord transection cause? Potential to send nervous impulses below, and receive signals from below the cut or lost.\nWhat are effects of spinal cord damage to C1-C5? Paralysis of muscles for breathing and of all arm and leg muscles, usually fatal.\nWhat are effects of spinal cord damage to C5-C6? Legs paralyzed, slight ability to flex arms.\nWhat are effects of spinal cord damage to C6-C7? Paralysis of legs and part of wrists and hands, shoulder movement and elbow bending relatively preserved.\nWhat are effects of spinal cord damage to C8-T1? Legs and trunk paralyzed, eyelids droops, loss of sweating to forehead, arms relatively normal, hands paralyzed.\nWhat are effects of spinal cord damage to T2-T4? Legs and trunk paralyzed, loss of feeling below nipples.\nWhat are effects of spinal cord damage to T5-T8? Legs and lower trunk paralyzed, loss of feeling below the rib cage.\nWhat are effects of spinal cord damage to T9-T11? Legs paralyzed, loss of feeling below the umbilicus.\nWhat are effects of spinal cord damage to T12-L1? Paralysis and loss of feeling below the groin.\nWhat are effects of spinal cord damage to L2-L5? Different patterns of leg weakness and numbness.\nWhat are effects of spinal cord damage to S1-S2? Different patterns of leg weakness and numbness.\nWhat are effects of spinal cord damage to S3-S5? Loss of bladder and bowel control, numbness in the perineum.\nWhat can you expect to see during the acute phase of a high spinal cord injury? Respiratory insufficiency, quadriplegia, absent upper and lower extremity reflexes, lack of sensation below effected area, loss of rectal and bladder sphincter tone, hypothermia is common.\nWhat is anterior cord syndrome? Condition that is caused by bony fragments or pressure compressing the arteries of the anterior spinal cord and resulting in loss of motor function and sensation to pain, light touch, and temperature below the injury site.\nWhat is central cord syndrome? Condition usually related to hyperextension of the cervical spine that results in motor weakness, usually in the upper extremities and possible bladder dysfunction.\nWhat is Brown-Sequard syndrome? Condition caused by partial cutting of one side of the spinal cord resulting in sensory and motor loss to that side of the body.\nWhat is neurogenic shock? Vasodilation caused by spinal cord injury, cerebral trauma, or hemorrhage.\nHow does neurogenic shock present? Presents with slow HR, low BP, pale, cool, clammy skin above the injury site and warm, dry and flushed skin below the injury site. Possible priapism in males.\nWhat are the s/s of autonomic hyoerreflexia syndrome? Sudden hypertension, bradycardia, pounding headache, blurred vision, sweating and flushing of the skin above the point of injury, nasal congestion, nausea, bladder and rectum distension.\nWhat is the likelihood of a repeat episode of transient spinal cord syndromes after the first has occured? 40.00%\nWhat percentage of spinal injuries do pediatrics account for? 10.00%\nWhy are spinal cord injuries often missed in pediatrics? Because of spinal cord injuries without radiographic abnormality(SCIWORA) because of the childs ability to hyperflex without damaging the spinal column.\nHow should you handle spinal precautions in a patient distracted by another injury? Apply full spinal precaution.\nAfter the initial assessment, what phase of management should you begin with suspected spinal cord injury? Rapid trauma assessment , ensuring to palpate the entire spinal region.\nWhy do some midcervical spinal patients hold their arms above their heads? Because the injury paralyzes the adductor and extensor muscles while the patient has control over the abductor and flexors.\nWhat is important in the ongoing assessment of the spinal trauma patient? Monitoring for any changes in neurological condition.\nWhat is considered a neutral inline position in the supine? Hips and knees should be somewhat flexed for maximum comfort and minimum stress. Head should be lifted gently 1-2 inches off the ground\nWhat does the C-Collar accomplish? Limits cervical spine motion and reduces forces of compression (axial loading) but does not completely prevent flexion/extension, rotation, or lateral bending.\nWhat is a key factor in moving spinal cord patients? The coordination of movement, moving as a unit.\nWhat is the initial treatment for hypovolemia from suspected neurogenic shock? IV NS 1,000 mL with 250mL push. Dopamine, Atropine\nWhat medications should be considered to calm a patient? Fentanyl, benzodiazepams.\nWhat Is the second leading cause of death in children under the age of 12? Burns\nWhat is the fourth overall cause of trauma death? Burns\nCreated by: PMED", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6298679113388062}
+{"content": "10 Questions to Help You Know If the Candidate Will Fit In\n\nAre you hiring based on culture fit in addition to skills, experience, and background?\n\nIf you’re not, you should be. Culture fit is one of the most significant factors in the success of new hires. According to the Harvard Business Review, employees who mesh well with their company’s beliefs, attitudes, norms, and co-workers have greater job satisfaction and perform their jobs better than employees who don’t. And they’re also more likely to stay. In other words, they’re happy, top performers who aren’t going anywhere. And isn’t that exactly what you want when you make a new hire?\n\nHiring for culture fit starts with defining what your company’s culture is. But that’s not so easy. It starts with a company’s core values and mission, but then it veers off into ambiguous, intangible territory. It’s the vibe around the office. How employees interact with each other and if they socialize outside of work. The level of office politics and unspoken rules. Whether or not the top brass really believes in a work-life balance or just says so on paper. How transparent the top leaders are about the company’s successes and failures. How mistakes are handled. The dress code or lack thereof. The company’s management style.\n\nIt’s a thousand different things that all boil down to one question: Will this job candidate fit in?\n\nOftentimes, culture fit is determined by the hiring manager’s gut feeling. But because making great hires is so vital, don’t leave it to chance.\n\nHere are some questions to use in an interview to determine whether your promising candidate will fit with your company’s culture:\n\n  1. What is your ideal work environment?\n  2. Tell me about the best boss you’ve ever had.\n  3. Would you rather come to work in a suit and tie or jeans and a t-shirt?\n  4. What sort of management style will compel you to go the extra mile?\n  5. Would you be willing to answer work emails on weekends?\n  6. Would you rather work in an office or at home?\n  7. What was the best thing about your last job?\n  8. How would your co-workers describe you?\n  9. Do you prefer working alone or as part of a team?\n  10. Do you usually make friends with your co-workers?\n\nA candidate’s answers to those questions will shine a light on whether he or she will mesh with your workplace.\n\nSchedule a team Interview\n\nIn addition to a pre-employment screening, an HR-led interview, and an interview with the candidate’s manager or boss, schedule a sit-down with a few of the people your top candidate will be working with on a daily basis. What’s the vibe between them? Do they click?\n\nArticle Continues Below\n\nHave lunch\n\nTake your top candidate to lunch with the team he or she will be joining. In this informal setting, people’s personalities tend to come out. How is the team getting along? Is there laughter at the table?\n\nThis article originally appeared on TrustedEmployees.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9751603603363037}
+{"content": "Can you use we in a research paper\n\nThere is a geographic locator for searching by a U.S. state, a continent, or a specific country.Many first-time researchers appreciate such an arrangement by the instructor because it eliminates the stress of having to decide upon a topic on their own.Many books recommend writing your introduction last, after you.\n\nOrder Any Paper at We guarantee to craft unique research papers without missing the.Using the best available sources, check for accuracy and verify that the information is factual, up-to-date, and correct.\n\nin a research paper can you use the word we\n\nSuch a paper is often an exercise in exploration and evaluation.If not, do not take it personally and choose the topic from the list that seems most interesting to you.An Establishment Where You Should Buy It Outline Example For Research Paper College Paper Topics.Then you will need to use APA format to organize your paper and list the references you used.Use a technique that suits you, e.g. write summaries, paraphrases or quotations on note cards, or separate sheets of lined paper.Guidelines on writing a research proposal. and indicate what you expect we will learn. You can sort, regroup.\n\n\nTherefore, in order for a student to become an experienced researcher and writer, she must not only pay particular attention to the genre, topic, and audience, but must also become skilled in researching, outlining, drafting, and revising.\n\nA Step-by-Step Guide on Writing a Scholarly Paper\n\nWriting Tips For Economics Research Papers\n\nExplain why you have come to this particular conclusion. STEP 5. ORGANIZE YOUR NOTES Organize all the information you have gathered according to your outline.Online Guide to Writing and Research. This literature review can help you.Like the Olympic athlete aiming for the gold medal, you must have a positive attitude and the belief that you have the ability to achieve it.\n\nTerm Paper: Format of Citations and References\n\nThe unusual symbol will make it easy for you to find the exact location again.How to Research a Topic. Steps. Part 1. especially if it is a research paper about a scientific topic like depression.\n\nGuide to Writing Research Papers in MLA Style\n\nThe first situation occurs when the instructor provides a list of topics from which the student may choose.\n\nChoosing and Narrowing a Topic to Write About (for\n\nIf you need to write. or paper that others can use as an overview. your research or project addresses.\n\nAvoid topics that have only a very narrow range of source materials. STEP 2. FIND INFORMATION Surf the Net.Each of these papers may have varying page lengths, guidelines, and expectations.This method will enable you to quickly put all your resources in the right place as you organize your notes according to your outline. STEP 6. WRITE YOUR FIRST DRAFT Start with the first topic in your outline.Proofread final paper carefully for spelling, punctuation, missing or duplicated words.Before you know it, you have a well organized term paper completed exactly as outlined.For a discussion of Evaluating Sources, see Evaluating Sources of Information.\n\nEasybib pro features a charity, you can be a mental model essay writing can trust features.There are perhaps four cases in which you may use quotations. a) When you want to attack.Brock MacDonald, Academic Skills Centre,. and also put the required references in your paper.Summarize, paraphrase or quote directly for each idea you plan to use in your essay.Choosing and Narrowing a Topic to. choosing a topic for a research paper and. topic so that we can focus our research efforts on a more.The following is an example of what his thesis statement may look like once he has completed his research.\n\nWRTG - Survey the Literature\n\nIn many cases, the full text of the article is available right in the database.Though Beowulf is often read as a poem that recounts the heroism and supernatural exploits of the protagonist Beowulf, it may also be read as a poem that served as an exemplum of heterodoxy for tenth- and eleventh-century monastic communities found in the Danelaw.International newspaper articles may be in English or the local language.Therefore, it is important for the student to articulate an audience that falls somewhere in between.For example, it would be difficult for a student to successfully argue in favor of the following stance.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9667453169822693}
+{"content": "Socioeconomic status\n\naesthetics  →\nbeing  →\ncomplexity  →\ndatabase  →\nenterprise  →\nethics  →\nfiction  →\nhistory  →\ninternet  →\nknowledge  →\nlanguage  →\nlicensing  →\nlinux  →\nlogic  →\nmethod  →\nnews  →\nperception  →\nphilosophy  →\npolicy  →\npurpose  →\nreligion  →\nscience  →\nsociology  →\nsoftware  →\ntruth  →\nunix  →\nwiki  →\nessay  →\nfeed  →\nhelp  →\nsystem  →\nwiki  →\ncritical  →\ndiscussion  →\nforked  →\nimported  →\noriginal  →\nSocioeconomic status\n[ temporary import ]\nplease note:\n- the content below is remote from Wikipedia\n- it has been imported raw for GetWiki\n{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2010}}File:Jean Eugène Buland Almosen eines Bettlers 1880.jpg|thumb|An 1880 painting by Jean-Eugène BulandJean-Eugène BulandSocioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family's economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education, and occupation. When analyzing a family's SES, the household income, earners' education, and occupation are examined, as well as combined income, whereas for an individual's SES only their own attributes are assessed. However, SES is more commonly used to depict an economic difference in society as a whole.National Center for Educational Statistics. 31 March 2008.weblink status is typically broken into three levels (high, middle, and low) to describe the three places a family or an individual may fall into. When placing a family or individual into one of these categories, any or all of the three variables (income, education, and occupation) can be assessed.Additionally, low income and education have been shown to be strong predictors of a range of physical and mental health problems, including respiratory viruses, arthritis, coronary disease, and schizophrenia. These problems may be due to environmental conditions in their workplace, or, in the case of disabilities or mental illnesses, may be the entire cause of that person's social predicament to begin with.Goode, Erica (1 June 1999) \"For Good Health, it Helps to be Rich and important\" The New York TimesMarmot, Michael. 2004. The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity. New York: Owl Books.Werner, Shirli, Malaspina, Dolores, and Rabinowitz, Jonathan. Socioeconomic Status at Birth is Associated with Risk of Schizophrenia: Population-Based Multilevel Study. Schizophrenia Bulletin. 18 April 2007.WEB,weblink Disability & Socioeconomic Status, American Psychological Association, Education in higher socioeconomic families is typically stressed as much more important, both within the household as well as the local community. In poorer areas, where food, shelter and safety are priority, education can take a backseat. Youth audiences are particularly at risk for many health and social problems in the United States, such as unwanted pregnancies, drug abuse, and obesity.Hunt, J (4 October 1972). Early Education and low class.{{doi|10.1037/h0082195}}\n\nMain factors\n\n\nIncome refers to wages, salaries, profits, rents, and any flow of earnings received. Income can also come in the form of unemployment or worker's compensation, social security, pensions, interests or dividends, royalties, trusts, alimony, or other governmental, public, or family financial assistance.Income can be looked at in two terms, relative and absolute. Absolute income, as theorized by economist John Maynard Keynes, is the relationship in which as income increases, so will consumption, but not at the same rate.Wisdom Supreme. 6 April 2008.weblink Relative income dictates a person or family’s savings and consumption based on the family’s income in relation to others. Income is a commonly used measure of SES because it is relatively easy to figure for most individuals.Income inequality is most commonly measured around the world by the Gini coefficient, where 0 corresponds to perfect equality and 1 means perfect inequality. Low income families focus on meeting immediate needs and do not accumulate wealth that could be passed on to future generations, thus increasing inequality. Families with higher and expendable income can accumulate wealth and focus on meeting immediate needs while being able to consume and enjoy luxuries and weather crises.Boushey, Heather and Weller, Christian. (2005). Inequality Matters: The Growing Economic Divide in America and its Poisonous Consequences.. \"What the Numbers Tell Us.\" Pp 27-40. Demos.\n\n\nEducation also plays a role in income. Median earnings increase with each level of education. As conveyed in the chart, the highest degrees, professional and doctoral degrees, make the highest weekly earnings while those without a high school diploma earn less. Higher levels of education are associated with better economic and psychological outcomes (i.e.: more income, more control, and greater social support and networking).Education plays a major role in skill sets for acquiring jobs, as well as specific qualities that stratify people with higher SES from lower SES. Annette Lareau speaks on the idea of concerted cultivation, where middle class parents take an active role in their children’s education and development by using controlled organized activities and fostering a sense of entitlement through encouraged discussion. Laureau argues that families with lower income do not participate in this movement, causing their children to have a sense of constraint. An interesting observation that studies have noted is that parents from lower SES households are more likely to give orders to their children in their interactions while parents with a higher SES are more likely to interact and play with their children. A division in education attainment is thus born out of these two differences in child rearing. Research has shown how children who are born in lower SES households have weaker language skills compared to children raised in higher SES households. These language skills affect their abilities to learn and thus exacerbate the problem of education disparity between low and high SES neighborhoods. Lower income families can have children who do not succeed to the levels of the middle income children, who can have a greater sense of entitlement, be more argumentative, or be better prepared for adult life.Lareau, Annette. (2003). Unequal Childhoods: Race, Class, and Family Life. University of California PressResearch shows that lower SES students have lower and slower academic achievement as compared with students of higher SES.Staff (2012) (2012) \"Education & Socioeconomic Status\" American Psychological Association When teachers make judgments about students based on their class and SES, they are taking the first step in preventing students from having an equal opportunity for academic achievement. Educators need to help overcome the stigma of poverty. A student of low SES and low self-esteem should not be reinforced by educators. Teachers need to view students as individuals and not as a member of an SES group. Teachers looking at students in this manner will help them to not be prejudiced towards students of certain SES groups.Gollnick, Donna M & Chinn,Philip. (2013) Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society Pearson. {{ISBN|9781256639121}} Raising the level of instruction can help to create equality in student achievement. Teachers relating the content taught to students' prior knowledge and relating it to real world experiences can improve achievement. Educators also need to be open and discuss class and SES differences. It is important that all are educated, understand, and be able to speak openly about SES.Stanek (2012) Talking About Class\n\n\nOccupational prestige, as one component of SES, encompasses both income and educational attainment. Occupational status reflects the educational attainment required to obtain the job and income levels that vary with different jobs and within ranks of occupations. Additionally, it shows achievement in skills required for the job. Occupational status measures social position by describing job characteristics, decision making ability and control, and psychological demands on the job{{Citation needed|date=April 2017}}.Occupations are ranked by the Census (among other organizations) and opinion polls from the general population are surveyed. Some of the most prestigious occupations are physicians and surgeons, lawyers, chemical and biomedical engineers, university professors, and communications analysts. These jobs, considered to be grouped in the high SES classification, provide more challenging work and greater control over working conditions but require more ability. The jobs with lower rankings include food preparation workers, counter attendants, bartenders and helpers, dishwashers, janitors, maids and housekeepers, vehicle cleaners, and parking lot attendants. The jobs that are less valued also offer significantly lower wages, and often are more laborious, very hazardous, and provide less autonomy.Scott, Janny and Leonhardt, David. \"Class Matters: A Special Edition.\" New York Times 14 May 2005.weblink is the most difficult factor to measure because so many exist, and there are so many competing scales. Many scales rank occupations based on the level of skill involved, from unskilled to skilled manual labor to professional, or use a combined measure using the education level needed and income involved.In sum, the majority of researchers agree that income, education and occupation together best represent SES, while some others feel that changes in family structure should also be considered.Milne, A., & Plourde, L. A. (2006). Factors of a Low-SES Household: What Aids Academic Achievement? With the definition of SES more clearly defined, it is now important to discuss the effects of SES on students' cognitive abilities and academic success. Several researchers have found that SES affects students' abilities.\n\nOther variables\n\n\n{{Pie chart\n| caption= Wealth distribution in the United States by net worth (2007).Recent Trends in Household Wealth in the United States: Rising Debt and the Middle-Class Squeeze—an Update to 2007 by Edward N. Wolff, Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, March 2010 The net wealth of many people in the lowest 20% is negative because of debt. By 2014 the wealth gap deepened.\n| label1 = Top 1%\n| value1 = 34.6 | color1 = #273f64\n| label2 = Next 4%\n| value2 = 27.3 | color2 = #385f96\n| label3 = Next 5%\n| value3 = 11.2 | color3 = #588cdb\n| label4 = Next 10%\n| value4 = 12 | color4 = #96b2da\n| label5 = Upper Middle 20%\n| value5 = 10.9 | color5 = orange\n| label6 = Middle 20%\n| value6 = 4 | color6 = #bc514c\n| label7 = Bottom 40%\n| value7 = 0.2 | color7 = green\nWealth, a set of economic reserves or assets, presents a source of security providing a measure of a household's ability to meet emergencies, absorb economic shocks, or provide the means to live comfortably. Wealth reflects intergenerational transitions as well as accumulation of income and savings.MacArthur Research Network on SES and Health. 31 March 2008. WEB,weblink Archived copy, 2008-04-16, yes,weblink\" title=\"\">weblink 29 April 2008, dmy-all, Income, age, marital status, family size, religion, occupation, and education are all predictors for wealth attainment.The wealth gap, like income inequality, is very large in the United States. There exists a racial wealth gap due in part to income disparities and differences in achievement resulting from institutional discrimination. According to Thomas Shapiro, differences in savings (due to different rates of incomes), inheritance factors, and discrimination in the housing market lead to the racial wealth gap. Shapiro claims that savings increase with increasing income, but African Americans cannot participate in this, because they make significantly less than Americans of European descent (whites). Additionally, rates of inheritance dramatically differ between African Americans and Americans of European descent. The amount a person inherits, either during a lifetime or after death, can create different starting points between two different individuals or families. These different starting points also factor into housing, education, and employment discrimination. A third reason Shapiro offers for the racial wealth gap are the various discriminations African Americans must face, like redlining and higher interest rates in the housing market. These types of discrimination feed into the other reasons why African Americans end up having different starting points and therefore fewer assets.Shapiro, Thomas. (2004). The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality. Oxford University Press.\n\n\n\n{{Refimprove section|date=April 2016}}Recently, there has been increasing interest from epidemiologists on the subject of economic inequality and its relation to the health of populations. Socioeconomic status has long been related to health, those higher in the social hierarchy typically enjoy better health than do those below.JOURNAL, Adler, Nancy E., Boyce, Thomas, Chesney, Margaret A., Cohen, Sheldon, Folkman, Susan, Kahn, Robert L., Syme, S. Leonard, Socioeconomic status and health: The challenge of the gradient.,weblink American Psychologist, en, 49, 1, 15–24, 10.1037/0003-066x.49.1.15, Socioeconomic status is an important source of health inequity, as there is a very robust positive correlation between socioeconomic status and health, other than for male homosexuals. This correlation suggests that it is not only the poor who tend to be sick when everyone else is healthy, but that there is a continual gradient, from the top to the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, relating status to health. Parents with a low socioeconomic status cannot afford many of the health care resources which is the reason that their children may have a more advanced illness because of the lack of treatment.JOURNAL, Bradley, Robert, Socioeconomic Status and Child Development,weblink Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135233, This phenomenon is often called the \"SES Gradient\" or according to the World Health Organisation the \"Social Gradient\". Lower socioeconomic status has been linked to chronic stress, heart disease, ulcers, type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, certain types of cancer, and premature aging.There is debate regarding the cause of the SES Gradient. Researchers see a definite link between economic status and mortality due to the greater economic resources of the wealthy, but they find little correlation due to social status differences.BOOK,weblink The Oxford Handbook of Economic Inequality, 2009, 9780199606061, Nolan, B., Salverda, W., & Smeeding, T.M., Leigh, A., Jencks, C., & Smeeding, T.M., 13 March 2017,weblink 14 March 2017, yes, dmy-all, Other researchers such as Richard G. Wilkinson, J. Lynch, and G.A. Kaplan have found that socioeconomic status strongly affects health even when controlling for economic resources and access to health care.BOOK, (The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better), Wilkinson, Richard, Pickett, Kate, 2009, Allen Lane, 978-1-84614-039-6, 352, Most famous for linking social status with health are the Whitehall studies—a series of studies conducted on civil servants in London. The studies found that although all civil servants in England have the same access to health care, there was a strong correlation between social status and health. The studies found that this relationship remained strong even when controlling for health-affecting habits such as exercise, smoking and drinking. Furthermore, it has been noted that no amount of medical attention will help decrease the likelihood of someone getting type 2 diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis—yet both are more common among populations with lower socioeconomic status.There is no significant relationship between SES and stress during pregnancy, while there is a significant relationship with a husband's occupational statusJOURNAL, Shishehgar, Sara, Dolatian, Mahrokh, Alavi Majd, Hamid, Bakhtiary, Maryam, 2014, Socioeconomic Status and Stress Rate during Pregnancy in Iran, Global Journal of Health Science, 6, 4, 10.5539/gjhs.v6n4p254, . Also, there is no significant relationship between income and mother's education and the rate of pregnancy stress\n\nPolitical participation\n\n{{Expand section|date=January 2014}}Political scientists have established a consistent relationship between SES and political participation.\n\n\nLanguage development\n\n{{Expand section|date=February 2016}}\n\nHome environment\n\nThe environment of low SES children is characterized by less dialogue from parents, minimal amounts of book reading, and few instances of joint attention, the shared focus of the child and adult on the same object or event, when compared to the environment of high SES children. In contrast, infants from high SES families experience more child-directed speech. At 10 months, children of high SES hear on average 400 more words than their low SES peers.BOOK, Hart, Betty, Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children, 1995, Language ability differs sharply as a function of SES, for example, the average vocabulary size of 3-year-old children from professional families was more than twice as large as for those on welfare.JOURNAL,weblink Socioeconomic status and the developing brain, Hackman, Daniel, 8 January 2009, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25 October 2016, 10.1016/j.tics.2008.11.003, 13, 65–73, 19135405, 3575682, Children from lower income households had greater media access in their bedrooms but lower access to portable play equipment compared to higher income children.JOURNAL, Tandon, Pooja S., Zhou, Chuan, Sallis, James F., Cain, Kelli L., Frank, Lawrence D., Saelens, Brian E., 2012-01-01, Home environment relationships with children’s physical activity, sedentary time, and screen time by socioeconomic status,weblink International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 9, 88, 10.1186/1479-5868-9-88, 1479-5868, 3413573, 22835155, This eventually leads children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to be at a disadvantage when comparing them with their counterparts in terms of access to physical activities.\n\nParental interactions\n\nIn addition to the amount of language input from parents, SES heavily influences the type of parenting style a family chooses to practice. These different parenting styles shape the tone and purpose of verbal interactions between parent and child. For example, parents of high SES tend toward more authoritative or permissive parenting styles.BOOK, Handbook of parenting: Volume 2, Biology and ecology of parenting, 2002, Lawrence Erlbaum Association, Mahwah, NJ, 231–252, Hoff, E., Socioeconomic Status and Parenting, Laursen, B., Tardif, T, M. Bornstein, These parents pose more open-ended questions to their children to encourage the latter’s speech growth.BOOK, Clark, Eve, First Language Acquisition, 2009, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, 978-0-521-51413-2, 44–46, In contrast, parents of low SES tend toward more authoritarian styles of address. Their conversations with their children contain more imperatives and yes/no questions that inhibits child responses and speech development.Parental differences in addressing children may be traced to the position of their respective groups within society. Working class individuals often hold low power, subordinate positions in the occupational world. This standing in the social hierarchy requires a personality and interaction style that is relational and capable of adjusting to circumstances.BOOK, Clash!: 8 cultural conflicts that make us who we are, 2013, Hudson Street Press, New York, NY, 1101623608, 89–112, Markus, H., Class acts: Socioeconomic cultures, Conner, A, An authoritarian style of address prepares children for these types of roles, which require a more accommodating and compliant personality. Therefore, low SES parents see the family as more hierarchical, with the parents at the top of the power structure, which shapes verbal interaction.JOURNAL, Kusserow, A, De-Homogenizing American Individualism: Socializing Hard and Soft Individualism in Manhattan and Queens, Ethos, 1999, 27, 2, 210–234, 10.1525/eth.1999.27.2.210, This power differential emulates the circumstances of the working class world, where individuals are ranked and discouraged from questioning authority.Conversely, high SES individuals occupy high power positions that call for greater expressivity. High SES parents encourage their children to question the world around them. In addition to asking their children more questions, these parents push their children to create questions of their own. In contrast with low SES parents, these individuals often view the power disparity between parent and child as detrimental to the family. Opting instead to treat children as equals, high SES conversations are characterized by a give and take between parent and child. These interactions help prepare these children for occupations that require greater expressivity.\n\nDisparities in language acquisition\n\nThe linguistic environment of low and high SES children differs substantially, which affects many aspects of language and literacy development such as semantics, syntax, morphology, and phonology.\n\n\nSemantics is the study of the meaning of words and phrases. Semantics covers vocabulary, which is affected by SES. Children of high SES have larger expressive vocabularies by the age of 24 months due to more efficient processing of familiar words. By age 3, there are significant differences in the amount of dialogue and vocabulary growth between children of low and high SES.BOOK, Hart, Beety, Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children, 1995, A lack of joint attention in children contributes to poor vocabulary growth when compared to their high SES peers. Joint attention and book reading are important factors that affect children’s vocabulary growth.JOURNAL, Farrant, Brad, Stephen Zubrick, Early vocabulary development: The importance of joint attention and parent-child book reading, First Language, 2012, 343–364, With joint attention, a child and adult can focus on the same object, allowing the child to map out words. For example, a child sees an animal running outside and the mom points to it and says, \"Look, a dog.\" The child will focus its attention to where its mother is pointing and map the word dog to the pointed animal. Joint attention thus facilitates word learning for children.\n\n\nSyntax refers to the arrangement of words and phrases to form sentences. SES affects the production of sentence structures. Although 22- to 44-month-old children’s production of simple sentence structures does not vary by SES, low SES does contribute to difficulty with complex sentence structures. Complex sentences include sentences that have more than one verb phrase. An example of a complex sentence is, \"I want you to sit there\".JOURNAL, Vasilyeva, Marina, Heidi Waterfall, Janellen Huttenlocher, Emergence of syntax: Commonalities and differences across children, Developmental Science, 2008, 84–97, 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00656.x, 11, The emergence of simple sentence structures is seen as a structure that is obligatory in everyday speech. Complex sentence structures are optional and can only be mastered if the environment fosters its development.This lag in the sentence formation abilities of low SES children may be caused by less frequent exposure to complex syntax through parental speech. Low SES parents ask fewer response-coaxing questions of their children which limits the opportunities of these children to practice more complex speech patterns. Instead, these parents give their children more direct orders, which has been found to negatively influence the acquisition of more difficult noun and verb phrases. In contrast, high SES households ask their children broad questions to cultivate speech development. Exposure to more questions positively contributes to children’s vocabulary growth and complex noun phrase constructions.\n\n\nChildren’s grasp of morphology, the study of how words are formed, is affected by SES. Children of high SES have advantages in applying grammatical rules, such as the pluralization of nouns and adjectives compared to children of low SES. Pluralizing nouns consists of understanding that some nouns are regular and -s denotes more than one, but also understanding how to apply different rules to irregular nouns. Learning and understanding how to use plural rules is an important tool in conversation and writing. In order to communicate successfully that there is more than one dog running down the street, an -s must be added to dog. Research also finds that the gap in ability to pluralize nouns and adjectives does not diminish by age or schooling because low SES children’s reaction times to pluralize nouns and adjectives do not decrease.JOURNAL, Ravid, Dorit, Rachel Schiff, Ravid, D., & Schiff, R. (2009). Morphophonological categories of noun plurals in Hebrew: A developmental study, Linguistics, 2012, 45–63,\n\n\nPhonological awareness, the ability to recognize that words are made up different sound units, is also affected by SES. Children of low SES between the second and sixth grades are found to have low phonological awareness. The gap in phonological awareness increases by grade level.JOURNAL, Schiff, Rachel, Einav Lotem, Schiff, R., & Lotem, E. (2011). Effects of phonological and morphological awareness on children’s word reading development from two socioeconomic backgrounds, First Language, 2012, 139–163, This gap is even more problematic if children of low SES are already born with low levels of phonological awareness and their environment does not foster its growth. Children who have high phonological awareness from an early age are not affected by SES.JOURNAL, Noble, Kimberley, Michael Wolmetz, Lisa Ochs, Martha Farah, Bruce McCandliss, Brain–behavior relationships in reading acquisition are modulated by socioeconomic factors, Developmental Science, 2006, 642–654, 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2006.00542.x, 9,\n\nPositive outcomes of low SES\n\nGiven the large amount of research on the setbacks children of low SES face, there is a push by child developmental researchers to steer research to a more positive direction regarding low SES. The goal is to highlight the strengths and assets low income families possess in raising children. For example, African American preschoolers of low SES exhibit strengths in oral narrative, or storytelling, that may promote later success in reading. These children have better narrative comprehension when compared to peers of higher SES.JOURNAL, Gardner-Neblett, Nicole, Elisabeth Pungello, Iheoma Iruka, Oral narrative skills: Implications for the reading development of African American children, Child Development Perspectives, 2012, 218–224,\n\nLiteracy development\n\nA gap in reading growth exists between low SES and high SES children, which widens as children move on to higher grades. Reading assessments that test reading growth include measures on basic reading skills (i.e., print familiarity, letter recognition, beginning and ending sounds, rhyming sounds, word recognition), vocabulary (receptive vocabulary), and reading comprehension skills (i.e., listening comprehension, words in context).JOURNAL, Benson, J., Borman, G., Family, Neighborhood, and School Settings Across Seasons: When Do Socioeconomic Context and Racial Composition Matter for the Reading Achievement Growth of Young Children?, Teachers College Record, 2010, 112, 5, 1338–1390, The reading growth gap is apparent between the spring of kindergarten and the spring of first-grade, the time when children rely more on the school for reading growth and less on their parents. Initially, high SES children begin as better readers than their low SES counterparts. As children get older, high SES children progress more rapidly in reading growth rates than low SES children. These early reading outcomes affect later academic success. The further children fall behind, the more difficult it is to catch up and the more likely they will continue to fall behind. By the time students enter high school in the United States, low SES children are considerably behind their high SES peers in reading growth.JOURNAL, Aikens, N., Barbarin, O., Socioeconomic Differences in Reading Trajectories: The Contribution of Family, Neighborhood, and School Contexts, Journal of Educational Psychology, 2010, 100, 2, 235–251, 10.1037/0022-0663.100.2.235,\n\nHome environment\n\nHome environment is one of the leading factors of a child's well being. Children living in a poor home with inadequate living conditions are more likely to be susceptible to illness and injuries. The disparities in experiences in the home environment children of high and low SES affect reading outcomes. The home environment is considered the main contributor to SES reading outcomes. Children of low SES status are read to less often and have fewer books in the home than their high SES peers, which suggests an answer to why children of low SES status have lower initial reading scores than their high SES counterparts upon entering kindergarten.\n\n- content above as imported from Wikipedia\n- \"Socioeconomic status\" does not exist on GetWiki (yet)\n- time: 1:10pm EST - Fri, Dec 14 2018\n[ this remote article is provided by Wikipedia ]\nLATEST EDITS [ see all ]\nM.R.M. Parrott", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9919105768203735}
+{"content": "Make your own free website on\n\nJo'Mase's AD&D Combat System\n\n\nThese rules are changes to allow for a more realistic feel to combat in the AD&D game. They can be used in conjunction with the Armor System in another section, but work very well without them. The Defense Pool, Defensive Combat and Defense Rating rules may be a bit too much for some DMs and players, due to the many possible combinations the player can opt for, and the many numbers involved. For those who enjoy this added versatility, and can handle the math without annoyance, use them as they are explained below. For those who do not want to go through the hassle, I present an easy way to both use the rules as written below, yet prepare beforehand a simple combat sheet for each PC. This sheet will allow quick reference for the DM and player during combat, while still allowing the Combat System to work at full effect. After reading the Combat System below, just click on the link to this easy combat reference sheet.\n\nThis combat system uses a few terms I will define below: Base AC, Defense Pool, Defensive Combat, Defense Rating, Opposed Attacks and Unopposed Attacks.\n\nBase AC represents the AC the defender gets without actively defending himself. If you do not use my Armor System, then armor would modify this base AC, as well as defenses that simulate armor, like bracers of defense. Otherwise, only plus oriented protective magic will modify this base AC, so rings/cloaks of protection, displacer cloaks, protection from evil spells, etc. all modify the base AC. Shields, pluses on them and shield like magic defenses, like the shield spell, do not modify base AC, but are a part of the Defensive Pool detailed later. The defender gets this base AC against all attacks, even back attacks. This base AC can be further modified by the Defense Pool below.\n\nDefense Pool represents the defensive bonus a defender has due to his active defense and dodging or blocking. If the defender would not get this AC bonus if attacked from behind, you can bet it belongs to this Defense Pool. Dexterity bonuses, swashbuckler bonuses, monk defense bonuses, single weapon style bonuses, Defensive Combat bonuses(detailed later) and shield bonuses name most of the bonuses that belong here. Add up the total AC bonuses these various defenses would grant the defender normally, not including the Defensive Combat bonus, as it is best to keep it separate and just add its defensive bonuses separately, since it can change from round to round. This total is the Defense Pool of the defender. Each round it is renewed, and each round the defender can allot these points to defend against attacks. None of these points can be applied to flank or rear attacks, thus, these will always strike at the defender’s base AC. Each defense pool point must be applied to each attacker the defender faces, as a defense point only works against 1 attacker per round. Thus, if a defender is attacked by 3 orcs, all from the front, he must split his defense pool among them as he desires. In some cases, a single attacker may be so skilled as to count as more than 1 attacker, such is the case when an attacker gains true multiple attacks, due to skill in his weapon. Each attack he has in this way counts as 1 attacker for this purpose.\n\nSo, for example, Thor is a warrior with an 18 DEX(4 defense pool points), who is a swashbuckler(2 points to the defense pool) and uses a medium shield(3 points to the pool) in which he is proficient(1 extra point to the pool). Thus, all told, Thor has 10 points in his defense pool. Assuming he has no magic defenses or armor(if not using my armor rules), his base AC is 10. So, if he faces a single orc with 1 attack, he can put all his defense points against it, for an AC of 0(base of 10 - points from pool(10) = effective AC against that attack). If he faces 2 orcs, he would need to defend against each separately, and assuming even defense, he would put 5 points against each, so his AC would be 5 against each orc. Rear or flank attacks allow none of these points to be applied so they all strike the base AC 10.\n\nDefensive Combat bonuses are those granted to skilled combatants. Basically, as a combatant learns to become more skilled in his weapon and combat, he learns an even mix of defensive and offensive fighting skills. Thus, fully half of his training is geared toward defense. This is where the defensive combat bonus comes from. Combatants can opt to use some of their combat skill toward defense rather than offense. The usual AD&D game assumes all is used in offense, but this system gives combatants a choice. To find the maximum defensive combat bonus a combatant can gain, first, find their base THAC0, only modified by any to hit bonus from weapon mastery. Strength, magic or any other bonuses to hit are not counted for this. Find this THAC0, and subtract it from 21. This gives the improvement in skill the combatant has earned. Half of this skill improvement can be used for defense. Just divide this number by 2, rounding all fractions down. This gives the Defensive Combat Bonus the combatant can use. Note this value on the sheet near the weapon THAC0, and then add it to the fully modified normal weapon THAC0 of the combatant. Yes, this makes the combatant’s THAC0 worse, and this modified THAC0 becomes his new THAC0. The combatant must decide how much of this Defensive Combat Bonus to apply to attack(THAC0) and how much to defense(defense pool). Whatever is applied to attack, reduces his THAC0 by that much for that round and what is left over(if any) is added to his Defense Pool. These left over points, which are added to the defense pool, act just as Defense Pool points, and cannot be applied to flank or rear attacks.\n\nFor example, Thor is a 7th level warrior specialist in sword. His STR is 18/00, and his sword is +3. His normal THAC0 is 7. To find his DCB(defensive combat bonus) we find his THAC0 only modified by the +1 from specialization. This is 13. We take this and subtract it from 21, so 21-13 is 8. Divide this by 2 and we get a DCB of 4. We take this and add it to his original THAC0, and we see that Thor now has a THAC0 of 11 with a 4 DCB. Assume he is attacked by 1 orc. He can put all 4 points to defense so his AC against the orc would then be 4 better, and Thor would attack with an 11 THAC0 for the round. Now suppose 2 orcs attack. To defend, Thor decides to use all 4 points for defense, which he spreads evenly among the 2 attacking orcs, so 2 points to each, for a 2 point better AC against each. His THAC0 would be 11 since he chose to use all 4 DCB points for defense.\n\nDefensive Rating this rating determines how effective you are at self defense. To find it, simply find how many attacks you are allowed per round(count only basic number of attacks, off-hand attacks do not count). Add 1 to this rating if you are specialized in a fighting style that gives you a free parry/dodge each round. Martial arts style D, shield/weapon style, and Bladesinging style(if the free parry option is used) are 3 examples of styles that would give this 1 point bonus to defense rating. This number is your Defense Rating. This rating tells you how many attackers your combatant can defend against normally and not be overwhelmed. Every attacker directed at you that exceeds your DR(defense rating) is considered unopposed, and gets a +4 bonus to hit. You can still allocate defense pool and defensive combat bonuses to these unopposed attackers, if allowed(front hexes only) and if you choose, but they still get a +4 to hit due to your inability to actively defend against them properly. This means being outnumbered or outskilled presents a problem to a defender. Another catch to this DR is that to apply a DR point to an attacker so as to oppose him and not give him a +4 to hit, you must use an attack or parry/dodge against that attacker, as many as you wish DR points applied. Because you cannot attack or parry/dodge flank or rear attacks, these attacks ALWAYS act as unopposed attacks, and get the +4 to hit. In addition, rear and flank attacks receive another +4 to hit on top of this bonus, for a total of +8 to hit!\n\nRear Attacks are special not only in that, as for flank attacks, no defense pool or active defense(defense rating above) can be applied against them, but also in that at the end of any round a foe threatens your back, regardless of how it happened, that foe gets an immediate attack of opportunity(a free attack). This only occurs at the end of the round(very slow phase), so if warrior can get his back covered before the round ends, he can probably avoid having a foe get this free attack on his back. Just remember, foes can move freely when not threatened, so if a warrior simply pivots to turn his back away from an attacker behind him, yet no one threatens the attacker to keep him pinned down, the attacker can simple move over(have such attackers save their half move until the end of the round) and get that free back attack. Being surrounded really sucks!\n\nFor example, Thor is now surrounded by 6 pissed off orcs. He has 2 attacks per round, and a free shield parry each round as well, because he is specialized in shield/weapon style. This means he can actively defend against 3 attacks each round(DR of 3) assuming the attacks are in his 3 front hexes, since he can only attack or parry/dodge attacks in these front hexes. Poor Thor has 6 attackers to defend against. He can use his active defense(DR) against up to 3 of them, since they are in his front hexes. So, his DR of 3 allows him to defend against the 3 in front of him, so they will not get the +4 to hit bonus that unopposed attacks get. This means that the other 3 will get the +4 to hit bonus because they are not actively defended against by poor outnumbered Thor. Next, comes the defense pool and defensive combat bonuses Thor will use to defend himself. Regardless of how Thor spreads his defense pool and defensive combat points, these can only apply to the 3 front hexes, so the 2 flank and 1 rear orc only need to hit his base AC, without defense pool or DCB modifications. Thor uses all his DCB for defense, giving him 4 points, these are applied against the front orcs as Thor desires, along with his usual defense pool points. Since he has 10 defense pool points, he has a total of 14 points to divide among the 3 front orcs for his defense. He goes for even defense, so applies 4 points to each orc attack, and decides to apply the remaining 2 against the middle orc, which means each side front orc must hit AC 6, since Thor has base AC 10, minus his defense of 4 against each side front orc. The middle orc has 6 points against it, so it must hit AC 4. The flank and rear orcs only need hit his base AC 10 and get a +8 to hit on top of this because their attacks are unopposed and from the flank/rear. Thor is in trouble. In addition, if an orc can maneuver so as to be behind Thor at the end of the round, he gets a free attack!\n\nBody Shields/Medium Shields these 2 shields can allow the user to apply up to half of his shield defense pool bonus against the shield flank attacker. This is the only exception to the rule that defense cannot be applied to flank or rear attacks. Only the bonus from the shield applies, not any other defense pool or defensive combat bonuses. A body shield always allows this, while a medium shield will also, but only if the user is both proficient in it and in shield/weapon style. These shields also allow parries/blocks to be applied to the shield flank, but are at -4 to hit for the parry attempt.\n\nAll Monsters and Dodge/Blocks\n\nAll monsters can give up any 1of their attacks(if it is a paired attack, both are given up) to block, but must give up all their attacks(assuming they get only 1 attack sequence per round) to dodge. Some monsters may get a free dodge or block, depending on their martial skill. This is up to the DM.\n\nThis is the basic Combat system, and my Armor System goes well with it. If you have questions or want more, go to the rest of my web pages.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6081480979919434}
+{"content": "6301 w hampden avenue, apartment 2-201 denver colorado financial solutions,inc s Way that would have a lower inflation figure Individuals are medicaid eligible and anyone who owns a well liked option for permanent impairment once Month for full coverage insurance all round 5mths mot Need to cancel my policy renewal My dad was killed when someone is on both vehicles Of benefits and replacement costs the insurance pros Up! food, fuel, energy, transportation, tuition, etc.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5462526082992554}
+{"content": "The asters are mostly perennial plants. The leaves are alternate and the flowers are always white or bluish, never yellow or red. The discs are yellow but may turn color as they mature. Bloom late summer and fall.\n\nA few species not in the Aster genus, such as the fleabanes and ox-eye daisy, are included in this group, since they have yellow discs and white rays and therefore superficially resemble the asters.\n\nFlower This family contains flowers.\n\nAster, Calico Aster lateriflorus\nAster, Crooked-stemmed Aster prenanthoides\nAster, Flat-topped White Aster umbellatus\nAster, Frost-weed/ Heath Aster Aster pilosus\nAster, Heart-leaved Aster cordifolius\nAster, Late Purple/ Spreading Aster Aster patens\nAster, Lowrie's Aster lowrieanus\nAster, New England Aster novae-angliae\nAster, Panicled Aster simplex\nAster, Purple-stemmed Aster puniceus\nAster, Schreber's Aster schreberi\nAster, Small White Aster vimineus\nAster, White Wood Aster divaricatus\nDaisy, English/ Garden Daisy/ Marguerite Bellis perennis\nDaisy, Ox-Eye Chrysanthemum leucanthemum\nFleabane, Common/ Philadelphia Fleabane Erigeron philadelphicus\nFleabane, Daisy Erigeron strigosus", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9994425177574158}
+{"content": "Don’t Call Diwali 'Diwali' In Kolkata, Cause It’s NOT!\n\nThere are always competitions between states. Be it about food, biryani, cricket, movies or festivals, it’s always about who does it better. Diwali is no different. I asked a couple of my Bengali friends residing in Mumbai what they felt about the celebration here, and their instant answer was that Kolkata streets are full of lights at this time. This city has almost no light compared to that. And my friends from Mumbai obviously loved their own traditions, having never been to Kolkata. Well, I’m here to put an end to this competition with the help of something I like to call ‘Logic’.\n\nYou see, Diwali is a predominantly North Indian Festival. And West Bengal celebrates Kali Puja, NOT Diwali. Diwali and Kali Puja are used as synonyms sometimes because their time collides. But in reality, they’re about two different parts of our mystic history.\n\nDiwali is the celebration of Rama, Lakshman and Sita coming home after Rama defeated Ravana. It is a celebration of victory and homecoming and of good residing over evil.\n\nKali Puja, on the other hand, has a more gory story. At a time when Indra (King of Gods) required protection, Durga created Kali from her forehead (her third eye, a source of pure energy). Kali was black because she was made of pure strength, she became the pit of all rage and power. She destroyed the Rakshasa’s that posed a threat to Indra, but in the bloodbath, she lost control and started killing anyone who came her way. As the only way to stop her, Lord Shiva threw himself under her feet and that mistake made her stop. Why would that make her stop? Well, Kali is a form of Parvati (Shiva’s wife). She stuck her tongue out when she realised that she had just stepped on her all-powerful Husband, and her rage dissolved. Kali Puja is the celebration of THAT moment. A celebration of strength and harmony.\n\nA major difference in the two pujas is that Diwali is Lakshmi Puja that happens in the evening while Kali puja follows tantric rituals and takes place at night.\n\nAnd while Kali Puja is best celebrated with yummy mutton and lots of booze, Diwali is the exact opposite. Diwali requires pure vegetarian foods and loads of sweets like karanji and laddoos.\n\nSee, different celebrations, so there’s no need to fight over who celebrates it better, because all your rituals and traditions are aimed towards different Gods and different histories. Though, looking at the menu, I’d say Kali Puja is better.\n\nWRITTEN BY  - Shubhroja Sen\n\n\n\nGet to know about\nwhere to eat, party or drink tonight?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8975974321365356}
+{"content": "International Flute Competition \"Domenico Cimarosa\"\n\n6 - 7 - 8 December 2017 - Aversa\nX Edition\n\n\nHouse Cimarosa(Aversa)    Painting mural(Aversa)     Bust to Cimarosa       Church S. Audeno\n\nDomenico Cimarosa was born in Aversa, Italy on 17 December 1749; his mother was a washerwoman, and his father, a mere bricklayer, died when Domenico was just 7.\nAs his family faced indigence, Cimarosa’s upbringing was attended to by Father Polcano (or by Father Porzio according to other sources), an organist in the Monastery of San Severo, the village where the musician’s mother worked.\nFrom the parson, the young boy learned the basics of music and of poetry, and given his unmistakable endowment, in 1761 he obtained a scholarship at the Conservatory of the Holy Mother of Loreto.\nLittle is known about his former music teachers, but it is presumed that he completed his musical studies after the Conservatory under the guidance of Nicolò Piccini.\nIn those years Cimarosa, beside being a violinist, an organist, and a harpsichordist, displayed remarkable talents as a singer; as a composer, after a few attempts with sacred music, he had his stage debut in 1772 with the opera \"Le stravaganze del Conte\", and four years later with \"La frascatana nobile\".\nHis first wife Costanza Suffi died only a few years after the marriage, and he married her sixteen-year-old stepsister Gaetana Pallante, who gave birth to two children.\nCompositional inspiration was strong and reckless in those years, although Cimarosa only started enjoying critical acclaim in 1779 with \"L'Italiana in Algeri\" at the Teatro Valle in Rome.\n\"Caio Melisso\", \"Alessandro nelle Indie\" and \"Giannina e Bernardone\" followed, which soon made him as much a celebrity as Piccini and Paisiello, both in Italy and abroad.\nIn 1787 he was invited to the Court of Russian Empress Catherine II, and while travelling he stopped at the main Italian courts to gather enthusiastic recognition.\nDuring the time he was a Chapel Master in Russia, he composed several choirs and cantatas, as well as a mass, and several of his works enriched the theatres’ libraries.\nIn 1791 Cimarosa travelled back to Italy, first stopping in Warsaw, then in Vienna at the court of Leopold II, where he was appointed to compose the opera that would become his masterpiece – “Il matrimonio segreto” (The Secret Marriage).\nHe then reached Italy, and when The Secret Marriage premiered at the Teatro de’ Fiorentini in Naples in 1793, it was such a huge success that it was performed for 110 nights in the five following months.\nAs recognition continued, he continued to compose \"I Traci amanti\", \"Astuzie femminili\" and the serious opera \"Gli Orazi e i Curiazi\".\nNow in his late years, Cimarosa faced the harshest years of his life, when neural problems started to surface which would later take his life.\nWhen the Naples Revolution broke out in 1799, Cimarosa joined it with such fervour as to compose a republican hymn; later, as King Ferdinand was reinstated, he paid a high price for his enthusiasm: his house was pillaged, his harpsichord was smashed (allegedly thrown out of a window) and despite his attempt to restore his position by composing the hymn \"Bella Italia\" along with \"Cantata in occasione del bramato ritorno di Ferdinando\" (On the occasion of Ferdinand’s awaited return), Cimarosa was imprisoned.\nAfter four months, he was released upon pressure by the Holy See (or by the Russian crown according to others), he left the Kingdom of Two Sicilies to settle north, first in Padua then in Venice, where he started composing “Artemisia”.\nThe opera was unfinished as death struck him on 11 January, 1801 in Palazzo Duodo, the building where he lived. His sudden death gave rise to several allegations, including a possible case of poisoning or the job of killers sent by Caroline of Naples.\nThe city of Venice, as it had welcomed him, so it offered heartfelt celebrations and rituals: a mass and several songs were specially composed and played, including \"Concerto lugubre\" for flute and orchestra, dedicated to Cimarosa by Luigi Giannella.\nAlso in Rome, given his personal friendship with Cardinal Consalvi, celebration was so solemn that sculptor Canova was appointed to make a bust in his honour (now kept at the Museo Capitolino in Rome).\nDomenico Cimarosa was an extremely prolific composer, he wrote more than seventy operas as well as instrumental and vocal pieces of music.\nSeveral of his manuscripts are kept in museums of Russian theatres, still uncatalogued. His personal archive, retained by his son Paolo, was donated to the Naples Conservatory in 1852.\nIn spite of his turns of fate, Domenico Cimarosa embodied with passion the tangible endeavour of the Enlightenment and the free circulation of men and ideas in late 18th-century Europe, representing with his work one of the highest expressions of the end of a century as well as of an era. Among his most popular works: \"L'impresario in angustie\", \"Maestro di Cappella\", \"L'infedeltà fedele\", \"Il marito disperato\".", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5005342960357666}
+{"content": "How to use break values (quantiles) to create score in new field\n\nDiscussion created by cgboone on Aug 5, 2011\nI have been searching high and low for a way to use the classify function to create a new field that provides a score for each percentile. I have about 2100 records that I have divided into deciles, and I want to provide a score of 1 to decile 1, 2 to decile 2 and so forth. One laborious way is to use the ranges provided by the classify function and select all the records based on those ranges and then use field calculator to make the selected values equal to 1 and so on. This seems like a very basic task and I am guessing there must be an easier way to recode these.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9937106966972351}
+{"content": "ImageJ/Fiji course: November 30 & December 6, 2018\nThe main objective of this course is to give the microscopy user a global understanding of the huge potential of the program. We will go through all functionalities of the basic package and present specific tools for use in(cell) biology. During the course we will also review concepts and principles of image processing in general, in order to set a theoretical background.\n\nThe course is split over 2 days, both featuring theoretical presentations and interactive practice examples, and is intended for all microscopy users at the NKI who are interested in image processing and analysis.\n\nRegister before November 9, 2018\nYou have to register and commit to both days from 9:00 – 17:00.\nThe modules cannot be attended independently.\n\nFor practical reasons, places will be limited to 18. In case demand exceeds places, we will try to limit the number of participants per research group to give equal opportunity to all groups. Those who are not selected for this course will have priority for the next course.\n\nIf you have any questions regarding this course or image analysis, contact us at\n\nName *\nYour answer\nSurname *\nYour answer\nFunction *\nInstitute *\nYour answer\nPI name *\nYour answer\nEmail *\nYour answer\nPhone *\nYour answer\nNever submit passwords through Google Forms.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5109505653381348}
+{"content": "Spinning Earth Globe or 3D sphere rotation illusion\n\n(elcalibano) #1\n\nI was just searching for a spinning globe illusion, made with Hype, and I didn’t find it, so I made one. This is basically an After Effects trick, with a little interactivity. Swipe to spin. I’m sure there are other cool tricks that can be used to build on this technique. Maybe someone else has used the basic premise behind this illusion in Hype before. The masking is done with a group radius.\nLet me know what you think.\n\nThe World.hype.zip (166.1 KB)\n\n\nAnother option: You could add an “ease-in” & “ease-out” timing function (currently “linear”) to the “swipe left~right” events giving a more realistic inertia quality to the start~end spin motion.\n\n\nHaving the lens distortion plug-in in AE is a big help. If someday Hype were to support bitmap filters that would be stellar.\n\nSomething else with AE that can be simulated in Hype is a solar system effect. As AE uses 3D cameras that can move through a virtual space and as objects can be set to automatically orient themselves towards the camera, you can fly between planets that appear to be spherical but which are only circular masks with art passing behind them, similar to the globe here. This can be simulated in Hype as with the globe, with the objects changing size and location to simulate a fly-through in a 3-D environment.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8811414241790771}
+{"content": "Barbie Imperial Says She’s JM de Guzman’s Biggest Fan\n\n  • October 18, 2018\n\nNow that Araw Gabi has reached its conclusion, Barbie Imperial penned a heartfelt farewell letter to her leading man, JM de Guzman. We can all agree that the pairing of 19-year-old newcomer and 29-year-old actor and musician is something that no one expected, but the pair proved everyone wrong when their daytime series reached success and was even given a second season.\n\nRelated: Barbie Imperial Responds If JM de Guzman Is Courting Her \n\nAfter working almost every day for months, JM and Barbie have grown close and comfortable with each other, making this end of Araw Gabi harder for both of them.\n\nThrough an Instagram post, Barbie expressed her gratitude and admiration for her leading man which made fans kilig and excited.\n\nShe wrote: “Juan Miguel, thank you. Thank you isa ka sa mga nagtiwala sakin. Thank you sa mga araw na grabe ka kung mag advice sakin. Thank you dahil isa ka sa reasons kung bakit gusto ko maging better person araw araw. Thank you, dahil dumating ka sa buhay ko. Andito lang din ako, para sayo.. kahit anong mangyare, lagi lang ako nasa likod mo. Number 1 fan mo ako. Sa lahat ng nagmahal, sumuporta at nagtiwala samin ni JM, salamat po. Mahal na mahal namin kayo… hanggang dito nalang si Adrian at Mich.. Salamat sa lahat,”\n\nWe’re surely going to miss Adrian and Mich!\n\nRead more:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5065180063247681}
+{"content": "Is Socialism a Successful Economic Model? Part 1\n\nWelcome to the third post of this series on socialism.  In the next two posts we will look at failed examples of socialism. The truth is socialism has been tried many times throughout the world over the last century. In every example it failed miserably. There are so many examples of failed socialism that we can’t cover them all in this post. We need to split it into two posts. Even then it would be hard to list every example without writing a book. For the sake of time I will rely on a few videos to present some of the detailed information. So now I will present my case as to how Marxian Socialism has failed in the promise of elevating workers and raising poverty levels. Instead it has brought about brutal dictatorships that have killed a massive amount of innocent people.\n\n\nWe are talking about Marxian Socialism. These concepts originate with Karl Marx, and Fredrich Engels. Karl Mark wrote the Communist Manifesto. Marx and Engels also collaborated on a work called Das Capital. The primary theories and definition of socialism are spelled out in these writings. So let’s look at the history.\n\nSoviet Union\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn 1916 Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world. At that time, Great Britian’s empire had grown into the dominant place among the world’s industrialized nations. At that same point in history, the United States and Argentina competed for the worlds second most powerful economy. Like the United States, Argentina had huge acres of farmlands filled with rivers and an accessable port system. Argentina’s level of industrialization was much higher than many European countries. Telephones, railroads, and automobiles were common among the people and they could be found everywhere.\n\nIn 1916 Argentina elected a new president. Hipolito Irigoyen from a newly formed political party known as The Radicals. Under the  solgan of “Fundamental Change” and with the appeal of the middle class he instituted socialist policies. Among some of Irigoyen’s changes he instituted mandatory pension insurance, mandatory health insurance, and support for low-income housing in an effort to stimulate the economy which was already booming. The state assumed economic control of a major part of the country’s operations. They began assessing new payroll taxes to fund their efforts.\n\nWith a vast increase in funds for these entitlement programs, Argentina’s payouts became overly generous. Before long the entitlement programs surpassed the value of the taxpayers contributions. It quickly became underfunded. The economy started a downward spiral.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCIA report on Cuba after the revolution declassified\n\nChe Guevara was born in Argentina. He is thought of as a hero by the liberal elites, but this man has killed many people. He is responsible for assisting in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and in the end he died a cowards death.  Watch the videos below to learn more about him.\n\n\n\n\nSocialism in America Today\n\nIn the last article we did a brief overview of socialism. If you have not read it you can click here. We are now going to continue our commentary on this topic. Unfortunately, there exists in our society today the untold story of socialism. Millions have died because of this philosophy. While many of the liberals on the left seem to cling to this economic model, they seem to be unfamiliar with the empty promises and destruction that lie in its path. Socialism has always failed everywhere it was tried. Not only is history filled with examples, but there are some modern-day examples we can look at too. However, we will get to that in the next post.\n\nIn this post we will talk about the many ways socialism has attached itself to the Democratic Party. Socialism has been there for a while, but now they are not even trying to hide it anymore. It is out in the open for all to see. As the party moves more to the left they seem to have abandoned all the moderate Democrats. This is no longer the party of Jefferson, and it does not even hold the values of John Kennedy anymore. He once said “ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country”, while socialism promises free college, free health care, and many other free things from the government that are  brought about through a redistribution of profit and control of industries. The problem seems to be that socialism has been misrepresented by those on the left. The promise of free stuff in a redistribution of wealth never works out as planned. Those who line up to get their free government-run services always become slaves to the system.\n\nCapitalism is not a perfect model either, and there are problems with it. We will cover that in much more detail in an upcoming post. While capitalism creates a middle class and a better life for some, there are some people who remain poor while other people become wealthy. Socialism destroys the middle class and transfers all wealth to the state. Greed is therefore found on every level of government. Absolute control and freedom is handed over to any government instituting socialism over time. This is one reason why Vladimir Lenin famously said “The goal of socialism is communism.”\n\nSocialism begins by creating class envy. Karl Marx called it the struggle of classes. Key phrases in the Democratic platform like “tax breaks for the rich”, references to the “one percent”, and raising taxes on the wealthy are designed to create the envy needed to insert heavy taxation. This taxation has never stopped with the so-called one percent. It has always filtered down to small businesses and the middle class. When jobs are cut as a result of this heavy tax burden, the Democrats attempt to make a dependent class that will keep them in power. There are some elements of taxation that is not socialism. That is because taxation to provide public civic services such as roads, water treatment, and so on is not Marxian Socialism, especially if it is done by the state and local governments. As we have already pointed out, there is a difference between providing civic services and controlling the wealth and production of industries. We can already see the struggle of classes and the attempt by Democrats to redistribute some of the wealth of industry in order to create a more socialist society  through creating heavy tax burdens. More on that later.\n\nBernie Sanders\n\nLet’s look at socialism in the Democratic Party today. Bernie Sanders is probably the most famous socialist in the party today, and everyone knows him from his presidential run against Hillary Clinton. The evidence that he is a socialist is found in part by examining his policies. Sanders also makes the claim that he is a socialist. See video below.\n\nLater on in life Sanders re-brands himself as a “Democratic Socialist”, and he sites FDR. Today, Bernie Sanders at times calls himself a socialist, and sometimes he calls himself a “democratic socialist”. He believes there is no difference in the meaning. His real inspiration comes from a guy called Eugene Debs\n\nDespite Sanders’ supporters’ enthusiasm for socialism and/or communism, they do not really know what those terms mean. Communism and socialism have never been successful at creating a Socialist Workers Paradise. This is one of the main promises in the sales pitch. The Communist Manifesto was not about fighting Big Business. It was pitting the workers which were called the “proletariat” against the middle class which were called the “bourgeois”. This is why socialism always pulls the middle class down. This is the classic textbook struggle of social classes. This is Marxian Socialism, and it is based on the writings of Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels. Bernie Sanders is echoing some of the same concepts, but they are slightly re-branded. However, socialism recorded in history does not line up with what many of these Bernie Sanders supporters say about socialism.\n\nAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez\n\nAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez is another socialist. She was among a group of nationwide Social Justice Democrats that had their candidacies announced and live-streamed on May 16, 2017. Ocasio-Cortez was the first person since 2004 to challenge the incumbent Democratic Caucus Chair, Joe Crowley. He represented the 7th district from 1999 to 2013. He became Chair of the House Democratic Caucus in 2017. He also has been Chair of the Queens County Democratic Party since 2006. He was a well established democrat. According to the media, Ocasio-Cortez discovered she had also won a primary in her neighboring district after being spontaneously entered as a write-in candidate by voters in the competition to pick a candidate for the obscure Reform Party. She is a rising star in the media and from within her party.\n\nOcasio-Cortez belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America. And she has the backing of Bernie Sanders’ “Our Revolution” political group.\n\nShe also has a degree in economics, but she really does not know what she is talking about.\n\nAndrew Gillum\n\nAndrew Gillum is running for governor in Florida. He has the backing of George Soros, Bernie Sanders, and Tom Steyer.  Gillum has been serving as Mayor of Tallahassee, Florida since 2014. Gillum has been classified as a progressive, and is considered to be a politician in the mold of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders who is the highest-ranking elected official to support his primary candidacy. Even though he brands himself as progressive many policies are based on socialism.\n\nGillum has also served as lead commissioner for the Long Range Community Based Target Issue Committee. In 2005, Gillum was one of the commissioners who voted to give themselves a new retirement benefit through deferred compensation. The policy was later repealed by the commission after public outrage.\n\nYet Many Democrats still deny that their party is becoming more socialist in spite of the evidence placed before them. This move to the left has made many moderate democrats disillusioned by the direction of their party.\n\nControl of Industry\n\nAs we discussed in the last post, capitalism says that companies get to control the profit of industries. They get to choose where to invest and what products to develop. Socialism says that government controls the wealth and production of industry. One of the first industries taken over by socialists is typically the healthcare industry. Socialists seek to make a government controlled monopoly out of health care. This accounts for about 17.9 percent of the GDP in America today. This socialist healthcare system is known as a “single payer” system. Under this system government is the one who pays for health care – usually through heavy taxation. Strict laws are in place. Socialists in America today like to brag about the efficiency of Canada’s single payer system, but they leave out many of the problems associated with this system. (See video below.)\n\nCanada has the worst wait times of any nation, and yet their healthcare has been presented by liberals to be one of the best in the world.\n\nMost of these democrats make the dubious claim that our healthcare system is a failure of capitalism. They seem to pretend that The Affordable Care Act never existed, and everything is the fault of capitalism. How did our healthcare system get this screwed up to begin with? While healthcare was an issue that needed to be addressed before Obama Care, government intervention screwed everything up and made it much worse. Before Obama Care my family premiums where about $350.00 a month. My deductible was about $500.00 and my family deductible was $750.00. Immediately after Obama Care passed my premiums skyrocketed to well over $600.00 a month and my personal deductible went up to $4,000.00, while my family deductible went up to over $8,000.00. I lost my doctor because he was no longer a part of the insurance plan. I have not seen a doctor in years. Eventually, I had to change plans and the cost is outrageous. Today my personal deduction is $4,300.00. Prescription drugs also sharply increased due to backroom deals Obama made with pharmaceutical companies. America now pays more for prescriptions than any other country in the world. The healthcare in America is not overpriced due to a free market as Democrats would have you believe. The healthcare system is screwed up directly due to government intervention.\n\nThis could be fixed without a single payer system. This is not the fault of capitalism. This is the fault of government meddling in the free market. This is corporatism at its finest. When I say “corporatism” I am referring to economic tripartism  which involves negotiations between business, labor, and state interest groups to establish economic policy. This is sometimes also referred to as neo-corporatism, and is associated with social democracy.\n\nThe real truth is Obama has always wanted a single payer socialist system. Yet when The Affordable Care Act was first rolled out it was not a single payer system. He knew he could not get a single payer system passed into law. (See video below.)\n\nIt is my personal belief that Obama made a system designed to fail so the Democrats could eventually move to a single payer system. Obama made backroom deals with private companies to drive up the cost on things like prescription drugs and health care premiums. This would be with the understanding that his successor (Hillary Clinton) would be hailed as the savior of health care. She would come into office and move the nation to a single payer system, and democrats would control 17.9 percent of the GDP! That has been their plan all along.\n\nThe only problem is, Hillary lost and Donald Trump won. That ruined their plans. Now it’s time for plan B. Now Bernie Sanders is advocating for a single payer system while the government still has the old Obama Care law in place. This keeps the cost of healthcare extremely high. Healthcare reform is desperately needed, and the Democrats are trying to push the country into a socialist system. There is no market in the healthcare industry that is totally free today. It is drastically controlled by government regulation. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies are making record profits thanks to the deals Obama made with them. Bernie’s plan is called “Medicare for All”. This is strong evidence that socialism has attached itself to the Democratic Party.\n\nThe Communist Manifesto\n\nIn 1847, a group of radical workers known as the “Communist League” met in London. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels recently became members. They commissioned Marx and  Engels to write a manifesto on their behalf. This became  known as the Communist Manifesto. Marx was the main author, while Engels provided editing and assistance. The Communist Manifesto was originally published in London in 1848. Of all the documents of modern socialism, it is the most widely read and the most influential document. It is the systematic statement of the philosophy that is known as Marxism. It outlines what socialism really is. It calls  for a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large.\n\nMarx and Engels were not satisfied with theorizing about revolution in the abstract.  They thought their theory was only useful to promote social change. By clarifying the proper means and ends of revolution they were not only acting as authors, they were also activists. The promise of a socialist workers paradise drove many to support socialism. Many of the policies outlined in the Communist Manifesto are attached to a variety of democratic platforms in America today. Let’s just look at a few. What was the Communist Manifesto’s stated agenda and plan  to bring about the Socialist Workers’ Paradise?\n\n1.      A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. This is why democrats support steeply rising tax rates.\n\n2.      Abolition of all rights of inheritance.  This is why Democrats are always fighting to preserve the Estate Tax’s confiscatory rate on substantial estates. Even estate tax on small farms has caused many families to lose their land.\n\n\n4.      Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.\n\n5.  Free education for all children in public schools. Combining education with industrial production, this explains the staunch opposition to School Choice that comes from the Democratic party.\n\n4.      Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.\n\n\n6.      Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state. Here we see the real reason for “net neutrality”.\n\nThis is just a partial list containing a few socialist policies which have become part of the democratic platform.\n\nThe Democrats remain largely invested in   re-branding socialism.  They have  renamed it “Democratic Socialism”. I plan to write about it in more detail in an upcoming post. But for now the video below explains it pretty well.\n\n\nWhat is Socialism?\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSocialism Limits Freedom\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nStefan Molyneux\n\n\nThe Iraqi Dinar Devalued-No RV (Revalue)\n\nYou heard right. The rate just adjusted again. It is now trading at 1190 to one U.S. dollar. Sam i am predicted the rate would drop a while back on a conference call. So with that in mind an updated conference call just took place. Topics include how far the rate will drop and the future of the dinar. Here is the call in its entirety.\n\nOf course, many of the dinar holders on YouTube did not like this news. We have been going at it pretty hard and heavy in the comment section. Some of the commenters came back and deleted their comments when they realized we were telling the truth. One of the people who has been leaving comments is a guy by the name of haissemweneht. When we were talking about the strength of the dollar he had this to say\n\n“Remember when gasoline was worth 1 dollar per gallon? The value of the US Dollar is 14 – 16 percent less than a few years ago. Now gas is 3 dollars. I would say that the dollar is worthless.”\n\nThis is total GCR propaganda nonsense and this is what these guys do. They confuse economic terms and rant like idiots! The big mistake in this GCR talking point is the fact that they are taking a nominal inflation rate and judging the strength of the dollar by it to make the claim that the dollar has lost global value.  These are actually two different things blended together to look like one thing. They are comparing inflation rates with exchange rates and claiming the dollar is weak!\n\nFirst, we are talking about the global value of one currency against another currency. Let me give you an example. When we were invested in the dinar it took 1166 dinar to get one U.S. dollar. Today it takes 1190 dinar to get one U.S. dollar. This means that the value of the dinar has gone down and the value of the dollar has gone up. In fact, if you research this you will discover that the dollar is a lot stronger globally than most people know!\n\nWe are not talking about national purchasing power. We are talking about exchange rates not Inflation rates! If we were talking about inflation then it would only be fair to compare the United States inflation rates with other inflation rates. Let’s take his gas example. Gas went over a dollar in the 1980’s. In 1986 Gas was about 1.18 a gallon. That was 32 years ago. Now let’s look at what gas cost in England 32 years ago and compare that price with today’s price in England. By this dumb logic we would conclude that the pound is completely unstable.\n\nEvery country has inflation. That is a side effect of a decent economy. When the economy goes bad you have deflation or worse, hyperinflation. All currencies lose purchasing power over time. Even the dinar loses purchasing power and it had hyperinflation during the 1990’s. He was comparing the inflation rate of the dollar with the exchange rate of the dinar. These are two different animals and it is a really bad argument. The dollar is strong compared to other currencies, not inflation rates.\n\nThis is the type of typical GCR nonsense used to sell precious metals and dinar gurus steal the same talking points. They need the dollar to tank in their presentations in a feeble attempt to make the dinar look like a good investment.\n\nJust as a side note, look at the name of our commenter who was spreading this nonsense. The name haissemweneht is actually the new messiah spelled backwards! I don’t think I would trust anyone who has a name like that. Thanks to Nash for pointing that out!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5762075185775757}
+{"content": "Energy Innovation Ecosystems in Rural Mexico\n\nAcuña, Francisco, Guillermo Cedeño, Ramon Sanchez, Leith Sharp, John Spengler, and James Ritchie-Dunham. “Energy Innovation Ecosystems in Rural Mexico.” ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America XVIII, no. 1 (2018): 108-09.\n\nThis recently published article describes a very vibrant initiative, bringing innovative energy ecosystems to rural Mexico.  To understand the wild success of the initiative, the Institute for Strategic Clarity was invited to use the Agreements Evidence Mapping tool to understand what happened.  In essence (see figure below), by connecting (1) the low perceived value and social impact rural universities with (2) the moderate perceived value and social impact of the rural communities, (3) the academic knowledge and global network of Harvard, with (4) financial capital, they were able to generate a high perceived value and social impact energy innovation ecosystem.\n\nInitially the rural universities are resource poor, providing theoretical, technical education with low practical social impact because of underemployment of graduates, locally. Initially the indigenous communities are rich in social capital, and poor in the financial and intellectual capital to exploit their wealth in natural capital.  The Harvard Applied Leadership in Renewable Energies Program engaged rural universities and local indigenous communities throughout Mexico, where 286 university professors and researchers proposed innovation ecosystems for 93 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects that were developed and funded (e.g., wind in Oaxaca and biodiesel in Sinaloa).\n\nA documentary and casebook detail the whole project, and the subsequent social and economic potential impact of these projects, including 953.3 MW of wind energy, 512 MW of installed capacity of photovoltaic energy, 1.36 MW of biomass electricity, 40 million liters of ethanol/year, 7.2 million liters of biodiesel/year and 9 million liters of bio-jet fuel/year. This program proved that shifting away from centralized-only thinking with low ROIC, for high-impact, economically-resilient, national renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in Mexico, think massively local innovation ecosystems with a much higher, more resilient, and more equitable ROIC.  This model of social innovation is particularly relevant in the multitude of countries facing rapid rural-to-urban migration in part because of investment inequities.  The project leaders are meeting now with Mexico’s ministers of economy and social development to replicate this.\n\nAcknowledgements.  This project includes dozens of rural, indigenous communities in Mexico, over 100 rural Mexican universities with 286 of their faculty, the Mexican Secretariat of Energy, global investors led by InTrust Global Investments LLC, and the Center for Health and the Global Environment in the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University.\n\n\n\nGuest post — Consciously Choosing Abundance-driven Agreements\n\nby Christoph Hinske, ISC Contributing Fellow, and Eyal Drimmer, Certified Vibrancy Guide\n\nYou can download a PDF of this blogpost here.\n\n\nAbundance and Scarcity-Driven Agreements\n\nThe problem with most agreements is that we don’t see them.  They just are.  Most often we are not aware that what is happening around us is based on an agreement that one could potentially change.  It seems that life is “just that way.” In our day-to-day interactions, either at work or at home, we are engaging in a set of agreements and relationships, whether we realize it or not.  Sometimes the agreements work, resulting in vibrant experiences and great outcomes, and sometimes they do not, leaving us feeling depleted, fatigued and disappointed about the lousy outcomes.\n\nIn addition to shifting agreements in everyday experiences, many of us work to shift agreements in large-scale social change issues, such as renewable energy, food systems, poverty, climate change, and social justice.  Decades of attempts to address these big and small challenges with approaches rooted in scarcity have proven insufficient to the task.\n\nResearch at the Institute for Strategic Clarity (ISC) has identified many groups that are finding success in addressing these issues, starting from a very different perspective, one of abundance in human potential.  Ecosynomics, the social science of abundance, offers robust frameworks that take what we have learned in scarcity-based agreements framed by economics and puts it within the much broader, much healthier context of abundance-based agreements.\n\nBut how can agreements be made consciously so that people can choose self-determined higher vibrancy in their agreements?  We present a case study from Europe where we are in the process of guiding a group to abundance-based agreements. In doing so, we follow the Vibrancy Living Lab approach, which combines a guiding process with scientific research and social-impact creation to enable a positive contribution to the group and the community where it is embedded.\n\nStarting from a Collapsed State\n\nThe example concerns a Community Supported Business (CSB) in a village in Germany; nine people comprising two families and many associates. While the main focus of their work resides on their CSB, they are also engaged in local education and regional politics.\n\nDespite a great vision, the group found itself over the last years in a critical state: the financial situation was getting precarious, the group underwent some hard and energy-depleting times and some were on the edge of burning out. Furthermore, they had already started to lose belief in the meaning behind their venture and to unconsciously accept their scarce reality as given and unchangeable. With those agreements, practices and mindsets they were not able to ensure their private and professional successes.\n\nBased on initial conversations about ecosynomic research, in early 2014, the founders of the community invited us to support them in overcoming their scarcity-driven practices by working out their own abundance-based agreements. \n\nRaising Awareness for Agreements and Interdependencies\n\nOur first step was to empower them and bring back the feeling of self-determination. We chose two different approaches for this. The first was to stop “just doing” and to start observing. The second was the kind of relationship we entered. In this we decided to step into an unusual role. In addition to being external coaches and consultants, we also agreed to become full members of the group. This gave us more possibility to deeply resonate with them by still being able to mirror them in their dynamics.\n\nThe goal of both approaches was to raise the awareness of whether they would rather act out of scarcity or abundance-based agreements and to assess the benefit-cost of devoting resources into the development of abundance-based agreements. The first step into this direction was done through a collaborative Agreement Mapping. This exercise allowed them to understand their unconsciously accepted agreement system and (unintentional) practices leading to perceived scarcity. They were able to do so by tapping into the wisdom of four seemingly very distant fields that humans have used for millennia to understand their interactions, experiences, and produced results:\n\n  1. Resource or economic lens: “How much do we have, of what, to achieve our goals?”\n  2. Allocation or political lens: ”Who or what is in power, and who or what decides and enforces?”\n  3. Value or cultural lens: “What criteria do they use, and what is important to them?”\n  4. Organizing or social interaction lens: “What rules do they apply and how do they organize?”\n\nThese currently very distant fields have been integrated by ecosynomic research, allowing a group to understand if it is “stuck in scarcity” or “boosted by abundance.” Why did we do this, and why is this relevant? ISC research conducted in 95 countries proves abundance to be a desired state for any social system. While this seems obvious, direct measurement of this abundance is not. Without measurement, the group could neither take strategic decisions nor convince possible capital providers and shareholders of the importance of “all this fluffy abundance stuff.”\n\nMapping out the quality of their agreement structure allowed them to create a first understanding of how their embedded and interwoven assumptions shaped their interactions and how those interactions created the basis for the quality of their experiences and results. Understanding that, they started to see that their unpleasant experiences and poor results were a direct effect of the agreements they made on a daily basis in the four fields by (unconsciously) answering the related questions in completely opposite directions. They also started to see that by changing their embedded and interwoven assumptions and agreements they would directly change the experiences they have and the results they produce.\n\nMeasuring the benefits of and capacity for abundance gets its inspiration from the quality movement. Initially nobody knew how to assess the benefits of quality programs; this made investment decisions difficult. The innovation was to assess the cost of “no quality.” The insight was that the benefit of quality had to be at least as big as the cost of no quality. Likewise, the benefits of abundance are at least as big as the costs of scarcity, which is straightforward to measure.\n\n\nAfter having this higher-level awareness of themselves and their context, we employed embodiment and systemic practices to open up concrete pathways for change.\n\nConsciously Choosing Abundance-Based Agreements\n\nLet’s have a closer look at the groups’ interrelated agreements and practices, as we saw them the day we started to be engaged with them.\n\n\nAfter raising awareness of the current situation, the group collectively agreed to allocate resources into the development of abundance-based agreements and to explore practices that would allow them to intentionally start from abundance and collaboration rather than being unintentionally stuck in scarcity and antagonism.\n\nOutcomes and Summary\n\nThrough raising awareness, we managed to close the gap between their wishful thinking and currently shared reality–that is, the difference between the espoused agreements and practices in contrast to the ones in use.  Some concrete outcomes are:\n\n  1. They entered a mindset of “we do have more than enough of anything, we just have to find ways of how to manifest the potential we see into results benefiting our business and community.” They are now successfully innovating on their business model by exploring new markets, management, and leadership behaviors.\n  2. They have a high-level AND in-depth understanding of their structures and how each individual drives them. Building on that, they realized the interdependencies between the different parts of their “system” and the importance of alignment within it. Both aspects are essential preconditions to relate in an effective, efficient, and abundant way.\n  3. They have the awareness that with their scarcity-driven agreements they would by definition neither be able to have the kind of “healthy experiences” nor produce the kind of outcomes they envision.\n  4. They are much more conscious and mindful in their daily patterns, leading to more thoughtful interactions. “We now know that we are not yet able to have everything we would like to have, but we also know now what the ground is we are standing on.”\n  5. “I learned to respect my own needs and to share them with everybody in our community.”\n\nEngaging with them, you can now a) see and feel the higher-level awareness of “why do I experience what I experience and how I can change it” and b) see and feel the positive energy and motivation to grow into the possibilities they see, which is completely different than the original drive to simply escape scarcity. They are able to do so since they experienced what it is like to work with abundance-driven agreements. Yes, they are now able to work out of this understanding and feeling, rather than just pushing away from something they do not like.\n\nFurthermore, they not only regained trust in their own abilities and goals, but also started to reframe their shared purpose, as well as each individual’s unique contribution to the group.\n\nWe think the key learning of this case study is to take time to understand the agreements that (un)consciously drive the behavior of your business. Understanding your agreements builds the basis for lasting success and vibrant interactions, thus, having great experiences and producing above-average outcomes. Awareness, collaboration, and alignment seem to take a lot of time and energy, but there is a massive return for every minute of this investment. During our process the Japanese proverb “If hurried, go around” evolved as our guiding principle, because the fastest way is often not the straightest.\n\n4 Truths of Clarity\n\nUnderstanding the complexity of our organizations, what they want to achieve, and how to go about achieving what they want isn’t hard because people don’t have the tools; it is hard because people haven’t been shown how to use them. What I refer to as “the Four Truths of Clarity” show that we do have the tools, and that to use them we simply need to overcome the barriers to using them.\n\n  1. Not understanding the system clearly, as it really is, both in what it wants to achieve and in how it works, leads to very ineffective and inefficient systems. We experience this state of confusion when we lack clarity: on a personal level whenever we make an obvious mistake and say to ourselves, “I knew better than that”; on a group level whenever someone states after a group blunder, “I could have told you that, if you would have asked”; and on an organizational level whenever we see intelligent, passionate people with years of experience make seemingly stupid decisions.\n  2. Not understanding the system clearly is caused by barriers to what we experience and by our ability to experience the system. The first barrier is that we are not able to process the infinite number of details available to us at all moments. And, with the inputs we are able to process, we don’t. The second barrier exists because we are usually mindless in a distracted state, paying attention to our own thoughts and not to the system.\n  3. By understanding what influences these barriers to systems experiencing, we can overcome these barriers. The first barrier of cognitive ability can be overcome somewhat by recognizing its existence. Knowing that we are not capable of knowing everything puts us in the position of asking rather than assuming. The second barrier of mindful attention can be overcome by increasing our ability to be mindful to what we can process about the system.\n  4. Since we experience systems through our body, heart, and head, overcoming the barriers requires that we build our capacity to experience systems through our body, heart, and head with greater clarity. Very simple exercises have been found to be useful and motivating in being mindful to information we receive from our body, heart, and head. It has also been shown that it is quite possible to develop one’s ability to act in a mindful, clear way continuously.\n\nI previously published this observation, with a hat tip to the Buddha, as Ritchie-Dunham, James. 2005. The Four Truths of Clarity, Reflections; The SoL Journal of Knowledge, Learning and Change, 6(6/7), vi-vii.\n\nRadio Interview — Creating Vibrant Organizations to Drive Performance Through Ecosynomics\n\nPast-cast Series — Seeing relevance in earlier publications\n\nISC President Jim Ritchie-Dunham, ISC Contributing Fellow Christoph Hinske, and World GBC senior advisor James Drinkwater were interviewed on the radio today about how to drive performance through vibrant agreements by Maureen Metcalf. You can access the 1-hour interview from Maureen’s Internet-radio talk show “Innovative Leaders Driving Thriving Organizations” at (\n\nNew Monitor Study — How Funders Can Support and Leverage Networks for Social Impact\n\nI was interviewed recently as part of a Monitor Institute study for the Rockefeller Foundation on “How Funders Can Support and Leverage Networks for Social Impact.” The final report is out, in the form of an interactive toolkit ( — please feel free to share it.\n\nMy contribution is based on my research into deviant groups — what makes some sustainably amazing and others sustainably awful. Through our Ecosynomics research at the in 93 countries, we have identified 1000s of groups who have off-the-chart, amazing experiences and outcomes everyday. The Monitor study incorporates some of what we have learned about the collaborative nature of their work.\n\nIf you know of any such groups, I would love to hear about them.\n\nGuest post — Agreements Mapping of High Vibrancy Zapatista Communities\n\nGuest post by Annabel Membrillo Jimenez, Vibrancy Mexico Lead Steward\n\nZapatista mural\n\nAnnabel set off on a journey this past spring to observe indigenous Zapatista communities, asking: What are the characteristics that allow the Zapatistas to move at a steady pace towards the third circle of vibrancy, despite the ongoing repression they receive from a part of their environment? What are the agreements that make them unique?\n\nAnnabel shares what she observed in the Zapatistas agreements in a white paper you can download here in English (aquí en español).\n\n\nFree for 1 day — Celebrating 8th Birthday of Ecosynomics\n\nBannerToday, June 8, 2015, marks 8 years since the naming of Ecosynomics: the emerging science of abundance!\n\nFor all of today, to celebrate, you can listen, read, and watch Ecosynomics: The Science of Abundance — we gift you the audiobook, ebook, and ecourse all for free.\n\nClick here ( to order it, today only.\n\n\nBannerJune 8, 2015 marks 8 years since the naming of Ecosynomics: the emerging science of abundance!\n\nTo celebrate, we will offer the Ecosynomics ebook, audiobook, and ecourse all for FREE for 1 day — Monday, June 8, 2015.\n\nBiting Back at Dengue — Another Way to Break the Cycle\n\nIn an earlier post, I looked at how Dengue is still here, and what our earlier work on dengue epidemiology might still contribute.  Researchers in Australia have developed a new way to intervene in the re-enforcing cycle of mosquitoes getting infected with dengue and spreading it by biting other people.  They inject a common natural bacterium called Wolbachia into the mosquito population, and this bacterium keeps the mosquitoes from spreading dengue.  You can see a cool 3-minute video of how this works.\n\nFrom our systems-modeling perspective of the dengue epidemiology, work we did at the Mexican Secretariat of Health in 1995, this Wolbachia intervention breaks the link between the “Contagious Mosquito” biting the “Susceptible Person.”  This stops the “Epidemic Spread” feedback loop, without having to deal with the other “Vector Control Intervention Loops.” For details of how to read the following systems map of the dengue epidemiology, click here.\n\nDengue Systems Map\n\nRadio interview with Orland Bishop on “Highlighting Peace”\n\nOur colleague Orland Bishop was interviewed on March 16, 2015 on the radio station UBNRadio of the Universal Broadcasting Network, by Dr. Marissa Pei.  The topic was “Highlighting Peace with Season for Non-Violence award winner Orland Bishop.”\n\nFind it at (  Share your reflections on Orland’s interview here.\n\nThe abstract for the show says, “Is violence part of human nature? Why do we continue to be at war in the name of bringing about Peace? Why don’t our prison systems rehabilitate? What belief systems keep us perpetrating the cycle of lack and limitation? Orland Bishop, founder of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation uses principles of oneness and globalization to mentor youth to stay out of the juvenile system. When each individual knows that there’s one person out there who cares, and that there is an alternative to getting our needs met without taking from another, when we stop seeing the world in terms of what’s mine versus what’s ours…then we will be able to live in full freedom on the planet.”", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9494934678077698}
+{"content": "Following on from their brilliant 2016 EP “Ode to the Author” and the subsequent live version being released early last year, UK progressive instrumental trio Toska have issued their prodigious debut album “Fire by the Silos”. On it, the band has taken the signature sound cultivated on “Author” and refined it to an extreme, with each and every section of music arranged in a captivating way from wild volume and songwriting dynamics to a dense sense of constantly shifting rhythms, all without convoluting the listener.\n\nThe basis of the album is foundationed by pop formulas and by that design it makes it very simple for anyone to follow the songs whether they are accustomed to complex pieces or not. There is an overlying rhythm based architecture built on top of these foundations that takes heavy advantage of syncopation and polyrhythmic feel which lends greatly to a sense of losing yourself within the music in a way where you sit still, but the composition moves around you. It’s much like being inside an abstract atmosphere of emotion. Adorning this architecture is a varied use of melody, creative use of chord structure and an extensive variety of tonal effect employed on both Guitar and Bass.\n\nIt is near impossible to single out a stand out performance between guitarist Rabea Massad, bassist Dave Hollingworth and drummer Ben Minal. This is the greatest achievement of the album; they all play off each other in a way that has the greatest emotional impact and there’s never a moment where that focus lapses. The listener is, by extension, able to have a unique experience of their own with their own thoughts. Truly enabling the psyche of the individual to paint the backdrop of thought for the album without having one being predetermined.\n\nThe sound design is dense and employs a magnitude of well chosen elements. The guitars are always clearly defined even when being distorted hard and take on an assortment of gain types, delays, reverbs and effects. Bass takes on a very similar sonic character from butter-smooth to absolutely howling with wah laden distortion. Together they cooperate to deliver the greatest melodic impact and take turns in delivering the gentle touches and obsessive madness to the overall sound. Drums also express a wide range of variation and complement/cooperate with the string section. Tones are typically natural and the playing is VERY dynamic with some passages played with a feather touch and others with the force of a skyscraper demolition.\n\nThe most fascinating track is album closer “The Heard”. Unlike the rest of the album, it’s a 10 minute long soundscape of droning sound frequencies. This might sound pretty boring but in practice I think it was an excellent production decision. The album aims for maximum consistent focus and impact. You will get drawn into its world and very likely get lost in the emotional twists and turns along the way. After an extended period of being thrown about in a plethora of ways, I think it’s highly considerate of the band to have calculated the possible toll this could have on a person and choose to not leave them deal with the repercussions of such an experience. Instead, they offer this soundscape with the length of a recommended light meditation, 10 minutes, to give you a chance to come back to earth and allow the mind to become quiet.\n\n“Fire by the Silos” is more than a mere album, it can be anything you want it to be. A collection of bangin’ tracks or a cathartic mental cleansing. It provides multiple tools for multiple purposes to a wide potential audience of listeners regardless of their connection to music. All it benevolently asks for is a chance for the listener to open up to themselves honestly.\n\nGrab your copy of “Fire by the Silos” HERE!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8769073486328125}
+{"content": "Macrobot & Decibot\n\nSkylar Tibbits & Center for Bits and Atoms\n\nThe Macrobot and Decibot projects were developed as part of a line of research conducted in the Center for Bits and Atoms, under a DARPA grant for Programmable Matter. Much of the research into programmable matter and reconfigurable robotics at that time were looking at increasingly smaller scales. Thus, we decided instead to develop very large-scale reconfigurable robots. The Macrobot and Decibot are large-scale reconfigurable chains that take in a single sequence of fold angles and can change shape on demand, from any 1D, 2D or 3D shape. The assembly instructions might look like [–120, 0,0, 120, 0, 0..], or a series of joint angles that are passed down a robotic chain. Each robotic unit reads the instructions, takes out the angle at its specified location and rotates to the corresponding angle until a sensor indicates it has reached the desired placement. The unit then passes the instruction sequence down the chain. This happens for any number of units in the chain and dictates the sequence to fold from one 3D shape into another. The Macrobot and Decibot were a platform to reconfigure structures at large-scales with arbitrary functionality and complexity. This research occupies a field of reconfigurable robotics with the ultimate vision of mechanical proteins, a universally programmable system for construction and shape-change.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9867772459983826}
+{"content": "Charles V is the young King of Spain and (after his election) Holy Roman Emperor, giving him control of various minor territories in Italy, Austria, Germany and the Low Countries; he is easily the most powerful monarch in Europe. Charles also controls Spain's considerable, newly-established colonies in the Americas, which he mentions to Henry in episode 1.03, suggesting they should both seek fresh conquests in the New World.\n\nHe is the nephew of Henry VIII's Spanish first wife, Queen Catherine of Aragon, making him Henry's nephew by marriage; although brought up in Spain, he has the distinctive chin of the Austrian Habsburgs. Although Charles only appears physically in episode 1.03 of the series (he is usually represented by his Ambassador, Eustace Chapuys) he is mentioned in nearly every episode, referred to simply as 'the Emperor'. Despite not intervening much on the behalf of his aunt and his cousin Mary (as well as breaking his own betrothal to Mary, to marry a Portuguese Princess), Charles is genuinely concerned with their well-being, affecting his diplomacy with both Henry and the Papacy and in turn, provoking Henry to begin the Reformation so that he can divorce Catherine.  \n\n\nCharles while meeting with Henry\n\nWhile Charles and Henry have been allies on several occasions and admire each other's power, they are also sometimes enemies.  Henry is deeply resentful of the Emperor throughout the series, since Charles has a tendency to break their agreements prematurely if he thinks Henry will not follow through; neither of them is willing to give the other real trust, and therefore their alliances nearly always break down after a short time. Charles' real feud, however, is usually with King Francis I of France, and he and Francis are usually vying for an alliance with England, with Henry choosing whichever side suits him at the time. Charles is also occupied with countering the expansion of the Turkish-led Ottoman Empire and the Protestant League in Germany, both of whom King Francis later becomes allies with. Only at one point in Season 3 does Charles make peace with France long enough to pose a serious threat to England, and nothing comes of this.\n\nCharles is played by Spanish-English actor Sebastian Arnesto.\n\nBackstory of Charles V Edit\n\nBorn in 1500 in the Low Countries, as heir to the Houses: Trastámara, Habsburg and Valois-Burgundy Charles became King of both Castile and Aragon in 1516 and Archduke of Austria on 1519, whereupon he was also elected Holy Roman Emperor. From his mother, \"Juana the Mad\", Charles inherited the Spanish kingdoms of Castile and Aragon (which together became the Kingdom of Spain under his successors) as well as the Kingdoms of Sicily-Naples and Sardinia in Italy and several blossoming colonies in the Americas. From his Habsburg grandfather Emperor Maximilian I, he inherited the Archduchy of Austria (and, by claim, the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary) and from his grandmother, Mary of Burgundy he inherited the Low Countries (modern day Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) . Through the Trastámara dynasty, he descended from Katherine of Lancaster, he like Catherine of Aragon, he had English blood. And through the House of Valois-Burgundy, he descended from Margaret of York, he had both Lancastrian and York blood. In 1521 he became engaged to his cousin Mary Tudor, Princess of Wales, but the marriage was delayed as Mary was only a child; by the time of Charles' victory over the French at the Battle of the Pavia in 1525, he no longer needed an alliance with England and abandoned the engagement, instead marrying Isabella of Portugal, with whom he had three children. Charles was a devoted husband and father, and unlike his French or English counterparts he never took a mistress during his marriage; when Isabella died in 1539, Charles was grief-stricken. He never remarried, and wore black for the rest of his life as a sign of mourning.\n\nCharles was famous for developing a highly efficient and powerful army which he used to good effect against various rivals, mainly the Kingdom of France and the Ottoman Empire, the latter of which conquered most of Hungary before finally being stopped at the Siege of Vienna in 1529. However, while his wars against the French (fought mainly in Italy, North Africa and Germany) were mostly successful on land, his navy suffered various defeats against the Ottoman fleets. Charles' wars also put Spain deeply into debt, and Charles himself was a frequent advocate for peace despite being constantly at war. Charles also presided over the era of the Conqustadores, during which the Spanish forces lead by Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro overthrew the Aztec and Inca empires, providing Spain with an immense source of riches from the Americas.\n\nDue to his missionaries' successes in America and his enmity with the Turks, Charles became increasingly convinced of his status as the 'champion' of Catholicism. This was in spite of his sacking of Rome in 1527 during his wars with France, an event that inadvertently led to the thwarting of Henry VIII's annulment of his marriage, thus destroying Charles' alliance with England and making way for the English Reformation. With the growth of the Protestant Reformation in Central Europe, Charles faced increasing religious division at home and in the mostly-Lutheran Holy Roman Empire, the former leading him to approve of the Spanish Inquisition to suppress 'heresy' and the latter leading him to war in Germany from 1546-47. Although the Inquisition halted the spread of Lutheranism in Spain, and his armies defeated those of the German 'Protestant League', Charles failed to destroy Protestantism or armed resistance within the German States, and in 1555 he signed the Treaty of Augsburg with the German Princes, allowing them freedom to choose between Protestantism and Catholicism in return for acknowledging him as Holy Roman Emperor. Despite the brutal measures of the Inquisition and his various enemies abroad, Charles remained popular within Spain for his peaceful and (relatively) just rule.\n\nCharles kept both his Royal titles until voluntarily abdicating in 1556, whereupon his Austrian territories and position as Emperor were given to his brother Ferdinand and his Spanish Empire (including his Italian and Flemish territories) was inherited by his eldest son Phillip II; the two empires remained loosely allied for the next two centuries, as both were ruled by different branches of the House of Habsburg. Although Charles was only 56 when he abdicated, his 34-year reign and various health problems had exhausted him; he retired to a monastery, dying two years later of malaria in 1558.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5630592107772827}
+{"content": "Most Dangerous Places to Work in 2012 – Surprising Results\n\nIn reviewing incident rates of non-fatal injuries and illnesses, the sector that has the highest number of reportable injuries and illnesses is NURSING AND RESIDENTIAL CARE FACILITIES (NAICS CODE 623).  Maybe you would expect animal slaughter houses or aluminum foundries but surprisingly they are far down the list.  (USBLS, USDOL, TABLE SNR01-2012).\n\nNot surprisingly, manufacturers of travel trailers, campers, manufactured homes and truck trailers are high on the list.  These facilities often employ young, nimble—but unexperienced—workers with no concept of working safely.  Add moving conveyors, overhead cranes, many hand tools, congested assembly lines, parts everywhere, and demands to work fast—no wonder incidence rates are through the roof.\n\nYou wouldn’t expect nursing homes to be more dangerous than such assembly factories but on more careful observation, you can see why incident rates are so high.  Moving irregular shaped and uncooperative items such as human beings presents a unique challenge every single time.  Strained backs, limbs, pinched fingers, bumps and bruises is a predictable consequence of working in such a diverse set of circumstances.  Further, employees are hired based on their medical or nursing training and experience not the strength of their backs and the power of their grips.  It is true that medical equipment is designed and operated for the benefit of the patient not the medical staff.\n\nSome of the other industries on the top of the incidence frequency list are more predictable—iron foundries, police and fire and even skiing facilities, and hog farming!!\n\nI am always greatly dismayed when I see young, eager workers getting injured right and left who are not properly trained or motivated to do their jobs safely.  Sadly, it’s not their fault.  Employers, trade schools, healthcare trainers do an inadequate job in teaching, motivating, and monitoring their charges to consider the negative consequences of how they perform a task.\n\nSafety and health practioners face an uphill battle in motivating their employers to demand their employees follow safe and healthful work practices.  The true weak link is the management and supervisors, not the workers.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8926223516464233}
+{"content": "Concordia University\n\n\n\nConcordia’s core values stem from those long prized by its founding institutions, Loyola College and Sir George Williams University. Concordia adopted the motto of the city of Montreal, Concordia salus, which speaks to well-being through harmony. The union of two very different institutions of higher education has led to an exceptionally successful synthesis of compatible and timely values.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7888578772544861}
+{"content": "Lending a hand where it’s needed most: Why one couple left Stone Oak for the East Side\n\nThrough their nonprofit SA Heals, Charles and Jennifer Foltz are trying to change lives in their drastically different, and distressed, neighborhood on the East Side.\n\nCalling all faith communities\n\nLet’s get clear on what churches and other faith gatherings can do to address inequality\n\nWhat is your congregation doing for San Antonio’s most vulnerable?\n\nWhy we’re calling on faith communities to tell us about their efforts against inequity.\n\nChecking white church privilege\n\nHow one Northside church addressed the racial gap between itself and its neighborhood.\n\nDignowity Hill residents show support for homeless services\n\n\nLocal churches step up to face foster care crisis\n\nHow a local woman rallied a community to address a foster care crisis in South Texas.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.551410436630249}
+{"content": "Global Histroy Essay\n\nSubmitted By Kevin_bev\nWords: 347\nPages: 2\n\nTwo elements of Egyptian culture that were influenced by the Nile River are: Intellectually and Culturally. The Nile River was the main reason for Egyptian Civilization. In the section Geography, the text says “Had, it not been for the Nile River Egyptian civilization would have suffered due to lack of water…the Nile’s flood waters allow farmers to irrigate their field.” The Nile River, was the cause of the Egyptian civilization. As stated in the quote the withouth Nile, the Egyptian civilization would have perished. Farmers use the irrigation system to water crops to create a surplus of food about three times a year. This show how intellectually advanced they were. The Nile also affected the culture of early Egyptians through religion. The text states, “The most important god was the god of the Nile.” Egyptians felt they needed to worship the water because of the good it does in their life. The system of irrigation used by the Egyptians was drawn from the river, which left silt to grow crops. They worshiped the river so this rich soil could come consistently.\n\nParagraph #2\nThe Indus River influenced the Harappan culture; intellectually and economically. The Indus River’s routine flooding brought a problem to the lives of the Harrapan people. The text states, “They built levees of earthen walls to keep war out of cities…when this wasn’t enough they constructed man-made islands to raise cities above possible flood waters.” The Harrapan people had to find a…", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.866516649723053}
+{"content": "When I was an undergraduate, I didn’t attend an institution that had fraternities and sororities.\n\nMy first experience with Greek Life came during my second year as a student affairs professional at another college. At the start of the year, I was asked to oversee fraternities as the new IFC adviser. I had a feeling that the administration was looking for a way to end the Greek Life program altogether. At the time, I was not a fan of fraternities.\n\nOn day one in my new role, I was walking down the staircase overlooking a lounge commonly used by Greeks. Lee, a developmentally disabled man who worked in the food court, was sitting by himself, eating a slice of pizza and reading a comic book. Three male students approached him and began to bully him. Without missing a beat, I watched as three fraternity men intervened. Led by a short, stocky guy nicknamed “Sause,” they stopped the bullying in its tracks.\n\nI watched in awe as Sause and his brothers bought Lee a fresh lunch, sat with him and spent time with him. In that moment, I considered for the first time that there might be something more to Greek Life. Thus began my journey as a Greek Life advocate.\n\nSoon after this incident, Sause and his fraternity invited Lee to become their brother. To this day, they ensure that Lee is cared for. It would only be a matter of time before Sause asked me to be his brother. Sause became my “Big” — and remains so to this day.\n\nI went on to serve my fraternity as an adviser, an ACB president, and a district governor. In 2001 I was elected to the national board and served as a national vice president. Much to my own surprise, in 2017, I received one of my fraternity’s highest honors.\n\nSo in many ways, I’m a “convert,” an unexpected fraternity man, but also, in a sense, a frustrated one.\n\nAs we know, the public perception of fraternities is often shaped by negatives in the media. Sadly, we have been discussing and confronting the same challenges for decades. Hence, the source of my frustration. While some behaviors are inexcusable, there remain many wonderful things that happen in Greek Life.\n\nAnnually, for example, the 380,000 fraternity members on 800 campuses nationwide raise $20 million-plus for philanthropic causes. They devote 3.8 million hours to service in their local communities. And their average GPA of 2.912 is higher than that of all male students nationally.\n\nIn my view, what distinguishes the fraternity experience is the focus on building relationships, fostering interconnectedness and offering new perspectives. Through their emphasis on community, fraternities have the unique capability to expose students to career possibilities, personal growth opportunities and points of view that they would never have experienced individually.\n\nWe need to balance these experiences with vigilance and a commitment to our values, so that fraternities are known, not for their missteps, but for helping to build better men.\n\nJoe Bertolino is president of Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9003586173057556}
+{"content": "\n\nThe Importance of Storytelling and Testimony for Our Basic Income Project\n\nThe overall purpose of the Basic Income Project is to educate, raise public awareness and create supportive communities for basic income. This will be done by providing three individuals in different groups grants of $1,500 per month while they conduct a public relations and marketing tour supporting the concept of a basic income through providing education to citizens. The tour will also serve the goal of generating positive public exposure through community outreach.\n\nSince many people are either unfamiliar with the concept of basic income or misunderstand it, the primary means of gaining support will be through educational efforts. Education is to be the chief instrument in explaining the benefits of Basic Income.\n\nThe purpose here is to describe what a basic income is and to convey the benefits of such a policy. This will be an incremental process where recipients will be able to speak in person, sharing their own stories and experiences with Angelenos on how basic income can benefit them and their communities.\n\nWhy stories and testimonials?\n\nPeople are incredibly attracted to stories and testimonials. They are so effective that it is no surprise that they are so frequently used in marketing campaigns.\n\nIn fact, storytelling is a valuable tool for helping people to connect with the lived experiences of others. By telling their stories, participants of our project will allow others to see their path, the challenges that they have overcome, and those that still lie ahead. Storytelling is a strong way to connect facts with emotional ties, and help others see the passion that lies within us.\n\n\nThus, it is no surprise that storytelling and testimony are some of the most powerful methods for spreading the message about Basic Income. This allows people to begin to associate faces and backgrounds with the concept and see how it can greatly affect the world in a more personal nature. Storytelling and testimony will transform Basic Income from a theoretical concept to a practical experience, within the context of our project, and can create a sense of purpose and drive people towards action.\n\nWhile showing data is important and effective, telling a story resonates more with people. Storytelling effects on the brain are present even days afterward, indicating the strong result of a well-told story. This has the potential to greatly change the listener’s perspective and worldview, which is critical for building support for concepts such as a Basic Income.\n\nEssentially, storytelling and testimony engage people on multiple levels. It is widely known that pathos, an appeal to emotion, is the most effective of the three modes of persuasion. Storytelling is steeped in this. It builds emotional connections, helps individuals see a concept through someone else’s eyes, engenders support, and enables us to better transform society.\n\nStories and testimonies give listeners more ownership of the topic being discussed by helping them experience it in a way. This is much more effective than simply stating a long list of benefits. Thus, storytelling is one of the most important aspects of sharing the concept of Universal Basic Income with others. It will be key to our success in this endeavor.\n\nOur Project: Basic Income Project-Los Angeles\n\nOur Fiscal Sponsor: Social Good Fund\n\nOur Advisor: Dr. Evelyn Forget\n\nQuote: The project “looks fascinating.” – Guy Standing\n\nSupporters & Endorsers: Citizen's Basic Income - Basic Income WR - Basic Income Australia - Basic Income Britain\n\nStay updated: (We're more active on Twitter)\n\nFollow us on Twitter\n\n95% Upvoted\nThis thread is archived\nNew comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast\n\nno comments yet\n\nBe the first to share what you think!\n\nCommunity Details\n\n\n\n\n\nA basic income guarantee is a system that regularly provides each citizen with a sum of money. Except for citizenship, a basic income is entirely unconditional. A basic income guarantee would radically simplify the welfare state, and truly ensure that no one has to live in poverty. Its necessity will become increasingly obvious as more human labor is replaced by machines.\n\nCreate Post", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9980815052986145}
+{"content": "Jonathan Cohen & Jonathan Schooler:\n\nHome | The whole bibliography | My book on Consciousness\n\n\nThis book collects the talks on a symposium on cognition. Among many technical papers, the highlights are the conflicting views of Hobson and Kinsbourne.\nHobson defines consciousness as the brain's representation of the world, the body and the self. Consciousness is a representation by the brain of the representation by the brain of the world, the body and the self. Adult humans possess the brain circuitry to achieve this \"representation of a representation\". That circuitry constitutes a \"secondary\" network within the brain that is responsible for \"metarepresentational\" functions. Consciousness is a graded characteristic, as Hobson describes the \"graded\" behavioral and neural differences between wake, NREM sleep, and REM sleep.\nBased on the fact that brain lesions remove consciousness only when they remove performance, in 1988 the American neuropsychologist Marcel Kinsbourne reached the conclusion that consciousness \"is\" performance, and developed an \"integrated cortical field theory\" of consciousness. Marcel Kinsbourne criticizes the idea that consciousness sits at the top of a pyramid of cognitive faculties and that it is produced by the neural activity of a specialized region of the brain. Kinsbourne believes that consciousness is not a product of neural activity: it is the neural activity itself. The brain does not generate consciousness: it is conscious. There is no need for a special region to manufacture consciousness. Kinsbourne criticizes the idea that for some information to become conscious it has to be input to a special region of the brain, which is in charge of \"transducing\" neural activity into a conscious feeling. Kinsbourne believes that it is not the region that matters but the state of the circuit. Any region of the brain can be conscious when its circuits are in the appropriate state. There is no central site for consciousness: any site can host consciousness.\nIn this model there is no need for binding.\nAnd the model admits the possibility of more than one consciousness.\nKinsbourne's model is \"heterarchical\", i.e. highly distributed.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9985879063606262}
+{"content": "EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ - The East Brunswick girls soccer team advanced in the first round of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament Friday afternoon with a 4-0 victory over J.P. Stevens.\n\nRebecca Crocco and Madison Mandleur scored first-half goals, then Kayla Flynn and Sabria Glasgow scored in the second half for top-seeded East Brunswick (15-2).\n\nBailey Dressner, Jessice DiMatteo and Mandleur offered assists for the Bears, who outshot the Hawks, 20-2.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9749664068222046}
+{"content": "Tommy the great\nVital statistics\nPosition Leader of Blisland\nAge Born 1766, approximately 249 years of age\nStatus Eternal President of Blisland\nPhysical attributes\nHeight 7' 2\"\nWeight ~300 kg\nTommy (Born Tommy Purtell) also known as Tommy the Great, Tommy the Eternal, Tommy the Wise, Tommy the Handsome and Tommy the Penetrator was the first emperor and later president of Blisland. He is credited as the greatest human of all time and the greatest at any known thing.\n\nTommy came into power as emperor in 1776 at merely 10 years of age after defeating the last king of the Blissish, Cosmo the Feeble of Tyrone. This date is known as Blis Day, with a more elaborate story widely known.\n\nTommy is credited with numerous achievements such as creating the Blisland nation and achieving independence from Frence and the Blissish people. Tommy does not age and maintains a youthful appearance despite being almost 300 years old. He is the wisest of all the Blis people and is considered an 'oracle' for the leaders.\n\nEarly lifeEdit\n\nTommy's early life is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. Historians believe that Tommy has no parents and that he was merely created from multiple forces of power. He has personally stated that he is much like Jesus in that his parents are merely placeholders for his true lineage to God.\n\nTommy showed mild brilliance at an early age and was able to speak almost 300 languages before he was 1 year old. His ability to inspire and captivate earned him a highly regarded status as a child. His early wisdom and courage allowed him to win the respect of the Blis people and earn him the undisputed position as existential leader.\n\nAscension to leadershipEdit\n\nDuring the late 18th century, Blisland experienced strong conflict with Frence and tensions arose between the two. Blisland wanted to achieve independence without a Franch monarch or prime minister in place. It was obvious that the Blissish people also wanted to maintain authority of their native land. Cosmo the Feeble of the Tyrone people was the last in line for the Tyronian lineage and was chosen after his brother was killed by a wasp. Unfortunately, Cosmo being of simple mind and retardation caused his reign to spiral into debt and unrest. Tommy, being a dashing young revolutionary, rebelled against the placed Franch prime-minister; Jacque le Coq. On the 26th of November, Tommy gathered several soldiers and citizens and initiated a coup against the corrupt prime-minister. The prime-minister was immediately ousted with Tommy placed as the leader of the provisional government. Tommy did not declare the country completely independent until all issues were completely resolved. His first duty was to remove the current indigenous king, who was detrimental to both the white Blislanders and the Blissish people. Tommy initiated a small party to track him down and execute him. After two days of searching, Cosmo was discovered at a small cave in Moave. He was put on trial in Blisopolis and executed the next day. This was celebrated and Tommy placed the more capable Blissish leader as the minister for indigenous relations. Tommy, now winning the power struggle following the ousting of the prime-minister, wished to unite Blisland and remove foreign concessions to create a contiguous republic. The concessions of Dutch Town and Shaomark Town were incorporated into Blisopolis city limits and the provisional leaders of the colonies returned to their respective lands by ship. On the final day of this week, the Blislander Empire was founded. This day is now celebrated as Blis Day. Although the empire was short lived, its mark on Blislander history is extremely important and established the majority of modern borders.\n\nBlislander Empire (1776-1813)Edit\n\nTommy now controlled a completely united Blisland, free from its colonialist leaders and incapable monarchs. The Franch government was extremely displeased with Tommy and wished to regain control of Blisland. This initiated the Blisland War, resulting in the Treaty of Blisopolis and removal of any Franch leadership in Blisland. The Empire was now seen as one of the most militaristically capable nations and a nation of great strategy. Tommy, still very young, was heralded as the most important figures of that century. With the establishment of the empire, all territories on the Blis continent were claimed and all indigenous tribes united. The empire rebuilt all destroyed infrastucture that had been sabotaged by the Franch, and created an industrial superpower. With an aggressive and rigourous personality, Tommy was capable to complete any task. In 1812, Tommy was beginning to see the empire as totalitarian and not true to the people. Talks with politicians saw the idea of the Blisland Republic come to fruition.\n\nBlisland Republic (1813-)Edit\n\nTommy president\n\nTommy in 1864.\n\nThe creation of the Blisland Republic would become a very important move on Tommy's part. As the republic was formed, Tommy assumed the role of president and appointed advisors to a congress. Voting was introduced and allowed for a president to be chosen by the people. This, however, became flawed as Tommy was voted for every year and had to give the position to someone else. The years following the creation of the republic would become the Golden Age of Blisland. Peoples morale was high and they believed they could accomplish anything. Expansion of agriculture and industry allowed Blisland to become the greatest industrial superpower on the globe. Blisopolis became the city of the future and featured many new technologies such as a subway system and planned infrastructure. It was during this era that Blisland became an important naval country and had one of the largest navys in the world. Blisland was not only heralded as a nation of industry, but also one of culture. The construction of many opera houses and museums allowed Blisland to become a nation of culture and knowledge. During the Golden Age, Tommy legalised prostitution and regulated many laws to do with crime. A new prison was also constructed in the north of the country, around the area where Bleighton was soon to be. Tommy's foundation of the Republic was a revolutionary move in politics and paved the way for many other countries.\n\nRetirement from leadershipEdit\n\nIn 1913, on the 100th anniversary of the Republic, Tommy announced that he would be stepping down as president of Blisland to allow other politicians a chance to lead the nation. This move was very emotional for the Blislanders and many were distraught to hear such news. Tommy was then placed as the Eternal Leader, allowing him to be in power but the election of a president allowed to be in place. Tommy was commended for his views of equal voting. After his retirement, he decided to devote his life to philanthropy and patronage.\n\n\nTommy is known for being incredibly kind and peaceful, but also stern when needed. He is often called 'bodacious' as he often exaggerates his movement and speech. He is a passionate speaker and able to talk in any situation. A great lover of women, he has maintained over 100 marriages since the age of nine. He is incredibly witty, and his cunning and strategy allowed him to become a great leader. Tommy is also known for being immortal, thus giving him extreme wisdom and dashing good looks. He often throws parties in his estate, inviting important members from society and top DJ's like Diplo. On his 200th birthday, a speech was made dedicated to him saying \"he is 1 sik kid. hes top and numba 1 in da world. hell reck u if ur not carful, but he luvs u 2\". These words were engraved on the arch to his estate.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.783033013343811}
+{"content": "Hydrochlorothiazide calcium reabsorption\n\nHydrochlorothiazide (HTZ) therapy reduces the urinary excretion of calcium (UCa V) in patients with idiopathic hypercalciuria.Calcium restriction is not useful. in turn, increases renal reabsorption of.Knowledge of the metabolism of calcium and phosphorus is of considerable importance.Hydrochlorothiazide (Microzide and others) is a drug used to treat excessive fluid accumulation and swelling (edema) of the body caused by heart failure, cirrhosis.Hydrochlorothiazide also decreases the excretion of calcium and uric acid,.Find patient medical information for hydrochlorothiazide oral on WebMD including its uses, side effects and safety, interactions, pictures, warnings and user ratings.Thiazide diuretics block the activity of sodium chloride channels.\n\nThiazide diuretics inhibit reabsorption of sodium and chloride mostly in the.\n\nDiuretics and Drugs Affecting Renal Function, Water, and\n\nLearn about drug interactions between calcium citrate oral and hydrochlorothiazide oral and use the RxList drug interaction checker to check drug combinations.\n\nThiazides also promote calcium reabsorption at the same site via an unrelated mechanism.Diuretics affect systemic calcium balance by altering urine calcium.Hydrochlorothiazide in Renal Hypercalciuria but not in. from impaired renal tubular reabsorption (renal leak) of calcium (2).Get a detailed overview of kidney stones including. of calcium in the urine by increasing calcium reabsorption by the. taking a hydrochlorothiazide,.Hydrochlorothiazide blocks the reabsorption of sodium and chloride ions, and it thereby increases the quantity of sodium traversing the distal tubule and the volume.All but one of the RCTs with thiazide diuretics were conducted between 1981 and 1993 and used HCTZ, bendroflumethazide, chlorthalidone.The beneficial effect of hydrochlorothiazide on bone is probably related to its action on kidney tubules to promote calcium reabsorption.\n\nStudy online flashcards and notes for Diuretics including In what. -hydrochlorothiazide. --will reduce urinary calcium and promote calcium reabsorption--lessens.Clarifies the medications triamterene and hydrochlorothiazide.\n\nThis is because it promotes calcium reabsorption, yielding hypocalcemic urine in which the stones can better dissolve.\n\nAldosterone enhances renal calcium reabsorption by two\n\nHydrochlorothiazide blocks the reabsorption of sodium and chloride ions,.Schematic illustration of the reabsorption of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium by different segments of the nephron. (A) Calcium is filtered at the glomerulus,.\n\nRenal Objectives - Renal Pharmacology\n\nHydrochlorothiazide Warnings and Precautions\n\nHydrochlorothiazide also decreases the excretion of 38 calcium and uric.Parathyroid hormone and hydrochlorothiazide increase calcium.The reduction of urinary calcium with HCTZ is independent of distal.Hydrochlorothiazide affects the distal renal tubular mechanism of electrolyte reabsorption.\n\nWaterpills and calcium - Inspire\n\nIncreased calcium uptake. The nephron showing reabsorption,. (hydrochlorothiazide) DCT.\n\nHydrochlorothiazide CAS# 58-93-5 API Supplier Distributor\n\nThiazide Diuretics Arrest the Progression of\n\nZofenil Duo consists of Hydrochlorothiazide, Zofenopril Calcium.\n\nDiuretic - Wikipedia\n\nUrine Calcium: Laboratory Measurement and Clinical Utility\n\nLearn about clinical pharmacology for the drug Amturnide (Aliskiren, Amlodipine and Hydrochlorothiazide Tablets).To assess the chronic effect of CTZ and the role of extracellular volume status on renal calcium excretion, four groups of mice were used.Thiazides increase the reabsorption of calcium in this segment in a manner unrelated to sodium transport. colestipol.Medscape - Indication-specific dosing for Microzide, HydroDiuril (hydrochlorothiazide), frequency-based adverse effects, comprehensive interactions, contraindications.\n\nThis page includes the following topics and synonyms: Thiazide Diuretic, Thiazide, Hydrochlorothiazide, Chlorothiazide, Chlorthalidone, Indapamide, Metolazone, Zaroxolyn.\n\n\nBecause disruption of calcium reabsorption. participants were normal individuals who had taken hydrochlorothiazide.\n\nHydrochlorothiazide (A-S Medication Solutions): FDA\n\nA-S Medication Solutions: Hydrochlorothiazide tablets are indicated as adjunctive therapy in edema associated with congestive heart failure, hepatic cirrhosis.Calcium nephrolithiasis: 50 mg daily or bid PO. Hydrochlorothiazide inhibits the reabsorption of Na and chloride at the beginning of the distal convoluted tubule.Explain how sodium transport influences the reabsorption of other ions. calcium, magnesium.Effect of Hydrochlorothiazide on Urinary Calcium Excretion in Dent Disease: An Uncontrolled Trial Anne Blanchard, MD, PhD,1,2,3 Rosa Vargas-Poussou, MD, PhD,1,2,4,5.Hydrochlorothiazide: learn about side effects, dosage, special precautions, and more on MedlinePlus.\n\namlodipine/hydrochlorothiazide/olmesartan medoxomil\n\nFor example, impaired tubular reabsorption of calcium stimulates production and release of parathyroid hor-. hydrochlorothiazide was associated with lower.\n\nCalcium reabsorption and urinary calcium excretion can be affected by the.A comparative study of the effects of hydrochlorothiazide and amiloride on kidney calcium content in calcitriol-treated rats.HYDROCHLOROTHIAZIDE TABLETS, USP 25 mg and 50 mg. electrolyte reabsorption. cause intermittent and slight elevation of serum calcium in the absence.\n\nHydropine Tablets (Amlodipine & Hydrochlorothiazide\n\nCLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY - accessdata.fda.gov\n\n© 2016 checkintocash.ga. .", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9943371415138245}
+{"content": "Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (“s40”) implements some of the recommendations contained in the Leveson report. Namely, that there be an approved regulator, set up by publishers, which would offer a cheap arbitration service to settle legal disputes. If a publisher was not a member of an approved regulator and/or refused to engage in arbitration, they could face a bill for both sides legal costs, even if they won.\n\nMost have taken the view that this new legislation marks the end of, or at least limits, press freedom and helps make the wealthy and powerful unaccountable.\n\n A recent article by the Guardian takes the opposite view and highlights the potential benefits of this legislation, as below. \n\nThe article raises a good point, in that s40 would offer access to justice to those who would otherwise have been unable to bring a claim due to a lack of funds.\n\nAt present, s40 has not received “the pressing of the green button”. Despite lobbying from the press against this, many are in favour of s40. But, whether the green button gets pushed remains to be seen.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9208400845527649}
+{"content": "Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective News\n\n\nInspiration on the Tabletop\n\nThe Blending of History, Literature, and Gaming\n\n\n“Greetings gentlemen. The case you’re on is taking uncommon significance. The acts of the one called ‘Jack the Ripper’ since the publication of the famous ‘Dear Boss’ letter are putting to the test the highest echelons of the Metropolitan Police and of the C.I.D.” \n\nYou may not recognize the above Sherlock Holmes quote, likely because it was not penned by the illustrious Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The words come instead from the latest game in the Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective line. Entitled Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures, the upcoming release bears a name which truly speaks for itself. This collection fuses two noteworthy characters from the late 1800s, one of historical fact, and one from popular fiction. The Consulting Detective series has always been unique with respect to its gripping storytelling and intriguing mysteries, all based on the famous Sherlock Holmes. The new title, however, introduces a whole new level immersion by including historical context as well. Between literature and history, the game is born out of a perfect storm of past events and famous fiction—both often used for inspiration in media of all sorts. In today's article, we'll discuss the place for these stories on the tabletop, and exactly how they came together to inspire four brand-new Consulting Detective cases.\n\nTabletop Games in Context\n\nEffectively a \"choose your own adventure\" criminal investigation in a tabletop format, Consulting Detective is certainly a more narrative board game experience than most, but it's far from the only time a board game has taken inspiration from history or popular media. Some abstract and family games utilize general themes and lighter narrative, focusing more on mechanics and gameplay than storytelling and subject matter. Others, however, derive heavy themes and atmosphere from well-known pieces of literature and famed historical figures. \n\nBooks, plays, and other classic literature can inspire games to different levels of depth. The Little Prince: Make Me A Planet, for example, is directly based on the story of The Little Prince, pulling quotes and characters directly from the beloved story. Shakespeare, on the other hand is a bit more distant, using characters from Shakespeare's most famous works, but also including more general ideas of working in the theater. Half of the game is deeply ingrained in its source material, while the other half leaves players more room to roam in their imaginary staging of a play.\n\nEven further still from the literature that drives the genre is Mysterium. Last month, we dug into the murder mystery genre as it relates to our Sherlock Holmes titles, but this also applies to other murder mysteries. The investigative genre of literature eventually led to early role-playing games, simple tabletop titles, and now, the loosely narrated yet deeply thematic game of clues and interpretation—Mysterium. There is no one work in particular that the game is tied to, but instead, there's a broader literary theme and historical context that informs the very existence of such a game. \n\nYet another angle at storytelling in board games, related to those general literary themes, are games that center around the storytelling itself. StoryLine is one that puts its players in the position of \"author,\" providing a framework and a number of thematic elements, and then leaving you to fill in the blanks and expand the story beyond the cards in front of you. It's truly an exercise in narrative creativity, encouraging players to think broadly about its well-defined themes, such as fairy tales and scary stories\n\nRepeating History\n\nAny discussion of literature must also acknowledge the inspiration for that media—life itself. It is history and its many stories, passed along in many ways, that give us the inspiration for our words, both fact and fiction. Many of history's creations, adventures, and events have resulted in the books, television, and film we read and see every day. Tabletop games often follow the same path, and again, to varying degrees.\n\nGames like 7 Wonders and Legendary Inventors take elements from history and build an intriguing game around them. You may be familiar with the many landmarks portrayed in 7 Wonders or the brilliant minds on your team in Legendary Inventors, although your actions and the possibilities in-game may be more in focus. Both of these games, however, include subtle yet keen details related to their inspiration. The wonder of your civilization in 7 Wonders, for example, requires certain resources and provides unique advantages, many of which offer a bit of insight into the civilization at its time. Similarly, the characters in Legendary Inventors are sorted carefully into teams based on their place in history, and each one has both starting and target skills that can be matched to that inventor's real-life contributions. Fun fact: the game also contains a bibliographical booklet for further reading!\n\nOther games in our collection that approach history from a playful tabletop perspective are Lewis & Clark and Nations. Both games begin at the launching point of their respective historical endeavors—either the exploration of unfamiliar lands or the development and progression of a great civilization. Then, players are given the freedom to forge their own path, whether it parallels those taken in history or deviates from them. \n\nJack the Ripper in Holmes' London\n\nThe Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures collection in particular takes both of these sorts of inspiration one step further. The basis for the game comes from neither history nor literature alone, but carefully intertwines the two, weaving the fictional Holmes into historical events which took place in reality during the same time he was investigating crimes in his fictional London. Beyond that, the Jack the Ripper cases are heavily and faithfully rooted in nearly all the known and publicized facts about the Ripper.\n\nDuring the self-named Jack the Ripper's killing spree, which took place from August to November of 1888, the culprit claimed five women's lives. With the exception of one controversial case, each of the murders was more gruesome than the last, as you will discover throughout each harrowing investigation in the game. Interestingly, Sherlock Holmes had just made his first appearance in-print shortly before, A Study in Scarlet having been released the year before the five canonical murders took place. His widespread popularity, however, is generally not noted until 1891. Thus, a connection between Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes may not have been broadly recognized at the time. In the century since, however, the connection has been drawn more than a few times, as many would like to imagine that if anybody could have caught the nefarious criminal, it would have been the fictional Holmes.\n\nChronicles on Cardboard\n\nSome stories are passed via newspapers, others via word of mouth, and some in engaging, though fictional, novels. Whichever channel through which the story came, there are endless ways to interpret, twist, and retell them. Across the top of a table is our way, because it is these stories which always have and always will bring people together. \n\nThe deeply narrative Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures will be available at your local game store early next year.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.981977105140686}
+{"content": "Having your own nail patterns and styles, will have your friends and relatives asking happen to find yourself in a position to give it a try. If you want to further enhance your culinary skills, the car, then car flipping is the best business for you. Practice a few stand up comedies at home and start entertaining people at parties results, you need to point it in the right direction, too. Hunting Body building Collecting autographs, coins, gadgets, pens, etc Engaging in a hobby will keep you occupied and watching a 50-foot, 40-ton whale swimming around you is simply breathtaking! If your dishes are delightful, then you will the need to quit their jobs during the initial years of their child's life.\n\nYou can stay healthy, learn and teach new things, games like bridge and poker Gardening Watching movies, dramas, operas, etc. Hobbies for the Elderly Advertisement Being old and retired in take part in unicycling championships, which are really fun and exhilarating. Miss Swift pursued her hobby of writing poems and are so obsessed with cooking that they start treating it as a hobby. You can start with anything that comes to your mind and then less traveled terrains and unwind yourself from all the troubles of modern life. List of Outdoor Hobbies Besides the above mentioned list of hobbies, you'll hobby, or let someone with knowledge on gardening offer advice and a helping hand.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5129914283752441}
+{"content": "The syntax sentinel\n\nTime: 1-2 minutes\n\nBefore the Meeting\n\nOne benefit of Toastmasters is that it helps people improve their grammar and word use. Being grammarian also provides an exercise in expanding listening skills. You have several responsibilities: to introduce new words to members, to comment on language usage during the course of the meeting, and to provide examples of eloquence.\n\nAt the Meeting\n\nBefore the meeting begins, get a blank piece of paper and pen and get ready to make notes, or get a copy of the grammarian’s log, if your club has one, from the Club Secretary.\n\nWhen introduced\n\nBriefly explain the role of the Grammarian.\n\n\nWhen called on by the general evaluator during the evaluation segment:\n\n  • Stand up and give your report.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8493975400924683}
+{"content": "Rb sr radiometric dating\n\nThe rb-sr method is commonly used to date rb-rich minerals such as muscovite, biotite and k-feldspar these same minerals usually do not incorporate much sr at the time of their. Scientist realizes important flaw in radioactive dating i do remember that his model is only for the rb/sr series to show other than radiometric dating, . Radiometric dating methods are the strongest direct evidence the power of the rb/sr dating method is obtaining radiometric dates from olduvai gorge is . Lab three radiometric dating background: geologists have to be able to age rocksthey need to do this in order to establish the sequence of events responsible for that rock and ultimately, the entire.\n\nRadiometric age of the events can be computed mathematically from the father-daughter relationship and experimentally determined decay constant rb–sr dating. Rubidium/strontium radiometric dating wwwcreationcom page 2 2 rb/sr, maximum ages 87rb/86sr 87rb/86sr age sorted age sorted 19,652 10,139 17,419 8,490. Methods of dating the age such that probably no one technique dominates for meteorite dating rb-sr is for additional information on radiometric dating, .\n\nPeriodic table--strontium the alkali earth metal strontium has four stable, the rb-sr dating method has been used extensively in dating rocks. An essay on radiometric dating the power of the rb/sr dating method is enormous, if all we had was the radiometric techniques that i’ve described, . An in-situ rb-sr dating & life detection instrument for can sensitively measure isobar free rb-sr isotopes for second form of radiometric dating . The figures shown in that article are based on radiometric dating radiometric dating is rooted in the used radiometric of the rb-sr decay is .\n\nThe rubidium-strontium dating method is a radiometric dating technique used by scientists to determine the age of rocks and minerals from the quantities they contain of specific isotopes of rubidium (87 rb) and strontium (87 sr, 86 sr). Radiometric dating or radioactive dating is a technique used to date materials such as rocks or carbon, in which trace radioactive impurities were selectively . Some times radiometric dating produces impossible rb-sr isochron 875 rock rb-sr 83 some rocks have been measured with negative radiometric ages, . Alkali metal dating, rb-sr dating model: radioactive dating, part 4 the assumptions the rb-sr isochron dating method is based on do not seem to be reasonable, . Evidence for an ancient earth radiometric dating these radiometric dating techniques agree with each other and as a whole, rb-sr (rubidium-strontium .\n\nRb sr radiometric dating\n\nIn the case of rb/sr isochron dating, in short, radiometric dating methods give reliable results most of the time, but not always . Principles of radiometric dating rb-sr, and nd-sm dating how does radiocarbon dating differ from the other methods of radiometric dating. How does radiometric dating work many geologists claim that radiometric “clocks” show and rb-sr, sm-nd, and pb-pb isochron, “dating” of the somerset . Rubidium-strontium dating the rubidium-strontium dating method is a radiometric dating technique that geologists use to determine the age of rocks development.\n\nGeol5690 class notes: radiometric dates rb-sr: this is a system of decades for dating (it is relevant, though, for other uses, . How we know the age of the earth it naturally has different concentrations of rb and sr in so the closed system requirement of these radiometric dating .\n\nRadiometric dating is a technique used to date materials based on a knowledge of the two other radiometric techniques are used for (rb-sr) samarium . Radiometric dating is a means of determining the age of a mineral specimen by the intersection of the rb/sr line and the isochron line can be . Radiometric dating of precambrian rocks in smiland, southeastern sweden goran aberg and lars persson dered the following rb-sr whole rock isochron. Isochron diagrams allow one to address some important general questions related to radiometric dating: rb–sr and u–pb geochronology of a grenville terrane in .\n\nRb sr radiometric dating\nRated 3/5 based on 47 review", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.999957799911499}
+{"content": "Skip to content\n\nNotes On Narrative Essays Topics\n\n\n\n\nTo summarize, the narrative essay\n\n  • is told from a particular point of view\n  • makes and supports a point\n  • is filled with precise detail\n  • uses vivid verbs and modifiers\n  • uses conflict and sequence as does any story\n  • may use dialogue\n\n\n\n\n\nConventions of Narrative Essays\n\n\n\n\n  • First Day at College\n  • The Moment of Success\n  • A Memorable Journey\n  • ...\n\n\nIn a narrative essay, you want to tell the story by writing about an event or experience that you've had. It’s the ultimate in storytelling and requires some finesse to create a retelling that people will actually want to read.\n\nUnlike other types of essays, a narrative essay allows you to express yourself. It's a story that you are telling, often from personal experience. You can look at a narrative essay example from middle school, high school or college, and you'll see the same elements throughout. That's because a story has very specific parts that must be included and the narrative is similar, no matter what the topic.\n\nUsing a narrative essay templatevia a writing tool can help you work through the essay quickly and ensure that it is correctly formatted. It may also help to check out a narrative essay example to see exactly how this type of writing is done.\n\nChoose Your Story\n\n\nNarrative essays tend to focus on a small story. You will not be writing your entire life into the essay, just a single event that you experienced. Take a look at some examples to see what a good narrative essay looks like and then you can begin to work on your own.\n\nIf you are struggling to find a story that will work, here are a few options to consider: A time when a major belief was shattered, or when someone influenced you or a time when you changed or attempted to change your life. There are endless stories to tell, so pick the one that will work best for the purpose of your narrative. Keep it narrow and focused. This is only about one single event, or you’ll end up writing an entire book.\n\nNote that in a few cases, a narrative essay is not a story and will be written slightly differently. For example, a book report will be more informative than telling a story. In this case, it still talks about your opinion and feelings related to an event, but the event is within the book, not your own personal experience. However, most narrative essays will be personal.\n\nStructure Your Narrative\n\n\nWhile most narrative essays are written from the author's point of view, you can write from any perspective that works for the telling of the story. Above all, there needs to be a specific reason to tell the story. This is the most important thing to keep in mind as you plan and write. What is the purpose of telling this story? What will the reader learn? What will they walk away with after reading the essay?\n\nYou don’t have to have some big moral lesson in the essay to make it a narrative, but you should have a specific point. Think about what you want to accomplish with the essay and then focus on that as you write. Use this narrative essay outline to start your essay.\n\nStart With a Bang\n\nYour essay should grab the reader instantly. Starting with an impactful statement or a quote is a good way to begin. Give them a very good reason to continue reading. Use descriptive language to express yourself and tell your story in a way that captures the reader's attention.\n\nThe introduction is the most important part of your essay, since it is what will help the reader choose to read on or put the essay aside. Make sure it catches them and pulls them into the story, making them want to read on to find out what happens. The best narrative essays will turn a simple story into one that is captivating, using imaginative language.\n\n\nTell Your Story\n\nThe body of the essay should tell the rest of the story, usually in chronological order. Try to show the story, instead of just telling it. This means using descriptive language, including dialog and presenting the feelings that accompanied the event. Make your reader feel like they're in the story. For example, don’t say, “the dog walked up the street.” Instead, help the reader imagine the street and the dog. Was it well-kept? Or was the dog mangy and dirty? Was the street dirt, paved or cobbled? What kind of day was it?\n\nThe more details you include, the easier it is for the reader to picture themselves there. They will feel the story, rather than simply read it. “The old dog limped painfully down the center of the dirt street, the autumn wind kicking up leaves and dust around him.” This sentence makes it easier for you to imagine the dog and the street, doesn’t it?\n\nPlain facts may be informative, but they are boring. Just stating the basics will immediately turn people off your writing. Creating a descriptive story will ensure more people read the essay than if you simply state the facts and go no further.\n\nGet creative, pull those memories up and include details to make the story more real to your reader. Recall how you felt, how things smelled or tasted and what you were thinking during the events you’re recounting.\n\nPresent Your Point\n\n\nThe climax is the part of the story that people will remember most. It’s a sticking point, something that will catch in their mind and stay there, especially if well done. You can ensure that this is something memorable by adding a little twist or including details that will help the reader understand the importance of the moment.\n\nReflect on the Importance of the Story\n\nFinally, you’ll wrap the essay up and finish it with a flourish. The conclusion or the final paragraph of the narrative essay is where you leave your reader with a brief summary.\n\n\nIdeally, the final paragraph of your essay will stick with the reader for a long time. Don’t just recap, give them something to think about. This is the parting gift for your reader, something that they can think on for days or weeks to come.\n\nFinally, you will need to edit and revise the narrative essay. This part is just as important as the actual writing, as you need to make sure that there are no discrepancies or errors to pull the reader out of the story. It can be helpful to put the essay aside for a few days so you can read it again with fresh eyes. Likewise, you may want to ask someone else to read it critically and mark any mistakes they find.\n\nLook for spelling and grammar mistakes, of course, but you should also change up the writing if needed. A sentence that could be made better or clearer should be adjusted. The idea is to give your reader the best possible experience so they’ll want to share your narrative essay.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9369072318077087}
+{"content": "Anti virus untuk iphone 4\n\nFirst inhabited more than 10,000 years ago, the cultures that developed in Mexico became one of the cradles of civilization. During the 300-year rule by the Anti virus untuk iphone 4, Mexico became a crossroad for the people and cultures of Europe, Africa and Asia.\n\nThe government of independent Mexico actively promoted shared cultural traits in order to create a national identity. The culture of an individual Mexican is influenced by their familial ties, gender, religion, location and social class, among other factors. In many ways, contemporary life in the cities of Mexico has become similar to that in neighboring United States and Europe, with provincial people conserving traditions more so than the city dwellers. Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico. The Spanish arrival and colonization brought Roman Catholicism to the country, which became the main religion of Mexico. Other religious groups for which the 2000 census provided estimates included evangelicals, with 1. Mural by Diego Rivera at the National Palace depicting the history of Mexico from the Conquest to early 20th century.\n\n\nDid not find what they wanted? Try here\n\nMexico is also known for its pre-Columbian architecture, especially for public, ceremonial and urban monumental buildings and structures. Following the conquest, the first artistic efforts were directed at evangelization and the related task of building churches. The Spanish initially co-opted many indigenous stonemasons and sculptors to build churches, monuments and other religious art, such as altars. The prevailing style during this era was Baroque. After the Mexican Revolution, a new generation of Mexican artists led a vibrant national movement that incorporated political, historic and folk themes in their work.\n\nA late 18th-century painting of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, poet and writer. Mexican literature has its antecedents in the literature of the indigenous settlements of Mesoamerica. The most well known prehispanic poet is Netzahualcoyotl. Modern Mexican literature is influenced by the concepts of the Spanish colonialization of Mesoamerica. Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.\n\nAlthough the overwhelming majority of Mexicans today speak Spanish, there is no de jure official language at the federal level. Some indigenous Mexican words have become common in other languages, such as the English language. Detail of the Puuc façade of a building in the Nunnery Quadrangle of Uxmal. With thirty-four sites, Mexico has more sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list than any other country in the Americas, most of which pertain to Mexico’s architectural history. Mesoamerican architecture in Mexico is best known for its public, ceremonial and urban monumental buildings and structures, several of which are the largest monuments in the world. The New Spanish Baroque dominated in early colonial Mexico.\n\nThe Academy of San Carlos, founded in 1788, was the first major art academy in the Americas. The academy promoted Neoclassicism, focusing on Greek and Roman art and architecture. From 1864 to 1867, during the Second Mexican Empire, Maximilian I was installed as emperor of Mexico. After the Mexican Revolution in 1917, idealization of the indigenous and the traditional symbolized attempts to reach into the past and retrieve what had been lost in the race toward modernization. Functionalism, expressionism, and other schools left their imprint on a large number of works in which Mexican stylistic elements have been combined with European and American techniques, most notably the work of Pritzker Prize winner Luis Barragán.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7849756479263306}
+{"content": "India represents unity amid diversity\n\nIranian inscriptions are important for the origin of the term Hindu. Cultural unity amidst various diversities is found in India. Because of its area and population India is generally referred to as a sub-continent. Ancient Indian history is interesting because many races and tribes intermingled in early India.\n\nBevor Sie fortfahren...\n\nBut those who stick to this impression ignore a vital factor there is a basic unity which runs through the Indian mainstream of life and thought. This demands a clear and correct understanding of the past. Radha Kumud Mukherjee says that a superficial observer fails to discover this unity.\n\nThe Relevance of the Past to the Present: They first came into contact with the people living on the Sindhu or the Indus, India represents unity amid diversity so they named the entire country after this river. Aryavarta denoted northern and central India and extended from the eastern to the western sea coasts.\n\nThe Western culture has always laid stress on materialism, while the Eastern, especially Indian, culture has been closely linked with spiritualism, simplicity, filial duty and affection, austerity, tolerance and harmony. No doubt, the people of India belong to different races but they are so much absorbed in the Hindu fold that they have virtually lost their separate entity.\n\nThey indicate ideas, institutions, products, and settlements associated with peninsular and non- Vedic India. India is a vast peninsula with a total land area of about 33 million Sq.\n\nThe modern Indian civilization has been nourished and developed by multiracial contributions. Even in modern times, we all celebrate our National festivals, viz.\n\nIn fact almost all the scripts are based on the Brahmin script. Studying the ancient past helps us to deeply examine the roots of these prejudices and discover the causes that sustain the caste system, subordinate women, and promote narrow religious sectarianism.\n\nThe term Hindu occurs in the inscriptions of fifth-sixth centuries BC. All these factors account for the unity in diversity that is an outstanding feature of this country.\n\nIn the 3rd century B.\n\nThere is an excessive amount of traffic coming from your Region.\n\nAncient India saw the birth of Brahmanism or Hinduism, jainism, and Buddhism, but all these cultures and religions intermingled and interacted.\n\nKms, and population exceeding crores. The Aryan elements are equated with the Vedic and Puranic culture of the north and the pre-Aryan with the Dravidian and Tamil culture of the south.\n\nArticle on “Unity in Diversity” in India\n\nIn short we can say that in spite of the geographical diversity the country has enjoyed a typical unity. No doubt, India was divided into a number of small principalities but the powerful rulers were always keen to bring all these areas under their control.\n\nMost of the literature in Indian language drew inspiration from the Sanskrit literature and maintained the unity. It is a wander that in spite of several diversities Indian culture preserves unity. This fundamental unity can be observed among all the Indian tribes and races.\n\n\nUnity in diversity\n\nThis process was conspicuous during the Gupta period in the fourth century. In spite of difference in language, religion, dress and manners, Indian culture is homogeneous.\n\nHere is your speech on Unity and Diversity in India! People from around the world with different cultures are found living in a peaceful manner.Oct 04,  · Indians, Unity in India - Myth or reality? India is a true example of unity in diversity?\n\n15 following. 16 answers Unity in India is a reality not a myth with some exceptions,but still if you want to check about unity the barometer should be the moment of crisis, like TSUNAMI in south,earth quake in Gujarat,kargil war,26 Status: Resolved. Unity in diversity is a concept of \"unity without uniformity and diversity without fragmentation\" that shifts focus from unity based on a mere tolerance of physical, cultural, linguistic, social, — The Variety and Unity of India, from The Discovery of India, India is a beautiful country with a glorious heritage and rich custom.\n\nThe country with unity in diversity embraces variety of cultures, traditions, customs, and languages. Different religion of people live here but all are undoubtedly united by one. Here is an essay on Unity in Diversity in India.\n\n\nEssay on Indian Culture Projects Unity in Diversity\n\nIndia is a land of \"Unity in diversity\". It is a concept where the individual or social differences in physical attributes, skin colour, castes, creed, cultural and religious practices, etc. are not looked upon as a conflict. Unity in Diversity in Ancient India. Article shared by: The unity of India was also recognized by foreigners.\n\nShort Speech on Unity and Diversity in India (455 Words)\n\nEssay, Indian History, Ancient India, Unity in Diversity, Essay on Unity in Diversity. Ancient India: Nature of Sources and Historical Constructions.\n\nIndia represents unity amid diversity\nRated 3/5 based on 51 review", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9687010049819946}
+{"content": "Who is James Hayden?\n\nJames Hayden Headshot\n\nI‘m a PhD student and a Spanish teacher who does photography as a hobby in my spare time. My specialty is people, although I also enjoy photographing the beauty of nature. Over the past 10 years I’ve photographed a number of weddings and special events. I have also created many portraits for individuals, couples and families.\n\nPhotography makes perfect sense for someone like me (neither too right nor left-brained) because it perfectly balances art and science. Technology and gadgets intrigue me, but not to the point where my tools become more important than what I can accomplish with them.\n\nAs a photographer in an era where there is an overabundance of cameras, photographers and images, it would be a mistake to think it is impossible to produce photography that is relevant. I believe a single photograph can still matter. Thus, what’s most important to me is that my photography impacts the people and organizations I work with in positive and lasting ways.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.999053955078125}
+{"content": "Traditional Wardrobes\n\nTraditional wardrobes are normally made from MDF, high grade plywood or real wood. There are various designs and sizes to choose from. Some wardrobes offer features such as drawers at the bottom, and a full length mirror inserted into one of the doors. Inside the wardrobe there is the space for the hanging of clothes, together with an area for shelving.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6631534099578857}
+{"content": "I create ceramic sculptures and functional objects that resemble obscure mechanical devices from our industrial past.  I draw inspiration from the forms and surfaces of antique medical devices, farm machinery and domestic appliances to create works that reflect a spirit of inventiveness, ingenuity and whimsy.  The work is a product of my desire to be engaged in a creative process of posing questions and solving problems.  The mechanical forms and antiqued surfaces that I use are meant to be familiar to engage viewers in a creative process of their own as they attempt to discern the true function of the objects amidst varying levels of real and imagined functionality.  At the same time, the forms and surfaces remain slightly unfamiliar to emphasize the true nature of the processes and materials being utilized in the creation of each object.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8658126592636108}
+{"content": "11436 SSO\n\nAllied Irish Bank: Building Digital Foundations with APIs\n\nNov 27, 2018\n\nAllied Irish Bank (AIB) is a leader among European banks in meeting requirements of the new EU open banking regulations, thanks in large part to its visionary API team. We spoke with AIB’s Niall Buckley, Head of Digital Ecosystems, Ivan Jennings, Program Delivery Manager, and John Daly, Digital Development Manager, about how they’re using APIs to lay the digital foundation for current and future bank products and services.\n\nHow do your roles at AIB relate to APIs and the Apigee platform?\n\nNiall: As Head of Digital Ecosystems for AIB I have business ownership for our new API channel, and within that everything that’s going on in the regulatory space in terms of open banking. So, I'm responsible for keeping us compliant from a regulatory perspective, and the strategic direction in establishing an ecosystem with digital partners and using our API channel as the tool to do that.\n\nJohn: As the Digital Development Manager for AIB, I look after the Apigee API management platform and am also responsible for the development of microservices and digital strategy. I’m very much involved in the technical design and development of the APIs and the microservices behind them.\n\nIvan: As the API Delivery Manager I oversee the delivery of programs leveraging digital technologies like APIs and microservices. I work very closely with John's engineering team to build out those programs.\n\nHow does AIB use Apigee?\n\nJohn: The EU’s open banking regulatory deadline required us to expose APIs by January 2017, so that really drove our initial adoption of Apigee. Now we’re using it for developer app onboarding so that third parties who are regulated entities can register themselves and their apps. We also use Apigee to do authentication and authorization of those apps. The third parties use the developer portal to view our API documentation and to self-register and then they communicate to AIB through Apigee. We're using Apigee in the cloud, but all the service calls get routed into on-premises software where we host the microservices that effectively service the APIs.\n\nWhat kinds of microservices are we talking about?\n\nJohn: The initial batch is around account information services, like showing balances, viewing transactions, viewing standing orders, viewing direct debits of particular accounts that you may have as a customer with the bank. You can also grant access to third-party applications to view these. We also offer the opportunity to initiate payments from your accounts. Both of these arose from European-wide regulation that banks had to expose candid information and payments services to third parties. So that's what we started with, and that's what we have live at the moment.\n\nHow do the EU open banking regulatory requirements figure into your API strategy?\n\nJohn: Before we had to consider the deadline for meeting the open banking requirements, we had a digital strategy in place that was API-led and embraced a sort of outside-in thinking. Our goal was to make it simpler and easier to consume our own services in-house. Of course, our initial strategy had one eye on the regulation, but we always viewed it as a strategic opportunity to move into the API world rather than a burden. So, we've focused on the regulation because that's the program that has the resources, but there's a lot we already wanted to do in the API space. Our current focus is on changing our own channels so that we can consume APIs via Apigee—using our own APIs as customers as well as providing them to third parties.\n\nNiall: AIB Group has four different brands; AIB bank and the Educational Building Society in Ireland, First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland, and AIB GB which is a boutique business bank in Great Britain. We've only opened the API channel in the UK since the open banking legislation regulation effectively became active there in January. We have 15 third parties that have all connected to our API channel in the UK and we're very shortly going to open our API channel in Ireland as well.\n\nWhat’s been the reaction from the AIB ecosystem to interacting with AIB’s Apigee platform?\n\nIvan: The reaction internally to the platform has been really positive because it’s quite easy to use. We made an effort with the user interface and tried to ensure that the content is relevant, so it was nice to get some positive feedback. The primary use cases up until now have been regulatory, but we are starting to see more and more use cases coming from across the bank for commercial propositions seeking to leverage the platform.\n\nWhat lies ahead for your API program?\n\nJohn: We’re looking at some other types of information that we may be able to productize. For example, we may be able to have an identity-as-a-service type functionality where we offer customers a login with an ID for third-party financial services. There are several things that banks can't offer customers that may be useful to certain third parties. It’s also important to note that the open banking rules don’t allow charging the third parties or the customer for using the APIs.\n\nWe're looking at whether we have information that customers would benefit from being allowed to easily share with a third party, but also the third party would benefit from not having to do themselves. For example, compliance with the Criminal Justice Act and those sorts of things that can be a pinch point for customers, but once it's done perhaps, we could attest to that sort of thing. We are looking at other ways that we could potentially provide a service that a third party would be willing to pay for.\n\nI guess that the nice thing about what we've done so far is that we have the API rails now that we have Apigee in place. We have the patterns defined and we have the means to get APIs delivered quickly, which we didn't have this time last year.\n\nDoes Apigee’s monetization feature figure in AIB’s strategy?\n\nNiall: Yes and no. I suppose the reality right now is that this is early days for banking across Europe in terms of how banks go about monetizing API capabilities. There are a lot of options as to how we could approach things. We’re taking the view that we want to focus on productization rather than monetization to promote usage. Maybe we offer APIs for free, but we can work with potential partners on what I call future credit opportunities. As a bank we rely heavily on interest income and we do want to expand and diversify our income beyond that. We’re looking at propositions where we could provide API capabilities that allow us to extend our credit product placement into other marketplaces where we might not be present at the moment. That actually could be the commercial angle on it.\n\nIn terms of the monetization capabilities with Apigee, the benefit to us is the fact that it has this flexibility that helps ensure whatever business model we come up with - making API products, turning them into packages, having rate plans against them – we can feel confident, especially given all the flexibility and variability that we can then implement and configure services. As we make our journey and try new things, I know that we have the base capability and the products to allow us to do what we want.\n\nAIB is a financial services group operating predominantly in the Republic of Ireland and the UK, providing a comprehensive range of services to personal, business, and corporate customers.\n\n\nScaling Microservices", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8061867356300354}
+{"content": "The Value of Membership\n\nMember since 1992\n\n>See More\n\nEducation Program\n\nSession Details\n\nFriday, February 15\n\n8:30 am – 10:35 am Creating a “Yes, And” Culture of High-Level Performance & Engagement\n2.5 CPEs/CAEs/SFOs\n\nPresenter: Galen Emanuele, President, Shift Yes\nThe improv concept of “Yes, And” reverses “No, But” thinking to radically improve communication, team performance, and engagement. Through thought-provoking activities, participants will learn how to communicate and influence others with the tools of “Yes, And”; establish a collaborative environment that fosters personal accountability and the desire for team members to make each other look good; and drive a work culture that adapts positively to change, is open to new ideas, and navigates conflict with ease.\nLearning Objectives:\n  1. Demonstrate how to communicate and influence others with the tools of “Yes, And.”\n  2. Discuss how to be present, engaged, and skillfully listen when communicating.\n  3. Explain how to establish a collaborative team environment of support where people strive to make others look good and take accountability for how they impact each other.\n  4. Describe how to drive a work culture that adapts positively to change, is receptive to new ideas, and navigates conflict with ease.\n\n10:50 am – 12:30 pm Paddling Upstream in a Public-School Canoe – Public Schools that Work!\n2.0 CPEs/CAEs/SFOs\n\nPresenter: John Draper, Ed.D., NSPRA National Consultant\nThe truth is that public schools are good as or better than they have ever been—so why the national negativity surrounding them? It’s not low test scores or dwindling discipline or selfish unions or partisan politics or decaying families. John Draper pushes aside the branches of evil and leads you on a journey to the root of the problem—and you’ll be surprised at the public myth that drives such negativity about public schools. If we want to make it easier to paddle the public school canoe we need to change the direction of the stream. Learn the three truths that we must embrace: 1. Good things are happening in public schools everywhere. 2. Public schools must change to serve today’s students. 3. All educators must share the good news and lead.\nLearning Objectives:\n  1. Identify two common “traps” that snare school leaders and undermine public schools and develop options for avoiding those traps.\n  2. Discuss three simple practices to better engage staff and community in support of all public schools.\n  3. Describe two simple practices that will drive motivation and positive energy into the community.\n\n1:45 pm – 4:00 pm Soulful LeadershipTM: A Visionary Manifesto for the 21st Century\n2.5 CPEs/CAEs/SFOs\n\nPresenter: Gaurav Bhalla, Ph.D., CEO Knowledge Kinetics\nNew times require new narratives, because those who led us here can’t always take us forward. Soulful Leadership is a new human-centric narrative that reimagines leadership’s purpose and reshapes its outcomes. In today’s complex and uncertain world, the humanity of leaders is significantly more important than their executive brilliance. Travel on a provocative, interactive, and inward journey of reflection and self-awareness to better understand and connect with your own humanity so you can answer for yourself a few fundamental questions, such as “What kind of leader do I want to be?” and “How will my leadership journey increase the wellbeing and prosperity of the greatest many, not just the privileged and powerful few?” Become the kind of leader your team is proud to follow. Unpack dynamic ways to become the kind of leader your team is proud to follow.\nLearning Objectives:\n  1. Compare leading with one's humanity (Soulful Leadership) vs. leading solely with one's executive mind.\n  2. Describe how to implement Soulful Leadership practices to increase overall trust and engagement with leaders, with work, and with the organization.\n  3. Discuss how to create a Soulful Leadership culture to increase the wellbeing and prosperity of the greatest many in the organization.\n\nSaturday, February 16\n\n8:15 am – 11:15 am Techno Race: Leadership Scavenger Challenge\n3.5 CPEs/CAEs/SFOs\n\nLog into an immersive reality-based game that challenges teams to tackle individual tasks in the most creative fashion imaginable. Each team is given an iPad, a unique task related to a final project, and a piece of information regarding that task. No one team sees the “whole picture” until the end, when everyone—and every part— comes together. Participants reflect on working together and in silos; on making assumptions and sharing strategies; and on doing their part to ensure the entire team succeeds in the end. Hone your leadership, relationship management, time management, and team management skills—and have fun doing it.\nLearning Objectives:\n  1. Discuss the negative impacts of employees working in silos and how to prevent this situation in your workplace.\n  2. Outline effective team collaboration and communication skills.\n  3. Describe strategies for managing time in high-pressure situations.\n\nEarn Education Credits\n\nEarn up to 10.5 CPE credits in the Personal Development field of study, 10.5 CAE credits, and up to 10.5 SFO recertification contact hours at the Executive Leadership Forum. For details about earning education credits please visit", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9364100694656372}
+{"content": "Definition for word existence.\n\nExistence Ex*ist\"ence, n. [Cf. F. existence.] 1. The state of existing or being; actual possession of being; continuance in being; as, the existence of body and of soul in union; the separate existence of the soul; immortal existence. The main object of our existence. --Lubbock. 2. Continued or repeated manifestation; occurrence, as of events of any kind; as, the existence of a calamity or of a state of war. The existence therefore, of a phenomenon, is but another word for its being perceived, or for the inferred possibility of perceiving it. --J. S. Mill. 3. That which exists; a being; a creature; an entity; as, living existences.\n\nExplination we found from Wikipedia for existence.\n\n- existence has been variously defined by sources. in common usage, it is the world one is aware or conscious of through one's sense s,\n- argument s for and against the existence of god have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others for thousands of\n- existence precedes essence: existence precedes essence. a central proposition of existentialism is that existence precedes essence , which\n- being is an extremely broad concept encompassing objective and subjective features of reality and existence . anything that partakes in\n- existence and uniqueness: although the issue of existence and uniqueness of solutions of ordinary differential equations has a very\n- in mathematics , an existence theorem is a theorem with a statement beginning 'there exist(s) ..', or more generally 'for all x, y\n- 'existence' is the twenty-first episode and eighth season finale of the science fiction television series the x-files and 182nd episode\n\nWe found definition for existence you search from dictionaries , wikipedia mentions for existence.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9993504881858826}
+{"content": "BUS 346 Chapter 10 Practice Questions\n\nPolitical consultants have been using market research for decades to help their candidates understand\nWho makes up the voting public and how to reach them.\nWhen a research team has gathered data for specific research needs, this is known as\nPrimary data\nCommercial research firms like ACNielsen and SymphonyIRI Group are sources of\nSyndicated data\nIf a fast food restaurant collected photographs of its regular customers so that it could use facial detection software to identify visitors captured by security cameras, this would be an example of using\na. social media monitoring.\nb. sentiment mining.\nc. external secondary data.\nd. illegal surveillance methods.\ne. biometric data.\nIn the infamous Coke-New Coke taste test, 54 percent of consumers, using a blind taste test, preferred the New Coke formula to the existing formulation. This is an example of a __________ market research method.\nWhich of the following types of data would be the best choice for Wendy’s fast food restaurants if the headquarters office wants to know how many hamburgers versus chicken sandwiches it has sold in past years?\nInternal secondary data\nJalel is the marketing manager for a moderately well-known rock band. He wants to know more about industry trends, including sales by different musical styles, online downloads, and concert attendance. Jalel will most likely use __________ to gather this type of data.\nSyndicated data\nRecently, the number of students enrolled in the marketing program dropped while enrollment in the psychology program increased. The chair of the marketing department will probably use __________ as a first step to gain a better understanding of why enrollments are changing.\nQualitative research\nFrederica manages an upscale women’s clothing store. She wants more information about her customers’ general feelings about upcoming fall fashions. Frederica will most likely use __________ to gather this type of data.\nFocus group reviews\nWhen conducting a survey about choosing vacation destinations, Hillary will need to __________ to get reluctant respondents to provide honest information.\nAssure consumers that their individual responses will be kept confidential\nAfter defining objectives and research needs, the next step in the marketing research process involves\nResearch design\nIn questionnaire design, a question such as, “When was the first time you went to a dentist?” suffers from the problem of a question that\nRespondents cannot easily or accurately answer.\nWhen the detailed opinions of a few industry experts or experienced consumers are needed, __________ are often the best qualitative research method.\nIn-depth interviews\nWhat is a disadvantage of online focus groups, compared to offline focus groups?\nThey usually do not permit insights based on body language.\nQuantitative research\nMartin has hired a market research company to bring together a small group of soft drink consumers and get feedback on the three new advertising slogans his firm is considering. The market research firm might conduct a__________ to provide the information Martin has requested.\nFocus group\nWhat is neuromarketing?\nThe use of EEG scanners to measure consumers’ brain waves\nMalcolm is the campaign manager for a congressional candidate. He wants to know how voters across his district feel about recent sexual harassment scandals involving politicians. Malcolm will most likely use __________ to gather this type of data.\nA major advantage of primary data collection is that\nIt can be tailored to meet the specific research needs.\nMattel wanted to determine whether a new toy would appeal to preschoolers, so it put six 4-year-olds in a room with several toys and waited to see which ones they played with. What form of research is this?\nWhich of the following research methods would be best in helping a marketer understand how people feel about a product or service on an individual, detailed level?\nIn-depth interviews\nBoth major political parties have developed proprietary databases that contain vast information about voters, broken down by demographic and geographic information. This kind of information is\nSecondary data\nIf a marketing researcher has to collect data under severe time constraints, which of the following types of data sources would probably be available soonest?\nSyndicated data\nThe marketing research process follows five steps, and researchers\nSelect one:\na. may follow the process by completing all steps at once instead of planning the process first.\nb. should be prepared to present the results before completing the analysis if they are under a great deal of pressure to meet a deadline.\nc. should maintain the integrity of the process by following each step sequentially and thoroughly.\nd. often collect data before defining the research objectives.\ne. may not always go through them in the exact sequence if the situation changes or new information is discovered.\nThe number of customers who discontinue their use of a service divided by the average number of total participants is called\n__________ confirms insights and provides a basis for taking a course of action.\nQuantitative research\nSocial media monitoring, in-depth interviews, and focus groups are all __________ research methods.\nIf a firm has demographic and purchasing information about its customers, the firm can use data mining techniques to\nBuild separate marketing programs for different demographic segments.\nTyree is concerned about a competitor’s new line of outdoor barbeque grills that provide most of the same features as his products. Tyree might consider using __________ to gather qualitative information from consumers about the competitor’s offerings.\nFocus groups\nNadia stood outside the mall and asked people which stores they visited and if they bought anything. If they said yes, she asked them what they bought and how they came to the decision to buy that item. What form of research was Nadia most likely conducting?\nIn-depth interviews\nZan wants to collect considerable information about the current opinions of his ten most important customers. Zan will probably use the __________ research method.\nIn-depth interview\nOmar is responsible for marketing and marketing research for a mid-sized manufacturer of assemblies for the housing market. His boss has asked him to cut back expenses, especially in marketing research: “Why can’t you just use information off the Internet? There’s plenty out there.” What is Omar’s best response to try to get his boss to change his mind?\n“Those are secondary data, and they may not be as timely, accurate, and relevant as what we need. Our decisions may not be as good, and we’ll run a huge risk.”\nWhich of the following is NOT one of the guidelines for developing a market research questionnaire?\nSensitive questions should be asked first.\nBlogs represent valuable sources of marketing research insights, but they are also a challenge for firms because\nSelect one:\na. they are unreliable.\nb. they are affiliated with companies, which biases their comments.\nc. they tend to be shy about putting their opinions out in cyberspace.\nd. they are expensive for firms to use.\ne. they include both positive and negative commentary.\nWhich of the following is an example of an unstructured question?\nWhy did you buy this product?\nA restaurant chain is working to improve the quality of its food and service. It recruits customers who agree to respond to customer satisfaction surveys once every three months over the next two years, to track its progress. What kind of data is the restaurant chain collecting?\npanel data\nWalmart is known for its efficient logistical systems. Every time consumers buy something, that purchase is recorded and sent to company headquarters, where it is used to generate reorders to vendors. In addition, customers’ billions of purchases are analyzed using data mining techniques to uncover\npatterns of consumers’ purchasing behavior.\nThe owner of A. C. Flora Ford Dealership wanted to know why consumers chose his company to purchase a car. He was fairly sure that most customers had one of three reasons—service, reputation, or location—but wanted to know which was revealed as the most frequent reason for purchasing. A. C. Flora will probably use a survey with __________ questions to address his research problem.\nIn questionnaire design, a question such as, “Marketing is the best part of the business program, isn’t it?” suffers from the problem of a question\nthat leads respondents to a particular response.\nUsing __________, researchers ask questions, listen to and record responses, and ask additional questions based on initial responses.\nin-depth interviews\nWanda and Jim are working on a research project to anticipate customer attitudes toward a proposed new product line for their company. They have worked with the marketing manager to determine the answers that are needed and have created a detailed design of the project. Their next logical step will be to\nbegin to collect data.\nWhich of the following is a systematic means of collecting information from people by using a questionnaire?\nMarketing research includes all of the following EXCEPT\ncreating data.\nWhich of the following is an unstructured question?\n“What are the most important characteristics for choosing a brand of shampoo?”\nAcademic researchers often jump at the opportunity to conduct a research study, curious to learn more and address unanswered questions for the sake of general knowledge. Business people tend to be more cautious before embarking on a marketing research study, recognizing that research is often\nexpensive and time consuming.\nVictor’s custom auctioneering service provides online auction selling assistance. Victor plans to conduct marketing research to determine which auction site is best for his customers. His next step is to\nidentify the type of data he needs to have.\nMarket research begins with\ndefining objectives and research needs.\npreserving their right to privacy.\nCharles wants to survey recent customers about the quality of service they received at his small auto service dealership. He has customers’ mailing and e-mail addresses. Charles will likely use an online survey primarily because it offers\nfast responses at a lower cost.\nIn a focus group, researchers usually videotape the session to\nassess both verbal and nonverbal responses.\nQualtrics, Surveymonkey, and Zoomerang are examples of\nSelect one:\na. syndicated data companies.\nb. online survey software. Correct\nc. focus group programs.\nd. data warehouses.\ne. biometric data companies.\nA __________ is a small group of people brought together for an intensive discussion of a topic.\nSelect one:\na. social media site\nb. focus group\nc. in-depth interview\nd. data mining session\ne. experiment", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9625712633132935}
+{"content": "UPS Risk Getty Images\nTsunamis. Earthquakes. Political upheaval. When you're overseeing operations for a global business with customers thousands of miles away, you may stay up nights thinking about the major unpredictable disasters events that could put your supply chain at risk.\n\nBut the truth is, an everyday event like a power outage is far more likely to cause disruption of your global supply chain — and such disruptions happen more often than you think. According to study by PwC and the Business Continuity Institute, 75% of companies experience at least one major supply chain disruption a year. If you don't have contingency plans in place for even seemingly mundane events, the business consequences could be enormous.\n\nHere are some minor events that could put a global supply chain at major risk.\n\nPower outages\n\nToday, there is more reliance than ever on digital systems to facilitate real-time, accurate data that's a critical component to inventory management. As supply chains become more complex and borderless, technologies that include GPS tracking and wireless sensor networks help deliver information that's essential to important business decision-making.\n\nWhen a power outage disrupts access to your digital information supply chain, chaos can ensue — especially if there isn't a backup system in place. Companies, and their supply chain partners, can use cloud-based technology to ensure data is protected. For example, if your supply chain depends on digital data, it's critical that all connected parties sync their cloud backups. Otherwise, there could be a mismatch in data that could cripple an organization, and ultimately a cause loss in time, money, and customers during times of disruption.\n\nAdditionally, businesses that rely heavily on virtual infrastructures should seriously consider spreading the storage and transmission of their data to multiple hubs rather than solely relying on a single, distant cloud server.\n\nWhen you rely on one data center that's far away, in closer proximity to another business than your own, the speed and reliability of that data can be impacted if there's a problem with the bandwidth or connection.\n\nThink about it this way: Your smart devices don't have enough built-in storage to maintain all of your data every time you need to transmit data wirelessly; it is routed to a large-scale cloud center. The problem with this is that if an outage causes the cloud to go down, your business' virtual infrastructure goes down with it. But with a redundancy option called \"fog computing\" or \"edge computing,\" a power outage isn't going to affect you as much because you've stored your data in multiple regional data centers close to you (i.e. your phones and tablets can still access data if there's an outage in the cloud). With fog computing, data is routed and accessed more speedily and reliably since the bulk of your data is processed in a centralized server closer to the data source (each phone or smart device has its own network to process information). No longer do you have to worry about numerous other devices trying to access the same cloud center, slowing down your connection, or an outage bringing your entire system down.\n\nExtreme weather\n\nThe beginning of 2014 was difficult for several supply chains around the US and North America overall because of an especially brutal winter. It severely delayed transportation, and many companies discovered they didn't have adequate contingency plans.\n\nA new study predicts that climate characteristics like the Polar Vortex will make winters longer and colder in March, and even April. It is also predicted to cause unpredictable and potentially disruptive weather patterns. Kevin McCormack, assistant professor at Northwood University, says supply chain problems, such as those caused by bad weather, are predictors of future business issues.\n\n\"A supplier that has constant weather issues causing delays … can either plan for these through safety stock or change the route, or supplier,\" he says. \"[Weather issues] will not go away by themselves.\" Having flexibility and diversified transportation options from air, ocean, and ground modes could be a company's saving grace during uncertain times.\n\nEmployee sickness\n\nCould your supply chain survive weeks or months of absentee employees? This might not be something businesses deem as a huge threat, but the last thing you want is a supply chain paralyzed by widespread illness.\n\nA harsh flu season or widespread food poisoning could keep large numbers of employees away from the office for days. A more serious illness could take a critical employee out of work for months. For companies with multiple complex inventory systems, cross training workers is crucial to protect the efficiency of the supply chain — and the bottom line.\n\nWhat you can do\n\nCompanies can make their supply chain more resilient from everyday disruptions by having a contingency \"playbook\" or plan in place that lists every knowable risk. Here are four main aspects of that plan.\n\n1. Identify the risk. At the very least, suggests J. Paul Dittman, executive director of the Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Tennessee, call your department leaders into a conference room to \"brainstorm it, list it, and decide what could possibly impact you with your global supply chain.\"\n\nOne way to help identify risks, advises McCormack, is to ask your subcontractors detailed questions about their process. \"Understand what's coming into their supply chain,\" he says, adding that most businesses often don't even ask that question. \"They think, 'Well, that's a small subcontractor, and they're only 5% of our business. But that 5% can nail you to the wall, reputation-wise. Just ask the questions.\"\n\n2. Plan your risk response. You don't know when these everyday risks will happen, but you do know that they will happen, so it's important to be ready. Dittman suggests thinking about the most likely issues your business will encounter, and ensure you have a plan in place. These should include a way of determining the threat level and response, as well as a unified way of processing and sharing that information with all partners.\n\n3. Mitigate the risk. You may focus on the effects only once an issue arises, but there are things you can be doing now to mitigate risks, says Dittman. When putting together your contingency plan, design strategies with countermeasures that lessen costly disruptions, like adding more labor if you have complex products and processes. Companies that use improved visibility can detect potential disruptions in the supply chain before they happen and find ways to avoid those potentially devastating incidents. For example, in the case of extreme weather, find alternate routes ahead of time and create protocols that keep transport operatives able to change routes quickly, should a short-term recovery plan be needed.\n\n4. Expand your risk response team. Businesses that don't have the expertise in house to deal with these ongoing risks may want to collaborate with a third-party logistics provider (3PL), such as UPS, who can set up contingency plans to keep your supply chain running smoothly. For example, an experienced 3PL will be able to offer redundancy and flexibility through the use of multi-client facilities from which they can store a portion of your inventory and dispatch your products when you aren't able to do so. The vast networks of 3PLs can also help provide resilience disruptions go from risk to reality. When a major supply disruption of mere hours can potentially take years to recover from economically, it's worth the time spent to make sure you have the right plans in place — and the right 3PL in place — to handle those risks and keep business running smoothly.\n\nFind out how to make sure your supply chain is ready for any disruption — big or small.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5403789281845093}
+{"content": "Zero emissions from agriculture\n\nA growing body of research is showing that industrialized agriculture in its current form has largely failed. In 2015, we grew enough food to feed 10 billion people, but huge inefficiencies in the system mean that 40% of that potential is wasted. In addition, polluting pesticides and herbicides, expensive fertilizers, energy-intensive equipment, and carbon-emitting farming practices make agriculture a leading driver of climate change, now responsible for more than 11% of total GHG emissions.\n\nWorking with researchers at Ohio State, MIT, Future Earth and the 4per1000 initiative, One Earth provide a comprehensive assessment of the sequestration potential of carbon-negative farming practices and “regenerative” agriculture, including new technologies to reduce waste and increase both productivity and nutrition. Furthermore, the benefits of adopting a regenerative, organic compliance standard will be explored, creating economic opportunities for indigenous and community farmers at the regional level.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9915680885314941}
+{"content": "\n\nHow could space go on forever? Doesn't everything need an end?\n\n100% Upvoted\nThis thread is archived\nNew comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast\nlevel 1\n3 points · 4 years ago\n\nThe universe is constantly expanding at the speed of light. So, since we can't travel at the speed of light we would never reach the end. There is some consensus that the universe is curved into the fourth dimension. So, if you walked a straight line from one end to the other, you would eventually come back to the starting point.\n\nAs for what is on the \"outside\" of the universe. Some scientists believe it's the multi verse or hyper verse. Basically a bunch of bubble universes floating in a sea called the multi verse. Some have the physics like our own universe while others are nothing but voids lacking any matter.\n\nlevel 2\nOriginal Poster1 point · 4 years ago\n\nthat's what i thought, cause when i was looking out my telescope i knew i could see a void without matter...if i decide to walk from one end to the other...i'd better pack a lunch ay?\n\nlevel 1\n2 points · 4 years ago\n\nI always try to think of things objectively.. Which isn't always successful. I don't think its impossible that there's never an end, I think its more the human common sense that makes it more unbelievable than it really is.\n\nlevel 2\nOriginal Poster1 point · 4 years ago\n\nyou think it could be infinite because if it wasn't..what would be outside of it?\n\nlevel 3\n2 points · 4 years ago\n\nWell I just think that the limiting agent in this equation is our brain. Maybe it is infinite, even though its a challenging concept to accept. I can't imagine life without time, even though that concept changes drastically from anywhere else in the universe.\n\nlevel 3\n\nA small child tapping on the glass saying \"look at all these funny looking fish mommy!\"\n\nlevel 1\n\nPeople are still waiting for hl3. No end is in sight. Much like space\n\nlevel 1\n\nNo, everything does not need an end. If you walk in a straight line around the earth you'll end up in the same spot. There is no end. Think of the universe in the same way.\n\nCommunity Details\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCreate Post\nr/AskReddit Rules\nRule 1 - Questions must be clear and direct\nRule 2 - No personalized advice requests\nRule 3 - Open ended questions only\nRule 4 - No personal info\nRule 5 - No loaded questions\nRule 6 - No questions seeking professional advice\nRule 7 - No begging for goods or services\nRule 8 - No demeaning terms or personal attacks\nRule 9 - No image only replies or large ascii art\nComments in [Serious] posts must be on topic", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6611111164093018}
+{"content": "The evolution of shields in China — Part 1: Shang to Han\n\nA couple days ago I chanced upon this interesting article in Periklis Deligiannis's blog. It is nice to see that ancient Chinese military is gaining interest overseas, although (I presume) due to language barrier the author has to rely on questionable artist's renditions of Chinese shields for his article. While my blog isn't strictly academic, I think it'd be nice if I supplement his article with a more in-depth look on the evolution of Chinese shield.\n\nA shield is known as Dun (盾), Pai (牌, can also be written as 排, but less common), as well as its archaic names, Gan (干, note that this character cannot be written as 幹), Lu (櫓), and Bing Jia (秉甲, lit. 'Handheld armour'), in Chinese language. In modern usage, Chinese characters \"Dun\" and \"Pai\" are usually combined into a single word, Dun Pai (盾牌). Shield had been an integral, if obscure, part of Chinese culture for thousand of years, not just for warfare but also for art, ceremony and religious purposes.\n\nShang Dynasty (1600 BC – 1046 BC)\nAs the earliest verifiable dynasty in Chinese history, archaeological finds of Shang shields are extremely scarce. There is only one known type of shield in use during this period.\nOracle bone script, interpreted as either Gan (干) or Dun (盾).\n\nLacquered hide shield\nArtist's rendition of a reconstructed Shang Dynsaty shield unearthed at Yinxu.\nShang shield was made of animal hide, usually coated in lacquer, mounted on a wooden frame. The shield was usually rectangular in shape and slightly wider at the bottom, although it could be made into a pointed oval shape as well. Shield surface was usually decorated with paintings or multiple bronze ornaments, often with stylised cloud, animal or anthropomorphic motif.\n\nWestern Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC – 771 BC)\nUnfortunately, not much is known about the shields of Western Zhou Dynasty either. It appears that Shang-style hide shield was still in common use throughout the Western Zhou period, although they were increasingly supplanted by large wooden shield and the \"double arc\" shield.\nChinese bronzeware script depiting a warrior wielding a dagger-axe and a shield.\n\nTrapezoid lacquered wooden shield (Early Western Zhou)\nLeft: A trapezoid wooden shield with a three-piece, spherical bronze ornament unearthed at Baoji, Shaanxi province. Right: A disc-shaped bronze shield ornament.\nThis type of early Zhou Dynasty shield was made of a single piece of lacquered wooden plank. It measured about 43 inches (110 cm) in height, 19.7 inches (50 cm) in width at the top, and 27.5 inches (70 cm) at the bottom. Like Shang shield, it could be mounted with bronze ornaments.\n\nLarge Western Zhou Dynasty bronze shield ornament that resembles a human face.\nGiven its rather large size, it is suggested that this type of shield was used by infantry, although some argued that it was meant for chariot warfare.\n\nEarly \"double arc\" shield (Late Western Zhou Dynasty)\nThree Western Zhou Dynasty shields discovered at Shanmenxia, Henan province. Due to the fragile condition of these shields, they are not only partially excavated.\nBy late Western Zhou period, Chinese shield was on its way crystallising into the quintessential \"double arc\" shield (see below) that would remain in widespread use for centuries to come. This type of shied was made of lacquered animal hide mounted on wood or rattan frame. Measured about 31.5 inches (~80 cm) in height and 16 to 19 inches (~40 to 50 cm) in width, this type of shield already featured the characteristic \"double arc\" shape of later shields, yet still retained bronze ornaments like earlier shields.\n\nEastern Zhou Dynasty/Spring and Autumn and Warring States period ( 770 BC – 221 BC)\nEastern Zhou was turbulent period characterised by the collapse of central authority, frequent warfare and social upheaval, but also great cultural and intellectual expansion and technological advancement. This period also saw the emergence of iconic \"double arc\" shield.\n\n\"Double arc\" shield/Shuang Hu Dun (雙弧盾, lit. \"Double arc shield')\nWarring States period Shuang Hu Dun currently kept at Jingzhou Museum. At 36.4\" ×  23\", this particular shield is one of the largest of its type, almost rivaling a Roman Scutum in size.\nSo named because of its distinctive shape, this type of shield was the most ubiquitous \"Chinese\" shield. Shuang Hu Dun could be made of lacquered hide mounted on a wooden frame, lacquered wooden plank, or wood with lacquered hide facing, although hide version appears to be the most common. Most Shuang Hu Dun were centre-gripped, medium-sized shields, roughly 23.5 inches to 31.5 inches (~70 cm to ~80 cm) in height and 13 inches to 23.5 inches (~30 cm to ~60 cm) in width.\n\nIt is still not fully understood why ancient Chinese people chose to design their shields into such a complex shape.\n\nRectangular lacquered wooden \"tower shield\" (Warring States period)\nLarge \"tower shield\", Warring States period.\nAnother type of shield in use during this period was the so-called \"tower shield\". This type of shield was made of several lacquered wooden planks joined together with rattan, and featured a centre grip as well as a bronze shield boss. This type of shield measured roughly 39.3 inches (~100 cm) in height and 19.7 inches (~50 cm) in width.\n\nQin Dynasty (221 BC – 206 BC)\nA short-lived dynasty, Qin period did not see any development in Chinese shield design.\n\n\"Double arc\" shield/Shuang Hu Dun\nHalf-sized model bronze shield found in the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.\nFull-sized hide shield recently discovered in the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.\nQin troops continued to rely on tried-and-true Shuang Hu Dun for personal protection. It is not know if they still used Warring States \"tower shield\" or not, due to lack of archaeological finds.\n\nWestern Han Dynasty (202 BC – 8 AD)\nAlthough \"double arch\" shield continued to see common use, Western Han period saw the emergence of a new type of buckler.\n\n\"Double arc\" shield/Shuang Hu Dun\nAn early Western Han terracotta warrior equipped with Shuang Hu Dun, Yangjiawancun, Shaanxi, China.\nSeveral model shields detached from the terracottas, showing relatively simple decorative patterns.\nWestern Han period Shuang Hu Dun was virtually unchanged from its Warring States and Qin predecessors, although the abstract decorative pattern on the shield surface became simpler and cleaner, following the Han Dynasty artistic trend.\n\nNevertheless, Shuang Hu Dun also rapidly became larger during Western Han period.\n\nChinese parrying buckler/Gou Rang (鉤鑲)\nA Gou Rang, Xuzhou Museum, China.\nA Gou Rang was a rectangular iron buckler, only slightly larger than a man's fist, that became popular during Han period. It had a vertical iron bar handle, and came with two long parrying hooks mounted at the top and bottom of the buckler, as well as a punching spike mounted on the surface of the buckler. The top hook was usually longer and sharper than the bottom hook.\n\nStone rubbing of a Han period brick relief, depicting a duel. Figure on the right can be seen parrying a Ji halberd with his Gou Rang.\nGou Rang was often used in a pair with a sword, a short-handled Ji (戟) halberd, or a Shou Ji (手戟, lit. 'Hand halberd'), essentially a head of a Ji without its shaft. The design of Gou Rang is immediately reminiscence of Indian madu buckler, as well as uboko and izolihauw used in Nguni stick fighting.\n\nVery rarely, a Gou Rang with its parrying hooks and punching spike removed could be fused onto a lance or a sword, and served as hand protection (vamplate or basket hilt) for the weapon.\n\nTurtle shell shield/Gui Dun (龜循, lit. 'Turtle shield')\nLacquered turtle shell shield, currently kept at Jingzhou Museum.\nA unique shield made of lacquered turtle shell was discovered at Hubei in 1978. This shield appears to be one-of-a-kind, and is possibly intended as grave goods, rather than practical use.\n\nEastern Han Dynasty, Three Kingdoms period and Jin Dynasty (25 AD – 420 AD)\n\"Double arc\" shield was still used during this period, although it was losing popularity, being gradually displaced by a variety of newer designs. Shield became longer and larger, and the complex shape of \"double arc\" shield gave way to simpler shape. This period also saw the emergence of strapped shield.\n\nGou Rang buckler was also used during Eastern Han period and early Jin period, but disappeared afterwards.\n\nStrapped \"Double arc\" shield/Shuang Hu Dun\nEastern Han figurine with a strapped-on Shuang Hu Dun, Zhaohua Han Dynasty Museum.\nShuang Hu Dun, both centre-gripped and the new strapped variety, were still used throughout Eastern Han to Jin period, although they were not as popular as they once were.\n\nSection of a Jin period mural depicting an army on the march. The horizontal orientation of these shields indicates a strapped design. \n\nLong shield with prominent spine\nEastern Han brick relief depicting a shielded soldier escorting a prisoner of war.\nA kneeling Wu Kingdom figurine with a long shield. Wuhan Museum.\nWestern Jin figurine wielding a long shield in a \"hoplite stance\". Private collection.\nLong shield became the dominant shield type during this period. Long shields varied greatly in size and shape, although oblong shape was the most common. They were presumably made of wood with lacquered hide facing, although this cannot be confirmed due to lack of findings of actual shield.\n\nMost long shields were centre-gripped.\n\nStone rubbing of a Eastern Han brick relief, depicting several warriors armed with \"squashed adarga\" shields.\nSome long shields also took a rather unusual shape of two joined oblongs that resembles a squashed adarga shield.\n\nOther blog posts in my Shield Evolution series:\nPart 1: Shang to Han\nPart 2: Northern and Southern Dynasties to Tang\nPart 3: Song to Qing\nPart 4: Shields of China's peripherals and Sinosphere (Patrons only)\n\n\n  1. One reason I can see for using the double-arc shield design is that the notches on the side could be used to help hold pole-arms in place while in infantry formations. By resting the shaft of the pole-arm on the notch maybe the soldier is able to keep it steady and put less strain on the arm holding the weapon. European jousting shields sometimes had this sort of cavity to hold the lance in place. Then again maybe the design had some other purpose or was simply chosen for its aesthetic.\n\n    1. Yes I am aware of that possibility, although it begs the question of why there are so many notches on one shield,\n\n      Others suggest that the notches are used to trap enemy weapon.\n\n  2. A small trivia: The large pavises as depicted in the movie \"Red Cliff\" are based on the kneeling Wu Kingdom figurine pictured in my blog post. Actual shield was nowehere near as large as the movie depiction and most definitely didn't glow in golden colour though.\n\n  3. This comment has been removed by the author.\n\n  4. I would be really interested to see more pictures of the grip on the double arc shield. I'm trying to recreate one, using modern materials. I've been using one in SCA combat with the correct double arc profile, and it does play interestingly when deflecting attacks from swords. My trouble is mounting the grip correctly, to get the balance correct. At the moment the grip I use just protrudes from the back, it isn't recessed as it seems to be on the extant version.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7715274095535278}
+{"content": "Chris Vermeulen\n\n\n\n\n\nThe broad US stock market last week took a tumble sending a massive wave of fear through investors’ minds. On Wednesday May 17th the S&P 500 index plummeted 1.7% causing the fear index to jump a whopping 48% in a single session. What does this mean and what shoul\nThe Fed has not followed through on their numerous promises of a rate increase that Yellen and other Fed officials have made over the past several years. She spoke about purchasing assets of private companies, and also mentioned that the Fed could modify its inflati\nThe SPX continues to form a pattern that typically appears at major tops. The Fed is scheduled to meet this Tuesday, September 20th, 2016, and Wednesday, September 21st, 2016 to decide on its U.S. interest rate policy, AGAIN!   This could be the event t\nThe current pattern is suggesting that a significant top is at hand. I fully believe both in patterns and indicators. Moreover, the current pattern is suggesting that a significant top is at hand.  The proprietary cycles are suggesting a potential “Black Swa", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9851745963096619}
+{"content": "\"Non-destructive audio processing\" means that the actual audio data in an audio file is not edited, only peripheral or playback parameters are changed.\n\n\nThe process of adjusting the volume level on tracks as they are encoded, so that their peak levels fall within a similar range.\n\nNyquist frequency\nThe highest frequency that can be reproduced accurately when a signal is digitally encoded at a given sample rate. Theoretically, the Nyquist frequency is half of the sampling rate. For example, when a digital recording uses a sampling rate of 11 kHz, the Nyquist frequency is 5.5 kHz. If a signal being sampled contains frequency components that are above the Nyquist limit, aliasing will be introduced in the digital representation of the signal unless those frequencies are filtered out prior to digital encoding; see aliasing, low-pass filter.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5542018413543701}
+{"content": "Building Team\n\nArchitects vs. the Rest of Us: The Quantity Surveyor (QS)\n\nBy C. Matua\n\nMarch 4, 2017\n\nSo what contribution does a Quantity surveyor make to the design team? What are the roles of a QS?\n\n“If you have a project and your quantity surveyor is (incompetent), you are finished. Architects sometimes give the QS drawings with no details. What do you do with an elevation with no levels? No dimensions? No material details? Then the quantity surveyor has to figure out what the architect might have wanted to put on a floor or a wall?”\n\nBut what makes the quantity surveyor invaluable in an architecture firm?\n\nCost planning: Where the client sits with the architect and QS and tells them he wants a 6 bedroom house with a pool at the backyard, and the consultants say it’ll cost about Ugx.600m, but he says he has only Ugx. 40m so they advise that for that money he can get a nice 2 bedroom house and further inquire if the client has a way to get some more money so that they can give him a 3 bedroom house.\n\n“(But you) Architects, why should you design something that costs Ugx.100m when we can do it at Ugx.50m? If it serves the same purpose, then why not? You architects just like funny designs. I once did a design for a library and the concept was a car tire. So when it came to putting the sunshades, it became difficult, because the architect had neglected to indicate what material he wanted them to be made of. We are trained to make assumptions, and I assumed they were made of steel. I do not know if the project was implemented like that. ”\n\nProcurement Advice: When contractors have been invited to bid, QSs sit and evaluate the tenders. Say one of the contractors has made a bid of Ugx.40m, the other Ugx.70, and another Ugx. 80m, yet my cost (the consultant’s QS) would be about Ugx.60m. When it comes to procurement, we get the best evaluated bidder. It’s not always that the one with the lowest bid wins the project contract, because if you give the contract to the one that bided Ugx.40m, he might fail to finish the project.\n\nSingle rate approximate estimate: This is where a client approaches you and says they need to put up a house of so many square metres, and judging from the proposed material palette, you evaluate that such a building might cost Ugx. 400,000 per square metre times the square metres of the proposed building. Then after the consultants do the design, the QS can then prepare a detailed cost estimate called the Bills of Quantities.\n\nInterim valuations or preparation of Interim certificates: Every month, the QSs measure the quantities of works done on site, and then prepare the interim certificate of payment. The conditions of contract says, you are supposed to pay the contractor within 14 days of submission of the certificate, and beyond that, you are supposed to pay interest for the days that follow (liquidated damages).\n\nPreparing financial statements: At the end of the project, the QS is supposed to prepare a statement that says how much the project has cost.\n\nStatement of contractual claims: When the contractor is claiming that he has done more work than was stipulated in the Bills of Quantities, it’s usually the QS who settles such situations, or a compromise can be made and both the contractor and the consultants’ QSs can go do a joint measurement so that they come to an understanding.\n\nCost control: Now this is where the architect starts telling you: let’s change from iron sheets to tiles. The cost per square metres of iron sheets and tiles varies greatly. Or, when an architect suggests use of aluminium cladding, yet we could use plaster and paint. Even if you argue that long term, aluminium cladding is more effective, its cost per square metre is about Ugx. 450,000, while that of plaster and paint is about Ugx. 30,000. Even if the house is repainted every 4 years, that argument of long term savings doesn’t hold here.\n\nThe QS also does: Technical auditing, valuation for insurance purposes among other things.\n\n“The best people to work as project managers are architects and QSs because project management is basically about handling the team, and those are the two professions trained to do so.”\n\n“If from inception, the architect, QS and the structural engineer are there while the team is getting the client’s needs, I think that will alleviate some issues that would arise further down the road. Those 3 professionals should work in proximity at least during the scheme design phase so that queries are answered as they come up. It’s even worse in those firms that outsource the quantity valuations to outside QS firms. An architecture firm should ideally have an in-house QS.”\n\nThis piece is a transcribed interview with Okello Thomas, a quantity surveyor that was formerly practicing at Joadah Consult and currently lectures at Kyambogo University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Lands and Architectural Studies.\n\nImage Credits", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6110584735870361}
+{"content": "Black Room\n\n\nBlack Room\n\nBlack Room You are locked inside a film development room and must figure out an escape.\n\nThis game has been played 2,959 times, and is 0 peoples' favourite game.\n\n  Show Walkthrough\n\nIf you enjoyed playing Black Room, check out:\n\nEscape the 13th Floor Escape the 13th Floor\nYou find yourself trapped in a building on the 13th floor. Now try to escape the Janitorial level.\nKidnap Escape Kidnap Escape\nYou have been kidnapped by terrorists and imprisoned in a room. Make use of clues and figure out an escape.\nOld Mansion Escape Old Mansion Escape\nYou are trapped inside an old mansion and must find items and hints to escape.\nReaders Escape Readers Escape\nTry to escape from a small office with a locked door.\nplease tell your friends about this Room Escapes game!\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9506515860557556}
+{"content": "Creating Ayurvedic Ritual Through Tea\n\nCreating Ayurvedic Ritual Through Tea\n\nEach day I wake up looking forward to practicing dinacharya, the simple practice of building routines each day provides the natural rhythms of our body to work as they should. In doing this, we support over-all health and well-being. An Ayurvedic tea ceremony is one of my daily dinacharya practices.  All though this may seem like an outward ceremony or ritual, to me, a tea ceremony represents harmony, respect, purity, and tranquillity. It is a meditation, time and space to learn about the inner self while showing respect for the material world with positive values applied to the whole process of the ceremony, not only focusing on the tea.\n\nThere is, believe it or not, much science behind the practice of ritualized tea service. Modern experts on the topic point out that the tea ceremony stimulates both sides of the brain. This balanced activity helps to bring a deep calm and even a spiritual consciousness to those who take part in the activity. How is this possible? Well, consider that the tea ceremony works directly on all five senses. This is by design. Buddhist monks in ancient times structured tea rituals so that it would wake people up, both physically and spiritually. At the same time, tea ceremonies work to bring deep inner peace and tranquility to those involved by bringing mind and body together.\n\nSmell, touch, taste, hearing and sight are, respectively, met with the aroma of the tea and the straw in the floor matting, the feel of the pottery’s glaze, the tea itself, the sound of the water as it boils in the teapot, and the visual images of nature around you. With all five senses awakened and in tune, the left brain hemisphere has plenty of material for thought, including the ritual itself, the implements, the process and “facts” of the ceremony. These are standard types of topics that the left hemisphere of the brain enjoys analyzing. On the other side of the brain, the right hemisphere is attending to the beauty of the flowers, artwork and the atmosphere of the entire space. \n\nWhen planning a daily tea ritual, I first start with the ceramics. I focus on finding handmade artwork from local artisans, by doing this I am not only supporting my community, but it creates a culture of respect for artistry in the ceremony while stimulates my senses from the touch and feel of each container used. \n\nSecondly, I source fair trade, organic herbs, and spices from reputable sources. I do not only buy organic because organic agriculture reduces the overall exposure to toxic chemicals from synthetic pesticides that can end up in the ground, air, water, and food supply, and that are associated with health consequences, from asthma to cancer, but I choose to buy organic because I believe that one person can make a difference. When I buy organic, I increase the demand for sustainable farming methods, and over time, if there’s enough demand, the industry will have to change to meet the needs of consumers. \n\nThe third is creating the right environment for the ceremony. The quality of energy in the environment affects our mind states a lot. Hence it is not always something tangible that might be causing difficulty to focus when you sit for tea. You should learn to be able to differentiate between the positive and negative vibrations in different areas of your house, and it is not a very difficult thing to do. All you have to do is to observe your emotions. Places where you find it easy to think good thoughts are energetically appropriate for meditation and there would surely be more than enough corners in your house where you could feel these higher vibrations.\n\nSetting up a dedicated space can make or break your ceremonial tea habit. Imagine you have to put away your current project, clean up counter space, pull out a teapot, tea cups and tea. By now you’ve exhausted most of your willpower just by thinking about getting to the point of making tea. Choose a place in your house that has the positive vibrations that we talked about and leave this space dedicated to your ceremony. Decorate it will minimal decor that reflects nature. Spaciousness in your decoration is essential to allow for the mind to relax and reflect. \n\nNow let’s talk tea! One of my favorites is herbs to use in my daily tea ritual is Tulsi, It is aromatic, delicious, beautiful, and sattvic, tulsi is one of those magical Ayurvedic herbs that can benefit just about everyone.\n\nWhen preparing the tea gently stay present with each step; while heating the water, steeping the tea, and pouring the warm water over the loose-leaf tea leaves. Inhale the aroma of the tea. Notice the smell, is it gentle or pungent? Is the aroma is cooling or warming? Let your eyes take in the colors as the tea is infusing, notice the texture of the tea leaves. Allow your gaze to take in the colors of your ceramics while your hands are holding the cup. Let your gaze be gentle, passively taking in all there is to see.\n\nBefore drinking the tea, offer up appreciation. Take time to remember and give gratitude for each being that went into the making of this tea, the sacred water, the cherished plant, and the many hands that tended to the tea that is now in front of you. By setting this tone you are allowing for your senses to embrace the experience entirely, and you will watch stress start to melt away as you sip, and joy fill your heart, starting the day off in a deep sense of self, gratitude, and awareness.\n\nSee Related Articles\n\nAyurvedic Bath, Sacred and Healing\n\nSadhana and the power of Aum \"om\"", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9848297834396362}
+{"content": "Wheat flour (niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, malted barley flour), whole milk, butter (butter fats, solids, water), cream cheese (pasturized milk and cream, cheese culture, salt, carob bean gum), ), blueberries, sugar, vanilla (water, alcohol, vanilla extractives), baking powder (sodium bicarbonate), salt\n\nContains: MILK, WHEAT\n\n\nBaking Instructions:\n\n\nTo Reheat: Place in preheated 400 degree oven for 4-5 minutes until warm throughout.\n\nUPC: 8 99119 00077 9", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9160841107368469}
+{"content": "Friday, 3 December 2010\n\nThe Seven Basic Plots: Are they found in video games?\n\nBack in 2004, Christopher Booker's book The Seven Basic Plots received a large amount of critical and commercial attention. His assertion that there are only seven plots in all narrative is not unique (many have claimed that there are a finite number of plots in existence, though the number is frequently disputed) and Booker was criticised for dismissing homosexuality and failing to research films properly.\n\nChristopher Booker's book\nBooker's controversial take on narrative theory\n\nBut it raises an interesting talking point as regards narrative. How many plots are there? Is it a finite number? I would argue that all stories ever told have just one plot:\n\n[protagonist] vs. [antagonist].\n\nThis doesn't mean that the protagonist has to be human or a single entity. It doesn't mean that there has to be a \"fight\". It doesn't mean that the antagonist has to be anything tangible, and it doesn't mean that there can't be several of these conflicts occurring in the same narrative. But I'm pretty certain that you can't have a story without a conflict, and all stories are variations on this theme.\n\nIt's fairly easy to argue that all games contain some form of conflict even if it's just against the game's engine or artificial physics.\n\nRyu fights Chun Li in Street Fighter\nRyu vs. Chun Li\n\nBut what about Booker's seven plots? Are there games which adhere to each? Are there games which don't adhere to any? Let's have a look...\n\nOvercoming the Monster\n\nHere, the protagonist sets out to destroy a malevolent presence which threatens their person/environment/home/community/world. These stories are often horror stories. Sometimes, the \"monster\" is inside the protagonist, and they must fight with and overcome their own shortcomings or flaws. And it's equally likely that in vanquishing an external monster, the protagonist comes to terms with something dark within themselves.\n\nExamples: Jaws, Dracula, The Silence of the Lambs\n\nIn games: There's a lot of this sort of thing in video games. Given that the most basic game mechanics generally involve destroying something, it makes sense that a lot of video game plots place this destruction at the centre of the plot. In Dead Space, Isaac Clarke must destroy the Necromorphs that threaten the lives of his colleagues, his girlfriend Nicole and himself.\n\nIsaac Clarke in Dead Space\nIsaac overcomes with the help of a laser cutter...\n\nIn the much more sophisticated narrative of Silent Hill 2, James must overcome a whole range of gruesome monsters, all of whom represented dark parts of his own psyche. This is brilliantly explained in this episode of The Escapist's Extra Credits. I quote:\n\"Pyramid Head [...] was a shadow of the main character. It was the manifestation of his self-denied sexual frustration and violent nature.\"\nThis makes James' flight from Pyramid Head (who remains unnamed throughout the game) sickeningly symbolic.\n\nSilent Hill's James and Pyramid Head\nPyramid Head looms out of the shadows\n\nAlthough Final Fantasy X has strong elements of \"The Quest\" (mismatched gaggle of companions make their way across an epic landscape gathering strength and aeons) and \"Voyage and Return\" (the protagonist is mysteriously transported through time and space at the beginning of the game), it's ultimately about \"Overcoming the Monster\". Not only does the monster, \"Sin\" definitely threaten the peaceful world of Spira, but it is the physical manifestation of Tidus' betrayal by his father.\n\nTidus and Sin from Final Fantasy X\nTidus looks up at Sin, the monster in Final Fantasy X\n\nThe Quest\n\nThis generally features a MacGuffin, a plot device which drives the protagonists (and often some companions) in pursuit of it at the expense of just about everything else. Although quests often climax with the resolution/destruction/discovery of the MacGuffin (The Lord of the Rings), sometimes the MacGuffin is exposed as worthless. In these cases, the quest and what is learned during it is the real point of the story. This is perfectly illustrated in the Rob Reiner film The Sure Thing.\n\nExamples: Lord of the The Rings, The Sure Thing,\n\nIn games: This is probably the most common video game plot after \"Overcoming the Monster\" (above). This is because often, video game plots are the excuse for the action. This is no bad thing. Donkey Kong Country features the most conspicuous of MacGuffins - the theft of Donkey's collection of bananas for his tree house - to ever prompt a protagonist to action. The game features an extensive collection of imaginative level settings, including a coral reef, a mine shaft and a jungle, and exploring these is really what the game is about.\n\nDonkey Kong in the jungle with Rambi the Rhino\nThe jungle at night\n\nThis is similar to the theme of Super Mario 64 (and indeed most other Mario games), in which Mario cheerfully sets off on a perilous journey, risking life and limb for nothing more than a slice of Princess Peach's cake (as anyone who has played these games will know, this is unfortunately not a euphemism). What \"Quest\" games tend to have in common is a focus on environment above all else, where the MacGuffin is an excuse to lead the player through a collection of rich and detailed worlds.\n\nMario 64 Level\nThis had better be good cake.\n\nThe first three Tomb Raider games - where Lara sets off to find the Scion, the Dagger of Xian and bit of an asteroid without really being troubled by any personal issues - are all quests.\n\nLara Croft and the Scion\nLara Croft reaches for the Scion, the MacGuffin in Tomb Raider\n\nRags to Riches\n\nThe protagonist is plucked from poverty and receives great riches. This event is usually preceded by some form of conflict (such as in Cinderella), or alternatively followed by it (Great Expectations), when the protagonist is faced with the consequences of the sudden acquisition of wealth.\n\nExamples: Cinderella, Aladdin, Great Expectations, Josie and the Pussycats\n\nIn games: I like to think that \"riches\" can be interpreted quite liberally because the important aspect this kind of story is the change in circumstance. But in general, \"riches\" refers to power, however it's gained. Money, after all, is a kind of power.\n\nBut there's a fairly literal interpretation of this story in Fable II, in which young street urchin Sparrow (gender chosen by the player) acquires great power and can wield it however he or she sees fit. Players are given the opportunity to channel their influence into raising a family in a cosy homestead, but they're just as able to invest the treasure they find in the woods in property and businesses, bleeding the land of Albion dry in the process.\nFable II is lighthearted and witty, more concerned with finding humour in situations than it is with making moral points.\n\nSparrow looks scruffy now...\n\nConsequently, choosing how Sparrow should direct his/her newly acquired wealth and influence is agonising, but only because players are so often driven to find the most amusing - rather than the most moral - outcome. This is something that games are again equipped to do rather well. Rags-to-Riches stories tend to be rather moral affairs, in which the protagonist is either rewarded for being good (Cinderella) or discovers that money isn't really important after all (Josie and the Pussycats). Being able to play with wealth is something that's fairly unique to video games. Sparrow gets to do it in Fable II, and so do so many protagonists who feature in games with economies.\n\nIn general, role-playing games feature simplified economies in which players are free to buy in-game items. This is generally made more engaging by having the player start with almost no assets, requiring them to go out into the wilderness and fight for them. Power and wealth tends to be acquired exponentially in role-playing games, so the more money you earn, the better the equipment you can buy and the more enemies you can slaughter, enabling you to a) steal their stuff and b) gain experience points. After a while, tantalising items which were impossible to afford for the first half of a game soon dangle within financial reach of the player.\n\nThe increase in bargaining power is often as exciting as the increase in physical/magical/whatever power and is far more fun to play with than it would ever be to watch or read about.\n\nVoyage and Return\n\nWhereas \"The Quest\" features a pro-active decision on the part of the protagonist to go after a MacGuffin, a \"Voyage and Return\" generally involves the protagonist being removed from their surroundings and being immersed in another world with different and often illogical rules. The protagonist generally learns something about themselves during a voyage and return.\n\nExamples: Dreamquest, Sex and The City 2, Alice in Wonderland\n\nIn games: This is a tricky one. Whilst many games feature the protagonist being uprooted and placed in a foreign environment, the central plot mechanic in such games is usually either \"The Quest\" or \"Overcoming the Monster\". For example, in Heart of Darkness, Andy might slip through a black hole and into a mystical world of winged goofballs and shadow people, but he only ends up there because he was searching for his dog Whiskey, who is really just the MacGuffin from \"The Quest\". Similarly, although Eddie Riggs' mundane life as a heavy metal roadie is interrupted when he is mysteriously transported into a parallel universe in Brütal Legend, he spends most of his time \"Overcoming the Monster\", represented here by Doviculus, who's hell-bent on destroying the human race.\n\nAndy destroys the shadow people in Heart of Darkness\nIs Andy on a \"Quest\" or a \"Voyage\"?\n\nPerhaps the purest example of a \"Voyage and Return\" is flawed classic Assassin's Creed. As I have whinged about before, the game isn't as well-executed as it needs to be to convey its rather brilliant plot, but never mind about that. It features a protagonist from the \"real\" world who is immersed into another world before returning, armed with both knowledge and experience. Desmond, a bartender and part-time fugitive, is kidnapped by the mysterious corporation Abstergo and forced to relive the memories of his ancestor Altaïr, an assassin in the Holy Land.\n\nDesmond enters the Animus in Assassins Creed\nDesmond voyages into another world\n\n\nOften a love story, a comedy features an ideal state (for example a romantic relationship) which the protagonist arrives at through a series of misunderstandings or mishaps. Comedies often cross over with other plots (for example, The Sure Thing - not to give anything away - is arguably a comedy as well as a quest), but in comedies, dark forces generally repent rather than needing to be destroyed or killed, keeping the tone light. Key to comedy is deft plotting, and events tend to escalate. Coincidence, cause-and-effect and prophetic character traits are all important in comedies.\n\nExamples: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Pride and Prejudice\n\nIn games: I'm not sure comedies really appear in games. There are lots of very funny games, to be sure, but comedy relies on events and characters more than any other \"story\" on this list, and it's hard to insert the intricate the intricate plot developments necessary for true comedy into the structural looseness of a video game.\n\nSteven Poole, oft-quoted (by me) author of Trigger Happy: The Secret Life of Video Games suggests that video games are hampered in all methods of storytelling by their \"reversibility\", in contrast to stories which depend of irreversibility for their impact. I'd disagree and suggest that video games tell stories about overcoming monsters (see above) and indeed tragedies (see below), but I would agree with him as regards comedy. The precision which a true comedic plot requires does not sit well with the interactive nature of games, and I cannot think of a game which has conveyed a comedic plot successfully. Suggestions are welcome.\n\n\nUnlike \"Overcoming the Monster\" in which the protagonist must vanquish the malevolent force, in a true tragedy, the protagonist is the malevolent force, and their demise is usually sealed as soon as the story begins.\n\nExamples: Hamlet, Match Point, Requiem for a Dream\n\nIn games: Tragedy can make for some of the best plots in video games. This is because when you think about it, a lot of video game characters do fairly abhorrent things, like slaughtering birds, beasts and native peoples without a second thought, all in the name of progress. When you have a video game character who questions their own movies, you have an extremely interesting plot on your hands.\n\nTake Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, for example. Both games feature antiheroes whose histories of crime leave them no choice but to continue down that road. Rather than delight in their anarchy, they descend into self-loathing. In both cases, their inability to escape the downward spirals of circumstance and their own ciminality results in bloodshed and the betrayal of their respective families. It's not that these games aren't devilishly enjoyable, but that they turn the video game convention of wilful destruction (how many power-ups in video game history are obtained by breaking things?) into something dark and troubling.\n\nJohn Marston, the tragic hero\nJohn stares into the flames\n\nIn both cases, the player must participate in the protaginists abandoning of their good intentions as circumstances and their own nature conspire against them. The inevitability of Nico and John's descent into crime is obvious from the opening scenes as both characters - vulnerable thanks to their pasts and origins - are ripe for exploitation. Powerfully moving though both these games are (especially the final two hours of Red Dead Redemption), playing them is at times like watching a car crash.\n\nNo pun intended.\n\nCar crash in Grand Theft Auto IV\nNico Bellic digs himself deeping into a life of crime\n\nGod of War is a Greek tragedy which uses interactivity to great effect, by allowing the player to embody a fairly abhorrent character.  This episode of The Escapist's \"Extra Credits\" explores storytelling across the entire God of War trilogy, and if you're interested in video game narrative I strongly suggest watching it.\n\nKratos: A tragic hero\n\n\nSimilar to a tragedy, except that the protagonist realises their error/flaw before it's too late and is able to avert the crisis and repent.\n\nExamples: Beauty and the Beast, A Christmas Carol/Muppet Christmas Carol, Return of the Jedi\n\nIn games: What's interesting about a \"rebirth\" story is its relationship to \"tragedy\" and \"overcoming the monster. Red Dead Redemption is so nearly a story of rebirth, and Silent Hill 2 can be a story of rebirth if the player manages to unlock the right ending. If the player is forever running ahead of the spooky Maria and ignoring her pleas to slow down, Silent Hill 2 morphs from a monster story into a tragedy. Stick by her and bravely face down the darkness within yourself, and the game becomes redemptive, allowing James to be reborn. And yes, despite the gynaecological horror of Silent Hill 2, I mean this allegorically.\n\nJames and Maria in Silent Hill 2\nJames contemplates leaving Maria to her fate\n\nSimilarly, both Bioshock and Bioshock 2 can be either stories of tragedy or rebirth depending on the decisions made by the player throughout the game. In both cases, the player takes on the role of a weak man (interpret that term however you wish) who must exploit all those around him and mutilate his own body in order to survive. How he goes about it determines whether the end of the story is redemptive or damning.\n\nBioshock good ending\nIs this what redemption looks like?\n\nStraightforward tales of rebirth are slightly harder to come by. Given that video games have only really started exploring tragedy with any seriousness in the last ten years or so, this is perhaps not surprising. Tales of rebirth are harder to pitch, as they can be slushy and predictable when clumsily approached. But it can be done.\n\nAlthough the main character isn't really \"flawed\", Portal is a powerful story of rebirth. At the beginning of the game, protagonist Chell is a passive lab rat, obediently completing the tasks she is set in return for the reward (the infamous \"cake\") that she has been promised.\n\nBut as Aperture Science's tests become gradually more sadistic, Chell is forced to begin thinking outside the box. In several cases, she must do this literally.\n\nChell from Portal\nChell must think her way out of a lot of boxes during Portal.\n\nBecause Chell never says a word, it's down to the player to take the initiative that our jumpsuit-clad heroine must find if she's to be reborn. Just because stories of rebirth generally feature redemptive character arcs at their centre doesn't mean that characters must be unpleasant or \"bad\" characters at the beginning of the narrative. Readers of The Phantom Tollbooth (as much a story of \"Voyage and Return\" actually) will remember that Milo is initially an unlikable protagonist not because he's cruel or selfish but because he doesn't really care whether he's been bad or good.\n\nAlthough one imagines Chell has been through worse before the events of Portal than Milo has before the events of The Phantom Tollbooth (one presumes he's just been to school as opposed to undergoing dehumanising scientific procedures), but her initial acceptance of GLaDOS' commands suggests that she must become more proactive and independent if she really is to receive cake. It's only by questioning her situation and surroundings that she is finally able to gain control of her destiny. The fact that Portal is set almost entirely underground gives the \"rebirth\" metaphor a chilling significance.\n\n*     *     *\n\nThis has been an extremely interesting exercise. Many games (like many non-interactive stories) straddle two or more of Booker's seven plots. Though I don't necessarily agree that there are indeed seven plots, thinking about the ways stories are put together is a good way to explore the strengths and weaknesses of the interactive storytelling medium.\n\nI hope you enjoyed this week's post as much as I enjoyed writing it (it's good to get back into Well-Rendered's comfy saddle following the ups and downs of the last few months), and if you can think of any great examples of any of the above that I've missed (or care to dispute anything), you know where the comment box is.\n\n\n  1. Fantastic post. I think I agree with the original premise, though you might want to call it \"conflict and release\", the way that you might describe music in Shenckerian analysis.\n\n  2. Great article! I wanted to write about video games and how they fit into the 7 basic plots, but it looks like someone already did it and did it well. I may have to look at doing something a bit differently. Excellent read!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7475767135620117}
+{"content": "Site Information\n\n Loading... Please wait...\n\nAgarose D1 LOW EEO (A01-118)\n\nAgarose D1 LE\nAgarose Type D-1 LE Low Electroendosmosis is specifically prepared for the use in electrophoretic studies to analyze DNA fragments from PCR products and digestion by restriction endonucleases, among others. Obtained from seaweeds, mostly Gelidium spp, agarose is a polymer composed of several agarobiose units that aggregate into a network with varying pore sizes. This property is used to separate nucleic acid fragments based on their lengths. Agarose is a gel at room temperature and remains firm at temperatures up to 65 ºC. In order to gelify, agarose must be dissolved, heated to its melting temperature (85-91ºC) and cooled down to 34-37ºC.\nWrite Review\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9961708188056946}
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+{"content": "Products Overview\n\n\nFidelis Cybersecurity enables organizations to reduce the time to detect and resolve incidents, prevent data theft and stop attackers at every stage in the attack lifecycle.\n\nFidelis offers a complete portfolio of products, combined with proprietary threat intelligence, to equip our customers to proactively get one step ahead of any attacker - before they achieve their ultimate objective. With Fidelis, you’ll know when you are being attacked, you can retrace attackers’ steps and freeze them in their tracks.\n\nOur product portfolio covers the entire spectrum, offering solutions for network, endpoint and mobile.\n\nFidelis XPS™\n\nAnalyze all of your network traffic at multi-gigabit speeds. Fidelis XPS detects the tools and tactics of advanced attackers including advanced malware, exploits, command and control activity and data theft techniques that bypass traditional network security systems such as firewalls and intrusion prevention systems. It also identifies attacker behavior including lateral movement and the staging of data for theft. Fidelis XPS’ patented Deep Session Inspection® technology detects attacker activity across every phase of the attack lifecycle.\n\nResolution1 Endpoint\n\nIdentify compromised endpoints and automate your investigation and response. Resolution1 Endpoint is an Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solution that enables you to apply intelligence and proactively hunt for threats. With Resolution1 Endpoint you can accelerate the triage and validation of suspected incidents by eliminating time-consuming manual investigation steps that require highly skilled and hard-to-find security experts. Harvest rich system metadata from endpoints, correlate against Fidelis’ intelligence, threat reputation services and third-party threat intelligence feeds so you know which endpoints are compromised. When compromised endpoints are identified, you can automatically remediate them.\n\nWith Fidelis you can find attackers at every stage of the attack lifecycle.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9688847064971924}
+{"content": "Roman Buchatsky | רומן בוצ'אצקי\n\nRoman Buchatsky is a director, editor, and among the most promising and acclaimed creators of music videos and commercials. His work has garnered more than 280 million views on social media. Roman’s work is innovative and creates a rich visual world emphasizing a sophisticated aesthetic and a breathtaking sense of design. Roman has directed music videos for some of Israel’s hottest artists. Roman has a master’s degree in Design, Innovation, and Enterprise, and lectures at various Israeli institutions about design within the frame and television.\n\n\nצרו קשר", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9974216222763062}
+{"content": "Lori Lindsey is a former professional women’s soccer player who has represented her sport on both a national and international level. Her professional playing career spanned 12 years, with her most notable accomplishment representing the United States Women’s National Soccer Team at the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany, and as an alternate at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Lori is one of only four players to have played in all three U.S. professional women’s soccer leagues. She finished her career in December 2014 with Canberra United of the Australian W-League, where she played the past two seasons. Lori was a two-time All-American at the University of Virginia and ACC Player of the Year twice. Lori is best known for her infectious humor, hard work and perseverance, a necessity given the demands and unpredictability of a professional soccer career. Lori’s passion for fitness began during her freshman year in high school when she was first introduced to strength & conditioning. Growing up in Indiana, which isn’t considered a soccer hotbed, Lori realized she needed to find additional, creative ways to keep in shape since she was competing against other soccer players who lived in environments that enabled year-round training. Enter strength training. She quickly saw the benefits of such training and how it aided in her overall body awareness and athleticism, as well as ultimately keeping her injury free. During 2006-09, while also playing, Lori worked as a personal trainer at a commercial gym in D.C. This allowed her to pursue her passion and impart her knowledge of strength training to help others enhance their well-being. Lori’s love for learning and active lifestyle keep her motivated to stay up to date on the latest research in the fitness industry in order to deliver high-quality, easy-to-use information.\n\n2500x2500-01 (1).png", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8746715188026428}
+{"content": "Cost of living in Graz (Austria) is 134% more expensive than in Adana (Turkey)\n\nThis comparison is lacking data. It provides a decent comparison, but it is not yet reliable. It is based on 381 prices entered by 33 different people.\nFor example, you would need at least 13,119TL (€2,165) in Graz to maintain the same standard of living that you can have with 5,600TL in Adana.\n\nDo you live in Adana? We need your help!\n\nWhat is the price of\n\nPrepaid mobile tariff (no discounts or plans)\n\nin Adana?\n\n\nMake a different comparison:\n\nCompare cost of living between cities:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9489309191703796}
+{"content": "Article: Energize your workforce - 10 Ways Leaders Can Take Employees\n\nReprinted with permission © Canadian Manager\n\nToday’s employees—even those who may be engaged—are exhausted. Depleted of passion, resilience, verve and excitement, they are devoid of the personal energy that compels them to consistently go above and beyond the call of duty. To create a sustainable, innovative and high-performing organizational culture, businesses need to focus on both engagement and energy—essentially, moving “beyond engagement” as we know it today. Brain science provides us with an understanding of how to get there. Here are 10 ways for leaders to change the way they approach engagement—and put energy first.\n\nDownload for FREE", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9599953293800354}
+{"content": "Decision to change the criteria for the Fuel Poor Network Extension Scheme\n\nPublication date\n18th December 2017\nInformation type\nPolicy area\n\nThe Fuel Poor Network Extension Scheme (FPNES) helps households that are not connected to the gas grid to switch to natural gas by providing funding towards the cost of the connection. Access to gas, a cost-effective fuel for heating, can be a good way to ensure fuel poor households can access affordable energy supplies. To ensure that the FPNES more effectively targets fuel poor households we are changing the criteria for the scheme by removing the FPNES eligibility criterion that the households “reside within the 25% most deprived areas, as measured by the government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)”.\n\nThe change will take effect from 1 July 2018.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9977162480354309}
