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It is done, and submitted. You can play “Survival of the Tastiest” on Android, and on the web. Playing on the web works, but you have to simulate multi-touch for table moving and that can be a bit confusing. There’s a lot I’d like to talk about. I’ll go through every topic, insted of making the typical what went right/wrong list. Concept Working over the theme was probably one of the hardest tasks I had to face. Originally, I had an idea of what kind of game I wanted to develop, gameplay wise – something with lots of enemies/actors, simple graphics, maybe set in space, controlled from a top-down view. I was confident I could fit any theme around it. In the end, the problem with a theme like “Evolution” in a game is that evolution is unassisted. It happens through several seemingly random mutations over time, with the most apt permutation surviving. This genetic car simulator is, in my opinion, a great example of actual evolution of a species facing a challenge. But is it a game? In a game, you need to control something to reach an objective. That control goes against what evolution is supposed to be like. If you allow the user to pick how to evolve something, it’s not evolution anymore – it’s the equivalent of intelligent design, the fable invented by creationists to combat the very idea of evolution. Being agnostic and a Pastafarian, that’s not something that rubbed me the right way. Hence, my biggest dillema when deciding what to create was not with what I wanted to create, but with what I did not. I didn’t want to create an “intelligent design” simulator and wrongly call it evolution. This is a problem, of course, every other contestant also had to face. And judging by the entries submitted, not many managed to work around it. I’d say the only real solution was through the use of artificial selection, somehow. So far, I haven’t seen any entry using this at its core gameplay. Alas, this is just a fun competition and after a while I decided not to be as strict with the game idea, and allowed myself to pick whatever I thought would work out. My initial idea was to create something where humanity tried to evolve to a next level but had some kind of foe trying to stop them from doing so. I kind of had this image of human souls flying in space towards a monolith or a space baby (all based in 2001: A Space Odyssey of course) but I couldn’t think of compelling (read: serious) mechanics for that. Borgs were my next inspiration, as their whole hypothesis fit pretty well into the evolution theme. But how to make it work? Are you the borg, or fighting the Borg? The third and final idea came to me through my girlfriend, who somehow gave me the idea of making something about the evolution of Pasta. The more I thought about it the more it sounded like it would work, so I decided to go with it. Conversations with my inspiring co-worker Roushey (who also created the “Mechanical Underdogs” signature logo for my intros) further matured the concept, as it involved into the idea of having individual pieces of pasta flying around and trying to evolve until they became all-powerful. A secondary idea here was that the game would work to explain how the Flying Spaghetti Monster came to exist – by evolving from a normal dinner table. So the idea evolved more or less into this: you are sitting a table. You have your own plate, with is your “base”. There are 5 other guests at the table, each with their own plate. Your plate can spawn little pieces of pasta. You do so by “ordering” them through a menu. Some pastas are better than others; some are faster, some are stronger. They have varying costs, which are debited from your credits (you start with a number of credits). Once spawned, your pastas start flying around. Their instinct is to fly to other plates, in order to conquer them (the objective of the game is having your pasta conquer all the plates on the table). But they are really autonomous, so after being spawned, you have no control over your pasta (think DotA or LoL creeps). Your pasta doesn’t like other people’s pasta, so if they meet, they shoot sauce at each other until one dies. You get credits for other pastas your own pasta kill. Once a pasta is in the vicinity of a plate, it starts conquering it for its team. It takes around 10 seconds for a plate to be conquered; less if more pasta from the same team are around. If pasta from other team are around, though, they get locked down in their attempt, unable to conquer the plate, until one of them die (think Battlefield’s standard “Conquest” mode). You get points every second for every plate you own. Over time, the concept also evolved to use an Italian bistro as its main scenario. Carlos, Carlos’ Bistro’s founder and owner Setup No major changes were made from my work setup. I used FDT and Starling creating an Adobe AIR (ActionScript) project, all tools or frameworks I already had some knowledge with. One big change for me was that I livestreamed my work through a twitch.tv account. This was a new thing for me. As recommended by Roushey, I used a program called XSplit and I got to say, it is pretty amazing. It made the livestream pretty effortless and the features are awesome, even for the free version. It was great to have some of my friends watch me, and then interact with them and random people through chat. It was also good knowing that I was also recording a local version of the files, so I could make a timelapse video later. Knowing the video was being recorded also made me a lot more self-conscious about my computer use, as if someone was watching over my shoulder. It made me realize that sometimes I spend too much time in seemingly inane tasks (I ended up wasting the longest time just to get some text alignment the way I wanted – it’ll probably drive someone crazy if they watch it) and that I do way too many typos where writing code. I pretty much spend half of the time writing a line and the other half fixing the crazy characters in it. My own stream was probably boring to watch since I was coding for the most time. But livestreaming is one of the cool things to do as a spectator too. It was great seeing other people working – I had a few tabs opened on my second monitor all the time. It’s actually a bit sad, because if I could, I could have spent the whole weekend just watching other people working! But I had to do my own work, so I’d only do it once in a while, when resting for a bit. Design Although I wanted some simple, low-fi, high-contrast kind of design, I ended up going with somewhat realistic (vector) art. I think it worked very well, fitting the mood of the game, but I also went overboard. For example: to know the state of a plate (who owns it, who’s conquering it and how much time they have left before conquering it, which pasta units are in the queue, etc), you have to look at the plate’s bill. The problem I realized when doing some tests is that people never look at the bill! They think it’s some kind of prop, so they never actually read its details. Plus, if you’re zoomed out too much, you can’t actually read it, so it’s hard to know what’s going on with the game until you zoom in to the area of a specific plate. One other solution that didn’t turn out to be as perfect as I thought was how to indicate who a plate base belongs to. In the game, that’s indicated by the plate’s decoration – its color denotes the team owner. But it’s something that fits so well into the design that people never realized it, until they were told about it. In the end, the idea of going with a full physical metaphor is one that should be done with care. Things that are very important risk becoming background noise, unless the player knows its importance. Originally, I wanted to avoid any kind of heads-up display in my game. In the end, I ended up adding it at the bottom to indicate your credits and bases owned, as well as the hideous out-of-place-and-still-not-obvious “Call Waiter” button. But in hindsight, I should have gone with a simple HUD from the start, especially one that indicated each team’s colors and general state of the game without the need for zooming in and out. Development Development went fast. But not fast enough. Even though I worked around 32+ hours for this Ludum Dare, the biggest problem I had to face in the end was overscoping. I had too much planned, and couldn’t get it all done. Content-wise, I had several kinds of pasta planned (Wikipedia is just amazing in that regard), split into several different groups, from small Pastina to huge Pasta al forno. But because of time constraints, I ended up scratching most of them, and ended up with 5 different types of very small pasta – barely something to start when talking about the evolution of Pasta. Pastas used in the game. Unfortunately, the macs where never used Which is one of the saddest things about the project, really. It had the framework and the features to allow an endless number of elements in there, but I just didn’t have time to draw the rest of the assets needed (something I loved to do, by the way). Other non-obvious features had to be dropped, too. For example, when ordering some pasta, you were supposed to select what kind of sauce you’d like with your pasta, each with different attributes. Bolognese, for example, is very strong, but inaccurate; Pesto is very accurate and has great range, but it’s weaker; and my favorite, Vodka, would triggers 10% loss of speed on the pasta hit by it. The code for that is mostly in there. But in the end, I didn’t have time to implement the sauce selection interface; all pasta ended up using bolognese sauce. To-do list: lots of things were not done Actual programming also took a toll in the development time. Having been programming for a while, I like to believe I got to a point where I know how to make things right, but at the expense of forgetting how to do things wrong in a seemingly good way. What I mean is that I had to take a lot of shortcuts in my code to save time (e.g. a lot of singletons references for cross-communication rather than events or observers, all-encompassing check loops, not fast enough) that left a very sour taste in my mouth. While I know I used to do those a few years ago and survive, I almost cannot accept the state my code is in right now. At the same time, I do know it was the right thing to do given the timeframe. One small thing that had some impact was using a somewhat new platform for me. That’s Starling, the accelerated graphics framework I used in Flash. I had tested it before and I knew how to use it well – the API is very similar to Flash itself. However, there were some small details that had some impact during development, making me feel somewhat uneasy the whole time I was writing the game. It was, again, the right thing to do, but I should have used Starling more deeply before (which is the conundrum: I used it for Ludum Dare just so I could learn more about it). Argument and user experience One final aspect of the game that I learned is that making the game obvious for your players goes a long way into making it fun. If you have to spend the longest time explaining things, your game is doing something wrong. And that’s exactly the problem Survival of the Tastiest ultimately faced. It’s very hard for people to understand what’s going on with the game, why, and how. I did have some introductory text at the beginning, but that was a last-minute thing. More importantly, I should have had a better interface or simplified the whole concept so it would be easier for people to understand. That doesn’t mean the game itself should be simple. It just means that the experience and interface should be approachable and understandable. Conclusion I’m extremely happy with what I’ve done and, especially given that this was my first Ludum Dare. However, I feel like I’ve learned a lot of what not to do. The biggest problem is overscoping. Like Eric Decker said, the biggest lesson we can learn with this is probably with scoping – deciding what to do beforehand in a way you can complete it without having to rush and do something half-assed. I’m sure I will do more Ludum Dares in the future. But if there are any lessons I can take of it, they are to make it simple, to use frameworks and platforms you already have some absolute experience with (otherwise you’ll spend too much time trying to solve easy questions), and to scope for a game that you can complete in one day only (that way, you can actually take two days and make it cool). This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2012 at 10:54 am and is filed under LD #24. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. 3 Responses to ““Survival of the Tastiest” Post-mortem” darn it , knowing that I missed your livestream makes me a sad panda ;( but more to the point, the game is … well for a startup its original to say the least ;D it has some really neat ideas and more importantly its designed arround touch screens whitch by the looks of the submission is something rare ;o or that could be just me and my short memory -_-! awesum game, love et <3

Topic: reinvent midnight madness Amazon announced a new service at the AWS re:Invent Midnight Madness event. Amazon Sumerian is a solution that aims to make it easier for developers to build virtual reality, augmented reality, and 3D applications. It features a user friendly editor, which can be used to drag and drop 3D objects and characters into scenes. Amazon … continue reading

About Grand Slam Fishing Charters As a family owned business we know how important it is that your trip becomes the best memory of your vacation, we are proud of our islands, our waters and our crew and we are desperate show you the best possible time during your stay. We can not guarantee fish every time but we can guarantee you a great time! The biggest perk of our job is seeing so many of our customers become close friends” A Great Way To Make New Friends! Our dockside parties are a great way to make new friends! Everyone is welcome! Andrea runs the whole operation, from discussing your initial needs by phone or email through to ensuring you have sufficient potato chips. Andrea has worked as concierge for many International resorts and fully understands the high expectations of international visitors. “Life’s A Game But Fishing Is Serious!” Unlike many tour operators, our crew are highly valued and have been with us since day 1. Each have their own personalities and sense of humour and understand the importance of making your day perfect, for us the saying is true, “Lifes a game but fishing is serious!” TRIP ADVISOR Plan Your Trip! AJ and Earl were excellent. My son and I did a half day deep sea trip and though the fish weren’t too cooperative, they did everything to try to get something to bite. Very knowledgeable about the waters and my son was able to land a nice barracuda. The next day my wife, daughter, son […] When we arrived the crew made us feel right at home. They made us feel comfortable and answered all questions. The crew worked hard all day to put us on fish. We were successful in landing a nice size Wahoo even though the weather did not cooperate the entire day was enjoyable. I highly recommend […]

Working Women, Special Provision and the Debate on Equality There has been considerable coverage in the media recently about the possibility of offering women in employment paid leave from work during their menstrual period. This has generated a broad range of responses relating to long-standing discussions about ‘equality’ and ‘difference’: is women’s equality best achieved by treating them the same as men or by making provisions that recognise their differences in terms of physiological constitution and biological functions? If the UK introduces such an initiative, it would not be the first country in the contemporary world to do so. Many countries in Asia already make the provision and Russia debated introducing a law in 2013. The policy also has a significant historical precedent. A whole chapter of my book Women Workers in the Soviet Interwar Economy: From ‘Protection’ to ‘Equality’ (Macmillan, 1999), based on extensive research conducted for my PhD, is devoted to ‘Provision for “Menstrual Leave”’. In the 1920s, scientific researchers and labour hygiene specialists in the Soviet Union conducted extensive investigations into the impact of menstruation on women’s capacity to work in manual and industrial jobs requiring a significant degree of physical labour. Their recommendations led to two decrees being issued that targeted specific categories of women workers: Decree ‘On the release from work during menstruation of machinists and iron press workers working on cutting machines without mechanised gears in the garment industry’, 11 January 1922 Decree ‘On the working conditions of women tractor and lorry drivers’, 9 May 1931 These decrees arose from research that suggested, amongst other things, that inadequate seating at machines and on tractors resulted in congestion and tension in the abdomen that was exacerbated during menstruation. In practice, the decrees did not provide for regular absence from work. Women seeking to benefit from the provision had to provide a doctor’s note, similar to the usual requirements for sick leave. The official research into the impact of menstruation on women’s capacity to work and the application of the decrees in practice raised a number of issues on both sides of the argument. I offer only a summary of the contemporary research findings and observer commentary here: For the provision: • employers have a responsibility to protect the health of their workers and unhealthy, poor and inadequate working environments can have a detrimental impact on women’s reproductive health • women’s labour productivity and output would rise as a result • it is essential to protect the professionalism of certain categories of workers: the debates here centred on performance artists and female theatrical employees engaged in highly physical and intensely emotional work • heavy physical labour and strenuous exercise can lead to disruptions of the menstrual cycle • women’s physical and intellectual capacities are reduced during menstruation; women lose muscular strength and powers of concentration • women’s biological constitution and reproductive functions require specific recognition in law Against the provision: • employers are less likely to appoint women if they are guaranteed paid time off work during menstruation • (often from male workers, who viewed the employment of women as competition) women should not be employed in jobs for which they lack the physical strength and mental capacity • if necessary, women could be transferred to different tasks involving easier work during menstruation • the provision would be open to uneven application and abuse • women cannot expect to be considered equal with men if they are given special treatment in the law It is worth noting also that the various research projects often revealed that the vast majority of women reported no regular problems or abnormalities with menstruation, and that men commonly reported higher levels of sickness than their female colleagues. Many of the problems experienced by women in the workplace could be mitigated by the introduction of improvements to their physical working conditions (not sitting down or standing up in the same position for long periods of time) or by the simple introduction of very short breaks that would allow women to walk around and get some exercise. Debates in the UK, on the TV and in the press, are unlikely to reach a consensus on this issue. What do you think?

Jeanette Sawyer Cohen, PhD, clinical assistant professor of psychology in pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City Pediatric Psychologist How to Teach Independence? How can I teach my toddler to do things independently? You’ve probably become more patient since you started this whole parenthood thing. And you’re going to have to practice patience even more as your toddler learns to become more independent. For example, she tells you she can’t finish the puzzle she’s doing. Instead of jumping right in and telling her which piece goes where, you’re going to have to tell her you’ll help a little. Go ahead and help, but let her do a lot of it herself, and make sure she’s the one to finish the job. That will give her a sense of accomplishment and the confidence to try again next time. Remember that children each progress at their own rate. It’s not always fast — and there will be setbacks along the way. But the more you can allow them to do on their own without stepping in, the more they’ll be likely to try for themselves again and again.