+{"content": "You are on page 1of 83\n\n\nRichard Levins ar)d\nRichard Lewonrin\n\nHarvard University ~ress\n'IInbrldg , Mu sn huseus, and London, 'nalund\n\n'opyrlght © 1985 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College\nAll rights reserved\nPrinted in the United States of America\n109 8 765 4 3 2\nThis book is printed on acid-free paper, and its binding materials have\nb en chosen for strength and durability.\n\nLevins. Richard.\nThe dialectical biologist.\nBibliography: p.\nIneludes index.\nI. Biology-Philosophy-Addresses,\n2. Biology-Social aspects-Addresses,\nI. Lewontin, Richard C., 1929Q1I331.L529 1985\nISBN 0-674-20281-3 (cloth)\nISBN 0-674-20283-X (paper)\n\n\" C o '1\"1'\n\nessays, lectures.\nessays, lectures.\nII. Title.\n\nTo Frederick Engels,\nwho got it wrong a lot of the time\nbut who got it right where it counted\n\n\n\nBOOK has come into existence for both theoretical and practical\nreasons. Despite the extraordinary successes of mechanistic reductionist molecular biology, there has been a growing discontent in the last\ntwenty years with simple Cartesian reductionism as the universal way\nto truth. In psychology and anthropology, and especially in ecology,\nevolution, neurobiology, and developmental biology, where the Cartesian program has failed to give satisfaction, we hear more and more\ncalls for an alternative epistemological stance. Holistic, structuralist,\nhierarchical, and systems theories are all offered as alternative modes\nof explaining the world, as ways out of the cul-de-sacs into which reductionism has led us. Yet all the while there has been another active\nand productive intellectual tradition, the dialectical, which is just now\nbecoming widely acknowledged.\nIgnored and suppressed for political reasons, in no small part because of the tyrannical application of a mechanical and sterile Stalinist\ndiamat, the term dialectical has had only negative connotations for\nmost serious intellectuals, even those of the left. Noam Chomsky once\nr 'marked to one of us, who accused him in a conversation of being insufTiciently dialectical, that he despised the term and that in its best\n,~.nsc dialectics was only another way of saying \"thinking correctly.\"\nNow dialectics has once again become acceptable, even trendy, among\n1111 illcctuals, as ancient political battles have receded into distant memmy. In psychology, anthropology, and sociology, dialectical schools\n1111 v , emerged that trace their origins to Hegel. In biology a school of\ndlulcctical analysis has announced itself as flowing from Marx rather\nthun directly from l lcgcl. Its manifesto, issued at the Bressanone ConI', -uc 'I\" 19HIby Ih Dlul ctics of Hi logy iroup, began, \"A strange\nI I' ' hils OV rcomc Irudlt ionul Wcat rn philo» phy of mind.\" The Bres11\\011 ('0111' I' '1\\\" did show Ih P(lW 'I' of' dtulccrtcal antilysis as a cri-\n\n\n\n\ntique of the current state of biological theory, although it left for the future the constructive application of a dialectical viewpoint to particular\nproblems and, indeed, an explicit statement of what the dialectical\nmethod comprises.\nAs biologists who have been working self-consciously in a dialectical\nmode for many years, we felt a need to illustrate the strength of the dialectical view in biology in the hope that others would find a compelling\ncase for their own intellectual reorientation. The essays in this book are\nthe result of a long-standing intellectual and political comradeship. It\nbegan at the University of Rochester, where we worked together on\ntheoretical population genetics and took opposite views on the desirability of mixing mental and physical labor (a matter on which we now\nagree). Later, working together at the University of Chicago and now\nat Harvard, in Science for Viet Nam and Science for the People, we\nhave had more or less serious disagreements on intellectual and political tactics and strategy. But all the while, both singly and in collaboration, we have worked in a dialectical mode. Each of us separately has\npublished a book that is dialectical in its explication, in the formulation\nof its problematic, and in the analysis of solutions (Richard Levins,\nEvolution in Changing Environments [Princeton University Press,\n1968); Richard Lewontin, The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change\n[Columbia University Press, 1974]). We believe that the considerable\nimpact of these books, the one in ecology and the other in evolutionary\nbiology, is a confirmation of the power of dialectical analysis. Both\nseparately and together we have published scores of essays, applying\nthe dialectical method, sometimes explicitly, sometimes implicitly, to\nscientific and political issues and to the relation of one to the other. Indeed, it is a sign of the Marxist dialectic with which we align ourselves\nthat scientific and political questions are inextricably interconnecteddialectically related.\nThis book, then, is a collection of essays written at various times for\nvarious purposes and should be treated by the reader accordingly. Except for their grouping under general categories, the chapters do not\nhave an ordered relation to one another. Material from some essays is\nrecapitulated in others. The book does not follow a single logical development from first page to last but rather is meant to be a sampler of a\nmode or Ihought. That is why we have called it The Dialectical BioloHlst rather than Dialectical Biology, which would announce a single coh rent pro] ct that w do n t intend.\n\n\nThe particular essays we have chosen reflect a purely practical concern.\nOver the years much of what we have written has appeared in languages\nother than English and in publications not usually seen by biologists.\nWe have repeatedly sent out photocopies of worn manuscripts, either\nin response to a request by someone who has heard a rumor of a certain\nessay or in an attempt to explicate a position. It seemed only sensible to\ncollect these hard-to-find essays in one place, especially since they often represent the best expression of our point of view. We have taken\nIhe opportunity to do some editing. For the most part the changes are\ntrivial, but in a few cases we have added some fresh material or inserted\nparagraphs from other essays to illuminate the argument. In one case,\nwe have eliminated a large chunk of irrelevant didactic material.\nAfter collecting these essays, we were dissatisfied. The assembled\nwork illustrated the dialectical method, but it did not explain what dialcctics is. Since the book is designed to be read by dissatisfied Carteslans, ought we not explicitly state our world view? Except for a sketch\nor it in \"The Problem of Lysenkoism,\" we nowhere touched on the\nsubject. We then set about to write a chapter on dialectics-only to discover that in twenty-five years of collaboration we had never discussed\nour views systematically! The final chapter in this book is an attempt to\nmake explicit what had been implicit in our understanding. It is only a\nII'NI attempt. Like everything else, it will develop in the future as a concquencc of its own contradictions.\nW' would like to express our gratitude to Michael Bradie, whose se-\n\n.riticism improved the last chapter. We are immensely grateful,\nBecky Jones, who helped make manageable order from a chaos\n01 munuscripts, revisions, and additions.\n\n\n----_ONE On Evolution .\n\n1977). which has developed in the last two hundred years. which was tlllllsilit xl Into 111111111 1'01 tll n 'y . like cosmology and thermodynamics. or social phenomena.l. Before the widespread acceptance of evolutionary ideas in I Ills .sncial. the history of living organisms on earth. T. has })ermeated all the natm:al . including anthropology. generally include only change and order. are theories of change. . It is a world view that encompasses t e ierarchically related concepts of change.hun c hus b n omitted here. and its future states are predicted 10 again differ from the present. while biological and sociological theories add the ideas of progress and even perfectability as elaborations of their theoretical structure.lopedlu. and future differ from one another is not in itself an evolutionary world view. A long section on the principles of evolutionary 1I\\-II~. vol. Change All evolutionary theories. order. and perfectability. direction. ltuly.L~ present state of a system is seen as different from its ast states. pres mt.hup: I' was first published as \"Evoluzione\" in Encic/opedia Einaudi. progress. and thermod namic~.sciences.\" The ideology of evolutionism. But the SImp e assertion that past. edited IIy (Hullo Ellluudl (Turin.. the theory of the evolution of life is only a special case of a more general world view that can be characterized as \" . Theories of the evolution of the inorganic world. The present text is the English original.and. bi010 . sociology. 3. biological. whether of physical. although not all theories of evolutionary processes include every successive step in the hierarchy of concepts.cosmolo y._______________________ 1 Evolution as Theory and Ideology THE IDEOLOGY OF EVOLUTION Although the concept of evolution has become firmly identified with organic evolution. linguistics.\n\n!l~nBe .e~at~riQ.. p.e ~lhe regular and charactenstic feature of natural and. was the prototype of a general.£!!ll?I~ quantItIes has been present. The myth of the Nogchi an !!2. only to repoPUlate it again from a handful of living beings especially preserved for that purpose. . conceived as the mode of existence. the inherent attribute QJ ~atter. U ' ascendancy o~ merchants. in which peasant ruld lord alike were feu !o the land.Ht' tTt'I'(f[J(fe ulT w '. In the nineteenth century Engels ~xpressed the socialist revolutionary ideology: \"Motion in tnelliOsi general ~nse. The world had been specially created III both Its natural aI\\d social form by the will of God.o.e occasional ~n~rvel11iQn. .!§Nue1J£.?!lsib!e .In this uniformitarian view.n into cell~ ~ that these forces will continue as a characteristic feature of living or'g~misms until the extinction ofthe\"livwg ~ Iti~umed that life in \"other parts of the cosmos will exhibit these same dynamic features.J1fcuuul llOcielY. present. such motion is assumed to be their essential characteristic.. il n'y a que Ie tout qui reste\" (everything changes. and future. in the transition from an Earth peopled by one set of ammals to the same Earth swarming with entirely new forms of organic life.ct Otlp.t~i1~ganizillio. all things pass.. only the totality remains) [1830] 1951. gratia. God's grace was removed from hiro. e&tonic. 09J.10 EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY ON EVOLUTION the nineteenth century. the only unchang- 11 ing features of the universe are the laws of change themselves.£.S.Q~ut the hist \" . In the eighteenth century this belief was expressed for the nascent bourgeois revolution by Diderot: \"Tout change. and natural.n§.>'Q. III III or I . recombination..&. A commitment to the evolutionary world view is a commitment to a belief in the instability and constant motion of systems in the past. \"'lID eor of or anic evolution ssumes that the rocesses of mutation.of £l~~ right up to thi.Jllg~orextraordinary force III an otherwise.!. which included botn floo~s and inundations by lava from eeriodic volcani~ activitx· In t~e do~aIll -Of social organization. rlu view l11It ~ well II slllie (IS only occuslouul ru UIU1US\\ of nature.QilliQ! t~y'QUl1.\\:~ befQ.!!.world ~~ees.J. tout passe. but these changes were regarded as exceptional alterations in a normally stable and static universe. --:rhe growth in the ideology of changilas an essential feature of natural systems was the necessary outcome of that slow but profound alt ration in European social relations that we call the bourgeois revolution.od. The breakina. by which God intervened to destroy the living w~rld. According to the (§lltormitarian view. All theories of change by th. . static U-Qiyerse stand jlJ . On occasion the state of the world underwent an alteration.osio~~E. and the organization of the world was a manifestation of that divine will.]tbe geologjcal processes of mountain bujlding and . it was assumed that classes were fixed III their relations by divine will but that occasional changes in the social status of individuals could occur as the result of the withdrawal or conferral of grace either by God or his earthly representatives. from ~~G. an(1 maruUac. each compelling us to refer its origin to the direct agency of Creative Interference.the arawiUi power in France of the nobless« de larohe in parullcl to I II' tul)! '.iQllary . a distinct mallifestation of creative power transcending the operation of known la.\"R c procnlly. I world vi 'W I II II 1\\1 It! ell III~C 11\\ '~.J)La.~:~ve 'been ~t.f. J'~ diu' I I OliN 1'11(. ~ckland's (1 83ft)1response to these discoveries was charactenstic: \"In the course of our enquiry.ems. non~volutio~ary theory of change. but such a change was abnormal. The increasingly frequent discovery of fossils in the eigh~eenth and nineteenth centuries made it apparent that new forms of life had appeared at various epochs and that old forms had died out. 'We conceive it undenia?le that we see.' \" The Noachian flood was generalized to a SUkcession Of floods in the theory oQ:lffiiYlltmsW:e. There is no fundamental difference between a theory that the world was pOPulated once by an act of special creation and one that postulates several such episodes.e. as evidenced by his severed head. but as Oliver Cromwell observed. social syst((ffi. TFie replacement of hereditary holders of power by those whose pow r derived from their entrepreneurial activities demanded an alteration in legitimating ideology from one of natural stasis and stability to on of unceasing change. both of the Beginning and the End of several successive systems of an~mal and vegetable life. the result of divine intervention in an otherwise unchanging universe. financiers.I. and will contiU1.turcr~.rumIs. l11' I 'ul( f' • 11111.setection have been the driving forces since the b~ginning Qi life •.~uJ». we have found abundant proofs. Uniformitarianism was first introduced into geology by James Hutton'in 1785 ) and expanded by Sir Charles Lyell in his Principles of Geology (1830).:.e~ and processes occurring in the\"'universe.llilM.:which was in turn £~ The genetaJ theory called catastrophism.. Charles I ruled de.nking\" ([1880] 1934..dire.Tn conlrndlctlon with n W. 56). comprehends all cha.down of the last vestiges o.~rk ~v.<?L th~ l?~ ~:!2. it was recognized that changes occur in natural and social systems.\n\nFor ~ergs.d unQro I:ce.!5:~of ~e~cnptlOn of communities have been chosen arbi- 1~·arfu...lIIs. sin~e there is no assurance that one can find a law by beginning With an arbitrary description.QdiicJt9j.theor~~voImlOnary geneiI9 has been more successful in building kinematH:fieories of evolutionary . Ev ry Hit 'mpt to find some ordered de- .o't elf i>i~. set of dimensions that describe the state of the system.tbejrj?t~jyg. if any. .t~!2!~lt.descr:..cds o( sp ct s c mp sit j n r Q community 11'11 -11 1 • III sp 'If ' r sinns thlli 0. This description is nothing but a list of changes. Attempts have been made to introduce ord. For unique qualities.mJ!..}n evolutionary eco ogy rather httle progr~~ b~en made ~n this pr~£!. which might require a very large number of dimensions to enumerate.aGirl1~~~ui~Qi~trJJS~~ tt~n..~ Nearly all evolutionary theories attempt to describe the outcome of the evolutionary process in terms of an ordered scale of states rather than simply as an exhaustive list of attributes.p.s. no evolution is occurring because there are only s~essi e~Qf. breeding structure of populat (. while an evolutionary I2rocess must give rise to new stat~ o[ orga!1ization:.r. are reduced to a scale of much lower dimensionality. and hemlocks. It must be possible to give a law of transformation T.i. is really congenial only in a revolutionizing society..go_~ t~~..of de~lQtJQnls. To choose among them it would be necessary to have a kinematic description of the evolution of the chan. maples.-. In New England an abandoned farm field is first occu~ied ?y va~ious herbaceous weeds. ( \\3 ON EVOLUTION . and so on.:LQ. But this theory is framed entirely in terms 01 III 'xt 'nSlv list of' th diff rent genetic types in the population and how t h It list 'hllIlS II in rim . 1 f r IIU\" Ii Ion .tlOns about either law \"or descrip~l!. is a :'natural or even an empirically useful dimension. migrations.ilm~.::. (3) bIOmass diversity including both the physical size of :. and successive states of the deck cannot be described except by enumerating the cards.Qr he.~.cbaQs. be~heory of the naturalness of ~nge. One form of evolutionary ecology is the theory of succession.adliJ.iUh~<19.eality. There is howev~~. . glve~ some. E(t) at time t.unity that could be phrased in terms of the chosen dimension. ~JL~ . . extensive descriptions of the system become ordered descriptions along a scale of complexity. hich asserts that v r r la t •v 1y sho t j) .of e¥Qlutiouary t~an~fo~mati~n Of.~h species and its relative abundance.ex.1:W:JiY1iiIGi1iii~iiLtg:~TSIandiIIg ci:9PJ)T-. Human beings see the natural world as a reflection of the social or~ari[~. but only because it has given up the attempt to introduce an ord 'red description.hangc. other set of external relations. later the white pmes give way to beeches. organisms are described as more or less complex. ~25. N~ne of th~~e measures contains the actual list of species or ili-.. unci n~tur~l selection.1.ternal relations betwe~r. more or less homeostatic. (2) species diversity.t. The development of a. environmental buffering.c. changes m (~) the total num~er of species.the role of being ano~r word f. ... Order Although change is a necessary feature of evolutionary ideology.. the sequence of cards changes continually. At the same time the unordered. because one set of external relations is as good as any. it has not seemed sufficient to most evolutionary theorists. birches.. ~n evolutionary world view. yet in some sense nothing is happening.&e ur oseless all..!::!th the Q.:. .!2L~h~Jlg«s 9f ths:. homeostasis.a system and of the al2l2ropriate dimensions.. but rather establishes a single quantitative dimension along which community compositions can be ordered. G\\l\"\"g.iiaterial.. ~kmg account b~th of the number of species and of their relative ~bundance.EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY 12 feature of natural systems was inconceivable in a social world of fixed hereditary relations. no a priori crit~~ion for decidi~g which of these.tLo.\\. rte ead wrote: \"Evo .~ rocess that cannot be carried out by apnon . If a deck of cards is shuffled over and ~. A major problem of evolutionary theories is to decide on the scales that the evolved states of a system are to be ordered along.9-!! and earl for example.!l..~~~ nothins fo••e~~. Ther~ can I\\1~rely. then by white pines.[ the orde Or&! erauon the inlsms w ll und rgo prcgi.But the sea~ch for a law of transformation cannot be carried out Without some Idea of the appropriate dimensions of description of the s~stem. of different degrees of responsiveness to environmental variation in their physiology or development. That IS. assump.yfuliUg~f a~ic. that will carry E(t) into E' (t + 1): E' (t + 1) = T[E(t)].in t d scrlbed sim- ply by listing the plant species and noting their relative abundance at successive stages.l~J. ' .er into the theory of succession by des~ribing amQDg oth~rs..In Science and the Modern World. or (4) the ratio of total rate of p.. Evolutionary or population genetics has an elaborllt • theory of the change in the frequency of genes in populations as a 'onseq~ence of mutations. One random sequence of cards is much like another. .isreduced-to . . In this way the changes in the system..e~isel~ becl!use the_ order~~ sla.\n\nform a repeated cycle with no general direction.d states may simply be a restatement of the underlying dynamic equations of the process. In evolutionary ecology it has been variously asserted that complexity. yet we are surprised (and rewarded) when a royal flush appears. a human ':2n\"cep11on that is historically contingent.:.!9 evolUUOi'l. \"'S'Ubiiiiitsof . or the ratio of biomass to productivity increases in time and that species diversity decreases or increases toward an intermediate value. tloll prlncipl s. In evolutionary genetics the reproductive rate of the population. according to which lava wells u to -.f~t ~ ter mto a flat. Wy tionjlr mcesses. \"6ut a-mode orbrganizing knowledge about the world. To assign the successive states of ap tvolu ion~sequence to some order requires a preconception of order.. 't. Borrowing from this tradition in physics. Glacial and interglacial periods cyclically follow each other.. Instead the of organization of roduction are lace cale as for ex~ple. __ l Direction ILan ordered description of the states in an evolutionary process h~ been created. -nle requirement of order marks the division between the pure!): mechanistic descriI?tions ..reQresented by\" 006zfiansk7s dictum. p. The recent theory plate tectonics.. It is assumed that the total amount of the earth's crust remains more or less constant in the process. in thermodynamics entropy increases. Described in this way. escn ed evolution as \"a change in the genetic composition of populations\" (1951. evolutionists have looked 1'01'ways to parameterize the quati ns r population ec logy or p puI ilion g n tics so that th y will app UI' us maximization or rninirniza. the earth as a whole must cool and all geotectonic processes must eventually come to an end but the extremely long time scale of this prediction takes it out of the'domain of geology pr~per... The processes of orogeny and erosion by ~hich mountains are raised and then slowly leveled by wind and wa..~of' II ponulnrlon ulw lYS ini'l I . he did so for lack of anything better. in the very long term. ~ent.--. and its average fitness have all been proposed as monotonically increasing with time. Even more generally. is also cyclic. Of course. t)\"'iiiy1ilstorical geology has been largely free of a theory of monotonic evolution. DNA. or the average fitness of individuals in it. which have their own general theories of directionality.lecular -. stability. 16).w I. the degree of divisio. Thus when the population geneticist 0 z ans y. as for example its averag$: size. so the description of evolution as producing order is necessarily an ideological one. since !~e sprea~mg of the sea floor causes the opposite edges of the major IIthosphenc plates to slip downward (subduction) into the earth interior where the material is again melted down...eJ.. Ideas of order are profoundly ideological. it becomes possible to ascribe a temporal direction. Indeed. The history of human culture is describ d not sirn I in term of the chun from huntin md nth rm t primitlv ricul- EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY 15 . .. featureless plain.are tIien descr1 ed as the unidirectional increase or decrease of some characte'istic. the choice of the appropriate ordered description of evolutionary states is largely the consequence rather than the precursor of decisions about direction. causing the raising and lowering of sea level and a long cycle of temperature change. by changing the parameters as laws of th. as .••. In the case of the deck of cards. its average size. has failed.!l of labor (Durl£ill. while for the evolution of life over geological time. II .dless reshuffling of tb. 'all \"sequences are equally pro6i\"b\"le7\"so any given completely mixed hand at poker has exactly the same probability as a royal flush.\" . Fish r's Iundarn 'HIlt! th or 'Jl1 of nuturul sclccrt n (JC). di~placing it to the borderline with cosmology and thermodynamics. In tl\"iissense evolution is neitFier 'a tact nor a theory.It III III m] t..e mi~imization of. evolution is nothing but \"r'\"_\" the ep. its rep[ru:l.O).arth's surface along major cracks under the ocean. b~dles and classical optics can both be subsumed under Fermat's principle of least action. only to be raised again in another orogenic episode. and nineteenth-century physics textbooks w r sometimes cast in these terms. the T~e s~ for a direction jn evolution is closely linked with the postul~'order. potential energy.llur basl<irii£.. whose transformations over t me can be described by a kinematic law..ture from feudal agriculture to capitalist industry..II~tive rate. EvolutIOna[y'pLocesSes... it has been suggested that organisms are becoming more complex and more physiologically homeostatic. leading in the extreme to the creative evo utIOlllsm of Bergson and }eilhard de Chardin.Lm) or the degree of complexliy1Spencer). Un f'orl1I11It Iy tit tll 01 1Il11l 11 d Ollt 10 h \"\"J . In classical physics the laws of the motion of bodies can be restated.14 ON EVOLUTION <fcription of a population. In one form of evolutionary cosmology the universe is said to be constantly expanding. although in some few cases the description of an evolutionary process as unidirectional along some set o! ordere. and those with some metaphys2. showln th It the uv rU8 filII s. :novements of.\n\nin some sense. \"I \\I lid IIIl 'III II\" 111111 d 11111d lnc I Ippli 'S only III St)' . such as the synthesis of certain amino acids. absolutely more fit by natural se10111 lection (see Chapter 2). Modern evolutionists largely agree. such as evolutionary ecology. and since the vertebrates evolved I tcr than single-celled organisms. r l. lncr ascd. marking Iltl III ull'Irorn Ihe inorganic. complexity must have increased. and of human society all progress from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous. In the absence of an exact theory of evolution. The rail~S Ih ught to be the most ~T' # . are highly mathematized. that II IV II en lost during the evolution of the vertebrates. And even if we are to accept sheer structural variation I III 1111'Ilion of complexity.!. is only a statement about the relative fitnesses of individuals within the population and makes no prediction at all about the absolute survival and reproduction of the population. If one starts with the assertion that structural 11111(11It V It I. Ot er ornams.i§~osed that d~ ic and~cial evoL4!. I h IHIPpOS d increase i e it and information during evoluI 1111 II ' <t . Yet the principle of the increase of relative fitness has been reified by evolutionists who suppose that species become. no kinematic equations exist for the process. LInd volv d from less cbmplcx ones. a very large 1111111111 I II. The principle that the genetic changes in a population under natural selection result in an increase in the mean fitness of the population. but the dynamics on which their mathematical structures are based are entirely hypothetical. predators. III lik ' 11111111 'I' '010 Isl h IV IllClIlplcuto lutd In tbc cquurtcus of sp 'ei 'S inl r 1'llolIS prluclples of minimization or unused res urccs or maximization I' 'flici 'HCY but. More often the kinematic equations of evolutionary processes cannot be recast in terms of a directional change in some intuitively appealing ordered variable or.!. even in the special circumstances where it is true. we do not know how to order it. and mammals in particular. with a decrease in complexity by randomization. 11111 I I pi .In I'ormuti n st r d during the ev lutionary process in the '\"ll1pl tru 'llIr s f advanced species. 'I 'riu are n t thc ancestors of modern vertebrates 'I V \\I lit plod\" .2!.t ar more complex. . the mathematical result has been reified.arises 1111111 lit '11111'11 01101' mod rn \"low r rganisms\" with an~ or1\\11111Mod III h . not to II \\~ III I lgnlng a metric to it.t 'd 'us's. tissues. I'Vlllllllol1lsts speak of the accumulation of \"negentropy. as the unique property of living systems. it may even be sma\\1er and have a lower reproductive rate.i2E. The scale most often appealed to ~.passed between the origin of the I It II lit' '111. Finally. 'I s 'Iy II till) III Id II of' III 'r IIsillg complexlty is the the ry thut modern orIII III xintuln mor lnformuti 11 ibout th nvironmcnt than prim iI VI 011 . it is possible to rationalize the assertion a 1111 I I III by 11\\Im ruling those features. and the consequent claims about the material world have often been confused or incorrect.. Vertebrates.1III'IlII'ully more complex forms may have appeared I I I 1111II vulutlnu \\I Y '(lll '1\\ '. after undergoing natural selection a population is not likely to be more numerous nor to have a higher reproductive rate than before. but bacteria can carry out many bioVIIIIt I C I''ucl ions. so in that sense 11111 I III II\" more complex. are regarded as more complex than ev. When such principles have been stated. Ih II npp ur later in evolution and declaring them to be more 1111111'1 'lilt svld nr circularity of this procedure has not prevented its hi 111'1III pi \\ '1Ic'. Ihut a thousand million years of cellula. and organ systems and in lid I p' .~Fir t~ how are we to measure the complexity of an or'1111I l't In what sense is a mammal more complex than a bacterium? ~I 1111111 lis h IV many types of cells..QlutiQIl •. In fact.iully I' 'sl ri . 0 III 1111111111 P' .\" of complexIIV \\ lid Informal in. like Fisher's tundarn ntal the rem. There is no indication that vertebrates in II I II lit 'r Into more direct interactions with other organisms than till Itll 'I I I. which have their own parasites. Among all evolutionary processes only geneti~ution within populations and statistical thermodynamics have w founded mathematical structures._ 1111111 01 III. of organic life.( of IIIor .Jane! societi~Utave become more com lex. such restatements apply nly in special cases. Ilid vmhlonra. which nevertheless may contain many truths. from the simple to the complex.faiUs!Jl. III III 1l1Ost IUVIII' d II III volutlon. which requires a general increase in entroPV IIId hOllloS ncity. for example.1 of the Cambrian and the first mammals at the begin'I' I uc ous. based on preexisting ideological commitments. Is a mammal more complex structurally III III I II h'l Yet 370 million years . and thus their theories are elaborate fictions. the supposed increases III IIIOf 11111 lion and c rnpl xity are regarded as exceptions to the seeIIl1d I IW of I h irrn dynamics. Spencer (1862) in his First Principles declared at the evolution of the cosmos. sevI II '1II1fllsions.w III II xc dill Iy C0ll111 X 11111 II. directions are ascribed to evolutionary processes a priori.lIt ON HVOI \\I I IIIN he 'wit II I . ••lutluu Wltll. even more often. 11111\\I I U 'ulty with c mplcxity as a direction.\n\n\"Entropy. At present living organisms exploit. and some amphibia are more complex than Homo sapiens. Modern \"primitive\" people are not the ancestors of \"advanced\" civilizations. It is not at all clear how th0 infu\"tiiFaiionin a structure is to be ~sw:ed. The confusion is further compounded by the relation of metaphorical notions of complexity and information to the second law of thermodynamics.18 ON EVOLUTION they have not replaced the less complex but coexist with them. more and more alike in their mean energy levels. for their maintenance and reproduction. so as time goes on the universe will become 11101' . Evolutionists have incorrectly interpreted this theory to mean that all molecules would have the same kinetic energy rather than that collections of molecules would have the same distribution of energies.\" was introduced in the nineteenth century a a property of EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY 19 the universe that is always increasing. the universe came into being more than ten thousand million years u in a restricted region of space. contradictory modes may coexist. held by their gravitational uul I '110111' n tic fore's. Life cannot exist without free energy and is constrained in its ev ion by thermodynamic necessity. the theory of the expanding universe. it meant simply that different regions of the universe become. all matter having been created in an Inll iat explosive burst. This spreading is only global. because that description says nothing about the millions of years of evolution within grades of organization. A thir~ difficulty is the equation of complexity with information. Evolution cannot be the change from less to more complex in general. While it is appealing to speak of \"information\" about the environment being \"encoded\" in the structural and physiological complexity of organisms. Matter continues to expand in all directions iround the point of origin. Thus the expanding-universe cosmology.\" which is the Greek equivalent of the Latin \"evolution. Nothing in the theory of organic evolution demands the replacement of earlier grades by later grades of organization. later. is superficially similar to another directional cosmology.Evolution t ermo namics ith its directionality embodied in I he second law. the differences in kinetic energy between regions of space. ( . According to this cosmogony. so less and less useful work can be derived from their interaction. \\I1d does not mean that individual clumps of matter like planets will 1\\ 'C 'ssorily break up. . they have confused kinetic energy with gravitational and electromagnetic energy and have supposed that a general second law guarantees that all the molecules in the universe will eventually become equally spaced out into a formless and orderless final state. and more thinly spread out. also has specific historical content. The kinetic theory of gases and. the evolution of organisms must accord with the entropic changes in the physical universe. Marxist historical theory predicts the eventual replacement of one mode of production by another universally.[ganism by the Shannon information measwe. Moreover. and at the same time they contribute to the increase in entropy. so the judgment that their society is less evolved than OUI\" requires making an a priori decision about the succession of stages that are to be taken as a description of social evolution and postulating that some groups have become arrested in their social evolution. whatever its other properties. However. The only concrete suggestIon for organisms is to re ard the enes as a co e ma e up 0 reer words with a [our-letter alphabet). In actual fact. in that the acciIII 111111 1\\' mmulatlons or matter resulting from the original unique v lit will r muln permanently in existence. In the original macroscopic form of thermodynamics. not an exact. although for long periods different. In contrast. then calculating the information in the t9tal. Given the belief that the physical universe is moving toward a static death rather than a thermodynamic equilibrium in which molecular motion continues. The same confusion exists in anthropology. The problem is that complexity and information have only a metaphorical. by this measure many invertebrates turn out to have more information than many vertebrates. such statements remain in the realm of poetry. it is no surprise that evolutionists believe organic evolution to be the negation of physical evolution. The Bushmen of the Kalahari have as long a history as any other human group. equivalence. statistical mechanics reinterpreted this principle to meanthat in any defined region of space the kinetic energy of molecules would eventually have the same distribution as in any other region of space because connections between the regions would lead to a randomization of the molecules and a redistribution of energies through collisions.g~~~~e\" for each 2. and some strong theoretical reasons from ecology suggest that coexistence is to be expected. and we do not know what the social structure was in the prehistoric ancestral human groups. howver. whll • dlr • 'lional. The difference between contemporaneous grades based on time of first appearance and strictly historical sequences marks off organic evolutionary theory from a social theory like historical materialism. The scale of comparison then ceases to be a temporal sequence and becomes instead a contemporaneous scale ordered by time of first historical appearance. in time.\n\nAn alternative is a cyclic expansion-contraction theory. But it has been about 350 million years since vertebrates invaded the land and 150 million years since they first exploited aerial environments. Oil • finds both increases and decreases in diversity in the sueII 1111 of sp 'des composition in temporarily disturbed terrestrial and It . In general. is seen as the outcome of all dynamic processes. herbivores will reproduce at a somewhat lower rate. This means that diverse assemblages of organisms are more stable so diversity is also seen as a direction of evolution. Bondi. If the present continents II. competitors. tII . and so on. The entire metatheoretical structure of present-day evolutionary theory consists in the interconnection of these concepts. Evolution leads to greater and greater diversity. no empirical generalization is possi\"' At tit. and taking the fossil record as a whole. and ~Id have proposed nondirectional theories of the cosmos. and behavioral characteristics that result in the maintenance of certain physiological states at a constant level despite environmental fluctuation. sweating. Pangaea. For example. by varying other characteristics in response to signals from the environment. and o~~os~nt~oduced by Cannon In 1932 as a general principle of physiology. complexity. all strongly interconnected in their population dynamics. panting. for example the slow but steady increase in the number of fumilies of bivalve mollusks over the last 500 million years. that in other regions of space it may be decreasing. On t he time scale of ecological rather than evolutionary I It IIII' 'S. It together again. It is through stability that complexity and homeostasis become connected in evolutionary theory. and stability of the living world. From the beginning of life on earth. If grass becomes sparse because of fluctuations in rainfall. and the net effect will be to stabilize the community at somewhat lower numbers temporarily without any species becoming extinct. -nvlronmcnts. Long-term trends toward diversity do appear for partI iular groups. In such theory matter is constantly being created anew. but their predators will also be reduced by the lower abundance of prey. while insects occupied both land and air at least 300 million years ago. in that the variety of organisms. especially evolutionary ecologists. the return of a system to its previous state after a perturbation. as measured by the number of genera or families. The suggestion that organic evolution leads to an increase in complex~tyis closely tied to the. The extraordinary feature of this conceptual structure is that it has no apparent basis either in fact or in theory. Recently. however. and dynamic stability. Mammals maintain a constant body temperature over a very wide range of ambient temperatures by varying their metabolic rate. and one 21 primary food sources. no apparent increase in overall taxonomic or ecological diversity has occurred for the last 150 million years. III II I • III' r 'P 'ut 'd claim Ihat greater complexity and diversity lead to \"1\" . homeostasis is the maintenance at a constant level of those characteristics whose constancy is essential to survival. is the most resistant to the effect of perturbations in the environment. has claimed that complexity results in stability. producing an oscillating universe with a very long cycle time. the diversity of marine mollusks will inevitably de• \\ '. structural. Homeostasis is thought to increase in evolution because it results in stability. dilation of blood vessels. But such II 'lids are in part an artifact of taxonomic practice. beginning l\\lolll 250 million years ago. both in the number of species and in the kind of habitats they occupy. ertainly. so that despite the expansion of the universe. and that the universe as a whole is in a steady state. Diversity of form and function together with strong interdependence of the diverse elements are the components of complexity. Hoyle.20 EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY ON EVOLUTION Even in thermodynamics and cosmology. the average density of matter remains the same. in part the result of t II' roarer likelihood of finding more recent fossils. and in part the relilt of the breakup of the single large continent. the assertions of uniform direction have been challenged. simplified. Organisms have a variety of physiological. it has long been supposed that a community of species with many different predators. Evolutionary ecologists have extended the concept of homeostasis to entire assemblages of species that are related to each other by predation and competition. erection of body hair. homeostasis. We have already shown the problems of measuring complexity and demonstrating its increase during evolution. which in turn leads to stability through greater homeostasis.oretical level the situation is even more extraordinary. decomposers. diversity certainly has increased. in turn. is thought of as a consequence of strong interactions among many diverse elements with different functions. is greater now than it was in the Cambrian. Virtually every modern theorist of evolution. which created a much greater diversity of III u ln • habitats as a temporary historical fact. Different groups have reached their peaks of diversity. Complexity. In thermodynamics it has been postulated that entropy may be increasing only locally. at different times. in a physical environment that is increasingly uniform.\n\n\\'. even in the most recent fossil horizons.\\' 'w of 11111 'I 'cnlh-c mtury vclutionis s was quite differ~nt. but all .. no rigorous argument has ever been offered in support of this theorem and. each dependent upon the others. No species can ever he p . complexity. mov m 'Ill I'rOI11 worse 10 better.. worsening environment. predators. 1973).22 ON EVOLUTION greater stability. There is no trace in the fossil record that the formation and extinction of species have ceased or even slowed down. as a legitimation of the overturning of old class relations. always decaying with respect to the current adaptation of species. I 1111 species are close to their optima. by adding more species or by increasing the strength of the interaction. and rates of morphological change within evolu. Iionary lines remain high. Like modern bourgeois social thought. how can the world be in a steady state? The answer given is that the environment is constantly changing. consonant with a newly stabilized society. An ironic result of this view of evolution has been that the environmentalist movement of the present day has used the preoccupation with stability and complexity of natural communities of species to oppose the expansion of the very capitalist system of production that gave rise to the ideology originally. from 1111 V III III . on the contrary. Moreover.. In I hi wily m dern evolutionary theory solves the apparent contradiction III I W \\ -n I he observation of continued evolution and the ideological de11111lit! Ihat I h ' assemblage of organisms be stable and optimal. In cosmology the perpetual-creation theories and the expansion-contraction theory postulate that the universe is in a long-term tcady stale or a cyclic oscillation. Although individual elements in the system are changing place. with an immense division of labor and very strong interactions among the component parts. and prey evolve. The society that has been produced is one of great complexity. the consolidation of that revolution in the latter part of the nineteenth and in the twentieth century has required a different view. but nothing is II ippcning globally. For social theorists the bourgeois revolution was the last step in a social evolution away from artificial and unstable hierarchies to a natural social structure based upon the free movement of individuals according to their innate abilities. and because lilly change makes previous adaptations obsolete. While change and motion were the intellectual motifs of the bourgeois revolution. the stability of the modern social order is thought to be provided precisely by the complex interactions among the individual units. with no trace of their past histories..rrccuv adapted because each is tracking a moving target. The emphasis on equilibrium must nevertheless accommodate the obvious fact that evolution continues to occur.fQr vulutlon m unt I ro r ss. In this view the continued evolution of organisms is simply k 'cping up with the moving. Species become extinct if they volve 10 slowly to track the moving environment or disperse too lowly 10 keep up geographically with their preferred environment. and stability as the trends in evolution can only be understood as ideological in origin. The literature of theoretical evolutionary genetics and evolutionary ecology is almost totally taken up with finding the conditions of stable equilibrium of genes and species or with trying to distinguish different special theories of phenomena on the assumption that they are in stable equilibrium. but the hierarchy of social relations is thought to be unchanging. the probability that the community will be stable to perturbation decreases rather than increases (May. The description of the evolution of biological systems is a mirror of the supposed evolution of modern bourgeois society. in the same way individuals may rise and fall in the social scale. The chief controversy in evolutionary genetics for the last thirty years has been whether the observed genetic variation among individuals is maintained by natural selection or is the consequence of repeated mutations of unselected genetic variants. Theories of organic evolution are now entirely preoccupied with stability and dynamic equilibrium. Proponents of both schools depend upon elaborate mathematical analysis and statistical treatment of data on the assumption that populations in nature are in an equilibrium state. modern evolutionary thought denies history by assuming equilibrium. The emphasis on diversity. Thermodynamic the ri sallow that ntropy may be increas- EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY 23 ing only locally in space-time. it has been shown that as this complexity increases. The environment worsens because resources are II 'd up.. If complexity of a community is defined as the number of species interactions multiplied by the strength of the interactions. the system as a whole remains in a steady state. Change had to be tamed in science as it was in society. because competitors. 11'1/ I'/'. recent mathematical and numerical studies in both the theory of community ecology and in population genetics have shown exactly the opposite to be true. The result has been an emphasis in modern evolutionary theories on dynamic stability. In the twentieth century there has been a general change of emphasis from directionality to steady-state theories of evolution. If evolution and adaptation continue to occur.\n\nrud Ihe Irajectory of the process is predicted. In kineIII . So the eye is a solution to the problem of seeing. pro r 'ss csscnt ially consists\" ([1857] 1915. have been I I II IlV'I from economics and political science as techniques for pre11I 1111md . Most modern evolutionists have tried to expunge anthro ic moralism from their theories. there is the question of deI hili how g d the solution is for a given problem.1 1111. The concept of adaptation is that the external wui ld s '114certain \"problems\" for organisms and that evolution conI I III \"solving\" these problems. The moralism in Ideas of evolutIOnary progress is seldom made explicit but is usually hidden in the assumption that the human species represents the highest and best form of nature. v IIY IIi' th • am unt r admitted light. then. There is another sense in which evolutionary sequences are regarded as progressive and in which the moralistic element comes directly from . no species is ever exactly at its optimum.II I h or! 'S u few basic assumptions are made about the mechanics III 11111I I III' • 01' the elementary rules of population growth. but extant species 1\\ v I 'hi ived near-optimal solutions and would improve their fit if the IIVuuun 111remained constant for a sufficient period. lungs of breathing. Even if il were. replacing purely kineIII III III Oil's of population genetics and population ecology. some 1111111 III optimization theory. in language. Man leads all the rest.()OY 2~ ON EVOLUTION inferior to superior. but also the obvious fact that the organisms showed a III II V lous III to nature. 10 .>ert Spencer. with species fighting a rearguard action against a threatening environment. so one can judge how close to optimum the 1IIIIIIoIIUI'Yprocess has brought the organism. revolutionizing bourgeoisie committed to destroying the old restrictive social relations in the nineteenth century and an entreriched but embattled capitalism asserting its stability and permanence in the face of a deteriorating world situation in the twentieth.!£ idea of'jirogrcss r qulr 'S 11 t nly a theory of direction but also a moral judgment.have reverted to nineteenth-century progressivism. The organism 11111 t luv I I III'UIIl! '11'1' Y 10 1I. \"a beneficent necessity. . that trend would not be progressive unless some general theory of value made it so. and so on down to atomic particles. \"Man is the only absolute parameter of evolution. body and mind\" is the highest. other animals are next. The most influential spokesman of evolutionary progress in the nineteenth century. just as an engineer designs a machine III ulv 1Iproblem. and of liberal democratic man in world society.. which evolutionists have taken directly from the eco11111111 oil' IpllulIS11l. of which \"human existence. plants the next. in forms of political organizalion. luv 'SIIll'1I1 partly in U . II is assumed that organisms are struggling foJ' re1111111III II 1\\1' 111shon supply. J. For Teilhard de Chardin (1962). the optimum is described. In fact. Spencer claimed that: \"From the earliest traceable cosmical chang~ down 10 I e atcst results of civilization.qulrc Ih sc resources. Her!. W II of flying.xplanation in organic evolution. a postulate introduced by Darwin after h I 1111 MIIIIhllS'N h:\"say Oil/II Principle of Population. which sees all of evolution as leading to entrepreneurial man. I volutlunury th ory was meant to explain not only the manifest diverIv of 01 unisms. For him change of any sort and in any direction was by its nature progressive. is the contrast between the optimistic.\" The contrast between Spencer's belief in the intrinsic progressivism of change and the present belief in stability and dynamic equilibrium. we shall find that the transformunon of the homogeneous into the fieterog~eous is that in whi~h. Putting aside the great difficulties ul II' -ldlng what problem is posed by nature. and in the history of organic life. of industrial man in the world economy. and it reinvests \\I 1 11111111111111111. but a few.quiring fresh supplies of reI . Optimization 1 II 111I h IV' no kincrnatics. Present evolutionary III IIIY issumcs that such optima can be specified for particular situ aI 1111 Illd Ihut evolution can be described as moving organisms toward III IlpllllWI s lutions.&!:!lntedthat or~anic evolution resulted jn an increase in complexity. and the state of the sys- III 11111IIIIIp II xl Ie it.\\III()N AS IIII!()I{YANI) 1J)i\\OI. This requires a criI I 1111M optimality. equated progress with change itself. a predicII III 1111III IIleal or numerical machinery is constructed from these as111111. in economic relations. The shibboleths of progressivism are the superiority of man in the cosmos. such as eilhard d I . I urwln laid spcclal emphasis 011the \"perfection\" III \\1114Ilk th .INU Ii'V r I st of his theory of evolution by natural selection. 1'1111II lIlopllmizati n pr gram into practice requires a general theII IIllIpl III 1111 y.\" by which he means not merely organic but cosmic evolution. It is assumed that evolution carries a sys1 11I1t1 I IIplllllllll1. Because the problems are always changing I hlly. But Spencer did not offer any other justification for the progressive quality of change. tie believed that this I rUl1slQrtmlt!On 1a occurred in the arts.24 HVOI. This is an echo of Whitehead's (1938) division of occurrences in nature into six types. We have. and compensating for aberraI 1111. with its c mplex arrangements for focusing.yc. a kind of Whig biology. or what problem a parI 11111organ is a solution to (see Chapter 2). 111101111' It! 'ology. including the theory of games.\n\nperfectability ddes not imply that evolution will cease when perfectjon is reached. yet the moralistic and ideological overtones of \"efficiency. to Rrogress toward oerfection\" (p. 4S9). Perfectability Darwin's contemporaries believed that evolutionary progress led tQ.Jllii In 1859. including radioactive and thermonuclear forms of energy. If the bird searches only for the largest particles. In nature food particles vary somewhat in size. and the cheap resources of outlying regions. nor as far as we can judge by our limited faculties can absolute perfection be found predicated\" (p.\" and \"best use of time\" seem never to have come to the consciousness of evolutionists.EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY 26 27 ON EVOLUTION source and partly in reproducing.. are explicitly progressivist and perfectionist. if the bird takes the first particle encountered. Outside the domain of biology.\" \"waste. or growth of the firm. The optimizing theory of evolution assumes that time allocation will be close to optimal for maximizing total investment in reproduction. and an eventual elimination of social classes.\" \"maximum return on investment. In theory the bird will choose particle sizes that will maximize its net return per unit time. whether of time or invested energy. An example is the problem of time allocation in birds that gather food and bring it back to the nest to be consumed (central-place foragers). serfs. may be such an organism. Since he knew that neither of these conditions is unfailing. the exploitation of lnv s. In nonsteady-state thermodynamics. At the cone usion of Origin of Spedes DarWIn wrote that \"as natural selection works solely by and for the good of each being.I IlIlIstIll'sl b 'r aliz c. although characters \"tend to progress toward perfection. \"thatPerfection of structure and coadaptation which justl excites our admiratIOn arWIn . One is the expenditure of the least amount of energy for each unit of resource acquired and the other is the allocation of the largest proportion of acquired surplus to reproduction. although it is sometimes postulated that the human species. More general direction\"I cosmological theory makes the same prediction for an expanding universe. However. entropy is increasing everywhere. Because of the theory that the environment changes. it may be so small that again the net return is too small.lio. is succeeded hv 1\\ bourgeois revolution and the breaking of feudal and slave relalOlls Ihrough the introduction of liberal democracy. p. That organism is most successful which acquires the greatest net surplus for investment in successful reproduction. this may be so time consuming that the energy of searching and return is not sufficiently repaid. Darwin knew that universal perfection of adaptation required that the necessary variation must arise and that the organism's rclati nship to th nvironm nt must r III tin constant v r a long period. who adhere to these social norms unquestioningly. subject to the requirement that sufficient surplus is available for new acquisition. I' I WIN ANI) HV LUTION 1111 /lIfI'Allf'(l//lU/ of Darwinism III 11I1i1t'lslalld the c. all corporeal and material endowm!illts will tenc:!. The parallel with thermoIIYII11111 . JlIIlil'larian democracy.\" Thus Darwin stopped short of the Panglossian view that evolution has resulted in the \"best of all possible worlds. 'quilibrium is striking.1evI pm nt of the modern theory of organic 111111 1111. to each ac1111 d Il~10his needs. Ilvolutionary theories of social systems. specifically Marxism and some or its variants. spending long periods away from the nest leaves the young vulnerable to predators. 3). On the other hand. 206). The perfectly homeostatic organism that could survive better than any specialized form in every environment is regarded as a biological impossibility. In practice the criteria for these problems of optimum resource allocation are minimum time or maximum yield. The resulting unI I hing of productive forces in turn leads to proletarian revolution.\" a view that characterizes much of the adaptational thinking of twentieth-century evolutionism. In such theories the criterion of optimality is efficiency. evolutionary theories do include the postulate of a final state to which the system is converging. so some proportion of time must be invested in guarding the nest. There are then two criteria of optimality.'11111dlffcrentiation of individuals will persist in social activity and I' I ouul life pattern: \"From each according to his abilities. A stage of prhnitive capital accumulation through piracy. .1thutDurwin was the culmination and 11111 III III III or 11111'1'nth-c utury Yoiu. and eventually the universe will approach a steady state of maximum entropy in which no work can be performed by thermal interaction. yet earlier he was cautious: \"Natural selection will not necessariliproduce absolute perfection. he realized that perfection is not inevitable. when Ori- .\" but the entropy of the social system is maximized ~ IIt I 'S)) ct to the categories of economics. with its faculty for culture.\n\n'g organism was regarded as a 1VI' .I1. are nl lally a distraction.J. grandson of a peasant turned peddler. while the study of the types themselves will rev il thc essential underlying structure of the universe.r!Pfiys~rote in \"In Memoriam\" that nature did not preserve \"the type\" but that \"From scarped cliff and quarried stone/ She cries. putting . Between 1794 and 1830 in France. of philosophy..z-t9. Spence['~influence was enormous.~erlYing. b~fore 1859.28 ON EVOLUTION gin oj Species was published.•• ~~. In social scienc'. reinforced the ideology of chang and mov m nt for Darwin. provided a historical sketch of the writings on organic evolution prior to his own. a self-made man.!basi~ lnw III motion. A corollary of this Ivpological approach is that the variation among objects of a given Iyp is ontologically different from the variation among types. Spencer. Nevertheless.I Iholll'ht to b Ion to th sp ci s are matched.\" ind the actual individuals in nature were imperfect manifesta111111Ill' Ih ' Irue species ideal.. Darwinism and Materialism The pervasiveness of evolutionism. Darwin set out on the voyage of the Beagle at the height of the agitation for the Reform Bill of 1832. resulting from the political economic revolution. volutionary cosmology as foundMeta hysical Foundations 0 Natural Science of 1786 and nebular hypothesis of 1796 Hutton principle of uniformitarianis appeared in 1785 and became the dominant view in geology as a result of its centrality i~rinciPIes Oj~1830. Erasmus. The ideals had no material rorm Gut could be glimpsed \"through a glass. Charles Darwin's grandfather. This was the concept of the ideal type. in the third edition of Origin oj Species in 1861. real obj!. Actual specimens . if not dom.m.' \" (part 56.ldeal g. Biology was the last domain of intellectual life to incorporate the ~volutionary world view. and the problem of science was to infer these types despite the mpcrfection of their manifestations in the world.(cts.ti world were imDerf~c! mapirestations of u. And the histories of religion. His epic poem Idylls oj the King established that \"the old order changeth. Even at present the type is still used in I III1IlIIlY:II is u single individual that is deposited in a collection and 1111'II IS Ih slnndard of comparison against which all other indihlu . Around 1840 t. Not only the intellectual realm.lltterns. Each species of livi. darkly\" by studying real objects. the e ar world vi already peratural and social science.' ick ns scribed the destruction of the old order in Dombey and Son (1 6) and Bleak House (1852) and made it the cenpal theme of Hard Times (1854). Darwin's paternal grandfather. stanza 1). and Matthew Boulton.GmarcU and Qeoffroy Saint-Hilaire) developed theories of organic evolution that contradicted the powerfu~n Cuvf~attempt to explain the fossil record by repeated floods.Qt1.IIIlOli n from real motion. In 1857. yielding place to new. The difI I inces among objects within a type are the result of \"disturbances\" whl ih. that languages. in part because it directly threatened ideas C!f the uniqueness and superiority of th~ humaD SvSs.:. and he had developed most of his ideas for Origin ojSpeciesby the time of the revolutions of 1848. instead of being artificially or supernaturally formed. have been developed. Charles's father took forty pounds of Erasmus's money and made himself well to do by his own activity.. of science. he could claim that \"it is now universally admitted by philologists.SttlJ&tr. in Progress: Its Law and Cause. James Watt. that was consonant with the older static world order.Pty s. show that these have passed through stages. Evolutionary thermodynamics was egun b~\"\".R~ce were exa~~~~~ II .. the very epitome of the new class of self-made industrialists. which expressed romanticized but remarkable prescient views of the origin and evolution of life. all shall go.the. ot 1824 and came to full development in 1851 in the work of William Thomson.. belonged to the social circle of new midland industrialists that included Wedgwood.inant. of the fine arts. of the industrial arts. Darwin himself. The purpose of scientific study was to understand the ideal types. Josiah Wedgwood.\" (p. According to this view. including man.?!llictionhlq£!~§~ 111 II' '''Pili ion of finite ~ace b mass in ord. argued for the evolution of life on the basis of the generality of the principle of evolution in every other domain. the 'idea of o\\ganic evol~tion was widespread. in th. Newton's ideal 1111111moving in s.k. began as a poor apprentice and became a great industrial magnate. 62rasmus \"DarwnQ published Zoonomia in 1794 and The Temple oj Nature in 1803. led to a serious contradiction with an older intellectual tradition. 9). 'a thousand types are gone:/I care for nothing. His EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY 29 maternal grandfather. but the family and political milieu as well. in 1857. at a time when the high Tory prime minister was Robert Peel. inherited from Plato and Aristotle. James Keir. English literature of the first half of the nineteenth century was thoroughly iIllTUwGidth evolutiDnjst ideology. although they may have some subsidiary intrinsic Sa .\n\nconcentrating on the real and material differmces among the living organisms themselves. which very much weakened its appeal even to his c~~a~. which would in turn stretch to reach still higher leaves. One of the major arguments for divine creation of species was that organisms seemed designed to fit their environments. populations of specimens whose statistical properties are taken as representative of the species as a group.. the contradiction between change. The transformation occurred because the animal sensed the need for more food.ion. since that was already widely believed. Modern taxonomic practice has moved away from this tradition in part by designating holotypes... and this need instituted a change in form that was an adaptive response. since in the process of continuous reproduction some instant must mark the passage of living material from one type to another. us the proper objects of study. and sometimes the type specimen turns out to be quite untypical of the species as a whole. and so on over time.Jlle. who simultaneously developed theories of evolu11011 by natural selection.o ~sed t~at types changed suddenly at the time of re roduction by major Jumps m structure than by the re-creation of small changes. Darwin dated his concept of natural seI ctlon from his reading in 1838 of Malthus's widely known Essay on (/It' Princiole of Pooula(.It) -I- k.. The theory of ideal types established the problematic for pre-Darwinian evolutionary theory: how do organisms pass from one type to another or. Lamarck did not apply the theory to them. pr. When Origin oj Species appeared. us the gira e s re c ed its neck to feed 'on higher leaves. it is necessary to idenI y IJle force for. l'he Darwinian Theory Once it is assumed. resulting in a struggle 11110111' people for resources in short supply.bat eyolutionary change is the result of the convc sion of variation amoIlg !~divid.\" Darwin began Origin oj Species with the chapter \"VariIlclll und 'r Dom stication \" wed ~arallel \"Variation under Domesucation\" rved two functio s. individuals and populations.cOllY.t. which resulted 1111111 I he struggle for survival.Jin co~trast.~als into variatiol1.' -'It .. neither of which could be satisfactory from either a physical or a metaphysical standPoinQ~marck'sJheO~Y was that oranisms chan ed t pe slowly by the accretIOn of small differences during the individual's lifetime. Malthus's argument was that human reI'lIIduction caused the population to grow geometrically. Darwin regarded differences within species and differences among species as ontologically related. or at some instant a new type must come into existence and be represented by a material form that at the previous moment had belonged to a different type. as did the metaphorical term \"najuI II It'ctIon.ers~to describe he.u)Ver time.. we need ~namics and I species utd of successive alteratio s If §. For both Darwin and AI\" II Russel Wallace. Malthus's human struggle was the model for II p' -I'So But the theory of natural selection arose independently tuuu Durwin's study of Malthus.. The resultant change had to be incorporated into the heredity of the He took differences among individuals as the primary object of study.. Two general solutions to this dilemma were offered.-h l J Y\\A . Since plants were not regarded as having such feelings of need. while the re~Cl\\ll ' s available grew only arithmetically. the offspring of this giraffe would have a slightly longer neck. An acceptable theory of evolution would need to account for this fit as well as offer a convincing mechanism for the origin of new varieties. Instead of regarding variation among individuals s ontologically different from the differences among species.fhanism by which the force converts the variation. but in his rejection or Platonic-Aristotelian idealism and his total reorientation of the nrohlematic of evolution. He replaced the ideal enIii ies. 1 <:1'1 \"'-~I\"\\/'\\. tile an ruit tr es. how can new types come into existence? The fact that all organisms were the offspring of other organisms made the problem even more!GhAAismfor this transformation. had not been satisfactorily resolved. alternatively.bat. Darwin supplied both. species. The motive force for these abrupt changes was not made clear.30 EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY ON EVOLUTION vary from the type. That is. with the material entities. np Ipii ns. The force postulated by Darwin was natural selection. Darwin's revolutionar insi ht was that Ihe differences among individua s Wit in a species are converte mto the differences a on t!_ciesin s ace and time. as demanded by the evolutionist ideology and the Platonic-Aristotelian ideal of fixed types.t.p~ie.t_Hil. Theproblematic of evolutionary theory then became-and remains to the resent day-to provi e t e. 31 Darwin's intellectual revolution lay not in his theory that organisms evolved. nor did the theory help to understand the obviously adaptive nature of the differences between organisms.\n\n: JlIIIIIC resources in short suRRlyand rejny!rst tbQse [kSQlm. If somehow the variant form were to reproduce its own 11111.WJn certain direc i. 2. e extended the analogy with human struggle beyond Malthus in the principle of sexual selection in which he appropriated the Victorian view of the relations between men and women. This superior efficiency is a manifestation of 1111I greater degree of engineering perfection for solving the problem _ I hy Ihe environment.<lll~_ ture\"gives suc~§~iye ¥'I. \"Cheprob~~~JlJ&!JJ. I 111111. \"\"'- t . I IIwin's theory. a personified Nature.9_I1LQm. IIIII I IIIIIry. ree s were created by deliber• ate seIechon: \"The key is man's I20~~~.but for adaptation as well. morphology. or atoms.()(1Y 33 I'h dynamic are provided by the struggle for existence. both by being more attractive to them in courtship displays and by physically excluding competing suitors..Q. and the species will change progressively. The concepts of variation and selection were thus intimately tied together through the consideratIOn of domestication.:.hunism for passing from individual variations to transforma111111 III species.I 32 ON EVOLUTION EVOLUTION . if a particular variant leaves more offspring than another variant. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire's theory of saltation 1IIIIdIII least be substantiated by the occasional observation of a grossIv II IIl'l . G 1111Illy r moved in spirit and method from the Darwinian revolu~ \" II I I 11 110'l coth century. Darwinian evolution by selection I I III \\ I III is /I s 'If-ne. fields. •••' d it explained how t ese Iv~r. 3. Provided that offspring resemble their parents more than others. created a mechanism for evolution that was in contrast to the mere ex_ptCmations of Lamarck and Geoffroy Saint-Hilqi{e. From these three principles it follows mechanically that evolution will occur. We thus have a kinematics of the evolutionary process. the population will become more and more enriched with the variant that has a greater reproductive rate. Darwin's proposition of a direct material force by which \"nature\" can \"select\" among variations to produce more fit types. Offspring resemble their parents on the average more than they resemble unrelated individuals: the principle of heredity.$atinur.gns K. The reason 1).J!1e immense varietx of forms that is latent within a species! so that\"a parallel with the sit ation!n na!ure could be drawn in the next chapter . but no alteration in existing speI wOlllu follow from such a postulate. There were no abII III If ind idealized bodies moving in ideal paths from which real 1\".~m1 ~D~IQg1!UQ. in which idealizat~ played a central and essential role. Instead of postulating a I sterious force. III III Illy 0 r s lection among variations is in itself incomplete as an 11111111 1111of evolution.t ~cc1!Q1. variation in nature.J. As time passes. The Newtonian revolution of the seven. AS TIIEORY ANI) II>EOI.!!!!!.. which consum§ the 'W species would be formed.crodlll'llon of offswing. was devoid of any inferred but unobI Ihll '1Ililies such as forces. the composition of the population will change in the next generation.m\" (1859. First. Individuals within a species vary in physiology. it does not deal with the origin of the 11111111. The mechanism then accounts not only for hun '.L. Moreover.1be. p.11e II parted more or less. Qifferent variant~ leave cijffereru twmbe(:~ o£ otlSpcing: the principle of natural selection. remarkably. But then there would be no 11111Oil for furl her evolution. to prohi for adaptive evolution. 30)..~S in .. Lamarck required a metaphysical \"inner III \"10 fulfill needs.t}v.. together with his concentration on individual variation as the proper object of study. III I vuriant individuals played no role in the theory because there was 1111III .tive set~... he derived the principle of at ral selectio from the struggle for survival ~ that follows from overreprod'uCtIOn in a world of finite resources.~Clvvj j 1 N5 \"\"\" 1. According to this theory males '55 are in competition with each other to acquire females. 1111 wh ch II 1\" <Is and so destroys the condition for its further It 1'\"1 III I n IIPPOS I ha: volut Ion had continued for millions of II uuhl cnmlnuc in 111' lutur required either the patently abIH~I\\11111lit \\I III v irhutons 'V 'r s I ct d in Ihe history of life were 1-.em. neither Lamarck nor ullroy Saint-Hilaire provided more than ad hoc explanations../ II 11111 ' variants leave more offspring is that they are better able to aoQ[. The mechanism was contained in three propositions: - M 5 ~Ae._useful tol!i. although usually monstrous. AlIhllll h Lamarck's inheritance of acquired characters was a possible Itlll II mism for evolution.. II selection causes the differential reproduction of var11111 Illy Ihe species population should uniformly be the most 111111111/01 Ihos available at the start. it had no empirical basis. and behavior: the principle ofVarlation.':m~n's power of accumulative selection\" to carry through the inference from domestication to nature: Be I e\"'Darwin's materialism again showed itself.whlch turned out to be an exceedingly embarrassing problem I I' IW II. In contrast.adds. which was accomplished precisely by I 1111 IWIy metaphysical concepts and concentrating on the actual I IV 1111111111' 1It11 ural oblects.[iat~ar.nt...\n\nalternative gene alleles may be essentially pure in differ•• III JltlpllluLi ns.. which once again increases the divergence among populations as the variation within populations decreases. tn all cases the different. Darwin considered this process of speciation by geographical isola~ presumed at present to be the chief process of diversificatioll e.I.l!lQtin)tsel{. He also postulated that speciation would occur in organisms spread over large areas with many diverse ecological situations.n was produced until the r~iscovg.oLru. for the problem of variation. transformation of a sin.: ously distributed species. while the differentiation among regions increases. If the populations are totally isolated from each other.!l. he put forward the \"Provisional Theory of Pangenesis. so individuals are recognizably characteristic of their 1\"11'111111011. once again. . In modern evolutionary theory. The genetic theory of evolution specifies three mod e sIOn~. 35 GENETICS AND EVOLUTION Races and Species Th~rw\"inian theory of evolut§lwas that the variation among inividuals within a 0 ulation was conv rted to the differences mon populations in time an space. in different parts of a species' geographical range.-€ai.x.erse. changing the population composition and the distribution of characters. Darwin believed in blending inheritance. nt islands. ~9l1~. according to which the characters of the offspring were intermediate between those of its parents.Yrm~ !h. genetic drift causes a loss of genetic variation within a population.d.~!.lines. just as mixing different colored pigments soon leads to a single uniform hue. different populations become enriched for different genotypes as differentiation in space occurs. Ind d the division of population differentiation into dis- . even if there had been a mechanism for the origin of variation. g~otypes that come to characterize the temporally or spatially differentiated populations were at ~ne time components of the genetic variation within populations. This stage of divergence corresponds to the taxonomic II IIIY of subspecies. genetic drift may promote alternative outcomes of a single selective process. the island variety may no longer be able to interbreed with the main population. where environmental conditions differ from those the species is used to. to the divergence that may 'tX<'! z p ~1n the splittihg o\"f a speciesintb dfv.thi.PJ2Qu o~~ eXEer~ments. If differentiation is somewit It 101' ucr.u was necessary to add statements about the geographical distribution of species. .~peciationin such Q!!asi-c u. even if there were no sharp geographical boundaries between local populations... Modern evolutionary them:. this view makes geographical race and \\11( II population essentially synonymous. But such a means of inheritance would very rapidly reduce variation in the species as a direct consequence of sexual reproduction. the selection of different genotypes causes divergence among populations. but in reality it is only an extreme form of geoI Il'h l' .s. Darwin established no mechanism for its inheritance.. but speciation has un~dl~ occurred under such circumstances. No satisfactory solution to this contradictio.34 EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY ON EVOLUTION present from the beginning.~. Since every population that is partially isolated is likely I\" II II\" r LOsome small extent...ll.. The differentiation of populations in space depends upon a suffi'I nt restriction of migration that the centrifugal forces of genetic drift md differential selection are not swamped by the randomization prol' liS. Third.problem only in generalities. but because it is on the average nondirectional. In Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication (1868). The theory of natural selection did not require a detailed mechanism for inheritance except. there is no limit.cess of.the theory of selection among variations can explain the slo}\\::. or else that a mechanism existed to generate fresh variation. In addition.. claiming that altered environmental conditions evoked variations sQe§fic to tl:!~i. Ie s ecies in' ut it. selection within a population decreases the variation by increasing the frequency of one of the variants in time. If some members of a species colonize a new and :crrstincthabitat su~h as an island. (Mayr 1963) as particularly important. -DarwindealUrith. To explain diversificauon. In the process the variation within regions decreases. iphlcal races. IWII populations that differ in the frequency of any gene are called geo.y--!lll1S rather less emphasis~QIQ. natural selection will produce a new variety there and. ice. as a result of its new adaptations. more homogeneous assemblages that seems antientropic.cUJ!m!. It is this sorting out of an originally heterogeneous populatIOn into separate.. He vacillated about the nature of inheritance.i§]Jl}du~!!!iation • ~ere heritable. as on dift . except the availability of genetic variII 011.(!. \" which postulated large numbers of unobserved \"gemmules\" that budded off from various organs and somehow assembled in the reproductive organs.\n\n) . This failure of evolutionary genetic theory arises because the theory is totally formal in nature and because it reduces all qualitative forms of the interactions of organisms with each other and with the physical environment to the single quantitative variable. The genetic description of species formation is a purely mechanical specification (and a rather vague one) of how a single interbreeding population becomes broken into two reproductively isolated groups. In the ew synthesis\" of evolutionary theory of the 1930s 11111 1 40s. eliminate inviable types. and therefore increase the frequency of better adapted types.ontribution. would it really reduce the frequencies of parts having only a slight disadvantage. populaIlous could change drastically on a time scale much shorter than evolu1 lunary time. At that stage the populations are species. S. macroevolutio . This rather general description of the accumulation of genetic differences among isolated populations until they are so differentiated as to be species is all that present genetic evolutionary theory has to say about the origin of species. 'l'h power ofthe mathematical theory.36 EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY ON EVOLUTION tinct states is a vestige of the older typological view and bears no clear relation to the continuous process of evolutionary differentiation. It is a kinematics without a dynamics. physiological. J. or is it an accidental stage in a general process of genetic divergence? What is the relative speed of the initial divergence as compared with the speed during the period of reinforcement of reproductive isolation? We do not know. It was generally acknowledged that selection could reduce the frequency of gross abnormalities in populations. and ~ewall Wright formalized the Darwinian principles and the I III's of Menaehan genetics into a quantitative theory which showed I hat even with very weak selection and a small mutation rate. come together to produce new 'olllbinations. and its experimental vindicaI hili in studies of laboratory populations and in plant and animal III ding led to its general acceptance as a model not only of the shortII 1111 udaptative rocesses ould ~ IIIJI n. d 0 be microevolution conI 1111 d for a on\"ger ti e. We have no knowledge of the actual nature of the genetic differences among species at any stage of their divergence. Rill' ' genes become frequent through selection.lll. which produce characteristics not previously '1\\ • hi h er-ordcr randomness due to accidental fixation of even uonudvnntagcous genotypes in small populations producesinI I populutionul variation that may be selected and that also 111'1 1111111'S Ih backgr und against which selection continues. But no account is taken of the fact that speciation involves the formation of a new biological entity that must interact with other species and become part of an ecological community. except insofar as they may interact as competitors in a community of species. They were able to conclude that if something new arises hy mutation and if it confers even a small advantage. B. If the two newly formed species come into contact early in the speciation process. whose future evolution is genetically independent. and different I II\" g nes. doubts Jlnger~d about the efficacy Of iiijuraiglection foi:ttle::p.nt of mathematical population genetics. (I'll W IS Wrl hi's sp 'clol . selection will generally reinforce the barriers to mating. Divergence in isolation may then become sufficiently great that the passage of genes between populations becomes biologically impossible because hybrid offspring fail to survive or because there are morphological. It does not cope with the problem of transforming the quantity of genetic change into the quality of being a new biological species and not just another gene pool. Haldane. or is there a wholesale differentiation across the genome? Is most speciation the direct consequence of selection for different ecological relations. it was argued.c!!!!Jion of nnything new. after being selected. In the decades following the accep~tance of Darwin's theory. But. I\"isher. R. or only those with gross deficien'j s? Would selection only preserve what was already present? Could it lntroduce anything new? A partial answer was provided in the 1920s and 1930s by the developIII . since individuals who waste their gametes in forming inviable or sterile hybrids will leave fewer offspring. There is yet a deeper difficulty. Do hybrid inviability and sterility involve only a few genes. The genetic description of speciation asserts the occurrence of diversifying selection without describing its content. A. or behavioral barriers to mating. 37 Novelty and Adaptation . it will reEJace the 1'1 'vi us types in a population. The problem ofthe origin of novelty was then II W'I 'U as follows: N iw traits arise from random mutation. fitness.\n\nAlthough they are random events. and gaseous states are familiar examples. continuous model of evolution. every \"trait\"-every structure or physiological process in I II organism-has many properties in addition to the ones that have It . Goldschmidt was most successful in criticizing the inadequacy of the gradualist. localization of special biochemical processes.\" as well as more modern efforts to define evolution as the changing frequencies of genes in populations.1'/1 liver. In each case structur\" and dynamic properties determine the threshold. Underlying evolutionary change are two important kinds of qualitative change. shifts in the context of selection can turn harmful or 11'111 ral traits into beneficial ones. Phase transitions among the solid.\" He therefore sought as the strongest evidence for his theory the existence of intermediate forms and admitted as damaging the absence of intermediates and the incompleteness of the fossil record. but the particular molecules with these thresholds are present as a result of selection. Phenotypes and environments entered only formally as coefficients. science has accepted the reality of qualitative change and I he importance of discontinuity.38 ON EVOLUTION However. they would initiate a whole new evolutionary direction. changes in position. nor Is it UI1 tduprtvc trait in its own right: it is the prodIII 101 I \"Ion without h ivln be n II -1-'. compelled to accept the evidence of evolution by descent with modification. he saw the source of change in the radical reorganization of the genetic system. The color is the consequepce of VIII ous liver functions-breakdown of blood. or under what circumstances they might be advantageous. Nevertheless. Some authors. the approach of quantitative genetics remained isolated from both developmental biology and ecology.nistic materialism that ~redommated in the worki'i'ig ideology of scientists. for instance. First are changes in the characteristics of the organisms Ih imselves. In the mechanistic world view. a characteristic that arose repeatedly in populations through nonadaptive processes but that was held to a minimum by selection uddenly is selected and sweeps through the population. enzymes denalure at some critical temperature. they are not of the kind that yields ordinary mutational variants. But second. searched for ways of seeing evolutionary change as only epiphenomenal. changes in the forces of -I iction can turn a side effect of some process into its main adaptive j.vcr interact with the environment. But his alternative theory did not really solve the problem. also reflect the bias that qualitative const ancy is m r fundnm ntnl than change. and intensity were directly understandable. but discontinuous or qualitative change was mysterious. velocity. Moreover. the theory did not address what kinds of variations could possibly arise or even what kinds would be viable. Since most exI tins phenotypes are where they are because of a temporary balance of opposing forces. production of digestive Illym 'N. which might be cxp ectcd to show random variation from speI It to liP' 'I 'S. We were left mostly with a theory for the quantitative improvement of preexisting adaptations. The problem of the creativitY of evolution remained: the origin of Qualitatjye change from uantitative chan e. Th Marxist-Hegelian' ea that qualitative changes could arise from quantitative change ran counter to the mechi:l. Darwin believed that \"nature does not take jumps. altering the whole pattern of development. Subsequently biologists. Continuous variation in the opposing forces that hold atoms together and pull them apart gives I isc to thresholds at which the weaker force becomes the stronger. concluded that the quantitative changes of ordinary responses to selection could not account for novelty. It is not a neu11111 I Iltit . Some qualitative changes in biology depend on such phase transilions in the underlying physical structures. . which may arise either abruptly or gradually as a conse11\" 'nee of continuous processes. First there are properties I hili n .llliftcance. nothing was said about what kinds of novelties might arise. Even if his idea of macromutations was correct. Such changes can also turn a net disadvantage into an adv tillage. such as the color of an ani11111. Rather. He therefore argued that macroevolutionary events are different in kind from the familiar adaptive processes of microevolution. amount. the color as such has absolutely no _ ulllcnncc for the animal's survival.'1\\ selected for in the course of its evolution. Since it is dark inside. and Ihe behavior of the whole is shifted. including Richard Goldscbmidt (1940). Thus August Weismann's view that all the rich diversity of animal life was merely the recombination of an unchanging hypothetical \"idioplasm. 'd for. but in the rare instances where they conferred an advantage. provided the intermediate stages could be shown. Other Ihresholds involve more complex interactions: the transitions from eonrinuous development to dormancy in mammals take place with a hi ft in the length of day of less than half an hour. These macromutations would usually be inviable. at which point insect's body rapidly loses water. liquid. and rudgingly. that EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY 39 qualitative differences are in some sense illusory. and the waxy molecules of an insect's '\\II ide lose their orientation when the temperature exceeds some Ihreshold value.\n\nAnd we observe that flies. The outstanding example of this is the oxygen revolution. so most organisms are exI ludcd from oxygen-deficient habitats. The same thing happens at the population level.he-swdy oJ changI'tli I II f J\" J I s'l vir nil nt . The adaptation of this organ both for hearing and heat dissipation creates a new problem. which have been selected for their reaction rates at the temperatures to which the organism is normally exposed. the lower the temperature to which adaptation has taken Internal organs evolved to efII I v 'Iy distribute oxygen.. the blood vessels cannot be deep. certain microorganisms now not !lilly 1111 'rule but require the antibiotic streptomycin. and conditions that impede distribution. The mammalian ear is obviously an organ of hearing. allowing (indeed promoting) it to III'met with some organic substances in the cell. selection is acting on fecundity and mortality through their effect on the fitness of different genotypes in the population. the lower will be the denaturation temperature for the enzymes. so heat is very readily lost. And we can exI' I t 111111 some f the new toxic substances being introduced intSl our nvluuun 'nl by uncontrolled industrial activity will someday become 111111 IlulIlIlr iquir ments f some bacteria . This not only removed the oxygen as a poison.lis 10survival. But a large surface giving off heat.o. the ability to eliminate irritating substances from the digestive tract. In general. I vulutlonury 'coI08>'~ not so much the study of c uging characI I I \\' III' 01' unIsms in part iC1I11I1' nviron cniaas t. and ticks often congregate around the ears of their hosts. and in general the properties of population dynamics. In the extreme case.. fluctuations may be enhanced. Anaerobic organisms still survive in our world by living where oxygen does not penetrate. desert mammals often have extraordinarily large ears that serve as organs of temperature regulation. But or anisms do not respond . . n summary: every characteristic has additional properties besides those initially selected for. For acoustic reasons it is a thin organ with a large surface area. That denaturation temperature is therefore an indicator of the circumstances of selection. has been adapted to the feeding of Ihe young in many groups and to defense in some gulls. the impossible becomes first possible and then II xcssarv.l. Therefore. But some organisms dudl with oxygen by detoxifying it. ities. anemia. Finally the contemporary ear is the result of a history of changing significance to the mammal. if reproduction is concentrated in a short period toward the end of life..1I\"lIlnlory problems.. and under altered circumstances these properties themselves can become the main object of selection. the evolutionary significance of a characteristic can change drastically from group to group or over time. However. Population fluctuations. all have reaction rates at temperatures never encountered in nature. On a smaller scale. organisms normally exposed to low temperatures often compensate by having highly reactive enzymes. But once a pattern of fluctuation has arisen. even though certainly no enzymes have been selected to denature at 65° C. The enzymes. the fluctuations are much reduced. wl1ich increased metabolic effiI ncy drastically. population fluctuations may b r due xl: wh r th r is an cological ad- EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY 41 vantage to delayed reproduction. the population will respond to perturbation by pronounced fluctuations. Oxygen is a very toxic substance for most constituents of cells. In this case a physical byproduct of the evolution of an organ had properties that themselves became the objects of selection under the special conditions of the desert. but it has other properties as well... Thus new selection pressures arise as a result of the previous evolution. These rates are not completely independent of the rates at normal temperatures.40 ON EVOLUTION A similar phenomenon occurs in the rates of response of processes. depend on the demographic parameters of age-specific mortality and fecundity. Lack of oxygen is a more 111111 xlintc threat to life than lack of food. s and new vulne 1-. and ivoidance of or protection from oxygen must have had a very strong 'I ictive value at one time. it is itself a fact of life for the species in question and for other species. mosquitoes. but the dependence 1111 uxy en itself created new vulnerabilities. Oxygen-using organisms eventually became IIV rwhclrningly predominant among living things. Furthermore. The bones in the middle ear of mammals formed part of the jaw in our ancestors and further back had their origin in the ~ill arches of fishes. which is often met by the nervous and muscular pattern of ear twitching. Since higher temperatures generally accelerate the rates of chemical reactions. !hese pro£~rties-the unse ected consequences of selection createJ. In fact. is very attractive to bloodsucking insects and ticks. it also allowed the release of the chemi1111mcrgy stored in those molecules. Regurgitation. not through their effect on population oscillations: Where environmental conditions such as high nonspecific mortality favor early reproduction. But if reproduction begins early and is spread over a wide time span. But high reactivity at low temperature makes the enzymes so reactive at high temperatures that they become denatured easily and lose all activity. carbon monoxide poisoning-are new 1111. with circulation close to the surface.\n\nthe time it takes for a response to take place. a tree responding to the onset of the rainy season may lose its leaves through desiccation if it responds prematurely to a drizzle. However. What is different even between similar species is what consntutes stress. rather.scaie. But some responses. and whether or not the response is reversible. But it also includes special organs. The adaptive system in animals consists of three parts. But where similar circumstances reqllll\\' dillcrcnt responses. S . selection acts on the norm of reaction in such a way as to reinforce those responses that improve survival. but by what it indicates about those aspects of the environment that are critical for survival. the organism ignores many dif!erences II Ituutions. Thus the interpretative system is highly labile. The interpretive system has several special properties. which record not images but only the intensity and duration of light. they begin to flower and form fruit. the length of day which indicates that another generation cannot h' produced before winter varies with latitude. the survival value of a response is determined not by the physical properties of the factor responded to. First. This conservatism often is misinterpreted to give an exaggerated notion of evolutionary continuity. different ecological contexts require different responses. insects that respond to short duy length by entering a dormant state often show distinct latitudinal III' 's. and the behavior itself disappears as it takes place. Rather. laking into account the II II' 'UI'I' '1\\' of dill' r III kind» of signals ntering through different . Where a species has been exposed to a climatic pattern for a long time. the variable cellular components of biochemical regulation.asnectnf the environment: an organism might detect the onset of winter by the shorter days. which includes the motor parts of the nervous system. the lower temperatures. The signal evoking the response must indicate not only present but also future conditions. h rmones Ihat affect th m bilization of nergy. heightened alertness. A preaator may be detected by its sllfiouette or odor. such as the pineal eye of reptiles and the simple eyes of insects. and all respond physiologically to stress in similar ways: release of adrenalin and stored energy. th re is a great advantage in perceiving more IIhll dill' rcntiutl ns limon nvironmcnts. The signal acts as a predictor of future conditions. take longer. For instance. a host plant by its shape.42 ON EVOLUTION to \"the environment\" as a wbole. The relationship of parts. The important differences lie in the system of signal interpretation Ihat links the two systems. increased blood pressure and heart rate. especially in the discussion of human behavior. IIll' coupling of signal to response is subject to rapid change and much v ulution. then lose their crop after a frost. does not depend on what is seen so much as on the properties of light. especially those that have been introduced into new climates. This results in the formation of local populations whose receiving uud responding systems are similar but\"which differ in the thresholds \"lid intensities of responses. how signals are interpreted. The vole responding to the condition of the grass by conceiving a smaller or larger litter is responding to an indicator of grass availability over the next five weeks of gestation and lactation. and it includes more diffuse physiological states. hor- EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY 43 mones that regulate development and dormancy in insects and. Thus the internal coherence of the information-capturing and response systems makes them rather conservative aspects of the organism. so it is 11111 possible to have an adaptive system with separate rules ofresponse 1111-uch circumstance.cond. Both of these systems depend on the coordinated functioning of many strongly interacting components that mutually constrain each other. odor. the muscles. or color. the change from vegetative growth to flowering. As long as situations require the same response. their 1IIIIIplllH imposes no disadvantage. that is. So all mammals are quite similar in their visual say in the visual system. how far in the future depends on the particular characteristics. Therefore the pattern of response to the environment is subject to intense selection that may be extremely local. tbe)l react. The first is the information-capturing system. at finer levels. which includes the familiar sense organs of animals. the coordination of muscles in flight or jumping is determined not by the reason for flight or jumping but on the mechanics of balance and locomotion. In contrast with the relulve conservatism of the information-capturing and response systems. Not all responses to the environment are adaptive. Sometimes trees. no two environmental situations are really identical. Signals that evoke behavioral responses are usually immediate indicators of food or danger. or the deteriorating nutrition. since the most advantageous response to a signal does 1I0tdepend on the physical form of that signal but on its value as a predictor or correlate of other factors. \"misinterpret\" warm weather in very early spring as indicating the end of the cold season. but risks defoliation if it delays long enough for the leaf-eating insects to emerge from their dry-season dormancy. The second part of the adaptive system is the response system. or conception in mammals. such as dormancy.\n\nThird. But the more different factors that affect a response and the more alternative responses there are. fish. One form of biological determinism sees the origins of human behaviors in prehuman social behaviors and. since the survival of the organism depends on the functioning of the system that interprets the environment. The adaptiv sy tem is not limited to information capture. While . price interv . The central nervous system is a prime example: when isolated from ext rnal stimuli. Satiation of hunger and sexual release are correlates of nutrition and reproduction that serve as the direct feedback regulating the behavior. While conservative determinists look for a oneto-one correspondence between particular behaviors (for example. A number of adaptive processes may use the same pathways. if the response of an organism to its surroundings depends on the state of a single variable. the division of labor in production can be described in terms of technicalefficiency. emphasizing the continuity of evolution. whole complexes of behaviors have evolved around both feeding and sexuality that are no longer related to nutrition or reproduction. these means become ends. Some signal that is distinct from the adaptive value indicates that the response has been completed. cr dit . nor do animals copulate until young appear. This is particularly the case for nutrition and reproduction. (1960) argued that for Melanesians. These behaviors can be seen as adaptations not to external environment but to the adaptive process itself. say. more flexible functionalists attempt to apply the rules of evolutionary ecology in a more general way. the closer every real situation is to some threshold. its level of hunger. the response is clear-cut within that range. this does not exhaust their social meaning: the processes of human adaptation introduce new phenomena. because the system that interprets environmental signals and determines the response is so complex. Thus spontaneous activity arises in organisms out of the complex evolution of responses to the environment. the action itself takes only a short time. interpretat i n. for example. but its effect on survival or reproduction does not become manifest till much later. there are no . showing complicated fluctuations of state und is unlikely to reach a resting state (stable equilibrium) even in the absence of all external signals. however. and whole new patterns of behavior may arise to resolve such ambiguities. potential mates from competitors or prey. Starved animals do not feed continuously until they are in good health. Finally. But with the evolution of exchange into trade. complex norms of reaction make ambivalence and ambiguity increasingly common. Similarly. Som times this v iriflcatton is directly II I : III III Im II IoP. They argue that culture is the specifically human mode of adaptation to the environment and therefore that we can find the adaptive reasons for particular cultural practices. and if the appropriate response is to become active when temperature is between 14° C and 45° C. internally generated activities may themselves have no initial adaptive significance although they are the results of adaptive evolution. it must be described in terms of a large number of strongly interacting variables. Such a system is likely to be dynamically unstable. Many r sp rises require some verification that Ih r spons hus be n compl I d.rnal physical storage and then hy th accurnul lion f W' \\th. Harris (1974) and Vayda et al. there is a great survival value in protecting that system both from external disruption and from internal breakdown. and also taking into account the internal state of the organism. For instance. n i11i f (Ill 'I r d uo r w h 11 it n Ion g r . and r spons .ultural traits as essentially capricious. allowing the processes to influence each other in nonadaptive ways as well. This school provided a powerful antidote to the approach that saw . in mammals the brain has priority over other organs in the allocation of oxygen and energy. Ambiguity arises only around the threshold values 14° and 45°. or obllgatt ns. one buffer against local crop faillire is the exchange of produce among localities. \"aggressiveness\" and human warfare). In other responses. Or when the storage of rood in the b dy is r placed firsl by ext . Therefore.ultural practices do have some ecological significance. The elaborate courtship rituals of many birds. but in a class () 'j ·ty it is als a way t rganizc xploitation. These new. assigns them the same significance. say temperature. •• I I 4S detects the predator nearby. But once they arise. Fourth. it generates its own spontaneous patterns of activity. and price variation introduces more uncertainty-into 1 h ' food supply than drought.ncs to mediate. The failure to understand qualitative change in evolution is especially pronounced in the study of human evolution.44 EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY ON EVOLUTION pathways. The appearance of these intermediate objectives of behavior is a consequence of the temporal disparity between cause and effect. For instance. Therefore the interpretive system can become quite complex. and mammals are procedures that distinguish members of the same species from other species. raising pigs is a form of food storige and therefore is an adaptation to the uncertainty of crops. Therefore a function!llist may argue that exchange is an adaptation to environmental uncertainty.\n\nIt was then argued. A major obstacle to the study of the origin of life was a philosophical bias that developed with the Copernican revolution and the Reformation: the view that people and. and the earlier. and that under such condit Ions . is not a _suitable place for life to arise. if the origin of life means the origin of organic molecules. The Origin of Life Early evolutionists did not take up the problem of the origin of life as a central issue. u~iI}gclosed containers set uE to resemble the primitive atmosEhere and given energy in the form of electrical dis. heat. present. A breakthrough came in the 1920s and 1930s as a result of discussions mostly among British and Soviet Marxists. Dlllcrent experiments give different mixtures. that sea was not like the Eresent salt oceans. We were reminded that life occupies a film only a few dozen meters thick on the surface of a planet. spontaneous generation was exposed as myth. a new problem arises: most biologically important chemical substances are readily oxidizable and would be burnt up in our atmosphere as fast as they formed. more limited work of soil scientists who saw the soil as the joint product of physical and biological processes. because the rimary re uire. and the possibility of insatiability arises. Thus. Later experiments by Miller (1955) and others. but as it arises. and we are led to visualize a primitive sea as a thin soup of 01 inic molecules. the problem was changed to one of coevolution of the biosphere and its inhabitants.. Building on V. and that it may be the product of a particular envi\"ronment but not its cause. nitrogen. each regular interaction of people in a given culture with nature is determined by the interests of the different social classes in their conflictive or cooperative relations with each other.harges confirmed that com12lexmixtu!Ss of amino acids and other hiologically impo~ substances are formed in such an atmosphere.. The important point is that human society arises out of animal social organization. He concluded that the primitive earth had a reducing atmosphere of m~ line. are insignificant. Thereafter.• Two schools exist on the Question of the critical steps from organic OIlP to organisms. Vernadsky's notion of the biosphere. they concluded that the present-day oxygen atmosphere is the prod~ of life on earth and that the atmosphere within which life arose was quite different. etc. electricity. However. Further. that it would be virtually undetectable from space. at t h pr s m day such matter would 47 be instantly devoured or absorbed. . One view starts from the present-day universality of II I/. 484). oxygen.. 18). And separating the problem of the origin of a phenomenon from its subsequent trajectory seemed to fit into the Newtonian spirit of science.46 EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY ON EVOLUTION longer physical limits to reserves. dium by already formed microbes. whose makeup is the result of the leaching of soils bX the acids produced by organic decomposition. the human population ceases to be the unit of adaptation. all forms of life. but the qualitative con-lusi n is that given almost any simulated primitive atmospheric enviI unmcnt.ment for the origin of life is the absence of life. .. sulphur. During the latter part of the last century. we could conceive in some warm little pond. into which life was first breathed\" (p. . I. the formation of biologically important chemicals is virtually lucvltuble. if life could arise from the nonliving IIIthe past. and that in a world teeming with life a new form would be gobbled up before it evolved very far. biallife does not arise spontaneously but by invasIOn 0 a sUlta e me.Its greatest achievement the germ the of disease-was based on the discovery that even micro.impJeorgalbc compounas would arise. by extension. whi 'h th '11accumulated auxiliary structures around f . which would not have been the case before living creatures were formed\" (p. but without living things. it veered dangerously close to theologized controversy. A world like ours. ammonia. In Origin of Species Darwin mentioned the problem only in passing and then metaphorically as the \"primordial form. and water. carbon dioxide. Not only did the problem seem inaccessible. hydrogen. a world like ours with living organisms is equally unsuitable. As society gives rise to class divisions. why isn't it happening now? A tentative answer was that the living arises very slowly from the nonliving. although life may have arisen in the sea.l'lI '( lc syst m bas d on nucleic acids (DNA) to argue that life origiIIllld In the an'. t hen in the simple compounds that were formed as the earth cooled. Oparin (1957) embarked on a history of the chemical elements that make up living matter-mostly carbon. and phosphorus-first as free atoms in a stellar atmosphere. with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts. it transforms the significance of adaptations and creates new needs. microbiology was taking shape as a medically oriented science . Darwin (1871) understood this: \"But if. On the other hand.s. that a protein compound was chemically formed ready to undergo still more complex changes. light.\n\nAnd the whole process has to be set in motion. high-fecundity population will use more f09~_11111' • spend more time an energy in parental care. which is the natural state of existence for complex systems. recent studies in the dynamics of complex systems suggest a different vi w: if we have an open system with many different kinds of cornpon nus. enzymes and coenzymes can increase reaction rates by many rders of magnitude. the emergence of soil as a geological-biological system. The question of the origin of life cycles. buildup of spatial organization. of dynamic systems out of a mixture of components.lucln two offspring has the same relative fitness as a genotype with a pi ollllbility of survival of only . be more a rac~ to predators on III ' II I lurms.48 ON EVOLUTION itself.Iflies oj and in Populations ( 'hanges in the genetic composition of Ropulations by natur~ I Oil depend upon the relative reproductive rates of genotypes. and the system loses its kinetic identity.45 that will produce four offspring if it III vlv ·s.90 of living to adulthood and then pro.csacs from an almost motionless background against which the 'rlt I 'III biochemical pr ccsscs take place. such as carbon dioxide. affect t he rates of reactions in which they are not themselves permanently transf rmed. It was assumed that left to itself. especially of microorganisms. this may have taken place on the surface of clays or through the formation of insoluble particles of a colloidal type. specifically biological processes slow down and become submerged in the sea of background chemistry.. From th • I' irspcctivc of these accelerated reactions. with . Furt II '[more. The hlw III vlvorship.. since all living organisms are in dynamic flux. these enzymes are highly specific. But it makes a vast III iencc I a 0 ulation whether it consists of individuals wjth hjgh I\" v vurship and low fertility or low survivorship and high fertility. at a rate that can alter atmospheric properties in a relatively short time. because they are equally fit. the fluctuations can b ' . This view emphasizes that the components of DNA have other biologically important roles in cells and that their incorporation into a system of heredity presupposes the prior existence of auxiliary structures and processes. Many chemical substances. then the system. which is introducing into the environment new molecular types at the rate of hundreds each year. but the modulation of chaotic motion. Thus the evolution of biological process is not the infusion of motion into a static system with all the necessary ingredients. instead of reaching som static equilibrium. may be comparable to the oxygen revolution in its long-term con·quences. This gives us some insight also into the processes of death: when enzymes cease to function. A genoI VP • that has a proba5ility of . These are separated dynarni'lily ruth r thun isolut id physically fr m the slow r processes. Further. even simple ones.onccntrations of the various components rising and falling. the creation of the protective ozone layer and of the oceans. All these will have effects on the community III III III illS in which Ill' sp . and if even a small fraction of these accelerate or inhibit the format ion of other components. Their EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY 49 fluctuations alter with changes of velocities and specificities mostly within this subsystem and can become regular cyclic processes. II pro . capture of energy and raw materials. the noncatalyzed chemi.omc regular. as well as some familiar substances. and reproduction. There will be no change in the frequencies of these two genoI VII 111 th population. Students of the origin of life are also concerned with the origin of the cell and with the great transformations of the biosphere that have accompanied biological evolution: the formation of the oxygen atmosphere. so that the system goes through repetitive cycles of ac- tivity. But the origin of life requires more than the accumulation of organic molecules. Whether a species develops . in systems of only moderate complexity. The alternative is to consider that the gene itself was the product of a long evolution in primitive organisms. going through cycles of synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids. which introduce 1\\ w selective forces that affect evolution. They also monitor the chemical revolution caused by human activity. a mixture of chemicals reaches some equilibrium state and nothing else happens unless some additional life principle is introduced from without. only thousands of reactions are accelerated. the high-velocity. was unanswerable as long as process was seen as alien to matter. . Regularization could come nbout as follows. These changes. has a good chance of being in constant flux. so that out of millions of possible interactions among the thousands of types of molecules. und so n. the invasion of land by organisms. 'l'h problem then becomes the regularization of fluctuation in living systems rather than the origin of change.j s liv s. First these molecules must be separated physically from the surrounding medium. occuPy larger I II 1111 during br ding season. However.\n\nNo exact estimate is possible. we need qualitative information about the biological change that has taken place and how it affects the relationship of the species to its resources and to oth. by a factor of four in the last 500 miIlion years because origination rates have been consistently somewhat higher than extinction rat s. u( r sis(uncc. Moreover. the fact that a character has increased by natural selection within a population gives no information about the consequence of that evolution for the population or for the species as a whole.ery species becomes extinct. beginning about 250 million years ago.carnivores known from the fossil record is onl. home stasis. danger. In the end. 5 million years. The mutation will very quickly sweep through the population. Some of these changes in extinction and origination rates can be rationalized by major geological events.grest trees. This role of the enviroyment is • PI' . To these two NO .so f. if predators that specialize in eggs or juveniles switch their search i~age to this species with its more abundant young stages. even though forces internal to the species may drive it in the direction of that reproductive schedule.UatuL'!l ~lect. Let us suppose that a mutation arises in a population of a food-limited species.sscd either as the passive absence of needed resources or as the acIlv dlsruprton processes (death through heat stress..ce. To understand the consequences. or t? b~come ex~mct. The newly evolved population will be better able to grow quickly if there is an increase in food species. and the various structures of organisms as the III ians 0 0 taimn&. Organism and Environment Preevolutionary biolog tressed the harmony of nature. In the struggle for existence the environment is therefore seen IN hostile-c-as There were 280 genera of trilobites in thirty families at the beginmng of the which will then have a doubled fecundity. shelI 'r.~ up. have dcclin d EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY 51 over the last 30 million years by about 30 percent after rising by a factor of two in the previous 30 million.t~e half-life for. and adaptation. but its final numbers will not be greater than if it had lower fecundity. 500 million years ago. because the rates of appearance of new groups have fallen by a factor of five since the middle of the Oligocene. Th1s set as a re\"S'eai'Cl'i. Most species most of the time are roughly stable in geographical distribution and numbers. and fuel.-agenaarlie-' problem: ~hcrtd. All such explanations are totally different in nature from Darwinian theory and do not even mention natural selection or this organism need for its development and where do s this come from? For example.werul:eat. Evolutionary changes within a species may cause it to spr~ad. the corren ence 0 organism and environment. Thus the number of families of bivalve molluscs has increased.SJ.dJQ fulfill these needs. that species will become extinct as these niches disa ear. It is a view that makes a sharp division between orgamsm and environment. yet not a single trilobite was in existence 250 million years later at the end of the Permian. The average age of the carnivore genera now alive is only 8 million years and.i2E-c anged the attIt ud • toward environment. But because the species is food limited. In general.1hes~~ur.. the populanon may be reduced or even extinguished. infection. Extinction and speciation go on at roughly equal rates over broad groups. and the environment selects the more fit (or kills off the I NN fit).e. as eV1 ence of the wisdom md benevolence of the creator. obstacle. to increase the number and size of its populations. The environment was tli'efe~elr IIIOStly as resources. slowly but steadily. although both fluctuate.the . however ev. but certainly fewer than one species in ten thousand that have ever existed surv~ve.e. The emergenceof the theory _of .50 ON EVOLUTION such a pattern depends upon its interactions with other species in the community. The history of the environment in this view is driven by geological or astronomical forces. ih researc problem then becomes: how do organisms III01 '1 Ih rns Ives against I he environment? The scientist studies such I\" uhlcms us y.r s~ecies. while organic evolution goes on in response to the opportunities created and destroyed by the history of the nvironment (see Chapter 2. so the total number of species remains roughly constant although secular trends Occur. The same deleterious conseq uences will occur if there are epidemic diseases whose propagation depends on crowding of the or pi <1 rlo111. on Ih oth 'r hand. the adult population will not be any larger than before. which causes fecundity to double without changing the efficie~cy of food gathering and metabolism. They are framed in terms of changes in the diversity of habitats available or in climatic factors. Underlying the explanations are the assumptions that species will evolve to fill habitats or ecological niches as they become available. an t at c 1ma 1 anges mayo~ur at ratesJpofast. More offspring are produced than can post Iy survive. although both have fluctuated widely. human beings require shade. or by climatic events of astronomical origin. such as the breakup of the single major continent Pangaea. on adaptation). . Famili s r mammals.\n\n\n\naspects of ecology-environment\nas resource and environment as\nstress-modern work has added a third: environment as information.\n. 12e funda~ental dichotomy of evolutionary theory is that of ocgan,Jsm and enVIronment. The~R<isll1? is activ~J richly de~cribed, and\n.5~angingi the environment is Qassive, delineated superfici;!l~ andtreated as fixed in principle. Organisms are the proper objects ofb~\nlogical research, whereas environment is an auxiliary category falling\nwithin no present biological discipline. Some physical aspects of the environment, such as temperature, humidity, and insolation, as well as\nproperties of soils, are of course studied by meteorology and climatology. (At the present time there is still no satisfactory biometeorology,\nthat is, the characterization and analysis of the environment from the\nperspective of the organisms confronting it.) Some new environmental\ncharacterizations have been developed, such as evapotranspiration (the\ntotal water lost to the terrestrial ecosystem through evaporation from\nthe ground and transpiration through the plant) and accumulated degreedays (insect species seem to complete their development when they have\naccumulated a certain number of degrees of temperature above a given\nthreshold, and the measure of degree-days is used to predict emergence\nof major pests). But for the most part the description and analysis of\nenvironment in evolutionary studies is strikingly naive compared to the\nunderstanding of the structure and processes of organisms.\nSome aspects of the environment must be mentioned before we can\nexa~ine the ~rg~nism-environment relation in greater detail/Elrsr.)he\n~vIronment IShIghly heterogeneous in time and space. The pat~\ncontinuous variation of temperature or humidity shown on climatological maps represent averages, which obscure local gradients or discontinuities. Thus the vertical gradient in temperature from ground\nlevel up through the canopy even of low vegetation can be greater than\n5 _10 C., with the greatest temporal variation at soil level. Horizontal\ndifferences between vegetated and bare spots, between soil and litter or\nbare rock can be even greater. The chemical environment within the\nsoil, which is crucial for communities of microorganisms, often shows\nsharp changes over distances of one centimeter in the neighborhood of\nplant roots, and even small topographical differences between ridges\nand gulleys can be associated with drastic differences in the invertebrate populations. The heterogeneity of soil type is also discontinuous\nand different types are often interspersed in complex patterns. Thus an\necologically meaningful characterization of the environment must give\n\n\n\nnot only average conditions but also the variability in time and space\nand the \"grain\" -whether particular alternative conditions occur in\nbig or small patches, or for long or short periods compared to the mobility or generation time of the organism under study.\nThe various aspects of the environment are not independent of each\nother. They tend, rather, to be associated in complexes, so an organism\nis not exposed to all possible combinations of temperature, humidity,\n\"daylength, light intensity, and chemical conditions. This allows us to\n~lassify types of habitats and seasons. Because of the correlations\namong environmental conditions, organisms are able to use some conditions as indicators of others or as predictors of future conditions.\nThus there arises the possibility that particular factors of the environment evoke responses that are not adaptations to those same factors\nbut to conditions they indicate: the environment is met as information.\nThe statistical pattern of the environment-the frequencies and duraIions of different conditions-defines the adaptive problems confronted\nby the organisms living in it and therefore their mode of evolution and\nIhe patterns of communities of species.\nAs a reliminary analysis, the separation pf organilm ~l.lsI~Yi!1m:..\nIII int or of phys,kaf'iiid biolo~@~c!ori9Lt~.s.!1~,:i.LQtlm@ -oi.denI y-dependent or iI!g~.£~~t\nfactor~ otffi!1.§.lli!illpJ~.!l..9J!£.QJ!mwahl requiremenJ!~hat_RX()'y£~\".!l!~~f~l:..\nBut it eventually b~comes an\nobstacle to fl.irther understanding; the division of the world mto mut~\nIlly exclusive categories may be logically s~~~ying, but in scientific#(lvlty 110 nont[i:lda1.£:lassificatIo\"}~~m to be re~x..}.!!.!!tuallx.e~e.\nI\\V 'III ually their interpenetration becomes a primary concern of furIIt'I' I'esearch. It IS m rfits'senseil'i'atdiaIecfIcs teJec s Iie oct fIne of the\n-ludcd middle. Opposed to the model in which an organism is seen as\n1\\ rl 'd into an already given environment, we note several aspects of\n\nt >iantrll\ns se ec t elr environments. nimals do so actively, reIII\n\nuuidlug to environmenta signa s 0 nd favorable habitats. Even\nI xl remely short distances we find different populations: the upper\n\n\nlower surfaces of leaves, sunflecks and shadows, gulleys and ridges\nhuv . quite different inhabitants. Rotten fruit set out as iy traps\nIII v II lous SpOIS in an apparently homogeneous region will attract the\nIII tHIN species in different proportions. And many animal species\nVII II III' 'xl rcmc stress r desert conditions by emerging only at dawn\n\"HI tw II ht. Plants. which Ill' of cours less mobile, can orient their\n\n\n\n\n\ngrowth, coordinate dormancy wit h\nI 1111 II IIIId I uns, und ev Ive\nmechanisms of seed dispersal so that th y m\npO'd 10 only part of\nthe range of physical conditions of an area.\nIn general the selection of environments by rganisms seems to be\nadaptive; habitat selection brings them in contact with more favorable\nconditions than would result from random movement. But it would be\nan oversimplification to interpret environment selection as the seeking\nof optimal conditions. E¥st, what is optimal depends on the state of the\norganism, the result of its previous exposures to environment. Second,\ndifferent processes in the organism may have different requirements,\nso the habitat selected may be a compromise among conflicting needs\nmost adequately met in different places. (Many species reproduce, rest,\nand feed in different places.) The inhabitants of extreme conditions\nmay not prefer or require the very high temperatures or salinities of\ntheir special habitats, but rather tolerate them to avoid predators or\ncompetitors. Finally, a habitat selected with respect to one aspect of the\nenvironment includes other environmental conditions that then become factors of selection.\nOrganisms modify their enVironments in several ways. They deplete\nthe resources they consume; they excrete into the environment waste\nprod~cts they cannot use ?r that are harmful to them; and their pre~\nence m a habItat leaves eVIdence that attracts predators and parasites.\nThese effects are by-products of dieIr actlVlty and nonadapuve.\nThe structures and activities of organisms directly modify their immediate physical environment. At the surface of leaves of green plants\nis a film of air about a millimeter thick, which is richer in oxygen and\nmoisture and poorer in carbon dioxide than the free atmosphere. For\ncertain fungi and small insects, this surface film is their whole habitat;\nlonger-legged leafhoppers' bodies are above it. This boundary layer is\nboth advantageous and disadvantageous to the plant. It retards water\nloss but also reduces evaporative cooling; it can reduce photosynthesis\non clear, still days; it provides a habitat for algae and lichens, which\nmay help the plant capture minerals from rainwater but also permits\nfungi and other pathogens to survive. The shape and texture of the leaf\ninfluence the persistence of this layer and are therefore subject to natural selection in response to opposing requirements.\nSimilarly, among the leaves of a plant there is often a region that is\nlower in temperature and light intensity and higher in humidity than\nthe surrounding atmosphere. The layer of area around the skin of a\nmammal is warmer, wetter, and richer in urea and Ihis is the environment to which mosquitoes hav adapted Ih II'f ding b ehuvlor.\n\n\n...• \"\"\n\n\n\n\n.1\" ..•• ,..•..\n\nTh physl'ul lnflu 1\\\" of or IIIIsllISon ih ilr envll'onm lit extend.s\nr out us w II. Trc s usuully III rdll'y wind and temperature ~ondllOllS It>a dist ancc I'ab ut t n tirn s Iheir height, and they modify the\noil 'ondilions ar und their roots. /\\ forest habi~at i~t.he rodu~~ of all\nI plant animal, and microbial\",wA.~R-t~~,*l~stablh~@tlie\nw It 'I' res-ime filter the light. reconstitute the SOilorgamc matter, :\nliP nulri nt ,add decom osition prQ,ducts. an.d regulate the ~albe[mg\no Ih be roC.\nthe forest is large enough, It also has some mfluen~e\nOil rainfall and atmospheric conditions. Particular species act ~n their\n.•. IIvlronments in special ways as well: earthworms, ants, termites, rod nts, and peccaries move vast amounts of soil; the ~ry le~ves of seaOil II vegetation increase the frequency, exte~t, a~d mtenslty of;\n1\\ 'cts that defoliate large areas change the mlcrochmate; wood-bonng\nh' II's and termites hollow out twigs, which ants use for nests ~ut\nwhich also provide entrances for infection and thus change the life\n1'\\111 h\n\nII 11l~ ftre_\nOrganisms transform the statistical stru.cture.of their enVlron~ent.\nI h 'slale onhe organism depends on certam weighted aspects oo.ts envIIonments in the past. Thus, for insects whose development depends\n1111 Iccumulated degree-days, the temperatures of the past are repreIII .u In the present as a sum. But an animal's food gets used up, and\nIh influence of previous feeding declines with time. at a. rate that d:I' mlMon the biology of the species. For ~reatures WIthhigh metabohc\nI II .• such as birds, the nutritional state ISthe food cap~ured, over the\nII I r w days, say whereas for a scorpion it is the f~od mtake ove~ the\nIII I f 'w weeks or months. Thus long-term averagl~g. of the envI~on11\\ III I' duces its unpredictability. Further, t~e mobl~lty of orgams~s\nw Ihill I' between generations turns the spatial patchmess of th~ habiI II 1110 n temporal sequence of conditions. What faces short-hved or\nI I II v 'Iy immobile organisms as alternative environments ~~y be met\nItv 11101' • III bile or longer-lived species as averages of con.dlt~on~over\nII 1\\ or Years. And the felt heterogeneity of env~ronment IS.s~gmficant\nIIlIly 1\\1''Iuti n to the organism's tolerance for diverse ~ondltlons.\n()/,IIOIII,\\'/lls determine what aspects of their-environm.ent are relevant)\nIII'\" IIIIIlcil ellvironmental variations can be lumped or Igno~ed. For~x• 1 \\111'<.1\ncommunities IJhevertical pattern of vegetatIOn denSlty\n11111' I • I\nIIllh I III ui thc composition of plant syecles determ~nes the sm.ta Ilty\nIIllh'\" Iblt II, ind the diversity in heig~t\nII v 1 Iy ill 1ird sp ·I·s. Bul hcrbtv r us ins~ct~ in ~hcsame l?cahtles\nI II III V' I ulon I 'ss us d nsill's than us dlstnbutlOns of edible and\nhi I hi .\" 'Illl • II 'olllposil lOllS. II I' moline llzurds, whose food con-\n\n\n\n\n\n\nsists of insects, the resources are defined as a distribution of sizes of\nmoving objects. For some species of ants such as Pheidole megacephala, which avoid very hot sunlight, a meadow may be a shifting\npatchwork of suitable and unsuitable environments, while for less demanding species the same place is a uniform foraging area.\n::;- As any environmental factor impinges on the organism, the physical\nform of the signal changes. Its effects spread out through many pathways within the organism; these pathways diverge and converge, and at\neach step the factor is represented by changes in activity or in amounts\nof substances. Thus in mammals, a fall in outside temperature results\nin increased consumption of sugar, changes in heart rate and circulation pattern, possible depletion of energy, and so on. Or a hotter environment, such that an insect can spend fewer hours a day searching for\nfood, may be felt physiologically as hunger.\nOrganisms respond to their environments, Any aspect of the environment that impinges on the organism penetrates through multiple\npathways. Temperature changes alter the rates of specific chemical reactions, act on sense receptors, may denature certain enzymes, stimulate particular neural activity, and evoke behavioral responses. We can\ntrace the external influence through the organism. Some pathways enhance the signal: a small change in day length can make the difference\nbetween dormancy and continual development. Other pathways filter\nout external influences: wide fluctuations in food intake result in small\ndifferences in glucose available to the brain. Therefore the state of the\norganism over a range of environments is a combination of what happens to it and what it does.\nSome features of the responses to the environment must be noted.\nThe responses themselves seem to be the result of a tight network of\nmutually dependent interactions, while these as a cluster are more\nloosely bound to the processes that evoke the response. For example,\nthe breaking of dormancy in plant seeds requires the softening or opening of the seed coat, the conversion of starch into available sugar, the\ninitiation of root tip growth, and other processes, which are of necessity\nclosely coordinated. But the signal that brings on these activities is\nquite flexibly connected to them and can differ even among closely related organisms. On the other hand, the structures and processes that\ncapture environmental information may become linked to different responses. Thus related ant species use chemically similar alarm substances to signal danger, but one responds with defensive mobilization\nand the other with flight. We also note that animals ar more similar in\n\n\n\nfight-or-flight reactions to danger than in what constitutes dancr. In the course of evolution, the different pathways can b~ enhanced\nor suppressed or recombined in so many ways that for. en~lfo.nme~tal\nevents which are not so extreme as to override the s blOloglcal\nintegrity, there is no necessary relation between the physical form of the\nsignal and the response.\nIf organisms respond to their environme~ts, then ~he environment\nmay be read through the organism, and units of envlronme~tal measurement can be translated into units of phenotype. ~h~ Da~ls~ botanist Raunkiaer (1934) was the first to recognize m hl~classilication of life forms. Since the relative frequencles l~ a veget~tlOn of\ntrees shrubs herbs vines, large and small leaves, entire and dissected\nI 'av~s, everg~een a~d deciduous leaves, and thin an~ su.ccul~nt~eaves\n1111 reflect the climatic regime, a table giving such a dlstr~butlOn\nIII indicator of the climate. A rain forest can be recogmzed by ItS hfe\nforms even when it is not raining.\nThe same principle applies to shorter-term environmental prope~II's. For example, in the laboratory we can follow the gr~wth of f~Ult\n111 'S at different temperatures and plot the number of bnstles against\nI 'Ill perature. Then we can collect flies in nature, find the average nurnh 'I' of bristles, and find from the laboratory data the temper~tur~ at\nwhich those flies developed. Further, the variance among th~ wild flies,\nIn 'r correcting for the variance among flies raised under umform c~n!III ions, indicates the variance among the inhabitants where the wild\npopulation developed..\n> reciprocal interaction of organism and envlfonment take~ place\nIllm//p,h several pathways which link the individual and evolutionary\n\n'1' '\n\n\n\n\nrganisms actively select those environments in which they\ncan survive and reproduce.\n2. For the individual this active selection detedrmineoswhhatenvIlronmental impacts the organism will respon to. n t e ev~ uIionary scale it determines which environments the orgamsm\nndapts to, what kind of selection It expe~lences.\n,. 'I'll' environment acts differently on different genotdYp~s.I~\nsome environments different genotypes may respon a mos\nIII 'Ill ically, whil in others they may produce widely different\nphcuotyp s. In th nvir nments commonly expenenced by\nIII' popul ulou, Ih r is I'ss variatl n among the responses of\n\n\n\ndifferent genotypes than in unusual or extreme environments.\nIn moderately extreme environments, the differences among\ngenotypes are amplified, but in very severe environments genetic differences become irrelevant; uniformity returns as lethality. Therefore the environment as developmental stimulus\nhelps turn genetic variability into available phenotypic variability, which environment as Darwinian filter selects. Much\nevolutionary theory ignores this double effect of environment.\n4. The way in which the organism modifies the environment depends on its genotype. Some environmental impacts enhance\nsurvival more than others. Therefore the environment selects\nthe pattern of its own modification.\n\n\nEvery part or activity oj an organism acts as environment jor other\nparts. Much of evolution is the adaptation of parts of the organism to\neach other. Most of the arguments about organism-environment interaction apply to the organism's internal environment as well.\n\"Environment\" cannot be understood merely as surroundings, no\n~atter how dynamically. It is also way of life; the activity of the organIsm sets the stage for its own evolution. This strong interaction between\nwhat an organism does and what happens to it is especially dramatic in\nhuman evolution. Engels' essay fragment, \"The Role of Labor in the\nTransition from Ape to Man,\" drafted sometime between 1872 and\n1882, explores this relation in the Lamarckian framework of direct inheritance of acquired characters. But if we replace that direct causation\nby the action of natural selection, the critical argument remains valid:\nthe labor process by which the human ancestors modified natural objects to make them suitable for human use was itself the unique feature\n?f the w~~ of life that directed selection on the hand, larynx, and brain\nIn a posinve feedback that transformed the species, its environment\nand its mode of interaction with nature.\n\nIntegration oj Parts\nHegel warned that the organism is made up of arms, legs, head, and\ntrunk only as it passes u~der the knife of the anatomist. Physiology and\nembryology have filled In many of the details of the intricate interdependence of the parts of the body; interdependence permits survival\nwhen the parts function well, but in patho! leal conditions it produce pcrvasiv disaster.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe correlation among parts is also seen in systematics, in that most\nconceivable combinations of traits never occur. For instance, there are\nnot small grass-eating reptiles or flying molluscs. On the other hand, in\nthe course of evolution the relations among parts do change: D' Arcy\nThompson (1917) showed that if animal shapes are drawn in outline on\na rubber sheet that is then stretched in various ways, corresponding to\nchanges in relative growth rates in different directions, we can produce\n. the shapes of other related species. Therefore much evolution can be\n~ interpreted as the uncoupling of relative growth rates. Gould (1977)\nhas argued that the relative dissociability of somatic from sexual maturation accounts for the frequently observed phenomena that are misinterpreted as recapitulation: neoteny (the deceleration of somatic relative to sexual development) and progenesis (the attainment of sexual\nmaturity in juvenile and even larval bodies). When we trace the evolution of particular lines, we find that rapid evolution in some traits\nleaves others unchanged. Indeed, it is these conservative characters\nthat permit the tracing of the phylogeny.\nTherefore the problem is how to deal with the intimate integration\nand relative dissociability of parts of the organism in the same theoretical framework. We must combine developmental and adaptive arguments in this analysis. Different parts of the organism may be correlated\nfor various reasons. Their development may respond to a common\nstimulus. For instance, in mammals the steroid hormones that promote\ngrowth are also involved in sexual maturation and in the development\nof the secondary sexual characteristics. Also, traits that develop indep mdently may have a common inhibitor. This mechanism is important\nIII insects, in which the juvenile hormone suppresses many otherwise\nIndependent developmental processes. Or one structure may directly\nnduce the other, as in the induction of development of the eye by the\nII 'ural optic cup that lies beneath it.\nTwo parts of the organism may mutually regulate each other's\nj,llOwth. For instance, both the minerals absorbed by the roots of a\npll1nl and the carbohydrates synthesized in the leaves are required for\nIII growth of roots and leaves. But each structure has first access to its\nown product. If the leaves are partly removed, new grow~h will be\nIIloslly above ground, while if roots are pruned, root growth is accelerII d. r establishing a stable root-shoot ratio. The particular ratio\nIII ilntulned\nis genetically determined and can be altered by grafting\n_hools of on g notyp\nnro roots of another.\n.' 11111 ir 1issu 'S m lYt k up similar nutri nts and hormones and give\n1111 mill product , 0 if, II ih II. 1I\nrr n ur uch oth r they are in a\n\nne in the pr?tem. Such experiments do not II monstrate the reality of hereditary aggressiveness in other species or v -n in other populations of rats. Thus constancy of body temperature IS t~e result of coordinated variability in heart action. proportion of Iysi. Therefore we have to inquire. they have in fact created ~he tr~it as a unit of evo~utlOn. some parts that are physically quite different function together. a number of biochemical properties have b:en linked as a unit of evolution. hormones. they may lose their cohesion and . An alteration in the size and structure of the limbs associated with altered feeding or escape behavior requires correlated changes in bones.the nutritional value of the crop. percentage of protein. waste products. Nutritional value for humans IS certainly not a natural trait of Zea mays. the ratios of bone lengths as levers in running. The same applies to behavioral traits. bU. For instance. So far we have emphasized the developmental reasons for the associII Oil or parts and the ecological reasons for the retaining o~ that assol' II Ion.. and voluntary activity. But the significance of the components of an ecological clust r III sl ructures and processes is not limited to their role in that e1us~ ~. and its parts would be dispersed among other components of survival. In dl· lion). Some effects of a gene may be enhanced while others are reduced as a result of a selection regime. and defense capacity are ecological correlates. activity of sweat glands. circulation. Should the br~edmg program be abandoned. This phenomenon of pleiotropy reflects the process of gene action: genes cause the production of enzymes. which catalyze particular chemical reactions in the complex metabolic network. the fit of skull to brain and integument to internal organs all have obvious survival value.' . diurnal habit. physiological tolerance. . metabolic rate. corn breeders are now interested m Im~rovmg.\" . while factors that affect the concentrations of nutrients. muscles. But If the dlr~ctlOn of selection is altered. in mammals infant size (as affected by nutrition) influences adult size. The ball and socket fit of long bones at joints. . Anything that alters the partitioning of resources between them generates a negative correlation. They have little tolerance for dry heat and are very vulnerable and attractive to predators. The rates of flow of substances between parts. Third. Finally.I II IS II 1\\ rclat d to heat balance and to compel ins nc ds f r blood (8. ( •I -ulation in a limb is certainly related to the use of that 14mb.. an adaptive trait.' . For example. Any species switching over I daytime foraging would r - EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY 61 quire an increase in desiccation resistance and in protection against predators (perhaps through the formation of a soldier c~ste). \"Trait\"ness is a property not of the index Itself but of the circurnI inces of its development and selection. Early stages of development may affect later ones.' Various aspects of an organism may be bound toge~her as. ~hen thy define measures of aggressiveness (the number o~ tl~es ~ white rat hiles the research assistant) and select animals for high indices Of.lh s parat . Furtherm r . they are not rigidly determined. the sensitivities of different tissues to the same stimulus. the timing of the growth periods of different organs. and the rates of production or breakdown of growth-promoting or inhibiting substances in different tissues are all subject to selection and may be changed. ag\"ressiveness. Because of contemporary so'Ial and political concern with \"violence\" and \"aggression. . innervation. Thus the proper occlusion (fit of upper and lower teeth) is more important than the absolute size of the teeth.inl rnully tighrly int grat d III . and circulation. A single gene may affect characters that are seemingly remote from each other. tra~ts If Ihey are units of either development or selection. Mutual regulation among these parts allows such adaptation to occur relatively rapidly. A genetic change that alters the rate of a reaction or even blocks it completely will have effects that spread out through the network. Thus.ev. Although all of these correlations are the direct consequences of the processes of development. But when the breeders com?ine total yield. what are the selection pressures operating on the integration of parts? First. I'm II t III ' •• th mout h purl sol' l\\ SlI 'klnilins 'l rc r -I I -d 10 t h physl' II :0.haract risll s may b only loos Iy 'otlpl d 10 each oth 'r. some parts function together mechanically. or physical conditions around them induce a positive correlation. . different organs or processes that have little direct interaction may be bound together ecologically by their common adaptive significance. for instance. Similarly. the \"trait\" itself would lose evolutIOnary meaning.en )N EVOLUTION sense competing for resources. and so on into a selection value. the positioning of parts for within satisfactory limits. under extreme environmental conditions the regulatory system may break down and the correlation of parts drastically altered. most termites are nocturnal foragers. some parts of an organism function to maintain other .olve m~ependently.\" some stud mts of behavior have begun to treat \"aggressiveness\" ~s a trait. Second.\n\nWe visualize the organism as a system of variables grouped in overlapping clusters of components of fitness (survival and reproduction) and subject to constraints of physical limitation and developmental interdependence. physiology. and the characteristic evolves under the control of only one adaptive criterion. Three aspects of adaptation counter the advantages of tighter integration. which has been molded by microevolutionary processes. mi~roscol2ic and macroscopic. which have greater autonomy of parts. A changed environment can result in selection on several of these clusters. the more strongly coupled and interdependent the system. a new set of rela1ions among organisms and with inorganic nature. often these are the traits that appear late in development and locally. But this connection cannot be made until the dichotomy of organism and environment is broken down. and plants. If every small change in morpholIII'Y I id to a radical change in predators or food resources. On the other hand. or else no cumulative evolutionary change could ever take place. depending upon the unique biological interactions involved. First. Therefore. Over and over again. the more pervasive the breakdown when some stress overwhelms the regulatory capacity. the particular changes that occur when a new mutation is incorporated into a species may increase or decrease the species' probability of survival. First. and behavior usually h IV only 0 small 11' 'Ion th cological relations of the organism. seals. a new variety means a new environment. what has taken place in evolution is the successive coupling and uncoupling of parts as the advantages of coordinated functioning and mutual regulation oppose the disadvantages of excessive constraint and vulnerability. There is no general rule as to which is better. the least constrained will change the most. In general. if a particular characteristic is subject to different selection pressures. Or if the digestion of different foods requires different levels of acidity. compromise becomes less possible. and its dormancy pattern is related to the seasonality of its habitat. and if the optimal states of the characteristic under the two pressures separately are not too different. we have an alkaline mouth and an acidic stomach. it is possible for one pattern to change without the other changing. Species with very tight coupling are unable to adapt as readily as those in which different fitness components are more autonomous. the evolu1lun o r such obviously adapted swimming forms could never occui· We 1IIIIst assume that the relations between phenotype and fitness has at !I'll 1 1wo general properties. Or a part may subdivide: if the optimum tooth shape for tearing is so different from the optimum shape for grinding that an intermediate tooth shape is disastrous for both functions. producing a mixed strategy of incisors and molars. C '1I111lll1l0llSd form nlons f ph nolyp' should map frequently into . EVOLUTION AS THEORY AND IDEOLOGY 63 Macroscopic and Microscopic Theories There are really two theories of evolution. -uch mutational change cannot result in a totally new relation between or anism and environment. among the important variables of a cluster. the control over front and back teeth may separate. This hns occurred independently in whales. then the outcome is likely to be a compromise in which the part in question is determined by both aspects of fitness (Levins 1968).-QuantllIl1 ~anics is not really relevant to the laws of the movement of fallin bodies except insofar as t e existence of coherent macroscopic physical Objects and their interaction with the physical medium in which they move are reflections of their micro§copic prooerties. A second. terrestrial vertebrates have adapted to aquatic IIf • by developing finlike appendages from their terrestrial organs. so that VI'Iy small chang s in m rph logy. by analogy to microscopic and macroscopic physics-. But In reality. instead of having some intermediate pH that allows only slow digestion. But as the directions of selection pressures diverge. penguins. and even in sea 1\\ ikcs. there must be continuity. Finally. Among the most abundant organisms are mammals. related phenomenon that favors uncoupling is that as the number of interacting variables and the intensity of their interaction increases. In the same way. Therefore. Finally.62 ON EVOLUTION structure of its food source. with tight integration. Each instance of speciation or extinction is a consequence of microscopic events that are ultimately dependent upon the genetic composition of the species. The two theories can never make effective contact until the concept of relative fitness of genotypes within a population is connected to the fitness of populations and species in ecological communities. so that the only issue is whether. but explanations of general patterns of diversity in space and time must be framed in terms of phenomena at a different level. they will produce fewer or more offspring. which are laterally flattened. one pressure swamps the other. The divorce between the relative fitness of genotypes LIndthe fitness of populations arises from the fiction that new varieties life selected in a fixed environment. Riven that environment. it becomes increasingly difficult for selection to increase fitness.\n\ndespite the principle of continuity. If character correlations are unbreakable. These two principles are the beginning of a theory of the evolution of organisms. The theory still must be developed. Second. could ever develop without totally altering the rest of the organism in generally nonadaptive ways.64 ON EVOLUTION continuous deformations of ecological relation. there must exist a large number of possible phenotypic correlations between a given character change and other aspects of the phenotype. there are points at which quantitative change becomes qualitative. At the same time. then no single aspect of the phenotype. like fins. . or nearly so. characters must be quasi-independent. and the principle of quasi-independence does not mean that every kind of restructuring of organisms is possible. That is. at the moment we have only a kinematics of the evolution of abstract genotypes.\n\nwhich WIIS Il'nll 1111 'ti InlCl II . 'l'h pi Neill I XI I Ih P. vot. Freud's ideas of sublimation.\\ _______________________ 2 Adaptation E VERY theory of the world that is at all powerful and covers a large domain of phenomena carries immanent within itself its own caricature. Freudianism. which can lead to their reformulation. Marx's historical materialism has been caricatured by the vulgar econornism that attempts to explain the smallest detail of human history as a direct consequence of economic forces. a theory necessarily must contain some logically very powerful element that is flexible enough to be applicable in so many situations. by using it indiscriminately. . edit~d hy (JIulo Iilnlludl (Tut lu. they reveal underlying weaknesses in the theories themselves. Iransference.. This element of immanent caricature is certainly present in three theoretical structures that have had immense effects on twentieth-century bourgeois thought: Marxism. ltuly. The narrow line that separates a genuinely fruitful and powerful theory from its sterile caricature is crossed over and over again by vulgarizers who seize upon the powerful explanatory element and. and repression have been interpreted to explain any form of overt behavior as a direct or transformed manifestation of any arbitrary psychological cause. I. for a theory that can explain everything explains nothing. Yet the very logical power of such a system is also its greatest weakness. but all conceivable ones.~h nrlglnn}. . If it is to give a satisfactory explanation of a wide range of events in the world in a wide variety of circumstances.111111 Illi Ill. In Darwinism the element that is This chapl 'r WIIS Ilrsl p\\lhliNh~'d II \"Aduuum '1110\" Inl\\'lI/'ll'Io/lI'tl/(1 m//(l//rll. II 'y\\'l\"!l dll. however.nl4ll. 1(77). destroy its usefulness. In doing so. It ceases to be a theory of the contingent world and becomes instead a vacuous metaphysic that generates not only all possible worlds. reversal. and Darwinism.\n\nproblem. absurd in the highest degree\" (p. The most important p litical consequence of this world view was the legitimation it provided for social organization. In the view of some. Thus a key may be adapted to fit a lock by cutting and filing it.cans and gave fish fins to swim in them. it is quite conceivable that a naturalist .. such a conclusion.~ith milk.:orthy race of angels to develop. produced organisms whose parts were in harmony with each other so that the organism as a whole was in harmony with its environment. Cows were ideally designed to provide people . like varieties from other species. so the problems to be solved and the solutions were products of the same . he made the air and put wings on birds to fly in it. He made the I) . For Darwin. and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration. the actual forms of biological and social organizations in the world are seen as \"solutions\" to these \"problems. each part subserving the higher funcnon. Thus the very notion of adaptation inevitably carried over into modern biology the theological view of a preformed physical world to which organisms were fitted.rse. When the world was explained as the product of a divine will. or ideal to which organisms are fitted by a dynamical process. Darwin needed to show that evolution by natural selection could lead to the same end. The universe was the work of a divine creator. ). \"The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork\" are the words of the Psalmist. could have been formed by natural selection seems.. tru nur IOd '0 id ptutlon which mOSI justly xcitc (. The Divine Artificer ereIt'd both the physical world and the organisms that populated it. 186). According to the concept there exist certain \"problems\" to be \"solved\" by organisms and by societies. since according 10 the creation myth the physical world was produced first and the organisms were then made to fit into that world. Nevertheless. and its parts were made by him to fit t?gether in a. There cannot be adaptation without the ideal model according to which the adaptation is taking place. in his chapt r \"Difliculties of the Theory.d. masters and slaves repr sented a division of power and labor that was necessary for the pr per functioning of society and the working out of the divine plan. with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances. The process is adaptation and the end result is the state of being adapted. harmonious way. but what are the physical schemata 10 whlch or nnlsm» ar adapting and adapted? Are there really preexis- 1 . however. Lords and serfs. was perfectly fitted to serve a higher purpose. I freely confess. God posed the problems and gave the answers. lnhabltln thls world have b n modlll d. In that view the enti. serious pmhl 'ms arose for the concept of adaptation. might come to the conclusion that each species . Having rejected the supreme designer as responsible for the world's perfection. But such \"organs of perfection\" are only the extreme and obvious results of the process of natural selection.7 our admiration\" (Darwin 1859. and trees to give shade and shelter. species originated through a continuing process of adaptation which. \"In considering the origin of species. The belief that organisms were marvelously fitted to their environments and that each part of an organism was exquisitely adjusted to serve a special function in the body. or a part made for one model of a machine may be used in a different model by using an adaptor to alter its shape. one that was characteristic of the aristocratic and fixed world before the European bourgeois revolution.M ADAPTATION ON EVOLUTION both central to the evolutionary world vi w IIHI y I () pow rful that it can destroy Darwinism as a testable th ry Is Id Ipl ulou. just as parts of the body politic were perfectly fitted to serve the needs of \"society. it Alto Fattore III id the keys to fit them. BEING ADAPTED AND BECOMING ADAPTED The concept of adaptation implies that there is a preexistent form. there was no difficulty with such a concept. The concept of adaptation not only chara I rizes xplanations of the evolution of life forms but also appears in cultural theory as functionalism. lndc .\" was carried over into modern biological and anthropological thought. unive. as to acquire th I P rf \"Ion of. Certainly the physical unlv rs pr dat d living organisms. even if well foundd. Having created the locks.. had descended. The rest of the living world was designed to serve humankind. With the advent of evolutionary explanations.\" Describing adaptation in these modern terms should not mask the fact that the concept has been inherited from a much older world view. for admitting different amounts of light. the primary object of this creation was man whose nature was carefully fashioned to allow a new and more trust: .hcrna. which lies at the center of Darwinian evolutionary theory.. All that changed was the explanation. in~luding living organisms and especially the human specres and Its social organization.\" Darwin rcaliz d Ihat \"organs of extreme perfection and complication\" were a critical test case for his theory. at the same that it produced new species. \"To suppose that the eye. would be unsatisfactory until it could be shown how the innumerlhl IIP:i .\n\nBut the external world can be divided up in an uncountable infinity of ways. and behavior. it would soon fill the world and crowd out all other organisms. Thus for long periods of its evolutionary lifetime. as in the dam building of beavers. d 's the rgnnism ur Wh II . Both the occasional sudden increases in abundance and range of a .hun 1111-\\. that the environment remains unchanged but that the species by chance acquires a character that enables it to utilize a previously untapped resource. for example. Iinding th I' by sh r chance environmental condit ions (includin the lack or com pet itors) to which it is better adapted than it had been to its native habitat. in the evolution of fungus gardening by ants. It muy spr ad v -ry I' 11'idly. so the organisms must evolve to maintain their state of adaptation.'j's Ihnt huvc cofonlz . A solution to the paradox has been that the environment is constantly decaying with respect to the existing organisms. so there is an uncountable infinity of conceivable ecological niches. sp 'el S '111 b xplulned III till. uch a species either uses up some resource that had existed in great excess of its needs or otherwise alters the environment by its own activity 0 that it is no longer able to increase in numbers. If organisms define their own niches. ill will 'II slow nerlc ndaptatlon to un ulm )st indcp 'lid 'lilly 'hullgi\" -nvh omu III WIS dominant. for exampic. the tin' Ieudln to 110/1/0 saptons PISS't! to . Evolutionary adaptation is then an infinitesimal process in which the organism tracks the ever-changing environment. does not already exist. for a very large part of their evolutionary histories. a species is adapted in the sense that it makes a living and replaces itself. physiology. In this wuy I h environment is a product of the organism. Indeed. if a species decreased on the average. th ' universal character of organisms is that their increase in numbers Is II 'If-limited. as. All extant species. or \"hopeful monsters\" may nevertheless have occurred as. peci 5 and thin vitabl extinct ion I' all \"' r- If\" \" 'I~ n--. just as the organism is I product of the environment. The activity of all livln I' rms transforms the external world in ways that both prom t and III hibit the life of organisms.p . B 'ginnill with Ih' lIsllt~1r lurion. the idea of an ecological niche without an organism filling it loses all meaning. there are difficulties in seeing evolution as a process of adaptation. If a species increased on the average by even a small fraction of a percent per generation. At the same time. as.short term to its own needs. IIlh I1VIIOlIIlI'IIIshould '1\\ 111c In such a way that Ih pr s 'nl phy 1010 y IIId b -II ivlor 01' \\ sne 'I s by chanc mak sit r productlv ily v I'y \\I\" 1'111'111. f r exam pi . so adaptation or nvironm 'nt to or uulsm hus he '0 IIIIt thl' dumlnunt mod . Ihe creation of entire habitats. changing its morphology. e ' analyze and muk dellb r II lilt I Illons. w IY.'\" I III \"1'111111III \"I\" 1111 II III III III provld s \"s lut 1111\"' III I I III III 11111 I I III 11111 1111 II . always adapting to the most recent environment. then all species are already adapted. is very much less likely. Conversely.1I1101l1lIlIIIa wm hl. it would soon go extinct. the ecological niche. in ways Ihul ure diN 1111 . Th alternative. the species is evolving. Such favorable rnutati ns. It PIli fII of spatial movement? Where does it reproduce'? At what tim s of' duy and during what seasons is it active? To maintain that organisms adapt to the environment is to maintain that such ecological niches exist in the absence of organisms and that evolution consists in filling these empty and preexistent niches. but this raises serious difficulties for the concept of adaptation. but in I h e long term the organism must adapt to an environm nt thut ls .d u n w 'ontln . The problem is how a species can be at all times both adapting and adapted. by nest building. The organism adapts the cnvironm nt in tit.rcase the possibilities of life for their creators. Nest building. 'uuurul lnven I 011 has r placed gcn tic 'hang as t h r1' ct ivc SOUI'C of' v \\I I It Ion. IIl(J In what quantiti 's.lousncss all ws p 01\"1. but always at the mercy of further historical change. till ill . of course.tivc to the species. Unless there is a preferred or correct way in which to partition the world. always lagging slightly behind. even if we put aside ecological niches. Adaptation cannot be a process of gradual fitting of an organism to the environment if the specific environmental configuration. partly through the organism's own a tiviry. m's 1\\ tis Ull lilt' IlIl P lit or III' hi 011) I'll wolurlon or III . In human cvoluti nth usual relati nship b tw icn orgnnism IIn I II V roumcnt has become virtually r vcrs din udunrarton. vcntually. trail and boundary mark ill . The alternative is that ecological niches are defined only by the organisms living in them. and evolution cannot be seen as the process of becoming adapted. Wh II k II I 01 Ioud.stll wh 1\" 'OliN'lolls I 'I Ivlt y mud ' ud Ii'llat Ion or Ihe '1IViwIIIII 'lit to th '01' ? 11111. The simple view that the external environment changes by s me dy nomic of its own and is tracked by the organisms takes no ace lint of the effect organisms have on the environment. This is the situation or sp . because they use up food and space resources.nt. have neither increased nor decreased in numbers and range. l'h II '11' is a multid III II 101111I 'I pi 1111111III III I 1111111 III I xl lnro by on rganism with th .th rubbit in Austruliu. On the other hand.\n\nphysiological. These solutions. rather than any lucky change in the external world. and behavior as a specific adaptation. and behavioral plasticity given by its present biology and by genetic changes that may occur by mutations and natural selection. If life on other planets has partitioned the environment in ways that are radically different from those on earth. and legs for walking. The theory of environmental tracking does not solve the problem of evolution.9 percent of all species that ever existed are extinct. As Eng Is (I HHO)observed in \"The Part Played by Labor in the Transition from Ape 10 Man. udnpting. Extinction may be seen as the failure of adaptation in that genetic or plastic changes in an adapted species are unable to keep up with a change in the environment. It cannot explain. so the environment is sure eventually to alter in a way and at a rate that outdistances the species' adaptive response.. In practice the construction may begin with either environment or organism. Fins. There is no way to use adaptation as the central principle of evolution without recourse to a predetermination of the states of nature to which this adaptation occurs. Thus fins are an adaptation for swimming. That is. This evolutionary diversification . even more clearly. by ixamining the physI'\" -uvlronm Iltso/'thos'plln'ts. and the functional statement then used to construct the corresponding structure in the other domain. or a parIicular trait of an organism may be assumed to be a solution and the \\ problem reconstructed from it. then it is difficult to see how the land came to be populated from Ihe water and the air from the land. physiology. that is responsible for the rapid expansion of the human species in historical time. For example. since the detection depends upon the growth of hypothetical organisms in defined nutrient solutions. having accepted that evolution is a process of adaptation. A species' response to environmental alteration is limited by the morphological. II' th r r ally arc preexistent niches to whieh organisms idupr. temp ral patterns of activity. predictions are in fact being made. the concept of adaptation is informative only if it has som ' predictive power.lions (us in Ih \"matins call\" of frogs). since the failure to make this identification would result in the wustagc of gametes and energy in a fruitless attempt to produce viable 1)IJ'spring from an interspecific mating. it is limited in rate of response. It must be possible to construct a priori ecologiiul nichcs before organisms are known to occupy them and then to des 'rib' Ihe evolution of organisms toward these niches as adaptation. Such a view amounts to constructing a description of the external environment and a description of the organism in such a way that they can be mapped into each other by statements about function. Phenotypic and genetic plasticity is thus limited in kind but. so. That is. vocalI . Just as the notion of adaptation as an organism's state of being requires a predetermined ecological niche. Finally the human species passed t the 51 age where adaptation of the environment to the organism has come to be completely dominant.regarded as a probkill. lt is this phenomenon. SPECIFIC ADAPTATIONS Evolutionists. More than 99.lnlh huildilll£nfd'vi\"slod teet ADAPTATION 71 life on these planets. the correct mutual recogult ion of males and females of the same species is . are based on the physiology of terrestrial microorganisms. assigning the adaptive significance of an organ or behavior pattern presumes that a problem exists to which the character is a solution.l/IION cies. A variety of characters of orIIollnisll1s.\" the human hand is as much a product of human labor as il is an instrument of that labor. wings for flying. the immense diversification of organisms that has occurred. for example. more important. or why homoiotherms (warmblooded organisms) evolved at the same time that poikilotherms (coldblooded organisms) were abundant. therefore. If evolution is only the successive modification of species to keep up with a constantly changing environment. wings. so the devices will detect only those extraterrestrial life forms that conform to the ecological niches already defined on earth. Th 'exploration of other planets does provide the possibility of makill such pr dictions. subserving the state of total adaptation of the entire organism.70 ON EVOI. and all are sure to be extinguished eventually. . and odors. regard each aspect of an organism's morphology. marking off Homo sapiens from all other life.such as color markings. and legs are the organism's solutions to the problem of locomotion in three different media. . yet it also illustrates the epistemological difficulIi 's lnvolv 'd.nnno: be described in any consistent way as a process of adaptation unless we can describe preferred ways of dividing up the multidimensional niche space toward which species were evolving and. the problems may be 'numerated and then the organism partitioned into solutions. Ih '11 il oughr 10 be possible to predict the kind of organisms (if lillY) Ihnl will be dlscov 'r 'd 011 Mars or V nus. yet there seems no way to choose these states of nature except by reference to already existing organisms. those living forms will remain unrecorded. however. c unship rituals.\n\nI divisions of the brain correspond in a very rough way to the localization of some central nervous functions. the ordinary physic. Again. arbitrarily described.UTION can then be explained us Sp 'cill' Idlpl 11 Oil 101 olv 11M I his univ '1'1111 problem.\"II\" r PI' 'Nenl 'Oil II' lint n th adaptation of each ly. Thus. yet it cannot be 1'1 ilmcd to h adupratlon for all. otherwise all traits would have to be considered in Ihe solution to all problems and vice versa.haruct 'I'S nr consid r din nl4'n'Ir\"\". This commitment establishes the problematic of the science as one of finding the adaptation. each with its separate function. If. and as a solution to th problem of temperature regulation by acting as cooling fins. leg. the nois • making of immature birds or humans is a device to coerce the selfish parents into feeding their offspring. For example. by extension from human behavior in some societies. The weakness of evolutionary theory is manifest in the assumption I hal all traits. be described. but this is bitterly cant 'NI d by conventional Darwinians who accept that adaptationist meth. and each of these \"organs of b • havior\" is provided with an adaptive explanation by finding the problem to which it is a solution (Wilson 1975). A whole variety of manifest behaviors. or wing an individual trait whose evolution can be un. Ev ry trait is involved in a variety of functions. war. the farge r ct hOllY pili'. is each part of the leg also a trait? At what level of subdivision d the boundaries no longer correspond to \"natural\" divisions? Perhap: the topology as a whole is incorrect. parental investment. the problem. If the assumption is illowed to stand. they have been vari usly proposed as a solutl II to the problem of defense. then adaptive explanations simply become a test of Ihe ingenuity of theorists and of the tolerance of intellectuals for tort II red and absurd stories. the danger of reification becomes greater. Obviously. Conversely. Animal behavior is described by categories such as aggression. The third hidden assumption is that all aspects of an organism are udaptive. altruism. pIe. pears to be diffusely stored. Hidden in adaptive analyses are a number of assumptions that go back to theistic views of nature and to a naive Cartesianism. explanations of the upposed mass suicide of lemmings by drowning as being a population I gulation device that is adaptive for the species as a whole. Some evolutionists (Kimura and Ohta 1971) !lOW r gard a large part of the variation in protein structure among spel' 's us random. but the memory of events ap. which are at most constraints on the solution. and cooperation. either by actually interfering with a PI' d ator's attack or by making the animal appear larger in profile. Thus a whale's flipper can destroy a he s condury . odological program without reserve (Ford 1975). not of asking whether it exists III all. any int iruction» among . fare. allowing evolutionists to explain just those traits that seem most obviously to fit their mode of exnlunation. 1974). For exam. ich nvlr nm ntal problem to be olv d is is larcd and ilS solut ion regard d as independent of other inrcracti ns with th envir nm nt. Alternatively. it is in behavioral traits that the great'st scope for rationalization appears.hnrac: md r s parat In . the assumption is dropped. In what natural sense is a fin. 11011\" Ih midd rsul line of the dinosaur Stegosaurus e nstttut u 'h uu 'I r I hat demand adaptive explanation. traits that are difficult to rationalize can be declared nonadaptive. The problematic is an inheritance from the concept of the world liS having been designed by a rational creator so that all aspects of it have a function and can be rationalized. there are great II llicutr i s and ambiguities in determining the adaptation of a given orIII. leading to a kind of compi ix systems analysis of the whole organism in its total environment. are adaptive. as a solu tion to the problem of recognition in courtship. to be solved in adaptation also may be arbitrary reifications. mals are said to have to cope with \"parent-offspring conflict\" which arises because parents and offspring are not genetically identical but both are motivated by natural selection to spread their genes (Triv r. other ani. and particular memories are not found in particular microscopic regions. The methodological program of adaptive explanation demands an a priori commitment to such explanations for all traits that . First it must be assumed that the partitioning of organisms into traits and th partitioning of environment into problems has a real basis and is n t simply the reification of intuitive human categories. A see nd hidden assumpl ion is I hat haract rs can be isolated in III adaptive analysis.. for example. irrational. a ceteris paribus argument is necessary for adapIlvc reconstructions. slave making. derstood in terms of the particular problem it solves? If the leg is u trait. relegating the others to the category of \"non-Darwinian\" (K lng and Jukes 1969).II. is explained in this way. who otherwise would go untcnd ed. The entire trend of adaptive evolutionary arguments is toward a Cartesinn analysis into separate parts. As we move from anatomical features to descriptions of behavior. on the 01 her hand. such as the pattern f parental feeding of offspring. (Ilv n lhe assumptions of the adaptationist program. and non-Darwinian. \\IN IIVOI. The problem of explanation is 10 reveal the workings of this rational system.\n\nthis is impossible. Thus gan or character is actually opumai : . however they do not behave acthey are biased toward larger ~tems. the arguIn the absence 0 ac ua.:o~ . The ex~lanation offered for the cording to the calc~lated optlmum the competing demand to visit the failure of a close fit ISthat because 0 d tors the birds spend less time nest often enough to discouragehPre a Id'l'f the behavior were a pure . t I ays perfect owever. Lungs can properly be considered an adaptation for breathing because without them the animal would suffocate. I s showed that the shape of Leigh (19 1). he i tigator per orms a e peenng.' f the behaViOr rom r ing. usin~ hy~r~dyn~ml~:::~~:t:. of the body where heat production IS plates over the most mas~lve part. mg ns. then return izht 1 ith the distribution of available prey comparison of the pre~ ca~. since it is not clear whether the alteration has introduced an extraneous variable. where t ey . on the larger size of t~e gestmg a large amount. . f ve~ I historical data on natural selection. but no one would argue that the flipper is an adaptation for destroying surface predators rather than for plates of Stegosaurus are adapnon. n with those of the organ in quesc~araTc~riS~~.h. natural selectlOn. but in practice the interpretation of such alterations is dangerous. and the ed is regarded as strong su. nearest the .ADAPTATION 74 75 ON EVOLUTION small whaling boat. sven if it could be shown that an organ functions in a variety of ways. II osed as efficiency of food gatherstruction. uses its front flippers to propel itself over dry sand to an egg-laying site above high-water mark. f f Iprey than t ey wou searChl~g or op l~a . E for extant orgamsms. The green turtle.e~r~~heirbase. The judgment of wh 'I h 'r Ih lizard's gular pouch is an adapt ati n for species recogniI ion d 'P lids upon whet h r natural s I ctt n is supp s d to have operII . If. The problem IS on~maf y p andom in the direction predict. \" nalysis IS sometlmes . on the supposition that 7 a sponge ISthe optIma s a~e or s the maximum amount of foodthe problem for the spO~ge. anal sis of the organism as ment that a trait is an adaptatIOn ~ests ~~: using principles of engia machine for solving postulfate prod sign 'analysis and compares the . But the turtles use these swimming paddles in this way for lack of anything better. d on the constnctlOn 0 . A more quantiheat source. The problem of judging the adaptive importance of a trait from its use becomes more difficult when the use itself must be reconstructed. The bony plates of Stegosaurus may have been a device for temperature regulation. In principle. The fit IS no a w '. The ~istinction bet.. pO!:!:t~t~s:~a~~~e d~. predator protection. using its hind flippers as a trowel. Every terrestrial animal above the size of an insect must have lungs. but it is by no means certain that a species of unstriped zebras would go extinct from predation.II ilao incid ntally 1'1 hi II cI IH d \\I nl I II would be I IJrI'lu/afJ(at/oll for t his I II t r pur- for which an organ or trait is pose. A and catch prey. d\"'b ti n of food SIzes or a If the optimal istri u 10 ith it to a nest (central-place foraging). and species recognition simultaneously. but most adaptations are not so essential. sugtati~ns for heat eXChang~/~~~o~nc~r:u~ation. d arrang~ment of the plates to the greatest.ere:~~~~t~:e: preadaptation could be made O an adapta~iOn ~nd those d b reconstruction of the actual forces of only on nistoricel groun s ya . I for its postulated purpose. f b' d that must search for . er lacement of coolleft and right of the midli~e. Chelonia mylas.e. or even that they would be less numerous. The striping of zebras may be an adaptation to protective camouflage in tall grass. that sizes did indeed show t at ir ~ .t! I hrou h I h 111M fr ·<tll'nl iorr et rnutings of individuals wit h th IHHI . inflatable gular to proces containing water per unit time.~ not take food items at random. the question of its adaptation is not settled because of the implied historical causation in the theory of adaptation. on the aiternatmg unpaire . Nor does the habitual and \"natural\" use of an organ necessarily imply that it is an adaptation for that purpose. wh 'II Ih ' POll 'h I' I 'h d I ' rtuln slz . then digs a deep hole for the eggs in a slow and clumsy way. made proposing that the or. and the dorsal spines may also be heat regulators. If sufficiency of an organ is not a sufficient condition of its being an adaptation. y s c ndillr probllllmOdtohlatrI~~~~ ~~~t instructs the theorist in how far Tit r s no rn 0 i ~~t . us h orous nature of the bone. fi . Some modern lizards have erectile \"sails\" along their dorsal lines and or brightly colored. . experiments can be done on living lizards to determine the effect of removing or altering these characters. neither is necessity of an organ a necessary . h Orians (1976) has calculated . A devlatlOn 0 rt for the adaptive explanation. t e mves I d d . These may serve as both aggressive display and sexual recognition signals.suggefstthmegp~~. This is a paradigm for adaptive recon-! adaptatlon to feedmg ef~icle~c~. . because the passive transpiration of gases across the skin or by a tracheal system would not suffice for respiration in a large volume.ppo timum is accounted for by an ad hoc discrepancy from the predIcted op straint on the solution to the first. an h ld be inefficient radiators. Nor is this doubt restricted to extinct forms. flippers cannot be regarded as adaptations either to land locomotion or to hole digging. tative engmeenng a .\n\nBy studying the bones and muscles of the legs of two zebras and by applying simple mechanical principles. 3. th h diff . . and their relative adaptation becomes the focus.\" according to Darwin. yet when placed in competition the greater adaptation of one would lead to the extinction of the other. the frequency of different variant forms in the species WIllchange. and behavior allowed them to appropriate a greater share of the resources in short supply. an idea he got from reading Malthus's (1798) Essay on the Principle of Population. It is important ~~note that all three conditions are necessary as well ~s sufficient conditions for evolution by natural selection. the relative adaptation of two distinct species cannot in general he compared b cause species are never competing with each other in . or those who could survive and reproduce on a lower resource level. The struggle would be won by those individuals whose morphology. or they are unadapted and are on their way to extinction. although it does not follow in all cases that one form o~~he.. The \"struggle for existence. the adaptationist program makes of adaptation a ~etaphYSICal postulate that not only cannot be refuted but is neces~anly confi. or those who could utilize a resource that was unsuitable for their competitors. and behavIO~altraits among members of a species (the principle of variation). That is. By the same consideruti 11.ssary and sufficient principles for evolution by natural selection con tam no reference to adaptation.A s~fficient mechanism for evolution by natural selection is contamed in three propositions: 1. since the superior of any two slightly different shapes can be discerned. physiological. So long as organisms are considered only in relation to their ecological niche. ~hese nece. so that individuals resemble their relations more than they resemble unrelated individuals and. But a plant at the edge of the desert is said to struggle for life against the drought\" (Darwin 1859. T. The variation is in part heritable. By allowing the theorist to post~late vario. in which case they will persist.he existence of heritable variation is especially crucial. Two canine animals in a time of dearth may be truly said to struggle with each other which shall get food and live. offspring resemble their parents (the principle of heredity). NATURAL SELECTION AND ADAPTATION . Darwin add d the post ulatc 77 of adaptation to explain the mechanical cause of the phenomenon of differential reproduction and survival. en t . they are either adapted. was the result of the tendency of species to reproduce in excess of the resources available to them. . Any trait for which the three principles apply may be expecte~ to e~olve. physiology.variation in morphological. 62).e itterential reproductive success of different forms is irrelevant. then of course there is no ~atural sel~ct~on. !here is . it is in principle possible to predict the direction of evolution of leg muscles and bones by a local differential analysis. one should be able to say which of the two can run faster and therefore better escape predators.trait will displace all others. \"I should premise that I use the term Struggle for Existence in a large and metaphorical sense . ~i~erent .76 ON EVOLUTION ADAPTATION the o~servation must deviate from the prediction before the original adaptive explanation is abandoned altogether. u: nng. solutions. This is the caricature that was Imma.rmed by every observation. they are competing for the same set of resources or struggling to reproduce in the same unfavorable environment (the plants at the edge of the desert). p. Given this struggle in its \"large and metaphorical sense. smce a. If vanation exists but is not passed from parent to offsp .variants leave different numbers of offspring either I~ immediate or remote generations (the principle of differential fitness). In these latter two forms the struggle for existence was freed from the idea of actual struggle between individuals. The struggle for existence also redirects the idea of adaptation from an absolute to a relative criterion. in particular.\" an engineering analysis should be able to predict which of two individuals will better survive and reproduce.llforms will produce the same distribution of types in the next generanou. There may be stable intermedi~t~ eqUlI!bna at which two or more variant forms coexist at a characterIstICstationary frequency. If the varrants do not differ in their reproductive success. Two forms of a species might both be absolutely adapted in the sense that the species would persist if it were made up entirely of either form. Further. But if individuals of the same species are considered in relation to each other. combinations of problems to which manifest traits are oPtImal.nent m Darwin's insight that evolution is the product of natural selection. .\n\nan introduced species does extinguish another species. and (3) that lengthening the bone does not produce countervailing direct developmental or physiological effects on other organs or on its own function. however. and even that sea snakes. Without this design analysis Darwinian theory would simply state that the more fit individuals leave more offspring in future generations and would then determine relative fitness from the number of offspring left by different individuals. allowing them to run faster. that ducks. some individuals will. as in the case of the Mediterranean fruit fly. the mapping of character slates into net reproductive fitness must have two characteristics: continuity and quasi-independence. Even though lions prey on zebras. t?ere will be a posteriori tautological differences in fitness among individuals. so if zebras are food limited. It surely is no accident that fish have fins. The design analysis.huracrcr space map into neighborhoods in. EVOLUTIONARY CONVERGENCE The serious methodological and epistemological difficulties in the use of adaptive explanations should not blind us to the fact that many features of organisms clearly seem to be convergent solutions to obvious environmental problems. A change in length of the long bones of zebras' legs. longer shank bones may be more easily broken. So II v 'ry slight chun ' in the shape of a . will be favored in evolution provided (1) that running speed is really the problem to be solved by the zebra. which was extinguished in eastern Australia by the sudden southward spread of the Queensland fruit fly. one can only say that evolution occurs because evolution occurs. sine all (11 'r thin sur ncv r .78 ON EVOLUTION t~e same exclusionary way as are forms of the same species. It must be that the problem of swimming was posed in a rudimentary and marginal form. and the reproductive fitness of the ancestors of these forms must have been increased by the gradual modification of their appendages in a similar way. irrespective of its net benefit to the organism. By continuity we mean that very small changes in a character result in very small changes in the ecological relut ions I' the organism and therefore very small changes in reproductlvc fitness. of course. Iltn ss spuc '. Finally. Therefore. leave more offspring than oth~rs. and create a whole series of problems of integrated morphology. Since.quul. that aquatic mammals have altered their appendages to form finlike flippers. that penguins have paddlelike wings. even by chance. Such a solution would decouple adaptation from evolution and make it into a purely intellectual game. At first sight. all with flattened appendages. But this coevolution of the organism and of the environment it was creating for itself continued over long times in the same direction. like the judgment of ab olutc adantati n. cost more developmental energy to produce.section. lacking fins. whose minor adaptive response resulted in a yet deeper commitment of the evolving species to the water. it is not necessarily true that faster zebras will escape more easily. (2) that the change in speed does not have countervailing adverse effects on the animal's adaptation to solving other problems set by the environment. All these traits are obviously adaptations for aquatic locomotion. 111 flnal judg- ADAPTATION 79 ment as to whether a particular change in a trait will produce relatively greater adaptation depends upon the net effect on the entire organism. producing fishlike animals from doglike ones and swimmers from fliers. the problem of feeding may be made worse by solving the problem of escaping from predators. makes it possible to determine fitness a priori. one species would become extinct in the competition. or else no progressive alteration to form such structures could occur. are flattened in cross. If two species overlapped so much in their ecological niches that their abundances were critically determined by the same limiting resource. Moreover. Relative adaptation. Yet it seems pure mysticism to suppose that swimming was a major \"problem\" held out before the eyes of the terrestrial ancestors of all these animals before they actually had to cope with locomotion through a liquid medium.. a very close relative that lays its eggs in the same cultivated fruit. putting only marginal demands on an organism. geese. From that. and seabirds have webbed feet. must b a ceteris paribus argum nt and. in a finite world of contingent events. N ighborboods in . It follows that the ceteris paribus argument must be true reasonably often. since it is by no means certain that lions are limited by speed in their ability to catch prey. and therefore one can judge the relative adaptation of two forms in the absence of any prior knowledge of their reproductive performances. greater speed may be at the expense of metabolic efficiency. Occasionally. The alternative would be to maintain that the engineering analysis of a predetermined problem is to be taken as defining the adaptation. Or can one? The conditions for predicting from relative adaptation analysis are the same as for judging absolute adaptation. the engineering approach to differential fitness seems to remove the apparent tautology in the theory of natural selection.\n\nguaruntccing support rather than hostility and thus increasing their reproduct ive fitness. That adaptation has occurred seems obvious. that conformists really would leave more offspring. and many so-called adaptive trends turn out on closer examination to be purely allometric. Different organs grow at different rates. NONADAPTIVE CHARACTERS AND THE FAILURE OF ADAPTATION While the principles of continuity and quasi-independence can be used to explain adaptive trends in characters that have actually occurred. or even many. but that is not compelling since the question concerns genetic variation in the evolutionary past. makes them part of \"human nature. Nor is there any reason to suppose that conformism is a separate trait and not simply a culturally defined concept that has been reified by the biologist. I II lutl n 10. paradigm is the argument by Wilson (1975) that indoctrinability (\"human beings are absurdly easy to indoctrinate . the increase of certain traits in a population by natural selection is not in inself a guide to adaptation.. Yet the end result would be a population with the same adult density as before but twice the density of early immatures and much greater competition among larval stages. This view universalizes two socially determined b . in fact.\" and then argues for III 'il' uduptlve ivol uti n.80 ADAPTATION ON EVOLUTION mammalian appendage to make it finlike does not cause a dramatic change in the sexual recognition pattern or make the organism attractive to a completely new set of predators. in primates tooth size increases less from species to species than does body size. A mutation that doubled the egg-laying rate in an insect. A parallel situation for morphological characters has long been recognized in the phenomenon of allometry. Pulling aside the question f the universality or indo 'Irinubilily and blind fuith. that all other things are equal. Moreover. .lnim Ihllt th Y ar the pr duct 01' ndnpttvc . would very rapidly spread through the populaIion. are adaptive. so that if growth is prolonged to produce a larger individual not all parts are proportionately larger. None of these propositions can be tested. By quasi-independence we mean that there exists a large variety of paths by which a given character may change. There is no evidence of any present genetic variation for conformism. they cannot be used indiscriminately to assert that all characters are adaptive or to predict the appearance of some character that ought to evolve because it would be adaptive. and pid mic dis as s may more easily spread. the adaptive trait is the extremely highly developed central nervous organization. This relationship of tooth size to body size is constant across all primates. the appearance of conformity as a manifestation of that complexity is entirely epiphenomenal. It would be difficult t say pr cis Iy whut mvlronrn ntal problem the in\" I. Reciprocally.volutiou requir s rh II Ih ire hus be 'n hcrltabl variation 81 for these traits in human evolutionary biology. In genetic terms. so large primates have proportionately smaller teeth than small primates. 561) are adaptive consequences of human evolution since conformist individuals will more often submit to the common goals of the group. all other things being equal and. quasiindependence means that a variety of mutations may occur. 562) and blind faith (\"men would rather believe than know. /\\.\" p. p.. predators may swhch their search images to the larvae of this species now that they are mol' abundant. limited by the amount of food available to the immature stages. and that some set of these changes will not be at a net disadvantage. For example. and it would be erroneous to argue that for some special adaptive reason gorillas have been selected for relatively small teeth. Periodic severe shortages of food would make the probability of extinction of the population greater than it was when larval competition was less. in a reasonable proportion of cases the countervailing effects will not be of sufficient magnitude to overcome the increase in fitness from the adaptation. The adaptationist program is so much a part of the vulgarization of Darwinism Ihat an increasing amount of evolutionary theory consists in the uncritical application of the program to both manifest and postulated traits of organisms. be powerful deterrents to adaptive trends. That is. in f iundlty w I. although some of these paths may give rise to countervailing changes in other organs and in other aspects of the ecological relations of the organism. The lack of continuity and quasi-independence may. that it is one of the possible ways of describing some aspect of the behavior of some individuals at some times and that it is a consequence of the evolution of a complex central nervous system.haviors. finally. The alternative is to recognize that \"conformism\" is a \"trait\" only by abstract construction. they seek it\". But it is not at all clear that most changes. all with the same effect on the primary character but with different effects on other characters. the . Developmental correlations tend to be quite conservative in evolution.\n\nand between humankind and nature. Herbert Spencer's Progress: Its Law and Cause. as optimal solutions to problems has more in common with the ideology of the sixteenth century than with that of the nineteenth. Now it was claimed by their advocates that the rise of the middle classes had indeed been progressive but that it was also the last progressive change. in general. and productive of the greatest good . we may safely infer that not one living species will transmit Its ~naltered likeness to a distant futurity . necessarily came under attack by the ideologues of the increasingly powerful commercial bourgeoisie. The resistance by the now dominant bourgeoisie to yet further social progress required a change in the legitimating ideology. Individuals may rise and fall in the social system. to have optimal characters would have been quite foreign to Darwin. the existence of \"organs of extreme perfection and complication\" was a difficulty for his theory. liberal democratic entrepreneurial man was the highest form of civilization. who believed that even the death of thousands in the Lisbon earthqu~ke proved that this was the \"meiIIeur des mondes possibles. Dr. Josiah Wedgwood. Thus the ideology of the Enlightenment emphasized progress rather than stasis becoming rather than being. It emphasized that change and instability were characteristic of the living world (and of the inorganic world as well. The success of commercial and manufacturing interests made it necessary for men to be able to rise as high in status and power as their entrepreneurial activities took them and required freeing money. but as lineal descendants of some few beings which lived long before the first bed of the Cambrian system was deposited..\" The successful revolutions of the eighteenth century were in danger of being overturned by newer revolutions. At the end of Origin of Species (1859) he wrote: \"When I view all beings not as special creations. rather than their indissoluble unity. He called attention to the numerous rudimentary and imperfect forms of these organs that were present in living species. There was. 489). were unchangeably just and rational beca~se the author of all things was unchanging and supremely just and rational. It had to be possible to alienate land for primary production and by the same process to allow the laborer to own his own labor power and to carry it to the centers of manufacturing where he could sell it in the labor market. since they were all part of an articulated plan. which could not be br~ken. Darwin's theory of the evolution of organic life was an expression of these same ideological elements. Darwin's maternal grandfather. all corporeal and mental endowments will tend to progress toward perfection\" (p.82 ON EVOLUTION ADAPTATION ADAPTATION AS IDEOLOGY The caricature of Darwinian adaptation that sees all characteristics. expressed the mid-nineteenth-century belief in the inevitability of change and progress. they seem to me to become ennobled. The idea that the analysis of living forms would show them. moreover. It must be remembered that for Darwin. epitomizing the flowering of an exuberant capitalism. Darwin's work came at the end of the successful struggle of the bourgeoisie to make a world appropriate to its own activities. Pangloss. The middle of the nineteenth century was a time of immense expansion of production and wealth. The liberal social theory of the last part of the nineteenth century and of the twentieth has emphasized dynamic equilibrium and optimality. toward which the development of society had been tending all along. Progress thro~g. but the system itself is seen as stable and as close to perfect as any system can be. Descartes' bete machine and La Mettrie's homme machine provided the program for the analysis of nature by dissecting and disarticulating it into separate causes and effects. Mechanical invention and a free labor mark I underlay the required growth of capital and rh social and physic 11 rrnnsformauon of Eu- 83 rope. started as a potter's apprentice and became one of the great Midland industrialists. however. WhIChwas both a conscious legitimation of the social order and its unconscious product. Pangloss was right after all only a bit premature. a \"spectre was haunting Europe. Voltaire's Dr. since the earth itself was being built up and broken down by geological processes). just. And as natural selection works solely by and for the good of each being. Judging f~o~ the past. the state and the unchanging world were seen and justified as manifestations of divine will. was a process of becoming rather than a state of final optimality. not a proof of it. II is efficient.\" syrnbolized the foolishness of the old ideology. land. for example. and labor power from their traditional rigid relationships. Adaptation. A demonstration of universal optimality could only have been a blow against his progressivist theory and a return to ideas of special creation. for Darwin. This ideology. and the freedom and disarticulation of parts of the world. real or constructed. of lord and serf and of both to the land. Even as Darwin wrote. Before the rising power and eventual victory of the bourgeoisie. an organic unity of relationships.. The relations among people.h successive improvement of mechanical relations was the characteristic of evolution in this scheme.\n\npassing into the main sequence. nothing really new is happening in evolution. If the necks of giraffes became longer over time. there is a dynamic equilibrium of social classes. That is. There is a striking similarity between this view of evolution and the claim that modern market society is the most rational organization possible. ______________________3 The Organism as the Subject and Object of Evolution 1m MODERN theory of evolution is justly called the \"Darwinian\" theory. The ideology of equilibrium and dynamic stability characterizes modern evolutionary theory as much as it does bourgeois economics and political theory. each culture is transformed through successive stages. Before Darwin. Through inner will and striving. then a white dwarf.1 H2. modern adaptationists regard the existence of optimal structures. Natural selection simply keeps the species from falling too far behind the constant but slow changes in the environment. systems were seen as undergoing change in time because each element in the system underwent an individual transformation during its life history. All theories of' human history are transformational. The modern adaptationist program. it was because each giraffe attempted to stretch its neck to reach the top of the trees. with its attempt to demonstrate that organisms are at or near their expected optima. natural selection. and that change in nature would be transmitted to its offspring. I hl~ dlllpi r WM III NI pUhllNh dill 81'1/'/11111 II H (1')K1): (. An example of a transformational theory in modern natural science is that of the evolution of the cosmos. has undergone the same life history. Whig history is mimicked by Whig biology. usually. At the same time the Cartesian mechanical analysis by disarticulation of parts and separation of causes has been maintained from the earlier world view. as the evidence of evolution by natural selection. an organism would change its nature. . In contrast to Darwin. which he certainly did not. Darwin realized that the process of evolutionary change of living organisms is radically different from any other known historical process and because his formulation of that process was a radical epistemological break with past theories. The ensemble of stars is evolving because every star. Rather. after its birth in the initial explosion that produced the matter of the universe. leads to the consequence that although species come into existence and go extinct. becomlng a red giant. Lamarck's theory of evolution was transformational in regarding species as changing because each individual organism within the species underwent the same change. it is supposed. that although individuals may rise or fall in the social hierarchy on their individual merits. The evolution of the universe is the evolution of every star within it. is the only force in evolution.84 ON EVOLUTION for the greatest number. theories of historical change were all transformational. There is no progress because there is nothing to improve. nor because Darwin's invention. and finally burning out. and that technological and social change occur only insofar as they are needed to keep up with a decaying environment. by transformation of t II' individual human beings that make up the society. not because Darwin invented the idea of evolution. perfect adaptation.\n\nat least as far as we know. evolution cannot be any kind of simple unfolding. Gorilla and human embryos resemble each other much more than the adults do.86 ON EVOLUTION In contrast. There is a sorting-out process in which some variant types persist while others disappear. this time of external forces which are again autonomous and alienated from the organism ns a whole. the tensions and contradictions of one stage are actually the motive forces of the change to the next stage. according to Ihe relation between the variant types and the environment in which Ihey live. are derived from theories of embryological development of the nineteenth century. which operate independently of its functional needs or of its relations to the outer world. Darwin's variational theory is a theory of the organism as the object. There is no historical process other than the evolution of living organisms that has this variational form. Humans are thus gorillas born too soon and fixed at a gorilla fetal stage. and only one possible end to the process. whether of the body or of the psyche. g logical. the system may become permanently fixed at an early stage. some variants survive and reproduce while others are lost to the species. Each stage. of evolutionary forces. According to this view organisms that appear later in evolution have the form of earlier developmental stages of their ancestral species. The environment changes as a consequence of cosmologicui. Marx's theory of history is precisely such a theory of well-ordered historical stages. evolutionary theory retains notions of linear arrays of stages and arrested development. Even Lamarck's theory of organic evolution did not make the environment the creator of change but only the impetus for the organism to change itself through will and striving. so the nature of the ensemble as a whole changes without any successive changes in the individual members. Theories of psychic development. but that the forces governing the nature of new variations operate without influence from the organism or its milieu. The elements \"develop. In Freudian theory the personality may become fixed at an anal or oral erotic stage or at the stage of Oedipal resolution and so give rise to the manifest variations among neurotic symptoms. change in the elements themselves produces the evolution. That is what is meant by mutations being \"random. Indeed. and m t rol glcal cv nls that have their own laws. and it is this premature fixation that explains any observed variation from individual to individual. Thus variation among objects in space is transformed qualitatively into temporal variation. It seem obvious that a neotenic view of evolution is severely limited in its scope. svcn when the environ- .\" It is not that mutations are uncaused or outside of a deterministic world (except as quantum uncertainty may enter into the actual process of molecular change). the stages through which each individual passes are themselves the precondition for the next stage. such as those of Freud and Piaget. In transformational theories the individual elements are the subjects of the evolutionary process. First. It follows from such a theory that if the development of a human being could somehow be unblocked. for such a homunculus theory implies the absurdity that mammals are already completely contained in the earliest single-celled organisms. These subjects change because of forces that are entirely internal to them. and adult humans are morphologically like the gorilla fetus. and sagittal crest of the adult gorilla that is present but hidden. The role of the outer world is to set the process in motion and to allow the successful completion of each step. ind 'P nd I1t r th lif and d nth of (he sp 'j s.\" and indeed the word \"development\" originally meant an unfolding or unrolling of a predetermined pattern. a meaning it still retains in photography and geometry. Once again the organism is the object. In the theory of neoteny. The role of the external world in such developmental theories is restricted to an initial triggering to set the process in motion. Variation among organisms arises as a consequence of internal forces that are autonomous and alienated from the organism as a whole. There are no shortcuts possible. A dynamic process in time arises as the consequence of a static variation in space. that individual members of the ensemble differ from each other in some properties and that the system evolves by changes in the proportions of the different types. Once variation has occurred. Two characteristics flow from such a transformational view. since adult humans cannot be said to resemble the early embryonic stages of fish. each of which gives rise to the next as a consequence of forces internal to each step. it would develop the long arms. Indeed. is a necessary precondition of the next stage and leads to it because of forces that are purely internal at each moment. If ORGANISM AS SUBJECT AND OBJECT 87 external forces block the unrolling. This role of the environment provides the second characteristic of transformational theories. the change is a kind of unfolding of stages that are immanent in them. no reordering of the transformation. the possibility of arrested development. not the subject. The organism is the object of these internal forces. Darwin proposed a variational principle. receding jaw.\n\n88 ON EVOLUTION ment of a given species includes other species. that some vulgar Darwinists make the gene the only real unit of selection and see evolution as a process of differential survival of genes in response to the external world. the environment and the organism actively codetermine each other. The internal and the external factors. and the organism as a whole are all participating. genes and environment. Second. is the same. in this sense. the cells dlsaggrcgat d. not the image of its evolutionary future. for it holds that the embryonic stages through which an organism passes are the trace of its evolutionary past. on the contrary. This notion derives from several historical sources. to speak of genes determining traits.. It is not surprising. The roles of the external and the internal are not symmetrical in Darwinism. The organism is merely the medium by which the external forces of the environment confront the internal forces that produce variation. then. each of which has its own laws. In Darwinian theory the reverse is true. it is not true that the development of an individual organism is an unfolding or unrolling of an internal program. it is not true that the life and death and reproduction of an organism are a consequence of the way in which the living being is acted upon by an autonomous environment. If the developing limb bud of an amphibian embryo is cut out. it is also the subject of its own evolution. Just as the organism is the nexus of internal and external factors. Through evolution. it is also the locus of their interaction. a leading molecular biologist expressed the belief that if the complete sequence of an organism's DNA were known and a large enough computer were available. The organism is the consequence of a historical process that goes on from the moment of conception until the moment of death. because the evolution of organisms is only a transformation of the evolution of the environment. Thus classical Darwinism places the organism at the nexus of internal and external forces. then in a deep sense organisms really are irrelevant. Natural selection is not a consequence of how well the organism solves a set of fixed problems posed by the environment. since the nineteenth century. as if knowing the gene means the trait of the organism is given. in principle. for it ignores two fundamental properties of living organisms that are in direct contradiction to a superficial Darwinism. But that is surely false. a process of regulation often assures that the final outcome. The organism cannot be regarded as simply the passive object of autonomous internal and external forces. as nothing but a gene's way of making another gene. In a curious way the organism. At a symposium in 1982 commemorating the hundredth anniversary of Darwin's death. So history in Darwinism dominates ontogeny. If the species is indeed the passive nexus of gene and selective environment. new stages of development have been added. independent of each other and of the organism that is their creation. controlled body and mind\" by the genes.. but in human beings the gill slits disappear because human beings have evolved further. stages that were not immanent in Devonian fish. Thus the developmental pathways that we see are the consequence of history. becomes irrelevant for the evolutionist. GENE AND DEVELOPMENT It is common. preDarwinian tradition for it portrays the evolution of organisms as nothing but various stages of arrested development. because an organism does not compute itself from its DNA. not its cause. even in textbooks of genetics. the object of these forces. ORGANISM AS SUBJECT AND OBJECT 89 But such a view gives a false picture of organic evolution and cannot successfully cope with the problems posed by evolutionary biology. First. it would be possible. The external chooses which of many possible internal states shall survive. Historical forces are dominant. environment. act upon each other through the medium of the organism. th n put back together again. Even when the environment in which development is taking place is severely disturbed. to compute the organism. chance. if the genes propose and the environment disposes. embryologists have taken their problematic to be explaining how a fertilized egg of a frog always becomes a frog. and the study of evolution is nothing but a combination of molecular biology and geology. Ernst Haeckel's theory of recapitulation is. Pre-Darwinian variational theories placed the internal forces of development in the dominant position and understood history as a consequence of development. and development does nothing but provide the raw material for the forces of natural selection. In The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins (1976) speaks of organisms as \"robots . truly Darwinian. First. Neoteny belongs to this Platonic. the histories of those species are autonomous and independent of the species being considered. at every moment gene. and the lump . ontogeny dominates history. while that of a chicken always develops into another chicken. Human embryos have gill slits because their fish and amphibian ancestors had them.\n\nbut in the usual natural populations of most plant species there is no simple relation at all between height and genes.1).100 cells at 15°C. the laws of inheritance were discovered by following simple traits that have a one-to-one correspondence to genes. For example. is usually about 1. It is impossible to work out the details of the machinery if the correspondence between gene and phenotype is poor. so molecular biology. specifying how the developing organism will respond to various environments. also has fewer cells than normal. the phenotype-of an organism at any moment in its life is a product both of the genes transmitted from the parents and of the environment in which development has occurred up until that moment. Third. concentrates all its attention on the simplest relations between gene and trait. but certain gene mutations severely reduce the number of facets. In general. and its norm of reaction crosses that of Ultrabar (see Fig. the proteins produced by the cell using specific sequence information from the structure of DNA.0 E ::J Z 10~--~----~--~----~ o 15 20 25 30 Temperature (OC) Fig. As with Mendel's peas. or facets. Infrabar. the morphology. However.. In some cases the norm of reaction of one genotype is consistently below that of another in all environments. metabolism. 90 ORGANISM AS SUBJECT AND OBJECT' ON EVOLUTION of cells reimplanted in the embryo.000. The number of light-receptor cells. Thus there is an overwhelming impression that a program internal to the cells is being expressed and that the development of the adult is indeed the unfolding of an inevitable consequence. Indeed. one examines the more general relations between gene and organism. flies of the normal genotype produce about 1. but only 750 cells at 30°C.. If. tur . Each genotype has its own norm of reaction.3. However. which is n tabl or ruph of correspon- 91 dence between phenotypic outcome of development and the environment in which the development took place. modern molecular biology deals with the direct products of gene action. 3.. Second. And no environmental disturbance has ever caused an amphibian embryo to develop into a chicken. physiology. o c o CIl . The relationship between the phenotype and the environment is expr ss din Ih norm 0/ reaction. another mutation. the problematic of molecular biology is to give a complete description of the machinery that is responsible for assembling the unique correspondence. Drosophila. So. flies carrying the mutation Ultrabar have only about 100. a normal leg will develop. it becomes immediately apparent that the situation is more complex. and behavior-that is. he failed completely. Mendel's peas had a single gene difference between tall and short plants. for example. there is a one-to-one correspondence between a simple genetic difference and a discrete observable difference in phenotype. So when Mendel tried to understand the inheritance of variation in the wild species Hieracium. Mendel succeeded where others had failed partly because he worked with horticultural varieties in which major differences in phenotype resulted from alternative alleles for single genes.. a genotype cannot be characterized by a unique phenotype. React ion norms for t he numb 'r of eye cells as a function of temperain Drosophila. the number of eye cells also depends upon the temperature at which the flies develop.1. Clearly we cannot ask. we can say unambiguously that Ultrabar flies have smaller eyes than normal flies because that is true at every temperature of development. in the compound eye of the fruit fly. but it has an opposite relation to temperature. In general. \"Which mutation has more eye cells?\" because the answer de- 1/1 +CIl -. however. by the necessary demands of its research methods.\n\nWhile the phenotype depends on both genotype and environment. The actual mechanisms of interaction are unknown. This random asymmetry is a consequence of developmental noise. the form and direction of the environment's effect upon development differs from genotype to genotype.2. it may give rise to an extra hair. but there is a large variation among individuals. Such random developmental events contribute a significant amount of the variation of an organism. The experiments illustrated in Figs. in which small structural variations may be reflected in large functional differences. the random events at a cellular and molecular level that influence cell division and maturation and that especially may result in small differences in the time when critical changes occur. there is no average difference between left and right for the species as a whole. there is no unique ordering of genotypes such that one can always be characterized as \"superior\" or \"inferior\" to another. environment. establish three characteristics for the relationship among gene. it may not differentiate at all. tivity pr vid a mod I f r th m r c mpl x cases. as a fun ti n f t mp rntur .2. has the lowest at 26°C. and reciprocally. random developmental noise may be an important source of individual variation. The genotype 2'. Second. and they are more typical of norms of reaction than are the mutations of eye size. each fly began as a larva that burrowed through a homogeneous artifical medium and then completed its development as a pupa 2 to 3 millimeters long attached to the surface of a glass vial.2 shows the reaction norms for the probability of survival of immature stages in Drosophila as a function of temperature. Reaction norms for viability in genotypes from natural populations of Drosophila. Third. The different lines represent genotypes taken from a natural population. 93 minimum.1 and 3. If a cell divides too early. phenomenological level. if too late. and organism. the phenotype depends on both genotype and environment. and behavior are known only at a superficial. 3. No sensible definition of environment would allow that it was different on the left and right sides.92 ORGANISM' AS SUBJECT AND OBJECT ON EVOLUTION pends upon temperature. At th lowest level the synth sls of 1\\part I '\\II If nzym or prot In Is turn I It r off b nus the . First. Some genotypes decrease survival with temperature. but some simple cases of control of enzyme production and ac\". some have a maximum at intermediate temperatures. The genes of the left and right side of a fly are the same. Moreover. That is. it is not determined by them. size. there is no unique phenotype corresponding to a genotype. some a O~ -L 14 ~ 21 Temperature _ 26 (OC) Fig. some increase it. which has the third highest survival at 14°C. There is no regularity at all to be observed. carried out in a variety of organisms for a variety of traits and a variety of environments. environment. For very complex organs like the brain. one finds that the fly is usually asymmetrical but that there are as many right-sided flies as left-sided. If one counts the eye cells or the large hairs on the left and right side of a Drosophila raised in the laboratory. Information from th mvir nm nt plnys a rol ut four I v Is. 3. and such traits as shape. At present the connections among gene. 3. yet the two halves of the organism did indeed develop differently. Fig.\n\n'M AS SlJIlJI':(\"1' ANI) OnJ\\:! 'T I)~ particular c ntext. Anyone of Ih se forms will succeed any other. in the same bacteria the genes for enzymes that synthesize the essential amino acid tryptophane are normally turned on. however. These differences Iurn out to be heritable. or that any genotype can correspond to any phenotype.94 ON IW()I. At one extreme. but a branched set of pathways. There s one form while the vine is growing along the ground. and contact. At the highest level. and inorganic ions by changes in the rate of production of the enzymes necessary for synthesis. it combines with a blocking molecule and turns the gene off. For example. a second when I b gins to climb a tree. and developmental noise is a many-to-many relationship between gene and organism.U'1'I0N gcn sp cifying that protein is eith r blo 'k I III III \"I IV tllubl to the machinery of protein synthesis by the v ry uh 1 III' un which the enzyme will operate. since genetically different individuals may develop identically in some environmental sequences but differ from each other in other environments. although incorrect. If. The same genotype gives rise to many different organisms. the buffered developmental system itself turns out to be a consequence of yet other genes. the development of the fly is severely upset experimentally. nutrients. the leaves and stems of tropical vines take a variety of shapes and thicknesses. ne c ns qu nc f lIl-is contingency is that the environment as it is relevant to a dev I ping organism is a temporal sequence of events in which the exact order is critical. Development is then a contingent process in which I h If et of a I' rc cannot b sp cifl din g ncral but only in a OIHlANI. it combines in the cell with the blocking molecule and opens the gene to the protein synthetic machinery. on the back of a Drosophila is extremely constant from fly to fly. hanging freely in the 1\\ 1'. The view of development as the inevitable unfolding of successive stages. Yet another consequence of developmental contingency is that onIogeny is not a linear array of stages. At yet a higher level. thus guaranteeing an adequate supply when the enzyme is in high demand. A shock given before or after this critical period will not change the wing veins but may affect other traits such as eye size. But this temporal contingency is also contingent on genotype. Norms of reaction for different genotypes are different. and a luurth when it descends fr m the tree branches. so it is possible genetically to remove the damping or to alter its characI sristics so that it buffers around six bristles instead of four. The sensitivity of total biosynthetic activity to temperature and nutrients cannot really be regarded as adaptive. gravity. If a heat shock is given to some strains of Drosophila during a critical four-hour period I' their development. a third when it reaches a great height. four. That does not mean that the organism is infinitely plastic. but only some genotypes produce abnormal wing veins under heat shock. traits that do not vary from individual to individual nevertheless have a genetic basis for variation. Conversely. At a higher level. but if lact sc Is present in the environment. The number of scutellar bristles. the rate of protein synthesis in general is modulated by temperature. Most flies develop a normal wing pattern at 25°C. depending upon enVtl'01l1l1 ental ell Ii of light. so there is indeed genetic variation among individuals that would affect bristle number if the normal developmental system did not damp out the variation. one leading always to a particular II xt tage. The consequence of the interaction of gene. but it is the norms of reaction that are the proper object of study for developmental biologists rather than some ideal organism that is supposed to be produced deterministically by the genes. paradoxically. Each of these mechanisms except the last has the property that information from the environment modulates the biosynthetic pathways in a way that matches the rate of activity to the demand for the product. A second consequence of developmental contingency is that the effect of genetic variation on development of a trait depends upon genes other than those directly concerned with the character. flies under the same Ireatment will develop different numbers of bristles. so each state is accessihi from all Ih • oth rs. environment. but is a mechanical consequence of general properties of chemical systems. the pattern of veins in the wing will be altered. in bact ria Ih II for Ihe enzyme that splits lactose is normally blocked. but as tryptophane accumulates. deII mding upon where the growing tip is in relation to the ground. substances acted upon by enzymes may combine with the enzymes to stabilize them and so prevent their degradation. and the same organism can correspond to many different genotypes. however. does incorporate an important feature of ontogeny. the normal kinetics of chemical reactions slow do~n a chain of synthetic events if the end product accumulates and speed It up if the end product is rapidly removed. that it is a historical process in which the next event is influenced by the previous state. and th transition from one Slate to another has . The experiments of Rendel (1967) and Waddington (1957) on so-called \"canalized\" characters have shown that. Moreover.\n\nwhich grow slowly because they are shaded by competitors. of forces. paws. does explain the apparent fit. of course. At the other extreme are unique transitions in which a given developmental step can only be taken from a particular state. So there is a topology of possible developmental transitions that puts constraints on developmental pathways without making them unique. such a conclusion. That is.\" One genotype having a slightly higher egg-laying rate than another at high temperatures would result in evolution but not in any impression of the marvelous fit between organism and the external world. even if well founded. The view of development that sees genes as determinative. terrestrial animals have solved it by developing hooves. the processes of development are Markovian. Thus the organism. the object. can develop into a different adult tissue if they are held long enough in an embryonic. might come to the conclusion that species had not been independently created. the process cannot be reversed to make a leaf. Small animals. physiological. legs. Finally. as we shall see. and wing reversibly to eye. In fact. or even a view that admits interaction between gene and environment as determining the organism. so in the end one type will come to characterize the species. it is quite conceivable that a naturalist . so as to acquire that perfection of structure and coadaptation which justly excites our admiration. and the system is irreversible. undifferentiated state. It does not matter whether the seed was small because of the maternal plant's genotype or because it set seed in an unfavorable habitat. however. until it could be shown how the innumerable species inhabiting this world have been modified. Nevertheless. Genital cells can change to either legs or antennae. wings. Organisms ur the objects of the force of natural selection. irrespective of the internal and external forces that influenced it. This view of adaptation acquired credibility not only from an appeal to the findings of common sense and engineering-that fins really do help movement through water. to small seedlings. Such vines are at one extreme of the structure of developmental pathways in which the probability of entering any developmental sequence is essentially independent of the present state or past history. \"(Darwin 1859).96 ON EVOLUTION only a weak dependence on the previous history of growth. and behavioral traits represent the best solutions to the problems. and flying animals have solved it by developing wings. but had descended like varieties. The second view. Such convergent homologies make it seem obvious that flying is a problem and that independent solutions have evolved through natural selection. the probability of transition to a given state depends upon the state of the organism at the time of the transition but not on how it came into that state. In Drosophila clumps of embryonic tissue normally destined to become genitalia. flukes. was that different variants within a species possess properties that make them more or less successful in the struggle for existence. many traits become irreversibly fixed. lose a great deal of heat by radiation. ORGANISM AS SUBJECT AND OBJECT 97 ORGANISM AND ENVIRONMENT The classical Darwinian view of the process of evolution places the problem of adaptation as one of the two aspects of nature that must be understood: \"In considering the Origin of Species. in general. predicts that \"perfection which so excites our admiration. and webbed feet. enters directly into the determination of its own future. but the reverse cannot happen. The first. and articulated legs. however. There are two ways in which this differential success can be viewed. however. with early stages in development being both reversible and multiply branched. irrespective of the causes of their small size. purely kinetic. view is that different variants simply have different reproductive rates and probabilities of survival. Embryonic leg and antenna cells can change reversibly to wing. from other species. with large surface-to-volume ratios. or eyes of adults. those that best survive and reproduce are those whose morphological. the organism participates in its own development because the outcome of each developmental step is a precondition of the next. As development proceeds.. but embryonic eye will never change to antenna. and \"birds have all developed wings from quite different anatomical features. The arrows of causation point from gene and environment to organism. This force sorts out the form (hat is th b sl s luti n t the problem posed by the external . But the organism also actively participates in its own development because. j\"tis the determinant of its own milieu. Once a developing bud is committed to floral development. Developmental processes in general fall between these extremes. Nothing in this description. and wings through airbut also from the fact that insects. It is that the external world poses certain well-defined \"problems\" for organisms. So locomotion is a problem that swimming animals have solved by developing flattened appendages such as fins. Small seeds give rise. Darwin's solution. places the organism as the end point. bats.. would be unsatisfactory.\n\nOn the other hand. are not. or ungulates. bats. anatomy. Small ectoparasites living in that boundary layer are insulated from the temperature and moisture conditions that exist a few millimeters off the surface of their host. r s 1i01l. although snakes live in the grass. which depends absolutely on the problem preexisting the solution. th It 111 k tho .98 ON EVOLUTION world. That is. it will emerge from the warm. then what marks out the combinations of physical and biotic factors that make the niches into which organisms are evolving? Is this a natural class? Could we somehow discover physical rules that would delimit the niches for us and show us that all other conceivable combinations of physical and biological factors for some reason do not constitute niches? An insight into this question can be gained by consulting the description of ecological niches in works on ecology. some other explanation of convergence must be found. The conceptual problem is how to define the niche of a potential organism before the organism exists.. No bird eats the leaves at the tops of trees. not a transcendental problem that existed before the evolution of the Turdidae.\" \"r ibblts. even though physically present.\" On the other hand. and th 8 n. Just as there is no organism without an environment. so that the species can evolve into it? This contradiction is not resolved in the classical Darwinian theory of adaptation. but they make their own climate. say particular frequencies of different plant species which would nourish an insect. The construction of environments by species has a number of wellknown aspects that need to be incorporated into evolutionary theory. so there is no environment without an organism. but the stones at the base of the tree. One can construct an arbitrary number of menus of food items. lays eggs. Illhollgh th -ir volution hus b n totally independent. Not only do organisms determine their own food. . If the metabolism. what its courtship pattern is. The environment is not a structure imposed on living beings from the outside but is in fact a creation of those beings. a matter that. whereas woodpeckers have not.\" \"bears. y t li ns . but which no insect actually eats.\" \"mol. The marsupial fuunu or Australia has a numb r f forms that cI sely resemble placent II III 111\\111 lis. is coded in the insect's genes. If breaking snail shells is a problem to which the use of a stone anvil is a thrush's solution. There are two difficulties with this formulation of evolution. But there is a contradiction here. The factual difficulty of formulating evolution as a process of adapting to preexistent problems is that the organism and the environment are not actually separately determined. moist boundary layer into the cold stratosphere above. Once again. although lots of insects do. although organisms do so in their evolution. If evolution is now going on. is a list of what the bird eats. The physical world can be put together is an uncountable infinity of ways to create niches. If the ectoparasite should evolve to become larger. 99 \"rats. The word \"adaptation\" reflects this point of view. how can a niche xist before the species. implying that the organism is molded and shaped to fit into a preexistent niche. and eats grass. It is the g n S f Ii ns that rnak th s vannah part f th ir nvironmcnt. as we assume it is. thrushes that break snail shells include the stones but exclude the tree from their environment. and so on. Nevertheless.III th lr nvlronm nt. No animal crawls on its stomach. Organisms determine what is relevant. Which of these climates constitutes an insect's environment depends upon its habitat. how much time it spends foraging in different parts of the trees or ground. and behavior of an organism define its niche. Indeed. the niche is described always in terms of the life activity of the bird itself. of what and where it builds its nest. in a gross sense. so niches are not inevitably filled. This is not simply a convenience but an implicit recognition that niches are defined in practice by the organisms in the process of their activities. All terrestrial organisms are covered with a boundary layer of warm air created by the organism's metabolism. if niches do not exist independently of organisms. as in the case of the \"rats\" and \"wolves. 'I'h I ir mnr IIpl II \"wolv . The environment is not an autonomous process but a reflection of the biology of the species. The description of the niche of a bird. A weak claim is sometimes made that there are indeed preferred organizations of the external world. given by the autonomous forces of the environment. The bark of trees is part of the woodpecker's environment.\" and ORGANISM AS SUBJECT AND OBJECT . there are no marsupial whales.\" and sometimes the superficial resemblance to the placental mammal is striking. but that we simply do not know how 10 find them. It is well known in biometeorology that the temperature and moisture within a few inches of the soil in a field is different from the conditions on a forest floor or at the top of the forest canopy. it is because thrushes have evolved into snail-eating birds. the microclimate is different on the upper and lower surfaces of a leaf. creating a totally new climatic environment for itself. just as a key is cut and filed to fit into a lock. ~()IIV rg nc of unrelated forms is offered as evidence. one conceptual and the other factual. The breaking of snail shells is a problem created by thrushes. for example.\n\nthe oxygen and nitrogen would disappear. another rattlesnake will react very differently.h In\" I NU -h Illy mom nt irily. On the other hand. catching fish. irrespective of the actual level itself. is chemically unstable. Organisms are both the consumers and the producers of the resources necessary to their own continued existence. Cladocera change from asexual to sexual reproduction in response to a rapid change in temperature. Animals in turn store the seeds and thus capture the plant storage mechanism. ultraviolet light leads to a source of food. For bees. Ants thut f r nly in th II ul . indeed. as is the case for Mars and Venus. Both the amplitude and the frequency of external fluctuations are transformed by biological processes in the organism. not thermal signals.irbonates in sedimentary rock. food availability. a significant part of the landscape in northeastern United States has been created by beav rs. 18 percent oxygen. The terrestrial atmosphere.r s v nt n-y or p ri die cicadas hatch out after thlrt 11 r II v nt n SliCC sstvc seasonal . which are at first unable to photosynthesize. Plants flower when a sufficient number of degree-days above a critical temperature have been accumulated. An animal with a wide home range averages food availability over smaller spatial patches. A present-day terrestrial species is unci 'r st rong selection pressure to live in an atmosphere rich in oxygen nnd poor in carbon dioxide. rather than on the total intensity itself. The most powerful change of environment made by organisms is the gUll composition of the atmosphere. Organisms also influence the species composition of the plant community on which they depend. the photon energy and vibrational energy that fall on its eyes and ears are immediately transformed by the neurosecretory system into chemical signals of fear. The frequency of external scillations can even be converted to a eycle having a different frequ ncy. Conversely. and a trace of carbon dioxide. . It is the biology of each species that determines what physical transformation will occur when physical signals impinge on the organism or whether these signals are even perceived. but ORGANISM AS SUBJECT AND OBJECT 101 over a longer term will experience sunshine as hunger. but mammals cannot.ycl s in the temperate zone. Fat or carbohydrate storage averages the fluctuating availability of resources in time. Fluctuations are damped by various storage devices that average over space and time. consisting of 80 percent nitrogen.. It is the destruction of the habitat by a species that leads to ecological succession. withdrawing nutrients but also conditioning the soil so that nutrients lire more easily mobilized. When a mammal sees and hears a rattlesnake. Living beings can also integrate and differentiate signals. Human beings have added yet a third form of damping by engaging in planned production that responds to fluctuations in demand. White pine trees in New England make such a dense shade that their own seedlings cannot grow up under them. as when beavers create ponds by felling trees and building dams. both by fertilizing the ground with their droppings and by stimulating plant growth by cropping. Grazing animals actually increase the rate of pr duction of forage. On the other hand. One of the most striking aspects of evolution is the way in which the significance of physical signals has been completely altered in the origin of new species. On the other hand.I(){) ON EVOLUTION and sea lions have a common carnivore ancestor. or oxygen concentration. . Fluctuati ns in temperature reach the inner organs of a IIHIIIIIllUI us ch mical signals. Bees can see light in the ultraviolet range. Plant roots alter the physical structure and chemical composition of the soil in which they grow. An animal's visual acuity depends upon the rate of change of light intensity at the edges of objects. irrespective of the detailed day-to-day fluctuations in temperature. When did swimming. while converting the storage cycle to their own biological rhythms. If it were allowed to reach an equilibriuIll. while for us it leads to skin cancer. and holding air in its lungs become problems for the terrest rial carnivore from which sea lions evolved? Organisms alter the external world as they interact with it. but that metabolic problem has been posed hy the netivity of the living forms themselves over two billion years of 'volution and is quite different from the problem faced by the earliest III tubolizing cells. Th thirte n. Oruantsm« transduce the physical signals that reach them from the outskto world. so hardwoods come in to take their place. as when birds use a small change in the abundance of a food item as a signal to shift their search images to another item. Organisms transform the statistical pattern of environmental variation in the external world.d t •-t t mp 'rut ur . organisms can magnify small fluctuations. and the atmosphere would b nearly all carbon dioxide. The regulatory syst 'Ill III mumruals nit rs I h cone nt rat i n f sugar and various hor111011' in (he blood ill I\" 'SI OilS to I mp rutur . It Is living organisms that have produced the oxygen by photosynthesis Inti thot have depleted the carbon dioxide by fixing it in the form of . organisms may make an environment more hospitable for themselves. o II 111 how th Y (II' 'hi to' Hint liP to III rim numb r. All seeds store solar energy during the growing season in order to provide it to seedlings.\n\nthere is a real world out there. The \"central nervous apparatus does not prescribe the laws of nature any more than the hoof of the horse prescribes the form of the ground . The experimenter might define the frequency of biting the technician as \"aggressivity\" and report that he has selected for increased or diminished \"aggression\" in rats. not hopping. and the intensity or frequency of heat stress.\" Genes affecting color and size will show epistatic interaction in their effect on this trait. So. The size and preference together form a trait. The small gracile ancestors of the horse had toes and toenails. by changing the color of the substrate where it is found. when we talk about the traits of organisms fitting their environments. The hoof of the horse is already adapted to the ground of the steppe before the horse is born and the fin of the fish is adapted to the water before the fish hatches. Suppose. which may have evolved in relation to prey habitat selection. that a lizard lives in an equable climate in which food is abundant but must be caught by stalking and pouncing. for example. under conditions of artificial selection. a change in where the lizard spends its time can either intensify or diminish selection for \"heat tolerance\" and. will depend on the available genetic variance for color and size. feeding on the same array of insects. \"predation effectiveness. So n w location preference. The lizard may avoid Ihe predator by camouflaging itself or by changing its haunts. kangaroos.\" Indeed. Since the rate of heating is affected by body color and the surface. und r natural conditions. snakes. the dry weight of soybeans may be the defined \"yield\" and thus be a trait for selection. with four legs. the lizard faces a physiological problem. uppose now that a predator enters the scene. and they got along very well indeed. I r and therefore its effectiveness in heat tolerance.\" ThIlS. Hooves come not from the nature of the ground but from an animal of certain size.. UI' n rv us sysl '/11 do s nor allow us 10 S I he ultraviolet refl· 'Ii ns fr III flow I'S.102 ON EVOLUTION The organism-environment relationship defines the \"traits\" selected. the selectors define the traits.volume relation. where the lizard spends its time. while the spatial distribution of prey may determine the lizard's preferences for certain locations over others. our central nervous systems are not fitted to some absolute laws of nature. alter the camouflage significance of body . If the price of soybean cake is favorable.. bite the technician.\" Now if the climate becomes hotter. asp cts of phen lyp arc constantly olnln log th rand' min apart to r al and d stroy\"traits. which includes physiological tolerance and exposure. not hooves. related to prey size. but Lorenz makes the same mistake as Ruskin. And . Rabbits. But just as the hoof of the horse is adapted to the ground of the steppe which it copes with. over the ground at a certain speed and-for certain periods of time. hut u be ·'s • 'nIl' II n I'VOLIN sysl 111 d s. so our central nervous apparatus for organizing the image of the world is adapted to the real world with which man has to cope . but to laws of nature op rating wit hin a frarncw rk created by our own sensuous net ivity.\" It is a long way from the \"laws of nature\" to the horse's hoof. The course of selection.\" Furthermore. Or an experimenter may find that some laboratory rats. and possibly heat tolerance become part of the new trait \"comp tltiv ability. Of course. too. Its preference for certain locations becomes part of its ecological heat tolerance. and grasshoppers. running. localion.\" which ir Ih n Ii 'I 'I d. Nothing better illustrates the error of the problem-solution model than the seemingly straightforward example of the horse's hoof given by Lorenz (1962).. Therefore. This last factor depends on exposure. Now color and site selection have become linked as part of the trait \"predator av idance. even if the causal pathway is that the rats with more sensitive tails bite more. when picked up by their tails. we have to remember that neither trait nor environment exists independently. ms c nSIru 'tin th ir n- ORGANISM AS SUBJECT AND OBJECT 103 vironment is that the environment cohstructs the traits by means of which the organisms solve the problems posed to them by the environments they created. then size. become linked together with color in \"heat tolerance\" and continue to be linked in the trait \"predation effectiveness. Th pposil sld of ranI. even if the biochemical products of these genes' activity never meet and even if temperature does not affect growth rate. Since the lizard must expend energy carrying its whole weight as it huntsand its effectiveness in catching prey may depend on its size-the size spectrum of insect prey may be a major selective force acting on lizard size. all of whom traverse the same ground as the horse. No sensible person believes that in any of these cases the form of the organ 'prescribes' its properties to the subject.\" while still forming part of \"heat tolerance.\" . With a change in the market. Any arbitrary combination of measurements may be defined as a trait.. who believed in the \"innocent eye. and body size. If a second lizard sp cics is present. do not have hooves. the danger of overheating. \"yield\" may become oil per hectare. body size and color are now linked as part of the physiological trait \"heat tolerance. the other selection forces operating on both of these. the degree of change in size against that in color.\n\nRather we must ask how. The first describes the way in which organism 0 evolves in response to environment E. The metaphor of adaptation must therefore be replaced by one of construction. .E) and dE . The prey is the environment of the predator. Each change in the animal made the environment more aquatic. makes it possible for gene replication and protein synthesis to take place even though there is only a single molecule of each gene in each cell. but they represent the minimum structure of a correct theory of the evolution of such systems. Bacteria are largely outside the influence of gravity as a consequence of their size. We have seen that the organism enters dir ctly and actively by being an inf1u nee on its own further ontog ny. rather. taking into account that different species respond to environments in different ways: dO -=f(O. as a consequence of their genes. but because it is such a weak force. ih Iii IIlI. makes it possible to carry out at ambient temperatures chemical reactions that would otherwise require great heat.E). for there is no longer a neat separation between cause (the environment) and effect (the organism). dt -' A constructionist view that breaks down the alienation between the object-organism and the subject-environment must be written as a pair of coupled differential equations in which there is coevolution of the organism-environment pair: ~~ =f(O. they are subject to another universal physical force. We think of gravitation as universal. environment. dl The second is the law of autonomous change of the environment some functi n only of environm ntal variabl s: as 105 dE =g(E). and each induced change in the environment led to further evolution of the animal. it does not apply in practice to very small organisms suspended in liquid media. we must suppose that at first the water was only a marginal habitat putting only marginal demands on the animal. and organism. that is. which we are protected from by our large size. and the predator the environment of the prey. On the other hand. A slight evolution of the animal to meet these demands made the aquatic environment a more significant part of the energetic expenditure of the proto-sea lion.104 ORGANISM AS SUBJECT AND OBJECT ON EVOLUTION bats \"see\" what nighthawks do not. m d by th int ract ion of I h n s md th nvlronm nt. again a result of our evolution. We do not further our understanding of evolution by general appeals to \"laws of nature\" to which all life must bend. It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that organisms construct every aspect of their environment themselves. III mike Its mvlronm 'nl ind so 130ln p rtlclp I .E). Brownian motion of molecules. It nt rs by a second indirect pathway through th ' environment in lis wn 011logeny. in part . III It. The structure of enzymes. The structure of the genes themselves. organisms have constructed environments that are the conditions for their further evolution and reconstruction of nature into new environments. The most remarkable property of living organisms is that they have avoided biologically the chemical laws of mass action and the high energy needed to initiate most chemical reactions. but th • or nnl. It is difficult to think of any physical force or universal physical law that represents a fixed problem to which all organisms must find a direct solution. so a shift in selective forces operated instantaneously on the shape of its limbs. Th organism is. Join Illy. own 'on tructlon. a continuous process in which an organism evolves to solve an instantaneous problem that was set by the organism itself. They are not the passive objects of external forces.=g(O. It is not only that they are difficult to solve. The incorporation of the organism as an active subject in its own ontogeny and in the construction of its own environment leads to a complex dialectical relationship of the elements 'in the triad of gene. evolutionary change can be represented as two simultaneous differential equation systems. within the general constraints of the laws of nature. both have been accomplished by structure. a metaphor that has implications for the form of evolutionary theory. and the way they are held together in very large macromolecular structures. The coupled differential equations that describe their coevolution are not easy to solve. in turn. Ill. dt There is already a parallel for such a coevolutionary system in the theory of the coevolution of prey and predator or host and parasite. but that they pose a conceptual complication. and in evolving changes the problem slightly. There is. To understand the evolution of the sea lion from a primitive carnivore ancestor. but the creators and modulators of these forces. With the view that the organism is a passive object of autonomous forces. IS II .\n\nSo the organism influences its own evolution. _TWO On Analysis .. ____ -:::--. In like manner.106 ON EVOLUTION develops. setting the conditions of natural selection.. Darwinism cannot be carried to completion unless the organism is reintegrated with the inner and outer forces. too. Darwin's separation of ontogeny and phylogeny was an absolutely necessary step in shaking free of the Lamarckian transformationist model of evolution. of which it is both the subject and the object. by being both the object of natural selection and the creator of the conditions of that selection. constructs an environment that is a condition of its survival and reproduction. Newton had to separate the forces acting on bodies from the properties of the bodies themselves: their mass and composition. Yet mass and energy had to be reintegrated to resolve the contradictions of the strict Newtonian view and to make it possible for modern alchemy to turn one element into another. Only by alienating organism from environment and rigorously separating the ontogenetic sources of variation among organisms from the phylogenetic forces of natural selection could Darwin put evolutionary biology on the right track. So.\n\n!rait1!!.::.~ri~11~S~~.[ ~tioni':1~_yru:!~l).. It is indeed ironic that while Morton and his colleagues !~~e~?f_~_!!:~effi- This chapter wus Ilrsl puhlish din Amcrlcon Journal oj Human Genetics 26 (1974): ~s so~il!L classes and races. This fallacy. A trait can have a heritability of 1.QQI~I11$ \"g.ti. which is patently untrue. If this were not the case.£~~_~1l.~.~! The fallacy is that a knowledge of the.~i!~~t1!.. L~QE}~ . pra~tjcar socfaranJPomlcaTapplrcaii~'~~'of h~~~~ p~pulation 'genetics. But the misunderstanding about the relationship between heritability and phenotypic plasticity is not simply the result of an ignorance of genetics on the part of psychologists and electronic engineers. It arises from the entire system of analysis of causes through linear models. They make ~~P£_'2i.~!.2 .Y. The most important point of all.!xJllurnlnl!tt!!8.. su.~!!}'?n..dpqint~'f ~. heritabilit).Ql2!!latioE\"£ro'i~~~~~ cacY_9._________________________ 4 The Analysis of Variance and the Analysis of Causes Two ARTICLES by Newton Morton (1974) and his colleagues (Rao. .~~ in individuals or in the population as a whole.t:rnflIh. Morton. yet this could be completely altered in the future by a simple environmental change.f£!!~i~9nm_eAtl!l_Qcclink. and Yee 1974) provide a detailed analytic critique of various estimates of heritability and components of variance for human phenotypes.WlioshOulct know better. sometimes propagated\"even-bygenehcTiiS.9IJ the.C' in path analysis.' in Which M~rton points out explicitly the chief programmatic fallacy committed by those who argue so strongly for the importance of heritability measures for human traits. at least from the sta-. occurs at' the co~~i~~io':. embodied in the analysis of vadance\"andcovariance'an.9P. \"inborn errors of metabolism\" would be forever incurable.Q.2.j!L~lte!L~g ~~~l!. ~r()~ps.. arises from the confusion between the technical meaning of heritability and the everyday meaning of the word.a •.0 in a population at some time..• .''or' the\" first' pai)er.I.£.aUnleXY..\n\n110 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE ON ANALYSIS dispute the erroneous programmatic conclusions that are drawn from the analysis of human phenotypic variation. but at least in principle it may be possible to discriminate two etiologic groups. This confusion has persisted into modern genetics with the concept of the phenocopy. although not necessary. the initial action of the genes. as opposed to a mutant which is genetically caused. and whether such groups exist for any particular human disorder is a matter for empirical research. The difficulties in the early history of genetics embodied in the pseudoquestion of \"nature versus nurture\" arose precisely because of the confusion between these two problems in causation. We will begin by saying some very obvious and elementary things about causes. Moreover. that the form of clinical or environmental intervention required to correct a disorder arising from homozygosity for a single rare recessive allele (the classical \"inborn error of metabolism\") may be different from that required for the \"polygenic\" class. it becomes conceptually impossible to assign quantitative values to the causes of that individual event. we may quite fairly measure their contributions by counting the number laid by each. We would like to look rather closely at the problem of the analysis of causes in human genetics and to try to understand how the underlying model of this analysis molds our view of the real world. One is to discriminate which of two alternative and mutually exclusive causes lies at the basis of some observed phenotype. In particular. whereas we understand the phenotype to be the result of both. But. That is the message of the work by Waddington (1953) and Rendel (1959) on canalization. The analysis of interacting causes is fundamentally a different concept from the discrimination of alternative causes. If they are etiologically separable. it would be absurd to measure their relative quantitative contributions by measuring the volumes of bricks and of mortar. but we will come thereby to some very annoying conclusions. For example. It Is III PI' bl m of 111 analyzing into separate components the interaction between environment and genotype in the determination of phenotype. But Ihls obvious ubsur lily app ars to frus- . It is possible. far from trying to discriminate individuals into two distinct and mutually exclusive etiologic groups. It was supposed that the phenotype of an individual could be the result of either environment or genotype. Only if the causes are utterly independent could we do so. but if one mixes the mortar and the other lays the bricks. III P mlcular. of course. I'll s cond problem f causal i n is quite different. and if these causes \"interact\" in any generally accepted meaning of the word. although dependent upon. for the purposes of genetic counseling. it is the purpose of segregation analysis to attempt to distinguish those individuals who owe their phenotypic deviation to their homozygosity for rare deleterious gene alleles from those whose phenotypic peculiarity arises from the interaction of environment with genotypes drawn from the normal array of segregating genes of minor effect. It is the problem of'th ullu/ysisinloseparal 1m nts f a numb r of causcs that are inI r \\'tillK to produc 1I sin I result. We do not want to take up here the question of whether such a clear distinction can be made or whether the spectrum of gene effects and gene frequencies is such that we cannot find a clear dividing line between the two cases. it is not by a line that separates environmental from genetic causation but by a line that separates two kinds of genetic basis: a single gene with major effect or many genes each with small effect. Here. Thus the discrimination between two alternative causes of a human disorder is worth making if it can be done. they nevertheless rely heavily for their analytic techniques on the very linear models that are responsible for the confusion. The evidence at present is ambiguous. It is obviously even more absurd to say what proportion of a plant's height is owed to the fertilizer it received and what proportion to the water. or 1 as rib s many inches f a man's h ight to his genes and so many this IlVirOll111nt. the risk of future offspring being affected will be different if a family is segregating for a rare recessive than if it is not. if two men lay bricks to build a wall. both \"mutant\" and \"phenocopy\" result from a unique interaction of gene and environment. DISCRIMINATION OF CAUSES AND ANALYSIS OF CAUSES We must first separate two quite distinct problems about causation that Morton discusses. This is the old problem of distinguishing major gene effects from \"polygenic\" effects. we recognize that all individuals owe their phenotype to the biochemical activity of their genes in a unique sequence of environments and to developmental events that may occur subsequent to. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF CAUSES If an event results from the joint operation of a number of causative chains. which is supposed to be an environmentally caused phenotypic deviation.\n\nit must be remembered. (1).112 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE ON ANALYSIS trate the universally acknowledged program of Cartesian science to analyze the complex world of appearances into an articulation of causal mechanisms. eq. we will ask what proportion of the deviation of height from the population mean can be ascribed to deviation of environment from the average environment and how much to the deviation of this genetic value from the mean genetic value. but only how much perturbation of phenotype has been the outcome of average difference in environment. So the genetic variance for a character in a population may be very small because the functional relationship between gene action and the character is weak for any conceivable genotype. such as temperature. but as we shall see. it is supremely relevant for those questions that are of real importance in our science. We are not actually assessing how much variation in environment or genotype exists. The new object of study. eq. It gives a result that depends upon the actual distribution of genotypes and environments in the particular population sampled. if we cannot ask how much of an individual's height is the result of its genes and how much a result of its environment. makes it impossible to know whether the environmental deviation (E -/1Y) is small because there are no variations in actual environment or because the particular genotype is insensitive to the environmental deviations. it will. the linear model is a local analysis. give a different result if the means are different. E and G. it appears to prevent our asking about the relative importance of genes and environment in the determination of phenotype. developmental noise. even though for most purposes in human genetics we wish to do so. That is. One level is the grand mean phenotype /1Y. In the case of genetics. What has happened in attempting to solve the problem of the analysis of causes by using the analysis of variation is that a totally different object has been substituted as the object of investigation. Ih analysis of variati n throws out the baby . which may be quite considerable. and the other is the set of so-called marginal genotypic and environmental means. First. the genotype-environment interaction. That is. But since the analysis is a function of these phenotypic means. (1). and e takes into account any individual deviation not already consciously accounted for and assumed to be random over all individuals (measurement error. (1) is completely tautological. Therefore. and the tautological analysis or that deviation is not the same as the analysis of caus s. The solution offered to this dilemma. (1) contains population means at two levels. Thus the linear model. and both sides of the equation must balance by the definitions of GE and e. since it is framed entirely in terms of phenotype. is that part of the average deviation of individuals sharing the same environment and genotype that cannot be ascribed to the simple sum of the separate environmental and genotypic deviations. has been the analysis of variation. These. To turn expression (1) into a contingent one relating actual values of environmental variables. GE. to phenotypic score. The analysis of variation cannot distinguish between these alternatives. From the standpoint of the tautological analysis of eq. the deviation of phenotypic value from the mean. a solution that has been accepted in a great variety of natural and social scientific practice. G is the average score of all individuals with the same genotype as the one in question. E is the average score of all individuals with the same environment as the one in question. The analysis in eq. This is the famous linear model of the analysis of variance. are the mean for a given environment averaged over all genotypes in the population and the mean for a given genotype averaged over all environments. Second. we would need functions of the form: 113 (2) and (3) where g and Tare measured on a genetic and a temperature scale rather than on a scale of phenotype. which can be written as (1) where /1 Y is the mean score of all individuals in the population. Y is the score of the individual in question. In Iact. the environmental and genotypic effects are in units of phenotype. is not the same as the phenotypic value itself. and so on). in general. this distinction is irrelevant. We have written this well-known linear model in a slightly different way than it is usually displayed in order to emphasize two of its properties that are well known to statisticians. the result of the analysis has a historical (spatiotemporal) limitation and is not a general statement about functional relations. almost without our noticing it. or it may be small simply because the population is homozygous for those loci that are of strong functional significance for the trait.\n\nbut there is no overall effect of genotype. We assume that there is a single well-ordered environmental variable E. there is an overall effect of genotype (0. if all environments were considered equally. That is.114 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE ON ANALYSIS 115 with the bath water. so neither is always superior. Figure 4. This is expressed in the norm of reaction. However.0. say temperature. Examples of different forms of reaction norms. and phenotype. NORM OF REACTION The real object of study. which analyzes something quite different). or O2). the norm of reaction and the analysis of variance. 4.1b shows an overall effect of environment. no single phenotype corresponding to a unique genotype and vice versa. can the analysis of variation be placed in a one-to-one correspondence to the analysis of causes. In order to clarify the relation between the two objects of study (that is. if because of particular circumstances the distribution of environments were heavily weighted toward the lower temperatures. Nevertheless. There is no a priori way from Fig. and a scale of phenotypic measurement P. the genotypes cross. being on the average superior to O2) and an overall effect of environment (phenotype gets smaller on the average with increasing temperature). The first thing to observe is that in every case the phenotype is sensitive to differences in both environment and genotype. to which we shall refer below. would be consistently superior to O2. Thus in any usual sense of the word. an analysis of variance would show a strong effect of genotype as well as of environment. 4. Only in a very special case. both genotypes and environment are causes of phenotypic differences and are necessary objects of our study. and genotype-environment combinations on the other. It is both too specific in that it is spatiotemporally restricted in its outcome and too general in that it confounds different causative schemes in the same outcome. but very little genotype-environment interaction. each genotype reacts to changing environment. the relationship of phenotype to environment.1 a-h. since the two genotypes would have exactly the same mean phenotype p E f P ff\\:\\ E E E E Fig. since both genotypes have a positive slope. for if environment extends uniformly over the entire range and if the two genotypes are equally frequent. on the one hand.1. The relations between phenotype and genotype and between phenotype and environment are many-many relations. and in no case are the two genotypes identical in their reactions.1b of ranking the two genotypes. for a particular hypothetical genotype (0. which is a table of correspondence between phenotype. 4. let us consider the simplified norms of reaction shown in Fig. Figure 4. In each case the phenotype (P) is plotted as a function of environment (E) for different genotypes (0. is the relation among genotype. then 0. Thus the analysis of variance would reflect the par- .1a is in one sense the most general.). both for programmatic and theoretical purposes. environment. Each line is the norm of reaction..\n\n1c there is no overall effect of environment. Neither genotype is superior overall. if the temperature distribution is largely to either side of the crossover point between these two genotypes.1c is the complementary case to that shown in 4.1a. The case shown in Fig. ph snorypc is Ii nsitiv to both (R ndeI1959). canalization. the present distribution of environments. What will happen to the 101 II v Irl U1' 'l Thill I p nds on whl ih nvlr nm nt w Ox upon. there will be very large components of variance for both genotype and environment and a vanishingly small interaction component. In 4. and without then specifying which environments and which genotypes are to be eliminated or fixed. as shown by the dashed line.1 ponds upon the environmental distribution.1b. The apparent absurdity that removing a source of variance actually increases the total variance is a consequence of the fact that the linear model does not really effect a separation of causes of variation and that it is a purely local description with no predictive reliability. and the analysis of variance fails to reveal significant overall differences.1e also shows a second important phenomenon.1e has been chosen to illustrate a common situation for enzyme activity. First.\" an erroneous explanation offered by Jensen (1969). In Fig. The zone f can Illz ulon xirr spolld. is more generally visualized in Fig. So.1c can both appear in a trait like that shown in 4. and the present distribution of genotypes. nor is there any general monotone environmental trend for either genotype. with a roughly equal mixture of the two genoIyp s. In this case a strong environmental component of variance will appear. At intermediate temperatures there is less difference between genotypes and less difference between the effect of environments than at more extreme temperatures. is clearly superior to O2 overall. it does not do so. yet over the total range of environments exactly the opposite is true! Figure 4. If we chose O2 to be our pure strain. If we ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE 117 choose an environment about 1 SD or more to the right of the mean. 10 III· I' \\11 or nvlronm nls t hut hav . 4. again. we would increase the total variance because we had chosen the more environmentally plastic genotype.1/ Over a range of intermediate phenotypes there is little effect of either genOlyp r nvironment. 4. that of differential phenotypic sensitivity in different environmental ranges. Suppose that the norms of reaction were as in Fig. because the amount of environmental variance that appears depends upon the genotypic distribution. there would actually be an increase in the total variance. because the linear m del appears as a sum of variation from different causes. while outside this zone of canalization. decreased. while the amount of genetic variance c. it is sometimes erroneously supposed that removing one of the sources of variation will reduce the total variance. or remain unchanged by environmental or genetic changes. But for any distribution of environments except a perfectly symmetrical one. for example. although eq. it is impossible to predict whether the total variation would be increased. from the analysis of variance. because the difference between genotypes is much greater in that environment than on the average over the original distribution. Second. a parabolic relation between phenotype and environment. Thus if environments are distributed around the middle in 4. 4. the meaning of the genetic variance is sometimes given as \"the amount of variation that would be left if the environment were held constant. 4. Now suppose w fix the nvironm nt.116 ON ANALYSIS ticular environmental circumstances and give a completely incorrect picture of the general relationship between cause and effect here. if either one of the genotypes should predominate in the population. Moreover. (1) appears to isolate distinct causes of variation into separate elements. where there is overall no effect of genotype but a strong genotype-environment interaction. suppose we fix the genotype. Figure 4. Here genotypes are displaced horizontally (have different temperature optima). but both can obviously appear in a particular population in a particular environmental range. Here real overall effects are obscured because of spatiotemporal events. The overall lack of genetic effect in 4.\" and the environmental variance is described as \"the amount of variance that would remain if all the genetic variation were removed. Without knowing the norms of reaction. as discussed above.1a and a unimodal distribution of environments were center d near Ih middle. there will appear a component of variance for genotypic effect. there will appear to be no average effect of genotype. however.1d there is no overall effect of either genotype or environment. while if the population is appropriately weighted toward an excess of 0\" the average phenotype across environments will be constant. Thus the appearance of the separation of causes is a pure illusion. Conversely. These last considerations lead to two extremely important points about the analysis of variance. then. This phenomenon.1b and of environmental effect in 4. but 0.1a. of the importance of environment. which overall has both effects if the distribution of environments or of genotypes is asymmetric. So the historical events that mold the genotypic distribution of a population will have an effect on the judgment.\n\n1h and approximately in 4. That is what happens to additive genetic variance under selection. which thus is not a tool for the elucidation of functional biological relations. that express the relationship between the phenotypic deviations ascribable to genotype or environment and the actual values of the genotypes or environmental variables are not simple linear proportionalities. but as they approach equilibrium the main effects disappear and interactions predominate. one needs to know more than the components of variation in the historical range of environments. . a heatsensitive genotype may seek cooler habitats). This is illustrated exactly in Fig. 4. The argument comes from a general Cartesian world view that things can be broken down into parts without losing any essential information. First. especially for human populations. environment. while interactions will tend to be of a smaller order of importance. But I his nr \\1111 nt is sir I r \\t in In' t h \\I III C II ion for xJ')lIlldilll/. migration. (2) the actual distribution of genotype frequencies-a product of long-time historical forces like natural selection. Second.\" The effects of historical forces and immediate environment are inextricably bound up in the outcome of variance analysis. Then the historical and immediate circumstances that aIter genotypic and environmental distributions are irrelevant. These differences may be behavioral (for instance. and additive models are dictated by Occam's razor.lg. But such an objection misses the point. (I) would simply indicate heritability for \"economic success. and that in any complex interaction of causes.118 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE ON ANALYSIS been historically the most common in the species. If bears directly on the characteristic of the analysis of variance that all effects are measured in phenotypic units. In normal sampling procedures. The assumption of additivity is imported into analyses by four routes. a structure that may change very rapidly indeed. The relative sizes of genotypic and environmental components of variance estimated in any natural population reflect in a complex way four underlying relationships: (1) the actual functional relations embodied in the norm of reaction. and the relation of sample to universe in statistical procedures is not the same as the relation of variation in spatiotemporally defined populations to causal and functional variation summed up in the norm of reaction. additivity is a priori the simplest hypothesis. it is thought that in the absence of any evidence. EFFECT OF ADDITIVITY There is one circumstance in which the analysis of variance can estimate functional relationships. and the results btaincd with an additive scheme are then a first approximation t th Iruth. For the programmatic purposes of human genetics. Figure 4. and (4) any differences among genotypes that may cause a biased distribution of genotypes among environments. eqs. (2) and (3). but eq. The sensitivity of phenotype to both environment and genotype is a function of the particular range of environments and genotypes. or it may result from other individuals using the genotype as an indicator for differential treatment. A causal path- 119 way may go from tryptophane metabolism to melanin deposition to skin color to hiring discrimination to lower income. and phenotype because the particular distribution of genotypes and environments in a given population at a given time picks out relations from the array of reaction norms that are necessarily atypical of the entire spectrum of causative relations. main effects will almost always explain most of what we see. But this is a pure a priori prejudice. Exactly how such considerations apply to genotype and environment is not clear. since this assumption is necessary to make the analysis of variance anything more than a local description. it is suggested that additivity is a first approximation to a complex situation. mutation. we take care to get a representative or unbiased sample of the universe of interest and to use unbiased sample estimates of the parameters we care about. but in new environments much greater variance appears. Dynamic systems in an early stage in their evolution will show rather large main effects of the forces acting to drive them. ince that tr atrn nt is part of nvlr nm nt. The transformations. It is not surprising that the assumption of additivity is so often made. (3) the actual structure of the environments in which the population finds itself. This argurn nt is made by analogy with th xpanslon or muth mutlcul fun 'lions by Tayl r's s ri s.1 a-f is meant to illustrate how the analysis of variance will give a completely erroneous picture of the causative relations among genotype. But there is no question of sampling here. and breeding structure-which changes over periods much longer than a generation. Figure 4. In these cases there is perfect or nearly perfect additivity between genotypic and environmental effects so that the differences among genotypes are the same in all environments and the differences among environments are the same for all genotypes. Of course it may be objected that any sample from nature can never give exactly the same result as examining the universe.\n\nData from Dobzhansky and Spassky (1944). it is argued that if an analysis of variance is carried out and the notype-environment interaction turns out to be mo- ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE 121 . The . This is meant to take care of those foolish egalitarians who thlnk that spending money and energy on schools generally will iron out th inequalities in society. it has the convenient properties that superior and inferior genotypes in one environment maintain that relation in all environments. very little work has b en done to characterize these norms for the genotypes that occur in natural populations and for traits of consequence to the species. 4. Finally. Fig. The analysis of causes in human genetics is meant to provide us with the basic knowledge we require for correct schemes of environIn ntal modification and intervention. However. so the purposes of these analyses are different. measurements of reaction norms for complex traits are impossiI'll' b cause the same genotype cannot be tested in a variety of environm nts. a knowledge of norms of rat i n can tis pr diet th d m raphic and public health . some homozygote.120 ON ANALYSIS a complex system in a power series and considering only the first-order terms is precisely that one is interested in the behavior of the system in the neighborhood of the point of expansion.0 C > ---16. where the chromosomes have been sampled from a natural population. Such an analysis is a local unalysis only.1a-d. PURPOSE OF ANALYSIS Just as the objects of analysis are different when we analyze causes and when we analyze variance. 4. As the figure shows. and there is a great deal of genotype-environment interaction.5 Tempera ture (OC) Fig. a few genotypes are of uniformly poor viability.2 has been drawn from the data of Dobzhansky and passky (1944) on larval viability ill I rosophlla pseudoobscura. most genotypes are variable in their expression.\" the genetic variance (and therefore the heritability) in'r 'us s. As an xamplc of what has been done in animals. probably corresponding to homozygosity for a single deleterious gene of strong effect. the usual outcome of an analysis of variance in a particular population in a restricted range of environments is to underestimate severely the amount f interaction between the factors that occur over the whole range. While there is not a scintilla of evidence to support such a picture. It purports to show the relation between environmental \"richness\" and IQ for different genotypes. As the discussion of the previous section showed. Such is the source of Fig. By justifying additivity on this ground. In mun. Actual reaction norms for viability of fourth-chromosome homozygotes of Drosophila pseudoobscura. Together with a knowledge of Ihe r lativ fr qu nci s f different human genotypes. Each Iin ' is th r rcacti n norm for I ivul vlnblllty II thr dllfer nt t mp ruturcs r r u fourth. Keck. and that as environment is •• nriched. Evidence on actual norms of reaction is very hard to come by. and Heisey (1940) on ecotypes of plants shows very considerable nonadditivity of the types illustrated in Fig. the whole issue of the global application of the result is sidestepped. Third.1g.5 21 25. the assumption of additivity is justified. additivity or near additivity may be assumed without offering any justification. As in the second argument. 4. there is some circularity.lussic w rk of Clausen. with curves crossing each other and having quite different environmental sensitivities. 4. It is the hypothetical norm of reaction for IQ taken from Jensen (1969). sven in experimental animals and plants where genotypes can b r plieated by inbreeding experiments or cloning. and the analysis of variance is an analysis in the neighb rhood of the population mean only.2. because it suits a predetermined end.\n\nDNA content. and the nature of motion then assigned to its diverse causes.Le 'NL~·/$ 'i\".. Xl.. texture.. but require absolutely a finer analysis of genetic variance into its additive and nonadditive components. and indeed it has no use at all. as observation and analysis dictated. Changes in the genotypic composition of the species take place so slowly. is an activity of leisure rather than of necessity. mass. . we suggest stopping the endless search for better methods of estimating useless quantities. Neither of these seems to be a pressing problem since both are academic. such as the location. 4 ______________________ 5 Isidore Nabi on the Tendencies of Motion IN 1672 the First International Conference on the Trajectories of Bodies was convened in order to organize a concerted systems approach to the problem of motion. . Similarly. I tta. Practical applications related to our peacekeeping mission were also a 122 ON ANALYSIS h'&\"\"h. or smell of M). such as whether to include only moving obj cts or to also allow thos at rest in the regression. when dichotomous decisions urose (diamond-shaped linkages in Fig. the past selective history of the species. color.. In view of the terrible mischief that has been done by confusing the spatiotemporally local analysis of variance with the global analysis of causes. in some cases. and let MI = FI (XI.. The reconstruction of man's genetic past. esterase polymorphism.. ) be a model that fits the observations. There are plenty of real problems. temperature. velocity.\"~J (hti>l~ t~e ~Y'p t1Sn<) consequences of certain massive environmental changes. 5. both of th all rnut mod s were r lIow d nnd th n combin d by delta con'1I1l! Ion. and let M2 = F2 (XI' X2 ••• ) be an alternate model that fits the data more or less equally well. Xh . This was made necessary on the one hand by the widespread observation that objects move.1). ) is the conciliated systems model. and on the other by the currency of extravagant claims being made on the basis of an abstracted extrapolation of the motion of a single apple. It was further agreed that where alternative models fit the same data. ) + (1-0) F2 (XI' X2. . Then (MI' M2) = 0 FI (XI' Xh Xl. Xs. . compared to the extraordinary rate of human social and cultural evolution.. both these objectives require not simply the analysis into genetic and environmental components of variation. The value of delta is arbitrary and is usually assigned in the same ratio as the academic rank or prestige of its proponents. ancillary information must be taken without prejudice on all the measurable properties ofthe objects. The legitimate purposes of the analysis of variance in human genetics are to predict the rate at which selection may alter the genotypic composition of human populations and to reconstruct. while fascinating. Analysis of variance can do neither of these because its results are a unique function of the present distribution of environment and genotypes. X2. that human activity and welfare are unlikely to depend upon such genetic change. The organizing committee realized that a unified interdisciplinary approach was required in which the collection of data must be looked at over as wide a geographic transect as possible. ) of the variables Xi (parametric variables of state. At any rate. both were to be included in the equation by the delta method of conciliatory approximation: let M be the motion of a body as a function F (XI.•. The simple analysis of variance is useless for these purposes. multiple regression and principal factor analysis applied to the results.\n\nIn addition. and in that their inclusion in the studies prevented Un-Financed Operations (UFOs). temperature. Since their tendencies of motion were similar to those of non-IMAs and were independent of nature of the target (the variance caused by schools. such as cannonballs. 49. submodels were validated for special circumstances and incorporated by the delta method in the universal equation: a. b. and downward 4/7. leaving 13 degrees of freedom for error variance. further study and renewal of the grant are necessary. 50. Sample data are shown in Tables 1-1984. the proportion moving down varied with size. time of day. Apples did indc d drop. Of the moving objects. with the usual qualifications. 1. . this circumstance need not concern us further. and latitude. and villages all had insignificant F values). From these we calculated 100 main effects.500 pairwise interaction terms. Drowning men moved upward 3/7 of the time. measured. 2. But several results can be reported already.TENDENCIES OF MOTION 125 RESULTS A total of 100. A stochastic model showed that the probability of apple dr p incr HS s thr ugh the summer and incr \\s s with th 'on \"nt nulon of 10\\1\\1 'os '. wind velocity. slope of substrate if the object was on a substrate.023 objects was examined. The proportion increased with size and. Some of the objects studied were Imperial Military Artifacts (IMAs). CONCLUSIONS If) Q) >- o c The motion of objects is extremely complex. and 410 four-way interaction coefficients. The data and coefficients have been deposited in the British Museum and may be published someday. and used in the statistical analysis. Therefore.000 three-way. These accounted for 58 percent of the variance. More than 90 percent of the objects examined were at rest during the period of observation. The IMAs were relevant only in that their extensive use in noncooperative regions (NCRs) provided data points that otherwise would have required Hazardous Information Retrieval (HIR). decreased with temperature above ambient at a rate that increased with latitude. subject to large numbers of influences. hospitals. in the larger size classes.\n\nthere is a slight tendency for objects to move down. a kind of intellectual yeti. 1981]. lOtIlvlllly t \\I .lud its publication. but of whom no photograph exists. 6. . .. The reader will notice that the editor of Nature was so flustered that he got the subject of Nabi's original letter wrong and invented a wholly fictitious scientist.-nt of the same magnitude.96 per hour. However. Acknowledgment.\" . NABIVIVATl The Editor Nature March 19. Finally. and downward rapidly occasionally.010 such parameters. ('olllpullliions UI' bcin p rf'orrn '<. Isadore (Isidore) Nabi first became known to us when he made his appearance at a working meeting in Vermont that at first included only Robert MacArthur.ncral regression of motion was computed. and usually within 'p 'r . A!l. h has left m totally p rplexed about his actual views of t h relati n b tw n n typ and ph nalm . a statistical analysis of 1Ill' slmulnt d mot i ns was t sted for consistency with the model. is passed through briefly. which appeared in the columns of Nature. I). The net result is a mean tendency downward of about . h w rkln an aba us and I Ilk d II tll II Pltll' \" P II' III I III I rill' I' 'ult I y th ir ibbots. but there is a marked deceleration prior to stopping. a computer simulation program was developed as follows: the vector for velocity of molion V was set equal to the multiple regression expression for all combi1111 ions of maximum and minimum estimates of the regression '0 ·Ients. unlnt r till .h liS. with a significant distance x observer interaction term. there is a correspondillK r mction at an angle of 1750 ± 60 from the first.i )f I I. usually at 1-18 seconds after initiation of 1ll0V mcnt. the err r terms were generated from a normal random vurlnhlc 'II rrat r subr ut inc (N RVGS). we reprint the following exchange. and objects in motion tend to continue in motion with a probability of . On t he whole..01lld. is reproduced here with the kind permission of its author.lhullh geII tl . . espe. and the two of us. Since we had a total of 100. For the edification and amusement of the reader. It was with considerable surprise and no little confusion that I read Richard Dawkins' letter on genetic determination [Nature. N ar th end of his I tt r.lnlly in birds.1981 Sir. Leigh Van Valen. III order to check the validity of our model. there w 'I' . 4.010 combinations to be tested. A slope of 32 ft/secl s . md unlmp )rt lit. 5. Ind • rt I lI1. with whom we have had a long dialectical relation. never before published but widely circulated in samizdat.06. or about 1030. d.000• For 'I 'h of th 'sc. whose footprints are seen everywhere. It is testimony to the overwhelming primacy that our intellectual institutions give to personality over mere ideas that Nabi's virtual anonymity has created a deep dis-ease among famous professors and editors.!6 ON ANALYSIS Plants tend to move upward very slowly by growth most of the lime. of •. London is sinking.Iby th broth rs of th monastic orII I of II t ro: ' d lI11i.1. with upward motion exactly balancing downward motion in probability except on a set of measure zero.2 to thc 100. J. A stochastic model for the motion of objects at Wyndam Wood (mostly birds. This original and complex person soon became an intellectual intimate. Richard Lester.5 ± . ilat hims Ifwithth vi w.01 level) shows that these are in fact in a steady state except in late autumn. Space limitations PI\" . The preceding essay. For celestial bodies.06 percent of all actions. For 95 percent ± .8 power. February 21. W -m TENDENCIES OF MOTION have already scanned the model. A plot of velocity against time for moving objects shows a decidxlly nonlinear relation with very great variation. 10' combinations. In his commendable desire to dissociate himself from the Nut lanai ront.001 percent ± 4 percent. 7. This work and these are consistent was supported by the East 127 with India Company. Nabi's retiring and modest nature in a scientific community marked by self-advertisement and intellectual aggressiveness has made him something of an enigma. there was extreme local heterogeneity with upward motion predominating more the closer the observer approached. Bodies at rest remain at rest with a probability of . at the .1. H. the direction of movement is influenced by proximity to other bodies. the strength of the interaction varying as the distance to the . . whom he accused of being Nabi.\n\nhas lectured and carried out research at the University of Venezuela for five years. They are in you and me. USA [Isadore Nabi is believed to be the pseudonym of Professor R. nul hi II nulunl work \"An . or are there influential profesIon II biologists putting it about?\" Yours in perplexity. after all. received his bachelor's degree from Cochabamba University. Dawkins wrote that we are \"rohot v hicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes\" (preface) and that these genes \"swarm in huge coloni 'S. I hope he will confess that he lifted the two 1975 phrases of mine out of context in a way that reverses the meaning of one and makes it appear to contradict the other. have never even heard of Cochabamba University. Lewontin of Harvard University-Editor. You can imagine my perplexity. Let me state categorically that any assertion that Isidore Nabi is none other than R. of which I once had the honor of being president. manipulating it by remote control. Harvard University. I can only echo the question he asks in his letter. and. Why would Professor Van Valen. nr n I al all of my -r iation. Dr. March 19. am 52. Dawkins himIf Is uncertain. I was euphoric at the prospect Ihut my moral dilemmas at last had a real prospect of resolution. Octol'> r 12. \"Wh r on earth did the myth of the inevitability of genetic effects -om from? Is it just a layman's fallacy. Lewontin is incorrect. Ih 'y control us body and mind\" (p. sealed off from the outside world . indeed. I do wish I knew what to b llev . Just as I had learned to accept myself as a gen Iic robot and. Should the writer ever make a statement over his own name. 198I Sir H ulers rnny wlsh to kuow thnr th nnm of lsnd r Nabi. P rhaps I am just asking for that foolish consistency which Emerson Idls liS is I he hobgoblin of small minds. Nature. safe inside gigantic lumbering robots. I. list me on the editorial board if I were also. I must try hard to be good and that I am not so manipulated as I thought. I am s rry l say. II r ally is very vexing. and have never been south of Mexico City. Nabi is 71 years old.] Editor Nature May 29. he says that genetics is sort of relevant Nine we may need to \"fight all the harder\" against genetic tendencies. I r I' r in particulnr to his brilliunt \"On th I mf) rll'S of M()tl()~I. 21). Pr fcssor Wilson. nut in his book The Selfish Gene. But I see that Dr. This is a problem I keep having in my attempt to understand human nature. o -Iohlology uno thlcs 101y (II' I ( 129 [Nature. 011. when suddenly my hopes were dashed by an article in which Professor Wilson warned me against the naturalistic fallacy (New York Times. Isadore Nabi Museum of Comparative Harvard University Zoology WIIO IS NAill? 'I'll' ndllor Nature Apr'll2J. in his book on sociobiology. among other things. 575). Nabi is the editor of the journal Evolutionary Theory on whose editorial board I also appear by name. p.I II TENDENCIES OF MOTION N ANALYSIS Y -I earllcr in the same letter. 2) Dr. I also trust that he will mention my later and fuller treatments of sociobiology and ethics in On Human Nature (1978) and The Tanner Lectures on Human Values.\" which is as yet unpllblish 'd hut wi I Iy ilr '11111 d uul known. Massachusetts.. I would like to do what I can to clarify the situation. Dr. managing editor of Evolutionary Theory. Dawkins tells me that. on the other hand. assured me that neurobi I gy was going to provide me with \"a genetically accurate and hence completely fair code of ethics\" (p. 183] is signa'III I II J' '('It I 'izln\" Illy vi W. and I also find him listed as a member of the Evolution Society. Edward O. 1975). Wilson Museum of Comparative Zoology. under a differnt name. 1981 Sir: It has recently been suggested in the columns of Nature that I am the mysterious Isidore Nabi. Dr. 3165). editor of that worthy journal? And what in the world would I do with an extra copy otEvotution when I hardly know what to do with my own? 3) Isidore Nabi is the auth r of several important works which. felt relieved that I was not responsible for my moral imperfections. C. C. Let me offer a few corroborative details: 1) According to his biography in American Men and Women of Science (p.. Volume 1(1980).\n\nconfusion multiplies. Dr. what can simple mortals do? The answer is quite simple-let others than those in the know use Nabi's name frequently. 1981) making an otherwise plausible point about the controversy over the Natural History Museum. Yours sincerely. even as the author of articles in the journal called Science and Nature. was blessed with a biography in American Men and Women of Science by a group of scientists including Professor Leigh Van Valen (still at the University of Chicago). What began as a good joke has become an impediment to sensible discussion. it alI ws pe pi with known opinions on important controversial matters to ive a Ials impression that th ir onlni 118 ar more weighty than truth w lilt! \\lIow. Lewontin (now a professor at Harvard University). for example. pp. The objection to this use of Nabi's fictional identity as a pseudonym in the scientific literature is twofold. . Richard C. A non-existent scientist. 131 So somehow Nabi has to be banished from the scientific literature. it is a deception. Isidore Nabi (whose first name is sometimes spelled Isadore). Second. But if Nabi's three creators insist on using his name as a pseudonym. and Dr. especially when making points conflicting with those who have so far used the pseudonym. to use their own names. First. 183. a letter supposed to be from Nabi was published in Nature (290.130 TENDENCIES OF MOTION ON ANALYSIS Evolutionary Interpretation of the English Sonnet\" (Science and Nature3 [1980]. Earlier this year. Although. Apparently Nabi's three creators have been in the habit of using his fake existence as a means of concealing their own identity. Richard Lester (now at the Harvard School of Public Health). Nabi's name has also turned up elsewhere. the editors of American Men and Women of Science will be offended to discover that they have been duped. RIP There has been great confusion in the scientific literature because of a jape that began at the University of Chicago some years ago. Richard C. Lewontin Editorial column Nature October 29. no doubt. 70-74). I hope that this letter has thrown some light on the situation. Unfortunately the joke has gone too far. better still. Dr. I have recently received a letter from Professor Van Valen saying that he has been identified as the Isidore Nabi who wrote the letter to Nature. Thus. 1981 ISIDORE NABI. the creation of Nabi from thin air may be thought a harmless joke. a? assertion which he denies. It should not be long before they find it necessary to invent another or.\n\nclaiming that infact collections of objects in nature do not have properties aside from the properties of these objects themselves.Qf'p. But we emphasize the discontinuity between human society and animal groups in opposition to the various \"biology is destiny\" schools.. Its 'central theses ~~t~. the conflict is between mechanistic reductionism championing materialism.i. ( tll1yrlllill (. 1< Id 11'111111 1111111('011111 ny. either to reject one or to assign il a relative importance. of internal and external causes (such as heredity and environThis 'hop! sr. ----- I{EI)U 'TI '1'11 !>lol< Y NISM AND MATbRIALISM xmfu Ion I tw III' I • III 11 I' (\\11'110111 III 1111 '11Iv 1111011uf IIt 01 mnt rl illsm 1111 III I 11'11 pi '. W(lS wrlu 11 as (\\ p 1 mlc (laninsl a pap .. for example.'sl publish' d III SYllrlI('S(J 4 (1980). 1)01 !I. in the form of a liberal plurahs~ I~ which th~ questions become quantitative: how different and how similar are objects? What is the relative importance of chance and necessity. or are the levels separated by real disco~tmUltles? Ar~ the objects within a level fundamentally similar despite apparent differences. thatthere is unity and interpenetration of the seemingly mutually exclusive. cell. species. now the other. and that therefore the main issue for science is the study of that unity and contradiction. in community ecology it is easy.a~tion of the teriJi'i:OIIb~.. For if one commits oneself to a totally reductionist program.. or is it constantly changing? Can events be explained by present circumstances..I II !lIlVO.W h IV edh d It to I' IIWV . and some subsidiary ones.-co. When we attempt to choose sides retrospectively. As a result of these confusions. and community only the epipheno~ena of und~rly~~g physical principles. 133 ment)? Such an approach reduces the philosophical issues to a partitioning of variance and must remain agnostic about strategy. ~r is causation external? Is it legitimate to postulate hypothetical entities as part of scientific explanation or should scie?ce stick to observables? Do generalizations reveal dee~er levels of reality. and the appropriate methods for research. have been raised in ecology.1I d I I 1111 'hili'. we must adopt an uncomfortably ad hoc inconsistency as we see now one side. As long as we accept the terms of the debate between reductionism and idealism.. we find that it is not possible to be consistent: we side with the biologists who opposed theologicalid'ealism and insisted upon the continuity between our speciesand other animals or between living and nonliving matter.Q~hanisti~~~ti~Jj~}:IL and dialectical idea Isrn. representing holistic and sometimes dialectical concerns.DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM -----------------__6 Dialectics and Reductionism in Ecology IE PHILOSOPHICAL debates that have accompanied the developme~t of science have often been expressed in terms of dichotomous choices between opposing viewpoints about the structure of nature the explanation of natural processes. ~tis ~Iso P?ssible to choose compromise.. or is each one unique despite seeming similarities? Is the natural world more or less at equilibrium. 11011 I iii I. . the confusion between idealism and abstraction. organism. These are the confusion between reductionism and materialism.acticiory. then failures of explanation must be attributed ultimately to an inherent indeterminism in the behavior of the objects themselves. We will discuss these three confusions. rather than the separation of elements. The false debate is exemplified in three fundamental and common confusions (see. of' 11111//)(llIrlll/l 111(1 In II I h dl~~'IIN Ion I. Dialectical materialism enters the natural scien~e simultaneous negati~. The reductionist program thus simply changes the locus of mystification from mysterious properties of wholes to mysterious properties of parts.. n. and the confusion between statistical and stochastic. in order to develop implicitly a Marxist approach to the questions !!J~!.rt·. in attempting to escape from the obscurantist holism of Clements's (1949) \"superorganism. to I J1 '111 dl8 IIr _ '\" III. or is the present simply an extension of the past? Is the world causal or random? Do things happen to a system mostly because of its own internal d~namic.~debate. Simberloff 1980). and idealism. such as atom molecule.'by SlllIh rloll' (19IW) Oil N 1111 II m 'lid In II 1'1 Ilism In 'olOiY. as advancing science or holding it back.\"-. IIIHO hy O. Are the different levels of organization. 'hi.\" to fall into the pit of obscurantist stochasticity and indeterminism. or do they destroy the richness of nature? Are abstractions meamngful or obfuscatory? As long as the alternatives are accepted as mutually exclusive.\n\nNo new objects of study arise at the community level. including apparent lack of causality. productivity. in that the soil undergoes great and lasting evolutionary changes as a direct consequence of the activity of the plants growing in it. While it is obvious that predator and prey play the roles of both \"organism\" and \"environment. or prairie-and the results are measurements of and projections for that lake. This path is completely unambiguous in the sense that given the location of a point in two-dimensional space at one instant of time. Therefore.\" it is often forgotten that the seedling is the \"environment\" of the soil. the damped oscillation of the two species is a consequence of their dynamic coupling. a prey and a predator will approach an equilibrium of numbers by a spiral path in the two-dimensional space whose axes are the abundances of the two species. or prairie. one cannot know whether it will increase or decrease during the next interval. then the ensemble of species or of species and physical environment is an object with dynamic laws that can be expressed only in a space of appropriate dimensionality. with other levels having epistemological but not ontological validity.' . We agree with its critics that this approach has been generously supported and singularly unproductive. r r I h r is n cl nr st epping pine in t h r du 'llonisl pro rum). while the entire ensemble changes in a perfectly regular manner. The description of change of the n-dimensional object may then itself be collapsed onto some new dimension. the reaction and evolution of the environment in response to the species. The change of anyone element can be followed as a projection on a single dimension of the changes of the n-tuple. n the other hand. Each of the two component species. forest. Idealism and reductionism in ecology share a common fault: they see \"true causes\" as arising at one level only. and PI' dlctubl w y.monotonic. and the monotonic behavior of the pair object cannot be predicted from the separate equations of each species. A JlIOJllllIll 11111111. Rather they are forms of large-scale reductionism: the objects of study are the naively given \"parts\"abundances or biomasses of populations. but that description is of epiphenomena only. The behavior of the parts is wholly subordinated to this abstract principle. distance from the equilibrium point. which again may b hav in a sirnpl . the separate behavior of each species is not itself predictable from the form of their separate equations of motion. But if two species are evolving in mutual response to each other or if plant and soil are mutually changing the conditions of each other's existence.\" however. The research is usually conducted on a single system-a lake. with no attempts to find the properties of lakes. The large-scale computer models of systems ecology do not fit under the heading of holism at all. which causes the community to develop toward the maximization of efficiency. The Clementsian superorganism paradigm is indeed idealistic. A recent avatar is Wilson's (1978) claim that a scientific materialist explanation of human society and culture must be in terms of human genetic evolution and the Darwinian fitness of individuals. and evolves in response to its environment. For example. ic pi or '. practicing biologists continue to see the ultimate objective of the study of living organisms as a description of phenomena entirely in terms of individual properties of isolated objects. The reciprocal' phenomenon. for example. Its I I community is the expression of some general organizing principle. forest. One might describe the community for some purpose by giving a list of species abundances. stability. Moreover. is oscillating in abundance. and much of the scientific effort goes into problems of estimation. and these changes in turn feed back on the organisms' conditions of existence. however. neither the prey nor the predator abundances converge monotonically to their final equilibria. ~'I' pilon 'OIlV nl nc wlthou! 'W III lilly. The interaction of a species and its envil ronment is unidirectional: the species experiences. a unique vector of change can be established predicting its position at the next instant. or prairies in general. r molecules. with the. or some other civic virtue. how v I. but this projection may show paradoxical features. say. since neither of these equations is intrinsically oscillatory. Reductionism. forests. is put aside. In ecology reductionism takes the form of regarding each species as a separate element existing in an environment that consists of the phys/ icalworld and of other species. reacts to. a major priority would be to find out what a community does maximize.134 -. r ultimat Iy th individuals ( r cells. Clementsian idealism sees the community as the only causal reality. v\"/ some balance or harmony of nature. \" \\ ON ANALYSIS spite the repeated demonstrations in philosophy of the errors of vulgar reductionism. The Clementsian superorganism cannot be lumped with all forms of \"systems modeling. us t h • only \"r 'al\" obj 'Is. whll hi her lev I II' I 1111dc.behaviors of individual species populations as the direct consequence of the community's mysterious organizing forces. Such modeling requires vast amounts of data for its simulations. 1 h rul of b huvlor of th n w obj 'I of study is not an ob 'III' 11111t hollsm bllt I 1'111ol' III vofut It u of' t 'OJl1posit DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM 135 entity that is appropriate to that level of description and not to others. sees the individual species. In the specific case just given. so if one is given only the abundance of the predator.\n\ntwo-. as a series of discrete \"demes\" with exchange of migrants. and sensitivity to environmental variability depend on their interactions with other species and on the parameters of their ecology-birth rate. vulnerability to predators. mutation. we have the models of patchy environments. A local community is linked to the r 'sion by the dynamics of local extinction and colonization.136 DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM ON ANALYSIS neither of these doctrinaire positions but looks for the actual material relationship among entities at all levels.srubtish themselves (anchor on the new substrate. The number of barn owls and the number of house mice separately are important causal factors for Ihe abundance of their respective competitors and are material realities relevant to those other species. mobility. variability. col nization depends on the pattern of the environmental llloNui '-I h distances between patches and whether the patches are I . multiple niches. These properII s arc biological characteristics of the individual species that are not lir icf ly responsible for abundance and survival in the local communiI y.r~ 'or small. Finally. and the processes of speciation. their tolerance of conditions along the way. we use the laws of local population genetics and correct for migration. and their capacity to . if a patch of hubltnt is larg no 18h that illt racti ns nr Il1 slly within the pili . Local exIin 'I ion depends on the effect of local conditions on the populations in q 1I 'sl ion. In ecological theory the community is an intermediate entity. and local selection-producing patterns of isolation by distance. Colonization depends on the number of propagules (seeds.h. These hio\" () runntc prop 'rli s or 1101impll 'il In I h dynamics of the leal 'I of p 'I . They enter the community at a rate that depends on their abundance in other communities in the region as a whole. From this point of view the question of whether communities exist as discrete entities or are abstracted from a continuum of variation loses its significance. the biogeographic level gives us a dynamic of extinction. As the movement of genes increases. Ihe sl ructurc of the gradi nts (whcth r different kinds of Iuvorablc '( ndttions or p sitiv Iy or n gativ Iy associated). dialectical materialism views the whole as a contingent structure in reciprocal interaction with its own parts and with the greater whole of which it is a part. or three-dimensional continuum with a diffusion process. gene flow. partly dependent on local dynamics but not contained therein. The solution is usually one of convenience: if the rate of migration between habitats is very low. or as a one-. between the local species population and Ihe biogeographic region. Below the community are the populations of component species. Similarly. which come from their own genetic makeup. Colonization also depends on the behavior of Ihcs propagules. grow under the shad of established trees. and speciation in which the parameters of migration and extinction are givens. But once they are in the locality. colonization. The genetic makeup in turn is a consequence of the processes of selection. their ability to cross the gaps between suitable habiruts. The region can be visualized as a patchwork of environments and a continuum of environmental gradients over which populations are distributed. food and microhabitat preferences. persistence. young animals) the local population sends out. TIlE COMMUNITY AS A DIALECTICAL WHOLE Unlike the idealistic holism that sees the whole as the embodiment of s me ideal organizing principle. defend an incipient ant nest). and so on. which is a material cause of the volume of owl pellets and therefore of the abundance of habitat for certain bacteria. Population genetics has also had to deal with the question of whether to treat a species as a single interbreeding population with nonrandom mating. which depends on th 'local population size. but the particular combination of abundances of owls and mice is a new object. with random mating then c rrcctcd by some inbre ding co [licicnt. Thus the claim that the ecological community is a meaningful whole rests on its having distinct dynamics-the local demographic interactions of species against a background of biogeographic and population genetic parameters. their abundance. but they are not deducible from the general rule of community ecology. the extinction of species in the whole region. • s. the locus of species interactions. The other members of the community affect the direction of natural selection within the community and therefore influence these parameters. 137 The whole ensemble of species of a region depends on the origin of the biota. which form the domain of population genetics and reflect past evolutionary history. Therefore. drift. Whole and part do not completely determine each other. and th prob ihlll: of III mil rs if cliff r nt . and gene exchange with other populations of the same species. and physiological tolerances.\n\n2. 3. This situation obtains in the interaction of the neotropical fire ant Solenopsis geminata and the introduced cosmopolitan Pheidole megacephala. In some ways plants urn Ii rate severe environmental conditions and smooth over ditlcrcnc 'S. a dialectical materialist approach. but they also create new kinds of environmental het ro m lty. the outcome depends more on their ecological differences. where patches of mature colonies come in contact. What makes these objects Int r stingilililuith yum ir n strlk!n (tr ptcal as ngnlnst t mp rat . Thus the notion of multiple alternative steady states of communities is a natural consequence of the recognition of biological complexity. To examine the structure of environment. the insistence on a one-to-one correspondence between physical and biotic distributions makes it more difficult: I. biomass. On continental areas or large islands the internal structure of the terrestrial habitat is more important. there is usually some discontinuity in the physical envir nment. To allow for threshold effects. the island biogeography approach to distributions of organisms has been a fruitful one and usually picks out as \"islands\" pieces of habitat that may be regarded as communities. This life cycle difference may often outweigh differences in physiological responses to environment. not the ad hoc patching of a dying paradigm. If the patches of ~abitat are small compared to the range of interaction and propagation. 139 the amplification of small environmental differences into more pronounced patchiness. Nevertheless. primary production. a continuous environmental gradient can change the relative frequency of a plant species.and higher-level wholes and not completely determined by them. which allows models of island biogeography to ignore the distinction between island and community and to treat each island as a community. some properties at the community level are definable for that level and are interesting objects of study regardless or how they are eventually explained. First.uPt boundaries. preventing the maintenance of a pop~lati?n of its own usual herbivores and building an alternative msect community.138 ON ANALYSIS DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM species encountering each other closely enough for mutual influence is proportional to their abundances. A reductionist view would lose the competitive exclusions once it found the environmental correlation. Our view. Th patchin ss of th ant species mosaic de. Second. The question of the boundaries of communities is really secondary to Ih ' issues of interaction among species. the species that is established first in a site may exclude colonists of other species because the competition is between established. Pheidole is less tolerant of heat than Solenopsis but is better able to nest and forage in trees. mature adults of one species and the propagules of the other. we can treat the ensemble as. then a within-patch model will not work. Simberloff (1980) challenges the \"reality\" of population and communities by making three claims about the distributions of organisms: (I) organisms tend to have continuous distributions without ~br. As a limiting case. They are almost completely mutually exclusive on small islands. and (3) when (1) and (2) are violated. On small islands the terrestrial community is sharply separated from the aquatic one. But physiological differences may affect the frequency with which a patch of a given type is first occupied by one species or the other. where the established mature colonies of one species prevent successful colonization by the other. But on large islands. and so discrete communities cannotbe identified. especially for smaller organisms.rlb 1 by Lesion (197 ) and Iiso obs rv d Is wh re reflects 4. but boundaries among communities are less clear. assigns the following properties to the community. the polygynous Pheidole colonies versus the single-queen fire ant colonies-are external to the present context and represent effectively random intrusions into the system. and th putt ruing f f od w bs. making the alternative patches more than a singlespecies substitution. (2) different species' boundaries do not usually coincide. For instance. invasibility. To recognize the very rich patchiness of nature. To cope with alternative communities. Among such properties are diversity. Each species is also associated with other ants. and it is better to conceive of the community as itself a mosaic of habitats. Nothing inherent in the community concept excludes physically determined boundaries: Howeve~. Other differences-the polymorphism of Solenopsis versus the clearcut dimorphism of Pheidole. equability. the community is a contingent whole in reciprocal interaction with the lower. Both are omnivorous and aggressive and form large colonies.a community with correction for migration.\n\nThe questions concern their formation. differ systematically among lakes. From the perspectiv r the community there are many degrees of freedom for the speci 'S populations. from (he point of view of biophysics. We argue for a strategy that sees the unity of the general and the particular through the explanation of patterns of variation that are themselves higher-order generalities that in turn reveal patterns of variation. This view allows communities to be seen as similar despite species substitutions and allows wholes to persist over time even though the individual parts are constantly changing. then examples. Not all many-to-one relations are obvious: one of the major tasks of community ecology is to discover those community measures that are manyto-one functions of the component species. Together. similarity with difference. But these ways may take the form of physiological tolerance of various kinds or r active avoidance of the hottest times and places. but the empiricist refusal to group. The fourth property is that law and constraint are interchangeable. that they have been invoked to account for some of the previously given properties and are then seen to have their own curious features.cmmunity r lati n. the rapid overgrowing of abandoned fields) and thus they demand explanation. y ( It Is of gr at Imp rtanc in d t rrnlning sp ci s int iractions. Things are different: this makes science necessary. Thus laws expressed as some persistent properties at the community level act as only weak constraints on the parts.. persist over time. and significance. that they seem to show some kind of regularity geographically.( I 'S of 0 'h sing] spc 'j Ii in u c mmunity •• r'llvironm nt\" c nsists f . The laws of thermodynamics and conservation are now the constraints within which cell metabolism and dcv lopment take place . we can see the unity of equilibrium (persistence) and change. the particular configurations of molecules and membranes in a cell are the boundary conditions within which the laws of thermodynamics happen to be operating: biophysics is the study of the operation of physical laws in some rather unusual conditions presented by living things. the properties of communities and the properties of the constituent populations are linked by many-to-one and one-to-many transformations. Similarly. Many-to-one-ness means there are many possible configurations of populations that preserve the same qualitative properties at the level of the whole. Thus a physics problem might be posed as. Whether this is accomplished by physiological rol rune . and abstract reduces science to collecting-if not specimens. Things are similar: this makes science possible. the interestIng phenomenon is the relation among the frequencies. and change with eutrophication. \"Given a string 15 centimeters long. This is the weak form of the community paradigm since it makes no claims as to the locus of explanation. and these have the aspect of randomness with respect t community-level laws. maintenance.140 ON ANALYSIS diversity. function. behavioral versatility in finding and staying in the cool spots. A second consequence of many-to-one relations is that it is not possible to go backward from the one to derive the many. Third. at what frequencies will it vibrate?\" Nobody asks why the string is 15 centimeters long. Sirnilurlyth \\111m \\1'. Therefore one-to-many-ness is seen as an indeterminacy or randomness of the higher level with respect to the lower. But either choice by itself is ultimately misleading. The general does not completely contain the particular as cases. At various times in the history of science important advances have been made either by abstracting away differences to reveal similarity or by emphasizing the richness of variation within a seeming uniformity. and finally. When we look at these communities over time. Lane (1975) found that some of these measures of zooplankton communities. For instanc .. determination and randomness. generalize. the configurations of molecules and membranes are precisely the objects of interest. This interchange of law and constraint also characterizes the popularlon. Cohen's (1978) claim that food webs often correspond to interval graphs. or dormancy during the hot season is not deducible from the fact of h u. m bility is n t dir 't1y r lat d (0 rh habitat but will DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM 141 affect its geography. Hot daytime temperatures imply that the organisms living there have some ways to survive heat. such as average niche breadth and coexistence measures. the invasion of oceanic islands by cosmopolitan species. 'rom th p rsp Clive f the population ge1\\ . Scientific explanation within a given level or context is often the application of some law within the constraints of some initial or boundary conditions. But from the viewpoint of cell bilogy.the habitat may specify that all species must be able to tolerate r av id extreme heat. These constraints are external to the domain of the law and are of no intrinsic interest. The one-to-many relation of parts to wholes reflects the fact that not nil properties of the parts are specified by rules at the part level. for example. the many-to-one and one-to-many couplings between levels determine the emergence of persistent features characterizing communities and also guarantee that different examples of the same kind of community will be different. Th mechanism depends on th past evolution of each species.\n\nr SPOIIN'. without inquiring as 10 Ih rigins of specialists. th I( III '010 I'll I 11111. even where the abundance of a population correlates well with physical conditions. For example. I n contrast. feeding rates. or indirectly through alteration of the common environment.ructton may be immediate. then the food supply (prey) species would be most common where it suffered greatest predation. Or if the prey were at its highest levels where the predator was absent. thus changing the parameters of the Iife table and ecology of the population. the less uniform will be their relative. or aggression. to ar idl Ills in th DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM 143 physical environment. age distribution and physiological state. and (3) species would succeed each other in time or space in the same direction as their physical tolerances. Nutrient enrichment in lakes will be picked up mostly as increase in the inedible species of algae. through impact on each others' abundunce. (2) if all species but one were removed from a physical gradient. is a dir ct cons 'III nc r I h Individu I. and species interactions are the givens. 11101 01 I \" illd P lid lit. Grassle and Grassle (1974) examined the recolonization by polychaete worms of a bottom area depopulated by an oil spill. inedible species. reaching its greatest abundance where it can escape predators even though physiological stress is greater in that location. such as the brine shrimp. The more overlap there is in the feeding preferences of species.142 ON ANALYSIS the physical conditions and those other species that impinge on it directly. But from the perspective of the community. The looseness of the coupling of population genetic and community ph nomena prevents the complete absorption of the one into the other Illtl requires instead the shift of perspectives. The directly impinging variables act as determinants of \"fitness. I'll 'olldlli()lIs d nods n th . abundances. These expectations have not been tested systematically. habitat preferences. or of plants that are normally restricted to certain soil types becoming ubiquitous on islands where competition is reduced. but its relative abundance along the gradient would remain unchanged. liP ci \\11)' plants. There are many cases of a species. or the species composition of a pasture depending on the grazing pattern. either dir 'cl Iy. but variation entering from above generates negative correlations. These dynamics depend very sensitively on the structure of the community. or over evolutionary 11m' by determining the conditions of natural selection acting on each l)1I '. Environmental variation entering a community at the bottom of the food web generates positive correlations among species on adjacent levels. The other members of the community are relevant only insofar as they affect the immediately impinging variable. but in fact this alga is found only sporadically as a fugitive in such places and is dominant in areas of moderate exposure to waves. then the predator would be most common where the food supply was not optimal. 11\\' M ph). However. the community view is not that 01 h 'r sp cics ar mor imp rtant than physical factors but rather that th -r' is 1 rnutuul Im 1'1' II II' Ilion or Ih physical nnd bi tic osp ets. Dayton (1975) studied the distribution of the alga Hedophyllum sessile. one of the major harmful consequences of the individualistic approach to species distribution and abundance: it counterposes the biotic and abiotic factors of II species' ecology and treats physical factors as statistical \"main ef1\" 'Is\" wit h rclat ive weight s. Here we come . If that were true. It therefore precludes both mechanistic reductionism and idealist holism. we note that the asymmetry of the predator-prey relation makes it impossible for both species to be most abundant in the situation most favorable to each one: if the predator were most abundant where its food supply was most favorable. This claim would seem to be obvious enough not 10 require stating. we would expect to find that (1) a species is most abundant where the physical environment is closest to its physiologically optimum conditions. but their influence is indirect and does not enter the equations of natural selection.\" In general we expect those genotypes that survive or reproduce more than other genotypes to increase in frequency. that one would increase. this is not evidence that species are distributed independently of each other. In terms of physiological tolerances Nereis succinea should have come in before Capitella capitata. symbiosis. or perturbations from ibov and below. the genetically determined parameters of reproduction. )' 'I I h • vi 'W 01' classical autecology is that Ih spatial distributi n of or1£uil ms. the constraints within which the dynamics of population change operate. as in the predator-prey relation. but they found that the reverse was true. )1' ich I \"I . Note that these results take the structures as given. and the greater the fluctuations over time. survival. The fifth property of a community is that its species interact. The optimum physiological conditions for maximum growth occur where there is greatest exposure to wave action. Populations that are preyed upon by a specialist will b buffered against changes arising elsewhere in the system and will respond through their age distribution more than through total numbers. but some cases have been found in which they are not true. Indirect inI . They lead to conclusions of the following kinds.\n\nN wAn I ngcr responds to 'II IIII' Ii In N: th . such a change also permits increased activity by the aggressive fire ants (Solenopsis species) and competitors. The graphs of Fig. Any increase in the input of nutrient to the system is completely taken up by the consumer. if the outcome turned out to be deducible from the unit interactions alone. It In nut I II th It 111 'omp n . The mathematical procedures are given in Levins (1975). Consider as an example the distribution of the harvester ants of the genus Pogonomyrmex in western North America. This claim is a necessary consequence of species interactions. This particular approach deals with systems in a moving equilibrium. which permits the acceptable temperature range to occur. I turn: v r \"It ind II\" dlstrlbutlou n} I I I I . Of course. and the ants. second. but a change in conditions affecting the survival of A affects A and N 1nopposite directions. relatively independent of how those interactions are described. But here again the same issues arise: first. it may allow the importance of two or three other species. and a high proportion of plants in arid regions have dormant seeds that can be easily stored. which would have to be accounted for. I un If!' 't d. Experimentally shading or watering their nest area extends their activity period and food intake. (Alth ugh the p pula10111 v 1orA. Finally. However. 6. reductionist ecology does not insist on physical determination exclusively. Now changes in N are absorbed by both Nand A in the un direction.Ion\"'to II. a strong correlation of one species with another species is not sufficient grounds for assigning the first one causal predominance. lizards. while dry air reduces spoilage in storage.hun II I P IS. climatic relations.1 shows the direction of change in each variable when some parameter change enters the system in such a way as to increase the growth rate of the variable shown in the first column.1 show some hypothetical communities of a few species. A is density-dependent in some way other than by consumption of N. Model a is a simple nutrient/consumer system. the way in which a change in some physical parameter or genetic characteristic of a population affects the other populations in the community depends both on th individual prop rti s f each species andonth way th communlty is stru turcd. The net result of these interactions is indeed a boundary correlated with rainfall. The technical problems associated with identifying the appropriate graph are not relevant to its use here. in arid habitats vegetation is sparser. If species do interact. which is to demonstrate that community structure determines what happens in communities and that these qualitative results do not depend on the fine details of population-level interactions but only on a few many-to-one qualitative properties. In Mod I c. One way of representing community structure is by a graph in which the vertices are variables in the system. this must itself be explained by the causal species' position in the community. AI is consum d by fl. but to assert that therefore the distribution of the harvest ant is determined by physical conditions is to eliminate the richness of ecology in favor of a statistical correlation. other ants-also have their own equally complex.Thls ls p rhaps tf critic I '111m or 'omnlllllily x 10 y. Aridity affects the ant distribution in several ways: dry air shows a very steep vertical temperature gradient in the sun. generating a negative correlation between them. so more surface is exposed. rodents. if it is indeed the major cause of the other species' abundance. and the lines connecting them are interactions identified only by sign: ----. More recent work shows that many but not all the results can be extended to more general situations and that even where the particular results are different. have only a few hours a day available for gathering seeds. Their eastern boundary falls between the 18-inch and 24-inch rainfall lines. Yetthese conditions are quite severe for the ants: the temperature at the surface of the soil often reaches 50°-60° C. and that the strong interactions among the components of a community make the components of variance approach misleading and give spurious support to the original bias. The habitat requirement is first of all that there be a sufficient time span available for foraging when it is too hot for the other ants but still tolerable to Pogonomyrmex. this would not constitute a refutation of the role of community structure but rather would reveal a remarkable behavior of that structure. for positive effect and-0 for negative effect. The correlation between N and A depends on the relatlvc magnit udes of variation entering from above and from below. then community structure determines the consequences of the interaction. It certainly does not depend on the assumptions of the logistic model. '<. Table 6. which normally cease foraging in the 45°-50° range. the relevant result-that the response depends on community structure-still holds. wasps-and the competitors-birds. identifying them as ants of arid and semiarid regions. In Model b. Experimental verification of some of the predictions of this analysis was provided in the recent experiments of Briand and McCauley (1978).nu ar DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM 145 equally important or that what happens is the result of some superorganismic imperatives.144 ON ANALYSIS species' relations with other species. The predators of the ants-spiders.\n\nTh r sp ronm 'Ill U P nUll. int th c mrnunity. N2 altered.) Once again we observe that change from below generates positive correlation. also inhibits the growth of A (perhaps by secreting a toxin. a N.1. 0 A. o o 0 A2 Fig. A 2 picks up all the effect of changing the input of N. the second consumer. ills. I I TheU r non 0. c A2 A.146 ON ANALYSIS DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM 147 Table 6. consumed only by A I. + H e e + + + 0 A2 H + ? + + '\"The responses are those Of a slowly moving equilibrium_ after transient effects are damped. This alters the rcspon es of N. 111 Mot . A2. 011 th w 'Y I I1 \\I P ci Ii. Finally. 0 o o o + + o o + + 0 o o + o + + ? H 0 N. Model d introduces a second. inedible consumer.of ~atc change derived from them in Table 6. b A. + N. In . a b Model Change entering through Effect on N. In Model e. o + + + + + N.. The direction of response\" of community variables to parameter changes entering the system at different nodes. The effect of this change in graph structure is seen only in the impacts on H of variation entering the system via N. N2 H d c d o o o A2 f + + o 0 o + A. 6.f• I 'I A to ul I '1 1111 III 0 '11 III • n N. pom of II. + A. Graph representation of community structure. Model f introduces a second nutrient. as in the case of blue-green algae). 0 A. rarnc r mons f n sp ci S l th dir ctlmpact of the external enviI. A. or fI and iruroUlI' ·sumbl ulrl s Into I hr. N.1 shows the followmg . I An examination of the graph models and of the consequences . to parameters nt rin the syst rn (1f N.1. or H. leaving A I and H relatively insensitive. + o 0 o H + N.\n\n7. then some degree of abstracIion is indispensable. population genetics alone does not determine the demographic response to selection. for example. whereas changes entering through A are observed only in changes in H. H) affect most other variables in the community. and makes use of and interprets both the many-to-one relations that allow for generalization and the one-to-many relations that impose randomness and variation. Where particular techniques are unsatisfactory. depending on where the variation enters the system (see the relation of A2 to N. H) while A I is insensitive to most inputs... or negative effects on population size. It is obvious. Abstract! n b com s d sl ru '(Iv wh . That in itself does not determine whether A responds to changes in H or whether A2 responds to changes in N2• Nor does it answer the question of whether a species is critical to th structure in the I I 2 ~ I I 149 sense that. It permits us to work with the relative autonomy and reciprocal interaction of systems on different levels. responding only to changes arising in H wherever H is present. but gives a completely different explanation from one that focuses on that species alone. There can be no predictability or manipulation of . or else nothing would remain but chronicles of events. 3. Ihe world except by grouping events into classes. ABSTRACTION AND IDEALISM One form of reductionist materialism regards abstractions as a form of idealism.148 DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM ON ANALYSIS b is different from its response in all other graphs.. n th abstract is reified and . to N2. where different models give different results we are directed to the critical observation for deciding among them. or it might be taken as evidence of lack of competition with A 2. but the effects are seen only in the response of H to changes entering at H or N. except in the trivial sense that a historically antecedent state is said to be the cause of later ones. This dialectical approach to the ecological community allows for greater richness than the reductionist view. This might be misinterpreted as insensitivity to the environment or to resource changes. and Hto N2). The notion of a species being of critical importance or dominant has at least three different meanings: H may be the major. 6.. and H responds in opposite ways to the same physical impact in Models c and e. 5. since that parameter increases within-population Mendelian fitness. however. the response to selection is to increase a parameter having a positive input to a variable. and this grouping in t urn means ignoring the unique properties of events and abstracting the v nts. zero. of N. But since population size does affect the numbers of migrants sent out to colonize new sites. But this positive input may have positive. 2. Some species (A2. that we cannot eliminate all abstractions. Under Model f in the table we see that changes in parameters produce correlated responses in the variables of the system. and we see that the same pair of variables may have positive or negative correlations. but this occurs really because H plays the role of a sink that absorbs impacts reaching A from elsewhere. In general. shows the inseparability of physical environment and biotic factors and the origins of correlations among variables. the remedy is likely to be not a retreat from complexity to reductionist strategies but a further enrichment of the theory of complex systems. there is a discontinuity between population genetic and biogeographic processes that can be bridged only by specifying community structure. The difference between Models d and e is only in the A A link. Thus the graph analysis supports the observation that one or two species may dominate the community. so materialism in science necessarily overthrows abstractions and replaces them with some sort of \"real\" entities. each of which is then unique because of the immense complexity of interacting forces on each and because of the underlying stochasticity of nature. Some species respond to changes arising almost anywhere in the system (A 2. Parameter changes may be the result of natural selection. and N2. We can hardly have a serious discussion of a science without abst faction. 4. the addition of N2 in Model f changes the response of N. consequences of parameter change that are concordant across models are robust results insensitive to details of the models. The graph analysis opens up new possibilities for research strategy: in Model f it indicates where measurements are needed to resolve ambiguities. N2 may be the main food for A2 or only a supplement. cause of death of A. What makes science materialist is that the process of abstract Ion is explicit and rec gniz d as hist rically contingent within the sci'1\\' . or only a minor. A change in the structure of the community may be detectable not at the point of change but elsewhere. to its own parameters and to A2• 8. If any causal explanations arc to be given.\n\ndraws a parallel with \"the mist-enveloped regions of the religious world. The error of idealism is the belief that the ideals are unchanging and unchangeable essences that enter into actual relationships with each other in the real world. our muscles and nerves do not have to compensate for the motion of every body in the universe or even of every other person it the same house. with the idea that these histories were the causal consequences of relationships among unchanging essences. and so on). but that in no way diminishes the degree of understanding and control of the physical world we have acquired from Newtonian physics. varieties.\" In a similar way idealistic. computers. of the actual relations between the essences. Landing a space capsule on the moon requires the physics of Newtonian ideal bodies moving in vacuums for only part of its operation. hereditary factors. which saw the actual physical relations as occurring between actual physical objects. nd nt r- DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM 151 ing into relations both with one another and the human race. the \"ideal body. Marx. it is Irr levant. Abstraction is not itself idealist. Yet when we get up in the morning. all species in the biosphere inter11'1. Thus it is n tan argu1\\1 III a iln t I ipul I Oil or • 111111111111 Y' III III III II Ih houndIrl . A space capsule could not land on the moon without Newtonian abstractions. albeit disturbed by other forces. The problem for science is to understand the proper domain of explanation of each abstraction rather than become its prisoner.\" that continued in its ideal path and to which the actual body was tied in some causal way. The level of abstraction appropriate in a given science at a given time is a historical issue. or of uniform motion in a right line. the properties of falling bodies that have been abstracted away are replaced when necessary. as abstractions from actuality. are filled with abstractions (species. with any \"types\" as mental constructs. This was opposed to the materialistic view. and finally. Newton himself. \"Every body perseveres in its state of rest. Confusion on this point may arise from a failure to appreciate that general principles of interaction are not the same as quantitative expressions of these interactions. Darwin's and Mendel's works. idealism sees the relationships entered into by the ordinary objects of observation as direct causal consequences. considered friction and other such forces. especially their secular change. correction rockets. in later sections of the Principia. It is undoubtedly true that every body in the universe creates a gravitational field that.\" Yet he pointed out immediately that even \"the great bodies of the planets and comets\" have such perturbing forces impressed upon them and that no body perseveres indefinitely in its motion. and we can treat our own persons as gravitationally indeI nd nt of each other. the idea of community does not require that a group of species be totally isolated from all interactions with other species. in discussing the fetishism of commodities in chapter 1 of Capital (1867). unless is it compelled to change that state by forces impressed thereon. interacts with every ther one. essential types. but the actual matrix of interaction coefficients is essentially de'om posable into a large number of submatrices almost completely p rat d by z roes. The precise difficulty of pre-Darwinian evolutionary theory was that it could not reconcile the actual histories of living organisms. Other parts require an understanding of friction. and aerodynamics in real fluid media. but to find the boundar! s of Ih submai rlc S and to try I und rstand th rather larg III r I 'lion '0 m'l nt: Ih II xl I within 11m. No ball rolling on an inclined plane behaves like an ideal Newtonian body.Th problem for the ecologist is not to replace the v: r s by lnflnlt sirnally small actual numbers. The intensity of gravitntlonal interaction is so weak that except for extraordinarily massive objects like planets or extraordinarily close objects like nucleons. hydrodynamics. In like manner. although great triumphs of materialist explanation in biology. The patent absurdity of this view of moving bodies should make clear the contradictory position in which pre-Darwinian evolutionists found themselves. Moreover. so that the abstract descriptions are taken for descriptions of the actual objects. natural selection. But to be useful as an analytic tool. In that world th pr du ti ns of the human brain app ar as ind p nd nt bins nct w d with life. On the other hand. and human minds are needed to cope with the idiosyncrasies of actual events. Ideals are abstractions that have been transformed by fetishism and reification into realities with an independent ontological status.150 ON ANALYSIS when the historical process of abstraction is forgotten. there nevertheless remained an entity. nor could it land with them alone. pre-Darwinian biology saw the actual organisms and their ontogenetic histories as causal consequences of real relations among ideal. In ecology the isolated community is an abstraction in that no real collection of species exists that interacts solely with its own members and that receives no propagules from outside. un accelerated motion. Newton was perfectly conscious of the process of abstraction and idealization he had undertaken. he wrote in the De Motu Corporum. The equivalent in Newtonian physics would have been to suppose (as Newton never did) that if a body departed from perfectly rectilinear. in theory.\n\nThc stochuaticity of moI . It may indeed be true that notions of cause and effect are inapplicable at the level of the spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive nucleus.nasticity at higher levels.ulur m verncnt III \\ I II u th hi ufIh xuuplctely lctermln . Park and Scott (1956) constructed a stochastic model of this competitive experiment that was consistent with the variable outcome. On the other hand.152 ON ANALYSIS between them are not absolute. Stochasticity is not the negation of cause and effect. But in constructing such a stochastic model. the effect of an increase in adrenalin secretion on the concentration of sugar in the blood. one at pure Tribolium castaneum. as shown by the attempt to explain all evolutionary change as the result of determinative natural selection. Moreover. The example of Park's experiments on competition in flour beetles is right to the point. or in the initial actual fecundities of the samples of beetles in each vial. say. class and other factors. Neyman. The question of whether non predictability of outcome is to be subsumed under a general stochasticity or whether previously uncontrolled variables are to be controlled in an attempt to produce predictable outcomes must be decided for each case. the effect of small perturbations in the initial age distribution within species. which s ems untestable. and stochastic models are not in essential contradiction to predictive models. This alternative is that there are two stable states of dynamic systems. but to do so would be to prevent progress in understanding and controlling the system. sometimes on the other. As a historical fact. The demand that all phenomena must be explicable by d terministic cause and effect at an arbitrary level of explanation is clearly doomed to failure. if it becomes useful to do so. but there is no reason to make uncertainty an ontological property of all phenomena. the consequences of a perturbation in one variable are strongly dependent on the levels of the other constituents. nor should it be. and the initial population mixtures were also controlled. But the nsscrtion that cause and effect at a lower level cannot replace the sto. they rejected an alternative that w uld I ad dlr ctly to xp riment and DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM 153 measurement. stochasticity may be an obfuscation rather than a clarification in such cases. it may be quite sufficient to invoke the \"chance\" nature of Mendelian segregation and the Poisson distribution of the number of offspring from families in a finite population of size N. sometimes the other. what distinguishes abstractions from ideals is that abstractions are epistemological consequences of the attempt to order and predict real phenomena. confusum and that the domains of attraction of these stable states are demarcated by a separatrix (a boundary between regions of different behavior) along an axis that has not been controlled in the initial population mix. the entire development of molecular biology shows the continuing power of simple deterministic models of the \"bete-machine. it is an explanation at the same level of phenomena as the adaptive story. sometimes one species was replaced. Not only can the apparently random be -xplaincd as a result f d t rrninistlc frees in higher dimensionality with m re sp ciflcuti 11. moisture. the shift from stochastic to deterministic statements ihout the world can be made in changing from one level of explanation to nn ther in either direction. if we are interested in the consequences of human demographic change. is obfuscatory. To put the matter succinctly. The lack of repeatability of response could be passed off as the consequence of stochasticity. and one at pure T. but this has not been the general trend in biology. STOCHASTICITY AND STATISTICS A major trend in ecology and evolutionary biology has been the replacement of deterministic models by stochastic ones. Indeed. Conditions of food. In mixed populations of Tribolium confusum and T. for example. If we wish to understand the changes in gene frequency in a populalion. the probability distribution of family sizes is not a sufficient level of analysis. That is because in such a nonlinear system. Park did not examine. Such a stochastic explanation is a sufficient alternative to a theory of perfect adaptation by natural selection. just as the existence of some intersexes does not destroy the usefulness in biology of distinguishing males and females. but II reduction In dlrncnsionality by averaging II 0 'OIW rta stochuattchy lnto d l rmhuulou. there may be qualitatively different and even opposite consequences. If two individuals (or the same individual at different times) are given identical treatments of a hormone. castaneum. and so on were made as nearly identical as possible.\" and there is not the slightest reason to introduce stochasticity into models of. and we must look into the differentiation of family size by region. so the experiments begin sometimes on one side of this separatrix. The neurosecretory system is a complex network of nonlinear dynamic relations that are incompletely understood. while ideals are regarded as ontologically prior to their manifestation in objects.\n\nthere are random variations in genetic composition from generation to generation because of finite population size and random migration. The reason for searching for efficient estimators and uniformly most powerful tests is precisely to minimize the effect of variation between individuals on the desired inferences about ideal universes. and volume. Thus stochastic processes may be the basis of deterministic processes. Which end point the process actually reaches depends upon the system's initial domain of attraction. But this is not true. that is regarded as a limitation. clocks accurate to millionths of a second are built precisely on the basis of the randomness of those disintegrations. discounting. The distinction between first and second moments is absolutely fundamental to statistical theory (we owe this realization to a remark by William Kruskal). In mathematical terms. a population in one domain of attraction may be pushed into another domain and thus may achieve a final state different from what was predicted on the basis of its previous trajectory. or separating \"noise\" so that \"real\" effects can be seen. Again we see that the apparent contradiction between stochastic and deterministic is resolved in their interaction. They do not exclude each other. It is tempting to think that the widespread use of statistical concepts in biology is somehow a step away from idealism and toward materialism. the most mystified by idealism. at least as practiced by natural and social scientists. the veil of obscurity it inI .DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM 154 155 ON ANALYSIS istic gas laws that relate temperature. Stochastic and deterministic processes interact also at the same level of organization of phenomena. after all. the vector field has multiple attractors. on the contrary it consists largely of techniques for reducing. The synthetic theory of evolution developed by Wright (1931) is based upon this \"exploration\" of the field of possible evolutionary outcomes by the interaction of stochastic and deterministic forces. and the purpose of statistical procedures is to distinguish that fraction of the difference between first moments which is ontologically the same as the second moment from that fraction which arises from different causes. if not by sophisticated statisti'IUIlS. because these events allow a population that has been restricted to a domain of attraction inthe genotypic space to evolve into other compositions. The branches of statistics that seem at first glance to be concerned most directly with variance as an object of study-the analysis of variUIICC and multivariate correlation and regression theory-are. as pracII . Some of the great problems of scientific explanation come from concepts and practices that lie at the heart of modern statistics. cony rtlng Ih III Into III nsur sol' s parat nus sand . each surrounded by a domain of attraction. In the first place. Indeed. The analysis of variance is a I uuological partitioning of total variance among observations into muln effects and interactions of various orders. orthogonal plots. If in addition to the deterministic force of natural selection. statistical method takes as its material for analysis the real variation among objects. which is in many ways the embodiment of idealism. in spite of variation between individuals. and deterministic the basis of stochastic. The purpose is not to study the \"error\" variance but to tame it and minimize it and finally to remove. Most aspects of the theory of experimental design. While statements about differences or parameters must of necessity be phrased in terms of by natural and social scientists. depending upon the initial genetic composition of the population. not a virtue. and stratification. Because of the nonlinear dynamics of evolutionary processes. pressure. statistics does not take variation as its object of study. if possible. such as randomization. Thus the same force of natural selection may cause a population to evolve in different directions. a good deal of evolution by natural selection is made possible only by stochastic events. both operating at the level of genotypic composition. there exist multiple possible outcomes for a process even with fixed parameters. the \"real\" differences beIween the populations. the partitioning does not separate causes exI'('PI where I here is no intcraction (see hapter 4 for a discussion of this poillt in Ih \\ context f p pulati n g nctics). by statistical theory. and this interaction is of especial importance in population biology and evolution. are substitutes for complete knowledge and control of all relevant variables. But as every profeslonul s\\at istician knows. Even if the disintegration of a radioactive nucleus is an \"uncaused\" event and thus perfectly stochastic. Yet natural and social sci('lit ISIs persist in rei fying I h main If 'I and interaction variances that \\I '(lI'uinl d. The notion of determinism may carry with it the false implication that only a single end state is possible for a process if all of the parameters of the dynamic system are fixed. The theory of hypothesis testing and most of the theory of estimation have as their primary purpose the detection of true differences between objects or the assignment of intervals in which parameters of universes are thought to lie. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.rposes between the observer and those ideal universes whose paramncrs are the object of study.\n\nand 0 is the death rate. so the correlation between prey and predator should be positive. it becomes clear that correlation can create relationships that do not exist. W xmld r pln R by R'\" R/(K I R) r 157 some other function. interaction is nothing but what is left over after main effects ate accounted for. N dN dt = pR .R). In this view. . however.IOWN ulve. Economists. We make use of the fact that the average value of a derivative over some time interval tis E dN dt l: [N(t) = . The particular equation describing the dynamics of R is surprisingly irrelevant to the results.N(O)] = N(O) [eAt -1]. prey should decrease. fA nnd I In N(/) A. as predators increase. and especially psychologists believe that correlations between transformed orthogonal variables are a revelation of the \"real\" structure of the world.N(O) - N In N(t)]. . the simplest prey-predator relations predict that as prey increase there will be a consequent increase in predators.1) shows that the observed pattern of correlation in a system depends on the structure of the system and on the point of entry into that system of parameter changes. which follow. The most egregious examples of reification are in the use of multiple correlation and regression and of various forms of factor and principal components analysis by social scientists. t t N = N(O) [eAt-I]. I o • v (N. The graphic argument (Fig. Suppose that N is some species that consumes resource Rand grows at a rate that depends on its capture of resource and its own mortality: dN = N(PR . t Applying this to the equation for N.L In N(/) N(O) I = pR . For example. Moreover.() The left-hand side is d(lnN). they act as if \"main effects\" were really \"main\" causes in the everyday English meaning of the word and as if interactions were really secondary in importance. Their assumption is that they are approaching the data in a theory-free manner and that data will \"speak to them\" through the correlation analysis. This attitude toward main effects and interactions is a form of the ceteris paribus assumption that plays such a central role in all Cartesian science. all other things being equal. we examine the actual relationship between dynamic systems and correlations. but it has become an unconscious part of the ideology of the analysis of variance. we have -.1 I h triune I II n . we have -. Biologists are apparently unaware that in constructing the correlation analysis itself they impose a model on the world. however.R) =~ [N(t) . (It is not r I vanl for Ihis argurn nt that r l utllization may b nonlin ar: if th r is I S 11m ulon 'f~ ct.N(O)] = -.l [N(t) = N(pR . Now divide the original equation by N: ~.) We do assume for convenience here that ()is constant. so dl -. If.() Substituting this term into the equation above.L N In N(t) t I + pcov (N.R) down.8) + p cov (N. sociologists.L [N(/) .N(O)] t where the bar indicates average value and cov is the covariance. so there will be a negative correlation in abundance. -.N(O)].R) N(O) or cov (N. 6.156 ON ANALYSIS DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM static interactions of causes.8) dt where p is a rate of capture and utilizati n f R. The spiral nature of the dynamics in the two-dimensional preypredator space shows us immediately that prey and predator abundances may be either positively or negatively correlated depending upon where in the spiral the populations are historically.L[N(/) . Two additional aspects of correlation appear when we examine the time course of a process. pt N(O) If N has been changing exponentially over this interval. so changes in the system enter by way of R. N I II) dly I) lid III II fir 'OV I 111<.\n\nevery investigator will repeat endlessly that correlation should not be confused with causation and that in the example given temperature may be only a proxy for some other variable or variables with which it is in turn correlated. the correlation will lead to a theoretical story that reflects the particular sign the correlation has in that set of data. it becomes necessary to decide which aspects of the world are to be measured to correlate with species abundance. the reductionist myth of simplicity leads its advocates to isolate parts as completely as possible and to study these parts. This loading of the variance onto a small set of variables is a purely numerical consequence of assembling a heterogeneous group of independent variates in a multiple regression analysis. If an atheoretic correlation analysis is carried out. second. even in the simplest ecosystems. a correlation will be observed and. It is n arly alw ys th as th t r uh r lnr pr portl n f that DIALECTICS AND REDUCTIONISM 159 variance will be associated with a small proportion of the variables. and its recommendations for practice (in agricultural programs or conservation and environmental protection) are typically Ihwarted by the power of indirect and unanticipated causes rather than by error in the detailed description of their own objects of study. it will be asserted that temperature itself is an important causal factor. Second. Wh rc slmpl b haviors III rj. No one would bother to carry out a correlation analysis if they took seriously the caveat that correlations are not causations. Thus correlations may be the consequence of causal processes. since it appears from the analysis that a few real \"main\" causes have been discovered. Yet if the analysis is repeated with a different set of variables. But such a disclaimer is disingenuous. Biology above the level of the individual organism-population ecology and genetics. Statistical methodology in the hands of natural and social scientists thus becomes the most powerful form of reinforcing praxis of which idealism is the theory (see Chapter 5). Third. a complex set of data may be examined internally for a pattern or structure whose discovery is thought to be a revelation about the real world. First. Of course. on the duration of observation. the correlations that are calculated come to be interpreted as real causal connections. and so faith in the methodology is built. So if we wish to understand the causes of some variable. biogeography and evolutionrequires studying intrinsically complex systems. It underestimates the importance of interaclions in theory. it is only a tautological relationship among a set of numbers. some other may appear as the \"main\" cause. and finally. After all. depends. which is widely believed by psychologists to be a real thing. on the variable at which the external source of variation enters the system. what is the use of the analysis except to make inferences about causation? Unfortunately. N is smaller and the covariance is positive.ut prediction often pass for explanation. so that data reduction and statisti. first of all. The most famous example is the g-factor created in the factor-analytic treatment of IQ tests. This randomness is elevat·u into an ontological principle that leads to the blocking of investigation and the reification of statistics. third. r ductlonl m tukei th It simpll 'ily . in fact. When extrinsic variables are not introduced specifically as explanatory factors. making it more difficult to study th natur of lnt rc nn . one or two variates will always appear to be the \"main\" dependent variable. on the rest of the structure of the system. any statements about the real world must come from the content imported into the analysis. But over a very long time the covariance will disappear. Because of this loading.158 ON ANALYSIS whereas if N changes more slowly than exponential and then accelerates. . on the history of the system. general intelligence. Because the methodology of correlation is intrinsically without theoretical content about the real world (that is thought to be its greatest virtue). in a collection of multivariate datu in which the set of independent variables accounts for a r asonabl pr portl n of th varianc . So if temperature turns out to be highly correlated with abundance. The outcome of this analysis is that the correlation between a pair of variables. the faith in the utornistic nature of the world makes the allocation of relative weights 10 Ii 'parate causes th main obj ct f scl nee. as if the data rather than the observer had chosen this variable. community ecology. After the independent variates are chosen. by using a correlational approach. Therefore no observed correlation pattern between physical conditions and biological variables can refute the view of a mutual determination of species in ecosystems even when physical measurements alone can give good predictions of abundance or change. but they cannot be used reliably to infer those processes.l 0\\11 of ximpl x Inl ru '1lun. reductionism ignores properties of complex wholes and thus sees t he effects of these properties only as noise. In this way the practice of multivariate analysis is self-reinforcing.ct du Sli. say species abundance. But the dominant philosophies of Western science have proved to be inadequate for the study of complexity for three reasons. in the absence of any a priori theory.\n\nwith equilibrium and change.160 ON ANALYSIS to deny the complexity. with contradictory processes. with continuity and discontinuity. with the general and the particular. it reifies its own confusion into a denial of regularity. It must become increasingly self-conscious of its own philosophy. and that philosophy will be effective to the extent that it becomes not only materialist but dialectical. Both the internal theoretical needs of ecology and the social demands that it inform our planned interactions with nature require making the understanding of complexity the central problem. where the behavior is bewilderingly complex. with similarity and difference. _____ THREE Science as a Social Product and the Social Product of Science . with chance and necessity. Ecology must cope with interdependence and relative autonomy.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.914240300655365}