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Running Stat Dinner with people is always better than eating alone, especially when the food is good. Good food tastes even better when enjoyed with people. Tonight Amy came over to try my second attempt at the Brussels Sprouts Veggie Soup to which I have made some changes (see recipe below in previous post) for a better result, I believe. We were at the store earlier and saw some nice looking haricot verts and heirloom tomatoes, so we decide to assemble a simple salad from those. Of course while I’m at the market, I can’t not get some five peppercorn salami. Our simple dinner of soup, salami, bread, cheese, salad, and wine was on the table in 15 minutes.

jOOQ on The ORM Foundation? I am the developer of jOOQ, a Java database abstraction framework. I was wondering whether jOOQ might be an interesting tool for discussion on your website, even if it is not exactly an ORM in the classic meaning (as in mapping objects to the relational world > ORM). Instead, jOOQ uses a reverse engineering paradigm (as in mapping relational entities to objects > "ROM"). Re: jOOQ on The ORM Foundation? Object Role Modeling (the original ORM) is not the same thing as Object/Relational Mapping. Object/Relational Mapping is still kind-of relevant and interesting to us, since Object Role Modeling is used to design databases (which then will require programmatic access). But there are probably better places to discuss it :] Your query DSL looks rather like some of the DSLs available for Ruby, such as through the Sequel gem, or Arel. Interesting to see how well that can work with a statically-types language like Java. Maybe you or I should make a generator for ActiveFacts which generates your DSL from CQL queries? Re: jOOQ on The ORM Foundation? Sorry for my late reply. Apparently I had not really understood the ideas behind your foundation when I wrote my original post. I understand now, that you are concerned with broader concepts than the "common ORM". I actually came across your group because of your linking to ORM Lite (where ORM does stand for Object/Relational Mapping, correct me if I'm wrong). Yes, I have seen some examples for Ruby's Sequel. I personally find statically-typed languages much better for DSL's as the syntax can be formally defined and checked by a compiler - with the limitations an OO language imposes, of course. So if I understand this correctly now, "Object Role Modeling" and CQL are actually a more general way of expressing what SQL calls DDL. Since you can already transform CQL into SQL DDL statements (CREATE TABLE...), and jOOQ can reverse-engineer database schemata into jOOQ generated source code, I don't think there would be need for an additional generator. Does CQL also specify means of querying the data described by the Object Role Model? The examples I found here only seem to describe what SQL calls "constraints" (although with a much broader functionality-range than SQL): Re: jOOQ on The ORM Foundation? "common ORM". I actually came across your group because of your linking to ORM Lite (where ORM does stand for Object/Relational Mapping Object Role Modeling was named before Object Relational Mapping, but the latter is now the more common meaning, as you point out. But ORM Lite is actually so-named by Bryan because it is an implementation of Object Role Modeling, not because it is also an O/RM. Bryan was a student of Terry's at Neumont, where he learnt ORM. Regarding DSLs, I think internal DSLs only work well in very simple cases. I prefer external DSLs for anything complex, and that's where CQL came from. Even the extremely flexible syntax of Ruby wasn't up to the task. lukas.eder: I don't think there would be need for an additional generator The problem is that a huge amount of meaning is lost in the mapping to SQL. SQL is practically (though not theoretically) limited to representing physical models. These are almost always very different from the conceptual model, as many relationships have been condensed (absorbed) into attribute/column relationships, so the semantics of the original relationship are lost. In the process, nullable columns are usually introduced, which adds further to the confusion, as such things cannot easily be correctly constrained (uniqueness, etc) in SQL. So by reverse engineering from the relational form, you're losing most of the benefit of building a conceptual model from the start This may be hard to see for someone used to O-O modeling, and who's authored an O/RM tool. The problem is that O-O suffers from many of the same problems of loss of semantics. The apparently clear notion of "attribute" breaks down when you look at it closely. O-O, although ostensibly behaviour-oriented, introduces attributes to store state, and this attribute orientation is the source of the problem in both cases. Fact-oriented model does not use attributes. Although it may seem obvious that, for example, my surname is an attribute of myself, if the system being modeled accrues the requirement to model families, suddenly surname becomes an attribute of family, and family becomes my attribute. This kind of instability is responsible for much of the rework that's required in evolving legacy systems, as well as many of the mistakes made when they were first modeled. If you want a further example of this loss of semantics, look at my Insurance example, and ask yourself why the VehicleIncident table has a DrivingBloodTestResult column. In fact, if VehicleIncident wasn't explicitly mapped separately, its fields would be in the Claim table. What's needed is not just yet another O/RM tool (which are tuppence a dozen anyhow - I personally have written three) but a tool which supports database programming using only the conceptual model, never exposing the physical model. Surprisingly, I can't think of a single tool which has done a good job of this, but it's where I'm heading with the ActiveFacts API. It's another O/RM, but using a purely conceptual object model that preserves the domain semantics, not a typical O-O one. lukas.eder: Does CQL also specify means of querying the data described by the Object Role Model Yes, though the published implementation doesn't quite handle the full query syntax (aggregate functions are still missing), nor does it yet translate them to SQL. Some examples are given towards the end of the video presentation on the CQL Introduction page. Re: jOOQ on The ORM Foundation? Regarding DSLs, I think internal DSLs only work well in very simple cases. I prefer external DSLs for anything complex, and that's where CQL came from. Even the extremely flexible syntax of Ruby wasn't up to the task. Absolutely. The optimal way to implement SQL in Java would be by extending the Java language itself, such that SQL would be compiled natively by the java compiler, similar to Linq2SQL in C#, or PL/SQL in Oracle databases. So for the complexity of CQL, CQL is certainly the right solution. Clifford Heath: The problem is that a huge amount of meaning is lost in the mapping to SQL. SQL is practically (though not theoretically) limited to representing physical models. You are right. I guess though, that in everyday work, this limitation is not really a problem. Personally, I think if your business rules become so complex that you cannot map them to a relational model easily anymore, then maybe your business rules could be simplified before changing/extending technologies. But that depends on the business, of course. I guess with insurance companies' businesses, I'd be pretty lost, personally ;-) In any case, I don't see jOOQ as a means to solve modelling issues, or the O/R impedance mismatch (which is even bigger when it comes to mapping your understanding of ORM, with CQL). jOOQ should simply make using the full power of SQL in Java as simple as possible. In that way, jOOQ is not really an ORM because it does not map from objects to the relational world, or try to solve any other high-level abstraction issues. It's really a low-level tool to make a developer's life a lot easier, seeing that unfortunately, JPA CriteriaQuery didn't meet the community's expectations. Clifford Heath: What's needed is not just yet another O/RM tool (which are tuppence a dozen anyhow - I personally have written three) but a tool which supports database programming using only the conceptual model, never exposing the physical model. Surprisingly, I can't think of a single tool which has done a good job of this, but it's where I'm heading with the ActiveFacts API. It's another O/RM, but using a purely conceptual object model that preserves the domain semantics, not a typical O-O one. I think you're on the right track with this. I hope for you, that this will soon show nice results with a practical implementation. I'm curious to see how you'll tackle performance issues, too, with all the abstraction. Among all attempts to overcome the old and proven relational models (XML databases, NoSQL databases), this one seems the most promising and focused to me!

I've learned the nitrogen vacancies used in Memristors are for "switching", between excited states and inhibited states, akin to our neurons and SYNAPSES abilities to generate EPSPs and IPSPs, this is the entire point to Memristors and DARPAs SyNAPSE program, emulating Neurons.. So in the memristor, NVs (which are truly Ancillas), Return to "resting states", just like Neurons do, hence Inhibitory states versus excited states, when a neuron reaches an action potential and fires.. So the ancillas use prepared/ known states, and are the equivalent of the ancillas ground state, which is equal to a neurons resting potential... So by weakly measuring certain aspects of living neurons, it is possible to superbroadcast/ teleport the wavefunction non-classically to the memristors vacancies, correlating each memristor with its neuron statistical ensemble counterpart, sharing the quantum state of the resting potential. the ground state of the ancilla. The type of measurement determines which property is shown. However the single and double-slit experiment and other experiments show that some effects of wave and particle can be measured in one measurement. Hence Mach-Zehnder interferometry, which also involves ANCILLAS Quote: When for example measuring a photon using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, the photon acts as a wave if the second beam-splitter is inserted, but as a particle if this beam-splitter is omitted. The decision of whether or not to insert this beam-splitter can be made after the photon has entered the interferometer, as in Wheeler’s famous delayed-choice thought experiment. In recent quantum versions of this experiment, this decision is controlled by a quantum ancilla, while the beam splitter is itself still a classical object. and the no-cloning theorem is about pure states.. But an ensemble of particles in a neuron would make it a mixed state.. The no-cloning theorem is normally stated and proven for pure states; the no-broadcast theorem generalizes this result to mixed states. And thats why PHASE works for quantum metrology and its ability to harness non classical states Apparently, worrying about measuring both position and momentum works differently for particles than it does waves. It may actually be possible using phase. Quote: Niels Bohr apparently conceived of the principle of complementarity during a skiing vacation in Norway in February and March 1927, during which he received a letter from Werner Heisenberg regarding the latter's newly discovered (and not yet published) uncertainty principle. Upon returning from his vacation, by which time Heisenberg had already submitted his paper on the uncertainty principle for publication, he convinced Heisenberg that the uncertainty principle was a manifestation of the deeper concept of complementarity.[6] Heisenberg duly appended a note to this effect to his paper on the uncertainty principle, before its publication, stating: Quote: Bohr has brought to my attention [that] the uncertainty in our observation does not arise exclusively from the occurrence of discontinuities, but is tied directly to the demand that we ascribe equal validity to the quite different experiments which show up in the [particulate] theory on one hand, and in the wave theory on the other hand. And "quadratures" is about position and momentum.. Which are apparently always orthogonal to each other. There is obviously something to all of this. Counterfactual Communication was recently used to transmit information without sending any PARTICLES. the information was sent in the phase.. of a wavefunction? and it used MachZenhder Interferometry.. which is part of Quantum Metrology and its ability to harness non-classical states.. and all of this can teleport non-classical light.. and it all uses ANCILLAS... which store VALUES, and WAVEFUNCTIONS.. because they are Qubits/ Nitrogen vacancies.. and are used in WEAK MEASUREMENT... which was used to measure a wavefunction.. something most would argue is impossible.. because of the uncertainty principle.. Quote: An interpretation of quantum mechanics can be said to involve the use of counterfactual definiteness if it includes in the statistical population of measurement results, any measurements that are counterfactual because they are excluded by the quantum mechanical impossibility of simultaneous measurement of conjugate pairs of properties. For example, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that one cannot simultaneously know, with arbitrarily high precision, both the position and momentum of a particle Quote: The word "counterfactual" does not mean "characterized by being opposed to fact." Instead, it characterizes values that could have been measured but, for one reason or another, were not and its the Ancillas that store values.. and may or may not be part of the measurement apparatus... / interferometer.. In 2015, Counterfactual Quantum Computation was demonstrated in the experimental context of "spins of a negatively charged Nitrogen-vacancy color center in a diamond".[5] Previously suspected limits of efficiency were exceeded, achieving counterfactual computational efficiency of 85% with the higher efficiency foreseen in principle Quote: The quantum computer may be physically implemented in arbitrary ways but the common apparatus considered to date features a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. The quantum computer is set in a superposition of "not running" and "running" states by means such as the Quantum Zeno Effect. Those state histories are quantum interfered. After many repetitions of very rapid projective measurements, the "not running" state evolves to a final value imprinted into the properties of the quantum computer. Measuring that value allows for learning the result of some types of computations such as Grover's algorithm even though the result was derived from the non-running state of the quantum computer. NV CENTERS can also be used asQUANTUM SPIN PROBES, QUBITS & AS, ANCILLAS in devices such as BIOMEMs scanners QUANTUM REPEATERS PHOTONIC NETWORKING and.. MEMRISTORS.. where the vacancies are used for switching between inhibited and excited states, thus simulating NEURONS MEMRISTORS utilize wavefunctions. Wavefunctions can be weakly measured by ANCILLAS ANCILLAS hold "values" ie : wavefunctions and have GROUND STATES which measured particles are "cooled" into for measurement techniques. a literal form of "photon counting".. "This de-excitation is called ‘fluorescence’, and it is characterized by a lifetime of a few nanoseconds of the lowest vibrational level of the first excited state. De-excitation from the excited singlet state to the ground state also occurs by other mechanisms, such as non-radiant thermal decay or ‘phosphorescence’. In the latter case, the chromophore undergoes a forbidden transition from the excited singlet state into the triplet state (intersystem crossing, ISC, Fig 2.4), which has a non-zero probability, for example because of spin orbit coupling of the electrons’ magnetic moments" its a type of INTERSYSTEM CROSSING doing a search for Intersystem crossing, memristor brings up this link.. A composite optical microcavity, in which nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in a diamond nanopillar are coupled to whispering gallery modes in a silica microsphere, is demonstrated. Nanopillars with a diameter as small as 200 nm are fabricated from a bulk diamond crystal by reactive ion etching and are positioned with nanometer precision near the equator of a silica microsphere. The composite nanopillar-microsphere system overcomes the poor controllability of a nanocrystal-based microcavity system and takes full advantage of the exceptional spin properties of NV centers and the ultrahigh quality factor of silica microspheres. We investigate the construction of two universal three-qubit quantum gates in a hybrid system. The designed system consists of a flying photon and a stationary negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center fixed on the periphery of a whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microresonator, with the WGM cavity coupled to tapered fibers functioning as an add-drop structure. These gate operations are accomplished by encoding the information both on the spin degree of freedom of the electron confined in the NV center and on the polarization and spatial-mode states of the flying photon, respectively Now Somewhere in this is evidence of a memristor holding a wavefunction The shown SPICE implementation (macro model) for a charge controlled memristor model exactly reproduces the results from [2]. However, these simulation results do not have a good compliance - not even qualitatively - with the characteristic form of I/V curves of manufactured devices. Therefore the following equations (3) to (9) try to approach memristor modeling from a different point of view to get a closer match to the measured curves from [2],[6],[7],[8],[10] or [11] even with a simple linear drift of w. Besides the charge steering mechanism of a memristor modelled in [2], [1] also defined a functional relationship for a memristor which explains the memristive behavior in dependence on its magnetic flux: i(t) = W φ(t) · v(t) . (3) Variable W (φ) represents the memductance which is the reciprocal of memristance M. Here a mechanism is demanded that maps the magnetic flux as the input signal to the current that is flowing through the memristor. The magnetic flux φ is the integral of voltage v(t) over time: φ = R v(t) dt. We can assume that an external voltage which is applied to the previously described two-layer structure has an influence on the movable 2+-dopants over time. The width w(t) of the semiconductor layer is depending on the velocity of the dopants vD(t) via the time integral: w(t) = w0 + Z0t vD(τ)dτ . (4) The drift velocity vD in an electric field E is defined via its mobility µD: vD(t) = µD · E(t) (5) and the electric field E is connected with the voltage via E(t) = v(t) D(6)with D denoting the total thickness of the two-layer structure (D = tOX + tSEMI). Due the good conductance of the semiconductor layer the electric field is applied to the time depending thickness of the insulator layer tOX for the most part (due to v(l) = R E dl). However, this was neglected for reasons of simplification. If we combine (4), (5) and (6), we obtain: n(t) = w0 + µDD· Z0t v(τ)dτ = w0 + µDD · φ(t) . (7) This equation shows a proportional dependence of the width w from the magnetic flux φ. Since the thickness of the insulator layer is in the low nanometer region a tunnel current or equivalent mechanism is possible. The magnetic flux slightly decreases the thickness of the insulator layer wich is the barrierfor the tunnel current.This current rises exponentially with a reduction of the width tOX(φ) (the exponential dependenceis deducible from the quantum mechanic wave function) which must become the GROUND STATE of the ANCILLA upon non-classical correlation.. because a wavefunction is essentially the "master equation" (which describe wave equations) We investigate theoretically how the spectroscopy of an ancillary qubit can probe cavity (circuit) QED ground states containing photons. We consider three classes of systems (Dicke, Tavis-Cummings and Hopfield-like models), where non-trivial vacua are the result of ultrastrong coupling between N two-level systems and a single-mode bosonic field. An ancillary qubit detuned with respect to the boson frequency is shown to reveal distinct spectral signatures depending on the type of vacua. In particular, the Lamb shift of the ancilla is sensitive to both ground state photon population and correlations. Back-action of the ancilla on the cavity ground state is investigated, taking into account the dissipation via a consistent master equation for the ultrastrong coupling regime. The conditions for high-fidelity measurements are determined. \\ Notice BACK-ACTION, which goes right back to DARPAs Nanodiamond Biosensors and their ability to overcome the standard quantum limit, because of the known/ prepared states in the ancillas/NITROGEN VACANCIES Quote: (Quantum) back action refers (in the regime of Quantum systems) to the effect of a detector on the measurement itself, as if the detector is not just making the measurement but also affecting the measured or observed system under a perturbing effect. Back action has important consequences on the measurement process and is a significant factor in measurements near the quantum limit, such as measurements approaching the Standard Quantum Limit (SQL). Back action is an actively sought-after area of interest in present times. There have been experiments in recent times, with nanomechanical systems, where back action was evaded in making measurements, such as in the following paper : When performing continuous measurements of position with sensitivity approaching quantum mechanical limits, one must confront the fundamental effects of detector back-action.Back-action forces are responsible for the ultimate limit on continuous position detection, can also be harnessed to cool the observed structure[1,2,3,4], and are expected to generate quantum entanglement. Back-action can also be evaded, allowing measurements with sensitivities that exceed the standard quantum limit, and potentially allowing for the generation of quantum squeezed states. So the NV centers are used as ancillas in the measurement process.. which weakly measure wavefunctions of particles in neurons, most likely singlet and triplet states occurring in ATP and phosphase... then those same wavefunctions are transfered and produce a correlation at the ground state.. where the ancilla takes on the new value/wavefunction.. and here we find all these ideas.. minus the switching which I can explain Memristors use NV centers to switch between inhibited and excited states singlet and triplet states thus producing/simulating/ EMULATING, living neurons and action potentials and it may just BE the network and its computing speed, that even allows the wavefunction to be "found" Artificial Neural Network. A pair of physicists with ETH Zurich has developed a way to use an artificial neural network to characterize the wave function of a quantum many-body system. [14]. A team of researchers at Google's DeepMind Technologies has been working on a means to increase the capabilities of computers by ... While there are lots of things that artificial intelligence can't do yet—science being one of them—neural networks are proving themselves increasingly adept at a huge variety of pattern recognition ... That's due in part to the description of a quantum system called its wavefunction. ... Neural network chip built using memristors. https://books.google.ca/books?isbn=9814434809Andrew Adamatzky, ‎Guanrong Chen - 2013 - ‎Computers Global and local symmetries In quantum physics, all the properties of a system can be derived from the state or wave function associated with that system. The absolute phase of a wave function cannot be measured, and has no practical meaning, as it cancels out the calculations of the probability distribution. Only relative ... The las vegas shooting left 58 INNOCENT PEOPLE DEAD. The gunmans brother was later arrested for possession of child porn. This technology was developed to defend against terrorism and child abuse. Connect the dots. I bet the brothers were sharing files and one of them ended up a "targeted individual" So he began to stockpile weapons and plan the only way out of his nightmare. There has been no mentioning of him."hearing voices" But the fact his brother was later arrested for such a crime paints a picture worth looking into. Those vibrations, are the result of this assumed BIOMEMS "deployable biosensor" And its use of excitation techniques made to single out single neurons to measure the WAVEFUNCTIONS during a tomographic scan. which makes such possible Quantum-assisted Nano-imaging of Living Organism Is a First Quote: “In QuASAR we are building sensors that capitalize on the extreme precision and control of atomic physics. We hope these novel measurement tools can provide new capabilities to the broader scientific and operational communities,” said Jamil Abo-Shaeer, DARPA program manager. “The work these teams are doing to apply quantum-assisted measurement to biological imaging could benefit DoD’s efforts to develop specialized drugs and therapies, and potentially support DARPA’s work to better understand how the human brain functions.” "Nuclear spin imaging at the atomic level is essential for the under-standing of fundamental biological phenomena and for applicationssuch as drug discovery. The advent of novel nano-scale sensors hasgiven hope of achieving the long-standing goal of single-protein, highspatial-resolution structure determination in their natural environ-ment and ambient conditions. In particular, quantum sensors basedon the spin-dependent photoluminescence of Nitrogen Vacancy (NV)centers in diamond have recently been used to detect nanoscale en-sembles of external nuclear spins. While NV sensitivity is approachingsingle-spin levels, extracting relevant information from a very com-plex structure is a further challenge, since it requires not only theability to sense the magnetic field of an isolated nuclear spin, butalso to achieve atomic-scale spatial resolution. Here we propose amethod that, by exploiting the coupling of the NV center to an intrin-sic quantum memory associated with the Nitrogen nuclear spin, canreach a tenfold improvement in spatial resolution, down to atomic scales." So what its all doing essentially, is mapping the phase of atoms/SINGLETS in ATP, onto a NV center based CCD and at the singlet level, correlations occur.. creating entanglement so the particles in the neuron are being correlated with the ancillas, the nitrogen vacancies, where they take on the "target" state.. not only is the above imaging done to obtain a correlation to living neurons, via the singlet states within, but once the connection is established, the MEMRISTOR NETWORK itself can be used to RECONSTRUCT VISION IN REAL TIME Now add the above method, a direct connection using correlated states shared from neurons TO Memristors... and imagine the reconstruction aided by the AI within the memristor network, as it works on so.. (note, this example is done MERELY using fMRI information) now Imagine statistical ensembles being observed in real time via non-classical entanglement But what I'm trying to show, is hows its this assumed entanglement based BCI technology, plus the memristor network it is coupled to, that is responsible for the TI communities complaints that "they (the government) can see through my own eyes" The nitrogen vacancies in the scanners hold values, wavefunctions, which are prepared states aka Ancilla bits, and are the time domain/reference frequency, which carrries the "quantum event/wavefunction" which causes the singlet pairs to form up in the scanned biology.. and correlates with them at the ground state as the relaxation occurs.. Quote: It is important to realize that particles in singlet states need not be locally bound to each other. For example, when the spin states of two electrons are correlated by their emission from a single quantum event that conserves angular momentum, the resulting electrons remain in a shared singlet state even as their separation in space increases indefinitely over time, provided only that their angular momentum states remain unperturbed and that weakly measured value, the wavefunction is sent through the optical cavity, teleported to identical nitrogen vacancies in memristors.. so the ground states in both system are correlated and thus the neural activity can be monitored in real time in the memristors

Volunteer Services Volunteer Services As Charleston Area Medical Center volunteers, our mission is to serve as support for patients, families and hospital staff, and to provide a caring, comforting and courteous environment. Volunteers at CAMC bring their unique personalities and skills to our hospital. They range in age from 15 to 99. Our ranks are made up of men and women; students and retirees; homemakers and business people. Last year, 334 volunteers contributed over 36,000 hours to our hospitals and Cancer Center. We are looking for volunteers who exemplify CAMC's core values of respect, integrity, stewardship, quality, service with compassion and safety. These volunteers will help us with our mission of "striving to provide the best health care to every patient, every day."

Playing back a meeting recording …Let me show you how to locate and play back a meeting that you have recorded.…First, let's understand how WebEx Meetings store and prepare your meeting recordings.…The meetings are recorded on the WebEx server.…WebEx will post the recording to their…server within 24 hours of the meeting completion.…When your recording is ready, you'll receive an update on…your dashboard homepage with the playback link and the recording information.…Let me show you how that looks.…When you get this notification, you can click the link that says Play Recording.…And WebEx will play back the video for you with the WebEx network recording player.… To locate your meeting recording manually, if…you miss the notification, the easiest thing…to do is look at the meetings space for the meeting that you recorded.…First, find the meeting in your meetings list by clicking the Meetings tab.…Click the Recent tab.…You'll note, in the list, whether it's recorded or not.…Click on the meeting title to visit the meeting space page for that meeting.… Resume Transcript Auto-Scroll Author Released 6/9/2014 Connect and collaborate across the globe with WebEx Meetings. In this course, author and webinar specialist Sally Norred shows you how to use WebEx Meetings to host, run, and record online meetings. Discover how to set up an online meeting and invite attendees, work with interactivity, let attendees participate and present, and save and record a meeting. Also check out the quick tips sheets (free to all members) for a list of handy shortcuts for hosts, presenters, and attendees alike.

During my pregnancy, I tried to gather as much information on how painful labor might actually be. I would often hear “mine was horrible, but everyone’s pregnancy is different” or “it was the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life!” I heard many horror stories which often ended with, “well, don’t worry. You’ll forget about the pain as soon as your child is born.” Not the most reassuring for a first-time mother, but something I definitely kept in mind the entire time. I had feared the unknown, but on the other hand, I knew there was no turning back and that my baby was coming one way or another! Two weeks before my due date, I noticed some blood. My water didn’t break and I saw no mucous plug, but it seemed that something was happening earlier than expected. Soon after, at 1 a.m. I woke up from a notably different type of cramping. It began to occur every 5 minutes. It wasn’t that painful (yet), but uncomfortable. I felt as if I had to go diarrhea every five minutes. If this is labor, I could handle it for sure I thought, but I knew this was only the beginning. My husband nervously drove us to the hospital as if the baby would pop out any second. I had to remind him to not worry. Things usually didn’t happen that fast for first-time moms (or at least I hoped it wouldn’t). I had to go by instinct although in the back of my mind, I wasn’t sure what would happen next. We finally got to the birthing center after an hour of driving and the nurses confirmed I wasn’t even dilated. I couldn’t believe it. We were turned away and had to find a hotel because returning home wasn’t an option. It would take two hours just to return again! The diarrhea-like cramps were painful and uncomfortable; I couldn’t sleep. I was bleeding slightly and started to actually have these cramps and stomach aches over a 10 hour period. I started googling my symptoms (never a good thing!) and discovered there are people who have this uncomfortable feeling for days and weeks! “Fake labor” would not be in my cards, I had hoped. Fortunately, I had an appointment with a midwife in the afternoon and was checked again for any cervical changes. I had finally dilated 3 cm and was 90% effaced. What a relief I thought! I welcomed the pain because I wanted things to progress. I couldn’t imagine having diarrhea cramps for weeks. However, 3 cm isn’t enough to be admitted, we were told, so back to the hotel we went. “When your cramps become more regular, every 3 minutes a part, and you become more snippy, check in again” the midwife suggested. In the mean time, I tried to walk around, pausing multiple times to catch my breath. A couple hours later, I was FINALLY admitted. My husband kept asking me questions non-stop about what I wanted, needed, and more. All I could say was “if I need something, I’ll let you know. Thanks.” I literally couldn’t talk. I felt like vomiting and had heart burn for the first time in my life. As my labor progressed, I felt the urge to push before I was even 10 cm dilated. I would have a cramp, then a couple of minutes later, one that made me yell out in pain as it forced my body to push. A gush of blood would come out as this happened and I felt extremely uncomfortable because the pain was in my back and butt! It would take my breath away. However, the pain was still tolerable, believe it or not. I had a volunteer doula come in that night who helped me breathe, rubbed my back, and encouraged me. She helped me be aware of my voice and how I could use it to save energy and get through the pain. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stay the whole night, but the time she spent with me truly made a difference. Even though labor was hard work and painful, the right breathing technique and support helped ease the pain. This is probably the number one thing that helped me get through labor! As I started heading towards my second night of labor, I wondered how much longer I could go on … I questioned if it was even worth it to continue without an epidural? I went into labor without a plan. I wanted to go with the flow and make decisions as they came. I didn’t want to be tied to a bed or deliver on my back or disappointed if my perfect labor didn’t come true, so I left any expectations open. But after my second sleepless night, I started to inquire about pain medications (although deep down inside I knew I could handle more because the pain was still manageable). I was exhausted and sleep would have been nice especially if I didn’t have to feel any pain with an epidural. There were no walking epidurals available though and I didn’t want to take narcotics (which could make me dizzy), so I continued along, breathing away. A bath was an option too and this I requested and wanted. I was so uncomfortable as things progressed. I couldn’t get in the shower to relax my muscles, but somehow a bath sounded soothing and worth the effort. As soon as the bath was ready, however, I suddenly felt a pop down below as if major pressure had been released from my insides. Immediately, there was a shift. The back and butt pressure/pain I felt was no longer there. It was time to push! I knew as soon as I felt it. As the baby descended, I felt the burning sensation of the babies head crowning – a temporary stretching sting. The cramps were still there and I had no control over my own pushing. I let my body do its own work and took the breaks my body provided in between each wave of labor. I was standing up giving birth because I couldn’t get onto the bed as I would have liked and was given a stool to put my right foot onto in order to widen my pelvis. Gravity certainly assisted me. However, I never expected to be standing for 50 minutes! My legs were becoming tired and shaky, but I couldn’t move. My energy was sapped and I regretted not exercising more. Standing up was the most comfortable thing to do though and I listened to my body’s cues. I started to go along with my body’s signals to push, but after a while I felt as if the baby would never come out because things weren’t progressing fast enough. After his head came out, I thought it was all over until I heard my husband say “push, his body is stuck!” I ended up pushing as hard as I could and a gush of fluids came spewing onto the floor. It was the best sense of relief. The midwives held my baby from under me and told me to grab him. He was screaming, kicking, and punching his way into this life. He was so slippery, I was terrified to grab him. I had never held a baby before. He would be my first. I held my son and put him on my chest. I couldn’t stop looking at him in awe. He was so beautiful to me and I felt overwhelmed with love and joy. When the umbilical cord finally stopped pulsating, which happened surprisingly quick, my husband carefully snipped it. At this point, I’m glad my husband didn’t pass out. I always joked that he would get queasy and faint, but my husband did amazing! While holding my son, I had to deliver my placenta which did not hurt at all. In fact, I couldn’t even feel much down below because of the adrenaline pumping throughout my veins. Looking into my son’s eyes and holding him for the first time was the most incredible thing in the world. The pain that I felt earlier in labor vanished and I felt ecstatic to have made it through. It’s true what they say … After your baby is born, you forget the pain of labor and birth. At least most of it. Hello! Hello! It's nice to meet you! I'm Mary. Thank you for stopping by Stirring Up Delight. I hope you'll find some useful tips, recipes, and reviews or maybe a story or two that you might enjoy. Read More… Follow me Subscribe to Blog via Email Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address Stirringupdelight.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com For those of you who were told you might need an endometrial biopsy, here’s my experience, so you can sleep a little better at night. Although I do not know what yours will be like, I can tell you that not all of them turn out horrific like you might’ve read online. Why You Might […] Kalua pig is a dish from Hawaii that may be intimidating to make if it’s done traditionally, but modern technology has its benefits. You don’t have to roast a pig underground, but instead you can use your slower cooker to make it. How easy is it? Buy some pork butt at the store and toss […] I’m so excited to be planning my niece’s 1st birthday party this fall! For anyone who really knows me, I absolutely love planning. It is one of my obsessions. After making numerous planning mistakes, however, I would like to share with you some tips I’ve learned along the way. If you are planning your child’s […] One of my favorite drinks when I return home is plantation iced tea. Last year, when I spent a week back home in Hawaii, I ended up drinking it as often as I found it on the menu. Now that the heat of summer is here, I’m dreaming of returning home to visit again. I really […]

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will clinch victory in the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire, according to a CNN projection, powered by his strength among blue-collar, younger and more liberal voters.

POV: Henry vs Martin + a poll I won’t make claims as to their gifts and charms, but H & M do resemble me in various ways :) I usually like to write stories from a single point of view. It’s obviously a limited perspective, but I enjoy the constraints. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no such thing as a reliable narrator. Characters misinterpret things, miss things, draw the wrong conclusions, and it can be tricky and fun to work the “truth” into a story alongside the character’s perceptions. For instance, I think it’s obvious to the reader that Martin is DTF from the get-go, but Henry, equipped with the same amount of information, simply doesn’t get it. When I started writing the Ganymede Quartet books, it seemed obvious to me that the story needed to be told from the master’s point of view. Whether or not he’s actually prepared to take responsibility, the fact remains that Henry’s the one in charge and he sets the tone. It’s Martin’s job to adapt and respond and accommodate and serve. Obviously, Martin is better-equipped to steer this particular ship, but, unfortunately for Henry, the roles in this relationship weren’t assigned based on fitness or merit. If you’ve read A Most Personal Property (GQ Book 1), you know that when the opportunity finally arises for Martin to take charge, he does so with great effect, but he does wait for Henry to create the opportunity. He’s very well-trained. I think it’s apparent that Martin is miserable for most of AMPP, and writing weeks of self-doubt and misery even greater than Henry’s, from the perspective of a character who has even less power to effect change…I don’t think anyone wants to read that book, actually. Henry also needed to be the POV character for the main books because Henry is the one who has the most growing to do. They’re both young, both immature, but Martin is less immature, his sense of self is more solid and, well, he’s a lot smarter. Henry learns a lot over the course of the series, which is not to say that Martin doesn’t, but as the one nominally in charge, Henry’s growth has a greater impact on both of them. It was possibly something of a risk, but I left out or delayed certain trains of thought because Henry isn’t necessarily considering all aspects and implications of the master/slave dynamic from early on in their relationship. He’s very loving, but he’s not the most insightful person, and it takes him awhile to consider things that a savvier fellow might have questioned from the beginning. It really does take Henry a long time to wonder how Martin’s position and training impact the way Martin responds to him. I anticipate going a little deeper into Martin’s background, in a way, for the story that will accompany Book 3. I also have a pretty good idea which aspect of Book 4 I’ll present from Martin’s perspective. So far, the Martin stories have been really fun to write, and I definitely look forward to doing them. I think they’re so easy and enjoyable to work on because they revisit territory that I’ve already covered from Henry’s perspective to some extent, and when I’m writing Henry, I’m always considering how Martin might view a given situation, as well. Offering Martin’s POV at all was actually a pretty late development. It occurred to me shortly before publishing A Most Personal Property that the stories I was busy telling myself about Martin’s past would probably be of interest to anyone who was interested in AMPP, and so I quickly wrote A Superior Slave. I hoped that people who enjoyed reading ASS (ugh, that acronym!) for free might be interested in paying for AMPP, and I think that did happen to some small extent. I’ve gotten the impression (whether it’s true or not) that Martin might be the reader favorite by a small margin, so it just seems like a nice idea to continue offering Martin POV stories alongside the main books. While I think a person can enjoy the main books and Henry’s POV without side stories, I like to think Martin’s perspective is a valuable addition. I plan on adding additional points of view from other characters in the universe. I’ve got stories written about a couple of Henry’s friends to show how slave ownership works in private for other people. I’ve got at least two stories I want to write about Henry’s cousin Jesse. I think Tom gets his own novella :D With A Proper Lover (GQ Book 2) and A Master’s Fidelity (GQ Book 2.5) released, I’m just going immediately into editing Book 3 and fleshing out the notes I have for the Martin story. I’d had vague ideas about taking a break, but I honestly don’t know what that would mean at this point. I don’t know what I’d be doing during a break! Right now, the idea of downtime just makes me cranky. Knowing that there are people eager for the next books makes me want to work on getting them out. Besides, working on Martin’s POV is a treat :)