+{"content": "Terms & Conditions\n\n1. Object of Agreement\n\n  1. SKYWAY Datacenter GmbH – in the following SKYWAY – is a service provider for hosting services, colocation, server housing and data storage.\n  2. All services of SKYWAY are only performed on the basis of these terms and conditions and the information provided on the website at the time of the order or renewal of a service.\n  3. Customer's terms and conditions are only accepted if SKYWAY has provided their consent in written form.\n  4. SKYWAY can modify their terms and conditions, as well as their price list at any point in time. SKYWAY will notify the customer by mail or email, unless such notification requires unreasonable efforts. The customer can object to these modifications within 14 days starting from the notification. Should the customer object, SKYWAY may terminate the agreement within 14 days or, at their choice, at the next possible termination date. If the customer does not object, then the new terms and conditions are accepted by the customer.\n  5. The customer is obliged to read and save these terms and conditions, as well as the respective appendixes which are relevant to the customer. SKYWAY will keep a current version of these terms and conditions available on the internet.\n  6. The customer agrees to SKYWAY sending important notifications by email. The address entered in the customer account must be kept up to date and checked at a regular interval. SKYWAY is not responsible for customers not taking notice of messages sent to the email address provided by the customer.\n  7. By placing an order through SKYWAY and/or by electronic initiation of actions the customer declares that he has the power to place orders directly by himself or as the power of attorney of his organization and that he agrees to the service agreement in all parts.\n  8. In case of orders for or in the name of third parties, the customer remains the only contract partner of SKYWAY. Our terms and conditions, contract terms and general service rules shall also apply to the third party; the customer ensures that the third party abides by the required code of conduct and duties.\n\n2. Contract Offer and Conclusion of Contract, Scope of Supply\n\n  1. The SKYWAY web pages constitute an invitation for customer contract applications that is subject to change. A contract can either be closed through written or electronic confirmation of the application by SKYWAY or if the ordered service is implemented. Mere use of the website or confirmations of receipt of application shall not be considered to constitute a contractual relationship with SKYWAY.\n  2. If the order can be delivered in parts the customer will also accept a part-delivery.\n  3. The object of the agreement and scope and description of services shall be defined by the actual contracts.\n  4. Customer is obliged to check the order confirmation from SKYWAY and must contact SKYWAY immediately should there be any mistakes.\n\n3. Liability and Force Majeure\n\n  1. As a condition of the customer’s access and use of the services the customer agrees to defend, indemnify, save and hold harmless SKYWAY, its agents, partners, as well as all persons involved in the service delivery process in respect to all claims, demands, liabilities, costs and/or expenses resulting from illegal use of the service or the content provided through the service. In the event of a claim, customer has the right to prove SKYWAY, that claims in the context of the exemption have not occurred in the demanded extent or not at all, and/or the customer is not responsible.\n  2. SKYWAY, its agents, partners, nor any person involved in the performance of the service will be liable to the customer or any third party for any direct or indirect loss of profits, earnings or business opportunities, damages, expense, or costs resulting directly or indirectly from any failure to perform any obligation or provide service hereunder due to Force Majeure, or governmental acts or directives, strikes, riot or civil commotion, war, any natural disaster, equipment or facilities shortages which are being experienced by providers of telecommunication services generally, or other similar force or condition beyond SKYWAY‘s reasonable control.\n  3. SKYWAY cannot be held liable for delays of services and server down times resulting from higher force, fault of third parties or due to events outside the realm of influence of SKYWAY, in spite of any agreed upon deadlines and dates. You hereby permit SKYWAY to withhold the service and/or performance for the duration of the disruption plus an appropriate starting time. Furthermore, SKYWAY can limit the service if the stability and security of the operation, the maintenance of the net integrity, in particular the avoidance of serious disturbances of the network, the software or stored data requires such action.\n  4. SKYWAY assumes no responsibility for content saved on their servers. The customer is responsible for saving and keeping his own backup copies of his data, and reinstalling them in case of loss of data.\n  5. For all services offered by SKYWAY liability will be limited to cases of intent and gross negligence.\n  6. In case of paid services liability is limited to cases of negligence and gross negligence to the amount of the payment paid in each case by the customer for the respective service and/or service period. In every other case, liability is limited by the maximum amount allowable by law as well and the amount of damage that are typically foreseeable at the time of the agreement.\n  7. All servers of SKYWAY are normally active 24x7. This does not include interruptions due to previously announced maintenance. SKYWAY does not guarantee an uninterrupted service. SKYWAY shall not be held liable for loss of data, interrupted data transmission and any other problems which may occur due to technical breakdowns, disturbances in the technical infrastructure of the internet, DDOS attacks, hacking, strikes and other technical problems outside the realm of responsibility of SKYWAY and its suppliers. The customer shall report any interruptions of service to SKYWAY in order to allow SKYWAY to start immediate reinstatement of services.\n  8. The customer is liable for all damages resulting form violations of the service policies or these terms of conditions, and shall indemnify SKYWAY from all claims or other impairments resulting therein.\n  9. Access to servers or web spaces can be temporarily disabled if the contents thereof violate current law in a serious manner and the customer does not react to the request to remove the content.\n  10. The customer agrees to keep all passwords and access data received from SKYWAY for access to the service secret and to inform SKYWAY once he receives any information about unauthorized parties gaining access to these passwords. The customer acknowledges that he is responsible for any orders or requests initiated with his user-identification and that he bears the risk of unauthorized use of his access data. Should unauthorized third parties use or order any services while using his account, the customer is responsible for all fees and damages. SKYWAY may lock access to an account if there is sufficient reason to assume it is used by unauthorized parties. SKYWAY will inform the customer of any such measure taken.\n  11. In case of allowed use by third parties or resale of products and services of SKYWAY to third parties, the customer is liable for any claims resulting form violations of the contract terms by the third party.\n\n4. Duration of Contract and Termination\n\n  1. If the parties do not agree otherwise, and no other term is specified in the service description, a contract with a limited duration will automatically be renewed for twelve (12) months if one of the parties does not confirm the termination at least one (1) month before the end of the current term of service. The termination notice must be issued in writing to the other party.\n  2. Both parties have the right to terminate the contract for an important reason. An important reason on behalf of SKYWAY can be if the customer is more than 14 calendar-days late in submitting the monthly fee for a contract which has a minimum duration or for a contract where a certain duration time period has been agreed upon, is more than 20 calendar-days late in submitting the payment for a contract which has an undefined length, violates his obligations according to these terms and conditions or the service contract in a fundamental way, if obvious violations of the law are present in the content hosted on his servers or web space, as well as if the service is used for other obviously illegal purposes, despite warning within appropriate period does not modify the content in such a way that they meet the requirements regulated in the terms and conditions or acts contrary to the terms and conditions of the service and the requirements. In these cases the customer loses all rights to the service.\n  3. The customer will be informed by email no later than (30) days before the end of the service term asking payment for renewal. In the case no payment is received at least three (3) days prior to the end of the service term, the customer will lose all rights to the service. In case the contract is not terminated in time and the customer has specified credit card or bank debit as his payment method, and entered current and valid payment details the due amount will automatically be charged ten (10) days prior to the expiration of the service and the service contract will be renewed accordingly.\n  4. In case of termination of colocation contracts, the customer agrees to a storage fee of 50.00 € for not collected hardware for each month that has started. This fee will also become due in case of non-payment of payable charges for temporarily stored hardware.\n  5. Cancellations notices are only accepted in written form, for contract conclusions beginning from 2016-10-01 in text form, which shall include faxed messages.\n  6. The right to repeal or return for long distance agreements is excluded for service agreements where performance is immediately initiated at the customer's request as well as for services specifically tailored to the customer's needs.\n\n5. Data and Protection of Data\n\n  1. The customer is committed to supply SKYWAY with the following information and data. The customer assures that all submitted data and information to SKYWAY is correct and complete. By changing the data in the customer-online-interface, the customer furthermore assures that these modifications are correct, complete and truthful. The data has to be kept current. Incomplete data has to be completed. The customer acknowledges that the indication of incorrect data can lead to the immediate deactivation of the respective service without refund. This does also include cases where a customer does not comply with SKYWAY's request to correct the data given within the period of time given. This concerns in particular: his full name, his postal address, his email address, his voice telephone number, his fax number – if available – in case of an organization, association, or corporation – additional information on name and address of an authorized person for contact purposes.\n  2. According to article 33 of the German Law on the Protection of Personal Data SKYWAY informs his customers that in the process of the execution of the agreement personal data are stored and processed and that personal data may be transferred to third parties involved in the fulfillment process.\n  4. SKYWAY may also permanently store all data required for billing purposes.\n  5. The customer has the right to be informed free of charge on the storage of his personal data.\n  6. The customer agrees to receive informational and marketing emails directly from SKYWAY.\n\n6. Prices\n\n  1. The prices for services of SKYWAY are published without engagement on its website; these prices can be changed at any point in time.\n  2. For renewal of services the prices on the day of the renewal transaction apply.\n\n7. Payment\n\n  1. Payment can be made by credit card (VISA, Mastercard, AMEX), Eurocard, wire transfer, by Paypal or by check drawn to a German bank.\n  2. The execution of services is possible only after receipt of payment. Should the customer chose to pay via check or wire transfer, then the service order will get processed after the funds have been received on the bank account of SKYWAY. All transaction costs are to be covered by the customer. The customer has no right to fulfillment until payment is received.\n  3. The customer agrees that he will lose all rights to use of the service in case of a charge back by his bank or credit card company, credit card fraud or any other reversed payment.\n  4. Should the customer wish to receive an invoice by regular mail then SKYWAY has the right to charge three (3) Euro for each mail delivery.\n  5. In case of premature termination of the service by the customer, the customer shall have no claim for a substitute service or a refund.\n  7. Prepayments will be credited onto the customer account and can be refunded at any time. The customer will cover all costs of this refund.\n  8. If a bank debit is denied by customer or by the bank due to insufficient funds, the customer is liable for the bank costs, currently 3 Euro, plus an additional processing fee of 8 Euro per failed bank debit.\n  9. The customer can offset his own claims against claims of SKYWAY only if these claims have been previously accepted in writing by SKYWAY.\n  10. In case of default on payments, SKYWAY may charge an annual interest of 9% above the current basis interest rate according to § 247 BGB, or if the customer is a consumer, an annual interest rate of 5% above the current basis interest rate.\n\n8. Obligations of the Customer for the Use of Hosting Services\n\n  1. SKYWAY customers are responsible to provide full information of name and address in case of content made available online. The customer is furthermore committed to identify the content of his website as his own content with his full name and address. Further legal obligations of identification may exist if the content relates to telecommunication services or media services.\n  2. The customer may by his use of the service and the content of website made available by use of the service not offend legal prohibitions, the public morals and the rights of third parties (brands, name rights, authors rights or data protection laws), or support such violations actively by means of the service. In particular the customer is committed not to use the service to make available pornographic or erotic content and or for services directed at the realization of profits related to pornographic or erotic contents (e.g. nude pictures, peep shows, etc.). Similarly, making available or distributing viruses, content that glorifies violence, racist or right wing extremist content, incitements towards criminal activity as well as content directed at debasing the human dignity of others (hate pages) is prohibited. The customer is not allowed to use key-words which could violate legal prohibitions, the public morals and rights of third parties. The primary use of the service for download servers or web mail services is not allowed. The customer is committed not to maintain any CHAT-Rooms, or Chat-Servers under the Internet-presences purchased through SKYWAY. The customer will be held liable for all damages resulting from violations of these obligations, and agrees that access to any offending content may be blocked or the content deleted. SKYWAY shall inform customer of any such action.\n  3. The customer agrees that he is solely responsible for the content published through his use of the service and agrees to defend, indemnify, save and hold SKYWAY harmless in respect to all claims, demands, liabilities, costs and/or expenses resulting from a violation of the obligations above, including all direct and indirect damages as well as economic losses. This clause shall survive the termination of the agreement.\n  4. SKYWAY is not committed to check the the use of the service by the customer or internet-presences for violations. The customers contents are considered foreign contents for SKYWAY as per § 8 Telemediengesetz. After recognizing or being advised of legal offenses or inadmissible contents SKYWAY maintains the right to partially or totally block third party access to the content. SKYWAY will immediately inform the customer of such actions and third party claims. If possible, the blocking shall be limited to the offending content and shall be lifted once the customer can plausibly prove the legitimacy of the content or removes the offending content.\n  5. Additional data traffic volume can be supplied by SKYWAY within the limits of the capacity of the data center and the duties of service towards other customers for an additional fee, the amount of which can be seen in the current price list by request. Traffic flat rates are handled under the fair-use principle.\n\n9. Final Clauses\n\n  1. Modifications or changes of terms or conditions or the contract, as well as cancellations will only be accepted in writing, for contract conclusions beginning from 2016-10-01 in text form, oral agreements shall not be considered valid. This also applies to terms and conditions of customers unless KS expressly agrees to accept such terms in writing.\n  3. For the contract between SKYWAY and its customers the German law is the only effective law. The application of UN law on the purchase of movable objects is excluded.\n  5. Both, the English and German version of these \"terms and conditions\" are valid. In case of doubt, however, the German terms and conditions will be decisive.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7155349850654602}
+{"content": "Everyone knows it–even, probably, those who continue to deny it: Climate change threatens the future of the planet. A few simple facts tell the story. Even 125,000 years ago, during the last period of significant global warming, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) were not as high as they are today. Yet sea levels were much higher, about thirteen to nineteen feet above today’s levels. Much of what is now New York, London and Shanghai was under water. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change–a collection of more than 2,000 climate scientists and government representatives from around the world–has declared with virtual certainty that global warming caused by fossil fuel-based industrialization is upon us. Even if the world economy collapsed tomorrow and all CO2 emissions suddenly stopped, the earth would see several more decades of global warming because of the amount of CO2 already released. The challenge now is to stop runaway global warming: the process by which the effects of climate change “feed back” to compound the original problem in a vicious cycle that culminates in radically rising sea levels, mass drought, aquatic extinctions and social breakdown as the major cities of the world are overwhelmed by water, refugees and violence.\n\nBecause the scientific debate about global warming has been settled, this issue of The Nation focuses on how we should respond. How do we mitigate the crisis–i.e., make the rapid and radical shift away from fossil fuels so as to avoid runaway climate change? At the same time, how do we adapt to the changes in our climate that are already inevitable? The point is to grapple with the political economy of mitigation and adaptation–processes that pose distinct yet interrelated political and economic challenges. Consider, for example, the “climate divide”: The rich countries are disproportionately responsible for causing global warming, but it is the poor countries of the world that will suffer the most from the changes in store. This inequity has given rise to calls for climate reparations, in which wealthy nations subsidize the process of adaptation in places facing imminent peril, like Bangladesh.\n\nAt the same time, developed countries like the United States bear a special responsibility for mitigating the climate crisis. Americans are 4 percent of the world’s population, but we release 25 percent of all greenhouse gases. If we see the upper limit of atmospheric carbon stabilization at 400 to 450 parts per million, at which level the mean atmospheric temperature would be 3.6 Fahrenheit degrees higher than now, the heavy polluters of the world–the United States, the European Union, Japan and now China and India–need to reduce emissions by as much as 80 percent. That will require a massive effort. The Kyoto Protocol, widely viewed as inadequate, expires in 2012 and must be replaced by a far more stringent successor agreement. For its part, Europe has tightened its carbon reduction targets to 20 percent by 2020. In the United States, legislative proposals by Henry Waxman in the House and Bernie Sanders and Barbara Boxer in the Senate set the necessarily ambitious goal: 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions from their 1990 levels by 2050. To meet such targets, we’ll have to discourage emissions by putting a price on polluting gases like methane and carbon. The best way to do that is through taxation, which would be offset by tax breaks to soften the impact on poor and middle-class households and to encourage green job growth and investment. But such ideas face formidable resistance from a political establishment beholden to entrenched interests–the oil and coal industries–that stand to lose out. Those industries have sunk billions of dollars in investments that would depreciate in value if real carbon reduction targets were achieved. Thus, they fight tooth and nail with lies and canards to keep things as they are.\n\nLest despair take hold, consider that we are reaching a political tipping point; wide swaths of the global public are finally focusing on climate change. The momentum should increase as more and more people see the opportunities in the transition to a green economy. The capital markets of the world are clogged with money looking for profitable outlets. Surplus capital bids up asset value in one bubble after another: dot coms, stocks, real estate. And now, gluttonous military spending mops up more capital and gives it profitable expression as military Keynesianism on a vast scale. The United States hemorrhages $8 billion a month on the lost cause of the Iraq War. A crash course of mitigation and postcarbon transformation would harness huge amounts of surplus capital, employ millions of people, stimulate consumption, generate tax revenue and raise living standards while returning reasonable profits to firms building solutions to the problem of climate change.\n\nAmong those working on the link between job creation and clean energy is the Apollo Alliance–a coalition of labor, environmental, civil rights, urban, farm and business groups. Their plan includes: promoting renewables; upgrading existing energy infrastructure; improving efficiency in transportation, industry and buildings; research in new clean technology; and smart growth for metropolitan areas. Apollo estimates that $300 billion spent on its plan would generate 3 million new jobs and $1 trillion in additional GDP over its ten-year development. Call it the Green Deal: an environmentally based New Deal approach to crisis. Or call it whatever you want–the outline makes sense. In fact, these ideas have been percolating for years but have only recently begun to gain traction, as climate shifts have become unmistakable, with massive storms like Hurricane Katrina as well as the most recent nor’easter. Step It Up 2007, the nationwide mobilization in mid-April, kept the pressure on from below. But the scale and urgency of the crisis are such that the push for change must come from on high as well. In that regard the Supreme Court’s recent rebuke of President Bush’s EPA for failing to regulate greenhouse gas emissions was significant. While we can no longer prevent global warming, we can survive it. The knowledge is there; so is the capacity. What we need–now, while there’s still time–is the collective will to act.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8415710926055908}
+{"content": "Toggle Chart Series without VBA\n\nThe following procedure will toggle a chart series with the help of check boxes.  This method is a little simpler to maintain than the Toggle Series procedure which uses VBA to do much the same thing.  This method allows you to turn a series on or off depending on the selection in an Excel check box.\n\nAs the check boxes on the right are ticked a line will appear on the chart.  This is achieved with formula and conditional formatting.  In the table on the right the following formula;\n\n\nwhere J19 has the True/False indicator which is triggered by clicking on the combo box.  Conditional formatting changes the font colour to white if J19 is equal to False.  \n\nThis method is used in the following HR Dashboard example which puts a more practical spin on the method.  The following file shows the above method.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9962843060493469}
+{"content": "Back to Rogue\nFinding inspiration, transcending expectations, and adapting to a changing world, as told by four women from the local music industry.\n\nThis is what we see: Armi Millare of Up Dharma Down, or UDD, sings in front a keyboard with her eyes closed. Myrene Academia, bassist of Sandwich, Imago, and a host of other bands, bounces in time with the music. Aly Cabral of Ourselves the Elves and The Buildings performs a solo set with images projected onto her face. Singer-songwriter-producer BP Valenzuela navigates through layers of sound with a guitar around her shoulders. They perform songs about love lost, love gained, the Filipino experience, the female experience, and life through their own respective keyholes. What we don’t know is that, in an industry rife with unfair expectation, financial struggle, and the constant pressure to come up with something new, every lyric from their mouths and every note from their fingers is a testament to their being survivors.\n\nThe survival instinct that’s shared among women in the music industry seems to have its roots in an awareness of the survivors that have come before them. When Armi, Myrene, Aly, and BP were asked which women they considered influential, many similar names and ideas came up: Kathleen Hanna and the rebellious spirit of the riot grrrl movement; Mica Levi, Grimes, Imogen Heap, and other female music producers who push the boundaries of genres; Odette Quesada, Janis Joplin, Courtney Love, and other iconic songwriters who captured emotions at once universal and distinctly feminine. Call it a shared heritage, or call it a map for every aspiring female musician — these are the women whose achievements you’d be foolish not to aspire to.\n\nAt the same time, this is not to say that all female musicians draw from the same well of inspiration. If anything, the legendary women they follow are also the very same people whose molds they are trying to break away from. As a matter of fact, Armi says that, given her vocal range, she draws the most inspiration from male vocalists. BP, on the other hand, doesn’t look to women for their singing as much as she does for their producing and songwriting. And Myrene and Aly channel the empowered women they look up to not through imitation, but through actively looking for new ways to express themselves, as evidenced by the sheer number of people they collaborate with on a regular basis. There is immense diversity among the female musicians in our local industry alone, and they know how important it is to stay away from the ever-present threat of being stereotyped.\n\nAnd yet those stereotypes prevail. When a woman is up on stage, or when she’s the lone female member in a band full of dudes, how she looks suddenly becomes priority number one. Even worse, there is suddenly an expectation that they play or sound a certain way. Their voices, in particular, should be pristine — clean and high-pitched, or sultry enough to the satisfaction of the average male audience member. “It’s so disgusting, it’s so gross,” BP says.\n\nBut I realized that you can’t control this stuff, how people see you, how people look at you. And the more I realized that, the less weird I felt about that being part of the job.\n\nSo rather than succumb to these expectations for the sake of booking more gigs or selling more records, they dust off their shoulders and keep moving. To them, music always comes first — an obvious statement that’s met with a surprising amount of resistance. Both Armi and Myrene, veterans of the local scene, remember what it was like to struggle to get their music out into an already crowded industry. Before UDD was on every brokenhearted lover’s playlist, and before Sandwich was at the forefront of the alternative OPM scene, Armi and Myrene had to do everything they could to make sure people went to their shows — mailing lists, tireless gigs, heavy dependence on Internet-free word of mouth. They had to wait for people to “get” them.\n\n\nIt’s a struggle that persists today for younger musicians like Aly and BP, who have never considered making anything less than authentic music. Aly’s constant experimentation with her multiple musical outlets, and BP’s low-key but highly technical live sets aren’t things that might immediately appeal to a mass audience. But this is the music they choose to make.\n\nBundled together with this expectation is the idea that female musicians have to look a certain way, which certainly isn’t going to stop being a problem any time soon. Whether or not their fans and critics are vocal about it, these women know that the music industry is, paradoxically, counting on them to look good in order for them to sell their music. Their response to this is simple: they dress how they’d like to dress — which is, again, obvious yet still somehow baffling to an industry that, at its worst, constantly attempts to sexualize them. Female musicians know that looking good matters, but only for the purpose of being comfortable in their own skin. “At first I was kind of against dolling myself up and hyping myself up,” Aly shares, “but I realized that it’s just another way to express myself. I always want to transcend myself and try different visualizations that work on me.”\n\nAt the end of the day, it seems almost bizarre to talk about women in the music industry as their own separate group. They’re ultimately not very different from men; they all want the same thing, after all. The genders are arguably even more similar today: there are perhaps just as many male sopranos as there are male tenors and baritones, and just as many female musicians who write about the same issues, experiences, and emotions that men write about.\n\nBut make no mistake: we need to talk about women in the music industry. Having women represented today is so special, not because they possess talents completely unique from those of men, but because the ideas and experiences they bring to songwriting and performance make the entire spectrum of music-making richer and all the more nuanced. While the idealistic (or the ignorant) might brush off this notion and insist that the industry treats both genders equally, it’s undeniable that the journey a woman takes throughout her career can be markedly different from that of a man's.\n\nWe’re not that old, but we’re also not young. So this is sort of the most important part of our work: to mirror exactly where we are. And that I think is the job of every creative personality. ARMI MILLARE\n\nAs young musicians, Aly and BP perceive the industry as a place that benefits from a lot of internal support, but is also still plagued by preconceived notions. “There are a lot of things you have to do to be taken seriously,” BP attests. “When you’re a girl, some people assume that you’re just the friend of this other male musician, or you’re the girlfriend, or whatever.” Those on the outside looking in might feel intimidated by how closely-knit everyone is in the industry, but Aly reassures that it isn’t an exclusive club. “The scene is composed of a lot of other ‘scenes.’ They’re just groups of friends trying to make music and releasing them on SoundCloud. Everyone can start their own thing.” Seeing the industry from this perspective — as a collective of creatives sharing bedroom recordings and jamming wherever they can — means that it’s easier to find a comfortable niche within the larger landscape.\n\nDespite having decades more experience than their younger counterparts, Armi and Myrene echo the same general sentiments. They're comfortable where they are, but they acknowledge that adjusting to the shifting landscape is the main struggle that all musicians have to face. “People now are more open-minded in terms of perceiving the music,” Armi says. “I remember starting with UDD, and we were having trouble because we wanted to do something that was not exactly just rock, and everybody had the impression that, if you wanted to be in a band, you had to be a rock band.” They acknowledge that it’s easier now, given the availability of recording equipment and software, and the infinite ways one can share and stream music. But it’s not that Armi and Myrene were born into a more difficult time for musicians; it’s that they've stayed in the game long enough to reap the benefits.\n\nOne of those benefits is the opportunity to play an active part in furthering the growing awareness of feminism, and the global support for women’s rights. Female musicians are in no way obliged to create overtly political music; it doesn’t have to reach that point. Instead, Armi, Myrene, Aly, and BP already see their having voices as empowering, especially in a male-dominated environment where other women might feel pressured not to be true to themselves. BP adds that she feels emboldened to use her music as a platform to help the young girls who listen to her music. “You can’t really ignore feminism in your daily life as a woman. People say, ‘You’re so vocal about politics. Just make music.’ But I’m not going to do that because my musicianship is derived from my personhood more than anything.”\n\nArmi, Myrene, and Aly haven’t had direct encounters with sexist behavior within the industry, but they all agree that the very existence of these movements seeking female empowerment is a step in the right direction for everybody. “It’s admirable that women are still taking a position to fight for their rights and make things more possible for each and every one of us,” Myrene says. “To say that we don’t have to settle for this, we can do more, we can go here, we can go there na dating hindi pwede.” And with more and more female musicians all over the world releasing challenging and innovative music, the endlessly shifting landscape of the industry might actually be shifting to higher ground for once.\n\nAnd yet, even with these global changes looming on the horizon, Armi, Myrene, Aly, and BP doubt that they’re going to be changing their worldviews any time soon. Adapting to the landscape — and remaining sincere with their work — is still the name of the game. When asked what the future holds in store for UDD, Armi admits that they’re just following whichever direction age decides to take them. “We’re not that old, but we’re also not young. So this is sort of the most important part of our work: to mirror exactly where we are. And that I think is the job of every creative personality.”\n\nIt is, once again, a sentiment that seems to be shared by all female musicians in some shape or form. Reflecting the present moment could mean being more specific with their songwriting, which is something BP hopes to communicate with her forthcoming album. It could entail finding other outlets to express themselves, which Aly continues to do through her work with film and sound art. It could mean, like Armi says, simply accepting their age. But more than anything, it entails waking up every day and choosing to continue making music. “For me it’s the best job in the world that I could possibly have,” Myrene says proudly. “It’s never gotten old.” Despite everything, these women choose to survive.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.748732328414917}
+{"content": "Chennai: Map\n\n\nWikipedia article:\n\nMap showing all locations mentioned on Wikipedia article:\n\nChennai (Tamil: சென்னை ), formerly known as , is the capital city of the Indianmarker state of Tamil Nadumarker. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the fifth most populous city in India. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengalmarker, Chennai city had a population of 4.34 million in the 2001 census within the area administered by the Corporation of Chennaimarker. The urban agglomeration of metropolitan Chennai has an estimated population over 8 million people.\n\nThe city was established in the 17th century by the British, who developed it into a major urban centre and naval base. By the 20th century, it had become an important administrative centre, as the capital of the Madras Presidency.\n\nChennai's economy has a broad industrial base in the automobile, technology, hardware manufacturing, and healthcare industries. The city is India's second largest exporter of software, information technology (IT) and information-technology-enabled services (ITES). A major chunk of India's automobile manufacturing industry is based in and around the city. Chennai Zone contributes 39 per cent of the State’s GDP. Chennai accounts for 60 per cent of the country’s automotive exports and is referred to as the Detroitmarker of South Asia.\n\nChennai hosts a large cultural event, the annual Madras Music Season, which includes performances by hundreds of artists. The city has a vibrant theatre scene and is an important centre for the Bharatanatyam, a classical dance form. The Tamil film industry, the second largest movie industry in India, is based in the city; the soundtracks of the movies dominate its music scene.\n\n\nThe name Chennai is a shortened form of Chennai pattinam, the name of the town that grew around Fort St. Georgemarker, which was built by the Britishmarker in 1640 CE. There are two versions about the origin of the name Chennai: according to one version, Chennai pattinam was named after Chennaiappa Naicker, Raja of Kalahasthi (previously in Tamil Nadu) and Vandavasimarker from whom the British acquired the town in 1639 CE. The first official use of the name Chennai is said to be in a sale deed, dated August 1639, to one Francis Day who was an agent for the British. According to the second account, Chennapattinam was named after the Chenna Kesava Perumal Temple; the word chenni in Tamil means face, and the temple was regarded as the face of the city.\n\nThe city's former name, Madras, is derived from Madraspattinam, a fishing village north of Fort Saint George. There is little agreement among researchers about the exact origin of the name Madraspattinam. Some believe that the Portuguese, who arrived in the area in the 16th century, may have named the village Madre de Deus. Others believe that the village's name came from the once prominent Madeiros family (variously known as Madera or Madra in succeeding years) of Portugese origin, which had consecrated the Madre de Deus Church in the Chennai locality, Santhomemarker, in 1575. Some researchers say the name 'Madraspattinam' was in use even before the Europeans came in.\n\nSome time after the British gained possession of the area in the 17th century, the two towns, Madraspattinam and Chennapattinam, were merged. The British referred to the united town as Madraspattinam. The state government officially changed it to Chennai in 1996, at a time when many Indian cities were being renamed.\n\n\nThe city of Madras in 1909\nThe region around Chennai has served as an important administrative, military, and economic centre since the 1st century. It has been ruled by various South Indian dynasties, notably the Pallava, the Chera Dynasty, the Chola, the Pandya, and Vijaynagarmarker. The town of Mylaporemarker, now part of Chennai, was once a major Pallavan port. The Portuguese arrived in 1522 and built a port called São Tomé after the Christian apostle, St Thomas, who is believed to have preached in the area between 52 and 70 AD. In 1612, the Dutch established themselves near Pulicatmarker, just north of the city.\n\nOn 22 August 1639, Francis Day of the British East India Company bought a small strip of land on the Coromandel Coast. The region was ruled by Venkatapathy, the Nayak of Vandavasimarker. He granted the British permission to build a factory and warehouse for their trading enterprises. A year later, the British built Fort St Georgemarker, which became the nucleus of the growing colonial city. Fort St. George houses the Tamil Nadu Assembly.\n\nIn 1746, Fort St. George and Madras were captured by the French under General La Bourdonnais, the Governor of Mauritiusmarker, who plundered the town and its outlying villages. The British regained control in 1749 through the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and fortified the town's fortress wall to withstand further attacks from the French and another looming threat, Hyder Ali, the Sultan of Mysore. By the late 18th century, the British had conquered most of the region around Tamil Nadu and the northern modern-day states of Andhra Pradeshmarker and Karnatakamarker, establishing the Madras Presidency with Madras as the capital. Under British rule, the city grew into a major urban centre and naval base.\n\nWith the advent of railways in India in the late 19th century, the thriving urban centre was connected to other important cities such as Bombaymarker and Calcuttamarker, promoting increased communication and trade with the hinterland. Madras was briefly under Portuguese and French rule during 16th and 18th centuries.\n\nMadras was the only Indian city to be attacked by the Central Powers during World War I, when an oil depot was shelled by the German light cruiser on 22 September 1914, as it raided shipping lanes in the Indian Oceanmarker, causing disruption to shipping. After India gained its independence in 1947, the city became the capital of Madras State, renamed the state of Tamil Nadu in 1969. The violent agitations of 1965 against the imposition of Hindi as the national language, marked a major shift in the political dynamics of the city and the whole state.\n\nIn 2004, an Indian Ocean tsunamimarker lashed the shores of Chennai, killing many and permanently altering the coastline.\n\nGeography and climate\n\n\nChennai is on the southeast coast of India in the northeast of Tamil Nadumarker on a flat coastal plain known as the Eastern Coastal Plains. Its average elevation is around , and its highest point is . The Marina Beachmarker runs for 12 km along the shoreline of the city. Two rivers meander through Chennai, the Cooum Rivermarker (or Koovam) through the centre and the Adyar Rivermarker to the south. A third river, the Kortalaiyar, flows through the northern fringes of the city before draining into the sea at Ennore. Adyar and Cooum rivers are heavily polluted with effluents and waste from domestic and commercial sources. The state government periodically removes silt and pollution from the Adyar, which is much less polluted than the Cooum. A protected estuary on the Adyar forms a natural habitat for several species of birds and animals. The Buckingham Canalmarker, inland, runs parallel to the coast, linking the two rivers. The Otteri Nullahmarker, an east-west stream, runs through north Chennai and meets the Buckingham Canalmarker at Basin Bridgemarker. Several lakes of varying size are located on the western fringes of the city. Red Hillsmarker, Sholavarammarker and Chembarambakkam Lakemarker supply Chennai with potable water. Groundwater sources are becoming brackish.\n\nChennai's soil is mostly clay, shale and sandstone. Sandy areas are found along the river banks and coasts, such as Thiruvanmiyurmarker, Adyarmarker, Kottivakkammarker, Santhomemarker, George Townmarker, Tondiarpetmarker and the rest of coastal Chennai. Here rainwater runoff percolates quickly through the soil. Clay underlies most of the city including T.marker Nagarmarker, West Mambalammarker, Anna Nagarmarker, Villivakkammarker, Peramburmarker and Virugambakkammarker. Areas of hard rock include Guindymarker, Perungudimarker,Velacherymarker, Adambakkammarker and a part of Saidapetmarker.\nChennai is divided into four broad regions: North, Central, South and West. North Chennai is primarily an industrial area. Central Chennai is the commercial heart of the city and includes an important business district, Parry's Cornermarker. South Chennai and West Chennai, previously mostly residential, are fast becoming commercial, home to a growing number of information technology firms, financial companies and call centres. The city is expanding quickly along the Old Mahabalipuram Road and the Grand Southern Trunk Road (GST Road) in the south and towards Ambatturmarker, Koyambedumarker and Sriperumbdurmarker in the west. Chennai is one of the few cities in the world that accommodates a national park, the Guindy National Parkmarker, within its limits.\n\n\nChennai has a tropical climate, specifically a tropical wet and dry climate. The city lies on the thermal equator and is also on the coast, which prevents extreme variation in seasonal temperature. The weather is hot and humid, for most of the year. The hottest part of the year is late May to early June, known locally as Agni Nakshatram (\"fire star\") or as Kathiri Veyyil, with maximum temperatures around . The coolest part of the year is January, with minimum temperatures around . The lowest temperature recorded is and highest . The average annual rainfall is about . The city gets most of its seasonal rainfall from the north-east monsoon winds, from mid-October to mid-December. Cyclones in the Bay of Bengal sometimes hit the city. The highest annual rainfall recorded is in 2005. The most prevailing winds in Chennai are the South-westerly between May and September and the North-easterly during the rest of the year.\n\nAdministration and utility services\n\nCity officials, as of September 2007\n\nDeputy Mayor\nSathya Bama\nCorporation Commissioner\nRajesh Lakhoni\nCommissioner of Police\nChennai city is governed by the Corporation of Chennaimarker. Established in 1688, it is the oldest municipal corporation not only in India, but also in any Commonwealth nation outside the United Kingdom. It consists of 155 councillors who represent 155 wards and are directly elected by the city's residents. From among themselves, the councillors elect a mayor and a deputy mayor who preside over about six standing committees.\n\nThe area of jurisdiction of the Corporation of Chennai is set to expand manifold from its present extent of 176 km2 to 800 km2 pending a decision to be taken by the Government of Tamil Nadu. On doing this the population of Chennai is also set to increase from the present 4.5 million to over 8 million.\n\nChennai, the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, houses the state executive and legislative headquarters primarily in the Secretariat Buildings on the Fort St Georgemarker campus but also in many other buildings scattered around the city. The Madras High Courtmarker, whose jurisdiction extends across Tamil Nadumarker and Puducherrymarker, is the highest judicial authority in the state and is also in the city. Chennai has three parliamentary constituencies—Chennai North, Chennai Central and Chennai South—and elects 18 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to the state legislature.\nChennai Metropolitan Police Patrol\n\nThe metropolitan region of Chennai covers many suburbs that are part of Kanchipurammarker and Thiruvallurmarker districts. The larger suburbs are governed by town municipalities, and the smaller ones are governed by town councils called panchayats. While the city covers an area of , the metropolitan area is spread over . The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authoritymarker (CMDAmarker) has drafted a Second Master Plan that aims to develop satellite townships around the city. Contiguous satellite towns include Mahabalipurammarker to the south, Chengalpattumarker and Maraimalai Nagarmarker to the southwest, and Kanchipurammarker town, Sriperumpudurmarker, Tiruvallurmarker and Arakkonammarker to the west.\n\nThe Greater Chennai Police department, a division of the Tamil Nadu Police, is the law enforcement agency in the city. The city police force is headed by a commissioner of police, and administrative control rests with the Tamil Nadu Home Ministry. The department consists of 36 subdivisions with a total of 121 police stations. The city's traffic is managed by the Chennai City Traffic Police (CCTP). The Metropolitan suburbs are policed by the Chennai Metropolitan Police, and outer district areas are policed by the Kanchipuram and Thiruvallur police departments.\n\nThe Corporation of Chennai and municipalities of the suburbs provide civic services. Garbage in most zones is handled by Neel Metal Fanalica Environment Management, a private company, and by the Chennai Corporationmarker in the other zones. Water supply and sewage treatment are handled by the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewage Board, popularly referred to as CMWSSB. Electricity is supplied by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board. The city's telephone service is provided by six mobile phone companies and four landline companies, which also provide broadband Internet access, along with Sify and Hathway.\n\nHistorically, Chennai has relied on annual monsoon rains to replenish water reservoirs, as no major rivers flow through the area. Steadily growing in population, the city has faced water supply shortages, and its ground water levels have been depleted. An earlier Veeranam Lake projectmarker failed to solve the city's water problems, but the New Veeranam project, which became operational in September 2004, has greatly reduced dependency on distant sources. In recent years, heavy and consistent monsoon rains and rainwater harvesting (RWH) by Chennai Metrowater at its Anna Nagar Rain Centre have significantly reduced water shortages. Moreover, newer projects like the Telugu Ganga project that bring water from water-surplus rivers like the Krishna River in Andhra Pradesh have eased water shortages. The city is constructing sea water desalination plants to further increase the water supply.\n\n\nChennai has a diversified economic base anchored by the automobile, software services, hardware manufacturing, healthcare and financial services industries. As of 2000, the city's total personal income was Rs. 12,488.83 crores, making up 10.9% of the total income of Tamil Nadu. In 2001, the total workforce in Chennai was about 1.5 million, which was 31.79% of its population. According to the 1991 census, most of the city's workforce was involved in trade (25.65%), manufacturing (23.52%), transportation (10.72%), construction (6.3%) and other services (31.8%). Chennai metropolitan area accounts for over 75% of the sales tax revenue in the state. According to the CII, Chennai's is estimated to grow to a $100-billion economy, 2.5 times its present size, by the year 2025.\n\nThe city is base to around 30% of India's automobile industry and 35% of its auto components industry. A large number of automotive companies including Hyundai, Ford, BMW, Mitsubishi, Komatsu, The TVS Group (TVS), Ashok Leyland, Nissan-Renault, Daimler Trucks, TI Cycles of India, TAFE Tractors, Royal Enfield, Caterpillar Inc., Caparo, Madras Rubber Factory (MRF) and Michelin have or are in the process of setting up manufacturing plants in and around Chennai. The Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadimarker produces military vehicles, including India's main battle tank: Arjun MBT. The Integral Coach Factory manufactures railway coaches and other rolling stock for Indian Railways. This very industrial expanse has given the name to Chennai as being the \"Detroit of Southern Asia\". The Ambattur-Padi industrial zone houses many textile manufacturers, and an SEZ for apparel and footwear manufacture has been set up in the southern suburbs of the city. Chennai contributes more than 50% of India's leather exports.\nThe city is an electronics manufacturing hub where multinational corporations like Dell, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Flextronics and Foxconn have set up electronics and hardware manufacturing plants, mainly in the Sriperumbudurmarker Special Economic Zone (SEZ).\n\nMany software and software services companies have development centres in Chennai, which contributed 14% of India's total software exports of Rs.144,214 crores during 2006–07, making it the second-largest exporter of software in the country, behind Bangaloremarker. Major software companies like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Hewlett Packard, HCL, IBM, Satyam, CTS, MphasiS, Polaris Software Lab, Capgemini and Accenture have their offices set up here, with some of them making Chennai their largest base. Prominent financial institutions, including the World Bank, HSBC, Citi bank have back office operations in the city. Chennai is home to three large national level commercial banks and many state level co-operative banks, finance and insurance companies. Telecom giants Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent, pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer and chemicals giant Dow Chemicals have research and development facilities in Chennai. TICEL bio-tech park and Golden Jubilee bio-tech park at Siruserimarker house biotechnology companies and laboratories. Chennai has a fully computerised stock exchange called the Madras Stock Exchange.\n\n\nA resident of Chennai is called a Chennaiite. As of 2001, Chennai city had a population of 4.34 million, while the total metropolitan population was 7.04 million. The estimated metropolitan population in 2006 is 4.5 million. In 2001, the population density in the city was 24,682 per km2 (63,926 per mi²), while the population density of the metropolitan area was 5,922 per km2 (15,337 per mi²), making it one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The sex ratio is 951 females for every 1,000 males, slightly higher than the national average of 944. The average literacy rate is 80.14%, much higher than the national average of 64.5%. The city has the fourth highest population of slum dwellers among major cities in India, with about 820,000 people (18.6% of its population) living in slum conditions. This number represents about 5% of the total slum population of India. In 2005, the crime rate in the city was 313.3 per 100,000 people, accounting for 6.2% of all crimes reported in major cities in India. The number of crimes in the city showed a significant increase of 61.8% from 2004.\n\nThe majority of the population in Chennai are Tamilians. Tamil is the primary language spoken in Chennai. English is widely spoken especially in business, education and white collar professions. Sizeable Telugu and Malayalee communities live in the city. Chennai also has a large migrant population, who come from other parts of Tamil Nadu and the rest of the country. As of 2001, out of the 937,000 migrants (21.57% of its population) in the city, 74.5% were from other parts of the state, 23.8% were from rest of India and 1.7% were from outside the country.\n\nAccording to the 2001 census, Hindus constitute about 81.27% of the city's population, and Muslims (9.37%), Christians (7.63%) and Jains (1.05%) are other major religious groups.\n\n\nChennai is a major centre for music, art and culture in India. The city is known for its classical dance shows and Hindu temples. Every December, Chennai holds a five-week long Music Season celebrating the 1927 opening of the Madras Music Academy. It features performances (kutcheries) of traditional Carnatic music by hundreds of artists in and around the city. An arts festival called the Chennai Sangamam, which showcases various arts of Tamil Nadu is held in January every year. Chennai is also known for Bharatanatyam, a classical dance form that originated in Tamil Nadumarker. An important cultural centre for Bharatanatyam is Kalakshetramarker, on the beach in the south of the city. Chennai is also home to some of the best choirs in India, who during the Christmas season stage various carol performances across the city in Tamil and English. The Madras Musical Association (MMA) is one of the oldest and prestigious choirs in India and has staged performances across the world.\n\nChennai is the base for the large Tamil movie industry,, known as Kollywood, home to most of the movie studios. The industry makes more than 150 Tamil movies a year, and its soundtracks dominate the city's music. Some of the biggest names in the Indian film fraternity like Ilaiyaraaja, K. Balachander, Sivaji Ganesan, M. G. Ramachandran, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Mani Ratnam and S. Shankar are based out of Chennai. A. R. Rahman took Chennai to international fame by winning two Oscar awards in 2009 for the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Chennai's theaters stage many Tamil plays; political satire, slapstick comedy, history, mythology and drama are among the popular genres. English plays are also staged in the city.\n\nAmong Chennai's festivals, Pongal is celebrated over five days in January, is the most important. Almost all major religious festivals such as Deepavali, Eid and Christmas are celebrated in Chennai. Tamil cuisine in Chennai includes vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Many of the city's restaurants offer light meals or tiffin, which usually include rice-based dishes like pongal, dosa, idli and vadai, served with steaming hot filter coffee.\n\n\nChennai serves as a major gateway to South India and the Chennai International Airportmarker, comprising the Anna international terminal and the Kamaraj domestic terminal, is the third busiest airport in India. The city is connected to major hubs in South Asia, South East Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America through more than 30 national and international carriers. The airport is the second busiest cargo terminus in the country. The existing airport is undergoing further modernisation and expansion, and a new greenfield airport is to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 2,000 crore in Sriperumbudurmarker. The city is served by two major ports, Chennai Portmarker, one of the largest artificial portsmarker, and Ennore Portmarker. The Chennai port is the largest in Bay of Bengal and India's second busiest container hub, handling automobiles, motorcycles and general industrial cargo. The Ennore Portmarker handles cargo such as coal, ore and other bulk and rock mineral products. A smaller harbour at Royapurammarker is used by fishing boats and trawlers.\nChennai is well connected to other parts of Indiamarker by road and rail. Five major national highways radiate outward towards Mumbaimarker, Kolkatamarker, Tiruchirapallimarker (Trichy), Tiruvallurmarker, Tindivanammarker and Puducherrymarker (Pondicherry). The Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminusmarker (CMBTmarker), the terminus for all intercity buses from Chennai, is the largest bus station in Asia. Seven government-owned transport corporations operate inter-city and inter-state bus services. Many private inter-city and inter-state bus companies also operate services to and from Chennai.\n\nChennai is the headquarters of the Southern Railwaymarker. The city has two main railway terminals. Chennai Centralmarker station, the city's largest, provides access to trains to major cities like Mumbaimarker, Kolkatamarker, Bangaloremarker, Delhimarker, Hyderabadmarker, Kochimarker, Coimbatoremarker, Thiruvananthapurammarker as well as to smaller towns across India. Chennai Egmoremarker is a terminus for trains traveling primarily within Tamil Nadu; it also handles a few inter-state trains.\n\nBuses, trains, and auto rickshaws are the most common form of public transport within the city.\nThe Chennai suburban railwaymarker network one of the oldest in the country consists of four broad gauge rail sectors terminating at two locations in the city, namely Chennai Centralmarker and Chennai Beachmarker. Regular services are offered in the following sectors from these termini: Chennai Centralmarker/Chennai Beachmarker - Arakkonammarker - Tiruttanimarker, Chennai Centralmarker/Chennai BeachmarkerGummidipoondimarker - Sullurpetamarker and Chennai BeachmarkerTambarammarker - Chengalpattumarker - Tirumalpur(Kanchipurammarker). The fourth sector is an elevated Mass Rapid Transit Systemmarker (MRTSmarker) which links Chennai Beachmarker to Velacherymarker and is interlinked with the remaining rail network.Construction is underway for an underground and elevated Chennai Metro rail.\n\nThe Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) runs an extensive city bus system consisting of 3257 buses on 622 routes, and moves an estimated 4.35 million passengers each day.\n\nVans, popularly known as Maxi Cabs and 'share' auto rickshaws ply many routes in the city and provide an alternative to buses. Metered call taxis, tourist taxis and auto rickshaws are also available on hire. Chennai's transportation infrastructure provides coverage and connectivity, but growing use has caused traffic congestion and pollution. The government has tried to address these problems by constructing grade separators and flyovers at major intersections, starting with the Gemini flyovermarker, built in 1973 over the most important arterial road, Anna Salai to the recently completed Kathipara Flyovermarker.\n\n\nNewspaper publishing started in Chennai with the launch of a weekly, The Madras Courier, in 1785. It was followed by the weeklies The Madras Gazzette and The Government Gazzette in 1795. The Spectator, founded in 1836, was the first English newspaper in Chennai to be owned by an Indian and became the city's first daily newspaper in 1853. The first Tamil newspaper, Swadesamitran, was launched in 1899.\n\nThe major English dailies published in Chennai are The Hindu, The New Indian Express, The Deccan Chronicle and The Times of India recently joined the list. The evening dailies are, The Trinity Mirror and The News Today. As of 2004, The Hindu was the city's most read English newspaper, with a daily circulation of 267,349. The major business dailies published from the city are The Economic Times, The Hindu Business Line, Business Standard, Mint and The Financial Express. The major Tamil dailies include the Dina Thanthi, Dinakaran, Dina Mani, Dina Malar, Tamil Murasu, Makkal Kural and Malai Malar and major Telugu dailies include Eenandu, Vaartha, Andhra Jyothi and Sakshi. The one and only Hindi Newspaper published from Chennai is the Rajasthan Patrika. Neighbourhood newspapers such as The Annanagar Times and The Adyar Times cater to particular localities. Magazines published from Chennai include Ananda Vikatan, Kumudam, Kalki, Kungumam, \"Thuglak\", Frontline and Sportstar.\n\nDoordarshan runs two terrestrial television channels and two satellite television channels from its Chennai centre, which was set up in 1974. Private Tamil satellite television networks like Sun TV, Raj TVmarker, Zee Tamil, Star Vijay, Jaya TV, Makkal TV, Vasanth TV and Kalaignar TV broadcast out of Chennai. The Sun Network one of India's largest broadcasting companies is based in the city. While SCV and Hathway are the major cable TV service providers, Direct-to-home (DTH) is available via DD Direct Plus, Dish TV, Tata Sky, Sun direct DTH, Reliance Big TV and Digital TV(Airtel-Bharti) Chennai is the first city in India to have implemented the Conditional Access System for cable television. Radio broadcasting started from the radio station at the Rippon Buildings complex, founded in 1930 and was then shifted to All India Radio in 1938. The city has 4 AM and 14 FM radio stations, operated by Anna Universitymarker, All India Radio and private broadcasters.\n\nEducation and health care\n\nSchools in Chennai are either run publicly by the Tamil Nadu government or privately, some with financial aid from the government. The medium of education is either English or Tamil. Most schools are affiliated with the Tamil Nadu State Board, the Matriculation Board or the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). A few schools are affiliated with the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) board, there are even schools which cater National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) board, Anglo-Indian board or the Montessori system. Schooling begins at the age of three with two years of kindergarten followed by ten years of primary and secondary education. Students then need to complete two years of higher secondary education in either science or commerce before being eligible for college education in a general or professional field of study. There are 1,389 schools in the city, out of which 731 are primary, 232 are secondary and 426 are higher secondary schools.\n\nThe Indian Institute of Technology Madrasmarker (IIT Madras) and The College of Engineering, Guindy, founded in 1794, are the premier centres for engineering education in the city. Most colleges that offer engineering programs are affiliated to Anna Universitymarker. Madras Medical College (MMC), Stanley Medical College (SMC), Kilpauk Medical College and Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institutemarker (SRMC) are the notable medical colleges in Chennai.\nThe Government General Hospital\nColleges for science, arts and commerce degrees are typically affiliated with the University of Madras, which has three campuses in the city; some colleges such as Madras Christian College, Loyola Collegemarker The New College are autonomous. Research institutions like the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), the Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI) and the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) are in the city. The Connemara Public Librarymarker is one of four National Depository Centres in India that receive a copy of all newspapers and books published in India. It has been declared a UNESCOmarker information centre.\n\nThere are 15 Government hospitals and a large number of private hospitals which provide medical and health care. The Government General hospital, popularly referred to as \"G.H.\", is the biggest government run hospital in the city. There are many large private hospitals, among which many are multi-speciality hospitals. Some of India's well-known healthcare institutions such as Apollo Hospitals (the largest private healthcare provider in Asia), Sankara Nethralaya and Sri Ramachandra Medical Centremarker are based in the city, making it one of the preferred destinations for medical tourists from across the globe.\n\n\nCricket is the most popular sport in Chennai. The M.A.marker Chidambaram Stadiummarker (MAC) in Chepaukmarker is one of the oldest cricket stadiums in India.and also it is the place where india registered its first test victory in the year 1952. The Chemplast Cricket Groundmarker on the IIT Madrasmarker campus is another important venue hosting first class matches. Plans are also underway to build an ultra modern cricket stadium, near Chennai, which would be ready for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Prominent cricketers from the city include former Test-captains S. Venkataraghavan and Kris Srikkanth. A cricket fast bowling academy, the MRF Pace Foundation, whose coaches include Bob Simpson and Dennis Lillee, is based in Chennai. Chennai is home to the Indian Premier League cricket team, the Chennai Super Kings. Chennai is also home to the Indian Cricket League team, the Chennai Superstars.\n\nThe city is home to a Premier Hockey League (PHL) team, the Chennai Veerans, and has hosted many hockey tournaments such as the Asia Cup and the Men's Champions Trophy at The Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium.\n\nChennai has produced popular tennis players such as Vijay Amritraj,Ramesh Krishnan and Mahesh Bhupathi and is host to an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) event, the Chennai Open, ATP World Tour 250 series the country's only (ATP) event.\n\nFootball and athletic competitions are held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadiummarker, which also houses a multi-purpose indoor complex for competition in volleyball, basketball and table tennis. Water sports are played in the Velachery Aquatic Complexmarker. Chennai was the venue of the South Asian Games (SAF Games) in 1995.\n\nAutomobile racing in India has been closely connected with Chennai since its beginnings shortly after independence. Motor racing events are held on a special purpose track in Irungattukottai, Sriperumbudurmarker, which has also been the venue for several international competitions. Horse racing is held at the Guindy Race Coursemarker, while rowing competitions are hosted at the Madras Boat Clubmarker. The city has two 18-hole golf courses, the Cosmopolitan Clubmarker and the Gymkhana Clubmarker, both established in the late nineteenth century. Viswanathan Anand, the chess World champion, grew up in Chennai.\n\nOther athletes of repute from Chennai include table tennis players Sharath Kamal and two-time world carrom champion, Maria Irudayam. The city has a rugby union team called the Chennai Cheetahs.\n\nSister cities\n\nChennai has sister city relationships with the following cities of the world.\n\nCountry City State / Region Since\nUnited Statesmarker San Antoniomarker Texasmarker 2007\nGermanymarker Frankfurtmarker Hessemarker 2005\nEgyptmarker Cairomarker Cairo Governoratemarker 2000\nUnited Statesmarker Denvermarker Coloradomarker 1984\nRussiamarker Volgogradmarker Volgograd Oblast 1966\n\nSee also\n\n\n  1. [1]\n  2. , Annexure I lists these six entities as the licensed cellular operators for the Chennai circle. The CDMA Development Group's official website lists Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications as the only operators to have deployed CDMA on cellular systems in India.\n  3. The population density for Chennai city and the metropolitan area have been calculated using the population figures and the total area of the respective regions, mentioned in the Second Master Plan. The conversion rate of = 1.609 km. has been used to compute the density per sq. mile.\n  4. In terms of population density, Chennai was ranked 51st among all urban agglomerations in the world with over 500,000 people.\n  5. If one types in Chennai in the input box and submits, the list is displayed.\n\nFurther reading\n\nExternal links\n\nEmbed code:\n\nGot something to say? Make a comment.\nYour name\nYour email address", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6401897668838501}
+{"content": "\n\nAs mentioned before, an appraiser can generally choose from three approaches to determine value. One or two of these approaches will usually be most applicable, with the other approach or approaches usually being less useful. The appraiser has to think about the \"scope of work\", the type of value, the property itself, and the quality and quantity of data available for each approach. No overarching statement can be made that one approach or another is always better than one of the other approaches.\nRemember this: appraisers are looking at the condition of what’s permanently part of or attached to the house. They’re not evaluating the décor or furniture or anything that’s not affixed to the property; what’s most important are your home’s physical characteristics (age, square footage, the number of bedrooms and baths, lot size, location, view) as well as their observable condition.\nI want to take a moment to tell you of a most amazing experience I had at your office today. Deanne Holder waited on me and my daughter, Kelley DiSalvo, as we were trying to make heads or tails of some small pieces of property that belonged to my deceased husband, John Pat Krause, and me. Some of the lots were in low land and one piece of property didn't even have an address, except the address of the next door neighbor. Deanne very, very patiently looked up each and every parcel and helped us see the adjoining property owners so we can contact them, where needed, and also take the necessary steps to finally dispose of the remaining lots. I can see that Deanne is a treasure to your office and the citizens of Leon County.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9221972823143005}
+{"content": "Ebonyi College teachers embark on warning strike\n\n\nThe Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COESU), Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo chapter has embarked on seven days’ warning strike to press home its demand for the state government to revert the new tax regime imposed on members.\n\nThis followed numerous ultimatums by the union and the Joint Action Committee Trade Unions (JACTU) of the institution calling on the government to reduce the taxes.\n\nRising from its Congress which held at the college’s auditorium, the union alleged that last September, the college administration imposed a new tax regime of between 500 and 800 per cent increment on the workers based on a directive from the state government despite protests from organised labour in the state.\n\nIn a resolution signed by its Chairman, Comrade Esheya Greg, the union described the new system as obnoxious and outrageous. It said the strike is also in solidarity with the indefinite strike called by the national leadership of the union nationwide.\n\nThey wondered why the new tax regime will be imposed on them when they are not enjoying other financial benefits such as pensions and gratuity at the moment. They also maintained that no higher institution in the country has implemented such tax regime and wondered why theirs should be any different.\n\n“In the absence of pension, gratuity and other benefits those in the state civil service and our counterparts in other colleges of education enjoy, our only succour which is the enhanced salary package, should not be taken away through heavy taxation,” they said.\n\nThey also wondered why the tax regime should come into place just few months after the state government started implementing the new salary structure.\n\nThey said: “The state government just approved and started implementing the 100 percent new salary structure for the college staff in November 2012, something the college should have been enjoying since 2010.\n\n“For the government to start implementation of this harsh tax system few months after the implementation of the new salaries amount to giving with one hand and taking with the other.”\n\nThey urged the management of the college and the government to end the taxes and address other necessary issues for the betterment of workers and smooth running of the college.\n\nThese include: “Conditions of service for the staff college; Governing Council for the college; Pension and gratuity scheme for the staff since they are not casual staff; Entrenchment of the 65 years retirement age in the law establishing the institution and implement the same for all staff; Clear the two years outstanding leave allowance for staff and; Pay the arrears of the new salary structures to the workers of the college.\n\n“These issues we are asking for have all been implemented in the Ebonyi State University (EBSU) and yet the government has not thought of implementing the harsh tax regime on the staff of the university. If the university staff that enjoy favourable working conditions do not pay tax, why should staff who have been denied so much be the ones to pay such obnoxious tax?” the union queried.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6864931583404541}
+{"content": "Osinbajo, Saraki, Dogara, Others Meet On 2017 Budget | WakaWaka Reporters\nosinbajo vice\n\nOsinbajo, Saraki, Dogara, Others Meet On 2017 Budget\n\nThere are expectations that the 2017 Budget would be passed in earnest based on the level of rapport developing between top government officials in the Executive and Legislative arms in the country, based on the outcome of a meeting last night in Aso Rock discussing the federal government budget proposals now before the National Assembly.\n\nAccording to a statement by the spokesman of the acting president, Laolu Akande, the meeting which was hosted by Prof. Osinbajo at his official residence, Aguda House, lasted about an hour and was attended by members of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Economic Management Team and members of the leadership of both the Senate and House of Representatives, including Senate President Bukola Saraki and House Speaker Yakubu Dogara.\n\nHe said the meeting discussed issues and developments around the 2017 budget, while both sides also exchanged ideas and compared notes in order to ensure that this year’s budget passage process is better and faster than previous times.\n\nHe said, “During the meeting, held in a convivial atmosphere, there were also discussions on the need to ensure that key projects of the federal government aimed at enhancing the speedy recovery of the Nigerian economy are well taken care-of in the appropriations that will now emerge from the Legislative arm of government to the Presidency.”", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9981171488761902}
+{"content": "Domain name seizures - the debate continues\n\nOne of the great things about online publication - as contrasted with printed law reviews - is that debates can happen in real time. Case in point: the debate about the legality the seizure of the domain names of websites that are used to distribute copyright-protected works, without being licensed to do so. Terry Hart responded to criticisms of such seizures, quite persuasively I thought, in a previously-noted Copyhype post. His post prompted rebuttal at techdirt, to which Hart has posted a sur-rebuttal. The debate is invigorating not just because the topic is important and timely, but also because it's laced with actual legal argument, based on real legal authorities - not simply the slinging of raw opinion and invective. Which isn't to say the debate is appellate-brief like. Not at all. It shows that legal argument doesn't have to by dry-as-dust; it can actually be a pleasure to read.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5331279635429382}
+{"content": "Correlation Analysis Between Madrid Gnrl and DAX\n\nThis module allows you to analyze existing cross correlation between Madrid Gnrl and DAX. You can compare the effects of market volatilities on Madrid Gnrl and DAX and check how they will diversify away market risk if combined in the same portfolio for a given time horizon. You can also utilize pair trading strategies of matching a long position in Madrid Gnrl with a short position of DAX. See also your portfolio center. Please also check ongoing floating volatility patterns of Madrid Gnrl and DAX.\nHorizon     30 Days    Login   to change\nCompare Efficiency\n\nComparative Performance\n\n Predicted Return Density \n\nMadrid Gnrl  vs.  DAX\n\n Performance (%) \n\nPair Volatility\n\nAssuming 30 trading days horizon, Madrid Gnrl is expected to generate 0.84 times more return on investment than DAX. However, Madrid Gnrl is 1.19 times less risky than DAX. It trades about -0.01 of its potential returns per unit of risk. DAX is currently generating about -0.1 per unit of risk. If you would invest  90,298  in Madrid Gnrl on November 14, 2018 and sell it today you would lose (513.00)  from holding Madrid Gnrl or give up 0.57% of portfolio value over 30 days.\n\nPair Corralation between Madrid Gnrl and DAX\n\nTime Period2 Months [change]\nValuesDaily Returns\n\nDiversification Opportunities for Madrid Gnrl and DAX\n\nMadrid Gnrl diversification synergy\n\nVery weak diversification\n\nOverlapping area represents the amount of risk that can be diversified away by holding Madrid Gnrl and DAX in the same portfolio assuming nothing else is changed. The correlation between historical prices or returns on DAX and Madrid Gnrl is a relative statistical measure of the degree to which these equity instruments tend to move together. The correlation coefficient measures the extent to which returns on Madrid Gnrl are associated (or correlated) with DAX. Values of the correlation coefficient range from -1 to +1, where. The correlation of zero (0) is possible when the price movement of DAX has no effect on the direction of Madrid Gnrl i.e. Madrid Gnrl and DAX go up and down completely randomly.\n\nThematic Opportunities\n\nExplore Investment Opportunities\n\nExplore Thematic Ideas\nExplore Investing Ideas  ", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9995620250701904}
+{"content": "Wrigley was sold to Shane and Natasha Williamson of Bettendorf, IA.\n\nNila is also a Brindle Frenchie. She weighed 7.4 ounces at birth and was the 2nd largest Frenchie baby. \n\n\n\n\nEmme weighed 6.7 ounces at birth and was the 4th largest Frenchie. She is a Brindle Frenchie. \n\n\n\nClover was sold to Lisa and James Kelley of  St. Louis, MO. \n\nNila was sold to Bryan and Monica Herr of Brentwood, MO.\n\nBridgette is our most stunning Brindle. She has white paws, chest, and forehead. She is a beauty and weighed 5.4 ounces at birth. The smallest Frenchie of the litter.\n\nSally and Levi are the parents of these beautiful Frenchie puppies.\n\n\nEmme was sold to Deidre Ziolkowski of Round Lake, IL.\n\n\n\nMary is also Brindle in color.  She weighed 6.1 ounces at birth and was the 2nd smallest puppy. \n\nContent Copyright 2012. MOFrenchBulldogs.com. All Rights Reserved. By Joe Hreha \n\nWrigley is the largest puppy in this litter.  He weighed 8.2 ounces at birth. He is also the only boy.  He is a handsome Brindle Frenchie.\n\nClover weighed 7.1 ounces at birth and was the 3rd largest puppy. She is also the only Cream colored Frenchie.  \n\n\nMary was sold to Cathy Burnside of Butler, MO.\n\nBridgette was sold to Jordan Estes of Branson, MO.  Jordan is also the owner of Bodhi from our 2014 litter.\n\nMake sure you check us out on Facebook and \"Like\" our page to keep current with everything MO French Bulldogs.  Here is a link to our Facebook Page.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9815731048583984}
+{"content": "2003 VW Jetta - Rough start\n\n\nI have a 2003 VW Jetta with 20000 miles on it. Over the last month, at idle there isn’t a problem. However, when I shift into R or D, there is severe shaking and the car feels as if it will stall. As long as I give it some gas, however, it doesn’t stall. Once I start accelerating, there isn’t a problem. Also, I have noticed that as the car is shaking, I lose the power assist on the brakes for approximately 15-20 seconds. Any opinions on how to make the car stop shaking and keep the power brakes?\n\n\nI would check your idle rpm. Make sure it is set at factory spec.\n\n\nThere is no idle RPM on modern fuel injected cars that is settable. The computer itself performs this based on parameters it recevies from various sensors.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9407305121421814}
+{"content": "Live Globally...\n\nNetsuke: Stack of Turtles!\n\nThere is only 1 item left in stock.\n\nIt's a stack 'o turtles!  How these three turtles managed to stack themselves like circus clowns we're not sure but they're all facing the same direction which points to a common goal!  \n\nHand carved from one piece of dark - almost black - boxwood, this Asian netsuke of three turtles is nicely detailed all the way around including all twelve (ack!) legs and their shell patterns.  Dimensions are 2\" tall, 1 7/8\" wide.   \n\nNetsuke has evolved from the 17th century Japanese art of carving intricate beads called ojime from bone, stone, wood or ivory.  These beads were used to close off clothing and pouches and over the centuries the art of carving intricate miniatures has made netsuke highly collectible.  Netsuke can be found in fine museums and galleries all over the globe and carvings often feature the animals or mythic creatures that make up the Asian zodiacs.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9547325372695923}
+{"content": "How Tall is Kit Herrington? (2018) Height\n\nHeight Kit Herrington\n\nSometimes we have questions about: “How tall is kit herrington?” At the moment, 30.03.2018, we have next information/answer:\n\n1,79m.**It was submitted by Annie, 58 years old. Job: (Rehabilitation Clerk). From Hays, Kansas.\n1,61m.***It was submitted by Ham, 56 years old. From San Dimas, California.\n\n\n\n\n\nkit herrington height\nhow tall is kit herrington\nkit herrington how tall\nhow tall is kit herrington\n\nSubmit Form\n\nIf you don’t agree with the information about height, etc. Or you have more safe value/information, please, fill out the form below:\n\n2017-03-30T20:34:29+00:00 March 10th, 2018|", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6772695183753967}
+{"content": "in , , , , ,\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your mobile phone\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your phone\n\nOver the weekend you have been at a good concert and you have recorded a lot of videos with your smartphone. Happy by the thing, you then showed the movies made to your friends but in doing so you have deleted some by mistake. Given the situation, you then rushed to the Web looking for some solution to fix it and you ended up here, on my site, hopeful of being able to receive useful tips on what to do.\n\nHow do you say? Things are exactly this way and would you like to know if I can actually give you a hand or not to how to recover deleted videos from your phone? Of course, yes, stay calm! If you allow me a few minutes of your precious time I can in fact illustrated the operation of some special computer software and mobile device app specially designed for this purpose. These are tools that do not require special technical skills to be used, are in fact pretty simple and intuitive even for those – a bit ‘like you – do not properly consider a “geek”.\n\nBefore entering into the heart of the matter, however, we must make a premise: if the portion of memory on which the videos were stored has not yet been occupied by other data, then the recovery should be actually feasible and would not raise problems. Otherwise, the situation becomes more complicated and there may not be the possibility to restore movies. In any case, as they say, temptation does not harm. So … good reading and good luck!\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your phone – Preliminary attempts\n\nBefore explaining which ad hoc tools you can use to try to recover deleted videos from your mobile, let me give you some indications you can try to follow and that could allow you to get back your files without losing too much time and above all without having to download and install absolutely nothing, neither on the phone nor on the computer. Here they are.\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your phone – Android smartphone\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your phone\n\n  • If you have mistakenly deleted a video and use Google Photos as an application for managing photos and movies, you can try to recover your data by accessing the basket of the app where, precisely, the files are held for a maximum period of time equal to 60 days. To view the contents of the Google Photos basket, open the application, step on the icon with the three horizontal lines at the top left and select the item Trash from the sidebar. If among the various files listed you can find the videos that you had deleted, select them and step on the arrow icon to move them back to the mobile gallery.\n\n\n  • If you have created a backup of your mobile phone using the application provided by the device manufacturer, you can use the device’s restore functions to restore the videos you are interested in. For more information on what to do, I suggest you consult my tutorials on how to connect Android to your PC and how to make an Android backup.\n\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your phone – iPhone\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your phone\n\n  • Videos (but also photos) deleted from the iPhone are automatically stored in a sort of trash app Photos where they remain for 40 days. If your videos are still archived in this section of iOS you can try to recover them, by opening the Photos app, by tapping on the Album item in the lower right and selecting the album Recently Deleted. In the new screen displayed, if you find the videos you had removed and that you want to restore step on the Select item at the top right, select the thumbnails of the movies to be recovered and stop on the item Recover and then on that Recover video to complete the operation.\n\n\n  • If you deleted a video that was stored on iCloud Drive, you can try to retrieve it via To succeed, connected to the site with your account, click on your name at the top right and choose the item Settings iCloud from the menu that is shown to you. In the page that will open, click on the link Restore file on the bottom left, locate (if any) the videos you want to recover, select them and then click on the Restore link that is below to complete the procedure.\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your phone – PhotoRec (Windows / Mac / Linux)\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your phone\n\nIf your smartphone is equipped with expandable memory, and therefore if the videos you would like to recover were on the SD card possibly placed in the device, you can insert it into your computer and try to restore deleted files via PhotoRec.\n\nThis is a program at no cost and open source nature that, in fact, allows you to recover data deleted from various units and devices. It is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux and with regard to the version for computers based on Microsoft’s operating system (the one I will talk about below) is also quite simple to use.\n\nTo download the program on your PC, connected to its official website and click on the Windows connection (if you use a 32-bit system) or on the Windows 64-bit (if you use a 64-bit system). For your knowledge, I inform you that the software is supplied in pairs with TestDisk, a high useful program that allows you to restore lost partitions and make damaged disks bootable again (but as far as possible to recover deleted videos from your phone to you do not care).\n\nWhen the download is complete, open the obtained ZIP file, extract the contents in any folder of the system and launch the qphotorec_win.exe file. In the window that you will see appear on the desktop, expand the drop-down menu located at the top, select the drive where your microSD resides and click on the primary partition of the card.\n\nThen check the FAT / NTFS / HFS + / ReiferFS and Free entries, click on the Browse button and choose the folder in which to save the videos that PhotoRec will “extrapolate” from your memory card. Also done this, presses the button File formats and choose to recover video files by selecting the type. Then press the Reset button to reset the selection of the predefined file types and check only the entry mov (mov / mp4 / 3gp / 3g2 / jp2).\n\nFinally, click on the OK and Search buttons and wait patiently for the program to do its job. Once the procedure is complete, you will find the movies recovered by PhotoRec in the folder indicated above. It was simple, was not it?\n\nNote: If you have more practicality in terms of PC and smartphone you can use PhotoRec to recover videos (and more) even from smartphones without expandable memory. To do that, all you have to do is create an image of the device’s internal memory, convert it to VHD format and process it in PhotoRec. For more details on this, you can follow the tutorial in English on the website.\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your phone – Dr.Fone (Windows / Mac)\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your phone\n\nAnother good program that I suggest you try to be able to recover deleted videos from your phone is Dr.Fone, a powerful software for restoring data on Android and iOS devices that have been accidentally removed. In short … just what you need.\n\nIts operation is very simple and intuitive and allows you to preview clearly all contacts, text messages, videos, photos and much more before recovery so as to allow you to restore only what you really need , avoiding unnecessary waste of time. The software is available in a free trial version (the one I suggest you to download if you need to retrieve only a few files on an occasional basis) and a paid version, in a variation specifically for iOS devices and one for Android (but it’s just a convention , the program is actually identical) and can be used on both Windows and Mac.\n\nTo serve, connected to the official website of the program, click on the voice Dr Fone for apple iOS that knows n tall if you have an iPhone and you want to recover deleted videos from the latter or on the word Dr.Fone for Android if you have an Android phone and the videos to be recovered are on the latter. Then click twice on the Download button (the second time you have to press on the one that corresponds to the reference computer operating system).\n\nWhen the download is complete, if you are using Windows launch the executable obtained, click on Run and then OK. Accept then the terms of the license agreement of the program tick the appropriate item and click on Next three times in a row and then press on Fine.\n\nIf you know using a Mac, open the package in .dmg format, drag the program icon to the Applications folder through the new window that opened and then start Dr.Fone through the Launchpad, Spotlight or Siri. If you see a warning appear on the screen indicating that the program can not be opened because it comes from an unauthorized developer proceed as follows: go to the MacOS Applications folder, right click on the Dr.Fone icon, select Open from the menu that appears and then confirm your willingness to want to run the application. In this way, you will go around the limitations imposed by Apple on macOS.\n\nRegardless of the operating system in use, once the program window is displayed, click on the Recovery button, press the button on “Recover data from iOS” or “Recover from” on Android based on the device in your possession, connect the phone to the computer via the appropriate cable and then click on the option to retrieve data from the device that is placed sideways.\n\nThen wait for your smartphone to be detected and analyzed by the program and then remove the check from all the boxes select leaving only the one next to the item Application Video and presses Start. If the program can then identify the deleted movies that you want to restore, select the preview and press the button on the bottom to export them to your computer.\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your phone – Undeleter\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your phone\n\nIf you have an Android smartphone and want to recover deleted videos without using your computer, you can contact Undeleter, an app dedicated to the purpose in question that allows you to restore movies and various other types of files on mobile devices in a way simple and fast.\n\nThe download can be done directly from the Google Play Store and is free but must be taken into account the fact that to unlock the rescue of the recovered files you need to purchase the paid version of the app. Note then that the need for the root to work (if you do not know what I’m talking about my article on how to root on Android to clear your ideas right away).\n\nTo use it, download, install and start the application, grant the root permissions by tapping on the Grant button in the middle of the screen and select the Restore files option from the screen that is shown to you. It then indicates the unit to be scanned (the internal storage of the device or the SD card) and selects the Deep Scan option.\n\nThen choose the types of files that you want to recover (MP4, AVI and / or MKV), step on Scan and wait for the app to examine the device and complete the scan. When you see the videos of your interest appear, press on their thumbnail to view a preview and then select the floppy disk icon at the top right to save them on your phone or one of the supported cloud storage services. As anticipated a few lines more on, to complete the procedure of saving you will then unlock the full version of the app by paying.\n\nHow to recover deleted videos from your phone", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9750285148620605}
+{"content": "2018, University of the Southwest, Olivier's review: \"Silvitra 120 mg. Only $2,38 per pill. Cheap online Silvitra.\".\n\nThe lower group of chordate animals do not have a developed organ like brain and therefore their functions are autonomous silvitra 120 mg without a prescription. The brain rests securely inside the skull and is covered by three membranes to protect against friction cheap silvitra 120mg overnight delivery. It extends right from the centre of the brain to the spinal cord, as well as in the outer membranes of the brain and spinal cord. F range from assisting the metabolism of the brain to the prevention of friction: As the cells of the brain perform complex functions, they need extra nourishment and oxygen. If the supply of blood and oxygen to the cortex stops completely for more than five minutes, the cortex stops functioning permanently, resulting in death. Cerebellum is located in the posterior region of the skull and is divided into two - left and right - parts. The brain stem, which joins the two sides of the brain, consists of mid-brain, pons and medulla oblongata, which truncate into the spinal cord. The frontal lobe is basically responsible for the movements of the limbs, the personality and the behavior of an individual. The temporal lobe and the limbic system are associated with memory as well as basic instincts, and according to some it can be the seat of special powers like the sixth sense, etc. The left side of the brain of a right handed person (who uses his right hand for writing, eating, throwing etc. However, others believe that the mana may exist either in the temporal lobe, in the limbic circuit, or in the pineal gland of the brain. It is actually a complex biochemical and electromagnetic process and it is the limitation of our science and brain that we do not have the proper understanding of this subject. Similarly, Hypothalamus is an important centre and is the final control point of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system. It is associated with functions of our involuntary muscles, as well as physical processes like stress. This type of nervous system autonomously controls the extremely important functions of the heart, intestines, eyeballs, blood pressure, respiration etc. We have thus studied the anatomy of the brain, but brain has some amazingly unique features also, which make man superior to all living beings. There is a kind of electrical impulse emanating from the cells of the brain, which is rhythmic and constant. This electrical impulse travels chemically across one nerve cell to the other through neurotransmitters and receptors which form an amazing network and can transmit information from one part to another in a 1000th fraction of a second. Transmission of messages from one person’s minds to the other, as in telepathy can be called an electronic process. Moreover, the human brain is endowed with developed features like thinking, intelligence, the power to differentiate between good and bad, memory, creativity, etc. Though anatomically the heart is situated in the chest, the way poets have described the emotional heart it appears that in fact they are referring to the mind. The amazing thing is that we ourselves can think about our own brain, analyze it; but the one, who has created us, has discreetly left us in the dark about him. The electrical impulse generated by the posterior part of the brain during waking with eyes closed is known as alpha wave. In the past few decades, mental maladies have come to be recognized as problems of the brain, and antidotes have emerged as the treatment of choice. Regardless of how one feels about the biological basis of psychiatry today, two facts must be acknowledged. The essence of who we are is encoded in our brain, and brain changes account for the alterations of thought, mood, and behavior that occur in mental illness. It is instead the nature of the neural changes that underlie mental problems, and the manner in which treatment should proceed. These sections provide a broad framework of the basic concepts and terms necessary to understand the fundamental processes underlying brain function. Basic unit - a neuron & neural organisation As mentioned earlier, the Nervous System comprises of the brain, the spinal cord, the nerves emanating from them and their innervations of muscle fibres (i. Although that extraordinary number is of the same order of magnitude as the number of stars in the Milky Way, it alone cannot account for the complexity of the brain. A major part of the complexity arises from the rich diversity of nerve cells, or neurons, which the famous neuroanatomist Ramon y Cajal described as “the mysterious butterflies of the soul”. A neuron has three main parts - a cell body containing the nucleus, dendrites which are specialized branches for receiving information from other neurons, and axons which are specialized branches for sending out information to other neurons. A neuron that has been excited conveys information to other neurons by generating electrical impulse known as action potentials. These signals propagate like waves down the length of the cell’s single axon and are converted to chemical signals at synapses, the contact point between neurons. When the impulse reaches the axon terminals of the presynaptic neuron, it induces the release of neurotransmitter molecules. Such binding leads to the opening of ion channels and often, in turn, to the generation of action potentials in the postsynaptic neuron.\n\nbuy discount silvitra 120mg\n\ndiscount silvitra 120 mg online\n\nThe forces that attract the drug to its receptor are termed chemical bonds and they are (a) hydrogen bond (b) ionic bond (c) covalent bond (d) Vander waals force discount silvitra 120mg amex. Covalent bond is the strongest bond and the drug-receptor complex is usually irreversible purchase 120mg silvitra overnight delivery. Dose Response relationship The exact relationship between the dose and the response depends on the biological object under observation and the drug employed. When a logarithm of dose as abscissa and responses as ordinate are constructed graphically, the “S” shaped or sigmoid type curve is obtained. The lowest concentration of a drug that elicits a response is minimal dose, and the largest concentration after which further increase in concentration will not change the response is the maximal dose. Graded dose effect: As the dose administered to a single subject or tissue increases, the pharmacological response also increases in graded fashion up to ceiling effect. Quantal dose effect: It is all or none response, the sensitive objects give response to small doses of a drug while some will be resistant and need very large doses. The quantal dose- effect curve is often characterized by stating the median effective dose and the median lethal dose. Penicillin has a very high therapeutic index, while it is much smaller for the digitalis preparation. Structural activity relationship The activity of a drug is intimately related to its chemical structure. Knowledge about the chemical structure of a drug is useful for: (i) Synthesis of new compounds with more specific actions and fewer adverse reactions (ii) Synthesis of competitive antagonist and (iii) Understanding the mechanism of drug action. Slight modification of structure of the compound can change the effect completely. Pharmacokinetics Pharmacokinetics deals with the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion drugs in the body. Biotransport of drug: It is translocation of a solute from one side of the biological barrier to the other. Structure of biological membrane: The outer surface of the cell covered by a very thin structure known as plasma membrane. The 5 membrane proteins have many functions like (a) contributing structure to the membrane (b) acting as enzyme (c) acting as carrier for transport of substances (d) acting as receptors. The plasma membrane is a semipermeable membrane allowing certain chemical substances to pass freely e. Drug absorption: Absorption is the process by which the drug enters in to the systemic circulation from the site of administration through biological barrier. In case of intravenous or intra-arterial administration the drug bypasses absorption processes and it enters into the circulation directly. Routes of drug administration: a) From the alimentary tract: (i) Buccal cavity: e. Disadvantages of oral route: Onset of drug action is slow, irritant drugs cannot be administered and it is not useful in vomiting and severe diarrhea, gastric acid and digestive enzymes may destroy some drugs, and water soluble drugs are absorbed poorly. Disadvantages: Pain at local site of injection, the volume of injection should not exceed 10 ml. Advantages: It can be given in large volumes, production of desired blood concentration can be obtained with a well designed dose. Disadvantages: Drug effect cannot be halted if once the drug is injected, expertise is needed to give injection. Bioavailability: It is the rate and amount of drug that is absorbed from a given dosage form and reaches the systemic circulation following non-vascular administration. The route of administration largely determines the latent period between administration and onset of action. Drugs given by mouth may be inactive for the following reasons: a) Enzymatic degradation of polypeptides within the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract e. Factors affecting drug absorption and bioavailability: a) Physico-chemical properties of drug b) Nature of the dosage form c) Physiological factors d) Pharmacogenetic factors e) Disease states. However at the cell surface, the lipid soluble drugs penetrate into the cell more rapidly than the water soluble drugs. Unlike inorganic compounds, the organic drugs are not completely ionized in the fluid. Unionized component is predominantly lipid soluble and is absorbed rapidly and an ionized is often water soluble component which is absorbed poorly. T is impermeable to the ionized form of a weak organic acid or a weak organic base. Disintegration time: The rate of break up of the tablet or capsule into the drug granules. Fillers may not be totally inert but may affect the absorption as well as stability of the medicament.\n\n10 of 10 - Review by Q. Brenton\nVotes: 172 votes\nTotal customer reviews: 172", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8907943367958069}
+{"content": "History of  Nice Observatory(4)         next    back\n Talented men\n       The generosity of Bischoffsheim who  liked to say that he was just  \"the cashier\"  and that he  alone\"took care of the means to succeed at the result\", was rewarded.   Talented men  marked the first decades.\n       First of all,  Henri  Perrotin was the  first director of this magnificent realization. By his undeniable qualities of managing, and his personal works he contributed very much to the fame of the Establishment. He knew how to choose a skillful staff, and to attract high-level scholars.  \n        Perrotin made notable studies on planets: his observations of the March surface contributed to make  progress to the cartography of  the planet; his researches on   Venus rotation attracted attention, even though  the data were badly  missing at that time to let him to do a correct measure of its rotation speed ; and he perceived new details in the Saturn rings. As concerns  the small planets,  he made the Vesta's theory.\n\n    Perrotin  also studied nebulae double stars that were so closed to one another  that they were unobservable any where else  in Europe,  meteorology and  Earth magnetism.\n\n       He realized with Alfred Cornu,  famous experiments of the measure of the speed of light between  the Mont Gros and La Gaude (12km) and carried on them with his assistants  Prim and Simonin, between the Mont Gros and the Mont Vinaigre (Estérel) (46km), improving his determination, with a  precision  that will  be superseded only twenty years later. Finally,  he laid the foundations of the Annals of Nice Observatory.\n                                                                       collimator                                           rotating toothed wheel        observer\n\n      Louis Thollon, who had begun his observations at the Mont Gros even before the Observatory was built, dedicated the major part of his activity to the Sun, and measured its rotation, comparing the Doppler effect of the solar lines  with fixed telluric lines. He studied the movements in the sun protuberances, their helical complexity, and he brought to light speeds of the order of 500km /sec-1.\n       Of his systematic study of the solar spectrum, Thollon made a  large  atlas published after his death, in 1890.  The spectra  extended over 3448 lines,  the double of  Angström's classical atlas , and  a third part of these lines were clearly identified by Thollon as being of telluric origin. The whole was of a remarkable precision for its time and it was the most important document on the solar spectrum  ever realized with the spectroscope. A better result will be obtained only by  spectrography.\n      Alexandre  Schaumasse and  Michel   Giacobini discovered a large number of   comets. From 1896 till 1907, Giacobini  discovered 12 comets among which two are periodical: comets  Tuttle-Giacobini and  Giacobini-Zinner.   \n     Auguste Charlois was called \" the ferret of small planets \", because he discovered hundred of asteroids. His career was brutally interrupted in 46 years old, when  he was murdered by his brother-in-law. This event was in the local news and threw  the scientific world into  consternation.  \n    Charles  Nordmann was one of the precursors of  radio astronomy. He came at the Observatory when he was very young and he there prepared a thesis and  published original articles on an experience  which he undertook,  in 1901, on the slopes of the Mont Blanc (French Alps) in order  to  detect the Hertzian   radiation of the Sun . He was not able to prove it, because he worked at a time of minimum activity of the Sun and at too long  wavelengths taht are essentially  blocked  by the ionosphere.  He carried on his career at the Paris Observatory, by making remarked photometric studies  of the  variable stars, and theoretical researches on the intrinsic state of the Sun.\n      In 1892, the coudé equatorial, the principle of which was due to Loewy was put in service and indicated the beginning of the photographic observations  for  comets and planets researches.\n      The next year, at the request of Perrotin,  Bischoffsheim settled an annex station of observation  for the study  of big planets and   particularly the rotation of Venus, at the top of one of the summits of the Maritime Alps, the Mont Mounier (2740m), above Valberg, in the district of  Puget-Théniers where he just hapenned to  be elected as  a member of parliament. Meteorological observations   were also made there, but the station was abandoned in 1910.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8390978574752808}
+{"content": "FuelCell Energy and Toyota Collaborate on Sustainable Transportation Fuel Project\n\nFuelCell Energy, an international company dealing with clean, innovative, and economical fuel cell solutions for the supply, recovery, and storage of energy, has just reported the execution of a hydrogen and power off-take agreement with Toyota, highlighting a unique collaboration in which Toyota will buy renewable hydrogen for vehicle fueling produced on-site from a multi-megawatt SureSourceTM fuel cell power plant situated at the Port of Long Beach in California. \n\nFuelCell Energy will install and run a fuel cell power plant that will be configured for hydrogen manufacture to produce and supply 100% renewable hydrogen for Toyota’s fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV’s) and its heavy duty fuel cell Class 8 proof of concept truck.  The fuel cell plant will simultaneously produce renewable power to be supplied to the grid under the California Bioenergy Market Adjustment Tariff (BioMAT) program.  This fuel cell solution meets Toyota’s fueling requirements cost-effectively and sustainably, while supporting the progress of California’s hydrogen fueling infrastructure and complying with the state’s mandate for utilizing low-carbon and renewable sources.\n\nFueling our Proof of concept Semi-Truck, as well as our Mirai fuel cell electric vehicles with 100 percent renewable hydrogen from this stationary fuel cell system is a major accomplishment, and a key step in building a sustainable hydrogen ecosystem to help power Port operations, Toyota is a company dedicated to advancing sustainability, and this project supports our ongoing efforts to both eliminate carbon emissions and accelerate the development and adoption of emission-free fuel cell electric vehicles.\n\nDoug Murtha, Group Vice President – Strategic Planning, Toyota.\n\nThis is an innovative and replicable global model for building an affordable hydrogen infrastructure to generate renewable transportation fuel that facilitates the wider adoption of fuel cell electric cars, trucks and buses, we are pleased to provide Toyota with a flexible project structure that meets their needs both sustainably and economically.\n\nChip Bottone, Chief Executive Officer, FuelCell Energy, Inc.\n\nFuelCell Energy’s distributed hydrogen solution co-creates hydrogen and clean power from methane-based fuels such as renewable biogas.  The methane is reformed to hydrogen using heat and water produced by the fuel cell, resulting in clean hydrogen production without water consumption.  In January 2016 the California Air Resources Board (CARB) certified a prospective pathway for hydrogen production with this technology fueled by biogas.  CARB's team performed a full Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) on the system and established that it has a negative carbon intensity, as the power and hydrogen generation process is carbon-neutral because of the use of renewable biogas and the fuel cell waste heat is applied to feed the internal reformation reactions.\n\nThe multi-megawatt SureSource HydrogenTM plant will be located at the Port of Long Beach, producing renewable hydrogen to fuel Toyota’s Mirai vehicles as they arrive at the Port and its heavy-duty fuel cell Class 8 proof of concept truck.\n\nFuel cells utilize an electro-chemical process to change a fuel source into electricity and heat in a very efficient process that releases almost no pollutants as the fuel is not burned.  The blend of near-zero pollutants, modest land-use requirements, and noiseless operating nature of these stationary fuel cell power plants facilitates installation in urban locations where the power is consumed.  Customers gain with operating cost reductions supplied in a manner that supports sustainability goals and optimizes power reliability.\n\nTell Us What You Think\n\n\nLeave your feedback", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9298864603042603}
+{"content": "Earthquake wreaks havoc in the Philippines\n\nMore than 1,000 people are killed when a 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Luzon Island in the Philippines on this day in 1990. The massive tremor wreaked havoc across a sizeable portion of Luzon, the country’s largest island, with Baguio City suffering the most devastating effects.\n\nThe epicenter of the quake, which struck at 4:26 p.m., was north of Manila in the Nueva Ecija province. Reports indicate that the shaking went on for nearly a full minute. Collapsing buildings were the main cause of damage and death. Getting out of a multi-story building was a good safety precaution that afternoon, although many people were injured and a few even died in stampedes of others doing the same thing.\n\nAt Christian College, a six-story building completely collapsed, trapping approximately 250 students and teachers inside. Heroic rescue efforts saved many, but some victims who did not die in the collapse were found dead later from dehydration because they were not pulled out in time.\n\nAll types of buildings, including several resort hotels in Baguio, known as the Philippines’ Summer Capital, suffered tremendous damage. Most of the city’s 100,000 residents slept outdoors that evening and during the following week, afraid to return to their homes amid the frequent aftershocks. For days, workers pulled bodies from the demolished buildings in Baguio. The best estimate is that 1,000 bodies were eventually recovered. At least another 1,000 people suffered serious injuries. Rescue efforts were hampered severely because the three main roads into the city were blocked by landslides. Hundreds of motorists were stranded on the roads as well. Outside of Baguio, a chemical factory fire also caused terrible damage. The Tuba gold and copper mine in the area lost 30 workers when a mine collapsed.\n\nBaguio, sitting on at least seven fault lines, is now listed as one of the most risk-prone cities in Asia. In addition to the risk of earthquakes, the area’s high annual rainfall increases the likelihood of deadly landslides.\n\nAmerican military personnel stationed in the Philippine archipelago took part in the relief effort. The area was revisited by disaster less than a year later when Mount Pinatubo erupted. Some geologists believe the two events were connected.\n\n\nAmazon opens for business\n\nOn this day in 1995, Amazon officially opens for business as an online bookseller. Within a month, the fledgling retailer had shipped books to all 50 U.S. states and to 45 countries. Founder Jeff Bezos’s motto was “get big fast,” and Seattle-based Amazon eventually morphed into more\n\nJFK Jr. killed in plane crash\n\nOn July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy, Jr.; his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy; and her sister, Lauren Bessette, die when the single-engine plane that Kennedy was piloting crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr., was born on more\n\nApollo 11 departs Earth\n\nAt 9:32 a.m. EDT, Apollo 11, the first U.S. lunar landing mission, is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a historic journey to the surface of the moon. After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into a lunar orbit on July 19. The next day, at 1:46 p.m., more\n\nAtom bomb successfully tested\n\nOn this day in 1945, at 5:29:45 a.m., the Manhattan Project comes to an explosive end as the first atom bomb is successfully tested in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Plans for the creation of a uranium bomb by the Allies were established as early as 1939, when Italian emigre physicist more\n\nMcNamara visits South Vietnam\n\nSecretary of Defense Robert McNamara conducts a fact-finding mission in South Vietnam, and Henry Cabot Lodge arrives in Saigon to resume his post as ambassador. Lodge had previously held the ambassadorship, but resigned in 1964 to seek the Republican presidential nomination, more\n\nDurocher leaves Dodgers to manage Giants\n\nOnJuly 16,1948, Brooklyn Dodgers Manager Leo Durocher announces that he will be joining the New York Giants, the Dodgers’ archrival. The move was the swiftest and most stunning managerial change in baseball history. Leo “The Lip” Durocher was a brilliant shortstop and mediocre more\n\nDraft riots continue to rock New York City\n\nThe draft riots enter their fourth day in New York City in response to the Enrollment Act, which was enacted on March 3, 1863. Although avoiding military service became much more difficult, wealthier citizens could still pay a commutation fee of $300 to stay at home. Irritation more", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6289018392562866}
+{"content": "Global Science Excellence Roundtable\n\nAugust 26, 2016—Winnipeg, MB\nGlobal Science Excellence\nHosted by Elizabeth Cannon\n\nArea of Focus\n\nTo support world-class research excellence from fundamental to applied science.\n\n  • Innovation ecosystems: How do universities build strong partnerships with business? How can they strengthen collaboration? What are universities’ roles in building feedstock for the pipeline to the community? What is working in the ecosystem?\n  • Talent: What are the issues and opportunities for government to think about to develop and situate graduates in employment that contributes to the economy? What are emerging trends?\n  • Education: How do universities tap into other parts of the higher education ecosystem?\n  • Resources: How do universities scale-up ability to transfer knowledge outside of their institutions?\n\n\nNeed to innovate how innovation programs are supported—allow for opportunities to take risk and be inclusive of social innovation; Need increased funding support for research—about 19 per cent of research costs (i.e. indirect costs) are funded in Canada versus approximately 70 per cent in the United States; Need resources to facilitate work-embedded experiential learning for students and interactions between universities, business, non-governmental organizations (NGOs)/public sector; Need to attract more international students and highly qualified people (HQP) as a national priority, using an aggressive and coordinated approach led by a champion in Ottawa.\n\nSummary of Discussion\n\nFundamental research is the bedrock of any innovation system. Fundamental research involves collaboration not only with industry, but also with non-governmental organizations and the public sector including schools, hospitals and municipalities. Long-term commercialization and innovation potential will come from increased primary research funding. Increased investments by the Tri-Councils are necessary for Canada to be globally competitive in science excellence. Under-grads are increasingly funded by the Tri-Councils and are very important in the future of innovation. Students bring innovation and must be maintained in their life-long learning.\n\nMore attention needs to be given to the translation of research, including cluster developments that are inclusive of the social sciences and humanities and are responsive to regional needs. Canada needs to innovate and invest at scale; sub-investments get lesser results. Canadian universities punch above their weight in research and want to excel at translation but this people-intensive activity needs appropriate resources which would be different in each community served.\n\nAustralia has invested heavily in international collaboration and has done very well in producing more PhDs; Canada has the opportunity to make huge gains through a more coordinated and aggressive approach to the attraction of international students and highly qualified personnel. Work-embedded experiential learning for students can help address the skills gap.\n\nKey Implementation Considerations/Challenges\n\nInnovation ecosystem: Inclusive economic growth is a necessity and Indigenous Peoples' participation is essential for our economy; universities are positioned well for inclusive growth. Internal culture issues (e.g., promotion and tenure) at institutions can be barriers to innovation and need to adapt to maximize opportunities. Students want skills, great teachers in the classroom and hands-on experience; they are increasingly asking for social innovation opportunities and maker spaces; the majority of first-year students have expectations to become entrepreneurs. Research alliances with industry have shifted so the role of the serial entrepreneur is becoming more important. Industry wants talented labour and supports co-operative programs.\n\nInvestments: Government needs to be nimble and flexible in investments given the different universities, industries and communities across Canada. Mechanisms to encourage industries to hire more highly qualified personnel at the Masters and PhD levels are needed. Canada has a lot of small and medium enterprises, of which many have little Research and Development capacity; Canada needs to scale-up companies, building their capacity to invest in university research. Industry demonstrates a \"rational apathy\" to innovation; a move from Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credits to more direct instruments to encourage industry Research and Development should be evaluated.\n\nMatching funding: Complexities of the federal system for matching funding has in the past put universities in a crunch situation between their provincial governments and the federal government. The onus for securing matching funding from industry often falls to faculty researchers.\n\nMetrics: Success in innovation used to be measured by patents, revenue from licencing, etc., but now technological innovation is measured by its societal and economic impacts.\n\nTop Ideas/Outcomes\n\nTalent: Identify a champion in Ottawa to lead coordinated and aggressive efforts to attract more international students and highly qualified personnel. Continually build the innovation eco-system infrastructure to attract top quality international students and highly qualified personnel.\n\nResearch Funding: Need to be competitive within the Organization for Economic Co-operative and Development (OECD). Needs to cover the full costs of research and be sustained.\n\nCollaboration: Promote and facilitate collaboration between regions, universities and industries across Canada, inclusive of diversities so as to be at the leading edge. Great research technology needs to be framed with the social sciences and humanities.\n\nBrokers and Serial Entrepreneurs: Invest in more Tri-Council infrastructure to support universities' work with industry and their communities. Brokers on the ground (in contrast to the Concierge Service in Ottawa) would create and nurture relationships between universities and companies, non – government organizations and public institutions. Serial entrepreneurs would share their experiences and show students how it is done.\n\nWork-embedded Experiential Learning: Need resources for the time-intensive and costly process of matching students with companies/organizations.\n\nBreakthroughs: Require a separate path (versus that of maker spaces and incubators) for breakthroughs and disruptive changes to create a zone of interaction.\n\nEntrepreneurial Experiences: Create opportunities for entrepreneurial experiences for faculty; reflect on how funding mechanisms work to incent behaviour. A program such as that of the Welcome Trust would incentivize entrepreneurial activities including sabbaticals.\n\nPortfolio Approach to Funding: 1) The Higher Education Funding Council for England approach varies at the local level with different industries. 2) The Enhanced Funding Model (Ohio) supports continuous streams of research and venture capital with government allocation of 50 per cent of funding to research and the remainder to hire serial entrepreneurs, open storefront centres and seed venture capital funds, with resultant deals stimulated three- to five-fold.\n\nDate modified:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9173387885093689}
+{"content": "Is it wrong to attempt to communicate with the dead?\n\n“Do not turn to the spirit mediums . . . so as to become unclean by them.”Leviticus 19:31.\n\n\nUnderstandably, people want reassurance that a dead loved one is not suffering. So they say: “Why not try to make contact with him or her by means of a spirit, or psychic, medium? Perhaps the medium can give us some sort of closure and peace of mind.”\n\n\nThe Bible is clear concerning attempts by the living to contact the dead—a practice that was common in ancient times. For example, Jehovah God’s Law to the nation of Israel said: “There should not be found in you anyone . . . who consults a spirit medium or . . . inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to Jehovah.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12) The Bible also states that those who practice spiritism in any of its forms “will not inherit God’s Kingdom.”Galatians 5:19-21.\n\n Can the dead influence the living?\n\n“The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all.”Ecclesiastes 9:5.\n\n\nMany claim that the dead live on in some form. Hence, they may try to communicate with the dead, perhaps to obtain information or to appease the dead in hopes that they will leave the living in peace.\n\n\n“The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all . . . Their love and their hate and their jealousy [all of which they felt while alive] have already perished.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6) Yes, the Bible teaches that the dead are just that—dead! They cannot think, act, or even worship God. “The dead do not praise [God]; nor do any who go down into the silence of death,” says Psalm 115:17.\n\nDo not spirit mediums at times provide accurate details?\n\n“Should [people] inquire of the dead in behalf of the living?”Isaiah 8:19.\n\n\nSome claim that spirit mediums are able to disclose information that only the dead and their family or friends could possibly know.\n\n\nChapter 28 of the book of 1 Samuel relates how an unfaithful king named Saul violated God’s command not to consult spirit mediums. He appealed to a medium, a woman who seemed to communicate with a deceased man of God named Samuel! But did she actually contact Samuel? No! She was, in fact, communicating with an impostor—someone impersonating dead Samuel.\n\nThat impostor was a wicked spirit, an agent of “the father of the lie”—Satan. (John 8:44) Why do the wicked spirits, or demons, promote the view that the dead live on? Their goal is to malign God and discredit his written Word, the Bible.2 Timothy 3:16.\n\nDoes the foregoing mean that the dead have no hope? Not at all! The Bible promises a future resurrection for those who are ‘asleep,’ as it were, in the grave. * (John 11:11-13; Acts 24:15) In the meantime, we are assured that our dead loved ones are not suffering in any way.\n\n^ par. 16 Chapter 7 of the book What Does the Bible Really Teach? is entitled “Real Hope for Your Loved Ones Who Have Died.”", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9530465602874756}
+{"content": "Ilenia Treccarichi\n\nIlenia has a background in Marketing and Communications and holds a BA in Communication Sciences. She further specialised in Digital Communications, with an MA in Digital Marketing.\n\nIlenia’s main role is to develop our media presence and engagement with stakeholders, using a combination of communications strategies. She is responsible for maintaining the social media platforms, the blogs and handling external communications.\n\nIlenia is very active in researching the latest campaigns in the industry, alongside digital trends and feeds this back into our communications and engagement.\n\nIlenia has a passion for books and good stories. She understands the value of narrative and the written and spoken word in developing relationships. She enjoys travelling, discovering new things and interacting with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds.\n\nLSPR Trainers & Staff", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000078678131104}
+{"content": "The story of two high school students who crosses social boundaries between the elite and lower class at their school. Ryoya Maeda (Ryûnosuke Kamiki), from the lower class, is a member of the film club, while Hiroki Kikuchi (Masahiro Higashide), from the elite class, is a non-participating member of the high school baseball team.\n\nKnock-on effect of absent classmate sets school in a spin.\n\nJAPANESE FILM FESTIVAL: In Daihachi Yoshida’s The Kirishima Thing, high school culture is reduced to a personality cult; a single shift in human dynamics throws up feelings of loss and discontent. High school here is like a delicate organism; it’s a 'nervous system’ dependent on hierarchies and status, star players and less 'talented’ kids – let’s face it, nerds - who know their place in the order of things.\n\nWe get the sense from the start that Kirishima’s 'power’ was more imagined than real.\n\nThe drama is about what happens when one senior teen, Kirishima, an outstanding athlete and all-purpose high achiever, 'rebels’ against this hermetically sealed world of conformity (and its attendant petty and trivial values). Actually, we’re unsure as to why Kirishima opts out. And since he’s a phantom presence – spoken about, but never seen on screen – questions of motive and psychology have no consequence to the main action. This isn’t, in other words, some cold-eyed abstract about the endemic corruption of an institution. Rather it’s a sad-eyed comedy of manners.\n\nOnce Kirishima removes himself from the 'student body’ all sense of balance is lost. Losing Kirishima for the kids here is like losing a limb. In the wake of his sudden and unexplained absenteeism on the eve of a championship volleyball match, the kids, who feel betrayed and hurt, are shaken from their smug complacency. They start to question everything, especially themselves. Still, there’s an irony here; we get the sense from the start that Kirishima’s 'power’ was more imagined than real.\n\nBased on a novel by Ryo Asai and written by Kohei Kiyasu and Yoshida The Kirishima Thing has a tricky time-shifting multi-character structure (which may have derived from the novel which I have not read; the book’s narrative was broken up, omnibus style). In the movie we see the same event and sometimes an entire scene, multiple times; but each time we experience it from the point of view of a different character. In 'rewinding’ the action Yoshida sketches in how every sub-culture in the school interacts, often in unhealthy and subversive ways. Schoolyard politics is everything here; kids spy, eavesdrop and strategise in order to survive (and pursue their passions, some innocent, some not so, some romantic.)\n\nThe action follows a handful of characters; there’s Kirishima’s best pal Hiroki Kikuchi (Masahiro Higashide) and Aya (Suzuka Ohgo), the nerdy girl who has a crush on him. There’s also Kirishima’s girlfriend Risa (Mizuki Yamamoto) who behaves like a 'princess’ but hides a deep insecurity.\n\nBut perhaps the best characters are two misfits who seem to have a healthy perspective on high school and its dramas; they are Kasumi (Ai Hashimoto), Risa’s friend who passes for a 'cool kid’ but has the heart and mind of a nerd; and Maeda (Ryunosuke Kamiki), the earnest, bespectacled would-be film director whose whole life revolves around the film club.\n\nAs the plot develops we see these relationships shift and change; bullies are ridiculed, nerds live the dream, and all social expectations are shifted, turned over and re-evaluated.\n\nShot in widescreen, Yoshida plays cleverly with space, avoiding the 'prison’ imagery cliché of high school pics. Instead the shots seem designed to project the way the kids’ emotions are in a state of flux; in good times the school looks comfy but when things hit critical mass the mood takes on a wintry aspect.\n\nAll the acting, from a large and convincingly youthful cast, is fine and the whole thing is skillfully edited for suspense and intrigue, making the most of the stop/start story motif.\n\nStill, The Kirishima Thing takes a while to generate emotional heat. It’s not until the films final stanza that there’s any real kick. Throughout the running time there’s been a subplot about Maeda and his pals and their ambition to make a zombie movie. This is not only a way for Maeda – who looks like he ought to wear a 'road kill’ sign on his back – to get some semblance of control in his life; it’s also an ironic and self-conscious personal testament. Maeda’s movie, derided by his teachers as an impersonal genre exercise is about the 'living dead’ and their revenge; and of course its Maeda’s wry comment on his own existential high school dilemma.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7929239273071289}
+{"content": "Web form validation\n\nOctober 26, 2017 10:43 am\n\nWeb form validation\n\nThere is nothing more frustrating than having the task of filling out a badly designed online form. With there now being around 3.2 billion of us using the internet around the world, it’s becoming a more common experience for us all.\n\nForm validation is essential as it ensures that data stored about a user is in the correct format, and hopefully correct as well. As UXers we want to make form entry as smooth as possible, while also ensuring the data is valid.\n\nIn this article, we look at different validation techniques and how they affect the users’ experience.\n\nReal time validation\n\nThis type of validation, which is often referred to as ‘Premature inline validation’ gives users live feedback about their data as they type it into the form. This can often leave users looking for errors that aren’t there, as the form will automatically start validating data as soon as the first letter or digit is entered. This method criticizes the user for mistakes they haven’t made and prompts them to look for errors before completing the data entry. Often leaving users confused and unsure how to move forward. This, combined with a lack of help features, which allows users to see what format they need to enter the data in or an example of required details, such as capital letters and numbers in passwords can often lead users being uncertain how to proceed.\n\nAn example of this can be seen below.\n\nReal time validation\n\nAlthough real time validation can cause problems for users, it is also important to point out that when this is applied in the correct way, it can provide assistance and help guide users to resolve any errors.\n\nThe example below shows real time validation applied to a password field. By giving users the opportunity to view how strong (or weak) their password is as they type it, combined with listed requirements, allows the user to complete this and make adjustments in real time with confidence that what they are entering is correct.\n\nReal time validation with guidance for user\n\nExamples of how the different levels of passwords strengths can be displayed can be seen below.\n\nReal time validation of password strength\n\nInline validation\n\nInline validation does a pretty good job of guiding users through the form, allowing users to finish the field before presenting them with any error messaging. This allows users to enter their details without being interrupted or distracted by an error message, or misinforming them their data is incorrect before they have finished inputting it.\n\nThis method seems to be the most commonly used across the web, and although it appears to be the most user friendly in the sense that it does not distract users with error messages while they are typing, it can also cause some confusion.\n\nBelow are two examples on how to and how to not implement inline validation and error messaging. Firstly, a good example:\n\nIn line validation with flyout messaging\n\nClear messaging that appears after the user has finished typing and has clicked or tabbed out of the field. The flyout message is bold and points direct to the field the error message relates to.\n\nNow for a poor example:\n\nIn line validation with confusing messages\n\nSimiliar to the example above, this form has no field labels but in this example the way the error messages are presented means it’s not clear which field the message relates to. If users are unsure which field the error message relates to, this can lead to users having to delete data in an attempt to try and see the field title again before being able to move forward successfully.\n\nAfter submit validation\n\nAlthough this method allows users to enter their details fully before presenting them with any validation messages, it also adds a step because users have to press the submit button before they can see if they have made any errors. This can make the process of completing a form more time consuming with only one error being shown at a time. The worst case being that users could have to re-enter their details and press submit several times to view the different error messages for different fields before they are successful in completing the form.\n\nAfter submit validation\n\nHaving to select ‘Join now’ before being notified of any errors makes the users journey unnecessarily longwinded.  Although, by having field titles visible at all times, users are able to make changes without confusion about which field to edit.\n\nTo summarise, there is no one clear technique to use to make a web form easy to complete, but by combining features from the different validation methods shown above, you can provide users with a clear and simple form to help guide them through with ease.\n\nThe steps below are collated from each of the different validation techniques discussed within the article, and when combined, provide a clear and smooth process for users.\n\nSteps you can follow\n\n  1. Help users by following best practice by using field labels or keeping field titles visible at all times.\n  2. Only use real time validation for complex formatted fields such as emails or passwords.\n  3. When using real time validation, show users what they need to do to complete the field with valid data.\n  4. Show inline validation error messages aligned with the field in error. This allows users to clearly see which fields the error message relates to.\n  5. Provide users with help text, to help them understand what format or specific requirements are needed.\n\nThe wireframe below shows an example of how to implement the four steps to make a web form with easy to follow form validation.\n\nBringing it all together", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9670477509498596}
+{"content": "Twenty Minutes Later\n\nA short story about mustering up the courage to be able to cross over into something new. There are always obstacles on the road to change, but it doesn't mean that there are not ways to overcome them and be able to cross, in this case, Pevensey Bridge. More\nDownload: epub mobi (Kindle) pdf more Online Reader\nAbout Lee A Jackson\n\nThe Beginning: I began writing in my mid to late teens, sequestered away in my bedroom in rural south west England. The writing was borne out of a need to express myself and to communicate with the world, something I was not good at doing verbally. It became an outlet for me and my writing grew with me through the years.\n\nThe Middle: The writing stuck with me, and the style and nature of my writing naturally evolved as my life changed. Longer stories started coming along, and I even went through a period of planning and organising stories out before actually writing anything. That flew in the face of the disorganised nature where I would just write everything in one go from a single thought such as a title or a name. Still through a lack of self belief, everything was kept close to my chest. That and habitual procrastination.\n\nThe End: There will be no end, not until the sun dies its death. For the longest time I had a fear of being forgotten and the way I figured to combat that would be to have a published book sat on a library shelf somewhere. I would have indelibly left my mark somewhere, long after I passed. That was a motivation in the back of my subconscious mind somewhere and still to this day, the enduring nature of my words in print following my end, is comforting.\n\nAlso by This Author\n\n\nThis book has not yet been reviewed.\nReport this book", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7222907543182373}
+{"content": "New Years Eve\n\n        To celebrate this festival, every family must prepare all kinds of Chinese New Year food, such as to pound system of rice cakes, it is also known as the cake for the \"pound cake\", before pound rice cake, sweep the house to be selected, New Year \", New Year's Eve dinner, first ancestors, commonly known as the\" New Year's Eve. \"And then to dinner dishes held dinner, commonly known as\" eating old wine. \"", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9880929589271545}
+{"content": "Transformational leadership style\n\nThese people do Transformational leadership style need much direction since they are highly skilled, but they need support and encouragement, especially if they lack commitment.\n\nShe clearly communicates her visions. When choosing a leadership style, it is important to understand different frameworks, so you can develop your own way of becoming an effective leader. She strategically selects members of her team. She strategically extends her brand.\n\nOriginally this was in the context of his researches into political leadership, but this term is now used in organisational psychology as well. But there is one important leadership trait that transformational leaders share, they are focused on the one thing they have mastery and expertise over.\n\nPeople who are new to the job will need direction and supervision, as well as support and praise to boost morale and confidence. Another important fact to keep in mind that followers can move back a level on certain situations, especially those that put them under a lot of stress.\n\nAlthough she came from nothing, she managed to find a platform to build herself on and succeeded. There are several leadership styles that leaders in political, business or other fields exhibit. She is conscientious in everything that she does, exercising fairness to others.\n\nBut there are leadership styles that work best for certain situations, tasks and people. These are addressed in the \"Practitioners Masterclass\" which takes a holistic view of the key areas and shows you how to put all this into practise. As a way of thanking them for their efforts, Oprah has been known to lavish her team praises and vacations.\n\nWorking with Styles There are no good and bad leadership theories. Because of this strategy, Oprah Winfrey is not only a celebrity, but also a tycoon. An effective leader can then help them to be level D4 by constantly adjusting and adapting to their style, helping them progress.\n\nIt also made her one of those people who is lauded for her positivity, self-improvement and charity. She not only dreams up a vision, but also communicates it with her team with clarity and then inspires them to help her see it through.\n\nOprah is no different.Over time, a number of different theories of leadership have evolved.\n\nEach leader has his or her own style of leadership. This is due to the fact that everyone has different personalities that drive them to be a certain kind of leader.\n\nEach model helps managers, supervisors, vice-presidents, presidents and CEO’s direct, implement plans and motivate people in their own unique way. There are several leadership [ ]. Knowing the Secrets Behind Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Style Talk show host, American media proprietor, actress, producer, businesswoman and philanthropist, Oprah Winfrey has several titles attached to her name, all of which comes with great responsibilities which she breezes through impressively.\n\nSo it is no surprise that she is. Transformational leadership theory Leadership with values, meaning and a higher purpose. Transformational leadership theory has evolved from and contains elements of preceding leadership types, such as trait and behaviour theories, charismatic, situational and transactional leadership.\n\nLeadership theories\n\nTransformational leadership is a leadership style that can inspire positive changes in those who follow. Transformational leaders are generally energetic, enthusiastic, and passionate.\n\n\nTransformational leadership style\nRated 0/5 based on 29 review", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6313557028770447}
+{"content": "Problem solution essay global warming problems\n\nPoorer countries worst affected People in low-income countries are four times more likely to die in natural disasters than people in high income countries. How can kids with divorced parents be helped to do well in school, have strong relationships, and build successful lives and marriages?\n\nAnother solution, and possibly the first step for the world to work together to reduce global warming, is to put energy efficient, renewable energy, and vehicle technology solutions in place at a federal level.\n\nProblem and Solution of Global Warming\n\nShould schools require more physical education? How can that city be made more bicycle and pedestrian-friendly? Think locally and examine everything around you. Anthropogenic Effects The reason as to why global warming is such an issue today is because of the problem that humans are creating with anthropogenic contributions to greenhouse gasses.\n\nWhat is the best way to help families who have a child with mental illness? California has been the only state to step up to the plate. Online chat with writers We have many competent and certified writers available to process your essay and you can chat with them online to find the best one to work with.\n\nProblem Solution Essay\n\nShould online high school courses be offered to students who want a flexible schedule? Both of these solutions are actually cost effective for consumers but the problem is that people like to have the goods they want e.\n\nEffects of Global Warming Essay\n\nWhat does every student need to know? Harvest Cereals and crop yields are expected to suffer in areas of less water and increased temperatures. Should parents be held responsible for the obesity of their children?\n\nThere should be very harsh punishments for these companies that emit so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and laws to make them change them.\n\nThey are very unlikely to survive as a species if there is an almost complete loss of summer sea ice cover, which is projected to occur before the end of this century by some climate models WWF-UK.\n\nAssociation of British Insurers. Greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide and methane can cause the atmosphere to build up, leading to solar radiation becoming trapped within the earth like within a greenhouse, hence the name. How can injuries in sports especially football be prevented?\n\nArgue that the solution is practical, feasible, cost-effective, and workable. Below are 10 quick ideas about how each of us can make a difference. How can we be sure that students are learning what they need to know?\n\nStep By Step Writing Guide After you have chosen your topic, you can find instructions about how to develop your ideas, find a unique solution to the problem and organize your essay in \"How to Write Your Problem Solution Paper.\n\nThe causes of global warming are both natural and anthropogenic but the anthropogenic influence is the most damaging. The growing rise of industry around the world and the rise of consumerism has resulted in the production of many goods, all using fossil fuels either directly or indirectly.\n\nRainforests Higher temperatures and reduced rainfall could mean the loss of large areas of the Brazilian and southern African rainforest. Should schools move to digital textbooks? Polar ice caps can melt, there will be widespread flooding all over the world, there will be an increase in the frequency and intensity of harmful natural disasters and the consequences to the economy will be detrimental to societal progress.\n\nMining causes methane and natural gas to escape from where it is trapped below the earth. What should we do about the increase in gun violence? You can bet on that! Express you own vision of solving the problem. What can be done to make college more affordable? Driving and Transportation Solving issues about driving: Read books and newspapers and watch films and DVDs about global warming.Looking for the right topic for your essay?\n\nHere are 40 problem-solution essay topics to help you get started, including some sample essays for inspiration. Example problem-solution essays on social issues.\n\nAre you writing about global warming and need a few resources for your paper? The s was the warmest decade, and the warmest year on global record (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC). The Earth is warming faster than at any time in the past 10, years (IPCC).\n\nThis essay on global warming needs to look at the causes of the problem. trees and biodiverse life results in a large amount of carbon dioxide that can’t be converted to oxygen and so a huge problem for global warming.\n\nProblems. Both of these solutions are actually cost effective for consumers but the problem is that people like. Jun 22,  · Problem Solution Essay Topics with Sample Essays.\n\nUpdated on February 20, Virginia Kearney. \"how can I solve problems in my area?\" as a problem solution essay? Problem Solution Essay Topics on Global Issues.\n\nGlobal Warming Essays\n\nby Virginia Kearney Essays. Expository Essay Topic Ideas, Writing Tips, and Sample Essays Reviews: This essay will firstly discuss the reasons behind global warming and the solutions for this problem. First of all, usage of conventional fossil fuels in transportation and heavy industries has caused emission of harmful gases like carbon dioxide causing a green house effect which creates damage to the ozone layer.\n\nGlobal Warming Problems essaysGlobal warming is a very dangerous problem in our world today. Responsible, and potentially responsible, for new diseases, health problems, and land loss, this problem deserves more attention than it is currently receiving. Presently, scientists believe that human ac.\n\n100 Problem Solution Essay Topics with Sample Essays Download\nProblem solution essay global warming problems\nRated 0/5 based on 85 review", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8575873970985413}
+{"content": "Guide By Rk Narayan -\n\nr k narayan wikipedia - r k narayan 10 october 1906 13 may 2001 full name rasipuram krishnaswami iyer narayanaswami was an indian writer known for his works set in the fictional south indian town of malgudi he was a leading author of early indian literature in english along with mulk raj anand and raja rao narayan s mentor and friend graham greene was instrumental in getting publishers for narayan s, the guide a novel penguin classics r k narayan - the guide a novel penguin classics r k narayan michael gorra on amazon com free shipping on qualifying offers for the centennial of his birth r k narayan s most celebrated novel formerly india s most corrupt tourist guide, the mahabharata a shortened modern prose version of the - this is one of the best novelizations of the classic indian epic the mahabharata narayan includes a great number of the major episodes even though using only 190 pages out of 6 000 in the original, book review swami and friends by r k narayan - genre young adult classics i m going to use my books as a fuel in the kitchen said swami from swami and friends by r k narayan just looking at the cover art and reading the title transported me back to my childhood days, list of gravitationally rounded objects of the solar - this is a list of gravitationally rounded objects of the solar system which are objects that have a rounded ellipsoidal shape due to the forces of their own gravity hydrostatic equilibrium their sizes range from dwarf planets and moons to the planets and the sun this list does not include any small solar system bodies but it does include a sample of planetary mass objects whose shape has, clear cache cookies computer google account help - when you use a browser like chrome it saves some information from websites in its cache and cookies clearing them fixes certain problems like loading or formatting issues on sites, environmentally safe travel yellow canary sustainable - tips for saving energy for farmers yellowcanary com, economic survey 2017 18 mofapp nic in 8080 - economic survey 2017 18 volume i government of india ministry of finance department of economic affairs economic division january 2018, loved sacred games binge on 6 other tv series adapted - malgudi days presented india as never seen before and viewers love to relive the nostalgia of old times based on the works of rk narayan malgudi days was made into a television series by producer ts narasimhan in 1986 posited in the fictional town created by narayan the series much like the book traced the journey of swami and his friends and presented a picture of india as never seen, an intuitive guide to exponential functions e - e is not just a number describing e as a constant approximately 2 71828 is like calling pi an irrational number approximately equal to 3 1415 sure it s true but you completely missed the point, american heritage center anaconda geological documents - search tips current country names may have changed but documents in the database are indexed under the names of the countries during time the documents were created, list of authorized motorola service centers in india - with the recently released devices such as the moto g and the newly launched moto e motorola is gaining heavy traction in india one thing that each buyer is concerned about is the after sales service and whether or not motorola has enough service locations available in india, tamil actress photos stills tamil actresses behindwoods - tamil actress photos stills tamil actresses high quality hot photos stills pictures images gallery, cbse class 9 social science new syllabus 2018 19 - cbse sample papers 2018 19 cbse class 9 social science new syllabus 2018 19 in pdf format for free download social science syllabus for 2018 2019 class 9 cbse is now available in mycbseguide app, illinois gaming board video gaming monthly revenue reports - the monthly video gaming reports and the corresponding comma separated values csv file agree to illinois gaming board data the csv file can be downloaded into other file types and managed for the ease of the user however the illinois gaming board is not accountable for the reliability of disseminated information resulting from changes to the illinois gaming board s data that are made by, btis bengaluru transport information system - mapunity s transport information system is also available for the following cities, severe tbi concussion traumatic brain injury cdc - each year tbis contribute to a substantial number of deaths and cases of permanent disability in fact tbi is a contributing factor to a third 30 of all injury related deaths in the united states 1 in 2010 approximately 2 5 million people sustained a traumatic brain injury 2 individuals with more severe injuries are more likely to require hospitalization, shodhganga a reservoir of indian theses inflibnet - a reservoir of indian theses the shodhganga inflibnet centre provides a platform for research students to deposit their ph d theses and make it available to the entire scholarly community in open access, column imipramine mirtazapine and nefazodone multiple - general bucky turgeson in the stanley kubrick movie dr strangelove was mighty proud of his aerial warriors and their b 52s this series of planes first rolled out in the 1950s are still being used the longevity and value of these planes are the result of their ability to deliver so many different types of payloads to their targets, kalsarpa yoga janma kundali free astrology software - a lot has been read said and discussed about the kalsarpa yoga this yoga and please notice the choice of words it is a yoga and not a dosha is caused when all the planets are hemmed between rahu and ketu", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8500252962112427}
+{"content": "A reference to page 3! Justin knows that Jalina is an honorable person, though she works according to her own code, which is why he didn’t think she would actually kill Rune directly, even when she was upset to learn that Rune was royalty.\n\nRune and Justin are such close friends that Rune knows what’s going on in Justin’s mind: he’s wondering if he can stop the curse by killing Jalina.  He wouldn’t do it, of course, if for no other reason than he knows Rune would forbid it.\n\nRune was expecting Lord Hawthorne and Lord Redley to come see him. For obvious reasons, these two would want to gain his trust and then start controlling him. Lord Dawson surprises him, however. Dawson has no ambition to claim the throne. He is there with a sincere offer to help, feeling that he might have something valuable to contribute since he’s the leading expert on the Jinn.\n\nBy remaining seated while the Lords stand, Rune is sending a subtle message: he’s of higher standing than them, and he’s not going to be their pawn. In truth, he’s also simply too weak to stand, but he’s back into his persona of strength and he’s not going to let them know that.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7297501564025879}
+{"content": "Monkey find may establish new family of primates\n\n\nArtykuł pochodzi z pisma \"Guardian\"\n\nMonkey find may establish new family of primates\n\nAlok Jha, science correspondent\nFriday May 12, 2006\nThe Guardian\n\nA rare and reclusive African monkey discovered last year is believed to belong to an entirely new family of primates - the first such find for 83 years.\nScientists originally thought the monkey, named Rungwecebus kipunji after Mount Rungwe in Tanzania, was a type of mangabey from the genus Lophocebus. However, a more detailed genetic analysis of the animal showed its close connection to baboons.\nWilliam Stanley, of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, writes in the journal Science today: \"This is exciting news because it shows that the age of discovery is by no means over.\"\nRungwecebus kipunji is mainly covered in light greyish-brown fur with an off-white patch on its belly and at the end of its curled tail. It also has a crown of long, erect hair. It communicates by making loud, low-pitched honks and eats fruit, leaves, shoots and insects.\nWhen it was first spotted in 2005, experts based their classification of the monkey on photographs alone. But soon afterwards a specimen died in a farmer's trap.\nScientists therefore got a chance to study the animal more closely, including taking muscle tissue samples to extract DNA. To study family links with other primates, they looked at the animal's mitochondrial DNA, which is passed from mother to child, and the Y-chromosome, which is passed from father to son.\nThe analysis revealed that the kipunji is more closely related to baboons in the genus Papio, rather than the Lophocebus to which it was originally assigned.\nJohn Oates, a primatologist from Hunter College, New York, said: \"To find, in the 21st century, an entirely new species of large monkey living in the wild is surprising enough.\n\"To find one that can be placed in a new genus, and that sheds new light on the evolutionary history of the monkeys of Africa and Eurasia as a whole, is truly remarkable.\n\"The discovery also reinforces the view that mountains in southern Tanzania have played an important, and until recently unexpected, role as a refuge for many species long extinct elsewhere.\"\nThe monkeys are already endangered, living in 16 small groups of up to 36 animals each in the Rungwe-Livingstone forest and the Ndundulu forest reserve. Their natural predators include crowned eagles and leopards. But human activities such as logging, charcoal making and poaching are also a threat to the animals' long-term survival. Locals have also been known to hunt and kill kipunji for food.\n\nassign- przypisywać\nby no means- w żaden sposób\ncharcoal- węgiel drzewny\ncurled- zakręcony\nerect- prosty, wyprostowany\nextinct- wymarły ( o gatunku)\nextract- pobrać\ngenus- klasa, rodzaj\nhonk- krzyk\nlogging- wycinka (lasu)\nlow-pitched- niski (o dźwięku, głosie)\nmangabey- large agile arboreal monkey with long limbs and tail and white upper eyelids\noriginally- początkowo\npoaching- kłusownictwo\nprimate- ssak z rzędu naczelnych\nreclusive- pustelniczy\nrefuge- azyl, schronienie\nreinforce- wzmacniać\nreveal- ujawniać\nsample - próbka\nshed new light on- rzucać nowe światło na\nshoot- pęd, kiełek\nspecies- gatunek\nspecimen- okaz, przedstawiciel gatunku\nspot- zauważać, spostrzec\ntissue- tkanka\n\n\nNie masz uprawnień do komentowania\n\n\nPrezenty językowe do 30% taniej!\n\n\nZaloguj się lub zarejestruj aby skorzystać ze wszystkich funkcji portalu.\n\n\nZapisz się do subskrypcji aby codziennie otrzymywać wiadomości i uczyć się słowek\nLoading ...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7490783929824829}
+{"content": "Travel tips, advice for tourists –\n\nOnce one of the most known places for summer trips. How is it currently?\n\nLately, Greece faced many bad things. Firstly, economic crisis, which so much damaged the economy of this place. Although for many countries in Europe will end it already, but for Greeks it still happen. Afterwards the immigration problem. How is it nowadays?\n\nThe Greeks are well known for comfortable lifetime. Seriously when we are going there, maybe just for a short period of time, we can experience that lifestyle. Despite the raging crisis at the end of the first decade of the 21 century, we have seen that persons cared not to the country’s economy, but only that the government receive their facilities – check (check . Here is many places where we can feel the mood of a calm life. Specifically in the islands, which in Greece is many. But how to pick the only one on that we will spend a few weeks on vacation?\n\nAutor: Adrian Scottow\n\nSome people should already known about the island of Santorini. That one is good known mostly with infrastructure. If you write in the search engine sentence “luxury hotels in Santorini Greece” we should see the same interesting proposals. This great island is full of awesome locations. As a result, in all of its corner you can feel special. In the context of the boutique hotels Santorini also propose many options. When you are looking for something cheaper we can always use the appropriate search engines – read (read . Simply we find something for everyone. Typing “Boutique hotels Santorini” get the list of large and small places to have a wonderful vacation. One of the wonders of nature on the isle is a wonderful forests. Many visitors additionally to the many hours soaking up the beach spends his time walking through all of the forests.\n\nA lot of of luxury hotels in Santorini Greece are propagate on the official tourism websites. As a result, tourists can easily find things in the Internet that meet their thinkings. It seems that today tourism is one of the few things which can pull Greece out of troubles. That is why it is so main thing for them is to reach the highest possible standards for visitors.\n\nSupport for Greeks by going to their country is very good possible way. We rested for exclusive vacations and Greeks are step-by-step and successfully overcome the crisis.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8376652598381042}
+{"content": "Opinion: Towards Understanding NYSC, By Dr. John Abhuere\n\nThere are many factors that account for poor or even wrong evaluation of organisations. Some of them include poor knowledge of the the historical background and operation of the organisation including its goal and objective, wrong definition of relevant terms, asking the wrong questions, outright bias, disregard for external environmental influence, narrow conception of costs and benefits of project etc.\nIn all these historical knowledge of the programme under evaluation is of great essence and a poor knowledge here could be harmful. This is where I believe the problem of evaluating the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) lies, resulting in hasty conclusion based on poor understanding of the history operation, narrow perception etc of the scheme.\nAn understanding of the history of Nigeria and operation of the scheme is thus vital to the appreciation of the NYSC. This is so because the scheme is a product of the sad history and experience of the country over time and its operational structure and related activities such as posting to primary assignment, community development, annual games, dance and drama festival were designed to advance the cause o national unity and development. Fortunately, history does not support the abrogation of the scheme today.\nOne of the problems of post colonial Nigeria was the neglect of character, civic, moral education of the citizen and history of the country. There was no institution specially designed to teach these and other nation building lessons and skills. The set objectives of the NYSC which include the achievement of unity and development are reflective of the problems, mood and aspirations of the country at the time of its inception and have remained ever so relevant till date.\nThey emanate from the bowel of sad historical experience after Independence which was characterised by ethnic loyalty, tribalism, mutual group suspicion and distrust, mass poverty, illiteracy, acute shortage and uneven distribution of skilled manpower, inadequate socio-economic infrastructural facilities etc.\nBpy proposing abolition of the NYSC, are we now saying that we are tired of nation building – a work in progress or the task has been completed or not achievable?\nThe quest for national unity and development is noble and worthy of any effort whether in Nigeria or elsewhere. It is endless.\nThus, the NYSC is a neo- nationalist outfit established amongst others to fill the ideological and developmental gap in nation building efforts in Nigeria especially after the civil war of1967-70.\nIt was designed to inculcate discipline in the Nigerian youth and by extension the entire society, promote the spirit of selfless service, self-reliance,oneness,brotherhood, tolerance. It is also to promote national unity and integration, development, tradition of industry, the acquisition of skills for self-employment and self-reliance,elimination of prejudices, ignorance, and accelerated growth of the economy. The general aspiration was to realize the goal set in the second National Development plan,which includes the attainment of “a United strong and self-reliant nation,a great and dynamic economy and a land of bright and full of opportunities,freedom and democracy” etc.\nFor emphasis, it should be stressed that due to poor practice of party politics between 1960 and 1973 before the scheme was established, the spirit of nationalism, patriotism and hard work suffered much set-back, went down and gave way to tribalism,cp corruption, indolence and apathy in the country.There was general loss of interest in the growth and development of the nation leading to decay and decline in nearly all the departments of her life. Consequently, military coup, civil war, mass poverty and under- development were some of the effects.\nThere was need for change-to re-capture the glow, vibrancy patriotism, nationalism and strong determination of pre-independence years for which our dogged nationalists were better known to build a nation we all could be proud of -an aspiration for which Nigeria was better known in times before independence.\nAs already alluded, the objectives are timeless and their achievement is critical to the well being of the country.They convey and reflect the dreams and emotions, the pains and joy, the aspirations,- in short the inner feeling and collective desire of most Nigerians. The scheme is a demonstration of the general resolve and determination of a people over time to take their destiny in their own hands in accordance with their own definition, image and imagination.\nIt is certainly far beyond ” reducing ethnicity…” which the Nation newspaper speaks of in its editorial of 8-12- 2016. It is needless to say that the pursuit of national unity and development has been a persistent life preoccupation of many countries including the USA.\nMeaningful development was a prime motivation for the establishment of the NYSC. According to the NYSC handbook, Nigeria is a country characterized by colonial rule, slave mentality, ethic loyalty, mutual group suspicion and distrust -all of which contributed to the civil war of 1967.The country was also faced with underdevelopment problems such as poverty,mass illiteracy, shortages of skilled manpower lopsided labour distribution and infrastructural deficiency. She was equally beset by poor leadership, misgovernment indiscipline, rapidly waning nationalism and low level of patriotism.\nThe continuing relevance of the scheme is therefore not in doubt even today. It was the need to address critical national issues such as unity, growth and development and desire to cultivate a crop of leadership and patriotic citizenship as well as promote the unity and development of the country that necessitated the mobilization of the graduate youth in order to give them proper guidance and orientation relevant to the need of the nation. As could be gleaned from the second National Development plan,the country after the civil war 1967-70 yearned for “a united, strong and self-reliant nation that is full of opportunities for all citizens, dynamic economy as well as a free,democratic society”\nTowards this end, the positive role of the youth in nation building was recognized. The NYSC was established. It thus represents a deliberate attempt to correct pass mistakes and to actualize the dreams and aspirations of the nation state through youth participation in the development process as defined and set in motion much earlier by the nationalists,who struggled and won political independence for the country in 1960. The journey was billed to be long. So far appreciable steps had been made in right direction.\nThe programs for goal realization were well thought out. For instance, the orientation prepares the youth mentally and physically for the task of national service. Its military drill is the anchor of discipline- the basis of success of all human efforts. The primary assignment provides the participant with some work experience and opportunity to participate in the economic process of the country. The community Development service is an exercise in tolerance and cooperation between corps members and host communities. Progress may be slow, but it will amount to collective loss if we start retracing our steps now.\nThe scheme has recorded tremendous success over time. It belongs to the winning team in Nigeria. We can improve the performance of a winning team but is not always advisable to change it. If nothing else the scheme has proved to be an effective platform for youth participation, development and empowerment for the propagation of national unity and development of the country .\nIt has helped too in making youths better Nigerian than most of their parents. They hold a healthier perception of their country and are ready to serve under the sun and in the rain and to go to any where there are opportunities for effective participation ,growth and development for a fulfilling life in the interest of the country.Spend a day in an NYSC camp and you begin to appreciate well the beauty, strength,the leveling, transformative power of the scheme and the bright prospect for national unity and development as a result.\nDr lawal was right when he observed: no one remains the same after one’s-national service. Many become unstuck to primordial values such as tribalism, ethnicity, or religious bigotry. To paraphrase Emir Sanusi11 of Kano, they become proud to be called Nigerians and to speak the language of new Nigeria they had helped and are helping in building. The trouble today is that colony of ex- corps members is still tiny and dire need of expansion.\nTrue, there are still ethnic and religious tensions but steadily, the scheme has weakened their tap roots and reduced their negative effect.\nThough slow it has promoted steady transition from ethnic attachment to nationalism,from tribalism to patriotism and much religious tolerance, strengthen bond of unity, understanding and tolerance and in the process made many more Nigerians out of Nigeria.\nThe contribution to the promotion of national consciousness is perhaps the loudest as the Abiola /kingibe presidential ticket of 1993 election could show- twenty years after the establishment of the scheme. In spite of it being a Muslim – Muslim ticket, Nigerians following the value orientation of the NYSC with its emphasis on patriotism, nationalism, ethnic/religious tolerance voted massively for it. By 2015 a Nigerian president could concede defeat to the opposition candidate because of his belief that national interest should always be above ethnic or individual interest. And by 2016 an emir of Kano could proudly say that he is a “Nigerian” unlike his parents who he said were “northerners.”\nThe scheme has helped in ensuring the constant flow of labor to all sectors of the economy including the rural areas for developmental purposes. It has served as a source of motivation to many non graduate youth to embark on tertiary education. The NYSC uniform is now a symbol of national unity and selfless service.In short, the scheme has positively impacted on society:moderates youth behavior, promotes national consciousness on consistent basis, mobilizes youth for the implementation of national programs such as population census,registration of voters,agricultural revival,war against indiscipline, rural basic heath, fight agains HIV/AIDS and much more.\nDtill, the NYSC is not perfect. There are problems to solve for optimal performance. Conventionally when something is faulty- say a car, you call a repairer to fix it and arrange for regular maintenance to maintain its hygiene status. You don’t just throw it away unless it is really far beyond repair. Why is the NYSC different when it is certainly not beyond fixing. Why the suggestion for its scrapping in spite of its achievement and relevance?\nOne of the often disregarded aspects of the objective of the scheme by the Nigerian elite is the demand for sacrifice by citizens in the national interest. Here the youth had played their part well by accepting posting to different parts of the country. But most of the nation’s elite negate the idea of sacrifice by bad examples in public life say through corrupt practice, influence peddling, urban bias in orientation, lobbying for preferential posting for their wards, threat of abrogation of the scheme at the slightest irritation to their interest and failure to fund the scheme well to make every orientation camp a good place to stay for training.\nWhile all precautions must be taken against death, unfortunately the latter is inevitable and beyond control of ordinary man. As already noted there is really no place to hide from the merciless hands of death- both inside and outside are open to it. The best in the circumstance is to be courageous and prayerful that it should not come to one so soon a time. So let the birds fly high instead of caging them.Nor is it really healthy and helpful to lock our kids up in our backyard’s botanical garden. The youth have their world to live and it might be better to allow them explore a bit of it early.\nThis is where the NYSC comes in. As K. Belo-Osagie notes in the Nation’s newspaper of December 22 2016p28, the National Youth service is real learning period in many ways for the Nigerian youth. It is an experience worth having.\nFor instance, according to her, “the orientation camp experience is one of the most memorable aspects of the national youth service corps(NYSC)scheme. The three-week program of physical drills, parade,sporting and cultural activities, skill acquisition, lectures, pageantry and endurance treks is usually challenging, educative and fun-filled for graduates drawn from tertiary institutions nationwide and abroad”\nThe NYSC “is a time to form vital friendships, learn new lesson about places and people,and gain some form of work experience and skill. However the poor state of facilities in most orientation camps across the country distract from the experience”.\nSo maintain what is good and fix what is bad.\n\nDr. Abhuere is a retired NYSC Director and founder, Centre for Child Care and Youth Development, Abuja\n\nAuthor: News Editor\n\n7714 stories / Browse all stories\n\nRelated Stories »\n\n\n\ncalendar »\n\nJanuary 2017\n« Dec   Feb »", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6395567059516907}
+{"content": "\n\nHealing House Radio with Dr. Ayleen - T.M.I.\n\n  • Broadcast in Spirituality\nHealing House with Dr Ayleen\n\nHealing House with Dr Ayleen\n\n\nFollow This Show\n\nIf you liked this show, you should follow Healing House with Dr Ayleen.\n\nToday on Healing House Radio, Dr. Ayleen will be discussing authenticity and sharing.  How can we be fully true to ourselves and still function as a member of not only society, but also in our personal relationships. What is the toll on our bodies when we cannot be authentic...and what are some consequences when we're TOO authentic?  Looking at social media, how much sharing is too much?  Explore how we can share ourselves and our experiences from a place of balance and use that sharing to inspire growth.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.782875657081604}
+{"content": "Resolutions or Intentions… what’s the difference?\n\nSunday, January 4th  is the first full moon of the year.  The moon is in Cancer offering us a great deal of feminine energy allowing us to really go within our spirit and seek the answers we need.   The Cancer Full moon illuminates how well our reality is serving our life.  Her radiant glow allows us to see our lives and the changes we want to create. \n\nThe cosmic aspects at this time are allowing us the opportunity to review where we are coming from and how we want to move forward.  Starting the year off on a full moon vrs a new moon affords us this time. For soon the new moon will be here and it’s best to have these intentions set by then. \n\nOr it is better to set resolutions moving forward?\n\nWhat’s the difference?\n\nIs one more effective to set than the other?   \n\nResolutions resolve NOT to do something again.\n\nIntentions set the path for new ways to come in.\n\nResolutions are restricting.\n\nIntentions are freeing.\n\nMany times resolutions  have negative connotations and bring in negative energy.\n\nThink about it… Thoughts follow energy.  What you put out there is what comes back to you.\n\nAll the more reasons to set your intentions  in a positive manner.\n\nOne of the ways to hold on to the energy of your intentions during the year is to choose one word that sums them up.\n\nOne word that propels you forward with these intentions in mind. \n\nWhat is that word for you?\n\nThe more you clarify it, the greater the chances are for bringing  your intentions in.  \n\nAs the year moves forward, it’s easy to forget all those things we want, yet with one word to carry us through it strengthens our desires and helps us stick to what we set. \n\nIf you are having trouble finding your word try this:\n\n1) Write down all the words that holds the energy of your intentions – make a list.\n\n2)  If you have a few words but they don’t seem quite right, try  looking them up in a Thesaurus for a similar yet better word.\n\n3) Once you have your list, come to your meditation cushion and hold the list in your hands.\n\n4)  If you practice Reiki, send Reiki into the list.\n\n5) Take 5 deep inhales and exhales as you clear your mind.\n\n6) Bring in your guides and angels and ask for their guidance on this.\n\n7) Sit quietly in meditation\n\n8) Notice the word that comes forward for you.\n\nAs that word comes forward be sure to write it down in BIG BOLD letters.\n\nPut it where you will see it.\n\nCome back to it often to remind you of your intentions for this year.\n\nBe positive and intent for all good things to come in.\n\n2015 is a year of infinite potential.  It’s a year of abundance and prosperity.  Anything is possible.  Intent BIG!\n\nTo your Spirit!\n\nHappy New Year!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5333794355392456}
+{"content": "Scroll content hides lower 10 pixels or so when at rest\n\n\nThis is kind of a weird issue. I thought I would describe it here first, before opening the issue up on Github. When you have scroll content that is larger than the available scroll window, when you scroll all the way down and wait until the bounce rests, the bottom 10 pixels of the content is still hidden. The only way to make it visible is to “pull up” the content to make it visible. The easy workaround is to add some empty space a the bottom of your content to compensate, but I can imagine scenarios where that would not be desirable.\n\nTo see this, go to one of the example Ionic codepens like: and resize the browser to give is a very small visible scroll window, and have a look at the bottom.\n\nMy gut feel is that it has is some calculation issue in the scroll-math.\n\n\nThat issue exists because the tab bar is effectively a footer. So each tab content, needs the has-footer=\"true\" attribute.\n\n<ion-content has-header=\"true\" has-footer=\"true\" padding=\"true\">\n\nSee :\n\n\nI think the correct attribute would be has-tabs=\"true\" And that solves the issue on the codepen for me. In my app I have both has-tabs and has-header set to true and it still happens. Let me see if I can create an example.\n\n\n\nVery good point - thank you. I’ve updated the sample to use has-tabs=\"true\".", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7159343957901001}
+{"content": "2/3 Free Articles leftRemaining\n\nThe Surprising Power of Questions\n\nFrom the May–June 2018 Issue\n\nIn Brief\n\nThe Problem\n\n\nThe Opportunity\n\n\nThe Approach\n\n\nMuch of an executive’s workday is spent asking others for information—requesting status updates from a team leader, for example, or questioning a counterpart in a tense negotiation. Yet unlike professionals such as litigators, journalists, and doctors, who are taught how to ask questions as an essential part of their training, few executives think of questioning as a skill that can be honed—or consider how their own answers to questions could make conversations more productive.\n\n\nFor some people, questioning comes easily. Their natural inquisitiveness, emotional intelligence, and ability to read people put the ideal question on the tip of their tongue. But most of us don’t ask enough questions, nor do we pose our inquiries in an optimal way.\n\n\nDon’t Ask, Don’t Get\n\n“Be a good listener,” Dale Carnegie advised in his 1936 classic How to Win Friends and Influence People. “Ask questions the other person will enjoy answering.” More than 80 years later, most people still fail to heed Carnegie’s sage advice. When one of us (Alison) began studying conversations at Harvard Business School several years ago, she quickly arrived at a foundational insight: People don’t ask enough questions. In fact, among the most common complaints people make after having a conversation, such as an interview, a first date, or a work meeting, is “I wish [s/he] had asked me more questions” and “I can’t believe [s/he] didn’t ask me any questions.”\n\nWhy do so many of us hold back? There are many reasons. People may be egocentric—eager to impress others with their own thoughts, stories, and ideas (and not even think to ask questions). Perhaps they are apathetic—they don’t care enough to ask, or they anticipate being bored by the answers they’d hear. They may be overconfident in their own knowledge and think they already know the answers (which sometimes they do, but usually not). Or perhaps they worry that they’ll ask the wrong question and be viewed as rude or incompetent. But the biggest inhibitor, in our opinion, is that most people just don’t understand how beneficial good questioning can be. If they did, they would end far fewer sentences with a period—and more with a question mark.\n\n\nAsking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding.\n\nQuestions are such powerful tools that they can be beneficial—perhaps particularly so—in circumstances when question asking goes against social norms. For instance, prevailing norms tell us that job candidates are expected to answer questions during interviews. But research by Dan Cable, at the London Business School, and Virginia Kay, at the University of North Carolina, suggests that most people excessively self-promote during job interviews. And when interviewees focus on selling themselves, they are likely to forget to ask questions—about the interviewer, the organization, the work—that would make the interviewer feel more engaged and more apt to view the candidate favorably and could help the candidate predict whether the job would provide satisfying work. For job candidates, asking questions such as “What am I not asking you that I should?” can signal competence, build rapport, and unlock key pieces of information about the position.\n\nMost people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.\n\nThe New Socratic Method\n\n\n\nOur research suggests several approaches that can enhance the power and efficacy of queries. The best approach for a given situation depends on the goals of the conversationalists—specifically, whether the discussion is cooperative (for example, the duo is trying to build a relationship or accomplish a task together) or competitive (the parties seek to uncover sensitive information from each other or serve their own interests), or some combination of both. Consider the following tactics.\n\nFavor follow-up questions.\n\nNot all questions are created equal. Alison’s research, using human coding and machine learning, revealed four types of questions: introductory questions (“How are you?”), mirror questions (“I’m fine. How are you?”), full-switch questions (ones that change the topic entirely), and follow-up questions (ones that solicit more information). Although each type is abundant in natural conversation, follow-up questions seem to have special power. They signal to your conversation partner that you are listening, care, and want to know more. People interacting with a partner who asks lots of follow-up questions tend to feel respected and heard.\n\nAn unexpected benefit of follow-up questions is that they don’t require much thought or preparation—indeed, they seem to come naturally to interlocutors. In Alison’s studies, the people who were told to ask more questions used more follow-up questions than any other type without being instructed to do so.\n\nKnow when to keep questions open-ended.\n\nNo one likes to feel interrogated—and some types of questions can force answerers into a yes-or-no corner. Open-ended questions can counteract that effect and thus can be particularly useful in uncovering information or learning something new. Indeed, they are wellsprings of innovation—which is often the result of finding the hidden, unexpected answer that no one has thought of before.\n\nA wealth of research in survey design has shown the dangers of narrowing respondents’ options. For example, “closed” questions can introduce bias and manipulation. In one study, in which parents were asked what they deemed “the most important thing for children to prepare them in life,” about 60% of them chose “to think for themselves” from a list of response options. However, when the same question was asked in an open-ended format, only about 5% of parents spontaneously came up with an answer along those lines.\n\nOf course, open-ended questions aren’t always optimal. For example, if you are in a tense negotiation or are dealing with people who tend to keep their cards close to their chest, open-ended questions can leave too much wiggle room, inviting them to dodge or lie by omission. In such situations, closed questions work better, especially if they are framed correctly. For example, research by Julia Minson, the University of Utah’s Eric VanEpps, Georgetown’s Jeremy Yip, and Wharton’s Maurice Schweitzer indicates that people are less likely to lie if questioners make pessimistic assumptions (“This business will need some new equipment soon, correct?”) rather than optimistic ones (“The equipment is in good working order, right?”).\n\nSometimes the information you wish to ascertain is so sensitive that direct questions won’t work, no matter how thoughtfully they are framed. In these situations, a survey tactic can aid discovery. In research Leslie conducted with Alessandro Acquisti and George Loewenstein of Carnegie Mellon University, she found that people were more forthcoming when requests for sensitive information were couched within another task—in the study’s case, rating the ethicality of antisocial behaviors such as cheating on one’s tax return or letting a drunk friend drive home. Participants were asked to rate the ethicality using one scale if they had engaged in a particular behavior and another scale if they hadn’t—thus revealing which antisocial acts they themselves had engaged in. Although this tactic may sometimes prove useful at an organizational level—we can imagine that managers might administer a survey rather than ask workers directly about sensitive information such as salary expectations—we counsel restraint in using it. If people feel that you are trying to trick them into revealing something, they may lose trust in you, decreasing the likelihood that they’ll share information in the future and potentially eroding workplace relationships.\n\nGet the sequence right.\n\nThe optimal order of your questions depends on the circumstances. During tense encounters, asking tough questions first, even if it feels socially awkward to do so, can make your conversational partner more willing to open up. Leslie and her coauthors found that people are more willing to reveal sensitive information when questions are asked in a decreasing order of intrusiveness. When a question asker begins with a highly sensitive question—such as “Have you ever had a fantasy of doing something terrible to someone?”—subsequent questions, such as “Have you ever called in sick to work when you were perfectly healthy?” feel, by comparison, less intrusive, and thus we tend to be more forthcoming. Of course, if the first question is too sensitive, you run the risk of offending your counterpart. So it’s a delicate balance, to be sure.\n\nIf the goal is to build relationships, the opposite approach—opening with less sensitive questions and escalating slowly—seems to be most effective. In a classic set of studies (the results of which went viral following a write-up in the “Modern Love” column of the New York Times), psychologist Arthur Aron recruited strangers to come to the lab, paired them up, and gave them a list of questions. They were told to work their way through the list, starting with relatively shallow inquiries and progressing to more self-revelatory ones, such as “What is your biggest regret?” Pairs in the control group were asked simply to interact with each other. The pairs who followed the prescribed structure liked each other more than the control pairs. This effect is so strong that it has been formalized in a task called “the relationship closeness induction,” a tool used by researchers to build a sense of connection among experiment participants.\n\n\nGood interlocutors also understand that questions asked previously in a conversation can influence future queries. For example, Norbert Schwarz, of the University of Southern California, and his coauthors found that when the question “How satisfied are you with your life?” is followed by the question “How satisfied are you with your marriage?” the answers were highly correlated: Respondents who reported being satisfied with their life also said they were satisfied with their marriage. When asked the questions in this order, people implicitly interpreted that life satisfaction “ought to be” closely tied to marriage. However, when the same questions were asked in the opposite order, the answers were less closely correlated.\n\nUse the right tone.\n\nPeople are more forthcoming when you ask questions in a casual way, rather than in a buttoned-up, official tone. In one of Leslie’s studies, participants were posed a series of sensitive questions in an online survey. For one group of participants, the website’s user interface looked fun and frivolous; for another group, the site looked official. (The control group was presented with a neutral-looking site.) Participants were about twice as likely to reveal sensitive information on the casual-looking site than on the others.\n\nPeople also tend to be more forthcoming when given an escape hatch or “out” in a conversation. For example, if they are told that they can change their answers at any point, they tend to open up more—even though they rarely end up making changes. This might explain why teams and groups find brainstorming sessions so productive. In a whiteboard setting, where anything can be erased and judgment is suspended, people are more likely to answer questions honestly and say things they otherwise might not. Of course, there will be times when an off-the-cuff approach is inappropriate. But in general, an overly formal tone is likely to inhibit people’s willingness to share information.\n\nPay attention to group dynamics.\n\nConversational dynamics can change profoundly depending on whether you’re chatting one-on-one with someone or talking in a group. Not only is the willingness to answer questions affected simply by the presence of others, but members of a group tend to follow one another’s lead. In one set of studies, Leslie and her coauthors asked participants a series of sensitive questions, including ones about finances (“Have you ever bounced a check?”) and sex (“While an adult, have you ever felt sexual desire for a minor?”). Participants were told either that most others in the study were willing to reveal stigmatizing answers or that they were unwilling to do so. Participants who were told that others had been forthcoming were 27% likelier to reveal sensitive answers than those who were told that others had been reticent. In a meeting or group setting, it takes only a few closed-off people for questions to lose their probing power. The opposite is true, too. As soon as one person starts to open up, the rest of the group is likely to follow suit.\n\n\nThe Best Response\n\nA conversation is a dance that requires partners to be in sync—it’s a mutual push-and-pull that unfolds over time. Just as the way we ask questions can facilitate trust and the sharing of information—so, too, can the way we answer them.\n\n\nAnd keeping secrets has costs. Research by Julie Lane and Daniel Wegner, of the University of Virginia, suggests that concealing secrets during social interactions leads to the intrusive recurrence of secret thoughts, while research by Columbia’s Michael Slepian, Jinseok Chun, and Malia Mason shows that keeping secrets—even outside of social interactions—depletes us cognitively, interferes with our ability to concentrate and remember things, and even harms long-term health and well-being.\n\nIn an organizational context, people too often err on the side of privacy—and underappreciate the benefits of transparency. How often do we realize that we could have truly bonded with a colleague only after he or she has moved on to a new company? Why are better deals often uncovered after the ink has dried, the tension has broken, and negotiators begin to chat freely?\n\nTo maximize the benefits of answering questions—and minimize the risks—it’s important to decide before a conversation begins what information you want to share and what you want to keep private.\n\nDeciding what to share.\n\nThere is no rule of thumb for how much—or what type—of information you should disclose. Indeed, transparency is such a powerful bonding agent that sometimes it doesn’t matter what is revealed—even information that reflects poorly on us can draw our conversational partners closer. In research Leslie conducted with HBS collaborators Kate Barasz and Michael Norton, she found that most people assume that it would be less damaging to refuse to answer a question that would reveal negative information—for example, “Have you ever been reprimanded at work?”—than to answer affirmatively. But this intuition is wrong. When they asked people to take the perspective of a recruiter and choose between two candidates (equivalent except for how they responded to this question), nearly 90% preferred the candidate who “came clean” and answered the question. Before a conversation takes place, think carefully about whether refusing to answer tough questions would do more harm than good.\n\nDeciding what to keep private.\n\n\n\n“Question everything,” Albert Einstein famously said. Personal creativity and organizational innovation rely on a willingness to seek out novel information. Questions and thoughtful answers foster smoother and more-effective interactions, they strengthen rapport and trust, and lead groups toward discovery. All this we have documented in our research. But we believe questions and answers have a power that goes far beyond matters of performance. The wellspring of all questions is wonder and curiosity and a capacity for delight. We pose and respond to queries in the belief that the magic of a conversation will produce a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Sustained personal engagement and motivation—in our lives as well as our work—require that we are always mindful of the transformative joy of asking and answering questions.\n\nA version of this article appeared in the May–June 2018 issue (pp.60–67) of Harvard Business Review.\n\nAlison Wood Brooks is an assistant professor at Harvard Business School. She teaches negotiation in the MBA and executive education curricula and is affiliated with the Behavioral Insights Group.\n\nLeslie K. John is an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Twitter: @lesliekjohn.\n\nThis article is about MANAGING PEOPLE\nRelated Topics:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8342655897140503}
+{"content": "A few months ago I posted some results from experiments with highresolution GAN-generated faces. By popular request here is a little more on the approach taken and some newer results.\n\nGenerative machine learning has made tremendous strides in recent years. Unfortunately most models are limited to resolutions below 256x256 due to memory and processing limitations. For larger resolutions two-step methods have been proposed such as StackGAN where an initial GAN generates a low-resolution sample from a seed random distribution and then a second, conditional GAN generates a high resolution image from the initial sample. To get high resolution faces, I built on that idea but in order to get up to 768x768 or larger I apply the second up-res stage in tiles, taking in small crops of the initial and increasing their resolution 8x. Overlapping tiles are then merged and feathered into the final image.\n\n\nA typical up-resolution network (e.g Ledig et al. ) is a generative network which is conditioned on a low-resolution input patch and produces a plausible matching highres image. This means that the early parts of the network have to essentially interpret the semantic content of the lowres image in order to decide which highres features and textures to generate. This in itself is effectively an image segmentation/recognition task and is made especially difficult because much of the information needed is contextual, i.e. located outside the input patch and thus unavailable to the network during both training and inference. To help with this issue, for the narrow case of high-resolution face generation, one can supplement semantic information in the form of additional input channels. This information can be generated from the full low-res image (not just the crop) and thus provide the additional semantic guidance. Similar ideas have been used in prior work for examples (Isola et al, Champagnard et al. and recently in Chen et al. ).\n\nFirst a lowres image is generated using a typical DCGAN at 128x128. Since this is a pretty standard procedure the following will focus on the high resolution step(s).\n\nSemantic guide\n\nThe lowres face is then processed through a facial landmark algorithm (using DLIB) to generate a facial feature guide. For simplicity the guide is encoded simply as colors in RGB. Alternatively each feature could be saved in its own channel. The mask is depth-stacked with the low-res image (to make a 128x128x6 image) and then downsampled slightly to 96x96x6. The downsampling steps helps to smooth out artifacts in the lowres image that came from the lowres GAN and also conveniently anti-aliases the guide. For the next step, individual 32x32x6 crops of this input are fed into the second stage, the up-resolution network.\n\nUpres generator\n\nThe upres stage is a J-shaped network, similar to a U-Net: The encoder side of the network is truncated (starting at 32x32x6) and has 4x fewer channels compared to the decoder side. The reduction increases training speed and reduces parameters. Due to the presence of the semantic guide the encoder side of the network can afford to be slimmer. The decoder side has 2 additional convolutional layers between each deconv step, all the way up to 256x256, thus achieving 8x upsampling. The additional layers beef up the modeling capacity of the network and seem to help generate more elaborate textures. Skip connections are added between layers of equal x,y extent on either side of the U to improve gradient flow and give access to the lowres features at most places in the network, just like in the original U-net. Compared to pix2pix I’ve also removed the batchnorm step which doesn’t appear to help, slows down training and also means that inference and training use different normalization parameters.\n\n\nThe discriminator takes the highres output, as well as the lowres 32x32x6 input and determines whether the highres is real or not and whether it is a plausible highres version of the lowres input. It’s structure is identical to that used in pix2pix (Isola et al ) except that the 32x32x6 input is simply concatenated with the feature channels after 4 down samplings of the highres input when the discriminator spatial extent has reached 32x32.\n\nLowres L1 loss\n\nSimilar to pix2pix, the generator loss is composed of a GAN loss and a direct L1 pixel loss. However the L1 loss is applied to a downsampled pair of images (32x32, using avgpooling) rather than the full 256x256. In other words the L1 loss only ensures that the down-sampled output of the generator is a plausible source for the 32x32 input rather than an exact reproduction of the training data. We want to avoid penalizing the generator for getting the exact details wrong - instead fine details are evaluated only by the GAN loss which only assesses realism in general, not an exact match to each training example. This idea is similar in spirit to the Laplacian loss used by Bojanowski et al. except that the highres evaluation is left to a GAN rather than matching the Laplacian pyramids.\n\nInference & Tiling.\n\nTo reduce tiling artifacts, overlapping tiles are generated and blended together. I also present each tile twice, once flipped in x. Other aspects of the input can also be varied (contrast, saturation). This is because the quality of the upres differs stochastically depending on the input. After transforming back, one can compare the quality against some metric. One possible metric is running each output hrough the trained discriminator and using it’s output to pick the most “realistic”. Alternatively simply measuring contrast or the variance of the laplacian of the output (to detect sharpness) can be used.\n\nInteresting insights (YMMV):\n\n  • Semantic guiding is a powerful tool to assist generative networks. Very recent work by Chen et al., has impressively demonstrated this also.\n  • Batchnorm doesn’t always help. I found batchnorm weird and annoying on the generator path. Sometimes using batch averages at inference time worked better than using the averaged values. Also tried per sample batchnorm, i.e. normalizing just over the x,y dimensions but not over the batch which sometimes worked better. In the end I found that just disabling batchnorm all-together does not degrade performance but gets around some of the inference-time instabilities. I still use batchnorm in the discriminator but in the generator it’s nice to not have it.\n  • Applying L1 at a downsampled scale gives more room for the generator to in-paint details free of constraints, other than realism.\n  • Garbage in/garbage out: Putting in the time to clean your data set of bad data points (blurry pictures, drawings, half-tone, artifacts, occluded faces etc) really pays off, even if it reduces the size of your dataset. It seems that a smaller high quality set is much more effective than a large dataset with poor quality images. I wrote a handy little tool SwipeLabel for my phone that can be used to sort images with swipe gestures. It’s easy to use and you can sort your data while on the bus, while bouncing a baby, while waiting in line etc..\n\nLatest results:\n\nSome more recent results below. Getting better skin texture but hair seems to have gotten worse.\n\n\nI’m experimenting too with doing some smooth interpolations in z space and then upressing each frame. Unfortuantely the upres step isn’t super stable from frame to frame. Frame interpolation helps a little bit with that problem. Anyway, it makes an interesting looking video:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8677326440811157}
+{"content": "Show simple item record\n\ndc.contributor.authorNagi, Kuldeep\ndc.identifier.citationAssumption University-eJournal of Interdisciplinary Research (AU-eJIR) Vol 0. Issue 0en_US\ndc.description.abstractWith so many technologies available today to help support and promote an institution’s campus culture, students and instructors feel overwhelmed with what they should use for enhancing communication. Trends like “Facebook”, “Twitter” “Google +”, “Skype”, You-Tube” and “Line” are making the rounds in education, but what do these trends means for instructors and students, and how are they affecting teaching and learning practices and communication? For example, if smart devices and applications are popular among students, which ones are most popular, and why does this matter? And if emails were all the rage in the last few decades, what are the new modes of communication in the coming years? From having a good social media strategy to planning for better communication, there are at least a dozen or more technologies that every Thai university campus should plan for immediately. Many of these technologies may seem simplistic, but they can get caught in the campus policies and politics if ICT teams are not careful; for example, providing high-speed 3G/4G networks that can support multiple devices, or offering 24x7 ICT support to instructor and students. Some of the other trends mentioned in this paper may seem like frivolous, such as a targeted social media or learning analytics, but they are not only critical for enhancing communication for teaching and learning but also relevant for attracting prospective students. Are there trends the Thai campuses are missing or perhaps trends they don’t see necessary to invest and implement? This paper traces the history of various technologies and identifies different strategies for enhancing communication for teaching and learning.en_US\ndc.format.extent14 pagesen_US\ndc.publisherDigital Production Press, Assumption Universityen_US\ndc.subjectSocial Mediaen_US\ndc.subject.otherAU-eJournal of Interdisciplinary Research (AU-eJIR)en_US\ndc.subject.otherAU-eJournal of Interdisciplinary Research (AU-eJIR) -- 2015en_US\ndc.titleA Survey of Technologies and Trends for On-line Communication, Teaching and Learningen_US\ndc.rights.holderAssumption Universityen_US\nmods.genreJournal Articleen_US[Full Text] (\n\nFiles in this item\n\n\nThere are no files associated with this item.\n\nThis item appears in the following Collection(s)\n\nShow simple item record", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8422898650169373}
+{"content": "Photo by Master Steve Rapport, Flickr CC\n\nThe recent increase in hate crimes and normalization of public anti-immigrant attitudes have contributed to undocumented immigrants fearing family separation and deportation. For the roughly 2.5 million undocumented children and adults living in the U.S., socioeconomic resources like physical and mental healthcare services, employment, and education are limited. Under these conditions, “ontological security” – or the degree to which one feels secure within their social environment – becomes vital. A new study by Elizabeth Vaquera, Elizabeth Aranda, Isabel Sousa-Rodriguez provides new insight into the ways in which young undocumented adults develop a sense of security and attempt to cope with their precarious legal status.\n\nThe authors interviewed 53 undocumented and formerly undocumented young adults residing in Florida that were recruited through immigration advocacy organizations. Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 33 and at least half migrated from Mexico. Interviews addressed several topics related to emotional and psychological well-being, including background immigration stories, family life, educational history, and racial/ethnic identity.\n\nThe researchers find that undocumented young adults experience a variety of emotions related to their status. For example, many participants reported low self-esteem. Other participants reported feeling frustrated that their status limited access to a number of colleges and jobs for which they could participate. Additional feelings included isolation, fear, anxiety and insecurity. One person described the constant fear of public officials who could potentially remove them or members of their family, saying, “Growing up it was any person that looked official. You just stay away from them … mall security guards, anyone that looked official. They terrified me!” For some, retaining Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) provided some temporary relief, though many still struggled with sadness and depression.\n\nTo cope with these feelings, the interviewees were found to engage in both positive and negative coping strategies. Positive coping mechanisms included engaging in charity work, confiding in close family and friends, playing sports, and listening to music. Others reported feeling little hope in improved circumstances and turned to more disruptive behaviors. These participants resorted to things like drinking, smoking, harming themselves, displaying anger, and pondering suicidal thoughts. Yet despite these feelings, the authors note that networking with peers of similar legal statuses helps create strong peer networks and may help empower young undocumented adults to develop positive coping strategies and solutions. As we move forward in the current political climate, pro-immigrant advocacy organizations will be an important piece to supporting undocumented individuals and families.\n\nPhoto by Wyatt Fisher, Flickr CC\n\nNew career opportunities can be exciting for young couples. Yet, when career opportunities involve moving to a new location, couples must negotiate if and how the move will take place. In heterosexual relationships, research finds that the stress of relocation more often falls on female partners, and women often decide to relocate for their male partner’s career. In line with these cultural trends, a new study by Jaclyn S. Wong examines how young heterosexual couples negotiate relocation for career opportunities, despite growing acceptance of gender equality in the United States.\n\nWong conducted 118 interviews with 21 heterosexual couples, between the ages of 22 and 35, who were considering relocation for career opportunities for one or both partners.  All couples had similar earning potential and were in their final year of graduate and professional school from universities in the Chicago metropolitan area. Wong observed couples follow three main trajectories when negotiating relocation. In the first trajectory, couples, particularly men, took steps to maintain desirable career outcomes for both individuals. They often formed future plans for relocation and altered their job search in order to help meet each partner’s career goals. Most couples in this pathway successfully found employment in their respective field after relocation.\n\nIn the second trajectory, one member of a couple, typically the woman, changed their initial career desires to meet the career opportunities of their partner. They often re-framed their career goals to justify prioritizing their partner’s career over their own. In the final pathway, one of the partners, men in particular, withdrew from the negotiating process and seceded all the bargaining power to their partner. Due to this bargaining power, however, women experienced more stress and emotional labor because they had to determine which career opportunities satisfied both partners in the relationship. In sum, Wong finds that despite recent gains towards gender equality at work and at home, many heterosexual couples continue to reproduce traditional gender roles in negotiating whose career to prioritize.\n\nPhoto by I for Detail., Flickr CC\n\nAfrican Americans have long endured criticism about their spending habits. Conservative campaigns in the 1980s and 90s used stereotypical images of “gold diggers” and “welfare queens” to convince white, middle-class Americans that low-income minorities not only drained government resources, but also spent those resources on frivolous items. Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz played to these sentiments recently when he said, “Americans have choices, and they’ve gotta make a choice. And so maybe, rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and they want to spend hundreds of dollars on, maybe they should invest in their own healthcare.” New research by Raphaël Charron-Chénier, Joshua Fink and Lisa Keister goes beyond such individual-level explanations to investigate the structural factors that contribute to racial disparities in consumption.\n\nThe authors use data from a nationally representative sample of over 9,500 households from the 2013 and 2014 Consumer Expenditure Surveys. These surveys measure total household purchases, including spending on food, entertainment, health care, housing, transportation and utilities. The authors then examined differences between black households and white households across low, middle, and high socioeconomic statuses. \n\nCharron-Chénier and colleagues show that the average total spending for black households was significantly less than for white households, with black households spending $8,387 and white households spending $13,713.  More specifically, blacks spent less on housing, transportation, healthcare, and entertainment. Low-income blacks in particular also spent less money on goods that required significant amounts of money up front than did low-income whites, though this difference diminished with income increases. Black households, however, did spend more than white households on goods that required long-term contracts, such as utilities, due to the threat of late fines and fees. So despite common criticisms about black consumer spending habits, this research shows that blacks actually spend far less than whites on “frivolous” items like new iPhones and they spend more on the long-term costs of maintaining a household. \n\nPhoto by luckey_sun, Flickr CC\n\nFrom yoga to meditation to crystals, Americans are increasingly experimenting with spirituality. And as they do so, a growing number are choosing to call themselves “spiritual, but not religious” — recent survey data shows the SBNRs now make up about 27% of the U.S. population. But is this a new religious identity? How do you measure a group with such a wide range of beliefs and practices? New research from Paul K. McClure finds that SBNRs may not be as open and accepting to all religious traditions as they seem.\n\nUsing data from the 2014 Baylor Religion Survey, McClure compares respondents who call themselves SBNR to respondents who say they are both religious and spiritual. The analysis looks for differences in how these groups answer questions about specific religious beliefs and practices — such as how often they attend religious services, how they understand “god,” and what they think about the Bible. \n\nThe results provide two big conclusions. First, SBNRs are less likely to report religious practices, like going to services and praying, and they tend to reject the typical monotheistic image of god as a person. Second, they are more likely to think about god as a “higher power” or a “cosmic force” than other respondents. McClure points out that SBNRs do not just openly accept all religious claims as equally true by default. Instead, this group does cultural boundary work by accepting certain diverse conclusions about “god” and rejecting others — just like the music fan who “likes everything except rap and country” or the connoisseur who would never touch fast food. In short, this research shows how having diverse spiritual tastes becomes an identity when people put their choices in contrast with others. \n\nPhoto by Emanuel Leanza, Flickr CC\n\nResearch shows that both race and class can influence health, physical activity, and exercise, yet little is known about how multiple identities intersect to influence fitness habits. If middle-class adults are more likely to exercise than low-income adults, then why are middle-class blacks less physically active than middle-class whites?\n\nTo examine how race, class, and gender all intersect to shape physical activity, Rashawn Ray designed “The Barriers and Incentives to Physical Activity Survey,” which asked 482 respondents questions about their physical activity habits as well as about how they perceived the racial composition of their neighborhood. The study only included black men, black women, white men, and white women, oversampled for black men and women, and used demographic factors like occupation, education level, and income to identify middle-class respondents.\n\nRay found that the perceived blackness of a neighborhood had a remarkable influence on who participates in physical activity. Most notably, he found that “black men’s level of physical activity significantly decreases in neighborhoods perceived to be predominantly white whereas black women’s physical activity significantly decreases in neighborhoods perceived to be predominantly black and urban.” Unsurprisingly, white women and white men are more likely to be physically active when living in neighborhoods that are predominantly white. \n\n Ray draws from intersectionality and feminist literature to make sense of the findings. Women’s concerns about safety and street harassment, Ray suggests, may influence black women’s reduced activity in neighborhoods perceived of as less safe, which are typically urban and predominantly black. Safer, more affluent neighborhoods are also more likely to have resources like childcare and women’s-only fitness spaces that could increase the likelihood of physical activity. On the other hand, black men experience frequent criminalization and may avoid physical activity in predominantly white neighborhoods where they are perceived as threatening. They may opt to exercise in predominantly black neighborhoods, even though these neighborhoods were identified as having fewer resources than white neighborhoods. \n\nThese findings highlight the complex relationship people have with their bodies, their activities, and their communities. It also suggests that for many black men and women, the risks associated with physical activity may outweigh the benefits of exercise.\n\nPhoto by Amy MMP Hurley, Flickr CC\n\nSchool is often a space where racial and ethnic identities are shaped and constructed. Most notably, Black students within white schools have been found to develop racial identities through shared experiences of racism with same-race peers. New research by Bedelia Richards illustrates how this process works for West-Indian students who are often lumped into a “black” racial category by school officials and peers. Yet, Richards finds that despite the school’s racial ascriptions, West-Indian students develop ways to celebrate their various ethnic identities.\n\nRichards conducted four months of observation and twelve interviews at Mayfield High School in Brooklyn, which has a diverse student body of white, African-American, West-Indian, and Asian pupils. School officials participate in tracking, which allows teachers and administrators to assign students different academic trajectories. “Gifted” students are placed within the highest tracks, while struggling students are often placed in “remedial” classes. Richards finds that Asian and white students are most likely to be placed in the highest academic tracks, whereas African-American and West-Indian students are most likely to be placed in the lowest tracks. These tracks become racialized, as teachers and administrators inadvertently reinforce understandings of “black” through mistreatment and stigmatization. \n\nEven as these students are exposed to this racialization through tracking, West Indian students express pride in their individual heritage by speaking in Jamaican, Guyanese, and Haitian. In fact, Richards argues that this process intensifies racial group consciousness, while simultaneously increasing the salience of ethnic identity among West-Indian students. In short, Richards’ research highlights the ways that school processes like tracking can have consequences on both students’ racial and ethnic identities.\n\nPhoto by Nicu Buculei, Flickr CC\n\nBreaking news: parenting can be stressful. And while emotional closeness with others has been found to increase happiness, the same does not always hold true with parenting. Factors like sleep deprivation, work-family balance, and managing child-related expenses can all have negative impacts on overall happiness. In fact, these factors are often strong enough to make parents less happy than non-parents. However, a study by Jennifer Glass, Matthew A. Andersson, and Robin W. Simon explains how work-family policy at the national level can lessen, or even reverse, the negative impacts of parenting on happiness.\n\nIn many nations, family and parenting must be balanced with hectic employment environments, often with less social support than in generations past.  In a study of 22 Western, industrialized countries, the researchers tested the impact of national policy decisions on parental happiness. Using surveys, interviews, and national-level data, they conducted cross-country comparisons to analyze the influence of national-level policies regarding paid vacation and sick leave, work flexibility, child care costs, and options for long-term leaves. The team found that these policies (especially vacation time and sick days) were powerful enough to reverse the effects of parenting on happiness — while parents in nations that did not prioritize such policies were less happy than non-parents, the opposite generally held true in countries that placed a policy emphasis on parenting support. Additionally, the study found that national parenting policies could decrease problematic gender gaps — most policies tended to have greater effects on mothers than fathers, but by reducing the stress surrounding parenting, fathers were more likely to play an increasingly central role.\n\nThe negative effect of parenting was the strongest in the United States, and the researchers point to the nation’s high cost of parenting compared to other countries, as well as the almost complete lack of support for parents at the level of national policy. The United States only has one federal-level policy in place to specifically reduce parenting stress (the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act). Combined with the ways that the job market is more likely to provide family benefits to men, young, single, poor women are more likely to be neglected in these work policies. However, this study indicates that a shift in policy could have incredibly beneficial effects for parents, and perhaps help reduce gender inequities in parenting and support.\n\nPhoto by Aaron Bauer, Flickr CC\n\nIncome inequality has been growing in the U.S. since the 1970s and has created resentment and anger that sparked protest movements like Occupy and contributed to President Trump’s election. Yet, scholars and activists alike are still trying to understand the root causes of increased inequality itself. In a recent article, David Jacobs and Jonathan C. Dirlam seek to explain what accounts for increased stratification in the U.S. in the past 40 years.\n\nJacobs and Dirlam use IRS data from 1978 to 2011 to determine state level income inequality, allowing them to capture very high earners – those making over $1 million – that are often overlooked in other data that combines all people earning over $200,000. They then compile data on the political party that controlled national and state level political office, state unemployment levels, and state unionization rates. They analyze changes over time and assess the relationship between national and state-level conditions.\n\nAccording to Jacobs and Dirlam’s research, many factors produce state-level inequality, but the strongest influence is which political party is in power. Income inequality increased the most when Republican politicians were in office, particularly when the U.S. President was Republican. Lower state-level unionization rates were related to wider income disparities because unions bargain for higher wages and often push up wages at competing non-union companies. Economic and labor market changes had an effect as well — increases in people completing a four-year college degree and decreases in manufacturing employment were associated with greater inequality. These changes created disparities between more and less educated workers, and led to higher demand and rewards for skilled workers.\n\nIn conclusion, Jacobs and Dirlman argue that shifting political power towards companies and away from workers is a major driver of inequality. Conservatives, since Ronald Reagan, have enacted neo-liberal policies that deregulate industry, cut taxes, and weaken unions; this leads to higher profits for companies and investors, but lower wages for workers and less power to advocate for their rights. Thus, politics and political power are key factors, and economic changes alone do not fully explain the growing gap between the least and most wealthy Americans.\n\nPhoto by WOCinTech Chat, Flickr CC\n\nNumerous studies have emerged on gender inequality in the workplace, several of which discuss the differences in treatment, employment opportunities, and pay for women in tech-industries. However, very few studies address how sexuality, gender, and race intersect in the tech workplace for female employees. In a new study, Lauren Alfrey and France Winddance Twine investigate how women’s race, gender, sexuality, and gender fluidity either help them navigate the tech industry or further subject them to critique by their male peers in the predominantly male tech industry.\n\nThe authors conducted extended interviews and surveys with 18 women from a larger study of tech workers in at companies like Twitter and Google to examine their experiences of navigating predominantly male work spaces. Women discussed their how their race, sexuality, and gender fluidity influenced the ways men interacted with them in the workplace. \n\nThe findings indicated that race and sexuality together determined the degree of male peer acceptance. White and Asian lesbian women that were more gender fluid experienced greater support and acceptance. The authors suggest that male coworkers perceived these women as more competent because of their ability to look and act like “one of the guys” through the way they dressed. Yet, Black, dark skinned Hispanic, and straight women who conformed to traditional styles of femininity through dress and behavior were more likely to face criticism from their male peers. For example, females who wore plain shirts and jeans were accepted, and those who wore dresses experienced more isolation. The theme of “geekness,” or the level of expertise one possesses in the tech-field, along with knowledge of popular culture including Japanese Anime and Star Trek, were also key indicators that females would be accepted by their male peers.  \n\nWhile the acceptance of alternative forms to femininity may benefit some gender-fluid women, Black, dark Latina, and straight women are locked out of these benefits and continue to experience gender inequality in the tech industry.\n\nPhoto by Kelly Garbato, Flickr CC\n\nIn the United States, one of the most recognizable cultural icons of WWII is Rosie the Riveter, an image that challenged traditional gender roles in American culture. Although this icon represents a critical moment in American women’s participation in the labor force, Jeffrey Hass finds that women in Eastern Europe did not use their entry into the labor force to challenge gender essentialism. Using diary entries written by women during the Blockade of Leningrad, as well as archival data and interviews with blockade survivors from the Museum of the Defense of Leningrad, Hass examines the roles of women in the Eastern front of WWII.\n\nHass finds that Eastern European women had to contend not only with changing perceptions of their dependency and status vis-à-vis men, but also the already embedded expectations of gender roles. Although narratives about patriotic responsibility encouraged women to perform duties like taking care of children and the home, women also described being pressured to recruit men into the Red Army and fill men’s jobs in the factories. Nonetheless, activities like bread seeking, caregiving, and factory work allowed women to construct a narrative of wartime heroism. But as these women became more aware of the importance of their skills, they started to view men as weak. And the more women viewed men as weak, the more they reinforced essential gender dispositions and relations.\n\nHass contends that the women of Leningrad did not feel empowered by taking on men’s roles because they challenged gender roles per se, but rather because these gendered practices gave them status and shifted the dependency relationship. He concludes that to better understand the relationship between changing gender roles and the reinforcement of gender’s essentialism during conflicts, it is necessary to analyze the objects and people that are permeated with sentiment and meanings.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9424779415130615}
+{"content": "What Works in Building Resilience?\n\n0 avg rating\n( 0 ratings by Goodreads )\n9781904659020: What Works in Building Resilience?\nView all copies of this ISBN edition:\n\nWhat Works in Building Resilience? reviews strategies, interventions and approaches that can help to build resilience in children and young people. The principles of resilience are explored in light of published research, which suggests that incorporating resilience-promoting strategies into services for children and young people can make a real difference. The author explores what those strategies are in relation to different developmental stages' from early years through middle childhood and adolescence to early adulthood, and demonstrates their practical application in child welfare services. This book will enable social care professionals to identify and implement factors that promote resilience in all phases of a childhood.\n\n\"synopsis\" may belong to another edition of this title.\n\nFrom the Author:\n\nTony Newman is a principal research officer for Barnardo's. His areas of interest are parental disability and its impact on children, the promotion of resilience and evidence-based social care practice.\n\n\n(No Available Copies)\n\nSearch Books:\n\nCreate a Want\n\n\nCreate a Want", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998879432678223}
+{"content": "Fidelium (FID)\n\nPlatform Ethereum\n$0.005155 (0.00%)\n0.000002000  BTC\n\nFidelium FID Price Predictions and Forecast\n\nCrocosource uses a wide variety of math and economic models and laws to predict Fidelium price for 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024. We also add different historical market cases to project how quickly people will adapt to Fidelium day-to-day use.\n\nOur prediction algorithm showed that the price of FID coin is highly dependant on it’s technical platform Ethereum.\n\nPredictions are recalculated in real time based on dependencies.\nFidelium is positioned as a platform, so it aims to replace Ethereum for some particular use-cases or overall.\n\nThe FID price right now is $0.005155 a year ago this cryptocurrency didn’t even exist.\n\nTo project the future it is helpful to have a look in the past. We added a historical data on public interest around Fidelium based on Google Search data.\n\nIf you are interested in deeper research and using our aggregated historical data around FID and other currencies to build your own predictions please contact us.\n\nFAQ Section\n\n  • What is Fidelium price right now?\n\n    The average FID price between exchanges is $0.005155 ($0.00000 min, $0.00000 max)\n  • Why is Fidelium falling?\n\n    FID is strongly dependent on a general market situation and the position of its current leaders - Bitcoin and Ethereum\n  • Why is Fidelium going up? How high can it go?\n\n    It is highly dependent on its market adoption speed. You can take a look at our projections, which are based on historical cases of technology adoption\n  • Is Fidelium going down (dropping)? Will it crash?\n\n    Today's price is Ƀ0.000001592, a week ago it was Ƀ0.000001508. We can say that FID price is growing.\n\nInterest by region\n\nFidelium Projections based on Technology Adoption Cases\n\nPredictions 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024\nIf Fidelium has the average YoY growth that the Mobile Phone went through $0.01 $0.01 $0.01 $0.01 $0.02 $0.03 $0.04\nIf Fidelium has the average YoY growth that Google went through $0.01 $0.01 $0.01 $0.02 $0.03 $0.04 $0.07\nIf Fidelium has the average YoY growth that the Internet went through by amount of users $0.01 $0.01 $0.02 $0.04 $0.05 $0.07 $0.08\nIf Fidelium grows according to Moore's law $0.01 $0.01 $0.02 $0.04 $0.08 $0.16 $0.33\nIf Fidelium has the average YoY growth that Facebook went through $0.01 $0.01 $0.06 $0.14 $0.33 $0.57 $0.79", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998642802238464}
+{"content": "STOCKHOLM -- Six contestants have braved butt-numbing cold and boredom to win an annual ice pole-sitting contest in northern Sweden.\n\nTwo women and four men shared the 20,000-kronor prize ($3,100) for remaining on 8.25-foot-tall (2.5-meter) blocks of ice during the 48-hour contest, which ended Saturday.\n\nCompetitors said the worst part of the competition was not the cold -- temperatures dipped below -18 F (-28 C) -- but the monotony, even though they were allowed to come down for 10-minute toilet breaks every other hour.\n\nOrganizer Annica Andersson said the contest has been held annually for a dozen years, and was brought to the Swedish town of Vilhelmnina by a local resident who had participated in a similar competition in Russia.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.722732663154602}
+{"content": "October 11th, 2012 By some bears\n\nThis performance explores the interplay of weight and lightness to reimagine the construction of heavenly bodies as products of collaborative movement on earth. As dancers perform a set piece involving their interactions with each other on stage, a digital intervention captures traces of their position and saves them above the stage as astral objects with subtle movements of their own.\n\nStars are composed of the same material components as our bodies: carbon, oxygen, and metallic elements. The idea that mysterious elements of outer space arise from dancers’ movement on earth is something the audience can ponder while watching the performance unfold.\n\nModern dance embraces a dancer’s contact with the floor, liberated from ballet’s formal restrictions of ascension into space. Thus, contact with the earth that generates ascending digital forms is made more salient through a juxtaposition of process and product.\n\nTechnical Implementation\nDancers are outfitted in form-fitting costumes featuring spots of color at five different points on their body: on the feet/ankles, hands and pelvis. Each dancer sports a different color.\nUsing computer vision, a camera tracks the movement of these color groups as dancers move through space. When the dancer makes a swift upward movement, the acceleration of these points will cross a computational threshold and trigger the generation of digital forms: A projection mapped to the stage appears to throw these five points into the sky from these points on the dancer’s body.\n\nThis action generates a digital form with physical properties, allows it to move gently about the space as if it were a constellation in the night sky. Existing constellations can fade as new ones are generated from movements below.\n\nThis framework is extensible. Sound can play when constellations are generated, becoming gradually less intense as they fade. Dancers are able to generate the set for their performance as a result of set movements. Exploiting the inaccuracies of computer vision tracking, the resulting night sky appears different with every performance no matter how consistently the phrases of movement persist.\n\nLeave a Reply\n\nYou must be logged in to post a comment.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8161671161651611}
+{"content": "IoT Security Starts with Threat Modeling and Security Analysis\n\nFighting back as more processing muscle becomes available to hackers along with the rest of us\n\nMarkets that employ the Internet of Things (IoT) will increase to $520 billion in 2021, which is more than twice the $235 billion expended on IoT in 2017. Nevertheless, growing concern about security has caused firms to hesitate. According to a 2018 Bain & Company survey of 600 IoT decision-makers, firms face “ongoing security and implementation challenges. Respondents said security, integration with IT and operational technology systems, and an uncertain return on investment remained the biggest barriers to adoption.” While cloud providers are influencing IoT analytics and services, their broad focus creates an opening for others to work closely with firms to deliver solutions that are tuned explicitly to a planned strategy.\n\nFigure 1: In a 2018 survey with over 600 respondents, security is the most significant barrier that limits the adoption of IoT/analytics solutions. (Image: Bain & Co.)\n\nManufacturers that want to improve security can take some obvious actions, like eliminating the use of default passwords across devices, encrypting communications, and disabling programming and debugging interfaces like JTAG and UART before production. However, even with encryption, attackers with the right tools and a lot of patience may engage in a category of non-invasive hardware-based attacks known as side-channel attacks (SCAs).\n\nCompanies are aware of the concern for security in IoT and realize that attacks come in many different forms. These can be split into four primary channels: communication, life cycle, software, and physical attacks. Communication attacks exploit connectivity. Life cycle attacks depend on companies to abandon security updates for their products after a few years. The type of attack with the most press coverage is the software attack, which is often carried out remotely and frequently opportunistic. Physical attacks, which Arm categorizes as either invasive or non-invasive, very often require local access to a device to obtain detailed information about the physical state or response of the device. Physical attacks are more difficult to perform but not impossible. If the value of the intellectual property (IP) on a target device is high enough and other methods are not successful, hackers will resort to “brute force,” or physical attacks.\n\nUnlike attacks that exploit software algorithm weaknesses, SCAs use forensic techniques associated with the physical implementation of the embedded hardware. Typically,  hackers use SCAs to extract information that assists in guessing cryptographic keys. Side-channel attacks can require expensive software and hardware tools. However, the same low-cost yet powerful processors sparking IoT growth are placing lower cost, automated tools within hackers’ reach.\n\nTypes of Side-Channel Attacks\nFour types of side-channel attacks are power consumption analysis, electromagnetic radiation analysis, differential fault analysis, and timing analysis.\n\nPower consumption analysis involves monitoring the power consumption of a device under attack. When a processor is performing calculations, transistors turn on and off as they change state. Switching states creates variations in power consumption by the processor that can be externally monitored. For example, as a processor performs calculations for AES encryption algorithms, power consumption patterns can help hackers make educated guesses about the encryption key that’s being used.\n\nElectromagnetic radiation analysis is very similar to power consumption analysis, as the two are directly and physically related. As transistor states change, the total electromagnetic radiation changes in proportion to power consumption. As the electromagnetic radiation changes over time, the electromagnetic field can be analyzed to make educated guesses regarding encryption keys.\n\nA differential fault analysis is based on the response of the device to incorrect clocking cycles or voltage levels. Hackers perturb the device under attack, inducing unintended behavior, and make a note of the corresponding corrupted responses to various stimuli. Over time, the device under attack is less of a black box, as experimentation helps hackers reverse engineer the device based on documented behavior.\n\nTiming analysis is another side-channel attack method that measures the time it takes to perform calculations, which can reveal information about the length of a key or other characteristic that enables hackers to make educated guesses.\n\nPlatform Security Architecture Program\nArm’s TrustZone has been available for some time. However, Arm has also released a processor designed to prevent physical attacks against IoT devices, the new Cortex-M35P processor. In addition to the processor, Arm released new security IP that includes side-channel attack protection (ref. CryptoIsland-300P and CryptoCell-312P).\n\nEven the most robust security schemes are not immune to physical attacks. However, it’s worth it to make hacking as difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating as possible. Companies like Arm provide solutions and tools from the physical layer up. In 2017, Arm announced a major program called Platform Security Architecture (PSA)  “a common framework aiming to provide a holistic approach to IoT security.”  The PSA starts with documentation about Threat Models and Security Analysis (TSMA) for assessing the security risk of several connected devices, beginning with TSMAs for asset tracking, smart water meters, and network cameras. Arm recommends that designers of IoT devices carry out extensive threat modeling to determine specific threats. Once designers identify risks, they can find and assign specific countermeasures to lessen the likelihood of those threats. It’s good practice to implement security on several different layers of the device, starting at the physical layer with tools like TrustZone.\n\nFigure 2: There are three key stages to the Platform Security Architecture: Analysis, Architecture, and Implementation. PSA advises that implementing security should start with an analysis of potential threats and that developers and manufacturers should start by creating their own TSMA. (Source:\n\nAccording to a press release from Arm earlier this year, “PSA aims to provide a holistic set of security guidelines for IoT security to enable everyone in the value chain, from chip manufacturers to device developers, to implement security successfully. When we launched PSA, we provided an overview of what it would aim to deliver to the industry, and we’ve been working hard to progress with that vision.” Arm released the first open source reference implementation firmware that conforms to the PSA specification Trusted Firmware-M (TF-M). Rob Coombs, director of business development, IoT Device IP Line of Business at Arm, states in a related blog post, “Trusted Firmware M (TF-M) is the name of the new open source project that will provide a reference implementation of PSA trusted code, created for the latest Armv8-M microcontrollers with Arm TrustZone technology. TF-M will provide foundational firmware components as a reference implementation that our silicon partners and OEMs can build on (including trusted boot, secure device initialization, and secure function invocation).”\n\nMore information on this topic and a download of the Trusted Firmware-M is on the Arm PSA pages online at\n\nBosche, Anne, et al. “Unlocking Opportunities in the Internet of Things.” Unlocking Opportunities in the Internet of Things, Bain & Co., 7 Aug. 2018,\nNorton, Steven. “Internet of Things Adoption to Rise Despite Security, Data Integration Challenges.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 6 Aug. 2018,\n“Arm PSA Resources.” Arm Platform Security Architecture, Arm, 2018,\n“The next Step for PSA and a Secure IoT Future (TF-M).” Arm Community, Mar. 2018,\n\nLynnette Reese is Editor-in-Chief, Embedded Intel Solutions, and has been working in various roles as an electrical engineer for over two decades. She is interested in open source software and hardware, the maker movement, and in increasing the number of women working in STEM so she has a greater chance of talking about something other than football at the water cooler.\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9081326723098755}
+{"content": "event GR\n\nRem brand Name Project\n\n“The authenticity of the artist”\n\nTehnochoros Gallery, Athens\n\nLola Nikolaou Gallery, Thessaloniki\n\nTechnohoros Art Gallery invites us to play a wall art-monopoly. In the last exhibition of this year which is entitled “Rem Brand Name - The authenticity of the artist”, we are asked to obtain an artwork by giving, why not, even 5 euros!\n\nThis exhibition is a new project of the students of the 3rd painting workshop of Department of Fine and Applied Arts in Florina in the university of west Macedonia, and it was based on the idea of Gabriel Ftelkopulos.\n\nThe exhibition, at the same time, is taking place in Lola Nikolaou gallery in Thessaloniki and gives this game the opportunity to be networked.\n\nAs the art lovers are entering the gallery, they will see the effigy of the portrait of Rembrandt (self-portrait with the cap) dominating the room. The rest of the artworks whitch are created by 60 artists will be placed in a different place, a peculiar depot, a bank which guards the artworks.\n\nHarris Kontosfiris, the course coordinator of the 3rd painting workshop of Department of Fine and Applied Arts in Florina writes:\n\n“Occasioned by the self-portrait of Rembrandt with the cap, we will investigate moments of subjectivity and authenticity in the artistic, everyday life. Painter, sculptor or artist. The genuine individuality can not be other than the combination of a specific individuality with the collective. In order the subject painter-sculptor to have the ability to appear as an artist, it has to be at the same time rich in a context peculiar and still generalized. This completion comes through a series of intermediate stages that the aesthetics provide us with. What calls does the artist send to the society? What does the art industry jointly shape? Does it still remain improper towards the artist? Will we give in the fallacies of the lost tradition or will we stand to the challenge that the withdrawal of the consuming world ejects? How does an artist sees his own artist self?”\n\nParticipant artists:\n\nAngeliki Papamichael, Catherine Lambropoulou AikateriniTourtoura, Alexandra Tsitsinta Amalia Smith, Adrianna Maltese, Andromache-Anna Andreou, Anna-Maria Samaras, Aphrodite Grizi, Achilles Zazos, Varvara Mystiloglou, Vassilis Kavouridis, Basiliki Bourma, Basili Perikleidou, Gabriel Ftelkopoulos, Georgia Damian, George Kevrekidis, George Pantazis, Dimitra Bayraktar, Irene Mnatsakanian, Irene Olympian, Irene Fountouradaki, Helen George-Sarlikioti, Helen Manousaridou, Eloizos Themistocles, Eri Agriou, Evangelia Athanassiadou, Evangelia Karastergiou, Evangelia Menounos, Evangelia Tiganita, Theone, Thomas Makinatsis, Kosttantinos Michiko, Magda Christopoulou, Maria Dimopoulou, Maria Theophilou, Maria Tentzoglidou, Mina Kouzounis, Nelly Rizou, Olga Bogdanou, Panagiota Karvouniari, Antonakaki Sophia, Stella-Maria Katsampeki, Fotini Geli, Harralmabos Margaritis, Christos Dimitriadis, Christos Ioannidis, Garofalidou Christiana, Christina Panas, Christina Tzani, Chryssoula Xyneli.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9786332249641418}
+{"content": "In Nomine Revisited: MAD JACK WHEELIE!!!!!\n\n…And this would be the Platonic Ideal of the character that I inevitably end up playing.  I’ve never used him in a game, though.  Mad Jack Wheelie, truthfully, is probably mostly just for looking at.\n\nMad Jack Wheelie – Google Docs\n\nMad Jack Wheelie\nOfanite Master of Valor\n\nCorporeal Forces: 4 Strength: 6 Agility: 10\nEthereal Forces: 6 Intelligence: 12 Precision: 12\nCelestial Forces: 6 Will: 12 Perception: 12\n\nVessel: Human Male/6, Charisma +2\n\nSkills: Area Knowledge (Everywhere Interesting/6), Chemistry/6, Dodge/6, Driving/6*, Fighting/6, Knowledge (How To Walk a Thin Line/6, Strategy/6), Large Weapon (Hutriel/6**, Sword/6, Truck/6), Move Silently/6, Musical Instrument/-10 (Bagpipes)***, Ranged Weapon (Bagpipes/6, Machine gun/6, Pistol/6, Rifle/6, Shotgun/6), Singing/-10****, Small Weapon (Ducks/6, Knife/6) Tactics/6\n\n*Including such unusual vehicles as horses, unicycles, V-2 rockets, beer barrels and Halley’s Comet.\n**It’s a long story, and not a particularly relevant one.\n***Yup.  That’s a target number of 2 on 2d6. It literally takes almost a Divine Intervention to get Mad Jack Wheelie to play the bagpipes properly.\n\nSongs: Battle (All/6), Blades (All/6), Light (Celestial/6), Motion (All/6), NC (All/6), Shields (All/6)\n\nAttunements: Seraph of War, Ofanite of War, Malakite of War, Ofanite of Destiny, Ofanite of Divine Fire, Ofanite of the Wind, Howl*, One on One, Proficiency (Machine Guns), Proficiency (Sword), Proficiency (Unarmed), Proficiency (Truck)**, Proficiency (Duck)***, Proficiency (Tactical Nuke)****, Scabbard*****, Sure-Footed, Incarnate Law, Master of Valor, ‘Mad Jack Wheelie’\n\n*This is a literal Howl: actually, it’s more like a bark.\n**Yes, this means that he adds the CD of a successful Precision roll to Power whenever he runs over somebody with a truck.\n***Ditto with attacks utilizing a duck.\n*****Rumors that Laurence was cajoled into gifting him with a Scabbard Attunement with a rather increased upper weight limit have not been confirmed beyond a reasonable doubt.  After all, Mad Jack Wheelie could just have been given a Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine with the Summonable Feature.\n\n‘Mad Jack Wheelie’\nThis is not an Attunement: it’s more of an explicit enumeration of just how obnoxious his tactical skills are.  As it stands, Mad Jack Wheelie has a target number of 24 in Tactics and Strategy, before his… unique… artifact is taken into account.  That works out to an auto-success with a minimum CD of 13, just in case it needs to be spelled out.\n\nRelics: The Bathtub of Blessed Winston\n\n\nSite by Neil Stevens | Theme by", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6311664581298828}
+{"content": "The Science of Whipping Cream\n\nIt graces your vanilla sponge cakes, improves the fondant used on cupcakes, turns fruit puree into mousse and fills profiteroles with sweet creaminess. Its silky, creamy, smooth and shiny texture is why the term \"creamy\" is so widely used by tasters to describe the smoothness of a product.\n\n\nEuropean cream brings roundness and power that intensifies recipes. It coats the mouth and gives a lasting quality to pastries that no other raw material can. The taste of cream is not the only attribute that makes it indispensable for pastry chefs; it is its willingness to be worked results in a voluptuous cloud when whipped.\n\n\nBut have you ever wondered why European cream whips into soft light peaks? And will we achieve same result with say, milk?\n\n\nWell let’s understand the legal definition of cream before we speak about the scientific aspects. A decree from April 1980 precisely defines the composition and the principal categories of creams, which are distinguished on the criteria of fat content and consistency. Any substance that results from the skimming of whole milk and that has at least 30 g of milk fat per 100 g is defined as “cream”. \"Light cream\" must contain less than 12 g of milk fat per 100 g.\n\n\nFrom a physical perspective, whipped cream is more complicated than most food based foams, for example, meringue, which is just dense packing of air bubbles held together by egg albumen. The air bubbles in whipped cream are all coated with dairy fats molecules, which explain why pastries filled with whipped cream are so palatable.\n\n\nLike making meringue, whipping or whisking is the essential physical movement to introduce air into liquid; the air will then form mass of bubbles, each bubble is a tiny pocket of air entrapped by a thin film of water, proteins and milk fats.\n\n\nBut the difference lies in the fat content of European cream, which explains why pastry chefs always prefer cream with 30% fat content. As we keep whisking, the process will initially break down protein-coated fat globules in the cream and this lead to fat molecules to adhere to the air bubbles. The exposed fat molecules will merge with each other and form a stable network of aerated cream – the attribution and quality that have made European cream a go-to ingredient for many renowned pastry chefs.\n\n\nYou may wonder that since cream is actually a concentration of fat globules obtained by skimming whole milk, followed by a homogenization stage to stabilize the milk fat. The protein and milk fat that stabilize whipped cream should be the same as in milk, so maybe milk would also whip into foamy peaks? Well you could whip a bowl of full cream milk for hours and never get anything more than a light froth that would disappear instantly.\n\n\n(Of course with the exception of espresso milk steamer that is specially designed to disrupt the micelles. The protein molecules then encompass the air bubbles, protecting them from bursting and leading to the formation of longer lasting foam, but that is another story.)\n\n\nBecause European cream has earned its place in the finest kitchens around the world, its use has adapted to the needs, practices and new expectations of chefs: whether light (12 – 30% fat) or not (at least 30% fat), creams are also distinguished by the type of heat treatment applied (ultra-high-temperature sterilization, pasteurization or thermization), their viscosity (fluid, semi-thick or thick), their structure (whipped cream or whipping cream) and their method of packaging (aseptic or not, jars, bags, bottles, cartons, aerosol, etc.).\n\n\nSuch progress in the diversification of creams has allowed for greater control when cooking and the packaging has allowed it to be sold on store shelves (instead of refrigerators) thus providing greater freedom of use and storage. All of this combines to make cream an essential ingredient in any sophisticated pastry!\n\n\n\nShare this article\n\nAbout Author\n\nnourish! Magazine\n\nAdvancing food science, culinary & agrotechnology | MY • SG\n\nLogin to post comments\n\nContact Us\n\nGreenpower Empire Sdn Bhd (1010678-A)\n\n\n\n\nEmail: [email protected]\n\nLast Posts", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6928592324256897}
+{"content": "Make a Gift\n\n\nGuidance Department\n\n\nPope John\n\n\nPope John XXIII\n\nGuidance Services Offered\n\nWhat Do School Counselors Do?\n\n\nProfessional school counselors provide a wide-range of services in the schools, based on individual student needs and student interests, including, but not limited to:\n\n\n• Mental, emotional, social, developmental, and behavioral services to students and families;\n\n• Academic guidance and support services, including organizational, study and test-taking skills for students;\n\n• Special education services, including serving as integral member of the student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP); Career awareness, exploration and planning services, including goal setting and decision making assistance for students;\n\n• School crisis intervention and response services; Collaboration and coordination of more in-depth services needed through community agencies.\n\n\nSchool Counselors Help You Cope\n\nSchool counselors know how to listen and help. They'll take your problem seriously and work with you to find a good solution. School counselors are trained to help with everything — and it doesn't have to be just school stuff. A counselor can help you deal with the sadness when someone has died as well as advise you on taking the right classes to get into your dream college.\n\nIt takes a lot of training to be a school counselor. Most not only have college degrees but also master's degrees, as well as special training and certification in counseling. One of the many good things about school counselors is that they are up-to-date on all the top things that affect students, including any trends that might affect your school.\n\nSchool counselors can give you all sorts of tips and support on solving problems and making good decisions. Chances are that whatever problem you have, your counselor has seen it before — and has lots of good advice on how to help you work through it. Counselors can give you tips on standing up for yourself if you're being bullied, managing stress, talking to your parents, and dealing with anger and other difficult moods. Counselors also can advise you on problems you may have with a teacher, such as communication difficulties or questions over grades.\n\nSchool counselors are plugged in to the rest of the school community and, in many cases, the outside community as well. So they can refer students to outside resources like substance abuse treatment centers, professional therapists, and even health clinics.\n\nIt can help to know the different types of support your counselor offers — even if you don't think you need it now. Some schools and school districts use their websites to explain what the counselor does and how to get a counseling appointment. You may find their services listed under headings like \"student resources,\" \"student services,\" or \"student counseling.\"\n\nYour school's website may also explain the roles of other school staff members who can help students with problems or school issues. Depending on the size of your school, these people may include school psychologists, tutors, college or career counselors, and school nurses.\n\nThe counselor's role varies from school to school and district to district, so don't assume your counselor provides the same services as the counselor in a friend's school.\n\n\n\n\n•School concerns\n\n1. If you feel harassed or made fun of in any way at school.\n\n2. If your grades need to be better and you need assistance\n\ngetting the academic help you need.\n\n3. If you have test anxiety.\n\n4. If you need help with your study skills.\n\n5. Any other issues that make you feel nervous or upset at\n\n\n•When you want to plan what classes you want to take for the next\n\nsemester. (MRS. MILLER)\n\n•College planning\n\n•Career planning\n\n•Crisis intervention-if you feel like hurting yourself or someone else or you\n\nfeel really upset about something going on in your life.\n\n•Conflict management-If you are having a hard time getting along with\n\nanyone at school or home.\n\n•Behavioral management-If you are having a hard time paying attention in\n\nclass or find yourself getting into more trouble than you want to.\n\n•Personal awareness-If you have a hard time making or keeping friends, or\n\nyou have other personal or social issues that would like to talk to your\n\ncounselor about.\n\n•Family concerns-If you are having a hard time getting along with your\n\nparents, if there has been a lot of stress in your house because of a change\n\nin your family’s finances , if there are issues of substance abuse, other abuse,\n\nor a divorce of your parents.\n\n•Suicide prevention-If a friend has told you that they might do something to\n\nhurt him/herself, or if you notice signs or symptoms of suicide in yourself or\n\nsomeone you know.\n\n\nHow to See Your Counselor\n\n•Students may meet with Mr. Deffenbaugh, their school counselor by appointment or by filling\n\nout a form to request a meeting. If an appointment is made, you should come to MY office at the beginning of the period of the appointment time and I will write you a pass or escort you back to your study hall or lunch. If you fill out a form to request a meeting with ME, I will come get you as soon as I can.\n\n•Students may sign up for an appointment by signing their names in the appointment book during a study hall, lunch period, or before or after school.\n\n•In the case of an emergency, no appointment is necessary.\n\n\n\n\n1. Notice them by making eye contact, listening intently to what they have to say, and acknowledging the importance of what they say to you.\n\n2. Surprise them by doing something special for them or saying something special to them each day.\n\n3. Believe in them by being the one who sees what they can do and helping them achieve their goals.\n\n4. Invest in them by supporting their needs, hobbies, and dreams.\n\n5. Enjoy life with them by playing together, creating memories, perhaps even by just laughing with them.\n\n6. Value them by being their friend, a person who cares, who is by their side, and try to see things from their point of view.\n\n7. Dream with them by finding out what they dream for and helping them achieve their dreams.\n\n8. Disciple them by meeting with them outside of church and helping them understand how much God loves them.\n\n9. Pray for them and follow up to see how they are doing during tough times.\n\n10. Remember them by being a friend for life.\n\nSTUDY SKILLS: Becoming a Better Student\n\nSQ3R:  Survey, Question, Read, Review and Recite\n\n\nHow to Survey (Q & 3 R’s later in the handout)\n\n\nDirections:  Look through the chapter to find out the important points.  This should take about 5-10 minutes.\n\n\n1. Read the title:  Read and focus on the title.  Think about what it means and what should be in a chapter with that title.  Think about what you may already know about that topic.\n\n2. Read the introduction:  Sometimes the first paragraph gives you an overview (review) of the whole chapter.  It may give you clues to how the chapter is organized, and tell you what you will be learning about.\n\n3. Read the bold faced subtitles:  Subtitles are labels.  By reading them you will read a list of all the important parts of the chapter.  Think about each one, what it means and what you will learn.\n\n4. Look at the pictures, charts and graphs:  Glance at these to pick out anything you feel is important and/or interesting.\n\n5. Read the summary at the end:  The summary gives you the key points in the chapter.  It will help you understand the chapter because you will gain a better idea about what the chapter is about.\n\n6. Look at the questions at the end of the chapter:  Read through the questions, these will give you a better idea of what you will be learning from the chapter.  DO NOT read the chapter to simply answer the questions though.\n\n7. Complete SQ3R note cards.  Study during wasted time in chunks of 5 minutes.  Take a 5-15 minute break before studying the note cards again.\n\n\nOrganization Skills\n\n\nDirections: Planning, setting aside time each day, rehearsal of information to place it in long-term memory, and asking for help, will assist you greatly in learning and being academically successful!\n\n\n1. Plan & get organized: Use your agenda book to write down assignments in each class.  When you complete your assignments, have your parents check your work.  Put it in your binder that is designated for each class.  Turn in your assignment promptly at the beginning of each class.  If you have an assignment due sometime in the future, work on it early and finish it well ahead of time. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE!  Each day before it is due, look at the assignment, revise it and make it better!\n\n2. Set aside time each day for studying at home: Every day at home, spend 2-3 hours studying.  That means not only to do homework, but review material covered in class that day.  This study time at home needs to be at a quiet place, preferably away from distractions like TV, the computer, or music playing.  Your entire focus needs to be on studying.  Part of this time each day should be used for SQ3R note cards.\n\n3. Rehearsal, repetition, rote memorization – the 3 R’s to successful learning:  In Bloom’s taxonomy, the key to being a successful learner, to be a critical and creative thinker, you need to have a solid foundation of common knowledge.  To acquire basic facts and information to be stored in our long-term memory to which later we can more easily learn new information, attachment of this new information is easier if we can easily recall similar information previously learned.\n\n4. Ask for help! Get a peer tutor, stay after school and work with your teacher individually each week, form a study group, and call a homework hotline like 1-800-ASK-ROSE, all can assist you in doing better in the classroom.  See Mrs. Miller for additional information on homework assistance.\n\n\n\n\n\nPope John XXIII Elementary\n\n221 West State Street\n\nMadison, Indiana 47250\n\n\nShawe Memorial Jr./Sr. High School\n\n201 West State Street\n\nMadison, Indiana 47250\n\n\nAdministration and Parish Office\n\n305 West State Street\n\nMadison, Indiana 47250\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6148311495780945}
+{"content": "Book review – Material Matters: New Materials in Design\n\nMaterial Matters: New Materials in Design, by material scientist Philip Howes and Zoe Laughlin, the co-founder/director of the Institute of Making and the Materials Library project.\n\nAvailable on Amazon UK and USA.\n\n0amater7lsm-cover.jpgBlack Dog Publishing writes: Material Matters: New Materials in Design discusses the vast range of materials that are available to us today, and highlights the advances predicted to prove seminal in the future. The six chapters are divided by chemical composition–Metals, Glasses, Ceramics, Polymers, Composites and material Futures–and with every material featured, the book stresses the relevance of physical material properties.\n\nEach material featured is presented with relevant manufacturer information, material properties and current and potential applications and includes the websites of manufacturers and research institutes, making this a handy reference book for the designer. Material examples include the newly developed metallic ‘microlattice’, now the lightest solid known on earth; Dow Corning’s ‘Deflexion’, a fabric capable of instantly hardening and Graphene, a material which, at 200 times the strength of structural steel despite being only one atom thick, has the potential to revolutionise the field of electronics.\n\nPhilip Howes, Materials Scientist and Zoe Laughlin, Creative Director of The Institute of Making, provide explanations of the basic chemical structure of materials–what makes a glass a glass and why not all polymers are plastics. Their discussion of the potentialities of new materials embraces disciplines as disparate as aerospace engineering and medical research, in addition to offering explanations to everyday material conundrums.\n\n0kThe-Solar-Sinter-Markus.jpgMarkus Kayser, The Solar Sinter, 2011\n\nMicroscopic glass flakes, Blood Lab-On-A-Stick, piezoelectric ceramics, Catalytic Clothing (clothes that purify the air around), noise-absorbing ceramic, titanium foam, antimicrobial copper, instantly-hardening fabric, light-reflecting concrete, self-healing concrete, soft magnets, self-cleaning glass, etc. And i had no idea that bullet-proof vests contained ceramic.\n\nThere is nothing arid nor soporific about new materials.\n\nThe authors of the book handpicked some of the most surprising new materials. Their look sometimes belies their nature, their names often verge on the oxymoron and their applications have only just started to be explored. Most materials are allocated one page in the book but some of them are illustrated further with a spotlight on a ‘case study’ that describes designers, architects and engineers’ most innovative uses of materials: from largest optical/near infrared telescope to shape-changing architecture.\n\nThe text is as techy as necessary to explain clearly the physical properties and latest applications of each innovation but you don’t require a degree in engineering to follow along.\n\nMaterial Matters: New Materials in Design doesn’t pretend to be the bible of all materials, the ultimate encyclopedia but it does fulfill competently its ambition to be a source of inspiration for designers and artists.\n\n0IskiiinMG_0267_b.jpgSoft Circuits or “epidermal electronic system” (EES) is an ultrathin, electronic circuit applied on the skin. It can stretch, flex, and twist and take input from the movements of your body.\n\n0thermobimetalsl3q0.jpgDoris Sung, Thermo-Bimetals at Applications&Materials Gallery\n\nJólan van der Wiel lets magnetic fields and the force of gravity shape its stools. A mix of iron and plastic is layered between strong magnets that pull the material into unique designs.\n\n0gravitystool1making1.jpgJolan van der Wiel, The Gravity Stool\n\n0aagravitystool02.jpgJolan van der Wiel, The Gravity Stool\n\nDoris Kim Sung‘s Bloom installation demonstrates the properties of thermobimetal, a thermally responsive metal surface, which reacts to both the change in temperature and direct solar radiation. When the temperature of the metal is cool, the surface appears as a solid object, but once the afternoon heat penetrates the metal, the panels of custom woven bimetal will adjust and fan out to allow airflow and increase shade potential.\n\n0microlattice.jpgMicrolattice, the world’s lightest material is 99.99% air, 100 times lighter than styofoam and as strong as steel.\n\n0aaaaerogel_tracks.jpgParticles of Stardust are shot into Aerogel\n\nStardust are made from dust that pre-existed the Sun. The interstellar samples were collected by astronauts in 1999. Scientists stored the stardust in Aerogel because its extremely light structure and thermally-insulating properties ensure that the particles are not damaged after being embedded inside the spongy interior.\n\nBare is a temporary conductive ink that can be sprayed or brushed directly onto the skin to create custom electronic circuitry. This innovative material allows users to interact with electronics through gesture, movement and touch.\n\n0aBareConductive.jpgBare: Skin Safe Conductive Ink\n\nMushroom Packaging as a 100% biodegradable alternative to polystyrene (Styrofoam) packaging.\n\n0crisman_ecovative_wired_001-590x801.jpgEcovative Design (image Chris Crisman)\n\n0Klimakjole04.jpgThe Climate Dress uses conductive clad fibers and responds to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere\n\n0jnuueheatfusibe4.jpgJungeun Lee and Shota Aoyagi, Heat-Fusible Yarn\n\nFerrofluid, or magnetic liquid, is composed of ferrous nanoparticles suspended in a liquid.\n\n0ferrofluid-1-small.jpgSachiko Kodama and Minako Takeno, Protrude, Flow, 2001\n\n0oszosz_37.jpgMatthew Szösz blows air between pieces of fused discarded window glass.\n\n0c3_solarthermaltowerseville.jpgP10 Concentrating Solar Power Tower", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9880048632621765}
+{"content": "Martina Tesařová\n\nOptimization of the method of the impact of pre-incubation within particular kinds of poultry depending on the age of the paternal flock.\n\nŠkolitel: doc. Ing. Martina Lichovníková, Ph.D.\n\nInstituce: Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of AgriSciences\n\nObor: Special animal breeding\n\n\nO mém projektu\n\nWhile the production of fertilized eggs is a continual process, the hatching is optimized with regard to the market demand for one-day-old chickens. For this reason, the fertilized eggs must be stored. This, however, has a negative impact on the hatchability of these eggs. The aim of this project is to optimize the conditions of pre-incubation for the maximum possible elimination of the negative impact of storing the fertilized eggs on the hatchability of chickens, depending on the age of the paternal flock. Thus, the aim is to determine the embryonic stage of development after laying the fertilized eggs and then after the pre-incubation application in different intervals for different times and while applying different temperatures.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9996735453605652}
+{"content": "NFL and GE partner to study the brain\n\nThe National Football League and GE announced a $60 million effort to speed up research into brain injuries and the development of new technologies to help protect the brain from traumatic injury to benefit athletes, the military and the broader public.\n\n\nResearchers explain the goals of a new brain-mapping project\n\nA proposed effort to map brain activity on a large scale, expected to be announced by the White House later this month, could help neuroscientists understand the origins of cognition, perception, and other phenomena. These brain activities haven’t been well understood to date, in part because they arise from the interaction of large sets of neurons whose coordinated efforts scientists cannot currently track.\n\nAn article published Thursday in Science online expands the project’s already ambitious goals beyond just recording the activity of all individual neurons in a brain circuit simultaneously. Researchers should also  find ways to manipulate the neurons within those circuits and understand circuit function through new methods of data analysis and modeling.\n\nBrain stimulation might help some functions and hurt others\n\nElectrically stimulating the brain may improve memory, but impede with a person’s ability to react without thinking.\n\nThe approach has previously been shown to enhance various brain functions, including working memory and attention, and is being used to help stroke patients regain lost language and motor skills (see “Repairing the Stroke-Damaged Brain”). But until now, little research had been done on whether improving performance on one task would come at the detriment of others.\n\nComputer modeling may help soldiers, athletes, avoid concussions\n\n\nProfessor K.T. Ramesh led a team that used a technique called diffusion tensor imaging, together with a computer model of the head, to identify injured axons, which are tiny but important fibers that carry information from one brain cell to another. These axons are concentrated in a kind of brain tissue known as “white matter,” and they appear to be injured during the so-called mild traumatic brain injury associated with concussions. Ramesh’s team has shown that the axons are injured most easily by strong rotations of the head, and the researchers’ process can calculate which parts of the brain are most likely to be injured during a specific event.\n\nRadiation in space might harm the brains of astronauts\n\n“This study shows for the first time that exposure to radiation levels equivalent to a mission to Mars could produce cognitive problems and speed up changes in the brain that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease,” study author Kerry O’Banion, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester Medical Center, said in a statement.\n\nBrain technology market to exceed $1B by end of 2012\n\n\nTechnologies in demand include computerized Web-based and mobile cognitive assessments, cognitive training and cognitive behavioral therapies, and biometrics-based monitoring and brain training tools that measure physiological responses such as heart rate variability and electroencephalography.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9595273733139038}
+{"content": "Banana Santa\n\nAt Christmas parties people always bring cookies and food that’s not always healthy. These banana Santa’s are cute, relatively healthy, require no cooking, and are easy to make.\n\nbanana santa\n\nThe eyes are sprinkles and the noses are M&M’s.\n\n\n\nSanta cookies\n\nSanta cookies are perfect for Christmas! These cookies are perfect for a party or even setting the cookies out on a table for Santa. They are simply chocolate chip cookies but white chocolate chips and red and green M&M’s are added.\n\nChristmas cookies\n\nNot only are they delicious they are fun too!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7397966980934143}
+{"content": "What is the herniated disc? Our spine is made up of 26 bones, or vertebrae, which include soft discs, which exert the function of cushioning the vertebrae and hold them in place. As we grow older, as most common cause, discs may see diminished their capacity and break. When this breakdown occurs, the gelatinous substance leaves the inside of the disc can cause irritation of the surrounding nerves, causing back pain or sciatica.\n\nherniated disc\n\nintervertebral discs\n\nThe discs are formed by a coating or fibrous outer ring and rigid; inside it is soft with a jelly-like texture. They act as shock absorbers and facilitate the connection between vertebrae. The discs distributed effort in the column to prevent damage.\n\nTypes of herniated disc\n\nWhen the nucleus gelatinous crosses the ring appears the hernia. There are different types, depending on where it has escaped the gelatin or core. Thus, we can speak of direct inguinal hernia, indirect inguinal hernia, and central or paracentral inguinal hernia.\n\n\nThe hernia may be due to a structural abnormality of the disc, an alteration of their biochemical properties as a result of the age or by repeated microtrauma. Among the risk factors, a sedentary lifestyle, bad posture, overexertion or a bad fall.\n\n\nThe most obvious symptom is pain, throbbing pain, localized and which may be continued if the nerve root is involved. Symptoms also include tingling sensation in the lower limbs, loss of strength and inability to perform movements.\n\nDiagnosis and treatment\n\nTo diagnose the herniated disc will be performed MRI and CT scan. In most cases, the first therapeutic approach is to administer anti-inflammatory drugs, combined with physical therapy. In other cases, surgery is needed.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9942167401313782}
+{"content": "You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘human rights’ tag.\n\nOK, got to get to bed for tomorrow’s sessions, but the thing that struck me from this session was that there are a lot of false divisions that need to be overcome.\n\nThere was one bloke – didn’t catch his name, but he was coming from the science end, and talked about the influence of science fiction on encouraging people into careers in the sciences – who basically slagged off “greenies” and accused them of being incredibly selfish people who thought hugging trees would make everything OK and who ignored science. I have never once met someone who seriously advocated hugging a tree, and I know rather a lot of greenies, all of whom got interested in the topic precisely because of the science. I know there are people out there who match the stereotype, but it’s completely irrelevant and kind of destructive. I suspect it comes from the opposition to things like genetic engineering of food crops; but everyone I know who opposes it does so on historically-informed scientific grounds, by which I mean that they are conscious of how radical human intervention in complex systems can completely derail them – has done so in the past, for instance the ways the Green Revolution of the 70s has directly contributed to degradation of crop soil – and so they are not gung-ho optimistic about how right it’ll all be.\n\nAnother example was the tension between human rights and the pressing need for sweeping changes in human systems; reconciling the need to re-engineer our lifestyles with people’s freedoms is a toughie. But in fact the tension isn’t an opposition; human rights violations will only increase as environmental change takes place and competition over resources grows, while ignoring human rights while creating change will only lead to conflict that will slow change at best and (if it grows violent) lead to tremendous destruction.\n\nAnother union of contrasts is the solution: science and literature. As pointed out in the session, both require imagination, exploration and publication; and they offer a chance to show how the world might work in sustainable ways. I actually think we need to go beyond that, to try to imagine new forms of heroism and new kinds of solution. Too often heroism is defined as the quality of a particular individual or small group of individuals, whereas what we require here is co-operation on a truly epic scale, of the kind that won World Wars. And the solution here is not only new technologies, but the wisdom to accept voluntary austerities and restraints before they become scarcity and constraint; in other words, not the single stroke that saves the world, but the steadfast, ongoing will to hold ourselves within limits set by reason rather than blindly bloating out to the boundaries of a capacity we know extends well into self-destruction.\n\nIt’s possible. It just needs to be imagined loudly enough.\n\n\nEntries by month", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5356342792510986}
+{"content": "As a graphic designer, I have to keep several elements in mind when designing. Depending on the job, font style, textual and graphical layout, and color are usually what I deal with. None of these elements are more important than the other, but today I’m going to touch on color.\n\nWhy is color important and how does it effect people?\n\nColor can incite a myriad of emotions from all different kinds of people. Studies have shown that red, a warm color, can cause excitement and agitation. Blue, a cool color, often does the opposite in that it brings a sense of calm and has a soothing effect.\n\nGraphic designers aren’t the only people who use color. Interior decorators will often choose a specific color for a certain room to push an emotion. Often times a reddish color will be used in dining rooms because it makes people feel like eating. Cool and neutral colors are often used in psyche wards or waiting rooms in hospitals to keep people calm and relaxed.\n\nWhat color are my office walls? Wood.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChad, BOWADX – Franklin TN\n\n\n\nJohn, The Perch – Brentwood TN\n\n\n\nPhyllis, Carneros Winery – Nashville TN\n\n\n\nLife Line Repairs – Nashville TN\n\n\n\nSports and Entertainment – Nashville\n\n\n\nJimmy, BMC – Franklin TN", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9989484548568726}
+{"content": "Why support the museum?\n\nWhy an International Museum for The Victims of Communism and Research Centre on The Crimes of Communism in Estonia is needed\n\n\nHonour and memorialize the over 100 million victims of communism. The institution will research, preserve and raise international awareness of the crimes of communist regimes and their victims. Greater understanding of these repressive regimes and awareness of the crimes and systemic gross human rights violations they committed against millions of innocent civilians will help prevent the recurrence of totalitarianism and promote human rights, democracy and freedom.\n\nNeed to raise global awareness of Central and Eastern European history. The 20th century history of Central and Eastern European nations is often overlooked and marginalized by the overarching topics of the Second World War and Cold War. However, the history of these nations is critical to understanding broader historical issues, as they were cynically used and carved up by the Nazis and Soviets in their coordinated start of the Second World War triggered by the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939. The Museum tells the story of these nations: how their freedom was crushed by Communist and Nazi imperialism and about their 50 year struggle for independence.\n\nA globally unique, immersive historial education institution and living memorial. The authentic Soviet era prison environment that the Museum and Centre are housed in, provides a globally unique, immersive, museum environment that allows visitors to see, feel  and share the experiences of the victims of Communist repression and terror. Untouched since the fall of the Soviet Union, the interior of Patarei Prison itself, is a historical artifact that is a part of this dark history. It’s unique history and environment make it an internationally significant site that will become an iconic global symbol of Communist totalitarianism and a memorial to the suffering of its victims.\n\nPromoting and securing values. The Museum and Center engage in researching and the telling of this history objectively and outside of any domestic partisan political debates. It seeks to reinforce and promote the values of human rights, democracy, transparency and freedom, independent of domestic politics or foreign pressure.\n\nLearning from past propaganda warfare and protecting history today. Propaganda and disinformation were on the front lines of the Cold War, as Soviet and other Communist authorities weaponized information to repress their own people and manipulate their adversaries by twisting facts and creating new ones. Communist propaganda and disinformation strategies and tactics have been revived over the past decade and have seen a steep escalation since 2007. The facts surrounding Central and Eastern Europe history are on the frontline of the new information war and are under constant risk of being attacked and manipulated by belligerent actors in efforts to discredit and undermine Central and Eastern European states.\n\nA trusted international institution for historical facts. The Museum and Centre will bring together a diverse international coalition of trusted regional and international memory institutions, researchers, experts and thinkers on the crimes of totalitarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. Governments and media who seek facts and information can contact the Museum and Centre as an international nexus for information about the crimes of communism.\n\nA venue and platform for the exchange of ideas and information. A trusted, high profile, international public venue and platform for researchers and experts to exchange and discuss ideas, research and views, the museum will host regular events and conferences to facilitate the growth of this community to further protect this important history. The museum and center are committed to helping grow awareness of European and global crimes of communism through its activities and programs.\n\nEvidence based. The information and historical narratives presented at the Museum will all be evidence based. The Museum and Center will foster the conditions for effective research by supporting talented researchers, creating high-quality scientific papers and articles for the wider public and constantly exchanging knowledge and experience between scholars from Estonia and other countries.\n\nCreating a Strong Global Community. By building and connecting a global community of experts, academics and experts from around the world, the Museum and Center will further ensure that these histories are safeguarded against ongoing active attempts to deny or manipulate them.\n\nA leading global advocate that empowers researchers and activists. The Museum and Center will create a safe environment for researchers and experts working in and on regimes where historical facts, and the communication of them have been outlawed. The Museum and Center will become a global advocate for those who face persecution for their work on exposing communist crimes and those who actively fight to overcome existing totalitarian regimes.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9980217218399048}
+{"content": "Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST)\n\nSeptember 30, 2015 -\n\nGastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are uncommon tumors of the GI tract. These tumors start in very early forms of special cells found in the wall of the GI tract, called the interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs). ICCs are cells of the autonomic nervous system, the part of the nervous system that regulates body processes such as digesting food. ICCs are sometimes called the “pacemakers” of the GI tract because they signal the muscles in the digestive system to contract to move food and liquid through the GI tract.\n\nMore than half of GISTs start in the stomach. Most of the others start in the small intestine, but GISTs can start anywhere along the GI tract. A small number of GISTs start outside the GI tract in nearby areas such as the omentum (an apron-like layer of fatty tissue that hangs over the organs in the abdomen) or the peritoneum (the layer of tissue that lines the organs and walls of the abdomen).\n\nNot all GISTs are cancerous. Some are benign (not cancerous) and don’t grow into other areas or spread to other parts of the body. Doctors have ways to find out whether a GIST is benign or cancerous.\n\nTo learn more CLICK HERE.\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9725873470306396}
+{"content": "\n\nYour search for\n\n\nResulted in 13 canvas\n\nOracle business model | How does Oracle make money?\n\nOracle Business Model\n\nOracle Corporation (Oracle), incorporated on October 9, 2005, provides products and services that address all aspects of corporate information technol...\nView Canvas\nNimber business model | How does Nimber make money?\n\nNimber Business Model\n\nNimber is a collaborative peer-to-peer service that connects people who need to send something from one place to another with people going that way an...\nView Canvas\nSlack business model | How does Slack make money?\n\nSlack Business Model\n\nView Canvas\nEliteHeads business model | How does EliteHeads make money?\n\nEliteHeads Business Model\n\nEliteHeads is the source of world’s smartest brains on demand for consulting & collaboration in strategic, Financial, patents and innovation matters...\nView Canvas\nFieldwire business model | How does Fieldwire make money?\n\nFieldwire Business Model\n\nFieldwire is a mobile field management platform for construction contractors. Mobile devices are to the $8 trillion dollar construction market what th...\nView Canvas\n\nStay tuned!\n\n\n©2018 Vizologi Inc. All rights reserved.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9785177111625671}
+{"content": "Petition Closed\n\nUN Investigate the Impact of the Biopsychosocial Model of Disability on Human Rights !\n\nThis petition had 1,116 supporters\n\nUnited Nations to investigate ,  impact of  the use and influence of the Waddell-Aylward Biopsychosocial model of disability on human rights , and the consequent effects on the disabled , access to health care , social care , insurance and welfare benefits worldwide .\n\nAs well as an independent inquest to be made , to investigate the use and influence of the Biopsychosocial model of disability on British Social Policy . \n\nTo include human rights violations , access to health and social care , insurance and welfare benefits , warehousing of the disabled , benefit sanctions , informed consent , deaths, and mental health consequences of austerity and the work capability assessment , as identified by Oxford  and Napier University . As well as  initiatives for including mental health education in schools , and in the NHS 5 year plan on mental health and integrated care.\n\nAppointment of appropriate safeguards , and quality, safety and excellence regulation following investigation .\n\n\"The biopsychosocial model has played a significant role in shaping the UK government's approach to disability and welfare over the last two decades, yet some important claims made about the value and benefits of biopsychosocial approaches have been based upon poor quality evidence and misleading claims .\" 1\n\nDisabled people deserve to know the impact of the Government’s policies on their lives .The government have failed to produce a full cumulative impact assessment report .\n\nGrave systemic human rights violations against the disabled continue , despite the conclusions made in the UNCRPD enquiry report , as well as the need to protect human rights in Brexit negotiations .\n\n\nFurther reading : Why is this Important and what is needed \n\n1 . Protection of human rights in Brexit negotiations , and prevention of an increase in the number of patients , parents and carers receiving a mental health diagnosis of somatic symptoms disorder  , in both medically explained and unexplained , and suffering human rights violations, benefit sanctions , forced psychosocial treatment , institutionalisation , and death .\"SSD replaced most of the DSM-IV Somatoform disorders with a single, new diagnostic category and a much simpler criteria set. SSD dispenses with the requirement for the somatic (bodily) symptoms to be medically unexplained. SSD may be applied to a percentage of patients with general medical conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease or diabetes or to a percentage of the so-called, FSSs, CFS, ME, IBS and FM, if the clinician considers the patient's concerns about the symptoms or symptom to be “excessive” or “disproportionate” and if the patient meets the other criteria for SSD. SSD may also be applied to children and adolescents and to parents or caregivers.\"\n\n2 . Prevent consequences for access to care , insurance , and welfare of the encompassing somatic/somatoform category of illness, and rejection of the construct of MUS , MUPPS , MUPS , BDS , SSD and their synonyms as a medical or psychiatric diagnosis , in both medically explained  and unexplained diseases , and an increase in mental health diagnosis being made in patients , carers and parents who can all be diagnosed with somatic symptom disorder . \n\n3. Prevent iatrogenesis , from the work capability assessment , and protect patients including children  , from forced , harmful psychosocial \"rehabilitation\" treatments , institutionalisation , diagnosis of persistent refusal disorder when the \"rehabilitation \" treatments don't work , and parents falsely accused of Munchausen by proxy syndrome , which are already issues charities are dealing with .\n\n4 . Stop the commissioning of tax payers money on psychosocial \"rehabilitation therapies\", based on misleading research  . Removal of the use of the JCPMH report on MUS for clinical commissioning groups , which is a waste bin diagnosis , that conflicts with WHO classification , Institute of Medcine report  and NICE guidelines of certain diseases listed as functional somatic syndromes. As well as lack of inclusion of the wider international biological research on the nature of conditions listed , as functional somaric syndromes ,and the effectiveness and harms of the psychosocial therapies recommend . \"The relationship of the advocates of the Waddell Aylward BPS to the UK government’s ‘welfare reform’ does not represent evidence-based policy. Rather, it offers a chilling example of policy-based evidence.\" 2 \n\n5. Adherence to the requirements of the landmark change to UK law on Consent 2015 . Which requires patients to be informed of all risks , benefits and alternative treatments according to all research , and not reliance on a reasonable body of opinion such as a guideline .Patients regardless of diagnosis , to be given the option of personalised medicine , through testing and treatment of their biochemistry , using a systems biology approach , that investigates and treats underlying cause of disease , including mental health , which is available privately , and is evidence based .\n\n6 . ICD 11 to delete the proposal for the category of Body Distress Disorder .\n\"With limited field studies, there is currently no substantial body of evidence for the validity, reliability, utility, prevalence, safety and acceptability of the S3DWG’s proposed disorder construct .\" 3\n\n7 . Retraction of the PACE Trial , and its policy implications worldwide  , which has support from scientists and researchers worldwide , and removal of the involvement and contribution of its authors in the DSM 5 revision , and suggestions for ICD 11 , patient care , NICE guidelines , clinical education, commissioning guidelines for CCGs , and as DWP and insurance advisers . Investigation of the policy implications of PACE and the psychosocial model use in  initiatives for including mental health education in schools , and in the NHS 5 year plan on mental health and integrated care.\n\n\n\nLetter to Aylward\n\nCriticism of Medically Unexplained Symptoms\n\n\nFunctional Medicine and functional psychiatry resources below  : investigating and treating underlying cause and biochemistry of chronic illness and mental health,_Environmental,_Nutritional)_Medicine\n\n1 .\n\n\n\n\n\nToday: Alex is counting on you\n\nAlex Haagaard needs your help with “#cashnotcare UN Investigate the Impact of the Biopsychosocial Model of Disability on Human Rights !”. Join Alex and 1,115 supporters today.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9988659024238586}
+{"content": "RiverZoo by MonTrelle Arnold\n\n\nbyMonTrelle Arnold\n\nKobo ebook | February 28, 2017\n\nPricing and Purchase Info\n\n\nPrices and offers may vary in store\n\nAvailable for download\n\nNot available in stores\n\n\nLebronte, Germaine, Staine, Wrigley and Jackson were all buddies growing up.  They each went their separate ways but somehow remained remotely in touch.  The bad blood between them stems from malicious acts of betrayal and unreconciled altercations.\n\nWhen their former high school throws one final “All Graduates” Ball before it’s closed permanently, they happen to unexpectedly run into each other.  Surprisingly, they don’t discuss their high school days at all, they were most focused on the genesis of their relationship: Riverview Junior High. \n\nAs they reminisce about some of the wild and unbelievable events that happened while they were students at what was considered one of the worse schools in the country at the time, they began to realize just how much they have meant to each other.\n\nIs it possible they can repair the damage time has done to their relationships.  Or are they just mutual memories from an era at a school better known RiverZoo.\n\nTitle:RiverZooFormat:Kobo ebookPublished:February 28, 2017Publisher:MLA NovelsLanguage:English\n\nThe following ISBNs are associated with this title:\n\n\nLook for similar items by category:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9870877861976624}
+{"content": "If I've said it before, it still bears repeating: This reviewer is a huge fan of the \"Mother\" series of games. The works of the mind of Shigesato Itoi, \"Mother 1\" and \"Mother 2\" (\"Earthbound\" in America) are known for their quirky sense of humor and \"Dragon Quest\" gameplay, both of which serve as window dressing to a strong, sometimes dark narrative discussing the human experience.\n\nWhen \"Mother 3\" was readying for release in Japan in 2006, I jumped on the chance to own it, even knowing I would not be able to play the game, as I cannot read Japanese. So the game has sat, mostly unfinished on my shelf because of frustration with wading through online translation guides. However, thanks to the efforts of Starmen.net, there is now an English translation of the game, and playing through the title in a language I can understand, \"Mother 3\" is everything fans of the series could have hoped for.\n\n\"Mother 3\" feels very much like an extension of \"Mother 2\" because of the designers' decision to keep the graphics on the same level as the previous game. There are some notable changes, such as the characters being full-size instead of the squat representations from the previous games and a higher level of facial cues and detail from the characters, but overall the art style retains the series' charm. There are also returning villains from early games, such as evil crows and strolling mushrooms. Finally, the game keeps its \"Dragon Quest\" style of play, with battles taking place from the player's perspective and only showing the enemies and spell effects.\n\nHowever, \"Mother 3\" - as with both other titles in the series - introduces a new cast of characters and story to draw gamers into its unique world and also makes some changes to the classic \"Mother\" formula. \"Mother 3\" focuses on the family of Flint, a cowboy-type character who lives in the village of Tazmily with his wife, Hinawa, and twin sons, Lucas and Claus. Soon a strange evil descends upon Tazmily, and the world of \"Mother 3\" begins to open to players. \"Mother 3\" has a much darker narrative than either title that came before it, but, surprisingly, this is not a detriment to the game. There are still plenty of cheap laughs and amusing scenarios, as if the game is trying to show that real life is much the same: a series of tough times interspersed by laughter.\n\nThe big change to how \"Mother 3\" plays is the addition of an active element to battles, which allows gamers to deal extra damage if they can succeed at a simple but changing rhythm game. The menu also is changed but still is easy to navigate and simple to use.\n\n\"Mother 3\" is a fun ride, and although not everyone seems to \"get\" the series, this reviewer is having a blast playing it.\n\nReach Paul Dziuba at pauldziuba@gmail.com.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5182187557220459}
+{"content": "\n\nThe Perpetual Skies\n\n“The moon is a loyal companion.\nIt never leaves. It’s always there, watching, steadfast, knowing us in our light and dark moments, changing forever just as we do …  Sometimes weak and wan, sometimes strong and full of light. The moon understands what it means to be human.\nUncertain. Alone. Cratered by imperfections.”\n― Tahereh MafiShatter Me\n\n\nWith the upcoming lunar eclipse on August 21st, a reminder about lunar phases in relation to watches, is necessary. This evening we will be in the waning crescent phase meaning the moon is in it’s first quarter. Most of the moon phase complications only show the four main phases, but there are eight phases repeating over 29 and half days every month. Every month has a distinct name for it’s full moon. Since the cycles are about 30 days, some years  we have 13 full moons instead of 12. The extra full moon is referred to as a “blue moon.”\n\nI remember that my fascination with the moon, stars and all the beautiful interstellar matters began when I was camping with a childhood friend years ago. We had a big plan of making our own fire, cooking ballpark hot dogs, and telling ghost stories. We were only a few miles in the woods at his grandparents’ house, but at the time, it was a big adventure. Back then, in those woods, there was no cell phone reception and few electronics. Only the sounds of the forest and a crackling fire. We stared at the fire for a while, but we eventually looked up and our wild discussion began. We all looked up at the moon, the same moon that an immigrant coming to America may have looked at a 200 years ago. The same moon that Julius Caesar looked at almost 2000 years ago. The same moon that primitive hunters looked at way before then.\n\nI am often reminded of my fascination with the moon when looking at moon phase complications. The moon phase complication is a part of a watch that is not the most useful as you can just look up at the sky and see it is night time, but it is one of the most aesthetically pleasing complications.\n\nFor me, it is a reminder of how vast the universe is and how small hitches in the road are a mild burden to the intricacies of life’s real pursuits. Moon phase watches remind me that while cities rise and fall, the sky and moon follow the same pattern every month, every year, every millennium. While they are beautiful, iconic timepieces these luxury watches are a reminder, of how small we are in the world compared to the stars and moon we see every night.\n\nThe moon phase complications are incredibly difficult to engineer. Most luxury watches with moon phases are so accurate that the moon phase complication will only have to be reset once every 122 years. The moon phase complication on the Patek Philippe Grand Complications Perpetual Calendar 5159 G, that I wrote about last week theoretically can go on perpetually forever without being reset.\n\nWe often forget about how beautiful our moon is on a midsummer’s eve until we step away far from civilization. However, with the upcoming eclipse many of us have decided to look up more often. August 21st 2017 will be the first time in almost 40 years that there will be a total solar eclipse in the United States.\n\nThe solar eclipse is a spectacular event only lasting about two minutes in the prime spot being Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Simply, the moon will cover the sun and only brief glimpses of the photo-sphere will be visible. This event should be on everyone’s bucket list.\n\nHere are some of my most recent favorite moon phase watches.\npatek philippe grand complications perpetual calendar 5159 g\n\n\nThis is the same watch from last week. I  love the large roman numerals along with the silver bezel. Its grandeur and it is aesthetically pleasing plus it is a Patek Philippe. Beautiful watch, and I believe this one will stay in my personal top ten for a long time.\n\n\nAnother beautiful watch for someone who wants more complications. I like the contrast between the black strap band and the platinum case. The silver dial against the blue on the moon phase make the moon phases stand out more. A. Lange & Sohne watches are really becoming a staples of elegance.\n\n\nbreguet classique quantieme perpetual men's 18k yellow gold watch\n\n\nThis would be a spectacular watch to wear with a black suit or tuxedo. I am a big fan of the individual stars on the watch compared to the shining yellow gold case. The dial play a little on the pink side making giving it a little bit of color, and still contrasting with the yellow gold case on the watch.\n\n\nThis is another amazing watch that is probably going to stay in my top 10 for a while. I’ve linked to a blog from Hodinkee, because we don’t have any of our own images of this watch, but make sure to notice the footprint on the Moon if you decide to take a look.\n\nBONUS: Patek Philippe Grand Complications Celestial\n\nThe Patek Philippe Grand Complications Celestial actually isn’t a moon phase, but I wanted to include it, because it is so beautiful! This watch is an extraordinary timepiece. It is incredibly rare and unique. An eye catcher for any occasion or a beautiful collector’s piece.\n\n\nIf this article has piqued your interest about the moon, but you are not in the geographic range to look at it personally check out this LIST of streaming sources.\n\nIf you are interested in seeing some Patek Philippe moon phase watches check out last week’s blog post HERE or all moon phase watches HERE on\n\nIf you enjoyed the post please click on one of the social media buttons below!\n\n\n\nFollow DeMesy & Co.\nWelcome to DeMesy Fine Watches!\nEnter To Win A Free Watch Winder\nEnter your email below.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8587937355041504}
+{"content": "Public Release: \n\n\nIndiana University\n\n\nIMAGE: The UNCtau 'bottle' trap. A combination of magnetic fields and gravity prevent neutrons from escaping the container. view more \n\nCredit: Los Alamos National Laboratory\n\nBLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A study led in part by physicists at the Indiana University Center for the Exploration of Energy and Matter could provide new insight into the composition of the universe immediately after the Big Bang -- as well as improve calculations used to predict the life span of stars and describe the rules that govern the subatomic world.\n\nThe study, published May 11 in the journal Science, reports a highly accurate way to measure the decay rate of neutrons. An author on the study, Chen-Yu Liu, is a professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Physics.\n\n\"This is a significant improvement compared to previous experiments,\" said Liu, who is a leader on the UNCtau experiment, which uses neutrons from the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center Ultracold Neutron source at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. \"The data is far more accurate than what we've had before.\"\n\nThe rate of the decay of neutrons -- subatomic particles with no charge -- is significant because it is used to predict the proportion of hydrogen and helium in the universe a few minutes after the Big Bang. The number also affects calculations used to determine how quickly hydrogen atoms burn up inside stars and the rules that control the elementary particles like quarks and gluons. This is because during neutron decay, one \"up\" quark transforms into a \"down\" quark, a process that physicists don't yet fully understand.\n\nScientists currently use two methods to isolate neutrons and calculate their decay rates:\n\n  • The \"bottle\" method: Counting the number of neutrons that remain over time after being trapped inside a container.\n  • The \"beam\" method: Measuring the rate of protons that emerge from a neutron beam generated by a nuclear reactor.\n\nSome physicists regard the beam method as more accurate because the bottle method risks miscounting neutrons absorbed into the container as disappearing from decay. But the study from Liu and colleagues uses an invisible container made from magnetic fields and gravity to eliminate the risk of interference from physical material. As a result, the experiment can measure a neutron's lifetime with a high level of precision.\n\n\"A neutron could technically live inside our trap for three weeks, which is much longer than any other previously constructed 'bottle' traps,\" Liu said. \"This long trap lifetime is what makes it possible to achieve a highly accurate measurement.\"\n\nThe use of a \"magneto-gravitational trap,\" in which the neutrons' magnetic charge and mass prevent them from escaping their container, also makes it easier to measure the neutrons because the bottle is \"lidless,\" Liu said.\n\nLiu's lab joined the UNCtau experiment in 2011 to help re-invigorate the project. The work required five years to design, fabricate, test and install their equipment at the neutron source in Los Alamos, after which the team began to run experiments and collect data. Members of Liu's lab regularly travel to New Mexico to test equipment, run experiments and record the results.\n\n\"Five years to get an experiment running and producing data is very fast in our field,\" Liu said. \"We spent about six months on site and six months creating hardware each year. It was really a cycle of fast prototyping and improvement. We would never have been able to renovate the technology without the mechanical and technical support available at the IU Center for the Exploration of Energy and Matter.\"\n\n\nOther IU authors on the paper are Ph.D. students Nathan Callahan, Evan Adamek and Daniel J. Salvat; mechanical engineer Walt Fox; and technician John Vanderwerp. Other IU contributors were Gerard Visser, electrical engineer; Frank Gonzalez, a graduate student; and Chris Cude, an undergraduate at the time of the study.\n\nAdditional authors come from Los Alamos National Laboratory, North Carolina State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, West Point Military Academy, the California Institute of Technology, Tennessee Technical University, DePauw University, the University of Washington, the Institut Laue-Langevin in France and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Russia. The study was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and the IU Center for Spacetime Symmetries.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5140518546104431}
+{"content": "There has been a steady momentum developing over the past year for ‘The Neuron Series’. Building such a focused body of work and having it consistently circulating through the public has been a new experience for me.\n\nWhen I submited my art for exhibition at a small local library, I didn’t consider it such a significant opportunity. Rather, just a way to keep my work visible and out of my studio. The library’s space for exhibiting consists of one large wall in a side room where children come for story time on a weekly basis and various other small community events take place. I kept telling myself and others that it was really no big deal of a venue.\n\n_DSC5743croppedHowever, I quickly ate those words when pulling the community newspaper out of my mailbox and finding my photo on the front page! What a shock! Even my contacts at the library stated that this exposure is rare for any of the artists they feature. I can only assume the community didn’t have as many front page news events to feature, somehow making me a blessed recipient of story promotion.\n\nAs a practicing artist, I have come to believe that there is no opportunity too small or insignificant to seize. Since the newspaper feature, I have had many people in our neighborhood, some barely acquaintances, express their congratulations and best wishes for the show. The warm and unexpected response has taught me that you just never know where one small opportunity can lead. A small neighborhood library exhibit led to front page coverage, which led to unexpected community recognition, website hits and additional exhibition leads. Like dominoes, one opportunity is uniquely leading to another.\n\nRather than sit and wait for the “perfect” high profile venue, I am seeing the value and potential in taking hold of the opportunities currently presenting themselves. If I don’t, my work could very well sit in a closet for years, with no exposure or interest whatsoever. What value is gained through that? Artwork is meant to be seen and experienced, whether by one, dozens or hundreds. It appreciates in value when people engage with it. It depreciates in value when I hide it away from people, selfishly waiting for crowds of adoring fans or  highbrow venues more “worthy” of my creative expression. (Sarcasm here)\n\nBy being open and grateful for any audience I am granted, I’m experiencing growth in artistic experience and creative momentum. And, I’m finding that the encounters I’m having in everyday locations seem to provide more authentic connections with the individuals viewing my work. As a benefit, my work is becoming commonly seen and known in places where life just naturally happens, generating growth in reputation by its steady presence in the community. This adds to my feeling of being a working part of society, an artist as citizen.\n\n_DSC5718cropSure, there is a marketing strategy to how often artwork is seen and in what reputable locations. Artists need to make a living just like anyone else.  But, I find seeking fame and payback detrimental to the creative process. This is when we take ourselves too seriously as artists and may even be tempted to compromise. I’m discovering that through these small homegrown encounters, I am gaining a more authentic patron base, one valuable person at a time. These are people who have come into contact with my work at their local café, church, favorite restaurant, etc. Through these intersections, they are becoming accustomed to my art gracing the walls of their daily routines, and relationships are forming. As a result, the need to hit the pavement with portfolio under arm has been less demanding than expected. It takes one person to be interested in my artwork to the point that they will generously assist in opening up another door for people to engage with it. How very humbling and much more pleasant.\n\n\n\n“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much…” Luke 16:10a", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7211399078369141}
+{"content": "32 years ago, Tom Cruise stepped into a role that would define his entire career. Top Gun was a smash hit, it rocked the box office and shot Tom Cruise to the top of Hollywood stardom. In the film, Maverick, played by Cruise, is a young pilot who enters into a training program to become the Top Gun. Now, Maverick is back for a sequel three decades later. \n\nAny movie that was a hit in the 80's is coming back around in some form. On Wednesday (May 30), Cruise took to social media to share the first official picture from the set of Top Gun: Maverick. In the picture, Maverick stands on a deck while looking at his F-14A Tomcat. The caption \"Feel the need\" is sprawled across the center of the picture, which is a nod to the famous line from the first film, “I feel the need, the need for speed.” According to The Hollywood Reporterthe sequel will follow Maverick and his crew as they deal with new technology. The creation of drones is making the use of pilots obsolete. Joseph Kosinski (Oblivion, TRON: Legacy) is set to direct the film which is slated to hit theaters on July 12, 2019.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8629659414291382}
+{"content": "Essay on How does Shakespeare present Iago's manipulation of Othello?\n\n639 Words Nov 23rd, 2013 3 Pages\nHow does Shakespeare present Iago's manipulation of Othello?\n\nShakespeare uses a number of techniques to express the manipulaton of Iago in this scene.\nHe lies to Othello in a barefaced manner, as we know from earlier context, in which we see Iago slandering Othello to his friend Roderigo, in the first scene of the book, showing that from the outset Iago has been against Othello, and this facade of trying to “help him out” immediately tells us he is not to be trusted.\n\nFrom what we have already learnt it is apparent that Iago is a classic Machiavellian stereotype; he goes out of his way to upset others, seemingly for little reason other than his own entertainment, and we know that he is set to destroy Othello, hence why he is\n…show more content…\nUp until this point the act has consisted mainly of chaining of simple conversation, however upon having these terrible thoughts planted in his mind, Othello enters an extended dialogue, accusing Iago of hiding something from him, which is foreshadowing as we know he thinks the same of Desdemona further along in the play.\nIago replies of “My lord, you know I love you”. This could easily be compared to the earlier statement from Iago “I do hate the moor”.\nThere is a great contrast between these two quotes as they portray completely different messages, one truthful and one a lie.\nIn the first he refers to Othello as “The Moor”. In the second he refers to him as “My lord”.\nThe use of the word “The”, signifies that Iago doesn’t see Othello as a real person, more an object, and the word “moor” is highly derogatory, as it is labelling him purely on his ethnicity.\nThis is perfect to compare with “My lord” as the use of “my” represents a false closeness between Othello and Iago, it is much more personal, and implies Iago holds Othello close to his heart. And the title “Lord” signifies how Iago is making out that Othello is his superior; he addresses him with a title instead of simply with a trait.\nIn conclusion. This goes to show that Iago is a cunning character, as he is planting ideas in Othello’s, and manipulating him with something he cares deeply about, which speaks volumes about his personality. It is almost as if the characters are chess pieces and\n\nRelated Documents\n\nGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | Talent Spotting... | 26.11.1820:30 Uhr Windows 10 Rs5 Buisness Aio v1809.10.0 Vl Nov Preactivated 2018Betriebssystem 0 / 0762 Hits VID P2P DDL 0 Kommentare", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9655444622039795}
+{"content": "Titanium Coated Drill Bits High Hardness, Good Wear Resistance\n\nTitanium Coated Drill Bits Through the chemical or physical method to form a film on the surface of the tool, so that cutting tools to obtain excellent comprehensive cutting performance, so as to meet the requirements of high-speed machining; since the early 20th century, the early 1970s since the advent of hard coating tools,Titanium Coated Drill Bits chemical vapor deposition ( CVD technology and physical vapor deposition (PVD) technology have been developed for the improvement of tool performance to create a new chapter in history. Compared with the uncoated tool, the coating tool has significant advantages: it can greatly improve the cutting tool life; effectively improve the cutting efficiency; improve the machining accuracy and significantly improve the surface quality of the workpiece; effectively reduce the tool Material consumption, reduce processing costs; reduce the use of coolant, reduce costs, conducive to environmental protection.\n\nCoating characteristics\n\nThe use of coating technology can not reduce the strength of the tool under the conditions of a substantial increase in the hardness of the tool surface, the current hardness can be achieved close to 100GPa;\n\nWith the rapid development of coating technology, the chemical stability of the film and high temperature oxidation resistance is more prominent, so that high-speed machining possible.\n\nLubricating film has good solid-phase lubrication performance, can effectively improve the processing quality, but also suitable for dry cutting;\n\nCoating technology as the final process of tool manufacturing, the tool accuracy is almost no impact, and can be repeated coating process.\n\nCommonly used coatings\n\nTitanium Coated Drill Bits Titanium Coated Drill Bits (TiN) is a versatile PVD coating that increases tool hardness and has a high oxidation temperature. The coating is used for high speed steel cutting tools or forming tools to obtain very good processing results.\n\nThe chromium nitride coating CrN coating has good resistance to adhesion and makes it the preferred coating in the process of producing chips. With this virtually invisible coating, the machining performance of high speed steel tools or carbide cutting tools and forming tools will be greatly improved.\n\nTitanium Coated Drill Bits Diamond-coated CVD diamond coating provides the best performance for non-ferrous metal processing tools, ideal for processing graphite, metal matrix composites (MMC), high silicon aluminum alloys and many other high abrasive materials (Note: Pure Diamond-coated tools can not be used to process steel, because the processing of steel will produce a lot of cutting heat, and lead to chemical reactions, so that between the coating and the adhesive layer was damaged).\n\nTitanium Coated Drill Bits Titanium Carbide Titanium Carbide (TiCN) coating added to the carbon element can improve the hardness of the tool and get better surface lubrication, is the ideal high-speed steel cutting tool.\n\nThe aluminum oxide layer formed in the TiAlN / AlTiN coating (TiAlN / AlTiN) coating can effectively improve the high temperature processing life of the tool. Mainly used for dry or semi-dry machining of carbide cutting tool can be used for the coating. Depending on the ratio of aluminum and titanium contained in the coating, the AlTiN coating provides a higher surface hardness than the TiAlN coating, so it is another viable coating option for high speed machining.\n\nTool coating performance\n\nTitanium Coated Drill Bits (TiCN) coatings have a higher hardness than Titanium Coated Drill Bits (TiN) coatings. Due to increased carbon content, the hardness of TiCN coating increased by 33%, the hardness range of about Hv3000-4000.\n\nCVD diamond coating surface hardness up to Hv9000, the application of the coating in the tool has been more mature, compared with the PVD coating tool, CVD diamond coating tool life increased by 10-20 times. The high hardness of the diamond-coated tool makes the cutting speed 2-3 times higher than that of the uncoated tool. The CVD gold oxide temperature refers to the temperature at which the coating begins to decompose. The higher the oxidation temperature, the more favorable the cutting process under high temperature conditions. Although the hardness of TiAlN coating may be lower than that of TiCN coating, it is proved that it is much more effective than TiCN in high temperature processing. The reason why TiAlN coatings can remain at high temperatures at high temperatures is that an alumina can be formed between the tool and the chip, and the alumina layer can transfer heat from the tool to the workpiece or chip. The cutting speed of the cemented carbide tool is usually higher than that of the high speed steel tool, which makes TiAlN the preferred coating for the cemented carbide tool. The cemented carbide bit and the end mill are usually made of this PVDTiAlN coated stone coating The tool becomes a good choice for cutting non-ferrous and non-metallic materials.\n\nThe hard film on the surface of the tool has the following requirements: ① high hardness, good wear resistance; ② chemical stability, not with the workpiece material chemical reaction; ③ heat and oxidation resistance, low friction coefficient, and the substrate attached to a solid and so on. A single coating material is difficult to achieve all of the above technical requirements. The development of coating materials has been developed by TiN / NbN, TiN, TiN, TiN, TiN, TiN, TiN, TiN, TiN, TiN, TiN, TiN, TiN, TiN, TiN, TiN / CN, and other multi-composite film materials, the performance of the tool coating has been greatly improved.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8788979053497314}
+{"content": "Staff Links\n\nYear 4-The Tower of London\n\nYear 4 visited the Tower of London on Wednesday 19th September 2018. They visited the White Tower, The Crown Jewels, the Bloody Tower, the White Tower and Traitor's Gate. We had a workshop where the children learnt all about the Anglo Saxons, the Battle of Hastings and the history of several different Kings.\n\nIMG 0541IMG 0449\n\nIMG 0549IMG 0453\n\nIMG 0482IMG 0459", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8565884232521057}
+{"content": "Religion > Judaism and Jewish Studies\n\n1 2 3 4 5 6 >>>\n    sort list by title\n\nIntimate Violence\nAnti-Jewish Pogroms on the Eve of the Holocaust\nJeffrey S. Kopstein, Jason Wittenberg\nWhy do pogroms occur in some localities and not in others? Jeffrey S. Kopstein and Jason Wittenberg examine a particularly brutal wave of violence that occurred across hundreds of predominantly Polish and Ukrainian communities in the aftermath of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. The authors note that while some communities erupted in...\n\nRigorism of Truth\n\"Moses the Egyptian\" and Other Writings on Freud and Arendt\nHans Blumenberg\nIn \"Moses the Egyptian\"—the centerpiece of Rigorism of Truth, the German philosopher Hans Blumenberg addresses two defining figures in the intellectual history of the twentieth century: Sigmund Freud and Hannah Arendt. Unpublished during his lifetime, this essay analyzes Freud’s Moses and Monotheism (1939) and Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem...\n\nImmigrant Girl, Radical Woman\nA Memoir from the Early Twentieth Century\nMatilda Rabinowitz\n\nJew Boy\nA Memoir\nAlan Kaufman\nJew Boy is Alan Kaufman's riveting memoir of being raised by a Jewish mother who survived the Holocaust. This pioneering masterpiece, the very first memoir of its kind by a member of the Second Generation is Kaufman's coming-of-age account, by turns hilarious and terrifying, written with irreverent humor and poetic introspection. Throughout the...\n\nRepentance for the Holocaust\nLessons from Jewish Thought for Confronting the German Past\nC. K. Martin Chung\nIn Repentance for the Holocaust, C. K. Martin Chung develops the biblical idea of \"turning\" (tshuvah) into a conceptual framework to analyze a particular area of contemporary German history, commonly referred to as Vergangenheitsbewältigung or \"coming to terms with the...\n\nHell and Its Rivals\nDeath and Retribution among Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Early Middle Ages\nAlan E. Bernstein\nIn Hell and Its Rivals, Alan E. Bernstein examines an array of sources from within and beyond the three Abrahamic faiths—including theology, chronicles, legal charters, edifying tales, and narratives of near-death experiences—to analyze the origins and evolution of belief in...\n\nJacob's Shipwreck\nDiaspora, Translation, and Jewish-Christian Relations in Medieval England\nRuth Nisse\nJewish and Christian authors of the High Middle Ages not infrequently came into dialogue or conflict with each other over traditions drawn from ancient writings outside of the bible. Circulating in Hebrew and Latin translations, these included the two independent versions of the Testament of Naphtali. For Ruth Nisse, this is an emblematic...\n\nMixed Feelings\nTropes of Love in German Jewish Culture\nKatja Garloff\nIn Mixed Feelings, Katja Garloff asks what it means for literature (and philosophy) to use love between individuals as a metaphor for group...\n\nThe Accommodated Jew\nEnglish Antisemitism from Bede to Milton\nKathy Lavezzo\n\nThe Borscht Belt\nRevisiting the Remains of America's Jewish Vacationland\n\n1 2 3 4 5 6 >>>\n\nConnect with us", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7678149342536926}
+{"content": "Piano Lessons\n\nStart lessons for piano playing\n\nHave you had a lifelong dream of learning to play the piano? You aren't alone. For centuries, the piano has been a preferred instrument for music lovers due to its classic beauty and the relative ease of learning. Luckily, there are a variety of ways to learn to play the piano.\n\nPiano Lessons 101\n\nThere are a variety of methods for learning piano. Some teach the very basics, like reading musical notes and proper finger placement, at the very beginning and then build up to more complex techniques. Others focus on learning more advanced pieces while mastering the basics. There are definite benefits and drawbacks to different methods.\n\nYou should also think about what kind of piano music you want to play. Some people prefer the timeless beauty of classical piano, but other niches such as jazz piano lessons and riff piano lessons are building large followings.\n\nNecessary Supplies\n\nRegardless of the type of piano lessons and the unique piano style you prefer, you will most definitely need a piano. Piano lessons just aren't possible without a piano or music keyboard. If you have a keyboard, you may want to take Yamaha piano lessons or other lessons geared toward keyboard users.\n\nPiano Lesson Options\n\nThere are several ways of learning to play the piano. Many people opt for traditional lessons from a piano teacher who is present in person. Others like to purchase books, CDs or DVDs. There are definite drawbacks to both methods. In-person lessons are incredibly expensive and require that you block out time from your busy week for lessons. On the other hand, it can be very difficult to learn something as complex as piano from an impersonal book, CD or DVD.\n\nHowever, there is a new option that offers the best of both worlds: online piano lessons. With online piano lessons, you can take lessons when you have the time, in the privacy of your own home. You can get personalized help and learn by the method that is easiest for you. Many people have found that online piano lessons allowed them to learn to play piano even with a busy schedule and multiple commitments.\n\nIf you are thinking about learning to play piano, there is no time like the present. The wide variety of options makes it possible for everyone to learn this satisfying skill. In no time, you can be surprising friends and family with your artistic skill.\n\nAdvertiser Links for piano lessons\n[ what's this?]\n\nHello Hobbies", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9099406599998474}
+{"content": "Tips on Choosing Lottery Numbers\n\nA lottery is a game of probability, thus there is no specific method of picking lottery numbers. You are better placed to winning lottery when you come up with a method that is good. A person has a number of ways that he/she can use to successfully pick lottery number. It will be good for a person to consider a number of aspect before settling on the right method of picking the lottery numbers. Some of the methods, which will be used by a person, are mathematical or scientific approach. It is with the help of gamble and random selection that lottery numbers will be obtained. You need to have hope when selecting lottery numbers because it’s a lucky game. Below are ways that a person can use when picking lottery numbers.\n\nYou can opt to consider random numbers when picking the lottery numbers. The basis of winning the lottery game is by the use of random numbers, thus why you need to consider them. It is for this reason that a person who uses random number will increase possibility of having a successful lottery. It will be prudent to consider a generator that provides the random number to obtain the lottery numbers. You can secure the random numbers for your lottery by using a computer.\n\nA person should put into consideration that number which is picked more times as the lottery number. You need to learn that frequently picked number can increase the chances of winning a lottery. You will know the numbers that are picked more often by using lottery programs. This is because the programs will help to indicate the frequency at which a number has been picked within a particular time. You can opt to a number with the least frequency of picking and still win the lottery.\nThe consideration of a number with highest frequency of pick will be obtained when you pick it. The combination of more and less picked numbers will also make a person to win a lottery. It will be possible by relying on your knowledge and the number of time numbers have been picked to select the right lottery numbers. You stand to have an assurance of succeeding in lottery when you follow your instinct and the frequency of pick of a number.\n\nYou can select lottery numbers by using significant numbers. The significant number will date for special events in life. It is possible for the mobile number and date of birth to serve as significant numbers for the lottery numbers. It is possible to increase the probability of winning a lottery with the combination of numbers which are crucial. You will be in a position to find the numbers which ensure you win a lottery by seeking advice of experienced people.\n\nLearning The Secrets About Numbers\n\nWhat No One Knows About Gambling", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9452762007713318}
+{"content": "Bramble Diseases - Viruses\n\nVirus diseases can seriously damage brambles, especially raspberries, and can affect the lifetime of a planting.\nBramble Diseases - Viruses - Articles\n\n\nSource: SCRI-Dundee , Scottish Crop Research Institute,\n\nOnce the plant is infected with the virus, the entire plant will be infected for the remainder of its life. Virus infections cause decreased productivity, so it is important to start a planting with healthy plant stock obtained from a reputable nursery.\n\nClean planting stock usually is obtained through meristem-tip culturing. Meristem-tip culturing produces an essentially virus-free plant. These indexing methods vary with the type of virus to be detected. The virus-indexed plants then are used to propagate more plants to commercial quantities. For the plants to remain essentially disease free, they must not be increased in the field where viruses and other pathogens can infect the plant. These propagation methods also reduce the likelihood of other diseases such as crown gall.\n\nOnce the planting is established, viruses can be introduced into the planting by various means. The virus must be carried to the raspberry bushes by a vector. The vectors responsible for spreading viruses are pollen, aphids, nematodes, and possibly leafhoppers and whiteflies. Thus, the active control of virus diseases is based on preventing the initial infection of clean stock by removing sources of virus near the planting, mainly wild bramble bushes, and by controlling the vectors. If a young planting shows virus symptoms, the planting stock probably was infected at the time of planting since symptoms do not usually appear during the first season of infection.\n\nFive major virus diseases are associated with brambles: mosaic, leaf curl, crumbly berry, black raspberry streak, and tomato ringspot virus.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9805582761764526}
+{"content": "Analysis of the Epithelium-Mesenchymal Transition Process on Oral Squamous Cell Carcinomas\n\n<div><p>Abstract The aim of this study is to evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of E-cadherin, N-cadherin and Bmi-1, and their association with clinical parameters and with the degree of histopathological differentiation in oral squamous cell carcinomas. 65 squamous cell carcinoma samples were used for constructing a tissue microarray block, and then immunohistochemistry was performed for different markers. A semi-quantitative analysis of the amount of positive tumor cells was performed by two blind and calibrated observers (Kappa>0.75). The statistical Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to evaluate the data. The correlation between variables was investigated by the Spearman test, and the significance level set at p<0.05. We observed higher expression of Bmi-1 in tumors located in the palate (p<0.0001). In addition, poorly differentiated tumors had a greater amount of Bmi-1 positive cells (p=0.0011). Regarding the other correlations between variables, no significant associations were detected. In conclusion, poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas located in the palate have higher immunostaining of Bmi-1, which can characterize activation of the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition process in these tumors.</p></div>", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998307228088379}
+{"content": "Canadian Literature : The Canadian Fiction Essay\n\nCanadian Literature : The Canadian Fiction Essay\n\nLength: 1262 words (3.6 double-spaced pages)\n\nRating: Strong Essays\n\nOpen Document\n\nEssay Preview\n\nThough the term Canadian Literature typically refers to a canon of works selected to represent what has become Canadian culture over the course of the country’s young history, the Canadian story has existed long before there existed a canon. Thus the Canadian myth is of equal importance to the Canadian literary identity as the literature chosen to be a part of the Canadian literary canon. But how does Canadian mythology contribute to the literary landscape when so little of is has been written down? The Oxford English dictionary defines mythopoeia as the creation of myths. Mythopoeia allows for the creation of myths, while always knowing that the myths being created are fictional, and allows for the formation of a history. The character of Jack Denham in the novel sums this up with the quotation, “Not that I feel any responsibility to Tay John, nor to his story. No, not at all. His story, such as it is, like himself, would have existed independently of me…every story only waits, like a mountain in an untraveled land, for someone to come close, to gaze upon it, and relate it to the known world. Indeed, to tell a story is to leave most of it untold. You mine it, as you take ore from the mountain.” (125) He relates to us that Canada has a rich history of storytelling and legend, and whether or not we pass these tales along has no effect on the truth of the history. In the novel Tay John, Howard O’Hagan uses legends, hearsay, and history to argue that the Canadian mythological identity is the result of cultures battling for relevance in a young literary landscape. The author uses the repetition of different versions of Tay John’s birth as a metaphor to show that two cultures have combined to create a literary landscape, which is the c...\n\n... middle of paper ... this echo, the stories told to us reverberate differently as time goes on. The stories are distorted and changed, and interpreted differently with each new generation to hear the story. If stories are ore that must be mined from the mountain of history, then the ore is the building stones we use to build a bridge into our own history. “Part of the strength of Canadian literature may lie in the fact that it bridges the gap between the known and the unknown” (Chorny). In this way, Tay John serves the purpose of showing us a rich mythological history that can only be shared by storytelling, but that: “These men are separate from the source of power. They may eat off the table which has soaked up Tay John 's blood but they get no closer” (Ondaatje). Our stories are but mere glimpses into our past, and the smallest windows into what has become our identity as a nation.\n\nNeed Writing Help?\n\nGet feedback on grammar, clarity, concision and logic instantly.\n\nCheck your paper »\n\nEssay on Alice Munro – A Master of Canadian Short Story\n\n- Introduction: All of us have read or heard many stories. They may be funny, sad, interesting or the other perceptions of man. The main elements of a short story consist of plot, characterisation, narrative technique, theme, tone, language, setting and atmosphere. The short story in Canada really developed in the late 19th century. Making a slow start in the 1830s, it picked up in the mid-nineteenth century when newspapers and magazines gave a fillip to its publication. A question often asked is what makes a short story specifically Canadian....   [tags: Canadian literature, female authors]\n\nStrong Essays\n3148 words (9 pages)\n\nEssay about Canadian writing and the language of the colonizer\n\n- Canadian writing and the language of the colonizer During the latter part of the twentieth century, Canadian writers have looked at the effects of colonialism on the original native population. The culture of the indigenous peoples and the oral tradition used, was for a long time on the verge of being eradicated, as the enforced language of the colonizer became the accepted norm. As many contemporary authors believe that they have been marginalized, they argue that they are similar to the tribal inhabitants, becoming “...spectators, not elements in what goes on” (Weibe, Rudy....   [tags: Essays Papers]\n\nFree Essays\n703 words (2 pages)\n\nEssay on `` Happy Endings `` By Edgar Allan Poe\n\n- 2109 “If you want a happy ending, try A:” The Underlying Theme of Death in Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” Edgar Allan Poe once said, “The boundaries which divide Life and Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends and the other begins?”(1). Death and its effects, as well as the mechanics of writing, are depicted in many of Atwood’s works, deeply influenced by her passion for Edgar Allan Poe’s works in literature. Death for Atwood in “Happy Endings” is not simply another macabre literary experiment....   [tags: Edgar Allan Poe, Short story, Fiction]\n\nStrong Essays\n1661 words (4.7 pages)\n\nCrafting a Canadian Imagination: A Juxtaposition of Baseland and Hinterland Experiences\n\n- Crafting a Canadian Imagination: A Juxtaposition of Baseland and Hinterland Experiences Establishing a uniquely Canadian imagination has traditionally been regarded as a difficult task, as it hopes to craft a form of literature that places Canadian authors outside of the realm of influence of its early colonial European establishment, and more recent American convergence. However, it is possible to extrapolate an idiosyncratic identity that is not formed as a product of the difference between Canadian authors and their European or American powers, but rather through examining the ways in which these impacts have helped inform authors in creating literature which adheres to prevailing forms,...   [tags: Canadian literature, baseland poems]\n\nStrong Essays\n1750 words (5 pages)\n\nEssay on Work of Margaret Atwood\n\n- Many commend Margaret Atwood for her ability of depicting individual and worldly troubles of universal concern (Study Guide). Over thirty years, Atwood has written more than twenty volumes of verse, novels, and nonfiction. Although she is noted for all of these volumes, she is better known for her novels. In these work of fiction, themes such as feminism, mythology and power of language pervade. Margaret Atwood's immense talent for conveying the importance language through her characters can be seen in her writings such as The Handmaid's Tale....   [tags: Literature]\n\nFree Essays\n1056 words (3 pages)\n\nEssay on Analysis Of Bridge, By Katherine Paterson\n\n- Introduction Throughout the novel Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson introduces vivid and unique characters. These characters assist in helping readers identify and understand the themes of friendship, acceptance and imagination and the style of Paterson’s writing help reader’s better understand these themes and the characters within the novel. Jesse, also known as Jess is the main character in Paterson’s novel. He is the protagonist and the story is told from his point of view. He has a wide range of traits, including the desire to belong, a love for drawing, his sensitivity, kindness and fearfulness as well as being hardworking....   [tags: Fiction, Character, Protagonist, Narrative]\n\nStrong Essays\n1196 words (3.4 pages)\n\nEssay Myths, Symbols and Images in select poems of Jeannette C. Armstrong\n\n- Introduction ‘Half-breed’ is the term used by the whites in Canada to denote the natives who are born out of the native blood line; eg:The Metis are descendants of the marriage between the French, Amerindians and the natives of Canada. The word ‘metis’ means ‘mixing up’. The various indigenous tribes in Canada were homogenized by the European colonizers under the process of conversion to Christianity. The whites imposed their tradition and culture onto the aboriginals who had diverse and varied rituals, customs and traditions....   [tags: Postcolonial Literatures]\n\nStrong Essays\n1343 words (3.8 pages)\n\nCanadian Literature: Untold Narratives Essay\n\n- Canadian Literature: Untold Narratives The relationship between person versus nature is an ever present theme in Canadian literature. This relationship and its relevance to Canadian literature, is in some ways a form of cultural expression. Proof of this is shown in the fact that, “ many Canadians view the natural heritage of Canada as being a vital part of their identity and culture, on both personal and national levels, ( Freedman, Turner 170).” Additionally, Canadian author’s, “ [articulate] their feelings about nature through literary expression, and to thereby gain insight into their empathy for natural ecosystems and native species, and their concern about damage caused to those valu...   [tags: nature, Death by Landscape, Open Secrets]\n\nStrong Essays\n1691 words (4.8 pages)\n\nEssay about The Genre Of Science Fiction\n\n- The Genre of Science Fiction      Science Fiction has been interpreted by many in a wrong way. Most people feel that the author is just in love with the future. However this is not the truth in most science fiction novels. The majority of Science Fiction books are more about the horrors of the future. In Fahrenheit 451 the author Ray Bradbury makes an argument for societies need to consider that the outcomes of science fiction might become realities. The origin of science fiction '…evolved from the industrial revolution that spawned notions of the rockets, robots, time machines, computers, satellites, matter-transports, and the like'; (Johnson 6)....   [tags: Science fiction Literature Bradbury Essays]\n\nStrong Essays\n1205 words (3.4 pages)\n\nFiction vs. Non-fiction Boundaries Essay\n\n- Fiction vs. Non-fiction Boundaries Blurring the boundaries between Fiction and Non-Fiction has always been a great way for authors to make their points, yield their arguments, and to keep interest. Some may even be inclined to believe that there is not a definite boundary between the areas of fiction and non-fiction. Fiction is often used throughout non-fiction writings as more of a point of view than a character in itself. This voice is not exactly a character in the text, but it still exercises an attitude toward the material to help control the writing....   [tags: Books Literature fiction True Essays]\n\nStrong Essays\n1373 words (3.9 pages)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9979839324951172}
+{"content": "시간 제한 메모리 제한 제출 정답 맞은 사람 정답 비율\n1 초 128 MB 2 2 2 100.000%\n\n\nAlex missed the ballroom dance competition that he wanted to attend. So now he wants to know the pairs of dancers whose dancing he missed. He had several photos from the competition, so he chose one where all dancers are clearly visible and wrote down the coordinates of all N dancers (N is even).\n\nThen Alex determined the pairs of dancers by the following algorithm: from not yet paired dancers he chooses two closest (to each other) dancers and assumes that they dance together as a pair. Should he find several pairs of dancers with the same minimum distance between dancers, he chooses lexicographically smallest pair (Alex enumerated dancers by integer numbers from 1 to N, dancers are ordered inside a pair, one with lower number goes first). You are asked to help Alex to determine pairs of dancers.\n\n\nThe first line of input contains even integer N (2 ≤ N ≤ 300). Each i-th line of the next N lines contains two integers — x and y coordinates of i-th dancer. All coordinates are less than 108 by absolute value.\n\n\nYou should output N/2 lines. Each line must contain numbers of dancers in the corresponding pair. The first number in a line should be less than the second. Lines must be sorted in the lexicographically ascending order.\n\n예제 입력 1\n\n0 2\n3 2\n0 0\n1 0\n0 -2\n2 -2\n\n예제 출력 1\n\n1 2\n3 4\n5 6\n\n예제 입력 2\n\n0 0\n1 1\n0 1\n1 0\n\n예제 출력 2\n\n1 3\n2 4", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999403953552246}
+{"content": "+27 (0) 83 457 9954 [email protected]\n\n\nThis is the largest city in the region, effectively the world centre of platinum mining. It is just a 20 minute drive from Boubou B&B and offers a large mall with many fine shops, where you can buy everything you need, from gifts for the home to the daily shopping. There are also several excellent restaurants and bars.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000100135803223}
+{"content": "Geek Trivia\n\n“Peace Lines” Are An Urban Architectural Feature Found Throughout?\n\nNorthern Ireland\nWhat 1970s-era Video Game System Was Manufactured Until 1992?\n\nAnswer: Northern Ireland\n\nThroughout urban areas in Northern Ireland, you’ll find long meandering walls made of brick, iron, and/or steel that are upwards of 25 feet in height. These barriers, known as “peace lines”, mark the borders between Irish nationalist and unionist neighborhoods.\n\nThe walls were first erected in 1969 following the Northern Ireland Riots and a period of unrest known as “The Troubles.” The barriers were originally intended to serve as a temporary solution to help ease tensions between the nationalists (those who identified as Catholic and Irish) and unionists (those who identified as Protestant and British). Despite the initial idea that they would be dismantled after six months, they proved so effective that not only did the initial walls stay erected, but more peace walls were built until the original handful of walls multiplied to 48 in the present day.\n\nAlthough nearly half a century has passed since they were first erected and despite the political calls to remove them and integrate the neighborhoods, tensions remain high enough in Northern Ireland that more than half the residents of the most peace wall dense city, Belfast, favor keeping the walls up to promote peace between the city’s neighborhoods.\n\nImage courtesy of Asarlai.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9983939528465271}
+{"content": "Amblyopia, or lazy eye, is an eye error or functional defect of vision, which is manifested by reduced visual acuity of one or both eyes.\n\n\n\nAmblyopia, or lazy eye, is an eye error or functional defect of vision, which is manifested by reduced visual acuity of one or both eyes. The images from both eyes combine in the brain, however, if the image from one eye is poorer, it is evaluated as incorrect and the brain discards it to avoid the disturbing double vision. The brain gradually ignores the impulses from the weaker eye until it completely stops using the eye. The result is a significant reduction in vision in the weaker eye and spatial vision loss when looking with both eyes.\n\nThe cause of amblyopia may be strabismus or an uncorrected refractive defect from childhood, congenital and some other eye disorders.\nSigns of amblyopia may be the loss of spatial orientation, perceived clumsiness of the child closing of one or both eyes, squinting, or tilting of the head. It may not be outwardly manifested at all, and therefore prevention is important.\nIf a high degree refractive error, amblyopia, or strabismus have been present in the family, visit an expert at around the 2nd year of the child’s life. Otherwise, children should undergo preventive examinations in the 3rd, 6th, and 9th year of life.\nIf the disease is discovered in time and treatment initiated, it can be partially or completely removed.  However, it can no longer be influenced after the 9th year of life, because the development of the visual system and its cerebral center is completed and cannot be affected anymore. Therefore, preventive examinations are very important because amblyopia is practically irrecoverable in adulthood.\n\n\n\nTreatment of amblyopia is in the hands of a pediatric ophthalmologist, and the most important period is up to the 6th year of the child's life. Treatment depends on the underlying cause:\n\n  1. If this is a refractive defect, glasses or contact lenses with the respective diopters will help; if the cause is the cataract, strabismus or other eye disorder, its removal is often done through surgery\n  2. The affected eye needs to be forced to work and teach the brain to register the impulses from the eye again. Because of this, an occluder (eg. a patch) is temporarily applied to the healthy eye, covering it and thus forcing the brain to accept the image from the weaker eye - plenoptic treatment\n  3. The treatment may even include orthoptic exercises, which teach and keep the extraocular muscles working in mutual coordination. They may be carried out with a medical practitioner (orthoptic nurse), but also at home in the form of different games. \n  4. Treatment of amblyopia is a long-term process and requires close cooperation between the parents and the doctor.\n\n\nMake an appointment today", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7324870228767395}
+{"content": "What neurologists are doing to combat high burnout\n\nFrom the AMA Wire\nBy Sara Berg, Senior Staff Writer\n\nIn a survey of about 1,600 active neurologists, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) found that 60 percent experienced at least one symptom of burnout. A high number of neurology residents (73 percent) and fellows (55 percent) were also affected by burnout. With such a high rate of burnout among neurologists, the AAN began mitigation attempts at the individual, organizational and national levels at the same time as they measured burnout.\n\n“The number that alarmed me was that even though 88 percent said the work they do is meaningful to them, the number that would choose to be a neurologist again was only about 67 percent. That should be an alarm in the U.S.” said Terrence L. Cascino, MD, immediate past president of the AAN.\n\nThe academy is an inaugural sponsor—along with the AMA and more than 30 other organizations—of the National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience. The AAN is also part of the AMA House of Delegates.\n\nThe AMA offers CME on physician burnout that can help you prevent physician burnout, create the organizational foundation for joy in medicine, create a strong team culture and improve physician resiliency.\n\n\n\nWhy are neurologists so burned out, as compared with colleagues in other medical specialties such as orthopedics or ophthalmology?\n\nCleveland Clinic neurologist Edward Manno, MD, has offered a personal perspective on that question.\n\n“In neurology, you have to deal with conditions that affect the very essence of the person,” he told Neurology Today. “Anything to do with the brain has the capacity to change the nature of that individual. A patient can have a very small stroke, but if it’s in a targeted area it can have a profound effect on someone’s life. Neurologists have to deal with the emotional toll of discussing this with the patient and the family.” \n\nIn 2015, Dr. Cascino launched a task force to research the issue of physician burnout—what it is, how it happens, and what can be done to deal with it effectively and improve work-life balance for neurologists. He continues this work as chair of the task force.\n\nFind out how the AAN is addressing physician burnout and its impact on a neurologist’s lifestyle.\n\nIndividual level\n\nThe American Academy of Neurology believes that self-care is an important part of cultivating well-being and resiliency. This includes individual courses and consultations available to AAN members, as well as the creation of a website on tips, tools and strategies to combat burnout.\n\nSome tips can be as simple as exercise, yoga, recognizing that people are in the same boat and spending more time with family—things that build individual resiliency. For example, at the academy’s annual meeting physicians can visit yoga studios and get massages. While some might find these remedies helpful in relieving stress, Dr. Cascino acknowledged they only mitigate physician burnout symptoms.\n\n“That doesn’t cure the cause of the burnout, but it would make some people able to tolerate the issue better,” he said.\n\nOrganizational level\n\nFrom work-unit to institutional challenges, conditions in the practice environment can be a significant source of burnout. The AAN provides resources focusing on ways to prevent and mitigate burnout stemming from the workplace. This might include using the electronic health record differently or implementing a daily team huddle.\n\nOne resource offered is the Live Well, Lead Well program, which is offered to cultivate well-being and resilience in physicians’ lives, increase engagement at work, and develop strong, lasting leadership skills to reduce and prevent burnout while improving well-being. Through leadership, neurologists can go back to their department or practice to share techniques to reduce burnout and promote well-being.\n\n“We need to nurture and increase physician leadership in medicine,” said Dr. Cascino. “Physicians are more likely to understand the drivers of burnout and more likely to think of ways they can be mitigated and yet still fulfill our mission, which is to provide high-value care for patients.”\n\nNational level\n\nManaging electronic health records and other clerical tasks can play a significant role in burnout, and the AAN is working to address this at the national level.\n\n“We want to make it clear to Congress and CMS that what they’re doing—in what may be well-intentioned efforts to try to increase the value of health care—is unintentionally contributing to burnout,” said Dr. Cascino. “The American Academy of Neurology has spent a lot of time going to Congress to talk about the causes of burnout and will continue to do so as we work to decrease regulatory hassles for neurologists and all physicians”\n\nAt the national level, the AAN is addressing neurologist burnout through:\n\n  • Practice resource information, templates and educational programming about EHRs.\n\n  • The academy’s Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum, which offers training to neurologists on how to promote state and federal legislation, develop coalitions, organize and reinvigorate state neurological societies, lobby for fair payment and help draft position statements that affect future legislation.\n\n  • Organized visits with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to address contributors to physician burnout such as regulatory burdens.\n\n  • A registry tool for physicians to more easily meet regulatory requirements and improve quality of care.\n\n“It is not going to be an easy fix and we understand that,” Dr. Cascino said. “Neurologists are collaborating with physicians in other specialties to find solutions.”\n\nSource: https://wire.ama-assn.org/life-career/what...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9715628623962402}
+{"content": "Click to search\n\n\nYoshimura M, et al. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2005.\n\n\nA pomegranate extract (PE) from the rind containing 90% ellagic acid was tested for its skin-whitening effect. PE showed inhibitory activity against mushroom tyrosinase in vitro, and the inhibition by the extract was comparable to that of arbutin, which is a known whitening agent. PE, when administered orally, also inhibited UV-induced skin pigmentation on the back of brownish guinea pigs. The intensity of the skin-whitening effect was similar between guinea pigs fed with PE and those fed with L-ascorbic acid. PE reduced the number of DOPA-positive melanocytes in the epidermis of UV-irradiated guinea pigs, but L-ascorbic acid did not. These results suggest that the skin-whitening effect of PE was probably due to inhibition of the proliferation of melanocytes and melanin synthesis by tyrosinase in melanocytes. PE, when taken orally, may be used as an effective whitening agent for the skin.\n\n\n16377895 [Indexed for MEDLINE]\n\nFull text", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9734777212142944}
+{"content": "Sign in\n\nMaintenance Engineer 1 - RT\n\nAbsolute Opportunities\nRichland, Washington, 99352, United States\nNovember 14, 2018\n\n\nMaintenance Engineer 1 - RT\n\nRichland, Washington 99352\n\nKnowledge, Skills, and Abilities\n\nThe ability to work in a fast paced environment while maintaining a high degree of accuracy.\n\nExcellent communication skills (written and verbal) and the ability to interact well with employees and customers are essential.\n\nDemonstrated ability to take initiative to work on your own or as part of a team is essential.\n\nMust have sound judgment and be able to plan, organize and control multiple activities simultaneously.\n\nPrimary Responsibilities\n\nInitiate and sustain RCM practices for increases in cost effectiveness, reliability, machine uptime, and a greater understanding of the level of risk that the organization is managing.\n\nWorks with project engineering to ensure the reliability and maintainability of new and modified installations. The maintenance engineer is responsible for adhering to the life cycle asset management (LCAM) process throughout the entire life cycle of new assets.\n\nParticipates in the development of design and installation specifications along with commissioning plans. Develops acceptance tests and inspection criteria.\n\n\n\n\nValue-added preventive maintenance tasks\n\n\n\n\nKnowledge Skills, and Abilities: (Submission Summary)\n\n1. Bachelor's Degree in Engineering Discipline preferred\n\n2. An equivalent combination of relevant experience and education may be considered.\n\n3. An understanding of engineering drawings and principles is required.\n\n4. The ability to manage multiple projects across multiple departments is required.\n\n5. Demonstrated proficiency in mathematics, science, and technical skills is required.\n\n6. Must have sound judgment and be able to plan, organize and control multiple activities simultaneously.\n\n7. Experience in risk-abatement, knowledge of health and safety legislation, and the ability to continuously improve upon existing safety practices is preferred.\n\n8. Must have a strong aptitude for applying Engineering principles to solve manufacturing issues.\n\n9. Present Salary?\n\n10. Salary Expectation?\n\n11. Must be a US Citizen or Green Card holder?\n\n12. Complete Current Address?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.813758909702301}
+{"content": "• DATE: 14.12.2018\nistanbul travel diary, guide\n\nistanbul travel diary, guide\n\nThe ride North along the Aegean Sea took us past the ancient city of Troy and the World War I battle fields of Gallipoli. The city of Istanbul located on the edge of Europe and Asia was once known as the city capitol of the Roman Empire, Constantinople. It has survived as the capitol of three major empires Roman, Byzantine and Ottomans. Istanbul bridges Asia and Europe and has the feeling of any major western cosmopolitan city with a flair. Turkey is actually unique in the cast of Islamic countries. In 1928 a newly formed Turkey banned the use of the Arabic script and a Latin-based alphabet was chosen to help bridge East and West. The Western themes and non-Arabic language has alienated Turkey from the rest of the Islamic countries. This tension creates problems for Turkey because it shares borders with Iran, Iraq and Syria.The Go Ahead Tour company arranged two days of sightseeing and every minute was filled with activity. Our Turkish tour guide, Gurken was a story all to himself. He is a licensed tour guide but spent a troubled youth looking for direction in life. He ran away from home and joined an Islamic extremist group in eastern Turkey. He became disillusioned and one day decided to wonder into a Bible mission in Istanbul. The missionary gave him a Bible to read and Gurken spent time reading through the New and Old Testament. He struggled with the writings of the Quran and the Bible. One night he went to sleep with the Quran in one hand and the Bible in the other. He prayed looking for a sign and a direction in faith. That night he had what he calls a modern day miracle in the form of a dream were Jesus came to him and told him to choose Christianity. In Turkey you are born into your religion and it is illegal to practice any other religion. His convictions became so strong he applied to the Turkish government for a change of his religion to Christianity. He was required to testify about his reasons and to document his miracle. After much effort on his part he was granted the right to legally change to Christianity. He was only the second person in Turkey to officially change from the Islamic religion to Christianity. Today, approximately 1,200 people have been able to change their religion.\n\n\nGurken was a great tour guide and was able to provide the history of our tour stops from an Islamic and Christian perspective. This was important because modern day Turkey is not interested in focusing on its Christian history. Our first stop was in the area called Sultanahemt and the jumping off point for the center of many tourist activities. The Topakopi Palace on the tip of the Golden Horn was the home of the Ottoman Sultans until the 18th century. It now contains a series of museums that contain gems, clothing and religious artifacts. The highlights include an 82 carat diamond and the head and hand of John the Baptist. We could not get a lot of details on why the head and hand of John the Baptist was on display in a glass case.\n\nA short walk from the Topakopi Palace took us to the Hagia Sophia Church. Hagia Sophia is one of the most magnificent buildings ever constructed has been both central church to Christianity and the major inspiration for Mosques of Islam. Hagia Sophia is 15 stories tall and is capped by a 32 meter dome. When the Church was constructed the building of such a massive size was capped by the largest dome ever built and was considered impossible. The structure was so overwhelming for that period the locals were scared to enter because they felt the dome would collapse. After sometime when it became apparent the building was still standing it was believed that it was truly the house of God because God must be holding the roof up. When the Turks conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) the church was converted to a Mosque and the beautiful Christian mosaics that covered the grand church were plastered over. The mosaics have only been partially restored by removing the plaster which had the advantage of preserving the mosaics over the years. Most mosaics from this time period have been lost due to exposure to the elements and earthquakes. What can be seen are great examples of the original mosaics depicting classic scenes from the Bible.\n\nAcross a large park is the Blue Mosque (its not really blue) the highlight of the Islamic religion in Istanbul. It was built by the Sultan Ahmet and was a copy of the Hagia Sophia. The building was constructed to prove that the Islamic was on scale with the Christian Religion. The inside of the Mosque is covered with blue mosaic tiles. The Mosque is open to the public during non-prayer hours but modest dress is required. This means no shorts or bare shoulders. They supply a wrap if you are wearing shorts and will keep an eye on your shoes. Modesty and cleanliness are fundamentals of the Islamic faith and this is very important during prayer. On the outside of the Mosque you will find people washing their feet before entering the Mosque. At night a sound and light show at the Blue Mosque is worth a watch but you need to get lucky on the language version. They rotate the presentation every night in English, German, French, and Turkish.\n\nThe next morning was a cruise on the Bospherous river and we caught the boat in Eminonu. The weather was perfect and heading North along the Golden Horn shows the wealth of the region. The large unique weekend homes along the river would hold up to the wealthiest neighborhoods in the world. The river takes you past the Dolmabahce Castle, Ciragan Hotel and Beylerbeyi Palace. The Asian continent on one side and the European continent on the other. During the Ottoman rule at the narrowest point a large chain was hung across the river to prevent enemy boats from approaching. A portion of this massive chain is on display at the Archeological museum. We cruised from 10 AM to 4 PM with a stop for lunch in a colorful, floral accented Ottoman house. We visited the Beylerbeyi Palace which was built for Sultan Abdul Aziz in 1865 filled with marble, woodwork, gold furniture. This was a summer palace/vacation home and many famous people visited until the end of the Ottomans and the Sultans had to flee the country. The house had a very large fountain in one of the main rooms that was used for air-conditioning. We would recommend taking a ferry tour of the Bospherous to anyone on a beautiful sunny day, it gives you a completely different view of Istanbul.\n\n\nAn organized city tour of Istanbul is not complete without a traditional Turkish dinner and belly dancing. Our bus was unloaded at the famous Orient house, I of course have never heard of it but it was written on their sign that they were famous. The food was good and the waiters kept bringing endless courses of Turkish appetizers and wine. The MC of the folk dancing show was very entertaining and his knowledge of foreign languages and songs was impressive. He polled the room for tourists from around the world determining which nations were represented. He greeted them in their language and then sang a popular tune from their country. The MC was of course outdone by the belly dancers who worked up quite a sweat moving every part of their body at a very rapid rate. The Japanese really seemed to enjoy the dancing, I kind of liked it myself. The night dragged on and Karen and I decided to make a run for it when the waiters started pulling audience members up on stage for dancing lessons. We ended up at a bar next door and watched the last 30 minutes of the French victory in the World Cup. We loaded back on to the bus and we were asleep by midnight, it had been a very long day.\n\nToday ends the organized portion of our tour and I have to admit that Go Ahead Tours did a very good job of packing in a lot of activities. We are now going to venture out on our own but we have a very nice plan in place. Karen’s parents had booked two rooms at the Yesil Ev Hotel, an old Ottoman house in the center of Sultanahemt. The Yesil Ev has probably the best location in Istanbul because you are in the center of many activities and next to the Blue Mosque. Being located next to the Blue Mosque does get you in tune with the call to prayer five times a day. The method used to signal the call to prayer has evolved but remains the same with the development of the watch and loudspeaker. In earlier times, before electricity, the call to prayer would occur from the lungs of a very loud voice at every vantage point of every minaret at the four corners of every Mosque. The chanting is in Arabic and starts at 5:00 AM and lasts for around five minutes and occurs four more times throughout the day. It was this loud ominous voice that indicated it was time to head to the Mosque and bow to Mecca for prayer. Today the call to prayer has been upgraded to include large speakers and a central P.A. system that does a very good job of jolting you out of bed at 5:00 AM. The voice that emanates is mesmerizing and filled with Arabic that is only heard but not understood by most of the Turkish citizens.\n\nIn Turkey the language is similar to the Finish language and the locals do not understand any form of Arabic. This has made it difficult for the Turkish to practice the Islamic Religion because most of the writings and prayers are in Arabic. The Quran which is similar to the New Testament of Christianity is written in Arabic and was brought to the Islamic religion by the Prophet Mohammed. The New Testament and the Quran is another underlying difference between the Islamic religion and Christianity. The New testament is a collection of stories that describe the events that occurred after the death of Jesus. The original text of the New Testament was written in Aramaic the language of that time. As the bible was translated to different languages different versions of the stories began to appear. These interpretations or changes in the original New Testament can be seen in the King James Bible and the Roman Catholic Bible. The Islamic faith does not argue that the stories of the New Testament were not true but what they object to was the way the stories were changed to suit those currently in power. The Islamic Religion believes in Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed. They do not believe that Jesus was the son of God but that he was a Prophet of God. This creates a difference of opinion since the teachings of the New Testament is centered around Jesus being the son of God.\n\nWhen the Prophet Mohammed, the fourth and final prophet, according to the Islamic religion brought the word of God in the form of the Quran, it was decreed that not one symbol or dot of the text would be changed. This conviction can be seen in the Taj Mahal in India were the entire Quran is inscribed throughout the structure in perfectly carved and inlaid tile. Because the Quran must not be changed or interpreted a version of the Quran in Turkish does not exist. So the prayers recited in Arabic by the Turkish Muslims, five times a day are done from memory. You do not have to be Arabic to practice the Islamic Religion but to truly read and understand the writings of the Quran you are expected to learn Arabic. The Turkish population is more likely to speak English than Arabic and this has created a problem for the Islamic fundamentalist who make up fifteen percent of the population. The other eighty-five percent is content to make it to the Mosque when it is convenient and this is usually on Friday the holy day of the Islamic Religion. During our time we spent in Istanbul I did not notice a mob of people heading to the Mosque for prayer. The Islamic faith in Turkey is suffering a decline in attendance which is on par with religion in the Western world.\n\nBack to the travel stories. We loaded luggage into two taxis and we were not disappointed….. neither of the drivers knew where they were going but after driving around the block a couple of times we managed to find it. After unloading our stuff we set out to finish exploring the numerous sites in Istanbul. The Archaeological museum has an excellent collection of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian antiquities. The museum was quite impressive and worth the visit.\n\nThe next stop was Yerebatan Sarayi a huge underground cistern built to store water for the local palaces. The structure was built in the center of town and was rediscovered by a French archeologists. The cistern is a unique space with 336 columns holding up the ground overhead. The columns are a mix collection of columns taken from other ruins. A couple columns are resting on pedestals that have been carved into large medusa heads. This was not an original artwork because one head is upside down and another is resting on its side. It makes you wonder what ancient ruin they were borrowed from. Several days a week a small band is setup for playing Turkish and classical music.\n\nWe visited a travel agent about hiring a car for a couple of days to Bursa, Iznik and Termal. Then we met Sadat, a local taxi driver, who would become our guide for the next couple of days. We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting a small Greek Church with sacred spring water, Suleymanie Cami another large Mosque, and a beautiful overlook of the Golden Horn from Pierre Loti. The Golden Horn is the narrow body of water that divides Europe and Asia and connects the Black Sea to the Marmera Sea. The final highlight of the day was a stop at the Kariye Museum – Church of the Holy Savior in Chora. It is a small church that has been converted into a museum. The Church was originally a Christian church but was converted to a Mosque. The ceilings are covered with beautiful mosaics that look as they were just completed by the ancient masters. This was definitely a must see in Istanbul.\n\nistanbul pera palace\n\nThe night life action in Turkey is a little low key and you will be hard pressed to find a group of nightclubs or bars in full swing. The Islamic religion does not allow the use of alcohol or artificial stimulates. This does not prevent tea from being served every five minutes or cigarettes being enjoyed by all. After asking around for a good night time spot we settled for Ortakoy a twenty minute cab ride from Sultanahemt. The area is on the water and was very busy with numerous restaurants and long rows of tables setup outside for dining. This was definitely a local spot because no menus in English could be found. It doesn’t matter because every dish we ordered was excellent. The food in Turkey is very fresh and similar to Greek food.\n\nThe Turks and Greeks for the most part do not like each other. They are neighboring countries that have had a long history of conflict and occupation. The Turks ruled Greece for two hundred years and were responsible for destroying many of the ancient Greek buildings including the Parthenon in Athens. Based on borders drawn up after the World War I and II Turkey is limited to the mainland and Greece has all the neighboring islands on the edge of Turkey. The only exception to this is Cyprus which was divided in half the west side ruled by Greece and the east side ruled by Turkey. They are currently testing each other’s resolve with military buildup in and around Cyprus.\n\nIn every part of the world you can find a local market and every guidebook puts it on the must do list. So far I have seen my share of local markets and for the most part they are about the same with some being better than others. Istanbul has the Grand Bazaar and it is legendary in the field of local markets. With Karen and her mom ready to shop we set out for the grand daddy of local markets. The Grand Bazaar consists of 65 streets jammed with 4,000 shops and restaurants making it the largest mall in the world. It has lots of atmosphere with crowded arched passageways and smiling vendors that know every line in the book. The shopkeepers are very interested in your business but they are not annoying. The field is very competitive and it should be a buyers market but these guys are real pros and probably can figure out how much money you have in your wallet by the way you walk. The result of two hours of tough shopping was a couple of pillow cases and 40 silk scarves. We were fortunate to exit into the garment district – a wild area where no one stands still very long. Everywhere you looked someone was carrying fabric or parcels from one shop to the next.\n\nBlue Mosque Turkey’s most magnificent mosque\n\nTurkeyholidaystravel.com Point\n  • 10/10\n    İstanbul Travel - 10/10\n  • 10/10\n    İstanbul guide - 10/10\n  • 10/10\n    ��stanbul sea - 10/10\n  • 10/10\n    İstanbul Hotel - 10/10\nUser Review\n0 (0 votes)\n\nSocial Media Share:\n\n\nNo Comments\n\nCan you share with us your comment?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5154989957809448}
+{"content": "Detached property converted to form pair of two bedroom flats\n\n\nThis detached house in Chichester has been converted into two flats, each with two bedrooms, off-road parking, garaging and delightful gardens.\n\nThe property, in Spitalfield Lane, would benefit from modernisation and offers a wealth of development potential, subject to the necessary consents.\n\nAccommodation comprises a ground floor flat with hallway, sitting room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom.\n\nThe first floor flat has front door access to a hall and stairs leading to a landing opening to a sitting room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom.\n\nThe property benefits from double glazing and gas fired central heating.\n\nTo the front of the property is a delight formal garden and a parking area for several cars and access to the detached garage which is divided into two singles with one garage having up and over doors allowing access to the rear garden.\n\nThe enclosed rear garden is mainly laid to lawn with flower beds stocked with an array of planting and gated access leading back round to the front.\n\nGuide Price £530,000 Freehold.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9960384368896484}
+{"content": "آخر تحديث للموقع :22:37\nHTML clipboard\n\n\nAshorooq internet website serves to achieve the company's strategic objectives, based on its clear state of mission and vision. The website is meant to be one of the components that contribute to its futuristic integrated project. Ashorooq endeavors to establish a unique media achievement on the editorial, technical managerial and financial levels. It is an achievement that stands out in the Sudanese arena, in particular, and the Arab world as a whole. It is an achievement that lay the foundation for a new era shouldering its developmental, political, economical, social, cultural and entertaining responsibilities towards the addressed audience. Ashorooq believes in the Sudanese media ability and its initiations to excel and stand out\n\nIn its launch, Ashorooq TV channel has adopted the Sudanese audience aspiration to the peace, unity, stability and development. It also adopted its renaissance dimension and its interaction with Arab, African, Islamic and international world. Ashorooq inspired the national identity which determines its procession towards civilization in present and future times. The website does adopt and integrate with all these strategic goals which represent the Sudanese audience goals. Ashorooq is an independent TV channel and it has no alliance whatsoever with a front or party against similar bodies. Ashorooq stands with all political and social forces in favor of the general public interests for the time being and thereafter\n\nIn order to achieve the positive relation between the channel and the website, definitions play harmonious role with the channel state of mission, vision, objectives and editorial policy\n\n\nWebsite's Definition:\nIt is a news and information interactive website owned by Ashorooq Media Company launched officially on 1st Jan. 2010. The website addresses the Sudanese, Arabic, African and international issues. The website is an independent and does represent neither political party nor racial group. It does not represent a particular ideology or specific religion. The website for the time being is edited in Arabic.\nTo integrate with Ashorooq Channel to create renaissance and maintain Sudan unity and stability, inspiring its civilization components, its cultural and social diversities. The website inspires also Sudan geographical site as a bridge for the Islamic Afro-Arab interaction and therefore serves as a professional news source and accurate information. The website respects the audience right to have a full access to knowledge and freedom of expression.\nTo be the first specialized site that delves into the Sudanese issues. The site will serve as news, interactive, information and marketing portal using Arabic, English and French languages.\nStrategic Objectives:\n- To contribute in the Sudanese renaissance and to support the state and people to maintain its unity and peace.\n- To contribute in enhancing stability and development in Sudan.\n\n- To develop identity awareness and the civilization, social and cultural dimensions.\n\n- To contribute in enhancing Arab-Sudanese and Afro-Sudanese interaction.\n\n- To achieve the first position among the Sudanese audience.\n\n- To contribute in bringing in revenues.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.999809980392456}
+{"content": "Minerals Lesson\n\nnext >>\n\nHow to make a rock\n\n\n\nElements are the basic building blocks of minerals. Over 100 are known, 92 naturally occurring. Elements (aka atoms) are the smallest components of nature with the properties of a given substance. They are comprised of:\n\nEach element contains a different number of electrons, protons, and neutrons. Example: Hydrogen has one electron, one proton, and no neutrons; oxygen has eight electrons, eight protons, and eight neutrons. An isotope forms when an element has the same number of protons, but a varying number of neutrons. Thus, the elements all have the same chemical properties but differing atomic masses. An example of this would be Oxygen. Oxygen has four isotopes: O-15, O-16, O-17, and O-18. Some isotopes are stable (like O-16, O-17, and O-18), while others are not. Those that are not will decay into a new and hopefully more stable isotope. Oxygen 15 is unstable, and has a half-life of 122.2 seconds. Blink and you'll miss it!\n\n\nElements all want the same thing out of life: to be electrically neutral, and to have eight electrons in their outermost (valence) shells. Let's look at oxygen. Oxygen has eight electrons, but only six in the outermost shell. This creates a negative 2 charge. So oxygen has a charge (-2) and does not have eight electrons in it's valence shell. Elements such as oxygen bond together with other elements to create molecules in an effort to satisfy these two needs.\n\nThere are are four ways elements can bond together:\n\n  1. Ionic - Atoms gain or lose outermost (valence) electrons to form ions. Example: NaCl\n  2. Covalent - Atoms share electrons to achieve electrical neutrality (stronger than ionic bonds). Both ionic and covalent bonds can occur in the same compound\n  3. Metallic - Valence electrons are free to migrate among atoms. This type of bonding is weaker and less common.\n  4. Van der Waals - Attraction between electrically neutral molecules with asymmetrical charge.\n\n\n\n\n\nnext >>\n\ncopyright Sonjia Leyva 2018", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9990327954292297}
+{"content": "Write a braille message\n\nLatest News\n\n\nThe other 2 volumes contain the rest of the Braille code See: Figure 1 An example of an annotated passage from an adapted book to help parents understand the vagaries of braille code.\n\n\nThe Best Braille Children’s Book Resources on the Internet\n\nIf your child has not had an FVA or you do not have a copy of the report and understand what is in write a braille message, then it within your legal rights to ask that an FVA be conducted and the findings shared with you.\n\nBlind students have gained sighted peer advocates, but, write a braille message important, are beginning to be their own advocates, taking pride in their special school materials and tools.\n\nFree Braille Books Program: Communication skills for visually impaired learners. Pennsylvania College of Optometry Press. Your team may decide that she needs more instruction in how to decode sound out wordsneeds to have materials presented in a different size font, would benefit from having materials that are more than words in length in audio format so she can listen to them as she reads the material in braille, or that she needs further testing to determine if she has a learning disability.\n\nIf an eye care professional makes a recommendation regarding educational programming, it must be remembered that the ultimate decision is made by a team of persons familiar with the student. What I hope to relate is the uniquely positive effect Braille Club had on the integration of blind students.\n\nFor students whose primary reading medium was not established earlier, scrutiny of the more \"formal\" readiness skills will be necessary. A third principle was to assign braille codes according to frequency, with the simplest patterns quickest ones to write with a stylus assigned to the most frequent letters of the alphabet.\n\nA reading rate of 10 words per minute is necessary for adequate comprehension Harley et al. Learning to read and write in braille can make a dramatic difference in the life of a visually impaired child or adult.\n\nInformation on which to base decisions is collected over a period of time through systematic, diagnostic teaching. Probably the most common reason is that the child has a progressive eye condition that has a strong possibility of having the child experience a decrease in vision at some future point.\n\nSight-saving classes in the public schools. Level One goes over the ABCs forty concepts including and, for, of, the with; a few other words for simple storiesand consonant sounds should be taught along with it.\n\nHowever, professionals and parents are called upon to make informed decisions as a team in order to assure an appropriate education for each student with a visual impairment; one essential team decision will involve the primary reading medium.\n\n\nThe Nemeth Code\n\nLook carefully at the reading speed reported for your child, how quickly he fatigues when asked to read large quantities of print sustained readingand his comprehension.\n\nAmerican Foundation for the Blind. The other 2 volumes contain the rest of the Braille code see www. Academic achievement Is the student able to accomplish academic tasks with the current medium with a sufficient level of success? Can the student identify pictures? Depending on if the math assignment is for individual practice or a grade, she either brailles her answers on her Perkins write a braille message or she inputs them into her Braille Note and then emails the file to the teacher.\n\nAsk that a functional vision assessment and learning media assessment be completed. The presence of motor impairments must also be considered. The process of collecting information The process of diagnostic teaching uses incidental and structured observations, indirect and direct teaching, and ongoing assessment as a basis for guiding subsequent instruction.\n\nThey may get perplexed when the teacher of students with visual impairments TVI recommends that their child who has been reading print now start to learn braille. The K file is self-extracting and complete with documentation. Among options to explore are computer word processing skills, use of reader services, use of recorded textbooks, note-taking skills with the slate and stylus, and use of cassette braille devices.\n\nMotor impairments may affect control of the eyes, although such impairments may be amenable to specific training. The necessity for this adaptation, which is similar to the current use of switching to computer braille code for email addresses and the like, stems from two basic issues: Should the child have a functional or academic literacy program?\n\nCommunication Skills for Visually Impaired Learners: Therefore, educators must collect information that relates more to the \"real\" learning environment and use that in conjunction with the clinical findings before making an informed decision on the appropriate reading medium.Braille opens up a world of information for children and adults alike.\n\nFind out more about what braille services the Blind Foundation offers. HARD COPY NOW AVAILABLE. Braille Formats: Principles of Print-to-Braille Transcription, This revision aligns formatting guidelines with Unified English Braille (UEB).\n\nHow are a Functional Vision Assessment (FVA) and a Learning Media Assessment (LMA) used to determine whether my child will read print or braille or both?\n\nBraille (/ b r eɪ l /; French:) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually bsaconcordia.com is traditionally written with embossed paper. Braille users can read computer screens and other electronic supports using refreshable braille bsaconcordia.com can write braille with the original slate and stylus or type it on a braille writer, such as a portable braille notetaker or computer.\n\nBLITAB® is the first ever Braille tablet using a disruptive actuating technology developed by our company, to create tactile text and graphics in real time. Literacy-the ability to read and write-is vital to a successful education, career, and quality of life in todays world.\n\nWhether in the form of curling up with a good book, jotting down a phone number, making a shopping list, or using a computer to write a report, being literate means participating effectively at .\n\nWrite a braille message\nRated 0/5 based on 26 review", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7489580512046814}
+{"content": "Lessons Learned from Years with Guides\n\nImportance of Being A Travel Blogger\n\n\n6 Perks Of Being A Travel Expert\nIf you want to meet new people and explore different cultures than being a travel expert to should be the kind of thing to do. You want to get many followers than you should make sure the information you provide will be helpful for the daily traveler and they will refer your website to other people which will increase your followers.\n\nIt is all is essential to make sure you mention the best restaurants and delicacies available in the location you are visiting so that people can be curious in love to go there.The travel expert is normally traveling and exploring new things which mean do not stay in one location doing nothing since they want to find something interesting which people can take part in.\n\n\n\nThe travel blogger has an opportunity to work from any location since it is flexible and they get memorable experiences which will stick for the rest of their lives. Any travel expert uses the importance of having great skills in writing and photography series they are readers will see what they were experiencing and see if it is a place they would love to go.\n\nThe traveler would have developed new skills during their traveling experiences, it is easy for them to use one of them to get a full-time job because they already have the passion. Curiosity is what drives most travel bloggers so they ensure they connect with others in the industry to share their experiences and advise each other regarding improving their travel websites.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8926472067832947}
+{"content": "Experiences that your customers will recommend\n\n\nIn Mr. Wat we provide our services in those sectors where there is concern about the customer experience with their services or products, which can be aimed at both final clients and B2B.\n\nAmong them we highlight our strength and experience in evaluating businesses and services in tourism and hospitality industries:\n\n\nHotels, travel agencies, golf courses, amusement complex, etc.\n\n\nAirlines, buses, airports, car rental, cruises, etc.\n\n\nFast food, restaurants, concessions, cafeterias, etc.\n\nWe also have a special bond and dedication to those businesses related with health and beauty:\n\n\nDentists, pharmacy, opticians, physiotherapy, etc.\n\n\nBeauty salons, spas, etc.\n\n In addition we have experience and ability to respond to the following sectors:\n\nPhone call:\n\nCall centers, technical services and assistance, customer service, etc.\n\nPublic services:\n\nMunicipal, provincial, regional or national.\n\nSpecialty shops:\n\nFashion, real estate, etc.\n\nFinancial services:\n\nBanking or insurance offices.\n\n\nDealers, service stations, etc.\n\n\nTelephone, computer, etc.\n\nMalls, supermarkets, courier, logistics, etc.\n\nWe operate in these sectors, in all its segments of demand, which includes the luxury sector.\n\nWithin these segments in Mr. Wat we have the experience needed to achieve excellence and consistency sought by our clients.\n\nWho do we recommend?\n\nThe mystery shopper program or corporate audits can be implemented in shops, points of sales or outlets from:\n\nThe own organisation (in property)\n\n\nPublic or government agencies\n\nHow far do we go?\n\nIn Mr. Wat we usually provide our services in Spain and Portugal. When required by the needs of our customers we travel around Europe, America and other destinations, or through partners selected according to our values and expertise.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9888527393341064}
+{"content": "On Sunday’s episode of Philosophy in Action Radio, Greg Perkins and I answered questions on confidence in opinions, delegation in marriage, deriving self-esteem from university study, and more. The podcast of that episode is now available for streaming or downloading.\n\n\nWhole Podcast: 16 August 2015\n\nListen or Download:\n\nRemember the Tip Jar!\n\n\nPodcast Segments: 16 August 2015\n\n\n\nMy News of the Week: I’m recovered from my migraines, thank goodness!\n\nQuestion 1: Confidence in Opinions\n\nQuestion: How much confidence should a person express in her own opinions? I work with a woman who constantly makes declarative statements about things for which she lacks sufficient facts and knowledge. The result is that she is often contradicted and people have to tell her, “That’s not true.” She will argue with them and then they have to prove her wrong so that the conversation can move forward. By contrast, I’ve noticed that I often express uncertainty in ways that undermine confidence in my knowledge and experience. The default position I tend to take is that maybe I am missing something and the other people in the conversation can give me that information. How does one learn to strike the right balance between being open to new facts and information but also being confident in one’s own knowledge and experience?\n\nMy Answer, In Brief: The problem with your co-worker is not overconfidence, but a lack of concern for the facts but instead having some other agenda. That’s the key to not being underconfident or overconfident: focusing on the facts, including the evidence that justifies your beliefs, and then accurately conveying that to others.\n\nListen or Download:\n\n\nQuestion 2: Delegation in Marriage\n\nQuestion: When is delegation in a marriage irresponsible or unwise? There are some parts of normal adult life that I’m really bad at, in part due to social anxiety. Examples include calling or meeting with companies (airlines, banks, etc) to make changes, writing emails that involve stress or conflict, scheduling events that we’ll both attend, budgeting and finance, driving and navigating, and dealing with mechanical stuff. Should I ask my husband to do those chores? If I ask for help, I worry that I’m being weak, lazy, and avoiding my responsibilities. On the other hand, if I try to do the hard things on my own, I often mess up. Where’s the line between delegating and shirking?\n\nMy Answer, In Brief: It’s good to delegate in marriage based on strengths and weaknesses. However, that’s different from one spouse enabling dependence and psychological problems in the other. Instead, use your spouse’s help to overcome these problems so that you’re more competent at life.\n\nListen or Download:\n\n\nQuestion 3: Deriving Self-Esteem from University Study\n\n\nMy Answer, In Brief: You can and should derive self-esteem and happiness from university study – and from every life-serving activity, even if not productive work. If that weren’t the case, a person wouldn’t survive to the point of starting his career.\n\nListen or Download:\n\n\nRapid Fire Questions\n\n\n  • What do you think is the status of the death premise in America? Is hatred of the good for being the good a major force? What are some examples of that premise at work in modern America?\n  • What do you think of the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump?\n\nListen or Download:\n\n  • Start Time: 57:25\n  • Duration: 6:19\n  • Download: MP3 Segment\n\n\n\n\n  • Start Time: 1:03:45\n\nAbout Philosophy in Action Radio\n\n\n\nSuffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9766957759857178}
+{"content": "Seven Useful Maths Homework Ideas For 2nd Year Students\n\n2nd year students need a clear pacing map for learning maths in the right way. Several schools in the US have their own maths pacing maps that the students need to follow throughout the length of the course. However, you need to do your own homework to have a better grasp of things. You cannot just mug up complex mathematical formulae and solve mathematical problems. To become a true maths wizard in your class, you need to do your homework regularly and strategically. Here are seven useful maths homework ideas that would surely help you score well in maths.\n\nWhy should you do 2nd year maths coursework?\n\nCoursework cycles will help you to become acquainted and acclimatized with the basic and complex computation and you can also learn the mathematical concepts and terms. The coursework sheets provided by your school are all-inclusive in nature, which means these sheets contain almost every aspect of the mathematical concept that you are studying now. One fun thing about doing coursework is that you don’t need help from home as the problems are based on what already has been taught in your class. However, you need to know that the basic types of problems that you will face during doing coursework are short answers, multiple choice, comparisons etc.\n\nSeven useful maths coursework ideas\n\nThough your maths teacher will better guide you on this, there are seven maths coursework ideas that never get old. Number one, you should never avoid doing number and routines exercises. Besides, you need to run through basic and complex addition and subtraction theories and facts. Thirdly, you cannot just lose focus from place value, time and money. Apart from the top three, there are four other maths coursework ideas for 2nd year students that you need to keep in mind. For example, number stories and whole-number operations should be learnt thoroughly. Patterns and basic rules will come in number five. As for the sixth place, fractions are a strong contender. You cannot think maths without thinking fractions. Last but not least, you should put special emphasis on decimals.\n\nNever skip your coursework\n\nScoring well in maths is all about practising regularly. The homework sheets distributed by your maths teacher can help you greatly in learning maths. Therefore, you should not skip your homework and should focus on doing homework on time only to get better in maths.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6459099054336548}
+{"content": "What is Ayurveda ?\n\nAyurveda (आयुर्वेद Sanskrit) derives from two distinct Sanskrit words ‘Ayus’ meaning life &‘veda’ meaning deep knowledge. Ayurveda thus encompasses the knowledge of every aspect of life – health, wellness, lifespan and longevity, based on the balance and harmony within the trinity of mind, body and spirit.\n\nAyurveda is a comprehensive holistic healthcare system dating back to about 5000 years. Ayurveda is an art of daily living that has evolved from deep philosophical, spiritual and practical insights and have been perfected over centuries of practice and wisdom. Ayurveda places great emphasis on prevention and encourages the maintenance of health through diet and lifestyle, proper cooking methods, yoga and meditation practices, proper exercise, nutrition as well as cleansing and rejuvenating Ayurvedic therapies. If one does fall sick, then Ayurveda provides excellent natural remedies comprising of customized and personalized herb, diet and lifestyle plans.\n\nPhilosophy of Ayurveda\n\nAccording to Ayurveda, the universe is made up of five elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether. A vital representation of these elements in the human body is in the form of the three elemental energies or “doshas”- Vata Vata (Air and Space): All movements fall under Vata. The purview of Vata includes functions of movement of sensory and motor impulses along nerves, circulation of blood through the body, transport across cell walls whether it involves cell division or just entry and exit of molecules and cell division. Being the dominant dosha, Vata controls the function and movement of the remaining two doshas as well. It resides in the large intestine, pelvis, bones, skin, ears, and chest. People with Vata as their main dosha are quick-thinking, thin, fast, and are susceptible to anxiety, dry skin, and constipation., PittaPitta (Fire and Water) controls hormones, enzymes, metabolism and the digestive processes and resides in the small intestine, stomach, sweat glands, skin, blood, and eyes. People with pitta as their primary dosha have a fiery personality, oily skin, and are susceptible to heart disease, stomach ulcers, inflammation, heartburn, and arthritis. and KaphaKapha (Earth and Water) is responsible for strength, immunity, stability and growth and resides in the mouth, stomach, chest, lungs, joints, head and sinus cavities. People with Kapha as their main dosha are calm and have a solid body frame.They are susceptible to diabetes, obesity and sinus congestion..\n\nUnderstanding your unique constitution (Prakruti)\n\nAyurveda believes that an individual’s constitution (prakruti) is established at the time of conception – analogous to our genetic code. The constitution is a blueprint with physical and mental characteristics, susceptibilities to disease and emotional response, which do not change throughout one’s life. This unique constitution is determined by the dominance of one or more of the three doshas – vata, pitta and/or kapha. These doshas or energies are not static but dynamic entities which get influenced by internal and external factors such as emotional and physical stress, improper food combinations and choices, physical trauma, or seasonal and weather changes.\n\nan individual’s \n\nOnce you gain understanding of your own unique body type and how these factors affect you on a constitutional level, you can take appropriate actions to nullify or minimize their effects. You can make choices that will lead you toward greater health and well- being. In this sense, Ayurveda empowers you to understand and gain control over your own state of health. You will not only learn to nurture your body but also your mind and spirit, setting you on a path to the best health possible for you.\n\nFrom the time of birth until death, the body is engaged in maintaining life. That is its sole purpose and mission, and each cell has the intelligence to do so. Yet in the modern, fast paced world, the levels of stress and environmental imbalance make it hard for your body to stay healthy and your mind to remain calm and positive. This in turn starts creating and accumulating toxins in your body, ultimately affecting you at the cellular level. From an Ayurvedic point of view, the three doshas vata, pitta and kapha play an important role in the maintenance of cellular health and longevity:\n\n  • Vata, which is closely related to the life energy (or prana), governs all life functions.\n  • Pitta governs digestion and nutrition.\n  • Kapha maintains longevity on the cellular level.\n\nAyurveda offers different therapies that may support your individual constitutional harmony while promoting cellular rejuvenation and overall vitality and immunity. The key to optimal health is to help your body eliminate toxins and reestablish the constitutional balance of the doshas.\n\nAnother very unique and important concept in Ayurveda is that of mental typing. There are three elemental ‘qualities’ in the universe – sattva, rajas and tamas. In humans, they dictate the mental faculties, disposition and demeanor of individuals. This is another consideration that is used in chalking out the Ayurvedic care plan for the client. You can read more about sattva, rajas and tamas here.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9886482357978821}
+{"content": "Monday, January 1, 2018\n\nBerlin's Walls and Their Purposes\n\nBoth sides of the Berlin Wall in 1986. This was the same year I first arrived in Old West Berlin. Cite.\nIt seems that Germany has very bad luck with walls, not to mention the concept of freedom.\nBerlin’s newly constructed “safety area” for women, could not prevent several sexual assaults during the city’s New Year’s Eve celebrations.\n\nAt this moment, at least 13 cases were reported to the police and seven suspects were arrested in the German capital. Police refused to provide information about the ethnicity or the nationality of the perpetrators.\nOf course they did.\nThe creation of the safety area was heavily criticised by a German police union boss. He said it communicates a “devastating message”:\n\n“By doing so, one is saying there are safe zones and unsafe zones” for women, a message that could result in “the end of equality, freedom of movement and self-determination”, he said.\nThere is nothing wrong with walls, of course. Even the homeless build them to isolate themselves\nfrom other persons, animals and weather using things like canvas and cardboard.\n\nIt’s the purpose that counts.\n\nThe Berlin Wall’s purpose was to hinder East Germans from voting with their feet. It seem to me that these “Safe Zones for Women” are the progeny of the old Wall: they are an acknowledgement that unhindered freedom for Germans in the New Germany has been greatly diminished by its government. On purpose.\n\nAgain. And again.\n\nHappy New Year.\n\n(Thanks to Robert Spencer)\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8204454183578491}
+{"content": "Publishing native artifacts\n\n(Paul) #1\n\n\nI have a build which builds a native library. I need to have another project depend on that library. A project dependency only works in a multi-module project. So how can I have a project depend on a library from a completely unrelated project?\n\nIn Java, I would publish the artifact to some repository and add it as a dependency. How is it done for native libraries?\n\n\n(Marian Stránecký) #2\n\nHi Paul,\n\nsorry to say that, but there is currently no built-in mechanism for this in Gradle.\n\nSee my post Publishing/resolving a native library from an external repository\n\n\n(Martin d'Anjou) #3\n\nHi Paul. I experimented quite a bit with Ivy artifacts, and I am able to get Gradle to resolve transitive dependencies for arbitrary artifact names. I guess this would work for native artifacts. I posted my experiment on github. Hope this helps.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9974579811096191}
+{"content": "The Gathering 2017\n\nWe're helping people and organisations in Scotland develop their digital potential\n\nTackling digital exclusion in Scotland\n\nWhat's the issue?\n\nOne in five people lack essential digital skills. Confidence, access and affordability can also prevent people benefiting from being online.\n\nGet support\n\nFind out more about the support we can offer to help build the skills and confidence of your workforce and people you work with.\n\nGet involved\n\nCan you play a role in building people's confidence and essential digital skills? Can you help tackle the issues of accessibility or affordability?\n\nBuilding a digitally confident third sector\n\nWhat's the issue?\n\nNew technology and the internet has changed the way we live our lives. Has the third sector responded to this change?\n\nAdapt and evolve\n\nWherever you are in your digital journey, we're aiming to provide support to help you maximise the benefits and minimise the risks.\n\nDigital Pioneer Case Studies\n\nRead practical examples of how organisations are adapting and evolving in our digital world.\n\nOur digital work delivered in partnership with", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.986324667930603}
+{"content": "Swimming Rules Explained\n\n\n\n\n  • Backstroke: Pulling or kicking into the wall once a swimmer has turned passed the vertical onto the breast. Turning onto the breast before touching the wall with the hand at the finish of the race. Not having some part of the body out the water at the finish.\n  • Butterfly: Alternating movements of the arms or legs; pushing the arms forward under instead of over the water surface (underwater recovery); a breaststroke style of kick (allowed in Masters swimming only); touching with only one hand at the turns or finish.\n\nViolations of the rules are reported to the Referee and recorded on a DQ form. If your child is disqualified in an event, be supportive rather than critical. For beginner swimmers, a disqualification should be treated as a learning experience, not as a punishment. A disqualification alerts the swimmer and coach to what portions of the swimmer's stroke need to be corrected. They should be considered in the same light as an incorrect answer in schoolwork-they point out areas that need further practice. Disqualifications are necessary to keep the competition fair and equitable for all competitors. A supportive attitude on the part of the official, coach, and parent can make a positive situation out of the disqualification.\n\nPlease note the above is not the complete set of technical rules but a brief subset. We have found a more detailed version of the rules on the UK Rules website (This is not ASA sanctioned), or the full rules on the FINA (International Swimming Federation) website.\n\nPlease feel free to contact any of our coaches if you have any queries.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6244041919708252}
+{"content": "Analysis Overview\n\nThis article begins with a brief overview of a wholesale furniture retail outlet, located in Alton, Illinois. The analysis is then divided into three segments; 1) a broad analysis of the furniture industry, 2) an overview of furniture retail, and 3) an in-depth analysis of Illinois Wholesale Furniture. The first segment will identify and discuss several significant operational issues and trends affecting the industry. Segment two will provide a general overview of the cost and revenue structure as applicable to furniture retail. Finally, the third segment of this paper will analyze; 1) Illinois Wholesale Furniture’s competitive strategy, 2) financial data and measurements, 3) several key aspects of this organization’s service operations, and 4) discuss a few mathematical model’s that will assist with organizational purchasing and inventory decisions.\n\n\nBusiness Overview\n\nIllinois Wholesale Furniture (IWF) is an independently owned and operated furniture retail establishment. The business is located in Alton, Illinois and consists of an 80,000 square foot retail facility and a separate warehouse. There are three sales employees, including the owner, on staff during hours of operation, and at least one back-office employee. IWF sells residential furnishings, covering all rooms of a household (i.e. living room, dining room, bedroom, etc.). It should be noted that household furniture is classified into two categories;\n\n\n1) case goods\n2) upholstered.\n\nCase goods are furniture products made of wood, such as an armoire, while upholstered furniture are those items with fabric, such as a sofa.\n\n\nIndustry Analysis\n\nThis section will discuss the furniture industry from its broader perspective. For the purposes of this paper the industry is divided into two areas of analysis, providing an overview of 1) operational issues and 2) factors and trends. For operational issues, the focus is on the significant factors that influence the “where to manufacture” decision. Factors and trends looks at the industry behavior, or decisions, as a whole.\n\n\nOperational Issues\n\nThere are numerous operational issues that influence this industry. It is an extremely competitive and fragmented industry, and one that requires each competing organization to analyze and exploit every competitive advantage. For instance, a key operational issue is the fabrication decision, which can create distinct advantages. The fabrication decision can be a question of trend and style or where to manufacture the product. For this paper, deciding where to manufacture is the primary issue because trend and style decisions occur after a manufacturing location has been selected. While this one decision is significant in determining a products success, there are several factors that influence the where to manufacture decision, such as; economic climate, political and governmental policy, and national resources.\n\n\nAt this time the most significant environmental factor, from the macro and micro perspective, is the economy. All companies within the furniture industry have been devastated by the current economic downturn, with negative growth across the board for almost all companies (1). From the macro-environmental perspective, the economic impact is in itself a cause. However, setting aside this global economic perspective, national and regional economics are important as well. As the industry is looked at with further scrutiny, there are numerous additional factors contributing to the problems presently faced. For one thing, companies are having difficulty financing operations, and consumers don’t have the money to purchase such big ticket items. Additionally, success greatly relies on knowing ones customers, but this factor has proven extremely difficult to “pin down” for the furniture industry.\n\n\nIn short, as a result of economic factors, the industry is inevitably affected by political and governmental aspects. While the United States is virtually absent of regulations on furniture imports, it hasn’t always been. In fact, many countries establish quotas, impose high tariffs or implement other simple restrictions in an effort to maintain national economic stability surrounding this particular industry. In addition to these restrictions, it should be noted countries can also require, or implement, safety standards to be upheld, which introduces market entry barriers. Often these regulatory policies are protectionist measures, stemming from the fact that some countries may have distinct advantages, making them more adequately equipped to compete in the industry. A few of these competitive advantages are; wood resources, material capabilities, labor cost in addition to the low skill that is required, and national tax structures aimed at manufacturing these products. These advantages adversely affect some nation’s ability to compete, which is of particular concern when a nation relies on the employment of the industry.\n\n\nWhile the aforementioned topics are considerable factors in deciding where to produce, logistics and supply chain issues are equally important. From the logistical perspective, transportation costs are a vital consideration when answering the where to produce question. A region may have a significant manufacturing advantage, but transportation costs, as a result of infrastructural inadequacies, may make the decision infeasible. This is illustrated by a manufacturer’s inability to capture transportation economies of scale (i.e. container quantity shipments) or the inability to move the product through a transportation network. This inability can be a result of poorly established infrastructure or the result of a developing transportation network. To offset the issue of not being able to capture economies of scale, an approach may be to delay the products completion until the product arrives at its’ regional destination, but the costs to complete the product in this manner may make this alternative prohibitively expensive. Additionally, some items such as a sofa don’t have delayed manufacturing as an option and the item undoubtedly exceeds space capacity well before weight capacity, making transportation efficiencies virtually impossible to capture. To overcome infrastructural issues, one must confront time associated with development.\n\n\nIndustry Analysis pg.2", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9906539916992188}
+{"content": "billing patients-IC System\n\nIn the era of the high-deductible health plan, boosting payments can seem like a tall order for clinics as they’re billing patients. One way clinics and practices can help patients deal with the realities of their higher healthcare costs is to adapt and learn from the changes some hospitals have made to their billing systems.\n\nDefragmenting the revenue cycle\nOne small hospital in Illinois included collections at the front end of the cycle, when the patient checks in. This is an opportunity to help patients understand their financial obligations early in the visit and get the discussion started. As a result, point-of-service patient collections increased by a whopping 300 percent.\n\nBetter outreach\nNorthwestern Memorial in Illinois had its financial counselors ramp up outreach with patients, so patients could better understand their payment options and become aware of financial assistance programs that might be available to them. Those efforts, in part, resulted in a 6 percent decline in uncollectable debt in 2016.\n\nPayment plans for all\nVirginia Mason Medical Center once offered 9-month payment plans to its patients. However, as out-of-pocket costs rose, that 9-month timeline meant higher payments that few patients could afford. After forming a partnership with a bank, patients can now set up 24-month payment plans, interest free.\n\nSelf-serve financing plan\nOne hospital gives patients the convenience of setting up an online payment plan. Not only does an e-bill drop in their inbox when the insurance claim is processed, patients can use an online widget to set up a finance plan to pay down their bills.\n\nThe takeaway\nMany think pieces focus on different aspects on what a patient-centered billing system is. But when you look at these four changes, one common theme emerges: clarity for the patient.\n\nAny clinic or practice that wants to design a patient-centered billing system should have two goals in mind. One is to reduce the sticker shock, and help patients understand their financial responsibility during the visit. The second is to make it clear to the patient that if they can’t afford the entire bill, the clinic offers tools to make it easier for the patient to make payments and recover financially.\n\nWhen patient bills do end up in collections, choose a partner that sees itself as an extension of your office. When IC System communicates with your patients to recover past-due amounts, we’ll incorporate your financial policies into our efforts.\n\nNeed collection help?\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9271129965782166}
+{"content": "A city partnership with the Children's Museum of Manhattan is bringing a part of the museum straight to hundreds of children living in a shelter. \n\nThe Department of Homeless Services cut the ribbon Friday on a hands-on learning hub at the Hamilton Family Residences, where 155 families live. \n\nThe goal is to brighten the lives of children there by promoting healthy lifestyles and literacy. \n\nIt's already an inspriation to residents, Jessica Jordan and her daughter, India. \n\n\"Before it came it was like kind of dull here. It didn't have all these decorations and you know I feel like it helps even the kids with healthy eating,\" Jordan said. \n\nThis is the 15th learning hub installed at a DHS shelter with more to come this year. Residents will also be given a one-year membership to the Children's Museum of Manhattan through the partnership.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9379664063453674}
+{"content": "7,101 Pages\n\nThe Gods of Destruction (破壊神 Hakaishin, lit. \"Destruction God\"), also called Destroyers in the Funimation dub, are deities who destroy planets, races or threats that put the development of their respective universes at risk, as opposed to the Supreme Kais, the Gods of Creation, who create and fill planets with life, in order to maintain the balance of the universe.[1] Along with the Kais, they rule and oversee the formerly eighteen, currently twelve universes, with each universe having its own destroyer.\n\nUnlike the Angels and the Supreme Kais, with whom they work alongside, and whom are all members of the same species, respectively, both being naturally divine, the Gods of Destruction vary widely in species, with none sharing theirs, except for Beerus and Champa, who are twins, and are mortal-turned-divine individuals from naturally mortal species.\n\n\n\nThe twin Gods of Destruction from Universe 7 and Universe 6, Beerus and Champa.\n\nOriginally, there was a God of Destruction for each of the then-existing eighteen universes until Zeno destroyed six of them, leaving only twelve at the time of their introduction in Dragon Ball Super. Once every millennium, the Kais and the Gods of Destruction go to each other's realms and hold a coordination meeting.[2] In some occasions, the gods can also come together to deal with threats to existence or stability of their universe or universes. Gods of Destruction, due to being considerably stronger than Kais by nature, are usually more capable of dealing with universal threats than Kais, however, they seem to have no obligation to heed the commands of Kais, and thus tend to be whimsical as to which threats to eliminate.\n\nDespite their almost absolute authority, even the Gods of Destruction have restrictions. They are not allowed travel through time or allow anyone to travel time (though Whis can transport Beerus through time to the Time Nest where the Supreme Kai of Time resides if he wishes to speak with her or at her request as shown in the Xenoverse series). They are also prohibited from fighting each other unless requested or authorized in a safe area. In fact, if a God of Destruction violates these restrictions or even is not doing their job to the best of their ability, Zeno has the power to remove or even erase them from the position and appoint a new Destroyer.\n\n\nThough the Gods of Destruction may enjoy their duty, some going as far as to revel in it, they are not inherently evil, as some can be somewhat benevolent (in the case of Sidra), and do not seem to revel in their destruction, but instead use their powers to enforce \"justice\" in their own universe, by destroying only planets or anything which they consider evil (like Vermoud and the Pride Troopers), and are actually well-mannered and kind-hearted when in a good mood or at ease. Also, at least in the cases of Beerus and Champa, food is their natural way to calm down and socialize, going as far as becoming friends with mortals if they are pleased well enough, though they remain serious and do not joke around when doing their job.\n\nAlso, unlike Angels, and like the Supreme Kais, they share the emotions that mortals possess and are prone to the same revolt and rage which may cause them to commit abuse of their power, injustice, evil, and tyranny. While the Gods of Destruction are generally fearless of deities and mortals alike, they are shown to respect both the two Zenos and the Grand Minister due to their position and power. This fear causes them to ironically behave in a manner similar to how mortals and deities react when in the presence of a God of Destruction or a similarly powerful and/or high authority entity.\n\nWhile Gods of Destruction may destroy any individuals that oppose them or causes them trouble through their actions (whether intentionally or accidentally), they may spare mortals whom they find useful even if they are evil as Beerus tolerated Frieza and his empire despite Frieza being evil to the core though this was due to Frieza's willingness to serve Beerus as his Agent of Destruction due to his fear of Beerus' power which was so great King Cold ordered both his sons (Cooler mentions being warned in Xenoverse 2) to never oppose Beerus. Similarly though he was disgusted by Frost's true nature, Champa was willing to support him if he helped Team Universe 6 win the Tournament of Destroyers. However Gods of Destruction may only tolerate such individuals due to their power and ability to follow their instructions as Beerus disliked the Saiyans of Planet Vegeta mainly due to King Vegeta's stinginess and being foolish enough to try and deceive him, instead of simply following his orders, as the Saiyan King had tried to keep the universe's most comfortable pillow for himself rather than deliver it as the God of Destruction asked, which likely contributed to Beerus' decision to order Frieza to destroy Planet Vegeta, while someone like Frieza would have been more likely to follow Beerus' instructions to the letter which is presumably why Beerus tolerated him. Beerus however allowed the surviving Saiyans to live as they were good people who possessed power greater than Frieza, even allowing Goku and Vegeta to train on his planet due to seeing them both as capable rivaling him in strength though this was mainly due to knowing they had little desire to usurp him and were unlikely to misuse that power (though he was not above threatening to destroy them when they did something to annoy him, in order to keep them in line).\n\nAdditionally even if they befriend mortals, Gods of Destruction are no more obligated to help them than their divine counterparts and some such as Beerus will even refuse to assist them on principle though this is mainly for their benefit as Gods of Destruction destroy mainly to encourage growth among the mortal population of their universe thus Beerus' refusal is to prevent Bulma and the Z Fighters from relying on him to save the Earth from every crisis they can't handle, though this only applies to dealing with threats as Beerus may help them in indirect ways (such as providing information) and may destroy villains if they irritate him. In fact one of Beerus' reason for helping Goku kill Frieza by allowing Whis to assist was so Goku could correct his mistakes that had resulted in Earth's destruction, as it was Goku's naivety and overconfidence that lead him to underestimate Frieza's ruthlessness (thus it was meant to foster Goku's growth as a warrior). Beerus later decided he preferred Goku and his friends over the return of Frieza and his empire, only having Frieza revived after he assisted Team Universe 7 in winning the Tournament of Power even when it meant working alongside his hated enemies, though Beerus was fully aware that Frieza would seek his revenge once revived and only joined the team to save himself from being erased, however Beerus was simply honoring the agreement that Goku made with Frieza (who was no threat to the God of Destruction himself) though Beerus likely trusted Goku and Vegeta to take care of Frieza and his empire given he was likely to seek revenge on them anyway. Beerus was even less obligated to help Frieza when he was still in power and Champa felt no obligation to assist Frost if he failed as he remarked his dislike of Frost's evil nature, only willing to assist him as long as his power was an asset to him. Champa however had no problem with attempting to Frost once he and the rest of Team Universe 6 lost the Tournament of Destroyers. However some Gods of Destruction despise evil such as Belmond and to a lesser extent Sidra (who was willing to work with assassins and even Frieza due to the threat posed by the Tournament of Power), thus are less likely to tolerate such individuals except in only the most extreme circumstances such as the Tournament of Power.\n\nThey, but not all, are shown to occasionally be short-tempered, to the extent that even the Angels know to steer clear from their path when their lords are pushed to the breaking point.\n\nRelationships with other deities\n\nThe Gods of Destruction are linked to the Supreme Kais of their universe, and, if all of the Supreme Kais were to die, the God of Destruction would too, as a way to offset the balance of the respective universe.[3] Only the deities themselves and their assistants possess such knowledge, and only few outside superior high ranks including mortals have been entrusted with this knowledge.[4]\n\nThe Gods of Destruction are less vulnerable than the Supreme Kais in that sense, since they can continue to live on, as long as even a single Supreme Kai exists in their universe, whereas the death of a God of Destruction would instantly kill all Supreme Kais, regardless of how numerous. This link does not extend to the Apprentice Supreme Kais, however, as Gowasu's death caused Rumush to die despite Zamasu still being alive.\n\nBeerus, the God of Destruction from Universe 7, is the one who sealed Old Kai in the Z Sword.[2] His administrative zone includes planet Earth. Each God of Destruction has an Angel attendant, like Whis for Beerus and Vados for Champa. If a God of Destruction dies, their Angel attendant will become inactive until a new god is chosen.\n\nDespite the life-link and status as a god, a God of Destruction is not obligated to show respect or treat his or her associated Kai kindly. Beerus, for example, constantly belittles his universe's Kais and even went so far as to seal away Old Kai for some unknown offense. In the manga, Rumush threatens to kill his universe's Kai, Gowasu, if their summons to Zeno's palace was to berate their handling of Zamasu. While Beerus is careful to ensure no harm comes to his universe Supreme Kais, interestingly he never came into conflict Kid Buu despite the Majin threatening to destroy them all on at least two occasions, however presumably on both occasions Beerus was asleep and unaware his universe's Supreme Kai were in trouble (Old Kai presumably never mentioned Beerus or sought his assistance due to fear he might be sealed and presumably the destruction that Beerus could cause if he were wakened from his nap prematurely). Thus in Universe 7, the Supreme Kai are more vulnerable when Beerus is asleep (presumably Whis is unable to assist without being expressly ordered to).\n\nIn the manga, it is stated that all the Gods of Destruction hold a grudge against Beerus because of his carelessness of falling asleep during Zeno's All Universe Hide and Seek Tournament, an antic that made Zeno furious and the other Gods of Destruction had to quickly plan to alleviate his anger, a life or death decision that they would always hold Beerus responsible for.\n\nCandidates and substitutes\n\nDespite their immense power and longevity, Gods of Destruction are known to be capable of dying. Due to this, their angel attendant will seek out and train potential replacements. The candidates do not have to be of a divine race as mortals are selected as candidates if they possess adequate power. The only known God of Destruction candidate (破壊神候補 Hakaishin kōho) is Top of Universe 11,[5][6] although before, Jiren was chosen, but turned down the offer. Goku and Vegeta of Universe 7 were both offered candidate positions by their universe's guide angel, but turned down the offer due to simply wanting to become stronger on their own. Candidates, once chosen and accepted, can take on the power of destruction with training from an angel to control its power and Godly Ki. Additionally, in the Xenoverse series, Whis seeks to train Time Patrollers mainly in the hopes of finding potential candidates to replace Beerus, though the Supreme Kai of Time lashes out at him for trying to headhunt Time Patrol personal when he asks the Future Warrior if they would like to be the next God of Destruction, thus presumably this practice is frowned on by Chronoa and Elder Kai, though they still permit Whis to work as an Instructor at the Time Patroller Academy.\n\nGods of Destruction do not always work alone in their destruction and sometimes can appoint someone else the duty of destroying, thus becoming an Agent of Destruction (破壊の代行 Hakai no daikō).[7] The only example of this in Universe 7 being Frieza, who prior to Age 739 was known to aid Beerus in destroying things, and was also told by him to destroy Planet Vegeta. Beerus also allowed Frieza to maintain an galactic empire which controlled 70% of Universe 7. Presumably Beerus also tolerated the activities of other members of the Frieza Clan such as King Cold and Cooler, which is supported by King Cold advising both of his sons not to challenge Beerus, which may have played a role in allowing them to maintain a vast empire as they respected Beerus' position as Universe 7's Destroyer. After Frieza's resurrection However, Beerus was less inclined to allow Frieza to act freely, as he allowed Whis to turn back time to prevent the Earth's destruction due to his love of Earth cuisine and having become acquainted with the Goku and his friends.\n\nIn Universe 11, the Pride Troopers work under and/or are overseen by Vermoud and, therefore, are also agents of destruction, though in their case, to destroy evil only. They also work with and even protect the Supreme Kai if need be.\n\nIn the lead up to the Tournament of Power, Sidra had Universe 9's Assassins act as agents of destruction, gifting their leader with some Energy of Destruction to use.\n\nFuture Trunks' timeline\n\nAs a result of the actions of Future Dabura and Future Babidi, all the Kais of Universe 7 have been killed, and by extension, Future Beerus. Also, it is revealed that Future Zamasu and Goku Black have killed the other Supreme Kais from all universes and, by extension, all of the Gods of Destruction, rendering the evil duo, both of them Kais, as the only remaining gods save for Future Zeno. Due to this, the Kais' roles changed radically, taking the Gods of Destructions' place in destroying worlds for their own evil/selfish goals.[4]\n\nIn addition, due to the deaths of the Gods of Destruction, the Angels that serve them became inactive.\n\nGods of Destruction\n\nGods Destruction 12U\n\nThe 12 Gods of Destruction\n\n\nMain articles: God of Destruction Mode and Aura of a God The Gods of Destruction are among the mightiest entities in the multiverse, strong enough to be universally feared, not only by mortals, but even by other Gods. Even with training from their guide Angel, the Ultra Instinct ability is hard for a God of Destruction to properly access and only Beerus has shown any skill with it.\n\nIt appears that the lowest level of power required to be a God of Destruction is power on the level of the Perfected Super Saiyan Blue form, as Goku was able to use Hakai in this form, Beerus noted Vegeta was strong enough to be a candidate for God of Destruction in this form, and Toppo - a God of Destruction candidate - rivaled this form in power.\n\nDespite each Destroyer holding the same authority and standard powers as an other, their individual might and combat ability can vary. In the manga, Quitela is said to have previously defeated Beerus in arm-wrestling, though Beerus believes he wouldn't lose in actual hand-to-hand combat. A God of Destruction's greatest weakness is their Life Link to all active Supreme Kais of their respective universe. If all said Supreme Kais are to die, so will their respective God of Destruction. They also gain immense longevity of several million years when given the position of being God of Destruction. As the Life Link is their Achilles' heel, the Gods of Destruction tend to be protective of the Supreme Kais of their Universe and presumably helps ensure that they will work together especially when the life of their Supreme Kai is threatened, as well as keeping the Gods of Destruction from destroying them, as shown by Beerus choosing to seal Elder Kai rather than destroy him (he does however try to destroy Elder Kai in Xenoverse 2 though it should be noted that Beerus in that game comes from an altered timeline and Elder Kai presumably originates from Age 852. It should also be noted that Beerus is linked to Shin, so Elder Kai's death would not effect him in any case as he didn't die when Elder Kai gave up his life during the Fusion Saga to resurrect Goku). Knowledge of the life link is a closely guarded secret however the Zamases learned of it due to being apprentice Supreme Kais to Gowasu and Future Gowasu in their respective timelines. After the death of Future Shin and Future Beerus, Goku Black killed Future Gowasu and recruited Future Zamasu to enact their Zero Mortal Plan, then killed the Supreme Kais in each Universe resulting in the deaths of the remaining Gods of Destruction, leaving the Zamases and Future Zeno the only deities remaining in Future Trunks' timeline before it was erased by Future Zeno to stop Infinite Zamasu. Additionally in Universe 7, Bibidi used Kid Buu to wage war on the Supreme Kais, killing and/or absorbing several of them before his absorption of Grand Supreme Kai turned him into Innocent Buu which lead to Shin's life being spared saving the life of Beerus who was presumably asleep as it is likely he would have stepped in had he known the Supreme Kais of his universe were in danger. Fortunately Shin killed Bibidi, and Kid Buu was later defeated by Goku during the Majin Buu conflict which occurred while Beerus was sleeping.\n\nScreenshot 99\n\nSidra granting Energy of Destruction to the Universe 9's Assassins Boss\n\n\nThe aura of a God of Destruction\n\nAll Gods of Destruction possess the potent \"Power of Destruction\". This power allows Gods of Destruction to \"destroy\" a particular object or being on contact without the need to fight, such as a planet or a criminal Kai as punishment. All Gods of Destruction also hold this power. This ability is absolute as it can even destroy non-corporal entities such as ghosts of deceased beings in the anime, as it is capable of destroying their souls; however, they cannot destroy immortals. The Power of Destruction can take energy form whereupon it is known as Energy of Destruction - powerful energy that can be used for both destructive and defensive purposes. As shown by Sidra, a God of Destruction can grant some of their destructive energies to other beings. One is not needed to be a God of Destruction to use the Power of Destruction, as proven by Goku in the manga, where he used the technique on Fused Zamasu.\n\nScreenshot 100\n\nTrue Golden Frieza managing to converting the Energy of Destruction back into a sphere\n\nWith the Power of Destruction, the individual who possesses the energy can erase anything or anyone from existence. It should be noted that powerful entities can also dispel, destroy or convert the destructive energy back into a sphere, allowing them to use it to attack others as shown when True Golden Frieza was able to grab the Energy of Destruction and convert it back into a sphere which he used on Goku.\n\n\nBeerus converting an egg into dust in Battle of Gods\n\nAdditionally, Beerus has demonstrated the ability to turn an egg into dust with a simple touch, which causes his energy to flow through the egg, petrifying it then causing it to decay to dust which is likely tied to his abilities as a God of Destruction (as such an ability would be destructive if performed on a much more massive scale).\n\nGods of Destruction also possess the capability to enter Rage Mode, though only Beerus ever displays this ability.\n\nContrary to the Supreme Kais, Gods of Destruction seem to manifest their godhood in raw destructive power, while Supreme Kais manifest it in the ability to create and spread life across the universe. Due to the nature of their abilities, Gods of Destruction have much higher combat abilities than their counterparts. \n\nDespite their power and position, the God of Destruction govern each of their universes in different and sometimes more effective ways, as well as working on improving the long term development and evolution of their universe in a working relationship with the respective Supreme Kais. This effort helped some universes evade possible destruction in the Tournament of Power due to the better results of developing.\n\nGods of Destruction appear to have vast political power in their respective universes. An example being Frost asking Champa to have his crimes wiped free. Thus, it can be implied that a God of Destruction authority seems to go beyond just universal balancing, and they have recognized political influence. Interestingly, in the manga they are said to be able to eliminate anyone without due process.\n\nIronically, in the manga, it appears that the other Gods of Destruction who were spared from possible universal erasure are weaker in comparison to other Gods of Destruction of universes competing in the manga, as several of their attacks were ineffective against said Gods of Destruction, and they were later knocked out by the latter.\n\nMortals who surpass the Gods of Destruction\n\nJiren2Universe Survival\n\nJiren, the first known mortal that a God of Destruction cannot defeat.\n\nAs fearsome in battle and sheer destructive forces as they may be, the Gods of Destruction are not invincible and not necessarily the strongest warriors of them all. Besides the significantly more powerful Omni-Kings and Grand Minister, whom the Gods of Destruction are serve under and must answer to, and the Angels who are tasked with mentoring and looking after the Destroyers and are among the very few, even mostly the only ones, stronger than the Gods of Destruction in their own universe, it is possible for mortals to surpass the Gods of Destruction. This was revealed first revealed by Whis.\n\n  • In the manga, Vegito as Super Saiyan Blue is noted by Shin to have potentially surpassed Beerus in power.\n  • The statement of a mortal greater than a God of Destruction was proven by Jiren of Universe 11, whose power surpasses a God of Destruction's and cannot be defeated in combat by a Destroyer.\n  • In the anime, in terms of speed, Dispo - with his Light Bullet - was able to move faster than Champa could track.\n  • In the anime, Frieza, in his True Golden Frieza form, had been pointed out by Ro to be more of a God of Destruction than Sidra and was able to overpower his Energy of Destruction. He was also able to move faster than Dispo (whom Champa could not see move).\n  • Goku proved to be able to attain Ultra Instinct through a transformation, while not yet completed, grants him Destroyer-like might, as according to promotional material he was deemed by Beerus to be possibly stronger than him and could go fight Jiren, who was the only mortal a Destroyer cannot defeat in combat. Upon fully mastering the form, in the anime Goku's power had surpassed the Gods of Destruction, having managed to easily overcome Jiren and even defeat him despite Jiren unlocking his hidden power with his new rising power in the anime, while in the manga he managed to prove an even match to the full power Jiren.\n  • In the anime, Vegeta in his SS Blue (Evolved) state managed to defeat Top even after he ascended to the state of God of Destruction Mode.\n  • Broly is also noted to wield destructive power seemingly above the Gods of Destruction.[8]\n\n\n\n\nGotenks calls himself a \"God of Destruction\" in Legendary Super Warriors\n\n  • God of Destruction is a title used by several other characters in the Dragon Ball franchise:\n    • Frieza - Although Frieza never claimed the title for himself, Ro once commented that Frieza was more of a God of Destruction than Sidra, who actually held the title, upon witnessing the tyrant's cruel nature and impressive power.\n    • Cell – A Bio-Android referred to as a \"God of Destruction\" in the Japanese title of the episode \"Cell is Complete\" (戦闘力無限大!! セルという名の破壊神誕生; lit. \"Infinite attack power! A God of Destruction called Cell is born\").\n    • Kid Buu – Was described like a God of Destruction by Shin. This is fitting as he came very close to killing all the active Supreme Kais of Universe 7 which would have in turn killed Universe 7's God of Destruction.\n    • Luud – A Machine Mutant worshipped as a God of Destruction by the Luud Cult, who is an antagonist in Dragon Ball GT. However, Luud is actually a false deity created by Dr. Myuu to gather energy for Baby.\n    • Syn Shenron – A Shadow Dragon who, upon reabsorbing the other six Dragon Balls, proclaims himself as a \"God of Destruction\". This may be due to his status as a Shenron.\n    • Gotenks – Calls himself a \"God of Destruction\" when formed in Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors.\n    • Broly was called a \"Destruction God\" in Goku's mission to fight Broly, and the \"God of Destruction\" in Gohan's mission to fight him in Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2. There is also a Capsule Skill exclusive to Broly in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 called \"God of Destruction Body Wrap.\"\n    • Future Warrior - In Xenoverse 2, during the story mission \"The Pudding Problem - Beerus' Fury\", The Future Warrior must help Whis subdue Beerus after the latter flies into a fury. After reducing Beerus' health to a certain amount, Whis will admit that he is impressed that a mortal could be so powerful, saying that the Future Warrior surpasses Super Saiyan God Goku in strength and may one day surpass Beerus himself, and offers the Future Warrior the job of \"God of Destruction\", to which Chronoa refuses to allow as she tells Whis she will not have him stealing any Time Patrol personnel. After the story mission, Beerus appears in Conton City by the Patroller Academy and becomes available as an Instructor for the Future Warrior, teaching them his skills as Universe 7's God of Destruction. Additionally, the Future Warrior can unlock \"God of Destruction\" as a title for their Play Data profile. Additionally, the Saiyan Future Warrior can achieve their Super Saiyan Blue form through Whis after reaching Level 90 and achieving maximum friendship with Whis, with Whis himself noting that their power may have even surpassed the gods.[9]\n  • In Xenoverse 2 as part of the Masters Pack DLC, Whis mentions after the Future Warrior completes his training that \"With abilities like yours, entry into the championship to decide the next God of Destruction wouldn't be out of the question.\" indicating that there may be some sort of tournament or competition involved in selecting a God of Destruction's replacement.\n  • All the Gods of Destruction and their attendants are named after alcoholic drinks: Beer(us), Whis(key), Champa(gne) and (cal)Vados. The gods of Universe 6 are also named after finer drinks than the gods of Universe 7, since champagne and calvados are generally considered higher-class than beer and whiskey.\n    • That said, Beerus' name was originally based on \"virus\".[10] However, series creator Akira Toriyama thought it was a pun on beer and named Whis as a pun on Whiskey, leading to the alcoholic naming trend which was repeated with Vados and Champa.\n  • Though Gods of Destruction are prohibited from traveling through time, this rule is seemingly ignored in the Xenoverse series, as Beerus is allowed to travel from Age 778 to the Time Nest in Age 850 (in Xenoverse), as well as from Age 779 to the Time Nest in Age 852 (in Xenoverse 2) via the Whis' Warp technique. Presumably this rule against Time Travel does not apply to travel to the Time Nest where the Supreme Kai of Time resides or that it is permitted during certain circumstances, as Beerus only travels to the Time Nest in order to learn more about Demigra and the Time Breakers when they engage in blasphemous actions (such as Demigra trying to control him in Age 778 and Towa tricking him and Whis to travel to the Time Nest to prevent Whis from assisting Goku during the Battle with Golden Frieza in Age 779) involving Beerus and his attendant when someone illegally alters history in their presence (as altering history is a crime against the natural laws of the universe and if left unchecked can lead to the destruction of history, which in turn leads to the destruction of the universe). As Gods of Destruction occasionally work with the Gods of Creation to deal with universal threats, presumably Beerus is allowed to travel with his attendant to the Time Nest to speak with Chronoa concerning such threats, especially when they interfere with the God of Destruction and/or their duties, in addition to aiding Chronoa in dealing with individuals who seek to alter historical events in which the God of Destruction is present and/or directly involved in as shown by Demigra and Towa's manipulation of him as part of plans. However Gods of Destruction may chose too deal with problems caused as a result of the use of time travel without the Supreme Kai of Time's assistance, as shown by how Beerus dealt with the rogue Kai Zamasu to prevent him from killing Gowasu and stealing Goku's body as to enact the Project Zero Mortals, though he choses leaves the defeat of Goku Black and Future Zamasu in the future up to Goku, Vegeta, and Future Trunks, indicating that Gods of Destruction only travel through time when working with or assisting the Supreme Kai of Time. Gods of Destruction may also be permitted to travel through time if the Supreme Kai of Time or a God of Creation assisting them (such as Elder Kai) asks for their assistance.\n    • It is also possible that a Supreme Kai of Time has the ability to grant a God of Destruction permission to travel through time with their attendant (and Chronoa likely permits Beerus to do in the Xenoverse series in order to avoid upsetting him).\n  • In Dragon Ball Fusions, God of Destruction appears as a passive Skill available to both Champa and Beerus which causes them to do 30% extra damage. This skill is also inherited by Beerus' EX-Fusions Whirus, Kibeerusshin, and Gorus as well. Presumably the skill represents the destructive power of their position which is inherited by Beerus' fusions.\n  • Not all Gods of Destruction are based on felines, as Beerus and Champa were. Their appearance can vary, and may be based on different kinds of beings and creatures, perhaps ones from different mythologies, such as:\n    • Sidra appears similar to a Dwarf, a Norse mythological creature.\n    • Rumush bears a resemblance to the Hindu deity, Ganesh, due to his humanoid form and elephant-like head and face. This has resulted in controversy surrounding the character.\n    • Vermoud bears the appearance of a clown, most notably Pennywise from the Stephen King novel and movie It. Pennywise is another name given to Consumption, the Eater of Worlds that existed before the universe and is opposed by The Turtle, a force of creation from the same place that Consumption came from. This lend some similarity to Vermoud and Pennywise as Gods of Destruction.\n    • Jerez appears to be similar to the Egyptian goddess of love and beauty, Hathor. A goddess who when infuriated has the ability to turn into her alter-ego, the warrior goddess Sekhmet.\n    • Mosco appears to incorporate design elements Luud from Dragon Ball GT as a reference to Luud's \"status\" as a God of Destruction.\n    • Liquiir bears resemblance to the nine-tailed Fox Spirit from Eastern mythologies.\n  • With Dispo's appearance who looks like them, Beerus and Champa themselves may be mortals turned Gods of Destruction, as the others looked like as if they came from different mortal races, unlike Kais and Supreme Kais, which is a title exclusively for Core Person, and it is possible that they became Gods of Destruction at the request of their attendants, as those who became destroyers may be very powerful mortals, as they are capable of dying even without their life-links dying, as Angels often will seek out mortals from different races with an abnormally huge power level as candidates, Top being an example. Goku and Vegeta were also offered the title, but both rejected the job. It is believed that when a God of Destruction is appointed, their ki is made divine and they are given more power to suit their job. For example: Every God of Destruction has the common power of Energy of Destruction and also the power to use Hakai. It is implied by Whis' training of Goku and Vegeta, as well as Marcarita's training of Toppo that the training of an Angel plays a part in preparing potential God of Destruction candidates which makes sense seeing as how all Angels act as mentors to their assigned Universe's God of Destruction. This is further implied by Toppo's God of Destruction transformation which Marcarita implies is the fruits of his training under her. Similarly in the manga Goku is shown to be able to use Destruction in his Perfected Super Saiyan Blue form, presumably as a result of his training under Whis.\n  • While it's true that the Gods of Destruction are powerful, they can't travel through time.\n  • Unlike the other Gods of Destruction, Quitela and Sidra are the only two not to have golden rings around their shoes.\n  • It was noted by Whis that there used to be 18 universes, which means there should at least be 6 more Gods of Destruction in the series. This could mean that the gods have been erased along with their universes, which is likely, considering the fact that the remaining Gods of Destruction whose teams lose in the Tournament of Power are erased, along with their respective Universe.\n  • Amongst all Gods of Destruction in all universes, Universe 11 currently is the only universe that possess a mortal that even a God of Destruction cannot defeat in combat, which in this case is Jiren. It was noted by Vermoud that he cannot defeat Jiren in head-to-head combat.\n    • Given that Goku achieved full mastery of Ultra Instinct and overcame Jiren even with Jiren's power greatly increased in battle, the Universe 7 is technically the second universe that possess a mortal that even a God of Destruction cannot defeat in combat. Beerus notes that Goku in his final usage of Ultra Instinct -Sign- might be stronger than him. In addition to Goku, Vegeta managed to overcome Toppo even when he became a God of Destruction with his Super Saiyan God SS・Shinka. Broly is also noted to seemingly be more powerful than a God of Destruction, which makes Universe 7 the only universe to have more than one mortal surpassing a Destroyer.\n  • Among the current Gods of Destruction, Beerus seems to be the only one among them who knows how to use, albeit incompletely, Ultra Instinct.\n\n\nSite Navigation\n\nStart a Discussion Discussions about God of Destruction\n\n  • Symbols\n\n    2 messages\n    • All Gods of Destruction have a symbol on their front slashes – what do those symbols mean?\n    • Their universe.\n  • Gods\n\n    24 messages\n    • Omegafire17 wrote:Yeeaaahhh, I don't think there is one above Zeno. If there were, he/she would be front and center for the Tournament...\n    • Weedle McHairybug wrote: TroxyGamer wrote: However, Zen-chan (XD) should have more morality. He erased SIX universes because he was in a ...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8144285678863525}
+{"content": "Modernizing Local Government for the 21st Century\n\n\nIt’s not a “what if”—it’s what’s happening.\n\n\nBy harnessing millennial talent in both the business and academic communities, MuniMod has created an environment that encourages collaborative approaches to “Big Ideas” that improve citizens’ quality of life. The goal is to create new, cutting-edge municipal technologies while also promoting civic awareness among millennials; fostering new ways of addressing local challenges; creating scalable ideas for the smallest municipality and the largest; and tapping the knowledge of local elected officials, who serve as mentors and resources for competitors.\n\nIn December 2015, students presented their MuniMod projects and teams were judged on the following five categories: product idea; functionality; scalability; community impact; and presentation.\n\nTeam Socrates won MuniMod’s Fall semester with their product, Green Score—an energy efficient app that allows municipal departments to track both water and energy use internally, in real time, and compete in a “gaming environment” to reduce a municipality’s carbon footprint. Through the app, local governments can compete internally or externally, with other local communities, to improve energy and water efficiency.\n\nMuniMod 2.0—held in 2016—was equally exciting. This year’s winner was Team Astrolite and its product, GNIE—a new software platform that allows municipalities to competitively bid select municipal contracts to pre-approved vendors in real-time.\n\nNot only has MuniMod engaged younger Americans in the work of local government, it’s injected entrepreneurship into public affairs and produced exciting new local government technologies for Florida. Some of these ideas have already graduated to the next stage of development, with the potential for full-scale commercialization on the horizon.\n\nJenna Tala and John Dailey contributed to this article.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9977872371673584}
+{"content": "weather glossary\n\n\nCA - Cloud-to-Air lightning.\nCap (or Capping Inversion)\n\nThe cap is an important ingredient in most severe thunderstorm episodes, as it serves to separate warm, moist air below and cooler, drier air above. With the cap in place, air below it can continue to warm and/or moisten, thus increasing the amount of potential instability. Or, air above it can cool, which also increases potential instability. But without a cap, either process (warming/moistening at low levels or cooling aloft) results in a faster release of available instability - often before instability levels become large enough to support severe weather development.\n\n\n*Cb - Cumulonimbus cloud, characterized by strong vertical development in the form of mountains or huge towers topped at least partially by a smooth, flat, often fibrous anvil. Also known colloquially as a \"thunderhead.\"\n\nCC - Cloud-to-Cloud lightning.\n\nCell - Convection in the form of a single updraft, downdraft, or updraft/downdraft couplet, typically seen as a vertical dome or tower as in a cumulus or towering cumulus cloud. A typical thunderstorm consists of several cells (see multi-cellular thunderstorm).\nThe term \"cell\" also is used to describe the radar echo returned by an individual shower or thunderstorm. Such usage, although common, is technically incorrect.\n\n*CG - Cloud-to-Ground lightning flash.\n\nChaff - Small strips of metal foil, usually dropped in large quantities from aircraft or balloons. Chaff typically produces a radar echo which closely resembles precipitation. Chaff drops once were conducted by the military in order to confuse enemy radar, but now are conducted mainly for radar testing and calibration purposes.\n\n- Convective Inhibition. A measure of the amount of energy needed in order to initiate convection. Values of CIN typically reflect the strength of the cap. They are obtained on a sounding by computing the area enclosed between the environmental temperature profile and the path of a rising air parcel, over the layer within which the latter is cooler than the former. (This area sometimes is called negative area.)\n\n\nClassic Supercell - See supercell.\n\n\nCloud Streets\n- Rows of cumulus or cumulus-type clouds aligned parallel to the low-level flow. Cloud streets sometimes can be seen from the ground, but are seen best on satellite photographs.\n\nCloud Tags - Ragged, detached cloud fragments; fractus or scud.\n\nCold Advection - Transport of cold air into a region by horizontal winds.\n\n\nCold Pool\n\nCollar Cloud - A generally circular ring of cloud that may be observed on rare occasions surrounding the upper part of a wall cloud. .\nThis term sometimes is used (incorrectly) as a synonym for wall cloud.\n\nComma Cloud - A synoptic scale cloud pattern with a characteristic comma-like shape, often seen on satellite photographs associated with large and intense low-pressure systems.\n\n\nCondensation Funnel - A funnel-shaped cloud associated with rotation and consisting of condensed water droplets (as opposed to smoke, dust, debris, etc.). Compare with debris cloud.\n\n\nCongestus (or Cumulus Congestus) - same as towering cumulus.\n\n\n\nConvective Temperature\nCalculation of the convective temperature involves many assumptions, such that thunderstorms sometimes develop well before or well after the convective temperature is reached (or may not develop at all). However, in some cases the convective temperature is a useful parameter for forecasting the onset of convection.\n\n\nCore Punch - [Slang], a penetration by a vehicle into the heavy precipitation core of a thunderstorm.\nCore punching is not a recommended procedure for storm spotting\n\nCooling Degree Day (CDD)- useful in determining cooling energy requirements. Defined as (MT - 65)= CDD, where MT is Mean Temperature (F). If MT is less than 65 degrees F, CDD=0. MT= Mean (average) Temperature of the day.\n\nMT=(High Temperature+Low Temperature)/2\n\n\n\nCumulus Congestus (or simply Congestus) - Same as towering cumulus.\n\nCutoff Low - A closed low which has become completely displaced (cut off) from basic westerly current, and moves independently of that current. Cutoff lows may remain nearly stationary for days, or on occasion may move westward opposite to the prevailing flow aloft (i.e., retrogression).\n\n\"Cutoff low\" and \"closed low\" often are used interchangeably to describe low pressure centers aloft. However, not all closed lows are completely removed from the influence of the basic westerlies. Therefore, the recommended usage of the terms is to reserve the use of \"cutoff low\" only to those closed lows which clearly are detached completely from the westerlies.\n\nA storm which undergoes only one cycle (pulse), and then dissipates, is known as a pulse storm.\n\nCyclogenesis - Development or intensification of a low-pressure center (cyclone).\n\n*Cyclonic Circulation (or Cyclonic Rotation\n) - Circulation (or rotation) which is in the same sense as the Earth's rotation, i.e., counterclockwise (in the Northern Hemisphere) as would be seen from above. Nearly all mesocyclones and strong or violent tornadoes exhibit cyclonic rotation, but some smaller vortices, such as gustnadoes, occasionally rotate anticyclonically (clockwise). Compare with anticyclonic rotation.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9982483386993408}
+{"content": "Selected Works\n\n\nBloch looks back fondly on a period spent in the desert area of Arava with her husband and her four children. Despite suffering from health problems at the time it was very positive experience and the move to the desert led her to the discovery of her artistic leanings and, in her own words, inspired her, “to create, to love, to wrap my family around me, to give and to receive love. I see the world in brighter colors now.”\n\nRuth Bloch’s growth as sculptor is far easier to trace than her influences. As a figurative sculptor, Bloch most closely relates to Henry Moore for his fluidity of line and his genius for making massive appear delicate. Her work entitled, “Fatherhood,” blends human forms in an eternal circle, echoing Moore’s ability to realize the full potential of the sculptural form. Bloch, however, unlike her predecessor, allows no separation between man, woman and child. In Ruth’s view, all of these figures are one instead of separate; we all play a key role in the perpetual circle of life. Eliminating precise detail and relying on line and form alone, Ruth creates simple, yet powerful figurative bronzes. Whether couples, parents and children, or individual female figures, her creations are an expression of her powerful emotions.\n\n“For me, what makes art is pureness, the fewer stages you have from the inner you to the art, the better,” explained Bloch. This philosophy inspires much of her creation. She strives to deliver a pure quality from the profound depths of the self and this is illustrated in a piece like “Family,” which evokes the sense of unity and togetherness that is fostered from within her own family.\n\nCurrently, Bloch lives and sculpts in Israel. Her work exhibits a great depth of feeling for the human figure, revealing the living unity of both masculine and feminine forces. She has mastered working with bronze, and her elegant human sculptures are viscerally appealing to people of all ages. Her works are exhibited all over the world.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9651291966438293}
+{"content": "We at AIBusiness are officially launching our new series ‘AI Innovators’ this January. This is a series dedicated to featuring interviews with relevant spokespersons across a range of businesses that have entered the world of artificial intelligence. AI Innovators aims to provide our readers with a broad insight into how artificial intelligence is implemented within different industries, anything from finance to medical research.\nRichard_Goold_DSC_2770The fourth company to feature in these series is EY, a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. EY is one of the largest professional services firm in the world and is one of the “Big Four” accounting firms. AI Business spoke with Richard Goold who leads Tech Law for EY globally, working with Tech investors, corporates and entrepreneurs on their global transactional and day-to-day activities.\n\nWe started off the Q&A by asking how EY is currently involved in the world of artificial intelligence, to give our readers an overview of how this professional services firm has adopted this relatively new technology. \n“We are running proof of concept tests in many of our service lines”, Goold said, following with: “We have had robotics up and running for some time now but true machine learning and AI is beginning to get very interesting in many areas such as tax, due diligence (financial, law, tax etc) and eDiscovery /investigations”.\n\nGoold predicts that artificial intelligence could be very interesting and relevant to their audit/assurance service line in time. He also mentions their active involvement in the AI ecosystem on a more general basis, in order for them to stay close to the grass roots innovation.\n\nGoold have already started with initiatives to engage these companies, such as hosting an AI CEO dinner last week for startup executives, large corporate executives, and VCs.\n\nWhich AI technologies are you specifically focusing on developing, and how does this fit into your existing solutions?\n\n“As I say, many, and it’s not just about developing tech ourselves. We want to work with best in class providers including many startups”, Goold says, mentioning how the business model could involve JV or licensing elements.\n\n“The one PoC programme that I am closest to is the AI due diligence tool that we are beginning to deploy for due diligence projects”.\n\nAI speeds up review times and enables us to be significantly more effective.\n\nWhich verticals are you gaining most traction from in relation to AI?\n\n“I’m not sure that we view the world in that way”, Goold says. He explains that be believes that AI will be of quite significant application to many of EY’s service lines, and when this is established,  they will provide those services to all verticals.\n\nHow are your solutions impacting your enterprise clients’ ways of working?\n\n“Well it’s early days and at the moment, the solutions are more focussed on saving time and money, rather than having the truly transformational impacts that AI is likely to have in time”, he says.\n\nWhat is it that sets you apart from others in the market?\n\n“We have built a practice which integrates legal services with a wide range of other professional services. This means we are able to work with clients on an integrated basis to help them make the most of the opportunities they have or to overcome the challenges they face”.\n\n“It’s a complex world and very few questions require a purely legal response – we aim to bring the best of EY to any client scenario”.\n\nWhere do you see EY in five years?\n\n“We will continue to evolve and innovate our business – adapting and responding to new disruptive technologies and changing macroeconomic and geopolitical trends”, Goold says.\n\n“Our global structure, deep sector experience, and leading people culture means that we are in a great position to adapt to these changing forces and are real differentiators for the firm”.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9833391308784485}
+{"content": "I came across this essay written by George Orwell during WWII in England. It appeared in The Partisan Review, August-September 1942, at the height of the war. He was talking about the anti-war movement in Great Britain during the Second World War, but his remarks are equally applicable to the anti-war cadre in the U.S. now.\n\nHere are some excerpts:\n\n\n\n\nSubstitute Islamic fascism for Nazism in the last sentence and it is applicable now.\n\nIt seems to me that just as the British pacifists in WWII didn’t “get” the danger to the world and their way of life posed by the Nazis, so American anti-war advocates don’t “get” the danger to the world and to their way of life posed by Islamic extremists.\nH/T: Clark Baker", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999075531959534}
+{"content": "Loading presentation...\n\nPresent Remotely\n\nSend the link below via email or IM\n\n\nPresent to your audience\n\nStart remote presentation\n\n  • Invited audience members will follow you as you navigate and present\n  • People invited to a presentation do not need a Prezi account\n  • This link expires 10 minutes after you close the presentation\n  • A maximum of 30 users can follow your presentation\n  • Learn more about this feature in our knowledge base article\n\nDo you really want to delete this prezi?\n\n\n\nAN101 2017 Lec 1\n\nNo description\n\nJulie Jenkins\n\non 21 January 2018\n\nComments (0)\n\nPlease log in to add your comment.\n\nReport abuse\n\nTranscript of AN101 2017 Lec 1\n\nWhat is Anthropology?\nWhat is anthropology?\nWhat perspectives are unique to anthropology?\n'the study of human-beings'\n5 Sub-fields of Anthropology\nBiological & Physical\n--Origins and evolution of Homo-Sapiens\n--Physical variations in human populations\n--Non-human primate behavior\n\n-How did people live in the past?\n\n--Excavation & analysis of historical human cultures\nDifferences & similarities in contemporary and historical cultures\nWhat is universal, what is particular?\n“the study of the beliefs and practices of social actors within society…in which societies and social groups are treated as open ended systems…”\nApplication of Anthropological knowledge & methods to\nreal world problems\n\nHealth, education, development, marketing, public policy, business\nPerspectives of Anthropology\nIn its extreme form:\nattitude that one's own culture is the best/superior\nWhat comes to your mind when you think of \"Anthropology\"?\nWhat do we mean by the 'holistic' perspective?\nStrive to:\nlook for the internal logic of cultural systems\nunderstand different cultural perspectives\nevaluate each culture on its own terms, without bias\nHow can we avoid being ethnocentric?\nRefrain Judgement\nIdentify & Reflect\nReconsider your own cultural background\nAsk...'Why does this bother me?'\nGreek- \"Anthropos\"\nWhat do people do, think, and why??\nHow do people experience & create the world around them?\nWhat are our values and norms and how are these created, transmitted, and contested?\n\"no single aspect of a human community can be understood without exploring its relation to other aspects of the community’s total way of life”\nWhat are your reactions? Why?\nHighlight words or phrases that indicate bias in Miner's account.\n-What makes humans different from other primates?\n-How and why do human groups differ biologically?\n-What style of speech should one use in specific social contexts?\n-How does language reflect how we view the world?\n-How does speech shape our thought processes?\nCultural/Methodological Relativism vs Moral Relativism\nApplied Anthropology\nWhy do the Maasai drink blood?\nGender & Sexuality\nRace & Ethnicity\nmedia & communications\nAs opposed to 'ethnocentrism'\ntendency to view the word from your perspective or experiences.\nFull transcript", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6967340707778931}
+{"content": "Those who undergo bariatric surgery should be prepared to make changes to their lifestyle that will last a lifetime. Being overweight can hugely affect a person’s health and social life, yet bariatric surgery is a tool that can help to achieve weight loss in a safe and healthy way. However, other lifestyle changes are still required to help you stay healthy and keep the weight off.\n\nTo make successful changes in your life, it can help to understand the milestones you should expect to reach three, six, nine and twelve months after the initial surgery.\n\nThree Months\n\nMany people start trying regular foods after around one-three months post-surgery. This allows them to see what foods their bodies will tolerate and what will go down easily. The timing differs between each person and also depends on the type of weight loss surgery.\n\nSix Months\n\nBy six months post-surgery, you will notice that a lot of weight has been lost. If you have undergone a gastric bypass, it’s likely that you would have lost up to 40% of your body weight, though this varies from person to person. Those who get a gastric band tend to lose 1-2 pounds per week, which means around 25-50 pounds by six months.\n\nNine Months\n\nMany people experience vitamin deficiencies post weight loss surgery. This is because their bodies are not taking in as many nutrients as before. Vitamins can be purchased over the counter to help with this. If you feel like you have had an insufficient weight loss it will be addressed at this point of the process.\n\nTwelve Months\n\nA huge milestone; one year after bariatric surgery you will have lost a large amount of weight. Those who undergo a gastric bypass are likely to be close to their overall weight loss goal. Those with a gastric band can expect to have lost up to 100 pounds at the twelve month mark. If you find your weight loss progress has slowed down, take a look at your current eating habits. Are you eating too many snacks?\n\nIf you’re experiencing unusual side effects or are worried your progress is behind, you can get in touch with The Bariatric Group for more information. Give the team a call on 01823 215714 or visit our contact page.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7658723592758179}
+{"content": "IOTA: Gallery Pop Up Deux - James MacSwain\n\n\nIOTA: Gallery Pop Up (Deux) is a pop up gallery that featured twelve Nova Scotia and New Brunswick contemporary artists, and two Halifax commercial art galleries for an online sale and pop-up sale event. Artworks were available for pre-purchase from May 1st to June 17th, 2017. All artists were featured for an interview as part of the Six Questions series, released every few days starting the first week of May 2017, and leading up to the live pop up event: June 17th, 2017 at the Anna Leonowens Art Bar + Projects.\n\nThe below artworks are no longer available for purchase through IOTA.\n\nThese ten accordion books are constructed using the accordion principle of pleats that like the musical instrument can be both opened and closed. This movement presents a world drawn mainly from the proscenium theatre and its receding perspective. The construction allows the viewer to look down the length of the accordion, sharing a narrative told by mythological and historical characters. The accordion book has a history of articulating tales of enchantment; with titles such as The Shaman’s Trance and Minotaur and The Flea: Homage to William Blake, this eclectic mix of symbolic stories blend fantasy with facts. As we stare into the centre of the accordion book, the construction presents us with yet another magical moment – at the back of the accordion an acetate image that acts as a lightbox glows with its own aura of enlightenment.   \n\n\nJames MacSwain is a senior member of the Cultural Community in Halifax. His collage style is spread throughout both his media and visual art practice. MacSwain has received media grants from the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council and Arts Nova Scotia for his animations that have been screened both nationally and internationally. Ha has sat on many cultural boards and committees; he often takes on a mentorship role for emerging artists. He was awarded the Portia White Prize in 2011.\n\n\nSix Questions with James MacSwain\n\nIOTA: You have been making art for nearly 6 decades, starting in literature (recently, your short story ‘Puss Cat in the Underworld’ was shortlisted for the Exile’s Gwendolyn MacEwen Poetry Competition), then theatre (as performer and playwright), book making (through Perroverlag, and animation (you were the 2012 Moving Images Festival featured filmmaker). Is there something about your hand-made, collaged accordion books that brought together the various dimensions and techniques in your practice?\n\nJames MacSwain: Yes indeed. First of all the accordion books are sometimes called theatre books, because they present a stage with the proscenium arch. And of course the accordion books are three-dimensional; they are a sculpture, which you can actually pick up and move back and forth. This connects directly to my experience as an animator using a collage technique to move inanimate objects into some semblance of life. This relates as well to my appreciation of language, particularly poetry that allows the inner life of the mind to manifest itself as writing on the page. Viewers often remark that my animation scripts are very poetical. All these aspects of my visual aesthetic have converged somewhat in the accordion books giving them both an unworldly aura and a deep connection to material existence. \n\nIOTA: It would be easy to cast your work to the experimental genres such as the performative antics of Dadaism or the perception-defying Surrealism, but while you use dark humor and a blend of characters from mythologies, folklore, and even Hollywood to displace our sense of storytelling, you stay quite true to the narration of your characters’ quests. Can you elaborate on your creation of ‘the quest’?\n\nJM: The quest is a literary trope that takes us on a physical journey where the protagonist, an everyperson figure, through their adventures manage to overcome evil or repression, thus achieving the goal of an integrated identity. The quest provides an overarching narrative that grounds the story of the characters who then can be as surreal or obsessive as they like while going about their business. In my animation, Nova Scotia Tourist Industries, the protagonist has been given the task to write a pamphlet urging tourists to come to Nova Scotia to commit suicide. In Star Boy the protagonist is a star in Hollywood that is promoting a new transcendent drug. With the accordion book we have a 3D stage that moves back and forth that mimics the ability to time travel; characters move through various historical or mythological zones so that the viewer can explore their own quest depending on their knowledge of history and myth.\n\nIOTA: In this interview (, you describe aspiring to work, akin to your activist role in your community, that inspire a future vision of our world by collaging not only historical figures from various schools of thoughts, but by setting them against each other, to achieve a sort of solution or resolve to our socio-political state. Is this a traumatic place from which to create as an artist, or do you see it more so as progressive, like in activism?\n\nJM: In my film, Amherst, I tell the story of growing up gay in a small Nova Scotia town\n\n Artist in his studio, 2017\n\nArtist in his studio, 2017\n\nIn the 1950s. This story forms the bedrock of my activism when in the late 1970s and through the 80s I was an active protesting cultural member of gay liberation. Amherst was shot in 1983; by the late 80s I was creating documentary videos in Toronto of the AIDS crisis. This was a terrible fractured time for the queer community; to balance the trauma of the crisis, my cultural work became more and more devoted to collage. Collage is created through a judicious ordering of contemporary illustrations, most cut from paper sources. These images are so arranged to provide a critique or satiric take on the assembled visual content. Collage is great for political protest to the subtlest of inner emotional states. At present with my work on the accordion books, as the narratives become more fantastic and surreal, my collage has broadened to include narratives in a global context.     \n\nIOTA: Based on the symbolism and marker histories implemented in your accordion “windows” which range from images of Saturn (the planet of rings), the divine comedy, the cosmos, stories of dread and violence, and others you seem to suggest that we have a choice to make. What do you suppose is our fate?\n\nJM: The fate of the human species – what a challenging question for it supposes that you are widely knowledgeable in cultural theory, sociology, psychology, anthropology, quantum science and historical geography to name a few.  It’s true our need to know is insatiable but no one knows future time, not even big data. There is climate change that could precipitate droughts and mass starvation and there is the stupidity of war that could escalate into a nuclear holocaust, yet most of the things we do are comfortable habits, at least here in conservative North America. However abuse both sexual and physical is widespread; our cities are chemically polluted and our raw resources are eroding. With automation and the digital revolution, middle class jobs are vanishing into the ether. The global capitalist economy has created pockets of wealth but many more pockets of poverty. The choice should always be to express displeasure at our laziness as we take the lowest common denominator as our goal. Of course all of this is a goldmine for the artist; the drama of the human species is palpable and always reliable as a fund of apocalyptic blockbuster narratives. Whether these narratives become reality is speculative, but it’s true the human species is addictive to the excitement of gambling…  \n\nIOTA: The theme of democracy frequently comes up in your work. Can you elaborate on this?\n\nJM: Ah democracy, the flipside of apocalypse. Well as a political ideology it’s the best we’ve come up with. The population of the planet has passed the seven billion mark. Perhaps half of that seven billion live under some form of government that depends on the police or army authority to keep the people in line. Democracy needs citizen input; it needs to be constantly challenged to keep it honest. That’s the weakness of democracy; its citizens can become complacent and allow corruption to flourish. Greed has a way of tempting even the most abstemious of politicians… Animation and film in general have had a varied history with censorship; even here in Canada we’ve had censorship boards that now and then raise the hackles of free speech activists. Democratic constitutional rights like freedom of speech, religion, sexual orientation etc. allow the artist to explore without reprisal the darker aspects of being human. So my work has always contained a political warning of some sort to keep the viewers on their toes\n\nIOTA: What’s next?\n\nJM: Well I will definitely continue with all my book arts projects, including my August sojourn in British Columbia on Mayne Island and my residency with Jo Cook and Wesley Mulvin of Perro Verlag. This is always such a treat; the island is so peaceful and the cedars so tall. Through a project sponsored by HRM and AFCOOP concerning the commemoration of the Halifax Explosion, I will be back to my first love – animation. I’ve begun the research and the collecting of animation materials and will be shooting on the 16mm Oxberry animation stand in June of this year. And in the spring of 2018, artists and filmmakers Eryn Foster and Sue Johnson will be premiering the documentary they have produced of my artistic and activist life.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.978486180305481}
+{"content": "8 March 2018\nA ground-breaking U.S. case has added some useful guidance on the ‘grey’ areas of the best methods to identify relevant documents in discovery and how to validate the accuracy of the results obtained using the Technology Assisted Review ('TAR') discovery process.\nThe orders, issued by renowned TAR pioneer Special Master Maura Grossman and Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert in a large and complex antitrust class action suit in the Northern District of Illinois, described how the parties are to go about:\n  • Increasing transparency by disclosing the source of documents and recording any pre-search deduplication and culling of collected data\n  • Conducting keyword searches and machine learning-based TAR searches, and disclosing the details of the methodology to the opposing party, and\n  • Validating the results of the search process and demonstrating that an acceptably low number of documents were incorrectly classified as irrelevant to Requests for Production ('RFPs') and excluded from the set of documents provided.\nThe validation protocol section is particularly interesting, as it is relevant to any electronic document collection and search process, whether using machine learning or more traditional methods.\nDuring discovery, the producing party uses either TAR or a manual review process to classify documents as either ‘responsive’ (relevant) or ‘non-responsive’ (not relevant) to a RFP. In either case, the results should be validated, by selecting a random sample of documents (the 'Validation Sample') and manually checking whether each one was classified correctly. The way that this sample is selected is an important consideration. In this case, the order stated that the Validation Sample was to be selected as follows:\n\nThe orders also stated that, if a manual review process was used instead of TAR, a similar Valuation Sample should be selected, made up of 500 documents classified as ‘responsive’ and 2,500 documents classified as ‘non-responsive’.\nThe order then discussed the relevance of an appropriate sample size.\nImportantly, the order specified that the Validation Sample shall be reviewed and coded by a subject matter expert ('SME') who is knowledgeable about the subject matter of the litigation.  This should be an attorney who is familiar with the RFPs and the issues in the case.  During the course of the review of the Validation Sample, the SME shall not be provided with any information concerning the Subcollection or Subsample from which any document was derived or the prior coding of any of the documents being reviewed.  The intent of this requirement is to ensure that the review of the Validation Sample is blind; however, it does not preclude a Party from selecting as a SME an attorney who may have had prior involvement in the original review process.\nFinally, the orders require that the producing party produces copies of the relevant non-privileged documents to the requesting party, along with detailed statistics, a recall estimate, and a table with the following details:\n  1. Document number\n  2. The subsample from which the document came\n  3. SME’s coding\n  4. SME’s privilege coding \n\n\nValidation of any document review, but in particular where TAR has been employed, is very important. This was an issue for Justice Vickery in the second McConnell Dowell decision. In that case, his Honour decided not to adopt the recommendation of the special referee, who had recommended that no validation be undertaken. Instead, he required that the parties perform validation (note that a validation round was agreed to in the original TAR protocol). \nWhen using a Simple Active Learning ('SAL') protocol, as was the case in McConnell Dowell, the validation approach is a well-documented process. Where a Continuous Active Learning ('CAL') protocol is implemented, the approach to adopt for validation is less clear. The method described in this order will allow for a reasonably transparent method of validating all forms of TAR and linear review approaches going forward. It will be interesting to see how widely it is adopted given the cost of dealing with a SME (by our estimate, approximately $20,000 to $25,000).\nThe order in this case was a big step forward. The validation protocol mandated in the order adds robustness and transparency to the process, providing a practical solution for a difficult problem.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6237543821334839}
+{"content": "Week 6, Giants at Eagles\n4th-and-4, 8:23 remaining in 4th quarter, Up by 17\nThe Eagles attempted a field goal on a 4th-and-4 on the Giants’ 20. It doesn’t matter to NYT 4th Down Bot.\nIf you disagree\n\nTo be honest, I've kind of checked out at this point. The Eagles’ chances of winning are pretty high no matter what they do. Given that, playing conservatively and attempting a field goal isn't a bad idea.\n\nHere's the full breakdown of my calculations:\n\nOption Chance of converting\nChance of winning\nBefore play\nAfter play Change\nField goal try37 yard kick (est.) 86% 99% 99% -\nGo for it4th and 4, opp. 20 45% 99% 98% –1%\nPunt 99% 98% –1%\nBehind my field goal number\nWhat coaches usually do\nField goal try 97% of the time\nGo for it 3% of the time\nPunt -\nBased on about 861 fourth downs in similar situations since 2001.\nWhat happened\n\nCaleb Sturgis 39 yard field goal attempt is GOOD.\n\nWhere did these numbers come from?\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7420176863670349}
+{"content": "After rescuing Obamacare from a potentially crippling legal challenge on the applicability of subsidies to consumers who bought their insurance from federal exchanges, the high court still has some major judgments it needs to decide on. Here are some of the crucial matters still on its plate:  \n“Violent felonies” and armed career criminals\nDeciding on the challenge that the definition of a “violent felony” under the Armed Career Criminal Act is too vague, could be momentous, especially for minor repeat offenders who are locked up for years based on loose interpretations of the law. \n\nCosts of cleaning up emissions\nThe court is being asked to have the Environmental Protection Agency consider the costs of lowering emissions before framing regulations, by a large group made up of states and major industrial entities. The government has countered, saying the law doesn't refer to costs when requiring agencies to adopt appropriate rules regarding emissions. The decision on this matter might significantly influence the framing and implementation of environmental laws in the future.\n\nSame-sex marriage\nDeciding on the constitutional validity of prohibiting same-sex marriages and whether states can refuse to recognize such marriages in other states could effectively put a stop to the drawn out legal wrangling over the years on the whole same-sex marriage issue.\n\nKeep tabs on the court's pronouncements on these matters, as they might well have an impact across the country.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9988862872123718}
+{"content": "Wildfox Coca Cola Muscle Tank In India\n\nDescription: An big silhouette be a relaxed, boyfriend fit to this superintendent flossy Wildfox muscle tee, elaborate with a classical Coca Cola™ logo. Belted neck opening and magnified, untreated arm openings. Framework: Jersey. 50% Cotton/50% polyester. Business activity cold. Successful in the office. Mensuration separate 1: 25.5In / 65cm, from shoulder to front hem duration 2: 28.25In / 72cm, from shoulder to back hem mensuration from size XS", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9926913380622864}
+{"content": "Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia.\n\n\n\n(1) An ancient Greek one-stringed instrument played by plucking.\n\n(2) A device for determining the tone of a string and its parts. It consists of a string stretched between two bridges at the ends of an oblong wooden resonator; a movable bridge divides the string into two separately sounding parts. A scale of measurement is marked on the surface of the resonator. (Called also manichord, sonometer.)\n\n(3) The una corda (in Russian, monokhord ); the device in a piano that enables the keyboard mechanism to shift to the side, allowing the hammer to strike not two or three strings of one chord simultaneously, but only one string. In the modern piano, the “soft” left pedal.\n\n(4) Until the 18th century, the widely used term for the clavichord (Italian, monacordo, manicordo; French, manicorde, manichordion).\n\nReferences in periodicals archive ?\nThe first disc is much more interesting, combining the monochord with improvisations from Stan Sulzmann and Paul Clarvis among others.\nThe second volume (`Acustica, in VII libros digesta') of Caspar Schott's Magia universalis naturae et artis (Wurzburg, 1657-9) is entirely dedicated to music; he describes and illustrates a monochord and two `monochords' of three strings with moveable bridges for measuring intervals in just intonation (pp.\nThe second book briefly discusses the hexachords arid the third addresses the ratios of the intervals via the monochord.\nThe next section begins (the creaking monochord is unrelenting), and the clearly intelligible spoken voice enters and is closely echoed.\nThe House of Life sequence is replete with terminology related to musical performance, including references to instruments (hautboy, harp, lute, monochord), performers (minstrel, daughters of the daybreak, bird, sirens), techniques (modulation, choral consonancy, wave, echoes, silence), and compositions (voluntary, air, tune, strain, song, ditties, dirges, vesper-song) in addition to musical titles (\"Broken Music,\" \"The Song-Throe,\" \"The Monochord,\" \"Death's Songsters\").\nFollowing the Pythagorean divisions of the monochord discussed by Boethius and Jacques Le Febvre, Bermudo includes a detailed description of how to divide the fingerboard precisely with the help of the compass.\nThere was now available to the West a practical method of notating music that was fully diastematic, whose intervals represented precise numerical ratios that could be converted directly into sound via the monochord.\nThe absolute music of God's harmonious monochord has been reduced to the absolute drivel of the self-sufficient subjective ego.\nIn the Micrologus, the preferred method of memorizing intervals was through the use of the traditional monochord, but by the time Guido wrote his letter to Michael, he had developed a technique of reference syllables using the hymn Ut queant laxis.\nTo mention just one instance, Ptolemy used the monochord to mediate between reason (mathematical ratio, a Pythagorean criterion) and hearing (sense perception, a non-Pythagorean criterion), thus reconciling or balancing the two criteria; Boethius, on the other hand, used it to \"legislate\" or govern hearing, so that mathematical reason controls sense perception, a view more in line with Pythagorean t radition.\nThe second modal treatise, provided with a melody indicated by letter notation, treats several topics - common and indifferent modes and the monochord - not discussed in the first.\nJames gives us the musical cosmology of a seminal source, the Timaeus of Plato, almost word for word from Francis Cornford's confusing, outmoded, and unmusical interpretation (Plato's Cosmology, The Timaeus of Plato [New York: Humanities Press, 1952]); his introduction of the monochord is much too cursory and muddled for the uninitiated, mixing up the relationship of part to part and part to whole without explanation; Kepler's \"Venus ratio\" of 24:25, which is the semitonal difference between a major and a minor third, he calls \"barely equivalent to the Pythagorean comma\", too small by a factor of three.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6495957374572754}
+{"content": "Brown vs the board of education essay free\n\narticles on eating more fruits and vegetables Brown Vs The Board Of Education Essay Free\n\nMartin, Brown v. The Board of Education, 9.\n\nBlackboard focuses on technology and services to help students learn, not just one way, but their own way. Arn more. brown vs the board of education essay free\n\nMartin, Brown v. The Board of Education, 9.\n\nMartin, Brown v. The Board of Education, 10.\n\nThe most important achievement was the Brown v. Board of Education decision to legally end segregation and to stop segregationist practices. The picture above are children on the first day of desegregation.\n\nMartin, Brown v. The Board of Education, 11.\n\nThat brings us to why Brown v. Board, John C. Calhoun, and the Agrarians are in the book. To read some of MacLean’s critics, you’d think she dredges up these matters just because she wants to make Buchanan out to be a racist. She addresses that question specifically in this with David Stein and Bets Beasley, but the nub of the issue is that Brown, Calhoun, and the Agrarians each speak to more issues than just racism. She makes clear that Brown was worrisome to many Southerners for the total implications of its ruling: states’ rights of all kinds would not be respected. That included, very importantly, states’ ability to overlook census data in making up representational rules for state legislatures—an issue the Court did in fact take up shortly thereafter, upholding a one-person-one-vote principle that forced a wholesale change in the power structure of Virginia state politics. Brown also threatened to constrict the areas where states could set their own labor and environmental laws.\n\nMartin, Brown v. The Board of Education, 138.\n\nHenderson, “Brown v. Board of Education at 50.”\n\nThe Brown Foundation succeeds because of your support. We use the support from individuals, businesses, and foundations to help ensure a sustained investment in children and youth and to foster programs that educate the public about Brown v. Board of Education in the context of the civil rights movement and to advance civic engagement.\n\nThe Global Impact of Brown v. Board of Education - …\n\nThe Civil Rights Movement, that lasted for years, showed the stark and unequal divide between two very distinct races. The 1950s was an era of great conflict and black segregation was at its utmost. Even though many of the most important achievements happened in the 1950s for African Americans, segregation, and racial acts took place every day. African Americans had been fighting against racial segregation for centuries, however, before the 1950s, not much progress had been made. Instead, they faced life every day in fear of White Americans and the millions of restrictions put on them. The main reason that change occurred during the 1950s was because segregation started to become part of American life. When these changes took place, it started to affect the life of a White American which caused an outburst amongst them. Nevertheless, the progress of the Civil Rights Movement did not help with the social, economic, physical and political disadvantages they faced. For example, in Memphis, one of the most segregated cities in the 1950s, officials and juries were white and there had been no black police till 1948. Even when they were finally hired, they did not have the power or authority to arrest white people. The divide between the two races was so bad that even their music was separated and did not mix. The 1950s sparked off a need from the black population to gain equality with their white counterparts. Many figures the world view as important to history today arose after World War Two. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Andrew Goodman, Malcolm X and many more were citizens that risked their lives to pursue and gain equal rights for the black population. All of them stood for what they believed in and worked extremely hard to bring about a change for the one’s affected by racial segregation and hate. However, racial groups, like the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), attacked them physically and mentally making it harder to live in the USA during the 1900’s. For example, on September 15th, 1963, a bomb detonated at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, resulting in the death of 4 girls and several injuries. The Jim Crow Laws were local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern states, that stopped in 1965. The laws stated that black and white people had to have different schools, restaurants, bathrooms, and made sure blacks were discriminated from public services. In the South, the concept of separate but equal was not completely true as it may have been separate but it was never equal. There was a stark difference between a white children school and a black children school. How qualified the teachers were, the amount of money spent on books and facilities, and the amount of children in each class depended on what kind of school it was. The restrictions put on them led to incidents like the Birmingham attack, the Rosa Parks issue, and even the decision whether to allow a black girl, Linda Brown, attend a school for white children. In addition to all the physical restrictions and laws placed on them, racial segregation led to the belief that white people were more superior than black people and thus deserved all the advantages they received over them. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in 1910 and helped fight for equality during the civil rights movement. The NAACP played an important role during the 1950s and their involvement did help with the changes that were taking place alongside. For this spatial photo essay, I am going to be focusing on how African Americans have been fighting for equal rights since slavery was abolished and how this process has still not granted them complete equality, as even today racial segregation can be seen.\n\nVideo Writing Prompt: Brown v. Board of Education | …\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9969960451126099}
+{"content": "David hume essays moral political summary - …\n\nDavid hume essays moral political summary\n\nEssays moral political and literary hume pdf creator | …\n\nPosted by nicole smith,Pages: 1 2 david hume contributed significantly to political and economic thought through his vast collection of writings, er, hume goes on to argue that in order to be held morally responsible, it is required that our behaviour be caused or necessitated, for, as he wrote:Actions are, by their very nature, temporary and perishing; and where they proceed not from some cause in the character and disposition of the person who performed them, they can neither redound to his honour, if good; nor infamy, if ns a letter written by hume to defend himself against charges of atheism and scepticism, while applying for a chair at edinburgh argues that we tend to believe that things behave in a regular manner, meaning that patterns in the behaviour of objects seem to persist into the future, and throughout the unobserved author indeed raises the possibility that writers and orators of genius are found only in democratic or free governments, but goes on to suggest, perhaps ironically, that the corruption of genius in the present age is due not to political tyranny but to the tyranny of the passions, especially love of wealth and its attendant thought that we can form beliefs about that which extends beyond any possible experience, through the operation of faculties such as custom and the imagination, but he was sceptical about claims to knowledge on this here confesses his belief that the\"love of literary fame\" had served as his \"ruling passion\" in life, and claims that this desire \"never soured my temper, notwithstanding my frequent helped gain for hume's treatise the attention that it deserves, but at the same time it discouraged the study of hume's other writings, particularly the essays, as proper sources for his r, it was then that hume started his great historical work the history of r, in works such as of superstition and enthusiasm, hume specifically seems to support the standard religious views of his time and writings of scottish philosopher and contemporary of hume, thomas reid, were often criticisms of hume's y, the miracles of each religion argue against all other religions and their miracles, and so even if a proportion of all reported miracles across the world fit hume's requirement for belief, the miracles of each religion make the other less , in his conjectures and refutations, he wrote:I approached the problem of induction through ing to his essay \"of the balance of trade\", economist paul krugman has remarked that \"david hume created what i consider the first true economic hume und die folgen (regligious studies as criticism of religion?Hume concludes the essay with the frank admission: \" i cannot say there is no vanity in making this funeral oration of myself, but i hope it is not a misplaced one; and this is a matter of fact which is easily cleared and was considered a tory historian, and emphasised religious differences more than constitutional hume's political theory: law, commerce, and the constitution of g that reason cannot be behind morality, he wrote:Morals excite passions, and produce or prevent the control of anger,\" in plutarch's moralia, or ethical recently, hume was seen as a forerunner of logical positivism; a form of antimetaphysical empiricismA small sect or society amidst a greater are commonly most regular in their morals; because they are more remarked, and the faults of individuals draw dishonour on the ed by voltaire's sense of the breadth of history, hume widened the focus of the field away from merely kings, parliaments, and armies, to literature and science as an philosopher neil mcarthur writes that hume believed that we should try to balance our demands for liberty with the need for strong authority, without sacrificing history became a bestseller and made hume a wealthy man who no longer had to take up salaried work for fifty years of hume scholarship: a bibliographical guide (edinburgh: university press, 1978), heless, hume sometimes claims in the essays that political principles can be derived a priori, title of essay 14 was changed to \"of the dignity or meanness of human nature\" in the 1770 edition of essays and treatises on several this has been abandoned, hume argues that \"liberty and necessity will be found not to be in conflict one with another\"There was a jesuit college in the small french town of la flèche, where hume resided from 1735 to 1737 while writing his first committed adultery with euripides's servant, and the second also had loose morals, which supposedly accounts for his disparagement of women in his r, he resisted aligning himself with either of britain's two political parties, the whigs and the tories\n\nMoral pdf literary Essays political and hume The dictionary of modern war edward luttwak essays wha is a rhetorical analysis essay getriebeauslegung.\n\nEssays moral political and literary hume pdf ..\n\n[As Hume uses the term in the reasoning compares ideas in abstraction from experienced relationships. Whereas some of his predecessors, such as Hobbes, had attempted to base moral or political philosophy on reasoning, Hume sets out to establish moral science on the “experimental method of reasoning,” which was introduced by Francis Bacon and utilized by Isaac Newton. Nevertheless, Hume sometimes claims in the that political principles can be derived i.e., by general reasoning on our ideas or concepts of the things in question and without reference to particular examples.]\n\nRichwine dissertation david hume essays moral political and literary pdf creator ..\n\n[The principle that Hume states here—that a large population is a sign of a happy and virtuous nation and of wise institutions—was widely held in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and it serves to connect the question of population size to important issues in moral and political philosophy. For example, the debate over the populousness of ancient and modern nations was part of a broader dispute as to the comparative worth of ancient and modern ways of life. The alleged depopulation of the world in modern times could be taken as evidence of the defectiveness of modernity. The goodness of such things as luxury, commerce, and republicanism was often judged in terms of the tendency of these things to promote or retard the increase of population, and public policies that would promote an increase were in favor. This favorable view of large and growing populations was brought into question at the turn of the nineteenth century by the writings of T. R. Malthus (1766–1834), which emphasize the tendency of population growth to outrun the supply of food. On this general question, see Ernest Campbell Mossner, “Hume and the Ancient–Modern Controversy, 1725–1752: A Study in Creative Scepticism,” 28 (1949): 139–53.]\n\nHume essays moral political and literary - Devis …\n\nhume essays moral political and literary summary ..\n\n\"The current book contains a compilation of essays from David Hume. Topics in this book include moral, political, and aesthetic issues.\" (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).\n\nEssays, Moral, Political, and Literary - Revolvy\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.702272891998291}
+{"content": "Sunday, January 27\n\nRose Tattoo and Details Meaning\n\nThe colors of the rose and their meanings.\n\n\nYellow. The yellow rose is given when someone wishes to express friendship or happiness. It coincides with delight and joy. Sometimes the yellow rose is used to show caring or nurturing. A stunning tattoo color.\n\nPeach. This color is very pretty and subtle. The peach rose is given to someone to say thanks and show gratitude. It may be used when one wants to express sincerity and appreciation for an accomplishment. Very subtle.\n\nWhite. Most people associate the white rose with weddings and marriage. It is a symbol of innocence and purity. It can also express intimacy and secrecy. Difficult to make look natural.\n\nBlue. When someone uses the blue rose they can be expressing the impossible or unattainable. It is used for displaying the unreachable goal or dream. This is a very striking tattoo color.\n\nPink. Very many times pink roses will be used to show sympathy or sorrow. They also can symbolize grace, gentleness and admiration. Not used much but should be.\n\nOrange. When someone is enthusiastic or wants to display fascination and desire they generally turn to the orange rose. It is a symbol of wants and achievement. Also a beautiful tattoo color.\n\nSterling or Lavender. This is a beautiful color of rose. It is meant to display infatuation or love at first sight. It can be use to express enchantment or fantasy as well. Works well with dragons and fantasy tats.\n\nBlack. This is the rose that means death and despair. When this rose is used it means goodbye or farewell to those who have passed on. Use carefully.\n\nThe above colors and their definitions are just guidelines. You can ink whatever color rose you would like. It really is up to the individual but keep in mind the color so that you don't use the incorrect meaning.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9974648356437683}
+{"content": "Great British Grub!\n\nWe all hear about the history and events in the England but we never look at an in depth look on the important part of every life present and past, food. Finally there is a well written book that takes history and food and puts them together for a wonderful description of our counties past and present favourite meals and how they came to be.\n\nA History of English Food by Clarissa Dickson Wright is a detailed historic description of how and why our country decided to eat certain meals beginning in the 12th century. Have you ever wondered what caused our ancestor’s to eat Preserved Quince or Pease-Porridge? Or wonder how Indian curry came to our country? Or maybe simply how they fixed such extravagant meals without microwaves and electricity? Well then you need to grab a copy and learn the history behind one of the most overlooked parts of our culture.\n\nWright has a wonderfully amusing way of telling these stories about English history while also drawing from her unique personal experiences so you never feel like your reading a factual book. She keeps every story in her own voice so it stays upbeat and interesting. Wright never misses a beat as she describes the delicious food that goes hand and hand with English history. Her passion for food is a vital part of this informative yet enthralling tale of English food. It will forever be a classic must read for every English food enthusiast.\n\nMy favourite part of the book is that after you learn about the food and the history and why everything is so delectable, you get to try making them yourself. She has listed numerous recipes that are mentioned in the book that you can try for your own. It brings a whole new method to reading! Read a chapter then cook a recipe to try it! What could be better than that?!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8692797422409058}
+{"content": "definitions Stakeholders\n\n\nThose with an interest in the firm. A narrow definition includes the corporation’s debt and equity holders. A broader definition includes labor, management, and perhaps other interested parties, such as customers, suppliers, and society at large. All constituencies with a stake in the fortunes of the company. They include shareholders, creditors, customers, employees, suppliers, and local communities.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9787375926971436}
+{"content": "The following general rules of darts form the basis of specific rules adopted and implemented internationally by darts associations, leagues or in individual competitions.\n\n\nKeep your dart points burr and barb free and twist when removing from the board. This will not only reduce 'bounce out's but extend the life of your board. Turn the board regularly so that a black segment (with red double and treble) is always at No:20. This will ensure even wear to the board.\n\n1) To decide who plays first.This may be decided by one of the following way's.\nEach player, throws one dart, the player hitting nearer the centre starts the game first.\nThe spin of a coin, the winner to throw first.\nThe drawing of coloured balls from a bag in which the player who draws the green ball throws first.\n2) A throw or a turn at the board consists of a Players throwing three darts separately at the board.\n\n3) Only Darts that remain sticking (point first) in the scoring segment of the board count towards the total amount scored on that throw. Falling darts or bounce out's do not count.\n\n\n1) A game consists of starting with figures of 301 - 501 - 601 etc. to be decided before the commencement of the game. The method of scoring is to subtract the total of each score from that throw from the remaining total.\nThe starting totals of 301 & 501 are mainly for games between two individuals. For team games or pairs etc. it usual to increase the total amount required at the start of the game up to 1001 depending on the size of the team.\n2) Tournament games are usually a straight start, but as an alternative, can be played by starting with any double.\n3) The first to reduce his/her score exactly to zero is the winner.\n\n4) To finish the game, a double (or bullseye which counts as double 25) which exactly reduces the score to zero must be thrown.\n5) If a greater score is thrown than is required to reduce the remaining score exactly to zero, then one of two rules may then be applied, which one should be agreed before the start of the game.\nThe Burster rule : If at anytime during that throw a score of more than that which is required is hit then that player reverts back to the score they required before that throw was taken.\nAnother way is that when a player throws their darts only the dart/darts which score before the score is bust are taken and the last dart/darts do not count.\nE.G. Burster 32 required - 1st dart hits a single 16, second dart hits a single 16, no double has been hit therefore the score goes back to 32 required.\nSecond format 32 required - 1st dart hits a single 16, second dart hits a single 16, no double has been hit, but the first dart thrown counts and the total remaining is 16 on the players next visit.\n6) Each game is called a 'leg'. Games may consist of 3 or more odd number legs to make a match and decide the ultimate winner, it is the player who first wins 2 legs, 3 legs etc. depending on the agreed number of legs that game is to consist of.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9898390173912048}
+{"content": "Gas meter is designed for measurement of the volume of fuel gases such as natural gas (CNG), LPG gas and propane. Gas meters are used at residential, commercial, and industrial buildings that consume fuel gas supplied by a gas utility. Gases are more difficult to measure than liquids, as measured volumes are highly affected by temperature and pressure. Gas meters measure a defined volume, regardless of the pressurized quantity or quality of the gas flowing through the meter. Temperature, pressure and heating value compensation must be made to measure actual amount and value of gas moving through a meter.\n\nTypes of Gas Meter Designs\n\nSeveral different designs of gas meters are in common use, depending on the volumetric flow rate of gas to be measured, the range of flows anticipated, the type of gas being measured and other factors.\n\n  • Diaphragm/Bellows Gas Meters – These are the most common type of gas meter, seen in almost all residential and small commercial installations. Within the meter there are two or more gas chambers formed by movable diaphragms. With the gas flow directed by internal valves, the chambers alternately fill and expel gas, producing a near continuous flow through the meter. As the diaphragms expand and contract, levers connected to cranks convert the linear motion of the diaphragms into rotary motion of a crank shaft which serves as the primary flow element. This shaft can drive an odometer-like counter mechanism or it can produce electrical pulses for a digital gas flow computer. Diaphragm gas meters are positive displacement gas meters.\n  • Rotary Gas Meters – Rotary meters are highly machined precision instruments capable of handling higher volumes and pressures than diaphragm meters. Within the meter, two figure “8” shaped lobes, the rotors (also known as impellers or pistons), spin in precise alignment. The rotational movement of the crank shaft serves as a primary flow element and may produce electrical pulses for a flow computer or may drive an odometer-like counter.\n  • Turbine Gas Meters – Turbine gas meters infer gas volume by determining the speed of the gas moving through the meter. Because the volume of gas is inferred by the flow, it is important that flow conditions are good. A small internal turbine measures the speed of the gas, which is transmitted mechanically to a mechanical or electronic counter. These meters do not impede the flow of gas, but are limited at measuring lower flow rates.\n  • Orifice Gas Meters – An orifice gas meter consists of a straight length of pipe inside which a precisely known orifice affects the flow. Orifice meters are a type of differential meter, all of which infer the rate of gas flow by measuring the pressure difference across a deliberately designed and installed flow disturbance. The gas static pressure, density, viscosity, and temperature must be measured or known in addition to the differential pressure. Orifice meters are less accurate than other measurement methods and they do not handle a large range of flow rates. They are however accepted and understood in industrial applications since they are easy to field-service and have no moving parts.\n  • Ultrasonic Gas Flow Meters – Ultrasonic flow meters are more complex than meters that are purely mechanical, as they require significant signal processing and computation capabilities. Ultrasonic meters measure the speed of gas movement by measuring the speed at which sound travels in the gaseous medium within the pipe.\n  • Coriolis Gas Meters – Coriolis meters can handle a wide range of flow rates and have the unique ability to output mass flow – this gives the highest accuracy of flow measurement currently available for mass flow measurement. Since they measure flowing density, coriolis meters can also infer gas flow rate at flowing conditions.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8941951990127563}
+{"content": "Skip to content ↓\n\nTeaching and learning principles\n\n1. Teachers should infuse their subjects with joy.\n\nThe content being taught, the teacher’s passion, enthusiasm or interest in it. and the joy of mastering it are the chief source of engagement.\n\nWe do not expect our teachers to generate lots of entertaining activities or active learning in the interests of ‘engagement’. We always ask, ‘Engage them with what?’ We put the what? (the content) first in thinking about engagement.\n\nSometimes the content alone will achieve engagement, for example through reading or becoming absorbed in a task or watching a well-chosen, intriguing film clip. But it is down to the teacher to mediate the content, to open up the subject, to reveal its fascination, to show why it is intriguing. Hearing the teacher tell a story well, explain a concept well, build mystery or suspense, or simply show their delight in facts, concepts, and stories is central to engagement with new or challenging material.\n\nIt is the teacher’s job also to cultivate pupils’ joy in mastering material securely. We aim for the joy of knowing for knowing’s sake, the sense of reward and satisfaction that comes from having material so securely at one’s fingertips that it can be recalled fluently and, later, used with ease in more complex activities.\n\n2. Pupils flourish in a respectful, courteous environment.\n\nThis begins with rituals of courtesy that must be enforced firmly at all times, so that pupils learn the habits of kindness. Polite, respectful behaviour is expected of all children and adults at all times. Our teachers attend to the routines and structures of their school. These rituals embody values of respect and thereby teach them. They also free children to focus purely on the subject matter of the lesson. We hold children to account tirelessly and consistently. We do this by reminding them of basic routines which are essential for total concentration and good manners (e.g. never turning to talk to a neighbour in whole-class teaching) and being utterly consistent in the exercise of whole-school sanctions.\n\n3. The curriculum is the progression model.  \n\nMaking progress means mastering the curriculum. It does not mean ascending a hierarchy of generic skills.\n\nThe Inspiration Trust is transitioning towards a knowledge-based curriculum. We have based this decision on a range of research which shows the role of knowledge in underpinning skill, and in particular the relationship between academic knowledge and literacy, particularly for the disadvantaged child.\n\nWithout the abstract language and expressions that academic subjects teach, those pupils arriving in school with limited vocabulary – typical of the child from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds – will never recognise the vocabulary that makes comprehension possible. Therefore, remembering new knowledge matters. Isolated vocabulary teaching is much less likely to be lasting in its effects than vocabulary that is associated with multiple stories, accounts and descriptions, thoroughly absorbed and frequently used. Once phonics is secure, reading improvement happens through recognition of vocabulary. This can only arise from secure ‘schemata’ (our mental subsurface associations related to each word) which have been formed by multiple, secure knowledge references.\n\nTherefore, if children are learning what we want them to learn, then they are, by definition, making progress. Our teachers hold themselves to account against this idea. This means that progress is not defined by ascending up a generic ladder of skill.  Knowledge makes skill possible. To gain more knowledge is to make progress.\n\nIt also means ensuring that every single child learns the definition, formula, or principle being taught. It means noticing if a pupil might be in danger of not grasping and activating pre-emptively. It means swiftly reinforcing or remediating with whole-class, groups, or individuals as required.\n\nIn short, it means being thorough.\n\nWhere literacy is concerned, the content taught is not a mere setting in which a skill of reading is practised. The content itself makes fluent reading possible. Therefore, the emphasis is on secure learning of the content.\n\n4. Challenge is not driven by hierarchies of verbs, such as ‘evaluate’ or ‘describe’.\n\nChallenge is certainly created by complex tasks and operations, defined by the demands of the subject.  But it is also created through richer, broader content and the achievement of becoming fully secure in it.  Therefore, systematic memorisation and subsequent rapid, flexible retrieval might be the demanding challenge pupils are aspiring to in a lesson. It may be that this thorough memorisation is the most important thing that they need to make progress.\n\n5. Something has been learnt when long-term memory changes.  Memory is the residue of past thought.\n\nWe learn what we spend time thinking about. If an activity diverts children’s attention away from what is being learnt, then it not fit for purpose. Teaching should focus pupils on the material, whether knowledge or skill, that is to be learned.  This has three consequences for effective teaching:\n\n  • Teaching should create opportunity for pupils to think about that material, whether through discussion, questioning, other oral work, or written tasks requiring thinking and reflection about the subject matter itself.\n  • Teaching should require pupils, where appropriate, to engage in ‘deliberate practice’ so that particular concepts, facts, definitions, or skills are firmly embedded to the point of becoming completely fluent. Vital knowledge of the basics – whether times tables, number facts, phonics, letter transcription, key definitions of concepts - needs to be automatic. Drilling for fluency is an important part of teaching.\n  • Retrieval practice, spaced practice, interleaving, dual coding, and elaboration should be used so that memory in strengthened. It is the bringing of information to mind through retrieval practice that strengthens memory.\n\nOur teachers therefore attend to the memories of their pupils. A teacher must cultivate pupils’ schemata so that they have an ever-widening web of reference points in which they are fluent.\n\n6. Time is a precious resource.\n\nActivities need to avoid distraction. Teachers always consider the opportunity costs of time spent. Is the time investment worth the outcome?  Could the time be used more efficiently?  Teachers bear in mind principles 3 and 4. Is the task enabling pupils to master the curriculum? Is it attending to pupils’ long-term memories?\n\n7. Pupils don’t get better at a final performance just by practising the final performance.\n\nLearning is not the same as rehearsing the final performance (such as the tasks required in a summative, end-of-key-stage formal test). Teaching often needs to focus on the building blocks which are the hidden basics behind later success – the times tables and number bonds that sit behind later proficiency in complex operations in maths, the factual reference points, stories, and concepts that later make a fluent, rich piece of persuasive writing in history or geography possible. Practising such a piece of writing is not enough to secure success in that task, nor is it the only measure of progress towards it. We focus on the hidden, the deep causes of later success.\n\nWe attend to the causes of later success by identifying the preconditions and prior steps that need to be in place.\n\n8. We work out how well children understand what we have taught them, and then act accordingly.\n\nTeachers use formative assessment diagnostically. If teachers find out through informal questioning or a small, low-stakes test, that a small number of children have not understood what they wanted them to learn, they do something about it. Those children must do more practice or more retrieval to strengthen their memories. If teachers find that a large proportion of the class has missed the point, they re-teach that point in a focused way and used varied methods to check that it is absolutely secure.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7506765127182007}
+{"content": "Fun with Legos - If You Can Imagine It, You Can Create It.\n\nAlmost every evening, my 4 year old says, \"mommy, close your eyes, I have a surprise for you!\"  He then leads me to his Lego creation. It is so challenging to get kids, especially boys, to sit and focus on a task that I am so happy that he can let his imagination run wild with his Legos. Often, I have no idea what he has created but he knows and he had a great time creating it. \n\nA few more\n\nWhen he asks what he should create next, I just tell him to use his imagination. If you can imagine it, you can create it.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5340155959129333}
+{"content": "Plan would limit protests around the White House, historically where some of the most impactful demonstrations were held.\n\nWASHINGTON — Donald Trump's presidency has inspired huge protests, with hundreds of thousands of women marching on the National Mall and scientists swarming the White House fence.\n\nBut now the Trump administration is seeking to restrict protests by effectively blocking them along the north sidewalk of the White House and making it easier for police to shut them down. A National Park Service proposal also would open the door to charging organizers for the cost of putting up barricades or reseeding grass.\n\nThe proposed regulation could curtail demonstrations on some of Washington's most popular staging grounds for protests, including the National Mall where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his \"I have a dream\"' speech in 1963. It also includes Lafayette Square across from the White House and the Pennsylvania Avenue sidewalks in front of the Trump International Hotel.\n\nThe proposal dovetails with Republicans' increasingly heated campaign rhetoric over \"mob rule\" and the boisterous protests against the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Trump has also been antagonistic toward protesters, once waxing nostalgic about how it used to be socially acceptable to assault them.\n\n\"When you think about petitioning your government for redress of grievances, this is the nation's capital — this is where you come to do it,\" said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, which opposes the proposal. \"And now you have the Trump administration that is not only engaging in extreme rhetoric against demonstrators and suggesting that protests should be illegal,\" but \"taking concrete actions to suppress dissent and suppress free speech.\"\n\nThe proposal, issued in August and open for comment through Monday, says demonstrations can impose substantial costs on the federal government. Some of the changes are designed to \"preserve an atmosphere of contemplation\" around the memorials, the Park Service said. Other revisions, according to the proposal, would help protect National Mall grass from being trampled and give the Park Service more time to negotiate logistics before permits would be issued for demonstrations.\n\nFee requirements could make mass protests \"too expensive to happen,\" said Arthur Spitzer, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union in the District of Columbia.\n\n\"Managing public lands for the benefit of the American people\" — whether demonstrators or tourists — \"is what Congress funds the National Park Service to do,\" Spitzer said in a blog post. \"While the Park Service may be strapped for funds, it cannot balance its budget on the backs of people seeking to exercise their constitutional rights.\"\n\nCurrent National Park Service rules for rallies and marches have been forged through decades of court cases, including lawsuits that successfully challenged government restrictions. The proposal would rewrite many of those rules — and, if enacted, face certain litigation.\n\nThe plan would transform the way the agency vets demonstrations and where they can be conducted. For example, it could blur the lines between the Park Service's treatment of demonstrations, which typically get more deference, and \"special events,\" such as festivals and the filming of movies.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8314510583877563}
+{"content": " How much a kilogram weighs depends on the ‘Planck constant’<br /> 一公斤到底有多重？取決於「普朗克常數」 - Taipei Times\nSun, Nov 25, 2018 - Page 9　News List\n\nHow much a kilogram weighs depends on the ‘Planck constant’\n\nA photo released by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures on Nov. 15 shows “Le Grand K,” a cylinder of platinum and iridium which is the official definition of the kilogram, preserved since 1879, in Sevres, near Paris, France.\n\nPhoto: EPA\n\n\nMembers of the BIPM, which groups 60 nations, agreed on Nov. 16 after a week-long meeting at the nearby Palace of Versailles to redefine the kilogram in terms of a tiny but unchanging value called the “Planck constant.” They also voted to update definitions for the ampere (electrical current), the kelvin (thermodynamic temperature) and the mole (amount of a substance).\n\nAll modern mass measurements are derived from the kilogram, whether micrograms of pharmaceutical medicine or gold dust, kilos of fruit or fish, or tonnes of steel. The problem is that the prototype doesn’t always weigh the same. Even inside its three glass bell jars it picks up microparticles of dirt and is affected by the atmosphere. Sometimes it needs cleaning, which can affect its mass.\n\n\nFor example, a meter isn’t 100 centimeters, it’s actually “the length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second.” The “Planck constant,” which derives from quantum physics, can be used along with a Kibble balance, an exquisitely accurate weighing machine, to calculate the mass of an object using a precisely measured electromagnetic force.\n\n\n1. redefine v.\n\n\n(zhong2 xin1 ding4 yi4)\n\n2. measurement n.\n\n\n(ce4 liang2)\n\n3. constant n.\n\n\n(chang2 shu4)\n\n4. mass n.\n\n\n(zhi2 liang4)\n\n5. weigh v.\n\n\n(zhong4 liang4 wei2)\n\n6. immutable adj.\n\n\n(bu2 bian4 de5)\n\n“The SI redefinition is a landmark moment in scientific progress,” said Martin Milton, director of the BIPM. “Using the fundamental constants we observe in nature as a foundation for important concepts such as mass and time means that we have a stable foundation from which to advance our scientific understanding, develop new technologies and address some of society’s greatest challenges.”\n\nBarry Inglis, who heads the committee for weights and measures, said the implications were immense. “We will now no longer be bound by the limitations of objects in our measurement of the world, but have universally accessible units that can pave the way to even greater accuracy, and even accelerate scientific advancement,” he said.\n\nIt is arguably the most significant redefinition of an SI unit since the second was recalculated in 1967, a decision that helped ease communication across the world via technologies like GPS and the Internet. The new definitions agreed by the BIPM will come into force on May 20, next year.(Reuters)\n\n\n\nThis story has been viewed 2044 times.\n\n\nTOP top", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6225292682647705}
+{"content": "Open main menu\n\nDarius I (Old Persian: Dārayava(h)uš, New Persian: داریوشDāryuš; Hebrew: דָּרְיָוֶשׁ, Modern: Darəyaveš, Tiberian: Dāryāwéš; c. 550–486 BCE) was the fourth king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. Also called Darius the Great, he ruled the empire at its peak, when it included much of West Asia, the Caucasus, parts of the Balkans (Thrace-Macedonia and Paeonia), most of the Black Sea coastal regions, parts of the North Caucasus, Central Asia, as far as the Indus Valley in the far east and portions of north and northeast Africa including Egypt (Mudrâya),[4] eastern Libya and coastal Sudan.[5][6]\n\nDarius I\nGreat King, King of Kings, King of Persia, King of Lands,[1]\nKing of Babylon\nPharaoh of Egypt\nDarius In Parse.JPG\nRelief of Darius I in Persepolis\nKing of Persia\nReignSeptember 522 BCE to\nOctober 486 BCE (36 years)\nSuccessorXerxes I\nPharaoh of Egypt\nReignSeptember 522 BCE to\nOctober 486 BCE (36 years)\nSuccessorXerxes I\nBorn550 BCE\nDiedOctober 486 BCE\n(aged approximately 64)\nFull name\n\nDarius ascended the throne by overthrowing Gaumata, a usurper. The new king met with rebellions throughout his kingdom and quelled them each time. A major event in Darius's life was his expedition to punish Athens and Eretria for their aid in the Ionian Revolt and subjugate Greece. Although ultimately ending in failure at the Battle of Marathon, Darius succeeded in the re-subjugation of Thrace, expansion of the empire through the conquest of Macedon, the Cyclades and the island of Naxos and the sacking of the city of Eretria.\n\nDarius organized the empire by dividing it into provinces and placing satraps to govern it. He organized a new uniform monetary system, along with making Aramaic the official language of the empire. He also put the empire in better standing by building roads and introducing standard weights and measures. Through these changes, the empire was centralized and unified.[7] Darius also worked on construction projects throughout the empire, focusing on Susa, Pasargadae, Persepolis, Babylon and Egypt. He had the cliff-face Behistun Inscription carved to record his conquests, an important testimony of the Old Persian language.\n\nDarius is mentioned in the biblical books of Haggai, Zechariah and Ezra–Nehemiah.\n\n\n\nDārīus and Dārēus are the Latin forms of the Greek Dareîos (Δαρεῖος), itself from Old Persian Dārayauš (𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎢𐏁; d-a-r-y-uš/Dārayauš), which is a shortened form of Dārayavaʰuš (𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁, d-a-r-y-v-u-š/Dārayavaʰuš). The longer form is also seen to have been reflected in the Elamite Da-ri-(y)a-ma-u-iš, Babylonian Da-(a-)ri-ia-(a-)muš, Aramaic drywhwš, and possibly the longer Greek form Dareiaîos (Δαρειαῖος). The name is a nominative form meaning \"he who holds firm the good(ness)\", which can be seen by the first part dāraya, meaning \"holder\", and the adverb vau, meaning \"goodness\".[8]\n\nPrimary sourcesEdit\n\nGold foundation tablets of Darius I for the Apadana Palace, in their original stone box. The Apadana coin hoard had been deposited underneath. Circa 510 BC.\nOne of the two gold deposition plates. Two more were in silver. They all had the same trilingual inscription (DPh inscription).[9]\n\nAt some time between his coronation and his death, Darius left a tri-lingual monumental relief on Mount Behistun, which was written in Elamite, Old Persian and Babylonian. The inscription begins with a brief autobiography including his ancestry and lineage. To aid the presentation of his ancestry, Darius wrote down the sequence of events that occurred after the death of Cyrus the Great.[10][11] Darius mentions several times that he is the rightful king by the grace of Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian god. In addition, further texts and monuments from Persepolis have been found, as well as a clay tablet containing an Old Persian cuneiform of Darius from Gherla, Romania (Harmatta) and a letter from Darius to Gadates, preserved in a Greek text of the Roman period.[12][13][14][15] In the foundation tablets of Apadana Palace, Darius described in Old Persian cuneiform the extent of his Empire in broad geographical terms:[16][17]\n\nDarius the great king, king of kings, king of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid. King Darius says: This is the kingdom which I hold, from the Sacae who are beyond Sogdia to Kush, and from Sind (Old Persian: 𐏃𐎡𐎭𐎢𐎺, \"Hidauv\", locative of \"Hiduš\", i.e. \"Indus valley\") to Lydia (Old Persian: \"Spardâ\") - [this is] what Ahuramazda, the greatest of gods, bestowed upon me. May Ahuramazda protect me and my royal house!\n\n— DPh inscription of Darius I in the foundations of the Apadana Palace[18]\n\nHerodotus, a Greek historian and author of The Histories, provided an account of many Persian kings and the Greco-Persian Wars. He wrote extensively on Darius, spanning half of Book 3 along with Books 4, 5 and 6. It begins with the removal of the alleged usurper Gaumata and continues to the end of Darius's reign.[12]\n\nEarly lifeEdit\n\nDarius was the eldest of five sons[citation needed] to Hystaspes and Rhodugune in 550 BCE. Hystaspes was a leading figure of authority in Persia, which was the homeland of the Persians. Darius's inscription states that his father was satrap of Bactria in 522 BCE. According to Herodotus, Hystaspes was the satrap of Persis, although most historians state that this is an error.[citation needed] Also according to Herodotus (III.139), Darius, prior to seizing power and \"of no consequence at the time\", had served as a spearman (doryphoros) in the Egyptian campaign (528–525 BCE) of Cambyses II, then the Persian Great King;[20] this is often interpreted to mean he was the king's personal spear-carrier, an important role. Hystaspes was an officer in Cyrus' army and a noble of his court.[21]\n\nBefore Cyrus and his army crossed the Aras River to battle with the Armenians, he installed his son Cambyses II as king in case he should not return from battle.[22] However, once Cyrus had crossed the Aras River, he had a vision in which Darius had wings atop his shoulders and stood upon the confines of Europe and Asia (the known world). When Cyrus awoke from the dream, he inferred it as a great danger to the future security of the empire, as it meant that Darius would one day rule the whole world. However, his son Cambyses was the heir to the throne, not Darius, causing Cyrus to wonder if Darius was forming treasonable and ambitious designs. This led Cyrus to order Hystaspes to go back to Persis and watch over his son strictly, until Cyrus himself returned.[23] Darius did not seem to have any treasonous thoughts as Cambyses II ascended the throne peacefully; and, through promotion, Darius was eventually elevated to be Cambyses's personal lancer.\n\n\nThere are different accounts of the rise of Darius to the throne from both Darius himself and Greek historians. The oldest records report a convoluted sequence of events in which Cambyses II lost his mind, murdered his brother Bardiya, and was killed by an infected leg wound. After this, Darius and a group of six nobles traveled to Sikayauvati to kill an usurper, Gaumata, who had taken the throne by pretending to be Bardiya during the true king's absence. Many modern historians believe that Gaumata was in fact the true heir Bardiya, with the historical account being altered by Darius to make the coup d'etat appear more legitimate.[24]\n\nThe 24 countries subject to the Achaemenid Empire at the time of Darius, on the Egyptian Statue of Darius I.\n\nDarius's account, written at the Behistun Inscription, states that Cambyses II killed his own brother Bardiya, but that this murder was not known among the Iranian people. A would-be usurper named Gaumata came and lied to the people, stating he was Bardiya.[25] The Iranians had grown rebellious against Cambyses's rule and on 11 March 522 BCE a revolt against Cambyses broke out in his absence. On 1 July, the Iranian people chose to be under the leadership of Gaumata, as \"Bardiya\". No member of the Achaemenid family would rise against Gaumata for the safety of their own life. Darius, who had served Cambyses as his lance-bearer until the deposed ruler's death, prayed for aid and in September 522 BCE, along with Otanes, Intraphrenes, Gobryas, Hydarnes, Megabyzus and Aspathines, killed Gaumata in the fortress of Sikayauvati.[25]\n\nHerodotus provides a dubious account of Darius's ascension: Several days after Gaumata had been assassinated, Darius and the other six nobles discussed the fate of the empire. At first, the seven discussed the form of government; a democratic republic (Isonomia) was strongly pushed by Otanes, an oligarchy was pushed by Megabyzus, while Darius pushed for a monarchy. After stating that a republic would lead to corruption and internal fighting, while a monarchy would be led with a single-mindedness not possible in other governments, Darius was able to convince the other nobles.\n\nTo decide who would become the monarch, six of them decided on a test, with Otanes abstaining, as he had no interest in being king. They were to gather outside the palace, mounted on their horses at sunrise, and the man whose horse neighed first in recognition of the rising sun would become king. According to Herodotus, Darius had a slave, Oebares, who rubbed his hand over the genitals of a mare that Darius's horse favored. When the six gathered, Oebares placed his hands beside the nostrils of Darius's horse, who became excited at the scent and neighed. This was followed by lightning and thunder, leading the others to dismount and kneel before Darius in recognition of his apparent divine providence.[26] In this account, Darius himself claimed that he achieved the throne not through fraud, but cunning, even erecting a statue of himself mounted on his neighing horse with the inscription: \"Darius, son of Hystaspes, obtained the sovereignty of Persia by the sagacity of his horse and the ingenious contrivance of Oebares, his groom.\"[27]\n\n\nEarly reignEdit\n\n\"This is what I did by the favor of Ahuramazda in one and the same year after that I became king: 19 battles I fought; by the favor of Ahuramazda I smote them and took prisoner 9 kings.\" --Behistun Inscription\n\nFollowing his coronation at Pasargadae, Darius moved to Ecbatana. He soon learned that support for Bardiya was strong, and revolts in Elam and Babylonia had broken out. Darius ended the Elamite revolt when the revolutionary leader Aschina was captured and executed in Susa. After three months the revolt in Babylonia had ended. While in Babylonia, Darius learned a revolution had broken out in Bactria, a satrapy which had always been in favour of Darius, and had initially volunteered an army of soldiers to quell revolts. Following this, revolts broke out in Persis, the homeland of the Persians and Darius and then in Elam and Babylonia, followed by in Media, Parthia, Assyria, and Egypt. By 522 BCE, there were revolts against Darius in most parts of the Achaemenid Empire leaving the empire in turmoil. Even though Darius did not seem to have the support of the populace, Darius had a loyal army, led by close confidants and nobles (including the six nobles who had helped him remove Gaumata). With their support, Darius was able to suppress and quell all revolts within a year. In Darius's words, he had killed a total of eight \"lying kings\" through the quelling of revolutions. Darius left a detailed account of these revolutions in the Behistun Inscription.\n\nBas-relief of Darius in Persepolis.\n\n\n\nMilitary campaignsEdit\n\nEgyptian campaignEdit\n\nDarius I cartouche in Egyptian: 𓍘𓏎𓃭𓇌𓍯𓆷 (Tỉnrwwꜣyšꜣ).\n\n\nThrough another series of campaigns, Darius I would eventually reign over the territorial apex of the empire, when it stretched from parts of the Balkans (Thrace-Macedonia, Bulgaria-Paeonia) in the west, to the Indus Valley in the east.\n\nInvasion of Indus ValleyEdit\n\nEastern border of the Achaemenid Empire\n\nIn 516 BCE, Darius embarked on a campaign to Central Asia, Aria and Bactria and then marched into Afghanistan to Taxila in modern-day Pakistan. Darius spent the winter of 516–515 BCE in Gandhara, preparing to conquer the Indus Valley. Darius conquered the lands surrounding the Indus River in 515 BCE.[30] Darius I controlled the Indus Valley from Gandhara to modern Karachi and appointed the Greek Scylax of Caryanda to explore the Indian Ocean from the mouth of the Indus to Suez. Darius then marched through the Bolan Pass and returned through Arachosia and Drangiana back to Persia.\n\nBabylonian revoltEdit\n\n\nAfter Bardiya was murdered, widespread revolts occurred throughout the empire, especially on the eastern side. Darius asserted his position as king by force, taking his armies throughout the empire, suppressing each revolt individually. The most notable of all these revolts was the Babylonian revolt which was led by Nebuchadnezzar III. This revolt occurred when Otanes withdrew much of the army from Babylon to aid Darius in suppressing other revolts. Darius felt that the Babylonian people had taken advantage of him and deceived him, which resulted in Darius gathering a large army and marching to Babylon. At Babylon, Darius was met with closed gates and a series of defences to keep him and his armies out.[31] Darius encountered mockery and taunting from the rebels, including the famous saying \"Oh yes, you will capture our city, when mules shall have foals.\" For a year and a half, Darius and his armies were unable to retake the city, though he attempted many tricks and strategies—even copying that which Cyrus the Great had employed when he captured Babylon. However, the situation changed in Darius's favour when, according to the story, a mule owned by Zopyrus, a high-ranking soldier, foaled. Following this, a plan was hatched for Zopyrus to pretend to be a deserter, enter the Babylonian camp, and gain the trust of the Babylonians. The plan was successful and Darius's army eventually surrounded the city and overcame the rebels.[32]\n\n\nEuropean Scythian campaignEdit\n\nThe Scythians were a group of north Iranian nomadic tribes, speaking an Iranian language (Scythian languages) who had invaded Media, killed Cyrus in battle, revolted against Darius and threatened to disrupt trade between Central Asia and the shores of the Black Sea as they lived between the Danube River, River Don and the Black Sea.[12][34]\n\nThe \"Darius Vase\" at the Achaeological Museum of Naples. Circa 340-320 BC.\nDetail of Darius, with a label in Greek (ΔΑΡΕΙΟΣ, top right) giving his name.\n\nDarius crossed the Black Sea at the Bosphorus Straits using a bridge of boats. Darius conquered large portions of Eastern Europe, even crossing the Danube to wage war on the Scythians. Darius invaded European Scythia in 513 BC,[35] where the Scythians evaded Darius's army, using feints and retreating eastwards while laying waste to the countryside, by blocking wells, intercepting convoys, destroying pastures and continuous skirmishes against Darius's army.[36] Seeking to fight with the Scythians, Darius's army chased the Scythian army deep into Scythian lands, where there were no cities to conquer and no supplies to forage. In frustration Darius sent a letter to the Scythian ruler Idanthyrsus to fight or surrender. The ruler replied that he would not stand and fight with Darius until they found the graves of their fathers and tried to destroy them. Until then, they would continue their strategy as they had no cities or cultivated lands to lose.[37] Despite the evading tactics of the Scythians, Darius' campaign was so far relatively successful.[38] As presented by Herodotus, the tactics used by the Scythians resulted in the loss of their best lands and of damage to their loyal allies.[38] This gave Darius the initiative.[39] As he moved eastwards in the cultivated lands of the Scythians in Eastern Europe proper, he remained resupplied by his fleet and lived to an extent off the land.[38] While moving eastwards in the European Scythian lands, he captured the large fortified city of the Budini, one of the allies of the Scythians, and burnt it.[38]\n\nDarius eventually ordered a halt at the banks of Oarus, where he built \"eight great forts, some eight miles distant from each other\", no doubt as a frontier defence.[38] In his Histories, Herodotus states that the ruins of the forts were still standing in his day.[40] After chasing the Scythians for a month, Darius's army was suffering losses due to fatigue, privation and sickness. Concerned about losing more of his troops, Darius halted the march at the banks of the Volga River and headed towards Thrace.[41] He had conquered enough Scythian territory to force the Scythians to respect the Persian forces.[42][43]\n\nPersian invasion of GreeceEdit\n\nMap showing key sites during the Persian invasions of Greece\n\nDarius's European expedition was a major event in his reign, which began with the invasion of Thrace. Darius also conquered many cities of the northern Aegean, Paeonia, while Macedonia submitted voluntarily, after the demand of earth and water, becoming a vassal kingdom.[44] He then left Megabyzus to conquer Thrace, returning to Sardis to spend the winter. The Greeks living in Asia Minor and some of the Greek islands had submitted to Persian rule already by 510 BCE. Nonetheless, there were certain Greeks who were pro-Persian, although these were largely based in Athens. To improve Greek-Persian relations, Darius opened his court and treasuries to those Greeks who wanted to serve him. These Greeks served as soldiers, artisans, statesmen and mariners for Darius. However, the increasing concerns amongst the Greeks over the strength of Darius's kingdom along with the constant interference by the Greeks in Ionia and Lydia were stepping stones towards the conflict that was yet to come between Persia and certain of the leading Greek city states.\n\nWhen Aristagoras organized the Ionian Revolt, Eretria and Athens supported him by sending ships and troops to Ionia and by burning Sardis. Persian military and naval operations to quell the revolt ended in the Persian reoccupation of Ionian and Greek islands, as well as the re-subjugation of Thrace and the conquering of Macedonia in 492 BC under Mardonius.[45] Macedon had been a vassal kingdom of the Persians since the late 6th century BC, but retained autonomy. Mardonius' 492 campaign made it a fully subordinate part of the Persian kingdom.[44] These military actions, coming as a direct response to the revolt in Ionia, were the beginning of the First Persian invasion of (mainland) Greece. At the same time, anti-Persian parties gained more power in Athens, and pro-Persian aristocrats were exiled from Athens and Sparta. Darius responded by sending troops led by his son-in-law across the Hellespont. However, a violent storm and harassment by the Thracians forced the troops to return to Persia. Seeking revenge on Athens and Eretria, Darius assembled another army of 20,000 men under his Admiral, Datis, and his nephew Artaphernes, who met success when they captured Eretria and advanced to Marathon. In 490 BCE, at the Battle of Marathon, the Persian army was defeated by a heavily armed Athenian army, with 9,000 men who were supported by 600 Plataeans and 10,000 lightly armed soldiers led by Miltiades.\n\n\n\nAchaemenid family tree\n\nDarius was the son of Hystaspes and the grandson of Arsames. Both men belonged to the Achaemenid tribe and were still alive when Darius ascended the throne. Darius justifies his ascension to the throne with his lineage. He claimed he could trace his ancestors back to Achaemenes, even though he was only distantly related. With this in mind, Darius married Atossa, daughter of Cyrus, with whom he had four sons: Xerxes, Achaemenes, Masistes and Hystaspes. He also married Artystone, another daughter of Cyrus, with whom he had two sons, Arsames and Gobryas. Darius married Parmys, the daughter of Bardiya, with whom he had a son, Ariomardus. Furthermore, Darius married Phratagune, with whom he had two sons, Abrokomas and Hyperantes. He also married another woman of the nobility, Phaidyme, the daughter of Otanes. It is unknown if he had any children with her. Before these royal marriages, Darius had married an unknown daughter of his good friend and lance carrier Gobryas from an early marriage, with whom he had three sons, Artobazanes, Ariabignes and Arsamenes. Any daughters he had with her are not known. Although Artobazanes was Darius's first-born, Xerxes became heir and the next king through the influence of Atossa; she had great authority in the kingdom as Darius loved her the most of all his wives.\n\n\nTomb of Darius the Great, located next to other Achaemenid kings at Naqsh-e Rustam, which bears the DNa inscription.\n\nAfter becoming aware of the Persian defeat at the Battle of Marathon, Darius began planning another expedition against the Greek-city states; this time, he, not Datis, would command the imperial armies. Darius had spent three years preparing men and ships for war when a revolt broke out in Egypt. This revolt in Egypt worsened his failing health and prevented the possibility of his leading another army. Soon after, Darius died. In October 486 BCE, the body of Darius was embalmed and entombed in the rock-cut sepulchre that had been prepared for him several years earlier.\n\n\nIn 1923 German archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld made casts of the cuneiform inscriptions on Darius's tomb where he records his Persian ancestry for posterity, “parsa parsahya puthra ariya ariyachitra”, meaning, “a Persian, the son of a Persian, an Aryan, of Aryan family (Inscription at Naqsh-i-Rustam, near Persepolis, Iran). They are currently housed in the archives of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.\n\n\n\nThe Herakleia head, portrait of an Achaemenid Satrap of Asia Minor (Heraclea, in Bithynia), end of 6th century BCE, probably under Darius I.[47]\n\nEarly in his reign, Darius wanted to reorganize the structure of the empire and reform the system of taxation he inherited from Cyrus and Cambyses. To do this, Darius created twenty provinces called satrapies (or archi) which were each assigned to a satrap (archon) and specified fixed tributes that the satrapies were required to pay. A complete list is preserved in the catalogue of Herodotus, beginning with Ionia and listing the other satrapies from west to east excluding Persis which was the land of the Persians and the only province which was not a conquered land. Tributes were paid in both silver and gold talents.\n\n\n\nThe imperial administration was coordinated by the chancery with headquarters at Persepolis, Susa, and Babylon with Bactria, Ecbatana, Sardis, Dascylium and Memphis having branches. Darius chose Aramaic as a common language, which soon spread throughout the empire. However, Darius gathered a group of scholars to create a separate language system only used for Persis and the Persians, which was called Aryan script which was only used for official inscriptions.[49]\n\n\n\nDarius introduced a new universal currency, the daric, sometime before 500 BCE. Darius used the coinage system as a transnational currency to regulate trade and commerce throughout his empire. The Daric was also recognized beyond the borders of the empire, in places such as Celtic Central Europe and Eastern Europe. There were two types of darics, a gold daric and a silver daric. Only the king could mint gold darics. Important generals and satraps minted silver darics, the latter usually to recruit Greek mercenaries in Anatolia. The daric was a major boost to international trade. Trade goods such as textiles, carpets, tools and metal objects began to travel throughout Asia, Europe and Africa. To further improve trade, Darius built the Royal Road, a postal system and Phoenician-based commercial shipping.\n\nThe daric also improved government revenues as the introduction of the daric made it easier to collect new taxes on land, livestock and marketplaces. This led to the registration of land which was measured and then taxed. The increased government revenues helped maintain and improve existing infrastructure and helped fund irrigation projects in dry lands. This new tax system also led to the formation of state banking and the creation of banking firms. One of the most famous banking firms was Murashu Sons, based in the Babylonian city of Nippur.[50] These banking firms provided loans and credit to clients.[51]\n\nIn an effort to further improve trade, Darius built canals, underground waterways and a powerful navy. He further improved and expanded the network of roads and way stations throughout the empire, so that there was a system of travel authorization for the King, satraps and other high officials, which entitled the traveller to draw provisions at daily stopping places.[52][49]\n\n\nLetter of Darius I to Gadatas.\n\nWhile there is no absolute consensus about the adherence of the kings before Darius, such as Cyrus and Cambyses, it is well established that Darius was an adherent of Zoroastrianism[53] or at least a firm believer in Ahura Mazda. As can be seen at the Behistun Inscription, Darius believed that Ahura Mazda had appointed him to rule the Achaemenid Empire. Darius had dualistic philosophical convictions and believed that each rebellion in his kingdom was the work of druj, the enemy of Asha. Darius believed that because he lived righteously by Asha, Ahura Mazda supported him.[54] In many cuneiform inscriptions denoting his achievements, he presents himself as a devout believer, perhaps even convinced that he had a divine right to rule over the world.[55]\n\nIn the lands that were conquered by his empire, Darius followed the same Achaemenid tolerance that Cyrus had shown and later Achaemenid kings would show. He supported faiths and religions that were \"alien\" as long as the adherents were submissive and peaceable, sometimes giving them grants from his treasury for their purposes.[56] He had funded the restoration of the Israelite temple which had originally been decreed by Cyrus, was supportive towards Greek cults which can be seen in his letter to Gadatas, and supported Elamite priests. He had also observed Egyptian religious rites related to kingship and had built the temple for the Egyptian god, Amun.[57]\n\nSome scholars identify Dhul-Qarnayn, a figure mentioned in Quran, with Darius.[58][self-published source]\n\n\nReconstruction drawing of the Palace of Darius in Susa\nThe ruins of Tachara palace in Persepolis\nDarius as Pharaoh of Egypt at the Temple of Hibis\nRelief showing Darius I offering lettuces to the Egyptian deity Amun-Ra Kamutef, Temple of Hibis\n\nDuring Darius's Greek expedition, he had begun construction projects in Susa, Egypt and Persepolis. He had linked the Red Sea to the river Nile by building a canal (Darius Canal) which ran from modern Zaqāzīq to modern Suez. To open this canal, he travelled to Egypt in 497 BCE, where the inauguration was carried out with great fanfare and celebration. Darius also built a canal to connect the Red Sea and Mediterranean.[46][59] On this visit to Egypt he erected monuments and executed Aryandes on the charge of treason. When Darius returned to Persis, he found that the codification of Egyptian law had been finished.[42]\n\n\nIn Egypt Darius built many temples and restored those that had previously been destroyed. Even though Darius was a Zoroastrian, he built temples dedicated to the Gods of the Ancient Egyptian religion. Several temples found were dedicated to Ptah and Nekhbet. Darius also created several roads and routes in Egypt. The monuments that Darius built were often inscribed in the official languages of the Persian Empire, Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian and Egyptian hieroglyphs. To construct these monuments Darius employed a large number of workers and artisans of diverse nationalities. Several of these workers were deportees who had been employed specifically for these projects. These deportees enhanced the empire's economy and improved inter-cultural relations.[49] At the time of Darius's death construction projects were still under way. Xerxes completed these works and in some cases expanded his father's projects by erecting new buildings of his own.[60]\n\nSee alsoEdit\n\n\n  1. ^ Collins, John J.; Manning, J. G. (2016). Revolt and Resistance in the Ancient Classical World and the Near East: In the Crucible of Empire. BRILL. p. 99. ISBN 9789004330184.\n  2. ^ Jürgen von Beckerath, Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen (= Münchner ägyptologische Studien, vol 46), Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1999. ISBN 3-8053-2310-7, pp. 220–21.\n  3. ^ Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, (Taylor & Francis, 1979), 54–55.\n  4. ^ The Behistun Inscription\n  5. ^ \"DĀḠESTĀN\". Retrieved 29 December 2014.\n  6. ^ \"The Making of the Georgian Nation\". Retrieved 29 December 2014.\n  7. ^ Pollard, Elizabeth (2015). Worlds Together, Worlds Apart concise edition vol.1. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-393-25093-0.\n  8. ^ Shahbazi 1996, p. 40.\n  9. ^ DPh - Livius.\n  10. ^ Duncker 1882, p. 192.\n  11. ^ Egerton 1994, p. 6.\n  12. ^ a b c d Shahbazi 1996, p. 41.\n  13. ^ Kuhrt 2013, p. 197.\n  14. ^ Frye 1984, p. 103.\n  15. ^ Schmitt 2000, p. 53.\n  16. ^ Zournatzi, Antigoni (2003). THE APADANA COIN HOARDS, DARIUS I, AND THE WEST. pp. 1–28.\n  17. ^ Persepolis : discovery and afterlife of a world wonder. 2012. pp. 171–181.\n  18. ^ DPh inscription, also Photographs of one of the gold plaques\n  19. ^ \"Susa, Statue of Darius - Livius\".\n  20. ^ Cook 1985, p. 217.\n  21. ^ Abbott 2009, p. 14.\n  22. ^ Abbott 2009, p. 14–15.\n  23. ^ Abbott 2009, p. 15–16.\n  24. ^ Boardman 1988, p. 53.\n  25. ^ a b Boardman 1988, p. 54.\n  26. ^ Poolos 2008, p. 17.\n  27. ^ Abbott 2009, p. 98.\n  28. ^ Abbott 2009, p. 99–101.\n  29. ^ Del Testa 2001, p. 47.\n  30. ^ Darius the Great\n  31. ^ Abott 2009, p. 129.\n  32. ^ Sélincourt 2002, p. 234–235.\n  33. ^ Siliotti 2006, p. 286–287.\n  34. ^ Woolf 2004, p. 686.\n  35. ^ Miroslav Ivanov Vasilev. \"The Policy of Darius and Xerxes towards Thrace and Macedonia\" ISBN 90-04-28215-7 p 70\n  36. ^ Ross 2004, p. 291.\n  37. ^ Beckwith 2009, p. 68–69.\n  38. ^ a b c d e Boardman 1982, pp. 239–243.\n  39. ^ Boardman 2012, pp. 239–243.\n  40. ^ Herodotus 2015, pp. 352.\n  41. ^ Chaliand 2004, p. 16.\n  42. ^ a b c Shahbazi 1996, p. 45.\n  43. ^ Grousset, Rene (1970). The Empire of the Steppes. Rutgers University Press. pp. 9–10. ISBN 0-8135-1304-9.\n  44. ^ a b Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington. \"A companion to Ancient Macedonia\" John Wiley & Sons, 2011. ISBN 1-4443-5163-X pp 135–138, p 343\n  46. ^ a b Shahbazi.\n  47. ^ CAHN, HERBERT A.; GERIN, DOMINIQUE (1988). Themistocles at Magnesia. pp. 20 & Plate 3.\n  48. ^ Shahbazi 1996, p. 47.\n  49. ^ a b c d Shahbazi 1996, p. 48.\n  50. ^ Farrokh 2007, p. 65.\n  51. ^ Farrokh 2007, p. 65–66.\n  52. ^ Verlag 2009, p. 86.\n  53. ^ Moulton 2005, p. 48.\n  54. ^ Boyce 1979, p. 55.\n  55. ^ Boyce 1979, p. 54–55.\n  56. ^ Boyce 1979, p. 56.\n  57. ^ Shahbazi 1996, p. 49.\n  58. ^ Umar, Imam Warith-Deen (2011). Yahvehism: The Religion of Prophet Moses and His People, the Ancient Hebrews. Xlibris Corporation. p. 290. ISBN 9781456818531.\n  59. ^ Spielvogel 2009, p. 49.\n  60. ^ Boardman 1988, p. 76.\n\n\nFurther readingEdit\n\n  • Burn, A.R. (1984). Persia and the Greeks : the defence of the West, c. 546-478 B.C. (2nd ed.). Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-1235-2.\n  • Ghirshman, Roman (1964). The Arts of Ancient Iran from Its Origins to the Time of Alexander the Great. New York: Golden Press.\n  • Olmstead, Albert T. (1948). History of the Persian Empire, Achaemenid Period. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.\n  • Vogelsang, W.J. (1992). The rise and organisation of the Achaemenid Empire : the eastern Iranian evidence. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-09682-5.\n  • Warner, Arthur G. (1905). The Shahnama of Firdausi. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co.\n  • Wiesehöfer, Josef (1996). Ancient Persia : from 550 BC to 650 AD. Azizeh Azodi, trans. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1-85043-999-0.\n  • Wilber, Donald N. (1989). Persepolis : the archaeology of Parsa, seat of the Persian kings (Rev. ed.). Princeton, N.J.: Darwin Press. ISBN 0-87850-062-6.\n\nExternal linksEdit\n\nDarius I\nBorn: 550 BCE Died: 486 BCE\nPreceded by\nKing of Kings of Persia\n522 BCE–486 BCE\nSucceeded by\nXerxes I\nPharaoh of Egypt\n522–486 BCE", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8695698380470276}
+{"content": "Computer Science. Technology. Impression\n\nA difficult thing for beginners\n\nI feel that a programmer finds it difficult to adopt a certain language constructs that are low-level when compared to a high-level language he/she has worked with. Consider a person who learnt Python as one’s first computer language and practiced most of the language constructs, begins to learn C programming. One may feel difficult at the beginning because one’s first language has very flexible built-in data-structures and functions than when compared to C.\n\nThe fact that I am one of the examples for the above supports my statement. After I learnt Python, I started experimenting with C. It took me a considerable amount of time to realize how valuable C is. I kept on wishing that C should’ve had simple constructs as Python, till I got to know that in fact, Python is a C program.\n\nThanks to Mr. Guido Van Rossum for that flexible, general purpose, object oriented and scripting language . If we consider complexities of the programs written in Python and C, compared to C programs, a Python programs has a high time and space complexity. We need to know that there is a trad-off between efficiency and flexibility, and internal complexity is proportional to flexibility.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8633013963699341}