The terrifying 38-minute ordeal suffered by Hawaii residents on Saturday, when the state’s emergency-management agency sent out a false alert warning of an imminent ballistic-missile strike amid rising tensions with North Korea, seems to have sparked an unusually rapid response on Capitol Hill. Hawaii’s Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, told National Journal that he is working with other Senate Democrats on a bill that would implement a federal best-practice framework for the ballistic-missile-alert systems administered by U.S. states, localities, and territories. And while Republicans don’t appear to be involved in the process, relevant GOP chairs in both chambers have expressed a willingness to work with Schatz on the issue. Initial reports indicate that Hawaii’s screwup—which sent people across the archipelago scrambling for shelter before the all-clear was called more than a half-hour later—was because of an employee mistakenly pressing the wrong link on a confusingly designed interface. But for something as serious as a ballistic-missile alert, Schatz suggested that the potential for human error can, and should, be mitigated through federal safeguards. “You want a system that accounts for the fact that somebody may be sleepy or careless, or an interface may not be the most user-friendly, and yet it all works anyway,” Schatz said. “We have best practices for disaster notifications for natural disasters, for terrorism events. We just don’t have it for this.” On Wednesday, Schatz said he had convened a phone call with officials from the Federal Communications Commission, the Homeland Security Department, the Pentagon, and other relevant agencies to address the inconsistency. “We think it should be done legislatively, but I don’t know that for sure yet,” he told reporters, explaining that the ultimate goal is to craft “a federal law to establish a framework that states can use.” The way America’s missile-alert system operates is fundamentally different from how citizens are alerted to most other catastrophes, when local authorities often possess the best information. While states and cities are ultimately responsible for alerting civilians of an imminent attack, they lack the ability to detect and track incoming missiles. In the seconds and minutes after a launch, details of the threat would have to cascade through phone calls from the Pentagon to DHS. From there, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency would send the warning to at-risk states and localities, whose own alert systems would only then spring into life. That chain of causation was disrupted on Saturday. But David Simpson, a former admiral in the U.S. Navy who ran the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau from November 2013 to January 2017, said federal legislation should seek to dismantle that outdated process altogether. “That’s a 1950s kind of structure,” Simpson said, arguing that machine-to-machine communication technology should be utilized to eliminate lag time and cut down on human error. One way to do that could be for the FCC to create, at the direction of Congress, a unique wireless-alert category for ballistic-missile threats. “That would then ensure that the machine elements of this system could be built around that narrow bucket,” Simpson said. But that still wouldn’t solve the problem entirely. “The machine-to-machine piece of that, so it could be really useful, would require DHS and [Defense Department] plumbing changes that would be beyond the authorities of the FCC,” Simpson said. Simpson largely endorsed Schatz’s plan for a uniform federal missile-alert framework that states and localities can follow. “There’s over 1,000 alert originators at the state and local level, and I would say five, six, seven vendors for the user-interface systems,” he said. In a bid to improve innovation, DHS gave state governments broad leeway to design their own missile-alert interfaces. But Simpson said that decision has clearly come with a cost. “That variation is fine for notification about fire, notification about a tsunami coming in,” Simpson said. “But ballistic-missile warnings ought to be consistent, reliable, secure—because we don’t want it cyberattacked—across the entire country.” Republicans seem receptive to Schatz’s plan for missile-alert legislation. Schatz said he plans to introduce his bill through the Senate Commerce Committee, which is chaired by Republican John Thune. Frederick Hill, a Thune spokesman, told National Journal that the chairman “is considering convening a full committee hearing which would help inform legislative efforts.” House Republicans are further along than their Senate counterparts, with plans to hold an Energy and Commerce hearing on Hawaii’s false missile alert in the coming weeks. On Wednesday, committee chairman Greg Walden said he would be “happy to work” with Schatz on legislation, if needed. “We just haven’t got into the weeds on it,” Walden said. As long as lawmakers can work out issues surrounding committee and agency jurisdiction, Simpson said the chances for bipartisan support are high. But stakeholders from Homeland Security and the Pentagon—as well as the congressional committees that oversee them—will also need to weigh in. And Simpson worries those agencies may be loath to take responsibility for what’s widely viewed as a state-level mistake. “It’s a perfect bipartisan issue, as long as we don’t let the various lobbies and the competition between agencies pervert and potentially dilute the ultimate outcome,” Simpson said. "Two more House Republicans have joined the discharge petition to force votes on immigration, potentially leaving centrists just two signatures short of success. Reps. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) signed the discharge petition Thursday before the House left town for the Memorial Day recess. If all Democrats endorse the petition, just two more GOP signatures would be needed to reach the magic number of 218." Source: FIRED FROM RUSSIAN LAUNCHER Investigators Pin Destruction of Malaysian Airliner on Russia 3 hours ago THE DETAILS "A missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine in 2014 was fired from a launcher belonging to Russia's 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade, investigators said Thursday. The announcement is the first time the investigative team has identified a specific division of the Russian military as possibly being involved in the strike. Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in the incident." Source: THREE INTERVIEWS PLANNED FOR JUNE House GOP Will Conduct New Interviews in Clinton Probe 3 hours ago THE LATEST "House Republicans are preparing to conduct the first interviews in over four months in their investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email probe. A joint investigation run by the Judiciary and Oversight Committees has set three witness interviews for June, including testimony from Bill Priestap, the assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, and Michael Steinbach, the former head of the FBI’s national security division." Source: IN OPEN LETTER TO KIM JONG UN Trump Cancels North Korea Summit 5 hours ago THE LATEST GANG OF EIGHT WILL GET SEPARATE MEETING Briefings at White House Will Now Be Bipartisan 7 hours ago THE LATEST "The White House confirmed Wednesday it is planning for a bipartisan group of House and Senate leaders, known as the 'Gang of 8,' to receive a highly-classified intelligence briefing on the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling, reversing plans to exclude Democrats altogether. ABC News first reported the plans to hold a separate briefing for Democrats, citing multiple administration and congressional sources. While details of the bipartisan meeting are still being worked out, a Republican-only briefing will go on as scheduled Thursday."

Tag: Eloy Casados Original US release date: December 5, 2008 Production budget: $25,000,000 Worldwide gross: $27,426,335 There are timely films and then there are films that are before their time. Ron Howard is probably seen by most as a director who frequently makes good or very good films and occasionally makes a great one. Most recently, a lot... Continue Reading →