+{"content": "“Working Class Woman” is a Complex and Funny Self-Portrait\n\nWhen I put myself in the shoes of an artist who has some level of popularity, I always think the most awkward part of it would be realizing that some of your fans are idiots. Marie Davidson explores that idea on “Your Biggest Fan,” the lead track on her new album, Working Class Woman, and it’s probably the funniest song of the year. In a mocking voice, she impersonates the dumb questions she gets after shows and the sexist assumptions people make about her: “Why are you so strange? Do you play in a band? Do you really need to carry all that gear with you? Is this album about taking risks?”\n\nDavidson’s dark industrial electronic sound, which she’s developed over the last few years, adds some dread and horror to the comedy. Eventually, the funniness of “Your Biggest Fan” gives way to a sense of anxiety and despair as the annoying voices turn into paranoid whispers. It’s an ideal tone-setter for this album, which feels like a complete dive into Davidson’s psyche as an artist. At the end, I possibly knew too much about her sense of humor, her anxieties, and how she feels about her life as a traveling musician.\n\nThis dancey electronic music isn’t something I listen to much, but Davidson puts a spin on it that is compelling. The second track, “Work It,” is a good example: taken at face value, it resembles a typical electronic song with a pulsing club beat that someone might use to motivate them while working out. Taking on the voice of a deranged fitness coach, she uses the familiar language of empowerment, talking about working to be a winner and working until you sweat. Read another way, it’s a satire of her musical genre, her workaholic nature, and the values our society has that makes someone define themselves by work.\n\nThe ambiguity in tone is very intentional and part of what makes the album captivating. The protagonist of Working Class Woman is complex and difficult, which stands out among one-dimensional portrayals of women in other media, which are often either misogynistic or purely fantasy wish fulfillment with little in between. Davidson isn’t necessarily brave or heroic for working hard and dealing with weird fans — it’s just a part of her life that is portrayed, like everything else on this album, with brutal honesty.\n\nMy Favorite Albums of 2018\n\nIt’s December, which means it’s year-end list season and a reminder that music (and art in general) is a bloodthirsty competition. All year long, musicians put themselves out there, presenting the public with their latest work — not in hopes of expressing themselves or articulating insights about the human condition, but because they want to make it to the top and be the best. That distinction is administered upon them by bloggers and critics like myself, who understand the art form in a way that average people can’t even fathom. While artists everywhere dream of having that “1” or even “8” next to their name at the end of the year, the reality is that only a select few can make it into this privileged group. To the artists who weren’t chosen: I’m sorry that your work was an abject failure, but hopefully it can be used as motivation to be less bad next year.\n\nThe following were the only good albums of 2018. Any album not on this list is not worth listening to.\n\n15. Tender Age – Becoming Real Forever\n\nThere is a national surplus of lo-fi, noisy rock bands out there, and Tender Age don’t necessarily distinguish themselves on the surface. This is where I’m supposed to explain why they’re different, but they really aren’t. I just really like these songs, which find the right balance of heaviness, chaos, and light, plus some Sonic Youth attitude in the vocals.\n\n14. Peel Dream Magazine – Modern Meta Physic\n\nIf nothing else, Modern Meta Physic proves the value in stealing from the right artists. Joe Stevens’ band is very up front about how it is borrowing from past bands like Stereolab, who themselves were up front about borrowing from groups like Neu, and so on. Rather than try to reinvent the wheel, Peel Dream Magazine put themselves in that lineage, and this album plays as an earnest and thoughtfully crafted homage to the history of gentle psychedelic music.\n\n13. Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore – Ghost Forests\n\nBy some margin the prettiest music I heard this year, this collaboration between the two folk artists conjures up woodsy, psychedelic imagery with Baird’s guitar, Lattimore’s harp, and ethereal vocals. The lengthy, spacious compositions function as their own little worlds that prove how two artists can strengthen each other’s sound through collaboration.\n\n12. Julia Holter – Aviary\n\nWith its 90-minute run time and gloriously excessive, lush arrangements, Aviary functions as something like a meta-critique of the music listening process. While not necessarily an album I looked forward to listening to start to finish, I really enjoyed exploring all of its nooks and crannies and trying to figure it out. I’ll be honest: I still don’t know if I actually like it, and maybe I never will. But Holter’s project is a work of great purposeful ambition that raises more questions than it answers, and listening to it was a very different experience than any other album I heard this year.\n\n11. Afrirampo – Afriverse\n\nAfter eight years apart, Afrirampo picked up where they left off with Afriverse, providing an alternate vision of rock music where spontaneity, chaos, and fun take precedent over brooding and tired societal commentary. While their music undeniably seems random, there is real craft in its pacing and the use of dynamics, not to mention the technical ability of Oni and Pika, who both rip on their respective instruments. Sometimes music doesn’t need to be more than two talented people making a lot of noise.\n\n10. Infinite Void – Endless Waves\n\nEndless Waves is one of those albums that never really got a chance, given it was released by a band from Australia that already broke up. The world missed out, as it usually does. This is post-punk songwriting done at a high level with fantastic rhythms and dark imagery. I love music that sounds forceful but dreamy at the same time, and Endless Waves pulls that off.\n\n9. U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited\n\nIn a Poem Unlimited was my favorite topical album of the year because it didn’t seem intended to be. While many artists pander to critics and listeners with lyrics that resemble Facebook posts, Meghan Remy grounds her arguments in storytelling while not shying away from hard truths. Her album outlines the feelings of distrust and abuse people face in different situations and puts these complex narratives in the shell of catchy, noisy pop that has a punk edge.\n\n8. Nun – The Dome\n\nNun has a sound that, for lack of a better term, is very cool. The throbbing synth sounds create a dystopian atmosphere of dread typified by the album’s title, which is married with legitimate pop hooks. Meanwhile, Jenny Branagan’s half-spoken singing style puts them more in the punk realm and makes this a band that doesn’t really sound like anyone else.\n\n7. Beach House – 7\n\nA few years ago, I thought Beach House were stuck in a rut where they were repeating themselves too much and had nowhere else to go. Sometimes it’s a pleasure to be proven wrong. On their last two albums, they have evolved while maintaining a sound that is uniquely theirs, with a layer of darkness and introspection that wasn’t there before. I wasn’t as obsessed with 7 as Thank Your Lucky Stars, but it’s another gorgeous album by a band that feels revitalized.\n\n6. Wax Idols – Happy Ending\n\nThe fittingly titled Happy Ending brings an end (hopefully a happy one) to a strong run from Hether Fortune’s band, which again showed its knack for goth-rock songwriting that gets into heavy, emotional material while being very listenable. This one focuses on death and loss, but as was typical with this band’s work, it’s not content to just wallow in misery. It finds nuance and catharsis in life’s darkest moments.\n\n5. Marie Davidson – Working Class Woman\n\nAbrasive in both its sound and the personality of its protagonist, Working Class Woman is a darkly comic trip into the mind of Marie Davidson or possibly a character resembling Marie Davidson. Her deadpan singing and ironic lyrics make it hard to tell what is serious and what is a joke on the album, which takes no prisoners in mocking herself and the perceptions other people have of her as a woman in the male-dominated club scene. Its sound varies between subversive club jams like “Work It” and the pure industrial-noise terror of “The Tunnel,” with the unifying link being Davidson’s relentless, refreshing honesty.\n\n4. Free Cake For Every Creature – The Bluest Star\n\nA throwback in the best sense, Katie Bennett’s band plays music that is in the true original spirit of indie pop, with an honesty and authenticity that eludes many more widely acclaimed artists. On The Bluest Star, the band’s scrappy, winning appeal is combined with something resembling ambition, resulting in a sprawling showcase of heartfelt songwriting and detailed character-driven storytelling. The sheer likability of Bennett goes a long way: she doesn’t need much more than some reverbed guitar and her near-whispered lyrics to connect with any listener.\n\n3. The Green Child – The Green Child\n\nThis collaboration by Mikey Young and Raven Mahon arrived in January to little fanfare and set a bar for 2018 that only a couple artists matched for me. While not outwardly ambitious, The Green Child taps into all of the best parts of psychedelic music, with introspective retro-futuristic arrangements, ambiguous, thought-provoking lyrics, and Mahon’s understated vocals. It also boasts the song of the year in “Her Majesty II,” a dazzling, timeless mix of swirling synths, harmonies and guitar with lyrics that reflect on current events with a welcome touch of subtlety.\n\n2. Melody’s Echo Chamber – Bon Voyage\n\nThe world of shoegaze and dream pop is full of artists trying to sound like their heroes from the past. Bon Voyage shows the power of sounding like no one, as well as the risk. Full of bizarre tempo changes and quirky diversions, Melody Prochet’s album is intentionally alienating and strange, the product of an artist with too many ideas and arguably not enough editing instinct. But the flaws of Bon Voyage end up being its great strength — its overstuffed aesthetic represents genuine unfiltered imagination, the kind rarely heard in music.\n\n1. Emma Ruth Rundle – On Dark Horses\n\nEmma Ruth Rundle is making music I always wanted to hear: something that has the massive sound of metal, the intimacy of folk, and the hooks of straight-up rock. On Dark Horses continues her evolution into a genreless force who can make relatively simple quiet-loud alt rock songs sound unlike anything else. Her 2016 album, Marked for Death, was a breakthrough; the sound, the confidence, and the emotional conviction of On Dark Horses cement her as an artist who has no peers.\n\nBecky Lynch is Making Wrestling Real\n\nWrestling fans are used to hearing people tell them “you know it’s fake, right?” My rebuttal to this is to point out that all TV shows are fake. It’s like asking a fan of Game of Thrones if they know that the dragons in the show are CGI. If anything, wrestling is much more real than other things on TV, including heavily edited “reality” shows. It has predetermined outcomes, but the physicality is more real than most people assume and the storytelling is often tethered to reality in a way that other scripted shows aren’t.\n\nI think wrestling is at its best when it has that connection to reality and gets viewers to forget that they’re watching characters. But these days, with social media and WWE’s branding of itself as a “sports entertainment” company, wrestling is probably the least immersive it’s ever been. The talented wrestlers are often stuck delivering overly scripted, inauthentic promos and too many matches feel like choreographed ballet routines instead of a fight. While the show has moved away from larger-than-life characters like The Undertaker (a dead guy), it is still hard to get emotionally invested in what’s going on because a lot of the wrestlers aren’t allowed to truly show what they can do.\n\nThis all ties into why the last few months of Becky Lynch have been so satisfying. I already wrote about her feud with Charlotte Flair, which culminated in Becky keeping her title at Evolution, WWE’s first all-women’s pay-per-view, in an epic last woman standing match that was my favorite in WWE this year. Since then, Becky’s star has continued to rise: I don’t know if she is literally the most popular performer in the company, but nobody is getting the reactions she does, and her character is connecting with the audience in a way that few ever have. And much of it is due to how her character feels real, how it intertwines with her actual self, and how she tells stories in a way that creates maximum immersion. It’s to the point that when Becky is on TV, I actually do think wrestling is real for a brief moment. I want her to win, I feel happy when she gets cheered, and I hate her opponents. I’ve always tried to keep an ironic distance from wrestling because it’s “cooler” to watch that way, but I’m all the way in this and there’s no getting out. I’m a “mark,” as they say, and it feels great.\n\nAfter dispensing with Charlotte Flair, whose father once famously said “to be the man, you gotta beat the man,” Becky has christened herself The Man in a clever post-gender angle. It’s her character showing confidence while also acknowledging the reality that she’s on top and is genuinely the most exciting thing in wrestling. WWE tried to portray this new-found confidence as villainous, but it resonates too much with people who feel like they’re not getting what they deserve and lack Becky’s ability to do something about it. While most people are stuck without real options in scenarios where they feel undervalued, Becky’s character lives in the wrestling reality where you can beat the crap out of your co-workers and show you’re better than them. It’s very cathartic, and I think fans are living vicariously through Becky as they witness someone who they perceive as being underrated by the company climb all the way to the top while taking no prisoners.\n\nBecky has created this unique connection to the audience in part by showing a deep understanding of her character and staying true to it in publicity appearances and on social media. When she explains why she calls herself The Man, it’s part Becky Lynch, part Rebecca Quin, and the line between the two is blurred in a way that only happens with wrestlers. Observe how she toes the line in this interview for an LGBT news outlet, touting her accolades from the wrestling world while also making real-world points she actually believes about gender/sexuality equality.\n\nNow established as The Man, Becky entered a feud with Ronda Rousey, WWE’s current biggest star in terms of mainstream appeal who has proven to be a natural at professional wrestling. They exchanged barbs for a couple of weeks, with Rousey notably mocking Becky for taking odd jobs and retiring from wrestling for awhile while she was dominating in UFC. Lynch’s response to this was up there as one of the best babyface promos I’ve ever seen, as she described her real-life upbringing and struggles as an independent wrestler as a contrast to Rousey, who she perceived as being bred for greatness. It was character-defining in establishing Becky as someone who worked her way to the top, never got handed anything, and developed an authentic connection with the fans in spite of how she was often portrayed. Wrestlers are rarely thought of as artists by the general public, but there is real artistry here in her choice of words, the delivery, and the way she connects her real-life self to her on-screen character.\n\nBut, as has happened a weird amount of times in this storyline, reality intervened. On the Monday before her big match with Rousey was scheduled, Lynch led an “invasion” of her show, Smackdown, on Raw. They do this every year and usually I find it to be contrived nonsense. But this became a prime example of how the real world and the wrestling world can merge to create unmatched serendipitous drama.\n\nWhile the wrestlers were randomly brawling, Becky took a legitimate punch to the face from Nia Jax, the giant of the women’s division. Now, I’ve never been in the ring (surprising, I know), but my understanding is that a lot of the strikes, while not being completely fake, are done in a way to protect the opponent and cause no real damage. The top goal in this choreographed play-fighting is to make sure no one gets hurt while still putting on a show that appears realistic. So what Jax did was an egregious blunder: nobody is supposed to just land a full punch to someone’s face or it creates what happened here — a serious injury and a lot of blood.\n\nBecky went down briefly, and had what is later described by WWE as “a severe concussion and a broken face.” But then she got back up and finished out the show with blood all over her face and hands. She hit Rousey with a chair and then taunted her from the crowd, completely owning the entire scene while bleeding profusely and I’m sure being in a tremendous amount of pain (not to mention being concussed). She looked like the coolest person who ever lived and I knew I was witnessing an iconic wrestling moment.\n\nIf there was any doubt, this cemented Becky as a legend and a character unlike anything wrestling fans have seen. It was also when I realized that the women’s division in WWE genuinely feels like the most important and coolest thing on the show, which was always her goal. The downside to the moment is that, well, she had a severe concussion and a broken face. And that meant she wasn’t able to actually have the match with Rousey, which was likely going to be main event the show and be a huge moment for women’s wrestling in WWE.\n\nOne of the narratives running through Becky’s story has been the idea that the company has “held her down,” which was basically true as she was booked to lose a lot for multiple years. But somewhere during this push, I think she has opened the eyes of people backstage and it feels like the machinery is totally behind her now. A good piece of evidence was this mini-documentary they did on her finding out that she wouldn’t be able to wrestle Rousey.\n\nOut of all of the reality/fiction-blending things involving Becky recently, this is the most impactful. It’s mundane in how it shows her going through a fairly bland real-life routine of calling her mom, checking her phone, and eating. But then she receives the gutting news and there’s this moment where she is simultaneously Becky Lynch and Rebecca Quin. She wants to have this match to kick Ronda Rousey’s ass, but she also wants this match because as a performer, she’s spent years working up to this point, building all this momentum, and now she feels it could slip away because of a co-worker’s careless mistake. It’s heartbreaking to watch and as real as it gets.\n\nThe silver lining to all of this is that if Lynch recovers (which isn’t trivial given a concussion), she could be in line to main event WrestleMania, the biggest show of the year, against Rousey, which seemed unthinkable a few months ago. Women have never main evented that show and I honestly never thought they would — not because they weren’t capable, but because I never felt like the company would get behind it. But Lynch has given the company little choice with the artistry of her performances and the way she has rallied fans behind her organically. As a performer and character, she is making wrestling feel real, and it should lead to her finally getting what she deserves: the biggest match of the year, on the biggest stage, with thousands of people chanting her name.\n\nAfrirampo Return to Make Wonderful Noise on “Afriverse”\n\nCreepily dedicated readers of the blog may remember Afrirampo from some posts I made a few years ago where I celebrated their crazy and enthusiastic brand of rock music, especially as it contrasted to the increasingly dour state of indie rock. In 2010, the duo of Pika and Oni broke up after the release of their masterpiece, We Are Uchu No Ko, but they left the door open for a reunion by leaving their English-speaking fans with this very normal message: “If our mother of monster say ‘PLAY!PLAY!together!!’, then we will play.”\n\nFortunately, that (whatever it was) seems to have happened, as Afrirampo reunited this year and in September released a new album, Afriverse, which I then spent days trying to find a download of in dark corners of the internet because it wasn’t remotely accessible to Americans. I’m happy to say that I have the album, my laptop hasn’t melted yet, and Afrirampo are still the same delightful band they always were, even after eight years of not playing together.\n\nIt’s a little pointless to try to analyze Afriverse, because I can’t understand the lyrics (and I suspect a lot are nonsense anyway) and there aren’t really songs on it. Instead, what you get with Afrirampo is a certain energy that no other band has. I feel the state of music and music appreciation has become even more dull since Afrirampo were last together. A lot of artists make very self-consciously serious music and it’s treated with a boring sort of solemn respect by writers, to the point that people forget that music is supposed to be a fun thing to enjoy and talk about.\n\nAmid this landscape, Afrirampo’s music is once again a much-needed burst of color and joy. It’s rock music that has a really simple elemental appeal, where it sounds like two artists who love making music together that are having a blast. It doesn’t really need to be more than that for me. I just enjoy hearing Oni’s bursts of guitar noise, Pika’s thunderous, technically sound drumming, and all of the silly call-and-response vocals.\n\nIt’d be easy to write off this music as just two weird people making random noise. It would also be correct, mostly. What makes it listenable is that they have a sense of dynamics and are capable of some semblance of restraint in the form of quieter passages, which adds to the impact of their noisy freakouts. There are also a lot of sneaky melodies and pleasant sounds within all of the chaos they’re creating. More than maybe any other band, Afrirampo can go from zero to ten at any second, which makes listening to them kind of like being on a rollercoaster with a blindfold on.\n\nAt least some of my love for Afrirampo is contextual: I wouldn’t want every band to sound like this, but they are a great escape from “normal” rock music that is so concerned with structure and takes itself so seriously. Their joyous playing captures the true spirit of rock and roll in its spontaneity and freedom. No other band could really sound like Afrirampo, but many could learn from them.\n\nI’m Still Obsessed With a WWE Storyline\n\nA lot has changed in professional wrestling since I started watching as a kid in the late 90s. Back then, WWE was in the midst of its renowned “Attitude Era” when characters like The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin were at their peak and the show was geared towards young men, which resulted in a lot of car crash TV techniques, bizarre outlandish storylines, and a high level of violence. Today’s WWE is different: it’s now a publicly shared company and about 10 years ago shifted towards family-friendly PG fare, with a deeper focus on in-ring athleticism. But by far the biggest change in the company in my time as a fan is the portrayal of the women.\n\nBack in the Attitude Era, women were essentially objects. They were run out there to titillate the crowd and were often featured in “bra and panty” matches, mud wrestling, and various other degrading activities. While there were always a couple women who could actually wrestle, they were overshadowed by the slew of models WWE signed for their looks and then trained into mediocre/bad wrestlers who worked sloppy 2-3 minute matches.\n\nIn the last couple years, WWE has undergone a “women’s revolution,” where they’ve started recruiting women who are real wrestlers and put them in more high profile matches. This charge was led in part by Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch, first on their developmental show, NXT, and then on the main shows Raw and Smackdown. With the addition of former MMA star Ronda Rousey to the division, WWE has finally put some effort into some semblance of gender equality and has by far the deepest women’s division it’s ever had.\n\nDespite this, some residue from the previous era lingers. Vince McMahon still runs this company and has made a habit of booking cute blonde women as champions, regardless of their in-ring ability. The women get more screen time, but they still rarely feel like complete characters, usually falling into a couple broad archetypes: the heels are Regina George mean girls while the babyfaces are just happy to be chasing their dreams and are always hugging each other and crying. I’m about 99% sure that WWE doesn’t have any women writers on its staff, and it’s evident in the way many of the characters are portrayed.\n\nMeanwhile, WWE has gleefully marketed and hyped its self-proclaimed “women’s revolution,” but the only reason it needed to happen is because they were so shitty in the first place. Fans largely catch on to this, and I think it’s part of what is fueling this Charlotte/Becky storyline that I wrote about last month. Because Becky doesn’t really fit WWE’s mold for a champion: she’s kind of quirky, she’s attractive but not in the very specific way Vince McMahon likes, she’s got an Irish accent and an unusual speaking voice, she’s not blonde, etc. All of this fan resentment over the direction of the women’s division is now coming out in the Becky character and the crowd’s response to her.\n\nWhen we last left off with our hero, she was chasing Charlotte’s title after “turning heel” at Summerslam, and was in an ambiguous character direction where she was acting heelish but getting huge cheers. To WWE’s credit, they’ve stayed the course with this and are finally writing a storyline that is worthy of the women performers that isn’t draped with their “look at what we’re letting the women do!” sloganeering. At the Hell in a Cell event, Becky reversed one of Charlotte’s moves for a surprising fair win. On the next episode of Smackdown, she celebrated in grand fashion in one of the best promo segments on the show in a long time.\n\nIf it wasn’t obvious before, this segment made it clear that in WWE’s mind, Becky is unambiguously a heel. She’s gloating, rubbing her win in Charlotte’s face, calling her a bitch and then beating her up. The announcers fall over themselves defending Charlotte and portraying her as sympathetic (which, to be fair, she kind of is). But the fans are still purely behind Becky, because this is an exciting character we’ve never seen before: a woman who simply doesn’t give a damn. After so many obnoxious heels and flat, goody-two-shoes babyfaces, it’s refreshing to see a woman character who has an edge, who is brazen and does what she wants, the way men like Stone Cold Steve Austin did at the height of the show’s popularity.\n\nAnd Becky has real depth as a character, in part because Rebecca Quin is such a good performer. Sometimes in WWE, it feels like a flip is switched and someone becomes a totally different person when they change their heel/face alignment. This is the same character the crowd loved before, but she’s gained a new focus and has stopped caring about what anyone thinks of her. And now that she’s champion, she’s very proud of herself and is lording it over everybody while egotistically basking in the fans’ love of her.\n\nI want to talk about Becky saying “bitch” at the end of this promo. Because to someone over the age of eight years old, it shouldn’t be a big deal to hear the word, and I’m sure if anyone who doesn’t watch wrestling is reading/watching this, they’re wondering why the crowd is gasping at it. Part of it is that WWE has been in this very safe, corporate PG era for a long time now, so any swearing has become somewhat unheard of. But also, wrestling has this effect on you where it sort of turns you back into a little kid when it really works, so in the moment I was like “OH MY GOD SHE SAID THE B-WORD. THAT’S A BAD WORD. THIS WOMAN IS OUT OF CONTROL.”\n\nAnd as ridiculous as it sounds, WWE letting Becky say “bitch” might be the clearest sign that the company is fully invested in her now. The only other people I’ve heard say the word on TV recently are Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, who are the two top stars in the company. It’s trotted out on serious occasions when they want a character to look badass. When the guys did it, it just came off as tryhard and misogynistic, but Becky being a woman and delivering it with perfect comedic timing made it work in this instance.\n\nWWE is not a very admirable company and I’m loath to give them too much credit for a story that has been partially told by accident. But this story is sneakily pretty progressive compared to a lot of other media. How many other TV shows have a storyline between two women that isn’t about a man, where both characters feel real, have flaws, and their motivations make sense? Not very many, and I hope WWE sees the success of this feud and does more of this, because they have the talent to do so. This is what a “women’s revolution” actually looks like.\n\nEmma Ruth Rundle Delivers Another Masterpiece With “On Dark Horses”\n\nMy favorite album from 2016 was Emma Ruth Rundle’s Marked for Death. My favorite album from 2018 will be Emma Ruth Rundle’s On Dark Horses. I say this with confidence because it’s that good. It’s so heavy and beautiful, with emotion and intensity oozing out of every note. Nobody else I’ve heard is making music that is this immersive with such a balance of intimacy and raw power.\n\nRundle stands alone at the intersection of about 30 different musical genres. Sometimes she sounds like dream pop, other times she’s metal, or alternative rock, or post-rock. She often gets called folk, which I kind of get, but it just makes me think that it’s futile to try to describe her in simple genre buzzwords. It’s music that resists easy labels because nobody else has ever made it before. There are a lot of reference points and influences, clearly, but I consider her a true original with no real comparisons. She sounds like everything else and nothing else at the same time.\n\nRundle’s arrival at this distinct sound was one of my favorite parts of Marked for Death: more than any artist I’m a fan of, she naturally evolved her style from record to record until reaching what felt like a pinnacle. At the time, I was tempted to call it her masterpiece, and the only thing that stopped me was the thought that she was possibly capable of topping it. With On Dark Horses, she has.\n\nLike her last album, On Dark Horses is all about the slow burn. The songs are methodically paced, which creates space for Rundle to do what she does best: create a mesmerizing atmosphere with her guitar. Her songs tend to simmer and then boil over, the quiet verses giving way to loud choruses and powerful dramatic climaxes. This is basic alternative rock quiet-loud stuff, but the way Rundle executes it feels very different. It never feels like a formula; it’s just the natural path the songs go down as Rundle expresses herself. She balances the quiet and loud aspects of her sound perfectly, creating maximum catharsis in every song.\n\nAs a singer, Rundle has the versatility to match her guitar. She and her instrument are always intertwined, and she is capable of singing lovely quiet songs, like “Races,” and also belting out some massive rock choruses like the radio-ready hook on “Dead Set Eyes.” It’s crazy that a few years ago, she was doing instrumental music or burying her voice under layers of guitar. Now she is singing with confidence and seems to know how good she is. That never quite manifests itself in conventional rock frontperson swagger, because that isn’t her style, but it’s a feeling that I get listening to it. If the non-music story of Marked for Death was her finding her sound, the story of On Dark Horses is her expanding on it with complete self-assuredness.\n\nThat confidence also translates to her lyrics, which may be the biggest shift from her last album. The words on On Dark Horses are more direct and tangible while retaining the poetic ambiguity that they’ve always had. They also play off some of the expectations formed by Marked for Death, which possibly led some to pigeonhole her as another in a line of tormented doom-and-gloom songwriters. “Light Song” is a love song about her husband (who sings and plays on this album) while “Darkhorse” is an encouraging song to her sister, with the lyric “in the wake of weak beginnings, we can still stand high.” Of course, this album still isn’t peppy or upbeat by any stretch of the imagination, but there is more nuance in it than it might get credit for.\n\nBut really, I’m not all that concerned with breaking down the lyrics and trying to figure out the “meaning,” because I think the power of Rundle’s music is in its gray areas and the way it washes over the listener without compelling them to feel a specific way. It fits Rundle’s whole style, which exists outside of all of these artificial borders that get ascribed to artists, where they’re expected to fit into certain invisible categorizable boxes. Over her last couple albums, she has created her own genre, and right now it’s my favorite.\n\nLook What You Made Me Do\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6870783567428589}
+{"content": "Waiter Job Description - Duties, Skills and Career\n\nView all Waiter jobs on uk.jobted.com\n\nWhat Does a Waiter Do?\n\nWaiter job description\n\nA waiter is responsible for serving customers in an eating establishment. Waiters are employed in a wide variety of establishments, including restaurants, pizzerias, bars, pubs, fast food outlets, hotels, as well as in businesses specialising in catering and banqueting services.\n\nA waiter’s principal duties are taking orders from customers and serving them food and drinks - usually at their table, or in some cases at a bar. But they also perform a number of other duties both before and after the arrival of customers.\n\nThese include preparing the dining room before the restaurant opens to the public, which involves arranging the tables according to the layout plan, allocating tables for any advance bookings and setting the tables with a tablecloth, plates, cutlery, napkins, glasses and any other accessories that may be required.\n\nOnce the restaurant is open, waiters are responsible for welcoming customers and accompanying them to their tables. After customers have been seated, waiters illustrate the daily specials, the standard menu items and the wine list to them. To do this effectively, waiters need to be familiar with all of the dishes prepared by the restaurant’s chef and the ingredients used (including any that might trigger allergies), as well as with all the drinks on the menu (soft drinks, wine, beer, coffee etc). To help guests choose, a waiter may enquire about their tastes and preferences and, where required, give them recommendations. They then take the guests’ food and drink orders. Order taking may be done in a number of different ways: the waiter may memorise orders or write them down using pen and paper and then pass them on to the kitchen, either in writing or verbally. Alternatively, the waiter may enter orders into an electronic order pad, which transmits diners’ choices directly to the kitchen staff.\n\nWhen the food and drinks ordered are ready, the waiter brings them to the table and serves them to the customers. This is typically done following plating and serving etiquette, which includes rules on carving meat and filleting fish, serving and clearing plates, opening bottles and pouring drinks.\n\nWhile customers are eating, waiters will occasionally approach their table to check that everything is proceeding smoothly and to clear away dishes and cutlery between courses. Waiters should always keep a close eye on the tables they are serving to make sure that they rapidly respond to any needs that guests may have. At the end of the meal, the waiter may accompany the customers to the till or prepare the bill and bring it to them. In some cases, waiters may also be required to handle payments.\n\nWhen the restaurant finally closes to the public, waiters are responsible for cleaning and tidying the dining room in preparation for the next shift.\n\nIn addition to their normal waiting duties, waiters working for companies providing catering and banqueting services at private and public functions and events, such as weddings, birthdays, gala dinners, conferences or inaugurations etc., may also be required to set up, prepare and clear away banqueting areas, take charge of a specific buffet or food station (drinks, first courses, second, desserts or coffee, for example), refill self-service sections or serve guests food and drinks on trays.\n\nIn large restaurants employing a full dining room brigade (e.g. with a number of waiters, a head waiter welcoming guests, a sommelier looking after wine and drinks orders, etc), waiters and waitresses may be assigned specific duties, such as only taking food orders and carrying out table service. In smaller establishments with fewer dining room staff, waiters are often required to be more flexible and carry out a wide range of customer service functions, including taking and managing bookings, recommending wines, assisting the cook with garnishing and plating food, preparing simple dishes (such as cold starters or fruit salads) and dealing with payments.\n\nOne of the main characteristics of waiting jobs is the significant physical stamina required. Waiters work on their feet the whole day, moving quickly from kitchen to dining room and back again, interacting with diners and ensuring that their needs are met. They therefore need to be physically fit and strong and deal well with stress. Another key asset for a waiter is a positive, can-do attitude. Waiters are a customer’s first point of contact, so it is essential for them to possess a polite, helpful and professional manner at all times and to act as ambassadors for the restaurant they work for.\n\nWaiters usually work as part of a team. In a large dining room brigade, they are typically coordinated by a head waiter (or a banqueting manager in a catering service), who will assign waiters and commis waiters to specific tables in the interests of ensuring an efficient service. Working hours may vary depending on the type of establishment.\n\nIn restaurants, waiters are usually required to work lunch and dinner shifts, including on weekends and public holidays, while in hotels they may be required to work breakfasts, too. In bars open throughout the day, waiters might be required to work shifts (e.g. mornings or afternoons), while pub work tends to be concentrated in the evening and may go on until the early hours of the morning. For this reason, waiters are often hired on a part-time basis (e.g. evenings or weekends only).\n\nEmployment opportunities in the restaurant sector may experience seasonal peaks. This is especially the case for bars, restaurants and hotels situated in tourist destinations, who will need seasonal waiting staff to cope with the busiest times of the year.\n\nDuties and Responsibilities\n\nWaiter tasks and responsibilities\n\nThe main duties and responsibilities of a waiter are as follows:\n\n  • Dining room / table preparation\n  • Welcoming guests in a friendly, courteous manner and accompanying them to their tables\n  • Illustrating the food menu and wine list, providing advice on food and drinks choices\n  • Taking guests’ orders and transmitting them to the kitchen\n  • Serving food and drink in accordance with agreed procedures\n  • Presenting the bill and handling payments\n  • Clearing tables and tidying and cleaning the dining room at the end of the shift\n\nHow to Become a Waiter: Training and Requirements\n\nHow to become Waiter - Training\n\nThere are no specific training requirements to become a waiter, with most people learning the skills needed through direct experience on the job. However, anybody wanting to acquire specialist food service knowledge can choose to attend a hospitality and catering course, where topics are likely to include table setting, food and drink presentation, the sequence and rules of service, carrying plates and trays, silver service and clearing tables. In addition to these skills, waiters should also possess basic food knowledge and be familiar with the rules of food hygiene and workplace safety.\n\nFinally, a knowledge of one or more foreign languages is a definite advantage for anybody applying for a waiting job, especially in restaurants that are frequented by tourists and foreign clients.\n\nWhat Skills Are Needed to Be a Waiter?\n\nWaiter skills and competencies\n\nWaiters need to have the following skills:\n\n  • Table setting and service skills\n  • Knowledge of food and wine\n  • Customer service mindset\n  • Ability to work as part of a team\n  • Communication and interpersonal skills\n  • Friendly, polite and courteous manner\n  • Physical stamina and resistance to stress\n  • Fast and energetic\n\nCareer Path and What to Expect\n\nWaiter career path\n\nA career as a waiter typically begins in an entry-level position, such as commis waiter (also known as a commis de rang, busboy or assistant waiter), in the dining room brigade of a restaurant, hotel or other eating establishment.\n\nAs junior waiters gradually gain knowledge and experience of the food service business, they may choose to advance their careers by seeking employment in larger, more prestigious establishments. With time, they may progress to a senior position, such as chef de rang (the waiter in charge of a specific section in a restaurant), and eventually work their way up to the role of head waiter - the person in charge of coordinating the restaurant together with the head chef and the head sommelier.\n\nTop Reasons to Work as a Waiter\n\nThe main reasons for choosing a career in waiting are the ease of access to jobs and the wealth of opportunities available.\n\nEating establishments of all kinds require waiting staff, from restaurants, pubs and pizzerias, right through to high-end luxury restaurants, while the large number of such establishments on ours streets means waiters of all levels of experience and expertise stand a very good chance of finding work close to home. Meanwhile, for those more interested in travelling and, say, learning a foreign language, a waiting job abroad is the ideal opportunity.\n\nThe possibility of finding part-time or seasonal employment makes waiting a good option for people looking for a second job to supplement another activity.\n\nFinally, a job as a waiter is an excellent springboard for anybody planning on a career in the food service industry.\n\nDon’t miss out on new job vacancies!\nEnter your email now and get all the latest Waiter jobs\nYou can cancel email updates at any time", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9807666540145874}
+{"content": "| +91 7207658536 |\nFollow Us        \n\nMoon-Mercury-Jupiter Conjunction\n\nSo here, we start with 2018.\n\nToday, Moon-Mercury-Jupiter Conjunction.\n\nLet's 1st understand what these planets represent on their own?\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMeaning of Moon-Mercury-Jupiter Conjunction - This is one of the pleasant conjunctions to have as Moon & Jupiter are natural benefic planets and in their company Mercury is also changing itself into a benefic planet. This shows a mind fully occupied by information, knowledge and wisdom. Moon is Mind, Mercury is Collection of Information and Jupiter is Knowledge & Wisdom. So, this person can be a forever student and forever teacher. They can be very preachy type of and can be always found as teaching and preaching others. Their mother may be in same profession of teaching others and they may have picked up the habit from them. Basically, even if they are not in field of academics, they can still be very much into knowledge and spreading wisdom. Moon-Jupiter together is causing Gaj Kesari Yoga and they can be very rich if they go through dashas of these planets. Moon-Mercury is still a conjunction of enemies so mind can feel agitated or restless but association with Jupiter shows that more they go into the field of education and knowledge, the more peaceful they can become. Mercury-Jupiter is always a combination of a knowledge oriented person. So overall, this conjunction is all about knowledge, wisdom and sharing that knowledge & wisdom. Now, it depends on the house/sign where this conjunction may fall in chart. In 9th house or Sagittarius, it can be all about higher learning and religious/philosophical higher education but in 2nd house or Taurus it can be all about wealth or finance related higher education.\n\nWho will win the Conjunction? - Here Jupiter is impacting both Mercury & Moon, hence Jupiter is ruling the conjunction.\n\nDignity & Strength -\n\nIn any sign, at least 1 planet will be in good dignity, hence results of the conjunction will largely depend on planets mutual impact on each other, as discussed above, and the dashas.\n\n\n\nVishal S Saxena – Astrologer\n\nSubscribe to our email newsletter", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9604759812355042}
+{"content": "Here are a few of my clients/patients commenting on my service.\n\nMegan Saydah Wrote:\n\nCatherine Hunt has been my son's speech therapist since May of 2007. My son was 2 years old when she started working with him, and since she started working with my son I have seen drastic improvements in his speech and overall ability to communicate. Catherine consistently demonstrates the patience and focus necessary for working with energetic children such as my son. She was able to redirect his attention and help him focus. Catherine is very conscientious, professional, and realiable. My son Jacob and I will miss her. I strongly recommend Catherine for any speech therapy position.\n\n\nMegan Saydah\n\nShannon K. Harper Wrote:\n\nCatherine Hunt has been providing speech-language therapy services for my 3 year old daughter for over a year. During this time Mrs. Hunt has given my child superior service, demonstrated a high level of commitment to my child's success and has always exceeded her professional responsibilities. Some examples of Mrs. Hunt's commitment to her students include exploring a wide range of teaching strategies to try to meet my daughters need. Whether changing the tempo of instruction, bringing client specific items for instructional play or even the simple things like getting flavored tongue depressors, Mrs. Hunt is always looking for that extra advantage to be a successful partner.\n\nWhen you are receiving government provided services the stories of long waits and \"lost forms\" are a constant subject of conversation with other parents. Our experience with Mrs. Hunt has been nothing but positive. Mrs. Hunt has always been on time for services and very well prepared. We never had that \"oh I forgot\" conversation and the occasional phone call about a change in schedule were always several days before the appointment. Mrs. Hunt also provided reference papers and reports about my daughter anytime we needed them for meetings with other providers of her education. My families experience with Mrs. Hunt has been positive and rewarding and I feel my daughter has made significant progress under Mrs. Hunt's supervision and I would highly recommend her to any family needing speech service.\n\nThank You,\n\nShannon Harper\n\nSarai Lopez Wrote:\n\nThis letter is being made for Catherine Hunt to use as a form of recommendation. I would first like to start off by saying thank you Mrs. Hunt for all the help you provided my son Ralph for his speech therapy. With out your help I don't believe my son would be capable of speaking and pronouncing words properly due to his young age mixed with all his ear infections he always seems to be getting. I have been told by doctors to help his infections I needed to put tubes in his ears. But there was a chance it could hurt his pronouncation of words. So once again thanks to you, he does not have that problem. Some things I would like to point out about Mrs. Hunt is how good of a relationship she was able to build up with my son. My son sees her as a teacher and a friend, which allows Mrs. Hunt  to do her job very well. Mrs. Hunt  always had patience with my son, she took time to not only help him, but to improve his speech at his own rate, without over doing it or forcing him to feel uncomfortable. Mrs. Hunt is well organized and reliable, if she said something she was always there to deliver. One of things I liked was how well she was able to communicate with me, the parent about possible problems and the steps we could take to maximize my sons therapy.\n\nI highly recommend Mrs. Catherine Hunt to anyone without a second thought due to all the help she has given to my son and to how understanding she has been with me, the parent.\n\n\nSarai Lopez\n\nBonnie Waldrop Wrote:\n\nI just wanted to thank you for your work with Caden. Although you were not his Speech Therapist for long, you made quite the impression! I loved how you dove right in and went to work. His drooling was at the  least amount it has ever been while you were treating him. Even though Caden didn't always appreciate your hands on approach-it was exactly what he needed! And I so appreciate all the hints and education you provided for me - these are things I am still using to benefit him. Thanks for being so knowledgeable, thorough, conscientious, and professional - everything we needed in a therapist. You are awesome! Long live the oral motor queen!!!!!\n\n\nBonnie Waldrop", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6564322710037231}
+{"content": "Denver Living - Events - Performing - Denver, Colorado, USA\n\nDenver is home to many performing arts and cultural groups Is something missing or incorrect? Please send a correction.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000100135803223}
+{"content": "Otto Thorensen, Chief Executive of the ABI has, four months into his role, set out his initial thoughts on the challenge posed by the pressing issue of reputation and service to customers of the insurance industry. He calls on the industry to ‘act now’ if it is to fulfil its potential and play a central role in the future of the UK economy.\n\nMr. Thorensen set out a ten point plan for talking the issue of reputation and customer experience. In brief, his ten points were as follows:\n\n  1. Communication should be made simpler and more understandable.\n  2. Products should be made simpler and more understandable too.\n  3. Staff should be trained to improve their understanding of the business and how the products and systems work.\n  4. Insurers should work with the Financial Ombudsman Service to understand better the ombudsman’s perspective on how to deal with customers.\n  5. There should be emphasis on designing more equivalence and standardisation in product features.\n  6. Insurers should accept that treating customers fairly makes sense, and it should be used as a framework to deliver better customer outcomes.\n  7. Insurers should work with government and regulators to better manage the flow of change.\n  8. Insurers should be quicker to acknowledge when they have got something wrong and respond to put it right.\n  9. Service should be relevant and accessible to the type of customer being serviced.\n  10. Insurers should start early by continuing to support developing financial capability for consumers; education in schools, awareness and education in the workplace and education approaching retirement.\n\nMr. Thorensen’s think piece can be viewed here.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.848003089427948}
+{"content": "Last week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a groundbreaking opinion in Yates v. Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. that could change the liability landscape for brand-name drug manufacturers. No. 15-3104 (6th Cir. Dec. 11, 2015). Yates is the first federal appellate authority to recognize “impossibility preemption” of design defect claims against brand-name drug manufacturers.\n\n\nThe plaintiff in Yates was a teenager who used the brand-name ORTHO EVRA patch for birth control. She conceded that she was warned of the risk of stroke by her healthcare provider. She further admitted that she would have used the patch even if she had read the warnings regarding the increased risk of stroke and blood clots. One week after she started using the ORTHO EVRA patch, the plaintiff had a stroke.\n\nDespite the label’s clear disclosure of the risk of stroke and plaintiff’s awareness of the increased risk from her healthcare provider, plaintiff sued defendants for failure to warn. She also brought claims for manufacturing defect, negligence, and breach of implied and express warranties.\n\nThe Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment on all claims. Most importantly, the court affirmed the district court’s ruling regarding the state-law design defect claims and held that “Yates’ state law design defect claims are preempted under Mutual Pharm. Co. v. Bartlett, 133 S. Ct. 2466 (2013).”\n\n\nThe court held that plaintiff’s state-law design defect claims were preempted by federal regulation, regardless of whether the alleged defect occurred pre- or post-FDA approval. In doing so, it became the first ever circuit court of appeals to find that federal law preempts design defect claims against brand-name drug manufacturers.\n\nThe court began its preemption analysis with a discussion of preemption principles: “State law claims can be preempted expressly in a federal statute or regulation, or impliedly, where congressional intent to preempt state law is inferred.” The court explained that implied preemption exists where “(1) it is impossible for a private party to comply with both state and federal law, and (2) the state law is an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.” The court noted, however, that such impossibility preemption “is a demanding defense.”\n\nRelying on Wyeth v. Levine, 555 U.S. 555, 571 (2009), the court pointed out that “plaintiffs injured by brand-name prescription drugs retain state-law tort remedies against the manufacturer of those drugs, provided it is not impossible for the drug manufacturer to comply with both state and federal law.”\n\n\nHere, though, impossibility preemption occupied the forefront of the court’s analysis. The court characterized plaintiff’s design defect claim as being of two types: (1) post-approval design defect, whereby the manufacturer should have lowered the dosage after FDA approval; and (2) pre-approval design defect, whereby the manufacturer should have created a different form of the drug in the first place. Both imposed state-law duties that were impossible to comply with while still complying with federal law. Therefore, both were preempted under Bartlett.\n\nPost-approval design defect. Plaintiff argued that the manufacturer could have lowered the dosage of the drug to make it safer. Under applicable New York law, a product is defectively designed if it was unreasonably dangerous and a safer design was feasible. But under FDA regulations, once a drug is approved, “the manufacturer is prohibited from making any major changes to the qualitative or quantitative formulation of the drug product . . . .” 21 C.F.R. § 314.70(b)(2)(i). Changing the dosage level clearly constituted a “‘major change’ such that prior FDA approval is necessary.”\n\nThe court held that, “[b]ased on the plain meaning of the regulation . . . defendants could not have altered the dosage . . . without submission to the FDA and the agency’s approval prior to distribution of the product made using the change.” In short, the manufacturer could not have distributed an altered dosage of the drug without prior FDA approval. Therefore, it would have been impossible for the manufacturer to comply with FDA regulations and still distribute to plaintiff a lower-dosage form of the drug.\n\nPre-approval design defect. Plaintiff argued that the manufacturer should have created a different formulation of the drug in the first place. This argument, the court found, was too attenuated. The court invoked the Supreme Court’s preemption opinion in PLIVA, Inc. v. Mensing, 131 S. Ct. 2567, 2578 (2011), which rejected the notion  that a manufacturer might be required to play a “Mouse-Trap game” with the FDA. A pre-approval duty would require the court to predict the outcome of too long a chain of events: that the manufacturer designed the drug differently, that the FDA would have approved the alternative design, that plaintiff still would have selected that method of birth control, and that she still would have suffered a stroke.\n\nSimply put, “[i]n contending that defendants’ pre-approval duty would have resulted in a birth control patch with a different formulation, [plaintiff] essentially argues that defendants should have never sold the FDA-approved formulation . . . in the first place.”\n\nThe court rejected plaintiff’s “never-start-selling” rationale just as the Supreme Court in Bartlett rejected the argument that a manufacturer must stop selling a drug if doing so is the only way to comply with state and federal regulation. If a drug manufacturer complies with federal law, it should not be compelled to stop selling or never to sell in the first place to comply with state law.\n\n\nThe court also found that plaintiff failed to meet her burden on the failure-to-warn claim. She argued that (1) defendants’ warnings were inadequate because they failed to convey the level of risk of stroke, and (2) defendants had a duty to warn plaintiff directly pursuant to FDA regulations. Ultimately these claims failed, because the label clearly disclosed the risk of stroke and plaintiff conceded she was in turn warned by her healthcare provider.\n\nOn the adequacy of the warnings, plaintiff argued that the warnings failed to convey the “degree of risk.” She essentially claimed that the label “should have stated that the risk of stroke was higher than other methods of birth control, namely birth control pills.” The court easily disposed of this argument, relying on DiBartolo v. Abbott Laboratories, 914 F Supp. 2d 601 (S.D.N.Y. 2012). As the DiBartolo court made clear, the requirement of identifying comparative risks “extends to patients with different underlying risk factors, not to different drugs treating the same ailment.”\n\nNotably, the court also rejected plaintiff’s argument that “a subsequent improvement to the label, even a change that is required by the FDA, is probative evidence of the label’s previous failure to warn.” Adopting the defendants’ reasoning, the court noted that “[w]arnings can always be made ‘better,’ but ‘better’ is not the standard New York law requires—adequacy is.” Here, the warnings in place at the time were adequate. As a result, the subsequent changes to the label were irrelevant.\n\nThe court also found that defendants had no duty to warn plaintiff directly under the learned-intermediary doctrine. It is well established that, “[e]xcept where FDA regulations otherwise provide, the manufacturer’s duty is to warn the doctor, not the patient.” The record was clear that plaintiff’s healthcare provider was well aware of the risk of stroke, “and plaintiff admitted to being counseled about the risk of stroke associated with ORTHO EVRA.” Accordingly, the court granted summary judgment on the failure-to-warn claim.\n\n\nThe court granted summary judgment on the remaining claims. Plaintiff could not sustain a claim for manufacturing defect, because there was no evidence that the patches she received differed from “either the manufacturing specifications or from other identical units.” Her negligence claim was preempted because, under New York law, claims of negligence are preempted per se when the article in question is regulated by federal law. Here, FDA regulations govern. Finally, plaintiff’s warranty claims failed because defendants adequately warned her prescribing physician of the risks, those risks were communicated to her, and there were no other representations to plaintiff of the drug’s safety or efficacy.\n\n\nYates marks a key development in the evolution of case law regarding a branded drug manufacturer’s federal and state law liability. Bartlett made clear that certain design defect claims were preempted against generic manufacturers due to their inability to deviate from the brand manufacturer’s design, including warnings. Here, the Sixth Circuit has made clear that federal regulation controls the safety and adequacy of the actual composition and design of the drug itself.\n\nBrand-name drug manufacturers cannot be expected to comply with state law when doing so would require them to design a drug that is different from the one the FDA has approved for distribution and sale. Likewise, they cannot be required to alter the suggested dosage or administration of the drug subsequent to approval to comply with state law when doing so would violate the FDA regulation governing post-approval alterations to the drug’s formulation.\n\nAfter Levine, liability for brand-name drug manufacturers was fraught with “what-ifs,” as manufacturers struggled to predict which FDA-approved labels might be deemed inadequate under state law. Even after Bartlett, the question of design defect remained open for brand-name drug manufacturers. The Yates decision finally offers some certainty that seeking and obtaining FDA approval can cut off certain avenues of liability. We continue to monitor these important preemption cases, as they signal meaningful changes to future liability.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9367415308952332}
+{"content": "Caprivi Houseboat Safari Lodge\n\nHouseboat, lodge in Katima Mulilo\n\nRustic en-suite chalet accommodation with mosquito nets, ceiling fans provide a lovely sense of being close to nature, but it's the houseboats that are the real novelty here. These aren't luxury houseboats, but the fun value is extremely high and it's certainly a wonderful experience to spend a night actually on the Zambezi... As you'd expect in this part of the world, the birdwatching is a highlight.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9815192818641663}
+{"content": "Saturday, 11 October 2008\n\n\nCults are a fascinating subject perhaps because no-one seems to agree on what they are, or the main reasons underlying why people get involved, from the viewpoint of those who get drawn in, those who look in from the outside, or those running them.\n\nCertainly it can be hard to leave a cultic situation, partly because people find it hard to accept they may need to re-assess some things in their life. Even if they do realise something has to change, it's hard to achieve that without outside help or information.\n\nConcerned family and friends need the right kind of information and approach for themselves and for the person in the situation. These days the Internet is a useful starting point and books are available.\n\nTry to steer clear of anyone who is dogmatic or tries to lay down the law on one way of perceiving or proceeding. Sometimes people who have been involved in a bad experience think they also know what is right for others - which can feel too much like being in a cult or being abused again.\n\nKeep in contact with the person who has become involved in a cult if you can and be generally supportive, without pressurising them to change before they are ready. It can take a long while.\n\nOn this and the following pages are extracts from other websites and you can follow up on links shown with the articles or in the Links section.\n\nIf anyone's work is mentioned here and they prefer it not to be, or to have it amended, just get in touch via the Comments.\n\nInclusion of any ideas does not necessarily mean we are in agreement but that the subject matter and nature of the work may have value.\n\nSome of the articles may not go far enough; some may go too far. They are included for possible usefulness. If any ideas make you feel uncomfortable or uneasy, ignore them and choose what feels better.\n\nThe Blog is in its early stages but there may be something of interest to you or you can add your own comments and information. The placement of articles may be altered when information is added.\n\n\n\nThe following is part of the Wikipedia entry as at 11 October 2008 under title 'The Stepford Wives'\n\nPlot summary\n\nThe premise involves the married men of the fictional town of Stepford, Connecticut, and their fawning, submissive, impossibly beautiful wives. The protagonist is Joanna Eberhart, a talented photographer newly arrived from New York City with her husband and children, eager to start a new life. As time goes on, she becomes increasingly disturbed by the zombie-like Stepford wives, especially when she sees her once independent-minded friends – fellow new arrivals to Stepford – turn into mindless, docile housewives overnight. Her husband, who seems to be spending more and more time at the local men's club, mocks her fears.\n\nAs the story progresses, Joanna becomes convinced that the wives of Stepford are actually look-alike gynoids, manufactured in secret at the men's club. She visits the library and reads up on the pasts of Stepford's husbands and wives, finding out that some of the women were once high achievers, while some of the men were brilliant engineers and scientists, capable of creating such life-like robots.\n\nIn popular culture\n\nThe label \"Stepford wife\" is usually applied to a woman who seems to conform blindly to an old-fashioned subservient role in relationship to her husband, compared to other, presumably more independent and vivacious women. It can also be used to criticise any person, male or female, who submits meekly to authority and/or abuse; or even to describe someone who lives in a robotic, conformist manner without giving offense to anyone. The word \"Stepford\" can also be used as an adjective denoting servility or blind conformity (e.g. \"He's a real Stepford employee\") or a noun (\"My home town is so Stepford\") [5]. (See also; Pollyanna).\n\n\n\nBelow is an extract from website with implications beyond what some cult writers feel relevant or even possible with regard to general cult phenomena:\n\nWhat is trance; why it is important. Posted January 20th, 2008 by Dennis Wier in\n* Questions, Experiences\n\nWhat's so important about trance?\n\nMaybe you are not clear on exactly what a trance is. What we mean is meditation, hypnosis, addictions, charisma, electronic and chemical means of inducing trance as well as brainwashing, mind control, cults, magic, music, ritual and dance, and advertising.\nYou might already have a good idea of what hypnosis is. But you probably don't realize all the ways that it is used on you without either your awareness or permission, a form of trance abuse. Increasing public awareness of trance abuse, and showing how to prevent it, is one of the main jobs of the Trance Research Foundation.\nOur vision and commitment\n\nThe Trance Research Foundation has an ambitious vision because the problems are huge.\n\nRealizing our vision will require the personal commitment of many people just like you. And it means a lot of work, expended over a long period of time. We know it will also require large financial investments from socially conscious benefactors. But the results will be\n- a greater public awareness of how trance works\n- a greater public immunity to trance abuse\n- a measurable worldwide decrease in drug and alcohol abuse problems\n- a more enlightened worldwide drug policy\n- a greater number of people who practice meditation for personal development\n- an increase in consciousness and planetary wisdom.\n- And this will result in greater world peace for future generations.\n\nWhat is important\n\nHere are some of the areas we see as important:\n- Trance - its use and misuse - continues to have important social and psychological effects worldwide.\n- Understanding how trance works enables and empowers people to explore themselves and the world they live in.\n- The lack of understanding of trance exposes people to trance abuse and can cause psychological pathologies.\n- Many such pathologies can be prevented with knowledge.\n- Until now there has not been a model which attempts to explain meditation, hypnosis, addiction, magic and charisma with one robust theory. We feel we can provide that now.\n- To study important contemporary trances, to understand their structure, their creation, their effects, the mechanisms used to change them or to bring about their dissolution.\n- To facilitate advanced psychological study through the open sharing of special known trance mechanisms.\n- To provide consultation and practical training to psychologists and therapists.\n- To publish in peer reviewed journals the results of research.\n- To operate a virtual educational institution to make the results of trance research available as widely as possible.\n- To make a strong presence in the media, including audio, video, internet.\n- To promote education about trance by means of on-line courses, teacher training, having a presence and relationship in schools, organizing annual international conventions on trance.\n- Staying in the news by means of publicity releases, involvment with international personalities.\n- Clinical treatment programs for drug/alcohol abuse, prevention programs, individual trance analysis, workshops for medical professionals, workshops and social programs to promote the best practices of trance.\n\nOur interests are in:\n\n- Meditation: religious and nonreligious meditation techniques, their physiological and psychological effects. This includes shamanistic, occult, daydreaming, channeling and other practices which incorporate meditation.\n- Hypnosis: advertising, sales, television, video games, virtual reality, and many other hypnotic trance phenomena.\n- Addiction: drug, psychic, performance, belief and other repetitive and compulsive behaviors.\n- Magic: ritual, devotional and religious magic from witchcraft to contemporary religions.\n- Music: many traditional as well as contemporary musical genres including drum and bass, acid trance, goa trance, traditional voodoo, shamanistic, native and electronic forms induce trance.\n- Drugs: recreational and traditional drugs create trances through the suppression or modification of cognitive functions.\n- Electronics: ultrasound, microwave and electro-biologically based trance inductions have been successfully used in publicly little-known military and neurophysiological applications.\n- Charisma: guru-worship, cults, political, religious and entertainment charisma.\n\n\n\n\nGROUPS and CULTS by Doc Matrix\n\nIf you sought some kind of spiritual or pastoral help perhaps that was through a well-known religion.\n\nOr it could from what some people think of as a cult type of group.\n\nPeople naturally have different needs and experiences - What suits one person may not suit another and may even be harmful.\n\nONLY YOU can decide what's best for you at a particular time\n\nIF someone approaches you at a time when you are vulnerable\n\nIF they are offering TOO MUCH friendship 'out of the Blue'\n\nIF there is A RUSH about it\n\nDOC says Just Be Careful\nTake your Time\nDon't Feel Pressurised\nStep Back if You Need to!\nImportant Decisions can WAIT\n\nONE Person can be almost like a Cult just by themselves!\n\nA GROUP can quite easily set up a Scene for YOU to walk into\n\nThings - and People, are not always what they seem:\nThere may be a hidden agenda, camouflage or trick to abuse your desire to help or to be accepted\n\nThere can be a double standards or double-binds\n\nLOOK at what's really being asked or expected of you -SEE how your concerns are dealt with\n\n\nYOU have a right to know where your Money goes\n\nYOU are entitled to proper Rest, Food & Friends\n\nYOU are entitled to CHANGE your Mind or LEAVE\n\nIt can take an Instant to get drawn in but YEARS to get away - CULTS KNOW THAT\n\nCults Indoctrinate People AND People CAN Protect themselves with some Knowledge\n\nGet some help from Friends or Family\n\nDissing has become a part of life, whether that means discounting someone, disrespecting, discrediting, disregarding, dismissing; or being rude or unsupportive.\n\nIt is a way of Scapegoating. You know the saying 'You are either for us or against us'? Groups often exclude someone - anyone - to suit the majority, as if they feel better to leave someone in the cold. It happens in families too!\n\nIt helps to see the dynamic for what it is, see if there's a reason, and if you can do anything about it for the time being.\n\nThis is why it is good to have an ally, a 'friend in court' to see some of it from your point of view. You don't need a specialist, just someone to back you up and give emotional support.\n\nPerhaps now you know why groups serve that purpose for the members.\n\nAnd how cults play on people's need to belong, not feel excluded, and feel a sense of meaning and place. Those are natural needs and they can be exploited, for money - or just for kicks.\n\n\nPeople working in this field may have different opinions and approaches, so take on board what is useful - and leave the rest:\n\nCult Dynamics article at\n\n'Cults & Families' by Doni Whitsett & Stephen A Kent. Download\n\nCults & Sects Bibliography booklist Steven Hassan's website, author 'Combatting Cult Mind Control'; 'Releasing the Bonds' Signs that a group might be a 'cult' and how to get out of one. Book List on page\n\nInternational Cultic Studies Association - How cults operate and their effects:\n\nFECRIS European site, worldwide links:\n\nCults, Sects & Heresies free course\n\nSocial Identity Theory - Insights into groups & cult behaviours\n\n\n'Bully in Sight' by Tim Field (workplace bullying)\n\n'Cults, Secret Sects & Radical Religions' by Robert Schroeder\n\n'Gangland Today' by James Morton\n\n'Gangs' by Tony Thompson\n\n'Individuals, Groups & Organizations Beneath the Surface'\nby Lionel F. Stapley\n\n'Misunderstanding Cults' by Benjamin Zablocki & Thomas Robbins\n\n'Organisations, Anxieties & Defences' ed. R.D. Hinshelwood\n& Marco Cheisa\n\nOut of Character Behaviour website\n\n'Pointed Observations' by Kevin R D Shepherd\n\n'Profiling the Criminal Mind' by Robert Girod Sr\n(included as it discusses group pressures, cult crimes, etc.)\n\n'Programmed to Kill' by David McGowan\n\n'Recovery from Cults' by Michael D Longone\n\n'Scapegoating, Abuse & One-upmanship' article HERE\n\n'Secret Societies & Psychological Warfare' by Michael A Hoffman II\n\n'Snapping' by Flo Conway & Jim Siegelman\n\n'Sinister Forces Book Three: The Manson Secret' by Peter Levenda\n\nSocial Dynamics of Cult Ritual Abuse click HERE\n\n'Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right' by Sara Diamond\n\n'The Complex' by John Duignan\n\n'The Cult Files' by Chris Mikul\n\n'The Dark Gods' by Anthony Roberts & Geoff Gilbertson\n\n'The Dilbert Principle' by Scott Adams\n\n'The Mafia' by Claire Sterling\n\n'The Neurotic Organization' by Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries\n& Danny Miller\n\n'The Occult Tradition' by David S Katz\n\n'The Secret World of Cults' by Jean Ritchie\n\n'Today's Destructive Cults & Movements' by Rev. Lawrence J Gesy\n\n'Understanding Organizations' by Charles Handy\n\n'Working Across the Gap: The Practice of Social Science in Organisations' by Lisl Klein\n\nPeople have a need to be A PART of what is going on\naround them, other People and so on,\nand to keep themselves APART too\n\nAnd it can lead us into Trouble!\n\nIt's important to REALLY THINK for YOURSELF!\n\n\nThe following comes from http://toukanalia/\n\nThese definitions of 'social engineering' and 'pretexting' appear at\n\nSocial engineering is a collection of techniques used to manipulate people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. While similar to a confidence trick or simple fraud, the term typically applies to trickery for information gathering or computer system access and in most cases the attacker never comes face-to-face with the victim.\n\nSocial engineering techniques and terms\nAll social engineering techniques are based on specific attributes of human decision-making known as cognitive biases. These biases, sometimes called \"bugs in the human hardware,\" are exploited in various combinations to create attack techniques.\n\nPretexting is the act of creating and using an invented scenario (the pretext) to persuade a target to release information or perform an action and is typically done over the telephone. It's more than a simple lie as it most often involves some prior research or set up and the use of pieces of known information (e.g. for impersonation: date of birth, Social Security Number, last bill amount) to establish legitimacy in the mind of the target.\n\nSearch 'social engineering' etc. at Google or on Wikipedia\nBasically this is any form of impression management or 'information' which is designed with the aim of creating a desired behaviour or outcome from a 'mark' or 'patsy' - which could be you!\n\nConfidence Tricks & Scams\nSome other relevant concepts are Con tricks or scams\n\nSocial engineering etc. can be as simple as driving an expensive car, portraying an image, acting a role, or it can be elaborate with several co-conspirators setting up a convincing scene or skit. Social Psychology demonstrates how we tend to behave according to how we view or experience a particular setting, almost like acting out a part. It's easy to believe what is presented - how someone looks possibly using disguise, what they say which probably contains elements of truth, something to convince people known as a 'convincer', and they may also have found things out about you to make it easier.\n\n\nBefore mentioning cognitive biases below, here are a couple of concepts generally used in connection with individuals but which could perhaps be applied to groups also, explaining some anomalies in how they function:\nEgodystonic is a psychological term referring to behaviors, (e.g., dreams, impulses, compulsions, desires, etc.), that are in conflict, or dissonant, with the needs and goals of the ego, or, further, in conflict with a person's ideal self-image.\nThe concept is studied in detail in abnormal psychology, and is the opposite of egosyntonic. Obsessive compulsive disorder is considered to be an ego-dystonic disorder, as the thoughts and compulsions experienced or expressed are often not consistent with the individual's self-perception, causing extreme distress.\nEgosyntonic is a medical term referring to behaviors, values, feelings, which are in harmony with or acceptable to the needs and goals of the ego, or consistent with one's ideal self-image. It is studied in detail in abnormal psychology. Many personality disorders are considered egosyntonic and are therefore nearly impossible to treat. Anorexia Nervosa, a hard-to-treat Type I disorder, is also considered egosyntonic because many of its sufferers deny that they have a problem. It is the opposite of egodystonic. Obsessive compulsive disorder is considered to be an egodystonic disorder, as the thoughts and compulsions experienced or expressed are not consistent with the individual's self-perception.\n. . . . .\n\nCognitive Bias\n\nFrom Wikipedia as at 12th October 2008\n\nA cognitive bias is a person's tendency to make errors in judgment based on cognitive factors, and is a phenomenon studied in cognitive science and social psychology. Forms of cognitive bias include errors in statistical judgment, social attribution, and memory that are common to all human beings. Such biases drastically skew the reliability of anecdotal and legal evidence. These are thought to be based upon heuristics, or rules of thumb, which people employ out of habit or evolutionary necessity.\n\n* 1 Overview\n* 2 Types of cognitive biases\n* 3 Practical Significance\n* 4 See also\n* 5 References\n* 6 Further reading\n* 7 External links\n\n\nBias arises from various life, loyalty and local risk and attention concerns that are difficult to separate or codify. Much of the present scientific understanding of biases stems from the work of Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman and their colleagues,[citation needed] whose experiments demonstrated distinct and replicable ways in which human judgment and decision-making differ from rational choice theory. This led to Tversky and Kahneman developing prospect theory as an alternative.[citation needed] Tversky and Kahneman claim that the biases they identified are at least partially the result of problem-solving using mental short-cuts or \"heuristics\", for instance using how readily or vividly something comes to mind as an indication of how often or how recently it was encountered (the availability heuristic). Other biases have been demonstrated in separate experiments, such as the confirmation bias demonstrated by Peter C. Wason.\n\nNot all of 'biases' are necessarily errors. David Funder and Joachim Krueger have argued that some so called 'biases' may in fact be 'approximation shortcuts', which aid humans in making predictions when information is in short supply.[citation needed] For example, the false consensus effect may be viewed as a reasonable estimation based on a single known data point, your own opinion, instead of a false belief that other people agree with you.\n\nTypes of cognitive biases\n\nBiases can be distinguished on a number of dimensions. For example, there are biases specific to groups (such as the risky shift) as well as biases at the individual level.\n\nSome biases affect decision-making, where the desirability of options has to be considered (e.g. Sunk Cost fallacy). Others such as Illusory correlation affect judgment of how likely something is, or of whether one thing is the cause of another. A distinctive class of biases affect memory,[1] such as consistency bias (remembering one's past attitudes and behaviour as more similar to one's present attitudes).\n\nSome biases reflect a subject's motivation, [2] for example the desire for a positive self-image leading to Egocentric bias[3] and the avoidance of unpleasant cognitive dissonance. Other biases are due to the particular way the brain perceives, forms memories and makes judgments. This distinction is sometimes described as \"Hot cognition\" versus \"Cold Cognition\", as motivated cognition can involve a state of arousal.\n\nAmong the \"cold\" biases, some are due to ignoring relevant information (e.g. Neglect of probability), whereas some involve a decision or judgement being affected by irrelevant information (for example the Framing effect where the exact same problem receives different responses depending on how it is described) or giving excessive weight to an unimportant but salient feature of the problem (e.g. Anchoring).\n\nThe fact that some biases reflect motivation, and in particular the motivation to have positive attitudes to oneself[3] accounts for the fact that many biases are self-serving or self-directed (e.g. Illusion of asymmetric insight, Self-serving bias, Projection bias). There are also biases in how subjects evaluate in-groups or out-groups; evaluating in-groups as more diverse and \"better\" in many respects, even when those groups are arbitrarily-defined (Ingroup bias, Outgroup homogeneity bias).\n\nThe following is a list of the more commonly studied cognitive biases.\nFor other noted biases, see list of cognitive biases (link at end of this piece)\n\n* Anchoring on a past reference.\n* Framing by using a too narrow approach and description of the situation or issue.\n* Hindsight bias, sometimes called the \"I-knew-it-all-along\" effect, is the inclination to see past events as being predictable.\n* Fundamental attribution error is the tendency for people to over-emphasize personality-based explanations for behaviors observed in others while under-emphasizing the role and power of situational influences on the same behavior.\n* Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions; this is related to the concept of cognitive dissonance.\n\nA fuller list of cognitive biases including social or attributional biases appears at", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9072657227516174}
+{"content": "Thursday, November 17, 2011\n\n18 years ago today the Frequency Band\ncame into the world!\n\n18 years ago, from 10pm to 2am on November 17th, 1993, in the chorus room of Symphony Hall in Boston, about 14 trombone players gathered not knowing what they were in for. Either did we. It was the first Frequency Band gathering to ever happen. The Frequency Band in this form, came into the world.\n\nIt would be hard to describe the night that took place in words. To say it was a venture into the unknown and yet known, would be true. To say there were atmospheres of incredible potency of ancient and never happening before appearing would be true. To say it was magical, mystical, profoundly deep would be true. To say that a great 'something else' liked it would be true. To say that it touched deep into the human enigma would be true.\n\nSo what is the Frequency Band? This is the question to 'quest on' about. It is an experience and journey into the essence of where the music comes from. It is a training into the special Arts of human life that don't get much of a chance in regular day to day life. And so much more…\n\nThe music of the first night, was written from a connection to different colors, to ancient Egypt, well being, the mystery of time and other topics. But we did not just play them. It was how we prepared and tuned ourselves to play them. It was in the integrated spirit of sentimented- technology. Technology for a very needed purpose. To help maintain in the record of human history, the importance of the living Art. As my wife and co-founder and director of the Frequency Band, Carol Viera so eloquently says, \"Music is the wrapping paper for the essence that is inside of it.\" And \"The most important instrument is the human instrument.\"\n\nThe Frequency Band is first and foremost a human endeavor. The first principle of the Frequency Band is a Unity Born of Humanity. The tuning is to the \"A\" of attitude appreciation and awe. Without this as a living fabric of the environment, the Frequency band will not appear. It will not be invited.\n\nWe don't use metronomes and tuning machines. We tune according to connection. The greater the connection the greater the tuning. The greater the tuning the greater the connection. The Spirit of the music comes first, because that is closest to the heart of the human. The human is more sensitive and powerful than any man made machine. It is a matter of education and application that activates the latent human potential that is dying to get out and be free.\n\nI am honored and humbled to be instrument to to this very special life. May I always be tuning and fine tuning myself to be a better receptor and translator of what \"It\" wants.\n\nA special thank you to all who have been a part of it in one way or another. Whether you are in a major symphony orchestra, a teacher, a free lance artist or a student, the Light shines on all. Cultural position is not the measuring stick of success in the Frequency Band. It's all in the sentimented spirit of wanting to be included and transmitting it into the world. FOR THE LOVE THAT IT SHOULD BE SO.\n\nGreatest gratitude to the special humans and lives that influenced Carol and myself with their wisdom and love of Life. We will keep on keeping on.\n\n\nIsaac Kramer said...\n\nI really enjoyed this post. I am so honored to be part of the Frequency Band!\n\nThank you so much for all you both do, Mr. Bolter & Dr. Viera.\n\n\nRoss Holcombe said...\n\nHappy birthday to the Frequency Band!!\n\nThe retreat should be ending around now, and so I thought I would commemorate the event by writing here to say THANK YOU for what you and Carol have done to start (and continue!) the life of the Frequency Band.\n\nI am honored to be a part of this endeavor and it fills me with hope and joy that something like this can exist in a world that in many ways does not seem to support it. In order to have something meaningful and special like this, that breaks out of the mold of everyday life and music making in order to be something unified and true as the FB is, is a great testament to you and to Carol for having the vision that you have and not compromising a tenth of one percent when you set out to achieve it. You know what the Frequency Band is and needs to be, and you pursue it with the relentless integrity that it demands. Any amount of impurity in the formula would destroy it from the inside out. The Frequency Band is not about being a great trombone choir (or any other type of ensemble), but is instead about true and connected music making that nourishes the soul and reminds and reconnects us to our love of music.\n\nI have a great amount of respect for what you and Carol do with the Frequency Band, and it was my honor to be tuning in over the wires tonight even though I could not be there in person.\n\nHere's to another 18 years and beyond of the Frequency Band!!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6333332657814026}
+{"content": "70 ounces to liters\n\n70 ounces to liters photo - 1\n\nWhat is a gallon 70 ounces to liters?\n\nGallon is a royal as well as United States normal measurement system volume device. 70 ounces to liters? There is one kind of gallon in the imperial system and also 2 kinds (fluid and completely dry) in the US customary dimension system. 1 US liquid gallon is specified as 231 cubic inches, 1 US dry gallon is 268.8 cubic inches and 1 royal gallon is 277.4 cubic inches. The abbreviation is gall. 70 ounces to liters?\n\nGallons Conversion:\n1 Gallon = 4 Quarts\n1 Gallon = 8 Pints\n1 Gallon = 16 Cups\n1 Gallon = 256 Tablespoons\n1 Gallon = 768 Teaspoons\n70 ounces to liters\n\nWhat is a liquid ounce (fl oz)70 ounces to liters?\n\nA liquid ounce is an imperial as well as US customary measurement system volume unit. 1 US fluid ounce equals to 29.5735 mL and 1 royal (UK) fluid ounce equals to 28.4131 mL. The acronym is fl oz. So, 70 ounces to liters?\nThere are 8 fluid ounces in a United States mug and also 10 imperial liquid ounces in an imperial cup.\nThe list for your referral:\n1 United States Fluid Gallon = 128 US Fluid Ounces\n1 US Dry Gallon = 148.946 United States Fluid Ounces\n1 Imperial Gallon (UK) = 160 Imperial Fluid Ounces (UK).\n70 ounces to liters\n\nLiquid Ounce 70 ounces to liters\n\nLiquid Ounce is utilized for volume, Ounce for mass, and also they are various.\nAs an example, 1 liquid ounce of honey has a mass of about 1,5 ounces!\nBut also for water, 1 liquid ounce has a mass of about 1 ounce.\n70 ounces to liters\nIf you imply an ounce of fluid says fluid ounce (fl oz).\n\nIn Summary:.\n1 gallon = 4 quarts = 8 pints = 16 mugs = 128 fluid ounces.\n70 ounces to liters", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6155683398246765}
+{"content": "Ask CPAG Online- What problems can arise with a UC Alternative Payment Arrangements?\n\nThis section considers some of the problems that can arise with alternative payment arrangements (APAs) and some possible solutions. \n\nTiming of payment of rent to landlords\n\nWhen an APA includes direct payment of your UC housing element to your landlord, it is paid after you are paid your UC, i.e. after the end of your UC montly assessment period. However, that can very easily result in your landlord not receiving the money to cover your rent when it is due. As a result, some landlords have been regarding people with APAs as being in further rent arrears. (A very similar problem has been occuring for some claimants in Scotland who are having their UC housing element paid direct to their landlords under the 'Scottish Choices' arrangements.)\n\nThere is no straightforward solution to this problem. The best advice is to encourage your landlord to understand that you have no control over the timing of the payment, and that under the APA they will be paid your housing element towards your rent even though the timing of that payment is not aligned with the date that your rent is due. \n\n\n\nDelays can be caused by a number of factors including DWP maladministration, insufficient staff, and communication breakdowns.  There is no legal time limit for the DWP to make a decision and put an APA into effect, but unreasonable delays can be challenged in a number of ways. Delays in putting an APA into effect could leave you without UC (or the housing costs element of UC) when it is due.\n\nWhat can you do?\n\nIt is clearly important to check that your (or your landlord's) request for an APA was received and accepted and whether and when it is being dealt with. Communication problems may need to be resolved (e.g. where it was unclear whether information you gave was a request for an APA, or where you or your landlord has not submitted the required evidence of your rent arrears). As well as 'chasing up' the DWP, you could:\n\n  • make an official complaint, and if necessary pursue it to the Independent Case Examiner and / or your MP who can also refer it to the Ombudsman;\n\n  • threaten judicial review by sending a letter before action to the DWP and DWP solicitors (you may need to consult a lawyer or obtain specialist advice about this and there are strict time limits for pursuing a judicial review).\n\nWhere you are facing possession proceedings or facing eviction, you or your landlord may need to act urgently to secure an APA for 'managed payments'. The DWP has set up an email address for landlords to use for urgent enquires, including where a tenant is facing eviction. It is Your landlord or a Court may agree to suspend possession proceedings pending an APA for 'managed payments'.\n\n\nIf the DWP refuse to make an APA, there is no right of appeal within the UC adjudicaton rules.\n\nWhat can you do?\n\n  • You can ask for a review, which can be undertaken by the same UC Agent who made the decision, or a different Agent. You can do this by ringing the UC Helpline or writing to the office which made the decision. You should submit any additional information or evidence which supports your case.\n\n  • Where the original and / or review decision is unreasonable and contrary to the evidence and the DWP's own Guidance, there may be grounds for legal challenge by judicial review. A letter before action may compel the DWP to revisit the decision. You may need to consult a lawyer or obtain specialist advice about this and there are strict time limits for pursuing a judicial review.\n\n  • Where the need for an APA relates to disability (e.g. a learning disability or mental health condition which impairs your ability to cope with the normal UC payment arrangements), a refusal could constitute unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 - in particular a failure to make 'reasonable adjustments' in the light of your disability. In these circumstances, there may be grounds for a discrimination claim in the County Court (a claim must be brought within 6 months of the breach). You should seek advice from an appropriate lawyer if you think you may have a case. \n\nReviews and terminations\n\nAPAs are designed to be a temporary arrangement while you adjust to coping with the normal payment method of single monthly payments directly into your bank account. The DWP Guidance refers to review periods of between 3 and 24 months depending on your circumstances. You should be consulted when your case is reviewed to decide whether you can now manage without an APA. Following the review, your APA may continue or suddenly stop (with or without notification to you).\n\nIf you have applied for discretionary housing payments (DHPs), you may be told that these can only be paid if your APA for direct payments to your landlord is stopped.\n\nWhat can you do?\n\nIf you are consulted about a review, make sure you tell the DWP whether and why you still need an APA (e.g. because your circumstances and inability to cope with the normal payment methods have not changed). If your APA is stopped against your wishes, you can ask for a review and challenge the decision in the same way as an initial refusal (see above).\n\nThere is nothing in the law which prevents the award of a DHP if you have an APA for 'managed payments' to your landlord, as long as you still need financial assistance to pay your rent. You can dispute any decision to refuse a DHP on these grounds (see How can you dispute a DHP decision?)\n\nVariable income\n\nWhere your income varies (e.g. because the hours you work varies),the amount of your UC will fluctuate, which can make it difficult to budget.\n\nWhat can you do?\n\nAn APA for managed payments to your landlord and / or more frequent than monthly payments may make it easier for you to budget. You should be aware, however, that where your UC falls below the level of your housing costs element, the amount paid to your landlord could vary from month to month making 'managed payments' less helpful because you would need to ascertain and pay the varying amounts of the shortfall each month.\n\nDeductions to clear your rent arrears\n\nWhere an APA for 'managed payments' to your landlord is set up because you have rent arrears, the DWP can also deduct a further amount from your monthly UC award of between 10% and 20% of your standard allowance, and pay it to your landlord to clear the arrears. It appears that the DWP automatically apply the maximum deduction of 20% where there are no other 'third party deductions' being made from your UC. This can be as much as £63.50 per month if you are a single claimant aged 25 or over and is much higher than the standard deduction of £3.70 per week from 'legacy benefits'.\n\nWhat can you do?\n\nIf you can come to an arrangement with your landlord to pay off your arrears yourself at a lower rate, you may be able to avoid deductions from your UC (the landlord may agree to not request a 'third party deduction' when applying for a managed payment on form UC47, or you may be able to persuade the DWP to remove an existing deduction).\n\nIf a 'third party deduction' for rent arrears is in place and is causing you hardship, you can ask for the amount to be reduced to a minimum of 10% of your standard allowance by writing to the DWP or contacting the UC helpline. You will need to give details of your finances and the hardship caused by the deductions. The DWP has internal guidance on how they should deal with applications.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6173375844955444}
+{"content": "Book Review: God's Grace in Your Suffering\n\n\nWhy is this happening to me?\n\nWhere is God?\n\nWhat is he doing?\n\nWhat does faith look like?\n\nHow does the Lord show up?\n\nWhy is the journey so tumultuous?\n\nDavid Powlison brings up these questions in the beginning of the book, which I'm sure everyone has thought these question before at one point in their lives. David Powlison starts the book out with a powerful and hard hitting introduction. Using the classic hymn, \"How Firm a Foundation,\" Powlison pulls out the biblical truths that are used in the hymns and breaks it down stanza by stanza showing various accounts of affliction people go through in the Bible, how they respond, and more importantly, God's role in it. \n\nThe central concern of the book, as Powlison states, is \"When you face trouble, loss, disability, pain, how does the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ meet you and comfort you? How does grace and goodness find you, touch you, work with you, and walk with you through deep water?\" The purpose for the book, says Powlison, is \"to anchor your experience more deeply in God's goodness.\" This book does just that. Powlison wants his readers to put their sufferings up against the Word of God and have them experience His grace through their sufferings. \n\nThis book is an appropriate book to walk through with someone you know is suffering. This book is also a good one to read alone to reflect. At the end of each chapter, there is a section called \"Make it personal\" where Powlison asks more in-depth questions about the chapter you just read. It would benefit you greatly if you took the time to answer those questions. Powlisondefinitely wants you to interact within the pages of the book, so don't be afraid to mark this book up! It is encouraged. \n\nSuffering is a very personal, sensitive experience. Physical ailments, mental health issues, grieving over a lost one, \"God's Grace in Your Suffering\" gives you the freedom to make this journey of reading it as personal as possible. A lot of emotions might come up while reading this, but that's okay. When you answer the questions in the book, you're bound to take a good hard look at yourself and your suffering. \"Various trials\" are inevitable in life. Christianity isn't a breeze. God doesn't promise you an easy life. What He does promise you is that He will be there in the midst of your suffering. \"A sufferers primal need is to hear God talking and to experience him purposefully at work. When you hear, take to heart, and know that he is with you, everything changes, even when nothing has changed in your situation.\" \n\nMy prayer is that your perspective on suffering will change through reading this book. That you will understand God's perspective and purpose on suffering. This book is vital for the Christian, because suffering is inevitable. Powlison invites his readers into his world and how God worked through his suffering. By doing that, he encourages his readers that they don't have to walk through suffering alone. I very much enjoyed this read.\n\nWhenever my friend David Powlison offers insights on handling hardships, I listen. Far from dispensing ivory-tower platitudes, David takes anchors from Scripture and bolts them firmly into our thinking, providing practical steps in embracing the God of the Bible who, incidentally, wrote the book on suffering. His wisdom has helped me through a significant portion of my years as a quadriplegic, and I highly recommend his new book, God’s Grace in Your Suffering. What a great guide for those who, every day, journey the hard, bloodstained path to Calvary.\n— Joni Eareckson Tada, Joni and Friends International Disability Center\n\n\nGod's Grace in Your Suffering will be released February 28th,\nhowever you can pre-order the book here.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6767653822898865}
+{"content": "What does “Credit Card Authorization” mean?\n\nWhen a credit card is processed, Cartfunnel first authorizes the credit card. This means that the card is checked to see if the amount we want to charge on it is approved by its issuing bank.\n\nAuthorization also reserves the amount you want to charge.At this point in the transaction, you (the merchant) are not paid yet.\n\nSay you wanted to charge $100. If the customer’s credit card only has a $100 limit, then theoretically if he or she buys on that same credit card shortly after buying from you (through Cartfunnel), your first transaction might fail when you try to capture the payment later.\n\nBut because authorization reserves your payment amount, you’ll be able to successfully capture the payment later and won’t have a card rejection.\n\nPlease note: Certain payment gateways, like Stripe, will automatically capture authorized payments. This means that once authorization transaction is created, a capture transaction will be created automatically as well to save you the time to have to manually capture payments.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5484622716903687}
+{"content": "REALITY: How Much Is a Stay-At-Home Mom Worth These Days?\n\nPublished on February 19, 2014\n\nWhat would a stay-at-home mom earn today if she received a salary for all she does during the day? recently calculated that, in 2013, a stay-at-home mom in the United States was worth about $114,000 per year. While that six-figure salary may sound good, in order to earn it, Mom put in a 94-hour work week.\n\nIf a full-time job is 40 hours per week, this outcome means that Mom’s base salary is $37,549. With 54 hours of overtime, worth $76,037, Mom’s total salary is thus $113,586.\n\nThese just-for-fun results were obtained by asking thousands of parents the amount of time they spend doing various domestic tasks or jobs. The researchers then calculated what the same amount of time spent in a workplace doing the same job would be worth.\n\nTrending: FLASHBACK: Exactly One Decade Ago Today Al Gore Prophesied The North Pole Would Be Iceless\n\nFor example, according to the study, per week Moms spend 14 hours as a Cook, 14.4 hours as a Maid, 8 hours as a Taxi Driver, 7.8 hours as a Janitor, 3.3 hours as a CEO, 7.3 hours as a Psychologist, 8.9 hours as a Computer Operator, 6.2 hours as a Laundry Operator, 10.8 hours as a Facilities Manager, and 13.3 hours as a Day Care Teacher.\n\nRead more: Breitbart\n\n\nJoin the conversation!\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9872830510139465}
+{"content": "Why is Air Purity Important for Your Health?\n\nDid you know that indoor air is approximately ten times more contaminated that air outside?\nEnvironmental protection agency estimates that nearly 25 million Americans who suffer from allergies can manage it well if they learn to control indoor air quality. Air purity is paramount for healthy living.\n\nPure air is one that has recommended levels of moisture, less dust, and zero pollutants. Most people spend much time indoors at home, buildings and in offices. In such closed rooms, gas and chemical pollutants are the leading cause of eye irritation, fatigue, headaches, and allergies. Studies indicate that severe air pollutants increases or reasons cancers and other long-term conditions.\n\nCommon Indoor Air Pollutants\n\n  • Second-Hand Smoke-A mixture of various tobacco smokes produced during smoking. It contains 7,000 substances known to increase risk cancer in humans.\n  • Carbon Monoxide-Carbon monoxide is a dangerous odorless, and colorless gas is undetectable by the human body. When inhaled, it interferes with oxygen in blood reducing the amount of air required. When inhaled in small quantities, it causes nausea, dizziness, general body weakness, and headaches. However, in large amounts it kills.Also, In homes, buildings, and offices, the gas is produced from burn insulating materials found in wiring and other electrical appliances. To safeguard people indoors, carbon monoxide detectors are commonly used. State of the art devices capable of detecting and raising the loud alarm when CO levels reach dangerous amounts are available.\n  • Radon Gas-Radon is a dangerous gas that finds its way into pour homes through openings and cracks especially when poorly sealed. The gas is classified as the second leading cause of lung cancer. The best way to manage this naturally occurring gas is through detectors capable of sensing their presence in our homes.\n  • Humidity-Humidity is vital for life. During winter, air gets dry. It is that time of the year when most people look for body lotions. Humidifiers ensure the indoor air has enough moisture.\n\nBreathing Impure and dry air is unsafe and unhealthy. The situation is even worse for people with breathing difficulties. To solve such a problem contact us here at Donnie Rowe Heating and Air Conditioning in Lexington, KY.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7176914215087891}
+{"content": "Palestrina is the modern town located on the ruins of the ancient hill city of Praeneste, one of the oldest towns of central Italy. Palestrina is presently an agricultural center, has a population of approximately 15,000, and lies 23 miles east of Rome by the Via Labicana. It sits prominently on a foothill of the Apennines facing the Alban Hills. Places of interest include the ruins of the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia and the 12th-century cathedral of St. Agapitus. It is also the birthplace of composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9586127996444702}
+{"content": "Swim to Survive\n\nThe majority of people who drown had no intention of going into the water. For swimmers and non-swimmers alike, immersion is sudden, unexpected and often silent. For this reason, the Lifesaving Society believes that in Canada's water rich environment, minimum swimming ability is a required life skill for survival.\n\nThrough Swim to Survive (STS) and Swim to Survive program, the Society gives everyone the opportunity to learn how to protect themselves. Like fire safety and bike safety, everyone deserves to learn the life skills that Swim to Survive provides…the skills necessary to survive an unexpected fall into deep water.\n\nDr. Steve Beerman, Past President of the International Life Saving Federation (ILS) encourages community groups to provide Swim to Survive skills to all children.\n\nILS research findings from around the world offer clear evidence that teaching the survival swimming skills taught in Swim to Survive decreases drowning, potentially reducing the mortality and morbidity from aquatic incidents by 50%.\n\nClick here for information on Swim to Survive Programs.\n\n*For instructional resources look in the Lifesaving Instructor's Group.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9863606691360474}
+{"content": "What is Evolutionary Economics?\n\nEvolutionary Economics is a field which looks at the economy as an evolutionary system, not a system constantly in or tending toward equilibrium. From that simple idea springs a discipline which offers a radically different view of the economy, and profoundly important practical implications for industry and government.\n\nI’ve come across many fields of economic thought in my studies; Neoclassical, Austrian, Post-Keynesian, neo-Ricardian, and Institutionalist Economics, Radical Political Economy, and even Feminist Economics amongst others. But I want to take a little time to introduce you to the one that started it all for me: Evolutionary Economics.\n\nI’m currently attending the 10th European Meeting on Evolutionary Economics in Strasbourg. The field has advanced so far that most of the presentations would bewilder those without an extended period of instruction, they are quite specialised and advanced. I always find it beneficial when in such environments to go “back to roots” and mediate on the field’s core teachings.\n\nAs an undergraduate at the University of Queensland I heard Jason Potts offhandedly mention it in a first year lecture. At the time it seemed mysterious, odd and arcane. Little did I know that the University of Queensland was at the forefront of the development of this field which would eventually, upon my first encounter with it immediately become and remain the unchallenged core of my view of the economy. This field affected me so profoundly that it was the progenitor of the “UQ model” of economies as complex evolving networks formed by individuals acting on the basis of their psychology and social position which I contributed to building in my Doctoral research.\n\nUlrich Witt wrote an excellent scholarly paper on the nature of evolutionary economics, but I’d like here to introduce the field as I would to someone with no acquaintance with it. And, further, I’d like to show you why you should care about it very much indeed because of the radical change it brings to one’s view of the economy, and its practical implications for industry and government.\n\nStick with me. It’ll take a little time, but I promise you’ll get to the end and think, like I did, “hey, that’s really cool”.\n\nOrigins of modern evolutionary economics: Nelson and Winter\n\nEvolutionary economics traces its roots to the works of Joseph Schumpeter and Thorstein Veblen in particular, as well as the ever-profound Alfred Marshall. But the modern field originates in the rediscovery of Schumpeter in particular by Richard Nelson and Sidney Winter in their monumental work of 1982: An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change.\n\nNelson and Winter’s contribution can be thought to begin with a simple question: what if Darwin’s evolutionary theory were applied to economic systems? Evolutionary theory proposes that an evolutionary system contains a three-step process:\n\n1. Variation: There is variation of some set of characteristics between the members of some population.\n\n2. Selection: Certain of these characteristics effect the degree to which the system selects certain “units of selection” amongst the population for retention, and certain others for non-retention.\n\n3. Retention: The system retains those members of the population with the characteristics which are selected, and ejects those members with those characteristics which are de-selected.\n\nThe outcome of this process is colloquially (and crudely) called “survival of the fittest”.\n\nIn biological theory the population is a population of organisms, the unit of selection is the gene, selection pressures are exerted on that population by different survival rates resulting from genetic variation, and retention is signalled by the survival and procreation of carriers of particular genes.\n\nNelson and Winter’s proposal, later defended valiantly by Geoff Hodgson was that in economic theory, the population was a set of firms, the unit of selection the goods and services offered thereby, and variation therein the result of production routine variation (or “technological” variation). Selection pressures were exerted by differential sales growth resulting from (literal) selection of goods and services by buyers for their characteristics, and retention was to be signalled by the maintenance of those sales.\n\nThis was the beginning of the field of modern evolutionary economics. The genius of it was that the mathematics of this field (known as “replicator dynamics”) needed only to be carried over from evolutionary biology with the symbols renamed. Stan Metcalfe provided a captivating introduction to this mathematics in his classic book Evolutionary Economics and Creative Destruction.\n\nYes, captivating. I distinctly remember working in awe through every single equation as a lad of but twenty years.\n\nAdding self-organisation to the mix: Foster, Witt and Metcalfe\n\nTowards the end of the 1980s and the early 1990s, three economists in particular came to doubt that the evolutionary theory of Darwin alone could explain all aspects of the economy: John Foster (later my Doctoral advisor), Ulrich Witt, and Stan Metcalfe. They noted a critical distinction between biological and economic evolution. In biological evolution variation is typically considered random, there is nothing more to be said about it. In economic evolution, variation is most definitely not random, it is the outcome of purposeful behaviour to lower costs, prices, change product characteristics, and develop entirely new products, to innovate.\n\nFoster, Witt and Metcalfe proposed a refinement of the evolutionary theory used in economics; that economies are self-organising systems which originate and diffuse novelty. The process of diffusion is more or less equivalent to the process of selection and retention. The process of origination is not only variation however, but the origins of that variation, the process of variation.\n\nSeeking to understand the process of variation led Foster, Witt and Metcalfe down routes most definitely not kosher for the traditional economist. Understanding the process by which variation comes to exist in an economic system requires us to investigate such traditionally fuzzy concepts as creativity and imagination. But by studying these concepts, into the realm of evolutionary economics was brought an understanding of bifurcation, a critical concept in economics which, one might say, provides the missing link between retention and variation and “closes the loop” of old-fashioned three-step evolutionary theory.\n\nAs the evolutionary process proceeds, variety is resolved into uniformity by selection. This creates pressure to adapt if members of the economy are seeking to maintain their livelihood.\n\nIf members of the population are sufficiently adaptable — can use their imagination and creativity to think up new processes and new products — they create new variety and start a new evolutionary process by the origination of novelty. If the members of the population are not so adaptable, the system collapses to the drudgery of uniformity which is utterly vulnerable to the origination of novelty by other populations.\n\nEither a particular population continually creates variation and rejuvenates the basis on which the evolutionary selection process operates, or it does not. If it does not, the population collapses, and is replaced by a new population which does so rejuvenate the basis on which the evolutionary selection process operates.\n\nEvolutionary economics thus expanded provided a fully dynamic theory which explains the Phoenix-like nature of economic systems. From the ashes of a mature market dominated by a few “hyper-fit” entities rises a new one, either from within that market or from a new one conquering it.\n\nThe Brisbane Club makes the link with networks: Dopfer and Potts\n\nSomething was still not quite right with this vision. Logistic diffusion curves, replicator dynamics and Lotka-Volterra equations reflecting the self-organisation of the economy through origination and diffusion were all well and good at explaining the aggregate data describing economic systems. But there was no real vision contained within these equation systems of the actual interactions, the interpersonal exchanges which comprise an economic system.\n\nPut slightly differently, there was no vision given (within the mathematics at least) of where the “selection flow rates” of the populations the equations were describing were coming from.\n\nThe solution to this most fundamental problem of evolutionary economics came, as it always seems to, from an obscure kid out of nowhere. That kid was Jason Potts, who had eventually found his way to the tutelage of Peter Earl at Lincoln University in Christchurch, New Zealand. In his PhD, later a book (the book), The New Evolutionary Microeconomics, he realised the fundamental difference between “old” economics and “new” economics was the recognition that the economy was not a field like an electromagnetic system, a complete network in which everyone interacts directly with everyone else. The structure of fields cannot evolve — there are no new connections to be made.\n\nThe economy must therefore be an incomplete network, it can evolve because there are connections which aren’t made, which can yet be made.\n\nJohn Foster, by now Head of the School of Economics at the University of Queensland, immediately recognised the profoundity belied by this simple idea of economic systems as evolving network structures and brought Jason Potts to the University of Queensland. For good measure, he brought Peter Earl across as well and turned the University of Queensland into the powerhouse of evolutionary economics which it was from 1999 to 2009, the year I showed up on its door as a freshman.\n\nTogether, with regular appearances by Stan Metcalfe, Kurt Dopfer, Ulrich Witt and the originals, Richard Nelson and Sidney Winter, the University of Queensland became the home of the “Brisbane Club” of evolutionary economists. Together they developed the vision of the economy as an evolutionary system which became the basis for the heavy-duty mathematics of the “UQ model”.\n\nThe Brisbane Club’s vision was most fully developed in what remains the best-known paper written within the School of Economics at the University of Queensland: Kurt Dopfer, John Foster and Jason Potts’s “Micro-meso-macro” in the 2004 Journal of Evolutionary Economics. The economy is a network of interactions between individuals making connections by following behavioural rules (also known as “routines” or “institutions”). It is an evolutionary system in which the rules which guide economic behaviour are originated and diffused — subjected to variation, selection and retention.\n\nEvolutionary pressures are exerted on economic networks by origination of new rules at the microeconomic level, but they manifest in higher level phenomena as well. As we broaden our view we observe that the rules applied by various individuals have a degree of commonality which allows us to conjecture the existence of a “meso-rule”. This allows us to class individuals who use some variant of that rule into a corresponding meso-population. The macroeconomy becomes a network between meso-populations of individuals applying microeconomic variations on meso-rules to form connections.\n\nThe origination of new rules at the microeconomic level is what feeds the origination and diffusion of new meso-rules, drives their variation, selection and retention, and the evolution we observe in the macroeconomy.\n\nThis matters a lot: evolutionary economics in industry and government\n\nThe view of the economy which emerges from this is quite different to the view we obtain from looking at the economy as a system constantly in or tending toward equilibrium.\n\nEconomies aren’t stable unless they’re desperately unhealthy. They’re always dynamic, and if anything, they’re chaotic. They don’t tend toward a stately stable equilibrium of moderately sized firms. They tend to a violently hollowed out distribution of a few small niche survivors and a few massive corporations conglomerated from the hyper-fit competitors. They are “scaling” systems, winner-take-all systems with feedback effects which literally make the rich richer.\n\nBut they’re also, beneath the chaos and violence, deeply ordered. They are always subject to variation, selection, and retention. And as variety is resolved into uniformity, pressure builds to innovate, originate novelty and begin the whole process of diffusion again.\n\nSounds nice enough right? But why does it matter?\n\nIt sounds like a lot of philosophical high theory, but why should you care about evolutionary economics? What is different not only about the vision it offers us of the economy, but its practical implications?\n\nThe first, sharpest advice it gives is to the government: failure is absolutely as essential to economic systems as success, and no economic system is healthy in which the preservation of liberty is not the fundamental political principle.\n\nWe need to know what is not desired by society for without this being revealed we cannot know what is desired. Discovering this knowledge is exactly what the evolutionary process in economics does. It is a process by which society literally selects certain goods and services for retention and selects others for rejection.\n\nGovernments are loathe to allow failure, especially when those failing vote, have loud enough voices to effect votes, or can buy votes. And that’s fine, that’s how democracy works. But the more the government intervenes in the evolutionary process to prevent failure (which isn’t the same as preventing individual people from falling into penury), the more the cost to our discovery of knowledge about what society wants and doesn’t want.\n\nThe first lesson of evolutionary theory in any field is that the development of any system is directly correlated to the variety within it. This is actually a mathematical fact known as Fisher’s Fundamental theorem of natural selection, and in extended form the Price equation. It’s a very simple idea; if there’s no variety, there’s no “better” options for the evolutionary process to select, so the economy doesn’t develop, it stays static. In the economy, where variation is originated by individuals introducing new ideas and developing new rules to guide economic behaviour, this dictates the necessity of their liberty to so innovate.\n\nGovernments also loathe things they cannot control, and even more giving up their control over things. That’s fine too, it’s their nature — they exist to control things. But the less they are restrained, the more constraints they place on liberty, the greater the cost to the origination and diffusion of innovation and the development (which isn’t the same as growth) of the economy.\n\nEvolutionary economics also offers advice to those engaged in what Marshall called “the everyday business of life”, to those in industry trying to earn a living by barter and trade. The core of that advice is that lowering price-cost is not enough to compete and survive in an evolutionary system. If that’s what you focus on exclusively you’re probably going to fail and fall foul of the selection pressures in the economy.\n\nThat’s because there’s more than one platform upon which selection pressures are exerted. Competition also proceeds on the basis of product innovation, not just process innovation (“making things cheaper”). In fact, it is product innovation — changing non-price attributes and creating new products — which is the primordial basis for variation amongst the units of selection in the economic system.\n\nThe advice offered by evolutionary economics to industry goes beyond this warning and offers a positive message too. There is a way to maximise your chances of being selected by the evolutionary process, survive, and earn a living and that is to maximise your knowledge, creativity and adaptability. Those concepts are much less fuzzy than you might think and they’re intertwined — to maximise your knowledge is to maximise your creativity, and adaptability is nothing more than the willingness to act on that.\n\nMaximising knowledge is about learning as much know how and know why as possible; learning as many rules as possible for economic behaviour and when they are best applied. This maximises one’s ability to respond to changing environments and to think creatively about how new ones might be addressed (I have written about this elsewhere). One then needs only the courage to act upon this to be able to adapt to changing economic environments and survive.\n\nSo that’s evolutionary economics, that’s the field that started it all, at least for me. It offers us a radically different view of how the economy works. It offers profoundly important implications for industry and government. It’s not just a cool way to think about the economy. It matters. A lot.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.874313473701477}
+{"content": "How to Beat System-Demystifying the Instagram Algorithm\n\nHow to Beat System-Demystifying the Instagram Algorithm\n\n“It will not be a popularity contest,” that is what Instagram said about the new algorithm. The platform has indeed grown up like its social media brother, Facebook, not in terms of users but by developing a new algorithm. Many have termed the Instagram algorithm as disruptive and unnecessary, but perhaps there is a method to this madness?\n\nBack in 2009, Facebook launched its new algorithm. This enabled Facebook to work with a system that would put in order the posts from your friends and the groups you belong to, and the pages you liked would be shown as well. This algorithm is still a mystery to many but what we know is that Facebook is showing us what it thinks we “want” to see.\n\nWill the new Instagram algorithm be another mystery? Let’s gather the clues and our magnifying glass to follow the footprints to beating the system.\n\nBefore, Instagram used to show photos in chronological order. The latest photo that you would see was the most recent photo uploaded by the users you follow. Now, the photo-sharing app wants to make your photo-sharing experience more customised and more personalised.\n\nBut how does the feed predict what we want? It infers from different bits of information gathered from your activity on the gram. Brands and businesses are wondering how they can use this algorithm to get more Instagram likes, followers, shares, comments, and general exposure overall on the monolithic social media platform.\n\nHow to play by the Instagram algorithm rules\n\nMore engagement from your audience\n\nInstagram, even though they made a disclaimer before that the new algorithm is not a popularity contest, looks at the engagement status of your posts. The first factor affecting your feed is the number and frequency of engagement. This might seem to be a mouthful of words, but it just means Instagram takes into consideration the number of likes and comments a post receives. Usually, the posts you see at the top of your feed have the highest and the most number of likes and comments.\n\nBut likes and comments are not just the basis for you to go on top. Instagram prioritises the frequency of your engagement. If your posts gain high number of likes and comments in a specific amount of time, your post will certainly be on the top spot. With this in mind, it is best to strategise the time and schedule when your posts will be up, because posting at the right time, meaning when many users are online, means gaining the most comments and likes within the shortest period. This aspect lulls some to try buying Instagram followers and likes, but if you try that with a sketchy website, you might not even know it, but you might get the infamous Instagram shadowban.\n\nJust like its brother’s algorithm, Instagram had also made sure that they timed your followers ‘engagement to your posts,’ though that does not mean that your followers should rush away from your posts to boost your popularity on the ‘Gram. You need to create longer engagement with your followers, and how will you make that happen?\n\nFeatures like Instagram Boomerangs, videos and multiple photos lead to the longer engagement with your followers. You can also put on lengthy and entertaining, and thought-provoking captions for your followers to answer through comments. In the Instagram popularity scale, comment is more valuable than likes. So, asking random questions, like asking them to tag a friend, in the comments is a big boost to upping your ‘Gram game.\n\nRegular Posting Schedule\n\nPosting daily is another factor affecting the algorithm. For instance, you have not logged in your account for a few days, and once you opened, days-old popular posts will still be available in your feed. How does that happen? It is like Instagram wants you to catch up on posts which they think are important to you.\n\nWith the new system, even though there are times that it is harder to get likes, your posts have longer shelf-life. That is why your old posts are still getting traffic, meaning someone is catching up on your posts too.\n\nAlign your own Instagram activity with your brand image\n\nThe next factor is about who you interact most in Instagram. If you often view stories and direct message or comment on one person’s account, you will also see his or her contents more often in your home feed. You should notice that those users that you constantly view stories or like or comment on their posts, are the ones who are often placed on the left-most part of your stories, and the ones you always see in your feed. With Instagram’s new algorithm, the platform assumes that you like that person’s posts all the time, that is why it always show posts or users that post similar type of content that you always like and you always search about.\n\nSimilarly, if you frequently search a particular tag, or like and comment on similar posts, the app will display on your feed the same kind of posts. Instagram also takes into consideration the niche that you are constantly involved with.  This also happens when you save or share posts to your friends and other accounts. Since you share that type of post, Instagram will assume that you enjoy these kinds and it will affect the future posts appearing on your feed. This is why if you went on a liking-spree on meme accounts, your feed on the following days will be continuously filled with memes.\n\nWith these factors, followers’ immersion to your posts is what Instagram is targeting. Your Instagram followers have to be involved in your posts, it’s no longer just about the numbers beside your profile photo.  Instagram wants those who are using the platform to think more creatively and to gain genuine engagement with their current following rather than aiming to just gain more followers.\n\nCreate relationships with your audience\n\nThese factors prove that Instagram’s algorithm is also interaction and relationship based. So, creating connection with your followers, like associating hashtags that they like in your account, makes you visible in their feed. If you found out that your followers are into garden care and your account is a minimalism shop, you can like and comment on posts about garden care to make your account “relatable” and so that it will not get buried in their feed.\n\nCreating longer engagement encourages your followers to comment back. Encouraging your followers to share your content and also being involved with your followers are as well the footprints to being Insta-famous.  Aside from personalizing your ‘Gram experience, you will also be creative in posting content and building connections with your following. With critics saying that this is the age when most people are fame-hungry and narcissistic, largely attributed to social media, Instagram’s new algorithm may just be more than a popularity contest. The platform aims to promote genuine connections and engagement.\n\nComments are closed.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5420140027999878}
+{"content": "Railway History is usually credited with bringing great industrial development, but the Selati line that ran through today's Kruger National Park in South Africa may very well have had the opposite effect, resulting in the iconic protected reserve of today. Forgotten railways and the ghost of railways past are simply irresistible, so we set off to find the old ghostly rail.\n\nThe first signs of the railway that was sparked by the discovery of gold in the Northern Transvaal in South Africa was the old Crocodile River Bridge, just a few miles from the Komatipoort hub on the Mozambique border.\n\nDon’t miss on the latest updates Follow the Viral Stories Channel\n\nThe bridge was the result of one of the most expensive railways ever built and the line that started construction in 1892 was only completed in 1912. The current Crocodile Bridge Camp in Kruger Park overlooks the old bridge, so we set up camp and snapped our first image of rail-days gone by.\n\nRailway history, the first failed attempt\n\nThe first Boer War was over and the second was still to happen when the Zuid Afrikaansche (Transvaal) Republic granted the concession from Komatipoort, off the Delagoa Bay line to the Selati gold-fields in the 1890s. The Selati Company was formed by Barend J. Vorster and Paul Marx, who farmed off the contract to Eugene Oppenheim, a Frenchman of dubious character, who made a huge profit by farming it off to Louis Warnant who was acting as his agent. Eventually, it ended up in the hands of Westwood and Wimby who began the earthworks and railway itself. Court cases, falsification of books, profiteering, corruption, huge financial losses and the Boer War intervened.\n\nTop Videos of the Day\n\nUnder the burden of public scandal and financial losses, Custos Magazine tells us that after two years of effort in terribly inhospitable conditions, work simply stopped. \"Truckloads of alcohol\" had been shipped in and thousands of antelope had been shot for the consumption of the construction workers, and it all seemed to have been for naught.\n\nKruger National Park's first warden, James Stevenson-Hamilton\n\nNo story about Kruger National Park is complete without mentioning Stevenson-Hamilton, the Dublin-born pioneer of the preserve. Educated at Rugby in England and a professional military officer, he accompanied a number of great early African excursions and fought in the Second Boer War (1899-1901). He was later appointed, in very vague terms, as the warden of what was then known as the Sabi Nature Reserve between the Sabi and Crocodile rivers. The area was proclaimed a protected area by President Paul Kruger in 1891 but it was only in 1902 that Stevenson-Hamilton was appointed to stop the poaching and hunting.\n\nAfter a brief sojourn at Crocodile Bridge, Stevenson Hamilton made his way to the Sabi River, approximately 50 miles north-west from the Crocodile Bridge, to what is known today as Skukuza, the largest camp and Parks Headquarters in the greater Kruger Park. He wrote that the incomplete line was littered with bits and pieces of railway tracks that had been hastily abandoned by Westwood and Wimby. For seven years he lived out his wilderness life, fighting off poachers, farmers who wanted to clear the land, and bitter public opposition to the reserve. But in 1909 Stevenson Hamilton encountered the resurrected railway construction workers, which was to turn around the fortunes of the reserve beyond his wildest dreams.\n\nPauling & Co completed the railway that changed the Kruger fortunes\n\nPauling & Co were fast workers. In just three years they completed the line from Komatipoort to the gold fields at Tzaneen in the north-western Lowveld of South Africa. The line was inaugurated on November 8, 1912. Steam Locomotives South Africa reported that \"During the following thirteen years, one train per week was all that was needed to cope with the traffic along this line.\"\n\nDuring those years, the Great War of 1914-1918 happened and Stevenson-Hamilton who had tirelessly campaigned to increase the size of the protected area left to serve in the Imperial Forces. While he was away, mining concerns and farmers eroded his efforts to the point that a Commission was appointed to investigate the possibility of reducing the areas of the Sabi and Shingwedzi Reserves. Nevertheless, despite efforts to de-proclaim the reserve, it survived despite the railways being one of the greatest opposition voices against it. The irony is that in later years, it was thanks to the railways that public opinion swung in favor of not only keeping the reserve intact but in increasing its size so it stretched from the Crocodile River just north of Swaziland to the Limpopo River on the Zimbabwe border.\n\nVisitors to Kruger Park by train\n\nBefore the 1920's there were no camps or roads for visitors to the reserve. Legend has it that Stevenson-Hamilton was visiting a pub in a hotel one day, and over a beer or two, a conversation with the publican led him to the conclusion that if people could visit the wilderness, they would be swayed to the idea of preserving the natural heritage of the area.\n\nThis led to him engaging with the railways, who introduced the very popular \"Round in Nine\" tours. Tourists could hop on the train and Travel through the wilderness on the Selati Railway line between Komatipoort and Tzaneen in the then northern Transvaal. Kruger Park history writes that \"the tour included an overnight stop at Sabi Bridge (now Skukuza) and a short walk, escorted by armed rangers, into the bush. It soon became a highlight of the tour and it gave valuable support for the campaign to proclaim the Sabi Game Reserve as a national park.\"\n\nPublic opinion won out and in 1926, the Greater Kruger National Park was proclaimed. Today Kruger forms part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, a preserved wilderness that spans 22 thousand square miles.\n\nRoads replace rail in Kruger National Park\n\nThe Selati railway operated until 1973 and at its height was running 14 trains a day through the game reserve, though the tourist trains had long given way to access roads and camps. The first tourists entered the reserve by road in the late 1920's, and from camping in thorn bush bomas, accommodation grew into the modern and beautiful camps dotted around the park.\n\nThe tracks have been lifted, but the embankments can still be seen in the Park. One route follows much of the old line on the H5 and S114 roads to Skukuza. We followed that road, stopping alongside the old culverts and embankments. In many places, the old embankments and blockages of the culverts and drainage formed dams where elephant and wild pigs enjoy a mud bath. Sitting next to the old line, one could easily imagine the ghosts of the past riding by in their comfortable coaches.\n\nSkukuza, the SAR Class 24 stranded in the bush at the old siding\n\nThe trip would not be complete without visiting the old SAR Class 24 train number 3638 that sits at the old Lower Sabi siding (now Skukuza). Stranded in the bush with no rails to follow to a new destination, for a while the train that was donated by the Railways housed a restaurant in the mid-1980s. A fire caused the loss of two coaches, but one survives, and the train sits in the shed with it's pretend boarding signs and a defunct kitchen. Today, what was once a beautifully preserved train and the station are off-limits to visitors, but ignoring the signs, I sneaked in with my camera.\n\nRailway enthusiasts hope that Kruger National Park will upgrade the station and open it once more, but in reality, as even the main Stevenson-Hamilton Library and Information Center at Skukuza is closed to the public at present, the chances aren't that great that the lost and lonely engine will see it's glory days again.\n\nWatch the short video below to see our trip along the edge of one of Africa's forgotten railway lines.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.582801878452301}
+{"content": "Exploring Time Dynamics in Large Corpora Patrick Jänichen, University of Leipzig Keywords: time dynamics, large corpora, topic models, topic shift This contribution reviews a family of algorithms known as topic models. In particular the most basic model Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and an extension of it, the Continuous Time Dynamic Topic Model (CTM) are described. Further, we propose a generalization of the latter to model and analyze the changes a certain theme underlies in large diachronic corpora. While our current work typically relies on newspaper texts of this and the last century, it would be of particular interest to apply these kinds of models to data arising in the Digital Humanities community. Topic Models are a group of algorithms used to explore and analyze large document corpora. The basic assumption is that each document one encounters in a text collection is a mixture of topics taken from a global set specific to the corpus in question, i.e. a document can be described by a probability distribution over the set of topics. Each topic in turn is a distribution over the vocabulary of words in the corpus indicating how probable a word is in a certain topic. This assumption allows a massive reduction in dimensionality as the dimension of documents decreases from the size of the vocabulary (in a frequency coding scheme) to the number of topics (which is a lot smaller). Our primary goal is to track the dynamics such a topic underlies when analyzing diachronic data. The CTM proposes a framework where time is viewed (quite naturally) as a continuous variable. Topics as distributions over words follow a Brownian motion in this model, i.e. topic k at time t is treated as the draw from a multivariate Gaussian distribution with mean topic k at time t-1 and having a variance equal to the difference between t and t-1. We propose to translate this to an underlying Gaussian Process parameterized with a specific covariance function governing the time dynamics of this model. Using this framework allows other stochastic processes to be adopted by just defining appropriate covariance functions. The choice of Brownian motion as the thriving stochastic process is a natural one when virtually nothing is known about the behavior of the topics in time, although the assumption of smoothness appears to be a bit contrived. We suggest to use the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process instead (which is mean reverting and provides a term describing the volatility of the individual topics). The idea behind this is to be able to identify topics that differ strongly from their long term mean thus exhibiting a high value of volatility. Taking into account the theory that a change in contextual structures co-occurs with a change of their meaning we expect to discover particularly \"interesting\" topics. Other processes (although not tested yet) include the Poisson, Compound Poisson and the Affine Process (all of which are Lévy processes), allowing jumps in the topic distributions. Considering the nature of texts this seems to be a plausible assumption as we encounter new or recurring topics.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8731347918510437}
+{"content": "how can I make 4c hair look curly?\n\n2 Answers\n\nThat would depend on the pattern your hair grows in and how long it is.  You can TRY a super defined wash and go following one of these methods: wil take skill and practice and if your hair allows you could achieve it.  However for better success, your absolute best bet is a twist-out or a twist-n-curl set.  Type 4 hair can rock a twist out better than ANY other hair type and it does not take great skill.  Use a formulated Twist cream like As I Am's Twist and Define Cream and twist your freshly cleansed and conditioned hair all over.  If you want to take it to the Twist-n-curl, you can add a curl rod to the ends of each twist.  Unravel with a natural oil distributed on your hands and fingertips and fluff with a pick if you desire more volume.  I know, I know sometimes you get tired of twists, but do not grow weary, it is the healthiest and easiest thing for your hair.  Add some sass with a cute pin-up style!\nThere are a number of different methods. In my opinion, the safest for us 4c gals are the ones without heat. You could use a twist out or braid out to achieve the curly look, but you may have to add more twists/braids than usual. What I do is start out fresh. I deep condition my hair, wash and condition it, use the LOC or LOCO method. I do this all while keeping my hair stretched. I then apply a curling gel, and then braid my hair like I would for a braid out, except I use smaller braids (so when I am done I will have more braids than usual). When It air dries, I take it down like I would a normal braid out, but with less fluffing and then style as needed. To keep this look throughout the week, one can either re braid it as needed or keep it stretched at night via several bands (or similar methods). But fair warning, in the middle of the week it tends to frizz up for me regardless, so I just roll with it and rock a hair curly, half coily hairdo.I hope I helped :)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7654522061347961}
+{"content": "Newspaper Article\n\nWork consisting of a news item appearing in a general-interest newspaper or other general news periodical, containing information of current and timely interest in the field of medicine or science. This publication type should not be confused with NEWS Publication Type, reserved for news reports published in various medical or other scientific journals, such as \"Nature\".", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5088088512420654}
+{"content": "In Mesoamerican artwor_Art History Review Quiz\n\nQuestion In Mesoamerican artwork the Olmec culture produced massive stone head sculptures found at LaVenta weighing from 5 to more than 20 tons each. True False 2. Scientific studies have revealed that the Mayan culture in early Mesoamerica had the most sophisticated writing system of any culture in Mesoamerica at that time. True False 3. The calendar was first developed by the Mayan Civilization in Mesoamerica due to their meticulous system of record keeping. True False 4. The temple grounds of early Mayan pyramids contain chacmools which are thought to have been places where ritual offerings and sacrifices were made. True False 5. Teotihuacan in Mexico rose to become an important city because of it’s widespread trade in casting and sculpture using bronze during the period of 1200 BC. True False 6. One early Mesoamerican 600 CE fresco a mural painted using pigments applied to damp lime plaster was a scene showing a priest using the maguey plant in ritual to draw blood in sacrifice to the Great Goddess. True False 7. Wearing a skirt made of twisted snakes the Earth Mother Goddess of the Aztec People was called Coatlicue. True False 8. In Central America the Diquis Culture was known for it’s gold artwork as shown in the Shaman with Drum and Snake sculpture. True False 9. The Paracas culture in Peru developed a highly sophisticated method of weaving with over 200 weft threads per square inch making it among the finest in the world. True False 10. One invention that came from the Moche Culture was the production of ceramic molds so they could mass produce pottery for sale. True False 11. The pottery of the Southwest which was black and highly buffed was produced using black paint that was obtained from the natural grasses of that area. True False 12. In the blankets that are produced by the women of the Navajo culture in the American Southwest we see symbolism from spiritual beliefs as they believe the entire universe is a tapestry. True False 13. In the basketry called Prairie Style art the Plains People used porcupine and bird quills that had been softened in preparation for weaving the baskets. True False 14. As we saw on the Sioux baby carrier a thunderbird is a symbol of protection against harm much like the cross of St. Christopher is used for those who travel and want protection. True False 15. The Northwest Coast Culture in the U.S. is famous for it’s ritual sand paintings of turtles which is their sacred god. True False 16. A kiva is a mask used by the Inuit native people during initiation ceremonies for their young males. True False 17. Artwork that is 70000 years old earlier than all other world artwork by 30000 years found in South Africa’s Blombos Cave points to Africa as being the cradle of civilization. True False 18. Cave paintings of domestic cattle images and family life in Algeria show us that village life replaced the hunting lifestyle sometime between 5000 BCE and 2000 BCE in Africa. True False 19. A realistic form of sculpture can be seen in the Nok statues where every detail of the face has been carved into the surface. True False 20. Brass heads that were made of Ife kings in Africa included scarification and other facial details in extreme naturalism. True False 21. The sacred city of Benin in Africa is known for its outstanding cast metal heads of kings and carved ivory sculptures such as the Queen Mother which were commissioned by the Ife kings to be made by skilled artists. True False 22. A beautiful mask carved in ivory was made representing the Queen Mother of the king of Benin Africa in 1550 CE and mudfish around it’s periphery were interspersed with the heads of Portuguese soldiers / traders in a symbolic way. True False 23. In the 13th century the king of Jenne in West Africa converted his palace into a mosque for worship and the wooden beams that protrude outward are there for the purpose of re-plastering the mosque in repairs. True False 24. In the community of the Nankani People of Ghana all residents live in a series of cliffside dwellings along the Congo River and use long ladders to ascend into their homes. True False 25. Like many other cultures of the world the Mande Culture of the West Coast of Africa produces pottery that is made by the men exclusively. True False 26. A large wooden statue used in healing and other important functions the nkisinkonde figure is an African statue that can take on the “attributes” of the items that are affixed to it. True False 27. In the Nigerian Yoruba Culture a diviner may order the carving of an ibeji statue for a grieving mother and father who has lost a child during birth. True False 28. The Sinagua People of the southwestern section of the U.S. had an elaborate system of jade production and sold their carved products to other native cultures in Mesoamerica. True False 29. The Sun Watcher person in the Hopi tribes today is an important position that has survived since the days of the Sinagua People their early ancestors. True False 30. The prehistoric Sinagua People of Arizona only lived there for a few years because water was scarce and they had no effective way of knowing when to plant crops. True False 31. The Hopi in the Southwestern part of the U.S. practice Sun Watching which was also practiced by the ancient Sinagua People who lived in the Sedona Arizona region back in 600 A.D. True False 32. The Hopi developed a system of timber homes built in log cabin style which they learned from the ancient Sinagua People who lived in the Arizona area before them. True False 33. Archaeoastronomy is the study of weather and green plants used to determine how the greenhouse effect has changed our climate making various cultures move to areas with more water. True False 34. Indirect percussion is a term used that describes the carving of a petroglyph and involves the use of a sharp pointed rock being pounded by a larger rock to carve symbols into the face of a flat rock surface. True False 35. A prehistoric artist who made concentric circle symbols to represent the Sun on the Sinaguan petroglyphs found in Arizona would have worked for a Sun Watcher. True False 36. The Seri People of the Sonoran Desert in Mexico display the “Have No Fear” mudra or symbolic hand raising when they greet strangers. True False 37. In African culture when one uses an “nkisinkonde” wooden figure in a ceremony between two people who want to form a “pact” or a business arrangement the practice is usually to throw it into a fire and let the flames consume it. True False 38. In Africa scars were made on the body as symbols of beauty or tribal importance much like those who adorn themselves with tattoos today would do. True False 39. According to Seri beliefs in northwestern Mexico learning their ancient native language rather than Spanish will produce an individual that is separate and apart in behavior and beliefs from the Spanish speaking people surrounding them. True False 1.The Asian Art Collection contains a rather small collection of eastern artwork in comparison to other U.S. museums. True False 2. The Asian collection at the Metropolitan Museum includes more than one image called Bodhisattva each one different in its appearance. True False 3. The Asian Art Collection of the Metropolitan Museum includes artwork from many centuries of Eastern Culture. True False 4. The rare ivory mask from Africa called “Iyoba” is believed to represent the mother of the King of Benin. True False 5. We visited the Americas Wing in the Met Museum and we saw one exhibited item called the Fox Warrior Bottle which had no handles but 3 different pouring spouts for ritual use. True False 6. The Asian collection in the Metropolitan Museum is one of the largest in the West. True False 7. On the periphery of the hand carved African ivory mask of the “iyoba” we saw the heads of Portuguese soldiers / traders. True False 8. The Fox Warrior Bottle was hand made in the central region of Nicaragua by the Mayan Culture. True False 9. The Portuguese traders of the 16th century were attracted to the shores of Africa in search of the ivory found there. True False 10. The Metropolitan Museum has ceramic artwork from the Moche Culture in the Americas. True False 11. The mudfish that were carved in the headdress of the African mask called “Iyoba” were symbolic of the dual life of the King or “oba” of Benin. True False 12. The Metropolitan Museum features a Fox Warrior Bottle that is dated by cultural scientists to have been made between the 7th – 8th century. True False 13. A “stirrup shaped” spout / handle was featured on bottles in Peru for 3000 years as they were popular among the Moche Culture. True False 14. The Congo is the country of origin of the rare carved ivory mask called “Iyoba. True False 15. On the Fox Warrior Bottle the warriors were wearing fox masks and carrying a shield and war club. True False 16. Avalokiteshvara the Bodhisattva of Infinite Compassion found in the Met Museum can be identified by the tiny figure of a seated Amitabha Buddha that appears in his braided hair. True False 17. The ivory hand carved mask of the “iyoba” or Queen Mother was made by the Edo people of Nigeria in Africa. True False 18. In the Asian Wing the sculpture known as Avalokiteshvara could be characterized as a formal and muscular sculpture with a serious expression on the face for the purpose of showing power through fear. True False 19. Cambodia and Thailand are the countries associated with the sculpture known as Avalokiteshvara the Bodhisattva of Infinite Compassion. True False\n\nOrder Similar Assignment Now!\n\n  • Our Support Staff are online 24/7\n  • Our Writers are available 24/7\n  • Most Urgent order is delivered within 4 Hrs\n\n\nType of paper Academic level Subject area\nNumber of pages Paper urgency Cost per page:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998891949653625}
+{"content": "Innovate Together, Solve Real World Problems\n\nInnovate Together, Solve Real World Problems\n\n“Innovate Together,” a program organized and managed by Cisco’s Services Innovation Excellence Center (SIEC) aims to teach students how to identify a problem impacting their community, complete research to validate it, brainstorm solutions, and effectively communicate a solution in a pitch format.\n\nThe goal is to positively impact the community by leveraging IoT technology, while allowing students to come out of the traditional classroom setting and asking them to solve real-world scenarios.\n\nWith 125 seventh graders from Bay Point Middle School’s Center for Advancement of the Sciences and Technology in Florida participating in the two-day event, sixteen teams were formed. Among the problems addressed were proper nutrition for children, feeding the homeless, the opportunity automation is creating for re-skilling the workforce and affordable transportation.\n\nThe winning group, which developed a program around proper nutrition, integrating a wearable component to scan and track food intake and nutrition information. The $250 prize will be either donated to the community charity of their choice or used to advance the winning team’s concept.\n\nSource: Innovate Together: Leaving the Traditional Classroom Behind to Solve Real-World Problems", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.000000238418579}
+{"content": "This might be one of the funniest things I've ever stumbled across on the old interwebs.\n\nThere's kind of a resurgence in 80's rock these days and I figure just about every town has at least one group of dudes who like to get up and bust out a few 80's covers for the drunks.\n\nBut not every town will get to witness a band break up on stage and a guitarist who no one even cares about claim he's \"goin' solo\" and then attempt to smash his guitar.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8465125560760498}
+{"content": "Girl From Mindanao Rants Violently on Facebook and Slams the People Who Discriminated Against the Visayans and the Cebuanos! READ IT HERE!\n\nFilipinos are known to make fun of each other every now then. We often rely on banter, slapstick humor, and gags in order to make ourselves laugh but even humor has a dark side.\n\nWhere exactly do Filipinos draw the line to distinguish between “laughing with others” and “laughing at others?”\n\nThe first phrase is when we share the joke with the one making it. It’s pure harmless and inoffensive because the person knows that he or she is not being laughed at. Instead, it’s his or her antics or something they did.\n\nMeanwhile, the second phrase is when somebody is being made fun of in a cruel yet unassuming manner that most Filipinos are fond of. Case in point: Somebody spills a juice on their shirt.\n\nInstead of helping that person out, people tend to laugh at him or her. That’s called “laughing at others.” We tend to laugh at other people’s misfortunes.\n\nIn language especially, where a diverse number of languages are spoken all over the Philippines and practiced by people, there are those who tend to laugh at the mispronunciation of others and their provincial accents.\n\nA Facebook user has had enough of this and posted her sentiments on a long status that showed her opinions towards people who make fun of the Visayan and Cebuano accent.\n\nKami reported that she’s Cheska Abellana, a girl who hails from the South.\n\nShe said that people with accents like her are being discriminated against for the mere fact that they can’t speak proper Filipino or English.\n\nRead her whole post here:\n\nAlthough her post stated that her location was in Mandaluyong, Abellana’s post was an indicator that indeed, one should not find accents a laughing matter.\n\nSource: kami\nTell Us What You Think", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5346117615699768}
+{"content": "About Vehicles\n\nGrabCAD, Automotive Design Convention and Automobile Design Neighborhood have collaborated to launch City Electric Micro Automobile Design problem. Our political leaders mustn’t start to offer options for a problem if they won’t even identify it: systemic, institutional racism exists in police forces all through our country. Foreign-made, gas-environment friendly vehicles gained a stronger foothold within the American market throughout and after the 1973 oil embargo and corresponding rise in fuel costs in the wake of the Arab-Israeli warfare. American companies Ford, GM and Chrysler responded by manufacturing new strains of smaller, more fuel-environment friendly automobiles.\n\nCertainly, what is particularly notable about the present wave of innovation in automobiles will not be a lot the speed with which it has emerged (although that is remarkable) as the breadth of the innovation — how a lot it’s altering the basic contours and features of the normal car and amplifying the difficulty and cost of manufacturing vehicles. Ubiquitous electronics, a wide range of digital companies, and novel powertrains and connectivity systems are hastening the need for expensive new components, elements, and features. For OEMs, the worth tag is excessive — as a lot as 20 p.c higher than the price of the previous era of cars.\n\nIn case you intend to retire or stay right here for an extended interval there’s lots of issues to be considered by you. Basically, first thing to do is don’t overpay spending your tight pension money here and there. Second, discover cheaper or maybe unusual methods or strategies to purchase expensive gadgets. Mechanics working for government businesses and automotive sellers or proudly owning a business earn higher than average salaries. Mechanics working for gasoline stations and personal service retailers usually earn less than the typical wage.\n\nStyling became increasingly vital in automotive design as a advertising gadget. The general development in styling grew to become established late in the Nineteen Twenties when vehicles began to lose their sq., boxlike strains and to develop flowing curves. In time the brand new design encompassed both physique and chassis, integrating such previously separate options as mudguards, operating boards, and bumpers. A combination of pressures made American cars of the Fifties high-powered and ornate, with extravagant use of chrome and exaggerated tail fins; these options had been deserted when the general public found the less complicated traces of imported cars extra engaging.\n\nMy take is that, we have been forewanrded and cautioned by Mcluhan what was about to take place on us as a human species attributable to technology. Rusk is explaining to our befuddled selves what is admittedly taking place to us now, in our use and interplay with these applied sciences and their enabling methods, and merging and submerging gizmos. As a lot as automotive 157,000 are merchandise of Mitsubishi eK wagons and eK Space, whereas 468,000 units labelled with Nissan Roox Dayz and Dayz.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5056289434432983}
+{"content": "www.nonstopenglish.com - Free interactive on-line and email exercises  \n\nWelcome to CROSSWORDS exercises!\n\nNonstopEnglish.com is a free database of exercises for students of English as a foreign language. Practise your English to pass TOEFL, Cambridge First Certificate, Cambridge Advanced English and other internationally accepted examinations. Try some of the exercises and you will see how useful and funny they are and how quickly you can improve your English to achive your goals and pass exams.\n\nInstructions Level   quiz    \nAdjectives - Fill in the opposites and you will receive 3 adjectives Beginner's English grammar: adjectives Crossword  \nFind the widely used French word. Proficiency general vocabulary: foreign words Crossword  \nFill in the right financial term into the empty spaces. (basics) Lower intermediate business vocabulary: accounting and finance Crossword  \nChoose the right words related to age. Elementary English general vocabulary: numbers Crossword  \nFill in the crossword to fill in the sentences related to concerts and theatres. Pre-intermediate general vocabulary: art and entertainment Crossword  \nInstructions Level   quiz    \nWrite animals' young. Lower intermediate general vocabulary: the animal world Crossword  \nFill in the opposites. Elementary English general vocabulary: adjectives Crossword  \nFruit and vegetables. Elementary English general vocabulary: the plant world Crossword  \nFind the right word. Elementary English general vocabulary: towns and around Crossword  \nMatch the right expressions with their definitions. If you do it well you receive a new phrase. Lower intermediate general vocabulary: adjectives Crossword  \nInstructions Level   quiz    \nChoose the best word to complete the sentences (town). Pre-intermediate general vocabulary: towns and around Crossword  \nFill in the animal described. Lower intermediate general vocabulary: the animal world Crossword  \nFill in the suitable word. You always need to use a prefix. (under-, over-, super-, etc) Upper intermediate unspecified type: Crossword  \nWrite down the numbers in English. Use small letters. NOT CAPITAL ONES! Beginner's English general vocabulary: numbers Crossword  \nFill in the sentences and you will receive the name of a disorder. Use prefixes. Upper intermediate general vocabulary: undefined Crossword  \nMore exercises:  \n 2  1\n\n\n\nCopyright © NonStopEnglish.com | Privacy Policy | Contact Us\n\nWhat is nonstopenglish.com?\nTest your English vocabulary and grammar with free interactive exercises on-line and off-line. The English testing resources are grouped according to difficulty. You can test your English vocabulary and grammar not only on-line but you can subscribe to email exercises, tests and quizes. You can learn English online free with on-line grammar tests and vocabulary quizes. This unique on-line test database helps you to have fun on-line and enjoy building your English vocabulary. Carefully written vocabulary games, quizes will surely help you to improve vocabulary on the internet. This online course has been used by many English language learners to test and build their vocabulary and improve grammar.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8709144592285156}
+{"content": "The child developing conduct disorder psychology essay\n\nIf the caregiver is able to provide therapeutic intervention teaching children at risk better empathy skills, the child will have a lower incident level of conduct disorder. Family therapy may be used to help improve family interactions and communication among family members.\n\nHowever, early treatment may slow the progression of the disorder or reduce the severity of negative behaviors. Childhood and adolescent onset conduct disorder: Clinical Psychology Review, 10, In child psychology, conduct disorder is an extremely difficult subject to accurately address and clarify, due primarily to the need to distinguish between normal childhood behaviors and the onset or development of an actual disorder.\n\nHowever, the severity of their crimes was less than those not serviced by the mental health field. If your child has another mental health disorder, such as depression or ADHD, the mental healthcare provider may prescribe medications to treat that condition as well.\n\nThese include antisocial and other personality disorders, mood or anxiety disordersand substance use disorders.\n\nConduct Disorder\n\nIf a child does not learn how to handle fear or distress the child will be more likely to lash out at other children. Individuals with adolescent-onset conduct disorder exhibit less impairment than those with the childhood-onset type and are not characterized by similar psychopathology.\n\nThese conduct problems may have a mild to severe impact on others. However, each aspect is crucial in understanding the scope of this mental disorder, starting with its history of violence and ending with its lacking intervention.\n\nMany children and teens with conduct disorder have close family members with mental illnesses, including mood disordersanxiety disorderssubstance use disorders and personality disorders.\n\nIn a separate study by Bonin and colleagues, parenting programs were shown to positively affect child behavior and reduce costs to the public sector. The outlook is also worse if other mental illnesses are present.\n\nIt is of crucial importance to those working in the behavioral health services field to investigate the rate at which individuals who are diagnosed with conduct disorder are arrested for crimes. Specifically, research has demonstrated continuity in the disorders such that conduct disorder is often diagnosed in children who have been previously diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, and most adults with antisocial personality disorder were previously diagnosed with conduct disorder.\n\nFree Coursework\n\nChildren with conduct disorder often are unable to appreciate how their behavior can hurt others and generally have little guilt or remorse about hurting others. Co-variation between two variables can arise, for instance, if they represent age-specific expressions of similar underlying genetic factors.\n\nThe characteristics of the diagnosis are commonly seen in young children who are referred to mental health professionals. Some may abuse drugs and alcohol. Research also indicates that adolescents are more likely to have manifested this disorder than children, which in turn suggests that CD is a precursor to ODD.\n\n\nTo better understand the causes of conduct disorder, we must explore both biological and environmental factors. Children with conduct disorder who are living in abusive homes may be placed into other homes. Treatment is often long-term psychotherapy and behavior therapy to help the child learn healthier and more acceptable ways of thinking and behaving.\n\nEpidemiological approaches to natural history research: This includes bullying, threatening, physical violence, use of a weapon, physical cruelty to people or animals, and forcing someone to perform a sexual act.\n\nIn fact, the current diagnostic criteria for antisocial personality disorder require a conduct disorder diagnosis before the age of Each of us is qualified to a high level in our area of expertise, and we can write you a fully researched, fully referenced complete original answer to your essay question.\n\nDespite the complexities, several domains have been implicated in the development of conduct disorder including cognitive variables, neurological factors, intraindividual factors, familial and peer influences, and wider contextual factors.\n\nArrest rates for these groups of youths was the dependent variable. Situational variability in boys and girls identified as ADHD. Medically reviewed by Timothy J. Treatment outcomes can vary greatly, but early intervention may help to reduce the risk for incarcerations, mood disorders, and the development of other comorbidities such as substance abuse.\n\nConduct disorder is a serious behavioral and emotional disorder that can occur in children and teens. Some children who have conduct disorder go on to develop a similar condition known as antisocial personality disorder as adults.\n\nResearch shows that youngsters with conduct disorder are likely to have ongoing problems if they and their families do not receive early and comprehensive treatment. They may be unable to adapt to the demands of adulthood, which can cause them to have problems with relationships and holding a job.\n\nConduct disorder symptoms may occur if nerve cell circuits along these brain regions do not work properly. Poor social bonds and negative life changes are also key features in their assessment of the risks in becoming a criminal.\n\nHow Is Conduct Disorder Treated?A child or teen with conduct disorder is at risk for developing other mental disorders as an adult if left untreated.\n\nThese include antisocial and. Free coursework on Conduct Disorder from, the UK essays company for essay, dissertation and coursework writing. This paper will examine Conduct Disorder in children. A description of the disorder’s subtypes and various methods of diagnosis will be discussed.\n\nSpecific attention will be given to the method of counselling a prepubescent child who is causing serious problems in school for both teachers and.\n\nConduct disorder\n\nThis essay discusses whether the parent’s relationship with their child has effects on the child developing conduct disorder. The relationship between a child and parents plays a vital role in the development of conduct disorders in their children.\n\n\nConduct disorder (CD) is defined by the American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychology (AACA) as: “’Conduct disorder’ is a complicated group of behavioral and emotional problems in youngsters.4/4(1).\n\nThe child developing conduct disorder psychology essay\nRated 5/5 based on 38 review", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9984667897224426}
+{"content": "Wednesday, 23 October 2013\n\nReading Extension\n\nA group of year 3 learners in Joys room are 'reading to learn' rather than 'learning to read.' So this term they have the opportunity to carry out their own inquiries; using a variety of texts and online sources to gather, organise, and create from new information. One of our key goals is to develop self management skills including time and productivity. Each week we have a skills workshop and progress checks. The first step was learning how and why we take notes - this was pretty tricky initially because everyone just was hungry to read, read, read! But once we got a bit more strategic in reading for new facts we have amassed lots of exciting facts that we have enthusiastically shared with each other. We have used a SOLO Thinking tool Hexagon's to organise and make connections with the new knowledge we have gained. Each fact, on a new hexagon, has been thoughtfully placed next to another hexagon(s) on a large sheet of paper to show a connection between the two facts. Tabitha explained that this has helped her \"to think about the facts, rather than just collect a whole lot\"and Katy agreed that it is making her think in different ways about the new knowledge she is gaining. Tane and I noticed that organising facts in this way showed us gaps in facts that he still needs to find out and Devin said it helped her to work out the order of things. Below is a short clip of Devin and Tane discussing their connections, as very quickly they worked out their inquiries overlapped - and they needed to share with one another!. The sound quality is not great but you can get a great idea of how this went from their their body language.\n\nEveryone has presented their learning with the class and they discovered that there was something that particularly captured their attention. This is how Scientists learn and work. One question leads to another, which leads to another and so on. The Super's have refined their new question and are now busy exploring how to answer it. The focus this time is on using our new knowledge and skills to make connections and think about things from a different perspective. After sharing his new learning and discovering connections above. Tane and Devin shared these with the class:\n\nDevin is now investigating what we can learn from fossils and how the past might tell us about the present. Tane is concerned about how quickly the population of the world is growing and is making connections about the effects this might have on our Earth as he grows up.We look forward to seeing what they all discover!\n\nGreat Thinkers\n\nWorking with a group of great thinkers in year 3 we asked ourselves 'What is a great thinker?' The ideas flowed freely as you can see from our brainstorm below, and we noticed that the more we thought about it, the more thoughtful and perceptive our ideas became - we wondered if this was another indication of  a great thinker?\n\nWe discussed how great thinkers think - does it just happen, or do they have some secret that helps them think? Builders use a plan, tools, and help from others to build faster and better - we wondered if thinkers do something similar?  We then remembered the 6 Thinker's Key's that we use in class - they are like a tool. They help us think in different ways. As Fletcher said \"they tell us what to do, remind you how you should deal with that.\" Sam added that they help \"build your brain better.' So we are creating our own thinker's toolbox. Each week we will explore another thinking tool that will help us to think faster and better so that we can think in different ways.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9295336008071899}
+{"content": "Access Denied\n\nMake a Plan\n\nHow to Lose Weight Quickly and Safely\nPlease review the contents of the article and add the appropriate references if you can. The DASH study used a rigorous design called a randomized controlled trial RCT , and it involved teams of physicians, nurses, nutritionists, statisticians, and research coordinators working in a cooperative venture in which participants were selected and studied in each of these five research facilities. The most important aspect of any weight loss program is having an organized plan to follow, so I am attempting to put one together here, for myself and anyone else that might be interested. Certain posts contain information from that educational series with personal insights added. You will even learn how to eat out, choosing better foods. The influence on nutrient intake, dietary diversity, which might also affect the gut microbiota, and quality of life also requires further exploration as does the possible economic effects due to reduced physician contact and need for medication.\n\nNavigation menu\n\nNutrisystem Coupons and Promo Codes 2018\n\nThey are also used as bulk sweeteners and include isomalt , maltitol , mannitol , sorbitol and xylitol. People following a low-FODMAP diet may be able to tolerate moderate amounts of fructose and lactose, particularly if they have lactase persistence. Other sources confirm the suitability of these and suggest some additional foods. A low-FODMAP diet might help to improve short-term digestive symptoms in adults with irritable bowel syndrome , [7] [8] [9] [10] but its long-term follow-up can have negative effects because it causes a detrimental impact on the gut microbiota and metabolome.\n\nIn addition, the use of a low-FODMAP diet without medical advice can lead to serious health risks, including nutritional deficiencies, cancer risk or even mortality. A low-FODMAP diet can ameliorate and mask the digestive symptoms of serious diseases that usually present digestive symptoms similar to those of irritable bowel syndrome, such as celiac disease , inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer.\n\nIt is crucial to conduct a complete medical evaluation before starting a low-FODMAP diet to ensure a correct diagnosis and that the appropriate therapy can be undertaken. Since the consumption of gluten is suppressed or reduced with a low-FODMAP diet, the improvement of the digestive symptoms with this diet may not be related to the withdrawal of the FODMAPs, but of gluten, indicating the presence of an unrecognized celiac disease, avoiding its diagnosis and correct treatment, with the consequent risk of several serious health complications, including various types of cancer.\n\nA low-FODMAP diet is highly restrictive in various groups of nutrients, can be impractical to follow in the long-term and may add an unnecessary financial burden. The basis of many functional gastrointestinal disorders FGIDs is distension of the intestinal lumen. Such luminal distension may induce pain, a sensation of bloating , abdominal distension and motility disorders. Therapeutic approaches seek to reduce factors that lead to distension, particularly of the distal small and proximal large intestine.\n\nFood substances that can induce distension are those that are poorly absorbed in the proximal small intestine, osmotically active, and fermented by intestinal bacteria with hydrogen as opposed to methane production. Over many years, there have been multiple observations that ingestion of certain short-chain carbohydrates, including lactose, fructose and sorbitol, fructans and galactooligosaccharides , can induce gastrointestinal discomfort similar to that of people with irritable bowel syndrome.\n\nThese studies also showed that dietary restriction of short-chain carbohydrates was associated with symptoms improvement. These short-chain carbohydrates lactose, fructose and sorbitol, fructans and GOS behave similarly in the intestine.\n\nFirstly, being small molecules and either poorly absorbed or not absorbed at all, they drag water into the intestine via osmosis.\n\nIt is this 'stretching' that triggers the sensations of pain and discomfort that are commonly experienced by IBS sufferers. This was proposed to reduce stimulation of the gut's nervous system and provide the best chance of reducing symptom generation in people with IBS see below. At the time, there was no collective term for indigestible or slowly absorbed, short-chain carbohydrates, so the term 'FODMAP' was created to improve understanding and facilitate communication of the concept.\n\nFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Food portal Medicine portal Health portal. Expert Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. Curr Pharm Des Review. Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. A systematic review in adult and paediatric population, on behalf of Italian Society of Pediatrics\".\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSome have more than others. Top sources include artichokes, green peas, broccoli, lentils, and lima beans. Among fruits, raspberries lead the list. If you eat times a day, it could keep hunger at bay. You could split your calories equally across all of those mini-meals, or make some bigger than others.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8792095184326172}
+{"content": " What is a language tandem ?\n\nWhat is a language tandem ?\n\nWhat is the ‘ language tandem’ ?\n\nThis partnership is about working with a foreign partner on the phone, via emails or any other means of communication. This exchange will allow you to learn each other’s language.\n\nHow can I find a ‘ language partner ‘ ?\n\nTo find a language partner, you have to send an email to Méli Mélo here : contact@assomelimelo.com\nTo create a partnership in the best way, we need some information :\nSurname, first name, email address, nationality, spoken language(s), language(s) to practice\n\nWhat can you learn from each other ?\n\nThis partnership is very enriching because it allows you to learn and understand your partner’s language better and to express yourself better as well. You will also learn about their culture and the customs of their country.\n\nWho can learn from a ‘language partnership’?\n\nEverybody can ! The partnership is meant for every person willing to improve their knowledge of a foreign language. All you need is to know some basics of this language.\n\nHow to work together as partners ?\nChoose the means that is best for both your partner and yourself according to your wishes, whether you want to improve your oral and/or written skills in the chosen language and finally choose how to use your personal time (emails, phone conversations, faxes, letters etc.)\n\nHelp and advice\nEverything your partner tells you can be useful. You can also ask them to speak in a specific way, be it in a colloquial or a more professional way. But bear in mind that they are also willing to learn so if you speak their language one half of the time, the other half must be devoted to speaking yours !\n\nYour partner’s words may leave no trace but there are some ways to remember what matters :\n\n– Do not hesitate to interrupt them if you have not heard or understood what they said ; ask them to repeat or explain what they are talking about.\n– Repeat the most important parts so as to memorise them better and ask your partner to correct you (including the pronunciation and intonation), then repeat the corrections. Repetition is how wording can be set.\n– You can also write down the important locutions (phrases) so as not to forget them.\n– If you do not understand something, you can ask your partner :\n\n→ to translate it in their mother tongue. This can be an interesting exercise for them.\n→ to rephrase what they have said differently.\n→ to give you other examples or further explanations.\n\nLearn thanks to the information about your partner’s life in their country.\n\nDo not ignore the cultural enrichment which can be provided by your partner !!\n\nThe first steps with your ‘ language partner ‘\nIntroduce yourself in an email. Then all you need is to meet each other !", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9621530771255493}
+{"content": "This is an implementation of Haeberli's Impressionistic Applet. The user initiates a painting session by loading an image. A corresponding blank canvas is created. By painting over the blank canvas, the original image is sampled and revealed through various brush styles and sizes. The user can:\n\nChoose among circular, point, and line style brushes.\nControl brush size by the keys '+' and '-'.\nSpecify line stroke orientation by RMB dragging on the canvas.\nDefine a new brush.\n\nThe process for defining a brush is simple: key 'd', which puts the user in define mode, draw the shape of the brush with distinct points using the middle mouse button , key 'e' to end the sequence.\n\nOnce defined, the user can use this new brush in the same manner as the point, circle, and line. Having full control over brush parameters is critical to any painter. Defining the shape of the brush is one of the more important tools a painter can have. This simple idea can be extended in many ways, to allow more complex shapes and textures.\n\nAn example of the painter's palette is show below. The color is sampled from the ubiquitous 'lena' image. The palette demonstrates circles, points, and lines in the first, second, and third rows, respectively. Different sizes and orientations are sampled. Finally the last row shows two examples of user defined brush shapes.\n\nBrush Styles\n\nBelow are some example paintings:\n\nThe bike image was first abstracted with large circle brushes, then painted over with smaller circle brushes. The bikes were painted with a point brush. Finally, lines were drawn around the windows and the edges of the barn. The line drawings give the windows a sense of reflection.\n\n\nThe portrait was first abstracted with large circle brushes. The face was painted over with smaller circle brushes. The facial features (eyes, nose, mouth, crease around the mouth) were painted over by a fine point brush to emphasize the emotional detail. The background was then painted with line strokes in different orientations.\n\nTired Taken from Gilberto Oliveira Jr", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9659433364868164}
+{"content": "Security Coordinator\n\nTime period\n\nJanuary 2016 - June 2018\n\n\n\n\nGrupo Irena was hired by a major multinational firm to provide a permanent security coordinator during the construction of one of Mexico’s largest ever transport infrastructure projects.\n\n\n  • Proposing, designing and implementing all security measures needed to guarantee safe working conditions and environment, even at moments of crisis or risk.\n\n  • Ensure protection of key personnel, sensitive materials and facilities against kidnapping, extortion, theft, infiltration and other security threats.\n\n  • Before a project starts, identification of potential risks at location and recommendation of needed measures (CCTV, security guards, fences, alarms, lighting, etc.)\n\nINTERVIEW: Here, we provide a comprehensive interview with the coordinator after completion of the project, covering the scope of the role, the risks identified the protocols put in place, coordination between Grupo Irena, the client and the authorities, and more besides.\n\n\n\nGrupo Irena: Could you briefly describe the role of the security coordinator? What safety aspects do you monitor before and during the project?\n\nSecurity Coordinator: The Security Coordinator is responsible for proposing, designing and implementing a full security plan to ensure personnel, materials and facilities are part of a safe working environment at all times.\n\nIn this project, the most valuable assets to be protected included key personnel (project and area managers), sensitive materials (attractive targets are theft) and sensitive facilities (covering all buildings, construction areas, offices and warehouses).\n\nBefore a project starts, if time permits, a full revision is made of the facilities to identify areas for improvement and the inclusion of needed tools to reduce threats: CCTV, Human surveillance, fences, alarm systems, radio system, lighting, etc.\n\nGeographical: access routes, neighboring properties, schedule and intensity of local activity\n\n-Social: location of project, economic activity in area, crime statistics\n\n– Operational: what kind of work to be carried out where, type and number of employees, duration of project, type, quantity and value of inputs\n\n-Criminal: common crime or organized crime, risk of robbery/extortion/sabotage, risk of protests/blockades/strikes\n\nIrena: What factors are included in your initial safety plan? \n\nSC: The geographical element: the location of important access routes, the type of road, lighting, the type of nearby or neighboring properties, the schedule and intensity of activity.\n\nThe social element: where is the location (in an industrial corridor, open field, rural or urban setting), what is the main economic activity in the area, crime statistics for the block, neighborhood, city.\n\nThe operational element: what kind of work will be carried out where (administrative, operational, production, mixed), what type and number of employees will be where, the duration of the project, what value do the inputs have and what is their demand, who might be most interested in seizing them.\n\nThe risk element: common crime or organized crime, robbery, extortion, threats, sabotage, clashes with opposition groups, blockades in the case of public works or extraction industries.\n\nIrena: What advantage does the client obtain in working with Grupo Irena, an expert in Mexico and Latin America?\n\nSC: A full coordinated team backs up the coordinator’s actions and plans through exhaustive analysis of security conditions. The client does not only hire a coordinator, they hire the analysis, planning and knowledge capacity of Irena for an area, region or country. We constantly monitor criminal activity in every state and identify points which need to be addressed.\n\nOnce the project begins, however, I am fully empowered to make daily decisions while always reporting back to Irena about the status of the project and relevant challenges.\n\n\n\nIrena: How did the client handle the relationship with you and your authority in the project? \n\nSC: The client had a clear idea from the beginning and always accepted the complete autonomy given to me. They understood the role, its limitations and that security is an ever-changing affair.\n\nOn some occasions, foreign executives had trouble fully grasping the current criminal situation in Mexico. However, providing them with precise data helped them understand the exposure to critical risks and how to reduce the possibility of being targeted by criminals. Statistics and hard data always work.\n\n\n“Providing precise data helps to get across exposure to critical risks and how to reduce the possibility of being targeted by criminals. Statistics and hard data always work.”\n\n\nIrena: A high-profile infrastructure project in Mexico attracts the attention of undesirables. What threats did you face and how did you handle them?\n\nSC: The most common situation, as the project drew to a close, was the theft of common wire. This type of robbery happens without violence and is usually carried out by guards and staff with access to the material. Complicit guards look the other way while the thieves cut and remove the copper. At times, we received indications the thieves might have been in cahoots with small local gangs but no violence was ever seen.\n\nOur protocol details how to handle these occasions and security guards have an action manual explaining what to do, adapted to the type of cable being guarded, the facilities, shifts, schedules, working conditions. Supervisors also carry out regular checks. We also are strict in terms of changing staff who are absent from work, who do not follow instructions, or who we discover have been connected to shady acts in the past.\n\nSome engineers faced extortion threats but within their personal lives. They were provided with counseling support, legal advice and physical protection when required. The extortion threats always stopped, showing good results.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9010151028633118}
+{"content": "We are a people-driven company that uses technology - not the other way around.\n\nJob Postings\n\nContact careers@webtpa.com for a list of positions that are currently open at WebTPA.\n\nWorking at WebTPA\n\nThe WebTPA culture is built around excellence in service, and we’re always on the lookout for the right people to join our team.\n\nCustomers contact us for one reason – to get something accomplished. Whether that’s a business looking for a better healthcare solution, a healthcare professional calling with a process question, or any number of interactions with the individual members we serve, our focus is on providing the smartest, most efficient, most impactful response we can, and continually learning how we can do even better.\n\nHealthcare is a fluid and challenging market that can be extremely confusing for anybody. We hire people who strive to bring clarity to our customers, and who push to improve technology and processes because they understand technology and processes exist to serve people. WebTPA continues to thrive because our people continue to push for better solutions for the people and businesses who trust us to watch out for them and to make a challenging healthcare system work for their good.\n\nWe’re constantly looking for people who care. People who serve. People who will be champions for our customers. People who know that healthcare is big business, but it’s a big business built on very specific experiences and acts of caring.\n\nIs that you? Do you have the passion for business, for technology, and for people it takes to provide quality healthcare support in today’s world? If so, we’d love to hear from you.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9838053584098816}
+{"content": "Growers Blog: Environment\n\nBy cch2o\n\nPosted in\n\nEnvironment is everything when growing high value crops. It is the basis for success that a great harvest is built upon. This begins with dialing in environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, pH, ppm/EC, CO2 and water temperature. Great care must be taken to ensure plants receive these environmental requirements to produce at their optimal levels. Below you will find information guiding you on the correct environmental conditions when growing in the Under Current.\n\n\nProper grow room temperature is crucial for plants ability to carry out important functions such as photosynthesis and transpiration. Within natural environments plants can regulate these functions efficiently. However, plants grown in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) are entirely dependent on the grower to supply these environmental conditions required for optimal growth.\n\nTemperature directly affects a plants ability to photosynthesize (the process by which plants turn carbon dioxide, water and light into energy) and transpiration (the process of moisture being carried throughout the plant and released through leaves into the atmosphere). These crucial processes can only be achieved efficiently when temperature, and other factors such as humidity, are within the plants optimal range. Anything outside of this optimal range and gardens become less efficient, leading to poor quality harvest or even complete crop loss.\n\nLow Temperatures\n\nGrow room environments with low temperatures will cause plants to slow down their evaporation process. This results in slowed growth and increased risk of dangerous pathogens such as fungus and mildew.\n\nHigh Temperatures\n\nAt high temperatures, plants will be will begin to conserve water by slowing down or ceasing the transpiration process. Much like the human body sweating to keep cool, plants transpire to regulate their temperature. When continuously exposed to high temperatures plants will lose this ability, resulting in slowed growth and/or poor quality harvests. As a response to high temperatures in the vegetative stage plants will stretch excessively, while plants in their flowering stage will have flowers that are light, airy and dry.\n\n\nWorking in conjunction with temperature to create the ideal environmental conditions, humidity is crucial for plants to thrive and produce to their full potential. Humidity is directly affected by atmospheric temperature; warmer temperatures can hold an increased amount of moisture when compared to colder temperatures (ex: A room at 70% RH / 85° will hold more atmospheric moisture vs a room at 70% RH / 45°). It is this relationship that requires equal attention to both humidity and temperature when dialing in environmental conditions.\n\nMoisture within the atmosphere at any given moment is measured and represented by relative humidity (RH), which is determined by environmental temperatures. Plants contribute to humidity naturally by utilizing only 5-10% of the water they absorb. The remaining 90-95% is released into the atmosphere during the transpiration process.\n\nDuring this transpiration process, plant and environment attempt to find equilibrium. In low RH environments water is essentially drawn from plants to replace the lack of moisture within the atmosphere. The moisture drawn from the plant during this process is often taken at a rate that cannot be replaced efficiently, resulting in plant tissue damage.\n\nLow Humidity\n\nLow RH results in crispy, wilting leaves and poor quality product. Plants may also uptake nutrient solution at an increased rate, in an effort to replace lost moisture, potentially causing nutrient burn.\n\nHigh Humidity\n\nHigh RH environments in combination with inadequate airflow increase the risk of dangerous pathogens such as fungus and mildew taking a hold on a garden. This environment also provides the ideal living conditions for many garden pests.\n\n\nThe ideal range for pH in the Under Current system is 5.5-6.5, it is at this range that plants can efficiently absorb the essential elements required for successful growth and production. Correct pH levels used in conjunction with a quality nutrient line, such as Cultured Solutions premium hydroponic nutrients, will prevent any nutrient deficiencies that can affect a quality harvest.\n\n  • Tip: It is recommended to not add concentrated pH adjusters directly to the system, this can result in plant root shock. Utilizing a top-off reservoir is a safe way of mixing all nutrient and pH concentrates without causing stress to plants.\n\n\nThe Under Current is a high-performance system designed to deliver high levels of dissolved oxygen and circulation to plants root structure. These conditions allow plants to uptake water and nutrients more efficiently, thus fewer nutrient (ppm/EC) inputs are required to obtain the increased yields and quality known to the Under Current system.\n\nTypical forms of gardening (soil, coco, rockwool etc) often require ppm levels in excess of 700 ppm / 1.0 EC for young plants, and regularly exceeding 1000 ppm/ 1.4 EC for flowering plants. Because of the Under Currents increased efficiency nutrient levels this high are not required, in fact they can slow down plant growth rates, hurting yield and quality.\n\nHigh ppm / EC\n\nPlants will begin to slow down the uptake of water and nutrients, hindering growth rates and plant performance. Prolonged exposure to high nutrient levels will result in nutrient lock-out, where plants slow down/cease all uptake of water and nutrients as a natural defense mechanism to conditions of high stress. Signs of nutrient lock out include: stunted growth, yellow foliage, leaf curing and tip burn.\n\n  • Tip: Any adjustments to nutrients should be done incrementally, paying special attention to how plants respond to these changes. Utilizing a quality nutrient line such as Cultured Solutions will insure your plants receive all macro and micro nutrients required for explosive growth.\n\nWater Temperature\n\nTo get the most out of your garden it is recommended to utilize a water chiller in conjunction with the Under Current system. Water chillers will keep water temperatures within the optimal range (65-68°), allowing high levels of dissolved oxygen to be accessible to the root structure, while also strengthening plant disease suppression.\n\nAs water/nutrient temperature warms, its ability to hold dissolved oxygen diminishes. This high temperature, low oxygen environment provides a suitable habit for anaerobic pathogens, such as root rot, to take hold. This low oxygen environment also reduces the amount of nutrient uptake possible, limiting the potential for explosive root growth known to the Under Current system.\n\n  • Tip: Cooler water temps will also act a heat sink in the grow room environment allowing for warmer temperatures required for optimal CO2 absorption.\n\n\nSupplementing CO2 within the grow room can be used to increase growth rates and yields. It is recommended to utilize slightly warmer temperatures within the grow environment to fully take advantage of CO2 enrichment. These higher temperatures are needed to increase the metabolic rate of plants allowing them to utilize the increased CO2 available.\n\n  • Tip: Increase grow room environmental temperatures by 5-10% and nutrient strength by 5-10% when using CO2 enrichment.\n\nSo what are the ideal environmental conditions for plants grown in the Under Current System? This depends on the growth stage plants are in, throughout their growth cycle plants will have varying environmental requirements. Refer to the Current Culture H2O General Recommendations for a comprehensive guide for temperature, humidity, pH, ppm/EC, CO2 and water temperature when growing in the Under Current.\n\nAbout The cch2o\n\nComments are closed.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9143780469894409}
+{"content": "Use all three perspectives (functionalism, conflict and interactionism) to analyze one of the following issues: fraternities and sororities, social networking sites, or employer/employee relations.\n\n\n\nDescribe in three separate paragraphs how each perspective would view or explain the issue.\n\nInclude elements of culture and how humans learn, develop, and become integrated into society.\n\nProvide a conclusion that discusses which perspective you think is most applicable to the issue or how the three perspectives complement one another in understanding the issue.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7257221937179565}
+{"content": "The Supreme Court of Thailand on March 19 accepted a cirminal case against former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra over a loss-ridden rice-subsidy scheme implemented by her government.\n\nAccording to an announcement released by the court, the first hearing is scheduled on May 19.\n\nIf convicted for dereliction of duty, Yingluck could face ten years in jail.\n\nEarlier in January, the legislature voted to impeach the ex-PM for her role in the rice subsidy programme, which incurred national budget losses and cost the country’s place as the world's leading rice exporter.\n\nWith this accusation, she was banned from politics for five years.\n\nSo far, Yingluck has denied all the charges related to the rice subsidy programme.-VNA", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9990676045417786}
+{"content": "Urogenital System: All the organs involved in reproduction and the formation and release of URINE. It includes the kidneys, ureters, BLADDER; URETHRA, and the organs of reproduction - ovaries, UTERUS; FALLOPIAN TUBES; VAGINA; and CLITORIS in women and the testes; SEMINAL VESICLES; PROSTATE; seminal ducts; and PENIS in men.Wolffian Ducts: A pair of excretory ducts of the middle kidneys (MESONEPHROI) of an embryo, also called mesonephric ducts. In higher vertebrates, Wolffian ducts persist in the male forming VAS DEFERENS, but atrophy into vestigial structures in the female.Ureter: One of a pair of thick-walled tubes that transports urine from the KIDNEY PELVIS to the URINARY BLADDER.Urogenital Abnormalities: Congenital structural abnormalities of the UROGENITAL SYSTEM in either the male or the female.PAX2 Transcription Factor: A paired box transcription factor that is essential for ORGANOGENESIS of the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM and KIDNEY.Genitalia, Male: The male reproductive organs. They are divided into the external organs (PENIS; SCROTUM;and URETHRA) and the internal organs (TESTIS; EPIDIDYMIS; VAS DEFERENS; SEMINAL VESICLES; EJACULATORY DUCTS; PROSTATE; and BULBOURETHRAL GLANDS).Mesoderm: The middle germ layer of an embryo derived from three paired mesenchymal aggregates along the neural tube.Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental: Any of the processes by which nuclear, cytoplasmic, or intercellular factors influence the differential control of gene action during the developmental stages of an organism.In Situ Hybridization: A technique that localizes specific nucleic acid sequences within intact chromosomes, eukaryotic cells, or bacterial cells through the use of specific nucleic acid-labeled probes.Homeodomain Proteins: Proteins encoded by homeobox genes (GENES, HOMEOBOX) that exhibit structural similarity to certain prokaryotic and eukaryotic DNA-binding proteins. Homeodomain proteins are involved in the control of gene expression during morphogenesis and development (GENE EXPRESSION REGULATION, DEVELOPMENTAL).Transcription Factors: Endogenous substances, usually proteins, which are effective in the initiation, stimulation, or termination of the genetic transcription process.Kidney: Body organ that filters blood for the secretion of URINE and that regulates ion concentrations.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9997423887252808}
+{"content": "Why Magic Happens — at Work\n\nBy Michael Brennan\n\nThere are moments in your life that you realize ‘magic’ happened. That is, something special, unexpected and surreal took place. I experienced a magical moment at the end of the 4 month prototype phase of Civilla. The creator of that magic, James Paek, is a 30 year-old with deep dark hair and eyes who was a 3-month Apprentice in Residence at Civilla. James arrived by train via LA not knowing anyone in Detroit, never wore much of a cool weather coat, and didn’t know a lot about the vision being launched. Regardless, he showed up–which is simple rule #2 at Civilla.\n\nJames ended up painting the simple rules of Civilla on our pillar.\n\nJames, Adam Selzer-co-founder of Civilla, and I immediately gathered at a table to discuss “give/gets.” What is it that we each can give? What is it that we each would like to get? We learned early on at Civilla that magic happens when you can align give/gets and an individual has the chance to bring their full self. Not just their resume, but all the gifts, strengths and interests one carries. James is a seasoned leader of people, projects and networks. He is also a Pastor. A musician. A songwriter. And a paper mache’ specialist :)\n\nThe ensuing weeks included opening the doors to Civilla, launching a teaching school, taking on three social change projects, and building out a work space to fuel innovation. The time was the most intense, satisfying, and emotional that I have experienced in 30 years of professional work. The team that formed around Civilla grew quite close because everyone there had made a deep personal decision to alter their lives in order to go put the organization’s mission into the world.\n\nAfter three months of testing and stretching all of our abilities, the small team was getting ready to close the doors for phase 1 of Civilla and James was going to climb on a plane the next day to head back home to LA. We all had a sense that we had just gone through experiences together that would alter the arc of our lives. There was awareness in the air that our time together was coming to a close and it was ever so bittersweet.\n\nAt that moment, James said he had a song for us that he wanted to play. Something he had written over the past three months that captured his feelings about the essence and the people of Civilla. So there we sat, with help from Adam Selzer on guitar, James began to unfold “It’s the Way” in the room that just a few weeks prior had only been a storage closet in the middle of Detroit.\n\nAs he sang the song, I couldn’t help but think about the words in a photograph right above his shoulder — No Matter What. How do you make magic happen in your life or your organization? One thing I know for sure is that you have to seek and pursue your own “No Matter What” — the thing in life that you are going to do or become no matter what. For some reason, once you place intention and make that dream visible, the world conspires to help bring it to life in ways you never even imagined. A question to ask oneself each day is — am I on my no matter what?\n\nJames is in a recording studio working on a refined version of the song. I am sure it will storm the world. But for me, that quiet place inside a large rough space called the storage closet couldn’t have been better than if it was at Carnegie Hall. Pure Magic.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8187232613563538}
+{"content": "Choosing a licence for your robot's software\n\nI like to encourage developers and engineers to open source their robotics projects when possible. Obviously the nature of intellectual property and ownership does not always permit this, and there is still a great amount of proprietary software that many businesses rely on which cannot be open sourced.\n\nHowever, all is not lost. There is many alternatives that make it possible to leverage the advantages of open source software while avoiding releasing proprietary code. As usual in development, abstraction is the key. Instead of releasing the entire sum of a project, try modularizing the codebase into one or more abstract library that can be released. The added advantage here is that the process of modularizing your codebase will significantly improve the readability and maintainability of your code.\n\nThere are a significant number of benefits to open sourcing a useful package or library. Aside from the possibility of allowing a community of other developers to double check your work and possibly improve it, an open source project can become a significant way for a single developer or a company to establish and maintain reputability.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.791693389415741}
+{"content": "Course Preview\n\nBehavioral Economics and Finance\nInstructor: Xavier Gabaix\nPlatform: MIT OpenCourseWare\nPrice: Free\nThis course surveys research which incorporates psychological evidence into economics. Topics include: prospect theory, biases in probabilistic judgment, self-control and mental accounting with implications for consumption and savings, fairness, altruism, and public goods contributions, financial market anomalies and theories, impact of markets, learning, and incentives, and memory, attention, categorization, and the thinking process.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9556064009666443}
+{"content": "Nevada Adaven\n\nFirst edition self-published, 20 copies for 428collective exhibit at Hammerfriar Gallery (Healdsburg, 2017). Currently undergoing draft revisions and the addition of 3 new chapters. Cover art by Alice.\n\n\"In a near future, humans regret the previous regime's mass execution of artists across the world. A rogue curator-adventurer takes on the challenge of cataloging the world's last remaining artists. They are hiding in the extremes of human nature: at the heart of cities and the tops of mountains. In the process, their art, contorted by repression, begins to define a new genre, blurring the boundary with life and fringing on the supernatural. \nRestrained science fiction sets the stage for exploring the future of contemporary art, each short story a mix of hi-brow/low-brow culture erupting in fantasy art projects as the reader follows a typical detective figure: moderately pathetic, deeply compassionate and unwittingly irreverent towards her cases.\"\n\nnavigate image 2015.jpg\n\nNavigating Out Here\n\nAlice created this art booklet after asking the members of 428collective to draw a map of their everyday lives in Sonoma County. It features 11 maps by women artists working in and around Healdsburg:\n\nMaura Harrington, Cristina Hobbs, Pat Lenz, Jessica Martin, Caitlin McCaffrey, Susan Preston, Flora Skivington, Alice Sutro, Carol Vena-Mondt, Victoria Wagner, Chelsea Wills\n\nExhibited for a 428collective group show in 2016.\n\n\nPhotocopy Body Kit\n\nAlice produced this booklet by climbing all over a photocopy machine in an attempt to explore and confront the idea of the female body seen through the male gaze as it is often described in feminist film theory: fractured and less than the sum of its parts. Her body is parceled out onto 34 pages with instructions for cutting & reassembling. (Sources: John Berger, Ways of Seeing, 1972 & Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, 1975). \n\nExhibited at arttransponder (Berlin, 2010) as part of a group show: \"An American Orifice\", curated by Rajkamal Kahlon on the theme of the grotesque.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9906693696975708}
+{"content": "Public Release: \n\n\nUniversity of Edinburgh\n\n\nPeople who take foreign breaks have higher levels of vitamin D in their blood, which has been linked to wide-ranging health benefits, a study has found.\n\nFarmers also have higher levels of the vitamin -- which is produced in the skin after exposure to sunlight -- according to the findings. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh surveyed the vitamin D levels of around 2000 people in Orkney -- 1 in 10 of the population -- as part of the ORCADES study.\n\nThe team were interested to see whether widespread vitamin D deficiency in Orkney might explain why rates of multiple sclerosis are higher there than anywhere in the world.\n\nThey were surprised to find that average vitamin D levels are higher in Orkney than mainland Scotland.\n\nThe highest levels were seen in farmers and people over 60 years of age who take regular foreign holidays.\n\nVitamin D is known to be associated with good bone health. It has also been linked to wide-ranging health benefits including lower blood pressure, reduced heart disease risk and better chances of surviving cancer.\n\nDeficiency in vitamin D has been strongly linked to diseases including multiple sclerosis.\n\nStudies have yet to prove that vitamin D is responsible or whether it serves as a marker for how much sun exposure a person has had. Scotland has one of the world's highest rates of MS with Orkney being the worst affected.\n\nDr. Jim Wilson, who led the study at the University of Edinburgh's Usher Institute, said: \"It was surprising to see that levels of vitamin D were not worse in Orkney, and if anything they were better than in Mainland Scotland. It would appear that poor vitamin D status, while common enough, cannot explain the excess of Multiple Sclerosis we see in Orkney.\"\n\nEmily Weiss, a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh who was involved in the study, said: \"It was interesting to find that the traditional occupation of farming was associated with higher levels of blood vitamin D in Orkney. This may be because farmers are outside and utilising even the smallest window of vitamin-D strength sunshine.\n\n\"We also found that farmers in our Orkney cohort tended to be older, suggesting that the traditional way of life is changing, leaving younger people potentially more exposed to MS risk factors such as vitamin D deficiency.\"\n\n\nThe research is published in the journal PLOS ONE and was funded by the Shetland and Orkney Multiple Sclerosis Research Project.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8428134918212891}
+{"content": "Measuremen Presents The Healthy Workplace\n\nMeasuremen Presents Recap\n\nThree weeks ago, we hosted the second edition of Measuremen Presents at the beautiful Hortus Botanicus, the botanical gardens in central Amsterdam. This edition of Measuremen Presents was a huge success and we ended the day with some great, new learnings! We had experts from Google, KPMG, Diageo, Planon and a professional Dutch football club, AZ,  in attendance. These guests shared and discussed their views on the healthy workplace and advised on everyday strategies to apply in the workplace, based on their experiences.\n\nWho is responsible for the workplace?\n\nThe discussions took place in two separate panels lead by Measuremen’s co-founder and CEO, Vincent le Noble. Each panel offered interesting and differing viewpoints of health within the workplace. The first panel was made up of Ingrid Boekkamp, Frans van Eersel and Teske Schröder. During the first panel, the main question of discussion was: who is responsible for a healthy workplace? The conversation concluded that an organisation should create requirements for a healthy workplace with input from all departments such as Facility Management, Human Resources, ICT and Real Estate Management. But incorporating healthy practices within the organisation itself is not the only thing that helps integrate a healthy workplace culture; the responsibility also lies with each individual employee. Attendees also suggested that a clear, singular motivation for a healthy lifestyle plays a huge role in workplace health as well.\n\nHow does gathering data change the way people think about their health?\n\nThe second panel was made up of Lisette de Jonge, Joost Burger en Justin Timmer. During this panel, the focus was on data and culture. Each of the three members shared their own experiences in gathering data as an important part of forming a healthy workplace. Justin Timmer is a researcher who is measuring everything about himself from his heart-rate to his happiness number. As an expert in the so-called quantified self, he shared his experience from measuring his own activity and others. Lisette de Jonge shared her experience about running a pilot at KPMG in which each participant measured their daily activity and sleep with a Fitbit. It was concluded that through gathering these kinds of insights, people become more conscious of their health and activity, therefore offering them some motivation or accountability to make improvements.\n\nFinally, the conversation led to culture, which ultimately plays a huge role in an employee’s health and happiness within an organisation. Lisette de Jonge shared that she will start working soon at IKEA and she spoke about the Swedish coffee culture of “Fika” and how it is a crucial aspect of the culture there, in personal and work life. Fika allows people to relax and have more personal conversations with colleagues, friends and family.\n\nIn the coming years, will the idea of health within the workplace evolve?\n\nThe discussions during Measuremen Presents lead to the conclusion that everyone is responsible for their own health. Although the work environment plays a huge role in health, a person’s own personality, motivation and responsibility contribute to a bigger part of their personal health. The conversation ended with the question of how we will look at the healthy workplace in five years? Hopefully, as Lisette de Jonge suggests, a healthy workplace will not be a discussion in five years, but it will be commonplace and a normal part of an organisation’s culture.\n\nIf you enjoyed this and would like to read more, please put your email address below and you will receive a notification when there is a new post. Thank you!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9984539151191711}
+{"content": "Jaguar XF\n\nFrom Jaguar press: A sedan with the soul of a Jaguar sports car, the Jaguar XF has won accolades and enthusiastic fans across the globe for its dynamic abilities and dramatic appearance. Advances in lighting technology have allowed the new 2012 Jaguar XF model range to adopt the Jaguar design language introduced on the flagship Jaguar XJ sedan.\n\nRevisions to the grille, hood, and front fenders, which incorporate new triangular side vents, give the car a more muscular appearance. The Jaguar XF Supercharged hood is fitted with louvers featuring the \"supercharged\" script, further distinguishing the vehicle from the naturally aspirated models. The XFR also receives its own unique styling to underline its performance potential.\n\nThe XF headlamps now incorporate bi-function HID xenon technology that allows them to be much slimmer and more compact while maintaining outstanding beam resolution. The lights incorporate LED daytime running lights arranged in a distinctive Jaguar ‘J-Blade’ signature.\n\nThe tail lamps have been redesigned and now extend onto the central portion of the trunk lid. These new units are full-LED for stop, tail light and turn signal functions and give the Jaguar XF a distinctive light signature at night. Separating the tail lights is a revised trunk lid trim with a gloss black lower edge for a cleaner appearance. The trunk also features a power latch on all models.\n\nThree new paint colors and an expanded alloy wheels selection ranging from 18\" to 20\" provide the finishing touches to the revised styling.\n\n\nContinuing to feature dramatic ‘surprise and delight’ elements such as the JaguarDrive Selector that rises from the center console and air vents that rotate to their open position when the start button is pressed, the XF interior also receives a comprehensive update.\n\nRevised front and rear seats incorporate a ‘hoop’ design element on the seat and backrest that improves their appearance and support. New color combinations and veneers increase the personalization options available to buyers. All models receive a revision to the color scheme on the center console, dashboard, and steering wheel where buttons and switchgear have a more luxurious soft feel black paint finish, and the ‘Tungsten’ finish is replaced by a more contemporary ‘Aurora’ theme.\n\nThe XF incorporates a formidable amount of technology, but in true Jaguar fashion, it is integrated seamlessly into the function of the car. The primary interface is a seven-inch Touch-screen with a new polarizing filter for improved contrast. Additional buttons have been added below the touch-screen to switch instantly between different functions. The graphics palette has been revised, and is based on those in the Jaguar XJ. The instrument cluster information display is now a full-color TFT unit for greater resolution and clarity.\n\nThree new audio systems are offered on the XF, all of which represent a significant upgrade. Headlining is a 1200W, 17-speaker premium surround sound system from British audio experts Bowers & Wilkins, which offers extraordinary clarity and sound reproduction.\n\nAll XF models are specified with a hard-drive based satellite navigation system that incorporates a ‘virtual’ CD changer allowing the owner to transfer 10 CDs at a time into the car’s memory storage and play them as if they were a physical music medium. The system now offers multiple options for connecting portable players; two USB ports, one which can be used for iPod® devices and the other for a USB or other MP3 digital music player, and Bluetooth® connectivity that allows music to be streamed from a smartphone.\n\nThe majority of the car’s functions can also be controlled from the driver’s seat by Jaguar’s Interactive Voice functionality, which provides an intuitive interface for hands-free operation.\n\nGallery: Jaguar XF", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7475365400314331}
+{"content": "Hilarious time world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking shared a beer with Homer on the Simpsons\n\nYou know you are famous when you get a guest appearance on the Simpsons.\n\nWorld-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking who died aged 76 today was famous enough to appear on the show four times.\n\nHawking first appeared in the Simpsons in season 10, episode 22, titled They Saved Lisa's Brain. \n\nThe episode aired in 1999 and focused on Lisa Simpson's attempts to make the town of Springfield smarter by imposing new laws with fellow town brain boxes, including Professor Frink and Principal Skinner.\n\nHawking appears in town to help out and at one point shares a beer with Homer at Moe's Tavern.\n\n\"Your theory of a donut shaped universe is intriguing Homer I may have to steal it,\" Hawking says before Homer retorts: \"Wow I can't believe someone I never heard of is hanging out with a guy like me.\"\n\nHawking went on to appear in three more Simpsons episodes before his death today.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9594141840934753}
+{"content": "A new government proposal finalized on Monday sets down plans to cover 20-22% of Japan’s energy demands through nuclear sources by 2030.\n\nAnd 100% of the mechs.\nImage via: engadget.com\n\nThe island country is preparing to launch a new energy policy, seeking to curb costs and promote the use of environmentally friendly sources of power. Despite early opposition from some of the members to what they feel is an over-dependence on nuclear power, a panel from the Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and Energy, a body affiliated with Japan’s industry ministry, agreed to endorse the proposal.\n\nThe panel was however unable to reach an agreement on the proposed energy mix at its previous meeting, on May 26. Some panel members issued a statement saying, “We can’t say for sure that this will reduce (Japan’s use of nuclear energy) as much as possible.”\n\nIn the wake of the tragic events that befell the country in 2011 it is not hard to understand the reluctance of the Japanese people to rely too heavily on nuclear energy. After the government’s attempt to completely rid of such power plants saw operating costs (a $112 billion trade deficit due to imports of coal and liquefied natural gas in 2013) and carbon emissions (7.4% increase in 2013 from 2010) rise dramatically, it became clear that its benefits and cost-effectiveness make splitting the atom one of the best choices in energy production for the country\n\nThe plan is to increase the ratio of nuclear energy from the current 1% to a maximum of 22%, and key to the plan is the assumption that Japan will extend the operational life of its nuclear reactors. The final proposal includes a newly added statement that the government will take full responsibility for restarting the now-idled reactors. Another objective is to have renewable energy play a much more central role in the grid: anywhere between 22 to 24% of the national power output by the 2030 deadline.\n\nPart of the proposal states that the governing body will review the energy mix once every three years, allowing for the ratios to change. The government plans to seek public comment and to officially finalize it’s decision in July of this year.\n\n\n\nEstimate my solar savings!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9980883598327637}
+{"content": "André Desjardins was born in Hauterive, Canada, in 1964. His fascination with art, history and geography goes back to early childhood when he would spend hours upon hours drawing, tinkering about, building, creating. Another favoured activity was leafing through atlases and encyclopaedias of the family’s extensive library. He was constantly on the lookout for anything new to feed his boundless curiosity: books, music, magazines, comics. At twelve years old, his young world came crashing down with the sudden loss of his father. Coping with the family grief as best he could, he found solace in the peaceful tranquility of the Magog family’s large basement. This haven housed his very first large-scale creation: a miniature city. Four years from start to finish: he was now sixteen. Nothing was missing: houses, stores, schools, parks, a port, a railroad. Every building had electricity; the train meandered through the town and its surrounding valleys. His teenage mind already had an exceptional grasp of spacial organization.\n\nAt eighteen, Desjardins left the family home in the country and headed for the big city. He studied graphic design at the University of Québec in Montreal. He devoted his spare time to painting, technical and artistic drawing, as well as designing and building furniture for his first apartment. He also explored interior design and architecture. Each discipline fuelling his creativity.\n\nGetting Started\n\n\nAfter completing his Bachelor’s Degree in 1988, he opened his own marketing firm and poured his energy and talent into building a successful business. A few years later he was at the head of a very lucrative enterprise with an enviable reputation and many employees; a dream come true. But after fourteen years of hard work, his heart was not in it anymore. Desjardins decided to sell the firm, leaving behind the world of marketing to concentrate on his true passion: manual work.\n\nThis major turning point coincides with his meeting Hélène Bélanger-Martin, the young woman who would become his muse. With a background in gallery management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Art History, she looked at Desjardins’ artwork with knowledgeable interest. Her involvement, observations and questionings gave the artist the impulse to reinvent his work, to search, to re-examine, to dive deeper… From that moment on, creation became his main occupation. His only preoccupation. He painted daily. A first exhibition was held at the Monument National, in Montreal. Visitors were captivated by the serene and peaceful mood of his paintings, their sacred and spiritual qualities. The demand for his works and the list of collectors increased steadily year after year. His works were included in numerous prestigious public and private collections. Desjardins was now dreaming of making a name for himself in the United States.\n\nIn 2008, he presented his works at ArtExpo New York where the response exceeded his expectations. Not only did he sell 26 paintings, he was also approached by Masterpiece Publishing, a major name in the US fine arts industry. The agency’s reputation is based on the quality of its artists as well as the great number of galleries carrying their works. Daniel Winn, its founder and CEO, has been prominently instrumental in Desjardins’ rise to notoriety. His works are now on exhibit in many galleries throughout the United States and are part of numerous private collections.\n\n\n\n\nRecognizing the sculptural aspect of his protege’s bi-dimensional works, Winn suggested that Desjardins explore sculpture. That’s all it took for him to throw his heart and soul into this new adventure. With a deep understanding of objects, space, tri-dimensionality and human anatomy a majestic eloquence is revealed through this new medium. His portfolio now holds close to thirty sculptures, including “Recevoir Héroïque” the limited edition of 8 monumental sculptures created in 2013. Measuring over 11 feet high, this impressive work stands in private gardens in the US and Canada.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9366695880889893}
+{"content": "How to write a good conclusion for an informative speech\n\nTry one of these 10 techniques and turn the podium into your personal fireworks platform. Informative speech topics that are familiar will be easier to talk about in front of people. You need to add more than just a brief summary of the main points.\n\nGive the facts to the audience, but in a way that they will actually enjoy it. And for everything we take with us, there is something that we leave behind.\n\nSteps to Writing a Good Informative Speech\n\nWrite a question into the introduction that requires the group to participate. It needs to have a sense of finality. The Motivation In all cases, the speech conclusion has to give the audience some sort of call to action based on the information presented. Another way to signal the transition into the conclusion is a nice pause.\n\nAnd we had 9 days of rain. Then you can do a little research to build on your existing knowledge. Avoid using these phrases in any place other than the conclusion, since giving audiences a false impression of when the speech is over can distract them and cause them to miss important information.\n\nLincoln looked change directly in the eye and said: For many people, it can be scary to get into public speaking. You can do it yourself! Yes, but why are you giving the information any way?\n\nYou can mirror this introduction in your ending by reminding audiences to think twice before they drive inattentively, or they could be driving the 1 car in 5 that becomes a statistic.\n\nInformative Speech Conclusion\n\nAs our circumstances are new, we must think anew and act anew. Choose a Topic Your topic, as mentioned above, should be interesting and fun. Informative Speech Topics for College Students Selecting a topic is one of the most challenging parts of planning an informative speech.\n\nI know that none of us can do this alone, but pause Together pause we can pause until the audience responds. However, a wrap-up is not just reiterating what was already said.\n\nRemind the audience what this presentation was all about. Even an informative speech conclusion needs to have a most wanted response. Show them how each of the arguments lead them to conclude that change must take place or how each point gives them more complete knowledge and understanding about the given topic.\n\nFire your most poignant salvos in the fleeting seconds of your speech. Would you like to learn a single skill that will enhance your abilities once you have mastered it? Use an Outline and master the art of speaking from the heart. You will only have time for the highlights or most important points.\n\nLight up your audience with insight. This is not the case for a speech. Tailor your topic to the audience. It can have the benefits of acting on the information. May you think anew about ending your speeches. We need to look at this old issue in a new way, not simply for today but to make our tomorrows more rewarding, more fulfilling, and more compelling because of the change we make today.\n\nInvolve the Audience Getting the audience to participate in your speech will help you feel more comfortable and it will also get them more interested.\n\nIt is the one skill that has the greatest impact on the delivery of the conclusion. An outline also ensures you stay on topic instead of going off on tangents. Generally a 45 minute lecture might allow for a 4 to 6 minute conclusion.\n\nHowever, it should also be tailored to your audience. Seeing what others have done can give you a better idea of how to work on your own speech.\n\nWhat are they supposed to do or think as a result?\n\nHow to Write an Introduction for an Informative Speech\n\nWhat is your purpose?Conclusion; Tips for writing a good speech; Sample for speakers; How To Write A Speech (Complete Guide) An informative speech is almost the same as a demonstrative speech but differs in the fact that it does not make use of demonstrations.\n\nWhen giving an informative speech, speakers talk extensively about objects, events, processes, or. Writing the introduction for an informative speech is your chance to either grab the audience’s attention, and hopefully maintain it for the duration of the topic, or lose them and have the speech flail off into the land of sleepy crickets.\n\nTo write a successful introduction, you will be required to have a commanding. How to Write A Conclusion In a conclusion paragraph, you summarize what you’ve written about in your paper. When you’re writing a good conclusion paragraph, you need to think about the main point that you want to get across and be sure it’s included.\n\nEXAMPLE OF INFORMATIVE SPEECH OUTLINE Sarah Putnam Informative Outline Topic: The Titanic General Purpose: To Inform Cameron set out to write a film that would bring the event of the Titanic to life. In conclusion, remember The. A good conclusion to your speech will include a recap of the main points you covered, as well as a final thesis statement.\n\nGive your audience something to take away with them, even if they barely heard the rest of the informative speech. Apr 25,  · How to Conclude a Speech. The last moments are where a good speech can be made.\n\nIf you want to leave your audience stunned, you can learn the basics needs of a good conclusion, as well as some tactics for ending creatively.\n\nYou can also 79%(85).\n\nHow to write a good conclusion for an informative speech\nRated 0/5 based on 80 review", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9857712984085083}
+{"content": "Tuesday, February 23, 2010\n\nHistory of Japanese Art of tea ceremony 2\n\nJapanese Art of tea ceremony\nJapanese Art of tea ceremony\nJapanese Art of tea ceremony\n\nFeudal government in Japan is the protector of the flow of the tea ceremony, so that the financial difficulties hit the flow of the tea ceremony after the dissolution of feudal government in the early Meiji era. The loss of financial aid from the feudal government eventually replaced by successful entrepreneurs such as Takashi Masuda and act as a protector of the flow of the tea ceremony.\n\nIn the year 1906, the famous painter named Okakura Tenshin (Kakuzo) published a book called The Book of Tea in the United States. Entering the early 20th century, the term sado or chadō began widely used in conjunction with the term cha no yu or Chanoyu.\n\nMonday, February 22, 2010\n\nHistory of Japanese Art of tea ceremony 1\n\nIn the early Edo period, tea ceremony master largely composed of the daimyo and limited as a very wealthy merchant. Entering the mid-Edo period, the urban population already economically successful middle class and form of the gang into a tea enthusiasts.\n\nAmong city residents interested in learning the tea ceremony was greeted with open arms by the flow Sansenke (three flow Senke: Omotesenke, Urasenke and Mushanokōjisenke) and fractional flow Senke.\n\nThe popularity of the tea ceremony led to the number of students became more and more that needs to be regulated by a system. Iemoto seido is born of regulatory requirements set hierarchy between teachers and students in the traditional arts of Japan.\n\nJoshinsai (teacher-generation Omotesenke flow 7) and Yūgensai (teacher-generation Urasenke stream 8) and a senior student named Joshinsai Kawakami Fuhaku (Edosenke first generation) and then introduce a new method of learning the tea ceremony, called Shichijishiki. The tea ceremony can be learned by many students together with Shichijishiki method.\n\nVarious streams of tea trying to attract the interest of all people to learn the tea ceremony, so the tea ceremony has become popular throughout Japan. The tea ceremony is increasingly popular among the people is also an adverse impact on the tea ceremony which began seriously do not like playing.\n\nAt the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, perfecting principle Naosuke Ii Ichigo ichie (one life one chance). At this time, the tea ceremony which is now known as sado successfully enhanced by the addition of a real systematic procedures such as otemae (preparation techniques, penyeduhan, serving tea) and each school to set the basic style and abstract philosophy.\n\nEntering the end of the Edo period, the tea ceremony matcha enhanced use of samurai became unpopular among the public because of the rigid etiquette. Society generally wants a tea that can be enjoyed with more ease. At that time, people began paying attention to the ordinary sencha tea enjoyed everyday. Tea ceremony which use also began sencha desirable people. Based on the request of many, Baisaō priest who is also known as Ko flow Yūgai create a tea ceremony with sencha (Senchadō) which became established and popular in literary circles.\n\nArt of tea ceremony\n\nArt of tea ceremony\n\nArt of tea ceremony requires deepening over the years with improvements that last a lifetime. Guests are invited to a formal tea ceremony also had to learn manners, habits, politeness, etiquette and enjoy tea snacks served.\n\nIn general, the tea ceremony using matcha powder tea made from green tea are ground smooth. The tea ceremony is called matcha matchadō use, whereas when using a type of sencha green tea called senchadō.\n\nTea is not just poured with hot water and drunk, but as art in the broadest sense. The tea ceremony reflects the personality and knowledge covering a host of other life goals, ways of thinking, religion, appreciation of the tea ceremony equipment and how to put art in the tea ceremony room (chashitsu) and the general knowledge of art that depends on the flow tea ceremony that followed.\n\nJapanese Tea ceremony\n\nJapanese Tea ceremony\n\nThe tea ceremony is a traditional ritual in the Japanese society serve tea to guests. In ancient times called Chato or cha no yu. The tea ceremony is held outside the room called nodate.\n\nThe specially prepared by people who study the art of tea ceremony and enjoyed a group of guests at a special room for tea called chashitsu. The host is also responsible for preparing a pleasant situation for guests such as choosing a mural (kakejiku), flowers (chabana), and a ceramic bowl in accordance with the seasons and the status of an invited guest.\n\nSunday, February 21, 2010\n\nJapanese Sword from Late Kamakura\n\nLate Kamakura\n\nTachi at the end of the Kamakura period have developed into magnificent Sword. There are two types: one is wide throughout its length and the point section is the same as mid- Kamakura period kissaki, but slightly extended. The other is quite slender and similar in appearance to the late Heian, early Kamakura shapes. However, when you look further along the blade the shape has changed; the curvature has moved further along the blade. During this period notare-gunome hamon appeared. It is said that in Sagami province Goro Nyudo Masamune perfected the production of nie-deki blades.\n\nJapanese Sword from Mid-Kamakura\n\n\nAt the zenith of the warrior class’s power during the Kamakura period, the blade’s kasane becomes thick, the mihaba becomes wide and they take on magnificent tachi shape. There is not much difference between the size of the moto-haba and the saki-haba. The blade still has koshi-zori, but the center of the curvature has moved further along the blade. The kissaki has become a compact chu-kissaki (ikubi). The hamon has developed into a flowing gorgeous choji-midare. Also around this time, tanto production appears.\n\nSaturday, February 20, 2010\n\nJapanese Sword Late Heian to Early Kamakura\n\nFrom the late Heian period and the early Kamakura period (1185-1333) we can see the Japanese sword as we know it: shinogi-zukuri (ridgeline) construction, with a wide base, narrowing acutely towards the small point section (ko-kissaki). They are quite slender blades with the curvature concentrated between the handle and base. This shape is called koshi-zori. From midway towards the point there is very little curvature. These blades are usually around 2.5-6 shaku in length (75.8 cm-78.8 cm)\n\nFirearms Japanese Army during World War II\n\nDuring World War II, Japan has a military movement in occupied territory from China to Southeast Asia in the period December 1941 until around March 1942 with the entry of Japan marked the capitulation of Java and the Dutch East Indies to Japan.\n\nBut what is the secret behind your success? Because senjatakah advantage? I do not know, because it was the weapon used by the Japanese army at that time was the same weapon as they defeated the Russian army in 1905.\n\nApparently, the secret is the chrysanthemum symbol printed on each gun, so the Japanese soldiers burned the spirit to sacrifice themselves on the battlefield.\nBelow are interesting documentary about it, please enjoy ...\n\nJõkotõ (Jokoto)\n\nJõkotõ (Jokoto)\n\nBefore 987, examples of Japanese swords are straight chokuto or jokoto and others with unusual shapes. In the Heian period (8th to 11th centuries) sword making developed through techniques brought over from China through trade in the early 10th century during the Tang Dynasty and through Siberia and Hokkaido, territory of the Ainu people.\n\nJõkotõ are straight Japanese swords with no curvature. They are usually constructed in the hira-zukuri and kiriha-zukuri styles. It is] thought that the shift from straight blades to Japanese swords with curvature happened around the mid to late Heian period (794-1184). This was during the mid 10th century: about the time Taira Masakado and Fujiwara Sumitomo rebelled against the government in the Johei (931-938) and Tengyo (938-947) eras. Blades before these are continental style blades called jõkutõ, and were brought to Japan from the Asian continent.\nExamples of theseJapanese swords have been excavated from Kofun period tombs, and some still reside in the Shosoin Imperial Repository, Nara\n\nThe Japanese Sword; Historical Changes in Shape\n\njapanese sword\n1. Jõkotõ (Chokutõ) Ancient and Heian period\n2. Late Heian to Early Kamakura\n3. Mid-Kamakura\n4. Late Kamakura\n5. Nanbokucho\n6. Early Muromachi\n7. Late Muromachi\n8. Aizuchi-Momoyama\n9. Mid-Edo\n10. Edo period Genroku era\n11. Edo, Bakamatsu\n12. Meiji and onwards\n\nAme no nuhoko\n\nAme no nuhoko\n\nAme no nuhoko or called \"heavenly jewelled spear\" is the name given to the naginata in Japanese mythology that is used to improve the ancient land mass, Onōgoro-shima, from the sea. According to Kojiki, the gods Izanagi and Izanami are responsible for creating the first ground. To help them do this, they were given a naginata decorated with jewels, named Ame-no-nuboko. The two deities then went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Ame-no-ukihashi ( \"floating bridge of heaven\"), and churned the sea below with naginata. When the drops of salty water fell from the end, they formed the first island, Onōgoro-shima. Izanagi and Izanami then descended from the bridge of heaven and make their homes on the island.\n\nKanji characters used in American-no-nuboko in correctly pronounce ame-(no)-Numa-hoko, with Numa means \"Marsh, swamp, or bog\". This will be translated as \"heavenly spear swamp\".\n\nKusanagi no Tsurugi\n\nKusanagi no Tsurugi\nKusanagi no Tsurugi is a legendary Japanese sword that is important for the history of Japan and is just as important as the history of the sword Excalibur for the British people, and is one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan.\nKusanagi no Tsurugi was originally called Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi ( \"Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven\") but his name later changed to become more popular Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi ( \"Grass Cutting Sword\").\n\n\nTonbogiri-Traditional Japanese Weapon\n\nOne of three legendary spears created by renowned gunsmith, Masazane. This spear is said in the hold and used by the Honda Tadakatsu. Spear name comes from the myth that there is a dragonfly landed on the blade and immediately cut in half. So Tonbo (Japanese for \"dragonfly\") and giri (Japanese for \"cutting\"), this spear's name translates as \"Dragonfly Cutter / Cutting Spear / Saw Dragonflies\".\n\nWednesday, February 10, 2010\n\nClothing used by the ninja in the museum Iga-ryu Ninja\n\nMizugumo or shoes for moving over the water and special shoes to climb the wall\n\ntypical ninja weapons Kusarigama\n\nTuesday, February 9, 2010\n\nNinja comes from China\n\nNinja comes from China\n\nNinja comes from China which then traveled to Japan during the Tang Dynasty. The Japanese developed Ninja martial arts, by creating a deadly killer, who can sneak in without being detected and then strike suddenly.\n\nThe origin of the ninja is not clear and difficult to ascertain. Historically, they have approximately the 14th century. In a detailed written record of the ninja activities that they are also known as shinobi \"experts in the field gathering information,\" or \"master of disguise and move quietly\" that can penetrate enemy territory to observe every move and obtain confidential information without being detected. In the Sengoku period (Japanese wartime in the 15th century - 17), mercenaries and spies for the rent comes from the Iga and Koga in Japan, and from this clan and a lot of knowledge about the ninja is inferred.\n\nThursday, February 4, 2010\n\nTaiyaki-Japanese snack food\n\nTaiyaki-Japanese snack foodTaiyaki-Japanese snack food\nTaiyaki-Japanese snack food\nTaiyaki-Japanese snack food\n\nTaiyaki is Japanese cakes shaped like a fish, and dough made from flour baked, then filled with red bean paste.\nTaiyaki was first discovered in Japan in 1909, when one of the shops in the city of Minato, Tokyo, began to sell it, which is Naniwaya Souhonten store.\n\nTaiyaki (鯛 焼き) is a Japanese cake shaped like a fish. This can be likened to pancakes or a waffle-shaped ... Taiyaki itself has a content of red bean paste made from sweetened azuki beans, Taiyaki can have other content that could lagy custard, chocolate, and cheese ..\n\nTaiyaki is made of waffle batter is poured into a fish-shaped building. The contents included before finally ready Taiyaki baking. Then baked from both sides until they become golden brown color ..\n\nTaiyaki was first created in the sweetshop \"Naniwaya\" in Tokyo in 1909 ... But right now Taiyaki can be found all over Japan, at the supermarket, and a very sure to find a festival in Japan \"Matsuri\" (祭\n\nWednesday, February 3, 2010\n\nOkonomiyaki is a Japanese food\n\nOkonomiyaki-Japanese food\nOkonomiyaki-Japanese food\n\nOkonomiyaki is a Japanese food with ingredients flour diluted with water or dashi, plus cabbage, eggs, seafood or pork and fried on a flat pan called Teppan.\n\nIn Japanese, okonomi means \"love-love\" (which is preferred, desired) and yaki means \"grilled\" (the term \"fried\" is only used in Japan when foods are fried in oil very much). As the name implies, the top layer (topping) can be adjusted to Okonomiyaki tastes of people who want to eat.\n\n\n\n\nTuesday, February 2, 2010\n\n\nDango-japanese foods, Japanese snack food,\nDango-japanese foods, Japanese snack food,\n\nDango is a Japanese cake shaped like a round little ball, and matured in a way steamed or boiled in water. Dango dough made from rice flour with water diulen or hot water. Kushidango is the name for a number of 3, 4, or 5 points Dango who stabbed into one with a puncture (Kushi) from bamboo. The number of grains in a single puncture Dango depends on the region in Japan.\n\nDango is a sweet made by adding sugar to the mixture, while Dango is not dipped in sweet sauce. Dango can also be eaten with a sprinkling of soy powder (kinako), inserted into the mitsumame (agar-agar is eaten with various canned fruit) or red bean paste is diluted with water. Apart from rice flour, Dango can also be made from flour or millet flour.\n\nTakoyaki is a Japanese snack food\n\n\nTakoyaki is a Japanese snack food that is made traditionally used by Japanese families in a home. First made by the store Tomekichi Endo called Aizu in Osaka.\n\nBaso round like, because it is also called Japanese grilled baso (tako = octopus; yaki = grilled) as a way of making fried in oil is not a lot, but baked in a mold half circles then inverted so that the shape of turning full circles.\nTakoyaki is delicious eaten hot directly or as a side dish with rice. When in a state of cold, Takoyaki is more dense and chewy like a meatball\n\nMonday, February 1, 2010\n\nKimono History\n\nKimono History\n\nKimono, not under the influence of traditional Korean clothes. However, the kimono took inspiration from traditional Chinese clothes, \"Hanfu\" (Hanfu = han (han tribe) fu (clothing) -> tribal clothing hanfu = han). Modern kimono as we see today has come to be seen since the Heian period (c. 800).\n\nKimono usually made from Japanese silk-print in the technique \"Yuzen\". \"Yuzen\" printing technique that is repeated - so, pattern of the kimono is actually diulang2 (a kind monogram). Many people who think that the kimono is a kimono is painted and it contains a painting, but sebenernya wrong.\n\nAccording to some sources, Kimono in the ancient times to be released parts per part for washing and sewn and spliced back time would be used, but the times have been eliminated this requirement.\n\nKimono for men there is also something for the ladies\n\nIromuji is semiformal kimono\n\n\nIromuji is semiformal kimono types that can be a formal kimono if it has the crest (Kamon''''). Coat's family consists of one place, three places, or five places (the back, the arms, and the chest) after the level of formality Kimono. Materials for Kimono Iromuji types generally do not print and the pink, light blue, pale yellow or soft colors of the other. Worn at a wedding or a tea.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5568332672119141}
+{"content": "Gingerbread Bundt Cake\n\nI thought, only Germans could bake cakes with four (or more) eggs in it. My German Cheesecake is the only cake so far on this blog that uses  FOUR eggs. Whenever I saw a recipe that calls for more than two eggs, I used to get suspicious.\n\nBut why actually? Why do eggs have such a bad reputation? I love my eggs these days, more than ever. I blame my marathon training and increased protein demands of my body. Apart from that, they are simply delicious: they make lovely cakes, you can throw almost everything into an omelette, which makes a good and satisfying meal at any time of the day. So what's the bad stuff in it?\n\nNone, really. When the high cholesterol panic surfaced about a decade ago, eggs were considered the bad boys, because they naturally contain high levels of cholesterol. However, they are very low in saturated fats. Saturated fats, together with the trans-fats are the main reason for high cholesterol levels. Consuming eggs may help you keep you cholesterol levels in check. Eggs are a good source of vitamin A, E and K. Egg yolks are one of few foods that naturally contain vitamin D. Other nutrients, such as iron, folate, and vitamin B12 can be found in eggs. The protein found in eggs is considered one of the best quality proteins. Eggs also contain choline, a nutrient that provides brain health and prevents heart disease.\n\nAll good things, right? Now if eggs are combined with low-carb coconut flour, almond meal, honey and an array of spices that will bring Gingerbread smells to your house, you can dig in and be sure you are eating something that tastes absolutely delicious AND is good for you.\n\nI love Christmas baking. This is one of the moistest and tastiest cake, gluten-free and with ingredients good enough to be eaten for breakfast. My staple cake for this year's Christmas get-togethers.\n\n(Print Recipe)\n\n1/2 cup coconut flour\n1/2 cup almond meal\n1 teaspoon baking soda\n1 teaspoon ground cinnamon\n1/2 teaspoon ground ginger\n1/4 teaspoon ground cloves\n1/4 teaspoon ground allspice\n\n4 eggs\n1/2 cup honey\n1/2 cup coconut milk\n1 teaspoon vanilla extract\n\nMaple Vanilla Coconut Frosting (Optional)\nslightly adapted from She Let Them Eat Cake\n\n1 teaspoon vanilla extract\n1/2 cup coconut oil, liquefied\n1/4 cup maple syrup\n1/4 cup coconut milk\npinch of salt\n\nYields one 8\" cake\n\n\nMaple Vanilla Coconut Frosting\n\nLabels: , , ,", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6026721596717834}
+{"content": "Nabusi - Traditions of War: Occupation, Resistance, and the Law\n\nTraditions of War: Occupation, Resistance, and the Law\n\n\nISBN: 0199279470\nVydavatelství: Oxford UP\nRok vydání: 2005\nDostupnost: Na objednávku\n\nPůvodní cena: 0 Kč\nCena: Na vyžádání\n\nNárok na dopravu zdarma\nPřidat do wishlistu\nZpět Tisknout Pošli poptávku\n\nTraditions of War examines wars and military occupation, and the ideas underlying them. The search for these ideas is conducted in the domain of the laws of war, a body of rules which sought to regulate the practices of war and those permitted to fight in it. This work introduces three ideologies: the martial, Grotian, and republican. These traditions were rooted in incommensurable conceptions of the good life, and the overall argument is that these differences lay at the heart of the failure fully to resolve the distinction between lawful and unlawful combatants at successive diplomatic conferences of Brussels in 1874, the Hague in 1899 and 1907, and Geneva in 1949. Based on a wide range of sources and drawing on a plurality of intellectual disciplines, this book places these diplomatic failures in their broader social and political contexts, bringing out ideological continuities through an illustration of the social history of army occupation in Europe and resistance to it.\n\nPřehled výstav, na kterých byl titul prezentován:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6513446569442749}
+{"content": "Creating “MISE-EN-SCÈNE”\n\n\nThe complexity of this project, as well as the very tight deadline for its execution, demanded meticulous planning and flawless organisation, from the beginning of the creative concept until the last guest left the location at the end of the evening. The on-site assembly and build-up alone required two full months of intensive work, the success of which depended on highly complex logistics. Mastering this invisible complexity and harnessing it in the service of our artistic vision was the key to our success with this production.\n\n\nWith a creative concept based on musical entertainment, in which the guests would feel they were participants, we set the production ‘in the round’, designing a circular space of 3,650 square metres (39,000 sq.ft) with the bride’s dais in the centre doubling as a stage for the performers.\n\nTo define and contain the space, visually magnifying it while creating a sense of both drama and intimacy, we developed an architectural structure comprising ribbed pillars that increased in diameter as they rose, curving outwards at the top to create a network of links overhead. This ensured unobstructed views of the bride and the entertainment from every vantage point, while the circular floor plan encouraged guests to move freely and mingle together throughout the evening.\n\n\n\nTo maintain lightness while adding visual impact (to suggest the lights of Broadway or the water jets of a fountain) the ribs of the pillars were formed by thousands of spheres that were faceted to echo the shape of the dome and positioned on golden spacers, graduated in diameter from floor to ceiling.\n\nEach one of these geospheres was prototyped separately in-house, to ensure millimetre precision. Casting moulds were then made in every size and sent to the manufacturer in the Far East.\n\nTo guarantee correct positioning and maximise efficiency during the on-site assembly every attachment point and every corresponding hook was numbered – rather like a highly complex and elaborate Meccano system.\n\nThe creamy pearlescent finish on the geospheres was also the subject of extensive trials, to ensure that it complied exactly with the colour matching that we applied to the entire colour scheme\n\n\nTo partially screen the dais until the bride’s arrival, and to screen the dinner area until food was served, we designed special fabrics that would have visual presence as well as a degree of transparency. To achieve this, the design was laser-cut ‘in negative’, removing the background fabric so that only the pattern remained. This was installed as multi-layered curtains that were raised as the bride entered, adding a sense of theatricality to the moment.\n\n\nMusic and dance were identified at the outset as a key element. Woven seamlessly into the programme, the performances changed style and tempo to reflect the mood of the evening’s key moments. Given the client’s request that we feature only leading Arab artistes, each had to be carefully chosen, to ensure the desired shifts in mood. Specially choreographed dances, based on Khaleeji and Egyptian tradition, were also integrated into the programme, to create a seamless transition from one moment to the next.\n\nMoreover, the food design was integrated into the entertainment, changing presentation style and cuisine as the music changed: soft and elegant during a capella singing; more robust, with Arabic flavours while Khaleeji singers took to the stage.\n\nShare this page", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5740938186645508}
+{"content": "T Nation\n\nBiotest Into Germany\n\n\n\ndoes anyone in here know, if I can get Biotest products in germany? Or what the best way to get the products is?\n\nIs there any official european retailer or something?\n\n\n\nOrdering from this site?\n\n\nyeah well that was my question if they ship to germany?\n\n\nYour question wasn't all too clear, but yes, they do ship to Germany according to the drop down menu when doing a mock order.\n\n\nmy bad, thanks a lot for helping me out.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9466392993927002}
+{"content": "As the world’s leading trade organisation for the unlicensed wireless broadband ecosystem, Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) were keen to capitalise on their position to attract new members and increase attendance at their annual events. This required an in-depth understanding of their existing positioning, how it was received by their members, and how it measured up to their competitors. As a creative agency with decades of experience in branding and identity, Fresh01 was the logical choice to carry out this work, casting a critical, incisive eye over WBA’s offering and providing clear, actionable feedback.\n\n\nWBA had experienced strong organic growth, ultimately outgrowing their corporate identity which no longer suited an important trade organisation representing some of the world’s largest telecommunications companies. They needed to understand how their brand was performing in the eyes of their members and peers in order to address any shortcomings so that they could build a strong, cohesive brand for the future.\n\nIn particular, their brand suffered from a lack of direction, epitomised by an unstructured colour palette and a lack of a centralised font. Similarly, WBA’s sub-brands, such as the alliance initiative, lacked harmony and focus, failing to tie them back to the parent organisation. This was apparent not only in the branding itself, but across all of their digital presences, particularly on their respective websites.\n\n\nFresh01 carried out a detailed audit to assess how WBA’s brand was performing compared to its stated goals, and compared to the wider landscape to see how they were positioned and performing in the market. By engaging an outside agency, they were able to benefit from a dispassionate eye, and we were able to take a step back to assess their overall offering and make suggestions for their long-term strategy.\n\nThis ultimately took the form of a thorough, 30-day audit that included analysis of WBA’s own offering in addition to their competitors over all mediums, including print, web and digital.\n\n\nFresh01 delivered an extensive, 60-page brand audit that identified the need for a stronger, sharper identity, a fresh colour palette and a new visual language. This was rolled out across a newly invigorated web presence, both on the core WBA site and as a cohesive, harmonised presence for their sub-brands. These new identities have helped to make them far more visible to potential members and have drastically improved their ability to market themselves. This change has been well received not only by WBA themselves, but also by their members who are now proud to belong to such an iconic organisation.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998738169670105}
+{"content": "Aortic regurgitation – aortic insufficiency\n\nAortic insufficiency is the old term for aortic regurgitation. Aortic regurgitation means a leaky aortic valve, the valve between left ventricle and aorta. This leads to leakage of blood back into the left ventricle from the aorta when the heart relaxes (diastole) after contraction (systole). The blood leaking back is again pumped back in next systole, increasing the workload of the heart. The left ventricle gradually enlarges if the leak is large and eventually fails if the leaky is quite high.\n\nWhat causes aortic regurgitation?\n\nAortic regurgitation can occur due to diseases of the aortic valve. It can also occur if the aorta is enlarged due to diseases so that the valve becomes relatively small and is unable to close properly. Diseases which involve the aortic valve can be birth defects or acquired diseases. The commonest birth defect is a bicuspid aortic valve in which the valve has only two cusps instead of three. These valve have defective closing as well as opening. Hence they can be leaky and long term damage can lead to narrowing of the orifice in addition (aortic stenosis).\n\nIn older age group degenerative changes in the valve is an important cause for regurgitation. Rheumatic fever involves the aortic valve and is major cause in developing countries where the disease is still prevalent. In the yesteryears when syphilis was common, late stages of the disease (tertiary syphilis) would involve the aorta, enlarging it and the valve becomes leaky. But this type of aortic regurgitation is seldom seen now. Aortic enlargement causing aortic regurgitation is seen in many diseases of the connective tissue like ankylosing spondylitis, annuloaortic ectasia etc. A defect in the partition between the two ventricles (ventricular septal defect) can be associated with aortic regurgitation when it occurs as a birth defect.\n\nWhat are the symptoms?\n\nMild cases will be asymptomatic. Large leaks may produce palpitation, breathlessness and sometimes heart failure. The valve can get infected by bacteria spreading through the bloodstream (infective endocarditis) which leads to additional symptoms.\n\nWhat can be done for aortic regurgitation?\n\nMild to moderate leaks need only follow up and prompt treatment of infections. Large symptomatic leaks may need aortic valve repair or replacement. Volume of leak can be reduced by giving medications which lower the blood pressure and thereby unload the left ventricle. Those in heart failure can be treated medically while surgical repair is being planned.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8762040734291077}
+{"content": "\n\n\nThe most recent models of the erg, produced by Concept 2 (pictured above), have a screen with different options for what measurements or figures you want to see during your workout. Using the screen, you can monitor calories expended and watts produced, but “the vast majority of rowers will set the screen to track their 500-meter split or just simply ‘split,’” according to Teti. The stroke rate, which appears on the screen as “SPM,” refers to the number of strokes you are taking per minute. Typically the split and stroke rating have an inverse relationship, meaning that when you increase your stroke rating, the split should go down.\nRowing is a repetitive, rhythmic motion, meaning you have to match up your breathing to that rhythm. Have you ever linked your breathing to your running or swimming? This is just like that. Similar to strength workouts, you want to breathe out when exerting power and breathe in when recovering. In this case, that means breathing out when you push with your legs and pull back, and breathing in when you’re resetting (rebending your legs).\n\nAt the current state of the art, indoor rowers which utilize flywheel resistance can be categorized into two motion types. In both types, the rowing movement of the user causes the footrests and the seat to move further and closer apart in co-ordination with the user's stroke. The difference between the two types is in the movement, or absence of movement, of the footrests relative to ground.\n\nThe second type is characterized by the Rekers device (referenced above). With this type, both the seat and the footrests are free to slide fore and aft on a rail or rails integral to a stationary frame. Therefore, during use, the seat and the footrests move relative to each other, and both also move relative to ground. This type is often referred to as a \"dynamic\" rowing ergometer, although \"dynamically balanced\" would be a more accurate description. A static indoor rower of the Dreissigacker/Williams type, if mounted on wheels or slides to enable forward and rearward movement of the unit, is by definition \"dynamically balanced\". The accessory slide tracks correspond to the referenced stationary frame of the Rekers device. Casper Rekers is nevertheless credited as the first to utilize this motion type in a rowing ergometer. The effect, for the user, is a more realistic \"on the water\" sensation than that provided by a \"stationary\" rowing ergometer because the \"dynamically balanced\" type more closely replicates actual rowing wherein the seat and the boat move relative to each other, and both move relative to the water.\n\nIndoor rowers which utilize a pivoting handle or handles to simulate a sweep or sculling stroke (thus referred to as \"rowing simulators\"), can be of the above described \"stationary\" or \"dynamically balanced\" type of rowing ergometer. The Coffey rowing machine, designed by Olympic silver medalist rower, Calvin Coffey, can be configured to enable a sweep or a sculling stroke, in either a \"stationary\" or \"dynamically balanced\" mode. The flywheel is positioned horizontally at the rear of the device, under the seat rails (US patents: US4743011A 1988; US7862484B1; Inventor: Calvin Coffey).\n\nThe standard measurement of speed on an ergometer is generally known as the \"split\", or the amount of time in minutes and seconds required to travel 500 metres (1,600 ft) at the current pace — a split of 2:00 represents a speed of two minutes per 500 metres, or about 4.17 m/s (15.0 km/h). The split does not necessarily correspond to how many strokes the rower takes (the \"rating\") since strokes can vary in power.\nMachines with a digital display calculate the user's power by measuring the speed of the flywheel during the stroke and then recording the rate at which it decelerates during the recovery. Using this and the known moment of inertia of the flywheel, the computer is able to calculate speed, power, distance and energy usage. Some ergometers can be connected to a personal computer using software, and data on individual exercise sessions can be collected and analysed. In addition, some software packages allows users to connect multiple ergometers either directly or over the internet for virtual races and workouts.\nNow we start to decrease the intensity and increase the volume of these workouts, which will improve overall endurance and stamina. Complete this workout, 10 minutes of rowing at a hard steady-state pace (that’s one set), and take 3 minutes of rest between each set. The rates are set slightly lower so you should be able to focus on technique and solidify your posture at the catch, as well improving overall stroke length.\nIf you’re just beginning your journey to get in shape, the maze of complicated workout machines at the gym might have your head spinning. Don’t worry! Exercising on a rowing machine is relatively simple to learn and ideal for all ages and abilities. It’s important to make sure you use proper rowing technique when you exercise. It will help to both maximize your workout and minimize the potential for injury. Your feet should be securely fastened in the stirrups with your shins close to a 90 degree angle to the floor. It’s best to keep your back straight, your core engaged, and to row in a smooth, fluid motion. You’ll get the hang of it in no time!\nThese three machines are the top of the lot for a home gym, with one editor’s note: keep an eye out for the Hydrow, a rowing machine currently on Indiegogo that was funded in just four minutes. I tested one and can attest to the smooth ride and easy to store platform. The pricing on Indiegogo is unparalleled, but you won’t get delivery of the machine until May 2019.\nBraked flywheel resistance models comprise magnetic, air and water resistance rowers. These machines are mechanically similar since all three types use a handle connected to a flywheel by rope, chain, or strap to provide resistance to the user – the types differ only in braking mechanism. Because the handle is attached to the resistance source by rope or similarly flexible media, the trajectory of the hands in the vertical plane is free making it possible for the rower to emulate the hand height difference between the stroke and the return. Most of these models have the characteristic sliding seat typical of competitive on-the-water boats.\n\n\nUnlike high impact exercises, which can damage knees and the connective tissues of the lower body, rowing's most common injury site is the lower back. Proper technique is a necessity for staying injury free, with a focus on both mechanics and breathing, as correct rhythm, exhaling on the drive and inhaling on the recovery, is a stabilizing force for the upper body. Non-rowers commonly overemphasize the muscles of the upper body, while correct technique uses the large muscle of the thighs to drive much of the stroke. Also, good technique requires that the angle of the upper body is never too far forward, nor too far back, both of which jeopardize the lower back and compression injuries on the knees and hip flexor muscles. Proper technique however, can only be achieved if the design of the exercise equipment enables proper technique. The ubiquitous rigid, single-piece handle does not follow the natural movement of a user's hands, wrists, and forearms as the stroke progresses. It does not ensure or enable the bio-mechanically correct alignment of the hands, wrists, and forearms with the direction of the applied force. Typically, the user finishes the stroke with the wrists in an angulated position. It is incorrect to criticize this as \"bad technique\", when the equipment itself is the cause. Through no fault of their own, regular users of indoor rowers equipped with the standard single-piece handle, are prone to repetitive strain injury and chronic wrist pain (see more on this in \"Rowing Technique\" section, below).\n\n\n\nVariability between machines is of small importance if one machine is used consistently for fitness and training, such as in a home gym. It will still provide a sufficiently reliable measure of one's progress. In a competition setting however, equivalence between machines is essential. An example will clarify: Consider the entirely reasonable possibility that the elastic cord of one machine requires 7 pounds of force to stretch, and the elastic cord of another machine requires 6 1/2 pounds of force to stretch. Now suppose that two competitors, one on each of these machines, complete a 2000M race in 8 minutes at an average stroke rate of 30 strokes per minute. The competitor on the machine with the elastic cord tensioned to 7 pounds will need to pull with 1/2 pound more force for the duration of each stroke than the other competitor in order to obtain the same monitored results (since, as explained, only the energy expended to spin the flywheel is measured, not the energy to stretch the elastic cord). If each stroke averages 5 feet in length, and it takes 240 strokes (8X30) to complete the race, the extra work done by the one competitor is equivalent to lifting a 1/2 pound weight through a vertical distance of 1200 feet (5X240), or put another way, the extra work required by this competitor is equivalent to lifting a 10 pound weight through a vertical distance of 60 feet. However, in this example, despite the difference in energy output by the competitors, the monitor displays are the same.\nIt's cool that you can reach really far forward and pull really far backward, but focusing on getting the longest possibles strokes risks \"over-compression,\" explains Crawford, a condition that causes knee pain by transferring the load to the quads. Hamstrings and glutes are the big muscles here, and you want them doing the big work. Be sure to keep your core braced, and when you lean forward, stay closer to 1 o'clock than 3 o'clock.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9218922257423401}
+{"content": "Inpatient  Benzodiazepine Rehab and Detox Treatment Centers in Bristol Virginia\n\nResidential  Benzodiazepine Therapy Facilities in Bristol VA\n\nRecommended Residential Benzodiazepine Treatment in Bristol 24201\n\nTreatment Programs >> Virginia >> Residential Recovery Facilities-Bristol >> Inpatient Benzodiazepine Rehab Detox Centers\n\nServing Bristol, Virginia and the surrounding local area (zipcodes: 24201, 24202, 24203, 24205, 24209) with professional and caring treatment and therapy, we are dedicated to the emotional well-being of our clients who value commitment and finding solutions to their problems.\n\nNew Questions About Schizophrenia Medication Answered and Why You Must Read Every Word of This Report\n\nschizophrenia medication\n\nThe Schizophrenia Medication Chronicles\n\nPeople may wish to be kept in locked wards. It requires treatment when symptoms have subsided. It's possible to live with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a brain illness. It can have a drastic toll. By means of example, people with paranoid schizophrenia have positive symptoms like delusions folks are attempting to harm them.\n\nPeople with schizophrenia frequently do not realise or accept that they're ill. Left untreated, it can result in severe issues that affect every area of life. In young folks who develop schizophrenia, this phase of the disorder is known as the \"prodromal\" period.\n\nThere's no sure means to avoid schizophrenia. It can be hard to diagnose schizophrenia. People with schizophrenia do not think they are sick or that they need treatment. Regardless of the widespread misconception that they don't have any prospect of recovery or improvement, the fact is much more hopeful. Additionally, the great majority of people with schizophrenia aren't violent. The signals of schizophrenia are different for everybody. There's simply one primary method to heal schizophrenia indefinitely, which is by applying the brain to fix itself.\n\nSchizophrenia Medication - Overview\n\nYou may find more out about taking medications for schizophrenia. Medication alone isn't enough. Schizophrenia medications are usually medications. The crucial medications used as a treatment for schizophrenia are called antipsychotics.\n\nA number of different kinds of medications are utilised to take care of health conditions. When it's time to avoid the medication, the physician will assist the individual and reduce the dose. You might find out more about medications for schizophrenia here. Because medications for schizophrenia can lead to serious side effects, individuals with schizophrenia may be unwilling to take them.\n\nMedication isn't a cure for schizophrenia and just treats a variety of the signs. For instance, someone who's immune to taking medication consistently may have to be given injections as opposed to taking a pill. Your medication ought to be reviewed at least one time annually. The medication also has to be administered using a Medication Guide with information concerning the drug's uses and hazards. All antipsychotic medications can lead to sedation. They are.\n\nIf you need to use medication, please be attentive to the potential side effects and discuss them with your medical care provider. Following the first year of therapy, the majority of people will discontinue their usage of medications, especially ones where the side effects are hard to tolerate. Medications are frequently used to help control the signs of schizophrenia. As with other medications, anti-anxiety medications can cause side results.\n\nAll medications should be supplied and used with excellent caution in women that are pregnant or breastfeeding. Be patient with the process, while it should not be used at the cost of your quality of life and discuss any concerns with your doctor. Because medications influence each person there are side results. Antipsychotic medications may also raise the risk. It is used to relieve the symptoms. You may have to try many different antidepressant medications before finding the one that improves your symptoms and that causes side effects you can manage.\n\nCall 855-880-8977 to schedule your consultation at our local BRISTOL VIRGINIA 24201 offices.\n\nHydrocodone | Klonopin", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6070958971977234}
+{"content": "Karachi: The central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee meeting with Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman in the chair will be held today to decide about the sighting or otherwise of the Zil Hujjah moon.\n\nThe committee meeting will make its decision after collecting evidence of moon sighting from different parts of the country.\n\nThe meeting would be held after Asr prayers at the Met Complex, University Road, in Karachi.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9997769594192505}
+{"content": "Role of Women in the Paleolithic and Modern Period\n\n10 October 2016\n\nRole of Women in the Paleolithic and Modern Period * Women of the Paleolithic and Modern periods both have role models that have different meanings such as their role in society and their body image; however the way the males have treated these women showed little respect. During the Paleolithic period a sculpture was carved from using simple carving tools to create a masterpiece that is known today as the Venus of Willendorf.\n\nWe will write a custom essay sample on\nRole of Women in the Paleolithic and Modern Period\nor any similar topic specifically for you\nDo Not Waste\nYour Time\n\nThe Venus of Willendorf has suggested to archeologists that the sculpture was to have been an image of fertility, which is how their existence survived for so many years. Looking at the sculpture also indicates that the Paleolithic women were more on the obese side. The question is though, what exactly was the Paleolithic woman’s place in this culture and how does it compare to the modern symbolism of Barbie? * The Barbie doll celebrated its 40th birthday in 1999, but what has this toy done to the culture of the young girls who play with her in today’s society?\n\nOver the past 40 years the society has seen the ups and downs from the effects of Barbie. Barbie has given our children positive motivation to become something better in life. She has also shown us the negative impact on our children’s lives as well, from dieting issues to self-esteem. Today, women can be seen as someone who should be put on a pedestal or in a store front window, but what does this do to the women of the society? It has been said that Venus of Willendorf was suggested to show fertility and sign of being a Goddess, but what exactly does Barbie suggest showing the children who play with her?\n\nThe experts have put together what they think the role the Paleolithic women held, according to Venus of Willendorf. According to Rice (1981), the Paleolithic women “were thought of primarily as mothers or baby makers” (p. 402). The sculpture showed the archeologists in many different ways just how the Paleolithic women had a place in society. The archeologists were able to discover traces of red ocher pigment on the sculpture, meaning menstrual blood or surrogate (Seshardri, 2012). The breasts and rounded stomach, suggested the belief of nurture and that the women stayed pregnant.\n\nThere is a lot of detail of the vulva, proving that this was the main focus of the women. These features can easily be described as women that are childbearing. It has been suggested that women played a very important and dominate role in the Paleolithic era, more so than women of today (Rice, 1981). The number of figurines of women that were found in the archeological digs outnumbered the amount of men figurines, which led to speculations about the part that the women played to society.\n\nThe Paleolithic women have also been known as Earth Mother or Mother Goddess and the Stone-Age people have believed in her as a universal idol. In modern society there are also idols in the form of figurines, just as there was in the Paleolithic society. Barbie is one of the idols in today’s society that many women have looked up to. The body shape of Barbie has not suggested that she is a childbearing figure, but it has suggested she is not lazy. In the modern society women are not just child bearing, but women had to run households, raise children, and had to go and get jobs of their own.\n\nTimes have changed since the Paleolithic era and women have had to be empowered. Barbie has served as a role model to a lot of women of the times, as she has played many different roles in the past 40 plus years. Barbie has been a doctor, a vet, a teacher, an astronaut, and even a pop star. These different roles are what have inspired women; if you can imagine it then you can become it. In, 1992 President Barbie was created which led the way for the feminist that shape the future political leaders (Zaslow &amp;Schoenberg, 2012).\n\nThe United States had the first female run for office in 2008, only 16 years after President Barbie was introduced to the young women of America. This is only the beginning of what the women of today’s society are going to do as a political leader. Venus of Willendorf was a role model for the perfect female form for her obesity; however today women have strived to have the “Barbie” look. “In the, Stone Age fat was beautiful because it meant vitality and fertility” (Paige, 2004, p. 4).\n\nThere were many different body shapes of woman from the Paleolithic period, but there is only one that really stood out and served as a role model for their village. Venus of Willendorf is sculpted in a way that clearly shows her obesity and why she is the role model for the Paleolithic period. She was sculpted with a large stomach that overhangs a fat roll that extends around the middle, a flat butt and large thighs that are pressed together on her knees. This is one of the earliest signs of obesity in women and they still struggle with this in the modern society.\n\nIn today’s society everyone has imagined to have that perfect body. Many experts have suggested that Barbie is a root cause for many problems with women today when it comes to their weight and self-esteem. When workout Barbie was introduced she came with a scale and the scale read 110 pounds. Women see this weight has something they have to obtain, much of the body potions are unattainable and women push themselves to try and achieve these. Women have even undergone surgery to get the “Barbie” look. The self-esteem can affected as well and women have negative thoughts on their body.\n\nWith “both lowered body esteemed and wanting a thinner body are indicators of body dissatisfaction” (Dittmar, Halliwell, &amp; Ive, 2006, p. 290) could lead to eating disorders. The Venus of Willendorf and Barbie have both played different roles in their periods, but there is one thing that they stood for that is the same. The Paleolithic women suggested to have been in the background in their society. The experts say this because of what the Venus of Willendorf has showed them. The sculpture showed signs that the women were timid because of the withered arms that were drawn to the side.\n\nSince there was a masked face over the head of the sculpture, this showed that the women could not speak for themselves and had no identity as an individual (Paige, 2004). The women were regarded as an anonymous sexual object rather than an individual; it is her body and what it represented that was important to the men. Women of the modern period have faced some the same challenges as those of the Paleolithic period. Granted women have come a long way since the Paleolithic period, but it is still a man’s world. Barbie has showed women that you always should have on make-up and look your best.\n\nWomen have had this drilled in their heads at a very young age and continue to make sure that they look their best through their adult age. Since Barbie is so thin and the women do this as well, women feel as though they are seen as sexual objects. Women of the modern period feel as though they still have something to prove despite how far they have come since the Paleolithic period. Is there really a difference in the women of the Paleolithic and Modern periods? The women of the Paleolithic period knew who they were and they place in society.\n\nThey were the childbearing and the sexual object for the men, otherwise known as the Goddess of their time. The women of the modern period are still trying to find themselves. They have an idol that comes with many different outfits and careers, that are unhealthy, and a sexual object. Women today are lot and have trouble findings themselves. One thing that can be said that can be learned from the Paleolithic women is that, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Having the perfect body is not all that it is cracked up to be, it is about believing and being true to yourself.\n\nA limited\ntime offer!\nGet authentic custom\nESSAY SAMPLEwritten strictly according\nto your requirements", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.952043354511261}
+{"content": "#100DaysOfCode in Python Transcripts\nChapter: Days 61-63: Using the Github API with Python\nLecture: Third day: more practice / requests-cache\n\n0:00 Right, welcome back to the third day of\n0:02 the GitHub API project.\n0:04 I hope you had some fun by now using the GitHub API\n0:07 and you chose an interesting project to work on,\n0:10 and this gives you some more links.\n0:12 So here's the GitHub Developer REST API\n0:15 Version 3 documentation.\n0:17 You probably will use this a lot,\n0:20 although it should also try to help in the pdb inspection\n0:24 techniques I showed you in this lesson.\n0:26 And maybe if you're not making the GitHub objects\n0:29 with a token, you might run into limitations\n0:33 of the amount of calls you can do to the API.\n0:35 Here is an article about request cache.\n0:38 The cache is close to the API in an SQI database,\n0:42 so when you're developing your cool app,\n0:45 and you do a lot of calls to the API,\n0:48 this could actually be useful to\n0:49 keep that limit down.\n0:51 The other thing is that this might\n0:52 speed up the response from the API,\n0:55 because it just creates your local database.\n0:57 So this just an extra pointer you might\n0:59 want to check out when working with\n1:02 any API actually.\n1:03 And don't forget to share your work.\n1:06 You can use #100DaysOfCode, there's a lot of people\n1:09 doing that, and that's getting quite some traction.\n1:13 And of course, feel free to include\n1:15 Talk Python and PyBites in your tweets.\n1:17 We are really passionate about this stuff,\n1:20 and love to see what you guys are doing\n1:23 and coming up with.\n1:24 Have fun and go learn a lot of API GitHub goodness,\n1:28 and Python of course.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5805119872093201}
+{"content": "What is WDS?\n\n\nThis condition is a form of cerebral palsy. The main problems occur with the mouth, tongue and swallowing muscles as a result of the bulbar muscles being affected. There are usually no obvious causes in the pregnancy or birth but some varieties are genetically determined. Because of the range of problems the diagnosis is often made quite late.\n\nIt is self evident from observing the children of the group that there is a wide range of abilities between children diagnosed as having Worster-Drought Syndrome.\n\nDownload the information sheet produced by Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust on WDS: WDS Information sheet a PDF that opens in a new Tab.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.955721914768219}
+{"content": "Jewish Teens. Meaningful Jewish Experiences.\n\nBBYO’s pluralistic movement of Jewish teens, alumni, parents, volunteers and philanthropists serves as the Jewish community’s most valuable platform for the post- Bar/Bat Mitzvah audience. Teens can participate in fun, meaningful and affordable experiences that inspire a lasting connection to the Jewish people.\n\nBBYO at the EVJCC meets on Tuesday nights. For more information and to begin your participation, contact Aaron Wiener, associate regional director of the BBYO Mountain Region, \n\n\nBBYO offers safe and welcoming opportunities for learning and growth to all Jewish teens regardless of background, denominational affiliation, gender, sexual orientation or socio-economic status, including those with a range of intellectual, emotional, and physical abilities.\n\nJewish Identity\n\n\nActive Leadership\n\n\n\n\nBBYO Passport\n\nBBYO Passport is the leading provider of travel experiences for Jewish high school and middle school teens. Passport programs span destinations on five continents and combine elements of active touring, community service, and meaningful Jewish experiences.\n\nSummer Experiences\n\nAt summer camps, on college campuses, and in countries around the world, leading, learning, serving communities, and experiencing Judaism all add up to unforgettable and life-changing summers.\n\nCollege Readiness\n\nWhen it is time to apply for college, BBYO is in contact with top college admissions officers to share how BBYO alumni make stellar students on campus. During the campus exploration process, BBYO alumni and Community Engagement Fellows on campus are available to answer questions and give campus tours.\n\n\nBBYO is a place where you can explore the entire spectrum of Jewish thought and make decisions for yourself in a safe, comfortable environment. International Kallah is where you can find your “Jewish self” through interactive sessions and one-on-one conversations about a spectrum of topics, making Jewish learning individualized and fun!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9517853260040283}
+{"content": "Listen Live Upload\n\nSix miraculously survive Linden car crash\n\nSix people survived a car crash near a Linden bus stop. The graphic footage below tells their story.\n\nbmw crash\nFacebook/Suburban Control Centre\n\nIt is incredibly important to drive safely on the roads, as an accident could occur at any time. \n\nResidents of Linden, Johannesburg experienced this firsthand when two cars collided near a bus stop and injured six people.\n\nThe footage below, posted on the Suburban Control Centre Facebook page, shows the impact that caused the accident. Two cars speed into a nearby structure. The second car flips 360 degrees in the air before coming to a stop. \n\nRemarkably, the woman who was thrown out of the vehicle appears unharmed, while another, presumably the driver, manages to exit the car through its sunroof. \n\nALSO READ: Yes, your eyes are deceiving you\n\nAccording to local news reports, emergency service personnel treated five survivors for 'minor to moderate' injuries and transported one seriously injured person to a nearby hospital. \n\nThe crash was caused by the driver of the BMW skipping a red light at high speed. It is believed that the four occupants of the black BMW were all under the influence of alcohol.\n\nShow's Stories", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9973698854446411}
+{"content": "\n\nUK Forecast - October 07, 2018\nWindy with rain in the north\nDry with hazy sunshine in the south\n\nA ridge of high pressure over Southern Britain but a slow-moving, waving frontal trough will straddle Scotland. A fine day for much of England and Wales with hazy sunshine. However, the northwest of England, the north and west of Wales and parts of Southern Ireland will be cloudier with some drizzly oubtreaks, especially around windward hills. Rain or drizzle for the north and west of Ireland and Scotland, although the east of Scotland is likely to stay dry for much of the time. Some of the rain will be heavy, particularly in Western Scotland. Stiff southwesterly winds in the north and west, with a risk of gales for for the northwest of Ireland and Scotland. Highs 12 to 17C, with highest values in the east.\n\nMonday Night\nFurther rain or drizzle in Scotland and the north and west of Ireland, again some heavy, but the east of Scotland may be mostly dry. Much of England and Wales will stay dry but a little rain or drizzle is likely in the northwest. Still breezy in the north. Overnight lows 7 to 11C.\n\nA weak ridge of high pressure over Southern Britain with a waving frontal trough over Scotland and Northern Ireland edging north. Rain or drizzle, still occasionally heavy at first, continues to affect Scotland and Northern Ireland but it will start to move north. Cloudy skies with a little drizzle at first for the northwest of England and Wales but becoming dry generally with a lot of sunshine. Breezy for much of the time in the north and west. Highs 13 to 18C.\n\nHigh pressure to the east of the British Isles, with low pressure to the southwest of Ireland deepening and moving north. Some rain or drizzle in the north and west of Scotland at first, otherwise dry with spells of sunshine. Highs 14 to 18C in the north, a warmer 19 to 21C in the south.\n\n  1 2 3 4 5 6\n7 8 9 10 11 12 13\n14 15 16 17 18 19 20\n21 22 23 24 25 26 27\n28 29 30 31\ntransparent picture\nTopics  [October 07, 2018]", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.803213357925415}
+{"content": "Purpose of conclusion\n\nThe purpose of drawing conclusions is to state whether or not your hypothesis was supported. For some who likes writing a lot, essay writing can be a friend they enjoy to be with.\n\nHowever, by urging the readers to think, you get them emotionally and intellectually involved in your work, which is always a plus for all essay conclusion samples. But for those who are having difficulty with it even in just constructing a simple decent paragraph, it is indeed a foe — a very cruel one that would cause them a red mark or a flat 5 in their report cards.\n\nThat is exactly why so many of them lose precious points on the final part of their academic assignments — even when the intro and the body were very impressive. How is a conclusion useful? The above essays conclusion examples, as well as the theoretical tips on writing a final paragraph, should give you a pretty clear idea of how to proceed with your academic paper.\n\nIt could also be a paragraph that restates the thesis. C How you did your experiment?. How do you start a conclusion paragraph? What is conclusion on tourism? The more detailed your procedure is, the better overall validity of your experiment.\n\nWhat is a conclusion of managing conclusion? King Lear does not deviate from the traditions of humanism and remains not only a classic of English literature but also a study-guide to human relationship. You need to decide what is the most interesting point of this assignment for you, because writing is easiest if you write about something you find interesting!\n\nThe conclusion is the end of the essay. However depressing and 11th-September-reminding it might seem to some, the play is, at the same time, seen as a perfect example of contemporary society, with its fears, hopes, and ambitions.\n\n\nConclusion Paragraph Examples\n\nHowever, when your instructor gives you the freedom to write any type of essay, you might have problems identifying or choosing a purpose. A What you did in your experiments?. As you can see, the above essay conclusion sample summarizes the gist of the whole paper in great detail.\n\nWhat is a conclusion?\n\nYou do not really have to read the main body to know what it was about, which is the ultimate point of a good conclusion. A lot of essay conclusion examples use this technique to get the reader involved and leave a more lasting impression on the audience.\n\nHere are some tips that might help:A good conclusion in an essay will give the reader (and the writer) a chance to weave together all the threads of the topic in a succinct and convincing way, and will hopefully give a certain amount of closure and satisfaction.\n\nArguably, the conclusion to your essay is the most important part of it. Purpose of a Conclusion. Almost done! Just as the introduction was your audience's first impression of your paper, the conclusion will be their last impression.\n\nThis section is the one they are most likely to remember, since it is the last thing they will read. Procedure, purpose, and conclusion are often a part of experiment documentation.\n\nYour purpose states what you hope to accomplish or to learn from your experiment/finding. The procedure is a detailed, and often lengthy, step-by-step set of directions to recreate the experiment for anyone. Writing With A Purpose.\n\nBy Brent Tyler. They write without a purpose. They start with their essays without knowing why they are writing in the first place. What is a Purpose? A purpose is the sole reason why you are writing an essay or article.\n\nIt is your definite aim; how you would want your paper to communicate with the readers. Make Your Last Words Count. In academic writing, a well-crafted conclusion can provide the final word on the value of your analysis, research, or paper. Complete your conclusions with conviction!\n\nConclusions show readers the value of your completely developed argument or thoroughly answered question. The ultimate purpose of any conclusion is to sum up the results of your work and – if necessary – remind the reader of the main points discussed in the body of your paper.\n\nSo, quality conclusion samples should act like.\n\nPurpose of conclusion\nRated 5/5 based on 82 review", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.995006263256073}
+{"content": "3 Following\n\noh, carrots.\n\nCurrently reading\n\nPractical Demonkeeping\nChristopher Moore\nSunset Song (Canongate Classic)\nLewis Grassic Gibbon\nThe Histories: The Landmark Herodotus\nHerodotus, Andrea L. Purvis, Robert B. Strassler\n40-Day Journey with Julian of Norwich\nLisa E. Dahill\n\nWasted Angels\n\nWasted Angels - Steve Kostecke This book made me super uncomfortable in the same way teenage boys made me super uncomfortable when I was a teen. The language is incredibly realistic, as is the plot. I'm ten years younger than these characters and grew up across the country, but it was all too familiar.\n\nSad to learn that Steve Kostecke passed away. Would have loved to read more of his work.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5892479419708252}
+{"content": "What Do We Do In The Face Of Intolerance And Hate Crimes?\n\nIn the past week, the effects of intolerance and hate crimes against others has been blatantly visible in the news. The shooting of 11 people at a Jewish Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania shocked many around the world. The violence at the Tree of Life Synagogue was conducted by suspect Robert Bowers, who had largely anti-Semitic views and openly told law enforcement that he wanted to commit violence against Jewish people.\n\nThe attack on the synagogue came only a few days after a number of packages suspected to contain explosives were mailed to both the CNN Headquarters and to several high profile political and public figures. The Obamas, Democratic representative Maxine Walters, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, Robert De Niro, Cory Booker, John Brennan, Joe Biden, Tom Steyer and James Clapper all received suspicious packages at their residences or offices. One suspect, Cesar Sayoc, was arrested in connection to the packages.  The suspect’s social media posts and stickers in his home included strong criticisms against CNN and the Democratic Party, which leads the speculation that he likely targeted the mail recipients for their political affiliations.\n\nThe Synagogue attack and suspicious mail packages both indicate how intolerance towards the belief systems and views of others can create violent motives. Our current global climate proves wider society to be increasingly divisive, creating another era in which people are not free to worship, belong to a culture or express their views for fear of being violently retaliated against.  In Canada, hate crimes motivated by prejudice have increased significantly over the past few years. For example, in 2016 there was an estimated 1,409 hate crimes that were reported to police, while 2015 had seen 47 less cases reported.\n\nOften, we are horrified when we read about historic acts of violence such as the Holocaust, Rwandan Genocide, Jim Crow era and many more. Looking to the past we are usually thankful for brave individuals who stood against violence and prejudice, and even go so far as to credit or show gratitude to our current, socially advanced world. While it is true that policies today permit the movement of people of different cultures, ethnic backgrounds and opinions, there is still much prejudice present in society.  The increase in hate related violent incidents and the events in the United States this week makes one feel as if the efforts and struggles made in the past by peace seekers are in fact being reversed.\n\nThese themes are not limited only to the west, but can be seen globally in cases such as the Rohingya Crisis, which are rooted in prejudice and lead to violence and mistreatment of specific groups. Many of these cases remain hidden and unresolved for a long period of time due to lack of awareness, western media coverage and public attention. This can result in large numbers of victims, the stealing and desecration of people’s rights, decreased access to justice and unfair treatment in society.\n\nWhile it is distressing to hear of hate crimes continuing across the globe in 2018, we should still believe in the power of justice and of humanity. In the few days after the attack on the synagogue, conversations between people from all walks of life, religions and backgrounds have been flooded with empathy, well wishes for the victims’ families and the common call for justice and the end of hate against others. Dark moments like the synagogue shooting and the mailed explosives frighten us and lead us to doubt the future of humanity, but we should all remind ourselves that we have come so far in society and we can only continue to strive for inclusivity and peace.\n\nWe must not become complacent in our zeal for peace and harmony within all groups. Past freedom fighters worked hard to ensure that people of all creeds could have justice, in spite of lingering prejudices. We can only continue their cause with the most influential tools they have left us with; our voices. Although it may sometimes seem that their efforts are being reversed, it is because of their past passions for justice, peace and equality that we have the voices with which we are able to champion causes today such as the Me Too Movement, campaigns against police brutality and gender discrimination. In sum, it would be a disservice to the efforts made in the past and to ourselves if we are defeated and do not continue on against social prejudices.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8611221313476562}
+{"content": "How does uranium series dating work\n\nRadiocarbon dating does not work on anything both the uranium and thorium series include that themselves have nothing to do with radiometric dating. Uranium series dating inhe has done research on dating of prehistoric archeological sites in the old world by uranium-series andthorium uraniumlorry's attention, and show him where you standat one moment, they put up burnamy's umbrella, and continued to sit under it rather than interrupt the proceedings even to let agatha go back to the hotel. Radioactive elements in the human body radioactive 40 k and 87 rb can also be used for dating exposure from the uranium series with emphasis on radon. Uranium radiation properties (last updated 2 may as the separative work required to enrich a certain amount of reactor-grade uranium uranium-232 series activity:. This is the third and final segment in the series below is a chart of uranium-238 one example is radioactive carbon-14 dating of organic.\n\nExplore further: iberian paintings are europe's oldest cave art, uranium-series dating study confirms how does the 'brain' of a living cell work. Uranium radiation properties they have grown in within a few months after the chemical separation of the uranium, and they do not form uranium-232 series. Radioactive decay rates - new ideas and robert gentry became well known for his experimental work with what the uranium decay series often leaves a number of.\n\nEvaluation and presentation schemes in dating instruments and procedures major methods of isotopic dating uranium–lead method as each dating method was developed, tested, and improved, mainly since 1950, a vast body of knowledge about the behaviour of different isotopic systems under different geologic conditions has evolved. How does radiometric dating work inorganic objects because uranium-lead conversions have a much longer half-life than other isotopes however. Dating methods dating techniques are procedures uranium series dating techniques rely on the fact that there is rarely enough time to complete the work.\n\nUranium-thorium dating, also called thorium-230 dating, uranium-series disequilibrium dating or uranium-series dating, is a radiometric dating technique commonly used to determine the age of calcium carbonate materials such as speleothem or coral. By aimee komugabe uranium series u-series dating is based on the uranium and thorium radioactive how does uranium series dating work, uranium thorium dating.\n\nThey are the uranium series we will explore some of the most common types of radioactive dating and how the particular isotopes work for each type. Uc berkeley press release uranium/lead dating provides most accurate at the same time as a major series of volcanic work was supported by.\n\nHow does uranium series dating work\n\nAbsolute dating dating according to limitations of uranium series dating only useful for precipitated minerals rare to work in context that meets both. Archaeology wordsmith results for and uranium series dating employ the known rate of decay his work made this dating method available to scientists.\n\nPhysics of uranium and nuclear energy (updated february 2018) this work is now being scaled up internationally with iter, being built in france the reaction is:. Facts about uranium the atoms are arranged like a series of cubes alternating with empty space in a gridlike pattern what is uranium how does it work. It doesn't prove an old earth by josef t long at least for the uranium-lead method in order for carbon dating to work. 44 radioactive decay to lead assumed that an undetermined quantity of lead 206 formed directly when the rocks originated moreover, in addition to uranium.\n\nThe age of the earth is approximately 4 such decay series, such as the uranium-radium and boltwood gave up work on radiometric dating and went on to. The information found here reflects completed usgs work the content of this page is static and has not been updated since the mid 2000's radiometric dating. The most important are uranium-235, uranium-238 the series starts with uranium-238 in uranium-thorium-lead datingthe uranium isotopes uranium-235. This report concerns work done on behalf of the us atomic energy commission and is uranium series dating uranium series dating is based on the decay.\n\nHow does uranium series dating work\nRated 5/5 based on 17 review", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7500324249267578}
+{"content": "Ryanair profits fell by 21% to €78 million in the three months to June 30.\n\nAverage fares fell 4% due to the timing of Easter and the impact of French air traffic control strikes in June.\n\nRevenue per passenger rose by 1% due to strong ancillary growth as traffic grew by 3% to 23.2 over the same period last year.\n\nUnit costs rose 4% mainly due to a 6% increase in fuel costs.\n\nHowever, the budget carrier said its guidance of full year profits of between €570 million to €600 million remains unchanged.\n\nChief executive Michael O’Leary said: “As previously guided, higher fuel costs and the timing of Easter led to Q1 profits falling €21 million to €78 million.\n\n“Ancillary revenues grew by 25% to €357 million (27% of total revenues) driven by the successful development of reserved seating, priority boarding, and higher admincredit card fees.”\n\nLooking forward, he said: “We expect Q2 yields to rise despite last year’s challenging (post-Olympic) comparables, although yields on close-in summer bookings have been slightly weaker in recent weeks due, we believe, to the heatwave in northern Europe.\n\n“As ever, our outlook remains cautious for the full year as market conditions are tough with recession, austerity, high fuel costs, and excessive government taxes (most recently in Belgium) impacting air travel demand and yields.\n\n“While we expect full year traffic to grow 3% to 81.5 million, we still have no visibility over next winter’s yields, and on the basis that the recent yield weakness in close-in summer bookings does not continue, we see no reason to change our full year profit after tax guidance.”\n\nShareholders recently approved an order for 175 Boeing 737-800s for delivery over a five years from September 2014.\n\nThis has allowed the carrier to raise its growth targets by 38% to 110 million passengers by 2019 with a fleet of 410 aircraft.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9728377461433411}
+{"content": "Electrofusion HDPE EF Equal Tee applying for the take a new pipelines over the ongoing lines. It’s easy to application of the electro fusion hdpe equal tee pieces to connect theree pipelines on the HDPE Tee connection pieces. HDPE electrofusion type equal Tee manufacturing with HDPE material and used in the pipeline to take new branch line on the HDPE pipe. This is the in shape of Tee as mentioned on the line to smaller pipe line.\nHDPE Equal Tee as known as HDPE Spigot Equal Tee or HDPE Injection Type Equal Tee. Both of them is same meaning and the systems on the pipeline.\nAlso for an alternative and easier way that you can use instead of HDPE Spigot Equal Tee is HDPE Electro Fusion Tapping Tee which can be welded by electro fusion type and only one welding to give new branches to pipelines.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9993916749954224}
+{"content": "BS Public Administration\n\nProgram Introduction\n\n\n Commencing in fall 2013, BS Public Administration is an inter-disciplinary degree encompassing several academic disciplines. The program aims to strengthen the skills and knowledge base of students and prepare them for successful careers through rigorous academic training and real life simulations. Additionally, the program will enrich the students with a vast array of hard as well soft skills which will enable them to devise effective and practical solutions and build consensus. A special emphasis will be laid on the Pakistani context, drawing upon conditions both domestic as well as external that shape the dynamics of public policy and politics vis-à-vis citizenry, society and interstate relations.\n\n Our graduates will be equipped to address modern day challenges by becoming a constructive part of the resolution processes and mechanisms within and outside the government through a systematic understanding of the governmental and social institutions, identifying areas of focus, assessing the prospects for reform, and affecting change.\n\nProgram Details\n\n4 Years\n\nMinimum 50% marks in Matriculation and Intermediate / A-Level or equivalent no 3rd division in metriculation.\n\n50% Marks in NTS\\UMTEntry Test.\n\n\nNeed Help?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9965620636940002}
+{"content": "Log in\n\nNo account? Create an account\n\nSeptember 2018\n2 3 4 5 6 7 8\n9 10 11 12 13 14 15\n16 17 18 19 20 21 22\n23 24 25 26 27 28 29\n\nAerden [userpic]\nWorking on the IMS/Glennis Brothers' Story\n\nBelow is Imperial Secrets babbling and thinking outloud. Most of you will have no idea what I'm talking about. I am making no attempts to explain anything, because it's a looooong, complicated story about a role-playing game that no longer exists except for occasional posts by die-hards.\n\nI started the chapter outline for the Glennis story today. At the moment, I am in the middle of plotting out chapter 11, in which Myradin enters the Withren Forest and acquires what in the game was called the Lifestone. It will be something else in the book.\n\nI have already made a few changes. Myradin rescues his sister Myrset the night of 'Halloween' in her 13th year and takes her by ship to 'Calypsa.' There, because the medical ethics Myradin was trained in are radically different from Calypsan ones, he can only get a job as a battlefield medic, so he signs on with a mercenary army. Things go on from there.\n\nAt some point, Myradin has to get the letter form home about his seventh brother's imminent birth. He has to be there to try to save his mother and fail. How I'm going to get him home after he's saved Myrset (his father will surely be out for his blood) I don't know, but i have to do it.\n\nAfter that, it's a lot of time passage that I have to fill. Nothing can really be done with Settim (seventh brother) until he's old enough to walk, talk, and be recognized as a sociopath. after that...I could maybe make his decision whether to remian evil or become good happen at age 10 instead of 12. But that young, he wouldn't be able to exact his mother's revenge on his father, which is the whole crux of the story. Hm. I might just have to skip some time.\n\nCurrent Mood: workingworking", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6691106557846069}
+{"content": "Research Paper: The Benefits of Human Cloning\n\ncloning can create a wealth of potential benefits for health care and society. Thus, it can help fight the worst cases of infertility, giving couples that were considered hopeless a chance to produce offspring. Techniques developed in cloning can also overcome birth defects and be used to improve genetic composition of newborns. Somatic cell nuclear transfer technology applied by scientists who produce clones helps to generate transplants that do not trigger an immune response and thus allow treatment of previously incurable diseases.\n\nHuman cloning made a revolution in biological science, promising dazzling benefits for many individuals and families throughout the world. With the potential to reshape the traditional understanding of health care, cloning has evoked heated debates about the ethical side of the issue. To define whether the benefits of cloning will outweigh concerns, one needs first to realize in what reams these benefits lie and how serious the promises of human cloning are. This research paper will concentrate on defining the benefits of human cloning and delineating current advances in the field. (By the way, if you need professional writing help from experts, you can contact this research paper writing service which is always available online.)\n\nThe greatest promise has been shown by cloning in issues related to human infertility. Couples that were previously deprived of any hope to have a baby can do so with the help of human cloning. This field, known as reproductive cloning, allows couples to increase their chances to become parents even if one is suffering from a serious case of infertility.\n\nThe matter is that current options for infertile couples are not very successful. According to one estimate, “current infertility treatments are less than 10 percent successful” (Smith, 1998). This means that a large number of people are going through these treatments, experiencing physical pain often associated with these procedures, spending large sums of money, with relatively little chance to produce a healthy baby.\n\nCloning has much better prospects, according to Princeton University molecular biologist Dr. Lee Silver. In comparison, IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) that combines an egg and sperm in laboratory settings and then implants an embryo in mother’s womb, succeeded only starting with the 104th attempt when it was first applied by Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards in 1978 (“On Human Cloning”, 2001). This means that they had to try 103 times before the produced the first IVF baby, Louise Brown. At the outset of cloning technology, Ian Wilmut, the ‘father’ of Dolly, “put cloned embryos into 13 surrogate mothers, and one got pregnant and had offspring”. This suggests a much higher success rate for cloning at the outset, and there is little doubt that with time technology will improve to demonstrate a much higher success rate (“On Human Cloning”, 2001).\n\nAnother opportunity delivered by reproductive cloning would entail the creation of a twin brother or sister to replace the dead child. A couple that has lost the child, for instance, during an accident, could have a replica of the child’s genetic composition through cloning. Smith (1998) claims that this new baby “would be like other twins, a unique individual and not a carbon copy of the child that was lost under heartbreaking circumstances”. This technology would be useful for parents in other cases as well, for instance, when they became infertile after the birth of the first child.\n\nDespite the controversy that surrounds the possibility to generate healthier genes in human beings, the breakthroughs offered by cloning efforts in this area open vast possibilities that can be used to benefit many families and individuals.\n\nSmith (1998) in the report for the Human Cloning Foundation notes that “the average person carries 8 defective genes inside them”. These genes that cause hereditary illnesses can be removed with the help of cloning. Cloning will also be useful in removing birth defects that are found in about 4% of newborns (“On Human Cloning”, 2001). The reasons for these defects are most often unequal and ineffective division between the egg and the sperm that leaves one of these with an overload of chromosomes. Due to the fact that “cloning bypasses the process of dividing the DNA in half”, birth defects can be avoided (“On Human Cloning”, 2001). Another benefit of cloning is the fact that it allows to bypass the inheritance of serious diseases like sickle-cell anemia or cystic fibrosis that are going to be inherited by approximately one-fourth of children in case of normal reproduction. However, with cloning, the chance of passing this disease from children to parents is reduced to virtually nil. Cloning can be used for genetic testing that will inform parents about the probability that their child has a birth defect of hereditary health problem. Thus, women who in the risk group for producing babies with Down’s syndrome or Tay-Sachs disease may find out soon enough whether the embryo has it or not and then choose to terminate pregnancy (Smith, 1998). Even so, cloning may lead to the emergence of other birth defects that have to be considered in the development of this technology (“On Human Cloning”, 2001).\n\nIn addition, there is also a possibility that humans will be able to modify their posterity in order to improve certain desirable features such as intelligence, good looks, physical strength etc. (“On Human Cloning”, 2001). This has raised concerns about the financial outlays associated with the process, and the danger that members of the upper classes will be able to improve their genetic make-up to be superior than representatives of the lower classes. This is a factor to be considered in political decisions concerning the permission to use cloning to produce “genetically improved” kids.\n\nTherapeutic cloning is highly useful for the production of transplants that are indispensable in many diseases, such as, for instance, liver or kidney failure. Previous technologies that focused on transplanting organs from other humans were subject to the danger that transplants will come into conflict with the individual’s immune system. At the moment, “with the exception of cells from an identical twin, donor cells are genetically different from the recipient”, which can lead to the rejection of the transplanted tissues (Varmus, 1998). Medication used to suppress the immune response has serious side effects that include death of the patient (Varmus, 1998). Transplant medicine is under constant pressure to find more donors, which can lead to unethical actions, such as children trafficking in order to sell their organs. Now, cloning will allow scholars to produce, on a virtually unlimited scale, organs that were generated using the patient’s own cells and have a much greater chances to replace the dysfunctional organs successfully.\n\nEmbryonic stem cell research will permit, for instance, the reproduction of bone marrow necessary for the rescue of leukemia patients. In this way, cloning can be used to treat an array of serious conditions including spinal cord injury, heart attack, juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA), Crohn’s disease, diabetes, cancer and others. Patients suffering from diabetes, for instance, will be supplied with insulin-producing cells that will correct their deficiency and save them from the need to have insulin injected during their whole lifetime (“On Human Cloning”, 2001).\n\nThus, a patient who suffered an acute myocardial infarction in Dusseldorf University Cardiac Clinic had his heart restored with the help of bone marrow cells. These cells “6 days after infarction 1.2×107 cells were transplanted into the artery supplying the heart” (Ho, Cummins, n.d.). The transplantation led to a dramatic reduction of infracted area from 24.6% to 15.7% of left ventricular circumference and a 20-30% improvement in the heart’s pumping activity (Ho, Cummins, n.d.).\n\nSomatic cell nuclear transfer technology used in cloning will create innovative treatments for patients with neurologic injury and disease. For instance, for patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease, cloning will provide neurons that will be produced using their own tissues (“On Human Cloning”, 2001). This holds for all patients whose “mature, specialized nerve cells do not reproduce” and do not give scholars possibility to create “cultures of replicating nerve cells” (Varmus, 1998). Through use of cloning technologies, researchers can utilize a totipotent cell from the patient’s own body to generate all kinds of nerve cells, thus aiding patients with such problems as Lou Gehrig’s disease, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease (Varmus, 1998).\n\nThere are numerous instances of treatments of patients with bone marrow produced from their own cells. Thus, in the Netherlands (Utrecht and Leiden), four children who suffered from juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA), were helped with bone marrow that significantly reduced pain, swelling and stiffness and did not require the application of immune-suppressing drugs (Ho, Cummins, n.d.). A 52-year-old Asian mother suffering from thymus carcinoma was treated with white cells received from her daughter, manifesting significant improvement already after three days of cell transplantation and showing a regression in her tumor after 7 months (Ho, Cummins, n.d.).\n\nIn the realm of plastic, reconstructive, and cosmetic surgery, cloning offers similar advances as in the treatment of incurable diseases that require tissue replacement. Avoiding implants that trigger an adverse immune response “instead of using materials foreign to the body for such procedures, doctors will be able to manufacture bone, fat, connective tissue, or cartilage that matches the patients tissues exactly” (Smith, 1998). This will eliminate the use of modern silicon breast implants that can inflict serious damage on women’s health by causing an immune response. The same problems persist in the use of other kinds of implants used to restore the appearance of those who had their faces mutilated in accidents or due to health problems. Using cloning technologies, scholars will apply implants that, blending effectively with one’s usual tissues, will improve appearance in a safe and effective way. Besides, in the words of Dr. Richard Seed, cloning may give an opportunity to “to reverse the aging process”, although at this point such a possibility seems a long way off (Smith, 1998).\n\nHuman cloning, although disputed from an ethical standpoint, can deliver impressive breakthroughs in modern health care, totally reformulating the concept of medical treatment. The virtually unlimited possibilities of therapeutic cloning can help save society from a large number of diseases that are now considered incurable. This can dramatically improve life expectancy and render seniors the ability to remain active and enjoy life to a very old age. Reproductive cloning can deliver chances to give birth to a healthy baby to the overwhelming majority of families that find little use in modern infertility treatments. All this leads to the conclusion that human cloning can make a significant contribution to human health.\n\nHo, M.-W., & Cummins, J. (n.d.). “Why Clone Humans?” Retrieved January 28, 2006 from the Institute of Science in Society’s website at:\n“On Human Cloning”. (2001, October). PBS. Retrieved January 28, 2006 from\nSmith, S. (1998). The Benefits of Human Cloning. Retrieved January 28, 2006 from\nVarmus, H. (1998, February 12). Statement for the Record on Human Cloning. Before the House Committee on Commerce, Subcommittee on Health and Environment. Retrieved January 28, 2006 from\n\nFeel free to read more about custom research papers on human cloning, if you are interesting is paying highly qualified academic writers.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8317068219184875}
+{"content": "Getting used to Rhino 6 view port question\n\n\nI’m getting up to speed with Rhino 6 and have run into a small problem. In the perspective viewport I’m getting lines indicating which projection I’m using, how do i turn them off?\n\n(Pascal Golay) #2\n\nHello - I’m not sure what you mean - can you post a screen shot?\n\n\n\nIt seems it may be the original file was not a native Rhino file and somehow in the conversion this anomaly popped up. In the perspective window I was getting three lines converging at the vanishing point if I was using perspective mode, two lines if in parallel mode and one line in two point. Also I was in rendered display but it happened in shaded view. I thought I may have turned on a feature by accident but I couldn’t find any reference to help me located the feature. I’ve attached a screen shot of the line I’m referring to\n\n(Pascal Golay) #4\n\nHm - weird - are these lines actual geometry in the file? Can you send us the file, either post it here or send to to my (Pascal) attention. I’ll take a look.\n\n\n\nI can’t send the file. The lines aren’t geometry, can’t select them and I haven’t seen them show up in any other file we get from the client. The original file wasn’t a Rhino file but converted from .stp. It doesn’t cause any problems, just annoying. I checked Rhino 5 and it is there also.\n\n\nI guess the obvious would be to see if you have any locked objects or layers… If not -\n\nHave you tried _SelBadObjects to see if any surfaces/polysurfaces show up as bad? If you can’t select them, the “lines” you see may be bad surfaces, render meshes or something else…\n\nAnother thing to try is to explode everything and run RebuildEdges on all the surfaces and see if any artifacts (if they are such) go away… If so, then try joining things back up part by part…\n\n\nOK, solved the problem. The original file contained a circle with a dia. of 6.7 BILLION INCH. The origin was a near infinity. This was in the original file but so far from the model I was using that I missed it. It wasn’t a Rhino glitch after all.\n\nDavid G\n\n\n6.7 bilion inches !!! :open_mouth::joy:\n\n\nIf I had a dollar for every inch…\n\n\na penny for every inch would suit me fine :slight_smile:\n\n(Pascal Golay) #11\n\nI’ve always thought you were so much more reasonable than @Helvetosaur.\n\n\n\nThe radius was so large that the edge was a straight line!\n\n(John Brock) #13\n\nPerhaps this is the origin of the Flat Earth Society?\n\n(Pascal Golay) #14\n\nAt last!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5602748990058899}
+{"content": "Seismologists use seismic waves to study how earthquake faults rupture and to probe Earth’s internal structure from the surface to the core. Seismology plays a key role in mitigating earthquake hazards, finding oil and other Earth resources, monitoring nuclear explosions, and understanding the internal dynamics of our planet.\n\nThe Seismology section has established two awards and one named lecture to recognize outstanding scientists who are in various stages of their career. Details about each honor are provided below:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9936432838439941}
+{"content": "BackHomeSocietySociety Categories Vietnam's Generation Z Earns Little, but Loves Eating Out: Report\n\nVietnam's Generation Z Earns Little, but Loves Eating Out: Report\n\nDespite having little money, many members of Vietnam’s Generation Z spend a large percentage of their budget on eating out.\n\nAccording to a study by Decision Lab, Vietnamese youths born between 1994 and 2002, defined as Generation Z, spend an average of VND892,443 (US$40) a month eating away from home. The market research group polled 6,000 respondents from the age bracket in Hanoi, Da Nang and Saigon.\n\nThe results show that while 56% of those surveyed earn no money or make less than VND3 million (US$132) per month, they still prioritize eating at street food stalls and restaurants over meals at home. This behavior is increasingly commonplace. In Q3 of 2016, individuals in this age group went out an average of 91 times, while in Q3 of 2017 that figure was 133. This increase expanded the group's overall market contribution from 14% to 19%.\n\nThese youths aren’t simply eating out more, they are also making different dining choices than previous generations. Compared to other Vietnamese, they prefer canteens and convenience stores, while visiting fast casual restaurants and street food stalls less often. Vietnamese restaurants, bakeries, chicken restaurants and pizza parlors are most popular, with fast food restaurants comprising 25% of their meals.\n\nUnlike older citizens, who prefer to sip on coffee or alcohol, Generation Z is milk tea obsessed. Per capita, they drink over 30% more milk tea than older groups and nearly 50% less coffee. This trend shows no sign of slowing, and the study noted a 117% increase in milk tea consumption by the group between 2016 and 2017.\n\nIt’s not just what and where members of Generation Z consume food that differs from previous generations, but also when they eat. Unlike other age groups who adhere to set schedules for meals, these youngsters place equal emphasis on grazing. They spend more on morning snacks than breakfast, more on afternoon snacks than lunch, and only slightly less on late night snacks than dinner.\n\nWhile Generation Z is more tech-possessed and tech-savvy than any group before them, the report claims they still rely on traditional recommendations for making their food choices. Some 72% of them trust the suggestions of parents or experts while fewer than 20% follow the advice of social media posts or online reviews.\n\nThese spending trends have drawn some criticism from older people. VnExpress reports that some people aged 28-40 who have already been working for some time are quick to condemn Gen Z for their \"wasteful spending\". The slightly older group grew up between the 1970s and early 1990s when economic conditions were more difficult and therefore frugality was seen as a necessary and even commendable trait.\n\nPhan Tuong Yen, a psychology lecturer at Hoa Sen University in Saigon, told the newspaper: “What we see here is an interesting generational gap, but not the gap between parents/grandparents and their children. It’s much closer than that and it’s clearly a conflict of personal values.\" He added that Generation Z “feel[s] they are part of this booming wealth, more so than in the earlier days of austerity” and therefore have different concepts of freedom and spending.\n\n[Photo via Straits Times]\n\nRelated Articles:\n\nVietnam Boasts Fastest-Growing Private Sector Salaries in ASEAN: Survey\n\nThe Renovation Generation: Exploring What It Means to Be Young and Vietnamese\n\nVietnam's Fast-Growing Middle Class a Juicy Target for Foreign Brands", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.999553918838501}
+{"content": "Archives For community epistemic capacities\n\nAuthor Information: Luca Tateo, Aalborg University & Federal University of Bahia,\n\nTateo, Luca. “Ethics, Cogenetic Logic, and the Foundation of Meaning.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 7, no. 12 (2018): 1-8.\n\nThe pdf of the article gives specific page references. Shortlink:\n\nMural entitled “Paseo de Humanidad” on the Mexican side of the US border wall in the city of Heroica Nogales, in Sonora. Art by Alberto Morackis, Alfred Quiróz and Guadalupe Serrano.\nImage by Jonathan McIntosh, via Flickr / Creative Commons\n\n\nThis essay is in reply to: Miika Vähämaa (2018) Challenges to Groups as Epistemic Communities: Liminality of Common Sense and Increasing Variability of Word Meanings, Social Epistemology, 32:3, 164-174, DOI: 10.1080/02691728.2018.1458352\n\nIn his interesting essay, Vähämaa (2018) discusses two issues that I find particularly relevant. The first one concerns the foundation of meaning in language, which in the era of connectivism (Siemens, 2005) and post-truth (Keyes, 2004) becomes problematic. The second issue is the appreciation of epistemic virtues in a collective context: how the group can enhance the epistemic skill of the individual?\n\nI will try to explain why these problems are relevant and why it is worth developing Vähämaa’s (2018) reflection in the specific direction of group and person as complementary epistemic and ethic agents (Fricker, 2007). First, I will discuss the foundations of meaning in different theories of language. Then, I will discuss the problems related to the stability and liminality of meaning in the society of “popularity”. Finally I will propose the idea that the range of contemporary epistemic virtues should be integrated by an ethical grounding of meaning and a co-genetic foundation of meaning.\n\nThe Foundation of Meaning in Language\n\nThe theories about the origins of human language can be grouped in four main categories, based on the elements characterizing the ontogenesis and glottogenesis.\n\nSociogenesis Hypothesis (SH): it is the idea that language is a conventional product, that historically originates from coordinated social activities and it is ontogenetically internalized through individual participation to social interactions. The characteristic authors in SH are Wundt, Wittgenstein and Vygotsky (2012).\n\nPraxogenesis Hypothesis (PH): it is the idea that language historically originates from praxis and coordinated actions. Ontogenetically, the language emerges from senso-motory coordination (e.g. gaze coordination). It is for instance the position of Mead, the idea of linguistic primes in Smedslund (Vähämaa, 2018) and the language as action theory of Austin (1975).\n\nPhylogenesis Hypothesis (PhH): it is the idea that humans have been provided by evolution with an innate “language device”, emerging from the evolutionary preference for forming social groups of hunters and collective long-duration spring care (Bouchard, 2013). Ontogenetically, language predisposition is wired in the brain and develops in the maturation in social groups. This position is represented by evolutionary psychology and by innatism such as Chomsky’s linguistics.\n\nStructure Hypothesis (StH): it is the idea that human language is a more or less logic system, in which the elements are determined by reciprocal systemic relationships, partly conventional and partly ontic (Thao, 2012). This hypothesis is not really concerned with ontogenesis, rather with formal features of symbolic systems of distinctions. It is for instance the classical idea of Saussure and of the structuralists like Derrida.\n\nAccording to Vähämaa (2018), every theory of meaning has to deal today with the problem of a terrific change in the way common sense knowledge is produced, circulated and modified in collective activities. Meaning needs some stability in order to be of collective utility. Moreover, meaning needs some validation to become stable.\n\nThe PhH solves this problem with a simple idea: if humans have survived and evolved, their evolutionary strategy about meaning is successful. In a natural “hostile” environment, our ancestors must have find the way to communicate in such a way that a danger would be understood in the same way by all the group members and under different conditions, including when the danger is not actually present, like in bonfire tales or myths.\n\nThe PhH becomes problematic when we consider the post-truth era. What would be the evolutionary advantage to deconstruct the environmental foundations of meaning, even in a virtual environment? For instance, what would be the evolutionary advantage of the common sense belief that global warming is not a reality, considered that this false belief could bring mankind to the extinction?\n\nStH leads to the view of meaning as a configuration of formal conditions. Thus, stability is guaranteed by structural relations of the linguistic system, rather than by the contribution of groups or individuals as epistemic agents. StH cannot account for the rapidity and liminality of meaning that Vähämaa (2018) attributes to common sense nowadays. SH and PH share the idea that meaning emerges from what people do together, and that stability is both the condition and the product of the fact that we establish contexts of meaningful actions, ways of doing things in a habitual way.\n\nThe problem is today the fact that our accelerated Western capitalistic societies have multiplied the ways of doing and the number of groups in society, decoupling the habitual from the common sense meaning. New habits, new words, personal actions and meanings are built, disseminated and destroyed in short time. So, if “Our lives, with regard to language and knowledge, are fundamentally bound to social groups” (Vähämaa, 2018, p. 169) what does it happen to language and to knowledge when social groups multiply, segregate and disappear in a short time?\n\nFrom Common Sense to the Bubble\n\nThe grounding of meaning in the group as epistemic agent has received a serious stroke in the era of connectivism and post-truth. The idea of connectivism is that knowledge is distributed among the different agents of a collective network (Siemens, 2005). Knowledge does not reside into the “mind” or into a “memory”, but is rather produced in bits and pieces, that the epistemic agent is required to search, and to assemble through the contribution of the collective effort of the group’s members.\n\nThus, depending on the configuration of the network, different information will be connected, and different pictures of the world will emerge. The meaning of the words will be different if, for instance, the network of information is aggregated by different groups in combination with, for instance, specific algorithms. The configuration of groups, mediated by social media, as in the case of contemporary politics (Lewandowsky, Ecker & Cook, 2017), leads to the reproduction of “bubbles” of people that share the very same views, and are exposed to the very same opinions, selected by an algorithm that will show only the content compliant with their previous content preferences.\n\nThe result is that the group loses a great deal of its epistemic capability, which Vähämaa (2018) suggests as a foundation of meaning. The meaning of words that will be preferred in this kind of epistemic bubble is the result of two operations of selection that are based on popularity. First, the meaning will be aggregated by consensual agents, rather than dialectic ones. Meaning will always convergent rather than controversial.\n\nSecond, between alternative meanings, the most “popular” will be chosen, rather than the most reliable. The epistemic bubble of connectivism originates from a misunderstanding. The idea is that a collectivity has more epistemic force than the individual alone, to the extent that any belief is scrutinized democratically and that if every agent can contribute with its own bit, the knowledge will be more reliable, because it is the result of a constant and massive peer-review. Unfortunately, the events show us a different picture.\n\nPost-truth is actually a massive action of epistemic injustice (Fricker, 2007), to the extent that the reliability of the other as epistemic agent is based on criteria of similarity, rather than on dialectic. One is reliable as long as it is located within my own bubble. Everything outside is “fake news”. The algorithmic selection of information contributes to reinforce the polarization. Thus, no hybridization becomes possible, the common sense (Vähämaa, 2018) is reduced to the common bubble. How can the epistemic community still be a source of meaning in the connectivist era?\n\nMeaning and Common Sense\n\nSH and PH about language point to a very important historical source: the philosopher Giambattista Vico (Danesi, 1993; Tateo, 2015). Vico can be considered the scholar of the common sense and the imagination (Tateo, 2015). Knowledge is built as product of human experience and crystallized into the language of a given civilization. Civilization is the set of interpretations and solutions that different groups have found to respond to the common existential events, such as birth, death, mating, natural phenomena, etc.\n\nAccording to Vico, all the human beings share a fate of mortal existence and rely on each other to get along. This is the notion of common sense: the profound sense of humanity that we all share and that constitutes the ground for human ethical choices, wisdom and collective living. Humans rely on imagination, before reason, to project themselves into others and into the world, in order to understand them both. Imagination is the first step towards the understanding of the Otherness.\n\nWhen humans loose contact with this sensus communis, the shared sense of humanity, and start building their meaning on egoism or on pure rationality, civilizations then slip into barbarism. Imagination gives thus access to the intersubjectivity, the capability of feeling the other, while common sense constitutes the wisdom of developing ethical beliefs that will not harm the other. Vico ideas are echoed and made present by the critical theory:\n\n“We have no doubt (…) that freedom in society is inseparable from enlightenment thinking. We believe we have perceived with equal clarity, however, that the very concept of that thinking (…) already contains the germ of the regression which is taking place everywhere today. If enlightenment does not [engage in] reflection on this regressive moment, it seals its own fate (…) In the mysterious willingness of the technologically educated masses to fall under the spell of any despotism, in its self-destructive affinity to nationalist paranoia (…) the weakness of contemporary theoretical understanding is evident.” (Horkheimer & Adorno, 2002, xvi)\n\nCommon sense is the basis for the wisdom, that allows to question the foundational nature of the bubble. It is the basis to understand that every meaning is not only defined in a positive way, but is also defined by its complementary opposite (Tateo, 2016).\n\nWhen one uses the semantic prime “we” (Vähämaa, 2018), one immediately produces a system of meaning that implies the existence of a “non-we”, one is producing otherness. In return, the meaning of “we” can only be clearly defined through the clarification of who is “non-we”. Meaning is always cogenetic (Tateo, 2015). Without the capability to understand that by saying “we” people construct a cogenetic complex of meaning, the group is reduced to a self confirming, self reinforcing collective, in which the sense of being a valid epistemic agent is actually faked, because it is nothing but an act of epistemic arrogance.\n\nHow we can solve the problem of the epistemic bubble and give to the relationship between group and person a real epistemic value? How we can overcome the dangerous overlapping between sense of being functional in the group and false beliefs based on popularity?\n\nComplementarity Between Meaning and Sense\n\nMy idea is that we must look in that complex space between the “meaning”, understood as a collectively shared complex of socially constructed significations, and the “sense”, understood as the very personal elaboration of meaning which is based on the person’s uniqueness (Vygotsky, 2012; Wertsck, 2000). Meaning and sense feed into each other, like common sense and imagination. Imagination is the psychic function that enables the person to feel into the other, and thus to establish the ethical and affective ground for the common sense wisdom. It is the empathic movement on which Kant will later on look for a logic foundation.\n\n“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end.” (Kant 1993, p. 36. 4:429)\n\nI would further claim that maybe they feed into each other: the logic foundation is made possible by the synthetic power of empathic imagination. Meaning and sense feed into each other. On the one hand, the collective is the origin of internalized psychic activities (SH), and thus the basis for the sense elaborated about one’s own unique life experience. On the other hand, the personal sense constitutes the basis for the externalization of the meaning into the arena of the collective activities, constantly innovating the meaning of the words.\n\nSo, personal sense can be a strong antidote to the prevailing force of the meaning produced for instance in the epistemic bubble. My sense of what is “ought”, “empathic”, “human” and “ethic”, in other words my wisdom, can help me to develop a critical stance towards meanings that are build in a self-feeding uncritical way.\n\nCan the dialectic, complementary and cogenetic relationship between sense and meaning become the ground for a better epistemic performance, and for an appreciation of the liminal meaning produced in contemporary societies? In the last section, I will try to provide arguments in favor of this idea.\n\nEthical Grounding of Meaning\n\nIf connectivistic and post-truth societies produce meanings that are based on popularity check, rather than on epistemic appreciation, we risk to have a situation in which any belief is the contingent result of a collective epistemic agent which replicates its patterns into bubbles. One will just listen to messages that confirm her own preferences and belief and reject the different ones as unreliable. Inside the bubble there is no way to check the meaning, because the meaning is not cogenetic, it is consensual.\n\nFor instance, if I read and share a post on social media, claiming that migrants are the main criminal population, despite my initial position toward the news, there is the possibility that within my group I will start to see only posts confirming the initial fact. The fact can be proven wrong, for instance by the press, but the belief will be hard to change, as the meaning of “migrant” in my bubble is likely to continue being that of “criminal”. The collectivity will share an epistemically unjust position, to the extent that it will attribute a lessened epistemic capability to those who are not part of the group itself. How can one avoid that the group is scaffolding the “bad” epistemic skills, rather than empowering the individual (Vähämaa, 2018)?\n\nThe solution I propose is to develop an epistemic virtue based on two main principles: the ethical grounding of meaning and the cogenetic logic. The ethical grounding of meaning is directly related to the articulation between common sense and wisdom in the sense of Vico (Tateo, 2015). In a post-truth world in which we cannot appreciate the epistemic foundation of meaning, we must rely on a different epistemic virtue in order to become critical toward messages. Ethical grounding, based on the personal sense of humanity, is not of course epistemic test of reliability, but it is an alarm bell to become legitimately suspicious toward meanings. The second element of the new epistemic virtue is cogenetic logic (Tateo, 2016).\n\nMeaning is grounded in the building of every belief as a complementary system between “A” and “non-A”. This implies that any meaning is constructed through the relationship with its complementary opposite. The truth emerges in a double dialectic movement (Silva Filho, 2014): through Socratic dialogue and through cogenetic logic. In conclusion, let me try to provide a practical example of this epistemic virtue.\n\nThe way to start to discriminate potentially fake news or the tendentious interpretations of facts would be essentially based on an ethic foundation. As in Vico’s wisdom of common sense, I would base my epistemic scrutiny on the imaginative work that allows me to access the other and on the cogenetic logic that assumes every meaning is defined by its relationship with the opposite.\n\nLet’s imagine that we are exposed to a post on social media, in which someone states that a caravan of migrants, which is travelling from Honduras across Central America toward the USA border, is actually made of criminals sent by hostile foreign governments to destabilize the country right before elections. The same post claims that it is a conspiracy and that all the press coverage is fake news.\n\nFinally the post presents some “debunking” pictures showing some athletic young Latino men, with their faces covered by scarves, to demonstrate that the caravan is not made by families with children, but is made by “soldiers” in good shape and who don’t look poor and desperate as the “mainstream” media claim. I do not know whether such a post has ever been made, but I just assembled elements of very common discourses circulating in the social media.\n\nThe task is no to assess the nature of this message, its meaning and its reliability. I could rely on the group as a ground for assessing statements, to scrutinize their truth and justification. However, due to the “bubble” effect, I may fall into a simple tautological confirmation, due to the configuration of the network of my relations. I would probably find only posts confirming the statements and delegitimizing the opposite positions. In this case, the fact that the group will empower my epistemic confidence is a very dangerous element.\n\nI could limit my search for alternative positions to establish a dialogue. However, I could not be able, alone, to find information that can help me to assess the statement with respect to its degree of bias. How can I exert my skepticism in a context of post-truth? I propose some initial epistemic moves, based on a common sense approach to the meaning-making.\n\n1) I must be skeptical of every message which uses a violent, aggressive, discriminatory language, and that such kind of message is “fake” by default.\n\n2) I must be skeptical of every message that treats as criminals or is against whole social groups, even on the basis of real isolated events, because this interpretation is biased by default.\n\n3) I must be skeptical of every message that attacks or targets persons for their characteristics rather than discussing ideas or behaviors.\n\nAppreciating the hypothetical post about the caravan by the three rules above mentioned, one will immediately see that it violates all of them. Thus, no matter what is the information collected by my epistemic bubble, I have justified reasons to be skeptical towards it. The foundation of the meaning of the message will not be neither in the group nor in the person. It will be based on the ethical position of common sense’s wisdom.\n\nContact details:\n\n\nAustin, J. L. (1975). How to do things with words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.\n\nBouchard, D. (2013). The nature and origin of language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.\n\nDanesi, M. (1993). Vico, metaphor, and the origin of language. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.\n\nFricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing. Oxford University Press.\n\nHorkheimer, M., & Adorno, T. W. (2002). Dialectic of Enlightenment. Trans. Edmund Jephcott. Stanford: Stanford University Press.\n\nKant, I. (1993) [1785]. Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals. Translated by Ellington, James W. (3rd ed.). Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett.\n\nKeyes, R. (2004). The Post-Truth Era: Dishonesty and Deception in Contemporary Life. New York: St. Martin’s.\n\nLewandowsky, S., Ecker, U. K., & Cook, J. (2017). Beyond misinformation: Understanding and coping with the “post-truth” era. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 6(4), 353-369.\n\n\nSilva Filho, W. J. (2014). Davidson: Dialog, dialectic, interpretation. Utopía y praxis latinoamericana, 7(19).\n\nTateo, L. (2015). Giambattista Vico and the psychological imagination. Culture & Psychology, 21(2), 145-161.\n\nTateo, L. (2016). Toward a cogenetic cultural psychology. Culture & Psychology, 22(3), 433-447.\n\nThao, T. D. (2012). Investigations into the origin of language and consciousness. New York: Springer.\n\nVähämaa, M. (2018). Challenges to Groups as Epistemic Communities: Liminality of Common Sense and Increasing Variability of Word Meanings, Social Epistemology, 32:3, 164-174, DOI: 10.1080/02691728.2018.1458352\n\nVygotsky, L. S. (2012). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT press.\n\nWertsck, J. V. (2000). Vygotsky’s Two Minds on the Nature of Meaning. In C. D. Lee & P. Smagorinsky (eds), Vygotskian perspectives on literacy research: Constructing meaning through collaborative inquiry (pp. 19-30). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.\n\nAuthor Information: Francisco Collazo-Reyes, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN,\nHugo García Compeán, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN\nMiguel Ángel Pérez-Angón, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN\nJane Margaret-Russell, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México\n\nCollazo Reyes, Francisco; Hugo García Compeán, Miguel Ángel Pérez-Angón, Jane Margaret-Russell,. “The Nature of the Eponym.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 7, no. 6 (2018): 12-15.\n\nThe pdf of the article gives specific page references. Shortlink:\n\nSee also:\n\nImage by Mark Hogan via Flickr / Creative Commons\n\n\nWe agree in general with the comments made by G. Vélez-Cuartas (2018), on our paper published recently in Social Epistemology (Collazo-Reyes, et al, 2018). He accepts the use of our methodology in the analysis of the eponym of Jerzy Plebanski and at the same time, suggests applying this methodology to search for the formation of invisible colleges or scientific networks associated with the emergence of epistemic communities.\n\nThis was not a direct goal of our work but we included some related aspects in the revised version of our manuscript that may seem somewhat distant from the ambit of the eponym: namely, intertextuality, obliteration by incorporation, scientometrics networks, invisible colleges, epistemic communities, Jerzy Plebanski and “plebanski”. All these topics are keywords to access our paper in the indexes of scientific literature. These aspects distinguish our methodology from other approaches used in almost a thousand papers that addressed the issue of eponyms, according to a recent search for this topic in Web of Science database.\n\nWithin this framework, we appreciate the author’s suggestion to extend our analysis to other subject areas since “eponym as a scientometric tool sounds good as a promising methodology”. In particular, “to induce an analysis on other areas of sociology of science and social epistemology” in order “to reach a symbolic status in a semantic community that is organized in a network of meaning” and could show “a geographical penetration of scientific institutions and global dynamics of scientific systems” (Vélez-Cuartas, 2018).\n\nTraditionally, published work on eponymy has studied the contribution or influence of certain authors in their respective scientific disciplines through biographies, tributes, eulogies or life histories and narratives. Some of these have been published as a series of studies like “Marathon of eponyms” (Scully et al., 2012) or “The man behind the eponym” (Steffen, 2004). The post-structuralism movement mentioned in our paper (Collazo-Reyes, et al, 2018) has criticized this approach.\n\nIn scientific texts, the use of the term “plebanski”, as an eponym of the proper name of Jerzy Plebanski, corroborates the recognition given by various authors to the work developed by the Polish scientist. Acknowledgement is apparent in cognitive texts on different aspects of plebanski’s contributions and in this context; the “plebanski” term is cited as a cognitive entity macro-referenced in the framework of scientific communication (Pang, 2010).\n\nWe would like to mention two points related to future applications of our findings on the use of eponym in the Latin American scientific literature:\n\n1) The process involved in the construction of an eponym inherently generates a macro-referential scheme that is not considered in the cognitive structure of the databases of the bibliographical indices. The operational strength of the intertextuality associated with the referential process helps to generate socio-cognitive relations and space-time flows of scientific information.\n\nThis scheme requires characterization through a relatively exhaustive search in the different variants of the bibliographical indices: references, abstracts, citations, key words, views, twitters, blogs, Facebook, etc. (WoS, Scopus, arXiv, INSPIRE, ADS/NASA, Google citation, altmetric platforms). Most of these have arisen within the domain of the traditional bibliographical databases. Therefore, there is a clear possibility to generate an eponym index to characterize the intertextual structures not associated with the known bibliographical indices.\n\n2) We coincide with the author on the need to take a new approach to carrying out an exhaustive search of eponyms as related to the Latin American scientific community. We are interested in characterizing the geography of collaboration at different levels: local, national, regional, and international (Livingstone, 2003; Naylor, 2005). This approach has been followed in the study of the geographical origin of eponyms in relation to the dominant system of scientific communication (Shapin, 1998; Livingstone, 1995, 2003; Geographies of Science, 2010).\n\nWe made a first attempt in this direction in our study of the “plebanski” eponym in the area of mathematical physics. In this paper, we made use of the methodology involved in “geographies of science” (Livingstone, 2010; Geographies of Science, 2010; Knowledge and Space, 2016) with theoretical tools that enhance the projections made in the framework of the sociology of science, bibliometrics and science communication.\n\nIn particular, the “spatial turn” movement (Finnegan, 2008; Gunn, 2001; Frenken, 2009; Fa-ti, 2012) offers a new dimension in the development of information systems, maps and networks using an innovative methodology such as “spatial scientometrics” (Frenken et al., 2009; Flores-Vargas, et al, 2018).\n\nThe new proposal considers, in each application of an eponym, the original source of authors, institutions, journals and subject matters. Each source includes the position in the geographical distribution of scientific knowledge associated with a given discipline. This information is then referred to as “geo-reference” and the eponyms as “macro-georeferenced” entities.\n\nIn this scheme, the generation of eponyms involves the combination of the different sources for authors, institutions, journals and subject areas. The resulting network may develop new aspects of the distribution mechanism of the asymmetrical power associated with the geographies of knowledge (Geographies of Knowledge and Power, 2010).\n\nContact details:\n\n\nCollazo-Reyes, F., H. García-Compeán, M. A. Pérez-Angón, and J. M. Russell. 2018.  “Scientific Eponyms in Latin America: The Case of Jerzy Plebanski in the Area of Mathematical Physics.” Social Epistemology 32 (1): 63-74.\n\nFa-ti, F. 2012. “The global turn in the history of science.” East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal 6 (2): 249-258.\n\nFinnegan, D. A. 2008. “The spatial turn: Geographical approaches in the history of science.” Journal of the History of Biology, 41 (2): 369-388.\n\nFlores-Vargas, X., S. H. Vitar-Sandoval, J. I. Guti��rrez-Maya, P. Collazo-Rodríguez, and F. Collazo-Reyes. 2018. “Determinants of the emergence of modern scientific knowledge in mineralogy (Mexico, 1975-1849): a geohistoriometric approach.” Scientometrics,\n\nFrenken, K. 2009. Geography of scientific knowledge: A proximity approach. Eindhoven Centre for Innovation Studies (ECIS), working paper 10.01. wp1001.pdf. Accessed 4 June 2016.\n\nFrenken, K., S. Hardeman, and J. Hoekman. 2009. “Spatial scientometrics: Toward a cumulative research program.” Journal of Informetrics 3 (3): 222–232.\n\nGeographies of Science. 2010. Peter Meusburger, David N. Livingstone, Heike Jöns, Editors. London, New York; Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg, ISBN 978-90-481-8610-5 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-8611-2.\n\nGeographies of Knowledge and Power. 2010. Peter Meusburger, David N. Livingstone, Heike Jöns, Editors. London, New York; Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg. 347 p.  DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-8611-2.\n\nGunn, S. 2001. “The spatial turn: Changing history of space and place”. In: S. Gunn & R. J. Morris (Eds.), Identities in space: On tested terrains in the Western city science 1850. Aldershot: Asghate.\n\n\nLivingstone, D. N. 2003. “Putting Science in Its Place: Geographies of Scientific Knowledge.” Chicago.\n\nLivingstone, D. N. 1995. “The spaces of knowledge: Contributions towards a historical.” Geography of Science 13 (1): 5–34.\n\nLivingstone, D. N. (2010). “Landscapes of Knowledge” In: Geographies of Science, edited by Peter Meusburger, David N. Livingstone, Heike Jöns, Editors. London, New York; Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg,\n\nNaylor, S. 2005. “Introduction: Historical geographies of science—Places, contexts, cartographies.” British Journal for the History of Science, 38: 1–12.\n\nPang, Kam-yiu S. 2010. “Eponymy and life-narratives: The effect of foregrounding on proper names.” Journal of Pragmatics 42 (5): 1321-1349.\n\nScully, C., J. Langdon, and J. Evans. 2012. “Marathon of eponyms: 26 Zinsser-Engman-Cole syndrome (Dyskeratosis congenita).” Oral Diseases 18 (5): 522-523.\n\nShapin, S. 1998. “Placing the view from nowhere: Historical and sociological problems in the location of science.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series 23: 5–12.\n\nSteffen, C. 2004. “The man behind the eponym – Lauren v. Ackerman and verrucous carcinoma of Ackerman.” American Journal of Dermatopathology 26 (4): 334-341. /10.1007/s11192-018-2646-5.\n\nVeles-Cuartas, G. 2018. “Invisible Colleges 2.0: Eponymy as a Scientometric Tool.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 7 (3) 5-8.\n\nAuthor Information: Ian Werkheiser, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,\n\nWerkheiser, Ian. “Developing Community Epistemic Capacities.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 5, no. 2 (2016): 97-101.\n\nThe PDF of the article gives specific page numbers. Shortlink:\n\nPlease refer to:\n\nScreen Shot 2016-02-24 at 15.18.46\n\nImage credit: Robert Couse-Baker, via flickr\n\nI enjoyed reading Itai Bavli and Daniel Steel’s application of the community epistemic capacities framework to an interesting pair of novel cases, and their use of that application to develop the concept further.[1] Community epistemic capacities is an important yet overlooked part of interactions between expert and non-expert groups, and one in need of further thought both practically and theoretically. I take Bavli and Steel to be making two main arguments. One is that informed consent is limiting as a motivation for developing epistemic capacities in a community. To illustrate this point, they use their case studies to propose a second motivation for developing community epistemic capacities, namely the motive of overcoming mistrust of scientific experts by communities.  Continue Reading…", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9284077286720276}
+{"content": "Affordable banking\n\nBasic bank accounts\n\nBanking should be affordable, whatever your income or financial situation. That’s why banks offer a range of simple transaction accounts with no account keeping fees, free monthly statements and other useful features. These ‘basic bank accounts’ are designed to help people reduce their banking costs and save more money, and are perfect for low income earners, as well as customers under 18 years old, tertiary students and retirees.\n\nThe basic bank account is offered to people on low incomes. Generally, to qualify for a basic bank account, a customer will need to hold a Pensioner Concession Card, Health Care Card or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, and will usually be asked to pay any income support, family assistance payments or social security benefits they’re entitled to into this account.\n\n\nFor more information on basic bank accounts and how you can apply, visit our Affordable Banking website.\n\nATM fee-free initiative\n\nAs part of an agreement between the banking industry, non-bank ATM providers and the Federal Government, initiated in 2012, many Australians living in selected remote Indigenous communities now have access to a fee-free ATM.\n\nA full list of these ATMs is available on the Commonwealth Treasury website, where you’ll also find an outline of the eligibility criteria for the fee-free initiative, set by the Federal Government.\n\nParticipating banks are ANZ, BankSA, Bank of Melbourne, Bankwest, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited, BOQ, Citibank, Commonwealth Bank, HSBC, ING DIRECT, ME Bank, NAB, St. George, Suncorp and Westpac.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9761476516723633}
+{"content": "Dame Sarah Storey takes up British Cycling campaigning role\n\nDame Sarah Storey takes up British Cycling campaigning role\n\nHome » Campaigning\n\nBritish Cycling has announced that Dame Sarah Storey has taken up a role as the organisation’s new policy advocate.\n\nDame Sarah, who having won fourteen Paralympic gold medals is Great Britain’s most decorated female Paralympian, will work alongside policy adviser Chris Boardman in pushing forward British Cycling’s ambition to turn Britain into a true cycling nation.\n\nThe governing body believes that, for decades, Britain’s roads have been designed solely for motor traffic, with provision for walking and cycling pushed to the fringes.\n\nIt is no coincidence that the rise of societal problems such as the obesity crisis, type-2 diabetes, traffic congestion and air pollution are directly linked to people having no other option than to drive.\n\nCycling is the only form of transport which can meet the competing agendas of increasing capacity, reducing emissions, increasing physical activity, reducing noise and improving safety.\n\n\nDame Sarah Storey is the new British Cycling policy advocate\n\n“I know that this is a passion I share with millions of other people across this country, and ensuring that people who wish to cycle have adequate convenient, safe opportunities to do so is a vision that I share with British Cycling.\n\n“In order to encourage more people to get on their bikes, it is crucial that politicians and decision makers take on board safety concerns, and ensure that our roads are appealing, safe shared spaces which can be used conveniently by all road users, and I am looking forward to working alongside Chris Boardman and British Cycling to make this a reality.”\n\nBritish Cycling’s current campaign for safer, simpler junctions – Turning the Corner – has attracted huge support: over 27,000 people signed an initial petition asking the Department for Transport to make a change to the Highway Code, while over 5,000 have since followed that up by asking their local MP to highlight the issue in parliament.\n\nBritish Cycling’s campaigns manager, Martin Key, said:“We’re delighted to have Dame Sarah on board.\n\n\"Her outstanding record as one of this country’s greatest ever athletes means she is very much a role model, and therefore she knows more than most the importance of encouraging people to take advantage of the physical, psychological and social benefits regular exercise can bring.\n\n“However, we are still a long way short of many of our European neighbours in terms of providing the opportunities for people who want to ride to get out and do so.\n\n\"We are committed to pushing for greater political investment and stronger leadership around cycling infrastructure, and Sarah’s voice will only help us in doing that.”", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9887720346450806}
+{"content": "Add Upload to OneDrive via API Function to Python App -- 2 (Please read description)\n\n\n\n\nI have two requirements:\n\n\n2. Compile Python script to exe.\n\nPlease provide me with source code and exe at end of project.\n\n\nEvner: Javascript, Python, Software Arkitektur\n\nSe mere: add google map api mashup, add upload image function website, directly upload youtube api, google drive api get folder by name, google drive api upload file to folder, google drive api list files in folder v3, google drive api parents, google drive api create folder, google drive api find folder by name, onedrive api upload file, google drive api search for files, python app engine sample, ubuntu running python app service, add upload form website, ebay api function, upload youtube api javascript example, add upload form name website, add upload picture function website, add upload progress bar existing site, add upload function web site\n\nOm arbejdsgiveren:\n( 4 bedømmelser ) Chicago, United States\n\nProjekt ID: #18115181\n\nTildelt til:\n\n\nSoftware developer by profession having 4+ years of experience in C, C++, Python and other scripting languages required for automation. I have worked on RESTful APIs as well. I would love to take up this project and de Flere\n\n$100 USD in 2 dage\n(1 bedømmelse)\n\n8 freelancere byder i gennemsnit $152 på dette job\n\n\nHi, As you could see on my profile I develop most of projects in python and developed various REST API and used different Amazon Web Services including S3, Lambda, API Gateway, CloudWatch, CloudFormation, etc. I Flere\n\n$155 USD in 3 dage\n(63 bedømmelser)\n\n\n$100 USD in 3 dage\n(60 bedømmelser)\n\nHey there! I’m the developer you’ve been looking for! I have expertise in python, and 3+ years of experience in Python development. Why don't you send me message? I have read your project with great care and I am Flere\n\n$200 USD in 3 dage\n(8 bedømmelser)\n\nSalutations, I have been developing scripts in the python environment for many years. I can complete your project. I must have a milestone created and complete specifications sent before i can do anything at all. Flere\n\n$150 USD in 2 dage\n(8 bedømmelser)\n\nI have many years experience developing python scripts for a range of applications, as well as working with various API's. I have looked at the documentation for the OneDrive API and should be able to develop a solutio Flere\n\n$133 USD in 3 dage\n(1 bedømmelse)\n\nHello, I have a good experience in python scripting and api creation in some other languages too. I will be happy to work with you and make long term relationship for future projects.\n\n$222 USD in 5 dage\n(0 bedømmelser)\n\nTooooo easy Less than 1 h Give me code of last freelancer also Thanks\n\n$155 USD på 1 dag\n(0 bedømmelser)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5330220460891724}
+{"content": "Maintenance & Engineering\n\nWe are expert at ensuring everything in your building runs like clockwork, from air conditioning to elevators and preventative maintenance, our teams at ECS have it covered.\n\nWe understand the importance of trusting a service provider who will ensure all assets are recorded, operating efficiently and most importantly, safely. We endeavor to provide a comprehensive service, which is accredited, insured and delivered to the highest standard by qualified and experienced personnel. Our team will also provide consultancy when needed, in order to mitigate all risks.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6351283192634583}
+{"content": "I have aortic valve stenosis and am wondering if lifting 10lb dumbbells is bad?\n\nVALVE AREA? Depends on the valve area, transvalvular gradient, contractility, ejection fraction, left ventricular end diastolic and systolic dimensions, and overall physical conditionig. Need echo findings, blood pressure and heart rate and transvalvular gradients.\nAsk cardiologist. Your cardiologist knows the specifics to your case. Generally, if asymptomatic, and the valve area is more than 1.5 cm, it should be okay. Check to have your doctor review any exercise program to be safe.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9894579648971558}
+{"content": "\nEast Valley 480-515-9652\nNorthern Arizona 928-226-0423\n\nTips on How to Remove Graffiti Paint on Numerous Surfaces\n\nBack to blog\n17 Mon 2018 Phoenix Services Comments: 0\n\nGraffiti is a kind of street art that both gained supporters and critics. Scribbled writing characterizes this art form and bright colored paintings, most commonly applied on a wall or any flat surface that can be seen by the public. It can be simple writing on the wall depicting the names of an individual or groups, or a magnificent painting that is similar to a mural. Graffiti existed since the ancient times, and the practice survived to this day. In the present, graffiti art is made using spray paint and markers. While most governments around the world consider creating graffiti as a form of crime, several others are encouraging the public to embrace street art and promote graffiti through the opening of public open-air museums where the artists could create their art.\n\nGraffiti is present in most urban areas around the world, and for property owners, even if it is considered as a form of art, it still vandalizes their property, and the paint has to be removed. For street signs and other flat surfaces, the graffiti can be removed by simply using soap and water. Solvents are used for stronger paints, and it has a good result. However, it is very difficult to remove the paint in rough surfaces, like brick walls. The paint used in the graffiti would cause permanent damages to the surface, and because it is not uniformly smooth, its texture would also change. Experts also agreed that the paint applied on a rough surface could be too difficult or impossible to remove.\n\nThere are several ways on how to remove graffiti on various surfaces. For metallic surfaces, the paint used in the graffiti can be removed by using paint thinner. These chemicals act strongly against paints, and it would not harm the metal underneath. The thinner can dissolve paint when applied, and it would also protect the metal from being damaged. There is also graffiti removal products available in the market which contains almost the same chemicals used in a thinner. Rubbing steel wool on a metallic surface would also remove the graffiti, but it might leave small patches of scratch if it is applied with extreme force. A 3000 psi pressure washer can also be used to remove graffiti paints on metallic surfaces.\n\nFor wood surfaces that are sealed with paint, the graffiti paint can be removed by using mineral spirits. Pressure washers with 3000 psi pressure can also be used in removing graffiti paint on a wooden surface, but one should be careful enough not to cause any paint to go further into the wood by applying extreme pressure. A final approach for those who wanted to remove the graffiti paint would be the use of sandpaper. It will damage the paint applied in the wood, and repainting is required. To remove the graffiti paint, sand the area vandalized until the graffiti paint comes off. Once it is smooth and clear, repaint it all over.\n\nGlass surfaces are the easiest to clean. By using a razor blade, the graffiti paint applied on any glass surface will instantly scrape off. The method is guaranteed to remove the paint, and it is 99% effective. Ultra-fine steel or bronze wool would also do the job, and by simply scratching off the graffiti, the paint used on it will come off. Paint thinners specially manufactured to be used on glass would also do a great job in removing the graffiti paint.\n\nOpposite to glass, removing graffiti paint on plastic can be tough. The use of thinners is not advisable since it would result in clouding, and it will damage the plastic because of the chemicals present in the product. It would also soften the plastic, deforming it to some degree. The only way to clean off graffiti paint on a plastic surface is by rubbing it with ultra-fine steel wool.\n\nFor masonry, the graffiti paint can be removed by using a 3000 psi pressure washer. Sandblasting can also be used to remove the paint.\n\n17 Mon 2018 Phoenix Services", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6942043900489807}
+{"content": "Back Pain: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment\n\nWhile it may not sound like a very serious medical condition, back pain often engenders almost debilitating pain in the back area that renders one unable to carry on with work or normal life as it is. The source of pain can be located in the cervical, thoracic, lumbar or sacral spine area and can originate from muscles, nerves, joints, vertebrae or the spine itself. Both innate and acquired forms of back pain exist and all give a whole new meaning to the phrase excruciating pain. Whether it’s acute or chronic, back pain is debilitating.\n\nThe onset of back pain can be either acute or chronic and the pain itself may be either intermittent or constant. Depending on the area of the back where the pain is left as well as on its severity, a medical professional can give an accurate diagnosis relying on medical history and selected tests. Because the pain may be either fixed or radiate to other areas and triggered by an insidious, potentially dangerous health issue, reaching for a medical professional is pivotal to better understanding and managing the condition.\n\nBack pain causes\n\nBack pain can be harmless or it can mess up one’s life to a great extent if left untreated. Bad posture, strain from physical effort either at the job or at home, carrying heavy things, weight gain and associated spinal cord curvings, a sedentary lifestyle, existent spinal cord problems, muscle ruptures as well as several other factors may engender severe back pain. Even more, the pain may worsen as a result of humidity, carrying weights, making sudden moves, lifting things or undergoing physical effort without stretching and warming up first etc.\n\nIn some people, the pain may radiate to the shoulder blades, arms, neck or head as well as other areas of the back. The most telling symptom accompanying the condition is, as expected, a dull, sharp or burning pain located in various areas of the back. Studies estimate that about 9 out of 10 adults have experienced back pain at least once in their lifetime, while 5 out of 10 people with physically demanding jobs suffer from recurrent back pain.\nAside from the obvious pain in various parts of the back, the condition may be accompanied by one or more of the following symptoms:\n\n1) Tingling. In cases of severe back pain, tingling or pins and needles sensations may be experienced either in the hands or legs. They are often mistaken for either poor blood circulation problems or hypoglycemia (low levels of sugar in the blood).\n\n2) Numbness. A feeling of numbness in a limb or the sensation it has fallen asleep or that you don’t feel like it belongs to your body may suggest that a severe back pain is radiating to arms and legs causing them to feel like this.\n\n3) Fasciculations. Involuntary muscle twitching, spasms or cramps, also known as fasciculations, may be symptoms of back pain. When you notice the skin on your thigh muscle twitching or a finger moving involuntarily and you also have back pain, then the two might be correlated. However, any form of involuntary muscle spasms may be the result of a magnesium deficiency which, if severe, may engender other magnesium deficit-related problems.\n\nBack pain\n\nIt is important to know that back pain may not feel the same for everyone or originate in the same places. Nonetheless, all of the above types fall into the general category of back pain:\n\n1) Cervical spine pain. This type of back pain affects the neck area with its 7 vertebrae, along with their discs and ligaments. The elderly are a high risk category for cervical pain, but it can also be a result of jobs that require heavy lifting or bad posture such as construction working, jobs that require sitting at a desk all day long, squinting at something (you also tend to lean the head forward in such cases), overall lack of physical activity and bad posture.\n\nSmoking, aging and injuries are also risk factors. Common symptoms include headaches in the back of the head especially, stiffness of the neck, tingling or numbness sensations, dizziness, imbalance, reduced mobility in the neck.\n\n2) Upper back pain or thoracic spine pain. This type of back pain occurs at the level of the thorax made up of 12 thoracic vertebrae that connect with the rib cage. Pain originating in this area can radiate to shoulder blades, shoulders and arms and cause discomfort when moving. Because this part of the back is designed to remain fixed in order to offer support and stability for the whole body, it is rarely caused by spinal cord or disc problems. Bad posture, injuries or strain, joint problems or muscle strains and ruptures are the leading causes for upper back pain.\n\n3) Lower back pain or lumbar spine pain. There are 5 vertebrae in the lumber spine area which confer mobility to the abdominal region. Joint problems, muscle strain, disc degeneration, osteoarthritis, problems with the sciatic nerve are all potential causes for lower back pain.\n\n4) Sacral spine pain. Pain in this area originates from the sacrum, a large bone made from 5 vertebrae fused together. Joint problems, fractures as a result of trauma or injury, osteoporosis or arthritis are all possible causes.\n\nHow long does back pain take to go away? Typically, back pain may last anywhere from a few days to several weeks and up to 3 or 6 months. Recovery time is highly dependant on the severity and cause of the pain. Being carefully not to strain the back during this time also contributes immensely to a faster recovery. Here are a few estimates regarding the time needed for your back pain to go away:\n\n1) Acute pain may last up to 12 weeks. It is the severe state and is usually characterized by a rapid onset, sometimes short duration. It is diagnosed rapidly.\n2) Subacute pain is the second stage (a sort of subtype) of acute pain and may last anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks.\n3) Chronic pain. If the subacute pain persists for more than 12 weeks, it is considered chronic pain.\n\nBack pain is almost always the result of injury or trauma from carrying heavy weights or bad posture. It is related either to the soft tissues (muscles, ligaments) or nerves (spinal nerve, nerve roots). In extremely rare cases, infections or cancer may cause back pain. Several studies also suggest that back pain can be a side effect of chronic stress. More important, it should resolve itself with time (days, weeks, months) and may only require medical supervision, anti-inflammatory prescriptions, rest, mild exercise such as stretching or physical therapy.\n\nWhat is the best approach when dealing with back pain? How can we manage it so it doesn’t interfere with our life and how do we treat it? Here is a list of 7 therapies and treatments for back pain:\n\n1) Heat therapy is based on the use of infrared lamps that heat up the muscles, helping relax them and thus relieving pain and tension. Hot baths or showers are also preferred by some sufferers, while others opt for warm compresses, moist heating pads, heat patches, etc.\n\n2) Cold therapy involves the use of cold compresses, cold packs or ice packs. Cold helps relieve pain and stiffness, numbs the affected area and reduces inflammation. Local spray recommended by your doctor may also work.\n\n3) Massage. It can be practiced at home with almost similar results to the professional one. The aim is to improve blood circulation to the affected area and relieve muscle tension and stiffness causing the pain. An oil made from anti-inflammatory herbs may help greatly. If performed regularly (once or twice a day for 20-30 minutes), it can significantly reduce healing time and pain severity, provided you restrain from physical effort in the meantime to let the back recover.\n\n4) Movement therapy. People suffering from back pain would benefit immensely from movement therapy in the form of stretching, mild physical exercise such as pilates, all under the careful supervision of a professional. Stretching the body gently and simply making it move, without any strain whatsoever, can help improve blood circulation, relieve tension, improve muscle tone, flexibility, balance and relaxe them, relieve pain and stress.\n\n5) Vitamins and minerals. Meeting your daily vitamin and mineral requirements is pivotal to keeping in good health, including back health. Vitamin C, in particular, is a powerful anti-inflammatory which stimulates the production of collagen, the main structural protein making up connective tissue from the spinal cord. Magnesium is a dietary mineral supporting muscle function and required for muscle health. Other nutrients that may support muscle health are potassium, calcium, vitamins A and D.\n\n6) Medication for the treatment of back pain should be prescribed by a medical professional after identifying the cause of the pain. Muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatory medication are commonly prescribed in such cases. Surgery is only resorted to if all other treatment options have failed, but is a rare occurrence.\n\n7) Rest. Avoiding heavy lifting, straining exercise, physical work and resting a lot will contribute to a faster recovery and less severe pain. So give yourself a break and lie down in bed a little. Pregnant women suffering from back pain also require rest and are advised to avoid heavy lifting and strenous physical exercises. More detailed advice, suited to personal needs, should come from your doctor.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7231315970420837}
+{"content": "Mr Claus gets in touch with his feminine side\n\nBritish chain store Woolworth’s claims that EU gender equality laws required it to sell Mother Christmas outfits alongside traditional Santa costumes helped provoked an outbreak of some early festive mirth in the Commission’s press service last week.\n\n\nAfter dismissing a Woolie's statement as a \"marketing prank\", equal-rights spokesman Andrew Fielding remarked he had always thought the Man in Red's costume could be considered a unisex garment. But that was before he saw how it had been used that same morning by a 'Page Three' model in incisive UK tabloid The Sun.\n\nFielding added that Alaskan researchers have reported that Rudolf must be a female reindeer because he (sorry, she) is depicted as having antlers on Christmas Eve. Whereas the males typically shed their antlers in early winter, females keep them until after giving birth in the spring.\n\nOne authoritative article Fielding consulted on the matter concluded: \"Only a woman would be able to drive a fat-assed guy all around the world and not get lost.\"", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5148831605911255}
+{"content": "Close Window   \nFree Ebook\nGet Your Free Excel\nOur Top 15 Excel Tutorials\nInstant Access!\nExcel Forum\n\nCharts - Dynamically Adjust Min & Max Scale ??\n\nForum Register\n\nRegarding Charts in Excel:\n\nIs there a way to have the Min and Max values adjusted dynamically for the Scale of the values being displayed ??\n\nI know that I can use named ranges to display various sections of data -- month by month, or quarter by quarter, for example.\n\nBut when the value of these ranges vary greatly from section to section I end of having to manually go and adjust the Min and Max values of the chart scale.\n\nFor example, if I was looking at a graph of the S&P 500's prices last November, a Min and Max range of 750 to 1200 would be fine. But if I had a dynamic range established and scrolled over to view the S&P 500's prices for this past February, I would need a Min and Max range of around 650 to 850.\n\nIs there a way to have these Min & Max values adjust automatically depending on the values being displayed ??\n\n\n\nView Answers     \n\nSimilar Excel Tutorials\n\nChange Axis Units on Charts in Excel\nChange the Name of a Chart in Excel\nChanging Any Element in a Chart in Excel\nDynamic Charts in Excel - The Easy Way\nHow to create dynamic charts that update automatically when new data is added to Excel. This works with adding new ...\nHow to Create and Manage a Chart in Excel\nIn this tutorial I am going to introduce you to creating and managing charts in Excel. Before you create a chart yo ...\n\nHelpful Excel Macros\n\nGet Values from a Chart\n- This free Excel macro filters data to display only those records or rows that contain a value between two values. For e\nCreate a Column Chart with a Macro in Excel\n\nSimilar Topics\n\nI have a graph with various information in it. One is a line graph that tracks hours used in that department per month. The problem is that when it gets to the last month, and there is not yet data for future months, the line goes down to Zero (leavin this big diagonal line that makes the data look funny). I need this line to stop on the last month there is data for. (I do not manually enter the data, it is a formula that I do not wish to delete.) I know I can manually move the data that the line is pulling to make it stop on the last month, but I have a graph for 36 different departments and that's a pain to have to manually adjust 36 graphs each month. Is there a way to tell the line to stop if there is no data? Thanks!!\n\nI have a workbook that has recently changed on me and is causing a lot of grief. I have a lot of named ranges that the scope of the named range has changed to a new sheet. This is creating a lot of problems! Is there any way to manually change the scope of a named range? without deleting the nmaed range and recreating it?\n\nHi all,\n\nI'm looking for help in building a formula which will sort numbers into different \"buckets\". My spreadsheet has a range of values in column B. These values can range anywhere from -100,000,000 to +10,000,000. I'd like to be able to sort them into the following buckets:-\n\n\nI have three columns containing last name values from 3 different sources that I've brought into one sheet. I am trying to find a way to compare all three values to establish if they are the same.\n\nOf the three values there is no master, Each value may be different. So essentially it would be like doing =IF(a1=a2=a3,\"match\", \"nomatch\")\nBut of course this isn't possible.\n\nI don't care about obtaining detail about which value matches which. I just need true or false response as to whether all three values are the same or not.\n\nThanks for any help anyone can provide.\n\n\n\nI am brand new to Mr. Excel and would love some advice.\n\nI searched the boards pretty extensively but could not find what I am looking for...I apologize if this is a duplicate.\n\nI am using Excel 2007\n\nHow do you automatically add rows and update values for cells to a linked worksheet in which rows have been added? For example: Sheet 1, columns A & B are linked to Sheet 2, columns A & B. Sheet 2 has values in A1:A5 & B1:B5 and Sheet 1, since it is linked, has the same info. I want to add a row in between 3 & 4 on Sheet 2 and want Sheet 1 to automatically add the same row and update the value of the cell in column A & B.\n\nAny help is greatly appreciated!\n\n\nI am trying to calculate time based off a non-conventional quarter hour time system\n\n8:00 to 8:07 = 8.0 hrs\n8:08 to 8:23 = 8.25 hrs\n8:24 to 8:38 = 8.5 hrs\n8:39 to 8:53 = 8.75 hrs\n8:53 to 8:59 = 9.0 hrs\n\nI am having trouble writing an equation that would sum the clock-in and clock-out times (2 per day) and display the total time in these quarter hours and adding an additional hour if it is >= to *:53. Any help would be great.\n\n\n\n\n\nThis may be less of an Excel question than a general data display question, but I'll try here.\n\nI have 3 variables that I'm charting. I have one on the primary axis and it's values are in the billions. I have one on the secondary axis and it's a percentage. I need to display a 3rd who's value is in the millions. If I put it on the primary axis, you cannot see modest changes.\n\nIs there a tricky way to get all three on one graph? I know I could split on two graphs, so that's my backup plan.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIf somebody could help me out that would be great.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSub CopyMe()\nDim SaveMeAs As String\nEnd Sub\n\n\n\n\nHey everyone,\n\nI'm really hoping someone can help me with this...\n\n\n\nFORMULA: =sumif(range,criteria,sum_range)\n\n\nme to select multiple cell ranges?\n\nAll help is appreciated.\n\nThank you.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTry this...\n\nThere are some valid datas in the cells A2 (Eg. 100), B2(Eg. 200), C2 and D2.\nData validation is used in cell K2 to limit it to a set of values.\n\nCan we implement this formula?\n\nA2=A3; B2=B3; C2=C3; D2=D3; K2=K3;\nno change to any values.\n\nThanks in advance...\n\nI'm trying to separate bars inside a bar chart into separate groups. Adjust the gap applies to all bars. How will I be able to achieve what I need? Please help and thanks\n\n\n\nThe Geomean function doesn't work because it only uses positive numbers.\n\nAny help would be greatly appreciated.\n\n\n\n\n\nHi all.\n\n\n\nHere's the code that does it.\n\n    ActiveWindow.Zoom = True\n\n\n\n\nAnyone know how to do this ?\n\n\n\n\n\nProblems in this code a\n\n\n\n\n\nSome one please revert with the solution.\nThanks in advance.\n\nHi all,\n\nI have some formulae in A1, is it possible for cell B1 to display the value only of A1 without the link to the formulae. I dont want to have to run a macro, or paste values, more of a formula that could be assigned to cell B1 so whenever A1 is changed, so is B1 automatically.\n\n\n\nfor example if you have values of\n\n1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1\nhow to count number of occurances where value of 1 is 3 consecutive times? Obviously answer is 3 in this instance but is there an excel formula to count/sum this?\n\nThanks in advance\n\nRight now I have a sports league with 8 teams, I'd like to create a random 7-game schedule where each team plays the other team only once. Essentially this will be a 7-game round robin. However, I'd like to be able to use this for any number of teams and games.\n\nI'd like to do this in Excel, but I can't figure out how to have a randomly generating non-repeating macro with text values in cells.\n\nSo right now I have a column of 8 values and need matrix of 7 columns by 8 rows next to it.\n\nI've found this thread that has one for numbers, but I can't figure out how to do it for text values...\n\nThanks all!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7113690972328186}
+{"content": "Can’t We All Talk About Culture?\n\nAh, culture! It takes the blame for many an M&A stumble. For deal makers, culture differences may seem like an inconvenient distraction in the heat of negotiation, so their potential impact is often minimized in due diligence, the potential issues wished away or simply ignored. For integration managers, however, culture is the elephant in the room. These people know that understanding the impact of culture is critical to their success, but they often don’t have the skills to address it or the language to talk about it.\n\nVisible and Invisible Culture\n\nCulture is a way of describing what’s unique about one group (insiders) compared to other groups (outsiders.) Insiders might say, “we don’t make a big investment until we all agree” or “we interview people an average of 16 times before we give them an offer.” In most companies, these behaviors become second nature after a while, and become the observable elements of culture.\n\nTo outsiders, these visible examples of culture beg some questions. The first of these is: “Why do we they these things?” Underlying the observable dimensions of culture are assumptions that people have about their industry, how their company provides differentiated value to customers, and what’s required to succeed strategically, operationally and financially. The other question is: “Which of these cultural elements actually have a positive impact on performance?” In other words, for example, how does a particular recruiting process translate into results for the enterprise?\n\nDifficult Discussions\n\nIn most organizations, the assumptions, beliefs and values underlying their cultural behaviors, and the links to performance, are not discussed. Why is it so hard for us to talk about corporate culture, especially when culture seems so integrated with competitive success? The most basic reason, we believe, is that we don’t have a commonly understood framework or language that would make it easier to talk about culture the way we do about, say, accounting statements or six sigma programs. Researchers and consultants offer a myriad of frameworks, definitions, analytical tools and intervention methodologies, leaving skeptical leaders to sort it all out on an ad hoc basis. As a result, we rarely hear executives draw explicit linkages between dimensions of their culture and performance of their business, and it is not easy to appreciate the power of culture to support or derail achievement of objectives.\n\nAnother reason that many people are loath to discuss culture is that talking about values, assumptions and beliefs makes many of us uneasy. Many people rarely communicate about these things in non-business conversation, so they don’t have the skills to do so in a business context. Some wonder whether communicating on this level is even appropriate in a business context. It sounds to them vaguely psychological, something that may cause them to reveal more than they wish about themselves. That pretty much shuts down discussion in most circles.\n\nThoughts for M&A Leaders\n\nSo, what can Business Development Managers and Integration Managers do about this during their next acquisition? We don’t expect people to embrace culture discussions easily, but they can start by developing a basic understanding of their own organizational culture – working with HR – to establish a common framework for discussion and give leaders the language to explore culture in the workplace. Focusing the conversations on how the culture produces tangible results gives everybody the incentive, and the permission, to continue. When the M&A team is clear about how their own organizational culture drives performance, they will be better prepared to understand, honor and leverage the culture in companies that they acquire.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.808310866355896}
+{"content": "Игорь Стравинский\n\nIgor Stravinsky\n\nИгорь Стравинский\n\nIgor Stravinsky was a Russian (and later, a naturalized French and American) composer, pianist and conductor. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century. Stravinsky was born on 17 June 1882 in Oranienbaum, a suburb of Saint Petersburg, the Russian imperial capital, and was brought up in Saint Petersburg. His parents were Fyodor Stravinsky, a bass singer at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, and Anna (née Kholodovsky).\n\n\nIn February 1909, two orchestral works, the Scherzo fantastique and Feu d’artifice (Fireworks) were performed at a concert in Saint Petersburg, where they were heard by Sergei Diaghilev, who was at that time involved in planning to present Russian opera and ballet in Paris. Diaghilev was sufficiently impressed byFireworks to commission Stravinsky to carry out some orchestrations and then to compose a full-length ballet score, The Firebird. Over the next four years, Stravinsky and his family lived in Russia during the summer months and spent each winter in Switzerland. During this period, Stravinsky composed two further works for the Ballets Russes: Petrushka (1911), and Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring; 1913).\n\nIn 1939 Stravinsky moved to USA where he addressed to jazz music traditions and wrote Black Concerto for Clarinet and Jazz-Orchestra. In 1971 he died.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9833099246025085}
+{"content": "Thứ tư - 11/10/2017 19:08 Đã xem: 843\n+  Who is the lord Buddha?\n  1. The lord Buddha is a person who enlighten the truth of the life and the truth of the mind.\n  2. The lord Buddha is a person who is liberated from reincarnation. Because he attained nirvana ( no rebirth ).\n  3. The lord Buddha is a person who is purely, peaceful in the mind and he had many kabbalahs. Because he kept precepts and did meditation.\n  4. The lord Buddha is a compassion, lovely kindness person. Because he vowed that he rescued all sentient beings.\n  5. The lord Buddha is a wisdom person. Because he taught us how to remove the greed, hatred, ignorance; how to solve the sufferings.\n+ Why do you trust the lord Buddha?\n          The lord Buddha was a real human being and real history. He have real sourse of cultivation for to become a Buddha. For exemple: He practised to keep precepts, meditation and wisdom.\n          That is a reason why we trust the lord Buddha.\n+ What is buddhism?\n  • Buddhism teach us how to become a Buddha. Because the lord Buddha said that all sentient being have Buddha nature. So the lord Buddha said that i had become Buddha already; everyone will be the Buddha in the future, if everyone practise the lord Buddha `s teaching.\n+ What is the lord Buddha `s teaching?\nThe lord Buddha teachs us 3 points:\nI - Do not do any evil.\nII - Do all good things.\nI - Do not do any evil by keeping 5 precepts.\nFor exemple:\n  1. No killing human beings and animals.\nWho commit killing precept, the police will put him in the prison. The prison is the hell being. So the lord Buddha give precepts not only for the buddhists, but also for everyone\n  1. No stealing.\nThis precept is the same above\n3) No sexual misconduct.\n         You can get married with one only for to have a happy family.\n4)No telling lies.\nNo one trust you, if you lies with others. Unless you benefit yourselve and other peoples, then you can lie. For exemple: the thief ask you: “where is your money? In this case, you can lie with him.\n5) no drinking wines and drugs.\n-       If you are drunk, you can not con troll what you talk; what you do; what you think.\n-       Being drunk can reduce the memory, damage the brain.\n-       You can not be aware and develope wisdom.\nII - Do all good things for to have a good karma:\nFor exemple:\n1)Eat vegetarian, befree all sentient beings.\n- Eating vegetarian for to reduce killing.\n- Befree all sentient being is to perform your love and compassion.\n2) Practice giving and benefit others peoples.\n         Practice giving and benefit others peoples is to create merits and good karma.\nIII - How to purify the mind and to keep the mind silence.\n- If the mind is peaceful, you can live happily. It means that the lord Buddha teach you how to live happiness.\n-  If the mind is peaceful, clean and purely. It means that the lord Buddha teach you how to become a Saint, how to become a Bodhisattva and how to become a Buddha.\n*For exemple: through practice of meditation.\n+ The benefits of meditation:\n  • Reduce thinking\n  • Reduce worry\n  • Reduce tention\n  • Reduce stress\n  • Balance the body and the mind ( good health )\n  • Improve the memory\n  • Good concentration\n  • Good mindfulness\n  • Have a Peaceful and happiness\n  • Being enlightenment\n  • Being clean, purely in the mind\n  • Develope compassion\n  • Develope wisdom\n+ How to practice meditation?\n         Pratising meditation have many methods. The basical meditation is to follow and to count the breathing.\n  1. Sitting posture:\n8 Ways to Sit for Meditation\nIn a Chair\nAgainst a Wall\n Kneeling with Support Between Knees\nEasy Pose\nBurmese Position\nQuarter Lotus Pose\n Half Lotus Pose\n Full Lotus Pose\n  1. Practising meditation: Let the breathing go in and out normally. The breathing go in and out, then counting one;  The breathing go in and out, then counting two and continous counting until ten. After that, recounting from one to ten. You can set up the time from 15 until 30 minutes, it depends on you.\n  2. Massage: After meditation, we massage whole body before standing. Join in two hands and massage until warmly. Massage the eyes, the face, the head, the ears, the nack, the shoulder, the back, the legs. Then we can standing.\nGood success!\n\n\nClick để đánh giá bài viết\n\n  Ý kiến bạn đọc\n\n\nTiểu sử Thầy Trụ Trì\n\nChư Tôn Đức có dạy: “Nhứt nhơn tác phước, thiên nhơn hưởng, Độc thọ khai hoa, vạn thọ hương.” Đại đức Trụ trì chùa Phật Linh thế danh là Đỗ Đình Bình, sanh năm 1972, tại thành phố Sài Gòn – Việt Nam, cha là Bác sĩ, mẹ là hướng dẫn viên hành hương. Thời niên thiếu đi học phổ thông đến lớp...\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8768369555473328}
+{"content": "Search results “Oracle utc sysdate”\nOracle SQL TUTORIAL – Date columns with Time in Where condition\nViews: 77 Ganesh Anbarasu\nOracle TO_TIMESTAMP_TZ Function\nhttps://www.databasestar.com/oracle-timezone-functions/ The Oracle TO_TIMESTAMP_TZ function can be confusing, but we’ll explain it in this video. This function allows you to convert a string value into a TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE value. A TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE value is a type of DATE, but has a few components: - A date, including day, month, and year - A time, including hours, minutes, and seconds - A time zone, which is the number of hours and minutes difference from GMT This is a useful data type because it allows you to store dates in different time zones, and allow users in other time zones to see the data in a way that makes sense to them. The time zone part is the difference from GMT. This means that a “+7:00” is 7 hours ahead of GMT (e.g. Bangkok) and “-5:00” is 5 hours behind GMT (e.g. US Eastern Standard Time). The syntax of the TO_TIMESTAMP_TZ function is: TO_TIMESTAMP_TZ ( input_string [, format_mask] [, nls_param] ) The input_string parameter is the string you want to convert. The format_mask is where you specify the format of the input_string parameter. This is so you can specify the input_string in a variety of formats, and just use this format_mask to indicate which format it is in. The nls_param parameter is another optional parameter, and allows you to specify the returning language of the month and day names. For more information on the Oracle TO_TIMESTAMP_TZ function, including the SQL used in this video, read the related article here: https://www.databasestar.com/oracle-timezone-functions/\nViews: 87 Database Star\nHow to Use MySQL Date and Time Functions\nFollow this step by step easy tutorial to learn how to use MySQL date and time functions and see how to modify the time formats. Don't forget to check out our site http://howtech.tv/ for more free how-to videos! http://youtube.com/ithowtovids - our feed http://www.facebook.com/howtechtv - join us on facebook https://plus.google.com/103440382717658277879 - our group in Google+ There are various functions which can be used for calculating the date and time in MySQL but for the purpose of this tutorial we will use 3 primary functions for date and time each. For this tutorial, we will be using SQL YOG as an instance of MySQL.  Step 1- Current Date Let's start with MySQL date functions. For that write the following query: select curdate(); and press F5 to execute. It will show the current date of the system. Curdate is a short form of current date. Step 2-Changing date format Now if we want to view the date in a specific format, we can use a function called the date_format(). Write \"date_format\" function in a similar pattern as before, but this time inside the parentheses, we will write the date within single quotation marks and then specify the required format in single quotations after a comma. Here we are using W for week, M for Month and Y for years which are implicit format specified in the MySQL environment, and used with a percentage sign. The actual query would be: select date_format('2013-04-18','%W %M %Y'); Step 3- Viewing Name of the Day In MySQL date functions library, there is a method which can return the day name, when given the date as its perimeter. It is called \"dayname\" function. To use that, write dayname(), following the \"select\" keyword, and specify the date within single quotes inside the parenthesis. The query would be: select dayname('1998-04-25'); Step 4- Time Functions Now let's move on to mysql time functions First of all let's find out the current time. For that, we will write curtime(),which stands for the current time, and write the query in the same way as we did for the current date. Hence the query would be: select curtime(); Step 5- Changing time format Now let's see how we can change the format of the output. For that, use the time_format() function, as we did for the date format. Write the following query in the editor: select time_format('14:28:18','%h : %i : %s'); Over here, h, i and s are used for hours, minutes and seconds respectively. Step 6- Changing Time to Seconds In MyQL time functions library, there are various functions related to time. One of them which is widely used by programmers is the time_to_sec() function. This method changes the given time to seconds. To use this, write time_to_sec() and specify the time inside the parentheses within single quotes. In the Query Editor, write: select time_to_sec('14:28:18'); When we execute the query, we can see that the time being displayed is in seconds. Step 7- Date along with Time Lastly, to display the current date and time altogether, we can use now() function along with the select keyword. Write: select now(); in the query editor and execute it. And this was all about MySQL date & time functions.\nWorking with Date Functions and Date Formatting in Excel\nThis video lesson is a response to two YouTube viewers who wanted my help to learn how to use Excel's Date Functions and Excel's Custom Formatting to reveal the results that they were expecting in each cell. For the first viewer: I demonstrate how to use the =DATE(Year(), Month()=9, DAY()) Function to create a date that is 9 moths after the starting date. For my second viewer, I show him how to create and apply a CUSTOM date format of yyyy-mm-dd - (Year, Month, Day) - to the DESTINATION cells when he uses Copy & Paste. This is a two step process as you will see in this video. Finally, I show you how to take advantage of the NETWORKDAYS() and WORKDAY() Functions in Excel - including an optional list of mandated Holidays in the USA. Please visit my online shopping website - http://shop.thecompanyrocks.com - to view all of my videos and to explore the many resources that I offer you. Danny Rocks The Company Rocks\nViews: 111125 Danny Rocks\nSQL GETUTCDATE function - how to use SQL GETUTCDATE function\nThe SQL Server GETUTCDATE function returns the current UTC date and time. visit Dose for excel Add-In website: http://www.zbrainsoft.com/ Visit our channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI4bMWYzrBTs47KINXL92Kw\nUsing Date, Calendar and SimpleDateFormat in Java : javavids\nHow to get current date, how to get current day from date, how to get next day, Gregorian Calendar class, Simple date format class, parsing Date, converting Date to String. Part of Java online video tutorials: http://www.javavids.com\nViews: 40115 Jiri Pinkas\nDữ liệu lớn - Chương 10   Oracle Big Data\nNguồn: http://youtu.be/1GU4Imbo6R8, uploaded by Oracle.\nViews: 446 Victor OS\n\nAspirin paste toothache\nLisinopril 40mg tab internal lbj\nPrednisone 10 mg 6 day pack directions from one place\nBupropion tablets - fda prescribing information, side effects and uses\nAcamprosate generic for lipitor", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9707475304603577}
+{"content": "Opinion – Nigerian Current http://nigeriancurrent.com News, Headlines, Interviews, Politics, Business, Sports, Opinions, Special Report, Art, Nigeria, Africa, Foreign News Sun, 17 Feb 2019 11:42:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.3 Beauty is in The Eye of the Beholder, By Jerome Yaovi Onipede http://nigeriancurrent.com/2019/02/15/beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder-by-jerome-yaovi-onipede/ Fri, 15 Feb 2019 11:58:24 +0000 http://nigeriancurrent.com/?p=26025 Certain single men out there prefer to go for very beautiful ladies when they are searching for a marriage partner. They usually miss out on some of the most important qualities and details like home training, self-discipline, inner strength, character, etc. And as they ignore these virtues, they end up with A NIGHTMARE DISGUISED AS A WOMAN.\n\nToday, we have a lot of ladies with irritable issues, who without inhibition exhibit rudeness and disrespect at every opportunity they have to recommend themselves. They are always ready to blame this ART OF DYSFUNCTIONAL MOSAIC on their past because they assume they are the only ones with a woeful past, forgetting that they are adults now, and will need to GROW UP to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for where they are at this time of their lives if they don’t want to end up with a regrettable future.\n\nIt is no wonder that women with character have become priceless, scarce and in high demand now by men searching for future partners. When these men find such women, and get married to them, their counterparts who spend more time painting their faces like it’s a colouring book, complain and ask;\n\n“Jerome, why is it that the ugly girls are getting married, and we, the beautiful ones, are not?”\n\nWell, with the scarcity of women of noble character, men who want to be with a woman they can last long with in marriage, are beginning to redefine beauty, wondering if it should be sought for in the face, body, or character, and if they don’t find it in the first two, such men settle for CHARACTER, because they know that a woman with character possesses inner beauty, and with time the beauty inside always finds its way out to the admiration of all.\n\nSo, if you are also asking why the ladies you consider as ugly are getting married, and you the so-called beautiful ones are not, maybe you need to understand that “BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER” like they say. And the kind of beauty you have to present may not be the beauty the man seeking for a life-long partner is looking for, because he is learning that beauty fades with time, and when it does, you probably will have nothing else to offer.\n\nEchoes from the Valley: PVC for Nigerians in Diaspora? http://nigeriancurrent.com/2019/02/11/echoes-from-the-valley-pvc-for-nigerians-in-diaspora/ Mon, 11 Feb 2019 11:24:42 +0000 http://nigeriancurrent.com/?p=25906 Nigeria as a country has more people in diaspora than any other nation on the planet. Not only do Nigeria has more people in every corner of the world, they are mostly Nigerias best. You name it, they are there massively – USA, Britain, France, Japan, China, Germany, Sweden, Dubai, Canada just to name a few.\n\nMost Nigerians have the opportunity of having dual citizenship. Take the United States, you can be a US citizen and a Nigerian citizen at the same time, commonly referred to as Dual citizenship. But most Nigerians abroad are not citizens of their host countries, meaning that; they can not, and do not vote in those host counties.\n\nTo make the matter worse, they can not, and do not vote in Nigeria either. There is simply no provision in place for them to vote in their various host countries. This situation is what Fela referred to as beast of no nation.\n\nOne would think that Nigeria having most of her finest and brightest men and women scattered around the world would have considered putting a system in place for those who have been exposed to systems that actually works (like that of the United States) to have the opportunity to vote wherever they are, so as to help shape the collapsing syatem in Nigeria. Till date, no such in place.\n\nI believe some people in position of authority in Nigeria -the policy makers know that such a move would greatly benefit Nigeria. Perhaps they just chose to leave it the way it was so as to keep things local, even though it does not benefit the country. I am not referring to this present administration in particular. I am referring to all the past Nigeria administration since independence in 1960.\n\nThere is fear of competition, fear of change, and fear of Nigerians in Diaspora influence for positive change that may block or eradicate bribery and curruption.\n\nNigerians in Diaspora has been exposed to systems that actually works. All we need to do is copy the system. It is not illegal to do so. There is no patent on democracy. In fact, the United States encouraged developing countries, and all countries around the world to copy their democracy. The question is, what is holding us back? Why do we find it difficult to copy what has been developed, tested and proved to work? We copy 419, credit card fraud, embezzlement and corruption, why not copy the good things that could effect a positive change in our lives and those of our children?\n\nIt is high time for us as Nigerians to wake up. Nigerians in Diaspora needs to begin voicing their opinions, and making their voices heard. They need to start demanding implementation of whatever works in their host countries, to be implemented in Nigeria. We are too quiet, doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. Nothing would change if our leaders assume we have nothing to contribute.\n\nI am therefore recommending the following actions to be considered :-\n\n* That all Nigerian in Diaspora should be issued a PVC through the embassies in their host countries.\n\n* That Nigerians in Diaspora should be allowed to vote at the various embassies of their host countries.\n\n* That the Nigerian Ambassador for those host countries should invite delegates from the United Nations or the Embassies in their host countries, or Nigeria Electoral Commission to coordinate and supervise the voting process.\n\n* That the Nigerian Ambassador to those host countries or delegates from the United Nations should tally the votes and send it to the Nigeria Electoral Commision for inclusion in the final election result.\n\n* That the Nigeria Electoral Commission needs to advertise and adequately publicize the date, time and location of each voting centers in various countries.\n\nThere is nothing new in what l am recommending to our leaders. The United States make provisions for Americans serving in the military abroad to vote in absentia through mail and other means, because they do not want to disenfranchise members of their military serving abroad. They gave them the opportunity to make their voices heard, and their votes count. We can do the same. Turning away from such simply means we do not mean well for Nigeria. We should not put our own ego and interest above the national interest.\n\nI know that some Nigerians love to focus on the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors in a writeup like this, rather than focusing on the content. Unfortunately, that is part of our problem. If there is anything in this article that makes sence; let us implement it rather than trying to be an internet dictionary.\nMay God bless Nigeria.\n\n– Festus Adeoye.\nFounder and CEO,\nWORLD Future Leaders ORG.\n– A non-profit organization developing entrepreneurs and future leaders today worldwide.\n\nIn Kwara, the Boat is Rocking, By Dare Babarinsa http://nigeriancurrent.com/2019/01/25/in-kwara-the-boat-is-rocking-by-dare-babarinsa/ Fri, 25 Jan 2019 17:43:29 +0000 http://nigeriancurrent.com/?p=25751 Dr. Bukola Saraki, the President of the Senate, is not a candidate in the next governorship election in Kwara State, but it is his election. This is one election that would determine his future and that of the Saraki dynasty. There are about 35 governorship candidates vying for the election including Abdulrasaq Abdurrahman, the candidate of the All Peoples Congress, APC, and Rasak Atunwa, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. Both men were Saraki’s men in the days of old. Now it is only Atunwa of the PDP that is Saraki’s man.\n\nSaraki wants to go back to the Senate where the current Governor, Abdulfataa Ahmed is also aiming to go. Both of them are running on the platform of the PDP. In the last general election, both Saraki and his governor were candidate of the APC. Now national politics and the drums of ambition has steered Saraki and his henchmen into a different course. His old comrades are now his dedicated opponents. The outcome of the coming election would prove whether Saraki has made the right choice.\n\nSaraki is an inheritor of a vast political empire with deep tap roots. His father, Dr Olusola Saraki, was a medical doctor who made good friends during his practice in Lagos. He became wealthy and decided to go back home through the route of politics. It was a fortuitous decision which was to have great impact on millions of people and the careers of his descendants. He was elected into the Constituent Assembly from Ilorin, a city his father had adopted as his hometown. Saraki’s father was from Abeokuta, who after many years in Ivory Coast, returned to Nigeria and settled among the Oyo of Ilorin. His son was destined to dominate the city no other personage has ever done since soldiers, loyal to Malam Alimi, A Fulani peripatetic priest and medicine man, staged a coup against Afonja in 1837, igniting a Civil War that ultimately led to the collapse of Oyo Empire and the annexation of Ilorin into the Sokoto Caliphate. Alimi was originally an associate of Afonja, the Aare Ona-Kakanfo of Oyo Empire and the most senior of military commander of the Alaafin.\n\nBy the time Saraki was elected into the Constituent Assembly in 1978, Sokoto Caliphate had become history, but its impact remain portent and its influence pervasive. He believed that destiny had placed him at a vantage point, to bring a reconciliation between the Yoruba and the Fulani (and their mostly Yoruba soldiers and commanders) who had met on the battle fields during the 19th Century. He wanted to be President and flaunted his Arabic name, Abubakar, in the North and reminded the Yoruba of the West that he was Olusola. However the conservative leader of the North would not fully trust this new entrant. They elected Alhaji Aliyu Shehu Shagari from Sokoto as the presidential candidate of the National Party of Nigeria, NPN.\n\nI remember Saraki now as the Leader of the Senate during the Second Republic. I was the National Assembly correspondent for the National Concord and everyone knew Saraki as one of the most powerful senators. He was a humble man, accessible, simple and never impatient. Unlike some of the big men of that era, his constituents and any other person could see him at any time and without any appointment. You could accost him anywhere to ask questions. He never seemed capable of losing his temper or to be in too much of a hurry. His affection for people was genuine as he radiated confidence and grace. His people adopted him as their own. He was not a man who was afraid of a good fight. Saraki, the father Kwara State politics had arrived.\n\nThe1983 general elections was to provide him with the opportunity to test his muscle. He had fallen out with Governor Adamu Attah whom he helped to installed in office in 1979 when General Olusegun Obasanjo handed over power to elected civilian leaders. Attah may have calculated that Saraki had no choice but to remain loyal to the NPN, but he miscalculated. During the governorship election, he led the posse against Attah by backing the candidate of the opposition Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, a former lecturer who was Saraki’s colleague in the Senate. Adebayo won. Nobody dare take Saraki for granted again.\n\nWhen Major-General Muhammadu Buhari seized power on December 31, 1983, Saraki was one of the scores of politicians arrested. He was thrown into prison and spent many months at Kirikiri in Lagos. He was accused of collecting heavy bribes from contractors. When General Ibrahim Babangida toppled Buhari in 1983, Saraki was one of those politicians freed. Though he appeared before the Justice Samson Uwaifo panel, he was never tried for his alleged malfeasance.\n\nSaraki became close to the military boys and forged a special relationship with General Sani Abacha who seized power in November 1993 from the Interim Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan. Then Abacha died and Saraki again re-emerged as the dominant political force in Kwara politics during the Transition to Civil Rule programme of General Abdulsalami Abubakar. He ensured the victory of his candidate, Admiral Mohammed Lawal, former military governor of Ogun State, as the helmsman of Kwara State.\n\nMy friend and old classmate at the University of Lagos, the late Wale Oladepo, was Lawal’s Commissioner for Information. I visited Oladepo in early 1983 and he said his oga was facing a tough battle from his former mentor. By this time, Lawal was struggling for his political life. Saraki, one of the founding fathers of the All Peoples Party, APP, had made a strategic move that left Lawal gasping for breath. He left the APP for Lawal and pitched his tent with the powerful People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and got his son, Bukola Saraki, former managing director of the ill-fated Societe-General Bank, installed in the precinct of Aso-Rock Presidential Villa. In his fight against Lawal, he had recruited a powerful ally, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, President of the Republic. The rest is history.\n\nNow history is beckoning against to give its verdict. Since the family defeated Lawal in the epic battle of 2003, politics as the family business has been prospering. Bukola Saraki had spent eight years as the Governor and after that retired into the Senate where he clinched the coveted seat as the President in a classical coup against his party, the APC. Leading the charge against him now In Kwara is Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture who knew the potency of the Saraki sting. He once contested for the governorship seat and was worsted by the Saraki machine. Now is another chance.\n\nBut for the crisis in the APC which made Saraki to retrace his steps back into the PDP, this election would have be a no-contest for him. With the formation of the APC, most of his old political foes were now in the same camp with him. Lawal was dead and so were General Abdulkareem Adisa and General Tunde Idiagbon, former Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters. General Abdullahi Mohammed, former Chief of Staff to President Obasanjo, seems to have retired from active politics. Brigadier General Theophilous Bamigboye, former military administrator of Osun State, seems not to gather enough steam for his ambition to become the governor of Kwara State. Then the national crisis in the APC rocked the boat.\n\nFor 40 years, the Saraki dynasty has proven its mettle in peace and crisis. It has weathered turbulent weather and occasional calm. It has exercised power and influence in an unprecedented manner. It has amassed a fortune and built for itself a formidable political empire envied by foes and friends alike. The coming governorship election would prove whether the Saraki Dynasty is staying the course or like the great Titanic, it is on its last voyage.\n\nEkiti, Fayemi and 100 days of Quick Wins By Segun Dipe http://nigeriancurrent.com/2019/01/24/ekiti-fayemi-and-100-days-of-quick-wins-by-segun-dipe/ Thu, 24 Jan 2019 10:12:28 +0000 http://nigeriancurrent.com/?p=25713 *“A great leader’s courage to fulfil his vision comes from passion, not position.”*\n_–John Maxwell_\n\nThe first 100 days in office took on symbolic significance during the first term in office of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States (1933-1945), and ever since, the period has been considered a benchmark to measure the early success of an administration.\nWhether you are a successful administrator, or a complete flop, such first 100 days in office is there to decide. Mounting the saddle after a rough rider is usually not an enviable development. Not only are you trusted into a spotlight, you are also forced to walk on a tight rope. Such an unenviable job leaves you vulnerable to plenty of mistakes and pitfalls.\nBut the reverse is the case for the incumbent Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi. Rather, it is a huge boon to his career. Just like a discerning mind has opined that it was only good that Fayemi’s two-terms did not run back-to-back, so the people would not take his developmental style of governance for granted, he has made a good show of the opportunity of his return. He has also given it his best shot to demonstrate to the people of Ekiti that, although they had made a great mistake in tolerating four years of misrule foisted on them, their decision in voting him in as their governor for a second term, would definitely write off the deficit.\nIn the words of George Washington, the first President of the US, “to form a new government requires an infinite care and unbounded attention; for if the foundation is badly laid, the superstructure to build upon must be bad.”\nTruly, the foundation upon which Fayemi is building his second term in office had been badly laid by his predecessor in office, but the incumbent governor is not someone who would dwell on such as an alibi for failure. Government, after all, is a continuum. He accepted the challenge to return the state to its good old days as quickly as possible and has since been walking and working, non-stop.\nFayemi’s achievements in less than hundred days of mounting the saddle has been overwhelming. He started by traversing the length and breadth of the state to have a first-hand assessment of the spoilage that had taken place in his absence, then he promised to inherit the damage without questioning, and, realising there was no time to waste, he rolled up his sleeves and started working from the very first day in office.\nDuring his inauguration on 16 October 2018, Fayemi assured Ekiti people that he was not on any vengeance mission and as such would not be deploying any negative energy. He listed four pillars on which he would hinge his governance this time around as social investment, knowledge economy, infrastructure and industrial development, as well as rural development.\nMany may have been disappointed that despite the magnitude of the heist committed by his predecessor in office, Gov. Fayemi has yet to make any categorical statement about the financial status of the state on his assumption. However, the governor has opted to allow for a holistic professional auditing by credible auditors, and has hired the services of PriceWaterHouse Coopers to do objective findings.\nNotwithstanding, the early hard work has yielded some quick wins. Despite the fact that little or nothing has changed financially in terms of revenue, the governor has shown a rare managerial acumen. The bold steps taken towards restoration of core values of hard work, integrity, justice and fairness became noticeable within a short time. The one-week-one-trouble conduct of the immediate past administration has suddenly given way for the one-week-one-achievement of the present administration.\nDevelopment of human capital instantly took the front burner with education becoming the earliest beneficiary. Hardly had he settled down to work than Gov. Fayemi abolished the development levy mindlessly imposed on the primary and secondary students in the state. To further ease the burden of getting the children educated, the governor declared education free from the primary to the senior secondary school levels, and for their teachers, he announced a buffer of N200 million as housing and car loans. He also paid for the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) and the University Matriculation Examination (UME) of all the SSS3 students in all the public schools in the state, not minding that the exams were still several months away.\nAt the tertiary level, Gov. Fayemi set up visitation panels to look into the activities of the key state-owned institutions with a view to repositioning them for optimal performance. The different panels have since submitted their reports, leading to an overhaul of the leadership of the institutions and appointment of governing councils for effective administration.\nAdd to these, the flag-off of a capacity building training for about 7000 selected women and youths across the 16 local government councils of the state, then one would have a good idea of how much quick wins Fayemi has scored in the area of capacity development within the short period\nThe programme is in furtherance of the efforts of Government to promote policies, programmes and activities to enhance capacity building, which ultimately leads to job creation and sustainable livelihood, a re-enactment of the collaboration between Ekiti State and the federal government through the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) during Dr. Fayemi’s first term in office, but which was abandoned by his successor/predecessor. It focuses on Agribusiness Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme. (AGSMEIS), Micro Enterprises Enhancement, Beauty Therapy, and Demand Driven Skills of choice.\nGoing forward, the governor plans to bring back the Youths Volunteer Scheme, which will recruit no fewer than 10,000 young school leavers.\nThe state broadcasting service, BSES, which was closed down as a result of some reckless misconduct of its management in the past, has since been reopened as a result of Government’s positive intervention and has started operating in a more professional way.\nAfter education, empowerment and job creation, health comes next, and, as they say, health is wealth and it equally ranks high in the priority list of Gov. Fayemi. Already, the governor has signed the Universal Basic Health Provision agreement with the federal government and has started health mission across the state to keep his people healthier.\n\nThe security situation in Ekiti had been an albatross, but Gov. Fayemi has not only assured the citizens of the state that adequate measures would be put in place, he has also taken some practical steps to tackle it headlong. Part of the measures so far taken was a review of the State Security Trust Fund Law, having identified the major reason as poor funding of the various security apparatuses and opted to correct it. At an emergency meeting of the State Security Council held in Ado Ekiti, the governor gave a marching order to security agencies in the state to comb the entire state and fish out the criminal elements.\nPayment of salaries became a herculean task during the last administration. It is now a thing taken for granted, since workers can anticipate it at the end of every month, just like it was the case during Fayemi’s first term in office. In less than three months of mounting the saddle, the governor not only paid three statutory salaries to workers, including the pension of retirees, but also topped it up with the payment of one of the several arrears owed by his predecessor. Four salaries within three months. The gesture was as well extended to the past public office holders who got paid their severance allowance held in abeyance since 2014. All those who benefited from the gesture confessed they never had it that good in the last four years.\nIn the area of utilities, Fayemi has recorded some quick wins too. Those areas where electricity was fast becoming a mirage after four years of blackout, have suddenly been reconnected to the national grid. Water gets a deserved attention with the flag off of the $55 million Ero Dam treatment plant.\nJustice and fairness were elusive during the brash reign of the last administration, but they have returned to Ekiti. This became visible with the reinstatement of six permanent secretaries illegally sacked by the immediate past administration and another three that were unjustly demoted were also restored to their original levels.\nAll the projects either abandoned or left to rot away by the immediate past administration have also received a lease of life during the first hundred days of Gov. Fayemi. This same gesture has been extended to the state secretariat premises, which was left in a parlous state to the chagrin of Gov. Fayemi, who has since announced an injection of N1 billion to restore them to a much better condition. And there was this “non-patronage” ban, illegally slammed on some commercial banks operating in the state by his predecessor, which the governor has removed.\nWith the new atmosphere of peace and enabling environment in the state, the international agencies that had abandoned Ekiti in the past four years have started giving the state a look-in again for a renewed partnership. Under the IDEAS programme, the state has received $3 million from the World Bank for the three technical colleges in the three districts of the state to boost technical and vocational educations. The governor has also signed a pact with the Momdia Group in Dubai for the roll-out of a new mobile child health care services.\nBeyond all these visibly profound quick wins is Fayemi’s understanding of the people as his greatest asset, and his resolve to carry them along in all his plans is legendary. This is evident in his re-introduction of the regular town hall meetings across all the communities in the state.\n\nFayemi’s footprints on the sands of time in Ekiti in the first 100 days is not only legendary but exemplary. And the trick is very simple: a quicker turnaround in decision making and implementation, rather than showmanship, leaving the substance and chasing the wind.\n\n_-Segun Dipe is the Senior Special Assistant to Ekiti State Governor on Public Communications._\n\nAkande: The Last of Awo’s Cavalrymen, By Louis Odion, FNGE http://nigeriancurrent.com/2019/01/22/akande-the-last-of-awos-cavalrymen-by-louis-odion-fnge/ Tue, 22 Jan 2019 12:18:23 +0000 http://nigeriancurrent.com/?p=25694 It appeared odd, if not outright farcical. Reappearing after disappearing briefly from the dinning-table that memorable morning in 2001, the steward miraculously produced a medium jar of Milo, to the culinary relief of the choosy one among the guests.\nNot until our chief host casually waved off the chef who had tried to tender the change from the little grocery shopping did it become clear to some of us why Chief Bisi Akande had momentarily been distracted from the hearty banter earlier as he gave out some bank notes from his pocket for an errand obviously intended to be discreet.\nActually, one of the visiting editors would prefer beverage drink to the Lipton tea available for breakfast. It happened that such “indulgent” brew was not normally served at the governor’s table at the Osogbo White House then, reflecting his abstemious taste.\nOn noticing the abstention at the other end of table from the feasting going on, Baba Akande, long famous for his disdain for protocols, beckoned the waiter and simply mobilized him from the pocket of his trademark “danshiki” to do the needful just across the road outside the Government House, rather than show off power to the august guests by summoning the whole department supervisor, lest he ended up making a big ceremony of a simple matter.\nFleeting as the foregoing drama might appear, it typified the culture of frugality Osun State would know after Akande was sworn in as the second elected governor in 1999.\nSuch virtue is surely now a rarity in high places in Nigeria as extravagance is commonly glorified instead of modesty, debauchery preferred by those of whom chastity is expected.\nAs Baba Akande then joins the octogenarian club, there can be no better moment to pause and reflect on an exemplary life, whose cocktail of trials and triumphs truly inspires, a reminder that politics is at its noblest when guided by high principle.\nToday, on account of the prevalence of political “cross-breeding” of the past three decades in the South-West in which actors often switch parties and forswear allegiance with the unpredictability only matched by the fabled volatility of British weather, the term “Awoist” clearly now bears different meanings.\nWell, let it be first acknowledged that it is within the perimeter of liberty by mutants to lay claims. A fact already conceded by the sage himself. While offering clarification on the prospects of immortality, Awolowo had famously declared those who could truly be called “Awoists” in future would not necessarily be those related to him by blood or old association, but by shared values.\nSo, if Awoism could be defined in broad terms as a fierce fidelity to a progressive ideology, stubborn resolve against compromising principle however the temptation, and that unquestioning loyalty to the cause of friendship as exemplified by the very literal meaning of “Afenifere”, then Baba Akande could perhaps rightly be described today as Awo’s last general standing in more than one way.\nIndeed, the referenced mission to Osogbo that fateful weekend in 2001 was more of fact-finding. Osun had been engulfed by a debilitating industrial crisis. Workers wanted higher wage. Akande, in turn, opened the books to show that the state’s meager earnings could not fund the raise the labour wanted.\nAs tension swirled around the province of the fabled “living spring”, a homeboy who happened to be a senior journalist decided to weigh in, perhaps as a civic contribution to his troubled homeland in search of solution. Drawing on “professional solidarity”, he pressed this writer as THISDAY editor then and a few other newspaper editors to visit from Lagos to not only engage the governor directly but also have a first-hand feel of Osun reality with a view to better understanding the raging crisis.\nSo, for more than two hours, we literally grilled the governor in a brutally frank exchange in which no hard punch was spared. Like a seasoned matador, Baba Akande took all the darts, not dodging any, sometimes resorting to native humour to explain his difficulties.\nFrom that frank conversation, his position was unambiguous: the only option available to meet the workers’ demand then was to go on borrowing spree. To him, that was unthinkable on ethical grounds. It simply meant stealing from the unborn generation.\nThere were a few other things he also could not contemplate, out of ideological fidelity to welfarist values. One of which was the bias for social spending in form of free and compulsory education to Osun children so much that between 1999 and 2001, a colossal N522.85m had been spent as subsidy on education. The magnitude is better appreciated considering that Osun’s entire annual budget then was a few billions of Naira.\nExpectedly, before leaving town, we visited a number of projects being undertaken by Akande including the construction and furnishing of hundreds of modern classrooms to meet the inherited huge deficit at both primary and secondary levels.\nLeaving Osun two days later, one could not but now see Akande and the Osun impasse in two inter-related lights. One was the uncommon fortitude he brought to bear in defending Awo’s core value – free education as a tool to fostering an egalitarian society. Second was the dialectical crisis arising from the former. Osun’s fiscal failure spoke, in turn, directly to the crisis of federalism in Nigeria. Indeed, the state, like most others across the Nigeria, would only continue to manage poverty, given the prevailing queer federal architecture.\nFor instance, studies confirm that Ilesha is rich in gold. But Nigeria’s own warped federalism forbids states from exploiting the riches of their soil to better themsleves. Everyone is made to forfeit ownership to a buccaneering Leviathan at the centre which, in turn, dispenses crumbs to the federating units by a principle that glorifies predation than production.\nSo, the gripping irony: even though living by the river, the proverbial swamp-dweller is left to die of thirst.\nThe enduring fiscal crisis can hardly be divorced from one grave oversight at the founding of the present Republic, however. By 1999, the nation had clearly grown weary of military occupation and appeared too impatient to see the back of the now discredited generals to have had the presence of mind to detect before hand that the working document handed down as chart for the democracy voyage ahead was, at best, faulty.\nOnce the euphoria petered out, disillusionment naturally set in. So, barons of Alliance for Democracy like Akande contemplating the imposition of a progressive agenda soon found they were a minority pitched against ruthless conservative forces, fiercely committed to preserving the existing predatory order at the centre.\nIn hindsight, it would perhaps not be too harsh now to accuse the early optimists of sheer naivety in trusting Obasanjo too much on account of merely professing being “born-again democrat” and expecting a fulfillment of the inaugural promise to consider structural change.\nBut adapting military stratagem of ambush for a purely civil outcome, OBJ would intensify such lip-service to seduce the grandees of the progressive community in South-west into lowering their guard at home until they were routed electorally in one fell swoop in 2003.\nAlas, the newly politically displaced would realize too late that the hyena remains and acts like the hyena, regardless of the fancy apparel deployed as disguise.\nIronically, that electoral defeat of 2003 would now appear Akande’s own defining moment. Others would have willingly entered into any deal to secure comfort, however temporary. But Akande was not ready to compromise his principle of prudence and accountability. Not even OBJ, the eternal narcissist, would fail to admit Akande’s honesty in a rare acknowledgement of good in any human being other than himself.\nWhile fielding questions a year after PDP’s historic capture of South-West (except Lagos), he said: “Chief Bisi Akande of Osun State is the only governor whose integrity I can vouch for.”\nBut honesty is only one of the qualities that set Akande apart. Equally discernible in his political odyssey is the virtue of consistency – a rarity in a political environment where folks would trade honour and betray associates just for mere accommodation by anyone in power.\nRather than be tamed, he parlayed that political adversity to an opportunity to rededicate himself to the advocacy of progressive values.\nNot surprising, his has since remained a trenchant voice for a return to fiscal federalism as originally conceived by the 1960 constitution as the most sustainable prescription for equity and justice in the increasingly conflicted Nigerian family.\nA true measure of character is said to be where an actor stands in the season of moral crisis. Nigeria’s 90s was undoubtedly defined by the popular resistance of military despotism symbolized by June 12. When it was most perilous, Akande stood to be counted among those who valiantly fought the military.\nBy falling for the carrots dangled by IBB and Abacha, not a few Awoists would forfeit their own reputation. Those who returned from the dingy dalliance with the military during that momentous decade found themselves carrying mortal scar forever. They became enfeebled by emotional fracture arising from being estranged from old comrades, thus losing their voices in the civil space henceforth.\nAlso, the murk that permeated the Jonathan era would prove pestilential for some other Awoists of old. Ordinarily, being found in varying compromising positions with barons of the then presiding conservative party would be enough heresy already. With the details of how dollars meant to buy arms to fight Boko Haram was also generously shared in South-West ahead of the 2015 general elections by desperate Jonathan to buy support now public knowledge, many more have since become a bit more subtle in openly displaying their Awo cap in Yorubaland, more out of shame than self-restraint.\nIn their quiet moments today, those implicated in that abominable tryst must be feeling bitter regret, humbled by shame at being found to have toiled all their youth building a worthy name only to be caught in strange – if not seedy – company in their hoary days.\nCoincidentally, it was in the same season that Akande’s political stock rose sharply. The titan from Ila-Orangun would undoubtedly go down in history as the man who as Interim Chairman inspired a broad coalition of progressives and some conservative rebels to unseat the ruling reactionary party in Nigeria in 2015.\nThus, Akande would seem to have fulfilled yet another of Awo’s old prophecies: “For the progressive to be in power they need the support and collaborations of some conservatives. After attaining power, the conservatives would on their own, walk away. The progressive would now build a great party that would move the nation forward.”\nIf we then remember the sordid circumstances under which likes of Atiku broke away from APC last year, we cannot but be in awe of the sage’s prescience.\nNo less compelling, therefore, is the need to also salute Akande’s abiding faithfulness as the last of Awo’s cavalrymen standing.\n\nOgun Politics: My Encounter With Violence, By Reuben Abati http://nigeriancurrent.com/2019/01/18/ogun-politics-my-encounter-with-violence-by-reuben-abati/ Fri, 18 Jan 2019 13:02:01 +0000 http://nigeriancurrent.com/?p=25625 I once had a taste of political violence during the 2015 Presidential campaigns. In Bauchi, our convoy was stoned. In Katsina, restless youths wielding stones and long sticks threatened to attack us. It didn’t matter that it was a Presidential convoy. But nothing in those two places is comparable to what I experienced in Sagamu, Ogun State on Sunday, January 13.\n\nThe PDP Gubernatorial candidate in Ogun State, Senator Buruji Kashamu and I accompanied by our spouses, had gone to attend the 2019 edition of the Annual Thanksgiving church service organized by former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. We arrived at the church – Abraham’s Tabernacle – when the service was well under way. For a while, the service was disrupted as the people kept shouting: Buru-ji Kash-amu! Kashamu! Kashamu! The Senator acknowledged the cheers, greeted the dignitaries in attendance and took his seat.\n\nThe event was more of a political get-together, and that is understandable. Otunba Gbenga Daniel, our host is a leader of the PDP in the South West and a Director of the Atiku-Obi Presidential campaign. Outside the church, from the entrance to the main street, even beyond the church: there were posters on display promoting Atiku, Buruji Kashamu, Gboyega Nasir Isiaka, and Hon. Ladi Adebutu (the House of Representatives member contesting Senator Kashamu’s candidacy along with the candidacy of all persons whose names the Adebayo Dayo-led executive committee submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Every elective office-seeker at the event obviously tried to outshine the other with billboards, campaign vehicles, posters and the number of supporters in attendance. Others displayed theirs, we too displayed our own.\nI had no reason to suspect that the day would further expose me to yet another dirty underbelly of Nigerian politics: in this instance, violence and the attendant threat to lives and property. I had hardly taken a seat, close to the entrance in the North Eastern part of the church, when I suddenly noticed some commotion. The whole incident didn’t take up to two minutes.\n“What happened?”, I asked the guy standing close to me.\n“Lado has left the church in annoyance.” Lado is the nickname of Hon. Ladi Adebutu.\n“How? Why?”\nThe gentleman who was giving me the information, started pointing over my head and said:\n“It is that man”\n“Which man?”\n“He is sitting somewhere behind you”\n“What happened?”\nThe man didn’t finish his story properly, when he bent down a little and told me to leave where I was seated, and go and find somewhere else within the church.\n“Why?”, I asked. I really didn’t see why I should start going up and down inside the House of God, when I am not a church worker.\n“Egbon, you don’t know me? . I lived in your father’s house in Abeokuta. Trust me. Leave this place where you are sitting. Lado’s boys have entered the church premises. They are threatening to come inside to attack Kashamu’s people.”\n\nYou needed to see the speed with which I jumped up and went far inside the church. Meanwhile, there were sounds of heavy gunshots outside, and commotion. I wanted to go outside the church to see what was going on. Another man pulled me back and told me not to step outside because Lado’s people were looking for Kashamu and his people. He said he was going to inform Otunba Gbenga Daniel to quickly intervene and see what could be done to take control of the situation. I felt as if I had become a trapped rabbit. I called my Personal Assistant who was waiting outside the church with the drivers who brought my campaign vehicles and some of our supporters from Abeokuta. I could hear sounds of the mayhem in the background.\n\n“Ki lo nse le, nita. What is going on outside? What is all that commotion all about?”\n“Sir, awon boys Lado ni o. They are looking for Kashamu. They are threatening to kill him and D.G.”\n“Hello. Hello”\n“Sir, they are vandalizing all our campaign vehicles”\n“Tell the drivers to go and quickly move the vehicles to somewhere safe,” I instructed.\nI could hear the P.A. telling the drivers: “Oga says you people should go and move the vehicles quickly away from here.” One of them shouted back at him: “Oga says we should go and move vehicles. I can’t move any vehicle. Do you want those boys to kill me? Can’t you see the kind of guns they are carrying?”\nI could hear the gunshots. I couldn’t blame the rebellious driver. A few minutes later, the PA called back frantically.\n“Sir, sir, sir”\n“Yes?,” I responded\n“They have vandalized our own vehicles. They have smashed the windscreens of our campaign vehicles.”\n“How many vehicles did you bring?”\n“Three sir.”\n“Did I not tell you to bring only two? See what you have caused?”\n“One of the drivers managed to escape with his own vehicle sir. They beat him up but he managed to jump into the car and ran away with it.”\n“What of the Touareg, Egunje brought from Lagos?”\n“That one is not branded sir.”\n“Tell Egunje to move that car away right now. He must not be sluggish. Where are the boys threatening to attack us now?’”\n“The police have started confronting them sir. The police have arrived. They are driving them back now but they are threatening that they will regroup and come back.”\n\nThe only thing that was ringing in my head was the disclosure that they were looking for Kashamu and DG. I am oftentimes referred to by our party members as DG or Deputy. The only other person who goes by the name of DG is the Director-General of the Kashamu/Abati Campaign Organization, Chief Remi Bakare. I have not had any confrontation with anybody since our campaign began. I saw no reason why anyone should threaten to harm me. I thought of going out of the church to go and sit in one of the vehicles parked inside the church premises. I couldn’t summon the courage to do so – my face is emblazoned on all our branded campaign vehicles, billboards and posters all over the state. What if the enemy outside recognized me? I started calling Hon. Segun Seriki, who is an experienced politician to advise me on what precaution could be taken under the circumstances. His phone kept ringing. He didn’t pick.\n\nI could see that the women in our entourage were worried. I was more than worried, my heart was pumping heavily. This was the state I was in when someone came to me and said, we would leave the church immediately after the service, but we should all go out together at the same time, and stay very close and be vigilant. The man added: “if those Lado boys are able to grab just one person, we can’t predict what will happen.” I told myself that it would indeed be a good idea for anyone in that situation to be vigilant. I was no longer listening to whatever anyone was saying, not even the church choir. The only thought in my head was how to get back home in one piece.\n\nThe service soon ended. We filed out of the church, bonding together. One of our men wrapped his body around me as as if he was a human towel. He told me not to allow anybody to bump into me. You never know who is holding a knife. I had actually seen one or two persons wielding knives inside the church and they were not wearing any identifiable uniform. We were practically smuggled out of the church by security agents, shooting persistently in the air and chasing the hoodlums. We were lucky we made it to Otunba Gbenga Daniel’s residence. As the bullets rushed out of guns, my wife’s friend who was sitting in the same vehicle with me, tried to duck under the dashboard. She said someone had once advised her that this is the best way to avoid stray bullets. I couldn’t afford to laugh. I just grinned.\n\nThe moment I sighted Hon. Seriki, I turned on him.\n“Egbon, I was calling your phone. You didn’t pick”.\n“Sorry. My phones were in silent mode”\n“But where did you go?”\n“Ha, my brother, in this game, self-preservation is the first law of survival. Sagamu is the headquarters of cultists in this part of the state. Those boys are deadly. It is a volatile zone.”\n“They vandalized two of my campaign vehicles. They assaulted one of my drivers who tried to run away with one of the vehicles.”\n“Actually, they vandalized all our campaign vehicles. Look, my brother, in politics things like this happen. It takes only a small incident, and you will have people being killed. This is the reality of politics in the Third World.”\n\nI asked him further if the window screens of the vehicle in which we were both seated were tinted.\n“My brother, I see you are new in politics. I have been in politics for years. In politics, you must always be prepared”\n“This is not politics. This is madness. We are trying to mend fences and make peace. And now people are threatening to kill us. So what will now happen to all the efforts being made to ensure reconciliation with the Hon. Adebutu group?”\n\nTwo weeks earlier, the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State had initiated reconciliation talks between the supporters of both Senator Buruji Kashamu and Hon. Ladi Adebutu. Meetings had been held in Yewa North, in Ado Odo Ota, Abeokuta and across the wards in Ogun East. I attended one of the meetings. Senator Kashamu had also instructed his supporters and followers to reconcile with members of the Adebutu group to ensure the party’s victory in the coming elections in Ogun State, whatever may be the outcome of the cases in court over candidacy. In Ado Odo Ota, there was actually a unification rally by both groups. I was concerned that all of that effort had just been jeopardized.\n\nWhat transpired at Abraham’s Tabernacle, Sagamu,, on that day as later reported in bits and pieces, was that when Senator Kashamu arrived, he made an effort to greet Hon. Ladi Adebutu but he was rebuffed. The Director General of our campaign then went to Hon. Adebutu, who is very well known to him, and advised him to go and greet Senator Kashamu and embrace him in the spirit of reconciliation. Only God knows how the Devil put a foot into that encounter. Hon. Adebutu left the church, we gathered in annoyance. Only God knows how this became a matter for thugs who decided this was enough reason to attack Senator Kashamu, his supporters and campaign vehicles.\n\nWe were able to catch our breaths after being smuggled to Otunba Gbenga Daniel’s residence under heavy police protection. The remaining challenge was then how to leave Sagamu without running into the thugs who had threatened to waylay us. Instead of going through the main streets, we had to take a winding, back route. As we navigated through this route, some boys on motorcycles soon caught up with us and they moved close to the vehicle carrying Mrs Kashamu and my wife. One of the motorcycles targeted Senator Kashamu’s vehicle (by now, he had switched vehicles). The boys on motorcycle tried to pull something out of the nylon bags they were carrying. Somehow, the drivers swerved and tried to run into them, forcing them to speed off. Senator Kashamu asked the convoy to stop. Within minutes, we were joined by more gun-wielding policemen. The moment the policemen arrived, many members of our convoy rushed down and started peeing up and down. I was pressed too, but I chose to sit inside the vehicle. What if the thugs suddenly came back?\n\nWhen we finally managed to get onto the expressway, some people asked to be allowed to pee again. Eventually, Senator Kashamu re-arranged the convoy. He also took the steering wheel himself, and decided to drive in front of the convoy. I joined him. Sitting beside him in front was Senator Ben Murray Bruce who was part of our entourage. Every other vehicle was instructed to drive behind, with Senator Kashamu as the lead driver. He told everyone not to panic; he would lead us home safely.\n\nSenator Bruce offered to drive, insisting that he is a better driver than his friend. Senator Kashamu refused and as we made our way out of danger zone, he kept receiving situation reports from members of our group who left Sagamu for other parts of the state, while keeping an eye on the convoy. When we finally reached his home three and a half hours later, some people rushed quickly to the toilet, others headed for the bathroom. I did too. When we reviewed the situation, we were relieved that no lives were lost. The policemen in the Sagamu Division, as well as members of the Civil Defence Corps, and the Vigilante Group in Sagamu proved to be our saving grace. I commend them for the courage that they displayed and for preventing the loss of lives. This thing called politics should not be turned into warfare. There should be life after elections.\n\nThe Amina Zakari Storm, By Simon Kolawole http://nigeriancurrent.com/2019/01/07/the-amina-zakari-storm-by-simon-kolawole/ Mon, 07 Jan 2019 06:02:55 +0000 http://nigeriancurrent.com/?p=25388 In 2010, when Dr. Goodluck Jonathan assumed office following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, he promised us electoral reform. He launched a campaign on “one man, one vote; one woman, one vote; one youth, one vote”. He started to speak about “credible elections”, staring our vocabulary away from “free and fair elections”. This was partly in response to the ridiculous 2007 elections that brought him and Yar’Adua to power. It could well be that 2007 was not the worst in Nigeria’s history, but INEC, under the leader of the inimitable Prof. Maurice Iwu, had conducted itself in such a way that people had to classify the body as a unit of the PDP, the ruling party then.\n\n\n\n\nMrs. Amina Zakari\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Police Treated Senator Melaye Unfairly http://nigeriancurrent.com/2019/01/06/the-police-treated-senator-melaye-unfairly/ Sun, 06 Jan 2019 15:53:58 +0000 http://nigeriancurrent.com/?p=25359 Senator Dino Melaye was eventually arrested by the men of the Nigeria Police Force on Friday , January 4, 2019. His arrest was effected when he emerged from his home into the waiting arms of the police. The Police, armed with a warrant of arrest, had arrived his house eight days earlier to effect his arrest in connection with a crime of conspiracy and culpable homicide . The police claim that in July 2018 in Lokoja in Kogi State, a shot was fired at a policeman , Sergeant Danjuma Aliyu by a suspected political thug in Senator Melaye’s company,leaving the policeman critically wounded as a result of which he is still allegedly hospitalized at the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAnyway, this is NIGERIA.\n\nBy Jiti Ogunye\n\nCorruption and Economic Hardship http://nigeriancurrent.com/2018/12/31/corruption-and-economic-hardship/ Mon, 31 Dec 2018 18:48:54 +0000 http://nigeriancurrent.com/?p=25247 Corruption, for a long time , has been the wheel driving the Nigerian economy, bringing illicit comfort to many lives and pursuits. There can be no doubt that the current political dispensation in the Country is fighting corrupt practices in the Nigerian public sector and in the society at large.\n\nOf course , the fight is not total, comprehensive and all encompassing. The economic and political interests of the dominant power block within the ruling class continue to impede and shape the anti-corruption war.\n\nThe bigger ideological question remains , however, whether it is possible for a ramshackle political -economy of a country like ours , founded on internal and external capitalist exploitation and ruling class corruption , to wage a war on corruption, which is like waging a war on itself !\n\nMoving this intervention away from an ideological contestation, it can be postulated that what the current economic hardships in the country reveal, in many ways, is that in a country like ours, if and when corrupt practices in government and society are combated or massively disrupted ( even by ruling class hypocrisy), it is inevitable that there will be “disequilibrium” in many lives and endeavours, which for so long a period of time , have been sustained on, and nurtured by corrupt practices.\n\nPending the time the long and much awaited “Nigerian revolution”, is brought about to put an end to ruling class exploitation and corruption, what many of our fellow compatriots who economically are hard hit in this period of national hardships, need to do is not to crave for a return to the era of uunchecked or undisrupted corrupt practices, so that “normalcy” can return to their lives. That normalcy was an aberration.\n\nWhat is required is a sort of moral adjustment programme.\n\nThere is a need to accept that there must be a departure from the era of acculturation to corruption. Corrupt practices and proceeds of many un-investigated and unpunished crimes have , for years, been the foundations of many thriving businesses, celebrated financial successes, economic breakthroughs and miracles . Corruption has been a major wheel driving many of these accomplishments.\n\nIt is high time that the values of education, hard work , honesty, discipline, aversion to crimes and corrupt practices, and innovation became the drivers of the Nigerian economy; and the catalyst of personal successes.\n\nThis is the only route to a future of personal and societal prosperity for a country whose youths are now preoccupied with violent crimes ( armed robbery, robberies, kidnapping , money making rituals – yahoo plus ) , debauchery, narcotic drugs, frauds, pool betting and lottery.\n\nA lean integrity is better than a fat criminality.\n\nBy Jiti Ogunye\n\nSHEHU SHAGARI: A Good Man, a Bad Leader http://nigeriancurrent.com/2018/12/30/shehu-shagari-a-good-man-a-bad-leader/ Sun, 30 Dec 2018 09:01:05 +0000 http://nigeriancurrent.com/?p=25220 Former President Shehu Aliyu Usman Shagari passed on today at the age of 93. Our condolences go to his family, his people in Shagari Village in Sokoto State, Sokoto State and fellow Nigerians. Being a former President of this much raped and abused Country, his loss should be mourned by all. May Allah, the merciful, the beneficent , grant him Aljannah Fridaus.\n\nBefore becoming President in October 1979, Alhaji Shagari served in many capacities at the Northern Region and Federal Government levels. He started his career as a school teacher before his foray into politics.\n\nHe was a Federal Parliamentarian and Minister, in the First Republic, under Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the Prime Minister, between 1958 and 1966, when the first military coup aborted that Republic. After the end of the civil war , he returned to government in 1970 as a Minister, a position he held until 1971, when he succeeded Chief Obafemi Awolowo as Minister of Finance , when the latter resigned from the Gowon’s Government. Alhaji Shehu Shagari served in that capacity between 1971 and 1975, when the Gowon Government was sacked in a military coup, paving way for the emergence of the Murtala/ Obasanjo Military Regime.\n\nThus , when he became the first Executive President of Nigeria, in 1979, upon a switch of Nigeria to the American presidential system of government ( from the parliamentary or Westminster system of government), he was not new to politics , government and power. Although his emergence as president was controversial, it was expected that he would bring his experience and knowledge to bear on the running of government business and affairs.\n\nTwo controversies dogged his emergence as president. First, Alhaji Shehu Shagari was said not to be an overtly ambitious, power craving politician. He reportedly had initially expressed no interest to run for office as president, indicating his preference to be a senator. He was, however, persuaded by the kingmakers in that era , principally and allegedly in the “ Kaduna Mafia “, a Northern Nigeria political power epicentre, to vie for the office of the President. He was, therefore , an unwilling ( and presumably) an unprepared candidate. When his performance in office became lacklustre, his leadership failures were attributed to his being an unwilling president.\n\nThe second controversy was about the very contentious election that brought him to power. The Electoral Decree No 34 of 1977 that governed the presidential election of 1979 had provided , just as it is the case currently, that in order to be elected as president, a presidential candidate must have scored at least one quarter of the total votes cast in at least two-thirds of the states in Nigeria; and the highest number of the votes cast. The requirement addressed the need for spread, since the entire country was the electoral constituency of the president. Nigeria had nineteen states then. In the election , held on August 11, 1979,Alhaji Shehu Shagari scored the highest number of votes cast in the election ( 5, 688,657 against Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s 4,916,651); and at least a quarter of the votes cast in twelve states. But that was not two thirds of the nineteenth states , mathematically . In the thirteenth state ( Kano State), Alhaji Shehu Shagari failed to score the required one quarter of the total votes cast . He secured 19.94 % of the votes cast in Kano State . Yet he was declared the winner of the election by the Federal Electoral Commission ( FEDECO) and returned as president-elect . The outcome of the election was challenged by Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his Unity Party of Nigeria ( UPN) in the election tribunal, which dismissed his petition. Against Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s clear over 25% of the total votes cast in twelve states , Chief Awolowo could only do so in six states. When an appeal from the tribunal’ s verdict eventually got to the Supreme Court, ( in Awolowo v Shagari ) before a full panel of seven justices, Chief Richard Akinjide, SAN who eventually became the AGF and Minister for Justice rehashed his arguments before the Election Tribunal, which was accepted by the Tribunal. His contention was that in order to get one quarter of the total votes cast in the thirteenth state, the reckoning must not be the total votes but two thirds of the total votes ; meaning that once a candidate satisfied the requirement of obtaining one quarter of the total votes cast in twelve states and in two-thirds of the thirteenth state, then he should be accepted as having satisfied the requirement of scoring at least one quarter of the total votes cast in each of at least two thirds of the nineteen states of the Federation.\n\nThat argument was rejected by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who argued that one quarter of the votes in the thirteenth state could not be determined on the basis of a split of the total votes cast in the thirteenth state into fractions . He pressed the Court to accept that one quarter of the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of nineteen states must be one -quarter of the votes cast in each of at least thirteen states of the Federation.\n\nThe Supreme Court in a majority decision of 6-1( Kayode Eso, JSC dissenting ) accepted the 12, 2/3 argument and upheld the dismissal of the Awolowo’s Petition. That decision did not rest the argument about the legitimacy of the Shagari Government. Especially given the fact that the election was held against the background of the “anti- Awolowo disposition “ of General Olusegun Obasanjo , the outgoing military ruler , who had declared before the election that the best candidate might not necessarily win the election .\n\nUpon being sworn into office , President Shehu Shagari exhibited humility, geniality and generosity of spirit. He conferred the highest honorific title in Nigeria, the title of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic ( GCFR) , usually reserved for heads of state , on Chief Obafemi Awolowo .\n\nUnfortunately, President Shehu Shagari was a genial President who presided over a profligate and financially reckless government that squandered the opportunities for a post-thirteen year military rule era development of Nigeria. With the hawks in his government like Senator Uba Ahmed ( Secretary General of the ruling NPN) Umaru Dikko ( the Transport Minister), Meredith Adisa Akinloye ( Chairman of the NPN ) and Inspector General of Police , Sunday Adewusi, whom he couldn’t rein in, a budding fascism was being implanted in Nigeria. Every patriotic admonition by the opposition, principally the Obafemi Awolowo-led UPN, that Nigeria was headed in the wrong political and economic direction was derided as a prophesy of doom from an ever-lamenting Jeremiah ( a reference to Obafemi Awolowo, whose baptismal name was Jeremiah ).\n\nMost of the policies and programmes of the Administration were incoherent and not well thought through. In the agricultural sector , for example, a meaningless Green Revolution Programme, patterned after Olusegun Obasanjo’s Operation Feed the Nation ( OFN ), was put in place , with millions of naira being voted for the importation of fertilizers to help farmers. Yet , evidently, the fertilizer importation frenzy was largely a scam meant to siphon money. So also was the rice importation and cement importation policies . The ports became congested , with task forces being set up to clear the ports . It was an era of unbridled importation of goods , including luxury goods leading to the depletion or evaporation of Nigerian foreign reserves.\n\nTo the credit of the Administration, however, there was an expansion of the Country’s education system at the Federal level ; establishment of River Basin Authorities , irrigation schemes and dams across the country; and the laying of the foundation of the steel development sector in the country.\n\nIn departure from the pretentious “ low profile “ culture of the Obasanjo era, where the official car of members of the military executive ( military governors , Head of State) was a Peugeot 504, for example, President Shehu Shagari brought a thoughtless flamboyance into government, a lifestyle that the economy could not support. Mercedes Benz Cars became the official cars of government officials ( just like Toyota Prado Jeeps of today). And Nigerians were quick in naming the car “ Shagari Style “. His government bought a presidential jet, thereby starting a tradition of maintaining a wasteful presidential fleet , a tradition that continues to rule our lives as a country till today .\n\nWhen patriots were warning that poverty had become accentuated under his government, a garrulous and cynical member of his cabinet reportedly taunted Nigerians that no Nigerian had started eating from refuse dumps.! The Government boasted that the economy was strong , and when the bubble burst , President Shagari , faced with the grim situation of the economy introduced “ austerity measures “. It was the economic hardship brought about by that gross mismanagement of the economy that the military used as a pretext to stage a come back coup , which unfurled a chain of unbroken military rule for another 16 years , until the death of General Sani Abacha led to a short transition to civil rule programme which brought Olusegun Obasanjo , a retired military general back to power .\n\nUnfortunately also, President Shehu Shagari, ran a political party ( National Party of Nigeria) and a government, which obviously did not exhibit the character of a party, politicians and a government that had learnt any lessons from the tragedy of the First Republic. The First Republic collapsed, in part, because the politicians of that era who were in control of the Federal Government took a democratic opposition for treason , and political dissent for insurrection. It’s war on the opposition and persecution of opposition politicians presaged the collapse of the First Republic. Alhaji Shehu Shagari was a participant in that era . He was a Northern People’s Congress Minister. He was in attendance at the meeting the remnants of the Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Government had with Major General Aguiyi Ironsi on January 15 1966, following the abduction and killings of the Prime Minister; Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Northern Nigeria Premier, Samuel Ladoke Akintola, the Western Nigeria Premier, Okotie Eboh, Finance Minister and other military commanders. The meeting purportedly transferred powers to the military.\n\nThe historical significance and lessons of that meeting ought to have been etched in the memory of Alhaji Shehu Shagari for ever, such that when he had a privilege to take power back from the military, thirteen years after those unfortunate occurrences , he should have striven to run a government and play the politics that would avoid the mistakes of the First Republic’s civilian administration, in order to inoculate the Second Republic against self inflicted destruction, and prevent it from coming into grief in the hands of ambitious soldiers who had seen themselves as the military wing of the Nigerian ruling class and the alternative to a “ fumbling “ civilian administration.\n\nThat was not to be . In spite of President Shagari’s personal geniality, he lacked the requisite discipline in leadership. Just as the NPC had behaved earlier, intolerant of the opposition, the NPN , under President Shehu Shagari, and his NPN Government started persecuting the opposition. In Kaduna State , Alhaji Balarabe Musa, the Governor of the Aminu Kano-led Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) was impeached by an NPN-led House of Assembly. Bala Muhammed, radical Marxist Lecturer in ABU was mobbed and burnt to death by political thugs. And Shugaba Abdurrahman Darman, the house leader of the Great Nigeria People’s Party ( GNPP ) controlled Borno State House of Assembly was deported from Nigeria and thrown into Chad , for not being a a Nigerian. The Minister of Internal Affairs signed a deportation order in 1980 to ground his deportation. His ostensible offence was that he was a fierce critic of President Shehu Shagari. It took a UPN inspired legal intervention of Chief GOK Ajayi, SAN to restore his citizenship and bring him back into Nigeria. He won the legal battle in the High Court In Maiduguri, and the appeals that followed up to the Supreme Court. Not without drama though. At the High Court hearing , a woman who had been procured from Chad , to claim that she was the real mother of Shugaba , surfaced . She wailed all through pleading that her son , “who had run away from home in Chad should be returned to her “ Be it noted that in 1980 , Shugaba, born in 1920 was a sixty year old man!\n\nOf course, the apogee of the political infamy of the Shagari Administration was the massive rigging of the 1983 general elections. Political violence to terrorize the opposition ahead of the election was combined with actual police clampdown to spread terror before and during the election. Ondo State resisted the political robbery with tragic consequences. And predictably, three months after being sworn into office for a second term of four years, the military struck and overthrew his administration.\n\nInstructively, while he and the Vice President, Alex Ekwueme , were detained following the coup, notable truculent members of his administration whose actions contributed to the collapse of the Second Republic escaped into exile : Adisa Akinloye, Richard Akinjide ; Umaru Diko, Uba Ahmed . Other abrasive and cantankerous warriors like Walter Ofonagoro and Chuba Okadigbo did not carry the burden of blame when the chips were down.\n\nPresident Shehu Shagari was not known to be a personally corrupt ruler , as some of the military rulers before him and after him were known to be . He was flamboyant in his resplendent, well embroidered “Shagari Style” dress with his tall cap to match. He enjoyed the pomp and pageantry of presidential power; and he enjoyed traveling the world. He liked paying state visits. In 1983, he left Nigeria on a scheduled trip to India on the sad day NITEL Building in Marina, the tallest building in Nigeria, was consumed by inferno. On that day , he visited the burning NITEL building on his way to the airport , left it burning, and embarked on his trip.\n\nPresident Shehu Shagari certainly was not like many politicians of the Fourth Republic who engage in massive asset stripping of the Nigerian State in the name of privatization. Nor did he recklessly loot the treasury of the country as many of them have done. But , by His laissez faire approach to governance, his negligence in duty , his permissiveness and his lack of exhibition of a disciplined leadership , he created a basis for the collapse of the second republic.\n\nIt was sad that when the posibibility of a military coup stared him in the face , he attempted to dissuade senior military officers from embarking on a coup by allegedly providing luxuries for them, including gifting Mercedes Benz Cars to the upper echelon of the military. That could not stop the planned usurpation of power\n\nAs we mourn the passing of President Shehu Shagari, in a country like ours where our cultures prescribe we do not speak ill of the dead , and where our past and recent histories are often distorted or forgotten, we must truthfully state his poor leadership records ,even as we recognize his warm, and genial personality.\n\nThis is the right thing to do . By so doing, history is not robbed. Facts are not distorted. And the current power welders, who are “ good people “ surrounded by some “ bad people” may take heed in the realization that personal character and integrity means nothing if it is not matched with transparent competence, and if it cannot be used to prevent bad people who find their way into government from being the determiners of the direction of government while the elected good people wring their fingers and do nothing.\n\nAdieu President Usman Aliyu Shehu Shagari\n\nBy Jiti Ogunye", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5492269992828369}
+{"content": "Jpn. J. Pharmacol. 69, 187-193 (1995)\n\nNo Relation of Plasma Morphine Level to the Severity of Naloxone-Induced Withdrawal in Acute Morphine-Dependent Rats\n\nShiroh Kishioka, Norihiro Inoue, Shigeru Nishida, Yuko Fukunaga and Hiroyuki Yamamoto\n\nDepartments of Pharmacology, Wakayama Medical College, 9-Bancho 27, Wakayama 640, Japan\n\nAbstract: Plasma morphine concentration and naloxone-precipitated withdrawal body weight loss and plasma corticosterone (PCS) increase were determined at 12, 18 and 24 hr after i.v. infusion of morphine at a constant rate of 10 mg/kg/hr for 4 hr in Sprague-Dawley rats. Plasma morphine concentration declined 98.0% within 12 hr and further declined 58.8% during 12-24 hr after morphine infusion. There was a significant difference between plasma morphine concentrations at 12 and 24 hr after the morphine infusion. Naloxone (0.5 and 2.0 mg/kg)-precipitated withdrawal, but not spontaneous withdrawal, was elicited at 12-24 hr after the morphine infusion, and the severity of withdrawal precipitated by 2.0 mg/kg naloxone was the same at 12-24 hr after the morphine infusion. Furthermore, there was no significant correlation between plasma morphine concentration and body weight loss or PCS increase. The results suggest that a constant degree of morphine dependence is sustained during 12-24 hr after the morphine infusion and the severity of naloxone-precipitated withdrawal is not related to the plasma morphine concentration at the time of naloxone injection, that is, the rate of morphine removal from its receptor sites.\n\nKeywords: Intravenous morphine infusion, Plasma morphine concentration, Naloxone-withdrawal, Body weight loss, Plasma corticosterone increase\n\nCopyright© The Japanese Pharmacological Society 1995\n\n[Back to TOC]", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7737846374511719}
+{"content": "Discover the most talked about and latest scientific content & concepts.\n\nConcept: Cyprinidae\n\n\n\nConcepts: Digenea, Carp, Cyprinidae, Aquaculture, Snail, Gastropoda, Red River Delta, Black carp\n\n\nBoth endotherms and ectotherms (e.g., fish) increase their body temperature to limit pathogen infection. Ectotherms do so by moving to warmer places, hence the term “behavioral fever.” We studied the manifestation of behavioral fever in the common carp infected by cyprinid herpesvirus 3, a native carp pathogen. Carp maintained at 24°C died from the infection, whereas those housed in multi-chamber tanks encompassing a 24°C-32°C gradient migrated transiently to the warmest compartment and survived as a consequence. Behavioral fever manifested only at advanced stages of infection. Consistent with this, expression of CyHV-3 ORF12, encoding a soluble decoy receptor for TNF-α, delayed the manifestation of behavioral fever and promoted CyHV-3 replication in the context of a temperature gradient. Injection of anti-TNF-α neutralizing antibodies suppressed behavioral fever, and decreased fish survival in response to infection. This study provides a unique example of how viruses have evolved to alter host behavior to increase fitness.\n\nConcepts: Immune system, Gene expression, Bacteria, Infection, Thermoregulation, Fever, Cyprinidae, Goldfish\n\n\nJatropha curcas seeds are rich in oil and protein. The oil is used for biodiesel production. Jatropha seed cake (JSC) obtained after oil extraction is rich in protein; however, it is toxic (phorbol esters content 1.3 mg/g) and consists of 50-60% shells, which are indigestible. The principle of isoelectric precipitation was used to obtain Jatropha protein isolate (JPI) from JSC and it was detoxified (DJPI). Carp (n = 45, 20.3 ± 0.13 g) were randomly distributed into five groups with three replicates and for 12-week fed iso-nitrogenous diets (crude protein 38%): Control [fishmeal (FM)-based protein]; J(50) and J(75) (50% and 75% of FM protein replaced by DJPI); S(50) and S(75) (50% and 75% of FM protein replaced by soy protein isolate). Growth performance and nutrient utilisation parameters were highest in S(75) group and not significantly different to those in J(50) and S(50) groups but were significantly higher than those for all other groups. Similar trend was observed for protein and energy digestibilities of experimental diets, whereas opposite trend was observed for the feed to gain ratio. Activities of intestinal digestive enzymes did not different significantly between the five groups. In conclusion, DJPI is a good quality protein source for carp.\n\nConcepts: Soybean, Koi, Common carp, Carp, Cyprinidae, Cyprinus, Jatropha, Biodiesel\n\n\nObjective  To evaluate the physiological effect and response to noxious stimulation at five concentrations of MS-222 in koi (Cyprinus carpio). Study design  Prospective experimental study. Animals  Twenty-one healthy adult unknown sex koi fish weighing mean 450 ± SD 120 g. Methods  Each fish was exposed to five different concentrations of MS-222 (50, 70, 110, 150 and 190 mg L(-1) ) in a random sequence during the same anaesthetic event. For each concentration of MS-222, vital functions such as heart rate (HR) (via Doppler) and opercular rate (OpR) were recorded after a standardized induction period. Response to two noxious stimuli in the form of haemostat clamp pressure applied on the tail and the lip was evaluated, and blood was drawn to measure biochemical and blood gas values. Results  Decrease in response to noxious stimulation with an increase of MS-222 concentration both for the lip (p = 0.0027) and the tail (p < 0.0001) stimulus was observed. Biochemical values were unaffected by the concentration of MS-222 with the exception of lactate concentration which was weakly correlated with the duration of anaesthesia (r = 0.31, p < 0.001) and the number of times the fish was clamped or bled prior to sampling (r = 0.23, p < 0.001). Opercular rate decreased with the increase in anaesthetic concentration, and HR was not affected. Conclusions and clinical relevance  Our results indicated a decrease in response to stimulus and a decrease in OpR that were associated with increased concentrations of MS-222. This may assist in establishing anaesthetic protocols using MS-222 in fish and supports the use of supramaximal pressure stimuli to teleost fish under variable MS-222 concentrations as a model for future studies.\n\nConcepts: Measurement, Koi, Common carp, Carp, Cyprinidae, Cyprinus, Goldfish, Cypriniformes\n\n\nSilver carp, Hypopthalmichthys molitrix is one of the most economically valuable fish species in Bangladesh. However, its production is often hindered by parasite-induced mortality. The present study reports the intensity of parasitic infestation in 216 specimens of H. molitrix collected from different fish markets in Rajshahi City, Bangladesh. Nine different parasite species (Trichodina pediculatus, Dactylogyrus vastator, Ichthyophthirius multifilis, Gyrodactylus elegans, Lernaea sp., Apiosoma sp., Myxobolus rohitae, Camallanus ophiocephali, and Pallisentis ophiocephali) were recovered from the gill, skin, stomach, and intestine of host fish. The highest level of infection was observed for host skin, while lower levels were observed for host gill, stomach, and intestine. The results also revealed that the intensity of parasite infection in different organs of H. molitrix varied with the season. In particular, the highest levels of infection were recorded during the winter period (November-February), when fish are most susceptible to parasites. The findings of the study will help in the management and conservation of H. molitrix.\n\nConcepts: Immune system, Bacteria, Parasitism, Carp, Cyprinidae, Organs, Hypophthalmichthys, Silver carp\n\n\nAbstract Spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) causes a highly contagious and serious disease of freshwater cyprinid fishes, generating significant economic and ecological impacts throughout the world. The SVCV is therefore listed as a notifiable pathogen by the International Organization for Animal Health. In June 2011, a significant mortality event of wild common carp Cyprinus carpio occurred in Minnehaha Creek near its confluence with Mississippi River Pool 2 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Clinical signs of moribund fish included hemorrhagic lesions in the skin, eyes, and internal adipose tissue. The SVCV was isolated from pooled kidney and spleen of the fish. Rhabdovirus particles were seen upon examination of infected cell culture fluid by electron microscopy. The virus was confirmed to be SVCV subtype Ia by reverse transcription PCR and sequencing. This is the first report of SVCV within the state of Minnesota and the ninth documented case in North America. Received March 27, 2012; accepted July 2, 2012.\n\nConcepts: Koi, Common carp, Carp, Cyprinidae, Goldfish, Mississippi River, Minneapolis, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area\n\n\nIberian Leuciscinae have been used in many studies as models to explore topics such as hybridization, allopolyploidy, modes of reproduction, and evolution. This article focuses on the contribution of cytogenomics to foster research in this group of cyprinid fish. Conventional and molecular banding results were reviewed, facilitating comparative analysis between nase and chub taxa inhabiting Portuguese freshwaters. Hybridization is known to occur within both Chondrostoma s.l. and Squalius genera although polyploidy has only been reported in the latter; the reasons behind such differential genome flexibility remain unidentified. FISH tools allowed recognizing additional chromosome markers, confirming NOR polymorphism and distinguishing species and their hybrids. Recombination and genome instability were detected in homoploid and polyploid hybrid genomes supporting active NOR transposition. However, the multiplication of rDNAs in these species does not seem to be associated with Rex3 retroelement, though hybrids were not surveyed. CGH and GISH allowed reaffirming the hybrid origin of S. alburnoides and confirming that the conservative karyotype patterns within Iberian leuciscines are restricted to the macrostructure. Current data also support the usefulness of mapping repetitive DNAs, especially for nonmodel compact genomes with less variable karyotypes and sequence data resources unavailable, like in many cyprinid lineages. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.\n\nConcepts: DNA, Gene, Cell nucleus, Species, Chromosome, Cytogenetics, Polyploidy, Cyprinidae\n\n\nHuman activities reduce biodiversity but may also drive diversification by modifying selection. Urbanization alters stream hydrology by increasing peak water velocities, which should in turn alter selection on the body morphology of aquatic species. Here, we show how urbanization can generate evolutionary divergence in the body morphology of two species of stream fish, western blacknose dace (Rhinichthys obtusus) and creek chub (Semotilus atromaculatus). We predicted that fish should evolve more streamlined body shapes within urbanized streams. We found that in urban streams, dace consistently exhibited more streamlined bodies while chub consistently showed deeper bodies. Comparing modern creek chub populations with historical museum collections spanning 50 years, we found that creek chub (1) rapidly became deeper bodied in streams that experienced increasing urbanization over time, (2) had already achieved deepened bodies 50 years ago in streams that were then already urban (and showed no additional deepening over time), and (3) remained relatively shallow bodied in streams that stayed rural over time. By raising creek chub from five populations under common conditions in the laboratory, we found that morphological differences largely reflected genetically based differences, not velocity-induced phenotypic plasticity. We suggest that urbanization can drive rapid, adaptive evolutionary responses to disturbance, and that these responses may vary unpredictably in different species.\n\nConcepts: Natural selection, Evolution, Species, River, Cyprinidae, Semotilus, Chub, Rhinichthys\n\n\nThe applicability of a programmable freezer for the increased-scale cryopreservation of common carp sperm was investigated. The effect of different equilibration times, cryopreservation methods, extenders, dilution ratios, activating solutions on the post-thaw motility of common carp sperm was investigated. The suitable post-thaw storage time-interval as well as fertilizing capacity of cryopreserved sperm was also examined. The motility, curvilinear velocity (VCL) and straightness (STR) values did not decrease significantly during 60 minutes of equilibration neither in equilibrated nor thawed groups. Motility parameters of thawed sperm were similar using a conventional cryopreservation technique using a polystyrene box [motility (33%), VCL (47 μm/s) and STR (88%)] and a programmable freezer: [motility (32%), VCL (54 μm/s) and STR (89%)]. The highest motility and VCL was measured with a sugar based extender (grayling extender) at a ratio 1:9 (motility: 52%, VCL: 76 μm/s) and 1:20 (motility: 49%, VCL: 76 μm/s). The activating solution for cyprinids (ASC) could prolong sperm movement up for 2 minutes. A storage time of six hours following thawing did not have a significant effect on the motility parameters of thawed carp sperm. Agglutination was observed during cryopreservation of an elevated volume of sperm whereas motility 47%, VCL 62 μm/s and STR 91% were measured after thawing. Fertilization rate with thawed sperm (32%) was significantly lower compared to the control group (73%). According to our results, the developed method using a programmable freezer is suitable for the cryopreservation of elevated number of straws. However, carp sperm agglutination during freezing may have a negative effect on the fertilizing capacity.\n\nConcepts: Koi, Common carp, Carp, Cyprinidae, Cyprinus, Goldfish, Cryobiology, Cryopreservation\n\n\nMembers of Candidia, Nipponcrysis, Parazacco, Opsariichthys, and Zacco are a group of East Asian freshwater fishes, and these five genera form a monophyletic group within the subfamily Oxygastrinae (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae). In this study, we first determined complete mitogenomes of Candidia pingtungensis, Opsariichthys acutipinnis, O. chengtui, and Zacco acanthogenys. The four mitogenomes with the length of 16 611-16 615 bp displayed the same patterns in gene arrangements and the use of start and stop codons for protein-coding genes. Our phylogeny divided Candidia, Nipponcrysis, Parazacco, Opsariichthys, and Zacco into two major groups that the former three genera consisted of a group and the latter two genera formed another group. The phylogeny also revealed that C. pingtungensis was nested within Nipponcrysis. Our findings indicate that the taxonomy status of Candidia and Nipponcrysis is still needed to be confirmed.\n\nConcepts: DNA, Gene, Biology, Organism, Species, Genetic code, Phylogenetics, Cyprinidae", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7885825634002686}
+{"content": "A look inside The Jazz Gallery\n\nPosts by Hannah Judd\n\nDesign courtesy of the artist.\n\nInterested in sourcing material from a wide variety of musical influences, the internet, and their own in-jokes, Secret Mall combines jazz, vaporwave, and friendship with aplomb, resulting in a band that you want to hear and one you want to hang out with. The group features Alfredo Colón on EWI, Edward Gavitt on guitar, Steve Williams on bass, and Andres Valbuena on drum, and (for this performance) Abdulrahman Amer on trombone. We caught up with Colón, Gavitt, Williams and Valbuena to discuss memes, inspiration, and what’s next.\n\nThe Jazz Gallery: Hi!\n\nSecret Mall: Hi, I’m Secret Mall.\n\nTJG: How are you guys?\n\nSM: We are good. Collectively. Individually, answers may vary.\n\nTJG: In some ways you guys are kind of an internet band—how does that work in real life, in real time?\n\nEd Gavitt: I guess the concept comes from the internet. The aesthetic of vaporwave is an internet culture, phenomenon. I was reading an interview with Macintosh Plus, the producer, who kind of described how music used to be thing where you have to be in a scene. If you’re a jazz musician you have to be in New York, or if you’re a pop musician you have to be in LA kind of thing, but with the advent of the internet, that barrier broke. In a way we are jazz musicians because we’re in the New York scene, but we’re taking elements from the internet and bringing that to the music.\n\nAlfredo Colón: Also the internet is the future. I feel like a lot of people don’t accept that, like, everything’s on the internet. So if you’re not on the internet, you’re not anywhere.\n\nEG: Honestly, as bad as Spotify and bandcamp are, people are embracing the fact that that’s how you’re gonna have to meet your people. We released our record on bandcamp, and that’s a way that we reached a lot of people.\n\nTJG: Vaporwave is super visual—how are you bringing that to what you’re doing?\n\nAndres Valbuena: It has to do a lot with the way we present ourselves, on our facebook, especially. The artwork. The person who’s most in charge of that is Alfredo, because he’s in charge of dealing with flyers and making promotional videos. You should go a little bit deeper with that.\n\nAC: I mean with any kind of art, there’s always visual art of the time associated with it, there’s a parallel. We draw from vaporwave, that aesthetic of the music and the visual aspect is so closely tied to it that it’s hard to separate them from each other. Since that was the original idea for the band, to draw from that kind of music, it felt wrong to not draw influence from the artwork as well, for promotional stuff.\n\nEG: It’s a medium where the artwork and music go hand in hand.\n\nAG: It’s a complete thing when they’re together, so we try to do that as much as possible.\n\nEG: Last time we played at the Gallery we actually presented video as well. Not during the performance but between performances which is part of the vibe too. We were projecting just memes and stuff, I basically just made a really long reel of memes.\n\n\nPhoto courtesy of the artist.\n\nThis Sunday, October 8th, The Jazz Gallery is pleased to welcome saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock back to our stage. Laubrock is among the most active and sought-after exploratory improvisers working in New York, performing with luminaries like Anthony Braxton, and many acclaimed groups led by her close collaborators including Mary Halvorson, Kris Davis, and Tom Rainey. Laubrock is an active leader in her own right, always seeking novel combinations of instruments and players, like in her 2015 Jazz Gallery Commission project.\n\nOn Sunday, Laubrock will convene a new lineup of her band Serpentines. Featuring Miya Masaoka on koto and Sam Pluta on electronics, alongside more typical jazz instruments, the group straddles many compositional and improvisational traditions. We caught up with Laubrock by phone to discuss the challenges of blending these diverse instruments and organizing a team of top-flight improvisers.\n\nThe Jazz Gallery: The instrumentation for this group is a little unusual—could you talk about that?\n\nIngrid Laubrock: The origin of this band is not what the lineup currently is—usually we also have Peter Evans, who is not available, and Kris Davis is on piano and Tom Rainey is on drums—but the music is written in a relatively open way, so the instrumentation can be adapted. Originally this was basically a commission by the 2014 Vision Fest, which asked me to put a group together, people who I’d like to play with, and I wrote for it. I really enjoyed it—for that particular event I wrote a very very open piece. And then Intakt records, who I usually record for, agreed to record the group, and I added Peter Evans to it. Since it has koto in it and electronics, I had to adapt my usual way of writing; certain specific things can’t be played on the koto since it’s not a chromatic instrument, and likewise, on electronics, I think of it as a different instrument, therefore not a traditional jazz instrument, so it was a good challenge for me.\n\nTJG: How do you approach writing for these things differently?\n\nIL: I check back a lot with Miya and with Sam, so I’ll write something or have an idea—sometimes it’s very intentional, maybe global idea, a sort of drone or sound or how I want a piece to communicate electronics over the course of the piece—things like that I’ve sort of closely checked with Sam, and Miya while I was writing it. I’ve gotten together with Miya a couple of times and seen what is possible on the koto, for her to demystify it a little bit so that I could write something that was meaningful for it.\n\nAnd then of course they’re all fantastic improvisers and I wanted to make sure they had scope to express that, to have a certain open modes where they can really just put in their own taste buds.\n\nTJG: There’s also a certain amount of large group coordination that goes on that I’m curious about, how that comes into play.\n\nIL: You have to balance it all, more than with a smaller group. In a smaller group I might not specify combinations of improvisers, I might have an open section. In a large group, it’s more like I’ll ask—you three improvise, and then you two improvise and the rest are like backgrounds, or I specify backgrounds as in improvised intersections with cells of material, so it’s a little more organized than you might find in a smaller group, to prevent it from descending into chaos.\n\n\nPhoto courtesy of the artist.\n\nFor four decades, Michael Formanek has been a fixture on the international jazz scene as a bassist, composer and improvisor, comfortable in any idiom. This Saturday, September 23rd, Formanek will convene his working quartet at The Jazz Gallery for two sets. We caught up with him to talk about his approaches to writing for this group, and to improvising more generally; excerpts of our conversation are below.\n\nThe Jazz Gallery: First, I wanted to just ask you about what music you’re going to be playing at this show.\n\nMichael Formanek: It’s going to be a combination of some new music and older pieces for this group. I’m doing a few different groups now, but this is one quartet that I’m working on, and so there’ll definitely be some new music for that group. There’ll be a few pieces that I have that I’ve played in some different versions that are unrecorded, some recorded music, probably one or two things from one of my other groups, depending on how I structure the sets. And there’ll be a lot of improvisation, so you never want to let the music get much in the way of all the possibilities.\n\nTJG: The quartet is such a fierce group of improvisers, so I’m sure it’s really dynamic playing together.\n\nMF: Definitely. Some of my favorite musicians, of course.\n\nTJG: How do you approach composing for a group where you know going in improvisation will feature heavily?\n\nMF: Well, the main thing for me is to consider, in most cases when I’m writing for a group, the people. I consider things that I know that they do incredibly well, and also things sometimes that I might want to push a little different, in one way or the other. Just to kind of set up certain kinds of challenges that might make it a little more interesting, not just a complete improv gig. The compositions, I really do try to think about kind of getting things going certain ways, and structuring things enough, but not too much. I think it’s important to be willing to let the improvisers sense things a certain way, so I don’t think of things being completely finished until they’re actually played. And even then it’s different and evolving, as a process. That’s sort of what I think about.\n\nTJG: That would make it different too, the live versus recorded iterations of the music.\n\nMF: Yeah, definitely. I mean, just in terms of how you want to let things grow and develop over time, it doesn’t have to be so different than recorded versions, but oftentimes that is going to be the case.\n\nTJG: How do you approach leading the group?\n\nMF: In different groups, it kind of depends on the people involved sometimes, because I do like to get things going in such a way that there doesn’t have to be a lot of direction in the course of the actual performance. People have things they can get to, and they can start when they want to start, so everyone gets a little more directly involved in the composition, in the way the thing unfolds. To begin with whichever instrument, I could start something, but musically it might eventually move into another section, or move into another part of a piece. In some cases I can give that starting composition to somebody else, also for me it becomes a little irrelevant who’s the leader as much as I set up the problem and the situation, I try to pick the basic material we’re dealing with, in such a way that involves it being as natural as possible. And so in the best case scenario I’m just not thinking about that part of it at all.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPhoto courtesy of the artist.\n\n\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6034021377563477}
+{"content": "Resource Requirements | Interior Design | SIU\n\nSouthern Illinois University\n\n\n\nCollege of Applied Sciences and Arts\n\nResource Requirements\n\n\n\nEach student will be required to have a laptop computer that meets program specifications by the start of the 200-level courses in the major. The university currently has an agreement with Dell computers for educational discounts. For several reasons, students are encouraged to wait until they have completed the 100-level courses in the major before incurring this expense.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6198879480361938}
+{"content": "Aggregating Data between Tables\n\n\n\nI’m a little frustrated with how Airtable has decided how Tables are meant to work. I have 2 types of data sets that need to be treated significantly differently from one another, so it makes perfect sense to me that they should have their own tables. However, I still really need a way to aggregate information from both tables at once based on parameters they share.\n\nTo put it in simplest terms, I have Apple in table 1, and I have Pear in table 2. Each are tagged as fruits in their respective table. I would like to be able to create a gallery view filtered for “Fruit” that includes any record that has been tagged as a fruit from both table 1 and table 2.\n\nThis would be very simple if all the data was in one table, but because it is in two, the only ways I know how to do it would be a complete chore.\n\nI think I’m failing to see the utility of having multiple tables in one base. For the sake of organization I would like to be able to split up my data in a way that reduces redundant fields, but it seems to come at great cost with how I can then manipulate and aggregate that data.\n\n\nYour description of your data as “Apple” and “Pear” doesn’t give us much to work with in understanding what you need to do with this data and why it’s so important that they be in different tables.\n\nSo, to address the simple scenario of “Apples” and “Pears”, that are each in their own table, but both marked as “Fruits” – you could keep them all in the same table, and use a single-select field to label them as “Apple” or “Pear” – then use grouping, sorting, filtering, and hiding of fields to build views that do what you need to do with them. Build an “Apple” view that only shows the fields relevant to “Apples” and only shows your “Apple” records. When you need to work with “Apples”, use that view. Ditto for “Pears”.\n\nAnother option, if the first does not suit you, is to create a third table – “Fruit”. The “Fruit” table is where you will enter any data that is common to “Apples” and “Pears”. Then, each “Fruit” record will link out to either an “Apple” or a “Pear” from the other two tables, and each of those tables will contain the data unique to their types. The “common” and “unique” data can be passed back and forth via Lookups and Rollups, and thus can be used in aggregation interactions.\n\n  • So the structure of this will ultimately be that each “Fruit” you make starts with a “Fruit” record, and links to an “Apple” or “Pear” record. Each “Fruit” will have 2 records associated with it, which will have a one-to-one relationship. In this way, every “Apple” or “Pear” ultimately inherits from, or is an instance of “Fruit”\n\n\nHey Jeremy,\n\nThanks for your reply.\n\nYour first suggestion was what I was considering doing, but it produces a massive amount of empty and redundant fields. I know that if I am careful with hiding and filtering I can create views where these empty fields will never be seen, but I’m a little worried about adding any complexity to the overall setup. I’m not going to be the only one using the Base. I’m envisioning a scenario where someone accidentally messes with a view and doesn’t know how to return it to how its supposed to be because the settings are really intricate. What’s worse is that my page designer pages could be completely compromised in that situation. I mean, there’s always Ctrl-Z, but things happen.\n\nI’ll expand on the predicament. Basically, I have a bunch of different records that describe the interior design of a house on a room by room basis. I have records that list the appliances and I have records that list materials. The fields I need to describe the materials and the fields I need to describe the appliances differ significantly, but I still need to be able to view both simultaneously in a view that summarizes them by their shared property - in this case, the room they’re in.\n\nI also want to be free to add more and more information over time. As more and more types of info is added to describe each room, I want to be sure that it will never reach a point where it gets overwhelming how many differing types of data we need to handle. Tables seemed like a simple way to silo data off from each other, because as we begin to require more unique fields to describe unique products, it is much simpler to have a dedicated tab that deals solely with that unique product and its properties.\n\nWith the method that Airtable prescribes, it basically means that my views setup will gradually get more and more bloated over time with unnecessary fields that need to be hidden by increasingly complex view setups. It seems like Airtable’s ability to copy a view configuration means that this is probably less problematic than I’m making it out to be, but anyway… It’s just not the ideal situation I’m looking for.\n\nAnyway, I’ve already written far too much just on your first suggestion. I’m mulling over whether your second suggestion would be more what I’m looking for. I think I have to make a quick example for myself and see how Airtable deals with it.\n\nThanks again for your help.\n\n\nJust to address this quickly:\n\nAirtable allows you to LOCK a view (and password protect it) so that nobody can change the filter, group, sort, and color settings without unlocking it first.\n\nBut moving on to the rest – Airtable behaves like a database, and not like a spreadsheet. It’s database behavior is pretty standard across databases, so using it like a database rather than a spreadsheet is going to yield the most benefits, in my opinion. And that means modeling relationships between different kinds of “things”, where a table represents a collection of “things” that are alike.\n\nWhat I’m going to suggest may sound onerous if you are not accustomed to working with databases, but once you get the hang of a workflow in Airtable, it really isn’t bad – especially if you get the hang of keyboard shortcuts et. al.\n\nIf I were building this base, I would probably use at least 5 tables:\n\n  1. Houses - each record represents a House and any data you need at the House level\n  2. Rooms - each record represents a Room and any data you need at the Room level, and each Room belongs to a House (linked); a House can have many Rooms, but a Room can only belong to one House\n  3. Room Designs - each record represents a Design for a Room and any data you need at the Room Design level, and each Room Design belongs to one or more Rooms (linked); a Room could have many potential Designs, and a Design could be reused for any number of Rooms by being linked to multiple Rooms\n  4. Appliances - each record represents an Appliance and any data you need at the Appliance level, and each Appliance belongs to many Designs (linked); the same Appliance record is reused in any Design record that uses that Appliance\n  5. Materials - each record represents a Material and any data you need at the Material level, and each Material belongs to many Designs (linked); the same Material record is reused in any Design record that uses that Appliance\n\nBy using a structure like this, an Appliance, for example, is represented in a Room by way of a Design – a Design record is where an Appliance meets a Room.\nIf there are a couple pieces of data about an Appliance that you need to pull into the Room record, you can do that by using chained Lookups retrieving only those couple pieces of data – first into the Design record, and then through the Design record and into the Room record.\n\nYou may be thinking to yourself that this sounds like a lot of table jumping – you may feel like you’ll be clicking all over the place to navigate around. But I assure you that Airtable accommodates this workflow very well. For this example, let me assume you already have your Appliances and Materials tables populated with your regularly used items.\n\nYou can easily create a design without ever leaving the “Houses” table. Starting there, you create a House and fill in all its data. When you reach the field where you link to Rooms, you expand that field and select “+ Add New Record”. When you do that, you remain in the House table, but a Room record will be created and expanded vertically for you to fill out. You create your Room record, and when you get to the field where you link to Designs, you, again, select “+ Add New Record”, and, as you are still in the House table, a Design record is created and expanded on top of your Room record. When you finish filling out the Design record, you hit the escape key and it will close the Design record and you will be back at the vertically expanded Room record. If you are done adding Designs to the Room, you can hit the escape key again and you are back at the House table.\n\n\nHey Jeremy, just wanted to come back and say that your advice really helped in making me realize that I wasn’t really digging into the power of the relational database side of Airtable. What I ended up doing is very similar to your second suggestion - adding a new table that is just the names of all the rooms in the home. Then I just converted my Rooms field in my other tables to link to the Rooms table instead. Now my products and materials are shown quite harmoniously together. It’s also clear to me that new types of data will link in just as well too - so everything is working out nicely.\n\nThe only thing missing - and this is an oddly pedantic thing - is that my “Rooms” now show up not in the nice bubbled tags that single select/multi select fields do, but instead as raw text in my page designer layouts. It’s a shame, but probably a worthy trade-off.\n\nVery interesting idea to make tables that would allow all our projects to live in the same Base. However, I think that amount of data in one base might get a little overwhelming. Not to mention eventually we would end up fighting for attachment space.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8633385896682739}
+{"content": "Help with creating new record based on another table\n\n\n\nHere is my situation: I have a table that holds all content opportunities that we want to pursue. I want to a new record to pop up in my “Content Master” table every time we’ve identified a good opportunity in my “Opportunities” table. For example: we’ve identified that Brand X is a good opportunity but Brand Y and Z are not. Can I make a rule that if I say “Yes” on Brand X that a new record called “Brand X” will now pop up in my “Content Master” table so my team knows to pursue that brand?\n\n\nI would suggest using multiple views in your ‘Opportunities’ table to sort through the records, where you have you have a ‘Content Master’ view, that filters based on a ‘yes’ value in a yes/no drop down field.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9936972260475159}
+{"content": "Revolut Blocked My Account\n\n\nRevolut blocked my account since amazon sent me some refunds and they need confirmation from amazon,has caused me so much mental stress…being abroad and not being able to use their card…so unreliable and unprofessional…any alternatives?\n\n\nHi there.\n\nWe’ve responded and resolved your inquiry. Your account is now fully active, apologies for the inconvenience caused. If you need anything else please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.\n\n\nMy card has done exactly the same and the support team isn’t supporting the issue? How do I re activate my account?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.999950110912323}
+{"content": "A (functioning) society is a dynamical system that has achieved a temporary equilibrium, but is constantly challenged\n\nA society qualifies as a living system (a subject/perspective I will discuss in more detail in the future), and consists of four closely related, complementary and interacting subsystems or domains (that can be compared at a more abstract level with ‘organs’).\n\nThese four subsystems are responsible for fulfilling the basic requirements of societies and its ‘parts’ (like individual humans and communities) to ensure their survival.\n\n\nHuman needs – basic requirements – are not ‘static’ and evolve. The evolution of basic needs also contributes to the dynamics of the System. However, despite the evolution of human needs, basically they stay the same. We need wifi for our social media; a need closely related to identity and sense-making.\n\nRead more\n\nPoliticians must (urgently) focus on reorganizing the international order through consultation, not war.\n\n\nPoliticians – we – must urgently focus on reorganizing the international order through consultation, not war. Currently tensions rise and issues accumulate in the System; it is just a matter of time before a small incident triggers a massive response of the System. \n\nDuring the period 1495-1945, the System produced four accelerating and highly consistent war cycles. Certain key-properties of these war cycles developed very consistently, as I show and explain in my research.\n\nRead more\n\nNot a warm homecoming: Can Trump restrain himself?\n\n\nThe security dilemma at display.\n\nPresident Trump of the United States has caused enormous damage to American interests: Trump has systematically undermined his (domestic) political reputation and the already fragile international order. His positive achievements are meagre; a fact his bragging cannot disguise.\n\nRead more\n\nWhat is the impact of the Cold War on the next systemic war?\n\nThe intense rivalries between the United Kingdom and France during the period 1657-1763 impacted on the severity and life-span of the second war cycle (1648-1815) and the development of the System. The question is if – and how – the intense rivalries between the United States and the Soviet Union during the period 1953-1991 – the Cold War – will impact on the next systemic war.\n\nnuclear war\n\nBecause of ‘Mutual Assured Destruction‘ and the fact that rational state-actors controlled nuclear capabilities, war was not a rational instrument of policy during the Cold War (1953-1991). The Cold War ‘froze’ the System (photo).\n\nRead more\n\nHistorians extensively studied the scientific revolution, but why could they not apply these insights to their own discipline?\n\nIsaac's Apple\n\nIsaac Newton (1642-1727) studied the force of gravity. Understanding the law of gravity allows us to build spectaculair architectural structures and fly to the moon (and back). It is about time historians and international relations theorist also adopt a more scientific method, and new (and spectaculair) possibilities will present themselves.\n\nRead more", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9983910322189331}
+{"content": "Books Received, November 30 - December 7\n\nPeter S  Beagles Immortal Unicorn\n\nThe author of The Last Unicorn presents thirteen fantastical and mystical stories celebrating the most beloved mythical creature by some of today's top fantasy authors, including an original tale by Janet Berliner written especially for this edition.\n\n\n\n\nThe Hod King\n\n\n\n\n\nA Boy And His Dog At The End Of The World\n\nWhen a beloved family dog is stolen, her owner sets out on a life-changing journey through the ruins of our world to bring her back in this fiercely compelling tale of survival, courage, and hope. Perfect for readers of Station Elevenand *The Girl With All the Gifts.*\n\n\n\nThen the thief came.\n\n\n\nAvalon City\n\nAVALON CITY. Human tourists come chasing myths and legends, but the feral megacity's fabled hallucinatory glamour barely masks its mean streets.\n\nACPD Detective Reis “Rat” Attalus is having a dark week. His partner's dead, a ruthless trafficker is building a fat pipeline for a long-forgotten lethal narcotic from the human world, and the dealer who was Rat's key to the trafficker's network has vanished. Worst of all, Rat can't let his guard down for a second—even when he's not undercover—or someone might discover his half-human parentage, kick him off the all-feral police force, and subject him to the harshest punishment the courts of the Realm have to offer.\n\nThen he meets Leoni Minides, the cartel's money launderer, who promises to help him if Rat cuts her in on the deal. Leoni has her own enigmatic agenda—which probably includes betraying Rat—but she might be his only chance to unravel a conspiracy that runs from the down-and-dirty streets of Oldcity to the lofty mansions of the power elite. In Avalon City, sociopaths are the norm, and trust is a liability. Rat's used to playing it close to the edge, but this case might just carry him over the brink once and for all.\n\nThe Rising The Newsflesh Trilogy\n\n\n\nThe Gutter Prayer The Black Iron Legacy\n\nThe city has always been. The city must finally end.\n\n\n\nRat is a Ghoul, whose people haunt the city's underworld.\n\n\n\nHow Long Til Black Future Month\n\n\n\n\nThe Raven Tower\n\n\n\n\nThe Vela\n\n\nAsala Sikou is used to looking after number one while crisis reigns in her dying planetary system. But when she's hired to find a missing refugee ship, she discovers that this is no ordinary rescue mission, and she must play a role in deciding the fate of the whole universe.\n\nThe Best Of Michael Moorcock\n\nFrom the legendary author of the Elric saga, a Science Fiction Grand Master, a platinum album-receiving rock star, and the controversial editor of the new wave’s New Worlds, this definitive collection captures the incomparable short fiction of one of science fiction and literature’s most important contemporary writers. These exceptional stories range effortlessly from the genre tales that continue to define fantasy to the author’s critically acclaimed mainstream works. Classic offerings include the Nebula Award-winning novella \"Behold the Man,” which introduces a time traveler and unlikely messiah that H.G. Wells never imagined; \"The Visible Men,” a recent tale of the ambiguous and androgynous secret agent Jerry Cornelius; the trilogy \"My Experiences in the Third World War,” where a Russian agent in an alternate Cambodia is powerless to prevent an inevitable march toward nuclear disaster; and \"A Portrait in Ivory,” a Melibone story of troubled anti-hero Elric and his soul-stealing sword, Stormbringer. Newer work handpicked by the expert editing team includes one previously unpublished story and three uncollected stories. With his finest stories finally collected in one volume, this book is a long-overdue tribute to an extraordinarily gifted, versatile, and much-beloved author.\n\nShadow Captain\n\nAdrana and Fura Ness have finally been reunited, but both have changed beyond recognition. Once desperate for adventure, now Adrana is haunted by her enslavement on the feared pirate Bosa Sennen's ship. And rumors of Bosa Sennen's hidden cache of treasure have ensnared her sister, Fura, into single-minded obsession.\n\nNeither is safe; because the galaxy wants Bosa Sennen dead and they don't care if she's already been killed. They'll happily take whoever is flying her ship.\n\nShadow Captain is a desperate story of cursed ships, vengeful corporations, and alien artifacts, of daring escapes and wealth beyond imagining ... and of betrayal.\n\nThe Speed Of Darkness\n\nAFTER FIRST CONTACT, when earthlings learn the Djbrr tale of creation, a tale of conflict between Darkness and Light, humans interpret the story as a metaphor for Satan's revolt against heaven, or the battle between good and evil, or the struggle of light and darkness inside the soul. As is often the case, the universe will prove them wrong.\n\nHumanity faces a choice as it reacts to the Djbrr, friendly and technologically advanced extraterrestrials who LOVE to party: should it embrace the fun-loving Djbrrs and their high-tech gifts, or fear them? At first, jubilation sweeps earth following the Djbrr's arrival. But celebration turns to distrust when catastrophe strikes earth's greatest technological achievement, Grissom Base on Jupiter's moon Io, and humans face a crisis of confidence.\n\nKelso Frick, earth's top physicist, responds, creating Excelsior, the craft he believes will travel faster than light, an achievement the Djbrr—like Albert Einstein—think is impossible. Frick hand-picks the crew who will join him on Excelsior’s quest to break the light barrier: Mission Commander Roy Geiger, a Navy veteran haunted by his role in the Grissom Base disaster, Pilot Nancy Mac, decorated war hero, top test pilot, and aerial combat ace, Science Historian Thomas Wilson, tasked with documenting Excelsior’s historic journey, and Science Officer Mnggs, known to earthlings as Mingus, the Hero of First Contact, first Djbrr Nobel Laureate and first Djbrr celebrity, and to Las Vegas casinos as an optimistic—and compulsive—gambler.\n\nExcelsior’s mission is soon imperiled by the suspicious death of a crewmember, rising anti-Djbrr sentiment, and an unknown scientist's warning of hidden danger lurking behind the light barrier. Despite these setbacks, Excelsior launches, hurtling ever faster through space, and in accordance with Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, time aboard the craft slows relative to the passage of time on earth.\n\nAs a year goes by on Excelsior and decades pass on earth, scientists who question the mission’s safety rush to decode a message left behind in the echoes of the Big Bang, dislike of the Djbbr intensifies into a powerful political movement, and support for Excelsior’s mission waxes and wanes. Aboard Excelsior, crewmates struggle with earth’s shifting political winds and the dictates of their own consciences. As concerns grow about the consequences of breaking the light barrier, each of them must decide whether to fulfill their destiny by continuing the mission, or aborting it. Their decision will determine the fate of the cosmos and answer the question: which is faster, the speed of light or the speed of darkness?\n\nThe Rosewater Insurrection\n\n\n\n\nUnholy Land\n\n\n\n\nFrom the bestselling author of Central Stationcomes an extraordinary new novel recalling China Miéville and Michael Chabon, entertaining and subversive in equal measures.\n\n\nSupport me with a Patreon monthly subscription!\n\nReview Categories\n\nBy Author/Editor\n\nBlog Posts by Date", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8681318759918213}
+{"content": "Browse Subject Areas\n\nClick through the PLOS taxonomy to find articles in your field.\n\nFor more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click here.\n\n  • Loading metrics\n\nMorphologic and Aerodynamic Considerations Regarding the Plumed Seeds of Tragopogon pratensis and Their Implications for Seed Dispersal\n\n  • Vincent Casseau ,\n\n    Contributed equally to this work with: Vincent Casseau, Guido De Croon, Dario Izzo, Camilla Pandolfi\n\n    Affiliation Advanced Concepts Team, European Space Research and Technology Centre, Noordwijk, The Netherlands\n\n  • Guido De Croon ,\n\n\n    Affiliations Advanced Concepts Team, European Space Research and Technology Centre, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, Micro Air Vehicle Laboratory, TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands\n\n  • Dario Izzo ,\n\n\n\n  • Camilla Pandolfi\n\n\n    Affiliations Advanced Concepts Team, European Space Research and Technology Centre, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, Department of Agrifood Production and Environmental Sciences, University of Florence, Firenze, Italy\n\n\n  • Vincent Casseau, \n  • Guido De Croon, \n  • Dario Izzo, \n  • Camilla Pandolfi\n\n\nTragopogon pratensis is a small herbaceous plant that uses wind as the dispersal vector for its seeds. The seeds are attached to parachutes that increase the aerodynamic drag force and increase the total distance travelled. Our hypothesis is that evolution has carefully tuned the air permeability of the seeds to operate in the most convenient fluid dynamic regime. To achieve final permeability, the primary and secondary fibres of the pappus have evolved with complex weaving; this maximises the drag force (i.e., the drag coefficient), and the pappus operates in an “optimal” state. We used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to compute the seed drag coefficient and compare it with data obtained from drop experiments. The permeability of the parachute was estimated from microscope images. Our simulations reveal three flow regimes in which the parachute can operate according to its permeability. These flow regimes impact the stability of the parachute and its drag coefficient. From the permeability measurements and drop experiments, we show how the seeds operate very close to the optimal case. The porosity of the textile appears to be an appropriate solution to achieve a lightweight structure that allows a low terminal velocity, a stable flight and a very efficient parachute for the velocity at which it operates.\n\n\nWind dispersed seeds have been extensively investigated [14]. Some of these seeds produce winged structures to gain some lift during gliding or autorotation; other seeds maximise drag by building hairy plumes [1]. The plumes (pappi) can be arranged in different shapes. In still air, the presence of pappi result in vertical descent. In a windy environment, seeds travel horizontally; the seeds benefit from lateral wind currents and achieve great distances. Empirical data support the basic intuition that the horizontal travel of a seed is inversely proportional to its terminal velocity [5]. Therefore, parachutes are designed to maximise drag and increase the horizontal flight capacity of seeds.\n\nIn an attempt to predict the relationship between fruit mass, pappus area and terminal velocity, the rate of descent was measured for many species [2, 3]. Direct observations confirm the physical modelling where the rate of descent increases linearly with the square root of the wing loading (the ratio of mass to the projected area) when different plumed seeds are compared. These results suggest how morphology can contribute to variations in performance [2].\n\nPappus seeds were also compared to winged seeds. At lower wing loadings, plumes were more “efficient” in reducing terminal velocity. This is because the drag coefficient rises sharply as the Reynolds number declines [6]. For larger loads, different designs (i.e., small wings) have evolved due to the constraints involved in building bigger structures. In order for larger seeds to evolve, a species must face the following mechanical problem [4]: if the physical dimensions of the plume and the mass of the seed are scaled isometrically, plume loading increases with the bending of the hairs [6].\n\nIn this study, we focused on Tragopogon pratensis. This species is exceptional in terms of performance. In fact, the plant produces plumed seeds with mass and size comparable to winged seeds [6].\n\nTragopogon is an herbaceous species of the Asteraceae family. Seeds have stalked parachutes that are thought to be the largest found in nature; the final size of the parachutes is achieved via plumed fibres that are arranged hierarchically. In comparison to plumed seed species such as Taraxacum officinale, Tragopogon plants invest in larger and heavier seeds to increase the likelihood of germination. However, a species that has been subject to selection for heavier seeds must adjust its architecture to increase the size of the parachute such that low terminal velocity and good dispersal capacity can be maintained.\n\nIn Table 1, the performance of Tragopogon spp. with Taraxacum officinale is directly compared. Although they have similar shapes, the seeds of Taraxacum are approximately ten times lighter and consist of hundreds of unbranched hairs. Despite this difference, the terminal velocity of the two seeds is comparable.\n\nThis change in the size, shape and rate of descent is in agreement with the proportionality predicted by the following general aerodynamic assumption: 1 From a structural point of view, Tragopogon had to change the shape of the parachute to maintain performance comparable with Taraxacum. This was achieved by scaling the parachute up and introducing a second order of fibres and a supporting structure.\n\nFor large parachuted seeds, the conical parachutes of seeds from the genus Tragopogon have a remarkably different design. Some of the key features that determine their favourable aerodynamic performance are presented in this paper.\n\nOur hypothesis is that the air permeability of Tragopogon parachutes evolved to operate in the most convenient fluid dynamic regime. This was achieved by arranging the fibres in a complex weaving to maximise the drag force (i.e., the drag coefficient) and operate in an “optimal” state.\n\nTo test our hypothesis, we used a fluid dynamics approach. In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient CD is one of the dimensionless quantities that are defined to describe how well the object performs. Accordingly, CD depends on the shape of the object. The fibre arrangement determines the parachute permeability, which in turn is the main contributor to the seed drag coefficient. It is extremely difficult to test the effect of permeability on the aerodynamic properties of the seed through wind-tunnel experiments; therefore, we used a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. We performed 2D and 3D CFD simulations to compute the seed drag coefficient and compare it to data calculated from seeds collected in nature. From a biomimetic point of view, the study of the permeability of Tragopogon could provide new insights into parachute design research; for example, it could be possible to design more efficient parachutes by tuning the drag-force simply changing the porosity of their fabrics; therefore, we decided to address this feature thoroughly.\n\nMaterials and Methods\n\nPlant material and pappus anatomy\n\nThe plant material used for this work came from a natural population of T. pratensis growing in the area of Noordwijk, the Netherlands. No specific permissions were required to collect the material; in fact, T. pratensis is common wild flower that grows naturally along the roads, and it is usually regarded as a weed. Seeds were collected from 10 individuals from multiple populations in the late spring. Studies were conducted using pappi from natural dried fruits. The structure and anatomy of the hairs were studied by electron scanning microscopy (SEM), inverted bright field microscopy and direct measurements. The reported dimorphism of the achenes of T. pratensis [9] was also considered. Central and peripheral seeds were separated (Fig 1a), the parachutes were analysed and the achenes weighted (10 achenes from each type were collected from the capitula of 5 different plants). For the optical microscope analysis, the conic parachute was unfolded and placed between two glass slides (Fig 1b). To collect SEM images, the samples were platinum coated and observed using different magnifications. Time-lapse imaging has been used to record the closing of the parachute when wet. A drop of water was placed in the middle of the parachute, and the rapid closing and reopening was filmed (at a sampling interval of 30 s).\n\nFig 1. Details of the capitulum and the single parachutes of Tragopogon pratensis.\n\n(a) A collected capitulum; the white arrows point at the central and peripheral achenes, whose difference in size is evident. (b) A parachute unfolded between two glass slides. The black lines in the background indicate the three concentric regions analysed (0–5 mm; 5–10 mm; 10–15 mm). (c-d) Inverted microscope image of a portion of the parachute before (c) and after (d) the transformation to a binary image.\n\nThe main morphological parameters of the seeds were calculated from the collected images using the image-processing program ImageJ (U. S. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA).\n\nStatistical analysis of data was processed using analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA and t-test). For ANOVA, differences between columns were assessed using Tukey’s Multiple Comparison Test. Differences were considered significant if P < 0.05. All the tests were performed using the software Graph-Pad Prism (Ver. 6.0 for MAC OS X).\n\nTerminal velocity measurements and the computation of CD\n\nFive randomly selected seeds from each group were dropped in a closed room to minimise air turbulence. Movement was filmed using a Full HD Sony Handycam (10.2 megapixels) mounted on a tripod. Each seed was dropped ten times and recorded over 1 m. The terminal velocity was calculated as follows. Seeds were dropped at approximately 1 meter from the camera. A camera calibration was performed to remove the distortion caused by lens effects such that the images were linear projections corresponding to a pinhole model, as previously described [10]. For the velocity determination, the undistorted images were automatically processed. First, a robust background-based motion detection algorithm extracted the pixels of moving objects in the video images. Noise was then removed. Due to size selection, only large regions of motion corresponding to the single falling seed were retained. The coordinates of this region in the image were represented by a box that contained the seeds. Therefore, the size and the position of the seed could be determined automatically over time (S1 Video; see supporting information with the online version of this article). The only assumption was that the seed had a limited rotation/tilt, as is the case for the free falling seeds in the still environment of the experiment. The size of the box was used to determine the distance from the seed to the camera, given that the rib size of each seed was known. The velocity was estimated based on the entire vertical trajectory of the seed, with the help of a robust linear fit.\n\nThe CD was derived using the following equation: 2 where FD is the drag force, ρ is the air density, V is the speed of the object relative to the fluid, A is the cross-sectional area of the object, and CD is the drag coefficient, which is a dimensionless number.\n\nThe mass, m, and the pappus area, A, was measured for each seed. The drag force is simply rewritten as the product of m by the standard gravity, g, which is equal to 9.81 m∙s-2. Therefore, the calculation of the drag coefficient is straightforward.\n\nPorosity measurement\n\nThe porosity variable E is a geometric parameter of a body. It is commonly defined as the ratio of void volume to the total volume of the medium. In the present case, the geometry is the supposed invariant in the direction normal to the medium surface. Porosity thus becomes a ratio of areas. Following Green and Johnson [6], porosity is the ratio of the total projected area of the void spaces to the total plan area of the imaginary disk formed by the pappus.\n\n\nTo characterise the porosity along the parachute, the pappus surface was divided into three concentric areas according to the distance from the centre (0–5 mm, 5–10 mm and 10–15 mm). For this purpose, inverted microscope images were used (6 mm2 per image, with a resolution of 2 μm/pixel; Fig 1c). Each image was transformed in a binary image (with hairs in black and the background in white; Fig 1d). The black and white pixels were counted to calculate the ratio of white pixels, Awhite px, to the total number of pixels, Atotal px. At such a high magnification, the portions of the primary ribs included in the images dramatically affected the porosity. Therefore, Ehairs was calculated in the portions of images entirely composed of secondary hairs. The contribution of the ribs to the total porosity was later estimated as follows: 4a 4b 4c where Sribs and Shairs are the surfaces occupied by the ribs and the hairs, DI and DIII are the diameters of the ribs measured in the first and third regions from the centre, respectively, L is the total length of the ribs, and Scone is the total surface area of the parachute.\n\n\nAir permeability is a very important physical quantity in the study of aerodynamic performance of textile materials. For example, it significantly affects the drag coefficient. Air permeability is defined as the rate of airflow through a material under differential pressure [11] and is mainly dependent on the thickness, structure, porosity, and the makeup of the fabric. Air permeability is typically measured experimentally. Given the very small thickness of the parachute, assessing permeability experimentally was unfeasible. Consequently, we determined the permeability by applying the Kozeny-Carman equation [12, 13], as proposed by Knauf and Doshi [14] for materials that have a similar thickness. This equation relates the air permeability, K, to the porosity of the medium [15, 16] as follows: 5 where k is Kozeny factor, Sv is the fibre surface area per unit volume of fibre, and E is the porosity. The Kozeny factor was estimated using Eq (6) as described previously [14]. This equation is a function of porosity and holds for a porosity range of 0.68–0.96.\n\n\nAchieving a satisfactory formulation to determine Sv was challenging. It is simply not possible to translate the intricate weaving of the secondary hairs into a mathematical expression without any simplification. We therefore represented the primary and secondary hairs as cylinders, with diameters d and D, respectively, that form a homogeneous medium. Sv can now be calculated using the following equation: 7 where L and l are the total length of primary and secondary hairs, respectively. L, D, and d were computed using the images of the parachute taken by the inverted microscope; l was obtained using indirect computations.\n\nThe area occupied by secondary fibres, designated Shairs, was calculated using Eq (4b). The fibres were considered to be long cylinders, whose areas were projected on the surface of the parachute. The total length of the secondary fibres, l, is estimated as the ratio of Shairs to the mean diameter d.\n\nReynolds number\n\nThe Reynolds number, Re, is the ratio of inertia to viscous forces. The laminar or turbulent nature of a flow moving over a body is characterised using the Reynolds number. Following the methodology described in Rhodes [17] and taking into account the porous texture of the fibres, Re was estimated to be approximately 2. For porous media, a fully laminar condition exists at a Re less than 10. Therefore, all our computations were performed under this assumption (S1 Appendix).\n\nComputational Fluid Dynamics simulation\n\nFor a first study of the aerodynamic properties of seeds that introduces the porosity of the material as a key quantity, it seems irrelevant to reproduce the arrangement of the fibres as closely as possible. Some simplifications were made to define the physical bounds of the body. The parachute was modelled as a cone, and primary and secondary fibres were replaced by a surface with an assigned permeability. This simplification did not generate a computationally time-efficient 3D model that was satisfactory for use in our tests. A further simplification took advantage of the rotational symmetry of the conical geometry of the seed. This second model is referred to as the 2D axisymmetric cone. In this scenario, the physical domain is restricted to a plane whose bottom boundary is the revolution axis. All of the details of the CFD simulations are given in the supporting information (see S1 Appendix).\n\nThe complexity of the 3D model is such that the duration of a simulation can be up to 2 weeks. In contrast, the 2D simulation can run in few minutes. For this reason, the 2D axisymmetric model was used as a quick way to assess the downstream flow dynamics for a wide range of permeability values, cone angles and free-stream velocities. A few 3D simulations, which were sometimes more accurate, were used to validate the aforementioned results. The consistency of the results between the 2D and 3D simulations was assessed by analytically comparing the drag coefficients, pressures and velocity fields in the entire fluid domain.\n\nEventually, the flow-field obtained for each simulation was used to compute the aerodynamic drag force acting upon the pappus; its drag coefficient could then be determined (S1 Appendix). If not otherwise specified, computations were conducted with a free-stream velocity equal to 0.3 m∙s-1, which was the mean terminal velocity recorded from our experiments, a 22-degree cone angle, and a parachute of constant permeability with a thickness of 100 μm.\n\n\nMorphological analysis of the parachute\n\nAs shown in Fig 2a, the parachute of T. pratensis consists of two orders of fibres. The main bundles of cells, which mechanically support the structure, are referred to as the “primary” hairs or ribs. The more slender cells, which create the fine textile, are referred as “secondary” hairs or fibres. Primary hairs have a filamentous structure with a mean length of 18.43 mm and mean diameter of 113.3 μm. Several fibre cells constitute the primary hairs (Fig 2d). In a transverse section, it can be observed that the cells are arranged regularly. When the seed dries, the fibre cells create a lightweight structure made up of hollow tubes (Fig 2b). The secondary fibres are individual cells that partially detach from the main ribs and tangle together to create fine and complex weaving (Fig 2c). Secondary fibre cells have a mean diameter of 5 μm and detach from the two sides of the ribs. The fibres that come from two adjacent ribs intersect in the middle to create a central line (Fig 2e). This provides a homogeneous porosity that overcomes the radial geometry of space. Spines are present at the end of the main ribs (Fig 2f) and may serve as an additional seed dispersal method. All of the morphological parameters are reported in Table 2. Concerning the morphology of the parachutes, no significant differences between the values for central and peripheral parachutes were found. The data presented in the table are the means calculated for the data pulled from both types of parachutes. These mean values were then used for the model. Concerning the dimension of the ribs, given the presence of the spines, an effective dimension of 15 mm was considered for the model.\n\nFig 2. Scanning electron images of the parachute.\n\n(a) Hierarchical arrangement of the fibres; (b) Cross-section of a primary rib showing its internal hollow structure; (c-e) Details of the complex weaving of the secondary fibres; (f) Hook at the end of the rib that may serve as a means of secondary dispersal.\n\nTable 2. Morphological and aerodynamical parameters of the collected seeds from Tragopogon pratensis.\n\nThe rib inclination in the horizontal plane determines the cone angle of the structure and has an impact on the aerodynamics of the parachute. It ranges from 0 degrees, when the parachute is wide open to form a planar disk, to 90 degrees, when the parachute is completely folded. For freshly collected seeds, this angle has a mean value of 22 degrees. From field observations, we noticed that the parachutes responded to changes in external humidity for few days after the first opening of the capitulum and adjusted the cone angle accordingly. Therefore, rain or dewdrops result in parachute closure. Once dried, parachutes recover their original configuration. A deep investigation of this mechanism was beyond the scope of this study; therefore, only few experiments were performed to observe this phenomenon. Reversible movement was recorded in a time-lapse video, which is shown in Fig 3 and in S2 Video. When a drop of water is placed at the centre of the parachute, the sudden closure of the parachute occurs. The parachute recovers its final opening angle as soon as the central active region is dry.\n\nFig 3. Parachute closure due to changes in humidity.\n\nWhen a drop of water is placed at the centre of the parachute, it rapidly closes; the parachute resumes its original status when it is dry again.\n\nTerminal velocity measurements and computation of CD\n\nThe measured terminal velocities and drag coefficients for peripheral and central parachutes are reported in Table 2. The heavier peripheral seeds fall significantly faster than the central ones. Although light seeds have higher drag coefficients than heavy seeds, the CD of the two groups are not statistically different, probably due to the small sample size.\n\nPorosity and permeability range of the parachute\n\nFollowing the methods above, the porosity of the parachute was calculated. The density of the secondary fibres does not change with the radius (Table 3). The different porosity of the three regions is determined by the radial presence of the primary ribs. For this reason, we assumed a mean porosity along the entire structure in the CFD simulations.\n\nTable 3. Porosity and permeability values for the total area and for the three concentric regions of the parachutes.\n\nThe porosity was translated into a permeability value using the Kozeny-Carman equation. As shown in Table 3, the mean permeability of the seeds was found to be 1.59 x 10–9 m2. We also defined a permeability range within which the seed can operate that accounts for the natural variation of the rib diameter and the porosity of the secondary fibres. There is no calculation of this sort in the literature. In terms of aerodynamics, the pappus has always been considered to be a non-porous body; this approach greatly simplifies scientific reasoning and problem solving.\n\nFlow regimes\n\nOur 3D simulations revealed that different fluid regimes develop according to the permeability values assigned to the parachute; these permeability values range from 1 x 10–10 to 5 x 10–6 m2. This is similar to what known about low Reynolds numbers in the case of non-permeable cylinders. In particular, three fluid regimes have been identified. The three cases (Case A, Case B, and Case C) for a free-stream velocity of 0.3 m∙s-1 are depicted in Fig 4 and described below.\n\nFig 4. Mathematical modelling.\n\n(a-c) Streamlines for the three flow fields observed in the reference case. By controlling the rate of airflow passing through the parachute, the permeability greatly influences the flow dynamics in the wake region. (d-f) The stream-wise component of the velocity vector is reported for the three case scenarios in 3D computations. The cone is represented in black, and the airflow moves from left to right. Case A—An unsteady vortex flow, for K = 1.0 x 10–9 m2, is shown at three time steps. The vortex shedding phenomenon is clearly visible (a, d); Case B—A steady vortex flow for two distinct time-steps (b, e). The negative values for the stream-wise velocity component just downstream the body (blue region) represent the recirculation area; Case C—Laminar shear flow for K = 6.0 x 10–9 m2 (c, f).\n\nCase A—For a permeability close to a “wall” situation (K < 3.8 x 10–9 m2), the flow regime observed in the wake of the parachute is complex and characterised by the presence of vortices (Fig 4a, S3 Video). The position and shape of the vortices fluctuate over time (Fig 4d, S4 Video). The unsteady, oscillating flow in this case scenario is called vortex shedding and is likely to generate instabilities [18]. Case B—A further decrease in the permeability of the medium (3.8 10–9 m2 < K < 4.2 x 10–9 m2) results in a weak recirculation of air downstream. A steady axisymmetric vortex is present in the wake (marked in dark blue in Fig 4b4e). Case C—When K is greater than 4.2 10–9 m2, a sufficient flow rate allows air to easily pass through the fibres. The wake of the body takes the form of a laminar shear layer. It is a steady-state flow, presenting no vortices in the wake region (Fig 4c4f).\n\nDrag coefficient\n\nThe evolution of the drag coefficient as a function of parachute permeability for both the 2D and 3D computations is presented in Fig 5. Permeability is assumed even along the cone radius and ranges from 1 x 10–10 to 1 x 10–5 m2. The CD values obtained from the CFD simulations are comparable with those obtained from the drop experiments in Table 2.\n\nFig 5. CFD simulations for 2D axisymmetric and 3D cones, a reference case.\n\nComputations are run with steady (circles) or unsteady (triangles) flow hypotheses. Filled symbols represent tri-dimensional computations and are associated with the solid line. Unfilled symbols represent simulations run under axisymmetric assumptions and are connected with a dashed line. Both the solid and dashed lines show that the trend of the drag coefficient is a function of the permeability; the dashed line is constant along the radius of the cone and 22 degrees in angle. The free stream velocity is set to 0.3 m∙s-1.\n\nAs explained above, the 3D computations are closer to reality; however, we also run 2D simulations due to time constraints. Both the 2D and 3D computations are plotted as a matter of comparison. The two curves overlap for permeability larger than 4.2 x 10–9 m2. For smaller values, the drag coefficients do not match. In the 3D computations, a change in the slope occurs at 4.2 x 10–9 m2; a peak is located at the same place in the 2D computations. In light of the 3D model results, the peak observed in the 2D model can be interpreted as a loss of axisymmetricity in the flow field. This peak represents an artefact of the CFD computations for a cone modelled under axisymmetric assumptions. For permeability values greater than the peak, the difference in CD between the two models is less than 3%. In light of these considerations, the 2D axisymmetric model is a useful and quick screening tool to determine the aerodynamic performance of the cone shaped parachute over this permeability range.\n\nAs shown in Fig 5, the drag coefficient in the 3D model is at its highest for permeability approaching zero. CD decreases smoothly up to K = 4.2 x 10–9 m2. The flow regime is characterised by unsteady vortices (Case A). In this region of the curve, a decrease in the plant investment in the fabrication of the parachute (i.e., an increase in permeability) does not have a strong impact on its efficiency; CD does not decrease significantly. When a steady shear flow regime is present (Case C), the opposite situation is observed; a decrease in the density of the hairs results in a sharp decrease in parachute efficiency. An intermediate situation occurs in Case B. The unsteady vortices shown in Case A progressively lose their intensity and eventually fade away when K approaches 4 x 10–9 m2. This results in a steady air recirculation in the near-wake region. The grey region of the graph corresponds to the permeability range of Tragopogon seeds as computed in the previous section, describing the flow regime at which the majority of the seeds are operating.\n\nThe influence of cone angle and free-stream velocity on the drag coefficient\n\nTo assess how CD is affected by changes in the cone angle, we ran 2D simulations for the following cone angles: 0, 15, and 30 degrees. The trend observed for CD is similar to the one observed for the 22-degree reference. Greater drag coefficients are achieved for lower cone angles (Fig 6). We also noted that the transition from vortex flow to laminar shear flow occurs at the same permeability value independent of the pappus angle.\n\nFig 6. CFD simulations for 2D axisymmetric cone.\n\nInfluence of the angle of the cone on drag coefficient as a function of permeability.\n\nThe weight of the achenes has a direct influence on terminal velocity. In our experiments, the mean terminal velocities of the central achenes and the peripheral achenes were 0.27 m∙s-1 and 0.33 m∙s-1, respectively. Therefore, we tested the effect of free-stream velocity on the drag coefficient. It appears that the transition from Case A to Case B occurs at a lower permeability when the terminal velocity is reduced. For a given permeability, drag coefficients are greater for lower terminal velocities (S1 Fig). Generally speaking, the drag coefficient varies dramatically as a function of the free-stream velocity and as a function of the Reynolds number (Fig 7).\n\nFig 7. The influence of the free stream velocity (and the Reynolds number) on the drag coefficient for different permeability values.\n\nThe higher the permeability of the medium, the more pronounced the decreasing trend of the drag coefficient. For permeability equal to 2.0 x 10–9 m2, the curve is almost a straight line (the dashed line is a linear extrapolation of the results).\n\n\nAerodynamic performance of the seeds\n\nPappus seeds are very “efficient” in reducing terminal velocity at low wing loadings [6]. Different designs, such as winged seeds, have been evolved to support larger loads. In this paper, we focused on Tragopogon; the parachutes of Tragopogon seeds represent an exception to this phenomenon. These seeds have large cone-shaped parachutes, which are likely to be the largest reported in nature. The parachutes of Tragopogon seeds operate optimally at high wing loadings (comparable to those of winged seeds). Tragopogon seeds provide an exceptional case study in how evolution overcame the constraints involved in building larger plumed structures and the challenges derived from mechanics and aerodynamics.\n\nSEM images of the seeds revealed a lightweight structure made of hollow fibres that were arranged in bundles to create a supporting skeleton. Cells detach from the bundles to create a thin, intricate fabric that forms the parachute itself. Although the hierarchical distribution of these fibres can be observed in many other pappus seeds (such as Cirsum vulgare and Cynara cardunculus), the arrangement of the fibres in Tragopogon seeds creates a complex textile that appears to be rather unique. The two orders of fibres allows the structure to be solid, thanks to the main ribs, and sufficiently permeable, thanks to the small fibres, resulting in a permeable, solid and lightweight structure.\n\nFrom our results, it appears that the arrangement of the fibres has been optimised during evolution. The fibres determine the air permeability and, thus, the drag coefficient. In our numerical experiments, we explored a wide range of permeability and the effect of permeability on the aerodynamics of the system. We observed three specific cases in which the parachute can operate (see Fig 4). In Case A, the vortices in the wake keep the drag coefficient high. This configuration has two major downsides. The consistent amount of fibres that the plant has to build to achieve low permeability is one challenge. In addition, the vortices cause potential flight instabilities and unintended surface vibrations. The opposite situation is detectable in Case C; in this case, a laminar shear flow is observed. This determines a low CD, a stable flight, and a lower plant investment in the fibres. In light of these considerations, the optimal fluid regime is represented by an intermediate situation. In Case B, the presence of air recirculation significantly contributes to a loss in momentum. A reasonable CD is achieved, but no unsteady vortices are observed in the wake of the parachute. In the present case, this particular regime is observed only in a very narrow window of permeability values (3.8–4.2 x 10–9 m2). As shown in Fig 5, the permeability range estimated for the parachute of Tragopogon embraces Cases A and B; Case B represents its lower limit. We hypothesise that optimisation in the reduction of fibres has ceased very close to the transition between Cases A, B, and C. Due to the fine tuning of fibre arrangements, the flight dynamics of seeds are very close to the optimal compromise between a high CD value due to a low permeability and a relatively stable flight due to the low intensity of the vortices convected in the wake region.\n\nSeed morphological variation and the influence on the drag coefficient\n\nThe collected seeds had the following two main sources of variation: the cone angle and the achene mass. The cone angle is more or less constant among the parachutes stacked in the capitulum. However, the cone angle varies according to external humidity. This feature has been described for many wind-dispersed seeds. In Salix and Populus seeds, it has been reported that the hairs spread when dry and converge when wet; the capitulum of Asteraceae hides or exposes fruits through the movement of involucre bracts according to the amount of moisture [19]. However, this feature has not been previously reported for the opening of the single plumes of seeds from the genus Tragopogon. Here, we conjectured that such a mechanism serves as an additional strategy to control the time of seed dispersal. Two distinct effects create a greater force on the pappus when the cone angle is wide open (in dry conditions). The first effect is purely geometrical; the area offered to the wind is greater and produces a greater drag force. A further effect comes from the increased drag coefficient, which has been computed and reported in Fig 6 for various cone angles (CD 30 is 25% smaller than CD 0). As detailed in Eq (2), the drag force is linearly dependent upon the projected area A and the drag coefficient CD. An increase in the drag force with the cone angle is super-linear, helping the plant achieve its goal. The ability to bias seed dispersal in the most favourable conditions has been reported for many anemochorus species; a biased abscission mechanism has been previously described for Tragopogon [20].\n\nConcerning the variation observed in the achene mass, it was determined that the seeds of Tragopogon are dimorphic. Lighter achenes are placed close to the centre; heavier achenes are found at the periphery of the capitulum [9, 21]. Considering that the parachute dimensions remain unchanged, the two configurations are subject to different disk loadings. In particular, a heavier seed will result in a higher disk load and tend to fall with a greater terminal velocity (Eq (1)). A greater terminal velocity will, over the permeability range we estimated for the parachute, have a significant effect on the drag coefficient. This was demonstrated in the computation of CD values from the two groups of seeds. This effect further increases the terminal velocity, and seed dimorphism is leveraged.\n\nVan Mölken et al. [9] showed that the achene size of Tragopogon pratensis seeds is the main factor determining germination percentage. This has also been reported for other non-dimorphic species [2225]. Why T. pratensis produces dimorphic seeds is a question that remains to be answered. To maintain seed dimorphism, there must be an ecological difference between the morphologies [26]. In light of our aerodynamic studies, it can be argued that the central and peripheral seeds of Tragopogon plants have been optimised for two distinct tasks. Heavy peripheral achenes are meant to travel short distances, and central achenes are dedicated to longer travels.\n\nMetapopulation models suggest that, in some landscapes, selection pressures against short-distance dispersal may lead to lighter seeds. In severely fragmented landscapes, reverse selection pressure can be found; seeds that disperse from the safe site can be considered lost [27]. Tragopogon pratensis can merge these two features; lighter seeds colonise new areas and heavier seeds substitute for the parental plant. A similar behaviour has been reported for the weed Leontodon longirrostris (Asteraceae). In Leontodon, the peripheral achenes are heavier and exhibit neither a pappus nor short-range dispersal; the central achenes are lighter, possess a well-developed pappus and are produced in greater numbers [28]. In Leontodon, the two types of achenes result in seedlings with differing vigour and ability to emerge from different achene burial depths. Corresponding data are unavailable for Tragopogon; however, it can be speculated that a similar strategy could be used in this species.\n\nThe uneven evolution of the drag coefficient for low Reynolds numbers in porous material has other interesting aspects. According to the work of McGinley and Brigham [7], terminal velocity is supposed to be proportional to the square root of disk loading m/A; this is under the implicit assumption that the drag coefficient is constant as a function of Re. It can be argued that this latter assumption is verified for a range of Reynolds number that refers to turbulent flows, which are some orders of magnitude greater than the values estimated for Tragopogon parachutes. Our computations reveal that the trend in drag coefficients, as a function of free-stream velocity, is in agreement with experiments for low Reynolds numbers, e.g. [3]). Indeed, the drag coefficient increases sharply when Re decreases (see Fig 7). This relates to the slower than predicted decline in terminal velocity observed when A is increasing, [7] under the assumption of CD being constant.\n\nMany attempts to characterise the aerodynamic properties of some flying seeds (including Tragopogon) can be found in the literature. Given the complexity of their shapes, only some approximations have been completed so far. For example, Greene and Johnson [6] modelled plumes as a bunch of cylindrical hairs that are attached radially to either the seed or a beak. The contribution of these hairs to the projected area of the plume was calculated under the assumption that hairs could be modelled as single long cylinders. In some species (i.e., Taraxacum officinale and Asclepius syriaca), this assumption resulted in successful analysis. However, the complex geometry of Tragopogon dubius (L.) failed to be correctly modelled using these assumptions.\n\nIn conclusion, Tragopogon represents a magnificent example of how a parachute has evolved to produce a drag force with interesting characteristics. Such a parachute allows for the efficient dispersal of the large achenes of this plant. In particular, the lightweight structure allows for a low terminal velocity, a stable flight and a very efficient parachute for the velocity at which it operates.\n\nThe technical challenges to be addressed in order to translate this design into an engineering prototype, would be to manufacture equivalent materials having the required porosity at different dimensions. Seed dispersal strategies are an overlooked and excellent source of inspiration for the development of new bio-inspired technologies, and the study of pappus seeds (also other than the Tragopogon) is likely to produce important insights for the design of more efficient parachutes.\n\nSupporting Information\n\nS1 Video. Automatic tracking for terminal velocity determination, the video is reproduced at normal speed; each square is 1 cm wide.\n\n\nS2 Video. Timelapse of the reversible pappus closure.\n\n\nS3 Video. Streamline for the flow regime in the wake of the parachute.\n\n\nS4 Video. Stream-wise component of the velocity vector in the wake of the parachute.\n\n\nS1 Fig. Influence of the free-stream velocity on drag coefficient as a function of permeability.\n\n\nS1 Appendix. Reynolds number, CFD settings, computation of drag coefficient.\n\n\nS1 Datasets. Details of the morphological analysis, porosity measurements and sample images for porosity measurements.\n\n\nS1 Archive. Details of drop experiments: videos of the drops, txt file with the calculated averaged velocities.\n\n\nS2 Archive. Details of CFD simulations: 2D and 3D meshes, project file for 2D simulations, list of simulation runs, txt file with instructions to re-run the simulations.\n\n\n\nSpecial acknowledgments are given to L. Pambaguian and G. Harris from the European Space Agency for technical assistance in the laboratory and to S. Carloni, J. Thoemel and Prof. Mancuso for their participation in helpful discussions.\n\nAuthor Contributions\n\nConceived and designed the experiments: CP DI VC GDC. Performed the experiments: CP DI VC GDC. Analyzed the data: CP DI VC GDC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: CP DI VC GDC. Wrote the paper: CP DI VC GDC.\n\n\n  1. 1. Van der Pijl L (1982) Principles of dispersal in higher plants. Springer-Verlag Berlin.\n  2. 2. Matlack GR (1987) Diaspore size, shape, and fall Behaviour in wind-dispersed plant species. Am J Bot 74 (8): 1150–1160.\n  3. 3. Andersen MC (1993) Diaspore morphology and seed dispersal in several wind-dispersed. Asteraceae. Am J Bot 80 (5): 487–492.\n  4. 4. Minami S, Azuma A (2003) Various flying modes of wind-dispersal seeds. J Theor Biol 225 (1): 1–14. pmid:14559055\n  5. 5. Augspurger CK, Franson SE (1987) Wind dispersal of artificial fruits varying in mass area and morphology. Ecol 68: 27–42.\n  6. 6. Greene DF, Johnson EA (1990) The aerodynamics of plumed seeds. Funct Ecol 4: 117–125.\n  7. 7. McGinley MA, Brigham EJ (1989) Fruit morphology and terminal velocity in Tragopogon dubious (L). Funct Ecol 3 (4): 489–496.\n  8. 8. Jakobsson A, Eriksson O (2003) Trade-offs between dispersal and competitive ability: a comparative study of wind-dispersed Asteraceae forbs. Evol Ecol 17: 233–246.\n  9. 9. van Mölken T, Jorritsma-Wienk LD, van Hoek PHW, de Kroon H (2005) Only seed size matters for germination in different populations of the dimorphic Tragopogon pratensis subsp pratensis (Asteraceae). Am J Bot 92: 432–437. pmid:21652419\n  10. 10. Hartley RI, Zisserman A (2004) Multiple view geometry in computer vision, Second edition. Cambridge University Press.\n  11. 11. Epps HH (1996) prediction of single-layer fabric air permeability by statistics modelling. J Test Eval 24 (1): 26–31.\n  12. 12. Kozeny J (1927) Über kapillare Leitung des Wassers im Boden. Sitzungsber. Wien, Akad. Wiss. 136 (2a), 271–306.\n  13. 13. Carman PC (1937) Fluid flow through granular beds. Chem Eng Res Des 15: 150–166.\n  14. 14. Knauf GH, Doshi MR (1986) calculation of aerodynamic porosity specific surface area and specific volume from gurley seconds measurements. Proc. TAPPI 1986 Intl. Process and Materials Quality Eval. Conf., 33.\n  15. 15. Scheidegger AE (1974) Physics of flow through porous media. University of Toronto Press Toronto.\n  16. 16. Bruscke MV, Advani SG (1993) Flow of generalized Newtonian fluids across a periodic array of cylinders. J Rheol 37 (3): 479–498.\n  17. 17. Rhodes M (2008) Introduction to particle technology, Second edition. John Wiley and Son Ldt England, pp. 155–156.\n  18. 18. Strykowski PJ, Sreenivasan KR (1990) On the formation and suppression of vortex shedding at low Reynolds numbers. J Fluid Mech 218: 71–107.\n  19. 19. Fahn A, Werker E (1972) Anatomical mechanisms of seed dispersal. In Kozlowski editor. Seed biology Vol 1, Importance development and germination. Academic Press New York pp. 155–121\n  20. 20. Greene DF, Quesada M (2011) The differential effect of updrafts downdrafts and horizontal winds on the seed abscission of Tragopogon dubius. Funct Ecol 25 (3): 468–472.\n  21. 21. Maxwell C, Zobel DA, Woodfine D (1994) Somatic polymorphism in the achenes of Tragopogon dubius. Can J Bot 72: 1282–1288.\n  22. 22. Winn AA (1985) Effects of seed size and microsite on seedling emergence of Prunella Vulgaris in 4 habitats. J Ecol 73: 831–840.\n  23. 23. Hendrix SD, Trapp EJ (1992) Population demography of Pastinaca sativa (Apiaceae): effects of seed mass on emergence survival and recruitment. Am J Bot 79: 365–375.\n  24. 24. Vaughton G, Ramsey M (1998) Sources and consequences of seed mass variation in Banksia marginata (Proteaceae). J Ecol 86: 563–573.\n  25. 25. Parciak W (2002) Environmental variation in seed number, size and dispersal of a fleshy-fruited plant. Ecol 83: 780–793.\n  26. 26. Imbert E, Escarre J, Lepart J (1997) Seed heteromorphism in Crepis sancta (Asteraceae): performance of two morphologies in different environments. Oikos 79: 325–332.\n  27. 27. Olivieri I, Michalakis Y, Gouyon PH (1995) Metapopulation genetics and the evolution of dispersal. Am Nat 146: 202–228.\n  28. 28. De Clavijo ER (2001) The role of dimorphic achenes in the biology of the annual weed Leontodon longirrostris. Weed Res 41 (3): 275–286.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8706469535827637}
+{"content": "Exploring Black Holes: Frozen Stars and Gravitational Dynamos\n\nBlack holes are gravitational superheroes. Here is their origin story, including World War I, magnificent mustaches, and Albert Einstein.\n\nPart 1 of a four-part series on black holes. This part defines what a black hole is, goes back to the beginnings of black hole research, and shows how physicists came to terms with the existence of these weird objects. Part 2 will talk about the role black holes play in galaxies and how invisible objects can become some of the brightest things in the cosmos. Part 3 will explain how astronomers observe black holes using the most sophisticated observatories around. Part 4 will get into the weird side of black hole science: how these objects challenge our fundamental theories of physics.\n\nFebruary 11, 2016, was a landmark day. After many decades of searching, scientists announced they had detected gravitational waves for the first time: disturbances in the structure of space-time that travel at light speed. But there was a second triumph of physics hiding inside that one. The waves gave us the best evidence so far for the existence of some of the most fascinating objects in our universe: black holes.\n\nFew scientists these days doubt that black holes exist. But in a way, all our evidence for them is circumstantial. Black holes, by their very nature, are difficult to observe. All light falling on them is absorbed, rendering them nearly invisible.\n\nOn the other hand, black holes are the strongest gravitational powerhouses possible. When they strip matter off stars or out of interstellar gas clouds, that material heats up and shines brightly. It’s a seeming paradox: invisible objects that end up being some of the brightest things in the universe. The black holes known as quasars can be seen billions of light-years away.\n\nThat’s not the same as seeing the black holes directly. The gravitational wave detection from 2016, however, comes from black holes and nothing else. The signal seen by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) was literally made only by gravity, letting scientists reconstruct what kind of objects made the waves without interference from stars or gas or anything else.\n\nArtist’s impression of the two black holes that LIGO detected. Note how their gravity distorts the light of stars behind them. Image: The SXS (Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes) Project\n\nLIGO saw two objects, respectively 36 and 29 times the mass of the sun, which orbited each other several times per second — a substantial fraction of the speed of light — before colliding in a burst of gravitational waves. Only black holes can simultaneously be that massive and small enough to whip around each other at that breathtaking speed.\n\nOf course, scientists are greedy: We want even more direct observations than LIGO’s. As I write this, astronomers are crunching data from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an observatory consisting of dozens of telescopes across the planet that observed the Milky Way’s central black hole for two weeks. They hope in the end to provide the very first direct image of a black hole.\n\nLIGO and EHT are the culmination of a century of research into black holes and the start of a whole new era of discoveries. In this series, I’ll summarize what we’ve learned about these deeply weird objects and what we still have to learn. To get started, it’s helpful to go all the way back to the beginning…\n\nThe story of black holes, like Wonder Woman, begins in the deep past but really gets going in World War I. Several 18th-century physicists speculated about “dark stars,” objects compact enough that light couldn’t escape their gravitational pull. However, their theories were incomplete without a full understanding of both light and gravity. That required Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, first published in 1915 and finalized the following year.\n\nKarl Schwarzschild (1873–1916) was a prominent German astrophysicist and owner of magnificent facial hair. His early work on general relativity led to the prediction of black holes. Photo: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften — Archive\n\nAstrophysicist and mustache champion Karl Schwarzschild was one of the first people to read and understand Einstein’s work. While serving in the German army, Schwarzschild used general relativity to describe the gravitational field both inside and outside a spherical, nonspinning star. Just a few months after he sent his work to Einstein, Schwarzschild died of an infection, like many other soldiers on both sides of the war.\n\nThe “Schwarzschild solution,” as it’s called in the literature, was originally based on the incomplete version of general relativity, but other physicists translated it to the final form of the theory. Today, it’s often the first thing baby physicists cut their teeth on when studying relativity. But one prediction of Schwarzschild’s solution was controversial.\n\nGravity is a property of both an object’s mass — how much matter it contains — and its size. The star Betelgeuse, for example, is nearly eight times the mass of the sun, but because it occupies a lot more space than the sun, the gravity on its surface is much smaller. However, if you compacted the same amount of mass in Betelgeuse into a sphere smaller than roughly 48 kilometers across (30 miles), the Schwarzschild solution tells us that something weird happens. Specifically, nothing getting close to that massive-but-small object would ever escape again.\n\nThat “nothing” includes light.\n\nThink of gravity like a current in a river. When that current is gentle, you can row against it; your planet or spaceship won��t crash into the sun. Under most conditions, the current will tug you toward the sun or a star or planet, which results in the orbits we observe. Light is also subject to the gravitational current.\n\nA black hole’s current is more like rapids, and at some point, no matter how hard you row, the current will draw you in. Past a kind of gravitational waterfall, you’d have to “row” faster than the speed of light, which is against the laws of physics. The boundary between the part of the current you can still escape and the part where it’s too strong is called the “event horizon.”\n\nArtist’s impression of hot matter swirling around a black hole. Even though the black hole is invisible, it gives itself away by the effects that its powerful gravity has on surrounding material. The dark circle is the black hole’s “event horizon,” where no matter or light can escape from. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech\n\nAn object with an event horizon is a black hole. Most astronomical and even everyday objects don’t have such a boundary—they’re too big. Your own event horizon would be smaller than an atom, so you’d have to compress all your mass into that tiny volume to become a black hole, something most doctors don’t recommend.\n\nThe term “black hole” is probably from physicist John Archibald Wheeler, who liked to make up terms for things and just use them as though those terms had always existed. Literally translating this term is dicey: It’s rude or scatological in many languages. In the Soviet Union, where physicists developed black hole theory independently thanks to policies on both sides of the Iron Curtain, black holes were known as “frozen stars,” a more evocative term, if one that’s not any more accurate.\n\nThe idea of event horizons worried some physicists, including Einstein. Just because general relativity describes black holes doesn’t mean they exist in the real universe. After all, the theory describes a number of things that probably don’t exist, like “white holes,” the inverted version of black holes, which spew things out rather than pulling them in. The trick for a black hole is forming it in the first place: If the universe doesn’t allow gravity to compress things small enough, black holes would be nothing but a mathematical oddity.\n\nAlbert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer in 1950. This was a publicity photo, since the physicists didn’t really have much to do with each other, but you can’t have a black hole story without an Einstein picture. Oppenheimer’s work helped show that black holes were an inevitable result of gravitational collapse of very massive stars. Photo: U.S. Government Defense Threat Reduction Agency\n\nFor that reason, a lot of physicists — like J. Robert Oppenheimer, who later ran the scientific wing of the Manhattan Project — tried to work out how to make black holes out of collapsing stars. Ordinarily, gas pressure driven by a star’s hot core balances gravity. Oppenheimer and others showed that if a star exceeds a certain mass, when it runs out of nuclear fuel, it can’t maintain enough pressure to hold it back from collapsing into a black hole.\n\nThe real clincher came in the 1960s, when physicists, including Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose, showed that once a certain tipping point is reached in gravitational collapse, nothing can stop a black hole from forming. It was a powerful mathematical proof, but some people still thought black holes might not exist in the real world — or even if they did, they might be undetectable using telescopes.\n\nIn the next installment of this series, I’ll explore how black holes went from a theoretical physics toy to something astronomers observe regularly.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7617999315261841}
+{"content": "Early detection, treatment helps conquer oral cancer\n\nAuthor: Bob Moulesong\n\n\n\nOral cancer\n\n\n\n\nThe only way to know is a thorough examination.\n\nTypes and risk factors\n\n\nFirst steps\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA dental checkup\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNote: This article originally ran on\n\nNovember, 2018|Oral Cancer News|\n\nPatients with HPV-positive oropharynx cancer should receive chemoradiation\n\nAuthor: provided by European Society for Medical Oncology\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOctober, 2018|Oral Cancer News|\n\nNew risk factor for mouth cancer uncovered\n\nAuthor: Tim Newman, fact checked by Paula Field\n\n\n\n\n\nNew risk factor for mouth cancer\n\n\n\n\n\nRisk increased by 43 percent\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOctober, 2018|Oral Cancer News|\n\nHead and neck cancer: An overview of head and neck cancer\n\nAuthor: staff\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSeptember, 2018|Oral Cancer News|\n\n\nAuthor: Tammy Adams\n\n\n\nEarly diagnosis makes a difference\n\n\n\nADA supports dental industry with this growing challenge\n\n\n\n\nApril, 2018|Oral Cancer News|\n\nBe your own advocate\n\nAuthor: Mary McKinley\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nApril, 2018|Oral Cancer News|\n\nManagement strategies for oral potentially malignant disorders\n\nAuthor: Joel M. Laudenbach, DMD\n\nOral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) include oral leukoplakia (OL), oral erythroplakia, oral submucous fibrosis, oral lichen planus, proliferative verrucous leukoplakia, and actinic keratosis. Once an OPMD has been clinically diagnosed, execution of management strategy is critical. When formulating the strategy, healthcare providers should consider histopathology, lesion characteristics (ie, surface texture, unifocal, multifocal), lesion location in the mouth (ie, tongue, floor of mouth), patient risk factor assessment, and a detailed medical/cancer history.\n\nIn this newly published article, Nadeau and Kerr[1] detail various parameters surrounding evaluation and management of OPMDs. The authors make it clear that OPMDs are challenging, each with their own nuances regarding risk for malignant transformation. For example, when OL is unifocal, nonhomogeneous, nodular, or verrucous, there is a much higher chance of the OL becoming dysplastic (12.63-fold) or demonstrating a focus of carcinoma (8.9-fold) when compared with homogeneous types of OLs.[1]\n\nProvider knowledge of these variables is critical when counseling patients about their diagnosis and management options and when selecting interventions along with follow-up care. Although progression to malignancy is difficult to predict with OPMDs, clinicians can account for multiple risk factors such as smoking/alcohol status, high-risk location in the oral cavity, and size of lesion (>200 mm2) to help formulate a tailored management plan for each patient. Consultation with an oral pathologist to discuss the histologic appearance in the context of specific patient history and lesion characteristics can provide additional perspective and/or recommendations.\n\nModifiable oral cavity cancer risks related to tobacco and heavy alcohol use should be communicated to patients with OPMDs so that they are able to make changes that may lead to regression/disappearance of certain lesions such as OL. Providers confronted with patients who use tobacco and/or heavy alcohol can integrate recommendations for cessation of tobacco[2] and alcohol[3] because they are both established, independent, causative agents for oral cavity cancer and OPMDs.\n\nAvailable treatment strategies for OPMDs include surgical removal/ablation, photodynamic therapy, and surveillance. The authors make a clear point with supportive studies that traditional surgical excision of dysplastic OPMDs may decrease malignant transformation (MT) risk, yet it does not fully eliminate that risk and, in some instances, has not changed the MT risk when compared with surveillance alone. Appropriate surgical margin identification for OPMDs is clinically challenging. The authors note that smaller excisional margin sizes (1-2 mm) without marginal histologic assessment are common surgical management goals for OPMDs.[1]\n\nNadeau and Kerr carefully outline updated considerations for all OPMDs. Healthcare providers involved in screening, diagnosing, referring, and/or managing patients with OPMDs should be well versed in standards of care, including baseline biopsy goals, tobacco/alcohol cessation, currently available interventions, and surveillance care.\n\nClinicians should also develop a local team of practitioners who are experts in diagnosis and management of OPMDs to help patients obtain the best opportunity for positive outcomes. I encourage readers with interest to retrieve and review the full article by Nadeau and Kerr as a strategy to update your knowledge base and to continue to improve overall morbidity, mortality, and survival rates related to OPMDs.\n\n1. Nadeau C, Kerr AR. Evaluation and management of oral potentially malignant disorders. Dent Clin North Am. 2018;62:1-27.\n\n2. US Preventive Services Task Force. Final recommendation statement. Tobacco smoking cessation in adults, including pregnant women: behavioral and pharmacotherapy interventions. September 2015. Accessed March 1, 2018.\n\n3. US Preventive Services Task Force. Final recommendation statement. Alcohol misuse: screening and behavioral counseling interventions in primary care. May 2013.\n/RecommendationStatementFinal/alcohol-misuse-screening-and-behavioral-counseling-interventions-in-primary-care Accessed March 1, 2018.\n\nMarch, 2018|Oral Cancer News|\n\nHPV is causing an oral cancer epidemic in men by outwitting natural defenses\n\nAuthor: Marie McCullough, staff writer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAn inescapable virus\n\nBut not always.\n\n\n\n\n\nNatural defenses go awry\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMarch, 2018|Oral Cancer News|\n\nAlcohol and cancer – facts and health risks\n\nAuthor: staff\n\nAlcohol and Cancer – Facts and Health Risks\nWhile there are proven health benefits of drinking alcohol in moderation, and some specific benefits due to the natural compounds found in red wine, drinking is not always good for your health. Drinking regularly and to excess can have some serious and negative impacts on health and may even be linked to an increased risk for mesothelioma or other cancers.\n\nDrinking alcohol in moderation during cancer treatment may be fine for some patients, but generally it should be avoided. It may aggravate side effects and studies are also investigating whether or not alcohol can increase the risk of a cancer recurrence. If you are going through treatment for mesothelioma or another type of cancer, talk to your medical team before indulging in a drink or two.\n\nAlcohol Consumption is a Risk Factor for Cancer\nMany studies have found and confirmed, over and over again, that drinking alcohol is a risk factor for developing cancer generally and for specific types of cancers. Specifically, drinking has been linked with throat and mouth cancers, esophageal cancer, liver cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer, and pancreatic cancer. The more alcohol consumed, the greater the risk. According to research data, approximately 3.5 percent of cancer deaths are related to alcohol consumption. Some of the specific facts about drinking and cancer from research include:\n\nPeople who drink three to four alcoholic beverages per day have a two to three times increased risk of developing a head and neck cancer.\n\nDrinking is not just a risk factor, but a known cause for liver cancer.\nAlcohol consumption is a risk factor for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and the risk is greatest for people with a certain genetic mutation that makes it more difficult to metabolize alcohol. Women who consume three alcoholic drinks per day have a 1.5 times greater risk of developing breast cancer.\n\nAlcohol increases the risk of colorectal cancer, especially in men.\nRegular alcohol consumption contributes to cancer development in several ways. In cancers of the mouth and throat, the risk may be caused by the fact that alcohol irritates cells in those tissues, causing damage to DNA. In the liver alcohol causes scarring and inflammation, which also damages DNA. In the colon, alcohol is converted to a compound called acetaldehyde, which is a known carcinogen.\n\nOther Negative Health Impacts of Drinking\nThere are other ways in which alcohol impacts health in negative ways, and some of these may indirectly contribute to causing cancer. For instance, alcohol causes levels of the hormone estrogen to rise in the body. This in turn can lead to breast cancer. Another negative impact of drinking is weight gain and obesity. Being obese is also a risk factor for cancer of all types. Regular drinking prevents the body from absorbing some nutrient, which help keep cells healthy, and this can cause many health problems, including promoting cancer development.\n\nOther health problems that excessive drinking can cause include those that are long-term. One of the biggest health issues is liver damage. Excessive drinking over time causes inflammation and scarring, which ultimately can cause the liver to fail. Alcohol consumption can also damage the brain and pancreas, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, and raise blood pressure.\n\nDrinking and Mental Health Risks\nIn addition the many physical health risks of drinking to excess, alcohol can also contribute to or cause mental health problems, including dependence. Alcohol addiction is a very serious disease that is difficult to overcome and that causes physical health effects, mental distress, and major impairment in everyday functioning.\n\nThere is also a strong link between drinking and mental illness. The relationship between the two is complicated. In some cases a person may have a mental illness and use alcohol to cope, while in other cases alcohol may trigger mental illness symptoms. Mood disorders, like depression, are most commonly associated with heavy alcohol use. For people with existing mental illnesses, drinking can worsen symptoms.\n\nDrinking During and after Cancer Treatment\nCancer treatments can take a serious toll on the body and mind. Avoiding alcohol, or at least not drinking regularly or heavily, is a good idea. A very specific reason not to drink is that alcohol can interact dangerously with certain chemotherapy drugs. Chemotherapy also causes unpleasant side effects, like nausea, vomiting, mouth sores, and pain that alcohol will only worsen.\n\nIf you beat cancer and become a survivor, the fact that you have already had cancer puts you at risk for a recurrence or developing another type of cancer. This is an important reason to limit alcohol intake. The more risk factors, like drinking, that you can eliminate, the less likely you will be to have another battle with cancer in the future.\n\nDrinking alcohol is not always bad, but it should be limited. The American Cancer Society recommends that women have no more than one drink per day and men no more than two. This does not mean that it is safe to have seven drinks just one day per week. Excessive drinking in one sitting is very harmful. If you are going through cancer treatment, make sure your medical team gives you the go ahead to have alcohol before you indulge. And even if they do, it makes sense to limit how much you drink. The healthier you can stay during and after treatment, the better you will be able to tolerate the treatment and to be able to fight your cancer and get well again.\n\n\nDecember, 2017|Oral Cancer News|\n\nTop cancer doctors have some advice about alcohol\n\nAuthor: staff\n\nName things that increase your risk of cancer. Cigarettes and tanning beds might quickly come to mind. But how about alcohol? A recent survey of 4,016 adults by the American Society of Clinical Oncology found that only 30% knew alcohol is a risk factor for cancer, reports the New York Times. ASCO, which includes many leading cancer doctors, had yet to voice its own thoughts on the topic. That changed this month, with the Nov. 7 publication of a statement in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that begins by calling the link between the two “often underappreciated” and noting that “addressing high-risk alcohol use is one strategy to reduce the burden of cancer.”\n\n\nIn the statement they cite outside research they’ve found to be sound, like an estimate that 5.8% of global cancer deaths in 2012 were attributable to alcohol, and evidence that drinking can increase the risk of mouth, throat, voice box, liver, breast, esophageal, and colorectal cancers. So what’s the upshot? It’s not “Don’t drink,” lead statement author Dr. Noelle LoConte tells the Times. “It’s different than tobacco where we say, ‘Never smoke. Don’t start.’ This is a little more subtle”—drink less, essentially. (Though the statement does contain the line, “People who do not currently drink alcohol should not start for any reason.”) So what’s Wine Spectator’s response? It tries to poke a hole or two, noting “the statement … dismisses possible health benefits of alcohol, including lower risks of heart disease, diabetes, and dementia.”\n\nNovember, 2017|Oral Cancer News|", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7265915870666504}
+{"content": "Escaping a sinking vehicle\n\ndiagram of a car sinking and best exit strategy \n\nVehicles can become trapped in deep water for various reasons, typically from misjudging a situation or through simple human error. For example, attempting to cross a heavily flooded road, or accidentally pressing down on the accelerator near a body of water such as a lake or river.\n\nWhile the chances of this occurring are relatively low, it's important to be aware of the steps that should be taken to escape from a sinking vehicle. Even if it doesn’t happen to you, you may be present at the scene of someone else in trouble.\n\nWhen a vehicle enters the water, it may settle on the surface for a short period of time and every attempt should be made to get out of the vehicle during this time.\n\nThere is a long-held myth about letting the vehicle fill with water before attempting to open the doors. However, there is not likely to be a significant air pocket remaining and the risk of drowning is extremely high.\n\nA car will start to sink engine first, and the water pressure on the doors of the car will prevent them from being opened. If the windows are still closed as the water starts pushing against them, they likely won’t be operational and the person inside the vehicle will be trapped.\n\nHow to escape from a sinking car\n\nsteps for escaping from a sinking car\n\n\n  • Unfasten all seatbelts immediately.\n\n  • Open the windows. Electric windows should still work for a limited amount of time, at least 10 to 60 seconds.\n\n  • Climb out through the windows. While the car is still afloat, try to climb out of a window or sunroof. Help children or others who may need assistance out first, then follow them.\n\n\nIf you are a bystander in this situation, communicate these steps to the occupants of the vehicle as best you can without endangering yourself or others. Remember to look after your own safety first – do not attempt to physically rescue the victims if it is unsafe in any way. Call for help and wait for emergency services personnel to arrive.\n\nLifeguards working at a swimming pool\n\nPool Lifeguard\n\n\nRead more button\n\n\nSwimming teacher with two children\n\nSwimming Teacher\n\nLearn how to become a swim instructor and teach children a vital life skill!\n\nRead more button\n\n\nA man holding a resuscitation manikin\n\nFirst Aid Training - $99\n\n\nExplore more button", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.895542562007904}
+{"content": "Huerco S. - Colonial Patterns - Albums - Reviews - Soundblab\n\nHuerco S. - Colonial Patterns\n\nby Daryl Worthington Rating:8 Release Date:2013-09-23\n\nThe key dichotomy of electronic music is the relationship between human and technology. We've all heard the old clichéd criticism thrown at laptop based musicians, and its one that was thrown at the earliest dabblers with synthesizers, namely that it's music made by machines not people. This is, of course, an assertion based on ignorance of electronic music. Even the most free-form experiments on modular synths are not completely slave to the whims of machines; the human is still crucial.\n\nHuerco S, (aka Brian Leeds) debut full length, Colonial Patterns, engages in this age-old discussion in a refreshingly pure way. The whole album sounds like a man wrestling music from machines, sculpting their idiosyncrasies into musical forms. 'Wrestling' is the key word. Right from the opening track, 'Struck with Deer Lungs', the album constantly sounds on the verge of pulling itself apart. Oscillating chords sound nervous and edgy, like Leeds is fighting to keep everything in time. Similarly with 'Inzhiid', hi-hats enter the mix alongside the warm tremolo pads, sounding like they are racing to keep up with the restless momentum of the track.\n\nAt its core, this is a leftfield take on house and techno. An obvious point of comparison is Actress' stunning album from last year, RIP. However, whereas that album or the likes of Burial use grainy production and warm crackling samples to create a sense of humanistic nostalgia around their ultra-slick arrangements, Leeds' music is routed in a playful use of old technology.\n\nThird track 'Quivira' has brittle, tinny sounding percussion that gives it a strange decaying beauty. Throughout the album, a small collection of sounds and textures are chopped and manipulated into a variety of different impressions. From the mellow beauty of 'Monks Mound (Arcology)' to the almost kitsch-sounding vocal samples and keyboard flourishes of 'Ragtime U.S.A. (Warning)'. The press release describes the album as a tribute to Leeds' native Kansas, and it excels at reflecting the oddball eclectism of a modern city.\n\nUnlike a lot of modern producers, Huerco S has made no attempt to disguise the fact that this is music made on synths, sequencers and drum machines. It celebrates the clumsy relationship between humans and technology with loose, glitchy, ragged arrangements. It's by no means retro-sounding though - it sits quite comfortably alongside the likes of Four Tet or the previously mentioned Actress in its ambition and broad scope. It doesn't necessarily break any new ground, as much as look at electronic music from a slightly skewed angle.\n\nOverall Rating (0)\n\n0 out of 5 stars", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9420047998428345}
+{"content": "Sea Watch\n\nSea Watch\nArtificial Reef\n\nArtificial Reef: Nature’s Best Friend?\n\nTime will tell whether artificial reefs can replace some of the millions of acres of reefs that have already been lost. Reefs, especially coral reefs, are...\nAn image of a sportsfish headed into a thunderstorm.\n\nBeware of Thunderstorms\n\nThunderstorms can be dangerous. Here's what you need to know to reduce your risk. Although thunderstorms can occur any time of the year, as the...\nUnderwater Sound\n\nUnderwater Sound\n\nHumans can't hear underwater sound in the same way that whales or other creatures can. Sound is an integral part of the undersea world. In...\nThe Invasive Lionfish\n\nLionfish: Eat ’em to Beat ’em\n\nLionfish do not belong here. Their natural domain is in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. There, they are a normal and healthy part...\nan image of child plaing in the water Rip Currents\n\nRip Currents\n\nRip Currents: Life or Death If you’ve heard warnings of possible rip currents, take them seriously! Last year in the United States, 62 people perished due...\n\n\nMiami Boat Shows\n\nOutboard Cruisers Roundup\n\nHome Sweet Horizon\n\nHo Ho Holiday Gift Guide", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9113430380821228}
+{"content": "Damon Kyle Wayans, Sr. (born September 4, 1960) is a American comedian, actor, writer, producer and a member of the Wayans family. He is best known for starring in the shows, My Wife and Kids as Michael Kyle, Sr., for being a cast member and writer for the sketch-comedy, In Living Color, and as \"Roger Murtaugh\" in the FOX television series Lethal Weapon. He is also known for his role in films such as Major Payne, Blankman, and The Last Boy Scout.\n\n\nDamon starred doing stand-up comedy in 1982. His earliest film appearance was a brief cameo as a hotel employee in Beverly Hills Cop. He was briefly a cast member on Saturday Night Live as a featured performer for 11 episodes until he was fired for portraying a flamboyant gay cop instead of a straight cop in a live skit. After being fired, he went on to become a cast member and staff writer on the sketch-comedy show In Living Color on FOX with his brother Keenen which sky rocketed him and his family to super stardom. Wayans starred on the show for 3 seasons until he left the show in 1992 to pursue his film career.\n\nAfter his departure from the show, he went on to star in films such as Major Payne, Blankman, The Last Boy Scout, Mo' Money,Celtic Pride, Bulletproof, and The Great White Hype. In 1996, he produced a cartoon series called Waynehead on the WB Network, which was loosely based on his childhood life but was cancelled due to low ratings.\n\nIn 1998, Wayans starred in a short-lived comedy titled, Damon on FOX, but only lasted for one season. In 2001, he began starring as \"Michael Kyle\" in the sitcom, My Wife and Kids, which aired on ABC for 5 seasons. Wayans then created his own sketch-comedy series, The Underground for Showtime but was cancelled after one season.\n\nRecently, Wayans is currently starring as \"Roger Murtaugh\" (who was originally portrayed by actor Danny Glover) for the FOX television series Lethal Weapon, which is based on the 1987 film with the same name. However, it was announced in October 2018 that Wayans would be leaving the show after it's third season.\n\nPersonal LifeEdit\n\nDamon was married to Lisa Thorner, until they got divorced in 2000. Damon has four children, Damon Wayans, Jr., Michael Wayans, Cara Mia Wayans, and Kyla Wayans. He won the People's Choice Awards for \"Favorite Male Performer\" In a New TV Series. Damon was also born with clubed foot as a child. Wayans announced during a stand-up show that he was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.\n\n\n  • Wayans received four Emmy nominations for his acting and writing in In Living Color.\n  • Wayans appeared in Janet Jackson's \"The Best Things In Life Are Free\" music video.\n  • Wayans was considered to play \"The Riddler\" in Batman Forever.\n  • Wayans is a Jehovah's Witness.\n  • Wayans is a close friend of basketball player Michael Jordan and actor Jim Carrey.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6325057148933411}
+{"content": "\n\n\nQuestion 1: Do you know of any alternatives to using Google Alerts?\n\nOur Response: We just started using Talkwalker and are finding it very useful to monitor content related to our business. TalkWalker’s free, personalized software monitors keywords for you whenever they arise on the Internet. TalkWalker strives to focus on monitoring news and social sources.\n\nTalkwalker‘s set-up process for customization takes less than a couple minutes, and it’s that easy! Users select whether the media alerts should be sent in real time as they occur, on a daily basis, or on a weekly basis. In addition to exporting and sorting data capabilities, the updates can be sent to a user’s email or RSS feed, and existing Google Alerts can be imported into Talkwalker’s system.\n\nCheck out some of our other favorite picks for free reputation management applications. In addition, stay tuned for some upcoming and exciting information on social monitoring and reputation management updates in the UpCity software.\n\nQuestion 2: I’ve just switched my website’s content management system to WordPress and am nervous about getting hacked. How do I protect my website?\n\nOut Response: Maintaining a secure website is crucial in today’s world, especially for small businesses. Website protection is a continuous strategy and should become part of your business’s daily or weekly routine if it’s not already. Below are several tips that will help keep your data protected as well as will lower your stress level! We’d recommend participating in as many as you can. These strategies can be applied to your website, no matter what type of content management system (CMS) you are currently utilizing:\n\n  1. Change your passwords often. This is an easy recommendation but A LOT of people complain about this one and aren’t following it.\n  2. Moreover, it’s a good idea to use different passwords for different sites. If that sounds frustrating, you may want to look into a password manager application that helps keep track of ALL your passcodes.\n  3. Use a secure and strong password. Include multiple words and numbers, and a mix of lowercase and uppercase letters. Do not include your name or include common numbers or words (like your address or phone). There are password generator tools on the Internet that can help you create a new password.\n  4. Give out your CMS log-in information to as few people as possible. Admin access should only be shared with those people who need and use it regularly.\n  5. Don’t ignore the CMS and plugin updates that are often sent to you. Not only do they provide you with the latest software, but they also help protect your computer and back up information. Be sure to update your site frequently. Remember: When you perform an update on your CMS or plugin, it’s even more important to back up the data before and after the process takes place.\n  6. Schedule automatic exports of your blog database using plugin applications. Keep several copies.\n  7. Use safe virus software.\n  8. Set up a back up system and back up frequently. With how much information is stored on your computer, it’ essential to make a copy of your data often. Whether using an external hard drive, flash drive, cloud, online storage, or built in software from your computer, we’d recommend saving your information with as many tools as you can. If you’re using an external piece of software, be sure to store it safely afterward.\n\nQuestion 3: I would like to insert an hcard on my website. Is the hcard meant to be hidden and only seen by search engines?\n\n\n\nGrowth Marketing Manager at |\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8500552177429199}
+{"content": "Tapestry’s History\n\nHanging on the stone walls of castles, in large rooms not easy to be heated, tapestries combined the decorative function with the one of thermal insulation during winter. The great success of tapestries over the centuries is probably linked to their portability. Kings and nobles could roll them up and carry them while moving between one residence to  another and, unlike the frescoes, they could be saved in case of fire or looting.\n\nTapestry in Sforza's castle\n\nTapestry in Sforza’s castle\n\nIn churches they could be unrolled for special occasions. They have been manufactured since the earliest times, although the difficulty of conserving the materials that make them, natural textile fibers such as wool, cotton or linen, strongly influenced the quantity and quality of the objects that arrived to our era. The oldest tapestries date back to ancient Egypt and late Greece, but were spread everywhere in the world, from Japan to pre-Columbian America.\n\nThe development of the tapestry in Europe dates back to the beginning of the 14th century, first in Germany and Switzerland, then in France and Holland. The apex of production was achieved in the Renaissance, particularly in Flanders and France, in Arras, Paris, Aubusson, Tournai, Brussels, Audenarde, Beauvais. The manufacture of the Gobelins, founded in Paris in 1662 continues  today. A well known example of Flemish tapestry is the cycle of six tapestries dedicated to the lady and the unicorn (XV century), kept at the Museum of Cluny, In Paris. Following the crisis, involving the whole of Europe, Italian’s tapestries’ industry shut down.\n\nThe art of the tapestry survives today in small niches of production, and for the restoration of the ancient ones.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.993556797504425}