The summaries of the Colorado Court of Appeals published opinions constitute no part of the opinion of the division but have been prepared by the division for the convenience of the reader. The summaries may not be cited or relied upon as they are not the official language of the division. Any discrepancy between the language in the summary and in the opinion should be resolved in favor of the language in the opinion. SUMMARY February 8, 2018 2018COA12 No. 14CA0144, People v. Trujillo — Criminal Law — Sentencing — Probation — Indeterminate Sentence A division of the court of appeals considers whether a Colorado statute authorizes imposition of a sentence to an indeterminate term of probation and whether the defendant was entitled to the benefit of amendments to the statute criminalizing theft. Relying on People v. Jenkins, 2013 COA 76, 305 P.3d 420, the division concludes that section 18-1.3-202(1), C.R.S. 2017, provides statutory authority for the imposition of an indeterminate probation sentence. Following People v. Stellabotte, 2016 COA 106, ___ P.3d ___ (cert. granted Feb. 6, 2017), the majority further concludes that the defendant is entitled to the benefit of amendments to the theft statute. The partial dissent concludes that the amendments to the theft statute do not apply retroactively, and would therefore affirm the sentence in full. Additionally, the division rejects the defendant’s contentions that reversal is required due to the trial court’s rejection of defense-tendered jury instructions, wrongfully admitted character evidence, and prosecutorial misconduct. However, the division remands for the trial court to make findings of fact concerning the assessment of the costs of prosecution. Accordingly, the division affirms the conviction, affirms the sentence in part, vacates the sentence in part, and remands the case with directions. COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS 2018COA12 Court of Appeals No. 14CA0144 Mesa County District Court No. 11CR447 Honorable Valerie J. Robison, Judge The People of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Michael Floyd Trujillo, Defendant-Appellant. JUDGMENT AFFIRMED, SENTENCE AFFIRMED IN PART AND VACATED IN PART, AND CASE REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS Division I Opinion by JUDGE TAUBMAN Richman, J., concurs Furman, J., concurs in part and dissents in part Announced February 8, 2018 Cynthia H. Coffman, Attorney General, Joseph G. Michaels, Assistant Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee Douglas K. Wilson, Colorado State Public Defender, James S. Hardy, Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant ¶1 Defendant, Michael Floyd Trujillo, appeals his judgment of conviction entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of one count of theft of more than $20,000 and one count of criminal mischief of $20,000 or more. He also appeals his sentence. We perceive no basis for reversing his convictions, but remand for the trial court to make findings of fact regarding the assessment of the costs of prosecution and to reclassify his theft conviction as a class 4 felony. I. Background ¶2 In 2007, Trujillo began building a home, doing much of the labor himself and initially using his own money to fund the project. He later took out a construction loan from the victim, a bank, for just under $255,000. After construction was completed on the house, Trujillo stopped making his monthly loan payments. The bank declined to restructure the loan and initiated foreclosure proceedings in September 2010. ¶3 Before the foreclosure sale, Trujillo removed or destroyed property in the house, including kitchen cabinets, countertops, interior and exterior doors, doorjambs and casings, flooring, baseboards, light fixtures, bathroom fixtures, the fireplace, handrails, the boiler, the air conditioner, and the garage door. 1  Because of this damage, the house was appraised at $150,000; however, the appraiser estimated that if the house were in good repair, it would have been worth $320,000. ¶4 Trujillo was charged with defrauding a secured creditor, theft of $20,000 or more, but less than $100,000, and criminal mischief of $20,000 or more, but less than $100,000. The jury found him not guilty of defrauding a secured creditor and guilty of theft and criminal mischief. ¶5 On appeal, Trujillo raises six contentions: (1) the trial court erred in rejecting defense-tendered jury instructions; (2) the trial court erred in allowing evidence of a prior foreclosure against Trujillo; (3) prosecutorial misconduct during direct examination of a witness and closing rebuttal argument warrants reversal; (4) the trial court imposed an illegal sentence of indeterminate probation; (5) the trial court erred in awarding the People costs of prosecution; and (6) an amendment to the theft statute applies to his conviction. We perceive no basis for reversal with respect to the first four contentions, but agree with Trujillo’s final two contentions. We therefore affirm the convictions and the sentence in part but vacate the sentence in part and remand with directions. 2  II. Jury Instructions ¶6 Trujillo asserts that the trial court erred in rejecting various jury instructions regarding his theory of the case. We disagree. A. Additional Facts ¶7 Throughout trial, the defense’s theory of the case was that Trujillo lacked the requisite intent to commit the charged offenses because he believed that the property he removed from the house belonged to him. The defense tendered five jury instructions related to this theory of the case. ¶8 Trujillo’s tendered jury instructions detailed property law concepts. For example, the first tendered instruction stated that “the person who has title to real property is still the owner of the property even if there is a lien or secured interest on the property.” Another tendered instruction defined “title,” “deed of trust,” and “holder of a certificate of purchase[].” One instruction described the lien theory detailed in section 38-35-117, C.R.S. 2017, and another instructed that title to property “does not vest with the purchaser until eight days after [a] foreclosure sale.” ¶9 The trial court declined to give these instructions as tendered. However, portions of the defense-tendered instructions were 3  included in a final definitional jury instruction. The final instructions defined “deed of trust” and stated that the title to property is transferred to the holder of the certificate of purchase eight days after a foreclosure sale. Though it rejected other portions of the defense-tendered instructions, the trial court permitted defense counsel to argue the issues raised in the instructions during closing argument. ¶ 10 The defense also tendered an instruction which the trial court modified and gave as a theory of the case instruction. That instruction stated, “Trujillo contends that the items removed from the home . . . were his; purchased by him and installed by him. . . . Trujillo conten[d]s that the items that he took and damaged were his sole property.” B. Standard of Review ¶ 11 We review jury instructions de novo to determine whether, as a whole, they accurately informed the jury of the governing law. Riley v. People, 266 P.3d 1089, 1092-93 (Colo. 2011). If the jury instructions properly inform the jury of the law, the district court has “broad discretion to determine the form and style of jury instructions.” Day v. Johnson, 255 P.3d 1064, 1067 (Colo. 2011). 4  Accordingly, we review a trial court’s decision concerning a proposed jury instruction for an abuse of discretion and will not disturb the ruling unless it is manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair. Id. ¶ 12 When a defendant objects to the trial court’s ruling on a jury instruction, we review for nonconstitutional harmless error and will thus affirm if “there is not a reasonable probability that the error contributed to the defendant’s conviction.” People v. Garcia, 28 P.3d 340, 344 (Colo. 2001) (quoting Salcedo v. People, 999 P.2d 833, 841 (Colo. 2000)). C. Applicable Law ¶ 13 “[A]n instruction embodying a defendant’s theory of the case must be given by the trial court if the record contains any evidence to support the theory.” People v. Nunez, 841 P.2d 261, 264 (Colo. 1992). Moreover, a trial court has “an affirmative obligation” to work with counsel to correct a tendered theory of the case instruction “or to incorporate the substance of such in an instruction drafted by the court.” Id. at 265; see also People v. Tippett, 733 P.2d 1183, 1195 (Colo. 1987) (a trial court may refuse to give an instruction already embodied in other instructions). 5 ¶ 14 In considering whether a jury was adequately informed of a defendant’s theory of the case, a reviewing court can take into account whether defense counsel’s closing argument “fairly represented” the theory to the jury. People v. Dore, 997 P.2d 1214, 1222 (Colo. App. 1999). D. Analysis ¶ 15 Trujillo contends that the trial court abused its discretion in rejecting the tendered instructions. We disagree. ¶ 16 Trujillo asserts that the tendered instructions were essential because they communicated his theory of the case. However, the trial court instructed the jury on his theory of the case in an instruction that clearly stated that he believed the property he took from the house was “his sole property.” To the extent that the trial court had a duty to work with the defense in crafting a proper theory of defense instruction, we conclude that the trial court fulfilled that duty here by giving an alternative theory of the case instruction that encompassed Trujillo’s tendered instructions. See Nunez, 841 P.2d at 265 n.9. Moreover, the trial court specifically stated that defense counsel would be allowed to incorporate the 6  property law concepts into her closing argument, which defense counsel did. ¶ 17 Trujillo asserts that the instructions he tendered were accurate statements of property law. In contrast, the People argue that the instructions misstated the law as it applies in criminal prosecutions for theft and criminal mischief. Because we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in drafting a theory of defense instruction that encompassed the defense’s tendered instructions, we do not address whether the rejected instructions were accurate statements of the law. ¶ 18 The jury instructions, as a whole, “fairly and adequately cover[ed] the issues presented.” People v. Pahl, 169 P.3d 169, 183 (Colo. App. 2006). Thus, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting in part the defense-tendered jury instructions. III. Evidence of Prior Foreclosure ¶ 19 Trujillo next asserts that the trial court erred in allowing the People to introduce evidence that another property of his had been foreclosed. We disagree. 7  A. Additional Facts ¶ 20 Before trial, Trujillo filed a motion to exclude evidence of other acts or res gestae evidence. Trujillo’s motion addressed several categories of other acts evidence, including evidence related to any “financial and/or legal problems” unrelated to the charged offenses. During a motions hearing, the People stated that they did not intend to introduce any other acts or res gestae evidence. In a written ruling, the trial court granted Trujillo’s motion to exclude evidence of his unrelated financial and legal problems “unless the prosecution fe[lt] that the ‘door ha[d] been opened.’” The trial court further ordered that, if the People felt Trujillo introduced evidence of his other financial and legal problems, the People could request a bench conference during trial. ¶ 21 On the first day of trial, defense counsel stated that she was withdrawing her motion to exclude other acts evidence insofar as it pertained to evidence of Trujillo’s bankruptcy proceedings. During her opening statement, defense counsel then mentioned those proceedings. ¶ 22 Later, the People called the bank’s former vice president as an expert witness. During direct examination, the prosecutor asked 8  the witness why the bank had declined to restructure Trujillo’s loan. The prosecutor also asked about Trujillo’s demeanor during interactions with the bank. Trujillo objected. After a bench conference, the trial court allowed the witness to testify on both matters. ¶ 23 Specifically, the witness testified that, during a conversation about restructuring the loan, Trujillo “seemed like he was very upset.” The witness recalled, “He got into [that] he had a piece of property that [another bank] had foreclosed on and it sounded like they had sold it for what [Trujillo] believed was a lot less, leaving him a large deficiency balance.” ¶ 24 During closing argument, the People alluded to the witness’s testimony and referred several times to Trujillo’s general animosity against banks. B. Standard of Review ¶ 25 We review a trial court’s decision to admit other acts or res gestae evidence for an abuse of discretion. People v. Jimenez, 217 P.3d 841, 846 (Colo. App. 2008). A court abuses its discretion if its decision to admit such evidence is manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair. Id. 9 ¶ 26 We review a preserved claim of nonconstitutional error for harmless error, reversing only if any error “substantially influenced the verdict or affected the fairness of the trial proceedings.” Hagos v. People, 2012 CO 63, ¶ 12, 288 P.3d 116, 119 (quoting Tevlin v. People, 715 P.2d 338, 342 (Colo. 1986)). C. Applicable Law ¶ 27 Evidence is relevant if it has “any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” CRE 401. Generally speaking, “[t]he Colorado Rules of Evidence strongly favor the admission of relevant evidence.” People v. Brown, 2014 COA 155M-2, ¶ 22, 360 P.3d 167, 172. However, relevant evidence is nevertheless inadmissible when “its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury.” CRE 403. Similarly, evidence of “other crimes, wrongs, or acts” is inadmissible to prove a person’s character “in order to show that he acted in conformity therewith,” though it may be admissible for other purposes, including proving intent. CRE 404(b). 10 ¶ 28 “Res gestae is a theory of relevance which recognizes that certain evidence is relevant because of its unique relationship to the charged crime.” People v. Greenlee, 200 P.3d 363, 368 (Colo. 2009). However, “there is no need to consider an alternative theory of relevance, such as res gestae, where the evidence is admissible under general rules of relevancy.” Id. D. Analysis ¶ 29 Trujillo contends that the evidence of the prior foreclosure action portrayed him as a “serial defaulter” and was impermissible under CRE 404(b) and 403. The People assert that the evidence was admissible as “directly relevant” to Trujillo’s intent and motive. In the alternative, the People argue that the evidence was res gestae evidence. We agree with the People’s first argument that the evidence was admissible under CRE 401, and was not barred by CRE 403.1 1 During the bench conference, the trial court allowed the bank’s former vice president to testify after conducting an abbreviated CRE 404(b) analysis that did not specifically address the four-factor test set forth in People v. Spoto, 795 P.2d 1314, 1318 (Colo. 1990). The trial court did not admit the evidence under the res gestae doctrine. However, we can affirm a trial court’s evidentiary ruling on any ground supported by the record, “even if that ground was not 11 ¶ 30 The evidence of the prior foreclosure was probative of the interactions between Trujillo and the bank — it made it more probable that Trujillo had the requisite intent to commit theft. It was therefore relevant under CRE 401. Further, the risk of unfair prejudice did not substantially outweigh the probative value of the evidence, especially where the prior foreclosure was referenced only in passing and the details of that foreclosure were not revealed. Thus, the evidence was not barred by CRE 403. ¶ 31 Because we conclude that the evidence of the prior foreclosure was relevant under CRE 401 and admissible under CRE 403, we need not address whether the evidence was res gestae evidence or “other acts” evidence under CRE 404(b). See Greenlee, 200 P.3d at 368-69. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court did not err in allowing the testimony concerning the prior foreclosure action. IV. Prosecutorial Misconduct ¶ 32 Trujillo argues that the prosecutor improperly commented on the district attorney’s screening process for bringing charges and articulated or considered by the trial court.” People v. Phillips, 2012 COA 176, ¶ 63, 315 P.3d 136, 153. 12  Trujillo’s right not to testify, and improperly denigrated defense counsel. We perceive no basis for reversal. A. Additional Facts ¶ 33 During redirect examination of one of the People’s expert witnesses, an attorney who worked at the bank, the prosecutor asked whether the bank played a role in charging Trujillo. The prosecutor asked if the witness himself made the decision to file a criminal case, to which the witness replied, “No.” The prosecutor then asked, “[W]ho is it, according to your understanding, that makes those decisions on whether a case gets filed criminally?” The witness responded, “A complaint’s made to a police department or sheriff’s department and they make that decision in conjunction with I believe you.” The prosecutor clarified that “you” meant the district attorney’s office. The defense did not object. ¶ 34 During rebuttal closing argument, the prosecutor said, Did you hear all that? [Defense counsel]’s talking about all of this stuff, about what Trujillo’s intent was. And then did you hear her towards the end what she did? She says, and correct – this part was correct of what she said. My job is to prove intent, right. That is my burden. And she’s absolutely right. The Defendant has every right to remain silent, 13  and he exercised that right and that is something that you cannot use against him. But it is completely ridiculous for [defense counsel] to get up here and say that [Trujillo] didn’t testify to what his intent was and then to go on and talk about what his intent actually was. We don’t know what his intent was because he never testified to that, which he has every right to do. But did you hear her? She’s up here saying his intent was this. ¶ 35 Trujillo objected on the basis that the prosecutor was denigrating defense counsel. The trial court sustained the objection as to the prosecutor’s tone, but overruled it as to content. The prosecutor then argued, “[I]f you go out and run somebody over and – and think that you had the right to do that, is that gonna be a legitimate defense by saying, well, I thought I could do that. I didn’t – nobody ever told me. Nobody put it in writing. When I bought my car, in the instruction manual, nothing said that about that. That’s preposterous.” Trujillo did not renew his objection. B. Standard of Review ¶ 36 In reviewing alleged prosecutorial misconduct, an appellate court engages in a two-step analysis. First, we determine whether the prosecutor’s conduct was improper based on the totality of the circumstances. Wend v. People, 235 P.3d 1089, 1096 (Colo. 2010). 14  Second, we determine whether any misconduct warrants reversal under the proper standard of review. Id. ¶ 37 When the alleged misconduct is objected to at trial and is of constitutional magnitude, we review for constitutional harmless error. Id. When the alleged misconduct is not of a constitutional magnitude, and when the defense objected at trial, we subject the prosecutorial misconduct to harmless error review. Id. at 1097. Such prosecutorial misconduct will be considered harmless “whenever there is no reasonable probability that it contributed to the defendant’s conviction.” Crider v. People, 186 P.3d 39, 42 (Colo. 2008). When the defense did not object to the misconduct, we review for plain error. Wend, 235 P.3d at 1097-98. C. Applicable Law ¶ 38 A prosecutor cannot comment on a “screening process” for charging cases “because it both hints that additional evidence supporting guilt exists and reveals the personal opinion of the prosecutor.” Domingo-Gomez v. People, 125 P.3d 1043, 1052 (Colo. 2005). It is also improper for a prosecutor to make remarks “for the obvious purpose of denigrating defense counsel.” People v. Jones, 832 P.2d 1036, 1038 (Colo. App. 1991). It is similarly improper for 15  a prosecutor to comment on a defendant’s decision not to testify. Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609, 614 (1965); see also People v. Martinez, 652 P.2d 174, 177 (Colo. App. 1981) (noting that a prosecutor’s comment on a defendant’s silence constitutes reversible error when “the prosecution argued that such silence constituted an implied admission of guilt”). ¶ 39 Nevertheless, “[a] prosecutor is allowed considerable latitude in responding to the argument made by opposing counsel.” People v. Ramirez, 997 P.2d 1200, 1211 (Colo. App. 1999), aff’d, 43 P.3d 611 (Colo. 2001). Further, “[a]lthough it is improper for a prosecutor to assert that opposing counsel knows that the accused’s case is not meritorious,” the prosecutor may permissibly argue “that the evidence in support of defendant’s innocence lacked substance.” Id. at 1211; see also People v. Samson, 2012 COA 167, ¶ 31, 302 P.3d 311, 317 (stating that a prosecutor may permissibly “comment on the absence of evidence to support a defendant’s contentions”). ¶ 40 Appellate courts consider several factors in determining whether prosecutorial misconduct was prejudicial, including the nature of the error, the pervasiveness of the misconduct, the 16  context, and the overall strength of the evidence supporting the conviction. People v. McBride, 228 P.3d 216, 225 (Colo. App. 2009); see also Crider, 186 P.3d at 43. For example, a reviewing court may consider whether proper jury instructions mitigated the prejudicial effect of prosecutorial misconduct. See People v. Castillo, 2014 COA 140M, ¶ 78, ___ P.3d ___, ___ (concluding prosecutor’s misstatements were harmless in light of instructions from the trial court and the defense’s closing argument) (cert. granted in part Nov. 23, 2015). D. Analysis ¶ 41 Trujillo contends that three instances of prosecutorial misconduct require reversal. We disagree. ¶ 42 Trujillo first contends that the prosecutor improperly referred to a screening process while examining the expert witness. We perceive no prosecutorial misconduct. The prosecutor here did not imply that he had engaged in a screening process to “weed out the weaker cases and, implicitly, that the State d[id] not consider this a weak case.” Domingo-Gomez, 125 P.3d at 1052 (concluding the prosecutor’s comment that “it takes a lot more than somebody saying that person did it” to bring charges was improper). Rather, 17  the prosecutor clarified that the bank did not bring criminal charges and that the witness himself did not stand to gain as a result of Trujillo’s conviction. The People assert, and we agree, that the prosecutor’s question merely elicited testimony to establish that the district attorney’s office was responsible for pursuing the criminal charges against Trujillo. ¶ 43 Second, Trujillo asserts that the prosecutor impermissibly commented on his decision not to testify. We disagree. Even if we assume the comment on Trujillo’s decision not to testify was improper, not every comment on a defendant’s choice not to testify requires reversal. See Martinez, 652 P.2d at 177. “The determining factor is whether the defendant’s silence was used by the prosecution as a means of creating an inference of guilt,” id., and we conclude that the prosecutor’s comments here did not raise such an inference. ¶ 44 Finally, Trujillo contends that the prosecutor impermissibly denigrated defense counsel and the defense’s theory of the case during rebuttal closing argument. We agree that the prosecutor improperly denigrated defense counsel and the defense’s theory of 18  the case when he characterized her arguments as “completely ridiculous” and “preposterous.” ¶ 45 However, we perceive no basis for reversal as a result of these improper remarks. The comments were limited to the People’s rebuttal closing argument. Moreover, significant evidence corroborated the jury’s finding of guilt — specifically, the undisputed evidence that Trujillo had removed an extensive amount of property from the house. Viewing the record as a whole, we cannot say that there was a “reasonable probability” that the prosecutor’s remarks denigrating defense counsel contributed to Trujillo’s convictions. See Crider, 186 P.3d at 42. Thus, we determine the error was harmless. ¶ 46 In sum, though we agree that the prosecutor improperly denigrated defense counsel, we perceive no basis for reversal. V. Indeterminate Probation ¶ 47 Trujillo contends that the trial court did not have the statutory authority to sentence him to indeterminate probation. We disagree. A. Additional Facts ¶ 48 During the sentencing hearing, the People requested that Trujillo be placed on a “long period of probation . . . somewhere in 19  the neighborhood of eight to ten years” because they anticipated that Trujillo would be ordered to pay substantial restitution.2 Trujillo requested unsupervised probation with a collections investigator monitoring his restitution payments. ¶ 49 The trial court imposed an “indefinite probation sentence” because of the substantial restitution that Trujillo was expected to owe. In imposing an indeterminate probation sentence, the trial court stated, “There is case law that talks about whether [indeterminate probation] is something that can or should be imposed and it’s certainly something that is allowed regardless of the type of conviction that has been entered.” ¶ 50 The mittimus states that the sentence imposed was a term of probation for seven years to life. B. Standard of Review ¶ 51 The People contend that we should not consider this claim because a sentence to probation is not ordinarily subject to 2 The trial court ultimately ordered Trujillo to pay $171,421.97 in restitution. Trujillo separately appealed that order, and a division of this court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for reconsideration. People v. Trujillo, (Colo. App. No. 14CA2486, Oct. 5, 2017) (not published pursuant to C.A.R. 35(e)). 20  appellate review. However, “where, as here, a defendant contends that ‘a court has exceeded its statutory authority’ in imposing a probationary sentence, appellate review is warranted.” People v. Jenkins, 2013 COA 76, ¶ 10, 305 P.3d 420, 423 (quoting People v. Rossman, 140 P.3d 172, 174 (Colo. App. 2006)). ¶ 52 “We review sentencing decisions that are within the statutory range for an abuse of discretion.” People v. Torrez, 2013 COA 37, ¶ 71, 316 P.3d 25, 37. However, where the defendant contends that a court exceeded its statutory sentencing authority, our inquiry involves statutory interpretation. Jenkins, ¶ 12, 305 P.3d at 423. We review such issues of statutory interpretation de novo. Id. C. Applicable Law ¶ 53 Under section 18-1.3-202(1)(a), C.R.S. 2017, a trial court “may grant the defendant probation for such period and upon such terms and conditions as it deems best.” Further, “[t]he length of probation shall be subject to the discretion of the court and may exceed the maximum period of incarceration authorized for the classification of the offense of which the defendant is convicted.” Id. ¶ 54 In Jenkins, a division of this court concluded that section 18- 1.3-202(1) “authorizes a trial court to impose an indeterminate term 21  of probation.” Jenkins, ¶ 38, 305 P.3d at 426. The Jenkins division bolstered its conclusion by looking to the plain language of the statute — which the division noted “contemplate[s] both determinate and indeterminate terms of probation” — and to the provision’s legislative history. Id. at ¶¶ 40, 42, 46, 305 P.3d at 426- 28. Finally, the division noted that section 18-1.3-202(1) “generally pertains to a broad class of cases, and it simply allows a trial court to elect an indeterminate term if it sentences an offender who has been convicted of a felony to probation.” Id. at ¶ 50, 305 P.3d at 428 (upholding probationary sentence of ten years to life); see also People v. Martinez, 844 P.2d 1203, 1206 (Colo. App. 1992) (concluding that a trial court has authority to impose a term of probation that exceeds the sentence to imprisonment in the statutory aggravated range for an offense). D. Analysis ¶ 55 Trujillo asserts that the trial court exceeded its statutory authority in imposing an indeterminate probationary sentence. We disagree. ¶ 56 Like the Jenkins division, we conclude that section 18-1.3- 202(1) gives a trial court the authority to sentence a defendant 22  convicted of a felony to an indefinite probationary period. Trujillo urges that the statute limits a trial court’s authority to impose an indeterminate probation sentence. Under Trujillo’s logic, a sentence to probation for 100 years is permissible, but an indeterminate probation sentence is outside the trial court’s statutory authority. The statute offers no basis for reaching this conclusion. ¶ 57 Trujillo asserts that Jenkins is distinguishable because that case concerned whether a defendant convicted of a sex offense not falling under the supervision scheme of the Colorado Sex Offender Lifetime Supervision Act of 1998 (SOLSA), see §§ 18-1.3-1001 to -1012, C.R.S. 2017, could nevertheless be sentenced to indeterminate probation. Jenkins, ¶ 1, 305 P.3d at 422. Trujillo contends that Jenkins was limited to the particular circumstances of that case, and does not widely apply to all offenses and defendants. However, the Jenkins division made clear that section 18-1.3-202(1) “establishes a general rule as far as the possibility of an indeterminate probationary term for felonies” and “authorizes a trial court to impose an indeterminate term of probation.” Id. at ¶¶ 38, 50, 305 P.3d at 426, 428. In fact, Jenkins explicitly rejected the argument that a sentence of indeterminate probation could be 23  imposed only in sex offense cases subject to SOLSA. Id. at ¶¶ 49- 50, 305 P.3d at 428. Thus, Trujillo’s argument that Jenkins is limited to sex offenses is unavailing. ¶ 58 In sum, we conclude that the trial court did not exceed its statutory authority in imposing the probation sentence here. VI. Costs of Prosecution ¶ 59 Trujillo next asserts that the trial court erred in awarding the full costs of prosecution requested by the People without making a finding on whether any portion of the costs was attributable to the charge on which he was acquitted. We agree. A. Additional Facts ¶ 60 Before sentencing, the People moved for reimbursement of the costs of prosecution pursuant to section 18-1.3-701, C.R.S. 2017. The People requested $768.70. Trujillo opposed the motion on the basis that the People bore responsibility for the costs incurred to prove the defrauding a secured creditor charge, of which Trujillo was acquitted. ¶ 61 During the sentencing hearing, the trial court awarded the requested costs of prosecution, ordering Trujillo to pay $768.70. 24  B. Standard of Review ¶ 62 The trial court, in its discretion, may assess reasonable and necessary costs of prosecution against a convicted defendant. See § 18-1.3-701(2)(j.5). Thus, we review an assessment of costs of prosecution for an abuse of discretion, reversing if the trial court’s determination is manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair, People v. Palomo, 272 P.3d 1106, 1110 (Colo. App. 2011), or if the trial court misapplied the law, People v. Jefferson, 2017 CO 35, ¶ 25, 393 P.3d 493, 499. C. Applicable Law ¶ 63 Under section 16-18-101(1), C.R.S. 2017, the state bears the costs of prosecution when a defendant is acquitted. Such costs may include witness fees, mileage, lodging expenses, transportation costs, and other reasonable and necessary costs that directly result from prosecuting the defendant. § 18-1.3-701(2); see also People v. Sinovcic, 2013 COA 38, ¶¶ 15-16, 304 P.3d 1176, 1179. If a defendant is convicted of fewer than all of the charged counts, the court may assess only those costs attributable to the counts for which the defendant was convicted, if an allocation is practicable. Palomo, 272 P.3d at 1112. 25  D. Analysis ¶ 64 Trujillo asserts that the trial court erred in not making a finding as to whether some portion of the requested costs of prosecution were allocable to the acquitted charge. We agree. ¶ 65 As Trujillo concedes, it is possible that the costs cannot be allocated between the charge on which he was acquitted and the two charges on which he was convicted. However, the trial court did not find that such an allocation was impracticable. Because the trial court was required to consider whether some portion of the requested costs was practicably attributable to the acquitted charge, the trial court abused its discretion. See DeBella v. People, 233 P.3d 664, 667 (Colo. 2010) (failure to exercise discretion constitutes an abuse of the court’s discretion). ¶ 66 Accordingly, we vacate the order awarding the People costs of prosecution and remand for the trial court to make appropriate findings of fact and “assess only those costs that are related to the prosecution of the . . . counts of which [Trujillo] was convicted, to the extent an allocation is practicable.” Palomo, 272 P.3d at 1113. 26  VII. Amendment to Theft Statute ¶ 67 Trujillo contends that he should have benefited from an amendment to the theft statute reclassifying theft between $20,000 and $100,000 as a class 4 felony. We agree. A. Additional Facts ¶ 68 The General Assembly amended the theft statute on June 5, 2013. See Ch. 373, sec. 1, § 18-4-401, 2013 Colo. Sess. Laws 2196. Under the amended statute, theft between $20,000 and $100,000 constitutes a class 4 felony. See § 18-4-401(2)(h), C.R.S. 2017. Prior to the amendment, theft over $20,000 constituted a class 3 felony. § 18-4-401(2)(d), C.R.S. 2011. ¶ 69 Trujillo was charged with theft of $20,000 or more in April 2011. He was convicted in October 2013 and sentenced in December 2013. His theft conviction was recorded on the mittimus as a class 3 felony. B. Standard of Review ¶ 70 The People assert that, because Trujillo did not make this argument before the trial court, we should review only for plain error. However, the division in People v. Stellabotte rejected this argument. 2016 COA 106, ¶ 42, ___ P.3d ___, ___ (noting that plain 27  error review was inappropriate because “a defendant may raise a claim at any time that his or her sentence was not authorized by law”) (cert. granted Feb. 6, 2017). Following Stellabotte, we review the legality of the sentence de novo. Id. at ¶ 4, ___ P.3d at ___. C. Applicable Law ¶ 71 In determining whether to apply amendments to legislation, we first look to the plain language of the statute. People v. Summers, 208 P.3d 251, 253-54 (Colo. 2009). If a statute explicitly states that it applies only to offenses committed after the effective date, it must be applied accordingly. See People v. McCoy, 764 P.2d 1171, 1174 (Colo. 1988). ¶ 72 As a general rule, “[a] statute is presumed to be prospective in its operation.” § 2-4-202, C.R.S. 2017. However, if a statute is silent as to whether it applies only prospectively, a defendant may seek retroactive application if he or she benefits from a significant change in the law. § 18-1-410(1)(f)(I), C.R.S. 2017; see also People v. Thornton, 187 Colo. 202, 203, 529 P.2d 628, 628 (1974) (allowing defendant to seek relief on direct appeal under statute). ¶ 73 In Stellabotte, a division of this court concluded that the amendatory theft legislation “applies retroactively to cases pending 28  in the trial court when the amendment was enacted.” Stellabotte, ¶ 45, ___ P.3d at ___; People v. Patton, 2016 COA 187, ¶ 32, ___ P.3d ___, ___; see also People v. Patton, (Colo. App. No. 14CA2359, Aug. 11, 2016) (not published pursuant to C.A.R. 35(e)) (cert. granted Feb. 6, 2017). D. Analysis ¶ 74 Trujillo contends that the amendment to the theft statute requires that we vacate his sentence and remand for the trial court to enter his theft conviction as a class 4 felony. We agree. ¶ 75 As the division noted in Stellabotte, the theft amendment does not explicitly state that it is either retroactive or prospective. Stellabotte, ¶ 45, ___ P.3d at ___. In the face of this legislative silence, the division held that a defendant who committed theft prior to the statutory amendment but was not convicted until after its passage was entitled to the benefit retroactively. See id. at ¶¶ 39, 45, ___ P.3d at ___. The same is true here. ¶ 76 Trujillo was charged with theft before the statute was amended, but was not convicted or sentenced until after the General Assembly lowered the classification for theft between 29  $20,000 and $100,000.3 Thus, like the defendant in Stellabotte, Trujillo is entitled to the benefit of the amendment. As a result, we vacate the sentence for the theft conviction and remand for the conviction to be entered as a class 4 felony. ¶ 77 The partial dissent looks to several statutory provisions in support of its conclusion that Trujillo is not entitled to the benefit of the amendatory legislation. First, the partial dissent cites section 2-4-202, which states the general presumption that statutes apply prospectively. However, as the division noted in Stellabotte, section 18-1-410 is a specific exception to the general rule expressed in section 2-4-202. Stellabotte, ¶ 47 n.4, ___ P.3d at ___ n.4. We agree with that analysis. Thus, the general presumption that statutes apply prospectively does not apply here where Trujillo seeks the benefit of a “significant change in the law, . . . allowing in 3 Trujillo asserts that the theft was between $20,000 and $100,000 based on testimony from trial. The People do not contest the value of the stolen property in this case. We therefore assume that Trujillo’s offense properly fell within the value range set forth in section 18-4-401(2)(h), C.R.S. 2017. 30  the interests of justice retroactive application of the changed legal standard.”4 § 18-1-410(1)(f)(I). ¶ 78 The partial dissent also invokes section 2-4-303, C.R.S. 2017, in support of its conclusion. Section 2-4-303 states: The repeal, revision, amendment, or consolidation of any statute or part of a statute or section or part of a section of any statute shall not have the effect to release, extinguish, alter, modify, or change in whole or in part any penalty, forfeiture, or liability, either civil or criminal, which shall have been incurred under such statute, unless the repealing, revising, amending, or consolidating act so expressly provides. ¶ 79 However, the supreme court has noted that the “general saving” provision codified in this statute is not applicable to criminal cases; instead, the court noted in dictum that it “has 4 The partial dissent also asserts that section 18-1-410(1)(f)(I), C.R.S. 2017, does not provide any relief to Trujillo because that provision requires that “there has been significant change in the law, applied to the [defendant’s] conviction or sentence.” The partial dissent asserts that the phrase “applied to” requires that the legislation expressly state that it applies retroactively. We disagree with that interpretation, and believe that our view finds authority in supreme court case law. See People v. Thomas, 185 Colo. 395, 397, 525 P.2d 1136, 1137 (1974) (noting that “[t]he legislature intended the changed legal standards to apply wherever constitutionally permissible” but making no mention of whether the amendatory legislation reclassifying attempted second degree burglary explicitly stated that it applied retroactively). 31  consistently adhered to the principle . . . that a defendant is entitled to the benefits of amendatory legislation when relief is sought before finality has attached to the judgment of conviction.” Noe v. Dolan, 197 Colo. 32, 36 n.3, 589 P.2d 483, 486 n.3 (1979). ¶ 80 In People v. Boyd, a division of the court of appeals concluded that section 2-4-303 did not prevent the retroactive effect of an amendatory constitutional provision. 2015 COA 109, ¶ 27, 395 P.3d 1128, 1134, aff’d, 2017 CO 2, 387 P.3d 755.5 The division noted the supreme court’s language in Noe. Id. at ¶ 28, 395 P.3d at 1134. To the extent that other supreme court cases included contrary statements, the Boyd division concluded that such statements were dicta and that the supreme court had not overruled or disapproved of either Noe or People v. Thomas, 185 Colo. 395, 398, 525 P.2d 1136, 1138 (1974) (holding that “amendatory legislation mitigating the penalties for crimes should be applied to any case which has not received final judgment”). 5 The supreme court in Boyd affirmed the Court of Appeals decision on different grounds, concluding that the marijuana criminal offense statute had been rendered inoperative by Amendment 64. Neither the majority nor the dissent in Boyd cited section 2-4-303, C.R.S. 2017. 32  Boyd, ¶¶ 29-30, 395 P.3d at 1134-35. Finally, the Boyd division concluded that section 18-1-410(1)(f)(I) controls over section 2-4- 303 because the former sets forth a specific exception to the latter, which codifies a “general rule[] of construction regarding prospective effect for amendatory legislation.” Id. at ¶¶ 31-32, 395 P.3d at 1135. We agree with the Boyd division’s analysis and therefore do not perceive section 2-4-303 as a bar to the relief Trujillo seeks. ¶ 81 In making its statutory arguments, the partial dissent relies on the plain meaning of both section 2-4-303 and section 18-1- 410(1)(f)(I). However, as discussed, the supreme court has not given either provision its plain meaning. Despite express reference in section 2-4-303 to civil and criminal penalties, the supreme court has indicated that the provision does not apply to criminal cases. Noe, 197 Colo. at 36 n.3, 589 P.2d at 486 n.3. Similarly, while section 18-1-410(1)(f)(I) by its express terms applies to defendants seeking postconviction relief, the supreme court has held that the statute also extends to defendants seeking relief on direct appeal. Thornton, 187 Colo. at 203, 529 P.2d at 628. In light of the 33  supreme court’s interpretation of these statutes, we cannot give them the meanings that the partial dissent ascribes to them. ¶ 82 Finally, the partial dissent also relies on Riley v. People, in which the supreme court noted that it has “emphasized that a defendant is not entitled to the ameliorative effects of amendatory legislation if the General Assembly has not clearly indicated its intent to require such retroactive application.” 828 P.2d 254, 258 (Colo. 1992). However, we do not consider this statement to have the controlling effect the partial dissent gives it. In Riley, the defendant committed a crime in April 1988 and sought relief under two sentencing provisions that expressly stated they applied to acts “committed on or after” July 1, 1988. Id. at 255-56. The Riley court held the defendant there was not entitled to relief because applying the statutes retroactively would require the court to ignore the “clear legislative determination” that the amended sentencing provisions would apply only to acts after that date. Id. at 257. ¶ 83 Thus, Riley is readily distinguishable from the present case, where the amendments to the theft statute do not expressly provide an effective date, and the language relied on by the partial dissent is dicta. Accord McCoy, 764 P.2d at 1174 (noting that, where 34  legislation expressly stated it applied to acts committed on or after its effective date, a “defendant does not receive any ameliorative benefit” because “retroactive application of the amendatory legislation is clearly not intended by its own terms”); People v. Macias, 631 P.2d 584, 587 (Colo. 1981) (same). ¶ 84 Thus, we conclude, in accordance with Stellabotte, that Trujillo should receive the benefit of the amendment to the theft statute reclassifying theft between $20,000 and $100,000 as a class 4 felony. See Stellabotte, ¶ 40, ___ P.3d at ___. VIII. Conclusion ¶ 85 Accordingly, the judgment of conviction is affirmed. The sentence is affirmed in part and vacated in part, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with the views expressed in this opinion. JUDGE RICHMAN concurs. JUDGE FURMAN concurs in part and dissents in part. 35  JUDGE FURMAN, concurring in part and dissenting in part. ¶ 86 I respectfully dissent from the majority’s opinion only as to the effect of the 2013 amendments to the theft statute. I conclude that the 2013 amendments to the theft statute do not apply retroactively to Trujillo’s case. I reach this conclusion for several reasons. ¶ 87 First, the General Assembly has made it clear that a “statute is presumed to be prospective in its operation.” § 2-4-202, C.R.S. 2017. The 2013 amendments to the theft statute are silent as to whether they apply prospectively or retroactively. Therefore, I presume that the 2013 amendments are prospective in operation and do not apply to Trujillo’s offense, which occurred before 2013. See id. ¶ 88 Second, an amendment to a criminal statute does not change the penalty for crimes already committed under the statute unless the amendatory legislation expressly provides for such a change. See § 2-4-303, C.R.S. 2017. Section 2-4-303 provides, in relevant part: The . . . amendment . . . of any statute or part of a statute . . . shall not have the effect to release, extinguish, alter, modify, or change in whole or in part any penalty, forfeiture, or liability, either civil or criminal, which shall 36  have been incurred under such statute, unless the . . . amending . . . act so expressly provides, and such statute or part of a statute . . . so . . . amended . . . shall be treated and held as still remaining in force for the purpose of sustaining any and all proper actions, suits, proceedings, and prosecutions, criminal as well as civil, for the enforcement of such penalty, forfeiture, or liability, as well as for the purpose of sustaining any judgment, decree, or order which can or may be rendered, entered, or made in such actions, suits, proceedings, or prosecutions imposing, inflicting, or declaring such penalty, forfeiture, or liability. Because the 2013 amendments to the theft statute do not expressly provide that they apply retroactively, and Trujillo committed his crime before 2013, he is liable for theft as it was defined when he committed the offense. See id. ¶ 89 Third, in Riley v. People, 828 P.2d 254, 258 (Colo. 1992), our supreme court “emphasized that a defendant is not entitled to the ameliorative effects of amendatory legislation if the General Assembly has not clearly indicated its intent to require such retroactive application.” Id. I consider this statement by the supreme court about its own jurisprudence on this issue to be controlling. 37 ¶ 90 Fourth, section 18-1-410(1)(f)(I), C.R.S. 2017, does not allow Trujillo, on direct appeal, to seek retroactive application of the 2013 amendments to his case. Section 18-1-410(1)(f)(I) allows a defendant to seek retroactive application of a “significant change in the law, applied to” a defendant’s “conviction or sentence.” I believe that the phrase “applied to” reflects the General Assembly’s intent that, for amendatory legislation to apply retroactively to a defendant’s conviction or sentence, the legislation must state that it applies retroactively. Thus, because, as noted, the 2013 amendments do not state that they apply retroactively to Trujillo’s conviction and sentence, he may not seek retroactive application under section 18-1-410(1)(f)(I). ¶ 91 Finally, and with all due respect, I decline to follow People v. Stellabotte, 2016 COA 106 (cert. granted Feb. 6, 2017). Indeed, I agree with Judge Dailey’s dissent in Stellabotte. See id. at ¶¶ 62-70 (Dailey, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). 38 