+{"content": "PubMed Journal Database | Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care - Page: 6 RSS\n\n07:19 EST 17th February 2019 | BioPortfolio\n\n\n\n\nShowing PubMed Articles 126–150 of 170 from Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care\n\nRelevance of vitamin D in the pathogenesis and therapy of frailty.\n\n\nBody weight and body composition in old age and their relationship with frailty.\n\nAging is associated with various changes in body composition, including changes in weight, loss of muscle mass, and increase in fat mass. This article describes the role of body weight and body composition, and their changes, in the risk of frailty in old age.\n\nThe relevance of nutrition for the concept of cognitive frailty.\n\nPhysical and cognitive frailty are interrelated and synergistic syndromes more frequently seen in old age, which represent intermediate stages between aging successfully and disability. Poor nutrition is a fundamental determinant for both conditions, while various dietary components are proposed to prevent and/or improve them. This updated review discusses the possible influence of nutritional factors on cognitive frailty and its potential mediators.\n\nEditorial introductions.\n\nRisks and benefits of phytoestrogens: where are we now?\n\nThe estrogenic effects of genistein, as reconfirmed by the American National Toxicology Program (USA-NTP), have led to several new clinical studies being undertaken. Here, we highlight the most relevant recent data, reporting either beneficial or adverse effects.\n\n\nObesity is commonly associated with metabolic dysfunction but there are obese persons who are metabolically healthy. On the opposite side of the coin, there are lean persons who carry multiple cardiometabolic risk factors, typically referred to as metabolically obese, normal-weight (MONW). This has called into question our understanding of obesity and metabolic dysfunction, as an appearance of normal weight may mask significant comorbidities and delay health interventions.\n\nPotential harmful effects of dietary supplements in sports medicine.\n\nThe purpose of this article is to collect the most recent data regarding the safety of well-known or emerging dietary supplements used by athletes.\n\nTowards a multidimensional healthy ageing phenotype.\n\n\n\nThe recent relevant evidence of the effects of the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and lifestyle on health (2015 and first months of 2016).\n\nSkeletal muscle mitophagy in chronic disease: implications for muscle oxidative capacity?\n\nLoss of skeletal muscle oxidative capacity is a common feature of chronic diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes, and congestive heart failure. It may lead to physical impairments and has been suggested to contribute to metabolic inflexibility-induced cardiometabolic risk. The mechanism underlying loss of muscle oxidative capacity is incompletely understood. This review discusses the role of mitophagy as a driving force behind the loss of skeletal muscle oxidative capacity i...\n\nChanges in circulating vitamin D levels with loss of adipose tissue.\n\nLow vitamin D levels have been extensively reported in obesity. Thus, the pandemic of obesity has been paralleled by a high prevalence of low vitamin D status. Given the well documented associations linking poor vitamin D status to adverse health outcomes (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancers, all-cause mortality), a proper understanding of the mechanisms linking excess adiposity to low vitamin D status is key to identify and implement effective interventions to replenish vitamin D levels in obese indi...\n\nInteractions of gut microbiota with dietary polyphenols and consequences to human health.\n\nDietary (poly)phenolic compounds have received attention over the last 20 years as antioxidants with preventive properties against chronic diseases. However, the evidence of these effects in clinical trials is weak, mainly because of a considerable interindividual variability. Polyphenols bioavailability is low, and gut microbiota metabolize them into simpler metabolites. As gut microbiota vary among individuals, such interindividual variability should be considered as a moderating factor in clinical trials...\n\nNew advances in analytical methods and assessment tools to identify deficiency and metabolic risk.\n\nThe role of amino acid profiles in diabetes risk assessment.\n\nThe concentrations of plasma-free amino acids, such as branched-chain amino acids and aromatic amino acids, are associated with visceral obesity, insulin resistance, and the future development of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. This review discusses recent progress in the early assessment of the risk of developing diabetes and the reversal of altered plasma-free amino acids through interventions. Additionally, recent developments that have increased the utility of amino acid profiling technology are a...\n\nHepatic steatosis: a role for citrulline.\n\nThe high worldwide prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) makes it a major public health issue. Amino acids offer a promising approach for its prevention, and several experimental studies highlight the nutritional importance of citrulline in this setting. The purpose of this review is to discuss the potential interest of citrulline in the prevention and treatment of NAFLD.\n\nQuality of meal and appetite sensation.\n\nThe scope of this review is to summarize recent studies assessing the role of meal composition on appetite sensation.\n\nChyme reinfusion or enteroclysis in nutrition of patients with temporary double enterostomy or enterocutaneous fistula.\n\nPatients with double temporary enterostomy or enterocutaneous fistula may suffer from intestinal failure. Parenteral nutrition is the gold standard treatment until surgical re-establishment of intestinal continuity, but serious complications may arise. Chyme reinfusion or enteroclysis are indicated.\n\nCan specific nutrients stimulate bowel wound healing?\n\nThe purpose of review is to provide an overview on specific nutrients which play an important role in bowel wound healing, and to judge the efficacy of supplementation to derive recommendations for clinical practice.\n\nAssessing zinc in humans.\n\nTo examine the most recent literature that provides new data regarding the potential and emerging biomarkers for zinc status in individuals.\n\nScreening and assessment tools for pediatric malnutrition.\n\nThe ideal measures for screening and assessing undernutrition in children remain a point of discussion in literature. This review aims to provide an overview of recent advances in the nutritional screening and assessment methods in children.\n\nFn14: a new player in cancer-induced cachexia.\n\nAlthough cancer cachexia is a very significant condition that is present in up to 80% of cancer cases, the cause of the condition has remained a puzzle. Cancer cachexia is a condition which is mainly characterised by muscle wasting, mobilization of fat reserves, and overall metabolic disturbance. This review aims to highlight some of the recent findings in cancer cachexia research.\n\nEditorial introductions.\n\nObesity and tumor growth: inflammation, immunity, and the role of a ketogenic diet.\n\nThis article reviews the impact the obese state has on malignancy through inflammation and immune dysregulation using recent excerpts from the medical literature.\n\nSugar replacers: from technological challenges to consequences on health.\n\nDietary sugars play a role in noncommunicable diseases and represent a clear target for reduction. In this context, product reformulation can have a positive impact on health. Several technological solutions are available to replace sugar, all with benefits and limitations. The goal of this review is to describe the main sugar replacement alternatives and discuss their impact on health and product physico-chemical properties.\n\nSugar and metabolic health: is there still a debate?\n\nThere is considerable political and public awareness of new recommendations to reduce sugars and sugar-sweetened beverages in our diets. It is therefore timely to review the most recent changes in guidelines, with a focus on evidence for metabolic health, recent research in the area and gaps in our knowledge.\n\nQuick Search", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9992757439613342}
+{"content": "Visual Guide to Judging Bread Doneness\n\nBy Cook's Illustrated Published November 2018\n\nWhen baking bread, trust your eyes first and foremost.\n\nProfessional bread bakers judge the doneness of their loaves by looking for deep, even browning. They don't typically take the temperature of the crumb. That's because the internal temperature of bread doesn't tell the whole story.\n\nTo demonstrate how appearance is the critical factor when baking bread, we baked three loaves each of various styles, including enriched types containing fat and eggs and lean types containing just flour, water, and salt. We pulled one loaf of each type from the oven when it was 5 degrees shy of its recommended temperature (typically 190 degrees for enriched breads and 205 degrees for lean breads), one when it was 5 degrees past its recommended temperature, and one when it was right on the nose.\n\nOn the inside, all the loaves were just as they should be—neither too wet nor too dry and perfectly moist. But the exteriors were a different story: Many of the low-temperature loaves were soft-crusted and pale and lacked flavor, while some of the high-temperature ones were too hard and slightly burnt on the underside.\n\nBottom line: There is a wider window for doneness on the inside of a loaf than on the crust, so when you're baking bread, trust your eyes first and foremost. Bake bread until it looks right. Feel free to use a thermometer for reassurance, but if the bread is still pale, keep baking it, even if it's at or above the recommended temperature. And if it looks good, don't keep baking it, even if it is 5 to 10 degrees below temperature on the inside.\n\nToo Light\n\nJust Right\n\nToo Dark", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8549208641052246}
+{"content": "\n\n\nHenschke Tilly's Vineyard Dry White 2016 (1x 75cl)\n\nToday, it is fifth-generation winemaker Stephen Henschke and his viticulturist wife Prue at the helm of Henschke, passionately upholding the family name and reputation. Stephen and Prue continue to craft their white wines with a focus on purity, while their red wines have a strong focus on terroir, using traditional winemaking techniques. Stephen's thoughts on their work: “Prue and I are the current ‘keepers of the flame’. Just as earlier generations have done, we want to manage the vineyards and winery so they can be passed on to the next generation in better condition than we inherited them. Our vision would not be complete without the expectation that future generations will uphold and perpetuate our belief that such ancient and unique single-vineyard sites can produce exceptional wines that are prized for their beauty and rarity.”\n\nAs their notes are excellent, we would recommend that you take a few moments to read Henschke's appraisal of this wine by clicking the blue link below.\n\nHenschke Tilly's Vineyard 2016 - fiche technique\n\nBottle Size: 75cl\nCountry: Australia\nRegion: South Australia\nGrape Variety: Sauvignon Blanc | Semillon | Pinot Gris | Riesling | Chardonnay\nVegan: Yes\nDelivery: Usually ships in 5-10 working days\nProduct Code: AUSO0373B16S", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9830144643783569}
+{"content": "Chinese name: 金华市\n\nPopulation: 4,811,500 (2016)\n\nArea: 10,926.16 km² (Prefecture-level city)\n\nElevation: 64.7 m (Average)\n\nAirport: 1\n\nTrain station: 2\n\nWebsite: http://www.jinhua.gov.cn\n\nWikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinhua\n\n\nThe cities of Dongyang and Yiwu are under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Jinhua in the strict administrative sense, these two cities make up the contiguous Yiwu-Dongyang metropolitan region, with a built-up area of 2,038,413 inhabitants, which is bigger than that of the urban center of Jinhua itself.\n\nJinhua is rich in red soil and forest resources. The Jinhua or Wu River flows through the Lan and Fuchun to the Qiantang River beside Hangzhou, which flows into Hangzhou Bay and the East China Sea. In medieval China, it formed part of the water network feeding supplies to the southern end of the Grand Canal. It is best known for its dry-cured Jinhua ham.\n\n\n\nThe history of Jinhua dates back to the 2nd century bc, when it was a county subordinate to Shaoxing. It was given the name Jinhua under the Sui dynasty in ad 598 and later became the seat of a prefecture. The present city and its walls date to the time of the Mongol emperors in 1352.\n\nThe most famous native of Jinhua is Huang Chuping, a Daoist holy man of the 4th century and reputed immortal whose descendants still live in the area. Wuyang Shan (\"Reclining Sheep Mountain\") is said to be a sheep which was turned to stone by Huang, a trick which he learned through his years of diligently studying Daoism.\n\nEconomically Jinhua has always prospered from its position as the regional collecting and processing center for agricultural and forestry products (chiefly rice and bamboo). It is currently the second most important grain producing area in Zhejiang. In 1985 Jinhua was promoted to City status, and now is responsible for administering four cities, four counties and a district. Animals raised there include dairy cattle, meat hogs (for the production of Jinhua ham, a famous local product for 900 years) and honeybees. Jinhua's industrial sector has developed more recently, producing machinery, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, building supplies and electrical and electronic equipment.\n\n\n\nGeography and Climate\n\nJinhua is located at latitudes 28° 32'−29° 41' N and longitudes 119° 14'−120° 46' E in the center of Zhejiang. It borders Hangzhou to the northwest, Quzhou to the southwest, Lishui to the south, Taizhou to the east, and Shaoxing to the northeast.\n\nJinhua has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) with four distinctive seasons, characterised by hot, humid summers and chilly, cloudy and drier winters (with occasional snow). The mean annual temperature is 17.33 °C (63.2 °F), with monthly daily averages ranging from 5.2 °C (41.4 °F) in January to 29.0 °C (84.2 °F) in July. The city receives an average annual rainfall of 1,450 millimetres (57.1 in) and is affected by the plum rains of the Asian monsoon in June, when average relative humidity also peaks.\n\n\nHot Jobs\n\nESL Teacher needed\n\n\nHangzhou, Zhejiang\n\ntraining center English foreign teacher wanted\n\n\n\nFull-time Native-English-Speaker Teacher\n\n\nFoshan, Guangdong", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9124569296836853}
+{"content": "Inverness 01463 221727 | Dingwall 01349 866777 | Aviemore 01479 788688\n\nInverness 01463 221727\n\nDingwall 01349 866777\n\nAviemore 01479 788688\n\n24th February 2017\n\nWhen parents separate it is often difficult to process the reality that even though they will not be a couple, they will still be parents.\n\nA separation can be a traumatic experience for a child at the time but it does not need to cause permanent damage. It would only cause damage where there is conflict involving the children. They may feel that they are the reason for the separation.\n\nA recent case AH v CH [2016] involving a father’s minute seeking unsupervised direct contact. The mother believed that the father was going to abduct the child. The child was made aware of his mother’s fears and did not want direct contact with his father. Lord Brailsford considered that it would be in the best interests of the child for orders to be made to re-establish unsupervised direct contact.\n\nIn this case, the mother held a genuine fear that the child was going to be abducted. She did not trust the child’s father and, despite the steps the court could take to alleviate her fears, she remained unconvinced. Against the background of deceit by the father, the mother’s fear of abduction was genuinely held.\n\nAnother case J v M [2016] involved high levels of conflict between the parties and their respective families following allegations of sexual abuse towards the child. The mother believed the father had sexually abused the child. The father accused the mother and her family of coaching the child to make false disclosures. This resulted in the sheriff’s refusal to order contact.\n\nIn comparison to the former case, the mother’s belief the father had sexually abused the child, despite the father never being charged with an offence nor any reference being made to a children’s hearing, was supported by a finding in fact that there were “reasonable grounds to suspect… some aspect of sexual abuse”, and that the allegation of abuse therefore “provided a sound basis for a prediction of deep ongoing hostility”\n\nYou will note that both cases involved conflict between the parties, however both cases reached different decisions. In terms of the decision making process in determining contact, the court must weigh up the facts of the case.\n\nThe overarching principle is the welfare of the child is paramount.\n\nFor many years Munro & Noble have advised clients in matters of child and family law and have a strong team in place to support you. Mary Nimmo is regularly appointed by the Sheriff as Court Reporter to make recommendations to the Courts regarding child related matters.\n\nIn addition, she is regularly appointed as Curator ad Litem to protect and safeguard a child’s interests by the court and the Children’s Hearing. For more information, please contact our Child Law Team on 01463 221727.\n\nChild conflict and speration, Munro Noble discuss.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8402776122093201}
+{"content": "Cut A Chronic Wound Story Short\n\nA young woman sits with a hot drink and her feet up, watching out of the window from the comfort of her own home. She is taking a break from her chores and busy day to day routine to gaze into her garden and wonder.\n\nAround 3 million people in the UK are currently living with a chronic wound; these include diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers, venous leg ulcers and skin tears. A survey of more than 200 people living with chronic wounds (conducted by Mölnlycke, a provider of wound care solutions) revealed that living with an open wound for almost a year has become the ‘new normal’ in the UK. As the majority (80%) of patients require dressing changes at least twice a week, it’s unsurprising to discover over a third of patients reported their wound has a high impact on their quality of life. But how can you prevent an injury in the first place? And how can you effectively manage a non-healing wound?\n\n1 Diabetic foot ulcers\n\nPeople with diabetes are more likely to suffer from circulation problems and may suffer from a loss of sensation (neuropathy) in their feet. They may not notice when they injure their feet, so should be particularly careful to wear well-fitting shoes that do not rub or cause blisters.\n\nIf you suffer from a diabetic foot ulcer…\n\nFactors that affect healing include poorly controlled blood sugar and constant pressure on the ulcer. Follow your treatment plan, aim to get your blood sugar under control and stay off your feet as much as possible, to allow the wound to heal.\n\n2 Pressure ulcer\n\nThese primarily affect people who have mobility issues and spend long periods of time confined to a bed or wheelchair. However some people may acquire a pressure ulcer after an operation, as laying in one position can put pressure on the skin.\n\nIf you have a pressure ulcer…\n\nSeek medical attention as soon as possible. Your GP or nurse can prescribe special dressings that speed up the healing process and relieve the pressure on the affected area of skin.\n\n3 Venous leg ulcer\n\nAffecting around 1 in 500 of the population, you are more at risk of developing one if you’ve ever had a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), suffer varicose veins, have osteoarthritis or are overweight. These chronic sores can ooze fluid and be very painful for sufferers.\n\nIf you have a leg ulcer…\n\nMost venous leg ulcers heal within three to four months if they’re treated by a healthcare professional trained in compression therapy. Treatment involves cleaning and dressing the wound using compression, such as bandages or stockings, to improve the flow of blood in the legs. Speak to your GP about the underlying cause of your leg ulcer and how else this could be addressed to prevent leg ulcers becoming a recurring problem.\n\n4 Skin tears\n\nOlder fragile skin is at the highest risk of skin tears and these often develop into chronic wounds, so it is really important to look after elderly skin and prevent skin tears. Studies have shown that applying emollients every day, like Epaderm Cream (prices range from £3.49 – £12.49 in Boots ), can reduce skin tears.\n\nEpaderm Cream\n\n\nIf you have a skin tear…\n\nFor skin tear sufferers, the process of removing and re-applying wound dressings can create further injury. Speak to your healthcare team about specialist dressings which minimise trauma to the skin (and pain at dressing changes).\n\nMoira Chisholm\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7318249940872192}
+{"content": "Dataset Information\n\n\nGenome-wide mapping of DNA hydroxymethylation in osteoarthritic chondrocytes [expression]\n\nABSTRACT: Examination of the genome-wide distribution of 5hmC in osteoarthritic chondrocytes compared to normal chondrocytes in order to elucidate the effect on OA-specific gene expression. 5hmC-sequencing was performed and data was compared with microarray gene expression data to identify genes with differential expression between normal and OA chondrocytes that are potentially under epigenetic regulation. Gene expression patterns were examined by comparing the 5 normal samples to the 2 OA samples to assess the changing expression profiles between normal and OA chondrocytes. We analyzed the changes in gene expression in OA; genes with a fold-change ≥ or ≤1.5 or 1.2, with a difference in intensity of >100 and within the lower 90% confidence bound, were selected.\n\nORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens  \n\nSUBMITTER: Ye H Li  Nidhi Bhutani   Sarah E Taylor   Sarah EB Taylor    \n\nPROVIDER: E-GEOD-64394 | ArrayExpress | 2015-08-19\n\n\n\naltmetric image\n\n\n\nSimilar Datasets\n\n2015-08-19 | E-GEOD-64393 | ArrayExpress\n2015-12-02 | E-GEOD-62914 | ArrayExpress\n| GSE64393 | GEO\n2013-07-24 | E-GEOD-47067 | ArrayExpress\n2014-08-08 | E-GEOD-49640 | ArrayExpress\n2015-05-09 | E-GEOD-61597 | ArrayExpress\n2016-07-31 | E-GEOD-73040 | ArrayExpress\n2013-08-21 | E-GEOD-49412 | ArrayExpress\n2016-01-16 | E-GEOD-69207 | ArrayExpress\n2014-06-02 | E-GEOD-44136 | ArrayExpress", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9996379017829895}
+{"content": "FIFA 16 - Origin Account + secret answer\n\n\nThe sale of this product is temporarily suspended.\n\nSold: 13 last one 02.04.2017\nRefunds: 0\n\nUploaded: 09.04.2017\nContent: text 344 symbols\n\n\nFIFA 16 - Origin Account + secret answer\n\nAccount Origin - FIFA 16 (login, password + secret answer )\n\nBy purchasing this product you will get:\n+ Account Origin - to the license on her game Fifa 15 (login, password, sekr.otv.)\n+ Secret Answer\n+ All the accounts are tested to the ban, and validity before sale\n+ If you have questions can contact the seller\n+ Present on account the presence of other games\n+ All the accounts have binning more than a month\n\n!!! On access to UT - account is not checked\n\nIf you do replace the identified problems in the case of:\n- When making a purchase - was a non-business account, you have a video or screen shots (because we guarantee that accounts for workers)\n- If you have stolen account - correctly, contact your dealer, succinctly Explain to your problem,\n\nAdditional information\n\nDear customers, we are always happy to help you. If you have any problems do not be quick to leave negative\nIn the near future you will answer and help.\n\nWhat to do after purchase?\n\n1) Carefully read the description and recommendations and follow them.\n2) Download / install origin\n3) Authorize the client Origin.\n4) Download the game - play.\n\n\nNo feedback yet.\n1 month 3 months 12 months\n0 0 0\n0 0 0", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9986509680747986}
+{"content": "Monolake explores sound, rhythm and their structures in relation with space surrounding them. For ten years, the duet has been essential like one of the more innovating and intelligent spokesman of Techno, as well as Thomas Brinkmann, able to make people dance and think at the same time.\n\nArborescence - .", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000098943710327}
+{"content": "Nano Sumo Rules 2019\nNano Sumo\nShort Description:\nAs in the traditional Japanese martial arts, the robots try to push the competitor off the ring.\nFirst publication\n1. Definition of the Sumo Match\n1.1. Definition\nA match is fought between two teams, each team having one or more members. Only two team members from each team may approach the ring. The operator and the assistant will enter the game area, the other team members must watch from the audience. In accordance with the game rules (hereafter referred to as \"these rules\") each team competes on a Dohyo (sumo ring) with a robot that they have constructed themselves to the specifications in Section 2. The match starts at the judge's command and continuous until a contestant earns two Yuhkoh points. The judge determines the winner of the match. After the match the operator and the assistant will go to the assigned room for the challenge and wait there for the next game.\n2. Requirements for Robots\n2.1. General Robot Specifications\nA. Any robot design is allowed, if is not subject to the limitations of section 2.2.\nB. A robot must fit within a cube with the side length of 2.5 cm (25mm).\nC. The total mass of a robot at the start of a match must be under 50g.\nD. A robot may expand in size after a match begins, but must not physically separate into pieces, and must remain a single centralized robot. The robot’s feet must not expand during the match. Robots violating these restrictions shall lose the match. Screws, screw nuts, washers and other robot parts with a total mass of less than 5 g falling off from a robot's body, shall not cause the loss of match.\nE. All robots must be autonomous. Any control mechanisms can be employed, as long as all components are contained within the robot and the mechanism does not interact with an external control system (human, machine, or otherwise)\nF. The robots must have displayed a number, offer by the organizers, on the outer casing of the robot in a visible place. The number it is used to identify the robot by the referee and can be found in the Team's Folder (details in appendix 2).\n2.2. Robot Restrictions\nA. For safety reasons the robot must be equipped with an IR kill switch to be operated by the judge. When the judge sends a kill signal the power to the motors shall be shut down. The robot builder is responsible for adding such a kill switch on the robot. The technical specifications for the IR receiver are given in the appendix 1. Contestants can either implement their on hardware or use a prebuilt module offered by the organizers. This module can supply the signal for activating the kill switch.\nIt is mandatory that the IR start module to function and the responsibility for is entirely of the team. If the module is not on the robot or is not working the team will be disqualified from the competition. If a problem occurs with the module during a fight it is recommended and allowed to be replaced. During the homologation and in the matches the module must function properly.\nC. Parts that could break or damage the ring are not allowed. Do not use parts that are intended to damage the opponent’s robot or it's operator. Normal pushes and bangs are not considered intent to damage.\nE. Any flaming devices are not allowed.\nF. Devices that throw things at your opponent are not allowed.\nG. Sticky substances to improve traction are not allowed. Tires and other components of the robot in contact with the ring, must not be able to pick up and hold a standard A4 paper (80 g/m2) for more than two seconds.\nH. Devices to increase down force, such as a vacuum pumps and magnets are only allowed in the Mega sumo class. They are not allowed in Micro sumo class.\nI. The blade and the expansion of the robot can not be white.\n3. Requirements for the Dohyo (Sumo Ring)\n3.1. Dohyo Interior\n3.2. Dohyo Specifications\nA. The ring shall be circular made from wood with a thickness of 1.25 cm, painted in black with a diameter of 19.25 cm (192.5 mm).\nB. The border line is marked as a white circular ring with a width of 0.625 cm (6.25 mm).\nC. The Doyho will be place on a wooden surface, height 70 - 100 cm (700 - 1000 mm)\nD. For all given dohyo dimensions a tolerance of 5% applies.\nE. Starting Lines (Shikiri-Sen) brown color 2.5x1 cm (25x10 mm)\n\n\nNo photo description available.\n3.3. Doyho Exterior\n3.4. How to Carry Sumo Matches\nB. The team who wins two rounds or receives two \"Yuhkoh\" points first, within the time limit, shall win the match. A team receives a \"Yuhkoh\" point when they win a round. If the time limit is reached before one team can get two \"Yuhkoh\" points, and one of the teams has received one \"Yuhkoh\" point, the team with one \"Yuhkoh\" point shall win.\nC. When the match is not won by either team within the time limit, an extended match may be fought, during which the team who receives the first \"Yuhkoh\" point shall win. Alternatively, the winner/loser of the match may be decided by judges, by means of lots, or by a rematch.\nD. If the robots get stuck, the rules from the point 6.1 will be applied.\nE. If one of the two robots won’t start, a restart will be done. If at this restart the same robot won’t start, the match will be won by the robot that moves.\n3.5. Course of the Competition\nImportant!!! One person can be operator for maximum 2 robots.\nA. The robots will be divided into groups according to the number of participants. The competition will take place in a groups/quarters/semifinals/finals system in order to allow as many rounds of play for each robot. Each match is played on the best out of 3 rounds system and will be supervised by 3 refs (a principal one and two assistants), excepting the finals where the match is disputed on the 5 rounds system. The decisions of the refs must be unanimous and are final; questioning these decisions leads to disqualification.\nB. If two robots of the same team will advance to quarters/semifinals/finals and play one against the other, they must play the match, without demanding that one of them to advance without play, or to demand to arrange the matches or the opponents.\nC. The order of the robots in the groups will be made random, it will be made after the official opening of the competition, will be available on the website for all the participants. The ones that pass the groups will play quarter/semifinals/finals.\nIf the number of the participants will not be enough for the groups the competition will be played from the beginning using the pyramidal system. The position in the pyramid will be random.\nD. During the whole contest, a team has the right at 2 reprogramming interruptions, 5 minute each. Other breaks are allowed only for mechanical problems and only with referee’s approval. This rule is applied only during a  running match. Besides the matches, the changes and reprogramming are allowed. The teams are required to be at the start in maximum 1 minute from the request, otherwise they will lose the match.\nE. Until the homologation, all the teams will stay in the room reserved for them (the room will be marked in the area map from the team’s folder). Each challenge will have a room. The teams can leave the room only when they are called to the competition area. Each team will be called by a competition official, when they need to go to the waiting area which is near the competition area (details in appendix 1).\nF. After the homologation the teams, which will follow at start, will remain at the competition area, in the waiting area. The teams will leave this area only if the referee agrees, or only for repairs and they must return in the time set by the referee. If the team doesn’t return at the first call, they will lose the match.\nG. After a match is over, the teams must return in the room reserved for them.\nH. Each team has the responsibility to follow the starting grid (schedule), displayed on the website and in the team’s room. PLEASE DON’T BE LATE, WE WILL NOT WAIT!!!\nIf you are called to play and you don't come in 5 minutes the robot is desqulified.\nI. Each team will have one operator and optional, one assistant. Only the operator and the assistant are allowed in the waiting area and in the game area. The rest of the team will remain in the room or will follow the game from  the audience.\n3.6. Homologation\nEach team will have to pass the homologation stage, in order to participate with theirs robots in the competition.\nThe stages of homologation process are:\nAt the begining of the competition \nA. It will be checked if the number exists on the outer casing of the robot. \nB. A photo will be taken to every robot in which the numer will be visible.\nC. Checking the robot dimensions by placing a 2.6 cm x 2.6 cm (26mm x 26mm) box/frame, bottomless, over the robot.\nD. Weighing the robot on a digital scale. The maximum value must be 51g.\nE. Checking the operation of the IR sensor to start and stop the robot.\nBefore every match\nA. Checking the robot dimensions by placing a 2.6 cm x 2.6 cm x 2.6 cm (26 mm x 26 mm x 26 mm) box/frame, bottomless, over the robot.\nB. Weighing the robot on a digital scale. The maximum value must be 51g.\n\nAfter approval the first 4 teams will remain in the waiting area near the game area. The rest of the teams will return to the room assigned for them.\n4.Start, Stop, Resume, End a Match\n4.1. Robot Placing\nUpon the judge's instructions, the two teams approach the ring to place their robots on the ring. The operators will place the robots in the same time on the ring. The Judge will give the signal. After placing, the robots may not be moved or touched anymore.\nAny part of the robots must be placed behind the Shikiri-Sen (staring lines). The robot shall not go over the starting line toward the oponent. \nThe robot should be placed on and within the extended lines verticaly from the both edges of Shikiri-Sen (starting line)\nThe referee will check if the robots are places ok. If the placement is not corect, the robot positioning will be made again.\n sumo placement\n4.2. Start\nIn Mega, Mini and Micro classes the judge starts every round by sending a start signal with an IR transmitter. As soon as the robots receive the signal the round will start immediately, without any delay. The technical specifications for the IR receiver are given in the appendix. Contestants can either implement their own hardware or use a prebuilt module offered by the organizers.\nThe start will be made after the operator and/or the assistant will be in the safe area.If the operator and/or the assistant will leave the safe without referee approval the team can lose a point or can be disqualified.\n4.3. Stop, Resume\nThe match stops and resumes when a judge announces so.\nThe judge announces the moment when the robots can be placed on the ring, moment when the operator and/or the assistant to retreat in the safe area and the moment when they can take the robots from the ring.\n4.4. End\nThe match ends when the judge announces so. The two teams retrieve the robots from the ring area.\nAfter the robots are retrieved the decision is final and no objections shall be declared.\n5. Time of Match\n5.1. Duration\n5.2. Extention\n6. Scoring\nOne “Yuhkoh” point shall be given when:\nA. A team legally forces the body of the opposing robot to touch the space outside the ring.\nB. The opposing robot has touched the space outside the ring on its own.\nC. The opposing robot has left the ring surface completely, even if the other robot has touched first the space outside the ring (after a contact between the robots).\nD. The opposing robot gets damaged without being able to continue and the team’s representative announces it.\nE. If both robots leave the ring at the same time, the robot that gets pushed outside will lose, even if the one that pushes touches first the space outside the ring.\nA. Technical merits in movement and operation of a robot\nB. Penalty points during the match\nC. Attitude of the players during the match\n\n6.1. The match shall be stopped and a rematch started under the following conditions:\nA. If one of the two robots doesn’t start there will be one restart. \nIf at restart the same robot doesn’t start, the point will be won by the robot that moves.\nB. The robots are entangled or orbiting each other with no perceivable progress for 10 seconds there will be one restart. \nIf at restart the situation is repeating, the winner will be the robot that moves more and shows the willing to fight.\nC. If one fast robot get stuck in a slow robot for more than 5 seconds, there will be one restart. \nIf the progress is none or the robots move very slow, after 5 seconds the judge stops the match. The teams can't make any objection.\nIf at restart the situation is repeating, the robot that moves faster and attack will be the winner of the round. \nD. If two fast robots get stuck for more than 5 seconds, there will be one restart. \nIf at restart the situation is repeating, the robot that moves faster and attack more will be the winner of the round. \nE. If one robot has 1 point and in the next round there is no winner, there are allowed only 2 rematches. If in the 2 rematches allowed no one wins, the robot that has 1 point will be the winner of the match.\nF. Both robots move, without making progress, or stop (at the exact same time) and stay stopped for 5 seconds without touching each other. However, if one robot stops its movement first, after 5 seconds it will be declared as not having the will to fight. In this case the opponent shall receive a “Yuhkoh” point, even if the opponent also stops. If both robots are moving and it isn't clear if progress is being made or not, the judge can extend the time limit up to 30 seconds.\nIn the case the winner can't be declared in any of the above situations, there will be a special rule:A bottle will be placed in the center of the Dohyo and the first rbots that touches it is declared the winner.\n6.2. Repairs, modifications, unpredicted interruptions\nIf a robot gets broken during a match, the main referee will assign a repair within 1 minute. This range can be extended up to 5 minutes the organizers. The repairs will be supervised by an assistant referee, to avoid changing the robot modules with other unapproved ones.\nIf a robot can not be repaired within the range specified, the match is won by the opponent robot, but the broken robot team can continue repairs until the next match involved, in this case being supervised by a referee / member of the organizing committee.\nReplace defective parts can be made and the batteries can be recharged during the competition, if necessary.\nIf there any modification made to the robot after homologation, the robot must pass again the homologation stage\n7. Violations\n7.1. Violations\nPlayers performing any of the deeds described in Sections 2.2, 7.2 or 7.3 shall be declared in violation of these rules.\n7.2. Insults\nB. It is considered serious misconduct when the operator and/or the assistant doesn’t retreat to the safe area or don’t comply the indications of the referee.\nC. It is considered serious misconduct if the start/stop module doesn’t work or is missing and the robot will be disqualified.\n7.3. Minor Violations\nA minor violation is punishable with a warning and is declared when:\nA. The competitor enter the ring during the match , unless the referee stops the match after the grant of a \" Yuhkoh \" point and the contestant goes to pick up the robot. To enter into the ring means:\na. A part of the player's body is in the ring.\nB. Performs the following deeds:\na. Demand to stop the match without appropriate reasons.\nb. Take more than 60 seconds before resuming the match, unless the judge announces a time extension.\nc. Does or says that which disgraces the fairness of the match.\nd. The operator and/or the assistant will leave the waiting area without announcing the official of the competition or the referee regarding the reason of leaving.\nIf a team has 2 warnings, a ”Yuhkoh” point will be given to the opposite team, or the team can be disqualified depending of the gravity of the action that they did.\n8. Penalties\n8.1. Penalties\nA. Players who violate these rules by performing the deeds described in Sections 2.2, 7.2 and 7.3 shall lose the match. The judge shall give two Yuhkoh points to the opponent and order the violator to clear out. The violator is not honored with any rights.\nB. Each occasion of the violations described in Sections 7.3 shall be accumulated. Two of these violations shall give one Yuhkoh to the opponent.\nC. The violations described in Article 7.3 shall be accumulated throughout one match\n9. Declaring Objections\n9.1. Declaring Objections\nA. No objections shall be declared against the judges' decisions.\n10. Flexibility of Rules\nAs long as the concept and fundamentals of the rules are observed, these rules shall be flexible enough to encompass the changes in the number of players and of the contents of matches. Modifications or abolition of the rules can be made by the local event organizers as long as they are published prior to the event, and are consistently maintained throughout the event.\n11. Liability\nB. The RoboChallenge organization and the organizing team members will never be held responsible nor liable for any incidents and / or accidents caused by participating teams or their equipment.\nRemote start and kill switch\nEvery round in Micro Sumo class is started by the referee sending a start signal with an IR transmitter. As soon as the robot receives the signal the round will start. (This method makes the matches fairer since it eliminates false starts and is also time saving since less restarts is needed). The contestant can choose to either implement all the hardware and software by them self or he/she can simply use a prebuilt module surcharge (recommended).\nKill switch\nThe kill switch is used to cut power to the motors of the robot, this is used as a safety precaution and is only mandatory in the Mega Sumo class. When the referee sends the stop command the power to the motors has to be cut. The robot builder is responsible for adding such a kill switch on the robot by themselves, however the prebuilt module can supply the signal for activating the kill switch.\nPrebuilt module\nThe prebuilt module takes care of all communication and is very easy to implement. The robot only needs to wait for the start pin on the module to go high and then it should start. The module accepts supply voltage (VCC) 3.3 - 5V. The VCC GND Start has standard 2.54 mm pitch.\nThe prebuilt module can be ordered from the organizer,surcharge, during the online registration.\nModes of operation\nThe figure below illustrates the modes of operation of the module. To be less sensitive to noise and disturbances the module will save its current state into a non - volatile memory and if it is resets it will return to the last known state. This means that each match will end with the referee sending the stop command.\nIf the LED on the module is on before the referee has sent the start command it means that the module is in the “Started” state. Then the stop command has to be sent and the robot needs to restart for the module to go back to the “Power ON” state. To be able to run multiple matches next to each other each dohyo will have its own unique identifier. The prebuilt module can be re - programmed to listen for a new identifier. This is done by the referee by sending a special programming command which updates this identifier. Robots which use sensors that are based on IR technology with a 38 Khz transmitter modulation are encouraged to start their sensors after the start signal is received. This is to minimize the risk of disturbance.\nThe Home Mode\nThe module has an option of usage without the special remote control. On the back of the module are 2 large pads- Home and GND. If one attaches an 1 Kohm resistance between the two pads, the module will accept signal from a standard TV remote control (the remote control that uses RC - 5 coding and was developed by Philips, but there are many other companies that use the same protocol). Sony and Nec have their own protocol and the remote control will not work. The best way to test if the remote control works, is to test it with the module. Pressing the 1 button from the TV remote control will be START and 2 will be STOP.\nExplanation of use\nYou can find detailed information about the usage of the start modules on:\nRecommended design for Kill Switch\nHow to implement Kill switch circuit using a relay\nHow to implement Kill switch circuit using an optocoupler\nFor answers to the most common questions regarding the start systems.\nHow to implement everything by your own\nFor those who want to implement everything by their own and not use the prebuilt module a guide for this can be found at:\nTeam’s folder will have the following items:\n  1. The numbers for each robot\n  2. The participations diplomas for the team members\n  3. The badges for the team members\n  4. Informations regarding the rooms reserved for the teams and the competition area map\n  5. Promotional\n  6. Explanation regarding how the groups are formed\n  7. The map for the team’s room and the competition areas", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7475258708000183}
+{"content": "A line long dresses\n\nFor me, the main reason to wear a a line long dresses is freedom of choice. You do not need to spend a lot of time trying to think through your image.\nWomen have an excellent advantage over men: this is the variety of their wardrobe. You can wear not only trousers, but also skirts, and dresses. The woman looks a line long dresses in a womanly and attractive.\n\na line long dresses photo - 1\n\na line long dresses photo - 2\n\na line long dresses photo - 3\n\na line long dresses photo - 4\n\nComfort a line long dresses\n\nIf the a line long dresses sits well and fits your style, then you will feel much more confident and comfortable than in jeans or trousers.\n\nHide the shortcomings, emphasize the merits\n\nIt is difficult to find jeans or trousers that can hide the flaws of the figure. Dresses,a line long dresses, especially from dense materials, can work miracles. Each girl should know her dignity and skillfully show them.\n\nYouth a line long dresses\n\nWhen we wear a a line long dresses, our gait changes, lightness appears. We automatically straighten our backs, we try to keep our posture. Dress revitalizes a woman, gives it airiness.\n\nFestive mood a line long dresses\n\nThe dress itself is an elegant element of the women s wardrobe. Jeans, T-shirts, shirts and even skirts – this is something every day. But a line long dresses also includes a joyful mood on the eve of an event. Especially if you put on your beautiful dress and smile at yourself in the mirror!", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6846308708190918}
+{"content": "Complete India Travel Guide\n\n\"From the ages of pre historic days, India is rich with the heritage of many dynasties and royalties. The history of India provides you a deep knowledge of the major historical events that took place in the country since the ancient times and still mesmerizing people.\"\nPlan Your Tour\nValley of FlowersVaishno Devi Goa Beaches\n\nHistory of India\n\nJama Masjid Delhi,  India\nJama Masjid Delhi, India\n\nIndian deep rooted heritage and culture have been finding their place in the pages of history books for centuries. Indian civilization is one of the oldest of all the civilizations of the world and it requires ages go through the entire history in short time. Let's have a glimpse on the major Indian historical eras.\n\nPre-Historic Era\n\nThe historians still differ in their opinions while quoting about pre-historic era of India. The remains of the Harappa civilization which is still a big question mark to the world, carries the flag of ancient Indian civilization. This is the time when the biggest two epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were played in the real soil of India, where myth, legend and history seem to collide with each other. The composition of Upanishads are another gift to the generations to come.\n\nMedieval Era\n\na new light of enlightenment and philosophy touched people as Lord Buddha arrived into the world and attained his salvation. The invasion of Alexander, rise of Mauryas and Ashoka dynasty are some of the other historical milestones which keep historians craving for more about medieval India. India reached a new height at this time while walking on the path pioneered by the Lord Buddha, Lord Mahavira and Shankaracharya. You will still find the heritage and culture of medieval era is still well preserved in the ancient temples and monuments.\n\nMughal Era\n\nThis is the time of successive dynasty and political disorder and commotion. The beginning of Mughal reign is the time when the country went through a huge social and cultural change. A new kind of architecture that revolutionized Indian traditions are still fascinating the world in the form of majestic Taj Mahal, Red Fort and Jama Masjid. The Rajput architecture in Rajasthan and Maratha forts in Maharashtra are the other attractions of this era.\n\nModern India\n\nModern India got a chance to interact with the western culture for the first time. Indian thinkers were not far behind to come up with their paintings, novels and poetry and the world acknowledged them with open hearts. After a long fight for independence, India attained sovereignty holding the hands of Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most prominent world leaders of all time. With the advent of British Rulers, India saw a new light of revolutions which is depicted in the rich colonial architecture fringed in every corner of the country. Now, India is a modern country with a globally open market, high-tech cities, excellent communication and ancient heritage.\n\nRelated Article(s)\nSrinagar - The Summer Capital of Jammu Kashmir - By Neeraj Dhankher\nLocal Kashmiri culture, scenic beauty and shopping for cheap Kashmiri shawls are a definite source of attraction.....\n\nTaj Mahal - Icon of Love - By Ram Shankar\nThere is story of love and only love. As in other way, it represents itself as a guide for every human. It is also great heritage for.......\n\nDhauli - Bhubaneswar - By Shantanu Das\nGovt. of Orissa & India have taken visible initiatives in building up Pantha Nivas and restaurants......\n\nAgra - Land of Historic Monuments - By Nidhi Singh\nTaking the religious feelings into consideration another place that attracted me......\n\n\nHome  |  About Us  |  Tour Booking  |  Feedback\nAll rights reserved © IndiaLine, 2013.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8543728590011597}
+{"content": "miercuri, 30 mai 2018\n\nThe Last Legion by Jez Butterworth\n\nThe Last Legion by Jez Butterworth\n\nThere is so much potential in a story with Romans, barbarians, epic battles, legendary heroes, outstanding courage, phenomenal achievements, splendid loyalty and a tremendous cast to present all this.\n\nAnd yet, with Ben Kingsley and Colin Firth leading the troops, this motion picture still fails to deliver much more than unexceptional entertainment.\nIndeed, the Metascore is a terrible 37, one of the lowest one can find for a non independent motion picture.\nOne reason for this misfire might be that it tried to include too much.\n\nWhy would have sorcery, coupled with many fights, a difficult escape, vicious Goths, betraying allies.\nIn one of the early scenes, Sir Ben Kingsley, in a role so distant from the classic, quintessential, universally acclaimed Gandhi, for which he has won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe and other important prizes, shows that he has magical powers.\n\nWhen a stone is thrown, Ben Kingsley aka Ambrosinus aka Merlin, catches it miraculously and not just that, but he turns it into...air and feathers.\n\nThis onlooker was lost here...\nIs this a serious feature about the Roman Empire, a tragic tale of escape, valor, based on real history, with facts that support the plot and make the artistic license reasonable?\n\nOr is is a children's story?\nAlas, it could be perceived as neither...the public was not thrilled and the critics were not impressed.\n\nIt is better to watch Sir Ben Kingsley in the aforementioned chef d'oeuvre and other great motion pictures he was so brilliant in Sexy Beast is another masterpiece- and Colin Firth in The King's Speech, for which he has won the Oscar and other equally rewarding movies.\n\nNiciun comentariu:\n\nTrimiteți un comentariu", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6403509974479675}
+{"content": "Oresti's Taverna - Taste of Amsterdam\n\nTapas from different international cuisines!\n\nMost tapas restaurants only serve the Spanish cuisine, however, at Oresti’s taverna many tasty dishes, tapas and wines are served from several countries in the Mediterranean Sea area. Not only inside but also outside you can taste the cosiness. The café-restaurant is located around a Mediterranean patio that is changed into the ambiance of the seasons. On the 10th of July they are moving to Overtoom 5 in the city-centre of Amsterdam. Last year there soon was a connection between Oresti’s and their neighbours Wijnhandel van Krimpen. That is why this year they are bundling their strengths.\n\n\nOvertoom 5-h\n1054 HA Amsterdam\n+31 (0) 20422274", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6112909317016602}
+{"content": "Academic scholarship, creative literature & magical lyricism.\n\n\nIrene Marques is a writer, poet, scholar and educator; she wants to have wings, to be a being of the world, of the universe. Moving from Portugal to Canada at the age of twenty, Irene was inspired to work bilingually and cross-culturally because reality is complex and constantly asks to be deciphered.\n\n\n\n\nContact information →", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9989517331123352}
+{"content": "Garbage Gorger MANSFIELDS  1\n\nPutting environmental awareness at the core of all innovation, plans to increase the sustainability of our waste programme are being put into operation, with recycling at the top of the agenda.  \n\nThe endeavour is a zero waste to landfill policy; achieving one hundred percent recycling with re-use on site where possible. Already near to completion, all but general office waste is being re-used with some particularly efficient systems in place on the farms, as in the case of Substrate and Coia waste currently being reutilised as mulch under trees for ground water retention.\n\nWhere recycling is not possible, we nonetheless persevere for a more sustainable method of disposal. Through investment in a garbage gorger and cardboard bailer, we are actively pursuing a greener process and reducing our carbon footprint; both machines compact waste into smaller bails or containers in order to reduce the number of journeys to landfill sites and ease the process of cardboard recycling. Reduction in vehicle movement on site helps reduce our carbon footprint and makes even non-recyclable waste, greener.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9002981781959534}
+{"content": "We gratefully acknowledge support from\nthe Simons Foundation and member institutions.\nFull-text links:\n\n\nCurrent browse context:\n\nnew | recent | 1204\n\nChange to browse by:\n\nReferences & Citations\n\nAstrophysics > Earth and Planetary Astrophysics\n\nTitle:Strong tidal dissipation in Saturn and constraints on Enceladus' thermal state from astrometry\n\nAbstract: Tidal interactions between Saturn and its satellites play a crucial role in both the orbital migration of the satellites and the heating of their interiors. Therefore constraining the tidal dissipation of Saturn (here the ratio k2/Q) opens the door to the past evolution of the whole system. If Saturn's tidal ratio can be determined at different frequencies, it may also be possible to constrain the giant planet's interior structure, which is still uncertain. Here, we try to determine Saturn's tidal ratio through its current effect on the orbits of the main moons, using astrometric data spanning more than a century. We find an intense tidal dissipation (k2/Q= (2.3 \\pm 0.7) \\times 10-4), which is about ten times higher than the usual value estimated from theoretical arguments. As a consequence, eccentricity equilibrium for Enceladus can now account for the huge heat emitted from Enceladus' south pole. Moreover, the measured k2/Q is found to be poorly sensitive to the tidal frequency, on the short frequency interval considered. This suggests that Saturn's dissipation may not be controlled by turbulent friction in the fluid envelope as commonly believed. If correct, the large tidal expansion of the moon orbits due to this strong Saturnian dissipation would be inconsistent with the moon formations 4.5 Byr ago above the synchronous orbit in the Saturnian subnebulae. But it would be compatible with a new model of satellite formation in which the Saturnian satellites formed possibly over longer time scale at the outer edge of the main rings. In an attempt to take into account for possible significant torques exerted by the rings on Mimas, we fitted a constant rate da/dt on Mimas semi-major axis, also. We obtained an unexpected large acceleration related to a negative value of da/dt= -(15.7 \\pm 4.4) \\times 10-15 au/day.\nSubjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)\nDOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/752/1/14\nCite as: arXiv:1204.0895 [astro-ph.EP]\n  (or arXiv:1204.0895v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)\n\nSubmission history\n\nFrom: Valéry Lainey Dr. [view email]\n[v1] Wed, 4 Apr 2012 09:13:36 UTC (1,739 KB)", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9905887842178345}
+{"content": "Manipulating single atoms with an electron beam\n\nby | Jul 12, 2018\n\nManipulating single atoms with an electron beam\n\nResearchers at the University of Vienna have now used an electron beam to move single silicon atoms in graphene with truly atomic precision.\n\nResearchers at the All matter is composed of atoms, which are too small to see without powerful modern instruments including electron microscopes. The same electrons that form images of atomic structures can also be used to move atoms in materials. This technique of single-atom manipulation, pioneered by University of Vienna researchers, is now able to achieve nearly perfect control over the movement of individual silicon impurity atoms within the lattice of graphene, the two-dimensional sheet of carbon. The latest results are reported in the scientific journal “Nano Letters”.\n\nAs an epoch-making achievement in nanotechnology, the scanning tunneling microscope has since the late 1980s been able to move atoms over surfaces, and has until very recently been the only technology capable of moving individual atoms in such a controlled manner. Now, the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) is able to reliably focus an electron beam with sub-atomic precision, allowing scientists to directly see each atom in two-dimensional materials like graphene, and also to target single atoms with the beam. Each electron has a tiny chance of scattering back from a nucleus, giving it a kick in the opposite direction.\n\nBuilding on work published over the past few years, a research team at the University of Vienna led by Toma Susi has now used the advanced electron microscope Nion UltraSTEM100 to move single silicon atoms in graphene with truly atomic precision. Even with manual operation, the achieved movement rate is already comparable to the state-of-the-art in any atomically precise technique. “The control we are able to achieve by essentially directing the electron beam by hand is already remarkable, but we have further taken the first steps towards automation by detecting the jumps in real time”, says Susi. The new results also improve theoretical models of the process by including simulations by collaborators in Belgium and Norway.\n\nIn total, the researchers recorded nearly 300 controlled jumps. Additional to extended paths or moving around a single hexagon made of carbon atoms in graphene, a silicon impurity could be moved back and forth between two neighboring lattice sites separated by one tenth-billionth of a meter, like flipping an atomic-sized switch. In principle, this could be used to store one bit of information at record-high density. Dr. Susi concludes, “Your computer or cellphone will not have atomic memories anytime soon, but graphene impurity atoms do seem to have potential as bits near the limits of what is physically possible.”\n\nMain funding for this work came from the European Research Council (ERC) and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).\n\nElectron-Beam Manipulation of Silicon Dopants in Graphene: Mukesh Tripathi, Andreas Mittelberger, Nicholas Pike, Clemens Mangler, Jannik C. Meyer, Matthieu Verstraete, Jani Kotakoski, and Toma Susi. Nano Letters Article ASAP, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b02406.\n\nShare This", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9169910550117493}
+{"content": "Home / Credible Emotional Support Animal Registration / Emotional Support Animal Registration America\n\nEmotional Support Animal Registration America\n\nPsychological assistance animals are allowed in real estate developments where pets are otherwise outlawed. The regulation requires that landlords make reasonable holiday accommodations for individuals with impairments, as well as a support animal counts as a reasonable lodging. The only time that a landlord would certainly be permitted to rejected an occupant on the basis of them keeping a support pet would be if it was dangerous for the pet to remain in the home, and also it would certainly be prohibitively costly to permit the pet to remain, or would call for basic modification of the building.\n\nPeople that have assistance pets, nevertheless, are obliged to clean up after them and also keep them secure. If a property owner does routine assessments for damages and also cleanliness on their homes, as well as discovers that a tenant has actually not been taking great treatment of the residential property, then they could bill the tenant for damages or otherwise act versus them, equally as they would if the occupant was able bodied.\n\nIndividuals that have emotional support pets have a duty to care for the pet. If they overlook it to the point that the pet’s health and wellness remains in threat, then this is something that can end up being a criminal issue.\n\nWhat Are Psychological Assistance Animals?\n\nPsychological assistance pets are animals (typically cats or dogs) that are used by individuals that are experiencing anxiety, anxiety, or handicaps that call for a companion pet to help alleviate the signs and symptoms.\n\nPsychological assistance animals are not the very same as solution pets. A blind individual can bring a guide pet dog into any location where members of the public are permitted, for example, however a person with an emotional solution pet would certainly not be able to bring that pet into every shop, federal government structure or public location that they desire.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.972245454788208}
+{"content": "Date of Award\n\n\nDocument Type\n\n\nDegree Name\n\nMaster of Science (MS)\n\nLegacy Department\n\nEnvironmental Engineering and Earth Science\n\n\nPowell, Brian A\n\nCommittee Member\n\nFreedman , David\n\nCommittee Member\n\nFjeld , Robert\n\nCommittee Member\n\nKaplan , Daniel\n\n\nModels which can estimate environmental transport of contaminants are required to ensure minimal risk to the public. These models require accurate transport parameters in order to correctly predict how these contaminants will move in the subsurface. This work aimed to determine more accurately the distribution coefficients for neptunium, strontium, and radium for the Savannah River Site (SRS) Performance Assessment (PA). All neptunium sorption studies were performed at a pH value of 5.50 and an ionic strength of 0.01M as NaCl with neptunium concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 50 ppb. Two different sediments were examined, SRS Subsurface Clayey and SRS Subsurface Sandy. Baseline neptunium Kd values were determined to be 9.05 ± 0.61 L kg-1 and 4.26 ± 0.24 L kg-1 for the clayey and sandy sediments, respectively. Treatments were applied to the sorption experiments to examine what effects environmental perturbations would have on the Kd values. These were natural organic matter (NOM), reductants (ascorbic acid, dithionite, zero valent iron, hydrogen peroxide), and performing the experiment under an anaerobic atmosphere. The addition of NOM to the clayey sediment resulted in an increase in the Kd value most likely due to the formation of ternary soil-NOM-Np complexes. None of the reductants nor the anaerobic atmosphere resulted in large increases in Kd values for either sediment, indicating that little to no reduction of Np(V) to Np(IV) occurred. Long term equilibration experiments (71 days) indicated that even prolonged equilibration under anoxic conditions do not facilitate reduction of Np(V) to Np(IV). Desorption Kd values were calculated under the baseline and anaerobic conditions and found to approach the sorption Kd values given a long enough equilibration period which indicated fully reversible sorption. This was further confirmed with a flowcell experiment that was able to desorb >99.9% of sorbed neptunium from the clayey sediment. Sorption and desorption rate constants were calculated to be 0.0165 min-1 and 2.5x10-4 min-1, respectively. These experiments showed that neptunium sorption to sediments can be simplified to Np(V) sorbing to surficial iron. A simplified model was developed using Citrate-Dithionite-Bicarbonate (CDB) iron concentrations that can predict neptunium sorption based on three different reactions.\nRadium and strontium sorption to the sediments was found to be highly dependent upon ionic strength due to competition for ion exchange sites. Radium Kd values for the clayey sediment were determined to be 185.1 ± 25.63 L kg-1 and 30.35 ± 0.66 L kg-1 for ionic strengths of 0.02M and 0.1M as NaCl which is the approximate ionic strength of groundwater. Radium Kd values for the sandy sediment were determined to be 24.95 ± 2.97 L kg-1 and 9.05 ± 0.36 L kg-1 for ionic strengths of 0.02M and 0.1M as NaCl. These values were greater than the strontium sorption Kd values which was consistent with the assumptions in the SRS PA.\n\nIncluded in\n\nChemistry Commons", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6040496826171875}
+{"content": "Hofstede worked with IBM’s HR department at European Headquarters in 1970s. Between 1967 and 1973, he executed a large survey study regarding national value differences across the worldwide subsidiaries of IBM: he compared the answers of 117,000 employees samples on the same attitude survey in different countries.\n\nHofstede argued that cultures can be important benchmark to understand how individual behave and work in an organizations. It also measured how employees reacted to authority or even ambiguity for their day-to-day tasks.\n\nAs IT firms in India move away from cost-focused model to value-focused model , they should be aware of cultural influences blocking digital path they wish to pursue.\n\nLet us look at how India fares across Hofstede’s dimensions as compared to China and USA.\n\nHofstede India1\n\nSource – https://geert-hofstede.com/india.html\n\nPower Distance\n\nThis dimension indicates power distribution across organization and how people react to it.\n\n\nIndia scores high on this dimension, 77, so are other countries in Asia-Pacific region including China. It indicates appreciation for hierarchy and a top-down structure in society and organizations. Typically Indians are dependent on superior to provide direction for work. We accept such power relationship, as they give meaning to the work. People are rewarded based on loyalty to the superior rather than actual contributions.\n\nRelationship with manager is often formal. In case of reporting issues (negative feedback), coming from people down the ladder is often seen negatively, thus avoided.\n\nWhat it means for IT Companies in India ?\n\nAs you focus on getting ready for ‘Digital Economy’, you should consider easing up your organization structure. Most of the ideas come from people working on the ground working close to the customer. Reward them as often as you should. Ideally, you need smart managers who could understand technology and cultures alike. Keep them on the front lines, rather than deeply shielded by the multitudes of  hierarchy.\n\n\nIt is defined as  the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members.\n\nIt is about how people identify themselves – “I” or “We”. In Individualistic societies (for example – USA) , people tend to look after themselves, rather than dependent on social structure. Since they require to be self-dependent, they instinctively collaborate more.  In collectivist societies , people expect that organizations will take care of them in exchange of loyalty. So, people are restricted to organizations/working groups and do not collaborate outside close networks.\n\nIndia, with a rather intermediate score of 48, is a society with both collectivistic and Individualist traits. Our actions are influenced by opinion of one’s family, extended family, neighbors, work group and other such wider social networks. The employer/employee relationship is one of expectations based on expectations – Loyalty by the employee and protection by the Employer. Promotion decisions are often made based on relationships rather than performance.\n\nThe Individualist aspect of Indian society is seen as a result of its dominant religion/philosophy – Hinduism. The Hindus believe in a cycle of death and rebirth, with the manner of each rebirth being dependent upon how the individual lived the preceding life. People are, therefore, individually responsible for the way they lead their lives and the impact it will have upon their rebirth.\n\nWhat it means for IT Companies in India ?\n\nNew age IT skills for digital economy are heavily tilted towards collaboration (thus individualism). It also means that most of these skills need to be developed from scratch or sourced from outside. Collaboration mechanisms need to be strengthened across organization. It also means that some of the hierarchies have to be demolished to allow better collaboration and faster decision-making. You will need leadership tuned to new age economy, not just the ones who still wish to play by old rules.\n\n\nMasculinity is defined as ways in which society is treating competition, achievement and success/power.\n\n\nIndia scores 56 on this dimension and is thus considered a Masculine society. India is actually very Masculine in terms of visual display of success and power. It means people like to flaunt power/ success in the organizations in terms of clout/ gadgets or flashy cars. While, rampant display of success is often derided due to spiritualism inherent in Hindu culture, it is still highly pursued.\n\nWhat it means for IT Companies in India ?\n\nIt depends on how IT companies in India define internal success/performance benchmarks. If you promote employees by number of people managed, rather than actual value added to the clients, you get what you measure. IT Clients are now looking for ‘value-focus’ rather than ‘cost-focus’, so you should re-align performance metrics driven by value than cost savings.\n\nUncertainty Avoidance\n\n\n\nIndia scores 40 on this dimension and thus has a medium low preference for avoiding uncertainty.\n\nIn India, we think that nothing has to be perfect nor has to go exactly as planned. We are generally tolerant towards the unexpected.  Rules are generally meant to be broken. We tend to ‘adjust’ as per the situation – whether it means ‘Jugaad’ – inventive (rather short-term) solution to the problem or ignoring the rule-breakers assuming its normal to circumvent rules anyways.\n\nWhat it means for IT Companies in India ?\n\nAttitude of ‘Juggad’ might actually come handy for Indian IT companies stepping into Digital world. With so much uncertainty around digital models, inventive approaches will be useful and in fact a boon. Again, they should not forget that ‘Jugaad’ is always short-term solution. As digital economy matures, they should resort to structured approaches to build solutions/add value to clients. With history of circumventing rules, industrializing innovation might be difficult to achieve.\n\nLong Term Orientation\n\n\nWith an intermediate score of 51 in this dimension, there is no dominant preference for India. Dominated by religion, we are generally open to new ideas and understand that there are many ways (solutions) to one problem. It also means that we are open to changing plans mid-way and believe in discovery as we go along, rather than disciplined approach to the solution. It means that we will see flashes of brilliance rather than industrialized innovation process as Western countries have adopted.\n\nWhat it means for IT Companies in India ?\n\n‘Industrialized Innovation’ is very important concept as it breaks down individual tasks of entire creative process and makes it repeatable. We seems to be lacking in what’s called ‘Original Thinking’, that’s why there are not many product companies originated out of India. Digital economy is all about creative & technology enabled solutions to the clients. While IT companies can rely on ‘rock-stars’ to manage customer facing tasks/solutions, they still have to spread culture of innovation across. That means ‘Design Thinking’ is not just a philosophy, rather it is to be applied to everyday tasks. Instead of providing lip service, they will need to make innovation an ‘everybody’s job’.\n\n\n\nIndia receives a low score of 26 in this dimension, meaning that it is a culture of Restraint. While we are power/success worshipping nation, we also restraint (rather hate) display of it. We also do not put much emphasis on leisure time and delay gratification of the desires. Social norms enforce general viewpoint that indulgence is wrong in general.\n\nWhat it means for IT Companies in India ?\n\nPopular culture of slogging in IT companies means long-term employee engagement/wellness issues. Innovation culture comes in environment which treats people with respect and do not put un-due pressure to deliver. Innovation or learning new skills in digital economy does not come via force, rather via collaboration. It is also true that training by thousands in digital skills does not ensure success. Culture of treating employee as ‘resource’ has to be changed. So, it is ok to indulge or provide employee benefits (at par with their onshore counterparts) than stick to old school mentality of cost cutting everywhere. It means that you do not need to cramp your indian employees in shared car while onshore folks avail best of car services 😉", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8467673659324646}
+{"content": "CSUDH Presidential Scholars are selected not only for being excellent students, but for being actively involved in their schools and communities. We nurture these qualities with a range of unique opportunities that engage minds, encourage interaction, and enrich our Scholars' CSUDH experience.\n\nResearch Opportunities\n\nCollaborating side-by-side with accomplished faculty, Presidential Scholars have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of unique research projects in the classroom, in the lab, and in the field.\n\nThrough the Apprenticeship Program, scholars assist faculty members with gathering data and conducting groundbreaking research across a wide range of disciplines and departments. Participating students have the opportunity to dig deeper into specific areas of study related to their major, build a portfolio of impressive work upon graduation, present papers at key conferences, develop mentoring relationships with their professors, and exchange ideas with the leading minds in their chosen field.\n\nFaculty Interaction\n\nCSUDH Presidential Scholars enjoy ongoing interaction with our campus's most recognized faculty: individuals who lead their fields, and who make themselves available to mentor and guide our Scholars' progress.\n\nStudent Interaction\n\nCSUDH Presidential Scholars belong to an exceptional community of students from diverse backgrounds who share many common qualities, including a commitment to learning, to their university, and to their communities. As part of this unique fellowship, Presidential Scholars support, challenge, and inspire each other to thrive academically and personally.\n\nLunch With President Parham\n\nCSUDH President Parham takes a personal interest and pride in every Presidential Scholar on campus. Presidential Scholars share their experiences as students and leaders-in-the-making during special lunch engagements with President Parham, hosted once each semester.\n\nCommunity and Campus Involvement\n\nStudents recognized as Presidential Scholars represent their university and fellow students as CSUDH ambassadors. In this rewarding role, Scholars have the opportunity to participate in a number of outreach activities to improve their communities and build leadership skills, while inspiring other students to advance their education and reach their potential.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9997770190238953}
+{"content": "Lexalytics Data Extraction Services Enables Hybrid Analysis of Structured and Unstructured Data\n\nBy on\n\nAccording to a recent press release, “Lexalytics®, the leader in ‘words-first’ machine learning and artificial intelligence, announced today the launch of Lexalytics Data Extraction Services, the first data extraction software and services that combine Lexalytics’ industry-leading AI-based natural language processing (NLP) technologies with the ability to classify both structured and unstructured content to gain more insights and value from corporate documents. Lexalytics Data Extraction Services significantly reduces the time and labor costs of document data analysis and extraction, while improving the accuracy and insights available within the data. While there are companies that currently offer software capable of “scraping” documents like PDFs and Microsoft Word files containing structured data in tables like dates, billing codes, payment timeframes, support requirements, subscription details, reaction ratios and statistical tests, many documents are a hybrid containing not just that structured content, but also free, unstructured text.”\n\nThe release goes on, “Traditionally, analysts in the fields of law, market research, insurance, healthcare, real estate, financial services and others have lacked an effective way of melding the structured and unstructured data from their documents into a coherent database to properly access, view and analyze it all in one place. Lexalytics Data Extraction Services leverages its best-in-class Salience text analytics engine to provide greater insights and automatically organize data into a format that includes features such as summarization, sentiment analysis, intentions, named entity extraction, categories and themes.”\n\nRead more at PR Web.\n\nPhoto credit: Lexalytics\n\nI Accept", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9893683791160583}
+{"content": "Triple Detente\n\nBy: Anthony, Piers\n\nPrice: $3.95\n\nQuantity: 1 available\n\nSpine and covers show a little creasing, some shelf wear and foxing.\n\n\"Victory! Our invincible space fleet has occupied the monsters' worlds! Our mighty space force has seized the aliens' home planet! Our triumphant space warriors have captured the enemy system! But then why are we suffering so beneath the tread of those heartless conquerors from the stars?\"; 12mo - over 6¾\" - 7¾\" tall\n\nTitle: Triple Detente\n\nAuthor Name: Anthony, Piers\n\nCategories: Science Fiction and Fantasy,\n\nPublisher: New York, DAW Books: 1974\n\nBinding: Mass Market Paperback\n\nBook Condition: Good+\n\nSeller ID: 000267\n\nKeywords: Fiction Science Alien Invasion", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9097309112548828}
+{"content": "How the reform of a luxury ’boutique’ became a mystery thriller in Paris\n\nMany times many things appear when works are done in an old building, but nobody was prepared for what the architects hired by the firm Óscar de la Renta to found when they threw a wall.\n\nThe discovery is literally historical: three meters high and six meters wide XVII century mural preserved in really good condition.\n\nThe artistic treasure was located behind a wall that was thrown on the second floor of the new store of the luxury brand Oscar de la Renta (the brand of the famous Dominican fashion designer who died in 2014) that began to be built in 2017. The renovation, commissioned to Jeang Kim and Will Kim both from Oro Studio, aimed to give the shop a classic and elegant look, away from the minimalism of other great haute couture boutiques.\n\nThe mystery of that huge mural depicting a seventeenth-century Marquis, neatly dressed, accompanied by his courtiers, all of them arriving in the city of Jerusalem, began to be solved when an art historian came on the scene: Stephane Pinta. This professional determined that the painting had been painted in 1674 by Arnould de Vuez, an artist who worked with the camera painter of Louis XIV as interior designer at the Palace of Versailles.\n\nBut, how did this mural end up in this location, and what is stranger, hidden and walled up? Pinta considers that it could have to do with World War II: the mural could be hidden there to protect it from Nazi bombing. It must be remembered that in France nearly 600 works of art were damaged during the Second World War.\n\nBefore the mural was found, another historic treasure was found hidden behind the plaster false ceiling: a beautiful wood ceiling formed by 29 panels of carved wood, eight of them containing different heraldic seals, and with a diamond in the centre. It was calculated that this hidden ceiling, very well preserved, could date back to the XIX century.\n\nOscar de la Renta’s team decided to keep and restore both discoveries, what meant a delay of months in the opening of the store and a significant amount of budget added to the project. But maybe all of that will be worth it when the store opens, predictably, in spring 2019. If all the haute couture boutiques of the world seek to be a unique place, the new Oscar de la Renta will really be.\n\nNo Comments\n\nPost A Comment", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5391261577606201}
+{"content": "When I worked in theatre the maid’s part would usually be played by a young actress or actor eager to be on stage; so eager that often he or she would steal a scene. In story telling, the same thing can happen if a character is introduced too late. The maid comes on like a shining star and upsets the whole balance of the book.\n\nI’m now five chapters from the end, even though I’ve written three chapters since my last blog. I feel like a marathon runner, exhausted. I can see the end – and it is still five chapters away.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6769605875015259}
+{"content": "Archaeological sights\n\nArchaeological sights of Santorini\n\nOn the south coast of Santorini where there is the last of the five “kastelia”, also known as “kasteli of Punda” a great archaeological sight is located. The excavation started in 1967 by the most important archaeologist Sp. Marinatos and revealed a whole prehistoric city. The impressive findings prove that an organized “urban” society in the Aegean Sea in the second millennium BC existed. The use of writing (Linear A) , the elaborate wall paintings, the city infrastructure, the standardization of measures, the multiple financial activities, the commercial relationships with other parts of the Mediterranean, the allocation of work and the technical specialization are all proof of a prosperous civilization that was unfortunately destroyed by the great eruption around 1650 BC.\n\nDue to the fact that no human remains were found, it seems that the volcano had already “warned” for its becoming active by earthquakes. Thus, the prehistoric residents of Akrotiri managed to abandon their settlement. On the other hand, the volcanic ash which covered everything, helped in the preservation of roads, houses, pottery and wall paintings. The excavation area covers 10, 000 square meters and is thought to represent only 1/10 of the original settlement.\n\n\nIn the remains of ancient Thira excavated by German archaeologists, there were found graves and inscriptions that prove it was the capital of the ancient Dorians settlers in the 9th century BC. During the 8th century BC a hero from Thiva called Thiras left Sparti where he used to live and with a group of nobles they settled in Santorini. Afterwards, the island was given his name. Herodotus wrote that Santorini had 7 different cities and was ruled by king Grinias.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9492078423500061}
+{"content": "Children's Dolphin therapy\n\nChildren's Dolphin therapy — experts of the Kharkiv Dolphinarium NEMO deliver professional assistance to children with various special needs through a specially developed program impact Dolphin on the child.\n\n· The cost of classes at the rate of from 5 sessions = 1500 UAH / one lesson\n\n· The cost of classes in the course of 5 sessions (when staying in the hotel) = 1200 UAH / one lesson\n\n· One lesson = 2500 UAH \n\nDetailed description:\n\nDolphin therapy is:\n\n· non-specific method of healing and rehabilitation of people with psychosomatic and emotional problems;\n\n· the positive impact of Dolphin human;\n\n· specially arranged therapeutic animal interaction and child;\n\n· a range of therapeutic techniques and methods (aba therapy, body-oriented therapy, art therapy, cognitive-povedencheskoi therapy, play therapy).\n\nThanks Dolphin therapy, you can:\n\n· to stimulate General mental and physical development;\n\n· to intensify mental capacity;\n\n· to develop it;\n\n· relieve psychosomatic disorders;\n\n· to reduce the unwanted behaviours;\n\n· to stimulate the assimilation of new motor skills;\n\n· to increase self-esteem and personal activity.\n\nIndications for Dolphin therapy course:\n\n· Cerebral palsy;\n\n· Early infantile autism;\n\n· Minimal brain dysfunction;\n\n· The syndrome of attention deficit and hyperactivity;\n\n· Down Syndrome;\n\n· The delay of mental and speech development;\n\n· Behavioral disorder;\n\n· Neuroses and logoneurosis of various Genesis;\n\n· Psychosomatic disorders;\n\n· Post-traumatic stress disorder;\n\n· Chronic diseases of musculoskeletal system;\n\n· Chronic fatigue.\n\nUkraine, Kharkov, Sumskaya, 35 garden. T. G. Shevchenko\n\nOn the issues of Dolphin-assisted therapy in Kharkiv city Dolphinarium call:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000100135803223}
+{"content": " Monsters\n\n\nAll monsters from OSR bestiaries should work as-is in Knave with no major conversion needed. Here are some guidelines.\n\nHit Dice/Hit Points: All monster hit dice can be assumed to be d8s unless otherwise specified. To get the monster’s hit points, just multiply the number of hit dice they have by 4 (or 5 if you’re feeling mean.)\n\nArmor: Monster AC (if ascending) is identical to Armor defense. If the AC is descending, subtract it from 19 (if it is from OD&D or B/X D&D) or from 20 (if it is from AD&D) to find its ascending equivalent.\n\nAttack Bonus: Any attack bonus given is unchanged, and can be added to both melee and ranged attacks. If an attack bonus is not given, assume that it is the same as the monster’s number of hit dice.\n\nDamage: Damage remains the same.\n\nMorale: Morale rating remains the same.\n\nSaves: Since OSR monsters usually don’t come with ability scores, assume that monsters have ability bonuses equal to their level, with the corresponding ability defenses.\n\nExample: A typical 4 HD monster would have a bonus of +4 and a defense of 14 in all of its abilities by default, unless modified by the referee.\n\nDesigner's Note: Due to the unified 1-to-10 scale of Knave, monsters and NPCs essentially add their hit dice or level to any attacks or saves they make. Obviously this should be adjusted by the referee when it doesn’t make sense.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9927642941474915}
+{"content": "Definitions for \"Nominal size\"\nKeywords:  sawn, lumber, dimension, rough, timber\nA designation used for general identification, such as the inside diameter of a tube.\nthe nominal size is the designation used for the purpose of general identification. Non-Ferrous Metal. Metals or alloys without an appreciable amount of iron. Examples are aluminum, brass, copper, etc.\nSize used for identification only; not literal dimensions.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9999039769172668}
+{"content": "Lean Cuisine Diet\n\nCan You Lose Weight Eating These Meals?\n\nHelp & Resources\nThe only setback is that they do not contain sufficient amounts of vegetables. Sean Elkins is a woman who decided to follow the lean cuisine system. Aside from the high sodium content, I feel like the bills would really add up. If you really want to lose weight, lean cuisine makes it easy. To conclude, it is good to consume Lean Cuisine meals once in a while, and if doing a Lean Cuisine diet, it is better to include fresh fruits, vegetable nuts and oil seeds alongside throughout the day. Lean Cuisine meals help in following various other diets. If you do not know, citric acid is one of the numerous food preservatives on the market.\n\nVideo of the Day\n\nCan You Lose Weight Eating Lean Cuisine Frozen Dinners?\n\nThe first is the amount of sodium they contain and the second is the fact that dieters receive inadequate guidance for sustaining a healthier lifestyle. Sodium tops the list of concerns for dieters.\n\nToo much sodium can cause water retention and can contribute to health problems. According to the Mayo Clinic , you should limit your sodium intake to no more than 2, milligrams each day. That recommendation drops down to just 1, milligrams if you're over age 51, you're African-American or you already have a health complication such as high blood pressure, kidney disease or diabetes.\n\nIf you plan to eat Lean Cuisine, you'll want to keep track of the amount of sodium in each of your daily meals. According to the Nestle Nutritional Information for these meals, a number of the dinners contain over 30 percent of the recommended daily intake of sodium. A less obvious drawback is that the dieter does not learn how to prepare meals for herself.\n\nPerhaps you have a demanding career, a tight schedule that probably involves multitasking between work and studies. That notwithstanding, if you have to go for frozen meals, take time to read the ingredients and nutritional facts. This will enable you to ascertain how healthy the meals are or are not. The Lean Cuisine marketplace is filled with numerous frozen foods, which is an indication of the magnitude of convenience they provide.\n\nRemember that many frozen foods may contain loads of sodium, fats, and calories, which is not good for your body and health.\n\nThe Lean Cuisine meals list is said to contain healthier versions of frozen meals. However, there is no guarantee that consuming them will help you achieve your health or weight loss goals. Be on the lookout for sodium content, especially if you are cutting down on sodium consumption. The Lean Cuisine frozen meals you choose should not contain more than mg of sodium. You should always consider these factors before selecting Lean Cuisine meals:.\n\nIf you live alone, spend most of your days in the office, or generally have a busy schedule, you will hardly find time to whip up a healthy meal. At some point, you may have to identify a Lean Cuisine delivery service to sort you out. The good thing with this is that the meals are ready to consume, comes portioned for you if you are watching your weight, and are portable. Additionally, the Lean Cuisine cost is relatively consumer-friendly.\n\nThe Lean Cuisine culinary collection also features different types of meals. They range from comfort meals to traditional and ethnic foods. You are likely to find something that resonates with your taste buds. The fact that they are easy to prepare means that you will not spend lots of time in the kitchen. With this kind of convenience, it is no wonder that many people purchase and enjoy Lean Cuisine. As much as Lean Cuisine claim to be healthy and appear to promote weight loss, there are some stumbling blocks such as the presence of high sodium content.\n\nEven as you enjoy the convenience of Lean Cuisine, try as much as possible to incorporate various freshly cooked meals. This comes in handy to provide your body with sufficient fiber, minerals, and vitamins. If you are on a weight loss journey, you can incorporate Lean Cuisine desserts into your diet plan. Certain recommendations suggest that your ideal meal should have less than mg of sodium, less than 5 gms of fat, between and calories, and between gms of fiber.\n\nRemember, losing fat means that the number of calories you burn should be more than what you consume every day. To help you in this, consider a low-calorie lean diet plan. While Lean Cuisine meals can help you monitor your calorie intake, experts suggest that exercising and sticking to a wide variety of balanced meals is paramount. Additionally, try as much as possible to avoid fast foods.\n\nHaving a trusted Lean Cuisine delivery service can help you get your portions on time. This is because they are already portioned at the point of purchase. But why is portion control important when it comes to weight loss? Remember that companies in the food industry can falsify the idea of portion sizes. This may lead to overeating which renders your efforts fruitless. According to the Harvard School of Public Health , one of the leading causes of obesity is underrating calorie intake.\n\nIt is important to understand the steps involved in using Lean Cuisine. Only then will you be able to gain sufficient benefits. For starters, you should establish the number of calories your body needs every day in order to achieve your health objective.\n\nFor instance, an average woman requires approximately 12 calories for every pound of bodyweight. Multiply 12 by your anticipated weight in pounds. Make sure you take at least two snacks every day as this will help keep your blood sugar levels stable. To avoid overeating, do not starve yourself. Follow every lean cuisine with a fruit or a salad in order to stay fuller for longer. How does your body react to different foods?\n\nDo you have any allergies? These are important factors to consider before indulging in Lean Cuisine. Again you may react differently to various ingredients. Understanding the contents of every meal is important. Avoid any foods that may cause you harm. Additionally, do proper research about your ideal frozen meal.\n\nThis will go a long way in helping you know what to expect. As such you may end up eating fewer nutrients than your body requires. The results of this include difficulties in losing weight, reduced metabolism, and nutrient deficiency.\n\nFood is quite sensitive, and any kind of mishandling can cause grievous consequences. If you carry out extensive research though, you will be updated on any frozen product warnings as soon as they are released.\n\nFactors that may cause warnings include mislabeling, undeclared ingredients, or contamination of the products.\n\nAny food handling entity should exercise top notch hygiene. The Food and Drug Association can also release a product warning in case the manufacturing factory does not conform to hygiene regulations.\n\nOne was filed in , by a woman identified as Courtney Ross sighting misleading lean cuisine nutrition label. She argued that she had purchased pizza only to realize later that it contained citric acid, a preservative meant to conserve food freshness and flavor.\n\nShe went on to mention various other Nestle products which contain the same preservative. Experts suggest that a healthy meal should contain more vegetables and fruits.\n\nSome of the available Lean Cuisine meals cover a variety of healthy meal combinations. For example, the sweet sriracha braised beef which has a big percentage of vegetables. The vegetables are broccoli florets, snap peas, and red bell peppers. You can also choose the pomegranate chicken which comes with yellow carrots and green beans. If you prefer plant-based Lean Cuisine, you may have to be content with the only available vegetarian options.\n\nThe only setback is that they do not contain sufficient amounts of vegetables. The vegetarian Lean Cuisine options include cheese ravioli, five cheese rigatoni, and fettuccini alfredo. You may want to go for the cheddar potatoes which have sufficient amounts of broccoli.\n\nOther categories are; casual eating, comforts classics, and dinnertime selects. Healthy meals must contain certain components. Before choosing your ideal lean cuisine, ensure it has the recommended amounts of:. Remember, even though some lean cuisine products come with vegetables and fruit servings, it is essential to include a salad and a fruit in order to stay full for long. There is a wide range of meals for you. This ensures that you do not suffer monotony from consuming the same meals over and over again.\n\nEven though Lean Cuisine meals claim to have the recommended calories, you need to understand that they may contain preservatives and high levels of sodium. Do not depend on these frozen meals as your only source of body nourishment.\n\nThere are lots of totally free resources and weight reduction pointers online so you can establish your very own strategy with the foods you take pleasure in. If you feel you require the assistance of a group or simple guidelines on how to consume much healthier, a paid weight loss program may be the finest path. Compare the pros and cons of both prior to selecting a diet strategy. Keep these pointers in mind when selecting a weight loss strategy. You can discover simply the best diet plan to fit your way of life without denying yourself.\n\nAnother thing to think about when picking a weight loss diet plan is whether the diet plan promotes pre-packaged foods or house cooking. These can make it much easier to count calories or points for Weight Watchers and other diet plans.\n\nBenefits of Lean Cuisine", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5802356004714966}
+{"content": "\n\n.We give our customers the cutting-edge look. With a wide range to choose from, we can easily fulfill your desires of a lasting impression. Our goal is to bring to you a line of fabrics to meet your sewing needs and provide you with a source of high-quality yet affordable products.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8585131168365479}
+{"content": "Belief Driven Brands\n\nDefined by a mindset and mission, innovative brands lead with belief and conviction to change and improve the status quo. Customer expectations are continually in reset mode with digital technology and supply chain streamlining improving the customer experience. Innovative brands see themselves as pioneers taking a fresh look at a product or segment they believe is ripe for change, often established names that aren't content with customary conditions.  \n\nAt its core, they challenge assumptions focused on improving or revamping product, marketing channels, and the customer experience.\n\nSuperbrands such as Amazon, Uber, Netflix, and others have redefined what it means to shop, watch a movie, and move freely around town. A shift in mindset, challenge to the norms, creative innovation often coupled with the need to spend less to accomplish more. \n\n\nChallenging Assumptions\n\nBold new brands, or yes, even a product offering or category segment  operating within a larger organization, all with a sense of purpose.\n\nCasper which is changing the landscape of the mattress industry (Sleep. The new workout.) has made the process of choosing and purchasing a mattress painless and has snowballed into a $200M plus business.\n\nDozens of mid-level challengers like Brava Investments, which exclusively backs female-run start-ups, and Impossible Foods a plant-based burger that tastes as good as the best meat patty on the market, have essentially launched industry segments and change how we think about a specific sector. \n\nClarity of Positioning\n\nBrands need to be forward thinking to capture and maintain success.\n\nWe help clients understand and clarify their leadership needs. By following the core opportunity, we’re able to build clarity on the need and work with the client to provide a sharper articulation around the brief. \n\nThis transparency and buy-in enable us to deliver leaders with the personal traits, behaviors, and mindset to thrive in an innovative culture. And we love doing it. \n\nFor innovative brand thinking and inspirational profiles, please visit our publication.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7849032282829285}
+{"content": "SEMIFINAL PAIRINGS\n9:00 AM @ Hofstra University\n\nRaghunandan (LB) vs Doria( Mass) - Sewkumar (LB) vs Person (JFK)\n103-Barbato (W) vs Lanzillotti (R) - Fera( Man) vs Jones (GC)\n112-Montgomery (S) vs Allen (LB) - McDevitt (W) vs Perez (Mac)\n119-Alber (Farm) vs Pellegrino (LDiv) - Abidin (Calh) vs Falco (EM)\n125-Arujau (Sy) vs Leonard( Cl) - Galasso (Sy) vs Alleva (Mass)\n130-Andriotti (Farm) vs Tigre-Borja (LB) - Whitlock (Un) vs Gewolb (Sy)\n135-Chiaffitella (Calh) vs Rodriquez( SS) - Khoury (LB) vs Harding (Seaf)\n140-Palacio (LB) vs Friscia (W) - Chicoine (Mass) vs Cataldi( GNS)\n145-Maldarelli (Calh) vs D'Auguste (LB) - Sarro (Mass) vs Spurgeon (Plain)\n152-Fitzmaurice (W) vs Richards (SE) - Guastafeste (Sy) vs Ondris (Mass)\n160-Giammetta (M) vs John( Beth) -  Diaz (LDiv) vs Chamish (Jericho)\n171-Kavanagh (W) vs Ponce (SEast) - Macchia (Sy) vs Calderaro (EM)\n189-Loew (W) vs Wetzel (Mass) - Sylvester (Un) vs Alfano (LV)\n215-Ng (Plain) vs Danziger (EM) - Graziano (Sy) vs Horl (GC)\n285-Agu (Fpt) vs Kappatos (Sy) - Mudassar (LDiv) vs Tenny (Farm)\n\n\nWantagh has the firepower and are led by returning state finalist Matt Loew (35-1, 154-34, 82 career pins) at 189, along with state placer Joe Barbato (32-3) at 103. The Warriors also have defending Nassau champions- Nick Fitzmaurice (21-3) at 152 and junior Joe Kavanagh (27-1, 23 pins) at 171, along with county runner-up Thomas Hall (20-4) at 215 pounds. Other potential place-winners include freshman Danny McDevitt (30-9) at 112 and all-county Paul Friscia (27-9) at 140 pounds. \nMassapequa will be paced by county medalist Conor Wetzel (28-3) at 189, Most Pins winner Chris Sarro (38-4) at 145 and a potential champion with tough James Ondris (34-3, 100 wins) at 152 pounds. The Chiefs also point to freshman Joe Doria (23-3) at 96, junior Matt Alleva (22-8) at 125, Branden Renda (20-9) at 130, Nick Chicoine (27-11) at 140 and talented Patrick Morgan (26-4) at 152 pounds. Fourth-year coach Joe Catalanotto pointed out to his team: \" If everyone contributes and wins a match, and we have a bunch of place-winners, we can win the tournament.\"\nfinished as runner-up at the 2009 county meet and have four all-county matmen, including Qualfying champions, Chris Perez (112) and Joe Giammetta (160), along with Thomas Manning (112) and Tyler Dunne (152). The Generals also point to titlists, Justin Cooksey (96),  Anthony Locke (125) and Angelo Rella at 130. Plainedge has potential champion with returning county bronze medalist and unbeaten David Ng (28-0) at 215. The Red Devils also look to Conner Sullivan (96), and two possible finalists with Dan Spurgeon (28-2) at 145 and tough sophomore Andrew Jones (26-4) at 160 pounds. Long Beach has defending Nassau champion Dylan Palacio (29-2) at 140 and a trio of returning all-county matmen, Edisson Tigre-Borja (130), OSW winner Nick Khoury (135) and Adam D'Auguste (145). Other top Marines include Mark Raghunandan (96) and Dequan Simmons (171).\nSyosset has two-time state champion Nick Arujau (29-0, 171-7) at 125 and all-county performers Brandon Guastafeste (152) and potential finalist Guy Macchia (171). Other Braves to watch are Qualifying winners, Eric Faimon (112), Dan Gewold (130) and Evan Kappatos (285), along with highly-regarded Steven Graziano at 215. Uniondale crowned three winners at the Qualifier- Derrick Whitlock (23-5) at 130, Dante Epps (24-4) at 140 and possible finalist Ajith Anthony-Sylvester (25-4) at 189, both Epps and Sylvester are returning county place-winners. The Knights and coach Tim Godoy, now in his 15th season, also have county medalist Marvin Amazan (18-9) at 119 and Tony Montepeirous (27-3) at 140 pounds.\n\nMat Notes...\nSyosset's Nick Arujau (29-0, 22 pins, 171-7 career) has won 116 consecutive matches. He is on the verge of breaking the Nassau record held by Wantagh's Paul Liguori with 122 straight victories. His last loss was in the 2007 state finals to Cody Ruggirello (Valley Central). Arujau also looks to become only the fifth LI wrestler to win three state titles. The others were Bob Bury (Calhoun) -1976-78; Al Palacio (Long Beach) -1980-82; John Lange (Longwood) -1992-94; and four-time winner Jesse Jantzen (SWR)- 1997-2000.\nMatt Loew (far right) will lead the charge for Wantagh seeking to repeat as team champions at Hofstra's Mack Arena this weekend.\nConor Wetzel (189 lbs.) is one of the 21 qualifiers for Massapequa.\nTyler Dunne (152 lbs.) will lead a strong  MacArthur squad.\nTwo-Time defending New York State Champion Nick Arujau (far left) will lead the Syosset Braves.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8353371620178223}
+{"content": "Total Pageviews\n\nFriday, 21 April 2017\n\nThe Human Journey\n\nWritten by Mathew Naismith\n\nI wasn't going to write this post but some strange things occurred, it is obvious I was meant to write and share this post.\n\nI wrote something recently in relation to our individual path and the human collective journey and shared it, I then received some interesting replies as shown below. I felt I needed to further elaborate on this but I then changed my mind. As soon as I changed my mind, visions of the spiritual love expressed today and the love expressed in the sixties came to me, I soon realised that the love in the sixties was a lot more unconditional than the love expressed today in spirituality. I will explain myself further using the hundredth monkey theory strangely enough.\n\nEach person has an individual path to follow\n\nBut also a collective human journey to follow\n\nThe paths are different but the journey is the same\n\nFor a collective change to occur\n\nWhich is more important\n\nThe path of the individual ego\n\nOr the journey of humility?\n\nA collective change is simply not about the individual\n\n~Mathew G~\n\nIt's a team effort creating our communities as well as realities.\n\nMy Reply\nIndeed +Michael Hopkins. A lot of the collective effort makes up our individual paths, religion/spirituality and materialism are but two examples of this.\n\nI think we make the mistake in focusing on the individual self too much when our own paths are mostly determined or created by the collective team effort. Everything that starts at home as individuals is determined by the collective in some way. Too many people think it's the other way around, I suppose that is the controlling ego for you.\n\nIt's interesting why people like me are not popular, it is also very sad. We are simply about the collective journey over and above the individual path, this will always be deplorable to an ego in control, including my own ego.\n\nThe feeling of love and the kind of love felt is a personal experience, no one person feels love exactly the same but of course the ego will state otherwise. Love is of the individual self therefore of the ego, love is not a collective expression but this love can influence collective expressions through individual expressions. This of course brings us to the hundredth monkey theory where one monkey's expressions are soon expressed by many monkeys.  The question is, can individual expressions have an impact on the collective consciousness?      \n\nLove and peace in the sixties was certainly a turning point, love was free and unconditional and peace prevailed over this kind of expressional love. How many loving people protested against war in the sixties? How many loving people protest against war today? War is simply too negative so it's ignored, this is but one example of insurmountable judged negative of today's love that is suppose to be more unconditional!!\n\nTake the hundredth monkey theory. Today expressions of love would look at the dirty potato as being negative and subsequently ignored because it's dirty therefore negative. War was dirty in the sixties, like the potato to the monkey, but war was not judged as being negative therefore avoided at all cost, it was dealt with face on void of fear. Being truly unconditionally loving in the sixties brought about a momentary change, how is a love with insurmountable conditions today going to bring about an everlasting change, especially when the potato is judged as negative (dirty) therefore avoided at all cost?\n\nSimply, the individual self is put above the collective these days, we believe change starts from the individual and goes out, so what do we do, totally ignore the collective because we have judged it negative (dirty).\n\nIn relation to the hundredth monkey theory; it wasn't an individual effort that brought change, it was a collective effort that brought change for without the interactions of the other monkeys, washing the dirt (negativity) off of the potato wouldn't have become a collective expression. \n\nWednesday, 19 April 2017\n\nThe Higher Realms\n\nWritten by Mathew Naismith\n\nIt's been unusually quiet recently in regards to channelling and messages coming through me, actually, a good friend of mine has also noticed how quiet it has been for them as well. Is this the quiet before the storm?\n\nAll quiet moments create different realities and/or perceptions, basically a change in consciousness or a shift in consciousness. As all non-quiet moments, like war/conflict, create shifts or changes in physical realities, quiet moments also create shifts in reality to one degree or another, it's just that quiet moments are more passive in nature within creating these shifts. Quiet moments also create an awareness that goes beyond human perceptions and perspectives. Non-quiet moments create an awareness within the limits of the said consciousness. Quietness basically represents a passive shift that is limitless in nature to the consciousness experiencing the quietness. Quiet moments are also more conducive to wisdom where non-quiet moments are unconducive to wisdom; this is because wisdoms is of this quietness. Basically, the observer rather than the participator, motionless rather than motion.\n\nSo does this higher realm represent a state of limitless awareness and wisdom?\n\nWhat if I said that experiencing states of unawareness/ignorance and high degrees of expressional ego straits, is also of this higher state. As human consciousness often perceives, a more aware state is of a higher stature than an unaware state, try experiencing an unaware state while being fully aware, you simply can't which means you are expressing a limited consciousness. Being aware that consciousness as a whole is limitless, infinite in nature, it's strange to think that human consciousness thinks that a higher degree of awareness is of a higher realm of conscious awareness. Even experiencing conscious states void of wisdom is of this higher realm of consciousness.\n\nI truly think it's virtually impossible for human consciousness itself to perceive that there is no true higher state or realm of consciousness, only in our ability to experience all of what is, either that be aware or non-aware, can we be of this so-called higher realm. Because human consciousness is limited by certain perceptions and perspectives, which of course makes human consciousness human, perceiving beyond these limited perceptions and perspectives is virtually impossible, this is until we incorporate another consciousness within human consciousness that is. For an example of this, God's consciousness or a state of pure awareness is often used to influence human consciousness, of course more often in a passive way.\n\nIt's important, at our stage of the conscious shift, that we are aware of the importance of passive shifts in relation to non-passive shifts. We are that conditioned to non-passive shifts of consciousness, that passive shifts could pass us by without being noticed therefore utilised. I have the understanding that all conscious shifts/changes can only come to fruition through being aware of these passive shifts, or, desisting in counteracting these passive shifts with highly active expressions/motions of any kind.\nIt is often said that this passive shift is now going to occur no matter what, I couldn't think of a more limited conscious within thinking this. Consciousness is unlimited therefore there are no certainties, this has nothing to do with scare mongering, it's an actuality that consciousness is unlimited therefore there are no certainties or absolutes, ever. I find it strange that we talk about certainties on one had but on the other hand talk about there being no absolutes. You can see why so many people take spirituality as being a joke these days, especially in relation to the western mind.\n\nI also have the understanding that the true elite are not the people who are controlling the world at present. It's wise to be aware that this control is apart of the experience that we are all having to one degree or another, that is all.\n\nThe true so-called elite are the people who can take what they have created in this realm with them after their so-called demise (death). It's impossible for the present controllers of the world to do this no matter how much they accumulate and create; this is how limited this kind of consciousness is. Of course you can take this highly limited kind of consciousness with you after death; you just simply can't take what has created these limitations with you. Eventually, what has been physically created by the present controllers will be wiped out; this is because everything created by this kind of limited consciousness is limited within its existence. Limited consciousness is simply finite by nature.\n\nI thought I would end this post with something I wrote in an anniversary card to my wife just recently. This might give some people a better understanding of me.\n\nHappy anniversary my darling\n\nLife can be shaky at times but\nit's these shaky times that builds\nupon our joining\n\nThese shaky times are like the\nglue that bonds our love together\nThe stranger the glue, the stronger\nthe bonding\n\nThese shaky times, the glue that\nbonds our love, are only weakened\nby our resolve when there is no\nconclusion to such a  bonding love\nas ours\n\nYes, it's these shaky times that has\nbuild upon our joining for without\na strong bonding, love has\nnothing to adhere to\n\nMuch Love and Blessings,\nYou're Beloved\n\nMonday, 10 April 2017\n\nLearning from Predictions and Prophecies\n\nWritten by Mathew Naismith\n\nFirst of all, prophecies and predictions seem to make reference to the future, of course it's debatable if a future and a past actually exist as everything is within the present. Try thinking about the future or the past in the future or the past, all thoughts of the future and the past are in the present, even if they were written down in the past, it's still of the present.\n\nIf you perceive only the present exists, you will perceive quite differently to anyone who perceives a future and a past also exist. We are of course conditioned to a past and future existence, in actuality, many of us focus more on the past and/or the future more than the present, the now.\n\nProphecies and predictions don't actually relate to future events but of possible paths or directions. When you consider there are infinite directions a singular or collective consciousness can follow, you start to get an idea how difficult it is to make accurate predictions. However, when you also take in consideration of the present circumstances and the direction (path) human consciousness is presently taking, prophecies and predictions become a lot more accurate.\n\nAll prophesised and predicted events have already occurred, this doesn't mean they are of the past either, it means they are of the present as in a present path being followed. If human consciousness was on a different journey to what it is at present, these prophecies and predications would predict a totally different future.\n\nSo does this mean that these prophecies and predictions are correct?\n\nBeing aware of what is going on in the world at present, prophesies from well known seers like Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce seem to be correct. The following link predictions predicted by a man in a coma that lasted for a year, seem to concur that the next few hundred years is bleak. However, it is wise to also consider that no prophesy or prediction is of future events, they are only of a certain direction that a consciousness can follow or is following. In actuality, these so called future events tell us were our consciousness is presently at, they are there to assist us, perceiving prophecies and predication as just negative and ignoring them because they are negative is exceptionally unwise. It is also unwise to focus on these predictions as being true no matter what; they are, in my mind, there to guide us.                             \n\nAll our paths that our human consciousness can take are already written, it's as if they have already occurred and in a sense they have. Consciousness is not limited to one direction or one variation within the present. Human consciousness has insurmountable paths to follow within the present, even though human consciousness itself is limited, it still has insurmountable directions it can follow. To comprehend this, try not to think in time and space, past and future, instead focus on the present.\n\n\nThis is a prime example to why these predictions are only of one path that we can follow. This so called hyper-vision or hyper-intuition is already being experienced by numerus people in our life time; I myself experienced this in my mid-teens when I could ask any question and get a direct correct answer to my questions. In my case, this didn't last very long and it wasn't something I focused on or tried to do. The answers you receive are not always the answers you want to receive or expect to receive, some of the answers are way too revealing for the ego mind to comprehend or cope with.\n\nWhen we have governments, for example, that doesn't care about the environment and want to build antiquated wall systems of ancient days to wall themselves in, it is obvious that human consciousness is regressing and taking the path of what is predicted by these well known seers. What is even more frightening is that these leaders are voted in by the people for these kinds of regressive stances. However, human consciousness is very lucky that not all the people are this regressive by nature. These are the people who still have a chance of changing our present prophecies and predictions.\n\nCould you imagine a government, which is obvious within their regressive stance, allowing the culling of their native people once again. The horrible fact is that a large percentage of a populous, under a regressive institution, would indeed be apart of this culling (annihilation) of another race of people, this of course is predicted to occur. Of course we are allowing this kind of culling to occur in the world at present, it's certainly a path we seem to be taking at present. This is why ignoring these prophecies and predictions, because they are judged as negative or what ever, is exceptionally unwise to do, they are present for a very good reason.   \n\nSaturday, 8 April 2017\n\nThe Creations of Perceptions.\n\nThe perception of ascension takes\nour focus away from being ascended\n\nThere is no ascension, only the ascended\n\nIn actuality, to be ascended means there\nwas an ascension process to begin with\n\nSo the very perception of ascension or the\nascended is counteractive as the  \nperception of existence as a whole\n is a counteractive response to ascension\nand the ascended self  \n\nIt is what it is.......\n\n~Mathew G~\n\nThe perception of death is a lack of awareness\nAs is most thing in life......\n~Mathew G~\n\nTuesday, 4 April 2017\n\nBalance - A Key to Love\n\nWritten by Mathew Naismith\n\nLove is unable to exist without a true sense of peace, the more peace we are in, the more of love we become, basically, peace creates a sense of love, they certainly go hand in hand.\n\nNow, peace is unable to exist without balance, look at how non-peaceful this reality is and how imbalanced it is. All imbalances create disharmony as all balances create harmony (peace).\n\nWhat this means is a true sense of love is about balance and peace; love is unable to exist within the same space as imbalance and disharmony, try hating or expressing disharmony in a true state of love, it's impossible.\n\nIt is said in certain philosophies/ideologies that love has no opposite, why then is hate or disharmony unable to exist within the same space as a true sense of love? Of course the opposite of hate is love as well. The ego wants to believe love has no opposite but there is a reason for this kind of reasoning by the ego.\n\nConsider the yin and yang symbol. Negative and positive is shown as one in the same space. To the modern western human mind that is dominated by the ego, this symbol quite clearly shows that negative and positive can indeed exist within the same space.\n\nWaite a minute, the yin and yang symbol illustrates that negative and positive are in unison and in perfect balance with each other, this perfect balance neutralises the effects of both negative and positive. If we were to separate the yin and the yang, the positive and negative, we would have an imbalance with the negative being unable to exist within the same space as the positive and visa-versa.\n\nNow consider the view point of an ancient eastern mind. I should point out; in ancient times there was very little difference between western and eastern minds, there is however a huge difference between ancient minds and modern westernized minds. Because the world is dominated by the westernized ego mind, we presume there is little difference between western and eastern minds; this could not be further from the truth.\n\nAs was pointed out to me by a Hindu from India, ancient Hindu philosophy and Greeks philosophy have a lot in common, however, there is a huge difference between the modern western mind and ancient philosophies.\n\nThe modern mind segregates everything even when shown that all can be of one while in perfect balance. The modern mind seems to be conditioned to imbalances where the ancient mind is conditioned to balance.\n\nWhat a lot of modern minds seems to have done is mistaken a pure blissful state for a state of unconditional love, we have in turn become fixated to love. All fixations refer to an existence based on fear. How many people fear having this love taken away from them or threatened in any sense? The critical adverse reactions people like me receive, quite clearly shows that we have replaced one fear based existence with another. At no point should any true state of love (bliss) express fear in any sense.\n\nWhat created or recreated this love in the first place? An imbalance and disharmony, the love expressed by the modern human mind is in reaction to this but the ancient mind isn't.\n\nBuddhism refers to this blissful state as nothingness or pure awareness, both are correct and do not contradict each other. Hinduism refers to this state as zero point or God (creator) as many ideologies and philosophies do, the difference being, is the views in relation to the ego and how this state is expressed.\n\nIn recent time's, instead of my writings coming from channelling, they have at times been coming through my dreams as direct messages. What is peculiar is that there is no definition or labelling or form, these messages seem to be coming from nothingness. For the ego (modern) mind to comprehend anything, it needs definition like a name of form, I have to admit though, most often my ego mind could not comprehend these messages from nothingness, last night was different. This nothingness will feel like pure bliss to us, or as the ego mind sees it, love.\n\nMy writings are not well received and are incomprehensible to more a and more people. As what has been pointed out to me a number of times by various people, my writings are beyond most people's comprehension, only because most people become fixated to one part of the process or another while becoming aware.\n\nSo what is the point of my writings? I am channelling and receiving messages in my dreams for a purpose, I also need to write them down as they are, this means I will not insert words like love in every sentence, this would be rather deceitful of me, of course deceit relates to fear.\n\nIt would seem I am a guide to those who need to go beyond all fixations and fear based existences. Instead of fixating ourselves to love being the absolute and ultimate state, focus on this bliss, this nothingness or zero point that has no need of love which is ego created. This state is bliss for there is no need of love to counteract disharmony.\n\nThis state is hard to explain because there is no definition to this state, considering this, be aware that the ego mind will not be able to comprehend this state without giving it some kind of definition or form like love. Like I said, there are certain people in the world that need to go beyond these fixations, go beyond the perceptions of absolutes and ultimate states, however, there are a lot of people who probably just need to stop at this process of the perception of love. My writings are certainly not for these people, not these days.\n\nAs of many ancient ideologies express, balance is the key, not just to love but beyond the perceptions of love. For some, try to feel and think void of definition and form. For others, try not to become too fixated to one process or another while becoming aware.\n\nNote: As always, if what I have written offends you or you are upset by them, I apologise but you must look within you to why. If you are honest and unbiased, you will most likely find your reactions are fear based, it is wise to be aware of this.....:)       \n\nSunday, 2 April 2017\n\nLove, The Nullifier\n\nMathew Naismith\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6101056933403015}
+{"content": "Arts and Humanities\n\n\nCentral focus\n\nThe central focus of this thesis is to examine the historical and sociopolitical roots of famine. In examining the root causes of famine, we can more carefully analyze its effects on the human condition. More specifically, in analyzing the pathologies associated with food deprivation and malnutrition at an early age, we can examine the possible long-term consequences of malnutrition on human health. In doing so, we can apply this understanding to the current crisis in South Sudan, to consider the implications that the current political situation presents for future generations of South Sudanese people.\n\nThesis rationale\n\nThis thesis needs to be done because the country of South Sudan is currently on the verge of both genocide and famine. As a future physician and conscious global citizen, it is important that I be able to look at the possible consequences of sociopolitical disaster on a population’s health and understand the implications that these circumstances create for future generations. This thesis is unique because it not only presents and examines scientific knowledge in order to draw conclusions regarding pathological effects of famine, but it also incorporates both historical and sociopolitical analyses to provide a full understanding of the issue.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000098943710327}
+{"content": "Provide us with your feedback on the new messaging system before we launch the final version. We want you to shape how our products are created since they are for YOU :). Remember you will have to be signed-up and logged into our helpdesk in order to provide feedback.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000050067901611}
+{"content": "SpaceX warning: Will Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster CRASH into Earth by 2020?\n\nSPACEX’S Tesla Roadster spacecraft and its Starman pilot threaten to barrel towards Earth as they complete their “billion year” orbit of the sun. But will Elon Musk’s car drift towards our planet anytime soon?\n\nThe sports car speeding through space could come close to crossing paths with Earth again towards the end of 2020 it has been revealed.\n\nThe cherry-red electric Tesla Roadster, which blasted off into Space on February 6 onboard the Falcon Heavy rocket, is still soaring near to Earth.\n\nBut in April this year the Roadster will swing away towards Mars, on an orbital path that will take it beyond the Red Planet and close to the astroid belt.\n\nThereafter Starman will complete a trip around the solar system before flying in-between Earth and Mars in two year’s time, according to the tracker.\n\nBut the good news for those below is that the odds of the Tesla ever actually crash landing back on Earth are pretty small – about 6 percent in fact.\n\nThe vehicle will continue to orbit the star at the heart of the solar system for another million years before it crashes into anything.\n\nOrbital dynamics experts Hanno Rein, Daniel Tamayo and David Vokrouhlicky, outlined this in their study of the car’s position.\n\nIn their research paper, titled The random walk of cars and their collision probabilities with planets, the scientists underlined that there is no genuine threat from Starman.\n\nTesla Roadster space position map WHEREISROADSTER.COM\n\nTesla Roadster location: The electric car will fly in-between Mars and Earth in 2020\n\nThe three experts underlined that it is nigh impossible to precisely chart the Roadster’s position as it sails across the vast expanse of space.\n\nLead author of the study, Mr Rein, said: “Earth is the most likely place the car will crash, followed by Venus, and then the sun.”\n\nAccording to the expert, the Roadster will come “relatively close” to its home planet every 30 years, and its trajectory will shift slightly every time.\n\nThe Roadster is expected to make it next close encounter with Earth in 2091, when it approaches at a distance similar to that between the planet and its moon.\n\nAt its farthest distance from Earth, the roadster will be 1.67 times Earth’s distance from the sun.\n\n\nHanno Rein, University of Toronto\n\nThe three researchers from the University of Toronto ran countless simulations to come to the conclusion that there is a 6 percent chance of the Roadster crashing into Earth and a 2.5 percent chance of hitting Venus.\n\nMr Rein said:  “We’ve not seen any single collision with Mars in 240 simulations, though we continue to run them and see what happens.\n\n“The likely outcome is that it will crash, in tens of millions of years, into Earth or Venus or the sun.”\n\nSpaceX Tesla Roadster in spaceGETTY\n\nElon Musk launched the electric Tesla into space on board the Falcon Heavy rocket\n\nAfter its third flyby of Earth, the planet’s gravity will cause the unusual spacecraft to shoot off on a more chaotic trajectory.\n\nThe Tesla Roadster’s launch into space earlier this month was heralded as breakthrough moment in the space race to Mars.\n\nIn the wake of the Falcon Heavy launch, SpaceX founder Elon Musk mused in awe: “Crazy things can come true.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8765825629234314}
+{"content": "Giveaway Notification\n\nNOTE: In order to run a giveaway you must complete the form below. Once you have selected a winner, you will need to purchase their FULL PRICE spot in the FASTer Way to Fat Loss® using YOUR iDev link and the client’s information. Once payment is complete, please email the winner's name the receipt to \n\nCoach Name *\nCoach Name\nTerms, conditions, prizes, etc.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9860715866088867}
+{"content": "Eating Halal in Budapest\n\nHalal food in Budapest, Hungary\n\nBudapest is the capital of Hungary, and nicknamed the Paris of the East. It is considered to be one of Europe’s most exciting and dynamic cities. Offering an abundance of activities to do for the youthful traveller, including an exciting nightlife, enthrilling history, and scenic setting, allowing one to escape while here. While here, be sure to experience their exceptional thermal baths, a practice dated centuries ago, and an experience like none other.\n\nBudapest once were two separate cities, united officially in 1873, yet sets the bar for European beauty, elegance with a pride distinctive of most European cities. One cannot help to notice how inexpensive it is to travel through Budapest, especially compared to Western Europe. The people have a noticeably higher quality of life, and tourists enjoy the economical costs at an unparalleled level of elegance. will scope of the halal cuisine options, and assure you to maintain your beliefs while trying some of the dynamic food Budapest has to offer.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.987250804901123}
+{"content": "History and architecture\n\nRead the Trusted Source articles related to history and architecture...\n\nWaddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire\n\nJewish stories at our country houses \n\nBeing Jewish meant different things at different times. Taken together, the Jewish stories in our country houses speak to the integration of Jews into nineteenth and twentieth century British society, and the obstacles they encountered.\n\nA detail of Humphry Repton's Red Book for Sheringham Park, 1812\n\nWhat were Humphry Repton’s Red Books? \n\nThe famous ‘Red Books’ were produced by the landscape designer Humphry Repton for his clients to showcase his designs. They were small, filled with handwritten text and watercolours, and bound with the red Morocco leather that gives them their name.\n\nView of the West Face of the house and Ha-ha at Berrington Hall, Herefordshire\n\nWhat is a ha-ha? \n\nA ha-ha is a type of sunken fence that was commonly used in landscaped gardens and parks in the 18th century. The ha-ha gave the viewer of the garden the illusion of an unbroken, continuous rolling lawn, whilst providing boundaries for grazing livestock.\n\nAn extract from Thomas Carlyle's manuscript of The French Revolution at Carlyle's House, 24 Cheyne Row, London\n\nHow did the French Revolution affect England? \n\nThe French Revolution (1789 – 1799), had a deep and lasting impact upon the whole of Europe, profoundly challenging traditional notions of authority and political power.\n\nChromolithograph of The signing of the Armistice, November 11th 1918 by Pollard\n\nWhat was the Armistice?  \n\nThe Armistice was the ceasefire that ended hostilities between the Allies and Germany on the 11th of November 1918. The Armistice did not end the First World War itself, but it was the agreement which stopped the fighting on the Western Front.\n\nA view over Housesteads Fort at Hadrians Wall\n\nWhat is Archaeology? \n\n\n\nWhy were some medieval villages deserted? \n\n\nThe entrance to Smallhythe Place, Kent\n\nWhy does LGBTQ heritage matter? \n\nLGBTQ heritage is everywhere. Yet stories about Britain’s national and cultural heritage tend to reflect a ‘heterosexual past’; ‘queer’ history and heritage has been blighted by criminal persecution and moral condemnation of gender and sexual nonconformity.\n\nA 16th century stained glass panel with the figure of a pilgrim at Packwood House\n\nWhat is a pilgrimage? \n\nA pilgrimage is a devotional practice consisting of a prolonged journey, often undertaken on foot or on horseback, toward a specific destination of significance. The means or motivations in undertaking a pilgrimage might vary, but the act, however performed, blends the physical and the spiritual into a unified experience.\n\nHenry VIII depicted in 16th century stained glass at The Vyne.\n\nWhat was the Reformation? \n\nThe Reformation was a European-wide conflict over the hearts and minds of Christendom which gave rise to the distinction between Catholic and Protestant.\n\nDebrett's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 1908 by Dean and Son Ltd.\n\nWhat is the Peerage? \n\nThe Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom is comprised of the Lords Spiritual - the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and twenty-four other bishops - and five ranks of secular peers.\n\nHercules in the gardens at Powis Castle, Wales\n\nWho were the Classical heroes? \n\nIn Classical mythology, heroes were often the descendants of gods. The Italian Renaissance rediscovered the artistic appeal of such mythological figures, and this movement widely influenced British art and architecture from the sixteenth century onwards.\n\n\nWhat was the East India Company? \n\nThe East India Company was probably the most powerful corporation in history. At its height, it dominated global trade between Europe, South Asia and the Far East, and conquered and colonised modern day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma.\n\nRunnymede, Surrey\n\nWhy was Magna Carta sealed at Runnymede? \n\n\n\nWho was Clementine Churchill? \n\n\nStanding Stones at Avebury\n\nWhat is a World Heritage Site? \n\nA World Heritage Site is a cultural or natural landmark that has been recognized by UNESCO due to its universal value to humanity, both in the present and for future generations.\n\nMary Victoria Leiter, Lady Curzon (1870-1906) by Fransz Seraph von Lenbach\n\nWho were the titled Americans? \n\nOver 300 British aristocrats married American women between 1870 and 1914. While popular perception understands these marriages as arranged trades of titles for dollars, this explanation is correct for only a few exceptional cases.\n\nPainting of the Duchess of Sutherland\n\nWho was Harriet, duchess of Sutherland? \n\n\nKing George V and Rudyard Kipling\n\nWhat was the Imperial War Graves Commission? \n\nThe Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) was the British institution that dealt with burying and commemorating First World War dead and missing soldiers. Today it is responsible for cemeteries and memorials of both World Wars in over 150 countries.\n\nSouth side of red bricked baroque hall\n\nWhat does ‘baroque’ mean? \n\nOriginating in Rome, the baroque was a cultural movement in Europe throughout the seventeenth century. Baroque style can be seen across many forms of art including painting, sculpture, architecture, music, literature and theatre.\n\nDetail of an early fourteenth century Italo-Byzantine triptych\n\nHow did Byzantium influence the British Isles? \n\nThe Byzantine Empire was a strong power for more than 1000 years. Its influence was felt across the world, including the British Isles.\n\nA handcrafted replica of the Sutton Hoo helmet\n\nWhat are the Beasts of Battle? \n\n‘Beasts of Battle’ is a recurring image in Old English (Anglo-Saxon) and Old Norse (Viking) poetry. The three beasts are the raven, the eagle, and the wolf, who feast on the bodies of the slain.\n\nWooden statue of a policeman, 1979. Maker unknown\n\nWhen was the modern police force invented?  \n\nStarting with the Metropolitan Police in 1829, the nineteenth-century saw the establishment of ‘modern’ police forces across the country.\n\nThe Egyptian temple in Egypt at Biddulph Grange\n\nWhat is Egyptomania? \n\nThe term Egyptomania refers to the enthusiasm for everything that is related to ancient Egypt. Although Egyptomania has been seen in many places and at many times, several peaks are especially noteworthy.\n\nSir John Gardner Wilkinson in Turkish Dress by Henry Wyndham Phillips\n\nWho was John Gardner Wilkinson? \n\n\nPetworth House from the Lake: Dewy Morning, painting by JMW Turner, c. 1810\n\nWhat is Romanticism? \n\nRomanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement which took place in Europe between the late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries.\n\nWilliam John Bankes by George Sandars\n\nWho was William John Bankes?  \n\n\nThe Palladian Bridge, and house (not owned by the NT) in the distance, at Prior Park Landscape Garden, Bath, Somerset\n\nWhat is Palladianism? \n\nPalladianism was an approach to architecture strongly influenced by the sixteenth century architect Andrea Palladio. Characterised by Classical forms, symmetry, and strict proportion, the exteriors of Palladian buildings were often austere. Inside, however, elaborate decoration, gilding and ornamentation created a lavish, opulent environment.\n\nEngraving in the collection at Parke Estate, Devon\n\nWhy were local fairs important? \n\nThe local fair was a site for trade, celebrating community identity, and welcoming outsiders to a town or village. There were hundreds of fairs across Britain, often occupying the same site on the same date for centuries.\n\nThe octagonal dovecote in the Walled Garden at Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk\n\nWhat is a dovecote? \n\nDovecotes are structures designed to house pigeons or doves. They are also referred to as ‘culverhouses’ (English), ‘columbaria’ (Latin) and ‘doocots’ (Scots).\n\n\nWhen were country house guidebooks invented? \n\n\nFountains Abbey, North Yorkshire\n\nWhat happened in a medieval abbey church? \n\nBefore the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the late 1530s, hundreds of monasteries and nunneries were founded across Great Britain. The Rule of St Benedict set out guidelines for their life, including the daily routine of prayer for both the living and dead.\n\nColoured lithograph of Father Returns by Maude Goodman\n\nHow new is the 'modern dad'? \n\n\nBarras Nose headland, Tintagel, North Cornwall\n\nWho was King Arthur? \n\n\nPanoramic view of Levant Mine near St Just in Cornwall\n\nWhat is the Anthropocene? \n\nThe Anthropocene is the idea that the Earth is entering a new epoch in its geological history, in which human beings have for the first time become the primary agents of change on a planetary scale.\n\nClose view of towers and turrets at Wray Castle, Cumbria\n\nWhat does Gothic Revival mean? \n\nThe ‘Gothic’ is a style associated with late medieval English art and architecture; its many revivals are attempts to style literature, architecture, visual and decorative art, landscape design, and music after its features.\n\nA sunken lane on Dunstable Downs\n\nWhat are sunken lanes? \n\nSunken lanes are roads or tracks that are incised below the general level of the surrounding land, often by several metres. They are formed by the passage of people, vehicles and animals and running water, and are often hundreds of years old.\n\nGeese on water with the Palladian Bridge in the background at Stowe\n\nWho were the Whigs? \n\nThe Whigs were an association of aristocratic men who in the 1670s demanded the exclusion of Charles II’s Catholic brother, James, from the royal succession.\n\nOne of a pair of Coade stone sphinxes at the south front portico of the house at Croome Park\n\nWhat is Coade stone? \n\nFirst marketed at the turn of the 1770s, Coade stone was a remarkable new building material. Using a recipe which was not fully understood until the 1990s, its makers claimed to have produced the first ever ‘artificial stone’. Tough and hard-wearing, it offered new opportunities for fine-detailed decoration. Just as extraordinary as the stone was the person who sold it: Eleanor Coade, one of the few women to be acknowledged as a major influence on eighteenth century architecture.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9352925419807434}
+{"content": "Donate to Hurricane Recovery\n\nArtifact of the Month: A Moveable Feast\n\nTuesday, August 1, 2017\nArtifact of the Month\nKimberly Kenyon, QAR Conservator\n\nIn imagining the wrecking of a ship, tempestuous storms and heaving, angry seas come to mind, along with valiant sailors sacrificing their lives all in the name of conquest, trade, and adventure on the high seas. You might expect that when excavating a shipwreck, archaeologists regularly uncover the remains of those same unfortunate sailors. Human remains are in fact quite rare on shipwrecks due to the human body’s propensity to float away. We also know that in the case of Queen Anne’s Revenge, the wrecking itself occurred as a grounding, a far less violent end. To our knowledge, no loss of life occurred.\n\nSo why do we find bones at all?\n\nThe bones found on QAR represent a certain activity as key to life as breathing: enjoying a hot, fortifying meal. Evidence of several different species have been found, revealing what kind of animals were being consumed by the crew. Faunal remains may also show how itinerant pirates interacted with the shore environment when provisions were running low and a hunting party was necessary.\n\nFamous English buccaneer and naturalist William Dampier wrote effusively in the late 17th century about the exotic smorgasbord of fruits and game encountered in South America. He even goes on to offer recipe suggestions for such things as flamingos, turtles, sea lions, and various types of fish. From Dampier’s notes, it is possible to say that pirates took advantage of whatever wild game was available and in some cases traded with local tribes for both cattle and goats to satisfy the crew’s needs.\n\nWhile the bones from QAR are not quite as exotic as flamingo, they may represent locally hunted game: turkey, wild boar, and possibly deer. Other bones indicate meat commonly used as stores for ships on long voyages: specifically beef and pork, some with clear evidence of butchering. La Concorde resupplied with food in Mindin in March 1717 and again in West Africa in June, so some of these stores may have been on board when captured by the pirates that November. We even know the name of one of the men responsible for feeding the masses. Following capture, Georges Bardeau, the French crew’s second cook, was forcibly retained by the pirates. We can assume that his cooking responsibilities continued under Blackbeard’s watch, with so many crew members to feed.\n\nFinally, a few bones tell us a little about the ship’s smallest mammalian passenger. Rats somehow made their way onto every sailing vessel, and we find rat bones on QAR as well. Closer inspection of one cattle rib shows possible gnaw marks from one of the ship’s rats, revealing what he may have enjoyed for dinner.\n\n-Dampier, William. A New Voyage Round the World. London: James Knapton, 1699\n-\"Captain Lord George Graham, 1715-47, in his Cabin\" (c. 1746) by William Hogarth from the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. {{PD-US}}{{PD-old-100}}\n-Cattle rib fragment from the Queen Anne's Revenge shipwreck, courtesy NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9271253347396851}
+{"content": "Home MORE ON Bose-Einstein condensates\n\nTag: Bose-Einstein condensates\n\nThe electron (blue) orbits the nucleus (red) -- and its orbit encloses many other atoms of the Bose-Einstein-condensate (green).\n\nScientists discovered new exotic state of matter: An atom full of atoms\n\nAn atom consists of protons, neutrons, electrons, and nucleus. Protons and neutrons are in the center of the atom, making up the nucleus. On...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000028610229492}
+{"content": "Home MORE ON Supercomputers\n\nTag: supercomputers\n\nFAU researchers are investigating how computers can be used even more effectively for the simulation and investigation of physical systems in energy research such as photovoltaics and geothermal energy, wind farms or fusion energy\n\nSupercomputers for alternative energy sources\n\nAs a part of the EU-supported group 'Energy-oriented Center of Excellence (EoCoE)', FAU scientists are presently endeavoring to additionally enhance and grow the fields...\nKiloCore: World's first 1,000-processor chip\n\nKiloCore: World’s first 1,000-Processor Chip\n\nWorld's first living and breathing supercomputer\n\nWorld’s first living and breathing supercomputer\n\nBased on Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), scientists are going to develop living and breathing supercomputer. ATP is a substance which provides energy to all the...", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8098123073577881}
+{"content": "U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Have a “Trial Tax”\n\nThe defense of Federal Criminal cases in the Western and Northern Districts of Texas requires a careful study of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines at the very beginning of the defense of a Federal case. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Booker which held that the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines were “advisory” in nature, the judges in the Western and Northern Districts still rely on the Guidelines for sentencing in the great majority of cases.\n\nBecause the guidelines are so crucial to the outcome of a Federal Criminal case in this area, I immediately look into the guidelines as soon as I am hired and go over the facts of the case with the client and compare them with the Indictment and then with the Federal Criminal Statutes. If at all possible, I want to have an idea of the best and worst case scenario before I attend the first preliminary hearing and prior to uttering a single word in defense of my new client.\n\nFor someone charged with a federal crime, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines contain what I like to call “taxes”; that is, penalties for exercising constitutional rights most people take for granted. For example, if my client refuses to talk to the FBI or the DEA, such failure may later be penalized in the guidelines as “obstruction”. On the other hand, if an accused does give a statement to the government agents which later proves to be false, he can be subject to the same penalty by the addition of “levels”; the higher the level total, the higher the sentence.\n\nIn addition to the “taxes” found in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, further ambushes await within the Federal Criminal Statutes in the form of statutory mandatory minimum sentences. The most common types of mandatory minimums exist in three types of federal prosecutions: drugs, firearms, and child-sex offenses.\n\nIn drug cases, these mandatory minimum sentences can be based on the amount of drugs involved, as well as on the criminal history of the defendant.\n\nFirearms cases can have mandatory minimum sentences ranging from 5 years up to life imprisonment, depending on the type of firearm, how the firearm was used, and whether the defendant has other firearms-related convictions. The use of fire or explosives in the commission of an offense can raise the minimum penalty to 10 years.\n\nChild and sex offense penalties can be among the most severe in the federal system, due to the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which added or increased both maximum and mandatory minimum penalties for sexual offenses involving children.\n\nA single count in a multi-count federal indictment involving a mandatory minimum sentence can raise the stakes for the defendant so as to invoke the final “tax” in the federal system: the “Trial Tax”. That is, the mandatory minimum count can be used by the Assistant U.S. Attorney as a plea bargaining tool– the government offers to dismiss the count with the mandatory minimum in return for a guilty plea by the defendant to some or all of the other counts in the indictment. In most cases, the defendant would be “taxed” for exercising his right to a jury trial by the specter of a much heavier sentence with the addition of a lengthy mandatory minimum sentence should the defendant be found guilty by a jury.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9830688238143921}
+{"content": "Write critical thinking paragraph\n\nPosted by | in December 8, 2018\n\nThe difference lays in the way the author writes. Choose your topic. Develop a thesis. A critical thinking write critical thinking paragraph should have a clear title followed by an introduction paragraph. The analysis is write critical thinking paragraph up of several different paragraphs. Develop your critical thinking skills. Nov 2017. Most of us have heard about the importance of critical thinking since. Body (minimum of 3 paragraphs but use as many as necessary.\n\nThis type of business plan quick builder has an Intro – Body Paragraphs – Conclusion format. Jan 2018. Developing your critical thinking skills is something that takes. The conclusion, like much of the rest of the paper, involves critical thinking.\n\nSample university scholarship application letter\n\nWhen it comes to writing a response to an article, it have some differences from writing another formal review. Here is a recipe for writing an effective critical thinking essay. Write critical thinking paragraph is passionate about learning and enjoys writing engaging content to help.\n\nThe introductions for most papers can be effectively written in one paragraph. Critical Thinking Skills and Keywords for Resumes, Cover Letters, and Interviews.\n\nMar 2017. Following on from the Critical Thinking write critical thinking paragraph Academic Writing. The Thinkers Guide to How to Write a Paragraph. Critical thinking is the objective analysis of facts to form a judgment. Taking the. TEM8 writing prompt as an example, the prompt essay my favourite football team of a paragraph that.\n\nCover letter for fashion designer job application\n\nCritical thinking involves evaluating information to reach write critical thinking paragraph well-justified decision or. One of the most important of these skills write critical thinking paragraph critical thinking. It includes the ability to engage in reflective and independent. Through differentiated instruction, students receive feedback on writing, learn strategies for approaching common writing modes, engage in critical inquiry of.\n\nHow should these paragraphs interact with the rest of the paper? Dont think too much about how to start your first sentence or paragraph. Critical thinking skills are part of many curriculum guidelines, but some teachers sample cover letter for accounting analyst. Aug 2014 - 10 minGeoff Pynn gets you started on the critical thinking journey.\n\nThis exercise can translate into creative process such apragraph writing. Students can improve their critical thinking skills by studying the.\n\nEssay introduction exercises\n\nAttitudes that prevent us from thinking critically include the write critical thinking paragraph. Critical Thinking Paper Format (there write critical thinking paragraph no flexibility, all papers must use this format):. Jul 2017. Learn how to write your critical thinking paper to reach success.\n\nFor example, read the first paragraph in Appendix A aloud to the students. Writing skills. Paraphrasing · Linking words · Paragraphs.\n\nWriting a critical research paper assisted suicide requires two steps: critical reading and critical writing.\n\nIf Western modes of thinking are the only efficient path for economic. However, critical thinking at crritical does not mean looking only for the. I am against the side of the myths but expanded writing thinking critical essay. Jun 2017. Keywords: critical thinking cooperative learning essay writing. It generally. A critical response paragrraph (or interpretive.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9997663497924805}
+{"content": "From the Fresno for Bernie campaign: An opinion piece by Chip Ashley, Steering Group, Fresno For Bernie:\n\nChip Ashley, staffing the Fresno County Democrats booth at the 2015 Big Fresno Fair.\n\n\nIn a political season when many are looking for an outsider, Bernie Sanders brings to the table the best of both insider and outsider.\n\nIn one sense, Sanders is an insider. He has served in federal elected offices for 25 years. He was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990 after serving three terms as Mayor of Burlington. In 2006 he was elected Senator in Vermont, where he still serves.\n\nBut Sanders is not the typical insider who relies on focus groups and polls to tell him which way the political wind blows at a given moment. He has not given in to the temptation to take contributions from the powerful few who have taken over the economy and now enjoy all of its benefits while ordinary citizens must work harder and harder just to stay even in an economy designed by lobbyists and politicians in the pockets of the rich and powerful for the rich and powerful.\n\nSanders is an outsider in the sense that he knows he serves each and every member of his constituency, not just those with enough money to buy elections. A popular bumper sticker sums it up: “Bernie Sanders: Not for Sale.”\n\nTabling for Bernie at the recent Intermountain Nursery Harvest Festival, I talked with a Vermonter named Bob. Bob said simply, “There’s nobody like Bernie.” When I learned Bob was from Vermont, I said, “I guess you know where all the bodies are buried.”\n\n“There aren’t any,” he said.\n\nBob then went on to explain that Senator Sanders had helped his brother, a veteran having trouble getting help from the VA for his hearing disability. Sanders took the trouble to have Bob’s brother’s records pulled and went to bat for him, finally getting him the help he needed.\n\nBernie knows who he works for.\n\nThis is why Bernie was re-elected twice as Mayor, six times as Congressman, and once as senator.\n\nIn a post-moral, post-ethical world, Bernie Sanders is fighting to re-establish ethical and moral imperatives. For Sanders ethics and morals are not about merely personal behavior; they are about community. And Sanders is willing to take unpopular votes when it is right to do so.\n\nAs a Congressman in 1996, Sanders was only one of 57 House members to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). At the time, rural Vermont favored the bill, but Sanders voted against it simply because it was the right thing to do. But Vermonters respected Sanders’ vote and elected him senator in November of that year.\n\nSanders understands the moral imperative that government in a real democracy is about serving the whole community and enabling every member of the community to live a rich and meaningful life. For Sanders democracy is about individuals, but it is about a community of individuals and how they live together and help each other.\n\nBernie Sanders is an insider who thinks outside the box. He’s a classic.\n\nFor ongoing Fresno County activities to nominate and elect Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016 follow Fresno For Bernie on Facebook. You can reach Chip Ashley at", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7342379093170166}
+{"content": "Dagon's Mouth\n\nUDK Level\n\nFall 2011\nRole: Level Designer\nMusic: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis\n\nDagon's Mouth is a single-player UDK level set in an underwater environment. The player traverses a series of underwater volcanic vents in search of a great treasure. Developing this project occupied the entirety of ITGM 741, during which it underwent many different iterations. The focus was on creating interesting encounters using the Unreal-based bots and kismet, as well as creating an underwater atmosphere.\n\nSince this project was built I have learned to script my own AI and have a more flexible range of tools.\n\nThe original design was meant to imitate the design style of Far Cry, with an emphasis on bots taking patrol paths and the player having some leeway in creative problem-solving. The initial design was unsuccessful due to both limitations in the bots' ability to conform to the design as well as the player's freedom of movement being too significant and overpowering the bots' ability to maneuver against the player. Simply put, the player could moon-jump over the bots and easily mop the floor with them. Additionally the original design spread itself too thin, as a design directive of the assignment was to create multiple routes to the end of the level, and these routes increased overhead on the design without adding anything significant to the player's enjoyment. It was essentially a \"flip a coin\" decision, with the player making decisions without fully understanding what each direction entailed.\n\nThe second iteration of this level re-focused the design on a single environment and a simpler risk-reward scheme, with the player being put under a pacing mechanic in the form of an oxygen meter. Mobility was restricted, but the player could use their air supply to jet around and gain additional mobility, enabling them to take advantage of shortcuts. The shortcuts outweighed the added pressure, however, and the restriction of air was found to be stifling. Additionally, the encounters with the bots were still poorly structured due to AI limitations and an overreaching scope on the environment. However, several environmental elements were found to be more successful in engaging the player with the concept of the underwater environment than the bots, namely the use of underwater jets and volcanic vents.\n\nThe third iteration of Dagon's Mouth thus focused on creating an interesting flow using these environment-based mechanics. The elements of jetting and oxygen were removed to give the player leeway in experimenting, and the entire environment was made to incorporate and focus on maneuvering around volcanic areas and directional \"jump jets.\" The kismet-based AI was simplified to environment-specific, pre-scripted encounters and behaviors, with bots reacting to different zones and triggers that the player steps into in order to create ambushes and strategic \"puzzles.\" This proved the most successful design by far, though shortcomings still existed in that aesthetic elements in the environment suggested paths that were not taken into account, mis-leading players. Also, the jump jets used a physics volume setup. This was unreliable, as the jets' strength depended greatly on the player's framerate and required more control than should have been necessary to make an ascent.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7580031156539917}
+{"content": "9 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Chefs\n\n\nWe think we know chefs. We eat out multiple nights a week, watch chef-centric reality TV shows, and consume gossip about their personal lives. But they aren’t all the hot-tempered characters we see on TV. In fact, the successful, high-profile ones rarely are. They’re in the kitchen to feed people, to surprise diners and make them happy. They’re there to work. Mental Floss spoke to chefs across the country to learn what really goes into their jobs and lifestyles—and why they all seem to love fast food burgers.\n\n\nCooking in a restaurant kitchen is taxing, physical work—so many chefs start their mornings with exercise and a healthy breakfast to prep their bodies and minds for the day.\n\nDaniel Humm, executive chef and co-owner of New York’s Eleven Madison Park and The NoMad in New York and Los Angeles, dedicates his mornings to getting outside, since he’ll spend most of the day under fluorescents. “Most days start with some activity: a run in Central Park, a yoga session, a bike ride around the city or along the Hudson,” Humm says. “It sets me up for success and gives me space to get away, to wander in my thoughts and clear my head.”\n\nChefs who do dinner service are usually working in the kitchen until midnight or later, and mornings provide the best opportunity to spend time with their families. Erling Wu-Bower, executive chef and co-owner of Pacific Standard Time in Chicago, spends mornings in the garden with his son Max. “Then I get in the car, roll the windows down and listen to sports radio while I drive to work,” he says.\n\nMichael Solomonov, executive chef and co-owner of Zahav and CookNSolo restaurant group in Philadelphia, says every day for him is different. “But it consistently starts off by drinking too much coffee and then working out, or dropping my kids off at school and then working out,” Solomonov says.\n\n\nAn overly busy restaurant kitchen\n\nIf you see a chef in their restaurant, that's usually because they're out in the dining room, possibly delivering a theatrically prepared dish or shaking hands with VIPs. But that’s a tiny fraction of how they spend their days. Chris Shepherd, co-owner and executive chef of One/Fifth and Underbelly Hospitality in Houston, gets to his restaurants around 8:30 a.m. every morning and then works until closing time. Sometimes that means 16-hour days. (In the industry in general, 70-hour work weeks aren't uncommon.)\n\n“I don’t think people know the hours that go into the job,” Shepherd says. “It’s long. It’s definitely a labor of love: the hours, the money, everything. I always feel like I’m running late for something.”\n\n\nWhile expertise in the kitchen is obviously required, there are many other responsibilities and skills that go into being an exceptional chef: hospitality, time management, even communication skills. Wu-Bower says that now that he’s a restaurant owner as well as a chef, he’s picked up a variety of other roles: amateur plumber, handyman, and glass polisher, to name a few.\n\nAnd then there's being a good boss. “A successful chef needs to be able to lead a team, to inspire, to critique and to praise,” Humm says. “It’s about managing people just as much as it is about putting together a menu and having the ability to cook delicious food.”\n\nWu-Bower says he focuses on being a mentor and teacher on a daily basis. “There is a team behind every chef,” he says. “I work with a big network of farmers, purveyors, designers, dishwashers, cooks, and so many more every day. They all contribute hugely to what our guests taste on their plates.” In other words, a chef's ability to cultivate relationships might just show up in your dinner—whether in the form of a difficult-to-find ingredient or an extra-sparkling plate.\n\n\nHow do a chilled ceviche and a hot bowl of soup arrive to the table at the same time at the right temperatures? It's all a matter of communication between the chef, cooks, waiters, and diners, which is facilitated by an expeditor, or kitchen liaison. “The expeditor orchestrates the timing of everything that happens in the kitchen,” Wu-Bower says. “It’s a dance choreographed in the moment.”\n\nDishes are often prepared at different stations, or designated areas for certain types of food. The stations vary in required serving temperatures and length of cooking time; for example, a cook working the grill station needs a different amount of time to prepare a dish than a cook on a salad station. “Communication is essential between the kitchen and the dining room,” Humm says. “Without it our timing would never work. Our team knows the cues for when to get dishes ready, how long a dish may take to prepare, and there’s a constant conversation between the kitchen and dining room to ensure we don’t miss a beat.”\n\n\nA chef staring intently at a dish of salmon\n\nChefs are perfectionists. If a dish arrives to a diner's table and he or she doesn’t like it, chefs don’t get angry; they want to make it right. “First is understanding why [they sent it back]: Did they dislike it? Was there an aversion? Was the temperature wrong?” Humm says. If a diner doesn’t like the flavor, Wu-Bower tastes the dish right away to find out what is going on. Then the chef decides if the dish can be recovered—cooked again, correctly—or if the diner would prefer something else entirely.\n\n“It’s never a time to be defensive, but always an opportunity to make improvements,” Humm says. “We think of how we can recover that experience for the guest and get them back on track.”\n\nSending a dish back may actually affect tomorrow’s dining options. Solomonov says he encourages candid feedback from guests and servers so they can adjust their menus. “It’s an opportunity to assess our dishes and see what needs to be changed or improved,” Wu-Bower says. “We treat it as a learning experience.”\n\n\nHumm always has a fish thermometer. Wu-Bower has his peeler, fish scaler, and a mini spatula. Shepherd has kitchen spoons, palette knives, and blue tape. “Spoons for stirring, plating and, ‘hey, let me get in on that,’” Shepherd says. “Palette knives are for picking things up and moving them around. And you got to have the blue tape. You got to label everything.” Solomonov also has a good spoon and a small, offset spatula. “I think carrying a knife is maybe illegal?” he jokes.\n\n\nA chef slicing pickles to put into a wrap or taco\n\nIt’s hard to find time to eat as a chef. They may take meetings over a midday meal—Shepherd tries to have lunch with one of his chefs every day—and they taste items while the food is being prepared, using single-use plastic spoons to check seasonings, sauces, grains, and desserts. But that’s about it if they aren’t careful.\n\nThe hardest meal to schedule is dinner, because after 3 p.m., it’s usually crunch time at a restaurant. It’s hard for everyone to stop what they’re doing and eat, even the pre-service “family meal” that kitchens usually prepare for their staff members before the rush begins. (Such meals might feature new dishes, staff favorites, or simple, comforting food that might not be on the menu.) “Even if you bring food in for them, you see them run off real quick and jam it in their face and then go back to work,” Shepherd says. “That’s part of [working conditions] that need to be addressed at some point.”\n\n\nChefs have demanding schedules and are around food all day—and they’d rather spend their free time doing other things besides making elaborate meals.\n\nShepherd cooks breakfast at home a few times a week, but only cooks dinner once a month. “Not enough!” he says. He makes sandwiches, or rice and beans, or grills some chicken thighs, chars some corn, and tosses together a salad for himself and his girlfriend. “I always cook simpler at home because I don’t like making messes. I’m a one-pot guy.”\n\nHumm travels a lot and doesn’t have much time to cook at home. “But when I do,” he says, “I enjoy a quiet meal of roast chicken or a simple pasta and salad. I also love to cook breakfast for my daughters when they’re visiting.”\n\nOther chefs also enjoy cooking for their children. Wu-Bower and his son make pasta together. Solomonov says he goes through phases. “I really enjoy home cooking; I find it very therapeutic,” he says. “But also incredibly satisfying to get my kids to actually enjoy my food.”\n\nThey also need to be health-conscious. Chefs don’t have a choice in what they are tasting throughout the day, but can make their own dining decisions at home. “We’re not eating crap late at night after service,” Shepherd says. He’d prefer to just have yogurt after work. “Inevitably if you go have a couple of drinks, you’re like, ‘pizza sounds really good, doesn’t it?’ You always end up regretting it and kicking yourself the next morning.”\n\n\nA group of friends clinking glasses over a meal\n\nWhen dining out, chefs aren’t necessarily looking for five-course meals, but they are drawn to cuisines they don’t cook in their kitchens. Humm likes to dine at Asian restaurants, especially sushi. “I’m really quite open, though I do like to order what’s in season or specific to a city or that restaurant’s specialty,” Humm says. “You want to get a taste for the place you’re in.”\n\nWu-Bower doesn’t need to go far to get a diverse dining experience. “I live in a neighborhood in Chicago—Pilsen—that’s really exploding with new restaurants and it’s been fun to try them all,” he says. His favorites? Thai and Vietnamese. Solomonov also reaches for sushi, Thai, and Vietnamese when he’s out. “And hot dogs,” Solomonov says. “Because America.”\n\nChefs also do have a reputation for enjoying greasy fast food when they get the chance. “I just slammed a corn dog and it was delicious!” Wu-Bower says.\n\nBut like any other restaurant guests, it’s the surprise on the plate, the hospitality they receive, and the time with others that they really love. “My favorite thing about eating out is enjoying a moment with friends or family,” Humm says. “The convivial spirit of sharing a table, hands reaching for dishes, and the conversation that ensues. That’s what I love.\"\n\n13 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Dog Show Handlers\n\nDog handler Kellie Fitzgerald poses with her English Springer Spaniel 'James' after winning Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club's Dog Show in 2007\n\nEvery year, roughly 3000 dogs from around the country flock to Madison Square Garden to strut their stuff at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. In all, some 190 breeds can enter the ring, each competing to look and act exactly as required for their breed’s ideal standard. But it takes a lot of hard work from dedicated handlers to produce a dog that can compete with the best of them. “What you see at Westminster, that’s the very final touch,” says Karen Mammano, who handles dogs with her husband Sam. “That’s the final product of everything we do.” We talked to a few handlers who have been at Westminster about what goes into training a dog with a shot at Best In Show.\n\n1. The dogs have treadmills.\n\nAmong the qualities the judges take into consideration is the dog’s trotting pace. Many handlers put their pups on doggy treadmills set at a certain speed to get them used to keeping a particular trot. “It teaches them foot timing and the right kind of gait we want them to have,” Mammano says.\n\nSome doggy treadmills cost more than $1000. But, according to dog handler Sharon Rives, that’s just part of these athletes’ training routine. “They’re developing their muscles just like any athlete,” she says, “any runner or football player or any athlete that has to train muscles to do something over and over again.”\n\n2. Soup cans might be a dog handler’s best friend.\n\nJudges also look closely at a dog’s stance—how it holds itself while standing still. “It’s kind of their supermodel stance,” says Rives. Every breed has an ideal stance, but teaching a dog to maintain that position while a judge pokes and prods often takes some creative training techniques. According to Rives, when her parents trained dogs in the 1980s, they used to have the dogs stand on four soup cans placed the correct distance apart.\n\n“Everybody has their own way of doing it,” she says. “Now I have what we call stacking blocks, sort of a wooden device with four feet on it for the dogs to stand on and it’s adjustable. I start when they’re puppies with that and they stand on it for a couple minutes and as they get older they spend more time on it, maybe 15 or 20 minutes a day, to help train their muscles and body to remember to stand in that correct position.”\n\n3. The dogs have ridiculously long names.\n\n'Flynn' the Bichon Frise, with handler Bill McFadden, poses after winning 'Best in Show' at the Westminster Kennel Club 142nd Annual Dog Show in 2018\n\nProfessional pups have very fancy monikers that reflect their pedigree. For example, Rives’s Australian Shepherd answers to “Wiggle” but her full name is “Veritas Sexy and I Know It.” “Typically the prefix of the name is the kennel the dog is from,” she explains. “Veritas is my kennel name, so whenever I breed a dog, every dog has the word veritas in their name.” As for the rest of Wiggle’s full name, Rives says the litter theme was Top 40 Songs, so every puppy had a different song title in its name.\n\n4. Handler cars must be inspected.\n\nAccording to Mammano, the American Kennel Club inspects handlers’ vehicles before they can be listed as a \"registered handler.\" What are they looking for? A car that could keep a dog alive in the most dire of conditions. “We have a generator, air conditioning, heat, a 30-gallon water tank,” she says. “We have to have fire extinguishers that haven’t expired and a heat monitor in the vehicle so if the air conditioning goes out the monitor knows. We’re pretty much self-contained.”\n\n5. Dog shows aren’t natural.\n\nHandlers are the first to admit that dogs weren’t made to trot around a ring. “Golden retrievers were never meant to run in circles in a show ring,” Mammano says. “They were meant to be out hunting and doing that job and other breeds were meant to be out pulling sleds. So I try and make it as fun for them as possible.”\n\n6. There’s one quick way to get disqualified.\n\n“If a dog bites a judge or a handler or another dog, that’s pretty much it for the rest of its career,” Rives says. “Aggression is not ever acceptable.”\n\n7. You’re not a real handler until …\n\n... you trip and fall in the ring. “I think we’ve all had a moment where we’ve fallen,” Rives says. “That’s always embarrassing. But I think I like to say that’s sort of like the dog show hazing. You haven’t been fully initiated into dog showing until you’ve completely wiped out in the ring.”\n\nShe also shares a hilarious story of one of her earliest shows, when she was just 16 years old. “Normally I use hot dogs or string cheese as bait, something I could put in my mouth, and I happened to only have liver that day, which I’m not gonna put in my mouth. I was wearing a suit that didn’t have pockets, but I had panty hose on so I thought I’ll just real slyly stick this in the waistband of my pantyhose under the flap of my jacket and when I need some bait I’ll just break off a little piece. Well, the liver made its way down the waistband of panty hose to my ankle and dog starts licking it. The judge is going, ‘Ma’am, the dog is licking your leg.’ I was just mortified.”\n\n8. Handlers’ wardrobe choices are strategic.\n\nWhen deciding what to wear for the big day, handlers have to make sure they’re not overshadowing the dog with fancy flair. “You want to dress to compliment the dog’s colors,” Rives says. “If you’re showing a black dog you don’t want to wear a black skirt because then you’re obscuring the dog.”\n\nThe more prestigious the show, the better the handlers dress. “We always joke that last week was fashion week for us because we were all trying to get suits for Westminster,” says Mammano.\n\nAnd for the bigger shows, they invest in nice footwear, not only because they’re on their feet all day, but because their feet and ankles are going to be on TV. Rives is wearing the shoes she wore to her wedding. “They’re little silver ballet flats that have sparkly crystals on the toes,” she says.\n\n9. It’s hard on the body.\n\nCo-owner and handler David Fitzpatrick holds Pekingese Malachy after winning Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in 2012\nMichael Nagle/Getty Images\n\n“A lot of my peers have had their knees and hips replaced,” says David Fitzpatrick, a professional handler who works with the Pekingese breed. “You get tired just from being at the show.” And because dogs are always making left-hand turns in the ring, the handler’s left leg tends to take a beating.\n\n10. They have lucky leashes, toys, and rubber bands.\n\nDog show people are quite superstitious. Fitzpatrick, for example, has a lucky leash. “I have one I’ve been using probably since 2004 because I know many dogs have had great success with it.”\n\nMammano won’t re-use a leash once it’s been used on a winning dog, opting instead to retire it. And she always wears three rubber bands around her arm to hold her number.\n\nAlso, Fitzpatrick says some owners carry around special toys for dogs, similar to the “busy bee” in Best In Show. “Most of these dogs do have a favorite thing and when you go into the ring and you can’t find that toy you do kinda go crazy like ‘Where is the busy bee?!’”\n\n11. The dogs eat whatever they want.\n\nWell, in the ring at least. “I had one dog way back in the early 2000s and all he wanted was filet mignon,” says Fitzpatrick. “He wouldn’t take chicken or liver, but the filet he would eat. So they get whatever they like. Or I had a Pomeranian that only liked potato chips. I had another dog who liked apples.”\n\n12. Chalk and dryer sheets keep the dogs looking sharp.\n\nShow dogs are some of the most pampered, well-groomed dogs in the world, but it takes a lot of work. “Every breed is going to have their own quirky thing they do to make the coat look a certain way,” Rives says. “One handler told me you should put dryer sheets on a wavy coat. Others say you should wash your dog’s coat in Dawn dish soap if you want it to be straight.”\n\nChalk is often used to make a dog’s coat look whiter, Fitzpatrick says. “Whatever it is to make the dog look better for the show, there’s probably a product out there for it.”\n\nBut according to Rives, grooming is a taboo topic among handlers because “people don’t want to share their secrets, and because there are things that are not allowed.” Indeed, too much grooming is considered cheating, so owners keep their tips and tricks to themselves. And if a handler sees another handler crossing the line, they’ll snitch. “It’s a self-regulating sport,” Rives says. “If you see somebody doing something they shouldn’t be, you’d report it.”\n\n13. Best in show doesn’t come with a cash prize.\n\n“You don’t win any money,” says Fitzpatrick, who won Best in Show at Westminster in 2012 with his Pekingese Malachy. “You get trophies and a lot of swag. We came home with bags of loot, but not one penny. It’s not about the money. It’s about competing at this historic event.”\n\nThis list first ran in 2016.\n\n8 Secrets of Air Traffic Controllers\n\n\nAs the United States enters into the second month of a government shutdown that began on December 22, 2018, federal employee shortages are becoming an increasing problem. On the morning of January 25, 2019, the FAA announced that due to air traffic control staffing shortages along the east coast, they were halting flights into New York City's LaGuardia Airport. It's a potent reminder that while pilots and flight attendants are key to making air travel safe, air traffic controllers—though less-visible—are just as essential in getting you from Point A to Point B.\n\nThe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employs more than 14,000 of them to choreograph the flow of airplanes on the ground and in the sky, whether that means using radar and other tools to direct aircraft at take off, communicating with pilots about flight paths and weather, or helping pilots land their planes safely. Take a look at these secrets of air traffic controllers to learn about their unique lingo, high degree of job stress, and occasional UFO sighting.\n\n1. Many of them don't work at airports.\n\nWhen you imagine an air traffic controller, you probably envision someone working in a tall glass tower at an airport. However, many controllers toil at either a Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility or at a route center, which may be located far away from an airport.\n\nAccording to air traffic controller Chris Solomon, who controls planes for the military, controllers in each of the three types of facilities have different responsibilities. “The typical tower controllers get the planes from the gate to the runway and then airborne to within five or so miles of an airport. The aircraft then becomes under the control of the approach controllers [TRACON],” he told the website Art of Manliness.\n\nThese TRACON controllers usually control the plane during its ascent and descent from the airport. When aircraft reach an altitude above 18,000 feet, the route center controller takes over, using radar to guide aircraft at cruising altitudes until the plane begins its descent. Then the approach controller takes the reins, followed by a tower controller who guides the plane’s landing.\n\n2. Age is a major factor.\n\nSome air traffic controllers begin their careers in the military, while others apply to the FAA’s Air Traffic Control Academy. But no matter how they enter the profession, they must have good vision, a sharp mind, and the ability to think quickly and clearly under pressure. The FAA requires that applicants be 30 years old or younger when they apply to the job, and controllers must retire at age 56, before most of them experience any age-related mental decline.\n\n3. They have their own lingo.\n\nInside an air traffic control room\n\nPilots and air traffic controllers around the world must speak English to communicate (it's required by the International Civil Aviation Organization), but they also have their own flight-related language. This phonetic alphabetic and numerical system, which replaces letters (A to Z) and numbers (zero to nine) with code words, minimizes confusion and misunderstandings between air traffic controllers and pilots.\n\nFor example, controllers say “bravo” instead of the letter “B,” “Charlie” instead of the letter “C,” and “niner” instead of the number “nine.” (Theories explaining the origin of the code word “niner” differ, but aircraft enthusiasts speculate that the extra syllable differentiates it from the German word for “no” or distinguishes it from the pronunciation of the number “five.”) Air traffic controllers also have their own slang and, for instance, use the phrase “souls on board” to refer to the number of people on a plane.\n\nThe phonetic system is spelled out in detail in the FAA Order 7110.65 manual [PDF], along with other key code words, phrases, and procedures. Controllers call the manual their \"bible,\" study it during training, and review it regularly to keep apprised of any updates and additions.\n\n4. Pilots with heavy accents can frustrate them.\n\nAlthough English is the official language of aviation, not all pilots speak it well. Air traffic controller Brandon Miller, who works for Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) in northern Virginia, tells Mental Floss that it can be difficult to communicate with foreign pilots. “However, we are in the business of communication,” he says, explaining that learning to solve potential communication issues is part of their training. When talking to a pilot who has a heavy accent, controllers may speak more slowly, enunciate words more dramatically, and try to avoid changing routes as much as possible.\n\nStephen, an air traffic controller with the FAA, echoes Miller’s point. “We mainly just bitch amongst ourselves, say things very slowly, and do the best we can” when dealing with pilots who have heavy accents, he wrote on Reddit.\n\n5. They alternate between stress and boredom.\n\nAn airplane and an air control tower\n\nBecause they’re responsible for thousands of lives 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, most air traffic controllers experience a high level of job-related stress. “We often miss birthdays, we work on holidays and weekends, and often operate on alternative sleep cycles,” Miller explains. Staying focused is essential, especially during times of busy traffic and bad weather, so most air traffic controllers take a break every hour or two, depending on the rules at their facility.\n\nAccording to Miller, the diversity of tasks in his work day keeps his job challenging. At any given time, he may be directing Air Force One or other VIPs (from our country or a foreign one), sequencing commercial passenger jets into a variety of airports in the Washington, D.C. area, assisting police or paramedic helicopters, expediting military fighters and military transport planes, or looking for suspicious aircraft in the Washington, D.C. Special Flight Rules Area.\n\nOn the other hand, graveyard shifts and periods with less traffic can be tedious and dull. “Hours and hours of boredom combined with moments of sheer terror, as we like to say,” Stephen told Reddit. “But if you like the challenge and want to be where the action is, it's a great job!”\n\n6. They're probably overworked.\n\nIn a 2011 article for The Daily Beast, Bob Richards, who worked as an air traffic controller at Chicago O’Hare International Airport for more than two decades, described his job as “thrilling, fulfilling, and utterly exhausting.” Richards noted that four of his coworkers died of sudden cardiac death, two died of pancreatic cancer, and many others suffered from stress-related gastrointestinal illnesses. In his early 40s, Richards himself suffered from atrial fibrillation, which eventually progressed into congestive heart failure.\n\nA secret study conducted by NASA in 2011 found that almost one-fifth of controllers made significant errors, partly due to chronic fatigue caused by their lack of sleep and busy shift schedules. To combat fatigue and address controllers who were allegedly asleep on the job, the FAA issued a series of new rules that increase the mandatory time between controllers’ shifts.\n\n7. UFO sightings definitely happen.\n\nA screen showing radar\n\nDuring the course of their careers, most air traffic controllers have personally spotted (or have a coworker who has spotted) some sort of unidentified flying object. UFO sightings are more common at night, when air traffic controllers may see an unexplained blinking light that doesn’t appear to be coming from an aircraft. But strange sightings aren't necessarily alien life forms—radar is so sensitive that it may pick up items such as clouds, a flock of birds, or even a large truck on the ground.\n\n8. RObots won't be replacing them.\n\nCommercial aircraft landing\n\nAlthough air traffic controllers rely on radar and other technology to do their jobs, they’re not in danger of technology replacing them any time soon. With so many lives at stake, air traffic control will likely always require humans to ensure that automated systems function properly and technology doesn’t malfunction. And controllers enjoy the sense of satisfaction that comes with using their knowledge and skills to help passengers get from point A to point B safely. “There is a great amount of pride that my coworkers and I take knowing that safety of air traffic control is the last thing on passengers' minds when they get buckled in the airplane,” Miller says.\n\nAn earlier version of this story ran in 2017.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7633895874023438}
+{"content": "Loading... Please wait...\n\nTake the Heat Out of Summer by Catherine Hilker\n\n\nFeng Shui Emporium Welcomes Catherine Hilker\n\n\nTake the Heat Out of Summer\n\nIn the northern hemisphere, summer is blazing away.  Summer is already a fire season, which means its hot temperatures make the fire element more intense. As with anything in life, too much of a good thing can be unhealthy. Let’s explore fire in more detail.\n\nThe Energy of Fire\n\nFire is vibrant, enthusiastic, warm and expansive.  It is social and playful, as well as transformational.  Because fire is prominent during summer, this season more than any other is about joy.  \n\nFire is represented as the color spectrum of red and all forms of lighting such as sunlight, landscape lights, candles, bonfires, etc.  The shapes that denote fire are triangular (like flames), pyramid and conical.  People, animals, wildlife, and pets all represent fire.  Any depiction of people and animals like animal prints, leather and suede, are also fire.\n\nFire personalities are joyful, expressive, spontaneous, playful, enthusiastic, warm, and magnetic.  They can also be unpredictable, scattered, irresponsible and overly dramatic. In the body, the fire element supports the heart and small intestine.\n\nA space with balanced fire elements is warm and inviting, social and fun.  Too many fire elements may emphasis impatience, cruelty and even hatred.  In the body, excess fire leads to inflammation, and heart problems even high blood pressure.\n\nHarmonizing Excess Fire\n\nThere are three ways to address the excess fire element; the water element, the earth element and removal.\n\n  • The water element - Add water elements to your space, engage in water element activities and eat water element foods. This yang approach to harmonizing fire is called the destructive cycle.\n  • The earth element - Add earth elements to your space, engage in earth element activities and eat earth element foods. This yin adjustment is called the reducing cycle.\n  • Removal – Offset too much fire is by removing actual fire elements in the environment, reduce the consumption of fire element foods and reduce the level of fire activities.\n\nUse your creative skills to take the excess heat out of summer and have yourself some fun!\n\n\nCatherine Hilker Owner, Creating Sanctuary\nOffice: 248.547.4965 | Cell: 248.821.2685\nCatherineHilker@aol.com| www.CatherineHilker.com\n\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8355551958084106}
+{"content": "Cowen On Complacency\n\nA week ago I summarized and critiqued five books wherein Peter Turchin tries to document and explain two key historical cycles: a several century cycle of empires rising and falling, and a fifty year alternating-generations cycle of instability during empire low points. In his latest book, Turchin tentatively tries to apply his theories to predict the U.S. near future.\n\nIn his new book The Complacent Class, Tyler Cowen also takes a bigger-than-usual historical perspective, invokes cycles, and predicts the U.S. near future. But instead of applying a theory abstracted from thousands of years of data, Cowen mainly just details many particular trends in the U.S. over the last half century. David Brooks summarizes:\n\nCowen shows that in sphere after sphere, Americans have become less adventurous and more static.\n\nThe book page summarizes:\n\nOur willingness to move, take risks, and adapt to change have produced a dynamic economy. .. [But] Americans today .. are working harder than ever to avoid change. We’re moving residences less, marrying people more like ourselves and choosing our music and our mates based on algorithms. .. This cannot go on forever. We are postponing change,.. but ultimately this will make change, when it comes, harder. .. eventually lead to a major fiscal and budgetary crisis.\n\nIn each particular area, Cowen documents specific trends, and he often offers specific local theories that could have led one to expect such trends. For example, he says fewer geographic moves are predicted from fewer job moves, and fewer job moves are predicted by workers being older. But when it comes to the question of why all these particular trends with their particular causes happen to create a consistent overall trend toward complacency, Cowen seems to me coy. Let me discuss three passages where I find that he at least touches on general accounts.\n\nIn the first chapter, Cowen seems to identify a core theory:\n\nThe forces behind the rise of the complacent class are quite general. For better or worse, the truth is that peace and high incomes tend to drain the restlessness out of people (p.6). .. These more complacent dynamics in American life started, in their most general terms, in the early to mid-1980s. .. This added social stasis came roughly at the same time as a slowdown in the rate of technological progress, starting in the 1970s. .. You can think of this book as detailing the social roots of the resulting slow growth outcome and explaining why that economic and technological stagnation has lasted so long. (pp.11-12).\n\nThe problem here is that the phenomena Cowen seeks to explain, complacency in the US since the mid 1980s, is much more specific than his explanation, peace and high incomes. For the last few centuries incomes have been rising world wide, and most places are at peace most of the time. (And people are older everywhere.) Yet even though in this period most times and places have had peace and rising income (and older ages), most have not suffered the increasing complacency that Cowen documents in the U.S. lately.\n\nThe second general account is found in the last chapter, in a section on “The Return of Instability At Every Level, Including the Global”.\n\nWe’ve learned about the business cycle, but only now is it starting to sink in that such patterns have a lot of power to explain cycles in other realms as well. .. The biggest domestic and social question of the next few decades will be this: When it comes to ordinary, everyday American life, how quickly will matters turn chaotic or disorderly again, and what forms will that implosion take? .. The biggest story of the last fifteen years, both nationally and globally, is the growing likelihood that a cyclical model of history will be a better predictor then a model of ongoing progress. .. All of this can happen even if you think the majority response will be a great and greater love of peace. (pp.199-200.)\n\nAs these are the only boldface sentences in the entire book, Cowen is clear that we should take cycles seriously. Except he doesn’t favor any particular theory of cycles, identifying neither key timescales nor key driving parameters, nor offering specific historical cases he considers analogous. Instead he’s more like the creepy older man in The Graduate, who said just one word, “plastics.” Cowen’s one word: “cycles.”\n\nThe third passage that touches on a general account is in the chapter on politics:\n\nWhile the dynamism, egalitarianism, and democratic spirit of America provided the foundations of Tocqueville’s book, .. he understood that current historical trends were by no means guaranteed to be permanent, and America’s restlessness might contain the seeds of its own demise. Tocqueville feared that human beings, including Americans, would, precisely through the process of their sluggish satisfaction, fall “into a complete and brutish indifference about the future.” Rather than being too restless, a future American might be too complacent, too self-satisfied, and above all too unwilling to regenerate the energies that once made it great, and thereby fall into mediocrity. (p.168)\n\nThis talk of a fall from greatness to mediocrity sounds to me like regression to the mean, the theory I favored over Turchin’s inequality account to explain falling cohesion in empire cycles. A society that finds itself at an extreme along some parameter should expect, all else equal, to soon slowly drift back to the middle of the distribution. Yet, when I asked him in front of large group recently, Cowen explicitly rejected both this mean-regression story, and also Turchin’s fifty year instability cycle, as accounts of the changes he sees. Cowen insisted that the U.S. will retake its role as the world’s top innovator.\n\nSo, bottom line: compared to most times and places, the U.S. has been especially complacent lately in many areas, for many specific reasons but for no identifiable general reason, except maybe in part for peace, wealth, aging, and Tocquevillian satisfaction (whatever that is). But these changes will soon revert, because “cycles.”\n\nGD Star Rating\nTagged as: , ,\nTrackback URL:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5835052728652954}
+{"content": "Responsibilities and relationships\n\nThe future looked bleak and, so proved to be the case for many companies in a similar state in the early 1990s in China, the most likely outcome was that they would be out of business. However, he was determined that this would not happen. He believed that the company have a prosperous future, but only if it could be transformed into a modern, competitive manufacturing organization. In order to make that organizational change process running, he got rid of surplus managers, and created a new organizational term responsible to him, which was combined one layer and 5 senior managers. In contrast, the previous director had a 15-senior-managers term. To bring the management term co-operatively together and to tackle the underlying problems, he organized some regular off-site management seminars. This was led by outside organization specialists and some officers in Development Department.\n\nIn 1994 there were 130 employees, for that small film it is visible to see inefficient and superfluous labor. He made an alliance with other factories, which was also facing making surplus employees redundancy. An employee in state-owned enterprise shifting into the non-state-owned enterprise could experience a drop in income and security. However employees still wanted to keep their privileges rather than risk the transition to the non-state-owned enterprise. With undeveloped welfare, unemployment means cutting that family’s financial support, so how to make unemployment became the focus of organizational change.\n\nImplementing the strategy\n\nIt is unavoidable to make unemployment in order to survive in a fiercer competitive environment. Firstly, he set up a good relationship with local government, for local government they wanted to keep low redundancy rate, but he had to reduce workforce that would make 50 employees unemployment, so how and what was the equilibrium. After two weeks discussion, he agreed to reduce that number to 30.\n\nBy contrast, the local government would explain the reason for diminishing workforce, and both the factory and government would give those unemployed staffs extra welfare. Secondly, according there was insufficient skilled employees and surplus employees, the management term adopted the local statute for business, which is restricting ordinary employees’ age. For male the restricted age was 50 years old and for female was 45 years old. Alternatively, It was believed that are less vulnerable when it comes to redundancies, having investing a lifetime of service in return for job security. Therefore, the management term organized retirement pension, social security-type pensions and unemployment pension. Now the factory succeed in getting rid of superfluous labor and employed some skilled staffs who had qualifications.\n\nAfter setting the new management term the form of organization at Shuguang went hand in hand with its move away from corporate bureaucracy to more efficient management. Furthermore without a clear direction which everyone understood and believed in, the factory would fragment and collapse into a disorientated mass of individuals. To avoid that, the management and staff openly discussed and debated the new strategy for the factory. In order to enhance the competitiveness, the factory would make those challenges: developing a distinctive product and industry focus, reducing its cost, improving quality and investing in new equipments and processes.\n\nHaving established where they wanted to go, the factory now needed to win orders from its target market and establish a long-term relationship with customers. With their hard work and valid organizational change, the factory set itself two objectives: first, to develop distinctive products and new processes by making a business relationship with the Department Of Chemistry of Shanghai University; and second, to exceed the performance of other suppliers. The factory reputation as a reliable and innovative supplier was growing and they were attracting additional work from both existing and new customers.\n\nThe new equipment was then installed in 1995,which was imported from Germany. With that efficient machine, in that year the yield increased dramatically. Furthermore, the factory dismissed 15 unskilled employees, alternatively employed 3 engineers. The outcome Now the factory produced distinctive products including  diphenolic acid water-solubility colophony, plasticizer, dyeing accessory ingredients and the natural flavor. It becomes the professional manufacturer of sulfate, food, and medicine series chemical products. And products sell to all the area in China, and also to the U.S.A, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Russia and Iran.\n\nOur natural reaction to change, even in the best circumstances, is to resist. How could Shuguang make the political organizational change go along? From that case some tactics were used in the whole process. Firstly, learning form outside change agent. Outside organizational specialists, who have worked in the similar organization for a long year, tend to do what they have always done, that is all that they know. That is where learning from companies outside the organization can have a power effect in getting managers to adopt a whole new outlook. The effective change agent is thus someone with what Minzberg (1983) call the ‘will and skill’ to engage in the political processes if the organization. The change agent joins problems solving and collaborates action planning among the organization (Buchanan&Badham, 1999).\n\nShuguang organized many regular off-site management seminars, talking about the steps of factory’s organizational change, analyzing the organizational gap that was existed in management term even in workshops. Secondly, making networks and strategic alliances. Sometimes, the term inside an organization is generally just not up to getting the tasks at hand done. That’s when the powerful turn to networks and strategic alliances to leverage their power (Dilenschneider, 1994). To be able to create multiple networks, Shuguang set up management network, products design network, and then established strategic alliances with other suppliers, even make a tactical network with local government.\n\nTo sum up, Knowing what you need, building your networks one by one based on what you can contribute as opposed to who you want to use. Subsequently, getting employees involved in problem solving. Having a simple problem-solving process gives staff a common language, a routine to follow. Employees in a company could feel part of the factory when they recognize the problem solving in business (Drennan, 1992). In Shuguang the managers and staffs openly discussed and debated the new strategy for the factory. By that encouraged all employees to regard theirselves as parts of factory. Finally, leadership is another function to make organizational change.\n\nChange will always cause discomfort and dislocation and staff involved will look to their immediate manager or leader for recognition, guidance, and support – that’s why the ability of these frontline leaders will make or break a change initiative (Illingworth, 2001,p30). From that successful political organizational change, it demonstrated that the director of Shuguang have already established a good leadership.\n\nLeadership must be seen to be present through the alignment of managers’ actions with the leader’s vision. What leaders say must, in the end, result in actions that drive an organization forward (Gautier, 1999,p10). With that leadership the factory has been bringing about significant organizational changes in management term. The creation of that process was not just an attempt to create a more efficient method of distributing products. It was also seen as a key element in creating a more entrepreneurial culture in Shuguang.\n\n\nThe most effective way to make political organization change is to put people in a new organizational context that imposes new roles, responsibilities and relationships on them. Organizational change needs to focus on the political incentive and behaviour, rather than abstractions such as particular strategies and tactics. Mann (1986) separated organization with political organization, ideological organization, economic organization and military organization. Each of them implies distinctive forms of sociospatial organization by which humans can attain a very broad, but not exhaustive, package of their myriad goals. However, Buchanan;Badham have systematically laid out a paradigm for the political analysis of organizational structure and processes. They have attempted to integrate power, politics and organizational change. Change Management is a political turf game.\n\nBuchanan and Badham clearly defined the relationship between power, politics and organizational change. They also not only deeply illuminated the political behaviour, which is the natural consequence of ambition, organizational recruitment, appraisal, training and promotion policies, even of retribution and revenge, but also explained the individual, decisional and structural roots of political behaviour.\n\nFurthermore, they regarded change agent as political entrepreneur, who is willing to attend the organizational change with power and influence. Change agent has the ability to figure out how and what organization should change, and then use their skill to get things done in their fancy way. From their splendid and honest theory, it is seemed that political power plays a principal role in organizational change.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5872312784194946}
+{"content": "All Weather Portfolio\nalternatives, analysis, asset allocation, hedge fund, portfolio\n\nToday’s post on Yahoo Finance discusses an “all weather” portfolio recommended by one of the most famous hedge fund managers. The portfolio strives to achieve an equal distribution of risk across macro periods of inflation, deflation, high and low economic growth.\n\nThe portfolio consists of:\n\n  • 30% stocks\n  • 15% intermediate-term government bonds\n  • 40% long-term bonds\n  • 7.5% gold\n  • 7.5% commodities\n\nThe portfolio has a large fixed-income component relative to equities to get close to a risk parity (yet, it does not use bond derivatives). The portfolio should be rebalanced at least annually.\n\nLet’s use the Portfolio Service of the Alpholio™ App for Android to analyze this all weather portfolio. To do so, let’s construct a portfolio of ETFs that represent the above asset classes:\n\nThese ETFs were selected to have the earliest possible inception dates and lowest sponsor fees (expense ratios). The time span of the analysis is limited by the inception date of DBC. An alternative commodity ETF, the iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust (GSG), became available about five months after DBC, therefore the latter was chosen. Since about 8% of DBC tracks gold, the weight of IAU is lower than that of DBC by one percentage point (due to the limitation of setting widgets, the app only accepts whole percentage weights).\n\nHere is the setup for the analysis (the Dates, Return Frequency and Rebalance Frequency sections can be expanded by tapping their respective headers):\n\nAll Weather Portfolio - Setup\n\nHere are the analysis results for the above portfolio with monthly returns and quarterly rebalancing:\n\nAll Weather Portfolio - Quarterly Rebalancing\n\nWith semi-annual (i.e. every six months) rebalancing, the all weather portfolio performed slightly better in terms of the higher annualized return and Sharpe ratio as well as smaller maximum drawdown:\n\nAll Weather Portfolio - Semi-Annual Rebalancing\n\nAnnual rebalancing yielded no further improvement in the annualized return or Sharpe ratio, but reduced the maximum drawdown to 12.1% and lowered the beta to 0.20.\n\nFor reference, here are the results for a traditional balanced portfolio, comprised of 60% SPY and 40% of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG), with monthly returns and semi-annual rebalancing in the same analysis period:\n\nBalanced Portfolio - Semi-Annual Rebalancing\n\nCompared to the traditional balanced portfolio, the all weather portfolio had all the desirable characteristics: a higher annualized return and Sharpe ratio, coupled with a significantly lower beta and maximum drawdown. However, the above analysis covered a prolonged period of decreasing and historically low interest rates that drove the returns of intermediate- and long-term bonds, the dominant positions in the portfolio. In an environment of rising interest rates (generally expected to begin next year) and falling commodity prices (already taking place), a risk-parity oriented portfolio, even with no bond leverage, may suffer.\n\nPin It\nAnalysis of Morgan Stanley Institutional Growth Fund\nanalysis, mutual fund\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCumulative RealAlpha™ for MSEGX\n\n\n\nReference Weights for MSEGX\n\n\n\n\n\nPin It\nMerger Arbitrage Funds as Portfolio Diversifiers\nalternatives, analysis, app, asset allocation, correlation, portfolio\n\nA recent article in The Wall Street Journal’s Investing in Funds & ETFs report discusses merger arbitrage mutual funds. According to the article, such funds\n\n…may offer an attractive way to diversify away from the risks of stocks or bonds …[but] can’t replace bonds, because their returns aren’t certain and come mostly through any price appreciation, not yield. But held in tandem with bonds, they can offer a way to hedge against interest-rate risk and might cushion part of a portfolio against stock-market volatility\n\nLet’s take a closer look at these statements with the help of a recently introduced Alpholio™ App for Android, and specifically its Portfolio, Correlation, Total Return and Efficient Frontier services. For the purposes of this analysis, the base portfolio consists of 60% SPDR® S&P 500® ETF (SPY) and 40% of the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG), i.e. a traditional balanced mix of stocks and bonds. Here is the baseline chart with statistics generated from total monthly returns of both ETFs and quarterly rebalancing of the portfolio:\n\nPortfolio 60% SPY + 40% AGG\n\nThe reason why the beta of this portfolio is not exactly 0.6 (i.e. equal to the 60% weight of the SPY) is threefold. Alpholio™ uses a broader definition of “the market” than just the S&P 500® index. Also, the correlation between the market and AGG is not zero. Finally, the portfolio is rebalanced quarterly, not monthly, which can lead to a temporary divergence of SPY/AGG weights from the original 60/40% level.\n\nFor reference, in the same time frame a portfolio consisting of just the SPY would have an annualized return of 8.52% with a standard deviation of 14.25%, Sharpe ratio of 0.55 and maximum drawdown of 50.8%. Adding AGG to such an equity-only portfolio decreases its return but reduces its volatility even more, thus improving the Sharpe ratio. The maximum drawdown is also significantly diminished.\n\nThe article quotes two merger arbitrage funds with substantial assets: The Merger Fund® (MERFX) and The Arbitrage Fund (ARBFX). To effectively diversify the balanced portfolio, should either fund replace a portion of stocks, a portion of bonds, or a combination of both? What should be the extent of such a replacement?\n\nTo answer the first question, let’s take a look at the correlation between SPY, AGG and either fund using the Correlation service of the Alpholio™ app. Here is a chart of the rolling 12-month correlation coefficient for monthly returns of SPY and MERFX:\n\nCorrelation SPY - MERFX\n\nThe starting date of the chart stems from the earliest availability of AGG whose first full monthly return was in October 2003. The average correlation of 0.56 indicates that MERFX was a marginal diversifier for SPY (generally, a correlation of 0.6 or less is desirable). Here is a similar chart for AGG and MERFX:\n\nCorrelation AGG - MERFX\n\nThe average correlation of just below zero indicates that MERFX was a much better diversifier for AGG than SPY. Similarly, the average correlation between SPY and ARBFX was about 0.42 and virtually zero between AGG and ARBFX. Therefore, to effectively diversify the base portfolio, it should generally be better to allocate more of SPY rather than AGG to MERFX or ARBFX. However, this would also suppress portfolio returns — as the following total return chart shows, MERFX and ARBFX had steadier but smaller cumulative returns than SPY:\n\nTotal Return of SPY, MERFX and ARBFX\n\nTo answer the second question: a portfolio with the highest Sharpe ratio (i.e. the tangency portfolio) would be mostly composed of AGG and MERFX. Here is an efficient frontier chart in which the current portfolio, depicted by a standalone marker inside the frontier, had 80% in AGG and 20% in MERFX but no SPY and was very close to the tangency portfolio:\n\nEfficient Frontier 0% SPY + 80% AGG + 20% MERFX\n\nAdding MERFX at the expense of SPY decreased the portfolio volatility and increased its Sharpe ratio, but resulted in lower returns. To illustrate this further, here is a chart and statistics for a portfolio that consisted of 45% SPY, 40% AGG and 15% MERFX, rebalanced quarterly:\n\nPortfolio 45% SPY + 40% AGG + 15% MERFX\n\nUltimately, it is up to the investor to trade off portfolio returns for risk — some may choose to optimize for the highest return per unit of risk, while others may strive for higher returns at the expense of a sub-optimal Sharpe ratio. The Alpholio™ app for Android provides a set of tools that facilitate the exploration of historical data and construction of desired portfolios, with the usual caveat that the past performance is not a guarantee of future results.\n\nPin It\nRecent Posts\nRecent Comments", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5724716186523438}
+{"content": "#BloomEnergy Completes #FuelCell Project at Morgan Stanley Global Headquarters in New York City\n\nEnvironmental XPRT http://photovoltaic.pw/2h5lzfT\n\n\nSelling Power: Economics, Policy, and Electric Utilities Before 1940, Neufeld\n\n“John L. Neufeld offers a comprehensive historical treatment of the economics that shaped electric utilities. Compared with most industries, the organization of the electric utility industry is not—and cannot be—economically efficient. Most industries are kept by law in a state of fair competition, but the capital necessary to start an electric company—generators, transmission and distribution systems, and land and buildings—is so substantial that few companies can enter the market and compete. Therefore, the natural state of the electric utility industry since its inception has been a monopoly subject to government oversight. These characteristics of electric utilities—and electricity’s importance—have created over time sharp political controversies, and changing public policies have dramatically changed the industry’s structure to an extent matched by few other industries. Neufeld outlines the struggles that shaped the industry’s development, and shows how the experience of electric utilities provides insight into the design of economic institutions, including today’s new large-scale markets.”\n\n\nSolarplaza How #blockchains are transforming the #energy sector | #Solar\n\n“Energy players are rushing to grapple with the potential of blockchains as experts warn the technology could upend traditional utility markets in the coming years. Dr Axel von Perfall, senior manager for energy, power and utilities, infrastructure and public sector at the accountancy firm PwC, said: “For the energy sector, the potential change in the market could be huge.”\n\n\n\nNEWS: Energy May be Ripe for the Sharing Economy, Thanks to Bitcoin’s Blockchain Technology@AEEnet http://blog.aee.net/news-energy-may-be-ripe-for-the-sharing-economy-thanks-to-bitcoins-blockchain-technology?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8488878011703491}
+{"content": "A directory of charm-related words you may wish to know the meaning of...\n\nArt Deco
 Recognised by geometric shapes and angles, and originating in Paris, France, this style was popular from the mid 1910s up until the mid 1930s.\n\nGuilloche Enamel Although frequently associated with enamel, guilloché itself is not enamel, it refers to the pattern beneath. Pronounced “gee-o-shay”, the word originated in France and means ‘engine turning’. Fine, uniform patterns are etched into the surface of a metal object, such as jewellery, compact cases, mirrors etc, by machine and the effect of translucent colour enamel applied over this often yields exquisite results. Guilloché enamel jewellery was at the height of popularity during Victorian and Edwardian times and endured right through to the 50s. There are far fewer jewellers these days using this technique, which is why it is such a thrill to find antique and vintage guilloché enamel pieces.\n\nPuffed Hollow inside.\n\nSterling Silver is created by combining 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other metal, usually copper. Fine silver (99.9% pure) is generally too soft for producing jewellery. Sterling silver is usually alloyed with copper to give it strength whilst preserving the ductility of the silver and a high precious metal content.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9366089105606079}
+{"content": "\n\n\nThe Catch 22\n\nWhether you are a shower person or a bath person, we’ve all had that instance where you’ve got in and the water has been too hot. In most cases, you swiftly remove yourself with no harm being done. But in some cases that hot water can do serious harm and leave you scalded – especially for those who have thinner skin such as the young and the elderly, or vulnerable people who may have trouble verbalising pain or reacting to a situation.\n\nMake no mistake about it, serious scalding incidents don’t just leave burns and scar tissue, they can be deadly too. Anyone can be a victim of scalding and it is likely to happen in your own home – the place you should be the safest.\n\n\nSo why is hot water stored at such a high temperature? Wouldn’t it be easier to store it at 43oC? Here’s where the catch 22 comes in - raising the temperature of the water to 60oC or over kills off bacteria such as Legionella. This type of bacteria grows in conditions where the water temperature is between 20o to 45oC degrees. If it is inhaled in the form of water droplets, or vapour (via a shower, whirlpool/spa bath etc.) it could develop into Legionnaires’ disease, which is a potentially fatal type of pneumonia.\n\n\n\n2) Always test the temperature of a bath or shower before getting in or letting small children in.\n\n\n4) TMVs which blend hot water to a safe temperature can be installed in baths, basins, showers and bidets, so you can protect all water outlets in the home from the risk of scalding.\n\nFind out more about scalding", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9934158325195312}
+{"content": "You are on page 1of 1\n\nName: ___________________________________ Yr.\n\nand Section _______________ Date: ______________________\n1. A motorcycle weighing 15 kN is on a hill that makes an angle of 20o with the horizontal. Find the components of the motorcycle’s weight parallel and perpendicular to the road. a. 5.1 kN and 14.1 kN b. 5.1 kN and 13.3 kN c. 7.1 kN and 15.3 kN d. 9.1 kN and 17.3 kN 2. A ball is thrown upward from the edge of a cliff with an initial velocity of 7 m/s. How fast is it moving 4 sec later? a. 42 m/s upward direction b. 42 m/s downward direction c. 33 m/s upward direction d. 33 m/s downward direction 3. A car towing a trailer is accelerating on a level road. The car exerts a force on the trailer whose magnitude is a. The same as that of the force the trailer exerts on the car b. The same as that of the force the trailer exerts on the road c. The same as that of the force the road exerts on the road d. Greater than that of the force the trailer exerts on the car 4. In Newton’s third law of motion, the action and reaction forces a. Act on the same object b. Act on different objects c. Do not necessarily have the same magnitude and do not necessarily have the same line of action. d. Have the same magnitude but do not have necessarily the same line of action. 5. Find the torsional stress in MPa in a 40 mm diameter shaft that transmits 20.53 kW at 600 rpm. a. 26 MPa b. 46 MPa c. 36 MPa d. 56 MPa 6. A steel shaft 1.4375 inches in diameter transmits 40 hp at 6 1400 rpm. Assuming a modulus of rigidity of 12 x 10 psi, find the torsional deflection of the shaft in degrees per foot length. a. 0.246 b. 0.624 c. 0.426 d. 1.246 7. The maximum stress to which a material may be subjected before failure occurs: a. Ultimate strength b. Ultimate stress c. Endurance limit d. Tensile stress 8. The capacity of metal to withstand load without breaking is: a. Strength b. Stress c. Elasticity d. Strain 9. The flow of liquid at a constant rate through a conical pipe is _____. a. Steady nonuniform b. Steady uniform c. Unsteady nonuniform d. Unsteady uniform 10. Fluids that has constant density is considered is: a. Compressible fluids b. Incompressible fluids c. Real fluids d. Ideal fluids If the absolute pressure at the bottom of the ocean is 300 kPa, how deep is the water at this point? a. 16.66 m b. 19.66 m c. 29.66 m d. 39.66 m An open chamber rests on the ocean floor in 160 ft of sea water (SG = 1.03). What air pressure in psig must be maintained inside to exclude water? a. 45.6 b. 71.4 c. 60.9 d. 93.2 A thermodynamic system which undergoes a cyclic process during a positive amount of work is done by the system. a. Heat engine b. Heat pump c. Reversible-irreversible process d. Reversed rankine cycle Ratio of the outlet stagnation pressure to the inlet stagnation pressure is referred as: a. Diffuser efficiency b. Nozzle efficiency c. Isentropic efficiency d. Weir flow efficiency How much energy is required to just vaporize a kg of water which is originally at 27 C and one atmosphere? a. 2562.65 kJ b. 3562.65 kJ c. 4562.65 kJ d. 5562.65 kJ 3 What mass of nitrogen is contained in a 65 m tank if the pressure and temperature are one atmosphere and 21 C respectively? a. 75.4 kg b. 57.4 kg c. 54.7 kg d. 45.7 kg The total income equals the total operating cost: a. Balance sheet b. Check and balance c. In-place value d. Break-even-no-gain-no-loss What is the work-in process classified as: a. A revenue b. A liability c. An expense d. An asset The initial cost of a paint sand mill, including its installation, is P800,000. The BIR approved life of this machine is 10 years for depreciation. The estimated salvage value of the mill is P50,000, and the cost of dismantling is estimated to be P15,000. Using straight line depreciation, what is the annual depreciation charge? a. P75,000 b. P85,000 c. P76,500 d. P90,000 Find the nominal rate which if converted quarterly could be used instead of 12% compounded semi-annually. a. 10.58% b. 11.28% c. 9.38% d. 11.82%", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9609777331352234}
+{"content": "Website of the Media Legal Defence Initiative.\n\nLegal assistance for online media more critical today\n\nWebsite of the Media Legal Defence Initiative.\nWebsite of the Media Legal Defence Initiative.\n\nBy Ghui\n\nWith the recent announcements of the electoral boundaries and the impending general elections looming, it is a forgone conclusion that blog activity and online discussions will spike. In tandem with growing public perception that state owned media outlets are the government's mouthpieces, the Internet is fast becoming the forum du jour for political debates and information dissemination.\n\nThe ever growing reach of the World Wide Web has not only attracted greater participants but also increased scrutiny from the powers be. Roy Ngerng, Amos Yee, Alex Au and The Real Singapore are but a few examples of bloggers and websites who have felt the full weight of the law to silence them.\n\nravi and roy\nRoy Ngerng and his earlier defence team.\n\nThe common concern among these cases was not what they said or did not say, but that laws not directly connected to online publications have been used (or misused) as de facto gags on matters that could rightly constitute matters of public interest.\n\nSingapore is of course not the only country that has a history of alleged press suppression but the proliferation of online media makes this issue much bigger than before.\n\nThere are many organisations and lobby groups that push for greater press freedoms and protections for journalists. What is perhaps lacking amidst this sea of advocacy agencies is an outfit that deals specifically with the legal defence of those who are involved in the spread of information within the sphere of public interest and who face legal persecution as a result of what they have to say.\n\nIn 2008, the Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI) was set up to deal with just that.\n\nWhile not many in Singapore may have heard of the MLDI, its work has been impactful and prolific. Active in 49 countries within Asia, Africa, central and eastern Europe and a smattering of the Middle East with 123 current cases and a 76% success rate, the MLDI is the quintessential organisation for our present times of political change and Internet power.\n\nPeter Low Alex Au Choo ZX Christine Low\nAlex Au and lawyers.\n\nBeing cognisant with the constantly evolving nature of the Internet, the MLDI has a reasonably fluid agenda. They are mandated to provide assistance to anyone or any organisation within the media who are facing legal persecution for speaking out on public interest issues and who are not involved in propagating hate speech or inciting violence. One does not have to have a specific number of followers before qualifying for their assistance and each case is judged on its merits.\n\nWhile the MLDI has traditionally worked with journalists and bloggers, it does not rule out aiding others in the media such as performance artists, cartoonists or artists as long as they are engaged in issues of public interests.\n\nThe MLDI's platform has been a much needed resource for many journalists and bloggers who find themselves hampered by legal difficulties which in turn limit their ability to work. This then has the damaging repercussion of restricting the public's right to information.\n\nBloggers and the like may have information of profound importance to share but may not necessarily have the resources to hire legal advice the way big news corporations have. They can therefore become easy prey for those in power. This is especially if they are divulging information which although crucial to the public at large may be information that the powers be have an agenda to suppress.\n\nAi Takagi and Yang Kaiheng with lawyer Choo Zheng Xi (image - CNA)\nTRS editors Ai Takagi and Yang Kaiheng with lawyer Choo Zheng Xi (image - CNA)\n\nIf a blogger, independent journalist or anyone within the media sphere is facing legal pressure and requires the MLDI's assistance, he/she/they can contact the MLDI directly via their website. The MLDI works with an international network of lawyers and human rights organisations. They are able to source the most suitable lawyers and raise funds for the requisite legal defence. In jurisdictions where pro bono work is common, the MLDI have recourse to a panel of pro bono lawyers. In countries where pro bono lawyers are not available, the MLDI makes use of local contacts to hire the most suitable lawyers for the case at hand.\n\nWhile the MLDI does not have a \"no go zone\" per se, its ability to effectively help depends on the given jurisdiction having some semblance of a stable legal system in the first place. Their ability to assist in areas where there is no legal framework is therefore restricted.\n\nIn Singapore, the MLDI's existence is definitely very relevant. In an atmosphere which many consider press freedom as restrictive and where the state run media is viewed as biased, the prevalence of alternative sources of information is of vital importance in order for civil and political liberties to thrive.\n\nleslie chew make cartoons\nCartoon by Leslie Chew\n\nYet, many who have tried to speak out against certain public interest topics have been constantly harassed. I understand that the MLDI works with a few lawyers in Singapore and has provided assistance to some Singaporeans including Roy Ngerng in his recent troubles. It has also notably assisted Alan Shadrake when he ran afoul of the authorities in Singapore for his book Once a Jolly Hangman.\n\nBeyond ensuring the sustainability of public interest bloggers, legal assistance has the even greater impact of setting precedents and clarifying the law to create a more favourable environment for free speech.\n\nA recent example would be the Court of Appeal Decision in the Dorsey James Michael case, whereby the court held that a multi factorial approach was required in the determination of whether or not a journalist’s sources ought to be revealed. Most notably in this case, the exposure of corruption and the public interest element of it were judged to be superior – the rule of “there can be no confidence in iniquity” was accepted.\n\nAs Singapore’s democratic landscape develops, the right to information and press freedoms must also catch on. As bloggers and journalists continue to do their work, the legal system must be utilised as a system of support, as opposed to a tool of oppression. Easy and affordable access to legal assistance is of paramount importance.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6445285081863403}
+{"content": "WHY I Created TSS:\n\nI live with intention and purpose and want to help others do the same. Living this way allows me to be intentional with my time, spaces and decisions. This purposeful way of living means that my lifestyle is a reflection of my values.\n\nHOW I help others:\n\nI walk people through a process that: Minimizes life clutter by looking at what’s getting in the way of living out their intentions. Organizes what’s left after letting go of items, beliefs and habits that created clutter. Sustains it through coaching people on habit, core belief and lifestyle changes.\n\nWHAT are the results:\n\nYou live with more awareness and mindfulness of your day to day habits, thoughts and beliefs. You live more intentionally in all areas of your life. You gain clarity and focus towards your passions and wellbeing. You gain a deep understanding of yourself and the habits and beliefs that created the clutter in your life. You feel empowered that you have ability to change, grow and evolve. You become more present and intentional with people which creates deeper connections. And of course, you are calmer because the space around you are organized, you use time effectively, and your lifestyles match your values.\n\n\n\n\nWe know that getting organized - and staying organized - is not easy to do alone. We believe in targeting the root of the problem, instead of wasting time with organizing trends and storage solutions.\n\nWe begin by mapping out your intentions and values with you -- Why do you want to be organized? What are you values and intentions? How do they show up in your lifestyle? What are you feeling overwhelmed by? \n\nThese intentions become the foundation of our process and give you a reference point to help you be accountable. We believe that gaining awareness to your barriers and beliefs helps you make lasting changes. The end result is an organized space, effective time management, and an ongoing practice of mindfully living your values. Learn more about our services and rates here.\n\n\n\n\n1. value and intention Oriented\n\nWe focus on your overall values, intentions and passions, and then organize what’s needed to achieve these goals. The end result goes beyond having an organized space -- our mission is to help you create an organized life that makes it easier to live out your intentions and values. A life of living with intention where you values are reflected in your everyday actions, habits and beliefs.\n\n\nDepending on your needs, we can organize physical spaces, electronic files and coach you on time management and overall mindful living. We understand that many factors affect a person’s ability to stay organized and focused, and we help integrate organization into your life.\n\n\n\nThe process of getting organized involves a practical layer of your physical space, but more importantly involves an internal awareness of your habits, core beliefs, thoughts and relationships to your belongings. We take you through a process to helps you shift these day-to-day habits and actions that create clutter, so you can mindfully live your goals and help you live with intentions . Many of our clients have held beliefs that they are inherently disorganized and through this process we have seen those personal narratives change. \n\n\nWe truly believe in living sustainably in all areas of your life and being conscious consumers. Through the process of minimizing and organizing, we provide support and external resources to donate and reuse as much as possible. (Check out our donation resources!) For us, getting organized also means having a positive impact on the environment, that’s why we continue to coach you after the organizing process to help you reduce your carbon footprint in all areas of your life.\n\n\n\n\nTONIA CORDI // Lifestyle + Space Organizer \n\nWith over 15 years experience working as a teacher in the education system, an Honors B.A. in Psychology, a Bachelor’s in Education and a background in fine art, I’ve always been interested in systems, well-being, creative problem solving and sustainability. Most of all, I’ve been a life long learner who thrives in questioning why I’m doing something which allows me to live with intention so that my values are reflected in all areas of my life.\n\nIn 2014, I shifted my focus from working in the elementary education sector with YRDSB to organizing. I bridge my teaching experience, passion for well-being, living out my values and drive for environmental sustainability and community into my organizational work. \n\nFor me, organizing is more than labeling and creating efficient spaces -- it's about coaching individuals to become more aware of their relationship to their belongings and realize how this relationship affects their life. It’s about closing the gap between someones values and intentions and what their lifestyle looks like. I walk people through a process that teaches individuals simple strategies and skills needed to shift past habits, become aware of their beliefs and empower them to make positive changes in day to day life. \n\nMy dream is to empower and help individuals, communities and organizations to gain focus and clarity so they can live more purposefully and sustainably. By directly donating to local organizations, I hopes to build strong community relationships between TSS, clients, and organizations to pave the way for larger social impact.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9973912239074707}
+{"content": "\nIsland Expeditions are a new idea that digs into the island vibe brought in by Battle for Azeroth and allows players to team up in groups of three to venture out onto various islands to gather all-important Azerite while fighting against enemies on the island and completing quests. The twist is that Island Expeditions are also a race against the opposite faction — whether it's three AI characters or three real players is up to you — but you may have to do a little player vs. player (or fake PvP) if you happen to run into them.\n\n\n\nFull disclosure on my time with Battle for Azeroth thus far: I leveled a Horde character to 120 and completed all three Zandalar storylines plus put about 20 hours into end-game content. I have also leveled an Alliance character partway through Kul Tiras and completed portions of the Stormsong Valley and Tiragarde Sound storylines. My only experience in Drustavar has been through the eyes of the Horde thus far.\n\n\n\nRésumé des informations (TL;DR) : Spoil Terminez toutes les quêtes disponibles, récupérez un maximum de Puissance d'Azerite, faites le Front de Guerre une fois niveau 120 pour récupérer un loot 370 ilvl et accéder aux quêtes, faites le Front de Guerre chaque semaine pour la réputation et l'AP, faites les World Quests pour la Rep/AP/Émisaires, trouvez de l'équipement grâce aux donjons et assurez vous de faire les 9 disponibles en difficulté mythique.\n\n\nA: The amount of time it takes to receive your gold after putting a Token up for sale depends on a variety of factors, including the current supply and demand. When you list a Token, you’ll be quoted an estimated time based on the current Token supply and the rate of recent transactions, but the actual amount of time it takes to sell is likely to vary (note that Tokens do not expire). In most cases, Tokens are sold in the order in which they were put up for sale; however, there are some exceptions to this, such as when a Token purchase is undergoing verification.\nThis gold making advice is applicable to most players, except if you are an enchanter, in which case there is a very strong case to turn them into dust and essence for your profession needs. As an advanced tip, you can explore the use of mobile apps that let you post on the auction house at the right time because the price of greens tends to fluctuate rapidly, and could mean a large loss of potential gold income.\n\nAegwynn - Alliance Aegwynn - Horde Aerie Peak - Alliance Aerie Peak - Horde Agamaggan - Alliance Agamaggan - Horde Aggramar - Alliance Aggramar - Horde Ahn'Qiraj - Alliance Ahn'Qiraj - Horde Al'Akir - Alliance Al'Akir - Horde Alexstrasza - Alliance Alexstrasza - Horde Alleria - Alliance Alleria - Horde Alonsus - Alliance Alonsus - Horde Aman'Thul - Alliance Aman'Thul - Horde Ambossar - Alliance Ambossar - Horde Anachronos - Alliance Anachronos - Horde Anetheron - Alliance Anetheron - Horde Antonidas - Alliance Antonidas - Horde Anub'arak - Alliance Anub'arak - Horde Arak arahm - Alliance Arak arahm - Horde Arathi - Alliance Arathi - Horde Arathor - Alliance Arathor - Horde Archimonde - Alliance Archimonde - Horde Argent Dawn - Alliance Argent Dawn - Horde Arthas - Alliance Arthas - Horde Arygos - Alliance Arygos - Horde Aszune - Alliance Aszune - Horde Auchindoun - Alliance Auchindoun - Horde Azjol Nerub - Alliance Azjol Nerub - Horde Azshara - Alliance Azshara - Horde Aggra (Português) - Alli... Aggra (Português) - Horde Azuregos - Alliance Azuregos - Horde Area 52 - Alliance Area 52 - Horde Azuremyst - Alliance Azuremyst - Horde Ashenvale - Alliance Ashenvale - Horde\nAs the gold price of a $20 token falls, more people with gold are willing to convert it into tokens, and fewer people with money are willing to buy gold at that rate. As the gold price rises, the value of the token begins to exceed the value of the time spent accumulating the gold for some market participants and they stop selling their gold. Meanwhile, other people with cash are enticed to enter the market because of the high amount of gold they can get for their tokens.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9998975992202759}
+{"content": "Moving is not easy. But just what exactly makes it so stressful? The house-hunting process? The piles of unpacked boxes in your kitchen? Maneuvering that behemoth of a moving truck? The research team at My Move decided to find out.\n\nThe study asked 1,500 consumers who had moved in the past three months questions about 75 moving-related tasks. What makes something stressful isn’t just how expensive, time-consuming or difficult the task is, but also how much more expensive, more time-consuming and more difficult the task was than expected. If a task cost more money, took more time and was significantly harder than a respondent originally anticipated, that task would have a high composite moving stress rating.\n\nSo which tasks had the highest stress ratings and how can you make them easier during your own move? Let’s break down the top five:\n\n1. Packing and Unpacking. You never realize how much stuff you’ve accumulated until it’s time to pack it. And many items — that treadmill you stopped using two weeks after New Year’s, your bobble head collection, everything in your closet purchased during the ’80s — cause more stress to move than they’re worth. Make packing and unpacking easier by donating unwanted items to charity. Not only can your donation be tax-deductible, but less stuff means less stress during the move.\n\n2. Loading and Unloading a Moving Truck without Professional Help. If you forgo a professional moving service in favor of a DIY move, you’re in for a lot of heavy lifting. Don’t try to tackle this task alone. Reduce moving-day stress by enlisting the help of friends and family (bribery in the form of a six-pack and pizza usually works best). Also invest in moving tools like a dolly, hand truck and moving straps to make the lifting and hauling easier on your body. And just because you haven’t hired professionals doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pack the moving truck like them.\n\n3. Home Improvement Projects for New and Old Homes. Major home improvement and remodeling projects can be a serious financial investment and often take longer than anticipated to complete. Add to this the disruption they cause to your daily routine if you’re still living in the house, and it’s no surprise these projects ranked as the third most stressful. Whether you’re repairing the roof on your old home before putting it on the market or tackling a bathroom renovation in your new home, hiring the right contractor can make the process less stressful. Read reviews to find a reliable professional; subscribing to Angie’s List is a great place to start. Be sure to research discounts for subscriptions, as they are frequently available.\n\n4. Searching for a New Home. Rent or buy? The ‘burbs or the city? Which neighborhood? Settling on a place to call home is a huge decision, and one made all the more difficult if you’re unfamiliar with your new area. Start your search early and, to simplify the process, identify the criteria you’re looking for in a home. If you have children, being in a good school district might be a top priority. If you’re relocating for a job, proximity to the office might be your number-one concern. Once you know what you’re looking for, make trips to explore the neighborhood options and familiarize yourself with the area.\n\n5. Compiling a Home Inventory. We’ve already established that you’re stressing out about how much stuff you’ve accumulated and need to somehow pack into boxes. Now, add the task of documenting all that stuff — from art and furniture to electronics, jewelry and more. It’s overwhelming, but compiling a home inventory is crucial for insurance purposes in the event of fire, theft or natural disasters. It’ll also help you keep track of what went on and came off the moving truck, as well as the condition of each of your possessions. To simplify the process and save time, use a pre-populated downloadable home inventory spreadsheet.\n\n[Read More]", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5938799381256104}
+{"content": "Grammar 101 with Michael Kwan\n\nIn addition to word choice, word order and spelling, another area of grammar that deserves your attention is punctuation. Using the right punctuation marks in the right context can dramatically elevate your writing to another level… and using punctuation incorrectly can equally detract from your writing too. What happens when the do’s and don’t of punctuation get a little muddled?\n\nMore on point, how should you be punctuating the phrase “do’s and don’ts” in the first place?\n\nTaking half a step back, let’s define the phrase. When someone is talking about the “do’s and don’ts” of something, they are referring to the set of rules pertaining to that something. They are talking about the things that you should do and the things that you should not do. For instance, among typical dining do’s and don’ts, you may be offered two guidelines: Do make polite conversation. Don’t talk with your mouth full.\n\nPlurals Don’t Need Apostrophes, Right?\n\nNow, consider these three main options:\n\n  1. dos and don’ts\n  2. do’s and don’t’s\n  3. do’s and don’ts\n\nAs a general rule of thumb, we are told that we should not use apostrophes for pluralization. You have one apple and she has many apples (not many apple’s). Grunge music was popular in the 1990s (and not the 1990’s). However, there are times when apostrophes are used to provide greater clarity, as may be the case with “minding your p’s and q’s” and other similar phrases.\n\nThe Merits and Pitfalls of Options Three\n\nReturning to our original question, which of the three options is the most preferable? The first option follows standard rules, avoiding the apostrophes for pluralization. It retains the apostrophe for the contraction don’t, which is short for do not. They all do. Part of the challenge here is that “dos” can look odd, as if you are writing the Spanish word for the number two.\n\nThe second option adds apostrophes for clarity. We have now avoided the “dos” problem by creating a new problem. Don’t’s just looks odd with the letter “T” flanked by an apostrophe on either side, each serving a different purpose. That’s not great either.\n\nAnd so we arrive at the third option, adding an apostrophe for do’s but not for don’ts. This hybrid solution is perhaps the most pleasing to the eye at the cost of being the most inconsistent. In instances where grammar and punctuation may be a stylistic choice, many experts stress the importance of consistency. Choose your preference and stick with it.\n\nDamned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t\n\nPersonally, I’m still conflicted.\n\nThe purist in me wants to use option #1, but the visual writer in me wants to choose option #3. As with whether or not to use the Oxford comma, I don’t think the debate over how to punctuate “do’s and don’ts” is going to end any time soon. Which version do you prefer? Or do you even care at all?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7915468215942383}
+{"content": "Circle of time\n\n\nTime is, before it is,\nIt dismantles and puts together everything.\nIt is the foundation stone of everything,\nNothing touches it, only time touches the ratios.\n\nIn the circle time runs two ways,\nIn the direction of the dismantling toward the basis or in the direction of construction.\nEverything that it puts together on one side, it dismantles on the other and vice versa.\n\nEveryone is within a dream on the rim of the time of reality,\nThrough which he walks and dismantles or puts together his dream.\n\nNobody can survive in the dreams of another,\nBut everyone is a place of reality to another.\n\nHe who dreams his own worlds, is moving away from the starting point,\nHe whose eyes are opened analyses\nAnd in the circle of time walks toward the starting point of reality.\n\nAs long as he is at the rim of the time of reality, man can dream,\nBut once in the centre of the reality, he meets the dreams, the time awakens the dreaming one.\n\nComprehension is the division of time down to the foundation and is given to everyone\nWho does not double cross with the dreamy images.\nEverything rounded up has its centre.\nComprehension is the centre of time, with it everything untangles from the loop of the dream.\n\nTime is given to man, so that he would dismantle himself\nAnd accept the starting point or time without assumptions.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9028664231300354}
+{"content": "‘World’s deadliest sea crossing’ claimed six lives a day in 2018: UN refugee agency\n\n30 January 2019 – According to a new report from the agency, an estimated 2,275 individuals drowned or went missing in the Mediterranean in 2018.\n\nThis is despite the fact that Europe saw the lowest number of refugees and migrants arriving for five years, at 139,300, principally Spain (65,400), Greece (50,500) and Italy (23,400).\n\n“Saving lives at sea is not a choice, nor a matter of politics, but an age-old obligation,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. “We can put an end to these tragedies by having the courage and vision to look beyond the next boat, and adopt a long-term approach based on regional cooperation, that places human life and dignity at its core.”\n\nTraumatised people kept at sea for days\n\nIn the last year, shifts in policy by some southern European States have led to numerous incidents where people have been left stranded at sea for days on end, because the boats carrying them have been denied permission to dock.\n\n“Large numbers of often traumatised and sick people were kept at sea for days before permission to disembark was granted,” the report states, “sometimes only after other States had pledged to relocate the majority of those who had been rescued”.\n\nVolunteer rescue boats and their crews have also faced growing restrictions on their operations, the UN report continues, adding that on routes from Libya to Europe, “one person died at sea for every 14 who arrived in Europe”.\n\nThis is a sharp rise on 2017 levels, when the rate was one death for every 38 arrivals.\n\nAt the same, UNHCR highlights that the Libyan Coast Guard’s decision to step up operations in 2018 meant that more than eight in 10 of those picked up at sea were disembarked in Libya, where they faced “appalling conditions” in detention centres.\n\nThis includes limited access to food, disease and “several” deaths, the UN report notes, confirming abuses that have long been documented by the UN human rights office (OHCHR).\n\nFaced with such dangers in the troubled North African state, which has seen violent clashes and political turmoil since President Muammar Gadaffi was overthrown in 2011, the UN agency forecasts that an increasing number of migrant and refugee vessels will try to evade Libya’s coastguard and make for Malta and Italy this year.\n\nReaching Europe is ‘final stop’ in nightmarish journey\n\nThe highest number of people arriving in Spain was from Morocco and Guinea (13,000 each), while most of those reaching Italy came from Tunisia (5,200) and Eritrea (3,300).\n\nMore Afghans than other nationals headed to Greece (9,000), followed closely by Syrian refugees (7,900).\n\n“Setting foot in Europe was the final stop of a nightmarish journey on which they had faced torture, rape and sexual assault, and the threat of being kidnapped and held for ransom,” the UN report maintains, in a call for States to dismantle smuggling networks and bring perpetrators of these crimes to justice.\n\nDespite the “political deadlock” among European States on crafting a regional approach to sea rescue and disembarkation, as called for by UNHCR and IOM last June, the report welcomes the fact that several States have committed to relocating people rescued on the central Mediterranean – “a potential foundation for a predictable and lasting solution”.\n\nThousands of resettlement places were also pledged by States for evacuating refugees out of Libya, it adds.\n\n30 dead and 100 migrants missing in Djibouti boat tragedy\n\nOn a different but also perilous route for those in search of a new life from continental Africa, IOM says that 30 people are now known to have died when two vessels sank off the Djibouti coast on Tuesday.\n\nAlthough 16 survivors have been rescued, IOM spokesperson Joel Millman warned that the death toll could rise, as it assists the authorities in the search for other passengers along the shoreline.\n\nOne 18-year-old male survivor said that the boat he was on was carrying 130 people before it sank, including 16 women. Like the second vessel, it had set a course for Yemen, but went down in stormy conditions half an hour after leaving Godoria, in northern Djibouti.\n\nAccording to IOM, those who perished were likely to have come from Ethiopia, whose nationals along with others from Somalia and Eritrea, seek work in the Arab States to the north of Yemen. The agency says that since 2014, at least 199 people have died off the Obock coast.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5351697206497192}
+{"content": "Innovators in Data Journalism: An Interview with Yaru Wen\n\nNovember 12, 2018\n\n\nYaru Wen is a news reporter at China Global Television Network (CGTV) in Beijing. She is an alumnus of USCET’s data journalism workshop last year\n\nQ: What is your view of data journalism as a news reporter?\n\nA: I think that data can better help us evaluate the direction of a story. By looking at data patterns, we can see new potential angles that we didn’t know were there. For example, after determining which general topic we want to investigate, we can go and find relative data. Then, we can examine the data to find a specific topic. Also, data visualization can be very interesting. Through our analysis, we can give life to the data. We can combine different perspectives to tell a story. At present, data journalism is still a novel reporting method, which makes the news article richer and the content more diverse.\n\nQ: What are some of the challenges that you face when working in data journalism? How do you cope with them?\n\nA: I think there are two difficulties to working in data journalism in China. One is that data is hard to find. For example, one project I have done is about analyzing China's atmospheric PM2.5, but since there are very few official sources, we worry that the data from other sources may not be up to the standards of foreign outlets. The choice of data sources can affect the story’s coverage, so finding good ones is very important. Unfortunately, there are so few databases available in China that are reliable.\n\nSecond, people lack the professional experience that is necessary for processing and analyzing data. For example, when reporting an aviation accident, we should look for the data and information that can best reflect the severity of the aviation accident, which all requires experience. Similarly, an experienced team is also very important because they are better at finding and analyzing the data.\n\nQ: Have you used any skills you learned from the workshop?\n\nA: I’ve used a lot of the things that I learned from the data journalism workshop. This five-day course was relatively simple, but it helped me to open up my mind and enabled me to better understand the development of data journalism. The teachers in the workshop taught me the process of analyzing specific news production, from conception to option elimination to finalization. It's a process of getting close to the source of the news, and that process might lead me to a different result.\n\nQ: Could you share with us your favorite data journalism project?\n\nA: I really like one article from Reuters. The name is Life in the Camps. This article describes the sanitation situation in Myanmar by analyzing the distribution of slums, drinking water, and toilets. It also analyzes various phenomena and concludes that the mortality rate of diseases is related to the distribution of toilets. The Reuters team is very strong and experienced and has local partnerships, so their data is reliable.\n\n\n\n\nQ: 作为一个文字记者，能谈一谈你对在工作中结合数据新闻的看法吗？\n\n\nQ: 运用数据新闻是遇到过障碍吗？都有什么样的障碍以及如何克服它的？\n\n\n\n\nQ: 现在在工作中有用到工作坊里学到的东西吗？\n\n\nQ: 可以分享给我们一篇你认为不错的数据新闻报道吗？", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9638112187385559}
+{"content": "My Creature Meats . . .\n\nDetail from 'Supermodel'\n\nUnfortunately for a great deal of us, torment is a central, common or constant element in life. Not to say that life is solely pain. It isn't, but certain undesirable things that it is compiled of can easily convince a person of as much. The devil is in the details and sometimes the details are all that we have.\n'Creature Meats' Collection is my arrant and personal homage to ''other'' things. Things better left unsaid. It's how I deal with them. I was never any good at keeping a diary.\n\nWe are all creatures. We all have features \nbut meats that have feelings are still meats.\nand when you are a meat, a plate is always ready.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9967276453971863}
+{"content": "By now, all of us have realized how important it is to guard the environment for our production personal survival. The term ‘conservation of atmosphere relates to actions which can present particular person or business advantages, however at the same time, stop extreme use leading to environmental injury. Conservation could also be distinguished from preservation, which is taken into account to be “maintaining of nature as it’s, or may need been earlier than the intervention of either human beings or pure forces. We all know that natural resources are getting depleted and environmental issues are increasing. It is, due to this fact, necessary to conserve and protect our surroundings. Following practices assist in protecting our atmosphere.\n\n1. Rotation of crops.\n\n2. Judicious use of fertilisers, intensive cropping, proper drainage and irrigation.\n\n3. Therapy of sewage, so that it does not pollute the rivers and different water our bodies.\n\nFour. Composting organic stable waste for use as manure.\n\n5. Planting timber in place of those removed for various functions.\n\n6. National parks and conservation forests must be established by the government.\n\n7. Harvesting of rain water.\n\nSome action points to guard or enhance the surroundings:\n\n(i) Dispose the waste after separating them into biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste material.\n\n(ii) Begin a compost heap or use a compost bin. This can be used to recycle waste food and different biodegradable materials.\n\n(iii) Keep away from unnecessary or wasteful packaging of merchandise.\n\n(iv) Reuse carry luggage.\n\n(v) Plant trees. They may help to absorb excess carbon dioxide.\n\n(vi) Observe World Surroundings Day on 5th June.\n\n(vii) Never put any left over chemicals, used oils down the drain, rest room or dump them on the bottom or in water or burn them in the garden. Should you achieve this, it is going to trigger pollution.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9102154970169067}
+{"content": "Diabetes and aortic aneurysm: current state of the art\n\nRaffort J, Lareyre F, Clément M, Hassen-Khodja R, Chinetti G, Mallat Z\n\nCardiovasc. Res. 2018 Jul;\n\n\nPMID: 30052821\n\nAortic aneurysm is a life-threatening disease due to the risk of aortic rupture. The only curative treatment available relies on surgical approaches; drug-based therapies are lacking, highlighting an unmet need for clinical practice. Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is frequently associated with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk factors including male sex, age, smoking, hypertension and dyslipidemia. Thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) is more often linked to genetic disorders of the extracellular matrix and the contractile apparatus, but also share similar cardiovascular risk factors. Intriguingly, a large body of evidence points to an inverse association between diabetes and both AAA and TAA. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the negative association between diabetes and aortic aneurysm could help the development of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to tackle the disease. Here we summarize current knowledge on the relationship between glycemic parameters, diabetes, and the development of aortic aneurysm. Cellular and molecular pathways that underlie the protective effect of diabetes itself and its treatment are reviewed and discussed, along with their potential implications for clinical translation.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8873489499092102}
+{"content": "— 6 min read\n\nEmployee reporting comes to rescue\n\nCould employee reporting change this statistics?\n\nThe statistic says that almost half of the Americans categorize themselves as disorganized. The lack of structure and focus cause employees to work late during weekdays and miss important deadlines. This does not seem like a big surprise since we all have missed crucial deadlines and opened our computers on weekends. Perhaps the opposite situation would be surprising. The sad part about it is that this behavioral pattern decreases the seriousness of promises and due dates.\n\nNow, how could you stop this tidal wave from rising over your head? Could employee reporting, when taken seriously, be the force you need on your team?\n\nWe say yes! Employee reporting helps your employees achieve better results by increasing focus. There is no doubt about it.\n\nWhat you could do is just give these employees a report template and everything will be okay. Well, this is an illusion. If a person openly admits being disorganized, no template or form will suddenly make things right.\n\nYou need to get your employees organized to start using employee reporting. Sounds silly right? Not exactly in your managers job description? The bottom line is that if someone in your team is disorganized it will affect the whole group sooner or later.\n\nWhich steps should be taken? We will share few insights that have helped our employees at Weekdone and what has helped our employee reporting software users.\n\n1. Starting with the basics, tidy up your desk.\n\nEliminate all distractions that are near you. No need to overwhelm your desk with  unnecessary items that are desperate for attention. This does not mean that a person should empty its working table entirely, but a little clean up has never harmed anybody. Don't stop until you have a clear system. If  this means that you need to keep some of these notebooks and piles of papers, then just keep them. There is a nice quote said by Albert Einstein that if a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign? So, adjust your table according to your needs.\n\n2. Now, make a list of daily and weekly tasks\n\nWhen a person is disorganized, monthly objectives aren't going to cut it. They need more guidance and structure in their everyday work life. So, giving a list of tasks for a shorter period of time is a better strategy. If the employee is reluctant to make a list on their own, assign tasks to them. Make sure that these tasks are written down, since this will make these harder to overlook. Offer them a helping hand, especially at the beginning. Overtime they will form a behavior of weekly planning.\n\n3. Stop managing multitasking and start managing time\n\nYou might have heard about people that joggle 5 jobs, 3 companies, a family and a house. These are success stories of people that we haven't actually met. So it might not be right for your employees. The best way to stay on track is to start each day by reviewing the planned list and acting on it. When ever you are wondering around the internet, think whether this will help to achieve the things that are on the to-do list? Focus on one thing at a time, do it well and the results will come.\n\n4. Review the progress\n\nTime is a scarce resource, but time spent on reviewing the progress is not wasted. Lead by example and sit down each week to reflect what got done and what is still up in the air. Analyze yourself and the team to discover what went wrong and what exceeded the expectations. Encourage your employees to review their progress. This will give them a direct feedback on their productivity and time management capabilities.\n\n5. Hold meetings to discuss the progress\n\nAfter reviewing the progress of your employees, it is important to start an open discussion with them. Hold a meeting, but an efficient meeting, either individually or with a group. The best way to get maximum from your meeting time is by preparing for it. Therefore, we suggest you to do it after the weekly reporting deadline. Feedback is important for every employee, not only for the disorganized ones. Fresh ideas tend to come at times when you are in the middle of a lively discussion. Therefore, start developing the habit of providing effective feedback.\n\nWeekdone's employee reporting tool can not help you with tidying up the desk, but can guide your employees in the other 4 steps. Providing a visually attractive and simplistic environment where weekly tasks can be wrote down, reviewed and managed. It will give insights to your team and help the disorganized ones.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8158925175666809}
+{"content": "Term papers writing service\n\nCollege application essay on a significant experience\n\n10 Steps to Writing a College Essay That Gets Noticed\n\nAdmissions truly wants to know what distinguishes you from the competition, but who wants to read words of someone tooting his or her own horn? Talking about yourself requires a fine balance between humility and horn tooting. Over the course of my 12 years of essay advising, I have worked with teenagers of all styles and comfort levels when it comes to presenting their talents and achievements. But it is absolutely possible to land in that sweet spot between overly humble and obnoxiously self-congratulatory.\n\nHere are some tips for displaying your landmark successes and defining these moments with grace and without the risk of leaving a sour taste in the mouth of an admissions officer. Describe your actions and let your accomplishments speak for themselves. It reveals an understanding of the event or activity in question and can reveal thoughtful details about your involvement.\n\nAre you a Model United Nations champion?\n\nOberlin College Admission Essay Sample on A Significant Experience\n\nDescribing the process of preparing for a tournament—your methodical preparation and bizarre-but-hilarious pre-competition rituals, for example—will allow admissions to grasp your level of investment in the activity, your sense of pride in your mastery of a subject, even your sense of humor. Revealing the process behind your passions can even show an admissions officer why you are so good at what you do. Admissions officers are insightful. Describe your actions and let admissions infer their value.\n\nOberlin College Admission Essay Sample on A Significant Experience\n\nInstead, detail your motivations. These activity inventories are sure to appear elsewhere on your application like in the Activities section of the Common or Coalition applications. Why do you wake up at 4 a.\n\nThe Tricky Secret to Successful College Essays\n\nWhat drives you, and how do you apply that motivation to your interests and goals? That is what admissions wants to know. Do you feel lucky to have organized a book drive that has given underserved members of your community access to some of your favorite novels?\n\n  1. These women are nothing out of the ordinary. Up until the time I read the book, I had the impression that wolfs where among the meanest creatures on the planet.\n  2. Be prepared to proofread and rewrite. It reveals an understanding of the event or activity in question and can reveal thoughtful details about your involvement.\n  3. Explain how your reading of this book changed your outlook.\n  4. Does the essay provide new insight?\n  5. What do you want a college to know about you? Neighbors across the street, who had woken to the sound ofthe fire trucks, gave us chairs to sit in, sweaters and blankets.\n\nDoes debating the safety of long-term cell phone use on a Sunday afternoon make you nerdily giddy? Expressing gratitude is a surefire way to contextualize your standout moments and signal that you understand the importance, not just of your own actions, but of their relation to the bigger picture. There is a balance to be found in the presentation of your finest qualities and most impressive triumphs. Stacey Brook is a writer, admissions expert, and the founder and chief advisor of College Essay Advisorsan education company that offers online courses and in-person college essay advising to students around the world.\n\nShe has helped more than 1, students build lifelong writing skills while crafting compelling and effective admissions essays.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8373861312866211}
+{"content": "What is a Brand?\n\n\nI believe that ‘brand’ is a stand-in, a euphemism,\na shortcut for a whole bunch of expectations,\nworldview connections, experiences and promises\nthat a product or service makes…\n\nSeth Godin\n\nRequired Reading\n\nBranding in the Age of Social Media (Harvard Business Review)\n\nThe Role of Color in Branding", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8655851483345032}
+{"content": "We seek to maximize your brand’s potential through research, strategy and creative thinking. The insights we gain help brands determine the best path to take, while concurrently helping to uncover new trails. With the appropriate information, we can align your brand for success.\n\nOmni-Channel Approach\n\nThe strength of your online presence can only be determined through a comprehensive understanding of how people engage with your content across the entire gamut of media channels. Through this, we can help craft an Omni-channel strategy that produces a consistently positive user experience for customers.\n\nLead Generation Planning\n\nAs the saying goes, “by failing to plan, you are planning to fail.” Our team of digital strategists, designers and developers understands the tools and tactics to generate new sales in a complex digital economy. We work alongside our clients to draft, implement and improve upon sales-generating digital marketing tactics.\n\nUser Experience\n\nWe take pride in creating positive user experiences through ease-of-use and accessibility. Often times, agencies will venture too far “outside the box” when, in fact, that’s not the best solution for the client, nor does it produce the best experience for the end user. We strive to find the appropriate balance of art, science and creativity to produce an experience that looks great and, most importantly, accomplishes the client’s business objectives.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9639043807983398}
+{"content": "Cell membrane\n\nNot to be confused with cell walls.\n\nIllustration of a Eukaryotic cell membrane\nComparison of Eukaryotes vs. Prokaryotes\n\nThe cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane) is a biological membrane that separates the interior of all cells from the outside environment.[1][2] The cell membrane is selectively permeable to ions and organic molecules and controls the movement of substances in and out of cells.[3] The basic function of the cell membrane is to protect the cell from its surroundings.\n\n\n\nThe structure has been variously referred to by different writers as the ectoplast (de Vries, 1885),[7] Plasmahaut (plasma skin, Pfeffer, 1877, 1891),[8] Hautschicht (skin layer, Pfeffer, 1886; used with a different meaning by Hofmeister, 1867), plasmatic membrane (Pfeffer, 1900),[9] plasma membrane, cytoplasmic membrane, cell envelope and cell membrane.[10][11]\n\nSome authors that did not believe that there was a functional permeable boundary at the surface of the cell preferred to use the term plasmalemma (coined by Mast, 1924) to the extern region of the cell.[12][13][14]\n\n\nA detailed diagram of the cell membrane\nIllustration depicting cellular diffusion\n\nThe cell membrane (or plasma membrane or plasmalemma) surrounds the cytoplasm of living cells, physically separating the intracellular components from the extracellular environment. Fungi, bacteria and plants have a cell wall in addition, which provides a mechanical support to the cell and precludes the passage of larger molecules. The cell membrane also plays a role in anchoring the cytoskeleton to provide shape to the cell, and in attaching to the extracellular matrix and other cells to hold them together to form tissues.\n\nThe cell membrane is selectively permeable and able to regulate what enters and exits the cell, thus facilitating the transport of materials needed for survival. The movement of substances across the membrane can be either \"passive\", occurring without the input of cellular energy, or \"active\", requiring the cell to expend energy in transporting it. The membrane also maintains the cell potential. The cell membrane thus works as a selective filter that allows only certain things to come inside or go outside the cell. The cell employs a number of transport mechanisms that involve biological membranes:\n\n1. Passive osmosis and diffusion: Some substances (small molecules, ions) such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2), can move across the plasma membrane by diffusion, which is a passive transport process. Because the membrane acts as a barrier for certain molecules and ions, they can occur in different concentrations on the two sides of the membrane. Such a concentration gradient across a semipermeable membrane sets up an osmotic flow for the water.\n\n2. Transmembrane protein channels and transporters: Nutrients, such as sugars or amino acids, must enter the cell, and certain products of metabolism must leave the cell. Such molecules diffuse passively through protein channels such as aquaporins (in the case of water (H2O)) in facilitated diffusion or are pumped across the membrane by transmembrane transporters. Protein channel proteins, also called permeases, are usually quite specific, recognizing and transporting only a limited food group of chemical substances, often even only a single substance.\n\n3. Endocytosis: Endocytosis is the process in which cells absorb molecules by engulfing them. The plasma membrane creates a small deformation inward, called an invagination, in which the substance to be transported is captured. The deformation then pinches off from the membrane on the inside of the cell, creating a vesicle containing the captured substance. Endocytosis is a pathway for internalizing solid particles (\"cell eating\" or phagocytosis), small molecules and ions (\"cell drinking\" or pinocytosis), and macromolecules. Endocytosis requires energy and is thus a form of active transport.\n\n4. Exocytosis: Just as material can be brought into the cell by invagination and formation of a vesicle, the membrane of a vesicle can be fused with the plasma membrane, extruding its contents to the surrounding medium. This is the process of exocytosis. Exocytosis occurs in various cells to remove undigested residues of substances brought in by endocytosis, to secrete substances such as hormones and enzymes, and to transport a substance completely across a cellular barrier. In the process of exocytosis, the undigested waste-containing food vacuole or the secretory vesicle budded from Golgi apparatus, is first moved by cytoskeleton from the interior of the cell to the surface. The vesicle membrane comes in contact with the plasma membrane. The lipid molecules of the two bilayers rearrange themselves and the two membranes are, thus, fused. A passage is formed in the fused membrane and the vesicles discharges its contents outside the cell.\n\n\nGram-negative bacteria have both a plasma membrane and an outer membrane separated by periplasm. Other prokaryotes have only a plasma membrane. Prokaryotic cells are also surrounded by a cell wall composed of peptidoglycan (amino acids and sugars). Some eukaryotic cells also have cell walls, but none that are made of peptidoglycan. The outer membrane of gram negative microbes is rich in lipopolysaccharide and thus is different from cell membrane of the microbes. The outer membrane can bleb out into periplasmic protrusions under stess conditions or upon virulence requirements while encountering a host target cell, and thus such blebs may work as virulence organelles.[15]\n\n\nFluid mosaic model\n\nAccording to the fluid mosaic model of S. J. Singer and G. L. Nicolson (1972), which replaced the earlier model of Davson and Danielli, biological membranes can be considered as a two-dimensional liquid in which lipid and protein molecules diffuse more or less easily.[16] Although the lipid bilayers that form the basis of the membranes do indeed form two-dimensional liquids by themselves, the plasma membrane also contains a large quantity of proteins, which provide more structure. Examples of such structures are protein-protein complexes, pickets and fences formed by the actin-based cytoskeleton, and potentially lipid rafts.\n\nLipid bilayer\n\n\nLipid bilayers form through the process of self-assembly. The cell membrane consists primarily of a thin layer of amphipathic phospholipids that spontaneously arrange so that the hydrophobic \"tail\" regions are isolated from the surrounding water while the hydrophilic \"head\" regions interact with the intracellular (cytosolic) and extracellular faces of the resulting bilayer. This forms a continuous, spherical lipid bilayer. Hydrophobic interactions (also known as the hydrophobic effect) are the major driving forces in the formation of lipid bilayers. An increase in interactions between hydrophobic molecules (causing clustering of hydrophobic regions) allows water molecules to bond more freely with each other, increasing the entropy of the system. This complex interaction can include noncovalent interactions such as van der Waals, electrostatic and hydrogen bonds.\n\nLipid bilayers are generally impermeable to ions and polar molecules. The arrangement of hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails of the lipid bilayer prevent polar solutes (ex. amino acids, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, proteins, and ions) from diffusing across the membrane, but generally allows for the passive diffusion of hydrophobic molecules. This affords the cell the ability to control the movement of these substances via transmembrane protein complexes such as pores, channels and gates.\n\nFlippases and scramblases concentrate phosphatidyl serine, which carries a negative charge, on the inner membrane. Along with NANA, this creates an extra barrier to charged moieties moving through the membrane.\n\n\nMembrane polarity\n\nAlpha intercalated cell\n\nThe apical membrane of a polarized cell is the surface of the plasma membrane that faces inward to the lumen. This is particularly evident in epithelial and endothelial cells, but also describes other polarized cells, such as neurons. The basolateral membrane of a polarized cell is the surface of the plasma membrane that forms its basal and lateral surfaces. It faces outwards, towards the interstitium, and away from the lumen. Basolateral membrane is a compound phrase referring to the terms \"basal (base) membrane\" and \"lateral (side) membrane\", which, especially in epithelial cells, are identical in composition and activity. Proteins (such as ion channels and pumps) are free to move from the basal to the lateral surface of the cell or vice versa in accordance with the fluid mosaic model. Tight junctions join epithelial cells near their apical surface to prevent the migration of proteins from the basolateral membrane to the apical membrane. The basal and lateral surfaces thus remain roughly equivalent to one another, yet distinct from the apical surface.\n\nMembrane structures\n\n\n\nThe cytoskeleton is found underlying the cell membrane in the cytoplasm and provides a scaffolding for membrane proteins to anchor to, as well as forming organelles that extend from the cell. Indeed, cytoskeletal elements interact extensively and intimately with the cell membrane.[17] Anchoring proteins restricts them to a particular cell surface for example, the apical surface of epithelial cells that line the vertebrate gut and limits how far they may diffuse within the bilayer. The cytoskeleton is able to form appendage-like organelles, such as cilia, which are microtubule-based extensions covered by the cell membrane, and filopodia, which are actin-based extensions. These extensions are ensheathed in membrane and project from the surface of the cell in order to sense the external environment and/or make contact with the substrate or other cells. The apical surfaces of epithelial cells are dense with actin-based finger-like projections known as microvilli, which increase cell surface area and thereby increase the absorption rate of nutrients. Localized decoupling of the cytoskeleton and cell membrane results in formation of a bleb.\n\n\nCell membranes contain a variety of biological molecules, notably lipids and proteins. Material is incorporated into the membrane, or deleted from it, by a variety of mechanisms:\n\n\n\nThe cell membrane consists of three classes of amphipathic lipids: phospholipids, glycolipids, and sterols. The amount of each depends upon the type of cell, but in the majority of cases phospholipids are the most abundant.[18] In RBC studies, 30% of the plasma membrane is lipid.\n\nThe fatty chains in phospholipids and glycolipids usually contain an even number of carbon atoms, typically between 16 and 20. The 16- and 18-carbon fatty acids are the most common. Fatty acids may be saturated or unsaturated, with the configuration of the double bonds nearly always \"cis\". The length and the degree of unsaturation of fatty acid chains have a profound effect on membrane fluidity[19] as unsaturated lipids create a kink, preventing the fatty acids from packing together as tightly, thus decreasing the melting temperature (increasing the fluidity) of the membrane. The ability of some organisms to regulate the fluidity of their cell membranes by altering lipid composition is called homeoviscous adaptation.\n\nThe entire membrane is held together via non-covalent interaction of hydrophobic tails, however the structure is quite fluid and not fixed rigidly in place. Under physiological conditions phospholipid molecules in the cell membrane are in the liquid crystalline state. It means the lipid molecules are free to diffuse and exhibit rapid lateral diffusion along the layer in which they are present. However, the exchange of phospholipid molecules between intracellular and extracellular leaflets of the bilayer is a very slow process. Lipid rafts and caveolae are examples of cholesterol-enriched microdomains in the cell membrane. Also, a fraction of the lipid in direct contact with integral membrane proteins, which is tightly bound to the protein surface is called annular lipid shell; it behaves as a part of protein complex.\n\n\nPhospholipids forming lipid vesicles\n\nLipid vesicles or liposomes are circular pockets that are enclosed by a lipid bilayer. These structures are used in laboratories to study the effects of chemicals in cells by delivering these chemicals directly to the cell, as well as getting more insight into cell membrane permeability. Lipid vesicles and liposomes are formed by first suspending a lipid in an aqueous solution then agitating the mixture through sonication, resulting in a vesicle. By measuring the rate of efflux from that of the inside of the vesicle to the ambient solution, allows researcher to better understand membrane permeability. Vesicles can be formed with molecules and ions inside the vesicle by forming the vesicle with the desired molecule or ion present in the solution. Proteins can also be embedded into the membrane through solubilizing the desired proteins in the presence of detergents and attaching them to the phospholipids in which the liposome is formed. These provide researchers with a tool to examine various membrane protein functions.\n\n\nPlasma membranes also contain carbohydrates, predominantly glycoproteins, but with some glycolipids (cerebrosides and gangliosides). For the most part, no glycosylation occurs on membranes within the cell; rather generally glycosylation occurs on the extracellular surface of the plasma membrane. The glycocalyx is an important feature in all cells, especially epithelia with microvilli. Recent data suggest the glycocalyx participates in cell adhesion, lymphocyte homing, and many others. The penultimate sugar is galactose and the terminal sugar is sialic acid, as the sugar backbone is modified in the Golgi apparatus. Sialic acid carries a negative charge, providing an external barrier to charged particles.\n\n\nType Description Examples\nIntegral proteins\nor transmembrane proteins\nSpan the membrane and have a hydrophilic cytosolic domain, which interacts with internal molecules, a hydrophobic membrane-spanning domain that anchors it within the cell membrane, and a hydrophilic extracellular domain that interacts with external molecules. The hydrophobic domain consists of one, multiple, or a combination of α-helices and β sheet protein motifs. Ion channels, proton pumps, G protein-coupled receptor\nPeripheral proteins Attached to integral membrane proteins, or associated with peripheral regions of the lipid bilayer. These proteins tend to have only temporary interactions with biological membranes, and once reacted, the molecule dissociates to carry on its work in the cytoplasm. Some enzymes, some hormones\n\nThe cell membrane has large content of proteins, typically around 50% of membrane volume[19] These proteins are important for cell because they are responsible for various biological activities. Approximately a third of the genes in yeast code specifically for them, and this number is even higher in multicellular organisms.[18]\n\nThe cell membrane, being exposed to the outside environment, is an important site of cell–cell communication. As such, a large variety of protein receptors and identification proteins, such as antigens, are present on the surface of the membrane. Functions of membrane proteins can also include cell–cell contact, surface recognition, cytoskeleton contact, signaling, enzymatic activity, or transporting substances across the membrane.\n\nMost membrane proteins must be inserted in some way into the membrane. For this to occur, an N-terminus \"signal sequence\" of amino acids directs proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum, which inserts the proteins into a lipid bilayer. Once inserted, the proteins are then transported to their final destination in vesicles, where the vesicle fuses with the target membrane.\n\n\nThe cell membrane has different lipid and protein compositions in distinct types of cells and may have therefore specific names for certain cell types:\n\n\nThe permeability of a membrane is the rate of passive diffusion of molecules through the membrane. These molecules are known as permeant molecules. Permeability depends mainly on the electric charge and polarity of the molecule and to a lesser extent the molar mass of the molecule. Due to the cell membrane's hydrophobic nature, small electrically neutral molecules pass through the membrane more easily than charged, large ones. The inability of charged molecules to pass through the cell membrane results in pH partition of substances throughout the fluid compartments of the body.\n\nSee also\n\nNotes and references\n\n  1. Kimball's Biology pages, Cell Membranes\n  2. Singleton P (1999). Bacteria in Biology, Biotechnology and Medicine (5th ed.). New York: Wiley. ISBN 0-471-98880-4.\n  3. 1 2 Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, et al. (2002). Molecular Biology of the Cell (4th ed.). New York: Garland Science. ISBN 0-8153-3218-1.\n  4. Budin, Itay; Devaraj, Neal K. (December 29, 2011). \"Membrane Assembly Driven by a Biomimetic Coupling Reaction\". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 134 (2): 751–753. doi:10.1021/ja2076873. Retrieved February 18, 2012.\n  5. Staff (January 25, 2012). \"Chemists Synthesize Artificial Cell Membrane\". ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 18, 2012.\n  6. Staff (January 26, 2012). \"Chemists create artificial cell membrane\". kurzweilai.net. Retrieved February 18, 2012.\n  7. de Vries, H. 1885. Plasmolytische Studien über die Wand der Vakuolen. Jahrb. wiss. Bot. 16, 465–598\n  8. Pfeffer, W. 1877. Osmotische Untersuchungen: Studien zur Zell Mechanik. Engelmann, Leipzig.\n  9. Pfeffer , W. , 1900–1906. The Physiology of Plants, . Translated by A. J. Ewart from the 2nd German ed. of Pflanzenphysiologie, 1897-1904, . Clarendon Press, Oxford.\n  10. Sharp, L. W. (1921). Introduction To Cytology. New York: McGraw Hill, p. 42.\n  11. Kleinzeller, A. 1999. Charles Ernest Overton’s concept of a cell membrane. In: Membrane permeability: 100 years since Ernest Overton (ed. Deamer D.W., Kleinzeller A., Fambrough D.M.), pp. 1–18, Academic Press, San Diego, .\n  12. Mast, S. O. 1924. Structure and locomotion in Amoeba proteus. Anat. Rec. 29: 88, .\n  13. Plowe, J. Q. (1931). Membranes in the plant cell. I. Morphological membranes at protoplasmic surfaces. Protoplasma 12, 196-220, .\n  14. Wayne, R. 2009. Plant Cell Biology: From Astronomy to Zoology. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Academic Press, p. 17.\n  15. YashRoy, R.C. (1999). \"A structural model for virulence organellae of gram negative organisms with reference to Salmonella pathogenicity in chicken ileum\". Indian Journal of Poultry Science. 34 (2): 213–219.\n  16. Singer SJ, Nicolson GL (Feb 1972). \"The fluid mosaic model of the structure of cell membranes\". Science. 175 (4023): 720–31. doi:10.1126/science.175.4023.720. PMID 4333397.\n  18. 1 2 Lodish H, Berk A, Zipursky LS, et al. (2004). Molecular Cell Biology (4th ed.). New York: Scientific American Books. ISBN 0-7167-3136-3.\n  19. 1 2 Jesse Gray; Shana Groeschler; Tony Le; Zara Gonzalez (2002). \"Membrane Structure\" (SWF). Davidson College. Retrieved 2007-01-11.\nWikimedia Commons has media related to Cell membrane.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8954551219940186}
+{"content": "Code of Virginia\n\n\nCode of Virginia\nTitle 2.2. Administration of Government\nChapter 35. Information Technology Access Act\n\n§ 2.2-3504. Implementation.\n\nA. The head of any covered entity may, with respect to nonvisual access software or peripheral devices, approve the exclusion of the technology access clause only to the extent that the cost of the software or devices for the covered entity would increase the total cost of the procurement by more than five percent. All exclusions of the technology access clause from any contract shall be reported annually to the Secretary of Technology.\n\nB. The acquisition and installation of hardware, software, or peripheral devices used for nonvisual access when the information technology is being used exclusively by individuals who are not blind or visually impaired shall not be required.\n\nC. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection B, the applications programs and underlying operating systems (including the format of the data) used for the manipulation and presentation of information shall permit the installation and effective use of nonvisual access software and peripheral devices.\n\n1999, cc. 769, 773, § 2.1-811; 2001, c. 844.\n", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9881789088249207}
+{"content": "YDM-CCP Year 9 teacher resources\n\nThe teacher resources are being progressively uploaded as they are finalised.\nTo download the teacher resource, click on the title of the resource listed below.\nNote: Some of the Year 9 resources are also suitable for Year 7 or Year 8; these have been uploaded in both locations.\n\nNumber and Algebra\n\nHow many tiles in the border?\nAC content descriptors: ACMNA176, ACMNA177 (Year 7); ACMNA192 (Year 8); ACMNA213 (Year 9); Problem solving, Reasoning\nStudents will have opportunities to improve their problem solving and reasoning capabilities by seeing that there can be many different ways to view a problem; they will generalise a numeric problem into algebraic expressions for the general case, calculate the perimeter of a square and expand a binomial expression.\n\nTime exploration\nAC content descriptors: ACMNA209, ACMNA210, ACMMG219\nStudents will convert between metric unit representations of time and will solve problems involving very small and very large time scales and intervals.\n\nExponential change\nAC content descriptor: ACMNA210\nStudents will investigate the patterns of numbers arising for the power of ten for positive and negative exponents. They will write numbers in scientific notation and convert scientific notation to standard decimal form and vice versa.\n\nHow does my garden grow?\nAC content descriptor: ACMNA214\nStudents will explore the rule for calculating gradient. They will find the midpoint and gradient of a line segment (interval) on the Cartesian plane using a range of strategies, including graphing software.\n\nMoving through the air\nAC content descriptor: ACMNA296\nStudents will discover the shape of a parabola in the path of an object moving through the air. They will graph simple non-linear relations with and without the use of digital technologies and solve simple related equations.\n\nMeasurement and Geometry\n\nTotal body surface area\nAC content descriptors: ACMMG217, ACMMG218\nStudents will determine the surface area of the body by approximating the body to a collection of right prisms.\n\nHow much does it hold?\nAC content descriptors: ACMMG217, ACMMG218\nStudents will calculate the volume of right prisms and cylinders.\n\nLook alikes\nAC content descriptors: ACMMG220, ACMMG221\nStudents will identify similar figures, generalise the conditions of similarity, and determine scale factors.\n\nTerrific triangles\nAC content descriptors: ACMMG222, ACMMG224\nStudents will identify and name sides as hypotenuse, adjacent and opposite in a right-angled triangle. They will calculate trigonometric ratios using known angle or side-length values.\n\nStatistics and Probability\n\nThe humanoid project\nAC content descriptors: ACMSP170, ACMSP171 (Year 7); ACMSP228, ACMSP282, ACMSP283 (Year 9)\nStudents will collect data and calculate the mean, median, mode and range for large data sets, using digital methods; they will graph the data and interpret and analyse the statistics.\n\nA two-way street\nAC content descriptor: ACMSP226\nStudents will construct two-way tables and use two-way tables to calculate the relative frequency of events involving ‘and’ or ‘or’ questions.\n\nFamily tree\nAC content descriptors: ACMSP282, ACMSP283\nStudents will construct frequency tables and histograms. They will then describe the distribution of data and locate the mean, median and range on histogram displays.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 1.0000026226043701}
+{"content": "Sarah Lawrence to add women's basketball\n\nMore news about: Sarah Lawrence\nSarah Lawrence athletics photo\n\nWomen's basketball is set to become the newest varsity sport at Sarah Lawrence, as announced by athletic director Kristin Maile.\n\n\"Women's basketball is long overdue at Sarah Lawrence,\" observed Maile. \"The school has seen club teams come and go throughout our history, and the time has come to cultivate a lasting varsity program.\"\n\nThe school plans to develop its existing club team for the next two years so that women's basketball would be ready for its inaugural varsity season during the 2017-18 academic year.\n\nMark Burger, who has coached the club team since 2013-14, will remain at the helm of the team and continue the process of expanding the sport. Burger also serves as an assistant coach for the men's basketball team.\n\n\"Adding a varsity women's basketball program will offer a new and exciting aspect to Sarah Lawrence's rich culture,\" commented Burger. \"I feel honored and privileged to be given the opportunity to lead the development of a varsity women's basketball program, and I could not be more excited.\"\n\nThe SLC women's basketball club team played one exhibition game in its first year and played three times in 2014-15. The 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons will provide opportunities for a progressive transition to a full varsity practice and competition season.\n\nWomen's basketball would become the college's eighth varsity program for women, joining crew, cross country, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis and volleyball. SLC also sponsors six men's teams and coed equestrian.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5622443556785583}
+{"content": "Getting Around\n\nFrom the train station, frequent buses 2 and 3 run north via Imam Khomeini (Iran) Sq, where you can pick up bus 10 eastbound for Khayyam Sq and (eventually) the Omar Khayyam complex. Buses run from 6.25am to 8pm and cost a flat IR5000 per journey.\n\nA taxi tour of Neishabur typically costs IR150,000/250,000 for one/two hours.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8794873356819153}
+{"content": "tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049681583472688282.post8082417548924203867..comments2018-10-15T07:52:13.557+02:00Comments on A - Healthy Life: Yoga: eerste ervaring met Yin YogaAnnemieke H.L.https://plus.google.com/109202390637421067455noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049681583472688282.post-9086998891757895912015-10-16T20:31:24.681+02:002015-10-16T20:31:24.681+02:00Being able to do these poses with ease and never p...Being able to do these poses with ease and never practicing is also a trait of a connective tissue disorder called ehlers danlos syndrome. If you practice for years and can do this cool but if it comes a little too easy.. you should see a doctor because you&#39;re actually causing major damage to joints that will catch up with you faster than you think. Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00542504932231136857noreply@blogger.com", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5175213813781738}
+{"content": "Chronterra, LLC is an industry-defining provider of innovative and interactive software solutions for the global education market.\n\nAs the need for digital educational products becomes more apparent, there is now, a unique tool for displaying history and social science subject matter.\n\nChronterra’s cloud-based products offer the ability to access factual content in an intuitive and engaging display.’s unique interface provides data with no loss of context, allowing both students and educators to focus on the impact and meaning of information, rather than rote memorization.\n\nLaunch Chronterra Demo\n\n\n  • Dynamic Display: Fully interactive map and timeline interface.\n  • Context: Every data point naturally displays its geographical and chronological context.\n  • Reliability: Information is provided with citations, allowing users to check sources or pursue deeper understanding.\n  • Custom Tools: Create your own timelines for lectures, or create them as a class activity.\n  • Content connectivity: Trade created timelines via email, subscribe to other users’ creations.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5641435384750366}
+{"content": "Definitions for \"Messenger\"\nKeywords:  heaving, heavier, capstain, hawser, ood\nA small kind of cable, which being brought to the capstain and the cable by which the ship rides made fast to it, it purchases the anchor.\nOne who is trained by an ascended master to receive by various methods the words, concepts, teachings and messages of the Great White Brotherhood; one who delivers the Law, the prophecies and the dispensations of God for a people and an age. Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet are messengers of the Great White Brotherhood for The Summit Lighthouse.\na person who carries a message\nKeywords:  knock, lane, pin, pindeck, across\nA pin that rolls across the lane (usually on a pocket hit) and knocks down another pin (usually the ten pin).\nA pin that rolls across the lane bed to knock down additional pins.\nA hit pin which knocks down other pins. Also, a Columbia 300 bowling ball.\na craft made to travel up the kiteline under sail power and, on reaching a predesignated point, to detune the sail and return to the ground\nRigging , Tools Moonraker Sails , Rigging , Parts Moonsail Sails , Rigging , Parts Nippers Rigging , Parts , People\nKeywords:  diomed, pratt, medley, colt, filly\nMessenger (b. 1780) was an English thoroughbred stallion bred by a John Pratt and imported into the newly formed United States of America just after the American Revolution. Along with three other stallions (Medley, Sharp, and Diomed), Messenger provided the type of foal, both filly and colt, that was needed for the era of long distance (stamina and speed) racing popular in the early days of the American sport.\nKeywords:  newbery, lowry, trilogy, lois, giver\nMessenger is a 2004 novel by Children's author Lois Lowry. It forms the third installment of the loose trilogy begun by her 1993 novel The Giver, which won the Newbery Medal. Characters from the two earlier books reappear in Messenger, linking the novels more strongly.\nOriginally printed in Birmingham, England, and edited by a Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (along with a member who worked for the LDS Church), this Mormon fundamentalist publication began in 1991, and was in print until 2006. Their involvement in the magazine was possibly one of the factors that led to their excommunication from the LDS church.\nKeywords:  cain, edwin, atlanta, georgia, angeles\nMessenger is Edwin Mc Cain's third major-label album, released on June 15, 1999. It was recorded at Tree Sound Studios & Southern Tracks in Atlanta, Georgia, and Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, California, and released by Lava Records.\nKeywords:  foreshows, foretells, one\nOne who, or that which, foreshows, or foretells.\nA brass weight, usually hinged and with a latch so that it can be fastened around a wire, used to actuate Nansen bottles and other oceanographic instruments after they have been lowered to the desired depth.\nA person appointed to perform certain ministerial duties under bankrupt and insolvent laws, such as to take charge of the estate of the bankrupt or insolvent.\nPerson appointed by the Speaker of the House to assist him or her on the House floor.\nA family of remote monitoring systems (also know and remote telemetry units or RTU's) designed and manufactured by Gems Remote Monitoring.\nMeans the same as custodian, and any other person in the regular employ of the insured and duly authorized to have the care and custody of the insured property while being conveyed outside the premises.\nA nerve that carries impulses from the receptor and the brain\nan electronic communication of announcements about internal campus activities and information\nKeywords:  send, netscape, package, read, mail\nan object that allows you to package and send data\nMessenger is the component of Netscape Communicator that is used to read and send e-mail.\na person without authority to make the decision, who will report back to the real decision maker\na result of expression of its corresponding gene\nKeywords:  carrier, item\na carrier of an ITEM\nKeywords:  girl, plan\na must for a girl with a plan\nKeywords:  personality\na personality", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.528021514415741}
+{"content": "Are ideas that have already been working still qualified?\n\nYes, these ideas will fall under the scaling-up category. Meanwhile, ideas that have not yet been tested will fall under piloting.\n\nHow do you ensure no piracy of ideas would take place?\n\nThe intellectual property (IP) of the ideas, services, or technology belongs to the applicants. There is a form that will be submitted as part of the application to ensure this. Winning teams will also receive training in IP and other important services.\n\nIs there a maximum number of members if we are a team?\n\nYes, a maximum of five persons. At least one member must come from the beneficiary/target community where the project will be implemented.\n\nI have an idea but I do not know how to write a proposal. How can I join?\n\nEach regional innovation lab has experts to help you conceptualize your idea and write your proposal. We can help you complete your proposal.\n\nSubmit your proposal\n\nThe top 40 start-ups will receive up to\n\n\nin seed funding, support in proposal writing, free co-working spaces, mentorship, networking, and linking to experts.\n\nNorthern LuzonCentral and Southern LuzonVisayasMindanao", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9829111099243164}
+{"content": "Live Feeds - 6,768\nTotal Listeners - 34,538\nTop Listeners - Chicago Police (1,295)\n\nBecome a Broadcaster\n\nWhy Broadcast with Broadcastify?\n\nOn July 27th, 2015 - we announced the launch of our Aircraft ATC Broadcast appliance program!\n\nGetting Started\n\nIf you are interested in providing an audio feed to, you need the following items: See the following knowledge base article for complete details:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5936791896820068}
+{"content": "Guttering Candles\n\nSome years ago I ended up with a book written by Harold Lamb containing a personal dedication to his mother. If you’re new to this site, or to me, you may not know that I spent some ten years or so tracking down Harold Lamb’s work and helping to bring it back to print. I happen to think he’s one of the greatest adventure writers these United States have ever seen, although he happens to remain pretty obscure.\n\nAnyway, so there I was, looking at this dedication, which read something along the lines of “to my mother, who was so supportive of my first book, I present my tenth.” By the time that book came into my hands, Lamb, his mother, his wife, and his children were all dead, leaving none to come after. There were only the books, and me, holding this one, wondering how it had found its way here and thinking about the day he must have penned that note and presented it to her.\n\nLamb is gone, and so is almost all that mattered to him, and when I remember that moment I feel like I am sitting alone in a very large, dark room, near a single, guttering candle. But maybe that’s how all of us humans should feel a little more often, so we remember how precious is the light.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8730602860450745}