The two classes `KinesisRecorder` and `KinesisFirehoseRecorder` allow you to interface with Amazon Kinesis Data Streams and Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose to stream analytics data for real-time processing. ## What is Amazon Kinesis Data Streams? [Amazon Kinesis Data Streams](http://aws.amazon.com/kinesis/) is a fully managed service for real-time processing of streaming data at massive scale. Amazon Kinesis can collect and process hundreds of terabytes of data per hour from hundreds of thousands of sources, so you can write applications that process information in real-time. With Amazon Kinesis applications, you can build real-time dashboards, capture exceptions and generate alerts, drive recommendations, and make other real-time business or operational decisions. You can also easily send data to other services such as Amazon Simple Storage Service, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon Redshift. The Kinesis Data Streams `KinesisRecorder` client lets you store your Kinesis requests on disk and then send them all at once using the [PutRecords](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/kinesis/latest/APIReference/API_PutRecords.html) API call of Kinesis. This is useful because many mobile applications that use Kinesis Data Streams will create multiple requests per second. Sending an individual request under `PutRecord` action could adversely impact battery life. Moreover, the requests could be lost if the device goes offline. Thus, using the high-level Kinesis Data Streams client for batching can preserve both battery life and data. ## What is Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose? [Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose](http://aws.amazon.com/kinesis/firehose/) is a fully managed service for delivering real-time streaming data to destinations such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Amazon Redshift. With Kinesis Data Firehose, you do not need to write any applications or manage any resources. You configure your data producers to send data to Firehose and it automatically delivers the data to the destination that you specified. The Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose `KinesisFirehoseRecorder` client lets you store your Kinesis Data Firehose requests on disk and then send them using the [PutRecordBatch](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/firehose/latest/APIReference/API_PutRecordBatch.html) API call of Kinesis Data Firehose. For more information about Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose, see [Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/firehose/latest/dev/what-is-this-service.html). ## Integrating Amazon Kinesis Set up AWS Mobile SDK components by including the following libraries in your `app/build.gradle` dependencies list. ```groovy dependencies { implementation 'com.amazonaws:aws-android-sdk-kinesis:2.15.+' implementation ('com.amazonaws:aws-android-sdk-mobile-client:2.15.+@aar') { transitive = true } } ``` * `aws-android-sdk-kinesis` library enables sending analytics to Amazon Kinesis. * `aws-android-sdk-mobile-client` library gives access to the AWS credentials provider and configurations. Add the following imports to the main activity of your app. ```java import com.amazonaws.mobileconnectors.kinesis.kinesisrecorder.*; import com.amazonaws.mobile.client.AWSMobileClient; import com.amazonaws.regions.Regions; ``` To use Kinesis Data Streams in an application, you must set the correct permissions. The following IAM policy allows the user to submit records to a specific data stream, which is identified by [ARN](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/aws-arns-and-namespaces.html). ```json { "Statement": [{ "Effect": "Allow", "Action": "kinesis:PutRecords", "Resource": "arn:aws:kinesis:us-west-2:111122223333:stream/mystream" }] } ``` The following IAM policy allows the user to submit records to a specific Kinesis Data Firehose delivery stream. ```json { "Statement": [{ "Effect": "Allow", "Action": "firehose:PutRecordBatch", "Resource": "arn:aws:firehose:us-west-2:111122223333:deliverystream/mystream" }] } ``` This policy should be applied to roles assigned to the Amazon Cognito identity pool, but you need to replace the `Resource` value with the correct ARN for your Amazon Kinesis or Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose stream. You can apply policies at the [IAM console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/). To learn more about IAM policies, see [Using IAM](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/IAM_Introduction.html). To learn more about Amazon Kinesis Data Streams policies, see [Controlling Access to Amazon Kinesis Data Streams Resources with IAM](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/kinesis/latest/dev/kinesis-using-iam.html). To learn more about Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose policies, see [Controlling Access with Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/firehose/latest/dev/controlling-access.html). ## Working with the API You can use `AWSMobileClient` to setup the Cognito credentials that are required to authenticate your requests with Amazon Kinesis. ```java AWSMobileClient.getInstance().initialize(getApplicationContext(), new Callback<UserStateDetails>() { @Override public void onResult(UserStateDetails userStateDetails) { Log.i("INIT", userStateDetails.getUserState().toString()); } @Override public void onError(Exception e) { Log.e("INIT", "Initialization error.", e); } } ); ``` Once you have credentials, you can use `KinesisRecorder` with Amazon Kinesis. The following snippet creates a directory and instantiates the `KinesisRecorder` client: ```java String kinesisDirectory = "YOUR_UNIQUE_DIRECTORY"; KinesisRecorder recorder = new KinesisRecorder( myActivity.getDir(kinesisDirectory, 0), Regions.<YOUR-AWS-REGION>, AWSMobileClient.getInstance() ); // KinesisRecorder uses synchronous calls, so you shouldn't call KinesisRecorder methods on the main thread. ``` To use `KinesisFirehoseRecorder`, you need to pass the object in a directory where streaming data is saved. We recommend you use an app private directory because the data is not encrypted. ```java KinesisFirehoseRecorder firehoseRecorder = new KinesisFirehoseRecorder( context.getCachedDir(), Regions.<YOUR-AWS-REGION>, AWSMobileClient.getInstance()); ``` Configure Kinesis: You can configure `KinesisRecorder` or `KinesisFirehoseRecorder` through their properties: You can configure the maximum allowed storage via the `withMaxStorageSize()` method of `KinesisRecorderConfig`. You can retrieve the same information by getting the `KinesisRecorderConfig` object for the recorder and calling `getMaxStorageSize():` ```java KinesisRecorderConfig kinesisRecorderConfig = recorder.getKinesisRecorderConfig(); Long maxStorageSize = kinesisRecorderConfig.getMaxStorageSize(); // Do something with maxStorageSize ``` To check the number of bytes currently stored in the directory passed in to the `KinesisRecorder` constructor, call `getDiskBytesUsed()`: ```java Long bytesUsed = recorder.getDiskBytesUsed(); // Do something with bytesUsed ``` To see how much space the `KinesisRecorder` client is allowed to use, you can call `getDiskByteLimit()`. ```java Long byteLimit = recorder.getDiskByteLimit(); // Do something with byteLimit ``` With `KinesisRecorder` created and configured, you can use `saveRecord()` to save records and then send them in a batch. ```java recorder.saveRecord( "MyData".getBytes(), "MyStreamName"); recorder.submitAllRecords(); ``` For the `saveRecord()` request above to work, you would have to have created a stream named `MyStreamName`. You can create new streams in the [Amazon Kinesis console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/kinesis). If `submitAllRecords()` is called while the app is online, requests will be sent and removed from the disk. If `submitAllRecords()` is called while the app is offline, requests will be kept on disk until `submitAllRecords()` is called while online. This applies even if you lose your internet connection midway through a submit. So if you save ten requests, call `submitAllRecords()`, send five, and then lose the Internet connection, you have five requests left on disk. These remaining five will be sent the next time `submitAllRecords()` is invoked online. Here is a similar snippet for Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose: ```java // Start to save data, either a String or a byte array firehoseRecorder.saveRecord("Hello world!\n"); firehoseRecorder.saveRecord("Streaming data to Amazon S3 via Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose is easy.\n"); // Send previously saved data to Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose // Note: submitAllRecords() makes network calls, so wrap it in an AsyncTask. new AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void>() { @Override protected Void doInBackground(Void... v) { try { firehoseRecorder.submitAllRecords(); } catch (AmazonClientException ace) { // handle error } } }.execute(); ``` To learn more about working with Kinesis Data Streams, see the [Amazon Kinesis Data Streams resources](http://aws.amazon.com/kinesis/developer-resources/). To learn more about the Kinesis Data Streams classes, see the [class reference for KinesisRecorder](https://aws-amplify.github.io/aws-sdk-android/docs/reference/com/amazonaws/mobileconnectors/kinesis/kinesisrecorder/KinesisRecorder.html). To learn more about the Kinesis Data Firehose classes, see the [class reference for KinesisFirehoseRecorder](https://aws-amplify.github.io/aws-sdk-android/docs/reference/com/amazonaws/mobileconnectors/kinesis/kinesisrecorder/KinesisFirehoseRecorder.html).

Sun aims powerful flares at Earth Top: Two large sunspot groups are visible in this image of the sun obtained by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Below: This SOHO image shows a large filament eruption that occurred February 26. The disk in the center is a mask that blocks out direct sunlight. By Richard Stenger CNN Interactive Staff Writer March 1, 2000 Web posted at: 3:24 p.m. EST (2024 GMT) (CNN) -- The sun should place the Earth squarely in its sights this week as it aims its solar ray gun. Astronomers tell terrestrial dwellers not to sweat it too much, despite the fact that solar activity is approaching an 11-year peak. Two large sunspots moving across the surface of the sun are expected to directly face the Earth soon for up to several days, according to solar scientists. Such sunspots often herald powerful coronal mass ejections and solar flares, space storms that can disrupt weather and electrical systems on Earth. Solar flares are the largest explosions in the solar system. A typical one can release the energy equivalent of millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at once. Highly charged particles from large flares can overload power grids and damage satellites. In 1989, one space storm knocked out a major power plant in Canada, leaving millions without power for hours. Solar activity generally waxes and wanes during an 11-year cycle and astronomers expect it to peak either this or next year. But so far, the sun has produced only a "disappointing" level of fireworks, said Joseph Gurman, a solar physicist who analyzes data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. Coronal mass ejections are much more likely to produce effects, Gurman said. Like flares, they send streams of highly charged particles, but they also can emit a billion tons of plasma, or ionized gas. Fortunately the Earth's magnetosphere usually bears the brunt of plasma particles. "If we were exposed to them, we literally would be fried," Gurman said.

For the Democratic Party, a pliant and friendly news media is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, the corporate press's eagerness to rehabilitate Democratic officials after even the most shameful and despicable acts has made it possible for some of the party’s worst actors to maintain political power with relative ease. Then again, the news media’s reflexively and reliably soft coverage of left-wing lawmakers has made the chief benefactors of this cozy relationship both soft and complacent. Democratic officials and candidates have been lulled into a false sense of security, ignoring or forgetting the benefits that come with being tempered by a thorough, brutal vetting. The downside to the corporate media’s mostly hands-off approach to covering Democratically aligned lawmakers was never clearer than it was during the Feb. 19 primary debate in Las Vegas, Nevada. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who spent much of the evening having his entrails ripped out by his 2020 opponents and paraded around the stage, managed to get in one good blow against Sen. Bernie Sanders, going after the Vermont lawmaker for his conspicuous wealth. “What a wonderful country we have,” said the former mayor. “The best-known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses. What did I miss here?” “Well,” an irate Sanders said, “You'll miss that I work in Washington, house one. ” Bloomberg interjected, “That's the first problem.” “Live in Burlington, house two,” the senator continued. The former mayor interrupted again, “That's good.” “And like thousands of other Vermonters, I do have a summer camp. Forgive me for that. Where is your home? Which tax haven do you have your home?” Sanders demanded, hopelessly losing the exchange. “New York City, thank you very much,” Bloomberg said to applause, “and I pay all my taxes.” The most remarkable thing about the exchange is not that Sanders was so easily baited by Bloomberg into making a sloppy, blindly angry defense but that it marked the first time in the 2020 campaign season that anyone, Democrat, reporter, or debate moderator, pressed the 2020 Democratic primary front-runner to reconcile his own considerable fortune with his core message of confiscating wealth from business owners. How did Sanders make it through nine debates without a fellow Democrat or debate moderator asking him to respond to the most obvious criticism he will face should he go up against Trump? The 2016 election was a “takers versus makers” election. It is astonishing, then, that it took for a 2020 Democratic primary candidate who is not even on the ballot in Nevada or South Carolina to ask the millionaire socialist senator about his three houses. I guess that is what happens when you schedule all your primary debates with only friendly news networks. This gets to the precise problem of the too-friendly relationship between the Democratic Party and the corporate media. It is a double-edged sword that allows terrible men to weather what should be career-ending scandals and missteps but also leads to their entire party getting lazy and soft. Not having to worry about a tough, combative press is how you get incidents such as the 2020 Democratic front-runner being totally unprepared to answer the most obvious criticism of his campaign. If Sanders's disastrous handling of Bloomberg's no-brainer broadside is a portent of things to come, the general election meat grinder will be a straight-up bloodbath for Democrats.

/// /// Copyright (c) 2016 Dropbox, Inc. All rights reserved. /// /// Auto-generated by Stone, do not modify. /// #import <Foundation/Foundation.h> #import "DBSerializableProtocol.h" @class DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicy; NS_ASSUME_NONNULL_BEGIN #pragma mark - API Object /// /// The `SharedFolderJoinPolicy` union. /// /// Policy governing which shared folders a team member can join. /// /// This class implements the `DBSerializable` protocol (serialize and /// deserialize instance methods), which is required for all Obj-C SDK API route /// objects. /// @interface DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicy : NSObject <DBSerializable, NSCopying> #pragma mark - Instance fields /// The `DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicyTag` enum type represents the /// possible tag states with which the `DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicy` /// union can exist. typedef NS_CLOSED_ENUM(NSInteger, DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicyTag){ /// Team members can only join folders shared by teammates. DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicyFromTeamOnly, /// Team members can join any shared folder, including those shared by users /// outside the team. DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicyFromAnyone, /// (no description). DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicyOther, }; /// Represents the union's current tag state. @property (nonatomic, readonly) DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicyTag tag; #pragma mark - Constructors /// /// Initializes union class with tag state of "from_team_only". /// /// Description of the "from_team_only" tag state: Team members can only join /// folders shared by teammates. /// /// @return An initialized instance. /// - (instancetype)initWithFromTeamOnly; /// /// Initializes union class with tag state of "from_anyone". /// /// Description of the "from_anyone" tag state: Team members can join any shared /// folder, including those shared by users outside the team. /// /// @return An initialized instance. /// - (instancetype)initWithFromAnyone; /// /// Initializes union class with tag state of "other". /// /// @return An initialized instance. /// - (instancetype)initWithOther; - (instancetype)init NS_UNAVAILABLE; #pragma mark - Tag state methods /// /// Retrieves whether the union's current tag state has value "from_team_only". /// /// @return Whether the union's current tag state has value "from_team_only". /// - (BOOL)isFromTeamOnly; /// /// Retrieves whether the union's current tag state has value "from_anyone". /// /// @return Whether the union's current tag state has value "from_anyone". /// - (BOOL)isFromAnyone; /// /// Retrieves whether the union's current tag state has value "other". /// /// @return Whether the union's current tag state has value "other". /// - (BOOL)isOther; /// /// Retrieves string value of union's current tag state. /// /// @return A human-readable string representing the union's current tag state. /// - (NSString *)tagName; @end #pragma mark - Serializer Object /// /// The serialization class for the `DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicy` /// union. /// @interface DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicySerializer : NSObject /// /// Serializes `DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicy` instances. /// /// @param instance An instance of the `DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicy` /// API object. /// /// @return A json-compatible dictionary representation of the /// `DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicy` API object. /// + (nullable NSDictionary<NSString *, id> *)serialize:(DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicy *)instance; /// /// Deserializes `DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicy` instances. /// /// @param dict A json-compatible dictionary representation of the /// `DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicy` API object. /// /// @return An instantiation of the `DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicy` /// object. /// + (DBTEAMPOLICIESSharedFolderJoinPolicy *)deserialize:(NSDictionary<NSString *, id> *)dict; @end NS_ASSUME_NONNULL_END

Primary care for women. Comprehensive assessment and management of common mental health problems. This article emphasizes the importance of the role of the certified nurse-midwife (CNM) in the primary care assessment of, and appropriate referral for women with mental health problems, especially in cases of psychiatric emergencies. Essential aspects of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of the more common psychiatric problems are included, and the treatment modalities that are considered when referral results in psychiatric intervention are reviewed. In addition, the overall prevalence of mental health problems in women, the frequency with which primary care providers may encounter mental health problems, and issues of mental health care utilization are discussed.

When Rudy Gay left the game with a left knee injury late in the first quarter, memories of the Sacramento Kings’ (16-22) recent poor play minus a star resurfaced. The thought came to fruition as DeMarcus Cousins joined him on the sidelines in the waning seconds of regulation, and the short-handed Kings fell to the visiting Dallas Mavericks (27-12), 108-104. The Kings are currently 2-2 on their six-game home stand and return to action on Friday in a contest against the Miami Heat. Join Cowbell Kingdom’sJames Ham as he recaps the action from the floor of Sleep Train Arena. Golden State Warriors Projected Starters (31-22) What to watch 1. Can the Kings win without DeMarcus Cousins? The Kings are 0-7 without their starting center and it looks like Cousins will miss another game on Wednesday with a strained left hip flexor. Andrew Bogut is questionable for the Warrior with left shoulder inflammation, as is reserve Jermaine O’Neal (sore back). This game might turn into a track meet, which doesn’t bode well for Sacramento. 2. Can the Kings defend the 3-point line? Sacramento ranks 28th in the league against the long ball. The Warriors starting backcourt of Curry and Thompson have already shot close to 800 3-pointers on the season. If the Kings don’t stay with Golden State’s shooters, they have very little chance of pulling off the upset. 3. How do the Kings players handle the trade rumors? The trade deadline is 12pm PST on Thursday and the rumors are swirling. Do the Kings players crumble under the pressure or do they come out swinging in what might be their last game in Sacramento? According to an NBA source, Sacramento Kings point guard Isaiah Thomas underwent an MRI earlier Tuesday on his left wrist. Counter to other media reports, the results of the tests were negative and Thomas is not expected to miss any time with the injury. Since taking over the starting position 35 games ago, Thomas is averaging 21.5 points, 6.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game in 37.5 minutes. But rumors that he was having some discomfort in his wrist began a few weeks back. Recently, his shooting numbers have taken a dramatic dip, beginning in January when he shot just 41.2 percent from the field and 32.7 percent from long range. Thomas’s overall field goal percentage has bounced back in the month of February, but his 3-point percentage for the seven games this month is 24.1 percent. Thomas and rookie guard Ben McLemore were the subject of a trade rumor on Monday, but coach Michael Malone and general manager Pete D’Alessandro refuted the reports following practice on Tuesday afternoon. “The report that was, I think on Yahoo!, about our offer to Boston was so erroneous and I don’t know where it came from,” Malone told reporters on Tuesday. “We dispel the rumors that are out there that we know are not true, but at the same time, this is a business and you have no idea what can happen up until trade deadline. I think all of our players realize that.” With injuries and possible trade rumors swirling, it should be a wild couple of days in Sacramento. DeMarcus Cousins Injury Update Thomas wasn’t the only Kings player to undergo an MRI today. For the second straight day, center DeMarcus Cousins made a trip to the doctors office for testing. Results of the first MRI were inconclusive, but a second test confirmed the Kings medical staff’s earlier diagnosis of a strained left hip flexor. Cousins has been unable to participate in practice since returning from the All-Star break. He is listed as day-to-day, but considered doubtful for Wednesday’s match-up against the Golden State Warriors. Hamady Ndiaye out of Rutgers and DeQuan Jones out of Florida are the only late additions. Ndiaye was in camp last season with Sacramento and left a solid impression. After being waived by the Kings, the 26-year old center spent last season playing for Tianjin Ronggang Golden Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association. Jones played in 63 games last season with the Orlando Magic, including 17 starts. He averaged 3.7 points per game in a little under 13 minutes a game. Last season it was high ropes courses in Colorado Springs, Co. This year, the Sacramento Kings open training camp away from home again, but instead of the Team USA practice facility in Colorado, it will be on the sandy beaches of Santa Barbara, CA. Camp will run from Oct. 1-6 at the Pavilion Gym on the University of California, Santa Barbara campus. The team will head back to Northern California for their pre-season opener on the road against the Golden State Warriors on October 7, before heading to Las Vegas to take on the Lakers on Oct. 10. After the initial week away, the Kings will continue camp in Sacramento at the team’s practice facility in Natomas. Cowbell Kingdom has grown exponentially since its founding in 2009 and we want to make sure we know our audience. The information you provide in this brief survey will be used to help us better serve you. For your participation, you will be automatically entered into a contest to win a copy of the 2013-14 Sacramento Kings Dancers calendar and a “Blackout” t-shirt commemorating last season’s first home game. But there’s probably no other player more overlooked and underrated on this season’s roster than the fourth-year guard. Just look no further than ESPN.com’s annual NBA Rank, which appraises the value of the league’s top 500 players. The 25-year-old guard moved up just five spots (no. 136 in 2011 to no. 131 in 2012) in this year’s rankings. These were the five players ranked just ahead of Thornton in the 2012 forecast: Such is life on a bad team with little to no national exposure. However, those who follow the Kings closely know just how valuable Thornton is, especially his competition. “He’s become an outstanding scorer in this league,” said Dallas Mavericks guard Darren Collisonback in January of his former New Orleans Hornets teammate. “He’s definitely made a niche in this league as far as (being) a big time scorer. “He can shoot the ball extremely well and he can do a lot of different things off the pick and roll,” added Collison. “And he’s exceptionally quick too.” In their rookie year, Collison and Thornton formed an explosive and exciting young backcourt for the Hornets. Though they’ve since gone their separate ways, the two remain close. Thornton worked out last offseason with Collison in Los Angeles during the lockout. The fourth-year guard out of UCLA thinks Sacramento is a good fit for his old teammate. He believes Thornton will only continue to improve with the Kings’ green nucleus. “This is a young team that’s going to be good in the near future,” Collison said. “He has a starting role here, so anytime you have a starting role, it’s always a good fit. And he’s one of their best scorers, too.” Averaging 18.7 points per game, Thornton led the Kings in scoring last season and usually found himself as their go-to-guy in clutch situations. The next step for Thornton, according to another former teammate, is becoming an accomplished defender. “He’s always been a capable scorer,” said Indiana Pacers big man David West. “Key for him has always been for him to play as hard defensively as he does offensively.” As explosive as he is with the ball, Thornton could stand to see some improvement on the defensive end. The Louisiana native finished in the bottom three among his 15 teammates in defensive rating. “We would challenge him to do the same thing on the defensive end,” said West of his days with Thornton in New Orleans. “Make him more of a complete ball player.” However like Collison, West thinks Thornton will continue to find success in the league. “He’s a strong-minded, tough-minded kid,” West said. “I knew that once he got an opportunity to just get in a system that worked for him and bring out his best skills, he’d do well.” The Kings may not belong to Marcus Thornton. But his importance to their success isn’t an understatement. Twenty-five years ago today, Sacramento Kings Head Coach Keith Smart hit a shot that changed his life forever. No matter where I go, people talk about it. Once they recognize me or see a nametag on my bag or something like that, they start talking about “The Shot”. So it’s a great moment and I’m glad it went in, but wasn’t just something for me. We just had our 25 year championship reunion. And we all got together and it wasn’t so much what we all did in the tournament and our careers. It was a friendship and a relationship that we have now that that moment brings us all together. Diehard Sacramento Kings fan Kevin Fippin wanted to propose to his long-time girlfriend Lydia Nicolaisen. So before he popped the question on New Year’s Eve, he recruited the services of a Sacramento Kings fan favorite.