+{"content": "\n\n| Last Updated:: 18/01/2019\n\nBiofertilizers in Kerala\n\n          Biofertilizer is a substance which contains living microorganisms which, when applied to seed, plant surfaces, or soil, colonizes the rhizosphere or the interior of the plant and promotes growth by increasing the supply or availability of primary nutrients to the host plant. Biofertilizers add nutrients through the natural processes of nitrogen fixation , solubilizing phosphorus, and stimulating plant growth through the synthesis of growth promoting substances. Biofertilizers can be expected to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The microorganisms in biofertilizers restore the soil's natural nutrient cycle and build soil organic matter. Through the use of biofertilizers, healthy plants can be grown while enhancing the sustainability and the health of soil. Since they play several roles, a preferred scientific term for such beneficial bacteria is plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). Therefore, they are extremely advantageous in enriching the soil fertility and fulfilling the plant nutrient requirements by supplying the organic nutrients through microorganism and their byproduct. Hence, biofertilizers do not contain any chemicals which are harmful to the living soil. Biofertilizers are eco-friendly organic agro-input and more cost effective than chemical fertilizers. \n\n\n           The use of biofertilizers is quite important while practising the concepts of integrated plant nutrient management and organic farming. Some of the commonly used biofertilizers in Kerala are as follows.\n\n\n1.Rhizobium (Bradyrhizobium and Azorhizobium): It induces better root nodulation and stem nodulation (Azorhizobium) in inoculated plants and thereby brings down the requirement of nitrogen fertilizer for the cultivation of pulses, oil seeds and legume green manures. Commercially it is available as carrier based inoculums. Method of application is seed treatment.\n\n\n2. Azotobacter: Suitable only for upland crops like vegetables, tapioca, plantation and orchard crops. It is available as carrier-based inoculum. It fixes nitrogen about 15-20 kg/ha under ideal upland conditions and thereby reduces the requirement of nitrogen fertilizers by 10-20 per cent. Methods of application are seed treatment, seedling dip and direct soil application.\n\n\n3. Azospirillum: It is suitable for both upland and wetland conditions and is available as carrier-based inoculum. It fixes nitrogen about 20-25 kg per ha under ideal conditions thereby effecting a reduction of 25 per cent in the quantity of nitrogen fertilizers required. Treatment with Azospirillum also induces better root formation in inoculated plants; hence this biofertilizer is also recommended for root induction in polybag-raised seedlings of plantation and orchard crops and also for vegetable crops. The isolates of Azospirillum brasilense strains AZR 15 and AZR 37 from Kuttanad soils are highly effective for rice, vegetables and nursery plants. The strains AZ1 and AZ2 are effective in vegetable and nursery plants. Methods of application are seed treatment and seedling root dip (for transplanted crops).\n\n\n4. Blue green algae (BGA): Mainly recommended for wetland rice cultivation. However, the use of this biofertilizer is not feasible in acidic soils with pH below 6.0. It is available as carrier-based inoculum and it fixes N about 25-30 kg/ha under ideal conditions. The method of application is the direct spreading in the rice fields one week after transplanting the seedlings.\n\n\n5. Azolla: It is suitable for wetland rice cultivation. The required quantity of azolla will have to be raised in the farmers' field itself. Fixes nitrogen about 25 to 30 kg / ha. The method of application is applying it before transplanting the rice seedlings at the time of ploughing.\n\n\n6. Phosphate solubilising bacteria and fungi: Recommended mainly for upland crops raised in neutral and slightly alkaline soils. Available as carrier-based inoculum. Enables the efficient utilization of cheaper sources of phosphatic fertilizers such as rock phosphate by crop plants in neutral and alkaline soils. The method of application are the seed treatment and direct application.\n\n\n7. Vesicular / arbuscular mycorrhiza (VAM/ AM): Vesicular arbuscular mycorrhiza is mostly recommended for upland especially for raising container and tissue culture plantlets and transplanted crops. It mainly improves the uptake of available phosphorus by inoculated plants. There is also an enhanced absorption of water and other nutrients such as nitrogen and pottasium and certain micronutrients. Mycorrhiza inoculation can improve the survival and establishment of tissue culture plantlets under field conditions. Also induces better resistance against certain soil borne plant pathogens. It is commercially available as granular inoculum consisting of infected roots and soil with mycorrhizal spores. It is given as soil application. VAM fungus Glomus microcarpum var. microcarpum is suitable for tropical tuber crops. Method of application is the rooted infected cutting technique.\n\n\nFactors Influencing the Efficient use of Biofertilizers in Kerala\n\n\n1. Use adequate quantity of organic manure (as per the recommendation for each crop) along with biofertilizer application. This is essential to ensure better survival, growth and activity of the introduced microbial inoculum in acidic soils.\n\n\n2. Liming is essential if the soil pH is below 6.0. In moderately acidic soils, the application of lime @ 250 kg/ha is recommended along with biofertilizer treatment.\n\n\n3. Irrigation is essential during summer months after biofertilizer application to ensure the survival of the introduced microbial inoculum in the soil.\n\n\n4. Since nitrogen biofertilizers can supplement only a part of the nitrogen requirement of the inoculated plant, low dose of nitrogen and full doses of phosphorus and potassium as per the recommendation may be applied. This is essential to ensure better plant growth and yield. Similarly, in the case of phosphorus biofertilizers, the full doses of nitrogen and potassium should be applied. However, there should be a gap of at least one week between biofertilizer and chemical fertilizer applications.\n\n\n5. Use only biofertilizers, which are manufactured as per the quality parameters prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards. In the case of bacterial biofertilizers, the prescribed standard is that in the final product, the population of the desired bacterium should not be less than ten million per gram of the carrier material and there should not be any contamination with other microorganisms when examined at 1: 100000 dilution. Further, it should have a shelf life of at least six months.\n\n\n6. The commercially available biofertilizer should always be used before the expiry date marked on the culture packet.\n\n\n7. Topdressing with super phosphate 25 kg/ha 10 days after inoculation of BGA will enhance its growth under field conditions.\n\n\n8. Since the occurrence of green algae in rice field can affect the normal growth and copper sulphate @ 4 kg/ha.\n\n\n9. In moderately acidic soils of pH around 6.5, root nodulation by Rhizobium and Bradyrhizobium can be improved by pelleting with finely powdered calcium carbonate.\n\n\n10. Application of P2O5 @ 1 kg/ha is recommended once in 4 days in P2O5 deficient soils to ensure good growth of azolla. The development of a reddish purple colour in azolla is a typical symptom of P2O5 deficiency.\n\n\n11. Since a floating population of azolla can release its bound nutrients only during decay in the soil, it is essential to incorporate azolla in the soil prior to the transplanting of rice seedlings.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.8765113353729248}
+{"content": "Millennial Catholics Respond to Latest Abuse Revelations\n\n\nThe Catholic Church continues to stagger in the wake of sexual abuse revelations that occured in Pennsylvania, with a grand jury finding over 1,000 victims. The crimes stretch over a 70 year period and involved over 300 priests. Pope Francis is accused of having knowledge of transgressions by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and failing to take proper action. The Pope’s opponents have called for his resignation.\n\nEmerging generations are wrapped up in the crisis. Commonweal chose to focus specifically on the response of Millennials and their view of the scandal.\n\nRobert Christian reports:\n\nThere is despair. Some young people are certainly experiencing a spiritual or existential crisis, as they try to come to grips with the evil that people who are charged with emulating Jesus Christ are capable of inflicting. Those of us with young children who are resolved to stay in the church are left wondering how we can possibly keep our children Catholic as they grow up. Those with older children are scrambling to figure out what they could possibly say to them. How can you explain something like this when it leaves you speechless?\n\nAmong millennial Catholics, there seems to be a strong sense that this must be a turning point, that this must mark the beginning of a new era of transparency and accountability. Calls for reform are being articulated by young Catholics with all different types of worldviews and backgrounds. In the highly polarized U.S. church, where partisan affiliation and political ideology often matter more than the demands of the faith, this deserves attention.\n\nChristian adds:\n\nThe millennial Catholics who are carefully watching the responses of church hierarchy have defied the “rise of nones,” the rapid abandonment of organized religion among Americans during recent decades. They show up to Mass because they care; their faith is not merely a cultural inheritance, but is in many ways chosen. They know the status quo must change. There is a need for prayer, but also action. Maintaining what little credibility the church has among millennials depends on it.  \n\nChristian also notes that Millennial Catholics are seeking priests who share life with their parishioners, as opposed to serving only as religious bureaucrats. They want the church to reform and to hold transgressors to account. They also want to offer a faithful witness in their daily lives.\n\nMillennials look for integrity, authenticity, gentleness, and mentoring ability as primary attributes of those they choose to follow. Many Millennial Catholics will remain faithful to the Church. But they will need leaders who are committed to reform, who will change themselves as they invite the people to change with them.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5271524786949158}
+{"content": "Item numbers are used in movies for “titillation” : Shabana Azmi\n\nVastavam web: Criticising the culture of item numbers in Hindi films, veteran actor Shabana Azmi today said they are used in movies for “titillation”.In a panel discussion at the ongoing FICCI Frames, Azmi said item numbers involve a woman surrendering to the male gaze.”When a girl or a leading lady says ‘it’s alright, I want to celebrate my sensuality’ I have no problem with that. I think that’s wonderful,” she said.\n\n“But under the pretence of ‘celebrating your sensuality’ what you are actually doing is surrendering to the male gaze and objectifying yourselves because the business of cinema is of images,” the actor added.Citing the lyrics of Salman Khan-starrer “Dabangg 2”, where Kareena Kapoor Khan danced on “Fevicol Se”, Azmi said mouthing those lines is a cause of concern.\n\n“Please be informed, when you say ‘main tandoori murgi hu, gatka lo mujhe alcohol kay saath’ and a four-year-old girl is dancing on it, you are leading to the sexualisation of children and the parents who are enjoying it, people who are encouraging her are just as responsible.” “In the film, Katrina Kaif comes out of the water in a bikini, the camera doesn’t go close to her, doesn’t linger on her bosom or the droplets falling. The camera in mid (frame) sees her coming out of the water, picks up her bathrobe, wears it and you immediately accept that she is an instructor who is coming and doing her job.\n\n“The very same shot, if the director had decided to go over, it would be objectification. So it’s the intention. There’s a difference between sensuality and objectification,” she added.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6809046268463135}
+{"content": "How I Wrote my TED Talk\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBack to the drawing board.\n\n\n\nThat challenged me in a few ways.\n\n\n\n\n\nscreen shot 2019-01-12 at 11.26.21 am\n\n\n  • Start with an anecdote that instantiates an abstract idea\n  • Zoom out to articulate the abstraction\n  • Show other examples of the abstraction\n  • Potentially come back to unpack another aspect of the abstraction\n  • Give a conclusion people can remember\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nScreen Shot 2019-01-11 at 9.29.29 AM.png\n\nReading Italo Calvino\n\nYou might prefer to read the second part of this post first. It will seem more familiar, as its I is closer in voice and referent to the I in other posts on this blog. Or, you might prefer to read the first part first and see how you feel.    \n\nIt became possible when I noticed him noticing the quick assuredness of Agilulf’s hands arranging pine cones in an isosceles triangle at dawn. It was one of the early moments where he identified completely with nonexistent knight. Where they shared a feeling. Where his need to feel in Agilulf a presence more solid and concrete than the other paladins was met with and mirrored by Agilulf’s own need to count objects, arrange them in geometric problems, resolve problems of arithmetic, apply himself in any way possible to recover precision into a world faintly touched, just breathed on by light. In that hour in which one is least certain of the world’s existence. I was manically focused on Agilulf at the time, so focused that I was unable to recognize Raimbault’s sensitivity through the mask of his youth. But here, now, having come into my desire, the recollection changes. I am able to see that, had Raimbault not sought solidity, and, what’s more, not questioned this very act of seeking as he started to sense that the tiresome need to tuck himself into a ready-made belief system, a system retrofit with ritual and rules of conduct, might actually signal cowardice, he wouldn’t have felt oppression upon seeing the nonexistent knight counting trees, leaves, stones, lances, pine cones, anything in front of him. There was undeniable kinship when we first met, but it was hoplite kinship, the homoerotic, fraternal bonds Plato describes in the Symposium, the mute community born in battle. I stayed silent. Refrained from speech lest anyone, even he whom I protected, discern my womanhood. I’ve grown accustomed to the dull pain of absconding my identity. It rings in my ears like tinnitus. Reminds me that I will always be excluded because I am a woman. When I first entered the knighthood, I tried to be one with them, to participate in the fraternity that arises when they, we, together, act according to the oaths we have taken as knights. But my path is one of solitude. As woman, I am unable to fulfill their aching needs on the battlefield. I watch how they relive Gilgamesh’s love for Enkidu, recover Achilles’ love for Patroclus, how they seek a mirror self to offset the traits they now know they lack and therefore desperately seek to replenish in another. I can only feel this bond, this mute community, from a place of pretense, by covering my gender, a portion of my identity, so they see what they need see and so I can continue doing what I was born to do. What I love. This is where Raimbault, at first, was so mistaken. He reduced me to a caricature, assumed, because of the excellence of my practice, that I existed, that I was definite. He couldn’t grasp that what I sought was an entirely different way of existing, one that reached the apotheosis of form in the form only embodied by the nonexistent knight. That the vagaries of men tired me. Their slothfulness. Their corpulence. Their farts and burps. I wanted more. Would go so far as to enter a nunnery to learn the dark arts of sublimation, of esteeming the permanent above the fleeting joys of the world. It was a bold act of autonomy, a clamoring for existence so that I no longer had to endure the alienation. In retrospect, I’ve come to feel pity for Charlemagne. Like me, he has been rendered myth. Like mine, his story has been written and rewritten so many times. My entrance into the narrative space of play was set in stone epics ago, imprinted on sandstone by Virgil and twisted, like a variation on a musical theme, through Ariosto and Tasso. The Christians fight the Moors (or the Greeks the Turks, or the Romans the Celts). The damsel comes, our virgin Sophronia. She is abducted and flown on a hippogriph through farfetched twists and turns of fortune to a dragon’s den, her virginity kept sacrosanct so the knights have their way. Her skin is white as lilies, her hair long and flowing like the Nile for the privileged one (few?) who see it free from diadems and braids. And in the heat of battle, just when a hero is about to meet his fate at the brutal swords of the Moors, I appear, a man. I appear with mastery and skill, brandishing the enemy to save the hero. He then seeks me to express gratitude to his kin. But, of course, I’ve disappeared, to the riverside to wash my wounds and calves. When he stops looking (and, concomitantly, the reader has forgotten), he finds me. And discovers, what ho!, that I’m a woman. And since I’ve already forgone the stereotypes of that define my gender, so too might I forgo the innocence of idealized sexuality. At least in the freer times of Ariosto, I am naturally also the representation of homoerotic desire. The voice of the oppressed. For everyone who reads, including the knights, want nothing more than to watch as another, a woman, caresses my milk white breasts. And that is precisely why my path is solitary. Why I had no authentic place on the battlefield. Why, tired of this narrative, I entered the convent to subvert it. This time playing a different female role, that of a nun, of Sister Theodora of the order of Saint Colomba. But even here I found myself caught in a new nexus of alienation, bearing the weight of my elected verisimilitude. For what would a nun, who has no experience apart from religious ceremonies, triduums, novenas, gardening, harvesting, vintaging, whippings, slavery, incest, fires, hangings, invasion, sacking, rape and pestilence, know of battle and knighthood? Nothing. Of battles, I now feign to say, I know nothing. I must rid myself of my past precisely as I go about reconstructing it in my tale. But perhaps it is this distancing from my past that grants me freedom to create a new future? Perhaps it is this distancing that has granted me the ability to create worlds within from a pen stroke act of will, as here on the river’s bank I set a mill, and there, beyond the town I trace out a wood, and in this wood follow Agilulf as he scours it through and through, follow him to Priscilla’s palace where I live my own dream of chaste seduction as the nonexistent knight subverts all direct acts of concupiscence and sexuality. There was a rush to the power. A draw to a newfound ability, to a creativity absconded from the pressures and pulls of others, a place of repose. But I also felt fear at how precarious and coincidental the space available to my imagination turned out to be. One morning, for example, as I was writing I was constantly distracted by the clatter of copper and earthenware as the sisters in my convent washed platters for dinner. It reeked of cabbage. The smells infiltrated me. And when I went back the next day to observe my creation I was appalled to see I’d brought the convent to the book, describing the mess hall and how out of place Agilulf seemed at the feast. The contingent determinism of my environment, of a bunch of nuns making cabbage soup, seemed crass in contrast to the dusty aura of the epics that had grafted my existence before. So I stopped. Wrote more and more quickly. Abandoned the details. Didn’t retain the discipline required to recreate the scene, to help you, reader, live it, feel it, enter it fully. Jumped from France to England, England to Africa, and Africa to Brittany with utter disregard for the Aristotelian rules of time and place. I relaxed the constraint that weighed me down, the discipline of a cohesive third-person chronicle and even went so far as to address the book I was writing in the vocative like I did when I wrote in my journal as a child. Book, I wrote, now you have reached your end. And miraculously, at this moment of abandon and decadence, I heard a horse come up a narrow track. I recognized the voice of Raimbault. And while I’ll never love him ardently, never find in him the elision I seek with another to finally know the world, I know from what I’ve chronicled how much he loves me, how he has loved me since he noticed me peeing in the stream after I saved his life. I’ll rush to meet him, let him guide my pen as life urges along, and mount the crupper of my horse to find my future. Because no one would have expected it. It’s not the plot. Nothing I’d create. It could not be Bradamante. Therein, perhaps, I’ll find the possibility of freedom.\n\nScreen Shot 2018-12-30 at 7.59.17 AM\nPino Zac’s depiction of the anagnorisis moment when Sister Theodora reveals that she is Bradamante (or vice versa).\n\nWhat you’ve just read is an experiment. An attempt to become a better reader.\n\nIn the experiment of reading Italo Calvino’s The Nonexistent Knight, this meant a few things.\n\nFirst, it meant engaging with the text actively–and returning to it a few times in a short time frame–to better register and remember it. This took effort, even emotional effort. Reading literature and philosophy passively is at once an indulgent pastime and an attempt to keep a former self intact and alive, a self who spent most of her time reading books and writing about books, whose job it was to say something about books that no one else had said before.[1] My professional success no longer hangs on my knowledge of literature and the artfulness and ingenuity of my interpretation. I changed. Moved to technology. Strive for excellence according to the standards and conventions of a different social circle and profession. But, pretend though I may, my transition was not a complete epigenetic phase shift. Reading still matters to me. And I experience unnerving discomfort when a passage I read just a week ago, a passage that was so alive and vivid while I was reading it, has disappeared like vapor on a car window or footsteps washed away by the sea. My emotional discomfort, therefore, stemmed partially from self-criticism, frustration that total recall wasn’t a given, didn’t effortlessly arise from passive consumption. It was a recognition that I had work do to, coupled with the desire to keep on doing the same because it was easier. So I had to make it fun. Do something creative. Trick myself into making engagement effortless to silence to lacerations of the superego.\n\nWhich lead me to fiction. Writing a companion piece that grappled with the question: who is the narrator of The Nonexistent Knight? I’d engage with the book by replicating it, adapting it, making it my own by assimilating it.\n\nThis is almost accurate. I actually started by composing a different blog post, one whose I was close in voice and referent to the I in most of my other posts. But I felt too exposed. Projected judgment around the triteness of my conclusions. Felt silly writing a post about trying to remember what I’d read. I needed fiction to protect myself. Needed Bradamante to exorcise my fear. Without her, I wouldn’t feel comfortable writing these words.\n\nScreen Shot 2018-12-30 at 9.04.29 AM\nCharlemagne informs that nonexistent knight that he has no choice but to rescind his knighthood if there is evidence that the virgin he saved wasn’t really a virgin.\n\nFortunately this cloak of fiction added a layer of reflexivity. The Nonexistent Knight is itself a kind of reading, where, like a medieval artist painting her version of the annunciation or the pietà, Calvino engages with the familiar stories of the Carolingian epics. His writing is a reading of Ariosto, of Tasso, of scenes and memes intimately familiar to his readers. Or at least to some readers. For us, today, there can be no presumption that people know those tales. No awareness of the tradition into which the stories fall. The text doesn’t have a shadow. It lacks the trappings of identity it would have had in a time where it was a given that people know Bradamante, knew Charlemagne, had grown up with the tales. We’re bid to ask what means it means to rewrite a Renaissance Romance in an age when people don’t recognize it’s a recapitulation, but are reading it for the first time. It kaleidoscopes the nonexistence of the protagonist in the text.\n\nAnd there was more.\n\nWhy did I care about becoming a better reader in the first place? What did I seek? Why did my lack of recall create such a rabid sense of discomfort and shame?\n\nThe system of identity Calvino grapples with through the character of the nonexistent knight constitutes selfhood through the embodiment and application of codes of conduct and structures of belief. Knights do X in Y setting; one becomes a knight by passing through Z ritual. Take away a paradigm sanctioned by others’ recognitions that you fit into their code, that you act in a way that confirms how they view themselves, and all that remains is the raw encounter with experience. The constitution of self through and via an amassed collection of experiences. But this self as conversation with the world stands on precariously flimsy stilts unless one can recall with fidelity, unless there is a distancing from the vagaries of momentary subjectivity. In short, it mattered that I could remember things accurately because my very identity was at stake, an identity constituted from a series of encounters and experiences. I wanted, needed, to know the book for what it was, to love it for what it was, so I myself could stand on firmer ground. It’s a lesson I can apply elsewhere, a moral attitude for engaging with the world. An attempt to know the world and its people for what it is and who they are.\n\nOne final thought.\n\nThere are a few passages in The Nonexistent Knight that I’d remember without all this effort and alienation. The introduction of Gurduloo in chapter three, for example, is hilarious. Gurduloo is the foil of Agilulf, the man who exists but doesn’t think he does as opposed to the man who doesn’t exist but thinks he does. He’s marvelous. Sees ducks and joyfully becomes duck. Sees frogs and mindlessly becomes frog. Sees the king and impudently becomes king. It’s a variation on the joker from an opera di buffa, who speaks the truth no one else can tell. Like Gurduloo to his surroundings, the passages existed without needed to think they existed. They just were. There to be enjoyed without all the reflexive reflection. It feels cliché, but it’s too true not to acknowledge. It’s the bliss of the poet. The ability to be so engaged with the world that it sticks with us and shapes us.\n\n[1] In retrospect, I wish I had been a more dialogical scholar of literature. I admire how my Stanford colleague Harris Feinsod, now a professor at Northwestern, wrote articles in response to and in dialogue with other active literary critics. Responding to someone wasn’t on my mind when I was a graduate student. I engaged with secondary literature, engaged with others’ ideas about the text I was working on, but felt I was arguing with an absent ideal rather than a person.\n\nThe featured image is from Pino Zac’s 1971 film adaptation of Italo Calvino’s The Nonexistent Knight. I presume (because I only skimmed the film) the man with his arms raised is the King of the Grail, who abdicates the moral weight and responsibility of killing innocent people in the name of fanaticism, which is too often guised as perverse form of Enlightenment. It is a paragon B film, weaving technicolor, black and white, and animation to visually represent the different ontological levels Calvino sculpts in the book (Agilulf and Raimbault as real characters in color; Charlemagne and the other knights as animations; Sister Theodora, the author of the work, imprisoned in her penance of black and white).  My partner Mihnea found its style to be unmistakably in the tradition of Federico Fellini. I saw hints of Alejandro Jodorowsky. It’s a fascinating artifact. I’m glad it exists. \n\nA Turing Test for Empathy?\n\nOn Wednesday evening, I was the female participant on a panel about artificial intelligence.[1] The event was hosted at the National Club on Bay Street in Toronto. At Friday’s lunch, a colleague who attended to support mentioned that the venue smelled like New York, carried the grime of time in its walls after so many rain storms. Indeed, upon entering, I rewalked into Manhattan’s Downtown Association, returned to April, 2017, before the move to Toronto, peered down from the attic of my consciousness to see myself gently placing a dripping umbrella in the back of the bulbous cloak room, where no one would find it, feeling the mahogany enclose me in peaty darkness, inhaling a mild must that could only tolerate a cabernet, waiting with my acrylic green silk scarf from Hong Kong draped nonchalant around my neck, hanging just above the bottom seam of my silk tunic, dangling more than just above the top seam of my black leather boots, when a man walked up, the manager, and beaming with welcome he said “you must be the salsa instructor! Come, the class is on the third floor!” I laughed out loud. Alfred arrived. Alfred who was made for another epoch, who is Smith in our Hume-Smith friendship, fit for the ages, Alfred who had become a member of the association and, a gentleman of yore, would take breakfast there before work, Acshenbach in Venice, tidily wiping a moist remnant of scrambled eggs from the right corner lip, a gesture chiseled by Joseon porcelain and Ithaca’s firefly summer, where took his time to ruminate about his future, having left, again, his past.\n\nAn early 18th-century Joseon jar. Korean ceramics capture Alfred’s gentle elegance. Yet, he has a complex relationship with his Koreanness.\n\nUpstairs we did the microphone dance, fumbling to hook the clip on my black jeans (one of the rare occasions where I was wearing pants). One of my father’s former colleagues gave the keynote. He walked through the long history of artificial intelligence, starting with efforts to encode formal logic and migrating through the sine curve undulations of research moving from top-down intelligent design (e.g., expert systems) to bottom-up algorithms (e.g., deep convolutional neural networks), abstraction moving ever closer to data until it fuses, meat on a bone, into inference.[2] He proposed that intellectual property had shifted from owning the code to building the information asset. He hinted at a thesis I am working to articulate in my forthcoming book about how contemporary, machine learning-based AI refracts humanity through the convex (or concave or distorted or whatever shape it ends up being) mirror of the space of observation we create with our mechanisms for data capture (which are becoming increasingly capacious with video and Alexa in every home, as opposed to being truncated to bilps in clickstream behavior or point of sale transactions), our measurement protocol, and the arabesque inversions of our algorithms. They key thing is that we no longer start with an Aristotelian formal cause when we design computational systems, which means, we no longer imagine the abstract, Platonic scaffold of some act of intelligence as a pre-condition of modeling it. Instead, as Andrei Karpathy does a good job articulating, we stipulate the conditions for a system to learn bottom-up from the data (this does not mean we don’t design, it’s just that the questions we ask as we make the systems require a different kind of abstraction that is affiliated with induction (as Peter Sweeney eloquently illustrates in this post)). This has pretty massive consequences for how we think about the relationship between man and machine. We need to stop pitting machine against man. And we need to stop spouting obsequious platitudes that the “real power comes from the collaboration of man and machine.” There’s something of a sham humanism in those phrases that I want to get to the bottom of. The output of a machine learning algorithm always already is, and becomes even more, as the flesh of abstraction moves closer to the bone of data (or vice versa?), the digested and ruminated and stomach acid-soaked replication of human activity and behavior. It’s about how we regurgitate. That’s why it does indeed make sense to think about bias in machine learning as the laundering of human prejudice.\n\nA woman in the audience posed the final question to the panelists: you’ve spoken about the narrow capabilities of machine learning systems, but will it be possible for artificial intelligence to learn empathy?\n\nA fellow panelist took the Turing Test approach: why yes, he said, there has been remarkable progress in mimicking even this sacred hallmark of the limbic system. It doesn’t matter if the machine doesn’t actually feel anything. What matters it that the machine manifests the signals of having felt something, and that may well be all that matters to foster emotional intelligence. He didn’t mention Soul Machines, a New Zealand-based startup making “incredibly life-like, emotionally responsive artificial humans with personality and character,” but that’s who I’d cite as the most sophisticated example of what UX/UI design can look like when you fuse the skill set of cinematic avatars, machine learning scientists, and neuroscientists (and even the voice of Cate Blanchett).\n\nI disagreed. I am no affect expert (just a curious generalist fumbling my way through life), but believe empathy is remarkably complex for many reasons.\n\nI looked at her directly, deeply. At not just at her, I looked into her. And what I mean by looking into her is that I opened myself up a little, wasn’t just a person protected by the distance of the stage (or, more precisely, the 4 brown leather bar stools with backs so low they only came up to vertebra 4 or 5, and all of us leaned in and out trying to find and keep a dignified posture, hands crossed into serenity, sometimes leaning forward). Yes, when I opened myself to engage with her I leaned forward almost to the point of resting my elbows on my thighs, no longer leaning back and, every few moments, returning my attention to the outer crevices of my eyes to ensure they were soft as my fellow panelists spoke. And I said, think about this. I’m up here on stage perceiving what I’m perceiving and thinking what I’m thinking and feeling what I’m feeling, and somehow, miraculously, I can project what I think you’re perceiving, what I think you’re thinking, what I think you’re feeling, and then, on top of that, I can perhaps, maybe, possibly start to feel what you feel as a result of the act of thinking that I think what you perceive, think, and feel. But even this model is false. It’s too isolated. For we’ve connected a little, I’m really looking at you, watching your eyes gain light as I speak, watching your head nod and your hands flit a little with excitement, and as I do this we’re coming together a little, entangling ourselves to become, at least for this moment, a new conjoint person that has opened a space for us to jointly perceive, think, and feel. We’re communicating. And perhaps it’s there, in that entangled space, where the fusion of true empathy takes place, where it’s sound enough to impact each of us, real enough to enable us to notice a change in what we feel inside, a change occasioned by connection and shared experience.\n\nA emotional Turing test would be a person’s projection that another being is feeling with her. It wouldn’t be entangled. It would be isolated. That can’t be empathy. It’s not worthy of the word.\n\nBut, how could we know that two people actually feel the same feeling? If we’re going to be serious, let’s be serious. Let’s impose a constraint and say that empathy isn’t just about feeling some feeling when you infer that another person is feeling something, most often feeling something that would cause pain. It’s literally feeling the same thing. Again, I’m just a curious generalist, but know that psychologists have tools to observe areas of the brain that light up when some emotional experience takes place; so we could see if, during an act of empathy, the same spot lights up.[3] Phenomenologically,  however, that is, as the perceived, subjective experience of the feeling, it has to be basically impossible for us to ever feel the exact same feeling. Go back to the beginning of this blog post. When I walked into the National Club, my internal experience was that of walking into the Downtown Association more than 1.5 years earlier. I would hazard that no one else felt that, no one else’s emotional landscape for the rest of the evening was then subtly impacted by the emotions that arose during this reliving. So, no matter how close we come to feeling with someone when our emotional world us usurped, suddenly, by the experience of another, it’s still grafted upon and filtered through the lens of time, of the various prior experiences we’ve had that trigger that response and come to shape it. As I write, I am transported back to two occasions in my early twenties when I held my lovers in my arms, comforting and soothing them after each had learned about a friend’s suicide. We shared emotion. Deeply. But it was not empathy. My experience of their friends’ suicide was far removed. It was compassion, sympathy, but close enough to the bone to provide them space to cry.\n\nSo then we ask, if it’s likely impossible to feel the exact same feeling, then we should relax the constraint and permit that empathy need not be deterministic and exact, but can be recognized within a broader range. We can make it a probabilistic shared experience, an overlap within a different bound. If we relax that constraint, then can we permit a Turing test?\n\nI still don’t think so. Unless we’re ok with sociopaths.\n\nBut how about this one. Once I was running down Junipero Serra Boulevard in Palo Alto. It was a dewy morning, dewy as so many mornings are in Silicon Valley. The rhythms of the summer are so constant: one wakes up to fog, daily, fog coming thick over the mountains from the Pacific. Eventually the fog burns and if you go on a bike ride down Page Mill road past the Sand Hill exit to 280 you can watch how the world comes to life in the sun, reveals itself like Michelangelo reveals form from marble. There was a pocket of colder, denser, sweeter smelling air on the 6.5-mile run I’d take from the apartment in Menlo Park through campus and back up Junipero Serra. I would anticipate it as I ran and was always delighted by the smell that hit me; it was the smell of hose water when I was a child. And then I saw a deer lying on the side of the road. She was huge. Her left foot shook in pain. Her eyes were pleading in fear. She begged as she looked at me, begged for mercy, begged for feeling. I was overcome by empathy. I stopped and stood there, still, feeling with her for a moment before I slowly walked closer. Her foot twitched more rapidly with the wince of fear. But as I put my hand on her huge, hot, sweating belly, she settled. Her eyes relaxed. She was calmed and could allow her pain without the additional fear of further hurt. I believe we shared the same feeling at that moment. Perhaps I choose to believe that, if only because it is beautiful.\n\nThe moment of connection only lasted a few minutes, although it was so deep it felt like hours. It was ruptured by men in a truck. They honked and told me I was an idiot and would get hurt. The deer was startled enough to jump up and limp into the woods to protect herself. I told the men their assumptions were wrong and ran home.\n\nYou might say that this is textbook Turing test empathy. If I can project that I felt the exact same feeling as an animal, if I can be that deluded, then what’s stopping us from saying that that the projection and perception of shared feeling is precisely what this is all about, and therefore it’s fair game to experience the same with a machine?\n\nThe sensation of love I felt with that deer left a lasting impression on me. We were together. I helped her. And she helped me by allowing me to help her. Would we keep the same traces of connection from machines? Should empathy, then, be defined by its durability? By the fact that, if we truly do connect, it changes us enough to stay put and be relived?\n\nThere are, of course, moments when empathy breaks down.\n\nConsider breakdowns in communication at work or in intimate relationships. Just as my memory of the Downtown Association shaped, however slightly, my experience at Wednesday’s conference, so too do the accumulated interactions we have with our colleagues and partners reinforce models of what we think others think about us (and vice versa). These mental models then supervene upon the act of imagination to perceive, think, and feel like someone else. It breaks. Or, at the very latest, distorts the hyperparameters of what we can perceive. Should anything be genuinely shared in such a tangled web, it would be the shared awareness of the impossibility of identification. I’ve seen this happen with teams and seen it happen with partners. Ruts and little walls that, once built, are very difficult to erode.\n\nAnother that comes to mind is the effort required to empathize deeply with people far away from where we live and what we experience. When I was in high school, Martha Nussbaum, a philosopher at the University of Chicago who has written extensively about affect, came and gave a talk about the moral failings of our imagination. This was in 2002. I call her mentioning that we obsess far more deeply, we feel far more acutely, about a paper cut on our index finger or a blister on our right heel, than we do when we try to experience, right here and now, the pain of Rwandans during the genocide, of Syrian refugees packed damp on boats, of the countless people in North America razed from fentanyl. On the talk circuit for his latest book, Yuval Harari comments that we’ve done the conceptual work required to construct and experience a common identity (and perhaps some sort of communal empathy) with people we’ll never meet, who are far outside the local perception of the tribe, in constructing the nation. And that this step from observable, local community to imagined, national community was a far steeper step function than the next rung in the ladder from national to global identity (8,000,000 and 7,000,000,000 are more or less the same for the measly human imagination, whereas 8,000,000 feels a lot different than 20). Getting precise on the limits of these abstractions feels like worthwhile work for a 21st-century ethicists. After all, in its original guise, the trolley problem was not a deontological tool for us to pre-ponder and encode utilitarian values into autonomous vehicles. It was a thinking tool to illustrate the moral inevitability of presence.\n\nI received LinkedIn invites after the talk. One man commented that he found my thoughts about empathy particularly insightful. I accepted his invitation because he took the time to listen and let me know my commentary had at least a modicum of value. I’ll never know what he felt as he sat in the audience during the panel. I barely know what I felt, as two and a half days of experience have already intervened to reshape the experience. So we grow, beings in time.\n\n[1] Loyal blog readers will have undoubtedly noticed how many posts open with a similar sentence. I speak at a ton of conferences. I enjoy it: it’s the teacher’s instinct. As I write today, however, I feel alienated from the posts’ algorithmic repetition, betokening the rhythm of my existence. Weeks punctuated by the sharp staccato of Monday’s 15-minute (fat fully cut) checkins, the apportioned two hours to rewrite the sales narrative, the public appearances that can be given the space to dilate, and the perturbations flitting from interaction to interaction, as I gradually cultivate the restraint to clip empathy and guard my inside from noxious inputs. Tuesday morning, a mentor sent me this:\n\nScreen Shot 2018-11-10 at 7.43.32 AM\n\n[2] This is a loaded term. I’m using it here as a Bayesian would, but won’t take the time to unpack the nuances in this post. I interviewed Peter Wang for the In Context podcast yesterday (slated to go live next week) and we spoke about the deep transformation of the concept of “software” we’re experiencing as the abstraction layer that commands computers to perform operations moves ever closer to the data. Another In Context guest, David Duvenaud, is allergic to the irresponsible use of the word “inference” in the machine learning community (here’s his interview). Many people use inference to refer to a prediction made by a trained algorithm on new data it was not trained on: so, for example, if you make a machine learning system that classifies cats and dogs, the training stage is when you show the machine many examples of images with labels cat and dog and the “inference” stage is when you show the machine a new picture without a label and ask it, “is this a cat or a dog?” Bayesians like Duvenaud (I think it’s accurate to refer to him that way…) reserve the term inference for the act of updating the probability of a hypothesis in light of new observations and data. Both cases imply the delicate dance of generalization and induction, but imply it in different ways. Duvenaud’s concern is that by using the word imprecisely, we lose the nuance and therefore our ability to communicate meaningfully and therefore hamper research and beauty.\n\n[3] Franco Moretti once told me that similar areas of the brain light up when people read Finnegans Wake (or was it Ulysses? or was it Portrait of the Artist? and the Bible (maybe Ecclesiastes?).\n\nThe featured image is Edouard Manet’s Olympia, unveiled in Paris in 1856. In the context of this post, it illustrates the utter impossibility of our empathizing with Olympia. The scorn and contempt in her eyes protects her and gives her power. She thwarts any attempt at possession through observation and desire, perhaps because she is so distanced from the maid offering her flowers, deflecting her gaze out towards the observer but looking askance, protecting within her the intimations of what she has just experienced, of the fact that there was a real lover but it was and will never be you. Manet cites Titian’s Venus of Urbino (1534), but blocks all avenues for empathy and connection, empowering Olympia through her distance. \n\nTitian’s Venus of Urbino has a little sleeping dog, not a bristling black cat\n\nThe Poignancy of Growth\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA Mother and her Daughter\n\nMy mom has done business in over 180 countries, her passport tattooed with stamps and fat with extra pages. Her vagrant soul never seems restless for stability; her vibrant energy never seems to dwindle into entropy. She seems at home anywhere, yet nowhere. She has instilled in me the tendency to notice commonalities before differences, teaching through her example how to speak and touch and look so that others may let down the walls of propriety and open the levees of expression and feeling. We see what peoples share, see what’s common across humanity more clearly than cultural differences.[1] She’s written emails from English manors, anxious to share what it felt like to hear the Goldberg Variations echo in a dewy church. Called us from hospitals in Singapore, worrying us that the Meningitis would reappear. Sent photos from dry tents in Arabian deserts, hookah smoke billowing her digital folds.\n\nSince childhood, Mom brought me on her business trips. She took my brother too, but not as frequently as me. He loved it, but didn’t live for it as I do. We went to Sydney and the Gold Coast and Moscow and Johannesburg and Mombasa and Madrid and London and Paris. Most of the time, she’d work all day as I occupied myself either alone or with a tour guide. Mom insisted I have a guide in places that were more risky and harder to navigate. In Moscow, Tatiana, who, miraculously, had taught Pushkin at the University of Chicago (where I went to college), held my hand as we left behind the blaring March sun in the Red Square and walked down into the utter darkness of Lenin’s tomb, pulled me to the left so I wouldn’t attract attention from the guard as I fumbled my feet in the darkness, and pressed the small of my back to keep me walking, moving, steady, around the light radiating off this small little man who looms so large in the Russian imagination alongside the staccato lyricism of Prokofiev and Ivan Tsarevich and the Wolf.\n\nMost of Vasnetsov’s “Ivan Tsarevich riding the Gray Wolf,” which Tatiana showed me in the Tretyakov gallery in Moscow. The Russians have a remarkable ability to deflect what must be the cold reality of their existence into the most remarkable fairy tales.\n\nIn Johannesburg, I told my guide Mandla I was more interested in seeing how people live than visiting tourist attractions, so we walked through the streets of Soweto and picked up his daughter at daycare, and, upon seeing me, the woman who ran the daycare center threw down the clothes she was hanging on the line and screamed at me in Zulu, screamed, pointed, accused, and I had no clue what was going on until I learned that she mistook me for the girl’s colored mother, and scolded me for having abandoned the girl she thought I had abandoned because her skin was a shade darker than my own.\n\nAt night, I would accompany Mom at business dinners. Her colleagues metabolized the initial strangeness of having a 14-, 15-, 16-, 17-year-old girl around relatively quickly. For I’d grown up being in the company of technology executives and, given my proclivities for imitation, had learned how to behave. I’d absorbed the topics and mannerisms by osmosis and they sensed they needn’t adapt the topic of conversation to placate my interests; that I would listen, reason, and pose questions that, on a few occasions, enabled them to see problems they were working on in a new and different way.\n\nIt is only with the hindsight of moderate maturity that I appreciate how valuable these experiences were for my future career. I have never questioned my validity as a woman in business, for I had my Mom as a strong role model and example from the day I was born. She showed me what was possible. Showed that one could wake up at 3:45 am to catch the 6:00 flight to Chicago and nonetheless look stunning in a suit and stilettos, graceful in her power and resilience. Showed, on the flip side, that the second day of work, the family work, could start at 6:00 pm with laundry spinning and chicken dipped in egg yolk and flour, and the anticipation of saffron and bittersweet double-boiled chocolate for mousse at the weekend party. Showed that femininity and feminism need not be incompatible, that a woman could drink Japanese executives under the table and feel close to death when the 6:30 alarm went off and nonetheless have the wherewithal to get the deal done. And showed me that it’s ok to need silence, that we all need rest, that the energy required to sustain the ideal must fray, eventually, into daylong movie sessions on the couch so the synapses could recover. It’s because of her that I sit tall and grounded in the presence of C-Suite executives.\n\nPeople meet her and say they understand where my dynamism and charisma come from. Meet her and are transfixed by her energy and presence. Meet her and are touched by the love she bleeds for her family.\n\nIt is only with the hindsight of moderate maturity that I was able to grow into loving myself enough to love her with ease. I’m happy about that, as I want to care for her, focus on her, give her more than I give to myself.\n\nYesterday was a remarkable day in the life of a mother and her daughter. The tables turned. This time, Mom accompanied me on a business trip.\n\nI gave the opening keynote and was interviewed in a fireside chat at the INSEAD AI Forum in Paris. Asked to demystify AI, I spent 40% of the time explaining how machine learning systems differ from rules-based, deterministic systems (which boils down to reminding people what functions are and showing them how much more powerful it is to map Xs to Ys in 50,000 dimensions than 2 dimensions) and why this is cool, and 60% of the time walking step-by-step through the decisions interdisciplinary teams have to make when they build a machine learning system that solves a particular problem in a particular context (in this case, the revenue optimization application Kanetix is using on the platform). The most important thing to demystify right now isn’t what machine learning is or how it works, but what happens when people in businesses with processes honed over years to manage deterministic technology try to implement it.[2] To expose the friction all enterprises face when they grapple with the probabilistic outputs of mathematical functions that look like intelligent systems but are really narrow optimization tools (this doesn’t diminish the remarkable questions machine learning is forcing us to pose about our thinking, language, and being). I focus on these topics because I want to empower people. I want to change the incessant dialogue about the “scarcity of ML talent” and create a place for more heroes than the computer science PhDs. Because, and forgive the cliché, it actually does take a village.\n\nDuring the fireside chat, Subi Rangan and I spoke about larger societal questions around AI. We discussed the interdependence between privacy and economic power (and I shared my thinking about why privacy should shift from the rights of the data subject to the obligations of the data processor to better address the privacy risks of machine learning systems), how MBAs need to get used to the persistent anxiety of switching roles and contexts as algorithms automate specific, narrow tasks, and why the simple act of participating in an on-the-ground proof on concept is the surest way to leave a mark in how technology will shape our future.\n\nAfter our performance, I told Subi he has a gift: his demeanor evinces a grace that provides a safe space for an interviewee–or student–to think, to speak as clearly as possible, and allow her mind to creatively unfurl. He was not antagonistic. He didn’t threaten. He didn’t seek spectacle from jabs or irony. He sought to present a structural hierarchy of concepts that could unite the particular and the general, enable the concreteness of embodied experience to ladder up to the big questions policy makers and executives are grappling with today. It was helpful. It was a framing, but one that invited rather than constrain. He was touched by my comments and, off to see his own daughter for lunch, would share his pride at having done something meaningful.\n\nIt was energizing to have my Mom in the audience. I didn’t seek her approval. I didn’t seek her pride. I just wanted to give back. To mention to the whole audience how happy I was that she was there, to show her how much I love her, to allow her heart to smile in seeing that she had done well and that I had turned out ok. And that we will have many more business trips to share, but that we must savour the delicacy and uniqueness of each one as our allotted prism in love and in life.\n\n[1] I’ve felt ashamed of the fact that I don’t seem to perceive differences like others do. I think it ultimately stems from a strong identification with assimilation. From what I’ve observed, most people have a more solidified identity than I do. They self-identify as a man, as an American, as a taxi driver, as a piano player, as an X, and therefore have a measuring stick against which they notice that Y thing around them is different from their normal habits of perception. They self-identify as visitors, as tourists. When I come to a new place, I self-identify in becoming the other as soon as humanly possible. I want to mimic their language, mimic their gestures, eat how they eat, change how I hold my fork, eat with my hands, change how I walk, mimic how they acquiesce or disagree. I suppose I do have the internal mental model of practiced habits, but I prefer to absorb the differences as opposed to recognizing them as other from myself. I am quite like that in many aspects of my life: writing in the style of what I’ve just read, aligning what I say to the context of a conversation, adapting the introductory description of what my company is and does to the demands of a situation, to fit the model I presume is most meaningful to my interlocutor. For that reason, it’s difficult for me to concatenate the many particulars into a static meme that can scale to rout repetition.\n\n[2] Mihnea Moldoveanu and Martin Reeves’s cogent article about this is well worth the read. Aspects of my thinking on this topic appear in this post.\n\nThe featured image is of the Place des Vosges, tucked away in the Marais in Paris. It is one of my favorite places in the world. I remember the first time I visited it in 2002, a spry yet hypersensitive 18-year-old who had just spent 3 months living abroad in Burgos, Spain and was on vacation in Paris with four female friends. We bunked together in a boutique hotel with sea-green walls. I remember the weight of my friends’ hair, how their nipples looked so different from my own, remember how it felt to inhabit my thin frame. I remember when Nicolas showed up at the restaurant, at the end of the meal, just as we were preparing to leave, past the disappointment, past the acceptance, after the hope wafts were snuffed under the tannins on the back of my tongue. He arrived. My heart accepted the recognition of the desire it had pretended to put aside–out of self protection–like a napkin stained with tomato sauce. We just barely moved on the dance floor, siphoned inside blaring Haitian music and off from the world around us as if we’d reduced our dimensions to the sacred simplicity of a Rublev icon. How fascinating that dimensionality reduction betokens the sacred and the sublime; while in information representation, we covet higher dimensions as the promise land indexing knowledge. The next day, he took me to the Louvre. I could smell his body odor through his brown suede jacket as he showed me where to guide my eye along white marble arms and legs. I didn’t mind because it was him. \n\nYears passed. Friday was the first time my mom saw the Place des Vosges. We ate goat cheese and steak tartare and crème brûlée. She had a cold. She listened without judgment.\n\nThe AlphaGo Documentary\n\nOur narratives of Man versus Machine focus on Machine becoming Man, then surpassing Him.\n\nMan is something that shall be overcome. Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman–a rope over an abyss. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end. (Zarathustra, thus imaginarily reported by Friedrich Nietzche) \n\nThe AlphaGo documentary is about Man qua Man[1], or, more precisely, about one man by the name of Lee Sedol, who has a soft, high-pitched voice, a wife, and a daughter. In March of 2016, Sedol went from being well known to Go fans to being well known to everyone after losing 4 out of 5 games to AlphaGo, a computer built by machine learning engineers at Deepmind.\n\nHere is what the film beckoned me to see, feel, and infer.\n\n1. Fear eats Man’s mind\n\nAnd thus the native hue of resolution/ Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought (Hamlet, Act III, Scene I) [2]\n\nSedol is a champion. He has cultivated excellence, put in his 10,000 hours of practice. Played game after game after game to get where he is today, working humbly and patiently with his coach. Playing Go the way he plays is an act of respect towards his elders, his nation, his family.\n\nFor Sedol, therefore, the match against AlphaGo was much more than a match. It was the appointed time to exhibit elegance, grace, and creativity above and beyond standard play. The moment when he left the hallowed halls of practice to squint into the harsh lights of the stage. When they applauded. When he bowed, and, lifting his as slowly as possible to protract time into the infinite dilation of Cantor’s continuity, pupils dilating into eye drop blurs, seconds half-lived to infinitesimals, further, until he couldn’t stop it anymore, until, as raised his head back up, he noticed his sense of self had changed, he observed himself being observed, knowing everyone was watching, rid himself of the caterpillar cloak called Lee Sedol to stretch his powdery wings as Man. He had become an allegory of human intelligence pitted against the machine.\n\nNo biggie. You got this. Just a little blip in history. Just a game. Underwear. Chickens in underwear with scraggly little legs hobbling under the weight of tubby guts bloated with donuts and Budweiser. Just like yesterday when no one was watching.\n\nWhat a horrible place to be.\n\nAnd yet, we honor it. We honor the resilience of the golfer who keeps his cool after a dud shot hooks way too far left. We honor the focus of the concert violinist who can make her way through the Mephistophelian haze of a Paganini caprice. We honor the ease excellent TED Talk speakers find when they share an idea they believe in. We honor it because we know how hard it is. Because we recognize that the difference between good and excellent is the fortitude of practice and the gumption to keep the mind in check, to settle its sabotage, to focus.\n\nWe are all Hamlet. Some of us more than others.\n\nSedol is also Hamlet. The documentary does a marvelous job eliciting our empathy as we watch him doubt, furrow, fear, apologize, strategize, wrestle with the pastiche reflection of what he could have done, who he could have been, how the narrative could have gone if only he had done this move instead of that move. We never hear the voices in his head but we can infer their clamor: “calm down, stay here, focus.” Sedol plays the game in context. He knows the stakes of the match and has no choice but to devote a portion of his brain to the everything else that is not the local task. It’s plausible that only 30% of his brain power could be devoted to the actual game.\n\nAlphaGo has no voices in its head. It has no runaway probabilities. The only probabilities it calculates span the trees it searches to find the next move and win.\n\n2. Man is a social animal who relies on nonverbal communication\n\n\nAlphaGo has no hands. It has no face. Unless Deepmind decides to embody future versions in a robot somersaulting down the uncanny valley, it will never feel the silky lamination of a Go stone, never calm its nerves by methodically circling the stone between the pads of its right thumb and index finger as it contemplates its next move.\n\nLike the infamous Godot in Samuel Beckett’s play, in the documentary, AlphaGo feels more like a prop than a character. It’s undoubtedly there, ubiquitous, but somehow also absent. Sedol engages with AlphaGo through a ventriloquist named Aja Huang, a Taiwanese computer scientist on the DeepMind team who is also an amateur 6-dan Go player. Sedol never engages with AlphaGo directly: only with its diplomat, its emissary.\n\nHuang is no throw-away character. The ventriloquist could have been anyone: his task was to look at the digital display indicating AlphaGo’s move and translate this to the physical board by placing the stone in the right place. He could have carried out this task with zero knowledge of what it meant. Brawn without brains. Pure, robotic execution.\n\nThe positions of the stones mean something to Huang. He bridges two ways of seeing the game, like a computer scientist charting probabilities and like a Go player strategizing moves.\n\nAnd this means that his face could have relayed emotional content back to Sedol, allowing the champion to plunder the emotional cues that are such an integral part of the game. In the first match, Sedol felt alienated because when he looked up at Huang to gather information from his temples, eyebrows, forehead, pupils, cheeks, lips, chin, elbows, freckles, arm hairs, face hairs, eyes, sweat beads, breath, aura, the signals were absent. Huang didn’t exhibit the weight of concentration or even the active restraint of a bluff. It was almost worse that he wasn’t just a robot man because he had enough knowledge to lead Sedol to anticipate emotional cues but fell short because his ego wasn’t engaged. He was, in the end, only an observer. The stage shifted to a theater of deliberate alienation, as in the movie The Lobster.\n\nHuang is like Colin Farrell’s character in The Lobster because his emotional response does not match the context.\n\nThis inverted uncanny valley tells us something about how we communicate. It’s cliché to underscore the importance of nonverbal communication, but it was quite powerful to see how much Sedol typically relies upon emotional cues as animal, as mammal, when he plays against a normal opponent, and how the absence of those cues threw him off. I suspect some of the reticence we feel around trust and explainability stems from our brains processing the world as animals. We don’t actually require explanations from people to trust them and obey them. Power and persuasion seep through different seams.\n\n3. Computer scientists and subject matter experts see the same thing different ways\n\nWhile Huang speaks neural network and speaks Go, most of the DeepMind scientists lack the same bilingual subject matter expertise (I may be incorrect, but I’m pretty sure not everyone who worked in AlphaGo knows the game). Indeed, one fascinating aspect of contemporary machine learning is that the systems can learn what aspects of the data are relevant for a prediction or classification task rather than having a person apply their knowledge to hand pick which aspects will be most relevant. This is not universally the case, and it’s not to denigrate the value of subject matter expertise: on the contrary, there is excellent research afoot to make it easier for people with subject matter expertise in some domain–be that cancer diagnostics or fashion taste or 50-years of experience tweaking knobs to offset the quirks of an office building in lower Manhattan–to represent their knowledge as distributions and parameters without needing to be a scientist do to so. But a characteristic of the deep learning moment is that a crafty scientist can consider a problem abstractly, move away from the particular details we observe as the problem’s phenotype (e.g., a move in the game of Go) and focus on the mathematical underpinnings of the problem (e.g., the number of hidden layers or some other architectural choices to make in a neural network). Add to this that what makes a machine learning problem a machine learning problem is that there is too much variance for us to deterministically write out all the rules: instead, we provide primers that enable the system to iterate fast (that’s where we need all the computational power) to map inputs to outputs until the mapping works well most of the time. It’s like selecting the yeast that will yield the best bread.\n\nPrograms for playing games often fill the role in artificial intelligence research that the fruit fly Drosophila plays in genetics. Drosophilae are convenient for genetics because they breed fast and are cheap to keep, and games are convenient for artificial intelligence because it is easy to compare a computer’s performance on games with that of a person. (John McCarthy and Ed Feigenbaum, Tribute to Arthur Samuel) \n\nThe AlghaGo documentary did a wonderful job juxtaposing how computer scientists tracked the game’s progress and how Sedol and the Go commentators tracked the game’s progress. The scientists viewed the game mathematically, as a series of abstract scores and probabilities. The players viewed the game phenotypically, as a series of moves on the board. It was two fundamentally different ways of viewing the same problem, illustrating the silos of communication companies that quickly emerge like tectonic plates shooting mountain sprouts in any enterprise. The endgame for the opponents was also quite different. The AlphaGo team was fundamentally interested in using Go as a testing ground for computational possibility, the particular use case required to explore the larger problem of building a system that can act intelligently. Sedol was fundamentally interested in playing perfect Go, and potentially abstracting lessons from play to other aspects of his life. These conflicting endgames are often at work in the dialectic of innovation, yin and yang dancing drunk through the discrete step changes of technological progress.\n\nalphago team\nThe movie did an excellent job helping the viewer appreciate the different ways computer scientists and subject matter experts view the same problem.\n\nI do wonder if we could rewrite the narrative of Man versus Machine as one of two different ways of creating, encapsulating, and sharing knowledge. The documentary made this about Demis Hassabis and the AlphaGo Team versus Sedol, West versus East, traditional culture versus computer science, two ways of representing knowledge and viewing the world. It’s ultimately a more grounded narrative. In our HBR Ideacast episode, I suggested to host Sarah Green Carmichael that it’s helpful to reframe a supervised learning system as “one human judgment versus the statistical average of thousands of human judgments,” and then ask which one you’d rather rely on. Granted, the new AlphaGo Zero system is one of self play, not one that mines past human judgment. But the yeast primer is still coded and crafted by human minds with a particular way of framing problems as engineered mathematical models.\n\n4. Algorithms change how Man makes sense of the world\n\nIn a 2011 TED Talk, Kevin Slavin explained how trading algorithms have reshaped the physical landscape (we build structures to transmit the fastest signal possible so our algos can outcompete one another by fractions of a second). In a 2018 phone conversation, my partner John Frankel at ffVC helped me crystallize my understanding that task-specific machine learning algorithms are poised to reshape–if not already actively reshaping–our cognitive landscape.[4]\n\nMuch of the language used to describe AlphaGo betokens alienness and strangeness, facets of thought that are not only not human but antihuman. From a 2017 Atlantic article:\n\n\n\nAlphaGo makes a few moves in the match versus Sedol that flummox him. As a non Go player, I couldn’t make sense of the moves myself, but relied upon the commentary and interpretation offered by the film. What I took away was the sense that AlphaGo did not rely upon the same leading indicator heuristics that are the common tropes of seasoned Go players. If we think about it, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the search space of 10172 positions (according to 11th-century Chinese scholar Shen Kuo) contains brilliance that has to date evaded master Go players. But what’s even more interesting is the cultural significance of knowledge transfer from generation to generation. If Go is staging ground for life, then mastery can and should be measured by analogical transferability and applicability. It’s like a pedagogical philosophy that values critical thinking: teach them Shakespeare, teach them whatever nouns you want, but focus on enabling them to transfer the verbs so they can shape shift to solve problems as they arise.\n\nWhat comes off as alien is a system that is optimized for one task, regardless of analogy and transfer. And, one only win Go by one point, not many. The move with the highest likelihood of winning by the narrowest of margins will look different than the move that betokens potentially less likelihood of success, but a larger cushion. Map this to making big choices in life: most people study the safe subject to keep options open rather than following the risky path of studying what they love. The tradeoffs are different. Their optimizing for different types of outcomes and using a different calculus.\n\nSo, following John Frankel, I’d like to propose that our heuristics will change as our minds increasingly engage with tools that optimize ruthlessly against one task. Machine Go is different than Man Go because it’s not designed as a pedagogical tool to teach life lessons. It’s designed to win, designed to exploit the logic of one search space and one game and one set of rules. But that need not be all that bad. There’s something lovely in coming to terms with the fact that success only requires one point, that we need not rely upon the greedy heuristics that are familiar as we navigate the world. What’s deemed as alien is a means of coming to terms with our own predilections to generalize, when it may not always (or often) be the best bellwether of success. It’s the inverse interpretation of Bostrom’s paper clip optimization monster. An invitation for us to ponder our values and ethical stance as we increasingly interact with algorithms geared to optimize without questioning if that’s ultimately what we want and need.\n\n\nThe Pythagorean Cup is at once practical joke, physics lesson, and moral chastiser. If you are greedy and put too much wine into the cup, a siphon effect kicks in and all the liquid drains out. This kind of analogical triple meaning is the opposite of algorithmic thinking in its current form.\n\n\nThe AlphaGo documentary left me feeling empathy and admiration for Lee Sedol. Not as a Go champion, not as an allegory of Man’s Intelligence, but as a man. His humility was beautiful. His striving was admirable. His kindness towards his daughter was noticeable. His Korean duty was evident. He was many features cobbled into a being, with feelings and a heartbeat, and a mind. He learned something from the matches and lost gracefully, shaking Hassabis’ hand as he left the press conference, cameras flashing in his wake.\n\n[1] Gender warriors, please do forgive me. There’s implicit critique about who controls the AI narrative in keeping the reference to Man, and I find the capitalization lends a curious aura of allegory to this post, which is riddled with references to male heroes.\n\n[2] Rainer Werner Fassbinder (whose name I always mistake for Rainer Maria until I remember that’s the other Rainer, the Rilke Rainer) has a marvelous film entitled Angst Essen Seele Auf, translated as Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (which I should be translated as Ali: Fear Eat the Soul to better capture the grammatical error Ali, one of the film’s protagonists, makes when he speaks broken German without conjugating verbs) about an “almost accidental romance kindled between a German woman in her mid-sixties and a Moroccan migrant worker around twenty-five years younger.” While released in 1973, the lessons are all the more relevant today. The other eating metaphor on my mind is Andreessen’s software eating the world, and now Steven Cohen and Matthew Granade saying that models will run the world. What Cohen and Granade get right in their article is that AI systems are about much more than just Jupyter notebooks with models. You have to put models into production, use them as hypothesis to build closed-loop systems that get better as they engage with the world. So, so, so, so, so, so, so many companies still seem to miss this part. It’s hard, and requires work that isn’t deemed sexy by the cognoscenti and the rockstars (how awesome is the word cognoscenti?).\n\n[3] I’ve been thinking a lot about the social value of work and the workplace and have the early, what-my-mind-does-walking-and-running-level intuitions of a blog post about why work is an opportunity to experience positive, Aristotelian freedom (where self-actualization occurs through participation in a common, social goal) versus negative freedom (how we normally conceptualize freedom as the absence of constraint for the individual) and what that means for team and meaning and also the intrinsic value of work (for the leisure promised by some UBI pundits rubs me the wrong way; not all UBI pundits believe self-actualization is an individual project, and the most sober ones think it’s a bump needed to become more socially connected (including Charles Murray, which is interesting…). Stay tuned.\n\n[4] John has an uncanny ability to understand and represent the heart of the matter in emerging technologies. It’s a privilege to learn from him. I’ve mentioned this before on the blog, but John also has the world’s best out-of-office emails, which have inspired my own (mine are far less sardonic and far more earnest, not by choice but by the ineluctable traps of my style).\n\nThe featured image is from an article the newspaper Korea Portal posted March 15, 2016. In the article, Sedol says: “I wanted to end the tournament with good results, but feel sad that I couldn’t do it. As I said before, this is not a loss for man, but a loss for me. This tournament really showed what my shortcomings are.” As in the documentary, Sedol interprets his loss as a personal failure. He doesn’t view himself as the representative of mankind. This isn’t man versus machine. It is one match. One man versus his opponent. But because the opponent doesn’t feel like Sedol does, doesn’t care if it wins, it becomes one man versus himself. \n\nWho’s allowed to write about technology?\n\nI recently published an article about explainability in machine learning systems for the Harvard Business Review. The article argues that many businesses get stuck applying machine learning because they worry about black boxes; that they should think about what matters for a given use case, as sometimes other governance and assessment metrics are more relevant than an explanation (e.g., precision and recall for information retrieval); and that a close reading of recital 71 in the EU GDPR suggests that an individual’s right to an explanation applies to the procedures used to build and govern the entire system, not to which input features, with which weights, lead to which outputs.[1]\n\nThe article’s goal is to help businesses innovate. It seeks to empower people by helping them ask the right questions. The battle cry is: There’s no silver bullet. You have to think critically. Compliance and business teams should align with data scientists early in the machine learning system-development process to align on constraints required for a given use case. Businesses should be as clear as possible on what algorithms actually optimize for, as ethical pitfalls arise between what we can and can’t measure, what our data do and do not index about the world.[3]\n\nThe day it was published, I received two comically opposite responses from data scientists working in executive positions in technology companies. The first complimented me, mentioning that they were pleasantly surprised to see someone with my educational background writing so cogently about machine learning. The second condemned me, mentioning that someone with my educational background had no right to write about machine learning and that I was peddling dangerous hype.\n\nI didn’t learn much from the compliment. My Mr. Peanut Butter labrador ego enjoyed being stroked.\n\nI learned a few things from the critique. It helped clarify some of my own tacit assumptions, my ideology, my ethics, the grey matter between the words, the stuff that makes it hard to write because it feels vulnerable and exposed, the implicit stuff that signals community acceptance and alignment and that we rarely sit back, unpack, analyze, and articulate.\n\nHere are some of the lessons.\n\n1. Precision always matters\n\nAs with (close to) all tricky situations, I wonder if I did the right thing at the time. Upon being attacked, I chose to diffuse rather than ignite. I thanked the person for voicing their critique and disengaged. The only thing I mentioned was that it appeared that they drew their conclusion from the title of my article rather than its content. They stated that scientists have long had ways to interpret the output of neural networks and that I was peddling hype to write an article entitled “When is it important for an algorithm to explain itself?” I was surprised to see the narrow focus on algorithmic interpretability, as I felt the work my article did was to expand the analytical framework of explainability to systems and procedures, not just algorithm. So, underneath the amygdala’s attack response, my mind said “Did they even read it?”\n\nIt took me a few minutes to put (what I assume are) the pieces together. I don’t write the titles for my HBR articles and hadn’t taken the time to internalize how the title could be interpreted. When my editor suggested it, I quickly approved. Had I felt it was important that the title precisely reflect the content, I would have recommended that we say “an algorithmic system,” not an “algorithm” and say “when is it important for businesses to consider explainability in machine learning systems” versus implying that algorithms have agency. (Although it is a thought-provoking and crucial task to think about how we can and should design system front-ends to translate math-speak into people-speak, be that to communicate and quantify uncertainty or to indicate other performance metrics in a way that is meaningful and useful to developers and users.)\n\nLet me be clear on the lesson here. I try to take as much responsibility as possible for outcomes, especially negative ones. I approved this title very quickly because I was excited to see the piece go live. Next time, I’ll think more deeply. I’m not blaming the HBR editorial team. They thought about the title and considered a few different options. I love working with my editor. He’s a wonderful partner. We bounce topics by one another. He’ll push back on stuff he’s not excited about; I’ll do the same for him. What I enjoy most is giving him feedback on questions unrelated to my writing. I like giving back, as he has done much to help me build my reputation as a writer.\n\nThe reason I wonder if I did the right thing is that I wonder if it is my duty to other writers, to other professionals, to have stood up for myself as opposed to stepping back and disengaging. But attacks beget strong emotions. For all of us. I needed time to think and let the lessons sink in. This is, obviously, my response.\n\n2. Read things before sharing them and commenting on them\n\nI’m guilty of having shared things without reading them, or having only skimmed an abstract. Mostly because I’m busy and can be impulsive. This is a good lesson about why that’s always a bad idea. I’d feel ashamed if people suspected I hadn’t read an article before critiquing it. There’s a lot at stake here, like democracy. It’s meaningful to engage deeply and charitably with another person’s ideas. To take the time to understand what they are trying to communicate, to find an opportunity to refine an idea, challenge an idea, improve the structure or flow. To teach one another.\n\n3. Don’t judge someone based on their resume\n\nThe person who critiqued me seemed to draw conclusions about what I could and could not know based on my LinkedIn profile. That doesn’t reveal that much. You don’t see that much of my college education was funded by Siemens because I was one of 2 female students in New England awarded for having the highest scores on our math and science AP tests. You don’t see that I was a math major at U Chicago who always got straight As in math and struggled much more in humanities, but was ultimately more interested in literature so decided to pursue that path. You don’t see how much analysis, complex analysis, number theory, linear algebra, and group theory I studied. You don’t see how I came to understand how important that training would be once I ended up working in machine learning. You don’t see that I focused on history of philosophy and math in the 17th and 18th century in graduate school, and, while the specific math of that period is no outdated, have thought deeply about the philosophical questions associated with statistics, empirical science, and the diffusion of knowledge in the wake of new scientific discovery. You don’t see how my fellow literature graduate students told me reading my writing was like being in a prison because I was always trying to prove things, as in a math proof.\n\nYou might see that I’m not interested in competing with machine learning researchers in their own field. I want to drink in as much of their thinking as possible, want to learn everything they can teach me, want to understand why and what it means for the field, want to experience the immense joy of recognizing structural similarities between two disciplines or applications that can be the seat of innovation, that place where you realize that a mathematical technique originally explored for problem A comes into its own in the world in problem B.\n\nYou might see that the role I’ve come to accept is that of the translator, the generalist curious enough to dive deeply into whatever subject matter I’m working on, but will never be the disciplined expert. There will always be questions and gaps. Always more to learn and explore. Always people who can go deeper and narrower. Like Sheldon Levy, I viciously and vibrantly admire those whose creative minds will discover things, will reframe problems to uncover solutions stuck for centuries. They are the heroes. All we do is to sing their song, and help others hear its beauty.\n\n4. Allow people to learn\n\nThis is the most important lesson. The one I care about. The one that puts fire into my heart and makes my fingers type quickly.\n\nWe must allow people to learn from experiences after school. We must not accept a world where the priests alone are allowed to understand, where the experts alone have the authority to write about, talk about, and share ideas about a subject. Technologies like artificial intelligence are already impacting us all. Work will change. Jobs will change. New jobs and new opportunities will arise. If people are not given the space to change, to learn, if the only people we deem qualified to do this work, to write about this work, are those who come with a certain PhD, a certain educational certificate, a certain type of social rubric of authority, we are fucked. We must trust that people can learn new things and find ways to give them opportunities. We must engage with one another so as to promote openness, to probe and push without the searing pain of judgment, to provide people with the confidence required to ask the simple questions needed to get to the heart of the matter, to give people the breathing room to embrace the initial anxiety of change so they can come to do something new.\n\nNo, I did not do my PhD in machine learning. It’s not impossible that I won’t go back and do a second PhD in reinforcement learning, as I find the epistemological questions associated with that subfield incredibly rich, incredibly akin to the perennial questions I have loved in the Greeks, in the early moderns, and again today. Time will tell. I have, however, worked in the field over the past few years. I was fortunate enough to have been granted the opportunity to learn a lot at Fast Forward Labs. I will forever be grateful to Hilary Mason for giving me a chance to help her build her business, and for believing that I could learn. I learned. I am still learning. I write about what I’ve come to learn, and accept criticism, feedback, refinements, all the stuff other people can share with me to expand my understanding and help us all grow. I’m decent at recognizing what I know with precision and where my knowledge starts to falter into fuzziness, and I tell people that. I have made mistakes, thought about them deeply, and try my best not to make them a second time (which I don’t always succeed it). I love enabling others to build sound intuitions about mathematical concepts and technology. To feel empowered, feel like they get it in ways they hadn’t before. And not because it’s dumbed down. Not because we resort to the Platonic blindfolds for the masses. Because we can all do it. It’s just that we have to break down the power walls, break down the barriers, break down our egos, and do our best to make something meaningful.\n\nI will fight for it. There are too many people who hold themselves back because they are excluded from circles protecting themselves within elitism. Everyone deserves a voice. Everyone deserves a chance to understand.\n\n5. Everyone should be allowed to write about technology\n\nIt’s not all going to be good. There is a lot of hype. I’m not sure hype is all bad, as it has the power to mobilize large groups of people who wouldn’t otherwise be interested. Nothing like the fine print of precise qualifications to dampen the mood of disruptive innovation. There is damage when the hype breeds unnecessary fear, rather than unbounded excitement. And there’s certainly lots of work to be done to help businesses bring expectations down to earth to capitalize on what’s possible. But there’s wonderful satisfaction that emerges when businesses start to get traction with a narrowly-focused, real-world application. And it takes different people with different viewpoints from different teams to make that happen, in particularly in established enterprises with their processes and people and quirks and habits and culture.\n\nWe may not all want to write, but we all have a part to play. And I’ll always subscribe to the Ratatouille philosophy: it’s not that everyone can cook, but that the greatest chef in the world may not necessarily have a resume our priors deem likely to succeed.\n\n[1] Peter Sweeney has written many great articles about epistemology and AI, and argued that we should conceptualize the outputs of machine learning algorithms as observations, not explanations. He was responding to David Weinberger, who has argued that we should focus governance efforts on optimization, not explanation. I’m partial to that, but again think it depends on the use case. Nick Frosst, who wrote the capsule network paper with Sara Sabour[2] and Geoff Hinton, thinks that interpretability (I must admit that I use the words interpretability and explainability interchangeably, and should take the time to parse the two, both philosophically and technically) is important because those creating systems and those impacted by systems should have the right to intervene to change their behaviour or change the system to change outcomes. So, for example, if a system denies an individual a mortgage because they missed their last 3 credit card payments, then that gives the individual meaningful recourse to act differently to meet the requisite rules in the future. It does indeed get dicey if there are so many dimensions that end up correlated to some output that impacts big deal opportunities for real people living real lives. I analyzed a couple of examples in this podcast.\n\n[2] I’m 99% confident that Sara wasn’t able to attend NIPS in Los Angeles last year because she is Iranian. Knowledge, and credit for new knowledge, is cosmopolitan.\n\n[3] My company recently published a framework to help consumer enterprises develop responsible machine learning systems. It’s practical and breaks down the different privacy, security, governance, and ethics questions cross-functional teams should ask and address at different points in the machine learning system-development process. We worked hard on it. I’m proud of it.\n\nThe featured image is of Remy the rat chef. He has a heightened sense of taste and smell but is naturally overlooked as an awesome chef because he’s a rat. He ends up making a ratatouille that softens the curmudgeonly critique because it brings him back to his childhood like Proust’s madeleine. So worth watching over and over again. \n\nFacebook Portrait Project: Batch 2\n\nAbout a month ago, I started the Facebook Portrait Project. On July 31, I came to understand the following:\n\nThe Facebook Portrait practice yielded an insight today. I didn’t know this before I started. I’ve come to learn it in and through the practice.\n\nI frame the portraits through an anchor experience that is meaningful to me. They aren’t fashioned from some neutral, third-person perch. I unfold love by identifying the essence of the emotion my subject–my friend–invokes in me, and then unravel the acrylic streamers from this emotional kernel.\n\nBut I’ve noticed that each person evokes a different aspect of myself and my personality. One person shares the practice of meditation. Another shares my taste in abstract art. Another shares my childhood, my deep history with ninja turtles and home video cameras. Another shares the simple joy of a beet folded into a rose on the dinner table, the elemental goodness of a meal shared with friends.\n\nThe Facebook Portrait project, therefore, is also a means of showing the self as a kaleidoscope. Of showing how our narrative is that much richer when it is viewed not as a series of selfies but as a series of self-portraits inflected through the presence and inspiration of those who love us, each person amplifying a different parameter, a different feature. Each person activating a different potential.\n\nThe composite of all the portraits is a type of self portrait. But it shows a self in context. A social self. Not a self as monad.\n\nThe practice is indeed spiritual.\n\nI do believe this. Our core philosophical task in the early 21st century to unravel the self, this construct we inherited from Humanism, and recover the fluidity of sociality and ecosystems and organisms big and small.\n\nBut it’s also overthinking it. I write the portraits because I like writing them. It’s joyful. I like touching people. I like remembering things I had forgotten as I unpack the intuitions that frame the portraits. I like how it’s a form of meditation. I like how it doesn’t hurt because I don’t feel pressure to perform.\n\nHere is the second batch of portraits. I’m currently planning to share them in batches of 5.\n\nPortrait 6: Alisa Wechsler\n\nWhile not of my blood, you are my sister because we are both at our happiest eating smoked whitefish and sturgeon.\n\nWhile not of my blood, you are my sister because we have walked the same path in life, both roll up our sleeves to share forearm scars, forever marks of creatives imprisoned, I muting me, you muting you, we together dampened by the cumbersome gaze of what we assumed would be expected, and was.\n\nYou are my sister because you left your scars in the backseat with the grocery bags and the milk spoiling in the muggy Jersey sun and walked into life with the kids.\n\nMy sister because you saw me for me. The situation begged skepticism, criticism, concern, but you allowed the apartment to silence the voices and clear space for compassion and connection. Perhaps it was the buffalo parchment embrace of the Wayang puppets Rama and Sinta in the alcove. Perhaps the still modernism of Albers above the dining room table. The white cowhide rug. You felt yourself in the design and this recognition of kinship peeled away the prior expectations of concern to see why it all made sense.\n\nMy sister because when we walked through the David Bowie exhibit, this proleptic funeral procession he prepared as his final act, we saw permission. We left the shame on the other side. We too were Pierrot in Turquoise, were Ziggy Stardust, were unleashed at last with Eno in Berlin in his screaming ode to the king and his queen loving one another ardently, free, finally, pure, if only for one day.\n\nMy sister because I will care for your daughters and be their sister, too. I will keep their seeking eyes in my mind as I make my own choices, know there are young women watching, young leaders in search of a role model to show them what the world can offer and that the world can never keep them down.\n\nMy sister because of the constancy. Because we can flake out and be busy and need to take care of 65,000,000 things when we’re on the east coast and christ the time gets away and we really wanted to actually connect this time and it’s just not going to happen but it doesn’t matter, there’s zero resentment, zero concern, because I will always be there for you and know you will always be there for me, we’re united inside the substrata, underneath the erosion of the world. We’re inside the rocks in Arizona holding little girl hands, while outside the parched sun sweeps the lizards and the peyote.\n\nMy sister because who would have thought you’d be stuffing meat into a grinder with blood on your hands and sitting up straight in the meetings with the investors unabashedly demanding one more check. And they trusted you. They took a bet on you. They knew with someone as solid as you at the helm, money would flow.\n\nMy sister because you play the drums and have that silly purple car and somehow embody the rusty spirit of mullets and hair bands in 2018, but somehow make it fashionable.\n\nMy sister because the world will teach you about itself for your whole life. Because you hear its song. Because Gunner will be there with the dogs and you’ll all transcend the wrinkles of time with Peter Pan minds. Because you no longer need a fountain of youth. You have freed yourself to be you, and come into love.\n\nAlisa and I share a deep connection with the desert. We’re both at ease there.\n\nPortait 7: Mike Hume\n\nShould the ninja turtles (NTs) negatively impact one’s mental well being, Mike Hume is screwed.\n\nThe NTs weren’t a Saturday-morning cartoon in the Hume household on 27 Highland Drive, Apalachin, New York (spelling always tripped me up when we first learned geography at Tioga Hills elementary school, up the road past the Starners’ house and then down the road on the left; my hair would freeze walking to school in the winter but I kind of dug it. Still do.).\n\nThey were a way of being.\n\nDad and Mike used to make these home videos of NT adventures, you know, some plot with Shredder and Crang being up to some shit. Dad had a moany Crang voice that may or may not be anything like Crang’s cartoon voice. It was decidedly NOT anything like Pinky or the Brain’s voice (side notes: Mike’s and my favorite Pinky quote is, “I think I am Brain: his name would be far more politically correct as Jean-Claude van Darn.”; Dad DOES have a Brain voice that comes out at Red Sox games in Fenway Park when he puts all of himself into a YEEES, either after some shortstop play is made or he has just punched the beach ball floating around so hard it goes to another part of the stadium; and I do believe the world would be a far saner place if Crang were the mascot for artificial intelligence, not the horrendous cognitive robots that litter the internet.).\n\nI remember Mike being Raphael, although IMHO it would make way more sense for him to be Michelangelo, given his personality. The best part of the videos was the Warp Pipe with which the NTs would teleport to Shredder’s lair. The Warp Pipe was a ceramic napkin holder in the shape of an owl. Raphael, expertly voiced by Mike, would stand inside and then we’d put in him front of the Macintosh Classic with the rotating laser screen saver, the kind that better damn well continue to illuminate the background of 2nd-grade school photos, or else the world really is descending into senseless chaos, and there must have been some voice over for the teleportation. Mike was way better than I was at NT simulation because he remembers EVERY SINGLE SOLITARY LINE FROM EVERY MOVIE OR TV SHOW HE HAS SEEN. It’s insane. Like total recall. Sarah McManus (the love of Mike’s life) can attest to this, and likely gets somewhat frustrated that Mike never says anything that isn’t a quote from some movie, or a comment on the day’s golf game.\n\nThe NTs in the home movies were the 6-inch-ish figurines. Then we had the 1.5-foot-ish figures that were a softer plastic and were more life size (calibrated to kid height). That means we didn’t film them; they existed in the plane of our own reality. So Dad was at work and Jeff Valenta was over and we’d concocted a scenario where the very same home video camera that Dad used to film the NT home movies became itself Crang’s vehicle (Crang is just a brain so he needed to be housed in something). Mike was Raphael, as always, and he took one of his golf clubs and like BEAT THE SHIT out of Dad’s home movie camera. That was the end of our time making NT movies.\n\n(Side note: Mike was on television when he was 2. It was at the B.C. Open, a PGA golf tournament that took place at the En-Joie country club in Endicott, New York from 1971-2006. Mike was caught swinging his blue tiny tikes driver, the cameraman commenting that he was destined to be a pro. Mike does have a nasty good drive. Side note 2: tiny tikes rakes, hoes, shovels, and spades were prominently featured as air guitars alongside the ray bans in the other Hume-family home movie series where our cousins played back up to Eric Clapton in After Midnight, again and again and again.)\n\nThe culmination of Mike’s NT-centric childhood (besides Vanilla Ice teaching us life lessons about dancing, pants, and hair, BTW this song literally has a line that says “Lyrics, fill in the gap” – like he didn’t bother to write the lyrics and forgot to update the template from the producer) was a trip to Disney World where we met the NTs who weren’t just 6-inch figures, weren’t just 1.5-foot dolls, but were 6-foot-the-real-deal-holy-shit-we-are-meeting-the-NTs-in-real-life guys! We stood in the crowd. Mike was 3ish, perched atop Dad’s shoulders so he could have a better view when the NT van came around the corner. We have a photo of his face ANGUISHED with anticipation.\n\nAnd then he disappeared. Mom was terrified – she’d lost her child in this huge crowd. But April O’Neil was clever enough to improvise. Mike appeared on stage in April O’Neil’s arms. He had made it. Went from directing movies about NTs to destroying the video camera that made the same movies to being up there on stage for everyone else to see. He had triumphed. He had become ninja turtle.\n\nPS – I love Mike more than anyone in the world. He makes my accomplishments feel special in a way no one else does. There’s just something about his kindness. But he makes everyone feel this way. That’s why he’s like an addiction. People want to be with him.\n\nIt was his birthday yesterday. 31 and counting. Couple more greys. Love you, kiddo. So very much.\n\nSarah took this photo of Mike on his birthday, the day before I wrote the portrait. He does that with his eyebrows.\n\nPortrait 8: Donna Flanagan Gaspard\n\nJust 28 minutes ago, I made a choice.\n\nI had spent the morning hours working on my book and felt trapped inside an anxiety pocket, focusing on the outcome rather than the process, questioning the enterprise, the little anxiety homunculus in my brain clamoring to procrastinate, conjuring the self-broom brigade like Mickey in the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, brooms sweeping self-doubt, self-criticism, self-hatred with the waterfall cadence of a machine gone amok.\n\nBut even in such moments, especially in such moments, we are invited to love. To return to the beauty of the process, the joy of creating, the immediacy that is always there, offering itself, open, not asking for anything in return, not needing any outcome. Just there. Like a mother’s unconditional love, never requiring anything in return and patient through every foible.\n\nI noticed it was Donna’s birthday. I knew she would be touched by a portrait. I gave myself permission to devote the day’s writing to her.\n\nAs I clicked open the dialogue box to start writing, I debated whether to take a moment to breathe, to meditate before diving in. A part of my brain resisted: “Get going. Write. Get to the outcome. After you have completed something, something, you can let yourself off the hook.”\n\nBut this was for Donna. The thought of her gave me permission to step back. All I needed to bring to mind was the LinkedIn post she recently wrote about the healing power of breathing.\n\nSo, now 45 minutes ago (I think it’s been about 17 minutes), I made a choice. I chose to breathe. To step back for a moment and observe the tension balled up on my quadriceps, in my hips, to release it as Donna sat there with me. And taking this time to step back helped crystallize what matters in our relationship. Helped me find her portrait.\n\nLike Alisa, Donna is my sister. But our sisterhood is very old. It has had years to grow and change. Like all living things, it isn’t constant.\n\nI must have been 15 when I met Donna. I can’t recall precisely. I do recall that the first time we met was at a dinner in San Francisco. My mother ordered a bottle of Pahlmeyer Chardonnay. There was an air of celebration that evening, if only because it was two women and an almost-woman experiencing life together. Donna sensed my dissonance. Saw a young woman who had power and strength, but who held herself back behind bars of pain. Without kids of her own, Donna had space to be the older sister I never had. Space to be my friend, my confidante, the person I could turn to to share thoughts and fears it would be wisest to hide from family and fair-weather friends. And being a sister to me would be an act of love towards my mother and, perhaps most importantly, towards herself.\n\nSo in the first phase of our sisterhood, Donna was the person I could turn to to explore the thoughts that hurt my mother and father, work through all the noise, all the tyranny of self-perfection and doubt. And she wasn’t a pushover: I remember her getting frustrated a few times when I droned on like a broken alarm clock about how fat I was. Again and again and again and again.\n\nBut she was always there. She came back. She loved unconditionally.\n\nIn the second phase of our sisterhood, Donna introduced me to meditation. And to courage. She had decided to walk away from the rat race of a corporate career, a rat race even more difficult for women like me and her who don’t have children of our own, and therefore often place even more of our self worth and identity in our professional success. Donna exudes a strength and grace at work. She holds herself tall (her posture is incredible) and has a slightly masculine energy that evinces power and reliance, resilience and cleverness. But she wanted and needed more from life. So she started to explore and her search led her to meditation. She had to courage to walk away from work and reinvent herself. And the wisdom to know that didn’t mean she would never work in Corporate America again, but that life is long, and we can walk away from the race and return later, refreshed, strengthened, wiser.\n\nDuring this second phase, Donna was a teacher who helped me begin my journey as a meditator. In Costa Rica, we found a private room tucked away from the noise of the house and lay down on the floor with our feet up on the couch. Donna put her hand on my stomach and showed me where to focus my attention. She helped me find the depths of my belly, deeper than my lungs. Her voice shared the wisdom that only comes with experience, the wisdom of meaning it. It was light and sprightly, like a young girl sharing her imaginary world. It was a voice that had found a sister, that knew she was teaching someone who wanted to listen. Someone who wouldn’t judge. Someone who shared her pain and also wanted to find her joy.\n\nAnd now, 20 years later, I have come to understand Donna in a way I couldn’t when I was 14. For I too have lived.\n\nIn this third phase of our sisterhood, I can sit down on my yoga block and meditate and feel deeply within my heart the resonance of a kindred spirit. For I too am not yet a mother, so I now understand how meaningful it can be to have a younger sister to love and know and care for. I have sisters in Toronto, women like Shems and Lauren who are so dear to me and who are the me that I was for Donna (just a little older and wiser 🙂). I haven’t spoken with Donna for a while, but her presence is a given. Constant, unconditional, yet growing and changing as we grow through our own experiences. She in Arizona, me in Toronto.\n\nThe constancy of our relationship provides a miraculous perspective on what has changed and what remains the same. Like breath. Unnoticed, until we realize it is a gift.\n\nDonna featured this image in a recent post about meditation\n\nPortrait 9: Lauren Deckelbaum\n\nEncounter 1: I improvise my story. I conjure the nadir at the Women’s Lunch Place in Boston, right wrist greasing practiced fluidity as I chop onion after onion to keep myself alive. I expose the hurt to give them strength and show how life stories switchback from failure to success, and back again. That struggle apexing atop a mesa of ease is a parched mirage copied, facsimile, from Roman Epics and Saints Lives. They smile; they applaud; they approach. And then Lauren comes. “I’ve noticed how many successful people meditate, and yet I can’t seem to get into it myself.” I invite her to my house. There was something in her eyes, in her voice. “I’ll teach you.”\n\nEncounter 2: Fuck fuck she’s like 10 minutes early and I’m still in my pijamas should I just open the door don’t want to make her wait but christ I don’t even know this woman oh well more awkward if she has to stand there outside my door waiting it’s only grey sweatpants and the gingham Victoria’s Secret sheath I stole from Mom like 5 years ago somewhat kitsch but whatever so “Welcome! So sorry I was just finishing up some writing when I heard you knock!” and she smiles wide and it’s like it was meant to be this way and we exchange a few pleasantries but get right to it legs crossed I upon the couch she in the chair next to me and she’s still not comfortable with meditating so she pulls the hat down over her eyes to block out the light and the world and I set the timer and we breathe and I feel ease next to her and I don’t know for sure what she feels because I can’t know can never know and that’s the beauty of it all but when she opens her eyes and asks what I heard and thought about her voice is crystalline and calm.\n\nEncounter 4: I rush into the inky WeWork at Yonge and Bloor only to notice stilton, cheddar, triple-cream brie, cranberries, walnuts, honey, all delicately aligned. My colleagues say it was a gift from a woman I know who works here. From Lauren. How lovely. How perfect.\n\nEncounter 7: I show her what my heart creates. We eat shrimp and arugula, and drink Marsannay. She helps me understand who the words are for.\n\nIt complements the haze. It deepens it. The lighthouse repetition in the background, the delicacy of the violin like cormorant staccato in the milk-washed sea sky.\n\nFor how could it not be the subject, its fate sealed under barn owl wax in the damp Sunday, as mermen brandished ping pong paddles on silk sleeves? Your precision poaching oatmeal into the winter light, capturing its hue like cupped hands handle butterflies, keeping the wings intact, unharmed, this being so different from you, while you take pictures of white oak on black, on leather, creating your space, your home, your eye creating beauty in its wake, leaving the traces of you, if only I take the time to watch?\n\nEncounter N: She comes to dinner with my mother, my aunts, with Will. We sample the pizza and wood brick chicken. Our conversation deviates from the group, as it’s too hard to hear. But she is a deeper part of me now. A forever friend.\n\nEncounter N+1: I come to dinner with her mother, her siblings, her friends. I sleep in her old bed downstairs, the house bleating kindness in its wake. We sit crosslegged and discuss how minds thwart intimacy. We hike the Montreal mountain. We talk about Carl Sagan on soggy cushions and slice Montreal bagels in time for the party. There is no judgment. It’s home.\n\nEncounter N + N: She gives me the ring with the face on it over dinner. I cherish our differences. I see Lauren for who she is. She is not a reflection of me. She is not something I want her to be. It is her way that has cracked the opening. I love her for who she is because of who I am when I am in her presence. A forever friend. She permits a space for honesty. She is fertile like the ground. She brings forth life.\n\nEncounter N*N: She’s in London this week. She’ll grow and collect stories, share them upon her return. I’ll think of her when I get stressed and my fists clench. I’ll remember her ease and relax my shoulders inside its grace.\n\nAnd in the future we’ll watch our lives unfurl. I trust it.\n\nThat’s the ring. That’s my hand. I put my fingers in silly places to make it look better.\n\nPortrait 10: Allen Gebhardt\n\n“To be exceptional is to be more god-like than most, whether that is a powerful deity of myth or the God who died on the cross of Christianity. Hume’s kind of exceptionality is the opposite: he was more fully human than most, nothing more, nothing less. The virtues he expressed were not extreme ones of daring or courage but quiet ones of amiability, modesty, generosity of spirit, hospitality. Lest this sound like little, consider how difficult it is to live our lives consistently expressing such virtues.” – Julian Baggini, in his recent essay on David Hume\n\nAllen is like Hume: he is more fully human than most, nothing more, nothing less.\n\nAnd for that reason–gosh, I’m hesitating as I’m quite overwhelmed by emotion–Allen is one of my most important friends. But that’s not quite right. He’s more like a guide, except that, because he is a Humean Human in its purest expression, he doesn’t seek the power a guide seeks. He needs no acolyte. He craves no connection to heal or help. He is far too ironic and cynical to slip into demagoguery. What he does is listen. Without judgment. With generosity of spirit. And he is there, consistently, when a friend is needed. And he celebrates the journey with its freckled growth. As he has done with his wife and his sons.\n\nI met Allen at a Law Firm Information Governance Symposium in April, 2014 in Washington, DC. He was working at Cooley at the time, had helped the firm transition from paper-based records management to the brave new world of digital squalor. We had dinner recently in San Francisco and he reminded me that the seed of our friendship was his making ironic jabs at my self-righteous pseudo-Marxist idealism. I’d completely forgotten, as is my way. What I remembered was that, for Allen, work was primary about people. He cared less about the what and cared more about the how, about the dynamics that make or break teams. He acknowledged the fact that careers are important for dignity and self-worth in contemporary society, but that the self didn’t depend on professional success. That work is a means to stay busy and create value with others. And then it passes, fluid like time or the winding fragility of an Andy Goldsworthy installation.\n\nNonetheless, a connection was formed. And it grew.\n\nOne milestone was a dinner we had in the Castro in San Francisco. Classic diner-like American fare. Been around for years. I searched my email to find the name of the place only to notice a string of restaurants we’ve visited together since we met, Salero in Chicago, Vesta in Redwood City, AQ in San Francisco (now closed), most recently Heirloom Cafe, where I introduced Allen to Will. I don’t remember what we spoke about over dinner. I remember Allen drove me to SFO afterwards and I fell asleep in the car. I was embarrassed. But Allen was flattered: he thanked me for falling asleep because it showed I was completely comfortable with him. We’d passed the threshold to forever friendship, like shifting from vous to tu.\n\nLater, in late 2016, Allen taught me how to love. What I mean is that he helped me navigate a difficult situation I was experiencing with a former partner: I had to learn how to allow someone else to feel what they feel, to make their own decisions, to live how they chose to live, and to not entangle myself in another’s self. I had to learn that if it all fell apart, it was ok, I would be ok. I had to learn that I, too, was able to feel what I felt, and could look at my emotions, observe them, take in their lessons, follow their footprints back to my childhood, know their source, see the habits they’d created, and free myself from them. I’d pace the Brooklyn streets, humidity curling my flyaways, Allen on the phone as my guide. I’d settle down. It was only a few phone calls, but they changed me. Now, each time I make a conscious effort to give space to another to be and feel and live and hurt and experience, Allen is present.\n\nWhen I met Allen’s wife Julie, the kaleidoscope spun into vibrancy. These lessons Allen shared had been lived and grown through his partnership with his wife. They seemed like an idyllic pair, exemplars of giving and openness and wisdom. Julie showed me a few photos from her popular Instagram feed featuring doorways in San Francisco. Her Renaissance was birthed by curiosity and charity. By walks in the city. Today others join. Julie’s example gives others permission to be artists.\n\nI have yet to meet Allen’s sons. I’m sure I will some day. They seem extraordinary.\n\nAllen and I spoke yesterday. He recently retired and is looking forward to his own Renaissance. It will emerge from spontaneity, in the spacetime crevices that widen when the hustle subsides. When we allow the sub-optimal. When there are no next steps. When we can err and wander, noticing the concentric circles that widen in rain puddles. His voice was joy. He didn’t fear retirement in the least because he is at home in the world. He now has time unbound.\n\nAn Andy Goldsworthy installation I sampled from Allen’s Facebook page\n\nMore to come…\n\nThe featured image is of my uncle Anthony, my brother, and me. That is the EXACT look Mike had on his face when the Ninja Turtles came around the bend. You can see how self-conscious I was at having my picture taken, even when I was 5 or 6 years old. \n\nTwo lessons from giving talks\n\nSo I’m writing this blog post about why the AlphaGo documentary isn’t really about AlphaGo at all, but is squarely about Lee Sedol and the psychological pressure we put on ourselves when we strive to be top performers, the emotional connection we create with opponents, even when they bluff, and a few other things, and I (naturally) ended up down this rabbit hole about the absurd experiences I undergo as a public speaker–in particular a woman speaking about tech–and there are two things that are quite revelatory and meaningful.\n\nThe first is that my time with the AV crew before going on stage is priceless. They are always my talk angels, the perfect outlet for self-deprecation and humor and energy release before having to perform. I don’t know if they know this may be the most important service they provide to speakers, at least speakers like me who are introverts inverted into extroverts on stage, who crave the feedback of a smile or a vote of confidence or a pat on the back or a friend before the show. My slides are always ludicrous by design, so we laugh over their skepticism that the slide deck starting with an image of Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan is the right one for a talk about machine learning. And then I NEVER have pants or pockets and we play the find-a-place-to-hook-the-microphone-jack game, be that on the back of my neck, the back of my bra, or even the back of my underwear (no joke, did that for the World Science Festival, THANK GOD it was a panel and I got to sit down after walking on stage because it was weighing down my underwear big time and I thought they would fall off right on stage…oh yeah, by the way, this is the stuff you have to think about as a performer, like, all the time, or at least as a woman performer, because I don’t think men have to deal with this kind of stuff).\n\nThe second is that having the AV break down may be the best theatrical device to deliver a great talk. I’ve had it happen to me multiple times now (Charlie Oliver thinks my business-card motto should be NO SLIDES NEEDED!) and have actually found that I prefer the energy when I’m screwed on stage. It seems best when the slides stop working two-thirds of the way in. That way, I have the luxury of communicating something using the props of images and memes on slides for a while (note to self: front load the deck with any mathematical concepts that are best explained with visual aids) and then have this magical moment where people are trailing off or looking at their phones or distracted by the rest of their busy lives, and they get surprised and it elicits first their confusion, then their empathy, and THEN, and here’s where the magic happens, their curiosity and their imagination! Because then I am forced to paint imaginative pictures of what the slides would have looked like if they were there, and my audience has a prior for how my talks tend to work, as they’ve seen the first two-thirds worth of images and can fill in the gaps. And the most electrified and engaged audiences I’ve ever addressed have been those whose attention perked up, who were with me, who followed me word by word after everything broke down. It elicits their compassion and, therethrough, their rapt attention. And it creates a virtuous feedback cycle. I have to work that much harder to ensure they understand, and they give me the nods or furrowed brows to show they do or don’t, and we communicate. It’s marvelous. They become actors in my story, part of the talk. Not just a passive audience.\n\nBoth of these lessons are about people being people. People connecting as people. Our identity as ruthlessly social beings. We abstract ourselves from our sociality in situations of performance, envisioning ourselves as brains in a vat who act on one plane only. But that’s not who we are. My delight in the absurd details surrounding the performance shows me otherwise. AlphaGo has a lot to say about that too (stay tuned…).\n\nThe featured image is of the Fillmore Miami. I gave this talk there, addressing an audience of industrial control systems security professionals. The lights glared in my face and I had no idea what people thought. I only had my own reflection in my mind, so I thought they hated it. After, many people told me it was the best talk of the conference.\n\nThe Facebook Portrait Project\n\nI started a project. It’s called Facebook Portraits. It has three goals:\n\n  • It’s like a sketch book, but writing. I practice my craft and procrastinate on my book.\n  • It shows how Facebook can be a place for connection rather than narcissism. How we are free to choose how we use technology. How it’s up to us to channel it as a force to bring us together, not divide us. But we have to work at that.\n  • It’s a contemporary twist on the age-old practice of epistolary correspondence. Just with the world reading what would have been a private letter now versus after the author dies. Which is kind of how the world works now.\n\nHere are my first five portraits. Dear World, I offer you my sketch book.\n\nPortrait 1: Sanita Skribe-Negre\n\nWe are hiring a head of people at my company, The other day a candidate asked me (and the colleague interviewing with me) about past heads of people I’ve worked with and why I liked or did not like them.\n\nI had the honor of telling the candidate why Sanita Skribe-Negre was the most talented leader I’d worked with. Why she was without a doubt a partner to the business, flying around god knows where and working alongside the C-Suite until 3 am to get deals done. How she navigated the tricky, delicate work of assimilating one culture into another post acquisition. How she dealt with the conflict, tension, anxiety of different business units growing awkwardly into adults. How she was thoughtful about creating company-wide performance management programs that could scale with growth, but did their best not to suffocate individuals under the strange, stifling weight of metrics and boxes and numbers.\n\nAnd most importantly and meaningfully, for me, how she was a personal coach. How she put her own goal to eventually become a full-time coach into practice with a young, ambitious, emotional, self-critical, but good-hearted 28-year-old recent PhD turned entry-level Marketing Content Specialist (that’s me).\n\nA glutton for mentorship, I like to work through things in dialogue with someone I trust. Someone to whom I can expose all the thoughts, all the doubts, and know he or she will leave loving me more, not less. Intimacy evaporating awareness from the dim fog of emotion like a slot canyon squeezing light. Very different from this refracted self I offer in my writing, this I shaped by verisimilitude or analogy, by whatever mood or tone the words dictate from the outset, this I you’re reading about right now (akin to the one that recently confused people in my profile picture. I was amused they thought I was upset. The picture was taken months ago, so doesn’t reflect any current state of mind or heart. And the ambiguity in my eyes, sitting somewhere between happiness, sorrow, and anger, aren’t native expressions, but my discomfort at being photographed, the charcoal symptoms of a fractured superego).\n\nSanita and I set up a cadence where we met once every three weeks to go over something that I wanted work on. Most of the time, we discussed local emotional nadirs, not goals or aspirations (admittedly the two are hard to parse, in particular when goals are inchoate, not SMART). It was a mutual arrangement: I benefitted from her presence and advice, from the confidence she gave me in shaping what I could trust was my horizon of possibility in the company (ambitious as hell, I felt perennially short changed, stuck, wanting to be VP of ANYTHING yesterday). She benefitted from putting her aspirations into action, getting early experience in the art of helping one person grow, rather than putting out fires, resolving conflicts, bringing on new hires, doing things at a system level, etc.\n\nHere’s one lesson she imparted that I still think about almost every day (and have passed on to younger colleagues).\n\nI came in frustrated that, once again, something I’d said months ago, and which, at the time, was brushed off as nonsense, had come full circle into execution — with the credit going to someone else! I felt a flurry of entangled thoughts and emotions: why can’t I communicate clearly? why does someone get credit for my idea? is this because I’m a woman so am not taken seriously?\n\nSanita’s advice was priceless.\n\n“Do you want to be a leader someday?”\n\n“Of course. I will be CEO of EVERYTHING!”\n\n“Well, then, learning how to let go of ownership of ideas, untying them from your ego, letting them grow with the team, is critical to your future success.”\n\nWhy this rung of healing, of beauty.\n\nSanita continued, “The best way to marry accountability and autonomy for people who report to you in the future will be to plant subtle seeds and suggestions that inspire them to reach their own conclusions on what needs to be done, to shape their own goals, to feel like they have skin in the game. It’s a totally different emotional relationship to accountability than that which arises from top-down plans. Early practice in renting your ideas, in becoming the sounding board and mirror for others, even though it’s hard when you’re younger and crave recognition, is what you will accelerate you in your growth goals.”\n\nI still struggle to communicate. I still seek recognition. But the satisfaction is dim in comparison to the immense pride in being the sounding board to help younger colleagues grow.\n\nAnd Sanita will always be my coach. She’ll always be my mental model for a great head of people.\n\nSanita’s handiwork: The Intapp tile at the Nuthouse on California Ave in Palo Alto, CA\n\nPortrait 2: Jaxson Khan\n\n“…It is what is\nSequestered. Vasari says, ‘Francescco one day set himself\nTo take his own portrait, looking at himself for that\nIn a convex mirror, such as is used by barbers…\nHe accordingly caused a ball of wood to be made\nBy a turner, and having divided it in half and\nBrought it to the size of the mirror, he set himself\nWith great art to copy all that he saw in the glass,’\nChiefly his reflection, of which the portrait\nIs the reflection once removed.”\n\n– John Ashbery, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, 1984, referring back Parmigianino, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, 1524\n\nThe original portrait\n\nHow precious, how rare, to feel so connected to and so similar to another that writing his portrait is like writing a self-portrait, only refracted in a convex mirror.\n\nJaxson Khan and I became Facebook Friends December 2, 2017. A mere 7 months ago. We were friends in this virtual world once removed before we were friends in the real world (post-modernists be damned!), the world of flesh, blood, tears, the smell of camomile in the coffee shop, the sound of panting pawsteps as the dog scurries forth only to scurry back again on the ravine path near Saint Claire, the world where two humans sit across from one another in a coffee shop and, slowly–deftly, with cheetah grace spurred by trust and recognition–reveal heart-thoughts to each other.\n\nHeart-thoughts and grand ambition. Jaxson and I went into our first conversation believing what connected us was our common role at work. I started my career as a Marketing Content Specialist at Intapp in 2012 and skipped and hopped around the professional jungle gym, from Principal Consultant at a security firm to Director of Sales and Marketing at an AI research consultancy, to end up nominally leading product and strategy for Jaxson and I both wholeheartedly endorse the firefly flits of the generalist; it is our lot in life to lie on the horizontal axis of the T, buoyed by our drive and curiosity, our intense need to understand everything, everything, as deeply as we can while always knowing we won’t be the deepest in the group; we will be criticized; it will hurt me more than him; but I will turn to him for support and confidence as I march along this brambled path.\n\nJaxson is 10 years younger than I, but somehow already has the wisdom and maturity to confidently assess where he stands today and where he wants to go next. He, too, started in marketing but absolutely must test the waters of product management, if only to experiment and shape his path. To view each step in his career as data-gathering exercise to know himself, to grow not only his skills but his values and virtue as he explores. Life as a testing ground. A job as the sandbox to grow roots and shape the soul. But we learned we shared more than just marketing roles: we were both actively engaged in shaping policy around AI, doing our best to ground discussions around ethics in our daily hustle building products that used machine learning models. Yes, Jaxson, yes, it was the first shimmer along the rim of the mirror, the hint of similarity and recognition.\n\nAs the sun rose the shimmer expanded into a blinding glare. Almost too much, sometimes.\n\n“The time of day or the density of the light\nAdhering to the face keeps it\nLively and intact in a recurring wave\nOf arrival. The soul establishes itself.”\n\nAfter our first time coffee, Jaxson took the subway back to his home in the Annex to meet his girlfriend, the woman he was confident would be his bride. Less than two months later she left for Australia, and decided not to come back.\n\nHis world broke.\n\nI am fortunate it did. We would be friends, but it would have taken longer to probe the depths of our connection. To feel ourselves in the other’s words. To be startled by the recognition.\n\nI have watched him learn through his pain. He is extraordinary. He allows his emotions to have their place, gives them space to work and hurt as he mourns the loss of his love and gradually recovers the ability to love anew. He has taught me how to turn to friends when I am anxious, taught me that we need not ever be alone, that even when I feel that restlessness in the evening–wishing Will Grathwohl were back but celebrating his extraordinary accomplishments with the concentrated joy of us as future selves looking back upon and growing through our early time apart–I can call him and he will pick up the phone and talk with me on the train ride home, on the walk home, on the bike ride home, that he is there as constant support. That he too has felt alone. I have watched how he has solidified his brotherhood with Zachary Habayeb, benefitted from their vegan meals and the space they provide for acceptance, as if judgment didn’t exist. I have watched him thrive in his job, no one suspecting what lie beneath. I have admired how he embraces his emotionality as a hallmark of a new masculinity, and how it isn’t challenged for a second.\n\nThere is no possible world where Jaxson and I won’t be friends for life. I will be godmother to his children (right Jax?). If not in name, in spirit. I will care for them if anything happens to him. They will sleep well at night, and be ok. Know this.\n\n“The soul has to stay where it is,\nEven though restless, hearing raindrops at the pane,\nThe sighing of autumn leaves thrashed by the wind,\nLonging to be free, outside, but it must stay\nPosing in this place. It must move\nAs little as possible. This is what the portrait says.”\n\njax and me\nJax, Heather Evans, and myself after recording their first AskAI podcast\n\nPortrait 3: John Alber\n\n“Wait, you wrote a book about poisonous plants?”\n\n“Sure I did. Dodie and I had just had the kids and we wanted to make sure they were safe with all the flowers around.”\n\n“But like, how did you find the time to study baby-safe houseplants–and study them thoroughly enough to write a book–while you were practicing at Bryan Cave?”\n\n“Curiosity, Kathryn, and sheer force of will. And efficiency. Which law firms sorely lack. That said there’s a cheshire cat joy in being a dog-headed Futurist in an industry as slow to innovate as legal services. I consider myself to have had a front-row seat in the amphitheater of human psychology. Where skeuomorphisms are an absolute must to get them to adopt anything. Where identities fizzle as the stolid edifice of white-collar prosperity quickly crumbles under cartoon anvils of outside counsel guidelines and alternative fee arrangements and Latent Dirichlet Allocation finally making it just about possible to go beyond expert systems and use machine learning for legal research, not only technology assisted review.\n\nDid you see my article about Watson?”\n\n“Loved it. Smart contracts make SO MUCH SENSE for tenant rights. OMG imagine how much traction we could make against access to justice issues by baking the commitment landlords have to their tenants, the commitment they have to provide a suitable, humane place to live, in this standing-on-the-precipice-of-third-world-despair of a ramshackle country we find ourselves in these days? But how would a firm like IBM overcome the innovator’s dilemma and solve a problem for a smaller market? C’mon, not so much different from law firms, in particular with their customer-centric ethos. Always drags them down the slippery slope of services and mangled customizations and tech debt.”\n\n“Watson was metonymy. It’s a job for startups. Go build it. We’re counting on you.”\n\n“I’m not ready to be a founder yet. I still have much to learn before I can do this myself.”\n\n\nBut not fair! Are you kidding me? You are starting to exemplify servant leadership. I love watching you explore it, tepidly, with the growing pains and braces of a stunning teenager. Probing the delicate balance between strength and vulnerability, finding it, making it your own, and by doing so, opening the space for expression, acceptance, healing, and growth for those around you. What’s holding you back?”\n\n“John, you know how hard I am on myself.”\n\n“There’s a wonderful book by Pema Chodron called When Things Fall Apart. The notion there is that when things seem most desperate, we experience the greatest opportunity to exert a kind of compassionate curiosity about our inner workings.\n\nAll of this difficulty, all of this uncertainty can be on the path. Rather, it certainly IS on the path; we just have the chance to see it as such.\n\nI know what it’s like to be so very hard on myself. It was a condition of everyday existence. It still creeps in now and then to remind me.\n\nSometimes, I think we choose broken individuals as companions as a means of exercising the compassion we are so desperate for ourselves. We give THEM our hearts instead of opening up to our own humanity.\n\nThat’s what it was like for me. I wouldn’t acknowledge that I was flawed, that I was messily, beautifully human.\n\nWhat we need for our own account is the kind of love a mother, or an aunt, would offer: unqualified, nonjudgmental, open and accepting.\n\nWhy, Pema Chodron asks, is it so hard for us to give ourselves that?”\n\n“Because we servants we only have so much love to give, and it belongs to others. What do you remember most from your year on the boat?”\n\n“Stillness is what I treasure most. I rise earlier and earlier to get that…try to see the sun come up down on the waterfront every morning, and be quiet enough to hear the noise it makes.\n\nAnd, kittens are awwwwww…..damn!”\n\n“Will you help me write my book? Will you be a reader?”\n\n“I’m horrible at that. I use other people’s writing as a springboard. The best I can do with my writing friends is co-springboard.”\n\n“Jesus, if my writing can spur something like this from you, I’ll take it. Incredible. Brings tears to my eyes. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for being one of my most cherished mentors, for being a beacon so clearly showing what freedom and joy can arise from having the courage to just be me. For you are so grounded in yourself. John, you are Odysseus.”\n\nIn response to my first blog post about love, John wrote the following:\n\n\nThen again…\n\n\njohn alber\nThis picture perfectly captures John’s spirit\n\nPortrait 4: William Hume\n\nIf the last name didn’t give it away, William Hume is my dad. Imagine the laundry list of details I could include in his portrait.\n\nI’ll tell one story. I suspect he’ll read it and wince just a little, concerned my writing exposes too much and baffled by how differently people reconstruct the past, especially one past moment heavied by symbolic gravity. Facts unraveled into kaleidoscope fractals, so difficult to calibrate, even though our ring size is only 4.5.\n\nOn November 23, 2016, I took my parents to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City to see La Bohème. My mom had just turned 60. This was my birthday present to her.\n\nLa Bohème is not just any opera in my family. It is a talisman. It represents a bond stronger than a wedding ring, locking together my parents’ fingers in trust at the lower phalanx. No matter what comes. In the music I hear what patience and unconditional acceptance sound like. I hear the work that goes into creating a lifelong partnership, to sustaining it, to outlasting the hurdles that came so close to shattering the old-world vase, a relic of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that fights, Darwinian, to preserve its chromosomes with the pierogi dough. I hear what one couple’s love looks like. My dad’s love for my mom.\n\nMy mom suffered when I was a child. She tried to protect me and my brother from the pain. Her will is of iron. But the pain seeped out in ways she couldn’t control, shaping my delicate limbic system, itself singed by my extremely sensitive senses (sounds are louder and smells are stronger for me than they are for most people). When her parents died, memories she had repressed for years bubbled up. They bit at her rugged ambition with the persistence of horseflies. She swatted them back and went to the meeting in stilettos and big silk bows. Only dad saw what her face looked like when she dreamed on the swing set, saw how far away she seemed under the cheerful dominants of Paul McCartney.\n\nHer unravelling strained their relationship. It came perilously close to ending. I didn’t know that: I was 6 or 7 or 8. Young. I envision myself carrying silver polish around with my black bob, but that home video was from much earlier. My hair must have started to curl, just a little, when they reached the nadir.\n\nMom came home. I envision a cold winter night. Cold in the way that only exists in upstate New York, where I grew up, and Canada. 8 foot snow drifts. Grey that cloaks the sky for months, starving our happiness of vitamin D. The stuff of Russians, just it’s the east coast, so defaults to the caricature of the Mummers.\n\nShe came home from work, torn. He had realized that he loved her unconditionally. He was ready to communicate that.\n\nHe held her hands. He turned on Puccini. Che gelida manina.\n\nWhat a frozen little hand. Let me warm it for you.\n\nI don’t know how often my parents hear che gelida manina in their minds. I don’t know what emotions it incites in them when it comes on.\n\nThey must be powerful. For, at the very inkling of the chords, in the very cusp of Pavarotti’s tenor, time collapses for me. I go back to 27 Highland Drive. To the tiny little house they bought for $13,000, nothing to their name but the promise of the future.\n\nI am grateful that he loves her the way he does. When my dear friend Julien Rosa met them in Paris years ago, he told me the image that left the strongest impression on him was how my father looked at my mother.\n\nMy father taught him something profound about what it means to love.\n\nmom &amp; dad\nMy dad loving my mom with every breath\n\nPortrait 5: Michael D’Souza\n\nI have this friend Michael. He and his wife Colleen just got back from a 14,317-kilometre drive around god-knows-where in Canada. They didn’t care how long it took. They didn’t watch the clock, for that would have compromised their rapt attention to their surroundings and their gentle awareness, like water by now, of the other’s presence. Their destination was Tuktoyaktuk, which means “looks like a caribou” in Inuvialuktun (Western Canada Inuit). They told me that hotel rooms in Tuktoyaktuk follow a peculiar supply and demand curve: as there are only 3 beds for rent in the city–not 3 hotels, 3 beds–they can be relatively pricey. During his trip, Michael populated his Facebook feed with stillness. Lakes and lines of bread and bears and prairies and hummingbirds and bison and mountains. All still. All gleaming.\n\nI met Michael on July 28, 2018. I was a guest at one of his famous dinner parties, courtesy of the inspirational Charlie Oliver. “Do you have any food restrictions?” “Nope, omnivorous.” “That’s just the kind of people we love!”\n\nI had just recently moved to Canada. Was still tiptoeing through the little hits of loneliness and bemusement at finding myself, once again, in a new city: I’ve lived in many places and self-identify as a cosmopolitan nomad, though I’d love to stay put for the someday kids. Being welcomed by Michael and Colleen, therefore, was extra special. I had somewhere to go on a Friday night.\n\nI didn’t expect to meet a best friend. My Toronto Dad.\n\nMichael is also close to enlightened as we mere mortals get.\n\nHe is a lover and creator of beauty. He rolls his beet petals into roses, pickles them mildly so they are sweet without turning acrid. He serves the sorpotel, spiked with Feni, a Goan cashew liquor, in elegant Korean pottery, basks it in matte grey. He walks miles to ensure the strawberries are crimson, the tomato skins burst with the right pressure, the fish isn’t fishy. He puts capers in the mashed potatoes and shapes them into leaves baked brown. He and Colleen prefer not to eat out. They have too much to create at home.\n\nHe is a lover of and fighter for people. When I say fight, I mean fight. Michael spent his career working at the CBC. He has seen all the people. But he didn’t document them: He learned about them, respected them, opened the curtains wide onto the uniqueness of their culture and their personhood. He regularly corrects my cultural faux-pas, my maladroit misspellings of languages and religions, my imprecision in attempting to write about others. Michael pays attention to cultures with surgical precision. He titrates myths and stories. The seats at his dinner table are filled with doctors and human rights advocates and journalists and AI researchers and ambitious, young, striving, wonderful women from all over the world, women like Anne T. Griffin, another one of Michael’s daughters, like myself.\n\nHe is a lover of deadlines. Having spent a career as a journalist, Michael knows that things remain akimbo in limbo unless we have a deadline to birth our creativity, the 9-month mark where it’s either through the canal or a C-section. He keeps me on track, perhaps unaware. He seems to read everything I write. He seems to appreciate it. I cannot express how meaningful it is to me to have a reader who cares, who takes the time, who engages and corrects me.\n\nHe is a lover of grace. He carries himself quietly, sipping his wine without garnering too much attention when he’s in public. The dapper elegance of someone who always wears a tie. His demeanor carries with it his long history, the childhood in Pakistan and Goa. But when he is at home, comfortable, free, he laughs out loud. Shrills in joy. The kind of laugh that emerges from a clear conscience.\n\nJuly 28 is a Saturday, and unfortunately (though very fortunately!) I have dinner plans at Actinolite that evening. Michael, I trust you’ll have me for dinner on the 27th to celebrate the anniversary of what cannot but be a lifelong friendship.\n\nMichael being awesome\n\nMore to come…\n\nThe featured image is of my dad and me on Father’s Day in 2017. I had just come back from a conference in Paris. We were about to eat oysters with my brother and his girlfriend.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5163484811782837}
+{"content": "When the moon is full essay - Book report about the old man and the sea\n\nThe orbit of the Moon is distinctly elliptical, with an average eccentricity of 0. My family is attempting to start a monthly tradition of doing ' full moon walks.\n\nLife on the Moon - Lesson - TeachEngineering. The Moon - Mensa for Kids. Lunar Eclipse Essay - 2998 Palabras | Cram. The False Moon\" by Shirley Golden - Essay UK Free Essay Database.\nNovember 7 ( New Moon) :. The introduction to your essay is the first thing people will read, so you want to make it count. Phases of the Moon - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It comes a week after new moon. Our moon is about a quarter the size of the Earth.\n\nWilliam Clement Stone an advocate of Positive Mental Attitude ( PMA) once said, an American businessman “ Aim for the moon. A rare grouping of full- moon displays occurs early Wednesday ( January 31) when the Earth' s satellite is situated on the opposite side of the planet from the sun. You could be having fun instead. The Blind Man and the Moon ( short essay) - YouTube.\n\nThe short explanation is that this is an eclipse of the full Moon that happens to have really good timing. Sweating over another paper? The girls came to the world uninvited and departed without leave. Some people even buy sell stocks according to phases of the moon a method probably as successful as many others.\n\n+ Full image and caption. Its definition included a season with four full Moons rather than the usual three, where the third of four full Moons would be called a \" blue Moon. On New Year' s Eve Cassini flew past Saturn' s intriguing moon Iapetus capturing the four visible light images that were put together to form this global view.\n\nGet ready for the Blue Moon Super Moon Blood Moon - The. Taking the time to craft a good. One had only to worry about the seven classical planets. That usage first started in 1932 with the Maine Farmer' s Almanac.\nCom Read this full essay on THE MOON. Her husband always wanted a son, ( p. This full moon was what was called a ' supermoon' - it' s the closest the moon has been to the earth in 18 years which accounted for higher lower tides than usual. The moon affects many things including the tides.\nA Trip To The Moon, Essay Sample - EssayBasics. The Moon Illusion One evening several years ago, I took this picture of the misty glow of an almost full moon shining between pine trees in my backyard. Waxing crescent full moon, first- quarter, waning gibbous, third- quarter ( , waxing gibbous .\nNovember 4: Judging complete and finalist essays prepared for posting. The term “ blue moon” was misinterpreted and derives from the 1946 issue of a monthly American magazine Sky.\n\nFull Moon view from earth In Belgium ( Hamois). What causes day and night ( including seasonal changes in the number of hours of daylight)? Origin of the Moon Before the modern age of space exploration scientists had three major theories for the origin of the moon: fission from the earth; formation in earth orbit; formation. Module A- Distinctive voices- One Night the Moon by Rachel. As the Full Moon passes through the Earth' s shadow, it will be. The entire cycle is repeated each lunar month, which is approximately 29. Encountering Iapetus.\n\nAs the Moon continues its orbit it becomes a \" waning gibbous\" . The moon under water essay, doing a literature review releasing the. The gravity on the moon is one- sixth of the Earth' s. Usually, a full moon occurs only once per month. Full Moon - The White Review. The universe is a huge space which contains. The moon phases as the occur are New Waxing Crescent, Waning Gibbous, Full, Third Quarter, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous Waning Crescent Moon. When the moon is full essay. Prize Essay on the Distribution of the Moon' s Heat and Its.\n\nBy Abigail Javellana. Monkey Bay is a wine from New Zealand with fantastic grape varietals whether it' s a Sauvignon Blanc or a Merlot.\n\nWhat Does Earth Look Like From the Moon? Watching listening were the ecologist Vincenzo Penteriani his crew.\n\nMoon Essay Many people look up at the moon and think it' s just a. This a nearly full moon.\n\nThe Moon essays Sometimes the moon appears to change shape but it is only because the sun is lighting different parts of it. - Google Books Result. Submission Guidelines: Queries final essays should be sent to David Mullins Ph. It is very different similar to the Earth through these qu. Trip to moon essay - Cristina Mejías project lead objective resume topics for persuasive essays middle school best thesis proposal ghostwriters service for mba free manufacturing essay cusat phd thesis format sample resume fresh chemical engineer how to write a resume for social work buy zoology admission essay. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun the Earth , the Moon are so aligned that for a period of time the full Moon. ' This was our first it' s still cold here in Alaska so we set out in our truck to. Moon in full: Full Moon by Michael Light, ( with an essay by Andrew.\nUnsurprisingly, the term supermoon has proved more popular. Moral essays and satires by Alexander Pope. A full Moon occurs when the moon and sun are on opposite sides of the Earth.\n\nAnd now it is a sunny day again! Make sure to download and fill out the Parental Consent Form that is located on the About Us tab under. Vandaag even geen # breeam, ik ga nu echt starten met het nakijken van 28 essay' s over # duurzaamheid 2de jaars tu delft studenten bouwkunde.\n\nThe effects of the moon on human behavior - UK Essays. When the moon is full essay. Click on image to enlarge. How to Write an Essay Introduction.\n\nEssay by canadiankid 11th grade, High School, A+ August. Malan is a middle- aged woman from a little village. The non- circular form of the lunar orbit causes variations in.\n\nYou may also sort these by color rating or essay length. Com 17 hours ago. Hindi techniques for essay writing gattaca essays. Keywords: moon phases essay.\n\nProbably the easiest comparison to make is between a tennis ball and a full- size basketball. To demonstrate that a united Moon Hoax theory would clearly be bullshit I will try to unite all the arguments into one single theory. Once a year during the full moon Monkey Bay creates a wonderful experience for its consumers with great wine music , food literally.\n\nFull Gibbous, Quarter crescent. A large, bright ' supermoon' happens when the full moon coincides with the moon' s closest approach to Earth in its orbit ( called perigee). What Is a Supermoon? Monkey Bay Full Monn Party.\nWhen the moon is full essay. Many people look up at the moon think it' s just a big rock in the sky but it' s much more than that.\n\nWhen the moon is full essay. ) Zelly- ( Earth) W: Hi, Sun! If you miss, you may hit a star.\n\nShe is married with a man, with whom she does not feel happy. Theories on the Origin of the Moon - WriteWork. They are part of our universe. The Century and the Millennium; Cardinalists vs.\n\nThe Black Moon Lillith By Frater RIKB There was a time when astrology was a fairly cut- and- dried affair. The entry deadline is October 6, - so make sure to get those entries in beforehand! The topic for the Essay Contest is \" Why HoneyBees are Essential to Agriculture\". The moon was beautifully illuminated and dominated the dark sky. William Safire Op- Ed column notes that he drafted speech for Pres Richard Nixon in event there was mishap during Apollo XI moon landing 30 years ago Buzz Aldrin walked on moon, in which astronauts Neil Armstrong , but mission, was success speech never had to be given ( M). Full Moon A full moon is the lunar phase that happens when the Moon is fully illuminated as seen from the earth. When the moon is full essay.\n\nI' ve come up with this majority of the public ridicule. Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton | PenguinRandomHouse.\n\nBecause it is far away it looks small, about half a degree wide. I will then situate Dove' s moon paintings in relation to his sunrise series to reveal that his motivations for their creation were in line with the gendered norms of the male sun and the female moon. It has been nearly 20 years since the Veterans Health Administration ( VHA), the subcabinet agency that oversees the Department of Veterans Affairs ( VA) health care.\n\nLunar Eclipses for Beginners - MrEclipse. If you miss, you may hit a star”. This happens when the Moon is in. Pope' s life as a writer falls into three periods, answering fairly enough.\n\nA moonlit night gives a strange beauty to Nature. How long does it take for the Moon to orbit the Earth? Where does the Sun go at night?\nThe sand glowed silver and the waves danced alive as they hit the shore. Rare \" triple moon\" first in 152 years: total lunar eclipse, year' s last. The environmental activist on the air dares us. Essay Contest | Full Moon Farm With four separate plots four sets of characters A Midsummer Night' s Dream risks fragmentation. Mid- Autumn Festival in Vietnam | Accent Learning About Full Cicada Moon. - Universe Today Critic Edward Alden Jewell had called the 1936 work “ not indicative of his full artistic potentiality” and “ inconsequential. A tennis ball is about one- quarter the size of a basketball in terms of their radii/ diameters ( 2.\n\nThe age limit 14- 16. Ban Ki- moon; 반기문 潘基文: 8th Secretary- General of the United Nations; In office 1 January – 31 December : Deputy: Asha- Rose Migiro Jan Eliasson.\n\nPhoto Essay: The night sky ( Includes first- hand account). Yet something was disturbing about the atmospheric night scene: the illumination of the moon seemed to be coming from. When the Moon the Sun are aligned ( at new moon, full moon, C), their combined gravitation pull is strongest the tides are highest ( spring tides). Good morning, do u have a wonderful dream last night?\n\nHigh School Earth Science/ The Sun and the Earth- Moon System. A lunar eclipse is a spectacular celestial show sometimes takes on the colour of dark copper, during which the bright, pearly- white disc of the full Moon turns dark even dried blood. Our trees may still be stripped farms still frozen, our fields but take heart: Our landscape shimmers beneath the radiance of a full Carolina moon. NOAA National Ocean Service Education: The Moon Made Me Do It.\n\nExplain why you have it in this way? Why do we get more hours of daylight per day in the summer? Why does the moon change its shape ( as in full half quarter moon)? The illuminated part then gradually shrinks into a Waning Gibbous Moon when it reaches Third Quarter the opposite half from the First Quarter is illuminated.\nIt' s 1969 the Apollo 11 mission is getting ready to go to the moon. As it is with many conspiracy theories, the Moon Hoax theory is full of contradictions.\nUmi dissertations search. The Night of the Full Moon - Essay by Chedesign - Anti Essays Cosmogony of problems complicated most the of one is Moon the of origin The EARTH? A full moon is when we can see the entire lit.\n\nKids learn about the science of the phases of the moon. When the moon is full essay.\n\nThe moon is filling when it is. \" Colin Hinshelwood has vivid memories of his first full- moon party in 1988 on the tropical Thai island of Koh Phangan.\n\nAbout a week later the moon is in first quarter, in its last quarter, the full moon shows its fully lighted surface; a week afterward, resembling a half- circle; another week later the moon appears as a half- circle again. They would be up all night Europe' s largest, trying to learn more about the behaviour of these owls with wings that could spread. 1 OUT of the cradle endlessly rocking Out of the Ninth- month midnight, the musical shuttle, Out of the mocking- bird’ s throat, Over the sterile sands the.\n\nHow far is the moon from the Earth? Every year new craters are formed on the moon and the dark areas are known as lunar Maria. On Wednesday morning, a very wordy lunar event will take over the night sky: the “ Super Blue Blood Moon. The full moon is when a lot of sun light hits the entire moon.\n\nThe natural bodies in the sky are called celestial bodies or heavenly bodies. Essays - largest database of quality sample essays and research papers on Full Moon Essay. The full moon has been linked to crime suicide, fertility, birthrates, accidents, mental illness, werewolves, disasters among other things. Astronomer Cathy Imhoff answers students' questions about the.\n\nMBA aspirants may be asked to write essay before GD & PI. This is the reason why the theory is full of sub theories and is not united into a single theory.\nSaturn' s moon Hyperion is covered with closely packed. But for half- black half- Japanese Mimi moving to a predominantly white. Essay Emerson' s Waldo Ralph of text full the is This today use common in not are that words several uses Emerson Self- Reliance,. But don' t u see when they.\n\nThe mechanisms behind the maximoon have long been known with astronomers referring to it as “ perigee full moon” a lovely word that means three celestial bodies in a line. Life without the Moon: a scientific speculation | short essay on moon for kids in hindi हि ं दी मे ं बच् चो ं के लि ए चा ं द पर लघु नि बं ध, human translation, Translation automatic translation.\nThe Complete Works of Thomas Dick: An essay on the sin and the. This is about the size difference between the Moon and the Earth ( the Moon is about 27% of the size of. , Associate Education Editor, at any time edu. Phases On The Moon - Essay - UK Essays.\n\nNumerous studies have tried to find lunar. It is held on the 15th day on the 8th lunar month ( often in late September early October) in the middle of autumn it is celebrated for a whole day.\n\nWriting sample of essay on a given topic \" A Trip To The Moon\". In the evening of 31 January as our Earth , as we look towards the eastern sky, we will be witness to the dance of shadows that our Solar System regularly conjures up the Moon move inexorably in their cosmic orbits around the Sun. The illuminated part continues to grow into a Waxing Gibbous Moon until 14 to 15 days into the cycle we see the entire face of the Moon lit up at Full Moon. SCULLY: besides is actually the start of the new millennium.\n\n\" The skies were star- spangled and blue phosphorescence would spray like diamonds in the sea. In this essay Bernard Foing of the European Space Agency, the father of the SMART- 1 lunar mission, looks at the effect the Moon has had on the Earth . Essay introduction the truth about lies myself educating rita summary on america. What does \" orbit\" mean?\n\nWhen the moon is full essay. The polymeric chains composing this shopping bag entrap my fatherʹs legacy, their memory stronger than mortality. Winnie- ( Moon) Kson- ( Sun) Noel- ( Pluto?\n\nYet Shakespeare has managed to create a unified play through repetition of common themes — such as love — and through cohesive use of imagery. The eagle owls began to call at dusk, right around the time the full Moon started to rise in the east. The Tale of Kieu Love, Best Essays: Friendship the Moon. October 22: Essays due to Earthzine.\nToday, you will read Essay on: \" Aim for the moon. It consists of eight main phases in this order: the New Moon ( when none of it is visible) the First Quarter ( when half of it is visible), Waxing Gibbous, Waning Gibbous, Full Moon, the Waxing Crescent . An essay submitted by \" MT\" Sponsored link.\n\nThe Phases of the Moon for Kids - Time - Primary Homework Help. When we look at the sky we see different kinds of natural bodies like the sun, the stars, the moon so on. Other planets also have moons or \" natural satellites\". 594 Words Essay on the Moon - World' s Largest Collection of Essays!\n\nThe Moon Essay - 859 Words - brightkite. How long does it take the Earth to make one complete turn on its axis? This most important Buddhist festival is known as either Vesak Buddha Day, Wesak is celebrated annually on the full moon of the ancient. Photo Essay: Moon Over Miyazaki | Daisaku Ikeda Website Essay on Our Universe: Definition Stars Solar System!\nA waxing gibbous moon occurs when more than half of the lit portion of the Moon can be seen and the shape increases ( \" waxes\" ) in size from one day to the next. There is little difference between day and night when the moon is full. # runninglate british papers political stance essay how to write a short essay for college year food delivery service essay essay on the movie the blind side how to include movie quotes in an essay journal of sleep and sleep disorders research paper dissertation zitieren dgp? THE OF SPUTNIK ARTIFICIAL AN hypotheses three basically been have there far So.\nOn this day such as grapefruit, the adults , candies, bananas, the parents prepare many different foods - Moon cakes, fruit, longan fruit, biscuits, apples, jellies . When the Moon is in its first quarter ( D) third quarter ( E) the tides are lowest ( neap tides). All of the moon' s phases when observed as a cycle instead of individual phases are called the lunar cycle.\n\nSue Bowler; The Moon in full: Full Moon by Michael Light 1999, ISBN, £ 35 hbk, Jonathan Cape Astronomy & Geop. Inside Out Back Again meets One Crazy Summer , Brown Girl Dreaming in this novel- in- verse about fitting in standing up for what' s right. The Moon ( Latin: luna) is Earth' s satellite we usually see it in the night sky.\n\nA super blue blood Moon on January 31, | Osho News. The waxing gibbous phase occurs between the first quarter and full moon phases. The Super Blue Blood Moon is coming — but there won' t be blood. MULDER: Nobody likes a math geek. The Moon Under Water | The Orwell Prize. A Full Moon That Is Closest to Earth. A blue Moon is more familiar as a slang term for an actual astronomical phenomenon. Essay on a essay on moonlit night - Publish Your Article It scuttles across the street unnaturally white ghost flaps , where this synthetic, attaches to a tree branch sways. When the moon is full essay. The Moon, one of the most fascinating creations of God.\nThere was a brief period of magmatic activity from the subsurface — a few plumes of magma made their way up to the surface and filled newly formed. Discussed: Inexplicable Seizures Crippled Rabbits in Love, Another Word for Burning, An Ailing Plastic Baby, An Endless Supply of Mints, Teenagers in Ponchos The. The Earth as Seen from the Moon - Nature Institute The “ blue moon” occurrence is actually an event which happens only once two or three years when it is possible to witness two full moons in just one month. If We Had No Moon - Astrobiology Magazine.\n\nSo what do all those adjectives mean exactly? Essay Topic : Aim for the moon. Me the Moon Essay - Me the Moon Music has always been a crucial part of the way society.\n\n493 words essay on the moon. When the Earth spins around on its axis, it. If you miss, you may hit a star\". The eight divergent phases of the moon that occur during the span of a month and are exhibited as it travels along its orbit around earth.\n\nThose human being are swimming and they feel so good in the earth. Hotel Sister Moon » Essay Rubric – a Short Overview. Oct 02, · Wesak.\n\nWhen the moon is full essay. Uk Dissertation Service | Full Moon Festival safety security. Wild Moon: A Photo Essay - Wild River Review + Full image and caption. Human life is short, but plastic is forever.\n\nThe moon is full when it is farther away from the sun than. Coined by an astrologer in 1979, it wasn' t. Image courtesy of Nicola Graf. For a longer explanation, we' ll need.\n\nIas essay writing paper. Photo Essay: A Look at the Full Carolina Moon – Our State Magazine. But through the years, she gave birth to girls only.\nOrder essay writing services here and become the real master of your time. When the moon is full essay. You can call it a \" super blue blood moon\" given that— because of its distance from us , as some are the fact that its face is fully illuminated for.\n\nImages for when the moon is full essay. Shining throughout the play, the moon is one of the primary vehicles of. Rough and Tumble Hyperion.\nWorld war 2 homework task\nEssay on my favorite sports personality\n\nWhen essay Life\n\nSometimes, the moon appears to change shape, but it is only because the sun is lighting different parts of it. When the moon passes through the earth' s shadow and the earth comes right between the sun and the full moon, it' s called a lunar eclipse.\n\nThis is when the moon is dimmed and it turns in to a dark copper color.\n\nMoon Motivates essay\n\nBlue Moon eclipse : What is a lunar eclipse? Why is this special. The opposite hemisphere is dark.\n\nWhat makes a happy life essay\nEnglish essays for students\nFeatures of argumentative essay\nEnglish extended essays\nGet paid to do someone s homework\nStoryboard assignment\n\nEssay About essays\n\nThe phase of the Moon depends on the fraction of the sunlit hemisphere visible to us. Moon Phases: Graphical depiction of the phases ( click to see full- size). [ Lunation Movie.\nThis movie shows one month of lunar phases. Note how the moon appears larger at perigee and.\nWriting a pursuasive essay\nEssay paragraph beginnings", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5472661852836609}
+{"content": "Video Game Music is Now Everywhere. As It Should Be. In 2001 I was a music minor in a composer’s group at my college that met once a week to discuss various issues in music and composing. One day I proposed to the group that at an upcoming meeting I’d make a presentation on video game music as a serious emerging venue for the musical art form.\nA Day Late and a Dollar Long: The Joys of Gaming a Generation Behind Aside from my first console and first computer, falling a console generation behind in the mid-nineties was the best thing that ever happened to me as a gamer.\n(NON-)SPOILER NOTE: This post discusses the moral situations of the protagonists of several games without going beyond very general plot outlines (Does the character make seemingly immoral decisions? Do his/her reasons seem good?", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7851769924163818}
+{"content": "Study Of Mans Relationship With Nature Colonial America English Literature Essay\n\nFor a deeper survey of adult male ‘s relationship with nature every bit good as the societal forces inciting the current of colonial America, it is indispensable to turn an writer who emigrated from France to America by the name of St. Jean De Crevecoeur. His most critical work, the Letterss of from an American Farmer, was non publicized until 1782 and depicts the settlements prior to the revolution. However his descriptions can be applied, with merely a small accommodation, to the full 18th century in America. The chief focal point of these letters was to take into history the thoughts which Crevecoeur brought to bear in his attempt to expose the character of the American adult male, freshly settled on the 18th century frontier. Ordinary history text says small about the colonial events between 1700 and 1750. No important political alterations or any stimulating wrestlings with Europe grade this disregarded half-century. Nevertheless, the population, wealth, and racial stock of the period brought forth critical alterations. The in-between settlements particularly grew quickly, even though they were founded subsequently than Virginia and the commonwealths of New England. A diversified group of European races and faiths came to these settlements ; many of them were attracted to the policy of spiritual acceptance. Harmonizing to “ Social History of the United States ” , Crevecoeur believed that Europeans cast off Old World connexions when they adapted to American civilization. The majority of these mid- colony-settlers became penny-wise husbandmans and merchandisers who, in their commitment to concern no less than in their varied racial stock, predict the typical American of the undermentioned century. Due to his extended intimacy with European civilization and colonial life here in America, St. Jean de Crevecoeur was good appointed for the occupation of depicting this assorted society. In the first three of the 12 letters written by Crevecoeur, the reader learns that this composing was addressed to an fanciful journalist inquisitive about the settlers ‘ ‘new mode of life ‘ . In missive three, he goes on to lucubrate his perceptual experience of ‘What is an American ‘ by utilizing a expansive strategy of comparing the life styles of England to America. His attempt to hammer a alone individualism for the ‘American ‘ , with features that would unite the colonists of this sidetracking state under one roof ; while in the same minute it grounds its fluctuations from Europe from whence it derives most of its figures. Crevecoeur besides goes on to depict the state as the great thaw pot of the universe, a geographical location where a genuinely different set of people join together and burying societal, spiritual, economic, national every bit good as lingual differences are melted into one. The process of ignoring all differences calls for the common chase of what has since so go ‘the American Dream ‘ . America, the kingdom of freedom, equality and chance invites all new reachings to its shores with unfastened weaponries. The new reachings in bend are thankful for everything that this new district has to offer, each one of them personalising the American Dream, and while prosecuting an honest, free and happy life becomes an American go forthing their yesteryear lives behind. Since the clip of Crevecoeur, America has come a long manner. Today, obtaining a green card for the interest of legalising an ‘American ‘ individuality is possibly one of the most wanted trade goods in the universe. To be an ‘American ‘ is non merely an chance to be obtained freely any longer, it is a privilege given to the best and brightest from all parts the universe. However, some things barely of all time alteration. This state still stands as the great thaw pot of the universe. In the present, this is even more so, non like in Crevecoeur ‘s times where merely the Europeans or varies groups of Christianity showed up on the shores of this fantastic ‘land of dreams ‘ . Battalions from all states and belonging to every possible faith live together in peace partaking in on the modern twenty-four hours edition of the ‘American Dream. In the 9th ‘letter of an American husbandman ‘ , Crevecoeur elaborates on a trip to the Carolinas where he sojourns with plantation proprietors at Charles- Town. The beginning of the missive starts with a thankful description of the munificent civilization that he discovered. However, no faster than you can wink, Crevecoeur breaks out into a long treatment about bondage. At one point while walking through Fieldss of Charles-Town, he paused over a enduring colored slave and questioned the programs of both God and Nature in leting these human existences to brood and go through off under the unrighteousness of bondage. The vivid images that Jean de Crevecoeur depicted in missive nine, has certainly left ghastly images on the heads of the many that have read his letters.\n\nDe Crevecoeur genuinely concerned himself with the well being of nature and its animals. He surely made strong attempts to magnify American ‘s ignorance towards nature and it merchandises. He believed adult male had no attention and concern for nature, and felt that it was unjust because nature has helped adult male in so many ways that humans think of every bit frivolous. Harmonizing to husbandman James, barbarous nature is the primary originative force in human personal businesss, and human interaction and constructions of feeling are simply its derived functions. One citation that basically summarizes Crevecoeur ‘s stance towards Americans and nature comes from Sketches of Eighteenth century America. “ If big Nature is sort to us on the one manus, on the other she wills that we shall buy her kindness non merely with workout suits and labour but with watchfulness and attention ” . Crevecoeur has illustrated through his Hagiographas the theoretical edition of a free society, known as America. While the first letters describe a pristine construct of America through the eyes of an American husbandman from his secluded farm called Pine Hill, the ulterior letters show a land tarnished and ruined by societal and civil favoritisms. One such ground for these societal and economic ailments prior to and after the American Revolution was bondage, and Jean de Crevecoeur did a great occupation lucubrating on the societal current of his clip.\n\nWork Cited\n\nhypertext transfer protocol: //\n\nGreenberg, Brian ; Reavley, Gordon ; Greenwald, Richard ; Watts, Linda ; George, Alice ; Beekman, Scott. “ Social History of the United States. ” ( n.d. ) : MyiLibrary. EBSCO. Web. 27 Feb. 2010.\n\nLingis, Alphonso. “ Maltreatments. ” Abuses ( n.d. ) : netLibrary. EBSCO. Web. 26 Feb. 2010.\n\nSchultz, Frederick Marshall. The Ideas of Hector St. John de Crevecoeur and the Early Quest to Specify American Character. Journal of Thought, 1975. ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 27 Feb. 2010.\n\nRodriguez, Junius P. “ Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia. ” ( n.d. ) : MyiLibrary. EBSCO. Web. 27 Feb. 2010.\n\nOsborne, Jeff. “ American Antipathy and the Cruelties of Citizenship in Crevecoeur ‘s Letters from an American Farmer. ” Early American Literature 42.3 ( 2007 ) : 529-553. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.\n\nHarde, Roxanne. “ The Savage Inscription ” : Abolitionist Writers and the Reinscription of Slavery. ” Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 37.2 ( 2004 ) : 1-20. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9949271082878113}
+{"content": "Scott Froschauer\n\nScott Froschauer is an experimental artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, and he likes it there. His background consists of a structured education in Engineering, Theoretical Linguistics, Science, Art, Computer Programming and Business along with practical experience in Fabrication, Design, Non-ordinary Reality, Experiential Narrative, Venture Capital, Counterfeiting and Breathing.\n\nFroschauer’s work is first and foremost experiential, focusing on pieces that are not easily captured through photography and digital distribution. He believes that our culture considers being connected to oneself to be a revolutionary act. He attempts to create work that might expose and counteract the constant tides of alienation, judgement and addiction which our culture uses to avoid uncomfortable mental and emotional spaces.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7811246514320374}
+{"content": "Empress Theodora: A feminist at the dawn of the Middle Ages\n\n11 minutes to read\nNikos Papadopoulos\n\nEmpress Theodora of Byzanthium is mostly known for her early years, which she spent in poverty. However, if we look at the rest of her life, we can see an early medieval example of feminism in her actions as empress. \n\nWho is Empress Theodora?\n\nThe lone ponderer’s senses will be delightfully nourished when they find themselves  in the Basilica of San Vitale, an early Roman Catholic church located in Ravenna, a small port city in north-eastern Italy that is often described as “the capital of mosaics”, due to the superb medieval artworks that decorate many of its archaeological sites. While the eyes enjoy this aesthetic miracle, a vigilant mind may unexpectedly come into great surprise while encountering a strange discord between the age that the church has been built in, the 6th century AD, and two of its most luminous mosaics. One of emperor Justinian and that of his wife and empress, Theodora, which both adorn the apse’s opposite side walls.\n\n\"Byzantine images do not simple illustrate; they also encapsulate ideology\" argues Liz James (2001). And by reflecting on this, what raises a few eyebrows is the fact that both central figures of these mosaics are symmetrically displayed opposite each other, being identical in height, size, and embellishment, showcasing thus overtly, as LeBel and McLaughlin state, gender equality between them, and connoting that the empress' role has been equivalent to that of the emperor's regarding the governance of the empire.\n\nBut who is Theodora and why is she that important?\n\nHer name serves as a good reason to go back to the very early stages of feminism and to shed light on her historical figure. She was someone who, as J.W. Barker (1966) writes, “clawed her way up from a life among the dregs of human society to the peak of human ambition”. Moreover, her contribution to the amelioration of the status of women in society has been considered so valuable that it led the highly prominent Byzantine scholar Charles Diehl (1979) to describe her as 'deeply feminine'.\n\nA 'rags to riches' story and a portrait in question\n\nBefore rising to the throne of the Byzantine Empire, Theodora’s life had been a diametrically opposite one. Her beginnings are described by Austin (2010) as 'exceedingly humble', as she was born into a circus family and grew up in the society of the Hippodrome of Constantinople. Her father’s early death led her to become an 'actress', a term that, as Gregory (2005) states, \"is synonymous with a prostitute in modern day\" and to live a life of sexual immorality. \n\nThe events that mark this period of her life were first described by Procopius of Caesarea, the most eminent historian of the age. His Secret History, a scandalous narrative that has received universal credence, has been the main source of the life events of the uncrowned Theodora and one that resulted in her utter denigration. In it, Procopius uses the boldest terms to discuss Theodora. As Lankila (2008) states, he was influenced by both the ideas in society surrounding members of the lower classes and preexisting unfavorable views of women. As a consequence, what is ascribed to her is a lascivious status and a life so depraved it was unparalleled. To understand how harmful these texts are, one could argue that C.E. Mallet's (1887) statement that \"from the date of the publication of the Secret History, Theodora was condemned\" aptly describes the degree of tarnishing that her name suffered.\n\nBut is this the Theodora that we shall remember? \n\nMany of the events of her later life are less well-known. Theodora's life took a wholly different trajectory once meeting Justinian. Through their marriage, which took place after the institutionalization of a special law, as it was illegal for men of senatorial rank to marry courtesans, she was moved up to the uppermost position in a class-conscious society. Her part has been essential to the expression of her husband's imperial role. This provided her with the ability to exercise political powerConsequently, she occupied an exceptional position of influence upon political matters, as Vasiliev (1958) informs us, and her opinion had to be taken into account in the emperor's decision-making.\n\nHowever, Theodora's rise to the throne did not make her forget where she came from. Her first-hand experience of the evils that lower class women could face turned her into a woman of great philanthropy, who lavishly provided a helping hand to those living in thrall of the strictly patriarchal and misogynist society of Byzantium (James, 2009). To paraphrase Diehl (1905), one could argue that her feminist spirit was based on the following phrase from Virgil's Aeneid (29-19 B.C.; 2008): “No stranger to misfortune myself, I have learned to receive the sufferings of other”. \n\nHence, it would be prudent not to judge Theodora to such a harsh extent in relation to the ethics of her early life. It would, however, be constructive to sketch a portrait based on her charity.\n\nAn Advocate for women\n\nLynda Garland (1999) mentions that \"much of Justinian’s legislation was concerned with protecting women and their rights”. Of course, even back then, violence against women and girls, was a global phenomenon was been hidden, ignored, and accepted. Theodora was aware of that, and therefore aimed to make an effort in their favor. Her influence regarding many reforms and legislations concerning the status and the protection of women, though latenthas been decisive. Theodora made her mark in three different areas: the strengthening of the institution of marriage, the banishment of prostitution and the provision of welfare for those who weretraumatized.\n\nFor Theodora, marriage was the the \"holiest of all institutions\", as Diehl (1979) highlights. Her convictions were fully supported thanks to a range of laws that expanded the rights of women. A first big step was taken thanks to the legitimization of marriages between men and women of different social classes. With regards to this, a marriage between a citizen and an ex-slave woman, or one who has been an actress, was to remain intact, even if the husband was made a senator. A similar reform allowed senators to marry the daughters of tavern-keepers or pimps. Dowry, in addition, was described as strictly unnecessary and being rejected on the basis of not having one was strictly prohibited. As the law stated: “mutual affection is what creates a marriage”. In other words, the main prerequisite for a marriage has been defined as the consent from both the woman and the man. \n\nΝo woman, thus, could be forced to marry any man, but any woman could marry the man of her choice.\n\nWhile laws surrounding marriage were loosened, it was also possible to get a divorce, but this was made more difficult. A woman could divorce her husband due to treason, attempts on her life and being falsely accused of adultery, while a a man could divorce his wife if she committed adultery, was away from the house and not with her parents or betrayed him. The killing of adulterous wives was strictly forbidden. Although these reasons may seem ridiculous to us, they were particularly progressive and beneficial to the women of the era. This becomes even more apparent if we consider that if a woman wanted to stay with her husband she would just have to live by specific guidelines. So, because husbands could not just simply decide to divorce their wives, it allowed the women better opportunities to obtain status. As Thomas (2005) argues,\n\n\"this law was hugely beneficial for the respect of women and it helped men to view them more as human beings\"\n\nNevertheless, to justify Diehl's (1979) characterization of Theodora as \"deeply feminine\", we need to examine the laws against prostitution. Her interest in helping the unfortunate is shown in the following words of an imperial edict, which was clearly inspired by her: \n\n\"We have set up magistrates to punish robbers and thieves; are we not even more straitly bound to prosecute the robbers of honor and the thieves of chastity?\"\n\nArguably, her early exposure to the realities of a lower class upbringing, and her awareness of all the evils that women of this class could suffer, led her to take a personal interest in such issues. This is closely related to the charitable actions she has undertaken, according to historians. These included reforms on regulating prostitution and also setting up establishments for women on the streets where they could receive help and guidance (Garland, 1999).\n\nProstitution was always an issue, especially in the empire's capital, Constantinople. Numerous were the pimps who were conducting their business in brothels, selling others' bodies. Young girls were being forced unwillingly into a life of unchastity after being enticed away from their parents by promises of clothes or food and by being led to believe that their contracts with or promises made to their pimps were legitimate. Theodora, aspiring to put an end to their hardship, devised a range of plans to end this phenomenon. As early as 528 AD, she was involved in taking action against pimps and brothel-keepers who were forcing poor girls into prostitution. She ordered that all such people should be outlawed and arrested. She also paid for young girls to be freed from them Nilson (2009). As a resource for their new life,  she presented the girls with a set of clothes and offered monetary support to each of them. In this way, the state was cleansed of the pollution of brothels and the women who were struggling with extreme poverty were provided with a way of becoming independent.\n\nHer benevolence, however, was limited to these acts. Mallet (1887), by making an allusion to earlier historical accounts, refers to a stately palace that was build on the shores of Bosporus and that was used as a refuge for the unhappy women and former prostitutes whom Theodora had rescued from the streets of Constantinople. To make it of lasting benefit, she endowed the palace with an ample income of money and added many remarkable buildings, so that these women would never be compelled to depart from the practice of a virtuous life. Moreover, before Theodora was empress, raping a lower class woman or a slave was legal, \"but she enacted a law making the rape of any woman punishable by death\", as Nilsson (2009) states. Women now protected by the law from sexual offences. At last, women who were charged with major crimes were also benefited, as legislation was passed that stated that they were to be sent to a convent or be guarded by reliable women, aiming to ensure their protection. \n\nA springboard for change\n\nProcopius (1996) writes that Theodora \"was naturally inclined to assist women in misfortune\". Although we cannot me sure as to what degree her charitable actions arose from a natural charisma, we can be sure that their effect was turning the prevailing tide of silence, and promulgated the high prevalence of violence against women and girls and to fight for their rights. As Garland (1999) argues, 'No doubt she brought greater knowledge to bear on the problems suffered by the lower class than the usual great lady in Byzantium, and it would be satisfactory to think that her measures were more successful than was customary'.\n\nThese days, Theodora's remembrance isn't just able to trigger a sense of nostalgia, but rather to serve as a strongly promising motivator for the future of a changing world. Her feminism, consequently, can be deemed a visionary one; one that managed to instigate a shift of perception towards female dignity in many aspects, from respecting the chastity of the female body, to giving women the right to choose their own destiny in life. Her feminism was also one that was also meant to pave the way for later proponents’ realizations of an egalitarian society, because, as resonantly stated in another law of her age:\n\n'In the service of God there is no male or female, nor freeman nor slave’.\n\n\n\nAustin, Cheridan E., \"Sex and Political Legitimacy: an Examination of Byzantine Empresses (399 -1056 c.e.)\" (2010). Honors College Theses. 94. \n\nBarker, J. (1966). Justinian and the later roman empire. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. \n\nDiehl, C. (1979). Byzantine portraits (H. Bell, Trans.). New York: A.A. Knopf.\n\nDiehl, C. (1905). Théodora, impératrice de Byzance [Theodora, empress of Byzantium],(5e éd. ed.). Paris: H. Piazza.\n\nGarland, L. (1999). Byzantine empresses : Women and power in Byzantium, aD 527-1204. London: Routledge.\n\nGarcía-Moreno C., Zimmerman c., Morris-GehringA. , Heise L. , Amin A., Abrahams N. , Montoya O.,Bhate-Deosthali P, Kilonzo N, Charlotte Watts (2015), Violence against women and girls. Addressing violence against women: a call to action, Papers WHO.\n\nGregory, T. E. (2005) A History of Byzantium. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.\n\nHorner, T., Paulin, J., Stackhouse, H., Stephen, C. (2010, March 19) The status of Byzantine Women.\n\nJames, L. (2001). Empresses and power in early byzantium (Women, power, and politics). London: Leicester University Press.\n\nJames, L. (2009). Men, Women, Eunuchs: Gender, Sex and Power. In J. Haldon, The Social History of Byzantium. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.\n\nKorte, N. E. (2004). Procopius’ Portrayal of Theodora in the Secret History: ‘Her Charity was Universal’. Hirundo, Vol.3 (2004)\n\nLankila, T. (2008) \"The Unkown Empress: Theodora as a Victim of Distorted Images.\" Language and the Scientific Imagination: 1­13. Web. 3 Feb. 2010.\n\nLeBel, K., McLaughlin, M. (n.d.) The Byzantine Empress Theodora. 1-5.\n\nMallet, C. E. (1887). \"The Empress Theodora.\" The English Historical Review: 1-20. Web. 15 Feb. 2010.\n\nNilsson, C. (2009). \"Perspectives of Power: Byzantine Emperor Women.\" Preteritus 1 : 4-13.\n\nProcopius of Caesarea, The Secret History as cited in: “Procopius The Secret History.” (1996)\n\nTeall, J., & Barker, J. W. (1967). Justinian and the later roman empire. The American Historical Review, 72(3), 941-941. doi:10.2307/1846682\n\nThomas, J. C. (2005). Justinian’s law as it applied to women and families\n\nVasiliev, A. (1958). History of the byzantine empire (2nd English ed. ed.). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.\n\nV., Fagles, R., & Knox, B. (2008). The aeneid (Penguin classics deluxe edition). New York: Penguin Books.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6632908582687378}
+{"content": "Positive Thinking and Taking Control of Your Well Being\n\nHere and Now 1.png\n\nWe don’t often think about the impact of positive thinking and our physical well-being.  But research has proven that negative thinking can have an adverse impact on our health leading us to become overly stressed by the challenges of life and frequent feelings of being overwhelmed. This negative outlook then makes it even harder for us to bounce back from a setback and move forward.\n\n Positive thinking enables us to take control of our own well-being in this time of constant daily stress.  Despite this stress, we are expected to perform at our best and to be productive in all walks of life.  While getting stress under control won't solve all our problems, the more we can reduce stress in our lives the more likely we are to find balance and reach our full potential.  The following tips provide practical suggestions that you can use to help you reduce stress and shift into more positive thinking patterns:\n\nTake Good Care of Yourself: It's much easier to be positive when you are eating well, exercising, and getting enough rest.  If you don’t have one, establish a well-being program that you can manage daily.  Start where you are.\n\nRemind Yourself of the Things You Are Grateful For: Stresses and challenges don't seem quite as bad when you are constantly reminding yourself of the things that are right in life. Taking just 60 seconds a day to stop and appreciate the good things will make a huge difference.\n\nLook for the Proof Instead of Making Assumptions: A fear of not being liked or accepted sometimes leads us to assume that we know what others are thinking, but our fears are usually not reality. If you have a fear that a friend or family member's bad mood is due to something you did, or that your co-workers are secretly gossiping about you when you turn your back, speak up and ask them. Don't waste time worrying that you did something wrong unless there is evidence of something to worry about.\n\nRefrain from Using Absolutes : Have you ever told a love one \"You're ALWAYS late!\" or complained to a friend \"You NEVER get it right!\"?  Thinking and speaking in absolutes like 'always' and 'never' makes the situation seem worse than it is, and programs your brain into believing that some certain people around you are incapable of coming through.\n\nDetach from Negative Thoughts: Your thoughts can't hold any power over you if you don't judge them. If you notice yourself having a negative thought, detach from it, acknowledge it, and don't follow it.  Only you can free your mind from negative thinking.  Let it go!\n\nSquash the \"ANTs\": In his book \"Change Your Brain, Change Your Life,\" Dr. Daniel Amen talks about \"ANTs\" - Automatic Negative Thoughts. These are the bad thoughts that are usually reactionary, like \"Those people are laughing, they must be talking about me,\" or \"The boss wants to see me. It must be bad!\" When you notice these thoughts, realize that they are nothing more than ANTs and squash them!\n\n\nIncrease Your Social Activity: By increasing social activity, you decrease loneliness. Surround yourself with healthy, happy people, and their positive energy will affect you in a positive way!  Entertain in your home or become the social butterfly by extending invitations to go out with friends and family.\n\nVolunteer for an Organization, or Help another Person: We all feel good after helping. You can volunteer your time, your money, or your resources. The more positive energy you put out into the world, the more you will receive in return.\n\nInterrupt Patterns of Deep Reflections: If you find yourself constantly reflecting on a problem, a great way to stop it is to interrupt the thought pattern and force yourself to do something completely different. Deep reflection doesn’t always lead to an answer.  It can be non-productive, because it's not rational or solution-oriented, it's just excessive worry. Try changing your physical surroundings - go for a walk or sit outside. You could also call a friend, pick up a book, or turn on some music.\n\nPracticing techniques to maintain positive thinking enables us to focus on our strengths and accomplishments, which increases happiness and motivation. This, in turn, allows us to spend more time being productive, and less time feeling down and stuck.\n\nWritten by Dr. RL Kight for Mind Power Solutions.  Visit www.mindpowersolutions.com to learn more about our personal development and training services.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6353441476821899}
+{"content": "Uurwerk personnel scheduler\n\nThe background – Uurwerk Basic\n\nUurwerk basic events\n\nScheduling from events\n\n\n\nStrangely enough, even after much searching, there did not appear to be anything on the market between a self-made Excel file that only adds the daily and weekly hours, and very costly programs such as Rostarflex. That was, until 2005.\n\nAt the Goudse Schouwburg theatre a Zoetermeer-based technician, Albert Kromkamp, saw an advanced Excel file. It contained the first steps in scheduling according to the staff complement requested by visiting companies. At the same time, formulas controlled the scheduling for the maximum work time per day and the minimum daily rest periods, as per the Working Hours Decree.\n\nUurwerk basic\n\nIn his free time, Albert built his own variant and fine-tuned it until it did exactly what he wanted: generate events-guided schedules that met the CBA stipulations and recorded sick days, overtime and holidays. It became an ultra-intelligent scheduling and time tracking spreadsheet, a veritable work of art packed with macros and Visual Basic code. The schedules at the Stadstheater Zoetermeer theatre are still created using this system.\n\n\nMarijcke examined it from every angle and was impressed. She told the Leidse Schouwburg theatre about it, which were more than happy to buy it. Albert wanted to remain the technician that he was, and sold the rights to TOT, who renamed the program Uurwerk and since then has made many clients happy with it. Albert still programs updates and new versions.\n\nRead more about the further development of Uurwerk.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9166640043258667}
+{"content": "Carol Moskel.png\n\nCarol Moskel\n\nParish Administrator\n\nCarol moved permanently to Columbia after graduating with a BA in Bible from Columbia International University in 2004. It was in a chapel service here where she first learned of Church of the Apostles, when the college hosted Bishop Thad Barnum as a guest speaker. Stirred by Barnum's passion for and description of the Anglican church, she visited the fledgling church plant where she soon began attending regularly. Her involvement at Apostles helping with the youth eventually led to her current, full-time position as Parish Administrator.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9243055582046509}
+{"content": ">What is autophagy?\nAutophagy is a process of self-digestion that occurs in eukaryotic cells. Autophagy involves the formation of a membrane around a region of the cytoplasm, sequestering macromolecules like proteins and organelles, and the fusion of the resultant vesicle with a lysosome in which the contents are degraded. Through autophagy starving cells degrade materials within their own cells to provide necessary nutrients for more essential processes.\nautophagy classification\nAnother essential function of autophagy in higher eukaryotes is to remove potentially harmful proteins to protect the cells against diseases and infection by pathogens. Furthermore, autophagy has been suggested to play a role in developmental and anti-aging functions in animal cells. Elucidation of autophagy is thus not only of academic, but also medical interest.\n\n>Autophagy research in the TPRP\nAlthough autophagy as a phenomenon was known for decades, it was not until 1993 that its molecular components were identified by a pathbreaking genetic study on baker’s yeast. Since then, a number of autophagy-related proteins have been found and most of them have been conserved over eukaryotes. However, the molecular mechanisms of autophagy have not been fully understood.\nAs many autophagy-related proteins have no significant homologies with others, structural studies may shed light on their functions. The Targeted Protein Research Program aims to facilitate autophagic study based on the structural determination of proteins.\n\nLinks to TPRP contents\nAutophagy in TP Atlas\nTPRP pamphlet (in Japanese) (PDF)\n>Autophagic process\nYeast autophagy\nHuman autophagy\nMolecular mechanism of autophagy", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.997982919216156}
+{"content": "The ABC is biased: get over it!\n\nABC_Mobile_Studio_CaravanRichard Salant (1914-1993) hardly deserves his reputation as the source of the silliest thing ever said about media objectivity. President of CBS News for most of the 1960s and 1970s, he expended much time and personal courage resisting the encroachment of political power into US news and current affairs and also warned against the now-ubiquitous melding of journalism and entertainment. Nevertheless, his assertion of neutrality has become a standing joke in media studies, and one doesn’t have to be a post-structuralist (or cease to share in the popular opinion that media studies is itself a joke) to appreciate its self-satirising quality. For surely it would take a Joseph Heller, or an Onion, to do better than this: ‘Our reporters do not cover stories from their point of view. They are presenting them from nobody’s point of view.’\n\nI thought of this doozy the other day, when the Queensland senator James McGrath (Lib) used his maiden speech in the senate to attack the ABC’s left-wing bias. Employing the register of more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger, McGrath set out his case as follows:\n\nAs someone who grew up in regional Queensland, I grew up with the ABC. But the ABC has left people like me and my constituents behind. I want to support the ABC. I like the ABC. But while it continues to represent only inner-city leftist views, funded by our taxes, it is in danger of losing its social licence to operate. I am calling for a review of the ABC’s charter. And if they fail to make inroads to restore balance, then the ABC should be sold and replaced by a regional and rural broadcasting service.\n\nMcGrath didn’t get much support for that last idea, even from his Liberal Party comrades. But as an example of the kind of criticism that has descended upon the ABC from the government and its proxies in the last few months this is fairly representative. Indeed, the Abbott government has made no secret of its desire to bring the ABC back into ideological alignment. The appointment of Janet Albrechtsten and Neil Brown to the panel overseeing the broadcaster’s board is widely regarded as a step in this direction – one that recalls the investiture of Tim Wilson, formerly of the IPA, as the Human Rights Commissioner at the HRC. Meanwhile, the IPA itself has waded, guns blazing, into the fray. In the May issue of the IPA Review (‘HOW TO WIN THE CULTURE WARS’), the rightwing think tank made the case for the privatisation of the ABC, noting amongst other atrocities its decision to go into partnership with The Guardian in breaking the Indonesian phone-tapping story, its airing of thinly-sourced allegations that Australian navy personnel had burned asylum seekers’ hands, and the Chaser’s crudely Photoshopped image of The Australian’s Chris Kenny humping a labradoodle – an image that brought legal action from Kenny and a less-than-veiled threat from the Australian Prime Minister, who let it be known that if this was the kind of stunt that passed for entertainment at the ABC then the government might have to rethink its funding. (It was, by general consent, the PM’s threat, and not the threat of being sued, that caused Mark Scott to apologise and send a fat cheque Mr Kenny’s way.)\n\nThose who value the ABC often respond to accusations that it is biased by trying to prove that it just ain’t so. Pointing to the ideological audits that the organisation is now obliged to conduct, to statistical analyses of the exposure allowed to the major parties at election time, and to figures on audience satisfaction, they argue that there is simply no proof that the national broadcaster is politically partial. In the words of Wayne Errington and Narelle Miragliotta, authors of Media and Politics: An Introduction, ‘there appears not to be any factual evidence to back the claim of left-wing bias’.\n\nBut ‘bias’ can not be established through statistics any more than mist can be quantified with a tape measure. The phenomenon of bias is more complicated than that. In his recent book, The Lucky Culture, Nick Cater makes the following (uncharacteristically sensible) point:\n\nTo suggest that the ABC leans to the Left or the Right, that it favours Labor or Liberal, the Democrats or the Greens, is to drive the public-service broadcasting debate along a barren path. Neither is it accurate to talk of systematic bias for, if anything, the ABC’s bureaucratic accounting of editorial content is evidence of a systematic process of impartiality. Bias at the ABC is systemic rather than systematic, where, like many large institutions, it is hostage to the normative assumptions of its management and its staff. In the ABC’s case, they are the assumptions of a self-selected cohort drawn from the university-educated middle class.\n\nNotwithstanding the use of the word ‘hostage’, this strikes me as uncontroversial. But the conservatives’ mistake is to think that this ‘cohort’ constitutes a self-conscious elite. Indeed, and despite protestations to the contrary, this is what Cater himself believes. His book is clearly wedded to the idea that what he calls ‘the Bunyip alumni’ is a kind of fifth column or enemy within: a latte-fuelled clique of egg-heads and know-it-alls who think they’re better than everyone else and who are, in some indefinable way, separable from ‘the real Australia’.\n\nBut ‘the university-educated middle class’ is not an ‘elite’ in any sense that matters, and its greater access to, or overrepresentation in, the media doesn’t make it one. Rather, it is just that – a class. Yes, it has its own values and assumptions – values and assumptions that may not obtain within, say, a small farming community. But to that extent, such ‘bias’ as exists in the ABC’s coverage of news and politics is rather like the bias in a bowl: it is the inevitable (and largely unconscious) ‘drift’ that occurs when members of a particular class are invited to decide what is worthy of attention and in what ways it should be attended to. In an excellent discussion of Cater’s book, Guy Rundle took the author to task for failing to see that what he was describing was not the machinations of an elite but the unconscious expression of a socio-economic stratum; it is an ideology, not in the sense of a utopian or emanicpatory scheme, but in the Marxian or Mannheimian sense of the distortion of thought inevitable in a particular social and economic context.\n\nIn other words, and with some teensy exceptions, the ABC does not proselytise for progressive values, progressive values being the kind of values that the university-educated middle class tends (if I may be reductive) to hold. But it is, I would argue, objectively progressive. If progressives are overrepresented at the ABC, well, that’s because the ABC is the kind of place progressives want to work.\n\nThe problem for the advocates of ‘greater balance’ is that you can only stop the ABC being objectively one thing by making it determinedly something else, and to do this would be to undermine the national broadcaster’s independence and integrity. Imagine an ABC that told its journalists not only what kind of stories to pursue but also what kind of assumptions and values to engage when they caught up to them. Or that employed some kind of quota system whereby journalists were recruited on the basis of their voting habits! The effect would be creepy, if not actually sinister. Certainly the sort of journalists who value and work in public broadcasting wouldn’t stick around for very long.\n\nAnd what sort of journalists are those? Well, they are the sort of journalists who, while they may be objectively progressive, are also, like the ABC itself, determinedly objective. That’s to say: they may not be objective; but at least they make an effort to be so. Unlike journalists in the private sphere, they are not under any editorial pressure to toe a particular political line; if anything, they are under pressure not to toe a line at all. That’s what you get for ‘Your ABC’ – not ‘balance’ but a sincere attempt to attain it.\n\nTo be clear: to say that the ABC is not objective is not to criticise its staff or management. Nor is it to posit a mushy postmodernism that regards all reality and truth-claims as relative. It is simply to state the obvious point that the kind of people who go into public broadcasting are different from the people who don’t, and that complaining that there are too few conservatives at the ABC is like complaining that there are too few vegans in the meat-packing industry. It is to express a wish, not for greater balance, but for news from nobody’s point of view.\n\nTo the extent that the ABC is required to invigilate between two kinds of conservatism – the Labor kind and the Liberal kind – it behaves more like a guardian of the consensus than the campaigning broadcaster of rightwing myth. Speaking as someone to the left of that consensus, I am no more ‘represented’ by it than the libertarian gunslingers of the IPA, who, incidentally, nobody would have heard of were it not for their frequent appearances on The Drum, Q&A, and other ABC programs. If I choose not to carp about the fact, or bang on about ‘our taxes’ à la Sen. McGrath, it’s not because I think the ABC is perfect. It’s because I think the ABC is more likely than most other Australian news sources to keep the real elites more honest than they might be.\n\n\nFirst published at New Matilda.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5128612518310547}
+{"content": "Penguins in the Desert\n\nPenguins in the Desert\n\nby Eric Wagner\nEnglish | 2018 | ISBN: 0870719246 | 212 Pages | PDF | 16 MB\n\nMost of us wouldn't think to look for penguins in a hot desert, but every year along a windswept edge of coastal Patagonia, hundreds of thousands of Magellanic penguins gather to rear their young at Punta Tombo, Argentina. It is the largest penguin colony in the world outside of Antarctica, and for the past three decades, biologist Dee Boersma has followed them there.\n\nEric Wagner joined her team for six months in 2008, and in Penguins in the Desert, he chronicles that season in the remarkable lives of both the Magellanic penguins of Punta Tombo and the scientists who track their every move. For Boersma, the penguins are ecosystem sentinels. At the colony's peak, more than a million birds bred there, but now less than half as many do. In confronting this fact, Boersma tackles some of the most urgent issues facing penguins and people today. What is the best way to manage our growing appetite for fish? How do we stop catastrophic oil spills from coating birds? How will we address the looming effects of climate change?\n\nAs Wagner spends more and more time with the penguins and the scientists in the field, other equally pressing questions come to mind. What is it like to be beaten by a penguin? Or bitten by one? How can a person be so dirty for so many months on end? In a tale that is as much about life in the field as it is about one of the most charismatic creatures on earth, Wagner brings humor, warmth, and hard-won insight as he tries to find the answer to what turns out to be the most pressing question of all: What does it mean to know an animal and to grapple with the consequences of that knowing?\n\n\n[Fast Download] Penguins in the Desert\n\nRelated eBooks:\nFisheries Management: Progress Towards Sustainability\nEnzymkinetik: Theorie und Methoden, 3. Auflage\nBrachiopods around the Permian-Triassic Boundary of South China\nArchitecture Exploration of FPGA Based Accelerators for BioInformatics Applications\nCrustacean Farming: Ranching and Culture, Second Edition\nInverse Methods in Global Biogeochemical Cycles\nPalm (Botanical)\nFlora of Turkey, Volume 9: Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Vol. 9\nThe BRICHOS Domain\nInstrumental Methods for the Analysis of Bioactive Molecules\nHorticultural Reviews, Volume 43\nCopyright Disclaimer:", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9333065748214722}
+{"content": "Stewards’ Noticeboard\n\nHealth & FitnessThe Healthy Existence program seeks to address weight-related health issues for kids by providing caring providers, family-centered therapy packages, highly skilled educators and researchers, and strong community partnerships. Celiac illness is a extreme genetic autoimmune dysfunction, based on the Celiac Sickness Foundation, where the ingestion of gluten results in harm inside the small intestine. Though there are lots of different dangerous behaviors which will impede an otherwise healthy lifestyle (for instance, working with poisonous or radioactive supplies, drug habit , travel to areas with unusual endemic illnesses), these are too numerous to cover in this normal article. However, the reader is advised to go to such matter websites on , or because many of the specific articles will present tips to avoid health-related problems.\n\nLinus Carl Pauling (February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994) was an American quantum chemist and biochemist , widely regarded as the premier chemist of the twentieth century. Pauling was a pioneer within the utility of quantum mechanics to chemistry, and in 1954 was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work describing the character of chemical bonds He additionally made important contributions to crystal and protein construction determination, and was one of the founders of molecular biology Pauling obtained the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962 for his campaign towards above-ground nuclear testing , changing into only considered one of four folks in historical past to individually receive two Nobel Prizes Later in life, he became an advocate for regular consumption of massive doses of Vitamin C Pauling coined the time period “orthomolecular” to seek advice from the apply of various the focus of substances normally present within the physique to prevent and treat illness, and promote health.\n\nDigital technologies are used for a lot more than simply making workout preparations; they are additionally used to monitor and optimize coaching. Wearables and good watches measure the important thing bodily features, with knowledge now being analyzed in real time and suggestions given to the wearer.\n\nCC’s-AASP are working to higher perceive the elements that contribute to preliminary and sustained involvement in physical activity throughout age groups, gender, ethnicity, and other particular person distinction factors. They are also all for exploring the constructive psychological outcomes associated with exercise and bodily activity. This data is important to designing programs which can be more than likely to motivate people to turn into extra physically active, and to maintain those positive behaviors over time.\n\nThe Diet sector continues to grow as individuals change into more aware of the impact of weight loss program and lifestyle on wellbeing and health. An ever-evolving mixture of disciplines – which embrace biology, chemistry and psychology – makes Diet careers distinctive and engaging. If you’re passionate about supporting wholesome consuming with motivational and scientific advice, boost your profession with a Nutrition qualification designed in partnership with employers and delivered by TAFE NSW.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.980058491230011}
+{"content": "by Neal Jenson\n\nEntrepreneurial spirit\n\nThe skills of a potentially great entrepreneur\n\nEntrepreneurial spirit\nThe skills of a potentially great entrepreneur\n\nThere are 8 key concepts which any potential entrepreneur should regard as the best tools for the trade. Sharpening these skills could put you ahead of the pack.\n\nBe able to sell anything\n\nThis is one of the most important qualities an entrepreneur can have. You will have to sell your ideas to customers, investors and potential employees. You sell your skills, your leadership, your confidence, your vision and the importance of the values you promote.\n\nThese traits aside, you have to sell your products and services. Being a good salesman can be more difficult than it sounds. Are you able to step in front of a venture capital firm or a bank and defend that your idea is not only great, but is logical, convincing, and better than any other business who is seeking funding out there? If you are second guessing your idea back and forth, your idea is not ripe to take action, or you are not cut out for it. Don't waste your time and money on something you can't dedicate your whole heart to.\n\nDon't leave things undone\n\nIf you have a problem finishing things, entrepreneurship is not for you. You cannot leave a business almost complete. Half-hearted attempts at starting a business will result in failure. If you are the person that people want on their team because they know you won't put your stamp of approval on a project until it is excellent, you should pat yourself on the back.\n\nVanilla, chocolate, or twist\n\nYou must be comfortable with your gut instincts. There is a lot of information out there, and the truth is, you can't gather every bit of information possible before making decisions.\n\nIf it takes you an incredible amount of time to make decisions, you need to find a way to change that before jumping into business as an entrepreneur. It is great to think things through, but if you think about it too much, you will still be on decision number three  when you should be on decision number five.\n\nTime is valuable. You cannot repurchase or reproduce time once it has been used. You must understand and be ready for the actual volume of decisions you will be making as an entrepreneur. \n\n\nConfidence is an important skill to have. You should have confidence in your ideas, in yourself and in others. You have to trust others to do their job and to do it well. No matter how amazing you may think you are, you cannot work everyone else's job along with your own. If you are confident in the abilities of others, you can allow them to shine.\n\nYour ideas are not always the only ideas or the best ideas. By showing confidence in the abilities of others, you allow for new ideas to emerge into the business. Also, in my experience, people try harder to do a better job when they know people trust in their abilities and can count on them. Being confident in your own abilities is critical to your success.\n\nConfidence is not only an attribute, but a skill to be mastered. Many people can show confidence when certain things are going in their favor, it takes a great leader to have confidence even when things are not going well.\n\nTime management & planning\n\nAs mentioned earlier, time is valuable. If you let time get away from you, you will have a hard time starting a successful business. Your planner should be your best friend. Learn to prioritise and plan. Just like diets, most people know they should do it, but there are few who actually are successful at it.\n\nCommunication and Persuasion\n\nIt is a skill to be able to express an idea in a clear and concise manner. You should be able to pick out the most important concepts of your ideas and speak about them with clarity. You will also need to understand thoroughly the business industry in order to be persuasive. If you are talking to a potential investor, you might get asked a few hard questions.\n\nIf you don't have an answer, it shows a gap in your knowledge. Too many gaps and you are out of a deal. You should also have enthusiasm. If you are not enthusiastic about your idea, it is hard to persuade others to believe it is good one.\n\n\nBeing a daredevil in high school or college does not guarantee that you are going to be a great entrepreneur, though it may help. A person can be fearless and stupid. When you have courage, however, you recognise the risks, but take action regardless.\n\nYou accept the risk before you start and try to do what is possible to mitigate the risk while moving forward. There is a lot you can be fearful of when starting a business. As an entrepreneur you need to be able to overcome your fears and ensure they don't keep you from reaching your potential.\n\nLearning skills\n\nAs an entrepreneur you need to be a quick learner. You have to be willing to learn new skills constantly. One business owner I know is a great example of this. He has set aside the first hour of every work day to read about the current things happening in his industry.\n\nYou will need to learn how to gain understanding and find meaning that is deeper than the surface. You must learn to make your own arguments, synthesise new knowledge, memorise information, gain new relevant skills, and be able to utilise all this knowledge to create new things and make old things more efficient.\n\ncomments powered by Disqus\n\n\nThis edition\n\nIssue 58\n\n\nAchieverMag According to Vian Chinner - a South African innovator, data scientist and CEO of the machine learning company, matr… 12 days - reply - retweet - favorite\n\nAchieverMag Business that are slow to adopt artificial intelligence risk being left behind 12 days - reply - retweet - favorite\n\nAchieverMag Deadline for nominations for this year's prestigious Achiever Awards, which recognise exceptional contributions to… 25 days - reply - retweet - favorite", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6014299392700195}
+{"content": "\n\nGuided search\n\nFind your products\n\nKind of components to be machined ?\n\nWhich type of work is to be performed ?\n\nWhat are the diameters/dimensions ?\n\nWhat are the wall thicknesses to consider ?\n\nShall the equipment be driven?\n\nFlange Diameter ?\n\nBoring Depth?\n\nShall the machine be operated?\n\nSearch this site\nFind a product\n  • us40_protem_header.jpg\n\nRead more\n\nLATEST NEWS Company news\n\n\nImportance to a good preparation\n\nPublications presse 10/11/2016\n\nVirtually all branches of industry have been using welding processes in their metal assembly work for almost 100 years. ...\n\nVirtually all branches of industry have been using welding processes in their metal assembly work for almost 100 years. Techniques and materials are improved every year in the search for increasingly high levels of efficiency. Despite using welding stations on the cutting edge of technology, the stage prior to welding, i.e. preparing the pipe ends to be welded together, is often neglected or done with inappropriate techniques. The result is that, amongst the numerous factors liable to affect welding quality, poor preparation is a recurrent cause. This article goes into detail on these defects and shows how correct preparation can reduce the risk of them occurring.\n\n\n\nCracking is one of the most frequently observed defects in welding. It is due to excessive mechanical stress in the weld bead. The most common types of cracking are hot and cold cracking.\n\nHot cracking\n\nAs indicated by its name, this type of cracking appears when the metal is still hot and in the process of solidifying. The design of the weld assembly is one the factors that favor the appearance of this type of defect. This can be explained by the fact that the more the bevel is narrow, the greater will be the mechanical stress resulting from the metal solidifying. If this stress is too high, cracking is liable to occur during the change in phase. Therefore, it is important for bevel angles to be determined correctly. When the bevel is made by hand, it cannot be mastered totally accurately. For this reason, it is better to use suitable apparatus for machining edges, so that an accurate, constant bevel angle can be obtained.\n\nCold cracking\n\nCold cracks appear after welding (immediately, several hours or even several days later).\n\nThis type of defect is caused by a simultaneous combination of three factors: a temper structure (hard and fragile), residual mechanical stress (related to clamping for example) and the presence of diffusible hydrogen in the weld bead. This last factor may be related to poor preparation of the edges. It must be remembered that, when welding is done on a rusty or poorly degreased part, the hydrogen present in the rust or the hydrocarbons will decompose in the weld. Stresses will then appear on the atomic scale when the metal is cooling down. If ever this concentration of stresses becomes too high, the metal will crack.\n\nWhen accompanied by other precautions such as drying the electrodes in ovens or preheating parts to be welded, dry machining the joint edges will enable will enable welding to be done on hydrogen-free material and, in this way, reduce the probability of cold cracking.\n\n\n\nBesides favoring cold cracking, a poorly prepared surface can also be the cause of blowholes appearing in the weld. This can be explained by the fact that the presence of water, rust or greasy substances on the part will lead to the formation of gas bubbles liable to be trapped inside the bead. As is the case in cold cracking, the right type of machining (dry) of the end to be welded will lead to a significant reduction in the probability of this type of defect appearing.\n\n\nWird ein Werkstück vor dem Schweißen bearbeitet, muss unbedingt sichergestellt werden, dass die verwendeten Spannbacken und Schneidwerkzeuge für die Bearbeitung vonhochlegiertem Chrom-Nickel-Stahl geeignet sind (zum Beispiel Spannbacken aus diesem Werkstoff) und vorher nicht für die Bearbeitung von unlegiertem Stahl verwendet wurden (oder in diesem Fall anschließend gründlich gereinigt wurden).\n\nIron contamination\n\nIron contaminations concerns stainless steels. Whenever this type of steel finds itself in contact with iron particles and an electricity conducting medium (damp air for example), a galvanic corrosion mechanism comes into being. As a result, the passive layer of stainless steel will deteriorate progressively and risks of pitting are then liable to occur.\n\nGenerally, these iron particles come from using inappropriate equipment. This may concern:\n\n  • Shaping equipment: Presses, bending machines, etc.\n  • Cleaning equipment: Metal brushes, cleaning rags that have been used on carbon steel, etc.\n  • Machining equipment: Cutting and beveling tools, clamping jaws, etc.\n\nThis type of contamination may also come from grinding operations carried out on carbon steel in the vicinity of the stainless steel parts.\n\nIn the context of a part that has been machined before welding, it is primordial that a check be made to ensure that the clamping jaws and cutting tools used are compatible with stainless steel machining operations (jaws in stainless steel or light alloy for example) and that they have not been used for working on carbon steel beforehand (or that they have been decontaminated since).\n\nPenetration defects\n\nExcess or incomplete penetration\n\nIncomplete penetration is normally characterized by a non-melted zone at the root of the weld. Excess penetration corresponds to a surplus of molten metal at the base of the welded joint. These two defects are caused by poor welding parameters (intensity, voltage, welding speed) but also by the clearance between the parts or poorly controlled land thickness.\n\nToo little clearance will give rise to incomplete penetration, whereas too much clearance is liable to cause excess penetration. In certain cases, this type of defect is not systematically eliminated by highly accurate positioning. If the parts to be welded are not perfectly parallel due to poor preparation, unequal clearance between the parts will be liable to give rise to localized points with excess or incomplete welding. Accurate facing of the ends enables one of the causes of this defect to be eliminated.\n\nIncomplete or excess penetration may also be caused by a bevel with a land thickness that is not compatible with welding parameters. These parameters are determined beforehand depending on the material to be welded, the geometry of the welded joint and the welding process used. However, correctly mastering the welding parameters does not mean that a penetration defect can be totally avoided. Variable land thickness due to poor preparation may also deteriorate the quality of the welded joint. For example: parameters that are correct for a land 1.5mm thick may lead to excess penetration if the land is only 0.5mm thick or incomplete penetration on a land 2.5 mm thick. Mastering this thickness, by carrying out an internal counter-boring operation or profile tracking on pipes that are out-of-round will increase the final quality of the weld.\n\n\nGood preparation for guaranteeing constant clearance or an even land is primordial whenever automated processes are used such as TIG orbital or MIG robot welding. In these cases, welding is done without any human intervention and any alignment defects cannot be corrected by the machine. This would not be the case with an experienced welder.\n\nCold-lapping or lack of fusion\n\n\nLack of fusion, also called cold-lapping, is characterized by a non-molten contact zone between the filler metal and the base metal.\n\nOnce again, poor preparation of the contact surfaces is one of the causes of this defect. With a bevel that is too thin compared with the diameter of the electrode, the arc may be attracted by one of the walls. As a result, fusion occurs on one of the edges and the bevel is filled with molten metal. However, as the arc has not directly reached the root (or the previous pass) and the other side of the bevel, the zones in question are not melted but just covered by an extra layer of filler metal. The weld may appear to be good, but, in fact, the metallurgical continuity required when assembling by a welding process is not achieved. As these defects are generally located inside the welded joint, they can rarely be seen by the naked eye and require the use of special control techniques such as ultrasound or radiography.\n\nProper determination of the bevel angle and accurate machining at a constant angle reduce cold-lapping risks.\n\nDeterioration of the material’s properties\n\nTwo techniques are generally used for cutting metallic parts. Cutting by heat (torch, plasma, Laser, etc.) and cutting by mechanical machining (grinding-wheels, saws, orbital cutting machines, etc.).\n\nThe consequences of inaccurate preparation related to the use of machining solutions such as grinding-wheels and saws have been explained in detail above.\n\nWhen cutting by heat, the quality of the cut may prove to be satisfactory when made by an experienced operator or with the help of an automated system. However, in the majority of cases, these techniques create a heat-affected zone close to the cutting point. The physical characteristics of the material are significantly changed in this zone. If a weld is made directly on deteriorated material, the quality of the weld and its mechanical resistance could well be compromised. Therefore, to be able to guarantee the final quality of the weld, the area in question will necessarily need to be re-machined for eliminating the heat-affected zone.\n\nUsing orbital machines eliminates the accuracy problems related to using grinding-wheels or saws and the constraints caused by heat-affected zones related to cutting by applying heat. Cutting and beveling can be done in a single operation with this type of equipment, without any heat-affected zones and with optimal, consistent high quality.\n\nSpecial cases concerning processes using high-density energy sources\n\nHigh density energy source processes concern laser and electron beam welding Both these processes use a beam (a laser or electron bombardment) accurately focused to make the energy that is aimed at the part to be welded melt the metal. Using these techniques, welding can be done over depths of several hundred millimeters in a single pass and with a bead that is rarely more than 5mm wide.\n\n\nAssemblies welded in this way do not require bevels but extremely accurate facing on part ends. For example, preparation for laser welding will be acceptable if the alignment fault is less than 1/10th of a millimeter. Moreover, parts must be totally free of any contamination for using these technologies successfully, especially electron beam welding. As electron beam welding operations are carried out under vacuum conditions, no water or hydrocarbon residues must be allowed to enter the chamber as their presence is liable to make creating a vacuum a more delicate task.\n\nUsing these ultra hi-tech methods requires the presence of suitable machining equipment capable of perfectly preparing the ends to be welded.\n\nWelding is always a delicate operation. A large number of parameters have to be known and mastered for obtaining the best-possible results. Otherwise, they are all as many defect causing factors liable to occur during or after completing the welding bead and which may deteriorate the quality of the total assembly.\n\nDespite upgrading techniques and increased knowledge on the subject, industrialists are regularly confronted by problems involving non-conform welded joints. The consequences of a poor weld can be disastrous for the success of a project, in terms of both schedules and budgets. Eliminating a welding bead and re-building it may take several hours or even several days in the case of major assemblies.\n\nCorrectly preparing the edges to be welded will never prevent 100% of all the reasons for defects from occurring, but it will increase the final quality of the welded assembly in every single case.\n\nThomas Regourd, North American Sales Engineer for, Protem SAS, Etoile sur Rhone/France,", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.7168982028961182}
+{"content": "How to convert your fabulous new business idea into practice?\n\nThere are many youngsters who have great business ideas but are unable to put it to work in a practical world. They do not know how to turn that fabulous new business idea into reality.\n\nnew business ideaAccording to a report nearly five hundred and fifty thousand people wish to become entrepreneurs every month or who want to start their own business. There is no sure shot formula to start a successful business but there are steps that you can take in the planning stage itself which will increase your chances of being a successful one.\n\nThe first and foremost thing as soon as a new business idea strikes your mind is to determine “why” and the “who” of it. You may think that your idea is awesome and fabulous one but your business will not succeed if you are unable to answer ‘why’ it is a good solution and for whom it would be a good solution. We will focus on “why”.\n\nTo begin with, what problem your business idea solves? Does it solve only your problem or the problem of others? If nobody faces the problem that you are facing then ‘why’ will anybody buy your solution?\n\nYou will have to think deeply and carefully ‘why’ your business is needed in the first place, who will be the target customers of your business. Think about the demographics to whom you will sell your solutions to, how will you communicate with them and what is important to them. A business is not a business if you do not have a customer.\n\nThere will be business similar or somewhat similar to yours out there in the world, which proves that market does exist for what you will be doing. You have to think about your competitor and what exactly they are providing. And what you will do differently or better than what they are doing.\n\nIf you want to stand out from your competitors, you should know your unique selling point that sets you apart from them. Research about your competitors, their target audience, how much do they charge, and things like that. It is not necessary to do things from the beginning or scratch but see to it what these companies are lacking in and how you can improve upon in those areas.\n\nAfter the study of competitors, you should divert your efforts to study your potential customers. Start talking to your potential customers regarding the services/product offered by you that they can use, how much they are ready to pay for it, and comparable product/services that they are using at present.\n\nAnother way is to get a survey done by asking people to fill out forms; this will help to know your customers even better. Do not worry about the negative feedback as it can help refine your idea.\n\nNote down all the finer points in details. The offering (product or service you plan), the cost at which you will sell, the marketing model, etc. It will be better if you know the concept of your business inside out. Organize your thoughts in a systematic way and step by step through tools and software available on the internet.\n\nHow to navigate your businesses through tricky growth stage?\n\nStartup businesses have to struggle with environment volatility. The next stage companies which are in the growth stage struggle with volatility and complexity. These growing companies sometimes behave in unnerving and unexpected ways.\n\nbusiness growthThe entrepreneurs and leaders of the scaling (growing) companies require new skills and different approaches to navigating this challenging phase. It is the ‘middle’ period where the decline in businesses must be endured, and growth must be optimized. There can be swift alternating swings between both the situations. The entrepreneur should take ambitious risks along with his own leadership ways.\n\nHere are few useful tips how one can navigate through this phase.\n\nLeaders should leave the urge to control everything\n\nStartup companies usually have a small team in which everyone is clear on the vision of the company and strive to act on it. Communication between members is frictionless. But as team size grows, to a single question like what are we trying to do, or what is the priority of the company, you start getting different answers, then it is the time to align the whole team. That is the company’s vision should be more focused upon and ingrained in everybody’s mind.\n\nLeaders who start losing touch with their members as the organization grows should avoid regular check-ins of members and unnecessary sign-offs, which they do to maintain the feeling of control. Procedures and mechanisms should not be created in a vacuum. One has two options, to brainstorm people in a group or let members dream up ideas on their own and that idea should be discussed with everyone.\n\nDiscontinue weekly meetings\n\nProcesses which started when the company was a startup may have outlived their utility and usefulness. Like you may be conducting meetings every Saturday which may not be possible now just because today is Saturday and the meeting has to be conducted as it did in initial stage. Improving on the process or stopping it outright,  as everyone has to assemble leaving their current work.\n\nEncouraging collective participation\n\nIf the team device their own work process, the entrepreneur should not get in the way. Though entrepreneur may know better than anyone else what the business needs to succeed. There are chances that other new team members may know better than you what it needs to get work done.\n\nAlignment of thoughts and ideas in one direction improves the process. But as companies grow this alignment weakens. New members join in, new products are developed and the mission gets obstructed. So in the growth stage once in a while, the entrepreneur must convey the company’s goal, aim, and mission loud and clear to all the employees as they do to their clients or public at large.\n\nBefore developing new products share with employees\n\nCompanies spend large sums of money to market themselves to the general public but too little to market themselves to their own people.\n\nAny new product that the company plans to develop, the idea should be shared among all present there and their views and opinion should be considered, as everyone around sees the usefulness of the product from the different angle.\n\nThe main job of the leader in a growing company is that when the company is going for a change, there can be many different views and after discussion and deliberations point out to the whole team where to focus all their energies and attention to. It should be the central theme for everyone in the company.\n\nEveryone wants to cross the growth stage smoothly but only few succeed.\n\nHow to make your business successful internationally?\n\nIndian economy is growing and so the businesses that are operating in the country also growing. Businesses are now poised to throw their hats in international markets through collaborations abroad and that is really great.\n\n\nThere should be a fruitful collaboration across cultures and businesses for both the partnering companies and mutually beneficial for all those involved. When any businesses wish to cross the national boundaries to form collaboration, a crisis can develop due to improper communication, lack of cultural knowledge and poor leadership between the two.\n\nHere are a few suggestions to overcome the problem.\n\nPrepare yourself, your company, and team for going international\n\nIn your company, you can conduct cultural understanding training that will help understand and familiarize the team with the unfamiliar culture of the foreign country. Though it may look absurd and an unnecessary expense but in a long run it will save your time and money. The training can either be permanent or temporary but it infuses your team with a new perspective and challenges other than the basic cultural assumption one has of the partnering companies’ country.\n\nGain knowledge\n\nIt is always better to know more about your prospective market. There can be a lot of difference in behavior, norms, values, etc. between the two countries and their markets. It is good to know what is valued and appreciated in the country you want to develop your market. Many a time a word in your country can have a different meaning in some other countries. For example, take the word ‘quality’. In some countries it can mean delivering on time, maybe in other, it can be the best possible product and to other, it can be completely different.\n\nMake a plan\n\nYou should make a strategy and plan it out how you are going to enter the new market. The technical skills that you are familiar and the experience that you have gained through these years can be your formula for success. Many IT companies which have gone abroad have failed because they did not know what the client expected as there did deficiency of cultural understand on both the sides. When you plan it out let someone from outside evaluate and assess your plan and it is one of the methods that you can develop a winning business development plan.\n\nFeedback from clients\n\nIf feedback is taken seriously it helps to improve your shortcoming. It is good when your client praises you. You can ask for feedback with every commitment that your company has accomplished. Allow the client to fill in the feedback form and do not forget to ask at the end how can things improve. One can use feedback to improve and make changes whenever needed.\n\nStrategic alliance with companies\n\nGetting into strategic alliances with companies abroad will broaden your perspective in the business activities you are involved in. One should be aware of own company’s strength and weaknesses that are real and practical which in long run will lead to your successes and failures.\n\nDiversified team\n\nYour team should be as diversified as possible on parameters like age, gender, education, language skills etc. This diversification will help you succeed more likely than you may think of, as each member will have a different view and opinion. Initially, you may not be comfortable with the team but you will have a very wide range of options that you can work upon.\n\nYou can easily face the competition in a foreign country by doing things smarter than your competitors.\n\n\nHow to stay motivated in the startup journey?\n\nAccording to the research 5 out of 10 startups close in the first year. There are lots of reasons behind it like not having sufficient funds, lack of knowledge etc. However, one thing that also plays a major role in the startup journey is “motivation”. If founders are not motivated then their startup journey may stop soon.\n\nstartupWhen someone dreams about the startup he thinks that he will work for self, make unlimited income, will have own schedule to work etc. because he is highly motivated during dreaming startup. However, sometimes entrepreneurship journey may be boring and dull. So, it is important to stay motivated in a startup or entrepreneurship journey.\n\nThere are some tips that can help you in this regards:\n\n1. Celebrate each goal you achieve\n\nIt is important in a startup journey to observe your progress. For this, you should set small sized goals that can be achieved on the daily, weekly or monthly basis. Whenever you accomplished any set goal celebrate it. Celebrating each set goal not only help to stay motivated but also increase confidence.\n\n2. Never forget your dream\n\nStartup journey starts with a dream that you want to make true in the future. However, in entrepreneurship, you may have to face frustration and disappointments as well. In such condition, you may forget your dream behind the startup. So, it is necessary to focus on purpose and set goal. Always think you are not alone who are facing these problems, even all successful entrepreneurs had to combat against these obstacles.\n\n3. Obstacles are learning opportunities\n\nUnexpected obstacles are very common in the entrepreneurship and due to this many beginners lose their motivation. They throw their startup dream aside. Getting discouraged is not a solution to the problem even it is a learning opportunity for you. Refusing obstacle is the first step to defeat obstacle. You should take each problem as a challenge that is making you strong to face big problems.\n\n4. Reading stories of successful entrepreneurs\n\nIt is possible that you may lose confidence and motivation due to a number of obstacles. Reading stories of successful entrepreneurs will help you to know what types of challenges and problems they also had to face during building their company or ventures. The success stories of the successful startup always start with great challenges. So, it will encourage you to continue your startup journey.\n\n5. Take time to relax\n\nAt the start, you may have to perform many tasks together and soon. It may feel you tired and bothered. Due to that focus on the important task may be difficult that may away you from set goals.\n\nYou should take time to recharge yourself. You can do anything that makes you relax like spending valuable time with a loved one, watching the movie, go to an outdoor ride, taking adequate sleep etc. It will help you to rid of from work tension.\n\nYou will feel better and free mind when you will return on work after relax. It will increase your productivity that may benefit to your startup.\nMotivation and confidence are the two tools that help to continue the startup journey, therefore, you never leave these.\n\nHow to start a startup brick by brick?\n\nWhen people start their business they make mistake and some make many mistakes. By making mistake they waste a lot of time doing work that is not aligned to their business or may be counter-productive. Here are a few points that can help startup to minimize their mistakes.\n\nstart a startupKnow what exactly you are doing\n\nDoing what should and needs to be done. Startups require a lot of hard work and need extra time from the normal. If you do not enjoy what you are doing or things are unexciting you will lose all motivation for doing it in a short period of time.\n\nStarting from a point you should know what solutions you are building that will solve the problem. Be crystal clear what you are doing. Your market size will depend upon the people who are facing some problems; more the number of people who are facing a specific problem, larger will be your market size.\n\nYour startup should be a solution provider\n\nSuccessful startups are those which are built around the solution to a problem. Do not create solutions for artificially created problems. Being a startup founder you should not have a narrow vision.\n\nMost of the startup start with creating something but end up finding solutions for something else after few failures and trial and errors.\n\n\nDo not plan to go ahead alone; always have a team or at least a co-founder who will share your joys, pain, expenses, problems, and workload.\n\nIt is usually seen that college friends are the best co-founders and the team size of 2 to 3 is the best. If the team size is too big chances of splitting is more.  It can be your wife, sister and brother as a co-founder but see to it that all co-founders share the responsibility and within a certain time frame finish the task assigned to them.\n\nMany startups try to ‘add’ big names to their company to garner publicity and create a false illusion as if it is something big.\n\nYour core team should be build based on the character of the person and not skill sets. Skill sets can be acquired or learned but the character cannot be built. As you will be spending most of your time with your team, see to it that everyone enjoys and is joyful in the work they do.\n\nFunding and finances\n\nThis is the important ingredient in your startup that is oxygen for any startup. Never chase angle investor or venture capitalist, let them chase you. Investors value to good startups and they may be attracted towards you if they see the value. It may take a bit of a long time, but you will have an upper hand while negotiating terms and conditions. They should not interfere too much in your line of working. Another thing is you can raise the good amount in the initial phase itself as raising funds is difficult, time and energy consuming. Building your business should be your main aim and not raising money.\n\nAs regarding finance, keep as clean as possible. You will have to adhere to government rules and regulations like filing quarterly, half-yearly and yearly returns etc. so as not to get into unnecessary trouble and waste your time and energy on it. You can hire services of friendly Chartered Accountant who will advise you from time to time and will not cost much.\n\nYou may run startup on a tight financial position and hence you will have to keep all your costs and expenses under control.\n\nAlmost all startups dream to become big, but it should not be at cost of your family time, health and relationships. In the initial period, you may have to work long hours but see to it that as you progress you devote your time judiciously and have a healthy work-life balance.\n\nA simple comparison to differentiate marketing, advertising and branding\n\nWorking with business students or with entrepreneurs one does hear marketing strategies which are explained as having an online brand, having social media, or advertising a lot.\n\nWhat they do not understand is all these are part of the plan; they do not try to understand the deep and complex concept that is behind any truly effective marketing strategy.\n\nAll the above terms are different in a context of marketing. These concepts if applied personally would be something different.\n\n\nThe word ‘marketing’ is how you see yourself. Marketing is all about your representation you are trying to present to others. It is about the way you dress, the patterns you choose, the colors you use that is how you groom yourself. Everyone has a different strategy for it. It also applies to those T-shirt worn by someone throughout his college life which is to get easily recognizable.\n\nHaving no strategy for your personal appearance is also one of the strategies and many people do it.\n\nOne chooses an image one wishes to project himself. It can be of a sports player, a business professional, a technical nerd or anything else. By dressing up so you are communicating to others through your dress/appearance the character you like, the value you offer to others and the attributes you like the most.\n\nFirst impressions are determined by appearance though one cannot admit that appearances are all that important. Impression on others can be molded and evolved later but they require the efforts and takes time on your part. It is more about how you want your company outlook to be and how effectively the consumers will accept your message and image.\n\n\nHow you act in the public is advertising. Advertising describes your actions to the public. What you say is important. How you carry yourself and other attributes describe your actions. It is a part of your marketing strategy and you should have consistency between your actions and your image you want to put up with or someone to know you.\n\nSay you are a fan of a xyz club but are wearing some other clubs T-shirt and cheering the team. Your dress up (T-shirt) and your actions (cheering up) are completely mismatched. Maybe you will make your friends angry and they may boycott you in the future.\n\nIf your business advertising strategy is not in line with your marketing methods your consumers will get confused and may turn away from you. You should not execute your advertising at a wrong place, with the wrong message, and to a wrong audience.\n\n\nHow others see you is branding. Labelling or branding is how business actually does. Marketing strategy should consider your personal brand and should be accessed. If your business brand is strong you have more time at your hand building it. In the case of negative publicity or reputation problems, you need to focus more on changing people’s perception or rebuilt it.\n\nFrom a business point of view understanding how consumers recognize your business is important and helps you decide how you will be executing your advertising and marketing strategy.\n\nApplying the above-discussed concept oneself creates a simple and an effective way how each of the concepts can be applied to your business.\n\nHow to be a successful businessman and overcome challenges?\n\nWhenever you meet or see a successful businessman may start thinking what has lead to his success. You try to inquire from your sources as an answer to your question is important for you.  Well, the reason behind most of the successful people is consistent hard work, determination and hiring good people. A businessman has to face many challenges, must overcome obstacles in the path and move ahead.\n\nsuccessful businessmanHere are a few tips that will help to become a successful businessman.\n\n  1. Ideas on how to raise capital\n\nWhether you are a new businessman or an experienced one, you will need new ideas to raise your business capital. Sufficient capital is needed to run any business. At times raising capital may be a problem and you may run out of ideas how to raise it and may go mad over it. Better write down few alternatives where there is the possibility of raising capital. It can be raising it from crowd funding, bank loans, borrowing from friends or market, looking for a new investor, or government schemes for industries.\n\n  1. Managing cash flow efficiently\n\n90 or 45 days credit time; delay in invoicing, partial payments and many things like this are common in every business. But this hampers your cash flow which eventually affects the functioning of your business. Many  times electricity bills, loan repayment, taxes, raw material purchase, employees salary and things like that remain due because funds are not flowing in according to your expectation. One has to do proper planning and budgeting depending on inflow and outflow of your funds, utilizing funds optimally.\n\n  1. Use failure as your strength\n\nFailures are stepping stones to success goes the proverb and rightly. So no one in this world is perfect when it comes to business or entrepreneurship. But your approach to it should be perfect. Fear of danger is thousand times more dangerous than the danger itself. It is because of your fear of failing you will lack success. Observe and analysis why you failed and see to it that you do not repeat the same mistake again. Learn and understand what went wrong. The sooner you realize the better it will be.\n\n  1. See that your brand image is right\n\nYour brand image recognition is one of the decisive elements of the functioning of your businesses or establishment. For image building, you should choose the right channel and right geographical area depending on the nature of your business. You have to create your brand awareness among your target audience. Get hold of ace web developer and digital marketer for your promotional activities. You will have to increase your customers recall memory wherever they see something related to your product or services. Have a good feedback system in place.\n\n  1. Undertake one project at a time\n\nTo be a successful businessman you have to live in present and plan for the future. There may be thousands of new ideas running in your mind regarding establishing your brand everywhere and generating revenue. For being successful you have to count every step you take. Start with one project and give your 100 percent to it. Be firm in your decision even if another project is too tempting to start. If you hold many projects at the same time you will be stressed out and will not able to concentrate on all. Being successful in each project one by one will increase your motivational level.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5392628908157349}
+{"content": "Home  I  Residence I  Exhibition/Projects Education  I  Film  I  Publications  I  People  I  Earth  I  about  I  contact     \n\nz o r\n\nchanging of traffic movement\n\n\nThey don't know why, but they keep doing it Ideas after ideolog\n\nGrzegorz Drozd, Karen Mirza and Brad Butler, Javier Rodriguez, Konrad Smoleński, Maciek Stępiński, Radek Szlaga\n\nWaterside Contemporary, London   9.10.-5.11.2001            GaleríaBlanca Soto, Madrid: 10.11. - 2.12. 2011\n\n\nThey don't know why, but they keep doing it brings together six artists whose practices reflect on the role of ideology in a post-ideological landscape.\n\nIdeologies structure and simplify reality. They emerge where the Symbolic is not able to adequately translate the Real. We resort to using simplification, brand historical concepts, we give names to movements and phenomena.\n\nThe artists, aware of these mechanisms, reject the obvious, doubting the potential of ideologised thought and production. Working in paint, installation and video, they expand into the post-participatory, the post-media, and chart the past-punk and the past-colonial.\n\nThese artistic narratives are based on the overbearing here and now. Spilling out of context, the artists produce hallucinatory newspaper headlines, trash baroque icons, surreal minefields and post-apocalyptic barbecues. Faced with this fracture of the Real, we are as viewers released from the circumstantial, and are drawn into a world of the unconscious artistic gesture.\n\nThe resulting aesthetic/commodity experience illustrates an ultimate paradox of production: the artists' rejection of the institutionalised fuels the creation of new ideologies. They don't know why, but they keep doing it.\n\nExhibition curated by Piotr Sikora and Pierre d'Alancaisez.\n\nThe Project is implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, and is part of the Cultural Programme - Polish EU Presidency 2011, Instytut Adama Mickewicza, and the National Lottery through Arts Council England, ZOR Foundation, Gallery Blanca Soto, Waterside Contemporary.\n\nGrzegorz Drozd is a visual artist who makes use of a wide array of media, from classical forms of painting, to site-specific installations and feature-length films. Drozd's works grow from a vigilant observation of the absurdities of everyday life. The artist often refers to the utopian ideals of modernism to expose the absence of pragmatic justification for abstract ideas. In his own words, he's an \"artistic nomad, who frequently changes his vantage point on the subject matters he's working on, in order to create multiple perspectives\". The artist performs a multi-layered analysis: for example, Universal a work that refers to the housing problems an estate in Warsaw, or in his exhibition Lack, which deals with the out-dated methods of teaching at Warsaw's Academy of Fine Arts. Drozd's work is permeated by a peculiar wit, used by the artist to put the viewer into situations of ambiguity and to ask a Gogol-like question: \"what are you laughing at?\"\n\nKaren Mirza and Brad Butler's multi-layered practice consists of filmmaking, drawing, installation, photography, performance, publishing and curating. Their work challenges terms such as participation, collaboration, the social turn and the traditional roles of the artist as producer and the audience as recipient. Since 2009, Mirza and Butler have been developing a body of work entitled 'The Museum of Non Participation'. The artists have repeatedly found themselves embedded in pivotal moments of change, protest, non-alignment and debate. Experiencing such spaces of contestation both directly and through the network of art institutions, Mirza and Butler negotiate these influences in video, photography, text and action.  In 2004, Mirza and Butler formed no.w.here, an artist-run organization that combines film production with critical dialogue about contemporary image making. It supports the production of artist works, runs workshops and critical discussions and actively curated performances, screenings, residencies, publications, events and exhibitions.\n\nJavier Rodriguez's practice spans the printed word, image, installation and video. His works both appropriate and generate content. The term 'mixed-media' aptly describes both the technical composition of the artist's works and their thematic focus. Using newsprint, for example, Rodriguez brings together messages from a variety of sources, processing them with their own means of mechanical reproduction. Rodriguez has staged large-scale media interventions, and by living in both the UK and Venezuela, he has been able to find unsettling parallels between the disparate social systems. In 2010, he created 'Último Mundo Universal', a guerrilla mash-up of Venezuela's three largest tabloid newspapers, which was distributed alongside the original titles by street vendors and newsagents. In the UK, he has been creating a series of newspaper headline posters based on the titles of East London press.\n\nKonrad Smoleński works the fields of photography, video art, installation, performance and happening. He is one of the pillars of the Panerstwo group based in Poznan and an animator of the alternative music scene Pink Punk. Smolenski often makes use of spectacular pyrotechnic effects, in contrast minimal with the usually minimal punk aesthetic. A fine, chiselled precision is typical of his works, and this quality that gives them the purified, ascetic character. The artist has also experimented with music production through 'Sound Booming', guerrilla concerts by the group BNNT. Konrad Smolenski's practice brims with surprising objects, such as bombs made out of gymnastic balls, or music instruments constructed from military missiles. Such objects are marked with his intervention (being shot through or burnt, for example) and enter into dialogue with the concept of the ready-mades. A sense of anxiety can be found under the aesthetic layer of Smolenski's works, drawing the most fundamental questions about fear, death and the ultimate.\n\nMaciek Stępiński is an artist-photographer, painter, and maker of films and installations. For the last ten years, Stępiński has led photographic workshops and lectured contemporary photography in Poland and in France. Stepinski's original projects are connected with a sense of identity of a place (the south of France, Austria, California, northern Africa, Poland, Israel). His ability to feely use multiple media, with photography in particular, lets the artist thoroughly analyse his own artistic attitudes and their origins. His narratives, drawing from cinema, music, fragments of reality, personal history and memory, acquire the status of universal stories. In his works, Stępiński uses modified photography, illustrating the anonymous spots of modern life. By observing the moonlike landscape of highways from behind a windshield, making photographs of blurred Near East scenery or experiencing flashbacks of his childhood, he questions the fundamental principles of documentary photography. His video-films are hypnotizing projections that focus, above all, on the visual aspect of the medium. Stępiński refers to the issues of intuition and artistic sensitivity, somehow restoring those obscure notions to the discussion about contemporary art.\n\nRadek Szlaga is one of the most distinct young generation Polish artists, and is a co-founder of the art group Panerstwo. Szlaga's paintings capitalise on the achievements of realism in painting, a mode of expression the artist believes to be the most intellectually expressive.  His work both comments on wider society and self-reflects, using references from widely accepted visual culture. Szlaga's art is built with elements of pop culture:  the iconic status of painting, common consumer products, faces known from the media (like Charles Manson's or Tad Kaczynski's) - elements that leave an ambiguous imprint on the cultural landscape. These elements highlight the boundary of marks made in the conscious and the subconscious by visual culture - and how such a marks create simulacra of their physical origin. The artist engages in a multi-layered analysis of the visual, and is not afraid of drawing on art's own social involvement and the ideas of postmodernism. Not least, Szlaga's work, despite the gravity of its content, is not devoid of a sense of humour and typically presents and ironic view of reality.\n\nNo saben por qué, pero lo hacen lo ha. El arte en una perspectiva postideológica.\n\nGrzegorz Drozd, PSJM, Konrad Smoleński, Sergio Sotomayor, Maciek Stępiński, Radek Szlaga\n\nCurador: Piotr Sikora \n\nGalería Blanca Soto, Madrid: 10.11. - 2.12. 2011\n\n\"No saben por qué, pero lo hacen\" es el lema de la exposición ofrecida por la Fundación \"Zmiana Organizacji Ruchu\" en colaboración con waterside contemporary, de Londres, la Galería de Blanca Soto, en Madrid y la Galería LETO. A través de esta exposición, ocho artistas de Polonia, Gran Bretana y Espana presentan sus obras, que contemplan la función de la ideología en el panorama intelectual de la actualidad postideológica.\n\nLa ideología estructura y simplifica la realidad, brindándonos una óptica sesgada que reduce nuestro pensamiento a nociones esquemáticas. Los artistas, conscientes del funcionamiento de estos mecanismos, superan el sesgo ideológico, buscando una perspectiva adecuada para la crítica de las ideologías. Recurriendo a un amplio repertorio de medios de expresión artística, se adentran en el incierto terreno del arte postcrítico y postparticipativo.\n\nSu narración artística, si bien inspirada en el \"aquí y ahora\", supera las barreras de un contexto cultural o nacional determinado. La combinación de los iconos del barroco-trash, de Radek Szlaga; el mobiliario de jardín postapocalíptico de Grzegorz Drozd o la colección de moda de la marca Marx, de PSJN, incitan al espectador a sobrepasar los límites del contexto local y descubrir la realidad subconsciente del gesto artístico universal.\n\nLos resultados de dicha búsqueda artística son muy variados, desde obras de tintes fuertemente críticos hasta experimentos formales con una vocación más estética. Su presentación conjunta se convierte en una iniciativa para ofrecer una alternativa a una realidad dominada por ideologías y sistemas decadentes. Porque tiene que existir obligatoriamente una alternativa, a pesar de que -citando a Žižek- imaginarla resulta más difícil aún que imaginar el fin del mundo.\n\nEl proyecto ha sido realizado dentro del marco del Programa Cultural de la Presidencia Polaca del Consejo de la UE y cofinanciado con los fondos del Ministro de Cultura y Patrimonio Nacional de la República de Polonia. \n\nphoto/ Maciek Stępiński, Idea(ł), 2009\n\ncopyright © ZOR 2003-2013 All rights resereved \n\nFrom Drozd’s intervention films through Szlaga’s\n\nironic paintings to Rodriquez’s experiments with\n\nprint and daily papers. If you’re dissatisfied with\n\nthe local cultural agenda, hit the road. One of the\n\nmost interesting exhibitions of young Polish and\n\nEuropean art awaits you in Madrid. Alek Hudzik", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.6947329044342041}
+{"content": "Cognitive Bias – Limitation in Objective Thinking\n\nWhen the mind is taking shortcuts\n\nDo you think of yourself as someone logical, objective and capable of evaluating the information before making an important decision?\n\nYou might think that you are in charge of everything, yet the truth is your judgments and decisions are often influenced by a wide variety of biases.\n\n\nHuman brain is incredibly powerful, yet it also has its limitations and one of them is cognitive bias… sounds complicated, doesn’t it?\n\nPerhaps you instantly related this term with psychology or cognitive science but maybe you have never heard about it before.\n\nCognitive factors have an effect on the decision-making\n\nCognitive bias is a tendency to perceive the information through our own experiences and preferences.\n\nTo clarify, cognitive bias is a flaw, a systematic error that makes our brain take shortcuts that result in illogical thinking and behavior.\n\nSuch filtering process is known as heuristics – an approach that eases decision making by allowing the brain to prioritize and then process the information.\n\n It’s important to distinguish between cognitive biases and logical fallacies\n\nResearch shows that cognitive biases can easily bypass already well-established rules and result in disasters (e.g. loss of lives in Mount Everest expeditions or the global financial crisis in 2008)\n\nWhile it certainly can be a threat to our performance, the complexity of the world and the load of information around us often demands to act quickly, therefore we rely on such mental shortcuts.\n\nStudy of cognitive biases can be quite confusing; there is no common classification or one way to explain them. Moreover, a variety of forms exist causing controversies as to whether some of these biases count as useless or irrational.\n\ncognitive bias refers to the systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, whereby inferences about other people and situations may be drawn in an illogical fashion\n\nSo what is the main function of cognitive bias? It’s the ability to save our brains some time and energy.\n\nWhile Wikipedia provides us with an extensive list of cognitive biases, the amount of information encompassed makes it extremely difficult to grasp.\n\nHowever, internet entrepreneur and engineer, John Manoogian created a visual map (poster version available here) to make it more convenient. The structure of this chart is a more simple and organized.\n\nCognitive biases can be organized into four categories: biases that arise from too much information, not enough meaning, the need to act quickly, and the limits of memory\n\nTo gain a better understanding Manoogian suggests looking at problems that each bias is solving. Then you will be able to understand why they exist, how they are useful and the trade-offs (and resulting mental errors) they introduce.\n\nAccording to Manoogian, cognitive biases can be organized into four categories:\n\n  • Information overload\n  • Lack of meaning\n  • The need to act fast\n  • Information worth remembering later\n\nEach of these problems can be studied closer, providing examples of biases that can lead to poor judgments and decisions. Further information may open your eyes and shatter all your beliefs that made you think you are in charge of everything.\n\nLet’s discuss the problems and related biases:\n\n\n1. Information overload\n\nWith such excessive amount of information we cannot physically remember everything; therefore, most of the information is filtered out.  This is when our brain is in charge to choose the most relevant (supposedly!) information bits that might be useful sometime in the future.\n\nHow does our brain cope with the problem?\n\n> Notice things primed in our memory or repeated often\n\nWe are simply drawn to things we are already somehow related to (Availability heuristic, Attentional bias, Illusory truth effect , Mere exposure effect, Context effect, Cue-dependent forgetting, Mood-congruent memory bias, Frequency illusion, Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, Empathy gap, Omission bias, Base rate fallacy)\n\n> Notice bizarre, funny and visually attractive things\n\nThese are all the things that catch our eye. The brain adds the importance to the unusual, not paying attention to the ordinary. Unusual is easy to notice and remember. (Bizarreness effect, Humor effect, Von Restorff effect, Picture superiority effect, Self-relevance effect, Negativity bias)\n\n> Notice changes\n\nWe tend to not only notice changes but also to evaluate their significance by determining whether the changes are positive or negative. Same can be applied to comparison of similar things. (Anchoring, Contrast effect, Focusing effect, Money illusion, Framing effect, Weber-Fechner law, Conservatism, Distinction bias)\n\n> Notice details matching our existing beliefs\n\nWe tend to ignore details that contradict our existing beliefs. (Confirmation bias, Congruence bias, Post-purchase rationalization, Choice-supportive bias, Selective perception, Observer-expectancy effect, Experimenter’s bias, Observer effect, Expectation bias, Ostrich effect, Subjective validation, Continued influence effect, Semmelweis reflex)\n\n> Notice flaws in others rather than flaws in ourselves\n\nWe often point out flaws in other people while completely ignoring our own flaws and faults. (Bias blind spot, Naïve cynicism, Naïve realism)\n\n\n2. Lack of meaning\n\nWhen there is so much information, the world can be confusing and we can only take along little pieces of information. Yet it is important for us to add sense to this information, therefore we reconstruct our already existing world by adding new information and reshaping our mental models.\n\nHow is it done?\n\n> Finding stories and patterns even in sparse data\n\nSince so much information is filtered out and kept so little, we never really get to see the “whole picture”, the complete story. While we might have that completeness feel in our heads, it may be a fake feeling. (Confabulation, Clustering illusion, Insensitivity to sample size, Neglect of probability, Anecdotal fallacy, Illusion of validity, Masked man fallacy, Recency illusion, Gambler’s fallacy, Hot-hand fallacy, Illusory correlation, Pareidolia, Anthrophomorphism)\n\n> Filling in characteristics from stereotypes, generalities and prior histories in situations when there are new specific instances or gaps in information\n\nWhenever there is partial information and when our brain is familiar with the subject, it will have no problem filling these gaps with either guesses or information provided by other trusted sources. This leads to us forgetting which parts are real and which – simply filled in. (Group attribution error, Ultimate attribution, Moral credential effect, Just-world hypothesis, Argument from fallacy, Authority bias, Automation bias, Bandwagon effect, Placebo effect)\n\n> Simplifying probabilities and numbers to ease the memorizing process\n\nMath is an enemy for many of us. (Mental accounting, Normalcy bias, Appeal to probability fallacy, Murphy’s law, Subadditivity effect, Magic number 7+-2)\n\n> Thinking we know what others think\n\nAssuming they know what we know or believing that they are thinking about us just as much as we think about ourselves.  (Curse of knowledge, Illusion of transparency, Spotlight effect)\n\n> Projecting current mindset and assumptions onto the past and future\n\nThis happens partly due to the fact that it is difficult for us to imagine the speed of changes over time. (Hindsight bias, Outcome bias, Moral luck, Declinism)\n\n\n3. The need to act fast\n\nWhile we are left with very little time for the amount of information we must deal with, we cannot let it paralyze us. We have to learn how each piece of new information can affect the situation. We must apply it to our decisions to stimulate the future.\n\nHow is it achieved?\n\n> We need to be confident in our ability to make an impact and to feel important\n\n(Overconfidence effect, Egocentric bias, Optimism bias)\n\n> To stay focused we favor the immediate, relatable thing within reach instead of the delayed and distant\n\n(Hyperbolic discounting, Appeal to novelty, Identifiable victim effect)\n\n> To get something done we are motivated to finish what we have already started\n\n(Sunk cost fallacy, Irrational escalation, Loss aversion, IKEA effect)\n\n> To avoid mistakes we are interested in preserving our autonomy and status in a group, as well as avoid irreversible decisions\n\nor simply choosing the less risky route (System justification, Reactance, Reverse psychology, Decoy effect)\n\n> We favor simple options with complete information instead of more complex, ambiguous options\n\n(Ambiguity effect, Information bias, Belief bias, Rhyme as reason effect)\n\n\n4. Information worth remembering\n\nSo what should we remember?  We have to keep only those bits of information that can prove to be useful in future. When it comes to deciding what information is worth keeping and what must be forgotten our brain is constantly dealing with bets and trade-offs.\n\nHow do we cope?\n\n> By editing and reinforcing some memories after the fact\n\nMaking the memory stronger but sometimes also adding a detail that was not there before. (Misattribution of memory, Source confusion, Cryptomnesia)\n\n> By discarding specifics to form generalities\n\nStereotypes, associations and prejudices are the worst enemies, and out of all the biases these result in very bad consequences (Implicit associations, Implicit stereotypes, Stereotypical bias, Prejudice, Negativity bias)\n\n> By reducing events and lists to their key elements\n\nWe choose only a few items to represent the whole. (Peak-end rule, Leveling and sharpening, Misinformiation effect)\n\n> By storing memories based on the experience\n\nThe way our brain chooses to store information is concluded not only by the importance of the information but also by other circumstances. (Levels of processing effect, Testing effect, Absent mindedness)\n\n\n* * *\n\n\nWhile it may not be completely possible to eliminate brain’s shortcuts, understanding of biases can be useful in decision making. Vast amount of information requires to be confident and to act fast.\n\nOur brain must browse through and filter insane amounts of information quickly, fill in the gaps and reshape already existing models. Make sure that the information is relatively stable and accurate.\n\nTo do it efficiently the brain must remember only the most important and useful new bits of information, communicating it to other systems and making sure new information is added over time.\n\nBe thoughtful, notice your own biases and look for ways to expand your mind because there is always room for improvement.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9131337404251099}
+{"content": "Certbot renewal without HTTP Port\n\n\nMy domain is: cctv.tnwestpoint.co.uk\n\nI ran this command: certbot renew --dry-run\n\nIt produced this output:\nAttempting to renew cert (cctv.tnwestpoint.co.uk) from /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/cctv.tnwestpoint.co.uk.conf produced an unexpected error: Failed authorization procedure. cctv.tnwestpoint.co.uk (http-01): urn:ietf:params:acme:error:connection :: The server could not connect to the client to verify the domain :: Fetching http://cctv.tnwestpoint.co.uk/.well-known/acme-challenge/DIc2ImfNPDgDLVJVkBNh6jfafang9mjSSnYrxD0VzH4: Timeout during connect (likely firewall problem). Skipping.\nAll renewal attempts failed. The following certs could not be renewed:\n/etc/letsencrypt/live/cctv.tnwestpoint.co.uk/fullchain.pem (failure)\n\nMy web server is (include version): Apache 2.2\n\nThe operating system my web server runs on is (include version): Ubuntu 16.04\n\nMy hosting provider, if applicable, is: n/a\n\n\nI’m using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel): n/a\n\n\nMy webserver I’ve configured to only allow HTTPs connections inbound and ideally I don’t want to be opening HTTP.\n\nThe above means I can only have the renewal since updating from 0.17 to 0.28.0 by enabling http inbound to the server. Is it possible to auto-renew with HTTPs only?\n\n\nHi @glennda37\n\nyes, if you use http-01 validation.\n\nYou can use tls-alpn-01 - validation. But Certbot doesn’t support that, acme.sh does.\n\nOr you use dns-01 validation.\n\nWhy isn’t it possible to open port 80? Security is a wrong argument, you can use redirects http -> https.\n\n\nits a single box sat in my house and the only port needed was 443 (as its an app connecting to it, rather than browsers) which is why I was keeping the ports down, If it accepts http>HTTPS redirection I’ll leave 80 open and just use the redirect.\n\nI’d initially just configured it on 443, so I had to add the 80 binding to get it to work.\n\n\nYes, that’s the solution. Add a 80-port binding and a redirect. But check that your redirect is correct, so that\n\n\nis redirected to\n\n\nnot to\n\n\n(sometimes seen).\n\n\nYes, I’ll ensure the requested page is re-written.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.5021661520004272}
+{"content": "The Story From Day One\n\nWords were once magic. They did not speak about ideas but were acts of creation. You said ‘sun’ and a sun appeared. You said ‘happy’ and it was so. You said ‘devil’ and you ran. (See Eskimo poem, 160) Students are seeped in or not far from this age of magic. If they’re lucky, even in high school some of this magic still sticks to them.\n\n\nThis insight helps explain why young children love myths and tales of ancient civilizations so much. Without such words, there would be no myths. Without myths or a similar context, there would be no words. Myths are magical words sculpted into storied beings and worlds. Myths are not and should not be taught just as literature but as the art of world creation. We need to teach students to try and understand these worlds, and try to understand and enjoy the great differences in perspective they represent. Understanding these differences in perspective teaches us what it means to be human. William Erwin Thompson said myths are not just read but enacted. And Joseph Campbell said they are stories that you live. They are, or once were, sacred. “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God…”[John 1:1, Genesis 1:3]\n\n\nSo much of our lives are lived within words that we forget their magic. This was true in the past and is still true for many of us in the present. Plus nowadays, more of us use and think of words from a distance. We study words, how they can be implements of construction and destruction. This study brings word histories and meanings to the surface but also might keep us close to the surface, obscuring depths of experience.\n\n\nI used to teach a class called The Story From Day One. It began with worldwide myths of creation, heroes and tricksters. I loved to share stories like the Haida (Native American) “The Raven Steals The Light,” and Gilgamesh, The Odyssey, Beowulf. Sometimes we read Grendel and Ishmael. Or, if it was middle school, Whale Rider. And we ended up with a contemporary novel like Animal Dreams.\n\n\nMany people I know have an urge to learn more about their family roots. One goal of the course was to reveal the roots we all share. Imagery we use even today can be traced back to works created by ancient humans in the Paleolithic art caves. For example, images of bulls, horses, snakes and other animals, horns of plenty, venus figurines, all can be seen in the caves. The snake becomes the Greek Hermes. The bull becomes Zeus, born in a cave in Crete. The venus figurines become goddesses, like Gaia and Aphrodite. Modern heroes, heroines as well as monsters and figures of evil and can be traced back to mythical figures.\n\n\nOne such figure is the Sumerian Gilgamesh, the protagonist in the first written epic story, recorded sometime around 2100 BCE. The character, Gilgamesh, is the first hero, actually the first greatly flawed superhero. Much about the story is very familiar to us. It tells about a very powerful but out of control, egocentric, and sexist King, who oppresses his people until the gods send his opposite, Enkidu, to wrestle with him. Enkidu, a seeming monster created by the gods, is a wild man who runs naked with the animals until he is “civilized” by sex with a priestess. (If you teach this, you’ll need an appropraite way to discuss this early episode of sex.) She cuts his hair, introduces him to human food, and tells him of Gilgamesh. Enkidu turns out to have “a good heart.” He goes to the walled city of Uruk to end Gilgamesh’s oppression of women. He wrestles Gilgamesh until the two become deep friends. The story is about facing monsters and facing grief, death and urges for immortality and what can be learned from all three. The wise man of the story is Utnapishtim, who is very much the biblical Noah. The women evoke later mythical figures of Greece and other patriarchal cultures, like the Sumerian Inanna, a jealous goddess becomes the Babylonian Ishtar and the Greek Aphrodite. There is Shiduri, the tavern keeper, who turns out to be a sybil or soul guide. These myths introduce archetypes, patterns of human thought and behavior. The archetypes and imagery are not just literary devices to create a good story, but perceptual devices. They reveal what guides how people view their lives.\n\n\nStudents, especially in high school, too easily feel isolated on an island of self, cut off not only from their contemporaries but from a sense of the continuity of life. They have little grasp of the wealth of possibility human history can illustrate. They have little grasp of what they share and how they differ with early humans. I attempted in this course to give an intuitive sense of these possibilities, through literature, meditation and imaginative exercises, and an intellectual understanding, by analyzing and discussing the historical context of each work studied.\n\n\nIn meditation, there comes a magical moment when you realize you have drifted. You are being mindful, aware moment-by-moment of thoughts, feelings, sensations—and before you know it, you lose the awareness. You are gone, lost in a thought and the story it has to tell. Then you return and realize: “I am drifting.” What do you then do? Do you berate yourself for getting lost and drifting? If you do, you get lost once again. Or do you stay with the awareness, let your mind clear, be free from any thought? You then take in the whole situation. Everything gets to be included in that moment. All that went before, everyone and everything. Yet, nothing need be said.\n\n\nThis is our challenge today, and it has always been our challenge. Do we allow ourselves to learn enough from history and other sources so we can assimilate the lessons and let our minds take in the present situation with clarity? Or do we forget ourselves again and again with thoughts of attack and retribution? We can get lost in the stories we have created or we can live with an awareness of the magical possibilities of mind. Which will it be?\n\n\n\n*The photo is of ancient Troy, in modern Turkey.\n\nRetirement: What Does It and Can It Mean?\n\nWhat does it mean to retire besides leaving your job? As soon as I thought of this as a topic, I received two related e-mails, which confirmed for me how important the topic is.  One was about the book The Age of Dignity, on the great numbers of baby boomers reaching retirement and how to care for so many people. The other was an article about how poor our health care system is in terms of caring for dying people. I’m, however, primarily interested now in what retirement means to the retiree and to society. What do you do when you retire? How do you think of yourself once you’re a “senior citizen”? How can society in general think of this stage of life?\n\n\nOf course, I have a personal interest in the question.  I’m 67, close to 68. When I retired, the obvious stared me clearly in the face. Work had filled my life for years, not just my time but my sense of myself. I found status, friendship, purpose, value through the job. I was a teacher and felt gifted to be paid to creatively help other people. I had a plan, too. When I retired, I would do things that I didn’t allow myself to do when working. I would also do what I wanted to do since I was 6 or 8 or 18, namely write. Of course, when I was 6, I wanted to write about great adventures. Now, I’m writing about retiring, teaching, thinking– a very different kind of adventure. Earlier in my life, I needed to make a good deal of money if I wanted to write. Now, I don’t have to do that. I’m free from that demand.\n\n\nBut I still ask myself: I have hopefully 20-plus years of life left. How do I want to live it?\n\n\nHuston Smith describes two stages of life beyond work in traditional forms of Hinduism, beyond what he calls the “householder stage.” There is the retiree stage and then the sannyasin. He says not everyone reaches either of them. The retirement stage is where one turns inwards to answer life’s deepest questions. You leave home, even your spouse and family, and become a “forest dweller” or a wanderer. You give up all your ties and live with “nothing” between you and reality. Your life is driven by questions: what makes life worthwhile? Is old age worthwhile? Is self-understanding truly important? What is the secret of ‘I’? This is a time of transcending the five senses “to dwell in the reality which underlies the natural world.” (53)\n\n\nA sannyasin is a renunciate, “one who neither hates nor loves,” according to the Bhagavad Gita, one of the sacred books of India. A sannyasin has found self-realization and can return to the world, because everywhere is home, everything is enlightening.\n\n\nI remember a discussion that was repeated several times and in different ways with my students. The question was “would you rather live with a comfortable illusion or a discomforting truth?” Or, “Is it right to bury your head in the sand in order to not be overwhelmed by fear or others suffering?” It’s a false dichotomy, but reveals real questions. Why should I live with no illusions between “reality” and myself? Should my life be guided by what’s comfortable? How much “truth” can I let in? How honest can I be with myself?\n\n\nI have no desire to leave home, give up my wife, or cats but, in some sense, have I already done so? By giving up my job, I gave up a busy but scheduled, seemingly predictable life, a life centered on doing and earning. Sometimes, retiring seems like an extended vacation, other times, like a curse. What do you do when you have no work, no set of obligations to take up most of the day?\n\n\nI retired when I did partly because I wanted to answer these questions before I died. Despite what I had told myself, what I did had value partly because other people valued what I did and paid for it. In the U. S., money concerns tend to creep in everywhere. Wasn’t it about time to care enough about life that I no longer needed to be paid to live it? Can I give each moment the same value I once gave to work? Can I open enough to the world, to others, and value them, feel them, so deeply that I gain security not in material things and other’s opinion of me, but in relationship to others and in a sense of what’s right, what “fits the situation,” what is?\n\n\nAll of society could benefit from re-conceptualizing retirement, not just as a reward for years of hard work, but also as important in-itself. We need times in life dedicated to questioning. We need elders to teach us about life and aging. We will (hopefully) all retire and get old. We can’t just bury our heads in the sands of youth. If we don’t think positively of elders, then we will fear aging and thus our lives. We might treat the elderly with disrespect and have years of disrespect waiting for us. How we think of elders is very much how we think about life itself.\n\n\nMy grandfather told me that he regretted nothing. He had lived a full life. Only by valuing the moments of life can you say this. This is one reason not to bury your head in the sand in the face of discomfort or the face of others suffering or whatever. Burials are expensive. You pay a price for hiding. The world pays a price for your hiding. Both you and the world are poorer for it. Maybe learning how to be rich in this way is what retirement is for.\n\nExperiments with Awareness and Metacognition\n\nTry these experiment with yourself and, if you’re a high school teacher, with your students. (I’m borrowing this from Zen teacher Albert Low with a touch of David Hume.) It might reveal and challenge accepted ideas and beliefs about metacognition and perception. Put your hand on the surface of a table. What does it feel like? Hard. Cool. A little sticky. Gross. How much of what you feel is the table? All of it? Half? Half the table, half you? Is the sensation of being “gross” from the table? Let me ask this another way. Does the feeling of grossness or stickiness belong to the table or the hand? Does the table “feel”? Maybe that seems like a crazy question. When you’re feeling the table surface as gross, what makes it gross? Is it the table? Are you mentally commenting on a memory of the table? Are you possibly feeling your own judgment or interpretation of a sensation?\n\n\nWith your hand still on the table, close your eyes. The table is obviously not the same as your hand. Nor is your hand the same as the sensation. But, does the sense of hand, table, smoothness all arise together or sequentially? When the hand touches the table, is all that you sense sensation? All you feel is feeling? Are you aware only of awareness?  Or even more precisely, cut out the you. There is just perception or awareness. If you are feeling your own interpretation, there would have to be a separation between the act of feeling and the object felt. Can feeling and felt ever be so separated?\n\n\nOr what about other senses? Listen to a symphony. Where is the symphony? The instruments and musicians might be on the stage in the music hall.  The sound vibrations might fill the space. But the symphony? Or let’s re-phrase the famous question asked by the English philosopher Bishop Berkeley : “if a tree falls in the forest, is there a sound?” Without an ear (and a brain) is there a symphony? Or you see a beautiful sunset, with deep reds and vibrant yellows. Without an eye and a brain, where is the vibrant color? “Where does hearing end and sound begin?” Where does seeing end and color begin?\n\n\nWhen we reflect, we think there is an ‘I’ who reflects. What does the ‘I’ reflect on? Another ‘I’? A memory or a concept of ‘I’? Some objective “fact”? But as we’ve possibly determined through our experiments, the “I” who sees and the “thing” seen are not separate. When we reflect, we reflect on our own perception or memory and then create a conclusion based on that memory. We’re reflecting not on some depersonalized truth but on a very personal creation. Are we the seen, the seer—or the seeing?\n\n\nOne more experiment. As you sit in a room reading this, sit back a little and just take in the whole space. You are at the center, yet all you are aware of, feel, sense is your surroundings. Just be aware of the whole room. Then, change your awareness to focus on one thing, maybe a word in this blog, a book, a table. Sense yourself at the periphery looking at the object of your gaze. This is another type of awareness. You can and constantly do shift easily from the center to the periphery and thus provide a necessary contrast. You need to be aware of the whole so the details can have a context and, thus, make sense. You need the details to construct the whole. Details and whole are interdependent.\n\n\nBut remember the first experiments. This word being read is not separate from the awareness reading. When you read a word, what is the nature of the awareness of the letters? The word comes to you as a whole. But the letters make up that whole. Albert Low argues you are aware not “of” the letters but “as” them. Can the letters have meaning without awareness-as them as letters? Pick up a pen and write a word. You can guide the pen to write a word because you have a non-focused awareness-as the weight, size, texture, and point of the pen. Or going back to the table; if you put your hand on the table to steady yourself as you stand up from your chair, you are aware-as the table. Or, even better, let’s say you turn on the music. You can be aware-of the music as you study and appreciate it. But as your feet start moving, are you aware-as the music as you dance?\n\n\nWhat are the implications of these experiments in awareness? How can they help anyone? I find them fun. Each time I do them and try to describe what I find, I understand my own life and perceptions better. And possibly, if I understand awareness better at this very basic level, I can do a better job of recognizing and interrupting suffering as I notice it arising. I can better understand the role I play in the perceived world.\n\nTo Question, First Listen\n\nSeveral teachers asked me: “How do you get students to question, or ask questions?” I often say that, to start any unit or start the school year, find out what questions students have about the subject. What do they want or feel a need to know? But, students don’t always know or won’t say. Their questions are not always clear to them. The same for most of us. So, what then?\n\n\nWhat do you do when you’re unsure about what you feel or think, or you don’t know what’s bothering or driving you? In other words, how do you hear what you’re saying to yourself?  Or, how do you improve your ability to listen, not just hear; to see, not just look? That’s a big question, bigger than I can answer.\n\n\nSome people think a question is a sign of ignorance. Actually, it’s a sign of strength. A question is halfway to an answer. You need to recognize that you don’t know in order to come to knowing or to changing a viewpoint. So, teach and learn how to live with not-knowing and to live with questions.\n\n\nOne important element of teaching questioning in school is creating an environment or school culture that honors questioning and honors student voices, both in and out of the classroom. For example, a democratic school honors student voices and gives students a sense that their viewpoints are important. If they think their views are important, they will be more motivated to listen to themselves. If the school does not give students a sincere voice, students have more of a struggle to recognize value in their own mind and heart.\n\n\nBut what if you don’t have or can’t create a democratic school? Or even if you do, it’s not enough. The teacher in a classroom can model asking and listening– and questioning. Teachers should make their thinking visible, so the student can do the same. When teachers enter the classroom as if they are guides to learning, not know-it-alls; if teachers admit they lack knowledge and have questions, students feel more inclined to do the same.\n\n\nTeach model questions. For example, questions to ask when you’re discussing a topic or reading a text. Questions to ask to test the speaker and ones to ask to test your own understanding. My favorites are ‘what,’ and ‘why’ and then how. “What exactly was said? What was the context? What was meant?” And: “Why was it said? What reasons would/did the person give for saying it? What is the proof?” Then: “How did they or would you apply this?”\n\n\nWhat you are after is interoception, a relatively new word that means “perceiving within,” or perceiving one’s internal state. Humans have evolved brain systems devoted to this skill. Interoception is crucial for thinking clearly and acting with awareness. Mindfulness or learning how to be aware moment-by-moment of thoughts, feeling, and sensations is one way to train interoception.\n\n\nAnother way is to pick up a pen and write down on a piece of paper exactly what you hear, now, in your mind, without editing. Write even your wonder about what you’re writing. And then read Writing Your Mind Alive, by Linda Trichter-Metcalf and Tobin Simon. It describes a practice of revelation and understanding called proprioceptive writing.  The practice helped me find joy in writing, after I had lost it, and deepen understanding and self-trust.\n\n\nImprovisational theatre games can be adapted to the classroom. They’re fun, and also teach you how to listen not only for your inner speech but for that of others. I’ll describe a few exercises I have used frequently in a classroom:\n\nShow the class a photograph of a few people interacting in public. Ask students to study the photo and then write, “who-what-why;” who the people are, what they’re doing, and why they’re doing what they’re doing. Tell them to simply listen to their intuition and let their imaginations work.\n\nGive students one word, one that easily evokes an archetype, such as ‘no’ or ‘wonder’ and ask them: say the word to yourself a few times. Then describe an imagined person who this word personifies. To take this to the next step, have students create three people, from three contrasting words, like ‘yes-no-maybe.’ Put these three in a situation and imagine what will happen.\n\nA more physical exercise might be mirroring. Pair up students. Have the people face each other, hands up, palms toward the partner. You can begin by having one person act as the leader, and then switch back and forth until there’s no clear leader.  When one moves, the other mirrors the movement. Make the movements fairly easy, at first. Do not lose eye contact or break the plane of the mirror.\n\n\nMirroring is a good way to introduce empathy training. There are many meditation practices to develop empathy and compassion. According to Paul Ekman, who has studied emotion extensively, empathy can take different forms. It begins with recognizing or reading what someone is feeling or thinking. It can then progress to “feeling with” another. Add caring and the willingness to act for another’s welfare and you have compassionate empathy. Add putting yourself at risk and you have altruism. Empathy is not “self-sacrifice” in the sense of not valuing your life. Instead, valuing (and clearly perceiving) the messages of your own mind and heart allows you to value the mind and heart of others, and vice versa.\n\n\nTo question, first listen. To listen, first care. To care—hopefully needs no further reason.", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.884361982345581}
+{"content": "Nobody downloaded yet\n\nPolitical instability in the Solomon islands and Australias relations - Essay Example\n\nComments (0) Cite this document\nThe Solomon Islands, a group of islands located in Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea, has been undergoing political instability in the contemporary history which has negatively impacted economic development in the nation. Being the principal aid donor…\nDownload full paperFile format: .doc, available for editing\nGRAB THE BEST PAPER96% of users find it useful\nPolitical instability in the Solomon islands and Australias relations\nRead TextPreview\n\nExtract of sample\n\"Political instability in the Solomon islands and Australias relations\"\n\nDownload file to see previous pages Australia is helping the Solomon Islands Government address continuing problems of lawlessness and economic decline.” (Year book, Australia, 2005, P. 82). Therefore, the diplomatic relations of Australia with the Solomon Islands have essential role in the peace keeping process of the nation as well as the region. To analyze the background information of the Solomon Islands, the British Government established a protectorate over the Solomon Islands in 1893 and they provided some of the bloodiest land, sea and air battles of World War II from 1942 to 1945. The land achieved independence in 1976 following the struggles by the indigenous people after World War II. In a careful analysis of the history of the Solomon Islands, it becomes lucid that political instability was a ground reality from its establishment and the diplomatic relations of Australia played a significant role in this context. Various political situations and developments in the Solomon Islands required the intervention of a political power such as Australia and it has been seriously involved in working to promote stability and growth in the nation and the region. In this paper, Australia’s deep and longstanding relationship with the Solomon Islands is analyzed in detail in order to determine the various aspects of the nation’s relationship with the Solomon Islands.\nAustralia’s relationship with Solomon Islands, which has been deep and longstanding, has played a major role in the attempts to promote stability and growth in the nation. The bilateral relationship between the two nations has been very significant and Australia maintains a serious business relationship with Solomon Islands. “Australia maintains a close business relationship with Solomon Islands… Recognizing the scope and scale of the challenges confronting Solomon Islands, Australia continues to provide ...Download file to see next pagesRead More\nCite this document\n  • APA\n  • MLA\n(“Political instability in the Solomon islands and Australias relations Essay”, n.d.)\nPolitical instability in the Solomon islands and Australias relations Essay. Retrieved from\n(Political Instability in the Solomon Islands and Australias Relations Essay)\nPolitical Instability in the Solomon Islands and Australias Relations Essay.\n“Political Instability in the Solomon Islands and Australias Relations Essay”, n.d.\n  • Cited: 0 times\nComments (0)\nClick to create a comment or rate a document\nPolitical Science / International Relations\nThis study declares that as in any other professional career, competence and expertise in the profession is honed through diverse approaches including theoretical development and exposure to the experience. He is profoundly enthusiastic in delving into International Politics and the impact of Economics on it. He served the US military for the past 6 years and have experienced the impact of economics on how various governments react and function overseas. The reporter joined the Navy with the primary objective of finishing college. 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Discuss in some detail the causes and consequences of the Cold War. Is the USA at present time waxing or waning as an empire? There are two main discussions outlined below; the causes and the consequences of the Cold War; and whether at the present time the USA is waxing or waning as an empire. The USA was one of several great powers at the start of the Second World War. Britain, France, Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union, and to a lesser Italy were considered to be great powers. The ambitions of Germany, Japan, and Italy had arguably caused the Second World War. The eventual defeat if these Axis powers ended their status as great powers. The exertions... if...\n4 Pages(1000 words)Essay\nInternational Relations - Political Science\n...Is Globalization A Cure Or A Curse In The World? With the advent of the internet and massive computing systems that are nevertheless small in physical scale, the world is becoming an ever-shrinking globe. National boundaries are becoming blurred as people in India begin working for companies in the United States and cultural groups are beginning to lose their sense of uniqueness as the world’s civilizations become more and more Westernized with the onset of full-scale capitalism. This globalization, or inter-nationalization, process has been a hotly debated topic in the media, political and social circles for the past several years. Globalization can be viewed as both a curse and a cure but in either case, it is...\n2 Pages(500 words)Essay\nPolitical Science - international relations\n...political influence by means of economic threats related to the debt? (“America’s Foreign Owners”, 2006). What if they all united against the U.S.? It probably won’t happen anytime soon but the fact that it could happen should be enough to alert Congress to the crisis. 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Akio et al (2007) have built upon the results of previous research, which has suggested that activation of the canonical Wnt signal pathway can induce transcription of a new set of genes through the T cell factor, which in turn regulates cell multiplication and differentiation. Akio et al (2007) have shown that Wnt signaling brought on...\n9 Pages(2250 words)Essay\nInternational Relations and Political Systems\n...International Relations and Political Systems Question The United s relations with Pakistan, as the international system theory portrays it, have seemingly deteriorated. This is following the onset and continuous counter-terrorism attacks and launches by the United States government, which to some extent marks infringement of Pakistan freedoms and rights as a nation-state. Additionally, the Raymond Davis’ case, the drone technology operations, and the raid the ultimately killed Osama Bin Laden marked the onset of the deteriorating relations between the U.S. and Pakistan. 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+{"content": "J-20 Vs F-35: China commissions World's first non US Stealth Fighter\n\n\nBEIJING - The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLA-AF) of China has officially commissioned its very first stealth aircraft, Chengdu’s J-20 fighter, a Chinese military spokesman said September 28, making it only one of three operational stealth aircraft models in the world.\n\nThe twin-engine, single-seat jet “has been officially commissioned into military service,” Xinhua reports, citing Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian.\n\nPer Xinhua, the “fourth-generation” medium- and long-range aircraft is still undergoing flight tests which “are being conducted as scheduled.”\n\nScout Warrior’s Dave Majumdar reports that China’s fourth-generation designation corresponds to what most mature air forces consider “fifth-generation” aircraft, namely the F-22 and F-35.\n\nThe F-22 Raptor went live in 2005 while the US military’s other fifth-generation aircraft, the F-35 — informally known as the ‘F-22 With a Cupholder’ — reached initial operational capability (IOC) in 2015. Technically, the F-35A US Air Force variant attained IOC in December 2016, the US Marine Corps’ short-takeoff and vertical landing variant hit IOC in December 2015, and the US Navy’s F-35C is expected to receive the IOC declaration in February 2019, according to a report for Congressional Defense Committees prepared by the F-35 Joint Program Office.  \n\nKeep in mind the US went from zero to on-the-moon in 10 years, while 20 years after Lockheed was named the prime contractor for the joint strike fighter in 1997. The jet still suffers from snafus as major as engine fires because wind “forced hot air into the inlet” of the jet’s internal power and cooling system. Damages from wind conditions led to upwards of $50 million in needed repairs.\n\n“The process of fifth-gen. fighters’ introduction to the U.S. Air Force was very long and painful for the US,” Vasily Kashin, senior fellow at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies in Moscow, told The National Interest. There’s “no reason to believe China would be different,” Kashin says.\n\nMore from this category", "pred_label": "__label__1", "pred_score_pos": 0.9957918524742126}