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a common monoallelic disorder associated with progressive cyst development and resulting in end stage renal failure (ESRD) in 50% of patients by 60y. However, there is considerable phenotypic variability, extending from in utero onset to patients with adequate renal function into old age. Autosomal dominant polycystic liver disease (ADPLD), as traditionally defined, results in PLD with minimal renal cysts. Classically there have been considered two ADPKD genes, PKD1 and PKD2, encoding PC1 and PC2, and two ADPLD genes, PRKCSH and SEC63, but in the past few years greater genetic heterogeneity has been described, with nine genes now implicated overall. Recent data also indicates an overlap in etiology and pathogenesis associated with ADPKD and ADPLD, with the efficient biogenesis and localization of the PC-complex central to both disorders. During the last funding period we identified a novel gene, GANAB, which is associated with both disorders, where the encoded protein, GII?? is involved in the maturation and trafficking of PC1. In this proposal we will take advantage of advances in next generation sequencing (NGS) methodologies, and large populations of ADPKD and ADPLD patients that have been assembled and screened for the classic genes, to hunt for novel genes for these disorders (Aim 1). The phenotype associated with these genes will be characterized (Aim 3) along with their mechanism of action (Aim 2). NGS methods will be perfected to screen the segmentally duplicated locus, PKD1, and to identify missed mutations at the known loci, including those present in just some cells due to mosaicism (Aim 1). The significance of many PKD1 nontruncating variants has been difficult to evaluate (classed as variants of unknown significance; VUS), but recently evidence that some are incompletely penetrant alleles partially explains phenotypic variability in PKD1 populations. In Aim 2 improved in silico predictions, in combination with machine learning, will improve the understanding of the pathogenicity and penetrance of VUS. A cellular assay of the biogenesis and trafficking of this PC-complex will also be employed to quantify the penetrance of VUS. The mechanism of pathogenesis will be explored in animal models with ultralow penetrant (ULP) Pkd1 or Pkd2 alleles. Employing the large clinically, imaging, and genetically well-defined populations phenotypic groupings of patients will be defined that will then be compared to the genic and PKD1 allelic groups (Aim 3). This iterative process will allow the Variant Score (VS) associated with each PKD1 VUS to be refined. In a separate population the revised VS, alone and in combination with clinical, functional, and imaging data, will be employed to generate a comprehensive, predictive algorithm for ADPKD (Aim 3). Disease modifiers to severe disease, via biallelic ADPKD, and due to alleles at other loci will also be identified and characterized in the cellular assay and in vivo in combination with the Pkd1 hypomorphic, RC model. The final aim will exploit the newly identified information that some PKD1 and PKD2 VUS are rescuable, folding mutations that in a maturation-fostering environment can traffic and function appropriately. A screening scheme based on the level of cell surface PC1 will be improved and new chaperone drugs specific for the PC complex will be sought in collaboration with Sanford Burnham Prebys. A second mutation group that will be explored therapeutically are nonsense mutations. A cellular assay for readthrough efficiency is being developed and will be used for screening. Identified chaperone or readthrough drugs will be tested in available mouse models. Overall this proposal will better explain the etiology and the genetic causes of phenotypic variability in ADPKD/ADPLD, develop better prognostic tools for individual selection of patients for treatment that are now becoming available, and explore allele based treatments for ADPKD.

A VISUALLY STUNNING architectural biography of Minnesota’s most influential architect of the twentieth century. Architect, artist, furniture designer, and educator, Ralph Rapson has played a leading role in the development and practice of modern architecture and design, both nationally and internationally. “Ralph Rapson is now a legend in the history of modern architecture.” —Cesar Pelli, FAIA REVIEW: Barbara Flanagan/The New York Times Ralph Rapson is best known as the designer of the Gutherie, Minneapolis’s landmark of theater design, but because he worked, taught and competed with most of the world’s first modernists–Wright, Mies, Corbusier, Saarinen–his elder son and biographer calls him “the Forest Gump of architecture.” Ralph Rapson: Sixty Years of Modern Design, by Rip Rapson, Jane King Hession and Bruce N. Wright, documents the architect’s vast career and uncanny associations. Rapson believed design should be reflect the moment–furniture, houses, cities–but his take on modernism was never pompous. He perpetuated endless ideas–still fresh–vibrant drawings and youthful pranks. (He had his students hoist famous visitors upside down, including the stocky Buckminister Fuller, and footprint the ceiling with their bare soles.) The book shows how one can be talented, influential and happy, all the while remaining internationally obscure. It also tells, discreetly, how one man can achieve all this single-handedly: with his right forearm amputated at birth, Ralph Rapson drew with his left hand.

All Studio Posts The upcoming AES 54th International Conferencem focusing on audio forensics, is set to take place June 12-14, 2014, at the Holiday Inn Bloomsbury in London. Dedicated to exploring techniques, technologies and advancements in the field of audio forensics, the conference will provide a platform for sharing research related to the forensic application of speech/signal processing, acoustical analyses, audio authentication and the examination of methodologies and best practices. Chairpersons for this conference are Mark Huckvale and Jeff M. Smith. This marks… View this post From the archives of the late, great Recording Engineer/Producer (RE/P) magazine, enjoy this in-depth discussion with engineer/ producer Val Garay, conducted by Robert Carr. This article dates back to the October 1983 issue. As a natural extension to his career as a musician during the early Sixties, Val Garay’s love for music lead him to pursue the art and science of audio engineering. Starting in 1969, he apprenticed at the Sound Factory, Hollywood, under rock-recording legend Dave Hassinger (Rolling Stones,… View this post Studio Technologies recently became Audinate’s 100th Dante licensee and is embracing the audio-over-Ethernet movement by developing a line of Dante-enabled products. “Studio Technologies prides itself on developing specialized solutions for its customers,” says Studio Technologies president Gordon Kapes. “Our users rely on us to deliver products that will enhance their workflow in both fixed and mobile broadcast applications. Dante has proven its technological excellence, and we are convinced that it is the correct, progressive solution for adding networking technology to… View this post Software company Plugin Alliance has announced the availability of bx_refinement and bx_saturator V2, two new native plug-ins from German software developer Brainworx. bx_refinement is the brainchild of mastering engineer Gebre Waddell of Stonebridge Mastering, who designed the original prototype as a tool to remove harshness, a problem he was encountering more and more in his work due to the transition to digital and the prevalence of over-compressed mixes. “Harsh recordings are one of the most common problems mixing and mastering… View this post Located outside Dallas, Cool Pony Media is a record label and artist development company that works with various music genres, as well as score-to-picture work. Brothers and co-founders, Mark and Mike Stitts, recently did an upgrade in part of their studio with help from API, and as a result, the team now uses THE BOX console on a daily basis for writing, tracking, creating stems, and mixing. “We’re amazed,” says Mark Stitts. “We have quite a bit of other API… View this post Article provided by Home Studio Corner. If you’ve been mixing for any length of time, you know how valuable the high-pass filter (HPF) can be. It removes excess low end from your non-bass-heavy tracks, allowing you to clean up the low frequencies, making room for the kick and bass. But then there’s this thing called a low frequency shelf. What’s that all about? In the picture below you can see both a high-pass filter and a low-frequency shelf. A… View this post Radial Engineering has announced that it has taken on the global sales, marketing and distribution of the Jensen Iso-Max range of products. Iso-Max is a range of isolators that provide ground isolation and noise abatement for audio and video in broadcast, home theater and commercial AV integration. Radial has a long history with Jensen. According to company president Peter Janis: “When Radial was founded in 1992, we started life as a distributor. One of our first product lines was Jensen.… View this post DPA Microphones has announced the appointment of Direct Imports as its distributor in New Zealand, signaling the company’s continued commitment toward growth and customer service in the country. From its headquarters in Hastings, Hawkes Bay, Direct Imports will carry a full stock of DPA products for live, recording and broadcast applications. “We are delighted to have been appointed the New Zealand distributor for DPA Microphones and honored to have this outstanding brand join our portfolio and complement our current range… View this post Record Factory Music Academy, a music production education facility in downtown Seoul, South Korea, delivers real-world recording experience to students, which is now aided with the addition of a Solid State Logic AWS 924 hybrid console/controller in its newly built studios. More than 1,000 students have gained an education since Record Factory Music Academy was established. Through hands-on workshops covering everything from MIDI production to in-studio engineering and music video creation, the facility is gaining a reputation for its advanced… View this post

From the mid-1960's until the close of that decade, automobiles became lighter, more compact, and more powerful. Auto manufacturers continued to compete against one another for drag-strip supremacy. As government regulations and safety concerns increased, the muscle car era began to decline rapidly. Many of these ultimate high-performance muscle cars were built to satisfy homologation requirements. Others were built just to have the fastest machine on the road. The Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda is an example of one of the fiercest and most powerful vehicle ever constructed for the roadway. It was derived from the lesser Barracuda's which began in the mid-1960's. It was built atop the 'E' body platform and was restyled in 1970 by John Herlitz, making it longer, wider, and lower. The 426 cubic-inch Hemi V8 was capable of producing an astonishing 425 horsepower. Matted to a four-speed manual 833 transmission, this was the ultimate muscle car of its day. This 1971 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda Convertible with black paint and orange billboards was offered for sale at the 2006 RM Auction in Monterey, CA where it was expected to sell between $180,000-$220,000. It came equipped from the factory with power windows, power brakes, power steering, Rally instrument cluster, rim blow steering wheel, bucket seats, AM/FM cassette radio, and driving lights. It has a Dana '60' rear end and the 426 cu in engine. It is one of just 374 'Cda Convertibles built in 1971. On auction day bidding reached $165,000 which was not high enough to satisfy reserve. The vehicle was left unsold.By Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2006 This 'Cuda Convertible was given a show-quality restoration to original specifications and is one of just 374 examples originally produced for the 1971 model year. It is believed to be one of just 87 383-powered convertibles produced for the last year of 'Cuda convertible production in 1971. The 383 cubic-inch V8 has four-barrel carburetors and is capable of producing 300 horsepower. There is a TorqueFlite three-speed automatic gearbox and four-wheel hydraulic brakes. The car is finished in Tawny Gold, with a white interior and a white power-operated convertible top. Features include dual chrome-tipped exhaust outlets, floor console, hood pins, power brakes, power steering, Rallye wheels, a 'Slap Stik' shifter and a 'Tuff' steering wheel. In 2010, this 'Cuda Convertible was offered for sale at the Vintage Motor Cars of Meadow Brook presented by RM Auctions. The car was estimated to sell for $60,000 - $70,000. As bidding came to a close, the car had been sold for the sum of $44,000 including buyer's premium.By Daniel Vaughan | Aug 2010 V8 Cuda Convertible The 3rd generation Barracuda ran from 1970 through 1974; the previous generations were A-body Valiant based which began in 1964. Designed by John E. Herlitz on the 108-inch wheelbase, unibody, E-platform, a shorter and wider version of the existing B-body. This example has the non-Hemi 340 cubic-inch V8 with automatic and it is a stock example. 1971 was the only year for four headlamps. Somehow, this model series didn't sell to expectation and production slowed over the years, making the cars quite rare today. An unaltered car is even more rare. V8 Cuda Hard Top Coupe The writing was on the wall by 1971 for the muscle car enthusiast. With rising gas prices and skyrocketing insurance rates, the days of the overpowered and often low priced performance automobile were numbered. For the big three, it seems that the decision was made to go out with a bang, and some of the rarest and most desirable muscle cars ever to come out of the Motor City were produced. Among the hottest is the Hemi 'Cuda, produced for a mere two model years. In 1970, it is believed that Plymouth produced just 696 Hemi 'Cuda hardtops and for 1971, a mere 118 would leave the line. Wild colors would survive for the 1971 model year and Chrysler would lead the pack with their Hi-Impact color palate. Several eye popping colors were offered, including Sassy Grass Green as seen on this example, which is one of the rarest offerings. When it comes to American Muscle, the Plymouth hemi 'Cuda is always at the top of the list. And when it comes to rarity and desirability, nothing compares to a 1971 Hemi ' Cuda. No matter what make or model you may prefer, there is no disputing the visual impact of the 426 Street Hemi engine. With the massive valve covers and the huge dual quad carbs, it certainly takes top honors when it comes to intimidation. To add the outrageous FC7 in Violet, (aka Plum Crazy) paint to the mix is to take things a step beyond. This 1971 Hemi 'Cuda exemplifies what Mopar Performance was all about in the final years of the original Muscle Car era. With a mere 107 leaving the Hamtramck, Michigan assembly plant with the Hemi engine under the shaker hood, these cars were rare even when new. This car is one of just 48 equipped with the Torqueflite automatic transmission and it also features the rare leather interior, elastomeric color keyed bumpers, power steering and power front disc brakes, a center console, the AM radio with the Dictaphone cassette recorder, tinted glass, dual color keyed mirrors and more, making it one of the highest option 1971 Hemi 'Cuda's in existence. Of course, when new these cars were flogged not only on the street, but at the tracks throughout the country, making this example among the most sought after and valuable American muscle cars ever built. The first series of the Barracuda was produced from 1964 through 1969, distinguished by its A-body construction. From 1970 through 1974 the second series was produced using an E-body construction. In 1964, Plymouth offered the Barracuda as an option of the Valiant model line, meaning it wore both the Valiant and Barracuda emblems. The base offering was a 225 cubic-inch six-cylinder engine that produced with 180 horsepower. An optional Commando 273 cubic-inch eight-cylinder engine was available with a four-barrel carburetor, high-compression heads and revised cams. The vehicle was outfitted with a live rear axle and semi-elliptic springs. Unfortunately, the Barracuda was introduced at the same time, separated by only two weeks, as the Ford Mustang. The Mustang proved to be the more popular car outselling the Valiant Barracuda by a ratio of 8 to 1. The interior was given a floor-shifter, vinyl semi-bucket seats, and rear seating. The rear seats folded down allowing ample space for cargo. By 1967, Plymouth redesigned the Barracuda and added a coupe and convertible to the model line-up. To accommodate larger engines, the engine bay was enlarged. There were multiple engine offerings that ranged in configuration and horsepower ratings. The 225 cubic-inch six-cylinder was the base engine while the 383 cubic-inch 8-cylinder was the top-of-the-line producing 280 horsepower. That was impressive, especially considering the horsepower to weight ratio. Many chose the 340 cubic-inch eight-cylinder because the 383 and Hemi were reported to make the Barracuda nose-heavy while the 340 offered optimal handling. In 1968 Plymouth offered a Super Stock 426 Hemi package. The lightweight body and race-tuned Hemi were perfect for the drag racing circuit. Glass was replaced with lexan, non-essential items were removed, and lightweight seats with aluminum brackets replaced the factory bench, and were given a sticker that indicated the car was not to be driven on public highways but for supervised acceleration trials. The result was a car that could run the quarter mile in the ten-second range. For 1969 a limited number of 440 Barracudas were produced, giving the vehicle a zero-to-sixty time of around 5.6 seconds. In 1970 the Barracuda were restyled but shared similarities to the 1967 through 1969 models. The Barracuda was available in convertible and hardtop configuration; the fastback was no longer offered. Sales were strong in 1970 but declined in the years that followed. The muscle car era was coming to a close due to the rising government safety and emission regulations and insurance premiums. Manufacturers were forced to detune their engines. The market segment was slowly shifting from muscle-cars to luxury automobiles. 1974 was the final year Plymouth offered the Barracuda.By Daniel Vaughan | Aug 2010 ◾Dodge Charger and Durango 'most loved' in their respective segments for second consecutive year ◾Jeep® Renegade leads Entry SUV segment in 2015 Most Loved Vehicles in America survey by Strategic Vision ◾FIAT captures most segment wins among small cars with 500 and 500e ◾FCA US ranked highest overall in Strategic Vision's 20th annual Total Quality Index™ this past July November 24, 2015 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - Strategic Vision has named five FCA US LLC vehicles to its 'Most Loved Ve...[Read more...] Scottsdale, Arizona (July 18th, 2015) – Thomas Scott is an accountant and entrepreneur from Athens, Georgia who has had a love for all things automotive for as long as he can remember. He possesses a lifetime of passion for buying, selling and working on classic American cars. 'I started out with the muscle cars — the Mopars, the Cobra Jet Mustang, the Chevelle,' Scott says. 'Those are cars that everybody recognizes — they're widely popular and very tradeable.' However, as S...[Read more...] Scottsdale, Arizona (December 1st, 2014) – For Enthusiasts – By Enthusiasts. ™ This is far more than a tagline at Russo and Steele Collector Automobile Auctions. It's a lifestyle, and we are gearing up to deliver that singular passion to the High Desert of sunny Scottsdale, Arizona for our annual flagship event during the world renowned collector car week. Additionally, Scottsdale marks the kick-off of the year-long celebration of our 15th anniversary. Held over five thrilling a...[Read more...]

Purdy was chatting to her bezzie mate who works at Colchester Hospital last night, and was impressed to hear that the Hospital wants more people to car share! Her mate, inspired by all the money she knows Purdy is saving, [...] Loveurcar The Loveurcar campaign is brought to you by the Colchester Travel Plan Club, Colchester Borough Council Air Quality Team and V102 as part of a Defra funded project to encourage more sustainable driving for those journeys that have to be made by car.

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I got a wake up call, I got to make this workCause if we don´t we´re left with nothing and that´s what hurtsWe´re so close to giving up but something keeps us here I can´t see what´s yet to comeBut I have imagined life without you and it feels wrongI want to know where love begins, not where it ends Cause we don´t know what we´re doingWe´re just built this wayWe´re careless but we´re tryingCause we both make mistakesAnd I don´t want to keep on runningIf we´re only gonna fall behindWe´ve almost got it rightBut almost wasn´t what I had in mind We want it all and deserve no lessBut all we seem to give each other is second bestWe´re still reaching out for something that we can´t touch Cause we don´t know what we´re doingWe´re just built this wayWe´re careless but we´re tryingCause we both make mistakesAnd I don´t want to keep on runningIf we´re only gonna fall behindWe´ve almost got it rightBut almost wasn´t what I had in mind You know there´s nothing like this loveSo we don´t want to let it go Cause we don´t know what we´re doingWe´re just built this wayWe´re careless but we´re tryingCause we both make mistakesAnd I don´t want to keep on runningIf we´re only gonna fall behindWe´ve almost it got rightBut almost wasn´t what I had in mind